Writing Exercise #4
Prompt: A Lie
Pairing: Lawlu
Type: AU
Time limit: 48 hours
A/N: this one was supposed to be cuter and in my head it was but it turned out to be shitty and just no good.
Luffy had always been shit at lying and keeping secrets. This became even more evident when Law asked what he was doing the upcoming Friday night. Luffy responded "I'm busy." all too quickly, wringing his hands and nervously glancing at the movie they were watching. Law knew something was up.
"Oh...okay." Law frowned. "I have Friday evening off I thought we could do something." Truthfully, Law was disappointed. Luffy had plans. But why was he acting like he didn't want to tell him?
"Ummmm ask Ace and Zoro!" Luffy said. "Maybe they're free?" Law shrugged and exhaled slowly.
"Yeah...I'll do that." From his position on the couch he could see Luffy bite his lip and pull on his hands. Nervous behavior. "Just out of curiosity," he said leaning back against the couch. "What are you doing then?"
"Nothing." Luffy spit out. "Wait! N-no I'm hanging out with Sanji!" Yeah, he was lying. But why? What situation would it have to be for Luffy to resort to lying?
He wasn't...he wasn't cheating on him was he? No, that's ridiculous. Luffy wasn't the kind of person that would do that. He shoved that thought into a mental shredder.
"Uh-huh." Law said doubtfully and grabbed the younger's arm to pull him over. Luffy grinned and let Law pull him into his lap. "Then I guess we'll go out some other time." He said, resting his chin on Luffy's soft nest of hair.
Luffy nestled into Law's arms and hummed. "Yup! Maybe we could check out the new ride at the amusement park!" He offered excitedly.
"No." Law stated. "You remember what happened last time." He shuddered.
"It was an acciden-"
"No."
And that was that.
Only it wasn't.
Law repeatedly tried over the next week to find out what Luffy was hiding. He was texting too much or calling people and hanging up quickly when Law walked in the room.
"Will you at least tell me what you're doing Friday?" He asked the younger over a takeout dinner wednesday.
"I'm hanging out with Usopp." He said, messing with his fork.
"I thought it was Sanji..." Law mused.
"AND Sanji!" Luffy frantically added.
"Sure..." Law trailed off and didn't bring it up the rest of the night.
Their friends were no help either. When Law brought it up to them they just shrugged and went about their activities.
"So what are you planning to do with Luffy tomorrow" He called Sanji on Thursday.
"Planning?" Sanji asked. "What do you mean planning with Luffy tomor-OH!" And then the sound of a pan crashing assaulted his ears. Definitely not suspicious. "We're just hanging out. Aren't you going to the bar with Zoro and Ace?" Avoiding the topic.
"Yeah." He answered, picking up and pen and doodling on a notepad. "Alright, well hope you both have fun." And then he hung up.
It's not that he would think Sanji and the rest would cover for Luffy for anything that would be against Law...but come on they were all skirting around the topic.
Friday came and his shift ended and Shachi and Penguin practically shoved him out the door. Everything was weird this week. Maybe he should just call Ace and Zoro and tell them he had to cancel. He didn't feel like doing anything anymore.
But then he remembered Luffy was going to be having fun doing...whatever it was he was doing and damn it he was going to enjoy his time off. Sitting around and moping like a jealous fourteen year old would do him no good.
So he drove to Zoro's house and picked him and Ace up and they went to a bar of Zoro's choosing. Of course, only Zoro knew where it was and it took them two hours to find the damn place due to the man's directions from hell. By then it was 6pm and he was just ready to go to sleep.
"So what's on your mind?" Ace said, sitting next to Law on a stool.
"Nothing much." He responded.
"Bullshit." Zoro muttered around a bottle of sake.
"Come on you don't have to be afraid. Tell the class your feelings." Ace proded both with his words and his finger. "We won't laugh."
Law sighed and studied the patterns in the wooden top of the bar. He'd have to tell them or it would never end. "I don't know what Luffy's doing tonight and it's bugging me." He huffed, scowling.
"You afraid he's cheating on you or something?" Zoro raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"No." Law glared at him. "Luffy wouldn't do that. I doubt he has the will to even think about cheating. On anything."
"So what is it then?" Ace asked while messing with a lighter he'd dug out of his pocket.
"I don't know. He's lying to me I know that. That's probably it." He shrugged.
"Hmmm." Zoro nodded. "You're jealous."
"Am not." Law frowned.
"Are too." Ace grinned. "He's so jealous."
"I am not jealous." Law's frown deepened. "I just know Luffy isn't the one to keep secrets. Or lie."
"You're right," Ace said and Zoro nodded. "My little brother is awful at lying. So for him to keep it from you this long it has to be important you don't know." He smirked.
"I refuse to listen to you and your shit." Law glared at the the other. He just received laughter.
A ringing sounded from beside Zoro and he took the phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. "Hello?" He asked, and then handed it to Law. "For you."
"Yes?" He answered, wondering why on earth anyone would call Zoro's phone looking for him.
"Law?" Sanji's voice reached his ears.
"Yes?" He asked again.
"Um..Luffy got sick and...he's really warm. I took him home but he's not looking so good. I think you better come back." Sanji sounded upset and annoyed which wasn't normally a good thing.
"Luffy's sick." Law sighed and handed the phone back to Zoro. He dug his wallet out of his back pocket and paid the bartender for his friends drinks and then stood up to leave. "We're leaving."
"How sick?" Ace asked, ever the caring older brother.
"Sanji said he didn't look good and told me to come home." He responded. Part of Law flared up and huffed 'that's what he gets for lying to me'.
"If Sanji's at your place then just take us with you." Zoro said, yawning. "He can drive us home from there."
The drive home was hell. For one he still didn't really know where the hell he was and two, Zoro didn't either. So they ended up lost. Then, Ace kept changing songs halfway through the choruses and eventually Law just turned off the radio. Which caused the two of them to just badly sing pop songs until Law turned the radio back on. By the time they pulled up into the driveway he couldn't be happier.
Unless there was a car in his way.
Apparently a neighbor was having a party on the block and someone had the nerve to park in the driveway of his house. "Can you believe this idiot?" He asked the two. "Who does that?"
Ace shrugged and Zoro did too. "Come on just go inside." The former urged him. "Luffy's sick remember?" Oh yeah.
He dug the key out of his pocket and opened the door and flipped the switch on the wall and was met with a flood of balloons and people.
"SURPRISE!" Came the wall of sound and Law turned around to see Ace and Zoro grinning stupid knowing grins at him.
"You..." He said before someone launched themselves at his body.
"Torao!" Luffy beamed up at him. "Sorry I couldn't tell you what I was doing, Shachi and Sanji said it had to be a secret!"
"Why...?" The doctor was struck with confusion. Why were all their friends and half the hospital staff in his house?
"It's your birthday, stupid." Luffy said, lightly hitting him on the head.
"Oh..." Law tried to remember when the last time he looked at a calendar was. "I didn't realize it was today."
"You're always buried in your work so we took the liberty of planning a celebration for you." Penguin said. "Planning was the easy part but getting that one to keep quiet was hard" he pointed to Luffy who grinned at being called complicated.
"I can't believe you'd all do this." Law said but he couldn't stop the grin that came to his face. And he'd thought Luffy was cheating on him. He was such an idiot.
"We all love you, of course we'd do something like this!" Luffy said and dragged him into the living room. "Now come on it's your birthday lets party!"