Chapter Text
'Come here and greet the new neighbours'
The message read as Law's phone lit up, distracting him from the diagram of the skeletal structure of a hand he had been studying.
He sighed. Right. Neighbours. That had been today.
"I mean it," Cora called this time and Law rolled his eyes at his parental voice. It was no use struggling, so Law put his book aside and crawled out from the elevated space above his bed and climbed down the ladder.
In the kitchen Cora was rolling back and forth, opening cabinets and setting out a precarious pile of dishes on the counter
"Oh good, you're here! Can you set the table? Four people."
"They are not here yet," Law noted but grabbed the plates, glasses and cutlery to set them out.
"Napkins, napkins..." Cora muttered as he went through the cabinets. "Should I fold them? Hmmm?" He pushed himself over to the table, setting the napkins down.
Law could feel him look him up and down.
"Could you change? And please tell me you cleaned your room. We're trying to make a good impression here."
Law rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, hiding his black nails. "It's just neighbours, Cora, probably shit ones," he said.
"They want to reopen the restaurant Law," Cora said, arranging the table a little and toppling two glasses over in the process.
"That'll probably be shit too," Law said, picking at a loose thread poking out of his hoodie.
"Well, they're bringing the food so we can put that to the test," Cora said and crossed the room to the cupboard where he kept the drinks.
"Will you please make nice?" 'For me,' he didn't say, but Law heard it clearly all the same.
"Fine." Law said and trudged off, swapping the ratty hoodie for a clean black shirt and black jeans.
He went to the bathroom to wash his hands, tried to avoid looking at his face but caught a glimpse of the bags under his eyes anyway. Fucking insomnia.
The doorbell rang and Law braced himself for an evening of pitying looks and forced smiles and conversation. He still didn't feel anywhere near ready when he made his way to the door.
Cora was all accomodation, his voice excited as he opened the door and greetings were exchanged.
"Come in, come in! And you must be Sanji. Ah, Law, come here. This is Law, my son," Cora said and Law did his best not to squirm. He'd never get used to Cora just saying it like that.
He stepped forward and accepted a handshake from the tall man with the large mustache introducing himself as Zeff.
Firm grip and straight, almost stiff posture. Tattoo on the wrist, nautical motive. Calloused hands. Slightly off gait.
"Hello Sir," Law said and did his best at presenting a pleasant expression.
He looked at the kid with him then. Ten years old, maybe. Skinny, blond. Hiding half behind his father with a wary expression on his face as he looked Law up and down. Nervous but unwilling to show it, his whole posture reminding Law of people and a time he'd rather forget.
"Sanji, was it? Pleasure to meet you," he still said.
"Nice to meet you too, Law. Come on, Sanji. Say hello," Zeff said and half shoved half coaxed the boy to the front.
"Hello," he said with that same face like he wasn't sure if he'd have to fight Law. At least he wasn't staring at Cora or the wheelchair.
Cora seemed more amused than anything as he clapped his hands together. "We'll prepare the food. You can show Sanji your room in the meantime."
It took all of Law's restraint not to note that he'd prefer not to. He wasn't alone in that sentiment either, apparently. Sanji was staring longingly at the cooler box in his father's hand. But resistance was pointless here so instead of defending their interests Law turned and waved the kid along.
"'Hello Sir,'" Sanji said in a mocking voice when they were out of earshot. "You're so full of shit."
Fantastic. A mouthy one. And apparently he'd come to the conclusion that Law wasn't a threat from his earlier observation.
"And you're a brat," Law said, leading him into his bedroom.
"And you're a dork too. Sora, really?" Sanji said eyeing the collection of comics and figurines Law had lined up on a shelf.
"How about you don't touch that. Or anything," Law said and picked the figurine of Poison Pink out of Sanji's hand, carefully placing it back in its spot.
"This is pretty cool though," Sanji said from above, having already scaled the ladder to the elevated space above Law's bed where he liked to read.
"Anatomy 101," he read the title of the book Law had been reading out loud. Law joined him, considering the merits of pushing the brat out of his private space and dealing with the consequences later.
"Is this a textbook?" He asked and gave Law another scrutinizing look.
"Yes."
"Medicine?"
"Obviously."
"Are you gonna be a doctor?" Sanji asked, and Law was feeling silly now, playing twenty questions with a little kid.
"That is the plan."
Sanji looked at him skeptically before breaking out into a wide smile. "And you get this shit? Must be hella smart then!" He said, taking Law aback.
"Still a stupid kiddie hobby though," he said, hanging himself upside down over the ledge to peer at Law's collection again.
"Yours are much more adult. I'm sure," Law said and restrained himself from giving a petty little push.
The little blond shot up at that and turned to Law with a wide grin and shining eyes.
"I'm gonna be the sous-chef at the Baratie! And one day I'm gonna be the best chef in the world. With my own restaurant!" He said, puffing his chest out.
Law huffed a laugh at the image. "Are you now?" He asked.
"Yeah!" Sanji said, scowling now, or at least trying for it.
His phone went off with a text from Cora before he could retort.
"That's dinner. Let's get this over with," Law said and made his way to climb down.
"It's gonna be fantastic. You'll see! I helped!" Sanji boasted again, gliding down the ladder and trailing after Law to the kitchen.
Zeff and Cora were engaged in conversation, no doubt about the horrors of parenting judging from the sudden silence when he entered with the brat on his heels.
"There you are, getting along I hope," Cora said, exchanging a look with Zeff that didn't bode well.
They settled around the table and Law eyed the food. Some sort of potato casserole.
"Thank you so much for bringing this. I'm not much of a cook so we don't usually get food like this," Cora said and Law didn't comment on the fire hazard of letting Cora near any heated surface.
"It's no trouble. Lil eggplant here would cook all day if he had someone to eat it," Zeff said and ruffled the blond's hair who glared first at Zeff then at Law. Probably because Law was grinning. 'Lil' eggplant?' He mouthed across the table.
Sanji blushed bright red but wasn't deterred. "And I will when we open the restaurant!" He said and raised his chin high.
"Except there's school. And homework. And bedtime...," Zeff said and Law actually had to chuckle at the kid's betrayed expression.
"I hear you helped with dinner though, Sanji," Cora said and Sanji immediately broke out into another bright smile, launching into a play by play of the recipe, while Cora listened with that well familiar indulgent smile on his face until Zeff calmed Sanji with a hand to his shoulder.
Law had to admit that the food was pretty damn good. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to make nice with these neighbours.
"So, Law. You are an honor student?"
Of course Cora had bragged about that, left out his disciplinary problems, no doubt. Law shrugged, praying to all the gods he didn't believe in for it to be over quickly. "I guess."
"Oh, he's just being modest. Law is consistently at the top of his classes. Headed for a full ride through med school."
There Cora went and Law couldn't even hide his face in his hands and groan. Instead he had to look at Sanji's smug grinning face while Cora's praise kept escalating.
"Very impressive," Zeff said at length, nodding to himself. "Maybe you can tutor Lil Eggplant sometime, he's a little behind on the sciences. I'm sure we can work something out for compensation if that'd be okay with you."
Now it was Law's turn to grin at the betrayal on Sanji's face. "I'm sure we'll strike a deal."
The evening continued like that, Zeff and Cora exchanging stories about them over glasses of wine until Zeff disentangled them with a comment about Sanji's bedtime to the kid's obvious mortification.
"So?" Cora asked as Law was putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
"Zeff's alright I guess. The brat is a brat," Law said.
"You're a brat," Cora said and lit a cigarette by the open window. "And the enthusiasm is kind of nice, don't you think? Lively."
He rolled his eyes but let the brat comment slide. "I'm not exactly one for 'lively'."
"Well, I have a feeling you'll get along great," Cora said and grinned at him. Bright and content.
Law doubted very much that he'd ever get along with anyone.
But he wasn't going to contradict Cora when an idea made him happy.