Chapter Nineteen: Birthday Plans and Driving Lessons

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A/N: Okay, I have no excuse for my extended absence but I've been working on this a lot the last few weeks and you can expect much more frequent updates. I'm not quite ready to get back to weekly updates but I am sure as hell not giving up on this bad boy *slaps WIP*

Luffy closed the door behind him. Zoro had just dropped him off. After they cleaned up Usopp's car everyone went to Nojiko's and hung out there for a few hours. Nojiko usually kicked them out around 4 or 5. She said it'd look bad on her part if she let minors hang around a bunch of people drinking. 

"I'm home!" Luffy called, though there was no response. Luffy was home a bit earlier than normal so the silence wasn't that odd. Luffy was home and he had schoolwork he should probably get done. But he also had some videos Usopp had sent him to look at before they uploaded them. And He and Usopp really needed to get a video posted before his birthday. 

Luffy was only alone for about twenty minutes. The front door swung open and Luffy jumped to his feet immediately to see who it was. Law shut the door behind him. He was on the phone.

"Hi, Torao!" Luffy called from the doorway of his bedroom. Law only waved at him and went into the kitchen. He must want to be left alone while he was on the phone. Luffy turned back to the laptop he had open with one of the videos from the trip with Kid playing. He let Usopp know he liked all the videos before Luffy checked his other messages. 

"Luffy-ya?" Law called from the hallway. Luffy got to his feet right away. 

"Yeah?" Luffy asked. He got to the doorway before Law could.

"You wanna go practice driving for a bit?"

"Sure!"Luffy chirped with a smile. He got his sandals on as quickly as he could. Law went back out to the living room while Luffy collected his wallet then went to wait for Law by the front door, Law had gone back into the kitchen and came back out while Luffy waited.

"Let's go," Law said, nodding his head towards the door. Luffy headed outside with Law right behind him. Luffy was more than gear to get behind the starting wheel. He had to adjust the seat because Law and Sabo were both insanely tall. 

"Short stack," Law remarked as he waited for Luffy to fix the seat. 

"I'm not that short, you're just really tall!" Luffy argued. Law rolled his eyes before glancing back at Luffy. 

"Whatever makes you feel better," Law said. 

"It's true!" 

"Mhm, you gonna start the car or what?" Law smirked just a bit while Luffy searched for the keys, He checked his pockets and then the cupholders when he couldn't find them. A jingling noise rattled near Luffy's ear. He looked up to find the keys hanging off Laws fingers. 

"Oh," Luffy hummed. He took the keys and started the car. Law stayed silent as Luffy backed out of the driveway. He checked the road along with Luffy though. If a disaster was near, Law would at the very least, like to see it coming. The only disaster was brought to Sabo's rims as Luffy hit the curb. Law cringed at the feeling. 

"You turned too sharp," Law said. "Turn the wheel slower next time." 

"Ooh," Luffy hummed. It all made sense now. To turn with a little space he needed to turn the wheel faster, and for a wide space turn the wheel slower. Luffy was a little disappointed he hadn't figured that one out sooner. It's not like he had never steered anything before. Well, car was a little different. Luffy shifted into drive and started down the road. 

"Go to the busy road," Law instructed. He watched Luffy's knuckles tighten a little on the steering wheel. Good, Luffy was nervous. If he wasn't Law would be concerned. If he's nervous he'll pay more attention to what could hurt them and the car. 

"Mkay," Luffy chirped. It was only a minute or two before they were in traffic. It was getting close to a rush-hour so Luffy would learn pretty quick how to drive around a lot of people. It was a good thing. 

"Excited for your birthday?" Law asked. He knew the answer to that, he just wanted to make conversation, he didn't have to do very much work around Luffy in that department though. Law appreciated that about Luffy. Law preferred to listen anyway. 

"Yeah!" Luffy chirped immediately. "It's going to be so fun, Sabo and Ace told me to invite as many people as I could. Ace said he'll be disappointed in me if someone doesn't end up calling the cops."

Law chuckled at that last part. He expected nothing less from Ace. "What did Sabo have to say about that?" 

"Shishi, he said agreed with Ace," Luffy grinned and glanced at Law before turning his attention back to the road. 

"Really?" Law would expect Sabo to protest against something like that. "You can turn right on a red light." Luffy made a small 'oh' with his lips.

"Yep, they both want it to be the coolest party! And it will be!" Luffy grinned and Law couldn't help but think that Luffy was planning something that would lead to no good. "I think Usopp is gonna record some stuff from the party so we can have a vlog." 

"Sounds like a good idea, if anything insane happens, you'll definitely get the views," Law commented. 

"Nami said that too," Luffy mentioned, he pressed on the breaks a little too fast at the red light and Law's seat belt locked-up on him. 

"Try slowing down early so you don't have to be so hard on your breaks," Law advised. Luffy nodded and started moving with traffic again. '

"Torao, you're gonna be there right!?" Luffy asked suddenly. Law hadn't expected Luffy to care much if he were there or not. Law figured that Luffy would be way too preoccupied with his friends and classmates going rather than him of all people. Law was more than flattered that Luffy wanted him there. 

"Of course I'll be there," Law said, smirking at the smile Luffy grew. "Your brothers would kill me if I weren't there."

"Oh, you're just going for my brothers?" Luffy sounded more than a little disappointed. Law gave him a deadpanned look before realizing Luffy couldn't see his expression. Law scoffed. 

"I'd stay regardless of your brothers, dumbass, it's your birthday." Luffy smiled at that. 

"Good!" Luffy chirped with a big grin.  Law had to keep himself from smiling back and looked at the road that was in front of him. He hadn't realized what part of town they had wondered into Law wasn't familiar with anything around them he dug out his phone to figure out where the hell they were. 

Law kept looking back up at the road to make sure Luffy wasn't about to make them crash.

"I invited Kidd to my party, I don't think Ace and Sabo will like it very much," Luffy admitted. 

"Is that the guy you broke into the bowling alley with?" Law asked. Law hadn't heard a whole ton about that guy other than Sabo was convinced he was a delinquent. 

"Yep," Luffy chirped. "He's super cool!" Something in the way Luffy said that didn't sit right with Law. 

"If you say so," Law muttered. He should stay out of that. Whatever was going on there was between Luffy and his brothers. 

"You don't sound like you think so," Luffy pointed out. 

Law shrugged, "I don't know him, I'll have to take your word for it." 

"Oh," took a turn and they were back on a busy road. Oh, right, Law was trying to figure out where they were. Law looked at the GPS on his phone and figured it out pretty quickly. They were near Inglewood, not an area Law was comfortable being near. It wasn't Law's fault he grew up in Brentwood. It was bad enough that Law had to move to Crenshaw, let alone accidentally wandering into Inglewood.

"Turn left up here," Law directed. Luffy didn't question him. Law directed Luffy back to their part of town. They didn't spend much more time on the road before Law got tired of being in the car and had Luffy take them home. That, and dinner would be done soon and Law was hungry.

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