Saint Valentine of... Remembering What Day It Is

by LaurelSilver

Summary:

Penguin and Shachi stared at him, Penguin worrying his lip. Their dumb jokes never lasted longer than five seconds before they’d collapse into peals of stomach-clenching laughter. But ten full seconds passed with the pair still glancing between Law and each other, and the horrifying realisation crept up on him like breath on his neck;
Law had forgotten Valentine’s Day.

Notes:

I also forgot about Valentine's Day. Oops.

Just to share, I have a bluesky, I do try to be active on there!! I also have a tumblr but I don't post there regularly.

Penguin and Shachi accosted Law as he headed into the mess hall. He hadn’t even had his morning coffee yet.

“So, Captain,” Shachi said, mischievous smirk behind his clasped hands, Penguin’s stance mirroring his, “What’cha got Perona for Valentine’s Day?”

“Oh, shit, yeah,” Law mumbled, still 80% asleep, “When’s that again?”

Shachi blinked at him. “You gotta be kidding me, Captain.”

Law blinked back

“Captain,” Penguin said, “Valentine’s Day is today.”

“What?”

Penguin and Shachi stared at him, Penguin worrying his lip. Their dumb jokes never lasted longer than five seconds before they’d collapse into peals of stomach-clenching laughter. But ten full seconds passed with the pair still glancing between Law and each other, and the horrifying realisation crept up on him like breath on his neck;

Law had forgotten Valentine’s Day.

“Shit!” Law barged past them both. He was going to need a strong coffee to get his brain kicked into motion; an upset Perona was often referred to as a Code Pink by the crew, and on more than one occasion her tantrums had been escalated to a Code Red by a panicking Bepo.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Shachi babbled as he and Penguin followed Law to the coffee machine, “I’m sure you can think of something on the fly… Ikkaku! You had Galentine’s with Perona last night, right?”

Ikkaku was up, coffee still steaming, hair bonnet still on, ketchup slathered on her eggs and hash browns. “Yeah, I did.”

“Did she say anything about spending Valentine’s with Law?”

“Not really. I asked if she had anything planned for Law, and she freaked out and ran off.”

“What? That’s great!” Shachi cheered, “That means she doesn’t have anything planned either!”

“She won’t be as mad about you forgetting!” Penguin cheered with him.

“I’m not so sure,” Bepo said, “She still gets mad at me about shedding on her clothes.”

“You do still shed,” Penguin said.

“And it does get everywhere,” Shachi said.

“And it smells.”

“And gets in the vents.”

“And in the drains.”

“And then we have to clean it up.”

“And it all sticks together in these itchy, wet clumps.”

“Shut up, the pair of you,” Law snapped.

Bepo was staring forlornly into his lap. “I’m sorry…”

Penguin and Shachi sulked but quietened.

“Any clue where she is now?” Law asked.

Ikkaku shrugged. “She ran in earlier, grabbed a bagel and a mocha and ran right back out again.”

Law nodded. He took a long sip of his coffee, black with two extra shots of espresso, “Did you see which way she went?”

Ikkaku shook her head.

“I saw her,” Jean Bart said, wiping egg from the corner of his mouth, “She still had her bagel in her mouth. She was heading for the rudder.”

“Thanks, Jean Bart.”

“Sure, Captain. Y’know, I was wondering why she had a tool belt on.”

Law choked on his coffee. “What?”

“What?”

Law didn’t even follow up his own question. He turned on his heel and ran, heading for the rudder.

Perona’s homemaker skills were limited, her every whim on Thriller Bark fulfilled by a horde of zombies, if not by Gecko Moira himself. Her spoilt upbringing had left her inept at basic tasks like putting trash in the bin or washing dishes after she’s used them, the notion of having to keep clean and tidy simply never occurring to her. She was slowly learning the habit, albeit with many a pout and tantrum.

The notion that someone had taught her shipwright skills was laughable. The notion that someone had taught her submarine maintenance was even more laughable still.

Law turned a corner. His end of the corridor was brightly lit, the other end cast in an abrupt darkness. Perona was clunking and muttering in the dark, her form floating near the ceiling, her pigtails hanging down.

“Perona?” Law called. The air grew cold as he approached her, and his skin crawled with the creepy itch of being watched.

The light flicked on, bright enough to make Law flinch. Perona was floating next to it, a white tool belt over her black ruffle of skirt, thick gloves covered her hands, a pair of goggles sat over her face. “Hi Law!”

“Uh…” Law said, “Hi. What are you doing?”

“Fixing the lights,” Perona said, floating down to stand by him, “These lights flicker all the time and that can cause a seizure, you know!”

“I…uh…” Law rubbed his face. The coffee hadn’t prepared him for this. “Okay, but why are you doing it? Skate’s a licenced electrician, he can do this.”

Perona rolled her eyes, “It’s not a big deal. These are the same lights my wing had on Thriller Bark. Gecko Moira liked them be all dim and creepy, but I couldn’t check my outfits in that kind of light, so I just changed them myself.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah, it’s easy.”

“Okay,” Law sipped his coffee again, pulling himself together, “So why did you run off last night?”

“Huh?”

“Ikkaku told me you ran off when she mentioned Valentine’s Day.”

“Yeah,” Perona stared at him, “To come and fix the lights.” She talked slowly, like she was explaining something to a child.”

“You’re fixing the rudder lights… for Valentine’s Day?”

“Yes.”

Law took another sip of coffee. It didn’t make anything make sense. “Okay, what do you think Valentine’s Day is?”

“The Death-aversary of Saint Valentine,” Perona rolled her eyes, “Obviously!”

A vague memory of the nuns of Flevance flashed through Law’s mind, of grey pictures of men who did Important Things. “And he’s the Saint of… flashing lights?”

“No!” Perona shrieked, “Of epilepsy! Which can cause seizures triggered by flashing lights!”

Law stared at her, still trying to piece the logic together.

“He’s also the Saint of beekeepers, so I bought some honey from the last island, oh!” Perona took off up the corridor, her boots clicking.

“What now?!” Law followed her.

“I need to put the honey by the coffee machine! You’ll never have any if I don’t!”

Law groaned. “Just wait a minute! Perona!”

Perona ran into their shared cabin, digging through her bag. Law dove in after her, shutting the door.

Another vague memory of cutting pink card into hearts and decorating them in bee stickers was spinning in his head. He’d made one for every single student in his class, too young for the competitiveness of having crushes.

“Perona. Do you remember what else Saint Valentine was Patron of?”

“Uh, yeah,” Perona continued digging through her bag, “Some island in the South Blue.”

“Romance.”

“Huh?” Perona paused.

“Saint Valentine is the Patron Saint of romance.”

Perona stared at him, wide-eyed. “What? Since when?”

“Uh… since he was sainted, I’d guess. I don’t know, I don’t think about the Saints much.”

Perona watched him as he sat on the end of the bed. They each had a childhood shrouded in Christianity, Law’s blasted through with disease and genocide, Perona’s a bizarre aesthetic backdrop for desecration. Perona wasn’t sure where her childhood religion ended and Gecko Moira’s obsession started. Law knew exactly where his childhood religion ended.

“So… you don’t fix flickering lights and eat honey and plant flowers on Valentine’s Day?” Perona said.

“No. Most people get a present for their loved one and spend time with them.”

“Oh… I got you honey!” Perona held the jar up to Law.

Law chuckled and took the jar. “Thanks.”

Perona smiled at him expectantly.

“I, uh… I forgot about Valentine’s Day.”

“What!” Perona threw her hands up in despair, “You ruin my Valentine’s Day to do your Valentine’s Day, and you didn’t even have your Valentine’s Day organised! At least I got honey!”

“But, I can make it up to you! Because if you’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day, that means you never got a Valentine’s card.”

“A who?”

Law patted the bed next to him, and Perona rose to sit with him, pulling the gloves off.

“When I was a kid, we had to make cards for everyone in our class to wish them a Happy Valentine’s,” Law explained, “And if you had a little crush on them, you’d sign it with “Love, your secret admirer” instead of “From your friend”. I didn’t sign any from a secret admirer.”

“You’re so serious,” Perona pouted.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, these cards would be cut into heart shapes.”

“You’ve made me a card?” Perona said.

“No, I thought I could do one better. Room.”

He raised his hand. A cube sat there, a red heart beating inside. It fluttered a little faster as Perona leant down to peer at it.

“Is that… whose is that!” Perona cried.

“Mine. I want you to have it.”

“You idiot!” Perona grabbed the cube, sending a jolt of panicked pain through Law’s chest, “You need it! People die if you take their heart out!”

“Ah, be careful!” Law gripped his chest.

Perona held the heart, her grip loosening. She could feel it pulsing against her palm. “You... you’re fine.”

“Uh-huh. Just be careful.”

“This is actually your heart?”

“Yeah.”

“How… what… how… where am I supposed to put this?”

“I… uh…I don’t know…”

Perona turned the heart over in her hands, surveying its chambers and valves, pumping nothing in its cube. Questions rolled over in her mind and danced on her tongue; what would happen if she dropped it? Lost it? If Law fell into seawater? Terror clawed at her stomach.

“Can I put it here?” she put a hand on Law’s chest, “For safekeeping?”

Law’s face flushed red with a blush. “Uh… yeah… if that’s what you want?”

“It’s the safest place for it,” Perona held the heart out to him, “You look after stuff much better than I do. I’d be really sad if it went missing.”

“Room.”

His heart returned to his chest, Law pressed a kiss to Perona’s cheek. Her skin was cold against his lips.

“I’ll get Skate to check the lights at the back end of the ‘Tang,” Law said, “Just to check nothing’s crossed. The Tang’s wired up different to the Bark was, and it’s a bigger issue if we have a fire underwater.”

“Fine,” Perona pouted. She pushed her goggles up her head.

The snort escaped Law before he could stop it.

“What?”

“Whose goggles are those?”

“Uh… Penguin’s, I think.”

“It looks like Shachi left him a little surprise.”

Perona looked at herself in the mirror. Ink had stained her skin from the rims of the goggles, leaving her with a wide ring around each eye.

“Those shits!” she spat, “I’m gonna kill them both!”

“Can I come watch?”

“Obviously!”

And Perona seized Law by the hand and led him back to the mess hall, still carrying the jar of honey. His heart beat in his chest, skipping with a warm, bright flicker of joy.

Notes:

Skate (the electrician) is named after USS Skate, the first submarine to surface at the North Pole in 1959.

I feel like Penguin & Shachi will be laughing about the goggles for days.