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Law’s date was running late.
Penguin and Shachi had suggested he tried a dating app, and Ikkaku had helped him set up the profile as well as help him smack Penguin and Shachi upside the head when they made lewd suggestions. His profile didn’t need to announce his dick size. Or his favourite position. Or his preferred aftercare. It was a dating app, not a hooking up app.
So instead of all those basic, easy details, Law had had to actually describe himself; he was a final-year medical student who worked part-time in a comic book store for the access to Sora comics as well as the money. He spent a good chunk of that money on his tattoos and piercings. He had a number of allergies - a side effect of the medication he was on to keep his Amber Lead Disease at bay. The gluten allergy in particular was so sensitive that whoever he dated couldn’t even eat gluten within twelve hours of putting their mouth on him, and hooking up with guys had led to reactions when they straight up lied about their recent meals. He had a dog, Bepo, who helped sniff out allergens and alerted the early stages of a reaction, but a few hook-ups had been alarmed by the sheer size of Bepo. Most allergy dogs were small, smart dogs, but Bepo was a gigantic Samoyed that dwarfed Law when he stood on his hind legs, and Law’s friends joked that Law should teach Bepo that he’s allergic to douchebags.
It made dating difficult. Especially preferring men. One of Law’s frequent hook-ups, Luffy, was a ditz who sometimes wasn’t even sure what he’d inhaled that day, and would breathe in an exaggerated manner on Bepo’s face to let Bepo check him. He’d usually eaten something that would affect him, and would gag himself with tape so they could fuck anyway. Another of his frequent hook-ups, Kidd, had a god-awful attitude that Bepo would try to bite him for, and the only reason he hadn’t succeeded was because Kidd had a prosthetic metal arm that he’d defend himself with. Another hook-up, Smoker, was only interested in quickies around the back of the Marine hub. Another hook-up, Zoro, was as much of a ditz as Luffy, and while the threeway had been a great time for Law, it had been a logistical headache keeping an eye on them all day so he could kiss them.
The longest relationship he’d managed was with the owner of the cafe he was sat in - Sanji. He had learned Law’s allergies and figured out some recipes for him so he could eat something other than plain rice and a few specific fish. He had been kind and sweet, a complete gentleman. The issues had been Sanji’s wandering eye, his need to taste the allergy-containing food in the cafe, and Law’s need to study being a higher priority than giving Sanji attention. They had finished on good terms, and Sanji still made Law allergy-friendly foods to take home, and Law still helped Sanji keep track of and manage his own symptoms from his father’s experimental IVF treatments and terrible parenting.
Law had one of his textbooks open, a black coffee and a gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free muffin next to it; it was chickpea flour, banana to replace the egg, brown sugar, milk-free dark chocolate chips, and some gluten-free oats as a topping. It was dense, a little hard to chew, and had sank in the middle, and so most of the muffins were in a special drawer in the freezer so one could be taken out and heated up next time Law visited. Only two sat in a lidded plate in the display case, just in case someone else wanted one. Chances were that when Law and Bepo passed in the morning, Sanji or Nami would give him the two before they became too stale to eat.
Bepo was munching on some dog treats Law had to order special - even Bepo had to stay allergy-free. It was difficult and expensive to maintain a diet for Bepo that balanced his nutritional needs against Law’s allergies, so Law was grateful Sanji didn’t upcharge for his special muffins.
Sanji was flirting with Zoro, Zoro was telling Sanji to fuck off as if he wasn’t blushing, Luffy was giggling at them. One of Law’s fellow students, a bratty goth girl called Perona, was chastising Zoro for being noisy and annoying. Nami was chatting a woman up at another table - the librarian in the history section at Ohara library, whose name Law had recently learnt was Nico Robin. A couple sat in the corner, the woman also in Law’s class, a quiet woman called Kara whose date was regaling her with lengthy tales that had her enthralled, as well as a blue-haired man on the next table who kept cutting in to tell them the story was ‘super’. A local street performer, Brook, sat at another table, his violin next to him, and Sanji would give him a bottle of water on the house as he left. One of the lecturers at the university, Old Man Jinbei who had given Law’s class at least one lecture per semester on equality and ethics, was sipping tea with the street performer, and they chatted like they were friends.
Law’s friends had promised to leave him in peace, and he was actively not looking at Ikkaku’s yellow Subaru parked opposite the cafe with three faces pressed to the window. He was tempted to text them, tell them he’d been stood up, and to come end his misery for him.
A tall, lanky man wandered in front of the cafe. He was looking up and, not watching where he was going, walked straight into a bike stand and tipped over it, landing face-first on the concrete paving outside.
Law jumped up, and from the corners of his eyes he could see Perona and Kaya just a split second behind him. The door of the Subaru opened, Shachi helping Penguin climb out before they were running across the road, Ikkaku yelling at them to watch where they were going.
The man rolled onto his back. As Law reached him, he was patting a hand over his face to check for serious injury. He had somehow managed to only scrape his cheek, smearing the blue make-up he’d been wearing.
“Hey, are you okay?” Law said.
“I’m fine, this happens,” the man sat up, “I’ve gotta go, I’m late for a date.”
“Slow down, we need to make sure you’re not injured,” Law put a hand on his shoulder, trying to hold him still, “We’re medical students, let us check.”
“I don’t wanna risk it.”
“Risk what?”
“Allergies, y’know?”
“You’re allergic to a check-up?” Perona said. She had the kind of voice that made everything she said sound judgemental, even when she was cooing over Bepo.
“No, that’s dumb,” the man tried to wriggle away from Law, “I’m late, just back off.”
“Wait - where’s your date?” Penguin said.
“The All Blue,” the man said.
“You’re at the All Blue.”
“I am?”
The group looked up. Someone had graffitied the front, changing ‘All Blue’ into ‘AH Blows’.
“Fuck - I’ve walked past this place three damned times!” the man scrabbled up and dove through the door. He looked about frantically, and pulled his phone out.
“Hey, Cap’,” Shachi said to Law, the nickname from a ridiculous anecdote that would take Shachi a good hour to tell every time he told it, “Is that your date?”
Law’s phone pinged. “Yeah, I think so.”
“You sure know how to pick ‘em,” Perona said.
“Shut up, I dated your brother!” Law said. More hooked up than dated, but Perona didn’t need those details about Zoro’s love life.
“Exactly!”
Kaya took Perona by the arm and dragged her back inside. Her date, a guy with a bizarrely long nose and an easy smile, assured her that he’d been right behind her, he just didn’t want to step on her toes. Perona assured Nami and Sanji that the big guy was okay and ordered some popcorn.
“You guys said you were gonna give me space!” Law turned on Penguin and Shachi. Bepo barked in support.
Shachi fussed at Law’s clothes, undoing a couple of buttons and straightening one of Law’s pierings. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
“Go away!”
“Yeah, we are!”
Law shoved them away and headed inside. He took the tall man by the arm. “Hi.”
“I don’t need a check-up,” the man said hurriedly, “I’m looking for my date.”
“Rosinante?”
The man looked down at him in surprise. His lipstick was smudged onto his teeth from him chewing on his lip, his blonde hair flopped down into his eyes, his cheek was dribbling. “Law?”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Sit down. You’re going to let me check your cheek.”
“You don’t need to…”
“Yes I do. Come sit.”
Law sat Rosinante down in the chair opposite his. He grabbed the first aid kit from the counter, put on the latex-free gloves, and dabbed an alcohol wipe to Rosinante’s graze.
Rosinante hissed in pain but didn’t buck away. The blood was drying already. His clothes were rumpled from the fall, a soft pink shirt and faded jeans with ripped knees. In their messages, Rosinante had explained he had been diagnosed with dyspraxia as a child, and the coordination difficulties had led to several other injuries throughout his life. He’d joked that asking a medical student on a date was either the best or the worst idea he’d had in several years.
“So,” Law said, “You come ‘round here often?”
Rosinante snorted, “Only when there’s a handsome medical student here to kiss my boo-boos better.”
“Woah there, big guy. It’s far too soon for kissing - you haven’t listed everything you’ve eaten in the last twelve hours yet.”
“White rice, nori, chicken, cucumber, kale, sea salt. In various combinations.”
Law pressed a plaster to Rosinante’s cheek, a bright blue catering plaster. “They’re the only foods I can eat.”
“I know. When you said that was pretty much all you ate, I was so glad. They’re basically the only things I can cook. And even then, I have a rice cooker for the rice and an air fryer for the chicken. I’m not on speaking terms with the stove..”
Law bunched the wipe and wrappers for everything he’d used in one hand and pulled that glove off over them. He did the same with the opposite hand. A blush was heating his cheeks.
Nami sidled up. She put down a black coffee and another allergen-free muffin, and took the gloves.
“Pay later,” she said with a wink.
Rosinante looked the muffin over, and gave it a sniff. He lowered it to Bepo, who stared at it then him.
“It’s safe,” Law said, sitting down, “For me, I mean. Sanji’s really great about it, this is basically the only cafe I can come to and know I’m safe.”
“Oh. That’s… wow.” Rosinante gave the muffin a nibble. He smiled politely as he chewed and swallowed. “It is not the nicest muffin I’ve ever had.”
“Dipping it in the coffee helps,” Law said.
“The chocolate’s pleasantly sweet. There’s an odd flavour to the cake itself.”
“That’s the banana.”
“Banana! Of course!” Rosinante put the muffin down, “My mother used to host dinners. It was a weird game they’d play, guessing the ingredients in stuff. And when it was a trendy ingredient, the game was to guess which particular island it came from.”
“Sounds like a real boring game,” Law said.
“Oh fuck, it was. Beat the washing up, though.”
“That was always my chore,” Law said, “Had to wear these massive latex-free washing-up gloves that only came in adult sizes. I couldn’t grip anything through them, but Dad would not let me get out of it!”
Rosinante snorted. “Fathers, huh? Who’d have them!”
“Tell me about it!”
They barely noticed half the cafe watching them as they chatted away, Rosinante making Law laugh hard enough he shot coffee out of his nose. Zoro stole large handfuls of Perona’s popcorn, sharing them with Luffy. Sanji was leant on the counter, head rested on his hands, smiling adoringly at them. Kaya had her phone out, and she and Perona were texting each other their observations of the date, eventually adding Penguin and Shachi to the chat to keep them updated. Rosinante and Law shared the remaining muffin with some decaf coffee, Nami topping them up with another wink to Law to remind him to pay.
At some point, Bepo wriggled under the table with all the subtlety of a seven-foot-tall man tripping over a bike stand. He rested his head in Rosinante’s lap, and the whole cafe melted.
Before the cafe closed, Law took himself to the bathroom before he paid. But as he stepped up to the counter, Nami stopped him.
“Already sorted,” she said.
Law narrowed his eyes at her. Nami wasn’t one to give things away - except maybe to cute girls with her number on the napkin.
“What do you mean?” he said.
“Your date paid. With a one hundred per cent tip. Keep that one.”
“Oh.”
Rosinante was petting Bepo’s face as Law returned to the table and packed his textbook away.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Law said.
“Do what?” Rosinante said.
“Pay for the coffee and muffins. I wanted to come here - I could pay.”
“It’s the least I can do for the handsome doctor. Besides; I’m in full-time work. You need to save your money.”
Rosinante worked an administrative role in the Marines, specifically working in logistics, meaning he organised where squadrons were supposed to be and how they were going to get there. He couldn’t say much more, but it seemed the job largely involved being sat around on hold all day.
“So you’re my sugar-daddy?” Law teased.
“I couldn’t be your sugar-daddy,” Rosinante said, dead serious, “You need to watch your sugar intake, and I don’t intend to be taken in small doses.”
A blush crept slowly up Law’s face. “You can’t say things like that, you smooth motherfucker!”
Rosinante held an arm out for Law to take, and he did. They walked back to Law’s apartment, ignoring the yellow Subaru that kept circling back to pass them and the red-haired idiot within that kept waving at them despite the driver and other passenger smacking at him to stop.
Law let Rosinante in. His apartment was a plain student apartment, small with white walls and a cheap carpet. He had put up Sora posters and cramped in a bed for Bepo. The air smelt like disinfectant, the shelves were stacked with books and comics, the curtains were drawn.
“Home sweet home,” Law said awkwardly.
Rosinante’s mouth was on his. Law froze in panic, waiting for the tightening of his throat, the shortening of his breath, the tingles in his mouth.
But the reactions never came.
Law walked backwards to his bed, stripping them both off as he did. He fell back, Rosinante over him, his mouth leaving a trail of sloppy kisses down Law’s front as he pulled Law’s jeans down.
Naturally, Law had to be careful of his choice of lube. Rosinante either didn’t notice or didn’t care how thin the lube was, warming it on his fingers and pressing into Law as he took Law’s cock in his mouth.
Law ran his fingers through Rosinante’s hair, the locks soft and silky. Rosinante had his eyes turned up to watch Law’s face, teasing Law’s piercing with the tip of his tongue as he sighed.
Rosinante climbed back over him and let Law wrap his legs around him. He took Law’s mouth in another deep kiss as he pressed in.
The sex was slow, gentle, their bodies pressed together and their tongues tying together and their moans singing together.
They lay together in the afterglow, talking long into the night until they dozed off.