Honey

When Senku said that he would be reviving someone crucial to their plan of bringing back all humans from stone, everyone from the Kingdom of Science developed their own image in their head.

Chrome imagined another genius like Senku, someone who can help create things that seemed like magic.

Kohaku expected an athlete, meant to do the heavy lifting that she normally found herself doing for Senku and his experiments.

Ginro shook at the thought of a leader, commanding and terrifying and ready to rule over the Kingdom of Science with an iron fist.

Obviously, Senku thought it was unnecessary to explain who he was actually planning on reviving and what they were like, because no one expected him to emerge from the thickness of the forest with someone like... you.

You, who looked as normal as could be, save for the cracks etched upon your skin from the de-petrification process.

"Senku... who is this?" Kohaku asked. Typical of her, one of the only ones who had the guts to openly question the scientist's judgement.

Senku grinned like he had just uncovered diamonds (and to him, maybe he did). "This, ladies and gentlemen of the stone world, is the capable apothecary back from the modern world."

You had smiled and nodded at them, introducing yourself. "Nice to meet you all. I look forward to working with you."

Gen was the only one who was actually wary of you — you, who did not seem fazed at all when you came out of the petrification to find yourself in a world that has descended into over three thousand years without a single human soul from the modern world.

From his experience, the only ones who had that kind of reaction to this new age were the ones that had a couple of screws loose in their brains, much like Senku.

If only he had followed his gut.

After you had explained to the rest of the Kingdom of Science what an apothecary was, little Suika was eager to learn form you as you wandered through the forest together in search for herbs. Senku had your own clinic constructed beside his lab, where you kept various leaves and plants that you thought would be useful.

It took a few weeks for you to properly settle in and get used to the difficult simplicity of things, but once you did, Senku knew that he had to keep a tighter leash on you.

"Kinro, Ginro," he had told them one day when you were holed up in your clinic. "While you're guarding the village, make sure that the apothecary doesn't leave the area."

Ginro had tilted his head, confused. You kept to yourself most of the time, sure, but you seemed harmless to him. "Why?"

Senku shook his head. "Trust me, you do not want to see what would happen if they're left unsupervised."

Nonetheless, Kinro and Ginro nodded. It was part of the rules to be wary of outsiders anyway, so Kinro had no problem keeping an eye on you.

But of course, even the strict Kinro could sometimes slip, especially with someone as sneaky as you under their watch.

They didn't even notice you were gone until Gen went into the clinic one day to bother you, only to find it empty.

He thought that bringing it up with Senku would be no big deal, and that he would probably know where you were.

Until his news of your sudden disappearance caused Senku to look up from his messy science-y notes so fast Gen knew that man had to have gotten whiplash.

"Get Suika, Kohaku, and Chrome and tell them to search the forest," he barked, storming out of his lab like a man on a mission.

Gen stumbled to keep up with him, eyebrows pinching together. Why was Senku, the normally logical, overall detached scientist, act like you not being here was a war crime?

Gen began to question how much you really meant to the scientist. Obviously you were something to him, seeing as you didn't have extraordinary skills, and yet you were still one of the very few people that Senku decided to revive.

Either way, this level of overprotectiveness is crazy! Gen thought.

"Wha — What are you gonna do?!" The mentalist sputtered.

"I'm gonna have a word with the bodyguards," Senku grumbled, and he didn't wait to see if Gen left to do what he was told (he did leave — no way did he want to deal with an angry Senku) before he approached Kinro and Ginro at the end of the bridge.

"I thought I told you to watch the apothecary!" He said, his voice shaky and maniacal, the way it always sounded when he was stressed about something. "They're gone!"

Kinro was the first to speak up this time. "I apologize for losing sight of them, but guarding the village is our number one priority. If they leave the Kingdom of Science, which is not technically part of the village, then it is not really our concern."

"They could be anywhere doing gods know what!" Senku threw his hands up, one raking through his hair.

"They — They couldn't have gone that far," Ginro reassured, but his hands were shaking the spear that he held. "They're probably still around the area, gathering their herbs or something!"

The statement was meant to reassure Senku.

It did not.

"Shit, what if they come across...?" Senku began mumbling to himself, walking away as he dived deep into his thoughts.

In the end, it was Kohaku that found you.

In a not so good condition.

"They're unconscious!" Kohaku called out as she came out into the clearing of the Kingdom of Science with you in her arms. "There are weird, soapy things coming out of their mouth."

Senku almost tripped over himself to get a better look at you. There was foam on the corners of your purple lips. Your skin was deathly pale, and your chest was barely rising.

But you were alive, that was the good thing. Keeping you alive would be a different challenge.

"You stupid apothecary," Senku laughed, but there was no humor in his voice.

Despite his... less superior strength, he took you out of Kohaku's arms and brought you to your clinic, laying you on the stretcher on the ground as he rummaged through your shelves of remedies and herbs.

"This is why you can never leave my sight," he said, more to himself than you. "Who knows what you find in this forest? The plants are different from how they were three thousand years ago, of course you'd be curious of its properties. Of course you'd test it on yourself."

He found a bottle you had labeled "generic antidote" and snatched that one.

He pulled the cork out with his teeth and brought the lid of the bottle to your lips.

"No."

He paused his movements when he heard you. Your words were more air than voice, but he had heard you nonetheless due to your proximity.

"Your lips are purple, you're foaming at the mouth, you're deathly pale, and you're barely breathing," Senku listed down. "That's the generic effects of poison. What's wrong with the generic antidote?"

Your eyes cracked open, and Senku almost recoiled in shock.

"Your eyes are black."

Sure enough, even the part of your eyes that were supposed to be white were almost fully coated in black, like you had put on contacts.

"Different... poison..." you muttered, like speaking was the hardest thing you ever did in your life. "White petals, salt... the green paste in the small bottle. Grind 'n boil 'em 'until 'til they bubble."

"Is there enough time for that?" Senku asked, but he was already reaching for the ingredients. His hands moved with lightning speed, determined to give you the antidote.

"Yeah... got lots of time..." you had started to fade into unconsciousness, but Senku was quick to lightly slap your cheek.

"Oi, stay awake, stupid apothecary," he commanded.

"Yessir," you slurred slightly, a weak grin on your face.

The preparation took forever, when in reality it only took around twenty minutes until he had a strange concoction in a bowl, ready for consumption.

He knelt beside you, pushing you up into a sitting position so the antidote would travel around your body faster.

With one hand behind your back and the other holding the bowl, he brought the antidote to your lips. "Open up."

You drank obediently, your face faintly scrunching up at the expectedly awful taste, but you had finished everything in the bowl.

"Good." Senku laid you back down. "Now you can rest."

He didn't even need to tell you that; you were already knocked out the moment you had drank the last of the antidote.

—————

Throughout the rest of the day, various people came to check in on you, asking Senku how you were doing and if you were alive.

He was quick to snap at all of them, telling them that you would recover faster if it was quiet. Obviously that wouldn't really change anything, but they don't need to know that.

You woke up late at night, your head feeling like a balloon and your body feeling like lead.

Senku perked up from his seat on the side of the clinic when he heard you groan, immediately standing up and kneeling by your side.

"You good, apothecary?" He hated how worried his voice sounded; a scientist like him shouldn't be chained down by emotions.

But you literally just poisoned yourself, so could you really blame him?

"I..." It took you so long to finish your answer that Senku was convinced that you had fallen asleep again, until you bolted upright with the widest grin on your mouth. The contrast of your bright smile with your pale face and bloodshot eyes made you look like a character straight out of a horror game. "I feel great!"

Senku blinked. "Huh?"

"Did you get the flower that I ate?" You started rambling, pulling at your sleeves to examine your skin, as if looking for residual poison. "I knew that there would be new kinds of natural poison around here since it's been a couple hundred years, but wow! That flower was unlike anything I've ever tested —"

Your eyes suddenly snapped to Senku's. "Did you record how long it took for me to pass out? How long it took for the antidote to take effect? My symptoms? How close I was to death?"

Senku was in disbelief, to put it lightly. He knew from the moment that he met you that you were as passionate about poisons as he was about science, but he forgot how actually insane you were.

"It took you eight hours to recover, but that doesn't include the time from when the poison started to take effect to the time that Kohaku found you," Senku replied, not to answer your question, but to scold you. "What have I told you about trying poisons out without telling anyone?! What would have happened if I didn't tell the Kingdom of Science to look for you?!"

You waved his concern away like it was unnecessary (it was very much necessary). "My heartbeat would have been slow enough to not even be detected by a machine, my chest would barely rise, but I was confident that I wouldn't die. I'm immune to most poisons."

"Well, obviously not this one!" Senku groaned. He felt like pulling his hair out. "You could have died!"

You put your hand to your chin, suddenly deep in thought. "What if the flower gives you the effects of death, but in reality, it doesn't actually kill you? Or what if it does kill you, but giving an antidote can basically revive you?" You muttered.

It was like Senku wasn't even there!

He slapped the back of your head, hard enough to pull you out of your brain but not hard enough to actually hurt you. "Stop that! Stop plotting ways to commit suicide! You're grounded until further notice!"

"But Senku!" You whined, clutching the front of his shirt like you were begging for your life rather than freedom to roam through the forest and find more lethal poisons. "This is the pinnacle of poison discovery! I'm the only one alive that has true experience with poison, and I could find new ones that'll be named after me and carry my legacy for generations!"

"I understand that discovery comes with risk, but this is neither necessary nor calculated risk on your part!" Senku retorted, flicking your hand away. "Kohaku was already caught off guard when you were surrounded by strange, purple flowers!"

The silence made Senku sweat. He should not have said that.

Before he could react, you were already out of the cot, dashing out of the clinic. The fire in front of Chrome's storage facility was still alive, which meant that there were still people awake in the Kingdom of Science.

You spotted a familiar head of blonde hair. "Kohaku!" You called, dragging her name out as you ran towards her, your smile as maniacal as your laugh as you evaded Senku, who was shouting at you to get back to bed.

You slid on the ground, stopping right beside Kohaku. You grabbed her shoulders and made you face her. "Do you remember where you found me? Did you get any of the flowers that you found me with? Do you —"

"Do not answer any of their questions!" Senku interrupted, wrapping his arms around your waist and hauling you up. "It'll only encourage them to test stuff on themself!"

The rest of the people surrounding the campfire — old man Kaseki, Chrome, and Gen — stared at you in horror. You thrashed around in Senku's arms, but ultimately gave up when his hold on you never faltered. For a scientist who normally lacked physical strength, he sure was good at keeping you in place.

"I knew there was something wrong with you," Gen muttered, a scared smile spreading on his lips.

"This is bad," Chrome moaned, clutching the sides of his head like he just found a live bomb. "I thought the apothecary was tamer and more mature than Senku. Turns out they're just as bad!"

"No," Kohaku shook her head, watching Senku drag you back to the clinic where he would undoubtedly imprison you until you were fully recovered and properly confined within the Kingdom grounds. "They're worse."

Kaseki sighed, tending to the fire. "At least young Senku is there to keep them in line. It seems he cares about them very much."

Gen nodded. He may have missed you being a complete suicidal maniac, but that's one thing he was sure of: despite your tendencies, Senku was always there to make sure you never actually "step into the light", so to speak.

And he's pretty certain that will not change any time soon, not even in the stone world.

He never spoke about the subject with any passion, never volunteered answers unless directly asked, but he always worked with certainty, exceeding everyone else. In the first few weeks, you and Law barely spoke beyond the bare minimum required to get work done. Even then, that wasn’t much, as he would do most of it himself.

“Aluminum alloy capsule.” He’d outstretch a gloved hand without even looking at you.

You’d pass the capsule. “Right, you’re welcome.” You paused. “Are you always this friendly in the morning?”

That finally got him to glance over. “What?”

You shook your head. “Nothing. For someone who always acts so tired of people, you make powering through this lab look pretty easy.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“I’m not sure.”

And that was about as deep as your first conversations got. Short exchanges between measurements, dry banter beneath the fume hood. You learned after some time that he wasn’t exactly unfriendly; he was just difficult to read. He would answer when spoken to, but rarely made any opening. 

Eventually, you noticed he’d gotten used to your presence. He’d slide his much neater data tables to you to copy from, or drop a pair of gloves your size on the table before you asked for them.

“Not that one.” He caught your wrist lightly before you could pour the chemical. 

You froze. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. We’re not trying to make the precipitate yet.” He paused for a moment, “Let me do this. I stopped trusting you around chemicals a few weeks ago.”

“Okay, ouch.”

“You somehow turned our analyte red the last time we were doing titrations. Can you blame me?” He didn’t let go of your wrist immediately. He noticed where your gaze settled, fingers loosening a second later as he stepped back towards the bench. 

“Just... read the labels properly before you grab stuff.”

“Okay, mom.” You scoffed.

“I regret helping you.” There was a light twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Your exchanges began to trail outside of the lab. You noticed that he’d begun to pack his belongings more slowly while you talked, without really noticing you were hanging behind yourself. Eventually, one of you would end up holding the door for the other without discussing it, the banter continuing as you stepped into the hallway. Outside, he walked a step ahead of you without actually leaving you behind. The class would stop being the point of the conversation, topics shifting without either of you acknowledging it. 

“You’re slower today,” you remarked after catching up to him.

He glanced at you and replied, “Because you’re talking more.”

As the two of you continued the walk, he turned into the convenience store–the only place on campus open at that hour–and you followed unconsciously, picking out your respective snacks separately and ending up at the register at the same time. Back outside, the air felt cooler on your skin as the two of you walked to a large T-intersection on campus. He always adjusted his bag strap, gave a soft wave, then started walking forward. You went to your apartment in the other direction. That was the unspoken routine you developed with him.

Until one night, when he stepped out as you were finishing your thought, and broke the exchange cleanly for the first time. 

“I have somewhere to be, actually.”

You paused, then nodded. “Then, I’ll catch you next week”

He gave you the same soft wave before walking in the other direction, not looking back when he left.

…

Nami had already been half-dressed when you got back to your apartment, talking about Luffy’s place like you were absolutely going.

Dressed in the standard PPE–sneakers, your college sweatshirt, a pair of wrinkled jeans–you studied the lineup of Grey Goose, yuzu flavored soju, and pink lemonade on the counter before quirking an eyebrow.

“Alright, slow down. What’s going on at Luffy’s place? Why are you dressed like you’re ready to ruin someone’s life? And why is our alcohol posted up on the counter?”

She grinned, “We're going to Luffy’s party tonight, I heard Vivi was gonna be there…” she gestured to her outfit, “And I refuse to pregame alone.”

You narrowed your eyes, “And who is we?”

“You and me, honey. Go change, I’ll pour you a shot.” She opened the cabinet and picked up a glass without waiting for you to respond. 

You placed a hand on your head exasperatedly and began to walk back to your room. “Look, Nami, I love you, but I just got back from a lab and I’m dead tired. I’ll go with you next time.”

“Okay, but when else are we gonna be able to do this? The semester’s almost over, and I haven’t gone out with you once!”

You froze and turned around, staring at her blankly. “It’s Luffy. Doesn’t he have a party every other night? And when he doesn’t, he’s planning the next one.” 

She shrugged, glancing to the side almost defeatedly. “Okay, granted…” She perked up again, “But I’m talking about you. You’re always busy, and I think you could use the break.” She smiled sweetly, fingers inching towards the bottle of vodka.

She wasn’t wrong. You haven’t had much time outside of class to spend time with friends, much less go to parties, since the semester started.

“You’re on thin ice.” You finally sighed.

“Is that a yes?”

“...One hour. Go pour the shot.”

…

You initially had some back-and-forth with your roommate about the amount she gave you. She called it a “Nami Shot,” and you called it “way too much.” You forgave her as soon as you stepped into the biting air, the buzz in your system serving as a perfect distraction.

After walking a few blocks, you finally reached the house: 10 Sunny Lane. Some people stood idly outside, and a man with blond wavy hair leaned at the door. You opened your wallet, ready to pay the entry fee, before Nami took your hand away.

“No need. I’ll handle it.” She turned back to you and gave a reassuring grin. “I’ve known Luffy for a while, he told me I can enter for free.”

Approaching the door, she gave the man a friendly wave. “Hey, stranger.”

He looked up and smiled easily. “Look who finally decided to show up. I was starting to think you got lost.”

Nami placed a hand against her chest, feigning hurt. “Oh please, I’m not Zoro.”

Laughing softly, he shook his head before flicking his eyes to you. “Is this your plus one?”

“Mhm.” She gestured toward you. You introduced yourself, and he gave you a warm smile in return.

He stepped aside to let you both in, “Go ahead. Luffy’s probably somewhere inside causing property damage.”

“It’s good to know that nothing’s changed,” she chuckled, waving him goodbye and taking your hand by the index and middle fingers to guide you in. “...And that was Luffy’s big brother, Sabo.”

You glanced back towards the door. Unlike Luffy’s loud recklessness that you were somewhat familiar with, Sabo seemed composed, laid-back, and rather charming. It was hard to picture them being raised in the same household.

Several people were sprawled out across the couch, engaging in sluggish chatter. Plastic cups stacked in a nearby bin and spilled out the sides. 2000’s EDM blared through a speaker in a nearby corner, and you walked through the house with Nami as she searched for familiar faces, finally making it to the kitchen, which was somehow louder than the living room.

Every inch of counter space was occupied by open chip bags, unattended bottles, and dispensers filled with suspicious beverages. People squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder around the island, shouting over one another, and Nami moved through it all like it was second nature, tugging the hem of your sleeve occasionally so you wouldn’t get lost. 

“God, usually they’d be playing better music by now,” she shouted over the bass, opening a cooler to find some drinks. “And who the hell actually enjoys Cutwater?” She pushed a lime margarita can to the side.

Placing a cherry limeade Beatbox in your hand, she finally stood. “Take this. I wouldn’t put too much faith into the jungle–”

She stopped mid sentence.

You followed her gaze across the kitchen, finding a girl with long blue hair standing near the counter with a hand curled around her drink, laughing with a small group of people.

“Oh my god,” Nami whispered before straightening her hair, “It’s Vivi.”

Before you could respond, Vivi glanced over and lit up when she spotted your roommate.

“Nami!” She said a quick goodbye to her friends and made her way over towards the two of you. 

“Hi,” Nami said coolly, as if she wasn’t short circuiting moments prior, “Didn’t know you were coming.” 

“Luffy pestered me until I finally caved.” Vivi’s eyes shifted to you. “Oh, hey. You must be…”

“This is my roommate,” Nami said before quickly turning back to Vivi, who smiled and offered you her hand.

“I’ve heard a bit about you, actually.”

You shot Nami a look. “Oh?”

She groaned, “Okay, don’t make it weird.”

“I’m not making it weird,” Vivi chuckled, “She and Luffy talk about you a lot.”

“I do not! And Luffy talks about everyone the same.” Nami dragged her hands down her face exhaustedly, making you stifle a laugh.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I’m Vivi.”

You gave yourself a proper introduction and she repeated your name with an easy smile before glancing back towards Nami.

“You look cute, by the way.”

You watched panic flick across Nami’s eyes before she made a quick recovery, running a hand through her hair, “Really?”

“Mhm.”

You looked between the two of them for a moment, noticing how Vivi seemed equally flustered behind the confident smile she tried to maintain. Around you, the kitchen grew warmer as more people crowded in. Someone yelled for aux, another person tripped on someone’s spilled drink.

Leaning in a little closer to Nami to be heard over the music, Vivi asked, “Do you wanna go somewhere quieter? I can barely hear you here.”

For a second, You would’ve thought Nami was about to combust. Her eyes darted to you. You knew that look. It was the same one she gave you when she was short on cash (she never really was), and when she tried to convince you to come to this party in the first place. She grabbed your wrist.

“Can you handle yourself for a little bit?”

You snorted. “I’ll survive.”

“I owe you so bad.” 

“You already do. This is negligible.” You gestured to Vivi, who was already a few paces away, “Go for it.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll catch you soon.” She flashed you a grin before straightening up and turning back around. And she was gone, slipping through the crowd towards Vivi, who tucked herself against Nami’s side.

The kitchen noise quickly turned from lively to overwhelming after your roommate left. The bass felt louder without anything to shout over it, voices grew sharper, the bodies bumping into your shoulder a little too chaotic. The air felt too warm and too sticky. The alcohol you barely started on turned unpleasantly in your stomach. You glanced towards the hallway, then the back door, making the decision to step out before the noise becomes too much.

Outside, the air was quieter in a way that was almost disorienting after the bustling inside. The party was still audible, but it was muffled pleasantly like an afterthought. You barely got a second to adjust before you noticed a strangely familiar silhouette leaning against the side of the house.

You slowed without meaning to. You told yourself it could be anyone–It should be anyone. Someone smoking, someone waiting for a friend, someone like you who was trying to escape the noise.

And maybe it was. The shape shifted under the patio’s lamp, the shadows of moths flitting across the dim light it casted. The figure didn’t look up immediately.

“I wasn’t sure how long you’d last inside.” Law finally said, as if he’d been thinking about it for some time. 

“I didn’t take you for the type to attend parties.”

“I’m not attending it,” He replied, “I’m just tolerating it.”

You raised an eyebrow, “And for what?”

He went silent for a while. “Nothing important.”

“...Right.”

Bringing a tattooed hand to his lips, he took a steady inhale, before puffing out a plume of pale vapor. His fingers grazed over the cart’s button. Not anticipating going back inside, you made yourself comfortable crouched on the ground next to him, drink still sitting relatively untouched in your hand.

“You smoke?”

“What gave it away?” He ran his eyes over you.

“Nothing in particular.”

Your gaze lingered on the smoke between you for a moment longer than necessary. Law noticed, as always. 

“You look miserable,” he said.

You glanced down at the sweating carton in your hand before taking a swig. “This drink sucks.”

“Then why are you still carrying it?”

“Because I can’t enjoy this party sober.” Your thumb toyed with the bottlecap.

Law glanced toward the house. “Did you get dragged here by someone?”

You nodded. “My roommate. She wanted to go out together for the first time in…forever. But right now, she’s busy trying to win over this girl she likes.”

Shrugging,you added, “And it’s probably working.”

“The blue haired one?”

You blinked. “You saw that?”

“It’s kind of hard not to.” His response came quickly. 

It felt strange seeing him here. Not because he looked out of place, if anything, the dim light under the awning and tired posture suited him better than the fluorescent laboratory buzz. You unconsciously took a gulp of the drink, its bitter and artificial flavor painting your tastebuds. A displeased sound left your mouth without realizing.

“You don’t have to finish it, you know.” His voice came quieter this time. The pen adjusted between his fingers again, small and repetitive like he just needed something to do with his hands more than anything else. It slowed halfway through, like he’d forgotten what he was doing.

Before you could answer, the back door slammed open, laughter spilling out. You both looked towards it at the same time. When it closed again, the quiet felt much sharper.

You finally huffed, “Is that you being nice or you being tired of hearing me complain?”

“Maybe it’s both.” That got you to glance at him, eyes unexpectedly meeting his. 

You took another sip anyway. It was warm from how long it spent sitting in your hands, but you didn’t adjust your grip. Neither of you moved for a while after that. Law stayed against the wall, the pen resting loosely between his fingers, its light blinking occasionally. 

He stayed where he was for a second longer, then let himself sink down into a crouch, as if standing had stopped being necessary.

“You always sit like that?” He broke the silence.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re gonna fall asleep.” He paused, “You’re like this in chem lab, too.”

You shifted your weight slightly. “I’m just conserving energy.”

“And I’m the one who always seems tired?” A quiet exhale left him, one that was barely a laugh.

You rolled your eyes, “You’re worse in the lab”

His sleeve brushed against yours. It didn’t move away. “How am I worse?”

“No offense. You just look like you’d rather be anywhere else.”

“That’s because I usually would be.”

You nodded, “fair enough.”

A moment passed. 

“But you’re still there.” You turned your head towards him.

“As are you.”

That landed heavier than either of you seemed willing to admit. Law didn’t look back at you right away. When he finally did, it wasn’t immediate eye contact. It was almost as if his stare drifted to yours on accident and he was unsure whether to stay or look away.

That should’ve ended it, and the exchange should’ve dissolved back into the muffled noise inside the house. But the conversation didn’t settle. Law’s pen stopped clicking absentmindedly entirely at some point before he shoved it into his pocket. You weren’t sure when the drink in your hand started to taste flat, nor when it grew lighter and easier to hold.

At some point, the angle of your body shifted without you noticing. The ground didn’t feel cold as you fully sat down against the wall, resting your free hand in your lap. Law was still close, but his presence became something you weren’t consciously aware of. You didn’t notice when you stopped looking at the time, your promise to stay for one hour long forgotten.

Law leaned back against the wall beside you. Instead of creating space, though, his shoulder rested loosely against yours. You could feel his warmth through the fabric of your shirt. Crickets chirped beneath the low pulse of music that permeated the walls. His head tipped back against the siding, eyes half lidded as his warm breath puffed and disappeared into the cool night air.

Despite the faint crease between his brows when he was thinking and the way exhaustion was woven into his features, he didn’t look like he wanted to leave.

“Are you still just tolerating this party?” 

His expression was unreadable. “It got less unbearable.”

You let out a quiet laugh. “Is that so?” Before he could respond, your phone buzzed in your pocket. You pulled it out, the bright screen casting a cool glow on your features. 

Debt Collector

You sighed before answering. “Hey, what’s up?”

“You disappeared!” Nami said immediately, words slurred beneath the noise in the background. “Where you at?”

“I’m outside right now.” You furrowed your eyebrows and tried to force back a smile, “How drunk are you?”

“I’m not THAT drunk,” she defended, followed by muffled laughter that almost definitely belonged to Vivi. 

“Right…” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “Okay, make sure you’ve got your stuff and stay where you are, I’ll find you.”

“Wait, I’m not ready to go home yet!” Her voice stretched in the silence of the backyard.

You closed your eyes briefly, “Yeah, I’ll see you soon.” Your thumb made contact with the red hang up button.

Law let out a quiet breath beside you that sounded suspiciously close to a laugh. Glancing towards him, you spoke, “I have to–” “Yeah,” he interrupted, “I figured.”

Pushing yourself to your feet, your legs were stiff and you stumbled forward slightly. Law’s arms twitched, hands freezing in place as you found your footing again. Maybe that Beatbox did more to you than you anticipated. The drink was abandoned beside the wall. Law stood a second after you did, hands slipping into the pockets of his hoodie.

You looked at him. “You gonna stay?” “Probably not for long.”

You nodded in response. Neither of you reached for the door immediately. Up close, you could still feel traces of his warmth lingering. Law glanced toward the house at the sound of another round of shouting coming from inside before looking back at you. 

Finally placing a hand on the handle, you tightened your grip. “See you in lab?”

“Yeah,” Law replied quietly. “See you there.”

Chapter 2 Coming Soon!

...

A/N:

The non-manga panel art in the banner is mine btw!! my other blog is @phu0nglan :)

SOO i do not know much at all about what other college majors do 😭 i'm a stem major, so reader ended up doing stem coursework with Law because it’s what i could write about best without it feeling unnatural. thankfully the whole medical/premed route works with his character. I'm very very sorry if this wasn’t what some of you were expecting!!

...

I'm gonna be drinking some weed juice in a few days so i can continue the next chapter too LMAOAO we'll see how that goes..