Not So Golden [Shachi X Reader (1/2)]

"-and downright unforgivable. I can't believe you!" you shouted, slamming the office door in the face of a very confused redheaded crewmate. The submarine door remained uncharacteristically soundless as your body pressed against it, as though it too was shocked into silence by your sudden and intense anger. A pronounced huff was liberated in a fast breath as your crossed arms clasped against it.

The utter nerve of that stupid white-boiler-suit-wearing brat. You couldn't believe that moments ago you were laughing and goofing off with him like he wasn't as awful and inhuman as he just proved himself to be. He'd hidden it well. After over five years of 'best friend' status with the green-and-red-hatted Heart Pirate, you thought you'd known him better than he knew himself. But it turned out that you had no idea what kind of man he truly was - not until today. Your heart pounded with the heavy rapid beats of adrenaline and betrayal.

You were furious, outraged, indignant, irritated and stung beyond belief... Your inner thesaurus continued spewing out every angle of anger you felt, but if it bothered to describe Shachi, the only fitting word would be 'clueless'.  

"Wh-What?" The perplexed voice of the redhead was audible through the door, as was the knockknock and the sound of your name. "What did I do?" he asked, stunned confusion saturating his question. "Oi! What did I do? Why are you mad at me?!"

You could feel the man's bewilderment through the door, and his lack of realization wasn't making you very sympathetic. 

He yelled your name again with increasing urgency. "Seriously what di-" 

A momentary silence followed the cut-off question, which was then replaced by the sound of his feet shuffling. "Alright. I got it," he began, his voice tinted with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry. I'm literally the worst person ever," you snorted in agreement and he continued, "But hey, look, no one told me that it was your chocolate bar until after I ate it."

The shock of his complete misread of the situation temporarily froze you.

"There was no way for me to know! It's not like you marked it or anything and I was still out when you bought it and I didn't see you bring it in and no one said anything and it was just sitting there and I was hungry and-"

Nothing but wide-eyed horror and white hot fury had kept you from hurling the door open sooner. 

"YOU ATE MY CHOCOLATE BAR?!" you screamed, the new betrayal layering itself atop the old like a paper cut over a stab in the back.

The taller man visibly shrunk as your blazing eyes bore through his sunglasses. Shachi's horrified 'oops' face would've been almost adorable if it wasn't being death-glared down by your pure wrath. "HOW COU- HOW DI- YOU LITTLE-" You clipped your breathless sentences as a new wave of fresh outrage washed over you each time you began. There weren't enough ways in the english language to communicate how badly you wanted to strangle him, and this incapability of communication left you in a silent boiling rage.

Finally, a prolonged augh accompanied with an angry pound at the air with white-knuckled fists encompassed your brief fit, and you muttered, "You know what? I don't care. This isn't about the chocolate bar, you jerk," between clenched teeth before stalking away. 

Shachi recovered from his second round of shock faster than before.

"Wa- Then what is this about?!" he called desperately, but you didn't answer.

In fact, in that moment, you decided you weren't going to answer anything at all from him. There was nothing Shachi hated more than the silent treatment, and you decided in your enraged state that that was exactly what he was going to get. Thus, the week of Shachi's personal hell began.


It began with the usual tactics on Shachi's part.


"Ta-da!" the redhead announced, beaming from above the pile of items in his arms as you reluctantly opened your bedroom door. 

Your eyes trailed across the large chocolate bar, a bag of your favorite candies, some shiny knickknacks, and the other random things that he carried in a colorfully-wrapped and delicately bowtied-on-the-side cardboard box. You turned your eyes up to meet his with unimpressed contempt.

"The last in my stash!" he continued, unperturbed by your disinterest. "It's all stuff from that one island! The one where I creamed you in that weird ball game thing! I even got..." he paused to shuffle his hand around the box before pulling out an oddly decorated ball, "the thing they used to play it!" he exclaimed, his massive, charming grin clear on his face. "So if you're up for a rematch, we could- alright, alright." He stopped his enthusiastic speech as he caught the door you tried to slam on him, earning himself a hard glare from you. "You don't have to play, and you don't have to talk to me. I know you're mad at me and I totally get all of that," he began. He gingerly put the box onto the floor and pushed against the door to make a sizeable gap. Then, his eyes locked with yours, he pushed his olive-branch gift through the gap with his foot. "But just know its yours and I'm really sorry about what I did," he finished.

You kicked it out of your room and slammed the door before he could so much as twitch.


That failing, he moved to his other crutch for these situations.


"What did Shachi do this time?" Penguin asked, sliding down the submarine railing to sit beside you. The sub had resurfaced for a short reprieve from the sweltering heat indoors, and although the deck had been crowded within seconds it had cleared out in a similar timeframe. You usually followed the rapid flow of your crewmates back inside, but you felt a little more fresh air than usual might do you some good. You had an idea why Penguin would have stayed behind with you, but you didn't voice it. Penguin wasn't the target of your wrath after all.

You leaned your head back at his question, your eyes rolling up to the sky. "Stupid things," you muttered. 

"Mm. So nothing new," he commented, earning himself a soft snort of agreement from you. "But you've ignored him for three days. And didn't even take his dumb gift basket. That's pretty new," he said. He looked at you, but your gaze remained on the sky. "I've barely seen you two apart for three hours, much less angry for longer. What's different this time?"

"He did stupider things than usual," you replied, tilting your head to meet the man's eyes. "He put you up to this, didn't he?"

"I'd be a sucky friend if I said 'yes'."

"Then this conversation is over," you said matter-of-factly as you began to stand up.

"This is killing him and you know that."

"That is the point." 

"He can't feel sorry about something if he doesn't know what he did."

"And that ignorance is half the problem," you said, walking to the submarine entrance.

"You can't fault him for being Shachi." Penguin sighed. "Is there anything I can do to make you ease up on the guy?"

"Bye, Penguin."


And that's when the desperation really set in.


"Wow you look really gorgeous I'm not surprised you always look incredible did I ever mention how grateful I am for you you are like the best thing that has ever happened in my life and I love you so much and you're seriously amazing and I appreciate everything you do and I'm sorry if I forgot to thank you for something you're-"

The all-too-familiar door shut him up.


"You know you don't even need to tell me what I did or say you forgive me or anything but please just say something yell at me call me out on everything just call me names I don't even care please just say something talk to me-"

SLAM!



"Please I swear to God that I am so so sorry for everything I've ever done and every time I've ever wronged you and I am the biggest fucking douchebag in the world and I know I deserve all of this but please have mercy because you're the better person you've always been the better person please please please I am so sorry don't slam the-"



By now, Shachi's extended punishment was a crew phenomenon. Everyone knew about it, whether directly from Shachi's countless retellings or simply from observation. Your crewmates tried to get the story out of you for their own intrigue, but you always left them with more questions than answers, just in case it filtered back to the redhead. Speculation dominated its fair share of conversation. The crew loved its gossip, if only because there was typically so little to go around. The submarine was between islands, so the event provided the pirates with plenty of drama to chat about where there would otherwise be none. Shachi didn't mind; everyone had their own solution and he welcomed every suggestion. But as they all failed systematically, he decided he needed to step it up.



"You're both children," Law muttered, pausing before he opened the door to the submarine's gallery. He really couldn't care less about the issue at hand; he didn't share his crew's interest for idle drama, nor was he particularly keen about being shoved in the middle of a problem exclusively yours and Shachi's. He knew about it of course - he wasn't oblivious to his crew even when their issues weren't played up into ship-wide knowledge - but the two of you had had squabbles before, and they usually solved themselves sooner rather than later, so he didn't interfere. He had no interest in getting involved. But the desperate begging of his subordinate eventually wore him down.

The Heart captain looked back at Shachi, noting the dark circles under the redhead's eyes and the defeated slouch in his shoulders. He was taking your juvenile display ridiculously hard, and as annoyed as Law was with the situation and getting dragged into it he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. Shachi was so sensitive when it came to you it was almost pathetic. The captain's irritation came second to his sympathy in the matter. "Doing this for you isn't going to score you any points, Shachi-ya."

The redhead raised his sunglass-shielded eyes to meet Law's gaze. "I know." There was a sort of pleading in his words that spoke a million 'please please please's without needing to say anything further.

With a shrug, Law entered the room, Shachi trailing nervously behind him like a child about to confront the classmate he told on. 

They caught the tail end of a stray joke as they walked in, finding you amidst a handful of crewmates as the loud laughter began. You in particular had found the punchline extra hilarious, and good-natured mirth was still carried in your eyes when you turned to see the newcomers.

"Hey Cap'n,"  you greeted, laughter making your voice high and melodious. You didn't bother to acknowledge Shachi's presence, but your current conversation-mates echoed your greeting to both men. A sudden thought made it into your mind, and you turned back to the others with a mischievous smile to voice it, but Law's sudden question stopped your tongue in its tracks.

"Why are you mad at Shachi-ya?" Law asked, his tone straightforward and non-indicative of any emotion.

The question took you by surprise. You honestly hadn't expected Law to care in the least, much less actually confront you about it. Checking over your memory, you couldn't pinpoint a time that your cold war with the redhead had interfered with your shifts or general jobs around the ship. You'd seen Shachi doing his routine; neither of you were compromising work integrity. The only reason Law would only get involved was if Shachi asked...

The previous moment's joy drained out of your eyes, evaporated by the heat of anger that ignited behind your colored hues. You scowled.

"Oh that's low," you muttered to no one in particular, ticking your head to the side as you struggled to control the rage surging up inside of you. Going to someone who could pull rank... You couldn't yell at your captain - you valued your life of course but your respect for him would've prevented you from doing so anyways. You hadn't planned to give Shachi the satisfaction of yelling at him, but damn you wanted to give that boiler-suited bastard a piece of your mind. 

"Well?" Law prompted, an undertone of authority in his voice.

For the first time in a week, you made direct eye contact with the redheaded Heart pirate. If staring could bore holes in someone, the hard glare you gave him would've melted him to the bone. You swore you could see his eyes widen behind the sunglasses, and you hoped that every single grain of fury was transferring through the intense gaze alone. 

The crewmates around you seemed to hold their breath as you inhaled silently.

Shachi bit his lip.

"I'm pissed off at Shachi because he's a fuckin-" And with that, the entire repertoire of expletives and insults that you'd built up over the week of silence came crashing from your lips. Your words were liquid venom injected straight through Shachi's hanging mouth, an aspect that was mirrored through the watching crewmates as well. You'd had these bouts before, but never quite so brutal, and definitely never aimed at Shachi. It was one of those word barrages that couldn't be defended against. It just slammed into its listeners like an unstoppable natural disaster, and no one could do anything but take what was dished out and wait for it to be over. It was the kind of thing trademarked to you when you really hit the point of absolute enragement. 

"-so in other words fuck off because I am never letting this go," you finished, throwing both arms up with your middle finger clear on either hand as you stormed out of the gallery, leaving the room's occupants speechless and without any answers. 


After your explosion in the gallery, Law decided it was about time this issue came to an end.


"Wha-What?" Shachi asked, bewilderment accompanying a blush spreading across his face at the Captain's suggestion.

"Kiss her," Law repeated flatly. The Heart captain's fingers were laced together on his lap, his back against an office chair, and his grey eyes watching his subordinate steadily. 

The two men were the only ones in the room, but judging from Shachi's beet-red face it could be assumed that Law had blatantly announced a makeout session in front of the entire crew. The redhead couldn't meet his captain's gaze out of sheer overstated embarrassment. 

"What are you so flustered for, Shachi-ya?"

"I-I just don't see how that would help anything," he stuttered, his eyes on the ground.

"The way I see it, you've got two outcomes. She'll either go along with it or she'll break it off to slap you and eventually have to come back and talk about it. Women can't leave that kind of thing just floating in the air," he said, crossing one leg over the other to get comfortable. "Either way, you'd be in a better position than you're in now."

"But I don't..."

Law raised an eyebrow as his subordinate struggled to find the words.

"I don't wanna complicate anything," Shachi finally admitted, not knowing the repercussions of an act like that and terrified of losing you for good because of it.

"It's not complicated. When she asks, tell her it was your last ditch effort, and you were willing to go that far because you missed her company that much. Make sure you harp on 'best friend' in that little monologue, and it'll be fine. Besides," he pressed his back into the office chair with a smirk on his face, "you've been wanting an excuse to kiss her for a while, correct?"

Shachi was silent, his cheeks turning even redder as he ran his fingers through his red hair.

Law took his silence as affirmation.

"Then go fix both problems; that's an order." The Captain turned in his chair, resuming the book he was reading and unfolding the dog-eared page with his finger. "I'm getting tired of hearing about it."

"Yessir."


Up until then, you had been aware of all of Shachi's collaborative efforts to make you lift his excommunication. Years of being a pirate, particularly with the crew you had, had lent you quite the eavesdropping skills. You'd heard his pleas for suggestions and the answers he'd received, and with that knowledge you were able to easily combat any of his attempts without hesitation. However, Shachi's talk with Law had passed by you. And it was with this lack of crucial information that you found yourself against the wall with Shachi's lips pressed into yours.