Irreplaceable

Part 18: Dear Valentine

Perona snorted unhappy and Mihawk chuckled. They were looking at a poor attempt of a teddy bear. Perona was practising her sewing skills like there was no tomorrow. She was anxious to try making patterns of her own and her scetch book was filling with clothes designs, but for now she was content trying out pre-made patterns. But she did still try adding her own quirks and they always didn't go according to plan, thus the horrid looking teddy bear.

- "Don't laugh at him, can't you see he's had a rough life." A fake tear escaped Peronas eye.
- "Wasn't he just born?"
- "Yes, but he's already been laughed at and Zoro rejected him."

Zoro turned when hearing his name, but when he saw the adults still play with the thing, he went back to his own game with the tiger he had gotten from Ace. Zoro really seemed to like tigers. If there was anything with the right kind of stripes he would happily yell "tiger" and point at the thing. Even a striped dog that walked past the house sometimes was a tiger for him. He had been extremely happy when Perona had one day stopped the walker to meet Zoro, the dogs biggest fan.

"Tigel. Tigel. Tigel."

He had been chanting happily and pawed the fur on the dogs back.

- "I will love this bear like my own child." Perona lifted the teddy up.
- "Technically he is your child." Mihawk hummed.
- "Horo horo! True. My beautiful creation." She looked at the teddy proudly.

Mihawk took hold of it's paws and waved them at Perona.

- "Mistress," he croaked, "Whyy did you create me?"
- "Oh, that voice is most uncute."
- "Mi~stress!" He chuckled near the end, unable to keep his face.
- "Shut up."

Perona laughed and squeezed the bear against her chest. She looked at Mihawk gleefully:
- "You've ruined my teddy bear now."
- "He'll be silent most of the time."
- "He better."

Perona looked at the teddy and then spoke softly.
- "I think I know what I want to study."
Mihawk looked at her expectantly.
- "I want to become a clothes designer. Feels kinda right at the moment."
- "Have you looked for any schools, yet?"
- "There's one in here so of course I'll aim for that one, but there's a few others I'll try to get in. They're just a bit too far away so moving closer would be required."
- "Do your best and we'll see then what we'll do."

Mihawk sounded encouraging and it made her happy. She really liked him and maybe he would consider moving with her and Zoro if it came to that. She was sure he would. So she leaned against him humming happily.

- "I'm going to do my best."

But he backed of slightly and she looked at him questioning.

- "We need to set boundaries." He said quietly.
- "What, so suddenly?" She was caught completely by surprise. She had thought they had found them already.
- "I- Sometimes you just go too far with how you touch me. It makes me uncomfortable."
- "You hate it?"
- "No and yes." Mihawk let out a long sigh. "If you haven't noticed I'm not too fond of being touched."
- "So touching is out of question."
- "No. How do I put it. Uh. Sometimes it's nice, but sometimes it's too sudden or too close and it makes me uncomfortable. I just want you to understand that you need to somehow have my consent. If I push you away, don't try to hug me harder."
- "I'm sorry."
- "It's not your fault, I should have been more straight with you from the beginning."
- "What stopped you?"
- "I guess I was just scared."

Perona was baffled. Mihawk had been scared, but of what?

- "Umm, of what exactly?"
- "I didn't want you to hurt more than you already did."

She looked at him and sighed. Mihawk worried so much over her and Zoros well being when she didn't give him the same amount of care. She'll do better in the future.