Work Text:
It’s one of those nights. One of the really bad ones.
Most days the last thing Law would do is be vulnerable, let alone emotional, especially not in front of anybody else.
But as you pass by the door to his captain’s quarters aboard the Polar Tang you hear quiet sobs coming from inside. You knock on the door gently, concerned about your captain. “Captain? Can I come in?”
There’s no reply at first, but eventually the door is opened before you. The sight that meets you is jarring, to say the least – your normally so reserved captain standing before you in what appears to be his sleeping attire, eyes red and swollen, yet trying to gracefully wear the same stoic mask he usually sports.
His voice chokes up at first so it’s only at second attempt when he manages to speak. “Yes? What is it?”
You frown as you take in the sight of him, his cheeks tear-stained yet pretending that everything is normal. “What’s wrong, captain? I- I heard you crying from the hallway.”
Law visibly tenses up, drawing his barriers up. “Oh, that. It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Go back to sleep.”
You shake your head. “No, please, captain. Please tell me what’s wrong. I want to help, if I can. If… If you’ll let me.” Your voice is filled with genuine concern, wishing your stupidly proud captain could wrap his stubborn head around the idea of actually accepting somebody’s help.
To your surprise, he gives in a little. His mask drops for the fraction of a second as he admits. “I was just reminiscing. Thought about someone from my past. I’m okay, really.” But his hoarse voice betrays him, belying just for how long he must have been crying.
You sigh, knowing that you might have to get out the big cannons if you want to deal with this foolishly emotionally constipated man. Without giving him time to react, you take the step closer to him and wrap your arms around his body, springing the hug on him so suddenly that he doesn’t find the time to protest.
You can feel him tense up under your arms, as well as a faint tremble originating from within his shoulders. “Y-Y/N.”, he chokes out. You can feel just how barely Law is holding on to his composure.
“It’s okay, captain. I’m here for you, whatever it is you’re reminiscing about. It’s okay to be vulnerable, you know?”, you try and soothe and comfort him, trying to convince him to open himself up to you.
The comfort and sympathy seem to be more than he can bear. The last shred of his composure is ripped away as he comes undone in your arms, sobbing his heart out.
He tries to speak, no doubt wanting to distance himself or trying to save face, but he can’t. The sobs wreck through his body, his head burying against your shoulder as he pulls you into his room with him, closing the door behind you, trying to avoid any more crewmates seeing him in this state.
You shush him soothingly, rubbing your hand over his back comfortingly. “It’s okay, captain. I’m here. You can lean on me. You don’t need to be strong. It’s okay. Just let it out.”
Law initially seems to want to protest but thinks better of it as he continues sobbing into your embrace.
Eventually he has calmed himself enough to draw back from the hug a bit, looking into your eyes, his own puffy and red, his nose snotty. You’ve never seen your captain quite this… human. All hints of fierceness and pride are gone from his demeanour.
Finally, he manages to speak, looking down to the side. “I- I don’t know if the others have ever told you. About where I come from. About what I’ve lost. One person in particular… Cora-san.” It seems to cost him a significant amount of restraint to say that name without starting to cry yet again.
You nod. “Yeah. They’ve told me.” You hadn’t yet joined Law’s crew at the time of the events of Dressrosa, but Bepo in particular had taken his time in explaining that his captain was the best and coolest person ever and why he was the way that he was.
At the time you’d wondered if Law would be comfortable with you knowing all of this personal information about him, but now it’s coming in handy.
Law draws another shaky breath. “It’s- It’s been quite a while. Yet I can’t help it. Some nights the memories come flooding back, and I- I miss him. So goddamn much.” He leans into the hug again, hiding his face against your neck, another attempt to save face as he hides it away from you.
“It’s okay, captain. I understand. Loss… it never goes away. You might think you’ve healed, that you’ve recovered, but sometimes it comes back in like a tidal wave and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s okay to cry, captain.”
Law’s shoulders tremble against you as he tries to recover a bit. “Well, still, I can’t believe you heard me from the hallway. I should have better control over myself.” He mumbles, reprimanding himself.
You sigh, continuing the comforting motions of rubbing over his back. “Captain. You don’t need to always be in control. It’s okay. Noone on the crew would fault you for having feelings and caring about those you love.”
Law’s voice is shaky as he admits: “It’s just… sometimes I still find myself wishing it to just be a bad dream. That it was all one big nightmare, and that Cora-san is just at another island. That one day I’ll see him again, and he’ll be proud of me for how far I’ve come as a pirate.”
Your heart clenches as you listen to him. “Oh, captain. Hope is a powerful thing.”
Law sobs again, his body shaking. “I- I wish it had been me instead of him. That I could have saved him, somehow. Given my life in his stead.”
You don’t know what to reply to that, so you just tighten the hug, contemplating for a bit before saying: “Captain. We’re glad you’re alive. We’d all miss you greatly if you were gone. Me, Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, Ikkaku, Hakugan, Jean Bart. All of the crew. The Strawhats too, honestly. Probably even that stupid redhead, though he’d never admit it.”
Law scoffs slightly, the mention of his rival helping to distract him. “Eustass-ya? No way. He’d be glad to see me gone.”
You chuckle softly, drawing back from the hug and looking into his eyes, smiling softly. “Who knows? Maybe you two could have a seriously awesome enemies to lovers love story going on if you just gave each other a chance.”
Law cocks an eyebrow at you. “Now you’re just being delusional.”
You laugh softly. “Well, one can dream, right? I’d totally ship it.”
Law scoffs again, shaking his head. “Okay, for the sake of my sanity, don’t even talk about that ridiculous notion. That’s just… ugh.”
Then realization dawns on him – you’ve distracted him from his sadness and misery successfully, even if you got there through rather unconventional means.
He stares at you for a few seconds, then sighs, his lips twitching in what might be something akin to a smile. “Thanks, Y/N. Thank you for understanding. For… for being here for me.”
You smile at him, nodding earnestly. “Of course, captain. Any time. You can always have my shoulder to cry on if you need it. We all care about you, you know? You don’t need to keep your feelings to yourself.”
The faint smile becomes just a little more visible as Law nods. “Yeah. I’ll try to remember that. But it doesn’t do my reputation any favours to be a crybaby, you know? Who’s ever heard of an infamous pirate captain sobbing away in his quarters?”
The return of his dry humor is a good sign, and you feel relief flood through you at the fact that he’s starting to return back to normal now.
As much as you’d tried to help him, you’d panicked quite a bit earlier, wondering if you would even be able to do so in the first place. “Well, you are still human at the end of the day. And don’t worry. I’m not gonna tell anyone about it.” You wink at him. “I wouldn’t want to ruin your dating chances with your beloved Eustass-ya, after all.”
Within seconds of you saying that Law has “Shambles”’d one of the rings he’s wearing away, replacing it with a pillow from his bed which he throws right at you. You get hit square in the face, laughing in protest: “Hey! You’re getting awfully defensive about it. Resorting to getting physical over it? Eustass-ya would be proud.”
Law’s face is assuming a dark shade of red, whether it is because of being flustered or being angry, you can’t tell.
What you can tell is that you need to get out of your captain’s quarters to avoid the pillow bombardment being launched at you.
You grin as you run out, loudly chanting. “Kid and Law, sitting in a tree!”
As you escape through the hallway, you hear your captain’s voice calling after you. “You’re on laundry duty for the rest of the week for even suggesting that!” And then a quieter, somewhat affectionate, “Idiot.”, added after.
