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Nika giggled in the sunflower field, fingers wrapped around Asclepios’ black hair, separating them in strands and weaving them in the complicated patterns his priestess had taught him. She had been none too pleased when Nika had cheerfully told her they would both be taking a break from their duties for a day in order for her to teach him how to braid.
“Erytheia won’t be pleased you’re shirking your duties again,” gold eyes caught his gaze and his love grinned, the look on his face unapologetic even as he pointed out Nika’s plight.
“Hmmm, ‘Theia won’t be. But she knows better by now. She won’t nag too much, not like the old priest. He’d have sent Icarus to find me,” Nika pouted, his grip on the twinning strands of hair faltering as he raised one hand in the air to wave it in patterns only he understood the reasoning behind. The old priest had never been one of Nika’s favourites; too stern and too serious, trying to contain him and not understanding the Sun could not be contained. The Sun was Freedom. ‘Theia was his second favourite because she was his and she understood. She’d have been his favourite, but Nika had Icarus as well. “She knows this day is for us.”
Nika did not celebrate birthdays in the same way humans did. He hadn’t been born after all; one moment there was nothingness, the next he existed, bright and laughing and free, as free as the mother who had created him was. Nika belonged to the Sea in the abstract way a god belonged to another. In the same way his heart belonged to their little star and the shining dawn. He didn’t celebrate that day. It made no sense. After all gods weren’t and then they were and that's how things worked. No, instead Nika celebrated a different day; the day he had caught a glimpse of golden eyes and tanned skin at the edges of his sunflower field, had felt the aura of a new god walking the streets of their Kingdom, had felt his soul sing and had known the one who would echo its song was the god now lying in his arms.
‘Mia animo, mia amato,’ Nika’s heart shuddered and the Sun god knew that day would forever be one of celebration.
***
Law gazed across the expanse of the Sea, the smell of gunpowder and smoke still clinging to him, the last Marine based they had raided having done little to calm the restless energy in his bones and the sheer longing dragging him down. How odd it was that the day remained the same; or perhaps it wasn’t. After all, the Sea had chosen when to offer Lu-ya to his father and She knew better than anyone the significance this particular day had for them.
“You could call him, you know?” Cora said, a large hand pressed on his shoulder and Law bit his lip in frustration, the desire to do so at war with the promise they had made.
He knew how important promises were to Luffy.
“Just this once, perhaps? I know he must be as sad as you are.”
“If we call this once, we will want to call every year and then what is the worth of the promise anymore?” Law answered, each word making his soul sink further and further. They had forgotten about this day; in the whirlwind of meeting for a scant few hours, of getting to know each other anew, of understanding that they would not be able to meet again not for a while, they had completely forgotten about this day.
“What if I call for you, hmm? You could at least hear his voice.” Cora offered and Law could only nod at his father, tears of frustration burning at the corner of his eyes. It wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. But they would have to make do for now. They had lived and died and lived again. Being separated for a few more years would not kill them.
Even if it was during the most important day for both of them.
***
Asclepios had not expected Nika to barge in his life with the literal finesse of a hurricane. The Healing quarters were far from the Sun God’s temple, ever farther from the sunflower patch that everyone knew was his and his alone, the one Asclepios had walked close to only once when Astrea had dragged him there. The Healer didn’t even think Nika had known of his existence - everyone knew he was capricious and wild, close to only those few that he utterly claimed as his even if he protected the entirety of the Kingdom. As such when brilliant white blazed in his line of sight and a warm hand grabbed his own Asclepios had been too befuddled to do anything than go along with it.
Getting to care about and love the Sun God had been nothing short of a fall the Healer had not expected. It was not that gods did not love; they did in their own ways. Either remotely from afar, like the cold light of the stars barely touching their object of affection. Or viciously, possessive, consuming, claiming and claiming until there was nothing left.
Very rarely did gods love like humans did, with the desperation of knowing one’s life would come to an end and the determination to live it to its fullest, to make another person an immutable part of their lives. The only ones he could think of were Hestia and Janus, and theirs was more a dance than anything else, a push and pull that they both reveled in. Asclepios had not expected to be one of the gods that learned how to love, truly, desperately.
Nika made it easy. It was hard not to smile at him when he laughed and danced to a tune only he could hear. Harder still for Asclepios’ heart not to skip a beat when Nika whispered mia animo in his ear, when his lips mapped mia luno on his body. Impossible not to swear to love Nika in this life and any other when the impossible, impossible being told him he wanted to celebrate a special day with Asclepios.
“Humans have birthdays,” Nika explained, his head on Asclepios’ shoulder, his arms around his waist. “Gods don't need them, but I want to celebrate something with you. The day I first saw you.”
***
“My little moping Anchor,” Shanks muttered fondly, petting the boy’s hair as Luffy snuggled closer to him on the figurehead and stared morosely at the wide expanse of the Sea. “Maybe we should work a bit on the way you word promises in the future, hmmm?”
“Torao is smart and he agreed to it. It’s not my fault,” the boy huffed, biting his lip in displeasure.
He had forgotten. How could he have forgotten?
Luffy had agreed with Torao that they would have to part until the time was right. He knew that someday they would meet again and then they would sail together and have all sorts of adventures. But not now; Torao had to build his crew and his bounty, while Luffy needed to spend as much time as he could with Ace and ‘Bo before his brothers ended up sailing on their own. Had to hide from the Marines still looking from them and stay safe. He couldn’t drag Torao and Cora-o and their crew in the type of danger that had already caused the destruction of Foosha.
But he had forgotten. This day was theirs back then. Theirs and theirs alone. No duties to attend, no one to disturb them. Ever since Nika had decided it would be their celebration and until the destruction of their Kingdom, no year had passed in which they had not spent this day together. Mamma knew about it too because She had raised him from her Seas on the exact same day, had gifted him to Papa and made sure the day would remain special in this life as it had been in the last too.
“We always wondered why you disappeared on this day,” Shanks smiled, ruffling his hair. “And why no one made demands to find you. The Old Priest used to huff and puff, but he’d end up just blustering even if he kept threatening to send me after you. When Erytheia took over, she didn’t allow us to even question where you were.”
“‘Theia was the best. Didn’t like the Old Priest, he kept being mean to you and ‘Theia. Didn’t understand you were mine. ”
Nika had not wanted priests or temples, not like the other gods did. He had accepted them because it was expected of him, but he hadn’t wanted them. Few of the priests at the Temple had been important to him. Only Icarus and ‘Theia had been his .
“I miss ‘Theia,” Luffy mumbled and then turned towards his dad, trying to bite a small sob even as he already felt tears running down his cheeks. “I miss Torao.”
“Oh, Anchor,” Shanks sighed, bringing him closer and kissing the crown of his head. “Let’s go call Rosi, hmm? You know Law will just start yelling at me the moment he hears me call his dad so at least you’ll get to hear each other.”
“ Shishishi, Torao is funny like that,” Luffy said with a small wet giggle. “Ace is just as bad. He says you’re too good for Cora-o and he doesn’t give him his blessing to date you. Said it to Cora-o directly one day. He made the funniest noises when he heard. Penguin said he set himself on fire.”
“Does he now?” Shanks made a mental note to sit down his elder kids and tell them to stop trying to ruin his already inexistent love life. Trying to woo Rosi was already hard enough when he had to deal with the distance and the prickly feral cat that was the man’s adopted son. Former god or not, Law was a brat bigger than his sons.
But first things first; he had a not so little Anchor to cheer up before the rest of the crew could kick into gear and roll out the cake and birthday presents.