Time: One and a half years later
-x-x-
Kid and Law were fucking, as per usual, and this time, it was in a shed at another of Kid's part time jobs. And although Law was having more difficulty having a normal day the past few months, he had slipped in an extra pill here and there, and that seemed to help. Law was able to keep up with Kid in their extracurricular activity on the ground of the shed, and that was normal enough for him.
"Make me feel you." Law breathed out harshly, nipping the side of Kid's shoulder. "Make me really feel it."
Kid did as asked, though he gripped harder as he made faster motions, and it almost, almost hurt.
But Law wanted it.
He wanted to feel alive.
He didn't want to feel his body slowly start to fail him, as it seemed to be doing lately.
The high of an orgasm literally made him pass out, and when he woke, he found Kid gone. But Law knew then, all alone in the shed, that he was only delaying things. Only hiding from the truth from Kid about the dosages of the lifesaving pills that were supposed to help him.
They weren't working anymore.
The only thing left to do was to see if larger doses would be more effective. Law wasn't ready to give in yet, and he wasn't ready to let Kid know that he might not be able to play anymore. Only go out to dinner on occasion or laze around on a couch up against the red head. Law didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to think about his life coming to an end in the now projected 6 months.
He didn't want to die, so he went to Doflamingo.
"I need to try bigger dosages of the pill. The smaller does are no longer as effective as they initially had been. I need more, more often, to function like a normal person." Law looked at Doflamingo, and though he couldn't tell what the other man was thinking, he at least had the other's attention. "I need to see if a higher dosage will take the edge off of what I'm feeling for longer intervals of the day."
Doflamingo made motions as if giving this thought before he spoke. "There's no harm in trying that, I suppose. It would give Caesar a reason to delve further into research and perhaps even get entirely focused on it." Doflamingo's grin became menacing. "But in return, I'm going to work you hard. Understand?"
"I will need to do those things while I'm on the pills. If I stop taking them, I won't be able to accomplish anything." Law felt it was fair warning.
"Done. I'll make sure you have enough of those pills to take care of things before the new supply comes in. Be here tomorrow and I'll give you the list."
The deal was struck, and while Law wasn't happy about it, he would take what he could get and turned to lean. Though it was hard to ignore Doflamingo's taunting as he left the room.
"Your red head really isn't that much different than all the others, is he? Keeping you locked away when you fuck away. Shame he doesn't want anything more out of you."
Law thought Kid might, but knew it would never be. He was going to die, and Kid would find someone new to fuck.
Law would lose his life, and Kid would live on.
It bothered Law for some reason to think that Kid would be able to move on to someone else after he died.
He didn't like it, but there was no point in acting on it.
Kid definitely saw him nothing more than a convenient lay, and there was no reason to be teased for trying to suggest otherwise.
-x
To Law's relief, he received the higher dosage of pills later that week, and when questioned, Doflamingo dismissively told him that he had gotten it sooner than expected, and that it would be better for Law to be on his game than slip up and get himself injured or killed.
Law was still suspicious, but took the pills nonetheless.
But one week later, Law noticed that the higher dosage pills did nothing for him, and in fact seemed to work even less than the others. Law didn't want to think about what that meant, and he was not at all looking forward to trying to explain things to Kid.
-x
"Stop talking about dying." Kid said stubbornly some days later, as soon as he and Law were in a small bedroom of a motel. "I already told ya I know you're dying but you don't see me leaving, do you?"
"But the drugs aren't working anymore, and there's no other pill in the works to treat my symptoms. I may even miss the 2 year window at this rate." Law winced as Kid pinned him against the wall with a low growl.
"Stop fucking talking like that. I want you to myself, so I ain't gonna leave."
"You're an idiot." Law sniped, trying to move Kid's hand away from where it was fisted in his shirt. "Anyone smart would have been long gone by now." Law winded as Kid pressed him further into the wall.
"Shut the fuck up."
"Make me." Law all but snarled back, clearly annoyed that Kid wasn't listening to reason.
Kid merely kissed him roughly and all but tore the clothes off Law as he made short work of the lube and proceeded to fuck the dark haired man against the wall.
Law clung to Kid, desperate for the contact, but also beyond annoyed that the red head wouldn't listen to reason and leave before he regretted it. But as soon as Kid brought Law to the bed and fucked him at a slow pace instead of a rough one, Law realized something had again changed between them.
And he didn't want to admit it.
-x
Lying in bed that night and watching Kid snooze away, Law felt that continuing to see one another was only going to hurt both of them in the end. But Law couldn't find it in himself to push Kid away anymore. Even if Kid really did only seem to be interested in and possessive of his body and time, Law would take what he could get. If his pills were failing him and his life was going to end sooner, then Law would prefer to live it up with someone familiar. Law couldn't stand the idea of getting a new bed partner for the last few months of his life, and seeing them leave when they found out what was going to happen to him. When they saw how weak he was getting…
Law closed his eyes and slowly wrapped his hand around one of Kid's, and thought about how the red head's manner of getting what he wanted became more aggressive and demanding the past few months. For the first time, Law allowed himself to wonder how much of it was a front. Especially when his illness took a turn for the worse.
One year, 11 months later
-x-
Law felt like a fool. He couldn't believe how badly he'd been tricked when he had had the change from bad to worse with the drugs he was taking. But Law could do nothing more than allow himself to be taken to the hospital, too weak in body to do anything about the fact that he had been expertly strung along like a puppet by Doflamingo.
To make matters sting far worse, Law knew he was no longer able to take care of himself, with or without Kid's occasional help. Law's body was failing him, and a previous call to Doflamingo told the dark haired man all he needed to know about the tiny suspicion at the back of his mind for receiving a larger dose of pills in such a short period of time.
Doflamingo had played him.
Law had been given the lifesaving drug in the beginning, but by the end, when the dark haired man had really needed it, he had been given a placebo that did nothing. The dark haired man had, by that time, become Doflamingo's guinea pig. It stung and infuriated Law at the same time because he knew that there was literally nothing he could do about it, and Doflamingo knew it.
Law was going to die.
There was no use sugarcoating it to Kid any longer. No matter how offended or angry the red head would be over it, and acting like Law had reeled him in on purpose, Kid wasn't about to leave any time soon. But Kid would argue like hell and fight and deny what Law knew by now was fact. He was going to die, and when Law saw Kid enter the hospital room, the dark haired man knew that he had to tell him now before even his voice failed him.
"There's nothing to be done, Eustass. The doctors say that my illness has progressed too far for the real pills to be effective any more. It will only stave off the inevitable; not cure it." Law hated how weak his voice was, but it didn't seem to matter to Kid.
"I told you to stop fucking saying shit like that." Kid growled, and he was on the bed in a flash, hands carding through Law's hair as the red head forced his way into Law's mouth.
Law flailed briefly, but he was too weakened to fight Kid off. He eventually went pliant and allowed Kid to continue to kiss him roughly, startled that the kiss was saying so much more than Kid would have liked it to.
Kid let go of Law and backed away from him, looking angry and almost hurt. And then he headed toward the door. "I told you I wasn't going to let you go that easily. The doc will figure something out." The red head paused. "Oh, I'm gonna be busy for a couple weeks." The red head flashed law a lazy grin. "Don't die on me while I'm gone, yeah?"
Law watched him go. He hadn't said anything, as the dark haired man wasn't sure he would be around when Kid came back. Law dozed off fitfully to the memory of that searing kiss, and hoped that it hadn't been his last.
He wasn't ready to die yet.
-x
A few weeks later and Law still was holding on, even though the effort hurt him, because he now wanted to see Kid again. He needed to tell the red head something, and didn't care at that point if Kid would laugh at him.
Law had to say it, or that was a regret he would carry with him to the grave.
-x-x-x-x-x
A/N: Oops, I'll post the rest after work.