Luffy had a very clear view of what he wanted in his life: to be a great king, to not give in the pressure the bigger half of the nobles were trying to put on him and live his life to its fullest. Only now Luffy found himself wanting to add something else to that list – check if what he was feeling for his personal adviser – Marquess Trafalgar Law – was as serious and as truthful as he thought.

King of Libretas was no fool, deep down he understood everything and even though in the sanctuary of his rooms he could forget every problem in the castle and his country and act like a child, he knew what responsibility was and how to push the inner thinker to the top of his mind and let his decisions flow. But no matter which way of thinking Luffy took, Law was always on his mind. While making any decisions he would think if Law would have taken it and how the taller man would have phrased it. While being with Law he would always wonder about one or other fact about Law's personal life or interests.

He was too curious about it all for his own good. Way too curious for it to be normal, way too curious for it to be innocent, way too curious ignore it all. It wasn't hard for Luffy to realize he had fallen deep, deep into the rabbit hole, called 'not normal obsession with his advisor'. The young man had some suspicion where all of it was leading, but he didn't dare to hope. Liking stage he has passed long time ago and the only direction the road his mind and feelings could be taking now was love. And Luffy wasn't sure he was mentally prepared to be in love.

-II-

It was nine months after the coronation that Luffy understood he had no way out of the feeling he was sensing, he was finally ready to admit it.

He was in love.

He just couldn't stop himself after noticing how subtly Traffy took care of him. The said man would be gentle with him after a rough day in the castle, would sit through his anger and say nothing as Luffy raged, Law would always make sure that the things Luffy could possibly forget were in places the latter would see them at easily. Instead of being distant he kept close to him and was always there when needed. It were small, seemingly minor details that smashed the last brick between love and like for the tall man.

Luffy was sixty percent sure that Law felt more than friendship for him too… maybe forty… but the chance was there!

And Luffy was ready to take it.

Now if only he knew how…

-II-

King Monkey D Luffy had a plan. It was kind of shady and there were lots of ways it could go wrong, but he was an optimist and hoped for the best. In the end – if the plan failed he could always think of a new one! Though he much more preferred this one working, it would be pain in the ass to think of another one.

It was an early morning when the plan was started. Meeting Traffy in his suit's lounge where every morning Marquess would meet him and they would discuss that day's plan. But today Luffy had other plans. "We're going horse riding."

"What?"

Luffy turned around – his cape flowing behind him – and grinned at his personal adviser. "I want to go riding horses today, you're coming too, we should take some food too and have picnic!"

The tanned man nodded and stood up following Luffy as the latter left the suit. "Alright then, with how much you've been working day off sounds wonderful."

"Great! I already told the stable supervisor to get out horses ready for this morning, we only need to make a detour to the kitchen and get a picnic basket."

Law shook his head amused. "You had this planned from the beginning, hadn't you?"

The king sent him a smile. "Maybe I did."

Half an hour later both brunets found themselves mounting their horses with six guards leading them, it was a relatively small group compered to how big of an escort he usually got. Happy with the small number Luffy jumped on the horse with ease for a moment forgetting his plan. Once he realized what he had done he cursed under his breath, but soon relaxed as he had many more chances and maybe some of them would be more convenient, especially if he and Traffy were alone…

They had a little chat of Luffy's schedule after the lunch, Luffy wasn't really feeling like doing anything important, so he tried to put only small stuff there. The young king was feeling giddy and couldn't wait to get rid of the guards, so half way into the schedule planning he turned at his guards and smiled slightly. "I would really love to have time to talk about personal matters with my personal adviser. You can spread out three – five hundred meter distance and look out for anyone while we take a walk here and stretch our muscles."

The trained guards who had already swore their loyalty as guards to him, spread out in all directions and galloped away. Once no one was in sight Luffy sighed and stretched his hands up. "I still feel weird with them watching my every move when I'm not in my suite."

Law smiled as he got off his sorrel colored horse and stretched too. "You will get used to it, and if you don't, you will have to simply live with it."

Small brunet scrunched his nose as he started getting off his black horse. "I would rather not."

Luffy stretched making his joints crack and before opening his eyes realized he got of his horse without pretending to fall down. Damn it. Was he going to fail at such simple plan? And here he was worried about Law not catching him in time…

The tattooed male shrugged. "Even kings can't have everything they want, exactly as they want it…"

Young male sat down on the ground – horse rein still in his hands – making the horse lie down with him. Traffy only looked over him, shrugged and did he same. "So what private matter did you want to talk about?"

Young king tried not to blush, he had planned on pretending fall from the saddle and making Law catch him and then get out the truth from the man. Now it had failed. "I just wanted to be alone in the forest without anyone peering for a little bit…"

"Should I leave you at your thoughts then?"

Luffy's eyes widened in horror. "Hell no! I enjoy your company, it's soothing I would probably prefer being with you than alone with all my thoughts."

Law grinned – that rare teasing grin he made when he forgot that Luffy pretty much owned him and was also the ruler of a powerful kingdom – and Luffy felt happiness wash over him, he really needed to find out how his personal adviser truthfully felt about him… "Well, I'm glad."

They sat there in silence for who knows how long, watching the sky or simply listening to forest sounds. But everything came to an end, especially when you're sitting on not so comfortable ground. So with mutual agreement they decided to hop on their horses and do some more riding.

It was then when King of Libretas – with the plan long forgotten – did what he had been trying to do on purpose several times that morning – without looking what he was doing he put his foot in the stirrup wrongly and started falling backwards when he tried to mount the horse and the latter moved a bit. Luckily for him Marquess Trafalgar was getting ready to mount his horse too and standing nearby Luffy, thus was able to catch the smaller man before he hit the ground.

Hanging midway between the horse stirrup and Law's hands, with heart beating loud he carefully took out his leg and slowly putting them on the ground. When both of his legs hit the ground they started shaking and the smaller male gripped Law's hands that were still holding him. Taking a deep breath he started calming down. "That was way scarier than I ever thought it could be…"

Traffy chuckled, still holding his hands on Luffy, as the latter haven't released his grip of taller man's hands. "You're way too absent minded to be riding a horse right now, what was in your head when you were climbing on him?"

Luffy turned around releasing Marquess hands by doing that, and looked straight into Law's eyes. "You."

They stared into each other's eyes and then started laughing. Young king gripped his stomach as he tried to stop laughing, a huge grin on his face, cheeks slightly tinted from the laughter. "You know, I wasn't kidding."

The tattooed male ruffled younger's hair and smiled. "Sure you were. Do you think you're focused enough to try to get on the horse again?"

Getting a determined glint in his eyes, Luffy grabbed Law's hand and stopped him from turning to his own horse. "I was being serious." He tapped his temple. "You're always in my head, can't seem to get you out of there."

Marquess Trafalgar's eyes became serious as he turned back to face Luffy. His voice was muted to a whisper and had a spark of determination there. "And why is that?"

"You may guess, if you wish so."

Law's eyes narrowed and he seemed to be deep in thought. "This game is useless." He finally stated and put his hands on Luffy's shoulders. "I like you more than any personal adviser ever should have. Happy?"

King of Libretas kingdom rolled his eyes. "You're so un-romantic, I like it."

And what he did after that sealed his fate, because the happiness he felt when their lips met could never be copied and the shine in his personal adviser's eyes after it was too priceless to ever let go. They laughed after that, it was for some reason quite hilarious – the situation, their positions, that they didn't even care…

They stood like that for a while, kissing each other and trying to get used to it, using the moment because who knows when there will be a next time they will be all alone… "You know, I knew you were planning something like this today, I mean picnic, really? You forgot to even take it from the guards when you sent them away, and you never forget food."

Luffy chuckled. "It was that what gave me away?"

Law shook his head. "Nah, I had a feeling."

The smaller brunet leaned down to Law's chest. "DO you have a feeling about anything else?"

Hugging him closer Marquess Trafalgar answered. "Yes I do, this relationship is going to be great."

Luffy just laughed as he hugged back. of course it's gonna be, Law had probably thought out how it could work in secret…

The End

A.N. I'm a complete ass, I'm so sorry for how late this thing is! I was planning on finishing this latest on Monday, but look at me, it's Wednesday! But it's way longer than any others and it's the end! So I hope you have enjoyed this mini story! ^-^