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woso-soso · 3 months

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Missing Puzzle Piece Pt.2

Mapi Leon x Reader x Ingrid Engen

Summary: What happens when Ingrid starts to catch feelings for those already taken and will they all act on those feelings?

Word Count: 4,857

Part 1

Any time words are Italicized it indicates another language being spoken, in the case of this story it will indicate Spanish is spoken. Any time words are Bold German is being spoken. These language changes shouldn't occur too much in the future!

Ingrid's POV

Ingrid had only been in Barcelona for a total of two hours when her first misstep happened. Walking out of the conference room with an air of confidence, the impact of her hitting something knocking her back into reality. The crash of a box hitting the ground snapping her out of her shock, she found herself staring at a much smaller person, their eyes not meeting hers as they stared down at the box on the ground. Ingrid had a gut feeling it held something valuable, a sick feeling forming in her stomach at the thought of having broken something within hours of signing her contract.

“I’m so sorry,” She rushes out, her hand still holding onto the stranger's arm in an attempt to keep them from falling.

“It.. is.. okay,” she stammered out, clearly doing her best to come up with a response in English.

“I’m Ingrid, I just signed with the women's team,” she says, a soft smile on her face. Releasing the stranger's arm to hold her hand out towards her. She takes her hand gently, not really committing to shaking it.

“I am Y/N,” She responds with a small shake of their hands.

“Well it was very nice to meet you Y/N,” Ingrid says as she observes a slight blush form across Y/N’s face. Her eyes go back to the box on the floor but before Y/N gets a chance to bend down and pick it up Ingrid quickly retrieves the remarkably heavy box from the floor. Handing it over to Y/N, who visibly relaxes when she opens the box to see all of its contents still intact. Ingrid takes this as her moment to quickly turn and head down the hallway, unknowingly leaving Y/N behind in a state of confusion.

It only takes Ingrid slightly longer than expected to navigate her way to the women's team locker room. The music coming from inside guiding her the last few hallways to find it. While this wasn’t her first time meeting some of the team, mainly knowing Caro from the Norwegian national team and Frido from the time they shared at Wolfsburg, a pit of nerves still settled in her stomach. The fact that her Spanish was still very limited only intensified her nerves. Taking one last deep breath to calm the butterflies in her stomach, she pushes the door open. The music hitting her ears first, the fast Spanish conversations hitting her second. It’s all overwhelming as she stands in the doorway, her brain telling her to turn around and flee but before she gets a chance she feels someone grab her hand. Whipping her head around she finds the comforting smile of the blond she knew so well.

“Frido,” Ingrid sighs out, knowing that there is no way she can actually hear her.

“Ingrid, I’m so happy you're here!” Frido declares loudly as she pulls her into a hug. The familiar feeling of someone she knows relaxing her slightly. “Everyone,” Frido shouts, drawing the attention of the locker room. The music shutting off, silencing the room to an almost eerie level. “I’m sure some of you know her but I would like to introduce you all to Ingrid, she's just signed her contract. She’s still learning Spanish so please, be gentle with her.” Frido announces with a big grin on her face. The majority of what she had said going right over Ingrid's head. The majority of players in the room shout back a simple hello not wanting to overwhelm the brunette woman. Caro makes her way over to give Ingrid a quick hug before heading out to the training pitch not staying to mingle as the two already had plans for later that night.

“Hello, I’m Alexia,” Alexia Putellas says, extending her hand for Ingrid to shake. The introduction felt kind of unnecessary, of course Ingrid knew of Alexia Putellas she would have to be living under a rock to not know of the Alexia Putellas. “I wanted to introduce myself before we get started, if you have any questions please let me know I’ll do my best to answer.” With that Alexia is gone, Ingrid looks around the remaining group in the locker room. Frido lingers by her cubby, tying her boots just right. Another taller brunette sits in her cubby in the corner, the name Cata Coll plastered above the cubby. Finally there is a tattoo covered blond, her back is turned to Ingrid but her heart starts to flutter.

Ingrid had sworn off dating teammates, not after the last time at Wolfsburg which had ended in a mild disaster. She had been determined to not find any of her new teams enticing, yet, here she was instantly feeling drawn towards the bleach blond beauty in front of her.

“Don’t get caught staring,” Frido whispers as she goes to pass her. “Your cubby is the empty one next to mine, I’d start getting ready if I were you.” With a shake of her head Ingrid quickly gets herself ready, ignoring the blond she now knows is named María León if the plaque above her cubby is correct.

Ingrid's first practice with the team goes as well as it could, there were times she struggled to follow directions that were rambled off too quickly in Spanish. But thankfully Caro was there to save her the embarrassment, always quickly filling her in when needed in Norwegian. The language barrier doesn’t keep her from being drawn towards the woman she now knows prefers to go by Mapi. Mapi’s English is obviously something she is working on as she jokes around with Frido and Caro in English even though both of them can understand her just fine in Spanish. She has a charm that draws Ingrid in, the tattoos scattered across her body wanting her to learn more about her. The quote “looks can be deceiving” tattooed across her throat interested her the most.

“Are you still up for tonight?” Caro asks, starting Ingrid as she yet again catches herself staring at Mapi.

“Yeah.. totally.. for sure.” She stammers, tearing her eyes away from Mapi.

“Good, I have the perfect place to take you. Also, I’d be careful with the staring. She’ll notice quicker than you think.” Caro’s warning causes a bright blush to form across Ingrid's face, she had hoped she had been somewhat discrete but she realizes now she is incapable of that. “Come on, let's head out,” Caro says, taping her on the back as she passes by. Ingrid takes one last look back at Mapi, a small smile forming as she watches the blond celebrate yet another penalty kick she made.

Ingrid does her best to keep Mapi out of her head going into practice over the next week, yet she always seems to wiggle her way back in. From being paired up for drills, her arm draped lazily across her shoulder during team huddles, to short conversations during water breaks. Ingrid was inevitably growing a crush on the shorter woman.

“Are you coming to team bonding tonight,” a voice rings from behind her, turning to see Alexia walking up to her. A water bottle extended towards her.

“Thanks,” Ingrid says softly, taking the bottle from her hand, turning away from watching Mapi to try and focus on Alexia. “I was planning on it, who all is coming?”

“Most of us will be, I know some of them are bringing their partners so be prepared for more people then normal.” Alexia says between breaths, her own water bottle clutched tightly in her hand.

“Okay, thanks for the heads up,” She says handing the water bottle back over before heading towards the locker room. Did she really want to go to team bonding, not really. She had barely gotten unpacked, she was mentally and physically exhausted. She also knew deep down the majority of the night would be spent trying to decipher Spanish, Spanish spoken at a speed that was bound to be impossible to understand. But she also deep down wanted to see Mapi, away from the pitch, in clothes that weren’t workout attire. Sure she may not understand her all of the time but she made her laugh, she was comfortable with her and she wanted to see if she felt that away from the pitch.

The team had chosen a restaurant not too far from the training facilities making it an easy enough walk. She was just happy she had chosen practical shoes this morning seeing as she still didn’t have a car either hitching rides or walking everywhere. Yet Ingrid still found herself arriving after a good majority of the team, like Alexia had said many of them were there with their partners making the already cramped space even tighter.

“Ingrid,” Caro shouts, waving her over to the table she had seemingly commandeered for the night, Marta sat with her in the corner. The table, while not large, had a few seats left open, Ingrid wasn’t sure if she had been saving them or if she got lucky that she arrived when she did but she wasn’t going to question it.

“There's a lot of people here,” She says as she sits down, finally taking a moment to breathe.

“And we are still waiting on some, I think Mapi got held up so I know she’ll be here soon,” Caro mentions nonchalantly, seemingly not noticing the blush that appeared on Ingrid's face. The waiter comes around to get their orders, Marta saving her some grace by ordering for her thankfully. She still hadn’t tried to order anything out since being here, too afraid of embarrassing herself.

Conversation comes easily with Caro and Marta, the three of them switching between English, Norwegian, and Spanish easily. It wasn’t until a cheer of commotion was heard from the entrance of the room that Ingrid looked up. Instantly seeing Mapi dressed casually in a button-up shirt and some shorts, her hair thrown up in a haphazard bun. But as her eyes trail lower her stomach drops. Mapi’s hand is firmly locked with another, and as she follows that hand she finds the gorgeous person she literally ran into in the hallway her first day here. The two of them appeared happy, laughing as some of the players went over to greet the two of them. The first thing many of them do is hug the person attached to Mapi. This clearly wasn’t a new thing.

“Who is that with Mapi?” Ingrid asks hesitantly.

“Oh, that’s Y/N, Mapi’s been with her for as long as I’ve known them. I’m pretty sure they’ve been together since they were like teenagers but don’t quote me on that.” Caro says not looking up from her phone. The sick feeling in Ingrid's stomach gets even worse as the pair make their way towards their table. The table with the only seats left.

Y/N’s POV

You hadn’t planned on taking forever at work, you’d known Mapi had a team bonding night she was hoping for you to come to. You had been sure to text her that she might as well go ahead without you, insisting that editing the final few photos for the men’s merchandise page were going to take longer than planned. When you didn’t get an answer back you assumed she would head out and let you know where she was so you could meet up later. What you hadn’t expected was for her to pop up in your cubicle, hoping up onto your desk.

“I told you to go ahead my love,” You said, not looking up from the computer in front of you.

“I know, and I decided I would rather be here with you and when you're done we will go together. The girls will still be there.” Mapi insisted. Taking a mint from the jar on your desk, popping it into her mouth without a second thought.

“How have things been with the team?” You ask as you click over to the next picture.

“Good, the set pieces are starting to finally come together. Ingrid won’t stop staring at me. Oh Alexia’s free kicks are looking really good too.” Mapi says while scrolling on her phone, not looking up as you stop clicking.

“Who won’t stop staring at you?” Turning to stare at the blond, her fingers stopping as she registers what she had said.

“Um… Ingrid.” Mapi says hesitantly, putting her phone down to turn and give you her full attention. The conversation the two of you had still fresh in your minds.

“She’s been staring, does she know you have a partner?” You inquire, more out of curiosity than anything else.

“I… umm I haven’t mentioned it, I don’t know if the other girls have said anything.” You hum at her response, turning back towards your laptop to finish up the last few details. “Are you mad at me?” Mapi asks after a moment.

“No, there’s no reason to be.” You respond, quickly saving the last image before sending them off to the admin for merchandising. “You haven’t done anything, how can I be mad when someone is staring at my extremely sexy girlfriend. Honestly it's kind of a complement. Now come on, I'm all done, let's go get food.” You insist, grabbing your bag and taking Mapi’s hand in yours.

The drive to the restaurant is short but comfortable as the two of you sit in content silence. Seeing the rest of the girls had arrived the two of you park, letting Mapi lead you in, still taking a backseat when it comes to being around the team. You still had hopes to one day work with the women's team and that meant the boundaries you had still had to be upheld.

“It’s been a minute since you’ve been around Y/N,” Alexia says, greeting you with a hug.

“I’ve been just a little busy,” You responded with a grin, the last few months had been extra hectic due to your promotion and you knew the girls had missed your presence. Plenty of them had messaged you to tell you themselves no longer trusting Mapi to relay the message.

“Well we are happy you're here, I’m sure there are some seats somewhere.” Alexia says, letting Mapi pull you away from the group that had formed. It's only once you get close to the table that you notice who's sitting there.

“Are these seats free,” Mapi asks smoothly, her English much more advanced than yours.

“There all yours,” Caro says, waving her hand at the last two seats at the table. The two of you manage to squeeze into the tight table, you have to sit almost on top of Ingrid, a blush forming on your cheeks that you're thankful is hidden by the darkened room. “What took you two so long anyway?”

“She was held up with work,” Mapi answers, not looking up from the menu the two of you were sharing.

“What is it you do Y/N?” Ingrid asks.

It takes you a moment to process what she had said, hesitantly looking over to Mapi for help.

“She’s wondering what your job is,” She aids quickly, her hand going to your knee as a way to reassure you.

“Ah, I um… I work with the mens team… I am their uh head photographer.” You get out after a moment. Mapi gives your knee a soft squeeze, she knew how much you had been working on your English and how nervous you were to actually speak it.

“Oh so that's why I saw you in the offices, how long have you been doing that?” Ingrid asks, turning to look at you. Her intensely hazel eyes illuminated by the candles that are scattered around the room. You hesitate, swallowing your nerves. You hadn’t fully understood her question, she had been speaking too quickly. But you also don’t want to seem incapable of holding a conversation.

“How long?” You reply hesitantly hoping she will give you some reassurance you were on the right track. You don’t get a verbal response but her smile widens, a small nod of her head telling you to go on. “I have um.. I’ve been with Barcelona since 2017, but I have…. been doing photos since we lived in Madrid.” You hope that your response is clear, looking to Mapi for reassurance. Her subtle smile making it clear you had done well.

“Oh, by we you mean the two of you.” Ingrid inquires, pointing between you and Mapi.

“Uh-huh,” Mapi responds as she takes a sip of her water, wanting to give you a moment to relax. Trying to not only process but respond in English was still new to you and it still quickly drained you.

“Oh, well how long have the two of you been together?” She asks, her eyes bouncing between the two of you. You can see her eyeing Mapis' hand that was still resting on your knee.

“Um, I’m twenty six,” Mapi says, thinking intensely. Neither one of you have ever been big on dates and you didn;t have a set anniversary date as your relationship formed over time, neither one of you feeling the need to mark any one day as your official anniversary. “So we are going on ten years. But we’ve known one another since we were seven”

“Wow,” is all Ingrid says, seemingly deflating in on herself, turning away from the two of you to take a large drink of the beverage she had in front of her.

“It really has been ten years huh,” You exclaim softly, your hand going to take hers.

“And yet still no ring on it,” Marta says suddenly, her eyes bouncing between the three of you sat across from her and Caro.

“I don’t see a ring on Caro’s finger do you,” Mapi asks back, turning to you and Ingrid for confirmation. You shrug in agreement, while Ingrid seems to have drawn into herself not even noticing that Mapi had asked a question.

“No, I don’t see one, maybe get on that Marta.” You quip back with a soft laugh, as Caro turns to also mockingly stare down Marta the woman suddenly on the hot seat.

Ingrid’s POV

Of course she’s with someone, of course she's with HER. The two of them make sense together. Their artsy, funny, they balance each other so well. With Mapi’s loud extraverted ways and Y/N’s more quiet introverted personality. The two of them slotted together perfectly, how could Ingrid ever think differently.

“Ingrid you okay?” Caro asks, snapping Ingrid out of her thoughts, The group sat at the table staring at her in wonder. Ingrid hadn’t realized she had been so zoned out, the light buzz from the alcohol making it feel as though time was moving at a pace slower than a snail.

“I’m fine,” Ingrid mumbles, running her hand down her face in hopes of shaking herself out of whatever funk she has gotten herself into.

“Are you feeling good?” Y/N asked gently, placing her hand on Ingrid's knee. The contact causes a blush to form on Ingrid's cheeks, the butterflies in her stomach an unwelcome guest. Especially after finding out that the women in front of her were a couple, both completely unattainable by her.

“I think I'm going to head out, I have to walk home and I'm starting to get a headache.” Ingrid responds, turning to grab her bag.

“Oh you walked here?” Mapi asks, leaning around Y/N to look at the dark haired woman.

“Yeah, I haven’t gotten around to getting a car yet,” Ingrid sighs, standing to leave.

“Wait,” Y/N says, grabbing Ingrid's hand. “We can give you a life.” Ingrid halts for a moment, the warm feeling of Y/N’s hand wrapped around hers making her anxiety skyrocket. Looking over to Mapi, hoping deep down she will say no.

“Yeah, Ingrid we can give you a ride we need to be heading home anyway.” Mapi insisted.

Ingrid takes a second to think over the offer, was the lack of a walk home really worth being in a car with not one but two extremely attractive people. Two extremely attractive people who are together, two people who Ingrid wishes she could be with. “Um, sure, a ride would be nice.” The idea of an hour-long walk being worse than riding in a car with the two of them.

Ingrid watches as Mapi and Y/N make their way around the room hugging some of the others goodbye. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Caro asks as she stands to hug Ingrid goodbye.

“Yeah, of course.” She responds, leaning into the comfort of her longtime friend.

Ingrid follows the pair out of the restaurant, the two of them appearing so at ease with one another. They had clearly spent many years together, the way they just knew what the other was going to do without any words spoken between the two of them. She quietly slips into the backseat behind Y/N, tucking herself into the corner.

“So, where are we taking you?” Mapi asks as she puts the car in drive pulling away from the illuminated restaurant.

“I’m just in the team apartments.” Ingrid responds quietly letting her eyes drift close.

“Wait… really,” Y/N says whipping around in her seat to stare at Ingrid causing her to snap her eyes open in surprise not expecting any reaction let alone that one.

“Yeah, why?” Ingrid asks hesitantly, slightly cracking open her eyes to watch the woman in front of her. The woman who now has her body contorted around to be able to watch ingrid, a mild look of panic clear on Mapi’s face as she places her hand on Y/N’s thigh hoping she will eventually seat herself.

“We live there too,” Y/N declares with the most confidence she has had the whole night speaking English. “We should… all spend time… together,” Y/N’s bright smile makes Ingrid feel just a little more comfortable in the couple's presence. “Would that not be fun Mapi?” Y/N asks, finally turning back around in her seat.

“It would be very fun my love,” Mapi responds, looking over at the woman with a soft smile. “That’s if Ingrid would want to.” Mapi says, putting the ball fully in Ingrid's court, yet deep down she knows the only answer is of course she would. The two women in front of her fascinate her on a level she hasn’t experienced in years. Part of that scares her but another part of it thrills her.

“I would love to spend more time with you both,” Ingrid declares after a moment, her own smile growing as Y/N begins to ramble off in Spanish, what she can only assume is all the things that she would be planning for the three of them to do.

When Ingrid had accepted the offer to spend time with the Spanish couple she hadn’t expected how much the two of them would be a part of her day. The majority of the time it was dinner after training, sometimes with Y/N sometimes without her as she would be away with the mens team. When that would happen Mapi would be sure to get her on facetime at some point in the night so that Ingrid could work on her Spanish and so Y/N could work on her English, the two of them making a point to talk exclusively between those two languages. Ingrid found that overtime she sought out the pair, whether it be finding Y/N in her cubicle during breaks in training needing some quiet time away from the team. Oftentimes being found by Mapi when training would start up again, other times she would seek Mapi out in the lunchroom avoiding her normal table that consisted of Caro and Frido. The pair always sent her looks of concern as she would sit down with the blond Spaniard, they both knew of her growing crush on Mapi, they both knew Mapi was also very much taken. What they didn’t know was that Ingrid's crush wasn’t just on Mapi, it was on Y/N as well. Something she would never admit to them.

“Will you be joining Y/N and I for dinner tonight?” Mapi asks quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention to them in the overly crowded lunchroom as Ingrid takes a seat next to her.

“I will if you both would like me to,” Ingrid replies, poking at the salad that sits on her plate. The food no longer appetizing now that she is thinking about the dinner Y/N was bound to make.

“We would, we actually have something we would like to ask you tonight.” Mapi whispers, looking over at Ingrid, her eyes soft, not wanting to stress her out more than necessary.

“Oh you do,” Ingrid quips back. “If you guys want me to get my own car you don’t need to feed me to ask me.”

“I promise we have no issue with giving you rides,” Mapi remarks as she stabs her food in front of her. No longer looking Ingrid in the eye. A soft blush forming across her cheeks, for what reason Ingrid doesn’t know. “Y/N should be meeting us out front pretty much right after practice if that is okay with you.”

“Of course that's okay with me, I can’t wait to see what Y/N comes up with tonight.” Ingrid replies, placing a gentle hand on Mapi’s bouncing knee, the woman's sudden nerves being very clear to Ingrid.

"Trust me, she’s come up with something very special.” Mapi says, resting her hand on top of Ingrids.

Ingrid is very surprised by the spread Y/N manages to cook up in just a matter of hours after returning home from work. The baked fish and roasted veggies sitting in the middle of the table, with quinoa and a side salad in serving dishes off to the side.

“What have I done to deserve the honor of getting this for dinner?” Ingrid asks as the three of them get comfortable at the table, the feeling of Bagheera weaving between their legs bringing comfort to the table.

“Well,” Y/N starts, looking over to Mapi for reassurance. “Please tell us if we… got this very.. wrong. But we feel like you may have a… crush… on us.” Y/N stutters out, nerves clearly present on her face. Ingrid sits there, eyes wide as she swallows. Had she been so obvious, the secret she had been holding so closely being thrown on the table right in front of her.

“I,” she stammers “I didn’t want to make either of you uncomfortable, I didn’t mean to if I did, I wasn’t going to ever act on it I promise,”

“Hey it's okay,” Mapi cuts her off, Ingrids mouth snapping shut as Mapi reaches across the table to gently take her hand. “We feel the same way.”

“What? What do you mean?” Ingrid asks, a look of panic clear on her face.

“We like you too,” Y/N says softly, not wanting to overwhelm the woman in front of them.

“We wanted to see if you felt the same,” Mapi reassures. “If you would be open to it we would like to take you on an actual date, all three of us.”

Ingrid sits there stunned, she had never expected to be called out on her crush let alone having it reciprocated. Not by one but both of the people, she had never even thought it was possible that both of them would like her let alone want to date her. She hadn’t ever thought of a relationship with either of them let alone both of them. Would she be able to balance a relationship with more than one person, deep down she knew she wanted both of the people in front of her but did they truly both want her back.

“Really? All three of us, date?” Ingrid asks bluntly.

“Yes, only if you would be open to it. We have both felt this attraction and we have talked about it extensively and if you would be willing to try we would be happy to as well.” Mapi declares, having taken over the conversation for her and Y/N.

“I would be willing to try, only if it’s truly something you are both open to.” Ingrid responds, sure she was hesitant but how could she say no when the best outcome was a relationship with two of her favorite people.

“We are both very open to it, we know there will be a lot of changes but we are willing to work on that with you.” Mapi says, squeezing her hand gently.

“Okay,” Ingrid breathes out. “Where are we going?” A large smile spreads across her face as she looks at her two favorite people in front of her. Sure this would be a change, a big change but she was willing to see where it would go.

#woso imagine #woso imagines #woso x reader #woso fanfics #mapi leon x ingrid engen x reader #mapi leon imagine #mapi leon imagines #mapi leon x reader #ingrid engen imagines #ingrid engen imagine #ingrid engen x reader #barcelona femeni imagines #barcelona femeni imagine #Missing Puzzle Piece series

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l-in-the-light · 1 month

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Trafalgar Law and shreds of closeness part 3: Donquixote Family Edition

What can I say, I got struck with inspiration yet again, the thoughts just do not want to leave me. This time it will get dark. And it will hurt, so feel warned. I will take a closer look at Law's closeness to the Donquixote Family and also do a small case study of affection between Doffy and Cora and their dad as well, to get a fuller context. Main focus will be on physical affection, yet again.

So what do you think, did Law get support and affection from his "second family"? I would say, very little. But let's look at evidence:

We have verbal support from Doflamingo himself when Giolla and Buffalo start to fear to touch Law or to even stay in the same room after they learn he's sick. That's 1:0 for him, I'm sure Law appreciated and remembered it. In retrospection, it would have been better for him if he didn't.

Then we have Giolla and Machvise who handled him like he's an object. Giolla keeps touching Law on the head, probably not caring why he seems displeased with it. She's just reinforcing the trauma, but I think overall she means well, she just doesn't think much about it. Giolla also shows Law the most physical affection and I swear it feels like she's trying to make up for her initial reaction, she's just not going the right way about it, making it worse instead.

Meanwhile we have Doflamingo, who despite defending Law before, never touches him. And I mean, never ever. Doffy remains cold not only with Law though, which we will see in a moment.

And then we have Baby5. She feels sorry for Law and even cried for him when she heard the story of Flevance (not in Law's presence tho), but she herself is bad with affection and care, because she also never received much, it also doesn't help that she is genuinely scared of Law's angry glares. All she can do to show him she cares is to smack and scold him. And of course when she does smack him it's on the head, which only becomes a trauma trigger over and over again. Those two just completely miss each other by a mile.

That's it. No other Donquixote Family's member ever tried to show some care in front of Law. They train him of course, but would you count kicking and punching him as a positive experience? Yeah, I don't think so.

And let's not forget Corazon, who carried Law like a bag of potatoes (and threw him around) for a long time, even after he kidnapped him. The Trip to Hospitals All Around the World kinda made him become better, holding Law close, trying to make him smile, carrying him all the time and at one point he even begs Law: "please give me the chance to do things right, stay strong for 3 more weeks!". Doesn't change the fact the touches he did give Law at the beginning were brutalized forms of affection, and we can't really forget that fact: that's exactly how Law's trauma of being touched on the head even started in the first place.

He already trained for awhile, but he still failed in the confrontation, and I think it was because of the touch. Being pinned down made Law probably freeze and unable to move. But even after being saved by Doflamingo, Law doesn't even try to seek support in him, unlike Baby5. Here we can see Doflamingo is alright if someone seeks comfort in him, but he will not give it by himself. That makes Doflamingo-Law combo the worst possible match up, a person who will never give it first and a person who will never ask for it, no wonder things were always cold between them.

Thanks to the fight against Smoker in Punk Hazard we learn that Law managed to overcome his trauma of being pinned down to a significant degree, because he manages to escape on his own. This scene gets an extra focus in the manga (it takes like 5 different frames!) which further convinces me it's that siginifcant. Law probably trained himself not to get overwhelmed like that ever again. Still, I can't help but notice soon after this happened Law starts to have troubles breathing, which means it still didn't leave him unaffected. He pushes to finish the fight faster afterwards as well.

One of his trauma triggers is feeling helpless and being pinned down definitely counts for that. I don't think this started with Vergo, I would say it was already a thing after Flevance, when he had to discover more and more dead bodies of people dearest to him, unable to do anything about it.

Let's look at his symptoms thanks to which we can recognize he's going through a triggering situation. Visible shivering, heavy panting (to the point of weezing which makes me think it can even go as far as bordering on hyperventilation or the opposite - apnea). And then in the last image he just goes stiff which I interpret as him completely freezing up. Damn, that's actually a lot. It's very similar to Robin's trauma responses in Water 7.

You can also notice that Law clenches his fists and it seems to be a sign that he's struggling or forcing himself to be strong. He still does it *a lot* when he's an adult. I think it might have honestly became a habit. He does that just before a battle, in most stressful situations when he knows he can't show his emotions (or just doesn't want to), and well, if we go by the anime version, also when he leaves Wano with his own crew. Basically any time he makes a firm resolve or a hard decision, he also does that. I swear sometimes it feels like he struggles for half of the Dressrosa and Punk Hazard, which you know what, might be way too accurate.

Also bonus wholesome points for Luffy caring more to support Law and Muucy than caring for falling into water himself. I'm not sure how much that helped Law when he was dealing with a triggering situation, especially that unfortunate contact with the top of his head. I guess it's still better than similar situation but with Law completely alone.

This puts this scene into a completely new perspective, right? He's shivering here and definitely froze up, even his speech bubble looks distressed. He's not getting angry here, his trauma trigger kicked in. I did check if he ever shivers or freezes up when he tries to, for example, stop himself from feeling angry, but no, we never see that happen. I'm sorry for ruining the comedy :( tho to make it better, he's also shocked, because just moments before Strawhats feared him, and now they already don't and even laugh at him. Damn, I'm now so torn about this scene, I mean, Strawhats couldn't have known!

Now a promised closer look at Donquixote family's approach to closeness and touch. When they were still Celestial Dragons, they barely touched each other. No small touches on the back, hand holding or anything else you usually share with kids. The closeness starts only after they're all starting to be persecuted. First time we see Doffy holding his mom's hand is when they run away from their burning house. First time we are shown Homing hugging his kids is when village people are beating them up and he is just trying to cover them with his own body, so he takes the beating instead of his kids.

The last memory Rosinante has of his father is the hug. And the first memory he has of Sengoku is also a sort of half-hug. Might be why he got so attached to him.

Little Doflamingo and Rosinante are always together, but they never touch in any way. It's clearly Doffy who takes care of his younger brother, probably also telling him to toughen up.

Weird mocking touch on the head from Trebol. And like always, no one ever touches Doflamingo, not even his own officers, and that's true ever since Doffy was a child.

He even tells Trebol he's too close. Doffy doesn't want touches anymore, because it seems in his mind he understands them as someone protecting him, and he doesn't need protection. Ever since he killed Homing, Doffy took the role of being a head of the family and protecting Rosinante, so no more hugs or hand holding for him. In other words, Doflamingo associates physical affection with protection and incoming abuse. And whenever he touches someone it's exactly for that reason: to hurt them.

An interesting parallel because this happens in exactly same chapter: Law is trying to move away because Luffy's "too close". He even lets him take the transponder away and just stands there and waits. And you might wonder: what for? Is he hoping Luffy will give it back by himself?

No, it just took some extra time for Law to brace himself to touch Luffy and shove him to the side. Even though both Doffy's and Law's first instinct here is to move away, Law is struggling but actually tries to overcome it, contrary to Doffy, who seems content in his "no touching" comfort zone.

Let's take a look at Dressrosa now. Doffy is carrying Law by his clothes, Law is unconscious, but he will not touch him directly anyway. Cora-san used to do it as well at first to Law.

But then, you might ask, they fought so much in Dressrosa, surely some kind of touch had to happen as a result? I mean, most of them were indirect touches with Doffy's strings, kicking Law or stopping him by grabbing his sword. But you are right, exactly two touches do happen. You're not gonna like it.

This is literally the first time Doflamingo ever touched Law. To stop his attack he forcefully grabbed his hand. Law is shivering, this actually triggers him, and there's just no way Doflamingo doesn't know that, he can feel it.

And then he makes the full use of the situation. Doflamingo holds Law up in the air, but we can see by the onomatopeia that he's literally holding him up by his hand alone and Law is just freely dangling there, Doffy's not using any strings to immobilize him, not even armament haki. He doesn't even need to. Finally he gave Law the touch he must have been craving when he was a child from him, but it's not a caring one, and what's the next thing Doflamingo does to that hand he just touched? He cuts it off, ripping open the psychological wounds, making them deeper, perhaps hoping Law will never recover from them. Because that's the easiest way to control him later if he wishes to do so, to make him pliant, defenseless and unable to fight back and terrified. But also to punish him for the "rebellion" against him... but also to punish Law for his need and fear of touch. This is a lesson: never want affection, closeness or touch, you're never getting any. Unless it's this: abuse. And if you don't think this is terrible enough, let me remind you: this is their first touch *ever*, Law probably waited for it when he was a kid.

And Law is just hanging there, not even trying to move, and it lasts for like three or four pages long, and I remember when I reread this a couple of times, I was a bit puzzled. Why isn't Law struggling to release himself? Why is he just letting this happen? Especially when it's becoming very clear what Doflamingo is gonna do next. So I have my answer: Law froze up, it's his body shutting off on it's own and all he can do is to just be there and wait for it to be over. It's painful, because we know Law always struggles, always fights back, and he tries here, with words, but he can't do anything else and he just watches it happen.

And this is the second time Doflamingo touches him. It's after the Gamma Knife attack, Doffy knows what he's doing here, he chooses to make contact with Law's head/face (he must have noticed Law's discomfort to it before when Giolla often did it to Law as a kid, and now he utilized this knowledge). He tries to make Law freeze up so he can't finish his move and who knows, maybe that was the final factor of why Law failed to kill off Doflamingo.

To wrap things up, I will share the interesting parallel that I think can be drawn between two rather unexpected characters: Law and Boa.

Both Law and Boa are most comfortable around Bepo (and the snake in Boa's case). Both are victims of brutalized touch and lack of loving and caring one. But while Law fearfully accepts what's given to him, Boa rejects it (even symbolically by kicking fluffy animals away or refusing any show of affection like gifts). Both are touch starved, but Boa will never even try to touch Luffy, and the only time Luffy touched her was in that stealth mission in Impel Down (they didn't have the choice) and hugging her after she gave him the key to Ace's cuffs. Boa doesn't return the gesture, she is very flustered and falls to the ground afterwards, which reminds me a little of her later scene with Rayleigh. Not even Boa's own sisters are shown to share any sort of physical affection with her, Boa shows cold and manipulative attitude to almost everyone besides them. The only other person Boa ever touched was Rayleigh (she's on the ground here again) after he helped them fight off Blackbeard's assault on Amazon Lily and it might be a traumatic response: Blackbeard tried to strangle her after all. Boa's love is passionate and platonic, she shows her affection and caring with indirect gestures (food preparation, offering support and help etc.), probably because that's what she remembers others tried doing for her before. She can't even deal with intimacy face to face and Law also tends to act cold to very open displays of affection and emotions.

Big thanks to @tae-rambles for mentioning the scene with Boa that completely slipped my mind <3 added it in the edit!

#one piece #trafalgar law #donquixote doflamingo #corazon #trauma #emotional damage #I did it again and I don't know whether it will happen again #it just happens because I always had a lot of thoughts about Law but now it just clicked into place like a missing puzzle piece #but I somehow enjoy it #I feel like I understand Law much better now but I'm also really exposing and ripping open his heart for everyone to see #I'm sorry Law #one piece meta #in case you didn't notice I will mostly write about Law #he lives rent free in my head #I'm just that monothematic #you think I will finally run out of topics? Challenge accepted!

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