The med bay had been all but packed for most of the trip. When they’d gotten Doffy back several of the less wounded members of the family certainly pushed themselves to ‘be just fine’ faster in an effort to be around, and be useful to their rescued captain.

But Vergo hadn’t left it aside from a brief visit on the deck, his body still bruised and wounded from the disaster on Punk Hazard.

At the urging of their impromptu medical team (mostly Giolla), he’d been sent back to the med bay to continue his recuperation, and that was exactly where Doffy found him when he went to look, bottle of wine in hand.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, Vergo.”

Vergo was sitting up at least, propped up in the bed with his hand on his forehead when Doffy walked in.

He blinked from between his fingers, before he smiled at him with a subtle nod. His sunglasses were off to the side. He was heavily bandaged, dull purple bruises showing under the wrappings where they formed gaps along his arms.

“Doffy. I’m glad we caught up with you.”

“Me too.” He swaggered in and sat down right next to Vergo, on the edge of his bed, looking him over. He looked bad– but admittedly not as bad as when he’d first found him on Punk Hazard. “I heard you were the family’s hero. Practically rode in on a white horse and saved everybody from the marines.”

“Surprising, given the way I look huh?” Vergo smiled thinly, but very carefully shifted to lay against his side. “I used everything I had left to fight off the marines for them.”

Doffy carefully wrapped his arm over his shoulders, not wanting to put too much weight on him just in case. “Wish I could have seen it. I know you were amazing. Thank fuck you got there in time, man.”

From the story Doflamingo had heard, everyone had been in marine custody by the time Vergo had gotten into the city. If it hadn’t been for him, every single one of them would have been headed to Impel Down the same way that Doffy had been.

Vergo grinned, even as he squinted against the light. “I had to show everyone I hadn’t lost it. Not all of it anyway, even if Law finally got one over on me. Just glad I could be there for the family—sorry I couldn’t reach you in time.”

He shook his head, his fingers trailing over the neat edge of Vergo’s hair at the nape of his neck. “You did what you could. Easier to get me out than the whole family if it came down to it anyway.”

He couldn’t remember a lot of the time between the end of the fight and when he’d been in custody on the marine ship. He was vaguely aware of laughing, and he thought that that admiral, Fujitora, had been there. Doffy had barely been conscious after the beating from Straw Hat Luffy. He was pretty sure if Vergo had tried to get to him, it would have gotten them both killed.

Vergo nuzzled her head against his hand, his expression unreadable for a moment, but Doffy knew it was the face he tended to make when he was shaking himself out of a wayward train of thought.

“True enough. We’re lucky Violet came back, too. Between me and her the family managed to get out of hot water well enough. Fast enough to come for you, too.”

“Yeah. I know if ol’ Croc hadn’t gotten to me first, you guys would have had me in no time,” he said with a smile, tracing loops over the short hair on the back of his neck. “… I talked to Violet.”

Vergo made a quiet sound, not quite a hum—but one Doffy knew well as a contentedness. He’d always liked it when he played with his hair like that. Doffy wasn’t ever surprised. He’d started doing it long ago because he’d liked it when other people played with his hair. Like many things between him and Vergo– it was a feedback loop.

“You did, huh? Hell of a surprise.”

“A hell of a surprise is right,” Doffy nodded. “But a good one for once.”

Her betrayal had stung like little else on a day of many injuries. Violet– he’d let her close to him, despite knowing how powerful she was. Knowing that she could be– that she should be– his enemy. For years, his kindness had been rewarded, right up until it wasn’t. She’d put a knife in the family’s back.

But then, he turned around to find that she’d bandaged the bloody wound. No one had ever apologized for betraying him, before.

Vergo brushed his fingers against Doffy’s side, feeling him as if making sure he wasn’t about to vanish. “A good one for once. Dunno why she turned from us to start with—but she came back when it counted.”

“She did. I heard from Trebol and Dia about it— what’s your opinion?” Doffy shivered as he felt Vergo’s fingers on him. Maybe he was projecting his own feelings, or maybe Vergo just felt the same way that Doffy had when he’d held Vergo in his arms at Punk Hazard; terrified he was going to disappear.

Vergo’s firm fingers gently closed near Doffy’s hip as he leaned a little more firmly against him. “I think when the chips are down—people realize things ’bout themselves. Who they really are.”

“You think Vi’s with us for good this time?” He scooped him a little closer to himself– still ginger and careful, but more tightly pressed together.

“She wouldn’t have come back if she wasn’t,” Vergo murmured. “You can unburn a bridge with effort, but I saw how she was when she came back to the safehouse.”

Doffy nodded. Vergo was a surprisingly good judge of character sometimes. “I can believe it, after talking to her. I’m… willing to give her another chance, since the rest of the family is.”

Loyalty was the top rule in the family, and betrayal received harsh punishment. But…. Doffy was the one who made the rules. If he said Violet was to be forgiven, they’d all let it pass.

Vergo chuckled, though Doffy could see the wince it gave him as he disturbed a wound. “Good, good—after all. Her showin’ up saved me from having to get out of bed again to fight off her old man’s guards.”

“Good! You need some rest, man. That’s why I had you out of the city in the first place, and now look at you.” He softly trailed his hand over Vergo’s bandages

Vergo looped an arm around him. “Can’t stay out of trouble for five minutes. Just like the old days.”

“Just like the old days, you crazy bastard. ” Doffy chuckled fondly and kissed him on the stubbly cheek. “You know, with Dressrosa up in smoke, and Crocodile talking about an alliance, it’s gonna get even more like the old days. The real pirate days.”

Vergo smiled a little wider with obvious effort and he turned to catch his lips for a moment in a kiss.

“The real pirate days. You know I’ve missed those, Doffy. The marines were a bit of a slog.”

“I’ll fucking bet.” He let his lips linger on Vergo’s for a moment. “Didn’t end up being anything like the comics, huh?”

“Not one bit,” Vergo smirked at him, his eyes lingering on Doffy’s face “I sure didn’t feel like Sora, I’ll tell you that.”

“I’m sorry, man.” His own gaze lingered on Vergo’s face as well. It was almost as rare to see him without his sunglasses as he knew it was to see himself the same. “You’re not gonna have to do that shit ever again, promise.”

“Good. I don’t think the uniform suited me much anyway.” He chuckled quietly under his breath. “I’d much rather dress as a Donquixote.”

“Funny, that’s how I’d rather see you dressed. Sounds like it’s time for a new wardrobe.” He chuckled. “You could even grow your hair back out.”

---

Vergo blinked thoughtfully, a dozen different styles flitting through his mind as he became distracted by the possibilities.

He could grow his hair back out. The marines had shaved off most of it down to r the pin-neat cut he currently wore. They’d cut his hair and beaten him until he gave the illusion of being a good soldier boy, all the way to a position of command.

He felt Doffy pinch the longest, barely grabble strands of his hair between his fingers and tug gently. “Thinking about it?”

His attention snapped back to Doffy and he nodded once. “Yeah, I am. It’s been a while since I’ve been allowed to even think about that kinda thing.”

“You should do something crazy with it to celebrate,” Doffy said teasingly. “Pink extensions.”

“Don’t think it’d suit my complexion. But if you insist, Doffy—I can’t say no to you.”

Doffy giggled his familiar little giggle. One Vergo had heard too rarely in the last years they’d spent so much time apart. “It’s an option, anyway. It’d sure be something different!”

It warmed Vergo’s heart. it even brought a smile to his face. Something just as rare in the last years as Doffy’s little giggle. He’d spent so long undercover, so long alone with his own thoughts and doing his best to never falter in the face of the marine’s suspicions—

He tilted his head. “It would be. I think Dia would laugh at me, though.”

Doffy tittered again. “Maybe once, but he’d get it out of his system. Nah, though that probably wouldn’t suit you. But I am nostalgic for the fluffy way it used to fall right around your ears. Right about there.”

Doflamingo’s nail traced ticklishly over the top ridge of Vergo’s ear. It had been a long time since he’d had hair that long.

Vergo felt the slight heat of a barely perceptible flush. “Me too. Thinking of growing it out that long again. Maybe not in the bowl cut, though—maybe more evenly.”

“Admittedly, bowl cut’s gone a little out of fashion. You could slick it back like Croc does.”

Unlike the pink extensions suggestion, it was unclear whether Doffy meant this one seriously or not.

Vergo titled his head curiously as he imagined it, the image flittering through his head. “Mmm…I don’t have the coat, but…”

“I think you could pull the look off, coat or no coat.”

As they chatted, Vergo noticed the forgotten, unopened bottle of wine in Doffy’s lap. So Vergo wasn’t the only one who got distracted. He got the feeling that whatever Doffy’s intention when he came in, he’d gotten sidetracked just spending time with him.

And no surprise. They’d been apart a long time. Doffy had been distraught when he found him at Punk Hazard. Had said a lot of things about not letting him out of his sight again. And then the Dressrosa disaster happened.

Vergo reached down to shift the wine onto his lap, looping an arm painfully around him to draw him closer. “I’ll give it a try. Just tell me if I look too much like the guy, ok? I know we’ve both got that handsome, roguish charm.”

He gave Doffy a thin smile. Dressrosa had happened and threatened to take them away from one another for good. The bitter end to a series of miserable fuckups and bad ideas.

But it was done with now, wasn’t it? And he wasn’t letting Doffy out of his sight again.

Doffy leaned his head against him, the two of them as close as could be. Just like when they were kids, sharing a bed to keep Doffy’s nightmares at bay.

“Hey, if it gets confusing we can always make him cut it. Maybe Croc needs a new style too. Oh shit, I forgot about the wine.”

“Don’t worry. I’m havin’ plenty of fun as is. We can save the wine for later, Doffy.” Vergo chuckled quietly. He looked up at him. “Give croc the pink extensions.”

Doffy laughed, beautiful and wild, but still careful not to jostle Vergo’s wounds with how close the two of them were.

“Now that’s an idea! It’d go with his coat for sure.”

Vergo loved that laugh. Loved that laugh as much as he loved the way Doffy loved to cling. He’d been too long in the company of marines, bound to the structure and the atmosphere of stodgy rules and regulations—of men who thought smiling and laughing was a sign of some bizarre weakness.

He bobbed his head. “….let him borrow yours,” was all he said, hoping the way he said it and the attempt at a smile carried it along.

He was happy to be home.