Insatiable Desire

05 - So stubborn...

Sighing soundlessly, Luffy fell on his bed and relaxed every limb of his body.

He felt tired. Physically, emotionally, psychologically... He seriously needed a vacation. The best he afforded was to obtain a leave of a week, thanks to the shit that had rained on Enies Lobby.

Hey, it was not his fault! He wasn't allowed to fight – thankfully, for the pirates and his brothers – so he couldn't have done anything to stop the prisoners from escaping. The World Government had been so kind in not only allowing him to take the leave, but also in letting him pass the week on his personal, peaceful, not-known-by-his-subordinates... island.

Luffy was currently in his little bedroom, nothing too... eccentric. His house was built on a beach, hidden by tall and bushy trees, a step away from the sea and the golden sand... beautiful. It was made of wood, merging with trunks at its corners and walls. Bathroom, kitchen, living room with a horde of books ready to be read... His personal paradise.

... Well, when he could go there to forget everything and anything...

Like what had happened recently.

The raven rolled on his left, eyes closed and breath steady. He hadn't planned for things to go like that... Every little thing had led to...

First of all, he had invited a pirate – and not a no-name, but Whitebeard's first-mate – to pass a... Oh-so-nice night in the sheets. Utterly crazy, completely avoidable and unspeakably dangerous. There had been no reasons to, he had never even met the man in person, aside knowing about him from reports, the usual weekly information... Ink on paper, no more. The real deal, though...

Marco had... He was... It'd been...

Luffy covered his face, metaphorically trying to not face what he had done... What he had felt... What a pirate had made him feel...

He took a deep breath and his hands slid on the mattress.

He had baited Marco, neatly and simply. A sneaky hint in-between the lines, not too hidden, not too clear. Maybe not even the best. But Marco had taken the bait, without doubting if it had some poison... And that had spoken of desire, something Luffy had found renewed in himself when they had reached the room.

A first round full of passion, hurry, excitement... Neither had dulled for an entire day, in both the men. They had paused, between one and the other, to breath, to speak about nothing important, to just chuckle or to relax... It had seemed a true escape from reality, not like the one he wanted for the following week, but like... With a real lover...

It was a new thought for him. Truthfully, he had never really lingered on such a thing. He'd had his experiences with both men and women, but without any kind of... 'Feelings' wasn't the fitting word... Probably because Luffy had not allowed those to play a role. Passing the night – or a day... – with a stranger was one thing, growing something for him was another matter completely. It was beyond dangerous... and it had happened.

Luffy rolled again, face buried in the soft pillow. The buttons of the jacket got freed because of the motion and he sighed at the sensation of freedom...

Freedom... A foreign option for him. It had become like that right after signing that paper... That document that had revealed to his brothers the deal with the World Government. Luffy's breath itched at the memories that flooded his mind.

His grandfather that refused to watch how the quill moved in his hands. His brothers that flinched and progressively paled after the explosion. His hands that trembled during the travel to Enies Lobby. His body that acquired the several scars because of the training, of the fights, of the many occasions in which colleagues tried to get rid of him out of mere envy. The day of the promotion from simple member to Chief, substituting Spandam.