~

Trafalgar Law was an idiot. He was a creepy idiot and that was how he found himself lurking in the shadows of the alley across from the Sim's Cafe, looking at Luffy walk through the entire place then stopping by the cashier, asking her something and huffing and pouting and stomping when the answer was unfavourable, leaving after getting something to-go.

Law knew what Luffy had asked. He had asked whether Law had come around or not. Law was an idiot because the moment he realized he liked Luffy, he stopped responding to the numerous texts and calls but didn't have enough guts to get out of Goa yet.

Law was already on his way to the cafe when Luffy texted him to meet there and right then, Law had literally dove for the alley to avoid being seen. His heart had ached and pounded at the disappointed look on Luffy's face. He really didn't want to do this but he couldn't let himself be loved. He didn't deserve it. He was living off the lives of countless people, the most he could do was live it solemnly, if they didn't get their happiness, Law sure as hell wasn't worthy of it all.

This wasn't the first time Law had done this, avoiding Luffy. This had been going on for two weeks. Law was afraid. He was so very afraid. Luffy didn't know a lot things about Law and the older feared that if Luffy found out and got disgusted and realized he didn't like Law anymore, the surgeon would truly break. He was afraid that he won't be able to complete his goals. He was afraid he would have to do all those nasty things normal people did. He was afraid he would start relying on Luffy and one day when he would really need the help, Luffy was say 'no.' Law was afraid.

And he was tired.

And he was a creepy idiot who would hide from Luffy but definitely peek from an alley to chance a glance at the sunshine boy.

~

"No answer yet?" Nami asked one day when Luffy looked like he would cry and led him inside her apartment.

"I ruined it Nami!" The younger hugged his friend. "Torao's avoiding me!"

"Maybe he has work?" Nami tried cheering Luffy up.

"Nope, that's not possible."

"What about his hotel?"

"I don't want to knock."

"So he's avoiding you."

"Yeah..." Luffy sighed and slumped on the carpeted floor.

"What an asshole! He could still talk to you!"

"I might have pushed too hard."

"You just said you liked him! That's not pushing hard, that's not even pushing!" Nami clarified, annoyed and angry for Luffy's sake because the boy himself couldn't be either.

"Maybe Torao has a good reason..."

"Then go see him yourself. Stop asking him to meet you. It's been three weeks Luffy."

"I can go see him but he might not open the door."

"Then knock it down."

"Torao doesn't like that sound so I can't." Nami's eyes softened at the comment. Luffy was hurting but he was still worried and careful about Torao. He really liked Torao huh.

"Contact his friends?"

"They don't know anything either but they were angry with Torao too."

"Leave it to you to like a dense idiot." Nami shook her head and Luffy grinned.

"Torao's amazing!"

"I'll decide that when I meet him."

~

Luffy was sprawled half on his bed and half off it, he was bored and very pouty because after having come back from Nami, he had texted Law again but the older still didn't respond. Luffy had half the mind to break down Law's door and half to sneak in through the window but both would probably result in a near heart attack for Law so Luffy worked hard to dismay those ideas.

Luffy was getting sleepy then his phone buzzed and he jumped to get it, hoping it would be a text from Torao. But it wasn't.

|Have you talked to Law recently? He isn't answering his phone.

It was from Shachi in the group chat they had added him into, it didn't have Torao in it so they could talk about him safely.

|Same here.

|Torao's avoiding me.

Luffy didn't have to wait a minute before a reply came from Bepo.

|Can you still check on him?

|I can try.

Luffy sent the message and got up to pull a shirt on before heading out to try one more time to get Law to talk to him. He stuffed his keys and wallet in his pockets and headed out. The weather was nice so the long walk didn't seem all that long to Luffy and it felt like mere minutes before he was just a block away from the hotel.

Luffy was passing the alley that connected the block when someone ran out of there and hid behind him, using him as a shield against whatever it was in the darkness between those two walls.

"Please-please don't let them get me-please." The shaking voice of a boy said from behind him and Luffy half turned to look at him. The kid didn't look over fifteen, was terrified and shaking and situations like these always turned his fight response on.

"Of course I'll protect you." Luffy pushed the kid more behind him and faced whoever was going to pop out of the shadows. It was a situation very similar to when Law had hidden Luffy himself behind him and the emotions of that time were running in Luffy's veins now, except it was anger now in place of fear and vulnerability.

"Listen bro, just leave the kid here and we'll let you off without hurting you." One guy said, chewing gum obnoxiously loud even for Luffy. Hearing that, the kid's shaking got worse.

"Yeah. Just leave the squirt and go." Another guy said, he was bigger than the other.

"No way." Luffy resolved taking a fighting stance.

"This doesn't involve you boy. Go away." The first guy said taking out a knife.

"It involves me now." Luffy said and ducked with the kid behind him when the two guys simultaneously threw their knives at them. "Hide somewhere." Luffy guided the boy and kicked the bigger guy in his face when he started following the boy. "Leave him alone!"

Thus, started a two versus one, the odds Luffy was very familiar and experienced with. Luffy got some hits to get a few in and before long both the guys were on the ground but Luffy's chest felt like it was going to bruise over bad, the movement hurt a little.

Luffy got his phone out while walking to the kid. He wasn't paying attention while dialing the police, his thoughts all over the place with the memories of his past in that place and his movements were a little sluggish from the adrenaline wearing off so when the kid shouted his alarm, Luffy was a little too late to analyze and assess the situation and during this time the knife thrown by the nearly unconscious guy had met its mark, leaving behind a deep cut on Luffy's forehead.

"Mister!" The kid ran to Luffy when the older sat on the ground and clutched his wound.

"It's nothing. Lemme just call the police on these idiots then I'll drop you at the station-"

"I am staying at the hotel, I can go there, these guys just cornered me for money."

"Oh! I'm going there too! Let's go together!" Luffy said happily and stood back up giving a quick call to the police.

"But shouldn't you go to the hospital...?"

"I'm fine! It'll stop bleeding soon." Luffy pressed a hand against his bleeding cut and started walking to the hotel with the kid.

"Thank you for helping me mister!" The boy bowed politely when they reached the hotel lobby.

"Don't sweat it!" Luffy started his way towards the stairs when the kid was out of his sight. Luffy felt like the receptionist was going to say something but she held herself back and let Luffy pass without comments or questions. For a moment Luffy had forgotten that Law was avoiding him and his constant thoughts were that Law would fix the wound he got on his head, no problem and so he was ignoring the blood seeping from there and now staining even his shirt.

Just on the second floor and Luffy groaned, thinking he should have taken the elevator so he wouldn't be feeling so lightheaded now. But he braved through it, Torao was so close. Luffy arrived at the correct floor and had hit his head on the staircase railing only seven times. His vision was blurring but Torao would fix it.

The door was just there but Luffy felt himself suddenly out of energy and breath. He barely saw the door opposite to Torao's open and an elderly woman walk out, holding something, dropping it from the sounds of it.

"Oh my dear boy! Are you ok?!"

"Can you huh- call him out...?" Luffy said pointing to Law's door, no longer believing himself that he could carry on. He slid down the wall by the door and sat on the ground, trying to keep his head up so the blood won't go in his eyes. "I'm going to... sit down for a while...."

"I'll call you an ambulance-" The woman panicked.

"N-no. He's fine..." The breathy remark from Luffy had the woman start banging on Law's door with her palm.

"Hello! Please open this door!"

.

Law looked at his reflection and sighed. His eye bags were darker than usual and no wonder there since he hadn't slept for weeks. The only sleep he did manage to get was plagued by nightmares now more than ever since Luffy told him he maybe liked him like not-friends. Law was haunted by the thought but at the same time he was concerned if Luffy was sleeping or eating ok because the last time Law had distanced himself, it had affected the younger as well. Law's brain was a mess.

Law had thought a bath might fix his sleeplessness and make it somewhat possible to doze off without dreams since he always got tired after taking a bath and he was counting on it today as well. His hair were still wet under the towel he had thrown on his head, water dripping on his hoodie-d shoulders. Annoyed by the seeping wetness, Law wildly ran the towel on his head a multiple times before jerking startled when his door started banging.

The sound had penetrated the silence so suddenly that for a few moments Law was frozen still. It wasn't until the voice of an old woman reached his ears that he started moving.

"Open this door please! He doesn't look so good!"

Who the fuck?

Law took deliberate small steps to his door with half a mind to yell at the woman and half to not answer it altogether. Whatever was happening out there, he didn't know how that was his problem. But the constant knocking was irking him and whatever peace he had managed to obtain through a bath went flying out the window and Law chose to let that irritation show on his face when he finally opened the door.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Stop hitting my door!" Law said and scowled.

"Is that any way to talk young man!" The woman was indeed old.

"I don't care about fucking manners right now-"

"To-torao..." Law stopped at the voice and very slowly moved his eyes in the direction. His movements might have been slow but his reaction sure was the opposite.

"What the fuck!"

"Young man!!" The woman scolded again.

"Shut up!" Law told the lady and turned to Luffy. His senses were being bombarded with too much at the moment and it showed. "What the fuck happened to you?!"

"This boy has been here for some time now, you weren't opening your door. Do I call him an ambulance after all? You don't like you know anything about taking care of this."

"I'm a fucking surgeon!" Law answered then crouched to Luffy whose head was bleeding all over the place. Law didn't know whether to touch Luffy or not, his hands were hovering, unsure. The younger was looking awfully pale and Law wondered if it got this worse because Law was purposely delaying opening the door. "I-I can take care of this. We are- he is my- I mean- I know him." Law stammered not sure how to explain his connection with Luffy and quickly picked the younger up in his arms.

"Well if you say so." The old lady said and went back to where she had come from, Law was too alarmed to notice as he was taking Luffy inside and laying him down on the sofa making sure his head was elevated.

"Stay there." Law said and quickly went to close the door and get his first aid kit from under the coffee table. Law quickly put his gloves on and went into doctor mode.

"Unhgg." Luffy groaned holding his head and trying to sit up.

"No, stay down." Law pushed Luffy's chest lightly to get him to lay back down but withdrew his hand when it made the younger wince audibly. Law first got his small torch out and flashed it in Luffy's eyes. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Shishishi, hello there." Luffy said smiling all droopy. It hurt his head to do this much but he got to see Law.

"Ok you're definitely concussed." Law put the torch back and helped Luffy into sitting to get a better position and angle to treat the wound. "Don't move." Law left again to get two big bowls of water and several rags, sitting on the coffee table after setting the bowls beside him. He began cleaning the excessive blood that was covering almost Luffy's entire face. He made sure to not accidentally touch the wound that was still bleeding a little, enough so that it could be put off for a few more minutes.

When the blood was all clean and Law could get a relatively clear look at the cut, he closed his eyes for a moment and breathed through his nose to calm down. Luffy had definitely done some stupid shit and that got him hurt again. Law was worried but he was pissed more at the carelessness. He pushed Luffy's hair back and loosely tied a rag so his hair won't fall on his forehead. The cut was very close to the hairline so Law needed the hair to stay in their place.

"What happened?" Law asked dabbing a cotton in cleaning agent and tapping the cut to clear out excess blood. The bleeding had somewhat stopped.

"I got into a fight..." Law narrowed his eyes at the way Luffy avoided his gaze. He kept looking down. Now that Luffy knew Law would take care of his injury, he was able to let his unconscious anxiety go and that gave him some energy to be consciously present.

"You can handle a fight. How did this particular thing happen?" When Luffy took a little time to answer, Law stopped what he was doing and put his things aside. He needed Luffy talking to know how this happened and to also gauge the extent of damage he had sustained because of this ordeal. Law rested his arms on his knees, peeked from under Luffy's dropped gaze and made eye contact. "What happened?"

Luffy made weird faces, avoiding Law's eyes again and tried to hide himself behind his arms because the surgeon's question made him remember how his injury happened and that made him remember everything from saving the young boy to his own powerlessness when he was in the same position of needing to be saved.

"Luffy." Law said and Luffy snapped out of his unsolicited thoughts, finally looking at Law.

"A kid needed help so I fought for him but I got careless in the end and that guy managed to hurt me." Luffy answered and his eyes glazed over.

"How did you get careless?" Luffy chewed his bottom lip and ducked his head. "Bad memories?" Luffy nodded. Law sighed. "Ok. How long ago was this?"

"Why?" Luffy asked, the somber air from before dispelled as quickly as it had come.

"I'll judge whether you need a blood transfusion or not-"

"Don't give me your blood again!" Luffy glared, clenching his teeth. Law rolled his eyes and put two of his fingers on the inside of Luffy's wrist.

"If you can glare this hard, maybe you don't need blood. Pulse is ok too." Luffy didn't stop glaring and the constant pull of skin made the cut bleed again a little.

"Stop it, you're hurting yourself. I'm not giving you my blood." Law said and put new gloves on to clean the blood. "Do you want stitches or should I think of something else? I don't have anesthesia right now."

"What's faster?"

"In terms of healing, stitching it would be better." Law answered truthfully.

"Then stitch it." Luffy shrugged. "I can deal with pain."

"I will warn you that I am not in the right state of mind so I don't know if your stitches will turn out perfect. I might mess it up." Law confessed and Luffy looked like he was thinking then he shrugged again.

"I trust you Torao." Just these four words brought life in Law like even his favorite caffeinated beverage couldn't do. He felt both grateful and fearful of Luffy's trust in him.

"Alright." Law prepared his needle and thread, applied a lot of pyodine on and around the cut. He stood up and rested one of his knees beside Luffy's leg to get a better angle at the cut and began working. Luffy grunted and his hands went to grab Law's open hoodie for any form of relief he could get. Knowing it was hurting Luffy, Law did as quick a job as he could but the wound was deep so the stitching needed to be done right or Luffy's clumsy ass would probably open them again.

Law thought some conversation might distract Luffy from the pain. "Where was your doctor friend when this happened? Where were your other friends? You should have gone to the hospital immediately."

"I was coming to- ungh- check on you anyway so I didn't go to the hospital. I knew you'd- ugh- take care of this." Luffy was thankful for the conversation, it was taking his mind off the sharp pain.

"It sounds like you used this injury to obligate me to see you." Law started.

"Sorta that, without the big words." Law sighed and groaned wanting to rub his hand down his face.

"I swear..."

"Because you stopped coming to the café-ughhhh!" Luffy let out. He was finally with Law so he needed to get all of his thoughts off his chest. "And I know it's not that you have suddenly stopped having trouble sleeping and then you haven't been replying to my texts and calls Torao!"

"Did you stop and think that I might have left for work?" Law said putting the final stitch in Luffy's forehead.

"Yeah work that somehow came up only after I told you that I maybe liked you like not-friends." Luffy said rolling his eyes and pouting and Law wondered how someone could look so wise and naive at the same time. "And I wanted to tell you, it's not maybe anymore. I like you like not-friends."

Law stared at Luffy for a good long while, his needle and thread still in his hands, Luffy's stitches raw and exposed. Law's brain had blanked on him until the feeling of thread in his hands reminded him of something else and snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I will not be indulging you in this conversation today." Law said moving his gaze to where he was putting his supplies back.

"Fine but don't run away." Luffy said firmly. Law didn't say anything to that and started wrapping bandages around Luffy's head. "You have time to think about this Torao. I'll wait for whatever you choose."

Law stayed silent while his brain shouted at him to say something that would put Luffy at ease. Luffy was willing to wait for Law, how was Law supposed to say anything to that? Law knew if he opened his mouth right then, he would end up telling Luffy he liked him back, so he stayed quiet and kept his thoughts to his himself.

"I'm done with your head. Lift your arms so I can take your shirt off." Law said and it sounded awfully wrong in his head.

"Why?" Luffy tilted his head.

"You winced when I touched you earlier. You probably have some bruising on your chest too."

"Yeah, it does hurt." Luffy lifted his arms and moved to aid Law in getting rid of the bloodied shirt. Law first cleaned off the blood on the chest and made notice of the areas where Luffy had moved away when the rags touched him.

"I don't know how your friend made this, but it's a good salve." Law commented using the rubbing medicine Luffy had given him a few weeks ago.

"Yeah! Chopper's the best!" Luffy grinned and giggled when Law rubbed the medicine on ticklish places. "Ow!" Luffy shielded his right side of the ribs from Law when the older had moved there to rub the medicine.

"Remove your hands, this site is particularly bad."

"But it hurts."

Law sighed. "Bear with it, I'll be careful too." Luffy slowly removed his hands and Law gently glided the medicine over the skin, making sure to not use as much force as before. Law quickly got Luffy's back and hands done too and wrapped bandages around them as well.

It was so easy to be with Luffy like this. The air around them was relaxed as if it was an everyday occurrence for both the men to share space with each other and not as if Law had been actively avoiding Luffy for the fear of his feelings growing more. It was just so easy.

"Wait here." Law said once again and brought out some juice, handing the entire jumbo sized bottle to Luffy. "Drink."

"Yay! Juice!" Luffy drank the entire thing in record time and Law took the bottle from him for throwing away.

"I suppose you're staying the night?" Law asked finally closing the first aid box he had left unattended in favour of getting Luffy the juice and slid it back under the table.

"Nah, I will come back tomorrow." Saying this Luffy stood up and thank goodness Law had good reflexes because the moment the boy was standing, he started falling forwards.

"Yeah no. You're staying." Law decided catching Luffy and putting his arm under the younger's shoulder for support and sitting him back down. Luffy reached for his shirt but Law stopped him. "Leave it, it's bloodied, you can't wear it until after it's cleaned."

"But it's cold." Law cursed himself again at how he missed the slight shivers running down Luffy's body. He blamed it on his sleep deprivation. Before the thought registered, Law was taking off his hoodie and handing it to Luffy. "Waaah! Smells like Torao, nishishi!!"

Law felt his pulse quicken and blood rush to his face but he collected himself. "You were dying on my door just moments ago! You need to sleep."

"Oh yeah, I do feel sleepy." Luffy agreed suddenly feeling very tired and Law moved to help Luffy stand.

"Come on, you can take the bed."

"Wha'bout you?" Luffy asked while he was being led, he was glad Law took charge because he felt like falling.

"Someone needs to clean your shirt and your hat too."

"Do it laterrrrrr."

"It's best to wash blood off early. You don't want a permanent stain on your hat, do you?" Law struck where he knew Luffy would agree.

"Yeah... Thanks Torao." Luffy laid down on the bed and zipped the hoodie, bringing his knees inside the big opening but he got uncomfortable quick. "Take my pants off." Luffy called.

Law did a double take from the door. "What?" Luffy might have said that in an innocent way but Law's brain was far from innocent and conjured up dirty images that the doctor questioned himself on.

"Pants. Not comfy." Luffy talked, his speech slurring a bit as he flopped on the bed, hands making grabby movements to take his pants off.

"You are wearing something underneath, right?" Law asked awkwardly before making his way back to help the boy. Luffy wasn't answering, just grunting because his pants weren't coming off. "Right?"

"Hurry uppppppppp!" Luffy whined and Law sighed and decided to put Luffy at ease and yanked his pants off in one fluid motion. Huh. He was thankfully wearing shorts. Law sighed again, in relief this time and threw the blanket over Luffy.

"Sleep." Law ordered and after neatly placing Luffy's pants aside, left the room.

Law quickly but carefully worked on cleaning the blood off Luffy's shirt and hat, placing them both aside to dry when he was done. Dealing with Luffy left Law unusually tired so the moment he laid down on the couch to rest for a little bit, his eyes started drooping until he fell asleep.

~