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The smoke from his cigarette flies up and up in lazy waves as red eyes stare fixedly at the group playing around in the snow, a confusing but pleasant feeling of contentment and satisfaction taking root in his chest when he finds the one with the black and white spotted hat being dragged to a snowball fight. He knows that if he truly didn’t wish to participate in the antics of this group he’d simply move away and firmly refuse, but this is the complaining of someone too embarrassed to participate in something deemed “childish” even when he really wishes to be part of the fun.
Perhaps that’s why the contemplating blond stays in his spot, keeping an eye on them and their surroundings while enjoying a bit of solitude and indulging in his vice. The smoke mixes with his own exhales that the cold makes visible, and he allows the peaceful silence to permeate the space around him.
Silence has always been both his refuge and an imposed prison, always blanketing his steps with a smothering layer of secrecy and deceit, always making him more of an outsider and a spectator, but always protecting him from the harsh stares that people direct his way. He takes another drag of his cigarette when a black feathered coat is placed over his shoulders and a presence drapes itself over his back.
“Why aren’t you out there having fun, mi corazón?”"my heart?"
He holds back his shudder out of pure force of will before grabbing his notepad and opening it on a new page, “What for?”
“Call it team bonding,” Doflamingo replies, immediately breaking into laughter while Rosinante groans internally, “And put your coat on properly, or you’ll catch a cold.”
He knows his brother, he can recognize the interest in his gaze and the playful malice in his laughing words, so he sighs silently and raises his notepad, “Shall we join them, then?”
Doflamingo smirks, and Rosinante puts on his coat before allowing himself to be dragged by the arm towards the snowball fight the younger members of the Donquixote Pirates started. He tries to go easy on the kids, especially because the Trafalgar brat seems to keep on getting worse, but he can’t break his facade in front of his brother and going easy on kids he’s thrown out of windows and slapped before would call more attention to his actions that if he went full out against the brats.
Still, he tries to avoid hitting Trafalgar as much as possible. After all, what good is there in hitting someone when they’re down? He’s choosing to ignore the fact that Trafalgar seems to be targeting him specifically even when the brat joins forces with the other miniature annoyances and he’s being buried under a nonstop barrage of snowballs.
Corazón does take a second to glare at his brother when Doflamingo starts laughing hysterically, quickly pointing at the main instigator with his jaw and baring his fangs both as a way to say “I’m going after the brat for this” and as a request for permission. He smirks at his brother when he gives him back a deranged smile and both move with the coordination they’ve relentlessly worked to achieve in combat.
The kids don’t really stand a chance once both brothers work as a solid unit, and Doflamingo takes his time gloating about their victory over the kids. Rosinante gives himself five minutes of allowing the warmth in his chest to fight the chill of this winter island before stepping to the side and forcefully reminding himself of his duty. With that heavy reminder he goes back to the Numancia Flamingo and once again rests his arms on its taffrail while cigarette smoke curls over his head and mixes with the clean air.
There are many things weighing heavily in his head, and there’s no one he can talk to about the topics clouding his judgment.
Sengoku is not an option, Belle-Mère dropped all contact or communication and her crew was found slaughtered not long after that with her considered dead and lost to the sea, Garp might be willing to listen but he won’t ever be willing to understand, and his best friend disappeared the day Rosinante begged him with desperation in his gaze to escape as far away when he realized they were going to hunt down Roger’s legacy.
Rosinante is alone, and it hurts like nothing he’s ever experienced even during training.
He tunes back into the happenings around him when he notices that the only one still outside of the Numancia Flamingo’s protection against the snow is the Trafalgar brat. He’s shivering, and he’s sluggish, and it’s so fucking obvious that he’s feverish that Rosinante is actually amazed at his brother not noticing or not doing anything about the current situation, especially when he knows that Doflamingo has been grooming Trafalgar as a successor to the “Corazón” seat. (He’s been ignoring that whole situation that can only mean his death, because a small part that still looks at the monster that Doflamingo became and thinks “Aniue” cries and bleeds and trashes and dies all over again when the inkling of doubt crosses his mind, because the eight year old in his head that was hanged besides his brother screeches that “Aniue will never betray us, he’s our protector!” And Rosinante doesn’t have the mental strength to fight against the manifestation of his need for familial love and approval.)
Still, even when he looks at Trafalgar struggling, Rosinante has a role he needs to play, has attitudes and loud opinions despite his muteness that he needs to stick by. So in order to keep his careful facade he stares, he lets himself smile a little sadistically when he notices the brat trip, he clicks his tongue when Trafalgar straightens up without falling and complains mentally to an uncaring universe as to why a dying kid has better equilibrium than a 26 year old adult man, and he keeps an eye out in case there is anyone around — there isn’t, his Observation is constantly active when on the Numancia Flamingo and he knows the island is safe.
When Trafalgar finally falls — collapsing near the ship but not in the ship — Rosinante stays standing for a few more minutes. He’s been keeping an eye on how much Trafalgar is shaking, because he knows enough to know it would be dangerous the second the child stops trembling, and he’s worried enough to not actually let any of the kids die under his watch. He waits, he watches, he keeps an eye on the members of the Donquixote Family with his Haki, and finally he goes to pick up the child in the snow.
The first thing he notices is that Law is cold, but he’s at least still shaking. The second thing is that he’s tiny.
Rosinante knows he’s a tall guy, and the size difference is so clear when he’s holding the child in his arms securely. It’s with fascination that he realizes that one of his hands covers Law almost completely, but there’s softness in his eyes when he lets himself acknowledge that the child is nuzzling against his jacket.
He takes care to move Law back onto the ship, holding him securely against his chest and covering him in dark feathers before he allows himself to move to the bunk rooms at the belly of the ship. By what his Haki can detect, Baby 5, Dellinger, and Buffalo are all in the same room so he surrounds himself with Calm and walks.
He only stops once when Doflamingo gives him a sign to step closer to him. He can feel the cold sweat run down his back as he dissipates the Calm bubble, but he takes great care to maintain his expression neutral and he knows that Law’s shape is unnoticeable thanks to the thick coat and the excessive feathers.
“Mi Corazón, have you seen our little doctor?” He makes a disgusted face and shakes his head as Doflamingo laughs, and under the coat he gently caresses Law’s back while convincing himself that his actions are to stop Law from waking up screeching and ruining everything. “Well, if you find him running around try to make sure he reaches his room safely,” Rosinante huffs, before tilting his head to the side and leaving once Doflamingo dismisses him.
The easily ignorable weight is concernedly light and crushingly heavy. This is the same child he’s thrown out of windows, that he’s tripped without care, that he has slapped around in order to maintain a cover that with every passing day and every step taken feels increasingly pointless. This is a child that has never been shown kindness, and Rosinante — in his role of spy for the Marines — isn’t helping and it’s even pushing the nursing of his hatred against humanity with his own actions. He sighs, guilt pressing against his consciousness like it does every time he makes himself glare at the kids or hurt them in any way, before finally entering the shared room and carefully settling Law down on the only freed bunk. He lets himself feel ridiculous as he covers the child with the blanket, as he softly takes off his hat, as he gently sets it down beside him. The voice in the back of his head screams that he's a hypocrite and a coward, and Rosinante closes his eyes and strengthens his beliefs.
The memory of Law’s weight on his arms and against his chest hunts him in the days to come, and does so even strongly when he learns Trafalgar’s full name. Suddenly, this dying child is no longer just an unfortunate soul but one with a glaring mark against his back. A child of the D destiny, one of the few who Dragons fear, those unlucky enough to be marked with the Will of D.
It takes him minutes to make his choice, and even less time to kidnap the child. And still, it takes him too long for Law to feel even a little comfortable around Rosinante.
He keeps his mouth shut about Law searching his warmth in the middle of the night, he says nothing about waking up with a negligible weight against his chest or burrowing at his side, he lets himself smile when he wakes up to tiny snores from a tiny chest and a small head pressing against his ribs. And as Law gets worse and their relationship gets better, he allows himself to carry the small weight while they are both awake.
The small “Cora-san” in his ears is enough to push him further, to find the damned fruit, to shove it down Law’s throat and feel relief crush his bones even as white snow surrounds him.
As he lays under the falling snow and he pushes Death back with the force of his will, he allows himself to stare up at the sky and wish that the child that changed his views — pass the propaganda shoved down his throat — actually makes it to adulthood and remembers him ever so slightly.
He closes his eyes, ready to give himself up to Death’s embrace now that his Observation lets him know that the Donquixote Family is gone, but he opens them in surprise and panic when he feels that familiar small weight press against his side.
His power is still active and blanketing Law while protecting him against being found, but it’s the same power that doesn’t allow him to feel Law shaking, to hear him speaking or screaming or crying. The only thing his power is letting him register is that usual negligible weight and the high temperature of the child pressed against his side.
With an exhausted snap, the Calm spell breaks and Law’s screams echo around them, increasing in noise now that the child can hear himself.
“Sh, mi pequeño tesoro,"Sh, my little treasure" I’m alive.” He mumbles, even as Death reaches a bony hand to him and pays no heed to his vicious glare, “You shouldn’t be here, Law. What if the Family comes back?”
“I won’t leave you, Cora-san!” Rosinante lets himself smile dotingly at the child grabbing fistfuls of his blood-soaked shirt, tilting his head down but keeping his eyes firmly on Death, “I know I can save you!”
“Mh, you can still find help-”
“No!” Law shakes his head, the fuzzy material of his hat tickling at Rosinante’s collarbones, “Cora-san! If you die, I-”
“I won’t,” He promises, like a liar, as Death’s empty sockets stare through his soul and find him lacking.
The chill of the freezing morning is the first thing he notices when his consciousness stops being submerged in darkness, and Rosinante carefully holds the weight against his chest firmly before turning and sitting in bed. He stretches, keeping one hand carefully on his precious cargo’s back, and he finally stands up. One of his arms goes to serve as a seat for the man still sleeping against his shoulder, while the other hand drapes his new feathered cloak against Law’s back.
He stands in the middle of the room for three minutes, contemplating whether or not he needs a jacket too before finally shrugging and making his way through the submarine towards the kitchen, with only the promise of coffee and the weight of their responsibilities forcing him to step out of the warmth of their room.
He yawns, smiles a little at Law nuzzling more against his neck, and stares at the coffee maker with intensity.
“Rosi-san?”
“Bepo.” The polar bear smiles blindingly at him and Rosinante squints before turning back to the coffee maker, “Can I ask for a favor?”
“Of course!” His ears twitch, and Rosinante feels the cuteness aggression try to force his limbs.
“Can you make two cups of coffee? I can’t use one hand and I’d rather not burn us.”
“Sure, breakfast should still be warm, go sit!” And just like that Rosinante leaves it in Bepo’s capable paws while he sits down.
He grabs the newspaper with one hand, reading it with almost detached disinterest except for the tiny smirk at the Straw-hat's usual craziness, and smiles at Bepo when he appears with two cups and immediately after with two plates of eggs.
“You’re a savior, Bepo. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry, Rosi-san! Oh, we’re resurfacing in an hour to dock at Fiather Island for resources, is that alright?” Rosinante leaves the newspaper to the side and drinks his coffee before nodding.
“Yeah, it’s perfect. I’ll make sure Law is up and functional by the time we resurface.”
“Thank you, I’ll leave you two be for now!”
As Bepo leaves the mess hall Rosinante returns to his newspaper and breakfast, — If he burns his tongue while drinking coffee that's not something the rest of the world needs to know even if it's something he's learned to not be ashamed about — when he's done with both things he finally feels the bundled-up surgeon sleeping on his lap start to stir.
He pulls back for a second, checking that Law is actually waking up and not just trying to get comfortable, and smiles when the man wrinkles his nose and rubs his face against Rosinante's shoulder. He coos as silently as possible when Law yawns and smacks his lips together, and feels a dotting smile take his face when Law squints up at him before gifting him with his most sleepy smile.
"Cora-san."
"Good morning, Amor"Love"." He gives a quick kiss against Law's hair before gently bundling him more with his coat.
"Where are we?"
The amount of trust that Law has on him never fails to amaze Rosinante, and the feelings in his chest are overwhelming when Law hugs his waist and presses his ear against Rosinante's chest, sighing and melting against his frame as he listens to his favorite sound. It's one of the reasons why Rosinante has gotten used to having his heart randomly stolen by his Captain, physically and metaphorically, and why it no longer alarms him.
"The mess hall. I have breakfast, coffee, and information. Which one do you want first?"
"Kiss."
Rosinante chuckles as he gently holds his most beloved's chin with one finger. Law is already looking up at him with what Rosinante can only call a bratty little smirk on his pretty face, so he huffs before swooping down to kiss his favorite human. It's a short peck that goes from one to two to three, never really escalating on behalf of them being out in one of the most public areas of the Polar Tang, but it still has the added bonus of leaving Law with a healthy flush on his cheeks and a satisfied smile on his face.
"Okay, coffee now."
"Mhh, you need to actually sit down on a chair then." Rosinante smiles as Law pouts up at him, staring as he takes one of the feathers from the neckline of the coat and chuckling when Law grumbles.
"…Shambles."
"Don't burn me."
"You do that to yourself plenty." As Law snickers at him, he firmly pats his backside. It's not strong enough to be considered a spank but it is enough to make Law hiss at him. "Cora-san! We're in public!"
"Yes, I know. I walked us here."
"Anyone could've walked in!"
"Mhm, good thing that they didn't. Drink your coffee."
His own cup is already done and his breakfast is already eaten. If Rosinante is being honest, his back is getting a bit cold but he keeps quiet while Law drinks his coffee and hums contently.
"Don't forget to eat."
"Info first, Cora-san."
"Bepo mentioned we should be surfacing in…" A quick glance at the clock in the mess hall, a not too quick math calculation, a huff. "Like, thirty to forty minutes now?"
"Ugh, we need to go prepare things. Did he say-"
"Fiather Island, it's on the bigger side of land mass, has at least three big cities and a number of decently sized towns. Has one Marine base as far as I remember, and even with their Captain being on the more relaxed side of law enforcement, they are still a big base considering they cover the whole island so maybe we send a small group to restock while the rest deals with repairs to the-"
He blinks in surprise when Law interrupts him mid-report to kiss him, internally shrugging before holding his waist and pulling him more flush against his chest. When Law finally lets him break the kiss, they're both breathing harshly and out of sync.
"What was that for?" Even as Rosinante asks, he can't help but chase after Law's taste.
"You're hot when you're efficient, Cora-san." Says the most efficient man Rosinante knows, while sitting back on his lap where he belongs, with all the decadence and assuredness of a King.
"Stop teasing an old man, you brat."
The only reason Rosinante is still holding onto his self control is because they are in the mess hall, and because they're supposed to be getting ready to resurface. Still, he lets his forehead rest against Law's hair as he inhales his beloved's scent, smiling as Law laughs at him.
"We need to go get things ready."
"You need to finish your breakfast."
"I can eat as we move-"
"I have Seastone cuffs. Finish your food-"
"That's not the deterrent you think it-"
Rosinante is, by nature, a clumsy person. That doesn't change the fact that he was trained in the Marines for undercover missions and was one of their best spies, it doesn't change the fact that he's quick with his reflexes even if he doesn't use them to catch himself, it doesn't change the fact that — if sufficiently motivated — his hands are quick when he needs them to. So, with all the training received during his years in the Navy, he quickly and efficiently cuts the eggs, gently dipping the egg white into the yolk before using Law's distraction to shove the piece of food inside Law's mouth. He snickers as Law chews and glares up at him, laughs when Law swallows and immediately pouts, and melts a little when Law stares up at him and opens his mouth while waiting to be fed.
Yeah, Rosinante knows he's whipped. That's okay, he's perfectly happy where he is.
It takes a bit longer than optimal to be eating like that, especially when Rosinante uses Law's placidity to steal kisses in between bites of breakfast. Still, once they finish, Law uses his Fruit to shambles them back to their room so they can change clothes and go actually be productive members of their crew. Rosinante's knowledge of the island is put to use as Law gets dressed, in clothes a bit more covering than what he's taken to using the last few months. It's fine, because he gets to use that as an excuse to steal Rosinante's feather coat and smile innocently up at him while he crosses his arms against his chest.
"See, this is the unfair part of this relationship. You can steal my clothes and you look adorable, but I can't take anything from you because nothing fits."
"It's not my fault you're so tall, Cora-san."
"Eh, It's fine. I'll just use one of the other coats without feathers."
"Is the boiler suit not warm enough?"
"It usually is," He reaches down to fix his feather coat better over Law's shoulders, taking the chance to caress his face with a gentle smile, "But I think this island will actually surprise you."
"Mh, alright."
They waste precious minutes when Law grabs one of his hands and presses a kiss against the palm, both staring at the other with besotted eyes. They only break way from their bubble of intimacy when Shachi pounds against the door.
"Capt'n! Land on sight!"
"Right. Let's go, Cora-san."
Watching Law command his crew — their crew, even if Rosinante keeps forgetting that small part, keeps forgetting the fact that every member of this crew loved him before they knew him, because loving Law means loving Rosinante, because Law made it so his presence is so inevitably linked to Rosinante's own that at some points people are unsure of they are two different people until they know both of them, because Law loves him so much that everyone who knows Law knows Rosinante by association, because Law adored him when he was gone and because Law unashamedly adores him now that he's back, because Rosinante himself has never been shy about his adoration, because they are so attached to one another that each is in the background of the other's wanted poster — is always an experience and Rosinante always steps back to observe.
The crew follows Law's every word and movement blindly, and even when they ask questions it's never because they are doubting his plans but because they are searching for clarification on a point or another. The only ones that ever add to Law's plans are Bepo, Shachi, Penguin, and now Rosinante himself whenever he notices something that might be a problem later on. He remembers fondly how, the first time he ever made a comment, Shachi and Penguin turned to him with twin glares and opened their mouth to put him in his place when Law himself raised a hand and asked Rosinante to explain his point. His suggestion was considered and then implemented, and then the two Left Hands of the Hearts apologized to him.
Still, Law rarely needs one of his plans to be corrected while in front of the rest of the crew since those corrections typically occur while the Captain and his core crew are fixing things in their normal private reunions.
"Any questions?"
"No, Captain!"
"Alright. Penguin, Shachi, you have your orders. Bepo, with me and Cora-san."
"Aye, aye, Captain!"
He walks beside Law and Bepo, moves around them as the ballast tanks fill with compressed air and the Polar Tang slowly resurfaces, checks machines and makes the lights flash to warn the rest of the crew to move to their posts, keeps an eye on the outside with his Observation, and he does all of that with the clear knowledge that Law is keeping an eye on everything with his Room.
Despite being a submarine, the Polar Tang looks enough like a regular ship when it resurfaces that no one looks at them twice when they dock at the port, especially when their flag is nowhere to be seen even if its painted on the side of their ship. The three of them make their way to the deck where Law gives his last orders before turning to Rosinante.
"Let's go, Cora-san."
"Aye, Captain." He can't help but snicker as Law, with red cheeks, slaps his arm.
Rosinante, through all his years of being alive — even if alive and living are too completely different things, even if the spent years of his life alive but not living, even if surviving is too generous of a word — has developed a bit of a complex relationship with winter islands and snow. The cold has always made his even more clumsy, it makes his joints ache with phantom pains they no longer have to deal with, it makes his hands shake and his aim go awry, and snow will always remind him of staring Death in the face and spitting at his feet, of being alive out of stubbornness and the desperate need to stay with the person who became his whole world.
Still seeing the town covered in snow, with more of it falling gently and slowly from the sky, makes a small smile appear in his face. A smile that grows even bigger when Law clings to his hand while he keeps his neutral face towards the rest of the world.
Rosinante chuckles, carefully lighting a cigarette and letting the smoke mix with his exhales that the cold makes visible. He can't help the slight feeling of déjà vu, even if in this current moment he's not actually carrying Law against his chest and neither is running for their lives.
If the small furrow on his brow is anything, Law might also be dealing with his own memories now that they are in a winter island while it's snowing. They usually only have to deal with the cold, because Law himself has made it so they don't have to deal with snow unless absolutely necessary, but well. Rosinante is not mad, if anything he's grateful.
Law, Rosinante, and Bepo make their way towards the market and Bepo and Rosinante take care of carrying the heavier crates to one of the alleys in town so Law can Shambles them back to the ship without anyone noticing. It took a while for Law to trust him that he was able to carry those crates without immediately tripping and breaking or destroying whatever it was that they had to buy. There were still times where Rosinante slipped and his cargo was at risk, but Bepo had developed a really sharp eye to Rosinante's signals and so the crates always made it unscratched — and if Rosinante ended up in a heap on the floor… well, the Hearts were already used to it by this point.
As they move back to the Tang Rosinante can't help but chuckle as his Observation catches the very distinctive feeling of the Hearts having fun. He turns down towards Law when his Captain raises an eyebrow in his direction, jutting his chin in the direction of their submarine and blowing smoke.
"Snowball fight."
"Captain…" Law sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You can go ahead, Bepo."
"Thank you, Captain!" A polar bear jumping over Law and a quick movement of Rosinante to help them keep their equilibrium, and Bepo is off running towards the rest of their crew.
"I swear, we're all grown ups."
"Our crew likes to have fun, and you love them too much to deny them this small thing."
"Don't say that out loud, do you want me to be buried under twenty overemotional idiots?"
"You chose twenty overemotional people, this is nothing but the consequences of your empathy."
"Somehow, this is also your fault Cora-san."
"Hey, I didn't pick any of them!"
"Yeah, but isn't it your fault that I grew up with a heart?" As he asks, Law turns towards Rosinante and hugs him around the waist, resting his chin against Rosinante's stomach and looking up at him with a small pout.
"Well… I guess." With care, he gently caresses Law's cheek. "But how could I leave you alone when you are so precious, mi tesoro"my treasure"?"
"Shut up, Cora-san."
Rosinante laughs as Law hides his face against his stomach, keeps chuckling as he carefully pulls off Law's hat and caresses his hair. He's very careful that the hat is far away from his cigarette so it won't catch fire, and keeps himself very still so he doesn't drag Law down to the floor when he inevitably trips over nothing and falls.
It's quiet, those little moments where he can enjoy just being alive besides Law, where he doesn't need his Fruit for the rest of the world to leave them in silence. He hums softly, knowing that Law would feel the vibrations more than hear the melody, and carefully rocks them side to side. As Law rests more and more of his weight against Rosinante and his arms slack around his waist, Rosinante finally stops his rhythmic movements and pats Law's shoulder.
"Amor, you can't fall asleep here."
"Stop being comfortable, then."
He laughs, shaking Law more firmly. "Stop blaming me for every little thing, brat, and go deal with your crew."
"Our crew."
"Right, our crew. I need to go put the things inside the Tang while you make sure PenSha are not ganging up on Bepo."
"Hakugan and Ikkaku won't let them."
"You wanna bet?"
"…No." With a sigh, Law steps back and turns towards his crew members.
Rosinante throws his cigarette butt on the snow before stomping on it and turning back to the crates carefully piled near the plank. He grabs two before making his way back inside and methodically taking care of leaving the crates in the corresponding rooms. If he takes care of this now, he won't be forced to help with organizing the things in their corresponding spaces later on and will therefor have more time to relax around.
Once he's done he rests against the taffrail and lights up another cigarette, watching as the smoke flies up in lazy waves. He turns his focus back towards the crew playing in the snow and fixes red eyes on the black and white spotted hat being dragged to a snowball fight.
The nostalgia that hits him in that second is enough to leave him breathless for a minute, especially when he recognizes that look on Law's face that screams for everyone to see that he's not opposed to playing but he finds the action childish, a feeling that is quickly replaced by competitiveness when Penguin and Shachi scream something at him and start running away.
The blond contemplates the scene in front of him with a delighted smile when Law turns towards Bepo and the two start planning, and his smile turns into laughter when the duo starts attacking Penguin and Shachi with everything they have. His laughter goes on when he hears the other two screaming that using his Devil Fruit is unfair and that Law's cheating, and when Law screams back that he's being strategic and is not his fault the other two are slow and weak.
He turns slightly when Jean Bart rests beside him, smiling down at him. If there's one thing Rosinante still hasn't gotten used to during his stay with the Hearts is the fact that Jean Bart is so much taller than he is.
"Hey."
"Hey, want a smoke?"
"Thank you, but your choice of brand is… a bit small."
"…Yeah, let's go with that. Why aren't you out there having fun?" He suppresses a shudder when he asks as a well known voice echoes his question in a similar context so many years ago.
"The main instigators called it unfair if I joined."
"That's bullshit, you should bury them in snow." Rosinante smiles up at Jean Bart when the giant laughs with him, using the distraction. "But really, if you want to join in on the fun-"
"Cora-san! Come join! Jean Bart, you too!"
"Like Law said, come join."
"NO! That's unfair Cap!"
"Room!"
"See? Our Captain won't let them bully you into stepping back from the fun."
"So I see. Well, will you join?"
"You know what? Sure." As he leaves his spot on the taffrail he stretches, humming as his back pops. "If I'm remembering right, I have to pay our Captain back from when he was a child."
"Oh?"
"A certain brat tended to target me."
He smirks up, popping his knuckles and chuckling when Jean Bart makes a face, before dropping from the Polar Tang to the middle of the snowball fight. He laughs, free, as Law turns to him with a vicious smile before concentrating on attacking him while he answers back ferociously.
For a few minutes the rest of the world doesn't exists, for a while they aren't pirates being hunted but are just a group of friends and a mixed family having fun on a snowy day. He concentrates his attacks on Law while defending against Bepo, accidentally joining forces with Penguin and Shachi and recognizing they are fucked once Jean Bart joins in on Law's side. No matter how much Rosinante plans, he knows they will lose.
After he digs himself up from the snowy burial he just received he lets himself fall back spread on the snow, looking up as small flakes slowly try to bury him once more. Shachi and Penguin are still fighting somewhere, screaming and laughing and running around with Bepo on their tail and Ikkaku trying to cut their path, and Rosinante lets the sound of the Hearts having fun lull him into a peaceful moment.
He blinks when he feels a familiar warmth rest against his chest, raising his head to stare down as Law gets himself comfortable against him. He holds Law by his waist, using his other hand to gently caress his hair now that his hat is lost somewhere in the snow and returns to staring at the snowflakes falling over the two of them.
"I still don't like winter islands." Law's voice is muffled by his coat and Rosinante can only smile at that.
"Mhm, I know."
"But I had fun."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. It's… It brought back memories, but it was fun."
"This also brings back memories."
He feels the second Law tenses up, and feels as Law relaxes again. "Good thing we're not in a high stakes situation where my Fruit waking up would be the only thing saving us."
"That would be called an awakening, and your Fruit is overpowered enough for now."
"I live to defy expectations."
"Yeah, you do." He strains his neck enough to kiss Law's head before dropping back to the snow. "Are you cold, amor?"
"No, you're warm."
They stay there as their surroundings calm down, laying in the snow as the Hearts get their last giggles out of their systems and return to their jobs, they stare as the sky slowly goes darker and darker and the temperature goes down and down. They stay there as Law's breathing goes deep and relaxed, and Rosinante smiles up at Bepo when the polar bear looks down at them concerned.
"Rosi-san, Captain fell asleep."
"Do you know where his hat fell?"
"Shachi has it, he left it in Captain's room."
"Mhh, thank you Bepo."
"Are you two okay? Do you want me to hold Captain while you stand up?"
"That would be the smart thing to do," Before Bepo can kneel down to hold Law, Rosinante raises one hand, "But I think I want to stay here with him a while longer. I promise we won't catch a cold or get hypothermic."
"If you're sure, Rosi-san."
"Yeah, can you keep an eye on the others?"
"Aye, Aye, Rosi-san!"
He chuckles as Bepo leaves, going back to the rhythmic patterns his hand was drawing on Law's back. The last time he saw this scene, the snow was burying him under its unforgiving coldness and Death was staring at him from unfeeling empty sockets, extending a bony hand towards him to take him towards a rest that would only be boring.
But here and now? He has a crew that love and respect him, he has his most beloved that defied Death and Destiny to keep him by his side, and he has a future filled with light and options. He squeezes Law tighter against his chest and sighs, and the snow doesn't feel as cold as it did on that tragic day almost thirteen years ago.