This Is So Good!! Never Imagined Zoro Playing Hockey But The Way You Wrote Him As A Hockey Player Is

This is so good!! Never imagined Zoro playing hockey but the way you wrote him as a hockey player is something.

CAPTAIN | r. zoro

synopsis: the captain of the hockey team really gets on your nerves. authors note: hi! i'm back from the dead to offer this fic! i saw a tik tok and got inspired. it was a sports au of hockey player zoro and I was obsessed and wrote this! hope you guys like :) might write a part two since I really like this pairing. also was thinking of doing a series where all the one peice characters play different kinds of sports :)

cw: sports au!, hockey player zoro, not proofread, slightly suggestive wc: 3.5k

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You would venture to say you're a pretty reasonable person. You never got angry easily, or upset. You kept it together pretty well usually. 

Usually.

Today… Well, today was an exception. Actually it was always an exception when Rorona Zoro was in the rink. He was one of those rowdy hockey players that you would mostly ignore. You worked at the ice rink on weekends and most of the time you got lucky. The players would either be at away games or out partying on weekends. But not Roronoa Zoro. If you could say one nice thing about him it was that he is dedicated to his craft. You had the displeasure of being stuck talking with him and a few of his hockey buddies one day. Who knew this one day would taint the rest of the times you saw him.

His hockey friends were desperate, you’d think they’d never talked to a human woman before in their life the way they pounced on you. Asking you tons of questions about your life, if you had someone, who was your type, did you fancy anyone. By the time they were done asking you felt as though it was an interrogation. You were about to tell them you had to get back to work when suddenly Zoro spoke first.

“Leave the girl alone.” He’d walked out of the showers, his green hair damp and messy. “She clearly doesn’t like being interrogated.” He grumbles. The rest of the team sighs but they listen to the green haired man, leaving you be. You watch as they head back towards the showers, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks.” You had said, he shrugged.

“You should learn to speak up for yourself, rink girl.” He says and before you can respond he’s gone back towards the locker room.

Asshole.

After that you didn’t even spare him a glance, let alone a moment of your time. When he’d check in you’d slide the clipboard over to him not even looking up. It was a bit petty but you felt slightly vindictive towards him. Maybe not entirely towards him but also the company he keeps. His other hockey friends are atrocious to be around. They stare and ask for your number and try to eat lunch with you and just bother you relentlessly. Also despite them all claiming to have interest in you they call you rink girl because of Zoro even though your name is on a tag on the front of your shirt.

Days like today were no different. Once again two of the players were at your desk, asking about your day and pretending to care.

“Still no guy?” The blond one asks, you never learned their names since they didn’t care to learn yours. You clicked your pen, you had paperwork to do and were in a particularly bad mood. 

“Still no girl?” You snap, the blond one pouts but the brunette one snorts a laugh.

“I see why Captain likes you so much.” The blond one mutters under his breath. You barely hear it, your brows furrowing.

“What?”

“Dude… shut up.” The brunette intercepts, knocking the blond in the back of the head. The familiar ding of the front door sounded as Zoro entered the building. “Oh shit… let’s go, hurry!” The blond gasps, you watch the two players practically sprint and trip over each other to get away from your desk. You furrow your brows as Zoro clears his throat. It makes you jump.

“Jesus!” You gasp.

“No, it’s Roronoa.” He says as he watches you place a hand over your heart, the other grabbing the clipboard for him to sign. 

“Ha-ha.” You mock, sliding it to him. For the first time in a while you look at him. It’s cold out so he’s bundled up slightly, his cheeks lightly dusted pink from the cold. He’s almost… handsome? You never really noticed. You can’t look away… well until his eyes meet yours. You look away quickly as he clicks the pen and places it on the clipboard, sliding it back to you. When you reach to grab it back your fingers just barely grace his hand. He’s warm, despite just being out in the cold. You clear your throat, pulling your hand away quickly, busying yourself with your paperwork again. 

“Hey,” He says as your hand pauses and you slowly look up at him. He looks at you for a moment, as though he’s trying to read something on your face.

“What?” You ask, slightly concerned that he’s lingering at your desk more than usual.

“I saw those two idiots talking to you.” He says and you're not sure if it’s a question or a statement so you nod your head. His jaw tenses as he sighs heavily. “Are they bothering you?” He asks. You stare at him for a moment, trying to read his face to know whether or not he was messing with you. He was infinitely serious.

“No. I can take care of myself.” You say with a tad bit of venom in your voice. He nods his head, the look in his eyes unreadable.

“Good.” He says and with that walks towards the locker room without another word. You watch him go, very confused. 

A few hours pass as you walk back to your desk after lunch. The players are leaving for the day, some of them wave at you and you wave back halfheartedly. When the blond and brunette from earlier today pass they walk past you like wounded dogs, very clearly avoiding looking in your direction. Zoro isn’t with him curiously and as it gets later you see he’s the only one who hasn’t checked out and since the rink is closing soon you sigh and hop up from your chair. You walk into the locker room first, silence fills as you poke your head around the corner. Sure enough his locker is open and full of his stuff. You make your way towards the rink you know he’s in there before you even catch sight of him. You hear the sound of his hockey stick smacking against the puck sending it flying through the air, it swishes into the net with ease. A perfect shot. He hasn’t noticed you watching as he sails across the ice to retrieve the puck and set up again for another drill. He’d gotten much better in the months he practiced here. He played like a possessed man, much different from the person you watched practice months and months ago. Not that you knew anything about hockey but there was a reason this man was the captain. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Zoro calls out to you. You jump again for the second time again, blowing out a breath, holding your heart again. “Someone’s jumpy.” He mumbles as he lines up a shot, sending it sailing down the ice into the goal. You clear your throat.

“We close in six minutes.” You call out to him coldly, turning. 

“Hey,” He calls out to you. You're not sure why but you pause, turning as he skates to you, the only thing shielding him from you was a thick piece of acrylic glass that spanned the entirety of the ring. “You play?” He asks as you furrow your brows.

“Hockey?” You ask, looking up at him. Was he always this damn tall? He nods his head, reaching up and wiping sweat from his brow. You scoff, slightly amused.

“No.” You answer and his eyes travel from your own down your body then slowly, agonizingly slowly back to your eyes. You're blushing by the time he meets your eyes again.

“Think you can block me?” He asks and you stare at him incredulously, it takes you a long moment to answer. 

“W-what?” You question, he cocks his head, smirking down at you. 

“I said… Do you think you could block me?”

“I heard you.” You sigh. “And no… I don’t think I could block you.”

“Why not?” He asks, leaning against the glass.

“B-because you're like eight foot tall and hundreds of pounds.”

“Ouch… you make me sound like a monster.” He tsks, still with that grin on his lips.

“You are… you're huge.” You say and a second later your words cause you to blush and look away.

“Uh huh.” Zoro hummed, laughing slightly. You swallow, clearing your throat. “Put on some skates, Y/n, if you can’t guard me I’ll need a goalie.”

“We’re closing, in fact we're probably closed already.” You say as he shrugs his shoulders.

“Hmm… didn’t take you for the scared type.” He says, slowly skating towards the puck.

“I…” You stutter, scoffing a laugh. “Am not scared.” You finish as he shoots you a look, a challenging one. It was stupid really. Stupid that you found yourself sliding into skates and sailing right towards him in the rink. “Fuck,” You curse, not able to stop as you practically crash right into him. But it’s more like hitting a damn wall, he barely budges and grabs you before you can go down. “Sorry.” You breathe out, his hands are on your hips, stabilizing you, your hands on his shoulders trying to keep your balance. 

“You can’t even skate?”

“I just haven’t done it in a long time.” You say feeling a rush of something entirely out of your control when his hands slowly let you go. “I’m fine,” You say, testing the waters as you skate around a tad bit. He watches you like a hawk and when it looks like you're about to go down he’s there in seconds, those big hands back on your hips. 

“I think it’s safe to say I’ve won this game before we even started.” He says with a slight laugh as he slides off his jacket. You shake your head vehemently. 

“Nuh uh! I just-- need to warm up, that’s all.” You say, staring at the ground as your hands grip his forearms.

“Here,” He says, placing his jacket on your shoulders, it smells like him, like something warm and woodsy. You slide your arms through the sleeves. “Look up,” He says. A moment later your eyes find his, something sparks between you, your stomach doing a flip. “Don’t stare at your feet as you skate.” He directs as you nod your head, not trusting yourself to speak and not mess up your words. Slowly he starts skating backwards, holding you as you keep up with his pace. Slowly you fall back into your old routine, able to skate on your own. 

“See… told ya’.” You say a bit cockily, almost falling again but catching yourself. Zoro smiles softly, shaking his head. You could crash looking at the smile alone. You force yourself to look away. “So… how do we play?” You ask as Zoro grabs and tosses his stick to you, you catch it with ease. 

“We’ll play for five minutes, if you can score one goal on me you win.”

“I thought I was gonna play goalie?” You ask.

“I’d rather me get hit with pucks than you.” He says, warmth spreads through you at that, so you don’t answer him. He reaches and zips up your jacket before skating towards the goal. He turns to face you, crouching slightly, nodding his head to you. Game on, you guessed. 

You skated a few feet before hitting the puck hard. It sails and misses the goal by at least a couple feet. Zoro laughs.

“You’re trying right? That wasn’t even anywhere close.” He mocks as you skate to grab the puck.

“I don’t even know if I’m holding his damned thing right!” You call out, shaking his stick at him. 

“You’re not.” he says and you huff.

You hit the puck again and again and again. A few times you made it close to Zoro but he just batted it away with ease. You weren’t sure how much time passed before you were hitting the puck again, missing, the force of the hit making you lose your balance and slam onto the ice. You lay sprawled out on the ice as Zoro skates over quickly to your side. You took the opportunity to hit the puck where you laid and slowly it glided into the goal.

“She shoots! She scores!” You cheer from the ground as Zoro scoffs a heartily laugh, his cheeks dusted that same pink from earlier.

“That was a dirty play.” He grins, looming above you. 

“It was a play all the same right? Is that five points? I don’t know anything about hockey.” You skirk as Zoro lends you a hand, you take it.

“It’s one point.” He laughs, pulling you easily to your feet. 

“One point…” You trail off. “I slammed into the ground for one point.” You say and Zoro breathes out a laugh, nodding his head. “What do I win for beating the captain? Bragging rights?”

“You can’t utter a word of this to my team.” He says in a mock serious tone as a smirk grows on your lips. 

“You can’t tell me that, Roronoa, I’m the captain now.” You say as Zoro raises a brow, his cheeks going even more pink.

“Is that right?” He asks, his voice a rasp. You notice than how close you two are standing, you're still holding his hands, the warmth of them radiating through you. 

“That’s right.” You confirm, keeping a well placed poker face. 

“Got another round in you?” He asks as you shake your head.

“Y/N! Is that you?” Your boss called as you heard the door being pushed open. Your heart drops in your chest, the alarm showing on your face. “What’re you doing?” Your boss asks as you stutter out a sorry.

“She was helping me clean up, sir, sorry for keeping her.” Zoro calls out to your boss. Your boss buys Zoro’s words. 

“Well hurry up, I need to get home for dinner.” Your boss says, walking back out of the rink. You blow out a breath, skating towards the exit, Zoro just behind you. 

“Jesus… thanks.” You blow out, heart still in your throat. 

“No worries.” He says just behind you.

You plop down on the bench, leaning to untie your skates. Zoro sits beside you quietly, doing the same. It's a little awkward now, especially after all that oblivious flirting you were doing. This wasn’t something you couldn't see coming.

Just last week you didn’t even like looking at this guy, now you found yourself liking looking at him. A complete turn around. Not entirely unwelcomed though.

When you finally kicked off your skates, you sat up just as Zoro reached over, warm fingers on your chin and turned your face gently towards him and pressed his lips to your own. You gasped, taken off guard, eyes wide. A spark shot through you like nothing you’d ever felt before. His fingers on your chin slid until he was gently cupping your cheek, his other hand coming up and doing the same thing on the other side of your face. He kissed you gently. Slowly your eyes fluttered closed, your hand reaching up and falling short, as you knotted it in the front of his t-shirt, pulling him by it closer to you.

“I really fucking like you.” He mumbles against your lips in between kisses, you kiss him hard at his words. Ghosted over your lips causing a shiver to track down your spine. All the pent up emotions you harbored came spilling out as you somehow ended up in his lap, the moment grew intense, a groan escaping his lips that your lips muffled. His hands found purchase on your ass as he stood, taking you with him, carrying you with one hand to press your back into the acrylic glass around the rink. One of your hands slides around the back of Zoro’s neck, tangling in his hair. Zoro makes a sound you didn’t think was possible for him to make, something that had your stomach bottoming out and your fingers barely tugging at his hair, a soft sort of whimper escaping his lips. His kisses then turn hungry, almost feverish. He’s burying his lips in yours, forgetting to breathe, his hands tightening around you, completely lost in the moment. Someone clears their throat, startling you both as Zoro lets you down. Your boss stands there, hands on his hips, a look of embarrassment on his face. 

“Sir, I was helping him.” “She was helping me.” Zoro and you speak at the same time. Your boss raises his head, shaking his head as you nod your head in understanding leaving with your boss. 

You were reprimanded but ultimately he let you keep your job. Yay. It was your first infraction and he said to keep it professional which you agreed with and apologized vehemently. You probably apologized hundreds of times in a five minute conversation. Your boss asked not to talk about it again and you were completely fine with that. You gathered up your stuff and pushed out into the cold winter night. The cold hitting your warm cheeks and cooling you off. You didn’t have a moment alone to think about what had just transpired. 

“Y/n…” Zoro called out as you crossed the parking lot. He waved as you blushed. “I’m so sorry… you didn’t get fired did you?”

“No... What was that?” You asked as you got closer.

“What?”

“Why’d you kiss me? I-- I sort of thought you hated me.” You confront.

“What? I don’t-- I don’t hate you.” Zoro shakes his head. 

“You sure? I mean-- you were an asshole to me that one time… saying I needed to learn to take care of myself and that stupid fucking nickname? Rink girl? All your teammates call me that by the way.” You say, all of it sort of falling out like word vomit. Zoro raises his chin slightly, looking down at you. 

“They call you that?” He asks, his voice level as you sigh.

“Yes! They do!”

“I’ll fix that.” He promises as you stare at him. This whole night was just strange. 

“Why’d you kiss me?” You ask again. Zoro’s eyes soften.

“I told you already.” He says as you shake your head. 

“You didn’t tell me anything? We barely talked before today.”

“I said I like you. I said I really fucking like you.” He reiterated. You remember him saying that. The heat and warmth spread like a wildfire after hearing it again.

“Why?” You ask as Zoro sort of cocks his head.

“Why?” He echoes as you raise your brows, nodding your head imploring for an answer. “Because you're pretty. You’re funny and I like the way you ignored me all the time.” He admits as you laugh despite yourself.

“What? Y-you like that I ignore you?”

“I did. I like this way better.” He motions to you and him talking. You raise your head.

“Okay…” You say skeptically, you find your mind trailing back to the kiss and it brings a blush to your cheek. You clear your throat. “How long?”

“Hmm?”

“How long have you liked me?” Zoro looks like he’s thinking about it for a moment. 

“The first day I met you probably.” He says nonchalantly. You laugh.

“Yeah… sure.” You roll your eyes. He steps closer to you.

“I mean it. You introduced yourself and said I had green hair, not that you liked it, you just said I had it.” You remembered that, your lips part in surprise because he remembered it too.

“It’s uncommon.” You say and Zoro smiles warmly down at you. 

“Still don’t know if you like it or not.” He grins as your eyes bounce to it. 

“I like it.” You say and see a soft blush form on Zoro’s cheeks. “Why were you such an asshole to me that day?”

“I-- am sorry about that. I was more angry with my teammates for annoying you. I wanted you to know that you could speak up for yourself, that you could just tell them to shut up but-- I’m sorry.”

“And Rink girl?”

“Poor attempt at flirting…” He says. You start laughing, shaking your head.

“The poorest attempt. But… your words did make me speak up for myself more, so…” You relent. Zoro smiles softly. You can’t help it, you pull him against your lips. That smile was too much. You needed it pressed against your lips. His hands slid around your hips.

“Christ, Y/n… go home!” Your boss grumbles as you startle, Zoro’s hands stay planted on you as you shoot an apologetic look at you boss. 

“Sorry, sir.” You say as he waves you off, slipping into his car and driving away. You start laughing, your hand coming up to cover your mouth.

“You are going to get me fired.” You grumble as Zoro presses his mouth to yours again as though he couldn’t wait another damn second, walking you back until your back is pressed against his car. He lifts you with ease, setting you on the hood as the car’s alarm sets off. 

“Fucking hell!” Zoro hissed, fumbling for his keys. You dissolved into laughter.                

I know he looks old, but i can't help but see it. If shanks and mihawk had a son (which is impossible since they are the same gender but if it is possible) they would have looked like this man if they reached a certain age.

hi! i never done this before but i saw your requests were open!!

I wanted to request zoro?

basically you were in love with zoro and he knew but he thought you were annoying to him and he rejects you. you grow distant from him mainly and then someone else (your choice, idm!) helps you through it and you start exhibiting the behavior you did with him and he gets jealous or upset? and he realizes he messed up and he wants to win you back? can end any way you want :3

if not, its fine! thank you! ∩^ω^∩

we can’t be friends

* jealousy is a bad habit

roronoa zoro x reader

summary: mihawk tells zoro “no girls” and when zoro comes back home to the strawhats, is blinded by the fact that mihawks training trumps how much he misses you.

warnings: straw hat! reader. no smut! slight angst + fluff, past relationship ish (close flirty friendship, possible fwb) brief luffy x reader (x zoro). totally a set up to a poly ship but whatever, what’s new with me. no proof read we die like men.

*authors note: requests are open

your bed was coziest on the early mornings you couldn’t sleep, staring at the window to the room as nami and robin quietly snored in their own beds and you practically shivered as you sat up, getting out of bed and finding yourself freezing from the early morning at sea.

you grabbed a jacket and threw it on before walking out onto the deck. you knew zoro was up for lookout in the past night so you expected to find him somewhere on the deck. you padded around in the cold grass of the sunny while the sun peaked over the horizon. you were shocked robin hadn’t even stirred awake yet.

your thick jacket covered your arms and the fluff of the hood cuddled around your neck. hearing footsteps, the obvious footsteps of the man who’s lookout shift was almost over. heavy and loud from his boots.

“whatre you doing up so early” he asked you with an annoyed look, not wanting to be bothered so early in the morning.

“uh i don’t know.. i woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep” he gave you a once over, watching as the giant jacket held your frame like a warm hug.

“mh” he grunted before walking past you. he had gotten yelled at last time he fell asleep while on lookout so now when he gets super tired he walks around the ship, especially when it’s early in the morning so there’s no reason for him to be in his training room.

“zoro..” you looked at him, following him. he ignored you. he tried to ignore the pink that flushed his cheeks when he saw your in your small pajama set and thinking to himself ‘no wonder you were so cold.’

“what..” he groans, turning around, looming over you.

“nothing. i- i don’t understand the cold shoulder you always give me! we used to be so close before you went to train with mihawk. did i do something?” your words almost stabbed through him like your thoughts had been stabbing through your heart like knives for months.

your words struck a chord with him. a chord he didn’t really know how to handle, something that stirred up anger in him but not anger he wanted to take out on you, although, that didn’t stop him.

“yknow what, princess? if you really wanna know how i feel?? you’re annoying and you always get on my nerves, im tired of you parading around here in your cute little outfits trying to get my attention! i don’t want it. just leave me alone!” he snapped. he snapped at you. you of all people, he snapped at you. his words fell from his mouth like a babbling water fall.

he turns away from you and walks away, leaving you standing there with a shaky hand and a tear in your eye. with a soft sigh you just walk away, no other words to be said as you find your way back into bed, tears landing on your pillow with your jacket scattered on the floor. hours passed while you fell back asleep, but as it reared noon , someone came back into the bedroom looking for you. with all of your heart you hoped it was zoro but as namis soft voice filled your ears you were sorely disappointed.

“hey, y/n…you gotta wake up at some point, sanji is getting worried but we won’t let him come in here..” she lets out a small giggle between words as you feel your bed dip at the end as she sits on it. she gently grabs your leg through the blanket. “you feeling okay?”

you turn to her, tears in your eyes again. nodding your head. she sees your tears and while feeling a little uncomfortable, she leans forward and pulls you into a hug. “you’re not, but that’s okay. cmon get up and get dressed so we can go eat something” she smiles as you pushed your face into her shoulder.

as you pulls away, she stands up and picks out some clothes for you before getting out of the room so you can change. you standup, get undressed and pull the clothes on, watching your self in the mirror. once you pull your shoes on, you step out of the room and are met by a loud luffy and the sound of the strawhats somewhere on the ship.

you walked to the kitchen and found sanji there, waiting for you. “you missed breakfast, my love” he spoke softly, seeing the look on your face. “what’s wrong?”

“i’m fine sanji.. can i just have my food?” he understands immediately and grabs your lunch and breakfast. “do you want one or both? i saved your breakfast so luffy wouldn’t eat it.”

“i just want my lunch. luffy can have my leftovers from breakfast” your smile to him was gentle but he knew something was wrong.

“whatever you want, beautiful girl” he smiles before sitting the plates down. he walks to the door of the kitchen and shouts for luffy and sooner or later you head the bumbling idiot come prancing to the kitchen. sitting down in front of you like an obedient dog.

“hi luffy” you smile at him from across the table, he just stares at you. “what’s wrong?” you ask.

“whats wrong with you?” he tilts his head to the side, seeing you’d been crying with puffy eyes.

“um nothing!” you try to shrug it off but soon he’s slipping under the table and onto the seat next to you, he grabs your face and is staring at it.

“you’re lying to your captain.” he says with a small smile on his face, his rough hands lovingly holding your cheeks.

“mh..” you hum as he wipes your tears away that were stuck in your waterline. “eat your food luffy, im okay” you smile into his hand as he pulls away, reaching over the table to bring his plate closer to him so he could eat sitting next to you. he stuffed his face full, watching you eat your lunch from the corner of his eye. luffy had noticed weird behavior with his crew recently but more specifically with you and zoro.

which hurt him, he was zoros best friend and you were someone special to zoro. the three of you all had been close before running off on your breaks to train and get stronger.

it was almost like you were zoros and zoro shared you with luffy but that bond had broken after zoro trained. although luffy and zoro still got along, luffy had noticed the cold shoulder zoro seemed to always give you now. he knew this had something to do with his green haired swordsman rather than your behavior as you’ve done nothing to change the way you treat zoro.

time passed in the day and while you and luffy hung out on the grass deck, the two of you were practically alone, sitting under the tree laying with each other. this was nothing new, you’d be doing before and after, just missing one person.

you laid with luffy, his arm wrapped around your back while your head rested on his chest. the two of you didn’t have anything engaging to talk about but were talking about stupid things like the shapes the clouds made in the sky. but all you really could think about was how you hadn’t seen zoro since dawn. the two of you had eventually drifted off into a sleep, basking in the sunlight until it fell over the horizon. sleeping almost until dinner call. everyone had walked past the two of you at least once by now, everyone except zoro.

but as dinner was called, who was better to ask to go wake you to up other than zoro??? nami had ordered him to go out and wake yall up, blissfully unaware of the behavior he had shown you before, not knowing this was why you had been sleeping and crying in bed till 12 and sleeping and cuddling with luffy all day.

zoro found himself walking up on the two of you, kicking the bottom of luffys foot, hoping to shake him awake. so it did, and he grumbled about dinner being ready before walking back inside. clearly his mood hadn’t changed up, but seeing you cuddled up onto zoro hadn’t changed his mood for the better.

watching you stir awake, luffy began to stand up, helping you up as well. the night proceeded as usual, dinner being eaten, dishes being washed and nightly activities being enjoyed. the light up in the lookout was on as zoro worked out for the night before patrol and lookout started. tonight was luffys turn, allowing zoro to get a good nights sleep, unbeknownst to him that you’d be sitting in the crows nest talking to luffy almost the entire night… whining about zoro.

you had gotten a little booze in you, just enough to loosen you up about what zoro had said to you and to talk about the way you had been made to feel in the last month or so.

luffy didn’t mind. sometimes he wasn’t a good listener but when it came to you, he liked hearing you talk, so hearing you talk about something he worried about was even more important to him. he hadn’t really noticed the way zoro had suddenly changed until after you explained it to him and suddenly it was all very clear. luffy missed the way you were with him when you and zoro were so close. it was just different.

luffy knew that zoro at one point had feelings for you but he assumed with how little you hung out as a trio these days that those feelings just dwindled but now luffy was just confused.

the night slowly turned into day, though you had fallen asleep a long time ago on the couch of the nest. the moment luffy saw the one of his crewmayes on the deck he was down for the count, asleep right neck to you his head finding a cushion on your thighs. the two of you slept soundly until the sound of the crowd nest opening filled your ears, causing you to shake awake, looking down to see luffy on your legs, a pool of drool forming on your skin. you fake gagged before looking at the door, seeing zoros head poke through, the two of you staring at each other like a deer in the headlights while luffy was still cluelessly snoring.

“sorry.. i didn’t mean-“ hie cheeks were red, flustered and embarrassed to not only find you here but to see luffy intimately using you for such a mundane thing.

“it’s not what it-“ you sputtered before the door was shut again, the sound of the rope creaking below as he clamored his way back down.

you sighed loudly as you pushed luffy off of you, waking him up. he shook awake and realized it was late in the morning, watching as you put your shoes on to leave the nest. “good morning” he mumbled tiredly.

“good morning luffy” you said, almost sounding discouraged as you opened the door, stepping out of the nest to go down to the deck once more. this day almost felt like a repeat with yesterday, with just a different embarrassing scenario with the big green haired swordsman.

although the day passed awkwardly, you spent time with nami and robin that day, wanting to participate in whatever book reading or tanning either of them were doing rather than involving yourself in whatever the captain and the second in command had formed with you. although you had suspected that luffy was with zoro, talking to him most of the day as you hadn’t spotted zoro napping anywhere at any point in the day.

though as the day turned into night, all of you sat at dinner and chowed down. dinner proceeded as usual and everyone was getting ready to possibly find land tomorrow and dock for a day or two.

it was a late night for most but most of the ship had finished up everything but of course, you were this nights lookout.

the lights above in the crows nest were still on at the time you assumed you needed to begin lookout, knowing zoro was still in the top, working out. you sighed dramatically, knowing the only way to go up there was to confront him or just wait. so you decided to just wait.

standing on the deck near the hull of the ship, you stared off at the ocean, leaning against the railing. it was chilly but you hadn’t expected to stay outside in the wind this long. it felt like an hour had passed that you had been on the deck, just waiting for the swordsman to come down.

you sat there, staring at the ocean cluelessly as a pair of rough hands wrapped around your waist as a warm body pressed against your back. his voice was recognizable, feeling your heart drop to your ass as his face pressed against your cold skin.

“i’m sorry, princess..” he mumbles, his voice muffled by his cheeks smooshed against his face. “i’m sorry for how badly i’d treated you since we got back” he pressed a kiss to your shoulder, his fingers rubbing along your stomach. you shuttered against his touch, although his warmth was so comforting.

“i couldn’t stand seeing you all over that straw hat.. i want you to be mine. i need you to be mine.” his voice is so raspy but needy, almost begging for you.

“zoro..” your words were weak, feeling tears prick in your eyes. knowing this was all you had wanted from him in the last two months. for even longer than that. the last two years that you had been without him. you turned yourself around in his arms, finding his face in the darkness. you grabbed his cheeks into your palms, rubbing your thumbs over his skin, feeling his scar underneath the pad of your finger.

“i’m sorry..” he looked defeated. clearly luffy had told him something today that broke him. he saw the tears in your eyes and brought his strong hand up to your face, tenderly wiping them away. “i know what i said hurt you. i didn’t mean it.” he has a small smile on his face, a smile of comfort.

“i know…” your smile was just as forgiving, pulling him in closer. “zoro can i please kiss you..” your face was close to his, your lips practically ghosting over his own. though he could see the way your lidded eyes looked up at him through those thick lashes. he hummed an approval and your lips were suddenly against his.

he pulled you by the waist, bringing you in close to him, his jacket that rested over his shoulders was soft against your arms. his hands found the dip above your ass, holding you close to him as you kissed him once and again and again. you hadn’t kissed him in so long but no other time had any passion or drive to it like this one did. they had all been while drunk, jokingly flirting or in passing without a second thought. they all lingered with emotions deeper than either of you ever thought to process. now leaving you with your tongue pressed against his lips, feeling the roughness of his chapped lips against yours, becoming softer with your exchanged spit.

slowly you pulled away, your eyes meeting his again.

“i love you just like i did two years ago, princess.” his voice was gentle as he pushed his face down into the crook of your neck. he just wanted to love on you like a needy cat.

“i love you too zoro..” your fingers found their way to his hair, gently pulling at the soft strands of mossy green hair. he gently placed kisses up your neck, biting down on the connection from your shoulder to your neck. when a soft moan left your mouth, he almost smirked against your skin. he was claiming you as his, although everyone knew this. sanji knew this.

it’s just taken time to grow back close to each other again, and zoro needed that push away from the behavior mihawk instilled in him for the girl he loved so much.

*authors note: i hope you enjoyed! i will write a part two plus smut for this if yall would like! just make sure to suggest in my inbox :))

a long, long time (zoro x reader)

timeskip reunion fic <3 artist!reader, but as always, can be read as a standalone

ft. making out, heartfelt reunions, soft zoro wc: 899 masterlist

tagging: @eelnoise

A wave of bright, soft sunshine casts across the floor of the bar, spreading like wildfire as the heavy wooden door creaks open.  Bottle of sake in his hand, Zoro turns towards the source of the light illuminating the dim and moody bar.  His heart stutters at the sight of your figure, silhouetted by the light pouring in behind you; radiance, confidence, and strength oozing from your aura, you’re a fallen angel, kissed and smothered by sunbeams in one last blessing before being cast from heaven.  Doe eyes soften at the sight of him, resoluteness replaced with fondness and affection.  

“Had a feeling you’d be here soon.” he says with a lopsided grin, setting his bottle on the table.  Nearly vibrating with anticipation, you rest your bags on the ground and walk towards him; there’s a sense of hesitation hanging in the air as you approach, attempting to partially mask your unadulterated glee, but you can’t help the way your feet start to fly across the floor with increasing velocity.  Dropping all pretenses, you fling yourself into his arms, grinning from ear to ear and burying your face into his neck.  “You look great.” he murmurs, pressing his lips to your forehead before nuzzling his cheek into yours.

“So do you… I missed you.” you mumble, the vibrations of your voice spreading underneath his skin.  Smothering your senses in the familiar scent of sweat and steel, a veil of comfort and security falls over you like a warm, clean blanket straight from the dryer.  Both of your bodies have been molded and changed over the past two years, but your skin still melts into his as if the two of you were never separated—as if no time had passed at all.

“Missed ya’ too.” he says quietly, rubbing his thumb rhythmically across your cheek.  Nestling your face into his palm, head tilted, your eyes stare back at him with dreamy reverence.  During your separation, in his dreariest moments, he had wondered if you would mind his missing eye and the assortment of new, small, white scars across his front; however, the love and adoration brimming in your eyes crushes all hint of fear or apprehension—you were simply ecstatic to be in his presence once more.

Leaning forward, he smirks at your eagerness as you mimic his motions and attempt to brush your lips against his; it’s been over two years too long, and yet he can’t help but tease you for just a moment longer, delaying the kiss you were both yearning for by softly dragging his thumb across your bottom lip.  Seeing the overflowing want pouring from your gaze is worth the seconds lost and then some; cupping your face, he gently pulls you towards him and presses his lips to yours, sealing your reunion.

It’s soft and gentle at first, and a smidgen clumsy as a result of time spent apart, sparks spreading and stomachs fluttering at the intimacy you both had been deprived of for far too long.  Zoro’s hand travels up along your jawline, every movement filled with passion as the kiss deepens, his fingers eventually reaching your hair and tangling into your tresses.  The heated drag of your lips against one another is a long-lost song heard once more, satiating both a feeling of nostalgia and a craving for more.

He pulls away for a moment to admire the pink blush covering your face, the one that he’d imagined creeping across your cheeks for years.  The long, sleepless nights spent pining and waiting dissipated with a blink, flung away like weightless grains of sand; all that mattered was that you were here, with him, again.

Zoro’s lips meet yours once more, both of you smiling into the kiss; thumb running along your jawline, he pours his heart out to you, each swipe of his tongue conveying his yearning.  You reciprocate in turn, and he accepts each silent confession of emotions greedily, drinking them in and committing them to memory.  There was nothing outside of the two of you, as your mouths parted, still wet with the remnants of unspoken words, the only world that mattered was in the warmth of your connected gazes.

He loved you; he loved you so much that he could barely speak, despite spending over two years craving the sound of your voice.  He’s rendered you lovestruck and speechless too, unable to do anything but smother his face in kisses, giggling softly between each press of lips to skin. 

A dark, amused chuckle snaps both of you from your trance—Shakky had returned behind the bar, the click of her heels against wooden floorboards had fallen on deaf ears.  Snapping apart as Zoro nearly drops you, both of your faces turn red with embarrassment, gazes fixed at the floor.  “Aren’t you going to buy her a drink?” she asks Zoro with a smirk and motioning for the two of you to sit at the bar. 

“Got any infused sake?” he asks her as he returns to his bottle, blush fading as he regains his usual confidence.

“I’ve got mango, yuzu, strawberry…” she lists, index finger tracing along her collection of spirits behind the bar.

“Still strawberry?” he asks you with a ghost of a smile on his face as he admires you.

“Still strawberry.” you reply with a soft smile, cheeks still pink and rosy.

This is all over my fyp on tiktok.

I want one but college is turning my money into nothing.

I WANT ONE FOR MY DESK!!!

(he's so...) Yeah that's that.

This is so good!! I just fell in love with zoro again.

New Year, New Me

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x fem reader

Genre: mutual pining, flirting, some jealousy (if you squint), a shitload of banter, teasing

Word count: 5.7k+

A/N: I told you more Zoro is coming 😉 All I'm gonna say is that it's one of my favorites. Might have a part 2 planned but we'll see. Enjoy!

The deep bass rocked your body with every move, heart beating in sync with the music blaring from the speakers in the club. Alcohol coursed through your veins, relaxing all your nerves and worries. Only heavens above knew how much you needed this.

To let go of everything for one night.

Especially if that one night was New Year's Eve and you dreaded it a shit ton.

This year was pure torment for you on the love frontline. There were some dates, a lot of situationships and even more failed talking stages.

It felt like your heart was just a hotel for people to stop at for one night. You left the doors wide open for anyone to come in and occupy a room. They would get whatever they wanted from you, whether that was sex or just talking the night away, and leave their trash at your doorstep for you to clean it up as if it was yours.

And it left you emptier and emptier the more you let the latch open.

Not one of them wanted to truly get to know you or let you talk for that matter and it was driving you nuts. You tried hard to convince yourself it wasn't a you problem. It was just hard seeing everyone else so happy and in long-running relationships while you were there struggling to have just one normal conversation with someone.

Before you let it get worse and have another storm wracking your heart you found yourself hitting the club a lot more often. As bad as it was, at least it covered the self-deprecating your sober mind was up to the minute your mouth touched the rim of the glass of mixed alcohol in your hand.

When the city clubs stopped doing it for you, you took to the beach club nearby. The tropical house genre wasn't really your style or the club itself, but it grew on you the more you visited it. Not for the good cocktails or the fun atmosphere the club induced in you. But for the green-haired man sat at the far back of the club that captured your eye.

From the looks of it he was a regular. Every night you were there, he was there too. You didn't think anything of it until it's been a few weeks and he was still present.

The only thing that changed the more you went there was that he took notice of you too.

The most he did was glance your way as you were dancing thinking you wouldn't notice but you caught him every. single. time.

There was something about the way he looked your way that sparked something in you. Every time his eyes laid on you it felt like your body would set on fire and that feeling only grew stronger over time.

He would be the only thing occupying your mind both in your waking hours and the intoxicated ones. Besides the obvious attraction you felt for him there was also this weird sense of connection that drew you to him. You hoped he would make a move to you but all he gave you was that unwavering gaze turning your insides to mush and your head into a mess.

You took it in your hands and decided to make the first move a few weeks ago. It was one of those nights you were feeling the loneliness a little too hard and thought some sort of action would have done you good. You scanned the club for him and found him in his usual spot, nursing a glass of what looked like whiskey.

The moment you set your eyes on him his dark eyes lifted from the glass to you, as if sensing that you were looking at him. His lips were placed on the rim of the glass, but his gaze was solely trained on you.

You moved your body to the rhythm of the music without breaking eye contact. He watched your every move from behind that glass like a hunter observing its prey, dark eyes roaming over you with an expression you couldn't quite read.

The beat of the song playing intensified and so did your moves, rolling your hips in sync with it. That caught his attention since you caught him licking his lips. He was definitely interested but he didn't make a move to you that night.

So, you tried luring him in more the next time you went. You danced a but more provocative this time, a result of the combination of liquid burning down your throat. You threw your hands in your hair messing with it as you exposed your neck, all whilst narrowing your eyes on him.

The most that did was halt the glass that was halfway to his lips, hand gripping it tightly as if to preserve his self-control. You continued the teasing, this time letting your hands wander down your body following the way his eyes trailed down. That had him throwing the contents in his glass down his throat rapidly, tongue poking against his cheek. You smirked in victory at the reaction. But even that wasn't enough to bring him closer to you.

Last week you decided that it was going to be your final try. You would drop it if he still didn't understand your intentions this time around. After all, you had your pride to preserve too.

He could be God's favourite for all you cared but if he couldn't grasp the concept of a woman wanting him this badly it was his fault.

Your last resort was provoking him. You wore a shorter dress revealing just enough to get any man howling to rip it apart. But it turned out, he wasn't just any guy.

After scanning the crowd you grabbed a random guy and danced with him for the majority of the night. You let him move you along to the music, holding your body flush against his. He placed his hands on your waist and dipped his head in your neck leaving rough kisses down your neck. You tilted your head back and looked at the green-haired man only to see his jaw twitching, eyes narrowed to slits in your direction.

Smirking at his reaction you turned around to the guy, glueing yourself to him impossibly close. You leaned up to whisper in his ear, eyes still set on the man at the back. His fist tightened dangerously next to the glass on the table.

Even with those obvious responses it still didn't get the point across to him.

You didn't understand him. You literally gave him every basic hint that you were interested and he reciprocated the gestures only to keep himself in that damn darkened corner.

He gave you the attention. The intensity of his gaze couldn't lie on that. One look from him kept you wanting more and more. You craved to know that connection wasn't just a lucid dream induced by alcohol and strobe lights. You lost yourself in the need for him to want you the way you wanted him.

And you did all that for a stranger.

The pursuing ended tonight. You weren't going to wait for anyone. Tonight would just be about you and you only.

But your excitement to drown in liquor and dance the night away into the new year was short-lived as the dance floor was suddenly flooded by couples of all people.

Blocking the laughter and sweet nothings whispered way too loud around you became harder. You ordered more and more alcohol to neutralise your senses and keep your emotions at bay. But no matter how much you drank and danced, you couldn't prevent that lonely feeling from seeping into your bones once again.

The closer it got to midnight, the worse you felt. A couple to your right was making out quite grossly, hands grabbing at each other's faces like it was a hotdog eating competition. Another couple to your left were humping each other like they were the only ones on the dance floor. You were pretty sure someone already had their junk out and it was just a matter of time before it sat in your line of sight and you got scarred for life.

Ah, fuck this. I'm leaving.

There was no point in staying here longer only to make yourself hurt more than you already did. The universe wanted you to suffer till the remaining last seconds of the year and you weren't going to give it the satisfaction.

You emptied what was left in your cocktail glass and placed it on a nearby table. Grabbing your bag and hoisting it up your shoulder, you turned for the exit. You wanted to get out of here before it hit midnight and all these couples would be getting it on.

But someone had other plans for you.

You barely took two steps towards the exit when a strong arm locked on your arm and pulled you backwards. You crashed into a hard chest, world swaying around you from the rapid movement. A woody vanilla scent surrounded you, sending you into a deeper daze than you were already in.

"Leaving so soon?"

You turned your head back only to come face to face with the green-haired man that occupied your mind for the past few weeks. The same man that annoyed you to the world's end as your attempts to show your interest for him seemed in vain.

Your mind was working on overdrive to make sense of what was happening. You didn't even look for him tonight and he was here, holding your hand. It wasn't helping that he was sat right behind you, body so close that you found it hard to breathe like a normal person. What was worse was that his eyes were focused on you, a relaxed smirk dancing on his lips.

The more you gazed into his eyes the more he took your oxygen away. And you couldn't help staring at him just a little more too entranced in his presence.

He looked even more breathtaking up close, strobe lights bouncing off his features enhancing them even more. His eyes appeared a lot sharper than they looked in that poorly illuminated corner.

He had this weird way of putting you in a trance every time your eyes locked with his. It veered you away from the fact that he lead you on for the longest time anyone's ever done before.

Upon remembering why you had every reason to be sour towards him, you turned your head away from him. You also did it to gain some stability in your mind, narrowing your eyes on the blurring crowd of dancing people in front of you.

"Didn't really have anything keeping me here," you spat out.

The music changed to a slower rhythm, still bouncy enough to keep people dancing.

His hand let go of your arm and you breathed a sigh of relief, until he wrapped it around your waist instead. You prayed he couldn't hear or feel the way your heart was racing, considering your back was pressed firmly against his chest.

"Wasn't going to let you go without a dance," he whispered in your ear.

There was no telling if the shivers dancing down your spine were either from him or from how buzzed you are. But you could feel the deep tone of his voice even with the loud bass thumping through you, louder than your own heartbeat.

"Oh, really?"

You turned around to fully face him. He was a head taller than you, shoulders extending beyond your field of vision. Your eyes lingered on his bulky arms, lined with muscles upon muscles, wondering how it would feel like to be squished between them.

The relaxed dress shirt he wore tonight looked divine on him. It was unbuttoned just enough to give you a sneak peek of his pecs, the rest of the material stretching over his toned body perfectly.

Okay, maybe he is God's favourite.

Beyond his looks, he was also emanating this oddly comforting energy. It was what drew you to him in the first place. You felt it the minute he laid his eyes on you the first night you came here and you felt it now as his eyes bore into you.

He took his time checking you out too. He was finally standing this close to you and you rendered him absolutely speechless. He thought you were beautiful from that corner, but you were even more gorgeous up close.

Your hair was put up in a messy bun, a few hair pieces falling around loose, framing your face. Your eyes twinkled with the changing colours of the lights, curiosity and interest dancing in your eyes.

The white silk dress you wore fell just below your knees. The straps around your shoulders did little to keep the dress on you as they circled behind where a deep back line exposed you fully to him. That cutout of the back line stopped way too low for his liking and your chest was covered just enough to not give him a heart attack.

What surprised him was that your outfits matched. If anyone asked the two of you if you were a couple they would hit the nail beside the head, so close yet so far.

Wrapping up the staring contest, his eyes settled on your lips. They were slightly parted, eyes seemingly just as lost in him as his were in you mere moments ago.

He chuckled at you which brought you out of your own spiral of thoughts and back to the blaring music and chatter around you.

"What are you really looking for out here?" he asked, stepping just a little closer to you.

Well, for starters, you weren't looking for commitment. But you also weren't looking for a one night stand. As contradictory as that sounded.

But it was a new year, which meant you could give into that new year, new me bullshit without thinking too much about the consequences for once. Who knew, maybe something would change.

The green-haired man sitting before you did not look like the type to commit or have just a one night stand either. So, he might have been just as conflicted as you were on that topic.

"Tell you what," you stepped closer to him and traced his shoulders with the pads of your fingers. He followed your movements until your hands stopped at the collar of his shirt, palms laid flat on his chest. "We can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Your eyes moved to his lips for the millionth time tonight. They looked so plump and inviting. You wondered how they tasted. Were they soft, with a tinge of his cologne that was already getting you addicted or were they rough, tasting just like the alcohol he normally drank?

He noticed the way you eyed his lips hungrily. His eyes moved from your hands on his shirt to your own lips. He couldn't deny yours looked just as inviting.

"20 seconds to the New Year!" said the dj through the mic, gathering everyone around for the reverse countdown to the new year.

He could consider himself fucked if he didn't make a move now.

"10 seconds!"

His eyes darted between your eyes and your lips unsure if he should indulge and plant a kiss on them.

"5!"

With uncertainty still dancing in his irises he leaned in, eyes moving to your eyes to search for any sign you didn't want this. But all he found was a fire ardently raging in your eyes. It was him that started it after all.

"4!"

The look on his face made you nervous. Any moment now his lips would finally press to yours.

"3!"

He glanced at your lips, getting closer but moving so infuriatingly slow that you decided enough was enough.

"2!"

Fuck it. I'll do it myself.

You fisted his shirt harshly and pulled him down to you, unable to wait anymore.

"1!"

You smashed your lips on his just as the countdown came to an end.

"Happy New Year everyone!"

Gold confetti rained down on you from all sides, getting stuck in your hair. The song playing on the speakers accelerated and so did your heartbeat the more your lips moved in the same rhythm with his.

Your hands locked at the nape of his neck pulling him closer to you. One of his hands wrapped around your waist, while the other grabbed the side of your face.

"May this new year be filled with fun for all of you," boomed the dj through his microphone before putting up the volume on the music.

New year's wishes could wait a little more. For now, you were too busy exploring the lips of the man that started a fire deep inside of you. He bit your lower lip, eager to take the kiss somewhere else.

You've been kissed before but never like this. It felt euphoric, like you reached the seventh heaven with the help of his lips alone. You were thankful he held onto you because your knees shook dangerously. And this time it wasn't from the damn alcohol.

You pulled apart trying to will some air back into your lungs. A lone hair strand fell in front of your face and you lifted your hand to brush it away but he was faster. He took it and gently put it behind your ear, letting his fingers ghost over the side of your neck. You couldn't help the smile pulling at your lips.

"Give me a second."

He let go of you and rushed off somewhere. You waited for a bit then scanned the crowd, unable to find him anywhere.

He couldn't have just left me here after that, right?

Did I rush him into it?

He probably left, didn't he?

Oh, lord.

I scared another good guy away.

This one was special too.

Great way to start the year, doofus.

Before you could wallow into self-pity and rethink your exit plan, he came back. Turns out he just went to get his jacket.

New Year's resolution: Stop overthinking shit.

He moved his jacket to one hand and let the other one find yours again, fingers lacing with yours delicately. The same fingers you studied for nights on end wishing they were wrapped around yours were now actually interwoven with yours.

"Do you have your things with you?"

You nodded, motioning to your bag as you fixed it on your shoulder, slightly confused at the question. He started walking to the bar, dragging you with him and hastily waved over a bartender.

"Give me the best bottle of champagne you have, a bucket of ice and two glasses. I'll take one of those platters too."

"The what-," you stuttered, shocked at his detailed request. He just smirked and you felt warmth rush to your cheeks.

How is a literal stranger making me blush and feel like I'm gonna explode at the same time?

Once he received the bucket with everything he asked for stacked neatly, he paid the bartender and led you outside to the beach. Fireworks were still going on from the looks of it. You could see the displays on either side of the beach you looked at. There were a few groups gathered around bonfires on the outside extension of the club, clinking glasses together and wishing for a better year.

You got a feeling he wasn't keen on hanging around others considering the fact that he mostly drank alone. Spotting a blanket and a few cushions on a couch you grabbed them, securing them under your free arm before you linked your hand back with his.

He started walking and true to your assumptions he led you further away from the crowd. He finally stopped at a spot that was illuminated enough to see each other. It was rather reclusive, but still in the vicinity of the club.

"Is this the part where you kill me or something?"

"I try to act like a gentleman and you take me for a psychopath," he deadpanned.

"Well, are you a psychopath?"

He just chuckled at your remark and shook his head.

"If I was, I wouldn't have asked the bartender for the best champagne they had."

"Fair point," you giggled.

He took the blanket from you spreading it out on the sand. You placed the cushions down while he placed the platter in the middle and motioned for you to sit down first.

"So, why did you bring me out here, stranger?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, but I guess tonight was a better time to do it than any. And name's Zoro."

He placed the bucket down and took a seat next to you. Grabbing the bottle of champagne he worked on opening the aluminum seal. Your eyes wandered over his arms, mindlessly stopping at the label and you felt your heart fall to your ass.

"IS THAT DOM PERIGNON?!"

You covered your mouth surprised that your voice came out so loud. He chuckled at your reaction before he moved to open the wooden cork.

That champagne costs a fortune. The selling a kidney or two kind of fortune. Fortune that you will probably never reach in your lifetime to just blow away on champagne regularly.

"Yeah, it is," he smiled. "I asked the bartender for the best they had and it's safe to assume he delivered."

"And you want to drink that... with me?" you asked pointing between the bottle and yourself.

He nodded, busy fighting with the bottle. He almost had it open but the cork just needed a little shimmying. An idea seemed to pop into his head judging by the way he snickered at you.

"Wanna see a trick?"

"Sure."

He picked up one of the champagne glasses in the bucket and held the bottom to the mouth of the bottle. He wiggled it a little on its neck until he found the perfect balance, moved it back and thrusted it forwards with force.

You expected the glass to break and fly everywhere but that didn't happen. What did happen was that the cork flew towards the small waves washing up on the shore with a safe pop sound. The glass was unharmed and the bottle was at last open, cold air escaping it.

Your mouth was hung open in surprise. So he has several tricks up his sleeve, besides the gentleman act.

Satisfied with your reaction at his trick, he smiled again, this time a lot more widely. He poured you a glass first and handed it to you before pouring himself one.

"Happy new year, stranger," he smiled, tilting his glass to you.

"Happy new year, Zoro," you returned the smile and clinked your glasses together.

You sipped the champagne surprised at the taste. It had a rich apricot flavor, a little sweet but not too over the top. You took your time savouring it. Who knew when you would get to relish in luxury like this ever again so might as well enjoy it.

You leaned back watching the remaining firework display. He moved to get comfortable, leaning on his side with his head on his palm. He had your exposed back in full view. Your skin looked so soft that it took everything in him not to trace his fingers down your spine.

"You're an interesting man."

"So I've been told."

"You had me running circles around you for weeks, you know."

"I know," he swirled the liquid in his glass, staring at it. "I'm not exactly a pro on the dating field."

"You don't look like a beginner either," you said before throwing back the champagne in your glass down your throat for some more liquid courage.

"What about you?" he asked as he got up to pour you another glass. "Should I be wary of any male alphas that would like to smash my face for kissing you?"

You laughed heartily at that. He's been around you for half an hour at most and he already made you feel giddy inside.

"Nope, not a single soul. Main reason why I've been hanging around at the club more than I do around my own house."

That was an exaggeration but there was some truth in it. You did it hoping to find someone that you could connect with in some way. And you did, considering the green-haired man currently laying next to you. It was just a question of whether he felt that connection too.

"And I thought you were coming to see me."

"Of course I did!"

His eyes shot up from his glass just as you registered what you said. The blush on your face expanded and you probably looked like a tomato by now.

Stupid alcohol.

"Sure you did," he chuckled.

You leaned back to smack his chest and he threw his head back laughing at the sight of your red face. As annoyed as you felt, his laugh was quickly growing on you.

"Tease," you tsked.

"Can't help it," he scoffed with a tight-lipped smile, taking another sip from his glass.

"I guess it's good," you mumbled mostly to yourself.

"What's good?" he asked.

"Letting go of the past. Living in the present, as they say."

"Losing control every once in a while can do you good," he stated.

Maybe he was right. Maybe tonight wouldn't be turn out so bad after all.

Watching the sea at night when it was the calmest, with the moonlight glimmering on the waves put you at ease. Just as much as the man beside you did right now.

You dove in the charcuterie platter, laying on the blanket with your heads propped on the cushions.

You've been talking about anything and everything. You learned more about him and the fact that he could handle a shit ton of alcohol.

You told him about yourself and what a shit year you've had in terms of dating to get him off your case a little. But he took that as a sign to just tease you more.

"How to lose a guy in 10 days was definitely made about you," he howled laughing after you told him about one of your situationships.

"Really funny. As if you've seen the movie," you said popping a grape in your mouth.

"Try me," he taunted, adjusting his position to sit above you.

You mentally searched the movie for a scene that was iconic but could have easily gone unnoticed. You found the perfect one, supressing your giggles to not give it away. You cleared your throat to get in character and recited the line word for word.

"Little, big, little, big... I don't know... I guess we will find out!" You made the grabby hands and pulled on a silly face, embodying the character.

He sat thinking for a few moments until the colour drained from his face at the realisation of what scene it was.

"I am not saying that line even if you shoot me."

"Come on. I did it so it's customary you do it too."

He face palmed, releasing a sigh of annoyance. He just had to put himself on the spot like that. But he was a man of his word.

Looking around for anyone that could possibly hear him, he let out an exasperated breath and got into character.

"You-You can't name my member... Princess Sophia."

You rolled around laughing while he dug his face in the cushion in shame. The look on his face was priceless and you decided to pay back his earlier teasing with even more teasing.

"I have a question."

"What now?" he mumbled, voice muffled by the blanket.

You got closer to him and tried to keep your laugh in as you whispered your question in his ear.

"Does your member have a name too?"

His head shot up, eyes squinting at you dangerously. The earlier embarrassment was gone from his face. If the twitch in his jaw wasn't a clear indicator that you were in deep shit, the hand gripping your cushion was a good sign that you should run away.

"You're so dead."

Before he could lay his hands on you, you got up and ran out towards the shoreline. He followed, rushing to catch up with you.

You lifted your dress a bit to avoid stepping on it and bolted aa fast as you could. He almost had you when you took a turn to throw him off, running back to the spot your blanket was in.

"Catch me if you can," you laughed.

"There's nowhere for you to run."

"Watch me."

You let slowed down on purpose, letting him get close to you again only to dash out to the sea. The soft sand under your feet turned from smooth to damp and soon enough your feet were submerged in cold water. You thought he wouldn't follow you to avoid getting his clothes soaked but he proved you wrong again.

He ran towards you at full speed and you really had nowhere else to run this time. The bottom of your dress got drenched, sticking to your legs the further you went in. The water only slowed you down, giving him the opportunity to catch up with you.

You were waist deep in the water when his hands sneaked around your torso pulling you to him. You tried to break free but it was no use. The grip he had around you was as strong as steel.

"Let me go."

"Only if you say sorry."

"What if I don't? You gonna make me?"

"Huh, so she's got guts too," he chuckled.

"Why don't you fuck around and find out just how gutsy I am?"

You refused to give in. You tried splashing water at him but that only made the grin on his face widen because he got the idea to tickle you. Tickling was a low belt move.

You roared with laughter thrashing around in his arms. Suddenly, retreat sounded a lot better than being tickled to death.

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

"Are you really?"

"No, but stop tickling me."

Reluctantly, he let go of you. He knew you had a surprise attack in store. His suspicions were confirmed true when you ran behind him, trying to push him into the water. He lost his balance but he wasn't going down alone, hand quickly clamping down on yours to pull you with him.

You gasped as the water enveloped you fully. Sitting back up, you were fully drenched. Most of your hair was wet too, water dripping out of it like you just stepped out of the shower. Zoro, on the other hand, was giggling at you like a fucking school girl.

Annoyed with his antics, you turned around and walked back to the blanket, plopping yourself down. He walked out too, that devilish smirk plastered on his face.

He stopped in front of you. You tried to look away from him but you couldn't. Especially when his short was so soaked that it stuck to his body in a way that let you see all of his toned muscles.

"Like what you see?"

You snapped out of your delusions, putting your annoyed face back on.

"Go away."

A sudden gust of wind blew reminding you of how exposed you were. You looked like a wet dog. Your dress was wet and stuck to you uncomfortably, increasing the cold feeling.

You let your hair down placing it around your neck to get some sort of warmth from the parts that weren't soaked. You covered your arms in an attempt to wash the cold away, but the breeze only persisted, blowing even more harshly as if to spite you. Zoro noticed you shivering.

"Are you cold?"

Still irritated with him, you shook your head no. You didn't want his help after the stunt he pulled. But the way you held tightly onto your arms and rocked from side to side told him otherwise.

Out of nowhere, warmth enveloped you. You turned to see Zoro right behind you, hands on top of your shoulders to make his blazer jacket cover as much of your body as it could. It was big enough to look like a blanket on you.

You sighed at the comfort, pulling it closer to snuggle into the warmth of the fabric, feeling some of the cold dissipate.

"It might be hot out here but it's still December."

"It's January now," you smirked.

"Okay, smartass."

The night sky got darker and stars twinkled brightly. You talked until you finished the bottle of champagne and the platter.

As much as he liked to tease, you loved his company a lot. The more time you spent with him the more you wished tonight would never come to an end.

He suddenly got up from his spot beside you and went to stand in front of you. He scratched the back of his neck and it made you confused until he spoke up about his intentions.

"May I have this dance?"

He extended his hand out to you and you hesitated. Not out of the nervousness you felt yourself, but in a ploy to push his buttons. He deserved a little more teasing after making you wait for so long.

"Come on. I told you I wasn't gonna let you leave without a dance."

The way he looked at you changed your plans. It looked like he was really trying and you couldn't say no to those eyes.

"Okay," you gave in, letting your hand slip into his.

His eyes lit up like moon crescents as he pulled you up and brought you closer. This must have been the softer, drunken part of him.

"What about music?" you asked.

"Music?"

He moved from one side to the other until he settled on a spot a few feet away from the blanket, tugging you with him. You were about to question his actions when you heard it. The faint sound of music playing from the club mixed with the sound of the waves breaking at the edge of the shore. It wasn't too loud or too faint but just enough to be background noise.

"You're unbelievable, in a good way," you giggled. He just smiled at you like a fool, most likely gone on the bouts of alcohol induced giddiness.

He pulled you closer, one hand holding yours out while the other curled around your waist, similar to a fancy dancing pose. Stepping left and right he pulled you with him into something that resembled a very weird waltz.

You danced a combination of everything. He twirled you around, bottom of your dress swirling around you. Then he spun you out and brought you back in to hold you close as your hands settled back on his shoulders. He even lifted you up like one of those ballerinas, paying attention not to drop you face forward in the sand.

Twisting you around again, he stopped to dip you down on your back, hands secured tightly around you. He leaned down to your face, just a small distance away from putting his lips on yours. You closed your eyes in anticipation, expecting him to kiss you.

You wanted to feel his lips against yours again, missing the way they fit just right with yours back at the club. But just when you thought he would kiss you, you felt his lips elsewhere on your face, in a small peck on your cheek.

He brought you back up and grinned as your cheeks flushed pink. You brought a hand up to your cheek to touch it, feeling the faint brush of his lips burn into your skin as you processed it. He took your hand away from your cheek and laced his fingers with yours, leading you into another dance.

It was ridiculous. You were dancing to tropical house music on the beach in the darkness of the night with no sense of rhythm. But the soft sand under your feet felt better than any rigid dance floor you've been on and your dance partner was gentler than anyone you've ever danced with. You wouldn't trade this for the world.

The side effects of all the alcohol you drank was slowly kicking in. Thankfully, the pace of your swaying got slower. You laid your head on his chest and let him rock you back and forth, listening to his heart beat that was more music to you than anything else.

"Thank you."

"What for?" he asked, looking down at your small form in his arms.

"For tonight," you sighed. "I haven't felt this good in a while."

"You're welcome."

He was still trying to process things himself, mostly the fact that he was finally holding you after playing hooky for so long.

You curled up closer searching for more warmth in his arms and he couldn't help but smile at you once more. It wasn't like him to show his happiness to people, but it seemed like his smiles were limitless for you.

The high of the alcohol you consumed was long gone, replaced by a drowsy feeling. The music stopped playing telling you it was late. All you could hear were the waves lapping each other in close distance, accompanied by a peaceful silence and the soft breaths coming from your human pillow.

You cuddled into him, sighing at the warmth he radiated. An arm was draped around you, drawing random patterns on your back that lulled you even more towards sleep. You didn't want to give into it yet.

His other hand busied with yours, tracing up and down your fingers one by one. He turned them on all sides, then moved to your knuckles, inspecting each ridge and mound. Once he was satisfied with his findings he intertwined your fingers together, bringing them closer to his chest.

Your hand looked so frail in his bigger one, encased like a precious jewel in a locked treasure chest with a lost key. But that key wasn't lost. It was just waiting to be found. Just like the latch on the hotel in your heart was waiting to be put back on the door by a person who wanted to stay all year around.

He was the only thing turning in the tides of this endless night. You couldn't take your eyes off of him. Meeting him felt like some kind of blessing was bestowed upon you. Like all the pain of the previous year and the endless waiting was finally rewarded the way it was written to happen from the start.

By the looks of it he felt that connection too. It might have been just a one night adventure but only your sober minds could decide that in the coming morning. For now, being in each other's presence was enough to calm the tempest in your heart.

He noticed you doze off when your head felt a little heavier on his chest. Taking his eyes off the sea he looked at you. Your cheeks turned a rosy shade, most likely from the amount of booze you had. They puffed up against his chest, light snores escaping through your opened lips. There was a little trail of drool pooling at the edge of your lower lip. He chuckled and wiped it away, making a mental note to tease you about it when you woke up.

He's been waiting around for you all night back at the club. Time was flowing way too slow and his patience was running thin. But once you finally walked through the door his inner clocks froze over. His breath got caught in his throat, so much that he couldn't find it in himself to make a move to you yet again.

He watched you from his usual spot, hoping he could get some liquid courage if he drank a little before coming to you. But he wasted way too much time.

When you got your things and slammed the glass on the table enraged, he knew you were about to leave. If he let you leave back then he was sure he wouldn't be able to face you again. So he finally made a move to you, running through the crowd to catch you.

The fact that you were now tucked safely in his arms, wearing his jacket, told him he made a move at the right time. Who knew what other man would've stolen you away if he waited too long.

From what you told him, he could sense how much you craved to find someone. To stop opening up to people who didn't even want to hear about anything other than bodily pleasure. Because he craved a deeper connection with someone too. He was just bad at showing it.

"I'm so glad you didn't settle," he whispered.

He spent the remainder of the night watching over you, until the dark sky turned into the early haze of dawn. He closed his eyes for a bit, waiting for you to wake up. Unknowingly, he doze off in the comfort of feeling you close.

The comfort you were wrapped in was so cozy that you found it hard to open your eyes. Once you did, you took in your surroundings, surprised to see the green-haired man still at your side. The longer edges of the blanket were wrapped around the both of you, providing some warmth in the early morning breeze.

You half expected him to leave you here on the beach. To wake up and think of it as just another drunken night out that others normally wanted to take back. But he didn't.

You looked towards the sea. The dark night sky illuminated by the glow of the moon was now a myriad of orange and pink. It was brighter than any sunrise you've ever seen. The sun was still on his way to fully light up the sky, but the rays were already bouncing off the waves in glimmering gold. The sea looked so crystalline and blue, like you were in a movie.

Turning back to the man beside you, you took your time taking him in. He was sound asleep judging by the way his chest rose up and down slowly. He had one arm under his head, propping his head higher than the cushion could. The other one was still wrapped around you, in the same position you remembered it to be before you fell asleep. Small chimes came from his golden earrings as they dangled on the breeze of the wind.

He looked so at peace, a close-mouthed smile on his lips. The urge to lift your hand and trace the outlines of those lips grew the more you looked at them.

"Take a picture. It will last longer," he spoke, taking you by surprise. His voice was way deeper than last night, resounding a little raspy in your ears.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Enough to feel you staring at me like I'm made from tempered glass."

"I wasn't staring."

"Sure you weren't."

"Okay, you caught me."

His eyes crinkled before opening up to look at you.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, a hint of amusement present in his voice.

"I slept fine," you replied, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow.

He looked too pleased with himself in the early hours of the morning. As if he knew something you didn't.

"Did I do something weird in my sleep?"

"I wouldn't say weird. But I'm glad you were comfortable enough to do it with me," he smirked.

What the fuck did I do? Did I snore? Did I kick him? Wait. He said I did something with him. Did we do something like-

Your eyes widened as the thought crossed your mind. The look on his face could only say that you did exactly what you thought you did.

"DID WE FUCK?" you whisper shouted.

His grin just widened and he started laughing hysterically, slapping the sand beside him like a maniac.

"Why are you laughing- YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"Your face! That was priceless."

The daggers you were throwing at him told him you weren't in the mood for ridicule you this early in the morning. Too bad he had other plans.

"But you did do something."

"JUST TELL ME ALREADY," you shouted, getting ready to strangle him.

He seemed deep in thought on whether he should tell you.

"What are you willing to do for this important information?"

The way he wiggled his eyebrows at you told you he wanted to negotiate some terms first, as if he was withholding national secrets or some shit.

"I'll do anything," you sighed, playing along with him.

"Anything?"

"Zoro, I swear to god I'm going to put my foot through your face."

"All it takes is one kiss."

"One kiss? What are you, five?"

"Rules are rules. Kiss or I'm not telling you."

Your tongue poked your cheek in annoyance. You looked out at the sea debating your choices.

You could either run away and live with the humiliation that you'll never know what you did that had him make fun of you this bad. Or you could just humour him and find out what it was quicker. The latter seemed like the better choice.

"Okay, fine."

You decided to go for a kiss on the cheek, to pay him back for the almost kiss he gave you while dancing. You leaned down to him, cheek in your direct line of sight. You were about to plant the quickest peck on it when he moved his face so your lips landed on his instead.

They tasted like a glass of freshly opened champagne, just like the one you drank with him last night. You felt him smile against your lips, holding onto the nape of your neck to pull you closer. When he was satisfied enough with his kiss, he let go of you and you separated, breaths fanning each other.

"Are you gonna tell me now?"

"Did you know you drool in your sleep?"

"I DID WHAT-"

"There was like a whole lot of it on my shirt. Like a newborn baby's."

You burried your head in his side, trying to hide the blush rising on your cheeks. He just laughed at you squeezing you closer.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of. I think it was adorable."

"You're just saying that," you mumbled.

"I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

He moved away from you and you thought he got up. Turning your gaze upwards you found him standing above you, hands on either side of you.

The playfulness in his eyes was exchanged for dark eyes staring down at you with hunger. The smirk on his lips told you that nothing remotely good passed through his mind at the moment and it made you gulp.

He leaned down to you and your breath hitched. No man made you this nervous before and you didn't even do anything together to feel this way. Like you sinned a thousand sins or something.

His lips brushed your ear, chest almost pressing against yours.

"Am I making you nervous?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know."

He looks like a sculpture and I'm supposed to not get turned on by it? Yeah, right.

He took you by surprise pressing his lips on the side of your neck. It made you forget where you were in the first place, mind entirely focused on the fluttering feeling he instilled in you. He moved the kisses all the way down to your jaw, with the goal of getting to your lips.

Just before you could feel them again, your stomach grumbled loudly interrupting your moment. Turns out the flutters were from being hungry.

"You have great timing," he shook his head at you.

"It's not my fault I'm hungry."

"Then, how about we grab something to eat?"

"I would love that."

He sat up and helped you up, starting to gather the stuff that needed to be taken back to the club in the bucket. You grabbed your heels, putting your arms through the sleeves of his jacket. Once you had everything you started making your way back.

"I'm craving seafood," you recommended. "What do you wanna eat?"

"You."

"EWW DONT SAY THAT."

"I'm joking."

"I am never kissing randos on new year's ever again."

"Only if I can become the only rando you kiss on every new year's."

"You're impossible," you smiled.

"Only for you."

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