Work Text:
There was something strangely fascinating about watching Vivi with her hair tied up.
It'd taken Luffy a while to even realize he had developed a fascination over it. After all, it was just hair. It was just Vivi. He'd seen her with her hair done and decorated many times throughout the years—down her back, plaited aside, up in hairnet, covered in gems, beaded with pearls—and aside from the impression that Alabastan people really loved to throw celebrations that required Vivi to look very queen-ish and shiny, none of them had registered as particularly interesting.
—well, none except for the one with her hair up in a tail and nothing else, which for some reason always did things to him—grabbed his attention the moment it entered his vision and kept it there, pulled him into a state of hyperfocus that made it hard to notice anything else not attached to Vivi.
The fact that it was rare to see her in them nowadays didn't help either, its absence only adding to this awareness of what she wore in its place to a discomfiting degree. Vivi spent all of her time working, and most of her work she did in formal garb, with her hair pretty much always done the same way: down with some of it pinned back with a small comb, usually wrought in gold or something as precious to match the clothes.
It just made her seem so far away, sometimes—the clothes. That other side of her the rest of the world had only ever seen her as. And despite his annoyance over all that gold once or twice in the past—because it made so many people get her wrong, made them perceive the picture as the whole instead of a sum of her strongest parts—even he could tell it was also a side to Vivi that her country needed most. A Vivi who was always meant to become a great queen, a Vivi who was immovable and dedicated and wise. Immaculate.
Luffy understood that. Hell, he respected that. It's just that of all the things that made Vivi Vivi, he would always prefer to have the parts that were theirs to be there at the forefront. The secret side of Vivi only he and his crew ever got to know, and who Luffy liked to see best: the Vivi who was lightsome and sea-loving and reckless. The Vivi who liked to tie her hair up.
It's a downer that her becoming queen had made it near impossible to see that Vivi anymore. But, once in a while, there would be a day where one of her queen-y plans would fall short and made the work tougher to complete, or some unexpected situation that was bad for Alabasta would come up overseas, and then Vivi's expression—always gentle as a rule, but especially so when she had to be the amicable leader of her people—would take on a harsher edge, familiar in its determination, and she would then go and roll up her sleeves, and take a dozen tiny pins out of her hair, and pluck the offending haircomb off her head, and then something that'd been missing for what felt like forever would appear, and he'd also happen to be there—lucky enough to witness it.
Like now.
Vivi stood over the overflowing table Luffy'd been told as the only thing inside her tent he's not allowed to touch, idly dragging a hand through her freed locks while she pored over the scattered papers before her, completely absorbed with reading even as her fingers snagged onto tangles and knots at the ends of her hair.
A strange, anticipating—beat—flitted through him when she began to gather her hair up, the familiar sight of Vivi pushing her hair back with both hands making a breath stall in his chest. With one hand keeping her hair bunched up at the back of her head, Vivi reached into the high slit of her long tunic and dug inside, taking out what looked like a skinny elastic band from the side pocket of her skirt. She then pulled her hair through it, and wrapped the loop around twice more, twisting and tugging at some places for adjustment before letting go, leaving the elastic to settle into place with a final snap.
Luffy felt himself sink into his seat, that warm, giddy, near-satisfying something he only ever got when he's in Alabasta fluttering inside him as he stared. Now drawn high into a tail, the waviness of her hair seemed to magnify, its loose shape bringing out the voluminous curls that were always twisted and flattened out of sight. And when they're held up against the light seeping through the sidewalls like that, her strands seemed to take on a livelier sheen, the long fall of her hair becoming glossy and bright like a flowing stream on a hot day.
Vivi returned to the task at hand, and Luffy watched in sharp fascination as she moved around the table to sift through the materials she's reading, her back to him and completely unaware of his open staring. He knew he preferred the look for its familiarity above all else, but there were also other things that captivated him so; still so hard for him to name and even harder to explain.
How the usual obscuring strands were brushed out of the way, maybe, because it helped him see her eyes, shoulders, jaw—even her ears—better. Or how it completely bared the nape of her neck, calling attention to the contrast between her cool, freshwater-blue hair and warm olive skin that he just now realized he really, really liked. Or the way her tied hair arched over her back, simply for just how much fun it was to look at: all river-twists and turns, serene smooth blue coming down in loose thick whorls that curl outwards at their ends, their perked shape aptly and endearingly tail-like.
Just like Karoo's, he thought, the realization of where he'd seen their likeness before coming so sudden it punched a snort out of him, and made the edges of his mouth kept twitching up despite himself when Vivi turned to look his way, face suspecting.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," Luffy averted his eyes, sucking his lips in lest she pushed him to spill the beans. He wanted to save that joke for later, when they're surrounded with friends and she'd stopped being so busy she couldn't spare him her full attention.
Vivi squinted at him for a long second, but then decided to let it go. Focusing on her work once more, she pivoted back to the table—Luffy's eyes latched onto the soft sway of her hair as she moved, the turn of her head creating a ripple of blue behind her back—and wrily said over her shoulder, "You know, instead of laughing, how about helping and hand me that one logbook I left over there?"
Luffy belatedly realized he was staring while she waited for his response. He made a questioning noise.
"It's on one of the stools or in my briefcase, I think. Looks small and red, leatherbound."
He glanced down to his left, at the small pile of stuff spilling out of the half-open briefcase his knee had bumped into when he first made himself comfortable on Vivi's chair. The first book that caught his eye was the one teetering on top of the upended briefcase, red and seconds away from falling right into his lap. Picking up the hanging end of his waist sash to halfheartedly wipe his hands—still sticky from scarfing down the three fruit baskets Vivi'd let him take earlier—Luffy then grabbed the book and rose to his feet.
He crossed the space in easy strides, his footsteps muffled by the woven rug under their feet. When he got to her side, one hand holding out the leatherback toward her, Vivi looked up at him with a beam, "Thank you."
She took the book from him, and her smile widened approvingly the moment she turned it over in her hands; seemed like he'd gotten her what she wanted right on the first try. Vivi opened it and started flipping through the pages, her pointer finger tracing over the packed rows of cursives like she's trying to find a specific entry.
She's falling back into work mode again, but this time Luffy didn't mind. The new proximity had changed some things, made him notice she wasn't as put together as she looked from his perch on the other side of the tent. This close, he could see that her side bangs weren't parted evenly, the loop around her tied hair a tad looser than it should be. Few wisps of hair had even spilled out from its binds, cresting high above her head; swollen and frizzy from the warmish air inside her tent.
His gaze strayed to her pinched brows, to the slight sheen of sweat on her temples, the shadowed point where her lashes fanned her cheeks. A sprout of something close to greedy throbbed in his chest, and Luffy blurted, "I like your hair better like this."
"Really?" Vivi said, amused but still fixated on the logbook in her hands. "That's—unexpected. I didn't know you like this kind of style. Are you going to grow your hair out, then?"
"Not for me," Luffy huffed. He's got one palm flat against the table's surface when he shifted his weight sideways, angling his body open toward her, "I only like it on you."
He saw the moment Vivi went completely still, as if from surprise.
"Oh," she manages after a beat. Slowly, she closed the book shut, the leatherback quietly raised between their chests like she suddenly needed a physical barrier to be there. Something about that felt oddly motivating instead of discouraging, but before Luffy could pinpoint why he was suddenly okay with watching Vivi in discomfort when that had never been the case, she lifted her head up, her soft brown eyes catching the light and obliterating everything else.
"Why?"
"I just like it. Feels less stuffy." But that didn't feel like an honest answer to what Vivi's really asking him, not when she already knew about his distaste for all the shiny nonsense she had to put up with as queen, so he added, "Makes you look more adventure-ready."
"Adventure-ready, huh." She murmured, her cheeks crinkling in a fond smile. But then something hesitant and strange entered her expression, and Vivi tilted her face to look at him square in the eye, like she wanted to be sure she hadn't misunderstood him. "And what makes you think that?"
"Because back then you wore it like this, too."
Some of Vivi's side bangs had slipped out from behind her ears to her cheeks. They caught onto the edge of her lashes the moment Vivi blinked, her eyes slightly widening at his answer. Luffy brushed them off before she could do it herself, his fingers grazing the underside of her jaw when he tried to tuck the longer strands back into place. He—mostly—succeeded.
"Back then," Vivi repeated a little unsteadily, looking like she's biting down an incredulous grin for some reason. Which was weird, because Luffy could tell she'd perfectly caught on to what he was thinking. Vivi's eyes glittered as she continued to stare up at him, helpless and terribly fond and strange. "Oh, Luffy-san, really? Because of those days? I'm glad it left a good impression on you, but it's such a long time ago."
"So what if it was years ago," Luffy pouted, then helped himself to a fistful of blue curls behind her back, taking the silky weight of them into his hand. He grinned when she made no complaint of it. "It's still true to me. You look like you the most in this."
Now gripping at the table's edge beside her hip, Luffy pulled the ends of her ducktail (heh) forward and leaned closer.
"And this just really takes me back, y'know?" He flexed his hand and watched wisps of her hair fall through his fingers in cascading waves, rubbing the remaining locks between his thumb and forefinger. They felt so soft. "Makes me remember what it felt like when we were going on adventures together."
Whatever reaction he expected, it wasn't for Vivi to let out a tight, skittery laugh and said, not looking at his face, "Careful. It almost sounds like you want to steal me away for another one."
Her voice was a little off, lacking the prim resolve that would've made her response the reprimand it tried to be. Luffy tilted his head to see her face better, wanting to ask her what's wrong, when Vivi's words fully caught up to him and the realization that she was completely right on the mark lanced through him, sent something tight-hot-greedy straight to his stomach.
At his silence, Vivi peeked up, her brows creased in concern—and immediately froze when her gaze met his.
Whatever Vivi saw in his face finally undid that hesitant strangeness in her, made her lips part open and the black center of her eyes bloom over the brown parts, her cheeks flushing something fierce. Bright red and blinking rapidly, Vivi took a step back, then another, her body already halfway turned to the entrance of her tent. Luffy immediately dropped her hair the moment she moved, not wanting to accidentally snag on her strands and cause her any pain.
"I, I have to," Vivi mumbled, not really looking at anywhere, clutching at that damn book and pressing it tight to her chest, "The plan. There's a new plan I need to relay to Kohza. Kohza is outside. So I must—outside. Excuse me."
It sounded half-honest, but it also didn't sound like something unimportant. And—Luffy swallowed, unseeing from the heat swirling inside him, fighting to think—he did sort of interrupt her work, even though he'd promised Vivi he wouldn't get in the way when he first barged into her tent. So he nodded.
"Okay." He said raspily, heart pounding. "See ya."
He watched Vivi turn and stiltedly walk through the open flaps of her tent without looking at his face; barely registering the breath that escaped him when her back receded to a shapeless figure in the distance.
It felt like a chain of firecrackers had just went off inside him. Head uncomfortably warm, Luffy fought off the urge to just deflate and flop back onto Vivi's table; to lie down on top of the cluttered surface and stay there until his pulse slowed down to its usual beat. The hand that had touched Vivi's hair tingled all over, and no matter how many times Luffy clenched and unclenched it, the feeling didn't go away; the sensation of her tresses on his palm, around his knuckles, and through the gaps of his fingers encasing his skin like a fuzzy glove that wouldn't come off.
Huh. Strange.
Knowing it's going to be another thing that'd take him a while to figure out, Luffy pushed his confusion down as best as he could, and then turned around to the corner behind Vivi's table to see if there was any food left for him to snack on.
Vivi waited until she'd truly crossed over to where Kohza was posted to release the breath she was holding. Despite the well-shaded waterhole they had chosen to rest at, the Alabastan sunrays that reached this side of the campsite was just as strong as ever. Vivi held herself still outside of her minister's marquee and tipped her head back to the sky, taking in a shaky breath. The bright sting of desert heat around her felt like a reprieve, a grounding familiarity in contrast to the alarming burn on her cheeks. It's almost as if her makeshift office had caught fire when she wasn't looking.
Luffy's not-compliment of her hair back there shouldn't have rattled her this much. It's Luffy, after all—just because he said he liked something did not mean he thought of it as something that looked good. Vivi knew she had to look a mess right now, and could tell from the way her ponytail was already falling apart that she had done a poor job when she hastily tried to tie it blind. It's obvious his words weren't meant to be taken as praise for her appearance.
Not that Vivi was embarrassed about it. The responsibility to fact-check every available record about the trade agreement Lvneel Kingdom had suddenly violated required all of her focus, which simply gave her no room for anything else—least of all the vanity to examine herself in the mirror or to waste time looking around for a proper hair-tie. She was just making do with what she got. And she should've just taken it in stride when Luffy made a comment on that, because as unexpected as it was, Vivi had a feeling he also understood the ponytail for what it was—the necessary act of taking her hair out of the regal, impractical style it's confined in when it's time for her to do the hard work. She supposed it was something someone like the Pirate King would appreciate. Of course he would say he liked the result.
As for the other things he had said… She simply decided not to think about them.
That and about the things he'd done, too. The soft and brazen touches to keep her with him as he talked. The clear black of his gaze when he looked at her. The honest want in his face after she voiced it aloud; that outrageous idea of stealing her away to the open sea. The multiple, possible implications of him acting this way with her. The horrifying delight blooming throughout her body when she put them all together, that he might held the same fondness for their sailing days as she did, and perhaps, he, too—
No. Vivi had no time nor the mental space for that right now, she simply—couldn't.
"Just heard back from one of my contacts," Kohza's voice suddenly called from behind, making her startle. His figure ducked out of the rolled-up flaps of his tent a moment later, his brows pulled into a dark frown as he walked up to Vivi. "It's just like you said—the one who's blocking us is really a part of Chap's circle. Most likely an unofficial Deulian proxy within the Lvneel court. You found any loophole yet? Because Deul Kingdom is trying to fuck us over to get a monopoly on grain imports in North Blue, how soon would you like to—"
He stopped short when he saw her face, slipping into formality as he looked her over in alarm, "Is everything alright, Your Majesty? You're looking very red."
Unbidden, the vibrant sensation of Luffy's hands—beside her hip, on her face, in her hair—flashed through her mind. Vivi fought the urge to bury her face into her hands. The scorched, weak-kneed feeling the memory left her with more obvious and damning than if she was marked with a fire-heated brand.
"I'm fine."