Chapter Text
Getting Law to hang out with them had been a long effort. Law was the last to accept they were friends after Luffy decided they needed to be, and it took extreme pleading and promises of free food and booze to get him to even think about it.
Somehow, they had wrangled him into going out to lunch. Once drinks were out, negotiations began. “If I’m coming, and I mean if, then my friend Bepo gets invited too. He would be my ride over anyways, so it'd be cruel to exclude him.”
Luffy cheered. “Of course! We wanna meet your friends, Torao!”
Everyone else agreed, quietly trying to imagine a friend of Law. Surely, he would attract other surly goth twinks. Definitely piercings, and maybe tattoos?
When the eve of the party came and a large red pickup truck pulled up, their mental image seemed to solidify. It looked nearly as beat up as Franky's monstrosity of a van, his longest ongoing project. Every last one of them was certain of what type of person would follow Law, until he came to the door with an actual bear of a man in a pink cardigan and overalls, holding a tupperware with what were definitely brownies.
“Yo.” Law greeted.
The man who - surely - couldn't be Bepo nudged him in the side. Usopp, who had opened the door, waited for the angelic looking brick house to be killed by Law.
“Not going to introduce us, Law?” Bepo asked, tilting his head and pouting. He was one hundred percent being a little manipulative shithead, and he knew Law knew.
Law dragged him inside and shut the door.
“Usopp opened the door. Living moss is Zoro. Nami is the one who looks like she's about to rob you. Robin is the only other person here I respect.” She nodded with a slim smile that made Bepo’s skin crawl.
“Brook is dj-ing. Sanji is in the kitchen, creating something heavenly enough to keep me here.”
“Damn right!” echoed from around the corner.
“Chopper is the kid, but he takes the same level classes I do and it's infuriating. Franky actually owns the house - wait, where's Franky? Or Jinbe, for that matter?”
“Him and Jinbe are off trying to fix Vivi's car, somethings up with her engine. They'll be along later.” Robin explained.
“Torao! Torao! Introduce me!” Luffy sat criss-cross applesauce perched on the back of Zoro's chair, stupid straw hat crooked on his head. A kebab dangled from one hand and tipped dangerously towards the floor with his every wiggle.
“Ugh. That's Luffy. He's the idiot who dragged me into this group of losers.”
“You're so big and happy! I thought Torao’s friends would be grumpy like him. Hang out with us more often!”
“Um. Hi? It's very nice to meet you all, Law talks about you a lot. It's all complaints, but that's kinda just how he is,” he said, turning his gaze to the floor shyly.
An onslaught of overlapping questions erupted. Bepo’s brain seemed to have quickly overloaded at the situation, more used to blending in than having such sharp focus on him. Law realized and quickly pushed him in the direction of the kitchen.
“Sanji, right? I brought brownies, where can I put ‘em so they're out of your way?” Bepo asked as he stood awkwardly in the doorway of the kitchen watching Sanji hurricane around his terrain.
He startled at the intruder, but adjusted quickly and set down his paring knife. “Oh, nice. Ehh, that corner on the island is good.”
“What're you making tonight? Um, I just ask because I don't know whether Law's brought it up, but he's a celiac.”
Given the way Sanji's eyebrow shot up, he definitely hadn't known.
“So that's why the asshole never eats when we go out! I'm keeping it simple tonight with some catfish on rice with a topping bar so everyone can customize. All my idiots have different tastes, so sometimes it's best to keep a plain base and give them options.”
Bepo nodded politely, being a semi-decent cook who knew the struggles of tending to picky eaters.
“Rice and fish are both fine, then. Oh, but if any of the toppings you're adding have gluten, then please don't mix utensils.”
Sanji rolled his visible eye and wiped his hands clean, then popped a brownie into his mouth.
“I grew up working for a restaurant, I know my stuff. These are good, by the way! The caramel layer's real nice, would love the recipe sometime if you don't mind.”
Bepo accepted the praise and slipped back out, leaving Sanji to his organized chaos now that his worries were soothed.
Meanwhile, in the living room Law faced interrogation.
“Oh my god, how did you make friends with someone that sweet? Are you blackmailing him?” Nami questioned as soon as he was out of earshot.
Usopp added, “I think he's an actual angel, no way you can get blackmail on him.”
“Shut up. I've known Bepo since I was fourteen and he's probably the closest friend I'll ever have. If any of you make him uncomfortable in the slightest we will leave and I will push you off a fucking cliff.” Law glared at them, daring anyone to push him.
Bepo stepped back into the room, having deposited his brownies and made an excellent impression on Sanji. “Don't be so protective, captain! I can handle myself, you know. Sorry.”
The room filled with laughter as they steadily grew used to someone being allowed to tease Law without being held at scalpel-point.
Luffy perked up extra, nearly falling off his chosen seat but for a steadying hand from Zoro on his leg. “Captain?”
Law paled, then dragged an inked hand across his face in premature agony.
Bepo let the silence drag just enough to torture his best friend a bit. “Mm, don't think Law wants me to say. Sorry!” Somehow, the sorry seemed infinitely less apologetic than his previous one.
“C'mon, sit on the couch with us! There's uh… Usopp scoot over, and Brook, yeah.” Nami muttered under her breath trying to fit Law plus a bear onto their shitty couch.
“It's fine. Bepo, sit.” Once Bepo had settled, Law perched on the arm of the couch and shuffled his feet into Bepo's lap, leaning against his shoulder. It was the most contact any of them had ever seen him initiate.
Brook pausing his playlist to turn on a show gave them a minute to retrieve their jaws from the floor.
Eventually, because they were children, they turned to truth or dare. Franky, Jinbe, and Vivi had shown up to much cheering and taken up the floor, completing their circle and making everything louder.
Bepo shot a worried glance to Law to see how he was faring. He was huffing and puffing and making a big show of his reluctance, yes, but he was still comfortably leaning against him and didn't look genuinely unhappy. Still, Bepo fidgeted with the pair of earbuds he kept around just in case it got to be too much.
“Bepo, truth or dare!” Nami asked, startling him from his thoughts.
“Ah, dare?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?” Nami teased.
“Sorry…” he muttered.
“No, wait, uh, it's fine! I'm just teasing. But I dare you to give Law your cardigan.” A couple people (namely Zoro and Luffy) shot her confused looks, but most just chuckled, seeing her vision.
“Oh, okay! Here you are, Law.” He passed off his adorable sweater, giggling at how it clashed with Law’s mostly black, bad-boy-kind-of-stylish look. Without the company, Bepo honestly would have handed it off much earlier due to Law's cold-blooded nature.
“Your turn.”
“Right! Law?”
Law pouted at him, unimpressed. “I hate you all. You've corrupted even my best friend. Dare, Bepo." In reality, Bepo had always been just a little evil underneath the toothy grins, and Law knew from the glint in his eye he was enjoying dragging Law into their game.
Everyone laughed off his snarls, an awful sign that they weren't even that scared of him anymore. He'd have to fix that.
“Go get me and you drinks from Sanji, please?” Bepo turned those shining black eyes to him and Law's anger evaporated even as he grumbled over into the kitchen. He stalked back out with a beer bottle in one hand and a bubbly cocktail in the other. The group laughed wildly at the dichotomy, but actually fell silent when the beer bottle went to Bepo and Law took a victorious sip of his incredibly dangerous concoction. It always felt like drinking straight candy until he woke up with an end-all be-all hangover and a missing shirt.
“Franky.”
“Yeow! Truth, my brother.”
Law rolled his eyes as he slouched back onto Bepo.
“Is your car actually street-legal?”
Franky suddenly found the carpet extremely interesting and averted his eyes. “Er, well, street-legal's a pretty loose definition, ya know - my baby has a couple mods that maybe aren't encouraged by the government, but it's nothin’ harmful!”
Jinbe choked next to him. It became alarmingly clear none of Franky's regular passengers were aware of these modifications, and Law reveled in the success of his mission.
As the game continued, Law found himself lulled into a light sleep by the chatter and laughter, along with Bepo’s steady breaths against his side.
“Psst, captain, wake up.” Bepo whispered in his ear as he shook him gently.
“Mrgh?” he asked intelligently.
“Food’s ready, and I double checked with Sanji when I dropped off the brownies. You're good to eat it.”
Law tried to burrow deeper into Bepo’s side. “‘M not hungry, Bepo.”
Several people paused in filling their plates at Sanji's buffet to see Trafalgar fucking Law, resident emotionless grump who maybe shouldn’t be trusted to operate on people, snuggling against someone and whining like a kid. It only made them like him more, truth be told.
Bepo tilted Law's face towards him so they were making eye contact.
“Please? I know you haven't eaten today.” He whispered this part, trying to convince him but unwilling to inform the group of Law’s poor eating habits. Getting him to eat enough to fuel his body, much less actually put on weight, had always been an uphill battle. Childhood illnesses leaving chronic conditions could do that to you.
“Mmfh, fine. I'll eat some of what you get.”
Bepo stood up, loading his plate with the delicious dish Sanji, who was now relaxing and complaining about "how damn long the shitty sauce took to brown”, had been laboring over. He grabbed an extra fork and settled back down while Law shimmied into a position that made it easier to steal off Bepo's plate.
The sight of Law taking small bites off his plate made Bepo flash a beaming grin. That, in turn, made several present clutch their hearts. The pair were just too cute!
Bepo got giggly as he got drunk. Not sloshed, but he was definitely feeling a buzz as the night went on. Without realizing it, he had the entire group wrapped around his pinky finger as they went through every game Franky had in-house, rarely even cleaning up the last before moving on.
“I guess I'm driving us home,” Law said with a crooked grin as they all laid in a circle on the messy carpet, heads close enough to bump into each other constantly as they turned. To anyone else, it would be a passive aggressive dig, but to Bepo, with many years of translating Law, it was obvious he was just stating fact. He hummed.
Luffy jumped to his feet in an honestly impressive gymnastic move that Law would never admit was neat. “You should stay over tonight! Sleepover!”
Law cocked an eyebrow. “I have work. And I know Bepo has a lab tomorrow.”
“So drive back in the morning, and avoid Luffy's pestering,” Usopp offered. Law hated that it wasn't a bad idea.
Bepo gasped. “Can we?” he pleaded and turned those evil, evil eyes on him.
Luffy bounced lightly on his feet. “Yeah, we have plenty of room Torao!”
‘Plenty of room’ turned out to be one full size mattress. He regretted his agreement already.
“You're kidding me.”
Robin, the only one sober enough to be trusted to lead them to their room, looked mildly ashamed.
“Its fine, we've shared worse beds. Night, Robin, tell Franky thanks for the room!” Bepo led Law along by the hand after he closed the door and turned out the lights. Knowing he had freaky-good night vision, Law relaxed and let himself be dragged. He was tired, and had maybe hit his limit on talking to people about two hours ago. Still, he found himself disgustingly glad he had come.
Bepo pulled off Law's hat gently and set it on the nightstand. He tugged off his own shirt and socks.
“You good in jeans, Law? I know those aren't very comfortable.”
Law’s skinny jeans were, at best, torture devices. Today's variants were black and even spikier than usual.
He shrugged. “Yeah, ‘s fine,” and spared a moment of gratefulness for Bepo not calling him out on his mishmashed outfit. He was still wearing his pastel cardigan, after all, and he didn't feel like talking about how the combined warmth and familiar smell engulfed him in peace.
They arranged themselves as best they could on the bed, both full sized adults and tall to boot. Law was mostly on top of Bepo and Bepo's feet hung just past the edge. Still, the laughter and life humming in the walls of the house coaxed them to sleep nearly immediately.
In the early hours of the morning, Bepo's alarm was a wicked thing. Most days its awful volume and dissonance made Law feel only mildly annoyed, but that morning in particular it hurt. He whined and covered his ears with his hands until Bepo made it go away.
Sanji was an actual god to them when they stumbled downstairs to the scent of bacon and coffee.
He wordlessly slid a blister of ibuprofen across the countertop, greeting them quietly to mind their collective hangover.
Law feared the comfortable silence they found themselves in. He'd become downright comfortable around this batshit group. He voluntarily spent time with them and liked it, and the vulnerability was terrifying.
“-aw? Law!”
“Mmfh? What'd you say?” He shook himself out of his panic and back to the dim little kitchen of his reality. Bepo's hand subtly found and rubbed at the small of his back.
“Bacon's ready. You're both eating, by the way.” Law hated and appreciated the firmness in equal measure. He mindlessly chewed through two pieces, ignored the way they tasted like sawdust to him, and washed them down with plain black coffee that tasted like tar. It was one of those days. He'd known since waking up, but the confirmation that it was a rough one made the ache along his spine and behind his eyes feel louder.
He took ibuprofen as well in between sips, telling Sanji he just had a headache. Bepo’s gentle hovering afterwards proved he had picked up on how he felt, which was appreciated. Bepo never made him admit his weakness, just had a handy knack for mind-reading and knowing just what he needed.
His joints were aching, and walking hurt like shit, and the sun was a hundred percent too bright, but he still found himself smiling with his eyes closed as they drove back to their apartment after bidding Sanji goodbye.
Bepo didn't point out how happy he seemed when around the Strawhats, just hummed under his breath to the radio kept on the lowest volume.
Somehow, the noise didn't hurt at all. That was happening more and more these days.