What the hell? He knew the duo were well off, but this much was ridiculous! He was careful not to let anything show as he unbuckled and exited the car. Several were parked haphazardly along both sides of the drive, their escorts' car wouldn't stand out. He waved as they began to exit the vehicle and headed out to surround the house.

Then he realized something. "You're going in with that make-up on?"

"They think we work for children's theatre." Sabo replied. "You're good, though the contour might raise a few questions."

He scoffed. "Like I care. I'm not ashamed of my job."

"Still…our Gramps is pretty conservative…" He said a bit hesitantly.

Even better. "I'll be on my best behavior." He chuckled.

Ace gave him a suspicious look before brushing it off. "Right! Let's go in! Makino called earlier to tell me they ate lunch a bit later so that they could wait for us before starting dinner!"

Law's hand was grabbed and he was dragged towards the entrance. He was barely able to notice the grand decorations and magnificent architecture as they headed straight for the sound of…fighting? As they got closer, the words became coherent.

"—just wanna taste it—"

"You can wait for your brothers, you ungrateful child!"

"But they're taking forever!"

"Boys, please stop fighting! You're scaring Chopper and Brook!" A woman pleaded to no avail.

Ace let go of his hand to throw the doors open with bangs. "RELEASE THE LUFFY!"

"ACE!" Several people greeted excitedly and as they swarmed the duo, Law easily slipped away to take an unclaimed seat. The table was laden with more food than he'd ever seen in one place, the boy who had been yelling now sitting amongst the dishes as he stuffed his face with everything he could reach. He must have missed the lunch earlier. Since everyone not greeting the duo were also getting food, Law began to load up his plate.

Sabo had been right. Even Thatch couldn't make anything this amazing. But there weren't many vegetable or fruit options. Oh well. He ate as much as he felt was safe, trying to get a little bit of everything so that he didn't miss out on a single dish.

"So what do you think?" A blonde man asked from where he sat beside him.

"The food tastes amazing." He replied.

"Then why have you stopped eating?"

Law blinked at the agitated man. The chef? "I can't eat too much protein or I'll get sick." He'd been in remission for the last few years, but he was still at risk.

"So protein's the problem?"

Somehow Law found himself going over his diet with the blond chef named Sanji. They covered allergies, medical concerns, and favorite vs hated foods.

He blamed the distraction of the brawling members for his loose lips. There was an old man literally butting heads with a younger red-haired man as they argued over alcohol; Ace and Sabo were wrestling with a large brown dog trying to get back their food; the boy on the table was in a fierce utensil fight with several people as he tried to take food directly off their plates; and the last dog, a thin white great Dane, was stealing food from the plates while they were distracted.

And yet the several men and women interspersed throughout the table were talking as if they weren't in the middle of a zoo. Some were keeping to themselves, but every now and then they would cheer on the mayhem, so he didn't quite count them as sane.

"Who did you come with?" Sanji asked once he'd gotten everything he wanted. "I'm here with Luffy, the idiot stealing from the plates."

"Mr. Ace and Mr. Sabo invited me to join." He replied.

"Well I'm glad you came! Will you be coming for Christmas too? I've been working on some healthier recipes and I've been wanting to try them out!" The man said eagerly and before Law could reply, he ran off.

Confused, Law debated on telling him that this had just been a one-off thing. He didn't celebrate Christmas. Sighing, he poured himself another glass of juice and watched the dramatics going on, surprisingly entertained by the show. The dogs had retreated to some women's laps and wee chewing on bones. Ace and Sabo were now bickering with some new arrivals, and the men had settled down to share the alcohol.

"Where's your food?"

Startled, Law turned to see Luffy had stolen the Chef's seat and was eating his food. "I'm done." He replied.

"You're still hungry." He denied. "So keep eating!"

"I can't. I'll get sick."

"No you won't, Sanji makes the best food!" He exclaimed.

"It's my body that's the problem, not his food." He chuckled with a smile. "Literally every dish here is packed with protein. I can eat a bit, but too much will make me so sick I have to go to the hospital."

The boy hugged him, tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry! That has to be hell!"

"It's alright." He chuckled, pushing him away as nicely as possible. "In a few more years, I'll be able to eat anything I want."

That prompted the boy into a litany of suggestions about what foods and restaurants were good. Law listened to him babble as he drank his juice and even when the others started acting up again, he found his attention barely wavered. The kid was cute and he could see a lot of his brothers in him.

Then, suddenly, Sanji was back and he set about five different dishes down around Law. "Luffy, touch these before him and I'll kill you. Here you go, Law!"

He was shocked. "You didn't have to make me food! You already made so much—"

"No one leaves my table hungry! Eat!" He ordered before sweeping away.

Completely baffled, Law looked at the vegetable dishes and after a closer inspection, realized he could eat it! Lighting up, he got himself a good serving of each and dug in happily.

Grinning, Luffy continued chatting about all his favorite restaurants and dishes for Law to eat when he could.

For the first time in nearly an entire decade, he was able to eat until he was full and with the chatterbox beside him filling his head with culinary fantasies he'd be able to realize soon, he was in good company. When dinner ended, he helped put up the food and offered to help with the dishes only to be kicked out by the women, so he looked around for his friends.

Only to end up lost in the halls. Why were there so many rooms on the first floor? And where the hell did everyone go?

Fuck it, he thought as he went to a window. He forced it open and climbed out.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Trafalgar?" One of the escorts asked as they approached.

He laughed sheepishly. "No, I just got lost, so I'm going back to the front to start over."

"Want a cigarette before you go?" They asked with an amused smile, offering their pack.

It'd been nearly fifteen hours since his last smoke. "Yes, please." He took one out and leaned forward as the man held up the lighter. A little smoke break wouldn't hurt and it turned out the guy was pretty cool. Law listened to him talk about electronics and the frequencies that disrupted them, how he was going to school to do more with it.

But then the guy brought up Law's work and he lost interest. He might love his job, but he needed a break from it. He needed his downtime.

Then he leaned in, grasping Law's upper arm as he said, "I really, really love your work. The other dancers are great, but you're a star amongst fireflies."

"Thank you." He accepted the compliment, pulling his arm free. "But I don't want to talk about my job. What else are you working on in school? Or is it just the electronics you're interested in?"

"Oh, I've got a few more interests." He replied. "I'm minoring in the Fine Arts. My favorite class has to be Art Appreciation. It kills me though, seeing all those masterpieces without being able to touch—"

Law jolted and smacked the man's hand away when it grabbed his ass. "Hey, hands off you asshole!" he didn't wait for him to follow up, he could see the heat in his gaze and knew the sort very well. With three hits, the man was down for the count and picked up the headset, hearing static. A quick search later, he turned off the app on the guy's phone and heard the others demanding the man answer.

"One of you guys mind getting this cretin before I decide he doesn't need his dick?"

Mr. Trafalgar? What happened?

He filled them in on everything from getting lost to disabling the app.

He touched you?! One of them demanded, voice a growl. Diamante, collect him and take him straight to the Boss. If he gets away, you'll be next on the list.

The man scoffed. Don't insult me.

Baby 5, I need you to escort Mr. Trafalgar back inside and stay with him until he decides to retire.

Yes sir! The woman exclaimed excitedly and he wondered how he'd missed her getting out of the car.

Soon both had arrived and Law led the way back to the front hall.

"From what I saw, all the guests have gone into some sort of den." She told him. "Would you like for me to wait outside in the hallway?"

"No, you heard Mr. Sai. It'd be best if you stay with me." He replied, holding the door open for her before entering himself. They found a set of stairs when she revealed the den had been on the second floor and they made their way up in companionable silence. After a bit of wandering, they heard shouting. Geeze, these people had some lungs on them…

Then he realized it was Ace. "—I told you to get him!"

"Well I didn't hear you!" Sabo exclaimed. "Now what do we do, he could be anywhere!"

"Tell me you disabled the traps, Old Man!" Ace pleaded.

The old man laughed. "Of course not!"

"Traps?" Law wondered warily.

"Dammit! What if he got caught in one?!"

"Then we'd know where he was at! Bahahaha!"

Entering a lavishly decorated den, Law walked over to Sanji and asked quietly, "Who did they lose?"

"You." The man chuckled. "What happened?"

He pushed Baby 5 forward. "Meet Baby 5. She showed me where you were."

The guy was instantly distracted and began swooning over her. Sighing in relief, he listened to Ace and Sabo plan to search for him.

"Alright, first group will check the kitchen! Any volunteers?"

Law held up his hand. "I'll go."

"Great, you can take—" Sabo did a double-take before he got tears in his eyes. "LAW! You're alive!" He ran over and tackled him in a hug. "Where did you go, we've been searching everywhere for you!"

Law scoffed slightly. "I had a smoke outside."

The blond pulled back with a scandalized gasp, but Ace beat him to it. "You can't smoke! You're sick!"

"I don't have lung cancer." He said in amusement. "A smoke now and then won't kill me."

"Where'd you get it from?" Sabo demanded angrily. "The Boss banned them for just this reason!"

"What?" He asked in surprise.

Baby 5 walked over. "That dingus Breed baited him with it."

Law sighed as both their gazes sharpened. "We'll talk about it later. What was that about traps?"

"Gramps sets them up to try and kill us." Ace huffed.

"Taught you some great reflexes, brat!" The old man laughed.

"They're all over the house." Sabo continued. "We forgot to warn you about them."

"I didn't see any traps and I'd been wandering around for a while." He protested. "I got lost." He explained.

"WHAT?! Who dismantled my traps?!" The old man demanded angrily. "Show me where you went!"

Shrugging, Law gestured for him to follow. Baby 5 stuck close to him and they retraced their steps back to the front door with the old man, Ace, and Sabo following them. Then Law took the lead and showed them the way he'd wandered around searching for the others, ending at the window—that he sheepishly closed.

"You climbed out the window?" Ace asked in amusement.

"I was hopeless!" He huffed. "You saw, I must have crossed my own path twenty times!"

"Uh, Law?" Sabo said hesitantly. "Look up."

Doing so, he saw a metal sheet meant to fall and crush whoever climbed out. Curious, he opened it again, but nothing happened. He shut it.

"Let me try." The old man huffed.

The window moved half an inch when the sheet narrowly avoided crushing the man's fingers.

"You managed to avoid every single trap on the way here." Sabo continued. "Even when you stepped right on the trigger!" He pointed back the way they'd come. "Step on the square with white patterns."

Cocking his head, Law walked over and stepped on it. Nothing happened so he stepped off.

The old man put one toe and had to dodge a swinging blade.

"No more traps!" Baby 5 exclaimed. "How could you tell him to step on that?!"

"This doesn't make sense! How much do you weigh, boy?" The old man demanded.

"One hundred twenty-seven pounds." He replied.

"Jesus Christ, you need more meat on your bones!" He exclaimed. "It should've activated. The minimum weight is 75 pounds!"

He could exert 75 pounds of pressure with his toes? "Maybe they like me?" He shrugged.

"Traitors." The man grumbled, but accepted that reasoning. They all headed back for the den upstairs and Law brought up the rear so that he could see where all the traps were located.

Back in the room, the old man loudly declared that the traps liked Law more than any of them and began complaining about the traitorous instruments.

Covering a chuckle, Law went to find a seat and the next hour or so passed much more peacefully. The pumpkin spice coffee courtesy of the blond chef had him feeling warm and the actual fires in the fireplaces had him feeling cozy. The scent of cinnamon was in the air and to be honest, this was the best Thanksgiving he'd ever had.

"Why do you wear make-up like a girl?"

Drawn out of his doze by the curious question, he asked, "How do I wear make-up like a boy?"

"Boys don't wear make-up."

"But I'm wearing make-up."

The boy squinted at him, clearly flummoxed. "So you're a girl?"

"Luffy!" Ace exclaimed in shock.

"I'm a boy." He denied, Ace frowning slightly as he looked between them uncertainly.

After a solid minute, the boy said slowly, "So…boys can wear make-up too?"

"Yes. Anyone can wear make-up. Men, women, animals, plants—it's not just for women. That'd be like saying paint is just for houses." He said with a smile.

The boy accepted that. "Why do you wear make-up?"

"I'm an actor." He told him. "Up on stage, the lights are so bright, it can make me look flat. So I put on this make-up and the audience can see my features. My eyes, nose, cheekbones—I'll look human again."

"So you work with Ace and Sabo?" The boy asked eagerly. "But you look different than they do!" He realized, looking between them.

Law debated his answer as the duo glared daggers at him. A slow smirk bloomed on his face. "That's because I'm the lead character. They're just extras."

Both gaped at him in overexaggerated betrayal. "Baby 5, you don't think he's the lead, do you?" Ace demanded.

"I'm not allowed to have an opinion." She reminded in amusement.

"Cool!" Luffy crowed excitedly, stars in his eyes. "You're the star?!"

"Mhm." He confirmed with a smirk. "But when I'm cast, it's for shows meant for a…more mature audience. How old are you, eighteen? Nineteen?"

"Nineteen!" He said eagerly.

Law hummed. "Sorry, you're too young to see my shows."

"What? Why?" He protested in disappointment.

"He curses! A lot!" Ace exclaimed quickly.

"There's violence! Blood everywhere!" Sabo chimed in.

"The bad guys win! All the time!"

"And there's a smidge of nudity." Law chuckled. "Not for young hearts to take."

"You get naked?" He asked in shock. "In front of people?!"

"No, topless technically counts as nude." He reassured.

The boy looked at his chest, hidden in his old college hoody. "Do they paint your chest too?" He looked at his brothers who still hosted their puppy paint.

"For fifty dollars, you can find out." He winked at the boy.

"Law!" Sabo exclaimed, torn between reprimanding him and laughing. "Don't solicit our brother!"

"I don't work for free." He chuckled.

"You shouldn't be working at all." Baby 5 reprimanded before turning to Luffy. "A crowd this size would cost 150, kid."

"Just to take his shirt off?" The boy asked in confusion.

"Our artists put a lot of effort into him! Ace and Sabo got a free pass because you're family!" She replied.

"I have thirty dollars!" The orange-haired woman exclaimed.

"What? Are we really paying him to take his shirt off?" The green-haired man protested.

"Empty your pockets!" She growled.

"I've got twenty dollars!" Sanji told the woman with hearts in his eyes. "Anything for my Nami-swan!"

"Now you heathens hang on just one second!" Garp shouted. "Didn't you hear them? That's work! No work in my house, especially not on holidays!"

Law noticed a spark enter Luffy's eyes and watched him hurry over to his friends. Smiling, he asked quietly, "How much goes to Doffy?"

"Ten percent to him, five to Izo considering it's his work you're showing off." She answered.

"That's still 127.50." He chuckled, pleased.

"Like you need the money." Ace grumbled.

"And you do?" He asked coolly, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Boys, no fighting." Baby 5 chided. "Save it for when you're not trapped together."

Law turned his head so that the man wasn't in his line of sight and saw the red-haired man going towards the old man. As he distracted him, Luffy returned with the orange-haired girl and she handed over a stack of bills. Twenties, tens, and ones, predominately, plus some change. Baby 5 processed it all quickly and handed back a few coins before taking out the cut. She handed the rest to Law who put the bills in his jeans pocket.

"Alright, go ahead."

Smiling, Law stood up and was careful not to take his hoodie off too slowly. He heard several people gasp and Ace demanded, "You weren't wearing a shirt?! How could you go outside like that, it's twenty degrees!"

Seeing the old man look over, he huffed. "Are you going to keep asking questions or are you going to show me where I can rinse this juice out before it stains?"

"I'll take it to the laundry room." Sabo chuckled, elbowing Ace in his side. "I'll bring you something else to wear too."

"Don't tell me you tricked him into taking his shirt off anyway!" The old man exclaimed angrily.

"Ah—no, no, it really was an accident." Law said in surprise, baffled by how these people swung between extremes. And wasn't the guy supposed to be conservative?

"You might be fooled, but I won't be!" He growled as he stomped over. "The girl's a shark! She'll rob you blind and you won't notice until a week later!" He took out a wallet.

Alarmed, Law held up his hands. "No really, it was an accident! She wasn't even near me—"

"Then she shanghaied one of these whipped dogs to do it!" He held out the counted cash. "Here."

"Sir, really—" he tried to protest, backing up a step when he waved it at him.

"Just take it!" Baby 5 huffed in exasperation as she reached for it.

Law grasped her wrist just hard enough to make a point. "I don't accept charity, Baby 5."

She threw up her hands. "Sabo, talk some sense into this asshole! He can't afford to turn it down!" Her eyes went wide, hand clapping to her mouth. "Shit! Sai, come take over!" She exclaimed as she bolted from the room.

"What do—" Ace grunted when Sabo elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

"Law, just take it." The blond said. "Gramps won't let you leave without it and that means you'll be late to the hospital tomorrow."

Sai entered the room as Law reluctantly took the money. well, if he'd been given extra, he just had to make the experience worth it. Smirking suddenly, he wrapped his arm around the orange-haired girl's shoulders. "So you're a 'shark'? I know the exact amount of money I came in with."

She practically swooned when he released her and he went to go mingle.

He'd earn his keep.