~

Luffy shook his leg in impatience, he was waiting for Marco to arrive so he could leave a drunk Ace in his boyfriend's hands. The young man had a bad feeling about something he couldn't quite place. Godfather was quick to pick on the nervous behaviour of his human and stayed close to Luffy.

"Come on Pineapple." The young man mumbled under his breath and adjusted the sheet over his brother again just so his hands would have something to do.

Frankly, Luffy was tired and wanted to sleep, but he had to make sure Ace didn't choke on his own vomit until Marco arrived, and now the weird, heavy feeling in his gut was bothering him so much that any thought of sleeping was at the very back. Sabo was out so Luffy couldn't leave the house to walk the bad feeling away too, Law was probably sleeping as well and Luffy didn't want to call him and end up waking up if he really was asleep.

By the passing minute, the tiredness in the young man began overpowering his rising anxiety and Luffy found himself starting to doze off. It was the door opening and Marco's voice that startled Luffy awake.

"You look like you're about to pass out yoi." Marco said crouching to check on Ace.

"I feel weird." Luffy scratched his head.

"Sick weird?"

"I dunno, imma sleep it off."

"Wait, has he thrown up yet?" Marco asked the younger about his brother.

"Nope. You got him?"

"Yeah, good job keeping an eye on him yoi."

Luffy waved a see ya later to the blond and went to his room to sleep, the alarms that were going off in his head and gut now completely silent from the immense tiredness of the day catching up to him.

~

Law had lied to Luffy, told him he was able to sleep and rest better, and that had horrible pretense had now come to bite the doctor in his ass. Law wasn't sleeping better, if anything, it was worse, the nightmares were frequent and every night they were worse than the previous night. It had gotten to the point where Law was sure he was hallucinating sometimes. When he was down in the dumps like this, Law ended up blaming himself for everything, all the deaths and botched surgeries, things going wrong post-op, innocent people dying, people dying.

Law knew he deserved it, he deserved it for killing people, for mutilating people for his research, for lying to his friends, for lying to Luffy, and he was thankful for the haze of sleeplessness that was making it easy for Law to punish himself. The blade in the surgeon's otherwise steady hands shook from the constant lack of sleep but it was close to the skin now, oh so close, a little more and he would draw blood, a little more, then a little and he could end his pain, his misery, his life.

He was so close...

Then a series of loud, clattering noises, that went on for about a minute, dissipated the fog in Law's head and brought the doctor out of his stupor.

"Fucking hell." Law put the blade aside in a hurry and stepped away from the sink, looking at the opened bottle of pills and the stack of blades, horrified. The doctor didn't have the time to put those dangerous things away because his attention kept going to the noise outside. "Who the fuck?"

Law walked in the darkness of his house, having turned the lights off earlier because they were bothering him a lot. Law's brain was too numb to remember the fact that Luffy was staying at his own house for the night, and he didn't factor that in when he went out to see what was causing all the noise, the doctor was thinking that it was Luffy raiding the fridge for a midnight snack or something.

But when Law stepped in the kitchen, where the noise was coming from and had finally stopped, Law's foot landed on something soft, a texture he hadn't anticipated at all, so it was no surprise that the doctor's scream echoed the empty house. Law quickly turned his phone's flashlight on to see what that soft thing was and what was making all that noise, he followed the noise of something scurrying away and at a dead-end, came fact to face with yellow-green eyes. Had Law not been slightly hallucinating, he would have felt no alarm but to his exhausted body and too-tired-because-of-constant-nightmares-brain, all Law could see was some strange creature out to get him.

Not caring about the time and how he would sound and what he would say, Law dialed Luffy. "Come on pick up." Law muttered to himself on the tenth ring, sliding down the wall or counter he was against, his scalpel in hand, his eyes never leaving the being in front of him.

"Torao, are you ok?" Came Luffy's sleepy voice from the receiver. Law smiled at the concern. Luffy must have only woken up and his first words were of concern for Law. He was blessed.

"Luffy... can you come over?"

"Is everything ok?"

"It's staring right at me..." Law mentioned the feral eyes looking at him.

"What is?"

"I... I don't know what to do."

"What's staring at you Torao? Where are you? Are you safe?" There it was, the alarm.

"I don't know. Can you- please just come over. I really don't know what to do."

"Ok hang tight, I'll be there soon."

"Thank you." Law said just in time because Luffy hung up.

.

The weird gut feeling that was suppressed from tiredness became apparent again when Luffy ended the call with Law. To the young man, Law had sounded tired too, but also kind of scared and spooked, so Luffy wanted to hurry to his boyfriend. When Luffy arrived the doctor's residence, he quickly used his own key to enter the house and began looking for Law.

"Torao?" Luffy called and looked around to the best of his ability in the dark house, he wondered why all the lights were off. The more Luffy walked in, the more it became clear that Law was not ok, because Luffy bumped into things at least five times, it meant things were out of place, and for Law who liked routine and stability, things being out of place would be a horror. Luffy noticed some light coming from the kitchen and went there, turning the lights on immediately. He found Law, sitting with his knees to his chest, staring in front of him, a scalpel in his hand.

"Are you ok? Where is that-" Luffy scanned the area and followed Law's line of sight, "...threat." And then the younger laughed. "Nyahahahhaahhhahahaha!!! Torao!!!"

It was Luffy laughing so loud that Law stopped hallucinating for a second and really looked at his surroundings and the thing that he felt threatened with the presence of, and once Law himself registered the threat, he couldn't stop the blood rushing to his face, embarrassed.

"S-stop laughing! This is serious!" Law hid his face in his knees.

"It is. Seriously cute." Luffy said and sat beside his boyfriend, took the scalpel from him and safely put it aside.

"I'm already in a bad enough place, I don't need you laughing at me too." Law groaned.

"S'okay Torao." The younger rubbed Law's back. "So... what're we doing about that?"

"I don't know."

But Luffy already had his mind made. He took a long look at the black kitten crouched in an attack stance and decided he would have to convince Law to keep it, but before that kind of talk, the kitten needed to be brought out of the small space it had crawled into and looked after.

"We'll think about that later, let's see what we've got right now." Luffy said and extended his arms to pick the kitten up, only it didn't go his way and the young man was scratched a lot by the squirming animal who eventually decided to jump out of Luffy's hands and onto Law's shoulder, throwing a hissing fit at the younger. "It doesn't like me?"

"It likes me?" Law echoed just as shocked.

"But cats always love me!"

"Not this one I guess." The doctor took the small kitten in his hands to get it away from his shoulder and kept it at an arm's length away from himself. "Well, now we know we've got a kitten, what next?"

"Looks dirty, give it a bath?" Luffy thought out loud when he saw how matted the fur was on the animal.

"What?"

"Yeah, let's bring it to the bathroom and give it a bath."

"Why not just toss it back outside?"

"Nope, bath." Luffy didn't relent one bit.

"Ok... then how about in the kitchen?" Law quickly suggested, remembering he had dangerous items lying around in his bathroom.

"Space is too small, come on." Luffy purposely ignored the way it sounded like Law was making excuses and went to the older's bathroom to get the hot water running so he could mix waters and create a lukewarm bath. While in the bathroom, Luffy also decided to ignore the stuff at the sink and focused on the task at hand. "Water's ok now."

"What do I do?" Law asked, at a loss, not knowing how he was supposed to help.

"Since its comfortable with you, you hold it from the back of it neck so I can quickly clean it."

"Ok." The doctor quietly obliged and followed his boyfriend's instructions, the kitten kept looking at Law through the entire thing.

"Keep holding it like this- actually, let me just check whether it's a he or a she." Luffy said after getting tired to referring to the kitten as 'it.'

"This...this is embarrassing." Law fidgeted in his place looking anywhere but at the animal in his hands where Luffy was violating the personal space of the kitten to know what pronouns to give it.

"She." Luffy said after a few seconds, a big grin on his face.

"Just put her down already." Law was mortified.

"Can't leave her exposed to the air like this, hand me a small towel."

"I don't have any to spare." The older said with a pout, not wanting to share his things.

"Torao don't be a baby, give me one that's the oldest." Luffy rolled his eyes but when he saw Law was having a hard time wanting to share, the younger took the matters in his own hands and left to raid Law's lesser-used-wardrobe where he knew the older kept old things, too sentimental to give them away.

"Don't use those ones!" Law argued immediately when he saw the towel in Luffy's hands.

"Torao, this is the texture you didn't like, that's why it was in that back cupboard, I'm using it." The younger left no room for further argument and first rubbed the kitten dry, then burrito-wrapped her. "You go sit in the living room, I'll clean this up."

Law pursed his lips when Luffy pointed to the general area of the room, knowing he also meant the blades and pills on the sink, so the older didn't say another word and walked out, the kitten resting in her towel, on his shoulder.

"So... why did you have your blades and pills lying around?" Luffy asked casually, hopping over the sofa to sit beside Law.

"No reason." Law averted his eyes.

"Were you about to do something stupid?"

"Didn't get around to it..." Law trailed at the look Luffy gave him. "Courtesy of this little..."

"It's a kitten Torao."

"I know."

"I have no experience with pets so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. That's why I called you." Law explained, finger absently scratching the kitten's ear, lying through his teeth about the hallucinations and trying to somehow regain a little of his dignity.

"You have Bepo."

"Bepo's not a pet Luffy, I think we have been through this before."

"I know, I just like getting a reaction out of you about this."

"Little shit."

Luffy grinned feeling Law get a little lighter than he was when Luffy walked in.

"So what're we doing about this?" Law asked again.

"You're keeping her of course."

"What?" When Luffy didn't answer, Law tried again. "What? No. I'm not keeping a cat."

"Yes, you are."

"Don't decide this for me."

"She's already here Torao and even if you throw her out, she'd probably come back so save yourself the trouble and the guilt for throwing out a defenseless kitten and accept it."

"No. I have killed people. What makes you think I'm going to feel guilt for throwing out a cat that isn't mine to begin with?"

Luffy was quiet for a while, eyeing the kitten who was looking at Law with her ears perked up and eyes wide. Luffy looked sad and distant. He wasn't frowning, his expression was just...blank.

"You were going to hurt yourself." Luffy started. "I'm guessing you didn't get around to it because this happened." He looked up at Law and smiled. It was sad. "If she hadn't knocked down some stuff and gotten your attention, you'd either have broken skin or overdosed... both of which I'd have found out about too late." Law didn't dare even breathe or blink. "Law. I don't know what you thought that led you with a scalpel to your wrists and pills to your tongue but I know this, she will be good for you. I can't be with you all the time and I know we both don't want to constantly be stuck like stickers so, like I got Godfather to help me, keep me company, keep me from harming myself, keep me sane, you keep her. She might not do much in the way of actively stopping you from hurting yourself but she'd always be there in the back of your mind and that...it does make you stop and think for a second before doing something that you can't take back."

"I'm sorry," was all Law was able to say after a while. The look in Luffy's eyes said that he was speaking from experience and the more Law thought about it, the more it left him disturbed that Luffy of all people battled with self-harm. "Ok."

"But you don't know shit about any of this so start taking notes." The younger was back to his carefree self.

Law rolled his eyes and pushed Luffy with his shoulder. "Yeah, like you're some expert on pets."

"That's why you called me in the middle of the night. Panicking. Over a stray kitten."

Law felt his face turning red at every word. "I thought I stepped on the thing!"

Luffy laughed at Law's embarrassment. "Well, she's definitely looking ok to me, I felt for it earlier in the bath."

"That sounds so wrong on so many levels."

Luffy shrugged and booped the kitten on the nose. "Ok, so, do you have some milk?"

"I have problems with gluten not lactose."

"Bet you don't have kitten formula."

"Why the fuck would I have that?"

"It's better to give kittens special formula instead of full-fat milk or even the other kind. Give her a little, see how she responds. If she doesn't vomit it out then it's ok to give more to her, otherwise it's a no. She's looks barely three or four months old, so boiled chicken for food. Don't give her those cat biscuits or raw meat or meat with bones yet. And let's set up a litter box, a few blankets for her bed until we can get a proper bed for her."

Law blinked when Luffy finished. "How the hell do you know all this?" He was truly impressed and found it incredibly sexy.

"I sometimes cat-sit for the old ladies in the building." Luffy shrugged. "I think some convenience stores might be open right now so imma run and grab the essentials." The younger got up and walked to the door.

"Wait I'll go with you."

"Nuh nuh, someone needs to stay and keep an eye on her."

"So better you than me who will know what to do if something happens." Law reasoned.

"Yeah, but you don't know shit about pet groceries Torao so you'll mess up." Law knew Luffy didn't mean any jab at him but his eye twitched regardless. He was not liking this at all. He was the one who always knew stuff. The man with the plan. Now, he wasn't and it was irking him. Luffy probably sensed that. "Don't worry Torao, you're smart, you'll learn quick. Everyone has trouble in the beginning."

Law let Luffy go and stayed in the living room where the infernal kitten had decided it had had enough of the towel and pounced on Law, clawing at his shirt and meowing the fuck out of his ears.

"Yeah yeah, just wait, my boyfriend's gone to get you food." Law said detaching the kitten from his shirt before it was ruined and once he had the animal in both his hands, he stared. "You're very small..."

The kitten had stopped it's whining when Law held her in his hands and so he just decided to screw everything and made a small nest for the kitten in his arms while waiting for Luffy.

Luffy on the other hand, ran to the store. He quickly grabbed stuff and fidgeted when the cashier scanned everything.

"Pet emergency?" The guy at the register asked.

"A stray. But we're keeping her nishishishi." Luffy paid for the stuff and ran back. All the running was starting to make him hungry but he had to hurry because his Torao didn't know what to do if something happened.

"That was fast..." Law stated when Luffy got back.

"Hey, she really likes you." Luffy wondered, stars in his eyes at the way the kitten was curled up on Law's collarbone. Luffy went to pick up the kitten, off Law but he was hissed at. "And she doesn't like me." He was sad.

"Good, because I'm not sharing you." Law kissed Luffy and the young man was back to grinning.

"I'll set up the milk and chicken for her, you keep her like that." Luffy said and went to the kitchen and came back ten minutes later with shredded pieces of chicken and milk in different bowls on another clean towel. He placed both down and Law grabbed the kitten and put her in front of the bowls. She was wary but gave in soon. "I wanna steal her meat but she's already very weak..." Luffy wiped his drool and Law hid his chuckles.

"I've already ordered food. Should be here soon."

"Torao! You're the best!"

When the kitten had eaten, Luffy showed Law the padded box that would be the kitten's bed and how to set up the litter box and how to clean it and stuff and just when the kitten had stopped asking for Law's attention and had probably gone to sleep, the doorbell rang. It was the food.

"Thanks for helping with this." Law sighed.

"You called Torao, I wasn't going to refuse!" Luffy pouted and inhaled the steak. Law wondered how Luffy could eat a thing as heavy as a steak in the middle of the night but he had long stopped questioning. "I just wished you'd have called when you made up your mind about...you know."

Law looked down. "That's the thing...my mind was...not there."

"I get it. But it's not ok."

"Yeah...to be really honest, now that I am aware and not seeing things, I think, I'm sort of scared..." Luffy didn't ask 'of what', he knew but waited for Law to say it himself. "I don't like what I was about to do..."

"So, I'll stay with you until I can count on the cat. So you don't have to end up with thoughts that make you scared of yourself."

"I don't deserve you."

"You think I'm too good for you and you don't deserve this kind of treatment but Torao, if you think about it, all the stuff I drag you in, consider that punishment and let yourself off."

"That's a different outlook, and if you don't stop dropping wisdom anytime soon, we are going to have a problem on our hands." Law said.

"Whazzat?"

"You're making it extremely hard for my pants to stay on. So. Stop. Being. So. Wise."

"I have condoms." Luffy mentioned casually, taking another mouthful of a complete steak. "It's not going to be a problem. Let me know when your pants want to come off."

Law wanted to bury his head in the ground. "Why do you even have condoms?"

"You told me to always be prepared and safe, and this is one way." The younger shrugged.

"Right. I did. But I didn't call you here for that, so why the fuck..."

"Even if you didn't, I can't guarantee the same about myself. That's why."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I like how close we are when-"

"Stop. And finish your food." Law stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To warm the lube."

~

It was well in the next night after the boys were resting from the activities of the day and taking the kitten to a vet to get things sorted, that Law found himself still awake, despite Luffy's best efforts to get the older to sleep. The younger was sleeping soundly beside his boyfriend, the bedroom was left slightly open so the kitten could go out if she wanted, they still had to name her.

Law was looking at the ceiling, unblinking, eyes half lidded, brain kind of numb from the constant lack of sleep, then suddenly he felt a dip in the bed beside him and his vision was filled with black fur, and ears filled with the purring equivalent to a car-engine starting.

"Hello, you couldn't sleep either?" Law asked in a whisper and scratched the kitten behind her ears, prompting her to sit down on his chest and enjoy the love.

The kitten rolled on her back and pawed at Law's chin, then got intrigued with the goatee and got up, rubbed her head on the beard for a few minutes, then settled back again on the doctor's chest, purring all the while.

Law didn't want to move the kitten off him, the small weight was very welcome and the purring was strangely putting his mind at ease. Then the kitten meowed in a very weird, melodic way that should have alarmed Law, but instead, the doctor's brain generated an image associated with the sound and he knew what he was going to name the black ball of fur on his chest, feeling very proud of himself for coming up with something like that.

"Monolith." Law said and ran a finger on the kitten's head, feeling her pur more at the touch. Smiling to himself, but really giggling to himself inside, Law gave in to the comfort the kitten was bringing him, and fell asleep.

~

First, thank you for all the love and support and care and consideration! <3

Now,

this chapter was originally supposed to come out the week when my cat died, obviously before he died. Monolith is actually based on my cat, though he was a tom, and we called him Chuchu, he was a pure black stray too, and oh so stupid looking but so cute and handsome and lovely. I feel very sad whenever I think of him, he died too soon.

Anyway, I applied for an M.Phil admission in English Linguistics because my professor guided me it's a more strategic way of applying for a US Masters' degree. So if I do get in the M.Phil program, it's going to be weekend classes, like idk maybe 10 hours a day, something like that and while that sounds HELLA FUN! I know it's going to be hectic too. I have the entrace test next week, and then maybe an interview after that. I hate tests, I always underperform ._.

But I'm excited too, I am a stupid academia nerd, I love learning things.

Apart from that, I'm trying like hell to create a routine again for writing and hobbies because without that, everything has been falling apart and I hate it!

That's enough about me I guess.

One Piece chapter 1124!! So many emotions!

What a time to be alive! <3

See ya next week! Hopefully XD