Luffy x isakai Girl

Four letter word

Love. My heart drummed in my chest, like a savage animal, desperately trying to escape its cage. I opened up my mouth to respond and nothing came out. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. All I could do was stand there, dumb struck by just three simple words. Luffy squeezed my hands. I could feel his trembling get worse. His eyes searched mine, waiting desperately for a response. But all I could do was stand there.

"M-misaki?" Luffy stammered.

I finally took in a breath, holding it for just a moment before squeezing his hands back. Say something, damn it.

Luffy looked like he was going to drop from the anxiety. I felt like I was going to drop from the weight of his words. I never expected him to say it. I really didn't. Yet, here he was, in a room he set up to be what he thought of as perfect. A perfect place to tell me. A perfect place to say I love you.

Luffy was shaking so badly now. I put my hands on his cheeks and brought his forehead to meet mine, taking a deep breath in, grounding us, calming us. Luffy breathed with me, his trembling subsiding. I pulled away to look him in the eyes. I'm ready.

"I love you too." I said, smiling.

"Yeah?" Luffy said, tears pricking in his eyes as his face flushed red.

I kissed him gently on the lips, just barely brushing mine against his. "I always have."

Luffy wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. I buried my face in his chest and took a deep breath. I felt like my skin was on fire and like my heart was going to explode. I couldn't even describe how giddy I felt. He said it. I can't believe he said it.

"It feels good to say it. I love you, Misaki." Luffy murmured happily, giving me a little squeeze. My heart swelled.

"I love you, Monkey D. Luffy." I whispered. "I love you so much. You don't even know."

"You told me once. But I wasn't sure if it was just from the height of the moment or if it was real."

"Let's just say today was the day we said it to each other." I said, squeezing him. I would have much rathered this be the first time I ever said it to him. The last time was a confession made out of pure fear that I would never get to say it. This time, we both said it freely, on the most perfect night in the most perfect room. That's what I wanted to remember.

"Deal." He said, giving me a light squeeze.

"What's with the futon, by the way," I said, standing on my tip toes to peak over his shoulder.

"Yeahhh... They aren't expecting us to come back down." Luffy said sheepishly. "Not because I thought we were going to do anything but just because I hoped we could spend the night up here."

    "Why here?"

    "Well it's a little too cold for the Captain's seat" Luffy snickered. "And Nami said she didn't want us being all mushy in bed with her trying to sleep."

   "Like we would do that!" I laughed.

   "I do what I want actually." Luffy laughed.

    "Like I would do that." I corrected with a giggle. I looked up at him and smiled. I was in love with the most knuckle headed, chaotic ray of sunshine I had ever met. There was nobody else like him. He was a wild card. And he was a wild card I craved to be near. I stood up on my toes and kissed him, throwing my arms around his neck. He kissed me back, smiling against my lips.

"Dude, feel this." He said against me, grabbing my hand and placing it on his chest like he did once before. "I feel like it's beating even harder now!" I giggled and kissed him again.