DESCRIPTION: Marine HQ’s Health and Safety, Sexual Harassment, and Workplace Conflict Seminar
WARNINGS: none
CHARACTERS: Doflamingo
WORDS: 2,031
A/N: The chokehold this silly little AU! has over me is too strong. Since this option was the very very close runner up in the poll I decided to write this one. I hope you all enjoy 💕
*REQUESTS ARE OPEN*
DIRECTORY | PROMPT LIST | KO-FI
———————
You bit back a yawn as you poured yourself a cup of complimentary coffee. You and many others filling the large room had travelled from your bases over great distances in order to make it to this mandatory talk. The room buzzed with disgruntled, tired voices, all already wishing nothing more than to be back on their ships or in their bases. The day hadn’t even started yet and you were already fed up with what you’d have to endure.
“Health and Safety, Sexual Harassment, and Workplace conflict?” You glanced over your shoulder to see one Marine scowling at the crisp, pristine booklets sitting on each of the seats. “Why not split them up individually?”
“Yeah right.” You scoffed to yourself, casting a knowing glance to your Vice-Admiral. With a sigh you sat down beside him at the back of the room. ”This is going to be torture enough but at least it’s only going to be one day. Having to endure it over three? Man’s a masochist for even suggesting it.”
Doflamingo chuckled and kicked his feet up onto the back of the seat in front of him, and slowly sipping his own cup of subpar coffee. “He’ll be changing his mind in half an hour at least.”
“Guess is depends on who’s taking the talk too.” You sighed, shifting in the barely cushioned seat. Comfort was a word you were going to forget the meaning of for the day but if you managed to sit in a way that didn’t leave your back in agony and ass numb, you were determined to figure it now before the boredom claimed you. “If it’s someone who wants it over with as fast as we do, we might be in luck.”
Abruptly the door at the front of the room- the only exit with no hope of sneaking out- burst open and your hope died instantly in your chest to see Akainu stride in. You weren’t the only one to have been clinging onto the hope of a quick and easy seminar and the small spark of optimism died, rippling through the room. Those that hadn’t taken their seats yet quickly moved to find one, many hurrying towards the back or at least the relative safety of the middle. With Akainu leading the talks, the front row were the firing line. No one would get away with zoning out there. You glanced out of the corner of your eye when Vice-Admiral Rosinante sat beside you and his second-in-command Captain Law sat to his right. You gently cleared your throat and cast a resentful glare at the unopened booklet you’d set on your lap.
As everyone waited for Akainu and the tech team to set up the projector snail in the centre of the room, soft conversations began to stir once more. It was almost like everyone was trying to hold on to some semblance of conversation before their minds were melted from the ordeal they were about to face. You tilted your head to the side and lightly tapped the front of your unopened booklet. “Ten beri says at least five of their points is directly related to you, Vice Admiral.”
“Only five?” Doflamingo chuckled and you rolled your eyes. “I may as well give you the money now.”
“Well excuse me for trying to protect your feelings in some capacity.” You smirked, keeping your conversation low. “I was trying to anticipate avoiding a ‘workplace conflict’ before we started.”
“Well played Captain. You’ve aced the talk.”
“Great, so I can leave?” You asked in mock excitement while Doflamingo let out a small gasp, a gloved hand touching his chest.
“You’d abandon me?” He asked in false hurt and you grinned up at him. “Captain! Such cruelty.”
You didn’t get to voice a response because from your right you heard Law whisper. “Rosinante? You okay?”
You and Doflamingo blinked and turned to look at the other Donquixote brother to see him pinching the bridge on his nose and taking a deep breath.
“Rosi? You good?” Doflamingo asked and the pair of you watched as he only gave a quick thumbs up and lifted his head to stare at the front of the room at the same time Akainu cleared his throat. The lights in the room turned off and the large eyes of the projector snail began to glow, casting the first image on the wall behind the Admiral. Everyone braced themselves for the beginning to the talk. From your side you heard Doflamingo yawn and you spotted him lean back in his seat, one hand tucking behind his head while the other lazily draped over the back of your seat. Swiftly you kicked his ankle, pushing his feet to fall off the back of the seat. “No sleeping.” You mouthed at him before returning your bored stare at Akainu as he instructed everyone to open their booklets.
The entirety of the Health and Safety talk was just the same old common sense talk you’d heard in the Academy. Be aware of your surroundings and always take note of any and all trip, fire, and fall risks no matter where you are.
“Even if you’re in familiar territory, accidents can happen to you and your colleagues if you’re not careful.” Akainu warned the room and when he cast a quick but pointed glance at Rosinante you had to quickly bite your thumb to hold back the involuntary laugh that almost burst from your lips. “And for any and all smokers in the room, you cannot be complacent. You are a constant risk if you are negligent. Just remember if it can happen once it can happen again.”
Tightly you gripped your open booklet and lowered your head, taking calming breaths. This entire portion of the talk involving ‘freak accidents, personal responsibility for your own safety, and ‘it may sound strange but it can happen’ observations’ were all Rosinante. You knew it, Doflamingo knew it, Rosinante, and Law knew it too but whoever wrote the booklet didn’t want to outright single him out. Those that weren’t as familiar with the Vice-Admiral’s clumsy nature seemed equal parts amused and baffled about why this section even existed. Through most of it you and Doflamingo held back your laughter but it became harder to show restraint as the tension grew. Then the next slide popped up with artist renditions of some of the ‘unlikely but possible’ incidents for all to see the two of you broke because those were images the two of you and everyone else on your base witnessed constantly. While Doflamingo’s laughter filled the room and interrupted Akainu mid-sentence, you managed to muffle yours and hiding the lower half of your face behind your booklet and bite your tongue.
“Vice-Admiral Doflamingo!” Akainu shouted angrily, his fury making the room grow uncomfortably warm so that any others that felt tempted to laugh sobered up. Any that had been sleeping or close to immediately jolted awake. Thankfully you’d managed to recover in time for the Admiral to turn and glare at Doflamingo.“Explain yourself!”
“Just happy to be here.” Doflamingo chuckled, adopting his reclined position again to further annoy the Admiral by acting flippant. “I am feeling a little delirious though, must be low blood sugar.”
“Fine. We’ll take lunch break now.” Akainu announced as the lights switched on before focusing his intense stare on Doflamingo once more. “When we start up again, no more nonsense.”
“Best behaviour, promise.”
———
After the lunch break ended you trudged back to your seat with a huff and pulled a face at the booklet, Health and Safety was finished but there were still two more sections to survive.
“Next time we need to interrogate someone, just sit them through this.” You suggested as you tried to get back into the half-comfortable position in your seat that you’d found earlier while Doflamingo chuckled beside you. With a heavy sigh you resigned yourself to the boredom that was seeping back into your bones as the lights switched off and the talk continued. This time around you didn’t even try to prevent Doflamingo from zoning out, deciding this was a surefire way to avoid laughing at the worst time.
“While you may feel comfortable in your own skin, it doesn’t mean you need to show so much of it while at work.” Akainu’s voice instructed to the room and you smirked in amusement, noticing some in the room try to button their shirts just a little more. From the corner of your eye you spotted one of Doflamingo’s buttons came undone to show a little bit more of his chest. You rolled your eyes and fought a quiet laugh. Part of you was impressed he only did that because you wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d just stood and strip completely for everyone to see.
The next span of Akainu’s lecture covered typical sexual harassment signs and the usual ‘what not to do’ and you listened with as much attention as you could but every so often your mind did drift and your body shifted in the seat from restlessness. With a muted sigh you sat back a little more, your neck settling against Doflamingo’s arm that hadn’t moved from the back of your seat. Already this was so much more comfortable to endure the talk that just kept going. Still though your legs were stiff and now that you were aware of just how uncomfortable you were it was impossible to ignore. Quickly and without any care you kicked your feet up to rest them on Doflamingo’s. While you didn’t want to do as he did in resting them on the seat in front of you to disrupt the Marine sitting there, you had no such issue with using Doflamingo’s stretched out legs as a footrest. Besides from this far back and with the other Marines blocking the view, no one-especially Akainu- would see how you were sitting. Finally comfortable you managed to pay a little bit more attention to the lecture. “Physical affection is not always friendly!” Akakinu read out to the room. “Sometimes using your words and maintaining an appropriate space between you and your colleague is the best way to interact.”
———
Finally at long last the last slide disappeared and the room breathed a collective sigh of relief as the lights switched back on. With a long groan you stretched your arms out and set your feet back on the ground. You rubbed your neck and stood with the others, looking to Doflamingo expectantly. “Back to the ship? I don’t know about anyone else but I’m starving.”
“Yeah I can’t wait to get off this island and back to base.” Law groaned, stretching out the tightness that had formed in his back.
“We’ll depart soon enough. You can all go back to the ship.” Doflamingo told you all with a small relaxed wave that immediately made you suspicious. “I’ll be along shortly.”
“Vice-Admiral, what are you planning?” You asked, the warning in your tone was unmistakeable. After having to sit through hours of droning you were in no mood for prolonging your stay at Marine HQ any more than your needed to. Doflamingo chuckled and continued to walk out of the room with the others. “Vice-Admiral!”
“I’m not planning anything Captain, I’m just going to find Tsuru and say hello while I’m here.”
“No, you won’t.” Following close at his heels as he turned down a corridor that was the complete opposite direction of the docks that all the others were eagerly heading towards. “We just sat through a harassment and conflict seminar! Bother her another time!”
You were too tired and hungry to put up with Doflamingo’s chaos inspired nonsense and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back the way you came. You let out a curse when he pulled out of your grip with ease, hooked his arm around you while pinning your arms to your sides and lifted you off your feet. “Vice-Admiral put me down!”
Watching this all unfold from the start of the corridor Rosinante took a deep breath and turned before reeling back and hit his head against the wall in frustration.
summary — when you need a date to accompany you on a double date, your best friend, luffy, is the one who offers to step in. however, can you still contain your feelings for him after going on a date with him that tests your control every step of the way?
𖤐 word count — 5.01k
𖤐 genre/tags— university! au + best friends to lovers. fake dating, maybe a little ooc! luffy, FLIRTY LUFFY FLIRTY LUFFY, tension, namvivi mentions, slightly suggestive, both the reader and luffy are absolute idiots in a horrible state of yearning.
𖤐 author's note — vaguely inspired by the song affection by between friends + mood board here
꒰masterlist꒱
THE lab’s cold air burned your nostrils as you released a sigh and carefully closed the door to the cold room. It was a long, grueling, class with the lab managing to take up the full three hours slotted for the class. The hallway lights flicker slightly and in the distance you see a slumped figure curled up in a red hoodie and clutching their backpack for dear life.
Stepping forward, you let out an incredulous, “Luffy?”
It was indeed Luffy who was loudly snoring outside the room to your laboratory class with his (practically empty) backpack being cuddled in his arms and a Hello Kitty bento box tucked by his side. You nudge his thigh with the corner of your shoe, trying to gently wake him up.
After some gentle nudges and a (less than gentle) flick to the forehead, Luffy wakes up falling forward and with a snort. He looks around blearily like he isn’t quite sure how he got there - there being the math and science building - before he squints up to look at you towering over him, standing and exhausted.
He brightens immediately at the sight of you and hauls himself upwards with his backpack strapped on to his chest rather than his back and engulfs you into a hug. You let out a slight oof at the sudden contact before you’re also wrapping your arms around him despite the front side of his bag digging into your ribs.
“That class is so long, I think I spent half of my life just sitting here!”
You feel your heart skip a beat at the feel of him wrapped around you. His skin is warm somehow despite the cold environment and you feel your skin warming at the contact of his skin on yours. You take a deep breath to compose yourself and with a roll of your eyes you release him before giving him a nudge with a smile. “What are you even doing here? You know my labs are always long.”
He grins before flourishing the pink bento box towards you, waving it at you for you to take. “I missed you! Plus, Sanji is trying out some new recipe for his international cuisine class and he wanted you to try some.”
He leans in a bit closer in a conspiratorial way before saying in a stage whisper, “It was really hard to not eat it, I think I deserve a thanks, personally.”
You let out a snort before shoving his face away. “Right, thank you so much for not eating the food that was intended for me.” You press a hand to your chest and mock a princess-like swoon. “My hero, really.”
Luffy grins before shuffling closer to you as the two of you slowly walk out of the freezing building and out into campus, the sky shadowed by the dark colors of dusk and the peek of starlight.
It’s a subtle thing really, the way Luffy’s fingers brush yours, slowly but almost intentionally, waiting for the right time to strike. He continues talking to you about his day, ranting about his professors and their sheer audacity to assign a paper to be done over the upcoming fall break and how he has yet to start his Global History project. He continues to talk and talk, not because he doesn’t want to hear you but because he knows you’re tired. He knows in the slump of your shoulders, the tiredness lining the creases of your eyes, the yawns that filter through your mouth every few minutes. He knows you.
It feels like he’s known you for almost an eternity - when you were children, screaming and running as you tagged each other as ‘it’, when you were in that middle space between child and teenager and you had told him about having your first ever crush, the way it felt like your heart was being twisted and turned in every direction, when you were teenagers and were each other’s rock, motivating the other to push through school because then in the end it’d mean the two of you would land in the same school, always together.
It was always you and him. He knows you like the back of your hand and you know him down to the freckles littered on his back (all sixty six of them). So when you feel the tips of his fingertips graze yours, you feel your heart catch in your chest. Somewhere along the way of pinky promises and midnight adventures, you had caught feelings for him. Not the fleeting kind you once had for crushes in your childhood, but the full throttle of feelings that threw your heart in a blender and wanted more, more, more from every touch, every glance.
You glance over at him as he continues to talk animatedly as if he isn’t aware of his hand inching closer and closer to yours, continuously meeting for the briefest of seconds before separating again. Until you feel the skin of his pinky finger curl around yours, tight and snug, ensuring it won’t go anywhere. You let out the smallest gasp at the contact before smoothing over your expression and looking back at him again. Luffy? He’s the picture of nonchalance right now - like he’s not even aware of your racing heartbeat or that he’s practically two steps away from holding your hand. No, he just continues to rattle on about how he had to search up what an MLA header is again like that should be the main concern right now.
The two of you continue to walk all the way across campus till you reach your dorm building. Standing by the heavy metal door, you stand there as Luffy lets go of your pinky finger (are you supposed to already be missing the touch?) and leans in close to you to tap on the bento box in your hands. He’s so close and his smile borders on a smirk as he says, “Let me know how it tastes, yeah? I’m gonna make Sanji cook some more of it, if it is.”
Rolling your eyes, you laugh as you say, “Like you care if it’s good, you’d eat fried plastic if it was free food.”
Luffy leans back and shrugs, grinning as he says, “Hey, free food is free food, if Sanji made fried plastic I’m sure it’d be gourmet plastic at the very least.” He pinches his fingers, mimicking a chef.
You let out a laugh, before you feel him reach out to tuck a few stray strands of hair behind your ear. There’s mirth in his eyes but also so much care as he says softly, “Go inside. You’re tired and you should eat and get rest for your classes tomorrow.”
Feeling warmth rise in your face, you nod lightly before opening the door to your building. You give him a light wave and he smiles a bright smile, waving back, and watches you go inside before he turns back to start his walk back to his dorm.
Inside, you clamber up the stairs and burst into your shared dorm and immediately flop onto your bed, groaning loudly. Behind you, you hear shuffling and Nami’s exasperated voice ring out from across the room. “Luffy again?”
You get up from the bed to face her and run a hand down your face slowly before nodding. You can still feel the warmth lingering on your face as you recall to her the way he had held your finger and close proximity as he smiled at you. Nami had been the subject of multiple hour long talks about Luffy and your feelings for him since freshman year. The two of you had been assigned roommates and since that year, you’ve been rooming with each other every year proceeding that. If Luffy was your best friend then she was right after him on that list.
She has been a witness to many of you and Luffy’s interactions and she has been adamant on her verdict on the issue ever since she first saw the two of you. Not that you agree to it, only hope.
You can hear Nami’s frustration more than see it as she drones out, “You know he likes you, right? Surely, you can’t deny it now.”
The warmth resurges on your face at her declaration but still you shake your head at her. “No, I doubt it. It’s just…Luffy being Luffy y’know? He’s always friendly.”
She lets out an incredulous laugh at your words, “Right, that’s why he also walks me home to my dorm and waits for three hours for my class to finish and looks at me with those disgusting puppy eyes.”
You’re about to retort a comment back to her, denying her accusation before Nami flaps her hands around in a shooing gesture. “This is exactly why I’m dragging you along on that double date. You need to either jump his bones or find someone else. Clearly you won’t do the first option so double date it is.”
Curling around the blanket of your bed, you let out yet another groan before tossing a pillow over to her side of the room. “I still have to go to that? I don’t even know the guy you set me up with.”
There’s a small pause in the room and you look up from your blanket and squint at Nami who’s awkwardly shuffling in her slippers and avoiding eye contact with you. “What?” you ask.
She twirls a strand of hair around her finger, still avoiding eye contact with you. “Well… actually the guy that was supposed to be your date cancelled.”
Your eyes are still narrowed at her, waiting for her to continue. “Which means?”
She lets out a sigh. “Which means, we’re still going on that date but now you have to find someone who’s going to be your date for the double date.”
“Why can’t I just not go?”
She gasps dramatically at this, the mischief back in her voice. “You can’t leave me alone! I need my best friend to join me, you have to come.”
Flopping back against your mattress you wave a hand at her. This would be a problem for later. “Fine, fine, whatever, I’ll figure it out, I’ll come with.” You say half-begrudgingly.
You hear a squeal and she jumps on top of your bed to give you a tight squeeze as she declares her thanks. Smiling, you return her embrace, feeling at peace in your own bed and next to your friend, romantic feelings be damned. It’ll be a problem for later.
✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚
‘Later’ comes way too soon and suddenly you’re hit with the dilemma of having to find someone to drag along with you to this dreaded double date.
The library is cold and leaves its cold air on the rich wood desk that you and Luffy were currently sitting side to side by. There’s a laptop covered in pirate flag stickers and two open notebooks strewn across the table and covered in tic-tac-toe matches (he was losing). You groan before sinking lower in your seat and resting your head against the cool table.
“I don’t know what to do, I mean who am I even supposed to ask.”
Luffy takes off the earbud that’s connected to his ear. You’re both sharing a pair of wire earbuds, an indie song’s bass blaring from the tinny speakers. He tilts his head in question before asking, “Ask who? For what?”
You lift your head, feeling the imprint of the desk left on your forehead. Rubbing it gently, you grimace and tell him, “The double date Nami signed me up for. Apparently my date cancelled - not that I’m all bummed out about it - but now I have to find someone else to come with me.”
Luffy takes you in, down to the light imprinted line on your forehead. He hums in response, nodding lightly and taking in the words. He taps his fingers almost impatiently against the lacquered table as you continue to explain the situation.
“It’s just awkward to ask anyone and I wish I could just bail but I’d feel bad if I just left Nami alone and-”
“I could be your date.”
“It’s just annoying- what? You?”
He eases back into his seat and grins his bright grin at you. He shrugs, “Why not? We could pass off as a couple, we know each other well enough.”
Your heart feels like it’s about to burst as you stare at him incredulously, at a loss for words. He stares sincerely back at you, the curl of his smile the whole situation just that more heart-throbbing. Was he insane? Did he want you to suffer through heart palpitations? Did he enjoy this? Was he some kind of sadist who was reveling in your nervousness?
A silence passes between the two of you before you release a tentative “Okay.”
Luffy grins and pushes his shoulder against yours. You feel him gently place your fallen earbud back on, the wire re-connecting the two of you to the soft tune. His hand lingers near your face, his thumb brushing against your cheekbone gently. There’s a look in his eyes, a look so soft and so gentle that it nearly makes you question all of this. A look so soft, almost akin to yearning. Or maybe it is a look of yearning.
“It’ll be the best date you’ll ever go on.” He murmurs softly.
Your faces are so close to one another that you can feel the soft puffs of his exhale fan over your face as the two of you are stood frozen in motion. One hand is twiddling with the hem of your shirt, always touching you while his other hand is still gliding gently across your cheek. He traces down your face lightly, cupping it, and you’re staring at him with a mixture of love and curiosity, melting into his touch.
Then, as it does, the moment is broken when someone on the desk near you lets out a horrendously loud sneeze and the two of you blink at each other. You slap a palm to his forehead and shove his face away from yours, laughing nervously. “Well- you better finish your history paper first then! Don’t want to be worrying about the assignment while we’re on our date.” The word sounds awkward coming out of your mouth now.
Luffy moves his hand away from your face, blinking rapidly as if trying to wake himself up. He nods almost robotically before you feel his pinky finger curl around yours. He drags your hand closer to him before using his one hand to pull his laptop back open and start typing up his assignment. You try to tug your hand back from him to let him do his work with more ease but he only tightened his grasp on you, refusing to let you go.
He really was going to be the death of you.
✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚
Smoothing down the front of your jeans, you inspect yourself in the mirror taking in every aspect of yourself to see if there was anything else that needed adjusting. The plan was to meet at a nice ramen restaurant before switching over to watch one of the newest movies that came out at the theater. Luffy was coming to walk both you and Nami to the restaurant, ever the gentleman, despite Nami nagging in your ear about how he just wants to spend more time with you and how she was now being forced to third-wheel.
When the doorbell rang, you rushed to the door to open it while yelling at Nami to hurry up and her responding back with throwing some random cosmetic in your general direction. Once you do get the door open, Luffy stands behind it dressed in a loose black short-sleeved button up and clutching a bouquet of red petunias in his hand.
For a moment you gape at him, momentarily taken aback by not only the flowers but him. He looked beautiful with his perpetually messy hair and the sliver of a necklace peeking out from his shirt where the top button was unbuttoned. He looked like the epitome of boyfriend material and you were trying your hardest not to make it apparent that you were flustered by it. To his credit, he looked equally as in awe at the sight of you. His cheeks were slightly flushed and he nervously ran a hand through this already ruffled hair, looking at you up and down.
He clears his throat before flourishing the flowers at you, the brown paper crinkling slightly. “For you,” He pauses, taking his time to let his eyes roam your figure once more. “You look pretty.” Another pause. “Very pretty.”
You feel a flush warming your face, the heat taking over your ears. You gesture to him frantically, trying to play off the compliment, “You look nice too, perfect, actually, for a fake date.” You had said it to lighten the mood but Luffy imperceptibly frowns at this, as if realizing the circumstances of the situation and disliking them.
“Right. A fake date.” He repeats hollowly.
Just then Nami bursts from the front door, a cloud of vanilla perfume following her trail as she shoves Luffy past the door. “We’re gonna be late, what’re you guys standing out here for?”
You and Luffy make eye contact with each other and burst into laughter while Nami grumbles and saunters off ahead of you two.
Quickly, you tuck the flowers into a pretty glass jar before hurriedly locking up and following behind Nami with Luffy right by your side. The rushed walk to the restaurant included being led by the click-clack of Nami’s heels and the feel of Luffy’s arm brushing yours, each touch sending shivers down your spine. When you had glanced over at him, wondering if his touches were purposeful, wondering if he knew just the effect he had on you. He smiled back at you and you felt your heart clench at the radiance of it.
When the three of you had arrived at the restaurant, Nami’s date was already sitting there waiting. She’s pretty, you thought, with elegant long blue hair cascading down her back and glimmering gold jewelry adorning her ears and wrists. She had introduced herself as Vivi and you could see the instant chemistry between her and Nami, as the two hit it off instantly, damn near leaving you and Luffy in the dust.
Not that you needed it, because Luffy was playing his part of your date and he was playing it well. He fiddled with your fingers as the four of you debated what to order from the menu (Luffy insisted on getting the family meal for himself), when you took your turn to narrate a funny story for the group, he trailed a finger down your arm, leaving goosebumps behind as a trail. When the food had arrived, he insisted on feeding you a bite of his food and he insisted you give him a bite (or three) of yours in exchange, only accepting the food if it was you personally offering it to him.
When the bill was paid (Vivi had paid for Nami, claiming something about a rich father - nepo babies, right?) and the four of you were wrapping up when you heard Vivi mutter something to Nami, something you assumed they thought was beyond your earshot.
“Are they in love?”
A strangled laugh from Nami comes out, “Worse. They’re stupid.”
Then, when it was finally time to head to the movie theater it seemed the world was trying to trip you - for better or for worse. Somehow, your seats had been upgraded from single seats to loveseats. Brown cool leather that reclined and cooled and heated at the touch of a button and all with close proximity to your lover. What a deal! Nami was excited by this upgrade undoubtedly, seizing her chance to further chat up her date and bond with her, but you? Being in close proximity with Luffy was the best and worst thing for you.
He would sit so close, thighs side by side, elbows knocking against each other, and hair brushing against the other’s shoulder. While your heart would race at this, it would also fall, knowing none of his touches were intentional and were just a byproduct of his personality. Nonetheless, you basked in the moment, taking in his affections like they were the only time you’d receive them and maybe they were.
The movie passed with him just like that - slowly edging closer to you till his head was laid down on your shoulder, tucked perfectly in the crevice between your neck and shoulder like it was meant to be there. He had managed to intricately intertwine your fingers together, like they were weaved together instead of the regular way to hold hands and you could feel strands of his ever-messy hair brushing your cheek. And when it was over, the two of you slowly, reluctantly, peeled away from each other and glanced to the other loveseat pair where Nami and Vivi were laid only to find the two of them holding each other’s faces softly, not a single speck of attention towards the movie, kissing each other.
You and Luffy exchange a quick glance at each other, unsure of what to do. He kicks a foot in their general direction, letting out a stage whisper in your direction. “Do we… separate them?”
Nami’s head pops out from a mess of limbs and gestures at the two of you in a shooing motion. “Go already, I’ll meet you at home, I’ll walk her home first.”
You let out a giggle before waving back at her, “Alright, alright, we’ll leave you to your… business.”
The two of you burst into peals of laughter as you exit the movie theater, giggling about the whole interaction and placing bets if your friend would get laid tonight.
“She was basically sucking that poor girl’s face off, she has to do it as an act of service now!”
You cackle, “Nami’s a gentleman, I think she’d wait until the next few dates though.” You pause as the two of you keep walking. Like always, he insisted on walking you back home like it was his personal knight duty. Your shadows meld together in the dark of the night, the moon and streetlights leaving a trail of lights on your backs. “I think she had a good time though, they seem like a good match.” You murmur, letting the words float in the wind.
This time, his hand doesn’t creep slowly against yours but grasps it solidly and firmly like it’s meant to be there. “Yeah? You think it was a good date?”
You warm at his words, feeling like there was a double meaning to his words. You hold his hand tighter, squeezing it. “Yeah. It was a good date, Luffy.”
The walk ends too soon, with the two of you awkwardly standing by the door to your dorm building once again. Somehow, even though it wasn’t a real date, it very much felt like the end of one. The one where you wait, you hover, for the first kiss. The kiss that ensures that the date went well, that you want more. But that’d never happen, this wasn’t a real first date, and Luffy didn’t have those feelings for you. He was just here to help his best friend out.
He stares at you with an indistinguishable look in his eyes and steps closer to you. There was barely a foot of space between the two of you now, and he reaches out to cup your face and your heart lurches at the touch. Surely he’s not- his head leans down towards your and his breath is fluttering over yours. His nose brushes your and he looks at you, unsure, maybe he’s trying to figure out if this is what you want.
He doesn’t kiss you. Not on your lips at least - but he leaves a chaste kiss on your cheek before he pulls away from you. There’s a rosy dusting across his cheeks that’s seen from the moonlight as he grins at you. “Gotta end the date with a kiss, right? I’ll see you tomorrow." He waves, walking backwards until he sees you enter your dorm building.
Once the door closes behind you, you clutch your cheek like it’s your lifeline. Luffy just kissed you. Or well- he kissed your cheek and that definitely means something, right? Luffy wasn’t going around kissing everyone’s cheeks so surely this meant something, held some kind of meaning.
Were you supposed to say something to him? Reciprocate it back? What if he didn’t want you to do that though? You sighed, collapsing onto your bed, and replayed the moment in your head. Once, twice, and then you lost count of how many times you had rewinded the moment. You’d wait for Nami. She’d know what to do, how to go about this situation. Yes, you’d wait on her to help dissect this.
✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚
You found yourself back in the library a few days later. It felt like a mimicry of the day when Luffy had offered to be your date, except this time you had a plan residing in your back pocket as courtesy of Nami. The cool air of the library blew out and left the brown wooden table cold to the touch. Earbud wires were connecting you and Luffy once again, some love song blaring in your ears. It was the first time you had seen him since the (fake) date and you were determined to make a move.
Slumping downwards in your chair, you let out a groan and set down your phone. “Nami wants to set me up for another date since hers went so well.”
You felt Luffy still next to you and stare right at you. He set his pencil down gently and then said softly in confusion, “What?”
Got him. You nod vehemently, as you imitate frustration, tugging at the earphone wire as you continue, “Mhm, she said she wants me to have as good a date as she had with Vivi.”
A loud exhale and Luffy runs his hands through his hair. “I thought-” He pauses. “I thought I had made it clear, I thought I was obvious.”
You cock your head, tilting it in confusion. “Made what clear?”
Now he tugs at the black strands, like he was going insane. “I thought I made it clear that I like you. I thought it was clear that I want you. I want to be the one who takes you out on dates, who holds your hands. I want to be the one that kisses you and the one who’s taking you back home late at night. I thought I made it clear I want to be yours, that I am yours.”
There’s a silence where you’re just gaping at him in awe. You had expected something from your little ploy but not this. You hadn’t expected him to bare his whole heart to you, to feel all that he did about you.
“Luffy-”
He plows on, “But either I’m the idiot or you are, because I thought I was being obvious and I thought you liked me too but-”
There’s a muffled sound and your lips are on his. Clearly, he wouldn't have let you get a word in so you had to silence him somehow. You cup his cheek as you kiss him, letting your thumb trace the scar on his cheek. His hands trail down your spine, his fingers following the path of your spinal cord before they find home at your waist. He squeezes your waist lightly, as if trying to confirm that this was real.
Reluctantly you pull away from him, breath panting from the intensity of the kiss. “I like you too, idiot.” You pause for a minute, fiddling with the front strands of his hair. Taking a deep breath, you soldier on, “I want to be the only one you go on dates with, the only one you do that weird finger weaving thing, the one you steal food from, the one you kiss, the one you want. So yes, I want you just as much as you want me Luffy.”
You glance back at him and your heart stutters at the look of pure love in his eyes. The affection in his eyes was so clearly abundant that you wondered how you hadn’t noticed it before. His pupils were blown wide and his thumbs were tracing circles on your hips as he pulled you closer into the stuffy library chair he was sat in.
He kisses you again, more softly this time, but just as emotion-filled. His lips are soft and he opens his mouth slightly, gasping for air in between kisses but refusing to let go of you for too long before he’s on you again. His tongue licks the bottoms on your lip once before you pull away all too fast, suddenly conscious that you’re still in the library. He chases your lips all the same and you push away his face, giggling, “We’re in the library, Luffy.”
He lets out a laugh but still brings his face close to yours. “Can’t blame me when my dream just came true.”
“Ugh, since when were you such a smooth-talker?”
“Always, you just were too oblivious to notice. Plus, I can feel your face being warm right now so I know you like it.” He leaves a kiss on your cheek gently before burrowing his head in the junction between your neck and shoulder, lightly biting the skin there.
Later, you send a picture to Nami – it has Luffy cuddled up in the warmth of your arms, letting out a snore, both of your lips slightly swollen from kissing, and earphone wires still tangled somewhere in between the two of you, all you get in response is a ‘Finally.’
you need to get it out of your mind that psychosomatic illness is just “making up symptoms” when it’s actually much more like your body is being actively poisoned by chemicals released from your brain
if you’re so stressed that you’re puking your guts up every morning, are unable to eat or keep anything down, you can’t look at light without feeling infinitely worse and feel exhausted and in pain all the time (or whatever your particular stress induced symptom set is) you’re not just feeling like that because you’ve willed it into being. your body is begging for relief from the constant barrage of stress hormones and it requires the fundamental source of stress to go away, not just distracting yourself from the symptoms
just because the root is psychological doesn’t mean the result isn’t an entirely physical process.
After reading more Law’s Pov’s on fics I’ve realized that sometimes people misinterpret Law a lot, if you read Law’s novel you realize that he is thoughtful, more tender than he appears to be and inclined to profound reflections about existential issues. I do think that I get why it happens as a person with PTSD, sometimes you just can’t show emotions the way you used to because part of the trauma is that there was no time to show them, no use to show them because you were surviving because you’ve seen terrible things and crying was for nothing. It served no purpose and any type of “showing emotions” was used against you so you just learned to repress them so hard that it became impossible to show them. You learn to rationalize and micro analyse everything because your fucking life can depend on you hability to do so. So yeah I get that many people people would look at you and misinterpret you as “not caring” or “cold” because you might be running thousands equations thinking about the risks of trusting someone, since you are so low energy you literally can’t afford another pseudoargument or anything that would just make you lose any more times because you never had time to begin with. It is living in borrowed time every single minute expecting the other shoe to drop. Anyway, I’m not comparing my trauma to Law’s his is way bigger than mine, but the little things, yeah I get them.
Just a little rambling here to the void as always.
Beatifully said. This post deserves so much more attention, it's so heartfelt and real.
I also think Law is often mischaracterized in fanfiction, which is fine in general (ooc characters or alternative takes can be really cool too and often are), but it feels like there's no place for canon Law anymore anywhere, everyone is just projecting their desires and favourite tropes on him, and his own voice is not heard anymore as the result... which means we should talk a lot about canon Law, especially because he's so easy to just dismiss. He's introverted, grumpy, tsundere, and all of that is valid and true (he can also be an emo hipster, a nerdy loser or an insufferable, always complaining moody teen, if that's what you fancy the most imagining him as), but he's also traumatized, and if no one wants to talk about it, I guess I will. It's a part of him the same way lying is part of Usopp and stinginess is part of Nami.
Let me share with you one of the most striking (for me) images from the anime adaptation of Law's flashback, because I think it illustrates the original post really well:
"sometimes you just can’t show emotions the way you used to because part of the trauma is that there was no time to show them, no use to show them because you were surviving because you’ve seen terrible things and crying was for nothing. It served no purpose and any type of “showing emotions” was used against you so you just learned to repress them so hard that it became impossible to show them."
This anime shot always gets me. Law had to supress his reactions, emotions and pain so he can survive, and most of the time he achieves that by staying quiet and not moving. It's even more underlined by the fact he literally was rendered mute by Cora-san's spell later, which also ended up saving his life. Anime doesn't always keep up to that (and his seiyuu delivers a lot of grunts, but they're still mostly grunts, huffing and half-supressed sounds), but in the manga? Law's reactions are still pretty much muted, even when he's an adult. Most are just "...!!" and variations of that, even when freaking Doflamingo shoots him, Law supresses his cries, either not to give him satisfaction or because supressing gives him a sense of control over the helpless situation; it's probably both, but it's also a result of his PTSD imo.
His reaction to being shot is just "!!!" (which can be interpreted as expression of inner turmoil/pain or perhaps a grunt, the latter is how anime usually interprets it)
And again, he seems way too used to supressing, it's definitely his first instinct reaction to any sort of pain or danger. Even when he's defeated by Blackbeard and in real risk of dying right there, Law chose to be silent (while obviously also being in huge pain).
The only times he actually screams and cries out in Dressrosa arc is when Doflamingo severs his arm (he couldn't move while it was happening, so the pain kinda released him from freezing up, by screaming he regained back his control over his body. He still gathers himself really quickly afterwards) and when Doflamingo is about to stomp his skull into the ground:
He still tries to cover his eyes and lowers his initial volume too, trying to hide and not show his emotions openly. It really hits hard, because this is his failure, his moment, he's allowed to feel it to the fullest, but he still tries to stop himself from it.
He tries so hard to regain his control, but by doing that he's also just succumbing to his traumatic response. This visceral struggle is what made him survive all this time: supress, keep quiet, withstand the pain no matter what.
He also doesn't even flinch when Big Mom is beating him up while he's at the end of his strength and pushing himself even more over his limit for this last attack.
I guess it's not very obvious, because we start Punk Hazard with Law writhing and crying whenever someone squeezes his heart. Besides that, his pain reactions are always supressed, sometimes to the extreme too. Makes one wonder...
Even after Cora-san's spell wears off, Law's pain and crying gets muted by other sounds around. Technically he's allowed to express himself, but in reality he's still not being heard.
Some psychological research says there's a link between abuse and silence, and fictional stories sometimes touch upon that. For example, if you take away the voices of the victims, it's like the harm and pain never happened, because no one knows and those who do know will never talk about it. If you constantly hear the suffering voices in your head, you will have to appease them or they will never leave you alone, taking over your life. But there are other ways to make them go quiet, like by literally forcing them, especially if there's no hope to get justice. Anything to survive.
Someone was complaining somewhere (I've forgotten now, I consume too much One Piece content) that Law's plan for Dressrosa was stupid and overly convoluted for no reason. Just kill Caesar and be done with it. I thought about it for a moment and sorta agreed at the time. It would quickly make it impossible for Smiles to be made without any problems or risk. Kaido would be very mad, Doflamingo very dead.
I had excused it as solely a facet of Law's character to be so harshly against taking a life clashing with his decision making. Law is a doctor, and we know that means he doesn't like killing. Even people who deserve it, he left Vergo to his own evil factory's explosion rather than finishing him off personally. Doflamingo points out that he would've just killed him rather than kidnapping him on the call with Vergo, so perhaps executions are a line Law will not cross. Not when Doflamingo's bullets are something Law remembers very well. Law is a sentimental man, after all. This is all still true but there is more to it as well.
I got to thinking about what Law's aims actually were. What had he wanted by making Doflamingo fall? Why go out of the way to maneuver Doflamingo into making a deal despite the danger of direct confrontation? A pincer maneuver of both the Navy and Kaido coming down on him would ensure he was screwed no matter what, sure—his two strongest supporters would be angry at him. Neither would be willing to intervene on his behalf. But Kaido was strongest in the world and could've killed him, involving the Navy was unnecessary. Doflamingo believes this too, shown not only in directly taunting Law about it later but because he was willing to even pretend to take the deal at all.
Then I specifically realized something. Law never wanted a fight to happen on Dressrosa. Caesar was the perfect bait to force Doflamingo into this position of not only losing his Warlord status but to come onto a different island where Law had told the Marines about the meeting. Assuming his plan went off without a hitch, Doflamingo would've been arrested on Greenbit. It was an assumed uninhabited island that would mean no collateral from the inevitable fight that would break out. He was saving up energy in anticipation of the fight here. Law specifically had the Navy show up on the island by giving Smoker that heads-up, and during this time Doflamingo's Smile Factory would also be shut down and no longer an option for anyone to use.
Even after his plan falls apart because of something unprecedented in the story at the time, Law still keeps the fight away from Dressrosa as long as he can. Unfortunately, Doflamingo brings him to it and from then on Dressrosa is turned into a battlefield. Law had tried to avoid that outcome from the start.
Law had gone out of his way to avoid bringing Kaido down on Dressrosa. He didn't want to, otherwise he could've made sure Doflamingo just never got his hands on Caesar again instead of going through with his plan.
When on death's door, an arm missing and threatened by the same gun that killed Cora-san, he is asked for anything and Law brings up two things. For Cora-san to come back to life and for Doflamingo to kiss the ass of every citizen here. Law cares. Law considers Doflamingo’s murder of Corazon to be one of his greatest evils and what upsets Law deeply and he then talks about Dressrosa's people too. He clearly cares. Fake-ass evil pirate.
Law's plan was unnecessarily convoluted if it was just to kill Doflamingo, but it was to stop him from being able to hurt the people Cora had tried so hard to save all those years ago.
