Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

General CW's: drug abuse, self-loathing

It’s dark everywhere around him. The soft silence is enveloping him. He feels like he’s floating in outer space, his body feels numb in a good way and his head is empty, just the way he likes it, like he wishes it would always be.

He enjoys the peace for what feels like an eternity and at the same time not long enough at all. He hears muffled sounds but tries to ignore them. They get louder, it sounds like… people? No… Not again, not yet, it’s too soon. Why can’t he just be left alone? He wants to go back, back to nothingness.

The sounds are now loud enough, he knows the people are screaming and there are gunshots and crying. No, I don’t want to hear it, please, please go away… “Law… it hurts”.

Law wakes up to a falling sensation before he hits the floor face first. Groaning, he turns to lie on his back and lifts a shaky hand to slowly stroke his face. He keeps his eyes closed, not quite ready to face the world yet. Sleep is slowly leaving his foggy head but the dream stays and he just wants to forget. Slowly he registers a blaring sound coming from the nightstand above him.

“If you don’t turn that off within the next five seconds, you’re going to wish you were never born!” A groggy voice grumbles from the bed Law has just fallen off. Or been pushed off, he doesn’t know, not that it matters. He snorts at the irony as if wishing he was never born wasn’t part of his everyday life already.

“Shut up milksop, you’ll have to get up in a few hours anyway.” Law grumbles. Running a hand through his messy hair he sighs and reaches for his phone to turn the alarm off. He brings the device down to his face to look at the screen. It reads 06:12, way too early for his liking. Why has the whole society been planned around people who are naturally up at the ass crack of morning?

The sound of excited nails clicking against the hardwood floor can be heard inside the room. Soon there is a wet nose poking at his cheek followed by a sniff and a demanding huff. “All right, all right, I’m awake.” He raises an arm to scratch the dog behind his ear before gently pushing him away so he can sit up.

Law stretches on the floor, his body is sore all over and his head still feels foggy as fuck. He probably overdid it a bit last night, considering how late they stayed up and all. As he stands up slowly, his right leg aches whenever he puts weight on it. ‘Great, just what I need today.’ He thinks as he massages his leg to make the pain go away. When the massage does nothing to ease his discomfort, he sights and slowly limps his way past the jittery dog to the bathroom.

After closing the door he inspects himself in the mirror. His hair is a mess, no visible marks on his face or neck, that’s something at least. His eyes move lower and stop at the nasty bruising on his hips and abdomen. Some of it is old and at varying degrees of healed, but some is new, likely from last night. He was too out of it to remember everything they did… Ah well, all the marks would be hidden under his clothes so it’s fine.

A tattooed hand reaches to open the mirrored cabinet above the sink and browses the pill bottles until landing on one to pull out. Law stares at the bottle for a moment, is the pain really bad enough? He could just endure it… But it is the first day of Uni after the summer break, he might be forced to socialize… With a defeated sigh, Law opens the bottle and takes two pills with water. This will be the last day, summer break is over after all.

He brushes his teeth and washes his face without looking in the mirror again before leaving and turning off the light. He walks back to the bedroom with a slight limp and picks up his clothes from yesterday off the floor. He pulls the black skinny jeans on without a second thought, gives the gray T-shirt a sniff, determines it is good enough to wear, and pulls it over his head. He can’t see his hoodie anywhere, not remembering where he took it off last night.

With a small huff he gives up and pets the gorgeous black pitbull that is patiently sitting on the floor, looking at him expectantly. “Fine Jiki, I will look for it later, maybe it’s in the living room anyway…” he talks softly to the dog, not wanting to disturb the already snoring figure still in bed. Glancing behind him he sees the pile of blonde fur still sleeping in the bed with its master. He makes a smacking sound with his lips and the Afghan Hound lifts its head curiously. “Come on, breakfast time” Law whispers, and after some stretching the older dog gets off the bed and follows Law out of the room.

He heads to the kitchen to get the coffee machine going and to feed the two dogs. After filling their bowls he just stands next to the coffee machine, zoning out until the ancient appliance starts making a loud gurgling sound to let him know the coffee is ready for consumption. He reaches for his mug, wrinkles his nose at how disgusting it looks from not having been washed for days, maybe weeks, and pours the coffee into it.

The hot liquid burns on his tongue and throat on the way down, but he doesn’t mind. The sensation makes him know he is still alive and awake. It also takes his mind off the pain still pulsing in his leg. He finishes the first cup in one go and pours himself another one. Turning around he leans onto the kitchen counter and looks towards the messy living space in the apartment. As he takes in the view of scattered clothes, dirty dishes, books, papers, gears, and other machine parts, he wishes he’ll one day have the energy to tidy it all up. He hates mess and clutter and every second he spends in this apartment adds to his stress and anxiety. He feels dirty and disgusting but is too tired to do anything about it.

While sipping on the second cup of coffee, his gaze stops on the couch in the middle of the room and the frown on his face deepens. With a few steps, his long legs take him right next to the piece of furniture and he scrunches up his nose in disgust. There on the sofa cushions is an empty hot wing container with some sauce left in it and a knocked-over beer can. Evidently, the can was not empty when it fell but neither of them seem to have noticed or cared about the spilled beer that has now soaked into the cushions. The liquid has also clearly dampened the hot wing container and who knows how much hot sauce has already seeped through the wet cardboard and made its new home in the cushion below.

Law closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath through his nose, holding it in for a few seconds before letting it out as a long sigh. ‘It’s not my couch, why should I care, it’s not like he is going to care anyway… The day I see cockroaches crawling around the place, I’m leaving for good!’ He quietly promises himself, but deep down he knows he won’t. No matter how bad it gets, he would never leave, he can’t. It’s not the kind of relationship you read about in love novels or see on romantic TV shows, the kind Law would never admit craving for. But this is what he has and someone like him cannot ask for more, really he’s lucky to even have this.

As he opens his eyes again, he spots his used black hoodie with a yellow smiley symbol lying on the arm of the couch. He throws the rest of the coffee down his throat, grabs the hoodie, ignores the mess, and makes sure the shirt has no visible stains on it. After setting down his cup and pulling on the hoodie, he checks the time, 7:05. Wow, he must’ve been zoning out longer than he thought, he better take the dogs out quickly and get ready to leave if he wants to make it in time. This professor does not like students to enter the lessons late. Besides, Law prefers to be one of the first to enter the lecture room, that way he can secure a seat at the back of the room and attract as little attention to himself as possible.

Law glances at the big mirror next to the bathroom door as he passes it on the way to the front door. His clothes are sagging more on his thin frame than he remembers, he must’ve been losing weight again without realizing it. With a deep sigh, he looks away and takes a few more steps to reach the door. He pulls on his black combat boots and reaches into the low cabinet Kid has in the hallway next to the door to grab his fingerless biker gloves. He’s not planning to use his motorbike as the apartment is right next to the campus, but he’s feeling self-conscious and doesn't want to provoke any unwanted attention with his controversial finger tattoos.

Next, he grabs the two leashes and turns to the two dogs who have already followed him to the front door. They are obediently waiting for him to attach the leashes to take them out. “Sorry guys, I don’t have time for a longer walk this morning, I’ll take you for a run this afternoon yeah?” He knows he won’t. His partner might, but whatever, it’s not like the canines understand what he is saying anyway. That’s probably why it’s so comforting to talk to them, they won’t judge him or pity him. They won’t offer meaningless words for some sort of comfort if he sometimes opens up to them when he’s alone in the apartment.

Making sure he has the keys in his pocket, Law heads out the door, the two dogs in tow. The pain in his leg has subsided somewhat, at least he’s able to walk without limping now. He doesn’t have time for a long walk, so he just takes the animals on a quick trip around the block, getting back about 20 minutes later.

He lets the dogs off the leashes and watches them trot deeper into the apartment before they turn around to look toward him. Ignoring the four-legged creatures, Law checks that he has everything he needs in his black messenger bag and heads for the door again. With one hand already on the handle he pauses and looks at the cabinet next to the door. After considering it for a moment, he sighs and takes a step back to reach for the top drawer. Pulling it open he picks up a small bottle of pills and slips it into his bag. ‘Just in case’ he thinks before heading out and closing the door behind him with a little more force than necessary.

--

It’s 7:55 when Law opens the lecture room door and stalks in. The few students already sitting inside turn their heads towards him curiously but he ignores them. Hands in his pockets and eyes glued to the steps in front of him he makes his way to the back row. He takes the very last seat of the row, one that is the furthest away from the door. He puts his bag on the seat next to him, making sure no one makes the mistake of sitting there even if the lecture hall gets full.

The professors never start teaching earlier than 15 minutes past so he has plenty of time to slouch on his seat and zone out. He closes his eyes and wishes he had been better at attending the lectures last semester. He failed this course because he missed over half of them and there were minimum attendance requirements for passing. He wishes he could just take an exam to pass, he already knows everything they are going to teach anyway.

The tired student sighs and promises himself he will do better this year… he will try his damnest… Just enough to pass at least. He wishes Bepo or one of the other two he tolerates would be here with him, but they passed all their first-year courses when they were supposed to. Law wishes he wasn’t so useless, such a waste of space. Maybe he should just drop out, maybe he doesn’t have what it takes to become any kind of medical professional after all…

Law’s spiraling thoughts are stopped as a loud and clear sound reaches his ears. A small group of what he assumes to be first-year students has just entered the lecture hall. They are chatting and one of them has the biggest and brightest smile Law has ever seen spread across his face. For a moment Law wonders how is it even possible for someone's mouth to stretch that much before he hears the sound again. The clearest and most beautiful laugh escapes the guy whose smile he was still staring at.

Quickly Law looks away and scans over the room, it’s pretty full already and he’s well hidden behind rows of already seated students so he risks another glance at the group. One of them has green hair and a bored-looking scowl on his face, Law can relate. He’s wearing a white shirt with long, dark green cargo shorts. Behind him is a girl with blond shoulder-length hair and a thin white beanie with rabbit ears. She is wearing an expensive-looking white blouse with short sleeves and a black skirt. Her face looks friendly and she is laughing at something that was just said.

Law's eyes lock on to the third and last person of the group and he swallows thickly, his mouth suddenly feels dry. The guy has black, messy hair, big innocent-looking eyes, and looks like he’s about 5 years too young to be attending a university. He’s wearing a red T-shirt with a skull design and frayed blue jean shorts. His skin looks so even and beautiful from afar that Law can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. The boy's smile is so bright that Law thinks he is going to get burned if he keeps looking for too long.

Averting his eyes, Law looks down at his hands. Even with the biker gloves still on, he can see the white patches at the tips of his fingers. He slowly balls his hands into fists and looks away. He hates his patchy skin, why did he have to be born this way, anyone who sees him knows right away that there’s something wrong with him.

Attempting to push his self-pity to the back of his mind, Law reaches for his bag to take out his laptop. He sets it up and has just opened the app he uses to take notes, in case there’s something he doesn’t already know, as the professor walks in and starts the lecture.

Law spends most of the lecture zoning out. He’s never had to study very hard, he remembers everything important after reading or hearing it once, and making logical connections between what he already knows from before helps him pick up new information very fast. Because of the boredom, he finds his attention constantly shifting towards the mop of black hair between green and blonde, about 10 rows below him. It doesn’t help that the professor has to keep telling the lively boy to shut it or leave about every five minutes. Every time the lecturer is met with a laugh, a half-hearted apology, and a promise to keep quiet. At least he had learned that the guy's last name was Monkey, from the professor having to address him so often. Great, on top of suffering through the boring lectures, Law has to endure this insufferable idiot, who is literally named “Monkey”, every Monday for the rest of the term. Hopefully, this is the only course they share, dropping out is starting to sound more and more tempting.

–-

At lunch time Law makes his way to the campus cafeteria. He never eats there but their coffee is tolerable. As he gets to the glass wall separating the cafeteria from the hallway, he stops. The large room is packed with students and the line is almost to the door. Great, his Monday lunch overlaps with most of the university it seems, so much for getting coffee from here.

As he is turning to leave he spots Mr. Monkey at the cafeteria. The boy is sitting at a long table full of people. He spots the two from the lecture, but now there’s a bigger group of people around him. A girl with long orange hair is sitting with her back towards Law. She’s dressed in quite skimpy clothes, clearly comfortable showing off her curves and g-string straps. Next to her is a girl with long blue hair and a much more modest long dress. She seems to be laughing at something the ginger just said. On the other side of the ginger is a woman with black hair and sophisticated attire, showing little skin but not too much. She seems to just be listening to the conversation going on. There’s also a guy with a strikingly long nose, dark skin, and curly black hair. He’s dressed in a green T-shirt and brown overalls, giving him a quite childish look. Between the long nose and Mr. Monkey is a guy with blonde hair covering half of his face and a surprisingly curly eyebrow above the visible eye. He is rocking a blue button-up with a black vest, making him look the most chick of the bunch. People around them seem to be giving them dirty looks for being unnecessarily loud, but the group does not seem to notice, or they just don’t care.

Before anyone can spot him creepily staring from the hallway, Law tears his eyes off the group and heads back the way he came. There’s a coffee machine in the hallway where he can get his life elixir, it’s just more expensive and not as good.

He makes his way to the machine, chooses a big black coffee, and takes out his phone to pay. As he unlocks the screen he notices he has unread messages from 2 conversations and a few missed calls from Bepo. He pays for his coffee before opening the group chat he has with Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin.

Bepo
7:06 Law are you awake?
7:08 Law!
7:10 LAW!!!

Shachi
7:10 Fuck off Bepo, someone people are still trying to sleep!

Bepo
7:11 you should be getting up already anyway, our first lessons start at 8.

Shachi
7:13 yeah yeah, the prof never gets there till 15 past, relax, we live right next door

Penguin
7:13 yeah Bepo chill man.
7:13 have you made breakfast yet? I’m starving

Bepo
7:16 Law is not answering his phone, what if he oversleeps? He can’t start the year like this!!
7:16 I already ate everything, nothing left for you scavengers!

Shachi
7:16 you what?!?!
7:16 I can’t believe you! What about our “first day back at uni” breakfast tradition??

Penguin
7:17 Yea Bepo! What the hell!

Bepo
7:18 it’s our second year! There is no tradition!!
7:18 Besides, it’s high time you two learn to buy some groceries for your own apartment!

Shachi
7:18 pfft ok mom

Law sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He doesn’t deserve a friend like Bepo, he really doesn’t. He has no idea why the man is still putting up with his bullshit after all these years, he would be so much better off without having to constantly babysit Law’s sorry ass…

Law
12:05 Sorry, I had my phone on mute

Bepo
12:06 Law! You made it to your first Lecture right?!
12:06 When are you coming home?

Law
12:06 Yea I made it. Today after uni

Law closed the chat and opened the messages from Kid.

Kid
9:55 I fucking hate your alarm
11:47 Killer has a trim booked for tomorrow, can you take him? Something came up at work

Law
12:10 You and me both. What time?

Law stuffs the phone back into his pocket and heads for the next lesson.

When he first went over to Kid’s place, he was surprised to be greeted by the elegant Afghan Hound at the door. It was not the kind of dog you would expect someone like Kid to have, unlike the Pitbull they adopted together from the pound last year. Kid puts a surprising amount of energy into making sure his dogs are always well taken care of. He clearly loves them and takes them for long runs at least two or three times a week and even spends some weekends out hiking with them. He also makes sure Killer gets his long fur professionally groomed at least once a month to keep it looking healthy and avoid matting. Law is well aware that if Kid ever has to make any kind of decision between Law and the dogs, he has no chance.

–-

The last lesson for the day is finally over and Law lazily packs away his things and leaves to go home like he promised Bepo. He has been staying at Kid’s place for a while now and he knows his friend is worried. Bepo has never liked Kid and is constantly questioning why Law has spent so much time with him lately. Law walks through the long hallways deep in thought and as soon as he steps out of the building he is instantly greeted by a tall and bulky man with flaming red hair and a cocky grin on his face. “You’re coming back home with me right, baby?” Kid asks one eyebrow raised.

Law pauses for a moment before frowning and walking past Kid. “What are you doing here?” He decides to ignore the question.

“Gee sorry, I wanted to be nice and come get you, won’t happen again.”

“I have to go to the apartment, I need some stuff for tomorrow’s lessons” ‘and Bepo’s worried’ he leaves the last words unsaid.

“Why don’t you bring all your stuff over already? It’s been over 2 years Trafalgar, you should just move in with me. You practically lived with me all summer already.” Kid says as he starts walking next to the tattooed man. It isn’t the first time the mechanic brings up his wish for Law to move in, but Law keeps hesitating. He needs his own “safe space” and no matter how pathetic it makes him feel, he still purposefully keeps most of his clothes and other things at his and Bepo's shared student apartment.

Usually, when the topic came up, Law would just distract the bigger man with sex, food, or alcohol, he hadn’t brought it up when they were out in public before. “You know you don’t have enough space besides, you’d have to deal with my friends coming around.”

“You see them at uni, isn’t that enough? It’s that Bepo isn’t it? He's making you stay and told you to go over today too, didn’t he? God, he’s so clingy, you really need to take control over your own life, Law.” Kid grumbles with a sour face, not even trying to hide his dislike for Law’s oldest and best friend. “I’ve told you I can move, we should get a new place together yeah?” Kid grabs Law's hand. “I mean it, baby.”

Law lets Kit hold his hand and sighs as they keep walking through the empty street. “I’ll think about it…” He hopes that will keep Kid from asking again for a few days at least.

“You’ll still come stay the night right? No reason to stay all night just because you have to pick up some stuff” Kid asks after a long pause.

“Yeah, maybe…” Law knows he will go to Kid’s in the end, Kid makes him feel wanted and he doesn’t want to risk losing that by upsetting him for no reason. Law hasn’t spent any nights in the apartment he shares with Bepo since summer break started. He went to get a fresh set of clothes or do the laundry sometimes. Kid doesn’t have space for his own machine so he uses the community one the building has downstairs. Law refuses to use that as he can’t know what has been washed in there previously and no amount of convincing from Kid has made him change his mind so far. Whenever he goes for his clothes, he stays almost all day, but he always goes back to Kid’s for the night.

Law feels his arm being pulled to the side and suddenly his back is slammed against a cold concrete wall. Kid cages him between two strong arms and lets out a low growl. “Don’t take that tone with me Law, you know I don’t like sleeping alone.” Kid grabs Law’s chin and smashes their lips together, forcing his tongue into Law's mouth.

It feels like the kiss lasts for hours and when Kid finally lets his mouth go, Law gasps for air as the hulk of a man leans in to whisper. “You know you sounded heavenly last night, gasping and moaning on my cock, begging for more. I should take your slutty little hole right here, make it clear to everyone who you belong to.” Kid closes the distance between them and sinks his teeth into Law's neck. Law could feel him sucking hard and knew there would be a mark. Kid knows he doesn’t like it when the bigger man leaves visible marks, but right now he clearly doesn’t care. Law just stands there, frozen. He doesn’t remember begging last night, he doesn’t remember much of anything, and he barely remembers them even having sex. He can’t breathe.

Kid lets him go and takes a step back. “See you tonight, Trafalgar.” With that, he turns his back to Law and leaves.

Law stares at the broad back walking away from him. He wants to yell at him to go to hell and at the same time beg for him to turn and come back but in reality, he does neither. He has been unable to move a muscle ever since Kid leaned in and his breathing comes in as short gasps. He stays paralyzed like that until the ginger has long since disappeared behind the corner. Law feels his whole body start to tremble, his leg is suddenly killing him and slowly he slides down against the wall till he is sitting on the ground, knees bent up in front of him. ‘It will make you feel better.’ He brings his shaking hands up and buries his face into them. ‘Remember?’ Why is he always so pathetic? ‘... feels good right?’ The sickeningly sweet whisper keeps echoing in his head and he can feel himself losing the battle for control.

Reaching for his bag he rummages around till his shaky fingers find the small bottle he is desperately looking for. He opens it, pops two pills into his mouth, and swallows them. He closes his eyes and just sits there, waiting for the shaking to stop and the pain to subside while willing away the images that are threatening to flood his vision following the whispers.

Slowly he feels the panic being drowned with the feeling of calm. About 30 minutes later he feels stable enough to stand up again, the whispering has stopped. Still leaning to the wall he digs out his phone and sees a missed call from Bepo. Cursing under his breath he opens their private conversation.

Law
16:46 omw, sorry, got held up

He turns the sounds on and slips the phone back into his pocket before pushing himself off the wall and starts making his way home.

Chapter Text

General CW's: drug abuse, self-hate
TW: slight sexual abuse at the end

Tall and a little chubby blonde sits at the kitchen table fidgeting with his phone. Law said he would come today and Bepo wants to trust that he will, it’s just that Law hasn't exactly been the most trustworthy person lately. He can’t help but worry for his childhood friend, Bepo knows the sleep-deprived man had a severe drug addiction in the past, and he is worried his friend is using again. Ever since Law had started to hang more around Kid, it felt like he had been slipping away.

After last Christmas, Bepo barely saw Law outside of the university. Kid made sure Law spent all his free time with him or at his place. The mechanic clearly wasn’t too serious about his attendance to the same rehab program Bepo managed to talk Law into going years ago. Kid had shown up to one of the weekly meetings about 2 years ago and seemed to instantly set his sights on Law. He kept hovering around whenever Bepo went to pick Law up until eventually, Law started to talk and engage with the man more.

Kid was in there for alcohol abuse, forced to go by his grandfather and employer at the time. He has since inherited said auto repair shop when his grandfather died, along with a hefty sum of money he never fails to mention. Bepo doesn’t know if either of them is attending the weekly meetings anymore, he is sure Kid never stopped drinking for longer than a week either way. How he manages to keep the business running is a mystery, but that isn’t any of Bepo’s concern. He knows in his bones that Kid is bad news and really, really bad for Law. If only he would find a way to make his friend see reason.

Bepo hears a key turning in the lock and perks up. He stands up and takes a few steps forward so he can see the front door from behind the corner. The door opens and two lively and loud students step in.

“Bepo! Are you done cooking yet?! I’m starving!” Shachi yells as soon as he is inside the apartment.

“Move your fat ass so I can fit in to close the door.” Penguin pushes Shachi forward so that the ginger almost trips onto his own feet.

“It’s not my fault you’re too fat to fit in through the door, should ease up on the Cheetos man.”

“No way, I live off of those things, I’d die without them” Penguin remarks as he slams the door closed.

“Oh, it’s just you guys…” Bepo deflates and moves back to sit at the kitchen table. It was probably a mistake to give a copy of his key to the two idiots who lived across the hall from them, they never failed to show up during meal times.

“Oi! Don’t look so disappointed, we know you love us!” Shachi huffs before continuing “I take it Mr. Grumpy has not shown his face yet? He said he was coming today right?”

“Yea he did, I made onigiri and fried fish for dinner.”

“Sweet! I love Onigiri.” Shashi swoons in the hallway.

“You love everything as long as you can eat it.” Penguin rolls his eyes as he enters the kitchen. “Sounds like someone’s trying to win Law over.” Penguin wiggles his eyebrows at Bepo.

“That’s not the point man!!” Shachi protests as he follows. “I feel like we need to up our game with Law, he has totally ditched us for that muscle head.” The ginger sighs as he sits down opposite Bepo. “Have you tried calling him?”

“Yea, no answer.” Bepo huffs and flops onto the table looking defeated. “I miss him so much… and I’m worried.” Bepos eyes start to water.

“Come on man, I’m sure he's fine and is on the way, maybe he got caught on some extra work already, he has a lot to catch up on this year if he wants to keep up.” Penguin tries to reassure their nearly sobbing friend.

“Yeah, or he was arrested.”

Bepo shoots up from the table with a bewildered expression. “W-what?! What could Law get arrested for?!” Shachi and Penguin have no idea about Law's past as they became friends only last year but Bepo’s mind instantly goes to drugs.

“Idiot!” Penguin smacks Shachi on the back of his head. “We’re trying to calm him down, not rile him up more!”

“Oof… yea I’m sure Law is fiiine” Shachi waves his hand to dismiss Bepo's panic.

“That’s not helping…” Bepo groans as he drops back down to lay on the table. Should he tell them? Law would hate him for it, he’s such a private person… but he’s so worried. Bepo keeps huffing and puffing while rolling from one side to the other, ignoring the two men sitting at the table. The two glance at each other, at a loss for how to try and cheer up the big man.

“...Look man, I’m sure-”

A ping from Bepos' phone cuts Penguin off and sends the big blonde tumbling off his chair to the floor. He fumbles with his phone while trying to sit up before he gets a good grip and unlocks it. “It’s from Law!! He’s on the way!” The man screeches and jumps up with joy.

“Finally! What took him so long?” Penguin cranes his neck to try and see the screen of Bepo’s phone.

“Guess he was able to afford the bai- Owww! What the fuck man!”
Penguin hits Shachi on the back of his head again before he can finish the sentence.

“He just said he got held up… I bet it was Kid.” Bepo visibly deflates at the thought.

“Oh Eat-ass? I wonder if he’s at least proven to be worthy of his name, why else would Law spend so much time with someone like him? The sex must be great.”

Bepo sniggers at the nickname “More like Just-ass… when will Law wake up to see he deserves so much better.”

None of them like Kid and Kid doesn’t like any of them, they can not understand what Law sees in the controlling and vulgar man. The conversation shifts to their studies and not long after that they hear the front door being unlocked again. Bepo shoots up from his seat and beelines to the door.

“Welcome home Law!!” He shouts before Law is even able to cross the threshold. He pulls the lanky man into a crushing hug, causing him to almost trip.

“... Bepo, I can’t breathe.” Law mutters into the orange hoodie the taller man is wearing. Bepo can hear the smile in his voice so he just squeezes harder for a few seconds before letting go and taking a step back. “It’s so good to have you here-” Bepo cuts himself off as he notices Law staring into the space in front of him, clearly spacing out while gently rubbing his right leg. “Is everything ok, Law? Is the leg bothering you again?” Bepo asks with a frown. He knows they taught him techniques to manage the pain without substances at the rehab. Law even asked him to go to one of those sessions with him as they said it’s good to have someone in your support network who knows how to help while adjusting to function without strong pain medication.

Hearing his name seems to snap the tattooed man out of whatever thoughts he had been lost in. “Hmm… Yeah, yeah I’m all good, just a little sore, it’s nothing really.” Bepo feels like there is more to it than Law is willing to voice out, but decides to let it go. He doesn’t want to annoy his best friend into leaving as soon as he has finally arrived.

“Come on, I made dinner! I bet you haven’t had anything but coffee all day.” The blonde smiles at his friend

“I, uh-” Law is cut off by a loud rumbling sound from his stomach which makes him blush lightly. “Um, yea dinner sounds good.” Law follows Bepo into the kitchen where they are greeted by the disaster duo.

“Yo, Mr. no show! Good to see you’re still alive man.” Penguin grins from where he is sitting.

“Do you even recognize us anymore? Do you remember our names?” Shachi glances over to Penguin and notices he is wearing his signature hat. “Well, I guess he is making it easy for you… but do you remember my name??” He is pointing a finger at himself.

“I wish I could forget…” Law mumbles pinching the bridge of his nose. “It hasn’t been that long.”

“Not that long?! Dude, we’ve barely seen you all summer!” Penguin pouts

“Yea, what’s up with that man? I thought we were friends but you’ve been avoiding us ever since summer break started.” Shachi continues faking a hurt expression.

“I’ve been… busy. Wow Bepo, this looks so good.” Law is clearly trying to change the topic as he grabs a plate. Bepo quickly snatches the plate from the tattooed hands and gestures for Law to sit down.

“Take a seat, I’ll get it for you” Law looks like he wants to argue but decides to let it go and sits opposite Penguin.

“Wow Bepo really?!” Shachi gasps and is joined in by Penguin.

“Yea wow, you serve him but not us? So rude!”

“Yea R.U.D.E! I thought at least you still loved us even if Mr. gloomy here has forgotten us.” Shachi is booing with his thumbs pointing down.

“Shut up you two, I didn’t even invite you idiots, the least you can do is get your own food!” The tall blonde barks.

Shachi sighs dramatically before getting up to fill a plate for himself, flipping off Penguin who is fluttering his lashes at him, trying to score a plate without having to stand up.

Bepo places a plate in front of Law before sitting down with his own. Law stares at the food in front of him for a moment and Bepo knows that look. As long as Bepo has known Law, he has struggled with eating. Back when Law turned 18 he disappeared for a year and Bepo had no idea where to look for him. The blonde never knew much about Law’s living arrangements, only that like him, he was living with a foster parent. Law never let any other kid know where or with whom exactly he lived with, let alone allow someone to go visit.

When Bepo finally found him he was practically skin and bone, so messed up from drugs he didn’t even recognize his best friend and tried to fight him off at first. Gradually Law got a lot better after Bepo managed to get him off the streets and eventually to agree to a rehab program. During that time Bepo learned to recognize the warning signs, complete loss of appetite was one of them.

When Bepo hugged his best friend earlier at the door, he could tell the man had lost some weight. Furthermore, even after not eating anything all day, he is now hesitating with a smaller than regular portion of food on his plate. Bepo himself has about twice as much on his and Shachi and Penguin are in the process of piling even more on theirs.

“Law…” Bepo starts but the tired-looking man sitting next to him grabs a rice ball and gives a small smile.

“Thanks Bepo, these look great.” He says before starting to eat. Bepo looks at him skeptically for a moment before digging in himself.

Shachi and Penguin, completely oblivious to the subtle communication that has just occurred between the other two, sit back down with their plates shoved so full it is a miracle nothing has dropped to the floor or table yet. “If you didn’t want us to come, why’d you cook so much?” Penguin inquires before Shachi chimes in “Yea! It’s not like Law, Mr. ‘I survive a whole weekend with coffee and a bag of instant noodles’ would ever be able to eat this much. Like ever, in his whole life.”

“Shut up!... Sorry..” Bepo mumbles still lost in thought, wondering if Law really is ok and he is just overreacting, misreading the signs. He wants to trust his friend but at the same time, he knows Law is good at hiding his substance abuse when he wants to. He will have to keep a close eye on this, the blonde is sure Kid has something to do with it, at least he’s not helping. Law did meet him through rehab after all and while Bepo doesn’t want to judge anyone struggling with substance abuse, the mechanic gave him bad vibes from day one.

After that, the conversation shifts to lighter topics, like some recent TV shows, games, comics, and their studies. Especially how they will have most lectures and lessons together the next day.

“Will you stay overnight, Law?” Bepo asks, brimming with enthusiasm. “We could do something relaxing for the evening and walk together in the morning!”

Law doesn’t meet Bepos' gaze. “Um… I uh, I’m going to Kid’s for the night, I just needed some books and stuff for tomorrow…” Law trails off, suddenly finding his almost empty plate very interesting.

“Oh…” Bepo can’t help the sad expression that takes over his face. “I guess next time then?” The blonde feels disappointment take over his whole body but tries his best to hide it.

“Yea next time…for sure” Law agrees.

“You better stay over soon, we miss you for real.” Penguin adds, sounding sincere for once.

“It’s settled then, you will spend at least one night home with us this week!” Shachi declares with a grin.

“What?! I didn’t… uh, yea ok, I can do that.” Law looks thoughtful for a moment. “Thursday, I’ll come Thursday, I promise.”

“You better!” All of them are grinning at Law for the prospect of getting to spend more time with him and more importantly, getting him away from Kid.

–-

Law is still home, lying on his own bed, one arm draped over his face. Shachi and Penguin left after dinner, claiming they had to prepare for the next day's lessons, it's more likely there's some game they itched to et back to. Law has swapped the contents of his messenger bag with the school books he will need for the next few days, leaving behind the ones he doesn’t need till Friday or next week.

He feels sick, the look Bepo gave him during dinner told him that his best friend is suspicious of him. He was barely able to finish what Bepo had put on his plate and he was currently fighting the urge to throw it all up. He knows it wasn’t a lot, Bepo knew he never ate much. He has to cut down on the Oxy, Bepo can not find out he is using too much again… He should really cut it out completely, he finally has goals in life. He has gotten into med school and if they find out he isn’t exactly following his plan, he could be kicked out. He can not mess this up, he will not!

Law turns to lay on his side and hugs a big polar bear plushie he got from Bepo when they celebrated his one year of being sober. How can he have let it slip this badly again, why can’t he get through his daily life without resorting to drugs? Everyone else he knows can, why can’t he? Is he that broken? Pathetic waste of space who can’t do a single thing right. He feels tears burning at the corners of his eyes but refuses to let them fall. He has to get a grip.

Law’s thoughts keep spiraling, he has no idea how long has passed when he is startled by his phone ringing. He digs the device from his pants pocket and checks the caller ID: Kid. At least he still has Kid, he hasn’t managed to screw that up yet, but it was just a matter of time. He lets out a small sigh and answers.

“Hey..”

“Hey babe, where are you? I thought you were coming over for the night…”

“Yea, what time is it?” Law moves the phone away from his ear for a few seconds to check, 21:23, shit.

“It’s almost half nine, I started to think something happened, or you were standing me up..” Kid laughs but he does not sound very happy.

“No of course not… sorry, I just, zoned out or something”

“You don’t have to make up excuses, you like your friends more than me..”

Does he?

“No!”

Maybe sometimes…

“You know that’s not true.” Law tries to assure himself as much as the man on the other end.

“How can I when you choose them over me..”

“I’m leaving right now, I will see you in 20 ok?”

“Yea what ever…”

“...” Law sighs into the phone “...see you in a bit”

He hangs up without waiting for a response and gets up. Grabbing his bag, Law walks out of his room and glances at himself from the hallway mirror. He quickly wipes his eyes with his sleeve to hide any evidence he might’ve let a tear or two fall earlier and starts to pull his shoes on. He turns around to yell bye to Bepo but is met with watery eyes right behind him

“You’re going already?” Bepo is picking at his nails, gaze pointed to the floor before meeting Law's eyes “Law… are you really ok?” Bepo looks concerned.

Law swallows dryly, he hates lying to his friend. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He tries to smile, hoping he manages to look convincing enough.

“You know you can always talk to me right? About anything..”

Law feels like shit when he looks into his friend’s big and hopeful eyes. He should just vanish, crawl into some crack in the ground, and never come back out again. How can he keep doing this to his friend, Bepo would be so much better off if he just moved on and left Law to rot on the streets. Or better yet, never befriended him in the first place.

“Yea, I know… I’ll see you at uni in the morning.”

“Yea… you really promise to come stay overnight on Thursday?”

“Of course, I promised.” Law tries to reassure himself just as much as Bepo that he’ll be able to keep that promise.

Bepo gives him a serious look, searching his eyes for a moment before giving him a small smile. “Ok then, see you tomorrow!” The tall blonde wraps Law into a bear-like hug before waving him goodbye.

As Law hears the apartment door close behind him, he pauses to let out a breath he didn’t notice he was holding. Running a hand through his hair he makes a promise to himself, he will definitely be back on Thursday.

–-

Law turns the key in the lock and slowly opens the door before stepping in. Pulling it closed behind him, he is met with a dark and quiet apartment. Has Kid already gone to bed? He takes off his shoes and goes to the bedroom. He’s met with more silence and an empty bed. The earlier thoughts still swirling in Law's mind he is unable to think clearly, he feels his heart start to beat faster in his chest. Where is Kid? Why isn’t he here? Has he left him? Law checks the bathroom and kitchen to make sure, but there’s no one. Was this it? Has Kid finally grown tired of Law and this was his way of telling him he is not welcome anymore? He feels the panic bubble in his chest as he walks back to the hallway and notices a bottle of pills on the counter. One wouldn't hurt, right? He needs to calm down.

Not thinking about it further, Law grabs the bottle, pops the lid open, and takes two pills. He closes his eyes and leans to a wall to wait for the effect to kick in as he hears a key being inserted into the lock. The door opens revealing Kid behind it before two very excited dogs rush in and almost tackle Law to the floor as they jump to greet him.

Of course, how could Law have been so stupid? Kid had just taken the dogs for a quick evening walk. Relief floods Law's chest as he sets the pill bottle back on the counter and bends down to greet the dogs before looking at his partner.

“I see you came while I was taking care of the pups. We can take them together tomorrow if you’re here.”

Huffing Law approaches the muscular man. “Whatever, I’m here now right?” He feels the need to make up for upsetting the man by coming back so late.

“Yea you are.” Kid smirks at him before pulling him into a hug and sealing their lips. He smells of alcohol and Law can taste it on the tongue that is pushed into his mouth. His head is getting a little fuzzy, he isn’t sure if it is because of the kiss or the pills he just took, he doesn’t really care. He just wants to get lost in the feeling, to make his brain stop thinking.

As his head keeps getting fuzzier, there’s a passing thought, he didn’t check the label, maybe it wasn’t oxy in that bottle… But Kid saw it in his hand and said nothing, so it is fine right? Whatever, his head is too foggy to keep thinking.

Law feels himself being hoisted up and he automatically wraps his legs around Kids waist. He can feel Kids hardon already pressing onto his ass through their clothes but he doesn’t want to think about that, he wants to stop thinking, to forget… Kid keeps kissing him, making it harder to breathe, and clouding his head more. He vaguely registers being pressed onto something soft, a mattress? Kid is big and heavy on top of him, demanding. For a moment panic flashes in his head. ‘Look at you, so small, yet so willing.’

“It’s like you were made for me to use.” Law hears the words so clearly like he was right on top of him. He struggles to breathe. Quiet laughter and a wide grin that does not belong to Kid are the last things Law registers in his mind before he gets lost in the sweet embrace of darkness.

--

When Law comes back to his senses, it’s dark and he’s lying under the covers, naked. He hears Kid snoring next to him and can feel the sticky remnants of the brute finishing inside him. So they did have sex, he doesn’t remember any of it. ‘Better that way’ he thinks before a wave of nausea hits him and he has to rush to the bathroom. He barely makes it before emptying his stomach into the toilet bowl. He dry heaves for a moment before the feeling passes and he slumps down on the floor.

He sits there until his hands finally stop shaking before getting up to go get a glass of water. Killer and Jiki follow him to the kitchen, likely in hopes of getting some midnight snacks. “You greedy little shits.” He smiles at the dogs as he bends down to pet them both. He opens the fridge to grab a small carrot and snaps it in half. Squatting down he places the pieces to the floor, in front of the dogs, giving them a sign to wait. They both look at him obediently, small droplets of saliva keep dropping to the floor in front of Jiki. Finally, he gives the ‘ok’ and both dogs wolf their carrots down, barely chewing. At least the silly animals always manage to make him feel a little better.

“All good baby?” He hears a groggy voice from the bedroom.

“...Yea, all good.”

“You sure? Sounded like you just threw up”

“Yea… but I’m ok”

“Did you eat at your friend’s?”

“... yea”

“It was probably because of their cooking then.”

“...” Law knows it’s the drugs but is too tired to start an argument.

After downing the glass of water, Law gets back to bed. The dogs follow him, both jumping in before he gets settled.

“You ok now?” Kid runs a hand along Law's spine soothingly. It feels nice, he leans into the touch.

“Yea”

“Good”

Kid keeps rubbing his back for a little while, before wrapping his strong arm around his thin waist to pull him close. Soon Law hears soft snoring from behind him and at this moment, he feels ok. He doesn’t know if he will be able to sleep anymore, but he lays there enjoying the closeness. If he keeps trying, maybe he can be good enough for Kid.

Chapter Text

Law doesn’t know how much time has passed, he just lays there, staring into the darkness, too sober to risk closing his eyes. He still feels the slight burn at the back of his throat from throwing up and the taste of vomit makes him wish he had brushed his teeth before getting back to bed. He reaches for his phone to check the time. The bright screen assaults his eyes as he reads the bold numbers, 5:06. Great, he has a better chance to graduate tomorrow than to fall back asleep before his alarm.

With a sigh, he sits up and drags his feet over the edge of the bed. As the soles of his feet hit the cold floor, the ache in his leg is back. He leans his elbows onto his knees and buries his face into his hands. He just sits there for a moment, feeling the nausea from earlier start to build back up as well. He should take something for the pain. And nausea… Really, he shouldn’t… but he could, just one right? Just to get through the day in uni. The tattooed man stands up and starts to gather his scattered clothes from the floor, undoubtedly tossed there by Kid last night.

The dogs are both still lying in bed, not bothering to get up as he leaves the bedroom to go take a toll on last night's damages. The mirror in the bathroom tells him that it was a fairly tame night, he only has a few marks around his collarbone, below the one Kid left outside of uni the previous day. He realizes his friends must’ve seen it when he visited as it’s too high to be covered by his hoodie but none of them commented on it. For a moment he contemplates using makeup to cover the obvious love bite but decides against it. His friends have already seen it and he doesn’t give a shit about anyone else's opinion.

For a moment he studies his face in the mirror, he really should shave but it’s such a chore, who is he trying to impress anyway? His thoughts wander to the man sleeping on the other side of the bathroom wall, Kid. Kid likes it when he makes an effort to look presentable. With a deep sigh, he reaches for the razor and quickly cleans the stubble around his jaw and lower cheeks, heaving just a triangular goatee and long sideburns that strategically hide the most visible white patches he has on his face.

Once he’s sure his facial hair will pass without a complaint, he brushes his teeth. As he’s putting the toothbrush back into the bathroom cabinet, his eyes land on the small bottle. ‘To make you feel good.’ “Shut up!” he hisses to the slick voice in his head and looks away. He can’t, he has been using too much all summer, Bepo is already worried. But the nausea keeps getting worse, that would be even more suspicious, right? He doesn't know what it was that he took last night but is sure as hell wasn’t Oxy and he’s sure the nausea is a side effect from that. He’s going to take just one, to take the edge off. Yea that should be fine, his leg is also still hurting after all. He opens the bottle and swallows the pill before he has time to reconsider. Trying to ignore the disappointment he feels for his weakness he closes the cabinet and turns off the light as he exits and makes his way to the kitchen.

Is it too early to make coffee? The ancient piece of shit won’t keep it hot long enough, so Kid would have to heat it up or brew a new pot… Deciding that it’s not really his problem he loads the machine and turns it on. He goes to fetch his bag from the hallway where it was unceremoniously dropped as soon as he got home last night and digs out his physiology book. He sits down to study, might as well use the time for something useful.

Little over an hour passes before he hears the tapping of nails against the hardwood floor and soon Jiki emerges from the bedroom, greeting Law with a happy tail wag as he sits next to his bowl. Law keeps reading his book, not making any moves to indicate he even noticed the dog. Jiki huffs and paws at his bowl, causing a metallic scraping noise as the bowl is pushed slightly toward the sitting man. “It's a little early for breakfast, don’t you think?” Law glances at the pit bull with one eyebrow raised. The dog looks at him unimpressed and makes a silent barking motion, clearly disagreeing. “Fine, if you can get Killer up I’ll feed you both” Law gives in. Jiki’s ears perk up towards Law and the dog tilts his head a little to the side. “Get Killer” Law repeats and Jiki rushes back to the bedroom.

In anticipation, Law counts down in his head ‘... 3… 2… 1’ “WHAT THE FUCK?!!... Jiki? Get the fuck off me, both of you OFF!!” Law can’t help but smirk, the burly man has clearly been woken up by an excited Jiki jumping onto the bed. In no time both dogs appear in the kitchen and Law fills their bowls as he promised.

Almost two hours go by before Kid finally emerges from the bedroom, completely naked and hair sticking in every direction. “Jesus Law, how long have you been awake? Did you sleep at all last night?” Kid asks, voice still groggy from the sleep as he walks to the coffee machine.

“Couple hours, not much, the coffee’s already cold” Law responds, not taking his eyes off the page he’s currently studying. “Did you plan to have time to take the dogs out before you have to leave for work?” Law continues nonchalantly.

“Shit…” Kid curses as he’s filling a cup with cold coffee. “Well, you’re already up and dressed…” The bigger man gives him a look as he pushes the button to start the microwave currently housing his cup of coffee. “Would you baby?” Kid steps closer and caresses his cheek before giving his lips a small peck. “I promise to make it up to you later” He winks.

“Fine.” Law sighs as he gets off his chair and heads for the hallway. “You owe me since I’m also taking Killer today.” He remarks as he starts pulling his shoes on.

“Yea yea, thanks babe.” Kid sits on the chair Law was still occupying less than a minute ago to enjoy his coffee.

“Could you at least wear underwear before sitting on the furniture?” Law wrinkles his nose while attaching the leashes as he sees Kids bare ass pressed against the wooden chair.

“What’s the problem, my ass is clean.” Kid lifts an eyebrow at Law before smirking “Unlike yours.” Law flips him off and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

The morning air is crisp as Law walks the dogs leisurely around the block. They’re both very well-behaved and he’s never afraid of them causing problems with passing people, bikes, cars, or other dogs. He still prefers to avoid dogs he doesn’t know as other people can’t be trusted with handling thier’s. Most people are so terrible at training dogs, there should be a license for being allowed to own one.

Law’s lost in thought as he walks and almost bumps into a guy who rounds a corner and ends right in front of him. Laws is able to stop before he makes physical contact, but ends up uncomfortably close so he automatically takes a few steps back. As he takes a better look at the man he almost collided with, he notices an unusually green mop of hair. It’s one of Mr. Monkey's friends from the lecture. Law doesn’t know his name but wonders what he’s doing over here, he’s never seen him around before, he would remember the hair. Maybe he moved here recently, he must be a first-year student like most of the people in his Monday morning lectures.

“Watch where you’re going.” The guy grumbles as he's trying to untangle himself from the leashes he walked into.

“Um, you did see the dogs right? Usually, there’s a person at the end of their leashes.”

“Well teach your dogs to not walk into people then…” He seems to take in Law’s appearance for the first time. “What are you, some kind of mobster? I didn’t know this was that kind of a neighborhood” He asks, eyeing Law’s hands.

Great, he forgot his gloves… Whatever, he likes his tattoos, just hates the attention and comments they usually bring his way from strangers. Law doesn’t answer, just glares at the guy who seems unfazed.

“Where the fuck am I anyway, is the Grand Line University around here?” The man looks unbothered by the thought of possibly almost colliding with a suspected gang member and at the same time like a lost and angry puppy. What a weird combination.

“About 10 minutes to the direction you’re coming from.” Seriously, how did this guy ever get accepted into a university when he can’t even find the damn place.

“Oh, thanks.” He mumbles and starts to head back. Law watches him go and take a turn to the left from the first intersection he comes across. The tattooed man considers yelling that he’s going the wrong way again but it’s not his problem if the idiot can’t keep on a straight path.

Soon Law makes it back to the front door of Kid's building, puts in the code, and goes in. Kid’s apartment is only on the second floor so he always takes the stairs. Jiki had been a little afraid of stairs when they first adopted him, but now he was climbing them like a pro, always reaching the top before Killer.

Law enters Kid’s apartment and lets the dogs off their leashes. While he was out Kid got dressed and tried to tame his wild hair. He’s wearing a black button-up with baggy gray pants with big pockets. The shirt is buttoned only halfway up and he has rolled up the sleeves, Law has to admit he looks pretty good with his muscles on show like that. A small voice at the back of his head wonders who he is dressing up for as he’s just going to the auto repair shop but Law ignores it.

“See something you like, nerd?” Kid smirks at him as he catches Law staring.

“Tsk, you wish.” Law walks past Kid to gather his book and bag from the table. On his way back to the front door Kid pulls him into a rough kiss.

“I don’t wish, I know.” Kid growls next to Law’s ear while squeezing his ass posessively. “Alright hot stuff, let’s go.” Kid lets Law go, pets the dogs goodbye, and grabs his black backpack that looks like it could fall apart at any second. Law wonders why he still hasn’t gotten a new one despite always bragging about his wealth. He never questions it out loud though. They exit the apartment, take the stairs down, and file out to the street.

The walk to the campus is short, Kid’s shop is in the same direction but further away so they can walk together on the days Law’s lessons start at nine or ten, Kid refuses to get up earlier than that for anything. The mechanic keeps babbling about his work and the rude customer he has to take this afternoon, the reason he can’t take Killer to the trim later, it’s booked at 15:00. Law finds it a little strange as Kid is usually very good at refusing to accept work when he has other things planned. Law will have to skip the last two hours of the lectures he has today to take the dog, but that’s fine. It’s the first lecture so there can’t be anything that important, he’ll make it for the first two hours anyway and his friends will be there so they can fill him in later. Well, Bepo can, getting notes from the other two is about as reliable as a bandaid for fixing a cut-off limb.

They reach the campus and agree to meet tonight at Kid’s. With a quick ‘see ya’ they take off in different directions, Law towards the school buildings and Kid to his repair shop.

--

The morning passes quickly at lessons with his friends and soon Law finds himself walking towards the campus cafeteria with his them. The professor had held the lessons without a break, resulting in them getting out for lunch early. Thus as they enter the big dining hall, it is almost empty, with only a few professors and students with a free period or skipping their lessons.

“Thank god we got Kuzan as our prof for this course, could you imagine the mad dog we had last year ever letting the students out early for lunch like this?” Shachi sighs as they approach the catering line to get their trays and inspect their options for the day.

“I know right, I swear he gets off on following rules to the letter and punishing any insubordination. Kuzan is so chill in comparison, I wish we could have him for every subject.” Penguin agrees while piling rice onto his plate.

Law opts for some rice with vegetable gratin and of course a big coffee. Penguin and Shachi go for rice with chicken fricassee, piling their plates to the brim. The cashier at the register gives them a dirty look as they pay, but there are no limitations on the foods they went for so she doesn’t say anything. Bepo chooses a huge ham sandwich that makes Law question why he ever befriended someone with such awful taste in food.

They sit down to eat while conversing about their earlier lessons and some tv show from last night that Law has no idea about, he never really watches tv or pays much attention to the ridiculous ‘pimp my ride’ type shows Kid loves to watch.

Other students are slowly trickling in and the cafeteria is getting louder. Law is lost in thought, trying to block out all the noise around by reciting what they learned earlier in the class when he is pulled out of his head by a clear and loud laugh. His head snaps towards the entrance and he sees a mop of messy black hair walking in. He is with that green-haired idiot from this morning, guess he managed to find his way in eventually, and the blonde girl from yesterday's lectures. His smile is as blinding as yesterday and Law has to look away to preserve his eyesight. He concentrates on the sad-looking half-eaten pile of food on his plate and wishes he had taken less, but he doesn’t want to alert Bepo. Besides he threw up everything he ate last night so his body could surely do with some nutrition.

Against Law’s wishes, his ears tune in to the conversation Mr. Monkey is having with his friends.

“Zoro, I can’t believe you got lost on your way back from the restroom, it’s just behind the corner” the beaming boy laughs, assumably at the green-haired man. So the idiot's name is Zoro and getting lost was not a one-time thing for him. “Have you ever considered getting a guide dog?” The laugh got louder, Law didn’t know why his heart was suddenly beating faster, is he having withdrawals? Surely he hasn’t been using that much, it must be whatever Kid let him take last night.

“Awwww I love dogs, they are so cute! You should totally get one Zoro” The blonde girl squealed at the mention of a guide dog. “I’d love to take one but Pedro hates dogs and he’s the love of my life so I can’t upset him like that.”

“Oh Carrot, when are you bringing Pedro again? It’s been a while since we’ve seen him.” The girl's name is Carrot and his boyfriend is some guy named Pedro, Law is filing the information in for later use, hoping he will never need it for anything.

“Earth to Law!” He feels a slap at the back of his head and glares at Shachi who is sitting next to him. “Finally I have your attention, what has you so distracted? Dreaming about your future husband or something?”

Bepo looks appalled as Shachi laughs at his own joke, Penguin jumps in “Yea, did you hear anything we were just talking about?” Law doesn't say anything in response but blushes slightly as he goes back to eating his food. “Thought so. On Thursday, you’ll come straight from uni right? Make sure you have your laptop with you and do you have a headset?”

“Um no, I think the one back at home broke.”

“Ok we’ll lend you one!”

“Why?”

”We’ll be playing a game!”

“Oh, what game?” Law liked to play video games with his friends but Kid thought they were a waste of time so he never played at Kid’s place to avoid arguments. This meant that since last spring, he had technically abandoned his old hobby.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll see then, you haven’t played it before but you’ll love it I’m sure! Bepo hasn’t played it before either, it’ll be super fun!” Penguin assures him but Law is skeptical. He does not trust that whatever Shachi and Penguin consider fun means that he and Bepo will enjoy it and contemplates conveniently leaving his laptop to Kid’s and asking him to bring it to uni on Friday.

They finish lunch and head out of the cafeteria. After taking their trays away Law goes back to get another coffee to go as there’s currently no line. As he is waiting for the payment to go through, he glances at the table he knows Luffy is sitting at and finds himself amazed at the pile of plates on his tray. Looks like he got at least one of every single option the cafeteria offers and then some. How he was able to fit all the full plates onto his tray is a mystery Law will likely never get to solve.

With fresh coffee in hand, Law walks after his friends and tries to leave the images of a sunny smile stuffed with food in the cafeteria as he exits. He doesn’t understand what’s up with him today.

Their afternoon is filled with boring lectures and Law finds himself zoning out constantly. When it’s time for the second break of their 4-hour lecture, Law gathers his stuff in preparation to leave.

“Hold up, where are you going? We still have two hours left.” Bepo stops him as they’re getting up from their seats to stretch their legs for a bit.

“Yea, I have to skip the last hours, have to take Killer to get groomed.”

“Why’s Kid not taking him?”

“He had a rush customer come in yesterday.”

“Hmm… are you sure about this? I don’t want you to fall behind again.”

“Chill Bepo, it’ll be fine, Borsalino talks so slowly he’s not going to get through much in two hours anyway.” Shachi jumps in to help Law. “I can give you my notes, it’s all cool!” The redhead offered. Law gives him a pointed look and the loud man seems to shrivel in on himself a little. “On second thought, Bepo’s notes are usually better…”

“That’s why I was going to ask for his over your nonexistent ones.”

“Come on man, I’ve written som- few.. words…” Shachi keeps deflating as he realizes he has scribbled exactly two words onto his notepad during the three hours and he’s not even sure if they had anything to do with the lectures. “On second thought, Bepo can share with us both!”

“Rude, I only share with the captain.”

“Stop calling me that…”

“But cap.. GAH hands off!.. I’m sorry” Bepo slaps Shachis's grabby hands off his notebook as he is trying to steal it.

“Penguin, you took notes right?” The aforementioned man snaps his eyes toward Shachi, hugs his notebook close, and starts to run away, Shachi hot on his heels begging for him to share.

Law and Bepo look as the two run off and let out a simultaneous sigh.

“How much you wanna bet there’s just a lewd drawing as Penguins notes.”

“You know there is. So you gonna share yours with everyone?”

Bepo lets out a heavy sigh. “I’ll share with you, those two can fail for all I care.” Law pats Bepo’s shoulder reassuringly, he knows the bear-like man will bend like wet paper when the two beg for his notes later. None of then deserve a friend like Bepo.

Chapter Text

After hanging with his friends till the last lecture starts, Law leaves and heads to Kid’s apartment to pick up the dogs. He can give Jiki a walk while Killer is being groomed to get some exercise, the young Pitbull is such a ball of energy that it could happily run and walk all day.

Law himself has never been physically fit enough for long runs, he should start to exercise more. He doesn’t want to join Kid on his runs because he would just make fun of Law for not being able to jog even one block without getting winded while Kid himself jogs for miles weekly. Law has never brought up joining Kid on his runs and the bigger man has never offered, he probably thought Law just wasn’t into exercising. There’s also the hiking Kid does regularly with the dogs, never inviting Law. Not that he’d agree to go, he’s quite content to use those days to catch up on some reading or schoolwork and he hates forest bugs. It would still be nice to be asked if he wanted to join sometimes.

Once, sometime after they first got together, Law asked if Kid could show him some light exercises he could do at the gym to build up his strength and stamina, he has always been lanky and would like to build some muscle. To his surprise Kid got really suspicious of his sudden interest, saying there was no reason for Law to do that, he was fine the way he was, unless Law was trying to impress someone else. The question led to a heated argument between the two, Law saying he just wanted to get healthier and Kid yelling that he just wanted to flaunt his body in front of all the other men at the gym.

No one, not Kid or even Bepo knows much about Law's past before he signed up for rehab, but Kid knows he wasn’t exactly picky with the men he would let between his legs while high or to get high. He doesn’t remember most of them and it’s a miracle he never caught anything that could not be treated at the clinic after he got sober. He’s not proud of that time of his life but he didn’t know any better. It didn’t help that for most, something about his body or demeanor seemed like an open invitation to do as they pleased. Most of the time he was too out of it to know what was going on, waking up later either alone or next to someone, with the marks and liquids on and in his body painting a picture of what happened. He would just get high again, not able to deal with the shame and guilt he felt constantly, always too afraid to even try to look deeper to find out why he kept doing what he did.

A few times he spent the night with someone nice, someone he’d wished would let him stay, even if just for a while, but they never did. He was just a warm body for them to use for the night and throw out in the morning. Not that he was much better, usually doing it either for money or straight-up drugs.

But Kid was different, Kid knows about his past drug abuse, knows that Law lost count of how many men he has slept with long before they met. Sometimes Law wants to tell him everything, to tell someone about all the trauma that has been eating him up on the inside for years. But he’s afraid Kid would look at him differently if he knew. Maybe he would finally leave him, who would want to stay with someone as used and broken as Law anyway? No, it’s better he keeps it all to himself, he manages just fine as things are, nothing needs to change.

The argument about the gym ended with Kid pinning Law down on his bed, legs lifted up on Kid’s shoulders as he drilled him into the mattress, calling him a filthy whore who should be thankful that Kid let him stay. Law tried to fight him at first but gave in after Kid punched him so hard he almost lost consciousness. He had learned long ago that sometimes it was better to just let things happen than to try to fight them, deep down he knows Kid is right and he deserves it all anyway. That night Law got high for the first time after being sober for almost three years.

The following morning Kid apologized to him profusely, promising he would cut down on drinking if Law stayed, alcohol always made him violent. Law didn’t expect the other man to change much, just accepted the apology while nursing a black eye. Love was supposed to be painful and required sacrifices, Law would do anything to not fuck it up, not this time. He never brought up going to the gym with or without Kid again.

--

Kid’s building is in front of Law faster than he expected, he was so lost in thought he didn’t even realize he had made it all the way over already. He makes his way to the apartment and is greeted by two overjoyed dogs as soon as he gets in. Since there’s no one else in the apartment, Law doesn’t feel like he needs to keep up appearances and starts to coo to the animals.

“Oh babies, have you been alone all day? Yes you have.” He’s petting them both as their tails are wagging wildly and they are competing over who gets more attention. “Are you hungry? I bet you are, let’s feed you before we go, it will be a long day.”

Law fills their bowls and as he watches the creatures devour their meal, he realizes he should probably take a shower, he’s going to have to interact with some strangers after all. It’s been a few days since he took a proper one, it feels like too much effort on most days.

After a really quick shower, he gets dressed into the same clothes he has worn for two days now. The few sets of spare clothes he has at Kid’s place are all dirty. He borrows underwear from Kid though, he still has some standards he’s desperately trying to hold on to and a clean set of underwear is one of them.

The walk to Bellemere’s grooming salon should only take about 15 minutes, Law has been there a few times before either with Kid or on his own. It’s already 14:37 and he doesn’t want to be late for the appointment so he pulls his shoes on and rounds up the dogs. He grabs his earbuds on the way out, Killer's grooming session usually takes at least five hours so he has some time to kill while waiting. He doesn’t think he has the stamina to spend the whole time walking with Jiki.

They don’t come across any other dogs on the way and surprisingly there are very few people around. As they make it to the salon, Law can already see one of the owners, a girl with long orange hair called Nami waiting for him at the front. The bell above the door chimes as he steps in and both of the dogs are already wagging their tails as they recognize their regular groomer.

“Hey Law, I see you’ve brought Killer for his appointment today, I guess Kid wasn’t able to make it? He’s usually insistent on bringing them himself.”

“Yea, he had some extra work today so he asked me to bring him.”

“Well as long as everything is ok with him.” Nami smiles and kneels to pet and hug both of the dogs. “You brought Jiki with you today too, he doesn’t have an appointment today though as I recall?” Nami questions as she is giving a treat to both of the canines.

“Yeah, no, I came almost straight from uni so I didn’t have time to walk him yet.” Law doesn’t like small talk, but Nami is ok, and she always takes good care of the dogs so Law likes her.

“I am currently training an assistant as the salon has gotten more popular lately and me and Nojiko are not able to handle all the requests that come in anymore. Are you ok with him helping me with the grooming today so he gets some experience? He is very good with animals.” Nami grins and before Law has time to answer, Nami turns to the back and yells “LUFFY! Killer’s here, come meet him!”

Law is still processing all the information he has just received as a brightly smiling boy comes bounding from the back. His eyes lock instantly with Law’s and they both just stand there staring at each other, frozen for what feels like an eternity but in reality is probably more like a few seconds.

“He-he’s gorgeous…” Luffy breathes out, his big eyes never leaving Law. With the sound coming out of his mouth, the spell is broken, Law quickly looks away.

“Isn’t he? He’s such a sweetheart too, always so easy to handle.” Nami smiles, seemingly oblivious to the awkward exchange that just happened as she pets Killer.

“Wow he has so much fur!” Luffy has already recovered and moved on from what happened just a moment ago, he’s squatting down next to Killer getting acquainted with the animal.

Law feels like his brain has been turned into tar. He’s unable to form a coherent thought, just seeing the bright smile in front of his eyes even though he is not looking at the boy, like seeing him from such close proximity has burned the image onto his retinas.

Eventually, he regains control over his body and mind and turns his eyes back to Mr. Monkey, or Luffy as Nami called him. He takes in the boy's appearance up close for the first time, his messy black hair, big eyes, and an old-looking scar under his right eye Law hasn’t noticed before. He wonders where the boy got it from. He’s clearly younger than Law, maybe in his late teens, and as Law thought in the lecture, his skin looks flawless even up close. Law’s mouth feels dry, his palms are sweaty and his heart is suddenly beating way too fast, what the fuck was it that he took last night to still be affecting him like this… He needs his pills, badly.

“Law?” Law snaps out of his trance for the second time in less than a minute and he looks at Nami.

“Yea, sorry, what did you say?”

“Is everything ok?” Nami looks at him skeptically. “I asked if you were ok with Luffy doing most of the grooming today, I will of course supervise and instruct him, but it will likely take a little longer than normal.”

“Uh, yeah sure, I trust your judgment.”

“And who’s this little guy?!” Luffy was already rolling on the floor with Jiki.

“Jiki.” Law prefers to give short answers.

“Aww, aren’t you lovely, I’m sure Chopper would love to play with both of you!”

“Chopper?” Slips through Law’s lips, he didn’t mean to keep the conversation going, in fact, he really wants to leave.

“Yea! He’s my dog, he’s the best boy ever!” Luffy is smiling widely at Law and the latter has to look away. Again.

“Oh.”

“Well Luffy, we should get started if we want to get this done today. Law, you said you were going to take Jiki for a walk?”

“Yes, I should get going…” He awkwardly steps towards the door, he really needs to get out, right now, he feels like he is slowly suffocating.

“Ok then, feel free to come back any time you’re done, Jiki is also welcome to wait in the salon with you. Killer should be ready in five to six hours.” Nami smiles at him but her smile is nothing compared to the sunsh... He stops his brain before it gets to finish the thought.

‘What the fuck is wrong with me?! Out, now, right now!’ His brain keeps screaming at him.

“Yea, ok, thanks.” Law forces out a response before practically running out of the salon with Jiki. He speedwalks out of the view from the windows before he stops to take a breath to try to calm down. What the hell is going on with him today? He digs through all of his pockets but has no pills on him. Fuck, he has to go back home before the walk, he feels like he’s on the verge of a panic attack. There’s no way he’ll get far like this and no way in hell is he going back to that salon sober, nor till at least five hours have passed.

He walks back to Kid’s building as fast as he can and enters. Jiki is pulling against him on the stairs, clearly upset with the way too short afternoon walk. “We’ll go right back out Jiki, I promise, I just forgot something inside.” He is desperate and tries to reason with the dog even though he knows it won’t understand his words. Maybe it understood the meaning anyway as it follows him upstairs and sits down in front of the door, completely refusing to go inside after Law. “Fine, wait here then.” Law drops the leash and stumbles to the low cabinet in the hallway. He pulls open one of the top drawers and sighs with relief as his shaking fingers curl around the prescription bottle. He quickly opens it and swallows two pills before he can even think about it. He takes a shaky breath and leans onto the cabinet as he waits for his heartbeat to start slowing down.

When he feels stable enough, he walks into the kitchen and downs a glass of water before walking back to the door. He rummages through the same drawer the pills were in and finds a small yellow travel container that can hold a few pills. He puts two… no four into it and quickly slips it into his pants pocket.

Feeling a lot calmer and steadier, he picks up Jikis leash again, not even registering that the dog could have just run away instead of patiently sitting there waiting for him the whole time. Law closes the door and they head back out.

They walk around aimlessly for a while till Law gets the idea to check his phone for any nearby parks they could go to. It’s the first time he has this much time to kill with the dogs alone, usually, he just follows Kid when they take the dogs out together. There’s a pretty big park fairly close, maybe 20 minutes or so away from where they currently are, called Little Garden. The app tells him that there is also a dog park within the big park so it’s perfect.

Law starts walking towards the park, It’s in a neighborhood Law has never really spent any time in before, maybe driven through once or twice. As they keep going the buildings get bigger and grander, Law feels a little out of place in the clearly posh area but brushes it off. Once they get to the park Law wonders why has Kid never brought him here before, it seems really nice. Maybe Kid doesn’t know it’s here either. They walk along the pathways, stopping every now and then when Jiki wants to sniff at something or leave a message to other dogs.

Finally, they make it to the dog park and to Law’s delight it is currently void of any other people and dogs. He takes Jiki through the entrance and lets him off the leash as soon as he has closed and secured the gate behind them. The Pit Bull seems overjoyed, takes off, and runs all the way to the other end of the fenced area before turning and rushing back to Law. He stops for a moment, looks at Law with a wild expression, and then takes off again, rushing back and forth in a huge pattern of eight.

Amused by Jikis clear excitement, Law sits down on the bench that’s close to the entrance. He lets out an exhausted sigh as he feels his body press and relax against the hardwood. He closes his eyes but opens them again instantly. ‘Bad idea.’ He thinks, wanting to avoid the smile that was beaming at him as soon as he closed his eyes. Instead, he focused his attention back on Jiki. The Pitbull had stopped running around and was currently engrossed in digging a massive hole in the sand. Law felt the corner of his mouth curve into a small smirk, he really loved this goofball of a dog.

“Excuse me. Hey you, excuse me!” Law is startled by the loud and commanding voice. He turns his head to look around and on the other side of the fence, he sees a tall woman with long black hair and a sour expression on her face. She has golden snake earrings dangling around her face and she’s wearing an expensive-looking purple dress that has a slit all the way up to her hip on one side. Law’s never been interested in women, but he can tell she’s what most men would find extremely attractive. There are three small dogs on the ground in front of her and as soon as Law turns around, they all start to yap at him.

Law doesn’t bother to say anything, just quirks an eyebrow at her.

“Restrain that beast of yours right now, my little babies need to get their exercise and I don’t want them to get eaten.”

Law digs out his phone to check the time, it’s only 17:34, he still has over two hours to kill. The Salon is only about 15 minutes away from the dog park so there’s no way Law is leaving yet. “Sorry darling, we’re going to be here for at least another hour or two.”

“How dare you! Everyone knows we come here at this time every day, I demand you free up the park for us. Beasts like that should not be let off leash anyway.”

“Last I checked it’s free for all dogs and we were here first.” The judgment Pit Bulls get just because of their breed always ticks him. Jiki has been drawn in by all the yapping and is now standing next to Law, looking at the small dogs through the fence curiously while wagging his tail. “I’m more than happy to hold him for a moment so they can all get acquainted, he’s a very well-behaved dog.” Law offers. He knows she won’t accept because her little handbag dogs have clearly not been trained or socialized properly based on how they are acting and her not trying to correct them at all is very telling.

“Absolutely not, my babies are way too sensitive to be associating with some mobster’s dog! It could be a trained attack dog for all I know”

Law is taken aback by her comment till he realizes he still doesn’t have his gloves on so the woman probably saw his tattoos. His brows furrow at her judgemental attitude. “Quite gutsy of you to be talking like that to a mobster, one with an attack dog no less.” Law spits back and turns to look towards the dog park again, opting to ignore the rude woman.

The woman huffs there for a moment before she seems to give up. “I will remember this, outrageous!” She screeches as she starts to walk away, her pointed heels clicking on the asphalt. Law turns to follow her as she walks away, gets into an expensive car a few hundred meters away from the park and drives away.

“Tsk, how about you walk your dogs for once instead of driving them to a park for exercise.” Law mumbles to himself as he turns back to Jiki, his amused mood from earlier now gone.

Law looks back to his phone, navigates to his playlists, and plugs in his earbuds. Soon angry metal and rock start to blast into his ears as he's trying to drown all the negative and depressive thoughts that keep trying to invade. Somehow it helps knowing that the people who wrote these songs must’ve had as dark thoughts as he keeps harboring every day, if only he could turn his brain off. His fingers are tracing the outline of the small box in his pocket. He shouldn’t. But he wants to, so badly.

Before he’s able to reach in he hears another voice behind him. “Excuse me, Sir?”

Mentally preparing for the worst, Law takes one earbud out and turns so he can see behind him. Like before, he doesn’t give any verbal response. He half expected the woman from earlier to be back with reinforcements, but he only sees an older man with black wavy hair and a cleanly trimmed beard. His clothes look expensive but casual and a seemingly well-behaved Doberman is standing next to him on a leash. Law’s frown deepens as he notices the dog has its ears and tail cropped, a practice the tattooed man does not approve of.

“Hey, I was walking past when I saw only you and your dog here and wondered, is your dog used to meeting unknown dogs? I would like to let Chaka here run around for a while, usually, he likes to make new friends.” The man gives him a warm smile.

Law is caught off guard by the politeness and it takes him a moment to stutter a response. “Uh, y-yea sure, let me just put him on a leash at first to make sure there’s no problems.” Jiki is already standing next to the fence again, curiously inspecting the new dog while wagging his tail excitedly.

As soon as Law clips the leash on, the man opens the gate and enters with his dog. They don’t say anything as they let the two dogs sniff each other and soon the animals are already play fighting between their owners.

“Hahaha that went better than I expected, I think it is ok to let them loose now so they can get rid of some of that energy.” The man laughs and lets his dog off the leash. Law does the same and sits back down on the bench to watch the two dogs race around the large pen. There are more benches around the fence, and the man decides to sit on one that is on the other side of the gate from the one Law is occupying. While grateful the man respects his personal space enough to not sit on the same bench, Law expects he will have to partake in some small talk to not look like a jerk, not that he cares that much but this man at least seems nice.

“Are you new around here? I don’t remember seeing you or your dog in this park before.” The man breaks the silence.

“No, just didn’t know there was a dog park here.” He can at least keep his responses short.

“I see, well glad you have now found it! I don’t often bring Chaka here, he’s my daughter's dog and usually, she takes care of his exercise.”

Law just hums in affirmation that he heard the man but doesn’t say anything in response, what is he supposed to say anyway, good for you?

“She got in to study political sciences this year, I am so proud of her! They are having some student get-together tonight which is why she asked if I could look after Chaka for the evening.” The man gives him a friendly smile again.

Law feels like he should come up with something to say in response but before he can get anything out of his mouth, the man continues. “I noticed you frown when you first saw Chaka, not a fan of the ear clipping I assume?”

Law just grunts and nods in response, hoping the man understands that he is indeed very offended by the barbaric practice, he hopes this man is not about to go into some lecture about how it is supposedly good for the dog to prevent infections or other such bullshit.

“You and me both, Chaka was trained to be an attack dog by his previous owner, he was found at an illegal dogfighting ring a few years ago when the police busted the place, we adopted him from the pound afterward.” The man smiles sadly while telling his dog's story.

The tattooed man realizes how tense he has been this whole time and relaxes considerably as he learns the old man is not some animal abuser. Anyone who treats animals with respect and care has to be at least somewhat decent. “I see. Jiki is from the pound too.” He thought it wouldn’t hurt to share this small detail with the friendly man, it wasn’t anything that could be used against him in any way even if the kindness turned out to be just a front.

The old man smiles and nods, looking like he is about to say something more but a loud ringtone cuts him off. The man digs out his phone and gives Law an apologetic smile. “Oh, I will have to take this, please excuse me.” He gets up and walks towards the dogs as he picks up the call. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Law stuffs his earbuds back in and gets lost in the music again.

The next hour passes uneventfully and before long it’s time for Law to head back to the salon. He hopes Killer will be finished by the time he gets in, he’s afraid of how he will react if he has to wait in the salon.

“Jiki! Time to go.” Law calls to the hyperactive dog as he pulls out one of his earbuds and puts it away. The canine looks at him for a moment before reluctantly leaving his new friend to come to his human.

“It has gotten pretty late hasn’t it.” The man came back to the bench at some point but they didn't talk after he went to take the call. “I suppose we should head out soon too, before it gets dark.”

Law feels like he should say something but he doesn’t, just gives the man a curt nod.

“Well, take care, young man, bye Jiki!” The man smiles at both of them. Law just waves and Jiki barks his response before Law leads him out through the gate, ensuring the man's dog is not nearby to escape while they exit.

Weirdly, he is feeling a little better after the nice, if extremely awkward interactions with the old man. He is not used to kindness without ulterior motives, especially from older men. Slowly they start to make their way back toward the salon to pick up Killer.

Chapter Text

The tension in Law's chest keeps increasing as they get closer to Bellemere’s and his heart rate is elevated again. Why is he so nervous? It makes no sense to him. Maybe he should take one, in case he has to wait a while. Yeah just one, he can’t take it while he’s in there, that would be suspicious and he doesn’t want to make up an excuse. He reaches for his pocket and pulls out the pill container. For a moment he just stares at it on his hand, contemplating between tossing it and taking one. In the end, he takes one and slips it back into his pocket. He’s so weak and pathetic.

Not long after they reach Bellemere’s and through the windows Law can see they are still working on Killer. The tired man gathers himself by taking a deep breath and releasing it as a long sigh before he grabs the door handle and enters.

The chiming bell above him alerts the two employees of someone at the door and they both turn to see who entered the salon.

“Welcome back Law, Jiki.” Nami smiles at them. “We are not quite done yet, please take a seat, there’s some fresh coffee I just brewed, help yourself.”

Law nods as he lets Jiki off his leash and strides towards the coffee machine. It has been a while since he finished the coffee he got at uni and he didn’t even realize how much he is craving for the dark liquid, until now. He pours himself a cup and sits on one of the seats in the customer waiting area. It’s more comfortable than he expected and he lets his tired body relax against the plush armchair. Soon he feels a wave of tiredness wash over him, to avoid falling asleep he finishes his coffee and goes for another one as he concentrates on the conversation the two groomers are having.

“Make sure you don’t bring the straightener too close to the skin, he is not supposed to feel the heat, you can feel the comb to help like this, let me show you.”

Law turns his head to see Nami showing Luffy how to properly use the straighteners to give Killer's coat a proper finish. This is the first time Law sees a somewhat serious expression on Luffys face, he seems to be paying close attention to Nami's every move, nodding at everything Nami says. It’s kind of cute.

“I think I got it, let me.” Luffy takes the tools from Nami and proceeds to mimic what she just showed him.

“Yes, just like that, a little slower, ideally you want to go through each section only once. Yes, you go it.” The ginger smiles at Luffy. “Always remember the heat protection before and once you are finished with a big section, use this to seal everything.” She holds a big spray bottle in front of Luffy.”

Nami watches Luffy work for a while. When she’s satisfied that the boy got the hang of it, she moves to the other side of the dog. “Since we are already running a little late, I will help you by straightening the other side.”

“Thanks Nami, we don’t want to keep the customer waiting for too long.” Luffy turns to beam at him and for some reason, Law’s cheeks feel a little warm.

“It’s ok.” Law mumbles, barely audible, and looks away.

After about half an hour and 2 more cups of coffee in Law’s system, Killer is finally done and the groomers release him from the table. The happy dog lunges at him as soon as the groomers let him go and Law scratches under his chin. “Hey you, did you behave for the new groomer?” He asks, trying to keep his tone normal.

“Oh, he was an angel, one of the best-behaved dogs I have worked on so far!” A good-natured laughter escapes Luffy's lips with the comment. Law’s heart skips a beat.

Law doesn’t respond, instead, he gets up and walks to the counter, ready to pay for their services.

“You remember how to use the register right?” Nami turns to Luffy.

“Oh yeah! I keep forgetting people pay for this! Shishishi!” Luffy walks behind the counter and reaches to accept the drawn-out card to complete the payment. Before his fingers reach the piece of plastic, something else catches his attention. Instead of the card, he grabs hold of Law’s hand, the unexpected contact causing Law’s body and mind to freeze.

“Wow! That’s such a badass tattoo! I didn’t notice it before! Do you have it on both hands? And the skin on your fingers, that looks so cool! Why is it all different colors like that?” He looks up to Law’s face with sparkling eyes. Law feels hot, unable to make sense of the rabid fire of questions Luffy is throwing at him. His wrist feels like it’s burning where Luffy has his fingers wrapped around it and it’s getting harder for him to breathe.

“Is it just on your hand or is it everywhere? Do you have other tattoos?” Luffy makes a move to pull on Law's shirt, presumably to peek under it but Law finally manages to take a step back. His hand still remains in the young boy's tight grip and Law doesn’t know what to do, he’s starting to panic.

“LUFFY!” Namis's strict voice echoes in the salon followed by the sound of a slap as she hits Luffy on the back of his head. Law’s hand is instantly released as a result and the frazzled man feels the air finally rush into his lungs, he’s able to breathe again.

“First, that is a customer! You can’t just go and touch people who come to the salon like that!” She holds one finger right in Luffys face as she scolds him before raising another one to continue. “Second, those were some very personal questions, you need to learn to hold your tongue if you want to keep working here!” She scowls at Luffy before turning to Law. “I am so sorry for his rude behavior, he is good with animals but as you can see, his manners with people still need some work.” Nami huffs and gives him an apologetic smile.

“Um. Yea. Ok. I-it’s ok… can I pay now?” Law slightly waves the card that is still in his hand.

“Yes of course!” Nami happily snatches his card and bumps Luffy out of the way to complete the payment herself.

“Sorry sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.” Luffy smiles sheepishly at Law while scratching the back of his head.

“Y-yea, whatever.” For some unknown reason, Law’s face feels hot again and he can’t look at the beaming boy. His wrist still feels warm from where Luffy touched it like his fingers had been imprinted on his skin. He decides to busy himself with clipping the leashes onto Jiki and Killer’s collars While Nami completes the payment.

“Here you go! And again, I’m so sorry for this idiot.” Nami taps Luffy on the head again causing the boy to whine. “I do hope you and Kid will keep using our services regardless!”

“Sure… Bye.” With that Law quickly makes it to the door and exits the salon. He vaguely registers Nami and Luffy giving their goodbyes as they wave at him. Before he’s too far to not see into the salon anymore he chanses a glance through the windows and sees Nami with her hands on his hips, clearly chewing Lyffy out while the latter just laughs and nods.

Law looks at his wrist as he keeps walking towards Kid’s building, the ghost of Luffy's touch still lingers and he doesn’t know what to think about that. His gaze moves on to the tattoo on the back of his hand and fingers. The boy said his tattoos are “badass”. Law thought so too but no one else had ever complimented him on his bold choice, not even Kid. He turns his hand over and the tired eyes focus on the white patches clearly visible on his palm and fingers, had the boy really said they were cool? Surely Law heard him wrong, he must have, no way did anyone think his vitiligo was cool.

Luckily the few patches he has on his face aren’t easy to notice unless you know what and where to look for. He has quite a big light patch under his chin, it’s mostly hidden by the natural shadow that is always cast there and he keeps his goatee to hide the part that would otherwise be visible on his chin. He has a little bit on his lips, but it’s only noticeable if you look really close and when he opens his mouth. There are few small patches along his hairline, mostly hidden under his bangs and sideburns. He considers himself relatively lucky to not have any major patches on his face, that however did not prevent the other kids from always picking on him till he was able to hide the most noticeable patches under his beard and sideburns. ‘Cow, reverse dalmatian, dirty, sick, diseased, monster…’ He can hear all the mean names and comments he has heard over the years playing in his years.

‘Such a pity, you would be so beautiful without these…’

The children's voices switched to a more mature, so sickeningly sweet man's voice it made him shudder. Law can feel hot tears burning at the corners of his eyes, he needs to get inside.

‘Oh little bird, don’t worry, I’ll still take care of you and love you.’

Law's mind is getting clouded, he needs to get away, anything, anywhere. His free hand clutches the front of his hoodie. Not here, not now… the dogs, he needs to get inside. He is panicking as images start to flash in front of him, his breathing is ragged, something is contracting his airways, he is being strangled.

It’s not real, he can’t be here, he doesn’t care about Law anymore. He tries to calm himself, but it’s not working. He feels tears running down his cheeks now as he stumbles forward, Kid’s building is finally in view. Somehow he makes it to the front door, punches in the code correctly, and falls in through the door. He’s lying on the floor in front of the building's entrance clutching the two leashes tightly in one hand as he rolls to face the wall and curls in on himself. In his head, Law is not in the building's hallway anymore.

--

TW: child abuse, emotional manipulation, sexual tension directed at a minor
skip to “TW end” to avoid

Law is standing in a big room, everything looks grand and expensive. He feels like the walls are closing in on him and he can’t breathe. Then there are people. So many people, other children, surrounding him, blocking the light all around him as a dark mass. He can’t make out any of their distinct features, only the toothy grins plastered on their faces. He’s terrified.

They are laughing, pointing at him, he can’t hear what they’re saying. He tries to run, to push through the wall of bodies, but one of them pushes him back, hard enough to make him stumble and fall.

He covers his face with his hands and squeezes his eyes shut, fighting back tears that are burning at the corners of his eyes, too scared to look up. What will they do to him this time? Will they kick him, punch him, pull his hair, spit at him? He opens his eyes to look at the patchy skin on his palms and something in his chest tightens, the tears still fighting to break free. Why is he so different?

The laughing stops, bracing himself Law looks up and watches as instead of hurting him, the shadows of the children start to walk away, leaving him alone. Instead of relief, he feels cold, emty, abandoned. New children come and go, few of them stop next to him for a while but eventually, they all leave. Over and over again he is left standing in the big empty room, alone.

There’s a presence next to him, Law doesn’t need to look up to know what or who it is, an uneasiness spreads across his chest. “How could anyone ever love a boy who looks and behaves like you?” The man's words echo in Law's head and the tears he’s been fighting this whole time start streaming down his cheeks.

He wants to be good, he really does, but it’s so hard. Everyone’s always making fun of him and hurting him, he can ignore them only for so long. His chest hurts, it feels so cold it’s like burning.

“If you are a good boy and do as I say, I will love you.” The figure next to him wipes away his tears, Law feels cold inside. He’s terrified but he just wants someone, anyone to want him, to love him. He’ll do anything.

He is now in a dimly lit room, surrounded by silence. When he looks up he only sees the tall figure there with him, sitting at the edge of a huge bed. Even while sitting, he’s still so much bigger than Law, he’s sure this man could swallow him whole. Law feels small, so insignificant, like a little worm.

The man’s eyes are hidden behind tinted glasses but Law knows he’s looking at him, he’s always looking at him. Law can’t move, locked in place by the man's gaze like a prey animal.

“Take off your clothes for me, Law.” The tall man commands him with a sweet voice. It sounds wrong to Law.

“W-why?” Law whimpers quietly, playing with the hem of his shirt. Something about the situation is making his skin crawl.

“We’re getting ready for bed, remember?” The toothy grin in front of him widens and that makes Law shiver.

“When Cora…”

“He doesn’t love you like I do, my sweet little Law. I thought you wanted to be a good boy for me.” The man frowns slightly when he brings up Corazon, Law doesn't understand why but he doesn’t want to anger him so he closes his mouth. The terrifying grin spreads across the man's face again.

“Come on now, we don’t have all night. Do you want me to help you?” He makes a move to reach towards Law and he panics.

“N-no! I’ll do it…” Law starts to take off his clothes and the whole time he feels the man's eyes on him. It doesn’t feel quite right, but he doesn’t say anything.

The man just sits there, looking at him for a long time. Law’s breathing gets labored, the silence is loud in his ears, making him feel so uncomfortable. He thinks he’s going to pass out before the man finally speaks again. “Good, now spin around, we need to check that everything is as it should.”

Too scared to disobey, Law slowly spins around, trying his best to not trip on his short, shaky legs. He feels the man's gaze pore into every inch of his body, it makes him feel dirty.

“Such a pity,” Law jolts a little as he feels fingers tracing the skin of his back. “You would be so beautiful without these…” The fingers trace along a light patch that reaches from Law's back all the way to his chest. Biting his bottom lip to stop it from trembling, Law looks at the floor as he feels familiar shame burning inside him.

“S-sorry… I’m sorry…” Law chokes out, barely a whisper. Fat tears keep rolling down his cheeks and drop to the floor in front of him.

“Oh little bird, don’t worry, I’ll still take care of you and love you. As long as you’re good to me, I’ll be good to you, remember?” The man cradles his cheek and Law nods.

“Now put these on” The man hands him his pajamas, his eyes watching him like a hawk until his body is fully clothed again. he gets up and lifts the covers for Law to get in. Hesitantly, the young boy climbs in and the man tucks him in before moving to the door.

Law’s heart is still racing as the tall man turns to him at the door and lifts his finger to his lips, making a quiet “shhh” sound before leaving. Law feels cold and alone, a small part of him wishes the man had stayed.

TW end

--

The images from his past keep playing on repeat in front of Law’s eyes even after he starts to come back to the here and now. He has no idea how much time has passed and at first, he doesn’t even know where he is. It’s dark, he’s laying on a hard and cold surface. Something warm and soft is leaning on his back, moving like it’s breathing. He hears a little whine and realizes he has something soft and furry between his arms. Something wet lightly pokes him in the face and when he finally cracks one eye open, he realizes it’s Jiki who has wiggled in to lay against his chest. Law pulls the dog into a tight hug and waits for his breathing to even out before properly opening his eyes.

Looking around, Law realizes he collapsed as soon as he got into the building's hallway, how embarrassing… Hopefully, no one saw him lying there. Luckily he’s never seen any of Kid’s neighbors so maybe they would not recognize him even if someone had walked past.

He brings his hand up to brush his face and realizes his cheeks are wet, he’s been crying. Quickly brushing his face to his sleeve he gets up on unsteady legs. Killer stands up next to him, leaning on him like he’s trying to support his unsteady human. “Thanks…” The dog wags his tail, looking up at him as Law pets him before he tries to take a step to start making his way to the actual apartment. Jiki is already pulling him towards the stairs but there’s no way he will be able to make it like this, thank god the building has an elevator.

Killer enters the elevator with no problem, but Jiki fusses around outside for a bit before Law is able to pull him in and close the door. “It’s ok boy” Law tries to reassure the jittery dog who’s not used to the moving box. Luckily the ride is only one floor and soon they all enter Kid’s dark and empty apartment.

Law sighs with relief as soon as the door clicks closed behind him. Finally, he’s in the safety of the apartment, away from any prying eyes. He lets the dogs go off their leashes and leans against the door for a moment to gather himself. His heart is still racing and his chest feels tight, it’s hard to breathe. He can’t get the images to go away and he’s close to crying again, pathetic. As soon as he opens his eyes they land on the cabinet next to him in the hallway. Whatever it was Kid left on the table last night has to be in there right? He just wants to feel good and make the intrusive thoughts stop, if he just takes one he shouldn’t pass out like last night.

He picks up a pill bottle with round blue pills in it and no label, that has to be it. The others are all either Oxy or Kid’s general meds for nausea and heartburn. He could always take more Oxy, but he’s craving for the same high from the previous night, just to not blackout. He opens the bottle and takes one, Kid wouldn’t leave anything dangerous unlabeled right? He can always take another if one’s not enough.

Law moves to the living space and slumps to sit on the couch. He leans his head back and waits for the substance to do its job. Slowly his vision starts to get fuzzy around the edges and eventually, he stops feeling pain. In fact, he stops feeling anything at all, like he’s floating, wrapped in the softest cotton. It feels so good to not register anything that’s going on around him. His head is becoming blissfully empty, only thoughts of a ridiculously wide smile keep circling in his head and for the first time since he first saw that smile, he finds it doesn’t bother him.

--

Law has lost any concept of time and has no idea how long he has been spacing out on the couch. He doesn’t think he completely passed out like last night, he’s just lost in the bliss of feeling and thinking of nothing. Well almost nothing, he can’t get Luffy’s smile out of his head, not that he’s really trying. The feeling of the boy's fingers around his wrist was so warm, is it normal for another person's body temperature to be that high? Sluggishly he lifts one hand into his field of vision and spreads his fingers to look at his tattoos, Luffy thought they were bad ass…

“I can’t believe it, you’re fucking high again? Have you fed the dogs? I assume you at least took Killer since I have no calls from the salon.”

It takes Law’s sluggish brain a moment to process what’s happening. That’s Kid’s voice. So he must be finally home. What was that about Killer? Oh the grooming salon. “Yea I took Killer to the sunshine.” His speech is slow and a little slurred. Oops… did he say the last part out loud? He wasn’t supposed to.

“Sunshine? What the fuck are you talking about?! You can’t possibly mean that bitch at the salon… Can’t I let you go anywhere without your whore ass wanting to bang someone?!”

Kid sounds angry, Law's brain is slowly processing what Kid yelled at him, trying to figure out what he did wrong this time. “... Uh, sure, we can bang” Surely that’s what Kid meant, he always gets upset if Law’s not in the mood but he feels so good right now that he’ll let Kid do whatever he wants to him.

“What?! I don’t fucking want to bang you when you’re dreaming about some bitch!” Kid has moved to stand in front of him and grabs the front of his shirt to pull him up to shout in his face. “I should beat your pathetic, druggy ass all the way to the next year for not telling me you’re into girls too!! All this time I thought I only need to keep you away from other men, how many bitches have you fucked while we’ve been together?!”

Law stares at Kid confused, why would he be fucking girls? Thinking is so hard right now, maybe he should just apologize for whatever he did to make Kid upset, he didn’t mean to. “... I’m sorry.” He slurs, hoping it’s enough as it’s all he can manage.

“You’re sorry? You’re SORRY?! You’re fucking unbelievable! You ungrateful whore, I should throw you out so you can run to your new girlfriend!” Kid lets go of his shirt and pushes him towards the couch. Instead of landing on the soft cushions, Law hits the armrest, loses his balance, and falls to the floor. He manages to put one hand out to soften the fall but ends up putting all his weight on his wrist which instantly gives out under him. He doesn’t feel any pain, just a little discomfort, and feels unable to get back up right away so he just stays lying on the floor next to the couch.

Law registers the sound of hard pellets being poured into two metal bowls on the floor. “Do you have any idea how fucking late it is? The dogs were supposed to get their food hours ago!” Kid slams some cabinet doors closed and walks towards the hallway. “I thought I could trust you to at least care for them, but apparently I was wrong! I’m this close Trafalgar, this close to being done with you!!”

Law’s sluggish brain can’t comprehend why Kid still seems so upset, he just wanted to feel good after the day he had and simply forgot to feed the dogs. Is Kid dumping him?

“You should go to bed, I can’t stand looking at your drugged cheater face right now!” Law hears the door slam closed and it’s completely quiet. Did Kid leave? Is he coming back? Will he throw Law out when he does?

Law moves to get up slowly. His legs feel a bit shaky so he's leaning onto the couch for support. As he’s moving to get around the corner of the sofa he stumbles on his own feet and falls back to the floor, behind the couch this time. Groaning slightly he manages to turn to lie on his side. He doesn’t have the strength or coordination to get back up so he decides to just stay down this time.

As he lays there, he feels something press on his hip. With some effort, he turns to his back and feels around his pocket. Oh yeah, he still has some Oxy in his pocket. He could take one to make sure he can sleep through the night. He doesn’t want to face Kid when he comes back, if he even comes back tonight, or ever. He digs out the little box, opens it, and takes one pill. After a while, he feels the drowsiness start to take over and completely gives in to the bliss again. It’s not the first time he’s slept on the floor because he’s too high to make it to the bed.

Before he’s completely out, he registers hearing Kid’s enraged voice shouting again. “You’re too fucking high to even make it to the bed on your own?! Why the fuck do I keep putting up with you!” He feels some blunt hits to his side, it hurts a little but he’s too tired to even open his eyes. Soon everything goes quiet as he passes out on the cold floor.

Chapter Text

Law’s paralyzed. It’s dark, he’s lying on his back, and above him is a massive shadow in the shape of a big man. Law wants to tell him no, he wants to cry, he wants to yell, scream till his voice goes hoarse but he’s paralyzed, he can’t do anything. He feels hungry eyes on him, taking in his clothed body, studying him. It makes Law feel dirty, he wants to cover up more, he wants to leave but he’s not even able to close his eyes as a big hand hovers over him. A small whimper escapes from his throat as the hand lands on his chest. It doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t feel comfortable either.

“I can’t help but want you, you want me too, right? I’ve seen how you look at me. Now show me how well you’ve been trained.”

The man easily flips him over, grabs his hips, and roughly pulls him closer. Law struggles to get away but it’s no use, the man is bigger and stronger than him, easily overpowering him.

“Shhh, it’s ok, just relax.” A hand grabs the waistband of his pants and pulls them down while another keeps him in place. Unable to resist, Law closes his eyes, afraid of what happens next. The hand moves to caress his thighs and Law wants to throw up.

“So beautiful for me, I know it’s not your first time but I’m not into children like that pink bird. But you’re a man now, you should be grateful I was able to control myself.” Law keeps his eyes closed but he starts to hear grunting sounds. “Every night since I saw you, I dreamt of truly making you mine.” The man is rough, he’s disgusting, Law doesn’t want him. Out of the blue, the man slaps him across the face making Law yelp from pain. “You like that huh? You’re such a slut. Whore” Another painful slap.

--

Law wakes up to a powerful slap to the side of his face.

“Get the fuck up, I’m already late, I can’t babysit your sorry ass all day.” Kid’s angry voice next to him snaps him to the here and now. He looks around, he’s lying on the living room floor, behind the couch. How did he end up here? What happened last night? His head is killing him.

“What… What time is it?” Law rubs his face, trying to shield his sensitive eyes from the light.

“It’s 10:30, because I had to make sure your druggy ass actually woke up today, I’ll be late. You clearly can’t be trusted to take care of anything. Get your shit together by the time I come back home.” With that Kid is already at the door, slamming it shut as he leaves.

Law groans, he missed the morning lessons already and he feels like shit. Might as well not go for the rest of the day. He feels around for his phone and pulls it out from his pocket. As he moves to turn it on he finds it died at some point during the night or morning, shit. He dreads turning it back on but he can’t leave it for too long, not if he doesn’t want Bepo to show up at Kid’s door.

His leg aches and he feels a dull pain on his side as he moves to get up. He lets out a pained grunt as he somehow manages to sit up. He hears nails gently clicking on the floor and soon sees Killer rounding the couch to come see what he is up to. The dog is still wearing his ridiculous black snood to protect his long ears from getting dirty while eating. Law snorts as he reaches to gently pet the animal, he always thought the snoods made Killer look like an old granny. To stop his sarcastic comments about his baby, Kid went out of his way to custom order a black snood with some studs and the word KILLER embroidered into it but it didn't help at all. Law cracked up more than normally when he saw it the first time and called the canine a killer granny as he just found it too hilarious. Kid wasn’t impressed though and claimed it made the dog look a lot cooler. Law didn’t verbally disagree with the man, but whenever he got to choose, he opted for the light beige snood that blended in with the dog's fur color a lot better. He’d rather be dead than get caught walking Killer with the black snood on.

“Come here sweetie, I’ll release you from that atrocity.” Law softly coos at the dog as he reaches to pull the snood off. As soon as he’s free, Killer shakes his head, tail wagging happily. “That’s a lot better, isn’t it boy.”

Law spends a moment petting the canine before he steels himself to attempt to stand. He leans on his hands to try and get his feet under him, but winces as soon as he puts any weight on his right hand. There’s a sharp pain coming from his wrist, forcing him to lean back off of it. What the fuck happened last night? He wracks his brain for an explanation but the whole evening is a blur. He did wake up on the floor, did he fall? He vaguely remembers Kid yelling at him and being pushed. Whatever happened, seems like he sprained his wrist.

Another attempt and some struggle later, he gets to his feet and supports himself by leaning onto the back of the sofa. When he feels steady enough he takes a step towards the hallway mirror but halts instantly. Pain shoots up his right leg as soon as he puts more weight on it and he’s forced to lean onto the back of the sofa again so he won’t just stumble back where he started from.

He takes a moment to collect himself and tries again. More prepared for the pain this time, he manages to limp to the mirror. He lifts the hems of his shirt and hoodie and sees a big, angry bruise blooming on his right side. He vaguely remembers feeling some pain right before he passed out, had Kid kicked him last night? Well, a screw-up like him deserves it, he wonders why Kid doesn’t beat him up more often.

Letting the shirts fall back down he turns to look around the room. The living room table is full of beer cans, they mostly look empty. They don’t keep much alcohol around the house so Kid actually manages to go to work. He must’ve picked some up last night after Law passed out on the floor. Great, he drove Kid to drink last night, at least he was able to go to work today.

‘Why the fuck do I keep putting up with you!’ Kid’s words from last night echo in Law’s head. He doesn’t want to be the reason Kid drinks, he needs to try harder. He can’t have Kid realize how much better off he would be without Law.

Before anything else, he needs to wrap his wrist to keep it from getting worse. He slowly limps to the bathroom and pulls out their first aid kit. Moving his wrist around doesn’t hurt too much so it’s likely not fractured. Using a splint he makes a quick job of wrapping his lower arm so he’s unable to bend his wrist. With a relieved sigh, he puts the med kit away and takes a moment before leaving the bathroom. He tries to ignore his brain telling him to take some pills to relieve the pain he is currently in.

The tattooed man limps over to the kitchen for some coffee to properly start his day. Kid either didn’t make any that morning or only made enough for himself as the pot is now empty. Law likes his coffee fresh anyway so it’s ok, he just starts the machine for himself. While he waits, he turns to look at the messy living area. If he’s spending the day in, he should at least try to tidy up a little bit.

After downing the first cup of scorching coffee, he starts by getting an empty plastic bag for all the beer cans littering the tables and floors. On second thought, the ones on the floor can stay, for now, his leg is not in shape for squatting and bending down. His mind instantly goes to his pills again and he absentmindedly pats on his pockets. All empty, he must’ve dropped the pill container to the floor last night. Well, it can stay there, he doesn’t need them, he can power through the pain without them, he’s done it before. Pain is what someone like him deserves anyway.

He collects all the empty cans he can reach without having to squat down and places the bag of cans next to the front door to take out later. Next, he starts picking up dirty clothes that are scattered around the room. Again he leaves the ones on the floor as he fears he might not be able to get back up if he squats down. There’s plenty scattered on top of chairs and the couch anyway to fill the hamper Kid uses for laundry. He separates his garments from Kids and puts them into his own laundry bag, he will never agree to have them washed in the community washer downstairs. He just needs to come pick up his laundry tomorrow after uni to take back to his and Bepo’s apartment to be washed when he goes over.

Thinking about tomorrow makes him anxious, he hasn’t mentioned it to Kid yet and he’s afraid of how he will react. He seemed pretty angry about something when he left this morning and Law has no idea what he did, just that it has to somehow be his fault.

‘How could anyone ever love a boy who looks and behaves like you?’ The words echo in Law’s head. How right had Doffy been? Even he couldn’t keep loving Law in the end. How long will it take for Kid to realize how unlovable he is? He needs to be better, do better

He finishes his poor attempt at tidying up the place and sits down on the couch, his head throbs and his leg is killing him. The familiar position brings back some images from last night, Kid was yelling at him. What was he yelling about? Law focuses his eyes on the ceiling above and tries to remember. Instead of remembering he starts to feel nausea building up in his stomach. Great. He closes his eyes and concentrates on breathing, in and out, in and out… The feeling passes and he wonders what he should do next. Not in the state to go for a walk with the dogs, he decides to study for a bit, might as well make up for missing today’s lessons.

As he retrieves his bag, he remembers his phone is still off. Cursing he limps to the kitchen and plugs it in to charge. Not wanting to risk leaving it for any longer he opens it once it has enough power to not just shut right off after opening. He puts in his pin and waits anxiously. As he thought, messages start to trickle in. He checks the time, 12:06, he wonders what time his friends had lunch today and whether or not they are at a lesson right now. Before he’s even able to properly finish his thought, the phone starts ringing in his hand, startling him into almost throwing the phone to the wall.

With one hand over his wildly beating heart, he looks at the screen, it’s Bepo. He takes a deep breath and steels himself for the scolding he’s surely going to get for missing the lessons. He taps the green icon in the display to answer, but before he’s able to say anything, he hears Bepo’s frantic voice.

“He picked up! Law are you there?! Are you ok? Where the hell are you and why was your phone out of reach? I almost called the cops!” Bepo sounds like he’s close to tears, shit, he doesn’t want to make Bepo cry.

“... Yea, hi, I’m here. I-”

“LAW!! Thank god you’re alive!” Bepo sounds relieved. “Why the hell are you not at uni? You know you can’t start missing lectures again or you won’t pass!”

“I.. um, my phone ran out of battery and I slept in… sorry, I didn’t mean to miss uni… or worry you.” He adds the last bit so quietly he’s not sure Bepo could even hear it through the phone.

“What? Where the fuck is Kid? Didn’t he wake you up?”

“I-I guess I slept too deeply or-”

“Don’t lie to me Law, I know how light sleeper you are, there’s no way you slept through him getting ready.”

Law panics, he doesn’t know what to say, of course, Bepo would call him out on such an obvious lie, shit, what can he say.

“... Law,” Bepo’s voice is quiet now. “Are… are you using again? It’s ok if you are, just please be honest with me. I-I won’t tell the others.”

Law doesn’t want to keep lying to Bepo but how can he tell him the truth? That he’s a pathetic, unloveable loser with no self-control.

“Bepo, I…no, I…I”

“...” Bepo doesn’t say anything, just waits for him to admit what a failure he is. The silence on the other end feels suffocating. His vision blurs and soon he realizes he’s crying. Again, fuck he’s pathetic.

“... yeah…” That one incriminating word is all he’s able to choke out.

“Law… how-”

“I- I can still stop, I’m not using every day.” He wipes his eyes and clears his throat. “It, it’s still under control, don’t worry.”

“... You know as well as I that that’s not how it works…”

“Please Bepo, trust me, I haven’t had any today and I won’t, I’ll be sober when I come over tomorrow, I promise.” He knows he shouldn’t make a promise like that but makes it anyway.

“So, you’re still coming tomorrow?” Bepo sounds hopeful now.

“Yeah, I promised, didn’t I? I’ll see you at uni tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow… and Law?”

“Hm?”

“If, if you need help with anything, you will let me know right? Anything.”

Law’s chest feels tight. “Of course. Bye.”

“... Ok, bye.”

The call ends and Law sinks to sit on one of the kitchen chairs, head in his hands. He’s so fucked, Bepo will be on him like stink on shit from now on. Why couldn’t he just come up with a proper excuse in the first place? He doesn’t want Bepo to worry and breathe down on his neck all the time. With a deep sigh, he reaches for his school books and tries to distract himself with some studying.

After a while, he finds it almost impossible to concentrate, his head is still throbbing and his thoughts keep wandering to the pills he knows are everywhere in the apartment. He can’t, he made a promise and he has to prove to himself that he’s not addicted again.

He gets up to start another pot of coffee, caffeine always helps him concentrate, he doesn’t need his pills. As he measures the ground coffee into the filter, he notices his hands are shaking slightly but ignores it, there’s any number of things that can cause that. Like hunger, he realizes he hasn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday.

He gets the coffee pot going and takes a few steps to reach the fridge. Kid lifts a lot so he always has the fridge stocked with protein. Law hopes to find some fish but of course, he doesn’t. Kid prefers red meat or chicken so there are piles of bacon, a few pork chops, eggs, and chicken legs. The vegetable department is quite lacking as well, there are few apples and carrots reserved for the dogs, and that’s about it. With a frown Law closes the door, he’s not in the mood for a heavy meal, and doubts his stomach could take it right now anyway. He opens the pantry next to the fridge and grabs a packet of instant noodles, good enough.

With a fresh cup of coffee and a steaming bowl of instant noodles, Law sits back down to keep studying while he eats. He tries to ignore the pain in his leg and the throbbing of his head, but it’s starting to become unbearable. The coffee and food are not helping at all and the idea of taking a pill to make the pain manageable gets more and more enticing.

He checks his phone for time, 4:16. Kid might come home soon unless he stays overtime as he went in late. As he’s looking at the screen, he’s reminded of all the messages. They are mostly either from Bepo or their group chat with Shachi and Penguin. There are a few from Shachi, telling him to call Bepo whenever he’s able to because the man’s losing his mind. He’s thankful that Bepo at least has Schachi and Penguin to calm him down now when Law inevitably screws up again.

--

Kid’s pissed off. He can’t believe Law has the audacity to even look at someone else when he’s with him. A woman no less, has he been playing with Kid this whole time? He never mentioned sleeping with or being attracted to women, what the fuck? And that bitch at the salon is not even anything special, she’s just a money-hungry bloodsucker and will do anything to milk a few more bucks out of a customer… Shit, could she have offered to suck Law off for money? She didn’t strike him as the slutty type despite dressing in skimpy clothes at times but Law’s like sex on legs so it wouldn’t surprise Kid if he got offers like that from chicks all the time, fuck!

Kid slams his fist through the drywall in his office in frustration. He feels like he needs to break something pretty. Law’s face flashes in his eyes and he’s not sure what he would do if he was at home right now. Law is his and he should be grateful for it, not run around wanting to fuck everything that moves. Maybe he should lock Law in for a while, put him in his place.

He runs a hand through his flaming red hair, he needs to calm down and think about this more rationally. That fucking Bepo is way too involved in Law’s life, he’d surely come snooping around if Law just disappeared, he needs to at least keep going to his lessons. Maybe he could get Law to drop out, it’s not like he needs to work, Kid can provide for him. He has offered multiple times for Law to move in, he wouldn’t need to pay rent. He could even get a new place, and he’d let Law choose it. He can keep maintaining Law’s motorcycle for free or he could sell it, Law wouldn’t really need to go anywhere anyway. He’s already buying him all the opiates he could want and the Benzos are clearly helping him enjoy sex. God, Law’s so beautiful with his ass or mouth stuffed with Kid’s cock, just thinking about it is making him half-hard even though he’s still pissed at the sex-hungry slut.

“Hey boss?” Kid’s brought out of his thoughts by a yell from the workshop “It’s five already, I’m heading out now!”

“See ya tomorrow, Heat!” Kid yells back to his best employee. It’s already five, he should close the shop, it’s not like he can get anything done anymore and he told Hawkins he wouldn’t be in the mood today, he needs to go home and set things straight with Law.

As always Heat left the shop in perfect order so all Kid needs to do is turn off the lights, lock the doors, and leave. He was so lucky to have found such a good worker, he could even take care of the shop for Kid on the days he couldn’t make it.

--

It takes Kid about 25 minutes to walk home from work, it’s around half-five when he opens his front door, expecting his pups to come greet him instantly as usual. Instead, he walks into an empty hallway that makes him frown a little as he takes off his boots. He walks deeper into the apartment and is met with a sight of Law sitting at the kitchen table while Killer and Jiki are eating their dinner. At least the slut was able to feed the dogs today.

Law lifts his eyes from the book he was reading and visibly tenses as he locks them with Kid’s.

“So you’re still here, the bitch dump you already?” Kid feels the bitter jealousy and anger start building in him again as he imagines Law doing anything with anyone but him.

Law’s brows knit together in a confused expression. “What the fuck are you talking about Kid?”

Kid walks into the kitchen and slams his palm onto the kitchen table, making Law jump a little. “The ‘sunshine’ you took Killer to last night? Did that bitch from the salon suck you off or something?”

“What?” Law looks genuinely surprised. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, have you been drinking?”

“Then what the fuck was that last night, Law?! You didn’t deny being into women, am I just some joke for you to see how long you can string me along while fucking women behind my back?”

“What? I’m not into women Kid, whatever I said last night, I assure you, I’m as gay as they come.”

“So you’re not cheating on me?”

Law looks him dead in the eyes “Really, Kid?”

“Don’t test me Law.” Who does the bitch think he is? “Just answer the fucking question!”

“No, Kid, I’m not cheating, I’ve never cheated! How fucking many times do we have to have this conversation for you to believe me?!”

“You better be telling the truth Trafalgar, you don’t want to cross me.” He gets right in Law’s face to make sure he gets the message.

Law visibly swallows and Kid loses it, he grabs Law’s shirt and pulls him up from the chair he was still sitting on and into a rough kiss, pushing his tongue into his mouth as Law lets out a needy whine.

“You better not forget who you belong to.” Kid growls into Law’s ear, making the tattooed man shiver. God, he wants to push him onto the kitchen table and just fuck him to submission right now. He wants to ruin Law so that no other man would ever want him.

He turns Law around in his hold and pulls the thin man's back flush against his own body. His left hand snakes under Law's shirt to caress his abdomen while the right pushes two fingers into his needy mouth. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” He growls into Law’s ear while pressing his already hard cock against his delicious ass and leans in to bite his neck. Law says he doesn’t like it when he leaves marks but how else is he to tell all the thirsty dicks out there to stay away from what is his? Besides, Law’s not telling him to stop now so he must be ok with it. Kid loves the way the tattooed man tenses as he starts to grind against his ass through their clothes like he can’t wait for Kid to pound him to oblivion.

“You like that huh? Slut. I’ll give you all the cock a needy whore like you could ever want, you don’t need to go to anyone else.” He licks along Law's neck and bites his earlobe, making the older man shiver in his tight hold. The reaction causes more heat to pool between Kid’s legs, making his pants feel really tight and uncomfortable. His right hand moves lower to undo Law’s belt and open his pants before slipping in to feel Law's hardening cock. “Your body never lies baby, you want me to plow into you till you can’t think of anything else, don’t you?”

Law lets out a quiet whimper and Kid can’t take it anymore. He lets go of Law’s mouth, moves the thin man against the table, and pushes his torso down while pulling his pants down. He looks down and admires the healing bruises around Law’s hips in the shape of his hands, remembering the last time he was balls-deep in that filthy hole just the other night. “Fuck, Law, if only you could see yourself right now.” He growls again. He can’t believe he scored someone like Law from the useless rehab program the old man made him go to. He never had a problem with alcohol, he only missed work when he decided to not go in.

He grabs Law’s hips tight enough to leave fresh bruises on top of the old ones, causing the other man to whine under him. He presses his shill-clothed erection between the plump cheeks in front of him and grinds a little. “You’re dying to have me inside already, aren’t you?” He slaps an ass cheek hard enough to leave a mark, making the man beneath him twitch and cry out in pleasure. “Yeah, you like it when I’m rough, don’t you baby? I bet your cocks already dripping from excitement.” Law doesn’t answer, just quietly whimpers under him. Good, Kid prefers it when he doesn’t talk, the only exception being him moaning Kid’s name and pleading for release as Kid’s deep inside, grinding against his prostate. He couldn’t believe it when Law came for the first time without his cock being touched. It is such a turn-on for Kid that he never jerks the other off now to train his body to reach climax from penetrative stimuli only. It doesn’t always happen, especially when Kid’s too turned on to hold off his own climax, but Law never complains, the bitch just loves to have his ass pounded.

Feeling his cock leak in his pants, Kid can’t wait anymore. He spits onto Law’s ass and stuffs in two fingers that are still slightly wet with Law’s spit. They sink in with some resistance and Kid can’t wait to have that familiar heat squeezed around his weeping dick. Law twitches and cries under him, he’s loving it huh? So needy. Who’s Kid to deny him what he clearly wants?

With a grin, Kid opens his pants and pulls out his throbbing cock while fucking three fingers into Law to make sure he won’t rip anything. The bitch was such a pain in the ass that one time Kid was not careful enough and made him bleed, claiming he couldn’t be fucked while the tear healed. Lucky for Kid, all it takes is some pills to render Law completely compliant to anything the bigger man wants to do to him.

Kid removes his fingers and presses the tip of his cock against Law’s twitching entrance.

“...please” Law whimpers under him, trying to move but is pinned between Kid and the table, so impatient.

“You want it that badly huh, baby? Don’t worry, I’ll give you what you want.” He pushes in and bottoms out with one push. Law lets out another cry as he pushes in and keeps whimpering while his body trembles and Kid fills him completely. Kid lets out a hiss. Fuck, it feels amazing, how can Law always feel so tight even when Kid fucks him almost daily? Not that he’s complaining, maybe it’s because Kid is thicker than average, always pushing the the other to his limits.

“Fuck Law, how lucky am I to have saved your slutty ass from the streets, you’re fucking perfect for me.” He holds Law still with one hand on the back of his neck, pressing him down while the other grips his hips tightly. With a growl, he starts fucking into Law with a harsh phase, pulling incoherent cries, whines, and moans out of Law.

“... please… please…” The older keeps pleading under him with a needy voice as his hands are trying to grab hold of anything on the table. Kid grabs his hair and speeds up, chasing his own release.

“You love this, don’t you? You’re such a filthy whore, loving to have your hole stuffed full with my cock. You want your insides painted with my cum, don’t you? Slut.” Kid lets go of Law's hips and smacks his ass again, causing the other to cry out in pleasure.

“P-please…N... Ahhh!” Law cries out as he comes, shooting his semen onto the table below. Kid keeps fucking him through his orgasm and presses him into his own spend, causing the front of Law’s shirt to get smeared with his own cum.

Kid pulls his head up by his hair so he can bend down to bite on his neck. While doing so, he notices the tears running down Law's face and that’s all he needs as he thrusts in a few more times before spilling his hot semen as deep into Law as he can reach. He growls with pleasure, it feels so fucking good. “Your whore ass was fucking made for me to use.” He lazily thrusts in and out a few more times, enjoying the aftershocks from his orgasm and loving the idea of fucking his seed deeper into Law. Too bad men can’t get pregnant, he would totally breed Law.

As Kid comes down from his high, he pulls out and playfully smacks Law’s ass. “You’re always such a good fuck baby, I really should lock you in so no one else could ever be tempted by you.” He watches as his cum starts to drip out of Law’s stretched hole and run down his inner thigh, beautiful. Law doesn’t respond, he doesn’t make any move to get up either. Huh, he must’ve passed out after the orgasm, that good eh? Kid grins, satisfied with himself. Should he have another round? It’s not like Law would care right now and the sight is making his cock twitch with interest again. Might as well, it’s not like Law will know he already finished once right?

Chapter Text

Law’s consciousness returns to him slowly. His chest feels heavy, it’s a little hard to breathe, everything aches and he feels used. His hips and abdomen are sore and there’s a dull pain in his lower back. He thought waking up feeling like this was already behind him, he got away right? That pig got tired of him and tossed him to the streets, so how was he feeling like this again? He opens his eyes and slowly takes in his surroundings, soon realizing he’s in a bedroom. How did he end up in here? The earlier events start to come back to him slowly, hands groping him, fat fingers forced into his mouth before being pushed to bend over a table and… a-and…

He sits up in a panic. No, it can’t be happening, he can’t be here, how had that swine found him? Law thought he had gotten bored of him, pumped him full of drugs one last time, and left him to his men, to get rid of him. He was out, Law had been out for years, was it all a dream? Was he so high and fucked up in the head he imagined getting out, getting clean, living with Bepo?

His breathing has picked up and comes in as fast and ragged gasps, he must be hyperventilating. His head hurts, his whole body aches, if the obese prick has found him and wants to take him back, he’ll rather die than ever let that happen. He has already fucked him, the sensation of his disgusting cock inside him is still there like it’s stretching him right now. He’s sure he came inside, he can still feel the remnants of him between his legs. The last thing Law remembers is coming himself and he feels so humiliated and violated. Disgusted with himself for being unable to fight the pleasure his body is conditioned to respond to, whether he wants to or not. He feels a bile raise in his throat, he’s going to be sick.

Law stumbles to get out of bed, his leg is killing him but he tries to push through it. He doesn’t recognize his surroundings and doesn’t have time to really look around, he has to get out before he comes back. He looks down and realizes he’s naked. How many times did he do it? He was on the kitchen table when he passed out, did he do it again in the bed? Nothing is leaking out of him so he must’ve cleaned him after using him. He never did that before, what kind of sick game is this, is he trying to make Law believe he cares about him? Law wants to laugh but he’s too terrified to make a sound.

When Law makes it to the bathroom door he hears sounds coming from the other side, someone is taking a shower. He notices he froze in place when the sound of running water stops. Shit, the pig’s still here, he could step out any minute. There’s no way Law would make it far in his current condition. Is this a house or an apartment? He looks through the windows, he’s maybe on the first or second floor, definitely not the ground floor. He sees apartment buildings from the window so at least they are not in a secluded area. There are no stairs in the big open room in front of him so likely an apartment. There are neighbors he could go to, right? But what if they won’t open the door, he’d be screwed. He could try running to the street, but what if there’s no one there to help? Besides he’s still naked, sure to scare away anyone who’d happen to be close by. Think Law, think!

Law makes a decision and stumbles toward the kitchen, he almost trips on his own feet on the way twice. He finds a massive knife block on the counter and pulls out the biggest one, tossing the rest of them into a corner behind him. He won’t go down without a fight and he can’t risk him getting a weapon. His right wrist aches and is wrapped with a splint, clearly by himself, when did he get hurt? Fuck it’s his prominent hand, he can’t fight with it like this…

“Oh you’re awake already? What the fuck are you doing in the kitchen, did you get hungry or something? Could’ve waited for me to get out of the shower to get you something”

The voice sounds a bit weird but Law doesn’t let that confuse him. He twirls around and holds the knife in his left hand in front of him. Not blade up like in all the cheesy horror movies, you can’t get enough power and momentum to your strikes that way. No, he holds it with the blade pointing to the floor, ready to slice up or stab down with all his might to disable the bigger man, he will not go back to being used as a fuck toy for the other to take his anger out on.

“Get the fuck away from me!!” He screams, his voice sounds hoarse in his ears and his vision is blurry, he can’t see the man in front of him clearly, but he’s as big as Law remembers. “I’m never going back, I’d rather die!!” He’s struggling to not let the tears fall, not wanting to gibe the bastard the satisfaction of seeing him cry. He’s going to stab this fat pig and he will survive or die trying. Even prison would be better than that hellhole he had been kept in for months.

“Wow, hey, easy Law, what the fuck are you talking about? Are you high? Go back where?” The man takes a step towards him and Law makes a slashing motion with the knife.

“Come closer and I will kill you!! You made Doffy hate me so you could have me you ruined my life!” He spits and yells towards the man in front of him.

“What the fuck are you on Trafalgar? Who the hell is Doffy?” The man lifts his hands in front of him as a sign of peace, Law won’t fall for it.

“Don’t play dumb with me, I might not have been able to fight you off back then, but I sure will now!” Law lunges forward and swings the knife up in a slashing motion before stabbing it down, aiming for the man's fat stomach. At the last second, the man sidesteps him and Law misses. Fuck, he didn’t expect him to be that fast. Law tries to stab him again, but the man grabs his wrist and holds it in an iron grip.

“You need to calm the fuck down Law.” The sound vibrating right next to his ear makes Law pause, that’s not his voice. If it’s not him then who is in here with him?

“W-who are you?” Law’s voice trembles way more than he would like it to, he doesn’t want to show how terrified he is.

“Really? Did you hit your head or something? We’ve been together for a while now, you lived in my apartment all summer, ring any bells?

Law wracks his brain for a moment, he is in a relationship and they live together? Images of an infuriatingly persistent man from his rehab program meetings for addicts started to pop up. He had hung around Law during and after every meeting, greeting him with snarky remarks and trying to start a conversation until Law had eventually snapped at him, telling him to fuck off and leave him alone. But he just doubled his efforts after that until eventually, Law got used to his presence and started to interact with him more, mostly changing insults that eventually resulted in some heated making out.

“...Kid.” Law whispers. His hand relaxes and the knife falls, hitting the floor in front of him and causing Kid to jump out of the way. What had he done?

“Jesus, you’re really determined to get me with that huh? Almost sliced my toes off jackass!” Law crumbles to the floor as a quivering mess. Kid is still holding his left wrist so he brings his right hand to cover his face.

“Kid,I-I… I didn’t mean to… Kid, I…” His hands are shaking and his heart feels like it’s trying to break through the ribcage but he recognizes where he is now. Kid's apartment, he’s been here hundreds if not thousands of times already. How could he have let the panic get to him so strongly he didn’t recognize where he was anymore? Didn’t recognize the man who accepted him, loved him. Oh god, what had he done? He screwed up big time, Kid’s surely going dump his sorry ass, kick him out to the curb and never look back. That’s what he should do anyway. Law always manages to ruin everything, everyone he knows would be better off without him.

“So you’re back to your senses now huh? What the fuck was that about? Whos Doffy? Your ex? Do you still have contact with him?”

Shit, he mentioned Doffy didn’t he. He never told anyone about him, not even Bepo in hopes that the man might one day forgive him. What can he tell Kid? How much should he reveal? “He, uh, no… He owned the foster home I grew up in, I last had contact with him the day I turned 18.”

“So you let your foster parents fuck you too huh? Wow Law, you’re more depraved than I thought, seducing your foster dad? I really can’t trust you with anyone, can I? What about Bepo, has he fucked you too?” Kid’s still holding his wrist and tightens his grip as he keeps going, the pressure is becoming uncomfortable.

“W-what? I never… Bepo’s just a friend, you know that.” How did Kid figure out his relationship with Doffy was sexual, he’s sure he never admitted that out loud but he couldn't deny it either.

“DON’T LIE TO ME LAW! I know what you are, you used to bend over for anyone with a cock and beg to be taken, didn’t you? Just like you did for me earlier today! How am I supposed to believe that fat, clingy piece of shit never took you up on the offer over the years, huh?! What am I supposed to think when I find out you were whoring around even before you ended up on the streets?! That being a slut is just in your fucking DNA or something!”

Law’s ears are ringing, his breathing is rugged, this is not happening. “No! I never…I-I, Kid please…” ‘don’t leave me, let me stay,' "please..." 'keep loving me, I have no one else.’ He’s unable to get the full sentences out, just keeps pleading pathetically over and over.

Kid crouches down in front of him, still holding his wrist in a bruising grip in one hand, and grabs his face tightly with the other. “You belong to me now, understand?” The low voice causes a chill to run down Law’s spine. “No one, and I mean no. One. Else. Is ever allowed to touch you again, you get that?” He tightens his grip and makes Law wince before he tries to nod. “I need to hear you say it.” Kid’s dark eyes peer into his and Law feels so uncomfortable, like thousands of ice-cold needles are being pushed into the skin all around his body.

“N-no one else.” Law whimpers, he hates how weak he feels and sounds, he doesn’t want anyone else anyway. A bright smile flashes in his mind but the thought is gone before he’s able to properly register it, his vision filled only with Kid in front of him.

They stare at each other for a moment longer before Kid lets him go and stands while picking the knife up from the floor. He moves to the corner to get the knife block and places it back on the kitchen counter where it belongs. “I don’t need to start hiding these from you do I? You’re not gonna have another episode and stab me in my sleep or something are you?” Kid laughs and turns back to Law who’s still on the floor, trying to stop his body from shaking.

“O-of course not, don’t be stupid.” Law struggles to get up and starts to fall back down as soon as he puts weight on his right leg. Kid catches him and pulls him up by his injured wrist, Law winces and lets out a small hiss of pain.

“Oh, did you hurt your wrist? When did that happen?” Kid releases his hold and carefully caresses Law’s bandaged arm while wrapping another arm around his waist to hold him up and pull him closer.

“Yeah, I don’t remember.” Law really doesn’t, he was too high last night, probably just stumbled and fell.

Kid holds his arm more gently now and pulls it up to place a light kiss on top of the bandage. “You need to be more careful baby, you sure it’s not broken or anything?”

“Yea it’s just a sprain, nothing too serious.”

“Well you are the one studying to become a doctor here so I trust your judgment. Shouldn’t you take something for the pain though?” Kid plants a tender kiss on Law’s cheek making the older blush slightly. “Fuck Trafalgar, we just had three rounds and you’re already making me want to see you spread under me again, begging for more.”

Law finds it hard to swallow, he doesn’t think he can have sex right now without getting triggered again. “I…”

“It will have to wait though, need to take care of the pups. You’re in no shape for a walk tonight so you stay in, get some rest.” Law’s only able to nod as Kid starts to move away, causing Law to lean onto the kitchen counter for support. “Oh, do you need help getting back to bed baby? Didn’t realize I was that rough on you earlier.” Kid grins and leans in to kiss his lips before hoisting him onto his shoulder.

“W-wait! Kid! I can walk!” Law tries to protest and squirms in the other’s strong hold.

“Will you stop that, we’re already here.” Kid tosses him onto the bed and starts to look for fresh clothes to put on. “I’ll make dinner when I get back so you just relax ok? Maybe I’ll reward you again later if you behave.” Kid winks at him while placing a bottle of Oxy on the nightstand before leaving the room to finish getting ready to take the dogs out.

Law tries to get comfortable in the bed. Pulling the cover over his aching frame he turns away from the nightstand, he doesn’t need the pills, he can get through the pain without them. Trying to concentrate on anything else is such a difficult thing to do though. His whole body aches, his leg feels like it’s on fire, and the pounding behind his eyes is getting worse.

Closing his eyes seems like a good idea until everything he can concentrate on is the smell of sex in the room and scenarios of being assaulted start to play in front of him. He opens his eyes back up but it doesn’t stop the mental images from flooding his mind. Being pushed down, forced onto his back or knees, clothes ripped off him, bruising hands all over him, grabbing him, hitting him, other men entering his body, degrading him with their actions and words.

‘Men can’t be raped. You must’ve done something to initiate it.’ Having heard similar words so many times from so many people he doesn’t even know whose voice it is that is currently whispering in his head. What had he done to initiate it this time? Or any of the other times? ‘Why didn’t you tell him to stop if you didn’t want it?’ Had he wanted it? Then how come he feels so violated every time it happens? There must be something wrong with him for feeling this way every time after sex. Having sex is natural, everyone does it and enjoys it, why can’t he? It’s how people show their special kind of love, is he just incapable of giving and receiving such love? He’s so pathetic, unable to have sex with his boyfriend without getting a panic attack unless he’s high.

It was different with Doffy in the beginning, he always made sure Law felt good in the end even if it hurt. But he ruined it, it was his fault Doffy grew colder after what happened with Corazon. Law was so stupid back then, what did he think would happen when he went to someone else, to Doffy’s brother of all people? Did he hope Cora would love him as Doffy did? Was he just a desperate whore already back then? Cora was always so kind to him, even kinder than Doffy and Law just wanted to show how much it meant to him. Law misses them both but he knows it’s his fault he will never get to see either of them again.

Law doesn’t know when he started crying but the pillow under his head feels uncomfortably wet against the side of his face. God he’s such a mess, he needs to get a grip. He turns around to lay on his other side and instantly his eyes land on the pill bottle that’s still on the nightstand. The sheets feel rough under his fingers and he tries to wrap the cover tighter around him, eyes and mind never leaving the pills in front of him. He doesn’t need them, he doesn’t need them, he doesn’t need… ‘They’ll make you feel better, Little Law.’

The next thing he knows, the pill bottle is open in his hand and he throws it away like it burned him. For a moment he hopes he hasn’t actually taken any yet, but the mild, familiar taste of the pills is still in his mouth and there’s some powdery residue left. Fuck, had he chewed them? How many did he take? Was it too many? He looks to the floor and tries to count the pills that are scattered around now. There are quite a few there still, he tries to remember how full the bottle on the nightstand was before he blanked out, should he try to throw up to get rid of them? Had it already been too long?

As his mind keeps reeling, he starts to feel the calming effect of the pills kick in. His brain slows down and the panic starts to fade away. He should be fine, he’s taken more in the past and it was fine. Kid is coming back home soon so he won’t be left alone, he’ll be fine. He leans back into the bed, maybe now he’ll be able to get some sleep at least. His thoughts drift to Bepo and the promise he made, fuck. He’s sure he could’ve kept his promise if his mind hadn’t suddenly decided to connect having sex with Kid to the worst time of his life and cause him to lose it completely afterward. He’s sure he’s not addicted, he’ll stop taking them after this, he’ll find all the pills in the apartment and throw them out, tell Kid to not get him any more. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan for tomorrow.

Law’s eyes start to fall closed as he’s thinking about puppies and sunny smiles before he drifts off to dreamless sleep.

--

Kid loves to run with the dogs, it’s such a good cardio exercise for them all and the pups really love to get to burn off some energy with him. He’s happy Law is not into exercise and working out, he doesn’t need him to get any more enticing for all the eyes out there. The tattooed man is very insecure about his body, always hiding it under baggy clothes that cover as much as possible and Kid wants to keep it that way, no one but him should see any of what lies beneath it all. Besides, he loves how easily he can overpower and manhandle Law in whatever position he prefers.

He can’t believe the twig pulled a knife on him earlier, what was going through his head? Did he really think he could take Kid on with those noodles, even warmed with a knife? He is clearly more fucked up than Kid thought, maybe he should at least start to store the knives in a drawer. Once he get’s Law to a state where he never needs to leave the apartment, he could just lock him into the bedroom, or tie him to the bed. Or would that go a bit too far? It would be ideal that he could still walk the dogs while Kid was at work.

His thoughts wander back to the conversation they had before Kid was unable to control his urges anymore. Law said he wasn’t into women but could Kid trust him? Law had such a dreamy expression on his face as he mentioned this ‘sunshine’, who is it? No matter how much the man tried to deny it when they got together Law is definitely the kind of person who would let anyone touch him just to get his rocks off. Kid hates that, he needs to tighten the leach on the other man so he won’t stray away from him.

And what about that ‘Doffy’ Law had mentioned? Was it really Law’s foster father, or was Law trying to hide an old ex he was still hung up on? Whoever it was Kid needs to work harder to make sure Law forgets all the other men he has been with. In fact, he needs to stop him from having contact with other men altogether. Law only needs Kid and the sooner he accepts that fact, the better. He needs to make sure he keeps Law’s high going, he knows the man thinks he’s not addicted yet, but Kid knows better. With the way he has been popping pills since they got together, escalating all summer, and Kid slipping him a few without him noticing whenever he says he wants to take a break, there’s no way he’s not addicted. Kid prefers it that way, Law is so compliant and easy to control when he’s high. Sure Kid gets annoyed sometimes if Law gets too high on his own without Kid meaning him to but that’s nothing he can’t handle. Maybe he should hide the stronger stuff to be able to control Law’s drug use better.

Thinking back to the sex they had earlier today, Kid realized Law tried to move more than normally during the first round and while Kid loved how eager he was, he preferred it when Law was so high he could just lay there and take whatever Kid gave him. He was not able to help himself and had Law a third time after he carried him to bed from the kitchen. They were a couple, Law was his bitch and it was his right to take what he needed.

Kid thought Law would’ve taken some pills for pain that morning to keep the high going but he might’ve been wrong. He needs to make sure Law doesn’t come completely off the pills as sober Law spends way too much time thinking about other things than Kid.

--

When Kid finally returns to his apartment, he finds it completely quiet, Law must’ve taken some of the pills he left behind and fallen asleep. Kid had learned very soon that without pills, Law barely slept. The mechanic found it a little weird as he personally never struggled with sleep, but at least Law’s problem was easily treatable. He didn’t understand why the older man had insisted he didn’t want to take anything to help him sleep when they first got together, he slept so much better high.

After letting the dogs go, Kid moved to the bedroom to check on Law. He found the man sleeping under the covers with pills scattered all around the floor. With a tsk Kid closes the door behind him before the dogs can get into the room and accidentally eat the pills. What was Law thinking, just leaving them on the floor like that, it was really dangerous with dogs in the house. He picks up the almost empty pill bottle and sweeps the pills from the floor back into the bottle before looking for the cap. Unable to find it, he places the bottle into the drawer of the nightstand, at least the pups can’t get to them in there.

Kid ends up taking another quick shower as he worked up quite the sweat on his run. He didn’t mean to run for so long, he wanted to have time for another round with Law after, but he needed to sort out his thoughts and now it is too late. He still needs to make dinner and it will be past past midnight before he’s done. He decides the three rounds earlier will have to do for tonight, they can have more fun tomorrow.

The muscular man cooks himself a protein-heavy dinner, not bothering to try and wake up Law for dinner. The scrawny man doesn’t eat much anyway and Kid likes his partners thin, loves to feel like he could easily snap bones if he wanted to. After finishing his meal, Kid climbs into bed and effortlessly pulls Law to his bare chest as soon as he has settled in. He feels the dogs jump in after him and sighs contently as he gets ready to sleep. He has everything he wants right here, and he’s never letting anyone take any of it away from him.

Chapter Text

Law wants to die. By some miracle, he managed to get out of bed and make it to his morning lessons in time but now his whole body aches. His head hurts, the cold light of the lecture hall is painful in his eyes, his right leg is on fire and sitting is very uncomfortable after what Kid put him through yesterday. He must’ve been rougher than usually as Law doesn’t remember the last time he felt like this the day after. Or was it because he didn’t take anything for the pain in the morning? Surely that can’t be it.

To add to his already sour mood, he was forced to wear Kid’s clothes in the morning. His last set of wearable garments got ruined the previous night by Kid and he would rather die than be caught in a cum stained shirt in public. Kid is only slightly taller than him but so much bulkier that his clothes don’t fit properly at all. Sure, he usually hides under baggy clothes but this is overdoing it a bit. The pants are slightly too long and so loose that he could pull the string an extra lap around his waist before tying it to the front. The shirt is even worse, he feels like he is drowning in it, looking almost like he is wearing a dress because of how low the ribbing hangs. He also has to keep pulling the sleeves up to be able to do anything with his hands as he refuses to roll them up. At least the clothes are black so he doesn’t stand out too much from usual.

He is sitting at his usual place at the back of the lecture hall, trying not to fall asleep as the professor keeps babbling on at the front. It’s another course he has with mostly first-year students and of course, Luffy is there too. As soon as he saw him enter through the door, Law had hidden his face with the hood, he did not want the sunshine incarnate to notice they were on the same lectures, he could not deal with another interaction like the one in the grooming salon a few days ago.

After a while, Law risks a glance and notices Luffy sitting closer than in the first lecture they had together, only 4 rows ahead of him, surrounded by people who all seem extremely friendly towards him. Must be nice to be so charismatic and attractive, to have everyone naturally flock to you. There is Zoro and Carrot from before and the blonde guy he’s sure he saw with them at the cafeteria the first day. Next to Carrot is another girl in a tight blue hoodie that has dog ears on the hood. Her long orange hair is tied on a braid and she reminds him of Nami from the grooming salon but is clearly someone else.

On the row in front of them is a group of guys in varying animal hoddies. They keep turning back to chat and interact with Luffy and his other friends. What are they, the local furry club or something? Is Luffy into stuff like that? He glanced back at Luffy, he is wearing a regular yellow T-shirt with a straw hat hanging on his back. Law imagines him in a black hoodie with cat ears and feels his cheeks heat up. He quickly tilts his head back down to hide his face under the hood as Luffy turns to talk to someone in the row behind him. Where the fuck did that image come from? Suddenly he can not stop thinking about Luffy in a black cat ear hoodie that’s a little too big on him, the hem hanging halfway to his bare things. Would he wear anything underneath? What kind of underwear does Luffy wear? Loose or tight boxers? A thong? Something girly? Or is he one of those guys who forego underwear altogether?

Law feels hot, there’s an uncomfortable pressure in his abdomen that keeps traveling lower, toward his groin. His face is on fire and the blood pressure in his head is getting uncomfortably high until he feels warm liquid sliding along his upper lip. What the fuck is wrong with him? He swipes his lip with the back of his hand and… blood? What the hell? He’s having a fucking nosebleed?! Why? Where the hell did it come from, he hasn’t been snorting any drugs since he got clean, he should not be having sudden nosebleeds like this.

Pinching his nose with one hand to stop the bleeding he reaches for his bag, he should have some tissues in there. After rummaging around for a while he finds what he’s looking for and wipes his face with the tissue. Ideally, he should tilt his head back to stop the bleeding most efficiently, but he can’t risk Luffy recognizing him, especially after he got a nosebleed from imagining… no, think about something else, stop making it worse!

Law leans his head onto the table in front of him while holding his nose to make the bleeding stop. His pants feel a little uncomfortable and as he shifts to make the feeling go away, to his utmost dismay, the movement makes him realize he’s hard. His breath catches in his throat, dread settles at the bottom of his stomach, he doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what to think, nothing like this has ever happened to him before. He feels unstable, he’s disgusted with himself, wants to cry and laugh at the same time.

But he can’t do either, he’s in public, and the lecture hall is full. He forces himself to take in a deep breath and hold it in for a few seconds before slowly releasing it. He repeats this a few times to try and calm himself down. Nobody noticed, no one knows, he tries to convince himself. To ease his mind he turns his head slightly to look to the side. No one’s paying attention to him, thank fuck for small miracles.

As he calms down, his attention goes back to the throbbing problem that is still between his legs. He can’t do anything about it here even if he wanted to, he also can’t leave. Even with Kid's baggy sweatpants which are about 10 sizes too big for him, his problem would be obvious to anyone who sees him.

To his absolute horror, the students around him start to souffle around to gather their things and stand up to head to the door. Did the lecture end already? He was so occupied with his thoughts that he did not listen to a word the professor said since he noticed his nose was bleeding. He removes the hand that is still holding his nose and does a few experimental swipes with the paper. Looks like the bleeding has at least stopped as the paper comes back mostly clean so he carefully lifts his head to look around. Luffy and his group of friends are already gone, probably rushed off as fast as they could as it is lunchtime.

Law waits for a moment longer until most of the students have left the lecture hall. In his head, he maps the fastest way to the closest bathroom. If he keeps close to a wall and holds his bag the right way he should be able to cover his problem till he gets there, as long as he doesn’t run directly into anyone on the way there. He checks the time, quarter to twelve, everyone should either be at lunch already or still at their lessons, if he walks fast he should be able to make it.

He watches the last group of students exit the room before he gets up in a hurry and heads for the door. Before exiting he peers out to make sure no one is lingering outside the door before he practically sprints out and down the hall towards the bathroom.

He reaches a corner in the hallway just before his goal and peeks around it to check the coast is clear before he steps to the door. Hand on the door handle he hopes and prays the room on the other side is empty, he could not live with the humiliation of someone from uni seeing him like this. With a deep breath, he opens the door and relief washes over him as he finds it empty. He enters the stall closest to him and quickly locks the door before closing his eyes and leaning his back against it.

For a moment he just stands there, eyes closed and focused on breathing, hoping his problem would go away on its own. He doesn’t know if that’s how it works, he has only ever gotten hard from someone touching him before, and all the times he can remember, they always teased or fucked him till he came.

Frustrated he looks down at his still standing member. “How do I make you go away.” He hisses, hoping he’d come up with a better solution than jerking himself off at a public bathroom. He has never done it himself before, never felt the need to touch himself with how eager others seemed to be to do it for him ever since he became a man. He has seen other men do it though, Doffy used to do it in front of him all the time before he deemed him old enough for sex so technically he knows what to do.

Swallowing the lump that’s forming in his throat he moves his hand to untie the string that holds his pants up. As soon as it loosens, the pants drop to pool around his ankles and he is face to face with his weeping cock. He feels a little dizzy, closes his eyes again, and brings a slightly trembling hand to wrap around his length, the feeling makes him let out a breathy gasp. The image of Luffy’s sunny face pops into his head immediately and he can’t push it away. He imagines the younger on his knees in front of him, clad in nothing but the black cat ear hoodie he imagined him in earlier.

He feels the blood rushing to his core, making his cock ache painfully as he picks up speed, desperately chasing release. He imagines Luffy reaching up to him, mouth wide open, willing, inviting Law to defile him. Law can’t help himself, he imagines how Luffy’s mouth would feel locked around him, licking along his length, sucking him off. How Luffy would sound calling his name, muffled by the cock being stuffed downs the shorter man’s throat. Law tries to keep quiet but can’t help the small grunt of pleasure that escapes his lips as he reaches his climax, imagining he’s shooting his load right down Luffy’s throat while he eagerly drinks it all up.

The aftershocks of his orgasm make Law’s body tremble and he lazily pumps his cock through the rest of it. He keeps his eyes closed for a moment longer, enjoying the pleasurable high and images of Luffy still in front of him. He doesn't remember ever enjoying anything sexual to the degree he enjoys this very moment.

Too soon his brain comes back to reality and he realizes what he has done. He looks down and sees his semen landed all over the toilet seat in front of him and on Kid’s pants pooled around his feet. Kid… Law is horrified as he realizes he just jerked off for the first time in his life while fantasizing about someone other than his boyfriend. What was Law thinking? Kid is going to beat him up if he ever finds out he thought of someone else. Law doesn’t even want to imagine what Kid would do to Luffy if he ever figures out who Law was thinking about. Law can’t let that happen, this was a one-time thing, it will never happen again and Kid will never find out.

God he is so weak and stupid, so disgusting. Icy dread spreads inside him as he realizes what he imagined putting Luffy through. It was what that fat pig did to him almost daily while keeping him locked up, Law doesn't want to be anything like him. How could he be aroused by imagining doing that to someone else, to someone happy and sunny like Luffy? He is a sick, twisted, disgusting piece of human garbage that deserves to be crushed and thrown away. Maybe he should just tell Kid so he would beat him up, that’s all someone like him deserves anyway.

“Law? Are you here?” A familiar voice cuts off his spiraling thoughts. Right, he is still in the bathroom stall, he needs to get it together, anyone could’ve walked in. Thank god it is only Bepo.

“...Uh, yea, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Oh thank god! I was so worried when you didn’t come for lunch and didn’t pick up your phone. You… you’re not… uh?”

Law knows what Bepo wants to ask. He hates that his best friend's first thought is that he is in here doing drugs now that he knows he has been using painkillers again.

“No Bepo, just uh, needed the bathroom, give me a minute ok?”

Bepo hums but seems to buy his explanation. “Ok, I’ll wait outside.” Law looks at the mess on Kid’s pants and reaches for the paper dispenser on the wall just to realize it’s empty. Why does the universe hate him?

“Um… Bepo?”

“Yes?” Thank god he hadn’t shut the door yet.

He swallows what crumbs are left of his pride and continues. “Could, uh, could you hand me some paper from one of the other stalls?”

–

It’s the end of their last lesson and time to head home. Law feels cold sweat running down the back of his neck as he starts packing his stuff. He had the last lessons of the day with his friends and they’re currently happily planning what to order for dinner tonight so no one has to spend time cooking and they can just enjoy his company. He hasn’t forgotten his promise to go, and he doesn’t regret his promise to go either, but just a few seconds ago he remembered he did not tell Kid he was planning to spend the night at the apartment he shares with Bepo.

He doesn’t know what to do, if he informs him now, he could leave work early and come home to try and persuade him to stay as he goes to pick up his dirty laundry. Even though Law would never admit it, he knows deep down he would cave quite easily if Kid was there right in front of him. With that a scarier thought enters his mind, Kid could just force him to stay and there’s really nothing he could do about it, the other being physically so much stronger than him. He could just leave his laundry, but he's already out of clean clothes as it is.

The other option is to wait and tell him later, when he's already with his friends but the longer he waits, the worse his reaction will likely be. Law has no idea how far Kid would go to get him to spend the night now and he doesn’t really want to find out. Especially after the jealous outburst from yesterday, will Law be putting his friends in danger now by going over? He could not live with himself if something happened to them because of him. Maybe he should-.

“Law? You coming?” Bepo’s voice startles Law out of his thoughts and as he looks up, he sees his friends looking towards him from the door. Law glances around the room, they are the only ones left. He still doesn’t know what to do about Kid, but decides to push it to the back of his mind for now, he will let him know later.

He nods to his friends and gets up. “Yea, I gotta go pick up my laundry from Kid’s before I come.” He walks to his friends and they head down the hallway together.

“Sure, I’ll come with you.” Bepo volunteers instantly.

“Uh, that’s not necessary, there’s not-”

“I know you don’t need help, I’ll just come to keep you company” Bepo left no room for him to argue so he just nodded.

“Give us your laptop and school stuff, we’ll get the games set up while the two of you go pick up your dirty rags!” Shachi reaches towards him, making grabby movements with his hands until he gives up and hands his bag over with a deep sigh.

“You still haven’t told me what we’re going to play anyway.” He scowls at the other two as he pockets the keys to Kid’s apartment.

“Oh don’t worry your pretty head with that, you’ll both find out when we start.” Shachi and Penguin grin at them as they get to an intersection in the hallway and head in different directions.

Law and Bepo look at each other and sigh. “We’re doomed.”

“Yup.”

--

They walk through the campus in silence. Usually, Law is comfortable with not talking, but there’s a slight tension between them, Bepo clearly wants to say something but doesn’t know how to breach the subject. Law has a pretty good idea as to what it could be about, considering how he broke down on the call yesterday. He doesn’t want to talk about it so he keeps quiet, hoping Bepo will take the hint and let it be.

“I’m so happy you’re coming over tonight, for a while there I thought you were going to cancel on us when you made no move to stand up.” Law winces slightly as Bepo finally breaks the silence between them. Canceling crossed his mind a few times and he still isn’t sure he’ll be able to go. However slim, there is always a chance that the day was slow in the auto repair shop and Kid is home already.

“Law?” Bepos's tone switches to slightly concerned as they reach the end of the campus area and head towards Kid’s building. “Are you ok? You seem… are you… did you…? I’m Sorry.” Bepo struggles with what he’s trying to ask. Law doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t want to lie but can’t admit how weak he was last night, that he wasn’t able to keep the promise to stay sober.

“I’m ok Bepo, I haven’t taken anything today, I told you it’s all under control.” Technically he isn’t lying, he didn’t take any that morning and he feels it in every fiber of his body as everything just aches. His leg has been killing him all day and he’s doing everything he can to take his mind off of it. Thinking back to what he did in the bathroom earlier that day seemed the most efficient remedy, but he can’t keep thinking about that, thinking about… Luffy. He is in a relationship for fucks sake, what is he doing.

“So, uh…” Bepos voice pulls him out of his thoughts again. “Why Law? Why would you start using again? Did something happen?” Bepo looks at him, eyebrows knit together in worry.

That’s a good question, why did he start again? Why did he keep using? Thinking about the past summer he realizes he can’t remember a day he would’ve been completely sober since the semester ended or even for a while before that. He’s sure he didn’t use every day, the buzz just carried over longer than he remembered. He thought it was because his body was not used to the drugs anymore like it used to be after years of using. Wrote it off as Kid getting him longer lasting pills sometimes, but could that really explain everything? It had to, he couldn’t be unconsciously taking drugs right? Kid would’ve noticed, and would’ve done something to stop it. Wouldn’t he? Kid is an addict himself, one who was never able to let his own addiction go so he knows how hard it was to get clean, he would not let Law go down that path again, right?

“Law, please talk to me, something is clearly bothering you. You were doing so well before…” Bepo trails off but Law knows what he was thinking.

“Before I met Kid.” He finishes for the blonde. He knows none of his friends approve of his relationship with Kid, but they don’t understand, someone like him doesn’t have a choice. No one else would ever love him if they truly knew what he is, what he did in the past, what he let happen. He is tainted, broken beyond repair and he’s sure even Bepo would look at him in disgust and leave if he ever found out. But Kid accepts him, wants him, loves him, even after what he let slip in his panic Kid did not push him away. This is as good as it would ever get for someone like him.

“It’s not him Bepo, my leg has just been in more pain lately is all.”

“Does the massage and exercise not help as well as they used to anymore? Have you still been meditating?” He wasn’t consistent with any of those anymore and he never went back to the therapist they assigned for him from the rehab program after meeting him once. They just sat there in awkward silence for most of the appointment as Law didn’t know what to say and the therapist was waiting for him to choose what he was comfortable talking about. Law felt very uncomfortable the whole time so he just decided never to go back. He never told anyone he had been recommended therapy and planned to keep it that way.

“... Not really.”

“When’s the last time you went to one of your meetings?” Law's taken aback by Bepo's question, he has been acting like he is still going with Kid even though both of them stopped attending soon after they got together. It was Kid's idea, he thought they could support each other just as well as anyone in the group. Law doesn't like to interact with strangers so it seemed like a good solution to him.

“I…” Law doesn't want to answer, but he knows staying silent is as much of an answer as speaking up.

“Law, you can’t just stop going, especially if you have started to rely on pain meds again. You know-”

“It’s fine, Bepo, I’m fine. I know what I'm doing.”

“But-”

“Drop it Bepo.” Law is starting to get agitated, he doesn’t want to talk about this, why can’t Bepo just let it go?

“... I’m sorry…” Bepo mumbles under his breath, clearly unhappy with his reaction but stops pushing the topic.

They arrive at the front door, awkward silence hanging between them. Law puts in the code to get inside. “I’ll go get the dogs for a quick walk.” He doesn’t wait for an answer, just pulls the door closed behind him and climbs up the stairs, leaving Bepo outside. He doesn’t want Bepo to see the state of the apartment. Besides, if Kid happens to be home, bringing Bepo would only create unnecessary tension.

To his relief, he only finds two very excited animals jumping to him as he opens the door. He hugs and pets both of them briefly before attaching their leaches and heading back out. He already regrets snapping at Bepo earlier. He knows his friend is worried and just trying to help, but he doesn’t need to be fussed over like that, he’s fine.

As soon as they step outside, the dogs eagerly rush to greet Bepo. The big blonde is sulking slightly but brightens up as soon as he bends down to pet the canines. “You’re such good boys aren't you?” He coos as he scratches them both behind the ears. “No, I don’t have any treats for you today, I’m sorry.” He adds as Jiki sniffs his pockets in hopes of finding some food.

They walk the dogs around the block so they get to do their business. Halfway through Bepo starts to talk about some of the courses he has with Shachi and Penguin, complaining how the two are driving him mad without Law there to reign them in. Law listens quietly, grateful that his friend seems to have forgiven his earlier outburst without him having to give an awkward apology or pick up the conversation from earlier.

Soon they are back at the front of Kid’s building and Law takes the dogs back in, feeds them, and grabs his laundry bag before heading back out. The walk to their place is much more comfortable. They both avoid the earlier topics and mostly try to guess what game their insane friends are going to make them play.

At this moment, Law feels content. He has spent so little time with Bepo lately that he almost forgot how much he enjoys the other’s company when it’s just the two of them. When they occasionally run out of things to say, the silence is comfortable and neither is in a hurry to fill it with idle chatter. Law should make an effort to see his friend more often, surely Kid would understand if Law explains it properly and reassures him that he’s not interested in anyone else, especially his friends.

Luffys smiling face pops into his head but he pushes it away, that’s different and no one needs to know. He doesn’t know the guy and has no interest in getting to know him so why can’t his brain just stop bringing him up? Sure he’s kinda cute and hot, Law can admit that much, but he also seems to be quickly becoming the most popular kid on campus, what chance would someone like Law have to ever get close to him? None, that’s what, so it’s better to forget all about it and concentrate on what he has.

Before long they arrive at their building and head for their shared apartment on the 5th floor. Law is anxious but also excited to find out what the evening holds. With the disaster duo included it will at the very least be interesting.

Chapter Text

As soon as Law and Bepo enter their apartment, they are greeted by Shachi and Penguin rushing to the hallway from the kitchen.

“Finally! We thought you’d never make it here!”

“Yea, about time, what took you so long? Did Kid move or something? He should only live like 20 minutes away!”

Law sighs and rubs his face, he’s not sure how he’s going to get through the whole evening with these two idiots. “I had to let the dogs out for a minute, chill.” He walks straight to the bathroom to load the washing machine, he’s going to have to do two loads so better get the first one started as soon as possible.

As he steps out, a bag of prawn crackers is thrust into his face by an overly excited Shachi.

“Here you go, you like these right? We picked up some snacks for everyone on the way!”

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” Law grabs the bag before he’s ushered into the living room.

“Here, we set up the game for both of you already.” Law spots his laptop set up on their sofa table, dragged to a corner, on the other side of the room from Bepos's tabletop computer setup. He doesn’t see any other computers there.

“Why do we have to be so far apart? And where are you two going to play?” Law feels a little confused, what on earth are they planning?

“We have ours set up in the kitchen!”

“Yup! There wasn’t enough table space here so we set them there, don’t worry, it will work great for the first game we're going to play!” Penguin's mischievous expression does not convince Law, but he decides to entertain the two idiots by sitting in front of his laptop.

“The game has inbuilt voice communication which is important, so use these!” Shaching points to the headset that is plugged into the laptop.

“So we’re going to be talking through voice chat even though we’re in the same apartment?”

“Yes! We don’t have to play this all night, we can play Mario cart or something later, but we’ve been dying to play this with you two. Now put the headset on, you too Bepo!” Shachi pushes the headset onto Law’s ears before can do it himself. Penguin has already vanished to the kitchen and Shachi follows after him. “We’ve already set it so that the game will start when I activate it, just give me a second.” He keeps talking as he vanishes into the kitchen.

Law sights and turns to look at the screen. There’s a game running on it already, the screen is black and the words “Lethal Company” are written on it in bold bright red letters. Lethal company huh? He’s never heard of this game before but it looks a bit ominous based on the title screen. Is it a horror game? Surely the two know what kind of a scaredy cat Bepo is, hopefully, it’s not too graphic.

Almost immediately there’s a loading screen and in a few seconds, a view of a metallic room opens in front of him, it slightly reminds him of a locker room. He can’t see his own character, only hands with black gloves and orange sleeves and three other characters in the room with him.

“Can you guys hear us?” Penguin's voice comes through.

“Yes.”

“Yeah.” Law and Bepo answer at the same time. He’s pleased to find out that the headset he was given cancels the outside voice pretty well so it doesn’t bother him at all that Bepo’s in the same room, he can easily concentrate on just the voices through the headset.

“Alright! So the point of this game is to collect and sell scrap while trying to not get eaten by space monsters!” Shachi begins to explain.

“Uh, what?” Bepo sounds very unsure, Law knows he’s scared of any horror movies or games and feels a little bad for the guy. But he’s likely the reason Shachig and Penguin wanted to play this game with them so much. And Law can’t lie, he finds Bepo's reactions to scary things adorable and amusing at times. The game's graphics are clearly not realistic at all so it shouldn’t be too bad for the blonde.

“With a right click, you can scan your surroundings, green means valuable, definitely pick up, yellow is scrap, and red means danger.” Shachi continues his brief explanation ignoring Bepo’s worried voice. “Here, pick up a flashlight and a radio.” Shachi drops said items to the floor of the room and waits for them to pick them up. “Ok we’re all set, lets go!” A door in the room they’re in opens and Shachi and Penguin run out. Law has no clue where to go or what to do so he decides to just follow them. The terrain outside seems very dusty and barren, at least it’s light so it should not be too bad for Bepo.

“Uh.. guys? What… ” Bepo sounds very nervous as his voice comes through the headset, it sounds like he’s fallen behind already as his voice is barely coming through to Law. So the voice in the game is based on proximity? That’s why the radio phones will come in handy. Law turns back to try and find Bepo’s character.

“Here Bepo.” He finds Bepo still at the airship they apparently came from. “Come on, Shachi and Penguin went this way.”

“Where are you two slowpokes?” Shachis voice comes through the radio. “Talk through your radio if you can’t hear us anymore.”

He and Bepo don’t really know what to do now that the two people familiar with the game have abandoned them, so they just decide to explore the terrain together. They don’t find anything to pick up and have no idea what direction the other two went after Law turned back. Eventually, they stumble upon a ladder and climb it to get to the wall that seems to be surrounding the area.

“Oh No, AAahh-!” They hear Shachi scream through the radio before it goes silent.

“W-What was that?” Bepo sounds terrified.

“Aahhh it got Shachi!” Penguin yells through the radio. “Abort Abort, get back to the ship with what you have, the time is almost out!”

“There’s a time limit?! You might’ve wanted to mention that at the start.” Law and Bepo go back down the ladder they just climbed and try to find their way back to the airship. They make it but just before they can climb on board the doors close and the ship lifts off, leaving them behind. Penguin is nowhere to be seen but apparently, he made it in with whatever he found.

“Hahaha that was great, you two didn’t even make it to the building!” Shachi’s voice comes through again as they all spawn at the ship again. Looks like they have multiple days to complete the objective, so far they have one massive gear piece and three casualties from the first day.

“We might’ve made it if you two weren’t in such a hurry to ditch us.“ Law defends himself and Bepo.

“Ok ok, we’ll wait for you two slowpokes this time so you can get in on the fun.”

“Uh, I’m not sure I want in on the… ‘fun’” Bepo sounds very skeptical but follows them as the doors open and they all run out again. Shachi leads them straight to the ladder, it is actually really close to the ship and Law feels a little stupid that it took them so long to find the first time. They come to a metal door and Penguin and Shachi enter, telling them both to follow.

The inside of the building is pitch black so he whips out the flashlight, which, unsurprisingly, has a battery that gets drained. Great, resource management.

“Law, please don’t leave me.” Bepo keeps following close behind him as they explore the building. They find a few things to pick up before something skitters towards them through one of the hallways, causing Bepo to screech and run the other way.

“Aaaaah! What is that?? Get rid of iiit!!”

“What is it Bepo?” Penguin comes from behind a corner holding a shovel. “I’ll take care of it!” Penguin runs to Law and starts swatting the monster with the shovel before something happens and Penguin's character drops to the floor.

“Uh, Penguin?... Did he die?”

“If he dropped to the floor, pick up the shovel, you can kill the monster with it before it gets you too.” Law tries to do as Shachi instructs but the ‘bug’ gets him too before he can get the hang of using the shovel.

“Yoo it killed you too man? Hahaha” Law was added to a chat with just Penguin in it.

“Oh so you get transferred to a different chat if you die?”

“Yea! And now we get to watch everyone else, switch to Bepo, he’s panicking so much.”

Law switches to Bepo and watches him run through the hallways screaming until he reaches a door. He exits and makes his way back to the ship where he finds Shachi just standing there, not moving or talking.

“Thank god, Shachi,” Bepo’s panting from all the screaming. “What are you… WHAT IS THAT!!! WHY IS IT IN HE-” From the corner of his eye, Law notices movement and turns to watch as Bepo jumps up from his seat while shouting. On screen, Law watches as a big black monster runs into the spaceship and instantly maws Bepo down.

“-RE?!.. Why was it in the ship?? I thought it was safe!! Wh-what is this chat? Did I die?!”

“Yes Bepo”

“Hahahaha I can’t believe you led that thing straight in the ship. Hahaha.” Penguin is dying of laughter on the chat as they watch the last player alive.

The monster just chills in the ship, seemingly ignoring Shachi till it turns around and its head collides with Shachis character. The creature instantly attacks Shachi and the day ends with all of them dying.

“Oh my god Bepo! I can’t believe you got me killed like that! Hahaha” Shachi and Penguin can’t stop laughing.

“I didn’t know it was following me… I’m Sorry.”

“They follow sound hahah, it probably heard you shouting all the way back to the ship as it was already prowling around it, that’s why I tried to stay quiet haha.” Shachi tries to explain between laughing fits.

“I’m just staying on the ship the next day!” Bepo protests while still standing in front of his screen before finally sitting back down as the next day starts. True to his words, Bepo stays on the ship as the others leave to look for more stuff.

Like the idiot he is, Law dies by stepping on a landmine almost as soon as he enters the building. He watches as Scachi and Penguin explore the building together, plowing small monsters to death with their shovels. He switches back to Bepo's view just as the blonde is messing with some controls in the room and triggers the ship to take off early, leaving the other two behind. He can’t help a low chuckle from escaping his lips as he hears Scachi and Penguin shout in the kitchen before they’re all back in the same voice chat again.

“Oh. My. God… Bepo! I can’t believe you! Why’d you leave us behind like that??” Shachi is clearly holding back laughter as he tries to berate Bepo for leaving them.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know that would happen!”

“Seriously, we can’t leave you anywhere.” Penguin bursts out laughing, unable to keep pretending to be upset at their friend.

“All right guys, the last day, make it count!”

“I’m sticking with Law!”

“Haha good luck, he died in a landmine last time hahaha!”

“What?! You did?” Bepo turns to look at him for real and Law just shrugs.

“Won’t happen again, I know what to look for this time.”

Bepo sticks with Law as they explore the dark building while Shachi and Penguin rush off together. They all manage to make it back to the ship in one piece this time and even score some stuff to sell.

“Alright, time to evaluate the catch! Follow me!” Shachi leaves the ship again carrying his spoils and runs to a suspicious hatch in the middle of a massive wall. “Here, place the stuff here.” They all place what they have on the counter Shachi placed his. When everything is in, Shachi turns to Bepo. “Now ring the bell and it’ll all be evaluated.” Law does not trust his friend and steps away from the hatch with them as Bepo rings the bell. As soon as he does, a massive monster reaches out from the hatch, instantly killing Bepo.

“AAAHHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!! SHACHI! I WILL KILL YOU!!!” Law hears Bepo scream in the same room as him and watches him jump up to run to the kitchen. Law takes his headset off to hear Penguin laughing while Bepo’s probably wrestling with Shachi on the floor.

“Ok ok I’m sorry hahaha have mercy.” He eventually hears Shachi give in. “Your reactions are too funny, can you blame us hahaha.”

“You’re both so mean.” He hears Bepo huff.

“So want to play a few more rounds? We did so badly this time that they fired us haha.”

“Hmph… ok but only if Law wants to.” He hears Bepo reply as he comes back to the living room.

They end up playing a few more rounds, dying in the most bizarre and hilarious ways. Law finds himself quite enjoying the game, either watching his friends be chased down by monsters or trying to get away himself. A few times someone gets killed by a random lightning strike or falls to their death with a miscalculated jump. After Bepo gets more used to the game he seems to be enjoying it as well and soon they are all laughing together as someone dies of some weird monster attack or some other stupid stuff.

“Alright, I think it’s time to order food!” Shachi announces as he enters the living room with Penguin in tow. “Is that Asian place a few blocks away ok for everyone? They do great sushi.” He looks to Law when he says that, knowing the skinny man loves his fish and rice.

Law pulls up his phone to check the menu, but as soon as he turns on the screen he feels his stomach drop. He has over 20 unread messages and 17 missed calls, had he forgotten his phone on silent again? Fuck, there are only 4 people in this world who ever message or call him, and 3 of them are here with him right now. He checks the time, 18:17, fuck, he still hasn’t told Kid his plan for the night and now the other has clearly noticed his absence and to make matters worse it probably looks like Law has been ignoring him.

Heart trying to claw its way out of his throat, Law taps on the messages first to gauge how fucked he is.

Kid
16:40 Hey babe, can you walk the dogs? I have a surprise for you when I get home and don’t want to be interrupted >;)
17:15 almost there, I can’t fucking wait
17:17 you were so fucking hot yesterday you know, pulling a knife on me
17:18 really got the juices flowing, you know what I mean ;)
17:25 where are you?
17:25 I thought you finished at 3 today?
17:31 why are you not picking up your phone?
17:31 where the fuck are you?
17:33 I checked your schedule, you got off at 3, what the hell Law?
17:40 ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!!
17:40 are you out with someone?
17:41 you fucking better not be sleeping with another man Trafalgar
17:45 stop ignoring me
17:46 you belong to me and you know it
17:47 what gave you the idea that you could just go and spend the evening somewhere else without telling me?

The feeling in Law’s stomach turns to ice, how did he think it would all be ok? Why hadn’t he just told Kid last night or this morning? Or as soon as he remembered? Fuck, he messed up so bad.

“Law? Is everything ok?” Law hears Bepos's worried voice and realizes the room has gone quiet, everyone is staring at him. Shit, did he let his emotions show on his face? He takes a deep breath and steels himself, trying to return his face to neutral.

“Yea it’s all good. Just uh... Don’t worry about it.” He dismisses his friends and reads the rest of Kid's messages.

17:50 just answer the phone
17:55 you better walk through that door real fucking soon with your phone in pieces or I’m going to hunt your pathetic skinny ass down
18:01 better have a real fucking good reason for ignoring me like this Law
18:02 you better be in jail or fucking dead
18:07 Law comeon
18:11 just fucking pick up
18:15 Law

As he’s reading the messages, the screen lights up with an incoming call. It’s Kid, fuck, what should he do, should he answer? What can he say? Kid’s already mad and his jealousy of Bepo makes things a thousand times worse. Before Law is able to react, however, the call ends and new messages start to flood in

18:23 Law pick up
18:23 I know you’re there
18:23 I can see you’ve read my messages
18:24 it shows you online right now
18:24 I’m going to call again, you are going to pick up or I swear to god I will make you regret you were ever born

As soon as Law reads the newest message, Kid calls him again. He excuses himself and goes to his room, closes the door behind him, and with shaking hands picks up the call.

“Fucking finally! What the fuck took you so long? What are you playing at? Where are you? Who are you with? When are you coming home?? ANSWER ME!!”

He hears Kid shout a battery of questions at him as soon as the call connects, but he's unable to get a word in between.

“I’m home Kid.” He decides to keep it simple, he has still never considered Kid's place his home after all.

“Don’t you dare lie to me Law! I’m home, I know you are not fucking here!”

“No Kid, I mean I’m in my home-”

“This is your home!”

“Kid-”

“Stop this nonsense Law, you have lived with me all summer, of course, this is your home. Now where are you? I’ll come pick you up.”

Law swallows painfully, getting the next words out is a struggle. “No, I… I’m staying here tonight, I-”

“What?? Where? When were you planning to tell me Law? Are you with someone else?”

“No, Kid it’s not like that-”

“Then what is it like Law? What the fuck?!”

“I promised to spend the night with my friends, I haven’t done that since-”

“But you see them at uni! Is that not enough for them? You’re with Bepo, aren’t you? Has he fucked you yet? Have you given some to all of them? Is that how you like it? One cock not enough for you anymore? You whore! Were you too busy having your holes stuffed to answer me earlier huh? Is that it? What the fuck Law, do I not mean anything to you?”

Panic starts to rise inside Law as he is frantically looking for words to calm Kid down. “No Kid, it’s not like that! I don’t fuck my friends, I never would!”

“But how can I trust you Law when you fucking lie to me like this?!”

“I didn’t…”

“This is lying Law! I trusted you to be there for me when I got home after an exhausting day but no, you’re out doing god knows what with your ‘friends’!” The last word comes in a mocking tone. Law bites his bottom lip, he didn’t think Kid would be this upset about him not being there. Maybe he should let Kid come pick him up, to make up for not telling him.

“I’m supposed to be the most important person in your life Law, am I not?”

Law closes his eyes and swallows before answering with a quiet voice. “You are-”

“Well, apparently not! Fuck Law, I didn’t think you were this cruel.”

“B-but, Bepo’s not even gay! None of them are-”

“Fuck Trafalgar! I’m not gay either! That never stopped me from wanting to fuck your brains out the moment I saw you!”

“Kid, I-”

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

“Kid…”

“Do what the fuck you want, I need a drink.”

“Wait, Kid, KID!!”

Kid hangs up the phone and leaves Law standing there, heavy silence hanging around him. Should he have agreed to let Kid come pick him up? He did not expect Kid to react so strongly, is it selfish of him to want to spend the night with his friends? Especially when he knows how jealous Kid is of Bepo and apparently his other friends. He brought this upon himself, didn’t he? He should’ve just denied his friend's demands for him to stay overnight, everything would be well then, right?

He tries to call Kid back to tell him to come pick him up, but to his dismay, it goes straight to voice mail. Kid turned his phone off, clearly not wanting to talk to him anymore. Has he blown it? He has, hasn’t he… The one person who did not push him away after getting what he wanted from him and now Law has ruined it. In panic, he opens his conversation with Kid and starts typing.

Law
18:46 I’m sorry Kid, I was wrong
18:46 Please forgive me, there’s no one else
18:47 I’ll never do anything like this again I swear
18:47 I’ll come over tonight if you still want me to

Law’s in the middle of typing more embarrassing messages to beg Kid to give him another chance when there’s a soft knock on his door and someone cracks it open.

“Law, are you-” Bepo’s voice gets cut off as he spots Law, hands trembling in the middle of the room. Shit, he didn’t realize he was trembling so badly before now. Bepo quickly enters, closing the door behind him before he pulls the tattooed man to his side and sits them both on the bed.

“What’s wrong Law? What happened?” When Law doesn’t say anything for a while, Bepo gently rubs his back “Talk to me, please.”

It takes Law a moment to get his vocal cords to work without him bursting into tears. “... I… Kid, he… Bepo, I don’t know what to do.” He ends up confessing pathetically as he leans into Bepo's warm chest next to him. Bepo is so comfortable, he always makes Law feel safe and protected.

Soon Law’s brain starts to work overtime as it always does when he’s not high as a kite. Is Kid right? Does he have feelings for Bepo? He never thought of Bepo as more than a friend before. Does Bepo want to sleep with him? Law always thought Bepo was straight the way he swoons at girls sometimes but he has never actually asked, maybe he’s bi. Oh god, has Law been stringing Bepo along all this time? Is that why Bepo’s always so good to him? Because he wishes it would eventually turn into something more? He needs to stop this, stop using Bepo for comfort like this, it’s not fair.

Law tenses and pushes himself away from Bepo almost instantly after leaning in.

“What did he do Law?” Bepo’s voice is full of concern. He seems a little disappointed as Law pulls away from him, but doesn’t reach to pull him back, he has always respected Law’s personal space when he needs it.

“It-it’s ok Bepo, it’s nothing. I don’t think I can stay the night after all.”

“What do you mean? What happened? Did he threaten you?”

“No, I… He… He’s just having a bad day and he’s more upset about me staying here overnight than I thought.” Law sighs and rubs his tired eyes. God, he’d kill for some pills right about now.

Bepo huffs and his expression turns angry. “It’s just one night Law, you are allowed to have a life outside of a relationship you know. Besides, you still pay rent here, you still live here.”

Law thinks about Bepo’s words. It’s true that he’s still paying rent for half the apartment, but does he really still live here? He just drops by every now and then to do laundry. Technically Kid is right, he has been living with the redhead for months at this point. Maybe he should just finally give in and move in with Kid properly, give up the student apartment. Kid has brought up them getting a new place together multiple times, if Law agrees to that would Kid finally believe him and not leave like everyone else?

“Maybe that’s the problem…” His words come out as a quiet mumble. Shit, he didn’t mean to say that out loud.

“What?” Bepo sounds alarmed. “What do you mean Law?”

Law sighs, too tired to try and come up with a lie. “Maybe if I move in with him, it’ll all be ok.” Law truly believes that would make Kid happy, if only he could get used to the idea of permanently living with him, surely they would be happy together.

“Move in with him? Law, have you really thought this through? You started using again after you got together with him, he’s clearly not-”

“Enough Bepo!... What else can I do…” He whispers the last sentence, hoping Bepo doesn’t hear it.

“Stay here, like at the start of last year.”

“I… I can’t Bepo, please understand, you… I… I just can’t ok.” Law refuses to look at Bepo as he declines the offer. Maybe renting the apartment together with Bepo was a bad idea from the beginning, he didn’t realize there might be more behind Bepo’s actions than just friendship. He needs to distance himself from Bepo more, to not give him false hope, that would be cruel. Kid called him cruel at the end of their call, turns out he was right. Hopefully, Kid will still want him after this disaster of a night, he’ll have to do something to make up for his actions though.

“Law, what did Kid say to you?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“But it does Law, if he’s manipulating you to-”

“He’s not, It’s my fault.” Bepo seems like he wants to disagree with him but Law stands up. “Come on, let’s see what the two idiots have ordered for us unless you told them what to get.” Law decides to stay for dinner and to try to get hold of Kid again after the redhead has some time to calm down.

“I didn’t... But Law are you-”

“Bepo.” Law gives his friend a look that makes him swallow whatever he wants to say and look to the floor.

“... sorry.” Bepo gets up and follows him out of the room.

--

“Finally you two return! Food’s almost here.”

“About time! What were you two doing in there, making out?” Shachis comment causes the two men sitting in the living room to burst out laughing, but Bepo’s not amused. He glances at Law and notices him flinch slightly at the comment, what was that about? Why does Law feel so uncomfortable around him now? Just a moment ago Law pulled away from him as he tried to comfort the tattooed man. Does Law think Bepo wishes they had been making out? Has he crossed some invisible line at some point? Surely Law knows he has never been interested in men. Not that Law’s unattractive, he's quite handsome actually when he takes care of himself, but it’s never done anything for Bepo in that way.

Bepo frowns slightly and follows Law into the room. The two men already in there have hogged the couch and Law slumps onto the armchair next to it, leaving the beanbag in the corner as the last available seat unless Bepo wants to sit on the floor. He goes to drag the bag next to the coffee table, which has been returned to its original place, to the opposite side from Law.

“So we thought we could watch a movie while we eat and play something more after if we still feel like it, or just watch something else.” Shachi is browsing movies on Netflix on their TV. “Any requests?”

When neither he nor Law gives any recommendations, Shachi selects a movie called Piranha 3D. Based on the cover picture alone, Bepo knows he’s not going to enjoy it, it looks ridiculous.

“Really Shachi, you expect us to watch this?” Law is visibly disgusted with the choice.

“Hey, you didn’t have any suggestion so shut your gay mouth and enjoy all the boobs on screen. We can watch Aquaman or something next.”

“Oh my god, you have the worst taste in movies, put on something that at least has the potential to be entertaining.” Law seems annoyed.

“What, you don’t find half-naked people being eaten by fish entertaining?”

“No!” Bepo and Law shout at the same time.

“You can watch that later together with Penguin as you two jerk each other off, leave me and Bepo out of it,” Law snarls at Shachi.

“Fine, fine, you choose then.” Shachi hands the remote over to Law who navigates to the newest Batman movie right before the doorbell rings.

“Food!” Penguin and Shachi shout in unison as they get up and rush to the door. In a minute or two, they return to the sofa with arms full of food bags and plates they hand to Bepo and Law.

“We didn’t know what you two wanted so we just ordered their biggest sushi party platter, it should have something for everyone,” Penguin explains as they spread containers full of different sushi around the table.

They all fill their plates with various sushi and Bepo notes Law only taking a few pieces. The bag of prawn crackers Law got to snack on while they played lies forgotten next to his laptop, it has not been opened. Noticing all this makes Bepo frown, Law needs to eat more to stay healthy.

Bepo is reminded of the time after finding and getting Law off the streets. While he was still trying to convince the other to go to some rehab program, Law came down with a severe flu. His fever stayed high for multiple days but he refused to go to the local ER, saying it was just a cold and would pass on its own. In the end, Bepo literally carried him to the local ER once he passed out from exhaustion.

After they managed to stabilize Law, the doctor pulled Bepo to the side and asked if he knew who Law’s emergency contact was. Bepo told the doctor it was him and since they had nothing about Law on file, they believed him as he was the one who brought him in. The doctor told him that his friend was lucky to be alive. He had pneumonia and his immune system was so compromised due to drugs and malnutrition that he might not have made it through the night if Bepo didn’t bring him in.

Once Law woke up, Bepo had a long heartfelt conversation with him and finally got the tattooed man to agree to go to rehab and talk to a nutritionist. After that the real struggles started, it took Law a while to finally kick his addiction for good, and learning healthier eating habits took even longer. Bepo was there for him through it all and made sure there was always healthy food available. Eventually, Law managed to get to and maintain a somewhat healthy weight, even though he was still extremely skinny.

Looking at Law now, Bepo knows he is heading in the same direction he was when Bepo found him on the streets. He is not as bad yet but seems severely underweight already and tries to hide it under thick and baggy clothes. Bepo is at a loss for what to do. The others started the movie a while ago but he is unable to pay attention, he needs to come up with a way to get Law away from Kid and talk some sense into him. But the way Law reacted to him when they were in his room earlier concerns Bepo. His friend never pulled away from him like that before and the blonde can not help but wonder if it was because of something Kid said. But why would Law believe Kid over his best and for many years only friend? What has Bepo done to cause distrust? Was he too harsh earlier about the drugs? But at the rehab, they were both told that even one time could result in an addiction again and it would be best if Law stayed away from any intoxicating substances.

Bepos thoughts get interrupted as Law excuses himself again, telling them to keep the movie on and that he will be back soon. He’s holding his phone which must be on silent as Bepo never heard any messages or calls, but Law kept glancing at it constantly while they were eating and the display is now lit up with an incoming call. From where Bepo is seated he can’t see who is calling but knows it can only be Kid.

Shachi and Penguin watch with questioning expressions as Bepo gets up as well and follows Law. He brings a finger to his mouth to tell the other two to stay quiet as he walks to Law’s closed door and tries to listen to what is being said on the other side. He knows this is invading his friend's privacy and does not like to eavesdrop, but he has to know what is going on. Through the door he’s able to make Law's muffled voice as he speaks on the phone, he keeps taking long pauses, supposedly listening to whatever Kid is saying on the other end.

“… yeah… no, o-of course not!... Why would I-... no. Kid, you’re not listening to me, there’s no-... There’s no one else!” Law sounds like he’s getting worked up and the volume of his voice keeps increasing. Shachi and Penguin follow Bepo to Law's door and give him confused looks. Bepo silently mouths the word ‘kid’ to them and their expressions somber up slightly as they seem to grasp what’s going on.

They all jump a bit as they suddenly hear shouting from the other side of the door “FUCK YOU KID!! It’s not always all about you!!”

They all stare at the door, expecting Law to burst through at any second, but he doesn’t. Instead, everything goes quiet, Bepo’s sure they could hear a pin drop as all three hold their breath. After a while Bepo hears something clang to the floor on the other side but nothing else.

He swallows and gently knocks on the door. “Law? Is everything ok?... I’m sorry.” He adds the last phrase so quietly Law probably couldn’t hear it through the door. When there’s no answer, Bepo gestures for the other two to go back to the living room before he cracks Law’s door open to peek inside. Immediately his gaze lands on Law lying on the floor, curled in on himself while clutching his head and shaking. He doesn’t make any movements to indicate he noticed Bepo entering the room so the blonde softly closes the door behind himself before stepping closer to Law.

“Law?” He tries to get the other's attention but again there’s no answer. He crouches down next to Law and gently touches his shoulder to alert him that he’s not alone. The touch makes Law jerk visibly before he turns to look at Bepo, finally acknowledging he’s not alone anymore.

“B-Bepo…” Law croaks out before a single tear runs down his cheek.

Seeing his friend like this makes Bepo’s chest ache. He’s never witnessed Law cry in front of anyone before and for a moment he’s at a loss for what to do. However, when the other does not move to pull away from him again, Bepo sits down, pulls Law up and wraps his arms tightly around him.

“Shhh, it’s ok Law, I’m here. I’ll always be here, no matter what.” He feels Law’s body tensing slightly as he is pulled into the bear hug, but soon he relaxes and leans into Bepo. He grabs hold of the blonde's shirt as his body shakes. He makes no sound but Bepo can feel his shirt getting wet from where Law's face is pressed against him. He rubs soothing circles on the other's back as he keeps weeping in his arms. Bepo wishes Law would talk to him, he has a feeling this is not just about something Kid did or said, but he’s never been able to get Law to talk much about his past or anything personal.

They sit there for a long while before Law’s sobbing dies down and the other eventually pulls away from his hold.

“I… thanks Bepo, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” When the other doesn't respond Bepo continues. “How are you feeling?”

“...Tired.” And Bepo can tell, his friend looks exhausted.

“Done for the night?” Law just nods to Bepo’s question. The blonde knows this could backfire on him but he has to ask. “Did… did you eat anything while we were watching the movie?”

“Bepo-” Law’s tone starts as harsh but he stops himself and lets out a deep sigh before continuing with a softer and quieter voice. “I-I didn’t finish but I ate a few pieces.”

“Ok.” Bepo helps Law up and sits him on the edge of the bed. “You can stay here, I’ll be back in a few.” The blonde leaves the room and closes the door behind him. Law likes his privacy and is not close enough with Shachi and Penguin yet to want them to see him in this state.

Bepo heads to the kitchen and starts to brew Law a cup of calming tea. He plans to bring it to him with the rest of the sushi the other man chose himself and hopes he can coerce him to finish at least that.

Before the kettle finishes boiling, Shachi and Penguin appear in the kitchen.

“What’s going on?”

“Is he ok?”

They talk over each other but it’s easy to tell they are both worried about Law. It warms Bepo’s heart that they have become so close to him and Law so quickly.

They met about a year ago, at an event for first-year students. Obviously, heavy drinking had been involved, even though he himself and Law had stayed sober. Shachi and Penguin had gotten into a brawl with someone after accidentally stumbling and knocking over their tray full of drinks. Before the situation could escalate Law had stepped in and described in very vivid detail how he could end the fuming man’s life in multiple, very painful ways right there and then if he did not shut up and sit back down. In the end, the other man had turned white as a sheet as he obediently sat back down without a word. Shachi and Penguin stared at Law with awe before they started to cheer loudly. It didn’t last long, however, as Law turned to the other two with a furious expression, telling the two to stop causing trouble and to get the fuck out.

The two drunken students ended up following Law and Bepo for the rest of the evening and once they found out they lived in the same building, on the same floor just across the hallway, the two stuck to Law and Bepo like white on rice.

“He’s ok, just tired… I think he’s been pushing himself too hard with studying lately.” Bepo doesn’t think it’s his place to tell the other two about Law’s past or current drug problem or other issues. The problematic relationship with Kid is something they all know about already.

“But the year just started, surely it can’t be just from studying.”

“Yea, that’s a terrible excuse Bepo, tell us what’s really going on.”

Before Bepo can answer, the kettle finishes boiling and he turns to prepare the tea, glad he doesn’t have to look at the other two for a moment. “I-I think he was having a panic attack when I entered his room.” Voicing his thoughts makes Bepo frown at the tea he’s preparing.

“WHAT?!” The two yell at the same time.

“Shhh!” Bepo turns to shush the two, he doesn’t understand why they have to be so loud.

“A panic attack?”

“Does that happen often?”

Bepo looks at the floor. “I-I don’t know, I haven’t seen him like that before.”

“What is that asshole doing to him? Why does he stay with a scumbag like that? We have to talk him out of it.” Shachi sounds livid.

Bepo sighs. “I don’t think it’s just Kid.” Right after saying that, Bepo realizes he might’ve revealed too much, Shachi and Penguin have no idea about Law’s past addiction and it’s not really Bepo’s place to tell them.

“What do you mean?”

“I… it’s not really something for me to tell…” He mumbles, hoping the other two will drop it.

“Oh come on, he is our friend too!”

“I-I’ll ask him if he’s ok with me telling you two. But if he says no, I’m not talking.”

“Bepo-”

“That’s final!... Sorry.” Bepo stares the two down before apologizing for his harsh tone. “I’m taking this and his remaining sushi to him.” He says as he walks past the two with the cup of tea he just prepared to fetch Law’s half-finished sushi plate from the living room. He’s relieved when the other two follow him and quietly sit back on the sofa.

“You two can stay and finish the movie, I’ll be right back,” Bepo tells them as he enters Law’s room again.

Law is still sitting at the edge of his bed but is now holding his phone. The display is lit with an incoming call from Kid again but Law does not look like he’s going to answer, just stares at it with a blank expression.

“Law?” Bepo wants to make sure the other is aware that he’s back. At the sudden sound, Law recoils slightly but relaxes as he looks at Bepo. “Sorry, I brought you tea and the rest of your sushi.” Law frowns slightly and looks at the plate Bepo’s holding. “I promise I didn’t add any more to it, it’s just… you need to eat you know?”

Bepo loves his friend but sometimes it feels like he’s taking care of a child who doesn’t yet know what’s good for him. He wonders if something happened to Law in the past to cause him to behave like this. Would he agree to go to therapy if Bepo suggested it now? He doubts it, considering how insistent the other was about not needing therapy while in rehab.

Law doesn’t say anything, just sighs and accepts the plate and cup Bepo’s holding out to him. He quickly cleans the plate and takes a sip of tea before he looks up to Bepo again. “Satisfied?” He hands the plate back but keeps the tea. Bepo notices his hands are still shaking slightly and briefly wonders if it’s from the panic attack or drug withdrawals. Did Law have panic attacks during his first rehab too and Bepo just never noticed? That thought makes him feel like a terrible friend.

Bepo tries to smile and nods to his friend before his expression goes back to being serious. “You know, Shachi and Penguin are worried about you too, they are asking questions. I can fill them in on some things if you want or you can talk to them yourself.” Bepo watches Law's frown deepen when he mentions telling the other two.

“Why do they need to know anything? It’s none of their business.” Law mumbles quietly, turning to look away from Bepo.

“They are your friends too you know. It might be good to get it off your chest, you-”

“And what do you know?! You have no idea what I am, what I’ve been through, what I’ve done!” Law snaps at him with a furious expression.

“... I would if you’d talk to me Law.” This is not new behavior from Law. After taking him in, whenever Law was coming down from his high and the withdrawal started to set in, he was extremely angry and snappy about the smallest thing. During that time, they had similar conversations multiple times. Bepo knows this is just the drugs talking, but realizing that makes him more worried, Law is further gone than he thought.

Despite being there for Law in any way he could, Bepo was never able to get Law to open up to him. Once he had gotten completely clean, he threw himself into studying medicine and preparing for the university’s entrance exam. He even helped Bepo with his and after failing twice in the past, Bepo finally got in with Law’s help.

Law brings up a hand to rub his face. “I-I’m sorry Bepo, I didn’t mean-”

“It’s ok Law, try to get some rest, come get me if you need anything ok?” Bepo waits for Law to nod before he stands up and walks to the door. Before he’s able to close it, Law chokes out a quiet thank you. The look on his friend's face makes Bepos's chest tighten with worry, but he knows from experience that Law wants to be left alone right now. He just nods and softly closes the door.

As Bepo enters the hallway he realizes that Law's laundry is still in the machine which has probably stopped ages ago. He goes to empty it and dumps everything into their dryer before he starts stuffing the rest of Law’s dirty clothes into the washer. As he’s doing that, he discovers that the majority of Law's clothes have suspicious light stains on them. Being a guy himself and having gotten carried away a few times in the past he soon figures out what they are, but the amount of them strikes him as odd.

Back when Law still spent more time at home, they often chucked in each other's clothes when doing the laundry. During the few years Law lived with him, the blonde had never noticed a single cum stain on his clothes before. On top of that, once Law had gotten clean, he was very particular about keeping everything clean and tidy.

The blonde can not imagine these clothes belong to that same man. Most of the stains are on the outside of the clothes or otherwise in places that make Bepo pretty sure who is responsible for most of them. He tries not to think about it too much as he finishes loading the machine and turns it on. It’s not his business what Law and Kid do in bed, he just hopes Law is not getting pressured into anything, he never seemed too interested in anything sexual before meeting Kid.

Trying to forget what he just discovered, Bepo returns to the living room where Shachi and Penguin have just finished the movie and are quietly talking. They turn to look at him as he sits in the armchair Law was sitting in earlier and lets out a deep sigh.

“I’m so worried about him, he has always been terrible at accepting help.” Bepo can’t help himself, he has to vent to someone. For years it has been just him and Law, Bepo never realized how much he himself needs someone to talk to.

“You’ve known him for a long time right?” Penguin’s the first to speak up.

“Yea, he was transferred to the same school and into my class when we were around 10. He was always a loner and I witnessed many people picking on him because of his skin condition, kids can be so cruel… I was a coward back then and just watched him get bullied for few years, but one day he stood up for me when some kids were making fun of me because of my size.” Bepo has always been quite big, even now he towers over all of his friends and is a little chubby. “We became friends after that, though it took him months to admit that.”

“So you’ve met his family then? Why did they make him transfer? Are they still around?” Shachi was the next with some questions.

“I… I never knew where he lived, no one but a few teachers did. I only know he was placed in foster care somewhere called the Donquixote estate, and that’s why he had to transfer. He never talks about his family so I don’t know… I’m sorry.”

“Donquixote… why does that sound familiar.” Shachi scratches his chin absent mindedly.

They all are quiet for a while, Shachi and Penguin try to pry some more information out of Bepo, but he either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to break Law’s trust by revealing his past or current addiction. They all agree to try to talk with Law in the morning. They settle in for another movie as Bepo has to stay up to finish the laundry and the other two want to stay and keep him company. They went for Monty Python and the Holy Grail to try and lighten the mood. They’ve all seen it multiple times but it still manages to crack them up.

Just as the knights on screen are running away from the white killer rabbit and the trio watching is laughing their asses off, they hear loud banging from the front door. The laughing stops immediately and Shachi reaches for the remote to pause the movie.

“What the fuck was that?” They all listen quietly and Bepo checks the time, it’s already 11pm, who on earth could be at their door at this time? And why would they not use the doorbell like a rational person?

After a moment of silence, the banging continues and this time it’s accompanied by shouting.

“LAAAW! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THEERRE!” There’s more banging and all three men look at each other, mouthing the same word, ‘kid’. “I know what you’re like Law!! You can’t do this to me after everything. Come out.” He’s slurring his words pretty badly, clearly drunk.

Bepo gets up and walks to the door, not planning to open it, no way in hell is he ever going to let that madman into their apartment. “Go away Kid, you’re dunk!” Bepo shouts through the door to try and get rid of the other man.

It’s quiet for a moment before they hear a massive thump from the other side. Did… did Kid just try to break down their door by running against it?

“YOU!! HE’S MINE!, KEEP YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF HIM!!” The thumping and banging continue and Bepo’s actually getting worried that their door might not be sturdy enough to withstand the muscular man’s assault for much longer, they need to come up with something to get him to leave.

“What’s going on?” A disheveled Law in his boxers and a crumpled T-shirt is standing in the doorway to his room, his hair and shirt look slightly damp, like he’s been tossing and turning in bed while sweating. Of course, Law would not sleep through something like this, if he even managed to fall asleep in the first place.

“Go back to bed Law-”

“LAW!! DON’T YOU DARE GO TO BED WITH THEM!!! YOU UNFAITHFUL WHORE!!” Kid’s angry voice booms from the other side of the door as he continues to try and punch his way through it. Law visibly tenses as he hears Kid’s voice, based on their expressions, Shatchi and Penguin notice the shift in Law’s demeanor as well.

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR OR I SWEAR TO GOD LAW-”

“We're calling the police if you don’t leave right now!!” Bepo yells back at Kid. Law starts to move towards the door, he can’t be thinking of opening the door right? Shachi has already whipped out his phone, just waiting for a signal from Bepo to make the call so Bepo turns to Penguin. “Don’t let him open the door.” He nods towards Law.

“Bepo, what?” Law protests and tries to fight Penguin who stops him from getting to the door. In his current state, Law is no match for any of them and there’s no way Bepo is letting Kid get to him right now.

“YOU BOYFRIEND STEALING PIECE OF SHIT!! FIND ANOTHER HOLE TO STICK YOUR DICK IN, HE’S MINE!!” Kid keeps screaming on the other side of the door which is still miraculously holding in place.

Bepo nods to Shachi who instantly dials the police. “Law, you can’t let him in like this, he is drunk out of his mind.”

“Y-you don’t understand, you’re just making it worse, let me go, I’ll take him away, he’ll listen to me.”

Bepo is horrified that Law is willing to go back to Kid at all after what he just yelled, not to mention while the other is like this. Bepo doesn’t know if Kid is a violent drunk, but the way he’s acting now points to a very strong yes to that question. There’s no knowing what he would do should he get to Law or any of them like this.

“I’m sorry Law, I’m doing this for all of our protection.”

“LAAWW! LAAAWWW!!” Kid’s screams keep coming from the other side of the door. Suddenly they hear muffled voices from the hallway, someone else is in there.

“Hey, what on earth are you shouting at out here? People are trying to sleep you know.”

“Get lost small fry, this doesn’t concern you. They’re fucking my slut of a boyfriend on the other side, I’m just trying to get them to stop.”

“Dude, if he’s there willingly just take the hint and fuck off alright?”

That comment is followed by a feral growl from Kid and the sound of something, or possibly someone, hitting the floor.

“Shachi hurry up!” Bepo is panicking, did Kid just attack one of their neighbors??

“They’re on the way, I just told them it’s getting dangerous.” Shachi is still on the phone with the dispatcher.

“Hey! What the fuck was that for?” The other guy sounds angry now. The banging on the door has stopped and soon there are sounds of a scuffle from the other side. Bepo gives a nervous glance to the others in the apartment with him. Should he open the door to make sure the other guy is ok?

“They’re downstairs,” Shatcih confirms while he keeps updating the situation to the dispatcher. Penguin nods to Bepo while blocking Law from getting to the door. Bepo slides their chain lock on before he carefully opens the door to peek outside. With the lock in place the door won't open all the way but he gets a better idea of what’s going on on the other side.

“I told you to calm the fuck down!” Bepo hears the strange man yell as soon as he opens the door. Well more like a teen than a man he guesses once he gets a good look at the other person. He’s currently sitting on top of Kid's chest, pinning his arms above his head. Kid is at least double his size if not triple, how on earth did the little guy manage to pin Kid down so effortlessly? The guy turns to look toward their door and flashes the brightest smile Bepo has ever seen.

“Oh hi! Are you his boyfriend? He was making so much noise it woke me up, sorry I had to punch him to get him to calm down.”

For a moment Bepo’s rendered speechless, who and what is this guy? He’s never seen him before, does he live in their building?

“Um, no I’m not, h-he was harassing us actually… I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” The guy beams at him. Before Bepo’s able to respond Kid starts shouting again.

“YOU BASTARD!! WHERE IS HE?” He starts to struggle but the guy holds him down before the elevator dings and two police officers step out. One of them faces palms as soon as they step out.

“You again? Can’t you stay out of trouble for one fucking night kid?” He grumbles as the officers step in to restrain both men in the hallway. Kid keeps shouting obscenities until the grumpy officer threatens to tase him if he doesn’t shut up.

Once Kid is restrained and quiet for the moment, Bepo undoes the chain lock and opens the door properly, revealing everyone else inside the apartment behind him. Instantly he realizes his mistake as Kid’s eyes land on Law and he takes in his disheveled appearance. Based on what Kid was shouting earlier, Bepo’s sure he knows what conclusion Kid just came to in his head.

“I fucking KNEW it you SLUT! Did you enjoy it huh? Did you take all three at once?! I-” The grumpy officer's partner pulls out her tazer without hesitation and has Kid spasming on the floor within seconds.

“Um, he was actually helping.” Bepo points at the smaller guy who the police have also cuffed, he doesn’t seem to mind though as his smile only grows once he sees the other men behind Bepo.

“It’s you!” The guy shouts happily as the police officer moves to uncuff him. Bepo wonders who he means, he looks back at Shachi and Penguin who are equally confused, until they all turn to look at Law, who is just staring at the guy with wide eyes. Oh.

“You are lucky this time Mr. Monkey, don’t let me find you in the middle of a fight again or I will be arresting your ass.”

“Ok Smokey, but just call me Luffy, I told you before!” The guy, Luffy keeps beaming to the officer as Kid get’s dragged to the elevator. The other officer approaches the door and takes their accounts of what happened. In the end, she asks if Luffy wants to press charges for the guy attacking him, but Luffy just waves it off.

“I’m just glad I was able to help the guy with the cool tattoos! Man I didn’t know you live here, I’ve never seen you here before! Oh, but I only moved in with Zoro last week as I got into the university and lessons were about to start so I guess it’s not enough time to have met all the neighbors yet, shi shi shi. But we live on the same floor? That’s so cool! How are your dogs? They must be very well behaved to be this quiet even with all the commotion going on. Man, I’m sure Chopper is trying to chew his way through my door right now, I should probably go check on him actually… It was nice to see you again though, do you also go to the university? It’s student housing so I bet you do, I will see you around then!”

The guy smiles and waves at them as he opens the door to the apartment right next to the elevator, a few doors left from where Shachi and Penguin live, and disappears inside before any of them can respond. Even the officer seems confused by the word vomit they just received but recovers faster than the others.

“Well if you remember anything more or have something else to report, here’s my card, please don’t hesitate to call. We will be holding him overnight so he has time to sober up, but unfortunately, after that, we will be forced to let him go.” She smiles at them before she leaves, opting to take the stairs to get down. Bepo turns to look at the card, it just says Officer Tashiki on it and has 2 phone numbers, one directly to her and the other assumably to the station she’s assigned to.

“Y-you called the fucking POLICE on him?!” Law seems to finally process everything that just happened and he seems pissed.

“He was trying to break down the fucking door!! Of course, we called the police!” Shachi yells back instantly. “You can’t seriously think he would’ve calmed down if we had just opened the door, are you fucking insane?!”

“You didn’t fucking have to get him ARRESTED!!” Law is fuming and for a moment Bepo’s afraid he’s going to hit Shachi. Instead, he huffs and turns around to head back into his room. “I fucking hate all of you, I’m not staying in here!”

“Law, please be reasonable!” Bepo tries to calm Law down. “Let’s just sit down and talk about it.”

“I’m done fucking talking.” Law emerges from his room with fresh clothes on. He heads for the bathroom to empty the dryer that finished during all the commotion.

“Law please.” Bepo tries again.

“I’m leaving, thanks for doing the laundry, I’ll pick up the rest later.”

“Wait, please.” Bepo tries to grab hold of Law’s wrist but the other jumps away before he’s able to get a proper grip.

“Don’t fucking touch me!!” Law screams at them and before any of them can do anything, Law slips his shoes on and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Text

As the front door clicks closed behind Luffy, he leans his back against it and lets out a frustrated sigh. He can’t believe he did it again, why can he never stop talking when he’s nervous or excited? The amount of time he’s gotten into trouble or driven away potential friends because he just can’t keep his excitement contained. At least he didn’t pounce the man on the spot like his brain had been screaming at him to do.

He brings his hands to his face as he uses the door as a support to slide down to sit on the floor. He did not expect to see the handsome man from the grooming salon when he stepped out to investigate the shouting in the hallway. On top of that, the man had been dressed just in a T-shirt that showed he had more than just the hand tattoos Luffy saw before, and boxers that now have Luffy’s imagination running wild. With his lack of clothing, Luffy also noticed how thin the man is, he clearly needs to eat more.

Luffy is a little confused, he has never felt like this about anyone he’s met before. He had a long talk about it with Nami after the man had left the salon and Nami was done chewing him out for touching a customer like he had. Being a huge fan of physical contact, Luffy didn’t really understand why it was so wrong to touch someone’s hand for a little while.

Luffy’s thoughts wander to the feeling of the man’s hand in his the first time they met. His skin was cool to the touch and it made Luffy want to touch and hold more of him instantly, he wondered if the man was cold and that’s why he was wearing so much, it’s not like it was a cold out that day. Unfortunately, the man pulled away when Luffy tried to look to check if he had more tattoos, apparently, that had been even worse than the handholding, why did people have all these weird rules, it made no sense to Luffy but he did his best to try and follow them, he just forgot when he got too excited about something… or someone.

According to Nami it sounded like he was attracted to the man, like having a crush. Luffy had never had a crush on anyone before. He’d experimented with kissing and touching with some people who were attracted to him in high school, but he never took it further than that, it just never felt right.

He has jacked off before of course, he is a teenager after all and sometimes his body does weird things, especially in the mornings. His brothers assured him that it was completely normal and a part of growing up so he doesn’t worry about it. But this has never happened because of another person before, he didn’t even know if he preferred girls or guys before this, and if he’s honest, he’s still not sure. The other person is a guy so that makes him gay like Ace right? But thinking about other men never made him feel like this. It’s just those golden eyes and hands with DEATH written on them that make Luffy wonder what it would feel like to have those fingers wrapped around him. His cock is straining in his loose shorts and he really wants to-

“Luffy? Is that you? What was all the yelling about?” Oh yeah, Zoro is home, he should update his friend on what happened in the hallway just minutes ago.

"Zoro! You'll never believe what happened!" Ignoring his hard-on, for now, Luffy gets up and bounces into his friend’s room to share his exciting story.

--

Law steps out of their building and starts to head towards Kid’s. Almost instantly he regrets the way he left. He didn’t mean to explode on his friends like that and he feels immense guilt for yelling at Bepo of all people. But the situation, the police, Kid… Luffy. It was all just too much for him to handle and he could not stay in the building for a minute longer.

When Bepo first opened the door, through the crack Law had managed to get a glimpse of Luffy pinning Kid down while they waited for the police to arrive. A thought of it being him under Luffy instead of Kid had somehow wormed its way into his mind and now he can not get that image to go away. What made it worse, was Bepo trying to grab his wrist as he was leaving and Law was instantly reminded of what Luffys fingers had felt like around his wrist in the grooming salon. That feeling combined with the images of Luffy pinning him down just caused Law to have a mental meltdown and he took it out on his friends.

He is the worst, lowest of the low, scum of the earth who fantasizes about being dominated by another man while his boyfriend has just been attacked and about to be restrained by the police. He didn’t hear anything anyone said after the door was opened, his ears were filled with white noise and he struggled to breathe. Once Bepo fully opened the door and Luffy locked eyes with him, he’s sure he stopped breathing altogether. He remembers thinking that he’d let the short man seemingly built from nothing but lean muscle do anything he wanted to him, anything. Not that he’d be able to fight him off even if he wanted to, he had brought Kid down so easily, regardless of the other being drunk out of his mind.

That thought scares him more than anything, it proves that Kid is right, in the past, Law was just a whore who would let anyone between his legs. Now that he’s in a relationship, his partner is not enough, he fantasizes about some random guy having his way with him. Kid has every right to not trust him alone around his friends, there’s clearly no telling what his sick mind might come up with and his past is proof enough that he’s unable to say no.

He can not stay in that apartment anymore, not now that he knows the sunshine lives right next door. He probably wouldn’t be able to think about anything but Luffy pinning him down while over there from now on. God, he needs to get that image out of his head before it makes him hard.

The thoughts keep swirling in his head as he makes his way through the empty streets. His only choice now is to hope and pray to god the Kid will forgive him once he is released from jail in the morning. Maybe he should pray to satan as well, god never seems to hear his pleas anyway. He’ll do anything Kid asks him to, anything to make him stay, Law can’t handle losing anyone else because of his stupidity.

Law thinks back to what happened earlier in the evening before Kid showed up. Law fully intended to break his promise to his friends and go back for the night once he saw Kid calling him again. However, the conversation did not go as expected, not at all.

When Law picked up, Kid was audibly hammered on the other side of the line and started with how much he hated Law for turning him gay, how he never had thoughts like this about men before him but couldn’t stop them now. He blamed Law for ruining his life by abandoning him, choosing his friends over him, being unfateful, and thinking about other men while Kid was fucking him.

Law tried to get through to Kid, to tell him there was no one else, that he didn’t want anyone else, but Kid’s last comment drove Law over the edge. He ended up screaming at Kid and hanging up the call before the other had time to respond. The conversation brought back memories he had desperately tried to avoid and made him wish he had some pills with him. He’d been graving for them all day but now the images he locked deep inside his mind were fighting to break free and he was desperate for a high, drugs, alcohol, anything to cloud his mind would’ve done at that point.

Then Bepo entered his room and somehow managed to bring him back before he got completely lost in his memories. The thought of Bepo seeing him like that terrifies him, what will the other man think of him now? Will he finally realize how weak and pathetic he is? How unworthy of all the time and investment the blond has given him over the years. Will Bepo finally give up on him and move on like everyone else has? He hopes he will, Bepo deserves better friends than him.

When Law finally makes it to Kid’s apartment, he’s exhausted. Everything aches and the cold sweat that keeps pouring from all his pores makes his clothes stick to his skin. His arms are shaking as he leans onto the counter in the hallway, he knows there are pills inside it that would make all the aching, the sweating, and the spiraling thoughts go away. But he doesn’t want to admit to himself how addicted to the pills he is already, taking some now would prove that he can’t even make it to day two without them.

Despite wanting to prove to himself he doesn’t need them, he’s unable to force his legs to step away from the counter. He’s such a massive failure at this point anyway, there’s no way someone like him could ever make it through med school, not to mention become a doctor. Maybe he never wanted to prove anything to himself, he just didn’t want to let Bepo down after everything the other man did for him. But it’s too late for that now, Bepo has seen under the cracks and Law doesn’t think he can ever face the other man sober again.

Kid… Kid never thought less of him for using drugs, quite the opposite actually, he seems to love it when Law is high during sex and even encourages it. It reminds Law of the man who introduced him to drugs in the first place. If it was up to Law, he’d probably still be with him but he fucked that up, like he fucks up everything in his life.

The first time Doffy gave Law strong drugs was to help with the pain in his leg. Soon after he lost his virginity while on said drugs. In the beginning it had hurt more than anything Law had experienced during the first 14 years of his life, but the drugs had taken the edge off once they kicked in. Now that he thinks about it, Law doesn’t remember having sex completely sober before he met Kid, and at this point, he’s not sure if he ever was truly sober with Kid either. The first time things escalated they were drinking and Law had way too much because he was nervous and afraid. After that, he remembers Kid giving him some pills to relax during sex which reminded Law of his time with Doffy. The familiarity off Kid’s actions made Law feel more comfortable with him, he didn’t mind not remembering many details of what they had done afterwards, Doffy had taught him that the key to a happy relationship was always making sure his partner was satisfied.

If fucking Law while he is higher than the international space station keeps Kid satisfied, Law could give him that. If only Kid forgives Law for tonight, he will do whatever the other wants. After all, Law always quite enjoyed the high he got from drugs, ever since the first time he used. They made his overactive brain slow down until the only thing he could think of was all the pleasure he was feeling. The guilt, embarrassment, regret, anger, sadness, grief, self-hatred, it all went away when he was high.

Absentmindedly, Law opens the drawer in front of him. Maybe this is how his life is meant to be, he was never meant to get clean or get a degree. He isn’t like his parent’s were, Bepo just imposed his ideals on him, giving him false hope of a better future that someone like him could never reach. In reality, this is all Law is good for. He picks up a bottle and stares at it.

He almost fucked up again like he did with Doffy. He just needs to devote himself to Kid and maybe he can still save this relationship, unlike last time. He can’t put himself into vulnerable situations where he can’t help himself.

Before he gets too lost in his memories he pops the lid off the bottle and throws a few pills into his mouth, not counting how many. He chews them for faster effect, he just wants everything to stop, the aching, the pain, the memories, all the thoughts. He just wants the world around him to stop for a while.

--

Law wakes up to the sun shining into his eyes. He groans and starts to roll over, just to be met with the edge of the bed sooner than he expected and he falls to the floor. Rubbing his sore head he slowly sits up to take in his surroundings. He’s in Kid’s living room, looks like he passed out on the couch instead of making it to the bed last night. He glances out the window, the sun is quite high already, it must be close to noon… So he missed morning lessons again, great.

With some effort, he gets onto his feet and notices it's oddly quiet in the apartment. Did Kid leave for work already? Are the dogs still sleeping? Rubbing his right leg to lessen the pain makes him wince, his wrist still hurts from the sprain. He unwrapped it before going to spend time with his friends last night to not worry them, he probably should’ve just kept it wrapped.

Wait, he was supposed to spend the night at his apartment, why is he in Kid’s place? Slowly the memories from last night start to trickle in and Law’s heart jumps into his throat. Kid getting arrested, Law exploding to his friends before storming out, Luffy being there…

He shakes his head and rushes to the bedroom. The bed is unmade but empty, no sign of Kid or the dogs.

“Kid?!” Law yells as the panic starts to set in. Did Kid not come home yet? He checks the time in his phone, ignoring all the messages and missed calls likely from his friends. 11:47, if they let him go this morning, he should be home by now. He checks and none of the messages or calls are from Kid. He navigates to Kid’s contact and calls him.

“The number you have dialed can not be reach-” Fuck, he ends the call. What the fuck? Why has Kid not come home? Why is his phone out of reach?

Hold on, the dogs are not here either, is kid just on a walk with them like last time Law panicked about the other leaving him like an idiot? He just needs to calm down and wait, surely Kid will be back soon and then they can have a talk about last night. Yeah, he just needs to relax until then, maybe brew some coffee to ease his nerves.

--

Five hours and two pots of coffee later, there’s still no sign of Kid or the dogs. Law keeps pacing around the apartment, trying to come up with an explanation for why Kid nor the dogs are home. Kid never takes the dogs to a sitter, so he must’ve left them in the apartment last night when he came to his and Bepo's apartment. Had the dogs been in when Law entered the apartment last night? His mind was so occupied that he honestly couldn’t remember. If the dogs had been here, that means Kid has to have come in earlier while Law was still sleeping and just left with the dogs. But why would he do that? Why wouldn’t he wake Law up? Why would he stay out with them for so long? Unless…

Law refuses to believe Kid would just leave him like this. This is Kids apartment, where could he go with such short notice? No, Kid must just be on a really long walk with the dogs to clear his head, he will be back any second now, he has to.

The seconds turn to minutes and minutes turn to hours as Law keeps waiting. He tries to call Kid a few more times, but each time the voice on the other end says the number can’t be reached. It’s almost midnight and Law has chewed all of his fingernails till the nailbeds are raw and almost bleeding from the edges.

He just has to wait, Kid will come, surely he will come home tonight. He hasn’t fucked this up, he can’t have. He brings a finger to his mouth again till he tastes blood. Fuck, he has made himself bleed. He gets the bandaids from the bathroom and fixes his bleeding finger.

He dials Kid again. He fixes another bleeding finger. And a third. The hours blend together and soon he notices the sun is getting up again. All his fingers are now either wrapped or bleeding but he can’t stop chewing on them.

This is not happening, this can’t be happening again. I didn’t even sleep with anyone else this time. ‘But you thought about it, whore.’ … But Kid doesn’t know that, he can’t know that! He can’t read minds, he will never know! ‘But what if he saw it in your eyes, everyone who’s ever fucked you knows what you are.’

Th-that’s not true, he’s not a whore, he never wanted to do it with, that man, he, he never wanted to betray Doffy, to be taken away. He never…

Law finds it hard to breathe, the memories of his 18th birthday keep flooding in and he feels paralyzed, unable to do anything to stop the memories from playing in front of his eyes like he’s watching some fucked up B horror movie.

-- TW: graphic description of rape/non con, slight reference to childhood sexual abuse

Law was alone in his room, waiting for Doffy who told him he had a surprise for him. Law feels a little antsy, last year his birthday surprise had been a young boy who could not have been older than 13. Law didn’t know what he was supposed to do with him, so, he had just ended up playing games with the boy till Doffy came to pick him up. His foster father had seemed displeased when he found the two playing on Law’s game console and had quickly ushered the boy away. Doffy had questioned Law about what he had done with the boy and Laws honest answer seemed to just anger the man further. The sex had been brutal that night like it always was when Law did something wrong.

Ever since Cor… ever since that day Law seemed to not be able to do anything right. He tried his hardest to please his foster father but nothing was ever right or good enough. He just hoped Doffy would not show up with another kid, Law hated kids.

Soon the door to Laws room opened and one of Doffy’s business partners stepped in. Law never liked the guy, he always smelled of sweat and cheap liquor, what the fuck was he doing in his room?

“Hey Law, I heard it’s your birthday today, 18 huh? You’re a man now. Zehahaha!”

His laugh made Law cringe. “What the fuck do you want, Teach?” Law never felt like being polite to people he didn’t like, which was almost everyone he met. Doffy never told him off for it so it must’ve been acceptable behaviour.

There was a glint in the disgusting man's eyes that made Law feel very uneasy. He sat up on the bed he had been lying in just as Teach took a step closer.

“What the fuck indeed.” He took another step and Law stood up, his fight or flight was starting to kick in. he did not like to have this man in his room, blocking the only exit.

“Get out of my room, Doffy will come soon.”

“Doffy got a little busy, we have some time, Law.”

Law hated the way he said his name, he wanted to leave, right now. “I’m not interested.” He said and tried to walk past the big man.

“Playing hard to get, I like a bit of a chase.” Teach rumbled next to him and grabbed him by the waist before he was able to get past.

“Let go you filthy pig!”

“Zehahahaha feisty, I like that.” He moved his other hand to grab Law’s ass. “I like to fight for my prize.” Teach let go of Law's waist and grabbed his jaw, forcing it open so he could stick his tongue down Law's throat. Before he was able to get too far in, however, Law bit down and drew blood, causing the other man to yelp in pain and recoil.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Law spat out Teaches blood and wiped his mouth, staring at the other with furious eyes.

“Ohhh, I’m going to have so much fun breaking you, zehahaha!” Teach flashed Law a grin full of bloody teeth before he was all over him, pushing him against the study desk in the room while his hands were everywhere on him.

Law felt disgusted, the man’s smell was overpowering and making Law want to throw up. He tried to fight the bigger man with everything he had, he was able to scratch his face with his fingernails and kick his fat belly, but the other man didn't budge.

“Clearly the pink bird has been too lenient with you, I think he still has a soft spot for you after everything.”

“Shut up! Let me go!” Law yelled and spat onto his face.

“Looks like you want me to take you from behind, that’s all good with me.” Law saw the man’s disgusting grin widen as he wiped the spit off his face just before the younger was spun around and his head slammed to the desk. Law’s vision blacked out for a few seconds and when he came back to, he felt his pants being pulled down. Panic took hold of his chest and he tried to squirm away while kicking his feet to get the other man to move away. This was not happening, he was supposed to be this way only with Doffy, he learned it the hard way when he was younger, it caused him to lose Corazon and that day he swore he would only belong to Doffy.

Tears formed in his eyes, he didn’t want this. “S-stop… Let me go.” He kept struggling but it was no use, the other man was bigger and stronger than him, he felt his fat belly on his back as he leaned in closer. The wretched smell that always clung to the man filled Law’s nostrils and he was sure he would be sick.

He heard a zipper being opened and soon he felt familiar pressure against his entrance, except this time it wasn’t Doffy. Tears started to gather at the corners of his eyes as he realized he wasn’t able to stop this, he would not get away.

“I can’t help but want you, you want me too, right? I’ve seen how you look at me. Now show me how well you’ve been trained.” Slowly he starts to push in dry and Law screams in pain.

“N-no! Please, stop! It hurts!” Law’s insides were on fire, it felt like he was being split in half.

“Shhh, it’s ok, a little pain never killed anyone, just relax.” Teach reached for his mouth and muffled his screams. Law wanted to bite the hand on his mouth but was unable to. Tears were running down his cheeks as the man kept pushing in and Law silently begged for him to stop.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be so tight, maybe I should’ve used some lube after all, zehahaha!” The man laughed and spat on his cock as he kept pushing in slowly.

When he bottomed out, Law was trembling, it hurt so much but in the man's tight grip, he couldn’t do anything but whimper and let the tears fall.

“So beautiful for me, I know it’s not your first time but I’m not into children like that pink bastard.” He pulled almost all the way out, spat on his cock again, and started to move back in. “But you’re a man now, you can handle this, you should be grateful I was able to control myself until now.” Law keeps whimpering in pain. “Every night since I first saw you, I dreamt of truly making you mine, locking you up, and fucking you till I break you.” The man was rough, he was disgusting, Law didn’t want him. He wanted to scream but his voice kept getting muffled by the big hand on his mouth. All he could do was cry quietly as he felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside.

Without a warning, he felt something prick the skin of his ass and when the man let his face go, he turned to look back. His eyes widened with horror as he saw an empty syringe in the man's hand. “Since you refuse to relax for me doll, I have to help you, zehahaha!”

Law was terrified, he had no idea what he was just injected with, Doffy only ever gave him pills, what the fuck??! “What the fuck did you do?? No stop, I don’t want your drugs! I don’t want YOU!!”

Teach reached for his mouth again and this time stuffed three fat fingers in, the taste made him gag. “Shhh, you wouldn’t want anyone to hear you now would you, it’s about to get a lot better for you.”

Law shook his head, he didn’t believe it, this could never be good for him, this man wasn’t his Doffy, it hurt too much, it…

Slowly the pain started to fade away and it was replaced with a pleasurable feeling, every time the man brushed against his prostate, the pleasure kept pooling in the pit of his stomach. To his absolute horror, Law realized he was growing hard. No, he didn’t want this, the pain was better, at least then he was able to avoid being part of it.

“N-No, haah sht-shtof-ah!” Law’s pleading and moans are muffled by the fingers still in his mouth.

“Oh stop resisting, you are clearly enjoying yourself already, zehahaha!” Teach picked up his pace, aiming for Law's prostate each time, making him cry out with every thrust. Though he would never admit it to the other man, Law knew he was not crying out of pain anymore. Realizing that fact made him feel more ashamed and disgusted with himself than he ever had, how could he be enjoying this other man inside him, this was not how it was supposed to be. Please, someone, anyone, make it stop.

To his horror, Law heard the door to his room open and before he was able to do anything, he heard Doflamingos voice. “Law… oh. Am I… interrupting?”

“Oops, looks like we’ve been found out, zehahaha!” Teach laughed behind him, he stopped moving but didn’t pull out.

“Oh, don’t let me stop you, Law seems to be quite enjoying himself.”

Unable to make other than muffled sounds with the fingers still in his mouth, Law closed his eyes, mortified as Teach started to thrust again, slowly picking up his pace.

“What do you say Law, should we give him a proper show? Zehahaha!” Teach removed his fingers from Law’s mouth and grabbed his hips with both hands. “Now sing for me.”

Law’s head was foggy, he didn’t want this, he didn’t like it, he didn’t… but it felt so fucking good. Unable to hold back anymore he whined and moaned like a common whore as Teach kept hitting his prostate with every rough thrust. It was like the drug had heightened its sensitivity and no matter how hard Law tried to fight it, eventually, the heat in his core released and he came all over his desk untouched, while Teach was still pounding into him. After a few more thrusts, he felt Teach release inside and he couldn’t help the pathetic whimper that escaped his lips. He was so ashamed of himself, coming like that on another man’s cock while Doflamingot was watching. He had never felt more humiliated in his life.

“I knew you would love this, you just love to get stuffed, don’t you? Zehahaha!”

“Well Teach, looks like he’s all yours now, I don’t play with used toys.”

What was Doffy saying? He was giving Law away to… to the swine who just…

“N-no! D-Doffy please, I-I didn’t… I didn’t want to… he… he forced me to, he… he…” Law’s head was still feeling foggy and as he tried to stand up from where he lay on the desk, his legs gave way under him and he just slumped to the floor. Teach had stepped away and was too busy stuffing himself back into his pants to do anything to break the fall.

“Law,” Doflamingo turned to look at him, but as always, his true expression was hidden by his glasses. “He forced you to enjoy it? Come on now, you know that’s not how it works.”

“No Doffy! I didn’t want it! He-”

“Then why didn’t you stop it?”

“I-I… I tried to, I.”

“Clearly not hard enough! I heard the moans, you came Law, you came untouched, men can’t be forced to do that.”

“No, Doffy, please. I… I” Law was unable to stand but he tried to crawl towards Doflamingo. “I... I l-love you, j-just-”

“How can you say that when you gave yourself to another man willingly like that? You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Please, I’ll do anything, just, don’t send me away. Please, Doffy” He was crying again. So patchetic, but he didn’t care, as long as Doffy would not send him away.

“Like I said, I don’t play with used toys, I can never trust you again. I thought that maybe, if you could resist the temptation I might be able to forgive and love you again, but you’ve disappointed me for the last time.” Doflamingo turned away and signed towards Teach with his hand. “Take him away and do with him what you want. I never want to see his ugly face again.” With that Doflamingo left the room and Law blacked out.

--

Chapter Text

When Law first opens his eyes, his vision is blurry and he feels dizzy even though he’s lying down. He closes his eyes and tries to clear the fog from his brain, it’s dark and he’s lying on something cold and hard, the floor maybe? As his senses start to wake up and he’s more aware of everything around him, his crotch and pants feel wet, did he spill something on himself before he passed out or did he lay on top of something? As if to answer his question, a pungent smell reaches his nostrils and his eyes shoot open as he struggles to sit up to assess the damage.

His pants are visibly wet and the smell is unmistakable, he’s fucking pissed himself while he lay on the floor, great. At least he’s sitting on the cold, bare floor so none of the rugs have been damaged.

He rubs his face and sighs, wondering what had actually woken him up when he hears the doorbell ring. Someone’s at the door? He looks around but there’s still no sign of Kid nor the dogs. Surely Kid took his keys with him when he left? Who else could it be though?

The lights are off and the sun has already set outside, the moon is out and shines through the window, basking the room in its dim light. Law reaches for his phone and tries to ignore his thumb which needs disinfecting and bandaging as he unlocks the screen. It’s already Sunday and past 10 pm, has Kid still not come home? Maybe he really did forget his keys.

Law stands up, pushing through the aching in his whole body and the burning on his leg, he should take something for that in a bit. For a moment he considers changing his pants before opening the door, but if it’s Kid, he’s going to find out about his humiliating accident anyway and the longer he takes to get the door the angrier the other man will get.

Just as he makes it to the door, the bell rings again followed by soft knocking on the door.

“Law? Are you in there?!”

Law freezes mid movement, hand never quite reaching for the lock to open the door. It’s Bepo's voice, what is he doing here? Law’s head starts to run a mile a minute, what reason would Bepo have to come here? Doesn’t he know what could happen if Kid was here? What if Kid is on his way back home right now and he finds Law with Bepo in his apartment? They would both be screwed, why would Bepo come here, why didn’t he just…

Something clicks in Law’s head and he looks at his phone again. He has 97 missed calls and 99+ new messages from his friends. Fuck, he never got back to them to let them know he was ok, that Kid was not home yet.

“Law?!” more knocking. “Is Kid there? We’re just worried about Law!”

Law closes his eyes and leans his forehead against the door, he can’t face his friend like this, aching for pills and soaked in his own urine.

“I-I’m ok Bepo, go home.” He talks loud enough to be heard through the door.

“Law! Are you ok? Are you hurt? Did Kid hurt you? Is he not letting you out?”

“I… I’m ok, Kid’s not here, please leave before he comes back.”

“Can you please open the door, I just want to make sure you’re ok! I’m sorry”

Law hates himself for putting Bepo into this position, if he hadn’t left as he did, there would be no reason for his friends to be worried, no reason for them to come here and potentially put themselves at risk of getting beat up by Kid. Not to mention what it would mean for himself, but he knows he’s screwed already anyway.

“I-I’m sorry Bepo, but I… I can’t let you in.”

“Law, please-”

Law is so frustrated he wants to cry, why won’t Bepo understand? “Just fucking leave! I don’t want you here, I don’t need you, you’re just making everything worse for me!” Silently in his head, Law is pleading for Bepo to just go before Kid gets back before he gets hurt, he could not bear being the cause of even more suffering for the kindest man he’s ever known.

“Law-”

“Leave me alone!” Law’s thankful his voice doesn’t crack, he can’t let Bepo know how much it's tearing his heart to push the other away. But he has to, it’s for the best, they don’t deserve each other, they never did. Bepo is way too good for someone like Law, all he’s ever done is drag the blonde down with him, hold him back with his endless bullshit. But no more, Law’s setting Bepo free of the obligation of being his friend. He’s already done more for Law than he ever expected anyone to do and he will always be grateful for it, always. But he can’t drag Bepo with him to the life he decided to embrace by staying at Kid’s side.

“Law please, just-”

“I told you to fucking LEAVE! And never come back here again! We’re not f-friends anymore.” Law’s unable to shout the last sentence and hates how his voice wavers but he hopes Bepo didn’t hear it. The silence on the other side of the door stretches and Law can't stop his hands from shaking.

“O-ok Law… I’m s-sorry.” Law hears Bepo sniffle as his footsteps get further away from the door and down the stairs. He made Bepo cry and he fucking hates himself for it. Unable to stay standing on his trembling legs any longer, Law slumps down on his knees, holding one hand against the door and the other on his mouth to muffle the sobs he’s unable to hold back anymore. He wants to open the door and shout at Bepo to come back, to run after him and beg him to forgive him, tell him that he didn’t mean any of it and Bepo’s the best friend anyone could ever ask for. But he doesn’t. Instead, he curls into a ball, back against the door, and weeps. He mourns the loss of Bepo who was the only good thing in his life for so long till he finally ruined it. He always knew he eventually would, good things like that are not meant to last for him.

When the tears finally stop he feels exhausted but his aching body is preventing him from falling asleep. He drags himself to their drug drawer in the hallway and rummages around blindly till his fingers wrap around a familiar shape. Quickly checking it’s oxy and not whatever Kid gives him when they fuck, he pops the lid open and downs a few pills before he lays back down on the floor. Too tired to do anything about his earlier accident, he just wants to sleep till Kid finally comes home.

As he’s drifting off, he registers his stomach growling. He vaguely realizes he hasn’t had anything but coffee since leaving his friends on Thursday and it was now… Sunday? Ah, he can deal with that tomorrow, his head is already feeling so fuzzy and good he doesn’t want to worry about something as mundane as food. As he finishes that thought, he feels like he’s drowning in cotton and sweet darkness takes over.

--

It’s 11:24 Monday morning and Kid’s on his way back home. Killer and Jiki are resting at the back of his car in the massive cargo area he has modified for them. He chose his car specifically to accommodate the two dogs when he wanted to go a little further out with them. They had just been on a three day hike in the mountains because Kid needed to clear his head and he wanted to give Law time to think about what he did.

When Kid was released from jail on Friday morning, he had been fuming. He could not believe Law had first failed to inform Kid he planned to spend the night with his friends instead of Kid and after leading Kid on with his apologetic messages he shouted at him over the phone and dared to fucking hand up on him. And once Kid showed up to collect what’s rightfully his, Law allowed his coward-ass friends to get him arrested! Who fucking does that to their partner?!

On his way home, Kid had come up with multiple plans for getting Law back from his friends, most of them included beating them all up for fucking daring to touch what was his. What Kid had not expected was to find Law passed out on his couch when he came home. There was a bottle of pills on the floor next to him so he must’ve gotten high and passed out while waiting for Kid to come home.

Well if that whore thought it would be that easy to get back in his good graces he was sorely mistaken. He would make Law taste his own medicine and show him what it fucking felt like to be in the dark about where their partner was and when they were coming back.

So Kid packed his hiking gear and enough food for the dogs for the next few days and left almost as soon as he had entered the apartment, he’d get food for himself from somewhere on the way. If Law was serious about their relationship, he would still be there waiting when Kid came back and then Kid would lay some ground rules for them. He had clearly been way too lenient with Law so far and needed to tighten the leash significantly.

The three days he spent outdoors have given him time to think about their situation and what rules he needs to set for Law to keep him in check. As he arrives at his destination he parks his car and heads for his apartment with the dogs. He turned his phone off as soon as he left on Friday to make it impossible for Law to reach him. If Law is as desperate as he seemed in the texts on Thursday night, Kid’s sure he’s still there waiting for him.

--

Law wakes up to a wet feeling on his face. Groaning he turns away and pushes the offending creature away before his brain registers what’s going on. When he realizes it is a dog licking his face he opens his eyes to look at an excited Jiki hovering over him, tail wagging so hard his whole body is moving with it and letting out excited whimpering noises. He moves to pet the excited dog before it clicks that if the dogs are home, that must mean-.

“Enjoying the free drugs I keep providing for you?” The gruff voice coming from the direction of the front door confirms it, he’s finally home. Law sits up to look at Kid, he still has his boots on and is holding his hiking and camping gear, has he been out hiking this whole time?

“Kid… you… what-”

“You’re in no position to ask me questions right now!” Kid sounds angry, he shouldn’t really have expected anything different. “Quite the stunt you pulled last week, you think I’m going to take you back just like that after what you put me through?”

“Kid, I’m sorry, I-I-”

“I’m not fucking done talking!” Kid shouts as he tosses his gear to the side and slowly walks towards Law. The smaller man flinches at the harsh tone and swallows what he was about to say. His heart rate picks up as he keeps staring into Kid’s eyes and he wants to back away but his body won’t move. “You speak when I give you permission to, am I making myself clear?” Law’s body feels like it’s frozen in place, unable to move a muscle. “Am I making myself clear?!” Kid reaches to grab Law's jaw and that jolts his muscles awake again, he nods.

“Good. Now, you lied to me, betrayed me, cheated on me, and had me humiliated in front of the police and your friends. You clearly have no respect for me and I’ve lost all the trust I once had in you, how do you plan to make up for everything you’ve done? I’ve given you plenty of time to think so what have you got for me?”

Kid let’s go of Law’s face and stares at him expectantly. Law’s not entirely sure if he’s allowed to speak now but as the silence stretches Law takes that as his cue.

“I-I’m so sorry Kid, I should've told you when we made the plans but I forgot. I-I never cheated on you, I would never do that, you have to believe me.” He feels tears burning at the corners of his eyes but refuses to let them fall. “I-I only need you Kid, please, I’ll do whatever you want me to.” His heart is beating so fast it feels like it will break through hit ribcage at any second.

“Then prove it to me, prove to me that I’m the most important person in your life. Give me your phone.”

“Wh-what?”

“Your phone.” Kid holds out his hand to him. “Unlock it and give it to me.”

Law's hands are shaking as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He tries to unlock it but it’s out of battery. “I-It’s out of-”

“Then get a fucking charger.” Kid’s voice is quiet but dripping with impatience. Law scrambles onto his feet and limps to the kitchen where he can plug it in to charge. He sets the phone down on the counter to let it charge for a bit before trying to turn it on. As he turns around to look at Kid again he jumps slightly as he finds Kid standing right behind him, leaning in to press him against the counter with his body and caging him in between his strong arms. Law swallows harshly.

“Now, while that’s charging, listen to me carefully.” Law’s hands fumble to hold on to the edge of the counter for support so his legs won’t give out. Kid is so close he can feel his warm breath on his skin and it’s winding up his nerves towards a breaking point.

“After I go through your phone to make sure you haven’t been talking to anyone else, you will give me full access to it any time I ask, without question.” Law nods, he doesn’t have anything to hide on his phone so having Kid go through it for reassurance when ever he needs is not a problem.

“I don’t want you anywhere near those three, you will delete and block their numbers. You can keep going to your lessons but you’ll avoid them at school, you won’t talk to them in the hallways or spend time with them during lunch. If you have lessons together, you won’t sit with them, you won’t accept them as partners for any group work. If you need to stay at school for something after hours, you will inform me as soon as you find out and come straight home after if I’m not there to pick you up. You will terminate the contract you have for the student apartment and move in with me permanently. If you need to pick up something from your old apartment, I will go with you but you won’t ever go there alone again. Clear?”

Law’s head is spinning, he has already pushed his friends away but now Kid’s asking him to cut all contact. He’s not sure if he’s ready to go that far but maybe it would be for the best. They might be hurt and confused at first but they’ll eventually get over it and forget about him. It’ll be the hardest for Bepo, but maybe if Law cuts him cleanly off like Kid is asking, it’ll be easier for the blonde in the long run.

“Am I making myself clear?” Kid’s hand is back on his face while he keeps pressing Law onto the counter, the sharp edge is pressing painfully onto his lower back. Once he makes this decision there’s no going back. He already decided to devote his life to Kid so why is he still hesitating?

Law turns his gaze to the floor, nods in Kid’s hold and mumbles a quiet “Yes…”

Kid shakes Law’s head a little with his hand and tightens the grip on his jaw. “Look at me when you speak!”

Law swallows the lump that keeps growing in his throat before lifting his eyes to look into Kid’s flaming orbs. “Y-yes, got it.” He hates how meek his voice sounds in his ears, but Kid looks satisfied with his response, lets him go, and takes a step back.

“Good, now unlock your phone for me.” Kid picks up said phone and hands it out to him, watching closely as he turns on the power and puts in his pin. Once done, he hands it back to Kid and waits patiently as Kid goes through everything.

“They’ve called and texted you so all weekend, you answer any of them?” Kid looks at Law and he shakes his head. “Read any of the messages?” Law shakes his head again. “Good.” Kid goes back to his phone, clearly reading through his messages.

After a long while of reading and occasionally typing something, Kid looks satisfied and hands his phone back to him. “Looks like you weren’t lying this time, I didn’t see any calls or messages to anyone but me since Thursday. I cleaned your call log and messages for you, but I want to see you delete and block all three of them right now.”

Law’s stomach feels like it’s filled with ice as he accepts the phone and just looks at the list of contacts on the lit-up screen, he only has four numbers saved, to begin with. He… he has to do it right now? His palms are sweaty, he had expected to… expected to do what exactly? Call them? Text them goodbye? Tell them he’s sorry? To not bother him again? As if they’d listen, it’s better this way.

He bites his lower lip as his bandaged fingers move against the warm glass and he starts to do what Kid expects him to. Penguin, block contact, delete. Shachi, block contact, delete. Bepo, block… block… he hesitates, his hand shaking as his finger hovers over the option to block contact. He knows it’s just a number, numbers can be blocked and unblocked, deleted, and added again, it doesn’t really mean anything, it doesn't… But to him right now it feels like this means everything. Blocking and deleting the number is like he’s officially deleting Bepo from his life after being friends with him for 12 years. 12 long years of him just being a burden to the other. He’s doing this for Bepo as much as for Kid, this is better for everyone, this is…

He’s startled as a drop of water hits the screen. He looks up to Kid in confusion but the other is standing a few feet away, staring at him with an unreadable expression. Law looks back down at his phone and it isn’t until another drop falls that he realizes it came from him, he’s no longer able to keep the tears from spilling over. He quickly wipes his eyes and finally blocks and deletes the last number before tossing his phone back to the counter.

“There, done, you’re the only one in my life now, satisfied?” He feels bitter that Kid made him do this, why could he not keep the contacts even if he would never interact with them again? Just having them always gave him a sense of security he no longer has.

Kid keeps staring at him with no emotion visible in his eyes before speaking in a low voice. “Not quite. Strip.”

“W-what?” Did he hear that right? Did Kid just tell him to… strip? Here? Right now?

“You heard me, strip. I want to make sure no one else touched you.” Kid’s eyes grow darker as he repeats what he said. “Don’t try my patience today, Law.”

Not wanting to anger Kid any more than he already has, Law starts by pulling off his shirt and hoodie and tossing them to the floor. He feels Kid's eyes roam over him as he moves on to untie and pull down his pants, removing his socks at the same time. He stands back up only in his underwear and looks back at Kid.

“Everything, Law.”

Gulping nervously, Law slips his thumbs under the waistband of his boxers. This takes him back to the years he spent with Doffy, he loved to watch Law strip and afterward, he’d have him spin around for him so he could inspect every inch of him, before telling him how pretty he would be without his light patches. The tall man had him do that almost every night after the first evening he ordered Law to strip for him. Even after they got more intimate, Doffy would always have Law strip in front of him before doing anything else. Law refuses to believe the tall man knew how uncomfortable it made him feel every time.

Kid’s never asked Law to do this for him before, but he wonders if he also likes to watch sometimes, like Doffy. Even though he is uncomfortable with having his body out on display like this, the thought brings Law an odd sense of calm and familiarity as he stands in front of Kid in their kitchen, completely naked.

“Spin, slowly. I want to see every inch of you.” Law almost smiles as he starts to spin in place, slowly. That’s what Doffy always said. He’s not looking at Kid, but he knows the other man is looking at him, devouring every inch of him, likely making sure there are no marks left by anyone else anywhere on his body.

Once Law completes a full circle, he looks back at Kid expectantly and sees the other nod his approval.

“On your knees.” Comes the next command and Law obeys without question, having easily fallen back into his old habits from the time he spent with Doffy. His foster father would get violent if he didn’t obey immediately so he drops to his knees as Kid moves closer and lifts a hand to cradle Law’s cheek.

“Now show me how much you appreciate your man baby.” Kid’s hand moves from Law’s cheek to his hair as he pulls his face against his crotch. Through the rough fabric of Kid’s pants, Law can feel the redhead is already fully hard. Not washing any time, Law reaches for the zipper in Kids pants and opens it, causing the bigger man to let out an excited gasp. Law moves on to pull the pants down together with his boxers to free his already weeping member.

Before he’s able to get to work, Kid stops him and puts something into his mouth, a pill. “Take this, it’ll make it better later.” Law looks up to Kid as he closes his lips around his fingers and swallows the pill, his gaze never leaving the blazing eyes looking down at him with desire.

As Kid pulls his fingers away, Law’s mouth finds his cock and he starts to suck the bigger man off. Kid lets Law do all the work for once, not forcing his head down or fucking into his mouth which Law is grateful for. Thanks to this he’s able to suppress the mental images of Teach abusing his mouth long enough for the drug to start to kick in. It makes it easier for him to keep bobbing his head along Kid’s cock as the other gently holds a hand in his hair while throwing his own head back to enjoy the treatment.

“Fuck Law, you have no idea how much I’ve been waiting to sink my cock into you all weekend. Your whore mouth is so perfect, from now on it's only for me to enjoy, got it?”

Law tries to nod his head and lets out a muffled “Mhmm” as he keeps sucking Kid off. The fuzziness in his head keeps increasing, making it harder for him to concentrate. Kid seems to notice this as well, as his grip on his hair tightens and he thrusts into his mouth a few times before he lets out a satisfied growl while Law feels his thick cum fill his mouth and trickle down his throat.

“Mmmmmh baby, I never want you to do that to anyone else, promise me.” Kid demands as he pulls out of Law’s mouth and holds his face up, locking his eyes with Law’s hazy ones.

“I promise.” Law’s mind is so clouded already that he’d promise anything the other man thinks to ask. Whether or not he’ll remember later what exactly it is he promised is a whole different story.

“Good boy.” Kid praises him as he pulls Law up from the floor and lifts him to sit on the counter. “My turn now, I’ve had to wait way too long for this.”

Kid proceeds to fuck him roughly through the rest of the day. they start on the kitchen counter but eventually move to the bedroom. Law is barely conscious for the whole time, the buzz from whatever Kid gave him makes him feel so good and he’s lost count of how many times either of them has come. Kid’s forgiven him and that makes him feel immense relief.

His thoughts keep wandering to Doffy and eventually, Luffy pops into his head. Once he thinks about that sunny smile and chocolate brown eyes on top of him, the image won’t leave. At the moment, he’s too high to care and just enjoys fantasizing about Luffy while Kid keeps drilling him into the mattress.

Chapter Text

It's Tuesday morning as Law drags his feet towards uni in pouring rain, the dark skies and rolling thunder in the distance perfectly reflecting his inner turmoil. The heavy downpour has already soaked through all of his layers, of course, he forgot to take an umbrella. Or maybe he chose to leave it behind, he doesn't really know.

He already missed the first lessons of the day because he forgot to set his alarm and woke up to the door slamming when Kid left for work. Law had instantly called him to ask why hadn’t he woken him up and the bastard said that Law looked like he needed the rest so he didn't want to wake him. But Law has his doubts, he's pretty sure Kid would be over the moon if Law told him he decided to drop out.

Should he drop out? Does he even want to become a doctor or is he doing this just because he thought it was the only way to get his parents to be proud of him as a child? He doesn't blame his parents, he knows their schedules were busy as doctors and he was always a difficult child. Getting into fights with other kids at school or picking on his baby sister because he was jealous of her perfect skin and the group of friends that always surrounded her.

Even Doffy had endorsed his dream of becoming a doctor by bringing him books to study when he thought Law had behaved exceptionally well. With not much else to do in his free time, he had studied them all from cover to cover, till he had memorized everything in them.

But is becoming a doctor really his own dream or just what everyone around him expects of him?

His train of thought is interrupted by a feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his head. He hadn't realized he already entered their uni building and in front of him stands a very concerned Bepo with Penguin and Shachi hanging a little further back, giving him wary looks.

“Law thank god, I was so worried when you weren't at the morning lessons again and our calls or texts don't seem to be going through anymore. I-I thought Kid… well, you're here now and-”

“What do you want Bepo?” Law shakes the hand off his shoulder, steels his face and looks away, wanting to avoid seeing the hurt he's causing in the big man's eyes.

“Law, I, I'm sorry about-”

“Yea right, when aren't you sorry about something.” Law hides behind a mean smirk and tries to walk away, never meeting Bepo's eyes and ignoring his other two friends.

“Law wait, we need to talk about-”

“There's nothing to talk about.”

“B-but Law, we didn't-”

“Just leave me the fuck alone! I'm not a child, I don't need you to breathe down my neck all the time, I told you we’re not friends anymore!” His eyes finally meet Bepo's and as soon as they do, he knows he made a mistake as he sees a realization dawn on Bepo.

“Law, you…you're high? You came to uni high?!”

Law winces, of course, Bepo would notice, he always seems to notice everything.

“Don’t you know what could happen if-”

“That's none of your concern anymore.” He pulls himself free from Bepo's hold and turns to walk away, just to be met with furious eyes.

“You can't fucking be serious Law! Do you have any idea how worried Bepo has been since you left the apartment? How worried we've all been?!” Shachi gestures between himself and Penguin. “We thought Kid had put you in the hospital or worse when you weren't even reading your damn messages!”

“Shachi-” Penguin tries to calm the redhead down while Law is rendered speechless.

“Let me finish Peng, he needs to hear this.” Shachi turns back to Law, jabbing him in the chest with his index finger. “What the fuck did you say to Bepo when he came to make sure you weren't dead? He came out of the building crying and wouldn't tell us anything while he proceeded to sob all night!”

Law feels like his heart is being ripped out of his chest as Shachi keeps yelling at him. He didn't mean to hurt Bepo that badly, he just needed the other man to realize he wasn't worth it.

“And after all that you have the nerve to show up fucking high out of your ass like you're the one who's been wronged. You chose that asshole over us Law, you deserve all the shit that comes your way from now on for all I care. I can't believe I considered someone as selfish as you as my friend.” Shachi pushes him in the chest, causing him to trip on his legs and fall on his back. His head is too fuzzy to realize he should try to soften the fall somehow and he ends up banging his head on the floor, causing him to see dark spots for a moment.

“Law!” He hears Bepo yell as soon as he falls.

“Leave him, he's not worth it.” Law listens to three sets of footsteps walk away while he stays on the floor. He brings one arm to rest over his eyes to hide the wetness gathering in the corners of his eyes. Shachi's words hurt and he wanted to deny it all but he couldn't. Deep down he knows the redhead is right, he's just a selfish, sad excuse of a man who only knows how to hurt those who get too close to him.

His parents died because of him, he was unable to do anything but watch as his sister was slowly crushed to death and his stupid selfish actions caused Cora to take his own life. No wonder Doffy was never fully able to forgive him even before what happened with Teach.

Cutting his friends out of his life before he causes even more damage is really the only option. Especially Bepo, the kind man deserves so much more than Law would ever be able to offer him. He is happy Bepo at least has Shachi and Penguin now, Law doesn’t need to worry about leaving the blonde all alone by cutting him out of his life anymore.

Law knows Kid is not exactly a good or kind person, but someone like him is all he deserves, at least he won't need to feel terrible when he eventually ruins Kid's life in some way. He briefly wonders how Kid would be affected if Law happens to od some day. He wishes the redhead would mourn him but more likely he’ll just move on to someone new. Probably better that way, Law’s not worth it for anyone to mourn over, no matter how much he wishes he was. Hopefully, Bepo will realize that soon too.

The tired man wishes he would be able to cut Kid out of his life as well but he knows he’s not strong enough to get through life alone. Admitting it to himself makes him feel weak and pathetic but he knows the redhead is the only thing stopping him from completely giving up and just downing a whole bottle of pills to end it all. Days like this make Law wonder why he even bothers to try at all anymore.

Law sits up with a deep sigh, he’s not looking forward to avoiding his ex-friends for the rest of his studies, maybe he should look into online courses. He takes a quick glance around to make sure he’s alone in the hallway while reaching for the pills in his bag. He swallows a few before standing up and heading to the next lessons. For a moment he wishes he’d have something stronger than his pills, it takes too long for them to kick in.

--

Bepo was so shocked after he saw Shachi push Law to the floor that he forgot to put up a fight while the other two dragged him away. When he finally snaps out of it, he finds himself right outside of the classroom for their next lessons, being led towards the door by Penguin.

The blonde plants his feet firmly on the floor and pulls his hand away from the loose hold before turning to glare at Shachi who stands next to Penguin. Both men stopped walking and are now looking at him with questioning expressions.

“What the fuck was all that about Shachi?!” Bepo was furious, how dare Shachi butt in on the conversation he was trying to have with Law. “What gave you the right to push him like that? Can’t you see how much he’s hurting? You have no idea what he’s been through, you weren’t there when he… What if he…” Bepo’s anger fades as quickly as it flared and is replaced by worry, Law wouldn’t do anything to hurt himself right? He knows the tattooed man has always had mental issues and doesn’t take good enough care of himself and-.

“What? Weren’t there when he what Bepo? What the fuck is going on between you two? What did he say to you? I’m not going to watch you cry because of that sack of shit anymore, he clearly doesn’t care enough about you or us, you saw the fucking state he’s at, he chose to do that to himself Bepo!”

Penguin puts a hand on Shachis shoulder to calm him down. “Chill man, there’s no reason for us three to fight.” He turns to look at Bepo. “But it would be easier to understand the situation if you filled us in on some more details Bepo.”

Bepo’s gaze moves from Penguin's serious face to Shachis's angry one before he sighs and lowers his eyes. Maybe they can help him more if he tells them what he knows about Law's past. Law might hate him even more after telling them but does that even really matter? The man is avoiding them all anyway and he doesn’t know what else to do in this situation. Law is completely shutting him out and it scares him to think where the tattooed man is headed. He wants to do something before either Law’s drug use gets way out of hand or Kid does something unthinkable. Either way, he’s sure Law’s life will be cut very short unless they can figure out a way to intervene so Bepo decides to tell the two everything he knows.

“Ok, I’ll tell you, but not here, there are too many people.” He can’t believe what he’s about to suggest and he can see that the other two are surprised too when the words come out of his mouth. “Let’s ditch the next lessons and go somewhere more private, this will take a while and I don’t want anyone to overhear or interrupt us.”

They find an empty classroom that doesn’t have lessons scheduled for the next few hours. Bepo locks the door after they enter to make sure no one can just walk in without alerting them first. They all sit down and Bepo starts to unload what’s on his mind, everything that has been worrying him ever since Kid came into the picture.

Shachi and Penguin listen quietly as Bepo starts from how he and Law met, how Law was the first person to ever stand up for Bepo after his family abandoned him and he ended up in foster care. How they became friends and how despite his prickly exterior, Law is one of the most caring people Bepo has ever met even if he tries his hardest to hide how much he cares. Shachi and Penguin nod in agreement at that as the Law they got to know last year was exactly like Bepo is describing.

Bepo moves on to how Law had disappeared on his 18th birthday without a word. It was so unlike him that Bepo was sure something bad must’ve happened to the other man. Bepo had frantically looked for his best and only friend for over a year. He’d reported his friend missing to the police but they were no help. They just told him later they had contacted Law’s foster home and his foster father had told them that he had moved out the day he turned 18 but was fine. They refused to give Bepo any more details about Law’s situation as he wasn’t in any way related to the man. Bepo was left scouring the local hospitals, following any news he could get his hands on, and checking the list of deceased people every day to keep up the hope that Law was still out there.

He recounts to his two friends how he’d finally found Law, lying in a filthy, trash covered alley, with a few used needles scattered close by. His body had been bruised and his arms covered in needle marks, some fresh and some already scarred. He had likely been using drugs most of the time he had been missing and looked to be on the brink of dying from malnourishment.

Bepo tells them how he eventually managed to talk Law into moving in with him, how the man almost died after catching pneumonia and eventually agreed to go to a rehab program. When he got clean, however, he seemed to be plagued by nightmares he never wanted to talk about. Bepo keeps the details to himself but he’s reminded of one time he woke Law up from a nightmare. The man had been sweating and screaming and tried to fight him off before his mind seemed to catch up and he recognized Bepo. Law never mentioned what happened that night and started to lock the door to his room after, clearly not wanting anyone to see him in that state again.

Eventually, Bepo gets to the more recent events as he tells his friends how he walked in on Law having a panic attack in his room after some messages from Kid the previous Thursday. The blond ends by telling them how Law had told him they weren’t friends anymore without letting Bepo in the apartment but he had heard Law’s voice crack when he said they weren’t friends and that’s what had broken Bepo. He is sure Law didn’t really want to push them all away, but for some reason, he thought he had no other choice.

“I bet Kid made him do it.” Shachi sounds bitter. “I still don’t understand why he would choose someone like that over his friends though, it makes no sense. You told us earlier he stayed in the Donquixote foster home before he disappeared right?” Shachi whips out his phone and starts to type something as Bepo nods. “I’m sure I’ve heard that name somewhere recently…” The redhead babbles as he keeps tapping and scrolling on his phone.

“So what do we do now? I assume you don’t want to just leave Law to be manipulated further by Kid after everything you told us, but how can we get him out of there? He’s not even talking to us.” Penguin directs his questions to Bepo who deflates with a sigh.

“I have no idea, if Kid has enough hold over him to have him avoid all of us even when Kid’s not here, how do we get close enough to get through to him.” Bepo feels hopeless.

“Aha! Found it, a news article from a few months ago!” Shachi holds his phone out triumphantly before he starts to read out loud. “The Donquixote estate, formally known as the Donquixote foster home is under investigation for suspected human trafficking and training minors into sex workers.” Shachi pauses and glances at the other two before he continues. “Over the years dozens of minors that have been signed in to the Donquixote foster home have just simply vanished without a trace. It is suspected that the real numbers could be a lot higher as in the past there was no way to identify and track every homeless kid that went through the system. The chief of police, Sengoku himself is leading the investigation, stating he has a reason to suspect the head of the house, Donquixote Doflamingo of multiple gang related crimes on top of human trafficking but he refuses to elaborate on them further at this point”

As Bepo listens to Shachi read through the article, he feels the blood drain from his face. Law had once let slip that he had been placed into foster care just after turning 9, the horrors he must’ve endured at such a young age. Now that Bepo thinks about it, after Law turned 13, he started to have strange bruises that sometimes peeked from under his oversized clothes. He always claimed he had just been clumsy and fell at home because he wasn’t used to his fast-growing limbs, but never once did Bepo see him stumble while in school. He didn’t know what to make of it all back then, but in light of the news article, he is sure Law had been physically abused as a child, possibly sexually too. Bepo wants to throw up, what kind of a sick monster would do that to another human being, let alone a helpless child? Without noticing, Bepo balls his hands into fists, almost drawing blood with the way his nails dig into his own palms.

Instantly a lot about Law makes a whole lot more sense to the blond. Why he never wanted to talk about his past or his family, the nightmares, the drug use, the complete avoidance of anything sexual till he got together with… Kid. The thought of the man made Bepo frown. Why would Law willingly put himself into a clearly abusive relationship again? Did he not recognize any of the signs? He really needs to talk to Law about all this but first, he needs to figure out a way to get close to the man again.

They all agree that they can’t just leave Law to self-destruct like he seems determined to do and spend the next hour trying to come up with a way to help him. In the end, all they come up with is to try and talk to the man in their next lesson together.

It goes about as well as Bepo expected it to. Law ignores them as they try to talk to him, eyes glued to his textbook as he moves to sit on the opposite side of the classroom when they sit next to him. The professor arrives and starts the lessons, preventing them from moving to sit next to Law again.

After the lesson, Law is out the door before any of them has time even to stand up and as they make it to the hallway, he is already gone.

--

It’s currently Friday afternoon and Bepo is sitting in the school cafeteria with Shachi and Penguin. The mood on the table is somber, all their efforts to contact Law during the week have failed.

Law showed up to all the lessons they had together but any attempt to talk to him fell on deaf ears. Once Shachi even got thrown out of the classroom because he exploded at Law for choosing to work with strangers on a group assignment instead of them.

Based on the glassed-over look in the man's golden eyes, Bepo was sure Law was high on something every day. The bags under his eyes kept getting bigger and darker and the blond wondered if he was getting any sleep at all. Bepo has not seen him eat or drink anything but coffee all week and can only hope he ate something outside of school. The baggy clothes he wears covered any obvious signs of possible abuse he might have had, but Bepo noticed his other wrist was wrapped for a sprain and he could swear Law was slightly limping on Thursday.

Bepo lets out a deep sigh as he buries his face into his palms. What can they do? Do they need to abduct Law or something just to talk to him? Lock him into an empty classroom so he can’t escape before they talk?

“Hey, it’s you guys! I knew you all had to be students here too when I saw you in my building last week!” The cheerful voice is followed by the heavy sound of a full tray hitting their table as an unknown student sits next to Bepo. The Blond’s eyes are glued to the amount of food the guy has managed to pile onto a single tray. Messy black hair and the widest grin he has ever seen greet him as he lifts his gaze to see who it actually is that sat on their table. It takes him a moment to remember where he has seen that goofy grin before, in the hallway outside their apartment, straddling Kid after punching him.

“Oh, uh hi… sorry” Bepo mumbles awkwardly, he’s not good with new people.

“Yo!”

“Hey Man!” Shachi and Penguin greet the man like they’re old friends, though he’s sure none of them have seen the man before or after what happened last week.

“Hi, finally Friday huh? What a week, I’m spent, I hate studying but my brothers say I need to do it if I don’t want gramps to force me into the military, man that would suck. I’m so glad it’s almost the weekend, I’ll get to play games with Usopp and Zoro all day and eat all the delicious food Sanji always brings over! You guys have any plans for the weekend? You should totally join us! What are you studying? I haven’t seen you on any of my courses so not sports science I bet, or are you not first years? I guess you all look a little older than me so it would make sense. Wow have you tasted this meat? It’s delicious!”

The man has already cleaned one of his plates and is halfway through another one while he keeps talking nonstop. All three of them just stare at the display in front of them with open mouths, unable to get a word out, not that they guy seems to mind that his questions go unanswered.

“Oh my name is Luffy by the way, nice to meet you all! Nami always says It’s polite to introduce myself first.” He smiles at them sheepishly. “She also says I talk too much when I’m excited, sorry.” His smile widens and his eyes turn into small crescents.

“I’m Shachi, nice to meet you man, I didn’t know you studied in the same building with us! This is Penguin and that there is Bepo.” Bepo’s glad for Shachis quick response so he doesn’t need to introduce himself, his mind is still slightly reeling with all the information he was just bombarded with.

“So where’s the guy with the cool tattoos? He lives with you, right? Does he study here too?”

“Um…” He has to mean Law, but Bepo is a little hesitant to give this stranger, Luffy he said, any information, they don’t really know him after all.

“Oh you mean Law? Yeah he studies here too, we’re all second year students. How do you know him?” Bepo gives Shachi a sharp look but the other just shrugs. Leave it to Shachi’s big mouth to reveal everything.

“I don’t know him at all, he brought two gods to the grooming salon I sometimes help out in and I thought he was really cool! Man, I was so surprised to find out he lives right next door to me when that guy was shouting at your door. How do you all fit to live in there by the way? I thought all the apartments only had two or three bedrooms”

“No, me and Penguin live opposite Bepo and Law, though Law might not live there for much longer.” Shachi frowns a little at the last part of his sentence.

“Oh why’s that?” Luffys big eyes stare at them curiously.

“We got into an argument, he’s currently avoiding us.”

“Well that’s dumb, you guys are all friends right? You should just make up!”

At that Bepo looks down at his almost finished plate and sighs. “It’s not like we haven’t tried, he blocked our numbers and is avoiding us at school.”

“Oh so it’s serious then? I once had a bad falling out with Usopp, he wouldn’t talk to me for a month but in the end we made up. It was the worst month of my life! I’m sure it’ll work out for you guys too in the end.” He smiles brightly at them. “I can talk to him for you if you want.”

“But you don’t even know him, what makes you think he would talk to you?” Bepo voices his thoughts out loud, he knows Law hates talking to strangers.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’ll work out.” Luffy grins and for some reason, Bepo find himself believing him. “Here, put your numbers in so I can keep in touch!” Luffy hands his phone to Shachi who puts his number in before handing it to Penguin who in turn hands it to Bepo after adding his. Bepo hesitates for a moment but what does he have to lose really? This guy is weird but seems ok, he did punch Kid after all. He types in his number before handing the phone back to Luffy.

“Thanks! I have to go meet with my friends now but I’ll be in touch!” Luffy gets up and heads to the tray drop off point. To Bepo's astonishment all the food that was on his multiple plates when he sat down is now gone, when did he have time to eat it all? Especially as he was talking most of the time he was sat down!

--

Luffy whistles and skips happily as he makes his way down the hall to meet his friends at a close by sandwich shop they all decided to go for their lunches. It is too expensive for Luffy to eat his fill so he dipped into the student cafeteria to fill his belly before having a sandwich or two with his friends.

Right now he has another reason to be excited for instead of food. He ran into those guys he had seen the cool tattooed man with a week ago, found out he was called Law, and studied in the same building as him! He even got a really good reason to talk to the man when he finally finds him, how lucky was he? Who’s he trying to kid, his luck has always been phenem… pehnomne… pen on metal? Whatever difficult phrase Nami uses that means really good, that’s why she always wants him to accompany her to the casino when she goes. Luffy doesn’t mind, he gets lots of free snacks while Nami plays and she always treats him to a buffet dinner if she wins big, and she always does if Luffy is with her.

As he gets closer to the sandwich shop, he wonders if Law has ever eaten there. He has never seen him in the student cafeteria so maybe he likes to eat somewhere else, how strange, the food in the cafe is great in Luffys opinion. Sanji disagrees with him though, he always brings his own lunchboxes for everyone when they have lunch at the same time, not that it’s ever enough for Luffy so he gets food at the cafeteria too. Maybe Law is like Sanji, oh he really wants to try the other man’s cooking now as Luffy himself can’t cook to save his life. He and Zoro are surviving only because Sanji lives in the same building and drops by almost daily to fill their fridge with delicious food.

Oh his new friends never told him what they study! He takes out his phone and creates a group conversation with Shachi, Penguin and Bepo.

Luffy
13:12 hey guys! I firgot to aks what u all study?
13:12 want to come over this wekkend?
13:13 we could have a game tuirmanen!
13:13 I lkie to play tekken
13:13 usopp perefres cod
13:13 Zoro playas anuthum with vilionece
13:14 what do u gus like to play?
13:14 u like games rihgt?
13:14 oh, it’s luffy bwt!

Luffy keeps typing as his brain keeps coming up with stuff he forgot to ask or mention. He’s dyslexic and his friends always give him grief for his terrible spelling, but he doesn’t care. They’ll understand what he means and if they don’t, they can always call and ask!

He pockets his phone as he gets to the door and enters, ready to enjoy the rest of his lunch break with his friends before the last lessons for the day. He’s already feeling a little giddy for next week, coming up with various ways to hunt down Law in their study building.

Chapter Text

It’s Saturday and Law’s sitting in the front passenger seat in Kid’s car, watching the small cotton candy clouds drift on the blue sky as they’re driving through the city. They’ve just been to the leasing office for the student apartments where Law gave up his room in the student building. His name will be removed from the lease on the last day of September, he needs to just make sure he returns his keys by then. He wonders who will move in after him, hopefully, someone nicer than him, someone Bepo deserves to become friends with.

They’re on the way to pick up the rest of Law’s things right now and he feels so anxious. He’s is terrified of what will happen if Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin are all there when they go in, he’s praying to whatever entity might be listening that no one will get hurt today. He would’ve preferred to skip uni on some day next week to come pick up his stuff, a day he knew his friends would not be home, but Kid kept insisting they should just get it over with today after finding out the leasing office was open on Saturdays. Too tired to argue, Law just gave in to the redhead. He tells himself it wasn’t because he was afraid of Kid hurting him if he didn’t agree.

“I’m so happy you’re finally moving in, about time.” Law know’s Kid is in a good mood and he can hear it in his voice. Law doesn’t respond, he’s not feeling anything but dread of possibly having to face his friends in a few minutes. He keeps looking out the window, following a flock of birds flying in the same direction as they’re going for a while. Must be nice to just be able to fly wherever you want to go.

“What’s up with you baby? Aren’t you excited that you won’t need to keep coming back here anymore?” Kid slaps his hand onto Law’s thigh and squeezes, causing the thin man to flinch slightly. “Don’t worry, I promise to still fuck your slutty ass good every night, I won’t get tired of you if that’s what you’re afraid of.” Kid moves his hand slowly along Law’s thigh, getting closer to his crotch. Law closes his eyes as he forces himself not to move away from the touch and concentrates on breathing.

“You like this huh?” He hears the smirk in Kid’s voice. “I bet you’re the type that gets turned on by public sex, have you done it before? Had someone fuck you in a forest? Public toilet? An alley?” Law feels Kid’s hold on his thigh tighten, he wants a response.

“I… Yes.” After Blackbeard's men discarded his used body to the streets, he didn’t have anywhere to stay and did anything just to keep his high going so he didn’t need to think, didn’t need to remember. It was surprising how many dealers and other druggies on the streets accepted a quickie as a payment for a few pills or some powder and most of them didn’t care where it happened, as long as they got their dick wet.

“You’re such a whore, I bet you loved it. Would you like me to fuck you outside your building before we go in?” Kid’s voice sounds husky, and Law realizes that talking about public sex is turning the other on.

“No, I.. I don’t really remember any of it.” He’s not lying, he did it just to keep his high going at the time, but the idea terrifies him now.

“I could also fuck you in the backseat, ever done that before? Fuck, you always turn me on so much you know.”

Law finally opens his eyes and notices the car has stopped, looking around he notices they are already at the parking lot for the student building. He turns to look at Kid and instantly notices the bulge in his pants. Law is not in the mood, Kid fucked him till he passed out last night and again in the morning before they left. He’s currently not high enough to let Kid do whatever the fuck he wants to him and he’s not about to spread his legs in a fucking car when anyone living in the building could walk past them at any moment.

“Let’s just get my stuff and go back.” Law opens the door and gets out of the car before Kid can stop him.

“Tch, you’re no fun sober.” Kid gets out of the car and follows Law after locking the doors. Law knows he’s not exactly sober, just not too high to function or to give in to all of Kid’s whims.

They enter the building and take the elevator to get to Law’s floor. As soon as the door closes behind them, Kid is all over him, pressing him against the elevator wall as he's sucking on Law’s neck and pressing his erection against him.

“Kid, get off, not here.” Law tries to push him off of him.

“You should know by now that I’ll take you whenever and wherever I want to, I know you like it.” Kid growls into his ear after licking over the throbbing mark he just left.

Luckily, the elevator reaches the fifth floor and Kid takes a step back as the doors open. The hallway behind the door is empty but loud voices and laughter carry through the door right next to the elevator as they step out. At least someone is having fun. Law thinks he hears Luffy’s laugh, but he’s sure it’s just in his head, there’s no way he’d even be able to recognize the man’s laughter after seeing him only twice.

With a trembling hand, Law inserts his key into the lock and turns it to open the door. His heart beats faster than he ever remembers as the door opens and he prays for no one to be home. The lights are off and the apartment is quiet, if anyone was home, they would’ve heard the door and either yelled to find out who it was or come to see for themselves. Law lets out a breath he’d been holding since they stepped out of the elevator. Thank god no one is in, now he just needs to quickly gather his things and leave before Bepo comes back home from wherever he is.

“A shame, I was hoping to knock some sense into the three, teach them what happens to someone who messes with me.” He reaches to grab Law’s ass. “Or with something that belongs to me.” He winks as Law turns to glare at him.

“Just let me get my stuff so we can go.”

Law doesn’t have many belongings, he goes to his wardrobe and finds that Bepo has neatly folded the clothes he left on his last visit. He feels a pang of guilt in his chest as he starts to stuff them into a duffle bag. All the clothes he has left here fit into that one bag, barely, but they fit.

Next, he moves to his desk and empties all his things into another bag. It’s mostly just books, papers, and other study materials. He turns to look at his bookshelf which only has a few books on it, it’s mostly covered in videogames, manga, and action figures. Kid follows his gaze and moves to pick up one of his limited edition Germa 66 action figures. “You’re not taking this junk with you, are you?”

Law frowns and looks away while biting his lip, the one Kid is holding cost him a fortune, it’s probably the most expensive thing he owns if he doesn’t count his motorbike which he never uses these days. “...I-”

“Don’t you think it’s about time you get rid of your toys?” Kid moves to toss the figure to the ground and Law panics, moving to snatch it from him before he can break it.

“Yeah, I’ll leave them to Bepo, he can… get rid of them or whatever.” He carefully places the figure back in its place before grabbing the few books from the shelf. He glances at his bed and sees his stuffed polar bear. Without thinking, he picks it up and stuffs it into one of his bags

“Really, you’re taking that one?” Kid mocks him, Law doesn’t answer, just glares at him, daring Kid to try and take it away from him. “Alright, you can keep your stuffed toy if it means that much to you, didn’t know I’m dating a child” Kid holds up his hands and Law sighs with relief, ignoring Kid’s attempt at riling him up, he needs a reminder of the few good years he managed to have with Bepo.

“This is everything, I’ll just leave Bepo a note.” Law walks out of his room and into Bepo’s. He hasn’t been in this room too many times but he thinks it suits the softhearted man. Half of Bepo’s bookshelf is covered with various Uta action figures and a bunch of plushies, a few of the biggest ones lying on his bed. Law doesn’t know what all of them are supposed to be as most are made in the overly cutesy Japanese style like Rilakkuma or Sumikko something. He wishes he had paid more attention every time Bepo gushed over something cute he had bought, wishes he had the balls to admit how adorable he finds all the cute things in Bepo's room. He walks over to Bepos desc and scribbles a quick message

He does care, he cares so fucking much. He wishes he could keep everything himself, he hopes Bepo will at least keep some of his most expensive figures and take good care of them.

“No wonder he has been all over you, who in their right mind would get together with someone who’s into this stuff?” Kid appears behind him. “Can you imagine bringing a girl in here? She’d turn away laughing as soon as she opens the door.” Kid laughs.

Law balls his fists, Kid has no right to judge Bepo’s room and his likes, he should not have let him enter Bepo’s room.

“Has he fucked you on that bed?” Suddenly Kid sounds serious.

“What?” Did Law hear him correctly?

“Have you ever fucked on that bed?” Kid gets closer to him, pinning him against Bepo's desk.

“N-no! Of course not!” Where on earth is this coming from again? “Let’s just go.” Law tries to push Kid away but he’s not moving.

“How much do you love me?”

“What the fuck is this about?”

“Let’s fuck on his bed.”

It takes Law a moment to register what Kid just said, he couldn’t have heard that right. “W-what?” He looks at Kid, he’s joking, he has to be joking… right?

“Prove to me how much you love me, let me fuck you on his bed.” Kid presses firmly against Law, lightly rubbing his erection against Law’s thigh. A cold wave washes over Law, why on earth does Kid want to have sex here? On his best friends… on his ex-best friend's bed? He could never do something like that to Bepo, he feels like he’s going to throw up if he doesn’t get out of the room right now.

“Kid, stop messing around, let me go.”

“I’m not messing around.” Kid sounds serious. “Come on, you’ll love it, I promise.” Kid moves to push Law onto the bed next to them before climbing on top of him.

TW: violence, explicit sexual content, rape/non-con

“Kid, stop, I’m serious.” Law tries to wiggle his way out of Kid’s hold but the man just uses his size and weight to trap Law under him.

“I’ll make it so good for you baby, I just need that butterball to know who you belong to.”

Kid using degrading words to refer to Bepo makes anger flare inside of Law again. He might’ve been okay with cutting the man out of his life, but he will not stand for Kid insulting and disrespecting him like this. Unable to free any of his limbs to do anything to Kid, Law ends up headbutting the man as he’s leaning in to kiss him, hearing a nasty crunch as his forehead connects with Kid’s nose.

“What the fuck?!” Kid shouts as he stands up to hold his now bleeding nose.

Law sits up and scoots away from Kid on the bed. “Don’t ever call him that again! I cut him out of my life like you asked, but you’re not disrespecting him like that!!”

Kid’s eyes grow darker as he stares at Law trying to scramble away from him. “I was trying to be nice but I see you want to do this the hard way.” He reaches for Law’s kicking legs and pulls him back close to him, pinning his legs down so Law can’t kick him in the face. “I knew you were a glutton for punishment but damn Law, you really know how to get me going.” An unhinged grin spreads across Kid’s face as he forces Law onto his stomach and lays on top of him, pressing his hard-on against the thin man’s ass. The gravity of the situation finally dawns on Law, he made a huge mistake in provoking Kid and he’s about to pay for it right now.

Not wanting to disrespect Bepo's space like they’re about to, Law tries his hardest to struggle against Kid, but the bigger man is quick to bend his arms behind his back and twist Law’s still healing wrist, causing the other to cry out in pain and stop struggling.

“Now be the good whore you are and take what I give you.” Kid growls behind him as Law feels his pants being forcefully pulled down before he hears a zipper being opened.

“Please, Kid… L-let’s ju-just go..” Let’s go home, please don’t do this. Law finds it difficult to voice his thoughts as he’s fighting the rising panic, fighting the memories of his time with Teach.

“Oh don’t worry, we’re about to go. I’m sure you’re still loose enough from this morning” That’s all the warning Law gets before Kid pushes all the way into him. Thanks to them fucking multiple times daily for the past weeks, it doesn’t hurt but the surprise of it still makes him yelp anyway. “Mmhhh, you feel so fucking good you know.” Kid rumbles before slapping Law’s ass hard, causing the other to cry out from the pain. The burning sting remains for a long time after the slap, causing Law’s eyes to water.

“You should know by now what happens when you misbehave.” Kid starts to fuck into him while brutally spanking him. Law’s sure his backside is going to be all black and purple later, he likely won’t be able to sit comfortably for the rest of the weekend. Even though he doesn’t particularly enjoy pain, his body has been conditioned to respond to it, causing blood to rush between his legs and making his mind grow more hazy. The room he’s in keeps flickering in his vision, changing from Bepo’s bright pastel-colored room to the depressing dark basement Teach used to keep him in. He doesn’t want to be in either of the rooms, he wants to scream and cry, wants this to be over already as his release keeps building.

“God damn you’re enjoying this aren’t you, come on baby, I want to see you come.”

“Come for me baby, you know I won’t stop till you do.” Teach’s voice echoes in his head, making him want nothing more than to be able to come so he can get away from the situation, so the disgusting man between his legs will finish and leave him alone for a while, maybe till the next day if he’s lucky.

Law comes with a pained cry, getting a release from the pressure that kept building feels good but it’s not pleasurable. The man behind him is clearly enjoying himself as it only takes a few more thrusts before Law hears the familiar grunt and feels warm cum fill his ass.

TW end

“God Law, you really know how to get me going, don’t you?” It’s then that Law remembers where he is and with who, and he’s mortified. “I can’t believe you let me do that to you, you’re such a slut for cock” Kid gets up and lets Law go to zip himself back in.

Law takes a moment to collect himself, he doesn’t want to look at the mess they… he made. Kid came into his ass but his own cock was bare, rubbing against the bed the whole until he, until he… he can’t finish the thought. He wishes he’d know what exactly it was that led to this, he never wants to do anything like it ever again. He’s thankful that Bepo didn’t come home while they were at it, he doesn’t think he could’ve handled the humiliation.

Law stands up slowly, Kid was rough and the aching in his lower back is quite intense, not to mention his bruised ass cheeks that feel like they’re on fire, he doesn’t know how he’ll be able to sit in the car till they get home. He pulls his pants up as he feels Kid’s cum start to trickle out of him, he’ll have a shower at Kid’s, his pants will probably be ruined but he just wants to leave.

“Oh man, you even got one of his toys! Hahahaha!” Kid’s boisterous laugh makes Law close his eyes, he hasn’t seen the mess he made yet, doesn’t want to see… But he needs to replace whatever it is he ruined, he knows he cannot live with himself if he doesn’t, so he opens his eyes to inspect the damage.

There’s drops of blood on Bepo’s bedspread, probably from Kid’s nose. Close to the blood stains is a huge panda plushie, covering about one fourth of Bepo’s bed, and as he inspects it further, he sees a light, wet stain on one of its black front paws, close to where Law must’ve been lying when he came.

He feels sick, he wants to stay and clean, stay and apologize, stay and tell Bepo he’ll get him a new bedspread or a whole new bed, a new panda plushie, whatever he wants if that one is no longer available.

“Come on, we need to get home so you can fix my nose, I think it’s broken.” Kid is using a small plushie he grabbed from the shelf to wipe the blood from his face, Law takes a note of that one too to replace later with the other stuff.

“Im sure it’s not broken.” Law mumbles as Kid leads him out of Bepo’s room, he wishes the asshole's nose is broken, would serve him right. For a moment he considers going back and writing sorry on the note he left on Bepo’s desk, but he doesn’t. It’s not like anything he writes would ever be enough to make up for what he just did, what he let happen.

“Make sure you got everything, you’re never coming back here.” Kid tells him as they get to the door. Law just nods while keeping his eyes on the floor. “Alright, let's go then.”

They just entered the elevator as the door next to it opens.

“Law?”

Law is startled by the familiar voice and looks up, seeing Bepo, Shachi and Penguin standing in the hallway. His eyes lock with Bepo and he freezes, not knowing what to do. He hears Kid snigger next to him as he presses the button to take them downstairs, hiding his bloody nose with the plushie he’s still using like a rag.

“Your bed is pretty comfy, Bepo. Wouldn’t you agree Law?” Kid places his arm possessively around his shoulders and Law closes his eyes, mortified with the implication. He wants to tell Bepo he didn’t want to, didn’t mean to, didn’t enjoy it, but he doesn’t, unable to even lift his gaze off the floor.

“What? Law what does- wait Law!” Bepo moves towards them but thankfully the elevator doors close before he’s able to get between them.

Law wants to vanish, anywhere would be better than where he is right now. As the elevator gets to the ground floor, Kid guides him out of the elevator and toward their car. Just as Law opens the passenger door, he hears the front door of the building open again and a heavily panting Bepo steps out followed by Shachi and Penguin.

“Law wait! What was that about? Why were you here?”

Law freezes and closes his eyes for a moment before he moves to sit in the car, never looking back toward Bepo.

“I’m moving out.” Is all he’s able to get out before Kid starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot, holding his middle finger out to the men standing outside.

“What do you mean? Wait! Law, don’t go! We can talk about this, Law!”

Law makes the mistake of looking up as they drive past his friends and he instantly regrets it. The worry, hurt and confusion on Bepo’s face makes his chest ache, makes him wish he was dead.

--

Law spends the next few weeks trying his best to attend his lessons whenever he’s not too high to function while also avoiding his friends and dodging Luffy who suddenly seems to be everywhere. He’s had to skip some lessons just because Luffy was sitting outside the classroom either alone or talking to Bepo Shachi and Penguin, not leaving till way past the start time for the lessons. When did they become close with Luffy like that?

The lectures he has with the smaller man have also been hell lately. Luffy keeps scouting the room like a hawk from the moment he enters till he leaves with his friends. He’s constantly turning around and looking for something among the other students. A few times he’s seen Luffy pounce on a student wearing all black very similar to Law, just to let go and apologize right after. Surely he can’t be looking for Law? What reason would he have for that? Luckily, the temperature has cooled down as fall is setting in, so more and more students are wearing similar clothes to Law, making it easier for him to blend in the crowd. So far Law has been able to avoid the little monkey, but he’s not sure how much longer he will be able to keep it up.

He gave up on his usual spot after last week, when Luffy kept turning to look his direction, forcing Law to either lean on his table to hide under his hood or to slouch lower on his seat than normally to be able to hide his face completely behind the screen of his laptop. Once the lecture ended, he hid behind the row of seats until the lights in the hall went off due to no detected movement, just to avoid being seen by Luffy, thanking his lucky stars that the man didn’t go around checking all the rows before leaving.

It’s currently Monday and Law came in 30 minutes before the lesson was supposed to start to make sure he makes it into the lecture hall after a few others have already entered but before Luffy shows up. Luckily the man seems to be terrible at getting up in the mornings as he has been late for at least half the lectures Law has been at, not that he’s keeping track or anything.

Law almost skipped the first lessons of the day himself. Kid was in a terrible mood all weekend and the sex must’ve been especially rough. Law spent the whole time high so he doesn’t remember any details, but he feels exhausted and his body is aching everywhere, sitting is a little uncomfortable but nothing he hasn’t dealt with before. He could always take another pill or two to make the aching go away. He looks up from the table in front of him to check the time on the lecture hall clock just as the door opens and Luffy steps in, instantly locking eyes with him. Law is frozen in place for a moment before he regains control over his own body and tries to hide his face under his hood. He curses, knowing it’s too late, he saw the smile that seemed to split Luffys face in half as soon as he recognized Law. Fuck.

Before Law’s able to do anything, he hears the slapping of sandals getting closer before some shuffling noises come from the row of seats he’s sitting at followed by someone flopping on the seat right next to him. He knows who it is without having to look, his heart is already working overtime and when the guy next to him starts to speak, he's sure he's going to vomit it out and die on the spot. He’s not ready to face the man he has been imagining above him every time he’s coherent enough to realize Kid is fucking him lately, disgusted with himself afterward.

“Hi! You’re Law right? Man I’ve been looking for you for months!”

The ridiculous exaggeration gets Law’s attention and the irresistible need to correct the other man momentarily overwrites his embarrassment and guilt. “That’s impossible, it hasn’t even been a full month since I came to the salon.” He lifts his head to frown at Luffy who’s just beaming at him, unbothered by his comment and the way he tries to scare him away with his glare.

“Yay it’s finally you! And well, it feels like it’s been months since I started uni and I saw you during the first week! I’ve been really looking for you since your friends told me you go to the same uni and we have some classes in the same building! Especially after they shared your schedule and I found out you are on two courses I’m taking!” Luffy's smile is so wide that Law’s sure he could swallow himself if he opened it wide enough, he wishes that would happen so Law wouldn’t need to deal with him.

“I don’t have any friends. Even if I did, they have no right to tell strangers my schedule.”

“But they’re not strangers, they’re my friends and I’ve known them for aages already! They’re really worried about you, you know, I think you should go talk to them and get over whatever they did to upset you!”

“... I can’t.” He doesn’t say how he’s the one who upset them, leaves out how his friends are better off without him, how even if that wasn’t the case, he’s too embarrassed and ashamed of his actions to ever be able to face them again.

“Why not?”

“I… I just… it’s not going to happen ok. Please stop talking and go away.” He doesn’t know why he keeps talking, he doesn’t know this guy, has no reason to respond to his questions, no reason to keep acknowledging him but for some reason, he seems to be unable to ignore him like he usually does with people. His heart keeps hammering in his ears, making it difficult to focus.

“Nah, Zoro is hungover and Carrot is sick today so I have no one else to sit with. How lucky was I to find you today of all days so I don’t need to sit alone!” Luffy beams at him like he's the best thing since sliced bread, which to be fair, is not all that great to begin with, bread in any form is gross.

Law snorts. “You know I have no idea who you're talking about.” He's not about to reveal that he knows perfectly well who Zoro and Carrot are because he memorized their names that one time he listened to them talk in the cafeteria. “Besides, you have a room full of people.” He gestures to the full lecture hall in front of them. “Choose one of them to annoy.”

“Silly Law, did you already forget I was looking for you!” There’s that smile again, it makes something in Law’s chest tighten uncomfortably.

“Sorry to tell you, you wasted your time.” Law looks away, hoping the lecture to start so he can pretend to pay attention.

“Nah.” Is all the response he gets as Luffy pulls a wrinkled notebook out of his back bag and opens it in front of him to a page full of weird doodles but no words while humming some strange tune Law’s never heard before. Whatever, it’s not like Law can force him to leave. For a moment he considers leaving and ditching the whole class himself, but before he has time to make up his mind, the professor arrives and starts talking.

During the lecture, Luffy keeps distracting him with random chatter and pointless questions he either ignores or gives one word responses to. Every once in a while Luffy’s questions are about what the professor is saying and Law finds himself willingly explaining what Luffy doesn’t understand while Luffy stares at him with big shining eyes every time.

“Wow Law, you’re really smart!” Luffy praises him after he draws a simple diagram onto Luffy’s otherwise empty notebook page to help him understand what they are currently being taught.

Not used to being praised, Law feels a blush creeping onto his face. “It’s nothing, I learned this stuff when I was 7.” He doesn’t realize he let something personal slip past his lips till he glances at Luffy.

“So you’re like a genius then!” Luffy’s eyes sparkle, adoration written all over his face as he looks at him like he matters, like he’s worth being looked at like that. Law’s stomach twists uncomfortably, he feels like he’s going to throw up. He looks away and pulls down his hood to hide his burning face, even his ears are on fire with embarrassment. He’s unable to get a word out, afraid that his voice would crack if he tried to respond.

“Shi shi shi shi! I didn’t think you’d be the shy type!” Luffy laughs next to him, making his situation worse, and causing the burning on his face to grow hotter. He feels like he’s being burned alive, suffocating.

“Shut up.” He mumbles, hating how pathetic he sounds, willing the lecture to end already so Luffy would leave and he could just never show up to class again. Unfortunately, he’s never been a lucky man.

“Before we finish for the day, please confirm your groups consisting of 3-5 students. As I mentioned at the first lecture, 30% of your degree this year comes from a group assignment…”

Law’s head shots up and he stares at the professor presenting the group assignment details at the front of the class. Seriously? He doesn’t remember anyone mentioning a group assignment at the first lecture, given he doesn’t remember much of the first lecture to begin with, or of any lectures after that… But he’s sure the course didn’t have one last year, what the fuck?! What’s he going to do? He doesn’t know anyone in the class and he hates working with other people, especially ones he doesn’t know, what is he-

“Hey, what’s your last name?”

Law’s caught off guard by Luffys question “Trafalgar… wait what are you doing?” He turns to look at Luffy who’s doing something on his phone.

“Tra… Tara… Tora…”

“Trafalgar!” His last name is not that difficult, right?

“There! You didn’t have a group yet so I added you to ours!” Luffy holds up his phone, showing the system some professors use to track coursework. They all had to register on to it the first year but Law has barely used it since he started, most of the teachers he’s had not taking advantage of it. Luffy is smiling again, his expression blinding like the sun and this time, Law can’t make himself look away. “This is going to be so much fun! You are so smart we’re going to ace this course for sure! I can’t wait to tell Zoro and Carrot!” With that, Luffy stands up and starts running towards the lecture hall doors while waving at Law and shouting something Law didn’t catch, until:

“I’ll catch you later Torao! You’re the best!”

Law’s left sitting on his seat staring dumbfounded towards the doors until he’s the only one left in the lecture hall. Then it all finally clicks and he buries his face into his hands. What the fuck did he just get himself into?!

Chapter Text

“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!”

Luffy groans as he rolls to his back while groping around his nightstand to find and turn off his alarm. Who the fuck decided that school needs to start so damn early? He cracks open an eye to check the time: 6:50. What on earth did he think when he set his alarm to go off so early? He doesn’t need to be at the morning lessons till 8:15 and they live right next to the campus. He tries to pull his light duve up to cover his face but at the same time, something jumps into his bed and starts to rip the blanket from his hands.

“Ugh of course you woke up to the alarm as well.” The cover is pulled off Luffys hands, and few seconds later he feels something warm and wet on his face and it makes him giggle. “Fine fine Chopper, I’m awake.” He’s met with the round, happy face of his Shiba Inu who barks his response before jumping back to the floor.

Luffy peels himself out of bed and looks around his room to find his shorts from the day before. Not bothering with underpants he pulls them on and decides it’s warm enough for him to not need a shirt for taking Coppes out for a few minutes. Neither he nor Zoro are morning people so Chopper is used to short walks in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon and evening. Luffy slips his phone and keys into his pockets while he makes his way out of his room and to the front door where Chopper’s leach is.

As they get to the elevator, Luffy presses the button for the ground floor and closes his eyes for the duration of the ride, feeling like he could easily fall back to sleep while standing. Somehow he makes it to the front door of their building while barely seeing what’s in front of him and steps out. The crisp morning air feels nice against his skin and makes it a little easier for him to open his eyes. As he feels his body and mind slowly wake up, the events of the previous day start to play in his head and his eyes widen with the realization that he had actually been able to spot Torao in the lecture hall yesterday morning.

Their eyes met as soon as Luffy entered the room, making his heart skip a beat as he recognized the grumpy man as the same one he had, according to Nami, been crushing on ever since he laid eyes on him in the grooming salon. He felt his cheeks warm up slightly as he ran up the stairs next to the rows of still half empty seats and sat next to Torao. He had been worried about getting through the lecture alone as both Zoro and Carrot were off that day.

Torao had a frown on his face for most of the lecture, but he let Luffy sit next to him the whole time and even explained things to him in a way that actually made sense, so he can’t have been upset with him right? Maybe he was just hungry, he’s super skinny after all. That or maybe it’s just how his face is normally, after all, Luffy has never seen any other expression on him, only a varying degree of a frown. What was it that Nami called it again? Resting witch face? Luffy had no idea why witches would need to frown all the time but Nami usually knew what she was talking about, and Zoro thought Nami herself was a witch so she would surely know right? Though she didn’t frown that often, only when she had to pay for something herself or she lost a bet. Luffy would love to see what Torao looks like when he smiles though…

Wait, Torao? Where did that name come from again? Oh right, that was Law’s last name! He found out when he added Law to their group for the course! He can’t believe he was lucky enough to find out that Torao did not have a group yet. His name sure had lots of extra letters though, maybe Torao is French, they add lots of unnecessary letters into their words, right? That’s what Robin once told him anyway. Luffy’s glad his own name is not French and is very easy to write, otherwise, he’d constantly lose points in exams for writing his own name incorrectly.

Torao said he has no friends, but what about Bepo Shachi and Penguin? The three never explained in detail what happened between them and Law, just that Law was upset and not talking to them at the moment. Well if he has no other friends, Luffy is more than happy to fill that role while they work it all out!

Maybe he can make the tall man blush again like he did yesterday. Seeing him like that made Luffy feel things he didn’t even know were possible, jerking off has never felt as good as it did last night while thinking about Torao looking at him with those golden eyes and that cute blush coloring his face. He was delighted to find out that Torao is so shy, it’s so damn adorable, and Luffy just wants to drown him in praises and hugs. He briefly wonders if his Torao is still a virgin like he is and how he would not mind having his first time with the handsome man.

Luffy is reminded that he does not share any classes with Torao on Tuesdays so it’s less likely for him to run into him today. He’s not about to let that get his mood down though, yesterday he convinced Sanji to make a lunchbox for Torao and he’s determined to find the frowny man today to give it to him. He’s sure Torao must not have enough money for food because why else would anyone be as thin as he is? Oh god, he hopes Torao is not homeless! He never asked where he moved to after he left the student housing, surely his friends know? He has to find out. He’d totally take the moody man to live in his room, he’d actually love to have Torao living with him, then he could see his cute face first thing every morning and last thing before he falls asleep. Ok he’s decided, he’s going to ask if Law wants to move into his room today!

Once Chopper has done his business, Luffy rushes him back into the building and frantically presses the button for the elevator to reach ground floor. Come on, what is taking so long!! He needs to make sure he’s early at uni today for a chance to catch Law on his way to his class! Too impatient to wait he decides the elevator is taking too long, scoops Chopper onto his arm, and starts to run up the stairs two at a time.

By the time he makes it to the last flight of stairs, he’s panting a little and not skipping stairs anymore. He feels a mild but pleasant burn on his calves by the time he reaches their door and throws it open. “ZOROOO!! WAKE UP! WE NEED TO GO!”

He hears a loud crash from his best friend's room followed by some pained groans. “LUFFY?! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” There’s some crashing sounds before Zoro’s door is slammed open and the groggy man stands in front of him, in his boxers. “IT’S ONLY 7.15!!” He glances at Luffy’s direction and notices the still open door. “And close the fucking door when you come in, I don’t need the whole building to see my dick!” The green haired man walks into the bathroom and slams the door behind him.

Luffy sniggers as he closes their front door, lets Chopper off his leash, and goes back to his room to look for a shirt. He picks up a yellow t-shirl off the floor and gives it a sniff to make sure it doesn’t smell before pulling it on. He had a shower the other day and brushed his teeth last night so he’s all set and ready to go! He runs to the kitchen and haphazardly fills Chopper's food bowl before reaching for a new box of cereal and filling a bowl that’s big enough to fit in most of what’s in the box, leaving a little at the bottom of the box in case Zoro is hungry. After pouring in the milk, he doesn’t even bother to get a spoon but instead grabs the edges of the bowl and just pours it all down his throat, barely even chewing. He wipes his mouth before any milk that escaped can drip on to his shirt and rushes back to the front door.

“Hurry up already!! What’s taking you so long!” Luffy huffs and taps his foot impatiently while waiting for Zoro.

The bathroom door opens, revealing Zoro still in his underwear “How come you’re suddenly in such a hurry, usually I have to drag your ass out of bed so we won’t be late.” Zoro yawns as he starts to brush his teeth.

Luffy can’t believe his friend is not even dressed yet, what’s his deal?! “I’ll leave without you soon!” Luffy yells as he opens the front door again, he’s so full of energy he can’t stay still anymore.

“Luffy!! Shut the fucking door while I’m getting dressed!” Zoro shouts from the bathroom, one leg now stuck in his pants as he tries to get them on quickly. “The fucks wrong with you?!”

Luffy laughs as he looks into the hallway. “Relax there’s no… Oh hey Shachi!” Luffy shouts as Shachi and Penguin exit their apartment and take few steps across the hall to reach Bepo’s door.

“Morning Luffy, want to join us for breakfast?” Shachi yells in response.

“Yea, Bepo always cooks too much!” Penguin adds.

“Yes!” Luffy shouts while throwing his hands in the air, “Zoro! I’m going to Bepo’s for breakfast!”

“What?! Didn’t you already-” Whatever Zoro was going to say gets cut off by Luffy slamming the door closed and following Shachi and Penguin to Bepo's apartment.

Luffy and Zoro usually just share a box of cereal for breakfast, but Bepo has prepared a full meal, with bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice. Seeing it all makes Luffy’s mouth water and he’s the first to sit down causing Shachi and Penguin to hurry to grab something before he has time to empty the whole table.

“Oh Luffy, I didn’t know you were coming, I would’ve made more food, sorry.” Bepo stands next to the sink, cleaning the cooking utensils. “I already ate so you three can eat everything that’s left.” He gives a shy smile.

“Shachi, why did you invite him? Now we get less food!”

“I didn’t see you complain when I did!... And I forgot how much he eats… anyway, Luffy, did you managed to find Law yesterday?” Ever since Luffy told them he would talk to Torao, his friends have sought him out daily to ask if he’s made any progress. So far he has had to disappoint them every day, but now a huge grin spreads across his face as he recounts his encounter with Torao from the previous day.

“That’s great and all, but what about Law?” Shachi interrupts when Luffy starts to look for his bag to show them what Torao had drawn onto his notebook and realizes he left his bag at home. Oh well, He can grab it before they all leave.

“Torao is Law!”

“Oh…” The three look at each other in stunned silence for a while before their attention turns back to Luffy.

“He actually spoke to you? I’m sorry.”

“You sure it was him?”

“He willingly explained things to you?!”

“Of course, it was him, I’d recognize that frown anywhere!”

“Ok that sounds like Law.” All three agree in unison.

“Yea, I plan to find him today too!” Luffy has made up his mind, he will find Torao today.

“Oh? But you don’t even share classes?... He might not even show up today, we share all classes with him… I’m sorry.” Bepo seems quite sad as he looks at his feet.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he shows up and I’ll find him!” Before anyone can say anything, Luffy stands up and rushes to the door. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we have a chance to catch him!” The three just stare at him for a few seconds before they all agree and follow him out the door.

“I just need to grab my bag and Zoro on the way.” Luffy tells them as they approach his door. Before he’s able to insert his key, the door opens and Zoro steps out holding both his own and Luffys bag. “Oh good, you’re still here, you forgot this.” He tosses Luffy his bag before closing the door and walking to the elevator.

“Oh, thanks Zoro shi shi shi! I was just going to come back for it!” He starts to run towards the stairs again when the elevator is not there right away but Zoro grabs his collar to stop him.

“Could you just calm the fuck down, the elevator is just here.” True to his words, the elevator dings as soon as he finishes his sentence, and they all file in.

The walk to the university building is uneventful, Luffy and Shachi talk and laugh loudly about anything and everything that comes to mind, Penguin butting in with the occasional comment while Zoro and Bepo remain mostly quiet while walking with the group. Zoro almost walks off on a few occasions but someone steers him back in the right direction every time.

Luffy waits with Bepo Shachi and Penguin next to their lecture hall in hopes of catching Torao but he doesn’t show up before he and Zoro have to leave to not be late for his own lessons, again.

“So who were you waiting for again?” Zoro asks as they make their way to their own lesson.

“Torao!”

“Who the fuck is Torao?”

“Oh he’s this really cool guy with super cool tattoos on his hands! He’s poor and doesn’t eat enough though, maybe that’s why he always looks so angry… I asked Sanji to make him a lunchbox today so he gets something to eat and maybe it’ll make him happy again and he’ll consider talking to his friends! Oh man, I forgot to ask his friends if he’s homeless now that he moved out of the student building… He used to live on the same floor we do you know, with Bepo! If he’s homeless I’ll ask him to move in, he’s part of our team for the group assignment too so it would be very convenient!”

“Wait, slow down a little, he joined our team without asking anyone? And you want him to move in? Where would he sleep?”

“No, I added him because he didn’t have a team, that’s cool with you right?”

“... I guess… Wait, you want him to smove in? With us? Why? Where would he sleep? We only have rooms and a kitchen.”

“He would obviously sleep in my bed with me!” Isn’t that obvious? Sometime Zoro’s so slow, no wonder he gets lost all the time.

Hearing that made Zoro stop in his tracks and stare at Luffy. “You… in… what?!”

“In my bed! Keep up Zoro.”

“Who the… is he like your boyfriend or something? How long have you been together? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“What? No, not yet anyway, shi shi shi. Come on, we will be late!” Luffy took off running not waiting for an answer.

“Wait! Luffy! We’re not done!!”

--

It’s lunchtime and for one, Luffy is not spending the whole time stuffing his face in the cafeteria. He only downed his own lunch box, a few sandwiches and a plate full of meat. Right now he’s running up and down the hallways in the building, looking for Torao while carrying his lunch box with him. Torao’s friends flagged him down in the cafeteria and told him that the Torao had in fact shown up to the lectures one hour late and must currently be hiding somewhere in the building, waiting for the next lessons. They suggested that he check all the coffee machines and the area next to the room their next lessons will be held in so that’s what Luffy is doing now.

He has already run past 2 coffee machines in the hallway and just checked in the mentioned lecture room but saw no one in there. He’s about to start running up the stairs to the next floor when his eyes catch a small pocket in the wall and he decides to check there before moving on.

As soon as he rounds the corner and is able to see the whole space behind it, his eyes land on the hunched form of a man dressed in baggy, all black clothes. He’s sitting next to one of the two round tables in the space, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and his face buried into his hands while leaning onto his legs. Luffy feels like the man is emitting sadness and desperation and it makes his chest feel really tight, he has to do something to make him feel better!

“Toraooo!!” He shouts as he sprints towards the man and prepares to jump into a hug. Law lifts his head to look at him with a confused expression that turns into horror mere seconds before impact. It’s too late for neither of them to do anything about it at that point and Luffy crashes into Law with full force, bumping their heads together before falling to the floor in a tangled mess.

“Hngg…Lu-Luffy? What the fuck?” Luffy feels something move under him and finds himself sprawled on top of the taller man. Lifting his head up he sees Torao holding his head while glaring up at him.

Luffy laughs and gets up to a sitting position while scratching the back of his neck. “Shi shi shi shi, sorry Torao! I didn’t mean to.. um” He looks back down mid sentence and is taken back py the intense stare Torao is giving him before going completely red.

“G-get off me!” Law looks away and tries to push Luffy off him. Confused Luffy looks around and realizes he’s practically sitting on Law’s lap. He feels his cheeks heat up and instead of acting on his sudden desire to lean back down to kiss the flustered man underneath him, Luffy stands up and offers his hand to help Law up.

“Sorry sorry, I just got too excited when I finally found you!” Luffy tries to smile at Torao despite his belly suddenly feeling really weird. Did he eat something bad? He tries to think back to the lunch he just has at the cafeteria but everything had looked and tasted delicious.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn’t want to be found?” Torao glares up at him but his face still being beet red causes it to look adorable instead of intimidating as he probably meant. God, he’s so adorable, isn’t he? Despite his words, Torao grabs on to Luffy’s hand and he pulls the tall man up with ease, surprised at how light he is. Good thing he brought some food, The feather light man clearly needs some before a gust of strong wind blows him away! Luffy looks around and spots the lunch box he had been carrying on the floor next to them, he must’ve dropped it when he crashed onto Torao. Oh well, the food should still be ok!

“Why would you be looking for me anyway?” Torao asks as he attempts to dust his clothes, giving up after a few taps and sitting back down.

“Oh, I brought you food!” Luffy picks up the box from the floor and thrusts it into Torao’s hands with a smile.

Law accepts the box but doesn’t make a move to open it, instead frowning down at the box like it somehow just insulted his whole family. “I didn’t-”

“You helped me out so much at the class yesterday that I wanted to do something nice in return and since you’re too poor to afford food I brought you some! Oh and since you’re now homeless, you can move into my room if you want to!” He tries to put on his most charming smile.

Law’s head snaps back up to him, his glare furious as he tries to give the box back. “Who the fuck said I’m homeless?!”

“Oh, are you not?”

“No!!”

“Oh, that’s a relief!” Luffy just keeps smiling, not taking the box from the gorgeous hand holding it in front of him.

Law is still frowning but now clearly more confused than angry. “I… I can also afford to eat when I want to…”

“Then why don’t you?” Luffy refuses to take the box back even though the thought of the delicious food is making him salivate.

“...I… I don’t like the food they serve here, I eat at home, you can have this back.” He keeps holding the box out for Luffy to take.

“No, it is for you! You can’t wait till you get home every day to eat, that’s crazy!” Luffy reaches for the box but instead of taking it, he opens the lid, hoping the delicious smell will make Torao give in. “Sanji made it so it will definitely taste better than the cafeteria food! I didn’t know what you like so I just asked him to add a little bit of everything!”

Removing the lid reveals an array of foods, a few riceballs, a couple of sandwiches, some grilled fish, meatballs, sausages, and a variety of different fruits and vegetables. Luffy watches as Torao's eyes rove over everything in the box, frown deepening before Luffy hears him swallow. It’s working!

“I, um… I don’t know…”

“We can share if it’s too much!” Not waiting for a response Luffy sits down on the bench, feeling Torao flinch away as Luffy gets too close. “Is there anything you don’t like in there?”

“I-I don’t like bread…” The man responds meekly, staring at the sandwiches in the box.

“What? Really? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like bread before, that’s so strange! You’re so weird, Torao! Shi shi shi!” Luffy laughs as he reaches to grab the sandwiches and stuffs them all into his mouth at once.

“S-shut up!” Law turns to look away but Luffy doesn’t miss the blush blooming on his face again.

Angrily, Law picks up one of the riceballs, takes a bite and then turns to look down at the food in his hand, expression softening a bit. “This… this is actually really good…” He takes another bite and then another, until the riceball is gone and he reaches for the other one.

“I told you! Sanji is the best chef there is!” Law just nods as he slowly finishes the second rice ball, eats half of the fist and a few pieces of fruit before placing the box onto the table and reaching for his no longer steaming coffee.

“You can have the rest.”

“Are you sure? You barely ate anything.” Luffy frowns at the box. “You need to eat more to stay healthy you know?”

“I’m fine.”

Luffy really wants to finish the box but he’s afraid Law is just being polite, he doesn’t want the other to keep going hungry. Before he can say anything, however, Law stands up, picks up his bag, and starts to walk away. “I need to go to class.”

“Oh, ok. Well see you later Torao!”

“Yea, whatever.” The man mumbles before he disappears behind the corner.

Luffy gulps down the rest of what’s left in the box, he can’t let it go to waste after all, before rushing to his own afternoon class. He thinks today went pretty well despite Law not eating everything, he ate something and that’s what counts right? Also, he learned that Law doesn’t like bread, and really, how weird is that? Why would someone not like bread? Then again Luffy likes all foods so he’s never understood anyone's dislikes towards any food group and feels so sorry for anyone with food allergies.

During his afternoon classes, Luffy keeps replaying his meeting with Torao and imagining how he might’ve reacted if Luffy had taken the opportunity to try and kiss him. He looked so delicious laying under Luffy, face all flustered like that. This is the first time Luffy has ever felt like he wants to eat a whole person, he wonders if that’s normal. Then he remembers how Torao flinched away from him on the bench and he frowns at the thought. Torao did not push him away though and seemed to relax once he was distracted with the food but the initial reaction to closeness baffles Luffy, he’s only met people who either returned his affection right away or pushed him away if they didn’t like it, this makes him even more determined to figure Torao out.

--

It’s Wednesday afternoon and Luffy is sitting in the cafeteria, surrounded by friends and inhaling his lunch faster than usual.

“Damn Luffy what’s the hurry? I know you usually eat fast but are you trying to set some kind of a record?” Nami raises an eyebrow as he keeps neatly eating from the lunchbox provided to everyone by Sanji. Luffy of course got some extra food from the cafeteria line as always and is getting through it at a record speed causing all his friends to wonder what’s up.

“No fime fo faa-k!” He responds mouth full of casserole. “Need to find Torao before class!” He proclaims after swallowing.

“Find who?” Everyone but Sanji and Zoro ask in a chorus.

“It’s a girl he’s trying to woo.”

“It’s his secret boyfriend.”

Sanji and Zoro respond to the question at the same time, glaring at each other afterwards.

“What do you mean boyfriend?? Luffy?! Have I been making this food for a GUY?!”

“What, you thought Luffy is straight? After turning down the most popular model everyone, including you curly, seems to be drooling after in this city.”

“Well obviously I thought he had come to his senses when he came to ask me to make an extra lunch box for a special friend! I thought I was honored enough to be making lunch for the gorgeus Boa Hancock herself!”

“Tch, like she’d ever accept food from a simp like you.”

“What was that, seaweed brain?”

“Shitty cook.”

“Lowzy swordsman.”

“YOU WANT TO FUCKING FIGHT?!” Zoro and Sanji stand up at the same time to yell at each other before Nami gets up to pull them apart by twisting their ears.

“All right we all know how you two hate each other now sit down!”

“Yes Nami-san~” Sanji sits down looking at Nami with eyes sparkling while Zoro crosses his arms but also takes his seat while looking away from the other two, mumbling something that sounds like “You fucking weeb.”

Luffy loves his friends so much, this kind of stuff happens every day and usually, he would be laughing at the display in front of him, but his mind is too occupied with finishing lunch so he can leave and hunt down Torao again. They are supposed to have the next classes together but he has not spotted Torao there for the past two weeks, he’s not sure if it’s because the lanky man is just so good at hiding in the crown or if he has been skipping. Luffy believes the later as this class is a lot smaller and has fewer people than the lectures they have on Mondays so he should not have had any problems spotting him. Therefore, he needs to eat quickly so he can find Law before he leaves if he decides to skip again.

Luffy finishes his lunch just in time for Nami to turn back to him.

“So Luffy, who is this Torao you want to find so badly?” Her eyes clint mischeviously.

Luffy stands up, ignoring the question and heads to the tray drop off. “I’ll see you guys later!” He shouts at his friends as he puts everything else away, grabs the extra lunchbox from his tray, and rushes out.

“Wait Luffy!, who the fuck is Torao?! Luffy!” He hears Nami shout after him but he can explain later, finding Torao is more important!

Luffy decides to check the coffee machine on the first floor first. It’s almost on the opposite side of the building but he’s running to get there faster. He thinks he heard someone shout at him to stop running in the hallway but he ignores it as he speeds past the first-floor classrooms. His heart is beating a little faster than usual, huh, has he been slacking with his exercise lately? He should ask Zoro out for a run later.

All those thoughts disappear as he makes it to his goal and he immediately spots Torao standing in front of the machine, waiting for it to finish his coffee. Score!

“TORAOOO!” He shouts, never slowing down and making a leap to wrap his arms around Torao, sending them both crashing to the floor for a second time in as many days.

“Shi shi shi shi, I found you fast this time!” He feels so giddy as he nuzzles his head into Torao’s chest, noticing how the thin frame under him goes completely rigid. With a frown, he lifts his torso up but stays leaning on his hands, hovering over the taller man. “Are you ok?”

Torao’s face flushes with red as he struggles to push Luffy off him. He doesn’t use much force, but Luffy goes along with it, letting Torao sit up.

“What do you think, moron, are you trying to cause me brain damage or something?!” He watches Torao rub the back of his head as he slowly stands up to pick up his finished coffee that’s still standing in the machine.

Luffy stares at Torao for a moment, considering his words. Wow, he never heard hugging someone can cause brain damage. “You can get brain damage from hugs??”

“What?!” Torao looks at him for a moment, the blush on his cheeks growing darker. “Of course not! But you keep trying to crack my head with yours!!”

“Oh.” Well, that makes a lot more sense. “Sorry, I’ll be more gentle next time!” He flashes a smile at the tall man in front of him, watching his eyes widen as the blush travels up to his ears before he quickly turns away.

“Whatever.” Torao mumbles as he starts walking away.

Luffy scrambles onto his feet and rushes after the grumpy man. “Wait where are you going?”

“Away from you.”

“But I brought you lunch!” Luffy lifts the box in his hands to show Torao.

“Well, you wasted your time.” Torao keeps walking, heading to the lift for the higher floors. Luffy doesn’t question it as their next class is on the 3rd floor.

“No need to be polite, you must be hungry!”

“I’m not.” The elevator arrives and Luffy steps in, making room for Torao who just leans in to press a button for the top floor, followed by the button for making the doors close and leans back out before walking away.

“What??” It takes Luffy too long to realize what’s happening and he just watches as the doors close, trapping him in. Fuck. He quickly presses the button for the first floor and impatiently waits for the metal box keeping him in to stop and forces the doors to open faster so he can squeeze through. He runs out to the big open space in the middle of the building that connects all the floors and spots Torao walking away on the ground floor. Without thinking, he runs along the isle and jumps over the glass railing surrounding the open space, aiming straight at the man on the floor below, landing on top of him and causing him to crash down onto the floor again, face first this time.

Oh crap! He said he would be more gentle from now on! Luffy hears the man under him groan and he quickly jumps onto his feet before lifting Torao up to gently hold him in his arms. “Sorry Torao, I didn’t mean to make you fall over again, I’m too used to Zoro always catching me.”

“What?... P-put me the fuck down!” Torao starts to struggle in his hold till Luffy places him back on his feet.

“Oh, you’re ok? Good!” Luffy grins at Torao but his face falls when he notices the other rubbing his right leg while barely putting any weight on it. “What’s wrong with your leg?”

“It’s nothing.” Torao straightens up, takes a step, and almost crumbles to the floor. If Luffy hadn’t stepped in to catch him again, he’s sure Law would’ve just ended up back on the floor. He tries to push Luffy away but there’s no strength behind it. “I’m fine, let go.”

“You’re clearly not fine, your leg is hurt.” Luffy picks him back up and start to carry him to the closest group of chairs and benches in a dip on the hallway.

“Luffy, put me down, it’s nothing, it’ll pass.” Luffy refuses to listen and just holds on tighter until he makes it to a comfy looking soft bench and carefully places Law down. The man groans and leans his back to the wall behind the bench as he tries to get comfy.

“Can I do anything to help?” Luffy feels concern grow inside him as he hears Torao’s breathing get heavier and sees cobs of sweat form on the man's forehead.

“M-my bag…” Torao pauses to breathe in and out. “Where’s my bag?”

Luffy looks around and realizes he must’ve dropped it when he was tackled to the ground. “I’ll go get it, wait here!”

Luffy runs back to where they were and findsTorao’s bag lying on the floor next to the lunchbox he brought him. Grabbing them both he runs back to Torao, handing the bag back to him and placing the box onto a nearby table. He sits next to Torao and watches him dig around his bag for a bit before pulling out a bottle of pills and throwing a few into his mouth before leaning back onto the wall and closing his eyes with a sigh.

“Are you better now?”

“Yea, once these kick in.”

“How long does that take?”

“20 minutes or so.”

“Hmm…” Luffys eyes wander back to the box he set on the table as a thought enters his mind. He could use this opportunity to feed Torao! He stands up to go grab the box and brings it back to Law, opening it as he sits next to the man. The box is now filled with riceballs as Luffy told Sanji that’s what Torao liked. He grabs one and holds it in front of Law’s face. “Here, you should eat while we wait!”

Law cracks his eyes open and glares at Luffy. “I told you I’m not hungry.” He keeps staring at Luffy for a moment longer, before sighing again and closing his eyes again. He opens his mouth again and Luffy takes this as an ok to shove the riceball in, causing Torao’s eyes to shoot open as he coughs to get the rice out of his throat and struggles to breathe.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!” Torao glares at him with teary eyes once he’s able to speak again. “It’s just my leg injury flaring up, I don’t need you to fucking feed me!”

“What?! Did I cause you to injure your leg?? I’m so sorry!” This is bad, he never meant to hurt Torao!

“It’s fine, you didn’t cause it.”

“Oh, what did?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Why not?”

“...”

An uncomfortable silence falls between them as Luffy patiently waits for a response.

“... You gonna give me lunch or not?” Torao grumbles as he reaches for the box Luffy is still holding.

With glee, Luffy hands the box over and watches Torao start to slowly nibble away at a riceball. After a while, he looks at Luffy again and holds out another riceball to him. “Aren’t we sharing?”

Ecstatic, Luffy leans in and closes his lips around Law’s fingers and sweeps the riceball into his mouth with his tongue, licking against Torao’s fingers as he does so. “Mmmhhh, so tasty~” He practically moans as the savory flavor of rice, grilled fish and salty skin spreads in his mouth.

As he looks back up, Torao has stopped chewing and just stares at him with wide eyes while the red on his cheeks keeps slowly spreading across his whole face. “You ok? Is the pain in his leg getting worse again?”

The questions seems to break Torao out of whatever trance he is in as he quickly looks away and stuffs the rest of the riceball into his mouth, almost choking on it all by himself this time.

“I… uh… yea. You really like food huh?” Torao’s voice wavers a little as he reaches for another riceball and starts eating it.

“Yes! I love food! There’s nothing better in the whole world, I could never go even half a day without food.” He grins at Torao who doesn’t look back but holds the lunchbox out towards him.

“You can have the rest then.”

“You sure? You only ate two.” Luffy frowns at the box that’s not even half empty yet.

“Yea, I’m full.” Torao responds as he finishes the riceball in his hand.

“Well, if you’re sure.” Luffy grins widely as he takes the box and makes quick work of what’s left. As he finishes the last one and licks his fingers for the last traces, he lifts his eyes to catch Torao watching him before turning away again quickly. Catching Torao watching him when he clearly didn’t mean Luffy to see makes his belly tingle, like there’s a bunch of bugs flapping around inside him. Is this what people mean when they say their belly is filled with butterflies? Luffy had never understood that saying until now, for some reason it also makes his cheeks heat up.

“I-I need to go..” Torao splutters as he starts to get up.

“Oh yea, we have a class together next!” This seems to take Torao by surprise as he freezes and looks back at Luffy.

“What?”

“We have the next class together, come on!” Luffy grabs the man's thin wrist and starts to pull him along the hallways.

He makes sure he’s more gentle this time, even Nami’s wrist is not as thin as Torao’s and he’s afraid he will accidentally break it if he’s not careful. Thinking about this makes him regret the few times he tackled Torao down, wondering if he had caused the man unnecessary pain by doing so.

Torao is quiet the whole way to their 3rd floor classroom and only stops right before Luffy’s able to pull him into the room. “You’re on this class too?”

“Yes! Your friends told me you’re supposed to be here too but I wasn’t able to spot you here before.”

“Oh… I might’ve… forgotten to attend a few times.”

“Well you have me to remind you now!” Luffy smiles as he gently pulls Torao forward and to his delight the tall man follows.

When he looks around the room, he spots Zoro already snoring in his seat and makes his way next to him. “The seat next to me is always empty so you can sit here!” Luffy pulls Torao down next to him as he sits down and refuses to let go. Torao sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose before taking the seat offered to him.

Once the lecture is over, Lyffy turns to talk to Torao, but he’s not sitting next to him anymore. How odd, he could’ve sworn he was still there few seconds ago. Quickly scanning the room around them, he spots Torao already almost out of the room. Oh, he must be in a hurry to be somewhere… At least they’ll share morning lectures again tomorrow since it’s Thursday!

“Bye Torao! See you tomorrow!!” He shouts and waves at the man. Torao stops walking but doesn’t turn to look back at him. Luffy thinks he spots a small nod before Torao starts walking again and disappears through the door. Luffy is over the moon, he will get to spend all morning with Torao again tomorrow!

Chapter Text

It’s Thursday morning, the sun has barely climbed above the horizon, and the temperature is just above 10°C. Luffy deemed it warm enough still to wear a T-shirt and shorts with his trusty flip-flops, it’ll get a little warmer by the time they get back home and it’s not like he ever gets cold easily anyway. Zoro has swapped his cargo shorts for long, dark green pants but still wears a t-shirt like Luffy.

Luffy is physically vibrating next to Zoro as they walk toward their school building, only a few more minutes and he’ll get to see Torao again! He could not stop thinking about his grumpy face or the cute blush that had colored his face for most of their interactions the previous day. Even during the lessons, whenever Luffy spoke to him or just turned to look at his handsome face next to him, he could easily see a hint of red dusting his cheeks. He hopes it’s because the man shares Luffy’s feelings and not because he’s hot from clearly wearing too many clothes every day.

“Could you be any more energetic, I’m getting exhausted from just looking at you,” Zoro grumbles next to him. “This Torao must really be something to have you this excited about going to school.”

“He is Zoro! You just missed how cool he was yesterday because you slept through the whole lesson, I told you he was sitting next to me the whole time!”

“And I told you I’ll-” Zoro’s sentence is interrupted by a loud yawn escaping his mouth before he continues, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“He’ll be at the morning lecture so you’ll definitely get to meet him today!”

“Mhmm.” Zoro does not sound convinced. “Remind me again, why do I have to come to school this early too just because you want to hang out with this university-obsessed weirdo?”

Luffy lets out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t you remember what happened the first week? When you decided to leave before me because you were sure I was going to be late? I ended up arriving at the same time as the professor while you were late because you got lost. You need someone to walk you or we might never see you again!”

“Oh come on, I made it in the end didn’t I?”

“Yeah, an hour late.” Luffy can’t help the joyful laugh that escapes him.

“Yeah, whatever.” Zoro shoves his hands into his pockets and sulks as he keeps walking.

They make it to their lecture hall 30 minutes before the lecture is supposed to start. Luffy rips the door open with force, he’s lucky the hinges are sturdy or he might’ve pulled it off completely with his enthusiasm, it wouldn’t be the first time. “Toraooo!!” He yells as soon as he can see into the room and starts scanning the seats. Most of them are still empty, the few people already in paused whatever they were doing and are now staring at Luffy who in turn ignores them all, they’re not who he’s looking for.

His brows knit together as he finishes scanning the room but does not see a slumped figure dressed in all black anywhere in it. Torao said he would be here yesterday, didn’t he? Well technically he didn’t say anything but Luffy saw him nod right before he disappeared from the doorway. Had he just imagined it? Surely not.

“So where’s this Torao?”

Luffy turns to look at Zoro who’s waiting for him to lead the way. “He’s not-”

As soon as Luffy opens his mouth, the door behind them opens again and a tall, extremely slim figure dressed in all-black baggy clothes enters. A hood half covers his face and his gaze is pointed to the floor as he moves to walk past them.

“Torao!!”

The man jumps and snaps his head up, eyes widening as he notices who he almost ran into as soon as he entered the room. “Oh shit.” He glances back toward the now closed door before looking back at Luffy, seemingly contemplating his next move.

“Oh you’re Torao?” Zoro pauses for a moment before he seems to realize something. “Wait a minute, haven’t I seen you before?”

Torao turns his frown toward Zoro and protests with a small voice. “My name is not Torao..”

“Ohh I remember!” Zoro snaps his fingers, “you are the mobster who can’t control his dogs.”

Torao’s regular frown deepens and a pink hue forms on his cheeks. Luffy almost misses his response as he keeps staring, Torao is so cute.

“The dogs are a hundred times more well-behaved than you.” To Luffy’s disappointment, he shoves his cool, tattooed hands into his pockets as he mumbles. “And I never said I was a mobster.”

“Didn’t deny it either.” Zoro shrugs.

“You-”

“Torao!” Luffy feels like the conversation is making Torao upset for some reason so he jumps in to hug the tall man. “I missed you!” As he locks his arms around Torao’s thin frame, he feels the man go completely rigid in his hold. Luffy frowns slightly and waits to be pushed away, but, that doesn’t happen, nothing at all happens. Torao just stands there, he’s not trying to pull away or push Luffy off him, but he’s not relaxing or returning his gesture either. In fact, Luffy is not sure if he’s even breathing, at least his heart is still beating, and it’s beating fast… Is he having a heart attack?! Luffy pulls away slightly and looks up to Torao. His crimson face is turned away from Luffy and his eyes are closed while he’s frowning so deeply it almost looks painful.

“Hey.” Luffy lets go and finally hears Law take a deep breath. “You ok, Torao?”

“Y-yeah.” Law turns and starts to walk up the stairs.

Luffy frowns and glances back to Zoro who just shrugs at him before he moves to follow Law. “You want to sit with him right?” He says as he passes Luffy.

A grin spreads onto Luffy’s face again as he cheers and rushes past Zoro to catch up with Law and follows him till he chooses a seat in the back corner again.

Luffy doesn’t really like to sit in the back row, it makes it harder for him to read what’s written on the whiteboard or projected onto the screen at the front. Whenever he tries to read, the lines keep getting jumbled together and the letters jump all over the place, he doesn’t understand how anyone can read from this far away. Torao must have a really good vision, Luffy can just ask him for help again.

As he moves to sit down, he notices that Torao left one empty seat at the very end of the row they are sitting in and places his bag there instead of the seat between himself and everyone else. The first time he sat next to Torao they had to keep leaning over the bag in between them as he tried to explain things to Luffy. his smile widens as he feels like it’s Torao’s way of inviting Luffy to sit right next to him. Luffy’s not one to miss his opportunity and sits so close that if Torao wasn’t the skinniest person Luffy has ever seen and on the far edge of his seat, their shoulders would be brushing.

Luffy barely registers Zoro slumping onto the seat on his other side as he’s too busy beaming at the grumpy target of his affection. “I knew you wanted me to sit next to you!”

“I… it’s just convenient if I have to help you as much as last time… don’t get used to it,” Law grumbles as he sets his laptop on the table in front of him and turns it on. He doesn’t look at Luffy when he says that and Luffy doesn’t believe him for a second, he could’ve just told Luffy to fuck off but he didn’t, not that he would’ve listened, but that has to be a good sign right? He could ask about it from Nami later.

“Why…” Torao starts but pauses to glance at Zoro who Luffy can hear already snoring on his seat. “Why are you here so early?” Torao’s voice is so quiet that Luffy can barely understand what he’s saying, but his smile widens as he does.

“I couldn’t wait to see Torao!” Luffy smiles even though Law furrows his brows at him.

“But… why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I wanted to!” Isn’t Torao supposed to be smart?

“But.. you… I…” Torao seems like he doesn’t know how to say what he wants so Luffy decides to help.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We.. what?! No!”

“What? Why not?” Does Torao even know what the word means?

“We’re just… not.” Law turns away from him.

“But you helped me study.”

“You didn’t give me a choice.” Law keeps looking at his screen.

“And we had lunch together!” He just needs to make Law understand what being friends means.

“Again, you gave me no-”

“Twice!”

“What?”

“We had lunch together twice!” He’s totally acing this.

“You… I- we know nothing about each other.”

“I know you like riceballs and fish and vegetables and coffee and dogs and studying and black and lose clothes and Germa 66 and-”

“How could you possibly know about Germa 66??” Torao snaps and turns to look at him with that delicious blush decorating his face again, score. Also, does he not realize the backdrop on his laptop screen is from Germa 66? Torao sure is silly for a smart person.

“My friend does the voice acting for Stealth Black in the cartoon! He hates the rest of the cast though and never wants to watch any of the episodes… He used to read the comics before he got cast as one of the voice actors for the cartoon thought.”

“You.. Sanji Blackleg is your friend?!” Torao slams his hands onto the table his laptop is on and stands up while staring at Luffy. Luffy nods. “You’re joking,” Torao breathes out.

“Shishishi nope!” Luffy feels his smile get even wider than before. “In fact, he’s the one who made your lunch yesterday and the day before!”

“...He…” Luffy watches as Law's arms and legs start to tremble and he slumps back down to his seat. “He… he cooks?”

“Yup! He loves to cook and he’s so good at it too! His dream is to open his own restaurant.”

“I-”

“LUFFFYYY!! Where are you!” Their conversation is interrupted by a desperate cry from the front of the hall and Luffy turns to look down to spot his friend.

“OI! CARROT! Over here!” Luffy waves at her and she starts to run up the stairs and is soon sitting next to Zoro.

“Oh wow, you are sitting far back! Are you sure you’ll be able to follow the teaching from here Luffy?”

“Yea It’ll be fine, I have Torao to help me!”

“Ohhh this is Torao?! I’ve heard so much about you, it’s so nice to finally meet you in person!”

“I… um, uh...”

“Oh, are you shy? How cute! I like you already! Hold up! Are those tattoos on your fingers? That’s so cool! What does it say?”

“...”

“It’s so cool right?! It says death, see?” Luffy grabs Torao’s hand which he was trying to hide and holds it out so Carrot can see better.

“Hey!” Torao pulls his hand away.

“Wow!” Carrot looks like she has stars in her eyes. “I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo but I’m a little bit afraid, did it hurt to get those done?”

“N-not really..”

“Do you have more?”

“... Yes.”

“Can I see?!” Luffy and Carrot shout at the same time.”

“N-no!” Torao looks away, clearly embarrassed again.

“Awww…” Carrot pouts at the answer.

“Torao’s no fun.” Luffy pouts next to Carrot.

“The lecture’s starting.” Law directs their attention to the front of the room where the professor just entered.

As the professor starts to talk in the front they all quiet down and Luffy turns his attention back to study Torao. His face is all red again and he’s trying to hide under his hood. Luffy has never known anyone to get flustered quite as easily as Torao and wonders what’s that all about, is he not used to being complemented? He’s also reluctant to show the rest of his tattoos but why? Surely he likes them since he had them made? Does he regret getting them? Maybe they’re embarrassing… or in embarrassing places, like… Luffy’s gaze wanders to Torao’s crotch and he feels his cheeks heat up, he really wants to find out where and what kind of tattoos Torao has. Maybe he has more piercings too, that would be so cool and so… He doesn’t know how to describe it but imagining Torao covered only in tattoos and piercings makes Luffy feel all tingly on the inside, it’s new and weird but a very pleasant feeling.

“Hey!” Torao snaps his fingers in front of Luffy’s face and jolts him out of his thoughts. “Are you even paying attention to what he’s saying?”

“What who?” Who’s Torao talking about?

Torao’s frown deepens cutely “The professor.”

“Oh, uh, no?” Luffy smiles sheepishly at Law who just sighs and starts explaining whatever the teacher had just talked about to him while making Luffy take notes. Luffy’s never been so happy while studying before and he feels like he’s even learning a few things while mostly staring and Torao’s handsome face and delicious-looking lips.

The lesson goes past way faster than Luffy expected and he’s sad to realize everyone, including Torao starts to pack away their things. He wants to spend more time with the grumpy man but they don’t share any more lessons that day or on Friday. Sure he can try to track Torao down again for lunch, but that’s not a lot of time at all.

Like a lightbulb a thought lights up in his mind, the group project! They should make a schedule to work on it, he could suggest the days he doesn’t share any lessons with Torao so he’d still have a reason to see him after school, yes, it’s perfect.

“Hey Torao.” The man stops putting things into his bag and turns his gaze to Luffy, god if those aren’t the most beautiful eyes Lyffy’s ever seen.

“Yes?” Torao prompts as Luffy doesn’t say anything for a while.

“Oh yeah, uh, the group project!” Torao tilts his head slightly in confusion. “We should start to work on the group project! How about after school on Tuesdays and Fridays?”

“Oh yeah Torao is in our group now!” Carrot pipes up from behind Luffy, “I’m fine for Tuesdays and Fridays! But do we really need 2 days a week for it?” Luffy turns to glare and Carrot who lifts up her hands as a sign of peace. “I-I mean I guess there’s lots of work, 2 days a week is probably a good idea…”

“I’m cool with whatever” Zoro yawns as he starts to get up.

“Torao?” Luffy turns back to the man, hoping to convince him with his stare.

“Um.. yea, maybe… I uh, I need to confirm my schedule, tomorrow’s probably not going to work…”

“Aww.” Luffy feels a bang of disappointment in his chest about not being able to spend more time with Torao tomorrow but the feeling is soon banished by the prospect of Tuesday, plus they share a lesson on Monday morning. “Well try to make Tuesday work ok?”

“Yeah, sure.” Law gets up and starts to head for the door.

Luffy is up instantly and walks next to him. “I’ll see you at lunch again right?”

“I… you, you don’t-”

“It’ll be delicious! I’ll come find you, I know you don’t like the cafeteria.”

Torao doesn’t say anything, just stares at the floor as they exit the room and start to head for their next classes. They come to the main hallway that runs through the whole building and Luffy knows they are about to head in the opposite direction of each other. Luffy reaches to hug Law before they part and notes the other tensing again like in the morning but decides to worry about that later. He lets go and starts to walk after his friends while waving. “I’ll see you later Torao!”

Torao doesn’t say anything or turn to look towards him, he has stopped walking and he stands there in the middle of the hallway, back towards Lyffy and his friends. Luffy’s about to shout to ask if he’s ok but just as he’s about to open his mouth, Torao starts to walk again. Huh, that was strange.

--

It’s lunchtime and Luffy’s walking along the corridors with a frown on his face. He’s upset, he’s so upset with Sanji. He only handed one lunchbox to Luffy as they entered the cafeteria and as Luffy asked where’s Torao’s lunch, Sanji responded that he only makes extra lunches for ladies and that Luffy should be grateful he made him a box at all after deceiving him like that earlier. Luffy doesn’t get it, what does it matter if Torao is not a lady? He’s still hungry and deserves food like everyone! He tried to make Sanji understand but he just said Torao needs to suck it up and eat in the cafeteria like everyone else if he wants to eat.

Luffy got so upset he didn’t eat anything and just stormed off, lunchbox in hand and ignoring Nami and Usopp calling after him. He just wants to find Torao and they can share his lunch, he’s gonna go hungry till he gets home but that’s ok, if Torao has done that every day for over a year, Luffy can do it for one day.

He makes it to the coffee machine closest to the cafeteria on the ground floor and sees Torao standing next to it, sipping coffee from a paper cup. He doesn’t run to tackle Torao this time, he remembers how much pain he was in last time besides, he’s not in the mood for tackling anyway. He walks next to Torao and stops with a sigh, feeling the other's gaze on him but not meeting it. “Hey.” He mumbles as a weak greeting.

“Hey…” An uncomfortable silence falls between them and after a while Luffy changes a glance and Toraos face. He’s looking at him with a frown, slightly deeper than the one he usually has but he doesn’t say anything.

“Sanji’s stupid.” Luffy finally provides and when Torao just quirks an eyebrow, he continues. “He didn’t make you lunch today because you’re not a girl.” Luffy looks down again.

“Oh… that’s ok, I don’t-”

“You can share mine!” Luffy smiles as he grabs Torao’s hand and pulls him along towards the nearby table. They sit down and Luffy opens the box, the delicious smell makes saliva gather in his mouth and he has to swallow so it won’t start to drip out. It all looks and smells so delicious, he just wants to pour it all into his mouth at once, but he doesn’t, he wants Torao to pick what he wants first. “Here.” He grabs the chopsticks from the box and holds them out to Law.

Law doesn’t move to take them, he just looks at the sticks in Luffys hand as his brow furrows further. “I, um… “ a light blush colors his cheeks again as he looks away from Luffy. “I never, uh…”

“Hmm?” Luffy looks at the chopsticks in his hand. “Is there something wrong with them?” He wonders out loud as he brings them closer to his face to inspect them. “They seem fine to me.” He looks back up at Torao.

“No, that’s not… I just, I’ve never used…” He gestures to the sticks in Luffy’s hand

Realization finally dawns on Luffy “Ohhh! Well, that’s easy, here I’ll show you!” Luffy grabs Law’s hand and places the sticks under his thumb. “There, now you just move them with your fingers like scissors to grab food!”

Law stares at his hand and tries to move his fingers but the sticks are not moving and his brow knit together in concentration. After a while, he seems to give up and holds the chopsticks out. “Could you maybe, um, show me first?” He hands the sticks back to Luffy who accepts them with a smile.

“Sure Torao, here!” Luffy grabs the sticks and picks up a piece of sausage before shoving it into his mouth. Damn, Sanji’s food is always so good. He shoves a few more into his mouth before he remembers he was supposed to be sharing with Torao, oops. Hopefully, he didn’t want the sausages as there’s only one left now and Luffy really wants to have the last one too. “Here, try again!” Luffy hands the sticks back to Law.

Law takes the chopsticks again and this time places them in his hand a little differently, he’s able to move them a little but when he tries to pick up a piece of steamed broccoli, it keeps slipping out of the hold. He lets out a frustrated huff and ends up just stabbing a few pieces of vegetables with one stick and shoving them into his mouth. He looks away from Luffy again as he chews and Luffy’s sure he’s embarrassed because he was unable to use the sticks, so adorable.

“It’s ok Torao, I can feed you if using them is too hard for you!” He smiles, he’s never wanted to share his food with anyone before meeting Torao, let alone feed it to someone else, but the thought of getting to feed Torao makes him feel all tingly again, he really wants to do it now.

“What?!” Law snaps his head around to look at him and as Luffy thought earlier, his face is all red. “It’s not too hard, you’re just a terrible teacher,” he grumbles.

“Well anyway, let me feed you!” Luffy grabs the sticks from Law, picks up some rice, and holds it in front of him. “Say ‘aaah’” Law glares at him but opens his mouth and Luffy just shoves the rice in as soon as the mand lips part. Law is taken aback by the sudden intrusion in his mouth but he closes his lips around the food anyway and settles on glaring daggers at Luffy while he chews and swallows.

“Would you stop showing food into my mouth when I try to speak?.” He gets out before Luffy gets ready to shove more in. Oh, he was going to say something, Luffy thought he was just complying with his request to feed him, oops.

“Aww, but you need to eat somehow.”

“I’ll just use my hands.” Law picks up a few apple slices. “You can have the rest anyway.”

“What? Are you sure? You ate, like, nothing at all!” Luffy can’t understand how Torao can just not eat when there are all these delicious things right in front of him.

“It’s more than normal anyway.” He’s quiet for a moment before he looks down at his hands. “Your friend is right you know, you should stop trying to feed me.”

“What? Why?”

“Despite what you think, we’re not friends, I don’t want to be your friend and you’ll gain nothing from doing all this.”

Luffy stares a Torao for a moment, trying to figure out why he’s lying. He was clearly waiting for him at the coffee machine, didn’t resist when Luffy pulled him along, and even accepted some of the food he was offered. And earlier he let Luffy sit right next to him and explained the whole lesson to him again. There must be a reason for Torao to be unable to express what he really wants and Luffy wants to figure out what it is. “Nah.”

“What?!”

“Nah.”

“What do you mean ‘nah’?”

“I want to keep feeding you so I will and I’ve decided I’m your friend so that’s what we are!” He smiles at Torao. The grumpy man might be unable to say out loud what he really wants, but Luffy will make sure he gets it anyway.

“You- you can’t just decide something like that on your own!”

“Well, I did, shi shi shi.” Luffy chuckles as he pours the remaining food from his lunch box into his mouth. After swallowing it all he stares into the empty box as a loud rumble escapes his stomach. He blushes slightly and grins at Torao who’s staring at him. “I guess it really wasn’t enough food for me after all.” He checks his phone for time. “I still have little time before the next lessons, I’m gonna go grab something from the cafeteria.” He packs away his empty lunchbox and is up and running towards the cafeteria before Law has time to do or say anything.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” He shouts as he waves at Torao who’s just staring after him dumbstruck but lightly lifts his hand to wave back. Noticing the small gesture makes Luffy’s smile grow wider before he rounds a corner and loses sight of Torao.

Within minutes he’s back inside the cafeteria. Lucky for him, it’s mostly empty now so he doesn’t need to wait in line and he rushes to pile a tray full of everything he can get his hands on.

He has just sat down and shoved his mouth full as his phone rings. He digs it out of his pocket to check the caller ID, it’s Nami.

“Hey Nami!” He answers the call cheerfully.

“Where the fuck are you Luffy?! We’ve been looking all over the building for you!” Nami sounds angry, Luffy has no idea why.

“I’h af fhe cafefewia.” He responds mouth full of food.

“For fucks sake, swallow before you speak!”

“At the cafeteria!” He cheers into the phone once his mouth is empty between mouthfuls.

“What? But you ran away from there.”

“I was too hungry so I came back!”

“Ok… where were you then?”

“At the hallway coffee machine!”

There’s a silence on the other end before Nami speaks again sounding confused. “But you don’t drink coffee, right?”

“No, I don’t!” Coffee is gross, he doesn’t understand how anyone’s able to drink it.

“So why were you there?”

“Torao likes coffee!” It’s weird but Luffy likes him despite his strange taste.

“Oh, right, you were with Torao?”

“Yeah!”

“Is he still with you?”

“No.”

“Damn. Doesn’t he eat?”

“He does! Very little though.”

“How come he’s never in the cafeteria then?”

“He doesn’t like the food there, that’s why I asked Sanji to make the extra lunchbox! But then he found out Torao is a guy and didn’t make him lunch today.” Luffy frowns as he remembers he’s still angry at Sanji.

“Right… so what did he eat today?”

“I shared my lunch!”

“You… oh... Interesting.” The line goes silent for a moment and Luffy takes the opportunity to clean off his last plate. Nami clears her throat. “So you’re still coming to help me at the salon tonight right? Like we agreed earlier?”

“Yes! Of course! And I’m bringing Chopper, he’s such good friends with Hancock's dogs!”

“Great, I’ll see you at four then.”

“Yeah, see you Nami!”

The call ends and Luffy rushes to return his tray and pile of plates before he heads for his next lessons.

His day ends at three today so he has to hurry home after, pick up Chopper, and head straight to the salon. Hancock’s appointment for her three little nightmares is not till five, but Luffy wants to get there as early as possible to take advantage of the empty salon and give Chopper a nice bath and some grooming if there’s time. As an added bonus, Chopper's calm demeanor helps calm down the dogs they have to groom today. Luffy adores Hancock as a friend, but she has no clue about how to train her dogs.

Belladonna, a white toy poodle who’s the oldest at 7 years is probably the worst, she’s the most spoiled little creature Luffy has ever seen and she acts like she’s still a puppy. It’s fun when playing with her, but so annoying when they have to groom her. They usually groom her last as she’s fine playing with the other dogs in the salon until she’s lifted onto the grooming table, that’s when all hell breaks loose. She keeps fidgeting and whining constantly while being trimmed, she hates bathing and cries the whole time like someone is trying to eat her, and the dryer is even worse. Usually, they have to mussel her so she’s unable to bite the part where hot air comes from and one of them has to hold her while the other tries to get her dry, same with clipping her nails.

Poppy, a 4-year-old black and white Papillon is the calmest and easiest to groom, she only whines a little while having her nails clipped but as Luffy has found out, most dogs don’t like their paws being touched. She’s a little afraid of the blowdryer as well but usually just tries to get away from it instead of attacking it. On her own and with a little training she’d be a lovely lap dog, but being constantly surrounded by two high-energy and constantly misbehaving dogs, she’s often pulled along into their shenanigans. And with an owner who sets no boundaries for any of her dogs, you can’t expect much.

Daisy, a 2 two-year-old blonde long-haired Chihuahua is the newest addition and the loudest of the trio. She has the weirdest bark Luffy has ever heard and she barks at anything and everything. She barks when she’s happy, she barks when she’s excited, and she barks when she’s unsure or afraid. Luckily, she’s all bark and no bite and whenever someone challenges her, she runs away and starts barking again once she’s a safe distance away.

Compared to the three nightmares, Torao’s dog, Killer was so nice and easy to groom, he just sat there and seemed like he was enjoying the treatment, just whining a little bit when they were rinsing off the second round of shampoo. Torao seems to be really good with dogs, he wants to introduce Chopper to Killer and Jiki, hopefully, he’ll get a chance to do that soon. Maybe Torao will bring Killer in for a groom again soon, according to Nami Killer was a regular in the Salon, just like Hancock's dogs, Luffy had just never been in the salon on any of the days he was brought in.

Hancock first brought her dogs into the salon about 6 months ago. Luffy happened to be in with Chopper and Nami was just blow-drying him when the tall supermodel with long, jet-black hair and a revealing outfit stepped in and demanded her dogs be groomed immediately. Her attitude irked Luffy off as Chopper was not done yet and she didn’t have an appointment so he told her to piss off. Luffy wasn’t working in the salon yet at that time and didn’t give a damn about the other customers.

Luffy’s reaction had shocked Hancock into silence and when he didn’t back down when she repeated her demands, she acted like she had been struck and dramatically fell to the floor. Both Luffy and Nami had just stared at her while Nami kept blow-drying Chopper. While Nami understood the importance of good customer service to make the most money, she also refused to take this kind of treatment from anyone. She told Hancock to leave and book an appointment for later if she was still interested.

A few months later Hancock had finally made an appointment after walking past the salon almost daily. She had mistaken Luffy for a worker in the salon as he was around so often and specifically requested him to be there for the groom. Nami had told her it was only her and her sister who did the grooming, but she had insisted and that’s when Luffy had agreed to help Nami. He’d always loved all animals anyway and didn’t mind the occasional groom when the salon was busy. Besides, if he didn’t work in the salon, he might’ve never run into Torao with how good he was at hiding and disappearing in the lecture halls.

In hindsight, Nami had told him how grateful she was she wasn’t alone for the groom, especially because Belladonna turned out to be such a fussy customer. Hancock's standards were extremely high, and she complained the whole time how difficult it was to find anyone decent at their job who could handle her babies and give them the pampering they needed. She had been terrified by the way Belladonna had cried when she was being washed and demanded to be there the whole time to make sure her baby wasn’t being tortured. In the end, Luffy convinced her that the dog was just being a bit dramatic as it was her first time with them, and as soon as they were done and Belladonna was let off the table, she was fine and playing on the floor with Luffy and the other dogs while Hancock paid for their service.

After that Hancock became a regular and brought her dogs in at least once or twice a month. Every time she wanted Luffy to be there and spent the whole appointment talking and giggling at everything he said. Nami said she had to have a crush on him but Luffy didn’t believe her until Hancock offered to buy him dinner. He of course accepted and at the end of it, the supermodel asked him to marry her. Luffy had instantly turned her down, saying he wasn’t interested in marriage. When Sanji found out that Luffy had not only gone on a date with one of the most popular models in the country, if not in the world, but also turned down a marriage proposal from her, he declared Luffy insane.

Luffy’s thoughts wander back to Torao, would he want to get married? He’s not sure how he would respond if it was Law asking him to spend the rest of their lives together. Waking up next to that beautiful face every morning doesn’t sound too bad.

After their dinner date, Luffy started to run into Hancock more often, in the supermarket, right outside the campus, at Franky’s, at the dog park, or while just walking Chopper. He didn’t mind it too much, she was fun to talk to and Chopper got along with her dogs really well. What he didn’t care for so much, was how she acted like every word out of Luffy’s mouth was somehow funny and treated everyone else around them like her servants.

“That’s all for today, see you next week.”

Luffy is brought out of his thoughts by the professor ending the lesson. Excited to be done for the day Luffy stuffs his things into his bag and rushes out the door while waving bye to Zoro. He has his Kendo practice on Thursday afternoons right after the end of their lesson so Luffy’s left walking home alone.

Running the whole way, Luffy makes the 15-minute walk in less than 10. Chopper greets him happily at the door as soon as he gets in. “Hi boy, did you miss me?” He coos while petting the excited dog. “I bet you’re hungry, come on I’ll give you your dinner before we go!” Luffy’s bag is dropped and forgotten at the door as soon as he kicks off his sandals and moves to the kitchen to fill Chopper’s water and food bowls.

He leaves Chopper to eat as he runs to his room and flips on the light before he bounces to the big, well-illuminated aquarium placed on a counter against the wall on the right side of the door. As someone who has such a hard time getting up in time in the mornings, Luffy is eternally grateful for the automatic lighting system Ace gifted him when he was accepted to Grand Line University and moved out. He would hate to think his pets have to swim in the dark all day when he’s at school as he’d probably forget to turn on their lights more often than not.

As he gets closer to the tank, two little heads, one black and one pink, with tiny beady eyes break the surface of the water. Luffy likes to think they know it’s him and they come up to greet him, but it’s more likely that they are hungry and know it’s feeding time. Nevertheless, he likes to talk to them like they understand what he’s saying.

“Hello Neptune, Shirahoshi! Have you had a nice day so far? I bet you’re both hungry, here you go, some yummy worms!” He takes a few worms and wiggles them on the surface of the water in front of his axolotls till both of them latch on. “Mmm, it’s good right?”

He thinks they are so cool, he had never seen an axolotl before he visited the Sabaody Aquarium with his brothers on his 12th birthday and he instantly fell in love with the weird swimming lizards that look like they’re out of this world. Some of them had even glowed in greenish-blue hue as they swam under some blue lights in their tank and Luffy had been completely enthralled. He had not stopped talking about them until he finally wore gramps down and he gave him the ok to get an aquarium as long as he paid and took care of it himself. He had saved up his small weekly allowance for months to be able to afford a big enough tank with everything the little lizards needed. When he finally had the money and went to buy them, he found out he had to save even more to be able to buy the animals as well. He had been so upset he was close to crying at the shop but luckily his two brothers were with him and they had agreed to buy him one lizard each as an early birthday present and Luffy had been over the moon.

When they got home from the shopping trip he spent the rest of the day setting up the tank and watching as its new inhabitants got used to their new home. He loved and still loves them so much and could watch them for hours, he was elated to find out one of them - the pink one he named Shirahorhi after a pink mermaid from an old children's cartoon - glows under blue light like the ones he saw in the aquarium. He would never give them up for anything.

He glances at the clock on his wall and his stomach drops, it’s already a quarter to four, and he has to hurry if he wants to make it in time to wash Chopper! He scrambles back to the door and turns off the light in his room before rushing to the front door.

“Chopper! Time for a walk!” He yells as he slips back into his flip-flops and makes sure he has his keys and his phone. Chopper’s next to him as soon as he looks up and they’re out the door within seconds.

--

When his last lesson for the day ends, Luffy is out of the door before the professor even finishes wishing them a relaxing weekend. It’s Friday and Luffy is antsy to get out of the building for a chance to catch Torao on his way out. He wasn’t able to find Law at lunchtime today, he checked all the coffee machines, and the areas around the rooms for his previous and upcoming lessons and just wandered around the hallways till his break was over but did not spot him. He did, however, see Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin at the cafeteria when he was wolfing down his lunch and they said Torao had been at the morning lessons so Luffy had been looking forward to spending most of his lunch break with the somber man again. Nami had even convinced Sanji to make Torao his own lunchbox again but Luffy ended up emptying it himself so it didn’t go to waste when he didn’t find the man.

While he runs down the stairs jumping 3 steps at a time he tries to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He’s never felt this way before and doesn’t quite understand where the feeling is coming from but hopefully, it’ll go away soon. Maybe he just needs a good meal, that usually makes him feel better.

He gets to the ground floor of the building and takes off running towards the main entrance of the building. Before he makes it to the door, he spots Torao walking towards it, eyes glued to his phone. A grin spreads across Luffy’s face as he changes his course and slows down to avoid tackling the tall man to the ground again.

“Torooo!” He shouts right before he latches on to the man’s bone-thin arm, he really needs to get Torao to eat more and maybe they could even do some exercise together. He could be Luffy’s first customer when he finishes his studies and becomes a personal trainer! Free of charge of course.

Law jolts out of his thoughts and drops his phone as soon as Luffy touches him.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Luffy bends down to pick up Law’s phone to hand it back to him when something on the screen catches his attention. “Oh, hey, why do you only have one contact in your phone?” He asks confused as he holds up the phone, the screen towards Law showing his contacts list.

Law frowns. “None of your business,” he grumbles as he reaches clumsily to grab his phone, the way he speaks sounds a little funny to Luffy but he ignores it as he pulls the phone out of Law’s reach.

“Why don’t you have any of your friends numbers?” Luffy remembers Law telling him he doesn’t have any friends, but he hadn’t expected it to be true, he’s never met anyone who has a phone but only one contact in it. What about Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin? Or his family?

“I told you, I-”

Luffy’s not really listening to Law's response as he keeps staring at the screen. Surely there is someone else in Torao’s life than this “Kid”... hold on, Torao doesn’t have children, does he? Luffy frowns as he looks up at Law. “Torao, are you a dad?!”

“I.. what? No! What made you think that?!”

“Oh ok, good, I didn’t want to become a parent yet!” Luffy’s relieved, he’s not ready to become a dad, he has too many things he still wants to do and experience before children, he hasn’t even had sex yet and he’s pretty sure that’s a requirement for making children. He’s never thought about starting a family before but he’s sure Torao’s kids would be super cute.

For a moment Law just stares at him with a confused expression, slowly blinking his eyes. Something about the way he moves seems a bit off but Luffy can’t put his finger on it. Eventually, Law responds. “What the fuck are you talking about? There’s seriously something wrong with you.” Law reaches for his phone again but Luffy steps away.

“Let me put my number in for you, then you’ll have 2 contacts, that’s twice as many as you had before!” He’s sure he did the math right there and is pretty proud of himself as he starts to type in his name and number for Torao.

“No wait, give it back! I don’t want your number!” Torao protests but if he really meant that, he’d try harder to take his phone from Luffy right? He’s making it very easy for Luffy to avoid his grabby hands until he’s done putting in his number and makes a quick call to his own phone to get Law’s number before finally handing the phone back.

“What the fuck Luffy?! You can’t just force your number on someone, not to talk about taking their number by force!”

Damn, Torao sounds kind of angry, it’s just a number though, why would he get so worked up over it? Besides they’re friends, it’s ok to swap numbers with your friends right?

“Don’t ever call or text me, I want you to delete my number!” Torao demands but Luffy gets the feeling he doesn’t really mean it.

“No, I’m going to keep it. Don’t worry, I won’t give it to anyone else.” Luffy smiles at him to try and reassure him.

“That’s not… I… you… argh! You are insufferable! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

“Fine, then delete my number.” It’s a gamble, but Luffy’s confident it’ll pay off.

“W-what?” Torao looks confused again.

“If you don’t want my number, you can always delete it, right?”

“I…” Law stares at his phone but does nothing to block or delete his contact.

“See? I knew you’d want to keep it!” Luffy feels a strange flutter in his chest as he keeps smiling at Torao.

“I’m keeping it just to know when not to respond!” Law turns the screen off and stuffs the phone into his pocket. Neither of them mentions how he could just block Luffy’s number for the same effect as Law turns away and heads for the door.

Luffy doesn’t follow him, instead, he digs out his own phone to save Torao’s number right away before it gets lost in other incoming calls from his friends and family. He’s never been as excited to get someone’s number before, he wants to call and text him right away but feels like that might be a bit too soon, he doesn’t want to give Law a reason to decide to block him after all.

In the end, he’s unable to stop himself from opening a new conversation with Torao to send him a quick message.

Luffy
15:11 See you Monday!

--

It’s early Sunday evening and Luffy is lying on his bed. He just finished feeding and playing with his axolotls after coming from a long walk with Chopper. He doesn’t have anything left to do for the day, he tried calling Law a couple of times earlier during the day but the other never picked up.

On Saturday he spent some time at Bepo's place, playing games with him, Shachi, and Penguin. They had a really good time until Luffy asked about Torao, and the mood turned somber. When he asked what was wrong, they told him that it was Torao’s birthday this Sunday, but none of them had been able to get hold of the man as he blocked all their numbers so they couldn’t get through to his phone. They knew where he was living now, but the last time they went to the apartment, it had not gone well and they said going now was a very bad idea. They refused to tell Luffy where he lives but when he told them he had gotten Torao’s number on Friday, they all looked at him with hopeful expressions.

Luffy ended up promising he’d try to get hold of Torao and wish him happy birthday from them all and really, he could not have wished for a better excuse to keep calling Torao. He had been fidgeting with his phone every chance he got, hovering over Torao’s number, contemplating whether or not he should just call him. Torao had seen the text he sent on Friday right after getting his number but had not responded. Luffy’s not used to feeling this unsure of himself. Usually, he knows what he wants and just takes it, but something about Torao makes him hesitate. He knows he wants Torao to be his friend, more than a friend really, but feels like if he makes the wrong move he could scare him away like a wild animal.

With nothing else left to occupy his mind, Luffy gives in, selects Torao's number, and calls again. No answer. He keeps calling and calling and calling, Torao has to pick up eventually right? After dozens of attempts during the past few hours, Luffy’s startled when the line is finally picked up on the other end.

“Torao! Happy birthday!!”

“Who the fuck is this? Why do you keep calling this number?” Luffy’s confused, he doesn’t recognize the gruff, drunkenly slurring voice on the other end, it’s definitely not Torao.

“Oh, it’s Luffy! I thought this was Torao’s number?”

“I don’t know who the fuck Torao is, but there’s no one by that name here so stop fucking calling!!”

The call disconnects before Luffy is able to respond. He’s not sure what to make of what just happened, he’s sure it’s Torao's number because he called himself from his phone, so why would someone else answer? Had Law lost his phone? Maybe whoever it was doesn’t know Torao’s last name, should he call again and ask for Law? Yea, he’ll do that!

He tries calling again but the call is not connecting anymore, did Torao turn his phone off? He tries a few more times with the same result. Maybe he ran out of battery? Oh well, it’s late and Luffy should get ready for bed, he wants to get up early again so he can wish Torao a late happy birthday first thing in the morning when he sees him at the lecture!

--

Chapter Text

A groan escapes his dry and slightly cracked lips as he tries to turn to lie on his side. His whole body aches, especially his lower back, Kid did not go easy on him last night. Not that he ever expects him to at this point. Before getting together with Kid, Law didn’t think anyone could have this high of a sex drive.

To Law it is exhausting, it takes so much out of him every time and Kid never lets up till he forces the tattooed man to climax at least once unless he happens to pass out from drugs before that happens. Maybe he doesn’t think of it as forcing though, as he himself enjoys sex so much and Law finds it difficult to express how much he’s growing to loathe their intimate time together. Whenever he tries to hint that he’d just prefer to relax and sleep, the other either completely dismisses him or accuses him of being unfaithful because he doesn’t want Kid anymore. So in the end he gives in, every time.

His long tattooed fingers grope around the nightstand to find his phone. He turns the screen on to check the time, 08:34. Later than he expected to be able to sleep on his birthday, Kid must’ve given him some good shit last night. This is the first birthday he has spent with someone since that night… since… since Doffy… he doesn’t know what to expect. As long as he can remember, even before his time with Doffy, this day has been just a reminder of what a selfish and awful human benign he is, always making bad decisions that lead everyone around him to get hurt.

Without thinking he taps on the message app on his phone which automatically opens to the last conversation he had open when he last closed it. There’s only one message in the conversation and he has read it more times than he can remember since Friday. ‘See you Monday!’ The innocent promise makes Law fees queasy for some reason. The number it was sent from is no longer saved on his phone, he couldn’t take the risk of Kid finding out about Luffy. If he was smart, he would have deleted the text and blocked the number, but he could not bring himself to do either. He keeps convincing himself that he can always tell Kid someone must’ve had the wrong number.

He traces the letters on the screen with his finger, Luffy sent them almost instantly after he left from uni that day. The feeling he got when he saw Luffy’s name pop up on his phone screen was unexplainable to him. He’d never felt that way about anything or anyone before and didn’t really know what to do about it back then, he still doesn’t. He ended up deleting Luffy’s contact info shortly after receiving it but kept the message. He doesn’t really understand why, but he’s almost looking forward to Monday, to seeing that happy face again.

Law knows that allowing Luffy to get closer to him at school is dangerous, there’s only one way it can end, only one way it has ever ended with people who get too close like that. But he can’t help himself, the warmth and happiness Luffy radiates every time he sees the young man keeps pulling him in and he doesn’t have the strength to keep fighting it. Especially when the guy keeps seeking him out and refuses to leave him alone. Whenever Luffy touches him - which is more often than anyone has ever willingly touched him without it leading straight to sex - it makes Law’s heart feel like it’s going to stop beating and explode from beating too fast all at the same time. It renders him speechless, unable to move or even breathe.

Every time Luffy pulls him into a hug it makes him feel things he’s never felt before, embarrassing things. It makes all the blood in his body run to places it has no business running to, making it hard for him to think straight. If only he wasn’t with Kid, maybe he could… no. Law shakes his head to stop the thought before it finishes in his head. He could never do that, he could never drag someone like Luffy down with him, he could never forgive himself for being the reason for Luffy losing his smile, or worse. No, it’s absolutely out of the question, they will be project partners, nothing more. Luffy can call them friends as he keeps insisting, but Law has no intention of keeping in touch after the course finishes.

He has Kid, being with him is safe like being with Doffy was until he ruined it. The way he felt close to Doffy or feels close to Kid now is different from the way he feels towards Bepo or his other friends, different from the way he felt towards his parents, Lammy, or even Cora, the way he's starting to feel toward Luffy… Those feelings scare him more than he’s willing to admit, they will just lead to another tragedy and he knows he could not handle another loss like that, he would not survive this time.

The feelings contracting his chest keep growing stronger until they are too much for him, he feels like he can’t breathe, his lungs are burning, there’s a familiar hot sting in the corners of his eyes and a lump in his throat he can’t get rid of no matter how many times he swallows. He’s too sober. Rummaging through the nightstand drawer he pulls out a bottle of pills and throws a few into his mouth, he’s not really counting anymore and chews on them before swallowing for faster effect.

“Mmmhhh baby, you’re getting the party started early huh?” Law hears a gruff voice and feels a strong arm wrap around him, pulling his back flush against the wide chest behind him. He struggles to draw in a breath, praying for the pills to kick in fast so he can relax. He contemplates just emptying the whole bottle.

Kid's hot breath tickles the sensitive skin behind his ear as he continues in a low voice, “Happy birthday party boy, would you like your first present before or after breakfast?” Kid presses his already hard member against Law’s ass and moves it up and down between the cheeks, not touching his hole yet but making his intentions perfectly clear.

Law closes his eyes to try and concentrate on breathing in and out. He’s starting to feel slightly lightheaded, either from the lack of oxygen or the pills starting to work, maybe both. A small whimper escapes his mouth and a shiver runs through his body as Kid leans in to suck a mark onto his neck.

“Mmhhh, I love how responsive your slutty body is for me, I want to make you addicted to my cock, so no one else will ever be able to bring you the same satisfaction, so you’ll never even think about anyone but me.” Law feels teeth sink onto the tender flesh just above his collarbone, not hard enough to draw blood but painful enough to make Law yelp from discomfort. Kid seems to take this as a good sign as he's already teasing Law’s aching hole with the tip of his cock. “Seem’s like we’re having a round or two before getting up.”

TW: rape/non-con
Skip to TW end to avoid.

They didn’t shower after last night's activities, at least Law didn’t, so his ass is still somewhat slick from the lube and old cum, allowing Kid to slide in effortlessly without any prep while Law can’t help but whimper from the discomfort of the stretch. “K-kid, wait, I-”

“You’re not rejecting my gift to you now are you baby?” Kid grunts as he keeps pushing in.

Law feels his stomach drop, he doesn’t want to start a fight first thing in the morning, despite his birthday being his least favorite day of the year. “I… no, I just-”

Kid brings a hand to his mouth to muffle whatever he is about to say. “Good, then be the good little slut I know you are, and enjoy what I have to give you.”

Kid proceeds to fuck him roughly for what feels like an eternity and Law is not high enough to keep his mind from wandering. He tries to ground himself on the discomfort and slight pain he’s feeling but it just reminds him of his time with Teach, the time he’s desperately trying to forget.

At some point, Law is turned to lay on his stomach, ass up in the air as the stronger man pushes his head down to the pillows while he keeps pounding into him. Law’s painfully hard member hangs between his legs, bouncing with every harsh thrust, but the tattooed man doesn’t know if he has it in him to reach his climax this time. He’s so sore from last night and he just wants this to be over. He desperately tries to come up with something to get it all to stop. His head feels fuzzy he’s not entirely sure who it even is behind him anymore, but he hopes his plan will work.

“P-please, fill me up.” If anything, his experiences have taught him that most men love it when he begs so he will, he’ll do anything to just make it stop.

“That’s what I’m doing baby, fuck how can you always be so tight.”

Law whimpers in discomfort and tries again. “N-no, I want to feel your cum… please.”

“Mmhhh, you sure baby? You’re still hard.” The voice behind him growls, it’s working.

“Yes, just fill me up, please, please, I need it so bad.” He doesn’t care how pathetic he is right now, he just wants the man to finish so he’ll hopefully pull out and give him a break. “Please.” He keeps pleading, coming up with a trump card he hopes will work. “It’s my birthday, please.”

“Fuck… fuck ok… ok, I’ll give you what you want, slut.” The man keeps grunting as he picks up speed, making Law wish he was anywhere else for a few more thrusts before the bigger man's whole body jerks and then stills as Law feels his warm release spread inside his ass, fucking finally.

TW end

“God your whore ass was made for me.” This time Law registers Kid’s voice as he grumbles and smacks Law’s left ass cheek as he pulls out. “You sure you’re good? I can go again and get you off if you just give me a minute.” Kid pants as he lays down next to Law.

“No it’s fine, I’m, I’m still too sore…” Law takes a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts.

“Oh? I got you that good last night?” A self-satisfied grin spreads onto Kid’s face. Law doesn’t say anything in response but starts to get up to head to the bathroom, he really needs a shower.

As soon as he reaches the bedroom door and opens it, two furry creatures burst into the room. Jiki hovers around him excitedly for a few seconds, wagging his tail hard enough to cause his whole body to sway from side to side before he runs towards the bed and jumps on Kid to wish him good morning.

“Gah! Jiki you ass! Get off!” Kid shouts as he tries to push the excited dog off with little success.

While Jiki and Kid wrestle on the bed, Killer just stands at the doorway, wagging his tail and staring hopefully at Law. The man bends down to pet the dog while talking to it in a low voice. “Sorry for locking you out for the night, I’m sure Kid will give you some treats with breakfast while I’m in the shower.” Killer opens his mouth slightly and looks like he’s smiling in understanding.

“Don’t make them empty promises.” Kid grumbles from the bed as Law leaves the room.

“Nice try, I know you give them treats all the time.” Law retorts before entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him, not waiting for a response.

He turns on the shower and waits till the water is warm before stepping under the spray. He can still feel uncomfortable pressure between his legs and as he looks down, he discovers his dick still almost fully hard. Frustrated, he ignores it and starts to scrub himself clean. He pays extra attention to his backside, making sure he cleans his hole properly despite the rim being sore from all the abuse Kid had subjected him to the previous night and this morning.

Fingers in his ass his thoughts start to wander to a sunny smile, what would it feel like to have the Luffy inside him? Would he be rough like Kid? Forceful or indifferent like some of the men he let use him for drugs in the past? Or would he be gentle like Doffy had been at first, like some of the men who took him to their beds from the street just to throw him out once satisfied?

Watching as his cock twitches in interest, Law wraps his fingers around it and starts to rub slowly as he wonders, not for the first time, what it would be like to be inside another man, to be inside Luffy. It’s something Law has never experienced, never even thought about doing before meeting Luffy for the first time. He had always thought it was his role to receive, that’s what Doffy had taught him, Teach had drilled into him for months and no one after them had challenged this belief. Kid had made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he wasn’t gay enough to take it up the ass, that their arrangement would only work as long as he was the one fucking Law. The tattooed man had been okay with it, not like he had ever even dared to dream of anything else anyway. His role as someone so weak was and had always been to please his partner, to make sure they were satisfied so they would stay and protect him, instead of abandoning him or turning on him, intentionally hurting him. No matter how difficult he found pleasing Kid at times, the alternative was way worse.

But meeting Luffy had awakened something inside him, a primal need perhaps to feel himself sink inside another. The thought embarrasses him, makes him feel dirty, unfaithful, unworthy, worthless… But he can’t help wondering what it would feel like to be inside Luffy. Would he be warm? Soft? Wet?... Tight? The hand around his throbbing member tightens as he jerks himself off under the spray of warm water. Would Luffy be loud? What kind of sounds would he make? Would he enjoy it? Law would want him to enjoy it, he wants to be able to make Luffy come, watch him come undone beneath him while he fills Luffy up with his own release.

The thought of Luffy coming as Law pumps him full of cum is what sends Law over the edge. He brings his other hand to his mouth to muffle the moan as he finally empties his aching balls to the white tiles on the bathroom floor. Chest heaving he leans against the wall to catch his breath as he hears Kid's voice from the hallway outside of the bathroom, “Ok ok you little shits, I’ll give you breakfast.” Followed by the sound of food bowls being filled. “Fine, have your treats too.”

The realization of what he just did hits Law like a ton of bricks and he sinks to sit on the floor as his legs are no longer strong enough to keep him standing against the wall. He just jerked off in Kid’s bathroom while thinking about another man, not even 10 minutes after he had Kid balls deep inside him. He’s a whore, a cheater, an adultress, the worst kind of human benign possible. He can’t believe he’s thinking about doing it again, didn’t he learn anything from what happened with Cora? With Teach? How can he have these thoughts about another man while he’s already in a relationship? He’s sick, twisted, awful, he should get help.

He brings his knees up, hugging them against his chest as he buries his face onto them. He feels a familiar sting in the corners of his eyes and a few sobs force themselves through his lips. He can taste the slight saltiness on his lips as his tears mix in with the warm water from the shower still raining down on him.

He sits there for a while, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Kid doesn't know, there's no way he could know and Law just needs to keep it that way.

With determination, he stands back up and finishes cleaning himself up. Once he's done in the shower, he checks his face in the mirror to make sure it shows no signs of his moment of weakness. Satisfied with what he sees, he wraps his towel around his waist and finally steps out of the bathroom. As he makes it to the kitchen, he's met with a sight of Kid making… sandwiches? Does he intend for them to have those for breakfast? Surely he knows Law doesn’t like bread, the texture alone makes him want to throw up.

“Um, sandwiches?”

“Yeah, just take a seat, I’ll bring you yours just in a second, I already poured your coffee.

“You… you do remember I hate bread, right?” Law questions quietly as he takes his seat, causing Kid to pause in his movements to look back at him with a frown before something seems to click.

“What? You were serious? Who doesn’t like bread? I thought you were joking.” Kid grumbles as he finishes making the sandwich in his hand and turns to Law, “What would Your Highness want for breakfast then?” He says in a condescending tone.

Law frowns. “If it’s such a bother, I’ll make my own breakfast, like every morning.”

“Why the fuck are you acting like I never do anything for you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You implied it.”

Law lets out a long sigh. “I don’t remember asking for you to make me birthday breakfast, it’s fine, I’ll just get something myself.”

Kid scoffs as he picks up the plate of sandwiches and moves to sit at the table with a cup of coffee. “Sorry for trying to do something nice, there’s no pleasing your prissy ass this morning huh?”

Law closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose to calm himself down before taking a few more steps to reach the fridge to see his breakfast options.

“You should be grateful I put up with all your shit you know.” He hears Kid comment from the table behind him. “I’ve never fucked anyone this high maintenance before, you have no idea how lucky you are.”

Law feels a little guilty for being difficult but doesn’t think disliking something is high exactly maintenance. Then again, what does he know, maybe he should’ve just sucked it up and had the sandwiches. If it was anything else, that’s what he would’ve done but bread was just too gross. He opens the fridge and scans the contents, lots of different meats, sausages, eggs, some cheese, milk, and beer make up most of the contents. Looking at the side table he sees a few bananas and an apple, he could just have some fruit, it’s not like he's super hungry anyway. He closes the fridge and moves to grab an apple before he makes it back to the table.

“That’s all you’re having?” Kid looks at the apple and then at him questioningly. Law just nods as he sits down causing Kid to scoff, “Suit yourself. So what do you want to do today anyway?”

Relax, sleep, get high till I pass out. “I don’t know, I never celebrate my birthday.” He mumbles and takes a bite of his apple.

“What? Why not? We should at least go out for some drinks later!”

Law knows drinks with Kid is never a good idea. “I don’t know, can’t we just stay in? Watch a movie or something?”

“Nonsense, we’re going out later. Do you know the queer bar close by called Floor 5.5? I’ve never been there before, we should totally check it out.”

Law is a little skeptical, he knows the place but doesn’t remember ever being in. He doesn’t really want to go, there’s a big chance he might run into someone who knows him from the time he spent on the streets.

“You should take the dogs for their morning walk, I have a few errands to run and then I’ll take them for a proper afternoon run before we go so they won’t get restless in the evening.”

Kids comment makes Law way too aware of how the bigger man thinks he’s unable to take the dogs for a proper walk for them to drain enough energy. Law knows he can’t run with them like Kid can and his walks with them have been getting shorter and shorter as he feels like he just doesn’t have the energy to keep walking. It still hurts to know Kid doesn’t think he could even care for the dogs properly if left to his own devices. Law wishes he was better, stronger, more capable. Instead of voicing any of his thoughts, he just nods and goes along with what Kid wants.

--

The bar is fairly crowded despite it being early Sunday evening. It had taken them a while to find an empty table, giving Law some hope that he might be able to convince Kid to just go back home with him, but after a few minutes, a small table in the middle of the room opened up and Kid made a beeline for it. Kid had left him to occupy the table as he went to get their drinks, the bar doesn’t have waiters and everyone is expected to go get their own drinks from the bar.

Law doesn’t really feel like drinking, he prefers the buzz from his pills to alcohol, but Kid kept insisting on how everyone should have a drink on their birthday. Kid had been in such a hurry to leave right away after finishing his after-run shower that Law had forgotten to grab his pill bottle. He’d taken a few while Kid was out with the dogs to dull the pain in his leg, but it hadn’t been enough to get him as high as he wanted to be. Now he is way too aware of everyone around him in the bar and feels like they are all staring at him, not in a good way as he tries to shrink into his seat and disappear.

He pads through all his pockets again to make sure he didn’t overlook any earlier but only feels his phone. With nothing else to occupy himself with while he waits for Kid to get back, he pulls the device out and unlocks it, thinking he could play some pointless game or browse some stupid posts online. What he did not expect was to be met with 3 missed calls from an unsaved number as soon as the screen lit up. While the number might not be saved on his phone, he knows perfectly well who the calls are from, it’s not like anyone else has his number.

Luffy had called him once earlier already, causing Law to almost jump out of his skin as his phone started to ring suddenly. Luckily Kid had still been out at that point so he was none the wiser and Law hadn’t had to explain anything to him. He had confirmed that the number was indeed the same one he received Luffy’s message from on Friday and cursed himself for having been careless enough to let the guy get his number in the first place.

He had been popping some pills between classes that day - like he wasn’t doing that every day at this point - and was pretty high when Luffy snatched his phone. Despite his best efforts, he had not been able to keep up with the younger and before he knew it, they had exchanged numbers.

He should’ve insisted more strongly on Luffy deleting his number but in the moment it had felt so good for someone to want to have his number that badly, especially when that someone was Luffy.

After the first call, Law could’ve blocked the number and been done with it, but instead, he just turned his phone on silent and set the vibration off. As he’s questioning the decisions of past Law, he notices Kid heading his way carrying four drinks in his hands. Hurriedly he clears the missed calls from his log and sets his phone on the table screen facing down as Kid places the drinks down and slumps onto the chair in front of him. Law notes there’s only beer on the table, he never drinks beer, it tastes bad and he needs to drink way too much to get the kind of buzz he wants, his stomach always gets too full way too fast. That’s why he preferred pills even after he was given the freedom to choose.

“Man the line was crazy, you couldn’t decide to be born on any other day than today?” Kid laughs and Law knows it’s intended as a joke but Kid has no idea how much he wishes he could just change the date of his birthday by will. “Anyway, here!” Kid trusts a pint of beer into Law's hand and clinks his own against Law’s. “Bottoms up!” Before Law has time to do anything, Kid throws his head back and empties over half a pint all at once and belches loudly as he finishes.

“Ahh, there’s nothing like a cold beer for celebrating.” He places the pint back down loudly. Law takes a small sip of his for show and the taste makes him want to spit it right back out. He doesn’t.

Kid raises an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong now?”

Law flinches “Nothing.”

“You’re not drinking” Kid points at his still full glass. “Beer not good enough for you now?”

“That’s not… I just prefer stronger drinks.”

“Tsk, and they say I have a drinking problem. Fine, more for me, you can get your own drinks then as I can’t get anything right today.” Kid empties his first pint and moves to the next one.

Law wishes he had his pills, maybe if he was high enough he could’ve just ignored the taste and drank the beer. He sighs and gets up to go order something, he definitely can’t get through the evening while being completely sober.

As Law makes it to the counter, one of the bartenders notices him almost immediately. “And what can I get you, hot stuff?” He winks.

Law frowns but ignores the flirty comment. “One vodka tonic.”

To Law's dismay the man behind the counter starts to make small talk as he’s mixing the drink, aren’t they busy with so many people in the bar? “So what’s a hot guy like you doing in a bar on a Sunday night?”

“Celebrating.” Slips out, at least he caught himself before he blurted out what he’s celebrating, he doesn’t really want to advertise what day today is.

“Alone?” Can’t the guy just shit up and make the drink.

“...No.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“That’s personal.”

“Alright, alright.” The guy smiles at him and places the drink in front of him with another wink. “On the house darling.”

Law looks up to take in the guy's appearance for the first time, the guy has a black bowl cut and a strong double chin. He’s wearing red lipstick, bright blush, and has layered dark green mascara on really thick. He’s wearing a blue collared shirt and has glittery swan earrings hanging from his ears. “Um, thanks.” He mumbles as he places a few coins into the waiter's tip jar.

“Thank you, darling, aren’t you sweet!” The man keeps beaming at Law as he quickly leaves to make it back to his table.

On his way, he walks past a table with two middle-aged men openly staring at him. Expensive brand clothing, gold jewelry with a really pricey bottle of wine on the table between them. During his time on the streets, Law learned to recognize money when he saw it and the appearance of these men screams wealth. Back then Law would’ve totally gone over and done whatever they wanted because he knew they would pay for him to get his fix for the next week or longer.

Law looks away to ignore them as the other winks and beacons him over. This is one of the biggest reasons he didn’t like to go out for drinks, there’s no way for him to know who might recognize him as a whore they’ve fucked before as he doesn’t really remember any of the men he slept with back then. But he’s not that man anymore, he’s with Kid now and he’s really trying to be better, to leave that life in the past.

He makes it to their table and sits down, Kid is already halfway through his 3rd beer with 2 empty glasses in front of him.

“Took you long enough, it’s not a requirement to flirt with the bartender you know.” Kid’s not looking at him as he takes another big gulp from his glass.

“He was only being friendly.” Law sips his drink, it’s pretty strong, he might actually get somewhere with a few of these.

“I didn’t see you pay for your drink.” Kid looks at him and narrows his eyes.

Law sighs, he really hates the jealous side of Kid, it only gets worse when he drinks. “I left a tip to pay for it.” He takes another sip hoping to start to feel the effects of the alcohol faster.

Kid snorts. “He was totally hitting on you, I knew it was a mistake to let you wear so tight clothes, people think you’re available.” He turns to glare at the bartender.

Before they left home, Kid had asked jokingly if he was trying to attract a new sugar daddy with the outfit. Despite the crass comment, Law thought it meant Kid found the outfit attractive, which is what Law had wanted.

Law feels a little hurt that Kid thinks he can’t control himself as he looks down at his clothes. He’s wearing the only pair of slim-fit jeans he owns, black of course, and a fitted dark blue shirt with long sleeves and a feathered collar. For once he tried to put some effort into how he looks as they were going out, while still making sure the outfit covered as much of his skin as possible. He didn’t want to spend the evening feeling uncomfortable about people staring at his patchy skin. It’s not like the clothes are super tight on him anyway, he’s lost a lot of weight recently so they hang pretty loosely on his skinny frame.

Kid himself is dressed nicely though, in a black collared shirt that is unbuttoned halfway down his chest and sleeves rolled up to show his pecs. His loose dark maroon pants fit him just right and are held up by a double belt that accentuates his waist, making him look hot as hell. If Law didn’t know any better, he might be worried that the redhead is here looking to hook up with someone else, but his still sore ass is proof enough that Kid’s not bored of him yet.

After a while of glaring, Kid seems to get over it and starts to complain about his work, how busy his repair shop is, and how terrible most of the customers are. Law is only half paying attention and mostly lets it all go in from one ear and out the other, especially when Kid gets into too technical specifics about cars and engines for Law to be able to follow.

--

Law has lost count of how many beers Kid has had but the table is full of empty glasses. He’s had a few himself already and feels a nice buzz building, he just needs to keep it going until he can just pass out. He doesn’t usually do this with alcohol as pills are so much easier on his stomach, but at the moment he’s feeling fairly good. He gets up to get himself another one as Kid slurs something about needing to piss.

After the first free drink, he has bought a few from a different worker as the man from before was busy attending to other customers, but as he makes it to the bar this time, the familiar face with the extreme makeup is there to greet him again.

“Enjoying your evening sweetheart?” He singsongs as Law gets close enough.

“It’s alright, still too sober though.”

“Well, that’s something we can fix, same as earlier?”

“Yeah.”

The man does a quick job of preparing his drink and accepts payment for it this time. “Here you go, anything else?”

“Actually, could I have a shot as well?”

“Absolutely, what’s your poison?”

“Whatever’s the strongest you have.”

Chuckling the bartender soon offers him a shotglass filled with light yellow liquid. Law doesn’t know what it is, it smells really strong and the color makes him think of piss. Shrugging he throws it back in one go and picks up his other drink to go back to Kid.

He only manages a few steps before he feels someone grope his ass. He turns and sees the men who have been staring at him all night, one of them blows him a kiss. “How about some fun tonight, baby?” He asks and winks.

Law decides to ignore the comment and turns to keep walking to his table but is stopped by the other man, now standing in front of him. “Come on, sweetheart, it’s been a while but you had a good time last time, right? We’ll compensate you well.” He grabs Law’s wrist and tries to pull him in for a kiss. Law feels panic starting to rise in his chest.

“Let go.” He says more quietly than he intended as he struggles to try and free himself of the strong grip. He looks around to search for Kid to get the other to help but as their eyes meet, Law’s heart drops. Kid’s eyes are hard, he is staring straight at him but not moving a muscle to come help. Law’s eyes flicker down to what Kid’s holding and his whole body goes ice cold when he recognizes his phone. Law’s heart is racing, he hasn’t checked his phone since he set it down on the table, has Luffy tried to call again? Or sent another message? Oh god, what could he have said or written? Has Kid found out?

His spiraling thoughts are interrupted as the man holding him starts to pull him along. Law tries to fight it but the man who was just sitting down is now standing behind him, blocking his way out. Fuck, this is not happening, the breath hitches in his throat as the two men force him to start walking towards the exit.

Before they manage to make it away from the table, however, something stops them. “Is everything all right here, gentlemen?” Law looks up and sees a really tall and buff man with blue hair sporting an open Hawaiian shirt and small shorts. Momentarily Law wishes he’d have the confidence to dress like that, maybe not the shorts, but the shirt is kind of cool.

“We’re fine, just leaving.” The one still holding on to Law responds and tries to walk past the guy who takes up the whole aisle.

“You alright man?” He asks, looking straight at Law.

“He’s fine. If you don’t mind, we are in a bit of a hurry.” The man behind Law comments as he places a hand on his shoulder. It makes Law shudder.

“I was asking him.” The man says firmly, nodding at Law.

Unable to get a word out, Law just slightly shakes his head and looks at the floor.

“Right, I think you two should go. And leave him here.” The blue-haired man adds as they keep trying to pull Law along.

“Tsk, who are you to give us orders?” The guy holding Law barks.

“Yeah, we’ll get you thrown out if you try anything!” The man behind Law pipes up as he takes a step closer. Law can feel the man’s presence right behind him, their bodies almost touching, he wants to throw up.

“Actually, it’s my job to kick out anyone who’s causing trouble.” The blue-haired man grins.

The two men share a quick glance before they both move at the same time, aiming to take down the man who came to stop them. They are fast, but the strange man is faster. He quickly steps aside, grabs them both from the collars of their shirts and effortlessly lifts them in the air. It helps that he’s at least a head taller than either of them.

“Looks like these two gentlemen need me to show them where the front door is. I’ll be just a minute” He flashes a grin toward Law before leaving, holding the two struggling men in front of him.

Law just stands there, shaking as he’s left alone. He dropped his drink somewhere during the altercation and the glass shattered onto the floor but he hardly noticed any of it. He almost did it again, what’s wrong with him? Why does this keep happening to him? He’s breathing too fast, his head is spinning, the corners of his vision are darkening, and he has to lean onto the table next to him. He doesn’t want to pass out but the whole room is moving too much. He closes his eyes to make it all stop but as soon as he does, it feels like the floor drops away from under him and he’s falling.

“Hey, you alr- whoa!” Someone behind Law catches him before he hits the floor. “Here, let’s sit down for a moment.” He’s lifted to sit on something soft. As he cracks his eyes open, he’s sitting at the booth the two men were occupying just a moment ago and he can feel the panic from earlier to start building back up.

“Hey, hey!” Law registers fingers snapping in front of his face and it makes his brain come to a halt. “Relax, they’re gone, Franky took care of them, you’re safe now.” He looks up and recognizes the bartender from before smiling at him. He looks around and he’s right, the two men from earlier are not there anymore, the blue-haired giant really got rid of them. He doesn’t know what to think, he didn’t mean to cause any trouble for anyone, he doesn’t even want to be here in the first place.

“Sorry…” He mumbles as he turns to look at the table between them. He notices two glasses placed on it, one of them looks like the drink he ordered earlier and the other is just clear, still liquid, maybe water? Seeing them confuses him, he doesn't remember placing his glass down. He glances at the floor and sees the mess his earlier drink left behind.

The bartender frowns before following his gaze. “Oh don’t worry about that darling, we’ll take care of it.” How are you? They didn’t hurt you did they?”

Law keeps his eyes on the floor and shakes his head, he doesn’t trust his voice right now.
“Here, I made you a new drink, on the house. The other one is just water in case that put you off alcohol for the night.” The guy pushes both drinks towards him.

Law doesn’t know what to do, he feels like the taste of alcohol is going to make him vomit, but he also wants to drown himself in it till he passes out. He’s so done with the day, week, month, the whole year. He just wants to down a bottle of pills and sleep for a week, maybe never wake up again.

“Bon bro! Is everything ok now?” The blue-haired man - Franky was it? - comes back. “Oh wow, what a mess, need help cleaning it?”

“Oh, no, but could you be a darling and keep an eye on him as I get the cleaning supplies?”

“I suuuper can!” The man shouts and takes a seat after the bartender leaves. “You alright brother? Those two will be banned for life after what they tried to pull, we take consent very seriously here.”

Law looks up to frown at the man. He doesn’t understand why these people would do anything to help him. They don’t know him, they’ve never even seen him as it’s his first time in this bar, so why? What do they have to gain from it all?

“Excuse me, why are you sitting with my boyfriend?” Kid has materialized next to the table, Law never noticed him getting closer.

“You know him?” Franky asks looking at Law and ignoring Kid. Law nods. “You good?” Another nod. The blue-haired man doesn’t sound entirely convinced but gets up. “We were just looking after him sir, you might want to take him home, he’s had a rough night.”

“I got it from here.” Kid nods to the man and helps Law to stand up. “Come on baby, he’s right, we should go home.” Kid’s speech is slurred and there’s a harsh undertone that makes Law tense.

“Thanks.” Law gets out without looking up as they move to leave. Kid wraps an arm around him seemingly for support, but his hold is tighter than it needs to be, making Law very nervious. He is holding Law’s phone in his other hand and Law is anxious to find out why.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Kid asks him as soon as they’re outside. “You were right, coming out here with you was a terrible idea, there’s clearly way too much temptation for you.”

Law frowns, he wasn’t tempted by anyone, he didn’t ask for the men to grab him, or the bouncer and bartender to come to his aid, if anything he wishes Kid had been there for him. “I didn’t-”

“Who’s Luffy?” Kid interrupts him and hearing the name makes Law’s brain reel.

“W-what?”

Kid stops walking and turns to look at him while gripping his arm tight, fingers digging in hard enough to leave a bruise. “Who is Luffy, Law?”

“I don’t-”

“Don’t lie to me.” Kid growls as he shoves the phone into Law’s face. “Why has he called you 14 times tonight? How does he know it’s your fucking birthday?!”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” The hold on Law’s arm tightens and Kid gets closer.

“I, ugh, I don’t know ok! I didn’t tell him!” Law shouts back in frustration. “You’re hurting me, let go.”

Kid ignores the last comment and keeps him in a tight grip as he starts to walk again, giving Law no choice but to follow. “How do you know him? Why does he have your number?”

“He’s in one of my classes, someone must’ve given him my number.”

“Oh, so everyone sharing a class has your number now?”

“Of course not!”

Kid scoffs. “You’re such a needy slut Law, don’t think I didn’t see you looking at those men at the bar. Fuck, am I not enough for you? Not giving you enough attention? Not rich enough?”

“What?” What the fuck is Kid on about now, since when has Law given a shit about Kid’s money?

“I fucking took you in Law, I’m giving you everything you need and this is how you repay me. Flirting with whoever glances in your direction, giving your number out to just about anyone. Or are you fucking him?”

Law’s having a hard time wrapping his head around everything that keeps sprouting out of Kid’s mouth. He wasn’t flirting, he didn’t give his number to Luffy, he’s not-

“Are you?” Kid shoves him face-first against the building wall they are passing, Law barely notices they are almost home. His cheek burns as it rubs against the rough surface of the wall. “I know what a filthy whore you are, answer me! Have you had him between your legs already, huh?”

“What? No, Kid no I haven’t! And I’m not planning to!” Law feels anger fueled by guilt bubble inside of him from the other's accusations. He’s been nothing but faithful to Kid despite his mind wandering to the younger man more often than he wants to admit to himself lately. “There’s no one else Kid, how many times do I have to tell you that?”

“Then stop dressing and acting like a fucking call girl in public!” Kid holds him firmly in place as he presses his hips against Law’s ass, making his hardon impossible to miss. “Feel that? That’s what you did to me all night walking around wearing that and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. You belong to me now, don’t you forget that.”

For a moment, Law is sure Kid’s going to fuck him there and then, right in front of their building and he’s terrified. He doesn’t want anyone to see, doesn’t want anyone else to know how pathetic he is, doesn’t want to have another panic attack where anyone can see him. To his relief, Kid gets off of him and quickly drags him through the front door before pressing him against the elevator door to kiss him as they wait for it to arrive. The kiss is rough and forceful, Kid shoving his tongue as far into his mouth as he can.

“You’re mine Law, don’t you ever forget it.” Kid growls into his ear as the door behind Law opens and they stumble in, almost falling to the floor. Kid wastes no time getting them inside the apartment as they get to their floor and pressing Law against the front door as soon as it closes behind them.

TW: physical violence, rape/non-con
Skip to TW end to avoid.

The events of the night have completely sobered Law up. He knows what Kid wants and there’s no arguing with him when he’s like this, he will only get himself hurt if he tries. But he’s not sure he’s able to go through with it. What happened in the bar almost triggered a panic attack and having Kid so heavy on top of him now, pushing him against their front door is making his head spin, he feels claustrophobic, he needs more space, he can’t get enough air, he-

Law’s brought out of his head when something hard hits him in the face, sending his head crashing against the wall behind him before he slumps to the ground. His vision is spinning and a taste of iron is spreading in his mouth but he doesn’t have time to dwell on it. The longer he takes to do whatever Kid wants, the worse it’ll get so he tries to concentrate on the figure looming above him.

As he looks up, he sees Kid tumbling with the zipper of his pants, glaring at him “Is there something wrong with your hearing, I told you to get on your knees and open your mouth for me. I thought you wanted to prove how much you want me, that there’s no one else.” Law grimaces at the loud voice but does as he’s told. The side of his head aches and his face hurts. He wishes he wasn’t so sober, if only he could get some pills, at least then he wouldn’t need to feel the pain.

Law sits up on his knees and unwillingly opens his mouth, knowing better than to resist. A strong slap throws his head to the side and makes his cheek burn before Kid’s rough, cold fingers grip his jaw, forcing his face up. “Look at me while I give you what you deserve.” Kid looks Law in the eyes and lets out a growl of pleasure as he starts to push his hard cock into the smaller man’s mouth, moving slowly till he’s all the way in. “That’s it you worthless whore, show me how much you appreciate me and what I give you, how good you can take it.”

Law's eyes start to water as he tries not to gag at the feeling of Kid's cock reaching to the back of his mouth. Kid does not like it when he gags, claiming if Law wants him enough he’ll be able to hold it back. Law tries to concentrate on something else, like how Kid is not the biggest he’s had, he can’t reach to fuck properly into his throat as he would no doubt love to and Law is grateful for that at least. He tries to concentrate on breathing through his nose while Kid holds him in place. It’s a sick game to see how long Law can last before he makes a sound, testing how much Law wants to please him.

“Mmmhhh you win tonight Law, I can’t hold still anymore, I can see how much you want me to ruin you.” Kid grabs a fist full of his hair and starts to fuck into his mouth at a harsh pace. Law closes his eyes and tries to get through it. He doesn’t want it, he wants to push Kid off and scream at him that he doesn’t want this, he doesn’t want his cock, he hates having his mouth fucked, hates the demeaning names Kid calls him, he hates him, he hates all of this!!

But he doesn’t say or do any of that, he knows he doesn’t have the right to. He just sits there, on his knees, eyes closed and mouth open, tears slowly falling down his cheeks. He doesn’t know if it’s from the discomfort and pain or because his mind is breaking. It doesn’t matter, nobody would care either way. He doesn’t deserve Kid, he doesn’t deserve anyone, he should be grateful that Kid is giving him attention and has not thrown him away yet like everyone else. After all, he is just a piece of trash, a whore that no one really wants for more than a quick fuck. He needs to make sure Kid stays, he needs to be good, for Kid, he needs the redhead to let him stay, he can’t handle being tossed aside again.

Law’s mind is slipping and he’s desperately searching for anything to take his mind off of Kid abusing his mouth and throat, anything to keep his mind from going to that room. He wishes he had taken some more pills earlier, wishes Kid had drugged him up like he often does, anything to distract him, he doesn't want to remember.

A new face emerges into Law’s consciousness and he tries to concentrate on it. Messy raven hair and possibly the biggest, brightest eyes he has seen, a small faded scar under the left one. Below that a cute nose and smile so wide and sunny it should be physically impossible. That smile has had Law entranced since the first time he saw it, he is so envious, he can’t remember the last time he genuinely smiled, maybe he’s forgotten how to.

Law is brought back to his current situation as he feels Kid still his movements and hears him groan loudly. He feels hot cum fill his mouth, it runs down his throat and a little streak trickles down along the side of his chin. Law feels nauseous, disgusting, and disgusted with himself, he fights the urge to gag at the taste and feeling.

TW end

Kid grunts as he shoves his dick back into his pants. “Such a cock hungry little bitch, you really love eating cum don’t you” Kid slurs as he leans on the wall looking at Law with dark eyes.

Law looks away, silently praying the bigger man is too hammered for another round tonight. He’s too tired and too sober to deal with more right now. He just wants all the pain to stop, he needs his pills, his thoughts are spiraling way too dangerously.

“There’s more where that came from, I bet you’re dying for me to fill your other hole.”

“Go to bed Kid, you’re drunk”

“Tsk, this is nothing, I can still fuck you so good you’ll pass out.” Kid gives him a lazy smirk, eyes drooping as he’s leaning forward dangerously, looking like he’s going to fall over any minute. “I’ve done that before you know, you have no idea how fucking lucky you are.”

“Bed, now.” Law tries to take a more commanding tone.

“I was thinking right here, mix it up a bit” Law tries to glare daggers at the muscular man but he doesn’t seem to notice. “I’ll fuck you against the front door, let the neighbors hear you cry out my name.” Right after saying that, Kid loses his balance and slumps against the wall to his right.

“And how do you plan to accomplish that when you can’t even stand straight?”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying, ungrateful bitch!” Kid fists his right hand and stares at Law with dark eyes. Law closes his eyes, preparing for another punch, but it never comes. “I guess, bed works too, I’ll just make you scream louder…” Kid slurs as he starts to stumble towards their bedroom. On the way he bumps onto the counter they have in the hallway and opens one of the drawers. He takes a bottle of pills and tosses it towards Law. “You’re more fun when you relax.” Kid eventually makes it to the bedroom and sounds like he just falls onto the bed. “Down your pills and get your slutty ass here, my cock needs attention!”

Law shifts to lean on the wall he was thrown against earlier and looks towards the ceiling. He pulls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them. It’s a gamble, but if he waits a while, Kid should pass out. He lifts a hand to feel his right cheek and winces at the pain, yeah, that’s going to leave a mark. He bites his bottom lip and drops his head to lean on his knees, trying to fight the fresh tears burning in the corners of his eyes.

Almost instantly, he feels a wet nose press against his right cheek while another is trying to bury itself underneath his left arm. Law lets out a wet chuckle while he lifts his head and lowers his legs to let the two dogs closer. “Can’t fool you two huh.” He whispers quietly and wraps his arms around the two furballs. He sits there for a long time, quietly sobbing into Killer's soft fur and slowly stroking Jiki who’s lying glued to his left side, head supported on his leg.

His tears have long since stopped when he finally leans back to the wall and remembers Kid threw something at him. It has been quiet since the redhead disappeared to the bedroom so he must be sleeping. Law picks up the pill bottle Kid tossed at him. Not thinking about it, Law opens it and without counting pours some into his mouth. It's not like he’s going to go to school with what’s definitely a black eye tomorrow anyway.

Law stands up planning to head for the bathroom but has to stop instantly as the fast change of elevation makes him feel dizzy. That’s right, he hit his head earlier, he might have a concussion. He shrugs the thought off, not like he’s planning to stay awake to make sure.

Supporting himself on the walls he makes it to the bathroom and closes the door, locking it behind himself. He studies the mirror and sighs tiredly, the skin on his left cheek is slightly broken from where Kid had him pressed against the wall outside, blood has already pooled around his right eye and cheek, and there’s a small cut on his upper lip. Great, he will be skipping at least a week of uni because of this, he doesn’t want anyone there to ask questions.

He gently washes his face and patches his cheek and lip before leaving the bathroom and heading to the kitchen. They have an entire shelf dedicated solely to ice packs in their freezer and it’s not the first time he has used them for a black eye. Law tries to not think how fucked up that is as he reaches for one and lets the door fall shut on its own. He knows it’s too late to avoid getting a black eye but pressing the cold pack against his eye makes it feel a little better and the pain that was pulsing at the other side of his head is also gone. The pills must be taking effect. He should head to bed before passing out on the floor, he doesn’t want to sleep on Kid’s filthy couch, no matter how tired or high he gets.

As Law enters the bedroom his eyes land on Kid, sprawled on the bed with head pointing to one corner and feet to the opposite one, literally filling up the whole bed. ‘I’m so done with this day.’ Law thinks as he makes his way over and grabs Kid’s legs, trying to toss them to the other side. Kid stirs slightly and turns on his own, leaving enough room for Law to lie down next to him as he waits for the pills to take away his consciousness.

Chapter Text

Law is sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of hot coffee in his hands as he stares out the window. The drugs had taken him out for hours after he got into bed the previous night, but they also had him waking up to the worst nightmare he’d had in a while. He knows it’s not how things happened and he would never be able to pull the trigger on anyone, but it had all felt so real like he was right there, holding the gun and… and…

He closes his eyes and takes in a shuddering breath as he tries to stop thinking about it. Bepo and Luffy are still alive and he’s doing everything he can to keep it that way, but the others, his parents, Lammy, Cora-san. They are all gone and it’s his fault, all his fault. He might’ve as well been the one to pull the trigger.

The thought of just downing every pill he can find in the house and waiting for them to snuff out his pathetic life seems pretty inviting right now. He feels like he has nothing left to live for, after last night he doesn’t even care if Kid would be upset to find him gone, would serve the asshole right.

He’s sure this isn’t the first time Kid has hit him, but it is the first time he remembered it so vividly. In the past, he was always high out of his mind and barely noticed when Kid got this violent, blaming it on the drugs for making him see things that weren’t there. It always seems to happen when the other drinks too much, the fucker probably doesn’t even remember what he did last night, he always blacks out when he gets that drunk or that’s what he says anyway.

“FUCK!!!” Law hears Kid’s voice from the bedroom followed by his hurried footsteps stomping down the hallway connecting the bedroom to the kitchen. Law brings his cup up to his lips and closes his eyes in anticipation, here we go.

“LAW?! Why the fuck didn’t you wake me up? I thought you had morning lessons today, I’m late for work, my first customer is coming in 15 minutes!!”

Law doesn’t react, he stays sitting down, back toward Kid as he sips his coffee some more before placing it back onto the table. He hears Kid stomping closer and braces himself as he feels Kid's hand on his shoulder, would he hit Law sober?

“Don’t you fucking ignor…” Kid goes silent as he steps in front of Law and can finally see his face fully. Law knows it’s not pretty, his right eye is almost swollen shut and the area around it is very dark. His lip is slightly bruised and his other cheek is covered with the bandaid he put on it last night.

“What the fuck happened to you? Did you get into a fight last night? Fuck, did I get into a fight?” Kid brings his hands up to feel his own face before inspecting his arms for any signs of injuries. When he finds nothing, he turns back to Law and lifts his hand to caress Law’s bandaged cheek. “Baby?”

Law turns his head slightly to move away from Kid’s touch before he finally looks towards Kid. As their eyes lock, Kid flinches a little and removes his hand. Law doesn’t know what the other sees in his expression and he doesn’t really care. It’s like looking at Kid in this moment causes something inside him to shatter, suddenly he doesn’t feel anything, there’s no anger, no fear, no sadness, nothing but empty numbness spreading across his chest. “Have a guess Kid, what do you think could’ve possibly happened?”

Kid’s quiet for a moment and Law waits patiently for the pieces to click together. Kid has never been the fastest at figuring things out. Slowly his brows knit together before he spouts out “Did you fall again or something? Baby I’ve told you, you need to-”

Law’s mouth falls open at the ridiculous suggestion and he stands up with enough force to make the chair fall backward and hit the floor with a loud clang. “Fall? Did I fucking fall??” He stares at Kid in bewildered silence for a while before continuing. “No, I didn't fucking fall!” He shoves the bigger man with all the strength he has, barely able to make the other even sway on his feet.

It irks Law how weak he is, how powerless to do anything to change his situation. He wonders how other people get through shit like this, he'd been taught by Doffy that this is normal, that Law's just too sensitive and needs to toughen up if he wants to survive in the real world. He has tried, for so many years of his life he has tried to endure, waiting for the day he'd finally get used to this reality, but he never did, he still hasn't.

“Shit…” Kid seems to finally catch up with what Law is implying. “Law I’m sorry…” Law snorts, Kid sounds almost sincere. The redhead tries to touch him again but Law flinches away. “I don’t… fuck.” Law watches Kid rake his fingers through the flaming hair as he’s looking for words. “I-I must’ve had way too much to drink last night, I don’t remember anything after leaving for piss… Did… Did I really do all that?”

Law doesn’t respond, just turns back to look out the window. If Kid doesn’t remember anything after going to the bathroom, maybe he doesn’t remember finding out about Luffy either, if he plays his cards right, he could really make this work to his advantage.

“Law, baby?” Kid reaches for him again and the touch makes Law snap and slap the hand away.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” He fixes Kid with the coldest stare he can manage. He might be playing with fire but right now he couldn’t care less. What's the worst that could happen? Kid beating him to death? He was just considering ending it all with pills anyway, what difference does any of it make? “Yes Kid, it was all you.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry baby, you know how I get when I drink…” Law narrows his eyes. “Let me make it better, what can I do to make it better? I’ll do anything.”

Law considers his options. He's not naive enough to think Kid would really do anything he asked for, but maybe…

“Don't ever question my choice of friends again.” He says as firmly as he can manage. “I'm going to unblock my old friends and I will hang out with them at Uni.” If they ever forgive me for what I’ve put them through… He doesn’t voice the last part out loud. He sees Kid start to protest and quickly continues “I won't go to the old apartment, but I might hang out with them after school sometimes.”

“But-”

“Either that or we're done.” It’s a gamble, he knows he’s risking everything right now, and doesn’t know if he will be able to go through with it if Kid calls his bluff, but It feels unbelievably good for Law to be the one setting boundaries for the first time in his life. He doesn't know where the will and courage to get the words out is coming from, but he'll ride this high for as long as he can.

“What about Bepo he’s-”

“He’s just a friend Kid, they’re all just friends.” He tries to ignore the part of his brain that’s screaming to him that he wants to be more than that with Luffy, Kid doesn’t remember him and he just has to make sure he won’t find out again.

Kid nods though the frown on his face tells Law he's not happy. “Ok baby, if that’s what you really want, but remember to tell me where and with who you’re with when you’re not home, alright?” There’s an edge to Kid's voice that doesn’t go unnoticed by Law, he just really doesn’t care right now.

“Yeah, whatever, I'm exhausted.” He says before he turns and heads to their bedroom, leaving Kid to stand in the middle of the kitchen to stare after him.

Law sits on the edge of the bed and reaches for some pills, the aching on his face is suddenly killing him and he just wants to get some rest.

He swallows the pills and lies down. A little while later he vaguely registers someone lay down next to him before he hears Kid's voice again. “Can I..?” Law is not sure what the other means, he is too tired and out of it already to react anyway. After a moment of silence, Law feels strong arms wrap around his waist uncharacteristically gently. With his eyes closed Law imagines this is how it would feel like to cuddle with Luffy and he finally drifts off to a peaceful sleep.

--

4 October 2024
Luffy
15:11 See you Monday!

Sunday
Luffy
23:55 y r u not answring youre phone?? ☹️☹️☹️☹️
23:55 I wnted to tell you happy birhtday!!! 🎉🎁
23:56 see u tmorrow!

Monday
Luffy
7:55 Torao!!! Wehere are u??
8:15 r u sikc? Zoro said u might be
8:30 ger well soon if u r!
14:55 r u hungry? Do u wannt me to brign u food? 🍖
17:14 y r u still not answringg ur phone?
22:46 see u tomorrow

Tuesday
Luffy
12:07 I couldn’t find u at lunch?
12:07 r u still sick?
12:08 r u ok??
23:24 good nihgt torao 🌃🌛✨

Yesterday
Luffy
13:24 u r still not at uni ☹️
13:36 dot worry! Taking notes for u
14:04 this is hard
14:07 u r so much better teachet
17:45 im bored
23:35 swet dreams 🛌💤

Today
Luffy
07:53 good mornin!
07:53 r u better yet??
08:17 I guess not, ur not here agani
08:18 Wehn will u be back?

Luffy is slouching at his boring lecture with Zoro and Carrot, not paying any attention to what the professor is saying. He knows he promised Torao to take notes for him for the lessons he misses but he gave up after an hour of trying to follow what the teacher was saying. He’s mindlessly browsing his phone, anxiously waiting for any sign of life from Torao.

He has tried to call the man multiple times every day and keeps texting him what he considers a very moderate amount, but Law has not responded to any of it. There has been nothing after that strange guy answered and told Luffy to stop calling on Sunday. Could someone have stolen Law’s phone? Or maybe he just lost it. The calls are still connecting though so it’s not turned off and he has not been blocked, he just has to keep trying.

Does Torao live alone? If he’s really sick, does he have anyone to take care of him? Not for the first time, Luffy wishes he could get Law’s friends to tell him where Law lives now so he could go check in on him, but they’re adamant it’s better that he doesn’t and that they can’t give him Law’s address without Law’s permission. Luffy doesn’t understand what’s the big deal but he let it go when they didn’t budge.

He goes back to staring at his phone and thinking what else he could say to Torao to get him to respond when suddenly there is a new message in the conversation.

Torao
11:36 I thought I told you to not call or message me. Yes I’m sick, I will be back next week so we can work on the project, now leave me alone.

Luffy’s eyes go wide and he almost drops his phone as he fumbles with it to respond. Torao responded! He’s alive and has his phone!

Luffy
11:37 oh my god hi!! ur alive!!
11:37 how are u?
11:38 it must be relly bad for u to be gon this long!
11:38 do u need anything?
11:38 🍕🍗🥩🍖?
11:39 ☕?
11:39 mecidin? 💊🩺
11:39 company?
11:39 i can come over
11:40 if u want
11:40 but I need ur address

He’s in the middle of typing when another message from Torao pops up.

Torao
11:41 Seriously, stop. I am turning my phone off, see you next week.

Luffy panics, he completely overlooked the part of the message where Torao told him to stop messaging, crap.

Luffy
11:41 no wait!!!!
11:41 i’ll stop callign!
11:42 promise!
11:42 and ill text less
11:42 Pls torao I’m just so bored

The last four messages never get the check mark for the other deceive receiving them and after starting at the device for the last 20 minutes that was left of their lecture, Luffy accepts that Law really did turn his phone off and is not getting any more of the messages he sends. Hi’s finger hovers over the call button but he doesn’t press it, he just promised he wouldn’t.

With a long sigh, he slumps back against his seat just as everyone else starts to pack their things and leave. All the commotion seems to have woken Zoro up next to him as he stands up to stretch his stiff muscles.

“What’s the matter with you Luffy? You do know it’s lunchtime now right?” Zoro questions as Luffy makes no move to stand up.

“Yeah I know, but Torao won’t be there and he just turned off his phone because he doesn’t like texting.” He sights again.

Zoro holds out his hand, gesturing for his phone which Luffy hands him without question. The green-haired man scrolls through the conversation already open on the screen and snorts. “Christ Luffy, give the man some space, if it was me I would’ve blocked your ass after the first day you flooded his phone. How many times have you tried calling him?”

“Uh, I don’t know, a few?” Luffy shrugs, it can’t be that many in total.

Zoro taps on his phone for a moment before his eyes widen, “15 times only yesterday??! What the fuck Luffy? Are you trying to scare him into never coming back to uni again?”

“Of course not! I was just bored and I really miss talking to him… Is it really that bad?”

“I’ll be fucking surprised if he ever shows his face here again, I’d be packing my bags and booking flights to another country if someone this persistent got hold of my number.”

Fuck, has he really overdone it so badly? Is his only option to just wait and see when Torao will finally come back to uni again? If he will even come back, what if Zoro is right? What if Torao moves away? Would he be willing to change to a different university just to get away from Luffy? But he said he would be back next week right? Surely he wouldn’t have said that if he was planning to leave. “He said he will be back so he will, I’ll just be patient and wait.”

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at him as he hands the phone back but doesn’t say anything more as Luffy finally gets up and they head for lunch, Carrot already left with a bunch of other people as soon as the lecture ended.

--

Law rests an arm over his aching eyes as he tosses his phone somewhere onto the bed after telling Luffy to stop contacting him. The guy has been texting and calling him every day, every. Fuckign. Day. since he got his number and Law can’t take it anymore. Every time he checks his phone and there are new messages from Luffy, his heart skips a beat in his chest. He has been so tempted to respond so many times, to give in, to explore the possibility of something new and exciting. But he doesn’t, he can’t give in to his hopes and desires, it’ll all just blow up in his face again like everything always does. He is just so tired of everything, it would be so much easier if it all just stopped.

The phone keeps dinging with more incoming messages and after the first few he already knows it’s Luffy again. Why can’t he just leave him alone? It was fine when he only occupied Law’s mind, that was so much easier to hide than the onslaught of messages he keeps receiving. Kid is currently at work, so Law turned his phone’s sound on, Kid doesn’t like it when he misses his calls or texts, and after Law's outburst on Monday morning, he has tried to play it nice to not give Kid any reason to get jealous or annoyed again. He can tell Kid is trying too, he has been more affectionate and attentive and Law has not been waking up with any more bruises despite not necessarily remembering everything that happened the previous day or night.

When he woke up from his nap on Monday, he felt like shit and instantly took enough pills to envelope himself into a shroud of unconsciousness. He doesn’t remember much of the rest of Monday or Tuesday, just that there was some emotional sex on Kid’s part where the other kept apologizing and promising to be better. Law also noticed a string of messages from Luffy when he checked his phone on Tuesday, thanking the heavens that it had still been on mute so Kid had no idea about any of it. On Wednesday he remembers having dinner with Kid while they tried to have a pleasant conversation that eventually led to Kid railing him against the kitchen counter. Kid has not brought Luffy up at all and Law is confident he does not remember whatever he saw on Law’s phone on Sunday night. He has not brought up Law’s other friends again either and Law has not contacted any of them yet, he doesn’t really know how to go about it so he just keeps leaving it for later.

Right now he’s more sober than he has been since Monday, obviously telling Luffy he’s sick is a lie, he’s just waiting for the bruising around his eye to disappear before he’s comfortable to go back out again. He doesn’t completely understand why, but the thought of someone seeing it - especially if that someone is Luffy - feels humiliating, especially if someone were to figure out it was his boyfriend who gave it to him. They’d know how weak and useless he really is, unable to protect himself or satisfy his partner.

The string of messages that keeps pinging on his phone is making his headache worse and driving him insane, can’t Luffy just take a fucking hint? He sits up and gropes around the sheets till he finds his phone again and without even properly reading the wall of messages he tells him to stop, cursing himself right after pressing send for telling the other he would see him next week. Way to go Law, trying to distance yourself from him is working so fucking well. He growls in frustration and turns his phone off before getting up to limp to the bathroom to relieve himself. He inspects his black eye as he washes his hands and is pleased to find it is healing nicely, it should be completely gone by sometime next week.

Not wanting to deal with his conflicted thoughts and emotions towards Luffy, he reaches for his pills and takes what he hopes is enough to make him pass out again till Kid comes home, for longer if he’s lucky.

--

Being patient and waiting turns out to be so much harder than Luffy had thought. He has tried everything he can think of to keep himself entertained but his thoughts keep returning to Torao no matter what he tries to distract himself with.

During the past few days, he has been running and hitting the gym with Zoro more often than usual, playing video games with Usopp, Shachi, and Penguin whenever one or more of them were available, on Saturday Nami and Vivi took him to the mall for clothes shopping and to have his hair done professionally in a salon so he can try to impress Torao when he finally comes back to uni. He doesn’t really understand why he has to go through so much effort but he had to admit to himself that he did enjoy being pampered in the salon next to his two friends, who had of course taken advantage of the opportunity to have their own hair done at the same time.

It’s already Tuesday evening and Torao still hasn’t shown his face on campus. Luffy has not received any more messages from the tattooed man either, even though he has at some point turned his phone back on as the messages now show as delivered. None of his messages show as read though but he must’ve read at least the ones he sent before as he responded, Torao has probably turned off the setting that lets other people see when you have read a message, how annoying.

Luffy has stayed strong and has not sent any more messages nor tried to call his crush after Thursday. Nami and Vivi both agreed with Zoro that the best course of action at this point is to let Torao come back to him before trying to make contact again. This was after Nami had given him a smack to the back of his head and a stern talking-to about respecting other people's boundaries and privacy.

The raven-haired boy sighs as he turns to lie on his side and watches Shirahoshi and Neptune lazily float around in their tank. He fed them a little while ago and now they are both clearly content just existing. How much easier would life be if he was just someone's pet like them? Sure he would be trapped in some kind of a cage but he wouldn’t have to worry about silly things like a crush not responding to his calls or texts.

He’s not used to feeling this insecure about anything. Befriending people has always been like second nature to him and he’s never been at all concerned about what others think or how someone else sees him. If they don’t like him then they don’t need to be his friend, simple. But he so desperately wants Torao to like him. Nami had asked him what is so special about this guy anyway but the only thing Luffy was able to respond with was that he is just so Torao, he just likes everything he knows about the other man so far and there is this burning need to find out more. Law is so cool and mysterious but also so unbelievably sad. More than anything, he wants to see the other man smile, hear him laugh, take away all his sorrow and worries, and make him happy.

Thinking about Law makes his chest ache uncomfortably. He turns to look at his phone again, resisting the urge to pick it up and just trying to call or text the tattooed man again. Maybe this time he would pick up, maybe he would respond with a text if Luffy asks if he will be in school tomorrow. It’s Wednesday, they’re supposed to have the afternoon lessons together.

He’s fighting a mental battle with himself over whether or not to reach out to the Torao again when a whimper from Chopper halts his thoughts right before a wet nose is pressed against his arm.

“What is it Chopper?” He glances at the time on his phone screen, 22:07, a good time for his evening walk. “Wanna go for a walk?” Chopper's ears perk up and he spins around excitedly as Luffy gets up from the bed he was lying on. “Ok boy, come on, let’s get your leash and go.” Luffy decides to leave his phone behind so he won’t be tempted to text Torao while he is out waiting for Chopper to do his business.

Lately, if he’s not taking Copper to the nearby dog park, Luffy has gotten into a habit of taking them to Bellemere’s. It’s the only other place besides uni where he’s seen Torao and he’s secretly hoping he would run into the other man around there while walking his dogs. So far he’s never seen even a trace of any of them but he doesn’t have any other clues for finding Law.

It’s quite late and the streets are almost empty, only the occasional car or a late-night dog walker like himself can be spotted every now and then. Like every other day since Law stopped coming to uni, he makes it to Bellemere’s with no sign of Law. He stands in front of the clearly closed salon for a moment, staring into the dark space through the windows. The counter is clearly visible even in the dark and it reminds him of the first time he laid eyes on Law, the first time he got to touch the cool skin of his hands.

Luffy lets out a defeated sigh as he turns to head back home. As he does, he glances across the street and sees something that makes him do a double-take. His heart rate picks up and his breathing quickens as he watches two dogs jogging along the street, a longhaired blonde Afghan hound next to a black pit bull. There’s no mistake, those have to be Killer and Jiki! He perks up and starts to raise his hand to wave at Torao when his eyes land on the person jogging next to the dogs. The man is tall and very muscular with flaming red hair that’s easy to spot in the light of street lamps.

Hand frozen in mid-wave Luffy stares in confusion, that’s clearly not Torao, so what is he doing with the dogs? Before Luffy is able to make his body move again, the trio he’s staring at takes a turn in an intersection and vanishes from view. Losing eyesight of them brings movement back to Luffy’s limbs and he quickly crosses the road, barely checking for any oncoming traffic before he’s already on the other side. As he rounds the corner the trio has just vanished behind he sees no trace of them.

Balling his hand into a fist and slamming it against the hard brick wall of the building he’s standing next to, Luffy curses his slow reaction time. If he was faster he could’ve caught up to the guy and asked about Torao, or he could’ve followed them to see where the guy lives for a better chance to run into Torao around there. Who knows he might’ve even taken the dogs straight back to Torao’s place. The road that opens in front of him is too full of intersections for him to reliably guess which way the guy had run so Luffy decides to just head back home with Chopper.

If Torao does not show up to uni again tomorrow, Luffy can always come back and hang around Bellemere’s for longer to hopefully see that guy again. He’s probably a friend who’s helping with walking the dogs while Torao is sick. Thinking about Torao relying on someone else for help makes an ugly feeling raise its head in Luffy’s belly. As he walks he wishes they were close enough friends for Torao to ask him for help before anyone else, he’ll make sure to always be there for anything his Torao needs.

Chapter Text

It’s early Thursday morning and Law can barely believe he’s already sitting at his usual far-end corner in the lecture hall. He didn’t feel quite ready to be back at lectures yet, but if he wanted to keep attending the course, he had to. The professor had emailed him, telling him basically to either get his shit together and attend lectures or just give up. Just to show his professor he’s not a quitter, Law decided he’d show up, despite his eye not being fully healed yet. He also had to have an alarming amount of pills in the morning just to be able to walk without wincing at every little movement. His leg is still bothering him but the rest of the aching has subsided by now, he’s sure he can get through the day. He really needs to work on reducing the amount of pills he’s taking, he knows it’s gotten out of hand but it’s so difficult to stop when his body seems to constantly be in pain.

A small voice in his head keeps telling him that the drugs are only making it worse, that his addiction is causing him to hurt more. Still, he’s doing his best to ignore it, taking even more pills just to quiet it alongside all the other voices whispering to him what a disappointment he is, how he has never achieved anything in his life, and at this rate he never would, every decision he’s ever made or will make just causing more problems. How he’s unable to fix anything or make anything better for himself or anyone else, why is someone like him even trying to become a doctor in the first place? He should just give up and crawl into a hole somewhere to wait for the inevitable. Knowing him, he’d probably manage to fuck that up as well.

“TORAO!!”

His spiraling thoughts get interrupted when he hears a familiar voice call to him, the voice he has been simultaneously dreading and hoping to hear ever since they exchanged numbers. He doesn’t know how many times Luffy tried to call him before he told him again not to, he never picked up, but god did he want to. Every time he was alone when his phone kept ringing or vibrating with an incoming call, always from the number he still hadn’t saved but could recite in his sleep at this point.

He doesn’t look up as he hears the slapping of sandals get closer before a weight slumps on the seat next to him. The remnants of his black eye are hidden with some makeup up to the best of his ability and from far away it is unnoticeable, but he is afraid someone getting too close will notice, especially if they know what to look for.

“Man I thought I’d never see you on here again, yesterday the professor told us to prepare for you possibly dropping out from the group for the project, are you thinking of dropping out of the course, Torao?”

For a moment Law considers leaving and dropping the course right there and then. It would be so much easier just to go back home, take more pills, and forget everything for a while longer. But he doesn’t want the professor to be proven right, he’s never been a quitter, despite failing the course last year.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” He ends up mumbling without looking at Luffy, trying to hide under his hood.

“Oh, that’s great! I was so worried you would not show up anymore, I don’t know what I would do without you here, I don’t understand anything the professor keeps telling us, it’s like he’s speaking another language or something and Zoro is always asleep so he’s no help at all!” A delighted laugh follows Luffy’s comment and Law can’t help himself, he has to steal a glance at the joyful face next to him, that cute nose scrunching up slightly as he laughs, his full lips, and-

“Torao?”

Law makes the mistake of locking eyes with Luffy and for half a second he contemplates just leaning in and kissing him, what’s one more mistake in his already fucked-up life? Before he has time to either make a move or look away though, Luffy’s eyebrows knit together uncharacteristically as he studies Law’s face. Realizing his mistake Law quickly moves to turn away to hide his face again, praying Luffy didn’t notice. There’s no way he could’ve noticed, right? He doesn’t strike Law as someone who’d have any idea how to recognize almost healed injuries.

Luffy brings his hand to hold Law’s chin gently but firmly to stop him from turning away. Law tries to resist the grip half-heartedly, but he knows Luffy is too strong for him to really fight back, curse his weak and useless body.

“Hey what happened? Torao? Wait, let me see.”

Law wants to jerk the hand off of him, pull away, close his eyes, anything to break free from Luffy’s intense gaze that seems to be burrowing right through all of the walls and defenses he’s so carefully crafted around himself. Instead, he finds himself completely unable to move, like he is being hypnotized, powerless to do anything but comply with whatever the smaller man wants.

As Luffy keeps studying his face, he gently runs his thumb under Law’s eye, the injured one. Law swallows thickly while holding his breath.

“Who did that? Did you get into a fight? Is that who stole your phone?”

“What? My phone wasn’t… I-I… it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Law forces his eyes closed to break what ever spell Luffy had him under and turns his face away from the scrutinizing eyes that make him feel naked, like Luffy can see right through him, figure out his deepest darkest secrets by just looking into his eyes for long enough.

Luffy doesn’t stop him from turning away this time and lets his hand fall off his face as Law turns away. His cheek instantly feels colder where Luffy’s warm hand held him just a second ago and Law instantly regrets turning away. Silence hangs between them for a moment before Luffy breaks it again, to Law’s relief, he doesn’t bring up the black eye or his supposedly stolen phone again.

“Hey, guess what, I saw the guy who’s been taking care of your dogs yesterday! I wanted to ask him how you're doing as I hadn’t heard from you for so long and thought you must be really sick since you’re not even answering your phone, but he was too fast for me to catch up with.” He sounds sad as he says the last sentence, but soon continues with a bright voice again, “But you’re all better now so I don’t have to go see if I could catch him again tomorrow, I was totally planning to, shi shi shi. You know you could’ve asked me to look after your dogs too, I have to walk Chopper anyway and I’m sure they’d get along just fine, he loves to meet new friends! What had you down for so long by the way? Was it something contagious? Is that why you didn’t want anyone to come visit?”

Law’s mind is reeling as he tries to make sense of the onslaught of incoming questions and digest all the information at once. His blood runs cold as soon as he realizes Luffy means he saw Kid on his evening run with the dogs the previous night. He can’t allow the two to ever meet again, under any circumstances.

“You should stay away from him.” He blurts out without thinking.

“What? Who? Why?” Luffy has a puzzled expression on his face as Law steals a glance.

“He-he’s bad news. And those are actually his dogs, not mine… I just took them for the groom that one time.” Shit… fuck, they might run into each other the next time Kid takes the dogs to be groomed again, he has to come up with a way to prevent that from happening, maybe he should ask to take the dogs again… but that might just make Kid more suspicious about him having something going on with one of the owners, fuck, what can he do?

“Oh! I totally thought they were Torao’s dogs hahaha! You’re a pretty good friend for doing that to his dogs though! And if he’s your friend he can’t be that bad, right?” Luffy beams toward him, oblivious to Law’s inner turmoil for a solution to keep his boyfriend from meeting his crush, Law is baffled at how Naive and trusting Luffy seems to be.

He doesn’t correct Luffy when he assumes Kid and him are just friends, he doesn’t want the other to know the extent of their relationship. The less Luffy knows about Kid, the better, he tries to convince himself it’s just to protect Luffy from the redhead's jealousy and not because he hopes he gets to pretend for a while longer that there could be something more between him and Luffy, not that he’d ever be able to act on something like that. Even if by some miracle Luffy was interested, Law could never do that to him, if being around his gloomy and depressing self constantly would not be enough to rob him of his bright smiles and overall sunny demeanor, something else would happen to take him away and Law knows he would not be able to handle losing another person like that. It’s better for everyone for Law to keep his distance, he is simply not meant to have good things in life, a fact he should’ve made peace with a long time ago.

Soon the lecture starts and they get back into Law re-explaining everything Luffy does not understand, which is everything, just like they did before his long absence. Luffy doesn’t ask any more questions about the time he was away and Law is beyond grateful for that.

After the lecture, they have a brief discussion about their group project with Carrot and Zoro and they all agree to meet at the library after lessons on Friday to get started on it. Carrot especially seemed ecstatic that they finally agreed on a time to get it started, apparently, she had already started to get anxious about them not having enough time to finish with good grades. Luffy and Zoro seemed more interested in just doing a good enough job to pass and while Law agreed, he’ll likely end up helping more than he planned to.

Once they’ve agreed on the time, Luffy’s friends head to the cafeteria for lunch. Luffy lingers behind and asks Law to join them, but he refuses with the excuse of not being hungry, not that he really ever feels hungry anyway. Besides, he’s currently way too anxious to be able to get anything down, his next lessons are with his friends, and he still hasn’t done anything to try and reach out to them. He doesn’t know how to, what could he do or say to even start to make up for everything?

“Torao? What’s wrong?” Luffys clear voice breaks through his muddled thoughts, again.

“Huh?” Law stops to look at Luffy.

“You’re pacing and you're scowling so hard it looks like it hurts, what’s bothering you?”

Law hadn’t even realized he had started to walk back and forth in the hallway as he was trying to come up with a solution, he thought Luffy had left after he refused the lunch invitation, the guy never seemed to miss a meal. “It’s… it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

Luffy pouts, clearly not happy with his answer. “You’re a bad liar you know?”

“What?” Law is taken aback by the sudden accusation and feels his face heat up with embarrassment. “It’s none of your concern anyway.” He mumbles as he looks away.

“But we’re friends, maybe I could help!”

“We’re not…” Law pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs in defeat. “Whatever.”

Luffy doesn’t say anything more, just keeps staring at him with those big expectant eyes until Law can’t take the mounting pressure anymore.

“Fine! I want to talk to my friends again but I don’t know how!” He shouts while waving his hands around in frustration. “I fucked up so badly so many times and if they have any sense they’d never talk to me again.” He slumps to sit down on a nearby bench and buries his face into his hands.

There’s an unbearable ache in his chest as he thinks about his friends, especially Bepo, and how badly he has treated his best friend. He could blame it all on Kid for making him do all those horrible things but in the end, it was all his choice, every single thing he did. He chose to stick with Kid and abandon his friends, pretending it was for their own good while, in reality, he was just protecting his own ass. He’s such a selfish prick, he really deserves everything Kid has put him through and more but his friends should not have to suffer because of him, he should've just made sure to keep them away from Kid from the beginning.

The edges of his vision start to darken and he feels a familiar burn at the corners of his eyes. He squeezes them shut, refusing to let the tears through and wishing the dizzying feeling away, he doesn’t deserve to cry about the misery he has willingly put himself into, but he can’t take the pain any longer. His chest burns and he suddenly realizes he’s not breathing, desperately gasping to try and fill his lungs. He can’t be having a fucking panic attack right now, he’s not in a safe space, anyone could see. He needs something, anything to take the edge off, he-

“Law?”

The man feels like his heart stops as he hears the familiar voice and he shoots his head up to confirm he heard right. There, a few meters in front of him stands Bepo, uncertainty and concern written all over his face as he looks at Law.

Something inside Law breaks and he stops trying to resist the tears any longer, the salty beads soon running freely down his cheeks as he looks at his friend. “Be-bepo…” He struggles to speak between gasps of breath “I-I’m s-so… so fu-ucking so-orry”

Before Law can even finish his sentence, Bepos's warm arms wrap around him, the other pulling him into a comforting hug while kneeling on the floor in front of him. “I-it’s ok Law, everything’s going to be ok, I’m sorry…”

He feels Bepo's arm rub his back as the other squeezes him tighter, eventually causing Law to slide off the bench until they’re both sitting on the floor, Law technically curled onto Bepo’s lap. Law is unable to stop the sobs that keep escaping his throat, causing his fragile body to tremble in Bepo's tight hold as he keeps trying to press his face further into the other's chest. It’s embarrassing but he is unable to do anything more while he tries to push down the panic that keeps trying to take hold of him.

Bepo keeps murmuring reassuring words to him and tells him to focus on and to try to match the other man’s breathing until eventually his sobs die down and Law is able to breathe again, with the occasional hick-up still breaking through. He feels mortified that this is the first thing Bepo sees after everything Law put him through. He doesn’t understand why someone as good as Bepo even bothers with someone like him, he’s not worth anyone’s time.

“I’m so s-sorry Bepo, f-for this, for everything, I’m-”

“Shhh Law, it’s ok,” He feels Bepo squeeze him harder and for the first time, he registers the sniffles coming from the other man. “It’s ok, we’re ok now, right?”

“What?” Law is shocked at how easily the other is willing to forgive him for everything and he pulls away to look at Bepo in the eyes. “But how? After… after everything I said and did to you? Did… did to your…” He whispers the last words unable to say the last words out loud, never in his life has he felt as ashamed of anything as he does right now. He looks down, unable to face Bepo’s gaze any longer.

“Don't worry, I replaced it all.”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Bepo, I'll pay for it all, I promise, it was all my fault, I’ve caused you so much trouble.”

“Law.” Bepo’s voice is quiet. “Did… did you want to do that in…” his voice drifts off but Law knows what he means.

“No! Not in there, I never thought… I never wanted to…”

Bepo grabs hold of Law’s upper arms, causing Law to meet his eyes again. “Di-did he hurt you? There was some blood, did he force you to…to”

“It-it wasn’t my blood, it was all my fault, I’m sorry.”

“But how? If you didn’t want to-”

“I provoked him, I should’ve known better”

“Law, that’s not how-”

“I don’t want to talk about it, I already said I’d pay for everything you had to replace” Law averts his gaze again and pulls a little away from Bepo, he hates thinking about what he did in his best friends room.

“Law…”

“Please, Bepo.”

“... Ok… I’m sorry” “So, Kid, is he…”

“We’re still together.”

“What? Why?! After everything he’s put you through? All the things he’s made you do?!”

“Don’t blame him! He didn’t make me do anything! I did it all myself.”

“So you wanted to cut contact with us all?”

“I…”

“What you said back then, that we’re not friends anymore, did you really mean it?”

Law flinches at the question. He has been so self-absorbed that he completely forgot he had said those words to Bepo through Kid’s front door when he refused to let the other in. He wants to say he didn’t mean it, that they’re still friends, or at least, he hopes they can still be friends. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out, the words are stuck in his throat, and no matter how hard he tries he can’t force them out. He closes his mouth to collect himself and tries again.

“I…” How can it be so fucking hard! ‘I didn’t mean it, I want to be friends, please be my friend, any of those would do but his mouth is not listening to him.

Bepo watches him struggle for words for a long time before he looks away and starts to stand up. “I see…”

Law panics and grabs onto Bepos sleeve to keep him from leaving. “I-I didn’t… I didn’t mean it.” It’s a quiet, barely audible whisper but he finally gets the words out, and with that, his ability to speak is restored. “I want to… please be my friend again, I’m so sorry I ever said that I didn’t mean it, I would never mean it. Kid, he… he thought there was something between us, he was so jealous, he made it seem… I thought… I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You know I’m not into guys, right?”

“I know, I should’ve known, but I… I don’t know what got into me.” He hangs his head in shame. “I’m so sorry about causing all this mess. If-if you don’t want to be friends anymore, I understand.” ‘I wouldn’t want to be friends with me…’ is left unsaid.

“Don’t be stupid Law, of course, I still want to be your friend!”

Law closes his eyes as relief floods his chest, he doesn’t remember the last time he felt like this. There’s still that annoying voice at the back of his mind, telling him that this is a terrible idea, that only bad things happen to people who get too close to him but he quiets it down telling it that it’s never happened to his friends, only people he considers close family. He and Bepo have been friends for over 10 years and nothing ever happened to him before this.

They sit there on the floor for a long while as Law collects himself. Eventually, he realizes he hasn’t heard a certain bubbly voice since Bepo appeared. “Where did Luffy go?” He asks out loud before he can stop himself.

“Oh, he alerted us about you not responding to anything he was saying and that you said you wanted to talk to us… He left to get lunch when we got here.”

“...Oh.” Luffy had seen him during his panic attack, pathetically crying after his friends, no wonder he left. If he ever had a chance at anything with the guy, surely he had blown it now. Not that he really wanted anything like that to do with Luffy in the first place. ‘Stop thinking and acting like a fucking whore for once in your life’

Eventually, they get up from the floor and start walking towards the room for their next lesson. As Law looks ahead, He sees Shachi and Penguin standing a little further down the hall, clearly waiting for them but wanting to give Bepo and Law a little space to talk through whatever it was that they needed to talk about. Law is grateful that only Bepo witnessed his sorry state from up close.

As soon as they get to the two other men they stop and Shachi immediately addresses Bepo, “All good man?”

“Yeah, we’re all good again.” Bepo’s smiling and it warms Law’s heart to see his friend happy again.

“Ok, good.” Shachi says and before Law has time to react, he hears Bepo gasp just as a powerful slap sends Law’s face to the side with force. Confused, he brings his hand to his burning cheek and looks back just in time to be met with a flock of red hair as Shachi crushes him into a hug.

“That’s for blocking and ignoring us for weeks with no explanation you asshole! Don’t you dare ever pull something like that again, you hear me? You’re stuck with us for life, no matter what, you got that?”

Law can hear the other man's voice waver a bit as he’s being hugged tightly and he feels his own jaw tremble slightly as he nods with a whispered “Okay…Got it.” He looks up to lock eyes with Penguin who is smiling next to Bepo and nods to him to convey they’re all good again.

“Group hug!” Penguin shouts suddenly and pulls Bepo with him as he crashes into the hug with Shachi and Law, causing them all to fall to the floor in a pile of flailing limbs.

Shachi and Penguin burst into laughter while Bepo keeps apologizing and Law briefly wonders why he’s friends with these idiots again as he lies at the bottom of the pile. But he can’t help the smile that stretches across his face anyway, they’re his idiots.

--

Luffy is not really paying attention to any of his friends as he keeps picking at his food, too busy thinking about Torao. The way he acted after shouting at him about his friends made him a little scared, not of Torao but for him. Torao looked absolutely terrified of something, sitting there on the bench, pulling at his hair and seemingly struggling for breath while a few tears escaped his tightly closed eyelids. Luffy tried to talk to him and snapped his fingers in front of him but Torao didn’t seem to hear him at all. He reached to wipe away the tears from the pale man’s cheeks but pulled his hands away instantly as Law jerked away from the touch.

He wanted to try touching Law again to get his attention but his gut told him not to which was weird, he doesn’t remember ever being afraid to touch someone like that before. It was almost like his instincts were trying to tell him that Torao would break if he was physically touched in that state and Luffy felt an ache in his chest he had never felt before. Not knowing what else to do, he messaged Law’s friends on their group chat as mentioning them was what got the other man into the state he was in.

Within minutes the trio rushed to the hallway, Luffy told them he was going to have lunch but to let him know how things went with Torao. He really wanted to stay to help the man, but he felt like it was not his place like he would’ve been intruding on something that wasn’t meant for him if he stayed, so he reluctantly left.

He’s reminded of Torao's almost healed black eye which he noticed at the lectures earlier. The other had done a pretty good job at trying to hide it with makeup and keeping his face hidden, but Luffy was too familiar with the telltale signs to miss it. Wrestling with his brothers and fighting with school bullies were pretty much weekly occurrences in his childhood and he’d had his fair share of black eyes to know what they looked like. He really wanted to ask how Torao had gotten it, but the other seemed so uncomfortable talking about it that Luffy chose not to bring it up again, instead focusing on trying to make him feel better.

“...uffy?... LUFFY?!!”

“Huh? What” Luffy snaps out of it as he hears someone shout his name and locks eyes with a concerned Nami.

“What’s wrong?” When Luffy doesn’t have an answer right away, Nami points at his plate. “You’re just pushing your food around, somethings bothering you.”

Luffy looks down at his half-empty plate and for once, doesn’t feel like finishing it. “Not hungry anymore.” He shrugs, it’s not like he hasn’t eaten anything, he has already emptied Sanjis lunch box and two full plates.

Everyone at the table stops what they are doing or talking about in favor of gawking at Luffy.

“Are you alright?” Robin’s gentle voice reaches his ears first.

“Are you sick Luf?” Usopp asks almost at the same time as Robin, followed by Carrot expressing her concern with a similar question.

“...” Zoro doesn’t say anything but looks at him with brows slightly furrowed.

Luffy feels annoyed as he looks at his friends. “It’s fine guys, I’m just full.”

“But you’re never full!” Usopp looks alarmed.

“Yea, I’ve never seen you leave leftovers,” Carrot adds.

“Just tell us what’s the matter Luffy.” Robin’s sweet voice makes Luffy sigh in resignation.

“It’s Torao-”

Zoro stands up without a word, looking like he’s ready to murder someone before Luffy is able to finish his sentence, causing the younger to glare daggers at the green-haired man.

“I’m worried about him,” Luffy says pointedly towards Zoro and sighs, “he was acting so weird earlier.”

Zoro’s face goes back to neutral and he sits back down.

“Weird how?” Nami asks.

“I don’t know” Luffy responds frustrated, “like he was terrified of something and didn’t see or hear me at all.” Saying it out loud makes Luffy realize it almost felt like Law was terrified of him and that thought makes his stomach hurt and he feels the sadness grow heavier.

“Did you do something to scare him?”

“Of course not!... I don’t think so at least…” Did he do something to make Torao scared of him? He thinks back to their interaction, he had just tried to get Law to tell him what was bothering him so he could help, that’s not scary, right? “I just... I tried to get him to tell me what was bothering him…”

“Maybe he’s a murderer and finally realized the gravity of his actions.” Robin muses with a thoughtful expression.

“What?! You want to date a murderer Luffy?!” Usopp squeaks from the other side of the table.

Nami hits Usopp on the back of the head and glares at Robin who just shrugs at her while chuckling slightly behind her hand. “When did that happen?” Nami turns to look at Luffy again.

“Right before I came for lunch…”

“Did he want to be left alone?”

“I don’t know.” Luffy feels frustrated, he has never met someone as hard to understand as Torao.

“So you just left him like that and came to eat?!” It’s Nami’s turn to look alarmed. “Luffy-”

“No! I left him with his friends, he said he wanted to talk to them before he got like that.”

“They must be his accomplices then.” Robin supplies.

“Robin!!! You’re not helping!” Nami snaps while Usopp squeals in terror. “Ugh, am I the only one taking this seriously.”

“Sounds like a whimp to me, you sure you want to waste your time with someone like that Luffy?”

Luffy narrows his eyes at his best friend. “Never call him names again Zoro.”

The green-haired man shrugs and nods “As long as you’re sure he’s worth the trouble.”

“He is.”

“Alright.” Luffy knows Zoro can be a little protective when looking out for his friends but always respects his wishes and trusts him to make his own decisions.

“I don’t think you really did anything wrong Luffy.” Robin sounds more serious now and Luffy gives her his full attention, if anyone knows what to do, it’s her. “You should maybe try to ask him about it when he’s feeling better, but don’t push him if he’s reluctant to talk about it. You should always respect the boundaries other people have, no matter how weird they might seem to you, the human mind can be a scary place.”

“Hmm…” Luffy thinks about his friend's words, maybe there is more to whatever had driven Law to separate from his friends. Now that he thinks about it, the older man does often seem like he’s lost in his own mind whenever Luffy finds him. “Ok, that makes sense… Thanks, Robin!” He flashes the woman a wide smile. He feels a little better now, Torao wasn’t afraid of him but something in his mind. He really hopes whatever the tattooed man is afraid of is a person so he can kick their ass and make Torao feel better!

He feels hungry again, finishes his last plate, and keeps trying to steal from his friends for the rest of the lunch break. His acting like his usual self again is clearly making everyone feel more at ease as they continue their conversations from before and this time Luffy is able to pay attention and participate as well.

During his next lessons with Zoro, he gets a message from Torao’s friends, telling him Law is all good again and even made up with his friends. They are all gushing over how happy and thankful they are to Luffy and invite him to a game night they are planning for Friday evening. Luffy agrees to go but can’t help feeling disappointed when he finds out Law is not going for some reason.

He really wants to see and talk to Torao again right away but decides to give the other man his space for once, slightly afraid of causing him more discomfort by seeking him out right now. They are supposed to see each other at their scheduled group work session in the library tomorrow anyway, he can wait till then and if he’s lucky, he’ll catch Law with his friends during lunch as well!

Just thinking about finally getting to spend more time with Torao again makes the bugs in his belly go crazy and Luffy can’t stop the small giggle from escaping his mouth. The professor lifts an eyebrow at him and he puts his phone away, pretending to pay attention again. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough!

Chapter Text

Kid is not in a good mood as he gets home from work on Thursday. Fall is always a busy time in his auto repair shop and he hasn’t been able to find any extra help to deal with the mounting work. He hasn’t had a full day off since he took a personal day after Law’s birthday. He’s not used to working this much and his craving to drink till he passes out keeps increasing as the days go by.

On top of that, Hawkins hasn’t been able to stop by his office for a couple of days now, leaving him with a severe case of blue balls while Law is withholding sex from him. He’s getting to a point where he considered going to the closest whorehouse just to empty his balls to the first hole he comes across, but he figured Law should be well enough for that by now. He couldn’t see any traces of the bruises on his face this morning so he has no excuse to deny Kid any longer.

As Kid enters the kitchen, he sees Law sitting at the dining table, some books in front of him and a steaming cup of coffee in hand, looking like temptation itself. Sometimes Kid hates the day he first laid his eyes on the bitch, he completely ruined sex for Kid as he can’t think about anyone else no matter who he sinks his dick into and no pussy he’s had since feels as good. Sure the sex with Hawkins is good but nothing spectacular. He thought he would enjoy it with him more because he basically looks like a girl with his long hair, Kid is not gay after all, but he still can’t stop thinking about Law, just the way he looks writhing and crying under Kid while being filled, eventually passing out from the bliss every time. If Law weren’t such a cock tease and would just put out enough Kid wouldn’t have to resort to fucking other people.

Kid walks up to the table and drops to one of the chairs opposite Law with a loud huff. Law has not done anything to indicate he even heard Kid come in and it’s pissing the redhead off.

“Must be interesting as you can’t even say hi when your boyfriend comes home.”

“Mmm… Hard day?” Law doesn’t lift his eyes off the text he’s reading as he hums and finally addresses Kid, the fucking audacity of this bitch.

“Can’t be bothered to even look at me when talking now?”

Law gives him a quick look with one eyebrow raised before returning to the book. The reaction makes Kid want to slam Law’s head onto the table, onto his beloved books that seem to have become more important than Kid during the past week. Instead, he balls his hands into tight fists to try and calm himself down.

“Can you put the book away so we can talk?”

“Hmm… gimme a minute.”

Kid is beyond pissed at this point, he refuses to be ignored like this by anyone, the least by someone who’s supposed to respect him, to do as they’re told. He reaches to swipe all of Law’s books off the table and onto the floor. “I’m trying to have a fucking conversation here, stop ignoring me!”

Law finally looks at him properly with a pissed-off expression. “What is your fucking problem? What is so important that it can’t wait one minute till I finish the chapter I’m reading?”

He’s had all fuking day to read his stupid books, he’s supposed to be happy to see Kid, happy to interact with him, grave his attention. “This”, Kid motions between them, “you, your attitude is my fucking problem. The least you can do is acknowledge me properly when I get back home after a long day at work, show some respect. Don’t forget that I provide for you now and thanks to me you can keep getting high while going to your stupid lessons!”

“Tsk, I was doing just fine before moving in with you, I don’t need your money. Besides, I asked how your day was, didn’t I? What more do you want? A hot meal waiting and a fucking foot massage as you get in?”

Not exactly but now he thinks about it, it does sound pretty nice, when has Law ever done anything nice for him anyway? “Would it kill you to do something nice like that for me every once in a while?”

“Piss off, I’m not some housewife who has all day to cook and clean, if that’s what you want, get a fucking maid!”

Kid wants to punch his face in so badly at that moment but instead, he closes his eyes and slowly breathes in and out to calm himself.

“Don’t forget your place, you fucking do what I tell you to, bitch.” Kid starts in a low voice that keeps getting higher as he gets more riled up by his anger. “If I tell you to stop going to school and stay in to cook and do the fucking laundry, that’s what you’ll do!” He stops to take in a calming breath and runs his hand through his hair. “I expect you to greet me properly as I come home and not just act like I don’t even exist, you’re so fucking ungrateful.”

Law frowns at him for a moment before he turns to look away. “I… yea, whatever.”

“‘Whatever’ is not gonna cut it Law, I’m telling you that’s what you’ll do from now on.” He’s really not asking for much, he’s just expecting basic manners.

Law doesn't respond but after a while, he gives a small nod, good enough for now.

“Good.” Kid relaxes and leans back. “Anyway, my day was exhausting, could really use some distraction to take my mind off it.” He smirks towards Law, making it obvious what kind of a distraction he means.

“Oh yeah that reminds me, I’ll be home late tomorrow, have to work on a group project after lessons.” Law comments like he’s talking about the weather between sips of his coffee, completely ignoring Kid’s comment, what the fuck?

“Come again?” Kid tries to keep his voice calm but underneath he is seething with rage. He has been on edge ever since Law’s birthday. He doesn’t remember what he did that night but he knows he can get a bit rowdy sometimes when he drinks and Law’s cold attitude towards him that morning and ever since made him believe it had been his fault. For a moment he had been afraid that Law would actually leave and in a lapse of judgment, agreed to any terms the other had for staying.

In hindsight, it had been stupid of him, he gave Law way too much freedom to do what he pleases and to talk to whoever he wants. As a result of that Law has started to become more arrogant, thinking he’s setting the rules now or something. Kid needs to nib those thoughts in the bud before they grow out of control, he’s the head of the house after all, what he says, goes, no matter if Law likes it or not.

“I’m staying late tomorrow.” Law repeats, this time meeting Kid’s gaze, and is that… defiance he sees in those golden eyes?

Kid smashes his fist onto the table before him, causing Law to jump slightly from the sound. Kid is quiet for a while, trying to steady his anger, he doesn’t want to end up hurting Law again in his blind rage, he needs to play this cool.

“Ok,” he pats himself on the back for managing to keep his voice calm, “who are you working with? Will Bepo be there?” He can feel his eye twitch at the name, god how much he hates that fucker.

“What? Not this again, I thought we were past this.” Law huffs and crosses his arms.

“Answer the fucking question!” Kid yells and stands up to intimidate the other, his resolve to keep his calm crumbling.

“No! Bepo won’t be there!” Law yells back, also standing up.

Kid settles a bit with that response. “Ok, who will be there then?”

“Why does it matter?”

Is he trying to hide something? Does he have someone else? Is that why he’s been denying sex lately? Kid narrows his eyes. “Of course it fucking matters, you belong to me, I have the right to know who you’re spending your time with, besides we agreed you would tell me!”

Law sighs. “You’re impossible, it’s just some people from the course, I don’t remember their names.”

Kid stares at Law for a moment, trying to catch him on a lie, but the slut just stares back, almost like he’s challenging Kid to question what he just said.

Thinking fast on the spot, Kid backs down a little, he can use this to his advantage. “Fine, you can stay longer tomorrow but in the future, you better ask me before you do something like this, what if I had something planned for tonight?” Completely reasonable right? He could’ve planned a night out or something.

Law lets out an amused snort, infuriating Kid further. “Oh please, when’s the last time you had something planned on a random day?”

Kid is reminded why he prefers Law to be drugged out of his mind, that Law never talks back to him. “That’s not the point. Next time, you’ll let me know in advance and you’ll tell me where and with who you will be working.” This way he can still control Law’s time and he can drop by to check in during his school work if he feels like it.

“Fine, I’ll probably be staying late most Tuesdays and Fridays till Christmas break, I thought it’s fine since you’ve been staying late at work anyway. It’ll just be for an hour or two, you won’t even notice I’m not here.”

“Again, that’s not the fucking point! You can’t go deciding something like that without fucking asking me first!”

“I’m asking now aren’t I?!”

They both stare at each other, neither backing out of the challenge until eventually, Kid looks away. “Fine, only until Christmas break and I expect you to be here right after your lessons for the rest of the week, got it?” This actually works out nicely for him, he can tell Hawkins to come by on Tuesdays and Fridays to get his rocks off and fuck Law for the rest of the week

“Fine.” Law visibly relaxes but doesn’t sit back down.

Lately, Kid has been feeling like Law is slipping away from him and he hasn’t been sure how to get his control back. On most days, he’s not taking the pills Kid leaves out for him anymore, only what he thinks he needs for the pain which is still a lot more than an average person would take, but the pills are clearly not working as well to keep him subdued as they did in the beginning. Since his birthday, he has been very guarded around his drinks as well, not letting Kid make him anything anymore, has he caught up to Kid slipping him more than he needs?

And there’s the withholding of sex, Law often saying he needs to study, staying up reading till Kid passes out while waiting. Surely he has earned more than that by now, Law’s eye is completely healed as well so there’s no reason for him to act this way anymore.

“So, how about you thank me now for being so generous with you lately.” He says while starting to undo his belt to drop his pants to the floor before sitting back down.

“What?” Law seems taken aback by the comment as if a whore like him doesn’t know what a man means when he asks to be thanked by his bitch.

“You heard me, you’ve barely let me fuck you lately, the least you can do is suck me off.”

“What? But I-”

“I’m not fucking asking! You think you can treat me however you want now just because I’ve given you some time to recover, huh? Don’t be ridiculous, I’ve graciously allowed you to recover and am even willing to let you keep in contact with your friends. There’s no reason why you should not be kneeling in front of me right now, begging to thank me!”

He starts to rub himself, it doesn’t take long for him to get hard, imagining Law’s mouth around him. When Law doesn’t move and just stares at Kid with wide eyes, he starts to lose his patience.

“Do you need me to fucking help you?”

“N-no.” Law looks down, all semblance of defiance gone as he slowly moves around the table, stopping to stand in front of Kid, still facing the floor.

“I said on your knees.” Kid’s voice leaves no room for argument.

Law flinches but obeys, slowly falling on his knees in front of Kid, never looking up. Yes, this is what Kid has missed, the feeling of power he is getting in this situation rushes straight to his dick. He reaches his free hand to grab Law’s chin and forces him to look up at him.

“Eyes on me, how else am I supposed to see how grateful you are.” Law looks up to Kid before his eyes land on Kid's already weeping member. The tattooed man swallows and Kid can tell he wants it, how could he not? Kid lets go of Law and himself and folds his hands behind his head, completely ready to enjoy the treatment he’s about to receive.

“Go on then, put the skills I know you’ve been taught to use, show me how thankful you are.”

Law bites his lip and shuffles closer until Kid can feel his warm breathing on his sensitive tip. The anticipation is killing him and if Law doesn’t start soon, he’s going to press his head down himself.

Before Kid has time to do anything, however, Law opens his mouth and starts to slowly sink onto Kid, pulling a pleasurable hiss from his mouth.

“Ahhhh yes, baby, that’s it, show me what a slut you are for my cock.”

Law starts to bob his head, swirling his tongue expertly around him, making Kid remember why he’s so addicted to Law, the bitch knows how to fucking please his man even if he sometimes needs some coercion to get started. No one has ever sucked him off as good as Law does.

“Yess baby, ahhh, fuck, look at me.” Law looks up to Kid again, his eyes glassed over, from bliss no doubt as Kid’s cock vanishes completely into his mouth. Unable to contain himself any longer, Kid brings one hand down to grab Law’s hair, encouraging him to move faster as Kid bucks his hips up to meet the motion.

“Mmhh yess, no one else would ever treat a slut like you with the respect I do. Look at you, so fucking turned on from swallowing my cock that you don’t know what to do with yourself. Why the fuck do you keep saying no to this? You don’t need to prove anything to me by pretending you’re not dying to get used by me again.”

Kid presses Law’s head as far down as he can and keeps him there, watching as the other struggles to not make gagging sounds as Kid’s girthy cock rests against the back of his throat. So eager to please, Kid loves it. In times like this Kid wishes he was longer, he wants to be able to shove himself deep into Law’s throat, instead of just far enough to block his airways. The sudden urge to see Law choke on his cock has Kid bringing his other hand to block Law’s nose while keeping his head pressed down on his length.

“You were meant for this you know, to choke on my cock.” Kid coos as he refuses to let Law move even when he starts to push against Kid to move back for air. His movements get more frantic but Kid doesn’t budge, just observes as the panicked golden eyes start to roll back from the lack of oxygen before he finally lets go of the mop of black hair, watching as Law falls onto the floor in front of him, coughing and gasping for air as tears and snot cover his face.

“Do you even know how pathetic you are? Never forget you’re still alive only because I want you to be.” Kid doesn’t think he would ever intentionally go through with the thread, he’s not a murderer, but the feeling of power he gets as he watches Law cower on the floor is unimaginable, he can’t help himself.

“Get up, you’re not finished yet”

Law struggles onto his hands and knees, wiping his face with his sleeve before turning his glazed-over eyes to Kid.

“Disgusting, take that off before you keep going.”

Law sniffles as he sits up to pull his snotty hoodie over his head before tossing it to the side. Watching Law’s skinny frame without a shirt and his loose pants that are barely staying on, has Kid almost jumping him on the spot, to have him then and there on the floor. But he doesn’t, he really wants Law to finish what he started.

With some more coercion, Law’s mouth is back to where it’s most useful, around Kid’s throbbing cock. Kid loses himself to the pleasure Law’s mouth is giving him, unconsciously taking control of the speed and just fucking into the warm cavity until he finally comes with a loud groan.

“Fuck Law… I know you’re good but damn, when even is the last time you sucked me off? We should make this a weekly habit.”

Kid smirks as he feels Law shiver in his hold after saying that, he knew Law was really into sucking cock despite trying to get Kid to believe it’s very stressful for him, yeah, right. Kid reaches his hand between Law's legs, to feel how hard he is just from sucking him off and he’s not disappointed with what he finds. The slut is rock hard

“Why have you lied to me about not liking to give head, huh? Clearly, you almost creamed your pants just from me fucking your face, you’re such a freak.” He squeezes his hand around Law's balls, making him whimper as Kid leans in to whisper into his ear, “Too bad this was about you thanking me, not the other way around. If you behave, maybe I’ll let you come next time.”

With that, Kid lets Law go and gets up himself. “I’m going to bed, make sure you clean yourself up.”

Happy with how the evening turned out, Kid whistles as he walks to the shower to clean himself up. He doesn’t bother looking back at Law after he leaves, he knows the bitch will do as he was told.

--

The morning lessons with his friends pass in a haze. Law really got too confident after trying to gain some control over his life, he knew he was crossing a line and would eventually have to pay for it but he could not help himself. Last night Kid had given him a taste of what happens if he gets too comfortable with stepping outside of his role. He supposes he really hasn’t been giving Kid enough attention lately, he just really enjoyed the time while his eye was healing and Kid would actually listen to him when he said no to sex, even though he knows the redhead was just worried about making the bruising worse or whatever. His break is over and it is back to Kid expecting to fuck him whenever, though last night was only a blowjob, he knows it will be more the next time, likely tonight when Kid gets home.

He actually wishes Kid would’ve fucked him instead of making Law suck him off, giving blowjobs and having his mouth fucked just always makes Law feel sick. It was one of Teaches favorite things to do and every time Law is reminded of his mocking laugh, and the repulsive smell of his nether regions. Law is sure the man showered maybe once a week if that, and every time he came down Law’s throat, it made him want to gag and vomit from the taste and feeling.

In the beginning, Teach made sure to not feed Law on the days he wanted to deepthroat him, beating Law up while he dry heaved after vomiting out the cum mixed with some stomach acid. With time, Teach taught Law to keep it all in with a threat of more pain if he didn’t, taking things further every time just to see how far he could push Law's limits. He even conditioned Law’s body to respond in a certain way to his throat being fucked, he would get hard because that’s what Teach wanted and it was the fastest way to make the pain stop. Law hated himself for still reacting that way years later, but at least it seemed to please Kid.

During last night’s session, Law’s mind kept drifting back to the time he spent with Teach, uncertain of where he was and who was fucking into his mouth, only knowing that if he failed to do as told, he’d get punished. He knows now that it was only Kid he was with last night, but he can’t shake the feeling that he was still in real danger. He doesn't know what he did to cause Kid to almost choke him with his cock, he clearly needs to do better next time, be more obedient. He tries to ignore a small voice in the back of his mind reminding him that when he was about to pass out from lack of oxygen, he thought he saw Doffy looming over him instead of Teach or Kid, that just makes no sense.

“-oming?... Law?!” Shachi shouting into his ear brings him back to the classroom where their lesson has just ended.

“Huh, what?”

“Are you sure you’re ok man? You’ve been spaced out all morning.”

“Yeah, no, I’m fine.”

His friends look at each other with concerned expressions but no one presses him further.

“You coming to lunch with us? You need to eat too right?”

“Oh, uh…” Briefly, Law considers going to the cafeteria with his friends but there he’d run the risk of seeing Luffy and his friends. Knowing his own friends are all buddy-buddy with Luffy now, they’d all likely end up sitting together… Yeah, no thanks.

“I was thinking I’d grab something from Hachi’s, some sushi or something.”

“Hachi’s? But that’s expensiiivee” Shachi whines.

“I didn’t ask you to come with me.” He might even prefer to go alone, he knows he’s not good company today.

“What’s wrong with the cafeteria?”

“The food they serve is garbage, that’s why it’s affordable for students.”

“Come on Shachi, you buy energy drinks and chips every day, you can afford a good lunch every now and then.” Bepo tries to persuade their friend while Penguin keeps nodding in agreement.

“But I can’t survive without my snacks!”

“Buy the cheap ones.”

Shachi lets out a long sigh “Fiiiine, I’ll come to Hachis, they still do the lunch buffet with a student discount, right?.”

Hachi’s is a Japanese restaurant right next to the campus, about 5 minutes walk from their building. It’s owned by a middle-aged Japanese man called Hachi and Law loves his food, though he has to admit it is a bit pricey so he can't afford to go often. At lunchtime, they do a buffet with their famous takoyaki, a variety of sushi, and a couple of noodle soups. Law never takes the buffet as he can’t eat much and usually just goes with a small serving of sushi or riceballs that costs less than the buffet while his friends always go with the buffet, today being no exception.

Law’s favorite seat in the restaurant is at one of the back corners, half hidden from the view as you enter and right next to a massive aquarium that houses a live octopus called Surume. Sitting here makes Law feel less like everyone is staring at him as the playful creature usually steals all the attention. Surume is very inquisitive and always comes out from hiding to see whoever enters the restaurant.

Law loves to sit and watch the octopus swim around and play with some toys the owner has either given him or the octopus has stolen. There’s a handwritten note next to the tank warning customers not to put anything into the tank as Surume gets very possessive over things he decides are his and makes it impossible to get them back.

One time Law witnessed Hachi try to clean part of the tank’s glass on a slow day, and Surume kept grabbing and stealing his cleaning tools. Eventually, the restaurant owner gave up, just letting the octopus keep one of his cleaning sticks as a toy while Surume proceeded to wave his stick around in victory while Hachi was able to finish the cleaning.

Lunch goes by fast, Law enjoys the company while he’s mostly not paying attention to the conversation. No one comments on Law barely eating though Bepo gives him a few concerned glances during their meal. Once done, they exit the restaurant and part ways as his friends have self-study time for the rest of the day and head home while Law has some lectures alone. The topic of the lecture is something Law knows everything about already and he knows the professor never pays attention to whether or not students are listening, so he can get away with being high and zoning out at the back.

He makes sure his friends are out of sight before digging for some pills from his bag and downing a few, the effect should wear off enough by the time he meets with Luffy and the others in the library so it’s fine, he doesn’t want to chance being even crankier than usually in case his leg decides to act up later. Besides, he’s a little anxious about spending time with just Luffy and his two friends, he needs to relax before that, better safe than sorry, right?

By the time he gets to the lecture hall, his vision is slightly blurred and he finds it slightly difficult to stay upright. Somehow, he makes it to the back, slumps down onto one of the back seats, and pulls his hood over his head so far it hides his face. He struggles to pay attention till the professor takes the attendance and finally lets himself zone out right after his name is called.

--

Law wakes up to bright lights assaulting his senses as they suddenly flicker on all around him. He has to wait for his eyes to adjust the brightness before he’s able to take in his surroundings. He’s sitting in an empty lecture hall and at the front the janitor has started to sweep up the floor. Fuck, did he fall asleep? How long was he out? Did he completely miss the others at the library?

Suddenly overcome by nausea, he stands up and stumbles down the stairs, ignoring the janitor as she asks if he’s ok. He makes it to the closest bathroom and manages to get into the first open stall before his stomach empties itself. Cold sweat clings to his skin and his arms shake as he tries to hold on to the bowl in front of him.

When he’s sure nothing more is coming out, he stands up on shaky legs and wobbles to the nearest sink to splash some cold water onto his face to wash away the traces of vomit and to sober up enough to function. He stares at the mirror in front of him, trying to stop the world from spinning. He only took a few pills hours ago, why’s he still feeling so out of it? Did he grab the wrong bottle this morning?

He digs out his phone and strains to focus on the numbers on the screen, he’s pretty sure it says 16:15. He’s not too late, he can just come up with an excuse for being held back by the teacher for whatever reason.

As he exits the bathroom, he decides to give Luffy a call to let them know he’s on the way. He makes sure to choose the correct number, calls, and waits. And waits. And waits. Just as he’s about to give up, the line is picked up.

“TORAOOO! Hi! Are you alright?! We were so worried when you didn’t show up and you didn’t answer your phone! I couldn’t find you during lunch either so I thought maybe you were sick again… are you sick?!”

It takes a lot from Law’s sluggish brain to try and keep up with the assault of words coming from the phone. Before he’s able to get a word out, he hears Luffy’s voice again.

“Hello? Are you there?!”

He forces himself to say something.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Thank god! Wow your voice sounds all groggy and weird, did you just wake up or something?”

Fuck, is his speech slurred? He feels like it is, better to keep his responses short. “Or something… on my way to the liba-librrary.”

“Oh, why? Do you need some books?”

“Um, the meeting?” He’s not mistaken about the time and day, is he? He’s sure it’s Friday.

“What meeting?” Luffy sounds so genuinely surprised that Law starts to question himself.

“For the por-proochect?” Why are words so hard for him right now? How fucking high is he?

“Oh, that was earlier, silly Torao, we already did that! I’m in the salon helping Nami now.”

“Oh, uh, wha’s te time?” Law tries to look around to find a wall clock but can’t spot one.

“It’s half past six! Are you sure you’re ok Torao? You sound really weird.”

Fuck, it’s past six already? Did he sleep that long in the lecture hall? He has no memory of the lecture, the other students leaving or the lights turning off, he must’ve slept in the darkness for almost two hours after everyone else left as his day was supposed to end at four.

“Torao?”

“Yeah, no… I think I fell asleep at the le-lec-ture”

“Shi shi shi, wow you must’ve been really tired not to wake up to everyone else leaving! Don’t worry, Carrot made a plan for the project and we split up in pairs to do the field work and you’re my partner! Isn’t that great?! When do you want to get started? Maybe tomorrow? It’s Saturday and we don’t have school but I don’t mind doing schoolwork if it’s with Torao!”

“Yeah… I-I mean… no, I can’t.” Get it together Law.

“Awww why not?” The disappointment is clear in Luffy's voice like he’s pouting as he talks. The sound makes something ache in Law’s chest.

“I-I can’t do weekends, m-Monday?” Fuck, he can’t do Monday either, why would he even suggest Monday? There’s no way Kid would agree to that. But Luffy sounded so sad…

“Hmm… ok Monday works for me! Torao better rest during the weekend to not sleep past it again!” The cheerful tone is back in his voice and Law sighs with relief.

“Okay.”

“Great! I’ll mail you the details if Carrot hasn’t yet and we can talk more about it in class on Monday! Nami needs some help so I have to go, but I’m so happy you called me Torao! I’ll see you Monday, byeee!”

The line disconnects before Law has time to say anything. Shit… shit shit shit, what did he just do? Why’s he struggling so much to say no to Luffy? Did he really want to say no? Of course, he did, he can’t spend time with Luffy on Monday, Kid was very clear in wanting him to go straight home after lessons, he can’t keep ignoring what Kid wants like he has been, he’s supposed to be there for him.

But the more he tries to deny it, the more he realizes he really wants to spend more time with Luffy, maybe he can come up with some excuse or pretense to give Kid, like walking the dogs or something.

What the fuck is wrong with him? Maybe Kid’s right, he’s just an unfaithful whore who can’t help himself, maybe he should just accept the fact already. Law’s thoughts keep spinning much like the world around him as he starts to head home in the dark and cold evening.

Chapter Text

When Law finally makes it back to Kid’s that night, the apartment is dark and quiet. Law thanks his lucky stars that the mechanic is not home yet; he doesn’t feel like answering an interrogation about coming in so late. There’s a nagging feeling at the back of his mind trying to tell him that something’s off, but he ignores it. Stumbling around at the entrance, he somehow manages to remove his coat and shoes, leaving them scattered on the floor as he zeroes in on the couch visible from the front door. He vaguely remembers how disgusting the thing is, but he’s way past the point of caring as he lets his body fall onto it and passes out before his head hits the cushions.

The next thing he senses is the feeling of falling before he hits the floor. His ears are ringing, and the whole world is spinning; for a moment, he doesn’t know which way is up or down before his vision starts to get back to focus. He sits up a bit too fast and lets out a groan as the pounding in his head makes itself known. He tries again, moving slower this time, and makes it to an upright position, leaning his back on the couch.

“Where the fuck were you?!”

The loud noise makes the pounding in his head worse, forcing him to close his eyes and lean his head on his hand. “Too loud.”

“What?!”

“You’re being too loud.”

“I’m as loud as I fucking want to in my house! Answer the question, what took you so fucking long?!”

“Your stupid pills made me pass out at the lecture, alright?!” Law can't help but raise his voice to match Kid’s yelling, even though it makes his head hurt more. “What the fuck was in those anyway?”

“The same shit you usually have.”

“Then why the fuck did I almost OD on them?!”

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe don’t eat them like they’re fucking candy?! I got a good deal on those.”

“A good deal? What does that mean? Is there something wrong with them?!”

“No, they’re just stronger so the overall price was cheaper, the dealer told me they’re basically the same and guaranteed it’s good shit.”

“That the fuck Kid? You didn’t think it was important to let me know you got me stronger pills?? Overdosing is a real thing Kid, I could’ve died today! And basically the same? Wht exactly is in them?”

“Oh come on, don’t be so dramatic, you’re clearly fine, just take a smaller dose next time. Besides, it’s not my fault you don’t pay more attention to what goes down your throat.”

Law is seething on the inside, itching to give Kid a piece of his mind, but he hates to admit that the other man is right. At the end of the day, it’s up to him to check the pills he takes, he’s gotten too used to trusting Kid to check them for him. He makes a mental note to check the label and pills the first chance he gets; right now, he feels like he might throw up again if he gets up to look for his bag.

Now that the tension between them has calmed down a bit, Law notices the two dogs anxiously staring at them from the hallway. As soon as Law locks eyes with Jiki, the ball of energy starts to wag his tail and rushes over, jumping onto Law’s lap and excitedly licking his face. Killer’s reaction is a lot calmer, but he also wags his tail as he walks over and lays down next to Law, resting his head on Law’s thigh in hopes of some head pats.

In hindsight, Law realizes why the apartment felt so off when he came home earlier, there had been no excited snouts or wagging tails to welcome him in, which can only mean that Kid was out with the dogs at the time. If he had spent just a couple more seconds to think when he got in, he would’ve realized that, of course, Kid had already been home before him.

Kid lets out a long sigh next to him before heading to the kitchen. “I’ll let you off this time, but this better be the last time I get home from work not knowing where you are.” Kid walks up to the kitchen, and soon Law hears the telltale sign of a beer bottle opening. Great, Kid has started to drink again. For a moment, he wonders what could’ve triggered it, but who is he trying to fool? It’s obviously his fault. He has been a terrible partner lately, making demands, withholding sex, and now making Kid worry about where he is spending his time. At least Kid doesn’t know about his wandering thoughts… He needs to do better.

--

Later that night, Law is standing under the soothing spray of hot water while carefully scrubbing the raw and bruised skin over his hip bones. Earlier in the evening, or maybe it had been night time already, he hadn’t been paying attention, he’d made the mistake of telling Kid he was ready for bed, and for the first time in… well ever, hinting he might be up for more than sleeping. He really should’ve known Kid would not wait till taking him to the comfort of their soft mattress as Law had hinted, instead going for multiple rough rounds against the kitchen table. The sharp edge of the table top dug painfully into his abdomen and ground against his bones for what felt like hours.

After what had happened earlier with the pills Kid had gotten him, he had been too anxious to take anything else that might mess him up even more that day. Unlike usually, Law had been too sober and stayed conscious the whole time, he never knew how many rounds Kid could go for before being satiated enough. It was embarrassing and humiliating how fast and how many times Kid had managed to make him come with the combination of pain and demeaning words. He didn’t understand why his body reacted in such a way to something that made him feel so terrible in every way. Because he got aroused and climaxed so quickly from pain, Kid had taken his reaction as a good sign, an ok to be as rough as he wanted.

“Fuck baby, I should’ve known you were holding out on me, look how much you enjoyed that, coming over and over just from me destroying your ass. I thought having you drugged out of your mind was good, but man, I think this might be better. I had no idea you had such a thing for pain.”

Kid’s voice echoes in his head, and a choked sound escapes his mouth as he brings his hands up to press against his stinging eyes. The whole time, he felt like he was trapped in that dark room again, the one he thought he had escaped for good when Teach had finally gotten bored with him.

He feels so exposed, violated and exhausted, tired of his pathetic existence, wondering how other people cope with shit like this. How is he supposed to get used to something that makes him feel like his body is being ripped apart? Doffy had told him that it would eventually get better, that it was supposed to hurt in the beginning. The pills were supposed to help take the edge off while he was getting used to it. But it never really got better for him; he was never able to take the bigger man's love without pain, and most of the time, it still hurt or just made him feel uneasy and disgusting. Maybe it’d be better if he hadn’t betrayed Doffy’s trust. Maybe then the older man would’ve had time to teach him how to really enjoy it.

To try and distract his mind from the spiraling thoughts, he takes a closer look at tonight's damage. Big, angry bruises bloom around his protruding hip bones, and the skin around the sharp edges of the bone has been rubbed raw and has started to peel. He should clean and cover them with something. The bruises on his hips are seemingly connected with a couple of red lines crossing his abdomen, caused by Kid shifting the angle in which he was pressed against the edge of the table. As his gaze wanders higher, he notices some redness around his ribs as well. That’s a first… Kid must’ve pressed him down harder than usual, causing his ribs to rub against the table's hard surface. At least all the areas will be easily hidden under his clothes.

He’s thankful that Kid headed straight to bed after cleaning himself up, leaving Law to take care of himself. While it’s a bit difficult to reach everywhere because of all the pain from just moving around right now, he prefers to do it on his own instead of Kid possibly getting turned on by helping him clean up.

After the uncomfortable shower, Law slowly makes it to bed. Carefully, he sits down on the edge and reaches for the pills in the drawer of his nightstand to help him sleep. The pain is too excruciating for him to even consider whether he should or should not pop more pills in that moment. At least he knows what these ones are. Swallowing a few, he lies back down and waits until unconsciousness takes over. It’s Saturday tomorrow, so at least he’ll get to sleep in.

--

The weekend proceeds to be full of uncomfortable sex for Law. Having been given the green light, Kid took it and ran with it, taking every opportunity he got to be buried in Law. When Law tries to ask for a break, Kid just says they have to make up for lost time and somehow manages to convince Law to go with it every time.

It’s already Saturday afternoon before Law finally has a moment for himself after Kid agrees to take the dogs for a walk on his own, giving Law some time to rest for a while. Sitting at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, he fires up his laptop to check on the information he supposedly has been sent about the group project.

Just like Luffy had said, Carrot has sent him all the details of what they got done during that first meeting. He confirms that he has indeed been signed as Luffy’s partner for some stuff that they agreed to split up into pairs for to save time. While he’s anxious about spending any time alone with Luffy, he concludes that it is, in fact, the best way to split up the group. He wouldn’t mind being paired with Carrot, based on what he’d seen at the lectures; she’s the only other person in the group taking the studies seriously. However, Luffy paired with Zoro would just be a disaster and leave him and Carrot with double the work. Given the choice, he’d rather put up with Luffy’s strange eagerness to spend time with him than try and keep Zoro awake long enough to get a full sentence out of him.

Carrot has also sent him a preliminary schedule to agree to. All the group meetings will be either on Tuesdays or Fridays, and the schedule for pair work has been left open for both pairs to set up on their own later. He notices that they don’t actually have anything to do as a pair yet, the next thing marked down is another group session on Tuesday, and they split into pairs for some field work after that.

He groans and rubs his face in annoyance. Why had Luffy wanted to meet him during the weekend if they didn’t even have anything to work on? They had agreed on Monday instead, but that’s still too early for them to have anything to do!

Annoyed, Law picks up his phone and gets ready to call Luffy but freezes before he has time to press the call button. What the fuck is he doing? Kid could come back any minute. What would he do if he found Law on the phone with another guy?

He puts the phone back down and thinks of his options. He could wait to see Luffy at uni on Monday, but will he be able to cancel face-to-face if he wasn’t able to say no to the guy on the phone? He could send Luffy an email, but what if Kid decides to check his emails at some point? It would just be about the project, him canceling a project-related meeting because it’s not needed, right? Nothing suspicious. Email is less personal than a phone call or a text message, right?

Nodding to himself, he copies Luffy’s email address from the message Carrot sent to all of them and opens a new email page. He places his hands on the keyboard, ready to start typing, and freezes. How should he address this?

“Dear Luffy” … “Dear Mr Luffy”… too formal, it’s not like he's messaging a teacher.

“Hey Luffy”... too friendly? How is it this hard just to get started?! He clicks back to check how Carrot has addressed him.

“Hi Law!!

I hope you are doing ok! Here’s the…”

Enthusiastic, just like her… ok don’t overthink this, just write what feels natural.

“Hey Luffy,

We agreed to meet this Monday for the group project, but we don’t have any pair work to do till after Tuesday. I want to-” ... he pauses, deletes the last three words, and tries again. ”I think we should-”

Cancel. They should definitely cancel their plans to meet. The less time they spend around each other, the better. Still, his fingers remain frozen over the letters he knows he should be typing. He wants to cancel. He really wants to cancel. He should want to cancel! In frustration, he pulls at his hair as he grapples with his conflicting thoughts.

“- cancel the plans to meet as there’s nothing for us to do.”

Law lets out a sigh. He did it. He never expected that writing just one sentence would drain him this much. He keeps staring at the message, hovering over the send button, wondering if it’s a good idea to do this over an email, until he hears a key being inserted into the door. Panicking, he clicks send and slams his laptop closed just as the front door opens, and Jiki, followed by Killer, zooms inside. Kid has an annoying habit of letting them off-leash in the hallway, so they’re free to run into the apartment. Law wouldn’t mind as much otherwise, but it’s raining today, and both dogs’ feet are covered in mud, which gets dragged all around the apartment very quickly as the puppies rush to greet him in the kitchen and then back to Kid again.

“Hey baby, whatcha doing on the laptop? Cheating on me?” Kid lets out a dirty laugh after his joke and luckily misses the slight flinch on Law’s posture before he snorts.

“Yea, right, as if you’re leaving me with enough energy to even think about talking to anyone else.” It’s not far from the truth, he’s exhausted.

“Good.” Kid gives him a self-satisfied grin.

“Was just checking on some school projects. I’ll be staying late to work on it on Tuesdays and Fridays.”

“Fridays? Really, Law?”

“Yup, only days that suited everyone. It might not be every single Tuesday and Friday.”

Kid looks at the ceiling and lets out a long sigh. “You have no idea how lucky you are that I’m willing to put up with this bullshit.” Before Law has time to comment, Kid continues, “Well, since you seem to be done with that, how about you warm me up after that walk? It’s pretty cold out today, you know.” Kid comments as he prepares dinner for the dogs. That makes Law realize he hasn’t had anything but coffee all day.

“Really, aren’t you tired? I’m exhausted…”

“Never too tired for your sweet ass. Now come on, not like lying there for me is that hard, I always do all the work.”

Law lets out a defeated sigh, he doesn’t have the energy to fight. “Fine, but we’re doing it on the bed, I’m sore all over.”

“Sure thing my sensitive princess, you sure bitch and moan about a few sores and bruises. Funny how the rougher I am, the faster you seem to get off.”

Law freezes and stares at Kid, unable to form any kind of response. Fuck, he’d been naively hoping Kid would just go back to wanting to fuck him unconsions.

“Oh don’t give me that look. Did you think I hadn’t noticed what a little masochist you are?” Kid’s grin widens. “You have no idea how much that turns me on.”

Law swallows, terrified to find out what Kid’s statement means for their sex life moving forward. He hates to be in pain so much, and Kid giving him whatever it is that makes him lose consciousness most of the time has been a blessing. Sure, he often woke up groggy and sore all over after, but at least he didn’t have to endure the pain and humiliation of the act itself.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll play along and go easy on you tonight.”

As always, Law gives in and doesn’t get to leave the bedroom for the rest of the day.

--

Come Monday, Law somehow managed to drag himself to the lecture hall and is currently anxiously waiting for Luffy to arrive. It’s still early, and there are only a couple of students in the room so far. Before his mind has time to spiral too far into the possible scenarios that might occur when he sees Luffy again, the door opens, and the hurricane that is Monkey D. Luffy makes his way straight to Law.

“TORAOOO!!!” He shouts as he runs up the stairs and flops to sit right next to him. “Hiii! What was up with you on Friday? Are you all better now? What’s the plan for after school today?” Luffy is visibly vibrating with excitement as he starts to bombard Law with his questions. The last question makes Law frown.

“What do you mean ‘what’s the plan’”?

“We agreed to meet after school for the project! Did you forget? Silly Torao.” He flashes Law his face-splitting smile again, the one that makes Law feel nauseous.

“But… there’s nothing for us to do for the project yet. Didn’t you get my email about it?”

“Oh really? Huh… no I don’t often check my mail, there’s never anything fun there. Why would you email me anyway? You have my number!” He breaks into joyful laughter and makes Law feel a little stupid for thinking he could get rid of him with just an email message…

“So what do you want to do instead then, huh?”

“Um, nothing, there’s no need for us to meet after lessons.”

“What?! But there’s always a reason to meet with your friends! We could go for dinner, or grab a coffee, you like coffee right? Or go see a movie! Oh no, hold on, then I won’t get to look at Torao as much! Do you like going to the gym, we could do that, you should exercise more you know!”

Luffy pokes Law in the side, oblivious to the dozens of bruises and sores that decorate his whole body under his clothes. The finger hits a particularly sore spot and makes Law vince away.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t know you’re so sensitive.” Luffy grins at him apologetically.

A flashback of Kill calling him a sensitive princess has Law snapping back at Luffy, “I’m not!”

“Are too!” Luffy tries to prove his point by reaching to poke him again.

“Am not!” Law shouts back as he leans away and slaps Luffy’s offending hand away. “Whatever. Anyway, I can’t go do any of those things with you.” He doesn’t want to spend any more time with Luffy than necessary for the project.

“But why not?” The boy next to him is now pouting.

“I-I just can’t.”

“Then what can you do?”

“Huh?”

“There has to be something you can do outside your house! Unless... do you want me to come over?! That would be soo cool!” Law swears he sees sparks flying around Luffy’s eyes.

“Absolutely not!” Law has to look away to keep his resolve; they’re not meeting, and that’s that.

“You want to come visit me?”

“No!”

“Then what do you want to do outside the house?”

“Nothing.” Why can’t the monkey just leave it? It’s not like Law’s company is worth all this trouble.

“Come on, there has to be something… Oh, I know! How about walking your friend's dogs? That’s something you have to do sometimes, right?”

“I…” Law starts to protest but stops to consider the idea. It might actually work. He knows Luffy has a dog, too, so they could agree to meet somewhere like the dog park. If Kid ever finds out, he could pretend they just happened to be there at the same time.

“Come ooon, it will be fun! And Chopper loves to meet new friends, please~”

Law makes the mistake of glancing in Luffy’s direction and is hit with the biggest puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen on a human. How can someone look that fucking cute, maybe he could- No! He needs to stay strong, he has to say no, just say no, it’s one word! No!

“O-okay.” He winces at the word coming out of his mouth and buries his face into his hands. Fuck he’s weak.

“Yaaaaaay!” Luffy throws his hands up in the air and shouts loud enough to make everyone in the room turn to look at them. Law hides under his hood to escape the stares, but Luffy seems unbothered. “What time do you finish today? My lessons finish at two, you want to walk home together? Oh, I don’t actually know where you live, haha!”

“I, uh, my lessons end at four.”

“Awww, so late? How booooring! Can’t you skip?”

“What? No!”

“Aww… well, do you want me to wait here till you finish? It sounds boring as hell, but I’ll do it for you!” Luffy smiles at him again, and Law feels his traitorous heart skip a beat.

“Uh, no, you should go home. Let's meet at the dog park, yeah? Around five?”

“Hmmm… OK!”

--

The day passes faster than Law expected. Luffy stays with him to share his lunch again, and before Law knows it, he’s standing outside the dog park, staring at the gate. There’s no one else in there, he should just go in. Jiki and Killer keep looking between him and the park, clearly excited and just waiting for him to let them in.

Law sighs and approaches the gate. He lifts his hand out to open it, but before his fingers reach the latch, he notices how much they’re shaking. Startled, he pulls his hand back and presses his arm against his chest. The shaking doesn’t stop. Fuck, he’s panicing, he feels like his clothes are suffocating him, even though he’s wearing his usual lose hoodie and too big pants. He closes his eyes and concentrates on breathing to steady himself. He’s just meeting Luffy, why is he so fucking nervious?

He feels like the shaking is getting stronger, he’s sweating, and the dull ache on his leg is getting worse. He hasn’t taken any pills yet today, but maybe he should have. He frantically pats down all his pockets, he’s sure he took some of Kid’s mystery pills with him just in case. It’s not quite five yet, he still has time to go back home and… He feels the solid container in one of his back pockets and sighs with relief. Heart racing, he pulls it out and studies the unlabelled pill bottle. He’s still pissed at Kid for shouting at him for not paying attention to what pills he takes, while he had gotten them in an unlaballed container.
Remembering what happened last time he took the pills makes him hesitate for a moment; maybe it’s a bad idea to take more. Kid had said they were just stronger, but how much stronger? Taking two had knocked him out for hours, he could just take one.

Law swallows hard as he stares at the pills in his shaking hand. He remembers feeling really good before passing out and then waking up feeling like shit last time. He just needs to take less, and he’ll be able to relax and act normal by the time Luffy gets there. Hardening his resolve, he picks up one of the pills, chews on it a couple of times, and swallows. He stuffs the box back into his pocket before he makes his way into the park. Hands still shaking, he releases the dogs from their leashes and sits down on one of the benches. He closes his eyes and waits for the drug to start taking effect.

He doesn’t have to wait long till he feels his body relaxing; the shaking gradually stops, and the numbness spreading through his body erases the pain in his leg. He lets out a sigh of relief as he relaxes and sinks further into the bench. A fuzzy feeling starts to grow in his mind, slowing his racing thoughts and making him feel comfortable. When he opens his eyes to see what the dogs are up to, his vision is slightly blurry, but it is not too bad. He closes his eyes again to enjoy the lowly building high. Kid’s dealer was right, this is some good shit.

“TORAOOO!” A shout pulls him out of his sluggish thoughts, and he turns to look towards the gate. “You’re here already! Sorry I’m little late, Nami was-” Law stops paying attention to Luffy's words as he takes in his sunny presence. He’s just too fucking cute, if only Law was lucky and worthy enough for someone like him.

At some point, Luffy stops talking and just smiles at him. “Hey, you.” Slips through Law’s lips as he smiles back. Why was he so nervous again, earlier? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Luffy’s here, and he’s smiling at him. Law never thought he’d enjoy basking in sunshine this much.

“They seem to be getting along pretty well,” Luffy says as he comes to sit next to Law. It could just be Law’s imagination or the drugs, but it seems like Luffy is really close. Law can feel the warmth radiating from him, and he wants to move closer. Wait, did Luffy just say something?

“Hmm?” Law lets out a questioning sound.

“The dogs, Torao!” Luffy says, laughing, and points toward the center of the park. Reluctantly, Law turns to look at what Luffy is pointing at, and instead of 2, there are now 3 dogs running around the park. Oh, right, Luffy brought his dog.

“Good, they’re getting along.” He comments lazily.

“That’s what I just said!” Luffy laughs again, and Law doesn’t think his chest has ever felt this warm.

“No, you didn’t.” Law teases, not like he remembers what Luffy actually said.

“Did too!”

“Okay, if you say so”. The sun is already hanging pretty low and just so happens to be in the same direction as Luffy from Law. Luffy is just as bright, if not brighter than the sunshine behind him.

“What did you just call me?”

“What?”

“You called me Sunshine!”

“Did not.” He didn’t say that aloud… He didn’t mean to, at least.

“You so did!”

“...Was talking about the sun.” Law’s cheeks feel warm now, too.

“Oh, ok.” Luffy is smiling at him again, and it’s blinding.

“You’re just as blinding, though.” He mumbles under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“... You’re so weird today, Torao!” Luffy laughs again, and at that moment, Law wants to be whatever makes that sound happen again. “Are you tired again or something? You sound similar to how you did on the phone on Friday.”

Shit, he hasn’t been paying attention to the way he speaks, has he been slurring? He probably has…

“Your eyes look pretty tired, too.” Luffy continues as he leans closer to inspect his face, and suddenly Law feels like they’re sitting way too close. He turns away to pretend to look at the dogs again to hide how close he was to just leaning in and kissing Luffy. Those lips look so soft, they’re probably warm, too. But they’re just friends, friends who don’t kiss. Law wonders what it would be like to have a partner who likes kissing. Kid thinks it’s for pansies, but Law thinks it could be nice.

“Y-yea, I’m pretty tired.” Technically, it’s not a lie, he’s exhausted after the weekend he had, but he knows that’s not what’s making him look tired to Luffy. He wishes he’d just taken half a pill, everything feels so sluggish now. At least he hasn’t passed out this time.

“You could take a nap here, you know, I’ll watch the dogs, I don’t mind.”

“What? No, I’m not that tired, I-” Before Law’s able to finish his sentence, Luffy grabs the front of his hoodie and pulls until Law loses his balance and falls face-first onto Luffy’s lap. “What the fuck?!” He turns his head so that he’s looking to the side instead of straight into Luffy’s crotch and tries to get back up, but Luffy presses his head back down firmly and starts to run his fingers through his hair.

“It’s ok, Torao. Just relax for a bit.” Law can’t see his face but hears the smile in his voice. He wants to protest, he should protest! But Luffy’s fingers feel so good against his scalp, and a weird feeling of warmth is spreading through every inch of his body. At that moment, the exhaustion completely takes over, leaving him with no energy to fight back. His eyelids feel heavy, and he knows soon he’ll lose the ability to keep his eyes open.

“Just take a nap. I’ll look after you and the dogs.”

At the back of his mind, he knows he shouldn’t trust this much on someone who’s technically still a stranger, but he’s suddenly so tired. It’s not like he can do anything worse than what has already been done to him in the past, anyway. He can feel his mind start to wander to a place he’d rather avoid, he needs a distraction.

“Luffy?” His voice is so quiet that he briefly wonders if Luffy even heard him.

“Yeah?” The hand in his hair stills, and Law instantly regrets saying anything. He waits for a moment, hoping that Luffy will just go back to stroking his hair, but when he doesn’t, Law goes on.

“Could you… Could you keep talking?” He whispers and prays it doesn’t make him sound as pathetic as he feels.

“Of course, Torao! What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything, just… please.” Law lifts his legs up onto the bench to make himself more comfortable.

“Hmm… Oh! Did you know that Ladybugs are actually beetles?” Luffy’s fingers are moving through his hair again, making it impossible for Law to keep his eyes open any longer.

“What?” Law did, in fact, not know that. He doesn’t know anything about bugs; he just usually wants to avoid them.

“Well, they are! And they’re also cran… caranivan… they eat other bugs! I used to think they weren’t very cool beetles before I learned that they’re little beasts disguised as something cute and harmless. They’re very useful too because they eat aphids!”

“What are aphids?” Law finds himself asking. He’s never been interested in bugs, but Luffy’s enthusiasm is kind of contagious.

“They’re these tiny bugs that eat plants, many people don’t like them because they multiply fast and destroy plants. But some ants really love them because they release honeydew, and the ants eat that! I think it’s so funny that the ants treat the aphids like their little cows! I always imagine ants with overalls and tiny pitchforks. And did you know that-”

Law stops paying attention to what Luffy’s actually saying as he drifts into a drug-induced haze, completely relaxed, head on Luffy’s lap as gentle fingers keep running through his hair, and the steady sound of Luffy talking keeps his own spiraling thoughts at bay. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt this relaxed in his life, no drug has ever given him a high like this before.

--

“-ao, hey Torao, wake up.” Law is woken up by someone whispering in his ear and gently shaking him. He slowly opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. He’s outside, the sun is setting, and he’s laying down on something hard, head supported by something soft. He feels a little stiff but surprisingly well rested. He yawns and rubs the sleep from his eyes.

“Sorry to wake you Torao, but my friend wants to know if your dogs are friendly. I told her they are, but she wanted me to wake you to ask.”

It takes Law’s brain a moment to register all the information he’s just been given. He sits up slowly and rubs at his face for a moment. “Umm… yea, they’re friendly.” He mumbles, his voice rough from sleep. “How long was I asleep?”

“Only about an hour.” Luffy smiles at him before he turns to look towards the gate. “It’s ok Vivi, you can come in with Chaka.”

Law turns to look at the newcomer, Vivi. It’s the blue-haired girl he’s seen hang out with Luffy’s other friends around campus. She enters with a big Dobermann that somehow looks familiar. Now that he thinks about it, wasn’t there an old man here the first time he came? He had a Dobermann called Chaka.

All the dogs already in the park have been pacing around the entrance, wanting to meet the dog that was standing outside. Chopper and Jiki greet the bigger dog like they’ve known each other all their lives, while Killer seems a bit more reserved.

“Mmm, I think Jiki already met him before.” Law mumbles.

“Oh? I don’t remember seeing you here before. Hi, I’m Vivi!” the girl introduces herself enthusiastically.

“Law.”

“This is Torao!”

Law and Luffy speak at the same time. Law frowns and looks at Luffy but is too slow to correct him.

“Oh! So you are the mysterious Torao? So nice to finally meet you!”

“Law.” He tries to correct her.

“Pardon?”

“Call me Law, please.”

“Oh! Of course! I’m sorry. I’ve just heard so much about you from Luffy.” She smiles at them as she sits down on a bench a few meters away from the one on which he and Luffy are sitting.

“You have?” Law looks at Luffy questioningly, and Luffy gives him a sheepish smile.

“You’re just so cool, Torao! I’ve told everyone about you!”

Law just grunts in response, he feels like he’s still half asleep. He wonders what exactly Luffy has been telling about him… It makes him feel a little nervous.

“Want to go back to napping?” Luffy is gesturing to his lap, and it’s in that moment that Law realizes where exactly he had been resting his head earlier. He feels his whole face heat up, especially because Vivi sits right there, staring at them.

“Uh, n-no thanks I’m uh, I’m ok.” He shifts a little to sit at a safe distance away from Luffy.

After a short silence, Luffy turns to Vivi, and they start to talk about something that doesn’t involve Law. Feeling self-conscious now that he’s not alone with Luffy anymore, he digs out his phone to check the time, 18:08. Luckily, there are no missed calls or texts from Kid, he must still be stuck at work. Law made sure to send him a message about taking the dogs for a long walk earlier, but he’d still prefer to get back home before him; he should get going.

Law puts his phone away and stands up to stretch. “I should get going.”

“What? Already?” He can hear the disappointment in Luffy’s voice and wishes he could stay, wishes his life wasn’t such a mess, that he wasn’t such a mess. He still feels sluggish from the drug he took earlier, but the sleep helped clear the worst fog from his thoughts.

“Yeah, gotta take them back. Killer, Jiki!” He calls, and all the dogs in the park come rushing towards him, almost knocking him over as they crowd around him excitedly. He clips the leashes back on Killer and Jiki and kneels down to pet Chopper and Chaka for a while. “Nice to meet you Chopper, maybe we’ll meet again.”

“You’ll definitely meet him again!” Luffy shouts from the bench. “Want me to walk you?”

“Nah, your friend just got here. I’ll find my way.” He’s already given in to his selfish desires too much for one day, he needs to put some more distance between himself and Luffy and maintain it.

“Aww… Well, okay, Torao, see you tomorrow!”

“Yea.” is all he manages to get out. He nods to Vivi as he walks past her and exits the enclosure.

“Be safe Toraoo!” Luffy shouts after him as he walks away.

Law does not turn to look back, afraid of what could happen if he meets Luffy’s eyes right now. The cool air keeps clearing his head as he walks, and as the fog dissipates, it’s slowly replaced by fear and anxiety. Fear of what could’ve happened when Luffy’s face was so close to his, anxiety over what did happen, as he took a nap while resting his head on another man’s lap. They were in a public dog park, in broad daylight; anyone could’ve walked past and seen them. What if Kid somehow finds out? What if he already knows, and that’s why there are no calls or messages?

His breathing picks up as his steps slow down; he’s terrified to go back home. What if Kid is waiting for him there, ready to beat some sense into his thick skull?

Law’s so fucking stupid, no matter how good he felt in the moment, he should never let something like that happen!

His hands are trembling again, but he’s too afraid to take another one of those pills while the first one is still clearly in his system. He just has to suck it up and go home to face what ever is coming for him. What ever it is, an unfaithful scumbag like him deserves in anyway.

Chapter Text

Luffy has slightly conflicted feelings about the time he spent together with Torao as he watches the other disappear from view. He’s, of course, ecstatic that he got over an hour in the park with just Torao. Sure, Law was sleeping on his lap for most of it while Luffy was quietly talking about bugs, but he didn’t mind. It had made him so happy when Torao asked him to keep talking instead of ignoring him or telling him to shut up like people usually do. He knows he can ramble on forever when he gets excited about something, so he tries not to take it personally when his friends don't have the energy to put up with it. But Torao’s request gave his belly this warm and fuzzy feeling he really liked, and Torao had even asked questions about bugs before falling asleep, like he was genuinely interested in what Luffy had to say. On top of that, he is super proud that he got to teach Torao something new, instead of the older man always trying to teach him.

Torao’s hair had also been so soft. He could not stop his fingers from running through the strands after he got the lanky man to settle down. It also seemed to have a soothing effect on Torao, which is information Luffy subconsciously filed away for later use.

While Luffy is extremely cuddly with all of his friends, it was the first time he had someone sleep on his lap like that, and he decided he really liked it, especially because it was Torao. Nami always makes him watch these boring romantic movies where people fight about something stupid and then spend the whole movie trying to make up before being able to cuddle together. Nami says it’s what people who are in love do, that it somehow makes the cuddles more exciting and romantic. Luffy’s not sure if what he feels for Torao is romantic love, but it’s definitely different from what he feels for his other friends. In case it’s love, he’s happy he got to experience cuddles with Torao without the fighting; he doesn’t like the idea of having to start a fight just to be able to cuddle with someone.

Despite Luffy enjoying their moment together more than most things, he could not stop thinking about how exhausted Law had looked. His speech had been a little slurred, movements slow, and his eyes had been drooping, like he hadn’t slept well for weeks. He hadn’t looked like that earlier at their lessons, so what could’ve happened after to make him so tired?

The way Law moved away from him after Vivi entered the park hadn’t gone unnoticed by Luffy, either. He doesn’t know why, but thinking about it makes his chest feel a little weird, like something is weighing him down. Law also left soon after Vivi arrived, which slightly annoyed the raven-haired boy. While he usually loved spending time with all his friends, when Vivi had shown up and asked him to wake Torao up, he had really wanted to tell Vivi to just go away and leave them alone. Torao might still be asleep on his lap if he had done that.

“So that was Torao, huh?”

Viv’s voice wrenches Luffy out of his thoughts.

“Uh, yea! That was Torao! Isn’t he cool?” Luffy smiles at his blue-haired friend, certain that she would like Torao just as much as he does. Why wouldn't she?

Vivi looks thoughtful for a moment before speaking up again. “Um, Luffy, I don’t want to upset you or anything, but I think he was on something.”

Luffy tilts his head to the side, slightly confused before smiling. “Why would that upset me? You saw Torao sleeping on my lap! Shi shi shi.”

“That’s not…” A slight blush creeps onto Vivi’s cheeks as she pauses for a moment. Luffy waits patiently for her to continue, knowing some people need to think about their words sometimes. Luffy doesn’t usually bother with that, it’s so much easier to just say what he thinks.

“Luffy,” Vivi finally continues, “he acted like he was, you know, high.”

“Oh, he’s just always really tired! That’s why I told him to sleep for a while.” Luffy smiles.

“No Luffy, I think… I think he was either drunk or on some drugs.”

Luffy frowns before his face brightens up again. “Oh, he has these pills for the pain in his leg, maybe he took some of those!” Ace has lectured him enough about pain meds for him to know that taking too much is like doing drugs, and you shouldn’t do that unless a doctor tells you it’s ok for the pain.

“If that’s the case, he must’ve taken way more than he should. Has he acted this way before?”

“What way?”

“You know, moving all sluggish, responding slowly, slurred speech, dilated pupils?”

Luffy thinks back to the phone call he received from Law on Friday and then to the time he snatched Law’s phone to put in his number.

“Ummm, maybe? Sometimes…”

“Luffy, I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for you to hang around him.”

“What? Why not?”

“I-I think he’s a drug addict, Luffy, he could be really dangerous or involved with other dangerous people. It’s best to just-”

“To what? Leave him to deal with a possibly dangerous situation alone? You don’t know anything about him, you’ve only seen him once! And even if he was addicted, he can still be a good person!” Luffy feels like Vivi is trying to tell him to stop being Law’s friend, and that makes him angry. Vivi doesn’t know anything, she doesn’t know that Law only had one contact on his phone when Luffy met him or how depressed he looks whenever he thinks no one is looking or that he never eats anything unless Luffy feeds him. Ace has told him that many drug addicts live a hard life, and usually, they turn to drugs because they feel like there is no other option. But there are always other options, and his brother has made him swear never to seek comfort from drugs, that there are always people he could and should talk to instead.

“Luffy, please listen. You should really think twice before getting involved with someone like that, I got a bad feeling about-”

“Well, I didn’t, and I'm going to keep being his friend. Chopper! We’re leaving!” He opens the gate and lets Chopper run through without a leash.

“Luffy wait! I just don’t want you to get in any trouble for mixing with the wrong people! You-”

“And who decide’s who’s ‘wrong people’? You?! You know Nami used to rob people and shoplift before we became friends? She still sometimes does that and always cheats at the casino when we go!!” Luffy knows he’s being unfair right now, but he doesn’t care. There is an ugly feeling growing in his chest, and he wants to go before it gets worse.

“I know that, I didn’t… I’m trying to.. Luffy, please wait, let’s talk about this, ok?”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now!” With that, Luffy runs off with Chopper and ignores Vivi’s calls to try and get him to come back.

The blood in Luffy's veins feels like it’s boiling. How could Vivi say that? Like people with drug addictions don’t deserve to have friends, she has no idea what kind of person Torao is and what he might’ve gone through to get where he is. Luffy doesn’t know what Torao has done or been through either, but he’s slowly getting to know the person he is right now. To him, Torao always seems so kind despite trying to deny they’re friends. Torao has helped him with his studies so much, and he never gets annoyed with Luffy’s endless questions while they’re studying. He’s always so good and gentle with the dogs and always lets Luffy eat half of his lunch. Besides, neither of them knows if Law even has an addiction. The guy always looks exhausted, and Luffy is pretty sure he has depression. He could’ve just as well have been really tired!

Gradually, Luffy’s running slows down to brisk walking as they get closer to the dorm building. He hastily clips Chopper's leash on so no one starts to yell at him for letting him walk loose again. In his current mood, he might deck the first person who annoys him.

He doesn’t feel like running up the stairs today, so he opts for the elevator to get to their floor. As he enters their apartment, he lets Chopper off his leash before kicking off his slippers and dropping the light jacket he had on to the floor.

The lights are on, which means Zoro is still up, probably drinking in the living room, so that’s where Luffy decides to go. He enters the room and lets out a long sigh as he slumps next to his best friend on the couch.

“What’s up with you? Date didn’t go as well as you hoped?”

“Wasn’t a date.” Luffy mumbles, annoyed. All his friends have figured out that he has a crush on Torao at this point and have been calling tonight a date despite it clearly not being one. Luffy’s pretty sure a date involves things like kissing and stuff. While he wouldn’t mind exploring stuff like that with Torao eventually, maybe even fantasises about it, he doesn’t think they’re quite ready for it yet.

“Yea, sure, spill.”

Luffy frowns and pouts for a while before responding, “Vivi thinks Torao is a drug addict.”

Zoro snorts. “Wouldn’t surprise me. Have you seen the guy? My guess is he’s either involved with some gang or a druggie, possibly both.”

“Not helping Zoro,” Luffy grumbles as he slides lower on the couch.

“Does it bother you to have a crush on a druggie?”

“He’s not… we don’t know if he is or not…” He doesn’t want to believe that his Torao could be a drug addict, but he can’t deny that the more he thinks about it, the more he sees the signs are all there.

“But if he was? Would it bother you?”

“I dunno, maybe?” Ace always says all addicts who don’t get clean end up overdosing and dying. “... I don’t want Torao to die.”

Zoro just grunts in response.

“Vivi said I should stay away from him.”

“She’s just worried, addicts usually come with a bunch of problems, and not all of them get a happy ending.”

“Yea, I know all that.” As if Ace hasn’t been lecturing him about the dangers of drugs and drug addicts ever since he started working as an EMT.

“When have you ever listened to other people anyway?”

Luffy cracks a smile at that. “Never.”

“If he turns out to be an addict, we’ll just need to help him get clean. He better not drag you into any shady business with him, though, or I will end him.”

“Tch, not you too. I can take care of myself, and you know I’d never do drugs.” Luffy's relieved his best friend takes this all so calmly.

“Yea.” Zoro empties his can of beer before continuing, “Well, I’m with you, no matter what you decide; just make sure he’s worth the effort.”

“Thanks, Zoro.” Knowing that Zoro really means what he says makes him feel a little better. Even if Torao turns out to be an addict, he’ll at least have Zoro backing him up to help.

He reaches for the remote on their messy coffee table to flick on the TV. They spend the rest of the evening watching some nature documentary about caterpillars.

--

Luffy is unable to find Torao during lunch the next day. He did see Bepo, though, who assured him that Law had been in, so now he is waiting at the library with Zoro and Carrot for the last member of their group to arrive.

Luffy is excited but also slightly nervous to see Torao. He really liked having the tattooed man sleep on his lap yesterday and would not mind doing stuff like that again, but he has no idea what the older guy thinks. It’s not common for Luffy to care too much about what other people think about him, but for some reason, he really wants Torao to like him. Nami says it’s because of the crush he has on the older man, and she’s probably right, Nami’s smart like that. He can’t stop thinking about Torao, wants to text and call him all the time but doesn’t because he knows it would upset the other. This is the first time he is holding back on doing something he really wants to do and it’s all because he doesn’t want Torao to be upset with him.

On top of that, there’s the issue of Torao maybe being a drug addict. He hasn’t mentioned this to anyone besides Zoro yet, but it’s only a matter of time before Vivi talks about it to Nami, and after that, everyone will know. Thinking about Vivi makes his stomach lurch uncomfortably. He hasn't spoken with her after running away from the dog park, and while he hates being on bad terms with his friends, he doesn't think he's ready to face the blue-haired girl quite yet.

“Luffyyy, can you at least try to concentrate on what we're doing?” Carrot whines from the other side of the table they’re working at. Right after, she turns to hit Zoro on the head with a rolled up magazine, waking the green-haired man up from his slumber. “And you, stop sleeping while we’re working! I swear, no one but me wants to pass this course. I hope Torao actually shows up this time.”

“He will!” They have Luffy’s full attention as soon as Torao is brought up. “Bepo said he was at lessons, though I wasn’t able to find him during lunch… But he was so sorry he missed it last time, he’ll definitely come today!”

Just as he says that the doos to the workspace opens and Torao walks in. Luffy feels giddy as he takes in the other man's appearance, his disheveled hair that looks like it hasn’t seen a comb for a week, baggy black clothes hiding his slender frame and the resting bitch face that deters other people from getting too close. Luckily, Luffy is not like other people and instantly jumps up, pouncing to hug Law before he’s even able to close the door behind himself.

“I know you’d come!!” Luffy shouts as he pulls Law in for a hug.

The stunned silence seems to stretch forever before Law finally mumbles, “y-yea, said I would… now get off me, we have work to do.” Slightly shaking tattooed hands push Luffy off, and while one might take it as their affection being rejected, the blush dusting his normally pale cheeks has Luffy’s heart racing.

“Finally someone sane to help me reign these two in!” Carrot cries as Law takes the empty seat across from Zoro, Luffy happily humming as he sits back to where he was earlier.

Luffy never thought he would enjoy doing schoolwork this much, but just being around Torao seems to make everything more interesting and fun. The older man makes sure he’s keeping up with what they’re doing and takes time to explain things to him as usual if he doesn’t understand something. Luffy could listen to Toraos voice for hours, but way too soon they are done with what they had to do today and everyone starts to pack to leave and go home. Before he knows it, Torao is already opening the door to leave.

“Torao! Wait!” Luffy rushes to catch him before he slips away. “We need to agree on a time for our pair work!”

“Oh… right. I can only do Friday, after 3 in the afternoon, I’ll set up the interviews and let you know where.”

“Okay, it’s a date!” Luffy laughs as he catches Torao's shocked face before he turns away.

“Don’t… Whatever, see you then.” Law walks away before Luffy’s able to say anything else. An unpleasant feeling makes itself known in Luffy’s gut, and he frowns. Why is Torao in such a hurry to get away from him? Did he not enjoy what they did the previous evening? He shrugs the thoughts off, maybe he just had a bad day or something. Or maybe Luffy’s just hungry from not having enough time to eat as much lunch as usual while trying to find Torao. He should definitely get something to eat.

--

The rest of the week passes really slowly for Luffy. The situation with Vivi keeps weighing him down and he has been unable to catch Torao outside of their shared classes. The tattooed man always manages to distract him in one way or another before slipping away at the end of their lectures. He still helps him by explaining the things Luffy doesn’t understand, but somehow, he feels more detached than before. He barely looks at him, never laughs at his attempts at jokes anymore, and just wants to talk about whatever the topic of the lessons is. It’s like he suddenly tripled his efforts to try and avoid Luffy, and he doesn’t know what to think about it. He thought the time they spent in the dog park on Monday had brought them closer together but Torao is not acting that way at all, quite the opposite. It’s all so confusing, and instead of trying to figure it out, Luffy decides to entertain himself with a mobile game during a boring lesson. It’s Friday today, so he’ll be meeting Torao later anyway; maybe he can figure the other out then.

As soon as the clock strikes three, Luffy is out the door and running towards the lobby of their building, that’s where they agreed to meet and Luffy can’t wait, he has missed talking to Torao all week! Sure, they had lessons together yesterday, but Torao refused to engage in anything more than the studies and disappeared right after, Luffy just wants to hang out with him like they used to do during lunch.

Luffy keeps pacing around as he waits. What’s taking Torao so long?? He checks his phone, it's already 10 minutes past. Should he call?

Before he has time to act on his thought, he gets a notification for an incoming message that pops up. It’s from Torao! His heart skips a beat as he excitedly opens the message. Instantly, he feels himself deflate. Torao is just letting him know he’ll be late and telling him to just go straight to the walk in clinic they’re supposed to be doing some interviews in. As Luffy’s reading the first message, another one arrives. It just includes the address of the clinic they’re going to.

With a sigh, Luffy pockets his phone and heads out. He’s trying to ignore the disappointment he feels for not getting the extra time with Torao. He’ll still get to do the interviews together with him, and they can always hang out after. Encouraged by this thought, Luffy smiles and skips all the way to the clinic.

He ends up waiting at the building’s front door for almost another ten minutes before he finally spots Torao walking towards him.

“Torao!!” Luffy shouts as he takes off running towards him. He was planning to tackle hug the tall man, but as he gets closer and takes a proper look, he slows down. Torao is visibly limping and as he gets closer, he can hear him breathing a bit heavy. Instead of crashing into the other man, Luffy stops in front of him with a worried expression.

“Torao, you don’t look so good, are you hurt?”

Torao jumps slightly like he was startled before meeting Luffy's gaze. “Oh, you’re here already… Sorry I’m so late, just had a bad day.”

“Do you need help?” Luffy reaches out to support Torao, but retracts his hand as Torao flinches away from the touch.

“No… no, I’m ok, let’s just get this over with.”

Luffy frowns but follows Law to the clinic. “Is it your leg? Can’t you take your pills to make it better?”

Law stops walking and looks around before narrowing his eyes while glaring at Luffy. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, the ones you have for your leg? You asked me to help you take them that one time I jumped on you, remember?”

Law’s frown deepens as he takes a moment to think before his whole demeanor relaxes slightly. “Oh, right. No, don’t have those on me right now.” Law takes few more steps before stopping again, “if someone in the clinic asks, don’t mention the pills.”

“Mmm… Okay!” Luffy thinks it’s a little weird of a request if Torao had been prescribed the pills, but he doesn’t really know enough about medicine to start questioning it.

Their first interviewee is already waiting for them as they enter, and they get right into it after Law apologizes for them being late. Luffy ends up doing most of the talking during all the interviews, enjoying the chats and being genuinely surprised by some of the things they discover. Torao uses some handheld device to record the conversations, takes notes, and only interjects now and then to steer Luffy back to the topic every time he starts rambling about something else.

Once they’re done, Luffy feels like he made three new friends and looks forward to coming to the clinic again later when he inevitably hurts himself again.

“Wow that was so much fun! Who would’ve thought that doing study assignments could be this exciting? So what are we doing next? Want to go grab dinner or something?” Luffy smiles at Torao, really hoping he’ll say yes.

“Not hungry. I need to go back home now.”

Luffy’s face instantly falls, mirroring the way his heart feels like it just fell to the bottom of his stomach. “But Toraoooo, we didn’t get to hang out at all today.”

“We weren’t here to hang out, we were working.” Torao is not even looking at him as he speaks.

Luffy pouts for a moment before he remembers they still need to go through the footage they got. “So when are we going through the stuff you recorded?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll go through it and take notes, it’s only fair since you did all the talking.”

“Ehhhh?! But Toraooo, it’s a group project, we’re supposed to work togetheeer.”

“I’ll send you a copy of the file if you want, but it’ll be so much faster for me to go through it by myself. There’s no need for us to have any meetings till the next one scheduled with the full group.” With that, Torao slings his bag over one shoulder and starts to walk away.

“But… but when are we going to hang out again then?”

Torao stops and sighs before talking without turning to look at Luffy. “I keep telling you, we’re not friends, we don’t hang out, just leave me alone.” Luffy thinks he heard a slight tremor in his voice, but maybe he just imagined it. Law never looks back as he continues limping away.

For a second time in one week, Luffy feels that annoying, unexplainable feeling in his gut as he watches Law walk away. No one has made him feel like this before, and it confuses him to no end. Is it because of his crush? If this is how a crush makes people feel, he’s happy he hasn’t had one before and kinda wants this to go away, too. Maybe he can just ignore all these strange new feelings, he has no idea what else to do about them anyway. Crush or no crush, Luffy is still determined to be Torao’s friend, no matter how hard the other tries to push him away.

Most of his closest friends tried to push him away at first too, because they were afraid. In the end, he won them over with his bull-headed determination to make their demons go away and show them they deserved to be free and live the the kind of lives they wanted.

Robin had been by far the hardest to win over due to her strong ties to the underworld. Luffy and his friends ended up busting a pretty big human trafficking ring, among other things, while setting her free. Luffy knows his Gramps is still involved in tracking down and arresting some of the people involved, but everyone with connections to Robin is behind bars now. And even if there were someone left to try and cause her more trouble, she knows she has friends she can trust to keep her safe now.

Torao’s behaviour reminds him a lot of the way Robin acted back then, and that makes him wonder whether or not the two have similar pasts. Either way, he gets the feeling that Torao has been acting out of fear lately, and that makes Luffy want to crush whoever is responsible for making Torao feel like this.

“Don’t worry Torao, I won’t give up before I’m sure you're safe and happy again.” Luffy knows Torao is too far to hear his quietly spoken words, but that doesn’t matter; it’s a promise he makes to himself more than anyone else.

Chapter Text

Luffy doesn’t remember the last time he slept as badly as he did following his interaction with Torao on Friday. He lay in his bed, awake till the small hours of the night, thinking about the tattooed man and wondering what could possibly be going on in his life. Luffy’s used to being able to read other people easier and faster than any book ever, but for some reason, he’s struggling with Torao. The man is like a puzzle that keeps getting more complex the further in he goes. Luffy has never had the patience to deal with anything that requires lots of thinking and problem solving, but for the first time ever, he’s desperate to figure this out and to understand.

He’s currently perched on Sanji’s fancy but comfortable dark grey couch in Sanji and Usopp’s living room, struggling to pay attention to the Mario Kart level they’re racing on. Usopp somehow managed to bully Zoro into playing with them while Sanji is in the kitchen preparing some snacks like usual.

Luffy does not get anxious very often, but right now, said feeling is eating him up. Last night, he declined a call from Nami because his gut told him he was in trouble as soon as he saw her name flash on the screen. The texts he got from her after that were very angry, but didn’t explain why the ginger was suddenly so angry at him. Luffy is worried it might have something to do with Vivi, whom he hasn’t spoken to since he ran away from the park. He knows he overreacted and should’ve probably stayed to talk, but at the same time, he still thinks Vivi was way out of line accusing Torao like he’s some kind of a villain.

“Luffy, what’s the matter with you today? You’re not even trying!” Usopp complains next to him, and as Luffy focuses back on the screen, he realizes the race has finished. He came in last, while both of his friends were in the top 3. Oops.

“I can’t concentrate because I’m hungry.” He pouts. It’s not a lie, his stomach is so empty it hurts, and the delicious smells coming from the kitchen make his belly growl loudly.

“That’s no excuse, you’re always hungry! I’ve never seen you drive this badly. What’s bothering you, man?”

“It’s nothing, just a bit tired.” He smiles at Usopp, not ready to get into a discussion about Torao’s possible drug use with his friends right now.

Before they have a chance to choose the next cup to compete in, the doorbell rings, and Luffy goes all rigid. Were they waiting for more people? Sanji swirls to open the door, and Chopper follows close behind him. Apparently, the dog had been in the kitchen with him, begging for scraps, no doubt. Luffy wishes his own face were as fluffy and cute as Chopper's, so everyone would give him more treats. Sanji always spoils Chopper but never gives Luffy anything before the food’s done, so unfair.

“The lovely ladies have arrived~” Sanji declares in a singsong voice as he opens the door, and Luffy's eyes widen in fear. There are not that many women who would come visit Sanji for any reason, Nami and Vivi being two of them. There’s always a slight chance it’s Robin.

As soon as the door opens, some happy barking can be heard from the hallway before Chopper rushes into the living room, followed by a white ball of fluff, Nami’s Samoyed, Zeus. The newcomer happily greets everyone in the living room before Chopper goads him into a chase around the apartment.

“Nami swan, Vivi chan, how lovely to see both of you, you both look radiant as ever. Can I interest you in some small snacks or a drink perhaps?”

Luffy is stiff as a floorboard as he listens to Sanji swoon over the two girls standing in the hallway. He hopes they won’t realize he is there if he doesn’t move and stays very, very quiet.

“Thank you, Sanji. Maybe in a minute, I assume Luffy is here already?” Nami asks in a kind voice.

“Yes, the guys are in the living room.” Luffy hears Sanji respond. He’s dead, he’s so fucking dead, no one ignores Nami and get’s to live to tell the tale.

“Thank you, Sanji~. LUFFY!! GET YOUR SORRY ASS OVER HERE, RIGHT. THIS. SECOND!!”

Luffy flinches but gets up as soon as he’s able to move, knowing it’ll only get worse if he doesn’t listen. He takes a few steps towards the living room doorway so he can see the front door and the people standing there. “Uh, hi, what’s up, Nami?” He tries to smile awkwardly.

“Don't you ‘what’s up’ me! What is wrong with you?! Why are you ignoring my calls and texts?!”

“What? You have been ignoring our absolute queen of a-”

Nami waves Sanji off as she stomps towards Luffy. “And what the fuck did you do to upset my girlfriend??!” She keeps screaming at Luffy till the two are standing face to face in the doorway to the living room. Luffy takes a step back.

“What??! Luffy?! How could you do something to hurt a delicate princess like Vivi?!” Sanji instantly takes Nami's side because, of course, he does, and pushes right into his face past Nami.

“I didn’t do anything to her!” Luffy feels very defensive when being cornered like this by his friends. He hasn’t done anything to hurt Vivi!

“Cut the crap Luffy, it took me forever to pry from her why she has been so absent minded all week and colour me surprised to find out it was because of you!” Nami takes a step closer and pokes him in the chest. It doesn’t hurt, but he still feels like she is being very unfair right now

“Hey, witch, why don’t you mind your own business?” Zoro steps next to Luffy and slaps Nami’s hand away to support his best friend against Nami. Secretly, Luffy is grateful, he feels really on edge and doesn’t want to end up saying or doing something hurtful to Nami because he can’t take the pressure of being cornered by two of his friends.

“Zoro, stay out of this, or were you in it as well?” Nami narrows her eyes at Zoro.

“Hey, don’t call our beautiful Nami swan a witch, you overgrown oaf, and keep your hands off of her!” Sanji steps in and gets right into Zoro's face.

“Stand down, curly, Nami doesn’t need help from her trained lap dog right now.”

“Excuse me, grass for brains, that’s rich coming from a man who blindly follows Luffy anywhere, should I buy you a collar?”

“Huh?! If someone here-”

Zoro and Sanji get engrossed in their own argument, and Luffy tunes them out as he focuses back on Nami.

“So? Spit it out? What the fuck did you do?” Nami stares at him, arms crossed, as he sidesteps the bickering men who got between them.

Luffy frowns, but before he’s able to tell Nami it’s none of her business, Vivi steps in. “Come on, Nami, we talked about this, he didn’t do anything bad like that.”

“Then why have you been so upset?”

“It’s complicated and kind of personal. Luffy, would you be comfortable talking about it now?” Vivi turns to him with a hopeful smile.

Luffy frowns for a moment longer but relents eventually. “Yeah, ok… Hey Usopp, can we use your room for a moment?”

“Sure, man. Just don’t let Kaido out again!”

“Ok, let’s talk in here.” Luffy opens the door to Usopp's room and lets Vivi enter first. When Nami tries to follow, Luffy stops her. “Sorry, I want to talk to Vivi alone.”

“What? But-”

“Nami, it’s ok, just wait in the living room, this shouldn’t take long.” Luffy is relieved that Vivi backs him up, he’s not ready for Nami to find out about Torao.

Nami looks between them for a moment before she sighs and gives up. “Ok, baby, I trust you can stand up for yourself, just get whatever this is cleared up, ok?” She steps away and lets Luffy close the door in front of her.

Luffy stands staring at the closed door for a moment before he turns to look into the room. About one-third of Usopp’s dorm room has been sealed behind a wall of glass panes, and on the other side of it, a massive iguana sleeps contentedly on a long branch under some UV lamps. Kaido opens one eye to see who entered the room, but deems them not threatening enough to move from his comfortable spot.

“Luffy?”

Vivi’s voice snaps Luffy out of his thoughts, and he turns to look at the girl who has taken a seat on Usopp's bed. “I’m so sorry about Nami, I didn’t want to tell her anything, but he kept pestering me about it till she eventually guessed that it had something to do with you.”

Vivi looks very apologetic, and Luffy can feel his defence crumbling. “Come sit with me?” Vivi taps the bed next to her with a reassuring smile; at least she doesn’t seem angry at him.

Luffy sits down next to Vivi, not sure what to say to broach the subject. Luckily for him, Vivi takes the first step when Luffy doesn’t say a word. “Luffy, I’m really sorry for how I reacted at the park. I realized after you left that my words must’ve come off as extremely judgmental, and that’s not how I meant it.”

Luffy looks up to Vivi, surprised by how sincere the apology sounded.

“You were right to call me out. Like you said, I don’t know anything about Torao, and I let my fear get the best of me and unfairly judged him based only on what I saw that day. Looks like I have a thing or two to learn from you still, huh?”

Hearing that makes Luffy feel relieved, he had been preparing to defend Torao in case Vivi started to accuse him again.

“I-I’m sorry too, Vivi, I shouldn’t have run away like that, I just got so angry because Torao deserves better than that.”

“I’m sure he does. Why don’t you tell me more about him?” Vivi smiles at him reassuringly, and suddenly Luffy feels like he can tell Vivi anything. He’s even a little excited that the girl wants to hear more about Torao.

“Oh, Torao is so great, he’s so smart, he always helps me with my studies, answers all my questions, and explains things better than the teachers, so that I actually understand. He doesn’t talk much outside of teaching me, I think he’s better with dogs than with people, but he always listens, and he always shares his food with me.” Luffy smiles brightly as he thinks about how flustered Torao still gets every time Luffy tries to feed him.

“Sounds like you really like him.” Vivi smiles at him. “I’m just a little worried that your feelings might prevent you from seeing the whole picture. I don’t want you to get hurt.

Luffy knows that Vivi is only looking out for him, and he gets it now. He’s never been interested in anyone before, and he’s already gotten a taste of how awful this crush can make him feel. He starts to think about all the concerning things he has noticed about Torao, but kind of ignored till now. His voice is quieter as he speaks up again, “He never eats at school unless I bring him something. At first, I thought it was because he couldn’t afford it or didn’t like the cafeteria food, but I think it’s because he’s really bad at taking care of himself. He doesn’t have many friends, and he often looks really sad and tired.”

Luffy is frowning as he finishes his sentence and thinks about the past week. “I think he is in some trouble, Ace always says most people start to use drugs because it’s the only way they can cope, or they think there’s no other option.”

“Hmm, I can’t say I have lots of experience with addicts, but I’m sure Ace knows what he’s talking about. As long as you’re careful and know what you’re getting yourself into, I know you can handle more than most.” Vivi smiles at him again.

“Damn straight I can, I don’t yet know what’s holding Torao back, but I decided I’m going to set him free, just like we did to Robin. Torao reminds me a lot of her.”

Vivi inhales sharply. She’s aware of what Robin has done in the past, and while she doesn’t agree with all of her actions, she understands that the older woman wasn’t really given a choice before Luffy stepped in.

“Do you think he is…” She doesn’t finish the sentence, but they both know what she’s thinking: was Torao a victim of child trafficking? Could he still be involved with the underworld?

“I don’t know.”

They both sit quietly for a while, not really knowing what to say, till Luffy slaps his knees and gets up. “Well, doesn’t do us any good to dwell on what we don’t know. We should get back to the others!” He tries to lighten the mood, he didn’t want to bring Vivi’s mood down like this. Maybe he said too much already.

“Uh, can we keep this chat just between us till I find out more about Torao? Maybe we’re wrong about everything and would just cause people to worry for nothing.”

“Yea, of course, but please tell me or your other friends if it really is serious, especially if you plan to do something stupid again, like facing a mob boss on your own.”

“Shi shi shi yea I’ll make sure to tell someone.” Luffy looks a little sheepish as he rubs the back of his neck. He knows the way he handled Crocodile was risky, and he’s extremely lucky to be alive.

“Ok, then let's go back, we have a party to plan!” Vivi says enthusiastically and stands up.

“Wait, what? A party? What party? No one said anything to me about a party!!”

Vivi giggles behind he hand, “Maybe they didn’t want you to get too excited before we get started, we’re planning a huge Halloween party that will double as a birthday celebration for Wanda and Camie, they’re both turning 20, you know.”

“I can’t believe no one told me earlier! Come on, hurry, let’s go!” Luffy practically drags Vivi out of the room after him.

As soon as they step out, Nami ambushes them. “Well? How’d it go? Did you apologize? Did he apologize to you, hon?”

“Yea, he did, and I apologized to him, we’re all good now.” Vivi smiles at Nami but also fixes her with a look that tells the ginger to drop it.

“That’s all you’re giving me, huh? Fiiine, as long as you’re both good again.” Nami claps her hands and turns towards the living room. “Right! Time to start planning this party!”

Loud cheers can be heard from the living room, following her declaration. Apparently, Wanda and Camie arrived while Luffy and Vivi were talking.

The rest of the evening is pretty smooth sailing, and the party planning proceeds without hiccups. Vivi offers his family's massive house as the venue for the party, she has even cleared it with his dad already. It turns out he was just happy she had made so many friends after starting her studies. He told Vivi and her friends to just enjoy themselves and not to worry about cleaning up after, he’d order professional cleaners to take care of it after.

Once the place is decided, they talk about whom they want to invite. Everyone currently present would be invited, Robin too, obviously. Luffy wants to invite Franky and Bon Clay from Iva’s bar. He suggests inviting Ivankov too, but Nami shoots him down, saying he would bring everyone working there and at least half of the regulars from the bar with him. Luffy pouts but agrees to only invite Franky and his favourite bartender. For compensation, Luffy wants to invite his brothers, and everyone agrees, luckily, all his friends really like his brothers.

Carrot will, of course, be invited, and Wanda and Camie want to invite a bunch of their friends who the rest of the group is not familiar with, but they all look forward to partying with.

Luffy declares he’s also inviting Torao, Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi. When he mentions Torao, Vivi gives him a look but doesn’t comment, and Luffy notices Nami narrowing her eyes at the interaction.

They all agree to contact Brook and see if he’d be interested in providing them with some live music. Sanji promises to arrange the food and snacks while Vivi, Nami, Wanda, and Camie will take care of decorating. They don’t set any specific theme, but an appropriate costume fit for Halloween is expected to be allowed in.

Luffy is so excited by the time everything is set that he can’t sit still. He wants to call and invite Torao right away, finger already hovering over the call button, when he remembers how upset the man got last time he called. He could always send a text, though Torao had forbidden that too… But it’s been over 2 weeks since there has been any activity in their conversation, maybe just saying “Hi” wouldn’t hurt…

So that’s what he does, he has to stay strong and keep it to just that one message, though. Sighing, he pockets his phone just before locking eyes with Zoro across the room. The green-haired man quirks an eyebrow at him, as if to ask what’s wrong. Luffy flashes him a smile and loudly challenges Usopp for a rematch on Mario Kart before anyone else notices the shift in his mood.

--

A week later, Luffy is sitting at the bar in Vivi’s family mansion, frowning at his phone. Behind him, people are still having fun, talking, laughing, and dancing on the makeshift dancefloor arranged in their massive living room while Brook is still entertaining them with live music.

Brood had arrived with a friend, an up-and-coming rock musician called Barmelo or something. His hair reminded Luffy of a rooster, so that’s what he called him. Brook had apparently met him at some rock festival where they both had been performing, and the two hit it off. They’ve been working on some duo performances and tested some of their stuff at tonight’s party.

The rooster guy had been really friendly and kept wanting to talk to Luffy a lot. They ended up exchanging numbers when he had to leave early to go take care of her elderly grandmother. He was a really good guy, and Luffy is happy to have made a new friend, though the guy has kind of been blowing up his phone since he left.

With a sigh, he puts his phone down on the table and downs a 3rd glass of the blood red punch in front of him. Usually, he’s not a big drinker, but this stuff just tastes like juice, and it slightly dulls the ache he keeps feeling on his chest.

This was supposed to be such a great evening, and in the beginning, it had been. Neither of his brothers had been able to make it in the end, Ace had to be at work, something about Halloween being one of the busiest nights of the year for the EMTs due to the number of injured people they have to attend to and Sabo was out of the country chasing some story and would not be back till about a week later.

He did, however, get to see and talk to so many of his friends, made lots of new ones, and had so much fun dancing for ages. That was when he was still hoping he would show up. As time went on, and there was no sign from Torao, his hope to get to see the tattooed man tonight started to fade.

At first, he told himself that he was just running late. Sure, the man never straight on agreed he would go, but who would skip a great party like this? Luffy invited him on Tuesday when he showed up for their group meeting. He had been surprised and seemed a little flustered when he said he’d think about it. For the rest of the week, Luffy had asked if he was coming every time he saw Law at class, and the answer had eventually changed to a maybe, that’s practically a yes, right?

Yesterday, Nami kept him too busy with errands they had to take care of before today's party, and Luffy hadn’t been able to catch Torao at school. He had texted the man whether he wanted to meet up before the party and go together, as he hadn’t been to Vivi’s house before. Torao never answered, and Luffy had texted him again earlier today. He even tried to call, but after ringing once, the call got disconnected, and he could not get through after that.

He looks at his phone again before reaching for the bowl of punch to fill his glass again. Before he’s able to down it, though, someone slumps into the chair next to him with a heavy sigh. He looks to his left to see Bepo sitting there, looking dejected, before meeting his gaze and smiling sadly.

“Hey Luffy, enough partying for the night?”

“Hi Bepo! Yea, something ike that…” He tries to smile at the man next to him before checking his phone again.

Bepo catches the movement and continues. “Got ghosted by someone?”

Luffy knows this is supposed to be a Halloween party, but he has no idea what Bepo means. “Uuh, what does that mean?”

“You know, when someone just suddenly stops responding to your calls and messages.”

Luffy thinks about it for a moment, that sounds exactly like Torao right now. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Bepo gives him a knowing look, “I’m sorry, it feels terrible when that happens.”

Luffy hums in agreement. Bepo is Torao’s friend, so maybe the other man has ghosted him too in the past. He’s happy that at least someone understands how he’s feeling. “Yeah, it really does.”

They both sigh again, and Bepo turns to stare at the dance floor. “It probably sucs even more than having a crush on someone you know you can’t have.”

“You have a crush on someone?”

“Yeah, but she’s always talking about her boyfriend. For a moment, I thought maybe they broke up because she has been alone in all the med student gatherings and is here alone again tonight, but she keeps raving on about how great he is, like usual.”

Realization washes over Luffy like an ice-cold shower, “... what if they have a boyfriend already…”

“Huh? THat’s what I just said! She has a-”

“I mean, what if he’s already dating someone else? Maybe that’s why he’s ghosting me…”

“That would definitely be a good reason, pretty shitty to lead you on though if they’re already seeing someone else. You never asked?”

“No, and he never mentioned anyone! I need to ask him on Monday.” He feels a little angry and betrayed, how could Torao not mention to him he was already seeing someone else?

“Well, good luck with that, Luffy.” Bepo pats him on the shoulder before someone rushes past them to throw up in the sink. “Ah, looks like my duty calls, it’s probably time for us to get going. Thank you for the invitation, Luffy. I had a really good time.” Bepo smiles at him before he moves to the sink, where someone is still emptying their stomach.

“All right, get it all out. Do you know where Penguin is?”

Luffy tunes the two out as he turns to stare at his phone again. Still nothing. He finally empties the glass he has been nursing while talking to Bepo. He keeps refilling and emptying it a few more times before he decides to just fuck in and starts drinking straight from the bowl in front of him.

“All right, lover boy, I think you’ve had more than enough for one night. Let’s get you to bed.”

Someone grabs the half-empty bowl from him, and green hair somehow registers in Luffy’s fuzzy and spinning vision as said someone gets him up from the chair he was sitting in. It has to be Zoro. He wishes it were Torao.

“Zorooo. He never came.” He pouts.

“I know.” The green-haired man starts to walk him towards the staircase leading to the guest bedrooms upstairs.

“Bepo thinks he already has a boyfriend…” The thought of Torao with someone else makes Luffy’s chest hurt, and his eyes burn.

“Well that would definitely suck.”

“It would suck so bad!! Who does that, Zoro? Who has secret boyfriends?”

“You two are not dating, though… right?”

“Well… no… but…”

“Maybe you missed it… or he’s too afraid to tell you the truth? You can be pretty intimidating, you know? And I still think he seems like a bit of a wuss…”

“Zoro!”

His friend's words get him thinking, though. What if Law had just been too anxious to tell him? Or maybe Luffy had just been stupid like he usually is and ignored it when he did. What if he had been too pushy and now Torao hates him?

“What if he hates me?” He feels a weird sting in his eyes and has to blink a few times.

“He seems to hate everyone.”

“I don’t want him to hate me.” Luffy’s starting to hiccup, he’s not sure when he started to cry.

Zoro sighs, “I don’t think he’d put up with your shit the way he does if he hated you. Come on, give me your shirt.” They have somehow made it to the room that was set up for them to sleep in, and Luffy starts to struggle with his clothes. Zoro helps him out of his pirate costume before getting him into bed.

“Zoro, I really, really like him.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want him to like someone else like that…”

“... That’s not really something you can decide.”

Luffy doesn’t respond as he shifts in bed to try and get comfortable. He feels so stupid and useless right now. What if all of his friends think he’s useless and stupid too? After a while of his thoughts going in circles, he speaks up again.

“Zoro?”

By now, Zoro has made himself comfortable on the other side of the king-sized bed, back towards Luffy. He doesn’t turn, but grunts to let Luffy know he’s listening.

“Do you hate me?”

“Of course not. Come on, go to sleep. We can talk about this more in the morning.”

Luffy wants to argue and insist that they should talk about it right now, but before he can get a word out, he starts to feel so tired that he just gives up and lets sleep take over instead.

Chapter Text

While Luffy is out partying and drinking the night away, Law is lying in bed, surrounded by darkness, waiting for his pills to kick in as Kid’s loud snores echo in the room around him.

The redhead has gotten into a habit of often fucking him raw without drugging him to the point he loses consciousness. He never really liked Kid drugging him in order to have his way with him in the past, but he hates this so much more. It’s far worse and significantly more painful to be awake while it happens than to just wake up sometime after with an aching body. It’s not even the physical pain that gets to him the most. More than once, his mind has gotten confused with what's going on, and taken him back to the days he spent chained in Teaches dreadful basement, where he was used like a fucktoy meant to be broken. A few times, he’s even had visions of Doffy abusing him, but those don’t make any sense, Doffy was never violent towards him.

He wants it all to stop so badly, to fight back, to kick, to bite, to scratch, to beg for a break. But he’s always too terrified to do any of that. Afraid of it becoming even worse, or Kid taking away his freedom by chaining him up for not being compliant enough, just like Teach had done. So he just lies there, taking whatever he’s given while his mind tries to disassociate from the moment.

Their latest session must’ve ended over an hour ago, Kid just rolling over as soon as he was fully satisfied and falling asleep almost instantly. Law couldn’t muster the courage to even move till a few minutes ago when he finally reached for some pills. He aches so badly all over, and it started to become unbearable; he just has to take the edge off.

As he reaches to put the pills back, his eyes catch his phone on the nightstand. He instantly thinks about Luffy, and before he realizes what he’s doing, he has already opened their chat and keeps reading through the very one-sided conversation. It has been going on for the past few days, with most of the messages from the past few hours. Luffy must be getting increasingly drunk if the frequency of messages and the illegibility of them is anything to go by. He catches himself smiling at them.

His feelings towards the guy with the sunniest smile on earth and such a happy-go-lucky personality are very conflicted. He keeps thinking about him constantly, imagining him as more than a mere acquaintance, more than a friend even. These thoughts makes him feel so incredibly guilty, he tells himself he doesn’t want to feel this way about the other man, he wishes he could just ignore and forget every and any interaction he ever had with him.

He really crossed the line that evening they spent in the dog park, he acted like such a desperate whore, letting the other man hold him on his lap like that for who knows how long. It felt so good in the moment, and he remembers wishing his life could always be like that. But afterwards, he felt like such a dickhead, not even realizing how badly he was leading Luffy on while high because he’s a shellfish piece of shit, only concerned about his own feelings and wants. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he hadn’t spared a single thought for Kid the whole time, or the fact that he was in a relationship already.

During the day that followed, he had overdone it a bit with his pills again in the morning and got called into his professor’s office during lunch. Apparently, a few of the teachers had started to raise concerns about his behaviour, suspecting him of substance abuse on campus. Instead of searching his possessions right there and then, the professor gave him the benefit of the doubt and told him that this was the last chance for him to get his act together. If things won't improve, they will investigate the matter fully, and at that point, if anything suspicious is found, it’s grounds for instant expulsion and a ban for him to practice medicine till he can prove he's sober.

The professor had seemed genuine when he said he really didn’t want to do this, but that at some point, his hands would be tied. Honestly, Law is surprised by how many chances he has already been given by the university even though he just keeps fucking them all up.

The conversation had been a bit of a wake-up call for Law, and he has seriously tried to cut back, not bringing the pills with him to school anymore and only using them at home. As a result, his leg has been acting up more frequently, causing him to have a slight limp for what feels like every other day.

It had been especially bad on the day he went to the local clinic with Luffy to do the interviews for their project. He was worried that the medical staff would be way more likely to notice he was on something than the people at the university, and had decided not to take anything at home before leaving that morning. Because of that decision, his leg had been killing him all day, not at all aided by the fact that Kid had been extremely rough the night before.

Somehow, he had made it through the visit to the clinic without raising any suspicions, though Luffy had been annoyingly preceptive as always. Why couldn’t he just mind his own damn business, Law wasn’t looking for any new friends to breathe down his neck but the guy just wouldn’t give up.

Law has tried so hard to keep pushing Luffy away, to not let him close again after sleeping on his lap, but it’s so exhausting. Deep down, he wants to give in and be swept away by the other man's warmth and happiness, but that’s not something that’s meant for him. It would just get ruined in his tainted hands, crushed and crumbled into dust like everything and everyone he’s ever genuinely cared about. No, he deserves to suffer for what he is and all the things he has done. Kid was put on this earth to make sure Law remembers his place, reeling him back every time Law gets any too crazy ideas.

A message comes in as Law keeps staring at the conversation, unable to look away, despite knowing he should not dwell on what can never be. It’s Luffy asking where he is for the umpteenth time that evening, and Law feels terrible for standing the guy up like this, further proof that he’s only capable of hurting the people around him.

Luffy had been so excited every time he invited Law during the past week. How could Law have said no to that adorable face? He’s just human at the end of the day, and he could not bear the thought of watching that smile be wiped away and excitement be crushed had he refused. So he kept giving vague answers of “I’ll think about it”, and “maybe”, fully aware that he would never be able to go, even if he wanted to.

And oh boy, did he want to go. It’s all he’s been able to think about ever since Luffy brought it up. Different scenarios of what could’ve happened at the party have been playing in his head on repeat all week.

Earlier, when Kid had been pounding him into the mattress from behind, Law had closed his eyes and imagined he had gathered up the courage to go to the party and talk to Luffy. They would’ve had a couple of drinks, flirted, eventually kissed, and at the end, Luffy would’ve taken Law to bed. And Law would’ve let him, welcomed anything the other had to give him. In his fantasies, he would give that man anything he would ever think to ask. Something as worthless as Law’s used body would not even begin to make up for what the other man deserves, but Law would give it anyway if he would have it. In his dreams, Luffy would accept him. He could be as rough as he wanted, violent, Law could take it, had taken it all before. If it were Luffy doing it to him, maybe he'd be able to even enjoy parts of it.

His fantasies are cut short when the phone in his hand starts to ring. Law barely has time to register Luffy’s number as the caller ID before he hangs up. Heart trying to crawl out of his throat, Law freezes and listens to hear whether or not Kid woke up to the sound. After a few agonizingly long seconds of silence, the redhead breathes in with a loud snore.

Law closes his eyes in relief. He doesn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if Kid found out someone was trying to call him in the middle of the night. He would’ve probably demanded to see Law’s messages again, and there’s no way Law could’ve deleted their conversation history before Kid would’ve seen it.

To avoid any further incidents, Law regretfully turns his phone off. He wishes he could’ve responded to Luffy’s messages or answered the call. He wishes he were someone else, someone brave, living a different life. A life where he could do what he wanted for once, a life where what he wants, matters, where he’s not the reason everyone he once loved is dead, where he isn’t just a used up whore with nothing left to give.

He closes his eyes, feeling the unbearable need to cry, but the tears don't come; they haven’t for a few days now. Eventually, the pills do their job and help him fall asleep.

--

Law’s Sunday repeats a familiar pattern by now. Kid stays home, watches TV while drinking beer, and uses Law whenever the fancy strikes. He keeps blaming Law for having to spend his weekends fully at home, saying Law has given him no choice but to keep an eye on him on the days he doesn’t have school. Law doesn’t try to fight any of it anymore, just accepts it as the new norm of his life. Being supervised and used like this is the only thing he has ever been good for anyway, and the sooner he accepts that, the better. That’s what everyone has been trying to tell him all his life, he’s just been too stubborn to fully accept it before now.

As Law has gotten less responsive during the painful sex, Kid has grown more forceful and violent. He doesn’t know if Kid’s preferences have started to shift or if it’s just due to the increased alcohol consumption, maybe both. Fresh bruises on top of old ones bloom all over his body now, covering not only his hips and chest area, but spreading to his arms and legs as well. Everywhere, easily covered by clothes is fair game.

Kid still sometimes drugs him during sex, usually when he’s sober and only after a quick release of his own, only needing Law as a compliant hole to get the job done. But more often, he wants Law to be sober, fully aware of what’s happening, to feel the unwanted intrusion in his body, every slap, every hit, every scrape against the rough surface of the couch or the living room rug where the act mostly happens now, while the TV blasts on the background. He rarely gets the comfort of their bed for anything but sleeping anymore. He doesn't complain, though, well aware that even that could easily be taken away.

The change in atmosphere had started to affect the dogs as well, they were not as happy and excited as they used to be, mostly sleeping close to Law whenever he was home. Kid getting up and locking the dogs into their bedroom has become a signal for Law to get ready. Sometimes he can hear the dogs bark and scratch at the door, especially if he’s unable to stay quiet, and every time, Kid blames him for agitating the animals on purpose.

Law is the one who had begged Kid to start locking the dogs away while they have sex, too terrified of Kid killing one of them if nothing was done. The dogs had grown increasingly more and more restless while they were having sex, Jiki eventually attacking and biting Kid once when he hit Law. Kid had, of course, beaten the dog and blamed it all on Law, threatening to kill his “trained attack dog” if Law couldn’t get it under control.

After that, Kid started to treat Jiki differently, not hitting the dog again but constantly yelling at the animal for the smallest things, withholding treats and food, refusing to take him on the walks with him and Killer and overall acting very threateningly towards the pit bull. Jiki had grown very anxious around the big man, Killer often putting himself between Kid and the younger dog protectively, but never aggressively towards Kid. At times like that, Law thought Killer was probably smarter than he was, somehow able to protect Jiki better than he could while avoiding Kid's wrath at the same time.

Law keeps his phone off all Sunday, not wanting to deal with anyone trying to contact him, especially Luffy. He briefly wonders if the guy had fun the previous night, if he got drunk and maybe found someone to spend the night with.

The thought of Luffy sharing a bed with someone else cuts deeper than anything Kid could ever do to him, and he tries not to think about it. Luffy does not belong to him, never has, and never will. He has no right to feel this way. But the more he tries to ignore it, the bigger the wound caused by the thought in his chest keeps growing, festering until he can’t take the pain anymore. He needs something to overpower the emotional pain before it suffocates him.

TW start

He goes to the bathroom, but doesn't reach for his pills, Kid has threatened to stop buying him any if he takes too many without his permission, and he's not ready to go cold turkey. Instead, his fingers find an unused razor blade and some disinfectant. He gets rid of his clothes and moves to sit on the cold floor of the bathroom, directly under the showerhead, without turning the water on.

For a while, he just sits there, fidgeting with the blade in his hands, contemplating whether he really wants to do this. He knows Kid won’t care, he probably wouldn’t even notice with all the other scrapes around his body covered with bandaids or bandages, and who else is there to consider? It’s not like he’ll ever be with anyone else.

With firm hands, he first uses a cotton swab to thoroughly clean the area around his upper thigh before switching to the blade. Slowly, but steadily, he presses the sharp edge against his skin until red liquid starts to seep through around it. He watches in a trance as the blood forms a thin line that runs down along his skin, eventually dripping onto the white tiles beneath him. He slides the blade lower, careful not to cut too deep, just enough to feel the burning, throbbing sting of his skin being split open. He focuses on the feeling, able to forget everything else around him, living only for the pain blooming from the fresh cut.

He tosses the blade aside and watches as the blood starts to form a tiny pool on the floor, finding its way to the seam between tiles and being absorbed into the more porous material. He briefly wondering if he should just say ‘fuck it’ and cut through his artery. It would be quick, he would bleed out fast, and Kid would not notice till there would be nothing left to do to save him. At least he could be satisfied with the knowledge of leaving such a bloody mess for Kid to clean up when he was gone.

Instead, he slowly stands up and turns on the shower. Bitterly, he watches as the blood gets slowly diluted by the running water and eventually washed down the drain completely. He wishes it were as easy to dull and wash away the pain he feels inside. Maybe he has been knowingly provoking Kid to hurt him more lately, acting in a way that makes the other more likely to hit him. Anything to get his mind off the painful emotions that seem to grow faster, the harder he tries to get rid of them. He’s just so tired of it all.

TW end

It’s not fair, he didn’t ask for any of this, he doesn’t want these unfamiliar, painful feelings. He wants everything to go back to the way it was before, when everything was predictable, when he was simply able to switch off, and fall unconscious while Kid was using his body. Things were so much simpler back then, back before he knew someone like Moneky D. Luffy could even exist. Back before his actions drove Kid to become increasingly more violent towards him.

Once the trickle of blood from his fresh cut has slowed down, he steps out of the shower, cleans the cut again, revelling in the burn the disinfectant causes, and wraps a bandage around his thigh to keep it clean and to hide it from Kid. He doesn’t need the red-head to get any new ideas.

--

On Monday, Law is a nervous wreck as he waits for the lecture to start. He almost skipped, but was ultimately too afraid of the professor kicking him out of the course. He needs to keep trying, university, and his hope for a future career is the only thing he has left to hold on to.

When Luffy shows up, he scans the room to find Law and makes a beeline for him. His friends, Zoro and Carrot, decide not to follow him for once and instead sit somewhere around the middle of the room. Law takes this as a bad sign.

Law’s anxiety spikes as he waits for Luffy to comfort him about Saturday, about Law never showing up and ignoring his calls and texts, but the questions never come. Luffy keeps acting like nothing’s wrong, chatting and asking questions like before, seemingly hanging on to Law’s every word as he tries to explain what the Professor in the front is talking about.

Before Law knows it, the lectures are over, and just as he’s about to get up to leave, thinking he somehow got lucky and dodged the difficult conversation he didn’t want to have, Luffy grabs hold of his sleeve to stop him.

“Torao, wait, can we talk?”

Fuck, here it comes. Steeling himself for being told what a shellfish, thoughtless, ungrateful waste of space he is, Law leans back in his seat. Luffy doesn’t say anything at first, waiting while the other students keep slowly walking out of the room, winding Law’s nerves tighter and tiger as silent seconds tick by. Finally, when the door swings closed after the last student, Luffy speaks up again.

“Torao… do I… be honest, ok?” Law is taken aback by Luffy’s uncharacteristically quiet voice and serious tone. He expected screaming and yelling, possibly even being punched by the shorter man, but never in a million years would he have predicted the following words leading the other's mouth. “Do you think I’m annoying?”

“What? You…uh, huh?” Law’s brain doesn’t know how to process something like this coming from Luffy, and all he can do is gawk at the other while producing these illegible sounds someone might consider words.

“You keep telling me to leave you alone, and you ignore my messages and calls. I thought you were just being shy and not used to people being close to you, and would eventually come around like Robin did, but maybe I was wrong?” Law hates the uncertainty he can hear in Luffy's voice. “You never tried all that hard to push me away or to get rid of me, though, so I thought it was ok… But if you really want me to, I’ll give you some space… I just… can we still be friends? I think you’re really cool, and.. yeah.”

Law has never seen Luffy this serious and sad, and it’s eating him alive on the inside. He knows it’s all his fault. His fault for not telling the truth, his fault for leading Luffy on, his fault for entertaining the fantasies of someone like Luffy wanting to stay by him after he finds out what Law is really like. Law has to avert his gaze before he straight out confesses how much he wants Luffy to stop acting so insecure and just kiss him. But instead, he only nods slightly while staring at his lap.

“Yes!” The sudden outburst makes Law look up towards Luffy again, “Oh thank god, Torao still wants to be my friend!” Law’s jaw drops as he sees Luffy’s beaming face when the guy jumps up and punches the air cheerfully. “Ok! I’ll see you around then, Torao! I promise I will try to give you space!”

Luffy starts running down the lecture hall stairs before he stops midway down and runs back up to the row where Law is still sitting.

“You're still ok with me bringing you lunch, right?” Luffy is still beaming like he just won the lottery, his hopeful eyes begging Law to say yes. And what else can the tattooed man do but agree after being completely disarmed by a smile like that?

“...S-sure.”

“Okay!” Luffy's carefree laughter echoes in the big empty room as he rushes down the stairs and out the door.

--

After the little talk they had after Monday's lecture, Luffy stayed true to his word. He keeps sitting next to Law during the lessons they have together, chatting away about anything and everything that pops into his head like before, but he doesn’t constantly crowd his personal space, he hasn’t tried to hug him even once, and while he still brings Law lunch every day, he either gives it to him before or after the lectures they have together or gives it to one of his friends to bring to him if don’t see each other during the day.

During the first week, he was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Luffy to come out with some new demands or to revert back to the intense, extremely touchy, and insistent person he had been before their talk. When that didn’t happen, at the beginning of the second week, he found himself constantly worrying over Luffy losing interest. It was only a matter of time before the man would realize Law simply wasn't worth the effort; he would stop insisting on feeding him and move back to sit with his friends at lessons, leaving Law to his lonesome once more. He’s surprised at how much he has started to dread that day in just a few short weeks.

On Monday, Luffy had offhandedly mentioned that he and a few friends were going out for some drinks as it was Zoro’s birthday. Law’s anxiety had instantly spiked up, dreading having to try to turn down Luffy's insistent invitations. But before he was able to get his thoughts into anything resembling an order, Luffy said he’d of course be welcome to join them, but that it was ok if he couldn’t or didn’t want to. And that was that. Luffy never brought the topic up again for the rest of the day, no messages or calls, and no one ever commented on him not having been at the bar when they met on Tuesday afternoon to work on their project together. Zoro and Carrot had clearly been hungover from the previous night, but they never made Law feel like it was rude for him to skip it, nor did they try to guilt-trip him by talking about how great the night had been and everything he missed out on. Despite no one bringing it up, Law felt like and ass anyway for not being able to go or never even wishing the green-haired man a happy birthday.

And that brings his thoughts to today, which is a Friday, one of the days he doesn’t share lessons with Luffy. Bepo has a weird expression on his face as he places a lunchbox onto the table in front of Law before taking a seat next to him. While waiting for his friends to have lunch, Law has made himself comfortable on some couches close to the two rooms where their next lessons will take place. Now that Luffy's not constantly hounding him anymore, he doesn't feel the need to hide away.

Bepo clears his throat before speaking, “So… Why does Luffy keep insisting on feeding you at lunch? I’m sorry.”

“Beats me.” Law shrugs as he instantly opens the box, revealing four onigiri. He can feel his mouth start to water as he picks one up and bites into it without a second thought.

“... And, you keep eating what he brings?”

Law chews and swallows before deadpanning his friends, noticing they’re all staring at him with a strange expression. “...Your point?”

“Nothing.”

Law narrows his eyes, suspicious of what they’re trying to imply.

“I didn’t say anything!” Bepo lifts his hands up in a placating manner but fails to keep a smile from spreading on his face while Shachi and Penguin smirk knowingly behind the blonde man.

Law keeps staring them down till Bepo finally caves, “It’s just always so difficult to get you to eat anything!… I’m sorry”.

“It’s really good, alright?” Law’s attention moves back to his lunch. His friends smile at him as he keeps stuffing his face with the best onigiri on the planet.

“If it's that good, you could share, you know, there are conveniently four of them.” Shachi's crummy fingers are inching closer to the box, and Law instantly slaps them away.

“Piss off, these are mine!”

Penguin and Shachi burst out laughing, and even Bepo grins widely, though he’s able to keep the laughter in. Law can feel his cheeks burning from embarrassment. “Leave me alone! Assholes…” He mumbles the last word as he turns away from them to shield his food from any more grabby hands.

To Law's relief, his friends eventually take pity on him and start to badmouth their professors instead of focusing on his and Luffy’s recent lunch arrangements.

Law’s surprised at how much he has actually enjoyed the past couple of weeks. He’s been able to finally relax a little with his friends during breaks between lessons, not having to look for places to try and hide from Luffy while simultaneously trying to come up with excuses and justifications to tell his friends when they wonder where he keeps disappearing to, or why he wants to hang out at the weirdest places during lunch hours and other breaks.

At some point, a new type of warmth has started to make itself known in Law’s chest. This time, the feeling isn’t unpleasant; it’s soft and subtle, almost comforting, mostly appearing when Luffy is close by, and Law is surprised when he realizes he has been able to relax slightly around Luffy. It’s weird, unlike anything he’s ever felt before, but in a good way. He finds himself craving the unassuming companionship Luffy has been offering lately. There have been no expectations and no pressure for him to do anything he doesn’t want to anymore. He’s still sometimes thinking about what sex would be like with Luffy, but the sexually charged tension that was there between them before has vanished almost completely.

For the first time since the semester started, Law genuinely looks forward to coming back to uni on Monday morning to spend more time with Luffy. In contrast, he’s terrified of the looming weekend and whatever Kid is going to come up with this time. If only the last lessons of the day could last forever.

Unfortunately, the day eventually comes to an end, and as Law exits the building with his friends, intending to walk the first half of the way home with them before they have to split in different directions, he instantly spots Kid at the gates, waiting for him. So the man couldn’t even wait for him to walk home on his own today. With a sigh and an ugly, cold feeling growing at the pit of his stomach, he turns away from his friends and starts heading towards Kid.

“I’ll see you guys on Monday.” He gives them a curt wave before stuffing his hands into his pockets, never looking back. He can hear the change in their tone as they all wish him a good weekend, but he barely notices, his brain already switched into survival mode to get through whatever the weekend brings with it.

Chapter Text

Friday has been a weird day for Bepo so far. In fact, the past few weeks as a whole have been a little strange.

After the massive Halloween party hosted by Vivi, – the one Bepo totally did NOT spend moping and pining after the cute first-year med student he’s fallen head over heels for, the one who’s always gushing about her magnificent boyfriend who somehow never shows up to any of the events, that lucky bastard – he and his friends spent their lunch break at the little cafe on campus, as Law so often insists these days. The man seemed completely lost in his head, mostly ignoring them all as he kept glaring at his coffee like it somehow personally offended him. Bepo might’ve tried to tell himself Law was just really disappointed with his drink, but after visiting so often lately, they all have gotten to know both of the baristas of the place by name, and they all agree Chiffon and Pudding make excellent coffee. Their chocolates and cakes are also to die for and could be a part of the reason why Bepo has already put on a few pounds since the start of the semester.

Something else than coffee and cakes was clearly bothering Law back then, but none of them brought it up. For a while now, their friend group has been in a silent agreement to not push Law when he’s lost in his head like that, he’ll tell them if it’s something he wants to talk about when he’s ready. Whenever they try to ask questions, the man completely shuts down or straight up leaves, and they’re afraid he’ll pull away again if they keep pushing him too much.

They’re all worried Kid’s abuse is getting worse, all the signs are there, but they have no idea what to do to help their friend. They’ve talked about getting the social workers or police involved, and they even spoke to an officer about the situation once, but as long as Law is not willing to seek help himself, there’s not much they can do. No one has the authority to force him and Kid to separate without clear evidence of abuse or one of them admitting to it. On the contrary, the officer warned them that if they sent someone to visit the couple without Law knowing, there's a chance they’d only end up making Law’s situation worse.

While the situation is definitely dire, Bepo has noticed at least one glimmer of hope lately. Law has been visibly less high on drugs on a daily basis for the past few weeks. Bepo doesn’t know if it’s because he changed what he takes or if he is genuinely trying to cut back; he hopes it’s the latter. He’d hate to one day get a call that his friend has died of an overdose, which, quite frankly, he has been very worried about. He had briefly considered reporting Law for his drug use, but figured it would only achieve getting Law kicked out of school and possibly even get him arrested. Besides, the change needs to come from Law for it to have any permanent results. Law seems to be under the impression he was concealing his pill popping quite well, but they all have picked up on it. He wouldn’t be surprised if someone at school had noticed, and that’s why Law has been forced to cut back.

As a side effect, the chronic pain in Law’s left leg has clearly gotten worse. Bepo offered to massage his leg and lower back one day when the pain seemed intense enough to make the man sweat bullets, but Law refused, stating he’ll be fine when he gets home. He’s likely still using at home, which worries Bepo greatly.

Last Friday, Bepo was in for a surprise when Luffy approached the trio when they were leaving the cafeteria after Lunch. They had opted for a proper lunch in favor of wherever Law had decided to disappear off to after their morning period. Luffy handed them a full bento box, telling them to take it to Law, or “Torao” as he likes to call their mutual friend.

Bepo knows that Luffy has tried to get Law to eat lunch before, with varying results. He often approached them to ask whether Law had been to school that day, as he could not find him anywhere. This was the first time Luffy handed the lunch to someone else to deliver, though he made them all swear not to open the box before they hand it to Law, or he’d kick their asses.

They all agreed, thinking they’d get to Law and the man would tell them they could just share what was in the box amongst themselves. To make it seem like they listened to Luffy and at least tried to get Law to eat the food, they took the box to him unopened.

To their surprise, they found Law sitting out in the open on the couches located conveniently between the classes where they had their next lessons, Law taking different courses than the other three on Friday afternoons. As they handed the box to Law, the tattooed man frowned at the box before looking back at Bepo with confusion written all over his face. Law held the box back out to him, saying he hadn’t asked for lunch, but when Bepo clarified it was from Luffy, to the blond’s shock, Law quickly pulled the box away from his reach.

Bepo studied Law carefully as the man just sat there for a moment, staring at the box in his hand before opening it. As he took in the contents of the box, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. The change was subtle, unnoticeable to anyone who didn’t know Law, but to Bepo, on the Law scale of expressions, that was definitely a smile.

Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin all just stood there, staring in astonishment as Law started to eat the food from the box. They only snapped out of it as Law told them all to stop drooling after his lunch, and get their own if they hadn’t eaten enough earlier. They were all too stunned to comment on it in any way before their professor arrived, and they had to leave Law to finish his lunch on his own.

Later on at the lecture, Shachi and Penguin had a heated argument about whether Law ate the food because Sanji's cooking was just that good, or just because it was from Luffy. Bepo didn’t really care either way; he was just overjoyed that something or someone was making Law ingest more than just coffee during the school days.

Moving on to consider the current week, Law has seemed different, somehow more relaxed than before. He wasn’t constantly jumpy and looking over his shoulder while hanging around with his friends between lessons. He wasn’t insisting on hiding away anymore either, just refused to join them at the cafeteria for lunch. Instead of disappearing, however, he would wait at the coffee machine in the hallway right next to the cafeteria or outside the classroom for their next lessons.

Yesterday, they found Law just as he was finishing another bento box that looked suspiciously similar to the one Luffy had them deliver a week ago. None of them commented on it, but they shared a look that told them they all noticed it before Law slipped the empty box into his bag.

That brings Bepo to today, and to Luffy, who’s yet again standing in front of them, grinning like he swallowed the sun and holding out another bento box for them to deliver to Law.

“What are we now, your personal delivery service?” Shachi asks jokingly as Bepo accepts the box.

“Nah, I just don’t share classes with him today, and all my lessons are on the opposite side of the building, so it’s easier this way! But I can start to call you the Torao delivery service if you want, shi shi shi.” Before any of them have time to respond, the ball of energy has already shouted his goodbyes and bounced back into the cafeteria to finish his own lunch.

Shachi is the one to finally voice what they are all thinking, “Ok, what is going on with those two?”

“Is Luffy trying to court Law with food? Were we right to suspect he wants more than friendship from our Law?”

“Law looked really happy last time he got the box…” Bepo wonders whether the attraction might go both ways.

“Bepo’s right, I don’t even remember the last time I saw a genuine smile like that on his face.”

“Do you think there could be something there? Could Law actually be into him?”

“But what about Kid…” Bepo doesn’t think Law is the type to cheat, even though Kid deserves a lot worse than Law fooling around with someone else. Nothing would make Bepo happier than Law leaving that scumbag for someone else.

“Do you think Luffy knows about Kid? Should we tell him?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t intervene too much…” Bepo tries to rein in the excitement of the other two before it ends in another disaster because they overstep Law’s boundaries.

“Oh come on Bepo, Law clearly needs help getting rid of Kid, this could be our chance!” Bepo knows Shachi kind of has a point, but doesn’t think replacing Kid with another guy is necessarily the best course of action for Law’s mental health, not right away anyway.

“We should make sure what Luffy’s intentions with Law are first; we don’t want to end up pushing him from one bad situation into another.” Shachi and Penguin keep going, ignoring Bepo’s concerns.

“He’s right, how much do we actually know about Luffy, except that he would eat us into bankruptcy if we let him, and that he’s terrible at Among us.”

The trio had introduced Luffy and a few of his friends to the game on a night they wanted to come over and hang out. They soon learned that Luffy is possibly the world's worst liar, while also believing the most outrageous and obscure stories, especially whatever his friend Usopp comes up with.

“Well, at least we know he wouldn’t be able to hide his true intentions if we straight out ask him.”

“Yea, he couldn’t lie to save his life.”

The conversation dies down as they make their way to the familiar set of couches. They hand the lunch to Law, and there is no question in Bepo’s mind that the guy sees something special in Luffy as the three tease their friend about the food. He doesn’t know if romantic feelings are involved, and even if they are, he still doesn’t think it’s the best idea for Law to jump right into another relationship if they’re ever able to get him away from Kid.

They’re forced to split up for their afternoon lessons again, but they spend the breaks together and meet up with Law once the day is over to walk part of their way home together. Law gives off more of an upbeat energy than any of them are used to, and Bepo knows they all enjoy witnessing their friend's rare moment of happiness.

However, it all comes crashing down as soon as they exit the building and spot Kid waiting for them at the gates. Law’s demeanor changes instantly. His shoulders become tense, and his back hunches, like he is instinctively trying to make himself smaller. Bepo catches a deep frown on his face just before he turns away from them all, and he’s sure he spots a slight tremor in his hands before they slip into his pockets.

They all wish him a good weekend, half-heartedly, knowing it will be anything but. They stare in tense silence as the two walk out of view, Kid flipping them off just before the two disappear.

“We need to do something.” Shachi is the first to open his mouth once the two are gone.

“We can’t just leave him in the hands of that monster, it’s so obvious he’s abusive.” Penguin agrees.

“But what can we do?” Bepo’s at a loss. What can they do if they can’t make Law realize he’s allowed to seek help? They’ve tried to be there to support him and for him to lean on, but the man is so frustratingly stubborn and blind to it all; they clearly need to come up with a more aggressive way to intervene.

“We need to try to talk to him about it again,” Penguin says, and Bepo agrees, but he has no idea how to approach the subject without instantly scaring Law away.

“Because that’s worked so well in the past,” Shachi mumbles under his breath.

“We have to fucking do something! You saw how he changed the instant he saw Kid, it’s obvious that asshole beats him, and who knows what else!” Penguin gestures towards the gates as he gets into Shachi's face, while Bepo tries to make calming motions with his hands. Fighting among themselves won’t get them anywhere.

“You think I don’t already know that, Penguin?!” Shachi responds in kind, both men staring at each other, seemingly ready to start throwing punches.

“Guys! This won’t help him!” Bepo pushes himself between his friends. “Calm down and think about this more rationally, ok?” When he’s sure his friends have stopped trying to kill each other, he takes a moment to look around and notices they have started to gather a bit of a crowd from their fellow students walking through the campus. “Besides, we’re still right outside the building, there are too many people around to talk about this here.”

They all agree to head home to continue the discussion. On the way there, no one speaks, and the air around them feels tense. Bepo is trying to rack his brain for any new ideas apart from straight-out kidnapping and locking Law in, to stop him from going back to Kid. Everything he comes up with could potentially land one or all of them in prison.

As soon as the apartment door closes behind them, Bepo speaks up before the two have a chance to pick up on their fighting again. “Ok, I think we’re all on the same side here, we just want Law to be safe and happy, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course!”

“So instead of bickering, let's try to come up with some ideas for actually reaching Law. Visiting him is clearly out of the question after what happened last time.”

“Yeah, we don’t want a repeat of that fiasco. I think we should try to get him to spend time with us some day outside of uni and use that time to talk to him. Somewhere he can’t instantly run away from.” Shachi suggests.

“What if Kid won’t let him? He has been pretty adamant about going straight home every day, and I don’t think it’s because he genuinely wants to spend more time there.” Bepo’s sure Kid is forcing Law to spend all his free time at home. Even when Law threw himself at his studies after he got sober last time, he was never this intense about it.

“We could suggest skipping some lessons? Talk to him during the time he’s allowed to spend away from home.” Penguin proposes

“Hmmm that could work, but how do we convince him to come without clueing him in on what we want to talk about?”

“Bepo, it’s your birthday next Wednesday, right?”

“Oh? Is it the 20th already? I didn’t even realize...”

“Don’t blame you, man, this is stressing us all out.” Shachi pats him on the back. “We could use that as an excuse, have a mini celebration somewhere during the day.”

“Yea, I think that’s a good idea, we all know you’re his favourite, he would not miss it.” Penguin adds.

“... I’m sorry.” Bepo blushes as a slightly smug smile spreads across his lips. He knows he’s Law’s best friend, they have known each other so much longer than the others, and they’ve been through a lot together, but hearing the others state it so blatantly still makes him feel a little embarrassed.

“Oh, shut up, you’re clearly not sorry at all!” Shachi points at Bepo’s face, and the blond can’t help but grin a little wider as the other two move on with the planning.

“So what should we do?”

“We need a peaceful place.”

“Somewhere secluded.”

“But close by.”

“With no other people.”

“No chance of being interrupted.”

The way Shachi and Penguin’s brains seem to just sync perfectly at times never ceases to amaze Bepo. At moments like this, it’s like they’re one person divided into two bodies.

“The apartment?”

“He probably wouldn’t come.”

“You’re probably right, not after what happened last time he was here.”

Bepo winces at the memory. He hasn’t outright told the other two all the details of what awaited him after they saw Law leave with Kid the last time, but through poking and prodding they must’ve gotten a pretty good idea. Especially after Bepo ended up ordering a completely new bed the same day, frame, mattress, and all.

“You’re right… Hmm, Bepo, any ideas?”

Bepo originally thought about just using an empty classroom in uni, but that has a way too high a chance of someone unwanted walking in on them at the wrong time. Space off campus would be preferable. Maybe… “Umm, there’s a building right next to campus with some very affordable work and even spaces you can book for a half or full day. Maybe we should go see if they have anything available we could use?”

“Of course! I’ve heard of them, they’re supposed to offer spaces for all kinds of events depending on the floors, I’ve heard they even have a dungeon in the basement for, you know.” Shachi winks, and the insinuation makes Bepo blush. “That’s a great idea, we can go check them out today.”

“The sooner the better, I’ve wanted to check them out too!” Penguin seems way too excited for someone who's about to go look for a place for a small get-together.

“Yea!”

“Ok, once that’s sorted, we’ll need something tasty to eat.”

“Something Law likes...” Bepo wants to make sure Law enjoys himself, at least till they bring up the tough topics.

“Yea, and you, of course, Bepo, it’s your birthday after all.”

“I don’t mind…”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Of course, you have to enjoy the food!”

Bepo blushes slightly and just nods. It might be his birthday, but he doesn’t really want it to be about him; he doesn’t like the attention.

“Hmm, could we ask Luffy’s friend to make something? He’s the one who makes the lunchboxes, right? I’ve never seen Law willingly eat that much that fast.”

“Yea that’s a good idea, I’ll message Luffy about it right now.” Penguin whips out his phone and starts to type.

“Talking about Luffy, should we talk to him about Law?”

“Figure out what he’s after before we tell him about Kid?”

“We need a-”

“No!” Both of them turn to look at Bepo as he interrupts them with his outburst, and it makes Bepo shrivel back in on himself a little. “I’m sorry… I-I mean, I think we need to talk to Law first, what if he’s not into Luffy like that? Besides, pushing him into something right after Kid is a terrible idea… sorry.”

The two seem to finally hear him and take a moment to consider his words.

“Bepo might be right.”

“Sorry Bepo, we got a bit carried away, you’re right.”

“Let’s organize this and talk to Law first and then decide what to do.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Should we go check for the space now?”

“Yea let’s go.”

--

The place ended up being massive; some billionaire had bought the whole building and turned the different floors into office spaces or different venues to rent out for events. As Shachi had heard, the basement had been turned into an actual sex dungeon, with 8 separate soundproof rooms for couples or groups to come and enjoy themselves. The person at the front desk explained that they even offer courses and dom/sub training for anyone interested, but that everything is booked full for the next few months. Shachi and Penguin had been disappointed to hear the wait times are that long, but they signed up for a session with the female dom, together… Bepo always suspected there might be more than friendship between the two, but didn’t comment on it, they seem to know what they’re doing…

After visiting the dungeon, they checked out some of the higher floors. The first floor had been turned into a nightclub and wasn’t currently open. A good way to hide any sounds that might get through the basement's soundproofing.

The second floor was a massive gym, and the third and fourth floor were full of event spaces of varying themes and sizes. Due to the noise possibly carrying from the nightclub a few floors below, these weren’t marketed as office space, but according to the salesperson showing them around, many used them as such during the day when the club was closed.

The fifth and sixth floor were full of cheap, small to medium office spaces that could be rented for 4 to 24 hours at any time during the day there was availability. They looked pretty boring, white walls with small windows, and no way to see the other people working unless you happened to be in the hallway at the same time as someone. Apparently, this is where they always had the most availability, despite the privacy and low prices, and they have been planning to renovate one or both of these floors into more event spaces instead, as those could still be used as office space as well.

As they got to the office spaces on the top floor, they understood why the spaces below were so much cheaper and less popular. The top floor consisted of a cozy-looking common area in the middle, decorated with soothing colors and lots of plants, surrounded by meeting rooms, mostly separated by massive glass walls and equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows that look over the campus area on one side and a massive park on the other. Despite them currently not accepting another reservation from anyone who already has a room booked, there are no openings for this floor for the next two and a half months.

They ended up booking a cheap conference room from floor five, for six hours. They’ll have some time to set it up all nice, spend a few hours in there celebrating and grilling Law, and have time for tidying up after. The room is meant for 8 people, but it wasn’t too expensive. It’s one of the least popular spaces because it’s secluded from the rest of the area and has only one small window that lets in barely any natural light. It looks pretty depressing to work in, but it fits their needs perfectly.

After some back and forth with Luffy, he finally gave his friend’s number to them. They had made the mistake of mentioning they were interested in his friend’s food, and Luffy had been very persistent in trying to get them to tell him what they needed the food for, worried he was missing out on a feast or a party. Which is technically not wrong, but they can’t have Luffy there if they want any chance of having a successful talk with Law.

Penguin sent Luffy’s friend, Sanji, a message as soon as they got the number. They would’ve called, but Luffy said he often works either at his dad’s restaurant or at a recording studio for some voice acting in the evenings. They didn’t want to disturb the guy at work, so they sent him a message, asking him to get back to them about a food order as soon as he had some time.

Currently, it’s already Saturday afternoon, and the trio is at a party store, browsing for some cute and easy-to-set-up decorations for the space they booked. So far, they have found a cute polar bear-themed set of napkins, paper plates, and cups, and are in the process of picking out some balloons when Penguin’s phone starts to ring.

“Finally!” He exclaims as he checks the caller ID before picking up. “Yo Sanji! I started to think you blocked my number without reading the message or something.”

Bepo can’t hear what the guy on the other end says, but it must be something funny as Penguin starts laughing. “Aint that the truth! Hold on, man, I’ll put you on speaker.” Penguin fiddles with his phone for a second to turn the speaker on before holding it out for them all to hear and speak. “I’m currently with Shachi and Bepo, this concerns all of us.”

“All right, so what can I do for you all? I hope Luffy made it clear I’m not some shitty food charity.” A foreign voice that must be Sanji comes through the speaker.

“Oh don't worry, we totally intend to pay for everything! We heard from a credible source that your food is excellent.” Penguin keeps talking.

“Damn right, it’s the best food you’ve ever had. So what is it you need? Where and when?”

“Right, so we’re planning a party-”

“More like a get-together.” Shachi jumps in.

“Yea, just a small one for 4 people-”

“Is Luffy attending?” Sanji interrupts Penguin. Bepo smiles, instantly understanding why, they have all seen the guy eat at lunch.

“Oh, no, we actually can’t have him know about this.”

“Is it a surprise for him?”

“No, Luffy won’t be there, and we’d actually appreciate it if you didn’t tell him what this is about.”

“Oh,” The guy sounds taken aback, “is there a reason why he’s not included? You’re his friends, right?”

“We are, but this is kind of private… some sensitive topics might come up, and you know…”

“Ah, I totally understand. I’ll make sure not to tell a word about this to him. Is Torao the fourth person then? Luffy said you’re his friends.”

“Yea, Law is actually the reason why we wanted you specifically to make the food.”

“Yea man, I don’t know what you do to the food, but I’ve never seen him eat like that before! We need some food he’ll like.” Shachi buts in on the conversation again.

“And some food Bepo likes.”

“Absolutely no bread, both Bepo and Law hate that stuff.” Bepo’s happy their friends know him and Law well enough to remember that without him reminding them.

Sanji chuckles on the other end. “Gotcha, no bread, but what do you want then? I’ll need a bit more information to plan something.”

“Riceballs!” Shachi shouts instantly, making the clerk at the checkout look toward them questioningly. Bepo just waves at him sheepishly and makes a gesture for Shachi to keep it down.

“Some grilled fish,” Penguin adds.

“Shaved ice.” Bepo finally speaks up, he loves shaved ice.

“Maybe a cake since it’s a birthday, not too sweet… dark chocolate or coffee?” Penguin looks at them for opinions, and they all agree.

“Is it Tor- Law’s birthday?”

“No, Bepos.”

“Ah. And when and where do you need the food?”

“Next Wednesday at one of the office buildings next to campus, around lunchtime, can you have it delivered? I’ll send the exact address in a text.”

“Yea sure, no problem. Is that all, or was there something more?”

“I think that’s all.”

“Can’t think of anything else, Bepo?”

“Yea that’s all, thanks, Sanji.”

“Alright, I’ll make a plan, calculate the cost, and send you an estimate to approve by Monday.”

“Great, thanks, Sanji!”

“Yea thanks!”

“Thanks… sorry for the trouble.”

They end the call after enthusiastic goodbyes from both Shachi and Penguin. Everything is pretty much set, now they only need to make sure Law joins them, or this will all be for nothing. They agree to tell Law about it on Monday at uni, they tend to avoid calling or texting him when he’s home, knowing Kid could be listening in or looking over his shoulder at any moment and get a hint of them planning to steal Law away from uni.

Bepo gets distracted as he spots a really cute polar bear balloon among the other helium balloons they are looking at, and he just has to have a few of them!

Chapter Text

Wednesday comes faster than expected. Law finds himself standing outside a tall building where his friends told him to come for Bepo's party. They completely blindsided him on Monday with the invitation and he’s frustrated that he almost missed his best friend's birthday because he can’t get his shit together. He can’t believe it’s almost the end of November already, has he somehow slept through half of the fall semester or something? Yesterday was the first time he really paid attention to how dark it is when he leaves for uni in the morning, and how the temperature at night must be getting very close to freezing. It’s not uncommon for the first snow to fall sometime during November, even though it usually melts away right after due to the ground still retaining so much heat and the weather generally not staying below zero for long until December.

Law was born in a town much further north, where a thick blanket of snow would already be covering everything at this time a year. As a kid, he used to love snow; it made everything so beautiful, quiet, and peaceful, and unlike his little sister, Law was never bothered by the accompanying cold. The memory of Lami, all bundled up till you could barely see her eyes, makes him smile fondly. She was always so full of life, determined to follow his big brother everywhere, no matter how inconvenient it was for her. Law wishes he had been nicer to her.

The thought of headstrong Lami stubbornly following Law wherever he went reminds him of that day, and his smile instantly vanishes. Lami’s happy, beaming face is replaced by one twisted with agony, her fading voice crying after mommy and daddy, begging for Law for help while he was unable to move, unable to reach to hold her, unable to do anything but reassure her with words, tell her that help would come if she only held on a little bit longer. If only he hadn’t been so stupid and self-centered back then. He knew his sister was going to follow him, he knew, but he didn’t care; he was just so angry at his parents for forgetting and wanted to spend the day at the arcade the cool kids at school kept talking about.

Law closes his eyes and tries to focus on steadying his breathing; this is not the time or place to have a panic attack. If only he had his pills with him, he thought he had taken enough in the morning to get him through the day, but clearly not if his thoughts are drifting like this. He doesn’t want to remember the day he destroyed everything; it’s enough that the images of his dead family and the sounds of suffering people haunt his dreams whenever he’s sober enough, he doesn’t need them to ruin his waking hours as well. Especially on a day when he’s supposed to be celebrating his best friend.

After a few more deep breaths, he opens his eyes and takes another look at the building in front of him. Something about it seems familiar, too familiar, but he can’t quite place it. He doesn’t remember ever entering this building, despite it being right next to the campus, he never really paid much attention to it at all, if he’s completely honest. He must’ve seen the front of the building in some news article or something, as his daily route never takes him to the front side of it.

He glances at the front door and then checks the time on his phone, it’s been nearly 10 minutes since he messaged his friends that he was almost there. He had said he could make it there himself if they just told him which room it was, but his friends insisted on showing him the way, which was ridiculous. He was already feeling odd being the only one not included in any of the arrangements, it’s almost like the party is being arranged more for him than Bepo, and it makes him feel uneasy for some reason.

He’s about to fire another message to his friends when he notices the front door opening, and Shachi's grinning face pops out. Law squeezes the gift bag in his hand, all he can do now is try to behave and not ruin his best friend's day.

“Ready for some good times Law?” Shachi asks as Law approaches the front door. He nods, and the ginger starts to lead the way to the elevator. “Great, we have some fun activities planned, and Luffy’s friend made the food, so it should be great! He hasn't arrived yet, but he should be here any minute now, and then the party can really start!”

The mention of Luffy’s name makes Law’s heart jump, he’s not going to be here, is he? Law hopes not, he really wants to be able to focus on Bepo today, and Luffy would be a major distraction.

When they step into the elevator, Law turns to look towards the lobby as they wait for the doors to close, and he spots the guy at the receptionist's desk staring at him with a weird expression. Law frowns, trying to dig through his memory to place the face. Where could he have seen him before? He tunes out Shachi’s constant chatter as he tries to think, but by the time the elevator doors open again at their destination floor, he’s come up with nothing. He must be someone who fucked him during the time he spent on the streets, he doesn’t remember even half of the faces of the dicks that paid for his addiction back then, and he’d prefer to forget all the ones he does remember.

He didn’t notice Shachi grabbing his arm, but suddenly, he’s being dragged along the hallway towards a rather dire looking door at the very end. That makes him frown, he never imagined Bepo to have a party in a place like this, the same Bepo who likes everything bright, cute, and fluffy.

He briefly thinks about the rainbow colored Labebo keychain in his gift bag. Surely Bepo is still into stuff like that? He can’t have been ignorant enough to miss Bepo’s taste changing so drastically. He had scoured the internet for quite a while on Monday during his afternoon lessons to find something he would be able to obtain by Wednesday, and just happened to run across a listing for this thing. It was way pricier than he expected, but luckily, he had access to some of Kid’s money and used that to pay for it. He personally thinks the stupid thing costs about 100 times more than it’s worth, but apparently the little polar bears in various costumes are all the rage right now, and Bepo deserves nothing but the best. It also looks exactly like something Bepo would be all over, and the name being almost the same as his is just too great a coincidence.

“Your favourite person has arrived!” Shachis loud voice breaks Law out of his head as the redhead throws the door wide open to reveal both Bepo and Penguin talking to two other guys who Law recognizes as Luffy's friends. Instantly, his pulse picks up with both anticipation and anxiety for the possibility of Luffy being there as well

--

Sanji’s fuming; he can’t believe the only person available to help him with the delivery for Bepo’s party was the idiot mosshead. The imbecile can’t follow even the simplest instructions to save his life, and more than once today, Sanji has considered making an exception to his rule of not fighting with his hands and strangling the moron. The peabrain had insisted that he could drive while Sanji gave instructions and finished some paperwork. Sanji doesn’t know what on earth possessed him at the time to believe Zoro could ever even find his way out of a cardboard box.

Luckily, Sanji was able to wrestle the directionally challenged mossball out of the driver's seat and he’s currently speeding down the highway so they can make up for lost time after Zoro somehow managed to get them to a completely opposite side of town from where they were supposed to go. If he weren’t so furious, he might even be impressed that the blockhead managed the drive in less than 10 minutes, as it usually takes over 15.

“You should've just let me drive.” Zoro complains next to him, “We would already be there.”

“The only fucking reason we are late is you taking us god knows where! I will never let you drive anywhere ever again if I’m in the same car with you.”

“Tch, it was a shortcut, we were almost there.”

“NO WE FUCKING WEREN’T AND YOU KNOW IT!!” Sanji’s seeing red; he wants to kick this idiot's head in.

“How come they let you do deliveries if you don’t even know the shortcuts in town…”

“Driving through parks and schoolyards is not considered a legal shortcut!”

“That never stopped me.”

“You are so lucky we don’t have a police car following us, if we get a ticket for this trip, you’re going to pay for it.”

“Haaaah?! But you’re the one speeding!”

“And you’re the one who broke traffic laws and the only reason why I have to speed in the first place.”

“You-” Sanji hits the brakes abruptly to shut Zoro up.

“We’re here.” He declares and gets out of the car.

“Oi stupid cook, you didn’t have to do that!”

Sanji ignores the protests and walks to the back of the truck to open the doors. “Hurry up, the faster we get this done, the faster I can get rid of your stupid face.”

“Idiot cook, I can’t believe I agreed to help you with this.” Zoro’s half mumbling as he climbs out of his seat and joins Sanji at the back of the truck.

“You didn’t have to come if it’s such a bother, I could’ve done this on my own.”

“Then why did you ask for help? Changing your mind like a girl.”

“Take that back! Don’t you ever offend the fairer sex like that!”

“Or what, princess?”

Sanji’s face feels hot as he reaches his boiling point and aims a kick at Zoro's smug face, which the other barely avoids by blocking his foot with his arms. Sanji jumps away before Zoro can grab hold of his leg and goes back to digging out things from the back. “Just shut up and take these.” He hands a few containers full of food to Zoro and reaches back in to grab the cake with a few other bits and pieces himself.

He kicks the doors closed and turns around to find Zoro walking towards the alleyway they just came from.

“The door is right here, you numbskull.” The car is parked right in front of the service entrance of the building, literally two or three steps away. How did the dimwit not see the door right in front of him?

“When do they finally invent doors that stop changing locations constantly,” Zoro mutters as he turns around and walks back to Sanji, who has already opened the door.

They do deliveries from Baratie to this building fairly often. The owner is good friends with Zeff and often orders massive food deliveries for various staff events and meetings, so they all know the code to the server entrance by now. They even have a key in case the number pad is out of order, which happens surprisingly often.

Sanji makes sure Zoro enters the building before he follows him. Luckily, the staff elevator is right next to the entrance, so Zoro doesn’t have time to get lost again before Sanji guides him into it.

The ride up to floor 5 is not too long, but neither of them says anything, the air between them growing more awkward by the second, making the ride feel ten times longer than it is. Sanji's thoughts start to wander to a specific evening a couple of weeks ago.

It had been Zoro’s birthday, and they were all out celebrating. At some point during the night, when Sanji had been exiting a bathroom stall, the mosshead had appeared out of nowhere, pushed him back in, and shoved his tongue down his throat while pressing Sanji against one of the stall walls. Sanji could’ve easily pushed him away to stop it from happening, but for some reason, he didn’t. The kiss was sloppy, all tongue and too much saliva, and Sanji should’ve been disgusted by it, but instead, by the time they separated, he had grown half hard in his black slacks. Right after, Zoro had passed out, and Sanji had berated himself for taking advantage of the other man like that while he was drunk. He was also frustrated that the other had passed out right after, leaving him wanting more from someone who clearly isn’t interested in him that way when sober.

He knew Zoro was drunk out of his mind and likely had no idea who he was tongue wrestling with, but in that moment, something in Sanji’s brain had shifted. Had he been into Zoro all this time?

Sanji has known he’s gay for a while now, but has tried to ignore and hide it as he’s afraid Zeff would disown him if he found out, the shitty old man has very traditional beliefs. Sanji has always found women extremely beautiful, but he has never felt any real sexual pull towards them. Strong muscular men, though? Now that’s another story. Wide shoulders and toned abs always got his juices flowing, especially the thought of ordering around someone who he knows is physically stronger than him.

Maybe that’s why he had always been butting heads with Zoro. Physically, the other man was definitely his type, but his stubborn nature and compulsion to always argue back were driving Sanji up the wall. He had been sure it was because he hated the other man’s guts until that fateful night allowed him to see things in a new light.

When the elevator stops and the doors start to open, Sanji almost sighs in relief as he’s able to step out of the small space and run from his suffocating thoughts. He spots Penguin waving at the end of the hallway and turns to address Zoro, who’s already walking the opposite way.

“Hey Mosshead, see that guy at the end of the hall?” Sanji nods to Penguin, and Zoro turns to look at him. “That’s who the food is for.”

“Alright.” Zoro confirms and takes another step in the opposite direction.”

“So take the food to him, idiot!” Sanji physically blocks his way to get him to turn around.

“Well, say so in the first place, dartboard, I’m not a fucking mindreader.” He starts to walk in the right direction this time, and Sanji quietly counts to 10 in his head before following suit.

“Great, just in time!” Penguin greets them as they get close enough, “You can just leave everything on the table; we’ll set it all up.”

“Alright,” Sanji confirms with a smile before he scowls at Zoro again. “Get in the room before you get lost again.”

Zoro grunts in disapproval but enters the room anyway to set down everything he was carrying.

Sanji turns to smile at Penguin. “You can just leave the containers here once you’re done. Baratie’s delivery contract with the building includes a container return service once a day in the evenings, so someone here will take care of collecting everything once the reservation is done.”

“Alright, sweet, thank you so much Sanji!”

“Yea thanks, sorry for the trouble.” Bepo comments from where he has already started to organize the containers on a side table.

“No problem, you are paying for the service after all. Oh, and happy birthday Bepo!” Sanji smiles at the tall blonde, who blushes instantly. “I took the liberty of adding a staff birthday discount as a present.”

Bepo’s eyes widen in surprise as Penquin fistpumps in the background. “Oh, uh, thank you so much, you didn’t need to. I’m sorry.” Bepo stutters as his cheeks flush slightly pink, making Sanji smile.

“Oh it’s your birthday?” Zoro comments from behind Sanji, “How come you didn’t invite Luffy? He’s your friend, too, right?”

Sanji facepalms internally for Zoro's lack of tact.

“Um… that’s, uh, personal?”

“Did you have a fight?”

“No, nothing like that! Just um…”

“Your favourite person has arrived!” Someone announces loudly as they enter the room. Sanji turns to see Shachi walking in with a tall guy he hasn’t seen before. “Oh, and Law is finally here too!” Shachi continues.

“Oh, Torao is invited, but Luffy isn’t?” Zoro crosses his hands on top of his chest.

Sanji takes a better look at the man with Shachi, so this is the ever elusive Torao most of their friend group has yet to meet. He’s tall, has black, messy hair that looks like he tried to tame it but gave up midway, tattoos cover his hands, and his clothes hang on his frame like they're at least three sizes too big. His eyes are slightly sunken in, and have the biggest and darkest bags under them that Sanji has ever seen. His skin has a greyish tint to it, and his bones protrude way too harshly; he’s clearly very malnourished.

Sanji instantly feels a pang of guilt for how strongly he had protested making extra food for this man, and makes a mental note to pack his lunches with extra easy-to-absorb nutrients and lots of healthy fats. He pulls Zoro away from where he’s still grilling Bepo over why Luffy wasn’t invited and directs him to the door. “Come on, grassbrain, it’s none of our business, let’s go.”

“Hah?”

“Luffy doesn’t need to always be invited to everything, he’ll survive.”

“Tch… Way to stick up for your friend.” Zoro mumbles but follows Sanji out of the room and back to the elevator.

“So that was Torao, huh? Why does he look so sick?”

Zoro shrugs, “Vivi and Luffy have a theory that he’s a drug addict.”

“He what?! And Luffy’s ok with it? YOU’RE OK WITH IT?!”

“You saw him, it’s not like he’s dangerous, the guy looks like he’d fall over from a gust of wind.”

“That’s not the point! You know drugs come with other kinds of problems, a lot of problems! He might not be a problem physically, but what about his dealer? What if he’s mixed up with some gang? You know better than anyone how dangerous the underworld of this country is!”

“You think Luffy doesn’t know all that? He’s the one who took down Crocodile after all, to free Robin. And Ace being his brother, I bet he got a lecture about drugs daily after Ace started working.”

“Well, yea, but what if he hurts Luffy? He could be involved with some way more dangerous people, we both know Crocodile wasn’t even close to whoever is in charge.”

“Then we’ll deal with it if it becomes a problem. I trust Luffy to know what he’s getting himself into. Besides, it’s only a theory, we don’t even know if the guy is on drugs or not.”

Sanji mulls Zoro’s words over in his head, and he must admit the mosshead has a point for once. Besides, Luffy seems to be completely head over heels for this guy if his constant talking about him is anything to go by, so they don’t really have a choice but to deal with whatever comes of it. He still makes another mental note about Law, to keep a close eye on the guy for a chance to learn everything he can about him, just in case.

“Oi, you coming, stupid cook?” Zoro's yell nudges Sanji out of his thoughts, and he realizes he had been zoning out in the elevator while Zoro was already standing at the front door.

Sanji shoves his hands into his pockets and looks the other way as he steps out and feels an embarrassed flush creep on his face. “Wrong door if you want a ride, dimwit.” He mumbles as he makes his way to the server's door that leads to the back of the building.

As soon as he gets outside, he digs through his pockets for his cigarettes and lights one up just as Zoro follows him out.

“Oh, you’re still here. I thought you would’ve gotten lost by now.” Sanji quips, expecting to start another argument. Instead, Zoro frowns and leans on the wall next to him.

“So you’re cool with Luffy being interested in Law, yeah?”

Sanji’s really taken aback by the question. He knows Zoro and Luffy have been friends the longest of them all and are pretty tight, but he wasn’t expecting the mosshead to care this much about his opinion. “Sure, what’s it to you?”

Zoro lets out a long sigh before speaking again. “It’s the first time Luffy’s been interested in anyone like this, you know? The people close to him should support him and be there for him no matter what; he already had a fight with Vivi about this.”

Sanji's eyes widen at the new information. He never thought Vivi of all people would be the judgmental type… But then again, that’s where his thoughts had gone right away, too, when he heard Law might be an addict.

“Luffy’s feelings might affect his judgement, but he is still an excellent judge of character, and he’s not dumb. I hate it when people treat him like he can’t take care of himself.”

“I know, don’t worry, I’ll have his back too, no matter what comes of this. But I already decided I’m going to keep a closer eye on that ‘Torao’ of his, the more we know, the better in my opinion.”

“I knew I could trust you when it mattered, curlybrow.” Zoro smirks at him, visibly relieved. Sanji berates himself for thinking Zoro cared about his opinion; clearly, he is just looking out for his best friend. He finds himself wishing he could lean in and kiss Zoro's slightly chapped lips.