~

Law had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it did.

The doctor had barely dozed off when a hard punch on his collarbone woke him up with a jolt. Law was going to tie his boyfriend's hands together so he wouldn't hit him anymore but the sight stopped him. By the time the older had gathered enough mental clarity to comprehend what was going on, Luffy was already out of bed and crawling towards the small space in the corner behind the door, noiselessly curling up in a tight ball, hands out of the sling and on his ears, head on his knees, shaking and crying.

For a moment Law didn't know what to do, then his experience kicked in and he was quickly off the bed too. Law was unsure if he should touch the younger because it looked like he was too overstimulated by the panic to want any other sensory stimulus. But the doctor was shocked and baffled that the overly loud Monkey D. Luffy was not letting any sounds escape. Then it hit Law again, that one time in Drum when Luffy had told him nobody knew about his panic attacks and he dealt with those himself.

Is this why he's suffering so quietly...

Hurt, was the only word Law could give to the heavy vacuum that had formed in his chest at the realization that the younger really did deal with his attacks alone, in silence and solitude. It didn't sit well with Law that Luffy, who so selflessly took on everyone's demons for them was the person who let himself suffer alone, unaccepting of help or care... kind of like Law himself, except Law wasn't selfless so he thought he didn't deserve the help.

A small whimper reached Law's ears and made him focus on the situation at hand again. The doctor noticed how Luffy was scratching his ears and cheeks, whispering wet 'stop it's and 'get out's. In that moment, Law didn't care if Luffy wanted to deal with it alone, the older decided he wouldn't let that happen since his boyfriend had started to draw blood on the sensitive skin of his ears.

Law grabbed his bag and took out his headphones, he connected the song that helped Luffy the last time and forced the calloused hands away from the scratched ears. The older thought that since Luffy was acting like that, there must be some sorts of sounds stuck in his head so some music might help. Luffy had listened to that song so many times after the first time he calmed down to it that the familiar melody was starting to push through the obnoxious laughter in his head and taking its place, nice and warm. Law could see the effects of the music after three repeats of the song and once Luffy had stopped wanting to hurt himself, the older let his hands go.

Luffy had opened his eyes when he started feeling calmer but there was still some apprehension in his manner and noticing that, Law moved again, only to be grabbed and pulled by his boyfriend.

"I'm not abandoning you, let me just get something." Law said and knew the younger couldn't hear but Luffy still let Law go. The older went to the nightstand and pulled open the second drawer, pulling out a plastic wrapping of sorts. Law opened the packaging and motioned for Luffy to open his mouth, and since the younger wasn't much mentally present, he obliged.

Law watched Luffy taste the chocolate mousse and gag, repeating the movement a few times till his eyes had focused back to his surroundings and the panic attack had subsided. Law didn't let go of Luffy's hands through it all, he still rubbed the back of his boyfriend's hands till even the arrhythmic heaving had stopped.

"Ok?" Law asked, a simple one word question, easy on the tired brain.

Luffy smacked his tongue on the roof of his mouth a few more times in disgust, then frowned and took the headphones off. "What was that? It was yuck!"

"Dark chocolate mousse with ninety-six percent cocoa content." Law answered and took a taste of the chocolate himself. "It's good."

"No, it's yuck!"

"Did the trick though, didn't it?"

Luffy looked from his boyfriend to the chocolate in his hands and wondered if the bad taste was the thing that grounded him really fast. "It did."

"I was thinking about using dried meat but you would have gobbled it up without even realizing what it was so then I thought that since you find my milk tea bitter, you might also not like dark chocolate and then I found this blend." Law said, hands moving with his mouth, he had to talk and fill the air with words so he could keep the younger distracted.

"I like the song too... it's nice."

"You talk like you don't know where it's from."

"Of course I know! That's why I like it even more!" Luffy moved his right arm to hand Law the headphones back when he noticed something was off. Slowly, so very slowly, Luffy turned to Law with his lips pursed.

"You fucking did not..." Law warned, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It feels wet under the bandage." The younger said, then added, "and hurts and itches when I move my arm too..."

"Then don't move your arm dammit!" Law was immediately on his feet with a groan. "Not even twenty hours, not even a single day- I swear if the stitches are pulled-" Then the older composed himself because it sounded like he was blaming Luffy when he really wasn't. Law helped his boyfriend stand. "Its fine, I can fix it and give you some medication for the pain too." Sniffing Luffy, Law added, "a bath is due anyway."

"I don't wanna take a bath!" Luffy whined but shut himself up upon remembering that baths with Torao were safe and nice. Luffy waited on his bed while Law set everything up in the bathroom then went when he was called.

"Do not move your arm again, let me handle everything." Law reminded and sat Luffy down on the high stool, taking care to take his clothes off. The older put the pajamas in the hamper then carefully took off the hoodie.

"I didn't ruin it, did I?" Luffy asked in a small voice.

Law looked at his hoodie in his hands then at the bandages on the younger's shoulders. "Nope, you didn't bleed through." The older kicked the hamper aside then ruffled his boyfriend's hair. "And I can clean blood, it's no problem."

"So I can have another hoodie for the night?"

"I don't have more hoodies since the weather is pretty easy here but you can have a shirt."

"Ok."

Law first washed Luffy's hair, even trimmed some of it at the younger's insistence, then he scrubbed his skin clean, finally letting the boy soak in the tub, all the while mindful of the bandages and to not get them wet. Luffy was getting visibly relaxed by the second when he was in the warm water, Law was right in thinking that a bath would help the younger too. While Luffy was letting the warm water soothe him, Law took the time to tend to the scratches there were on Luffy's ears.

Law tapped the small cuts clean and wondered if his boyfriend was up for opening up. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Luffy was dozing off, the tiredness from the attack settling in a bit delayed, but he wasn't that far gone to not have heard Law's question. First the younger just hummed a response, eyes far off and vacant, then he took a deep breath and decided talking might help him and since it was Torao, he was safe in that regard too. So Luffy started, "I was in that place again... and he was there too... with his weird, creepy laugh, I couldn't get it out of my head."

"Do you know who he is?" Law asked rubbing ointment on the scratches.

"No, not the name but..." Luffy scrunched his nose in an effort to recall, "everybody called him young master or something."

If Law had any doubts about the identity of Luffy's kidnapper, those were all gone now. The older tried his best to not let his anger take over and took deep, calculated breaths to calm down. Then Law noticed the younger's hand, itching and lightly scratching at his thigh. "Your scar's healed well."

"It hurts sometimes when I get bad attacks about that time." Luffy turned to look at Law when the older put the medicines away.

"It's psychological, and very normal." Law answered pointing to the fact that it was the thigh that had the brand tattoo.

"Do you have scars like that too?"

Luffy's question was honest and innocent but it took Law off guard and in his surprise, Law forgot to put a filter up. "I have my tattoos."

"Thought so, they look like they hurt, even though they're hot."

Law furrowed his brows. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your tattoos are hot, I like looking at them."

"No, before that."

"That they look like they hurt?" Luffy repeated tilting his head.

"Yes that, what do you mean by that?"

"Well your tattoos look like they hurt, that's what I mean. Ace got his tattoos with pride but yours look like you got them when you were hurting and sad."

Law opened his mouth but no words came out, he scratched his head then shook it, language coming back to him. "Are you secretly able to use Heaven's Door, you know, Kishibe Rohan's stand?"

"Who's what now?"

That was Law's chance to steer the conversation away from himself. "You haven't seen and read JoJo?"

"No, what's that?"

"Only the best adventure manganime out there, written by a vampire."

"Zoro's dad?"

"His father is alive?" Law raised an eyebrow.

"No, the one he lives with."

"Takanome isn't a vampire, definitely not as much as Araki is."

"I don't wanna read anything." Luffy pouted but wanted to know the piece of media now that Law had mentioned it. "Maybe I'll watch the anime."

"You can watch it when I have recommended you bed rest. Complete bed rest." Law smirked, trap successfully laid.

"Why do I need compete bed rest? It's just my shoulder!" The younger whined.

"I've yet to undo your bandages and see what you've done to the stitches, I'll decide based on that, how mad I should be."

"Mean Torao." Luffy mumbled under his breath then let himself be helped out of the tub and dried and helped into fresh pajamas.

"Ok sit there." Law pointed at the high stool and Luffy sat there again while the doctor got his things and glasses and began his work. "Hold the towel tight, ok? Once I undo the seal, there is a possibility that blood might leak out."

"Got it." Luffy pressed the towel firmly against his skin just below the bandages and watched as Law took off the bandage and padding.

"You fucking savage, you pulled two of them." Law threw the used dressing aside and gave his boyfriend a glare.

"Is that bad?"

"We caught it early so I can minimize the risk of infection and pus formation but it's going to hurt worse now." The older talked through the process while cleaning the old blood off and making sure to apply ample disinfectant. Law then prepared an anesthetic shot. "I started keeping anesthesia after I didn't have it when you hurt your head." The doctor made conversation to distract Luffy from the sting of the injection.

"Oh yeah you didn't have it then, the pain wasn't that bad."

"Because your brain was otherwise occupied." Law pushed at Luffy's cheek with the back of his hand to get more room to work. "Head away, I need space to pull the thread."

"I'll get bored by complete bed rest." The younger said, slumping and making Law adjust.

"Watch JoJo then, it's very nice and I know for a fact that you'll like it."

"But everyone would be helping you with the house shopping and I wanna do that too, it sounds so fun."

"I hate shopping." Law said and cut the thread, satisfied with the new stitches. "I don't want to do it at all if I have things my way."

"Well I hate to break it to you Torao, but if you want things, you have to go get them, they don't magically appear in your house." Luffy said, deliberately sounding like a smartass.

Law stared at the younger's nose all cutely puffed and kissed at the corner of it without thinking how close it was to Luffy's lips. The older pretended to not notice the momentary stillness that the younger exhibited and doused the stitches with enough pyodine to prevent an infection. Law then quickly padded and bandaged the shoulder and put his things back.

Thankfully, Luffy didn't comment on the small kiss but the grins and smiles were on his face the entirety of the time Law helped him into a clean shirt, a sling and into bed, and once it registered to Luffy that he was now going to have to sleep instead of spending more time awake with his boyfriend, the younger pouted. Then he got an idea.

"Torao, I'm hungry." Luffy said and pursed his lips when Law groaned because he had just laid down.

"When are you not hungry?"

"'Sokay, I'll go out and get something." Luffy said scooting to the edge of the bed to get up, he knew full well that Law wouldn't let him go out alone and that meant that the older would definitely tag along.

"There's a serial killer on the loose, Luffy, just stay in and eat the many things that your friends brought."

"You're afraid of a serial killer?"

Law made a face and took care not to hit Luffy's shoulder when he threw the pillow at the younger's head. "You know I'm not, I would have to hurt him if I encounter him and I'm too tired for that."

"I can kick butt." Luffy pushed and stood up, pretending to look for his phone and wallet so Law would definitely have to get up.

"You wouldn't know it's a killer until it's very late, so be wise and don't go out, there's also your shoulder, so just eat something from the fridge now and go out in the morning if you still want to."

"I can't wait till morning!" Luffy whined and that did the trick.

"Ok fine! Then can you wait ten minutes?" Law asked, irked that his boyfriend was being so insistent but there was still no way he would let the younger go out alone at night with his shoulder like that and especially fresh out of a panic attack.

"Why, will the serial killer call it a day in ten minutes?" Luffy couldn't keep the mischievous grins off his face at having successfully lured Torao.

"No," Law rolled his eyes leaving the bed, "I'll be ready to go with you in ten minutes."

"Awwww Toraoooo, you care~" Luffy made sure to make his voice sound extra sweet.

"Of course I do, moron."

Law put on his pants and jacket, carefully draped a thick jacket around his boyfriend's shoulders, put on his heeled boots by the door and the two were out.

"Why did you have to put pants on?" Luffy asked, the two walking lazily towards the one eatery they knew would be open at that time of the night, their place, the Sim's café.

"I don't like how breezy pajamas are, and they restrict movement. These pants give me more control."

"Hmmm." Luffy wondered. "I like air on my dick, I don't like pants."

"So crass." Law sighed. "And you make it very clear that you don't like pants, I mean, who the fuck in their right mind would expose their legs to the biting cold at which even bears hibernate?"

"Me."

"Yes, dear, you."

"I like loose clothes."

"Your t-shirts are pretty fitted." Law recalled.

"Most of the times they are one size bigger, I don't like the neck band too close to my neck, feels so weird." Luffy said rubbing his neck in the process with his left hand and Law found himself doing the same.

"Honestly, same, that's why most of my shirts are v-neck." The older pointed to the one he was wearing. "Or they are button-ups." Law pointed to the one Luffy was wearing.

"My favorite type of clothes are Torao's clothes, nishishi." Luffy laughed in the quiet of the night, unabashed and carefree, too honest.

"Too bad, it only works one way." Law made a fake sad and hurt face, then they reached their destination and got seated, the workers not too surprised by seeing the boys. Food was ordered, food was served and food was devoured.

"You know I wasn't that hungry, I only wanted to spend more time with you." Luffy confessed on the walk back home. Law was too full of good food and tea to complain and he was kind of glad the younger lied because Law had always loved the night and he got to share it with the one person he liked, but he was not going to tell Luffy that, nope.

"If I end up sleeping in the clinic tomorrow, I will have Tony-ya lecture you." Law threatened instead.

"Chopper said you don't have to come to the clinic tomorrow, he's got some students with him so he would take care of everything."

"When did he say that?"

"It's in the group chat."

Law immediately checked his phone and found that the small reindeer had indeed told Law to take an off the next day as compensation for running the clinic alone. The doctor sighed in relief and quickly typed a 'thank you' in a private message, then stuffed his phone in his pocket.

"You are not allowed to leave the bed until I wake up properly rested." Law told his boyfriend. "I don't care how much your stomach acid gives you problems, I am sleeping in tomorrow."

"Ok, you've been tired too."

The walk back home was going relatively quieter and once the boys entered the three blocks distance from home, that was when the problem began. Both Luffy and Law were walking casually when they saw a woman coming from the opposite direction, steps hurried, looking over her shoulder every three seconds. Luffy recognized the uniform immediately as from a server from the café Nami liked so much.

The woman passed them and behind her, following at some twenty paces, was a man, faced hooded, shoulders squared, steps heavy. The boys shared a brief look and a nod when the man passed them too, just their luck to run into the serial killer loose in the neighbourhood. Luffy turned on his heels and ran to the woman, all joyous and loud, looping his good arm around her.

"Hey! I didn't think I'd see you here!" Luffy said, loud on purpose. "We visit the café all the time!"

"I-" The woman looked over her shoulder again, then the boy gathered her attention.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, pretend you know me." Luffy said in barely above a whisper.

The woman visibly relaxed, she had heard the name, she remembered the boy, he frequented with his friend Nami, the orange haired girl was always on dates there with her girlfriend. "Please help me."

"We're helping you right now. Because I'm talking to you, that guy following you is going to leave you alone and once he starts walking back, my boyfriend will get him." Luffy explained and casually looked over the woman's shoulder to glare at the man following her. It served its purpose well, because the man stopped and immediately turned around, spotted, and was careless enough to not notice that Law was standing just behind him, the guy crashed into the surgeon.

"Hello there. Are you done terrorizing that poor woman?" Law asked, a wide grin on his face and with the moonlight shining in his eyes, he looked every bit as dangerous as his underworld moniker. The Surgeon of Death didn't give that man a chance to speak or act and brought his knee hard between the man's legs, kicking his face Levi style when he crouched to grab his nuts. Law took out his phone and dialed to see if Smoker would pick up.

Luffy grinned at the woman when he saw Law had handled the situation. "We got him, come on." The younger took the woman's hand and walked to where his boyfriend was. Luffy's breath got caught in his throat when the moon shone on his boyfriend just the right way and Law standing as he was, with his heeled boot on the man's back to keep him down, his thin legs stretched and bent, hands in the pockets of his jacket that made his waist look so fragile, eyes and earrings shining the same golden, Luffy gulped and kept the whistle from getting whistled. Torao looked so hot.

"Guess who's coming for cleanup?" Law asked with a smirk, bringing Luffy out of his... borderline lecherous thoughts.

"Kemurin?" The younger asked with his eyebrows raised and when Law nodded, the grin replaced the frown. "Kemurin's coming!" Luffy told the woman then something registered. "Are you hurt? My boyfriend's a doctor."

"N-no, I'm ok, thank you." The woman said and her shoulders started shaking from the sobs that she had been keeping in all the time she was being followed. Luffy sat her down and patted her back, tried to calm her while Law kept an eye on the man under his boot and waited for Smoker.

Smoker arrived, grim and serious and got worse when he saw the man on the ground. The officer pulled the guy's hood back and looked at the back of his neck and sighed so loud that Law wondered how the man's lungs coped. "How is that we couldn't get this guy for months and you found him?"

"Sorry for doing your job, officer." Law answered with a grin. Luffy smiled to himself, he liked how the older was a bit looser around the people he had known for a long time.

"Don't give me the cheek, Law." The white haired man said and pulled the serial killer up and cuffed him and read him his rights. Once that was done, the marine turned to the other parties present. "You're doing ok?" Smoker asked jutting his chin at Law who shrugged. "Brat." The officer ruffled Law's hair and Law pouted ever the slightest pushing the arm away from him.

"Officer Smoker will escort you back." Law said to the woman, getting the attention off him. The woman looked at all the men and it seemed like she was reluctant to leave both Luffy and Law to go with a stranger even if he was an officer of the law.

Picking on the woman's fear, Smoker turned to the boyfriends. "I will escort you two back too."

"Where are you putting this guy then?" Luffy asked, speaking for the first time.

"Share the back seat with him."

"Just put him in the trunk." Law rolled his eyes and snatched the man from Smoker's hands, told the oldest to pop the trunk and threw the serial killer in there, unceremoniously, deliberately forgetting to put his leg inside and slamming the trunk on it. "Oops." Law shrugged and bent the man's leg at an odd angle and closed the trunk.

Law took the passenger seat while Luffy and the woman sat in the back. After dropping the woman off, Smoker dropped the boys off.

"What were you both even doing out at such a time?" Smoker asked, exasperated by the entire situation.

"He's pregnant." Law joked pointing his thumb at Luffy. "You wouldn't believe the cravings."

"When did I get pregnant?" Luffy asked, clueless that he was being made fun of.

"Exactly," was all Law said and the officer in front of the two had enough with just those few seconds of conversation.

"It was a good thing you both did. You should be proud of yourselves." Smoker said from the rolled down window.

"I always do good!" Luffy complained.

"This time you didn't overthrow any government so I don't have to be biased for appearance's sake."

"I knew you were good Kemurin! See ya around!" Luffy grinned and headed inside the house first.

"Are you waiting for a goodnight kiss like a little boy?" Law asked his adoptive father substitute.

"If you can joke like that, I guess you are ok."

"Sure I am."

Smoker gave Law a once over and decided it was alright to leave and once the oldest had left, Law also went inside the house. When the doctor was changing out of his pants and jacket, he noticed Luffy barely talking and he looked over at his boyfriend to ask about it but Luffy noticed the older staring and decided to speak himself.

"First that kid, now that woman, what is wrong with men..."

"The world's all sorts of wrong Luffy." Law said with a shake of his head.

"Sucks for those who can't protect themselves."

"Well, you help as many as you can, my mother always used to say that's our duty as the ones who are gifted."

"I like your mom." Luffy smiled but it soon faded. Law put his clothes aside and decided to do something about that damned frown on his boyfriend's face. "Where are you going?" The younger asked from the bed when Law made for the bathroom. "I won't sleep until you get back."

"Ok." Law locked the door and sat on the stool Luffy had been occupying just hours earlier, and brought out his phone. The doctor spent entirely too long to look for a png file of a strawhat to edit an image just so he could get a laugh out of his boyfriend. Once Law was done with the editing, he went back to bed and sent the image in the private chat with Luffy and put his phone aside, ready to sleep.

Luffy looked at his phone, a notification from Torao had lit his screen. Curious about the contents, the younger opened the application where Law had sent him the message. It had an image attached and read:

Torao

You XD

T

he meme did its job and Law smiled to himself when Luffy laughed out loud and settled in bed, cute and small giggles leaving him every few seconds till he had fallen asleep. The sound of the younger's laughter that kept ringing in Law's ears even minutes later was, for the older, the best thing to fall asleep to.

~

The meme can be found here https://twitter.com/Itachi_Warrior/status/1689635103159496704 (on my Twitter because for some reason the page isn't loading embedded images)

Thank you for all your comments!
I just want to let everyone know that I am very socially awkward so it is physically impossible for me to respond to all the comments XD because my brain gets overwhelmed with all the interaction and then it's hell,
but I do read all the comments! and I LOVE THEM! <3
Thank you so much for the love everyone has for this story <3