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Doflamingo, true to his nature as King, loved celebrations. What wasn't there to like? Bountiful feasts with enough food to last days on end, drunken dancing with his Family at odd hours of the morning, singing until Baby decided she needed her "beauty sleep" and yelled at everyone to shut up. He couldn't have asked for anything more.
Except for the fireworks to stop. Please, God, someone make it stop.
The rest of the family loved the firework shows, of course. They insisted on hosting them for every celebration, even the smallest of milestones, like when baby Dellinger finally called Doflamingo "Doffy" instead of his usual unintelligible strings of babbling. At least that time he had tried to make the excuse of scaring the baby, only to be shot down and told he was coddling the young fishman too much.
Coddling?
Him, Donquixote Doflamingo?
No, Doflamingo didn't coddle, and he certainly wouldn't have the Family thinking he's gone soft. So that night and every firework celebration after that, he locked himself in his room under the pretense of "sorting some things out" with the business. Hell, he had even called Caesar once to convince himself there were actual businesses matters to attend to, only to hang up the second the scientist started conjuring up excuses to visit "his Joker".
Past a certain hour and an uncountable number of drinks in, his absence usually went unnoticed. Diamante and Trebol somehow always hopped from drinking, then fighting, then laughing, then fucking. Vergo was gone, or he and Doflamingo would've also been fucking. Gladius and Pica had the displeasure of listening to Señor Pink drunkenly sob over his wife. The kids were revelling in their chance to do whatever they wanted, while Giolla chased them down with a somehow sleeping Dellinger strapped across her chest.
── ⋆⋅𖦹⋅⋆ ──
And Corazón was... here? It seemed he let himself in while Doflamingo was lost in thought, sitting on the bed and staring blankly at the wall.
"You're like a stalking cat, I never hear you coming," Doflamingo chuckled dryly.
Corazón just shrugged.
Doflamingo stared at him for a bit, then looked away. Nah, I think I'm more like a mouse... but you can be the cat, Doffy! Doflamingo answered for his brother in his head.
Corazón was sitting next to him now. It was weird, how things were. If it were years ago, Rosi would have begged Doffy to go watch the colorful show with him. Now, he too, stared at the wall.
The brothers sat in silence for a few moments more until Corazón nudged him in the side.
Why are you hiding? was scrawled in the tiny notebook he always carried. Doflamingo glanced at Corazón, then the scribbles, then Corazón again. He shrugged.
"I'm not... hiding. I was annoyed by all the noise, that's all," He said softly. Corazón rolled his eyes and got to writing something else.
The fireworks?
Doflamingo bristled. Of course his brother could see right through him, he was just that- his brother. His brother, who had been there all those years ago when-
"No, it's... God, fine. Yes, it's the fireworks. Alright?" He couldn't help but get defensive over this. "...It's stupid, I know."
Another moment passed as Corazón wrote,
Not stupid. I was there too.
Doflamingo grimaced. It wasn't like he had forgotten. How could he forget, when it wasn't the sound itself that scared him in the first place? It was Rosinante's reaction that haunted him. Little body trembling, eyes wide as hot tears spilled out and agonizing screams boiled over. A horrified expression that said,
Big brother, why? How could you shoot him, brother? Brother, I thought you loved me. Please stop, Doffy, please-
Doflamingo blinked and shook his head absentmindedly. Corazón had written something else.
What's done is done.
"...You're right, I suppose. The past is in the past, huh, Rosi?" Doflamingo almost let a resentful chuckle slip- but then a firework went off. Then another. He instinctively flinched into his brother's side.
Corazón just stared at him again.
── ⋆⋅𖦹⋅⋆ ──
Corazón just stared at him again.
The first time, Rosinante had been crying for Doflamingo. But not this time. Corazón had never cried for him.
Doflamingo stared back now, watching the eyes of his beloved little brother fade from a shining blue to a dull gray.
The gunshot echoed through his head and bounced around for a while. Though this time, he didn't flinch. He wasn't afraid anymore. He was free, he had to be. He convinced himself he was.
There is no use dwelling on it now. What's done is done, and the past is in the past.
Perhaps he would set off some fireworks tonight, and watch the Heavens light up with the most beautiful shade of red.