Chapter 6: Match?
*_+_*
After Luffy got back to his apartment, Nami and Vivi made their move and knocked on the door. The man opened the door to see the two women. "Hey! This is a surprise!" He said as he let the two in. "What's going on?"
Vivi didn't look too sure how to come out with it, but Nami went straight to the point.
"Luffy, just who was that guy you were talking to at the park?"
Luffy blinked as he closed the door. "You mean Green Eyes?"
"Yeah…" Vivi said. "Are you two…?"
"Huh? Oh! No, nothing like that! He's a really good friend."
"Doesn't look like it from our viewpoint." Nami said. "Plus we heard what you two were talking about."
"Huh? Like what?"
"How he was being a pervert."
"Green Eyes isn't a pervert, Nami. He can't handle something like that anyway."
"That leads to my next question." Nami said. "What's this 'condition' that the guy mentioned? Does he have AIDS or something?"
"No!" Luffy said as his patience was dwindling. "It's his heart! He can't get too excited or startled or he'll have a heart attack, or worse!"
Nami was taken aback a bit from the snappish response.
"Uh…" Vivi started to say. "If it's a serious condition, why is he not in a hospital?"
Luffy sighed. "Because he's able to live like normal people, but he has to follow strict living condition requirements." He said.
"Why are you hanging around with someone like him then?" Nami asked.
"Cause I like him. And he doesn't know much about Sanji enough to kill him like the rest of you. Plus I owe him for helping me out."
"But Luffy…" Vivi started as her girlfriend finished.
"We saw the way you were acting around him. And we're worried about you having another heartbreak."
"I know you are." Luffy said with a sense of calm that surprised the two women. "When I heard that he may die at any moment, I was surprised that a guy like that would die for even the slightest major stressor. But then he helped me have the courage to tell Sanji off and kick him out, and then move out of that apartment." He smiled. "And the more time I spend with him, the better I feel about this. And I think I'm doing some good for him too by spending time with him and just talk. I don't have to do anything else other than that."
The two women saw the relaxed posture of the man and they shared a look that said 'maybe this isn't a bad thing after all'.
However Nami was a bit concerned. "And what will happen if he ever dies?"
Luffy leaned up against the wall. "I really didn't want to think that, but I do." He said. "I think what I would do if that does happen, if I would end up being a patient at the hospital like some others he witnessed happened, or do I just go on with my life as it is?" He sighed. "And every time I see him, I feel such a great relief that he's still here and not gone for good."
"But you know that it can't be like that forever, right?"
Luffy nodded as he went into the kitchen. "Want anything?"
"No…" Nami said.
"Uh…" Vivi started. "How long have you two known each other?"
"Around the same length since my breakup with Sanji." He answered.
"Oh… So… is he waiting for a transplant?"
"Dunno…"
"You don't know?"
"He didn't seem hopeful of the idea of having a transplant." He said.
"So he's just waiting to die?"
Luffy finished his glass of milk as he thought about it.
"You don't have to answer…" Vivi said. "It was a bit too personal…"
"We better get going." Nami said. "We're heading to a club. Wanna come?"
"Thanks but I'm really not in a party mood."
"We're sorry."
"Don't worry, it's not you guys. You're just worried about me." He said with a smile. "I'm glad that you are, but I can handle some things on my own."
"Okay, if you're sure." Vivi said as they exited out of the apartment.
"Wanna go home instead?" Nami asked.
"Yeah…
Luffy stared at the countertop for sometime before grabbing his jacket and walked out of his apartment and headed to the hospital.
_/\/\/\_
Dr. K was checking up on patients that were recovering from the latest surgery when she got a note that she has someone scheduled an appointment with her in the next hour.
When the scheduled time came, she entered the clinic office and saw Luffy sitting in the chair. "Oh, it's the brat. You plan on bothering me as well?"
"I want to know if my heart will be okay for Green Eyes."
She looked serious. "I won't take it if you plan on killing yourself."
"I'm not, but if he needs it I'll be happy to give it."
She sighed harshly as she sat down on a chair across from him. "Does he know?"
"No, I just thought about it about two hours ago."
"This isn't something to take lightly!"
"I know that!"
"Brat! Even if your heart is a good match to save his life, what will become of you?"
"I'll take his."
She was dumbfounded. "I've seen his heart before, and it's a damn miracle that he's even still alive this long."
"I know that."
"Then why?"
"He's been alone and wasting away for ten years. If anything I want to give him a chance of life."
"You sound like a man about to die."
"At least run a test to see if my heart may be a good match to his."
She sighed. "Fine! But don't get your hopes up!" She said as she led him to a lab, ran some blood samples and shooed him out of the office.
While she watched him go, she grabbed the files for her current patient and ran some tests. When she got the results, she almost couldn't believe it.
"The brat is a good match to the idiot." She said as she ran another test, which she grew even more surprised. "And the idiot is a good match to the brat!"
She thought about it as she looked at the results, raking her brain with medical possibilities and possible tests to see if it was truly likely.
She called up the front desk and asked for an appointment for her patient for a specific time that was earlier than usual and for the young man in the later time.
"I really hate blood tests…" She said as she grabbed her half full box of cigarettes and went outside to smoke off the stress. "Why do I always end up with the most annoying brats in the world?"