This story is unbeta'ed
After everyone who was a hugger had their turn to try and squeeze the life out of Law they decided that maybe having some breakfast was in order. Law was still a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people in his house. He had a hard time remembering when the last time was he had this many people in his house. The answer was probably never. At the sound of Luffy's cry for food the whole living room seemed to become a flurry of activity. Law was left standing alone wanting nothing more than to be left alone with his thoughts. That however seemed to be impossible in his current predicament. At the encouragement of Robin, who seem to have the knack of appearing out of thin air, he went and dropped off his luggage in his room and stepped into the shower. It was times like this he was grateful his apartment had two bathrooms.
The warm stream of water was welcomed by his tired body. Feeling how the millions of tiny droplets seemed to entice his body to relax making him give a contempt sigh. Even though he knew there were a lot of people on the other side of the door he could not help but enjoy his momentary solitude in the shower. The quiet around him let him start sorting out his thoughts from the past week.
When he was younger he always used to think he was a lost cause. After the accident he spent most of his childhood on the streets. He refused to be part of the low budget housing program that the government used put kids who were in crap situations like himself; No he ran away and hid from them. The same government that had betrayed them suddenly showed up after the accident claiming to want to help him. He was not going to be an easy target as well. Although he was young Law was not an idiot he knew better than to stay under the watch of the government with some crap family. Odds were that once they realized he had not died in the accident they would comeback and finish the job.
It was warm. Warmer than what he had grown accustomed to in the streets. He wanted to sleep a bit longer in this big comfortable bed. With a start he realized what was wrong. He was in a bed and a especially comfy one from the feels of it. Or maybe he had just forgotten what a bed felt like. He tried to sit up but his body was heavy. He tried to move his toes first experimentally but they barely twitched. He wanted to start panicking but deep inside he knew that it was better to stay calm and rational. He opened his eyes slowly but even that took a lot of energy from him.
The room slowly started coming into focus bit by bit. The room was lit with a warm light and furnished with brown furniture in various shades of it. It reminded Law of the hotel his dad had taken his family once when they went to on a trip together. It seemed like a long time for him. The slight beeping in the background brought him back from his almost memories. That beeping was getting annoying. He saw his hand before he felt it move half way across his face towards whatever infernal thing was making his arm itch like crazy. It was almost making him insane the more he heard it.
His hand was moving, to Law's delight , clumsily, but moving nonetheless. He went to scratch his arm but was stopped by the bandages that peek out from his shirt, his white shirt. It was a clean white shirt. He didn't own a clean shirt. He hadn't own anything this clean since the 'accident,' he owned nothing at all in fact. That itch was really driving him insane. He looked down and saw the cause of his momentary torment. It was an IV drip in his arm.
He wanted to groan but all he heard was a small chocked out hand't realized how thirsty he was. His throat felt parched like a dessert. He wanted to cough but all he got were very painful dry heaves. Law knew that he should be hurting in some way but the pain never came. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that he must have been drugged in order to feel this type of calmness in his body.
The doorknob rattled at that moment and that seemed to prompt Law's whole body to move. Painfully ripping out the IV drip from his arm he hid under the closest hiding place, which was under the bed. After what see like centuries the door finally opened. Two brown shiny shoes made it into Law's peripheral vision. He held his breath and waited. The person just stood there without making any sort of movement for what seemed like hours to Law but were probably seconds until the person finally started walking towards the bed slowly. What happened next was something that Law would never forget.
The guy had only walked three steps into the room and on the forth one, the man tripped and tumbled onto the ground. Then Law caught a whiff of something burning. The man got up so fast and was out of the room without a word. Law was left speechless. He wasn't sure what he had just witness but it now was his chance to escape. With shaky limbs he started to make a run to the door. He almost fell once or twice but when he finally made it to the door he peered out carefully just in case. The corridor was empty and there was no sign of that weird man from earlier. He tried to tiptoe quietly towards the stairs but his body still felt sluggish from the drugs. After what seemed like hours to Law he arrived at the stair case.
"Who are you?" Came the question from a childish voice. Law turned slowly and saw another child around his age. She was small and thin. Her small pale face framed by dark wavy hair. Law gulped loudly and quickly ran down the stairs but his body made the blunder on tripping on the last two steps sending him head first towards the floor. He shook his head and tried to, shakily, stand up again when there was an ear splitting scream. "You're bleeding!" The young girl wailed. Only then did Law noticed all the blood at his feet and hands.
"Where were you?" Kid's harsh voice snapped him out of his memories. Law slid the shower curtain a bit and came into view with the serious face of Kid.
"I had a family emergency to attend to." Law responded.
"Ha! That's funny because last I remember, and I like to think I remember things pretty good. You don't have a family." He accused.
"Well I do now." Law answered icily.
"What that fuck is that supposed to mean?" Kid demanded. Law proceeded to shampoo his hair with a calm he did not feel.
"Exactly as it sounds Eustass-ya." He responded a bit tired. Kid gave a small growl. "Does Killer know you're in here trying to steal a peek?" Law asked with false humor.
"I am not trying to peek at you because I want to. I just want to know why you were gone. Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Kid was almost whispering loudly. It was unlike him to keep his emotions in check and Law was a bit astonished at that. For Kid to act like this he must have really been worried. Law turned off the water after he rinsed off and put his hand out. A few seconds later he felt a towel being shoved in his hand. He dried his hair and then proceeded to tie it around his waist.
"I apologize for making you guys worried but I really did have a family emergency." Law said with a sigh. Kid narrowed his eyes dangerously at him and Law raised his hands in silent surrender.
"Breakfast is done guys." Killer's voice floated in from the other side of the door. Kid turned sharply and exited the bathroom leaving the door wide open. Killer eyed him with a calm look on his face. "We really need to stop meeting like this Law or I'll start thinking you're trying to seduce me." Law flipped him off and walked past him and into his room.
"I need to change, get out." Law grumbled. Killer just laughed and left after a few seconds. He went over to his closet and picked out a white t-shirt and some sweat pants. He was about to step out when he noticed a red hoodie at the foot of his bed. He got closer and noticed a part of denim shorts sticking under it. Luffy. He thought. He looked around his room and noticed a few other things that weren't his scattered about and remember the scene earlier of him. He looked so ravishing with his tousled bed hair and a way too big t-shirt that was very obviously Law's. He closed his eyes and tried to will away the images a of waking up next to Luffy looking like that.
Get you shit together Law. He commanded himself. It had been a while though since his last night escapade. He walked out of the bedroom and went towards the dinning room where he noticed a rather attractive blond placing dishes in front of everyone. He remembered that it was the young sous chef from the Baratie. He had always though that he was rather attractive if not for his attitude towards men. A pity in Law's book.
"I took the liberty to cook breakfast today since everyone was already here." He told Law. Law nodded. They all started to dig in and soon the room fas full of chatter and laughs. No one made an inquiry about Law's whereabouts the whole time and as time passed Law started to enjoy listening to the idle chatter. Of course everything was interesting with Luffy around and Law noticed how everyone seemed to brighten up around him. He wondered what it was that made people crowd around him everywhere he went.
Once everyone was done with breakfast they slowly started to trickle out of Law's apartment wishing him well. Only Law, Killer, Kid, Penguin and Luffy remained after all was said and done making Law a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't ready to talk about his 'vacation' yet. They sat around the living room and Law stayed in the kitchen cleaning up whatever Sanji didn't get, which wasn't very much, trying to put off the impending conversation. Luffy slowly walking into the kitchen looking for more food trying to look over Law's shoulder.
"What are you doing straw hat-ya?" Law asked. Luffy for once actually looked kind of sheepish.
"I was looking for food." He admitted with a small laugh at the end. Law rolled his eyes and took some chips out from the cupboard. He game them to Luffy who started to eat them with gusto. Law idly wondered if Luffy would actually understand if he were to tell him. He knew Kid and Killer were just worried about him but he was not ready for all the questions they were going to bring up.
"What are you looking at Traffy?" Law realized he must have been staring off into space.
"Wondering why there were so many people in my house in the first place." He lied.
"Oh that. Well they helped look for you!" He exclaimed happily.
"Look for me?" Law asked confused. He was only gone for a week. There shouldn't have been any alarm from him being gone. He groaned internally. Sachi. He should have known that he would take things over the top.
"-water all over my close so Kid told me use yours."
"What?" Law's attention quickly came back to Luffy's last words.
"Your clothes." Luffy said with a tilt of his head. For some reason Law found that extremely endearing with the shirt that Luffy had on. That shirt was a bit big and hanging a bit off his shoulders leaving his collar deliciously visible. He really needed another night out and soon.
"Captain! Sachi and I think is time to take Bepo to the groomers, is that okay?" Penguin asked from the living room. Law quickly wiped around stumbling and hitting the corner of one of the cabinets.
"N-no it's fine." He told him as he walked into the living room a bit flushed. Kid raised and eyebrow but didn't comment on it.
"Well I guess we'll take our leave then. Come along Bepo." Penguin said leading Bepo out of Law's apartments. Sachi gave him a long look as if looking for something. Law was a bit unnerved by that look because it made him feel exposed. He looked around anywhere but him. Sachi just sighed and followed Penguin out.
"Luffy would you like to get some stuff for the party later today?" Killer asked. Luffy's eyes got really wide before he ran in Law's room.
"Party?" Law asked skeptically.
"Party." Killer said in a cool voice.
"What party? and where?" Law demanded.
"Why here of course. It's your welcome back party!" Killer explained with an exasperated voice.
"No. Out of the question. I am exhausted. Do you know what I had to deal with this whole week?!" Law said in a barely through gritted teeth.
"No Law we don't!" Kid finally snapped. Law's eyed widened in realization at his words. He pursed his lips.
"No more party?" Luffy asked in a quiet voice. Law looked at him and his sad demeanor immediately regretting his words.
"Do what you want. I'm going to sleep." He brushed past Luffy as he cheered. He went into his room shutting the door quietly. It did no good to slam it like a child. He sighed and slid down until he sat down on the floor. He could hear Killer and Luffy's muted voices on the other side. He wanted to be alone for a long time. He was tired of not being able to breath properly.
This was all his fault. Why had needed to make contact now after all these years? All Law ever wanted was to leave up to the legacy he was left behind with. He suddenly felt the need to stab something or just destroy something. It didn't matter did it? He had always known his time was limited ever since he realize he had been found. It was unfair. All he had ever wanted was to be left alone after the accident but fate had different ideas it seemed. Even now. He groaned and got up just to flop down on his bed. He buried his face into the covers. They smelled like fabric softener and cologne and Luffy. Why was everything falling apart around him. Just when he had thought he had his life in order reality had slapped him in the face with the cold hard truth. This past week had not been really unpleasant as they could had been. He was just not ready to face what he had done yet.
"Why did you bring me back here?" Law asked skeptically. The man in front of him just narrowed his eyes.
"Don't you think is time you paid him your respects? After all he did it for you." The man said in a soft voice.
"I know what he did! I was fucking there!" Law snapped his voice cracking at the end. The other man just gave a small grunt.
"He would never blame you for this." He finally said after a few minutes of silence.
"I know." Law responded feeling that familiar vile in the back of his throat rise up along with other feelings. "Take me back."
"No." Was the only response he got.
"Please." Law pleaded quietly.
"We'll come back tomorrow then. Until you can face him." Law gridded his teeth. It hadn't been fair. He had not been ready. He knew that if he wasn't force then he would never be ready but he wanted to be stubborn about it for as long as possible. He knew he was way overdue on his visit here but he just could not bring himself to do it.
"Fine." He answered.
In the end he had ended visiting him. He had ran al the way there from the hotel he was staying at. He had sat there with him for a few hours telling him everything he hadn't been able to before. He had laughed and he had cried until he felt that everything was off his chest. Cora. He thought feeling that familiar lump in his throat rise up and just gripped the covers harder until his knuckles turned white. There was not a day he did not think of him. No matter how many years had passed his memories of him were still fresh in his mind.
He got himself under the covers covering his face and he shut his eyes. There was no way he was going back to him. He would rather die than do it. Odds were he probably was going to kill himself just to escape him.
Hot. Was the feeling that woke him up. Why is it so hot? His mind wondered as he tried to push the covers off him just to be trapped under someones arm. He looked down and saw Luffy draped across his chest snoring softly. He stared for a minute until his drowsy brain caught up with what was in front of him. He could feel Luffy's heart beating slowly in a relaxed state. The soft breaths he released tickled Law's throat a bit. He studied his sleeping face which was relaxed. Luffy's usually expressive face which seemed childish looked more mature while he was sleeping because it was a bit serious. His long lashes caressing his cheeks while his bangs just covered a bit of his eyes.
Law cautiously ran his fingers through his hair experimentally trying to see if his hair was as rough as it looked. Surprisingly it was not. It was soft and smooth, pleasant to the touch. He was surprised by how much he was entertaining the idea of waking up like this next to Luffy. Sure the kid was a ball of energy while awake but he had seen the other more calm sides of him.
"What are you doing Torao?" Luffy's sleepy voice sounded loud so close to him.
"Trying to wake you up so you can get off me." Law lied automatically. Luffy got off him as he got up and walked towards the door.
"I was trying to wake you up but just seeing you sleep made me sleepy." Luffy explained as he laughed at the end. Law chuckled at that. Luffy turned quickly and ran out of the room.
When Law came out of his room a few minutes later he saw that there were already some people there talking to each other. He remembered them from breakfast that morning. Bepo ran towards him happily and jumped on him trying to lick his face.
"Bepo you're shinning." And he was. He was really white, that groomer really had worked wonders. He looked so clean and smelled really good, he had even gotten his fur trimmed. He hugged him and ruffled his fur around. "Down boy. Hello everyone." He greeted everyone that was already there. He heard everyone reply some sort of greeting back.
"Law!" Nami called out as she wave. She was sitting besides Robin on the living room couch. He joined them sitting on the edge of it. "Did you get some rest?" Nami asked a bit worried.
"Yes Nami-ya I got plenty of rest." Law replied politely.
"That's good. We want to thank you for inviting us to this party, although, you didn't have to throw one since you must still be a bit tired from your trip." Robin said in her smooth voice. Law had the feeling there was something more to that statement than it seemed.
"You didn't have to thank us you know? We would have done this for anyone." Nami said with a soft smile. Law tried to give her his best sincere smile.
"I just wanted to make sure you guys knew I was grateful for your help." He replied. It made sense now why Killer wanted to have a party. Suddenly he felt bad for getting mad. This guys had spent their time looking for him. He felt touch that they cared even thought they didn't know him that well. They chatted for a while longer as the rest of started to show up with different stuff.
"Law I'm glad you're looking better!" Ace said as he walked over to him trailed by a bored looking blond who's name had escaped Law at the moment.
"Mr. Por- Ace. Thank you for your concern." Law corrected himself as he shook Ace's hand.
"Marco. We met this morning." The blond said while stretching his hand out. Law took it.
"Yes I remember thank you for coming." Law noticed a flicker of something in the blond's eyes but he didn't know what. Perhaps there is more to the eye, Law thought to himself. He definitely had another Robin on his hands. He had an easier time remembering everyones names and faces later that evening. He also got to meet another of Luffy's brother named Sabo.
Now that one was quiet the character. He was a bit taller than Ace even with his hat and blond. He had similar facial features like his brother's, but Law suspected that they were not related, except for the scar that adorned his left eye. Luffy and him seemed to have a thing for scars on the left eye it seems. Law thought jokingly and almost laughed out loud at his stupid joke. He was just like his brothers but less loud and more calm but just as likable. He wondered how they were raised for them to always be happily smiling.
He also got to reacquainted himself with Usopp from the other night and young Chopper. It was always refreshing to talk to him. He was so full of wonder and questions from the medical world. The party seemed to dragged on for a long time, a lot longer than Law had anticipated. By midnight he was starting to get really drowsy and the alcohol wasn't helping. In fact he could tell it was making him worse. His brain felt fuzzy around the edges and he could tell he wasn't steady when he tried to walk from one place to another. The conversations started to blend in together and at some point he just lost track of them. He vaguely hears Nami saying something and everyone just cheering her on. Then a lot of activity as everyone rushes out of his apartment. Too drunk to even care about what was said all his body was asking him to do was to lay down and rest. The couch seemed so soft all of a sudden.
Really sorry for the late update. Had to take my time again. The next one will be probably even later because of Pirate Warriors 3. Would have uploaded sooner but that power outage XD anyways thank you all so much for your comments! I love reading all of them! They give me motivation to write faster!