Chapter Text
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“You got that weird look on.”
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s a surprise.”
“Look, Zoro!” Arden nearly screeched but after seeing the very much satisfied look on him he grumbled back down in his seat. Zoro may have lost an eye, but his good one told all that was needed: Zoro: 1. Arden: 0. “God, where’s Sanji when you need him…”
Having docked at an island, some of the crew went off to explore (aka. Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp), and some went to restock supplies (aka. Nami, Sanji, Robin, Franky, and Jinbe).
“Where’s Brook, anyway?” the swordsman asked, looking back at the cabins.
“Ah, he said something about fixing his instruments,” Arden replied. “He’s probably in the city as well.”
“Hope he doesn’t get lost.”
“You’re one to talk,” he snorted.
“What you mean?” Zoro asked with furrowed brows.
“Always getting lost, not able to follow simple directions,” Arden started, acting out like he was in a dramatic play, arms flailing around. “Only until you’re praised and doted on do you find yourself back on track.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about but it sounds wrong,” Zoro grumbled, taking a sip of his sake.
“I appreciate you, Zoro.”
The green-haired man nearly choked on his sake. “Wh-what?”
“You do a lot for us and you don’t ask for much back,” Arden continued. Seeing Zoro’s face becoming an increasing shade of red, a grin was put on his face, his tone turning sickingly sweet. “You’re such a good boy.” He reached his hand out, patting and ruffling the other’s hair roughly. “Who’s a good boy? You are! You are!”
“Hey, quit it!” Zoro shouted, leaning back to avoid being pet to no avail. His patience was wearing thin with being teased. “I’ll cut you up! Stop it!” Though he said those threats, the brunette knew they were all bark with no bite.
“Such a good boy, yes you are, yes you are~” Arden continued to coo, laughing as he did so, now using both his hands to ruffle up the moss’ hair.
“Am I interrupting?”
Jealousy is an ugly emotion.
Both Arden and Zoro made a noise of confusion, turning their heads to see that a certain surgeon was in front of them.
“Enoki,” Arden grinned widely after seeing who it was, jumping up from his seat to greet him. “What’s up? Need Luffy?”
Law looked over to Zoro then back to Arden, answering with a simple plain, “No.”
“Ah,” he perked up, straightening his posture. He understood the signal.
Though it was odd: he rarely ever showed up to specifically see Arden in front of the other Straw Hats.
Arden awkwardly looked back to his crewmate to see him lazily watching the two, anticipating what they were going to do next as he sloppily drank his next fill of alcohol.
Law saw his eyes wander over to Zoro and the same intense emotion from before came back again from when he first heard the faint words of the conversation. His hand flinched, wanting to grab Arden and use his Devil Fruit to teleport them to somewhere else where they could be alone.
He gripped his nodachi tightly to suppress the urge to act through it.
It wasn’t the first time he’s felt this way.
The first was long before either of them confessed their feelings for the other, and it was just as mundane as the act of Arden bantering friendly with his own crewmate.
Law thought such childish emotions would go away with time.
If anything, he’d say it made it worse.
He held all dear to him as close to him as possible but that was impossible with his other half belonging to a different crew. A crew that was known for their recklessness and way too daring captain; one who certainly doesn’t mind putting one of their own men in danger.
Usually, he wouldn’t be bothered to give two fucks about how a captain operates with his own crew.
But he absolutely gave a thousand fucks if it’s someone he loved being a part of the said ‘crew’.
A glare formed on his face and it became more and more prominent to subdue the heinous emotion. Unfortunately, his eyes were also fixated on the two men in front of him.
“You do something to piss him off?” Zoro asked, not one second questioning if he, himself, was the cause of it.
“Yeah, that’s a scary face-- I mean, no!” Arden said. “I mean… I don’t think so.” He glanced back over to Law, uncertain of what to do. “You okay holding down the ship by yourself?”
“You okay with handling whatever that thing is?”
“Probably,” he said in a not-so-convincing tone. “I’ll be back soon.”
***
“... What are you thinking of?” Arden asked, breaking the silence as they walked aimlessly toward the city. Normally, silences were fine, but after what happened on the ship, it didn’t feel right to let it linger.
Law glanced over to him with the corner of his eyes before looking back straight ahead.
“Hey, Enoki,” Arden prodded, knowing that the silence wasn’t an avoidance but an answer. Picking up his speed, he stepped in front of Law, taking a hand of his into his own two. “Law.” Meeting eyes with him once more, Arden tried his best to give a smile. “I can’t read minds. Tell me so I know.”
Seeing such a disheartened expression on his face, Law mentally kicked himself for being the cause of it. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, squeezing Arden's hand. “It’s nothing to worry about- I’ll figure it out.”
“You don’t have to,” Arden said. “We can work this out. Together.”
“No… not with you,” Law murmured. “It’s my problem.”
“A problem that I… can’t help with?”
He turned his head off to the side before giving a curt nod.
“Could you at least tell me?” Arden laughed uncomfortably, trying to hide his somber feelings to no avail.
It’s too ugly, Law answered in his head, afraid to tell the truth. His pride wouldn’t let him. “By tomorrow. I’ll have this issue resolved by tomorrow. Right now…” he laced his fingers with Arden’s. “My focus is on this: being together with you.”
All for myself.
“I-” Arden started, surprised at the sudden forwardness of affection from him. It always was as not only was it due to it being against Law’s usual nature, but also because they haven’t been together for long at this point.
Arden’s hand was cold under his own, something that Law came to crave for: the way his cool fingers would caress his skin… the thought of his own hands warming up the other’s, being the source of warmth in a way only he could bring.
It brought him absolute joy to know that.
The brunette gave an exhale in submission before reciprocating with his fingers curling into Law’s hold. “If the problem persists after tomorrow, you tell me.” Arden’s expression wore one of slight worry, but he seemed to hold back on voicing that out with a slight quiver of his lower lip.
Law stared at them, a flash of a sudden urge to want to bite them taking over. It was only for a brief second, but it was there. No, not a harsh bite of malice, but he wondered how Arden would react if he simply caught his attention that way with his lower lip being caught under a gentle bite.
The surgeon forced his eyes away, confusion settling in straight afterwards. This was odd. This was the first time he’s ever had this type of thought. Towards anyone for that matter. He looked back over to Arden, who was now walking by his side, and find that the thought he had before was gone. As if it was never there to begin with.
But that was where it all started. Since it seemed to be such a phenomenon, he began to think of other scenarios and whether or not he’d enjoy the idea of it. He didn’t find the idea to be disgusting to have his partner be under his thumb and a complete blissful mess because of him.
What if he was on the receiving end instead? Would he be okay being a mess caused by the other?
Oh… it seemed he found something new about himself.
Law craved for him. Enough to be okay with these thoughts. Would he act on them? Hm… though there was a desire, it didn’t seem to be intense enough where he’d bother to actually initiate it. Though, he certainly wasn’t opposed to the idea if a chance arises.
Or maybe this was just another symptom of that damn ugly emotion-- wanting him all to himself.
“Ah, wait!” Arden’s voice broke him out of his daydreaming, his hand being tugged back as the other stopped in his tracks. Brown eyes shone whilst looking into a store they were passing by. “There’s something I want from here.”
He was going to come back to those particular thoughts another time.
*
“Tongs?” Law asked when Arden held up the item for inspection. “What do you need them for?”
“It’s not for me,” he gleamed, nodding after finding the item to his satisfaction, bringing it over to the counter. “Sanji’s birthday’s coming up, and the tongs we have on the ship are getting worn out. Also! These tongs can close on their own if you pull up the mechanism like this--” he showed it exactly, pulling the top of the tongs to see them closing in to each other, making it more compact.
After asking the cashier if gift wrapping was an option, he hummed in content, waiting for the present to be ready. “I used to have one back home, but I wasn’t sure if I’d find any on our journey.” He glanced over to Law who had his eyes locked on the tongs that were being carefully wrapped in baby blue decorative paper. “Did you want one? I think I saw there being some kind of a deal going on.”
“You’re very perceptive,” the cashier immediately jumped on the chance to promote their sale going on. “Right now, for a limited time, all kitchen utensils are buy one get the other fifty percent off!” she looked over to Law. “Just for you, we’ll even throw in a free-”
“No,” Law answered, cutting her off.
“A-are you sure? You won’t find there a better dea-”
“No.”
Arden stood there, eyes bouncing from the cashier to Law with their back and forth. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but he swore he felt the atmosphere turning a bit colder than before.
**
They left the store quickly afterwards, the newly bound gift in Arden’s arms for safekeeping as they continued their walk.
Law’s hand felt much barer than before, and he tried to soothe it by clenching it into a fist. He shouldn’t be feeling jealous over a birthday present, but he couldn’t help it. He simply was.
Over in the distance, he spotted a familiar orange head seated at a cafe, and a memory from before they got together flashed in his head:
“Hey, Arden! I think you’ll like this,” Nami waved the tiny spoon in the air to gesture the man to come closer. “It’s ginger flavoured!”
“Really?” his eyes sparkled, almost tripping while running to her, leaving Law’s group.
“The townsfolk said it’s a specialty of theirs,” Nami spoke, digging the spoon into the cold dessert.
“Lemme go grab a spoon-”
“It’s fine. Just take a bite,” she smiled, lifting the filled utensil up.
Arden blinked once, looking at it before leaning over.
Despite it being a supposed celebratory feast to honour the occasion (he found himself in a mess with the Straw Hats and saving a whole town, yet again, despite his reservations), Law’s attention stayed affixed on Arden the entire time, easily catching him from the rowdy and bustling drunks which the other weaved through. If his stare could bore holes, the whole party would be swiss cheese by now.
He watched as Arden’s lips took in the spoon and Nami’s pleasant expression with the situation. Law couldn’t hear their conversation but figured it was for the better-- for his own sake.
"How’s it?” Nami asked, pulling the spoon back.
“Wow… it’s really good…” Arden said, savouring the bite. “I didn’t know ginger and coffee would go so well together.”
“You want another bite?”
“Yes!”
Nami’s sweet smile turned devilish as she placed her cheek onto her hand. Hook, line, and sinker… “That’ll be 100 beri per bite.”
“What?!” Arden exclaimed in disbelief. “That’s extortion!”
“Well, there’s the finder’s fee, the labour of opening it up, and also spoon feeding it to you…” she began to list, eyelashes being innocently batted.
“Can it be lower?” he pleaded, not even bothering to point out that she was the one that offered to feed him. “I promise to be your shopping lackey for the next two islands.”
“Hmmm, you drive a compelling bargain,” she hummed. “Okay then, 60 beri and make it four islands.”
“What about 50 beri?”
“You want it to be 80 beri?”
“60 is good! How much can you deduct off if I feed myself?"
"Glad you asked," Nami said with the same sweet tone as before. "If you'd like that, then there'll be a 1000 beri fee."
Arden thought about it. He really did. But 60 beri a bite with such a small spoon, it would leave his wallet empty in no time. ".... I'm okay.."
The woman slightly pouted at that, hoping that the embarrassment from being spoonfed would be enough to wring more beri out of him. But, alas.
Law didn’t know the exact word to describe the feeling at the time, but he just knew watching the two converse seemingly so happily with each other: Nami fluttering her long eyelashes at him, Arden’s expectant eyes on her, and him waiting with his mouth open for another fed bite…
No, he didn’t know the word or how to describe it. He just knew he despised the sight of it; wishing for a sudden heat stroke so the dessert between the pair would melt into an ugly sweet soup.
***
“Usagi-ya.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s turn left here,” he said, though it didn’t seem like Arden had much of a choice as his back was being guided by a tattooed hand.
“Hey, Enoki,” Arden said after they took the turn, beginning to take a path that led them away from the city and into the woods. “Um…”
Law stayed silent, waiting for him to continue what he had to say.
“What do you say we have dinner together?” he looked up at him.
Golden irises widened just the slightest, the hideous emotions fading away. “There were a few options back in the city. What do you feel like eating?”
“Mmmm, anything is fine. I was thinking of also inviting some of the crew too.”
Law’s brows knitted just the slightest. “Like who?”
“Nami, Sanji, Zoro…” he listed the names out carefully, examining the facial features on the other’s face turning more and more into one of displeasure.
“If… you want,” Law answered tightly, trying his best not to show his true feelings. “... what are you…!”
Arden placed a thumb right on the t-spot of Law’s forehead, massaging it in place. “Trying to get your brows back to normal.”
“What..?”
“Your eyebrows. They’ve been stuck together since you got on the Sunny. Thought nothing of it cuz it disappeared, but then it came back,” he explained it casually, thumb still working its way on the spot.
Law didn’t know how to answer to such a ridiculous action being taken place, staying frozen in place.
Arden eventually sighed, stopping the circular motion of his thumb. “Are you mad at us?”
“No, I’m not,” he answered as if it was obvious, head stiff with the thumb still on his forehead.
“Then why’d you look like we stepped on your tail when you came on the Sunny?” the artist questioned. “Not to mention, back at the store…”
“I’m not feeling well is all.”
“So you avoided meeting Nami too?”
Seeing his eyes become wide in search of answers, Law couldn’t help but think they were utterly adorable. “It’s… not because I’m mad at the Straw Hats.”
“And me?”
“Of course not.”
Arden looked off to the side. “Then why…” his face slowly brightened in realization, gaze going back to Law before taking a step back, hand dropped to his side. He stared at him for a couple more seconds before looking away, fingers to his bottom lip in thought, back to Law, then to a particular tree, back to Law, a particular bush, back to Law, a particular rock; then, finally, shook his head with a matching waving hand in the air. “Nah, nah, nah, it can’t be.”
“... what?” it was Law’s turn to be confused as he watched Arden’s actions taking place, knowing the gears in his head were going into overdrive in thought.
“Are you…” he began then shook his head again, ear tips starting to tint pink in embarrassment. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but,” a pause, before he said in a hushed tone, almost not daring to ask, “Are you… jealous of them?”
Law stiffened up. He avoided saying this word out loud as if not acknowledging it would make it go away, but here it was being uttered by the source. His eyes darted away briefly. “... And if I said I was?”
Arden stepped back closer to him, his hand raised up again. “Enoki.” Law half-expected the weird forehead massage to happen again, but before he could ask, he found himself shutting his eyes reactively paired with a sudden dull pain right in the middle of his forehead.
“You’re an idiot,” Arden huffed, pulling his fingers back. “What do you have to be jealous of?”
“It’s difficult to explain,” Law answered truthfully after struggling to find an example on the spot without sounding like a brat. “But I can give you a written comprehensive list if you’d like.”
“A list…?!” he shouted in shock. Seeing the serious expression on Law, he couldn’t help but laugh a little. “How long have you felt this way?”
“A while now. A few months... before we got together.”
His cheeks were suddenly lightly squished with both of Arden’s hands, followed by the muffled sound of the gift bag falling on the ground. “What are you right now?”
“Confused?”
“No,” Arden said. “An idiot sandwich.”
Law made a face to being compared with a sandwich of all things. “Why a sandwich?”
“It’s a saying from back home,” he shrugged. Before Law could question the absurdity of such a phrase, Arden’s hands relaxed on his face, now cupping his cheeks instead of putting pressure on them. “Hey, Enoki.”
Law looked at him, his undivided attention on his softened gaze.
“When I said you’re my first,” Arden started slowly, his tone gentle. “I meant it. Never had I ever confessed my feelings for someone. No one’s had such an affect on me to do so… Not until you. There may be others that make my heart race in excitement because I respect and/or idolize them, but none of them compare to when I’m around you. When I’m alone and lonely, I think of you. When I see a place with good food, I think of eating there with you. And when I think of myself growing old, grey, and senile… I can’t picture anyone to be with me through it all who isn’t you.”
Law didn’t know why, but he could feel a lump growing in his throat. “I…”
Arden tried to suppress the smile that was threatening to escape, the blush oh, so very visible on Law’s face right then, feeling his cheeks getting hotter by the second underneath his fingertips. “So there’s no need to be jealous. Because there’s no one to be jealous of. Do you understand? Blush to say yes.”
“That’s… ridiculous…” was all he could answer, but his red face said it all as his stare stayed glued on brown ones.
With smiling eyes and upturned lips, Arden stepped away after picking up the gift bag, offering a hand out, “C’mon. The woods aren't gonna explore itself.”
Law didn’t know that with just a few sentences, the ugly feeling he consistently felt for so long could be so easily washed away. He knew, objectively, there wasn’t any reason for him to feel jealous since Arden chose him, making the feeling of shamefulness expand almost ten-fold after Arden’s reassurance. He looked over to the gift for confirmation, and although a little stirring was still in his chest, he found himself feeling rather indifferent to it now.
“Usagi-ya,” he said with an asymmetrical smile, accepting the extended hand. “I’ll make you pay for this.”
Arden blinked once in surprise but then broke out into a grin after realizing the meaning behind his words, the expression on Law's face much more like how it should be. “Do your worst.”
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