Chapter Text
The first morning after, Zoro makes his way to the galley feeling good. Lighter than usual. Loose-limbed and relaxed.
‘Morning,’ he says to Nami, Sanji, and Usopp, already gathered at the table. ‘All good?’ There's fresh coffee brewed, and Zoro gets himself a cup. Stands and breathes in the smell a second, feeling the warmth of the mug.
Sanji's made this thick omelette thing, little vegetables in it, and there's a lot of bacon. Nice. Grabbing a plate, Zoro drops into the seat by Usopp, vague smile in his direction. Maybe Zoro will let Sanji know that his breakfasts are improving, Zoro's in that kind of magnanimous mood -
Everyone's looking at him.
Zoro pauses, fork in hand. ‘What?’
The others all glance at each other. It's weird.
Finally, Nami says, ‘You're chipper this morning.’
Zoro squints at her. ‘Thanks?’
‘I don't know if it's a compliment,’ Sanji murmurs, and Zoro’s immediately glad he didn't comment on Sanji's dumb omelette. It's just, like, eggs, anyway.
‘No, no, it's, you know. It's good,’ Usopp offers. ‘Always nice to be cheerful.’ But he's looking at Zoro like Zoro's grown another head.
‘I'm not even doing anything,’ Zoro tries to point out, but the galley door opens again and Luffy walks in.
‘Good morning!’ Luffy says. ‘The crew's all here!’ He beams and looks around for a moment. ‘Hey Sanji, it smells great!’ The enthusiasm is quite a lot, even for Luffy. Zoro feels himself starting to smile and clamps down on it, quick. Luffy sits down opposite him, and Zoro busies himself with eating, but he can feel it - Luffy watching him.
Zoro glances up. Luffy's smile is directed right at him. There's this look in his eye. The back of Zoro's neck feels hot. ‘Good day for sailing,’ Luffy says breezily, apropos of nothing. He helps himself to a frankly ridiculous amount of bacon and sighs. ‘Really nice!’
It's not actually totally clear what that last comment's even directed at.
There's a fairly loaded pause around the table. Zoro gets it now. He sees their point.
‘Right,’ Nami says finally. ‘Well. Oh my god.’
‘Subtlety's a fine thing,’ Sanji mutters, and Usopp snickers.
Ah well, Zoro thinks, making square eye contact with Sanji and raising his eyebrows like a challenge. So much for trying to keep it quiet, then.
--
Zoro's never had a friends with benefits thing before, at least in part because he hasn't actually had a friend since he was a kid. Turns out it's pretty great.
For starters, Luffy actually pays attention to whether Zoro finishes as well. Zoro's never really thought about it too much, but it's an immediate and substantial improvement on his usual hook ups. And then, because it's Luffy, he gets this idea that Zoro can probably come more than once, and Luffy really wants to see that happen, so he sets about to proving it. Which, yeah. Initially Zoro was skeptical, but holy fuck, Luffy is not wrong.
The other thing is, maybe because they're friends, and also because they live on the same ship, Zoro doesn't have to fuck off as soon as Luffy's done. He was going to the first time, just out of habit, but then Luffy's arm snuck out the bed, all rubbery, and hooked Zoro's.
‘You could stay?’ Luffy said. Zoro had stared at him a moment, confused, but yeah, it made sense - a chance of another go in the morning, maybe. He'd got back into bed, and when he'd woken up the next day, Luffy had ended up all wrapped around Zoro in his sleep, which was - warm, or whatever. Something nice about it.
So, yeah, the situation’s a good one.
Nami doesn't seem to think so, though.
She's dropped by the part of the ship where Zoro's training - port or something, maybe - and she looks intense enough that he pauses, mentally reviewing the day for some sort of cause.
‘What's up?’ he asks eventually. Hopefully it's not about the thing with the riggings earlier. That was mostly Luffy and Usopp anyway, and Sanji's already got all prissy and mad about it. How were they meant to know he'd be carrying a bunch of glassware across the deck?
Anyway. Nami's narrowing her eyes at Zoro. Her expression is weird. Zoro can't parse it.
‘You and Luffy,’ Nami says finally. ‘What are you two doing?’
It's pretty obvious what she's referring to. Zoro stares at her.
‘You, uh. You want me to answer that?’
Nami makes a face.
‘Shut up. Not like that.’ So Zoro shuts up, but then they're both just looking at each other. ‘I mean,’ Nami says, impatient, ‘what's going on with you guys? What's this,’ she waves her hand, ‘thing?’
‘What, like -’ Zoro shrugs. ‘It's a friends with benefits thing, isn't it.’ He can say that, right? They're all adults here.
‘Friends with benefits,’ Nami echoes slowly. ‘That's what you're calling it?' Eyebrows raised, she makes it seem like the wrong answer. Zoro frowns at her.
‘Fuck buddies?’ he hazards.
Nami closes her eyes for a very long moment and sighs through her nose.
‘You know what, never mind,’ she says. ‘Never mind. You can't say I didn't try.’
And then she just walks away. Zoro watches her go, confused. Then he gives it up and goes back to training.
---
Zoro had been thinking about Luffy, before anything actually happened. Noticing things. Luffy's smile before a battle, excited and fierce. How Luffy moved in a fight. How he could pin someone down, easy, when he wanted to. The way Luffy's gaze would search, when the fight was done, his eyes would track across it all, and they'd stop when they found Zoro. Zoro had started to wait for it. To be there, looking back.
Now, they've docked at an island for supplies, and they've ended up in some big fight. It just keeps happening like that somehow. There'd been a friendly tavern owner who'd given Luffy food, then Luffy had gotten very invested in how badly the mayor and his bodyguards were bullying the tavern and other businesses. Something like that, anyway. Zoro was drinking for a lot of the initial stuff, so he's fuzzy on the details. But now he's taken out some bodyguards, Luffy's dealt with the mayor, and it's been a pretty fun time. A lot of the townspeople have started talking about holding a meeting to discuss options for new forms of government, which is definitely where Zoro dips out. Luckily, the others all feel the same.
They get a thank you gift for their troubles - a harvest basket, whatever that means. Luffy's pumped because there’s food, and Sanji gets all excited about it for like, culinary reasons or something, but all Zoro knows is there's some wine in there that he fully intends to drink.
It's a nice evening, cool and breezy. They're making their way back to the ship. Cobblestone streets, grey-bricked homes with wooden shutters. It's not a bad little town.
'Did you guys see when I took out that mace guy?’ Usopp says as they reach the dock. All the mayor's bodyguards had weird weapons, Zoro doesn't know why. Maces and spears and shit. Usopp does a karate chop, even though he definitely used his slingshot, Zoro saw, then he says, ‘Huh-shaw, yeah - you're gonna need more than two maces to stop this guy, my friend.’
‘So, like three?’ Nami asks, teasing. Usopp considers the question all the same.
‘Probably at least seven,’ he tells her. ‘At least. Probably not even then, honestly.’
‘Some people actually do need three weapons just to fight,’ Sanji volunteers, his tone tragic. ‘You really have to pity them.’
Zoro's in a good mood, so he just flips the guy off and decides he's definitely drinking all that fancy wine. Maybe tonight.
‘Zoro took out that machete guy,’ Luffy says slowly. ‘That was pretty cool.’ There's something in his tone. Zoro, walking next to him, glances over. They're getting to the ship now, and Luffy's looking up at the Merry, but he's got this glint in his eye. He must know Zoro's looking, because he gets this tiny smile, too.
So, okay. The wine can be for another night.
The others all drift away once they've climbed aboard - Sanji to store the goods from his precious harvest basket, Nami and Usopp to crash for the night. Luffy and Zoro stand on deck, watching them go. It's dark, a clear night. Stars out. Bit of a breeze, pushing along the waves that Zoro can hear, ruffling Luffy's hair.
Luffy turns to look at Zoro.
‘Turning in for the night?’ he asks, innocent.
Zoro rolls his eyes. Luffy grins.
A little later, Luffy says again, ‘Hey, Zoro. That was good, with the machete guy.’
Zoro opens his eyes.
‘Yeah?’ he manages, staring down at the sheets. Zoro's on all fours, down on his forearms, and Luffy's got him worked up to two fingers, deep. Zoro's hoping for a third sometime around now, but Luffy does this sometimes. Says stuff while they're fucking. Not just dirty talk, not telling Zoro what kind of guy he is or what Luffy's gonna do to him or whatever - stuff that's almost conversational, sometimes. Zoro's kind of getting used to it. It's generally early on in the process, at least.
‘Mmm,’ Luffy says, and he moves up the bed so he's leaning over Zoro, Luffy's mouth by Zoro's ear. His cock's pressing against Zoro's back, and Luffy's fingers keep moving inside him, just as deep as before. There's got to be some stretching involved to achieve that, Zoro thinks. He feels Luffy's breath across his cheek and shuts his eyes. ‘You did it all smooth,’ Luffy says, fingers curling, then rubbing, Zoro clenching his jaw at the feeling that shoots up his body, white hot and good. ‘All graceful, you know. It was - ’ And Luffy grinds down against Zoro's bare back and bites Zoro on the shoulder, hard enough that Zoro's breath catches.
Graceful? Zoro frowns as the hit of pleasure from the bite fades. He thought - well, he doesn't know, maybe like strong or something, if he was pushed - graceful is a weird choice, right? But then Luffy starts pushing in another finger, and Zoro's distracted.
Once Luffy's inside him, hands on Zoro's hips, a good rhythm going, Zoro lets his mind drift to these thoughts he's been having lately. Luffy, with his devil fruit - he could really hold Zoro down. Get all stretchy, maybe tie Zoro up, kind of. A guy had done that once, when Zoro was just starting out as a bounty hunter. When he was first going to bars and taverns, when guys were showing an interest and Zoro was, honestly, horny as fuck a lot of the time. The guy had got Zoro's wrists tied up, tied to the headboard. The feeling of it - the guy's hands on Zoro however he wanted, Zoro just there, having to take it - it was kind of embarrassing, how much he liked it. But back then, there had been this background thought thrumming the whole time - it might take too long to get out of this, if he decides to do something. Take Zoro's swords or something, maybe. The chance was there.
It wouldn't be like that with Luffy.
‘Zoro,’ Luffy's saying now, ‘so good, so good, you're so - Zoro - ’ He always says stuff like that, and Zoro can feel his cheeks warming, even as Luffy pounds into him. Luffy's hitting that spot nearly every time now, Zoro's breath getting ragged, punched out of him sometimes. Luffy must be close. He's grabbing at Zoro's hips, pulling him back, forceful and uncoordinated, shorter thrusts, hard and fast - Zoro feels Luffy's sweat dripping onto his back. Zoro shoves his own wrists together on the bed, cock aching, wanting to touch himself and imagining that he can't - imagining Luffy knows that he can't and isn't helping him at all, Luffy wants it like that, wants Zoro desperate for it - fuck -
After, Luffy pulls out slowly. His hands are suddenly all careful on Zoro's sides, like he wasn't basically just bruising them up. Luffy's funny like that. Zoro realises he can still hear his own breathing. He slows it down, shifts to stretch out his legs, muscles twinging a little. Luffy collapses down next to him on the bed, dramatic, and goes, ‘Mmmm, oh, man. Zoro.’
Zoro snorts. This bit's always kind of strange. He rolls onto his back, grimacing a little when the sheets are wet underneath him, sweat and cum. Zoro leans over and grabs the towel he'd picked up earlier. Does a passable job of cleaning himself up, then chucks it at Luffy.
‘Good?’ Luffy asks him. There's something slightly different in his tone. Zoro glances sideways at him, then down at himself. Zoro didn't even have to jerk off to come. It was obviously good, right? Luffy laughs, just slightly. ‘Hey,’ he says, ‘can I - ?’
‘Huh?’ Zoro says, when Luffy doesn't follow up. ‘Yeah,’ he adds, even though he's not sure he can go again right now - might be fun to try - but it's not that, anyway. Luffy shifts up a little, then grabs at Zoro, pulling him, fussing, tcching at Zoro like he's meant to know what's going on. Eventually, Zoro's sort of sideways against Luffy, head on Luffy's chest, arm across his stomach.
‘Okay?’ Luffy asks, and Zoro blinks.
‘Yeah,’ he returns, quick. He - it - it's not not okay. It's.
He lies there, very still. Trying to seem like he knows what he's doing. Luffy moves his arm, his hand going to Zoro's head. He runs his fingers through Zoro's hair, along Zoro's scalp. Does it again. Hand going back and forth.
Zoro blinks, slow.
Luffy keeps doing it, and after a while, Zoro feels his body relax. His eyes close. They're both still sweaty, naked. Lying like this, Zoro can feel Luffy's heartbeat. The slow, barely there rise and fall of Luffy's stomach below Zoro's arm. Luffy's not saying anything. All he's doing is moving his hand through Zoro's hair. There's these tingling, almost shivery feelings along Zoro's scalp. All through him.
It feels really nice.