Nothing to your Everything

I'm Nervous, But You Are Too, So it's okay

The next time Luffy and Law meet it's on a Saturday.

Luffy's been continuing on with his life, not allowing the sudden appearance of his soulmate to mess with his schedule one bit. Sometimes Sanji will beg him to go spend time with Torao, because they're supposed to be in love or whatever, but Luffy just laughs him off and says that they were taking things slow.

(The truth was that Luffy was absolutely terrified of their next meeting.)

Him and Torao text some, asking each other mundane stuff like "how was your day?" or "great weather we're having, huh?" because apparently being awkward was something they both specialized in. Neither were very confrontational, preferring to let others take the lead in these kind of things, so when you put the two together you obviously got chaos.

Luffy, honestly, didn't know where to go from here.

Sure, he'd had a relationship before... if middle school relationships count.

It was with a girl he barely even knew. All he remembers is that her friends had dared her to talk to him (because back in middle school, Luffy was what was known as 'the weird kid', and no one would willingly talk to him) and as a joke, they dated for a total week before she confessed that she never actually liked him. Luffy, of course, being in middle school and all, didn't give two shits.

He said a simple "okay" and went right back to his business. For some reason she had looked angry at that, and had stomped right back to her friend ground with an ugly sneer tearing at her face.

So yeah, it was safe to say he was pretty clueless.

He didn't know if he was supposed to buy him flowers or make some grand romantic gesture that Luffy was completely unprepared to do. He'd only really had examples of these things, had nothing to go off of in his own life except for what he'd seen Ace and Sabo do with their assortment of girlfriends.

But Torao was a dude, right?

So Luffy didn't know if it was different or something. The anxiety of making a mistake or doing something wrong made his chest ache.

Which is why Luffy avoided Torao like the pluage for the next two weeks.

Torao finally managed to corner him during his shift, making it so Luffy wasn't close enough to his lunch break to have that as an excuse, and so Torao was his only customer and he didn't have any choice but to give him his full attention.

Luffy had a suspicion that Torao and Robin were secret best friends. They both had genius and surprisingly evil plans.

"It's good to see you again, Luffy." Law had said as he walked up to the cashier. Luffy had swallowed and said "you too!" with a smile that felt fake even to him.

As the man spoke out his order, Luffy shoved down the butterflies that were trying their hardest to flutter in his stomach at the sound of his voice, hating his mind for  feeling like that around the man without his permission. Luffy didn't like the way that his body felt when he was around him. Like he was on fire, and his heart had turned into a drum from one of those heavy metal songs Ace used to listen to, and his hands were too sweaty and his face was too hot.

Maybe Torao was contagious? That must be it. Torao just had a cold, and whenever he was around Luffy he passed it on to him. Yeah, that had to be it!

"Would you mind sitting with me for awhile?" Torao said, successful in distracting Luffy from his thoughts. An excuse was already on the tip of his tongue when he looked up into the man's eyes and froze.

Torao looked hopeful and desperate. Luffy felt bad for even thinking of saying no, for blocking off and avoiding Torao for so long. He didn't think of how his distancing might affect the other man, too caught up in his own anxieties to consider it. Torao must think he hates him! Luffy didn't hate him one bit, infact he liked him too much, enough so that he made Luffy scared of how easily he was opening up to the man.

So instead Luffy gave him a smile, a real smile this time, and gave a quick "sure!" before informing the others that he would be taking a quick break. No one else was in the cafe anyway, so if would be fine.

Torao gave him an elated look as he took his coffee. He quickly ushered Luffy to a seat near the windows and sat down, making Luffy blush at how endearing the whole thing was.

"So, how have you been?" Torao began. Luffy shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh." He answered.

Torao gave a light chuckle that made Luffy blush again, which he started cursing himself for in his mind, angry that the man had such power over his emotions without even realizing it. The two engaged in light chatter, and Luffy soon found himself getting lost in the easy lull of the conversation.

He had forgotten how easy it was to talk to Torao. Words flowed easily, and hours passed within seconds in the welcomed company. Luffy was normally a very outgoing person, but with Torao he felt even more at ease.

Eventually there was a pause in the conversation. Torao had just finished laughing at something Luffy had said, and his eyes seemed to suddenly recall something, happiness toned down as he looked at Luffy again.

"Luffy?" Torao said, making Luffy blink at the sudden change of tone.

"Mhm?"

"...I'm sorry if I misinterpreted things, but lately it seems as if you've been...avoiding me. Am I right?" He asked with a look in his eyes that was begging Luffy to say he was wrong.

Luffy swallowed. The shameful look in his eyes was answer enough for Torao.

Self hatred bubbled up in his stomach as he saw the twinkle in Torao's eyes fade a little. He was quick to state his reasons.

"I'm sorry!" Luffy started in an attempt to do anything to get rid of that horrible look in Torao's eyes. "It wasn't because of you, not really! Well, I guess it kinda was, but not because I didn't like you! It's just that...well..." Luffy's face reddened as his eyes flickered to the ground.

Torao raised an eyebrow. "...well?" The surgeon said, wanting to know Luffy's cause.

Luffy muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?"

Luffy was so red he looked like he was about to explode. "I was nervous, okay? Because you just seemed so, so...cool! And you were really smart and pretty and I felt embarrassed because I'm, well, me. S-so I avoided you, because I didn't want to seem like an idiot in front of you!"

Torao blinked. There was heat beginning to rise to his cheeks too, darkening his already dark complexion.

A sense of horror crept upon Luffy as he realized what he just said. He hadn't meant to word vomit like that, but it all just came out and oh god, he'd called Torao pretty to his face!

"Well." Torao said after a few moments. There was a blush on his face, and Luffy thought it looked entirely too attractive on him.

"Ahem. You, uh... don't worry about being nervous around me, okay?" He looked uncomfortable as a boy at a middle school dance, nimble fingers fiddling with his napkin. Luffy's eyes couldn't help but track the movement, memorizing the letters on his fingers.

"I'm just as nervous around you." Luffy's eyes snapped up to meet the surgeons. Torao chuckled, awkward yet somehow gaining confidence. "Seriously. I mean, you're the happiest person I've ever met, and you talk about all these friends and adventures you have that just seem so fantastical. And when I first saw you I thought you were a freaking angel!"

Luffy's cheeks burned anew, warmth filling up his insides like hot tea. "You shouldn't be nervous around me, stupid!" He shouted.

Torao gave a full laugh, and wow, that was a really nice laugh. "See what I'm saying?"

"If you two are done making out," Nami's voice yelled from behind the counter, "closing times in 5!"