Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Law) Chapter 43 - Trauma

Trigger Warning: Past sexual assault of a minor discussed. Not particularly graphic, but may make some uncomfortable.

It was a little unfair that Luffy could claim Law as his when he had been so adamantly against being claimed like that himself, Law thought during dinner. Unfair, but... so LUFFY. The world would be his, so that he would never belong to the world, never have to abide by its rules. That was just how Luffy worked. How he'd probably always work.

Still, even if it irked him a little, it had been surprisingly comforting to be so claimed, too. To know that Luffy was sure Law'd always fit into his world. Maybe not as a boyfriend, but he'd always have a place as a friend. He'd never have to have a future without Luffy in it. So for the moment, he wouldn't worry about any of that.

For the moment, what he needed to worry about was how much to tell Luffy. He wasn't entirely sure he could get both rough stories out in one go, but he knew he would need Luffy to understand both. He'd need to bare the darkness within. Expose the worst parts of himself: that scared little boy and that angry grown man. The thought distracted him enough so that he barely noticed that most of their fellow diners had left until Luffy called his name.

"You okay, Torao?"

"So I'm 'Torao' again?" He tried to smirk, to pretend like everything was fine, but it sat awkwardly on his face.

Luffy smirked back. "In public, at least."

That made Law's smirk feel a little more natural. "I'm okay. Ready to go?"

"If you are!"

It didn't take long for them to be back in Law's room on the Tang, even without Law using his powers. He locked the door and leaned his head against it for another few seconds, his hands starting to shake already at the daunting task before him.

"You really don't have to tell me, if you hate it that much." Luffy's voice was soft and understanding.

It only firmed up Law's resolution."Yeah. I do. Eventually, anyways, and this isn't something that will get any easier with time. It might as well be now." He made his way to the wardrobe, grabbing the vodka and shot glasses. He may have needed to do this, but he was not about to do it sober. "If I'm drinking, you want some?"

"No. This is too important, I can tell. I want to remember everything you say," Luffy said, settling into a sitting position on the bed.

Law set one of the shot glasses back on the shelf, and quickly poured his first shot, only to drop it down his throat and pour another. Once that one was burning its way down, too, he sat next to Luffy on the bed, leaning against the headboard, vodka and glass in his lap.

"I'm not quite sure how to start, to be honest," he sighed. "Like I said before, there's two events. One of them... no one knows about, except kind of Zoro, and that only because he guessed well. I'm going to try to get through both without passing out, but if I get so I can't speak after the first one, find Shachi or Penguin and have them tell you about 'Rusla', okay? Tell 'em you have my permission to hear it, in detail."

"Rusla?" Luffy asked, like he was confirming the name.

Law nodded, taking another shot. He noticed the concerned look on Luffy's face, but he didn't know what to say to address it. He put the vodka and glass down, but near enough so that he could refill it if he needed to. And he might damn well need to. "The first... event... that fucked me up started when I was 11."

"When you were with 'Mingo's crew?" Luffy's voice was calm and curious, but there was a certain tension in his frame at that name. A tension that indicated he was ready to fight, Law realized. If he had to guess, he'd guess that Luffy had assumed Doflamingo would be featured in this story.