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There was something to be said about long nights. The way everything calmed around you, and the waves lapping at the hull were the only sound. No light except a single lantern and the moon and stars in the sky.
Often Law was the only one on deck at night, and he liked it that way. It gave him time to think, time to just be with himself, when the waking hours often times were nothing but chaos, and voices, and plans.
He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When the sun was out the air smelled of heat, and sweat, and adventure. At night, he could swear it tasted… silver. He knew it would be hard to tear his eyes away from the moon if he opened them again, but he did it anyway. It was weird, but sometimes he could swear he saw Cora-san’s face in its round form.
With a sigh, he rubbed at his upper arm and then stretched out his legs. He knew he wasn’t going to sleep tonight, so he might as well get some work done. Between his own crew and the Strawhats, sickbay was never empty, and he had plenty of reports to stew over.
Lost in his work, he didn’t notice the moon disappear from the sky, or the inky black of the night turning into grey orange of dawn. Not until a hand brushed his neck and a familiar mop of black hair settled down next to him. He didn’t even flinch, but the motion still traced goosebumps over the back of his neck.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Luffy asked, bringing the sunrise with him.
Law shrugged. “Didn’t want to.”
Luffy heaved a big sigh and nudged his shoulder against Law’s bad one. “That’s three nights in a row.”
“I’ll get there,” Law promised and closed his notebook.
“You don’t have to be the only one keeping watch, you know? Let one of us have a turn, too.” Luffy knocked their knees together now, too. “The moon isn’t going to fall out of the sky without you staring at it.”
And wasn’t that the crux of it. Of course Luffy would sit there and immediately go for the heart of it all.
“One day it might,” Law said.
“I’ll hang it back up,” Luffy said.
“You can’t.” Law shook his head. “You’re the sun.” And they could never meet.
Luffy gave a huff. “Well, the moon doesn’t glow without the sun, right?”
And Law had not considered that. Luffy hit him with one of his thousand degree smiles, and he did have to admit that no matter what time of day, Luffy would light it up. He could hang the sun and the moon and any other planet, and they would let him.
Law bowed his head a little, letting his temple fall against Luffy’s. “Right,” he echoed.
And Luffy put his hand over Law’s and they watched the sun rise from the sea together.