Reluctant

Characters: Penguin, Shachi, Law. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Penguin opened his eyes, groaned, and immediately closed them again, rolling over onto his front and burying deeper under the covers. Cancel the day, because he was going nowhere.

"Penguin?" He groaned again. Of course Shachi wasn't going to leave him alone. He should be the one dragging the ginger out of bed, but for once he'd seemingly got up by himself. How inconvenient. "Hey, Penguin, the alarm went off ten minutes ago." Had it? Penguin didn't remember.

Wait, maybe he did remember groggily reaching over to slam it off. Maybe. He wasn't sure. His head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton wool, asking him to recall something was plain mean. If the alarm had already gone off, good for it. Penguin had no intention of leaving his bed for anything.

The bunk above him creaked as Shachi moved, and Penguin pulled the covers completely over his head to shut out the noise of shuffling. It only worked until the creaks started up again in earnest, and at another call from his name he poked his head out far enough to glower at Shachi, who was hanging out of his bunk head-first, looking at him in concern. That was the sort of thing Penguin should be scolding him for, afraid that he'd lose his balance and topple from the bunk to the hard floor below. Normally, he would.

Today, his response was to bury his face in his pillow – becoming uncomfortably aware that his nose had been running non-stop for some time in the process – and hope that Shachi would stop being an idiot.

"Hey, Penguin?" Shachi sounded worried, and moments later there was the familiar sound of him shimmying down from his bunk, landing on the ground with a gentle thud. "You okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, not that Penguin was planning on giving him one anyway, before there was the step of a bare foot and Penguin's bunk sank with the extra weight.

"Geroff," he mumbled into his pillow as Shachi climbed on the bed next to him, tugging at the covers in an attempt to expose his head. Penguin clung to them tightly, growling at the weight that appeared on top of him as Shachi decided the best thing to do was to partially lie on top of him, limbs wrapping around both Penguin and his covers. Penguin tried to shake him off, but bundled up in his own covers could do nothing against the determined ginger. A cool hand wrestled its way around him until it was jammed between his forehead and his snot-soaked pillow.

"Are you sick?" Shachi asked, sounding disbelieving as though he couldn't comprehend that Penguin was human enough to succumb to such things.

"Yes," he snapped, dislodging the hand so he could bury his face back in his pillow. "Go 'way." He expected Shachi to run to get Law, the obvious and smart thing to do, but the ginger defied expectations as he wriggled and writhed until he somehow ended up under the covers, with Penguin.

Neither of them spoke for several long moments as Shachi's limbs wrapped around Penguin like some sort of four-legged octopus, pressing them together so tightly that Penguin could feel the ginger's heart thrumming away in his chest.

"What are you doing?" Penguin grumbled eventually, when it became apparent that Shachi had no intention of moving. "You'll get sick too, idiot." He felt Shachi shrug, the arms around him tightening briefly with the action, and gave up. He should have kept arguing, because Shachi really was going to get sick, but it was too much effort. Besides, Shachi was a nice cool compared to the raging heat, and part of him really didn't want the nice temperature to leave him. He burrowed backwards slightly, closer to Shachi, before closing his eyes.

He couldn't sleep, not with his head stuffed full of cotton wool, but he could and did zone out, losing track of time as he relaxed against his nakama, until sharp words yanked him back into reluctant awareness.

"What are you doing?" Law demanded. "You two were supposed to be in the control room half an hour ago."

"Penguin didn't want to get up," Shachi defended himself, twisting around to face their captain. Penguin stayed still. "He smashed the alarm then huddled back under the covers and refused to move."

The bunk sank again, creaking slightly as the weight of a third person was added.

"Shachi, get up," Law ordered, and Shachi grumbled. He must have obeyed, though, as the arms around him disappeared. The bunk rose slightly, signifying that someone had stood. "Penguin, I know you're awake."

"Don't want to be," Penguin grumbled in return, fighting the new hands as they tried to roll him over onto his back. He won, but his victory was short-lived when Law summoned his Room.

"You're sick," Law told him after a moment, as if he hadn't known that already. Law didn't sound overly concerned, so it wasn't anything too bad, though. He lost his covers as Law teleported them away, but before he could protest, his captain was pulling him into his arms. "You know the drill, Penguin."

Penguin did know the drill, but it didn't stop him complaining when Law stood up. It was cold without his blanket, and while he knew telling Law to get go would be even less effective than talking to a brick wall he could easily kick up a fuss about being cold.

"How bad is it, Law?" he heard Shachi ask, just before a blanket was draped over him. Somewhat pacified, Penguin stopped fighting.

"Nothing serious," the younger man said as they left the room. "Luckily for you. What did you think you were doing?" Shachi made a non-committal noise, as if to say he hadn't been thinking at all. Penguin could believe that, and from Law's sigh, so could he. "Control room," Law ordered, and Shachi whined but obeyed, peeling away from their route. "You'll be having company in here soon, I expect," their captain continued privately to Penguin as he set him down in a bed. Penguin didn't doubt it.

He busied himself with burrowing into the fresh covers, the crisp scent of the infirmary comforting in its own way.

"Stay," Law ordered him gently, and Penguin chuckled lightly. He had no intentions of going anywhere, would have been happy to stay in his room if Law hadn't forcibly moved him because he didn't like sick people in their own rooms for the exact reasons Shachi was later going to regret.

"Not going anywhere," he mumbled, and Law let out an appreciative chuckle.

"No, you're not," he agreed. "Take it easy."

Thanks for reading!
Tsari