Chapter Text
Cold. It was cold. Has it always been this cold in this God forsaken apartment? Law would surely like the answer to that question. He would like the answer to so many other questions that plague his mind on a daily basis.
Questions that have driven him almost insane, it feels like.
The tanned man’s tired eyes drifted over to a certain photo on his nightstand.
He found himself fixated on the pair of brown eyes that looked back at him.
He felt a thousand times colder now.
Law wrapped himself up in a blanket, nuzzling into it with a very deep sigh. 44. This is the 44th sigh of the day and it’s not even the afternoon yet… he thinks. With a quirked brow, he looked over at his nightstand once again. The way his clock was angled didn’t allow him to see the time.
A pout formed on his battered lip.
The pouting soon turned into the newly developed habit of nibbling on his lower lip. He has grown accustomed to the metallic taste of blood on his lips at this point. Law frowned - he could already hear his friends scolding him for hurting his lip again.
But he couldn’t stop.
----
Being curled up in fetal position while practically eating the skin off your lip sure does wonders when it comes to distractions. Though there are definitely healthier, safer distractions. Law shook his head at the thoughts - he’ll deal with them later. Right now he was simply staring at the almost-empty fridge in front of him. Truly a glorious sight. It really reminds him of how downhill he has gone.
He slammed the fridge door shut - hoping the noise drowns out the thoughts.
What thoughts?
The thoughts.
The thoughts that keep twisting and turning his life. He wondered why these feelings are accompanied by so many negative things. It was a simple concept - right? No. Clearly it is far more complex than what meets the eye.
Far more painful than he could’ve imagined.
Vrrrr…
Law jumped a little at the sudden vibrations in his pocket. He sighed, counting to three before digging into his pocket and pulling out his phone. A large part of him hoped that it was some alarm he forgot he set, but no - it was one of his friends - calling him.
He didn’t want to answer.
His thumb hovered over the red circle as he argued with himself inside his head.
He answered the call.
“Oh. Hey, sleepyhead. I was just about ready to grab my keys and drive over there,” Penguin spoke - and Law could hear the small, worried smile on his face.
“I’m fine,” Law replied, voice low and raspy. Oh, lord. When did his voice get this bad? There was some shuffling from Penguin’s end.
“I want to believe you, really, but…” His friend trailed off.
“I’m fine,” Law repeated, trying to also convince himself that he was fine.
There was deafening silence for what felt like forever.
“Law… when are you going to talk to us about whatever is bothering ya?” Penguin suddenly asked, concern clear in his voice.
Law felt a pang in his heart - a painful, heavy one. He swallowed what felt like the largest lump in history, looking around the floor as if it had the answer to that question.
No matter how much he looked - the answer just wasn’t there.
“...soon,” he eventually said, barely above a whisper.
“Soon?”
“Yeah.”
“Promise? Don’t make me have our pinkhound hunt you down,” Penguin threatened in a light tone, chucking for a short moment.
Law felt the corner of his mouth, to his surprise, twitch in attempts of a smile. “I promise,” he eventually said, leaning on the fridge. He felt heavy, excruciatingly so. Like any moment now the weight will force him down on his knees and crush him - right then and there.
“Are you okay?”
Why was he asking that? It took Law a moment to realize how he was breathing - heavy, unevenly. He felt like he was going to choke… right then and there. “Yeah,” he managed to breathe out - hanging up right after.
He didn’t want to talk about what was going on. He felt as though his friends were better off not knowing about this. Did he want to deal with these feelings by himself? Most likely so. It really does feel like that’s the case.
Pushing his friends away… he’s been doing that a lot lately. This is also frustrating… he didn’t know why he was doing half the things he did. Law didn’t want to hurt his friends. Pushing them away is most definitely hurting them.
His teeth soon found their way back to his lip - biting down on it.
--
Several knocks on the door woke Law up from his misery nap. He groaned, running his tattooed fingers across his hair as he squinted around his room.
This isn’t his room.
He looked around - a sigh escaping him as he took in the surroundings of his bathroom.
How did he end up asleep in the bathroom? In the floor, no less. Honestly.
Slowly, he propped his upper body up, tattooed hands pressed on the cold floor. He eventually gathered enough willpower to stand up, hearing a few of his bones popping in the process. Out of shape in all sorts of ways.
Another set of knocks on his door caused Law to jump.
The man dragged his feet all the way to the front door, unlocking the portal to the outside world and opening it.
He shouldn’t be surprised when he caught sight of the familiar pair of hats.
“Why did you come over?” Law asked in a low, almost annoyed tone. He couldn’t control his tone at that moment - the rapid beating of his heart was overwhelmingly deafening.
“Well- someone’s glad to see us,” Shachi teased, crossing his arms and tilting his hip to the side as he sighed. “Because you worried us sick on that last call, obviously!” He threw his hands up, pouting at Law now.
Law returned that pout, cringing the moment he felt Penguin grab his chin.
He watched as his penguin capped friend examined what was most definitely his lip - the heavy sigh that came out of Penguin was enough to make Law look away in shame.
“I know that habits are hard to get rid off… but at least try to make an effort to stop this one,” Penguin spoke in a gentle, caring voice, looking at him.
Law couldn’t see it, but he knew Penguin was frowning from under that hat.
The moment Penguin let go of his chin, however, a harsh shiver ran down his whole body. He felt cold again. He hadn’t realized how warm his friends were.
Well… more like he forgot how warm it was to be around people. He’s isolated himself for far too long.
“Hey.” Penguin tapped at Law’s head, chuckling at the surprised expression Law was definitely wearing at that moment.
“I’m here,” Law grumbled, sighing as he waved them inside. He dragged himself to the nearest seat, elegantly sitting down on the couch in the living room. It was very hard to pull off such a casual move. The urge to throw himself onto the couch was very strong.
He was very proud of himself.
The pair soon followed him, sitting down on either side of him. In amazing sync - the two men draped an arm around Law’s neck, earning a grumpy look from the latter.
“So…” Shachi started, resting his head on Law’s shoulder.
Always touchy and close, these two.
“Is this about that Luffy kid?”