Law had had a very stressful day. More so than usual, and it was because many factors had combined to make him a lethally sarcastic ass to his roommates as soon as he had set foot in his home. Law had then proceeded to seclude himself in the small library area that he had made in a corner of his room, where the sunlight lit the room when the angle was just right.

Penguin and Shachi had wisely left the surgeon to his own devices to unwind and attempt to relax. But if they had had a chance to inquire, and Law had the desire to respond, they would have learned that not only had work been swamped with patients, but Luffy had somehow cornered him on his lunch break with Kidd of all people. It had turned out that Kidd had tagged along because Luffy's brother had been considering getting a tattoo and the pair were looking for him. Law had made his excuses, and just when he thought he was safe back in the break room, he'd found a newspaper. On it were the headlines of a trial that had begun a month ago, for the doctor accused of malpractice. The one responsible for Law's sister and many other's deaths. Following the trial avidly from then on was likely only going to add to the stress, but Law was determined to see the end verdict.

But in the meantime, the dark haired surgeon really, really needed to de-stress before he did something like exhaust himself with household chores, because that wasn't what he needed right now.

An hour and some books later and even that didn't seem to calm his nerves.

Law let out a quiet huff before he decided to settle on a cushion next to the bookcase to try and do some meditation. Law heard someone enter the room not a minute later, but since they didn't interrupt, Law continued to meditate. His mind and the feeling in his body felt much calmer 30 minutes later, and that was when the person in the room made themselves known by resting their head on his lap. Law slit is eyes open and tilted his head down only to find that it was Rocinante looking up at him.

"Are you all right, Law?" Rocinante asked softly.

Law closed his eyes and gave a light jerk of his head, but he felt Rocinante take one of his hands to begin to lay a trail of light kisses on the back of it where the tattoos were.

"Cora…" Law really wasn't in the mood to cuddle or otherwise engage Rocinante right now. Not for a little while longer.

There were a few more kisses placed on the surgeon's hand, and then Rocinante moved in closer to peck Law's cheek as he spoke. "I love you."

Law caved in relatively quickly at the warmth and love in Rocinante's voice, and honestly couldn't find the heart to tell him off. It didn't mean he didn't try and salvage the aloof indifference he was trying to exude. "I'm trying to meditate." Law said the first thing that came to mind, although it was clear in his voice that he liked what Rocinante had said to him.

"Bad day at work?" Rocinante asked as he slid a little closer across the rug toward Law.

"Among other things." Law admitted at length. He knew that he wasn't the only one who could have a bad day at work, so he didn't complain. Not today, anyway. But Law didn't expect Rocinante to start to assail him with kisses in an attempt to perhaps make him feel better.

It started off slowly, in any case, so that Law wasn't overwhelmed by the sudden rush of affection. A kiss to the hand. A kiss to the cheek. A kiss to his temple.

Law could more or less concentrate on allowing his mind to be blank and worry free, until Rocinante appeared to decide that he wanted the dark haired surgeon to pay attention to him.

The light kisses started to become more precise and lingering as Rocinante scooted even closer to Law to start to nose his way down the side of the other's neck.

"What are you doing?" Law questioned a minute or so after Rocinante had started to very thoroughly explore the side of his neck with kisses. The surgeon couldn't repress a shiver.

"What do you think?" The blond haired man asked as he lifted a hand and slid part of Law's shirt to one side so that he could start on Law's collarbone. "You sure are quiet."

"I'm meditating?" Law said faintly in return. The kisses were starting to get to him although perhaps it was because Rocinante had slid his other hand up beneath his shirt to trail it along in small patterns on his stomach. The dark haired surgeon opened his eyes at that and tilted his head only to come into contact with Rocinante's lips in a kiss. Law made a muffled sound of surprise into the sudden kiss, before he decided that he could always meditate another time.

"You done meditating?" Rocinante asked into the kiss.

Law heard the smile in the other man's voice and when he leaned back from the kiss to see the happy expression, the dark haired surgeon couldn't help but crack a tiny smile in return.

Rocinante's smile increased at the sight of Law's tiny, genuine smile. It obviously pleased the blond in some way because Rocinante had almost immediately knocked Law over backward onto the rug of the floor in his attempts to smother him in an elated hug.

"Cora! You're going to crush me!" Law gasped, even if he did cling to the blond anyway.

"Sorry." Rocinante settled over Law more carefully so that he didn't 'crush' him, before he leaned in and tilted his head to breath against the side of the surgeon's throat. "You know, you should smile like that more often."

Law wasn't able to duck his head beneath Rocinante's chin to hide the faint blush, but it didn't matter because Rocinante was too busy lavishing attention to his throat. The motion made Law issue an embarrassingly thin whine as he gripped Rocinante's nearest arm. The dark haired surgeon wasn't sure when the last time was that the blond had been able to kiss him like this was, though it had to have been before he was sick.

"I love you, Law." Rocinante mumbled again between kisses.

Law murmured something softly in return but really, he couldn't focus on much more than that because of what Rocinante was doing. He did, however, move his hands to prevent Rocinante from removing his pants. "Not now."

Rocinante didn't take offense and instead pecked Law lightly on the cheek before settling on the ground beside him to cuddle.

Law was fine with that as he turned over and pressed himself close to Rocinante's side.

-x

After a half hour of silently cuddling on the floor, Law felt more relaxed than he had been since he'd gotten home from work two hours ago. It helped that Rocinante, once they'd gone to the living room, had stuck around with him, although they were seated on different chairs.

Law honestly didn't know what the look the blond was giving him meant but it made him feel self conscious. Mainly because it was as if Rocinante were undressing him with his eyes and Law really wasn't sure what to think of that other than to be a bit flattered and wonder the same thing in return. Although, when Law looked Rocinante over and thought about how good the blond had looked in those swimming trunks and how best not to be embarrassed to say as much, Rocinante turned a bit red in the face and ducked his head.

Law was confused by this reaction even if he found it very cute, until Shachi poked his head into the room and saw them.

"Hey now, what're you looking at him like that for? You thinking of stripping him and getting all hot and bothered in bed or something?" Shachi held up his hands in a placating gesture as Law twisted around to look at him. "Whoa. And there's the 'I'm going to kill you' look." Shachi grinned as if life threatening danger from his friend didn't bother him. "Maybe after dinner? I invited someone over."

"Who?" Law asked as he contemplated how effective it would be to throw a pillow into Shachi's face from where he was seated.

"Luffy." Shachi said with an evil little smile before he retreated into the other room.

Law was speechless until he heard Shachi speak to said teenager, who laughed and said something in return.

No.

Absolutely not.

He'd already had enough of the teen at the hospital earlier, and he was not going to allow-

What Law wasn't going to allow fled his mind completely as suddenly he had something else to worry about. Like the fact that Rocinante had just cornered him on the chair he was seated on to kiss him in a very, very passionate and aroused way. Well, aroused in that Law could feel the blond pressing up against him as closely as possible without making Law feel too trapped.

Wow, Law hadn't realized that Rocinante would act as swiftly as this nor give thought to the idea that they weren't alone. "Shachi is in the other room." Law mumbled as he tried to get the blond to back off for now.

"But I want to touch you." Rocinante said insistently as he kissed Law again, before he drew back and looked the surgeon in the eye. "I think I want to go to your room and change my clothes."

Law looked up at Rocinante dazedly. "Why?" The surgeon saw the blond haired man give him a pitying look, as if it should have been obvious.

Rocinante took a breath and then backed away, but not without grabbing Law's hand and tugging him up to his feet. "The way you were looking at me. I need to do something about it before I go eat."

Law wore a perplexed expression but allowed Rocinante to lead him in the direction of the bedroom. "And why does having me look at you make you want to do something?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Rocinante asked as he let go of Law to lock them in the surgeon's bedroom.

"No?" Law replied. "And why did you say you need to change your clothes?"

"I don't." Rocinante said simply as he steered Law over to the bed. "I said that I wanted to touch you."

"Oh." Law sat down on the bed and noticed that look in Rocinante's eyes again. Since he was more interested in the blond's mood change than dealing with Luffy, Law decided to play along. The dark haired surgeon smirked faintly. "And where do you want to touch me?"

Rocinante stared at Law for a moment, as if trying very hard to figure something out, before he apparently gave that up as he sank down to his knees.

"Are you all right?" Law asked, as he watched Rocinante settle down.

"Yes, I'm just trying to figure out if you're actually oblivious or just teasing me." Rocinante responded as he scooted close to the bed to rest his arms over Law's legs as he looked up at him.

"Oblivious to what?" Law asked. The fact that it appeared as if Rocinante wanted to jump him and eat him? Though what he wanted to eat, the surgeon wasn't very sure and-

Wait...

...damn, Law had a good idea now what Rocinante had in mind and wondered why he wasn't aware of what he'd been doing before.

"I see that you get it now." Rocinante commented as he leaned his head over to nuzzle along one of Law's thighs. "Do you have any idea how much you effect me?"

"I think I have a good idea of how much." Law said wryly, even if he was internally squirming over the fact that Rocinante had his hands on his belt with the intent to get him out of his pants as quickly as possible. "But don't you think that they will hear us?"

What Rocinante had to say to that was overrun by Shachi's cheerful voice outside Law's bedroom door.

"I didn't mean have sex right now. I do need help with dinner, you know, and Luffy is more liable to eat it as I'm trying to cook it."

Rocinante appeared to realize the position he was in and how much he was encroaching on Law's personal space and immediately backed off and gave the surgeon an apologetic look, as if he'd done something wrong.

Law remained seated on his bed as he watched Rocinante exit the bedroom, and dwelled on the way the blond had reacted. It was interesting and a little scary to think how Rocinante had gone from sweet and lovable to very, very intent and-

"So, have you guys had sex yet, or are you still just giving each other bedroom eyes?"

Law raised his head to meet his roommate's eyes. He was going to kill Shachi, whether or not Rocinante was around to witness the murder. Law rose with the murderous intent very clear, while Shachi made his escape and called out to the blond haired officer in the other room.

"Rocinante, I think Law wants to try and murder me in my sleep again! And twice, if he can manage it."

Luffy, oblivious to what had happened in the past few minutes, picked his nose. "When are Zoro and the others coming?"

Rocinante was forced to hold Law back from Shachi as the dark hared surgeon took issue with that.

"Who told you that you could have a party at my house?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: And what's gong to happen in a few chapters doesn't have anything to do with Doflamingo. At least, not until later in the fic.

This chapter got a mind of its own when it hit the second half of it (because oblivious Law is amusing and Rocinante unable to keep his hands off is...cute?). I seem to have a problem with being too excited over this fic to pace myself with updates either, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think I'll say in advance that if there's suddenly several days where I don't update this fic it is because I'm busily outlining more chapters and probably dealing with IRL stuff ( I'm intending to keep this fic going for as long as possible-not out of the realm of possibility of this hitting 100 chapters because damn, I sometimes just need to write/read fluff). But maybe I'll have to name some of the chapters anyway, just to keep everything straight.