and they were roommates

by bojo97

Summary:

omg they were roommates

Chapter 1

Luffy snored loudly as he slept, his body halfway out of his bed, twitching slightly, him being the only thing moving or making noise in his room right now. He smiled absentmindedly as his dreams switched from one thing to the next, all of them always good dreams. He couldn't remember when his last nightmare had been, probably years ago at this point. He laughed slightly, stirring a bit before the boy's alarm rang loudly in his ear, slowly waking him.

“Mhhh…?” He groaned while getting up, slipping and falling to his floor, rubbing his eyes, trying to wipe away his tiredness, and stretched his arms and legs, letting out a small yell before getting up, smiling as he picked up his blanket and chucked it onto his bed, his room already just one big mess so what was one more thing untidy to him. He walked over to his closet and looked through his shirts, sighing as his favorite ones were all dirty or buried under some pile or other. He huffed before smiling and running out of his room. He broke into Ace's room and laughed to himself.

“Ace! Ace!” He yelled, shaking Ace as hard and quickly as possible

“Wha- what? What?! I'm up Luffy- oh for fucks sake, bro, go put some clothes on!!” Ace yelled, looking over at Luffy when he woke up. He quickly looked away and growled, annoyed that Luffy had woken him up nearly naked again.

“I'm going to! Just give me one of your shirts!” He said, jumping onto the older boy making him grunt from the unexpected weight.

“Ugh, fine! Jesus, take one of my shirts; you're washing all of yours later today, though you got that!” Ace huffed, yelling at him as he pushed Luffy off him and onto the floor. “And go turn off your damn alarm. You're going to wake up everyone else in the apartment!”

“Oh right, my alarm! And thanks, Ace. Love ya!” he said quickly, grabbing one of Ace's favorite shirts and running to his room. Turning off his alarm, he put on the shirt, which was really baggy on the smaller boy than on his older brother. He grabbed a pair of shorts from his dresser and put them on before heading out to the kitchen, only to see his grandfather Garp there this morning, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“Where’s mom? Is he at work already?” Luffy asked, trying to take a sip of Garp’s coffee but not being quick enough as his grandpa had pulled the cup away from him, not wanting to deal with a caffeinated Luffy today.

“Yes, he is. He also has a job for you today,” Garp said, drinking his coffee all in one go and putting the cup in the sink before pouring the rest of the pot into his tumbler to take with him to work. “After you come home from college, you are to go straight to Buggy’s place, so bring some extra clothes and what you think you'll need while there, got it?” He instructed, his voice stern, hoping it would sink into Luffy's head that he was being serious about being packed.

“Oh, sweet, the twins need to be watched again!” Luffy said, the excitement in his voice evident to anyone who heard it. He loved watching the twins. He was practically crying at his mom to convince Maybell to let him watch them when they first arrived.

“Yes, yes, Maybell needs you to watch the twins again, but she needs you to watch them for a long time this time, got it? Somethings come up at work that she and your mom need to be putting in overtime to fix, and she’ll be staying at mihawks until it's fixed since he lives closer,” Garp said, packing a bag of food for lunch and grabbing his work, bag ready to head out.

“Wait, so I get to stay in her place until whatever is going on is fixed?” he asked, following his grandpa around and looking up at the much taller older man.

“Yes, but you're not going to be alone, alright buggy still lives there with her, the damn leech...” Garp had said, whispering the last part to himself so Luffy couldn't hear, knowing the boy thought buggy was cool

“SWEET!!” he yelled before jumping hearing a thud on the floor. The person in the apartment room below them was trying to get them to quiet down a bit.

“Oh, whoops, SORRY!” Luffy yelled at the floor before getting smacked in the back of the head by his grandpa, making him hold his head as it stung from the slap.

“Hush, boy! Goodness… well, look, there's food in the fridge for your breakfast today and money in an envelope with money in it in Sabo's room for you when you're staying in maybells place for you to buy your own food, okay? I do not want you going and eating theirs. That's rude!” he said, hitting his finger lightly on Luffy's forehead.

“Alright. Thank you, Grandpa,” Luffy said, smiling up at him before wrapping him up tightly in a hug, stretching his arms to wrap all of Garp's torso in it, squeezing him, and giggling.

“Augh! Yeah, yeah, boy, now let me go, ya pipsqueak. I've got work to do,” he said, moving his arms a bit before enveloping Luffy in a big bear hug, squeezing him tighter then Luffy was squeezing him, nearly knocking the wind out of the boy. He chuckled and let Luffy go when he felt Luffy loosen his grip.

“Alright, how long will Mom stay at work for?” Luffy asked, taking a deep breath to regain it after Garp squeezed it out of him. He unstretched his arms, making them their normal length.

“He's probably going to stay there longer than Maybell will, boy, but he said he was taking some time off after this and giving Maybell some time off as well. From what I heard, it's terrible there. But don't worry boy; I'll come over and visit and give you some breaks from watching those two, okay?” he said, giving a big smile to Luffy, ruffling his hair as he rubbed his head.

“Mhh, alright, gramps. Thanks for making me breakfast, by the way!” he said, waving bye as Garp started heading out.

“Of course, and remember to call me as soon as possible if either your dad or Doflamingo comes around, got it?” he said as Luffy nodded, giving him a determined grin.

“Good now; I'll see you later boy. Don't forget to wake Ace and Sabo up as well,” he said, waving bye to him before closing the door. He then started walking down the steps of the building, refusing to take the elevator. Luffy smiled, now being somewhat alone, and opened the fridge, seeing three plates covered in plastic wrap, one much larger than the other two. It having a sticky note with Luffy’s name on it. He giggled and grabbed it, taking the plastic wrap off, putting it in the microwave, setting the time, and pressing start before grabbing the notepad Garp leaves on the counter, a pen and writing an apology letter, and sliding it between a gap in floorboards to the downstairs neighbor. He got up quickly, heard the microwave beeping, and ran to it, quickly opening it. His mouth was already watering, some drool dripping from the ends of his mouth as he took it out and set it on the table, sitting down, stretching an arm to the drawer they kept their silverware in and grabbed a fork returning his arm and started digging in eating as if he hadn't had any food in his entire life soon finishing it.

“Oh right, I have to pack!” he said, jumping up and nearly knocking the chair down as he did. But he stopped it and rushed to his room. He grabbed his bag off the floor and tossed it onto his bed, shoving some pants, socks, and underwear before remembering his favorite shirts were dirty and groaning.

“Aceeeeeee!” he said, entering his brother's room again, noticing Ace had fallen back asleep.

“Of course, he's back asleep, so I guess he wouldn't mind then~,” Luffy said as a small laugh exited his mouth. He grabbed the rest of Ace's favorite shirts, going after those ones specifically, before quickly heading back to his room and shoving them into his bag. He struggled to zip it up and close it, eventually getting it shut, panting slightly.

“Damn, maybe I should just drop this stuff off at their place. It'd probably be easier, or maybe I can just have Law keep it in his locker till the end of school. Yeah, he wouldn't mind that,” he said, grinning before hearing footsteps approach his room. He turned around to see Sabo enter his doorway and rubbing his eyes.

“What are you doing, Luffy?” Sabo asked, looking seeing Luffy’s overstuffed backpack.

“Grandpa said I had to pack up to be ready to go over to Maybell's right after school,” he said, sitting down on his bed.

“Oh yeah, you're babysitting for her for a while, huh, and why not use a duffel bag? Wouldn't that be easier?” Sabo asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Well, I don't know where mine are, and the one I do know isn't mine. It's Zoro's,” he said, pointing at a pile of junk in the corner.

“I'm surprised you know where anything is in here, but look, if you give me how about half the money in that envelope that Grandpa’s giving you, I'll give you one of mine, and I'll clean at least some of your clothes for you okay?” Sabo said, smirking, walking over to Luffy and holding out his hand for him to shake.

“Well, Grandpa said it was for me to buy my own food while there, so I don't know. Plus, he said it was rude of me to eat their food, so I might need all of it just in case,” he said, unsure of the deal Sabo was trying to rope him into.

“Oh, please. It's basic knowledge that babysitters get to raid the fridge of the house they're at now. Are you going to shake on it, or are you too scared?” Sabo asked, knowing exactly how to push Luffy's buttons to get him to agree. Luffy huffed and grabbed Sabos's hand, shaking it and falling right into Sabos's trick.

“Fine, I'll agree, but only this once got it, and I'm not scared of anything,” Luffy said as Sabo laughed at him.

“Alright, alright! I'll go get the bag for you, then I'll be right back,” he said, leaving Luffy’s room for a few minutes before returning and chucking the bag into Luffy's arm.

“There you go. Oh, and I'll take that half now, by the way,” he said, pulling the envelope out of his pocket, opening it, and pulling out the money. He counted it before taking an even half of it and shoving it in his pocket, putting the other half back into the envelope, and handing it to Luffy.

“Gee, thanks, bro,” Luffy said, rolling his head. He opened his bag back open, shoving the clothes out and into the duffel bag. He slipped the envelope into his backpack before closing it with ease this time.

“Were those aces shirts I saw in that mess you shoved in there?” Sabo asked, pretty certain he had seen Ace's shirts.

“Yeah, mine are dirty, but you got that for me,” he said, giving him a smirk and hitting Sabo's shoulder before putting on his jacket, swinging his bag over his shoulder, and picking the duffel bag up.

“Well, I should get going. I'll see you who knows when bro; maybe you and Ace would be moved out by then,” he teased, laughing as he ran off dodging a hat Sabo had chucked at him. He hurried out of the place quickly, running down the stairs, nearly knocking into Bon Clay as he was about to leave his apartment.

“Ah, sorry, Bon! I didn't mean to wake you up, either. Have a good day!” he yelled back, smiling and waving. He took a bit before finally making it to the end of the stairs and laughing. He saw Nami's car and the rest of his gang sitting in it, waiting for him again. He grinned wide at them as Nami honked her horn at him to hurry up.

“Sorry I'm late, guys. I had to pack!” he said, chucking his bag on the floor of the car and hoping in

Chapter 2

“What’s with the duffel bag?” Zoro asked, resting his feet over it and looking at Luffy, who had hopped into the passenger seat.

“Grandpa said I was staying over at Maybell's for a bit and told me I needed to pack for it, so that’s my stuff,” Luffy said while buckling and grinning as Sanji handed him a wrapped breakfast burrito. He quickly opened it and ripped into it, still hungry.

“Ooh, fun. Maybe this time, we’ll be able to join you in entering their place and not just get one foot inside before Buggy kicks us out like last time?” Nami asked teasingly, knowing the answer was going to be a ‘maybe’ from Luffy.

“I don't know, maybe I can ask him if you guys can come over for a little bit to hang out,” Luffy said with a mouthful of burrito, swallowing it down with a big swig from Nami’s water bottle.

“Hey!” Nami said, swatting Luffy's hand huffing as she drove closer to the college.

“Well, where are you gonna put it? You can't exactly carry it around school with you all day, ya know.” Usopp said, taking the water bottle from Luffy and taking a big drink from it as well.

“HEY!!” Nami yelled, her patience already growing thin for the two that morning.

“I'm gonna put it in Law’s locker. He's got the most room out of any of the lockers, plus he won't mind!” Luffy said, looking back at Usopp, smiling at him.

“Bet he wouldn't mind if you shoved a different thing of yours in him,” Sanji said quietly, rolling his eyes as he blew smoke out the window. Everyone but Luffy knew of Law's crush on him, and his joke earned him a scoff from Nami and Usopp.

“What was that, Sanji?” Luffy asked, only hearing a mumble from Sanji.

“Nothing, it's nothing at all,” Sanji said quickly, waving his hand, trying to get Luffy to leave it be, not wanting to deal with Law's anger today.

“Alright, if you say so, oh, hey Sanji, do you think you could make those mixed mashed berries again?” Luffy asked as Nami pulled into the parking lot, parking in a spot as close to an entrance as she could. Everyone was already starting to pile out before she could even put the car in park.

“For you or for the twins?” Sanji asked, getting out and grabbing his shoulder bag. Once everyone got out, Zoro grabbed Luffy's bag, carrying it over his shoulder.

“Uh, both,” Luffy said, giving puppy eyes to Sanji. He chuckled, seeing Sanji roll his eyes again as they all started heading inside, a few of their other friends joining them as they walked.

“Fine, I'll see if Zeff will let me do that instead of whatever we're doing today for class,” Sanji said, putting his cigarette out on the school's wall before putting it back into the pack in his pocket.

“He's your dad, of course. He's going to let you get away with not doing the boring work,” Usopp said while trading drink mix packets with Vivi.

“First of all, just cause he adopted me doesn't mean he's my dad, and second of all, you do not know him like I do. He’ll beat my ass if he knew I was planning on skipping doing his assignments,” Sanji said while taking half of the blue drink mixes from both of them, smirking.

“True, just tell him it's for a struggling mother and her kids?” Robin said, taking half of the drink mixes back from Sanji and putting them in Franky’s pocket for herself. “Surely he'll understand that and give you some leeway.”

“Yeah, he probably would. I'll just do that and do the assignment at home with him watching me then,” Sanji said, opening the door for everyone heading in last before doing a slight jog to catch back up to the front of the group next to Luffy.

“Maybe you can ask him to make us some lunch for today as well, so we don't have to eat the school’s slop,” Franky said, draping his arm over Robin's shoulder and holding her close.

“Don't push your luck with these wishes,” Sanji said, giving Franky a small glare as they all went to their lockers, putting and grabbing things from them as needed. Luffy looked over, seeing Law and Bartolomeo heading towards them, and waved at them, giving them a big smile.

“Hey guys! Oh, hey, Law, I have a question to ask you,” Luffy said as they waved back, stopping in front of him. Law turned a bit and unlocked his locker, which he had ensured would be next to Luffy's at the beginning of the year.

“Oh yeah? What is it, straw-hat?” Law said while grabbing his books and shoving them in his bag as Luffy giggled with Bartolomeo as he interlocked their arms.

“Can I put my bag in your locker for today, please?” he said, hearing Zoro walking over to them and stepping back and to the side, kinda dragging Bartolomeo with him on accident as Zoro had come over to them still holding Luffy’s bag. Zoro moved Law to the side before tossing Luffy's bag into Law's locker.

“Ugh!- hey!! You can't just shove whatever you want into my locker; you damn moron,” Law said to Zoro, it not affecting him as he leaned against Luffy's locker, looking at Law unimpressed “But anyway yeah, of course, you can, Luffy.”

“Oh no, Law, that was my bag that Zoro just shoved in your locker,” Luffy said, giving Law a soft smile. Law blushed slightly at the smile and sighed, closing his locker and locking it back up after quickly fixing Luffy’s bag inside properly.

“Alright, what do you have a bag that big for, anyway?” he asked as Usopp came over to him, showing off their drink mixes. He shook them lightly between him and Bartolomeo, looking back and forth between the two.

“I've got a babysitting gig again, but I'm staying over at their place this time,” Luffy said as Bartolomeo took some lime and strawberry mixes. Law nodded his head slightly and took some pineapple mixes.

“How are they doing anyway? She was in for some cold flu the other week,” Law said as they all finished with their lockers and started walking around the school, waiting for their classes to start.

“They’re doing well. Lucien and Buggy were the ones who were sick. She said it was just a cold, and she and the twins didn't catch it,” Luffy said, chuckling as he looked down, watching his and Bartolomeo’s feet as they tried to sink up their steps with each other, swaying a bit as they walked.

“Ah, well, that's good,” Law said, giving an annoyed huff as Zoro pushed his way between him and Luffy, separating them and glaring at him. Zoro glared back at him, Zoro's overprotectiveness starting to grate on Law's nerves already.

“Yeah, hey rooster, wanna do some trades at lunch today?” Luffy asked, lifting his eyes up to meet Bartolomeo’s, grinning at him.

“Yeah, of course I do! I packed extra stuff to trade with this time as well!” he said, chuckling, squeezing Luffy's arm a bit as he held him closer. Both of them laughed as they almost tripped over each other's feet. Franky caught the back of their shirts, making sure they didn't fall, as the first bell rang loudly throughout the building halls, making everyone jump a bit.

“Well, I'll see you guys later then. Come on, Bartolomeo, I'd rather not get another tardy this week. If I get one more, my grandpa’s going to beat my ass for it!” Luffy said, stretching his arm around Zoro's before they rushed ahead to their class, dragging Zoro along behind them and waved bye to the others. The rest of the group waved bye to them before saying their byes and heading in different directions to their classes, some of them running as they were across the school.

☆ ☆

Buggy groaned quietly, trying his best to stay asleep as he lay on his stomach, his head resting on his arm and the other dangling off the side of his bed, his fingertips lightly grazing against the floor in his room as he heard talking and loud noises coming from the kitchen. He sighed and sat up on his bed, his blanket sliding off him and slipping onto the floor beside him as he stood up, stretching, letting out a loud groan. He kicked a bottle out of his way on the floor before making his way to the kitchen, scratching his chest as he yawned, turning the hallway's corner.

“Oh, look who finally graced us with his presence,” Galdino said in a mocking tone, making Buggy jolt in surprise. He and Mr. 1 were sitting at their dining room table, each with a plate of food and a cup of tea in front of them.

“Oh, it's just you two. What are you doing here?” he said, displeased with the fact that they were in his apartment this early today already.

“Well, excuse us for coming over when we were invited!” Galdino said, huffing before drinking some of his tea. Buggy looked over at Mr. 1 and noticed he had one of the twins on his leg and was bouncing them.

“Ah, right. I forgot Maybell was leaving early today,” Buggy said, going over to the kitchen counter. He saw a plate was already made for him, picked it up, grabbed a fork from the drawer, and went back sitting down at the table, away from the two of them already digging into the food.

“What?! How could you forget something like that! She has told you a million times!” Mr. 3 said, annoyed at Buggy's tone and carelessness toward Maybell. You know you're lucky she told us as well! Who knows what could have happened!”

“You worry too much! And it's fine; I would’ve gotten up if one of the kids started crying, alright,” Buggy said, rolling his eyes, annoyed that Mr. 3 was making this a bigger deal than it was, his eye roll catching him a disapproving look from Mr. 1 for a few seconds before he went back to bouncing the kid.

“I worry too much?! How dare you, you sir, worry to little hell you worry about nothing, actually! You know, I'm surprised at how Lucien and Maybell have put up with you for this long. I would've gone mad if I was stuck with someone like you,” he said, the hatred and disgust seeping through his throat with each word.

“I would watch my mouth if I were you, ya wax bitch! Don't you ever say they're stuck with me, you got that?!” Buggy yelled, snapping at him, hitting his arm on the table, making Galdino jump in fear, shutting him up quickly. “Ya know, you're lucky I don't just toss your ass out the damn window right here right now, ya fucking annoyance!”

“Enough! Both of you, my god, you two never shut up or stop arguing when you’re in each other's vicinity,” Maybell said, turning the corner and startling them both as they didn't hear her up and walking around. Her tiredness and regret in waking up that morning were evident in her tone with both of them.

“Ah, sorry, Maybell! I didn't mean to disturb you, although I'm not sure about the clown's intentions,” Mr. 3 said, glaring at Buggy as he got one last dig in. Buggy growled at him before turning to Maybell.

“Sorry about that. I thought you had left already,” he said, leaning back in his chair and lifting his empty plate up at her as she walked towards him. She grabbed the plate from him and took it to the sink, setting it in before starting to pack up her bag with quick snacks, setting it on the counter.

“No, not yet. I'm not going in until Luffy gets here, remember?” she said, leaning on her hip against the counter edge as she talked to them.

“Wait, that brat is coming over today? I thought me and Lucien were gonna be the ones to watch the runts while you were gone!” Buggy said, taken aback by the news that Luffy was coming over to their place.

“Nope, Luffy’s agreed to watch them for me while I'm gone. So, you and Lucien can have a break from watching them!” she said, giving Buggy a sweetened smile. She knew it usually worked on calming him down, but she doubted it would this time. Oh, and he's gonna be staying here while I'm gone as well. He’ll be in the craft room or on the couch, so you’ll be fine to hide in your room and sulk if you want to.”

“WHAT?! There's no way in hell that brats staying here the entire time you're gone!” Buggy yelled, not liking having people over for just a day, let alone three, and especially not when they’re an over-hyper nosey teen.

“Well, too bad, Buggy! Either get over it or go sleep in the van like old times. It's your choice cause I'm not budging on this one!” Maybell said, crossing her arms and glaring at Buggy, him glaring back at her before relenting and huffed, turning his head away and crossing his arms as well. “That's what I thought, and plus, you’ll be fine. Lucien promised to do his best to keep him away from you this time. All right,” she said, hitting off the counter with her hip and standing straight again before starting to tidy the kitchen. Buggy sighed and gave his head a quick nod before getting up and going to the fridge, grabbing a beer from it.

Chapter 3

“Alright, so everything’s pretty decently cleaned up now. Luffy should be here in maybe forty-five minutes to an hour at most. If you want me to, Buggy, I can stay longer with you till he gets here,” Maybell said, picking up her bag and swinging the strap around her chest and over her left shoulder. She looked up at Buggy, who was still at the dining room table, one of the twins behind him playing with his messy floor-length hair while he was lightly bouncing the other in his arm. Buggy looked over at her and smiled slightly.

“We’ll be fine, Maybell. You should be heading to work already. You do not want to leave Crocodile waiting,” he said, standing up and picking the twin off the floor before heading over to her. “And if we did need anything, we’ll just call Lucien, okay?” he said, leaning against the wall beside her looking down at her towering over her being nearly two feet taller than Maybell. She sighed quietly and nodded her head, giving Buggy's arm a light pat more to reassure herself than Buggy.

“Yeah, you're right. Thank you again for not getting too upset at Luffy staying over. I know you don’t like others, but you need someone other than me, Lucien, and the twins around you, alright boss man?” she said, using her old way of referring to him before they came to live in the apartment building, back when it was just the three of them on the move in an old clown car of a van. Buggy's expression changed with a slight sadness in it now upon hearing her call him that again after these years. He missed being on the move and putting on shows with them and his old friends, but he knew it wasn't possible to do anymore, not now at least.

“Yeah, I guess so. I'm not going to be buddy-buddy with him, though. I still don't get why you hired him anyway. Lucien and I could do this ourselves,” he said as Maybell was putting on her shoes, struggling to get the heel of them out.

“Because, as I said, you need more interaction with other people, and Lucien is putting in overtime at his job as well, and I didn't want you watching them both just by yourself. I'm not saying you can't, dear. I'm saying watching two one-year-olds is hard work when alone,” she said, finally getting her shoes on with a grunt and exhaling, pushing her hair back out of her face again. “I've got a list of chores and activities for you two to do while I'm gone. Just try to put some effort into being friendly with him. Ya know he really looks up to you; he thinks you're pretty cool,” she said, taking a folded piece of paper out of her jacket pocket and sliding it into his pocket, lightly patting it.

“Well, yeah, of course, he thinks I'm cool! Who doesn't think the great and mighty Buggy the Clown is cool?” he said, puffing out his chest. He was obviously proud of himself, and his ego had been stroked a good bit at hearing someone think he was still cool even after years of not performing anymore.

“Uh-huh, of course, the great and mighty Buggy the clown wouldn't be right without his right-hand gal, of course, his amazingly talented navigator, his angel without wings, his Maybell, the world's greatest aerialist ever!” she said, mimicking fake cheers as if she was one of their fans while mocking how announcers used to introduce her to their crowds. Buggy laughed at her little show. He missed mocking announcers and shitty managers with her and Lucien and the others. He missed so much about their old ways but knew if he told either of them, he wasn't happy staying here, it’d hurt them deeply knowing he wasn't happy, and he couldn't bear the thought of them like that.

“Oh god, which one was that one again, the real sleaze ball of a ‘man’ or the weird little creep?” he said, chuckling still.

“What?! No! It was the one who didn't have any secure railings for my silk, remember!” she said, laughing harder.

“Oh shit, right! I forgot about them!” he said, laughing harder with her. He nearly dropped onto the floor once he heard her snort.

“No! Oh my god, don't laugh at that! That didn't happen, you jerk!” she said, covering her mouth and nose with one hand, a blush quickly overtaking her face.

“I forgot you snort when you laugh! You haven't laughed like that in forever, so I have every right to laugh at it!” he said, steadying himself against the wall again. His laughter fit was starting to die down now.

“Oh, shut up, you snort when you laugh as well!” she said playfully, slapping Buggy's arm and giggling before taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Tiny giggles still escaped her mouth as she looked up at him and wrapped him in a hug, squeezing him as tight as she could, it doing practically nothing to Buggy. “Maybe someday we should do one last show properly for everyone.”

“Yeah, I'd like to do that someday as well,” Buggy said, hugging back, not squeezing her back as he didn't want to upset the twins or crush Maybell. “And don't worry, we’ll get everything you wrote down done before you come back.”

“Good, I'd hope so since it wasn't that much!” she said, breaking away from the hug first as it always was. Buggy soon let go as well. “Bye boys, I'll miss you all so much!” she said, kissing the twin's cheeks, her lipstick coming off and leaving marks on them as she did before she jumped up and kissed Buggy's cheek as well, leaving a lipstick stain on him too before opening the door and waving bye to them as she left Buggy closing the door behind her.

“Come on, you two, let's get your momma's yucky makeup off of ya,” he said, carrying them to the bathroom.

☆ ☆

Luffy tapped his foot up and down quickly, watching the clock as he was in his last class of the day; it being some medical class, he didn't much care for it and only took it to see Chopper and cause Law wanted at least one class with him. He tightened his arm around Law's bicep as he had his arm stretched around it. They were at the back of the class so that they wouldn't be in anyone's way with Luffy's constant need to be touching one of his friends at all times.

“We still have a minute or two left. Calm down, Luffy, you’re going to tap a hole into the floor at this rate,” Law said, looking over at Luffy. He blushed slightly as Luffy squeezed his arm again and sighed quietly, taking in the way Luffy looked at that moment. The young boy stared ahead, determined not to look away from the clock. His hair bounced slightly along with his foot. The sun shining through the window caught his tight curls, lighting them up and turning his dark brown into a lovely cinnamon shade. The much brighter scar compared to his sun-kissed skin under the boy's eye looked rough and had bumps along the ends. Someone who had done the stitching had pinched too much skin into it and let it heal like that, but Law didn't care. He loved looking over every detail on Luffy's face whenever he could. If he had to, he'd be able to redraw him perfectly while blindfolded. He started reaching up, still caught in his thoughts, to touch Luffy's cheek to run his thumb over the scar before being rudely snapped back to earth by the last bell ringing loudly, making him startle.

“Yes! Come on, Law. Let's go!” Luffy said, smiling and standing up quickly before looking down at Law and noticing his arm was still slightly reached up towards him. “You okay, Law?”

“Ah! Y-yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, promise! I just got caught in my head, I guess. Sorry, Luffy,” Law said quickly, putting his arm down and blushing harder out of embarrassment. He picked up his bag and tossed it over his shoulder while standing up. Luffy was already trying to leave and started to drag Law behind him. Law grunted, trying to fight back against Luffy’s strength. He was trying to grab Luffy’s backpack up off the floor so he wouldn’t leave it at school again.

“Luffy, your bag!” Law said, roughly tugging Luffy back towards him, taking the time to quickly snatch up his backpack before Luffy nearly tossed him across the room in retaliation.

“Come on, Law. We gotta go!” Luffy said, eager to leave the building and meet his friends again. He started running out of the room, yelling his goodbye to Chopper and Miss Kureha and waving erratically at them as he was practically dragging Law behind him. The other boy struggled to keep up with Luffy's speed.

“Come on, we gotta get there first!” Nami yelled at Usopp as they ran to get to Nami's car before Luffy did. Usopp is a decent way behind Nami since he was dragging Zoro along to keep him from getting lost.

“I'm trying, Nami!” he yelled back at her. Sanji and Vivi were walking along behind them, not wanting to run after their long and draining classes. Nami let out a high-pitched scream as she saw Luffy booking it towards her car.

“No, no, no!!” she yelled, running quicker, not wanting to deal with another broken door and window incident happening to her car when Luffy had to wait for them to get there. Luffy got to Nami's car a few seconds before her, not noticing her yelling at him until Law yelled, making him turn to see Nami at him, tackling him away from the door and hard onto the ground, making him take Law down as well. They all groaned and got up as the others got to the car right behind them, worried and checking if any of them had any injuries. Zoro went to Luffy immediately to check on him, noticing his arm wrapped around Laws, and huffed, quickly grabbing Luffy's arm and removing him off of Law.

“Jesus, Nami, you alright?” Usopp asked, helping Vivi dust Nami off and check for any cuts or scrapes.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, you two, really!” she said gently, shooing their hands off her. “I might've gone a bit overboard on trying to keep my car intact, though. Sorry about that, Luffy.”

“It's fine, Nami. Can we get going? I have to head right to Maybell's, remember?” He said, his hurry and anxiousness clearly evident in his tone.

“Alright, alright, we can go calm down!” Nami said, giggling. She unlocked her car and hopped into the driver's seat. Everyone piled into the car as well.

“Are we going to come into the apartment with you or not, Luffy?” Sanji asked as Nami started the car, turning on the radio.

“Uhm, I guess you can. I’ll just have to let Maybell know that you came over,” Luffy said, looking back to Sanji, who was squished between Law and Zoro Usopp and Vivi, having climbed into the bed of Nami's car, not wanting to try and fight over a seat today.

“Alright, sweet!” Nami said as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Luffy's building.

“Hey, Luffy, what happened to that bag you had with you this morning?” Zoro asked, noticing it wasn't with Luffy or in the car.

“Ah crap my bag!” Luffy said as Nami looked at him.

“Well, I'm not going back, Luffy. Why didn't you grab it?!” she said, annoyed as Law pulled out his phone and started typing something on it, soon getting a response back.

“It's fine. I asked Bartolomeo if he could grab it for you, and he said yeah,” Law said, putting his phone back into his pocket. Luffy turned around and gave Law a wide grin.

“Thank you, Law! I owe you big time for today!” he chuckled as Law looked away quickly, huffing at him quietly.

“It's nothing, Luffy,” he said as Nami turned up the radio. She took a shortcut through the backstreets and soon got to Luffy's building. She soon found a decent parking spot, drove into it, and parked while everyone again left her car before she could even turn it off. Luffy grinned while giggling to himself. He ran inside, everyone following behind him quickly.

“So, which floor do you live on?” Law asked, noticing Luffy was messing with something on the railings of a set of stairs.

“Hm? Oh, I live on the very top floor, but Maybell lives two floors below us,” he said, leading them to the elevator and heading in with them, clicking the button that belonged to Maybell's floor.

“This place is way too fancy-looking for you to live in. Are you sure this is right?” Usopp asked, Vivi nodded her head in agreement. None of Luffy's friends had been inside his building yet, not even in the doorway, as they were always just there to pick him up. They were all pretty shocked to see how nice and neat-looking it was just from the lobby.

“You picked me up from here this morning, though?” Luffy said, looking between the two. “And Bartolomeo also lives here. He’s on like the second or third floor of the building.”

“Wait, what really?” Nami exclaimed, not expecting to hear that Bartolomeo also lived in the building.

“Yeah, oh, I’d be careful when walking by the way Maybell's strings were thin and pretty tense when I checked them on the railing,” Luffy said as they finally got to Maybell’s floor and piled out of the elevator. Nami and Sanji looked at the floor, looking for any ‘strings’ Luffy had mentioned, but they did not see any though.

“I don't see any strings,” Nami said as Luffy started heading to Maybell's apartment, with the others following behind him.

“Yeah, she's got them everywhere in the building. It's her way of a security system. She just keeps them hidden, though, so no one messes with them,” Luffy said while pulling out a key ring and flipping through a few before finding Maybell's, unlocking the door, opening it, and heading inside. “Oh, and another thing: Buggy isn't going to like any of you. He doesn't really like me either, though, so it's fine!”

“Jeez, this place is more what I was expecting of your building, Luffy,” Vivi said while looking around and not touching anything as she and the others entered the living room. Kid's drawings in markers and crayons were all over the walls, and small piles of clothes were sprinkled about here and there, along with dirty dishes.

“Yeah, well, they don't really have any time to clean their place that well, but it’s a lot cleaner than it was last week, so they got some done!” Luffy said, smiling as he tossed his bag into a corner. The others put theirs with his bag and sat on the couch while Luffy sat on the floor with Zoro. Buggy huffed, getting up off his bed, hearing voices from the living room, and headed out, not ready to deal with whoever was here now.