"For fuck's sake, are you still working on that shit?" Kid growled as he pushed your feet off the ottoman and sat on it.

"Yeah. I have like, three huge papers due tomorrow." You shot him a glare but didn't put your feet back up. There wasn't any room anyway.

"You've been working on them all day." Law added with a huff as he sat by you, practically squishing you against the arm of the couch with his body weight.

They'd been bothering you off and on all day since they started drinking but you had yet to tell them that was exactly why you were taking ages to get anything done. Law had become much more nosey as he drank and would periodically come by to try and make sense of what you were writing, sometimes trying to "suggest" improvements to your papers by rudely taking the laptop and changing things without even asking.

When he wasn't breathing down your neck, Kid was pestering you to finish your work, saying he wanted to see you high. He hadn't refrained from drinking in the mean time per se, but claimed he was definitely drinking less than he normally did. Now he decided he was tired of waiting for you to finish and started pestering you like Law.

When you tried to ignore the two men, Kid suddenly reached forward and snapped your laptop closed, almost pinching your fingers in it in the process.

"What the fuck Kid?"

"It's almost time for dinner and you're still working. Take a break and finish this shit tomorrow."

"No, I need to-"

"Take a break." Law said with a drunken sigh. "Eustass-ya's right, for once."

"Damn straight I am." Kid smirked, either ignoring or not noticing the last little part Law added. "Now are we getting wasted or what?"

Somehow, inebriated Law was much more willing to tolerate Kid and when he was handed the laptop, he took it wordlessly and found the tallest piece of furniture to place it on so it'd be out of your reach, the gun cabinet. There was no way you'd get up there without a ladder and they'd know the second you were trying to get to it. You sighed. There was no way you'd get out of the forced break so you might as well enjoy it. You needed a stress reliever anyway.

"Yeah, we're getting wasted."

Kid whooped loudly as he stood, going straight for the kitchen to grab a bottle of liquor.

"We're ordering food first though. What're we wanting?"

"Pizza!"

"Chinese."

Kid poked his head back into the living room to glare at Law.

"Relax guys, we can order both."

Their newfound favorites didn't surprise you any. Ever since Kid had that frozen pizza, he'd wanted the stuff constantly while Law still detested anything involving bread but found he enjoyed chinese pretty well. You weren't about to suggest them finding something they could both agree on plus you had the money to order from two different places. You knew when to pick your battles. As soon as you'd told Law what to order, as he still had your phone, Kid was yelling for you to join him in the kitchen.

"Gimme a sec!" You grumbled.

"I've got it (Y/n)-ya." Law assured you with a hum. He had one of those drunk smiles on his face, the kind that said he was very excited to be eating soon. "Go see what the kid needs."

"I heard that!"

"Quit fussing!" You rolled your eyes and headed to the kitchen, just barely making it to the doorway when Kid shoved the jar of weed into your arms.

"Show me what you're supposed to do with it." He demanded. Hobbes was cradled in his metal arm, meowing at you while his tail swiped from side to side lazily.

"Why? You aren't touching it."

"I'm curious. Just do it."

Whatever, you needed a few good hits or the guys were going to drive you nuts. You walked up to the counter, gently setting down the jar to fish in the little bag of your aunt's old smoking paraphernalia. The pipe was already on the counter but there were still two other things in the bag; an old, cheap lighter and an equally aged grinder.

"Walk me through it." Kid plopped the cat on the counter and leaned in close to you, resting his arms on the cool surface.

"Why?" You asked suspiciously.

"I'm curious. Can't a guy be curious?"

"Fine." You shook your head but popped the top off the grinder, pointing to the part that did the actual grinding. "You put a couple buds in here and grind them up so they're a little more fine."

You stopped to do just that, opening the jar and grabbing what you needed before placing them in the little gadget. You put the lid back in place and worked your magic, grinning slightly when you noticed Kid watching intently.

"And then I like putting a small bit of bud in the pipe first before putting the ground up stuff in, keeps it in place."

When the pipe was loaded, he took it from you carefully, inspecting it. "And how much does it take for someone your size to feel the effect?"

"Depends on how good the stuff is." You shrugged. "Wren always liked getting the strong stuff though so I'd say just a couple hits."

He grunted in response as he handed it back. You accepted it and picked up the lighter, heading for the back porch. As much as you liked the stuff, you didn't like your home or belongings smelling like it all the time and preferred smoking outside.

Kid followed you, sake bottle in hand, and when you sat on the swing, he did the same, making it groan in protest under his weight. But at least it held.

After a few flicks, the lighter sputtered to life, giving you a small flame to work with. You could feel Kid's eyes on you, apparently still very curious about how this would work but you ignored him as you kicked the swing back and forth with your foot and held the pipe to your lips. As soon as the fire hit the end, you inhaled deeply and held your breath.

"That simple, huh?" Kid asked as he took another drink.

You nodded.

"No comment?"

You held a finger up for him to wait and after a few moments, you exhaled, a large cloud of smoke puffing out from your mouth that ended in you coughing.

"For fuck's sake, what do you think you are, a dragon?" He waved his hand around to dispel the cloud and crinkled his nose at the smell.

"No, that's just how you're supposed to smoke it." You wheezed.

Law stepped outside to join you two, having finished ordering dinner, and caught the tail end of your coughing fit.

"Are you alright (Y/n)-ya?"

"Yeah, gimme like, five minutes and I'll be fantastic."

They both decided to take your word for it and continued to drink, though now with renewed vigor since you were finally relaxing as well. You had the fleeting thought of tipping the food delivery guy extra for having to deal with two drunkards and someone high off their ass when they got to your place before you felt the beginning effects of what you'd smoked take hold.

----

"I didn't know you could eat that much." Law noted.

You'd managed to put away enough to probably feed three people and that was easily the best you'd eaten since Wren's passing. A few hits from the pipe and suddenly you felt like you were starving, a wonderful side effect from smoking.

You flopped onto the couch and immediately rolled around to face the men, gasping. "That reminds me, we have brownie mix! Law can you make brownies? Pleaassseee?"

"Yeah Law." Kid snickered as he sat you up and fell into the cushion beside you. "You should do that."

Law frowned heavily at the both of you before taking a long swallow from the bottle he held. "If you're still hungry there's other things you can eat (Y/n)-ya. I'm not making anything for you."

Your face immediately turned into a pout as you leaned against Kid for support. Sitting straight took too much effort.

"But I cook for you all the time."

He took turns glaring at Kid and then you, the redhead smirking widely at him as he watched Law's defenses crumble.

"Fine." He said with a heavy sigh. "But only this once."

"Yessss."

He turned on his heel and headed towards the kitchen, mumbling complaints under his breath as Hobbes followed him, meowing constantly.

"Can you feed that cat too please?"

"I guess it's me and you Hobbes-ya."

You giggled happily now that you knew your responsibilities would be taken care of by Law.

"That stuff puts you in a good mood." Kid poked at your shoulder and you almost toppled over onto the arm of the chair, giggling madly.

"Mhmmm." You hummed.

Your head was spinning, almost as if you were drunk, and your body felt weightless. If you had any bodyaches, you would have been beyond feeling them and at this point, you were content to let your mind wander from one nonsense thought to another.

Kid tipped his head back and took a long drink from the bottle he still held. A bit of sake trickled out from the corner of his mouth and spilled down his throat. When he was done, he let out a content sigh and licked his lips.

"Were you less moody before your aunt died?" He asked, staring off into space.

In your state, it was hard to get a good read on emotions but he seemed to be pretty serious.

"Yeah......I was....happy. I think."

"You think? C'mon, you can't be unsure about that."

You frowned as your muddled mind tried to think up a proper response.

"I've been stuck." You said after the short pause. "I don't know what I'm doing and it's frustrating."

"You're doing that school shit, what're you talking about?" Another long drink followed by one of his neutral expressions. Not grumpy, not happy, but maybe thoughtful.

"I don't know why I'm doing it though."

And that was a truth you had yet to admit to yourself until now. When you were still in highschool, all your teachers and other adults in your life always pushed for you to go to college, you and every other student that had halfway decent grades. They'd convinced you that college was the only way to go if you ever wanted to make decent money and support yourself but the longer you stayed in college, the more unsure you were about that. All you could see was the cost slowly adding up to amounts that would soon be too much to pay off easily.

"Then stop." Kid shrugged. "If you're not into keeping up with it, don't. It sounds like a waste of time if you asked me."

"Maybe it is...." Your tongue felt heavy and you didn't feel much like continuing a serious conversation right now. Sober you could figure this out later.

Lucky for you, Law came back out from the kitchen and plopped in the arm chair across from you.

"Brownies are going." He hummed as he picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

They'd both told you many times how they had something almost exactly like this in their world yet your version seemed to always hold their attention so well and right now, you were just as focused in on it as they were.

You were sucked into some adult cartoon they had playing and were enjoying every moment of the rediculous humor. Time seemed to pass by fast and conversation was kept minimal between episodes. Not like you could keep up with it well in your state anyway.

This was easily the most relaxed you'd been since Wren's passing. Despite the strange circumstances for meeting Kid and Law and your continued doubtfulness for where they came from, you felt comfortable around them. If they'd wanted to hurt you, they would have done so some time ago. And strangely enough, even though they came at a stressful time for you, they had been helpful.

You'd stayed busy thanks to them and probably avoided thinking too much about things you couldn't change. In fact, you'd found it was already getting a little easier to think about your aunt. The familar pang that accompanied her memory was still present of course, it always would be, but it wasn't quite as intense.

Even as you went between focusing on the TV and her, you didn't feel like you'd turn into a moody, emotional wreck.

"Here, brownies." Law plopped a paper plate on your lap with a couple warm, fresh, out of the oven brownies.

You let out a delighted gasp, having forgot about them not long after making the request.

"You're the best Law!" Two bites into one and you were looking around for Kid to offer him the other. But he wasn't sitting beside you anymore. "Where'd Kid go?"

"Outside I think." He stretched his arms above his head and let out a long yawn. "You guys stay up as long as you want, I'm going to bed. We should probably take tomorrow off too, I'm sure you're going to want the extra rest."

You nodded happily at the thought of sleeping in. It did sound great.

With that, he wandered off towards the bedrooms, Hobbes following closely behind with his bushy tail swiping side to side. It was hard to tell who the cat liked the most these days.

After his door clicked shut and all you could hear was the tv running, you were hit with the urge to find Kid. You wanted company.

You wobbled to your feet, giggling to yourself at your own unsteadiness, and made your way to the back door, still nibbling at a brownie as you clutched the plate close.

When you reached the door, you jerked it open and stepped out into the cool night air. "Kidddddddd!"

You found him sitting in the porch swing, huddled in on himself.

"What?" He coughed, waving a hand around his face.

Tendrils of smoke disappeared into the air and you noticed the pipe and lighter he held in his flesh hand, obviously just used.

"Kiddddd you weren't supposed to touch that!"

"You weren't paying attention." He snickered. "Hell, you didn't even know I was gone, did you?"

You let out a huff and plopped in the seat beside him. It was too late to try and get him to stop, you doubted you could even if you tried anyway.

"Feels good." He hummed, swaying ever so slightly from side to side. "Want another hit?"

You did. You wordlessly accepted the offered pipe and held the plate towards him, figuring he'd definitely want it now that he'd smoked some. He took it immediately and shoved it in his mouth while he held the lighter up the the end of the pipe as you placed it against your lips.

"It's always so....calm here." Kid murmured as you took your hit, licking the corners of his mouth.

As soon as you were finished, he coaxed the pipe from your hand and lit it up, inhaling deeply.

"It never changes." You closed your eyes as a breeze swept by, playing with the baby hairs along your neck. "And I doubt it ever will."

"The Grand Line is so different, it's always chaotic. You never know who or what is going to hit you next. I miss that."

You realized Kid wasn't quite looking for conversation. He was just voicing his thoughts, things probably few people ever got to hear. That wasn't going to stop you from speaking up though.

"We'll get you back home to your chaos soon then."

He chuckled. "I'd like that."

Or maybe he was looking for conversation and you just couldn't be sure in your state. Who knew.

"Sometimes it'd be smooth sailing and then next thing you know, there's a marine ship right on us. Those fights, where we have to scramble, they're my favorite. There's a rush that comes with the surprise that you don't feel any other time."

"Did you kill them?"

"Hmm?"

You opened your eyes back up to see the pipe was to his lips once again and you had the fleeting concern for how many hits he'd had so far. He had to be pretty wasted.

"The marines."

"I don't take prisoners."

You frowned, debating on whether that meant he'd let the ship go or if he killed everyone. It was a short struggle that had you pretty sure he was going for the latter.

"Why kill people that are just doing their job?"

He shrugged. "Survival, but like I said, I like the rush too."

You didn't like the topic of killing, or death really, right now. "Law has been telling me a lot about your world. What else do you pirates do for fun?"

"Well unlike him, we have real fun." Kid snickered. "Plenty of drinking, partying, exploring....sometimes we find islands that didn't mind pirate company. Those places always are full of fun things."

"Like?"

"Gambling, bars, tattoo parlors.....women."

You wrinkled your nose in distaste. "You guys just hook up with random women? Don't you worry about diseases or anything?"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes as he sloppily pushed the pipe into your chest. "Don't act like there aren't things like that here. Besides, if that annoying doctor told you anything about our world, you'd know our healthcare is top notch. I'm not worried about anything."

"Can't believe I'm having this talk with you." You mumbled after taking one last weak hit. The bowl was pretty much spent, you'd both managed to go through it all.

When you were finished, you carefully placed it on the ground to the side of the swing and leaned back.

"We have other options you know." Kid tilted his head back to peer into the house.

All the lights were out with the exception of the tv that was still running. When he looked back at you, he had a mischievous smile.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Now you were suspicious.

In response, he suddenly leaned forward until he was hovering over you. Cold metal fingers brushed along the edge of your jaw and he went from eyeing your lips to meeting your own surprised gaze.

"It means I miss female company and I'm offering a good time."

"Wait.....we just talked about you screwing random girls and that's supposed to be a good segway to...us?" You just couldn't wrap your head around it.

"What?" He was taken aback, like that somehow should have had you all over him.

But you had to admit, the weed was working against you right now. You'd forgotten that it always had a habit of making you ready to go for sexual encounters when they presented themselves and having Kid so close, offering himself up, was difficult to refuse. You'd never met someone more intimidating to look at yet equally as handsome. His rugged, roughed up appearance was unique, the wild red hair itching to be touched, equally red lips begging to be kissed.

You were definitely curious about him but that didn't mean you'd jump at the chance to sleep with him.

"Yeah, I just don't get if that's supposed to be attractive?" You shrugged and giggled as he only looked more and more confused. Weed did that to you.

Finally, he let out a short growl and closed the distance despite your teasing. You were too caught off guard to react immediately and just sat there as he pressed his lips to yours. They tasted like smoke and were softer than you thought they'd be. His half bared chest pressed firmly into yours, his usual vest doing nothing to keep him at least slightly modest. His metal fingers held your chin firmly but also carefully, keeping you at the angle he wanted. And against your better judgement, you were enjoying this.

He was warm, almost stifling, yet it was a kind of heat you didn't realized you'd been missing. The warmth of another body. And at this moment, you weren't sure if you cared who it came from. A friend, family, a possible lover, you missed being close with someone, anyone.

Your fingers gently glided up to his chest until you were able to rest your palms flatly against his skin. He let out a low rumble and flicked his tongue along your lips before quickly pushing it past to dominate the kiss completely.

Somewhere in the recesses of your foggy mind, you understood how crazy it was to be getting so intimate with someone you still hardly knew. But while Kid claimed to be from another world and that used to bother you greatly, it was now more of an after thought. After all, you couldn't help but want to believe in the world he and Law had described to you.

And you couldn't help but give in to his warmth, just for the night.