Law pressed the curve of his spine into the Sunny's wooden siding. Alone, he rarely got in a breath alone. He'd barely been able to breathe at all for weeks. He wouldn't get the chance again until after this was all said and done.
If there was going to be an after.
He knew that it would be a waste of these few precious moments of solitude to dwell on it, so he buried the future and pulled forth the past. A voice, soft and playful and impossibly far away whispered in his ear: "Relax."
It feels better when you relax.
The faintest glimmer of sweat beaded against the dark swirls of ink playing over his chest and shoulders. Heart, balled into a fist and buried in the mattress and Death, gripping the length of him in quick, uneven strokes. His breathing doubled, "Oh, fuck." For the first time since setting foot on his ship, he closed his eyes.
"Oi, Torao!"
In a moment, Luffy was on him—a tornado of red silk and denim, grinning madly, already in the middle of an animated story. The door closed behind him with a quiet click.
"Mugiwara-ya,"
Luffy was shoulder to bare shoulder with the fellow Captain. He wiggled his arms, boneless. He snickered at his own joke.
Tanned skin, flecked with soft, pink scars. Deep, hazelnut eyes that glowed golden in a stream of afternoon sun. Carved lines of muscle that ran from the warped burn that marred his chest, along his navel, down below the too-lose waist of his jeans. Law pressed a rough palm against Luffy's stomach and felt him tense, just enough, as he wandered below his waistline.
"Luffy-ya," He begged.
Static bristled behind Law's eyes. He couldn't hear Luffy, at least couldn't—wouldn't care to comprehend what he was saying. Instead he filtered his attention to his hands, scarred fingers gently brushing against the man beside him.
It didn't matter that Luffy was stiffening under those hands, more and more as Law shifted his weight so that he could find a rhythm for the both of them, or that each word was getting a little harder to form. He just kept talking.
Law wanted to push him down and tug him free of those stupid clothes, he wanted to feel every inch of bare skin against him, he wanted to devour him. He wanted him, above anything, to stop talking.
He swallowed Luffy's story in a hungry kiss.
"Damare."
Those huge, hazelnut eyes flickered, then softened, as their embrace deepened. Luffy watched as for just a moment, Law's scowl flickered into a sweet, crooked smile.
The corners of Luffy's eyes watered as his nose brushed against Law's skin, breathing in the heat of tension and lust and relief. He could hear him smiling now, fingers tangled in his hair, eyes closed. Law had been anxious since the moment he confronted him and Nami on that snowy cliffside. It didn't matter how calm Luffy had been, how confident and reassuring, he could feel the tension pouring off of him like steam. Now, finally, he was himself.
Luffy tugged himself free and undressed, tossing what little he had on in a heap on the bare wooden floor.
Law's amber eyes were hazy, locked onto him and pleading. "You sure-ya?"
He knew the answer. His thighs had already fallen to the side, arms had already wrapped around the neck of the man in his arms and tugged him greedily against his chest. He pressed two fingers between Luffy's lips. Soft, warm, slick—he slid them deeper. This would have been enough. But it didn't have to be.
"I'll be gentle."
Heat, sweat, and saffron. Luffy buried his face into the crook of Law's neck and breathed him in. The first second hurt, it shouldn't have hurt. He grated his teeth against soft flesh and stifled a groan.
Law was not gentle. He didn't need to be. He smiled, and moaned, and sheathed himself inside.
It did feel good—hot and strange, but good.
Law's voice was barely above a whisper as his lips brushed against Luffy's ear, "Relax."
Was he tense? Law held him above his lap, fingers dug into his sides. His knees were just barely sunk into the mattress.
He lowered himself, slowly, then deeper. It did feel good.
Law swallowed a dry throat and did everything in his power to stay silent and relax his hips and just let Luffy, "Oh."
He covered his eyes and groaned, "Luffy-ya."
Law looked like he was on the brink of tears, half-crumpled against the wall as Luffy filled himself. He had lost all composure. He whimpered, he smiled, and Luffy's broad grin flickered bright white in the shadowy room as he tried to remember.
How had Ace done it?
Years ago, he'd followed Ace from the house to the edge of the forest, where their pirate treasure used to be.
He'd seen him meet that boy before. He couldn't have been a year or more older than Ace at the time, silver-haired with gold hoops in his ears and a warm kind of laugh. Ace never spoke about him, and Luffy never brought him up. Even before he saw them together, naked and hurried, that seldom heard voice in the back of his mind had spoken up and reminded him this was something he should keep to himself.
It didn't stop him from watching.
He hadn't felt anything then, no stirring of adulthood, no fear or excitement, just the usual curiosity and nagging sensation that he should know everything going on in his brother's life. It wasn't the realization that Ace, six months before setting off from home, had made a decision that would shape his future. It wasn't that they had promised to keep no secrets after losing Sabo, and he had broken that trust. It was that in those moments, those were the only times he had seen his brother drop his guard.
Luffy closed his eyes. He propped himself back on his palms and felt Law against him even fuller than before.
Heat was creeping up his abdomen, forming a knot in his stomach that he usually would have hated, but not now. He knew why Ace had done it. This was better.
Dew still clung to the grass and the underbrush. It tickled the back of his neck as he crouched down inside of a bush and watched his brother lose himself.
Ace's ecstasy was written all over his face with each deep stroke against the man whose name he had tried so hard to not remember, but couldn't forget. He weighted himself on one palm and began to stroke himself in unison. Andras gripped Ace's hips and buried himself deep. He breathed a jagged command into his ear, "Flip over."
Wet grass clung to his cheek and Ace swore as Andras filled him again, each stroke bringing him closer and closer.
Law growled. "Fuck. Luffy-ya."
Luffy breathed in the pillow now beneath him, stroking himself, lost in a blossoming head rush he'd never felt before. His body burned, slick with sweat. How could this feel so good? He wanted to scream like Ace had, but Law was swallowing down every moan, trembling against him. He felt a hand meet his own—Death gripping him. It felt better when he did it.
Ace slid himself apart from the heaving body locked with his own and shivered in the cold morning air. Striking a match against a tree, Andras lit a cigarette and took a deep, wracked breath. He had a chipped tooth, like Sabo. Ace tried not to notice.
"Come on," he beckoned, patting the open space between his legs that would have fit Ace perfectly.
"We don't have to cuddle."
"We don't have to do anything."
Luffy had watched his brother wrap up his clothing in an angry ball and eye the stranger over his shoulder.
Ace always ran away. Andras always stayed.
"Let's get breakfast together."
"I don't go into the city anymore."
The faintest whips of a smoke ring wafted by Luffy's hidden vantage. Silence once again overtook the forest. Ace watched his secret lover dappled in the morning light, and carefully, gently, lowered himself into his arms.
Law's breathing had become a soft, rhythmic pattern.
"Get some rest," Luffy whispered, now unheard. Carefully sliding himself free from the Warlord's tattooed embrace without waking him, he took his time dressing in a patch of sun that shone through the only open porthole in the small room. When his stomach rumbled loud enough that he feared it would actually wake the softly sleeping man across the room, he pressed a finger to his lips, shushing it, and snickered.
There had only been one other time he knew about that Ace had done that. He would have to ask what it had been like.
Beyond the Sunny's ornately carved rails, blue sea stretched out for endless aeons. It would be a few more days before the crew reached Dressrosa. He would see Law again, like that, he was certain.
His stomach rumbled louder.
"Oi, Luffy!" Sanji leaned down from the rail above, cigarette hanging between his lips and a smile in his bright blue eyes. "Chopper was looking for you. Want some bento?"
The second the words left his lips, Sanji dipped and pirouetted to the side in an expert act of avoidance. One moment Luffy was across the ship and the next, he was three inches from your face.
"You never miss lunch."
Luffy snickered and smiled, "I was looking for you."
A long drag from his cigarette sent a curl of smoke towards the clouds. "Well, it's not like I was hiding or anything."
"I wanted to ask you about what you did with Ace on Alabasta."
Luffy felt his feet lift off the floor. When Sanji had mastered Shave? One moment he stood on the upper deck of the ship and a second later, both men were locked inside of the kitchen.
Luffy spun around with a broad smile, but it slipped away a second later. His friend had slumped down onto one of the benches around the table, cigarette dangling from his lips. He had never seen him look mortified before.
"Oi, Sanji, I…"
"Luffy, you haven't told anyone about that, have you? I'm not… I like ladies, you know."
"I know."
Sanji inhaled the rest of his cigarette in a single drag and flicked it into the sink.
"How do you know about… that?"
Luffy sat down on the edge of the table and furrowed his brows. He had no idea at the time how precious remembering every moment of the first few nights on that island would be for him.
"You woke me up. I thought you were gonna make breakfast and I wanted to be the first one to eat it, but it was still dark, and I watched you go into Ace's tent, so I just went back to bed."
"That's all, you just saw me go into his tent?"
Luffy nodded and Sanji visibly relaxed, sliding his legs out against the plank wood floor. "Ace just wanted to talk, that's all."
"No, he didn't!" Luffy laughed, eyes sparkling. "I know what Ace likes."
Heat was rising in Sanji's cheeks now, anger and embarrassment. He should have never… not with Ace, not with anyone. He had been so kind, beautiful, nonjudgemental, wild and, and when he went down on him, Sanji couldn't tell the difference anyway, and when he stretched out beneath him Sanji wanted… he needed…. He swallowed the memory.
With a tilt of his head and a narrowing of his eyes, Luffy gave Sanji that look, the one he would rather avoid.
"Sanji, don't say "nothing happened," I know why someone would go to him like that, and I'm glad it was you. Now, I wanna know what you did, so tell me. Give me details."
That was enough.
Sanji growled, "Luffy, stop. What I did with Ace, it… It's not something I want to talk about and it's definitely not something I want to tell his brother, in detail, or anyone for that matter, ever. It's private, and… why would you even ask me something like that?"
"So I can try it with Torao."
The ship fell out from under Sanji's feet. Whatever embarrassment he felt, whatever confusion, sadness—everything vanished—the ocean, his breathing, reality.
He blinked. "Luffy… are you…"
If he was waiting for Luffy to know the next part of the question, he would have to keep waiting.
"Are you gay? It's okay if you are."
"I'm not."
"Okay… are you… do you like Law?"
"Yeah, he's great!"
Panic started to set in. "Hey now, Luffy. If Law is pressuring you into this—"
The hand that reached out for his shoulder was surprisingly reassuring, especially for Luffy. "No. No, it's not like that. It feels… good. It really does feel good, ya know."
He knew.
"Torao's gone through a lot, and he's been with me through a lot. Right now, he's alone, he's terrified, but he'll be back with his crew soon. Until then, this makes him…" Luffy paused, ran a hand through his hair and smiled, "This makes him happy."
The ship rocked slowly on the waves. On the deck below, Franky's laugh rang out followed quickly by Robin's giggle. Zoro snored in the afternoon sun.
"He's my friend," Luffy continued, "I like it when he's happy. It made Ace happy too. And when I did the things with Torao that I saw Ace do, it made it better, so I wanted to know what you two did so I could try that too. We're still a couple days from Dressrosa, right?"
"Luffy…"
He hopped off the table and stretched out his arms, "Okay, so that's the story. I'll be Ace and you be you, and you can show me—"
Sanji just about screamed for him to stop, "Absolutely not, no." He pressed his foot into his Captain's chest and forced him backwards. "I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even think you knew what sex was."
"I'm nineteen," He bragged. "Hancock gave me feru twice."
Sanji murmured. "Boa Hancock, right, only the most beautiful woman in the world who you spent the last two years with."
"I am not going to marry her," Luffy's protest was final.
This was too much. Sanji lit another cigarette, fingers trembling, and started to pour himself a tall glass of the sake he'd managed to pry out of Zoro's sleeping hands earlier that morning. Luffy still watched him from across the room, completely obstinate. He knew there was only one way to get him to leave.
No, he wouldn't do it.
Maybe there was another way.
He pushed the leftovers from lunch forward and watched as his Captain stretched a rubber arm across the room and devoured his cooking like a stray animal. A second later, the food was gone, and so was the sake, but Luffy was still there.
Ace had smiled at him from across that tiny kitchen, chin resting in his palm. What he thought would have made him offended, even disgusted, only made him feel reassured. And when Ace had asked him if he was attracted to men and Sanji's reaction had been less than chivalrous, Ace had taken the whole thing in calm, cool stride, waving off the question and apologizing,
"It's okay," He had said, "You're beautiful, you know, and I would have never forgiven myself if I didn't ask."
Hours later they were slogging through the desert and Sanji hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of Ace. He was like Luffy in that way, he had a presence to him. He was kind, funny, freckle-faced and smiling with a gentleness to his masculinity that Sanji would have never noticed in another person before.
The girls loved him, of course. He would compliment Vivi and Nami's clothes and they'd spend the afternoon braiding tiny cactus flowers into his hair.
Ace never asked him if anything had changed in the way he felt, even though by then Sanji found himself drawn closer to this mysterious half-stranger, even though by then something had changed. And that night around the campfire, when Sanji had accidentally put his hand over Ace's, warm from the day and the heat of the flames, Ace hadn't said anything and hadn't pulled away. Neither had Sanji.
He didn't tell this part of the story to Luffy. There was no point in explaining how he had abandoned the very core aspect of his personality for one night and did what he considered later to be "betraying himself," even though deep down he knew that was far from the truth. He left out the part where he waited until everyone else had fallen asleep and snuck out into the desert night, only to find that even the moon had hidden her gaze behind the clouds, so that he could creep into another man's bed.
"Hey," Ace's sleepy eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, fueled by that fire that burned in him. "I'm not dreaming, am I?"
Sanji kissed him. How long had it been since he'd felt someone else's skin against his? How long since one of his advances had actually gotten reciprocated? He made up a thousand excuses, but that's all they were. When Ace held his hands and whispered, "Are you sure?" He had been.
Ace guided his hands and his mouth, making sure he was comfortable at every step. He didn't falter for a moment after asking if Sanji would be more comfortable taking him, and the thought of anything else hadn't even occurred to him. He chuckled softly, lips just close enough to Sanji's ear to make his heart race, "It's been a while, so we can take this slow together." They hadn't. They'd devoured each other.
Luffy's expression never changed as Sanji went through the details of his memory, divulging as little as he could to still help his friend in whatever way he needed. The excitement and lust, danger and chaos of the night washed over him again like a storm.
The women he had been with didn't move like that, didn't kiss and touch and wrestle and moan like that. And when it was over, they didn't laugh and smile like that… they weren't happy like that. They couldn't have been, because Ace was one of a kind.
When Luffy had finally gone, clearly satisfied that something about Sanji's secret admission had been what he needed, he lit another cigarette and shuddered at the thought that something he'd kept so dear to his heart was suddenly in the hands of someone as unreliable as Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the King of Pirates. Luffy, who was entirely innocent and unknowing and completely without the burden of anxiety.
The image of Luffy in Law's arms suddenly flashed through his mind. The image of Luffy under him, like Ace had been—kissing him and grabbing him and taking him like that. He'd never be able to do what Ace had done. Ace was… experienced. Luffy is… Luffy is Luffy.
The door to Law's room slammed open. He barely had a second to cover himself before Sanji was squatted down, eye level with him, clearly furious.
"What the hell do you want?" A scowl plastered on his face.
"You fucked my Captain."
Law paled, his persistent frown flickering a little deeper. Sanji rose and paced around the room and while he did, Law curled his hand under the sheet, ready to vanish when the cook finally decided to kick him in the face. It was a shame he wasn't dressed, but he'd manage. Sanji lit another cigarette.
"He's like a kid, Law." He finally breathed, all anger fading into something deeper, sadder. "You can't… you can't do that with him. You know it."
"He's really not a kid, and you know it," He mocked. "He's very much an adult-ya, one who can make his own decisions, and if that decision involves him getting into bed with me—"
"Bullshit." Sanji hissed, "You're not going to play this out like it was all Luffy's idea."
"I don't have to explain myself to you-ya."
"Yeah-ya," Sanji mocked back, "You do. He's my Captain." His voice rose unsteadily towards an angry crescendo with each spit and insult. "He my friend, and you're some random guy who just walked into our family like you belong here. You're a Warlord. You're a threat. You're taking advantage of my friend. You owe me an explanation."
"We first hooked up after I fucking saved your friend's life on Amazon Lilly."
Sanji only heard one thing. "You've been having sex with him for two years?"
"Not every day," Law snapped. "Now if you're satisfied, I'm going to get dressed, okay-ya? Because if we're going to fight, I would rather do it with my pants on."
Sanji turned around and swiftly pressed his face into the wall. This was a nightmare.
He waited until he heard Law unsheathe his sword before he held up his hand in surrender.
"I'm not going to fight you, Law."
When he turned, his ally was back in full regalia, permanent scowl locked on his handsome features. He thought of the way Ace had looked at him on the Going Merry so long ago, and how he had seen that unexpected man in a new light less than a day later. Now, half-shadowed and riding a knife's edge of blame and guilt, he realized that Trafalgar Law was beautiful too.
"I'm the only person Luffy told about you, and I'm not planning on letting anyone else in on the secret. I shouldn't have attacked you. I only came in here to ask you a question and…" He took a drag on his cigarette and a pile of ash fell to the floor. "Well, it doesn't matter, I'm sorry."
Law gave him a skeptical look. He hadn't removed his hand from the pommel of his sword. Sanji didn't blame him. Luffy had apparently spent the last two years building a relationship with this person, on and off, yeah, but… and Boa Hancock, shit. Sanji swallowed his pride.
"Does Luffy make you happy?"
"What the fuck kind of question is that?"
A stupid one, Sanji knew. Stupid because the answer was obvious, Luffy made everyone happy, that was his superpower.
"It's been a while since Luffy's been on the night shift." Sanji stamped out his cigarette, leaving behind a tiny burn on the wooden floor. "I'll tell him he needs to take watch tomorrow. He's not gonna get it, okay, so this one's up to you, but at least then you'll have a little bit more privacy."
Law didn't drop his guard as Sanji left, but when the door closed behind him, he slowly lowered himself back to the mattress, pressed his face into the pillow he could still feel Luffy in, and he cried.
A drunk with a fiddle had been butchering Bink's Brew for the past thirty minutes. Despite the fact that it was completely grating to his ears, the rest of the pirates and townies seemed to think it was worth singing along to as loud as they could muster.
He would have left, brooding in the darkest corner of the room, but he was hopeful. Two tables over, a freckle-faced pirate with a beautiful smile and eyes filled with stars was toasting a pint to a male geisha. Law knew who he was, everyone here did, and he knew that the Captains of Whitebeard's Fleet were all… like him.
When the toast ended, Ace glanced over his shoulder and their eyes met for the first time. Law smirked, outwardly confident—inwardly terrified. He'd later look back on that moment as the second time an unstoppable man would redefine his life, but not the last.
It didn't matter how much Ace had to drink. When they kissed, his eyes were clear and his head was level. He traced a steady finger against the dark line of ink exposed on Law's chest and smiled, "I cannot believe we have never met until this moment. It's a tragedy."
"Narrowly avoided-ya."
"I try not to ignore beautiful men who stare at me from across crowded bars."
He'd kissed other men before. He wasn't completely inexperienced, but he knew even before that first moment that their eyes had locked, he was playing a game far out of his league. Ace knew exactly how to touch him, how to undress him, where to admire and what to say. Law was completely at his mercy, and when the moment had rapidly transformed from playful into hungry and determined, he was so relieved to feel the man against him slow to a gentle purr.
"Are you nervous?"
Law didn't have to answer, he was trembling. He wouldn't have even if he could form words. He just soaked in the bright, smirking, brilliant expression on that man's face.
"Don't worry, I won't burn you."
"Very funny."
Ace chuckled, "I didn't hear you laugh." He kissed him—neck, chest, stomach, thighs, lower, flipped him over. Law moaned. He wasn't going to last.
"Is this your first time?"
That absolutely did not warrant a response. Ace ran his palm over the long rivets of tanned skin on his back and guided the man beneath him over again to face him. Law let his head fall to the side. Don't look him in the eyes.
He must have known how embarrassed he was, and yet, nothing in his mood changed at all. Ace devoured him, kissed him, moaned over how he was the most beautiful man he'd ever seen, and when he filled him it was impossibly gentle and restrained.
The voice that flooded Law's head was soft and playful, "Relax."
"I'm sorry-ya."
"It's okay. I just want this to feel as good for you as it does for me."
He was fuller now, stinging replaced with heat and pleasure and an unexpected rush to his head. It was against every instinct to relax, to open his eyes, to admire the man above him, looking down on everything that he was with the kindest smile.
But it was better this way.
By the final breaths, he was begging for it. A rough, slick, tangle of limbs and teeth and pleading cries that he had never imagined he would make, control he never thought he could surrender. He would have given everything to Ace, and in that moment, he did.
"I wasn't too rough, was I?"
"You were perfect."
His laugh boomed when it was at its fullest. It seemed like something so wild and untamed could barely come out of this man with his controlled smirk and delicate features. He had no idea at the time that it was the one gift Ace's father had given him.
"Take this." Ace pressed a tiny scrap of white paper, a vivre card, into his palm. "No more narrowly avoided tragedies. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't get to enjoy a night like this with you again. So next time you see me in a crowded bar, you know…" His eyes sparkled when he spoke. "Just walk up and kiss me."
Law's chest burned from swallowing back tears. He could barely breathe in here now.
How could he have been so stupid as to do that with Luffy here, ten feet from these strangers he did not trust and who would now, never, trust him? How could he have done it then, when Luffy was barely healed, when he had spent weeks at his bedside admiring him from afar? How could he have done that with him ever, with how much of Ace he saw in him? He should have stayed away. After this, he would leave everything that had to do with that family alone. After Doflamingo paid for what he had done, he would…
If there would be an after.
"Luffy-ya," His name was a prayer on his lips. How could he abandon him with how much of Ace he saw in him? Law rubbed the tears from his eyes and breathed, deep, regaining himself.
Luffy was the only thing left, the only piece of Ace not given way to memory.
The dark sea stretched out in every direction and the rhythmic rocking of the Thousand Sunny was beginning to put him to sleep.
Sometime tomorrow, they would reach Dressrosa. Torao had a kind of plan, he kept saying, but truthfully Luffy hadn't paid much attention. Plans were pointless. Plans always went awry.
The image of Doflamingo flashed before his eyes. He thought of the feather cloak he wore—the hungry, lurking smirk. Luffy fantasized about punching him in the face and smiled, softly, half-asleep. Everyone had gone to bed. There was no one left to complain to about how he was terrible at watching the ship at night.
"I don't think you're supposed to be sleeping-ya."
Luffy groaned. He stretched over completely backward and dangled from the Sunny's mane. "I'm terrible at this Torao, trade with me. I want to go to bed."
There was a little tug at the corner of his lips, the tiniest trace of a smile. "How about I stay up with you instead?"
"No. I want sleep, and meat. I'm hungry and bored."
"It's going to be dangerous when we get to Dressrosa, you know that-ya? Doflamingo is a powerful person, he's strong."
"He's not stronger than me."
"No, nobody's stronger than you," Law untangled the mass of rubber limbs from the ship's figurehead and pulled him in a little closer. "But you'll still be careful, okay-ya?"
Luffy yawned and buried himself a little deeper in Law's lap. Law blushed. Luffy stretched. "I'm the man who's going to become the King of Pirates."
"Luffy-ya, what we've been doing… together…"
"You don't like it? Because I've been thinking about it a lot for the last couple of days."
"What? No, I… I'm trying to…"
Luffy kissed him. Impossibly soft and gentle, and small. Had he always been this small? Law felt like all of him to fit into his lap, in the darkness, where he couldn't see all the scars and the muscle and the power and the strength that defined his manhood.
"I'm not too rough with you, am I?"
"It feels good." Luffy had unzipped his trousers, both hands around him, thumb grazing against him. Law exhaled in a failing attempt to control the blood boiling behind his eyes. This was very, very hot.
"Tell me what you want me to do."
"I…" Law's head was fuzzy. Any thoughts that managed to get through the static were far from words. Luffy rose and undressed down to nothing and after a stunned second Law followed clumsily in suit. The moon parted from behind the clouds and bathed the empty deck in a soft blue glow. Fuck, Law swallowed a dry throat, he was gorgeous.
Luffy kissed up the inside of his thighs, ran his tongue against him. "I'm still learning, but I think I'm getting better."
Law covered his eyes and groaned.
"Mmm… if you told me what felt good, I could do it." Luffy's nose buried against his flesh, eyes swelling as he swallowed him. "When you feel good, I feel good."
"You're not doing this just for me, are you-ya? You want to be here, with me?"
"Being a pirate means I'm free to do whatever I want." Luffy's knees slid against the grass and he turned away. "You liked it like this."
"Fuck no, Luffy-ya," Law grabbed him, flipped him onto his back and kissed him harder than he ever had before. "I want to look at you-ya. I want to remember you."
"You'll face me again," He smirked and snickered, "When I'm the Pirate King."
"When you're the Pirate King," Law wrapped Luffy's legs around his waist and buried Death in his hair. "I'm gonna tell everyone I meet-ya, 'I fucked that guy when he was just another captain of the Worst Generation.'"
Luffy snickered—then moaned. It felt good. How could something not fighting or eating or sleeping feel this good? The first few times he had just let Law enjoy himself, that was fine, it was good enough, but now it didn't feel like nearly good enough.
Sanji had said that Ace was… just Ace. That he had never been with someone who got so much pleasure from his pleasure, who enjoyed himself so honestly. He had said other stuff too, but Luffy hadn't remembered any of it.
He had been trying to make Law happy. If it meant doing this, it was fine, it was whatever—it had never occurred to him to have sex with anyone but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it, so when Law had stuttered and touched his thigh just after Jimbe had reminded him that what he had left were his friends, he just… he just let him keep going.
That was a long time ago now. Things had changed since then. He'd grown since then. What at first had been fine now felt like… like fire filling him.
Luffy rolled forward and pushed Law back against the grass.
"I can feel more of you like this."
"Oh," Law stammered, "Okay-ya."
He had never felt Luffy like this. Had never seen him like this. Law gripped him and met each stroke hungrily, tracing his thumbs down his abs and purring, "You've filled out in the last few years."
"I've learned a few new tricks too."
Law choked back a surprised laugh. He could tell.
"You really like this, Luffy-ya?"
The man above him groaned and pulled him upright, face to face, limbs tangled together. Luffy took Law's hand in his own and wrapped it around the length of him. His cheeks were flushed in the moonlight, body tense and pounding.
"You have to do something for me," He breathed, each stroke bringing both of them closer and closer.
"Anything."
Law wasn't going to last. Luffy was flushed and panting and twitching in his hand. When he stretched his lean, muscular back down against the grass again, Law could see every inch of him glistening in the moonlight.
Luffy hid his eyes with his forearm, whimpering, breathing ragged. A moment later, slick warmth covered his chest, and his entire body shivered and swelled. Law slipped his thumb, dripping, between his lips. Luffy could not see him, still covering his eyes, still shuddering.
Every instinct in his body took over. He threw his arms around the man beneath him, tanged his fingers in his hair, kissed him hungrily, violently, tasting heat and salt and candy sweet.
He was not gentle. He didn't have to be. He buried himself inside and this time, he didn't hold back his cry of pleasure.
The stars had shifted in the sky.
"Luffy-ya."
Luffy purred softly in response, voice gravelly from exertion and teetering on the brink of slumber.
"What do you want me to do for you-ya?"
"Oh," Luffy yawned, and when he did, he stretched his arms tighter around the man against him. "You should smile more. Law, you have an amazing smile."
They lay like that for a long time, tangled together, bellies slick and damp, and the cool breeze of night chilling their prickled skin. Though the clouds had shadowed the moon, blanketing his ship once again in darkness, Luffy could hear the man beside him smile, and he smiled. There is nothing he could not learn to love, to make his friends happy.
