Gateways: Nakama
Summary: A set of one-shots set in my Gateways Universe. Nakamaship. OCs.
1. Almost a Brotherly Thing
Summary: Zoro's feelings for the Captain and Alchemist were almost brotherly. Not that he'd ever say anything, though. . .
Warnings: OCs, Fluff, slight angst.
Roronoa Zoro was not known for being thoughtful or very wise, but he had his moments. He made impulsive decisions and never once regretted them. It was just the way he was. The man he was.
He didn't regret his duel with Kuina or his vow to become the greatest swordsman in the world. Nor did he regret joining the crazy kid in the straw hat.
He guessed that he was just crazy but hey, he had saw a girl die and get back up. If that wasn't crazy then he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Right?
Yes, Zoro had made several crazy decisions, but he stood by them with an iron will.
So, when he decided to play 'big brother' to a pair of kids he barely knew, he knew he'd have to stand by it.
Luffy and Kim were, in a word, odd.
Luffy was to be expected. The kid was made of rubber and babbled about becoming King of the Pirates. Odd indeed. Not to mention the fact that he acted like a five year old on a sugar rush.
Kim, well, she was an entirely different story.
He barely knew a thing about her and had to rely on observation alone to learn about the tiny brunette.
He knew that she was tough, physically at least. She had fallen from the sky and had been fatally stabbed in the stomach and survived (though he was sure there was more to it that just luck!). In addition to that, she was exotic, something that he'd never seen before.
She used words and gestures and references that he wasn't entirely familiar with and the way her voice lilted confused him. He had never heard an accent quite like hers before.
And then there were her eyes.
Zoro had seen eyes like that but rarely on one so young.
Luffy's eyes were like that too, most noticeably when talking of his hat or the famous Red-Haired Shanks he adored so much.
Kim's eyes were like that when she just woke up or fussed over her jacket. It was there in those rare moments when she spoke of home. Of never knowing what was going on there or how her family was doing.
Zoro had never had much of a family, at least, not that he could remember, so he couldn't know what it was like for the golden-eyed girl. He supposed it was like the ache in his chest when he thought of his sensei or the kids from the dojo that trailed after him.
The ache went away sometimes, more often now that he was playing 'big brother' to Luffy and Kim. The look in their eyes went away too, and it made him wonder if that was one of the things that they were missing. If they had someone like a brother on their minds. Maybe that's what Zoro felt for them. An almost brotherly thing.
So maybe he couldn't do wise or thoughtful, but he could be damn good at sort of brotherly.