#this fic needs so much polishing. there's almost 16k in the doc right now and i doubt it's all usable

[thychesters]

#wipwednesday! now gyro can’t yell at me. it’s exactly what you think it is. zoro pining fic that’s very much so in the same mood as the other two! also just realized it’s another chest touching scene afhgdskgbk. that’s fine. i went through two other scenes i thought about sharing before just biting the bullet and going with it. gonna keep up a theme. maybe i’ll have a draft done by this weekend, who knows.

for context, because it cut off in the beginning: robin says her becoming part of their crew was an interesting twist of fate. zoro says making a choice or accepting an offer isn’t fate. she says all three could be the same thing. also, usopp, chopper, and luffy are playing tag when she tries to step in because she’s #TeamUsopp. mr. noodle arms said watch this! i’m going to break four of zoro’s ribs. | text under the cut:

“Couldn’t you say all three are the same thing?”

His mouth twists. “Call it whatever you want, I guess.”

It wasn’t fate that put Luffy in his path, wasn’t fate that set off a chain of events that would have Zoro following him down to the docks, the first of his barely existent crew. It wasn’t fate that cast them off to sea together, and it certainly wasn’t fate that had him finding himself allowing his gaze to linger for just a moment too long.

It isn’t fate that has Robin closing her eyes, murmuring something under her breath and an appendage popping out of the deck, wrapping a hand around Luffy’s ankle and leaving him cackling as he loses his footing and goes careening into Zoro’s chest. He’s still laughing as he winds his arms around him with a squeeze, digging his sternum into his chest with a “sorry!”

He loops an arm low around his waist under the guise of keeping him upright, and for a moment he fears prying eyes, but Robin’s already turning away to amuse Chopper by sprouting extra limbs out of the literal woodwork while Usopp says “that’s cheating!”

“Is Zoro happy?” Luffy asks, and he turns away from a few hands bursting into cherry blossoms to look down at the other man smiling at him. He hasn’t made any move to loosen his hold. Part of Zoro wants to push him away, tell him to knock it off, while the other wants to drag him closer in a way a first mate shouldn’t. He wants to avert his gaze, look at literally anything else, but Luffy’s watching him, digging his fingers into the knobs of his spine.

“Yeah,” he says, voice coming out strained, which is easy to pass off since it feels like his ribs might be getting crushed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Good,” he murmurs, twisting to rest his cheek against his chest. Zoro’s other hand smooths down his back, over the rough, worn material of his vest before coming to rest on the slight bump of the bandage he promised a teary Chopper he’d wear for a little while longer, the one that covers up the pink, healing skin from where he’d also been impaled.

His grip tightens on the material, ready to pull him off him, and Luffy seems to lean into him further, sighing as dark hair brushes the tip of his nose when he inclines his head. His closes his eyes into the embrace, painfully aware of the way his heart hammers in his throat, and the hollow, painful feeling ballooning in his stomach.

“I’m glad Zoro’s happy,” Luffy says, tone just a touch too serious, something else bleeding into it, and Zoro huffs a laugh that comes out like he’s been punched in the gut.

“Yeah, I am,” he says, and he thinks it might be the first lie he’s ever told his captain.