Solace in Death [One Piece Fanfiction]

Chapter 13

When Lyanna woke the following day, she opened her eyes to see Law on his stomach, his arms holding onto the pillow beneath his head. He looked so calm and relaxed, so she did her best not to wake him and stayed put. Eventually, her bladder would force her to move, but she could wait.

The change in their relationship hadn't surprised her, all their back-and-forth flirting giving all the necessary foreshadowing to figure that out. However, she was confounded by how gentle he'd been. Not necessarily during sex, which she preferred to be a bit on the rougher side anyway. But it was the barely there smiles, a kiss on the shoulder, and the look on his face that she found harder to place.

Law had seemed like he was conflicted about the change until she had told him she wasn't going off herself. Maybe he hadn't wanted to get involved with her if she only planned on dying later, which was perfectly understandable. Although she'd only ever been with a few other guys before, it was only sex - just satisfying a physical desire. There wasn't any meaning to it. If she wasn't mistaken by his actions or just reading too far into it, there seemed to be at least an interest beyond the physical. When she had prepared to grab her clothes after the first time they'd had sex, he had stopped her by asking her to stay, even though he'd elaborated with a joke. If he only desired her physically, he wouldn't have bothered. She hadn't really considered that he would want her to stay before that, never experiencing it before with her previous sexual partners.

She'd been surprised at how kind he was. His somewhat violent outburst to defend her and Ikkaku the other day had reinforced that he was a good person, despite his 'Surgeon of Death' moniker. He was the kind of Captain that joked, talked and laughed with his crew, and Lyanna had been part of this during her time on the Polar Tang. The brutal reputation he'd become known for seemed chiefly what he wanted people to see, not the real him. The real Trafalgar Law cared immensely for his crew and had no interest in cold-blooded murder. He certainly had a tendency for cruelty and ruthlessness. Still, from what Lyanna knew about him already, he just did what he felt necessary. He even went out of his way to treat Straw Hat Luffy and Jinbe, taking them from the fray at Marineford and saving their lives. Despite having no direct benefit to him, he still did this, maybe out of a sense of respect for the two famous pirates.

When Law shifted, waking up, she was pulled from her thoughts. She smiled when he focused his eyes on her and looked pleasantly surprised that she was there. He shifted, moving closer to her, then put his head on her chest, taking full advantage of the softness there. Running her fingers through his hair, they talked softly until the need to use the bathroom, drink water and eat something became too hard to ignore. Once they'd both used the bathroom and gotten dressed, they headed to the kitchen, where other crew members gathered.

Again, no one commented on them always appearing together, so Lyanna assumed it might have happened before. With a guy as attractive as Law, it made sense that he might have shared his bed with a woman on board his ship. She supposed they were all adults too, and the life at sea was thrilling, but it didn't exactly give a chance to develop any relationships aside from the people on your own ship.

Lyanna went over to help and began serving plates for breakfast. There were omelettes with plenty of different toppings. She eventually took over cooking when Penguin continued having trouble flipping them. She also ensured everyone had a drink, either juice, tea, water or coffee. She didn't notice since she was distracted, but Law had his eyes on her most of the time.

After everyone else had been fed, she got her own plate and sat down to eat. The only available seat was next to the Captain, so she tried not to feel embarrassed and sat beside him. With a subtlety that she admired, he put his arm over the back of the couch in a gesture of claiming. She found his indirect gesture of affection sweet and gave him a brief smile.