Coming back with Chains of Fate for @truffyfest Summer of Lawlu!! But also we all know that I am insane so of course I didn't stop there. We have:
Summer of Lawlu, June 6: DAWN | CAUGHT IN THE RAIN | “I never meant to fall in love with you, I just did.”
OP Bingo 2023 (yes I know, don't look at me): Picnic
@opfluffzine Wheel of Fluff event: Kisses
No, I didn't read this after myself, yes, I'm even less prepared than usual this year xD I'm too busy lately 😭 Please bear with me for now and I'll see you next week 🤍
EDIT: I've read it over now, sorry about the weird typos arrvaerv
[ READ ON AO3 | CHAINS OF FATE | COMM INFO ]
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There wasn’t much Law wanted in life.
Peace and quiet. Knowledge. His crew’s safety. A dry and comfortable bed. A decent amount of sleep. It wasn’t that much to ask, in his humble opinion.
So then why, why in the world was he sitting out here on a soaking wet picnic blanket at five in the fucking morning, surrounded by laughing and singing and shouting people all around him? It was neither dry, nor comfortable, peaceful, quiet nor was he getting any sleep at all anytime soon, by the looks of it.
Hell, he couldn’t even attest for the safety of his crew; no one was dead, but the recent battle with the Blackbeard pirates had carried its toll. Everyone was injured and most of them shouldn’t be even moving around. Not that that had stopped those idiots from partying after reuniting with their ‘allies’.
Quotation marks because the alliance with the Straw Hats was over. It had been over for two weeks, as Law had reminded his crew countless times. And yet, both crews still stubbornly insisted on calling each other that.
All except Law himself, of course.
“Torao!!”
Law closed his eyes momentarily, praying for patience as the biggest pain in his life approached him fast—his flip flops slapping in the mud soaked by the sudden downpour that had interrupted the party earlier, a giggle on his lips, and bringing the smell of meat and bonfire smoke and the sun with him.
How did he always manage to smell like the sun, even in the middle of the night, right after a rain, when they haven’t seen the celestial body in hours? Law had no idea.
“Torao~! Why are you just sitting here?” Straw Hat questioned once he skidded to a stop right behind Law, before immediately grabbing onto Law’s shoulders and leaning over to press an awkward, upside-down kiss to Law’s forehead.
Law huffed, raising an eyebrow at Luffy. “Better question, how do you still have the energy to be so loud?”
Law tried to sound annoyed but with the way his lips twitched and one of his hands immediately raised to touch Luffy’s own hand on his shoulder… he wasn’t sure he succeeded.
Either way, Luffy wasn’t phased. “It’s our first time on Elbaf!! Of course I’m excited, look how giant everything is! Even the meat is huge!”
“Of course you’d get excited about the meat,” Law teased.
“Not just the meat!”
“Of course,” Law placated, doing his best to sound as sincere as he could.
“Jerk,” Luffy shot back immediately, giving Law a pout. “I hate you.”
Law couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him at that. “Glad to know my own soulmate hates me.”
“You can be my soulmate and a jerk,” Luffy announced, sticking his tongue out for good measure.
Law shook his head, trying not to show the smile that was pulling on his lips. Not for the first time, he had to wonder how the hell he had ended up with this absolute menace as his soulmate, and why the hell did he actually enjoy it.
It was ridiculous.
This entire… thing they had was ridiculous, just as anything that involved Straw Hat was ridiculous. Like him breaking the chain of a soulmark on Law’s arm with ease on Dressrosa, like invading Whole Cake Island, like beating Kaido, like bringing an entire fucking Buster Call on himself not two days after Law had left him unsupervised.
And yet, Law couldn’t bring himself to hate it—or to regret a single moment they’d spent together since running into each other on Punk Hazard.
That in itself was ridiculous.
But really, who was the ridiculous one here?
Did it even matter?
Without a word, Law grabbed Luffy’s hand still on his shoulder, bringing it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to the knuckles—scarred and rough and rubbery and oh-so warm…
“Torao? Are you okay?”
No. No, he was not.
He didn’t realise how scared, how tired, and how stressed he had been since the crew’s run-in with Blackbeard until Luffy was safely back by his side. Just hearing his voice, feeling his warmth, having his presence solid next to him was enough to have Law’s carefully constructed mask of I’m fine fall into pieces.
Law’s soulmark tingled when Luffy twisted his hand so that he could lace their fingers together, squeezing lightly.
That simple gesture was enough to ground Law.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he sighed finally. “Don’t worry.”
Luffy was silent for a moment but then he nodded and, a second later, his usual grin was back. He didn’t waste any time in joining Law on his gross, wet, cold blanket, pressing himself against Law’s side as he huddled close, with Law’s arm automatically wrapping around his shoulders. Before they settled into each other, Luffy pressed a quick peck to Law’s cheek, to which Law huffed. That just seemed to make Luffy laugh.
Sometimes, Law had to wonder what about his reactions was so damn funny.
For a while, they simply watched as the last few people from their crews who were still awake partied together and with their new and old giant friends. Honestly, Law wasn’t even surprised that the Straw Hats had somehow managed to pick up an befriend not one, not two, but five giants somewhere along the fucking way before Law even knew knew the crew. Although, admittedly, one of those five had Nico Robin in a sobbing mess on the floor the moment she saw him, much to her own crew’s confusion.
Law didn’t want to know what that was about. He had enough of his own childhood trauma to deal with, thank you very much. Robo-ya could deal with that particular issue.
As they sat in comfortable silence together, Law played with Lufffy’s hair absentmindedly; eventually, he went to kiss Luffy’s temple where he was resting his head against his shoulder… but as he turned to do just that, he suddenly realised how light the sky was getting on the eastern side of the island.
“You’ve got to be kidding…” he muttered, glaring at the first, slight tinges of orange.
Luffy only hummed questioningly, and Law could just imagine the cute, confused frown on his face.
“It’s dawn. It’s fucking dawn, Straw Hat-ya.”
“Oh! Nice!”
Law took a deep breath, his eye twitching. “I hate sunrises, Straw Hat-ya. Do you know why?”
“But they’re so pretty…” Luffy whined and Law took a deep breath.
“They’re pretty to you. To me, though, there are only three reasons I’d ever watch one. Insomnia, nightmares, or you keeping me up until ungodly hours in the morning doing stupid shit,” Law hissed, shooting Luffy an unimpressed look.
Straw Hat, however, completely ignored the very unsubtle jab. “I like the last option best.”
Clicking his tongue, Law shook his head. He refused to admit out loud that he felt the same way. Being forced to socialise until morning was much preferable to trying and failing to fall asleep in complete silence and darkness for hours on end.
But still…
“I hate you.”
“Liar.”
Law clicked his tongue at Luffy’s all too amused snicker. Brat.
Finally, Law sighed. “It’s still weird though. This.” He gestured vaguely with the hand he had on Straw Hat’s shoulder. “You know, I never wanted a soulmate. I never wanted this fucking soulmark. And now I’m sitting here, as uncomfortable as can be. Because of you.”
“Hey!” Luffy cried. “I didn’t force you to sit on the soaked blanket when there was a nice bonfire going right here the whole time!”
“And who was the one who insisted on me not leaving when it started raining, holding my injured crew hostage?” Law asked, voice dripping in sarcasm. “Someone had to make sure no one fucking died.”
“Excuses.” Luffy waved his hand dismissively.
Closing his eyes momentarily, Law forced himself to stay calm. “What I’m trying to say”—he paused, mentally preparing himself—”is that it’s weird as hell. I never wanted a soulmate and yet I…”
He trailed off, suddenly out of words. What was he saying? Why was he saying this? Is it too late to back down?
“Yet you…?” Luffy prompted.
Yep. Definitely too late.
Fuck…
“I never meant to fall in love with you, I just… did. And I can’t figure out why.”
The silence that followed only served to drive the mortification Law was feeling in. He almost wished Luffy had laughed in his face instead of taking all this sweet time to process Law’s words.
It felt like hours before Luffy finally responded.
“I fell in love with you too. And it has nothing to do with the soulmate thing. I just love you. Don’t think so hard about stuff, Torao.”
Law cringed; having Luffy be the voice of reason always felt like a slap in the face—which was usually exactly what Law needed in the situations it happened.
“It’s your fault for keeping me up so late. I’m getting delirious.”
At that, Luffy burst out laughing; and, even though he was mostly laughing at him… Law couldn’t help but smile. Luffy’s joy was infectious, today and always. Brighter and more beautiful than any sunrise could ever dream to be.
Oh god, he really was sleep-deprived.
With one final huff, Law leaned in, pressing his lips against Luffy’s in that day’s first, proper kiss. Actually, wasn’t this their first kiss since they parted in Wano? Maybe.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was the way Luffy’s lips stretched into a smile against Law’s mouth, his hands coming up to hold onto Law’s coat as he returned the kiss eagerly. Nothing else mattered at all.
Law may not have gotten any quiet, comfort, dryness, knowledge, or the least amount of sleep tonight—hell, even safety was questionable during this party despite there being no danger to them on Elbaf in theory. But, with Luffy and his crew within reach once more, Law really couldn’t say he was complaining.
Maybe, happiness was enough sometimes.
He would still not say no to a fucking bed though.
for context this is from chains of fate this is guren trying to have a civil conversation with ferid about Plans and i can’t fucking keep it serious for three seconds-
After drawing Hemlock’s undergarments a while back, I had to do the same for Roxanna and Vanetta! So here are all three of my current dnd characters in their underclothes.
Redid Hemlock’s face and hair on this drawing of her undergarments since I wasn’t happy with how her face came out the first time, and her roots have grown out a bunch since the original version.
