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It's an official date.
Nami repeats this thought in her mind as she drives over to Windmill Village.
It has been a week since her and Luffy officially became a couple and, due to their busy schedules, they have only spoken on the phone and video since then. However, a few days ago, Luffy mentioned that she should come over during the weekend for them to have their first "official" date. He claimed their short road trip was their first date but Nami argued that he was one-sidedly dating her at the time so it didn't count. He pouted at the time but accepted her reasoning.
So here she is on Saturday afternoon, driving to meet him. She had considered asking Usopp to pick her up but almost immediately tossed the thought when she imagined his teasing. Thus, despite her reluctancy to drive, she choose to take her car instead. It wasn't that she hated to drive but she found it tiresome to go long distances, like Windmill Village. She didn't mind driving to work but she dreaded having to stop to go to the gas station on long trips for some reason.
But, despite that annoyance, she was intensely excited. Initially, she was going to dress more extravagant but Luffy asked that she dress simple for the occasion. He didn't tell her what it is but she complied, choosing to wear a simple, light pink cami dress with thin straps.
"Ahhh, it's hot as usual!" she complains as she drives into town, pushing up her sunglasses to her forehead.
Some of the people in town wave to her, already accustomed to her visiting at this point. She waves back with a smile, which immediately widens when she spots ASL Mart. She parks quickly and checks her appearance before stepping out, locking the doors after closing the door. Excited, she races to the store entrance and goes in.
"Afternoon," she greets as she enters.
Sabo is at the register reading a book. Noticing her, he waves and points to the fruit section with a cheeky grin that has the tips of her ears flushing.
Of course Luffy told him.
Not interested in anymore embarrassment, she walks over to the fruit section and finds her boyfriend restocking the apples.
Boyfriend...
A dumb smile slides on her lips at the word.
"Hey..." she says awkwardly, mentally swatting herself in the back of head.
But it gets Luffy's attention. He turns around and, expectedly, gives her a bright smile that is so infectious that she can't help returning it.
What she doesn't expect, though, is him putting down the apples and approaching her to engulf her into his arms. She freezes as he holds her tight but not enough to hurt.
"Nami, I missed you!" he says, pressing himself closer.
Recovering a little, Nami realizes what is going on and hesitantly she raises her hands to hug him back, barely fighting back the wobbly smile threatening to possess her lips.
Whoa, is this how it's gonna be now?!
Not breaking the hug, he pulls back a little to look at her. "I didn't expect you to get here so early so you gotta wait a bit. Sorry." he pouts.
Her face pinches at the adorable expression. "It's fine, I was actually going to wait for you to finish. No rush."
"Okay, you can wait upstairs then!" he gestures to the stairs at the corner.
She gets a short nod out before he hugs her quickly and goes back to work, moving to another aisle. Nami recovers quickly and walks over to stairs, climbing them until she reaches the living room. It is there that she collapses to her knees and covers her red face.
Ahh! Is he trying to kill me?!
------------Scene Break------------
After sitting on the floor for a bit, Nami had moved to the couch, where she was currently on her phone. She was texting her sister, Nojiko, about visiting in two months.
Nojiko: Gen-san is excited to hear you're coming
Nojiko: He said not to dress too loosely this time lol
Nami: Lol he's still hung up about the Christmas party?
Nojiko: Can't blame him...that miniskirt was overkill!
Nami: Sorry I didn't think he would actually have a stroke!
Nojiko: Me neither...guess he's reaching that age
Nami: Don't worry! I won't bring any surprises this time
Nojiko: Sure...I believe you...
Nami: Have a little faith!
As she waited for her sister to respond, Nami looks around the room. She hadn't told Nojiko about her dating Luffy yet, since she wanted to see how today goes, but she plans to do so when she visits. Hopefully, they are still together by then.
Don't be so pessimistic, Nami!
Not liking the direction of her thoughts, she gets up and wanders around the house. The upstairs house is small, only having a living room that is connected to kitchen and one big bedroom with three beds.
So they all live together. That will make staying over difficult...
Her face flushes at the notion and it has her shaking her head to rid herself of it. She returns to the living room and notices that there are several framed pictures on the walls and near the tv. Curious, she takes a closer look.
Most of the pictures showed Luffy and Sabo with another dark-haired man, who she assumed was Ace, throughout different ages. She smiles at one that displayed all of them sleeping against a tree, with Luffy leaning on Ace and his small hand fisted into Sabo's shirt.
So cute...
However, she raises an eyebrow when she notices that most of the pictures had Luffy wearing a straw-hat that she never saw before. It is only in the more recent pictures that she sees him without it, where he looks about eighteen at least.
Looking over all of them, she finally finds a recent photo with him and a man with dark-red hair. Luffy has a bright smile on his face, that is only betrayed by the tears in the corner of his eyes, sitting on the shoulders of the red-haired man, who now wore the straw-hat upon his head. Nami squints at the man.
Who is this?
"Ah, that's Shanks!" Luffy suddenly speaks up.
Nami screams loudly, dropping the photo and almost falling back unto the television. To her relief, he quickly catches her and pulls her back to him.
"Sorry Nami! D-did I scare you?" he says, but she can hear that he's trying not to laugh.
Embarrassed, she pushes herself out of his grip and brushes her frazzled hair. "N-no! You just surprised me!"
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"S-shut up!" she huffs, her ears red.
Luffy laughs at her for a moment before picking up the photo she dropped.
Seeing him, she frowns. "Sorry, I dropped it by accident."
"It's okay." He reassures when he stands back up. "You were checking out the pictures?"
She nods and points to one of the frames. "That's Ace in the ones with you and Sabo?"
"Yup, we aren't related but people say I look like him." He comments.
"You kinda do, actually."
He smiles. "Shanks said so too! You should have seen his face when he saw all of us together. He thought we cloned!"
They both laugh at the last part.
"So who's Shanks, exactly?" she asks.
Luffy stops laughing and excitedly leads her to the couch to sit down. He runs out of the room and comes back with a straw-hat similar to the one she saw in the pictures. Sitting down beside her, Luffy shows it off.
"Shanks is the one who gave me this straw-hat." He says, smiling at it. "It's not the same one from the pictures since that was the one I borrowed from him."
Nami raises an eyebrow at that and looks at it. He was right. Upon closer look, this hat was a bit more new looking that slightly worn one from the photos.
Noticing her expression, he turns the hat over. "Last year he came back for the other one and gave me this one to keep."
"Why did he take the other one back?"
"Ah, that's because he originally lent it to me until we saw each other again." He grins. "So when we met again after 10 years, he said that I earned myself my own hat."
Infected by his smile, she grins back. "Can I touch it?"
He nods brightly so she rest her hand on the hat, her smile widening upon contact.
"Why don't you wear it?" she asks. "In all the pictures, you were always wearing the other one."
He shrugs. "I guess I got so used to wearing Shanks' that I'm worried it won't feel the same." he explains.
Nami shakes her head and takes the hat from him. "Of course it will feel different, it's new!"
Before he can complain, she gets up and rests it on his head gently.
"Nami?"
"You know what I think?"
"What?"
She adjusts it a little before sitting back down and grabbing his hands and entwining them with hers. "I think Shanks gave you a new one for you to make it your own. He must have seen a change in you that made you worthy of breaking in your own straw-hat." she says.
Looking stumped, Luffy just stares at her for a while, making her wonder if her got what she was saying. But soon his lips form his signature boyish smile, now tinged with gratefulness.
"You're right Nami!" He cheers, separating one of their hands to rest on his hat. "This is my hat! When Shanks comes back, I'll show him how I've made it my own!"
"You better." she responds, smiling warmly.
Then, even surprising herself, Nami releases his other hand to lean over and pull him into a warm hug, which he immediately returns. They draw closer, her arms wrap around his neck and his going around her waist.
"Thanks Nami." he says.
She just nods, pressing her face deeper into his neck and taking in his natural scent mixed with a hint of citrus.
I could get used to this.
------------Scene Break----------
Idly watching tv, Nami sat on the couch again, waiting for Luffy to come out of the shower. After their overly long hug, he had said for her to wait for him while he got everything ready.
As she waited, her mind couldn't stop going back to their embrace, the memory causing her face to pinch in embarrassment.
If hugging was that good, what would kissing be like?
She tried to push the thought away but it felt like trying to drown a newly inflated ball.
Would it be too soon to try it tonight? He didn't mind me kissing his cheek...but what if it was because he was surprised?
Before she could ponder on it further, though, Luffy comes out of his room with a large basket. Nami looks him over. His hair is a little wet, dripping unto his oversized white t-shirt and loose, light blue pants. A smile touches her lips when she sees the straw-hat on his head. He doesn't pay it any mind, instead putting out a hand for her to grab.
"Ready?" he asks.
She nods, outwardly excited as she grabs his hand. "Are we having a picnic?"
"Yup, we have a grassy place in the back that we used to star gaze from." he explains, locking the door behind him as they leave.
Nami raises an eyebrow. "You aren't leaving it open for Sabo?"
He shakes his head. "Nah, he took the truck to go see his girlfriend."
"Whoa! I didn't know he had a girlfriend." she smirks. "I'll have to tease him about it next time."
Luffy laughs loudly as they walk out through the back of the shop and go outside. Once outside, Nami's eyes widen in wonder as she sees the large fruit garden covering the the backyard. There were apple and orange trees followed by berry bushes being lit by the moonlight in just the right way that they looked like jewels.
"This is your garden? It's beautiful!" she whispers.
Proud, he puff his chest and led her through the garden. "It took a few years to get it this big but it was worth it! We had to learn from scratch and start over a lot." he says, passing through the berry bushes to get to the center.
"It was. You planning to plant anything else?"
He makes a strange face. "Yeah hopefully soon."
"What will it be?"
Pressing a finger to his lips, he says, "Secret!"
She huffs and goes to force it out of him, when they finally arrive at the center of the garden.
There is an open area that was clearly left intentionally untouched by plants. Letting go of her hand, Luffy goes over and opens the basket, pulling out a large blanket and spreading it out. He rests the basket at the center and invites her to sit next to him.
"Come quick Nami." he urges.
She smirks. "Relax, are we going on a carpet ride?" she teases, taking a seat on his left.
"Maybe next time!" he jokes back.
Nami chuckles softly and gestures to the basket. "What are we having?"
"Well I'm starving so let's start with dinner!" he shouts, pulling out a Hawaiian pizza. "I was gonna make you something different than last time but I almost burned down the kitchen."
He pouts and Nami shakes her head. "Let's cook together some time. It will be fun!" she says, attempting to cheer him up.
It works. "Yeah! Let's make ramen."
"Why ramen?"
He shrugs. "I've always wanted to make ramen from scratch. Sabo really likes it too."
"Let's do it then." Nami takes up a slice of pizza and has a bite. "This is good for now though."
Back to full enthusiasm, Luffy picks up two slices, putting them together like a sandwich. "Yeah, this is pretty good!" She laughs when he shoves it into mouth, barely chewing before swallowing.
They continue eating, making light conversation in between, until Luffy suddenly points at the sky.
"Look Nami!" he cries.
Confused, she looks up and is immediately greeted with a sky full of raining meteors. Orange, blue and purple litter the dark blue expanse, seeming like they would crash upon the earth before falling into the horizon.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Luffy speaks up.
Eyes still on the sky, she grabs his hand. "You planned this?" she says, just above a whisper.
"Sabo, Ace and I used to come out here around this time of year to see it. It just used to be for us." He intertwines this fingers. "And now it's for you too."
Wanting to see him, Nami looks to her right and gives a teary smile just before he leans in. It was probably to rest their foreheads together, knowing him, but she instinctively tilts her head and pushes her lips unto his.
It's just a light touch, but she feels her chest burst with joy. Satisfied, she pulls away a little, staying close, and gazes at him. He stares back, frozen, and it makes her smirk.
"That's what you get for hugging me all day." she teases.
Finally recovering, Luffy grins at her. "You liked it though!" he taunts back.
"I did." Nami responds with confidence. She lets go his hand and goes onto her knees so that she's looking down at him, staring into his dark eyes. Fully in the moment, she allows her hands come up and cup his face, pressing into his space.
He doesn't mind, following up by wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing their foreheads together. "Are you going to do it again?" he asks, look at her curiously.
A soft laugh slips out from her and she leans in closer. "How about you try this time?"
Where is this confidence coming from?
He stares at her for a moment, long enough for her to worry if she was too forward. But, not long after, he squeezes her waist and clears her worries away with a soft kiss.
It's clumsy but she takes comfort his inexperience, pressing into the kiss and slightly tightening her grip on his cheeks. Not wanting to seem to greedy, she pulls away from his lips only to be surprised by him pulling her back in.
Unable to restrain herself, she smiles into the kiss.
Yeah, kissing is definitely better than hugging.
When they finally separate, both of their faces are red and a little sweaty. Luffy gives her a wide smile than she mirrors immediately.
"We gotta do that again!" he says.
Nami nods, pressing a quick kiss on his nose. "I have to go back soon though. It's getting late."
"Aww really?" he groans.
"Yup, I can come over tomorrow though."
He brightens. "Great! We can spend the whole day together!"
"Sounds like a plan."
Content, she pulls away from him and stands up, dusting off the leaves on her clothes. Right after, Luffy gets up as well and takes her hand. They go to the front of the store, where her vehicle is parked.
She opens the door and puts her phone on the seat.
"Well today was nice." she says once turned back to him.
Luffy grabs her into a tight hug, that she immediately returns this time. They stay in the embrace for a short while before pulling away a bit.
Feeling confident, Nami raises a hand to press her finger to her lips.
"One more for the road?"
He is all too eager to oblige, leaning down to capture her inviting lips once again. Nami wraps her arms around his neck and deepens the kiss, sighing contently.
Yeah, I can really get used to this.