Chapter Text
The day of Ace’s Endotracheal Tube Removal finally arrived.
12:45 pm on a Tuesday and the young Portgas is bored.
Ace groaned and looked at the door, waiting for people to come in his room and remove the big tube from inside his mouth. His breathing is already steady, his response rate and the peak flow – according to Law – are already good to go.
He already got fed through the nasogastric tube by Nurse Camie – a lovely chatterbox, really – who was talking to him nonstop and kept him interested on a topic during his feeding time. Sadly, she couldn’t stay as she has patients she needs to keep track of, too.
He was also visited by an anesthesiologist to see if he could handle anesthesia during the whole procedure and the doctor said he’s perfectly okay to go.
Now he’s only waiting for the doctors and nurses to come to the room.
Ace’s second heartbeat got louder by the minute, indicating that is soulmate is inside the kilometer radius. He relaxed a bit when he felt the heartbeat and let out a small satisfied random sigh.
The door opened after a few moments of anticipation and Ace saw from his field of vision were two blondes, a strawberry blonde, and a raven-haired. Ace recognized them as his mother, Rouge, his brothers, Sabo and Luffy, and his soulmate, Marco.
The young Portgas let out a happy aura which surounded him unintentionally, happy that his boredom would go away, now that some of his loved ones are there.
Sadly, Sabo can’t stay and talk long, he had something to do somewhere around Ruskaina. Beautiful place, filled with nature and all, yet there’s a case that Sabo can’t say because of confidentiality. His flight is scheduled around 1:15 so he couldn’t stay for very long. The ride to the airport is 10 minutes long and considering the traffic, he couldn’t hold his younger brother up.
Ace is proud that Sabo became a successful second in command at the Law Firm Uncle Dragon worked at.
Rouge, Ace’s mother, has to go manage bar later, so she’s just dropping by to check in on him while Garp and Dragon was on the phone with her on den den face time, also wanting to check on him while far away at work.
Marco had to leave right after the visit. As a fellow executive director of Whitebeard Inc, he is really needed at the company. He has a presentation at 1:30pm so he could stay for 3o minutes, but he needs time to prepare, which Ace is really sad about, too.
Oh, and Luffy’s case? Yeah, Ace forgot all about the ‘innocent li’l bro has a soulmate’ part when he saw one of the happiest smiles on his face when Luffy saw Ace awake on the reclined bed. He’s not so sure about Luffy leaving since it’s the national holiday and Sabaody honors holidays like how they honor student’s education.
“Ace! Guess what, guess what?!” Luffy bounced enthusiastically. “That project you handled a month ago made it!” He exclaimed as he ran towards the bedside.
“What he meant was Project Fire Fist made it through the sales-yoi.” Marco said, holding a black case that hung over his shoulder. “The weekly revenue made it off the charts two days ago.” Marco approached Ace with a fast-beating heart.
Ace felt really fluttery when Marco’s lips landed on his forehead for a moment before standing up straight again. Marco caressed Ace’s face as gently as he could. “Everyone’s proud of you.” He praised, making Ace show his smile through his eyes.
“All this about sales talk.” Rouge grumbled, wanting to have a moment with her son. “That’s not something to talk about in a hospital, you know?” She pouted with her arms crossed, still holding the phone with Uncle Dragon and Grandpa Garp on den den face time.
“Ms. Rouge, please directly say you want to hug the life out of Ace.” Sabo chuckled.
“Sabo, how many tomes do I have to tell you to just call me Auntie!” Rouge playfully grumbled as Luffy laughed.
For the whole time Ace spent in the hospital bed, this is the liveliest the room could be. It felt light and airy when everyone was there keeping him company while being in the hospital for so long.
But the lively atmosphere in the room got cut short when 12:55pm was shown on the clock and Law already arrived with another doctor and nurses with him, knocking the door before going inside the room.
Law greeted them a good afternoon and asked the visiting people to leave so he could start removing Ace’s tube.
Of course, everyone complied, but Luffy stayed and talked to the doctor for a little while and gave a smile. Ace could almost feel Dr. Trafalgar refrain himself from patting his little brother’s head before Luffy finally left.
That moment replayed from the back of Ace’s head like a broken record.
He remembered what Sabo told him. To listen to the doctor even though he’s Luffy’s soulmate . . .
Luffy’s soulmate . . .
Luffy’s . . .
Ace didn’t know what expression he was making but it made Law look at him like he needs tranquilizers. He heard the doctor sigh and hovered a hand over his forehead, looking at him with an axhausted expression. “Calm down, would you? I haven’t done anything with him, yet.” Law said.
Yet? YET?!?! What does he mean by yet?! Does he mean he’s planning to do something to his innocent little brother in the future? The brother who always follows him and Sabo around and look at them with stars in his eyes?! Fuck it, Ace isn’t going to let a strange man taint Luffy’s innocence, even if it’s Luffy’s own soulmate.
Anyway, it looks like Dr. Trafalgar knows what’s in the young Portgas’ mind. “Ace-ya, please stop looking at me like I’m a villain.” Law uttered with exhaustion laced in his voice. “I’ll be checking in on you from every now and then until Dr. Hiriluk comes back, so let’s try and get along.”
A villain? Of course he is! In Ace’s eyes, Law is alreaddy trying to steal his little brother away from him, taking him to a place where he can’t reach him. Sure he may be a bit out of it because he’s in the hospital and suspecting some medications made him slightly delirious, but that doesn’t stop the fact that Law is taking Luffy – his sweet innocent little Luffy (though they’re just three years apart and Luffy’s already a third year college student, but let’s ignore that.) – away from him.
Law put his mask on and carefully put the sterilized surgical gloves on, careful not to touch the outer part as to not risk any bacteria from climbing up and infecting his patient.
“Dr. Praline would be inducing you with anesthesia before removing your ETT.” Law informed, getting the surgery gas mask and connected the tube to a machine.
A gorgeous blonde woman with freckles, light blue eyes, and an exquisite hair style appeared in front of him with a smile obviously shown from undr her surgical mask. “Hello, Ace~.” She greeted with a sing song voice that made Ace shiver. “I’m Dr. Charlotte Praline, an anesthesiologist.”
Not that he’s intimidated by her appearance and her overall vibe, but there’s something about Praline’s gaze that makes him shiver. Maybe it’s her piercing blue eyes, but he might be wrong about that.
Now, Law was slowly removing Ace’s neck brace. It was an easy brace so it took almost no time to get it off of Ace.
Praline took the gas mask and slowly hovered it on Ace’s nose and mouth, pressing it gently. Then, she operated on the anesthesia machine as the gas slowly flowed towards the gas mask, letting Ace inhale the gas.
Murmurs between the nurses and doctors were heard but they were incoherently heard. Then, slowly but surely, Ace’s eyes closed shut as he fell into an induced slumber.
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Luffy was patiently waiting for the removal to end, sitting on one of the benches near room 304 with a can of soda in hand. He got it from the vending machine on the first floor, where some food and drinks were being sold at an unreasonable price, much to his dismay.
The college student’s left leg jittered in an up and down motion. It had almost been 20 minutes, looking at the time displayed on his phone. He was bored. But he had to be there for Ace and other details.
Sabo, before he left, already told Luffy to record what Law would say or just type it down on the notes app just in case he forgets what he says.
Luffy had to admit he is a bit forgetful at times.
One thing he didn’t forget though is that Luffy wants to get the doctor’s number after the ETT removal, or just after he explains the details and what to do next after removing the ETT out of Ace’s trachea.
He remembered Law told him Ace couldn’t eat yet until two weeks later, and can’t speak yet until a week will pass after the removal.
He remembered his voice while they were talking to each other. Oh, just by listening to Law explaining medical details with him – even if he mostly doesn’t get what information is being relayed – he would already be in heaven just by them mere thought of it.
Realizing Luffy was out of topic, and on top of that, his heart got fluttery and is beating excitedly, he tried to think about other things like . . . meat! Meat is almost everything he could ask for. Yeah, thinking about meat will get his mind off of things. Sanji’s cooking, the meat on the bone, steaks, barbeque, just random thoughts about meat that made him drool a bit. That calmed his heartbeat a little, and hopefully, Law wouldn’t get mad at him for being distracting.
His trail of thoughts were greatly interrupted by the opening of the door with footsteps following the noise, and the steady heartbeat of his soulmate, Law.
Law’s gaze met Luffy’s.
The college student could’ve sworn his heart would leap out from his chest just by the sight of the exhausted doctor in front of him. Now though, he looked more concerned towards his soulmate and Law seemed to notice the change in his expression to assure him.
“Don’t worry, I’m alright, just a bit tired.” Law assured with an exhausted smile. He gestured Luffy to follow him. “Let’s go to my office to discuss the details, shall we?”
And with that, Luffy responded with a ‘yes’ before following Law towards his office.
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“ . . . After recovering for two weeks, I’ll refer him to a physiotherapist when he’s ready to move.” Law explained for the umpteenth time, letting Luffy process what has been said over and over again.
Law was exhausted as hell. Almost constantly awake for three days straight before the appointed ETT removal is hellish. Paperworks to be done, a heart transplant, three appointments straight all at the same day, a liver transplant the day after, meeting with some of the board members, consulting Dr. Amande, and Baby 5’s wedding invite is still left unanswered, even though he wouldn’t miss his cousin’s wedding for the world, especially because of how loyal Sai was according to his uncle.
Surprisingly, he’s being patient with a person when explaining things to him in the simplest of manner, despite being irritated and exhausted.
Law was sitting down on his swivel chair from across Luffy, who was sitting on a provided cuishoned chair he has every time someone comes inside to discuss things with him.
“Yep, I got it now, Dr. Torao.” Luffy responded giving him his widest smile he ever saw on Luffy’s face.
“‘Torao’?” Law mused with a curious expression present on his face. “It’s ‘Trafalgar’, Luffy.” He corrected.
“Dr. Tralfargar. Trarfalgar? Trufflegal?” Luffy responded, butchering his name a few more times, not that Law minded, really. He found it really cute trying to pronounce his name like it’s the biggest puzzle in the world.
“You can just call me Law if you can’t say my last name, Luffy-ya.” Law said, stopping Luffy from trying to pronounce his name correctly.
“Nah, I think I like ‘Torao’ better.” Luffy let out a grin as he laughed. “Now I have a nickname for you!”
That smile made Law’s heart melt as he smiled back at his soulmate. He could call himself lucky to have such an adorable soulmate though. He bets people would get a bit envious of him, just by seeing Luffy’s smile directed at him.
Then, all of a sudden – not really, it was expected – a yawn came out of his mouth as he quickly hovered over it, turning his head a little to the side with closed eyes and two dots of tears forming on the side. “Ugh, I’m sorry, just . . .” Law trailed off, his forehead now resting on the palm of his hand with his head held downward while still having his eyes closed. “A little lack of sleep.” His voice is now a bit lower than usual.
Law could tell his soulmate was concered even though he’s not looking at him, considering the slightly unpleasant feeling of his second heartbeat and he could feel Luffy’s gaze on him. He opened one eye to take a little peek and he was right. Luffy did looked concerned.
“Now that I think about it . . .” Luffy trailed off, making Law sit upwards while resting both his elbows on the desk with his torso leaning towards it.
“What is it?” Law asked curiously.
Luffy’s sudden approach made him flinch back a little. Their noses just inches apart from each other. “When was the last time you slept?” He asked.
“I think it’s about a day ago? 20 minutes of shut-eye and a mug of hot coffe was enough to keep me going.” And now, Law was wishing he never said any of those words because from the moment he told Luffy he slept a day ago, he just waited for Law to finish his sentence before deciding to get up from his seat, grabbing Law’s wrist, pulled a blanket from who-knows-where, and forced Law to lay down on the sofa with his head on Luffy’s lap, facing his stomach as the blanket gently draped over him, all in one go.
“What’re you doing?” Law asked in a confused, yet irritated tone.
“Torao should sleep.” Luffy stated, putting a hand over Law’s eyes, not wanting the light to disturb his would-be sleep.
“I can’t.” Law immediately replied, moving Luffy’s hand from his eyes towards his cheek, still holding his hand, turning his head to face Luffy. He doesn’t know what has gotten into him but his head was comfortable on Luffy’s lap.
“I have an appointment at 3:40 and it’s already 2:20 and I still have paperwork I need to do.” Law added
“Then cancel them all.”
“That’s not how it works.” Law tried to reason with him, trying to get up from his spot on Luffy’s lap. “I can’t just cancel a heart surgery, Luffy-ya. I’m a cardiac surgeon.”
“You need rest to focus on the surgery, right?” Luffy grinned at him, rubbing his thumb against Law’s cheek. “Though you have work to do, you can do that after you sleep. I’ll set up an alarm, and if you don’t wake up, I’ll keep trying to!”
Law was trying to melt right there in front of Luffy, but his words gave a bit of comfort and his lap in a really good pillow. He sighed and decided. “3:10.” He said, now snuggling towards Luffy’s stomach with his eyes closed, trying to avoid the light from slipping through his eyelids. “Wake me up . . . at 3:10 . . .” and with that, Law slowly drifted off to sleep, feeling Luffy’s fluttering, yet calming heartbeat on his chest.
“Crap, I forgot to ask for his number.” Luffy cursed quietly, but that didn’t go unheard from Law.
Law chuckled, now half asleep. Wrapping an arm on Luffy’s waist, he muttered; “I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”