Another Day, Another Time.

Chapter.5 – Laugh

A/N: I was ecstatic by the reviews you guys left me from the previous chapter! I didn't expect such great reception! Well, I'm very sorry with the late update but here it is! Hope you enjoy it!

Special thanks to the lovely people:

EustassLaw, Sanjiism, Nintando, Mezaron, and Leppre

There were lots of times when Law had been curious about the things around him. He knew all about how they smelled and how they felt, sometimes even, how they would sound like when it smashed the ground, or the wall, or the ceiling –Well, he was never very good at aiming.

Trafalgar Law wasn't born blind. No, he was a perfect little boy born into an unfortunate circumstance, or in his case, a psychotic family. But those were the times he would rather not think about. What had been bugging Law's mind during his first night intruding in Eustass Kid's dilapidated apartment, was his urge to know what the man looked like. Killer, had helped. Oh yes, a very helpful one line comment about the man.

'He has red hair.'

Red. Oh, how he missed colors! He remembered demanding his room to be painted yellow when he was but a small kid. Again, his childhood was not something he wanted to recall. Law pulled at his raven-hair, tossing and turning on the hard mattress Kid had set up for him. 'Let's just focus on Kid here, alright?' He thought to himself. The rest of what he knew about his host was what he found out by himself, while being tossed and carried around like a sad sack of potatoes. Mister Eustass was well-built, that, he had no doubt about that. What ticked him was how gentle Eustass was being to him, and it reminded him of a certain someone. The guy he ran away from, to be more precise. Too gentle for his liking, he was not made of glass for fuck's sake! Law's eye twitched in annoyance as he let his thoughts wander.

Years and years, spent in the institute under the constant watch of the infamous Donquixote Doflamingo was not a fun filled childhood. Only the unlucky few knew what was hidden behind those purple tinted glasses, and Law was too familiar with it for his liking. The gaze held more than madness, a form of insanity even the ironclad wall of the asylum won't be able to contain.

"Come on Law, be a good boy and come sit with me."

The raven haired man knew he was treading into a dangerous memory, but sometimes there was nothing you could do against it.

He could still feel a hand with a touch gentle as a breeze gliding across his cheek lovingly as the other would coax the book out of Law's tiny hands. Yes, he remembered reading. He remembered the vast collection of books that filled his childhood with wonders and dreams. The man would laugh as Law always gripped at the book with all his might, not wanting to let go.

"Come on now, it's past your bed time."

"But I'm not tired yet, Doffy."

The laughter was always soft and full of love, or was Law too naïve too realize the demon within. There was a gap as his brain refused to go into what happened between his early years and his plunge into darkness. It was still too painful for the raven-haired man to accept the reality, as he knew he had lost something far more precious to him.

Law was about to go into another panic attack again as he cursed himself for overthinking things. But alas, he was saved by a strange noise coming for the owner of the room he was currently in. He prayed that he was wrong, but of course the man with less grace than a flailing fish just had to jerk off right next to him. On the bright side, it amused Law to no end, and successfully threw all the depressing thoughts out of the picture.

Ah, and of course he could tell if the redhead was reaching his climax what with his panting and erratic breathing. He decided to keep his demeanor as calm as possible, until he get the chance to gave Kid the scare of his life. Not long after, Law could clearly hear the halted yelp as Kid obviously just realized that Law had his eyes open.

What wouldn't Law had given just to catch a glimpse of Kid's horrified expression.

'Well, serves him right.' He mused as he happily let his weary self to rest.

Killer is a fucking sponge. He absorbed everything around him, whatever noise, whatever scene, or the slightest possible tension in the air, he would just grasped it and never let go. People usually thought that with his unruly mess of hair covering half his face, Killer wouldn't be able to register half the thing happening around him. But alas, the blond was blessed with an instinct sharper than a blade. It was his weapon, and the man was not afraid to use it, usually to spite and poke at the red headed beast. Granted, he was a heavy sleeper, and Kid thanked all the holy deities for that for the walls between their rooms were thin. If a blind man could figure out what he was doing, Killer might as well be recording the obscene noises in the next room.

"You're doing it again."

Killer chided as Kid kept on throwing worried glances towards the blond while constantly shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"Doing what? You have your back turned, you can't possibly know what I'm doing." Kid replied, annoyed yet scarily impressed at Killer's sharp intuition.

"Ah, yes. I forgot to tell you that I've grown a third eye on the back of my head."

Well, it was a joke, but when it came to Killer, Kid would have never guessed what was hidden underneath those piles of golden locks.

"Quit it. You're giving me the creeps."

"How's your new roommate by the way?"

Shit.

That was the one subject Kid wanted to avoid right now, or preferably forever.

"He's…he's doing okay, I guess."

"You didn't do anything to him did you?"

"Wha-why would I? How- NO! no, I did not do anything to him."

A silence.

"…"

"What?"

"…If you say so." Killer continued working on his new tattoo design while smiling to himself. He had learned and confirmed the suspicion that was brewing in the back of his head since breakfast. He would have been lying to himself if he said that he didn't expected something of the sort to happen. But damn, Kid moves fast.

"I was serious when I said I did not do anything to him!"

Oh?

It was easy to detect if Kid was lying, and this time, he wasn't. But what did he do then, to get this flustered over the subject? Killer's attention finally perked and he turned to face the redhead. Kid could feel the piercing gaze from under Killer's bangs and he immediately regretted ever saying anything back. He gulped as he watched Killer flexed his fingers and meticulously putting his pen down to the side.

"You did something."

It wasn't a question.

At times like this, Kid truly wonder how sharp could the blond could be when he was awake and how dead to the world he could be in his asleep version. Although, it wouldn't make that much of a difference as there was no way in hell that Kid's going to spill. Contrary to popular belief, Kid's strong headedness could also serve as his saving grace. The redhead also knew that his companion was far too smart to try to eyeball him until he talked, it was a pure waste of time.

Prepared with several comebacks, Kid waited for the interrogation that never came. Instead, Killer left his seat and marched upstairs.

'Holy shit.'

Not long after, Killer stomped his way down wearing a mask of unreadable expression.

"Come here."

Killer motioned to the middle of the store, in a tone similar to what a father might use prior to giving an unruly child a serious ass whooping. Kid gulped and obeyed the blond, dreading what consequence was awaiting him.

"Closer." He beckoned.

Kid tentatively took a step closing the distant between them. Killer sighed, as if disappointed and set the palm of his hands on each side of Kid's face. The redhead was confused and scared beyond his wit. Their position was weirdly intimate and with their chests almost touching, he could feel Killer's breath against his neck. Kid's heart started to race as his best friend's hand turned to gripping claws and bringing his head down to meet Killer's in a brutal headbutt.

"WHAT THE FUCK, KID?!"

"THAT'S MY LINE!"

The redhead blinked as the daylight started to waver between the fabrications of reality.

"I never thought you could surprise me further with your stupidity. But this is a whole new level of low."

Well, Kid had no ground to deny what Killer had just said. He wasn't proud of what he had done, and nothing could be used to justify his action. So the redhead just stood there, rubbing his throbbing forehead and took the lecture begrudgingly. Man, he figured that Law would be the type to spill.

"Still, I'm surprised he wasn't mad at you."

"He said he didn't mind."

…

'Crap, I should've kept my big mouth shut.'

Killer opened his mouth, unsure of what to say after Kid's shameless declaration on Law's consent. Now this time, it was his turn to remedy his headache, and turned towards the Kitchen.

"You crazy fuckers are made for each other." The blond muttered under his breaths.

A few minutes later, Killer came back with two cups of coffee in each hand, and handed one to Kid. The redhead took it as a good sign that Killer was no longer mad at him. The blond took a seat right in front of Kid's desk and stared at the redhead.

"What are we gonna do with him?" Said the blond.

"Who? Law? I dunno, we're gonna figure something out."

Kid and Killer could never really fight for more than a few minutes, if one could call it a 'fight' at all. Soon the atmosphere in the room returned to its default laid back state, as the two men sitting across each other sipping coffee in peaceful bliss.

"Well, we need to figure something out soon."

Kid knew that it was inevitable to have this talk about Law. All the previous men they have saved from the streets had at least worked in the shop for a while when they were trying to get back on their feet. Though for Law, it was more challenging than most.

"We can't get him to work in the store, with his eyes not working and all that."

"Yes, and some people are gonna come looking. Again."

Killer's expression took a slight turn as he observe the redhead's expression as he mentioned the unpleasant visit of the Donquixote family. Killer just couldn't stress it enough that it was of utmost importance for Kid to know exactly what they were getting into. At the mention of the family, the taste of Kid's coffee turned sour in his mouth. He hated the prospect of Law being taken by those despicable men, though he himself was baffled by the risk he was ready to take. Opposing the family was not going to be a walk in the park, but he would do it anyway. Not only for Law, Kid knew that he would do it for anyone in general. Being involved in the underground business once, he knew precisely what despicable acts that happened. He was once part of them, he needed to repent for his sins and the least he could do was to at least save someone.

He wanted to, he needed to save Law.

'But how?'

"We can keep him as a sex slave." Kid said offhandedly.

Kid earned himself a smack on the head for that.

"What? I'm just joking."

"With what I learned today, I couldn't tell if you are." Killer glared into his eyes, but there also a glint of humor there.

"Fuck off Killer, you know me better than that."

They started chuckling to themselves, and proceeded into a full-fledged manic episode of laughter. It was a good kind of laugh, the one that no one was sure what they were actually laughing about, but it just made the whole situation all the more hilarious. Maybe Kid and Killer had more than just a screw loose somewhere in their brain, but it was all alright. Their crazy episode however, sent a certain freeloader to carefully trod down the stairs to find the source of the disturbance. Law stood there by the doorframe utterly confused, waiting for someone to explain what was happening. Killer had just stormed towards him earlier with question regarding Kid's midnight activity, and not long after he stormed back down, shouting could be heard and now these series of deranged laughter.

'Maybe I came to the wrong neighborhood.' Law lamented.

It wasn't all that bad though. It was the first time in years since Law had heard such free, indulgent, laughs. It was so different and different was good. Maybe one day he would be able to join them, maybe one day he wouldn't be burdened by his haunting past.

'Hey Law, look at this!'

Yes, he remembered now, the last time he heard such beautiful laughter. It felt so long ago, and yet he hold them so close to his heart, so dear that it started to ache.

"Cora-san." He sighed.

Law forced himself to step forward into the room, approaching the maniacal hyenas and put up his best snarky comment and attitude. He ensured himself he would pull through this. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day he definitely be able to do it. He had made a promise to that man, that he would one day find happiness. Even though now he would have to do it by groping in the dark, surely he would be able to find his light again.

Kid looked at him with teary eyes and a grin stretched painfully on his face, still trying to contain his laughter.

"We still haven't figured out what to do with you yet." Said the redhead, trying to catch his breaths.

"Really now, mister Eustass?" Law huffed, "And here I thought you've decided to make me your in-house whore."

"Don't be so crude. Although, it'd be great if you can give us some ideas on how you could help out around here, since you're freeloading and all." Kid chuckled, with a tinge of guilt from Law's comment.

Law was immensely pleased, after hearing that the madman duo wanted him to help out. At long last, someone who would treat him as an equal! The gears in his brain started to turn, finding a way that he could be helpful. Suddenly, it struck him. There was something that he used to be really good at, well it had been a while since he last did it, but he got nothing to lose now. 'It wouldn't hurt to try.'

"I might have something in mind."

...

TBC

A/N: Well, this chapter focused more on their character development, and a bit of a peek to Law's past. Leave a review to let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions, or guesses of what might happen next, they're always welcomed! Hope you enjoyed it!