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The stop at the island of Maquillat is meant for stocking their inventory. It’s the closest island in a vast area of emptiness, and Law would rather be safe than sorry in this side of the Grand Line. However, this being an island whose main economy is its cosmetics market, several members of the crew take the opportunity to visit all the different little shops and resupply their makeup… Cora-san included.
He asks Law if they can just have a quick look at some lipsticks. “I’m running out of this one, but it won’t take me long, I promise, we’ll be in and out before you know it,” he says, as though Law won’t delay their departure by a week if that’s the time it takes Cora-san to buy whatever he needs. If Cora-san wants something, Law will turn the world upside down to get it for him.
He watches Cora-san browse the shelves and tables, listening to the seller as she shows him different brands and colors and holds them up to Cora-san’s lips in front of a mirror. Cora-san asks to see the shades of red, and the young woman talks to him about the best tones for his complexion, the ones that go better with the makeup Cora-san has in mind, even the ones his “partner” (as she says while not-so-subtly gesturing towards Law) might find more enticing.
Law is about to snap that he finds everything about Cora-san enticing, thank you very much, but Cora-san smiles at the seller and says, “Ah, don’t worry, my partner trusts me. Thank you, though!”
Law does not blush at Cora-san calling him partner. He doesn’t. No one saw it, therefore it did not happen.
In the end, Cora-san settles on a shade a little brighter, a little closer to actual red than the one he’s been wearing. But before he can purchase it, the young woman clears her throat.
“I must warn you,” she says, “our products have been known to increase the libido of some individuals. We don’t entirely know who it will or won’t affect, so by purchasing this lipstick, you acknowledge that this might function as an aphrodisiac, and we won’t and cannot be held responsible for any consequences therein.”
Cora-san turns to look at Law at the same time Law turns to look at him. Aphrodisiacs are much more of a mind game than a miraculous cure; by telling them of the possible effects of the lipstick, the young woman might trick their brains into believing her, but only if they want to believe her. Ah, the science of placebos.
In all truth, Law and Cora-san have no issues with either of their libidos. They’re already pretty high for two people who never had any sort of sexual appetite before they started having sex with each other, and Cora-san’s is somehow even higher than Law’s, so it’s not like they need to go out in search of aphrodisiacs to spice up their sex life. Still, Law won’t say no to one more reason to touch the man he’s obsessed with.
“Hm,” Cora-san breathes. “Might be fun to try it.”
Law smirks to himself. Good to know that they’re on the same page.
The poor seller tries to disguise a bark of laughter with a cough as she rings Cora-san up, and she’s kind enough to wish them good luck and prosperity as they exit the store.
They look at some more shops and stalls, and Cora-san ends up buying a few more lipstick tubes that are decidedly not aphrodisiacs, just in case the first lipstick works as intended and makes it impossible for him (and, in turn, Law) to get any work done.
The Hearts reconvene at the Tang, carry in all of their acquired stock for their journey ahead, and say goodbye to Maquillat Island.
It’s until six days later that Cora-san tells Law that he’s officially run out of his usual lipstick.
“Do you think I should try one of the ones I bought after?” he suggests, fiddling with the tube of maybe-maybe-not-aphrodisiac lipstick. “Just to play it safe?”
“If you’d like,” Law shrugs.
Cora-san hums, his tone nervous. “I should probably find out if it actually works, right? Because then I’ll know whether to use it or not.”
“Or when to use it,” Law adds, wiggling his eyebrows to make Cora-san laugh.
“Okay. Okay.” Cora-san takes a deep breath and exhales it in a huff. His grip tightens around the little tube in his hand. “Let’s see what we got ourselves into, shall we?”
Law watches Cora-san apply his new lipstick at the ensuite bathroom mirror. His movements are smooth, quick, a hypnotizing flicker of his wrist that Law follows as if in a trance. The color, now that it’s on Cora-san, is absolutely stunning—it brings out his eyes, draws attention to his lips, perfectly complements the structure of his face in such a way that Law finds himself breathless, all of a sudden. He’s always thought Cora-san is gorgeous, with a sort of quiet beauty and elegance to him, despite his occasional clumsiness and proclivity to spontaneously combust, but with this new shade of makeup on his mouth… Law can’t stop staring at him.
Cora-san lets out a small sound of surprise.
“Huh. Well. It’s not what I expected, but I like it! I think it suits me.” He tilts his head in Law’s direction. “What do you—”
“Yes,” Law answers.
Cora-san laughs. “Really?”
“Yes,” Law repeats. “Do you feel any different?”
Cora-san glances back at his reflection in the mirror. “Not yet, at least. I should’ve asked how long it takes for it to work, if it does at all.”
Just like Law suspected, aphrodisiacs are rarely a miracle cure or a fast-acting agent. Only time will tell if the lipstick actually has any effect whatsoever in Cora-san’s libido (not that he needs anything of the sort), though Law highly doubts it, he should’ve known the young woman from the store was talking out of her ass, they must be trained to give their little spiel so that they sell more products that way, and shame on him and Cora-san for ever thinking—
“Um, Law?”
Law blinks, startled, like he’s just woken up from a dream. He’s standing right in front of Cora-san, one of his hands raised to Cora-san’s face so his thumb can rest softly on the corner of his mouth. How did he…? He was on the threshold to the bathroom, when did he even think about moving, let alone actually move?
“Sorry,” he mutters. “I… I just…” He hears himself as if he were far away from his body, as if his voice weren’t coming from him, he— he’s so distracted by the damn red color on Cora-san’s lips, he needs to touch it, needs to know what it tastes like.
The kiss he tugs Cora-san into is no different than their goodnight kisses or their good morning kisses: mouths closed, no urgency or desperation, a simple press of their lips. Cora-san’s lipstick, in fact, doesn’t have any flavor, or at least not any that Law recognizes. The only thing he can taste is Cora-san himself, and he cups Cora-san’s face and pushes a little harder into the kiss to get more of him.
Cora-san relaxes against him, his own hands curling around Law’s waist. For a long moment, all they do is stay like that, lips locked and hands on each other to feel one another close as they kiss. Law draws back at some point, only slightly, half a millimeter, and Cora-san is on him again just as Law leans forward to meet him once more. This happens sometimes—one kiss turns into two into three into seven into thirteen into losing count—and Law lives for it, for the pleasure of losing himself in Cora-san’s kisses. But now… he can’t describe the sensation, can’t explain what it is he’s after, he… he just wants to kiss Cora-san more. There’s a fire simmering in his belly, and he knows, somehow, that it won’t take much to stoke it into an inferno.
Law breaks a hair’s breadth away from Cora-san.
“Cora-san,” he starts, with the intention of trying to make sense of what he wants to say, what he wants to do, but Cora-san nods his head like he understands and goes back to kissing him.
Law’s body ignites at once. In the blink of an eye, he’s clinging to Cora-san’s arms as Cora-san pushes him towards their bed, hands never letting go of each other. The back of Law’s legs smack against the mattress, sending him sprawling onto it with Cora-san on top of him, pinning him under the solidness of his body. Cora-san shoves a leg between his, almost without thinking, and the contact has Law hardening in the span of a second, Blues be merciful, when was the last time he was this turned out after just kissing? He would be embarrassed, really, if it weren’t for the fact that he pulls Cora-san’s hips towards his own and finds him just as hard behind his pants.
“Fuck,” he gasps before Cora-san threads his fingers through Law’s hair, tugs his head back, and slides his tongue inside Law’s mouth.
The whimper Law releases has Cora-san groaning against his lips, grinding his clothed dick over Law’s, and Law whines, bucking upwards into the contact. While he would usually have no problem letting himself be ravished, he would much rather climb Cora-san like a tree, needs to hold onto him more than he needs air, so he shoves at Cora-san’s shoulders until the man sits up and straddles him and makes himself at home on Cora-san’s lap, his arms enveloping his neck. He digs his teeth into the soft, plump flesh of Cora-san’s lower lip. He slots their mouths together, sucks on Cora-san’s tongue, thrusts against his erection and pictures how good it’d feel if there were no layers of fabric between them.
Law could get rid of their clothes, could at least drag their pants down enough for Cora-san to circle his hand around them both and stroke them to completion, and his mouth waters at the thought. But if he were to stop touching Cora-san, or if Cora-san stopped touching him, even for a split second, he might actually die, he knows he will.
“Law.” Cora-san wraps an arm around his waist and clasps Law’s nape. “Law.” He kisses the corner of Law’s mouth, then his jawline, “Law,” then the side of his neck, then his throat, “Law,” then he trails the same path in reverse on the opposite side, finishing his journey by kissing and sucking on Law’s parted lips. “Law.”
His lipstick is all smudged, reminding Law of the way Cora-san used to wear his makeup as Corazón, and Law moans and presses a kiss to every inch of Cora-san’s bare skin he can touch. He wants to leave marks all over Cora-san to mirror the smudges Cora-san most likely has already left on him, their very own brand of ownership. God, the image they must make sends a shiver down Law’s spine, makes him snap his hips even harder against Cora-san’s.
“Cora-san,” he pants as both of their thrusts grow uncoordinated and even more desperate. “Cora-san—”
“Mh-hm,” Cora-san grunts, sucking another mark under Law’s jaw. “Me t— oh—”
To Law’s surprise, Cora-san comes first, burying his cry on the point where Law’s neck connects with his shoulder. His palms move to Law’s ass to aid in the rhythm of his hips, and the warm dampness of his orgasm is the greatest thing Law has ever felt, and he muffles a shout against Cora-san’s cheek and follows right behind him.
They rock together through the aftershocks, bodies undulating against each other’s until they can catch their breaths. Cora-san kisses him again, and the small rationale Law has left knows that he should put a stop to this before they can get carried away into round two, but the greater part of him just wants Cora-san to keep kissing him, even if it means the arousal in his belly starts to build up a second time.
“Well,” Law mumbles in the infinitesimal space between their mouths. “Suffice to say, I think the seller was telling the truth.”
Cora-san giggles, delighted, and really, what is Law to do but kiss him yet again?