#Logically that should apply to Usopp too and you know what. Yeah.

[shima-draws]

I just finished Skypeia AGHHHFJHHHH it was so GOOD

[generaldevi]

Prognosis

Chapter 4: Sun Burn

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Law x Luffy

Characters: Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Monkey D. Luffy, Trafalgar D. Water Law, Usopp, Donquixote Doflamingo (mentioned), Donquixote Rocinante (mentioned, Dr. Kureha (mentioned), Sanji (mentioned)

Warnings: References to Depression, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Dependency

My part for the @lawlu-events BigBang 2018/19

The story got illustrated by the awesome artist @novicecomics

How was something like that even possible? How long did the other one sleep in the bright sun? Why did his friends not wake him up?

Zorro’s skin was red and raw, and Law was sure, that painful blisters would appear on his chest after a while.

“And… how long did you sleep in the sun? Did you use any kind of sunscreen?” “No. And uh- not long, I just took a short nap” Zorro was confused, what was all this about? Why did Nami insist on sending him to the doctor? Why did Luffy agree on it so quickly? Usually Luffy was more carefree. Zorro could not remember a single time of Luffy agreeing on visiting a doctor without someone being gravely injured or showing clear signs of sickness.

“A short nap?” “Yes, a short nap on the deck of the boat.” Luffy started to giggle. “Short? You fell asleep right after breakfast! You woke up at noon to eat something and drink beer and then continued to sleep! You slept the entire day!”

Luffy exclaimed while wobbling on the chair. It nearly felt, as if it was not possible for him to stay still for a moment. He may be talking to Zorro, but his gaze was fixed on Law. The doctor felt uneasy because of the intense stare.

Zorro noticed. Luffy was eager about something. That behavior clearly indicated, that Luffy wanted something. It had to do with the doctor, otherwise Luffy had let Usopp accompany him to the office, without insisting on going by himself.

“…” Law looked at Zorro with utter disbelieve. This could not be possible. If he did not know it better, he would think the other one had been cooked alive.

“Anyway. I can prescribe you a mild lotion, it will cool the irritated skin and help with the natural skin repair. Please refrain from direct sun in the next days and in general use sun screen to protect yourself. Skin Cancer is one of the aftermaths of repetitive sun burns.”

Law kept the more scientific and medical details to himself. Most people did not care about that anyway.

“Yeah, yeah.” Zorro yawned, while the doctor applied some of the lotion. After the treatment he threw the disposable gloves away, before turning around to watch the two of them. During the entire procedure Law had felt Luffy’s eyes on himself. It was somewhat unnerving. The worst thing was, it did not feel like the other one wanted to control him. Wanted to check, if he was doing everything right. Law felt like Luffy was watching himand not the procedure.

“Okay, I am done, you can-“He hesitated and took a look at his patient again. Snoring?! He was snoring. Why was he sleeping?! How did he-. It had been less than a minute?! Luffy laughed, while examining the expression on Torao’s face. It was always amusing to watch people’s expressions, when they encountered his friends! “He falls asleep easy! Let him nap! Or he will be grumpy!” Luffy got up with a grin on his face, before leaving the room, trailing towards the adjacent room. Torao’s desk was located there, he wanted to take a look around! He was curious!

Law watched Zorro for a moment, before turning towards Luffy, following him. “I guess, he can rest here for a while and later return to you- what are you doing?”

The other one was leaning over his table, examining the things he had on the table. There were not many things, considering that he had to share the work space with the other doctors. The only personal thing decorating the table was a single picture.

It was an old one. It meant a lot to Law.

“You looked as grumpy as child, as you look now! Shishishi” Luffy said with a warm smile. At first, he wanted to take the frame into his hands. He wanted to examine it closer, but he felt instinctively that it was something very dear to Torao. As much as he liked to disregard certain rules… no, this was something personal Torao was not willing to share. Yet.

The desk was neat and clean, entirely different than from the old hag’s desk. A lot of empty bottles had been standing around, random books and scraps of paper. Weird books with disgusting looking skin diseases and other kinds of gross stuff Luffy did not care about.

“I was not grumpy.” Law said with a bitter voice. The picture had been taken shortly after he had been adopted by the Donquixote family. He had hated everyone’s guts back then.

“You were. Look how big your frown is! Even bigger, than earlier, when you saw me again!”

Luffy looked up from the photograph, locked his eyes into Laws.

“Who is that man? Your father?” They looked entire differently, but Bellemere also looked different than Nami and her sister. Family did not mean, that people had to share visual characteristics! Family was much more than blood after all.

“Yes, I mean no, He was-. It does not matter.”

Law did not want to talk about Corazon. As much as he would like to think back about his warmth and love, it always was bound to the feeling of grief and loss. He missed him. It hurt. The logical consequence was not thinking back, trying to push away the thoughts. But then again, was it not something ignorant to do? Not thinking about happy times, because they made him sad? Was that disrespectful?

“It does matter. At least for you” Luffy said, before getting up, walking around the desk and stopping in front of him.

“I am sure he was a good father.” Law frowned, glaring daggers at the smaller one. This brat- he had no idea. Yes. Corazon had been a good father. Law disliked the way the Strawhat just came into his office and started questioning personal things. Law wanted to get rid of him. He wanted to push the other one away, like he always did with potential friends nowadays.

“As soon as your friend wakes up, I will send him back to you.” “Alright!” Law felt uneasy. It was, as if the other one had seen through his façade. Something was there. Something he could not pinpoint.

“Strawhat?”

“Yes, Torao?” Luffy turned around, beaming with a grin on his face. “I do not want to have another appointment with one of your little friends tomorrow.” “Oh! Do not worry! I watch out for my people!”

After the other one had left, Law let himself fall down on his chair. With a sigh he leaned back, sinking deep into the comfortable cushions. And he had thought, that yesterday had been annoying. How naïve he felt now for thinking that. Maybe he should have just taken the weeks of mandatory vacation, instead of this nightmare.

Why did he think, that a cruise ship tour could be enough of a distraction from his problems?! He cursed himself internally, while staring at the wooden picture frame. The frame was burnt in one corner. Corazon’s doing. He smiled for a second, thinking about the incident. Soon his thoughts drifted elsewhere, so he pushed them away. Again and again.

He did not like the Strawhat boy. At first glance the other one seemed rather goofy and moronic. He seemed like one of these people, who caused chaos wherever they went. On the other hand, Law had an uneasy feeling about him in his guts. The way the Strawhat had looked at the picture, the way he had talked to him. Luffy was by no means as dumb as he might appear first. The Strawhat had been quick at coming to a conclusion. His staring and grinning. He had known. But how? Law had always thought he had a rather good poker-face. One of the things you learned in the Donquixote family. Conceal your true feelings, hide your motives, survive. Sometimes, when Law thinks back, he notices more and more, that Cora-san had been the only one being completely honest with him.

If someone like the Strawhat could look through him, who else could see through the façade? Was he overthinking things? God. He felt the dull throbbing of a beginning headache in his skull.

“Damn Strawhat” he murmured to himself, just to hear half a chuckle, half a yawn. Zorro was standing in the doorframe, looking at Law with tired eyes.

“You look done” he murmured before heading towards the door, “Don’t overthink Luffy.” Zorro said before leaving. Apparently Luffy had taken interest on Law. Maybe he could have warned the doctor, then again, he was too tired to think about a proper way to describe a force like Luffy. He should find the others and then continue to nap.

Law looked dumbfounded. What? Apparently, his thoughts were obvious. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Maybe he should do it like Dr. Kureha and drink away his memories and dark thoughts. It seemed easier than coming to terms with them in a proper and healthy way. Not that his way of dealing with emotional stress was healthy. With a sigh he stopped looking at the picture showing himself sitting on Cora-sans lap. His round face was showing an ugly pout, cheeks red of embarrassment and childish tears swelling up in his eyes.

Law never had liked attention. Neither as kid, nor now. The picture had been taken shortly, after he joined the Donquixote family. Cora-san had wanted to take a picture of them both. Something like father and son. Back then, Law had not been able to accept Cora-san as father. In the beginning he had only seen Cora-san as a weird old man, who took him out of pity from the orphanage. Later he had learned, that it had been Doflamingo’s doing. Pointing out Law’s tragic past and pushing Cora-sans buttons. A promising doctor’s son was a nice addition to his pawnsfamily. Not that Law minded. It was probably the best, that could have happened.

Law sighed at his thoughts and looked down at the frame again. On contrary to his own grumpy expression, Cora-san had grinned widely. One of his huge hands was resting on Laws shoulder, the other pointed towards the camera. As if Law had not known, what to do in such a situation. Cora-san had tried so hard to make him smile. More than once. He had failed. By now Law wished, he had smiled more. For Cora-san sake and maybe for his own.

With a silent sigh he got up and started to clean the desk, as well as the treatment room. It was not his job to clean. They had cleaning staff in charge of disinfecting everything after each treatment. Right now, it was all Law needed. Something to do. Something to keep himself busy. Something to occupy his body and therefore restrict his mind.

His shift would end soon. He wanted nothing more, than to take a few drinks and at least try to get some sleep. His sleep-deprivation also correlated with his mood. The less sleep, the darker and depressed his mood got. One could only work so much, before the body pulled the break and forced one to rest. Stupid damping and calming chemicals released by the body to prevent damage due to sleep-deprivation. It was difficult to fight versus the own hormonal cycle. Power of hormones, synapsis and receptors was too strong.

Law busied himself until Dr. Kureha took the shift over. He did not even listen to her banter about how everything was too clean and why the ship even paid a cleaning staff if Law was doing all by himself. Grumpy old hag. She should stick closer to her wine and let him be by himself.

When Zorro arrived at his friends table, Luffy was shoveling food down his throat and Nami was sipping on a cocktail that looked too fancy to contain enough alcohol for Zorro’s taste.

“Oi. Zorro. Luffy said you were as red as the lobster he ate earlier. Better not nap in the sun tomorrow!” Nami said with a taunting voice. She had warned him, before he had fallen asleep in the sun. The Redhead had even offered him some sun-screen (not for free though).

“Maybe, dunno. Does not matter, will heal.”

Luffy looked at him and nodded before trailing off, gathering more food to devour.

“Luffy found a new victim. Doctor seemed like he is about to lose it. He looked done, when he saw Luffy and me.”

Nami raised one eyebrow. She was not sure if it was really Luffy’s fault this time or if it was the bright red skin colour of Zorro, that had made the doctor wonder. Then again, Luffy’s behavior earlier had been weird. He had listened to her and brought Zorro to the doctor. Without a fuss! That had been surprising…

“How did the doctor look?” Usopp asked, wondering if it was the same one as yesterday.

“Dark hair, darker skin type, some tattoos, tired, grumpy.” “Yeah, sounds accurate.” Usopp thought about the creepy appearance of the doctor. He had not looked like the typical doctor in a white coat with a nice smile! More than the horror movie kind of doctor. He had been nice and competent though, so … Usopp would not complain.

“Luffy mentioned, that he invited him for barbeque today, but the doctor declined.” Nami looked at her two friends, before smiling cat-like. “Who wants to bet? The doctor will join us for dinner at least once before the cruise-trip ends?” Silence.

They all knew, what was going to happen.

“Oh, c’mon” Nami sighed, leaning back. Maybe this had been a little bit too obvious? After it was sure, that none of the boys wanted to bet with her, she looked around. Maybe she should go to the casino-room and play a bit for money. She had never been a gambling person, at least not at something that was truly luck based. But some games could be either won by strategy or by distracting the other players. Most people playing here were elder men. It was easy for her to distract those! “I am going to earn a bit of money. Anyone of you wants to join? Or will you stay here?” She asked, before something caught her interest. Nami raised one eyebrow. Luffy stood in the middle of the way leading towards the dining area. He had a huge, overfilled plate in his one hand, while he stuffed his face with the other. So far, nothing unusual.  

Luffy was watching someone. When Nami followed Luffy’s gaze, she noticed a dark-haired man. Was that the doctor? Apparently. His clothes seemed rather pricey, fitting for a well-earning doctor. Tight fitting black jeans and a blue-ish Hoodie with some fur or feathers around the upper part. It looked, like there was a yellow sign or symbol on the Hoodie? She could not make out any details because of the distance towards him. The most interesting part about the doctor had nothing to do with his looks. It was Luffy’s interest in him. By now she had learned, that if Luffy was interested in someone, that person had something special to them.

“You know what guys? I rather stay with you then play with some old geezers some card games.”

She was curious about the doctor and Luffy’s interest towards him.