Chapter Text
Art by Januariat!
Kidd heard a stream of mumbled curses coming up the front stoop and already knew who it was.
"Incoming," he called to the housemates as the dogs started barking and the door swung open.
"I'm gonna tear it out!" Law announced angrily. He stomped inside, boots trailing the detritus of the city. He ignored the mutts crowding his legs and threw down his bag.
There was a cheerful chorus from the housemates, all lying around the main floor living area with their ukuleles and their grain alcohol.
"Hey girl!" "Welcome back." "Again?"
"I'm fucking serious, defective piece of shit been burning like a fucker all day, driving me insane, almost got hit by a falafel cart, the whole deal is weird cosmic bullshit to begin with and I ain't about to just let it…" Law's rant faded as he climbed the stairs to the upper part of the big old row house.
Kidd sighed to himself, concentrating on playing Doom one-handed.
"STRAWHAT!" he hollered down the floor vent next to his bed.
"Ya!"
"Trafalgar's gonna stab himself, come stop him!"
Luffy scampered up the stairs and swung around the bannister. "He's not gonna stab himself, he's just gonna try to chop off his soul tether again."
"He's gonna miss and fucking stab himself in the neck and turn into the worst ghost," Kidd argued.
Luffy was already climbing the next set of stairs to go get the scissors away from Law. "I think he'd make a cute ghost."
"That's so fucked, though," Kidd heard Sanji gossip, out in the main room. "He's gonna like, fuck up his whole star chart."
Nami jumped right on the gossip business. "Right? Such bad energy."
Kidd rolled his eyes. Fucking astrology gays.
"Not to mention his metabolism," Zoro grunted.
"Ain't got much mass to lose anyway," Killer pointed out. Gymrat gays.
Bonney appeared in the doorway of Kidd's room holding her breath and a bong. She let out a noxious cloud and offered it to him.
"So how's the depressed gay gettin along?" She sat down at the other end of his bed and held the lighter while he took a hit.
"I'm not the depressed gay. Trafalgar's the depressed gay," Kidd grumbled, coughing.
"Bruh you can both share that burden."
"Well since you're asking, I ain't getting along any better with construction than I was with the courier thing," Kidd complained, worrying at his arm stump. "Fuckin still all slow and clumsy and dropping everything. Pretty much can't work at this point."
"Yeah. That blows." Bonney shook her head. "Listen uh… I got good tips this week so I can cover your share of the power bill? If that might uh...?"
Kidd felt his face and neck heat up. He picked up the game controller again and mumbled something that wasn't actually words.
"Yeah, so," Bonney nodded after an awkward pause. "We'll do that then."
She watched him bash the controller a while longer before she remembered her resolution never to sit and watch men play video games.
"K well uh…" she got up and went to rejoin the rowdies in the living room.
Kidd grimaced. Fine by him, he was being a fucking drag anyway. He didn't need to kill everyone else's good mood. He rubbed at his chest, trying to suppress the feeling that was spreading from his tether to his throat. It was aching suddenly, almost as much as the ghost pains in his arm.
It throbbed. He threw the controller at the wall and laid back on his bed until the pain started to subside.
"Sanjiii!" Luffy called from upstairs. "Can you make some tea for us pleeeease?"
Sanji exchanged some sardonic words with Nami and went off to brew one of his calming infusions. The herbal smell wafted into Kidd's room from the far end of the house. From the near end, lowered voices were drifting in to mix with it.
"Now, how bout he brews up some fucking cyanide for that asshole that Trafalgar keeps running back to."
"Right??"
"Okay but listen, what I heard was…"
Kidd kicked his door closed.
Law was showered and full of hippie tea, and feeling a little more stable now, he guessed, maybe. He grimaced at himself in the bathroom mirror while he applied his eyeliner. Throughout the rest of the creaky house, people pulled on boots and band shirts, loaded on the hair spray and did their faces. Some blown-out speakers blared manic noise somewhere below. They were all going to a show together, first time in a while—Franky's punk band. Law had promised to come weeks ago, so. Guess he was going too.
Voices with no volume control rang up from downstairs, where Killer and Bonney were trying to coax Kidd out of his room. The belligerent redhead was usually all in for this kind of stuff—anything where he could strut around in big boots and full makeup, flirting and fighting and causing shit. But he'd been less eager lately.
"Kidd! C'mon man, you love shows! The pit won't be the same without you!"
"Just have some of this, it'll put some life in ya."
A slammed door.
"What the fuck? Fuck you then! Just stay in your room, whatever!"
Law ignored them, distracted by a sudden spike in the chest pains that had been plaguing him for over a year now. From his soul tether.
He rubbed away the steam from the bathroom mirror and watched it—a ghostly black rope rooted in his chest, parasitic, trailing out in front of him until it disappeared into the ether. The tethers were supposed to lead to the other half of your soul, twisting away across time and space toward the fated moment of connection. Everyone had one. Some went their entire lives not knowing their soulmate was right beside them. Some never found their way at all. And Law was sure that of those who did, not everyone felt their lives improved by what was at the tether's other end.
Law tried once more to grip hold of his and pull, but it misted through his fingers with no effect.
The bathroom door busted open and Nami did a splay-leg tiptoe into the room.
"Hi hun! Don't mind me, just gotta fuckin tinkle so bad and you're taking forEVER."
"Was the kitchen sink unavailable," Law frowned, turning back to his eyeliner.
"You're so funny! That was just one time!"
"You could always use a pee jar, like some of the animals in this house."
Nami rolled her eyes at him from the toilet. She was nowhere near ready yet, probably still at the hair stage with Sanji.
"Honey, you live in a queer punk house with one working bathroom. You can't judge! Anyway… really glad you're coming out with us tonight. That fucking lawyer or whatever you've been seeing? That is what we call toxic and we gotta keep you away from him. Kay? I'm gonna lend you this book, it's about co-dependence and it changed my life. Literally. You should come to the anarchist book club and knitting circle Robin runs on Thursday nights, it really..."
Law ignored her, deepening the black lines on his lower lids. Soon enough, the incorrigible witch finished her tinkle, stole a hair straightener from under the sink, and trotted off.
The second time the door opened, Law was ready with a wet towel. He flung it at face height, but it flew right over the head of the tiny pink-haired girl standing there in her camo and suspenders.
Bonney scowled right back at him. "You done getting pretty yet or what?"
"Yeah, obviously," Law spread his arms to show off his towel look.
"Well come down here and bat your eyelashes at Kidd so he'll fuckin come out with us tonight. He hasn't left his room like at all this week."
"If he didn't do it for booze, he won't care what I tell him," Law argued.
"Yeah he will, he does what you say more than anybody else. Even Killer."
"Because I usually have money for booze."
"Well whatever. He's your friend too, and he's in a funk about his arm. He needs to come out and forget about it for a while. Get fuckin wasted."
Law pushed past her, heading to his own bedroom up on the third floor. "Bonney, you can't force people to be okay."
"Well you can go try."
"Okay, I'll try," he gave in. "Right after I get clothes on."
"I think he likes you great without em, so—"
Law closed the door on her.
He pulled on the black jeans and sleeveless tee that he usually wore to shows, and threw his jacket on the bed to check for missing spikes. Just a couple. While he tended to the jacket, he took out his phone and messaged Kidd.
I'll go to this fucking show if you do k
The reply was immediate, and as expected. Well looks like ur not fkin going then dont it
Law frowned at the phone and fiddled with spare spikes while he thought.
Do my nails? he asked next, then cursed at himself. That was something Kidd used to do for people in the house when he had two arms. Law had probably blown it.
There was no reply, so yeah. Fuck.
Well I tried, Law texted Bonney.
Did you just do it by text??? I meant go hang out with him and do talking ffs you're like the worst and dumbest at being a human uuuggghhhhh
Law defended himself, Well not everyone wants people busting down their door to get in their business! im being considerate
Bonney just replied, Dumbass alien.
Law threw his phone to the side and concentrated on his jacket.
When Law came downstairs, Kidd was still firmly in his room with the door shut, and everyone else was ready. They were a noisy pack of ratty 20-somethings, all clashing hair colors and patched denim. Even Nami had put some edge in her look tonight—she was channeling pure vamp vibes. Sanji too. Those two often showed up matching, and today it was mesh, blazers and tits out.
Zoro and Killer always wore the same basic ensemble, despite Sanji and Kidd's best efforts to get them to vamp it up. Battle vests and combat boots. At least they should put on some damn lipstick, Sanji was trying to tell Zoro. Zoro was arguing that purple laces in their boots should be gay enough for anyone, and Nami was pointing out that they only wore those for pretext to fight nazis. Bonney, with purple laces in her boots, jacket, gloves and jeans, was cackling at this.
Luffy was channeling oblivious crust twink as ever. He had some sort of cute video game shirt on, Zoro's too-big jacket (Zoro claimed he never got cold), and jeans that were more plaid patching and tooth-floss stitches than jeans. Nami had tried to do something with his hair that hadn't worked.
Law sat on the stairs, wearing his usual black on black. He kept his hair its natural black too, unlike most of the house. Even his tattoos were blackwork — the opposite of the bright and bawdy ink the housemates all gave each other, with their crude homebrew tattoo guns. Law just preferred monochrome. He caught the Nami-look that said he was being too boring again, and flipped up a middle finger to show the yellow nail polish he'd slapped on.
"And I suppose the yellow laces are completely apolitical," Nami found fault in his boots too.
"Fuckin came like that," Law insisted.
"Cmere, bitch," Sanji grabbed his face firmly and applied black lipstick with four deft swipes.
There was an argument raging about whether to go by bus to the show, take Killer's car, or go on a few bikes. Everyone was already half in the bag so it'd probably take them a while to realize that they shouldn't be driving, and by then they'd be too drunk to bike either. Law accepted a bottle of shitty wine that someone passed him and drank deeply, before anyone tried suggesting he could be DD.
"Okay guys shut up! Shut UP!" Bonney won the shouting contest. "I'm fucking rich this week so I'll get us a cab. Happy?"
There was a cheer and another round of beers cracking open, for the road.
Law checked his phone, where another message had popped up. It just said, Come over.
Sanji caught Law staring at it and hugging the wine bottle. He threw an arm over Law's shoulder. "Hun, you're not thinking of backing out on us right?"
"Uh…" Law hesitated.
His indecision drew the other mother hen of the house, Killer, who took Law's phone right out of his hands and frowned at the message. "I'm gonna beat this guy into the ground."
"Right? Like, 'come over'? Like just 'come over.'" Sanji emphasized.
"Gimme my phone, fuck," Law complained.
"Only if you still come out with us," Killer stated flatly. "And leave this bitch on read."
"Yeah obviously. I'm over him." Law wrested the phone away from Killer.
The venue was already packed and noisy when they got there. The massive bouncer broke into a grin when he saw them, and accepted their hugs as they passed through the door.
"Careful in there," he slapped Law on the shoulder affectionately, knowing Law didn't like hugs.
"Always, Jinbe," Law stepped inside.
Franky's band was big enough that people had come from all over, and the crowd makeup was uncertain. It was Brook who owned the venue and adjacent bar, which was a regular hangout for them, so it was a little like a bunch of randos had invaded their living room. They walked in a close little group, only breaking away when squeals and shouts announced that friends had found them.
Soon enough, alcohol and excitement eased up the tension, and everyone ran off in different directions. A stumbling drunk opening band was halfway through their set, and a small mosh pit was going—mostly Luffy and whoever he could drag in. A helmeted Usopp and tiny Chopper were in there with him now, bouncing around off the chests of more solid moshers. Mostly, though, people were still shout-talking, mobbing the bar and ignoring the band.
Law actually kinda hated shows. Not the music or anything—the crowds of touchy strangers. He leaned on the bar and fidgeted with his phone, tucked in his pocket with its unanswered message.
He also hated people trying to talk to him.
"I love your look," a dreadlocked girl came over and posed against the bar next to him.
"Aw thanks hun, you too." Law didn't look at her.
She tried again. "I said I like it. Your look. Y'know, I watch RuPaul. Guys in makeup are so hot. Do you like wearing dresses?"
"No." Law took out his phone and pretended to be busy. There was a new message. He resisted the temptation to open it.
"Well I think you could pull it off."
Law took a long drink, sending her his best cold glare.
She frowned, then pouted. Finally, she accused, "What, you deaf or something?"
"Gay."
"Well you don't need to be an asshole about it." She ashed her cigarette into his drink and stalked off.
The bartender—Shakky—passed him a new one, mouthing 'sorry'. Law took it and mouthed 'thanks', before someone else took it right out of his hand.
"The hell is wrong with you, that supreme goddess just wanted to talk to you!!" Sanji fumed.
"Well I ain't gonna fuck her," Law growled.
"You don't have to, you just have to uplift flawless femmes, it's the gay agenda, god." He took Law's drink and trotted off after the girl.
Bonney swaggered past and went after the girl too. "Alien," she shot at Law with a grin.
Law scowled and turned away from the crowd. He accepted a third drink from Shakky and returned to his phone. Before opening that earlier message, he texted Kidd.
You: Sucks that you're not here
Kidd: Why s there a fight??
You: Theres about to be. The fruit flies are out.
Kidd: Oh dang those freaks love me, tell em hi
Law smiled a little, but it faded as the pain in his chest surged again. It tugged at his heart and made the noise around him fade.
He turned to his other message nervously. It was longer this time, but said the same thing as the earlier one. A summons. He glanced around at the chaos and took a deep, deep drink of his fuzzy navel.
Law threw himself into the passenger seat of the luxury sedan and pulled the door shut. It was as cold inside the car as outside, the leather seats creaking with it and Law's breath fogging the window. He tried to breathe less.
"So you're done ignoring me?"
"I just wanted some time to myself," Law shrugged.
"Hm." His companion put the car into gear and pulled away smoothly.
Law looked over at him. "Wanna go get food?"
"Not at this hour."
"Movie? Do something together?"
"No." He kept driving.
Law felt his hackles go up at this dismissal. Even more than usual. He glared out the window as they pulled up to a red light.
On sudden impulse, he pulled on the door handle, ready to bolt, but found it locked.
"I understand that you're feeling trapped."
"Fucking obviously," Law replied between his teeth. He let go of the door handle and watched as the city began to pass again. Like a dark tunnel strung with orange lights.
"It's normal. Dont be a fucking child about it."
Law looked over at him, shadowed and elegant in his driving gloves and dark glasses. "Is that what you think of me?" he challenged.
"When you're behaving like that? Yes," he was told.
They'd reached another red light, this one beneath criss-crossing underpasses. The street was deserted. As soon as the car stopped, Law was up over the center console and straddling the other.
"What about now," he put tattooed arms around a powerful neck, before he was halted with a firm hand and a firmer rebuke.
"Now, you're definitely being a child."
Law saw red. He kicked open the driver's side door and shoved his way out of the car, cursing. The light had turned green and the car behind them was banging on their horn.
"Fucking shut up!" Law stomp kicked it hard in the grille.
"Hey! You can't do that!"
Law just gave the guy two middle fingers. He strode away into the cold night, ignoring the stern voice calling to him.
Kidd was woken sometime in the night by his bedroom door opening and closing. His bed dipped at the edge and cold hands probed in the dark to find him.
Kidd objected sleepily. "The fuck, why don't you go climb on Killer's dick. You're freezing."
"Killer's way at the back of the house. Cmon," Law struggled out of his pants and made his way under the covers.
Smooth skin brushed against his in the dark, and Kidd felt himself harden. Law's mouth slipped over his dick right to the hilt, and pulled slowly back up to the head with incredible suction. God, he was good at that…
Kidd grasped his hair, groaning as his head dipped up and down. "Fuck… ngh, just come here. I'm gonna bust my nut before you even get yours, c'mere."
Law scrambled into place. He guided himself down onto Kidd's dick, too fast, gasping with the effort. He'd probably prepped himself before going out that night, intending to ditch the others for his shithead man. Guess that hadn't worked out. Hence the reckless edge to his urgency.
Kidd decided to help him out. He gripped onto a protruding hip bone with one hand, pulling the slighter body hard against him and grinding the last few inches in.
"Gh! Hh!" Law dug his fingers into Kidd's shoulders.
"Move, c'mon," Kidd insisted.
"Mm. Shut up."
Law's movements were sharp and impatient. He slid slickly into place, down to the hilt each time, and Kidd met him with an upward thrust that hit his ass like a cupped hand. After a while he slowed, out of breath and panting on top of Kidd. He hadn't come yet, though. Kidd grasped his dick and massaged it, thumbing the slit, and there was a needy sound from above him.
"Shit. Close. I just…"Law complained.
"Turn over." Kidd pushed himself up one handed. "Here, knees." He dragged Law into place when the other was too slow.
"AH!" Law made a sharp sound when Kidd pushed back into him.
It was easier to move this way—Kidd could brace with his one hand on the tattooed back and fuck with the force of his weight. Law's toes curled and caught in the sheets as he tried to brace himself to meet Kidd's thrusts.
"Kidd… ah… ah."
"Shhh, fuck, you want the whole house to hear? The walls are like paper." Kidd shushed him when he started getting more vocal.
"Who the fuck cares. Tryna get fucking railed over here. Cmon."
Kidd took that as permission to get a little rougher, pushing down on the middle of Law's back and getting half on top of him. He knew Law liked the feeling of getting held down like that. And it didn't take long until the other went rigid and still, jerking himself to completion and swearing softly. Kidd paused and let him finish, then leaned back and changed his angle. Just took a few more thrusts to get himself there. He pulled out and came in hot streams across the other's back.
They breathed and rested in the silence after, feeling their sweat start to cool and their pulses calm.
Kidd grabbed a handkerchief and mopped up the mess on Law's back before grabbing another for himself. "Should probably fuckin use condoms I guess," Kidd reflected, a little belatedly.
Law flopped over and accepted the offered rag. "Tch. Whatever man, I don't share stuff with anybody. And Doffy won't even fuck me without like three layers of protection anyway…thinks I'm full of bugs or something. "
Kidd felt his lip curl at the assumption that he himself wasn't getting any tail otherwise. It was true, but, yeah. Not like he'd been getting out a lot. Kidd sank down onto the bed in silence, waiting for the other to leave for his own room.
Law finished mopping himself up, and groped around in the dark for a moment. He found the edge of the blanket and pulled it over both of them.
Kidd stared at him, getting all cozy on Kidd's outstretched arm like he owned the place. "Hi?"
"Just gonna sleep here, kay, I'm super drunk and my room is super far away."
Kidd snorted but didn't argue. The guy was clearly not that drunk.
"You don't gotta come in here like you wanna fuck if you just wanna cuddle," Kidd pointed out. He curled his arm and gave Law's hair a slight ruffle.
Law sighed and shrugged. "Needed it. Got my asshole all powdered up pretty and then got disappointed."
"I thought you'd be staying over with your sugar daddy."
"Yeah… looks like no."
"So, you done with him yet?"
Law paused for a minute, chewing a poorly-painted nail. "Yeah. Fuck it, done with him for real."
"Everyone'll be happy to hear it. Dunno why you kept going back to him. Some of the shit you told me about… like, jesus," Kidd muttered.
Law took a breath like he was gonna say something and then closed his mouth again. He fidgeted. "Well, I thought… like…" he trailed off, then scoffed at himself.
"What," Kidd prompted.
"Okay this is gonna sound stupid but I'll tell you anyway."
"Hold on a sec actually," Kidd got up suddenly, pulling his arm out from under Law's head. Law grumbled. Kidd kicked their clothes overtop of the big floor vent that led straight down to the basement, so the downstairs denizens couldn't hear them. He dropped a pillow on top for good measure, then got back in place next to Law. Law set his head onto the offered arm again with an irritable huff.
"Okay go."
"I thought… well I know that he's the other half of my soul."
Kidd had no idea what to say to this, except, "Seriously?"
"Don't give me that shit. Yeah, seriously. Our soul tethers haven't connected yet but he says they will. And I believe him. It fucking sucks but I know he's right."
"And how's that," Kidd stared into the dark, trying to make this make sense in his head.
"I just do, okay?"
"I'm not judging, man, just curious."
Law's voice had gotten that severe edge to it, the one he used when he was trying to explain things to dumbass housemates. "Well, like, I feel it. In the tether. He feels… The way he makes me feel, it's the exact same as how the tether feels."
Kidd chewed his lip. "It hurts?"
"Yeah… um… yeah."
"And makes you wanna stab yourself with scissors?"
"Yeah. Wait, no. Or… yes but listen," Law insisted. "That's just how it is. It's not like soul connections are necessarily good things. It's not like the universe has some kind of plan where everybody somehow ends up happy. People are miserable everywhere. It's not… not… it's not all…"
"Hey…" Kidd sensed that Law was getting upset and turned toward him. Without thinking he tried putting his other arm around him… and then was seized by that jarring sense of instability, almost like falling, when it connected with nothing. He set his jaw and let his useless fucking arm hang there instead.
"Ugh, fuck, again…" Law was rubbing his chest and grimacing.
"What's wrong?"
"It's like… like a fucking noose around my heart. Just squeezing it and wrenching it all the time. Fucking kills."
"Yeah," Kidd sighed. "I can relate."
Law looked over at him, surprised, but then, unsurprised. Hesitantly, he reached over and put a hand on Kidd's heart. It was warm.
"Uh… it's not that bad though," Kidd pulled away from the touch, embarrassed, and the moment was broken.
Law looked at him, skeptical, but didnt say anything. He tucked his hand away again.
"Uh. So you seriously gonna cut yours out?" Kidd turned the conversation back to Law.
"Yeah… I know I sort of half-try to do it all the time, but I think I've really made up my mind. I'm gonna figure out how to take it out. The whole thing if I have to. Because I can't with this guy anymore, fuck. And even if I'm somehow wrong about him being my other half… which I'm not… this whole thing is bullshit. I don't belong to anyone but me."
"Cheers, dude," Kidd had to agree.
"Yeah? That doesn't sound crazy?"
"No. And if you find a way to do it, I wanna fucking do mine too," Kidd decided.
Law blinked at him. "You don't want your soulmate?"
"Not that. I mean, I'm sure they're great…" Kidd tried to think of a way to explain his thinking, but then shrugged. "Anyway, fuck it. Fate can get these hands. Or, one of em I guess."
"Heh!" Law turned toward Kidd too, so they were face to face, and smiled.
"Go to sleep." Kidd bopped him on the head with his arm stump and Law even laughed. He closed his eyes.
Kidd closed his eyes too.
They drifted into sleep like that, hearts sheltered together and backs turned against the world. Unnoticed, the deep pains in their chests had eased into warmth.