A/N: I like SmoLaw. The doujinshi always have Law as shorter than Smoker, but I think it's not the actual case. So I've tried to write it with him slightly taller. Their interaction in this one was further inspired by Devv's older fiction on ff: Chasing Shadows. The relationship between Smoker and Law is also heavenly (huh! That's an interesting typo, I think I'll keep it) and heavily influenced by the doujinshi, Scarred and Gentleness, originally by Matsuki, and translated by amaitsumi on tumblr.

Warnings: Not too many. Language and mature content.

Chapter 26: I'm Always in the Kitchen at Parties

"Are you Better Homes and Gardens Pirates or something?" Smoker laughed, exhaling smoke from his cigar, looking into the sleek modern design of the house from their seats on the balcony. The flowing curtains, the spacious, hardwood floors. Law drew back on a joint. They'd spun the medicinal argument.

"I am a doctor," Law said, all gravitas.

Marco thought that he hadn't seen their living room. Though it's true, the furniture was pretty chic, depending on your point of view. Functionality trumped style. The wall hangings were another matter.

"He's got a stick up his arse," Luffy, thumped the table, and knew it actually wasn't true, but Law liked things ordered. Law just looked over at him, picked up Marco's hand from the table and casually kissed the back of it. He passed the joint to him.

"Great food, Law, thanks," Tashigi said.

"Pleasure," Law murmured. Life was good. From desperate to good. Or maybe it was the dope speaking.

Smoker had cornered him in the kitchen while he was getting another bottle of wine. Law was genial, determined to enjoy himself, but the admiral could also feel the distance, the tender way Marco treated him, and the tender way Law treated himself when moving, standing up or sitting down.

"Who got you, Law?" he asked, as he rinsed out their glasses. The move from white wine to red. Smoker really had seen him at his worst, more than all of the three out there. Though Luffy had definitely seen him down and apparently out for the count, but in a different way. Smoker knew that it had to be serious if Law hadn't been able to farewell Kureha and Tsuru. Law looked over at him, his grey eyes darkened.

"It was over before it started," Law mumbled, but Smoker knew that wasn't quite true. Could see the haunted Law at the corner of the eyes of the stoned Law, dark smudges under them heavier.

"Are you straight enough to function?"

He tipped the glasses upside down on the sink to drain for a few seconds.

"Yes," hissed Law. "This just takes an edge off the pain. I've been balancing things out."

"Is it too difficult to have us here?"

Law shook his head. "You make me feel normal. You remind me that people can treat each other normally."

"That you can be treated normally, kid?" He reached out and put his palm against Law's face. Law leant into it, held the wrist, nodded. He was hardly a kid any more.

"Can I?"

"You should be. Marco treats you right?"

"Better than I should be."

"Nonsense."

Law nodded in agreement. True. No point in running himself down.

"Like a king. An equal king. But like a king. Like a person. It's nourishing."

Smoker smiled, dropped his hand and uncorked the bottle, and poured out two glasses.

"Good. I want to know that."

He shoved the cork back into the bottle, though he knew Law would have some fancy-schmancy stopper somewhere nearby.

"I'm sorry I was so rough with you." He bit down on an unlit cigar and focused his attention on his wine.

"You weren't always. You didn't reject me when you knew about Doflamingo."

"Ah," Smoker ran his hands through his own hair, "I loved you more then, Law. Once I knew. I wish I could have stopped him."

Law hesitated for a second at Smoker's words. He'd been reaching for one of the glasses. Smoker had the other in his hand. A shy smile. A smile that hoped and dared not hope crossed his face. A smile which showed how much it meant to him that this craggy, tough marine valued him. A smile that maybe only Cora-san had seen, or not seen. Law keeping it to himself after the tall, bumbling man, his father figure, had told him he loved him, when he was a kid with no-one to love him. He had no choice but to keep it to himself, pushed into an empty treasure chest for his own safety. Cora was dead soon after. Shot by Doflamingo.

"You loved me?"

Smoker gave Law a hard side glance. He nodded sharply.

"I worried about you all the time. Stupid pirate."

Law blushed and turned away. This came about ten years too late. He drew a breath.

"You gave me shelter and you didn't ask for anything. It was too dangerous to love anyone then, Smoker. Especially a marine. Luffy taught me I could be loved. That I could love."

He stood next to the older man and stroked his hand. It wasn't a come-on.

"We were so rough, but you started the path. Smoker. At least in my adult life." He thought of Penguin, their younger love. "If I could have been with you then, I would have been." He quickly held the other's gaze before picking up the wine and taking a sip.

Smoker ran his eye over Law's body, and could still see the faint scars from the strings. Law knew what Smoker was doing. He especially eyed around the neck area. Doflamingo's strings would land and force Law to do whatever that sick fuck wanted him to.

The neck ones promised loss of life, turned Joker on if he used them through sex. He didn't reserve them only for sex. Smoker had questioned Law about them when they were together, the marks. Law had given a one-word answer. His fucking master's name. His hand fluttered to his neck now.

"He was a powerful man, Smoker-ya. He had the government in his pocket. You got me away from him ultimately. Be proud of that." His arm pushed up against Smoker's as they reached for glasses for the others, the white haired man paused.

"And this?" He indicated Law's face, glasses forgotten. "I saw how you were walking." He noticed the tremor. Law's eyes flicked up and then down.

"Kid."

"Eustass Kid?"

Law nodded.

"How'd that klutz get you?" Doflamingo was one thing, but Law could outwit Kid in an instant.

Law shrugged, his eyes dark. "I trusted him. He had cuffs."

"Seastone? You had a tryst or something?"

Law looked up, shocked, but not really shocked.

"You know I love Marco."

Smoker blinked his acknowledgement. The pirate was anything but disloyal to those he loved.

"He was rowdy. I used my powers to get him out of the pub. I went out to speak to him. I thought we'd just trade some insults and he'd be on his way, but he wanted his piece of me."

"How far?" Smoker picked up his glass and took a long drink of his wine, and poured some more. Both men eyed the spare glasses. They were meant to bring the booze to the table.

"Does it matter?"

"Just lets me gauge how much I should hate him."

"A lot," Law blinked. Paused. Elaborated. "Penetration. But Zoro-ya stopped him before he came. He was in me though." Grimaced. "No oral sex other than fingers in my mouth, sloppy kisses. Physical assault. Verbal assault. Ribs, stomach, face. He took me dry cos' I wouldn't suck his fingers."

Law shook his head. That hadn't been a great plan, but his psyche was stronger for it. And as if that shithead's fingers would have been any more gentle. The way he recited his injuries was like ticking all applicable boxes on a survey. He'd been through this before with Smoker. He'd be unable to relay what happened to most others.

Smoker inhaled. "Okay, he's in my sights."

Law frowned. "It was child's play compared to everything that happened while you guys had me, compared to my childhood, that captivity."

"But it brought it all back."

Law nodded. Like a freaking steam train.

"And for that, I hate him. And for thinking he . . ."

Law looked up. The shy smile from before replaced with a thin lipped one. His eyes, fragmented.

"He claimed I gained my notoriety and infamy from sleeping my way to the top – You, Luffy. I'm sure he would have viewed Akainu and Kizaru in favourable light. He couldn't see, therefore, why I wouldn't want another notch on my belt, why I wouldn't bend over for him. His words. Not mine." He turned his face to the side and expelled a long breath of disgust.

Smoker growled. Law knew it wasn't at him. "You saved him from Kaidou, right?"

Law nodded. "Luffy too." Kaidou had taken a lot longer to take down than anticipated.

"But you were instrumental."

Law nodded again. He'd taken some hits as well for Kid. Shanks and Luffy had joined forces for that one, and Law had been part of the attack.

"Fucking ingrate."

That's about what Law felt. Though he also knew what being imprisoned by a beast could do to you.

"You guys invited him yesterday?"

"He was in the area so we didn't see why not."

"You though, right? Not Marco."

Law shrivelled a little inside. Yes, he had invited him into his workplace, the island on which he and Marco lived. Their refuge.

"I don't think I led him on. I don't think it's enough to warrant . . ." he spoke quietly.

Smoker put his hand on the younger man's arm. "It's not. What is enough to warrant rape, Law?" And he tipped his face to him.

A brand. A reputation. A wanted bounty. Marine propaganda.

"He wouldn't last a day at Impel Down. Well, not where I plan to put him, anyway."

Law smirked briefly, though he actually wouldn't wish that on Kid. Once. Twice. A lesson, yes. But nothing as demoralisng and incessant as he'd gone through. Once could ruin your whole life. He'd spoken to other survivors. Could pick them out, really.

"Maybe the weak don't get to choose, Law. But you're far from weak. The strong can also fall prey to circumstance. If he wants to fanboy with the powerful, maybe we can arrange it."

Law dipped his head again and finally picked up half of the glasses and the bottle of wine.

"Thanks, Smoker. I know it sounds fucked, but I don't want him to go through what I did, to that extreme, you know? I mean, if he runs off at the mouth about how he fucked Trafalgar Law there'll be enough lowlifes out there who might get a kick out of it, and elevate him to some kind of fucked-up figure head, and who knows, maybe once again that's all I'll be remembered for, all any random stranger will want from me."

Law tucked the wine into the crook of his arm, and rubbed his eyes with his now spare hand. He was tired, but his voice was surprisingly level, accepting, though annoyed.

"But fear of the Pirate King, the Whitebeards, Shanks' Crew, you guys will keep his mouth closed for him, I hope. And even with his discretion, he won't have a friend among those crews, those people. He could have. I've always admired elements of Kid's verve. He could have had."

"You're right. I understand not wanting the publicity of an arrest. I can respect that."

"They'll just drag my name through the mud, Smoker." Not to mention his fear of courts, police stations and most things to do with institutions. He adjusted his arm to accommodate the alcohol.

"We won't make his life easy, though."

Law nodded. He wouldn't expect anything less.

"Let's take these outside, Admiral," Law said. "Thank you for always having my back, but they must be getting thirsty out there."

"It was your special day yesterday, Law." How hard he was trying, Smoker thought. And more so, back ramrod straight, he was succeeding. Even so, he enveloped Law, the pirate's hands full, and placed a kiss on his temple. Law pulled away after a beat. Not from annoyance.

"It was special, Smoker. I won't let him take it away from me." His gaze, soft . "Now, let's go."

Smoker smiled. He had a point. Picked up his own wine and Law's. Followed him to the balcony.

A/N: Thanks for reading. A quiet chapter. About four or five more chapters before it ends. Kid does get some comeuppance - but I understand the sameness of the fic. Even so, thanks for sticking with it. Trannis, thank you for your comment. Yes, some resolution for Zoro and Law has been reached. I'm glad you liked that.

This fic will probably end quietly. I hope it's not too much of a disappointment :-D This is a very popular fic with readers from France, BTW!