Chapter Text
Kid hated Trafalgar Water D for Dumbfuckface Law with all of his hate.
The eighteen year old aspiring surgeon was a nuisance to Kid practically all of his life. They’ve been together since elementary school when Law snitched on Kid for stealing the dumb stuffed polar bear that was in Law’s backpack. Who even brings a stuffed animal to school? And why have one of a polar bear? It was all stupid to Kid. And it was even stupider when him and Law had a fight in the playground in middle school which caused Kid to get socked in the face and Law to have a black eye. Kid thinks he won the fight fair and square, but everyone called him a loser for punching a sick kid. Kid remembers the way Law’s adopted father Corazon yelled at him and his uncle Dofla-whatever his name was threatened to dismember him.
When the principal eventually quieted the two bird men down and droned onto the two kids about consequences and other boring shit that didn’t matter, Law had stared at him with golden eyes. He looked exhausted even back then as a kid, but any pity Kid could muster up had disappeared when the jackass flipped him off under the desk where the adults couldn’t see.
But now those days of childhood are gone. They’re both in high school, and Kid has his own group of friends. Him and Law still talked in the first years. Law would flip him off in the hallways, causing Killer needing to hold Kid back as he yelled obscenities at the other. They sometimes talked during class, Kid making fun of the teachers while Law struggled to keep a straight face. He was always that straight A student who had it all planned for himself. That wasn’t Kid though. Kid didn’t know what the hell he wanted to do after high school. He liked to tinker with things. He knew how to fix cars and other machinery but he didn’t think there was a college degree for that. It all didn’t matter to him. All he wanted was to get out of high school as soon as possible.
Kid remembers seeing Law at a party during junior year. He was talking to Luffy, an idiot in one of the lower classes. Law was smiling at something Luffy said. Kid crushed the can he was holding in his hand at the sight. Whatever. Not like he cared whatever the hell Trafalgar decided to get himself into. Kid remembers leaving the room to get another drink, but he saw Killer macking all over one of Law’s good friends Penguin and had to leave the room before he gagged. Yeah, that party fucking sucked.
But now something was different between him and Law. Kid wasn’t sure what it was to be honest. It was their final year in that hellhole of a school, and yet the other seemed more glum than ever.
Yeah, Kid always knew Law was a depressed piece of shit. Even in elementary school he was quiet and looked like he saw death. Everyone always talked about how he was an orphan, or how he was supposed to die in a few years from the illness he had. But none of that ever stopped Law from being a snarky little shit. When Kid would push Law would oftentimes find a way to push back harder. They had always found some enjoyment in that.
So why didn’t Law flip him off when he passed him in the hallways? Why would Law not come over and bother Kid during lunch and cause the table to be in chaos like he used to do with a smug smirk on his face?
In fact, Kid didn’t even see Law in the lunchroom anymore. Yeah, he’ll admit it- He actually looked around at the other tables to see if he saw Law’s stupid white hat he wore a lot admist the crowds of kids eating their lunches. But he didn't see him anywhere.
It was irritating, caring so much about just where the hell the other was. Kid shouldn't care at all, yet there he was tapping his plastic spork against the table. The table was pretty quiet besides Killer talking to Penguin. They had reached their first year anniversary a couple of days ago and if you asked Kid they just kept getting more and more annoying each passing day. Kid's eye twitches when he sees Penguin blush and tug at the flaps of his hat as Killer says something terribly cheesy to him.
"Ahem!- Can you fucking not?", Kid voices his disapproval.
Killer rolls his eyes. "Just because you're jealous-" and Kid scoffs loudly. "Jealous of fucking what?- Your penguin boyfriend?"
"Don't talk shit about my wonderful penguin boyfriend- But no, I meant your little crush on Trafalgar Law-"
Kid choked on a piece of pizza he was eating and coughs, hitting his own chest dramatically just to empathise that he choked at the sheer audacity of the statement.
"Trafalgar Law?- Yeah nice one-"
"You have a crush on Law?", Penguin gasps and Kid groans.
"No- No I do not, so don't go telling this to that creepy bastard.", Kid says as he stabs the spork into his tray.
"Don't listen to him. He's had a crush on Law since elementary school-", Killer says as if it's fact.
"Oh! You mean when they had that fight?", Penguin asks with a smile.
"Yeah, when he beat up a kid with cancer", Killer says.
"Hey assholes I'm right here!- And kid with cancer or not he was a fucking asshole!", Kid defended. He shakes his head and says, "Which is why I didn't have a crush on him then and I don't have a crush on him now!"
"This is so cute-", Penguin says with a smile. Kid gawks.
"Yeah pretty cute right? Too bad Kid's too much of a coward to go ask him out-", Killer says.
"I'm right fucking here!", Kid yells. He huffs and stands up with his tray. "Whatever, fuck you guys. I'm going to go smoke in the bathroom."
"I predict a 90% chance Kid has a crush on Law.", Hawkins says helpfully as he doesn't look up from his cards. Apoo laughs. "Hey make that a 100%!-"
Kid storms out after that. Whatever, they didn't know anything about him and Law anyways. It was all about pissing the other off between them. That's all it ever was.
Kid sighs and goes to the bathroom, pack of smokes already in his pocket as he opened the door to the men's bathroom on the second floor. There were no classes on this floor so hardly anyone used the bathroom there. He was already pulling one of the sticks out of the pack when he stopped at the sound of someone vomiting in one of the stalls.
Kid grimaced. Great. Now he needed to find a new place to smoke or wait for whatever idiot came to school sick to leave. He huffs and stays in place. This was his place god damn it. Just who the hell went to this bathroom anyways?
He looks in the mirror and pulls out his lipstick and reapplies it as he waits for the guy to hurry it up. They stopped puking after he came in. Kid wonders if they're too shy to finish puking now and snorts at the idea. He thinks about jeering the poor kid but decides against it. He just wants him to fucking hurry up.
He hears the sound of the toilet flushing and after a minute the stall reluctantly opens. Kid glances and double takes at who he sees.
"Law? That was you puking your guts out?", Kid says with a snort but stops smiling when he really sees the other.
Law's eyes are slightly red, like he had been crying and tried to wipe them too quickly. He was pale and was shaking slightly. Kid stilled. What the hell was he supposed to do.
"Jesus christ you look like shit Trafalgar- Go home early-", Kid says as he looks away from the shorter man. He looked back into the mirror and can see Law in the background pulling his hat out of his coat pocket and putting it back on. He was always wearing that new black coat of his instead of his annoying yellow hoodie these days.
"I'm fine Eustass-ya..", Law said as he replaced the grim look on his face with his trademark smirk. God Kid hated him.
"Strawhat-ya made me try something his brother made him for lunch.. I shouldn't have trusted it.", Law says smoothly as he goes over to the sink and washes his hands. His hands are still shaking slightly under the water.
"What the hell? Strawhat sharing food? Wow are you dying or something?", Kid says with a grin. Law doesn't laugh, but he keeps the slight smile on his face.
"You're right- He never shares food..Maybe I should be worried about him.", Law says with a hum.
"There's way too many things to worry about with that kid-", Kid says with a groan at the thought of Luffy and how many times he's annoyed Kid over the years.
Law laughs a bit this time and Kid blinks at the sound. "I guess you're right.."
He looks over at Law. The kid with cancer but not anymore. The one who would carry a stuffed bear around. The one who fought Kid and who flipped him off. The one who would proudly tell Kid how much of a piece of shit he was in front of all their friends.
Yeah that one- He didn't seem to be doing so well. He looked tired. Fuck when was the last time Kid even seen Law? Yeah they don't sit together in any classes but Kid could have stuck around a few times to see the other, just to really get under his skin and get a good laugh.
"Listen Trafalgar- Go home before I beat the shit out of you.", Kid says. Law snorts.
"There's only one class of the day left-", Law says and Kid rolls his eyes.
"I don't care, just go home."
"If I didn't know better I'd say you were worried about me Eustass-ya.", Law says and Kid curses. Not this shit again.
"No- I just know your friends will start shit if they knew I didn't do anything when I knew you were sick. You're always causing problems for me y'know that?-", Kid says as he takes a smoke out and lights it. He was pretty sure Law was over his snitching days.
"Yeah. I guess so..", Law says with a slight laugh. "But class is too important. Some of us care about school you know"
"Fine go die if I care. But y'know what? Dying in history class, that's fucking lame.", Kid says with a shrug as he takes a drag from his cigarette.
"So is dying from lung cancer Eustass-ya.", Law says as he flips him off and leaves the bathroom with a smirk.
"Asshole.", Kid says as he takes another drag from his cigarette with a grin on his face.
Law had everything under control contrary to what literally all the evidence told him.
He still maintained his straight As at his high school, he had a lot of friends that he actually doesn't mind being around. He already applied to multiple high ranking med schools. Yeah, he had everything under control.
At least he did until Luffy decided to shove food in face during lunch. He had been deliberately sitting outside away from the commotion and smells from the lunch room. It was nice, reading a book in the decent weather outside and pretending like what he was doing was completely normal. There was nothing wrong with skipping lunch. In fact, he'd say he felt much better ever since he started doing it. No more gross school food that he didn't even want to eat anyways. Yeah, this was much better.
It was at least until Luffy found where he was sitting.
"Torao, this is where you've been?!", The straw hatted man said with glee as he sat next to Law. Law sighed and marked the page he was reading, knowing damn well he wasn’t getting any more reading done this lunch period.
“Yes Strawhat-ya, obviously. Actually, I was sitting here to get some peace and quiet.”, Law subtly hints but of course it flies right over Luffy’s head. The other laughs and slings an arm around him and Law huffs, not feeling up to another talk with Luffy about boundaries and personal space.
“That’s so boring! You always don’t have enough fun!”, Luffy pouts.
“Believe it or not Strawhat-ya but this is very fun to me.”, Law says as he holds up his book that he would very much like to finish.
“Wow! I could never finish a book like that, you’re so smart Torao”, Luffy says with a laugh as he sets down his backpack he had been carrying and starts digging through it. “Did you really finish your lunch so quickly though? You must have brought one if you’re not in the lunchroom.”
“I didn’t bring a lunch, so sorry I don’t have any food to give you.”, Law says as he rolls his eyes. He would always give Luffy the food he didn’t want to eat last year. He expects some whining about Luffy being so hungry without the usual extra scraps, but all he gets is a worried “What?!”
Law blinks. He forgets sometimes what he’s doing is not normal at all. He swallows and quickly thinks of a good lie. “I forgot my lunch at home. It’s too late to go and get a school one now.”
“That’s terrible!”, Luffy says in shock. He finds a container and pops off the lid. “Well- You’re so lucky because Ace always packs me extra! He said I should stop eating all my friends’ food”, he says with a laugh and the corners of Law’s mouth turn down slightly.
“Really, I’m good Strawhat-ya..”, Law says as he pulls his hat a little bit down. Luffy just laughs.
“Come on Torao! I can’t let any of my friends go hungry! I won’t leave you alone until you eat this piece!”, Luffy says insistently. He’s pushing the container of food closer to him. Law looks at it in disgust. It’s a perfectly normal sandwich, two pieces of them actually. There was way too much on the sandwich, multiple slices of cheeses and meats. But, Law knew better than most that when Luffy said something he meant it. He was one of the most stubborn people that law knew. So he picked up the half and held it in his hand. It felt heavy. He didn’t even like bread.
“Thank you Strawhat-ya.”, Law says, hoping that will be it, but Luffy just smiles his big trademark smile.
“Of course, it’s really good!”, He says as he takes his own piece and starts eating it. Law tries not to show how irritated he felt. Why was he still here? Luffy looks over at him expectantly.
“Well?”, Luffy asks.
“I don’t like bread.”, Law says. It wasn’t a lie. He had always avoided eating bread when Corazon would try to give him sandwiches. His father always complained about how he was a picky eater.
“You won’t even notice it!”, Luffy insists. Law feels like his head is about to burst from the headache that was starting to form.
“Fine.”, Law says as he holds up the sandwich. He takes a small bite from it and Luffy’s eyes glow. He was already finished with his own sandwich. Law chewed the mess of a bite in mouth. It was too much. He already had his morning coffee with a spoonful of sugar. How was he supposed to eat dinner with Corazon later tonight, taking as few bites as he could before he secretly hides the rest of the food and throws it away?
He thickly swallows the bite and feels sick. He was going to throw up, he swears he was.
“Well, Zoro promised me I could copy his math homework so I should go find him!”, Luffy says with a laugh. “See you later Torao!”
Law doesn’t bother saying anything or looking up as the other bounces away. All he could focus on was how sick he felt.
Law was always in control of this habit he formed. He started it at the end of junior year. He doesn’t know why but he was starting to see something wrong in the way he looked in the mirror. Too much fat on his cheeks and his upper arms. Yeah, it was something like that. So he decided he would just fix it up. Yeah, he was great at perfecting himself. He was too busy with his studies to really worry too much about a diet. He didn’t need more of that stress in his life, so he decided he’d just eat less. Yeah, he knew as an aspiring doctor what that sounded like. An eating disorder. But no, this would only be for a couple of days until the extra weight he got trimmed itself off.
He started skipping breakfast. Corazon was always out the door early anyways to go to work so he didn’t notice the way Law would sit at the kitchen table each morning and have a cup of coffee. He used to drink it with milk and sugar. It was the way Corazon liked it too. He remembers the first time Corazon let him have a cup in his sophomore year. He had commented something about how big he was getting. He gave Law a cup of the liquid, with milk and a lot of sugar. Law had drunk it despite his comment about how unhealthy it was which earned a laugh from his dad.
But no, now he knew better. No wonder why things got so out of control with his weight. Black coffee with a bit of sugar was fine for him now.
Months passed and he still did it. He knows he lost the weight, the numbers on the scale told him so, but it just never seemed right to him. He didn’t think he really looked that different at first. He had started to eat small lunches. Some baby carrots or celery was usually nice. But soon that just made him feel put off. He stopped eating lunch too a few weeks ago. Nobody really noticed, surprisingly. He felt guilty for expecting someone to come up to him and ask why he wasn’t eating at the table with the rest of them. It was a selfish thought, and when he thought it he would frown and push it to the side. There was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He knew how to control it. He wasn’t like the others who would do this.
So, he knew what to do when things like this happened. When his father had the day off and decided to cook breakfast, he would force himself to eat some of it so the man wouldn’t worry. After all, it was the least Law owed him after Corazon would usually accidentally set himself on fire while he cooked. A few spoonfuls of eggs and strips of bacon were surprisingly enough to set off some sort of balance scale he had made up unknowingly to himself.
He remembers the first day he shoved two fingers down his throat like it was yesterday. He wasn’t really sure why he had did that, he just felt like he needed to at the time. He’s not an idiot. He knew the consequences self regurgitation had. He knew how he was killing his esophagus and rotting his teeth. But, he didn’t do it often. He just did it when he needed to so it was fine. Nothing a swish of mouthwash and a very cold shower afterwards can’t fix.
So without thinking he stood up from the bench, the book already shoved in his backpack as he slinged it back over his shoulder and started briskly walking to the second floor, his heart beating fast. Everyone knew the second floor bathroom was where you went if you wanted to be alone. Hardly anyone went there since there were no classes on the floor. It was the perfect spot to get sick without anyone noticing.
He shoves the door open. He still had about twenty minutes before his next class so he had a lot of time. He locks himself in one of the stalls and shucks his coat off and hangs it up. His hands are shaking and a voice in the back of his head asks himself why is he doing this. He ignores it and shoves his fingers in his mouth. He gags and tries not to think about the gross taste in his mouth and the familiar burning in his throat as he throws up.
He hears the door open as he watches the vomit swish in the toilet. Fucking great.
He catches his breath, eyes stinging from the tears that had formed. His hands shake as he flushes the toilet. Maybe whoever was in here would take a quick shit and leave. He didn’t feel like seeing people right now. But surprise surprise, whoever this asshole was didn’t even go in a stall. They were probably just dicking around on their phone by the sink. Law sighs and pulls his coat back on. Whatever, he’ll just ignore the person.
He leaves the stall and freezes when he sees a familiar man applying lipstick by the mirror. Only one person in school wears bright red lipstick like that to school everyday. The man who punched him second grade. The one who annoyed him and made him laugh during the class. The one who made Law have increasingly confused and annoying feelings. Yeah- that one.
Law tried his best to play it smooth as he went to the sink and watched his hands. He tried hard to focus on the words between them instead of the shaking of his hands under the scalding hot water. Kid had obviously heard him puking in the bathroom. Great- just another thing he needed today. He thought the redhead would poke fun at him with it but to his surprise the other seemed almost worried. It made something in Law almost want to stay in the bathroom with the other longer.
Sure, Law hated Eustass Kid’s guts badly. It was always amusing making the other annoyed. Kid had this one vein on his forehead that looked like it was going to pop if Law went too far. But the great thing about their feud over the years was that they both never crossed the line. Kid never talked about Law’s dead family or the fact he’s adopted which had confused Law at first. It was an obvious target that the redhead would avoid. Instead Kid talked about his hat or his stuffed bear he would always carry around or the fact that he’s apparently creepy. In return Law would talk about his dumb patterned pants, his goggles, or the fact he shaves his eyebrows. Law never once mentioned Kid’s missing arm or his prosthetic, even though Law was interested in it medically speaking.
It was a perfect arrangement of being assholes towards each other without being too much at the same time. Law would be damned if he ruined it because he decided to grow some sort of feelings out of it. He left the bathroom while flipping Kid off. Yeah he had everything under control
Law’s next class was chemistry. His assigned seat was in the back next to Penguin. Law loved his friend, but Penguin was honestly not the smartest bulb when it came to the class, but Law didn’t mind giving the other the extra help. He just wished Penguin would stop talking about his boyfriend already.
Yeah, Law like everyone else on the planet knew about the love birds that was Killer and Penguin. At first Law was strongly against it. For god's sake, the man’s nickname was Killer for a reason. The blonde was constantly in fights and was in great shape from weight lifting constantly. Law knew Penguin could handle himself, he saw the way Penguin got into fights in middle school, but it still rang alarm bells. It was all for nothing thankfully. The tall blonde seemed to adore and shower Penguin in love and affection constantly. It was almost sickening seeing the two together. But Penguin was happier than Law ever saw him, so he allowed it. That didn’t stop him from giving Killer a warning about how he’d take out all his organs if he ever messed with his friend.
“He gave me chocolates this morning! You should try one, they’re really good-”, Penguin rattled on. Law thought about it for a second. A chocolate wouldn’t hurt, but he was too unsettled by the mistake he made during lunch to take the offer.
“I think I’ll pass. We’re not supposed to eat in the lab anyways.”, Law pointed out. Penguin laughed a bit.
“You’re always so serious Law- But ok.”, Penguin says with a smile. The other suddenly sits up. “Oh- You know Law, I think you should find a boyfriend for yourself.”
“Excuse me?”, Law says as he stops in the middle of his writing.
“Well yeah”, Penguin says with a smile. “We were talking during lunch and-”
“We? Talking about who, me?”, Law asks and Penguin shrugs.
“Well kind of-”, Penguin says suddenly a bit nervous. He whispers, “I know about your crush on Kid, I think you should tell him.”
“What are you even saying right now?”, Law asks. He feels his heart beating. Great. Just how the hell did Penguin find about his complicated feelings for Kid.
“Law it’s ok, I won’t tell anyone”, Penguin says supportively. “I can even help set you two up, I’m sure Killer can help too. We’ve seen the way you two flirt with each other-”
“Flirt?”, Law hisses.
“Well yeah- All that banter you two have while standing really close to each other and looking into each other’s eyes and-”
“That’s!- It’s not flirting.”, Law says. He has to force himself to lower his voice. He looks across the classroom. Kid is sitting in one of the front seats, the one right by the teacher’s desk. He was moved there after he caused a small explosion during their first lab. Law was grateful he couldn’t hear the ridiculousness right now. All this time, did Penguin really see it as flirting? Just how many other people saw it as that?
“Law really-”, Penguin tries but Law gets back to his work, not really thinking straight as he tries to read over the words on the worksheet they had to complete.
“Leave me and my love life alone. My nonexistent one with Kid- Because I don’t like him.”, Law says as he starts writing. Penguin sighs and says, “Alright, well the offer still stands. Hey are you feeling alright? You look kind of pale-”
“Yeah. I’m just fine.”, Law says. He was getting good at lying lately.