TITLE: The Stakes
AUTHOR: roseveare
RATING: Hard R/mature
LENGTH: 8,000 words
SUMMARY: No powers/normal world (ish) AU. Luffy wagers his body in a card game to the unscrupulous billionnaire Crocodile... and loses.
WARNINGS: Dubious consent to go with the premise.
NOTES: Written for the OP_fanforall. Prompt: After a night of gambling, either Usopp, Luffy or Sanji ends up putting himself as stake against Enel (Crocodile, Doflamingo) and loses yet again. Let the story start from where the poor bastard is dragged inside the limousine to spend the night in the billionares mansion.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, no profit, yadda yadda yadda.

The Stakes

The dice rolled and came up snake eyes, and all around the table silence fell.

Chips clicked loudly in Crocodile's hand as he snapped them together between his fingers. "You know what your stakes were," he said. "Be outside waiting for my driver in half an hour. Otherwise I'll lay my claim to your body in an entirely less amicable fashion."

The slide of the hook along the line of his jaw could have been a considering gesture. But the way his teeth showed in a thin line, like another parallel scar, suggested it probably wasn't.

"You can't go," Usopp hissed. "It's not right. It can't be legal."

"You heard him." Luffy pushed his glasses higher onto his nose, trying to ignore how much his hands shook. "He's going to kill me if I don't. Better buggered than dead." He flinched and downed the whiskey in front of him.

"Oi, oi," his friend protested. "That was mine."

"I needed it more. Buy me another." He slumped his head and shoulders over the bar, soaking the sleeve of his jacket in a spillage of wine.

Usopp went quiet and then when the bartender had finished serving another customer, did as asked. "Go to the police. Crocodile can't coerce you into sex under threat of death."

"He'll kill me," Luffy said again. "He'll kill me and then he'll go after my folks. The police aren't gonna arrest the billionaire even if they do believe me. And it still won't change the fact I owe him." He sighed. "Dammit, I was so sure that last bet would solve all our money problems. I'm lucky, aren't I? I mean, I'm usually lucky."

Usopp grimaced. "You're strong. You can fight off Croc's goons."

"And if I can't? It was my fault Shanks lost his arm and can't find work now, and I can't find work 'cause everyone thinks I'm too stupid. I gotta do it, and clear the debt. It's the right thing to do. Since we weren't even s'posed to be here, I can't let them find out, and that'd happen if I die... so I have to give Crocodile what he wants."

Usopp slapped him grimly on the shoulder, and slid the rest of the bottle in front of him. "Luffy. Just keep the edges blurred. Do that and think of your folks. You're right, and you're a great guy. I'm sorry, buddy." The fingers on his shoulder stilled and squeezed comfortingly.

"Thanks." The next shot was hard to swallow, and it wasn't just the burn of the whiskey going down. "I'll... Hey, I'll be all right, I guess. It's only sex. It's not really so important..." His hand trembled and he set down the bottle without pouring again. "I don't think I'd better... If I'm too drunk to... be any good... maybe he'll decide I didn't honour the deal. I'm gonna go outside and wait. It's nearly time, anyway."

Luffy stood out in the dark street, feeling small and stupid as he waited in his cheap, scruffy suit. The billionaire was as good as his word, and his big, black car pulled up dead on the hour. The door clunked open - kicked by Crocodile's foot. He hadn't waited for his driver to come around and open it.

"Trembling already?" The interior of the car gaped at him, big as a room. He could only see the lower half of Crocodile's body, the rest hidden by the angle of the car's roof, sliced through by the light of the street lamp. A foot swung, lazily.

Looking down at the arms hugged across his chest, Luffy convulsively snapped them down to his sides. "It's cold."

A pause stretched until the billionaire questioned, darkly, "Are you intending to get in, or have you decided to die here, on the road?"

Luffy curled his fingers around the edge of the door and pulled it shut behind him as he climbed in. It was dark, and he could only see the shadows of Crocodile's face. An orange spark and a hiss as he lit a cigar. Luffy swallowed hard and watched the glowing end bobbing, shifting with Crocodile's lips as he spoke. "If you plan to keep such a distance, you won't ever fulfil the terms of our bargain."

They were as far apart as they could be from each other and still be in the back of the car. Luffy looked dubiously at the seat next to Crocodile, while the large hand patted upon it slowly, beckoning. "You want sex in your car?"

The billionaire laughed. "I prefer the privacy and comforts of home."

"Then I'm okay here, for now." Furtively, he picked his nose and wiped his finger on the soft seat coverings. He clutched at the edges of the seat as the vehicle started up.

"Try to relax," the rumbling voice suggested, orange cigar embers flaring. "I am not a rapist. I merely hold you by a promise made between men of their word. I'll make no move to take anything that isn't offered. Do you understand that, boy?"

Luffy jerked his head. Inside his chest, his heart pounded so fiercely he was sure the other man must hear it. "I understand that I agreed to it. I'll do it." He looked again at the space between them, and stayed where he was.

Crocodile snorted. "Take all the time you want, but keep this one fact in mind. I am not a rapist, but I am a killer. If your promise isn't fulfilled by morning, you know the alternative that spells."

He wants me to come to him willingly. That's worse. How can I just...?

Sooner or later, he thought grimly, he was going to have to. It would have almost been easier if Crocodile just shoved him through the bedroom door and got on with it.

He shuddered.

Luffy gazed at the pictures in Crocodile's rooms. Deserts, pyramids, camels, men with their faces protected by layer upon layer of robes. A dry and orange other world - from Crocodile's archaeological ventures in Egypt, he could only assume, the place where he'd made his fortune. There were even statues and cartouches dotted in amongst the more ordinary stylings of the antique furniture. Luffy had no way of knowing if they were original or replicas, but it was clear there was an awful lot of money in this place. It was huge, too. He wandered room after room, padded down long corridors with inches of plush carpeting sinking beneath the weight of his steps. Deathly silent, save for the ticking of grand clocks. Even the occasional bodyguard or manservant he came across was silent, some standing still as mannequins, others scowling at him in disapproval as they walked past.

What a huge, lonely, silent, depressing place. No wonder how, even with all his money, Crocodile still had to coerce people into coming back to warm his nights.

Eventually, Luffy happened across at least one other person who wasn't pretending to be a boring statue or glaring at him. "Hey, old guy," he prompted curiously. "Whatcha doing?" The old man had on a suit like the other, younger menservants, but it was a bit rumpled, and his hands were interestingly buried in the casing of one of the big clocks, swung open while the pendulum stood still and silent.

"Winding up the clocks," he responded, a faint edge of distracted gruffness to the reply. "They don't do it themselves."

"Wow, is that right?" Luffy tried to squeeze his head in under the old man's arm to see, but was swatted away.

"Get - get - go-" He emerged, still muttering irately, and swung the panel closed. The clock ticked again and the old man checked it against a pocket watch, then adjusted the hands, nodded in satisfaction and turned away. "Who-?" He blinked at Luffy and then sighed. "Oh. Another. Well, then." He straightened his shoulders, then said stuffily, "Young man, you reek of the Devil's brew... oh for goodness sake... alcohol, boy, alcohol."

"Yeah. I got spilt stuff on my sleeve at the casino. Can I watch you wind up clocks?"

"...Very well." The old man snapped his watch back into his pocket and wandered along through room after room, not looking back to check if Luffy was following at all. He didn't mind. When the old man stopped again to take a smaller clock off the wall and open up the back of it, he asked, "I'm another what?"

"Just another," he was answered with heavy disdain. "Another fool. Another of those young men of little sense. I see them, one or two in a week perhaps, never the same twice. Frightened and desperate. The master has his needs, I am sure, but I cannot approve."

"I'm not scared." Luffy tightened his hands to fists. No, he was just... getting his thoughts in order. Readying himself before he went back to the bedroom. Yeah. "Maybe I'm scared. I never did it before, anyway. Can I try that?"

"What-? Oh, the clock. Well... it's not a terribly valuable piece, I suppose so. Here, you turn this peg this way. But be sure to stop when you start to feel resistance."

"Okay." He eased his fingers in, deliberately trying to still their shake. "It must be pretty nice, getting to play with all these cool clocks all the time." He started to turn the mechanism.

"If you say so, young sir."

"It's Luffy. There's loads of great stuff here. It looks like it should be a neat place to work. But everyone here looks miserable. Or doesn't look anything at all."

"True enough. Careful with-" There was a dull snap inside the clock. Luffy gave a yelp of dismay as he gawped at the little metal piece that had come off in his hand. The old man sighed. "Just give it to me. I shall fix it or else dispose of it under the pretence that it simply ceased to function." The old man took it, muttering about clumsiness.

"Agh." Luffy scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed. After a moment's grim decision, he looked up and helplessly flapped his hand back to indicate the way he'd come. Delaying this wasn't working. He could feel his body tensing up more and more by the second. "I'm gonna - I have to - I'm ready. I'm ready now. Thanks anyway, and I'm really sorry about the clock, old guy."

He loosened his tie and started walking, not looking back.

Crocodile was seated on the edge of the bed, quietly sipping at a whiskey tumbler and reading a newspaper. When he looked up, he seemed surprised to see Luffy. "Faster than I expected."

"I guess they usually try to waste all the time they can, huh? And figure that means they'll have to do less. The old guy with the clocks told me about the others."

"And so you're not doing that...?" Crocodile left it hanging as a question, his eyebrows raised and his face almost but not quite a scowl.

"Nah. I'm just gonna tire you out quick so you'll sleep all night, since you're like three times my age."

The billionaire choked on his whiskey and stopped looking quite so unmoved and overconfident, for a moment. He recovered to growl, "Your mistake. I have a lot of stamina."

"Me too." He fidgeted in the doorway. "Are you gonna tell me what to do?"

"First close the door," came the wry answer.

Luffy closed it. He took a step or two into the room, and looked down at his feet. The carpet pile was deep and fluffy, and since Crocodile was watching him it seemed the respectful thing to do to kick off his shoes by the door and spare the carpet from them. It felt soft and comforting against the bare soles of his feet as he walked closer.

"The jacket," Crocodile ordered. "It smells."

"Yeah." He went back and hung it on a peg by the door, and yanked his tie all the way off and hung that there, too. The room was all polished, dark wood, ostentatious and oppressive. "Okay..."

Crocodile had set the newspaper aside and loosened the front of his trousers. "I assume you know what to do... don't look at me like that. Unless that's one of the best disguises I've ever seen, you've one of these of your own. Use your hands and your mouth. Try to bite and I'll kill you."

"No. I promised, so I won't bite." Luffy's feet felt numb as they carried him the last few steps, where he sank down to his equally numb knees and raised his hands - which weren't shaking any more, but then he couldn't really feel them, either.

The worst part was making himself touch it. He'd not had much thought for sex - either with girls or another man or even much with himself, despite Crocodile's words. But once he'd touched it with his hands, and stroked it in his grasp a few times, encouraging its interest, it was easier to bring his lips to it. He focused on the sounds the billionaire let slip to guide him on what worked and what didn't. And when finally Crocodile's grunts became harsher and he spilled into his throat, Luffy knew he must have done something right.

He gagged as he pulled back, and moved to spit - eyed the carpet and thought better of it. He swallowed hard, grimacing, and dragged his shirt sleeve across his mouth. Then he glared up at Crocodile in nervous challenge.

"Good," the billionaire only said.

"You've gone soft," Luffy pointed out. "I-"

"The deal is until morning," Crocodile growled. He cleaned himself off with tissues. Luffy thought sourly that he might've offered him one a moment earlier, as he silently took a handful from the box when Crocodile discarded it, wiped them over his chin and collar, and dragged some over his tongue as well before tossing them all in the bin beside Crocodile's.

Crocodile had put himself back inside his pants, which confused Luffy a bit, and more so when he pointed and said, "Bring over that table."

It was a chess table. The billionaire started arranging the pieces while Luffy stood and twitched. "Can't you just fuck me?" he whined.

"Old men have to rest in between. Fetch a chair or sit on the floor."

Luffy scowled and dragged over something with a back of swirly, polished wood and pink flowers on the seat. "I ain't smart. I'm gonna lose. You'll be really bored."

"Perhaps so. But your body is mine until sunrise, whether I wish to penetrate it or make it play chess." He gave Luffy an odd look. "Most wouldn't complain about the chess."

Still, he wasn't too happy when he discovered he had to explain most of the moves, or keep telling Luffy not to stick the pieces in his nose or mouth - which happened lots because he was agitated and fidgety and forgot - or whenever Luffy made a dumb move, which was most of them. Finally he sighed and clicked Luffy's king down on the other side of the table. "That was rather disappointing."

"I told you that. You said you wanted my body, not my brain," Luffy muttered.

"Well, then." Crocodile sat back on the bed, tapping the table away with his foot. "I suppose I'll take the rest of that now."

He still seemed puzzled by the relief with which Luffy sprang up, but his next words called back the other realities of the situation. "We'll dispense with those clothes first. Strip."

"O-okay..." They made a small pile on the floor, the fabric too thin and cheap.

"Turn around." He managed to turn full circle without attempting to cover any part of himself, hands still and fisted and held out from his body at each side. There was a long pause from Crocodile, then, "You have an impressive musculature."

"Thanks."

"Boxing?"

"Martial arts. Yoga."

"Take the glasses off."

He did, and the world went a little fuzzier. He hesitated with them poised in his hand, not sure where it would be safe to leave them. Crocodile slowly got up and took them from his fingers. The billionaire walked over to a dresser and Luffy heard the glasses placed down with a gentle click. When Crocodile came back, he started to circle around him. Luffy turned too, until hand and hook caught his shoulders hard and jammed him in place. He felt the tip of the hook unintentionally draw blood. Then Crocodile just walked, and he tried to ignore the different but equally unsettling feelings of when he could see him walking, with the shadows of his face staring intently like that, and when he could only sense it.

"Your body, at least, does not displease - my body."

"Fine," said Luffy flatly, staring straight ahead. "What do you want it to do?"

A tub of something was slapped into his fingers. "Apply that."

Luffy raised it closer to his eyes and squinted at it. "You want me to grease my butt?"

"Yes," Crocodile said through grit teeth. "On the bed. Make sure I can see."

Luffy sighed and dragged his feet through the fuzzy rug, and sighed again as he flopped down on his back. Or maybe that one was more of a huff. He felt his face colour despite his efforts not to show it, as he spread his legs wide for Crocodile, dipped his fingers into the tub, and reached down to daub the slimy contents.

"Inside," Crocodile snapped.

It was tighter than he'd expected, and he needed more grease - and as he worked at it his body started to get weirdly excited, which was strange because he'd never expected that having anything shoved up his backside was going to be any fun at all. One time he made himself gasp, and Crocodile made a noise too, but he was too distracted to figure out if it had been an approving noise or otherwise, and he couldn't see Crocodile's face well enough from as far away as he stood now.

"Enough." Then his fingers slupped out and Crocodile was standing over him, hand gripping his wrist. Luffy felt the hook around his underarm, then circling his thigh, as he was turned over. Then he was crouching on his hands with his knees spread, feeling Crocodile's fingers dig into his hip. He felt a nudge against his entrance. He wondered if Crocodile had been stroking himself hard while he watched.

The larger body bore onto his, and Luffy made an uneasy grunt as the head slid into him, and choked his sounds off as then, smoothly, the rest followed. He felt Crocodile's hips against his buttocks. Then, although it didn't hurt, he couldn't hold in his cry anymore as the other man pulled back and thrust again.

Crocodile pushed forward over him, clothed body brushing against his bare one, bracing their weight together. The hook circled his wrist, locking that hand in place. But it didn't need to. He found himself grunting just as needily as Crocodile at every thrust; his body craving more. Not willing it to end as he'd anticipated - willing, in fact, the opposite. The steady movement stroking inside him felt good. But eventually the tight pleasure sparked with a burst of pain as the hook scored his wrist, while that arm was too-carelessly moved to wrap his waist instead, squeezing his hips back as Crocodile came.

Luffy whined involuntarily as Crocodile's softening length pulled out. His own cock still dribbled, until Crocodile's large hand seized it and with rough but welcome motions milked it to completion.

He slapped Luffy's hip, paused with his hand still rested there... then pulled him over and let him flop on his back on the bed. Crocodile himself stood up, not even taking time to recover his breath. He disappeared into an adjoining bathroom and rattled around in there while Luffy lay and processed all that had just happened.

He hadn't wanted to do it at first, yet it hadn't been awful. His body had even liked it. Did that mean he liked men? Liked Crocodile? Either way, it had been necessary, and he should probably just be grateful he wasn't wired in such a way to have found it intolerable. Maybe he was simply too stupid to appreciate how awful it had been.

He sat up and retrieved the tub from the floor and poked some more of the cool grease into his ass because his body was sore now and it was soothing. Then he crawled under the covers because the night was turning cold, and he didn't know what Crocodile would say if he put his clothes back on.

Crocodile came back from the bathroom dressed in a loose satin robe that showed off a few other scars on his body. He stood at the end of the bed for a long moment before he said, "Get cleaned up. There's a spare toothbrush. Use it. And then come back. I might want you again tonight." He considered. "You'd better not snore."

"Okay." Luffy stumbled hazy-eyed into the bathroom and did as requested, wondering as he did why the face that stared back at him from the mirror seemed so calm and sated. He ran the water over the cuts on his shoulder and wrist where the hook had bitten, rinsed his face, stood in the bath and used cold water to sponge down his groin and thighs. When he came back, Crocodile was himself a snoring lump under the sheets, and he could see the hook rested on the table beside the bed. Luffy left the lamp on and crawled in uneasily beside the older man. Being fucked was one thing, but sleeping next to the guy after...

All the same, he muttered, "Told you," as he hunched down next to him, turning his back and keeping to the bed's very edge.

He had been right - because despite his words earlier, and earlier still, Crocodile slept through till morning.

He awoke spooned against Crocodile, a knee tangled between his legs and something hard prodding against his buttock. Embarrassingly, he was aware that a manservant was clattering around them with morning coffees. Luffy got a raised eyebrow as he blinked up at the guy from the circle of his master's arms.

The sunlight streaming through the curtains meant that it was over. He'd survived the most daunting experience of his life, although it hadn't really been so difficult as all that, after all, which made him feel vaguely like he'd cheated.

He shuffled up out of Crocodile's grip, making the billionaire grunt from his doze, and reached for the tray on his side of the bed. He gained the manservant's disapproval as he drank straight from the milk jug. An alarm clock sounded.

Crocodile made a more awake sounding grunt and flailed at the clock. He gestured irritably at the manservant, who cleared off. As the door clicked closed again, Luffy felt hands on his ass. "Hey, wait-" Ignoring the objection, they turned him around against the expansive spill of pillows, and Crocodile - naked, hook-less Crocodile - parted Luffy's thighs with a hand and a stump.

He was about to protest that it was past sunrise when he remembered the broken clock, and he supposed that he ought to pay that back. Considering his apprehension the day before, it was a surprisingly small and easy decision to make.

He let his body fall back, widening his parted legs and relaxing his muscles - or trying to - and rolling his hips to give better access to Crocodile's grease-dipped fingers. They slipped inside him, more efficient and methodical than Luffy's unpractised ones had been, and as they were pulled out again, they were replaced by Crocodile.

The pressure and the strange but oddly pleasant filling, he remembered from the night before. Easier, this time, as his body seemed to recognise it, opening more smoothly. There was some soreness, but not too much, nothing he couldn't endure. It was weird doing this face to face, to think of the other man watching his expression. Crocodile pushed his weight forward, possibly more than he'd intended because he pulled back sharply, and seemed surprised when Luffy endured the angle of his legs comfortably.

"'S okay," Luffy gulped, as the exit stroked his insides just so, and he tugged at Crocodile's shoulder with his fingers, wanting him back. "'M bendy. Can put m'feet behind m'neck. Yoga. 'S good."

Crocodile chuckled, and thrust into him without hesitation after that. It was neither as sustained or as deeply satisfying as the night before. They were both dopey with waking, muzzy eyed and slow. But it wasn't scary either, and it was oddly relaxed, and kind of fun, even.

Luffy supposed that he must really like sex with men. That, or - well, it seemed unlikely to be Crocodile in particular, who was scarred and weird and probably a killer.

Luffy came early, onto Crocodile's chest and his own, but the other man wasn't more than a minute or two behind, and then they collapsed into a heavily-breathing sprawl. After a moment, Luffy complained at being squashed and wriggled out from under the larger body. They'd got stuff all over the bedclothes, but Crocodile didn't seem bothered and they were his bedclothes. He sat up, too, and began to pour out coffee as though nothing outside their original agreement had just happened.

"...You can go," he said finally, barely looking at Luffy, when he noticed he was only poking at the rest of the contents of his own tray. "Whenever you're ready."

There was something odd about the way he said that, and the hesitation while Luffy nodded and scrambled out of the bed - he could practically see the words hanging at the edge of the older man's lips as he threw on his clothes from the floor, and retrieved his jacket, tie and shoes from the door. He shoved the tie into his pocket, but still Crocodile didn't speak.

His hand touched the doorknob, and Crocodile finally said, "I'd like to see you back at the casino. Any time, tell the doorman your name and they'll let you in, and whoever's with you, and escort you to my personal table."

"So you can get me to put up my body again for another night?" Luffy caught with a nervous bark of laughter. "Thanks, but I should probably stay clear, right? Not that it was bad... but I... I mean, my folks are gonna kill me, I... I-it was fine," he finished lamely, because the billionaire wasn't looking very happy, and he hoped he hadn't pissed him off too much by the refusal.

Crocodile snorted and waved a hand dismissively. "Just go. Tell Jacob you're leaving. He'll drive you wherever you want to go."

Luffy high-tailed it so quickly he didn't remember his glasses were on the dresser until he was sitting feeling small and blurry-eyed in the rear compartment of the huge limousine.

Wherever he wanted to go didn't turn out to be very far. He spotted Usopp hovering outside the front gates and leaped up from his seat, tapping on the glass and yelling the driver to stop there. The man huffed about it, but stopped and went around to open the door and let him out.

Usopp hovered nervously near some bushes, not daring to come close until the car had reversed back through the gates and they'd closed again. Luffy, after his initial excitement at seeing his friend, felt curiously hesitant as well.

"So... Luffy," Usopp said, sidling over, and looking him up and down as though he expected some sort of visible change. "You're... alive... so I guess that means..."

"Yeah," Luffy cut in. "I did it. But it wasn't so bad as all that. It didn't hurt much or anything." He hesitated, then warily ventured, "I think I'd even do it again... with someone I liked, I mean. It was kind of okay. I guess that means I like guys. Or both girls and guys. I dunno, since I never... with a girl."

Usopp choked. "Thanks for sharing that epiphany, Luffy, but... too much information."

"Sorry, Usopp. Thanks for coming to wait for me. I guess you were worried." He scratched at his head and felt the messy disarray of his hair and the absence on his face. "I left my glasses, too, but I don't think I should go back now, so I'll just have to manage without for a while."

"Right. Look... I know you, so... don't tell anyone else about that epiphany of yours unless they need to know, okay? No random strangers in bars, people on the street... large, overmuscled, homophobic strangers anywhere..."

"Why?" Luffy grinned hugely. "Think they'd stand a chance of kicking my ass 'cause of it?" He snickered as his friend sighed, but he was strong, and trained nearly every day, so he wasn't afraid.

They started walking back towards town, Usopp falling into step beside him. Luffy felt odd in his rumpled suit, with his unshowered body that still smelled a bit of Crocodile, though it couldn't be all that strong a scent, because Usopp hadn't commented.

"Makino was freaking out when you didn't come back last night. I told her you'd met a girl. So you're probably gonna get your ass kicked by someone today... Maybe I shoulda said you met a guy."

"Yeah." Luffy chuckled.

"I was j- hell, you're serious about this. Never mind." They walked a bit further, and Usopp sighed. "You know, you could have told the driver to pick me up and take us both back into town..."

Usopp's admission set the pattern of the day after that to hiding from Makino and wasting time till Zeff's Place opened. Some of it, Luffy spent leaned in the grass at the base of a tree, listening to Usopp tell tall tales to the sickly heiress he was courting through her bedroom window. It felt weird to hang out all day in the cheap, unwashed suit he'd worn to Croc's casino. He wished he could change. Half the town had heard the rumours and seeing him still dressed like that only helped confirm them. At least his new unwanted notoriety scored them a bottle of whiskey from Kaya, who interrupted mid-lie to call out "Is Luffy down there?" He stuck his head around the tree trunk and waved, and she disappeared downstairs to take the bottle from the liquor cabinet. Clearly she felt that losing his virginity in such a stupid way before the gossips of the whole town was something that should be celebrated in style.

Or oblivion. One of those.

Early afternoon found them slumped against a tree in the park with the bottle between them, as the threads of the alcohol failed to help numb the depression that was starting to set in.

Luffy hunched his knees up and flopped his arms over them and sagged, and eventually after a few prods and concerned questions from Usopp, he made the effort to try and frame his feelings into words.

"I feel sad, Usopp. I feel like... I think I miss him. Or... well, it's only a couple of hours, so that doesn't make sense, so I guess it's because I know it won't happen again. Now that I know what it's like... that makes me sad..." He whined and slumped deeper, pressing his head between his knees, bent almost in half, and he huffed, aggrieved. "But it's not right, because he used me, and it wasn't fair and I didn't want to be used and I know it wasn't a very nice thing to do. So it shouldn't make it okay that I kind of liked it. And now everyone seems to know what happened, and that sucks, and I want to be angry but it's all just confusing instead."

Usopp choked on whiskey and half dropped the bottle between his knees, then waved his hands wildly in the universal semaphore for 'Too Much Information!' Luffy dug himself out of his huddle to slap his friend on the back until, red in the face, Usopp regained his powers of speech. "Look..." He coughed again, but recovered himself. "Luffy, just forget about Crocodile. He's a bastard - and he's a rich, smug, untouchable bastard, in the bargain! Forget about this whole thing. Nobody will remember it next week. If guys are what you want, we'll find you one with a pulse and half a conscience. You remember Coby, that little guy, rookie cop with the funny colour hair? I heard he's had a crush on you since you beat him back in that tournament in June."

"Coby?" Luffy lifted his head and thought about it, then collapsed back glumly. "I like Coby fine, but I don't think trying to find someone else is gonna help."

"Then-" Usopp pushed the bottle firmly into his hands. "The only other solution is clear."

They never had got around to lunch, and after that they never did, so they were both pretty loose when they rolled through the doors of Zeff's at opening. Rolled practically into the arms of the violent barman Sanji, who swore at them around his cigarette, but didn't need more than one look to declare they'd not eaten all day, and scoot off into the back to make sandwiches.

"Makino's looking for you," the bouncer, Zoro, said blandly. "She had a broom. Seemed all set to shove it where Crocodile's already been."

Luffy winced. So Makino knew now, too. Bad enough going through the day getting those looks off everyone, but Makino was gonna kill him for getting fucked, and then Shanks was gonna kill him for being stupid enough to lose in the first place, and he really wasn't planning on going home anytime soon.

"Heard you were branching out, Luffy," Zeff said with gruff entertainment, leaned back on a chair with his arms hooked over the shelves behind him and his wooden leg on the bar. "Let that be a lesson, damn fool boy. Much safer to throw your money away at Zeff's place than that fancy casino."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed. "If you won my body you'd just make it wash dishes and scrub floors."

Sanji, returning with plates piled high with sandwiches, choked. "He doesn't need your shitty body, you elastic nutcase." The plates slammed down on the counter in front of them.

The stares he'd drawn turned away slowly as Luffy blinked around them.

All things considered, he supposed the guys let it go pretty quickly. Usopp said that Luffy acting like Luffy was hardly going to add weight and drama to a sordid tale. They moved from sandwiches to poker as the bar filled up and grew noisy. The edges blurred further and even if newer arrivals still shot curious looks their way, it was starting to lose its novelty. Luffy discovered that not being able to see the cards didn't actually lower his chances of winning the games. That was kind of depressing, even if he did win some money. Plus Nami, who was dealing, might've been glaring at him if he'd been able to see her, and that was scary.

"-Hey, Zoro buddy!"

"Hey, Zo- whoa, Luffy!"

Zoro's less intimidating duo of friends fell through the door mid-game. Yosaku made the nineteenth joke of the evening about the fact Luffy was sitting down, then Johnny burst out, "You know Crocodile was at your house?"

Luffy yelped and tipped backwards off his chair. "Wha-? Did Makino kill him?!"

"Aren't you worrying about that the wrong way around?" Yosaku puzzled, and was justifiably ignored by all.

Luffy scrambled back to his feet. "-wait, Crocodile's looking for me?!"

"Luffy, you're a freakin' idiot," Sanji said with a snort. "Crocodile's looking for you, Makino's looking for you, and you're hanging out at the one place everyone in town knows they can find you."

Luffy yelped and dashed for the door, skidded to a halt and returned to throw back the rest of his drink, then hared for the door again. He was aware of Usopp getting up behind him mumbling, "I'd better go wi-"

The door missed Luffy's nose by an inch as it slammed open. He fell on his ass and tried to scramble backwards, staring up at Crocodile's figure looming over him. The billionaire had his familiar gold hook on again and was dressed in the huge, heavy coat that made him seem like a giant. Behind Luffy, Usopp had dived under a table. Behind Crocodile, the figures of his bodyguards... or thugs... seemed to grow out of the shadows.

There was the determined stamp of a peg leg on floorboards - Mister Zeff was ready to stand firm even against Crocodile to protect the patrons and his bar, even if he didn't have two real feet to do it.

Luffy's back hit a table leg and he could only gape up at the billionaire. The dim light and his blurry eyes made it impossible to pick out an expression from the shadows of that face, but the red embers of a cigar flared with the sharp, agitated shifts of the tall man's breathing.

"Boy..."

"Luffy," Luffy said automatically.

Crocodile grunted and bluntly started to offer a hand down to him, then paused as though thinking better of it too late. It was the hand that was a hook. His real hand was holding the cigar. Luffy reached up and cautiously curled his fingers around a part that wasn't sharp. He found himself pulled to his feet.

Crocodile bit down on his cigarette and his hand dug into his breast pocket. "You left something. This morning."

The reaction rippled around the bar, but he ignored it. The hook curled around Luffy's wrist, guiding his hand up to accept the offered spectacles. His fingers shivered a bit despite himself as he unfolded the frames and slid them into place on his nose. The details of the world came back into view.

"You were looking for me to return my glasses?" he asked uneasily.

"Clearly," Crocodile said dryly. But Luffy didn't think he meant that.

He heard the collective gasp as hand and hook landed on his shoulders, but the hook slid down so it was the flesh part of Crocodile's wrist touching him. He found himself turned about so he was facing back inside the room, and then he wished he hadn't put his glasses on. He hadn't really wanted to look at all those stares. A light push sent his numb legs stepping forward toward the bar, and the voice in his ear said, "I wish to talk."

Unasked, Zeff slammed two very large measures down on the counter. Crocodile looked at Zeff darkly and Luffy, craning back over his shoulder, could see an oddness in his expression, and had the funniest feeling that the two men knew each other - which was weird, because this was Crocodile, here, standing so large and elegant and out of place in Zeff's little bar.

Crocodile showed his acceptance of the drinks by sitting in one of the selected places, while Luffy more slowly followed suit, still half convinced he could feel the hand and wrist on his back even though they were gone. The bodyguards, he noticed, remained at the door, a couple of them lighting up and trying to look casual. The billionaire glanced around and cleared his throat meaningfully - and, quite deliberately, a dozen conversations and two different card games resumed where they'd left off a very long minute ago.

"'M sorry about the clock," Luffy mumbled, hunching over his whiskey and curling his upper lip and teeth over the rim of the glass where it sat on the counter, but not drinking. "I tried to-"

"What clock?" Crocodile's brow creased deeply. He hesitated, then irritably bit down on his cigar and awkwardly twisted to bring his hand around to pull at Luffy by his collar, leaving the whiskey tumbler rocking on the counter. "Sit up."

Luffy eyed him warily as the billionaire took a sharp breath that hissed through the back of his throat. "You are not like the others. I wish to discuss an arrangement... of a more permanent variety." He shifted in his seat while Luffy blinked, then turned and growled at the rest of the bar, who swiftly began to talk louder again. Crocodile downed his drink and swung the empty glass in his fist without warning. Luffy was far too surprised to even flinch, but as it happened, he only tapped the underside of Luffy's chin with it, jerking his head back up. "Well?"

"What he means is, he wants to see you again," Zeff supplied laconically, suddenly right there and re-pouring as the glass clanked down on the counter. "It's basically a yes/no answer. Unless there's money involved, then you might want to negotiate terms. There money involved, Crocodile?"

Crocodile snarled but seethingly allowed, "If there has to be."

"I ain't a whore." Luffy pulled his legs in and hunched on top of the barstool in an embarrassed knot of limbs. Everyone was staring, even if they were trying to look like they weren't, and he was never gonna be able to deny what had happened last night to anyone now.

"No money involved," Zeff passed on to the billionaire, but arched a bushy eyebrow back at Luffy. "If you ask me, you're wasting an opportunity. Your folks could sure use it. He's rich, you know."

"I know that, Mister Zeff." At least so far he'd only sold his butt to save his butt. For money... Makino would kill him. Even if he did do it to help them.

"Would you shut up?" Crocodile hissed in the owner's face.

"If I hadn't said anything, he wouldn't even know you were propositioning him yet," Zeff grunted, but retreated to the other end of the counter.

Luffy's eyes moved over Crocodile, who was still waiting for an answer, and Luffy had no idea what the hell he was supposed to say. Strange to see the billionaire out of context, instead of in the casino, his big house, his big car; the big man in his rich surroundings. In the little dingy bar, he already looked smaller, and uglier, and his aura, though it still filled the place with power, seemed less powerful too all the same. Luffy fidgeted. What kind of answer did the guy expect?

"You want me to spend the night again, but this time... I don't have to." Crocodile's stillness was all the reply he got. "I don't have to do anything I decide I don't want to do?" He paused. "I get to pick what I do and what I don't. And I get to pick stuff to do as well." His fingers twitched closed as Crocodile nodded warily, looking frankly taken aback. "Then there's something that I need to do before anything else." He felt his voice grow stronger and heard it rise to an angry growl as he spoke.

Crocodile's expression had turned uneasy, and as Luffy watched, it soured and he declared, warningly, "I felt something, last night. I thought that you did, too. But I am not going to beg."

"I don't need that." Before he'd quite realised he was going to do it, Luffy was on his feet and his fist was smarting with the impact that had blooded the side of the billionaire's mouth. "BASTARD! You can't just tell people you'll KILL THEM IF THEY WON'T HAVE SEX!"

A dead silence fell over the whole bar.

Luffy uneasily realised they were more shocked now than when he'd only spent the night with Crocodile.

But... it didn't matter if he'd gone too far, because he wasn't going any further any other way. Maybe he was just some powerless toy next to the billionaire and his resources, but that didn't mean he had to like it or accept it when someone like Crocodile took advantage of him! No matter whether he'd actually liked it or not...

Crocodile lurched and spat blood in a single furious gesture, and growled a curt order that halted the bodyguards where they stood. He straightened and swung his arms up. For a moment it looked like he was going to lunge at Luffy himself, but he paused and didn't. His cigar still hung from the edge of his lips, crushed by Luffy's fist and half shredded by his own teeth. "Are you... finished?" he snarled, dashing blood from his chin with the back of his hand.

Luffy slowly blinked and narrowed his eyes, not quite believing he was going to get away with it just like that. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Yeah. That's it.

"I was scared last night. I didn't know what the hell to do, but I didn't have any choices. It wasn't fair. I didn't mind what we did in the end, but I don't like that you made it happen like that." He paused and found himself overly aware of his breathing, still waiting for Crocodile to retaliate with something more. "There is something else I want to do."

Luffy shoved the barstool across the tiles with a screech until it was planted just a foot or two from Crocodile again, swallowed and climbed back onto it, knees bent up under him, giving him extra height and reach when he leaned from the top. Crocodile flinched back. "What are you doing?"

"If you really want that-" Zeff pointed at Luffy "-it's a question you'll be asking a lot."

"Go 'way, Mister Zeff," Luffy mumbled, knowing that his face was probably blazing red. He swallowed and said to Crocodile, "I want to kiss you. I don't know much about this stuff, but I know most people do that first. I haven't said yes yet. But that should be okay, right? 'Cause you already got way more than that out of me."

"He has a point," Zeff interjected, and grimaced. "And you're reprehensible, and he's crazy."

"Please go away," Crocodile mumbled, but he didn't sound angry. He had a strange look on his face now, and his eyes were fixed on Luffy, not Zeff. "Here?" he asked, sounding like his mouth was as dry as the desert landscapes on his walls.

"Yeah," Luffy said quietly. "Here." The rest of his humiliation had been pretty public, after all.

Slowly, the billionaire stubbed what was left of his cigar on the stained wood of the counter, oblivious to the glare from Zeff that would've petrified most patrons where they stood, and wiped off the rest of the blood from his mouth with his expensive sleeve.

"Fine," the owner snapped, "but I'm wondering how you two are ever going to manage a conversation without an interpreter."

"Maybe we're not that interested in talking," Luffy growled - and realised, in the silence that followed, that after a statement like that he didn't have much of anything left to lose.

He placed his hands on Crocodile's face. Let them watch... The ridge of scar tissue was both rough and smooth under his touch. He drew his palms down over the stubble of that jaw, the warmth of skin, and clasped his feet upon the edges of the barstool's seat and leaned even further forward. Crocodile's lips had parted in surprise, and twitched in further surprise as Luffy flicked his tongue in between them, tasting cigars and whiskey. He didn't have the first idea how to kiss, so he was sure he did a horrible job of it. But when he slid from his perch as the stool finally tipped, large arms seized his waist and didn't let him fall.

Which meant he was held close and straddled across Crocodile's knees when Makino burst into the bar.

She stood in the entrance like an avenging angel, looming over the unconscious forms of the two bodyguards she'd just KO'd with the doors. "Luffy, get OFF that man! And YOU... what the HELL do you think you're doing with him, you scar-faced, hook-handed PERVERT?!"

"Croc-" Luffy whined desperately, finding his voice strangled off as his throat tried to swallow itself.

"Uh-" Faced with the visage of the demon in the doorway, even the billionaire seemed lost for words.

"-I think that we should run."

Nothing about last night had been even half as scary as Makino's face right now.

END