On Equal Terms
Summary: Because Ace wasn't the only overprotective one Luffy had to worry about. LawLu.
Warnings: slight ooc (on Lu's part), AU, mild swearing.
Disclaimer: I think it's pretty clear what I'm about to say, right? Well…THINK AGAIN. THE DUCK ATE THE LLAMA WHO WAS CHOKING ON THE DUST-BUNNY. Didn't see that coming, did ya? ;D
Luffy was practically bouncing in the passenger's seat with excitement as Law's simple little house the teen had come to love so much came into sight. He turned to face his boyfriend, his lips pulled back into a larger-than-usual grin. "So they're here already, right?"
"Well, Doflamingo is. Rocinante-san has yet to arrive," Law answered, mildly amused by how excited his lover was. It made him want to ruffle the male's hair, but instead he focused on the road. Luffy never failed to miss how Law would use an actual proper suffix when referring to Rocinante while he never added anything to Doffy's. It made him curious, and told himself to ask Law about that another time. As they pulled into the driveway, Law's phone began to go off. As he read the text, Luffy unbuckled his seatbelt and bounced in anticipation.
Today was the day he was meeting Law's guardians for the first time. He wondered what the brothers looked like and couldn't wait to meet them. He always found meeting new people to be fun and exciting, almost like a mini adventure of sorts. All he knew about them was that they created some big company that had to do with the comfiest and fluffiest feathers in the country, and that Rocinante was probably the clumsiest person in the world who had a habit of catching himself on fire and tripping over absolutely nothing. Luffy knew right off the bat he'd like Rocinante, from what Law told him he sounded absolutely hilarious.
"I have to go pick Rocinante-san up at the airport, his plane just came in. I trust you'll be able to handle Doflamingo on your own?"
Luffy's smile widened, if possible. "Of course! There's no one I can't handle!"
"Except your brother when he goes into Overprotective Mode," Law quietly mused, his voice slightly bitter as he remembered a not-so-friendly memory of meeting the older brother with the famous Brother Complex. Despite the fact he and Luffy had been dating well over seven months now, he and Ace just couldn't see eye to eye…yet. Only recently were they slowly reconciling after their few brutal encounters.
Law originally wanted to be on good terms with Luffy's older brother, after all Luffy's family would someday be his family. But it wasn't Law's fault that the damn freckled male had came at him spiked brass knuckles on their first day of meeting, and it most certainly wasn't Law's fault for pulling out a scalpel to defend himself. It was self defense! What was he supposed to do, stand there and let some crazed man with a serious case of Brother Complex beat the absolute shit out of him? Hell no.
Ace had those scars coming, he didn't care what anybody else said.
"And your grandfather," Law added nonchalantly, though Luffy did shiver at the mere mention of his grandfather. Law had been smart and lucky enough to come up with a grand excuse for avoiding Garp's Fists of Love. All he had done was thrown out some medical term, said that it meant he got concussions easily, and bam. He was instantly free of Garp's F.o.L. Though he still did get a very hard pat on the back every time he saw the elder.
The surgeon leaned over and placed a kiss on Luffy's cheek before shooing him out of the car. "Just remember to stay calm and everything will be alright. Doflamingo will probably take an instant liking to you–" Hell, who didn't take an instant liking to Luffy upon meeting him? "–so you don't have anything to worry about. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Mkay. Love ya!"
"Love you, too." As Law pulled out of the driveway and Luffy waved goodbye, neither noticed the blond glancing out of the second-story window of Law's house.
Luffy skipped two stairs at a time as he ran up the short staircase to the front door, eager to meet Doflamingo at last. He wondered what the man looked like, seeing as Law didn't have any pictures of his guardian's on his phone. The teen let out a small laugh as he reached the front door and, without hesitation, opened it.
There was a man standing beside the table and Luffy had to look up to see his face. The man was tall, upwards of around 6'11". The teen takes in what the man was wearing. It was a pitch black suit; black slacks, black dress shirt, black double breasted blazer. The only thing that had color was his tie which, oddly enough, was a bright pink. His hair was blond; short and gelled into spikes that Luffy can't help but find awesome. The man's eyes were hidden behind oddly shaped tinted sunglasses. The man looked badass, there was no doubt about that.
However, it was the man's light scowl and penetrating stare that had Luffy feeling a bit…uneasy. The man hadn't spoken a single word, which slightly unnerved Luffy. But he still wore his smile, though it wasn't as big now, and held out his hand. "Hi! My name's Luffy!"
The man stared.
Didn't move, didn't speak.
And suddenly, all of Luffy's enthusiasm was gone. He felt himself on the verge of breaking out in a cold sweat. Was this what it was like meeting your boyfriend's guardians? He didn't think it would be so hard. Maybe this Doffy guy was just having a bad day maybe…? "Y-You're Doflamingo, right?" Still nothing. Maybe Doflamingo was mute and Law simply forgot to mention that. Yeah, that had to be it.
The man finally moved. He took a few steps toward Luffy, and the teen couldn't help but take a step back. He felt…uncomfortable around this man. The man stopped, seeing the teen back up, but then continued toward the chair at the kitchen table. The aura Doflamingo gave off made Luffy want to fidget in his spot, which was such an odd feeling for the teen. He was usually really good with people, but this man… It was different than how Ace usually got when his Brother Complex flared. This man...
Ah, that was it.
While Ace was indeed overprotective, there was one thing he lacked that his man had.
Natural intimidation.
Doflamingo was intimidating.
But Luffy presses on, his smile still there though it's about a quarter of its usual size. If Law managed to survive being in a room with Ace for an hour, Luffy could survive being in a room with Doflamingo for twenty minutes. "I heard you and your brother own a big company." Silence. "What do you do in your spare time?"
"I'm the head of the Mafia."
The man's voice startled Luffy for a moment, he wasn't expecting an answer. Doflamingo's voice was deep, deeper than he had expected it would be. Going over the answer in his head, Luffy couldn't help but laugh. Head of the Mafia? Yeah, right! Though he had to admit that that role would indeed match Doflamingo's current style. Despite how seriously the man had answered, Luffy knew it was a lie. Nobody who was actually in the Mafia openly said they were in the Mafia. It was common sense.
Doflamingo's not laughing.
Luffy's laugh turned into nervous chuckles that quickly faded off. Doflamingo's scowl was still there, and he was still staring directly at Luffy. The teen wanted to fidget again, he hated how those sunglasses masked the man's eyes. He had the sudden urge to slowly reach over and take the man's glasses off. He even began to raise his hand to give into the urge when the thought of Doflamingo tearing his arm off popped into his mind.
His brain gave a mental scream at the image. Great, he was becoming like Usopp. He shook his head to get rid of such ridiculous thoughts. No, he knew what was going on. Doflamingo was just testing Luffy, trying to scare him off if he wasn't fit to date Law. He could handle this test, he could handle dealing with Doflamingo. Because for Law, Luffy would fight his way through the Nine Gates of Hell to be next to the surgeon's side and hold his hand. He'd tear down heaven itself just to be able to kiss and hold Law morning, noon, and night. He'd fight to his very last breath to see his lover smile and laugh. He loved Law.
And like hell was this man going to come between Luffy and his love.
He took in a deep breath and slowly released it, putting his smile back up and going over to the kitchen table to sit with Doflamingo.
He'd pass this test.
No. matter. what.
...Forty-two minutes later…
Law opened the front door to his house, a paper bag of groceries occupying his one arm. "Luffy-ya, I'm ba–" Something red rushed toward him, and he realized after a moment that it was his boyfriend. Luffy squeezed his way past Law.
"Gotta go, Law, see ya later," was all the teen said as he all but ran from the house. But just as he passed Law, the teen bumped into someone else. He looked up to see who it was. The man was tall, probably 6'10" or so, with blond shaggy hair. He wore a white shirt that was patterned with pink hearts, beige pants, a black feather coat that looked awfully similar of Doflamingo's pink one, and a red hoodie with hearts on the end of the tassels. Pitch black sunglasses hide his eyes from the onlooking teen and a cigaret is hanging from the man's lips. The man was wearing make up. Luffy realized who this man is: Rocinante. Doflamingo's brother.
Luffy couldn't take meeting another Donquixote at the moment.
The teen practically screamed, pushing past Rocinante as he ran out of the driveway and down the street in the direction his house was. Law and Rocinante can't help but stare with open mouths and a raised brow at the teen's behavior. After a moment of watching the teen run out of sight, Rocinante turned to face Law. "I thought you said my make-up wasn't even scary."
But Law paid no attention to his favorite guardian and turned his icy death-glare to the rather amused looking man standing in the middle of the kitchen. "What. did. you. do." Each syllable was accented, and Rocinante can't help the shiver that ran down his spine when he realized just how pissed Law sounded. Never before had his son looked so angry.
Doflamingo merely chuckled, whether he was actually affected by Law's palpable bloodlust was unknown. "I didn't do anything," he mused, his usual smile playing on his lips. Law wanted spit out bullshit because he had never seen Luffy act like that before. Ever. "But I must say, I like him. He's quite interesting, fufufu!" The surgeon sighed and shook his head. He'd have to talk to Luffy later and try to calm him down. But at least Doflamingo approved of his lover.
And in the end, that's what counted.
It took two days to convince Luffy to come out of hiding and meet Rocinante. For some strange reason, Luffy believed that he would meet the end of a shotgun if he went back to Law's house while Doflamingo was there, which made Law question just what is idiotic guardian had told Luffy. Still, Luffy refused to meet another Donquixote without bringing his mini flamethrower that Ace made specially for him.
The surgeon was relieved to see that Doflamingo practically welcomed Luffy with open arms (and a very teasing smile), but the teen seemed suspicious of the blond and held his mini flamethrower close, ready to use in the blink of an eye if need be. Meeting Rocinante went without any problems (which Law was very thankful for) and the teen ended up holding his stomach as he rolled around the ground in laughter upon seeing Rocinante accidentally light himself on fire before tripping over nothing while trying to put the fire out.
So while the relationship between Law and Ace began to slowly mend, the relationship between Luffy and Doflamingo seemed to continue on for months; the blond throwing teasing glances and smiles at Luffy, while Luffy openly mocked and teased the blond.
Thankfully, their little war ended at Christmas when Doflamingo bought Luffy an entire ham for dinner.
In the end, they were all, finally, on equal terms.
A/N: That ending. Fail. Anyway, I hope it was…okay. Thought I'd throw in an (slightly) overprotective Doffy in a story. He wanted to make sure Luffy loved Law for who he was, not for the money he made. Needless to say, Luffy passed the test with flying colors. :D What Doffy did exactly while he and Luffy were alone, only those two will ever know. ;D
Your shy ice elemental,
~»roo the psycho«