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Trafalgar Law had done nothing to deserve this.
Yes, he didn’t want to be here. He hated loud, crowded areas and he hated this kind of music, and he hated being ogled by drunkards, which always happened to him when he went out. Yes, he was being a wet blanket. He very explicitly told Penguin and Shachi he didn’t want to go and he wasn’t going to have a good time if they made him, so was his attitude really a surprise? And no, he would not get up and dance. When in the history of their friendship had he ever gotten up to dance? Never. Well, never sober, anyway, and he was nowhere close to drunk tonight. This grumpy behavior wasn’t unusual, out of character, or in any way unprecedented. So why? Why was he suddenly set upon by a far too energetic young man determined to make him enjoy himself? Well, Law technically knew why. He’d seen Penguin approach the guy. He just didn’t know why his friends and whatever god there might be suddenly hated him and wanted to see him suffer.
“Hey! Hey Tra ... Tro …”
“Tra-fal-gar,” Law grit out through clenched teeth for probably the hundredth time. “My name is Trafalgar and it’s not that fucking hard.”
“Right. Anyway! You should dance with me!”
Law blinked at the boy next to him who was literally bouncing in his seat like he couldn’t sit still for even a moment. A million possible retorts ran through his head, ranging from polite refusals to insulting rejections so crude they’d make a dockhand blush.
He settled for a simple “No.”
“Awwww, don’t be like that Torao!” the boy pouted, and no, that was not cute at all thank you very much.
Law decided to focus on the man’s words instead of his not even a little bit adorable puppy dog eyes. “The fuck is a Torao?”
“You are, silly!”
“You can’t just give me a nickname!”
The raven-haired kid just grinned widely at him. “Shishishi! Yes I can, I just did. So come dance with me, it’ll be fun I promise!”
“Yeah, Torao, go dance with him,” Penguin teased from the safety of the other side of the table. Law shot him a look that promised certain death, but for once that didn’t seem to faze his friend.
Apparently unaware that Law’s friends were reveling in his misery, the guy completely missed the sarcasm and brightened at what he perceived as encouragement. “See? Even bird guy thinks it’s a good idea!”
“Hahah, bird guy,” Shachi laughed, elbowing Penguin and causing the other man to spill his drink.
“Look, kid …”
“I’m not a kid!” the guy protested, cutting Law off. “I’m twenty-five!”
Law raised an eyebrow at that. No way this boy was twenty-five.
“Well, at least that’s what it says on my fake ID. But I’m still not a kid! I’m …” the young man glanced around quickly like it would even be possible for someone to overhear his real age through the din of the music. “actually just twenty. But I’m almost twenty-one, which is almost twenty-five, so see? Not a kid!”
“Okay, fine, whatever. You’re not a kid. But I’m still not going to dance with you. I don’t even know your name,” Law stated, running a hand through his already disheveled blue-black hair.
“Oh! I’m Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy!”
Well, the monkey part is fitting, Law thought with a smirk. Then he realized he was smirking and quickly righted his expression. This odd young man next to him was not amusing.
“So now you know my name and we can dance!”
“Luffy, I’m not going to dance.”
Luffy adjusted his weird straw hat on his head and considered Law for a moment before nodding decisively. “Okay. Then let’s have a drinking contest!”
“No way,” Law refused firmly. “Not a chance.”
+++
“D’you know what, Monkey-hat-kid? You’re not … maybe you’re not … the … the actual worst. Jus a lil’ bit the worst. But not -hic- not the actualist.” The world swam a bit as Law carefully set his empty shot glass on the table, adding it to the neat row he’d made with the previous ones. He wasn’t entirely clear on how he went from staunchly refusing to have a drinking contest with this strange man to losing one to him, but in his current state he couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Shishishi! Torao is druuuuuunk. I win!” Luffy banged his last shot glass down on the table victoriously and wrapped an arm around the slightly swaying man next to him.
“Oh, are we dancing now?” Law asked thickly, his silver eyes meeting chocolate ones questioningly.
“Sure, if Torao wants!” Luffy replied happily. “Lemme finish this beer!”
Law couldn’t be sure if it was the large amount of alcohol in his system that made what happened next seem to be in slow motion, but whatever the reason the full pint of beer toppled toward him almost comically slowly. His friends watched in horror as he took in the now soaked front of his expensive white shirt. His tattooed fingers ran across the wet fabric curiously for a moment before he burst out in laughter.
Luffy laughed uneasily. He’d noticed the tense atmosphere when he’d knocked his beer over, but if Torao was laughing even though he got drenched that was probably good, right?
“Shishishi, sorry about that! Maybe I’m drunker than I thought! Oooooh, Torao has tattoos!”
With a monumental effort, Law forced himself to focus on what suddenly had Luffy so captivated. His now see-through shirt clung to his toned chest and stomach and allowed the dark color of his tattoos to show through the fabric. It was a testament to how truly drunk he was that Law didn’t even flinch when Luffy cautiously reached out and traced the biggest design with a finger.
Law’s friends were not so unaffected by the boy’s actions, though. “Shit,” Shachi muttered as he watched the odd scene unfold. “He’s gonna remember this when he sobers up and he’s gonna kill us, isn’t he?”
“Oh, absolutely. Although honestly I’m surprised that kid still has his finger,” Penguin agreed.
“Pretty,” Luffy finally murmured.
Law opened his mouth to reply but was abruptly cut off by one of the well-meaning idiots he called friends.
“So Law, Luffy, weren’t you guys going to dance?”
“Dance? Oh, yeah! C’mon Torao, this is a great song!”
Law then found himself being pulled unsteadily to his feet and dragged onto the dance floor. The music was so loud he could feel the beat running through his boots as the slightly less-intoxicated of the two led him right into the center of the crowd. There wasn’t much room for them, but with Luffy pressing so close to Law it felt like he was trying merge with him, they didn’t need a lot of space. He let out a hiss as he felt the young man’s sandaled foot press sharply on his, but Luffy just adjusted his stance with a flush and a muttered apology and Law let it slide.
Under normal circumstances Law would be extremely uncomfortable with the boy’s nearness, but tequila always managed to convince him that he liked people. And dancing. And sometimes singing karaoke, though everyone who’d ever witnessed that had been thoroughly threatened with all the unimaginable horrors Law could inflict upon them should they ever speak of it. Luckily this wasn’t a karaoke bar, so at least that was one drunken decision Law wouldn’t have to regret tomorrow.
The decision to wrap his tattooed hands around the straw-hat kid’s lean hips apparently was, though, because before Law knew exactly what he was doing he was pulling Luffy close and doing his drunken best to match their swaying to the song. The boy sighed and wrapped his arms around Law’s neck and the man took that as an invitation to move even closer, pressing every inch of his long body against Luffy’s. Their dancing lacked finesse, but they fell in sync with each other pretty quickly and Law found himself greatly enjoying the feeling of Luffy’s breath on his neck and the way it hitched every so often when Law’s grip tightened on his waist.
Moving one hand to the small of Luffy’s back and bringing the other slowly up his side earned Law a breathy “Torao” and he felt his pulse quicken. Damn this annoying, persistent, fascinating, oddly attractive little devil. No one should sound that sexy moaning out such a ridiculous nickname.
“Tra-fal-gar. C’mon, Staw-hat, say it.” Honestly, Law wasn’t aware he’d spoken his thoughts aloud, and certainly didn’t want to spend too much time lingering on how low and gravely his voice was while he said it, but the way Luffy’s eyes snapped to his, filled with an interesting sort of star-struck lust, let him know he wasn’t the only one affected by their current position.
“Tra-fla-grar,” he murmured, so soft Law almost didn’t catch it over the music.
He smirked and appreciated how the other man’s eyes widened at the sight. “Closer. I’ll take it.” For perhaps the millionth time tonight Law’s body moved without his permission as he bent his head to close the distance between his mouth and Luffy’s, seeking the warmth of the other’s lips.
A warmth he was apparently not to feel. In an instant Law felt himself being pushed away, his back colliding with the person behind him and his head spinning at the sudden movement.
“Torao! Oh, I’m so sorry, I just …”
“It’s perfectly alright, Luffy-ya,” Law said crisply, sobriety returning harshly with the realization that he’d just drunkenly tried to kiss someone his friends bribed to bug him.
Righting himself and brushing off the front of his still-wet shirt, Law tried not to scowl too much as he said, “I apologize for my forwardness. Please excuse me.”
“No, Torao, wait! Wait!”
Law turned, exasperated and embarrassed and wanting nothing more than to disappear into the floorboards. “What?”
“It’s not that I don’t wanna kiss you! But you’re just drunk and I didn’t wanna … I dunno, I didn’t wanna mess it up!”
“It’s fine, Luffy-ya. You are not obligated to kiss me simply because Penguin paid you to entertain me.”
“No, Torao! That’s not …. Ugh!”
Law began to turn away again, determined this time to escape the increasingly awkward situation, only to feel the sudden and unpleasant crash of teeth on his chin. What the –
“Oh no, oh fuck, oh shit,” Luffy sputtered, pulling away from his miserable attempt to kiss the other man and looking as completely mortified and confused as Law felt.
Not knowing what else to do, Law turned on his heel, ignored the nausea that move caused, stormed straight past his dumbstruck friends, and burst out of the club to hail a cab. He had done nothing to deserve this.