Nami Swaan: Thank you so much for your review! I'm so happy you're enjoying the story :) hope you like the continuation as well! I'm trying to keep it light and funny; this fic is mainly based on incorrect quotes, so I try to get as many as possible of them into text. I then realised I need some sort of story to justify the whole shebang :D
Nami let an irritated sight escape her as she dropped the papers on her desk. This had been the worst day of her life so far; she was sure of it. Well, not counting those horrible teenage years with all that entailed, but of her adult life so far. It even beat the last time Kid tried to ask her out on a date, causing the fire brigade to be called in the process and a lifetime ban for both of them from the campus swimming pool.
Of course, there would be a small, tiny, insignificant problem with the pipes, flooding Law's room, and of course her office was the only one with extra room. 'And as you are here only two days a week, it would really be best…' she imitated the droning voice of the department chair in her head. Well, if all the stars aligned and she was a very lucky girl indeed, they would have it fixed within the week, releasing her from this hell, personally crafted and meticulously sculpted just for her.
And speaking of the devil, he'll follow you into your office.
Luckily enough, he was so new that his flooded office hadn't held much to save or move, and he had quickly made himself, as well as his research assistant Bepo, comfortable in her office without taking too much of her precious space. She had to share too much of her comforts at home; at work, she wanted her room.
She sent the tall man a withering look that he totally ignored and possibly didn't even notice, as occupied as he was with reading something or other, using his hip to push the door closed behind him, his other hand occupied with a steaming mug of coffee.
"Oh. You're here," was the monotone greeting she received as he finally noticed she was in the room.
"Well, hello there!" she answered in her brightest tone, sending him a blinding smile. It was so much fun to pretend to be an overly energetic golden retriever, just to try to rattle him. After more than a month into their acquaintance, it still gave her great joy and satisfaction. She'd have to be more careful with her boundaries, though. Usopp had almost caught her humming 'Livin' on a prayer' the other day.
And luckily enough Zoro had asleep on the sofa as she waltzed into the living room, belting out 'Firework' at the top off her voice.
She wasn't sure if her saccharine approach to Law had any affect, however. Sometimes he seemed irritated while at others he just sighed and shook his head. And at times, he just stared, gaze neutral.
Her normal state of being a tad tired with the entire world was also fighting its way through her armour of cheer and happy thoughts, causing her interactions with him to become more confrontational than they had been in the beginning.
"Make anyone cry today?"
Law didn't even raise an eyebrow as he went back to perusing his report or article draft or what have you.
"Sadly, no. But it's only 4:30. I still have time."
Nami rolled her eyes as she plopped down in her chair, dragging her laptop towards her.
"Don't let me intrude on your entertainment," she mumbled, staring at the rolling circle on her screen as she waited for the computer to start so she could catalogue these bloody papers and finally be free from his oppressing presence for the weekend.
"Don't worry. You don't."
She sent him a glare that would have melted steel and turned lesser men to babbling heaps of nerves and fear. He countered it with an even stare and a sip from his coffee mug.
Bastard.
After a week, they got a notice from maintenance that Law's office would be out of commission for 'the foreseeable future', whatever that meant. Nami swore inwardly as she got roped into accepting Law and Bepo's presence for the time being, 'as you are here only two days a week so it really should be quite all right, dear'.
She then swore out loud, went for the longest and hardest run in recent memory, almost threw up when she got back, and went to bed early that day.
There was something so very irritating about her new officemates.
Well, one of them.
Law seemed to be all over the place, which was a feat at a university that had spread out over the city during the centuries like butter over a warm piece of toast. He was always in her office when she was there, which was to be expected, but then he started permeating her life outside work as well which was most vexing. It ranged from bumping into him at the cafeteria to suffering through a lecture on data analysis in her quantitative research methods seminar, not forgetting the curious incident of the postdoc in the night-time: she had forgotten her scarf, warm and soft and patterned with a normal distribution, at the office and had found the elusive postdoc asleep in his chair.
His assistant was another matter altogether. In truth, Nami adored Bepo. The mink was as shy as he was intimidating, easily falling into morose moods and apologising profusely at the slightest rebuttal. It was hard not to try to cheer him up and impossible to stay mad at him, even though he sometimes raided her cookie stash. He was also a brilliant researcher and knew more about probabilities than almost anyone she knew. Nami was elated once she learned that Bepo had a bachelor's in meteorology, her main subject; many a long afternoon was then spent discussing the differences between classical and empirical probability and how they could be used in predicting weather patterns. When these discussions intruded on their biweekly tea sessions, Vivi usually just sighed and muttered something about how 'they need to leave work in the office as this time is for scones and tea and anyway, they really should be using subjective probability with those time-spans'.
One overcast Thursday, Bepo looked perplexed when the redhead entered the office after lunch.
"Nami? Not that I'm questioning your fashion choices, but why are you wearing shorts and a t-shirt? Isn't it too cold for that sort of clothing for humans?"
There had been a brief kerfuffle related to the thermostat, due to the differing internal temperatures of a twenty-something human woman and a twenty-something polar bear. The almost-ancient-nearing-thirty human male had refrained from interfering. The solution, after long negotiations and some attempts at bribery, was a heap of blankets and a pair of cosy socks (and a scarf with a normal distribution) for Nami who was somewhat surprised at the mink's proficiency at knitting.
Her socks had a pattern of jaunty mikans on them.
She cherished Bepo and would cheerfully maim anyone who dared make him sad.
Nami stopped in the doorway and looked down at her ensemble: a brightly coloured t-shirt with the student union logo on it, coupled with matching shorts and high socks. Somewhat scuffed trainers completed her athletic outfit.
"Didn't I ask you to be on the team? We're having the yearly football match between faculty and students today and we're somewhat short on players on the student side. I'm just getting my stuff; the match starts at two o'clock," she said as she shrugged on her jumper. She might be playing in shorts and a t-shirt, but it was still cold outside.
"Sorry," the mink sighed, dark clouds gathering instantly. "I forgot."
"No worries!" Nami hurried to reassure the downcast mink. "I would have forgotten too if Sanji wouldn't have reminded me this morning."
"Your boyfriend?" The mink asked, head cocked curiously, as she started finishing off the day's projects in preparation for the afternoon match.
"Oh, hell no!" Nami stopped herself and stole a furtive glance around the office. She didn't mind sharing such things with Bepo, but their office-bound third wheel was quite another matter. The course, however, seemed clear. "No, no. We're just housemates and as both are playing today, he was kind enough to remind me to take my sport gear with me this morning."
"Do you play football often?"
"Nah, I'm more of a racket girl myself, but I'm all right with most ball sports. And it's nice to imagine an annoying face on the ball when I get to kick it," she smiled toothily at the now slightly nervous mink. "Don't worry," she laughed as Bepo inched away from her. "I could never imagine hurting you, you fuzzball! Your boss on the other hand…"
"What about me?" a deep voice behind her asked as a tattooed hand gently propelled her out of the doorway to let the third wheel enter their shared office.
"Just wondering about the upcoming game," Nami chirped. Damn that man and his silent ways. "Coming to watch it?"
"I don't watch games."
"Well, I'm sure that is very sad for the game," she said, fluttering her eyelashes dramatically. "All those people gathered to show off their skills, putting their best foot forward, and no-one to see it play out. A true tragedy."
"A travesty indeed," Law said as he turned his computer towards him.
"Captain, don't you have to get ready?" Bepo asked Law.
"I still have time."
"Ready for what?" Nami inquired, having secured her hair in a braid. Nothing worse than getting a face full of hair in the middle of a kick.
"Things I do instead of watching games," was the only answer she got.
"Have it your way," Nami puffed her cheeks. Sometimes that man really grated on her last nerve. "And you still haven't told me why you call him Captain," she said, turning to Bepo.
"Just an old habit, as I've said before," Law interrupted, sending Bepo a glare. "That he's trying his best to drop."
"Sorry, Captain," the dark clouds gathered again over Bepo's head.
"Anyways, "Nami said, trying to save Bepo from the impeding bout of (totally unjustified in her opinion) dejection. "We'll get back to that after the game. Who knows, we might even have some news on the professorship then!"
The clouds dispersed. Bepo loved office gossip almost as much as Nami and Vivi, which, combined with his inoffensive nature and teddy bear looks that made people inclined to confide in him, made him an excellent addition to their tea parties. "I heard they've narrowed the pool down to three. One from somewhere in the Nordics, one from the other place–" a short break allowed Nami and Bepo to furrow their brows at each other and shake their fists; Bepo had been introduced to the rivalry between their alma mater and their longstanding competitor and was now merrily upholding centuries old traditions of thoroughly justified competition "–and someone from overseas."
"It would be nice to finally get that other assistant position filled as well," Nami sighed. While she was only working two days a week, her workload was something slightly different. There had been a vacancy for another assistant for a while, but the dean had left it open 'just until we fill that open position for a professor and then we'll have a look at the labour division. You know Nami, you've done such an excellent job–'. The other department assistant position had been open since the last one left for greener pastures in March. That had been over six months ago.
She really didn't know what they were going to do when she went on exchange in the spring. Well, out of sight, out of mind. And it wasn't her problem, after all.
"Interviews next week? Here's to hoping they find a good one," Nami smiled at the mink. "Well, I'm off. Try to keep this place from flooding."
"I'll try my best," Bepo said, giving the woman a mock salute. It had taken him some time to understand Nami wasn't serious when she warned him from flooding her office, but she thought he'd got it now.
"No warning for me?" Law asked, eyebrows raised.
"I trust Bepo to keep you in line."
"Good thing that one out of three in this room is trustworthy."
"What? I am trustworthy!" she exclaimed, eyes large and imploring as she clasped her hands in front of her chest.
Law levelled her a look.
"Bepo?"
The mink looked from his boss to his friend.
He then hid behind his computer.
"I think you might have trust issues," Nami sighed dramatically as she checked her computer was turned off (she had learned her lesson after coming back to a background of a cat clad in toast, riding a rainbow one day – she knew precisely whom to blame) and grabbed her bag.
"It's not an issue," Law answered, narrowing his eyes at her. "I choose not to trust people."
"Well, hopefully you'll soon have your office back and a new assistant will grace me with their presence in this drab little nook," Nami smiled sweetly. "Then you won't have any such concerns anymore." She waved cheerily at Bepo as she made for the field, making sure the door didn't close all the way so the annoying, smarmy, infuriating bastard of a postdoc would have to close it himself. She knew he would do it; he doted on Bepo even more than she did, and that was saying something.
Serves him right.
She never said she wasn't petty, after all.
Just that she didn't hold grudges for unreasonably long times.
And although the gnawing irritation of his slight at the party had disappeared almost completely, there was something about him that got under her skin, leaving an itch she couldn't scratch.
Petty was justified.
For future research, the author suggests an investigation into the inner workings of the game known as 'football'. There are several interesting possibilities concerning this area, and the author hopes to utilise commonly accepted data gathering methods to develop this idea in an upcoming submission.
For further information on probabilities in weather prediction, the author recommends Murphy and Winkler (1984), "Probability Forecasting in Meterology"