Work Text:
“So… the boy’s your grandson?”
“Yep!” Garp boomed out a laugh. “Luffy, don’t be rude, say hello!”
Pushed forward by his grandfather’s giant hand, Luffy tore his eyes away from the beetle he’d been watching. The teen stared up in confusion at the redheaded woman across from him.
“Who’re you?” he asked cluelessly.
Behind him, Garp tensed. “This is Dadan! I told you a thousand times on the way over—were you not listening again?!” The marine clamped Luffy’s head in a punishing grip. “You’re going to be staying here, and you’ll behave yourself, alright!”
“Wait, wait, wait—stay?” Dadan broke in. “You’re saddling me with another one of these brats? I’m just about to be free of the last one you dropped off!”
Luffy perked at that. He hadn’t known there’d be someone else his age wherever his grandpa was bringing him. Slipping out of his grandfather’s grasp as the adults broke into a yelling match, Luffy started scanning the lush trees and plant life surrounding Dadan’s cabin. The area around here seemed wild and full of adventure, but it’d be even better with a friend.
He heard the adults’ shouting quiet down, Dadan finally relenting. Tiredly, she asked, “And you’re sure he’s a beta? He smells like it, but… The other one was an alpha, and I’m not dealing with that again!”
“One hundred percent certain,” Garp said. “He was a late bloomer, but the doctor on base confirmed it—I didn’t want to drop Luffy in the middle of nowhere before I was sure!” he boomed out with a laugh.
Luffy, however, frowned at the reminder. Beta.
Not wanting to dwell on the thought, he decided to search for the beetle he’d seen earlier. The spark returned to his eyes as he happily explored bright green leaves, mossy bark, damp soil—and then froze.
There was a scent.
It was startling to Luffy, bracing like a breeze under the stars, yet so, so warm, a bonfire spiced with cardamom and clove. Mingling with the earthy sweetness of the forest, it smelled like a memory Luffy had always wanted. He couldn’t get enough. Following the trail almost mindlessly, he drank it in deep. Distantly, Luffy was aware of what the chemicals really told him: the same way his own scent markers said boy and beta and recently presented, this mix told him alpha, a powerful alpha, young, but only growing stronger.
He didn’t have to go far, stopping just slightly off the worn path. Luffy came to the foot of one of the larger trees, and there, among the branches, found what he'd been looking for.
The alpha boy was perched high. His corded muscles gave him a sure grip as his searing gaze appraised Luffy. Abruptly, the wind shifted directions; Luffy could just barely see the boy’s nostrils flare at the change. Then, he took Luffy by surprise, dropping from the tree and rolling to his feet with an animalistic grace.
The boy neared him warily. There was an odd, feverish look in his eyes, but Luffy wasn’t afraid. He only wanted to know what this boy would do next; in that moment, he’d give almost anything to learn more about him, to know him.
It still came as a shock when the boy loomed over Luffy, and then tucked his face into Luffy’s neck. The tip of his nose tickled against his skin, shifting slightly as he took in a long, luxuriant inhale.
Luffy shivered in place, eyes staring blankly forward. His brain was running completely on instinct, tilting his head, and opening his jaw so he could taste their mingled scents. It made the other boy let out a soft rumble, face nuzzling closer, lips parting as they nearly met his throat—
“OI, BRAT!” Dadan screeched, “YOU CUT THAT SHIT OUT RIGHT NOW!”
Eyes snapping wide, the boy immediately recoiled. He stumbled back a few steps as he blinked, gaze clearing before his whole expression shifted into one of shock, and even disgust. Seeming desperate, his eyes searched Luffy for marks, shoulders collapsing just slightly in relief at what he found. Finally, his hands balled into fists at his side.
“Get—” His voice was a rasp. He tore his gaze away, messy fringe covering his face. “Get off my turf,” he spat. Then, he turned and darted back into the woods.
Somewhere that felt far off to Luffy, Dadan finished jogging over to where he stood, Garp right behind her. The redheaded woman was sighing at the exchange.
“You’ve gotta excuse him,” she said, part distressed and part annoyed. “He’s coming down from his rut, and can be a real pain in the ass about it.” Then she muttered, “Never seen him lose it like that, though.”
Garp started yelling something about the boy being way too out of control if he was trying to scent a beta, but Luffy barely heard the words.
He only asked, strangely breathless, “What’s his name?”
—
Over the next few days, Ace tried to avoid Dadan’s new stray as much as he could. The kid just kept dogging him, though, like a burr caught on his shorts.
He honestly wasn’t sure what to make of the other boy. Luffy, whose name he only learned grudgingly, was strange. He'd veer from easily distracted to locking onto Ace with an unerring focus. He was also a runt, short for a beta his age, and small in build even with some fat and muscle. Despite that, Luffy wasn’t helpless. As many times as Ace had ditched him in the middle of the forest, the boy had been able to fend for himself, always showing back up at the bandits’ hideout with a smile.
Above all, Ace decided Luffy was irritating. His eyes, his voice, his summer-y ocean scent… it all made Ace want, and that was the absolute last thing he needed right now.
Ace was getting ready to leave Goa in a matter of months, wrapping up plans long in the making. He’d had a life of cruel rejection; his one friend had been violently ripped away from him, and even if Ace and Dadan might be close, he knew he only caused her grief in the end. This world had made it clear that Ace would never really belong anywhere, or with anyone. Better to cut ties and run.
Ace was an alpha, but he’d never experienced the admiration that was supposed to come along with it, let alone the desire or want of an omega. Which brought him back to his original thought—this instinctive, longing feeling he got around Luffy didn’t make any sense. The kid was a beta, and even if he weren’t…
Ace watched how Luffy endeared himself to the bandits, how he’d already had kind villagers come and check on him solely out of affection. Someone like that, trying to befriend Ace? It had to be a kind of sick joke, right?
The thought lanced through Ace’s mind, stirring up his aggression. He still wasn’t quite clear of his rut, which meant he was probably being irrational, but he couldn’t be bothered to restrain his annoyance anymore. Ace had tried using words alone to push Luffy away—he wasn’t ten—but the kid just wouldn’t fucking leave him be.
Maybe that was how Ace got in this mess.
Earlier that day, he’d set out to hunt in the chill of morning, hoping to shake Luffy by simply leaving before he was awake. The jungle was quickly warming with the rise of the sun, though; and just as surely, Luffy was back on his tail.
Fine. He wants to follow me so bad? Ace seethed to himself, switching routes. I’ll show him somewhere to run. Ace was so distracted by the sound of Luffy’s pattering footsteps, the fog of his frustration, that he ignored the signs of danger ahead. All he knew was that one second, he was racing through the forest, wind whipping his face. In the next, a hulking weight had bowled him clear off the path, making him crash into a tree.
What the—?
Ace rubbed the side of his aching head, peering back in confusion. His eyes widened in alarm at what he saw. He’d fucked up.
A massive, shaggy bear loomed over Luffy, forelegs spread on either side of where he’d collapsed in shock. Ace had brought them right into its territory, thinking maybe Luffy would get a glimpse of the beast and be scared off his trail. Instead, they’d wound up right outside its den, and now they were both getting handled like threats.
The bear snapped its jaw inches from Luffy’s face, making him freeze in place. Ace cringed at the scent that burst across his tongue: it was fear, acrid and intense.
As the bear’s snout lowered menacingly toward Luffy, Ace willed himself to stand, despising the sluggish weight that had settled over his limbs. How hard had he hit that tree? He needed to move.
Just then, Luffy’s terrified gaze slid to the side. His eyes met Ace’s at the same moment a small, pleading whine left his throat.
Ace was up before he could process the thought. He’d shoved between Luffy and the bear in his next breath, body shielding the boy protectively while his lips pulled back in a snarl.
“Leave. Him. Alone,” Ace growled, fingers clawing into the ground as adrenaline rushed through his veins.
The bear seemed to shrink back with every heartbeat. A swirl of Ace’s furious scent and aura saturated the entire clearing, drowning out the haze of Luffy’s fear in seconds.
“Now,” Ace hissed.
The bear scrambled backward.
Before it even reached its den, Ace had scooped Luffy into his arms and darted the way they came. He kept running and running, until any hint of the bear’s musk had completely left them behind.
Even though Luffy’s heartbeat seemed to calm by then (at least where Ace could feel it through his shirt), there was still a strange, glazed look in his eyes as he stared up at Ace. He shivered lightly whenever he took in a particularly deep inhale, or when Ace adjusted his grip on the other boy.
Finally, as they reached a familiar clearing, Ace reluctantly set Luffy back on the ground. It was hard to meet his eyes now that guilt had replaced his urgency.
Still, he reached out to brush dirt off Luffy’s arm, and uttered, “Sorry.”
Luffy blinked at him. “For what?”
Ace’s hormone-fueled aggression, briefly forgotten, came back as annoyance at the lack of concern. He grit his teeth as he said, “I knew it was dangerous, where we were going. Wanted to scare you.” Then, Ace sighed through his nose, deflating at the obvious truth. It would’ve been my fault if you got hurt.
“Oh.” After a moment, Luffy smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Your rut’s still happening, right? And I just keep bugging you by tagging along.”
Thrown off by the easy way he’d stated things, Ace slowly nodded. He couldn’t help asking, if everything was so simple—”Why do you keep doing it?”
“I belong with you,” Luffy said. “You felt it too, right? The day we met?”
Ace’s brows leapt.
Thankfully, Luffy kept talking. “I mean, I haven’t hung out with people our age that much, but I don’t think what we did normally happens.”
Ace, pale and trying to get his pulse back under control, dropped into a crouch. He was exhausted from so many emotional shifts in one morning.
Sure, he had felt something that day, but there was no way he was going to admit it. Focusing on the easier-to-digest part of Luffy’s sentence, he asked, “What, you didn’t hang out with other kids?”
“Nah. Not as much as I wanted.” Luffy swayed in place, reminiscing. “Gramps kept me pretty locked down on Marine bases growing up, I think because of who my dad is? I’m not really sure. Anyway, even when I could sneak away, we never stayed in the same place long. I had to say bye to a lot of my friends right after I met 'em."
Ace must have made some kind of dismayed expression, because Luffy waved his hands, reassuring. "I'm gonna find them again, I swear! They're the ones I want for my pirate crew, after all. But, yeah..." His tone quieted. "Meeting them wasn't like with you. I mean, the betas were nice, and alphas were funny—sometimes they got mad when I was stronger than them—”
Absently, Ace interjected, “You’re not stronger than me.”
Luffy grinned playfully. “Yeah, well.” His eyes slid away. “I kind of like that. For now, anyway.”
Ace and his big mouth. He flushed furiously, because—he liked it too. The thought that he could protect this boy, Luffy, specifically…
Trying to get the conversation back on track, he stuttered, “W-what about omegas?”
A strange look crossed Luffy’s face. It almost seemed sad, but Ace couldn’t be sure.
“I got jealous of ‘em,” he said plainly. “Being a beta is lonely. Omegas get to belong to someone, and have someone belong to them the same way.”
He looked right at Ace, who quaked under the stare.
Finally, Luffy said, “You treated me like one of them, and I liked it. I get the feeling I wouldn’t like it from any other alpha but you, though.”
Ace’s mouth went dry. His mind was spinning, unable to process anything past the ringing in his ears. Desperate, his eyes randomly noted the smears of dirt on Luffy’s palms.
“Come on,” he said, standing robotically. “Let’s go back. I’ll help you get cleaned up.”
“You—” Luffy perked. “You will?”
Fighting past a split second of hesitation, Ace grabbed Luffy’s hand. “Yeah,” he said gruffly.
He was still holding on when they reached the lodge.
—
After that day, Ace started to act different around Luffy.
First, it was just him being patient, seeming more willing to put up with Luffy’s presence and odd behaviors.
Then, Ace started seeking Luffy out. He would drag Luffy to sit by him when they’d eat, or make sure he was in sight before falling asleep. A few times, Ace had even insisted—to Luffy’s delight—that they hold hands as they lay in their neighboring bedrolls, Ace’s eyes studying him while Luffy’s breaths turned to snores.
After months and months, it was affection. Ace smiled at Luffy when they were out exploring, or when he caught something particularly impressive during a hunt. He showed Luffy the boat he’d been preparing for his future pirating voyage, posturing and seeming flushed with pride as Luffy fawned over the vessel. And just today, Ace had tucked a lock of Luffy’s hair behind his ear, fondly teasing that it was getting messy—”even messier than usual.”
“It’s a good thing you’re getting it cut, right?” he offered as he headed out from the cabin, shooting Luffy a grin. “I’ll trust him in your hands, Makino!”
Next to him, the visiting woman laughed, but Luffy couldn’t respond. He was too distracted fighting down the wave of heat that swam under his skin, rippling out from where Ace’s fingers had brushed his cheek.
In fact, Luffy had been feeling strange quite a lot lately. It was most intense over the last month, but he’d noticed odd changes ever since the encounter with the bear. His symptoms all revolved around Ace, of course: he had an increased sensitivity to any kind of touch from the boy, and getting caught up in his scent filled Luffy’s mind with a heady fog. There were other things, too—aching cramps that lurked in his gut, weird cravings, moments of dizziness.
He’d heard of sensations like this happening, but never to a beta like him. It left him with a single idea. He knew it was impossible, and yet... he couldn't let it go.
Still, Luffy's hunch didn’t make any sense. Thinking this might be his best chance to ask someone who actually knew anything, he cleared his throat.
Makino paused, just beginning to detangle his hair. “Yes, Luffy?” she asked.
“I was wondering…” He kicked his feet. “Have you ever heard of someone… changing from a beta, to something else?”
After a moment of surprise, Makino smiled. “You mean like the fairy tales? A frog turning out to be an alpha prince, and things like that?”
“Ah, n-no, not really.” Luffy looked away. “More like, I—I have this friend, who knows he’s a beta, but things have been… weird for him. At first he thought he might be sick, but now he has this crazy idea, like he might be—” Luffy tucked his head down into his shoulders, voice turning into a squeak. “—becoming an omega?”
Makino’s eyes widened. For reasons Luffy didn’t understand, her gaze shot to his neck, roving over the skin there. Her posture relaxed, though, when she found it completely unblemished.
She sounded slightly breathless with relief as she answered, “Oh, Luffy, you and your imagination. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it happening on its own. But… does your friend want to see a doctor? If he’s sick, he really should—I could talk to the one in town.”
“That’s okay!” Luffy rushed to say. “He doesn’t think anything’s wrong! Or, I mean, he kind of wants it to happen?” At Makino’s confused expression, Luffy scrambled to say, “His instincts are telling him not to worry, but… Sorry, I’m sure this all sounds weird.”
Makino tilted her head sympathetically. “It’s not weird. But you should tell me or Dadan if anything else changes, okay?”
Shyly, Luffy nodded.
“Good.” Makino sighed, picking up where she’d left off in Luffy’s hair. “Hey, how about I tell you the story of the baker, and the witch who asked for all his family’s firstborn pups unless he made her the most delicious pie in the world?”
“Pie?!” Luffy’s regular excitement lit up his face, and he could barely stop bouncing enough for Makino to continue her work. “Yeah! I wanna hear it!”
Makino smiled, carefully trimming Luffy’s hair as she told the tale.
What neither of them noticed, as her gentle voice floated into the air, was Ace frozen stock still just outside the building.
—
Luffy’s words occupied Ace’s every thought that evening. He had to admit, Luffy’s scent seemed different lately, but it had always been particularly rich and mesmerizing for Ace. It was certainly still that of a beta, though.
Ace racked his brain, wondering if there was any real possibility behind Luffy’s words. He was certain no one had touched, or god forbid, bitten Luffy in a way that would cause that sort of change—Ace would have known. And he would’ve ripped whoever did it apart. Deep down, however, his instincts whispered just the same as Luffy’s: this idea wasn’t something to ignore. In all of Ace’s memory, he’d never heard of a change like this happening without cause, except…
Hadn’t Sabo said something once, about mates and brains and hormones? Sabo had always been so smart, and here Ace was struggling to remember. There had been some sort of story, though, or theory—an idea about people who could change their destiny if they had… What was it? “Compatible pheromone influence, and a strong appetite”?
He’s definitely got an appetite, Ace thought tiredly, turning over in his bedroll to look at Luffy. The boy was slumbering peacefully, snores and all.
Even with the gentle rush of fondness, Ace frowned. He had a feeling that “hunger” probably wasn’t what Sabo meant all those years ago. Rolling back over, he groaned silently to himself. None of this makes any sense.
Over the next few days, as much as Ace wanted to bring up all the jumbled thoughts in his head, he had too many other things to worry about. It was almost time at last for him to leave—he’d put off his departure too long already. On top of that, his rut was rearing its ugly head again. Ace rushed to finalize his plans and move supplies to his ship, knowing he’d be losing at least a day or two to hiding away in the forest.
At the height of each of his past ruts, Ace took refuge in the old treehouse he’d shared with Sabo forever ago, back before either of them had even presented. The structure was worn down, but sturdy. Best of all, it was isolated. Ace had gotten a pretty good grip on his urges over the years (other than when he’d been blindsided, meeting Luffy), but he still preferred to ride out the burning, aggravated throes of his worst hours alone.
That had been his plan, anyway. Why couldn’t Luffy ever let things be easy?
That morning, Ace had woken up to a spike in the fever pitch of his hormones; he’d snuck away to the treehouse as quickly and quietly as he could, but of course he hadn’t escaped Luffy’s notice.
The beta was sniffing around the base of the structure, having clearly followed Ace’s trail through the woods. When he curiously raised an arm to the bottom rungs of the treehouse’s ladder, Ace called out from the platform above.
“Luffy! Get out of here, idiot!” Ace ran a hand through his hair—he could already catch whiffs of Luffy’s refreshing scent on the wind, and it was wreaking havoc on his mind.
“No! Let me come up, Ace!” Luffy’s tone took on a whining pitch as he said, “We only have a few more days together—I wanna spend them with you!”
When he started climbing the ladder, Ace frantically rushed to hold down the trapdoor at the top. He yelled through the wood, aggravated, “I’m here for my rut, Lu! Not for some stupid sleepover!”
“I know that!” His voice sounded right from the other side of the door. “I know that,” he said more softly. “And I don’t want you to spend it alone—I heard that hurts, when it’s bad. I could…”
Ace took in a breath, willing him not to say his next words.
“I could help,” Luffy murmured.
The air rushed out of his lungs. Ace laid his forehead against the wood, shivering. The thought of having Luffy around, letting Ace touch and nuzzle his skin during the waves of his rut made his mind race. Maybe that could be okay—it would probably be better than dragging his nails against the wood of the fort, lying around in agony like he usually did.
Luffy was quiet for a moment, maybe waiting for an answer. When he didn’t get one, he went on, “We don’t have to do anything, m-maybe just kiss, or whatever.” Ace heard him breathe in deep. “But we belong together, Ace.”
Ace closed his eyes. Then, before he could think better of it, he lifted the trapdoor open.
At Luffy’s surprised face on the other side—messy hair, wide eyes, favorite hat falling behind him until its cord rested gently against his throat—Ace almost closed the door right back, unsure he could resist such a dear temptation.
But he crawled away from the opening, watching Luffy climb up into the space warily.
Luffy knelt across from him on the old bedding Ace had managed to scrounge together. His expression immediately shifted, gaze going lidded as his nostrils twitched.
“O-oh,” he said. “That’s… You’re in deep.”
Ace’s laugh was mostly air, spilling weakly over his lips. He was more concentrated on not losing his mind while drinking in Luffy’s scent—Luffy’s aroused scent. The bouquet had changed since he’d last experienced it; instead of just a bright, seaside breeze, it was rounded out with the smell of lush, heavy-petaled flowers, and cut through with a citrusy coolness that was like having his every thirst quenched. Ace shivered in his spot as it washed over him.
He didn’t realize he’d closed his eyes until Luffy called out his name.
“Ace…” Luffy crept forward, his own chest heaving with how the alpha’s scent was affecting him. Reaching his side, Luffy started moving to sit across Ace’s lap. Ace shook his head, hands clenched at his side.
“Hey,” Luffy murmured, sliding his fingers between Ace’s. He brought their entwined hands up, pressing a kiss to rough knuckles.
The touch echoed through Ace, rushing up his neck and making his eyes roll back.
“Luffy,” he groaned.
In a flash, he’d unclasped their hands to circle his arms around Luffy’s back, pulling him as close as he could get. Face nestled into Luffy’s neck, fingers against his spine, Ace relished the soft skin and fabric in ecstasy. That delicious scent continued to wash over him; his mouth watered with how sweet the relief was, everything about Luffy a balm on his senses.
After Luffy’s initial sound of surprise, the boy had gone quiet, taking it all in. Ace’s nuzzling and scenting made him feel too many things at once: flustered, happy, safe… and especially, ticklish. Luffy broke into laughter, fingers pulling on the fabric along Ace’s shoulders.
It was such a familiar, endearingly Luffy sort of thing to happen. Ace felt a little more of the fog of his rut clear away, and he let out a playful grumble at Luffy’s chuckling. He was happy, though. Without thinking much about it, his lips pressed against Luffy’s smiling ones in what was their first, real kiss.
Chuckles trailing off, Luffy absolutely melted against him as the kiss went on. With Luffy’s warm fingertips resting on Ace’s chest, and small sighs of pleasure slipping out between them, the alpha finally felt the last of his tension unwind. This was right. This was exactly where they were both supposed to be, he knew it as surely as the fire thrumming deep within him.
Ace licked across Luffy’s bottom lip, then teased his tongue against the seam of his mouth, enjoying a twist of satisfaction at Luffy’s answering shudder. Luffy chased the feeling as he pressed his lips insistently against Ace’s, all but begging for more with soft whines and cautious, brief scrapes of his teeth.
Soon enough, Ace relented, splaying a hand around the back of Luffy’s head as he tilted them together. His tongue swept between Luffy’s lips, filling the space to the point saliva was pushed out, spilling down their chins. Luffy’s resulting moan vibrated between their chests. Instinct pushed Luffy to thread his arms around Ace’s neck; desire made him slowly rock his hips. Base need had him dragging his torso heavily against the bare skin revealed by Ace’s open shirt—making the air evaporate from Ace’s lungs.
The alpha, stunned, petted soothingly up and down Luffy’s back and wondered when the tables had turned. While his frenzy had gotten better… Luffy’s had gotten worse.
Panting, Ace pulled away from their kiss and took Luffy’s face between his hands. The boy’s eyes were feverish, lips swollen, and his cheeks were flushed like a dawn sky. Then, noticing a strange sensation, Ace glanced down. His brain ground to a halt.
There was something wet sliding down Luffy’s leg, visible below the cuff of his shorts. Luffy seemed to notice it at the same time Ace did: he watched with confused, bated breath, as Ace shakily lowered two fingers and brushed them through the substance on his thigh.
Ace was hardly breathing as he lifted those fingers to his lips. Just when he touched his tongue to the digits, he took a careful sniff—
Saliva flooded his mouth.
Holy fuck. Ace’s jaw hinged open, nearly drooling over the assault of Luffy’s scent, his slick. It was like earlier, but refracted, the notes compounding over each other until Ace’s senses were overwhelmed.
Meeting Luffy’s wide, dilated eyes over his knuckles, Ace rasped, “You changed?”
Luffy’s gaze darted back to Ace’s fingers. His expression wavered, hazy desire warring with curiosity.
Ace watched, entranced, as Luffy copied his movement to gather some of the slick. Except, instead of reaching for the same spot by his knee, Luffy’s palm slid flat against his own stomach, then under the waistband of his shorts. Ace could see the fabric shift as Luffy’s hand grazed his cock and then dipped farther between his legs. Luffy’s lids fluttered. Ace’s eyes were locked onto the muscles of his forearm, shifting in the same slow, sinful rhythm as the subtle roll of his hips.
Finally, Luffy blinked himself back to awareness. “It’s really slick,” he whispered, almost wonderingly. Retrieving his hand to stare at it, he went on, “When… did I—?”
But Ace was too turned on by the display to wait. He surged forward, sealing their mouths together again. When their wet hands entwined, Ace shuddered at the feeling, awe heightened by his receding shock.
Arousal returning full force, Ace nipped his way down Luffy’s jaw, then nuzzled at his neck. Luffy bared it enticingly, but Ace had forgotten about the hat and its stupid strap; he nudged it, dismayed, before closing his teeth around the cord. Ace kept their gazes locked as he leaned back, prized possession pulled by his canines.
Luffy stilled, feeling the strap tugged away from his throat. He was flushed as he stared up at Ace, eyes bright with something that might have been nerves, but seemed more and more like anticipation.
Ace held his gaze a moment longer. Then, his sharp incisors pressed down on the strap. The leather parted between his teeth; gently, the hat fluttered down, separated ends of the cord slipping away from Luffy’s neck. Now, at last, there was no barrier between mouth and skin. Ace pressed his teeth pointedly against Luffy’s scent gland, making indents in the sensitive swell while earning a drawn-out moan.
That confirmed it: the resulting bloom of scent, the fever in Luffy’s eyes, the want in his frantic voice. It was one thousand percent omega. An omega in heat.
“I can’t believe it,” Ace breathed out, amazed. “You really did it.”
“It’s—'' Luffy gasped. “It’s ‘cause of you,” he said, breathless but certain.
The words made Ace still. When Luffy squirmed at that, distressed, he carefully tipped them forward until Luffy was lying on his back, Ace between his legs. All thoughts of restraint had flown from Ace’s mind. He braced himself on his arms, hovering over the omega—his, his, his omega.
Keeping silent for a moment, Ace trailed a hand down Luffy’s chest. His sight was locked on Luffy, watching his every twitch and tremble at the progress of his fingers. Finally, as his grasp reached the waistband of Luffy’s shorts, he spoke.
“You changed for me?” Ace rumbled, pulling clothes away from Luffy’s hips. “Do you realize how that sounds?”
Luffy whined, hands balled into fists near his head.
Once the garments were out of the way, Ace maneuvered his hand between Luffy’s legs. His fingers dragged through the sheen of slick to trace teasingly around his entrance.
At Luffy’s shiver, Ace’s breath dragged heavily out of his lungs. He lowered his head, so his lips could whisper against the shell of Luffy’s ear.
“You wanted to be mine that bad?” he said, fingers curling inside.
Luffy keened, back arching off the floor. It took him several long, quavering breaths to regain his ability to speak.
“Yes,” Luffy gasped, as Ace’s hand began pumping in and out slowly. “Please—please, Ace—”
Ace pressed kisses to Luffy’s neck and shoulder. “What do you need?”
Luffy trembled for a little while longer through the onslaught, hands tangling desperately in the blankets beneath him. Ace’s fingers circled and rubbed deliciously inside him, but at last, he managed to unclench his jaw.
“Wanna belong to you. Make me…” Luffy moaned and shifted his hips downward, feebly trying to fuck himself on Ace’s hand. “Please make me yours.”
Ace, mind going pleasantly blank, slotted his mouth against Luffy’s with the intent of devouring him whole. The next thing he knew, his pants were off his hips, and the drooling head of his cock kissed Luffy’s warmth.
He locked eyes with Luffy one last time, searching the dark depths.
Luffy struggled—when had Ace pinned his hands down?—and tearfully begged, “Please!”
Lips parting in awe, Ace pushed himself inside in one slow, torturous stroke. Luffy’s breath hitched, and he let out a keen that rose steadily in pleasure, music to Ace’s ears.
And then Ace took care of his omega. He fucked him long, and wet, and messy on the floor of that old treehouse, as the sun dipped below the canopy and moonlight graced their faces. Luffy was so gorgeous for him, moaning as he came again and again on Ace’s cock, sliding more slick and cum between their stomachs with each release. Late in the night, Ace added saliva to the mix: while Luffy rocked in his lap, Ace lapped roughly at his chest, worrying the tender skin as he took in the salt of their communion.
Luffy sighed at the sensation of Ace’s tongue dragging over his raw, abused nipples, arching into Ace’s hands on his ass and resting his cheek against soft hair. Unbidden, his voice drifted over Ace’s back.
“I wish I had milk for you.”
It took a moment for the words to register. When they did, it stoked the embers of Ace’s desire. He could imagine it so clearly, Luffy’s chest swollen and sensitive, the way he’d petulantly whine for relief, all of him softly rounded out by and for Ace’s touch.
He’d been trying to ignore it, but Ace’s knot had been building for a while now. Every sink of Luffy’s hips pressed on it deliciously. But now, Ace made sure Luffy didn’t slip too deep; there was one thing keeping him from allowing the thick base of his cock to lock inside Luffy.
“You don’t want my pups,” he stated, yet it wasn’t harsh. “I wouldn’t want to leave you alone, and you’re young—you have your own dreams.”
Luffy rolled his hips, smiling. “I could do both. What could be better than following my heart, with you at my side?”
Breath stuttering against Luffy’s shoulder, Ace shook his head in halting disbelief.
Luffy slowed his movements. Putting a hand under Ace’s chin, he tilted Ace’s face up.
His tone grew tender, the most vulnerable Ace had ever heard it, as he said, “No one’s ever felt more like home than you, Ace.” The pads of his fingers traced the arch of Ace’s brow, then reverently ghosted over the curve of his freckled cheek. A wobbly, terrified grin spread across Luffy’s face, as he asked the same thing of Ace he always had. “Let me come with you.”
Ace stared up, wide-eyed. For a stretch, the only sounds around them were the calls of the forest at night. That, and the pair’s slow, synchronized breathing.
Luffy broke into pants when Ace’s hands tensed on his hips, then pressed him steadily, slowly down over his knot.
“Oh,” he gasped out wetly. “A-a-ace,” he said over a long hum.
Luffy tensed his walls experimentally, then collapsed forward, helplessly limp on Ace’s chest as bolts of pleasure ricocheted up his spine. Ace had to resort to holding Luffy in place, grinding his knot into the blinding heat surrounding him.
“Alpha,” Luffy slurred into his neck, eyes going crossed and hazy. The long-starved thing in Ace’s chest seethed in approval. Hands gripping Luffy’s slicked cheeks and spreading them, he stretched the strung-out omega back off his knot—then, made sure his next gyrating thrust had Luffy screaming in shocked bliss.
Luffy wound up drooling over Ace’s shoulder, cheeks and body bouncing with each mind-numbing thrust. Scrambling to cling to something, anything, his hands finally latched around Ace’s back as the alpha groaned into his hair.
Before long, Luffy babbled, “With me, with me,” in a plea.
Ace nodded, eyes rolling back as he guided Luffy’s lips against his. “Always,” he purred into Luffy’s mouth, his cheek. Nuzzling his way down to Luffy’s neck, he rasped his canines against the junction just above his shoulder.
“My omega,” he sighed, and then sank his teeth in.
The perfect, fiery sting had Luffy coming so hard, he blacked out. When he came to, he was tucked beneath a rumbling, adoring mass of alpha. Ace kissed and lapped soothingly at Luffy’s sore neck. His hips were moving, but only in languid, content circles, stirring up a molten warmth inside Luffy that made him drool to feel. In fact, everything below Luffy’s waist felt melty and jelly-like, except for the sure weight of Ace’s knot keeping them together. Without it, Luffy thought he might float right off into the stars.
In the rippling aftershocks of pleasure, Luffy groaned, but it quickly turned into a yawn. All his limbs sang with sweet exhaustion.
“Ace,” he whispered, trailing an affectionate hand up and down the curve of his lover’s back.
“Mm?” he heard in response, after another soft, lingering kiss.
“I… really wanna sleep.”
Ace’s laugh was met with Luffy’s quiet snickering, and the two settled even closer together, unwinding in the gentle warmth of the night.
Luffy breathed out a wordless sigh of thanks. Whatever surprise his body had pulled off today, he knew what the real miracle was. He’d spent years waiting for this—searching, always searching, for something he didn’t even have a name for.
Now he knew, it was family. And he knew, it was Ace.