Forever Then
Luffy rolled around on the floor of the house as Atlantis sat in front of the bag of clothes alongside Makino in order to separate the clothes into piles.
Every now and then Atlantis would swing around to try and catch Luffy off guard to grab the pretty sunflower dress he had clutched in his hands, every time he would turn that smirk towards him while rolling over on his stomach to hide the item underneath him.
This continued long past the day until Makino left to open the bar leaving the two to finish sorting the clothes, well leaving Atlantis to sort the clothes.
With a sigh, she turned away from Luffy giving up on the dress entirely, if he liked it so much then he could just keep it. Pulling the clothes out to sort she didn’t notice Luffy moving until he dropped the dress in front of her, “Sorry.”
Turning her eyes back to him confused she grabbed the hem of the dress confused, “It’s okay Luffy. I don't really mind.”
“But you're sad,” Luffy wouldn’t look her in the eyes as he glanced up at her from under his eyes.
“It’s not your fault.” Atlantis let out a small laugh as she reached her hand out for Luffy to hold, who immediately took hold of her hand and sat down beside her.
Looking into her eyes with confused eyes, Luffy refused to waive his stare. “Then why?”
“I-,” Atlantis moved her eyes back to the clothes with a smile. “I’ve never had such nice clothes.”
“Why not?” Luffy turned to stare at the clothes confused, he probably didn’t understand why clothes were making her sad, but this would be something he would need to learn.
“My parents… they didn’t want a kid.” She said with a shrug as she pulled the dress towards her with her other hand. “They could have given me away but they didn’t. They kept me, but they made sure I knew I wasn’t wanted.”
“I don’t like them.”
“Yeah, me either.” Atlantis huffed out a chuckle as the feeling of a cold floor and winter biting into her skin, the pain of the cold could never compare to the feeling of emptiness in her stomach and her heart. Ever since she had come to live with Luffy, since she had died she hadn’t felt that emptiness. “I remember we lived somewhere cold. It was always so cold and I was always hungry. But I pulled myself out of there. I went to college and I made a living for myself. I- I wish I could say I regret leaving behind the people who were in my life, but I don’t. Not really. I love them and I care about them, but I just didn’t fit anywhere.”
“Do you want to go back?”
“I never want to go back.”
“Then don’t,” Luffy’s grip tightened, pulling her attention back to him. He looked her in the eyes and held steady as the seriousness that overtook him left her breathless. He looked like the Luffy she did know, the one from the pages, the look on his face was one she was familiar with. “Stay with me.”
“I- okay,” Atlantis nodded her head quickly as tears built up in her eyes and she reached out to pull Luffy into a hug. “I never want to leave. I want to stay here. With you, for as long as I can.”
“Forever then.” Luffy simply hummed as he grabbed her back just as tightly before he cautiously pulled back, “Does this mean you want to sleep with me again?”
Atlantis let out a laugh at Luffy’s shy hopeful look as he eagerly awaited her answer, “How about sometimes okay?”
“Okay!” Luffy shouted as he jumped up in glee. “We can sleep in the window lookout!”
“You mean the window seat? Okay, I guess.” Laughs released as Luffy started dancing around and playing in his pile of clothes, falling backward making them pop up from behind him. Then a loud grumble filled the room around them as they both stared at each other.
“Hehehe. Let’s go eat!” Luffy cheered as he grabbed Atlantis’ hand and pulled her towards the door where they then turned towards Parts Bar, rushing in to take their resident seats at the bar cheering all the while, “FOOD!”
“Alright, give me a minute.” Makino giggled as she turned towards the back to grab their prepared food. “Here you guys go.”
“Woah,” Mayor Woop slap commented from the side as he looked onto the two. “Her appetite sure grew.”
“Did you say something, Mayor?” Makino asked as she turned to the old man who simply turned away with a grunt to nurse his drink.
“Nope,” he muttered as he moved away from the two sloppy enters with clear disgust resting on his place. “But I will be taking this food to go.”
“You might want to teach them kids some manners,” a bar patron called out with a laugh, who caused Luffy to turn around with his spoon to wave threateningly.
“I don't know what that is, but why don't you go get it!”