Archive of Our Own ^beta

Trafalgar Law wasn’t ready for what was waiting for him in his apartment on a certain November afternoon.

He had expected to find his boyfriend waiting for him so they could relax a bit before getting ready to leave for their friend’s birthday party. He had expected to find wrapping paper everywhere, maybe even clothes on the floor from where Luffy had tried to pick out their outfits. What he hadn’t expected was the mountain of colourful boxes on the coffee table.

“Luffy-ya, what the hell?” Law asked, voice flat as he dropped his bag on the floor next to the couch his boyfriend was sitting on.

“Oh! Hi, Torao!” Luffy paused his game and let his head fall back to look at Law behind him, a wide grin on his face, a stick covered in green chocolate held safely in between his teeth.

Law huffed at the sight of him craning his neck back at an angle that shouldn’t be humanly possible, before he caved in and leaned down to press a quick, upside-down kiss to the corner of Luffy’s mouth. Only the corner because fuck if he was sharing half-eaten food with anyone, even if the other person was his boyfriend. “So what’s with all the Pocky?” he asked once they pulled away.

“It’s Pocky Day,” Luffy stated, looking at Law as if he was stupid for asking the obvious.

Blinking, Law looked pointedly at the coffee table, doing a quick count. “Twelve boxes. Because of Pocky Day.”

Luffy’s cheeks puffed up. “I know. It’s so little—” he paused to gulp down the rest of the sweet stick in his mouth— “but with the birthday party, I forgot to stock up.”

Law took a deep breath, wondering why he was even surprised; it wasn’t like Luffy didn’t eat constantly even without any food related holiday. But twelve boxes? “You’re going to get sick,” Law noted off-handedly, finally walking around the couch to join Luffy.

“I don’t get sick,” Luffy announced proudly, as if having a stomach of steel and terrible eating habits was something to gloat about.

This idiot was seriously ridiculous. Law was glad he wasn’t his doctor. Hoped he wouldn’t be his doctor—although, at the rate he was going, Luffy was asking for heart problems a few years down the road. But no matter how many times Law would try to scold him or try to get him to eat better, Luffy was stubborn and absolutely refused.

He wasn’t above throwing Law’s caffeine addiction in his face either, so Law eventually gave up.

“Are you planning to finish all that before we have to leave for Zoro-ya’s party or…?” Law asked conversationally when Luffy reached for a new box.

Law automatically put his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders when he scooted over, pink box in one hand, video game controller in the other. “Torao, are you underestimating me?” Luffy shot back in return, a snicker accompanying his words.

Shaking his head, Law wondered why he even asked. Of course Luffy was planning on eating it all in under the hour they had left, and probably also eating everything Sanji was going to bring to the party. He made a mental note to try to save enough of the cake so that the birthday boy would get at least a slice. Nami really knew what she was doing when she forbade them from helping with the preparations and Law had to wonder how many parties his boyfriend had managed to ruin before he and his friends even started high school, never mind now that they were nearly done with college.

Suddenly, something nudged at his mouth and Law looked down, coming face to face with Luffy’s bright eyes, his mouth stretched in a grin around a new Pocky stick, which he was sucking on like a complete savage. Law would never understand what was so fun about licking the chocolate off until the biscuit was all soggy and then gulping the entire thing down because what was the point if you weren’t going to snap it? Why was this man like this, and why did Law tolerate it? It was honestly probably because the barbarian was so cute while doing inhumane things like biting into whole KitKats and sucking on Pocky—and because Law was weak.

Always weak to those eyes.

“Why are you poking me with a Pocky?” Law asked finally, pulling away a little bit in an effort to stop the incessant prodding.

Luffy cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowing together slightly in confusion when he replied, “Don’t you want one?”

Law’s eyes slid down to eye the pink stick that was still hovering uncomfortably close and made a face. Fucking strawberry. “No, but thanks,” he refused simply, stopping himself from saying anything more. God knew he ranted about artificial strawberry anything more than enough on the regular.

“Oh right!” Luffy cried a split second later, slapping his forehead. “Sorry, I always forget you’re weird.”

Law scowled. The person who couldn’t even eat chocolate on a stick properly had no right to tell him he was weird for disliking a flavour, no matter how widely popular said flavour might be. But before he could so much a click his tongue at his so-called boyfriend, Luffy moved away from him and towards his Pocky pile, putting the strawberry flavour aside in favour of taking one of the other boxes out and returning to Law’s side.

“Sorry, I ate all the matcha—” Luffy apologized when he settled under Law’s arm again, ripping the box open— “but I still have blueberry!” There was a wide, triumphant grin on his face when he pulled out the thicker, light purple stick and shoved it in front of Law’s face.

Law chuckled at Luffy’s enthusiasm before he looked him straight in the eyes and leaned forward, slowly licking his lips; he took great pleasure in the way Luffy’s eyes stared transfixed at his mouth, and he had to stop himself from smirking and ruining the show too early. He waited until he saw Luffy gulp in response to the way his teeth closed around the Pocky stick gently, and then… he quickly broke the stick, the beautiful, satisfying snap of it breaking Luffy from his reverie.

Law would never get tired of how quickly Luffy could go from happy to flustred, or how amazingly bright his blush was. It was incredibly rare to see Luffy either flail or blush, which made the experience all the more gratifying, and Law didn’t bother to try to stifle the laugh that forced its way out of his chest.

He was just so adorable, especially the way he pouted over Law’s amusement while folding his arms over his chest. Luffy was probably trying to look upset and reprimanding but he only managed to look like a puppy who was upset over not getting a treat. Law’s smirk only widened at the thought, and he couldn’t resist ruffling Luffy’s hair.

The way the younger man leaned into his touch was pretty puppy like, too.

He wondered what would happen if he voiced his thoughts, whether Luffy would growl at him or if he would whine, but he resisted the temptation. He could tease Luffy more later when they didn’t have a birthday party to attend. And so, he only pulled Luffy a little bit closer, pressing a quick, little kiss to his temple.

“Don’t tease me,” Luffy grumbled but seemed to melt at the brief touch, relaxing into Law’s side as he put the rest of the half-eaten blueberry Pocky into his mouth. “You know you’re the only person I share food with.”

Law felt a genuine, soft smile pull at his lips. That was probably as close to a declaration of love as Luffy would ever get and Law would be lying if he said it didn’t make him happy, didn’t make butterflies go crazy in his stomach, as cheesy as it sounded.

“And you’re the only person I let hand feed me their food,” Law mumbled back, and goddamn it, now he was the one blushing.

These indirect confessions were seriously more embarrassing then simply saying ‘I love you’ but… the smile he got in return was worth it. Was worth any cheesy and embarrassing sentence; this man really had him wrapped around his little finger but Law couldn’t say he cared.

He truly loved this idiot, bright smiles and a mountain of Pocky and all.