Idly sitting upon a perch, I grew bored of these mundane and endless tasks. A system of only relentless effort all sought for nothing but bottled up pride of sickening bright colors.
But here I stood, in front of you who held no such thing. No pride in your bright colors, nothing of the sort. Your only shade was of a blank canvas. The pigment of the sky and clouds that held up the heavens.
Oh what a pretty little color I would think everytime my eyes found you, in the middle of your own shenanigans.
And the thing that stared back into my skylit irises, were the fruitful bowls of wine.
How can a canvas tell so much yet so little with only a single look. When there is no color to indicate its emotions or deepest desires.
And yet...
A single look was all it took to whisk me away.
I wondered how can eyes like yours tell boundless stories with just a few glances and tell no secrets to any other, but myself. The glinting brightness of your smile would make my shadows tremble. The bane of my colors would shy away in embarrassment at your pure innocent smile. As if it were casting its own light upon your already shining existence.
I felt as if a small flicker of a candlelight had been placed into the palms of my small hands, when you shared your secrets. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your aspirations. And it scared me with how much trust you gave me without even looking back.
It was everything to me.
How you would take hold of my ragged hand—blistered and blotched from the burns you would accidentally inflict. How you would hold me gingerly and whisk me away in a multitude of twirls and peals of laughter leaving our lips.
The way your wispy clouds of imagination wrapped itself around me, as if it were shielding me from the outside world's view. Holding me hostage to only your eyes alone. So that you may ravage every single scene of me. Some may call you greedy and selfish.. But you are a man not bound down by mere opinions of others. You never cared. And you never will. You only cared for what you wanted. And you shall have everything you desired.
A lifetime of joy and happiness is spent away with you as my tasks and responsibilities seem to fly from my grasps when I am within your embrace.
I always seem to be baffled by how quickly I am to fall at your mercy. I always ask,
'How do you seem to swoon me right off my feet, every time we meet? We can't always cross each other like this.'
And you reply with a jolly laugh every time with,
'It's more fun this way, is it not?'
Oh how I cherished those moments with you.
So much, I cherished—that I began to delve into your secrets. Rapture myself in your hopes, see you as my very own aspiration, and maybe just make my very own dream come true.
Your words spin me in a golden thread. Your promises bind me towards your soul that it nearly burns me to reach out to you every time I wish to do so.
I cannot fathom a life without you, nor will I live it.
For as long as our wills have a threaded knot connecting to the other, I fear nothing will ever separate us.
Not if we were to become entirely different beings... different animals... different fruits.
Not even the promise of death itself.
/:/~***~/:/
"Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooiiiiiiii—!"
"Faaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeee—!!"
"Are you sleeping with your eyes open???"
Blinking, Faythe realized she had went into a daze and had forgotten that her watch shift was over. The sun had just barely grazed the horizon as the hues of pink and orange began to filter the tip of the ship's crows nest. She glanced up to see Luffy wrapped up in a blanket with his head tilted at her confused look.
"Don't tell me you can actually sleep with your eyes open!!" He gasped in awe, "Wait is that a bird thing or is that just you?" He asked genuinely.
She was supposed to be doing night watch, and her shift barely just ending. She must've dozed off while Luffy snuck up after waking up early. Probably woke to the smell of Sanji's early cooking for the entire crew.
Faythe tilted her head to the side tiredly and without care when it hit with a 'bump'. She shut her eyes to think, but she was just too tired to bother, "We can just say it's a bird thing and write it off there." She shrugged. Her position felt comfortable and she didn't wanna move, even if her head felt a little cramped.
Luffy hummed and looked at her questionably, "What are you doing?"
Faythe opened one eye and gave him a pointed look, "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be getting your ass kicked by Sanji, right about now—trying-I mean, failing to sneak food again?"
Luffy gasped in mock hurt, "I wouldn't have just gotten my ass kicked by now—! I would've gotten my ass kicked and managed to eat half our food supplies! The lack of faith you have in me is beyond concerning, Fae."
"Don't be proud of that, idiot." Faythe lightly bumped her palm against his shoulder—to him it felt more like a small tap.
"I'm not an idiot. You are."
"Great comeback, stupid~!"
"No your stupid—!"
"Then you're just being a copycat—!"
"No, you!"
"No, you!"
"You!"
"You, I insist!"
"I refuse your insistence!"
"What?"
"What?"
They both blinked at the other before bursting into fits of laughter and giggles. They both tried to smother the other's loud laughing as to not wake up the crew mates.
"Ah... Your such a dork." Faythe stifled a giggle.
"Then you're just being silly, Fae." Luffy smiled. He then paused for a moment as he started to randomly repeat the short name. His brows screwing together in a flash of realization, "Wait! Does 'Fae' mean a shorter version of your actual name!?"
Faythe blinked before pealing into another fit of giggles, "D-Did you just figure that out!? What'd you think it was?"
Luffy scratched his head with a pouting bottom lip, "I thought it was a super cool code name... Like how you call me Cap'..."
Faythe raised a brow and smiled at his lost figure, "Yep! Why bring this up now, though?" She leaned back against the wooden railing sides of the crows nest and brought her knees close to her chest as she made more room for Luffy sit down in—instead of balancing on the railings themselves like a night owl.
Luffy paused for a moment as he thought long and hard, "Well I... I-I...!" His face started to contort into a flush red as he began to think too hard on the matter.
"Luffy? Hey, don't hurt yourself, now." Faythe spoke up with a raised amused brow.
Luffy blinked and seemed to come to a conclusion, his fist hitting his palm as he looked at the red head in excitement, "That's it! If you have a shorter name for your actual one, then I want one, too!"
Faythe tilted her head, "But isn't Luffy short enough?"
"Make it even shorter! Then only you can call me this!" Luffy peered closer to her, leaning on his own will of balance alone as he was only sitting crisscrossed in front of her, "Besides, Faythe has about the same number of letters as Luffy."
"...Didn't know you could count that high..." Faythe gulped at the sudden close proximity. Her eyes slowly adjusting from the darkness as the sun started to outline Luffy's figure. The bright morning sunlight formed a sort of halo around him, as if he weren't bright enough with his sunshine personality alone. She cursed the gods out there for giving her these small heart attacks.
"I.. I'm not sure I can..." Faythe muttered I surely, her fingers fidgeting with the soft sweater that she borrowed from Zoro—which says 'sword geek.' It was given to him after he went on a full tangent rant about the legendary swords of the world and how he wanted to test each one's strength. Nami got it for him after that. He says he doesn't care, but Faythe would spot him wearing it when he's polishing his swords up in the crows nest at night.
"I'm sure it'll be great! I don't care what it is! As long as you call me it!" Luffy giggled like a happy child getting a cool secret toy and nobody else gets one, "Just something for the two of us! C'mon! The first thing that comes to mind!"
Faythe tapped her chin thoughtfully at that, "Just the two of us... Something only I would call you..." Her tapping seemed to catch Luffy's attention as he went into a small daze at her small little rhythm.
"It just can't be Cap' or Captain. Those are old names now." Luffy stuck his tongue out at the terms.
"Of course, of course...!" Faythe chuckled at his childish behavior—which seemed to pick up even more than usual because of his little hangout with the red head.
The red head herself, took the time to analyze the boy in front of her. Not exactly a greasy kind of fella, more like a scruffy animal—a golden retriever—a black Labrador perhaps. to be exact. He didn't dwell on things for long as he would always speed and rush on to the next thing. But this?
He was waiting patiently for her to answer. His hands keeping him occupied as he twisted the feather in his Strawhat idly.
"Lu...." She whispered the name, something that should've been foreign on her tongue but just felt so at home in her mind and soul. She remembered accidentally calling him that on the RocketMan Train, but it seems he had forgotten it due to the sight of her injuries.
But even though she whispered the name, Luffy's head shot up. He reacted to it. His eyes immediately finding hers as he seemed to get even more happy. His already bright smile widened even further as he took both of Faythe's fidgeting hands and placed her palms on his cheeks, "Say it again."
Her face immediately lit up in a bright flush of embarrassment, "No way...! It's a lame nickname...! You've probably been called that in different places or by other people before...." She muttered half heartedly, her eyes turning to the side, not wanting to see his teasing expression.
"Nope! Well not from any person important... Because then I would remember that." Luffy sat closer and nudged his shoulder into her's. Trying to coerce her, "Say it again. Please."
Blinking, Faythe processed what exactly Luffy asked of her, but she answered to his qualms nonetheless, "Lu." Her embarrassment ebbing away into a soft warmth from the boy beside her.
"Again."
"Lu."
"Say it once more."
Faythe giggled at his puppy-like look. His eyes turning into practical stars that shined at the name bestowed upon him, "Now you're the one being silly, Lu."
"Ah! You said it again!" Luffy brightened with a smile.
Faythe smushed his face affectionately, "Of course I did, you asked for it and I shall deliver." Something along that quote struck something deep within her heart. But she couldn't care less about the sensation as she had a giddy Luffy between her palms.
"Then say it one more time!" Luffy muffled out through his smushed face—In which he put the hands there in the first place.
Faythe brought his face closer and brushed her nose against his with a beaming smile, "I think I'll be catching up on some sleep, Lu." She scrambled up to her feet and leaned against the rails—almost tipping over if she pushed off.
"Awwwww..." Luffy pouted like a kicked puppy. The lingering touch of her palms could still be felt as he rubbed aggressively on his cheeks to try and keep the warmth there. But alas, it faded away as soon as Faythe fell from his eye sight, "Goodnight, Fae—!" He waved vigorously over the railings.
Faythe caught his blur-like, aggressive, waving, and smiled, charmed—at his assertive nature, "Goodnight, Lu~!!" She called out with her own aggressive wave.
Shutting the door behind her, Luffy stared at the piece of wood for a bit, his cheek leaning against the railing of the Crow's Nest. His face showing no emotion of what he could be thinking about. But as the sun rose higher in the East, his gazed drifted over to the sunrise. The magical pop of colors filtering the entire skyline.
A long sigh dragged on from his lips. He rested his forehead against the railing with a small pout, "I wanted to watch the sunrise with her, too."
"Oh well. Maybe next time."