"Doctor Trafalgar! We have two new patients! These are casualties from a fire accident!" Announced one of the nurses to the main doctor of the emergency ward, as he sat comfortably in his treatment room and sipped his already third coffee.

Law was not used to working the night shift in the emergency department, as he usually worked as a surgeon during the day. But currently he had to take over these shifts every now and then due to a shortage of skilled workers, which he could not complain about, having recently found a reason to enjoy working here, despite the exhaustion it entailed. That was exactly the same reason that made his heart pound at the mention of a fire accident.

"Got it, I'm coming. Where are Shachi and Penguin?" The 28-year-old man inquired as, after one last generous sip of his coffee, he set the cup down on the table, threw on his doctor's coat and followed the nurse out of the room.

"The two are already in the process of making all the preparations." Responded the nurse "Alright."

Law then entered the room with the two patients and immediately spotted his two friends and work colleagues Shachi and Penguin, who had already put oxygen masks on the victims.

"What about the patients? Any serious injuries?" The surgeon asked as he quickly disinfected his hands, pulled his rubber gloves over his hands with swift movements and put on his medical mask over his mouth and nose.

"Fortunately, no, Law. Other than being in respiratory distress from all the smoke they inhaled, they only suffered second degree burns." Explained Penguin as he watched Law examine the two patients with a keen eye.

"The woman has a burn on her right shin and left forearm, while the man has a wound on the right side of his abdomen, right thigh and left shoulder." Added Shachi to the diagnosis.

"Well then, that shouldn't be a problem. Let's get started." Said Law and was already more than ready to start with the treatment, which could also be seen in the intense look in his silver eyes, which was filled with excitement.

After the treatment was over, Law left the hospital room, disposing of his gloves in a trash can, when at that moment his gaze fell on a person he had inwardly hoped to meet. The reason why he liked this shift so much.

A young black haired man in his early twenties was standing not far from him at the information desk, talking with a concerned look on his face to a lady in charge of information. As usual, he was wearing his fireman's suit with the thick boots and holding his helmet in one hand. His pitch black mane was all disheveled and his so innocent looking face was a little dirty with soot, just like the rest of his clothes.

His name was Luffy.

At least that was what his friends had told him, since unlike himself they only worked in the emergency ward and encountered the young man here quite often.

Law could not help smiling under his mask. Once again, the young firefighter had come to enquire about the health of the people he had rescued. Luffy did this every time and then waited until he received more detailed information from the doctors. It was precisely this particular habit of the other that had piqued Law's interest. The surgeon could not explain why, but ever since he had first encountered this young man in the emergency ward, just as he was now in his work clothes and completely filthy from his rescue operation, he could no longer get him out of his mind. It was like an unnatural force that attracted him to the boy and made him feel things he had never felt before.

Law eyed Luffy from bottom to top, his heart pounding as his gaze locked with the other's. The surgeon swallowed the lump in his throat as he saw the young firefighter approach him.

"Excuse me, could you maybe tell me about the condition of the couple who suffered a fire accident?" Luffy asked kindly without hesitation. Law remained as professional as ever despite his proximity to the other man and had to clear his throat before giving an answer.

"They're both fine, thankfully. Except for a few burns, everything seems to be fine with them. They're still asleep at the moment due to the medication we've administered."

A relieved sigh escaped Luffy as he simultaneously dropped exhausted onto one of the waiting chairs in the hallway. "Thank you so much doctor! I'm very glad to hear that!" Luffy grinned widely at Law and his reaction made the surgeon smile in amusement.

It was very rare, almost impossible to ever see Law smile, but in the presence of the young man he just couldn't help it. Luffy just triggered something in him and the 28-year-old slowly began to think that he was losing his mind.

And he probably did, because even days later he found himself, as he did almost every day, in the bar that the firefighter regularly visited with his friends. By now, it was no longer enough for Law to see Luffy only occasionally after fire accidents at the hospital. He felt the unsuppressible urge to follow him everywhere, but so far he had only been able to follow Luffy to where he lived and this bar and another restaurant he also visited almost daily.

Through this, Law found out that Luffy did not live alone, only he could not interpret who the two men were, living with him. His friends or rather brothers? In addition, the young man had a total of five close friends. All of them were now gathered together, drinking and gossiping about all sorts of things. Law, sitting just one table away from the group, drank a beer as he listened to the conversations of the five friends, trying to find out more about Luffy that way.

As much as he had figured out so far, the green haired man sitting to Luffy's right was named Zoro and was also his work colleague at the fire department. To the left of the black haired boy was an orange haired young woman named Nami, who worked as a kindergarten teacher. These three seemed to know each other very well and Law suspected from their conversations now and then that they knew each other since childhood.

Law took a sip from his beer bottle while glancing warily at Nami. The surgeon couldn't stand the way her hand kept resting on Luffy's thigh under the table. If looks could kill, the orange haired girl would drop dead at that moment. He wondered what relationship she actually had with Luffy.

Across from the kindergarten teacher sat a blue haired lady named Vivi. About her Law could not get out very much, because she revealed rather little of herself and most of the time only giggled when something funny was said. Watching her for a while, Law understood the reason why, because he didn't miss her shy, dreamy looks with which she observed Luffy. She probably had a crush on the raven haired, only Luffy wasn't aware of it at all, as he didn't seem to notice.

Law gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in exasperation, his fingernails digging into the palm of his hand. He took his eyes off the group again for a while to take more sips from his bottle.

In addition to Zoro, Nami, and Vivi, there was also Usopp, who had started his own business as a graphic designer, and Sanji, who worked as a cook at the restaurant that Luffy seemed to enjoy so much.

Just as Law was about to turn his gaze inconspicuously to Luffy again, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, pulled it out and glanced at it, only to see his boyfriend's name on the screen. He heaved a sigh before deciding to take the call.

"Hey Kid, what's up?"

"Hi honey, nothing really. I thought I'd give you a call just to hear your voice. Are you ok, you sound kinda different?"

"It's just the stress at work nothing important, you know that."

"Okay if you say so…But is that music in the background? Where are you?"

"I'm in a bar right now. Just wanted to have a drink after work that's all. No need to worry."

"I see...So, I actually wanted to let you know that I probably won't be able to come home for a few more days. Work has been dragging on a bit and I need to stay in a little longer."

"Oh really, again?"

"I'm so sorry and I miss you so much already, babe. But I promise you, when I'm back home I'll make it up to you."

"Don't worry, I can wait for you until then. Just take care of yourself."

"You too, and please don't drink so much, promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Well then, if there's nothing else, I should go to sleep now. I love you."

"All right, good night. Love you too."

Law sighed deeply again as soon as he ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket. The call had dragged on unnecessarily, even though he was actually busy. It wasn't like he wasn't looking forward to the call from his boyfriend, but it just didn't feel the same with him anymore. Kid was constantly traveling for business and neglecting their relationship, which was starting to make Law unsure if their relationship still made any sense.

The surgeon took the last sips of his beer and then turned dejectedly to Luffy's table when he realized with horror that the friends had already left while he was on the phone. Without wasting any more time, he got up from his seat with a jerk, knocking over the bottle on the table, and hurriedly made his way through the crowd to the outside.

Once outside the front door, Law looked around in a panic for the five friends. It couldn't be that they were already out of sight, since Law was sure he hadn't been talking to Kid for that long. He was cursing himself for not noticing that they had gotten up and couldn't believe that he had actually been so distracted by the conversation.

Law could feel his heart beating in his chest as he continued to look around for Luffy. But the search ended quite quickly when he suddenly spotted the black haired boy on the sidewalk next to a streetlight. Luffy was standing there all alone, looking at the screen of his phone in his hands. Law stood outside the entrance of the bar for a while longer as he stared at the young man. He found it strange that his friends had left him completely alone, because the last few times his friend Zoro had driven him home.

Without further thought, Law's legs led him to the young firefighter as if by themselves, and before he knew it, he was now standing a few inches behind him, so Law could now see Luffy hastily typing something on his phone.

"I suppose you could use a ride?" The sentence slipped out of Law's mouth before he realized it himself. The sudden sound of Law's deep voice made Luffy startle with a small intake of breath, which also almost made his phone fall out of his hands. Quickly, Luffy glanced over his shoulder, only to look into Law's silver eyes, which gleamed in the dim light of the streetlamp.

"Woah, you gave me a scare!" Luffy held his chest with his hand to calm his wildly beating heart as he examined the strange man closely. The man looked quite familiar, but he just couldn't figure out where he might know him from.

"Do we know each other?" Luffy then asked tilting his head as the man just continued to stare him dumbly in the eyes with his intense gaze.

"Huh…?" This question made Law come back to reality and he opens his mouth to answer, but immediately closed it again when Luffy approached his face a bit, looking at him intensely. The boy came so close that the surgeon was already able to feel Luffy's breath against his face and the nearness made Law's heart leap for joy in his chest. Law had to pull himself the hell together not to do anything wrong.

"Oh, now I know! You're the doctor from the hospital, right? It's really hard to recognize you without the mask." Luffy suddenly exclaimed, grinning widely.

"Correct, so...you need a ride?" Law repeated his question, his heart still pounding. And he knew he was being very awkward at the moment, but the urge to just grab this boy by the arm and take him away was very hard to suppress.

"Oh...actually I'm waiting for my boyfriend to come pick me up. But thanks anyway." Answered Luffy nonchalantly, giving Law another bright smile and turning away from him to look for his friend's car. Something inside Law broke when these words reached his ears. Was it his heart? Or was it his hope? Whatever it was, it triggered a tremendous anger and frustration inside him that he didn't know how to control. Law clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, but just before he could say or do anything, a car pulled up.

"That's my boyfriend! So I'll see you around!" Luffy said with a quick wave, then opened the passenger door and got in. Before the raven haired man drove away and just left him standing there, Law took a brief glance at the driver of the car and his eyes widened, as he recognized the blond man with the hairstyle that resembled a pineapple. Their glaring gazes met fleetingly as the blond haired man pushed the gas pedal the next moment and drove away.

Law couldn't believe it. It was no doubt the same man who shared the apartment with Luffy and the other person. This realization caused Law to blow a fuse, whereupon he let out a frustrated yell and kicked the streetlight with full force. This action attracted quite a bit of attention from the other people who had been milling around in front of the bar, but Law ignored this, not giving them a glance and stomping straight out to his car.

The surgeon, seething with rage, slammed the door of his car after getting in and rested his forehead against the steering wheel, his eyes closed. The sight of Luffy's boyfriend appeared in his inner eye, which only made his eyes squeeze shut even more. Then, all at once, he straightened up and slammed his hand against the steering wheel.

"FUCK!"

Both times he had not felt the pain in his leg, nor in his hand. All he could feel was the rising anger and the pain in his chest, which additionally took his breath away. Law raised his hand, which he had just slapped on the hard wheel, to eye level and saw it shaking uncontrollably. At that moment, he realized once again that his behavior was getting out of control.

Law's indescribable desire for this young man he barely knew took over and he could do nothing to stop it. And with each passing day, with each passing hour, and with each passing minute, the urge within him grew worse and more unbearable.

—

The next morning, the young firefighter was getting ready for work as he was about to slip into his clothes. After a satisfied look in the mirror, Luffy then headed towards the kitchen, from where a delicious smell of fried eggs with bacon permeated, which made his mouth water.

As he entered the kitchen, he was greeted by two smiling faces, which he returned warmly. "Good morning!"

"Good morning my little angel." Said his boyfriend Marco, then stood up to put his empty coffee cup in the sink. He then bent down slightly to Luffy to give him a quick kiss on the lips, which only added to Luffy's good mood, before returning to his seat at the table.

"Morning little brother, did you sleep well? I hope you didn't drink too much yesterday." Greeted him his older brother, as he stood at the stove and prepared the eggs. He wore an apron and his shoulder-length black hair was tied in a small ponytail.

Luffy pouted, knowing exactly what incident his brother was teasing him on. "Just because I drank too much that one time..." Murmured the youngest of the three annoyed and then took a seat at the set breakfast table. Marco just laughed at the face Luffy pulled, obviously amused by the interaction of the two brothers. But Luffy's expression changed abruptly when he saw the table in front of him. "Oh man, am I hungry!" Luffy exclaimed while his simultaneously growling stomach only reinforced his statement.

"You're always hungry!" Ace replied, shaking his head and sighing, then turned around with the pan in his hand to place the finished eggs on each of his brother's and his friend's plates. Without waiting even a second longer, Luffy started stuffing everything possible on the table into his mouth, which Marco smiled at again as he briefly looked up from his phone in his hand.

"You glutton! Eat slower or you'll choke!" Ace scolded, hitting his little brother lightly on the head with his fist, whereupon Luffy scowled at him and grumbled something indistinctly. But then Luffy's eyes fell on his boyfriend, who was staring intently at his phone, which made the black haired boy quite curious. "Are you looking at cheap rentals again Marco?" Inquired Luffy after gulping down all the food in his mouth.

At the question, the 27-year-old blond man paused briefly to scroll his screen and then looked up at Luffy, who was looking at him expectantly with his big round eyes. "Sure...but Luffy, we've discussed this many times before, haven't we?" Marco then said a bit hesitantly, which made Luffy's face fall again and he dropped the food in his hands onto his plate, as he then leaned back in his chair with a groan.

"I know you're waiting for your promotion first, but you meant before, that you and I could move out when I was done with college, and that was a whole year ago!" Luffy exclaimed disappointedly and then turned his gaze to his half empty plate. Marco and Ace just exchanged glances at Luffy's whining, with Ace shrugging his shoulders cluelessly.

Marco hesitated a few seconds before reaching for Luffy's hand and taking it in his own. "Honey look, I know how much you want this, but I promise it won't be long before it happens. I just want to move into a proper apartment with you and I'm sure you want that too, don't you?" Marco only got a slight nod from Luffy. "There you go. Then be patient a while longer and I'll rent us one of the best apartments in the entire city." The blond man smiled at his boyfriend, which the other hesitantly returned. "Alright, I'll be patient."

"Besides, what's the rush Luffy? It sounds like you don't like it here with me anymore?" Ace now also spoke up in a huff and shoved a fork full of eggs into his mouth. Luffy just laughed in response as he started stuffing his mouth again, which only made Ace turn his head away, offended.

"Also, you'd better hurry or you'll be late for work." Ace added, grinning mischievously. Luffy didn't have to be told twice, wolfed down the rest of his food in one go and then got ready to go. Before leaving the apartment, the firefighter gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the lips. "See you later!"

Marco, letting the door fall shut behind Luffy, leaned back against it, sighing. "Ace, I think it's time to tell him." Said the blond man then with a serious face and accepted the hug that the black haired offered him. At these words, Ace grimaced in discomfort.

"You know I can't bring myself to do that. Luffy would never be able to take that. He'd hate us." Ace replied dejectedly, burying his face in the other's shoulder. "I know..."

Silence reigned between the two for a while before Marco suddenly spoke up again. "But hey, maybe let's talk about this another time, cause I have some news that will cheer us both up. You see, I'm off work early today, which means we'll have plenty of time for both of us before Luffy gets home."

Ace's head immediately shot up at this and he looked into his lover's warmly smiling face. "Really? That's great! I love you!" Ace exclaimed happily and pressed a passionate kiss on Marco's lips. "I love you too." Marco replied before pulling Ace back to him and kissing him deeply again, but this time longer than before.

—

It was near the end of the shift, and Luffy was about to take off his work clothes in the locker room, when Thatch, the boss of the fire station approached him to ask him something.

"Hey Luffy, before you go, I wanted to ask you if you could maybe take the night shift tonight along with Zoro? Our team isn't complete tonight, so we'd need people to step up."

Luffy thought for a moment and since he had nothing special planned for tonight, he decided to agree, despite the fact that he was actually quite exhausted. However, he did not want to let his boss down. The raven haired put on a smile. "No problem, I can stay." Luffy replied, completely unaware of the events that awaited him that night. "Thanks Luffy, I knew I could count on you." Thatch thanked him and disappeared behind the door.

Luffy then settled down on a bench in the locker room, pulled out his phone, and then dialed his brother's number.

Ace had just come from work with Marco and had parked his car in front of his apartment. Just before he entered the building, his phone rang. He stopped in his tracks as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone. "Who is it?" Marco asked curiously, putting his hand on Ace's shoulder. "It's Luffy." Without hesitating any longer, Ace answered the call.

"Hey little bro, what's up?"

"Hey Ace, are you back from work yet?"

"Yeah just got back and picked up Marco on the way back."

"Great, so I'm calling cause I wanted to let you know that you don't have to prepare dinner for me. I took the night shift for tonight."

"Oh, but are you sure it's not too much for you? You shouldn't overwork yourself."

"Don't worry, I can handle it. It's only for one night. Besides, Zoro is staying with me too."

"Alright, but as always, take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will. See you tomorrow Ace, love you."

"Love you too, little brother."

Marco, who had been listening to the conversation, snuggled up to Ace's body from behind after the black haired man hung up and put his phone back in his pants pocket. "So, Luffy won't be coming home today?" Marco whispered in his lover's ear, which gave Ace goosebumps all over his body.

"Oh yeah and you know what that means for us?" Ace asked playfully and caressed the other's cheek before kissing it.

"Of course and I already can't wait. Let's go inside quickly."

As the two of them made their way into the building, they were completely unaware that a certain person was watching them. Right on the opposite side of the street stood Law, who had observed the whole spectacle between the two from the outset. A grin crept onto his lips.

—

It was late at night when an emergency call was made to the fire department and before Luffy and Zoro knew it, they were already in the fire truck heading for the scene of the fire.

Everything happened so quickly for Luffy, when the next moment he found himself in front of his burning apartment building. He could not believe his eyes. Although his colleagues including Zoro were preparing to free the trapped people from the building and extinguish the fire, Luffy stood transfixed, the flames of fire reflected in his glazed eyes as he watched them rise more and more.

It felt like a nightmare.

"A-Ace...M-arco..." Suddenly, Luffy broke free from his state of shock and ran into the building, completely out of his clear mind and controlled by his emotions. Zoro, looking around for his friend and seeing this, tried to stop him.

"L-Luffy, wait! Don't do anything stupid, the fire is too big!" But no matter how loud he shouted, nothing could stop Luffy, which is why the green haired quickly followed his 23-year-old friend without hesitation.

Luffy struggled through the flames of the floors, tears flowing continuously down his cheeks, until he finally arrived on the third floor in front of the front door of his apartment. The young firefighter was not wearing a helmet or a mask that could protect him from the smoke, so all the smoke from the flames was getting to him, but he didn't care.

Breathing heavily, Luffy coughed a few times before kicking in the front door and entering the apartment which was also not spared from the big flames.

"ACE! MARCO!" Luffy yelled over and over again at the top of his lungs as he frantically searched the rooms. His vision kept blurring and his lungs were already so irritated by the smoke that it was hard for him to breathe, yet he didn't give up. Luffy's heart was hammering so hard against his ribcage, as if it was trying to jump out, when there was only one last room left for him to search. Ace's bedroom.

Zoro, following his friend as fast as the fire allowed him, was about to reach Luffy's apartment when suddenly an ear-splitting scream was heard, making his heart skip a beat.

"Oh shit, Luffy!"

Zoro finally arrived at the right floor and tried to follow Luffy's voice, but he was overcome with fear when he couldn't hear anything from his friend after that horrible scream, which couldn't mean anything good. Was it already too late?

Finally, the green haired man found the room in which Luffy was, but he had not expected the sight that presented itself to him. His breath caught and his eyes widened when he saw the terrible scenario before his eyes.

Ace and Marco lay naked and tightly embraced in the bed, which was already engulfed in flames, while Luffy lay collapsed on the floor in front of them.

Zoro's legs threatened to give way under him in shock, but he managed to pull himself together at the last second. It was already too late for the two on the bed, which was easy to see, but he had to at least bring Luffy outside as quickly as possible.

"LUFFY!"

~A few days later~

One evening, the 23-year-old young man sat alone in the bar, completely depressed, and downed his already fifth drink. Luffy slammed the empty glass on the counter and immediately asked the bartender for a refill, when just at that moment his phone rang again. After the umpteenth ring, he finally decided to answer it and rolled his eyes in annoyance when he saw his green haired friend's name on the screen.

"Luffy? Luffy where the hell are you and why aren't you answering your phone?! I was seriously worried, dammit!"

"Worried? *hic* Why? Because I might hurt myself? Or-"

"Stop talking such nonsense! Are you drinking? Why didn't you stay at my home? Listen, I understand that you feel like shit, but you can't just run away like that! So tell me where you are now, so I can pick you up! Everyone is already worried sick."

"I'm in the bar right now *hic* but please don't come. I need some time alone. I'll come later...sometime."

"You come later my ass! I know you're not up to anything good and besides, you're getting drunk too! You don't move your ass until I come, you hear me?"

Luffy hung up abruptly without giving his friend an answer, only to drink the newly filled glass in front of him in one go.

It wasn't Luffy's style to get drunk alone in a bar, he actually hated being alone and he didn't really like alcohol either. But what he had experienced a few days ago was so terrible that even Luffy himself, who was always positive and always seemed so carefree, couldn't put away so easily. It was a hard pill to swallow.

Luffy simply wanted nothing more than to be alone at that moment, but although he loved his friends, they did not understand him. None of them could understand him, because none of them had experienced the same drama, which resembled a scenario from a movie or series, as he had. Luffy's own beloved brother had cheated on him together with his own lover behind his back and in the end they had both died together.

To be honest, Luffy didn't know what hurt more. The loss or the betrayal?

Luffy downed two more drinks before feeling reasonably woozy as the alcohol began to enter his bloodstream. Then he ordered another bottle of beer to drink on the way, paid his bill and slowly staggered out of the bar. He didn't know exactly where to go. He just needed some fresh air.

Disoriented and on rather shaky legs, Luffy staggered through the neighborhood of the bar, while at the same time sipping his bottle of beer. But before the young man had drunk half of it, his vision blurred and he almost toppled onto his side, the bottle falling out of his hand and shattering on the floor as he caught himself on a wall at the last second.

Sudden nausea overcame him as he sluggishly dragged himself into the narrow alley he had just passed.

Just in time, as he threw up in the next moment and thus spit out everything he had drunk. After all, his body was not at all used to consuming so much alcohol. When the raven haired was done he grimaced at the nasty taste in his mouth, wiped his dirty lips with the back of his hand and managed to lean his heavy body against the index wall of the building in the alleyway.

But all the stress and the alcohol had really taken a toll on Luffy's poor body, which is why in the next moment his legs buckled underneath him and consciousness finally left him.

However, his fall to the ground was stopped by a certain person who caught his limp body just in time.

TBC

That was the first official chapter! Did you like it? Please let me know!

See you next time!