Anon asked for LawSan and I generated a Runway Royalty!AU

1,222 words
Rated T

He found the guy collapsed in his door step, looking half-starved and a worse for the wear. He'd obviously been on the road for a while, and he didn't look well. Sanji sighed. It wasn't the first time he'd had a homeless man take up shelter on his porch; he owned the only restaurant for miles and he had a reputation for feeding even those that couldn't pay.

Poverty was a big problem in this country. While the royals ate like, well, kings, the civilians of the country ate hardly anything at all. Sanji was fortunate that his business did fairly well; not well enough to make him live like a royal, but well enough that he could get by comfortably. He hated to see people starve though, and whenever they came around to his place he gave them a meal to get them by.

A homeless man sleeping on his front porch was bad for business though. He gently nudged the sleeping form with his foot.

"Oi, rise and shine. If you want a hot meal you better get your ass off my front porch and head around to the back door," Sanji said.

The form at his feet groaned and rolled over. He was surprisingly young; maybe a few years older than Sanji but a great deal younger than the usual vagabonds Sanji found lying around his establishment. The young man blinked up at him with a dazed expression. He looked bad, with dark circles under his eyes, and a myriad of cuts and bruises adorning his face and torso.

Sanji sighed again and lit his morning cigarette. "Okay you," he said to the guy, bending down and bracing the man's arm around his shoulders. "Let's get you cleaned up."

The guy's name was Law and he was shady and secretive and never told Sanji about his past. Or rather, that he never told Sanji the truth about his past. What he did tell Sanji was that he was a wandering merchant down on his luck that had run into a group of bandits. He told a convincing lie, but Sanji had spent enough time around criminals to know better. Whatever reason this guy had for lying about his past, however, Sanji decided to leave it alone.

For now, his priority was to nurse Law back to health and see him on his way. Except even when Law was doing much better, he seemed reluctant to leave. Sanji couldn't see the appeal of staying in this rough and ready restaurant but he didn't argue. Instead he put Law to work, giving him chores and tasks to keep him busy and earn his keep.

The truth about Law's identity would reach him much later. Almost two months after Law had come to stay, Sanji collected the morning newspaper from the delivery boy and folded it open to skim over the front page. By that point, Law had been a nice addition to Sanji's staff, and he was grateful to have someone closer to his age around. Most of his staff were older, and Sanji was the youngest among them. They were good people and he loved them like family, but the addition of someone newer and younger made a world of difference to Sanji.

Law wasn't exactly the most social person, and he was the pickiest eater Sanji had ever encountered (what kind of person wouldn't eat bread?), but he was surprisingly educated and could hold a good conversation. Sanji and Law had made a habit of staying up a couple of hours every night to talk, and Sanji found he really enjoyed the company.

When Sanji read the paper that morning, he almost didn't believe his eyes. There was no way what he was seeing could be real. Upon skimming the article, however, he uncovered the whole story and realized the truth. He stared at the image beneath the article for a long moment before folding the paper once more and lighting his morning cigarette. Whatever was happening here, he would find out later. There was work to be done first.

When it was just Sanji and Law that evening, as it had been every night since Law came, Sanji pulled the paper from his breast pocket and let it drop on to the table in front of Law. He noted that the man looked one part guilty and one part ashamed, but he hid it quite well under a mask of indifference. Too bad Sanji knew better.

"Care to explain?" He asked, taking up his usual seat and lighting up a cigarette.

The headline of the paper read Royal Prince Missing, Foul Play Suspected, and was accompanied with a picture of Law himself below the article. The article described the events of Prince Law's disappearance, and explained what would happen to their country if the dear prince wasn't found.

"Do I have to explain anything?" Law asked coolly.

"No, it seems pretty obvious. I'm just wondering why you haven't gone back," Sanji shrugged. On the surface he was playing it cool, but beneath that he could feel the sinking feeling of loss. Law would probably leave soon, back to some place Sanji could never reach.

Law scowled at the paper for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Because I hate them," he said. "My father, the king, is a tyrant. He cares for nothing but power. Even his own son is expendable. He's the one that drove me away. I wanted to change his politics and fix this broken country, and he couldn't have that."

Law looked angry, and for good reason. Sanji knew the state of their country first hand, it was in a horrible state. To know there was someone with the power to fix it though…

"I know some people who might be able to help you," Sanji said. "To overthrow your father and take control of your kingdom," he stood, intent on making his call, but stopped. "That is, unless you're too afraid to try."

Law's tattooed hand reached out to take Sanji's. The tattoos, Sanji now realized, were part of the royal insignia. He'd been blind not to notice it before, but then maybe he hadn't been looking. Maybe he didn't want to see.

Law pulled Sanji's hand closer to him, placing a kiss on each of Sanji's fingers, and finally on the back of his hand. Sanji watched him with interest, his cigarette burning forgotten for the moment in his other hand.

Finally, Law looked back up, grey eyes fixed heavily on Sanji. "Would it make you happy?"

Sanji had to put off that call to his friends. The country would be okay for another couple of hours, right?

If someone had told Sanji that in just a few weeks' time he'd be dining in the royal palace he wouldn't have believed them. But here he sat, across from Law like he had most every night for two months, sampling the food from the royal kitchen.

"Disgusting," Sanji commented, cringing at the bite he took. He continued to eat it though, since he had a policy of no food being wasted.

"I thought so too," Law chuckled. "Maybe I'll have to get my own personal chef."

Sanji smirked. "Maybe you already have one."

And they lived happily ever after.