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“It could be worse, you know,” Law says softly, hands working quickly to wrap gauze around before holding it out to cut. Snipping the end, he tucks in the piece before securing it with a small line of tape and starts again. “He’s going to be fine. So are you.”
Luffy grumbles, teeth gritted as he stares up at the ceiling. The nurse’s office has weird waffle tiles and even counting the squares can’t seem to bring him down now. It normally works. Though usually he’s only in here because he threw a ball and it came back and knocked him in the head, or Zoro accidentally hit too hard when they were practicing kendo, or any myriad of things Luffy does to himself on a daily basis.
He’s in here now because his chest and arm were causing him trouble after the game earlier. Law is only treating him because they were short on hands otherwise. It’s reality Law didn’t consider when he skipped gym this morning.
“It was supposed to be a festival, how in the world did you end up with injuries like these?” Law murmurs, again snipping another piece to finish off Luffy’s arm. His body is now patchy with gauze, and Law runs a hand over Luffy’s chest to make sure he didn’t miss anything.
Everything is covered just right, but Luffy is going to have to take it easy if he wants to feel better anytime soon. But asking that —
“I gotta go see Ace!” Luffy declares and immediately winces. Law suspects it’s likely from the strain in his chest from talking too loudly. Getting Luffy to rest is going to be difficult, just like he thought.
“You’ll stay here for the rest of the day, Mugiwara-ya.” Law’s hand stays firm, yet gentle against Luffy’s chest, and he can feel his heart racing beneath it. “I’ll stay here to make sure you don’t dart off the moment you’re left alone. Now, sleep.”
Luffy narrows his eyes as Law gets up from the stool. Just who does this boy think he is anyways? He barely even knows Law. Only saw him once before when he got in a fist fight with that snotty rich kid that was picking on the exchange student Hachi. Law just sat there with his friends while the rest of the courtyard erupted in noise.
But he’s odd. Luffy likes odd.
“I can’t sleep,” Luffy says, softer this time and with less fire in his tone. The bed is uncomfortable at best, always squeaking with a weird plastic sound if he so much as thinks about moving. How’s he supposed to sleep like this? “Bed’s weird. You’re weird too.”
Law is turned, tucking all the equipment back into the drawers and stops short at Luffy’s observation. His hands rest against the edge of the white wood, flexing gently in irritation before pushing it closed. It’s just for another hour, then Law can go home, that’s all. He can deal with Luffy for another hour.
Right?
Luffy lets his head fall to look at him, curious eyes starting to weigh heavier with each low thud of his heart but fights it when Law starts to walk back.
“Liar. You’re drifting off,” Law sighs, deciding to ignore Luffy’s statement and drops back onto the stool. It squeaks with a similar plastic noise, and Luffy raises an eyebrow while wiggling to give a small noise in return. “It’s not that I disagree — I just don’t know where else to put you, so this will have to do.”
“Where is Ace then?” Luffy asks, head flopped to the other side now looking at the door.
Law doesn’t want to say that Luffy’s brother isn’t here. That he was rushed off campus to the emergency room for fear of a severe concussion. All Luffy knows is that he was taken one direction and Ace was taken another. Law would like to keep it that way — at least for now.
Placing a hand back on Luffy’s arm, Law draws his attention back just for a moment before Luffy again starts trying to sit up.
“Am I going to have to strap your ass down? I thought anyone would kill to sleep during school,” Law fusses, with his hands swatting to keep Luffy on the table. He eventually loses as the boy slides off the other side out of his grip like jelly.
When he stumbles in his landing, but when he quickly rights himself, a goofy grin breaks out on his face. Luffy seems to be a force that shouldn’t be reckoned with, given how he’s talked about around the halls, but here in this small office he doesn’t seem so bad. Just seems impatient and headstrong.
What a strange impact he’s made, considering he’s only a first year.
“Come on. I’m fine!” Luffy says, jumping once in place and Law sees him grit his teeth when he lands. “I’m fine...enough. Let’s go somewhere else that doesn’t smell like alcohol packets and bubblegum medicine.”
Law’s eyes fall in defeat and though several options quickly cross his mind, none are good enough to stop Luffy from what he’s going to do. The best thing is for him to tag along to wherever it is he wants to go and make sure that he doesn’t pass out in a random corner.
“Do you know about a secret room that I don’t? Or are you really just adamant to get on my last nerve?” The chair squeaks as Law rises from it and the sound seems to ignite Luffy. The buzz from watching Law give in is nearly palpable, and Luffy reaches his hand out. It’s still wrapped and slightly shaking, but Law takes it.
No reason in his head can begin to explain why, but he’s learning that it’s quickly becoming a pattern around Luffy.
“I know every inch of this place — oh, ah, what’s your name again? Right! Torao,” Luffy grins, head tilting back and forth in thought before landing on the answer, “My gramps is the vice principal, so there is a ton of stuff here people aren’t supposed to know about.”
“Torao?” Law mutters and before he can question further, Luffy is pulling them through the door. “Hey! Easy. You’re going to pull your wounds open more if you don’t settle.”
“Blah, blah, settle, sleep, blah. You’re boring, Torao,” Luffy grumbles, voice mimicking Law’s low drawl, “I just want to go nap on the roof, ok? Isn't the sun supposed to be good for you?”
“Well,” Law starts to argue, but can’t find the words as Luffy turns back to look at him. He’s so determined. Head held in a way that Law has never had to face before, and he can’t help but be curious about where Luffy is talking about. “I guess.”
Luffy suddenly tugs forward and Law stumbles to land less than a foot from his face. The wide smile he’s again wearing tells Law that he said exactly what Luffy wanted to hear, and he’s glad for it. Yet another oddity to an interesting day.
To continue questioning things would probably just give him a headache — well, an even worse headache.
“It’s warmer than that icky cold room, that’s for sure,” Luffy says, sending a final look back to the office before starting to walk again.
He leads them quickly down several halls Law wasn’t aware existed, with Luffy’s sandals slapping against the linoleum flooring the whole way. Law keeps an unsure pace with a hand still captured within Luffy’s guiding one and tries his best to memorize their path as they go. A task that becomes impossible once Luffy starts to softly sing under his breath and Law’s focus is torn trying not to laugh at the warble in Luffy’s throat.
A low voice echoes from around a corner and Luffy stops short, leaving Law’s feet to stutter before falling against him. They stand pressed together as two large men round the corner only to continue forward down the hall, conversation uninterrupted. Luffy seems to tremble against Law’s skin but says nothing as he again tugs forward to dip around the corner.
Their laughs are low and throaty, and something about them brings Law unease. A feeling that is apparently shared by a still Luffy. He doesn’t address who they are, and Law can’t say that he recognized them at all, but it’s clear Luffy knew. It’s clear that Luffy knows a lot.
Once they get far enough away, Luffy again pulls Law forward to continue their journey. He doesn’t sing anymore after that, and the silence is heavier than Law thought it would be.
“Are you actually taking us to the roof, or hiding me away to kill me, Mugiwara-ya?” Law hisses under his breath after they turn yet another corner. Law stopped recognizing things three turns ago, but luckily this hallway actually ends.
A deep brown door sits ahead of them, and suddenly Law’s joke feels a little more real in his throat.
“No! Just the roof,” Luffy snickers and drops Law’s hand to bounce ahead a few steps to stand before it.
At least he’s smiling again, Law thinks while watching Luffy pulls the handle. The door opens with a little resistance and a low groan, neither of which Luffy seems to notice. His focus is clearly on what lies behind it.
Law steps forward cautiously, and when he sees stairs that are ascending to an unknown location, his mouth pulls into a tight unamused line.
“How else were we supposed to get up there? Come on, I’ll be careful climbing the stairs and then we can nap!” Luffy explains with a grin, inching slowly into the doorway.
“You’ll nap.” Law tries to correct, but Luffy is already out of range, hopping up the stairs two at a time.
The stairs are steeper than Law anticipated that they’d be, leaving him to cautiously cling to the railing while Luffy continues to stride ahead without worry. He’s likely done this a dozen or so times given his familiarity and lack of fear in the dark space that the closed doors creates. It’s not completely dark at least. There are small lights along the ceiling, of course, but they’re nearly burnt out and the idea of a horror movie ending becomes more real by the second in Law’s mind.
A thought quickly shattered once Luffy reaches the top and yanks another door open leaving the stairwell to flood with light.
It makes Law’s hand hold tighter while he blinks against the sudden change, and he can hear Luffy’s impatient sandal smacking against the top step.
“I thought I was the one that was injured. Torao, you take too long,” Luffy tuts, swinging gently back and forth with the door on its hinge. It squeaks in a rhythmic fashion that feels a lot more like a ticking clock than the end point Law is trying to reach.
All he wanted was credit for his college application to get into a good pre-med program. Ms. Kureha never said anything about this.
Not that anyone could anticipate Luffy.
Law finally pulls up to the top of the steps with a low huff, and Luffy doesn’t move other than lifting a hand to him. Again, Law takes it and again Luffy pulls him forward. Though this time it isn’t as fast, or as hard. Rather than the urgency he’s experienced the entire time he’s been with Luffy, the boy is now calm as they walk out onto the roof.
The ground is a light blue, cracked and faded from whatever elements have fallen on it over the years. Sounds of below are faded as well, almost non-existent, and Law finally begins to understand why Luffy pulled them up here. It’s hidden gem tucked away from everyone while in plain sight.
Feels similar to something else.
“You don’t wanna be in the sun, do you?” Luffy asks, still guiding them across the open space to what looks like another entrance across the way. Law doesn’t get a chance to answer before Luffy starts again pulling harder. “Over here is best then.”
The overhang is farther out than it appeared from across the roof, leaving a foot or so of comfortable shade. Why couldn’t he have found this two years ago when even the library was too loud?
Beneath its edge, Luffy drops Law’s hand without a word and holds them open to the wall. Like a traffic controller, Luffy shakes his hands at the empty space, as if Law didn’t know where he was supposed to sit. He watches in amusement for a moment, but before Luffy can reach out to pull him, Law drops down to sit.
Even in the shade the ground is warm through his clothes. It feels — nice. Not that he’d admit it to Luffy, who is currently trying to curl up in the sun like a cat. Law quietly watches as he settles for lying flat on his back with his arms stretched above his head as far as they can go.
When the sun starts to seep in him, Law can tell.
He watches as Luffy’s scrunched face loosens all at once into a calm expression. It’s then he realizes that Luffy never would’ve relaxed in the office downstairs, no matter how hard he tried. Luffy needed to be up here.
“Torao,” Luffy says, body and expression remaining completely still, “thank you for this, and for the bandages.”
Law smiles, just barely before leaning his head against the wall. “Just don’t expect me to do it again.”
Luffy’s eyes fly open at this and a frown breaks across his face, tugging hard lines into his once smooth skin. Without a word, he rolls over only to drag himself towards Law quickly, hands clawing at the ground. The sound of the ground against gauze makes Law wince and before he can protest, Luffy’s head has fallen into his lap.
Rolling over, Luffy again stares upwards and lets himself relax back into the same position he was moments ago in the sun. Only now the sun is painting just his lower half, while the rest stays in the shade with Law. There are no words that seem to form well enough from Law’s mind to exit his lips as Luffy’s arms fall next to him like that’s where they belong.
There’s nothing in his mind at all — except what feels like white noise as Luffy nestles between his legs without care. He just lies there, grin barely on his face, and at some point, Law realizes his hands are up in the air. Held like he’s under arrest for a crime he’s not sure when he committed.
“Mugiwara-ya?” Law isn’t sure if he meant for it to be a question or a statement, but when Luffy opens a single eye in response, he forces himself to compose something else. Anything else. “Why?”
Luffy’s other eye opens, leaving the boy to look up at Law once again. Sleep is trying to pull at him with everything it has, but from him in a sleepy voice comes the answer.
“You said never again, so I want this one to count.”
It’s the last thing Luffy says before drifting off. Law watches as his breathing quickly slows, sending soft jerks through his body while he falls deeper into sleep. It’s amazing to him, considering it takes him anywhere from an hour to three to even think about resting, and Luffy just did it in minutes.
“You’re truly something else,” Law murmurs, letting his hand complete the instinctual pull to thread through Luffy’s hair. It’s thick, warm, and soft; everything Law thought it might be, but the confirmation feels strange.
He doesn’t really know this boy. Only truly spoke to him today, and yet there is a pull between them that Law can’t place. It sits between annoyance and respect, teetering on a line that could either make Luffy hated or eventually accepted in his eyes. Regardless, he’s here, pinned beneath the consuming question with nothing but time to consider it.
And Law does consider it.
He graduates this year while Luffy has two more of his own. If he got into the school he wanted, they likely wouldn’t see each other during that time. Seeing as Law will have his hands full trying to become a doctor. But it could work until then — perhaps.
It could be worth trying, even if it did eventually lead to disappointment in the end. After all, most things disappoint Law anyways. Luffy softly grumbles and rolls onto his side, burying his face into Law’s knee. Where the action would’ve landed anyone else a hard shove onto the ground; Law remains still.
Instead, his eyes too start to fall. A struggling flutter as the light before him starts to fade away. With Luffy’s warmth acting as his own sun, it makes Law’s eyes heavier by the second. And for the first time in his life Law doesn’t fight it. He simply lets sleep take him by a tugging hand, leading him somewhere new.