What a fun way to start off the new year. Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it!
And! Creating a Heart got fanart! I'm totally stoked about this. It's drawn by my lovely friend, Mexiana, located here: mexaina . tumblr post/138312978450/at-least-well-match-thiss-for-the-lovely (with all the spaces removed)
Thank you dorksurgeon for helping beta-read this chapter! Now onwards with some cuteness!
Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece, only the plot belongs to me.
Creating a Heart
Knack
Eustass grumbled, crossing his arms as he sat obediently in bed while Law removed the thermometer from his mouth. Since morning, Killer had called to tell him that he wasn't allowed to show up to work, while Law has prevented him to leave his bed unless it was for the bathroom. Penguin had left specific instructions for Law, which the machine has undoubtedly followed.
"Thirty-nine degrees Celsius." He spoke before looking at Kid. "You are to stay in bed to rest."
"I feel fine, I've already slept enough." Sure, he felt weak, but there were other things to worry about. He was more keen on working. When Law folded his arms disapprovingly, he let out a deep sign. "I'll stay in bed, but at least give me my notebook."
"I was given specific instructions to make sure you rest." He walked towards the tv monitor turning it on before returning back with the remote. "Here. Use this to distract yourself then."
Kid glared at the android's smug grin. Law often found enjoyment when he would return back from work in an injury. It gave him a chance to practice first aid. Kid hadn't minded it much, the wound would've just gotten a band aid over it anyways. Yet with this flu, he was being treated like a child from a machine who wasn't even a year old. And he positive the machine was milking every moment of it.
"Fine, can you put in the order for the materials then? The list is downstairs on the blueprints."
Law nodded as he went to the bathroom and grabbed a small basin full of water. Kid nearly jumped out of bed when he saw the water nearly spilling.
"Hey! Be careful of that! You're not waterproof yet."
Setting the bowl down, he looked towards the redhead. "I know what I'm doing." He grabbed the dried rag and dipped it into the water gently, allowing it to soak. Eustass watched anxiously, the last thing he wanted was another malfunction. The nimble fingers slowly picked up the rag, twisting it to allow the excess water to drip. He folded it and placed it on Kid's forehead. "Now lay down and rest. Doctor's orders."
Gritting his teeth, his eyes narrowed. "You're not even a doctor."
"Yes, but Penguin is almost one." He returned the basin back to the bathroom before wiping his hands and leaving Kid to the sounds of the tv.
His red eyes stared at the television before grabbing the remote. There wasn't anything of interest on as he flipped through it. He groaned in boredom before looking at the door again. He hadn't heard anything for the android. Within the next few minutes, he got up carefully. His eyes darting towards the door, checking again before tiptoeing around the room. He searched for his notebook high and low, but it never showed up. He headed towards his bookshelf grabbing one of his spare notebooks. He returned back to bed, swiping a pen from his desk along the way. With a grin, he started working, allowing the tv to become background music.
Downstairs, Law was looking at the notebook Kid was writing in the night before. His grey eyes recorded each note that was written. As he digitally crossed check the current data with previous stored data, he rapidly typed out code after code of his programming. Editing and updating the previous codes, his eyes tracked the progress ensuring no minor mistakes were made.
After last night, Law had felt annoyed at what Killer had mentioned and that feeling kept growing. But after re-listening to conversation, word for word, he deemed the man had made some sense. In this moment of time, he was not adequate enough to take care of Eustass. He was not up to par in his programming. There were still many things he couldn't do. Most of which, he'll have to leave it up to Eustass to fix. For now, he'll stick with reprogramming what he can.
He connected each wire into his torso before closing his eyes to go into hibernation mode. As his whole body started to slow down, his head fell forward as his shoulder slouched. The hands that were on the keyboard laid flat and the machine went into a quiet hum while the program updated. After a few minutes, the computer started beeping alerting the completion of the update.
His systems started to reboot as Law's eyes opened again. They wandered down to his hands as his eyes scanned through the skin latex, labeling every wire and connection behind the metal. "I can at least modify these with the new programming." He spoke as he went to the center table, pulling out a different pair of mechanical hands.
The previous blueprints that Eustass had on his hands had help the process go quicker along with the many pieces of scrap metal and wire that he had around. It didn't take long to remake a similar pair, but with his own modification.
He focused on his pair of hands and scanning again to ensure nothing would go wrong. His mind turned off any electrical energy that went to his left hand and slowly started to unattached the piece, replacing it with the similar piece. Once attached, he reactivated the energy flowed through the wires giving life to the hand. Placing the hand on the table, his mind started to booth up his new program. Calculating. "Twelve degrees Celsius."
He grabbed one of the cups he'd left there, placing one finger in. As his mind calculated, he spouted out, "twenty-four degrees Celsius." He then checked the thermometer in the cup and smiled. "Correct."After testing it on various other items, he quickly replaced his other hand and ran similar tests.
An internal alarm rang within him, interrupting his current test. It was notifying that it was almost time for Eustass to take his medicine again. With one final test, he headed upstairs, moving each finger to check if it functioned correctly before going into the kitchen.
Grabbing the apron, he put it on himself before washing his hands to start cooking. Mimicking each step that Penguin had told him while incorporating the skills he learned from various cooking videos. He felt prepared as he readied lunch. Pulling out a pot, he placed some meat in with broth and let it cook while he concentrated on dicing the vegetables.
Quick, easy, and efficient. Law was proud of the precision of each cut. It didn't take long and his mind went towards the pot, calculating the left of time. Temperature is a missing variable. As he was about to place a finger into the pot to check the temperature, his wrist was grabbed and pulled away roughly. Turning his head, he noticed Eustass, a bit out of breath.
"Eustass-ya." Law started.
"What the hell are you doing?" Cutting him off immediately.
"Cooking." He held up the knife in his other hand. "Is it not obvious?"
"I know that!" He grabbed the knife setting it down carefully. His finger pointed towards the pot. "Why were you putting your hand into the pot?"
"I washed my hands before hand, but I will wash it again now" As he tried to pull his hand from Kid's grip, it tighten.
"That's not the point! You could damage yourself!"
Law stared as confusion crossed his face. "The heat is not high enough to potentially melt the wires." When the explanation didn't satisfy Kid, he continued. "The conductive heat of the broth wouldn't pro-"
He stopped when Kid pulled him into a hug. The bigger man held him close, leaning his forehead against the machine's shoulder. "Stop doing things that could potentially short circuit you. What if that happened when I wasn't there?" His tone soften.
Law's face turn neutral, unable to process what was going on. What is an effective way to respond to a hug? As he went through his storage data, nothing came up on what to do in these situations. His mind went then went to his visual data storage. He reached up slowly, returning the hug and apologizing. When his creator didn't answer, his mind started to search for another answer to this predicament. Everything was drawing up as an error.
After several moments, he finally moved, looking towards Law. The redness on his pale skin was prevalent. His hand started to move, his cold touch covering the man's forehead. Kid looked up at the hand, staring in confusion. "You can keep trying, but we haven't figure out a way to-"
"Thirty-five degrees Celsius."
"…what?"
"The temperature of your skin is currently thirty-five degrees Celsius. Average skin temperature is thirty-two point eight degrees Celsius." Law spoke.
The redhead stared in shock, grabbing one of Law's hands. He inspected it closely, turning the hand from side to side to see any difference. "How?"
"Using the same technology as heat sensors and recalibrating it to be able to determine what the temperature of whatever surface I touch. The heat is then converted into data for my storage to provide exact reading."
"And you did this all in one night?"
"The programming for that was easily adapted from the notebook you had last night."
Kid nodded slightly before he narrowed his eyes. "You took my notebook?"
"I was merely borrowing it."
"I was looking for that everywhere!"
This time Law's eyes narrowed. "Did you not rest while I was downstairs, Eustass-ya?"
"This is not how you take care of someone who is sick!"
Law hummed as he turned the page from his medical textbook. "This is exactly how you take care of someone who refuses to rest in bed."
Eustass used his arms in attempts prop his upper body up. He frowned at the android, who had decided to use his stomach as a seat. His long leg crossed with the textbook on top.
After he had eaten and taken medicine, the machine forced him into bed to rest before leaving again. Eustass had felt tired at first. A good nap sounded nice, but as he closed his eyes, his mind continued to buzz on anything that wasn't done yet. As they continued to nag at him, he opened his eyes and grabbed the notebook under the pillow to work again. I'll just write these down before I forget.
What he hadn't thought would occur was Law returning back. His neutral face had left Kid worried as the machine left just as quickly as he arrived. A few minutes later, he returned with his heavy medical textbook. His notebook was promptly taken away and now he was in this predicament.
"You know, you could just sit on the bed!" The bed was large enough to easily hold two people. Kid had wanted comfort and space, especially for his bed. "There's plenty of space!"
"And miss the opportunity to use you as a chair?" The machine spoke smugly.
Kid groaned, laying back down. "You would be the worst doctor if you did this to your patients."
"It's a good thing I'm not one then." He turned the page before looking up to Kid. "Though I would prefer to be a surgeon."
"Oh? And what kind of surgeon would you be?"
The textbook was held up by the android as he showed him the diagram of a human heart. "Cardiac surgeon."
"A heart surgeon? That's ironic for a machine."
Law grinned at the answer as he set the textbook down. Reaching forward, he grabbed the rag and got off. He rewetted it before placing it over Kid's forehead again. "I think it sounds perfect for me. Now go to sleep."
"Fine, but sit on the bed. I would like to breathe while I'm asleep."
Kid watched the machine walked and sat by him. His grey eyes had returned back to the textbook. He was unsure why Law had always read that book continuously. The machine picked up knowledge without a need for studying. His memory file had enough data for him to store the entire internet if he wanted to. Yet he still read the book.
It still amazed him how quickly Law had grown in such a quick amount of time. The machine functioned like a human. With the next full remodel of his body, he should be set to handle everything. As he slowly closed his eyes, the image of Law imprinted into his mind.
His long fingers dragging against the page with his cool smokey eyes following them in sync. The beautiful tattoos on his hand and forearm against his tanned skin latex. His messy dark black hair and those earrings. The way they shined in the sun. The way they went so well with his appearance. A smile creeped onto his lips as his breathing steady and he slept.
I'm assuming you guys really didn't like that last chapter, but no matter, I shall persevere. Thank you to those who take the time to review! I always love reading each one.
Candy514 - I agree wholeheartedly. Let's indulge in some more moments, yes?
Guest - I would, but I'd be a bit terrified of him to ask. Aww! I'm glad that scene made you happy. And of course I will continue writing.
piopio meme - Thank you! You're very welcome, but I should be thank you for your review! Thank you so much for your compliments!
