#lawpeng

Penguin is kinda pretty.

It hits Law sometime on a random Tuesday whilst reading the newspaper.

It’s a thought that has him spitting out his coffee all over the extracted games column and a scandalised looking Shachi who was mid sudoku puzzle.

“The fuck?!” The red haired man screeches, face and sunglasses dripping lukewarm vanilla blend as Law mentally has a crisis meeting while hacking up a lung.

Penguin, who had inadvertently set off this passing thought by merely leaning over the table reaching for the pot of honey for his morning tea, was dressed only in a form fitting short sleeved black undershirt with his boiler suit’s upper half tied around his waist. The older man pauses mid reach, tilting his head innocently in mild concern, the penguin bobble atop his hat flopping to the side as if also casting its questioning judgement upon him.

“You good Law?” The eldest of them asks playfully as the Captain continues to cough and Shachi looks a moment away from a murder.

Bepo’s snout is scrunched in disappointment over the ruined puzzle column, the bear’s neat writing in the crossword smudged and now unintelligible. He does however give Law a rather pitiful sad look that has the Captain averting his eyes as he stops choking, likely to cave like a house of cards if the bear uttered a single syllable looking adorable as he is.

Law feels his face burning both from coughing and a new kind of bashful heat, “I’m fine.” He snaps even as more of the crew lean over to fuss and tease before going back to their breakfast.

“Must have been a rather saucy article.” Penguin cackles, handing a still sizzling Shachi a wad of towels to clean up the mess, “What has the news been saying about the Straw Hats this time?”

“Who cares about Law having a gay thought over Captain Luffy?!” Their red headed brother squalls gesturing to his ruined puzzle, “I was so close to getting it perfect!”

“Excuse me?!” Law snaps, embarrassment gone and his prickly temper rising quicker than it probably should have as he is ignored while Penguin and Shachi shove each other back and forth over cleaning up the mess. “What do you mean, gay thought about Strawhat?!”

“We’ve all had a few Law, you’re just a late bloomer.” Penguin attempts to reassure, raising his hands in surrender when Law levels him with a venomous glower, “Bepo back me up here, he’ll listen to you.”

“I like female bears.” Bepo chimes in with a sniff, wisely staying out of the drama, saving the paper from the coffee puddle and fishing out the agony aunt section amidst the non soiled pages to share with a still sleepy Ikkaku and Hakugan, “Sorry.”

“Helpful Bepo, ten out of ten.” Penguin sighs before blindsiding Law with a casual reach over the table to pat his clenched fists that were turning white with how harshly he was curling his fingers, the inked letters stark against his stretched skin. “Ruhig, Law, keine Feinde hier. ”

It relaxes him automatically, the words, the language it is spoken in and the person that dares to speak it.

He remembers teaching them his original tongue, the language of Flevance. Snot nosed little brats just like himself peering over hand written jotters and a thick illegal tome rescued from an antique store. He remembers Penguin’s halting first spoken words to him in his forbidden mother tongue, used to soothe his nightmare after all other attempts failed. It had been chanted anxiously, over and over in varying stages of correct pronunciation, trying to make the powerful young teen stop floating everything around them in his waking panic.

So he does as bid and settles, unclenching both fists and jaw in stages as his mind cools while Shachi mutters and curses his way through mopping up the mess, sliding himself free of the bench to dispose of the waste, jeers following his steps.

“No harm Captain. Just a bit of fun.” Penguin smiles, no idea how close they had been to most of the crew being scrambled body parts for a few hours while Law stewed in his own head over the remark, “Besides, we all know your first love is your Coin collection.”

Law sighs, rolling his eyes, reaching over the table to flick the bill of Penguin’s hat in a silent thank you, which gets him a brilliant smile and prompts a rush of warmth to bloom in his gut.

Penguin gives a soft huff of a laugh as he drains his mug of sweetened tea and rises to welcome a still grumbling Shachi back with a casual arm slung over his shoulder, “Let’s go ‘Chi, the inventory won’t count itself.”

The red head groans loudly, throwing back his head, “My life for a day off.”

“You can sleep when you’re dead.” Law comments casually, “You two are still on thin ice for ruining my Hawaiian shirts.”

“Forgive me for forgetting Sea King blood is mildly corrosive.” Shachi drawls, no doubt rolling his eyes behind his shades, “It wasn’t a complete loss though, Ikkaku got some new crop tops out of it.”

“My wardrobe has never been so vibrant.” The lady herself chimes in leaning on Bepo, mid debate over which discount coupons could be used during their next foray onto shore to restock, “Thanks Captain.”

The Captain in question sighs, shooing off the cackling Penguin and Shachi with a single look and threatening lean towards his sword resting at his side, most of the crew all scattering to their chores not long after, with only Clione and Uni staying behind on clean up duty.