~

Law walked through the aisles of seats to look for his and Luffy's for the airplane to Red Line international airport and then to Flevance. Once the older confirmed the seat numbers, he put the luggage in the overhead space and motioned for Luffy to sit down.

"You don't want the window?" Luffy asked moving aside to let an elderly couple pass. Law looked at his boyfriend confused so the younger decided to elaborate. "You said you didn't like small, closed spaces."

"Oh that." Law realized he had confided that indeed. "No, it's ok I guess."

"Tell me if you want to switch." Luffy offered and sat down in his seat, linking his hand with Law's once the older had settled as well. "The last time we were in a plane together, you were taking me back home."

"You were so excited to be on a plane." Law smiled and rested his head on Luffy's shoulder.

"You let me have the window seat then too."

"I'm going to try to sleep the long hours once the plane takes off so if it looks like somebody is going to bother us, just spit at them."

"Nyahahahahaha!" Luffy laughed. "You sleep Torao, I'll keep you safe."

"Counting on that."

~

Law knew what lied ahead after getting off the plane, all his friends would be waiting beyond the gates, with a huge welcome back to Luffy. So Law took the bags when he got the chance and once the boys passed the gates, Law opted to stand on a side, silently, while the Hearts bombarded his boyfriend with hugs and pats and smiles, right in the middle of the airport.

"Are you tired?" Law asked when Luffy's head hit Law's shoulder before the younger brought it upright again, clearly trying to fight off sleep. Both the boys were seated in one of the ten cars entourage the Hearts had brought to the airport.

"Yeah. I hate planes, ships are better." Luffy pouted.

"I don't like airplanes either. Submarines are way better."

"Your sub is good but others are so stuffy." Luffy said, almost asleep.

The ride home was short and Luffy was too sleepy to keep his head up to enjoy the sights after so long. The cars all parked by the building and the guys brought the bags inside, three of them already moving to the kitchen to resume the meals they were cooking, the smells mixing with the air brought Luffy out of his sleepy stupor.

"Your room's been cleaned, dusted and aired out if you want to use that, or you can use mine too, if you want." Law presented both the options to his boyfriend and watched as the gears turned in the younger's head.

"My room!" Luffy declared. Law felt a tug in his chest, he wanted Luffy to choose to stay with him in his room, not Luffy's own room. "Oh but I'm spending the days and nights in your room."

Law's smile was back. "Ok."

The surgeon left his boyfriend to go to his own room and open the windows. Law put his things back in their places and cleaned out his table, stacking his medical journals neatly, he was surprised he had left everything so scattered when he went to Goa. Law didn't feel much like eating but he accompanied Luffy to the meal anyway, grateful for the warm affection all his friends had for the younger.

"Imma sleep now." Luffy said rubbing his eye with one hand and tugging at Law's sleeve with the other.

"Do you want me to wake you up for breakfast?" Penguin asked when the boyfriends were retiring for the night.

"They wake up too goddamn early." Law pointed, grinning at the shocked face his friend made.

"I'll get something when I wake up, thanks." Luffy said and went to Law's room with him. The moment the boy was in the room, there was no way he could miss the sight outside the window. "There's so many sunflowers!"

"Clione planted this entire strip, it's something huh." Law agreed and went to change into a looser shirt and trousers.

"Yeah! This is so cool!"

"Look at the table." Law said not looking away from the wardrobe.

"Hey! It's my sunflower!" Luffy was happy to see that Law actually kept the resin-preserved sunflower and in plain sight too. "You kept it."

"You brought it for me, of course I kept it."

"Sappy Torao nishishi." Luffy teased and took off his shirt, joining his boyfriend in bed, pulling the sheet over him.

"I'm not!"

"Sure Torao, whatever you say."

"You're tired and you need to sleep."

"Ok, goodnight Torao." Luffy said and immediately fell asleep. Law on the other hand had a very hard time falling asleep.

Even with Luffy around, being warm and cuddly, Law could not sleep. The older was subconsciously keeping an eye out for night terrors Luffy might experience after returning to Flevance, so far everything was ok but Law couldn't keep pretending to sleep. With a sigh, the doctor got up and went to his bathroom to start a bath.

.

Luffy stirred in his sleep until he eventually woke up, the bed was cold and the younger found it was because there was no Torao to keep him warm. The nights in Flevance were still as cold as Luffy remembered. Once Luffy was awake enough to register that he didn't know where Law was, he was out of bed to search for his boyfriend. The young man didn't have to look very far, the bathroom door was slightly open but there were no lights on.

"Torao?" Luffy called and opened the bathroom door a bit more, he could make out a figure in the dim moonlight filtering through the small spaces of the exhaust fan.

"Don't turn the lights on." Law said and Luffy followed the voice to the bathtub, his eyes adjusting to the dark.

"You're smoking." Luffy scrunched his nose and pulled a small chair he spotted in a corner, to sit by the tub. The younger could make out Law's feet up on the rim of the tub and his shoulders too, on the side closer to him.

"Sorry, turn the exhaust on, I'll get rid of this." Law said.

"No 'sokay, you can smoke if it calms you down." The younger quickly dismissed, not moving to turn the fan on either. "I can bear with it."

"I don't like the smell of smoke too... took too much from me." The doctor said just above a whisper and moved, moving the water with him. Luffy decided not to ask more about that, it didn't look like his boyfriend was taking a late night bath for kicks, something else was going on.

"You should have woken me up, you know baths alone are not safe."

"The water isn't enough to drown me." Law pointed and Luffy peeked to see that indeed the water wasn't too much but still enough the rubber ducks were floating about freely. Luffy put his hand in the water, resting his head on the rim, he pushed the ducks around, enjoying the weird cool and warm feeling the water brought.

"Why are you taking a late night bath though?"

"Couldn't sleep." Law began. "And I feel better when I'm in the water like this." When Law heard just a hum from his boyfriend, he turned to rest his head on the rim of the tub too, close to Luffy. "What about you? Why're you awake?"

"It was cold without you." Luffy pouted.

Law kissed the cute, puffed out cheek and rested against the tub again. "No nightmares?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know, I thought coming back to Flevance might trigger some bad memories." The doctor shrugged. "Still doesn't spare me... so I was worried..."

"You really couldn't sleep because you were worried about me?"

Law closed his eyes and took the last inhale of his cigarette. "Honestly, yes." When Luffy didn't answer, Law opened his eyes to look at the boy to ask him why he had gone silent but found that Luffy was looking at him with something weird going on with his eyes and a big smile on his face, not his usual sunny smile, something different. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Nyahahah!" Luffy laughed. "Torao's cute."

Law turned red and he was sure Luffy couldn't see it in such bad lighting but he wasn't so sure when Luffy laughed again. "I am not cute!"

"And you're kind."

"So you say."

Luffy gauged Law for a moment before saying something that had been weighing on his mind for some time. "But you're holding back, it feels like you're holding back."

Law furrowed his brows. "Holding back?" The water sloshed as Law began to get out of the tub, using the towel he had kept near himself to dry.

"Yeah, holding back, on living freely." Luffy also got up and handed Law the change of clothes that the older put on quickly.

"I'm living off the lives of countless people, Luffy. I don't have the luxury of living freely."

The way Law quickly walked out of the bathroom let Luffy know that the topic at hand was not open for further conversation so the younger left it at that too, not wanting to aggravate the wounds Torao was still carrying. Luffy followed Law to the kitchen where the older had started to brew some tea, Luffy was thrown back into time when this was sort of a norm and late night tradition for when Luffy couldn't sleep at night so Law would make him some hot chocolate and tea for himself.

Luffy made space on the couch and adjusted the pillows like he was used to from back when and brought blankets in case he ended up too sleepy to walk to bed. Both the men drank their tea and hot chocolate in silence, just looking into the darkness of the room, getting tired by the passing minute and eventually sleeping on the couch, tangled with each other, just like old times.

~

It was Bepo who found the boyfriends on the couch first and it wasn't his intention to call for attention but his cooing did so anyway. It brought Penguin and Shachi to the scene, the three were up for their early shift at the hospital. All three of Law's friends were leaning on each other, squealing as silently as possible at the nostalgic display of Luffy and Law sleeping together on the couch, just like they used to so many years back. Penguin couldn't help taking a picture and just like the time back, the idiot still forgot to turn off the flash and the camera shutter sounds.

"We will wait for you to be brought in the morgue!" Shachi said and ran for the kitchen when Law opened his eyes and glared at the three. Bepo was next to flee the scene, leaving Penguin alone.

"I smell eggs." Luffy woke up, eyes closed, sniffing the air.

"Feed him and you're spared." Law told Penguin and helped Luffy on his feet, leaving for his room soon after.

"Thank you sir!" Penguin exhaled in relief and watched as Luffy woke up even more. "Come on, let's get food."

"Fluffy eggs!" Luffy grinned walking in the kitchen and seeing the plate of eggs being dished out one after another. The young boy took a seat beside Bepo and dug in when Shachi put a plate in front of him.

"Sleep alright Luffy?" Shachi asked cracking another ten eggs in a bowl.

"Yapp!"

"How did you both end up on the couch?" Bepo inquired.

"Torao was taking a late night bath, then we had tea and hot chocolate, ended up too tired to walk back to bed."

"Late night bath? Law? Alone?" Penguin stopped mid-bite and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah he didn't wake me to keep guard either." Luffy pouted. "I would have even washed him like before too but it didn't look like he wanted it that time."

"Back up-" Shachi started.

"Wait, before?" Penguin joined at the same time.

"Yeah one time at home." Luffy shrugged inhaling another plate of eggs.

"He let you give him a bath?" Bepo asked, just as shocked as the other two.

"He let you take the wheel?" Shachi phrased.

"We weren't driving." Luffy tilted his head to the side, confused by the words.

"No- that- he let you take control of the situation?" Penguin reiterated.

"Yeah- it was just a bath."

"Luffy, buddy, Law doesn't let anyone take even the slightest bit of control from him. Ever."

"Yeah we've been his friends for how long? More than ten years, and he doesn't relinquish control to even us." Shachi added.

"I dunno about any of that but Torao was pretty out of it when let me help him to that bath." Luffy hummed in thought.

"How out of it?"

"Is it about that time he had to deliver babies in the airplane?" Bepo asked, immediately making a connection.

"Yeah!"

Luffy was busy stuffing his face with eggs that he didn't notice the look his boyfriend's three friends shared over his head. The younger was more preoccupied with the fact that Law trusted him enough and considered him enough that he allowed Luffy some control over him. Luffy knew and understood on a non-verbal plane that Law was troubled in more than one ways and overall had problems that he often didn't share, so Luffy considered it his job to learn as much as he could without triggering anything and to wait, as much as he hated to do it, wait for Torao to open up on his own.

"Ok Luffy, now the question I'm going to ask you is very important. Think hard and answer, ok?" Penguin brought Luffy's attention back to the present.

"Ok."

"So when you were helping Law with his bath, did you get a good look at his-" Penguin's words were cut short by Kikoku's long blade being pressed against his throat. Following the blade, the man came face to face with its owner.

"Peng I swear you have a deathwish." Law said with a scowl on his face. "Kikoku wants some blood right now, yours would do."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Luffy's laughter that rang though the kitchen eased the situation and Law took his sword away with a final glare, sitting down beside his boyfriend, letting him pat him on the head too. "Torao's funny."

"They didn't ask you private stuff, did they?" Law asked the younger. "Because you have the moronic ability to answer everything truthfully without regard for place or time or company."

"Hey!" Luffy pouted. "I don't spill everything!"

"Oh yeah? What were you going to answer with for that last idiotic question then?" The way all three of Law's friends closed in on Luffy made Law quickly put in the next comment. "Don't answer that!"

But it was too late.

"That it's good but I'm not interested right now." Luffy answered and stole a big bite from Law's plate that Shachi had just put in front of the older.

"I fucking told you right now you have no regard-!!!" Law bit his tongue in the process of scolding his boyfriend.

"But it's just your friends."

"Fucking hell!" Law slapped his forehead. "Do you compare dicks with your friends too?" Law asked, mockery obvious in his tone but lost on Luffy.

"No that happens with Ace and Sabo." Luffy answered truthfully, proving Law right yet again. Shachi who had begun drinking his coffee spit it out at the honest answer. "I always win, nishishi."

"We're leaving." Law hopped off the chair and took as many plates of eggs as he could in one hand and with his other, he dragged Luffy along with him.

Luffy was going to ask Law about being guarded from his friends too but decided it entailed opening the conversation from last night so the younger didn't make any comments, just mumbled apologies and nodded solemnly when Torao was scolding him for being loose-mouthed.

"What're we doing today?" Luffy asked excitedly after finishing his breakfast and sending an 'I'm alive and ok' picture to his brothers.

"What do you want to do?" Law asked running his fingers through the younger's hair, rubbing his back that was in his lap.

"Nishishi, let's go to the memorial site!" Luffy said and got up. "I wanna meet Torao's family!"

~