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It was a weekly event; the Heart Pirates would gather and watch a movie every Saturday night as a way of rewarding themselves for a hard work week. It started as a treat for Bepo to spend quality time with his overworked captain and allow said captain a break. It was soon joined by the other members within the crew who also wanted time with their captain. It became a bonding moment for the members to rotate their movie choices and catch up on the week’s events or talk about the movie.
Tonight was Law’s choice. He usually mixed it up from B-rated horror, to slashers, to supernatural, to anything in-between. It all depended on what his mood was and how badly he wanted to scare his crew for the night. Tonight was supposed to be a mix of all three, so scary that even horror lovers would be spooked but still highly enjoyable as they also enjoyed the mystery.
Ash had spent most of the day contemplating any excuse to miss the movie, and during her free time, she researched the movie so she would be prepared for any jump scares or any other gruesome parts. Every part of it sounded horrifying, from an unkillable serial killer to people being mauled and killed in almost every other scene, to an ending that was highly controversial. Ash’s stomach churned at the thought of tonight. Her mind tried to find any excuse to avoid watching the movie but keep her dignity, and from embarrassing herself.
She figured Law got sick enjoyment seeing her scared. Bepo would be there and having a giant white teddy bear would ease her fear. Sighing, she put down her phone and went to find comfortable pajamas.
---
Law was in his study, finishing the last of his work for the night, his eyes lingering on the clock every few seconds. He wasn’t one to usually count the time, but today he did. He would glance at the clock every few hours for the first half of the day before it became every few minutes as night drew closer, and now it was every few seconds. He wasn’t usually this fidgety, but tonight was a special night.
He had chosen a movie that sounded interesting but was also the scariest, all because he enjoyed how easily frightened she got. The tough girl who usually hid her emotions through wit and snark became almost like a child when it came to the cheesy effects of a horror. Squirming at the bad special effects, jumping at the awful jump scares, and hiding her face in her hands before any of the gruesome scenes came. He did love hearing her whispering advice to the TV before the unbearable end came to characters. Unfortunately, the arms she ran to weren’t his, but Bepo’s.
He sighed, brushing his tattoo fingers through his hair, and glanced at the time—not even a minute had passed since he last glanced at the clock. He frowned and shut his book; again, he was too distracted to focus on work as his mind ran with all kinds of methods to have Ash run to his arms instead. She was attached to his best friend/bear and would find any seat next to him. He scratched the back of his head, trying not to think of his unusual behavior. Instead, he closed his eyes; he would take a quick nap before she arrived and clear his head.
“How long do you think before he wakes up?” Ash whispered; she was sitting in front of Law contemplating what to draw on the handsome doctor’s face. It was a rare moment when he had his eyes closed. His cheek rested on his fist and he barely stirred when she arrived. She was holding back every part of her that wanted to brush her fingers through his hair. “What should I draw?” she asked Bepo, who stood beside her with a look of concern on his face,
“How about a bear?” She moved the pen closer to Law’s cheek, ready to draw a cute little bear on his cheek.
“Don’t think about it,” Law said, grabbing her wrist, before the pen could even touch his cheek. One eye open, he stared at the culprit. He yawned and stretched, still holding Ash’s wrist. “Is it time already?” He tried to act like he hadn’t been eagerly waiting for Ash to arrive.
“Yeah,” Ash said, “I figured you wouldn’t have minded a bit more ink on your body.” She stuck out her tongue, still attempting to move the pen closer to his cheek. Law glanced at the time; he had closed his eyes for a second and half an hour passed. He yawned again, brushing his fingers through his hair as he glanced back at Bepo.
“Is everything ready?” he questioned.
Bepo nodded. “Everybody is in the room and waiting for the movie to start,” he answered.
Law glanced back at Ash, her amethyst eyes staring at him before looking away. He smirked seeing the faint pink on her pretty little face. His own heart was hammering. She had given up trying to draw on his cheek and was pouting. “Let’s go,” he ordered simply. He held her hand as they made their way to the lounge.
The lounge was filled with the Heart Crew, each one sitting comfortably in any place they could find and chatting excitedly about the movie. A recliner and loveseat sat purposely empty, with one large blanket on the love seat. It wasn’t much of the plan, but the Heart Crew understood their assignment: leave the love seat for their captain.
Law smirked. He would be the one holding Ash this time around.
“Bepo, sit with me,” Ash said, turning to the giant Polar Bear.
“I think you should sit next to captain,” Bepo stated, his cheeks a slight shade of pink.
----
Another jump scare as the serial killer got another victim, slashing her into bits. Bepo almost screamed, hiding his face with his giant white paws—it was a gruesome scene. Ash hid her face in Bepo’s white fur, not expecting such a horrific scene. She was for sure going to have nightmares tonight. She glanced at Law from the corner of her eyes—he had a smirk on his lips as he let out a deep chuckle. He seemed to enjoy this movie, and she frowned. She had hoped to see him squirming in his seat, but he seemed unbothered.
Another dreadful scream caught her off guard and another victim fell, and blood covered the ground. Ash shuddered, breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t look away. God, she was hating this movie as the masked killer’s evil laugh echoed through the room and his large footsteps creaked with each step. She felt a shiver run down her spine and hid her face in Bepo’s fur as she held him tightly, glad the giant bear was there for her to hug.
Law glanced at Ash and smiled; she looked so cute as she clung to Bepo. She was still trying to put on a brave face watching the movies. He didn’t really hear much sound from her other than a gasp and her whispering to the characters not to head in the direction of the killer. She wiggled in her seat, hiding her face when she could and covering her ears. He was still feeling a bit bitter that she chose Bepo as her protector instead of him. He let out a deep unsatisfied sigh as another slasher scene jumped on the screen. Ash gasped, hiding her face and fidgeting under the blanket.
She reached out to Law, wanting to hold his hand for extra comfort. She couldn’t handle this movie anymore; it was worse than she expected. “I am not scared,” she told Law halfheartedly when he held her hand. She took strange comfort in his warm hands wrapping around hers. His tattooed hand looked so much larger than hers. He didn’t say anything but gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance, checking her heart rate occasionally. Unusually high, but it made sense she was scared, so he stroked her thumb as comfort or squeezed it during jump scares.
Ash squeezed his hand as they neared the end. Right when the main character was about to get away, Ash let out a sigh of relief. The movie was ending and at least one person survived the crazy serial killer, meaning there was some hope for some happy ending and all the gruesome scenes long past. Law had his cheek resting on his free hand, more focused on the mystery of who was in control of everything, who set up everything. The killer appeared behind the lone survivor, ending her life just as he had many.
Ash almost screamed, jumping onto Bepo’s lap at the final scene before the ending credits started playing. She hated this movie and was so glad it was over; she was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight at the thought of the unkillable serial killer rising from the grave and coming after her. She shivered at the thought.
Bepo was also hiding his face with his giant paws, not having predicted the ending at all. He was just glad it was over when Law shut off the TV. He found that he enjoyed the movie and was curious about where the director would take the movie next. Penguin turned on the lights and sighed. The movie was more disturbing than he thought, and it left half the crew still squirming but excited to see the sequel.
“I think it was the master surgeon,” Jean-Bart said after a long minute of silence, thus beginning the discussion of who is the mastermind behind all the killing. It was, as the reviews said, cheesy with great suspension and atmosphere. Everyone joined in the discussion. Everyone but Ash.
Ash sat silently hugging the pillow, listening to the Heart Pirates talk; even Bepo who had been clinging to her was joining in the discussion. Ash had nothing to add. She was trying to forget what she just watched. Her heart was still hammering hard in her chest. Her body still felt cold and she could still see some images flash before her eyes. She hugged her body tighter as the conversation turned to their favorite scene, and her hands went over her ear.
She glared at Penguin and Shachi, those traitors. They had screamed and hugged one another in fear, but were now laughing and discussing with the group. They seemed unfazed by the horrors they just saw and were in fact joking and reenacting the scenes and teasing one another.
Traitors! She had watched them jump. Heard them scream and cry. They had hugged one another begging for the next scene not to come. And they were now...laughing. Even Bepo was joining in on the fun, though he was still shaking from a few scenes.
Ash hugged her knees, closing her eyes, as she tried to silence the chatter of the Heart Crew. Even Law chimed in thoughts on the movie, but he was making more analyzed guesses on everything. He chuckled at the more ridiculous parts of the movie. He kept his eyes on Ash. It was a little charming seeing her curled up and scared because of a simple horror movie when usually she was the first to challenge him, the first to run into danger, but also, the one to hide her fears.
He placed his hand on knee, catching her attention, and her erratic heartbeats jolted. “I think it is time for us to head to bed,” Law finally told the crew. He expected to hear moans and groans of his crew that he was ending the discussion early, but they all agreed quickly. His eyes narrowed, not missing the exchanging looks from each of his crew. What were they planning?
“You can stay here tonight,” Penguin said before Law could make the offer.
“We have a bedroom ready for you,” Shachi chimed in.
“It is getting late. It is better if you stay here,” Bepo said.
Ash agreed. Staring at Bepo’s black beady eyes, she had a hard time saying no to the bear. She couldn’t stare at Law’s golden eyes anymore. Her heart was hammering hard in her chest; she was afraid she would share her feelings and get denied.
---
The room was quiet other than the creaking of the floor, or the howling of the wind—all things that kept Ash up. She curled on the tiny bed, listening to the noise and imagining the killer behind each sound. She could hear tapping on the window. Peeking from her blanket, she could see the tree branch tapping at the window thanks to the wind.
Ash shivered, trying to keep her mind from running wild. What she saw was a movie; the half dead killer seeking revenge on a bunch of teenagers wasn’t real and everything she was hearing was just normal sounds of the Tang. She hummed an old lullaby to herself, trying to relax her beating heart as she hid her face in the blanket.
Creak.
She shot up as a sound that didn’t sound familiar echoed in her room. Her heart hammered faster. Her eyes tried to adjust to the dark room, taking in all the shadows and shapes of the familiar room. She was seeing things, she kept telling herself, hearing things like an unfamiliar shadow creeping through the window. She glanced at the window, seeing nothing but the shadows of a large tree.
She placed her hand on her beating heart to try to calm down; she had to take deep breaths to relax. This was all in her head. She wasn’t being haunted by a killer. She was in the Polar Tang; anyone would have to be crazy to mess with Law’s crew, dead or not. She could still hear some strange creaking. The sounds of footsteps grew louder and louder with the soft scratching sound of metal scratching on the floor.
This was all a dream, she told herself as glanced at the window. She heard a soft tapping sound, but all she could see were the tree branches swaying close to the window,never touching. Her eyes widened; she was dreaming, right? She had long fallen asleep, and this was now a dream, and this was just her subconscious reacting to everything. The sounds around her grew louder, and she could hear heavy breathing through the walls. The shadows around her moved, mocking her.
She then saw it, a white bloody hand rapping at the window slowly—she froze before she let out a terrified shirk.
--
Law was sitting at his desk looking over some final paperwork for the night. He brushed his fingers through his wet hair, having finished a shower ten minutes ago. His own mind cluttered with work as he finished one completed paperwork and picked up another one. He barely heard the knock on the door till it became more frantic.
He glared harshly at the door before standing up. Who would dare to come and bother him this late at night? Sighing, he walked towards the door, swinging it open; he was surprised when a blur of black knocked into him.
“Ash,” he said, a bit surprised. He could feel warm tears on his bare skin as she buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulder, and he glanced up to see Penguin, Shachi (who was covered in blood), and Bepo give him a thumbs up at the end of the hall. He pieced things together and helped lead Ash back to his room, closing the door behind them.
He tightened his grip around her when she tried to wiggle out of his arms. He led her to his bed, laying down with her, his legs tangling with hers. He could feel her breath on his chest as she buried her face in it. His fingers tangled in hair, keeping her close, as his other fingers traced the curves of her back softly.
Being in Law’s arms, Ash could feel herself starting to relax. She took in a deep breath, taking in his scent. He smelled of disinfectant, the bitter scent of medicine and his own distinct scent. She was feeling calm now, embarrassment now setting in. She had been so scared; her heart hammering hard in her chest because of fear was now hammering in her chest because of Law.
A few minutes of comforting silence passed between them. “I wasn’t scared,” Ash mumbled to Law, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the movie did scare her. She wasn’t weak. She ignored the way Law’s muscles moved when he chuckled.
“So, you ran to my arms because you missed me?” Law teased her.
“No,” Ash almost shouted but managed to keep her voice level, “I just wanted to warn you that the room was too cold.” She tried sitting up ready to leave, but Law’s grip was stronger.
“Alright, my room is warm,” he told her. “You can stay here for the night.”
Ash glanced away. His room was very warm; after all she’d caught him in only sweatpants. Her fingers traced his tattoo. She wanted to stay with him, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up when there were so many pretty girls around him. Smarter too, with brighter personalities that could handle watching horror with him.
Law cupped her cheek, tilting her head so she was looking at him, and her amethyst eyes stared back at him as he captured her lips. The kiss was soft. It was hesitant at first before it deepened. She wrapped her arms around Law, her fingers tangling with his hair and digging into his shoulder.
They pushed away from one another; their breathing heavy. “You can stay the night,” Law repeated again.
“Okay,” she whispered before she rested her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat; it was beating just as fast as hers. She didn’t think she could sleep after sharing such an intimate kiss with him, and her fingers went to her lips. His hands massaged her back, and before long, her eyes felt heavy and she went to sleep.
Law could feel her starting to drift off to sleep. He smiled gently, brushing a few strands off her cheek before giving her a gentle kiss. “I love you,” he whispered before he also fell to peaceful slumber holding her close.