"You mean to tell me the woman who can create limbs made entirely of sakura petals has spring allergies?" he smirks down at her in her ring of tissues and half empty glasses of water. "Don't you keep a garden too?"
She glares up at him, the whites of her eyes tinged pink with swelling. "You're not funny," she gripes miserably. She sniffs, knowing the reflexive action is futile and most likely to be painful, and it is, only adding to the growing pressure in her head. She groans and takes a sip of water from the latest glass.
The swordsman chuckles apologetically, coming closer to rest a hand on her shoulder and kiss her forehead lightly. "What do you need me to do?" he asks, meeting her eyes.
"Cut down every tree and plant that has ever thrown an ounce of pollen into the air for the misery of all living things," she dead pans, resting her head against his shoulder. The action sparks a sneezing fit; she grabs at her tissues to cover her mouth, only missing the first two cacophonous sneezes.
When the fit ends and she can finally catch her breath, she looks up to find him walking away, "…but I think Nami might have something to say about me getting rid of her tangerine trees."
She laughs, missing the majority of his witty reply, she's certain, but catching the drift immediately. She summons an arm to the wall by the door, catching his hand from across the room. "Get back here," she calls with a smile. He always manages to make her feel better, even with just a few joking words.
He sits down beside her, tucking her beneath his arm and drawing her close despite her sniffles and runny nose. "Then what do you really need me to do?" he asks again, quieter, resting his chin on the crown of her head.
She deliberates for a moment, thinking of the medicine Chopper said he would prepare for her that is surely ready by now, waiting for her in the lab, but also reveling in the feel of his arm around her and his firm chest under her head. Her eyes start to slip shut for the first time in what feels like an absurdly long time and she finally mumbles, "Chopper has something for me in the lab. Get it for me, and then maybe we can take a nap?"
He chuckles in surprise. "Did you just suggest a nap? To me? Well, break out the record books, this is a first!" She must make some noise, her ears are too stopped up to hear herself think half the time, because he sobers—marginally—and adds with another kiss to her forehead, "I'll be right back, Robin."
"Thank you," she says with a sniff.
"Why don't you go ahead and close your eyes?" he suggests, running his hand down her arm. "You look exhausted."
She groans again and nods, leaning forward until she can fold her arms on the table and rest her head on them. She feels him press one last kiss to her hair, and then she's out like a light.
It seems like mere seconds have passed when she feels two gentle hooves on her shoulders, shaking her awake. "Robin?"
She lifts her head with a soft groan. The doctor stands with the swordsman, tiny packet of medicine in his hooves. "Hi there, Chopper," she replies with a small smile. She sniffs, closing her eyes against the uncomfortable pressure of her sinuses.
"Zoro said you were ready for your medicine." The little reindeer sets the packet on the table and reaches forward to feel her forehead, brushing her bangs behind her ear. "Are your symptoms still the same?"
"Yes," she replies, watching him open the packet and pick up one tiny white pellet.
"Take one every twenty-four hours. It'll take about an hour to kick in, but you'll feel better for the rest of the day. There's enough here for a week." He hands her the pill and the glass of water.
"Will it make me drowsy?" she asks, popping the medication into her mouth, quickly followed by a sip of water.
She downs the rest of the glass to wash the bitter herbal after taste out of her mouth as he replies, "A little, at first. But you look tired anyway." He blushes as he realizes what he's said, covering his mouth with both hooves. Zoro chuckles behind him.
"It's okay, Chopper, I am tired. Zoro and I were just about to take a nap." She rises (slowly; quick movement has been making her dizzy with her sinuses so swollen) and gathers up her debris from the table. "Let me just throw these away," she adds to the swordsman, who nods and promptly takes them from her.
"Go. Lay down; I'll be there in a minute." He kisses her cheek and nudges her toward the door Chopper is holding open with one hoof, smothering a giggle with the other.
"I should get sick more often," she grins, already feeling better with a reason to smile.
"I think Sanji would have a heart attack," Zoro remarks, smirk etched deep into his cheeks. "It took both Chopper and Usopp holding him to keep him from coming in when I did."
She huffs a laugh as she steps out of the kitchen and onto the sunlit deck. A pleasant breeze lifts her bangs from her brow, cooling her flushed face and twisting her lips into a smile. Sneezing and sniffles and general annoyances aside, spring really is her favorite season, signifying a rebirth of all things big and small. A second chance given by the universe, to make things better than they were the year prior. She looks over her shoulder, back into the kitchen as the door swings closed, catching a glimpse of the little reindeer man and the green haired swordsman as they tidy up her mess. A second chance indeed, she thinks with another private smile before mounting the steps to rear deck and the hatch leading to her quarters.
She is still awake when he comes in, blankets habitually drawn up to her chin despite the comfortable warmth of the room, hands folded over her stomach beneath their warm weight. She turns her head to look at him in the doorway, eyes bright in the semi darkness. He smirks at her, says, "Do you always sleep like that?"
Her eyes shift back to the blankets as she replies, "It's the only way I could for a long time. The only way I felt safe enough."
Zoro takes off his sword belt and haramaki before stepping across the room to the bed, lifting the blankets and slipping beneath them next to her. "I feel like there's an 'until' coming."
She turns on her side, flush against him with her head pillowed on his shoulder and her arm slung across his chest, reveling in the way his own arm comes around to cradle her back, resting with comfortable weight against her hip. "You," she murmurs, closing her eyes with a sigh.
She can feel his proud smirk against her forehead as he presses a kiss there. "Get some rest, Blue Eyes. I'm here."
She is already asleep.
A/N: Hello! I feel like I need to reward you guys with some happy fluffy stuff since I kind of bombarded you with heavy feels with my last few stories. In my defense, I really enjoy reading the gritty angsty stuff (and the fluff, but there's just something about tearjerkers that make me want to stay up all night), but I'm not that great at writing it, in my own opinion, so I used those ideas as a chance to practice. And judging by the response of the past couple days, I think I've gotten better, so thank you! Anyway, this was actually two separate pieces originally, but I didn't have an ending for the first scene nor a beginning for the second half, so I thought, why not connect the two? I hope you like it and do please let me know what you think!