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Sunflowers and roses
The doorbell rang.
Just like it did every day at the same time. Annoyed, the omega looked up, rolled from side to side, and ignored it.
"Luffy, come on, you know this is for you!" groaned Sabo from the kitchen. But Luffy knew his brother was already on his way to the front door. As usual.
"Good morning... - For Luffy.... Have a nice day!" The young omega overheard only parts of the conversation and pulled the covers over his head.
Sabo entered his room without knocking. He sighed loudly and Luffy could almost see his head shake when he heard a muffled sound - Sabo had set the vase down on his table.
"These are really beautiful today, Luffy. Look at them. They're roses."
"I hate roses," he grumbled disgruntledly from under the covers.
His room, meanwhile, was filled with flowers. Tulips, carnations, gerberas, lilies in all sorts of colors, calla, freesia, and roses - always roses!
By chance, he had run into an - admittedly - attractive alpha a few weeks ago, holding the alpha back from running into the car he would have otherwise stumbled into. At first, Luffy had understood that he wanted to thank him, but now it had simply gone too far. Every day he got a bunch of flowers from him! Every day! And every day there was a little card in it, which he had already stopped opening after the second day. What was this pushy alpha thinking? Couldn't he just leave him alone? It was bad enough that Luffy couldn't get the handsome face with the bright golden eyes, striking features, small goatee, and ink black hair out of his head, but all of this made it that much harder to somehow forget about the guy!
"Luffy, please," Sabo demanded in a tone that made the younger man groan but dutifully pull the blanket off his head and scowl at the new bouquet. Hair sticking up in all directions, his dark, normally large eyes squinted sleepily.
"Roses. Okay," he replied monotonously as he flipped back the covers, hoisting his slender legs out of bed and trudging sullenly to the bathroom.
He had gotten in bed much too late this morning. The patrons in the bar had stayed until just before six in the morning, and the stupid messenger with the stupid flowers came at eight-thirty on the dot. He should have listened to Shakky and just closed up at half past one, when there had only been two guests left. Stupidly, he hadn't wanted to turn the group away, so six it was.
In front of the mirror he tried to wake himself up somehow in vain. He popped into the kitchen in his skimpy shorts, took a sip of milk straight from the carton, and trudged back to his room.
"Luffy, I'm off," his big brother declared from the doorway, "I'll see you tonight and swing by the bar. Food's in the fridge. Get some sleep and read what he writes today."
The young omega just grumbled in reply, knowing full well that Sabo was shaking his head.
Sabo let him get away with too much and they both knew it. But since the oldest of them had died, they only had each other, and Sabo's protective instinct as Alpha had always been extremely strong towards Luffy. Why he was now so insistent on Luffy paying attention to the stranger was beyond him.
Still dead tired, Luffy fell back into his bed, pulling the covers over his head once more. With one last, tired look, he eyed the new bouquet, muttered "I hate roses" again, rolled over, and fell asleep.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaand, what did you get today?" Nami nudged him hours later when he arrived at the bar. Having slept in, eaten his fill, and in a much better mood, he grinned mischievously at his best friend, a beta who he felt absolutely safe with, and avoided her gaze.
"Roses," he explained somewhat meekly.
Of course, his friends knew about the story, too. His own smell was lost, there were so many flowers in his room.
"Oh," the orange-haired girl said and immediately stopped teasing him, "I'm sorry about that. But... he can't know how much you hate roses."
Luffy bit his lower lip.
"I don't care. I just want my peace!"
He started wiping off the counter and she immediately understood that he didn't want to talk about it any further, so she changed the subject.
Luffy's shift was the last one, as usual. He was popular at work, he liked his customers, and as long as he had an Alpha at the door, he had nothing to worry about. Shakky paid close attention to him and that's why he was infinitely grateful to her.
The current shift went on until after four again. Luffy was locking up when Rayleigh - the alpha outside the door - said goodbye to a dark-clad figure.
"Another customer?" he asked politely, catching the whiff of a scent that somehow seemed familiar.
Rayleigh shook his head, "No, no, time to call it a day."
Luffy nodded in relief. "Yeah, time to go!"
"See you tomorrow then, Luffy!"
"See ya, Rayleigh!"
He hurried to get to his bed before the sun rose; otherwise he wouldn't be able to sleep properly again.
He scurried into the apartment, snagged another of Sabo's sandwiches in the kitchen that he set out for him every night, and scurried with it straight to his room and under his covers.
A last glance at the display of his cell phone told him that the flower messenger would ring in less than 4 hours.
Luffy was awakened by the doorbell ringing. But as usual, he ignored it. Sabo would accept the stupid flowers he so detested. Grumbling, he buried himself under his pillow as the doorbell rang once more. Silence. Irritated, he opened his eyes and squinted into the darkness under his pillow. Was Sabo not there?
He was about to turn around and continue ignoring it when it rang again. What the?!
Cursing, he threw back the covers, heaved himself out of bed and trotted to the door in just his shirt and shorts. He would give that stupid messenger a good talking to and tell him to stuff the stupid flowers somewhere else!
Angrily, he approached the apartment door, a part of his not yet awake brain still wondering where Sabo actually was. He was usually still at home when the jerk came over.
A fourth ring sounded.
"I'm coming!" he grumbled to the messenger, taking another deep breath before finally opening the door.
And recoiled, startled.
Sunflowers jumped out at him, big and small bright sunflowers! Irritated, his jaw dropped and he stared silently ahead for a few moments until he managed to gather them back up and slowly lift his gaze.
His favorite flowers. He had never been given sunflowers before. His heart skipped a beat. Uncertainly, his eyes wandered behind the flowers over the slender and tall figure holding the bouquet in his arms. Blinking, he recognized a black suit with a white shirt, no tie, but gold earrings and a small grin on perfect lips. His cheeks warmed as he returned the gaze of the golden eyes and he swallowed hastily.
"You," he said, not knowing what to say.
"Sorry for the ambush, Luffy-ya," came the melodic voice he hadn't been able to get out of his head for weeks. A gentle whiff of the alpha's distinctive scent washed over him. Luffy smelled lemons, coffee, and the tart scent of dark pines after a summer rain.
"Wh-What are you doing here?" he managed to muster when he regained his composure. Somewhat embarrassed, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was uncomfortable with his appearance.
"Excuse me. And to ask you, as I have so many times in the last few weeks... to dinner," the tall alpha explained in a much too soft voice.
"Dinner?" The ever-hungry Luffy listened up, perhaps truly awake for the first time that day.
The taller one nodded, his smile widening a touch. Luffy couldn't deny that it made him even prettier.
"Um... come on in," he offered, unsure, but he'd been raised well. And at least he didn't have any roses with him.
"Thank you, I'd love to."
Taking a step back, Luffy let the alpha into the apartment and paused for a moment, but then headed purposefully for his room.
He pushed open the door and let his unexpected guest enter first, unobtrusively sucking his scent into his nose. God, he smelled damn good.
The alpha stopped in the middle of the doorway. Astonishment drew in his eyes and voice as he looked down over his shoulder at him.
"You...picked them up?"
Luffy's gaze roamed over the masses of flowers that stood around, taking up almost every available spot.
"The flowers are beautiful," he explained with a shrug, "Thank you..."
"Law. Call me Law," the alpha helped him along as he looked around curiously.
"But you don't like them, do you?" he asked, looking a little embarrassed.
Luffy pulled a face. He couldn't tell a lie.
"I don't like roses," he finally admitted.
Law nodded in understanding, and Luffy got the impression that he really understood why he didn't like roses and wasn't just pretending to, though Luffy didn't know how he knew…
"But you like sunflowers?" the older man inquired.
"My favorite flowers," the shorter one admitted begrudgingly, but immediately relaxed when he saw Law's face look even happier.
"But, you don't have to do that. I... just happened to be there and..."
Irritated, Law raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly.
"This... has nothing to do with the near-accident, Luffy-ya," he explained slowly, his gaze fixed on the omega in wait.
"It doesn't?"
"No. I'm trying to court you to take you to dinner. Didn't you get my cards?" blinked Law, confused.
"The...I didn't read them..."
"You did..." Law shook his head muttering softly, took a deep breath and turned fully to the young Omega. There was suddenly something...solemn about his posture. Luffy swallowed.
Law sank down onto his right knee, still holding the bouquet of sunflowers in his hands.
"Luffy-ya. Then I ask you here and now. Would you do me the honor and pleasure of officially asking you out on a date? You've been on my mind ever since we met, and I'd like to know more about you so I don't make a mistake like I did with the roses."
Luffy stared at him for a moment - and laughed!
Here he was, in shorts, too-big T-shirt and socks, with tousled hair and unbrushed teeth, and an alpha - heavens, WHAT an alpha! - was standing in his bedroom, courting him? It was so unreal! He slapped his right hand over his eyes, kept laughing until he got himself back under control. His eyes shined in happy disbelief.
"It's not because of the accident?"
"No."
"You... might like me?" he asked uncertainly, his cheeks red.
"I'm convinced of it." Law's golden eyes captivated him.
Luffy swallowed. If he was being honest... If he was being completely honest... He bit his lower lip again for a moment, beamed, then took a deep breath and finally nodded.
"All right, then. Let's go eat."
He sank into Law's intense gaze as he stood up, placed the flowers in his hands, and pressed a very gentle kiss to his cheek.
Luffy chuckled softly.
How could he say no, when Law had brought him sunflowers...?