Chapter Text
This was not how Luffy had intended to spend his weekend. Laid flat on his stomach on a cold, hard operating table with a single, flat pillow and a hospital gown with his ass on full display for the entire nursing staff to see. No, this was not the way he planned his weekend camping trip at all.
It was supposed to be their annual summer camping trip. It had been a tradition between him and his group of friends since they were in High School. Ace would drive them out to their favorite hiking trail and being the overprotective older brother that he was, he always tagged along but kept a distance between Luffy and his friends. He was more of a chaperon at first but eventually Luffy and his friends invited Ace to join them regularly and it had been that way ever since.
The trip had started out just like any of the others. Ace picked up Luffy's friends in his orange Dodge Journey truck while Franky picked up his long-time girlfriend Robin in his electric blue restored 1969 Camaro. The hiking trail was one that they took often and Luffy knew it like the back of his hand. Ace had been nagging at him the halfway through the hike up a steep hill and of course, just as Luffy was turning around to yell at Ace to get off his ass he slipped on a rock and ended up tumbling toward of a patch of Cactus... on his ass.
Needless to say, Ace being the hovering helicopter that he was, insisted they cancel the camping trip to rush Luffy to the nearest Hospital which was quite a drive away from their remote location but that was how Luffy ended up here, in the waiting room of NW Hospital while Ace fought with a nurse at the admittance desk while Luffy was laying on his side resting his head in Robin's lab as the older woman stroked his hair calmly.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down and just be patient. Your brother will be called in and looked at soon." a nurse with short, dark hair and glasses said from behind the glass.
Ace snarled at her, "You don't understand! My little brother needs to be seen now!" the older, freckled man was nearly yelling by now.
The nurse sighed in exasperation, "Sir. In case you haven't noticed, we have more severely injured patients we need to take care of first. Falling on a cactus doesn't win priority over a gunshot victim. I think your brother will be able to wait thirty minutes or so."
The nurse stood up from her spot behind the desk and walked off toward another room leaving a fuming Ace as the older tried to get someone else to assist him but failed. The older raven-haired man came trudging back over toward where Luffy and his group of friends were all sitting, taking up half a small waiting room and he frowned deeply.
"It's no good. No matter what I said, the nurse said they have more severely wounded patients to take care of before Luffy." Ace scoffed while crossing his arms over his chest as he plopped down in an empty seat next to Luffy's where the younger man was occupying two whole chairs just so he could lie down on his side on them.
"Oi, Chopper. Couldn't you have just treated Luffy once we reached the campsite?" Zoro asked their youngest group member.
The surprisingly short medical student slightly startled at the older male addressing him and his large, round eyes blinked at him in confusion before the question he asked finally sunk in. He frowned and carded a hand through his short, dark brown locks of hair as he sighed heavily.
"I'm a med-student but I'm only in my first year of college, guys. Luffy is better off being taken care of by a professional." Chopper reminded his friends. His big, light brown eyes shifted to each face in his group of friends and he stopped on Luffy's face, naturally, plastered with a wide grin.
"Ah, don't worry about it Chopper! I'll be totally fine and we'll be able to continue our camping trip!" despite the slightly pained look Luffy had on his face whenever he moved the tiniest bit, the raven-haired boy still smiled and Ace smacked his younger brother gently on the back of his head.
"Idiot. That's why you should definitely be more careful next time and listen to me for a change." Ace grumbled.
Nami suddenly stood up from her spot in-between Sanji and Vivi, "Since we might be here awhile, Sanji, Vivi and I will go and get everyone something to drink."
"Oh, a Vitamin Water for me!" Luffy shouted but then quickly winced in pain afterwards.
"Cola for me." Franky called out.
"Just black coffee for me, Thanks." Robin smiled as Franky put his arm around her slender shoulders.
"They got any booze?" Zoro asked lazily, earning him a smack to the back of the head by Nami. "Tch! Fine, just get me a water."
Brook asked for tea, Chopper asked for Strawberry Milk and Ace didn't bother to ask for anything.
"Don't forget, you'll all have to pay me back for being so nice and getting you all drinks." Nami teased, sticking the top of her tongue out and winking as Vivi and her held hands and left, Sanji trailing after them with a goofy look on his face.
"Ehhh!?" the group cried in unison but it went unheard as Nami, Vivi and Sanji disappeared.
As they continued to wait, Usopp and Chopper decided to try and get some homework done for their classes, Robin and Franky were being the gross lovey-dovey couple that they were (everyone always said they should just get married already), Zoro ended up falling asleep with his mouth open and Ace bickered with Luffy until the latter also ended up falling asleep.
"Monkey D. Luffy?" a nurse called from a set of double doors. She was short, blond and had a clipboard in her hands as she searched the E.R. with large brown eyes.
"Oi, Luffy! Get up, idiot! They're calling for you." Ace pinched Luffy's cheek and pulled the skin causing the younger to shout in pain before he blinked awake.
"Ace, you jerk! That hurt!"
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and lets go. The nurse is calling for you."
Ace effortlessly scooped the younger raven-haired man up into his arms, Luffy had always been incredibly light despite the fact that he ate like a starved dog on a daily basis. The scrawny teen slightly struggled in his arms but eventually found it more comfortable if he didn't struggle and aggravate the cactus needles stuck in his ass cheeks. No, if you were to ask Luffy how he planned his weekend to go, this would not be it.
The nurse smiled at Ace who smiled back just as politely and then she was leading the siblings toward an examining room in the back, asking Luffy various questions about his health while taking his vitals, his weight, his temperature and all that other annoying crap they liked to put you through at the hospital. Ace ended up having to answer most of the questions since Luffy either didn't understand what the nurse was asking or he simply didn't care. Mostly, it was both.
Finally, Luffy was left laying flat on his stomach on that high examining table wearing a hospital gown and nothing but a sheet was thrown over his exposed rear-end. The teen huffed as he hugged the single, flat pillow underneath him while Ace sat quietly in a corner reading a magazine that had been lying around.
"You don't have to be here for this, you know? They're just gonna pull the stupid needles out of my ass and I'll be done in like an hour." Luffy grumbled.
"Shut up. I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here." Ace said with finality in his tone and there was no more arguing about his decision to stay. Of course, that never stopped Luffy from trying anyway and the two siblings fell back into their usual banter.
Suddenly, there was a soft set of quick knocks on the door to the examining room and the two siblings quickly shut their mouths and turned to look up at the very tall and slender man standing in the doorway with a clipboard in his hand, white lab coat and stethoscope and all, looking very professional as he never once looked up from the chart he was reading as he entered the room with long, graceful strides. Luffy simply could not take his eyes off the man as he quickly noticed how the sleeves of the man's white lab coat were rolled up past his forearms and revealed black ink patterns on his arms, the backs of his hands and on his knuckles as well.
"Monkey D. Luffy." the man's voice came out incredibly smooth and surprisingly low. It both surprised and excited Luffy for reasons unknown and he felt his heartbeat quicken after hearing the man say his name. "Fell on top of a patch of Cactus while hiking up a steep hill. Correct?"
Finally, the man looked up from the chart in his hands and Luffy's dark eyes met sharp, golden ones. It caught him by surprise to see such a striking color and with the man's olive skin and dark midnight blue hair, the color of his eyes stood out beautifully. It was a similar color to Zoro's honey gold eyes but not quite. Luffy took in the man's attractive features. The dark circles underneath his eyes made the man look a lot older than he was but Luffy found even that part of him attractive. He had dark sideburns and a slightly scruffy goatee and the younger man also noticed the gold earrings the Doctor wore on each ear. Overall, this man was the most interesting person he'd ever seen and he certainly didn't expect his Doctor to look like... that.
The man lifted one if his thin eyebrows when Luffy didn't answer him and in the end, Ace ended up confirming what the Doctor said, although anyone who was in the room could tell there was a subtle hostility and bitterness in Ace's tone when he answered. Luffy was oblivious to his older brother's strange behavior as he simply continued to stare and blink at the tall, tattooed man. His eyes tracing those surprisingly built forearms, his tanned skin and the sharp angles of the black ink on his arms, hands and knuckles. But in the end, it was those golden eyes that kept ensnaring Luffy repeatedly as the doctor moved around the spacious room.
"My name is Dr. Trafalgar Law. Normally, I'm a Surgeon but our E.R. has been severely understaffed lately so I'm forced to occasionally help out." Dr. Law explained as he snapped on a pair of bright blue latex gloves after having washed his hands in the sink situated in the room thoroughly.
"Is it normal for a Surgeon to have so many... tattoos?" Ace suddenly asked, his tone skeptical as he lifted a thin eyebrow in the Doctor's direction.
The raven-haired doctor stopped what he was doing and turned slightly to face the older of the siblings. Ace kept his dark eyes trained on the tall man, occasionally eyeing the dark ink on his forearms.
"No, I suppose it's not normal but I don't see how knowing if it is or isn't should change anything. I'm still a licensed surgeon and Doctor." Dr. Law said with a straight face. Yellow iris' narrowing on Ace's figure as the two men stared each other down.
Luffy could feel the awkward tension in the air and it didn't help that he was right in the center of it, ass up with cactus needles still stuck in his cheeks. Eventually, he got impatient with his older brother staring down his attractive doctor and the teen rolled his eyes.
"Ace, you have tattoos too, you know." Luffy grumbled.
Ace sucked his teeth loudly and stood up to pinch Luffy by the tip of his ear causing the younger sibling to yelp loudly in pain. The Doctor couldn't help but smirk as he watched the squabbling siblings but he still had a job to do and as amusing as it was to watch, Law quickly cleared his throat catching the attention of both brothers.
"Well, the quicker I can get started on removing the needles, the sooner you'll be out of the hospital. Big Brother-ya, if you wouldn't mind stepping out for a little while-"
"Absolutely not." Ace protested as he planted himself down in the only seat in the examining room. "I'm staying right here, Doc."
Law frowned and Ace simply smiled smugly as he got comfortable in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in the chair and keeping a close eye on the Doctor as he sighed as decided against arguing. Just then, a song started playing and the two brothers both turned as pale as ghosts.
"Oh shit." Luffy cursed as his wide eyes turned to his older brother who's eyes were just as wide as his. "Shanks is calling!"
"Answer it!" Ace hissed.
"Okay, okay!" Luffy fumbled with the mobile device until he finally managed to swipe his thumb across the touch screen and answer the call. He gulped loudly, "Shanks, h-hey!"
Luffy, how's the camping trip going so far? Did you have any trouble on the hike?
Shanks' cheerful voice chirped from the other line.
Luffy hesitated and started sweating bullets. He'd always been a shit liar and anyone who knew him well enough, knew just how bad he was at lying but it never stopped him from trying (and failing) at it anyway.
"Y-Yeah! We totally didn't have any trouble on the hike up here!" the raven-haired teen could feel his nervousness setting in as he forced a laugh that was so painfully fake, even to his own ears.
Shanks fell silent on the other end of the line and Luffy thought that maybe, just maybe, he had managed to pull off a lie for once in his life but he was absolutely dead wrong. Just when he thought maybe he was in the clear, Shanks voice takes a dive.
Luffy... You're lying.
The man's normally cheerful voice is dark and laced with danger. It makes Luffy frantically turn to Ace for help.
"U-Uh, here's Ace! Gotta go, Shanks!" and just as quickly as he spoke, Luffy was practically pitching his cell phone at his brother like it was a baseball and the older, freckled man fumbled with the device a bit while trying to hiss at Luffy at the same time. The Doctor simply ignored the two siblings as he went about typing some things into a computer desktop that was situated on a small pull out desk near a far wall.
"Yo, Shanks!" Ace greets with a nervous laugh and false confidence as he hurriedly scampers out of the examining room to deal with the angry guardian.
Luffy lets out a loud, relieved sigh but winces when he feels a familiar stinging in his rear-end and remembers that he's still in the hospital and stuck in a room with a very attractive Doctor/Surgeon who has to remove the Cactus needles. This was not how Luffy wanted his first meeting with such an attractive man to go but there wasn't much helping it now so he'd deal with it, somehow.
"So," Luffy drawled as he drummed his fingers against the paper covering the examining table underneath him. "How long do you think this is gonna take, Doc?"
Law finally turns around to face the teen once more and he smirks. It's slight and smug but it does wonders to Luffy's fluttering heart as he sees those thin lips stretch into a crooked line. Long legs strode across the room as Law closed the distance between them.
"If you promise to be a good patient and not struggle too much, it'll go by very quickly."
Luffy felt his cheeks warm up and he quickly looked away from the Doctor as he got situated. Removing the sheet covering Luffy's behind, Law got to work removing each and every cactus needle and surprisingly Luffy was being very compliant, he hardly cried out in pain at all once he got used to the sensation of the tweezers pulling out each needle slowly one by one. In the end, Law found the silence from the teen unusual even though he hardly knew the boy at all. But Law was normally a pretty good judge of character and Monkey D. Luffy hardly seemed like the shy, quiet type.
"So, you were on a hike when you fell?" Law started, trying his best to be conversational but failing. He just wasn't a natural conversationalist and he probably never would be but he found himself wanting to at least try with this boy.
"Ah, yeah. My friends and I were all going on a camping trip and our camp sight is kind of tricky to get to since it's up a crazy mountain trail but the campsite is so worth the hike up there." Luffy smiled brightly at the Doctor despite their awkward position and Law found the raven-haired boy's smile contagious as he smiled back at him. It was faint but his smile was still there stretched on thin lips.
"What makes the campsite so special that you and your friends would risk hiking up a dangerous mountain trail?" Law decided it would be best if he kept his eyes trained on the task of removing the cactus needles at hand instead of at the bright, sunny boy still smiling at him.
"Oh! Well, one cool thing about it is it's totally secluded. It's like we have the entire campsite reserved just for us! It's got this neat little creek where you can fishing or go swimming and the most amazing view of the stars at night! It's like staring up at an endless ocean of lights every night! You can't get that kind of view in the city or even the suburbs!" Luffy grinned with his smile growing wider and wider as he rambled on and on about the stars in the sky on that mountain side.
Law only hummed and nodded as Luffy spoke, occasionally stealing glances at the sunny faced boy as he talked his ear off but Law found himself not minding all that much. Normally, he'd be annoyed if a patient started rambling about things he didn't care about but something about listening to Luffy ramble on about his friends and their camping trip and even his brother Ace and their overprotective guardian, Shanks. Law could admit, he liked how Luffy's brown eyes seemed to light up whenever he was talking about his friends.
Luffy on the other hand found himself in a similar predicament. He figured Dr. Law probably wasn't a very social person in general, he could pick up on that vibe a mile away but for some reason knowing the Doctor was the one who initiated the conversation first and asked him occasional questions had Luffy's heart soaring. He could tell Dr. Law was genuinely curious with his questions and Luffy tried to make the Doctor crack a smile, even just a tiny one, by telling him funny stories from his previous camping trips with his friends and he succeeded in getting the mysterious Doctor to crack a couple of small, faint smiles but it was enough for him.
"So, how exactly does one fall on top of a Cactus patch? Are you an idiot?" The Doctor asked, a slight playful tone in his voice as he noticed the raven pout at him. Law couldn't help but chuckle softly at the childish expression.
"Jerk! I'm not an idiot! I just... wasn't being careful where I was walking." Luffy trailed off as he puckered his lips and looked away from the doctor who was now outright smirking at his childish behavior.
"Only an idiot doesn't pay attention to where they're walking and ends up having to come into the E.R. to get Cactus needles removed from his ass."
Luffy puffed his cheeks out and kept pouting at the Doctor, "I'm no cactus expert but I know a prick when I see one." the teen grumbled and that had the Doctor nearly dropping the tweezers in his hand.
"D-Did you just... make a Cactus joke?" the doctor asked incredulously as he dared to look up at the blushing teen.
"M-Maybe!" Luffy half-yelled as he tried his best not to show how embarrassed he truly was for saying such a dumb thing. He knew he was known for saying surprisingly or unexpected things, hell he was infamous in his neighborhood and high school for being a crazy bastard but he never felt more embarrassed than he did right now. He just told the lamest cactus joke to his very attractive Doctor.
Law tried to hold in his laughter, he really did. But he knew he was done for when he felt the corners of his lips twitching as he fought to keep his smile down and his bubbling laughter in but it was useless. Paired with the embarrassed look of the raven-haired boy laying flat on his stomach in such a vulnerable state and the actual joke itself, Law just couldn't resist the urge to laugh and his willpower finally crumbled and the Doctor was doubling over with quiet laughter.
It wasn't until Luffy heard a rather loud snort that the teen mustered up the courage to look back at his Doctor and what he saw had him blushing and smiling widely. Law was in stitches as he tried to hold in his laughter but a few small laughs managed to escape him regardless and Luffy watched with wide eyes as the mysterious Doctor that had only frowned or smirked up until now was clutching his sides, shoulders trembling as he laughed and gasped desperately for air, thin lips stretched into a wide smile, eyes crinkling just so in the corners. Law looked so much younger when he smiled, almost child-like as he wheezed and struggled to even out his breathing, wiping away tears of mirth that had built up in the corners of his eyes as he straightened up in his seat and immediately started clearing his throat.
"Well, then." Law started, trying to get back into professional doctor mode but finding it hard to do over the sound of his heart thundering in his chest as he avoided eye contact with the cute teenager who was still grinning at him. "You're all done, Monkey-ya. I'll give you a few minutes to get dressed and then I'll be back with your discharge papers and you can be on your way."
Before the raven-haired teen could protest, the Doctor swiftly stood up from his seat and hastily discarded the latex gloves on his hands as he briskly walked out of the examining room leaving behind a frowning Luffy. The Doctor had left so quickly, Luffy didn't even get the chance to possibly ask the man for his number. He figured he'd have the chance to ask again when the man came up, so with a painful wince here and there, Luffy managed to sit up from the cold examining table by himself and slip into his jean shorts and sandals. He was just about to throw on his red tank top when the door to the examining room opened and Luffy looked up hopefully.
"Yo, Luff. Sorry I took so long to get off the phone, Shanks really grilled my ass over what happened to you." Ace walked into the examining room with a pained expression on his freckled face as he locked eyes with his younger brother. Doing a quick once-over with his eyes, Ace noticed that Luffy was almost done getting dressed and he smiled. "Oh! Looks like your done. You clear to go?"
"Ah, I have to wait for Dr. Law to come back and give me the discharge papers. But I'm good to go!" Luffy gave his older brother a thumbs up and the two siblings grinned at each other.
"Alright, think you can handle the discharge papers yourself while I go tell the others? I'm sure they're all dying to get out of here just as much as you are."
"Yeah, I'll be okay on my own. I'll meet you guys outside in the parking lot! Keep the car running!"
Ace nodded and ruffled Luffy's already messy hair before handing the boy his signature strawhat. Luffy happily placed the old thing on his head after he slipped his shirt back on and he waited patiently for Doctor Law to come back in. He contemplated if he should ask the Doctor if he wanted to go out, although that would probably be too pushy. The teen decided that he'd settle on simply getting the Doctors number and he would work with it from there.
Finally, a nurse came back into the examining room to give Luffy his discharge papers to sign and the teen felt disappointed that it wasn't the attractive Doctor he'd grown quite fond of over the last hour or so. Regardless, the teen signed his name messily on the papers and after a few more instructions on how to care for his wounds, instructions that Luffy mostly ignored, he walked out of the examining room and started making his way back out toward the emergency room. His dark eyes searched the nurses station as he passed them by for any signs of the tall, brooding doctor but he saw none.
"Oi, Luffy." a deep familiar voice called out to him and Luffy immediately recognized it as his best friend Zoro's voice.
"Oh, Zoro!" the teen greeted cheerfully as he jogged up to the green-haired man.
"You ready to go? Ace wanted me to wait here for you in case you got lost or something."
Luffy snorted, "Aren't you the one more likely to get lost, Zoro?"
"I don't want to hear that from someone like you, idiot." the older man frowned and grumbled under his breath, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Anyway, are you ready or not? We're all waiting for you in the parking lot."
"Yeah, I'll be right there. Just gotta take care of something first. Go on without me, and try not to get lost, Zoro." the raven-haired teen snickered but received a rather hard punch in the arm from the other man as he stomped off muttering angrily under his breath. Luffy could only continue to snicker and giggle. He always knew exactly how to get underneath Zoro's skin and make the serious man lose his cool in the best ways.
Once Zoro was gone, the teen immediately goes back to searching the area for any signs of his attractive Doctor and he gets his prayers answered when he catches a glimpse of the dark haired man making his way down a hall while looking down at a chart as he walked. The teen grinned as he felt that familiar fluttering his chest and stomach and then he was taking off into a power-walk after the doctor who was quite a good distance away thanks to his long legs. It didn't take much for Luffy to catch up with him however and when he did, the teen suddenly yanked the doctor into an empty examining room, the lights were off with nothing but the light in the hallway to illuminate their features.
Law was slightly startled when he was suddenly yanked into an empty, dark examining room but when he finally realized there was no threat he relaxed.
"Monkey D. Luffy?"
"Yo, Dr. Traffy." Luffy greeted cheerfully.
"Traffy?"
"Mhm. I figured it's easier to say than Doctor Trafal-whatever and Dr. Law sounds so serious. So, Dr. Traffy." the teen flashed another one of those sunny smiles the doctors way and the older man forced himself to look away.
Now that he thought about it, they were dangerously close in a smaller, dark room. The Doctor highly doubted the boy simply pulled him aside because he might have forgotten something or because he wanted to talk. Still, he didn't take Monkey D. Luffy as the type to do these sorts of things with strangers. He seemed much too innocent for that.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, Law spoke. "What was it that you needed, Monkey-ya?"
"Luffy. Just call me Luffy. Everyone does." The teen corrected with a brief frown but then he was back to his smiling self. "I just wanted to know if I could get your number, Doc. You kind of interest me and now there's no way I can leave this hospital without asking."
Law swallowed thickly. The boy wanted his phone number? Did that mean he was basically telling the Doctor he was interested in him in a romantic sense? Well, if practically being pressed up against one another in a dark, small room wasn't sign enough of the attraction between them then Law didn't know what was. He could admit, he thought the boy was cute and very attractive in his own way but it still didn't change the fact that there was several things about this situation that just weren't right. For starters, A Doctor involved romantically with one of his patients? Well, Law supposed there have been worse scandals with Doctors and it wasn't exactly unheard of for a Doctor and a Patient to date but Law preferred to keep a professional distance between him and his patients. Luffy was apparently the exception, however.
Law found himself reaching into the pocket of his white coat and pulling out a pen before he messily scribbled his personal cell phone number down on the white piece of paper. He decided not to use his chicken-scratch handwriting that he used for writing subscriptions since that would basically just guarantee that Luffy would never call him, and instead chose to use the neatest print possible. He handed the paper to the raven-haired boy who took it from his fingers gingerly, looking it over and smiling to himself before he stuffed it in his pocket.
"Thanks, Doc! Call you soon!"
Before Law had the chance to realize it, Luffy had jumped up on the very tips of his toes and kissed the Doctor on his cheek but since Law was so tall, Luffy managed to peck the corner of his mouth as well. With a light tint of pink dusting his cheeks, Luffy beamed showing off that signature smile of his before he scampered out of the dark room with the attractive Doctor's number safely in his pocket. Luffy's heart was pounding in his chest as he hurried out of the hospital in search of his friends. He was in a great mood now that he had obtained his objective of getting the Doctors phone number. When he reached Ace's car, the teen was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet and humming random songs. His friends all exchanged curious looks with one another before finally Usopp finally asked the obvious.
"Oi, Luffy. What's up? You look happier than usual. Something good happen or are you doped up on something?" the other boy joked.
Luffy shook his head while still smiling, "Can't tell you!" he sang.
The whole ride back toward the mountain trail where their campsite was, Luffy kept subconsciously playing with the folded piece of paper in the pocket of his shorts.
Take one of these and call me in the morning. — Law
(xxx) xxx-xxx