~

Law was enjoying the warmth of his best friend and the sunlight of the early hours in Flevance. He was restless and it was Bepo's day off so the mink decided to nap on the roof of the building and Law followed suit. It had been a while since he had done that, just enjoyed the soft fur and softer breaths of his friend.

The rest was short-lived. Law's phone rang. It was Luffy. Law had half the mind to ignore the call and even through his phone off the ledge to stay in the comfortable atmosphere but the vibration was annoying and it woke Law up.

"Helloooo~" The sound accidentally got dragged because Law was still drunk on sleep and warmth.

"Torao what- are you ok?"

Law cleared his throat out of embarrassment. "Yes I am fine, why did you call?"

"Well my last exam for the term is next week so I was thinking of coming to Flevance for the vacations." Law sat up at that. Yes, since it was nearing Luffy's end of term examinations, it had almost been a month since Law had left Goa to heal in Flevance. He was healing and after that was the hell path to recovery.

"About that..." Law started and he could feel Luffy pouting on the other end.

"Whaaaat? I wanna see youuuuu!"

"I'm not making an excuse for that, just listen."

"Ok."

"I was thinking of coming to Goa once your exams are over. I- I wanted to talk to you about something."

"But I wanna come to Flevance." Luffy whined and Law could now definitely see the pout and the younger jutting his lip out and probably stomping his feet.

"I can't work and move well enough so you'd be confined to the building if you come here and I sort of... want to show you around again..." Law took a breath and bit his lip, this was embarrassing and very out of character for him but if there was one thing he learned from Luffy, it was to just do it and not think about it. That's what Law was doing, saying things he wanted to say without a second thought because then he would get really stuck. It was a very cathartic approach to conversation.

"You wanna make new memories? Nishishi, then it's fine, can't be helped! Ok! You come to Goa then! We can have fun here!" And just like that, Luffy was onboard.

"I'll be staying longer this time too."

"Oh I know! I can finally show you Grey Terminal this time then!"

"Sounds like a plan, which you better not fuck up."

~

"Saaaannnnjjiiiiiii!" Luffy sang barging in the kitchen of the Thousand Sunny where he knew his blond friend was whisking desserts for Robin and Nami.

"Food's gonna take another hour Luffy." Sanji said without looking up from his numerous tasks.

"It's not that."

"What the-?" The chef stammered, flabbergasted. If Luffy wasn't in the kitchen for food then what was he there for? Robin looked up from her book and rested her chin on her hand, enjoying whatever Luffy was going to say this time.

"Teach me how to cook."

"What the actual fuck?" This time Sanji actually finished his speech. When Luffy didn't say anything else to justify his request or to elaborate, Sanji looked around the kitchen then at his friend.

To Luffy, Sanji looked uncomfortable and reluctant and that... hurt the younger. "You don't wanna?"

"It's not that. I don't want to ruin my beautiful kitchens teaching your monkey ass." Sanji corrected quickly. He didn't want Luffy to think he wasn't interested in teaching him, hell Sanji was wondering when Luffy would actually ask or if he would ask after he had openly declared his affections for Torao – people often came to him to learn to cook because of someone special in their lives.

"You can use the kitchen at my house. We burn stuff there all the time. The overhead cabinets are already black and charring, I don't think I can do any worse than Ace and Sabo combined." Luffy shrugged.

"Oh my sweet summer child..." Sanji found himself whispering with a shake of his head and Robin openly laughed.

"I would like to taste anything Luffy makes. Am I invited, Captain?" Robin asked with a grin.

"Yeah! Let's invite everyone!" Luffy jumped, excited.

"Actually let's not, especially not Chopper, he might have to treat everyone for food poisoning after eating your cooking." Sanji joked and got back to his stoves.

"I'm not going to be that bad!!" Luffy defended himself.

Luffy was right. He wasn't that bad. He was much worse.

"You damned marimo! Get the fucking water, what're you taking your swords out for?!" Sanji yelled pushing Luffy out of the kitchen of the younger's house.

"For the fire." Zoro said unimpressed and proceeded to take out his swords.

"You can't douse fire with swords! What are you, moss for brains?! Get out!" The blond kicked the green haired man out after he kicked Luffy out again and ducked just in time to avoid getting splashed from the water Nami threw at the stove.

"I leave you three alone for ten minutes!" Nami started scolding, dragging Luffy in the kitchen by his cheek and Zoro by his hair. She dropped the two on the ground and kicked them so they sat on their knees.

"The weather goddess has saved us!" Sanji fell to Nami's feet. "No thanks to you two." He grumbled side-eyeing his friends.

"I was coming here to drop Luffy's sheet music for the next live and Robin tells me the kitchen is on fire. What were you even thinking! How was the kitchen even on fire with Sanji-kun around?! Where was anybody responsible?"

"Robin-chan is responsible." Sanji said with hearts in his eyes.

"She is but she enjoys the chaos."

"I was teaching Luffy how to cook."

Nami shook her head with a hand on her forehead. "And what was the recipe?"

"Onigiri." Luffy answered sheepishly.

"How did you even manage to light the entire stove on fire for onigiri?"

"I looked away for one second, it was my fault." Sanji said solemnly.

"Yeah it's all your fault you shitty cook." Zoro mumbled.

"And what were you doing here?" Nami directed at the third of the trio.

"Protecting Luffy from curly."

"Couldn't you have started from something simple like, I don't know, sandwiches?" Nami went back to the topic at hand and allowed Sanji to leave his place on the ground to get her something to drink. Luffy's response to Nami was instantaneous.

"Torao doesn't like bread and he can't eat it."

"Thank you." Nami took the iced tea and sat down by the kitchen table.

"You're welcome Nami-swaaannnn!" Sanji swooned then went to Robin.

"So you're learning for Torao?" Luffy nodded. "That's adorable~"

"I keep telling him he doesn't need to learn for Torao, that guy can cook for himself." Zoro almost... pouted. Nami raised an eyebrow.

"Are you... jealous?" She smirked at the twitch that went up the man's spine.

"Why-why-wha-why would I be jealous, you witch?!"

"What do you mean why? Even I am envious of the attention Torao keeps getting from our Luffy." Nami stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't think I want to share our sunshine with someone we don't even know."

"You make Torao sound bad." Luffy puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms. "I like him, he's a good guy. You guys can meet him when he wants to."

"Hello Luffy's friends, hello Lu- why the hell is the stove dripping wet?" Ace greeted then stopped to inspect the scene before him in the kitchen.

"I accidentally set it on fire." Luffy said looking away from his brother. He expected to be scolded, at least about safety but Ace patted him on the shoulder and wiped a fake tear.

"You really are my brother, your arsonist tendencies are just awakening, finally." Ace sounded happy.

"No he just burned it while cooking." Zoro clarified.

"Ohmygod! I gotta call your mom Luffy!!" Ace quickly dialed the missing brother. "Sabo get your ass here! Luffy was cooking!!"

"Never a dull day with the brothers." Robin said from the living room and quietly kept reading.

~

Law's shoulder was giving him hell from the longass flight to Goa, he was ok all through Flevance to Red Line International Airport but once the flight to Goa started, the fatigue worsened. Law had been having nothing but rest all his time in Flevance, his meals were catered for, his friends always accompanied him on walks to keep an eye on him, he wasn't allowed to lock the door of his room so someone could keep checking on him and reprimand him if he was overworking himself with medical readings, all in all, he was well looked after and he let his friends take the wheel for a while which helped the surgeon actually relax. But now since he had to do everything himself, the tasks were stressing him out since he couldn't move around much.

Law wheeled his bag behind him, he tsked at his own slow movements that were blocking the entire line behind him so he politely stepped outside of the main lane and let people pass. Once through the big doors and onto Goa soil, Law quickly made his way to the seats and catered to his aching shoulder and now aching abdomen. He still wasn't able to go long hours without resting and he wondered if he should ring Luffy to let him know that he had arrived in Goa or to give it a day before having that rubber-ball of a human invade his space.

Law's dilemma was answered for him with the overly excited yell of his name in the distance, the distance that was shortening frighteningly quickly.

"TORAOOOOO!" Law barely had three seconds before the owner of the voice collided with him and wrapped his arms around the older what felt like half a dozen times. "When did you get here? How long have you been waiting?" Law couldn't hide the discomfort from coming onto his face, Luffy's arms were jabbing at his abdomen and the younger caught that slight twitch in the muscle. "You ok? Not healed yet?"

"It's healing very slow yes." Law answered sitting down when Luffy let him go.

"You want me to get you a wheelchair?"

"No I can walk after some rest."

"Ok then lemme know when you're ready to go." Luffy said and sat down beside Law. The older didn't want to keep Luffy waiting so he got over his pain quick, willed it away.

"Alright let's go." Law moved to take the handle of his case but Luffy took it before him and shook his head.

"I'll do it."

"Ok..." Law was weirded out at first but realized Luffy was just being nice and caring, not letting the older fatigue himself. Once Luffy sat Law down in the cab and got back after putting his bag in the trunk, Law asked what was on his mind. "How did you know when I'd be landing?"

"Shachi told me, they said you might not be feeling well when you get here." Luffy answered snacking on a chocolate bar that he offered Law, who politely refused.

"Dangerous intuition they have."

"Oh yeah! Before I forget again, Kemurin brought your car around after you left, he didn't know where else to take it so Franky saw it for repairs and stuff, it's parked by your hotel."

"Fuck, I left it at the port... I totally forgot." Law cursed. "Thank you, and your friend too."

"No problem Torao!"

After Luffy helped Law set things up in the hotel room, the older offered they go somewhere for food, he was in no mood to sit around staring at the walls he had stared it for the numerous days he was healing enough to be able to leave. He was sick of seeing the same paint and the same cracks and the- Law stopped himself before his brain threw him into an anxiety attack.

"Let's take the car." Law said grabbing the keys from the rack Luffy hung them on.

"You're ok to drive? Usopp always says nobody should drive if they're not a hundred percent well." Luffy tilted his head in question.

"Yes, I'm well enough to drive. I won't get us in an accident and kill you." Law joked rolling his eyes.

"Oh I'm not worried about that, just, you were hurting back at the airport."

Law was speechless again. Luffy was worried about him, again. The older couldn't get used to the responsibility and care with which Luffy always pointed that Law's well-being was foremost to the younger. He wasn't used to any of this.

"Well I'm sick of sitting on my ass all the time so I will be driving whether I am hurting or not. If you don't want to come along, that's your choice." Law shrugged and made for the door. He was not entitled to be nice in return to being treated nicely. He knew he was a shithead for it but that, in retrospect, was also a defense mechanism.

"Yeah! Let's go take a risk!" Luffy laughed and followed the older to the car.

The two went to the Sim's café and enjoyed their usual meals, the staff was weirdly happy to see them back, to the point that Law got a free tea and Luffy got a free meat-on-stick. Regardless, they left a heavy tip for the servers and exited the establishment. The car was parked two blocks over because parking space sucked in a rich-people area with all their big cars and self-entitlements. The walk was a welcome change for Law so he wasn't complaining.

The only thing that was worrying Law was that he had a feeling someone was tailing him. Again. He was ok with it when he was alone but being seen out with Luffy, he was also putting a target on the younger. Law's agitation was very obvious to Luffy.

"You're acting like Zoro does when someone is following us." Luffy said hands behind his head, walking all casual and carefree. Law wished he could be like Luffy.

"Someone probably is. This has been going on for a while, probably someone from the... organization that shot me." Law answered truthfully. He needed Luffy to know what kind of danger Law carried with him at all times.

"Call Smokey?"

"No need. I want to see who it is and handle it accordingly." Law looked at Luffy briefly before adding. "If you don't want to get caught with me, this is your chance to leave."

"Are you stupid? I'm not leaving you." Luffy's response was final and so the two continued till the block the car was parked at.

Once a few feet from the car, Law spots a dark alley and takes a deep breath. "I'm going to lure that idiot out."

"I'm coming too."

Law walked inside the alley in a way that he was looking for a garbage can to throw something and the moment he was halfway through towards the dead-end wall, the person following him jumped from their hiding place. Law heard the sounds of the person's feet leaving the ground when they had decided to make that pathetic jump so the older was ready to use the attacker's momentum against them and quickly pinned them to the nearest wall with a scalpel on their forehead and a gun pointing down the neck.

"Who sent you?" Law asked the man, he was wearing a mask so he couldn't see the face but the build and everything was that of a man, Law was a doctor, anatomy and physiology were his strong suits.

"You got him!" Luffy noticed walking to where Law was and tilting his head to look for anything that might give the guy's boss away.

"Yes and I will kill him if he doesn't answer my question in the next five seconds." Law forced the scalpel further in the guy's forehead to pressure him.

"I'm not saying shit!" The man yelled and made to break free. Luffy watched from Law to the guy, to Law's scalpel to his gun then to Law again, wondering is the older would really kill the person, fearful that he actually might.

"I'm giving you a chance here." Law warned again.

"You and this little shit are dea-" Law sighed and plunged his scalpel through the man's neck, tearing through his blood vessels.

"Torao!" Luffy tried stopping Law but the look in the older's eyes was... his eyes were dead.

"It will still take some time before you die so you might want to tell me who sent you." Law crouched to the now writhing-on-the-ground man and spun his gun in his hand. The man was only drowning in his blood and couldn't say a thing. "What? Trying to say something?" When the person glared at him, Law shrugged and took off his masks. "Am I the person you were targeting?" The look of recognition in the dying man's eyes was all Law needed to send him on his way. "Alright, die already." And like a certain bastard, Law emptied his gun in the body on the ground.

Luffy was too shocked to say anything. He was also very disturbed by the display. The gunshots were ringing in his ears, reminding him of a very unfortunate time. For a few minutes he couldn't recognize the man before him. Luffy couldn't believe that this was the same Law that had saved him, used his kind hands to make sure Luffy didn't die and with those same hands, Law had now killed a man, and so easily at that. It was a hard thing to swallow for Luffy.

"You ok?" Law asked standing up, looking over at Luffy who didn't seem like he was all there.

"Torao this isn't how I do things..." Luffy gulped and took steady breaths, eyes fixated on the blood pooling on the ground.

"Yeah? But I do."

Luffy shifted his focus on Law, looking at him in disbelief. "Why? You could have handed him over to the police."

"And risk him getting out and coming after me again? Or perhaps going after someone less fortunate or handy with a gun and a scalpel? I don't think so." Law retorted sourly putting his gun and scalpel back. "I will call Smoker though, tell him about this." Law got his phone out and searched for the white-haired officer's number.

"But..." Luffy felt queasy talking about this to Law, he felt unsafe and on edge.

"You do things your way, I do mine. We don't talk about that. Ok?" Law said and dialed the number. When Luffy didn't answer, Law looked up and found him staring at the dead body. "Ok?" Law asked again.

Luffy raised his head and looked at Law for a few moments silently before uttering a resolute "no."

"I'm sorry, what?" Law put his phone away altogether. He felt like this needed his attention.

"No." Luffy repeated. "You told me all that time back that I should avoid killing at all costs! Back when you saved me!"

"And did you forget I decapitated a few because they won't stay the fuck down?"

"I remember! But no Torao, killing is not ok."

"Oh grow up." Law rolled his eyes. "If I didn't kill this guy, he would have shot you and then where would we be, huh?"

"No. Killing is still not the answer." Luffy said shaking his head then stopped as realization struck. "Have you been killing people all this time?"

"Only when I absolutely have to." Law answered truthfully and began dialing Smoker again.

Luffy looked at the ground, his mind blank. He didn't know what to think of this. "See you later." The younger said, barely audible as Law turned to talk to Smoker.

"Can I drive you back?" Law offered putting the phone away for a second, feeling awkward and unusually heavy in his chest the more he looked at the hollowed expression that took over Luffy's face.

"No..I uh.. I will walk." Luffy was still too shook. "Thanks." Law noticed the lack of a 'see you later' so he responded in kind.

"Yeah."

Law informed Smoker of the situation and didn't know when Luffy left. All through the ride back after having met up with Smoker, Law kept thinking about how naïve Luffy was, opting to turn people over to the police rather than just end them altogether. He couldn't stand that kind of foolishness and weak resolve in his life. He had lost too much to kindness. Not anymore.

Luffy walked back and that gave him time to think. He always thought that Torao was only acting like he was heartless but today it looked like he actually was and that he didn't value life as much Chopper always said doctors do. Luffy thought on how Law did give the man a chance but ended up killing him nonetheless. He thought if this was how Law really was then they wouldn't get along at all because now that Luffy knew that Law killed people in cold blood, he couldn't stop this heaviness in his chest from budding. He liked Law but now he was faced with a really bad reality.

The boys both parted ways with a heavy, bitter and stinging feeling in their chests thinking now that there were actual affections, was this really the right person to fall in love with?

~