TRIGGER WARNINGS: None.

Law's entire existence feels like a barren wasteland and he's strongly considering doing something about it. Which really comes to him as a surprise because he'd usually just sit his ass down on the couch or his bed. Waste the day away. But there's been too many of those.

He's been deliberating with himself. Mostly on whether or not he should try to enrol in school again. Since he's on proper medication it seems like it could be a good idea at least so he'll also get out of the house a lot more than he does now, which is usually only when Luffy drags his ass out for whatever damn reason. Be it to grab food or Luffy suggesting they go to an art gallery for fuck knows what reason. Said it was free entrance after six. Sounded good.

And he'd like to be able to spend more of his time with Luffy as well, maybe even take a course with him. Who knows? He's really hopeful at the moment and doesn't know where urge to do things for him came from but figures he should make the best out of the opportunity he has. But still through all the thinking he's done he's still unsure about it. Doesn't want it to end up bad again. Doesn't want to hear his professors concern when they ask why he hasn't been handing in work and how it's possible a high nineties student just drastically drops down to the mid forties at best.

Law's only real concern being whether he can do it. Whether he can manage. And sometimes he thinks he can, that maybe it was just one bad patch and he might have overreacted by dropping out. So maybe, just maybe, it'll end up better. But as much as he hates to admit it, he's got nearly no confidence in himself ever graduating with any sort of degree and going to any kind of high level medical school which he had dreamed about doing because of his father.

Doesn't like to dwell on the past anymore and thinks Luffy's really fucking changed him. The stupid, bright, and witty goofball he's come to adore and really treasure, has made him a softie. Sits there and lightly taps on the track pad of his laptop, browser open to the universities applications page and it's all right there in front of him and he could do it.

He could fill it out right now with all the information necessary and send the sucker in, pray he gets messaged back or even better just straight pass right through and get an acceptance package. Or even just get called in for an interview, magically nail it and gets in, goes to school for the remaining two years and graduates. It all seems like a really great dream that he can almost taste.

So he does. Has never typed anything out so damn quick in his life.

And he feels really good about it too. Bites on his bottom lip but that's just his anxiety kicking in. Refuses to let it break down the door to his really good mood right now. It can wait, it can fucking wait. Just a couple more boxes to fill in.

Stares at the page for what seems like an eternity. Reads over every line, checks every box.

Decides in that moment that it's best he doesn't tell anyone about it until he hears back. Wouldn't want to get anyone else's hopes up just incase they do reject him.

And he really doesn't see why they wouldn't. Thinks they'll probably read his application, notice just the time stamp on it, five thirty-four in the morning, and think he's just outright nuts. Or he's one to leave things to the last minute, rushing to get his form in for the next semester. He doesn't even know if they take applications for then this late, considers changing his enrolment for next year, but really thinks if he starts while he feels good it'll be better. So he leaves it at that.

Before his mind starts betraying him again, he takes a deep breath. Hits submit. See's a little message pop up on the next page with a conformation it'd been sent, and that he should hear back soon.

It's like a weight lifted off his chest, while he's also being hit by incoming bricks or rocks or something. Doesn't know, it's just something heavy. He knows he's going to end up being impatient as hell until he gets something back. Bounces his leg up and down, shakes the laptop. Laughs at himself because he thinks he's an idiot for thinking they'd reply instantly and just say 'HEY! You're in!' after… forty six seconds.

He thinks he should sleep now, but there's no way his anxiety will let him.

Since Law tells Luffy it's too early for his damn brunch, Luffy suggests they go out for a simple breakfast at the cafe the usually go to instead. Law meeting him there and spots him the second he walks in the door can't help the smile that creeps up onto his face.

Makes his way over and there's another painfully familiar face just two tables away from Luffy, sitting at his laptop and typing away is Kid. The day looked promising but couldn't be off to a much worse start.

Turns his attention back to look at Luffy and make his way to the table he's sitting at when he notices Kid look at him out of the corner of his eye. Thinks shit that's just great now he has to pray triple the amount and hope God keeps Kid as far away as fucking possible from him.

Thinks there are hundreds of cafes so why this fucking one specifically he had to choose, is beyond him.

"Good morning!" Luffy exclaims, face like sunshine it's holy, and maybe Luffy's his God sent angel who'll keep everything bad away.

"Morning." He replies, sits down and Luffy takes his hand and kisses the back of his palm as discreetly as he can knows laws not too big on PDA but loves to show his affection so he tries so do things subtly and Law smiles, appreciates the gesture.

Law's not sitting on the side of the table that'd allow him to make awkward occasional eye contact with Kid and he thanks Luffy for that mentally, but swears it's just as bad sitting on the other side. The feeling of Kid's eyes burn into the back of his skull. Distracts himself asks him if Luffy knows what he wants to eat, of course he does.

"They have pancakes today, so of course I'm getting some."

"Of course."

"You should too, they've even got some with chocolate chips in 'em." Luffy eyes the menu, can't believe there's such a wide variety of freakin' pancakes it's like heaven on earth to him right now.

And Law wishes he could be just as enthusiastic as Luffy is over the fried batter but he's too busy being paranoid about Kid only a couple feet away from him. Luffy easily notices his put off mood, finds it endearing Law would still try to hide how he feels from him.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing, you want pancakes right?" Law asks, tries to change the subject but Luffy frowns. Doesn't like it when he keeps things from him.

"Nothing really. Just some guy over there I used to know is all." Law tells him, points a finger behind him and Luffy tries to be discreet about it, Law tries to think it is. Tilts his head to the side and looks past Law to see a redhead aggressively typing on a laptop who looks up and makes very brief eye contact with Luffy, the younger snapping his head back and saying 'shit'.

"What?"

"I think he may or may not have made eye contact with me?" Luffy suggests and Law raises an eyebrow. It's one or the other.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure he stared me dead in the eyes and looked like he was about to come kill me! Who is he?" Luffy asks because he can't picture Law hanging around some hooligan looking redhead.

"Doesn't matter. Are you going to go order or what?" Law asks and Luffy shoots up, grabs his phone and runs for the line. Law's not even sure if he knows what he wants but figures he'll end up eating whatever it is Luffy comes back with anyways.

Waits for a couple of minutes and flips through his phone. See's a bunch of messages from Rocinante he hasn't replied to, so he does that. Goes through his photos and sees at least 200 of Luffy making every possible stupid looking face and almost chokes on his own spit trying to hold back his laughter. Each one worse than the previous. Turns to flash Luffy his phone screen with his personal favourite, nearly drops his phone when he see's Kid staring at him. Guy doesn't know the meaning of discreet any more than Luffy does.

Heart sinks into his stomach, doesn't know what to do. Body just tells him to get the hell up and see what's going on. Mind tells him to be rational, that he should probably just turn back around and pretend he's just another stranger. But that's the problem. That he isn't, and Law's too much of a stubborn fucking bastard to let it go. Gets up and walks over to Kid's table, not really caring if he causes them to lose their own table either.

"What do you want?" Straight forward and to the point.

"I haven't even said anything to you, Law."

"You keep fucking staring like you want to, so what the hell is it?" Law pretty much demands and Kid sighs, looks at the chair in front of him like he wants Law to fucking sit with him and they'll have a nice chat over a cup of coffee.

"You think you can beat him to a bloody pulp too?" Law asks, referring to Luffy because he knows the way Kid looks at people, clued in with the way Luffy described his facial expression.

"That's not fair Law, that was in high school." Kid says like it was all a big misunderstanding and that because they were young, they didn't know what they were doing. All just a big. Fucking. Mistake.

"You think that makes it any more okay?" He asks, furrows his brows in disbelief. Sounds even more pathetic when he actually hears Kid sigh after saying it.

"I already apologized-"

"And I already told you it doesn't mean shit to me." Law intervenes. He's got about zero interest to listen to him try to pitch his apology once again, and watches Kid roll his eyes in frustration. The way he used to when Law would get on his nerves before.

"Now you're just being childish." Kid says and Law laughs, a full throaty laugh that sounds delirious enough to scare even him.

"Oh that's rich coming from you, Kid."

"What the hell do you want me to do get on my knees and grovel?"

"I don't want you to do anything but get out of my face." Law says, Kid noticeably closer to him than before and he's just waiting to see if Kid will swing first before he pounds his own fist into his skull.

"Law-"

"I never once did anything wrong to you. Ever. And you treated me like a piece of gum you stepped on." Law can feel himself getting heated now, doesn't even want to breathe the same air as Kid.

"I didn't know how to deal with the situation!" Law thinks it sounds like just another pathetic excuse.

"It's not your situation to deal with in the first place! You're not the one who has to fucking deal, I just needed you, my best friend, to be there for me and you weren't!" Law's shouting now, grabs the attention of a couple of children and their parents to the left, and an old elderly couple.

"I tried-"

"Yeah, your trying was about as good as my fucking attempt at jumping in front of a car, Kid." Law tells him, sick of his self centered shit. It was never about him, Law doesn't know why he fucking insists he had some major role to play. All he had to do was lend an ear.

"At least I tried. You were up and ready to end your own life for what? You never tried either! Did you think about how it'd effect us?!"

"Why the fuck would I?! Depression isn't a fucking piece of cotton candy, you don't share that shit with all your friends! It's my illness, my mental illness, not ours mental illness, you dumbass." Law's beginning to think even talking to Kid doesn't work. The guy only knows how to communicate through his fists.

"I mean seriously, Law, how the fuck was I supposed to take any of that?" He asks him like he'd just told him he'd committed a murder. It's annoying. The way he tries to turn the tables and make himself the victim.

"Sure as hell didn't expect you to the way you did." Law spits and he can practically see a vein in Kid's forehead pop out. Like he has some right to be angry.

"How the fuck would you have reacted if I just dropped a bomb like that on you?!"

"I don't fucking know, I sure as hell wouldn't have gathered up all our friends and made them think you were a god damn psycho!" He shouts, and some old woman walks up to their table, tells them to keep it the fuck down, or she'll contact staff to escort them out for being such a damn nuisance at 10 in the morning. Walks away with that and Law couldn't be any more pissed off. The whole ordeal really setting up his mood for the rest of the day which given, is now going to be terrible.

"Is everything okay?" Luffy asks, comes up from behind him and Law says it's fine. He nods and hands Law his coffee. Eyes Kid and tries to make out the situation.

"Look I just want you to know I am sorry and I can never forgive myself, so I know there's no way you could fully-"

"Fully? Kid you-" Law starts but feels a tug on his shirt that for some reason is enough to shut him up.

Luffy pulls him back as a gesture to let Kid talk. And Kid nods as a way to say his thanks but Luffy doesn't really want it and Kid knows he's not doing this for him but for Law because whatever it is they've got going on Luffy clearly cares for him. And Kids not an idiot by any means, at least not anymore, and he's able to realize that.

"I know I can't take back what we all did to you. Believe me if there was a way I could I would, but it was years ago and again, I'm not asking us to become best buddies, but at least put it behind us." He says and Luffy drinks his own hot chocolate, glances to the side to see Law's face and he sighs.

"I don't care. It's behind me whatever, I couldn't care less. You know, you act so high and fucking mighty all the time. Like all of this, was my fault. And you know, it's not. It's yours. All of you. Who the fuck thinks that doing what you all did was the better way to approach the situation? Which, wasn't even a fucking situation to begin with. God." Law tells him and both Kid and Luffy look at him suspiciously because it's hard to believe he's just going to tuck it away in the back of his mind. Though obviously not as easily as he'd hoped. And Law himself can't believe it either, blames it on Luffy's presence, otherwise he might have thrown a couple of punches and gotten kicked out, if not arrested for returning the physical assault.

"Law, you know I'm fucking sorry for it. And if I could-" Kid's obvious sincerity is shown on his face but Law's just so tired.

"You'd take it back, yeah I fucking know, you're like a god damn record." Law groans, just wants it all to be over with. To go back and have his damned pancakes with Luffy. Who is just standing there, listening in on this petty drama, Law thinks he could fit in on the real housewives, because shit. He's got about as much problems as those women, and he'll drink just as much wine, too. Thinks he's grown a bit since meeting Luffy. Can very literally see the effect.

Kid doesn't take the line all too personally, knows he pretty much deserves it and shit, at least he knows that much. Because the guy definitely deserves worse than just a jab to his inflated ego.

"Really Law, I know Bonney is going to be really happy about this. She's missed you a lot." Kid tells him and he nods. He has missed his old friends a lot as well but it's no conciliation. By no means does it make them all the best of friends like before and it'll probably never go back to being the way it was before either.

Luffy smiles and tugs on Law's shirt, nudges his head in the direction of their table and suggests they should head back. Their table, that's surprisingly still empty considering how crowded it is. Wants to get Law away before anything else comes up and puts a change on his mood and he agrees. Kid handing him a piece of paper with his number on it, as well as Bonney's for Law to use if he ever needs to, not that he expects him to though and Law takes it, stuffs it in his pocket and walks back to his table with Luffy after that.

Luffy just watches Law just stare down at the table. The two of them sitting in silence. Eyes locked on his cup of coffee he hasn't touched in over ten minutes. Doesn't want to say anything but doesn't like the quiet either.

"Law?" Luffy finds himself curious about what the reasoning behind Law and Kid's discussion was. Doesn't really know if Law will tell him but it's worth a try.

"Hm?"

"What did they do to you?" Luffy asks and Law's really quiet. The only sounds are of cars driving along the sleet on the road outside and other people sitting in the café chatting.

"Pretty much used me as their personal punching bag. Very literally." Law tells him, and Luffy clues in to what he's trying to say. That they beat him up and it makes Luffy wish he hadn't given Kid even two seconds to speak and wants to walk back and give him a taste of his own medicine.

"It's okay you don't have to be so angry. I'm fine now right? Not hurt or bloody so leave it." Law says and hurt is one thing, a couple of bruises and maybe a broken bone if it's that bad but fucking bloody is another thing and it only pisses Luffy off even more.

"Bloody?!" Law thinks Luffy's too loud for his own good.

"Just drop it."

"If they were your friends why would they do that to you?!" Luffy doesn't know the meaning of letting something go. Law sighs and takes a sip of his coffee. Watches Luffy's eyes practically burst into flames, looks like even he could jump over him and punch Kid in the face. He wouldn't mind seeing that.

"As if I know. Guess the term 'friends' was only in my vocabulary." Law just would much rather not go into detail. Especially not in some café where he's sure a couple of people have heard them talk already. Can very much feel the awkward glances at him and Luffy, earlier as well towards him and Kid.

"I want to beat his ass real bad." Luffy mumbles and Law smiles at him because he thinks it's cute. That Luffy's all protective.

"You and me both, but seriously. Just leave it now, okay? It's not worth it." Law can't believe the words are coming out of his own mouth because just a day ago if he'd seen Kid he probably would have flipped out way worse than today. And would have maybe tossed in a couple of his own hits. Watches the waitress bring over two large plates of pancakes and set them down, the two stopping their conversation to say thank you. Also makes sure to ask his are gluten free, because he knows the chance of Luffy remembering were... slim. She nods and Law sees a smile as bright as the sun come from him, but then Luffy finds the need to go on.

"Fine. But if he looks at you funny-"

"Yeah, throw hands." Law says sarcastically and Luffy laughs, throws some punches in the air. He means business.

A/N: Apologies for the short and rather simple chapter! I'll make it up to you, I swear. This is definitely the calm before the storm. Thank you for your kind words and feedback, look forward to hearing from you on this one as well! All the love. ~S