This is a request for Crimson Fox19 (here on FanFiction)~ :D The story is based on the story of Pygmalion, a sculptor whose statue comes to life. I'd like to say it's loosely based on the myth, but I can't really say for sure, because it's actually been a long time since I read the story ^^'

Another note is that Pygmalion is actually Greek, but I used Latin words (and the Latin name for Venus/Aphrodite), so please excuse me for that 0:) I can brag better about my Latin knowledge than my nonexistent knowledge of ancient Greek xD

Also, I have no idea how houses/temples looked like back then :x Or how long it takes to sculpt something... Whoops xD

Anyway~ I hope you enjoy :3

… It was beautiful. Sanji shook his head, correcting himself. He was beautiful. The sculptor was looking at his masterpiece, the statue he had been working on for the past few months and he just knew nothing like this would ever be made again by his hands.

Sanji thought back to the moment he started this huge project. Before, he'd been too busy flirting with women to get his ass to do his job. Men were something he didn't really care about as long as he could ignore them. He cared more about having fun than and spending money than earning it. The price for that had come when Sanji hadn't expected it.

He'd seen things. Terrible things. One day he'd walked into a room, thinking he would see the friend he was supposed to meet, but instead something else was going on. Instead of seeing his friend, he witnessed a woman doing unforgiveable things to the guy present. They had noticed his presence, and had asked if he would have like to join them. In horror, Sanji had run away from the scene, the image burnt in his mind.

Ever since then, he couldn't look women in the eyes anymore. To deal with his trauma, he started working again. Because he was such a lousy worker, not much people wanted something made by him, so he had a lot of time on his hands for his own projects. With the last money he had, he ordered a huge block of marble and started working on it. The only other project that required his attention was an order of four statues that would be put in the new temple on the hill, dedicated to Venus.

Since it was for Venus, and Sanji thought he could use a bit of love, he tried his best at the female bodies. To him, they came out wrong and he was mostly dissatisfied with the result, but his contractor seemed to like them. After he finished them, he didn't have to go to the temple anymore daily, so he could work on his own statue a little more.

Of course Sanji hadn't planned for the statue to look like a man, but his mind had led him, without his conscious paying much attention.

Months passed without Sanji realizing it and all of a sudden, he was finished. Sanji knew he was praised for being able to create lifelike people before, but this person, this guy, seemed like he was breathing, like a real person. Even Sanji himself couldn't believe his eyes. Now he was done, he took in every single detail of the marble statue.

The man was created from a dark kind of marble and it was almost spoiled by the lighter spots that appeared all over the body. The face had a stern expression with pupil-less eyes looking into a far distance. Like a crown, wavy – almost curly – hair overshadowed the face. Sanji imagined the hair being dark, but the statue itself didn't show that. The marble didn't distinguish between hair, skin, clothing or ground.

As Sanji felt uncomfortable with sculpting genitals, he had sculpted a slightly wrinkled piece of fabric around the statue's waist, covering all the 'awkward' parts.

He arrived at the temple late and a large group of people had already gathered in front of the building. The new temple would be opened today, though Sanji had been there before, for his job. Everyone was supposed to bring a gift for Venus. Sanji, unlike most people, didn't bring anything, as he had agreed with his contractor that the statues that he made would be his gift to the goddess. Others were holding things like fruit of clothes and some were even bringing things they made themselves (like Sanji, only he couldn't carry the statues), hoping to please Venus.

One by one they made their offer, most of the adding a wish in the process. Even if the goddess of love wasn't listening right now, they could always hope for a miracle. Sanji too, when he arrived at the altar, looking at the cold stone representation of Venus, had thought of something he wanted to ask of her.

He mumbled something about hoping to have pleased her with the chiseled women and silently wished to forget the trauma he had been walking with for the past few months. Out loud however, he said what most people asked. Almost a standard prayer, really.

"Oh beloved goddess, please watch over me in my search of the passion inside of me, so that I may reflect your divine beauty even better with love in my heart."

The actual prayer was a lot longer, but Sanji was too tired to speak to full thing and decided Venus had to deal with it for the moment. He concluded with a thanks for her patronage and left the building.

Sanji came back home from the temple, which fortunately wasn't far, only to be met with the marble still standing where he left it. Nothing had changed and it broke the sculptor's heart to a million pieces. If the gods couldn't help him anymore, no one could. After figuring out how much he loved his creation, how much he had fallen in love with it, he couldn't stand it anymore. Sanji planned on destroying it, but not before a last goodbye.

With warm, nervous fingers, in contrast to the cold, insensitive stone, he touched the colored arms, chest and lastly, caressed the statue's face. On a whim, Sanji even brought his face closer and touched the cold lips with his own. It was a bit weird, but Sanji didn't care. At least for a second, he had the right to be with the one he loved.

For a moment, Sanji thought he felt a breath against his lips, but dismissed the thought immediately. No way in the Underworld that that could have happened. He looked at the face with a worried expression on his face. The statue's face hadn't moved one bit and Sanji blamed his imagination playing games with him.

He sighed and his hands left the stony face, only to touch an arm once more and Sanji's breath wavered.

The arm felt warm. Alive.

In a haze, the sculptor touched other parts of the marble body and everything started to heat up under his fingers, the skin dented slightly too. The lighter parts that had decorated the dark skin disappeared as if he was cured of a terrible disease. Slowly, movement was caught by Sanji's eyes in the chest, signaling real life. The last place Sanji laid his eyes upon was the face. Dark eyes were staring down at him in confusion, with raven black hair framed the beautiful face.

Sanji was baffled. His wish really did come true. Unconsciously, his fingers reached for the other's cheeks, feeling their warmth, touching soft lips, the wavy, dark hair that felt like silk and even the long eyelashes Sanji had never seen before, all in a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile, the statue's whole body had come to life, and it was able to step of its pedestal freely. Unlike the body, the base had remained the same cold marble.

Then he grabbed Sanji's arm with one of his hands. It surprised Sanji, but he recovered quickly. He let go of the other's face, slowly stepping back to admire the live man.

Said man, now free to move, stepped off his small pedestal, taking it easy for his first time and ending up in front of Sanji again, who had stepped back. He was tall, around ten centimeters taller than Sanji himself, which irritated the sculptor a bit.

Now it was the statue's turn to explore the other's features. He mimicked Sanji's movement from before, gently following the lines in Sanji's face. Sanji let him. Long, small fingers, carefully placed on the sides of the blond's face, brushing his bangs aside to study his hidden eye. One finger almost touched it, making Sanji squint a bit. His eyes never left the golden eyes, which were exploring along with the hands.

When the digits reached Sanji's mouth, they forced it to part by pushing between Sanji's lips with the male's thumbs. Sanji didn't protest, until the other leaned in and almost kissed the blond.

That made Sanji step back immediately, the trance he was in broken. Conveniently, Sanji forgot all about him kissing the marble earlier. Maybe the other thought he was just returning the favor?

The dark haired man frowned at Sanji's actions, frozen in his own movement, unsure of what to do next.

With no idea what to do either, Sanji grabbed the hands that were frozen in midair. He opened his mouth again, this tome to speak, but despite his efforts, he could only bring out one of his many questions.

"Why?"

Finally, the man looked him straight in the eyes after staring at his hold hands. They were golden, piercing through Sanji's blue ones. He too tried to speak now, but it wasn't a surprise to Sanji when nothing audible came out.

Slowly, the sculptor came to his senses. The man's throat was probably (stone) dry as he had to use it before.

"Wait for a bit." Sanji said, gesturing the other that he shouldn't move and went to grab a cup of water. When he returned the former statue had indeed not moved a muscle. Maybe it was a statue thing not to move?

Sanji, not knowing whether the guy knew how to drink or not, ignored the hands and brought the cup to the other's lips. They parted, just wide enough for some water to flow through and slowly, the man swallowed the water, his eyes widening a little at the coldness of the liquid.

When Sanji thought he had enough, he removed the cup and looked expectantly at him to speak.

The yet nameless man seemed to get the message, opening his mouth to speak for a second time, trying to form words.

"I…" He started, his voice crackling.

Sanji signed internally. At least the guy could speak. Externally, he kept up his curious face, waiting for the other to continue.

Nothing came, so Sanji tried himself.

"Do you," he started, drawing the other's attention, "have a name?"

The man looked at him and nodded. "Law meum nomen est."

My name is Law.

It came out slowly but clear. Now Sanji was finally able to name the guy. He tried to ease the tension by introducing himself too.

"Sanji."

Law only nodded. In the silence that followed, Sanji's thoughts returned to the question he asked earlier: why?

A sound behind Sanji surprised the both of them. Behind him, a beautiful woman was standing in the doorway. If Sanji hadn't visited the temple on the hill a thousand times, he would question who she was and yet he didn't expect to ever see in his meaningless life.

The only thing different was the color. Instead of the painted marble, she showed a lightly olive colored skin, dark hair and light eyes.

Again, Sanji couldn't bring out a word, but luckily for him, Venus already spoke.

"You're wondering what's going on right now, aren't you Sanji?" She smiled.

Sanji didn't know if he should fall at her feet or simply answer, so he just nodded. He had never expected a statue could come to life nor a real goddess visiting his home!

"You wished for something, didn't you?" Venus asked, pushing Sanji's thoughts into the right direction. He realized what she was referring to, thinking back to a few hours prior, to the temple. With every second that passed, he remembered more of what he did.

His request. His wish to be able to forget what he saw that day. His quickly added wish to find love apparently was heard too.

Venus was a cruel goddess, bringing marble to life, not giving his love to an already live human. It didn't matter though, he had sculpted Law to perfection if he could say so for himself.

"You did that for me…" Sanji didn't know exactly what to say.

"Yes. I owed you a favor after your commission. This is my thank you."

Sanji thought back to those women. It was something he had done between working on Law and to be honest, he wasn't completely happy about them. His mind had been too absent to be focused enough to shape them to perfection.

Venus smiled. "I know what you're thinking, Sanji, and that's not true. They're beautiful."

"I-I don't know what to say." Sanji stammered. And he truly didn't, surprised by the goddess's words.

From behind, Law approached Sanji, laying a hand on his shoulder. Sanji didn't react, he was completely focused on Venus in front of him.

The goddess seemed to notice. She smiled. "I'll leave you two alone now. Give that poor man something to eat and something to drink and in just a day or two he'll be like any other human."

Sanji nodded, speechless and Venus continued for a last time.

"Love Law unlike everything you've ever loved before and he'll be yours forever. If you don't, he'll be turned back into stone before you know it."

"I understand." How could he not?

"Good. Well then, have fun you two." She didn't wait for Sanji to say goodbye and turned around and got out of Sanji's and Law's sight.

Sanji couldn't help but go after her. He looked around the doorpost into his small hallway, seeing nothing that was out of the ordinary. No Venus to be seen. Just in case, he also looked the other way, with the same result. He sighed, his attention turning back to Law.

He was still standing there, not knowing what to do.

Venus' words resounded in Sanji's head. "Come, let's get you something to eat." He said, leading Law to his kitchen.

"Sit." Sanji commanded and Law quietly sat down on a chair. It occurred to Sanji that Law wasn't completely brainless; he knew the basic stuff like speaking and how to use his limbs (walking and grabbing stuff) and it calmed Sanji's mind a bit. The man wouldn't be a lost cause if Sanji would leave him alone for a moment in any given situation.

In a few minutes, Sanji fixed the other and himself a simple meal, figuring the guy would be hungry. They ate in silence, a pleasant one though. Sanji wanted to ask Law a lot of questions, but he understood it was probably better to wait until after dinner.

After they had finished, Sanji cleared the plates and started cleaning them. He heard Law standing up from his chair.

"Need help?" Law asked.

Sanji smiled at him over his shoulder. "Nah, it's not that much anyway. Sit and I'll be with you in a minute."

Law sat down again and indeed, soon after, Sanji returned to his own chair at the table.

"Sooooo…" He started, looking at Law. Sanji didn't know with which question he wanted to ask first, so he looked at Law, hoping he knew where to start.

Law returned his stare, the golden eyes shining under the raven hair. He slowly opened his mouth, still thinking about what he wanted to say.

"I'm… made for you." He began.

Sanji already wanted to interrupt, but Law shut him up by raising a hand. He went on, his speech improving every second he spoke.

"I know you're the one who created me, and with someone without your skill I probably wouldn't want to live, but she knew how I had to look like, she knew what your perfect image for me was."

Sanji was surprised by the sudden flow of words coming from Law, but the words themselves weren't as surprising. In a way, after Venus' appearance, he suspected she had something to do with it, he didn't need to be a genius to figure that out.

Law had stopped talking, so Sanji saw his chance to ask something. It probably wasn't the most important one, but it was the first one to come to his mind.

"But, how does that work with age and stuff?"

"How long have you worked on me?"

Sanji had to think about that. "About seven months or so? I don't know exactly."

Law nodded. "Almost correct. Don't ask me how I know, though I think it's thanks to her, but I know you took exactly 26 weeks to finish me, so let's say I'm 26 years old?"

Sanji could live with that. It wasn't like he particularly cared how old he was, as long as he really did have an age.

"Okay." He agreed. "I guess the rest will come later, as most of the things are pretty obvious."

Law frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sanji smiled in return. "The basics are obvious. You're a guy, there's no denying that, to me it's clear that you'll stay here, at least for the time being and if you need a job, I'm sure I could help with that too."

"You're not wrong, as far as I know." Law's expression was still somewhat confused, but Sanji ignored it.

"So all that's left for today is giving you a place to sleep." He murmured as he looked through the window. Outside, the sky was turning red and orange from the setting sun. It would be dark soon and Sanji didn't feel much for giving the guy only some straw to sleep on as he would have trouble finding anything else in the dark.

With Law's help, Sanji managed to pull something decent together for him to sleep on. Because Sanji didn't feel completely comfortable yet, just like Law, he'd put him in a small room next to his own bedroom. Not long after, Sanji wished Law goodnight and left him to rest.

It was late and Law was already in a deep sleep, his chest going up and down, proving he was alive. Sanji had said goodnight hours before, but his mind was too restless to fall into slumber. Instead, after having stared at the stars for a long time, he got up, lit a candle and almost absentmindedly walked into Law's room.

He put the burning wax down near Law's face, illuminating it but just far away enough for him not to wake from the warm radiance that came from the small fire. Sanji studied Law's features, taking in every detail he could see. The eyelids that hid the warm golden puddles ended in long lashes. His lips were slightly parted, and Sanji could hear a very faint sound of breathing.

Sanji's mind wandered off. He thought about how things would go from tomorrow onwards as Law made a noise and turned himself around. He startled Sanji, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

Sanji sighed to himself and yawned right after.

"Hmm, I guess we'll see how it will turn out." He mumbled.

Carefully not to make a sound, Sanji left the room, leaving Law alone with his new life.