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Shanks, for all that counted (and it was not much, being raised in the sea and all.) was not from the East Blue. Captain was, though, and that was more than enough for both him and Buggy to internalize a few things. Captain was ingrained in their lives, all the way from their manners and speech patterns to the quietly-given-one-morning recipe to that super secret tea that somehow ended any stomach ache they ever had; but, the one thing that Captain introduced that just kept reappearing on key moments of their life together was dancing, of all things.
Roger had been a little weird for most pirates, always laughing and adventure hungry, and yet, he used to say that the most important people on any ship were the musician, the cook, and the navigator. Not the captain, not the fighters or the snipers: the musician, the cook, and the navigator. When they were little, Captain explained it to them; “a musician to have music, a cook to have food and a navigator to keep you on the route to adventure” , like that was all a crew really needed. Shanks didn’t really understand the need for music at first, actually doubted it for years, but he understood eventually; six months or so on his own adventure, when the sounds of his crewmates' voices stopped being endearing and started being annoying and the need for a good musician became abundantly clear.
(Buggy understood it instantly, but the other boy had always valued performers, mostly because he was one at heart, Shanks didn’t doubt that there was a certain kinship there.)
For all the importance Captain gave to music and dance, the first time Shanks ever danced in his life was at ten years old, coincidently, it had been with Buggy; the whole thing happened when Captain had a (relatively) small fit about how their brand new Grandline companions did not know how to dance, demanding them to take lessons for it. Shanks and Buggy did not think they would be roped into the mess, but like his eyes had just been opened to the horrors of the world, Captain noticed that they did not know how to dance either . Deciding to drag them into the lessons as well, because “there was no way in hell that he was going to let his boys spend their life without knowing how to dance!”
(Captain always called them his boys , with that big smile of his, Shanks had always loved it.)
It had been beyond awkward, dancing with Buggy like that (Captain had decided a slow song would be best for a first time, Shanks didn’t get that close to Buggy again for weeks after the fact.) with all the adults around them looking, stupid amused smiles painting their faces. (Rayleigh-san told them a few years later that the crew actually bet on when they would realize their “little crushes” on each other, to their horror, Gaban apparently won it.) And yet, because their lovable, stupid Captain was a stubborn man that really, really wanted them to know how to dance, both him and his very unwilling partner learned how to lead and be led within the week. Not that knowing made it any less weird or made them any less stiff, but they knew , and their captain was beyond proud of them for catching on so fast. Gifting them all the attention and extra candy he could smuggle in before dinner without Rayleigh-san noticing and getting mad at the three of them.
There were quite a few more dances after that, all of them in between the really important ones, he held them all close to heart in the amalgamation of Buggy-and-Shanks-Shanks-and-Buggy growing up and falling in love. He adored each and every one of them, but the really important ones actually ended up in this category because they were, well, really important.
Their first kiss was on one of these really important dances, just the two of them and a tone dial they had stolen from Captain’s room with a somewhat slow romantic song recorded onto it. Shanks couldn’t really remember what it was about, but he could remember Buggy’s small smile while they danced, and how cute Shanks thought he was with his (recently added to his overall look.) blood-red lipstick. It had been a very pretty night, with a shining full moon and an array of stars littering the sky. It made Shanks feel like he could do anything , even something like kissing Buggy on the mouth and not instantly dying from it. ( It most probably had actually been the liquid courage given by shitty, stolen sake instead of the moon and stars, but Shanks had always been a hopeless romantic and would stay one until the end.) He could still vividly remember how Buggy’s lips tasted like the cheap alcohol they had just drank and pure unabashed happiness . At one point, he thought it was because back then, he had been thirteen, kind of drunk and experiencing love for the first time; funnily enough, being with Buggy never stopped feeling like that.
Shanks could also vividly remember the punishment that they were given on the next day for stealing booze and the tone dial. The screaming they got from Rayleigh for that went on for at least two hours, and it only stopped because Captain ended up curious about what exactly they were doing with both those things. And because they never really learned how to lie to Captain, Shanks and Buggy started stuttering, red in the face, hopelessly trying and failing to not look suspicious. That only ended up leading to a lot of teasing about their cute puppy love from their crew's part. It did not save them from being ordered to clean the entirety of the Oro Jackson for stealing, though. (It had been beyond shitty at the time, but Shanks looked fondly at it now, like all memories on the Oro, this one was permanent rose-colored)
They started dating during a dance, a few weeks after that first kiss; the Whitebeard and Roger pirates were in different levels of blackout drunk and passed out around them, the musicians slowly playing something calm, not even singing, just there, quietly playing and watching over them and their comrades. Shanks didn’t care for their eyes (or Marco’s, as he would find out in the morning, when the older boy started teasing them non-stop.) in the slightest, as his focus was only on Buggy and the way he shone under the moonlight.
Asking Buggy to be his had been laughably easy, almost as if it was a natural progression of their life; Buggy’s little “ yes. ” was said while his head was hidden on Shanks shoulder, the image was burned on Shanks memory by this point, Buggy was rarely bashful after all.
(The musicians only stopped playing when Buggy looked him in the eyes, several minutes later, and kissed him softly.)
They didn’t dance after Captain disbanded the crew, they continued to not dance for a long time after Captain’s death, the grief too strong, the memories too fresh. But eventually they did start to again; five years after his death, Shanks and Buggy decided to take their heads out of their asses and plan a party for Captain’s anniversary, with his favorite booze, food and music. (If they cried while dancing Captain’s and miss Rouge’s favorite song, no-one dared to mention.)
They broke up seven years after that party, caused by one too many fights about how Shanks “ never came back to the East anymore!” , and how “ being an Emperor of the sea was risky!” , about how Buggy would “ never come to the Grandline ever again, not even if Shanks swore to protect him with his life!” . Shanks ended up on Dawn island after that, hoping to drink his heartbreak away, (Captain always said Dawn island had the best booze.) but, instead of that, he lost an arm and found the boy who would one day become Pirate King. (He also found the booze, but he never really drank his heartbreak away, Buggy was his one true love, after all.)
He didn’t see Buggy for a decade after leaving East Blue and Luffy behind, almost felt like a new man for a while; no hat, no arm, no Buggy, and an empire to build. (So many islands to be responsible over, so many people to be responsible over, Captain never took territory when he was alive, but Shanks was not Captain, he had always yearned for peace more than he yearned for the biggest treasure in the world.)
But Buggy was here now, alive, wearing Shanks clothes and looking at the sea while sitting on Shanks ship. Alive after months on Impel Down, alive after surviving another war, but life was such a fleeting thing; anchor and his brother barely escaped the battlefield, Whitebeard didn’t, deciding to end his era of piracy on one big last hooray.
(Buggy could’ve died today.)
And because of that, (because either of them could die at any moment, because they had seen men stronger than them die without any way of being saved, because they could lose each other so easily, because life was so short and fleeting for them to not be by each other’s side.) Shanks walks up to Buggy and asks him if he wants to dance.
(Buggy says yes with a fake scowl on his face.)