Work Text:
It was a hot and sunny day on the grand line aboard the Thousand Sunny it was just like any other day sailing for a new adventure. The straw hats and Law were on their way to dressrosa to pull one over on doflamingo or at least try, law soon realized that after Punk Hazard that Luffy would probably cause some bull shit to make the plan be thrown out the window anyways but it was too late to back out of their alliance and law didn't have anyone else that could help him with this daunting task. Even though Law loved for his plans to go exactly how he wanted, he knew that wouldn't happen here. Still, he honestly was okay with that because he also realized that even though Luffy doesn't think about the consequences of his actions he will give this fight everything he's got, Luffy was very reliable after all, Law saw the way Luffy fought at the marine fort and was amazed on his perseverance and skill to think in the moment. Maybe that’s why even though they were enemies Law saved his life 2 years ago but who knows well definitely not Law. For all he knows he was just acting on impulse the doctor in him overridden all other thoughts. He wasn't sure if his help would end up saving him but he just had to try. Even back then he felt this undeniable pull towards Luffy, maybe he knew that Luffy might come in handy one day or it could be something else entirely, either way, Law did not think about that too hard he did have bigger things to worry about at the moment. As Law is sitting on the deck underneath the mast, legs crossed and leaning back he is comfy but cautious with his sword next to him on his left, he’s observing his surroundings.
Nami and Robin are sitting at a table, Robin is reading a book and Nami is also probably reading or doing something similar he can't see too well as Nami’s back is turned from where Law can see. Sanji was calling their names in a ‘loving’ way but to him, it just gave off desperation, Sanji was giving them something to drink along with a snack. Law looks a little to the left and sees Usopp and Franky working on who knows what, most likely something dangerous. To his right, he sees Luffy and Chopper fishing but it does not look like they have caught anything yet but they are being loud. He's not sure where Brook is but can hear the sound of his violin playing a nice melody. And Zoro is probably sleeping somewhere. Seems to be a pretty calm day so far and Law allows his eyes to close as he thinks about what might happen at dressrosa and tries to create some backup plans cause he knows he will need some at the very least even though in the moment they will just do whatever they want anyway. Making plans to law can help calm his nerves or it can stress him out more, it's a mix of both I guess. Not long after closing his eyes a loud BOOM! Can be heard across the ship, his eyes dart open and looks toward the direction the sound came from. Looks like whatever Usopp and Franky were experimenting on exploded. Laughter and Nami yelling at the boys soon follow as Luffy runs toward them to ask about the cool explosion he missed out on completely forgetting about fishing, typical.
Law goes back to what he was originally doing, closing his eyes and being stressed getting lost in his thoughts. After a little while he hears footsteps approaching him so he slightly opens one of his eyes to take a peek at who it is. It’s Luffy
“Traffy!, whatcha doing?” luffy says to him, smiling as he always does.
“mmhm, not much just trying to relax.” Law says back in his usual grumpy tone
Still sitting comfortably.
Luffy sits next to Law on his right side and begins to copy Law's stance crossing his leg over the other while leaning back with his hands behind his head. Luffy starts giggling a bit.
“What is so funny? And why are you copying me?” law asks as he readjusts himself to be still comfy but a little more upright and not to be in the same pose as Luffy.
“You looked cool and I was wondering if that was actually comfy, and it looks like it is,” he says giggling again “ your weird you know that? And lots of people think you're mean but I don't think so”
Law looks over to Luffy with a confused face “How so?, I'm definitely not the friendliest guy out there”
“Well, that's true” Luffy states as he readjusts himself to be turned towards him “You can be grumpy, but you did save me 2 years ago when we didn't really know each other. Maybe you’re mean to other people but not to me at least, you've helped me quite a lot.”
Luffy pauses for a moment like he wants to say something else. “I never thanked you for that did I?...thank you Law”
Law was taken back a little bit he wasn't used to Luffy using his real name it had always been a nickname like Traffy or something like that and he was not used to being thanked either. He tilts his head away to the left with a subtle blush forming on his cheeks.
“Ah I see, don't worry about that now, I'm just glad you're alright but you're welcome”
Luffy can tell Law’s a bit embarrassed but not sure why.
“Traffy?” luffy asks almost sounding a little unsure of what he's going to say next.
“Yes straw hat?” law says as he turns toward Luffy.
“Why did you save me 2 years ago?” luffy says with a confused and slightly yearning expression.
Law looks forward and closes his eyes as he thinks about what he's gonna say because even he did not fully know why. Well, might as well be honest at this point he thinks. So he opens his eyes and turns his head to reply.
“Well.. i-”
Before Law can finish his sentence he hears Sanji yell,
“Lunch is ready everybody!”
Without fail, Luffy jolts up and starts rushing toward the kitchen forgetting he is in the middle of a conversation. Well, there he goes law thinks. He's kind of grateful to escape that conversation.
Some time passes and the sun is starting to set getting just a little brisk with the wind. Everyone is all together eating the dinner that Sanji made, laws not exactly sure what he made but all he knows is that delicious and there's plenty more. The room has a light atmosphere, and lots of chatter about random things like do fish dream and What's the tastiest thing to exist, Luffy liked that conversation getting all excited and drooling at the thought of something being yummier than anything else he has tried so far.
“So what is your favorite physical attribute on someone?” Franky asks the group
Well, that was a sudden topic change but Law can't help but wonder what Luffy will say after all with what Law has seen of Luffy he hasn't expressed much interest with other people even though there has always been a slight tension between the two of them.
“Women” Sanji answers confidently.
“I like blonds but maybe that's just kaya” Usopp adds.
“PANTIES” Brook chimes in he then looks across the table
“What about you Law?”
“Someone shorter than me” Law went with a truthful but basic answer he's a bit flustered now trying to not look at Luffy taking a swig from his drink to give him something to do
“I can see that, …Luffy what about you?” Nami adds curiously because she noted that Luffy was always by law and sensed something between the two of them but wasn't completely sure of it
Luffy takes a second as he thinks about his answer “I'm not sure but I think tattoos are pretty cool” he says as he glances at Law.
Law choked on his drink he wasn't expecting that, everyone was a bit stunned at that answer looking at Luffy then at Law, and finally back to Luffy.
“What? Did I say some weird?” luffy asks the group
Ruffly 15 minutes pass and everyone is done eating their dinner Sanji is cleaning up and Law is the first one to leave the room after that interesting conversation. Everyone is on their way to go do their own things as Robin is about to leave to go to her room to catch up on some light reading Luffy stops her.
“Hey, robin? Can we talk I have some questions and you are super smart so you'll probably know”
“Sure Luffy” Robin says gently already having an inkling of what the conversation may be about “Let's talk upstairs”
Luffy and Robin head upstairs ending up in her room to have this private talk
“So what do you want to ask me about?” Robin asks
“How do know if you like like someone and not just like them as a really good friend?”
Luffy just blurts out as if he can't not know any longer confused about what his feelings might be
“Well I think it depends on what you feel for a good friend and what you feel for this person” Robin states “Love looks different for everybody, people feel different things there are no rules to how you should feel about someone however you kind of just know when you find that special person”
“Figured you would say something like that” Luffy says looking a tad overwhelmed because he is still not sure if his question got answered or not
“Though some typical signs that you might love someone might look like getting butterflies in your stomach or admiring all the little things they do and getting flustered when they're nearby…. Stuff like that but once again it looks different for everyone”
“I'll get butterflies in my stomach if I love someone?” luffy asks concerned.
Robin chuckles at the thought of Luffy seriously thinking there might be real butterflies in his stomach “It's a figure of speech it's a hard feeling to explain” she adds,
“Imagine you’re in bed tossing and turning but on fluffy clouds it's kind of like that almost”
“Oh… I see that kind of makes sense, I've never felt this way with anyone before so I don't know what to expect. But I think I understand now, thanks Robin!” luffy gives Robin a big hug and heads toward the door as he's about to exit he hears Robin say something.
“So you like tattoos huh? Law has plenty, what are your thoughts on them?”
Luffy pushes his straw hat down his face a little bit to try and cover the hotness he feels brush on his cheeks “They suit Traffy well” Luffy states as he exits the room on his way to go find Law as he now understands what Robin said about butterflies in his stomach.
Meanwhile, Law is in the guest room lying down on the bed thinking about what Luffy said at dinner it's stuck on his mind he wonders to himself if maybe it's not a one-sided admiration. Law knows he likes Luffy i mean how could he not he is laws type between the fluffy hair and the smiles and laughter he gives Law as they talk and Luffy being shorter than him. He did always think Luffy was cute maybe that's a part of the reason why he saved Luffy. He never really thought of Luffy being interested in him even though he acts differently around Law than anyone else always grabbing on him or just being close in general and asking ever so slightly flirty questions but not with intentions of anything at least that’s how Law viewed it until now. His train of thought is interrupted by hearing some knocks on the door. “It's open,” he says sitting up and propping himself up against the headboard, the door opens and Luffy walks in.
“Traffy!” luffy says as he walks in and the door shuts behind him as he makes his way towards the bed sitting down and getting comfortable next to Law.
“You get comfortable pretty quick” Law states.
‘I guess so, but I feel most comfortable when you are around” Luffy says
“Why are you here straw hat?” law asks awaiting the boys' response
“Just wanted to hang out with you and we haven't finished our conversation from earlier.” he says
Law sighs “I see, well to answer your question from earlier I'm not a hundred percent sure on why I saved you I guess you could say the doctor in me took over, a gut feeling almost. But either way, I'm glad that I did”
“Yeah me too, I am glad I got to know you more I think you're pretty cool” Luffy states.
“Do you think my tattoos are cool?” law asks as his face gets a bit red.
Luffy starts feeling embarrassed but ready to be truthful “Yeah I do they suit you well, but so do other things like your style, yellow looks good on you.” luffy starts feeling his face get hot after admitting that to Law I mean he was attractive between the tattoos covering his body and way he styles his clothes and the way that he talked with the rough tone in his voice. But it wasn't just the way that Law looked that caught Luffy's attention he liked the way that Law treated him he was kind to him but in his own way if that makes any sense it seemed only to be something that Luffy could understand. He acted grumpy and “scary” but Luffy could read him like a book he was just scared of letting people get too close but it didn't take too long for the brick wall around Law's heart to start crumbling down.
Law is taken aback by how honest Luffy was just then even though it was only a compliment his face starts to flush a bright pink as he realizes that he likes being complemented by Luffy “Anything else you wanna add?”
Luffy leans against the headboard next to Law every so slightly closing the already small gap between the two reaching for Law’s hand “Your knuckle tattoos are my favorite”
Shivers get sent down Law's spine as Luffy leans against him and his hand tingles where Luffy touches his hand gliding his fingers across the tattoos on Law's fingers that spell out the word death.
“Never knew you liked them that much straw-hat.” law ends up holding Luffy's hand not wanting to let go yet “You know I don't let just anyone get this close to me, but it’s almost as if im being pulled tward you”
At this point, you could cut the tension in the room with a butter knife because right now the only thing on Law's mind is kissing Luffy.
Law can't see Luffy’s expression as he’s leaning on his shoulder with his head tilted slightly down, law is feeling brave so he grabs Luffy’s face pulling it gently up to meet his gaze. Luffy is as red as a tomato Law can't help but stare at him observing every little detail like the scar on his cheek, the gorgeous color of brown his eyes where, and the way that Luffy’s soft dark hair fell around his face everything about the man in front of him was mesmerizing. Law’s face is getting more red by the second
“Luffy” Law states as he takes a breath preparing for what he's about to say “You're so handsome, everything about you mesmerizes me, I've been in love with you for a long time now”
“Law I feel the same way, I just recently understood what my feelings meant”
.
That was all that Law needed to hear before drawing both of their faces closer together but still briefly waiting for the go-ahead sign to kiss Luffy, before Law knew it Luffy was too eager to wait and grabbed onto Law like never before pulling him even closer, law kissed Luffy like he wouldn't get another chance Luffy followed his lead and kissed back. Both of them were enjoying the presence of each other, the body heat of one another, everything was just perfect. You couldn't pull these two apart even if you tried.