Starting from death - Law x Reader (Pt. 32)

NOTE: This story may contain spoilers. You've been warned!



"Here we are!!!!" Esther cheered once you got out of the car. You had just arrived at the Expomanga event. It was pretty early, but you could already see many people heading to the same place, easily recognizable for the colorful and diverse cosplays most of them wore. "There it goes the first Hatsune Miku of the day." She commented seeing a girl dressed up as Hatsune Miku passing by.

"I can see a Luffy, too." You giggled. "Look Law, it's a Luffy."

"I see, I see..." He mumbled, scanning his surroundings in interest as you headed to the corresponding area. As you got nearer, more people was visible.

"There are always many Luffys, since it's so easy to cosplay as him. Nami is pretty simple too." Esther pointed out. She was wearing a pink wig and dressed with a gothic lolita styled dress, carrying a matching small parasol. She was grabbing a Kumashi plushy with her free hand as well and carried a small bag, as well as you.

Law simply was wearing his black and yellow hoodie with his usual spotted jeans. All Esther had needed to lend him was a plastic version of Kikoku which he was carrying comfortably leaning it against his shoulder, as he used to with the real one, and the mushroom-shaped hat he wore before the new one, since his hat was still at the dry cleaners. Since he was cosplaying as his pre-timeskip version, you had concealed the tattoos on his right hand fingers with some makeup.

You weren't cosplaying but you wore a cute, black, doll-like dress. It wasn't a dress you would usually wear, but you liked it and this was a good occasion to enjoy it.

"I've already seen two Narutos and three Sakuras." You commented.

"There is Ichigo!" Esther exclaimed. "Gintoki! We have a Gintoki!" She cheered. "Jesus, this is full of Natsus and Lucys, too."

"Look, Law, another you." You laughed. He turned to the guy who was cosplaying as himself before meeting your eyes with a smirk, and your heart skipped a beat when he did.

"Oh my, it's Levi. Levi. Levi. Levi!!!" Esther shouted before running to a guy cosplayed as the mentioned Levi.

You didn't remember too much of the character but if Esther was so excited, it had to be a really good cosplay. You observed how she asked him for a photo and she took a picture of the two. "Levi is a character from another anime. He has your seiyuu." You explained, feeling Law's inquisitive stare.

Law nodded with a quiet hum. Esther waved her hand at 'Levi' and returned to where you and Law were. She showed you the pictures and you resumed your walk.

"Do we have to wait for all of this people to enter? The entrance is still far away." Law questioned in shock. By then, you had already reached the start of the infinite line to enter, and he was astonished by the huge number of people that was waiting to go inside. Many of the surrounding people turned  to look at Law as you walked, admiration in their eyes. He certainly didn't pass unnoticed.

"Nah, don't worry. If you come with a cosplay, you can enter for free; the line is for that people. I bought the tickets online, we enter for a different place. We'll barely have to wait." Esther soothed him.

Law looked around him in awe when you entered the place. It was as you said: a huge room full with small stands and many people walking in between.

"Let's take some pictures!" Esther cheered, taking out her camera from her bag. She asked a random girl to take the picture and the three of you gathered together smiling (in Law's case smirking) at the camera. She took several pictures in which you varied your positions before giving it back to Esther. "Where do we start?" She questioned after thanking the girl and placing the camera back on her bag.

You shrugged. "Left to right?" You suggested. So you moved to the first stand from the left.

You spent hours looking at every stand and their products, frequently being asked for a picture. It was obvious most of them asked because of Law, but Esther usually included herself as well.

At first, Law felt quite awkward, and waited for the picture to be taken with a tense pose and a straight face. But he soon relaxed and started 'getting into character' showing smug smirks or making scary psycho faces as well as posing as if he was calling his room, unsheathing his nodachi, using one of his attacks or whatever he came out with. It was obvious that he was enjoying himself by taking photos with his fans. He even feigned a short fight with a guy cosplayed as Doflamingo and another cosplayed as Kid. You could see a happy glint in his eyes and sometimes he couldn't help but curve his lips in something that was closer to a true smile than a smirk.

Everybody complimented him for how great his cosplay was and how alike to Law he looked and acted, even asking him where he got his contact lens or flipping out when they heard his voice. If they just knew he wasn't a cosplayer but the true Trafalgar Law...

"Excuse me." A young girl said approaching Law. "Hello, I'm Ana and I'm doing a report for my blog 'Otaku living'. Can I take a picture, please?"

"Sure." Law accepted, already used to the procedure.

"Your friends too." She added. The three of you posed for the picture and she took a couple of them. "One more thing, please. I asked my followers to tell me if they would like their favorite characters to do something in particular and many of them asked me to look for Trafalgar Law and get him to do some cute pose. Could you please do a cute pose?"

"I'm afraid I-" Law tried to refuse. What was wrong with his fans? Why all of them insisted on making him act cute? He wasn't cute.

"He can do the Gwiyomi." Esther intervened before he could end the sentence. He sent her a terrifying deathly glare.

"Oh! That would be perfect! Do you mind if I record you?" The girl excitedly cheered.

"Come on, it will be my birthday gift." She pleaded to Law. After seeing his stubborn angry glare, she decided to be a bit more persuasive. "I had a plan to get you closer to (Y/N), but if you're not interested..." Esther mumbled to him, making sure nobody heard her and feigning to inspect her nails in disinterest.

Law stared at her in suspicion. "You're a disgusting blackmailer." He finally growled under his breath, giving in. "I hope you don't use any dirty trick for it or I'll have a serious talk with you." He didn't like by one bit the wicked snickers that left her lips, but he didn't have time to ask about the details of her plan. He hoped you wouldn't get harmed because of it.

One more time, he danced the Gwiyomi, this time in front of a camera. As the other time, many people stopped to watch his performance. He made the moves perfectly, always staying in his own style as much as possible, though. He kept a straight face too.

People applauded when he was done, and he watched in mistrust how Esther walked to the blogger girl to say something to her.

"You rehearsed the dance, didn't you?" You playfully accused him. He smirked smugly and you knew he had. "I can't believe it. You actually enjoy this!" You laughed.

Well, maybe he enjoyed it a bit, but he had decided that, if he had to make a fool of himself, he would rather do it with elegance instead of clumsiness. He turned his attention back to the blogger girl when he heard her exclamation. "That would be perfect! My followers will love it!"

Then, Esther removed her wig to put it on your head. The dress you were wearing made her plans easier. "You're Perona now."

"Eh?" You uttered in confusion as she shoved you towards Law.

"Let's take some Law x Perona pictures!" Ana cheered. Esther had told her you two were a couple, and therefore would be perfect to take that kind of pictures, since you didn't need to act. Just a white lie to make her plan work.

"Law x Perona?" Law and you wondered out loud.

"Come on, hug her from behind." She instructed, unaware of your confusion and discomfort.

Law and you stared at each other in perplexity before he stepped behind you and wrapped his arms around you, resting his chin on your shoulder with a soft blush. "Like this?"

You felt your face warming in embarrassment. Or maybe you told yourself it was just because of embarrassment and it had nothing to do with Law's proximity. Your blush was so dark that Law's passed unnoticed.

"Perfect, perfect!" The girl complimented, taking pictures frenetically. She asked you to pose in different ways, all of them romantic and lovey-dovey. "Now act as if you were about to kiss."

You were hugging each other, Law's chin on top of your head and you rested it on his chest, the smell of that cologne you loved so much mixed with his own scent enveloping you and obscuring your senses. He just smelled too damn great. You separated from him and looked at him shyly. He smiled at you soothingly, loving the way you were behaving towards him recently, and placed his fingers under your chin to lightly tilt your head before leaning to you until your lips were just a couple of centimeters away from touching, his eyelids half-closed. You stared at his face in shock, feeling his breath fanning over your lips. You didn't dare to move a single muscle, barely aware of the girl exclaiming 'perfect' and the camera flashing repeatedly, and vaguely wondering how the hell had you ended up doing this. It wasn't so hard to say 'no'.

You almost pouted when he separated from you, but the sensation soon faded to be replaced for one of horror as the girl spoke again. "And for the final shot, a real kiss."

A real kiss? No way! Was she out of her mind? "What? No, no. That would be weird. No." You firmly refused, feeling the urge of running away.

"Come on, (Y/N). Is just a quick, simple kiss. It's not a big deal. Don't worry, you're among friends. Right, Law?" Esther pushed you.

You were about to yell at her something like 'If it's so easy then do it yourself instead!' but something kept you from saying it. You turned to Law nervously, not sure if he was okay with it, but he just smirked at you in amusement and shrugged, showing you he had no problem but he would be okay with whatever you decided.

"A very quick kiss and just one picture, okay?" You stated doubtfully. Why couldn't you just say 'no'!? Why did you have to be so obliging? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Maybe because some part of you actually wanted to... You should say no. No! But...

"I'll be quick." Ana assured, thinking your hesitation was just due to the shyness. Ignoring your inner quarrel, you walked to Law and resumed your almost-kissing pose. "When you want." She announced.

"Are you ready?" Law mumbled humorously, amusement still present in his features.

You rolled your eyes, but couldn't help smiling at him. "Let's do this quick so I can forget about it."

He chuckled. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to." He added, seeing the doubts in your eyes.

"It's okay..." You said, not too convinced.

"If you don't want to do this, just tell me and I'll say them I changed my mind." He gently offered.

His kindness made your heart feel very warm, your eyes softening as you looked into his. He was so sweet... "Don't worry. It's fine." You smiled, more convinced this time.

He softly smiled back before turning his attention to your lips. He closed his eyes, and you did the same just as his lips closed the gap between you, barely pressing to yours. You held your breath waiting for the moment to pass, but something in you urged you to hold him closer to prolong it as much as possible, the feeling of his lips brushing yours but not quite kissing them being a maddening torture you didn't expect. You wanted him closer. You needed him pressed against you. Each millisecond, that sensation grew stronger until it started to scare you. But then, he separated and you blinked in confusion, forcing your brain back to reality.

You forced a smile as you replied to the girl who was thanking you and said good bye, trying to ignore the strong, crazy pounding of your heart and holding back the need of licking your lips to erase the feel of Law's tender kiss from them, which kept the uncomfortable sensation of wanting him closer lingering in you.

Esther recovered her wig, which you already had forgotten you were wearing, and you continued watching stands. You did your best to concentrate on them to try to forget the recent events. Not long later you took a break to eat.

"Hey, Law, they have onigiri. Want some?" Esther informed.

"Definitely yes." Law accepted. "Do you want onigiri too, (Y/N)-ya?" He asked you, knowing you liked it as well.

"Yes. We can order a bigger pack and share them." You accepted, avoiding looking directly at him.

You were so busy trying to deal with your feelings that you didn't notice Esther talking to Law. "Look at her, she's totally flustered!" She whispered in excitement. "Told you she likes you."

"She's been acting differently these days." Law replied, talking quietly as well.

"That's great! Before you know it, you'll be happily dating."

He let out an airy chuckle, internally wishing those words to be true. "How did you know that girl wanted to take that kind of pictures?"

"I'm one of her followers." She snickered. "I'm the one who requested some Law x Perona pictures, actually."

"Sometimes I don't know if you're really smart or just extremely lucky." Law admitted.

"I'm a genius." She bragged.

He rolled his eyes. "Sure..." They took the food when it was ready and you hurried to help them. "Wait. You knew she would want to film me acting 'cute'. It was your idea from the beginning."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Esther bluffed, quickening her pace to walk in front of you as you went to a free table.

You looked at Law questioningly.

"Never mind, (Y/N)-ya. You have a dangerous friend. Be careful." He rumbled. He couldn't believe that woman had manipulated him so easily.

You blinked in confusion. Did you miss something?