A/N: Hey, guys. Late update, but I'll try to update as quickly as I can. I decided to get a job this summer for some extra money , and I have just realized what a full time worker feels like. It feels like shit. I always feel too tired to do anything when I come back home, and I mostly knock out only to wake up to the next day where work starts again. Yeah, work's nice and everything, but I miss just chilling when I only had part time. Anyways, to talk about this chapter, it's a little slow(like my whole story lol), but it's crucial to the build up of the plot.

I changed the last part, but please don't kill me. I was confuzzled in how it'll effect the future chapters.

~Never Have I Ever~

Chapter 4 - Cake

"Go faster!"

Air was wooshing into Kidd's mouth through his wide grin as his uncle revved up the bike with a flick of his wrist. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that his uncle finally let him ride in the back of his motorcycle. The strings of his goggles were flapping beside his ears as he screamed for the heck of it, his voice drowned in the wind. Kidd blinked seeing the streak lines of the of the passing road as colored orange through his goggles, and everything was going so fast. He held on tight to his uncle's back pressing onto the brown leather, and his uncle looked back. Through the shine of the man's helmet, Kidd could see his own reflection. He was twelve and smiling with a goofy grin so wide, he was sure bugs could have flew in there. It felt like the man was trying to say something but he couldn't understand. An eery feeling started to creep into Kidd's skin when suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw a black piece of mass coming towards them.

"Uncle!"

Everything went pitch black.

There was quiet, all the rushing sound of the wind gone. Kidd opened his eyes to quiet murmurs, the voices slowly escalating to alert garbble. A beeping noise was the only distinct noise he could make out, the sound of people too bustling as they were moving around him. Past the busy bodies, he could make out a person in the bed next to him. His throat caught, and at first he couldn't move. He didn't understand. His uncle was right there riding his motorcycle with him just a few seconds ago. Kidd thrashed to reach out for the bloodied body.

Wake up!

Hands pushed him back down. They were all over him. They didn't want him to reach him. He scratched at the things holding him back but more arms came to attack him harder with each wave they materialized. The beeping he heard that continued on so steadily began to waver, began to slow, until all he heard was one continuous line. A flatline.

The colors of the room began to blur and rushed past his head like he was taken to another place and time. The hands were gone and he was standing. He turned around jerking his body all around only to find himself in open grass with trees in the distance. He stopped when he saw flowers surrounding around a rectangular hole on the ground, a stone slab stuck on the top edge, and he heard crying. Kidd lifted his head and suddenly, there was a mass of people standing beside him, all of them dressed in black. His hands clenched together, but there was a solid mass between them that stopped them from doing so. A part of him was afraid to look down, and he forced his eyes to look. With a thick gulp, his pupils shrunk.

There, in his hands, he held a blood stained helmet, the silver paint shining with permanent rust splatter. The glass gleamed like someone was staring at him behind it, and his hands shook. He pulled to let go, but his skin stuck to surface like glue. Blood started to seep from inside the helmet and through where his fingers touched it, the gush of liquid spilling to his feet.

Do you wanna take a ride?

"Mr. Eustass,"

Kidd opened his eyes. A bright light fixed his sight and a dark figure was looking up above him. Lines began to come together and he saw the dark haired man who had been taking care of him with a odd look on his face. Why was he looking at him like that? Kidd moved his head against the pillow and felt the dampness against his skin. He continued to shift and the cloth of his garments stuck to his chest and back, all of him feeling sticky. Too sticky that he felt like shedding his own skin. A bead of sweat crawled down his temple making him feel hot and dizzy from its cold touch. He noticed that his blankets wasn't on him anymore, and he looked back up at the intern.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking fine," Kidd sat up running a hand through his hair, the moisture from his forehead slicking back the hard to tame locks. He used the back of his arm to wipe away any sweat from his face as he could finally breathe. The constraints on his chest were no longer there, but then he realized that the hands never existed in the first place. Fuck. He hadn't even thought of his uncle for years. Some of those memories, he had forgotten, but they had all decided to resurface at such a convenient time.

His hand jumped to his chest collecting a knotted clump of his shirt and ripped the damp garment off. The shirt pulled out through his arms messing his sling, but he didn't care. He threw the torn shirt at a corner of his bed hating this place. He needed to get the hell out of this damn hospital.

He sat there unmoving trying to calm the heat in his chest down, the AC of the place sucking at this task badly at the moment. A flow of air blew on his back, and Kidd jerked to see the intern's hand reaching for him. He grabbed the offending hand into his own, his fingers almost crushing the dainty digits into broken bones. He didn't want to be touched.

The man started shaking, his dark skin crawling with small tremors under Kidd's pressure, and another hand lapped over his knuckles clawing to make him release his brutal grip. Kidd knew he shouldn'tbe angry, but he just was. The sadistic pleasure of seeing the dark hand worrying over his fingers and digging underneath the meat of his hand to make him open up made him tighten around the cramped, trapped flesh.

"Mhgmhn," Kidd flicked his eyes to sound of a man clearing his throat. His hand eased on the intern's as he saw Dr. Hawkins by the door. He looked at them with a blank expression, his eyes switching to the two male's intertwined hands.

"I didn't know you were forgiven so easily, " he looked back up at the redhead. The doctor narrowed at seeing his bare, sweaty torso and turned to the tanned man who's hand he was currently clinging on to. His lips tightened before he spoke. "Don't you think Mr. Eustass is in need of a sponge bath?"

Both men quickly let go of each other fastly paling, the young intern daring to say no.

"What do you mean your boss took it?"

Penguin found himself asking the blue haired man at the front desk. He had gone back to the tattoo parlor after their shift letting his two friends go home without him as he went to go run his little "errand." The tall man stared at him, his eyes slanting with a slightly ghoulish style as he frowned. His lips were slightly dented, but the tattoo that extended the sides of his lips made him look like he was frowning. With the man's intimidating looks even when he was just standing there, it felt a little shady when the worker took him to the back to look at the cabinet where they stored all the lost or forgotten items left at their parlor. The only comfort Penguin had of coming here alone was that he knew where to hit for weak points just in case he needed to make a quick get-away; the benefits of studying human anatomy.

"The one who did your friend's tattoo, he's our boss. He hasn't been here for a few months so he probably didn't know about the cabinet. It's something new we installed since more and more people have been coming that we can't keep track of all the things customers leave behind anymore."

A moue formed on the medical student's face. He remembered the redhead very clearly, the over priced bastard. He didn't know whether to feel impressed first that a guy that young was the owner of a well known establishment, or conflicted that he had to see the guy again. They didn't really leave the best impressions on each other, especially on Penguin's wallet.

"When can I talk to him again?" Penguin guessed he had to meet the guy either way.

The man closed the closet he was showing him and folded his arms with a low hum. "He's actually in the hospital right now from an accident and he'll be out by the end of the week. I can ask him for you, but you have to call in and check again."

"End of next week?" How the heck did that guy get into an accident in a span of just a few days?! Can he and Shachi wait that long before Law found out about his tattoo and started asking? Law's bound to notice some time soon, and he was eternally grateful and surprised that it actually hadn't happened yet. Despite their luck so far though, he couldn't say that it'll hold. The time until their hides would be skinned was ticking.

"Next week is the soonest I can do."

Penguin nodded knowing that the man was doing him a favor.

"Thank you," he shook the man's hand and took his leave. He just had to wait.

Penguin's drive home was a little disappointing, but then he continued to mull it over. This was actually a good thing. Knowing that the redheaded tattoo artist had the hat actually gave him a sense of comfort. At least they could stop looking for it. Knowing was better than not knowing, and they had a set time when this whole ordeal would be over. Everything was going to be fine, and if Law didn't like his new tat on his lower back, then they could always just remove it. The solutions sounded so simple. This whole drunk incident was just a pain to handle he guessed, and Penguin knew next time, next time he would never let his two friends out of his sight again when they go to bars.

A heavy sense left Penguin's shoulders, but the feeling came pulling him back down ten times more pregnant when he came home.

He got home in another half hour and climbed the steps to their apartment. When he stuck in the key to their door, he came into a silently dark room. His two roommates were most likely knocked out from their long day at work, and he made sure to close the door softly behind him. He slipped his shoes off and tiptoed gently to Law's room to peek inside if he was already sleeping or not. He twisted the knob to create the slightest crack between the door and found the man laying calmly under his bedsheets, eyes closed. Good. Penguin closed the door and traveled down the hall to Shachi's room and slipped in. His hand flicked on the lights and he heard a startled groan.

"Wha- hmn?" the redheaded man scrambled in his bed.

He was already fast asleep, but the sudden brightness woke him ungracefully. His bed hair was sticking out everywhere and his legs were tangled in the blankets with one leg sticking out. The disturbed redhead sat up rubbing his eyes and turned to his merciless intruder of sleep.

"Penguin?" he squinted bothered by the glaring lights. "Did you just get home?"

"Yeah," he walked closer to the redhead. "Sorry about waking you up."

Shachi reached over to his shades by the drawer wanting to cover his over sensitive eyes.

"Why are you here?" he mumbled.

"I went over to check at the tattoo parlor after work," he answered taking a seat at the man's desk chair. "And they confirmed that they do have Law's hat. The guy who did Law's tattoo has it. Apparently, he's the boss of the place, but he got into an accident so he's been hospitalized. We just have to call next week and we can get the hat back when he gets out."

"Hmngh….." Shachi let out a sleepy groan.

Instead of being happy like Penguin expected, his friend sighed and rubbed his forehead with a frown. He forced a breath through his nose and his hand traveled upwards to scratch his scalp messing up his hair.

"What?" he asked. "You don't have to tell Law by yourself," he began to feel bad about their bet thinking that's what it was about. "We'll tell Law together."

"It's not that," Shachi lifted his eyes up at him. "I know which hospital the tattoo artist is in."

Penguin looked at him confused about the relevance.

"He's in our hospital," Shachi's hand came down from his head. "I saw him yesterday when we were following Dr. Hawkins around. He's Law's patient."

"What?" Penguin asked for the second time. Did he hear that right? "Wait," he put up a hand. "So does that mean Law knows?"

He began to get worried that their plans might've been spoiled, but the redhead shook his head.

"The guy got into a biking incident, and apparently, he doesn't remember anything. I listened to him get questioned by the therapist today, and he doesn't remember the whole day when we went. He didn't even remember me, and from what it looks like, Law either. The last thing he remembers was a truck smacking into him."

Both men frowned at the result of how both their pieces of information came together. What he learned from Shachi made the information that made him feel like the breeze just an hour ago into making him feel like he had been trapped in a mirage. The beautiful mirage was all a lie, and he was actually halfway engulfed by a deepening sinkhole. The tattoo artist didn't remember them at all which meant that the redhead didn't know about having Law's cap either. Shachi looked at Penguin completely lost.

"Then how are we going to ask him for the hat?"

*current time to Kidd's interrogation

"Soo, not only did you check out his butt, but you also slapped it too."

"Ace, I'm about to slap you."

The freckled male only laughed at his threat.

"Just admit you guys are together and this game will be over," Ace grinned. "I don't get why you're making this so hard. C'mon, I'm already getting hungry from staying here so long, right Luffy?"

"Hold on," Luffy fiddled his thumbs on his phone with deep concentration. "I'm texting Sanji to bring over meat. I'm really hungry!"

A ravenous growl came from the younger brother's stomach at even saying the word for food.

"Didn't you just eat dinner?" Zoro looked at Luffy.

"Yeah, but I need my midnight snack to keep me going,"

"Asking Sanji for an eight course meal isn't a snack," Zoro knew his best friend well.

His roommate's definition was a little different than the rest of the world as his meaning for 'snack' could feed a restaurant full of people. A meal was a whole food supply for a city. In the rare occasions of feasts, the boy could eat the amount of food to support a whole country.

"I just said I was hungry too!" Ace shoved closer to his brother's shoulder. "Ask Sanji to bring more if he's coming."

"I already asked him to roast five pigs," Luffy kept texting as he got a reply.

"How about dessert?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask about that!" the teen shouted at his forgetfulness. "I want ice cream!"

"Get mango pudding!"

"Banana split?"

"Don't just say it, text him!"

"I am!" Luffy whined.

The two brothers began shouting a list of foods that no doubt would overload Sanji's phone by the time it would be sent. Some of the sweets the pair mentioned didn't have names and were just called by how the food looked like leading to disturbed faces of the people around them. The 'brown, watery stuff' or 'yellow, grainy balls' didn't exactly sound appetizing.

"Do you want some oatmeal? We have some instant ones with dried apricot," Penguin offered, but was easily ignored by the two hungry boys naming food.

Kidd leaned back his head against the sofa wondering why he was putting himself through this. Why was he spending his midnight with these people? He blocked out the brothers' nonsense giving himself a small break from talking until he heard Zoro chime in with a gruff request.

"Tell curly brow to bring a pack of beer too. We ran out downstairs."

That was the first bright idea Kidd had heard all night.

"Beer?" Luffy stuck out his tongue with a gagging noise.

"Hey, that actually sounds nice," the older D disagreed smiling at Zoro's good idea. "We can use some of those to lighten up the mood. There's nothing like a good bottle of beer that'll make people talk. You know, 'cuz Kidd really needs it because *ahem* someone's being a little pansy."

"Pansy?!" Can he throw Ace out of the room right now? For real, can he?

A subtle smile was on the teen's face as he eyed the flustered redhead, his lids lowered knowingly. "At least I can admit it when I like someone. Really, Kidd. I really don't know why you can't."

* flashback

Law couldn't sleep. He looked at his hand as he lay in bed, the clammy touch of the redhead lingering on his palms. The way the teen was mumbling in his sleep, the way he reached out for his hand and held it so tightly while he was having a nightmare, he guessed that people just had their own problems. His fingers were merely thin shadows in the dark of his unlit room, but they kept strongly reminding him of how Kidd felt when he woke up with a jolt as if something had him suffocating. It almost felt real. As if it was still happening, as if he was still in the hospital.

Law heard the door open in the living room signaling that Penguin had come home from the store and he quickly tucked his arm under the blanket to hide. Pretending to sleep, but eyes refusing to close, he listened to the floorboards creaking as his friend tiptoed in the hallway. It might've been his mind playing tricks on him, but Law could've sworn he heard his bedroom door close as Penguin passed by to his own room making him stiffen. It was a weird habit of his to make sure his friends didn't worry for him, especially the two he lived with, and he forced his lids to clench shut.

Didn't Penguin know that he was a grown man and didn't need anyone checking up on him in the middle of the night? He knew he was worried about his insomnia, but it was getting better. He grew slightly annoyed, but felt warmer at the gesture.

He settled into his pillow knowing that he had to sleep soon, but then he started hearing voices. His brows tensed as he strained his ears to hear, but the voices weren't loud enough. Seems like Penguin went to talk to Shachi about something. He listened to them talk, their conversation continuing for an extended amount of time until it began to lull him to sleep. Sleep did come to him after all.

Though it didn't stay for long.

It was the start of the weekend, the beginning of the two days he had with no class or work to do so he always slept in, but his ringing phone wouldn't let him. The vibrating ringtone sung at him to wake up, and Law tossed in his bed to reach for it. Light was passing through his blinds, but he felt so dead to appreciate the sun and wished the moon stayed a little longer.

He cracked open an eye to check caller ID, but it was unknown. Who in the world kept calling him? He ended the call and placed the phone back on his drawer to go back to sleep. He flipped to his side and hugged his pillow trying to get comfortable. For a while it worked. There was quiet and his body started to relax again. His arms loosened around the fluffy pillow falling into a lax state.

"This isn't for you, Luffy!"

Law practically threw his head back moaning. What in world could they possibly be yelling about downstairs at - Law flung out his arm flailing for his clock - at 11:27... in the morning? He let out another creaking moan. Was it already almost noon? It felt like it had only been three hours since he slept.

"Shit! You already ate it?!"

"We can just drive by that one bakery!"

"You know how much I have to pay for gas? I don't want to buy another one!"

Law tried to ignore the yelling, but each time his neighbors said something, he cringed. He tossed his covers away from him and stomped to the window opening it to stick his head out. Please, shut up. He didn't have to see who it was to know who they were as it was obvious from the sounds of their voices, and there really were only two residents in their complex that would make so much noise.

"Ace!" It was even noisier when the brother came to visit.

Down below, he could see his neighbor in the parking lot who always wore a straw hat and slippers like it was summer. The boy was clinging onto a taller dark haired teen, his brother, who had a similarly memorable hat with a skull attached at the bottom. In his hands was a yellow box that he smacked the younger with. Making them a pair, the older brother also seemed to always feel warm as he was dressed in denim shorts and an open collared shirt exposing his washboard abs. And this was in winter. Quieter, though he can be just as boisterous as the other two, the younger brother's roommate with green hair was standing with them next to Ace's car.

The freckled teen noticed him up above and grinned with a wave of his hand. "Heya, Law!" The moment they saw each other, Law could see that the teen's face stopped for a moment then tighten into a wriggly line holding back a laugh. Seeing the older man's face darken, he settled with a loud whistle. "Wow, you look like shit. Did you just wake up?" he chuckled.

Following Ace's lead, the other two looked up, and Luffy shouted a hearty good morning with a silly smile as well. Law's eyes deadened too tired to deal with all these loud greetings.

"Thank you, Ace, for pointing that out," he leaned on his window sill. "I was trying to sleep, but then I heard you guys outside. You guys aren't exactly the quietest bunch, you know. What is it exactly that you guys are trying to do?"

"We're visiting a friend of ours in the hospital and giving him cake to feel better!" Luffy fist pumped in the air.

"Yeah, that you ate," Ace walked over to the front of his car with his brother still on his back. He let go of the boy's legs to bring him down and fish the keys to open the door.

"I was just taste testing it to see if it was poisonous! I'm glad to tell you it's not! I give it two thumbs up!" Luffy gave both his thumbs.

"Right," the teen rolled his eyes. The car door unlocked and the two younger ones climbed in, Zoro at shotgun as Luffy had been banned from sitting at the front for messing with the radio station and other buttons too much when there was a group. "Hey," Ace put an arm on the hood of his Toyota looking up at Law. He fiddled with his keys on one hand, his mood changing with the topic, and the sleep deprived man raised a brow with sleepy interest. "Hey... Do you ever go out other than to class or work? I mean, I don't really see you anymore where we usually hang out."

The teen didn't mean to offend as he just missed seeing him. With each passing year, it seemed like Law was losing more and more of his free time to work or school, but he couldn't help it. Things were just getting busier and busier. He used to go to this really lax hang out place with his friends a lot, but he'd been going less often. This year, he didn't even realize that he had stopped going out completely unless he was forced to.

A smile twisted one side of the graduate's lips as medical school was almost killing him with not giving him enough free time to waste on other silly things. For instance, Ace. And his other friends too, of course. "Don't worry about me, I get my own share of fun," he assured the teen.

His playful smile sent one forming on Ace's own. "Call me when you go out next time," the teen pointed to him making it a promise. "If you're not sharing your booze, I won't forgive you!"

He let out a little laugh as he watched Ace get into his car. "Don't worry, I will."

Since Killer couldn't drive (it was Bonney giving the blonde a ride to the hospital so many times but she didn't want Kidd in her car), it was Ace that offered to drive him back to his house after his discharge. He called when he was coming, but he didn't say anything about the the surprise he dragged along with him.

"Kidd!"

Luffy, like the little bundle of bouncing energy he was, the punk, came bursting out of the car and sprung on him when Kidd walked out to the front of the building. The boy wrapped his arms around him crushing his broken arm and pushing his balance on his bad leg. Kidd gritted his teeth unable to push the raven away as his free hand was holding onto a crutch. "Freaking… Luffy."

Ace came out of the car chuckling at the sight with Zoro following after. Dismissing the older brother, Kidd looked at the sensible one for help, but the green haired teen only waved a pink box decorated with orange swirls at him.

"We brought you cake."

Luffy hugged him even tighter.

"Thanks a fucking lot," the words came out in a quick huff. The sarcasm was just bleeding out of him that they should've sent Kidd back in to the hospital.

Zoro smirked at him. "It's triple chocolate cake."

…

Okay, so they brought him his favorite flavored cake, but he still minded the car being so crowded. Ace took a glance at him through the rearview mirror with a smile as he leaned back casually driving the wheel with one hand, the other resting on the rolled down window.

"They just wanted to see how you were doing, Kidd."

"Yeah, we were worried," Luffy twisted back from the shotgun seat. Luckily for him, they all agreed to let the boy sit at the front lest he accidentally make any of the redhead's injury worse. Kidd narrowed his eyes as he saw the dark haired teen shoving something in his mouth with a fork, and he craned his neck to find that there was something pink on Luffy's lap.

"Are you eating my cake?"

Luffy turned back to the front and sat back down. Before Kidd could reach over to grab at the boy's shoulder, Ace slowed to a stop.

"Kidd," his voice was serious. "What's happening to your apartment?"

"What?" he turned to look at the window. Kidd's face basically dropped when he saw a group of running people coming from inside his building. Raging clouds of red and orange breathing out grey streaks of smoke into the air was eating his particular room and spreading elsewhere. There was a few scattered men down below in dirtied yellow uniforms and hardhats hosing down the fire, red trucks parked near them. "What the fuck is going on?!"

Kidd pushed open the door and limped out to get closer to the building. Why the hell was his apartment on fire?! What the fuck was going on?! And the apartment wasn't just on fire, the center of it all was coming from his room.

"Kidd!" his friends called him back to get away from building, but he ignored them.

He tried looking for someone he knew, someone that could tell him what the hell was the reason for this shit, but there was no one. Everyone that lived in his building was running and yelling to get the hell out to somewhere safe. Kidd staggered to make it to the entrance door to get in and someone stopped him.

"Hey! Can't you see the building is on fire! Get the hell out of here!"

He shoved the firefighter aside to move out of the way, but the man grabbed at him again. This time, Kidd punched him on the face and smacked him with his crutch. The man fell down and he threw his support away not wanting it anymore. It was a hinderance.

Fuck it. He could walk. The pain was almost gone on his left foot and he could put enough pressure on both legs at the same time to move. He opened the gate and stepped in to the building, the flame not making it to the bottom floor yet. A woman who still hadn't made it out yet ran down the stairs and passed him, her black dress flowing behind her as she held onto her white spotted hat. Kidd evaded her and half hobbled to the direction she came and crawled up the stairs. Somewhere off into the distance, he heard his name being called but he continued trudging forward until he made it to the second floor. Smoke was starting to surround him now, the black gas invading his nostrils as he inhaled them into his lungs. He leaned against the wall for support and lifted his shirt over his nose trying to breathe.

He was going to fucking kill whoever did this...

His fist slammed against the wall as he forced himself to walk forward closer to the flame. As he got closer to his room, parts of the floor was streaked with fire, the walls and ceiling already gone and engulfed with a waving flag of flying flames. He kicked his own door in, no use for a fucking key when everything was going to be destroyed, and entered the scalding room full. Passing the burning furniture, he put himself in the blazing heat as he ran to his room and headed to his closet. There were still some unpacked boxes that he never bothered to open in there and he threw the ones he wasn't looking for. He rummaged all the way at the bottom until he finally found what he was looking for.

It's still good, he stared at the silver helmet for just a moment. The fire behind him eating his bed and desk was reflected against the eye protector with a bright shine.

"Kidd! Where are you?!"

He snapped back into the moment remembering that he was in a deteriorating building, and tucked the helmet under his arm. "I'm here!" he yelled trying to get up. With bad legs, it was hard to, but Ace and Zoro quickly came to the rescue.

"Are you an idiot?!" Ace yelled grabbing the helmet from him and swung his free hand around his shoulders. "Because I know you're an idiot! Why would you run into a burning building!?"

He just grunted a growling response as Zoro grabbed at him to help him stand and walk.

"This way, guys!" Luffy was out at the front entrance trying to guide them.

The two led him out of his living room trying to hurry out. Kidd gave one last look to his apartment, all of his things blackening and falling apart in a hot red glow. Black soot was rushing out the door with them, and he squinted to lessen the dirt getting into his eyes. He wished that he could take more with him, all of the things he owned bought by his own money which made him broke. It was like all of his hard earned cash were burning right in front of him. Kidd looked at the crumpling carpet and noticed that his things were scattered about. There were glass shards near the stereo system, cups scattered near the sofa that was in front of the adjoining kitchen, his glass bowl where he kept his keys were smashed into his coffee table which was flipped on its side against the wall. His window was also broken as if someone had thrown an object to create that hole in one of the glass panes.

Something was wrong here. This didn't look like a mess that came because of the fire. Someone messed with his things before it started.

"Come on, walk faster."

His legs were pushed to move. With a final glimpse before they completely left his apartment, Kidd remembered everything. It was a rush of motion pictures exploding in his brain in fastforward.

He remembered her coming to his place. He remembered her being angry about... something. She was just upset about him cheating on her all of a sudden. He remembered the fight. He remembered her chasing him out of the building, and that's when he got on his bike and drove to the freeway.

"Viola," the fucking woman better not have been the one that burned his apartment to shit.

Bliss. Was it sad that he got so much rapture in sleeping the whole day? A happy breath rose from his chest as he was beginning to enjoy just laying there. Despite the distrupting noises that kept bothering him, so far it had been peaceful -

Bzzzz. Bzzzzz.

Law slowly opened his eyes like he was going to kill somebody. He sat up jerking his phone next to his ear.

"Ace, " he half whined as he knew the other already saw him trying to get some rest. Or in Ace's words, trying to not 'look like shit.' "I'm trying to sleep."

"Still?"

"I'm closing my phone," Law grumbled.

"Okay, okay, wait!"

"What?"

"Remember when you said that you'll go out with me next time when something comes up?"

"Ace, that was this morning."

"Afternoon."

"It was before twelve,"

"Does it matter? You need to go out anyway."

Law wrinkled his brows as he heard someone bark orders for another beer. A familiar voice of cheering urged the person to keep chugging, but was stopped by a husky voice asking if he was twenty one.

"Of course! Don't you see my moustache?! It took years to grow this!"

Oh god, that was Luffy.

"Don't tell me you're at a bar."

He was answered by a sheepish laugh. "Kind of my friend's idea. I couldn't say no. Things happened, and yeah... Look, you don't even have to drink."

Law knew where this was going. "You need a designated driver."

A guilty hum said yes. "I'm really sorry, but pretty please?"

The growl that came out of Law's throat was the same you'd hear in the movies when the main character was entering an ominous cave.

"We have cake."

Law rolled his eyes. Like that was even a good bait. He looked at the time blinking 10:30 in his dresser drawer finding that it had been over twenty two hours since he got in bed. If he went now, it would be somewhere around eleven assuming the bar was downtown. The silence he was keeping made the ten on the other line think he wouldn't come.

"Okay, we don't have cake," Ace confessed. "Luffy ate it all again. But I'll buy you a drink?"

A/N: I wanted to make this one a whole long chapter, but then it needed a break. There were also a lot of characters introduced with many things happening, but nothing like shit dropping to move things along. Sorry it was a little uneventful as well. I assure you though, it'll be more tasteful next chapter and that Kidd and Law are finally going to interact where both of them are actually willing to talk to each other. On to part 2!