A/N: I've been on a roll writing oneshots while I should be focusing on university stuff and yeah. Expect an update for "Runaway Train" either today or tomorrow!
a waiting heart
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"I leave it in your care, Doflamingo."
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Doflamingo would occasionally glance at the jar he kept Law's unusual gift in, and his lips would rise into a smile on their own as his eyes met the contents of the glass jar.
What a creepy brat, he thought to himself as his fingers trailed the edges of the jar containing Law's living, beating heart.
Law's smile upon his departure had sneaked its way to Doflamingo's mind, and though he had much better things to do (or actually – no, not really), that moment was on his mind a lot, hovering at the edges of his mind.
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"Just don't go around dropping it in the ocean for the fun of it," Law muttered as he zipped his long, black coat that was completely unnecessary in the heat of Dressrosa but which still remained one of Law's favourite coats.
Doflamingo's smile never faltered as he watched the other prepare to leave. "I haven't been that bad to your heart before, so why start now? Unless you want me to."
Law glanced at him, hands adjusting the feathered collar, and lips tilted into a crooked smile. "I'm not that big a masochist, young master."
"Sarcasm is your least attractive quality, Law," Doflamingo commented, the smile widening as he leaned back on the couch as his hand patted the jar containing the beating heart of his family member.
"Good thing I'm not trying to seduce you now, then." The heart within the glass cage quivered, beats quick, and Doflamingo looked down at it with unveiled amusement.
"Your heart seems to disagree with your words."
"Just take care of it while I'm gone? Don't drop it. I'll feel that no matter where I am."
"I'll be very gentle," Doflamingo hummed airily, raising a glass of wine with his unoccupied hand. "I always am."
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Law's heart was a peculiar thing, both concretely and figuratively, and while Doflamingo was busy enough, there were few occasions he would take note of the glass-caged heart he kept in the privacy of his own bedroom.
The organ pulsed on its own, pumping nonexistent blood to Law's veins, and this made it all too clear how fucked up ability Law had.
But there was a beauty to the grotesque side of it.
It was like a wireless communication, even better than the Den Den Mushi, since he didn't need to ask Law how he was doing.
The heart's vibrations said as much as anything Law's mouth ever could.
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He was not sentimental enough to cradle the heart like it was something precious; he wasn't a romantic in that way.
He did love the sense of possession that came with holding the heart with him, however – Law's heart in his hands, vulnerable and helpless in his grasp.
There was just something so goddamn poetic about it that it made his skin crawl with satisfaction.
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The heart trembled within the glass case, and while this wasn't unusual, the rhythm was off, and Doflamingo's gaze shifted to it.
The heart beat hard, the muscle tense as it expanded and deflated too fast.
Too fast for someone as unexcitable as Law, and Doflamingo stared at the heart, a small frown pulling his eyebrows down.
Law?
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Law didn't pick up when he tried to contact him via the snail phone.
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The heart calmed down, and Doflamingo berated himself for acting like a fool.
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One day Doflaming woke up, dressed himself, left the heart in his chamber, and went on with his day until he returned to the chamber in the evening and checked the heart.
Crimson colour now ran down the muscle, the liquid thick and trickling down in floods, and the heart trembled unstably.
That was decidedly not a good sign, and Doflamingo's smile faded.
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The heart kept on bleeding, and there was no answer on Law's end.
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When Law returned, there was a celebration – the brat being alive and all – and Law took it in with a stride, but there was something off with Law, as if that serene face of his hid a terrible storm behind it.
It was a look Doflamingo liked the most, but he couldn't help but wonder.
"What's gotten you so out of sorts?" he murmured to Law once they retreated from the midst of everyone else. "Your heart's quite literally bleeding on my desk."
Law's shoulders tensed as he made a point of not looking at Doflamingo. "It's probably the long separation from the actual body that causes such a thing," he replied at length, seeming to consider this option."How intriguing. This hasn't happened before as long as I'm aware."
It sounded logical. It made sense by most accounts, and yet...
Doflamingo shrugged, ignoring the tension that was slow to evaporate from Law's stiff shoulders.
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"Give it back," Law whispered once he caught his breath and pushed Doflamingo's weight off him.
Doflamingo blinked, arms holding Law from the waist and hindering Law's attempt. "Give what back?" he asked, lips twitching as he for once tried not to smirk.
"Don't make me say it out loud," Law grumbled as he squirmed to get into a comfortable position with the arms holding him close to Doflamingo's (too) well-built body. "It sounds too dramatic."
"I have absolutely no idea what you mean."
Law heaved out a tired, but annoyed, sigh, smacking Doflamingo's chest. "Give back my heart."
Doflamingo's answer was just as obnoxious as Law probably had expected.
"Never."
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"Be still, my heart, it is not yet the time."
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In the end, Law did get his (still bleeding) heart back, and the surgeon reattached it into his chest with no remarkable difficulty, though some of the family commented that it was still creepy as hell to see Law do that like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Just don't forget that you already gave it to me," Doflamingo's words from the very same morning rang through Law's ears, "and I don't intend to return it."
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Law touched at his chest, fingers trailing over the spot where his heart was. A steady but too quick beat met his fingertips, and Law's lips curved down.
Calm down. It's not yet the time.
He turned his head and looked out the window at the night life of Dressrosa, pressing his palm against his heart at the same time.
Soon, he promised himself and his bleeding heart, soon.