Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Law) Chapter 59 - Bepo

A/N: Have some fluff, featuring our favorite fluffy bear! (Ok, maybe my second-favorite fluffy bear - Winnie the Pooh is equally amazing and more nostalgic for me, lol). Not my longest chapter, but I hope you enjoy anyways!

Law was working in his study when a knock came at the door. The strange, muffled quality of it told him exactly who it was — the only crew member with soft fur on his 'hands'.

"Come on in, Bepo."

The door swung open, revealing said bear. "Morning, Captain."

"Morning. You don't usually come looking for me this early. What's going on?"

"I, uh... I wanted to ask about this merge."

Law put down the pen to focus on his first mate. How long had it been since Law had seen Bepo this nervous? Sure, the bear apologized frequently, but the look currently on his face was rare. "What about it?"

Still Bepo hesitated. "Um..." The pause got longer, but finally a rush of words came out. "Who'sgoingtobefirstmatenow?"

"First mate?" Law said thoughtfully. He and Luffy hadn't gotten to talking about that part of it, not yet. They still had too many details to work out, and Law was really going to need to make his fiance sit and talk about it without getting distracted. "I don't know yet. But you've done a great job so far and I have no problem fighting for it to be you, or equally shared, if you-"

"No!" Bepo shouted, actually shouted, at Law, entirely too quickly.

Law raised an eyebrow.

Bepo sighed and slumped into the other chair in the room, his nervousness mixing with a look of sorrow. "I'm asking because I don't want it, Captain. Not that I haven't enjoyed being your right-hand bear, but... it's always been a lot of pressure, and it seems to me like Zoro's better at a lot of that stuff. I want you to choose him."

"Okay. We'll... take that into consideration." It actually would make it easier, to just have one first mate to the two captains. A tie-breaker, if needed. Although, Zoro would almost definitely side with whatever Luffy wanted, but Law was already used to the idea that his co–captaincy would be mostly in name, with Luffy calling most of the shots.

"You aren't mad?"

Law smirked at his friend. "Of course not. You'll always be my right-hand bear, but if you don't want to be first mate of the craziest crew on the Grand Line, I'm not going to fault you for that. Just understand that the 'demotion' is not because you haven't served admirably. And that there may be times when our ships have to separate for a while that I'll still look to you as my second-in-command. But they aren't likely to be long spells, not if Luffy and I can avoid it."

"I... can live with that. Thanks, Captain." Bepo stood back up and turned to leave.

"That's another thing, Bepo." Law's words stopped the bear in his tracks. "With two captains, calling us both captain would get confusing, don't you think? So you can start calling me Law, unless you really feel like the 'Captain' bit is needed?" Law had been trying to get the bear to call him by his given name for years, but the stubborn bear had only done so maybe thrice. Penguin and Shachi would do it pretty frequently, defaulting to Captain only when they were submitting to orders or making a point. Bepo deserved the same privilege.

Bepo glared lightly at him, then huffed in annoyance. "I'll try..."

Law laughed and stood. "C'mere."

Bepo obeyed the part that hadn't been spoken, wrapping Law in one of those big warm hugs. Law didn't always hug back, but he did today, his instinct screaming that his soon-to-be-former first mate needed the reassurance that things weren't going to change too much.