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clare-875 · 2 months ago

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Irrational Fears pt.2 (Law, Kid, Ace)

_____ Pairings: Law x Reader; Kid x Reader; Ace x Reader Summary: Your fears come to light, but your boyfriend is there to protect you. Warnings: Hurt, comfort, fluff, fears/phobias mentioned at the beginning of each character pairing, Female Reader [One Piece Masterlist] [Part 1: Luffy, Sanji, Zoro] _____

- Law - (Fear of Needles)

If there was one thing that Law was adamant about, it was the health of his crew. You can't remember the number of times you bore witness to his angry facade as he finds crewmates sick or hiding injuries, neglecting their health in the confines of his ship. Whether fear of burden or bedrest, Law did not care for excuses; he would much rather have a healthy and functioning crew. You knew better than to hide from him, especially after being one of the many whom he finds out about anyway.

But god, you wished you'd tried to hide a bit longer this time.

Being Law's girlfriend, it was harder to keep confined how you truly felt about things or your general well-being than others. You were constantly prey to his ever-observing eyes, his constant worry and constant fear that he might lose you to something he could not control. After knowing of his past, you feel like you could understand where he was coming from, and you tried to be better at telling Law rather than waiting for him to figure out that you had a cold or a cut from a battle that you neglected.

You were doing better, but you just had to make an exception this one time.

You noticed your health had slowly started to deteriorate over the past week since your crew had left an island, plagued, quite literally, by some mystery illness. Your boyfriend, despite his foreboding coldness, had found a cure surprisingly quickly, and the kindness he tried to hide was brought forth as he cured an island's worth of people. And normally, you could only be proud of his endeavours, but the only problem was, the cure he made could only be administered by a needle.

Your greatest fear.

Your greatest fear, which your boyfriend was all too aware of.

You could not even bear witness to Law curing the island's people because of that needle-like apparatus disappearing so unnaturally into skin. And God, had you tried not to get sick whilst helping gather remedies and organising townsfolk as they awaited treatment. But as you compile symptoms of fever and aching pains in your limbs, and chills that seem to have no end, you know you have failed to do so.

You had tried to convince yourself you were fine, but you weren't, and you were terrified. And unfortunately for you, your time was up when Bepo found you collapsed with a fever in the kitchen.

Law wasn't surprised that some crewmembers caught symptoms of the illness he had just cured; they had much contact with patients, and sometimes illness just finds a way to spread despite the amount of protective gear he made them wear. In fact, a couple had come and received medication already. But when he sees Bepo carrying you in haste to his door, he couldn't help the fear that crept up within him despite his confidence that the medication would work.

But would it work on you?

Would it be enough?

But even more so, he hates the flash of fear in your irises as you struggled weakly in Bepo's arms, shaking your head in rapid increments.

"No... please, Law..."

A needle was already prepared, full of the cure, ready to be registered in your system, but Law knew that getting to that point would be a struggle. He was adamant on the health of his crew; on the health of you. It was one of the most important things to him, if not the most. But Law was also adamant on your comfort, on your safety, on your ease. He hated being the one who made you subject to a fear he knew you could not control.

Your breathing, already uneven from illness, starts to become even more uncontrolled as tears spring to your eyes in apprehension. You eye the sharpness of the metal edge like it would be the cause of your undoing. And you were so sure it would be. Sweat rises on skin, limbs tremble, anxiety fills you, and all you know is that you need to get away from the needle, get away from this room; away from your boyfriend.

"[y/n], please, let me cure you."

You shake your head rapidly, and Bepo sits rigidly, concerned but unable to do anything but try and hold you still. In all honesty, the weakness of your figure is no struggle for him to hold, and that makes him worry too about your state; if they do not hurry, the illness may take over your body completely.

"[y/n], come on-"

"No!! Please, Law, don't make me do this- You can't, I can't do this-"

Your voice is faint with exhaustion but thick with desperation. Your boyfriend's brows furrowed tightly together, hesitating as he glanced between you and the cure in his fingertips. God, he hated seeing you scared; despised it. But he couldn't risk losing you; he would beg you to take it if he needed to.

"Love-"

"Law, please don't-"

"[y/n]..."

You shake your head quickly, tears flowing down your cheeks as you see the inevitable outcome, despite your pleas. Your boyfriend's hands are gentle as he guides your face upwards to meet his gaze. You see within his irises worry, hesitation, and hurt. You know he is hurting from seeing you like this, you know you had to put him at ease, but how?

How can you overcome this overwhelming fear?

The hand that holds your face moves to your hand, squeezing it lightly. If you had been sober of fear, maybe you would find yourself surprised at the depths of patience this man has for you, even with his reputation as the surgeon of death. His gaze looks to you imploringly; it asks silently for permission. You don't know how long you both stay unmoving and in silence, and there is comfort in knowing that Law can do nothing in good conscience without your permission.

But you also know how torturous this is to him.

"[y/n], you know I can't lose you."

Tears slip past your lower lash again, as you squeeze your eyes shut, the thrumming of your heart unbearable as you nod.

"I promise, it will only hurt for a second... please."

You continue to shut your eyes, anxiety making you feel dizzy, but you find yourself speaking shakily to your boyfriend, knowing what needs to be done.

"Q-Quickly, b-before I notice."

With the adrenaline coursing through you, and your boyfriend's ever careful hands bridled with accuracy and experience, you only feel one prick of skin until you are told it is over. You feel Bepo's fleeting warmth as he leaves you and your boyfriend be, and when you open your eyes, you are met only with the sight of Law, carefully applying a small bandage to your shoulder. When he looks up to meet your gaze, he gives you a small smile, rare even to you.

"Thank you, love."

His hands caress your hair once he is done, and he catches the last of your tears as you nod wordlessly, falling into his arms in exhaustion of both a subsiding illness and the depths of uncontrollable fear.

"That was so scary..."

Law's heart clenches at your soft-spoken words as he finds you succumbing to sleep in his arms. He vows silently to make every illness curable, even without the sharp edge of a needle. But in that moment, he simply caresses your hair, glad you were alive and safe in his arms.

- Kid - (Fear of Snakes)

You walk with your boyfriend, whose wide strides take him a few steps in front of you, with barely a care in the world. You know that as a pirate, maybe you should exercise more caution when travelling to new Islands in the New World, but you couldn't help your ease. You were part of the Kid Pirates, your boyfriend was one of the most powerful and ruthless pirates at sea, and you could hardly talk down your own strength after countless battles won time and time again.

It seemed your crew could get through anything the world threw at you, and you had never seen your crew members succumb to fear, apart from maybe when your boyfriend loses his temper. Yes, fear was uncommon, maybe even unnatural to members of the Kid Pirate Crew. And maybe that's why you had decided not to let anyone know of your very embarrassing but very real fear of snakes.

God, you hated those slippery things.

You don't know from where such fear arose, but you knew the sight of scales and lack of limbs caused an unbelievable amount of dread to creep into your system, rendering you useless. Whenever you had had the rare misfortune of coming across the wretched creatures along your journey, it had been easy to hide amongst your crew as they either walked past or got rid of them. However, now, alone with your boyfriend, it was much harder to hide your fear.

"Tch, why do I have to do this shit?"

You roll your eyes as your boyfriend grumbles about the task of finding herbs on the island you now find yourselves on. You remember back to the previous battle your crew had faced at sea, and it was difficult to admit, but it had been an awful one. Many crewmembers had been injured and resigned to bed rest, but you hoped a week of rest, with the right herbs for medicine, would be enough to bring them back to their feet.

"We're the only ones without life-threatening injuries, you do realise that, right?" You tease lightly as the two of you start to split up and look to your natural surroundings for a treasure unlike those you usually look for. You hear your boyfriend grumble but not rebuke your words as he travels a short distance from you, doing the same. But it is only a few minutes later, when you witness a sight that fills you with sharp fear.

A snake.

A snake that moves from within a bush you stand beside.

Instantly, it is like your laid-back nature is foreign to you.

You let out a sharp yell, and you stumble backwards several steps, your heart picking up pace so suddenly it hurts in your chest. Your feet lose their usual rhythm in your haste, and a rush of movement entraps them within the other, causing you to fall. You hit the ground hard, but you don't seem to register any pain as you scramble backwards, the beaded eyes of the creature still looking at you, alert.

Maybe you should've thought logically and simply run away.

Maybe you should've noticed the pattern on its scales, displaying its non-venomous nature to you.

But how could you, when suddenly your limbs are slack and your ears are ringing with an anxiety you cannot control?

Your breath comes in faster as the creature moves slowly toward you, curious about the human before it, who stumbles backward in its path. Your hands try to gather feeling as you try to move. Sweat rises on your skin as you unravel panic. One thought clouds your mind; it begs for escape.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily for you, your boyfriend heard your initial yell of surprise and turned abruptly to the noise you made.

"Babe?"

But his call of your name had been unanswered and unheard by you, causing him to move and find you. He would deny in that moment that it was worry that filled him by your lack of response, but when he finds you scrambling in a fit of fear on the ground, he is instantly alert.

As you register your boyfriend who stands by you now, you find the strength in you to scramble, fighting embarrassment as you move to your feet. Your hands clutch the depths of your boyfriend's red coat as you shut your eyes and bury yourself in his back.

Kid is rigid and confused.

"Hey, what are you doing, woman?! Let g-"

"The snake!" You say, rushed and muffled, uncaring of your lack of bravery now that safety in the form of your temperamental boyfriend has come. "Please, get rid of it." You try to control the wavering of your voice and to control what fear has you wrapped around its finger, but you know you fail. Your trembling limbs, the choked-up noise you make, the tears that threaten to fall...

Kid bears witness to all of it.

And weirdly, to him at least, he feels no anger or annoyance at you asking him to do something, although had it been someone else, he surely would've lost his temper. Instead, a weird feeling twists his forgotten heart as he sees you, the strongest woman he knows of, in fear of something. But most importantly, in need of something; something he can provide.

Safety, protection.

In a mix of surprisingly gentle movements, you feel as hands unclench your hold on the coat, and you look wide-eyed at Kid, who feigns annoyance as he moves away from you and moves to the snake. He grabs it without hesitation, comically even, and the snake falls victim to his vice grip as he continues to move a short distance away. When Kid returns, the snake is no longer within his grasp.

He moves to you, not a word, and you feel a flush rise on your cheeks now that your fear has been frayed for him to see.

"S-sorry, I mean thanks, I guess? I- I didn't mean, well, what I mean to say is-"

You don't know why you ramble, but you figure your boyfriend seeks some sort of compensation for your show of weakness, or for his services. But he surprises you when he moves to you, and his rough fingertips catch a single tear that you had forgotten passed your lashline. He stares at it a while, eyebrows furrowed, only now realising he had never seen you cry, had never seen you fearful, and how much he despised that helpless look on your face.

Not because of weakness, but because he found he didn't like that you would doubt your safety when on his crew.

He moves past you then, grumbling something under his breath you do not quite catch.

"Tch, come on then, I though we were supposed to be looking for some damned herbs."

His voice is gruff as it reaches your ears, and you find yourself confused but relieved that he did not mock your fear. Unbeknownst to you, he makes a silent vow to rid any snakes you would come by before you witness them, so he doesn't have to see you so fearful again.

- Ace - (Fear of Darkness)

Why did you have to get lost now?

In the middle of the night?

In the middle of a forest, with your lack of navigational skills, which honestly rivalled Zoro's?

That is what you think as you travel in darkness that seems to want to encase you, invade you, torture you.

Hands tremble as they try to reach for an anchor in the uncertain world around you, but every surface your hands find and every small sound that flares in between causes you to jump involuntarily. The depths of the night seem to unravel noises you were unfamiliar with, and as your eyes fight to adjust to your surroundings, irregular shapes continue to invoke fear within you.

You let out a shaky breath, trying to convince yourself that it is alright, trying to find rational thoughts amongst those that try to persuade you that those irregular shapes you see are monsters, or that the next noise you hear brings ruin. More sounds crack and creak as your feet catch roots of trees and dried-out leaves, causing your heart to hammer hard against your chest. Overwhelmingly, you are filled with dread that you cannot escape from.

You would do anything for a flicker of light.

You would do anything for the call of a crewmate.

Anything for your boyfriend, bright with his flames to find you.

Two more steps, then suddenly a creature moves unbeknownst to you and flies swiftly past your head. You let out an involuntary scream as you stumbled and hit the hard etch of a tree. Your heart hammers so hard, you find yourself unable to get up from where you sit, and still, the darkness creeps up on you, suffocating you.

Tears fall freely now from your eyes as you try to make yourself small, knowing you should be stronger - you were a whitebeard pirate, after all - but after all that time with your boyfriend's safety and warmth and light, you had forgotten what the darkness does to you. Hands pull on arms, and you tuck your head within your limbs, squeezing your eyes shut and trying to remember how to breathe.

You are so lost in your fear, you do not hear the worried call of a man who looks for you.

Ace had been searching for what he felt like too long for your presence. After your division members returned to the ship without you, worry filled him instantly, and he had ignored the calls of crewmembers as he ran to search for you. The fallen sun and the size of the wretched forest he travelled through hindered his pursuit of you, much to the added apprehension in his heart.

But you could not know the depths of the fear he felt when he heard your scream ripple through the darkness.

His figure had instantly stilled, his call for your name rushed along with his footsteps. And yet now, as he finds you crumpled beneath a tree and shaking, he finds himself locked in dread too.

What happened?

Did someone hurt you?

Was that danger still imminent?

Lost in his worry, he forgets to move, and all of a sudden, his movement is quick as he reaches for you.

"[y/n], babe, are you okay?!"

Your eyes shoot upwards, shock rippling through your system and causing you to jump. The fear you behold lingers, and yet your sight is suddenly filled with a soothing light that emits from the figure of a man in front of you. And when your eyes meet your boyfriend's and your skin registers the warmth in his touch, you instantly fall into the depths of his waiting arms.

"A-Ace?"

His heat is overwhelming as he encases you, safe and grounded once more, and yet you cannot help but let a few more tears slip in your relief. Your trembling starts to subside, your dread lost simply because of the glowing man now with you once more; your prayers had been finally answered.

Ace breathes you in, but relief has yet to find him; he quickly releases you from his hold as eyes search your figure for injury or harm.

"Babe, what happened? Are you hurt?!"

Worried gaze searches yours for answers, and you feel embarrassed now as your fear has subsided. But as you see the franticity and nerves travel in waves from your boyfriend, as though he was getting ready to fight what has troubled you, you know you should put him at ease. "No..." You murmur, eyes moving from his gaze, but he holds your face gently in his fingertips, lifting it so he can catch your eyes once more.

"Babe-"

"I was just scared, okay... I- I don't like the dark."

Your voice is rushed and low, as though you were ready for him to be annoyed at your proclamation, and your face feels like it has caught Ace's flames and has lit on fire. But to your surprise, your boyfriend just pulls you into his embrace once more, and you feel his relief fall from deep within him.

"Thank God," he murmurs as he lets out a deep sigh that you feel rumbling against you.

"You're not mad?" You mumble into his chest, surprised by his quick dismissal of such an irrational fear.

He laughs out, but it sounds slightly choked up to you, and when you meet his gaze once more, there is love within that seems to have no end. The warm light he emits seems to glow a little more, and maybe you mistake the light for the tears that skim the lower lashes of his eyes.

"Of course not, you're safe, you're here, and as long as I'm here, I'll make sure the darkness doesn't touch you."

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