First of all, I have to say that the idea of this fic came to me after reading the fanfic The Coffee Shop written by pandacheeze in AO3 (fic that it's a MUST if you like the pair Corazon/Law because it's simply marvelous *_*).

As it says in the summary, in this fic the Female Reader falls in love with Corazon who, at the same time, has fallen for Law. The Reader's love for Corazon is going to be one-sided, buuuut that doesn't mean that she doesn't eventually fall for someone quite related to Corazon...

Also, besides the Corazon/Law pair, there will be more One Piece pairs in the background that will be eventually appearing, and obviously Bartolomeo/Cavendish is one among those pairs ^^

And that's all. I have to warn that this is the first time that I write a Reader fic so I'll do my best not to turn the Female Reader into a Mary Sue and writing it acceptably right ^^U

A/N: I consider that the reader is 24 years old, and so it is Rebecca :) The rest of the characters keep their original ages.

[I need to talk to you about something]

After reading Corazon's message, your (e/c) eyes almost pop out from their sockets and your heart begins to beat rapidly inside your chest.

'Okay girl', you say to yourself, 'breathe deeply. You still don't know what the hell he is meaning so DON'T YOU DARE to let your hopes up yet.'

With your trembling fingers you answer the message.

[Hope it isn't something bad(?!) ô_ôU]

You fix your gaze in the broken screen of your mobile that you haven't had time to fix yet.

Shortly a set of quick messages pop out.

[Hahaha. Nothing bad ;)]

[But it's something I prefer to tell you face to face]

[Can you come today to the shop a little earlier?]

By then, your heart is dancing samba inside your chest.

Damn, you really don't want to let your hopes up but Corazon is making that task difficult with those cryptic messages.

You take another deep breath, deciding to try to calm yourself down and not to think yet about the possibility that your almost-two-years crush could really love you back.

[(y/n)? Are you still there?]

Crap! You have spaced out!

[Yep]

[Sorry, my stupid mobile had closed the msg app]

[Okay, I'll be in the shop at 3.30 =D]

The answer comes almost immediately.

[Thanks, (y/n) :)]

No more messages arrive.

You gulp loudly and keep staring at the now black screen of your mobile for several seconds. until you hear Rebecca calling you from the kitchen.

"(y/n)! Lunch is ready!"

"I-I'm coming!", you answer a little nervously.

You stand up from the desk of your room and close the lip of the laptop where you have been finishing an article just before Corazon sent you that nerve-wrecking message.

When you arrive at the small living room Rebecca is already carrying a couple of plates to the table.

"I hope not having used too much salt", the girls says while you take a seat on the table absentmindedly, "I'm not sure if I put it twice so be prepared to drink a lot of water in that cas…"

Rebecca shuts up and looks at you with a worried expression.

"Oh my, (y/n), you're pale like a ghost!"

When hearing your friend speak with such concern you immediately focus again.

"S-Sorry", you force a smile and wave your hand exaggeratedly, "I'm fine. Just a little stressed with my last article and…"

At that moment your mobile begins to sound and you exhale a shocked cry before grabbing it hurriedly.

"Cora-san?!", you exclaim automatically, but you grunt in disappointment while separating your mobile from your ear when hearing that annoyingly loud voice that definitely didn't belong to Corazon, "damn it, Barto, stop shouting, I'm not deaf! What is it now?...Aha…Aha, so you two have fought again...What?! No! I'm not going to speak to Cavendish!…Look, I'm tired that you both put me in the middle of all your fights! What am I, your mother?!...*sigh* Okay, but this will be the last time, you hear me?...Kay, see you this afternoon"

You hang up and exhale a loud sigh.

"Those two are going to drive me crazy, jeez. What are they? Five years old?"

You are about to keep protesting about your two idiots friends when you realize that Rebecca is looking at you with an eyebrow quirked up in amusement.

"Cora-san?"

You blush. Shit, you had the hope that Rebecca hadn't realized your previous mistake.

"(y/n), are you sure that your stress is due to your article?"

After considering your options, you let out a defeated sigh before deciding that it's useless to try to fool Rebecca.

"Okay, look at this"

You offer your mobile to Rebecca, who begins to read the messages that you have just received.

"Wait…", Rebecca looks at you with her eyes open wide, "…does that mean that maybe he…?"

"I don't know what it means but until I talk to him I'm not going to think about it too much", you says hurriedly, almost hysterically.

Rebecca smiles and leans over the table to settle a hand over your arm as a support. You smile back at her. You had met the girl five years ago when starting the University. Your careers couldn't be more different (you were a Computer Engineer and she was a teacher) but you had got along extremely well from the start, had become best friends in no time and for that reason in the second year of the University you two decided to share an apartment and there you were now.

"Well, but even if you don't know if I were you I would dress properly for the possible occasion. Just in case"

You can't help to laugh when hearing Rebecca's advice.

"Sorry, you know what a disaster I am. I don't have anything in my wardrobe to dress 'properly'"

"That's not a problem: I can lend you some of my clothes"

"Sorry, but I have something called 'waist' that stops me from wearing your clothes"

"Hey, what are you meaning with that?!"

You both keep teasing each other during the whole lunch and in the blink of an eye you are with your coat on about to leave the apartment towards the shop, your nervousness coming back.

"You sure you don't want to wear makeup?", Rebecca asks teasingly when you are already opening the door to leave, "I can make you look extremely sexy in just five minutes so…"

"Bye, Becca", you answers instead, causing the girl to chuckle before adding a sincere 'Good luck' with an encouraging smile that you immediately returns.

Even if Corazon's costume shop is a ten minutes walk from your apartment this time you feel that the distance is horribly longer, and with every step you make towards your destination the nervous weight settled in the pit of your stomach becomes heavier.

You arrive at the place before the accorded hour and your heart almost stops when you distinguish the big figure of Corazon through the shop window, already in the counter and looking as distracted as usual.

You lean your back against the building wall and take a deep breath, uselessly trying to calm your racing heart now that the moment of talking to Corazon has finally come.

Definitely you have fallen hard for the man. You met him in January of the last year, when you and your friends went to buy some costumes for Carnaval, and at first, you thought that he was a weirdo. After all who in the world wore that kind of make-up and that pink-shaped-heart shirt as an everyday thing? And sorry, but working on a costume shop wasn't enough explanation to be looking the way he did.

However, your impression of him changed almost instantly with the way Corazon helped you choose the most suitable costumes together with the best but still relatively cheap accessories.

Besides, he didn't mind at all when your friends (but specially you because you have always been more than a little indecisive) suddenly changed your mind and decided to go for a completely different costume, making the whole selection process restart once again.

In fact, instead of looking annoyed Corazon felt enthusiastic, running towards the back shop to grab more and more costumes while almost stumbling clumsily in the process because, as you learnt that day, even if Corazon seemed to be a serious, smoker and quiet 1,93m man, he was a extremely kind person who loved his work and who could end becoming goofy when he got too involved with it.

You smile to yourself and sigh. Probably you liked him since the beginning, but it took you a little more to realize it, and when you began to purposely change your usual itinerary to go to the university just to pass by the shop, you stopped lying to yourself and accepted your feelings.

And then, two months after that carnival party, you came back because you had decided to prepare a costume party for Rebecca's birthday, who immediately detected your crush on Corazon even if the only thing you did was to mention him a couple of times (or well, maybe more than a couple and for that reason Rebecca discovered it).

And then, you came back two months after that because you wanted ideas for a Halloween costume even if it was still May.

And then, in summer when you came back with another lame excuse, Corazon offered you a part-time job in his shop because he was overjoyed that you liked costumes as much as him, and of course even if the main reason for liking the costumes was him you immediately accepted.

And then, suddenly, summer was over but you kept working there, in charge of the web site of the shop that you yourself suggested to create after discovering that Corazon maintained the inventory of his shop by writing manually all the goods, and that the folder that stored all that rather important information was about to overflow.

And now, the result was that you were more focused on working on the shop of the man who occupied most part of your thoughts than finishing your more and more forgotten PhD. Thank goodness that Rebecca paid half of the rent because otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it with you earnings, even if what Corazon paid you was much more than you would receive in any other shop.

You sigh again and close your eyes. Damn, could it really be that Corazon liked you too? Okay, it was improbable. After all the man was 39 and you were just 24, so you have always assumed that he looked you as a child, though truth to be told those were assumptions of yours.

And well, it was true that Corazon had a lot of details with you: in your birthday he gave you a rather flashy bracelet as a present, that was the only jewel that you wore, and in Christmas he sent you a postcard with a fluffy winter hat that you were in fact wearing at that moment even if it was just September, but Corazon was nice with everyone, and you knew perfectly that 'being nice' has nothing to do with 'being in love with'. But still jeez, that cryptic message could still mean that he maybe-

"Oh, you've come early"

You exhale a rather undignified cry while jumping when suddenly hearing Corazon's voice extremely close. Crap, you have spaced out again for several minutes and you haven't realized that Corazon has left the shop and was just next to you.

"Sorry! I didn't want to scare you", Corazon smiles apologetically and settles a hand on your shoulder, "are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, don't worry", you manage to answer, your heart beating at a rather dangerous rhythm because of the shock, and Corazon's warm hand on your shoulder doesn't help to make you calmer, "I-I was just lost in my deep meditations and haven't heard you arrive"

Corazon chuckles and removes his hand from your shoulder. Damn it, how the hell that red lipstick could make a smile look so sexy in him? You still didn't understand it.

"Do you want to enter already?", Corazon suggests, "Now that we are alone we could talk before Bartolomeo and Cavendish arrive"

You honestly fear that Corazon can hear your heart (no pun intended) at that moment. And damn why the hell Corazon looks suddenly so nervous?! He is scratching the back of his head and he is obviously avoiding looking at you!

"O-Okay. Let's go!", you say in a high-pitched tone that sounds horrible to your own ears.

You enter the shop and Corazon helps you remove your coat (that chivalry was another thing that made you fall hard for him). You follow him where the counter is and hold your breath when the man leans against it facing you, his thumbs inside the pockets of his white jeans.

After a brief pause, Corazon sighs and begins to speak.

"(y/n)…", you feel your knees go weak when he says your name while fixing his brown eyes on you, "as I've told you in the message, there is something that you must know"

You gulp.

"And you promised that it wouldn't be anything bad"

You make that comment because right now the tension between you two was too much, and it seems that it helps to relax a little the mood because Corazon exhales a chuckle and smiles.

"Yes, it's nothing bad, but it's something that it's been rounding my head for several months and I can't hold it in any longer", it's Corazon turn to gulp, "and I can't keep hiding it from you. Not anymore"

You gulp again. Louder.

This couldn't be happening.

There was no way that this could be happening but damn, his words right now looked as if it was indeed happening!

"Okay", you manage to somehow find your voice to answer, "shoot"

Corazon smiles again when hearing your reply and then, his low voice resounds in the now completely silent room.

"I've fallen in love…"

Your heart literally stops for a moment.

Oh god.

Oh god, it had happened!

Corazon loved you back! Corazon was just confessing and…

"…with a man"

And you feel your heart break in a thousandth pieces.

With the summary it was rather evident what was going to happen, poor reader...
Comments will be greatly appreciated ^^