Fanfiction by TSValing (formerly kagehime3) Requests: ~closed~ Ask Box: ~closed~ Please message me on my main blog with questions or reviews. Buy Me a Coffee
This is for a very, very, very patient @mcperna16. I did not forget your request, and since I am trying to dust off my OP muse, your request came in handy. Plus, Killer could use some softness and love right now, so this was perfect.
I included some of my personal Killer headcanons in this:
1) Killer gives the best hugs. I will not take criticism on this. Kid’s are a close second, but even he would say Killer’s hugs are the best hugs and he will kill anyone who disagrees. Everyone should strive to know a muscly man who gives amazing hugs, and in this universe that is Killer.
2) Killer can, and will, continue to do whatever task he is trying to accomplish all while his girlfriend (or even best friend) is clinging to him like a koala in search of affection. He is very capable of multitasking, and he didn’t bulk up his upper body strength for nothing - it is purely for the purpose of carrying around those he loves.
And I know you like a little KillerKidNami OT3, so I made a nod to it, but Kid’s level of involvement in Killer and Nami’s relationship in this is entirely up to you.
Title: A Gentle Killer
Pairing: Killer x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 1601
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Her head hurt, her eyes refused to open to the early morning light, and a troubling queasiness rolled through her stomach, but she forced herself to trudge out of the bedroom, lured by the scent of strong coffee wafting from the kitchen. Loud snoring greeted her as she passed through the living room, and she dared to open an eye to see Zoro, Luffy, and Kid passed out on the couch.
Well, mostly on the couch. It seemed they had fallen asleep while fighting over who would claim the sofa for the night, leaving them tangled up half on the floor.
Kid let out a particularly loud snore. Luffy whined and kicked him in the head. Kid groaned and kicked back.
Zoro slept on, oblivious to it all, even as Luffy shoved his foot into Zoro’s nose.
Leaving them to sleep — they couldn’t get into any trouble while they were asleep — she continued on to the kitchen as her nausea gave over to hunger at the scent of cinnamon and the sound of something frying.
“Good morning,” Killer greeted, his low voice blessedly soothing to her migraine.
She collided with his back and buried her face in his soft blonde hair, muttering something she hoped sounded like a good morning. Killer’s warm chuckle washed over her with a gentle shiver. She wrapped her arms around his waist and nuzzled deeper into his hair, until she could feel the firm muscles of his back shift as he tossed something into a pan.
“What’s for breakfast?” she mumbled, her stomach growling at only the sound of food frying.
“French toast with fresh berries.”
She moaned and squeezed him in gratitude. He leaned back in response, a subtle bump that conveyed more than words ever could.
“Go back to bed,” he whispered after a few comfortably silent minutes. He shifted against her, turning slightly to move the French toast from the pan to a plate.
She smiled into his hair. “Mmm, breakfast in bed? That’s so sweet.”
He chuckled again. “You had to babysit those three without me last night. It’s the least I could do.”
She sighed as she pressed her cheek to his back. “I have to get ready for work.”
“I already called Haredas and told him you weren’t feeling well. He said your TA’s can handle your classes, and he’ll collect the metrics for your research,” Killer said as he spun in her arms. She kept her face buried against him, but he didn’t mind, only shifted to dig his fingers into her hair and give her scalp a firm scratch that sent a pleasant tingle down her spine. She moaned and nuzzled some more, nudging him to do that again. His chuckle rumbled beneath her ear, he gave her head another scratch, and then he began to walk toward the island counter all while she remained tucked comfortably beneath his arm. “You can spend the whole day in bed.”
“It almost feels like you’re apologizing for something,” she muttered. Killer was a sweetheart to her most of the time, and this was far from the first attempt at serving her breakfast in bed, but after her hellish night corralling their friends at Shakky’s bar, she couldn’t help but be suspicious of his motives.
“I’m apologizing for anything Kid did without me there to keep him in line,” he said, a warm mirth in his voice as he shifted, bending down to wrap his arm around her thighs and haul her up as he walked. She wound her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and clung to him with her face buried against his neck until he set her down on the countertop. She heard him place her breakfast on a wooden tray beside her, but she was too content wrapped around him to bother looking at what else he thought to spoil her with. “I was surprised to see him and the others on the sofa when I got home. I expected them to be in jail.”
She sighed. “Almost. Thankfully Shakky won’t call the cops on anyone she likes. I’m the only reason Kid didn’t get arrested when he got into a fight.”
“Thank you for saving him the bail money.”
“I was saving myself the bail money,” she admitted. “Luffy and Zoro thought it would be fun to help him. They would have been arrested to.”
Killer was moving against her, doing something with her breakfast while he held her on the counter. He kept one arm around her, his hand gliding over her back, but she could tell he was still partly focused on the finishing touches of her meal.
“I didn’t think Shakky would call the cops on Luffy. She likes him.”
“He ate most of the food in her kitchen last week and didn’t pay for it. She’s still pissed about that. He’s lucky she gives him a discount, so he barely has to pay anything at all, but her generosity only goes so far.”
Killer snorted. “Farther for him than anyone else.”
“Mm, true.” She took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, smiling to herself at the scents that clung to her boyfriend. “You smell like cinnamon and vanilla.”
She could tell he was trying not to laugh when his idle stroking paused so he could give her a tight hug. And she knew he was smiling when he buried his face against the side of her neck. He was still so shy about his smile and laugh, but she loved them both.
“It wasn’t all a bad night,” she whispered. “But I missed you.”
Killer’s other arm came around to deepen his embrace. She sighed happily at the warmth encompassing her and sank into it, taking everything he could give with such a simple hug.
“I figured you would be in a fouler mood this morning after I found you passed out in your clothes from last night. You barely even made it into bed.”
“Well, that explains why I woke up in your shirt with my hair braided.”
“Your hair would have been a nest of tangles if I didn’t take it down for you.”
“Mm, you’re such a gentleman… but I should charge you for undressing me while I was asleep.”
He snorted. “Already put a twenty in the jar.”
She pulled back to grin at him and was gifted with brief glimpse of his smile — lopsided and lazy from his late night at work, but there was a hint of a dimple that she had to lean in and kiss. “You’re the best.”
His smile grew with her kiss, and the sight of it made her heart flip. She brushed her nose against his, unwilling to break that rare smile until he leaned in for a proper kiss. She hummed against his lips as he drew her closer, moaned when he nipped her and deepened the kiss.
His hand grazed up her back to tangle in her hair. She broke the kiss to moan when his fingers gripped the back of her neck and squeezed. “That feels so good,” she whispered as the tension of the previous night began to melt away with his touch.
Killer chuckled as he brushed his lips over her jaw, taking advantage as she let her head fall back into his touch to nibble and kiss the sensitive skin beneath her ear. She shivered and squeezed her legs around him, drawing him in to settle firm between her thighs.
His other hand had just begun to glide over her hip, inching up her shirt, when the clatter of silverware on a dish and a deep, rumbling chuckle shattered the moment.
“Breakfast and a show,” Kid said behind her, “no better way to start the day.”
She jerked away from Killer to glare at the unwanted audience. Kid sat at the island, digging into her breakfast with a shameless grin.
“That’s Nami’s,” Killer said.
Kid jerked a forkful of her French toast, dripping with syrup at her. “She ain’t eating it.” He shoved the bite into his mouth and moaned before saying, “Don’t let me interrupt you guys, you know I love to watch.”
Killer flung her over his shoulder before she could launch herself at his best friend and strangle him. She shrieked as he carried her out of the kitchen, aiming for their bedroom.
“Aww, don’t be stingy, Killer,” Kid called after them, “it’s even better when she’s pissed off.”
“I’m going to kill him,” she hissed while flaying in Killer’s hold.
“Later. For now, you’re going back to bed while I make you a fresh breakfast.”
She slumped in defeat when her stomach growled. “Fine. At least punch him for me when you go back to the kitchen.”
“Already planned to.”
“And—”
“And I’ll put his fine in the jar,” he said just before tossing her into their bed. “Hundred?”
“Two-hundred,” she corrected as she pushed up onto her knees and beckoned Killer in for a kiss. “He ate my breakfast and interrupted us,” she whispered against his lips. “If you don’t pay me for that with your body later, he can expect to have his debt tripled.”
Killer chuckled and gave her a hard peck. “Understood.” He spared her one last kiss before lightly pushing her back into bed. “Get some rest, Nami.”
She happily crawled back under the covers, grinning as she watched Killer leave her alone in their dark bedroom.
A day off to spend in bed with a doting boyfriend catering to her every wish — she should babysit those idiots more often.
An anon request the prompt “Forehead or cheek kisses” for Zoro x Nami. This is very short, but ultra fluffy, and an immediate sequel to the “Taking a bath together” prompt.
|Buy me a coffee?|
Title: Reason to Blush
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 680
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
The first time she kissed Zoro’s cheek was at the end of their first date, just outside her front door. Her stomach had swirled with butterflies when she found the courage to push onto her toes and brush a chaste kiss to his cheek. Her face felt warm when she pulled away, but she doubted her blush was as bright as Zoro’s had been. She couldn’t stifle her giggles as his face turned bright red, contrasting his green hair. He looked angry, but she knew most of the color came from embarrassment.
He snapped and growled as she laughed. His face turned even redder as he went on a tirade about embarrassing him on purpose. And then he growled something about how he was supposed to make the first move, his tone sulking because she took away his chance to kiss her first. She rolled her eyes and was going to tease him for making such a big deal out of a kiss on the cheek, but her words caught in her throat when he grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her into a hard, frustrated kiss.
She stood in wide-eyed shock once he pulled away, her lips parted in a silent gasp. She felt her face heat at the sight of his cocky grin.
“Now that’s a good-night kiss,” he said, so damn proud of himself.
She spluttered and cursed as the butterflies in her stomach went crazy, her heart felt as though it would leap from her chest. She spun away at the sound of his laughter, stormed into her house, and slammed the door in his face.
Showing affection after that gradually became easier. Zoro still blushed when she kissed his cheek, occasionally spluttered if she caught him off guard or kissed him in front of their friends. If they were alone, he retaliated immediately. If they were with others, he bided his time and caught her by surprise with a kiss to her temple or forehead when no one was looking and whispered in her ear a promise of what he would do later. A promise he always kept. A promise that left her cheeks so red with embarrassment, her skin would be hot to the touch.
But now, there was no embarrassment to be found in either of them as she kissed Zoro’s cheeks and forehead and nose and everywhere she could reach. His grin was too arrogant to be embarrassed, though his cheeks and neck were still tinged pink from the blush that crept over him when he asked his question. Her face felt warm, but she was far from being a spluttering mess. She was too elated, too excited, too happy.
Zoro chuckled as he embraced her, his grin grew with every kiss she smacked to his cheek. They stood alone, atop a bluff that overlooked the whole world below. He had carted her on his back all afternoon until he found the spot he swore had the best view of the hills and valleys they had spent their weekend hiking through. She had no idea how he found it or when. Probably when he got lost and made her traipse through the rain-soaked woods looking for him. But it was stunning and took her breath away, and if it hadn’t, the sight of him on his knee, nervously clearing his throat as he thrust a tiny box with a sparkling gold and diamond ring at her, would have knocked the wind out of her.
“So? Is that a yes?” Zoro asked through his laughter.
“Yes,” she said between wet kisses and her own giggling. The ring was already on her finger, sparkling bright in the late afternoon sun. He didn’t need to hear the word to know her answer, but he still wanted to hear it from her lips. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
His chuckles eased as he threaded his fingers through her hair. “Good,” he said before turning to take her next kiss on his lips. Hard, hungry, filled with the excitement they shared.
An anon requested the prompt “Accidentally falling asleep together” for Kid x Bonney. It is short, but it is done, so enjoy.
|Buy Me A Coffee?|
Title: Worth the Price
Pairing: Eustass Kid x Jewelry Bonney
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 912
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Dates with his girlfriend were easy. He didn’t need to vary the routine to make her happy, all he had to do was see that she was well-fed to keep her content. It was hard on his wallet, but the reward he received at the end of the night was worth the extra cost.
That night Bonney was especially ravenous, and Kid would not be able to drag her from the pub any time in the foreseeable future. The table was piled high with plates and bowls, most empty or on their way to being cleaned. The waiter had already left with one stack of plates balanced precariously in his arms, muttering to himself about getting a cart. He would need it. Bonney already had a menu in hand, trying to decide on her third helping of food.
Kid had finished his meal long before her. He could pack away a good portion of food, but compared to Bonney, his meal may as well be bird-feed. A large steak, a baked potato with all the fixings, and a rack of ribs that Bonney would have stolen if he hadn’t threatened to stab her with his steak knife when he noticed her hand inching closer to his plates. He drank a pitcher of beer by himself and had another on the way, while Bonney chugged down three pitchers on her own – entirely foregoing mugs or pints in the process – and had called for three more to wash down the five hamburgers sitting in front of her.
“How much longer, Bon?” he asked as he poured the last drops of beer foam out of the pitcher to top off his pint.
She swallowed half a pickle and reached for one of the twelve baskets of fries. “Almost done.”
He had at least two more orders to wait, then. With a grudging sigh, he shuffled down in the booth to get comfortable and watched her grab a bowl of chili. She inhaled it within seconds.
“Want to split a chocolate cake?” she asked an hour later, as she slowly devoured a deep-dish pizza the owner had to get from another restaurant two blocks away.
He paused in the sip of beer he was taking. He drank more than normal while waiting for her to finish eating – on his fifth pitcher of the night. The heavy beer left him sluggish and too full to eat any more. The offer surprised him, though.
“You’re offerin’ to share?”
Bonney shrugged as she snatched a hot wing from a to-go container from a place on the other side of the city. The bill was going to be outrageous with all the catering the owner did for them. Better than driving her all over town.
“I’m startin’ to feel full,” she explained before putting a fist to her mouth and belching.
Kid sighed, sank down further. He could go home soon. “Nah, I’m full. If ya can’t finish it, just get it to-go and save it for a late-night snack.”
Bonney hummed around another slice of pizza. “Good idea,” she said, her mouth full of melted cheese and sausage. “Maybe I’ll get another pizza, too.”
He sighed again, swallowed down the last of his pint, and then let his head fall back as he shut his eyes.
The next thing he knew, someone was poking his arm and saying “Sir” with growing impatience. His eyes shot open to see the waiter and owner hovering over the table.
“What?” he growled, ignoring the weight on his chest as he glared at the rude assholes who just woke him up.
“We… We’re closing for the night, sir,” the owner stammered, snatching their hand away at Kid’s annoyed stare. The waiter slid the bill toward him and then took a step back to escape Kid’s ire at the sight of the how much he owed.
There went his savings.
With a growl, he tried to reach for his wallet and finally took notice of the woman passed out at his side. Bonney had fallen asleep with crumbs of chocolate cake and smudges of hot sauce on her lips and cheeks. Her head had lolled onto his chest, where he noticed a wet stain forming on his shirt from her drool.
It was disgusting.
But, her arms had wound around his waist as she slept, and she nuzzled him while muttering sweetly. Her warm body melted against his. She was soft and comfortable and utterly content sleeping in the middle of an empty restaurant with him, in a cheaply upholstered booth.
It was still disgusting… but maybe also a little cute.
He chuckled when she swung a leg over his lap and hugged him tight. Seemed he would have to carry her out of there.
Careful not to disturb her, he slipped his wallet out and tossed his credit card at the waiter.
“Box up whatever she didn’t finish,” he ordered.
The waiter hustled off to run the card and get the boxes packed. Kid settled in to wait, wrapping an arm around Bonney’s waist and tugging her into his lap to get comfortable. His girlfriend rarely liked the cuddle, and if she woke up in his lap, trapped in his arms, she was more likely to punch him than kiss him.
Feeling her curves mold against him, soft with sleep, he pressed his cheek to her forehead, shut his eyes, and released a long sigh.
An anon requested the prompt “Patching up a wound” for Zoro and Law broship. I don’t know how intimate this is since it’s platonic, and I’m sure you pictured something more angsty, maybe? I went the humor route because that’s what I’m in the mood for. Hopefully you guys enjoy it.
And I can’t write anything without Nami in it, so you get a bonus of Nami broship with Zoro and Law, too.
|Buy Me A Coffee?|
Title: The Product of Hubris
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro/ Trafalgar Law (platonic)
Genre: Friendship/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 2298
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
“Get three cases of the gauze,” he told Bepo, who scrawled on a paid of paper that was quickly being filled with a list for the clinic’s next order. Law shut the cabinet with their disposables and moved to the next cabinet. “We’re low on lidocaine. Another case should –”
“Zoro, you are getting it looked at!” a familiar voice shouted from the lobby, loud enough he swore she had already stormed into his stockroom in search of him.
“It’s fine!” Zoro hollered back, just as loud. “Ow! Stop screwing with it, you witch!”
Law sighed and shut the cabinet. “We’ll finish this later. Get a room set up. If it’s Zoro-ya, I’ll probably need to stitch something up.”
“Yes, doctor,” Bepo said, setting aside the list to gather what Law would need.
Law wandered up front, following the sound of Zoro’s growling and Nami’s lecturing tone. He heard Shachi say something about agreeing with Nami, knew Penguin was likely nodding his own agreement. However Zoro injured himself this time, it was a safe bet that Nami was correct to drag him to see a doctor.
“It can wait until Chopper’s back,” Zoro argued. “It’s not that bad.”
“Your finger is going to turn as green as your hair before he’s back from Kureha’s,” Nami huffed. “Then let’s see you try to do those stupid knife tricks without your pinky.”
“What’s all this noise about?” Law asked as he walked into the lobby. Shachi and Penguin stood at the desk, each wearing identical expressions of disgust and exasperation.
“Tora-o,” Nami shouted. She grabbed Zoro’s left arm and raised it over the counter. “Please inform this idiot that his finger is not fine.”
Law stepped closer and snatched Zoro’s wrist before he could think to jerk away. His pinky had a deep gash on the middle phalanx that ran from the inside to the outside, near the joint. Another cut ran over his palm, not nearly as deep, but worrisome considering the state the finger was in. If only the cut to his palm, simple bandages and antiseptic would be enough treatment, but the gash on his pinky-finger, as best he could tell, went to the bone. Sutures were necessary.
Something Zoro seemed aware of – he had attempted to sew the cut up himself. With green thread, or Law hoped that it was green and not stained from the infected puss leaking out from the gaps in the haphazard attempt at first aid. He knew that Nami wasn’t stupid enough to suture the wound herself, and if she had, she would have known better than to use such thick sewing thread. He’d also seen her sew up plenty of torn clothes – she should be able to place a suture without making it look like a knotted, scattered mess.
“It’s infected,” Law said, dropping Zoro’s hand to the counter with no care. At the same time that Zoro bit back a pained yelp, Nami turned to bark a short, satisfied laugh in her friend’s face.
“I told you we should have called him when it happened,” she said.
“He was just going to sew it shut. I can do that on my own well enough,” Zoro grumbled. “Doubt it would make any difference.”
Law mirrored Nami’s flat expression that clearly said he was an idiot.
“He’s a doctor, Zoro,” said Nami. “Specifically, he is a surgeon.” She waved at Law. “It is his whole job to sew people back together.”
“After cutting them apart myself,” Law quipped, grinning at Nami’s glower. “I can just amputate his finger right here for you.”
She swallowed down a gag as she turned away. “Just fix his damn finger, Tora-o. Zoro, don’t argue,” she snapped at her friend when he opened his mouth to do just that. He settled with a snarl at her, but stomped around to the door leading into the back, cursing under his breath the whole way. Nami glanced at Law with a roll of her eyes. “Feel free to make it hurt. He’s just being an ass because he couldn’t juggle four knives.”
“I juggled them just fine,” Zoro shouted.
“Right.” Nami sighed and rolled her eyes again. “It was the fifth that screwed up the stunt.”
Law snorted as he turned to follow his irate patient down the hall. Bepo waited outside a room, gestured for Zoro to head inside while solemnly apologizing at the man.
“I’ll need a script for antibiotics. See if we have an extra tube of the cream, too,” he ordered.
Bepo scampered off to get what he needed, and Law shut himself in with a fuming Zoro.
“So, juggling knives? Are you practicing for the circus?” Law joked as he slipped on a pair of gloves.
Zoro sat heavily on the exam table and glared. “Ha. Ha. No. That idiot cook bet I couldn’t juggle knives as well as he can.”
Law arched a brow as he sat beside the exam table, took Zoro’s hand, and began the arduous task of cutting and untangling the thread. The flesh around the finger was hot to the touch, and the thread had become imbedded in the swollen tissue. He would need to numb the finger, but he doubted the anesthetic would take well with all the infected tissue.
“Was there something that brought that on?” he asked as he reached for the anesthetic. He knew Zoro well enough to know the bet was not what started the whole thing. His rivalry with Sanji was never so simple.
Zoro huffed. “He was showing off to Nami in the kitchen. It was getting on my nerves.”
“He’s always showing off to her. Or any woman, for that matter.”
“No shit, and it’s annoying.” He winced as Law injected lidocaine around the gash. “He was just cutting some vegetables, but kept twirling his damn knives around.” He waved his free hand in the air as he spoke, clearly still frustrated with his friend’s show. “And Nami just had to encourage it with her ‘Sanji-kun, you’re so cool.’” He pitched his voice to a high falsetto to mock the woman, rolling his eyes to show his own opinion of it. He then slumped over with a huff and deep frown. “I can juggle knives better than him. Twice as fast, with twice as many.”
“Ah, you wanted to show off, too,” Law said while he pulled out the last of the thread. Zoro had been so caught up in his story, he hadn’t react with more than a twitch, but as Law began to open the swollen tissue to flush the infection out, Zoro had to swallow down a groan of pain.
“I wasn’t showing off, just showing them how it’s done,” Zoro growled through grit teeth.
“Same thing,” Law muttered. “So, how did you go from four to five knives? And end up with this wound?”
“I was juggling the four just fine, then that prick said I couldn’t do five. I was going to prove him wrong, of course. First I had to catch the knives I had and start again with five…” He hissed when Law rinsed the cut with a jet of sterile water. The cut was nearly to the bone. He might have nerve damage from this stunt. “But then Luffy threw the fifth knife at me before I was ready,” he said while his arm trembled with the effort to remain perfectly still for Law. “I caught it on instinct.”
“Idiot,” Law huffed, just as Bepo arrived with the antibiotics he needed.
“Shut it. I heard enough of that from Nami.”
“Surprised she’s not lecturing Luffy for throwing the knife in the first place.”
Zoro snorted. “She did. He has a concussion from her lecture.” His grin wasn’t enough to mask his pain. “Love-cook, too.”
“She must have taken pity on you,” Law said as he set to work closing the gash up with sterile silk thread. Zoro shrugged in response. “I know Tony-ya is visiting his old advisor, but why didn’t you have Nami-ya treat this. She couldn’t have done worse than you.”
“She bandaged it up, said we should call you to suture it.”
“And you didn’t because…?”
“I can sew up a small gash on my own. Not the first time I had to.”
“If you’re referring to those hideous scars on your ankles, then you are clearly mistaken in your ability to treat your own wounds,” Law said without looking up from his work. “Tony-ya told me that he had to fix them when he met you.”
“They weren’t that bad.”
“Maybe not as bad as this. Why didn’t you use Tony-ya’s sutures?”
“Couldn’t find any of his stuff,” Zoro grumbled. “He must have rearranged his office.”
Law glowered up at him. The idiot got lost and probably wasn’t even in the right office.
“The thread I had at home worked just fine.”
“Your finger is badly infected, to the point a normal person would have to worry about losing the appendage entirely, not to mention the threat of sepsis. The only reason I’m not amputating is because I know you’re not a normal person and this gash will likely heal fine with proper treatment,” Law lectured as he tied off the last suture.
Zoro groaned in a way that said he understood and would comply, grudging though it may be.
“Short course of antibiotics should stave off any systemic infection you might have acquired. Finish it all.” He held out his hand to Bepo, silently asking for the tube of antibiotic cream. “Use this daily. Clean the wound, don’t scrub or mess with the sutures.” Zoro rolled his eyes, grumbled under his breath that he already knew. Law dropped the tube onto the swollen finger and grinned at his patient’s loud yelp. “I’ll see that Nami-ya keeps an eye on your home care, and I’ll call Tony-ya tonight to inform him of your negligence.” That got a contemptuous hiss from him. “Were you even trying to keep it clean?”
“I washed it. And I disinfected it before I sewed it shut.”
“What did you disinfect it with?”
Zoro pursed his lips and Law almost thought he wouldn’t answer. “Grain vodka.”
Law sighed. “Did you use it on the wound, or did you drink it?”
Zoro hesitated before answering, “Both?”
“Listen to Nami-ya next time,” Law said, snapping off his gloves and flinging them into the bin. “I’ll want to follow up and remove the sutures in about a week. Inform me if you have any numbness or movement issues. It will be stiff for a few weeks, but considering your dumb luck, you should be fine.”
Zoro nodded and began to stand. He froze at Law’s next instruction.
“No drinking until the infection has cleared and the swelling has gone down.”
“What? Chopper never tells me to stop drinking!”
“Have you been taking any pain relievers?”
“Sake.”
“Sake is not a pain reliever.”
“Rum.”
“Also, not a pain reliever.” Law sighed. “If you’re not taking anything with acetaminophen, then you can drink. In moderation.” Zoro’s idea of moderation was only one bottle of sake a day, but if he wanted to destroy his super-human liver, then Law couldn’t do anything to stop him. “Call me if the swelling gets worse, or if it develops a foul smell.”
Zoro’s grin had returned with the allowance for alcohol, and with his improved mood, he nodded his understanding. He jumped from the exam table, and before Law could stop him, wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him into a friendly hug. Law tried to pry himself away, but Zoro’s hold only tightened until he gave up with another long, exhausted sigh.
“Let’s go get a drink later. My treat,” Zoro said as he dragged Law out of the room and down the hall.
Law was prepared to refuse, but Nami’s voice carried from the front desk. “Don’t agree to that. He’s broke, and you’ll end up buying.” Her head popped out from around the corner. It seemed the guys invited her to hang out with them behind the reception desk, rather than in the waiting room like a normal patient. She ignored Law’s glare, too busy sending one of her own toward her glowering friend. “You owe me five-grand for this, Zoro. I refuse to pay for your next trip to the bar, too.”
“Oi! That’s highway robbery! You can’t charge me for taking me to the doctor when I didn’t need to go!”
“You absolutely needed to go,” Nami shrieked back. “Tora-o-kun said so, himself,” she said, gesturing at Law who was too annoyed to care about the whole thing anymore.
He could already feel a headache coming on. Maybe a drink wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
“We close up at seven,” Law said to Zoro. “We’ll meet you at Shakky’s then.”
Zoro grinned at him. Nami threw her arms up in defeat.
“I suppose I’ll be designated driver tonight,” she said while Zoro finally released Law to saunter toward her. His grin never wavered, even with Nami’s withering glare. “Ten-grand for all of this trouble.” Zoro hissed in annoyance as Nami shoved him out into the waiting room. “Just go, idiot. Thanks for everything, Tora-o-kun, we’ll see you guys tonight.”
“Bye, Nami-chan,” Shachi and Penguin called; identically stupid grins on their faces.
“Oi, did she pay the bill?” Law asked his friends as the pair walked toward the door.
Nami grabbed Zoro’s arm and bolted out of the building, dragging him behind her, cursing the whole way. That was answer enough. The bashful look Shachi and Penguin gave him confirmed it.
Law sighed and spun on his heel. “Idiots,” he muttered as he walked away.
They were lucky Zoro was a friend he would patch up for free.
But they really needed to stop letting Nami skip out on the bill.
An anon requested the prompt “Accidentally falling asleep together” for Zoro x Nami. This is in that burgeoning relationship period and has more intimacy than the falling asleep part because I couldn’t help myself.
|Buy Me A Coffee?|
Title: More Than Friendship
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 2920
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
“Left, Zoro. Left,” Nami muttered from his back. Her hand lazily swung out to point around a corner before falling limp against his chest. He paused to adjust her weight, hauling her higher as she began to slip on her perch, and turned in the direction she pointed.
Even half asleep and drunker than she had ever been, he trusted that she knew the directions to her apartment better than he did. He would never admit as much, of course.
She giggled as her hold tightened around his neck. Her breath tickled behind his ear and he fought off the urge to shiver.
“Tonight was fun,” she whispered. “We haven’t let go like that in….” She trailed off with a hum, trying to remember the last time they both let loose at the bar.
The answer was never. Nami was always mindful of her limits, unless there was money to be won, but it was rare for her to exceed those limits even in those cases. This time there had been no money, it was all for fun, and to see, once and for all, who had the highest tolerance for alcohol. He did, but not by much. Just enough to keep him walking in a fairly straight line – he hoped – and carry Nami home.
They could have slept at the bar with their friends like they usually did after a party, but in her drunken stupor, Nami was insistent that he take her home. She claimed that she wanted the fresh air, but that it was dangerous for her to walk home alone.
She had planned to walk on her own until they stood from the booth and Nami swayed into his side. He caught her as she laughed, ignored the pounding of his heart as she clung to him tight. He reminded himself that she wasn’t sober as she wrapped her arms around his waist, that it meant nothing as she nuzzled his chest and sighed happily.
The way she tilted her head back and smiled robbed him of his breath. He felt dizzy and nearly swayed with her. He wanted to blame it on the wine.
When she demanded, oh so sweetly, “Carry me on your back, Zoro,” he decided that it was definitely the wine, and not the selfish witch or her pretty eyes.
Her laughter snapped him back to the present as she pointed straight ahead at a familiar apartment building. “Almost there. Keep going, Zoro. I know you’re not so hopeless you can’t walk in a straight line.”
He slowed to glower at over his shoulder at her. “I should have made the love-cook take you home,” he muttered.
She feigned surprise and hurt, then gave him an exaggerated pout. She snagged his cheek and pulled hard, drawing a yelp of pain from him. “Don’t be mean, Zoro.”
“I’m not the one being mean right now, witch,” he growled as he jerked from her grip.
“Yes, you are.” Her frown seemed more genuine than before. “If I wanted Sanji-kun to take me home, I would have asked him,” she said so softly he almost thought he misheard. She sagged against his back, locked her arms tight around him, and buried her face against his neck. “I wanted to walk home with you.”
There went his heart pounding at that strange, dizzying speed again. Maybe it wasn’t the wine.
He didn’t know how to respond, not without potentially pissing her off, and he didn’t want to pick a fight with her that night. So, he held his tongue and turned forward to continue the walk to her apartment.
“You’re going the wrong way, Zoro,” she muttered without lifting her head. Her hand went up, pointed to the right where that familiar building loomed.
He swore it was just ahead. When did it get over there?
He shrugged it off and followed the direction she gave. Sometimes buildings just moved like that. It wasn’t anything new.
Ten minutes and only three supposedly wrong turns later (it wasn’t his fault that the building moved. and the streets made no sense), he made it to her apartment. She nodded off in the elevator, roused again when he turned down the wrong hall (she must have moved to a different apartment), and then squirmed on his back when he walked by her place. He let her down and held her steady as she fished her key out of a pocket.
His mind wandered as he watched how she stuck her tongue out while inserting the key into the lock, her eyes narrowed with intense concentration. She let out a cute cheer when the tumblers clicked into place.
“Come on, Zoro,” she called as she pushed the door open. She grabbed his hand to tug him inside with her before he could refuse her invitation. “You can sleep on the couch tonight. I’ll take you home in the morning.”
“I can just go home now,” he huffed.
“You’d get lost and fall asleep on a park bench,” she said, her tone so breezy and snobbish it pricked his temper.
“Oi,” he growled.
“I’ll make coffee.” She ignored his ire as she turned for her kitchen, leaning against the wall when she swayed.
“Forget the coffee, idiot,” he said, snatching her arm to guide her away from the kitchen. “Just go to bed.”
She whined petulantly and fell against him. “But I want to stay up and talk.”
Her body seemed to have turned boneless in his arms as he tried to keep her on her feet. His cheeks burned as he wrapped his arms around her waist to gather her against him. Her arms wound around his neck, her head lulled back. Her eyes were glazed, her cheeks flushed, but her lips spread in a lazy grin that gave him the strange urge to kiss her.
“Don’t you want to hang out with me, Zoro,” she purred.
“You’re drunk, Nami. We’ll hang out after you take a nap and sober up,” he reasoned.
Her pout returned, as did the desire to kiss her. That wine had done a number on his common sense, but he fought it off and began the struggle to guide her toward the bedroom.
“We never get to hang out,” she whined, pressing her face to the crook of his neck.
“We hang out all the time,” he reminded.
“No, we don’t. Not the two of us.”
“We were literally just drinking together at the bar a half an hour ago.”
“Yeah, but the others were there,” she whispered.
“So? They’re always there.”
“That’s the problem.”
He froze in place. Did she mean what he thought she meant?
He didn’t get a chance to ask before he felt her shoulders heave.
“Oh no,” she said through another dry heave. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Shit.” He didn’t think, he just scooped Nami into his arms and sprinted for the bathroom. He made it just in time.
She groaned into the toilet bowl, hugging the porcelain rim as though she feared to let go. He had her long ginger hair pulled away from her face, curled in a fist while his other hand ran over her back.
“I’m never drinking again,” she moaned before spitting into water that had turned a reddish-purple from all the wine she drank.
Zoro snorted. “Not even for a million bucks?”
She turned to glare at him, but he had to purse his lips to hold back a laugh at how pathetic it looked with tears trailing down her cheeks. The white pallor of her skin was worrisome enough to keep him from laughing too hard.
“I’m never drinking with you again,” she amended, washing away what little amusement he had left.
“Oi,” he grunted in disappointment while she reached up to flush the toilet.
Nami was his favorite drinking buddy. She was the only one who could drink nearly as much as him, and enjoyed drinking nearly as much as he did. It was one of the few things they did together that didn’t end in an argument. They still fought, but it was playful bickering – forgotten with the very next drink.
She waved her arm out to grab the vanity beside the toilet. He helped her stand as she ran the tap and splashed cold water on her face. She leaned over the sink, her hands pressed to her forehead, fingers speared through her bangs, and groaned miserably again. He waited to see if she would puke again while she shut her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose.
“Not my idea of a good date,” he thought she muttered.
“Date?” He gaped at her, but she didn’t respond, instead grabbed her toothbrush. He stood there in a stupor while she brushed and rinsed, barely aware of the fact he still held her waist to keep her from falling over.
She had wanted him to stay and talk. Well, it seemed they had a lot to talk about now, but he didn’t think it was a subject that should be discussed when they weren’t sober. Then again, he doubted Nami would be so honest and forthcoming about her feelings without the liquor in her veins.
“Feel better?” he asked as she wiped her mouth and face with a towel.
She nodded weakly and met his gaze in the mirror. Her eyes seemed clearer, and wary. They flit down to where he grasped her, and he jerked his hands away, running one through his hair as he looked away. He didn’t know if it was his nerves or the wine that made his stomach knot up; he didn’t care to think about it.
“You still want me to stay?” he dared to ask while she gripped the sink and slowly turned to face him.
She leaned back with pursed lips. Color returned to her cheeks as she looked down at her feet. Her hair cascaded over her shoulder with her subtle nod. He let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he held.
“So… ah…” He didn’t know what to say or do in this situation. She wanted to date him, and he wasn’t against the idea; he just had no idea how to go about it. “Breakfast,” he said suddenly. Nami glanced up at him, her head cocked to the side. She was as confused and lost as he was about this whole situation. This was territory they would have to learn to navigate on their own. “In the morning. We can grab breakfast and talk… Just the two of us.”
Nami’s eyes widened. He didn’t understand it, but she seemed to brighten at the suggestion. He must have said something right.
“You’re treat,” he added. “Since you lost the drinking contest.” Her excitement dimmed with her glare, but he only grinned back at her. “I’ll treat you to a movie later. I remember you mentioning some foreign flick you wanted to see earlier.”
That caught her by surprise. Her brow arched. “It’s a drama,” she warned.
He shrugged. “If it’s boring, then I’ll just take a nap.” She smacked his chest. He snatched her hand before she could pull away and laughed at her fuming pout. “Not like it’d be the first time I fell asleep at the theater.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed. “There are ninjas in this, so you might not be that bored, anyway.”
“Ninjas?” he asked, careful to keep his face as neutral as possible. He must have given away some of his excitement, because Nami laughed as she nodded. “Then it’s a date.”
Her face burned red with her blush and he felt his own heat as he realized what he said. He was going on a date with Nami. That was not how he thought his night would end.
And he certainly never thought they would plan the date while standing in her bathroom after she threw up from drinking too much. Let’s see if her drama can top this for romance, he thought to himself.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said as he turned toward the door. He froze when Nami shifted closer and wound her arms around his waist in a tight hug. “Nami?”
She pressed her face to his chest and shook her head. He thought he heard a giggle as he returned her hug. “I don’t think I can go to sleep now,” she whispered.
His heart raced again. What did that mean?
“You want to hang out on the couch with me for a while? We can watch something, or talk until you’re tired again,” he suggested.
She squeezed him as she nodded in response. He couldn’t help but snort at her sudden shyness. She tilted her head back to glower at him.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said, grinning.
Her eyes narrowed, but he refused to tell her what he found so amusing. She wouldn’t appreciate being teased, and then she would only tease him back once she realized that he thought her reactions were cute. He could never let her know that he thought she was cute.
“Come on,” he grunted, slipping out of her hug to drag her out to the living room.
He could practically feel her eyes rolling behind him because he refused to answer her question or admit any of his thoughts. She didn’t press him on it, though, and happily settled onto the couch with him.
They flipped through the channels for a few minutes. There was nothing good on – re-runs of old comedies, home shopping ads, movies with all the good stuff edited out and too many commercials to hold their interest. They found an old black and white sci-fi movie, complete with visible wires and exaggerated acting. It was one of Luffy’s favorites, and had inspired him, Usopp, and Chopper to make their own alien monster movie; so, they decided to watch it again while they laughed about their friends’ failed attempt at making a movie.
They might have succeeded if they hadn’t fought over who would be the hero.
He knew Nami was more tired than she claimed, but he gave her the benefit of the doubt until she leaned against his side. He glanced down when her head fell against his shoulder. In the flickering light of the television, he saw that her eyes were shut, and her face relaxed with sleep.
“Go to bed, Nami,” he whispered.
She rubbed her cheek against him and nestled closer, mumbling, “I’m awake,” in response.
It wasn’t the first time she had fallen asleep against him, but now that he knew she felt something for him, it brought everything into a new perspective. He probably should have noticed it sooner. He could fall asleep anywhere, but Nami couldn’t do that so easily. It was one thing to fall asleep in the same room as him and all of their friends, it was another to lean against him and rest her eyes. She felt safe enough to let her guard down, to relax, and she trusted him enough to let him see this side of her, to see that she was comfortable with him.
Zoro chuckled as he draped an arm over her. “Sure ya are, witch,” he said back while he shifted to lay down with her against his side.
“I am,” she argued half-heartedly. She moved to rest her head on his chest, her arm on his stomach. She sighed, and he swore that she melted in his arms.
She was so peaceful, so warm. He wrapped her up tight in his arms, turned slightly onto his side, and curled around her.
“You’re gonna miss the best part,” he muttered as he buried his nose in her hair.
“No…” She yawned. “I’m not.”
He snorted as she nuzzled his chest. “Go to bed if you’re tired.”
“Can’t move…” she said. “Carry me.”
He grunted and shut his eyes. “Carry yourself.”
“That makes no sense, Zoro.”
He hummed in response.
“Are you falling asleep, too?” she whispered.
“No…” He held her tighter. “And I thought you weren’t falling asleep.”
“I’m not,” she huffed.
“Mhm. Go to bed, Nami.”
“No.”
His hold on her ensured that she couldn’t go to her bed, even if she wanted to.
“We’re missing the good part,” she said.
“Mm,” he hummed but didn’t move to see.
“The world spins when I close my eyes,” she whispered, breaking into his sleep.
“Let it spin,” he muttered back as he dug a hand in her hair and kept her tucked beneath his chin.
“Mhm.”
The last thing he heard from her was a content sigh before he drifted to sleep with the scent of tangerines and wine surrounding him. The scream of a bad actress roused him from a dream that he vaguely remembered featured Nami, but he couldn’t remember the rest.
He glanced at the television to see another crappy movie had started. Nami was fast asleep in his arms, her lips parted with even breaths. He reached for the remote, only to have her stir awake with an unhappy moan.
“Sorry,” he whispered. He grabbed the remote and flipped the television off.
“It’s okay,” she mumbled as he wrapped her back up in his arms. “I should probably go to bed.”
“Probably,” he said, but held her tighter to keep her there.
She didn’t try to move except to tangle her legs with his, bringing them even closer on the cramped couch.
They fell right back to sleep without another word.
An anon requested the prompt “Back scratches” for Law x Nami. This one is extremely short and completely different from the other pairings for this prompt. It’s another introspective, poetic one
Title: Healing Ocean
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ Hurt/ Comfort/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 594
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
He was home early for once. The relief that came as he stepped over that threshold, into his space, his home, his sanctuary that pieced him back together after a shift that left him feeling shattered – there was no better place to be than in the comfort of his home. With her.
Law was tired. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. It felt as though his very essence had been drained from him. It wasn’t bone-deep exhaustion. It was cell-deep.
His eyelids were heavy as he trudged down the hall to their room. Light spilled from the crack of the door. A promise of the warmth held within, the light that would chase away the shadows and ghosts.
Most days he could cope. Even with his hectic life, his round-the-clock schedule, he enjoyed what he did. He knew how to juggle the balance between life and death. He compartmentalized, he distanced himself, he took care to never get attached, to always be aware that not everything was in his control. But some patients, some cases, were just too difficult to ignore. Too innocent. Too familiar. The ghosts haunted him, pulled at his heart, his soul. Some days it was just too much.
He slipped off his shirt as he nudged open the door. She was curled up under the covers, propped on a mountain of pillows with a book in hand. She looked so cozy, so warm, so safe. He clung to his reserves, to the little bit of energy he had left, and walked toward her, toward his sanctuary.
Nami greeted him with a smile. Radiant and bright and so full of love. It was too familiar, too similar to those ghosts, but he would never give it up because she was there, alive and warm and safe. His reminder of the good, of the sliver of hope that someone gave everything to protect, the sliver of hope he would give everything to protect.
“Welcome home, Tora-” she began but paused as he crawled onto the bed. Her smile dimmed, her head cocked to the side. “Law?” she asked, and it was that moment he collapsed onto her, burrowing his face into her stomach and breathing her in deep.
When she called him by his given name, not the silly nickname her best friend gave him, he knew that she was serious, that she was worried, that she saw something and instinctively understood.
Her fingers drifted through his hair with a sigh. He wound his arms around her waist and held her as tight as he could, held to her as though he would be lost if he ever let her go.
She set her book aside, draped her arms around him. He took a breath as her nails scratched over his shoulders. Gasped for air as she trailed down his tattooed back.
She traced the curves of the smile, the fractured pieces of his heart, the sharp edges of the hole she couldn’t quite fill but he loved her for trying.
Every gentle scrape soothed the ache in his chest, took the pressure off his soul. She washed away the pain. Her loving touch ebbed and flowed like the sea. It could drown him, drag him down and rob him of his final breath, but she never let him sink.
“Welcome home, Law,” she whispered again as he sank into her, soaked in every movement of her fingers as they danced over his back.
He let her carry him away to colorful dreams. Of the sea and the sun. Of tender embraces. Of home.
An anon requested the prompt “One character playing with the other’s hair” for Law x Nami. I went a little out of order with my list because I didn’t look at it when this idea came to me, until after I wrote it; I just remembered that it was one of the requests. In my defense, the next two were for the same ship, so I doubt anyone will mind the switch.
Short and a bit angsty.
Title: Calming Hearts
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ Comfort/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 1180
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
It was just before midnight when Nami heard Law come home. It was a rarity for him to be home on time, usually he could get stuck at the hospital for hours after his last scheduled surgery, doing follow-up, or paperwork, or caught up in emergencies. For once she would get a full night’s sleep with him in their bed.
She sat in the middle of the bed brushing out her hair when he shuffled into their room. The circles under his eyes were as dark as ever and he didn’t seem to have the energy to greet her when she smiled at him. She frowned as she watched him shed his hoodie.
“Rough shift?” she dared to ask.
Law grunted, spared a tired shrug as he undid his belt and kicked out of his jeans. That told her all she needed to know.
Since he wasn’t in the mood to talk, she moved toward her side of the bed to give him room while she finished her hair. It was better to let him sleep when his mood was this dark. He would feel better in the morning, assuming his mind would quiet enough to let him sleep.
Law climbed into bed behind her and she expected him to crawl under the covers without another word. She was surprised to feel the bed dip as he shifted closer and took the brush from her hand. She glanced over her shoulder to see him sitting cross-legged behind her, his expression as distant and empty as it had been when he walked in. She couldn’t find her voice to ask what he was doing, but he answered the silent question as he gathered up her hair and took over her brushing.
She pursed her lips to hide her smile and turned forward, silently accepting his help. He had never brushed her hair before, but she knew he liked to play with it when he wanted to relax. He would hold her against his chest, his arms wound around her, and comb his fingers through the long strands, or tease them over her scalp. Sometimes he would idly curl a lock around his finger as they watched a movie, or sat up late, each reading their own books.
He never had to say a word when he played with her hair. She always knew what he felt in those quiet, tender moments. He wanted comfort, but he didn’t want to ask for it. He wanted to feel connected, but he didn’t dare say that he felt alone. She knew better than to say that she knew how he felt, not until he had a chance to unwind and shrug off whatever burdens he held onto.
She shut her eyes and soaked in every gentle stroke of the brush. The soft bristles tickled her scalp, sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. She hummed and swayed as tension leaked from her shoulders, and she hoped Law found it as relaxing as she did.
When he set the brush aside, she thought he was done and nearly groaned in disappointment. But then she felt his fingers graze over her scalp, combing and sorting and gathering her hair.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Braiding your hair,” he answered as she felt him begin to weave the strands together.
She giggled and he stilled. “I didn’t know you could braid hair,” she remarked as she glanced over her shoulder.
Law frowned, then shrugged, and then set back to work without more than a grunt in response. She didn’t expect him to say anything and turned forward so he could continue.
“I used to braid my sister’s hair at night,” he whispered, breaking the silence after a few minutes.
Her shoulders tensed at the unexpected remark. Her heart ached at the emotions carried in his raspy, sullen words, the pressure enough to shatter it. He rarely spoke of his family. She never expected him to after he confessed that they died when he was a child. Wounds that old and deep were not meant to be opened again.
“It made her feel better when she was sick,” he added.
And it probably helped him feel better to ease her pains in what little ways he could.
Tears pricked at her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall as she turned enough to grasp his hand. He stared in surprise as she brought it to her lips and grazed a kiss to the letters tattooed over his fingers and another to the black cross on the back of his hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She released his hand and turned back around, signaling he continue with her hair. It took him a few moments, but she didn’t press him as he sat motionless behind her. Eventually, he cleared his throat and took up his task again.
Neither spoke as he played with her hair. Nami ignored the passing minutes on the clock as she shut her eyes once more. He could play with her hair for as long as he desired.
His hands were gentle and certain as they tugged and wove her hair into place. A surgeon’s hands needed to be confident and graceful, so Nami wasn’t surprised by how easily his fingers moved through her hair.
It was all so peaceful, she nearly fell asleep. He roused her when she swayed into him, helped her sit straight as he tied off his work, and then kissed her shoulder to signal that he was done. She shook away her drowsy haze and eased out of bed to see the results in the bathroom mirror.
For a man with such talented hands, he had absolutely no skill at braiding.
As she gaped at the… French braid(?) her hair was in, Law slipped into the bathroom behind her. His expression was stoic as he appraised his own work. He seemed pleased, despite the strange knots that stuck out, and the mismatched hunks of hair that made up the main braid. He had somehow sprinkled smaller braids into the longer one, knotted them in a way that Nami knew would not be easy to undo in the morning. She grimaced, but looked at Law’s reflection in the mirror and decided she couldn’t give him her honest opinion, not this time.
“I love it,” she lied, turning to grin up at him as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Really?” His brow cocked to say he didn’t believe her. He had obviously seen her initial reaction.
“It’s… unique,” she insisted as she pushed onto her toes for a short peck. “And cute.”
His face relaxed into a hint of a smile and he leaned in for another kiss.
“Feel better?” she asked.
“Mhm,” he hummed, kissing her again.
With his mood improved, she guided him back to the bedroom, each of them stealing tender kisses along the way.
She decided that if it made him happy, he could braid her hair any time he wished.
She would just sacrifice an hour in the morning to fix it.
An anon requested the prompt “Reading a book together” for Zoro x Nami. Short, but hopefully satisfying and funny.
Title: A New Hobby
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 1801
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
“Will you put on some socks, woman!” Zoro shouted as she wiggled her toes beneath his thigh.
She shoved her feet further under him and stuck her tongue out when he glared. Her feet were cold, but she was too engrossed in her book to get up and put socks on.
“At least use the blanket,” Zoro grumbled, even as he shifted to cover more of her feet.
He was just as engrossed in his copy of the book they were reading that afternoon. Nothing short of the apocalypse would tear them away. They had waited a whole year for the second book of a new dystopian, sci-fi fantasy Robin had recommended to them. Nami had read the first book before Zoro. He had shrugged it off until he borrowed her copy to read when he had nothing to do one day. He had been curious why she was so excited after reading it, why she whined for a whole week about having to wait for the next part after that huge cliffhanger.
He was addicted after two chapters and didn’t set it down until he finished it in one weekend. She was certain he would have finished it faster if he hadn’t taken naps every three hours.
When the next book came out, they each bought their own copies so they could read it together. Zoro didn’t want to wait for her to finish the book first. He needed to know what the protagonist was going to do after her favorite character betrayed their base to the warlord and got their scavenger group imprisoned in a hard labor camp on a desert planet.
Zoro had been furious at how the book ended. He was attached to the protagonist, but had even grudgingly come to like the rogue Nami adored, up until she betrayed them. He ranted and raved about it for days afterward, and renewed his tirades when the second book was announced. He claimed to loathe her, but Nami refused to hate her. Her gut said there was something they didn’t know. She had met with someone from the warlord’s guard, but the author hadn’t written any part of that conversation. It was a huge hole in the plot that would explain her betrayal. The second book was set up to shed light on that. Nami had the utmost faith that her favorite character would be innocent, or at least be vindicated.
That had been a massive argument that ended with Zoro on the couch. Nami refused to share a bed with a man who would not see reason. She was certain his anger was only because he liked the rogue, too. He only got that pissy about people he was genuinely attached to.
“Hey, Zoro, I’m thirsty,” she whined a few minutes after they settled with the throw blanket draped over them both. He sat in the middle of the couch, while she stretched out at one end. Even with the blanket, she kept her toes beneath his thigh, where it was toasty warm.
“Then get something to drink,” he muttered as he flipped a page.
She nudged him with a foot. He swatted at her leg. They exchanged glares in a silent battle of wills. Nami really didn’t want to get up.
“What chapter are you on?” she asked.
“Four.”
“Damn it,” she hissed. She was two chapters ahead. There was no way he would get up to grab her a dink. “You read too slow.”
“Shut up,” he shouted as she dragged herself from the comfort of the couch and her boyfriend’s leg. “Get me a soda while you’re up.”
“Get your own,” she yelled back before stomping off to the kitchen.
“Then you can’t use my thigh as your foot warmer anymore,” he hollered.
She groaned in defeat and snatched a second can of cola from the fridge. She was tempted to chuck it at his head, but then he would never catch up to her in the book.
“What chapter are you on?” he asked as she came back out and held out the soda for him.
“Six,” she said.
“No spoilers,” he warned as he buried his nose back into his book.
Nami rolled her eyes and collapsed on the couch again. She took her time to get resettled, teased her ice-cold toes under his shirt to make him jump as they grazed his bare side.
He hollered in surprise and swatted her feet away. “Socks, you witch! Socks! Stop torturing me with your cold feet!”
She giggled as she jammed them back under his thigh and spread the blanket over them again. He shot her an annoyed glare. She responded with a look of feigned innocence before sticking her tongue out at him again. It was his turn to roll his eyes as he went back to his reading.
Peace reigned for another hour as they read. Once Nami finished chapter ten, she knew her gut feeling about the rogue had been right. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from gloating. It came out as a stifled giggle. She pursed her lips when Zoro glared.
Twenty-five minutes later, Zoro barked a short laugh. “See? I told you she was no good!”
“What!?” she shrieked. “What are you talking about?”
“She did it for the money!”
Nami gaped at him. He was three chapters behind her. “That isn’t why she-”
“Ah! I said no spoilers!” he interrupted.
Nami stuck a finger in her book to hold her spot and smacked Zoro’s shoulder with the hardbound cover.
“What was that for?” he yelled, leaning away as he rubbed his sore shoulder.
She smacked him again, this time getting him to yelp when she hit his hand. “Don’t tell me not to spoil you when you’ve determined you were right before getting as far as I have! I didn’t say a word when she-”
“Ah! Don’t say it!”
“I’m three chapters ahead of you, Zoro. Hurry up and you’ll see what I mean,” she said with one last smack to his shoulder.
He hissed, but shuffled down to get comfortable and focused on his book again. She knew when he finished the next chapter when he hissed. She glanced up to see his brows furrowed, lips curled in a frustrated sneer.
“Tsk, so that’s it…” he muttered.
He glared at her out of the corner of his eye when he noticed her watching him. She didn’t restrain her smug grin.
“Don’t give me that look,” he growled, reaching beneath the blanket to pinch her ankle.
She jumped and shrieked, pulled her foot away to rub the abused flesh.
“She could’ve said something about her father being enslaved,” he grumbled.
“It wasn’t that simple…”
“Oi! Don’t spoil it!”
“Then stop making assumptions and keep reading!” She smacked him with her book again, and he pinched her other ankle.
They nearly distracted themselves from their reading when she screamed and kicked him, which only spurred him to snag her leg and drag her closer to pinch and prod wherever he could reach. Her flaying hits were blocked or dodged, but a few struck true as they wrestled together.
It didn’t end until he knocked her book away and pinned her to the couch. Their argument had been completely forgotten in favor of the hard kiss he planted on her lips. Her temper was diffused with that one kiss. Her guard lowered.
He pinched a ticklish spot, and she broke the kiss to cry out in surprise.
“Stop that,” she shrieked, smacking him when he only grinned and pinched her again. “We’re supposed to be reading.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he huffed, then stole another quick kiss before pulling away.
Nami snatched her book off the floor while Zoro sat up. She expected him to move back to the middle of the couch, but he settled close to her, with her legs draped over his lap. He pulled the blanket over her cold feet, bundled them up tight in the soft fleece, and then shuffled down to prop his feet on the coffee table. She hid her smile behind her book as he draped his arm over her thighs and idly squeezed and rubbed her knee as he began to read again.
The house was quiet, peaceful for another seven chapters before she broke it with a startled gasp that she couldn’t stifle fast enough.
“What?” Zoro asked, looking up from his book.
She clasped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. She couldn’t spoil this for him. She had a feeling the author would take the leader’s relationship with his rogue ally in that direction, but she had not expected it to happen so fast.
“What?” he huffed again, but then held up a hand. “Wait. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to be spoiled.”
She pursed her lips, but a delighted squeal still leaked out as she thought about that scene, that kiss, that…. Oh, she couldn’t wait for Zoro to get to that part.
“Will you stop looking at me like that!” he shouted when she couldn’t stop watching him read.
“I can’t help it! You need to get to this part!”
“I will if you’ll stop staring!”
She bit her lip and tried to focus on the book again, but she couldn’t stop glancing up every time Zoro turned a page.
“Stop that,” he shouted.
She couldn’t focus anymore, not until Zoro caught up and then maybe he could freak out with her. Or yell at her for freaking out. She tossed the blanket off her and jumped from the couch.
“Oi! Where are you going?” he asked as she bounced off to the kitchen.
“I can’t sit here and wait for you to catch up,” she yelled. “I’ll get dinner started, just hurry up and get to the good part.”
She knew he rolled his eyes from the sound of his disgruntled sigh. She couldn’t find it in her to care about his attitude. She was too busy fanning at the blush burning her cheeks as she danced and squealed to herself.
“I can still hear you, Nami,” Zoro shouted. “Stop it.”
“I can’t help it! It’s so good!”
Zoro grumbled something under his breath but didn’t say anything more. She forced herself to calm down and make dinner, though she had to stop every few minutes to bury her face in a hand towel and muffle a delighted scream.
“Holy shit!” Zoro shouted out of nowhere. There was a heavy thump and Nami knew he had caught up to her when he tore into the kitchen, book held high while he wore a look of shock. His bright pink blush was enough to have her laughing hysterically as he spluttered, “They fucked!”
An anon requested the prompt “Having their hair washed by the other” for Hancock and Nami, and specified that it be platonic intimacy. The prompt request included a lot of details and extra characters that I felt were to restrictive to the nature of these prompts, so I did not stick to them, I’m sorry. There was also a request to hint at, or mention multiple pairings (4 total), and when I posted this list, I had specifically said only one pairing per ask, per prompt. So, I focused on the platonic intimacy between Hancock and Nami, and the only ship I allude to is LuHan because this is set in canon, thus Hancock’s affection for Luffy is a part of her character. I make zero mention of other pairings, though I will say, with the way I wrote it, Nami’s gay might be showing... a lot.
I personally feel that the direction I went in better encompasses the theme of intimacy, even platonic intimacy, so I hope the anon can forgive my decision not to follow their full request.
Title: Marks
Pairing: Boa Hancock/Nami
Genre: Friendship, Comfort
Rating: T
Word Count: 1749
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Nami never imagined that she would meet the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock. She knew the woman was fond of Luffy, heard all that she had done to help him when his crew could not. She wanted to meet her, to thank her for taking care of their captain, her best friend, because she never wanted to imagination a world without him in it.
But there she was, in all her glory, at the other end of the bathhouse, lounging with her sisters and snake after she helped cover their escape from the marines. She was captivating, intimidating. She knew Hancock was a beautiful woman, she knew all the stories of the men turned to stone, the men that fell at her feet, overcome with lust and desire. Those stories and the pictures in the papers didn’t do the real thing justice. No words or film could ever capture just how striking she was.
Nami wanted to talk to her, but she was scared. The woman was powerful, even stronger than she was beautiful. She was cold and distant, mistrusting, and the icy visage only added to her allure while terrifying her at the same time. She knew that wasn’t all there was to her. She had heard her swoon at the sight of Luffy, had seen her smile and sigh and radiate like a woman in love. There was warmth to her.
She was desperate to talk to this woman. She wanted to know her. She wanted to know why she was so cold. She wanted to know what had happened to make her hate so many men. She wanted to see the woman beneath, the woman who smiled and blushed all because the boy she liked said her name.
She gathered up every ounce of her courage and slipped through the water, toward the other side of the massive pool. Robin sat near her and arched a brow at Nami’s sudden boldness, but said nothing.
Hancock’s snake perked up and hissed, drawing the attention of the three women to the intruder. She and Robin had been graciously permitted to share the bath with them, but there had been a silent understanding that they were not to get too close.
Nami swallowed down her fear and stammered as the full weight of the Empress’ gaze landed on her. “Ah… Miss Empress… Your Grace? Ah…” She nearly bit her tongue to quiet her shriek when Hancock glared impatiently. “I was wondering… I… Can I wash your hair?” she finally squeaked out.
Her sisters gaped in surprise while Hancock’s perfectly shaped brow arched. Nami was terrified that she might be in danger of turning to stone at any given moment. Did her abilities work on women? She only heard of it working on men who lusted for the Empress. But rumors were rarely reliable.
“I would be most honored,” Nami added with a nervous laugh.
Hancock tilted her head to the side, bemused. “Why?”
“I… uh…” She glanced over her shoulder at Robin. Her friend gave her a reassuring nod. She turned back, shoulders straight, and held tight to false bravado. “If it weren’t for you, we might never have seen our captain again. The whole crew owes you more than we can ever repay for everything you’ve done for him.” She sighed as she stared at Hancock’s straight black hair as he floated around her in the water. “And your hair is so beautiful and silky, I need to touch it,” she thoughtlessly added before slapping her hands over her mouth to keep herself from saying more. She hadn’t meant to say that part out loud. It was true, but some things you just don’t say.
Not unless you want to be turned to stone.
She jumped at Hancock’s initial laugh. The woman kept a hand over her mouth and giggled, and despite being afraid for her life, Nami couldn’t help but find it cute.
“All right,” she agreed once she had calmed down. “I suppose you may.”
Nami grinned and slipped closer. Hancock’s sisters moved to allow Nami to sit on the edge of the bath behind her. The snake hissed another warning and coiled around his mistress, until she was comfortably settled on him like a throne. He placed his head on Hancock’s chest, smiled when she scratched his nose, and then closed his eyes to nap.
“That one there,” Hancock said as she pointed to a bottle of shampoo.
The whole gesture and her tone was so regal and graceful, it made Nami’s heart flutter. This woman was truly an Empress, carrying herself with the poise of royalty.
Nami snatched the bottle and gathered Hancock’s long hair in her lap. It was as silky as it looked, slipped through her fingers as easily as the water in the bath. Her shampoo was soft and fragrant, with a subtle earthy scent that soothed Nami’s nerves as she breathed it in. She began to lather it into Hancock’s scalp, and heard her breathe in deep before she relaxed into her snake with a long sigh. Nami dared to peek over the woman’s shoulder and saw that her eyes were shut, her lips quirked in a gentle smile.
She was so pretty, no wonder men lost their minds to lust when they saw her.
And Luffy was oblivious, but she supposed that was part of his appeal. He saw Hancock as a friend, a human being, an independent person who was strong and helpful. Hancock could be herself with him. Not the Pirate Empress, just Boa Hancock. It had to be a relief.
As Nami worked her way through Hancock’s hair, combing her fingers through it with the utmost care, she noticed a splash of color on her back. At first, she thought it was a birthmark, but as she moved her hair out of the way, she saw the familiar red claws of the Celestial Dragon’s slave mark.
She couldn’t stifle her gasp of surprise.
Hancock stiffened and tilted her head back. She saw a flash of fear before the Empress hid it behind an icy mask, a hint of ire.
Nami let her hair fall back into place to cover the mark and raised a trembling hand to her mouth as she sought something to say that might set her at ease. She could not imagine the life she had lived to have that mark on her. She remembered Jinbei’s story of Fisher Tiger, of Koala. She knew the trauma they endured.
“I…” she began, but Hancock turned forward with a dismissive wave.
“Since you are Luffy’s navigator, I will not turn you to stone,” she said, her tone sharp with a warning. “I expect you to remain silent.”
“Of course,” she breathed out. “I would never…”
She released a long, shaky breath and set back to work on Hancock’s hair. The ease of the gesture was gone, neither of them were comfortable with the intimacy any longer. Nami hadn’t intended that. She just wanted to know and understand the woman. She supposed she knew far more than she bargained for now.
“I…” she began to whisper, grappling for something to connect them, to end the tense silence.
She knew what it was like to be marked as property, though she also knew that no matter how awful a monster Arlong was, he was not as cruel as the Celestial Dragons. She witnessed how they treated their slaves first hand on Sabaody.
Fisher Tiger was a brother to him. Jinbei had once been, too.
“I was part of Arlong’s crew,” she whispered to Hancock. The woman’s head tilted, just enough to say that she was listening. “He’s a fishman… Was once a member of the Sun Pirates.”
“Hmm, the one Jinbei released when he became a warlord,” Hancock said. Of course, she would know about that. She was a warlord. “Fisher Tiger is the reason I am here,” she added so softly, Nami had to strain to hear. Hancock glanced back at her. “I saw him fight his owners and the others. He was vicious. It was terrifying. But… if he had not done what he did…” She trailed off, her eyes darted to her back. The mark. Fisher Tiger was the reason she was free.
Nami nodded in understanding. The tension leaked away a fraction as Hancock turned forward.
“Jinbei has told me of his guilt over Arlong,” Hancock said. “He regrets what he did.”
Nami sighed. “He attacked my village,” she told her. “Killed my mother. And took me for his crew at ten.” Hancock’s head snapped back, eyes wide in surprise. Nami forced a sullen smile. “He tattooed his mark to me.”
She did not have to say more for Hancock to understand. She pursed her lips, let her gaze search over Nami’s body until she turned enough for her to see the scar on her shoulder, masked by her pinwheel tattoo.
“I tried to cut it off,” she explained when Hancock’s lips parted in a silent gasp. “Luffy is the reason I’m here.”
Hancock stared at her, did not speak a word as she considered what Nami shared. She hadn’t spoken so much about Arlong with anyone since Luffy freed her. She had not been a slave as Hancock had, but she had been enslaved in another way. She had sold herself willingly, for the sake of her island, her village, her family. She had been afforded some freedom, there had been no ring around her neck. But, there was an invisible noose, a constant reminder that he could destroy her. Not her body. He would never kill her, she was too valuable for that. He could destroy her heart, though. He had shown her how easily he could do it. Just one bullet. That was all it would take. Her world would shatter, and she would have nothing left. She did not need a ring, only the lives that depended on her for peace and hope.
After a long minute, Hancock smiled. It was gentle, sweet, kind. She turned forward again and reclined into her snake.
“Finish my hair so I may wash yours next,” she said. “I want to hear everything you know about Luffy.”
Nami giggled. She had no doubt Hancock wanted to know as much about her captain as Nami could tell, but she knew that was not the reason she would wash her hair.
She could safely say that she had just made friends with the Pirate Empress.
I hadn’t planned to do anything for the ZoNami holiday event because I wasn’t sure if I would have the time, or any idea, but I got a small idea in my head over Christmas and just had to write it. So, this is for @zonamievents‘. I hope everyone enjoys it.
Title: Mistletoe Fate
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 8629
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
For the last two Christmas seasons, Nami had artfully avoided the mistletoe Robin liked to hang in her home. Robin moved the sprig of mistletoe every time someone found it or was found beneath, so only the most observant would be able to avoid the silly tradition, but even they eventually got trapped. Nami was one of the last survivors and she knew her luck would soon run out on her.
She didn’t hate the tradition, not really. She found it cute and she completely understood why Robin had so much fun with it. Few of their friends were willing to kiss under the mistletoe, some exchanged blows instead of pecks, but before they decided which direction they went, it was always fun to see their faces turn crimson as they imagined the kiss. That embarrassment was worth the risk of being trapped herself.
The only other ones to avoid Robin’s mistletoe over the years were Zoro and Law, at least that she was aware of. The latter had made the decision to never step foot in Robin’s home or office during the holiday season once he learned of the tradition. She had no idea how Zoro avoided it. She wondered if he had a sixth sense for those sorts of things. Or it was part of his freakishly good luck.
This year, Nami had her work cut out for her if she wanted to stay away from the mistletoe. She tried to avoid going to Robin’s with other people around; if it was only her, then she wouldn’t be trapped with someone else. But that night was Robin’s annual Christmas party and Nami had to attend. It was one of her closest friend’s throwing it, and all her favorite people would be there. She had to go. She had to take the risk. But she had a plan that she hoped was foolproof.
The one thing she could count on was Sanji’s determination to catch a woman beneath the mistletoe. He would search for it and hover near it, keeping watch for any woman to come close before he sprung into action. If she kept an eye on him, she should be able to calculate a four-foot radius around his location with the maximum probability of the mistletoe being hidden within. She also had to stay clear of that radius if he called her over – which he would do as often as he could – in order to avoid being trapped by him.
When she arrived at Robin’s that evening, she realized her plan might be more difficult than first thought. Robin had upped her game that year. The ceiling was flooded with decorations. Silver-white snowflakes hung down between a web of white Christmas lights. The snowflakes glittered and shone and helped mask the other decorations hung around them. The green cords of the lights were camouflaged by sprigs of holly and pine. Between the lights and the plants, finding a single sprig of mistletoe would be impossible. Even Sanji looked frustrated as he searched the ceiling from his place in the kitchen, but if there was anyone who could find the mistletoe, it would be him.
“The decorations are beautiful,” Nami told Robin as her friend handed her a glass of mulled wine.
“Thank you,” Robin cooed, a knowing glint in her eye. “I thought this year I would go for a traditional Yuletide look.” Her gaze drifted up to the ceiling and Nami watched her eyes for any clue or hint of where the mistletoe might be. “The Nordic people would bring in evergreen branches and light candles and yule logs to bring light and life back into their homes at the winter solstice, when the days gradually began to grow longer.” She looked back down at Nami with that knowing, mischievous smile. “And of course, they had mistletoe, too. After its part in the killing of Balder, a most beloved and beautiful god, Frigg had decreed that it would forever be made into a symbol of peace and friendship, rather than punish it for being used as a tool in a cruel trick. They even say its pearlescent berries are the tears she shed for her lost son.”
Nami raised her brow at the tale. “Is that why you’re supposed to kiss under it?”
Robin chuckled as she led her toward the living room. Nami followed warily, her gaze darting to the ceiling. “In part, though many suppose it relates to its use in various pagan mid-winter traditions, including the Nordic tradition. While mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant that feeds off the life-force of a deciduous plant, it’s seen as a symbol of fertility, particularly in the winter months because it’s an evergreen. So, while its host plant may die or sleep in the frigid winter, the mistletoe continues to live and thrive as a sign of its host remaining life force and energy. It’s even used in old fertility medicines and potions, and as a charm for women to find a husband.”
“That’s interesting,” Nami said with feigned excitement. She was still searching for the white berries that would give away the mistletoe. The lights and snowflakes made it an effort in futility.
“Isn’t it?” Robin said, her interest more genuine, as she sat down on the couch. “You won’t find it, by the way.”
Nami’s gaze snapped down to her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Robin chuckled and waved for her to sit beside her. “Relax, Nami. Even I don’t know where it is this year.”
Her eyes widened. “What? How?”
“I paid Basil Hawkins to decorate this year. He hid the mistletoe for me.” Robin smiled into her wine glass. “You will find no tell on my face this year.”
Nami flopped down onto the couch with a huff. “You could have become an evil mastermind if you put some effort into it.” She glanced up at the ceiling and frowned. “You’re lucky I love you, or I would be really annoyed that you went this far.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’m in danger of being trapped this year, too, because of this. There is no reward without a little personal risk, after all,” Robin mused.
“Oh? Do you have anyone that you hope to get caught with?” she asked, leaning in with the hope her friend would confide something juicy with her.
Robin shook her head. “That is not for you to know.” That was a huge letdown. At least if she had to suffer with the crippling paranoia of being in danger of the mistletoe tradition, she would have enjoyed coping by helping get Robin trapped with someone she liked. “But I will tell you that I have someone I hope you get caught with.”
“Who?”
The doorbell rang to announce more guests and Robin stood without responding. Nami was left to wonder. She had her own preferences, but she hadn’t shared those with Robin. If Robin knew she might have an interest in anyone, the mistletoe tradition would be turned into a year-round effort. Any feelings beyond friendship she felt for certain people were better off kept to herself.
Someone collapsed on the couch beside her with enough force to make her bounce. She held tight to her wine glass and shot a glare at the sudden company. She found Zoro beside her with a new bottle of her favorite rosé held out to her, an orange ribbon tied around the neck.
“For me?” she asked. He shrugged, and she took the bottle with an excited chirp of, “Thank you.”
She noticed most of his attention was fixed on the ceiling. She knew that glower well. She probably wore the same one when she walked in.
“We’re screwed,” he grunted.
It seemed his survival had less to do with luck than she thought. He had actually been aware of it the whole time, just like she was, and now they were both lost.
“Please tell me you found it,” he whispered under his breath. He cursed when she gave a solemn shake of her head in answer. “Love-cook?”
They both glanced toward the kitchen where Sanji alternated between a saucepan on the stove and his search of the ceiling.
“Nope,” Nami sighed. “Not yet.”
“Robin didn’t give anything away, either.”
“She paid Hawkins to decorate,” Nami explained. “She doesn’t know where it is.”
“We are so fucking screwed.”
It was then she realized who Robin meant to set her up with. Nami bolted off the couch and quickly put a safe distance between her and Zoro.
“What?” He scowled at her as she backed away.
“Stay away from me tonight,” she warned. “Far away.”
His scowl deepened to show his displeasure, so she hissed quietly for only him to hear. “She told me she had someone in mind for me.” His eyes widened as he came to his own realization. “We’re the only two survivors here.”
“Shit,” he hissed as he stood from the couch. She took two steps away from him, but he held up a hand to stop her. “Different rooms at all times. We walk away every time we see each other. Got it?”
“Got it,” she agreed.
With that said, he spun away to stalk toward the kitchen. If there was mistletoe in there, he and Sanji would end it in blows. Robin would be forced to move it from that hiding spot, and then Nami would be able to get a hint from her as to where it might be.
In the meantime, Nami had to come up with a new plan. She had a feeling that she would get caught with someone, so her best bet was to stick to people she didn’t mind kissing. Or, at least kissing them wouldn’t make her heart beat out of her chest like the very thought of kissing Zoro did to her.
As the guests trickled in, she assessed each one. Robin wouldn’t let her stick to her long, not with her own interests, but if Nami could arrange it, she wouldn’t mind kissing her. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper would be like kissing brothers, and she could charge them. Well, maybe not Chopper. He was too sweet to put in much debt. The other two would definitely see their debts double if she kissed them. Sanji was a no, if only because his determination to kiss any girl there made her want to avoid him altogether. She could charge him, too. Triple his debt. That wouldn’t be so bad. Assuming he stayed conscious long enough to kiss her, and knowing him, he would likely pass out first. She could always tell him they kissed and charge him accordingly, anyway.
Franky was… well, a maybe. He was a pervert, but not of the same sort as Sanji, so she could probably tolerate it. But, she would rather not. Brook was a huge no. The old man would ask to see her panties. At least she could punch him and storm off.
Jinbei wouldn’t be so bad. He was a sweet man. There might be some baggage there, but it wouldn’t be awful, and he’d respect her enough to keep it chaste. Could probably get away with a kiss on the cheek and maybe satisfy everyone. Hachi would be awkward, but she could handle something chaste with him, too. Despite the baggage. Anything more would upset Kiemi, anyway, and she wasn’t about to do that. She would be fine kissing Kiemi, though.
When Vivi arrived, she decided she could latch onto her. Kohza might have a problem with it if she got caught with Vivi under the mistletoe, but the princess was the ideal option for a kiss, in her opinion. Her boyfriend could deal with it.
To her surprise, Law showed up. He wouldn’t be bad, if only because he would brush it off as nothing. Bepo was fine, too. His other friends, maybe not. She could charge them for it. Unfortunately, that group only lingered in the foyer while Law assessed the decorations on the ceiling. He realized what Robin was up to instantly, frowned at the hostess, and waved at his friends to hand over a couple of bottles of wine and brandy while he spun around and walked out without looking back once. There went that option.
Kid and his friends came next. He glared at the ceiling, but shrugged the scheme off. One year he had gotten caught with Apoo. He shouted, “Fuck that,” punched Apoo in the face, and turned the party into a massive fist-fight between all the guys there. She was surprised Robin invited them at all after that, but Kid was fun to party with when his temper wasn’t set off. He might not be awful, either. Another year he had been with Killer when he walked under mistletoe. That time he shrugged it off, kissed his best friend on the cheek, and then walked off to grab a beer. If he acted that nonchalant with her, it could be tolerable. Maybe. She would rather avoid it, just because his reaction was too unpredictable.
Killer would be okay. His reaction would be predictable and level-headed. A better option to Kid.
Apoo was a no.
Capone was another no. It helped he was happily married and kept his wife at his side as he made his rounds of the guests. That made it easier to rule him out. His wife, Chiffon, might be an option, except she was sure Capone would kill anyone who touched her. Tradition be damned.
Bonney was a good option. She settled in the kitchen to demand food from Sanji, along with Luffy. Nami doubted she would break away from her meals long enough to get caught, anyway. But, if it happened, she would be fine with that.
Drake wouldn’t be so bad. He was handsome and quiet and nice. He would probably blush brighter than Kid’s hair, too. That could at least make it amusing for her. But, he stuck around Robin and Franky most of the night, listening as Robin explained the history of the shoes lining the front of the fireplace, each one stuffed with carrots and apples and gourds – offerings to Odin’s horse, another Yule tradition to fit her theme.
When Hawkins and his friends arrived, her plans shifted slightly. He settled in an armchair by the fire and began to play with his tarot cards, but she caught him glance around the room from time to time. He knew where the mistletoe was. If she watched him long enough, he might give it away. She hoped. The bastard had the best poker face she had ever seen. He put Law’s stoic expressions to shame.
He made eye contact with her once and slowly shook his head. She had no idea what message he meant to convey, but she imagined it could not bode well for her.
Zoro was right – they were screwed.
She went back to her original plan – avoid Zoro at all costs. Hawkins had a freakish sort of premonition that stacked the odds against her, but she wouldn’t give up. She would survive another mistletoe season. She had to.
She tried to focus on having fun, as much as she could, while keeping an eye out for Zoro. Avoiding him at a party took away some of the fun for her. They were rarely far from each other at parties, after all. She was the only one out of their friends who could drink with him without passing out. If Law had been there, he might have latched onto him as a new drinking buddy. Instead she caught him hanging out with Kid and Killer, the former the only other person there who could keep up with his drinking. Nami shifted between groups, though stuck close to Vivi or Chopper most of the night.
She loved all of her friends, and liked, or at least tolerated, her acquaintances, but forcing herself to stay away from Zoro was harder than she expected, even with the others to keep her company. She wanted to spend time with all of her friends that night, not actively move around the room to keep at a distance from Zoro. She wanted to crack open her new bottle of wine and see how long it would take for her and Zoro to finish it off. She knew from experience that it wouldn’t take long for them, but it was still fun to see if they could drink it faster.
Zoro was her oldest friend at the party, next to Luffy. Despite their regular bickering, she enjoyed being around him. She liked his presence. She felt safe. She felt understood, sometimes to a frustrating degree that made her want to strangle him when he saw through her mask. They argued frequently, but they always ended up on the same side in the end, and they did agree on far more than most expected. Bickering just came naturally to them, and it never contained any true malice. He respected her, and she respected him, and they found a way toward the middle when they needed to. Zoro didn’t coddle her. He called her out when he thought she needed it. He trusted her enough to follow her lead, even if he didn’t understand or agree with whatever she was doing. He knew when to shield her, and he knew when to let her fight on her own.
She always felt that there might be something there, but she was always too afraid to pursue it. She was comfortable as friends. It was easier as friends. She couldn’t get hurt and she couldn’t destroy a good thing if they stayed in that comfort zone they had forged over the years.
It didn’t help that she had no clue what he might feel for her, other than friendship. He was difficult to read in that area.
Whatever he felt, he obviously wanted to remain in their comfortable friendship, too. He was as adamant about avoiding her as she was with him.
They had a few close calls that night. She needed to use the bathroom and literally ran into him in the hall. She darted into the linen closet before anyone noticed them together, just in case the mistletoe was near. Zoro sighed outside the closet door, gave it three knocks, and then walked away while she counted to three, caught her breath, and willed her heart to stop racing.
The next close call came in the kitchen. She had wandered in because she smelled fresh cookies and wanted one. She had last seen Zoro on the back deck with Luffy and Usopp, so she thought it was safe. To her surprise, he was in the kitchen, mixing a glass of eggnog that she knew was almost entirely rum. His eyes went wide as he held the ladle of eggnog over his glass of rum. She froze at the kitchen entryway.
“Eggnog?” he grunted quietly as he glanced around for anyone that might spot them within three feet of each other.
“Cookies,” she said, pointing at the tray sitting beside the stove.
He nodded in understanding, emptied the ladle into his cup, and then slowly backed away until he was hidden in Robin’s pantry.
“So, having fun yet?” he asked from behind the pantry door while she grabbed two cookies.
She snorted in response. “How about you?”
“Oh yeah, total blast,” he answered sarcastically. “Always dreamed of spending part of a Christmas party drinking alone in a pantry.”
She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “Well, I’m done in here. It’ll be safe for you to come out in a minute.”
He grunted in response. She didn’t hear the pantry door swing open until she was in the dining room, plenty of time to get to the fireplace and settle in to listen to another of Robin’s history lessons while Zoro found somewhere else to be.
After Sanji had served the main meal of the party, Nami drifted out to the back deck for a breath of fresh air. The party would begin to wind down now that everyone had eaten, but it would still take a few hours before anyone left. She needed a break to relax and prepare herself for the last hours of avoiding Zoro.
She cupped her mulled wine close in the chilly weather as she leaned over the deck’s railing. The din of the party trickled out but hardly took away from the peaceful night outside. The cold air and threat of snow kept everyone inside for most of the night, providing her with a perfect respite.
The noise of the party grew louder as the back door slid open behind her and then shut to seal out the shouts and laughs again. Nami glanced back to see who joined her and balked at the sight of Zoro rubbing his arms as he casually approached her.
“Zoro,” she hissed in warning.
He raised a hand in surrender. “It’s fine,” he said. “Unless Hawkins arranged for a drone, we ain’t getting caught out here.” He pointed to the cloudy sky above them. “Seriously, even Robin can’t be that determined to catch us.”
Nami breathed a sigh of relief. He had a good point there.
“So, what are you doing out here alone?” he asked as he leaned over the railing beside her. He held his own cup of mulled wine, the steam coiling up beneath his nose as he took a sip.
“Needed some air.” She shrugged. “Too much to drink. And Robin just told the story of Krampus to Chopper.” She shuddered. Chopper will have nightmares for weeks. “That lore doesn’t even have anything to do with Yule.”
Zoro snorted. “Yeah, but she likes her creepy stories. She already talked about that Wild Hunt myth connected to Yule, anyway.”
“Only Robin would tell ghost stories on Christmas,” Nami sighed. She couldn’t hold it against her, though. Robin loved history, loved ancient worlds, lost legends and myths. Every holiday was steeped in old traditions, twisted and altered with time, and Robin always made an effort to unravel the old mysteries and explain how we came to celebrate certain days of the year. The tales were interesting, though Nami would still prefer to not think of ghosts walking the Earth and an evil creature hunting down naughty children. Give her Santa and his reindeer, Christmas trees and lights, presents – lots of presents, and all the good food and liquor. That was all she needed for the winter holidays. She would even take the mistletoe over the undead. “Oh, have you figured out where the mistletoe is, yet?”
“That bastard Hawkins hasn’t given anything away,” Zoro grumbled. “Hope you never have to play him at poker. He’d kick your ass.”
Nami snorted in agreement. “What about the friends he brought with him? They’re easier to read. Maybe we should watch them?”
Zoro shrugged. “Only a few more hours left in the party. Hawkins never stays to the very end of these things. Once he’s gone, then no one will know where the mistletoe is and we can go back to normal.”
“Unless he tells someone,” she pointed out.
“If he told anyone, it would be Robin. If we watch that exchange, she’ll give it away. Probably,” he explained.
Nami hummed in thought. That might work out well. Robin might be good at keeping secrets, but a person’s eyes tended to give the best tells, no matter how well they controlled it. She would glance wherever Hawkins told her to look. She wouldn’t be able to control it.
“So, where’s my Christmas present?” Zoro asked suddenly, drawing her attention to his grin. “I know you got me one.”
She laughed. “I dropped your debt by a quarter.”
“That’s it?” He frowned. “Swore Luffy told me you were expecting a package from China or something.”
“That idiot,” she grumbled. “He can never keep a secret.”
“You should never have told him anything.”
“He got on my computer and saw the email with the shipping information,” she explained. “And it’s not China, by the way, it’s from Japan.”
Zoro perked up at the clue. “Sake?”
Nami rolled her eyes. “Way to ruin the surprise… Yes, it’s sake. I was supposed to have it a couple of days ago, but a storm slowed the shipment.”
A breeze picked up and Nami shivered. She would have to go back inside soon, but if this was the safest place for her and Zoro to talk for a while, she would endure the cold.
As she rubbed her arms, Zoro shifted closer. His arm brushed hers. The heat radiating off his body warmed her as he leaned in. He said nothing, but she knew he was trying to keep her warm. She didn’t thank him, only pressed closer to show her gratitude.
“I have a six pack of a new seasonal beer at home I planned to share with you,” she said. “To make up for your present being delayed.”
“You’re being pretty generous this year.” He chuckled. “At least with the liquor. Not so much the debt.”
“No, I think the debt is pretty generous. I only forgave a fifth of everyone else’s debt this year.”
Zoro lifted his brow in surprise. “Really? What did I do to get the special treatment?”
She shrugged. “Just felt like forgiving more. You have the highest debt out of everyone, anyway, even after the forgiveness.”
He snorted. “What’s it at again?”
“Eight-hundred thousand, five-hundred-twenty-three. Oh, and six cents.”
“So, I had broken a million before?” he asked. He laughed when she nodded. “Who has the next highest after me?”
“It’s a tie between Sanji and Brook. Just over six-hundred thousand each.”
“Surprised the love-cook isn’t higher. How many times has he caught a peek at you in the bath?”
“He cooks for me to make up for some of the fines,” she explained. “And does my errands for me.”
“He’d do that without the fines,” he pointed out.
“True, which is why I don’t bring down the charges as much as I do for you when you do favors for me.”
“I keep getting special treatment from you.” He chuckled. “Almost feels good to know you aren’t a total witch toward me. Would be better if you forgave all of it.”
“That will never happen.” She laughed. “And your debt is different from Sanji’s. Yours is almost entirely interest on loans. He rarely borrows money from me. Everything he owes comes from fines.”
“I haven’t borrowed that much from you,” he shouted incredulously.
He looked away with a frustrated hiss. “Tsh, robbing me blind, I swear.”
“I am a cat-thief.”
“And we’re supposed to be friends. You shouldn’t be stealing from your friends.”
“And I don’t steal from you. I explicitly state the terms of repayment each time you borrow money from me. You have the option to decline the loan, but you never do. By taking the money, you agree to the terms, and thus end up in debt. It’s your own fault. If you don’t believe you are capable of holding up your end of an agreement, then you shouldn’t make promises so lightly.” She tilted back the last of her wine. “Don’t blame me for your own failings.”
She felt him flinch and glanced over to see him hang his head with a drawn-out sigh. She nudged his shoulder and smiled when he slanted his gaze toward her, his annoyed glower firmly in place.
“I have to babysit for Capone and Chiffon next week. Help me out and I’ll forgive another five-thousand.”
“That hardly puts a dent in it,” he huffed.
“So? It’s better than nothing. At least I’m not forcing you to repay it all in cash. Then again, you don’t have the money, so it would be a waste of my time.”
“Greedy, manipulative witch,” he muttered under his breath. She smacked him upside the head and he stood straight to snarl down at her as he rubbed the back of his head. “What? It’s true. You use your loans and fines to enslave people to your whims.”
Nami shrugged. “I know. I’m cruel and evil and going to hell all for indebting my friends to me. Don’t care. You’re helping me babysit or I’ll make you rob a bank to pay me back.”
He slumped over as he grumbled a string of curses. “Fine, I’ll help you babysit.”
“Thank you,” she chirped as she snagged his arm to hug it. “I’m going back inside for more wine. Are you going to stay out here?”
Another breeze swirled around them, cold enough to make Zoro shiver. “Nah, too cold. But go inside first, just in case the mistletoe’s around the door.”
She hid her disappointment with a smile. She wanted to hang out with him longer. But, it was cold, and she didn’t want anyone coming outside to interrupt them. They could always see each other later.
She turned for the door, but paused to look at him. “Hey, how about you come over later. We can crack open that beer with no threat of mistletoe to ruin it.”
Zoro’s head bowed as he tried to stifle a laugh. She knew the faint pink on his cheeks and ears was from the cold, but she wished it was from a blush at the thought of having her under the mistletoe.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” he agreed.
Excited and anxious, she turned to head inside. As much as she loved her friends, she couldn’t wait for the party to be over so she could spend some time alone with Zoro. No interruptions. No hiding in pantries and closets. Just the two of them drinking and laughing and arguing like normal.
It was too bad the back door was stuck. She yanked on the handle to slide it open, only to have it stay firmly in place. She glared at the handle and lock. It had to be stuck. It was cold. Maybe some water froze in the casing and she just needed to break it to open the door.
“What the hell are you doing, Nami?” Zoro called to her from the opposite end of the deck.
“It’s stuck,” she called to him. It had to be stuck. There was no way anyone would lock them out. Right? She was just paranoid when she thought that for a brief moment. If it was locked, it was probably an accident.
“Here, let me do it,” Zoro grumbled as he stomped toward the door.
Nami ignored him as she searched the mostly empty dining room for someone to unlock the door. The first person she spotted, though, sent a chill through her that was colder than the wind outside.
Basil Hawkins sat in a chair at the head of the table, his tarot cards spread out before him, and his gaze fixed on hers. She pounded on the door, hoping that he had just moved from the spot by the fire to have a better surface for his cards.
“Hawkins, let me in,” she called through the glass.
He shook his head and she felt all color drawn from her face as he mouthed one word – fate. A finger raised, pointed up, and she followed the signal to look above her.
The mistletoe was outside the whole time.
She pounded on the door in a panic then.
“Let me in,” she screamed. “Someone! Anyone! Let me in!”
“What’s going on? It’s just stuck right?” Zoro asked, right behind her.
She screeched at how close he was, spun around, and shoved him away. “Stay back.”
“What the hell, Nami?” he shouted. “Have you lost-” He cut himself off when she pointed up. His jaw dropped when he noticed the mistletoe. The flush in his cheeks drained away. “Shit.”
“Yeah, stay put,” she ordered. Hawkins saw them, but no one else had. She should be okay. The bastard was creepy, but he wouldn’t call them out. Would he?
She spun back around to pound on the door again, but hesitated when she found Vivi and Robin standing on the other side. Both women smiled knowingly as they sipped their wine.
Oh, that bastard ratted them out.
“Let me in,” she demanded as she tried the handle again.
“Not until we see a kiss,” Robin said, while Vivi nodded in agreement.
“Please,” she whined and smacked her hand against the glass. “Please, Vivi. You can’t let her do this to us.”
Vivi wagged a finger at her and shook her head. “You cannot defy the mistletoe tradition. If you refuse the kiss, you’ll have bad luck for a year.”
“What?” she shrieked. “But Zoro isn’t even under the mistletoe with me. He hasn’t asked for a kiss, either. Therefore, no bad luck. I’m safe. Let me in.”
“We saw you push him away,” Robin said. “You cannot cheat.”
She had to think fast. They couldn’t force her to do this. She looked to the side, at the fence lining the property. She could make a run for it, leap the fence, and sprint to the front door to get inside before they locked it. Zoro can figure out his own escape plan, it was every person for themselves when Robin’s mistletoe was involved. He might end up on the other side of town, but this was an emergency and his shitty sense of direction might save them. They couldn’t kiss if they were miles apart.
“I’ve already locked the front door,” Vivi sang.
“Traitor,” Nami shrieked back as she slammed a fist into the thick glass.
“There are guards at all the windows, too,” Robin added. “No breaking and entering.”
Nami slid down the glass and let out a loud wail. She heard Zoro approach. Was he just going to give up? She thought he had more resolve than that.
He pounded on the glass above her. “Oi! Where’s that shit-cook? Hey, are you just going to leave Nami out here like this?” he hollered.
Nami perked up. That’s right. Sanji wouldn’t stand for this to happen. He would let her inside.
She spotted him curled up in the corner, his eyes dark shadows of despair. She knocked on the door until he glanced toward her and she gave him her best pleading pout. “Sanji,” she whined cutely. “Save me.”
He shifted, twitched, looked prepared to help, but froze with one look toward Robin and Vivi.
“You’re not allowed to help her this time,” Robin ordered.
“I’ll let you see me topless,” Nami said, hoping the temptation would overrule whatever agreement he made with the other women. “No charge.”
“Sanji, don’t listen to her. You know it’s a trick,” Vivi called to him.
She watched the struggle play out on his face. He wanted to believe her offer, more than anything, but he couldn’t refuse the other two women. His perversion and strange sense of gentleman’s chivalry warred with each other until finally he gave up with a wail as loud as her own.
“I’m sorry, Nami! They made me promise!” he yelled. “I didn’t want to! But… I’ll erase his kiss with my own if I must!”
She slumped forward and slammed her forehead into the door. Of course, he would decide on that course, even though he knew she wouldn’t allow it, either.
“Useless pervert,” she heard Zoro mutter above her before releasing a heavy sigh. He grabbed her arm and hauled her up. “Let’s get this over with.”
“What? We can’t.” She fought at his grip, but he jerked her against his chest and captured her chin to force her gaze to his. “Please, Zoro,” she whispered.
“They ain’t going to let us in if we don’t. They won this round,” he argued.
“They haven’t. I can still run away. We go in opposite directions, we’ll be miles apart, and they can’t make us do anything.”
“I have your car keys, Nami,” Robin said through the door. “Your house keys, too.”
“Damn it,” she hissed. “I can just walk. And I know how to pick my own locks. No big deal. If that isn’t an option, I’ll just walk to Nojiko’s.”
“That’ll take you three days on foot,” Zoro said. “Just give up. We’re not winning this time.”
She whined and stomped her foot. “Can’t you just break the glass?” she suggested. “You’re always wanting to cut your way through problems. Now is the ideal time for you to do that.”
His hold on her chin loosened as he considered that option. He glanced at the door and then grimaced. She followed his gaze to see Robin’s dark smile.
“Break down this door and you will regret it,” Robin warned.
“Remember, Nami, a year of bad luck,” Vivi said. “And we had Hawkins confirm this. He says your fortune is dark and bleak and filled with death if you walk away from this.”
Her whole body went numb. That fortune had to be a lie. There was no way breaking a stupid tradition could cause something like that. It was just a myth.
She glanced over Robin’s and Vivi’s shoulders to catch Hawkins’ nod. “Eighty-five percent probability of demise.”
“You are lying,” she accused, then turned to glare at Robin and Vivi. “This isn’t funny. End this now.”
“We will. As soon as you two kiss.”
Nami growled. “I will make you pay for this, Robin,” she warned. “You, too, Vivi. Don’t play innocent, you’ve been in on it the whole time.” Vivi giggled in response. “Traitors. Every one of you.”
Zoro snagged her chin again and turned her back to him. “Let’s get this over with,” he whispered. “You can charge me for it if you want.”
Before she could agree to that, he leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. Her lips tingled with the hint of warmth and she gasped, only to have it muffled as he pressed his lips to hers harder. She kissed back on instinct and reveled in the sensation of how well their lips molded together. That initial warmth turned into a true fire as the tingling spread from her lips, down her neck, through her chest, filling her with heat that made her forget the cold around them.
She wasn’t sure how long the kiss would last, how long it was supposed to last. As his hand cupped her cheek and he shifted to draw her closer with his arm secure around her waist, she decided that it didn’t matter. She wanted the kiss to go for as long as possible.
But then the lock on the door clicked and Zoro began to pull away. Her eyes fluttered open to see his face still intimately close to hers. His cheeks were red, his eyes half-shut and foggy. His gaze darted down to her lips, back to her eyes, and then back to her lips as he leaned in again.
A roar of cheers inside broke them apart before they could give in to the urge to kiss again. Nami stumbled back against the railing as she trembled. She couldn’t say if her shaking was from the cold, or excitement, or anger, or shock. She was feeling too many emotions to discern which was strongest. Zoro stepped back, covered his mouth with a fist, and couldn’t seem to look at her as he cleared his throat.
This was it. This was the start of awkward, uncomfortable exchanges. They would avoid each other as much as possible, never look each other in the eye again. If they ever found some sense of normalcy, this moment would still be ingrained in their memories, ready to spring up and destroy it all over again with one simple reminder. This was the moment she wanted to avoid far more than the kiss itself.
“Nami –” he began.
“Don’t,” she warned as she tore open the back door and shoved her way through their friends. Traitors. Each and every one of them. She was going to charge them so much for this stunt, their children would still be paying for it. And she would hunt them down to the lowest pits of hell when her time came.
She charged into the guest bedroom where Robin had left everyone’s coats and purses on the bed. She thought to search for her things, but she didn’t want to leave the party, she just needed to breathe and fight off the sting of tears burning her eyes. She slammed the door shut to signal that she needed privacy and tossed herself onto the mountain of coats to hide away and collect her emotions.
Some idiot still knocked at the door.
“Go away,” she yelled.
The door opened, anyway.
“Nami,” Zoro sighed. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic.”
She shot her head up to glare and threw a pillow at him. It slammed into his face. His angry shout was almost cathartic to hear.
“What the hell is your problem?” he shouted as he slammed the door behind and tossed the pillow back at her. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world.”
“You didn’t want to get caught under the mistletoe any more than I did! You should understand why I’m upset,” she yelled back.
“I didn’t care! I just wanted to avoid it because I don’t want people meddling in our business,” he hollered. She gaped at him as he scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. He was trying to calm himself. He didn’t want to argue with her about this. If that was the case, then why did he come after her? “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”
“What?” she asked, stunned at the remark. Was he saying what she thought he was saying.
Zoro growled as he came to sit on the end of the bed by her feet. He took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and sighed. “Why are you so upset about this, Nami?” he asked, quieter and calmer. “Did you really not want to kiss me?”
She pursed her lips and looked away. Old habits told her to lie, to not let him know that she might feel something more for him. But when she dared to glance at him, she saw the same hard, scrutinizing glare that always saw through her lies.
“No,” she admitted quietly, “that isn’t it.” She pushed herself up to sit beside him, careful to leave a foot of space between them. She refused to look at him again. “I didn’t want to make things weird between us.”
Zoro snorted. “Well, you’re doing a fine job of it now.”
She shot him a hard glare, but it wavered as he shifted and closed some of the gap between them, and she looked away again. “It’s your fault I’m like this,” she huffed.
“What? How is it my fault? I didn’t do anything.”
“You kissed me!”
“I was supposed to! It was either that, or freeze our asses off because you’re too stubborn to take a risk!”
She gasped. “I’m not the stubborn one. You’re the stubborn one!”
“How am I the stubborn one when you’re the one who was ready to run for three days, in the middle of the fucking winter, to escape a stupid plant and its stupider tradition!?” he yelled.
She opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut when she found no reasonable comeback. She hated when he had a point. “It’s still your fault,” she huffed, ever stubborn in her choice of blame.
He let out a sardonic laugh as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, sulking. “Was the kiss that awful? Is that why you’re pissed at me?”
This time she allowed herself to lie. She was not about to tell him that it was warm and gentle and intoxicating, that she could smell the cinnamon and nutmeg from the wine, and taste the berries on his lips. She could feel her cheeks heating just thinking about it. She was not about to admit to it.
“Your lips are dry and cracked from the cold,” she bit out. “It was like kissing bark or something.”
She fought against the urge to fidget as Zoro sat in silence beside her. She tightened her arms around her and glared at the corner of the room while she waited for him to say something. It felt as if an eternity had passed before she heard the first low chuckle. When it turned into full laughter, she finally turned to glare at him.
“What’s so funny?” she shrieked.
“You’re a much better liar than that, Nami,” he said through his laughter. He fell back on the bed, clutching his stomach.
She wanted nothing more than to smack him. Or kiss him. Her urges were getting confused with him again.
When he wouldn’t stop laughing, she finally settled on hitting him; right in the gut. He curled in on himself, wheezing, but still let a few chuckles slip out between curses.
“Don’t laugh!” she yelled.
He forced himself to sit up, clutching his gut as he caught his breath. “Can’t help it. That was the dumbest excuse you’ve ever given.”
“Like you could come up with better,” she huffed.
“I wouldn’t bother,” he said flatly. “I didn’t mind kissing you. I wanted to kiss you.”
She had suspected that was the direction the conversation was going in, but to hear him admit it so bluntly surprised her. “You couldn’t even look at me after,” she said. “It was awkward for you, too.”
“The only awkward thing about it was the nosy audience,” he explained, then sighed as he moved closer. His leg brushed hers and she wanted to hate how that little touch sent a pleasant tingle through her. “As I said, that wasn’t how I wanted it to happen, but I wanted to kiss you. Just… in our own time.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away. She noticed his cheeks and ears had reddened again. This time she knew it wasn’t from the cold. “We’ve always had things going on, goals that were more important. I wasn’t going to do anything to distract either of us from what we wanted to accomplish. But it’s always been there, at the back of my mind. When the time was right, I would have acted on my own.”
She couldn’t help but snort. “It’s been over two years. When would that have been?”
He glared. “Eventually. Soon. I don’t know. Whenever it felt right. But, if this was how fate arranged it to happen, then that’s how it is. I’m not turning back, unless you don’t want to pursue this.”
“Pursue what exactly?” she turned toward him.
Zoro growled and gestured between them. “This. Us.” He sighed. “Kissing without mistletoe, whenever we damn well want, without other people nosing into it.”
“Are you saying that you want to date me?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “If you want to.”
She wanted to, but she was still worried that it would change too much between them.
“Nothing will change,” he reassured. “At least nothing important. I’ll make sure of it. And Luffy’s already told me that if I ever break your heart, he’ll beat me up. Even if we’re friends.”
Nami laughed. “When did he say this?”
“Back when we first met,” he said, slowly smiling. She always thought he had the best smile. It was rare to see, but it was infectious.
“He’s known this long, and he never gave it away? That isn’t possible.”
“It is when I threatened to cut out his tongue if he said anything to you,” he laughed.
She smacked his arm. “You threatened your best friend into silence?”
He rolled his eyes. “You do it all the time, don’t get all high and mighty on me.”
“I don’t threaten to cut things out!”
“Yes, you have.”
“Once. I made that threat once! And I specifically said that I would have you cut it out, not me. I don’t get my hands dirty,” she argued with a playful shove.
What could have turned into their normal argument, ended in laughter as he hooked an arm around her head and squeezed her against him.
“So? Is that a yes to this?” he asked once their laughter died away.
She relaxed against him with a sigh. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to see where things went.”
“Good. Then, get up. Let’s go.”
She could hear him grinning as he spoke while shoving her away.
“Go? Go where?” she asked as she stood.
He dug through the coats and didn’t answer until he found hers and tossed it at her. He snatched his coat and turned to her with a grin. “I got you a bottle of wine you still need to open, and you said there’s a case a beer waiting for me in your fridge.”
“You want to leave the party right now? To drink? There’s plenty of liquor here,” she pointed out, even as she slipped on her coat.
“Yeah, but there’s also prying eyes, and we never got a chance to hang out the whole night. And after the stunt they just pulled on us, no one can blame us for walking out,” he argued.
“I suppose you have a point there,” she relented.
“I know I have a point,” he said as he grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the bedroom.
She stifled her laughter as he dragged her to the living room. She hadn’t expected him to be this eager to spend time alone with her, at least not this quickly. She wasn’t complaining, though.
Robin waited for them in the foyer, her bottle of wine and keys in hand.
“Thank you for coming, you two,” she said, as though it had been a perfectly normal evening and that she hadn’t set them up.
Zoro grunted, snatched the wine from her, and continued out the front door. Nami forced him to stop as she turned back to address the others in the room.
“I’ve added five-hundred thousand to all of your debts,” she called out with a grin and cheerful wave. “Merry Christmas.”
She didn’t wait around for anyone to argue the charges. She should have charged double that, but she supposed it was the holidays and the trick they played ended better than she expected it to.
Zoro pulled her all the way to her car, but stopped her at the driver’s side door. She cocked her head when he turned to face her with a wide grin.
“One more,” he said as he raised his arm over his head.
“One more?” She followed his arm to see a sprig of green leaves in his hand, held right over them. She couldn’t help but laugh as she plucked the plant from his fingertips. “This is holly, Zoro.”
“What?” He took the twig back and scrutinized it. “What’s the difference?”
She laughed again as she reached up to cup his warm cheeks in her hands. “Idiot,” she said without malice.
“Oi,” he began to growl, but she cut him off as she pushed onto her toes and brushed a gentle kiss to his lips.
She pulled back to smile at his shocked expression. “My idiot.”
He glared for a brief second, but it quickly turned into another grin. He tossed the holly away, wrapped her up in his arms, and stole her lips for the kiss she really wanted from him.
They didn’t need the mistletoe for an excuse to kiss again, but she hoped they got caught under it for all the Christmases to come.
An anon requested the prompt “Patching up a wound” for Law x Nami. This prompt came with some specifics for the request that I tried to accommodate - namely that Nami was Lami’s teacher and saves her from some thugs. I doubt it’s exactly as the requester might have envisioned, but these prompts aren’t supposed to involve specifics, so I worked with as much of the request as I felt I could, then filled in the rest with my own ideas.
Also, in canon, I would guess that Lami would be closer to Nojiko’s age if she were alive. For the sake of this prompt, though, she is a few years younger than Nami (maybe around 15 years old).
Title: Suspicious Invitations
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 4408
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
“Miss Nami, these are the last of them,” Lami called out as she dropped a stack of lab books onto her desk.
Nami looked up from the class terrarium they had been putting together for a month to smile at the girl. “Thanks, Lami-chan.”
The rest of the class had gathered their bags while Lami and another student helped collect their final lab reports for the weather science class. They had one day left in the summer science program her university sponsored for the local middle and high-schoolers, and she knew most of the kids were eager to get out of there and enjoy what little time they had left that summer before returning to their normal schools.
Lami was one of the few that seemed reluctant to leave the advanced classes. She was as bright as her brother, but she had a lot of energy and a short attention span, so school often bored her. The summer program had been an exception because it was hands-on, fast-paced, and offered her a wide array of unique subjects she wouldn’t get in a typical school. She had pestered Law to enroll her when Nami mentioned that she would be teaching a course that summer, and despite her brothers doubts, she had excelled and made Nami’s first foray into teaching much more enjoyable than she had expected.
“Is the terrarium almost done?” Lami asked as she skipped over to press her face to the glass enclosing the miniature ecosystem they created.
The terrarium had different sections dedicated to different weather patterns, each filled with soil and similar plants to highlight how the weather would affect their growth and life-span. One section blossomed with a mixture of light rain and warm sun. Another section was subject to bright sun and drought, its plants patchy and weak, only the heartiest species surviving the conditions. Another section was in a constant deluge of rain with only the plants that thrived off water growing tall and thick. The last section was sparse, filled with leafless twigs as the foliage rapidly wilted in the bitter cold and snow.
For the last day, Nami had adjusted the computer program that controlled the pipes and atmosphere settings of the terrarium to give the kids a real show. She still needed to tweak the pressure settings, but she had no doubt the thunderstorm and tornado that would wreak havoc on the display would entertain the class and make for a fun final lesson.
“Almost,” Nami told her. “Just a few more calibrations and I should have what I need for tomorrow.”
“Do you need anymore help with it?” Lami looked at her, bright-eyed and eager to help.
“It’s getting late. Your brother should be here to pick you up soon, you don’t want to keep him waiting,” Nami said, wishing she didn’t have to spoil the girl’s fun.
Lami pouted at her. “But I want to help. Law can come find me here. Oh!” She perked up again, her eyes even brighter than before. “He promised to take me for ice cream today. You can come with us!”
That wasn’t subtle at all, Nami thought to herself with a roll of her eyes. The last time she accepted one of Lami’s invitations, the teen disappeared and nearly sent her brother into a panic. They found her an hour later playing video games at the arcade down the block with Luffy, completely unaware, and apathetic, of her brother’s worry. Law had lectured her, she pretended to be sorry, but as soon as Law’s back was too her, she grinned at Nami and gave her wink, as though they had conspired the whole disappearance together. Law seemed oblivious to his sister’s schemes, but Nami wasn’t.
The girl had been trying to set them up for months. Why she decided to play match-maker with them, Nami had yet to figure out. She didn’t think Law had any interest in her outside of friendship, and she hadn’t put any thought into pursuing something with him – even if he was a handsome doctor with a wickedly attractive smile, she was too young to settle down. She much preferred their friendship, at least for the time being, and was not about to consider anything else, especially if Law wasn’t interested in a relationship. She would only set herself up for heartbreak.
“I have a lot of grading to do tonight, Lami-chan,” Nami said, gesturing to the stack of lab-books on her desk – a convenient excuse to avoid another setup attempt. “Maybe another time.”
Lami visibly deflated and Nami almost gave in. Seeing that girl as anything other than bright and happy was liable to break anyone’s heart. If Law walked in just then, Nami would probably be in a lot of trouble for upsetting his sister, but she was doing this to protect them both. He wouldn’t appreciate being setup again, either.
“Maybe this weekend,” Nami added when she couldn’t stand the way Lami’s eyes began to glisten. “I’ll call Luffy and the others, we’ll make a party out of it.”
Lami’s frown deepened. “But, Law has to work this weekend. It’s another double. He won’t be home until late Sunday.”
“Then we’ll keep you company!” Nami said, refusing to back down. “I’ll call Luffy tonight.”
Lami’s lip quivered, but she relented with a short nod before turning to grab her bag. “I better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Nami.”
Nami shouldn’t feel so guilty trying to get out of ice cream with the Trafalgar siblings, but Lami’s slumped shoulders as she walked out of the room had her heart twisting painfully in her chest. Law was the only family Lami had left. She had an array of friends, but Law was her big brother and she adored him. She was trying to do something that she thought might make Law happy, even if perhaps she was going about it in an odd way. But Nami could respect Lami’s dedication to her brother, even if she thought she was a little misguided in considering what would interest Law.
Nami slumped forward with a sigh. It was only ice cream with a friend. It didn’t have to mean anything more, even if Lami might want it to. It wasn’t like she hated Law in any way. She enjoyed spending time with him. It wouldn’t hurt to spend to spend an hour with him, and it would appease Lami for the time being.
In the end, she caved to Lami’s whims and hurried out of the classroom to find the girl. She wasn’t in the halls, or the entrance to the science building, so Nami ran outside in the hopes she would catch the girl before Law arrived.
“Lami-chan,” she called as she jogged toward the parking lot.
The girl was nowhere in sight and Nami felt her heart sink at the thought that she had already missed her. She decided that she would make it up to her tomorrow, promise that she would do something with her and Law the next time their schedules allowed it.
She turned back to the building and froze when she heard voices not far off.
“Come on, girl,” a man said. “Just come with us. We’ll have fun.”
“No, I’m waiting for my big brother.” At the sound of Lami’s voice, Nami headed in the direction of their voices. She had a very bad feeling that Lami was about to be in big trouble if she didn’t get to her.
“Aww, your big brother,” another man said with a mocking tone. “That’s so sweet of him, picking up his baby sister from school.”
Nami began to run when she heard a chorus of laughter.
“Your brother ain’t here, little girl, but we’d be happy to help him out by escorting you home,” a third man said.
“Let go of me,” Lami yelled, and Nami sprinted around the corner just in time to see Lami flailing in a strange man’s hold. She kicked and smacked at the thug, but she was outnumbered and half their size.
“Hey, let go of her, you creeps,” Nami hollered, rushing toward them even as her heart raced and urged her to run in the other direction.
She ignored her own instincts as she snatched Lami’s arm from the thug’s bruising grip and put herself between the girl and her assailants.
“Oh, you want to come with us, too?” One of the thugs ran his eyes over her and licked his lips as his gaze turned hungry. Nami would have shuddered in revulsion if she wasn’t growing angrier with these men by the second. “You’re a pretty thing. Real woman, too. Not a scrawny girl like her.” He elbowed his friend. “Let’s just take her. Boss could get good money for her.”
“Teenagers go for more,” the friend said while Nami took a step back, pushing Lami with her. “We take ‘em both.”
Nami shoved Lami away. “Run. Go find Law,” she hissed.
“But,” Lami began to argue, but Nami shot her a glare to silence her.
“Go.” She didn’t wait for Lami to run off as she turned to stare down the men towering over her. Three-on-one; she’d had worse odds in her life.
She heard Lami sprint off, but didn’t look away from the men in front of her. One looked ready to bolt after Lami, but Nami shifted to stand in his way. She ignored his seething glare and batted her eyes at him. He froze in confusion as she smiled and toyed with the collar of her low-cut shirt.
“What? I thought you boys wanted to have a little fun with me?” she asked with a coy lilt. “Don’t you want to try me out before giving me to your boss?”
Thugs like these men were so stupid, they made it easy. A nibble on the lip, a flirtatious smile – that was all it took to have them forget about Lami, and not notice the three wooden shafts she pulled from the back of her belt.
When the leader of their trio stepped toward her, she waited until he was close enough to smell his rancid breath before slamming her knee between his legs. While he fell to the ground, his friends were too stunned by the abrupt change in her demeanor to act, giving her enough time to piece together her staff. Once the first of them thought to move, she was prepared to smack him across the face with the wooden staff. He fell to the ground spitting up blood while she spun the staff and caught the next guy under the chin. Their leader had caught his breath and lunged for her, but her staff crashed into his stomach and sent him back to his knees to cough up bile.
Her strikes were only enough to put each man down long enough for her to hit the next. After a minute, one of them was reeling from all the blows to the head and couldn’t do more than stagger into the next blow, while the other two were holding up well enough to make her step back. If she could get them both on the ground at the same time, though, she could make a run for it and find someone stronger to hide behind. That was her plan when she lashed out to trip both men as they lunged for her, sending them both sprawling onto the ground at the same time.
She spun to take off without glancing back once. Her heart beat furiously in her chest while her instincts screamed at her to get far away and fast. She got two steps before a hand snatched her ankle, threw her off balance, and sent her crashing to the ground. She cried out at the hard landing, but ignored the burning pain that raced up her arm and turned to her back to send her high heel into the face of the thug attempting to crawl on top of her. He fell off her with a shout after her foot crushed his nose into a bloody pulp. She began to scramble to her feet when the other thug clawed for her. The idiots just would not give up and she had a feeling their battered pride was to blame for their determination.
Just as she began to kick the man away, a tire iron seemed to appear out of thin air to crash down into the man’s skull. She screamed in surprise when that one blow knocked him out and sent blood splattering over the payment around him. A dark shadow loomed over them and Nami slowly turned her gaze up to find a Law standing there, holding the other end of the bloody bar. He appeared calm, but his golden eyes flash with something dark and dangerous that sent a chill down Nami’s spine.
The thug with a broken nose began to get up, but froze in place when Law looked down at him. His glare was cold and murderous as he swung the tire iron to hover just in front of the thug’s face.
“Move another inch and I’ll kill you,” he warned, his voice quiet and raspy, but full of authority.
The thug nodded, slumped to the ground, and proceeded to play dead.
“Miss Nami,” Lami cried out as she came running toward them. Law hissed in annoyance. He must have told her to wait in his car, or in the building where it was safe. “Are you okay?” Lami asked as she came to tackle Nami on the ground, ignoring her brother’s ire as she did.
“I’m fine, Lami-chan,” Nami reassured and then glanced up at Law. “Thanks to your brother.”
Law relaxed with her acknowledgement and stepped toward them. His gaze lost some of the chill from his anger, turned clinical as he crouched at her side to appraise her condition. He grabbed the arm she landed on and glowered when she hissed in pain. As the adrenaline from her fear receded, the flesh of her forearm began to burn and throb.
“Let’s get you inside and clean this up,” Law said, his tone brooking no argument as he ran his thumb over the side of a large scrape.
She ignored the strange tingle left in the wake of his touch and allowed him to help pull her to her feet. While he took her staff to carry with him, Lami latched onto her side in a tight hug as Law led the way toward the building’s entrance. Nami draped her good arm around the girl and hugged her back.
“Are you okay, Lami-chan?” Nami asked.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “I was just a scared that something bad would happen to you if I didn’t find Law in time.”
“Those thugs were weak. Annoyingly persistent, but weak,” Nami assured her. “I’m glad I came to look for you when I did. I shouldn’t have let you leave the building before your brother got here.”
She caught Law glance over his shoulder at them, but he said nothing, and she couldn’t read his stoic expression before he turned forward again.
Back in her classroom, Law gestured for her to sit at her desk. “Do you have a first aide kit in here?” he asked as he looked around the room.
“Here.” She reached down to open the bottom drawer of the desk and take out the white medical box.
Law took the kit and set it on the desk before dragging a chair over to sit in front of her. Lami left Nami in her brother’s care and wandered over to the terrarium, giving them privacy.
“Thanks,” she whispered to Law as he took out the antiseptic and doused a piece of gauze with it to clean her scrape.
His eyes flit to hers briefly as he pressed the gauze to her arm. She hissed and fought the urge to pull away from the sting. Law’s grip on her arm was firm enough to hold her steady, even as she flinched, but gentle enough not to hurt her more. The sting quickly subsided, turned into a dull ache, and Law’s attention returned to the wound as he cleaned the dirt from it.
“I should be thanking you,” he said after a minute of silence, his voice so low, she barely heard. “You protected my sister for me. I owe you a debt of gratitude for that.”
Nami shook her head. “I feel it might be my fault she was in trouble to begin with,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t have let her leave like that.”
Law frowned at her. “The university is normally safe enough for her to wander the campus on her own. You couldn’t predict that those men would be around. She’s been fine so far.”
“Usually she stays to help me clean up, or hangs out with Chopper in the microbiology lab. She’s rarely been alone here, Law.”
His frown deepened. “Was that why you went looking for her? Were you worried she might be in trouble?”
“No…” Nami looked down at her lap and fidgeted. “She invited me to have ice cream with you two. I declined and that’s why she left. I felt bad and wanted to make it right.”
She could feel his heavy gaze on her, but looked everywhere but at him. She did not want to explain the reason she turned down his sister’s invitation. It would make things awkward.
Law set back to work on her arm with a deep sigh. She sank into her chair with a relieved breath, hoping that he wouldn’t push that subject.
He poked and prodded her arm once the scrape was clean, looking at her every time she hissed or winced. He rolled her wrist, kneaded the palm of her hand, examined each of her fingers, and assessed her reaction to every little touch. She knew he was checking for any breaks, but the longer he touched her, the more she remembered her reason for declining Lami’s invitation, and the more uncomfortable she felt with how intimately close he was.
His hands were strong yet gentle, steady and assured. His fingertips made her skin tingle pleasantly, made something inside her grow warm. She felt a flush creep up her neck and into her cheeks as he held her hand, bending and straightening her arm to check her elbow for injury. It was all very clinical, but at the same time it made her feel less like a patient, and more like something else… something she couldn’t quite define.
“Nothing’s broken,” he declared after a minute and grabbed the bandages to begin wrapping her arm. As soon as he released her hand, it felt painfully cold, and she couldn’t stop herself from sighing as soon as his touch returned. “Something wrong, Nami-ya?”
“No,” she squeaked, straightening in her chair as she shook her head. “Nothing at all.” She forced a smile for him. “Just glad to hear that it’s nothing more than a scrape.”
He eyed her curiously, but shrugged it off a second later.
She thought she was safe from further scrutiny by the time he taped down the gauze. But, as she began to pull her arm toward her, his hold tightened around her wrist and hand. She snapped her gaze up to meet his and blanched at his stern look.
“Why did you decline my sister’s invitation?” he asked.
“I have a lot of grading to do,” she insisted, gesturing toward the books on her desk.
Law glanced at the lab books, frowned, and then looked at her again. “A logical reason,” he said, and she nearly sighed in relief, but his brow rose to say he didn’t believe her. “Why would you feel guilty if you had a perfectly reasonable excuse not to join us?”
She whined. Why did he have to care what her reason was?
“The final grades for this course aren’t due for another week,” Law continued. “You could easily take an hour or two to spend time with Lami. I know it isn’t that you dislike spending time with her. You have regularly threatened to kidnap her from me.”
She snickered at his flat, unamused stare. She wouldn’t actually kidnap her - just borrow her for a few days. She would have given her back.
“Nami-ya?” he pressed. “What was your real reason for turning her down?”
She looked down and hoped to hide her blush behind a curtain of red hair. Law waited patiently, his thumb idly grazing over her wrist as he did. She struggled to ignore the way it sent little electric shocks up her arm, the sensation coiling around her heart to make it beat faster. She almost felt lightheaded, and all from a simple touch.
“The last time she invited me out with you two, she ran off,” Nami whispered, daring to glance up at Law.
His brows furrowed in confusion. “So? Straw Hat runs off on his own all the time. I would assume you’d be used to that.”
Nami stared at him in disbelief. She had suspected that he didn’t realize what his sister was up to, but she still thought he might eventually have some suspicions of his own.
“She ran off on purpose,” she hissed. “She meant to leave us alone.”
That seemed to confuse Law further, so Nami sighed and leaned in toward him.
“She set us up,” she explained at a hush. “She wants us to spend time together.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” he asked, his confusion melting into a simmering annoyance.
Nami’s brows shot up in surprise. Did he actually want to spend time alone with her? Did he know what his sister was doing the whole time, but let her get away with it because he didn’t mind? He had been in a panic when she ran off, but now he was sitting there, feigning apathy over the ordeal.
He knew!
“You… you…” She pulled her arm back to smack his shoulder, ignoring his harsh glare as she fumed at him. “You used your little sister to get me to go on a date with you!”
She made to strike him again, but he caught her wrist and glared. “It was Lami’s idea,” he explained. “And since I wasn’t against the idea, I saw no reason to stop her.”
“You freaked out last time,” Nami shrieked, fighting to get her arm back only to have Law use the hold to tug her closer.
“I wasn’t aware of the plan then,” he hissed at her. “She explained it when I got her home. I wasn’t happy with her means, but I have no issue with her end goals.”
Nami could only gape at him.
Law sighed and released her to rub the bridge of his nose as he sank back in his chair. “I wasn’t going to suggest a date until I thought you might share my interest,” he explained. “But, I wanted to spend more time with you, without certain friends interfering so that I could give you a reason to be interested in more.”
“Lami ran off to keep Luffy distracted,” Nami said as realization dawned on her. “You had discussed this with her before.”
Law shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I discussed it with her. She asked me how I felt about you, and I told her. She figured out the rest on her own.” He smirked, and her chest fluttered in response. “She’s more intuitive than I am.”
Nami laughed. “So, you told her how you felt about me, but you wouldn’t tell me?”
He shrugged again. “I would have told you eventually.” He leaned forward, his smile growing as he hooked his fingertips with hers. She swore her heart was no longer in her chest with that move. “I just needed to know what sort of chance I had first.”
Her cheeks were on fire, but she strove to maintain her composure as she leaned in and gave him her own saucy smile. She didn’t miss the way his gaze flit down to her lips as she asked, “And how do you feel about me, Tora-o-kun?”
He released a long breath before he finally met her gaze again. His smile vanished, replaced with stony seriousness. “It’s taking every ounce of control I have to stop myself from kissing you right now,” he admitted.
Her heart was definitely still in her chest because his frank statement made it twist and clench and pound in giddy anticipation at the thought of his kiss. Her lips parted when his gaze fell to them again, and she swore she forgot how to breathe at the heat turning his eyes into a deep, molten gold.
She always did love gold.
“It’s either that, or hunt down the men that attacked you and Lami, and cut out their hearts,” he whispered darkly.
That had the effect of cold water on her excitement. She slumped forward with a short, barked laugh. “And they say romance is dead,” she said sarcastically.
Law chuckled and shifted closer. His fingers hooked on her chin and tilted her head up to see amusement swirling in his gaze.
“I would say I’m kidding, but I really do want to kill those pricks,” he said while his lopsided grin distracted her from his homicidal inclinations. For a renowned surgeon, Trafalgar Law did not have any qualms with taking a life when he wanted to. “But,” he continued as he leaned in close enough for his breath to fan over her lips and his nose to graze hers, “I would rather kiss you… If that’s what you want.”
She couldn’t find her voice to speak, but she found that was something she very much wanted.
A bubbly giggle to her right broke the spell. She and Law turned toward the source to find Lami on the other side of the desk, chin perched in her palms, and a wide grin on her face.
“Does that mean Miss Nami is going to get ice cream with us tonight?” she asked.
Law leaned back in his chair and looked at her expectantly, though his smile seemed to say that he knew her answer, already.
Nami sighed and nodded before smiling back at Law. “I think I could go for some ice cream.”
At Lami’s excited cheer and Law’s honest grin, Nami knew she had made the right decision.
An anon requested the prompt “Back scratches” for Zoro x Nami. Short and sweet, but hopefully you guys enjoy it.
Title: Soothing Touch
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 992
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
He was in the middle of a nap when he heard the front door slam shut. He paid it no mind, burrowed into his pillow, and dozed on.
He could hear Nami’s exasperated sigh from their bedroom upstairs as she tossed her things around. He recognized the clatter of her chunky heels as she kicked them off in the foyer. A charm on her purse clanged against the metal frame of the table in the hall. He keys jangled and rang when she tossed them into the ceramic bowl filled with spare change and his own keys. There was another sigh, a disgruntled “ugh,” and then she began to trudge upstairs toward the bedroom.
Zoro ignored his girlfriend’s obviously poor mood. He could sleep through any one of her tirades if he wanted to. Unless he was in trouble and she hit him to keep him awake. She could stomp around, throw things, scream at the top of her lungs about whatever was bothering her, and he would just keep snoring. She’d eventually settle down and he would wake to a demolished house if her temper tantrum was bad enough, but it wouldn’t bother him one bit.
He had drifted back into a dream about a kendo competition at a dojo while Nami was in their bathroom. The smack of her hairbrush on the sink mixed with a clack of shinai striking each other as he earned another point. The sound of water splashing coupled with the image of his head stuck under a running spout to cool himself off after his win. The overwhelming scent of citrus that flood his nose as she collapsed in bed beside him brought Nami’s beautiful smile and warm kiss into the dream as she congratulated him for the win, showing off a large stack of cash she won through side bets, and complained about the stench of sweat on his clothes.
He smiled in his sleep as he felt her nestle closer. He roused when she nudged his arm, trying to slip beneath it without waking him.
“Bad day?” he asked as he draped his arm over her and dragged her against his chest.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered, burrowing into him and nuzzling beneath his chin. “Just want a nap.”
“I must be rubbing off on you,” he teased with a quiet chuckle as he buried his nose in her hair. He took a deep breath and sank into her with a sigh. He loved his naps. Doubly so when they were with her. Falling asleep with her wrapped up in his arms, safe and happy, was the best feeling in the world.
“Scratch my back,” she demanded just as he was beginning to doze off again.
He groaned as she squirmed against him. “Just go to sleep, Nami.”
“I will... After you scratch my back,” she huffed.
Zoro couldn’t help but snort at her bossiness. It was his own fault, at least in this case. Before they were dating, he scratched her back in some mindless attempt to comfort her because she was upset about something he can’t remember, and the moment he realized it worked, he always used it to calm her down. No matter how upset, how scared, how angry she was, the moment his fingertips dragged over her shoulders, all the tension would leak out of her. She would melt under his touch, something he took full advantage of whenever he held her. A peaceful, happy Nami made the world a brighter place, and also gave him fewer headaches.
It was amusing to see her reactions to such a simple gesture, too. She would arch into him if he scratched just the right spot. Sometimes she would let out a moan that sounded suspiciously like she was purring. She nuzzled him and clung to him, just like a happy cat. He teased her for it once and she snapped back at him that he wasn’t in any position to talk. A few scratches to a sensitive spot behind his ear had her proved correct as he leaned into her touch, squirmed with restless energy, and nearly purred, too.
That spot drove him insane and he hated how easily she found it.
“Zoro,” Nami whined, squeezing herself even closer, something he didn’t think was possible. “My back.”
He gave in to her demand with a grudging sigh and gently scratched between her shoulder blades. Her pleased sigh washed over his chest and heated his skin. His hand grazed down her spine and she sank into him with sweet hum. As soon as his hand drifted beneath her shirt to scratch over her bare skin, Nami let out her purring moan and wrapped herself around him.
He chuckled as he played over the smooth skin of her lower back, traced the ridges of her spine, and felt her shiver in his arms. “Good?” he asked.
“Mhm,” she hummed, nuzzling his throat. “Thank you.”
He continued to run his fingers over her back as she relaxed. He wound his other arm beneath her head so he could play with her hair, tangling it in a loose grasp while he drifted back to sleep. His chest warmed with the content atmosphere of their bedroom. There was no anger, no tension, only quiet and peace. This was why he loved napping with Nami. It was just the two of them, undisturbed by the world around them. No drama. Only pleasure.
Even as he fell back to sleep, his hand kept wandering over her back, drawing sleepy moans from her. Nami’s breathing evened out, matched his, as the soothing darkness of sleep pulled them in.
He dreamed of citrus groves and sunny seas and the radiant smiles of the woman he loved.
He woke some time later to soft fingertips teasing behind his ear and invitingly pink lips caressing his throat.
Nothing beat napping with Nami. Except maybe waking up with her.
@kunoichi-ume requested the prompt “One falling asleep with their head in the other’s lap” for Law x Nami. This one was inspired while I was on my trip. The last few days of it, I literally would sit down on a train or bus or the backseat of a car and just pass right out within minutes. I was that tired. So, it was very inspirational for this prompt and I would have written this sooner, but I’m lazy.
It was especially inspirational because I think travelling would be Law and Nami’s favorite activity together. Nami wants to see the world, and one of Law’s hobbies is wandering, so the interests fit together perfectly.
Title: Exhaustion
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K
Word Count: 1515
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
A hectic three weeks of travel had finally begun to catch up on them. It started with a red-eye flight half-way around the world. They only got about six hours of sleep in a shitty hotel before they had to catch a train to a small village on an isolated coast Nami wanted to visit first. They couldn’t check into their hotel as soon as they arrived, but the heavy backpacks they brought weren’t enough to slow them down as Nami led him along a rocky coastline. Her smile didn’t fade, even if the dark circles under her eyes rivaled his own. She was too excited to be on this trip, wandering through villages and untouched coasts with him. She would sleep when it was over.
They only spent two days there before catching a train up the coast to another village, in another country, this time boasting a unique structure carved by the ocean to resemble an old woman’s face. They explored that region for one whole day and took a train overnight to the next village. Two days later they were on a rickety bus, climbing over treacherous passes to a mountain town with stunning view of the region. They spent four days there so Nami could sketch her maps. They wandered the hills and valleys in the morning, then spent the evening relaxing in their hotel.
The bags under Nami’s eyes finally ebbed after a week. Law’s were as dark as ever, but that wasn’t out of the norm for him. He was never great at sleeping in hotels, it was a miracle if he got three or four hours of sleep a night, but he was happy to be on the trip with her, so he wasn’t about to complain.
After the extended stay in the mountains, it was back to constant travel, touring different cities and countries and seas. They took seven trains in total, four buses, four short flights – three in the same day, and had to travel in and out of one remote town by mule. Nami had a sketchbook filled with maps, a journal with measurements, another with so many notes, she was cramming them into the margins by the end of the trip. They saw some of the most beautiful sights in the world, ate good food, drank good wine, and bought enough souvenirs for themselves and their friends that they had to buy another backpack to lug them all home.
The trip had been fun, but Law was looking forward to a night back in their bed and he knew Nami was feeling worn out, too. The last few days, he had caught her napping at the strangest times, in the strangest places. She was starting to act like Zoro, she was sleeping so much. She fell asleep on the beach in the middle of sketching. She had nodded off at the train station and drooled on his shoulder. She made him carry her on his back after dinner one night and fell asleep then. She fell asleep when they stopped for lunch – he had gotten up for five minutes to use the toilet and came back to watch her jerk awake, looking around in confusion and surprise.
They were staying their last two nights in a large capital city with easier access to the international airport for their flight home. The only plans he made for them was a sightseeing tour of all the historical monuments and buildings so Nami could bring pictures back for Robin, followed by dinner at an expensive restaurant he knew Nami wanted to try.
The day had been beautiful for sightseeing. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, but left Nami with a light sunburn that tired her out faster. The crowds weren’t as bad as he expected, but some of the more popular spots were a sea of people that thinned his temper. They went back to the hotel early so Nami to could put aloe lotion on and get some rest before dinner, and so Law could relax with a book to keep him from being grouchy on their date. They barely made it in time for the reservations, but in the end, they had a nice, relaxed meal to cap off a long holiday.
“I can’t wait to go home,” Nami mumbled at his side as they waited for their taxi outside the restaurant. Her hand was securely tucked in his, her other arm wrapped tight around his, and her head resting on his shoulder as she leaned to take some of the weight off her right foot. She had developed a blister from all the hiking and walking but insisted on wearing heels for dinner that night. She didn’t really have much of a choice, not with the restaurant’s dress code barring any guests in sneakers.
“Even though Straw Hat is likely waiting for us at our house right now?” Nami groaned in answer. He chuckled and squeezed her hand as he leaned down to press his lips to her hair. “You’re the one who told him we were coming back with gifts.”
“It’s a cheap bag of dried meat,” Nami huffed. “He can wait one day for it.”
“He’s your best friend. You should know that he cannot possibly wait for meat.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell him it was meat. As far as he knows, it’s a keychain.” She scowled. “Maybe we should get a hotel after we get in. Just to sleep without him around.”
“He just needs a distraction,” Law mused. “Text Black Leg and see if he can keep him away with food.”
Nami hummed in response and he looked down to see her eyes were shut. She was falling asleep on her feet now. He would remind her about the text before their flight the next day. He would ask Sanji himself, but Sanji wouldn’t do anything he asked. Even if he stole Nami’s phone to write the text, he’d recognize it wasn’t her making the request. Apparently, he didn’t use the right emojis when he typed messages for her.
Law shifted to wrap his arm around Nami’s shoulders when she swayed unstably. She whined when he released her hand, but he tugged her into his chest and she settled once more with her arms wound around his waist, her ear pressed against his heart. He let her doze off as he held her tight, his head resting on hers and swaying her side to side as she relaxed in his embrace. It was calm and quiet. She fit in his arms so well, her soft, warm body melted into him with ease. He could stay like that forever, except the taxi finally arrived just as he was getting comfortable.
He woke Nami only long enough to help her into the back of the car. Her eyes remained heavy as he gave the driver their hotel and he kept his arm around her shoulders as her struggle to stay awake ended with her slumping against his side.
The drive to the hotel wouldn’t take long, only about fifteen minutes, but she needed that little bit of rest. Law helped her lay down on her side with her head in his lap. Nami sighed happily when he swept her hair from her face and nuzzled his thigh as he trailed his fingers behind her ear. He caught the corner of a smile as he continued to play with her hair, lulling her into a deeper sleep.
Her smile made his heart flutter. He never imagined he could be so happy, that he could have a woman as sweet and loving Nami at his side. No matter how exhausting it might be, he would explore the whole world with her if she asked him to.
He watched the city lights pass by in flashes, drowning out the low murmur of the driver’s radio to focus on Nami’s every peaceful breath and serene sigh. If the drive was longer, he might have dozed off too, but he forced himself to stay awake as he tangled his fingers in the silk of her hair. He wanted to enjoy every second of that moment, drink in every sensation, and revel in the pleasure of being with Nami.
He didn’t want to wake her when they got to the hotel, so he exchanged whispers with the driver as he paid. He sat Nami up before getting out and ran around to the other side of the car to scoop her up into his arms, cradling her against his chest so he could carry her inside. He couldn’t hold back his smile when she released another content sigh and nuzzled the crook of his neck.
She took a deep breath, her smile widened, and she whispered “Tora-o” with such pure happiness it made him fall a little further in love with her.
He couldn’t wait to return home with her. He couldn’t wait for the next holiday that allowed him these gentle moments.
And he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with her.
An anon requested the prompt “Having their hair washed by the other” for Law x Nami. Another short and simple one, but it came a bit easier than the last one, so progress in my post-vacation writing slump. Probably because I got to imagine these two in the shower. XD
And this takes place in the same verse as the DrakeRobin ones and makes a reference to the last prompt of that series.
Title: Colorful
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T (vaguely bordering on M at the end)
Word Count: 1829
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
“Don’t say anything,” he growled.
Nami pursed her lips and shook her head, but a laugh welled in her throat nonetheless.
“Nami-ya,” he warned, a snarl in his voice that was rarely present. She knew not to take Law’s foul mood personally. If she were in his shoes, she would be angry, too.
Her boyfriend had just returned from a day of playing paintball with their friends. Luffy had hounded him for weeks about the new facility that was opening and Law eventually caved when his friends took up the task of pleading for him to come along. Nami knew he wanted to go, no matter how much he resisted at first. He enjoyed the competition, even if he would feign apathy. He was a simpleton when it came to his pride, just like most of the men she knew.
Unfortunately, the new paintball place attracted a lot of people Law would normally prefer to avoid. If Zoro hadn’t thought to text her a warning before Law came home, she would have figured it out herself by his dark glare and the pink paint smeared over his face and hands. She really shouldn’t find it so amusing, but the paint was even in his hair and she could tell he had tried to wipe it out before it dried. He had failed and only managed to turn his dark blue hair into a spiky mess streaked pink by the paint. It was just so unnatural to see him in such a state.
“Tsh,” Law hissed as he noticed flecks of pink beneath his fingernails. “I hate that man.”
Nami pushed her amusement aside at the reminder. This wasn’t a run in with Kid or Drake or any number of people that Law disliked but enjoyed competing with, or annoying to the point of madness. This was a run in with a man who took in a broken and traumatized boy for the sole purpose of manipulating him to his advantage, and then left him in an even worse state after murdering the first caring, selfless adult to show him genuine love in years.
Law was likely holding onto his sanity by a thread after seeing Doflamingo again.
“Come on,” she said, offering her hand and a sympathetic smile to him. “I’ll help you clean up.”
He continued to pick at his nail, only sparing a short grunt to acknowledge her offer before she dragged him to the bathroom.
He sat on the toilet growling at his pink fingers while she ran the water in the shower. “Get undressed, Tora-o,” she called over the heavy spray of water. He huffed at the command, but grudgingly stood to take off his clothes. Once he was naked, she looked him over and once more had to purse her lips to keep from laughing. While the worst of the pink was in his hair and on his hands, he somehow had splotches of pink and red and blue paint sprinkled over his torso and legs. “How did you get paint underneath your clothes?” she asked, turning him around to appraise his back. It was streaked with more paint of all colors.
“It drips down,” he explained. “Some of it stained through my jeans, too.”
“I thought they give you protective suits?” she asked while guiding him toward the shower.
“They do, but they weren’t strong enough.” Law slipped under the hot water with a sigh and began to pick at the paint on his hands in earnest. “If I hadn’t thought ahead and brought a change of clothes, you’d see how stained they are.”
She quickly undressed to join him, grabbing her nail brush for him to use. “What happened to the clothes you wore, anyway?”
“I wanted to burn them,” he growled. That meant they were a disaster in pink. “But Bepo took them to the laundromat with his clothes. He insists he can get the stains out.”
“I hope he can.” She squirted a generous dollop of his shampoo onto her hand. “Rinse your hair a bit and then bend over for me,” she ordered.
Law glowered at her over his shoulder, but once again did as she said. He might not like being ordered around, but he knew she was just trying to help, so he couldn’t complain too much.
Once his hair was wet, he turned to face her and bent over so she could lather his hair. He continued to scrub at his hands while she scrubbed at his hair. She found more pink and red paint caked behind his ears. A glob of blue inside his ear. Purple paint was smeared beneath his jaw and the back of his neck. He looked as though he went through a paintball warzone.
“Who used the red paint?” she asked as she pushed him back to rinse out the multicolored suds.
“Which shade?”
Her brow rose in response. How many shades of red paint could they have?
“Straw Hat used a bright, neon red and Eustass-ya used the dark red,” he said with a sigh. She frowned as a clump of red bubbles slid over his tattooed chest. “They had a huge argument with Drake-ya about it. He wanted red, too. He settled on the navy blue.”
“And the purple?” she asked with a snort of amusement. It sounded like it would have been a fun afternoon if not for Doflamingo’s arrival.
“Cabbage-ya.” He hummed in thought as he leaned back down for her to assess his hair when she gestured him closer. There were still streaks of pink and red, but it was beginning to fade. Two more washes should hopefully get him clean. “Scratchmen-ya used green.” He chuckled. “You should see him and Eustass-ya. They spent half the afternoon shooting at each other exclusively. You wouldn’t even know Eustass-ya had red hair by the amount of green paint in it.”
Nami snickered. “Who else was there?”
Law hummed again, this time a pleased moan lacing his voice as she dragged her nails over his scalp. “Bonney-ya was there. Threw a fit when she saw Joker using pink paint. Went on a warpath to take out anyone from his team. Then Capone-ya secured one of the fortresses for his team and sniped Bonney-ya out of the game.”
She pushed Law back under the water again and dragged her fingers through his hair as the water washed more paint away. He let out a happy sigh as he swayed in front of her and gave up washing his nails so he could place his hands on her hips to steady himself.
“It sounds like everyone was there. What about Hawkins and Urouge?” she asked, giggling when he moaned.
“Urouge-ya left me alone. I pointed him toward Eustass-ya’s team. Eustass-ya was too busy with Scratchmen-ya, but Killer-ya held his own against him. Would have been interesting to see who won, but Drake-ya came in and shot them both.” He chuckled. “I swear he’s out to ruin my fun.”
“Well, you would do the same to him,” she pointed out.
“True enough.” He leaned down once his hair was rinsed out and she set to work lathering it again. His hair was almost clean of all pink. “As for Hawkins-ya, he didn’t want to play, so he sat there reading his tarot cards while his team did all the work. I think the only person he bothered to shoot was Capone-ya. I saw him leave with a large dark purple splotch on his suit jacket. Cabbage’s purple was a lighter color, so I knew it wasn’t his. But Hawkins-ya somehow walked away without a single speck of paint on him. I think he was working with Drake-ya in secret, too. I saw them talking and Drake-ya didn’t even try to shoot him, even though he was completely open. Right after that, Drake-ya snuck up on Eustass-ya and Scratchmen-ya and shot them both while they were focused on each other. It didn’t matter, they were both covered in each other’s paint and long dead in the game. I think he just wanted something else to gloat about.”
“Did you at least get to shoot Drake?” she asked as she scrubbed more red paint from the hair on his chin.
Whatever was left of Law’s bad mood was gone as she watched a lopsided grin form. “Bright yellow right in the throat. He was not happy about that… And then I shot him between the eyes.”
“I hope someone thought to warn Robin.” Nami sighed.
“It’s his own fault for approaching me after Joker found me,” Law huffed. “He should have known I wouldn’t be happy to see him. Payback for sending me that picture of the evil, pink abomination in his hotel room.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever understand how you two are friends.”
“We’re not,” he said flatly.
She snorted and forced him to turn around to rinse his hair out again while she set to work scrubbing the paint off his back. She would have asked how Doflamingo fared in the games, but now that his mood was improving, she felt it best to avoid that subject.
“I think I have the worst of it off,” Law mused after a while.
She peeked around him to see his fingers and nails were clean of the pink paint. A few specks of blue were on his wrist and his palms still had some spots of yellow. She had scrubbed his back as clean as she could without taking a layer of skin off. She made him turn so she could appraise his chest and legs, frowning when she saw paint still clinging to his stomach and hip.
“I think you’ll be washing paint off for a week,” she huffed as she lathered her luffa to work at the splotch of red on his stomach.
Law snorted. “As long as the pink is off, that’s fine.” His stomach twitched and he sucked in a breath before snatching her hands away. “Keep that up, Nami-ya, you’ll get yourself into trouble.”
She glanced up through her eyelashes to see him staring hard at her. His mood was back to normal judging by his sly smirk, one she mirrored as she took her hands back to run the luffa over his paint covered stomach. His smile twitched and brow rose when her hand didn’t stop its descent.
“I’m just making sure you’re completely clean, Tora-o-kun,” she said, batting her eyes in a bit of feigned innocence.
His smirk turned into a wide grin as he stepped closer, grasping her hand and holding it in place before she could go any lower. He leaned down and she shivered as his lips brushed her ear.
“Then by all means, please don’t let me stop you,” he whispered. “But, if you tease me too much, I’ll make sure you regret it later.”
An anon requested the prompt “Accidentally falling asleep together” for Law x Nami. Pretty simple one, but I’m trying to feel like I’ve accomplished at least one thing. Still shaking off the post-vacation writer’s block.
Title: Sleep Where You Want
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 2550
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Everything hurt. Muscles she didn’t even know she had were cramped and her whole body felt like it had been set on fire. Her white tank and bikini were tattered and stained, scrapes showing through where the shirt was torn. Her shorts were one large grass stain while her exposed legs were bruised and cut. The scorching day only wore her down more, adding a fresh pink sunburn to her misery. Her sunscreen hadn’t been strong enough to withstand the sweat that came from the heat, as well as all the running she had to do that day.
It was supposed to be a fun day. She wasn’t supposed to be running for her life from a sadistic group of men who decided flag-football had to involve tackles. The referees were too scared of them to refuse, and of course, Luffy didn’t care enough to argue them on it.
Nami collapsed in the shade of a tree, sighing in relief as she gasped for breath. At least they won. Barely, but it was a victory none the less.
She watched Usopp fall to the ground under another tree beside hers. He was less bruised than she was, but he spent part of the game cowering beneath a bush until the other team found him and tackled him there.
Luffy, Brook, and Franky were full of energy, despite their bruises, eagerly celebrating the close win. Sanji was all smiles and promises of a good meal before their last game the next afternoon. He then offered to buy drinks for Nami and Robin before running off without listening to the guys shout their requests. Sanji wasn’t about to treat anyone but the women.
Zoro had Chopper on his back. The poor guy was too dizzy to stand on his own, but he had made a hell of a hard hit to cover Zoro, allowing them to score the extra point they needed to win after their last touchdown. Unfortunately, he was their group’s medic, so she would have to wait to have her injuries treated. She would tend to them herself, but now that she was comfortable on the ground, she wasn’t about to get up and search for the first aid kit.
“Tora-o!” Luffy shouted.
Nami perked up at the doctor’s name. Law was making his way through the clearing of trees from the open field his team had their own game against Drake’s team. He was in far better shape than she was, but she could see his friends limping along behind him, so they weren’t without their own share of bumps and bruises.
“Did you guys win?” Luffy asked.
“We did,” Law answered with a nod, his gaze falling to her. His eyes narrowed with concern. She tried to smile, but it only served to stretch the scrape on her chin. Her smile fell away with a wince and Law’s lips pursed in a tight frown. He turned for her without hesitation.
Luffy bounded after him excitedly. “We won, too. That means we’re up against each other in the finals. I won’t go easy on you.”
Law grunted and waved him off as he came to crouch in front of her, his eyes full of questions about the reason for her condition.
“Kid decided flag-football was boring and turned it into a tackle game,” she explained. Law hissed in annoyance as he took her leg to appraise a cut on her knee. “Luffy thought it was a great idea.”
“It was fun! And we won!” Luffy argued, unfazed when Law glowered at the young man over his shoulder. “You should have seen Nami play. She was amazing, too. She ran in two touchdowns herself.”
She also helped Zoro catch the last touchdown they made by flashing Kid’s team. They were too distracted to notice Zoro in the end-zone as they tripped over each other. Usopp and Chopper had covered Sanji’s eyes to keep him from seeing her topless while telling him which way to run so he could help knock over the distracted team. Only Killer had been paying enough attention to make an interception attempt, but Robin held him back. She was not about to tell Law about that, though.
“I was trying not to be killed by a pack of madmen,” Nami said with a sigh. “I just happened to have the ball. And I would have kept running if Robin hadn’t caught me before I could escape the field.”
“Since you’re playing our team next, I’m fine postponing the game an extra day,” Law said as he waved for his friend Bepo to bring their team’s first aid kit. “You need the rest.”
“I should be all right to play tomorrow. I know you and your team will go easy on me,” she said, winking at him.
His frown thinned when Shachi and Penguin shouted their promises that they wouldn’t hurt Nami in the next game. It wasn’t supposed to be tackle-football, anyway. As long as they kept to the original rules of the neighborhood league, then she should survive another game. And Law, no matter how competitive he could be, wouldn’t let his friends get too rough with his girlfriend. And his men wouldn’t dream of it, either, even if she wasn’t dating Law.
Law relented with a hum and set to work on cleaning and bandaging her scrapes. He would likely suggest postponing the game again in the morning, but if she felt well enough to play, she wasn’t going to back out. Luffy was too eager to win the tournament. He might be okay with a delay for her health, but he would still pester her the whole time to get better faster. And really, even though she was too sore to move, she knew by the morning she would be well enough to play.
While Law tended her injuries, Sanji returned with a bottle of lemonade for her and then got started on grilling a celebration meal. He initially argued that Law and his friends weren’t invited to join since they were the competition, but Luffy overruled him.
“We’re still friends,” Luffy said with a decisive nod. “But after we’re done eating, then we’re officially enemies.”
Law nodded in agreement as he placed a bandage over a scrape on her jaw. She rolled her eyes at how seriously they were taking the tournament. It was just a silly game. It wasn’t like there was prize money to make it worth the effort they were putting into it. There should have been a money prize, but Silvers Rayleigh was running the league with Shakky, and apparently he gambled away the prize money. Now they were just playing for a free meal and drinks at Shakky’s.
“Would you really see me as your enemy?” she asked Law, sticking her lip out in a feigned pout.
He frowned. “For the duration of the game – yes.” Her pout turned genuine, but he only smirked and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I won’t let my team hurt you and I’ll kiss all your bruises better after we win.”
“You mean after you lose,” she corrected with a cheeky smile. “You shouldn’t underestimate us.”
“I’m not, but I think we have a good chance of defeating you… Just do me a favor and keep your top on this time,” he said.
She gasped in mock offense. “This time? I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
Law’s brow arched. “You caused such a huge commotion when you flashed Eustass-ya and his team that it was impossible for me not to hear about it during our game, so don’t even try to lie about it.”
She crossed her arms with a huff. “All right. I will keep my shirt on for the whole game,” she promised. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t use every trick she had to distract Law’s team. They all had more than enough weaknesses that she could take advantage of.
“You’re still going to cheat, aren’t you?” he asked, his tone flat.
“I said I would keep my shirt on,” she said with an innocent smile.
Law sighed. He knew better than to expect her to play fair. Whatever helped Luffy win.
“When we win, I’ll give you a good consolation prize,” Nami whispered suggestively.
He snorted in amusement. “I’ll take that offer as my grand prize when I win.”
She snickered as she beckoned him in for a peck.
“Oi, Nami!” Zoro called out. “No fraternizing with the enemy!”
“You heard Luffy, we’re not enemies until after dinner,” she yelled back while Law turned around to flip her friend off. They would fraternize all they wished.
Law had finished treating her injuries and settled into the spot beside her as Sanji began to pass around the first course of snacks. Zoro came over with his cooler of beer to share with them, frustrating Law when he shoved a bottle into his hand and demanded he drink with him. Law tried to argue with him, as he always did, but in the end Zoro got his way.
They spent the rest of the afternoon eating and drinking in the park. It was a fun party, with Luffy starting games any time he had to wait for Sanji to finish grilling more meat for him. He dragged Law away from her for one of them and tried to get her to join, but she was too tired and insisted on resting.
By early evening, her eyes were growing heavy, but the party was far from over. The hot afternoon had cooled off to promise a comfortable night and a breeze picked up that carried the scent of rain in it. It was a calming smell that only served to make her feel more tired, even as she stubbornly tried to stay awake.
Law managed to escape Luffy long enough to return to the tree she sat beneath. She forced a tired smile when he collapsed beside her and heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t even try to smile. He looked more exhausted than she did.
“Don’t worry, I heard Sanji say something about getting ice cream for dessert,” Nami said as Law leaned against her side. “That should distract Luffy long enough for you to rest.”
“I’m fine,” Law grunted. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she chirped. “At least my cuts don’t hurt anymore, all thanks to you, Doctor Law.”
He smirked, shifting to drape his arm over her shoulders. “I do appreciate a good patient who knows how to kiss my ass.”
Nami giggled as she turned to rest her head on his shoulder, nestling closer to his side. Her eyes fell shut as Law’s fingers combed through her hair.
“I plan to leave soon,” he whispered. “I can give you a ride home since I don’t think your friends are ready to call it a night yet.”
She hummed as she nuzzled his throat. “I’m fine. Just need to rest my eyes for a minute.”
His chuckle echoed in her ear. “If you say so,” he said, his voice low and soothing. She felt him shift beneath her, stretching out and pulling her closer. His head rested against hers once he was comfortable. “I’ll still take you home when you’re ready to go.”
“Are you planning to stay the night?” she mumbled.
“If it’s all right with you,” he muttered back. “I want to check on your injuries before the game tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
As his fingers grazed over her neck and down her shoulder, she nestled as close to Law as she could. He tugged her legs over his and draped his arm over her waist. She could hear his steady, rasping breaths and the beat of his heart. The sounds and touch lulled her until she felt her mind begin to float, as though taken away on a cloud while she dozed off.
When she jolted awake, the world around her was dark, only faintly lit by silver-white moonlight. She blinked tired eyes to take in her surroundings, squinting at the shadowy forms of their friends all scattered around them.
They had all fallen asleep in the middle of the park.
Law groaned in his sleep, bringing her attention to his relaxed face. He looked so peaceful. She felt bad that she would have to wake him, especially knowing how hard it could be for him to fall asleep. But sleeping against the tree was bound to cramp up her already sore muscles and make her ache too much to play in the finals the next day. She wanted to be cozy in her bed, with her boyfriend curled up around her.
“Tora-o,” she whispered as she nudged his shoulder. “Wake up.”
He grumbled incoherently in his sleep, wound his arms around her, and squeezed her tight against his chest. She wouldn’t be deterred.
“Tora-o,” she hissed while pinching his cheek. He groaned and batted her hand away as he turned to nuzzle her neck. She shoved him again and this time he snapped awake.
“What is it?” he growled.
“We fell asleep at the park. I want to go home,” she whispered harshly.
He groaned again as he rubbed his eyes. “Where are the others? Why didn’t they wake us?”
“They fell asleep, too,” she explained. “We should probably wake them.”
“Leave them,” he grumbled as he wound his arms around her again and pushed her head back to his chest. “Let’s go back to sleep.”
“But it’s uncomfortable sleeping against a tree,” she huffed.
Law let out an annoyed sigh, shifted where he sat, and then fell to lay on the ground, dragging her with him. “There. Better?”
“Don’t you want to sleep in my bed,” she huffed, even as she silently agreed that the new position was better. She stretched out over Law, nestling her head on his chest while he ran a hand over her back.
“I’ll sleep in your bed tomorrow night,” he muttered. “I just want to go back to sleep now.”
If he could fall back to sleep so easily, then he must have been more exhausted than he let on. She relented with a sigh and relaxed on his chest. Their legs tangled together as she curled into him, leeching the warmth from his body.
“All right, we’ll go back to sleep,” she whispered.
Law’s only response was a grunt. The hand that ran over her back slowed and stuttered, telling her that he was already beginning to doze off again.
She sighed again as she angled her head to rest over his heart. The steady thump beneath her ear called her back to sleep. She heard it skip a beat before Law’s hand moved to rest on her head, his fingers tangling into her long hair. She heard him sigh, the sound content and wistful. His nails scratched over her scalp and sent a shiver down her spine. He shifted beneath her, and then she felt the faintest kiss brushed against her head.
He didn’t have to say a word for her to understand what the gesture was meant to tell her.
She smiled, rubbed her cheek against his chest, and sank into him; telling him without words that she loved him, too.
Bruised and sore, laying on the hard ground with the man she loved holding her in his arms… She had never slept so well in her life.
An anon requested the prompt “Cuddling in a blanket fort” for Law x Nami. Short, but lots of fluff and cuteness.
Title: Citrus Warmth
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: K+
Word Count: 1359
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Law hadn’t known what to expect when he walked in the door that night. He had just worked a grueling double that forced him to sleep at the hospital after an emergency came in that required him to be on-call for follow-up surgeries. He was tired, ready to curl up in bed and sleep for a whole day, but upon walking into the living room, he was left to wonder if they had any blankets left in the bedroom for him to sleep with.
Someone had built a giant blanket fort in the middle of his house.
“Nami-ya?” he called out while dropping his back-pack somewhere around where the sofa should be.
“Over here,” his girlfriend answered, her voice muffled by the endless sea of blankets before him. He spied the sheets rustle to life near the corner by the bookshelf, a fluttering wave of fabric. There was a lamp over there, and he could see the glow through the sheet she had tucked beneath the books and a potted plant on the highest shelf.
The precarious use of the books and pot worried him. If she wasn’t careful, she could jolt them right off the shelf and be knocked unconscious, potentially killed if the pot struck hard enough to fracture her skull, and then there was the added risk of suffocating while unconscious when the sheets and blankets collapsed on her.
He took a deep breath and forced away a tremor of unease at the thought of her death. She was fine. He didn’t come home to bloodstained sheets and a dead girlfriend. There was nothing to worry over.
After one more deep, calming breath, he began to search for the entrance to the intricate fort. He found an opening that led into their kitchen.
“Why did you build a blanket fort?” he asked as he began to crawl inside, mindful that he didn’t disturb the seemingly haphazard layout. The entrance he picked led him toward the dining room where he found a trail of crumbs and an empty can of soda. That wasn’t Nami’s doing. She had company in there.
“Kinemon dropped Momonosuke off to babysit,” she explained. “Luffy came over and suggested they build a fort.”
He turned a corner to crawl back toward the living room, following her voice as the path took him to the couch where he found the likely culprit of the crumbs and soda asleep on the couch, beneath a sagging swath of blankets. Luffy had an arm hanging into his path that he batted away. The young man grumbled a complaint in his sleep, rolled over to face away from him, and proceeded to tug at the blankets above him to cover himself up.
“This seems far too elaborate for Luffy to build,” Law remarked. He had to duck as the ceiling sagged above him and hurriedly crawled to the next section.
“That’s because he didn’t build it. After he nearly broke a lamp, I called Franky to come over and help with the fort. He said he would make them a super fort, and I must say, he didn’t disappoint.” Nami snickered, her voice louder, but still slightly muffled. He had a ways to go to find her.
The area he found next had a vaulted ceiling secured on the top of the television with a muted cartoon flickering on the screen. The boy Nami was tasked to babysit was curled up under a throw blanket and resting atop a bed of pillows. Franky was snoring beside him, the large man propped against their living room chair. Another bottle of soda sat beside Franky, and a plate of cookies rest under Momonosuke’s hand, surrounded by more crumbs. So, it wasn’t only Luffy responsible for the mess.
“I wouldn’t put so much faith in him,” he grumbled while turning the corner, finally finding a path that would lead to the bookshelf, judging by the soft glow of the reading light ahead of him. “The corner you’re sitting in doesn’t look too safe. That pot could fall on you at any minute.”
Nami sighed, much louder, just as he broke into the cozy alcove she was nestled in. She glowered at him from where she sat in a sea of pillows, a novel resting on her lap. On the shelf beside her, she had a glass of water with two orange slices floating near the top. The space was quiet, peaceful, and if not for the threat of imminent death by potted plant, he would have happily curled up beside her to sleep in there. The fact she didn’t look worried in the least had him tempted to do just that, anyway.
“I questioned Frankie about that particular design choice,” she explained. “He said he secured the bookshelf so it won’t topple over, and the blanket is actually tacked down, the pot isn’t doing anything to secure it. Luffy and Momonosuke spent most of the afternoon tearing through here and nothing has toppled over yet, so I felt it safe enough to sit here.”
She had a point. If her best friend and that child couldn’t demolish the blanket fort, not to mention the builder who was nearly eight feet tall, then the fort was probably secure.
Deciding that it was safe, and that the pillows and his girlfriend looked far too comfy to ignore, Law crawled in to lay down beside her. Nami giggled as he wound his arm around her and tugged her close. He glanced up to see her warm smile and leaned up for a short peck that made her smile grow.
It was good to be home, even if his living room was overtaken by a blanket fort.
“I left a blanket and pillow in the bedroom for you,” she said as he settled in place, resting his head on her chest. She was a more comfortable pillow than all those beneath them. “I knew you would be tired after work.”
He grunted. “I’m fine here,” he said while rubbing his cheek against her. “I can nap here until you’re ready to go to bed.”
Nami laughed. “Don’t want to sleep alone?”
“I slept in an uncomfortable bunk bed for three hours last night, with Shachi on the bunk above me… He snores louder than Straw Hat,” he grumbled.
Nami ran her fingers through her hair, a gesture of sympathy that easily soothed him. He shut his eyes and released a content sigh.
“When do you have to go back in?” she asked at a whisper.
He furrowed his brows, humming as he willed his tired mind to remember his shift schedule. “Twelve hours,” he muttered after a minute. “It should only be a standard twelve-hour shift, though.”
“When’s your next day off?”
“Hmmm, Friday.” His eyes were shut, but still felt heavy with sleep. Surrounded by Nami’s warm, citrus scent, hidden from the world in a blanket cocoon - he would sleep well in there. “I arranged to have a three-day weekend in two weeks.”
“Did you want to do something that weekend? Or are you just planning to rest?”
“I was thinking both,” he muttered. “If you have the time off, I want us to spend a weekend away, just the two of us.”
“Can we go to the beach?” she asked, bright and excited at the prospect.
Her hand stilled in his hair as she waited for his reply. He nudged it, encouraging her to keep playing with his hair. When her nails scratched over his scalp, he answered her with a sigh. “The beach is fine,” he said. “Just don’t tell Straw Hat.”
“Our little secret,” she said with a playful lilt.
He grunted, the only answer he could spare as he felt his mind begin to drift on a sea of sleep, lulled by her steady breathing and sweet scent. Nami’s fingers grazed through his hair, down to his back, and he groaned in delight to the gentle scrape of her nails beneath his shirt.
He decided they needed to build a blanket fort more often. Because nothing beats coming home to cuddle in a quiet nest with the woman he loves.
An anon requested the prompt “Sharing a bed” for Drake x Robin. The requester made a note about it being a ‘preferably small bed’, and to be quite honest, any bed that is not a king, or cal-king, is likely way too small for the poor 7′8″ man and his 6′2″ girlfriend. But, I just went ahead and made it worse for him, because why not?
And, as always, this takes place in the same verse as the other DrakeRobin requests and must include a not entirely friendly broship moment with Law.
Title: Nightmare Room
Pairing: X Drake x Nico Robin
Genre: Romance/ AU
Rating: T
Word Count: 1423
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
At over seven and a half feet tall, Drake always knew that hotel beds would never accommodate him. Even king-sized beds were too short, though at least he could sleep at an angle to keep his feet from hanging off the bed.
But this…. this was physically impossible.
“It looks cozy,” his girlfriend said beside him, not bothering to restrain a snicker of amusement.
His withering glare was ignored as she pushed by him to enter the cramped suite. He had no idea how the proprietor could even call the room a suite. It certainly came with all the features one would expect – a bed, table with two over-stuff chairs, television set on a bureau, a small desk, and a closet sized bathroom hidden behind the front door – but he had no clue how they fit all that furniture into the tiny space, let alone the menagerie of creepy knickknacks strewn on built-in shelves that sent a shiver down his spine.
Dolls should not have eyes that big. It was just wrong.
“And quaint,” Robin added, turning to smile at him as she sat on the twin-size bed. How could she think that was quaint? She was over six feet tall, herself. How did she even expect him to squeeze onto that tiny bed with her? And was that another doll sitting right over the headboard, staring down at the bed like a deranged Chuckie, preparing to kill them in their sleep?
“It’s creepy and small,” he grumbled.
Robin sighed. “It’s only for a night,” she reminded.
“We should ask to change rooms,” he said, turning to walk out of the room. He jumped when he saw another doll above the door. The thing nearly gave him a heart attack.
“This is the only inn with a vacancy within miles,” Robin reasoned. “The storm has left a lot of people stranded. I doubt they have another room to put us in.”
“Then I’ll sleep on a park bench,” he huffed. “Anything is better than murder-dolls.”
“You’ll die of exposure, though I’m sure the hypothermia will make it a peaceful death so you don’t feel the frostbite eat your toes and fingers.” Robin chuckled and then stood from the bed to usher him into the room that was too tight for an average sized man, let alone him. He had to duck down to avoid smacking his head on the doorframe, and kept his arms tucked tight to his side to avoid knocking into a very terrifying painting on the wall. What was it with large eyes in this room? And he swore they were all watching him.
He didn’t bother to suppress a shudder when he noticed a doll with a flamboyant coat of pink feathers with a smile that would terrify Satan. He steeled himself as he took out his phone and took a quick picture of it. If he had to suffer, then he was at least going to make an annoying doctor suffer, too. That doll was something that would give even a man as creepy as Law nightmares.
“I would much rather die of hypothermia than murdered by an evil doll,” Drake argued, even as he grudgingly let Robin shove him onto the bed while he sent the picture to Law.
“How about we do something to take your mind off the décor?” She pushed him to lay back as she slipped his phone from his hand. The lilting purr in her tone stole his whole attention, as did the teasing kiss she left on his scarred chin while crawling on top of him. He liked her idea…
Until he looked up at the ceiling and nearly screamed at the dolls hanging off an obviously useless fan.
He draped his arm over his eyes and tried to will away the lingering image of tiny cackling dolls with far too realistic teeth to even be remotely comfortable. “I really can’t stay in this room,” he moaned.
Robin sighed resolutely. “Just keep your eyes closed,” she said while sliding off him.
He swallowed the urge to whimper as he listened to her move away from him. He felt better when she was sitting on top of him, comfortable with the weight of her warm body. At least he knew he wasn’t alone. He forced himself not to let her distance get to him as he listened to her move through the room. He had no idea what she was doing. At one point, he swore she was standing on the bed. At least he hoped that was her weight making the mattress sag near his feet.
“Okay, I think it’s safe for you to look again,” she said.
He slowly lowered his arm and peeked open an eye. The doll on the headboard was gone, as were the ones on the fan. He lifted his head to find all the dolls and knickknacks gone. Even the creepy painting was out of sight.
“Better?” she asked, smiling beautifully for him.
“Much.” He sighed and collapsed back in the bed. “I suppose I don’t want to know where you stored all of those.”
“Don’t look under the bed, or in any of the drawers, or the closet. And I suggest you avoid taking a shower in the morning,” she explained while settling onto the bed at his side. He scooted over to give her room, nearly falling off in the process, and wrapped her up in his arm once she laid down. He had to curl his legs up and tangle them with hers to keep his feet from hanging off, but the position made him aware of how precariously close the edge of the bed was to his back. “In fact, if you can avoid turning on the light in the bathroom, that might be best.”
“I’ll just avoid using the bathroom entirely,” he grumbled. “Only a few hours until dawn. We can get to the airport and camp out there first thing in the morning.”
“Assuming the roads are clear,” she pointed out.
“I’ll borrow a damn shovel and clear them myself,” he huffed.
Robin snickered. “Well, I suppose you should get some rest before then.”
He was going to say something about preferring her original plan to keep him distracted, especially since he doubted he could close his eyes without imagining an army of blood-thirsty dolls crawling out from under the bed. His phone vibrated on the nightstand before he could make his suggestion, though.
Robin reached over to grab the phone for him. “It’s a text from Law,” she said.
He took his phone to see the message and grinned at the man’s reaction to the picture he sent.
What unholy level of hell are you in? Law wrote. I never thought I would pity you for anything, but that abomination you just sent me nearly had me reconsider it.
As he read the message, Law sent another.
I take it back. Since you were enough of an asshole to send that to me, you fully deserve every second of suffering there and I hope that doll comes to life and murders you in your sleep.
Drake chuckled and turned the phone for Robin to read the messages, giggling along with him. The phone vibrated again as she read, and he wondered how long Law planned to rant about it.
“It’s from Nami,” Robin said. “Law wouldn’t stop complaining about the picture, so she peeked at it. She said that she hopes you take a torch to this room and purify the world of this wretched evil.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked her,” he said, chuckling. It really wasn’t a bad idea. He shuddered to think what the other rooms might look like. The whole inn might need to go up in flames.
He tossed the phone back on the nightstand and shifted to lay on his back, tugging Robin to lay over him. “But before we burn this place down, how about putting this unnecessarily tiny bed to good use?” he asked while leaning up to brush a kiss to her cheek.
Robin laughed, stole a kiss, and then sat up straight to pull off her sweater, giving him a sight to wash away the creepy images of those dolls in his mind.
“Whatever helps you sleep tonight,” she said before he tugged her back down to slam his lips to hers.
With that small of a bed, and that beautiful a woman in his arms, there was no chance he was sleeping that night. But at least it wasn’t because of the dolls.
