magnetic attraction (lawlu)

#8

Law lay in bed, blankets drawn to his chin, listening to luffy chat away about his crew and how law should join them.

He denied every offer the boy gave, but it still warmed his heart to know he was wanted. After a few minutes the boy began to relax, finally, and ended his story with a dramatic yawn.

Then, to his horror, he rolled over so he was facing law and draped an arm around him, hooking a leg over his and burying his face in laws side.

The older captain froze, completely unsure of what to do. He hated how much he loved it. Loved the touch, loved luffy himself. He hated it because he so rarely cared about someone that much and when he did they always died.

They always left him all alone in a world where everyone hated him.

He curses himself for letting it happen again. Cursed himself... and the rolled over and hugged the younger right back, a content smile on his lips and a light blush during his cheeks.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, law was out like a light.

Meanwhile, on the island of Zou

The straw hat crew were all seated around the now silent transponder snail, the hearts scattered amlongst them.

None of then could quite process what was going on. they were all dead silent until chopper fainted and hit the ground. This even seemed to trigger a reaction from the rest of the group. Nami and ikaku immediately looked at each other and smirked, seing an opportunity for the project they had been working on for quite a while now.

Zoro smirked and grabbed a beer, siting back to think and watch the chaos. He was soon joined by Jean Bart, who he had come to respect over time.

Bepo seemed to be still in a state of shock, his brain ticking over what his captain being stick to a competitor meant. Usopp sachi and penguin were just straight panicking.

The minks all around them began to worry and became quote fascinated on the curse they would soon get to see in action.

One by one, the crew members calmed down and excused themselves for bed, until eventually all he was left were zoro and Jean Bart, who sat there drinking in silence until the early hours of the morning.

Back to our favourite captain duo

Law woke up. It was 3 in the morning. He wanted a coffee.

The aching in his head had finally relented and he felt healthy again fir the first time since he allied with the straw hats. Speaking of, he glanced down to check his current state. Sure enough, there was the devil himself, fast aseep and looking more like a God. Law couldn't even look at him for too long. It hurt his heart.

The boy twitched suddenly, jerking backwards. His face darkened and fell and suddenly he was broken in laws eyes.

Law lifted a surprisingly steady hand and wiped away the lone tear that was building in the corner of the young boys eye. Nightmares. He knew the deal.

Even so, he remained unsure of whether or not he should wake the boy. He was still debating this when luffy suddenly sat bolt upright, falling backwards and lashing out, in a complete state of panic.

His eyes shot open but his pupils were dialated and law knew that he was nkt seing the same thing as him. He was somewhere else. Somewhere that was not pleasant and that was scaring him. Law could only guess.

He scrambled back out of the way, avoiding luffys random attacks, but stayed close enough that he could intervene if he had to. He knew the symptoms. The labored breahing, the pale skin, the tears, the vacant eyes.

The poor boy was having a panic attack and law, despite all of his medical knowledge, couldn't quite figgure out what to do.

That's when the screaming began. Luffy seemed to have properly woken up and was thrashing around, sobbing and crying and screaming, all of it indistinguishable as words.

Law began to worry for the boy. He was going to hurt himself if he kept that up, and that was deffinalty not what law wanted. Not at all. He took a brief moment to thank the gods that hancock had given them a sound proof room. She had said something at the time about 'not wanting her ladies to disturb the sleep of her beloved.'

The doctors hand hovered infront of him. He thought about reaching out and touching the boy but didn't want to startle him. The he had a better idea.

"Luffy-ya." He said, his voice calm but firm. It worked better than he had anticipated. Luffy seemed to calm down, stilling, although he was still visibly hyperventilating. He blinked a few times and his eyes seemed to clear. They landed straight on law, and the pain and grief in them broke his heart.

"Tora-o." He replied, his voice almost pleading. It was so quiet and so broken that it took law a minute to match jt with the loud and happy person he k ew luffy to be.

He tentatively reached out and took the hand that luffy had held out to him. He didn't want to make any sudden movements and cause another flip out from the boy.

He had made a foolish mistake in u derestamating the younger captains strength.

Before he could react, luffy had hauled him back onto the beg and latched onto him like a Venus fly trap, wrapping his arms and legs around him and burying his head in his chest. It took law a minute to recover.

He looked down at the sobbing boy, who's walls had crumbled and left him weak. With a sight, he sat up, bringing his companions small body with him and cradeling it in his lap.

After a good 30 minutes of silence, only broken by luffys quiet sobs, the smaller of the pair began to speak.

"I'm sorry."

Law blinked a few times in confusion.

"What the hell for?"

"For everything. So many things. You saved me back then, when I should have died. It should have been me but you saved me anyway and then all I've done is fuck things up for you and get you hurt, and now your stuck with me, and you have to drag me around with you everywhere."  Luffy was sobbing again.