Thanks Vergina-spva and MyLadyDay for beta'ing

Chapter 18

Kid woke up with a slight throbbing behind his eyes, but nothing too bad. He had, however, a nasty taste in his mouth, probably because he had fallen asleep last night the moment he sat down on his bed, neglecting to brush his teeth or even take off his clothes.

He hoisted himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, noting that Killer wasn't in his bed. He hadn't been when Kid got back either, nor had Kid heard him come in. It was unusual for him not to come back to the room, and unlikely that he had gone to his parents. Scratching the back of his head, Kid wondered where else Killer could have spent the night. Or perhaps Kid just hadn't heard him when he came in late and left early. It had happened before.

Stripping himself, Kid turned on the spray of the shower and stepped underneath it. As the warm water woke him up, the events of last night suddenly came rushing back to him, and Kid had to steady himself. It wasn't like he had been drunk, but he had been in a very different state of mind nonetheless to let Zoro touch him like that. The worst part was that he had been thinking about Law the whole time. He couldn't be attracted to him, could he?

If he was honest with himself, Law had been on his mind ever since they met on the train. At first, Kid had assumed it was only hatred he felt, but now, he wasn't so sure anymore. Last night had shown him that he wasn't exactly repulsed by doing sexual things with men, even if he wouldn't necessarily repeat it anytime soon. Not with just any guy, anyway. Kid's mind drifted back to the two times he had seen Law without a shirt. He couldn't deny he had liked that view.

Turning the shower cold with a brusque gesture, he let his head fall against the tiled wall with a groan. Why did everything suddenly have to be so complicated? If it was true and he was in fact attracted to Law, what the hell was he supposed to do about it? He had pretty much ruined his chances by threatening to kill him and such. People usually didn't take kindly to that kind of stuff, or so Killer told him.

It wasn't even ten in the morning and he already felt like he could use a drink.

Sighing, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, before putting the clothes from last night in the hamper – if he didn't, Killer would have his head. In his underwear, he walked back into the room to pick out some new clothes. Killer still wasn't back, and upon closer inspection, his bed didn't look like it had been slept in at all. Strange.

When Kid was dressed, he walked to the shared kitchen to make some breakfast. It was still relatively early, for students anyway, so there was no one in the kitchen. Kid took his time to cook, as he usually did when it was early in the morning. He enjoyed cooking, but since they shared the kitchen with six others, there wasn't often time or space to cook extensively.

As he was eating his breakfast, he made a plan for that day. First things first, he had to make it clear to that Zoro guy that he wasn't to breathe a word about what happened in the bathroom last night to anyone. Ever. Kid still wasn't sure what to make of it, so it was better to pretend it never happened. Later, he could deal with whatever it was he felt for Law.

After finishing his breakfast and doing the dishes, Kid made his way over to dorm three. The hall he had been in yesterday was easily recognisable by the plastic cups, cans, crumbs, and even some passed out people littered around. Trying not to wake anyone, Kid walked past several doors, trying to remember the number. Fortunately, the table behind which Nami had been standing was still there, and Kid knew the room had been behind that. He knocked on the door behind which he thought the main party had been held, but no one answered. He tried again, harder this time, but still there was no reply. Perhaps the people inside were passed out as well? Or maybe it wasn't Zoro's room at all.

Before he could pound on the door a third time, the door across the hall opened, and Nami peered her head around the corner. "Oh, it's you," she said. "You're Bonney's friend, right?"

"Yeah," he replied curtly before turning back to the closed door.

"Zoro's not there," Nami said when he raised his fist to pound on the door again.

Kid turned back to her, his eyes narrowed. "Where is he then?"

She opened the door some more and leaned against the frame, an unsettling grin on her face. "What's it worth to you?"

Kid's eyebrow twitched, and he had trouble not to punch her in the face right away. The only thing stopping him was realising she wouldn't tell him at all if he did, whether because she couldn't or wouldn't.

"Come on, Nami, don't be mean." Another young woman appeared in the doorway. She had long, light blue hair and looked vaguely familiar. "Hi, I'm Vivi," she said, holding out her hand. "We didn't get a chance to talk last night."

Hesitantly, he took her hand and shook it. Her skin was extremely soft. "Kid."

"So you're a friend of Bonney, right? She's dating my cousin Perona, do you know her too?" Vivi asked smiling.

"Yeah."

Nami rolled her eyes. "You're not very talkative, are you?"

Vivi elbowed her in the ribs. "Don't mind her. You were looking for Zoro?"

"Y… I am," Kid corrected himself.

Nami and Vivi exchanged a look. "You didn't know that last night was his going away party?" the latter asked.

Kid frowned. Zoro hadn't mentioned that last night, nor had Bonney. "No. Where is he?"

"He is going to Japan. His plane has taken off already," Nami said. "We're just back from seeing him off."

"How long will he be gone?" Kid asked.

"A year, at least. Maybe longer."

It seemed his problem had resolved itself. Glad it was taken care off, Kid made to leave, but Vivi stopped him.

"We can give him a message for you next time he calls," she offered. "I saw you two talking last night, so if you like him…"

For a second, Kid froze and then whipped around. "I don't!" he snapped.

"Really? That's good news for Ace. He seemed to be into you," Nami said with a smirk. "Then again, he is into pretty much anything on two legs."

Kid's eyes widened.

"Maybe he's not gay or bi," Vivi said softly to Nami, though still hard enough that Kid could hear it. "Not everyone is."

"Really? I'd have guessed he's gay." Nami cocked her head slightly to the side as she observed Kid.

Kid had heard enough. As fast as he could, he left, pushing aside everyone who was in his way.

"It was nice meeting you!" Vivi called after him. "See you at the next party!"

He ignored her and left the dorm. Outside, he immediately headed for the swimming pool to clear his head. What the hell did they know?! He wasn't gay, even if he might be attracted to Law, right?

In the swimming pool, he took his spare speedo out of his locker and got changed.

It was several hours later when his arms started to get tired and his skin had become wrinkly that he decided to call it a day. When he exited the pool, Bonney came running up to him, looking slightly annoyed.

"Where the hell have you been?" she asked accusingly. "I've called and texted you all day!"

Kid patted himself down, realising he had left his phone in his room. He hadn't even checked it this morning in his haste to go to Zoro's room. "What's up?" he asked.

"Really? You disappeared last night without a word and you ask what's up?!" Bonney tapped her foot impatiently. "Where did you go?"

Only now it occurred to him that he hadn't told anyone, much less Bonney that he was leaving the party. To be fair, he had a lot to think about, but in hindsight, it would have been nice of him to let her know he was off. "Sorry," he said. "I went to my room."

She sighed. "Geez, just tell me next time okay. I was worried."

"I can take care of myself."

"I wasn't worried that something might happen to you, but rather that you'd do something to someone. I saw Ace flirting with you and… Well, he can be a bit much." She crossed her arms before her chest. "You seemed okay with the booze and Zoro…" She trailed off when she saw him stiffen. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Well, anyway," Bonney continued, "I just wanted to know if you killed anyone."

"I didn't."

"Good. Well, I'm off then." She made to leave, but Kid called her back.

"Wait!"

She turned to him.

He hesitated. "Something… might have happened."

"Something like what?" she asked.

Kid opened his mouth to reply, but changed his mind and grabbed her wrist. "Not here." He started to drag her away, ignoring her protests.

"Where are we going?" she demanded.

He didn't reply until they were in an almost deserted part of the campus. There, he finally let go of her.

"What's gotten into you?" she muttered, rubbing her wrist. "This better be something big!"

Now that they were alone, Kid suddenly lost his nerve. He still wanted to talk with her about what happened last night, because despite the fact that Killer was his best friend, he wasn't ready to tell him. Bonney seemed to be cool with anything and she had given him sound advice before.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

"I…" He hesitated. "I may have, sort of, somewhat… had sex with a guy last night," he suddenly blurted out, immediately regretting his choice of words.

Bonney was stunned into silence. She just stared at him, forming words with her mouth, but no sound came out. "Excuse me?" she finally managed after a few minutes of silence.

"You heard me," he snapped. "Don't make me repeat it." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked everywhere but at Bonney.

"Okay," she said slowly. "Can't say I expected you to say that. But wait, so Ace got to you after all? Now that I think about, that's not too farfetched. I mean, I'm a lesbian and even I can see what people see in him, y'know?" she continued musing.

"It wasn't him," Kid muttered, though, if he were honest with himself, it might have been if Ace hadn't been distracted and ran off with someone else. Obviously, he had been flirting with Kid.

Well, it was obvious to him now.

"No? Then who…" Her voice trailed off when she suddenly seemed to realise something, her eyes widening. "No way!" she called, slapping Kid against his arm in her enthusiasm.

Kid didn't reply.

"So Zoro, huh?" she continued, a shit eating grin on her face. "Good for him. Though, you do know he's on his way to Japan for who knows how long, right?"

"I do now," he muttered.

"So wait," Bonney said, "was this a one time thing or are you gonna try a long distance relationship or something?"

"Just one time," Kid said through gritted teeth. "It was just an experiment, okay?!"

"Okay, okay, keep your pants on. What did you think? No details please," she hastily added.

"It was… fine." Now that they were nearing the worst part of the conversation, Kid was starting to feel even more uncomfortable.

"Okay," Bonney said slowly, clearly perceiving there was something Kid wasn't telling her, "but…?"

If there was ever a time for the ground to open up and swallow him, this was it. He couldn't say it. He couldn't tell her he thought he might be attracted to Law. Law, of all people! Why did this have to happen to him?

Unfortunately for him, Bonney was getting impatient. "Will you just spit it out?" she snapped. "It's almost dinner time!"

Kid squirmed a little, but he knew she would drag it out of him one way or another, so he rather did it on his own terms. "When we were…" He cleared his throat when Bonney raised her eyebrow. "During… it, I was thinking about someone else?"

"Who?" she demanded.

He squirmed again. "Law," he finally spat. Carefully, he looked up to see her reaction.

Contrary to what he had expected, she looked at him deadpanned. "That's it?"

Taken aback, he spat, "Whaddya mean, 'that's it?'"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing. I just figured you'd realise it sooner or later."

"Realise what? Wait, you mean you knew?!" Kid was so surprised he forgot to get mad.

"I'd have been surprised if you didn't have some sort of feelings for him," she said, shrugging. "I've seen you together, and when you were dancing…"

"Then why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

She looked at him deadpanned again. "Please, like you'd even have let me finish my sentence. You had to figure it out on your own. Besides, I only knew you were attracted to him in some way. What way is for you to figure out."

"What do you mean, way?" he asked, still confused.

"Like, if you want to fuck him or date him." She pulled a bag of M&Ms out of her bag, despite the fact that she had claimed that it was almost dinner time, and offered him some.

Absentmindedly, Kid took out a hand and popped them in his mouth. He had definitely not expected that reaction, but what Bonney said did make sense. What did he want?

"Glad to see I've helped." She patted him on the head. "Don't hurt yourself thinking too hard. See ya later, Kiddo!" With that, she left, leaving Kid musing behind.

He barely registered she had left, still thinking about her words. He had thought about Law when he was having sex with Zoro, what he looked like naked and what it would be like if he had been there. So he was physically attracted to him. But dating, that was something else entirely, and not something he had thought about before.

He imagined him and Law in a romantic restaurant and had to snort. Even if they managed a civil conversation, they both would look out of place in a place like that.

Still, the idea of them dating wasn't as off putting as it should have been, or at least as Kid would have expected to find it. It wouldn't be conventional, but Kid had never been conventional anyway.

That brought him to one last problem. Law didn't like him. Not even a little bit. Kid had personally fucked up any chance he might have had by being homophobic and his usual asshole self around Law. Then again, Law seemed to bring out the worst in him and to rile him up on purpose, so that might not even be a problem. However, Law had proven he was open minded and that the one thing he couldn't stand were bigots. Kid hadn't exactly been a shining example in that regard.

It was already late when Kid made his way back to his room, not even having bothered to eat. Killer wasn't there, but his coat proved he had been there at some point during the day. Flopping down on his bed, Kid grabbed his phone and checked his messages. Bonney hadn't lied, she had called him numerous times and sent him several texts. Ignoring them, since he had already spoken to her, he scrolled mindlessly through his contacts, until his eye suddenly caught the name that had been on his mind all day.

Clicking on Law's name, Kid wondered briefly why he suddenly had his contact information, until he realised that Penguin had to have put it in when Kid had accidentally destroyed his phone and lent him Kid's.

Brushing past Law's name with his thumb, Kid froze when his phone started to call Law. He should probably hang up and think about what he wanted some more, but then again, if last night had proven anything, it was that Kid only figured stuff out when he was confronted with them. He had thought long about his sexuality, but only diving right in, so to speak, had provided him with somewhat of an answer. So he let it ring.

It took a while before Law picked up and Kid was about to lose his nerve, when he heard Law's smooth voice in his ear. "Now there's a surprise," he said. "Or can I assume you butt dialled me?"

Kid realised he still had an out if he wanted to, pretending that he had pocket dialled Law's number, but he was not a coward. Taking a deep breath, he said, "We need to talk."