Life felt good.
Law's eyes brightened with a smile, his ten year old hands going up to catch a baseball thrown his direction. The hot afternoon sun was piercing through his youthful eyes, but he could still see him standing there across from him, twenty feet away. His guardian. His angel.
"Whoaaa, Law. You caught it, finally!" Corazon laughed with delight, his fists shooting up in excitement for Law's success. He did a loopy wiggle with his hips, making Law roll his eyes, unwilling to show Corazon the extent of happiness he was actually feeling.
"It was whatever," he brushed it off, but Corazon knew better. He always did.
Taking his baseball glove off and shoving it underneath his arm, Law started running towards the ecstatic blonde, ready to go home and have lunch. He was hungry. He sprinted, the breeze against his prespirated skin feeling really good. He ran and ran. And kept running. And running.
"Corazon!" he called out, confused. Why wasn't he getting any closer?
"Hurry up!" his guardian waved, his voice distorted, small.
Law felt a pit in his stomach. Something was wrong. He shut his eyes tightly and picked up his speed, dropping the glove and ball. He needed to be faster. He needed to catch up.
By the time he opened his eyes, Corazon was gone.
Dread hit him in his chest like a bullet. It hurt so much. Where was he? His eyes dropped down to his shirt. Blood was soaking through the fabric, and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. When he looked up again, there was nothing. He was nothing.
…
Law woke with a sharp gasp, his hand quickly travelling to his throat.
His lungs burned, and his head struggled to grasp at reality. He reached blindly to turn on his side lamp, to see, to feel anything real. His mind raced from one memory to the next, everything was blurring together in the most disorienting way. Nothing in his head was making any sense. He could hear his heartbeats hammering against his chest, so much so he smacked his hand against it in an attempt to stop its intense throbbing.
"Fucking stop," he hissed under his breath, the nails digging into his chest practically breaking through the skin. Suddenly, he felt cold, his body breaking out into rivers of sweat. He closed his eyes and started to draw in some breaths. They were shaky, but they started to bring down his heightened state.
The clock on the wall ticked idly by, as normally as ever, as if nothing was wrong and life carried on and didn't care to stop. Like it never had any intention of giving him a god damn break. Once he managed to breathe at a somewhat regular pace, Law rummaged in his side table drawer for a stray bottle of water and chugged, not sparing a single drop of the clear liquid. Then he collapsed the ninety cent bottle in his shaking hands, swung his legs around and got up.
He absolutely loathed weekends.
With the start of the new semester, Law's uneasiness and melancholia made a quick return. Nothing hit as hard and sweet as a three hour long workout to release the wretched knot of anxiety he had developed in his chest. His overgrown hair was tied up in a half-hearted knot on the top of his head, and his legs were ready to start a four mile run. Once stretching and filling up his water bottle, he made his way to the treadmill.
Slipping his earbuds in, he picked up his speed, turning a light jog into a steadfast run. It felt good, his eyes fixed on the pale gray wall in front of him, his chest starting to burn with every breath he took. His mind was empty, his heart was pounding, his ears hurt from the intensity and magnitude of sound blowing up in his ears, but he loved every second of it.
His eyes eventually left the wall and fell to the treadmill screen, and he quickly realized he had long passed his running goal by two miles. It wasn't until that moment did he realize the amount of sweat drenching him, and the excruciating pain throbbing in his legs. His mind snapped out of its trance and he dialed down the speed so that he was fast walking. He took a few minutes to wind down and catch his breath again.
As his mind started falling back into its natural rhythm of endless racing, his eyes shifted to the person who had just finished running next to him. The man's build reminded him of Kidd's; bulky, scarred and beastly. The only stark difference was the blazing green hair spiking up his head, as well as the distinct gash across his left eye.
Law eyed the man as he stepped off of the treadmill and proceeded to approach a raven headed woman doing some arm weights. After putting down the weights, she greeted him with a playful smile, to which the man retaliated by pulling her by her waist and starting a makeout session in the center of the campus gym. By that point, Law had already retreated from the treadmill and was chugging down his bottle of water. His eyebrows raised in amusement when he noted the man shamelessly incorporating tongue in the mixture, clearly impartial to the people around them.
He didn't know whether to feel impressed or disgusted. A mixture of both, maybe.
Taking his eyes off of the two, Law finally grabbed his towel, rubbed it against his saturated neck and started making his way out of the facility. As he slipped his coat back on, his eyes fastened on the now ever familiar bright faced barista making his way in. Law's knitted eyebrows relaxed as the boy caught his gaze. A gentle smile sprouted at the corners of his impish lips.
"Hey!" he greeted happily, shoving his hands into his denim shorts pockets and making his way towards Law, "You didn't show up to the cafe the last couple of days."
Law cocked an eyebrow skeptically, now absorbed by the fact that the boy had taken notice. Weekends never exactly motivated him to be out and about, which meant often times he resorted to making his own coffee. Now, however, he might have a prompter.
Law wasn't dense to his own feelings. He realized the attraction he felt growing towards the wide-eyed barista; that in and of itself was nothing to be denied, however, the issue at hand was whether or not he wanted to pursue it. He was selfish about a lot of things, that he knew and accepted, but to get into something with someone as pure and clean hearted as this boy while in a state of rather inescapable misery might have been a tad too thoughtless. Doing it with Kidd never felt wrong because of the similar wavelengths they were on.
Then again, that was arguably one of the worst possible decisions he could have made.
"It's been a busy weekend," he finally reasoned, a lie, but one that wouldn't make a difference.
"Oh, okay," the boy replied, his smile still present and his eyes doused in a sense of understanding. Law fixed his eyes on his, unable to retreat quite yet. It lasted longer than deemed normal, and he noted the barista's face starting to flush.
"You're Law, right?" he asked, his eyes unwavering.
"That's right."
"I'm Luffy," he replied, extending his hand, his lips still curled into a small smile. Law's hand gravitated towards it without thought, and as he clasped his hand in the boy's, he took in the difference in size, the smallness of his fingers, the gentle firmness of his hold. He continued, "My friends are having a gathering tonight. You should come, maybe, take a break from your busy weekend. You can bring a friend if you'd like. It'll be fun!"
Before he had the chance to consider his invitation, the sizable man and black haired woman from only moments before appeared at Luffy's side.
"You're really damn late," the man retorted, his arm draped lazily across the woman's shoulders. "We're already done."
Luffy winced, his hand moving up to his neck in embarrassment, "Usopp and I were messing around and I lost track of time. Sorry!"
The woman chuckled softly before shifting her eyes to Law. She had striking blue eyes, he noted, but they were nothing of interest to him. "Who's your friend?"
Smiling widely once more, Luffy introduced him. "This is Law. I served him the first ever successful coffee I made at the cafe. Law, this is Zoro and Robin. They're the ones hosting the party tonight."
"Lovely to meet you, Law," Robin flashed him a smirk so sly he immediately understood the rather unbending infatuation the green headed man clearly had with her.
"You coming tonight?" Zoro questioned him, his sharp eyes puncturing his, as if scanning him for any sign of attraction to the woman standing next to him. That was rather amusing to Law.
If he only knew.
"Yes, he's coming," Luffy answered for him, swinging his backpack around and pulling a battered grocery receipt out. He scribbled something quickly on it and shoved it in Law's hands. "That's my phone number and their address. The gathering starts at nine. We'll see you there!"
And with that, the three of them were off, leaving Law rather irked; he was not used to being pushed and pulled around. On the other hand, he found himself folding the receipt neatly and slipping it inside his coat pocket.
"Damn, quite a day it's been, huh?" Shachi chuckled, watching Law twirl a pen impatiently. "That's the most human contact you've had with anyone since-"
"Yes, I realize that," Law snapped, slamming his pen down on the desk and pushing himself off of the chair.
Shachi, at that point completely in tune with Law's up and down demeanors, didn't flinch. Instead, a crafty smile bloomed on his face before he said, "We're going."
"You know I'm not the big gathering type," he retaliated.
"I don't care," was his friend's response.
Was there a sign on his forehead screaming "push-over" that day? Law quickly turned his head back to Shachi, his eyes now laced with annoyance, "I have work to do tomorrow morning."
"Tough shit," Shachi replied before standing up and raiding Law's closet. "And we're making you look hot tonight."
Law looked and felt ridiculous.
It was his own clothes, sure, but the ones he had had dusting away in the far corner of his closet. His friend had convinced him years ago to buy a pair of distressed black jeans, but he had never worn them. Until tonight, that is. As they walked side by side, Law smoothed out a wrinkle he had discovered on the edge of his black button-up shirt before running his hands through his freshly washed locks. His hair was at the point of constantly being an irritant in his face, and he was in dire need of a trim.
"Alright, this is it," Shachi announced, stopping in front of a humble apartment. He double checked the receipt. "It's on the first floor. Ready?"
Law flashed him a peeved glance.
"Great! Let's do this."
When they said it was a gathering, Law didn't have an all out college party scenario in mind. Nonetheless, that is exactly what greeted them at the door. A drunk girl appeared; Law recognized her. Nami. She had been in multiple classes with him throughout the past few years. Her cheeks were a hazy pink, her eyes glazed over, and the hand not placed on the door knob was grasping a generic plastic cup reeking of alcohol.
"Hey! Law, I knooow you! You were my partner that one time in that one class," she slurred, bringing an arm around to give Law a side hug, which he avoided by stepping aside so that she landed in Shachi's arms instead. His friend's face flushed instantly as he tried supporting the weight of the drunken redhead. Once he successfully made sure she was back on her two feet, he and Law made it in. It was your typical Saturday night college party, disco lighting, blaring music, sweating bodies. Shachi quickly found his way to the beer table and grabbed a couple of cans. He opened them both and handed one to Law.
"To losing control for a night!" he announced, forcefully bumping his can to Law's and proceeding to chug the entire drink down. Once the first drink was in his system, Shachi was off dancing his life away for the rest of the night.
This wasn't Law's first time dabbling with college parties. In fact, they were the main way he dealt with his emotions during his first two years of college. There was an unhealthy dose of meaningless sex and waking up with unmanagable hangovers. That didn't get him anywhere, needless to say, but he wasn't exactly in a better place now.
He almost lost himself in thought again, but the raven headed woman from earlier approached him. She still had that smile of hers gracing her face. Law never found himself attracted to women, but that didn't mean he couldn't recognize a beautiful woman when he saw one.
"You came," she greeted, sounding surprised. "You didn't look very thrilled back at the gym. I'm surprised you made it."
Law chuckled, taking a swig from his beer before replying, "That makes two of us."
"Hm. What compelled you then?" she questioned, swirling around her cup and waiting patiently for a response.
Perhaps it was the resolute aura she gave off or the beer starting to set in, but for a brief moment, Law considered telling her the truth. He was there for one very specific reason, and he has yet to see said reason. The moment quickly faded, however, and he responded with a simple, "A friend convinced me."
"Ah," she hummed, the look in her eyes telling Law she didn't buy it in the slightest. She pushed no further, however, and simply welcomed him there before disappearing into the bound of dancing students in the center of the apartment once more.
Law made his way to the beer table again, and as he cracked open the second, third, fourth one, he started losing his sense of reality. The colors of the disco lighting were starting to blend together, and the previously uncomfortable heat of the place started to feel nice. He needed to release something building up in him, something that was hard to pinpoint. He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt and aired out his sweaty chest, then made his way to the dance floor. The music that had initially been tiresome to his ears now sounded perfect. The warm bodies surrounding him felt good. It was a hodgepodge of madness, a tangled heep of heartsick energy that was somehow made beautiful by being gathered in one place. Everyone there wanted to forget something, to feel something different, and for just a moment, it was okay to be a part of that.
His eyes had been closed, but then he felt a soft hand grip his forearm. He glanced down and he knew who it belonged to. He looked back up and greeting him were eyes just as hazy as his, but authentic, like sterling silver.
"Come with me," he saw Luffy mouth, and he let him lead him out of the crowd.
They made their way together to a slightly quieter room, empty. Law's head felt heavy, and he looked down at the short boy in front of him as he closed the door. He was wearing skinny jeans and a baggy white T-shirt that practically drowned him. He was so small.
"It's crazy out there! Sorry it took me so long to find you, it's stupid dark," he apologized, only slightly garbling his words. He was intoxicated, too. He looked back and saw Law gazing down at him, and he laughed.
"You're so close to me!" he almost squealed, which made it only harder on Law to hold back on touching him. That was incredibly cute.
"Anyway, since we barely know each other, I wanted to take you aside and get to know you," he explained, settling on the floor and crossing his legs. Law sat on the side of the bed and remained quiet.
"So, what year are you?" he began, "I'm a freshman."
"Senior," Law replied.
"What are you studying? I'm not sure what I'm doing, honestly...maybe I'll become a professional barista, or something," he laughed, though it sounded a bit nervous, as if it was something he was truly worried about.
"I'm going to med school," Law said.
"Whoa," he replied, "That's important."
"I guess," Law smiled softly, his shoulders relaxing. "Baristas are pretty important, too."
Luffy laughed, his hand going up to his neck again. He did that a lot, Law noted.
A silent ensued, one that Law appreciated, as the few words they exchanged had taken a huge effort to maintain given his heavily intoxicated brain. His heart beat slowly; something he never took notice of, but that suddenly seemed prominent at that moment. Everything felt so unhurried, even a blink seemed to take minutes to complete its natural course. Within seconds, his head had slumped back to rest on the bed. Who it belonged to, it didn't matter, because all he cared about at that point was resting his eyes and listening to the soft breathing of the boy sitting quietly on the floor nearby.
He had no dreams that night.