~

Law was lounging on the steps of a house few blocks down from his basement. He had spent all day cleaning it and making sure it was fit for use whenever that would be. The sun had already set and the moon had come out.

Law checked the time on his phone and noticed he had half an hour till he had to go meet Luffy at the cafe. He was enjoying the cigarette between his fingers, taking one deep inhale after another. He wasn't dependent on nicotine, nor was he a chain smoker, it was a sort of thing he indulged in when he needed a break. Blowing the smoke in the air above him, Law sighed.

"Come on! Stop!" Law heard a distant yell, wincing at the crude intrusion in his peace.

"What, you scared?! Let's see who can get home first!!" Another person shouted and ran towards Law until he passed him. It was just a few more steps that the person stopped abruptly and fell to the ground. Law barely paid it any attention until the other person got closer.

"Ace! Dammit!" The person turned his head towards Law for a few seconds when he passed him by. Blond hair, round as fuck blue eyes.

Sabo. Law's mind provided. He called the other person Ace and Law moved his head to check, sure enough the man passed out had wavy black hair, could be Ace. Law wasn't sure since the face was hugging the hard concrete and there was blood starting to seep out.

Law of course knew these were Luffy's brothers. He had done his research on every person Luffy mentioned the name of in their conversations, so he of course also knew that Ace was narcoleptic. Law stared for a while as Sabo tried to shake his brother awake but that was only making him lose more blood. Law closed his eyes and mentally cursed, was Luffy's entire family like this?

"Ace come on asshole, we just got back from the hospital!" Sabo shook Ace some more because that had done the trick a few times in the past.

Law groaned and rolled his eyes, taking a final inhale of his cigarette and pulling his masks back on. He could not let this situation escalate, for whatever reason, he felt compelled to help. When he got up and extinguished the butt of his death stick, he caught Sabo's attention for a little while before it was back on Ace.

"Step aside, I'm a doctor." Law said pulling gloves from his fanny pack and walking to Sabo. The blond eyed Law for while.

"You're a doctor and you were smoking?" Sabo raised an eyebrow, moving closer to Ace, as if perceiving Law a threat. The worry for his brother was clear on Sabo's face because he had little to none medical experience and Ace was bleeding a lot.

"We all have our vices." Law answered and crouched to get a better look and angle to treat the black haired man. "Call an ambulance, I'll stop the bleeding and put stitches in the meantime."

"Show me some ID first." Law rolled his eyes and fished out his fake medical ID, it was really convincing for people that didn't know shit about medicine and Luffy's family were those people. "Alright, Antonio..."

Law quickly got to work when Sabo gave him some space and stepped aside to call for an ambulance. Ace had managed to cut his forehead, the wound wasn't big but it was deep, Law wondered if there was a skull fracture too. Law cleaned the bleeding area and injected a little anesthesia to stop the bleeding. He brought out his thread and needle for stitches, Ace would need four of them. All the while Law was meticulously threading through Ace's head, his phone was vibrating in his pants pocket. He briefly looked at the time on his watch and sighed. It was twenty minutes over the time he had to meet Luffy at.

Law took his gloves off after the final stitch and first called Luffy back. He answered on the first ring.

"Toraooo you're lateeeee!" Luffy whined and Law almost smiled at the sound. He sounded very... home-y.

"I'm sorry, I'm treating a head wound on a narcoleptic idiot. I'll be there soon." Law answered ignoring the hard stare from Sabo.

"You're kind shishishi."

"I am not!"

"Alright, I'll wait, see ya soon! Go be a doctor!" Law's heart skipped a few beats at that.

Law put his phone aside and bandaged Ace's head after applying some pyodine on the stitches. He was putting his supplies back when he heard the ambulance sirens. Law stayed for a few more minutes to talk with the EMTs, telling them to not jostle Ace's head too much because there was a chance of skull damage and effusion.

"Thank you." Sabo said before the doors closed and the ambulance drove away.

'Go be a doctor.'

Law smiled to himself behind his masks, liking the feeling of helping someone like his parents always did. They would too stop in their walks if someone needed medical attention, Law remembered his mother once helped a woman through labour in a cafe because the ambulance was taking too damn long and his father had treated the head wound on that woman's husband because the idiot had fainted witnessing live birth. He had learned to carry medical supplies from his parents. One never knows what they might need and when.

Walking to the cafe, Law was mentally debating if he should tell Luffy that the narcoleptic idiot in question was his own brother. When Law walked through the doors and saw Luffy waving at him, he showed him his palm to tell him to wait and went to wash his hands first and reapply the bandages. He did carry a sanitizer around but sometimes his anxiety only calmed down when he washed his hands with water.

Luffy went through the menu again while Law was off to the restrooms for whatever reason. When Luffy got to the cafe and didn't see Torao around, he thought Law had changed his mind and decided to not show up. That had made Luffy angry for the few minutes until he remembered that Torao wasn't doing too good yesterday so he called him and found out he was being a doctor, helping someone. That had made Luffy happy and proud.

Law came back from the restrooms in a few minutes and sat down opposite to Luffy, putting his phone on the table and sighing. When Luffy took a breath, his nose scrunched and he immediately pinched it.

"Ew! You smell of cigarettes!" Luffy whined and tried to move a little away from the smell.

"Bothers you?" Law asked sniffing his shirt in places and taking out his cucumber scented deodorant, spraying it on himself.

The few seconds Luffy had inhaled the smoky smell, his brain was thrown back to the fires wrecking Grey Terminal. His eyes had glazed over and he was seven again, running for safety with his brothers like all the other residents of that place. Their ruling party had burned the entire place in hopes of 'cleansing' it. It had almost killed all three of the brothers. Luffy could still remember the amount of smoke there was. It was all up in his nose, his lungs, breathing hurt because of it and the smell stayed with him through his memories.

"Mugiwara-ya." Law called and snapped Luffy out of his thoughts.

"Bad memories. I don't like the smell." Luffy said in a small voice and that caught Law's attention. It was more than bad memories but who was Law to pry. "Ok let's order!" Luffy dispelled the somber mood and called for the waiter. The time Luffy was seeing some bad memories behind his dazed eyes, Law could see the subtle bags under his eyes and he remembered how Luffy had asked him to keep talking so the younger could fall asleep. Law wondered about Luffy's sleep schedule.

"Do you..." Law started and cleared his throat. "Do you often have trouble sleeping?"

"Sometimes. Usually when something triggers my panic or something upsets me." Luffy answered casually. No matter how cheerful or nonchalant Luffy looked right now, Law could see the small eye bags from sleeplessness. "You helped yesterday though, I wouldn't have been able to sleep otherwise!"

Law had been thinking about this the entire night he was awake. Luffy had been unable to sleep because he had found out about Law's decision for blood transfusion and that knowledge had upset the younger. That thought process led Law to the last time he spoke to Luffy on the Polar Tang, that was not pleasant. How many disturbed nights had Law caused Luffy because of that?

"I... I'm sorry I yelled at you that time." Law said, looking down and pulling his hat lower on his eyes. "When we were in Drum."

Luffy gauged Law for a few seconds then shrugged. "I was pushing you to give me straight answers, that usually happens, I get yelled at."

"I-"

"And you were sick too." Luffy justified Law's anger for him. Law sighed, the younger was not going to let it be Law's fault. Realizing this, Law shifted the focus of his questions.

"Speaking of straight answers... when I told you to call your friends or brothers when you had a nightmare, you didn't answer me properly." Law took the tray of food from the waiter and helped him put everything on the table.

"I don't call or tell anyone." Luffy answered when they were alone again.

"Why not?" Law took a sip from his iced tea and eyed Luffy over the glass.

"They don't know this happens." Luffy avoided eye contact, playing with the straw wrapping, eventually flicking it aside and taking a big gulp of his milkshake.

"Why not Mugiwara-ya?" Law asked again.

Luffy sighed and looked at Law a little annoyed for not giving up. Law smirked at the win when Luffy inhaled to start speaking. "My brothers worry too much, they would start crowding my space again. My friends would be the same. I don't tell them everything, they're the best but they would worry too and I don't want that. Nobody even knows what happened when I went missing back when and where I had been. I don't want everyone to give up their lives because they think I need to be looked after all the time. If I tell them everything, they would just stop living their own lives and I hate that."

It made sense to Law because he too was similar to Luffy in this regard. He didn't want people to stop living their lives because he needed help. He just wouldn't let it happen.

"So nobody knows what happened to you in Drum too." Law stated thoughtfully after a while.

"Yeah, I just said the weather got bad and the flights got delayed."

"And the numerous bruises on your arms from the dialysis and IVs?"

"I said I got into a fight." Luffy said eating his rice.

"Nobody sane would have believed you. Anybody who has seen bad days can tell what those marks were." Law rolled his eyes.

"But they didn't say anything. I also kept my arms mostly covered, took my baths when my brothers weren't home."

"And your recommended doctor's visits?"

"I didn't go."

"You what?!" Law was thankful he wasn't eating or drinking anything, the shock would have made him choke. Law cleared his throat to divert the people's attention he had gained by talking loud. "Not even once?"

"Nope." Luffy shrugged.

"Oh god, you fucking monkey." Law mumbled under his breath, covering his eyes, angry. "You are coming to my basement with me. I'm running tests on you."

"Ok." Luffy saw the bandages on Law's hand again. "How's your hand?"

"It's going to take time."

Luffy hummed in response and was about to resume eating when his phone rang. "Sabo?" Luffy questioned and answered the call. "Yo." Law watched as Luffy's face turned from all grins to ghostly pale. He wondered if Sabo was telling him about Ace's condition. "Ok... I will visit later then." Luffy put his phone aside and looked like he was about to cry.

"Let me guess, your brother had an accident and was admitted in the hospital for monitoring?" Law asked, he knew if he talked and got Luffy to talk, it would eventually make the younger feel better.

"How did you know?" Luffy lazily sipped on his drink, wanting to just jump and go see Ace but Sabo told him he didn't have to hurry.

"I told you I was treating a head wound on a narcoleptic idiot. How many people do you know that are like that?"

"So the shady weird doctor person Sabo mentioned was you?!"

"Yes." Law exhaled rolling his eyes at the description. "Don't worry too much. I mean Ace-ya did hit his head pretty hilariously but I didn't feel any apparent skull damage when I checked. The most he might be needing is some blood and painkillers, head wounds are nasty and painful."

Luffy relaxed visibly, calm. "Sabo said Ace was admitted so they could make sure nothing was wrong and that he was mostly ok."

"See? I have a weird sort of experience-beyond-my-years situation going, so trust me." Law grinned.

"Thanks Torao. I'm glad you were there." Luffy still felt anxious about Ace being hurt but he trusted Law and knew if Law said Ace was ok, he would be ok. But he still wanted to know and see firsthand.

"You want me to accompany you till the hospital?" Law offered and Luffy looked at him like something was wrong with Law now. "Only till the hospital, I'm not going in. You look like you'd rather make sure about your brother's condition yourself."

"Torao... can you read minds?"

"Yes."

"What am I thinking now?" Luffy asked, stars in his eyes, impressed.

"You're choosing between ordering more and going to the hospital at the earliest." Law answered not even thinking about it. Luffy was a simple boy with simple thoughts.

"Whaaaat?! How did you know!"

"I can read minds Mugiwara-ya, like you said." Law played along. "So which is it? Are you staying or going?"

Luffy deflated in his seat and thought for a few minutes, eyes scrunched and lips pouting as if thinking was too difficult for him. "I'm going." Luffy decided and quickly ate what was left. "And you're coming along."

"I did offer." Law agreed. They paid the bill and were soon on their way to the hospital.

"Torao how much do you sleep?" Luffy asked randomly when the two were walking to the hospital.

"Why do you ask?"

"Answer the question."

Law rolled his eyes but decided to answer anyway. "I don't sleep much."

"Yeah I know that but how much? Some time back you slept through the night and you said you were shocked that you got to sleep more than a few hours."

"I can sleep for a few hours on my good days. That's it."

"How many good days do you have?"

"A few every month. Most of the times, none." Law shook his head a little to stop getting swept in Luffy's pace. "Again. Why are you asking?"

"I can help you sleep y'know. I at least remember that you were always asleep when we-"

"Stop. I won't be saying this again so listen well, I am not making my sleep patterns dependent on you. You would be wise to avoid that for yourself too."

"But I wanna help you!" Luffy pouted.

"I don't want your help." Law sighed.

"You don't know that."

"What- that doesn't even make any sense."

"Sure it does. Sometimes people don't know what's good for them so they don't accept help." Luffy explained, nodding in the end.

"I do not want to hear this from someone who ignored his recommended doctor's visits." Law bit back.

"Those weren't important-"

"They are!!"

"Your sleep is more important Torao. When was the last time you even slept?" Luffy pushed.

"I'm not answering that."

"I'll ask Peng."

Law groaned and stopped for a second so he could stomp his foot instead of doing something that would definitely be considered violent. "Fine. The last time I slept was one night before leaving Flevance."

"How long ago was that?"

"Almost a week." Law answered in a small voice.

"Ok." Luffy said and the conversation ended. It disturbed Law a little how quick the younger had gone silent.

"Ok?" Law asked a few minutes later when Luffy hadn't said anything else.

"Yeah. I got my answers."

"What... are you going to do with this information?"

"Nishishi." Luffy just grinned, creeping Law out a little. "Ah wait here!" Law barely had time to respond before Luffy ran to the opposite side of the lane, to the small flower vendor. It took the boy five minutes before he was back with a lone hibiscus in his hands. "Ace likes these." Luffy explained, grinning.

The rest of the walk was spent with Luffy talking about what he had been doing the past month and Law listening and nodding his head, providing one word answers to indicate that he was indeed listening.

"I'll take my leave then." Law said when the hospital gates were visible.

"What about your basement plan?"

"Take your time with your brother."

"I'll call you later then ok?"

"Sure."

"See ya later Torao!" Law waved and turned to leave. "And thanks for helping Ace!"

When Law was out of sight, Luffy went inside the hospital and to Ace's room after signing in at the reception. Sabo had said Ace was conscious and seemed ok but Luffy really wanted to see for himself. He clutched the flower in his hand, careful still that he didn't squish it.

"Ace!" Luffy declared his presence by opening the door, a little louder than he had intended.

"Luffy! A little quieter please!" Sabo scolded in a hushed whisper. He was seated beside the bed Ace was on. Ace was looking at Luffy with a grin.

"Huh, you're ok." Luffy said looking at Ace with a tilt of his head and a frown on his face.

"Why are you disappointed?!" Ace retorted and his hand immediately went to his head, clutching it.

"You're both morons." Sabo rolled his eyes. "Yes he's ok Lu, like I said."

"Right." Luffy nodded and walked to the bed till he was close enough to slide the hibiscus inside one of the many wrapped layers of bandages on his brother's head. "There." Luffy grinned at his work and stepped back, sitting on the bed.

"Sabo my brother got me a flower." Ace felt his eyes tear up, his lower lip quivering. "And it's my flower. My hibiscus."

"Yes I can see that."

"What did the doctor say about discharging you?" Luffy asked kicking his shoes off and bringing his feet up as well. "Did they redo your bandages?" The way the bandages were wrapped didn't look like Torao's work so he was curious.

"Yeah he said if I'm stable for a few more hours, I'm ok to leave. And they did some scans so they removed the older bandages." Ace answered. "Man I was really lucky that doctor guy was there."

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, grinning. Sabo raised an eyebrow at the odd display. The fact that Luffy was grinning wasn't odd, but that he was grinning like that, so broad, at the mention of a doctor. Strange.

"While I am also glad that guy was there, I can't help have my suspicions if he really was a doctor. He was smoking just seconds before Ace faceplanted himself on the pavement." Sabo commented.

"Well if he helped and Ace is ok and the doctors don't have a problem with his stitches then I guess he's a good guy." The youngest of the three shrugged.

"Guess so." Ace agreed ruffling Luffy's hair. "How was your meetup with your friend Lu?"

"Great! But I was worried about you so we cut it short. He walked with me till here though."

"Sorry about that." Ace apologized.

"It's no problem Ace, we are meeting later." Luffy cleared and just stayed with both his brothers until he started feeling sleepy.

"Luffy you go home first. You have school tomorrow." Sabo said.

"But-"

"I'm here ok? I'll look after Ace."

"Yeah Lu, you need to sleep well for school tomorrow." Ace backed Sabo.

"Alright." Luffy hopped off the bed and remembered something before leaving the room. "Oh, just in case I don't see you both before school, I might be going to my friend's right after school and might stay the night too."

"Ok." Sabo nodded. "Same friend as today?"

"Yapp."

"Is he really a friend?" Ace confronted. He had been thinking about this for a while. "The same friend you usually stay the night with? The friend we haven't been introduced to yet?"

"...yeah."

"Lu when did you fall in love with this friend?" Ace's words were so raw and sudden that Luffy stopped functioning for a whole minute. Sabo looked at Ace worried during that minute, worried that Ace had hit the mark and he himself had been somewhat blind. Or that Ace had really hurt his brain when he fell. One of the two.

"WHAT?!" Luffy burst, face going redder than the vest he was wearing.

"Luffy! Hospital!" Sabo shushed his brother.

"I-I... I- he- we- I don't know what you're talking about. See ya both later! Take care Ace!" Luffy said in a single breath and ran out of the hospital. He only stopped to catch his breath when he was a few good miles away from his brothers.

"What the hell Ace." Sabo commented when the silence after Luffy's stormy departure got too much.

"Think about it. This is a friend we haven't met and Luffy continues to stay with, he has even stopped talking about that Torao too. What if he doesn't have a girlfriend, but a boyfriend? Frankly I'm ok with both, at the same time too. I just don't think Luffy himself knows what he's feeling." Ace clarified.

"You're right about the secrecy parts. And you're right about that other part too, but he isn't talking to us about that so guess we can't do anything about it."

"Yeah man, we gotta wait for Luffy to tell us himself."

"You say that now after scaring him just a few minutes ago." Sabo shook his head, smacking Ace's bandaged one.

"That was a bull'seye though."

~