Law was attempting to keep his pace calm, to keep his walk nonchalant, but he couldn’t help but rush down the chilly street of the city he currently occupied, trying to catch up with a shadow in the distance.  

At first, he had barely passed the man under the streetlight a second glance, but when the shine hit the man’s hair, he felt an icy grip settle over his heart,  Blue hair, almost a deep indigo of spiky strands that fell over an all-too-familiar face.  The man had paused under the lamp for a moment, shuffled his bandana around his neck, and then moved on.

And now Law was following him, down around the corner, up the next street, and finally he watched the figure step inside a pub and inn that was dimly illuminated on the inside with fading firelight, a once golden hue turned to brown smoldering by this hour.  There was a moment’s hesitation, but eventually the pirate captain steeled himself and pushed open the door to the pub, stepping inside.

Law immediately spotted the man, sitting alone at a table in the right corner, cradling a tumbler glass in his left hand, filled halfway with the recognizable umber liquid of whiskey.  He collected his nerves and strolled straight to the table, pulling out a rough wooden chair and sitting across from the man.

“Steve,” he said in greeting.

The man looked up, his red-brown eyes briefly illuminated by the lamplight.  He wore nearly the same clothes as years ago, a black bandana around his neck and a red overcoat.  Regardless, Law felt like he was looking into a stranger’s eyes.  The person he recalled that went by that name had been so young, so innocent and naive, his face always full of hope and light and faith in this world.  But the man looking back at him was older and jaded.  He looked bored, skeptical and a bit run through the mill.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name,” Steve murmured into the rim of his glass.  “I was wondering if you were just going to follow me all night, Law.”

Law leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over his knee, and placed a long-fingered, tattooed hang under his chin, scratching his goatee lightly.  “Forgive me,” he responded.  “I couldn’t help but be curious.  This is the last place I expected to see you.”

Steve nodded solemnly.  “It’s been a long time since we were barely older than kids in the North Blue.”  A heavy silence fell between the two men, whether they were reminiscing or not was unclear.  Eventually, Law leaned forward and touched the black bandana around Steve’s neck, rubbing the Jolly Roger stitched on it between two fingers.

“So where is your crew, Steve?”

Steve swatted the hand aside, his bored expression breaking for moment to be replaced with a darkened scowl.  “Gone,” he spat out.

“Gone?” Law asked, his voice blank.

“Yes, gone,” the man reiterated.  “You may be the only person left in the world, Law...” he looked across the table at the captain and took a swig from his drink, “...who still knows me by that name.”

“Oh?” the doctor chuckled.  “So what do they call you now?”

Steve shrugged.  “All sorts of things.  I can’t keep track.  I’ve been moving around from place to place for months now, never staying long.”  He placed down his glass and fumbled in his pockets for a moment, pulling out a thin, white cigarette.  “It’s a lonely life.  I’m glad you turned out better than me.”  He held out the pack of sticks to Law.  “Cigarette?”

Law waved them aside.  “I quit a long time ago.  I’m a doctor now, remember?”

Steve huffed, and ignored the man, lighting his smoke with a short-lived match.  “A doctor?” he scoffed.  “Could have fooled me.”

The man across the table frowned from under the brim of his fluffy white hat.  “I’ll have you know, as a medical professional, that smoking is rather bad for you, Steve.  You should quit as well.”

The words were ignored as Steve puffed on his smoke languidly, staring into the shadows of the bar as if he were seeing something else there.  “Don’t lecture me, Law,” he said, but his words had no stiffness in them - only exhaustion and despondence.

Law considered the man in front of him, looking so lost and so far from where he had once been.  He leaned forward in his seat and went to brush a strand of that indigo hair from Steve’s eyes, but stiffened when the man’s hand clamped around his wrist.

“Don’t tempt me,” Steve growled from around the filter of his cigarette.  “I told you, Law, I’m a lonely man.  I’m not the boy you used to know.”

“Neither am I the boy you knew,” Law murmured.  

“Yeah,” Steve smirked for a moment, his eyes glinting mischievously.  “Surgeon of Death they call you, right?”

Law nodded, and although his wrist was still in that steely grip, he let his fingers lightly brush the side of Steve’s face, tracing down his sharp jawline.  “That’s right,” he agreed.  “But I am still your friend.”

Steve’s grip loosened on Law’s wrist.  He lightly ran his fingers down the tattooed skin, feeling the chill underneath, rubbing small circles into the curve of the surgeon’s palms.  “Friend, huh?” he considered the word, tasting it in his mouth, before shaking his head, and releasing the pirate’s wrist.  “No, a friend is not what a need right now.”

Law frowned and let his hand drop, but stayed forward, his face only inches from Steve’s own, trying to make out the man’s expression in the ill lit room.  “What do you need?” he asked softly.

And the pirate watched as Steve thought on the words, his eyes still fixed in the blackness of the shadows and flickering of the flame lamps, both causing a dance of light and darkness across his face.  He took a long drag from his smoke and then snuffed it out in his glass.  It sizzled agains the ice and soaked through, swimming on top of the alcohol.  As soon as it was out, Steve looked up to lock eyes with Law, a ghost of a smile playing across his face as he leaned forward.

Law held his ground as his old friend moved closer, curious as was his nature.  It wasn’t until the smoky, bitter tasting lips touched his own that he realized the man’s intentions.  At the touch, Law fell back, his pupils dilated his surprise, a light hand touching where the strange lips had just been.  “What?” he gasped.  

But Steve did not relent.  He pushed forward, shoving the table out of the way, and clasped Law’s neck between his two hands, running his fingers through the hairs on the base of the other man’s head.  “You asked me what I needed,” he murmured, his lips almost touching Law’s, his breath heavy air between the two of them.  “This is what I need.”

The pirate captain was trying his hardest not to pull away from his old friend, but instinct was screaming at him to do otherwise.  “I think you’re confused, Steve.”

Steven shook his head, and dipped low, nuzzling into the crook between the edge of Law’s neck and the indent of his collarbone.  “No,” he said into Law’s bronze skin, leaving a kiss there after his words.  “This is what I need.”  He looked up at Law, his bored expression still there, masking the deep emotion that was spoken through his actions.  “I need to touch and be touched.  Just for one night, Law.  We’ll go our separate ways in the morning once more.”

Law winced as he felt the man’s teeth graze over the skin on his neck, tingling right above his heavy pulse under his ear.  “Steve, I...”

Steve pulled up and pulled up close to Law’s ear, sliding a warm tongue into the inner lobe before saying hoarsely, “You must be lonely, too, Law...”

These words were the breaking point for the Heart Pirate captain.  His skin itched at the intimate touch, a caress he was so unused to - he could not help but bent forward himself as he came to meet Steve’s lips, and Steve met him there as well.  They touched lightly at first, like before, but quickly sank into each other.  Steve’s tongue ran along the length of Law’s bottom lip, and thus Law opened, letting him explore the cavern of his mouth as they began to share an open-mouth kiss, tongues touching, teeth brushing and biting at the corners of each other’s lips.

“You taste like smoke,” Law said as he pulled back, a string of spit hanging between the two of them.  Steve lapped it up, his face still blank, and simply huffed for a moment before going in for another kiss, his hands on the back of Law’s head now, gripping at his hair, pulling at his roots.  Law’s hands joined in the game, running through those silky indigo strands, tugged at them to pull the man closer, until their flat chests touched, lean muscles under the clothing rubbing against each other in delicious friction.

“I have a room upstairs,” Steve whispered into Law’s ear again, and the husky tone in his voice sent shivers straight down Law’s spine and into his groin, where an auspicious organ gave a small twitch of excitement.  He nodded once before standing and making to follow his old friend.

They only made it as far as the staircase before they fell onto each other again, bodies now completely flush, Law pressed against the wooden walls.  He sucked in air through his teeth at the shocking sensation, gasping as Steve rubbed his groin into Law’s own, allowing Law to feel the steady bulge growing underneath the denim.  It skidded straight over where Law’s was contained in his tight jeans, scraping the fabric down his length underneath and causing him to let a little moan slip through his lips as they kissed.

“Room,” Law gasped.  He smirked for a moment at the irony of his words, but the smile was stolen away by Steve’s greedy tongue, which was tracing the front of Law’s teeth, lapping under his jaw and nibbling at the curve of his shoulder.  Nonetheless, he apparently heard, because he complied, gathering Law with his arms around his waist and tugging him up the stairs.  He walked backward as Law stumbled forward, his face now in Steve’s neck, pushing aside the bandana in frustration.  

When they got to the upper level, it was just two doors down, groping at each other on the door frame while they both struggled with the knob, until the door fell open and they fell inside, shoes skittering across the floor as they struggled to keep balance in their embrace.  As soon as the door shut behind them, Law felt a tug at the hem of his hoodie, and he leaned back to allow Steve to rip the garment over his head.  The cold air in the room hit his heated skin with a prickling sensation, and he fell back toward the warm body of Steve, desperate for more warmth.

Steve understood, and he ran his hands up and down the toned length of Law’s lean back, fingernails scraping under the shoulder blades, pads of his thumbs massaging deep into the muscles that led to the curve of Law’s pert ass.  His hands crept forward, scraping across the slender abs before pinched down on own pert, erect nipple.  Law bit his bottom lip to keep back a moan.  

“I could kill you, Steve,” he reminded the other man.  “In a second, you wouldn’t have a heart in your chest.”

Steve stopped his ministrations for a moment and met Law’s threatening gaze with his own bored one.  “You wouldn’t hurt me,” he said, completely sure of himself.

Law’s shoulders fell his defeat.  “That’s true,” he admitted.  His hands unzipped the front of Steve’s overcoat and pushed it off of the man’s shoulders, where it collapsed on the floor in a heap.  “But I can’t be so sure that you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“That’s fair,” Steve said.  “Because I probably will.”  And with a swift tug, he tore his bandana off his neck, and very quickly wrapped it around the lower half of Law’s head, the fabric digging deep into the pirate’s mouth, before securing it in a sharp knot in the back.  Law’s eyes grew wide in displeasure.  He struggled in Steve’s arms and cursed at him through the gag.

“Hush,” Steve said, pushing Law’s bare chest with the flat of his hand.  At the impact, Law stumbled backward until his knees his the edge of the bed, where he tumbled over on to the sheets.  “You have a reputation to take care of,” he explained.  “I’m sure you don’t want to be overheard.”

Law’s only response was to glare up at the man standing above him sullenly, his slitted eyes bespeaking of his resentful feelings.  Steve ruffled the back of his own hair and shrugged.  “Hate me if you want,” he said, before crawling on to the bed over Law, pushing the man’s thin, long legs open with his knees before settling between them.  He dragged his body upward and took off his own shirt, so that when he settled down, their skin rubbed against each other.  Law’s eyes couldn’t help but notice the plethora of scars that littered Steve’s skin, white marks on the palette of a tan chest.  Steve leaned down to claim his lips again, but Law turned his head aside.

With only the slightest quirked eyebrow to show his irritation, Steve adjusted his route, kissing instead on Law’s neck, biting his collarbone, and then circling his tongue around Law’s nipples, which caused the pirate to involuntarily thrust upward into the man above him.  Law could feel the smile on Steve’s lips when the man closed his teeth on the bud and bit down, eliciting a muffled cry and a writhing squirm from the powerful man below him.  Encouraged, Steve went down farther, tongue lapping at Law’s belly-button, tracing the contours of his pectorals and abs with his tongue, running the tip through the ridges until he reached the waistband of Law’s pants.  Without asking or pausing, he deftly flicked the button and ripped loose the zipper, tugging the jeans easily off of Law’s slim waist, revealing jutting hipbones and a weeping, erect cock. 

The Heart Pirate Captain knew what was coming, but he couldn’t help but watch with wide eyes as the indigo head bent low, the strands of hair obscuring Law’s vision of his own arousal.  He felt rather than saw the lips of the man between his legs take the tip of his erection into his warm, wet mouth, lapping lightly at the slit at the top, tasting the droplet that bled from there.  And then, the descent, slow, tight, clamped lips dragging down his arousal.  Law moaned into the gag, pushing his hips forward, eager for the man to take in more, but Steve placed two heavy hands on his hips and held him in place, taking it in to the hilt and then pulling up slowly, coming all the way off the top.

“I really have missed the taste of another person,” Steve said, his lips dancing across the tip of Law’s cock as he spoke.  He descending again, this time with more speed, and it wasn’t long until his head was bobbing up and down between Law’s legs.  Law rested a tattooed hand on the man’s hair, not pushing but merely holding, the black inked word D-E-A-T-H glaring up at him, blurry in his aroused vision.  He felt a distinct blush rise in his cheeks as more blood flooded down below, a sensation of pleasure building deep in his core.

As soon as the sensation felt like Law could take no more, as soon as he felt like he was on the brink, Steve pulled off of him completely.  He looked at Law, blushing furiously and twisting in need, his face unreadable and he licked the spare salvia from his lips.  He pushed back his sweaty hair, which still fell back in his face, before pulling up to lay over Law.  He reached into the back of Law’s neck and caressing the nape.  

“Can you be quiet?” he asked.

Law scowled and nodded.  Relenting, Steve untied the gag, and Law moved his jaw around to get the soreness out.  Before he could curse out the man above him for first gagging him and then leaving him out to dry with a purpled arousal, Steve shoved his fingers in his mouth.

“Suck,” he ordered.

Law bit down on the fingers, hard.

Steve cursed, ripping his hand out, and then drew the arm back, landing a sharp slap across Law’s face.  It stung and left an angry red mark in it’s place.  “Bastard!” Law barked.  “I don’t take orders!”

At these words, Steve allowed a small smile to grace his face, although it did not reach his eyes.  He leaned down a pressed a kiss to where he had slapped Law.  “I forgot,” he relented.  “I won’t order you again.”

“I can kill you,” Law reminded him.

Steve shrugged.  “You can.”  But it did not seem to faze him in the slightest as he pushed his fingers back to the edge of Law’s lips, and with a roll of the eyes, Law opened his mouth.  Steve’s fingers entered, and Law swirled his tongue around them dutifully, coating them in thick, slick salvia, knowing they’d need a fair share for what was about to come.

As soon as Steve was satisfied, he pulled his fingers from Law’s mouth, where they slipped free with a light pop.  With one hand, he held Law’s length tightly, moving his fist up and down at a steady and light rhythm, and with the other, he slipped one coated digit in between Law’s legs.  The moment the intrusion happened, Law shivered and clenched.  Steve looked up at him, saying nothing, until Law relaxed again.  And then he buried the digit to the hilt and moved it.  

The doctor tried to concentrate on the pleasure coming from his groin as the hand rocked up and now, occasionally pulling off to cradle his balls, pushing them into the warmth of his body from which they were pulling back from.  But below that was the violating feeling of not one, but two fingers, scissoring, pumping, stretching a rather untouched place on his body.  He tried to focus on Steve’s face, but that did not dissuade his uncomfortable nature, for his features were still calm, meticulous, and detached.

“Now be quiet,” Steve muttered to remind him.  Law furrowed his brow in confusion, but this was only until the sensation hit him, traveling up his spine from his nether regions like a lightening strike, sending white hot nerve pleasure coursing through his veins.  Steve had twitched his finger forward and intuitively pressed at the proper spot, reaching his prostate and causing pleasure to ripple through the doctor’s slim form in a heartbeat.

Law had to bite down roughly on his own lip to keep his cry at bay, and as he did so, he tasted the sting of iron blood trickle both on the inside of his mouth and down his chin.  At the same time, he felt Steve pulled his hands back from inside Law and his arousal, running up his side in tandem.  He felt the heavy head of something large at his puckered entrance, and then the soft lick of a tongue on his face.

Steve lapped the blood up silently, staining his tongue crimson, and as he did so, he pushed.  Law bent his legs and angled his hips, trying to accommodate the larger subject, slamming his eyes shut as tears of both arousal and pain leaked from the sides and tumbled down his cheeks.  Steve licked those away too, continuously pressing in, further and further.  One he was finally in to the hilt, he stopped, paused, and hung over Law’s face, breathing heavily in his ear, tracing his tongue in the inner lobe as he muttered to him nonsensical words.

“Thank you Law...very good...let me know...”

Law pushed his hips up, signaling for the man to continue, and with that allowance, Steve pulled back and pushed into him once more, moving slowly and dragging the friction out as it irritated the doctor’s insides.  “Hurry up,” Law cursed.  

Steve shook his head, “No,” he refused.  “I said I needed this.  I need to feel.  I will take my time.”  Regardless, he did pick up the speed a bit, pulling up and slamming back in.  His hands wrapped down around the bottom of Law’s ass and the small of his back, and he lifted his lower half upward in the air, staying aloft on his knees.  

“If you must cry out,” Steve said, “say my name, would you, Law?”  He smiled, this time a real smile, just for second touching his red-brown eyes in a glint of his old self. “I miss hearing my name.”

Law nodded, not having the words to say much else, because as Steve was speaking, he was thrusting into Law at the proper angle, the deeper and more intrusive head of his cock hitting the proper spot dead on each time, with more force than any fingers could render.  He leaned his head back into the pillow, droplets of sweat from sexual exertion dripping from his raven hair.  His inked hands grabbed at the bedsheets below him, balling them in his fists.  

“Oh fuck...” he gasped out as the pressure began to sizzle near the boiling point.  “Oh fuck, Steve...” he said.  Law was desperate to keep his eyes open, even though they were swimming from tears from his arousal and stung with the drops of sweat.  His wet eyelashes fluttered across his flushed skin of his cheeks as he drunk in the sight of Steve above him.  The man was still composed, eyes still downcast into the shadows.  His hair was sleek with sweat and his muscles were working vigorously under his skin as he thrust, but he looked dead inside, cold and callous as a corpse.  

“Steve!’ he shouted again, and at the name, Steve’s eyes flashed, and he finally met Law’s own gaze for a moment.  Humanity crept into his features, and his brow furrowed, his lips parted, and he muttered, ever so quietly,

“Law...”

Law did not feel Steve coat his insides with his own fluids, because from the head of his erection sprouted thick strands of white liquid, splattering across the doctor’s chest and landing cool across his muscles and torso.  He groaned and clenched down on the thickness inside of him, where Steve was convulsing himself, emptying his cock out into the inviting warmth of his old friend.

Still exhausting, still panting, the two man peeled apart.  Law lay there weakly as cum dripped from between his legs, and Steve, with panting and red lips, took it upon himself to clean up the pirate, starting down below between the man’s legs with his own fluids, and then moving up to clear off the stains across Law’s chest.  With heavy eyes, Law watched, regaining his breath, occasionally ruffling Steve’s indigo hair with his hand before letting his arms fall by his side on the bedsheets.

“Thank you, Law,” Steve repeated from earlier.  “It’s good to be lonely...with you.”