Metamorphosis | Luffy x Nami

Chapter 5

Nami's eyes slowly widened and she ceased her gentle caress, bringing her arm down to rest it back in her lap.

Did she just hear him correctly?

It was pretty difficult to hear anything over the incessant thumping of her heartbeat thrashing away in her ears after all.

"W-wha.." she trailed, barely more than a whisper before the words died in her throat.

She was in denial.

So much so, that she had lost all ability to even think. All she could do was merely stare at him with enlarged eyes and her mouth agape.

He's joking... right?

In attempts to reassure her, Luffy brought his hand up to gently brush her bangs aside and cradled her face, gingerly placing a chaste kiss against her forehead.

When he pulled away, Nami was completely lost in the dark abyss of his eyes. She quickly scanned his face for a hint of amusement, but she found none. His face was completely relaxed.

"I want you to be my girlfriend, Nami."

It took her a moment to fully comprehend what he was saying, but when it hit her, the corner of her lips began to tug upwards and the intense smile that was suddenly plastered all over her face was so wide that her cheeks began to ache.

His girlfriend.

She really liked the sound of that.

Feeling giddy, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck before erupting into a fit of mirthful giggles.

He chuckled, tightly wrapping his arms around the small of her back in turn. "Is that a yes?"

She settled her forehead into the crook of his neck and nodded furiously against it, the delayed blush now creeping onto her cheeks.

"Yes." she whispered, before retreating back to gaze at him. "Yes." she repeated a bit louder, smiling sweetly.

If you would have told her a few months ago that she'd be where she is right now, surrounded by actual friends and now in a relationship, she would have laughed right in your face.

But now... now she was unable to imagine her life without them, not just Nojiko anymore, but also her friends and her boyfriend.

The title was sweet music to her ears.

She melted upon seeing his hooded eyes that held a loving glint and his cheesy smile mirrored hers. His expression left her feeling inevitably fuzzy and her heart clenched, feeling overwhelmed by the swarm of emotions that welled up inside her.

Luffy gently bumped his nose against hers and already feeling deprived, he moved in, in attempts to draw more needy kisses from her to which she pleasantly obliged.

She engraved the sensations of this blissful moment in her brain. The feeling of his lips moving in perfect rhythm with hers and the way she melted into his strong arms that had become her tranquil shelter.

All of it.

She didn't want to forget.

And she wanted to always be able to go back and recall this moment with him because for the first time in a very long time, she found herself wishing that time would simply stop.

_________

Within the bustling of the flooded corridors and the plethora of students, Nami found herself unaware of anything else other than one thing... him.