magnetic attraction (lawlu)

#13

Bepo launched himself out of the foliage, tears streaming down his face. law slid off the beast, switching luffy to one side so he could embrace his bear. 

As bepo collided with his captain, the rest of law and luffy's crews made their appearances. Chopper was bawling and sat on zoro's shoulders. Nami walked behind all of them, looking sombre. 

Despite laws careful attempts to refrain from disturbing luffy, the younger stirred and woke. He mumbled good morning to law, realised it wasnt morning, and looked around. Upon seing his crew, his face lit up, all traces of fatigue gone. He leapt down from laws arms and beamed, cheering.

Beside him, law fell to the ground under the mountain of crew members that piled on top of him. they had grown worried having not seen him all this time, and thought times must be desperate upon hearing that he had made an alliance, but after seeing how law was so gentle with the sleeping boy they begun to understand the true roots of the alliance.

law lay at the bottom of the pile, for once allowing his beloved crew into his personal space. he wouldn't admit it, but the scene he witnessed brought his mood back down quite significantly.

Luffy stood there grinning, awaiting his crew. the first to reach him was his navigator, a beautiful woman, law noted. she threw herself at him, clinging to him like a touch starved lover. Luffy didn't seem to mind. In fact, he smiled and returned the hug, holding her close. She looked glad to see him at first, but something was bothering her and soon she was crying into his shoulder. law watched as luffy's entire demeanour switched from cheerful to deadly in an instant. The look in his eyes was pure anger and blood lust to whoever had hurt his navigator. his brow furrowed in concern as the rest of the crew circled around him, cutting off laws view. He tried to ignore it and turn his attention to his crew, but the angry flame of jealousy continued to burn within him. 

Eventually, they were all back up, all of the high spirited. luffy stood shoulder to shoulder with law, who the crew noted didn't even bat an eyelid to his presence. their captain was generally a very reserved man, and loved his personal space. having just had that moment close to him was rare, and would usually have completely drained him. It was quite the opposite really. it was almost like law was drawn to the younger, happy in his presence. They caught on almost immediately. an opportunity presented itself. this could be fun. 

Law was annoyed. not at his crew, not at all. In fact he was elated, and that wasn't a feeling he experienced often. But the entire thing would have been so much better if that damn woman would stop clinging to luffy as if she were the one who was magnetically drawn to him. 

Eventually, wanda stepped in.

"I hate to ruin the moment, but its getting cold. we should head into town and get you all sorted with bedding and food."

They all agreed and collectively moved out, chatting amongst themselves. the straw hat pirates had come to know the heart pirates quite well over the past few days, and so they all talked as a group. Ikaku and nami were especially close, and their conversations were quite interesting. they were up to no good, like the scheming woman they were. sachi and penguin walked behind them, eavesdropping. bepo was behind them again, completely clueless to this new topic of gossip. He stood beside his captain who was, as usual, attached to luffy like a piece of Velcro. 

eventually, they rounded a bend in the path, revealing a beautiful city amongst the trees. From the trees hung well lit houses that looked, rather strangely, like giant pineapples. the air gave off a happy and welcoming vibe, and the entire place was bustling with the strange race called minks. Law drank in the sight for a moment and then got over it. he was almost pulled onto his ass by the binding curse as luffy stopped in his tracks, stars in his eyes. He was always so dramatic. 

Law stumbled, struggling to stay on his feet, and crashed right into the awe-stuck boy. fortunately for both of them, luffy had terrifyingly good reflexes and caught law with and arm around his waist. They stood there for a bit, a  little surprised, until luffy chuckled and hauled law back onto his feet. 

"sorry about that." Luffy chuckled, giving law a friendly pat on the back. Law let out a faint 'tch' and turned away, hoping to disguise his attempt to hide his red-dusted features as disinterest.

"Don't worry about it." He dismissed. He was painfully aware of the amount of familiar eyes that were locked on the pair. 

It took the group quite a long time to reach the room where they were to dine and then go their separate ways. there was food already laid out on the table for them, and minks bustled around. wanda introduced them to carrot, a friend of hers, and then the two of them joined them around the table of food. the crew found it strange having to leave a seat for law, as they all naturally filed in around their captain, drawn like the adorning magnets on a fridge. 

The minks means of greeting people was noticed almost immediately by the crew, and was accepted in different ways. luffy didn't mind it, but whined when carrot aggressively latched onto his ears with her teeth and began pulling them like she was playing tug of war. Most of luffys crew were used to aggressive affection, especially from their captain, and so didn't mind it. there were definitely favourites, namely chopper and brook, and those they tended to avoid which was mostly just zoro. Laws crew were more reserved, but it didnt seem to matter because the attention was going to those who were happy to take it.

Law gave anyone who came within a mile radius of him a very noticeable death stare, and it had the desired effect, but he was facing a different problem. luffy was another popular contender for  affectionate greetings, which was not unusual as he had a lot of unintentional charm, but law was starting to hate the feeling of jealousy. he couldnt ignore the approaches anymore because they were happening within a meter of him every time, and it was getting annoying for him. quite frankly, he wanted the boy to be his, and he was no longer dead set on convinving himself otherwise.

after a while, the group dug in, falling into their old habits. the heart pirates were a bit more reserved at first, as their captain tended to drill manners into them, but they were soon drawn into the chaotic energy of the straw hats. the energy of the captain was greatly reflected by the crews, and so they found they were quite a match for each other on the battlefield, a mix of brain and brawn. 

the meal was a very cheerful one, with lightly spoken words but deeply felt emotions. a lot of them would never have admitted to the anxiety of being separated. the familial relationship held them together like gluem and they had naturally begun to rely on each other. having to support themselves became lonely and tiresome, and the worry for others made it tenfold.

luffy especially seemed to be in a good mood, and when he had energy, others around him tended to as well. for that reason, the group who had originally intended to have a rather strategic catch up meal and an early night so they could get to work the next day then ended up partying until the early hours of the morning. but luffy was tired, and after a while he unceremoniously collapsed to the floor, asleep.

the party died down as the exhausted crew members and minks alike retired to their rooms.  carrot was still pretty chipper and tapped law on the shoulder.  when he turned to face her she flashed him a smile.

"I'll show you-gara to your room if you like. i assume the two of you have to stay together?"

law just nodded to her and scooped luffy up, gently but knowing full well he couldn't be woken by a cannon.

and so, the last pair vacated the dining hall.