Chapter Text
Rosinante Donquixote, known more commonly among his peers as Corazon or simply Cora, had been deployed overseas for many, many years.
He had left behind a young man who may as well have been his son, Law Trafalgar, as well as a young person who was practically his child as well (seeing as they’d married Law a few months after his deployment and had been dating him for several years prior), Soren. The two lived in a home he paid for, at least at the time while Law was getting started in his medical career, and he spoke to them often before his most recent deployment. He loved those crazy kids, really ― Soren was a delight to be around, and they kept Law from overworking himself when they could, which was an invaluable skill and something that Corazon appreciated deeply. Law didn’t take very good care of himself when he got an idea in his head.
Still, this last deployment had dragged on for a long time ― nearly six years, in fact ―, and he’d been busier than he ever recalled being. He’d barely spoken to Law the entire time, and the last they’d spoken the conversation had been rather clipped on both ends from Corazon’s tiredness and Law’s apparent stress.
Now, finally back where he belonged, he thought he might try to pay his adoptive children a visit ― provided they hadn’t changed the locks when they took over paying the rent four years ago, he still had his own key, and last he knew they didn’t mind him dropping in from time to time unannounced. In fact, Soren always used to be delighted to have him over as it gave them an excuse to cook and share the baked goods they’d made recently.
So he slid his key into the lock and entered the home, still tired from the trip home, but admittedly rather excited to be here and see them again. The two of them brought him a sense of peace, in the past. He doubted it would be too incredibly different now.
The smell of something baking greeted him as soon as he’d opened the door, and he took a moment to close and re-lock the door, then take off his shoes, before proceeding to the kitchen. That smell could only mean that Soren was hard at work in there.
As he expected, Soren was at the stove when he entered the room, though they were already turned toward him and grinning from ear to ear.
“Cora!” They greeted, “Oh, I didn’t know you were back!”
“Hello, Bunny.” He greeted in turn, sweeping them into a hug when they practically pounced at him for one. “I got in a couple of hours ago. How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” They laughed, squeezing his shoulders and smiling up at him when he sat them back down on the tile floor, “Things have been crazy, but I’m doing fine. And how are you? You look tired.”
“I am,” He chuckled, “It’s been a long six years away.”
Soren opened their mouth as if to reply, only to be interrupted by…
… A child’s voice?
“BUNNY!” Cried the small voice, “Bunny, Bunny, Bunny!”
Directing his gaze downward, he was faced with a toddler, scarcely knee height to Soren, tottering in with a paper clutched to its little chest. He blinked.
“Bunny!” Said the child, again, “Lookie! Lookie wha’ I did!”
It pulled the paper away and turned it so that Soren could see what was on the page, presenting it proudly, with a huge grin on its tiny face. And Soren squatted to the child’s level immediately, already “ooh”ing.
“It looks really good, Cub!” They gushed, “I love it!”
The kid giggled happily and stamped its little feet in excitement.
What… Was a child doing here?
Since when did a child live here?
How was there a child here?
Many, many questions, and very few answers. He couldn’t get his mouth to open to ask Soren any of them. He was just… Bewildered, he supposed, by the presence of a child in this place. He hadn’t spoken to Law recently, but he was certain he’d have heard about a child being here… Wouldn’t he? Law would tell him something like that.
He’d scarcely had time to start wondering if Law would or wouldn’t tell him he’d taken a child in, or Soren had begun babysitting, or anything of that nature, before the child looked up at him. He blinked. The child blinked back. The child let go of the drawing with one hand and slowly pointed at him.
He furrowed his brows. Why…?
“Bird.” The child said, with an air of finality. Then, grabbing the corner of the drawing again, shoved the drawing toward him so he could see. “Lookie!”
Had he just been nicknamed by a child?
He decided not to dwell on it, instead squinting down at the drawing ― it appeared to be of Law, Soren, and the child, although Soren had been given their rabbit ears even though they were in human form, and Law had been given ears and a tail of some kind. The child had Soren’s ears and the same kind of tail as Law.
… Odd, but that was children for you.
He managed to say, “That looks nice,” And that seemed to be more than enough for the child as it burst into excited giggles again.
He did not manage to ask Soren anything, this time, because Law entered the room, looking tired and just a little annoyed, though he seemed to brighten a little at seeing Corazon.
“Cora,” He greeted, with a small smile, “It’s good to see you, sorry I didn’t get out here sooner ― I was in a meeting.”
“It’s alright,” He assured him, “I didn’t even know you were home.”
Law laughed, then turned to the little child, who was kind of just looking at him. He smiled, much brighter now, and scooped the child up like it was nothing. “And hello to you, too, Cai. How about you show Papa what you made?”
Papa?
Oh.
Oh.
Law had―
Law had had a child while he was gone.
A whole child!
… So why hadn’t he told him?
Sure, they’d only spoken a handful of times during his deployment, but that was important information!
He stood there a moment, partially to allow Law to look at the drawing, partially to mull over the possible reasons why he hadn’t been told about this child. It seemed unlikely that Law would purposely withhold that information, especially considering he didn’t seem upset that Cora was here and seeing the child now, and surprises were more Soren’s style than Law’s. Certainly they could have convinced him to keep quiet so they could have their fun, but it… Hm, it didn’t seem like that was it, either.
It was Law who broke the silence, cocking his head at him, “You look confused.”
“... Was anyone going to tell me you two had a child while I was gone, or…?”
Soren and Law blinked at him.
And then Soren’s eyes went comically wide, mouth dropping open, and the blood seemed to drain from Law’s face.
“Oh my God.” Soren said, “Oh my God we didn’t tell― We didn’t tell you?”
“How the hell did I forget to tell you Soren was pregnant?” Law asked, furrowing his brows, “That was… I don’t know how I didn’t tell you.”
Soren laughed, and Corazon let himself laugh as well. He knew those faces, those tones ― they really had just forgotten to say anything. They had clearly even thought that they’d already told him. It certainly explained the lack of explanation from Soren when the child came tottering in, or from Law when he entered the room. If he already knew, there was little point.
Although an introduction still would have been nice.
Law scrubbed his face with his free hand, sighing, and the child mimicked him with a giggle. It got a smile to grace Law’s face again.
“Well.” He said, shifting the kid in his grip, “Cora, this is my son Cai Rhys. Cai, this is Corazon.”
“Hi, Bird!” Chirped Cai, waving.
“Hello, Cai,” He waved back.
“Already got a nickname, huh?” Law asked, snickering.
“Oh, as soon as he noticed Cora he gave him one.” Soren replied before Cora could, “I’m not surprised.”
“Neither am I.” Law sighed, shaking his head, “He’s about four, and Soren being pregnant was probably the closest we’ve ever come to getting a divorce. Just because they were so annoyed with me for mother-henning them.”
Thinking back, Cora did remember a couple of calls where Law seemed more stressed than usual. Soren being pregnant and then having a child could have reasonably caused that reaction… Huh.
Interesting.
“I just can’t believe you somehow neglected to tell Cora about it at the time.” Soren shook their own head, “You told anyone who would listen. You told Bepo so many times he threatened to smack you.”
Law laughed, and somehow Cora didn’t doubt that that was the truth. Still, it was a little disheartening to know that he hadn’t been around for Law’s excitement, or to help keep both he and Soren from getting too stressed out if at all possible.
Oh well. He was here now.
“Cub,” Called Soren, listening for a reply as they emerged from the bathroom after a shower.
They hadn’t left him alone for long, half an hour at most, but the house was eerily quiet even with their powerful ears ― with a seven year old, that was almost never a good sign, and they’d learned that the hard way. Still, when no answer came, they frowned a little. They knew he hadn’t left the house, because they could hear him breathing and they’d have heard the front door opening and closing, as well as any windows.
Listening a little closer, they let the quiet sounds of his breathing lead them to where else but his bedroom.
It was around three in the afternoon, so it was odd to find him in there when he usually opted to spend his weekend days out in the living room or in the kitchen with them.
The reason why he was in there became obvious when they looked ― he laid in the middle of his floor, face-first in a large, heavy looking book, clearly asleep. They couldn’t help the smile that crept onto their face, but managed to hold back the laugh. Oh, really? Again? He was doing this again?
They recognized the book he was face-first in, seeing as it was one of Law’s old anatomy textbooks that usually lived on a bookshelf in his office. Cai must have snuck it out again, and they weren’t surprised. It was hardly the first time, nor would it be the last they were sure.
Still, they knew they’d need to give him a talking to when he woke ― Law would be pretty mad if he found out Cai was borrowing his books without asking, especially since he himself still referred to them from time to time, and Cai wasn’t exactly the most graceful child on the planet. If Cai damaged any of the books and simply put it back on the shelf…
Well, at worst Law would turn very red in the face and stand there with his eyes twitching for a while, then give Cai a very stern lecture because it would be obvious who did it, but it was still something Soren would prefer to avoid. Cai cracked easy under pressure from his parents and it always made both them and Law feel awful when they had to reprimand him. As long as Soren caught it early and was gentle, they wouldn’t have to face Cai struggling to listen while he tried not to start crying.
He was a smart kid, he knew that he only got reprimanded when he’d done something to deserve it, and he understood what he’d done wrong each time, but Soren certainly understood why it still made him tear up.
They shook their head and carefully removed the book from beneath his face, taking it back to Law’s study only after carefully examining it for any damage and, of course, marking the page Cai had last been on. There was no reason to make him hunt for it the next time he borrowed it.
He didn’t have a whole lot of time to work with ― his Bunny only left the house to go shopping a couple of times a month, and almost never without making sure he was closely watched. Which meant they usually left Papa Ace to watch him. This time, they’d left him with Papa Luffy, who, yeah, sure, was good at watching him or whatever, but didn’t eagle-eye him the whole time Bunny was gone. Now, Luffy had finally settled in to just sort of talk while he did his own thing, which meant he had an opening.
Cai Rhys scrambled as quietly as he could into the kitchen under the sound of Luffy telling a story from his school days. He listened, of course, but his mind was elsewhere.
Pranking his Bunny was no easy task, but he was gonna do it today!
He pulled open the utensils drawer and plucked up one item ― the teaspoon from his Bunny’s measuring spoon set. He made sure the half-teaspoon and quarter-teaspoon spoons were still there, then giggled as he clambered up onto Bunny’s stool and leaned to be able to place the teaspoon carefully behind Dad’s coffee pot. Hidden, but not lost, and easily recovered. In fact, it was likely that Bunny would notice it before they even got started baking when they got back, which would be fine, but also anticlimactic.
Scrambling back down, he waltzed back into the living room like nothing had happened and settled in to wait.
His Bunny returned, with Papa Ace in tow, half an hour later, arms laden with groceries since it was the first grocery trip of the month. Honestly, he was a little impressed that they managed to get all that in under two hours. Then again, Bunny and Papa Ace were a terrifyingly efficient shopping duo.
“Luffy,” Bunny said, “Can you grab the rest?”
“Sure thing!” He chirped, hopping up from his chair and all but sprinting out the door. His arms reentered the doorway long before he did, laden with the rest of the groceries from the car. “Here we go!”
Cai hopped up from his own spot to help his Bunny and Papa Ace unload the groceries from Luffy’s arms and start putting some of it away ― he noticed there was some pumpkin stuff being left out, and the bread pans were on the stove, so he left out what he knew for sure was needed for pumpkin bread. Two new bags of chocolate chips, a huge can of pumpkin puree, and a couple new bottles of spices made their way onto the counter.
With the groceries put away, Cai placed himself on one of the kitchen chairs while his Bunny got started on the pumpkin bread.
He barely refrained from giggling when they opened the drawer to withdraw their measuring spoons, particularly when their brow furrowed.
“Where…?” They murmured, and spent a couple of moments digging around in the drawer before apparently giving up.
“Missing something, Bunny?” He asked, innocently.
“My teaspoon,” They said, brow still furrowed as they measured out their spices without it, “It must be in the dishwasher still.”
“Oh, maybe.” He said, “I haven’t seen it.”
They hummed, and continued on their way.
It wasn’t until they’d moved over to the stove with their mixing bowl, ready to pour the mixture into the cake pans, that they stopped. They sat the bowl down on the counter, squinting, and reached behind the coffee pot that sat not two feet from the stove. Cai bit his lip, struggling not to laugh or start squirming, as they gingerly plucked up the teaspoon that had been hiding there.
They held it up to inspect it, slowly turning toward him, and raised a brow.
He burst into giggles pretty much immediately, unable to hold up under their scrutiny, and watched their lips twitch as they tried not to follow him into laughter.
“Brat,” They finally said, when he’d stopped laughing, and then followed him when he fell back into laughter.
They stepped over to ruffle his hair, tossed the teaspoon over toward the sink, and shook their head as they continued about their business. They knelt carefully to put the pans in the oven, and Cai of course hopped down to help them, getting a tiny snort of “Law Jr,” when he shooed them off toward their stool. But they went, and he finished putting the pans in and closed up the oven. His Bunny clicked their timer, and he got back into his seat so they could both wait it out while his Bunny sighed and rubbed at their swollen belly.
Law was used to getting in at two or three in the morning after a long shift, and it wasn’t uncommon even after the additions of Sabo, Ace, and Luffy to the household for him to find Soren and Cai awake when he arrived home. Really, it was weirder to come home to all the lights off save for the living room lamp that was left on when he was out late so he could see when he returned.
Tonight, that was what he returned to.
Odd, but not completely unexpected ― Soren had only gotten home from the hospital after giving birth to their second baby, Tammi, about three weeks ago, and he knew they were exhausted most of the time right about now. Of course, between Ace and Luffy and Cai he imagined it wasn’t hard for Soren to get to sleep or otherwise rest while those three took care of the baby. Admittedly he still wasn’t eager to leave an infant with Luffy, himself, but he seemed to do okay as long as he wasn’t left alone with small children.
He snorted and shook his head, padding quietly through the house to the bedroom and shutting off the living room lamp on his way.
There was a soft, warm glow coming from beneath the bedroom door when he arrived, and experience told him that it was only Ace ― it was too muted to be any of the lamps, and was just bright enough to ensure you could move around the bedroom without tripping if you were careful. Side effect of his Devil Fruit, if Law recalled.
Something he never would have believed in if not for his own experience and his spouse’s rabbit forms, of course.
He quietly popped the door open, finally beginning to take off any unnecessary items… Like the stethoscope he hadn’t meant to bring into the apartment. He paused midway through closing the door with it in his hand, blinking at the sight before him.
His ten, almost eleven-year-old son, was laying just outside the cuddle pile of his other parents, holding his infant sister to his chest. More surprising was that he was clearly wide awake, staring down at her with big, adoring eyes as he leaned against the headboard where Law usually slept.
“Hey, Papa,” He greeted, very quietly, glancing over to him and smiling.
“Hey, Cub.” He greeted in return, setting his stethoscope down on the bedside table, “What are you doing up? Soren’s asleep.”
A quiet laugh. “I’m watching Tammi.” He said, as if that should be obvious, “I wanna make sure she doesn’t wake Bunny up.”
Reasonable enough, and he knew Cai already had issues with insomnia anyway so he’d probably decided to watch Tammi because he coudln’t sleep to begin with, so he sighed.
“Alright,” He said, “Try to get some sleep though, okay?”
“Will do, Papa,” Cai promised, then carefully got up out of the bed and slipped out of the room, no doubt headed to Tammi’s nursery.
Law had to wonder if he’d been waiting up for him as much as he’d been watching Tammi.
He shook his head and went to change out of his scrubs.
Before laying down ― which he very sorely wanted to after being out of the house for nearly twenty hours ―, he went to Tammi’s nursery just to see if Cai had gone to bed. For now, the child seemed content sitting curled up in the rocking chair and watching his sister sleep. He didn’t look up or acknowledge Law, this time, so he made his way back to the bedroom and finally, finally laid down to sleep.
Of course, he woke up with a faceful of Soren’s fluff, and one of Luffy’s legs thrown over his, and Ace’s very warm arm under his pillow. Not unusual.
He extracted himself as he did most mornings, receiving a grumbled morning greeting from Ace and little else except disgruntled mumbling from Soren and Luffy. Had Sabo been there instead of off traveling, there would have likely been some mixture of the two reactions from him. He returned Ace’s greeting, did his usual morning business, and made his way to Tammi’s room to see if Cai had ever gone to bed and see if Tammi needed anything.
He found Cai still in the rocking chair, fast asleep.
He sighed, smiling fondly down at the child as he lifted him from the chair. Cai hardly even stirred except to nuzzle into his chest. He would prefer if he’d gone to bed for real, but he knew how Soren, and by extension Cai, worked. Wherever they happened to fall asleep was where they went to sleep, it didn’t really matter to them.
Still, he carried Cai to his room and tucked him in, kissing his forehead before he headed back to the nursery. Tammi could be a handful first thing in the morning, but he was happy to ensure she was taken care of before anyone else had to wake up.
The rocking chair had become pretty familiar to Ace over the last four months.
He was, after all, spending pretty much every other night sitting in it when he could stay awake long enough. Thankfully when Tammi happened to wake up when he’d fallen asleep, she managed to wake him up pretty quickly. Thankfully she wasn’t loud enough that it woke up Soren as well, so long as he got to her fast enough.
He stifled a yawn, blinking rapidly.
Tammi was still fast asleep when he leaned over to check her, so he relaxed for a moment. He paused, however, hearing shifting and footsteps somewhere else in the apartment. It was late enough he knew it wasn’t Luffy, and Law had come home and gone to bed hours ago. It could be Soren or Cai, given their insomnia, but it was more likely to be Cai. He’d been cursed with far more frequent insomnia episodes ever since Tammi was born, after all, which was why Ace was where he was right now.
Cai only slept consistently if Soren did and if he knew Tammi was safe and taken care of.
When footsteps started toward the nursery, he assured himself that it was probably Cai.
… And then Soren peeked into the room, raising one tired and unimpressed brow.
“So.” They said, “That’s why she hasn’t been waking me up.” Their brows dropped and they frowned at him, “Ace you don’t have to stay up every single night to make sure I can sleep―”
“I’m not staying up every night,” He countered, then almost physically recoiled.
Shit. Now they knew he had an accomplice.
Which meant Cai’s cover was going to be blown any minute.
He stifled another yawn despite that.
“Then who else is staying up?” Soren asked, still unimpressed.
“... Uh.”
“I know the hell it isn’t Luffy, you both know Law would flip his shit if you left Luffy awake with her all night.”
“I... plead the fifth?”
Soren snorted, but, shaking their head, jerked their thumb toward their shared bedroom. “Go to sleep, Sparkler.”
Ah, had to whip out the nickname, huh? He sighed, putting his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m going.” He carefully got up, sending concerned little glances at Tammi’s crib at every little creak or groan of the chair despite being fully aware that she slept like a little log. “Okay, she, uh, she usually doesn’t wake up unless you pick her up?”
“Bed, Ace.”
He gave them a wry grin, stifled another yawn, and (gratefully, if he was honest) headed off to bed.
Soren watched him go, then turned toward the chair and crib once more. Admittedly they’d been suspicious about how well they’d slept lately ― Cai used to wake them up at all hours of the night when he was a newborn. Foolishly they’d assumed that Tammi was just sleeping like a rock every night, but now that they’d hit a patch of insomnia they’d found out that at least one of their boys was watching her every night and probably silencing her before she could wake anyone else up.
They shook their head.
How in the world Ace and whoever else had kept it up for four months without them finding out was beyond them, especially given Ace’s tendency to fall asleep at any given moment.
They eased themself into the chair with a soft huff.
Oh well.
They appreciated the effort, truly, but it wasn’t any better for the others to be staying up to deal with the child than it was for them to do it themself. Though they imagined, this way, there was always someone available. Or it seemed that way, at the very least, given they hadn’t been woken up by Tammi crying a single time in her short four months of life.
They shook it off and settled in for what was sure to be a long, quiet night.
Soon enough, however, there were footsteps.
A tired looking Cai wandered right in, rubbing his eyes, then did a comical sort of double-take at seeing them sitting there.
“Oh.” He said, “Hi Bunny. Guess you caught Papa Ace, huh?”
Oh.
Of course Cai was the other one. They could have smacked themself ― Cai was like a miniature them when it came to getting an appropriate amount of sleep. He suffered from insomnia just the same as they did, if not more often these days if his dark circles were anything to go by, and he loved Tammi Lami to pieces. So of course he’d be staying up part-time to watch her.
“Yes, I did.” They said, “Go back to bed, Cai, I’ve got this covered.”
He gave them a very close approximation of Law’s signature unimpressed look, which almost made them snort from how ridiculous it was, and said, “Ah, yes, let me just go lay back down and― Yeah, not happening.”
“Cub.”
“Bunny.”
“Cub.”
“Bunny.”
They sighed, heavily.
He just kept giving them that look. “You know I can’t, Bunny,” He finally said, “You think I want to be awake? Tonight wasn’t even my shift.”
“Your shift?”
“Papa Ace and I take turns.” He shrugged, and plopped himself down on the ground, “Sometimes I come in here on his shifts if I can’t sleep and cuddle him.”
“... Was that the plan tonight?” They couldn’t help asking, lifting a brow.
He hummed an affirmative, and they decided they may as well give up. He’d be awake for a while yet, they were sure. Nothing they could do about it but sit and wait until one of them fell asleep.
Historically, Cai usually fell asleep first.
That remained true tonight.