Happy birthday, Viv-heart! :D I blame you for this XD I just wanted to write a KidLaw story for you and now it ended up being said version of Hot as Fire/Reborn in Fire (I'm calling it the Fire-universe from now on, it's getting too long if I keep writing versions XD) The beginning of the story is set about a year before Reborn starts (about two years before Hot)
Many thanks and bows to Vergina-spva and MyLadyDay for pre-reading and beta'ing (and calling me a pervert XD)
Warning: the story contains homophobia and douche-ness
Enjoy ^^
Breaking through Fire
Chapter 1
Law yawned and leaned with his head on his hand. Today had been a very long and frustrating day. First that stupid conference and now the long way back home. A sudden swerve of the train made his elbow slip off the window sill and he cursed. Just what he needed. Rubbing his temples he sighed. He supposed he should read some more if he wanted to keep up with his studies. Medicine wasn't easy.
But he was tired. He had been forced to interact with boring people all day, listening to lame doctor jokes and supposedly miraculous recoveries. And when he remarked he would find the people present more interesting if they were corpses lying on a slab in the morgue, they would say he had a morbid sense of humour. He wasn't even kidding!
He sighed again and opened his thick and heavy book. He really should get some studying done. It wasn't like he would be able to once he got home. Living with the D-brothers truly was exhausting, though he was grateful they offered him to stay. Luffy was noisy and hyperactive, unless he was eating – except that he was even loud during that. Ace had narcolepsy, causing him to fall asleep at the most random times, during dinner or in the middle of a conversation. Law used those rare moments of peace in the house, when the youngest brother was eating and the oldest fast asleep, to study, or did a futile attempt at a nap.
But it had its perks, living with the brothers. For one thing, Ace was an interesting object to study. Law had managed to get him in some trials for new drugs for narcolepsy, and had written several papers on the side effects they had. Which was, of course, too bad for Ace, but good for his grades. And he needed those.
Another reason to put up with the noisy brothers was simply because they lived closer to the university and he needed a place to stay. He was still looking for a place of his own, but in the meantime he was settled. Plus, he lived rent free, only paying by cooking – neither of the brothers cooked, but both had an enormous appetite, so 'rent free' was perhaps too optimistic, he had to work hard. And well, he was sleep deprived, but his insomnia wasn't only caused by his roommates. He himself would have been an interesting study object as well, had he not been so tired.
With a sigh he focused on his reading again, but soon the letters were dancing before his eyes. He must have dozed off for a second, because when he opened his eyes again, the train had come to a halt. It wasn't his stop yet, so he had nothing to worry about, but it did cause a stream of people to leave the train and another to enter again. It was a rather busy day at rush hour, so only to be expected. Still, Law sighed. He just wanted some peace and quiet. And he liked his space, so he didn't need a stranger sitting next to him.
He had barely finished the thought, when some guy showed up next and flopped down in the seat next to him, giving the black haired man barely the time to collect his things from there. Law snorted and didn't deign to look at the newcomer. Like he'd meet anyone interesting in the train.
"What the hell?!"
Groggily, Law opened his eyes. Geez, why would someone yell like that? They were in the silence compartment, after all. And he finally managed to get some sleep. What kind of bastard would ruin that?
Come to think of it, since when were the walls in the train so comfortable to sleep against?
Only… the wall was on the other side. Then what was he lying against? He had a vague idea. A little scared of what he might find, he turned his head.
He was met by a pair of angry looking, dark eyes. Yep, he had fallen sleep against the person next to him. And had it been some old lady, it wouldn't have been a problem, just a little awkward. But everything about the guy sitting there screamed anger issues and 'I'd like to crush you under my army boot'. Law had to admit that that was kind of hot. Okay, so maybe Ace had a point when he said that the doctor-to-be had a thing for bad boys.
Law focused on the man next to him. He had bright red hair which was almost standing up straight and dark piercing eyes, from what the dark haired man could gather the other was trying to rip out his soul with his look. Nice.
The redhead seemed to wait for an explanation, so Law said with a shrug: "It seems I fell asleep." He yawned and stretched himself, sitting up again.
"If you drooled on my coat…" the other threatened.
Law eyed him unimpressed. Well, he liked his punk style and long heavy coat, but what did that guy take him for? "I don't drool," he said coldly.
Some of the other passengers looked at them annoyed and some dared to shush them. The redhead glared at an old lady who had tried that, almost giving her a heart attack before she returned to her knitting. The guy huffed and gave Law one last nasty look before putting on headphones and turning on obnoxiously loud music.
Law leaned against the wall. He didn't like the heavy metal stuff the guy was listening to, but he had to admit he did like the man's other features very much. He was tall, from what he could see now he that was sitting down at least, with a broad chest. He had pale skin, wearing dark lipstick and matching nail polish. In all, he was hardly an eyesore. Law grinned. He would like to sleep on this guy again…
Just when he was about to get his medicine book to do some more studying, he heard some familiar melody coming from the redhead's headphones, different from the heavy metal from earlier. Inconspicuously, he leaned in, but he couldn't hear what was sung until he pressed his ear to the headphone.
'I tried so hard and got so far.
But in the end, it doesn't even matter.'
A smirk appeared on his face. So this moron did have good taste in music.
"What the hell are you doing now?!"
Only then Law realised he still had his ear pressed against the other's headphones, and sat uncomfortably close. Well, uncomfortable for the other, he was fine. Still, he leaned back casually and said: "I hadn't expected a punk like you would actually listen to something one could consider music."
"What the hell did you say?" Pulling off his headphones, the redhead grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragging him close.
Law just smirked. "You're pretty predictable. You wear punk clothes and listen to 'music' which consists of people yelling into microphones. So forgive me for not expecting something good." Well, some people would place Linkin Park in the 'yelling into microphones' category, but this was one of their more calm songs anyway. Whatever, Law liked it.
Annoyed coughs sounded and warning looks were shot their way. Law hardly spared them a glance. He peeled the redhead's hand of his shirt. "Please, you're disturbing the other passengers," he said with a sly smirk.
The redhead looked like he wanted to punch the dark haired man in the face – a great turn on for said man – but then he let go, his jaw tense. "Just leave me the fuck alone," he grouched, putting up his headphones again and turning the volume down considerably.
Law shrugged with a smirk and got his book. At least it was somewhat of a victory, now he could study in silence again. From the corner of his eye he watched the man beside him. Somehow, it was really fun to rile him up. For one, it was so easy. Plus, he liked the attention and he hardly minded being touched by the rough man.
Staring at his book, he got out a pen, holding it between two fingers and wiggling it. He noticed the redhead looking at him from the corner of his eye, before huffing and turning away with his arms across his chest.
Law read a few lines in his book, wiggling the pen harder, until it slipped out between his fingers, launching over the redhead and rolling on the floor in the aisle. The other man looked at him disturbed, but didn't move to pick it up, like had Law assumed he wouldn't. The dark haired man smirked. Good. Time to annoy the hell out of the bastard. He pushed up the foldout table, which held his book, a little, before draping himself over the lap of his neighbour. He lay down on his stomach, ass pointing up, and reached for his pen.
The redhead was frozen for a moment. Law was waiting for the predictable "What the hell?!" but it never came. He shrugged and got his pen, wiggling his ass a little, before getting up. "Got it," he said triumphant, showing the pen as to prove his point.
The redhead stared at him wide eyed, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. A smirk tugged at the corners of the doctor-to-be's mouth. The man was either extremely angry or extremely aroused – and fuck, Law didn't care which one it was.
A pale hand wrapped itself around his neck, pinning him against the wall. Long, black nails dug in his skin. "Touch me again and I'll snap that little neck of yours," the redhead threatened.
Law smirked. "I just dropped my pen. If you had been a dear and got it for me, we wouldn't be in this mess."
The man huffed and squeezed his neck a little, before letting go and turning away. The doctor-to-be rubbed the sore spot. He had half a mind to drag his neighbour to the nearest bathroom and fuck him senseless. Man, that was hot. Okay, so Ace was definitely right. But who was he to judge? His fireman friend had his own kinks…
During their little encounter, one of the passengers had left the compartment, and when he returned he was followed by the conductor, apparently fed up with all the noise. The conductor was an intimidating man, tan, with blond hair. But the most striking feature about him was his steel jaw. Next to the medicine student and the angry redhead, he came to a halt. "You're aware that you're in the silence compartment?" he asked in a grumpy voice, crossing his arms before his chest. "People are complaining about you. So shut the hell up."
"I'm sorry, sir," Law answered in a smooth voice and gestured to his neighbour. "He just hasn't seen me in a while, so he has trouble keeping his hands to himself. But he'll behave now."
Seeing the redhead's face was priceless. Apparently the man had no idea how to react to Law's accusations. First he gaped at the black haired man, then his face turned red, before becoming pale again. "LIKE HELL!" he finally exclaimed. "I'm not fucking gay, you bastard!"
That was disappointing. But Law wasn't that surprised to find out that the hot redhead wasn't gay, but it was to be expected. Unlike what Ace seemed to think, not everyone was bi. Oh well, it was rather optimistic to think he would find someone interesting enough to fuck in the train anyway.
"I don't care! Just shut the hell up!" the conductor yelled, lifting up his arm – obviously a prosthesis.
"I would if this damn faggot didn't keep assaulting me!" the redhead exclaimed, his voice breaking and sitting as far away from Law as he could manage in the seats.
The dark haired man wanted to respond, but before he could open his mouth the conductor swung his arm, landing in the middle of the seat and cutting into the material like his hand was an axe rather than a prosthesis. Both men sitting down stared at it, and Law was glad neither of them was hit, that would have been messy.
The intercom announced the next station. The redhead got up, trying avoid to touching the conductor. "This is my stop, anyway. Come near me ever again and I will kill you," he spat at Law.
The doctor-to-be rolled his eyes at the empty threat, but when he met the dark eyes he was pinned to his seat. Pure hatred and disgust was written all over the man's face. As much as Law liked rough men, the one thing he couldn't stand were homophobes. The redhead left the train, stomping in his heavy boots.
The conductor gave Law a warning glance, before pulling his axe of a hand back and leaving the compartment. The dark haired man slumped back in his seat, picking up his study book. He stared at a page, before realising he had read the same paragraph over and over again. He couldn't concentrate, his mind wandering back to the small-minded redhead. He mentally slapped himself. Why the hell was he so hung up on this guy? Sure, he was hot, and fun to rile up. But it wasn't like he would see him again anyway.
~ To be continued
Song is In the End by Linkin Park ^^
