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“Nice job, Captain.” Shachi was smiling, one elbow resting on Law’s head. Law contemplated removing said arm from his cook’s body. “Got your crush in an alliance and everything.”
“Now you just have to actually make a move on him.” Penguin laughed. Law rolled his eyes, but smiled regardless. Aggravating though they may be at times, these idiots were still his nakama, the crew he hadn’t thought he would see again. That was just one more thing he had to thank Luffy for, in the end. And thinking of Luffy, where was the rubber idiot?
Law scanned the tables of food, but found only minks and some of his own crew. The drinks table nearby proved equally devoid of unreasonably adorable pirates in straw hats, and Law turned his eyes to the throng of dancers. Luffy’s hat caught the light of the central bonfire, and Law sighed.
“Captain’s got a cru~sh.” Shachi and Penguin sang teasingly. Law ignored the pair, keeping his eyes on the ally he couldn’t bring himself to regret choosing.
“C’mon, Law.” Shachi removed his elbow from Law’s head and poked him in the cheek, earning a glare. “Just go tell him. Worst he can do is turn you down.”
“The worst he can do is break the alliance and-”
“Fight Kaidou on his own?” Penguin supplied. “Even if Straw Hat is that stupid, the rest of his crew wouldn’t let him go through with it.”
Law had to admit that his mechanic was right. There was no way the Straw Hats would let Luffy back out of the alliance now, even if he went and made it awkward. “Later.” he said, picking out more pirates in the crowd. Luffy turned as Law’s eyes found him, and their gazes locked. Then Luffy started heading over, and Shachi laughed, the asshole.
“Looks like later’s coming to you.” he said, and it made no goddamn sense but Penguin apparently found it funny because he snorted and clapped Law on the shoulder.
“Good luck, Captain.”
“Torao!” Luffy beamed, trotting to a stop in front of him. “Have you been hiding over here the whole time?”
“I haven’t bee-”
“Yes.” Penguin and Shachi answered over him.
Law was going to swap their limbs around while they slept, he really was.
Luffy laughed, and held out a hand. “Torao should dance with me.”
Law opened his mouth to say no, he wasn’t much of a dancer, but one of his nakama kneed him in the back and what came out of his mouth was “Sure.”
Luffy cheered, pulling Law to his feet, and Law glared over his shoulder at Penguin and Shachi, who simply gave him a pair of thumbs up. He was pretty sure he heard them high five as Luffy pulled him into the crowd. They were definitely getting dismembered later.
“Straw Hat-ya, I-” Law swallowed hard when he realized Luffy was still dragging him by the hand, and pulled himself free. “I’m not a good dancer.”
“So?” Luffy laughed, spinning effortlessly on one heel and grabbing Law’s left hand in both of his own. “Just have fun!” he dragged Law forward a few more steps, and suddenly they were both stumbling along with the circling mass of minks around the bonfire. Luffy was laughing, yelling something Law couldn’t make out at all, and after a chaotic minute or two he managed to find the rhythm of the movement. It was like a heartbeat, but on a massive scale. He knew heartbeats, he could do this.
Luffy had grabbed both of his hands at some point, and Law only barely noticed that before Luffy was dragging him out of the circle, chattering about wanting to eat. Or was he talking about meat? Law’s pulse was almost as loud in his ears as the sounds of the party, making it difficult to tell.
“Torao?” Luffy stopped and turned around, one hand still locked with Law’s. “Are you okay?” he stepped closer, and Law wished he could just disappear. “Should I get Chopper?”
Law shook his head, took a deep breath, and willed his heart to slow the fuck down. “No, I’m-” Luffy’s hand tightened on his, and his breath caught in his throat for a second. “I’m fine, Straw Hat-ya.” he forced a smile onto his face, even though he kinda felt like he was going to be sick. “Just a bit hungry.”
“Oh, yeah.” Luffy laughed, and Law let the rubberman drag him over to the food tables. “Here, eat this.” Luffy grabbed a piece of meat, the largest one on the serving platter, and held it out to Law. “It’s really good, and it’ll make you feel better!”
“Oh, um, thank you, Straw Hat-ya.” Law took the offered meat, and Luffy snagged one for himself, sticking the whole damn thing in his mouth before starting to load up plates with everything else but vegetables. And bread, Law noticed after a moment. Luffy piled four whole plates high with food, and grinned around the bone in his mouth which was all that remained of the massive chunk of meat.
“C’mon, we can sit over there.” he jerked his head towards the remains of a building, so Law followed him towards the stone structure. They perched on the remnants of a wall, and Luffy held out one of the plates to Law. “It’s not Sanji’s cooking, but it’s still good.”
Law grinned, and balanced the plate on his lap. Maybe, just maybe, he had a chance. He’d seen Luffy snatch food from everyone’s plates indiscriminately, no matter how injured they were, and yet here they were, with Luffy freely giving him food. And, he noticed as he used Shambles to grab them both some cutlery, there wasn’t a single piece of bread on his plate.
“Straw Hat-ya.” he said slowly, stabbing at a fruit salad which seemed to be mostly kiwi and pineapple. “Have you ever had a crush on someone?”
“A wha?” Luffy asked, pulling a booger out of his nose and flicking it away.
“Nevermind.” Law sighed, stabbing another piece of fruit. “Dumb question.”
Luffy frowned. “No, now I wanna know.” he leaned in and poked Law in the chest. “What’s a crush?”
“It’s, well...” Law bit back a groan. He’d just wanted a yes or no answer, not this bullshit. “A crush is when you like someone, but they don’t like you the same way, or you don’t know how they feel about you.”
“Huh.” Luffy’s frown deepened into an almost comical thinking face, then his eyes widened and he slammed his right fist into his open left palm. “Oh, like with Hammock!”
“What?” Law frowned.
“Boa Hancock, the snakey lady?” Luffy grinned. “She kept asking if I wanted to marry her. Is that a crush?”
Law choked on a banana slice, and had to cough for a minute to clear his throat. “She what?”
“Wants to marry me.” Luffy shrugged, and ripped another bite off of a hunk of meat.
If Luffy was able to turn down a marriage proposal from the most beautiful woman in the world, he was either interested in precisely no-one or exclusively interested in guys. One of those options gave Law a chance, and the other probably wouldn’t end in disaster. “Huh.” Law finished off the fruit salad, and started picking at the rest of the food on his plate. He wasn’t really hungry.
“What if...” he poked halfheartedly at what remained on his plate. “Someone else had a crush on you?”
Luffy shrugged, and pointed at the untouched meat on Law’s plate. “Can I have that?”
Law could only stare for a few seconds as the words registered. Luffy was, asking for his food? “Uh, yeah, sure.” he held out the plate, which Luffy snatched and promptly emptied into his mouth.
“Torao’s the best.” Luffy mumbled, spraying bits of meat everywhere.
“Really?” Law couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his face. It was stupid, it was so, so stupid to let himself get his hopes up, but he couldn’t help it with Luffy.
“Well, duh.” Luffy swallowed his massive mouthful of food and flashed Law a wide grin. Law looked away, and spotted a good chunk of his crew watching them. He flipped them the bird. Jean Bart gave him a thumbs up, followed by the rest of the observers. God dammit, he had to fess up tonight or he’d never hear the end of it from his crew. Assholes, the lot of them.
“Torao?”
“Let’s go for a walk.” he said, getting to his feet and holding out a hand to Luffy.
“Hmm?”
“A walk.” Law nodded his head towards the woods, and let his hand fall.
“Oh, okay.” Luffy caught Law’s hand before it had moved more than an inch, and pulled himself to his feet. They were a good few feet past the treeline before Law realized that they were still holding hands. Well, now or never.
“Straw Hat-ya, I-” Law took a breath, and exhaled through his teeth. “I need to tell you something. If you don’t want to be allies after hearing it, I’ll be fine with that.”
Luffy frowned and turned to stand between Law and the tree in front of him, taking his other hand. “Torao, are you being stupid again?”
“Maybe.” Law admitted, tightening his grip on Luffy’s hands. “I- I think-” dammit, why was it so hard to say? Five stupid little words, and he couldn’t get them out of his goddamn mouth.
“Stupid Torao.” Luffy huffed, mouth twisting into an unfairly adorable pout for a moment. “Torao thinks too much.”
Fuck it.
Law stepped forward and slammed his mouth against Luffy’s in a brief and awkward kiss. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” he said softly, letting go of Luffy’s hands and stepping back to a polite distance. Luffy wasn’t interested in romance. Law just had to accept that and move on, or this alliance would get unbearably awkward. Luffy lifted a hand to his lips, looking absolutely stupefied, and Law mentally kicked himself. Of course Luffy didn’t feel the same way. Why would he?
“Oh!” Luffy grinned like Christmas had come early, and his arm stretched slightly when he reached to grab Law’s hand without moving from his spot in front of the tree. “Torao like likes me!” he laughed, the trees muffling the distinctive sound rather than bouncing it back. The grip on Law’s hand tightened, and he was a little proud of not stumbling when Luffy yanked him forward. “Good.”
Law opened his mouth to ask what could possibly be good about his stupid one-sided crush, and found Luffy’s mouth meeting his own for another awkward kiss. It was just as brief as the previous one, but this time neither of them stepped away when it was over.
“What?” Law managed after a few stunned seconds.
“Torao likes me, right?” Luffy didn’t stop smiling, his grin as bright as the sun. “And I like Torao.”
“You, like me?” Law asked skeptically. He wouldn’t put it past Luffy to not understand the difference between platonic and romantic acts of affection.
“Yeah, the kissy kind of like.” Luffy kept grinning, and began swinging their hands from side to side. “Torao likes me~” he sang, and Law blushed.
“Shut up.” Law mumbled, looking to the side of Luffy's head.
“Why?” Luffy’s smile faltered.
“It’s embarrassing.”
Luffy huffed, cheeks puffing out for a second while he pouted, and then he released Law’s hands to grip his face. “I like Torao.” he said firmly, looking more determined than Law had ever seen him outside of battle. Law looked away, and Luffy pulled him in for a slightly less clumsy kiss. “I like Torao, and if Torao’s embarrassed about that, then-”
“I’m not.” Law said quickly, placing his hands on Luffy’s waist and stepping forward. “Just-” he sighed and shut his eyes. “Could we keep this quiet? I’d rather not tell anyone right away.”
“Hmm.” Luffy made the most blatantly fake thinking face Law had ever seen, then grinned cheekily and slipped out of Law’s loose hold, stepping back against the nearest tree. “Only if Torao kisses me again.”
Law almost laughed. Trust Luffy to take something he’d been worried about for the past week and a half, and dismiss every fear in under a minute. “Gladly.” he tilted Luffy’s hat back, letting the scattered moonlight dance over the younger captain’s face. Luffy’s eyes were half closed, heavily dilated pupils indistinguishable from dark irises, and a shiver traced down Law’s spine as he leaned in.
Luffy tasted, unsurprisingly, like the meat they’d had at the party. He was warm in Law’s arms, like holding a piece of the sun, and when they eventually parted Law could hardly breathe.
“Torao’s a good kisser.” Luffy mumbled, eyes only half open but still focused on Law with an intensity which would be frightening if it was directed at him by anyone else.
Law forced a chuckle and shifted so he was more or less pinning Luffy against the tree trunk. “I’d love to say the same for you, but you kinda suck at this.”
Luffy flashed a smile much sharper than his usual easy grins, and rested his arms gently around Law’s neck. “Well then, Torao’ll just have to teach me.”