Kay, first order of business: props to ninjabunny11 for being an awesome beta reader, 'cause there's no way I would have been able to do this chapter without them! Secondly, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the sweet reviews I've been getting. You guys are seriously all wonderful little cupcakes and I love you.

Luffy curls his toes, feeling the chill in the air through his thick socks. His Adidas sweatpants are loose around his legs, hood thrown over his head and blocking out the yellow light from his single desk lamp. The sleeves of his jacket are pulled over his fingers, clenching onto the fabric. It's almost eleven at night, but Makino and Shanks are over at his Uncle Ben's place, so Luffy has music streaming through his stereo—Glass Animal's 'Gooey' filling up the empty spaces. There's a candle lit, melted wax the scent of old Christmas, and the flame flickers off his walls, playing in the dark corners. He's feeling a bit numb, blank behind his eyes, and every time they close, glitters of colors play on his lids.

He groans, rolling onto his stomach. His comforter is crumpled underneath him, and it's uncomfortable. Luffy presses his face plush against his pillow. Bites on the cover and groans again, in his throat. And shit, he really needs to piss, but he doesn't want to get out of bed.

Because then, when he runs into Ace, his big brother will ask, 'What's wrong?'. Which, of course, Luffy doesn't know. He hasn't a clue of what's wrong. But there has to be a reason he skipped school and spent all day in bed, right?

He rolls back onto his spine. The shadows and lights seem to dance along with his music. It's a comfort, vibrating and bumping in his eardrums. Luffy doesn't know it, but his cheeks are a little flushed, eyes swollen. Maybe he really did get sick, spending yesterday in the rain. Or maybe, Law was sick and passed it on to him when they kissed—-

Luffy coughs, flushing an even deeper red—and at the same time, his cellphone goes off, screen annoyingly florescent in the darkness of his room. His eyes flutter shut, he sighs, and reaches blindly for his phone, only revealing his irises when he finally grasps the device.

[SMS RECEIVED – 11:04 p.m.] You weren't at the library today.

Teeth gnaw into his bottom lip, tearing off some chapped skin. Luffy thinks about how to reply, and he also thinks about how Law's tongue tasted like nicotine. Thinks about how awkward it was after the kiss, how rosy his face was, Law's smirk, and how he'd stuttered out, 'I-I should go-o home.'

The chapped skin taste like his strawberry Chap Stick. Law's tang of stale smokes and oranges was good, and the kiss was good (then again, Luffy's only other kiss to compare was Vivi's in eighth-grade; she tasted like cherry lip gloss, and it was a strong, and really sweet).

His palm is sweating, and all he can think about is Law's tongue against his. And suddenly, his room is smoldering hot. There's a bead of perspiration on his forehead, eyes foggy, jacket stuck to the bare skin of his back. Luffy leaves his phone on his end table and throws off his jacket, goose bumps rising on his torso. His spine arches like an ice cream spoon, hips shifting with discomfort, and fuck, he's half-hard.

He has to be sick. He's not going to touch himself. He's sick. He's scared. He's not going to touch himself thinking of Law.

[SMS – 11:10 p.m.] i'm sick.

Gut tight and body full of sloshing liquid, Luffy forces himself down the dim hallway—Ace's door is cracked open, guitar strumming, voice ringing in the air, "Sleep sound, sleep tight, here in my mind."* It's a sweet song, buttery and romantic, and Luffy stiffens when he hears a giggle chime in from behind him. And holy shit, Luffy almost pisses his pants as he damn near breaks his neck, craning to see that, oh, its just Monet behind him.

Her grin grows, hand flitting to tuck a lock of coarse, bleached and then died foam green hair behind her pierced ear. The bar in her ear is black now, rather than the standard silver indie bar she previously had in. Her thin, petite fingers stretch out, wide in a wave. "Hey there."

Luffy is about to ask what she's doing here, but the answer is already pretty obvious. Suddenly the cheesy song Ace is strumming makes more sense.

("You guys are so dating." Sabo doesn't even look up from his homework as he says this.

Ace hisses in response, lips curled and cheeks suspiciously flushed, "We're not dating! Monet and I are just friends."

"Friends who sing together, go out to dinner, and fuck.")

So, instead of asking that, he just points at her nose—specifically, at the ring now adorning her septum. "When did you get that done?" Luffy thinks Monet has had about twelve piercings in her lifetime. She's gotten three more just since she and Ace started dating. Which is cool—he's always wanted to get his bridge done, but there's no way that shit would fly with Makino.

Monet's hand goes to scratch the nose in question, but it stops, hovering in the air in front of her face. "Yesterday. Ace talked me into it."

He wonders if she talked Ace into getting his tattoo—he remembers her mentioning that she likes them.

Tattoos. Law. The kiss. Maybe he should text Law back. 'What's wrong?'

What is wrong?

And now Monet is waving that stilted hand in front of his eyes, blinking curiously at him. They're wide eyes, and Luffy thinks they're pretty—such a light brown in color that they almost appear amber. "Hey, Anchor—," she picked up that nickname from Shanks, "You okay? You seem a little out of it."

There's still music pouring from his open door; Gotye's 'Hearts A Mess'. Ace isn't strumming, nor singing anymore. His heart palpitates in time with the low beat, and Luffy feels a little numb, like the calm before a storm. But he also feels kind of like a broken faucet. Dripping, dripping, dripping, and he's rusted and needs to be cleaned out. Your heart's a mess. Yeah, thanks, Gotye; he knows.

"I'm having a problem," he admits.

"'Bout time you spilled." The gruff baritone of his brother's voice overpowers his music. Ace leans against his doorsill, an eyebrow cocked.

*The song Ace was singing is 'Heart Like Yours' by Wilamette Stone. This is how I imagine his voice to sound like in this story.