too late (trafalgar law x reader one shot)

too late

"You-you what?" you shakily exclaim, looking over your shoulder to make sure neither of your crews could hear you.

Law thinks he's never been so open, so exposed as when he asks to speak with you, tugging you into the shadows on the Straw Hats' ship during their party celebrating their last night as an alliance. He chooses to rip your heart out again, telling you with a deep breath that he loves you.

Saying you're floored would be an understatement.

It's logical, he thinks with clenched fists, fingernails piercing his shaking palms. I was the one who decided to break up all those months ago, after all.

You graciously moved on since then, burying the hurt you felt to joke with him again, tease him with your Captain, finally able to meet his eyes without that sorrowful, pity-filled look that told him you understood why he decided to break your heart like a coward.

He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to grow so close to you, to share tender, intimate moments in the middle of the night, where he could drop the indifferent mask he wore around everyone else.

To fall in love with you.

You, who he first met all those years ago during a supply run at a sleepy little island. You weren't a pirate back then, but a doctor-in-training that thrilled him with your vast amount of medical knowledge, caring nature, and wit. It was clear to him even then that there was more for you out there than what the island could ever give you.

His crew had teased him mercilessly about the person he was attached to even weeks after they'd departed. It wasn't until you had parted ways, promising to meet up if he ever stopped by the island again that he regretted not listening to his frail, dimly beating heart that had urged him to beg you to join his crew, the smell of your coconut-scented shampoo haunting him.

When he spotted your sweet, gentle smile on a Bounty Poster years later, he couldn't hide the proud grin that lit up his face. Crossing paths with you seemed more feasible now that you too were on the Grand Line, and he refused miss an opportunity like this again.

And later on, the rare, public smile he displayed upon seeing you again in person promptly dropped the moment your captain slingshotted into him and started calling him 'Traffy.'

Were you so desperate to leave your island that you joined the first crew who asked? He couldn't help but think so after that initial meeting with the Straw Hats, who bickered with all the closeness of a dysfunctional family and utterly baffled him with their antics, wondering all the while how they managed to charm someone so talented and perfect like you.

It was because of you that he agreed to the alliance in the first place, ever so motivated to get revenge for Cora-san and win your heart in one fell swoop.

And when you kissed him for the first time since he had left your island in the crow's nest of the Sunny, Law would never admit that he had gone to sleep that night smiling like that love-sick cook of yours, heart soaring at the idea that a happy ending for him was feasible.

It wasn't until he watched your interactions with your crew over your time spent together that he realized the silly fantasy he had was never going to happen. You were too close, too bonded with the Straw Hats, to ever leave for someone like him.

So when you confessed in the privacy of his room after months of dating that you loved him, tucked in his arms in the way that he had grown so fond of, he panicked and did what he did best to salvage the pieces of his heart that would surely shatter when you would inevitably rejected him after the alliance was over.

He hurt you.

It was for the best, he told himself as he spewed horrible, untrue, nasty things to you that he was certain you wouldn't excuse, even for someone you loved, refusing to acknowledge that deep down, he knew you never expected him to say the three words back anytime soon.

He accepted the harsh words and fists of your crew and moved on as much as he could, retreating back to the role of a spectator just grateful enough to bask in your orbit for a little while longer before you would part ways.

He's drawn back to the present when you scoff in disbelief.

"Why now?" you demand, unshed tears blurring the rage in your eyes at his audacity, the wide smile you had been wearing all night nowhere to be seen. "I'm with Zoro now, Law, I'm happy," your voice cracks.

He closes his eyes, swallowing the bile that rises at the thought of the swordsman he inadvertently pushed you towards, who looks at you like he would crawl through hell if you asked him to. "I know."

"So why then?" You ask harshly, your arms crossed as if you're trying to hold yourself together. "Are you trying to mess with me? To get back at me for moving on?"

"No." Law feels a pain splintering throughout his chest when a tear finally falls. "I just... couldn't leave without telling you," he mumbles.

You angrily wipe it away. "I've been nothing but kind and gracious to you," you spit. "Hell, I've tried to act like what you said, what we had, never happened. For this alliance, for my crew, and for you so you could finally get closure for... you know."

He can't help but shudder at the memory of his mentor, the movement catching your eye.

You take a deep breath and dig your fingers into your arms, forcing yourself to keep talking and not give in to the innate urge to wrap him in a hug. Law thinks he can hear a wood plank creak from where your boyfriend is no doubt eavesdropping around the corner, ready to step in if you need it. "Luffy wanted to end the alliance the minute he found out, did you know that?"

He didn't but it isn't surprising; the Straw Hat had given him a look so carefully blank the day after the two of you broke up that Law finally understood why the rubber man had such a dangerous reputation.

"I know you were scared, Law, I was too," you whisper, eyebrows furrowed. "Being loved after so much heartbreak is terrifying. But you made a decision on how our relationship would end without giving me the chance to say anything about it. And those things you said to me," Law feels his lungs strain at the way your lip quivers in a bitter smile. "We could have made it work, you know, after the alliance was over," your tone falls soft. "All you had to do was ask."

It's then with your admission that Law is utterly aware he's made a mistake confessing to you. He thought it would give him closure, to finally admit what he didn't want to believe since he first caught your eye back on your island years ago.

Instead it was a slap in the face for you, a taunt that all of the suffering he put you through could have been avoided if he'd only been less of a coward.

You sigh, scrubbing at your eyes before looking at him with a pained expression, turning towards Zoro, who had quietly stepped forward to guide you away from him. "I hope you can find someone in the future that you can give your heart to entirely, Law," you tell him sincerely.

He swallows down the regret that burns his throat as he watches you and Zoro walk away.