A/N: I like cuddle fics...that is all.
From the first day he joined Luffy on his crew, Zoro had difficulty remembering a night he slept alone. In the very beginning, a shared sleeping space had been expected. After all, the dinghy was only so big and most of the room was taken up by barrels of food and water. In short time, Zoro had begrudgingly accepted waking up with Luffy draped on him in some fashion. Whether Luffy had latched onto his arm or was using his chest as a pillow, the contact became a regular routine and was continued nightly until the Going Merry was received at Syrup Village. But even with ample sleeping quarters, Zoro would occasionally wake up to find Luffy in his hammock or curled up next to him on the floor. And while Luffy had decreased the amount of time he slept with the swordsman, that didn't necessarily mean Zoro was able to sleep alone.
While Usopp didn't sleep with Zoro nearly as much as Luffy, the frequency was enough to not surprise Zoro when he woke up early in the morning for katas. Also unlike Luffy, Usopp was very specific about when and how he slept. Nights right before arriving at an island, nights after a Marine attack, nights after major battles –if Zoro wasn't in the infirmary that is. Generally any night that prefaced or followed a day of terror and danger (or the possibility of) Zoro could expect Usopp to sleep facing his back –like he was hiding behind it even in sleep. At the very least Zoro was pleased that the sniper wasn't clingy and allowed it to continue.
The cook, in comparison, took Usopp's quiet predictability and turned it around and upside down while adding a tilt to the side. And it was more this inconsistency than its owner that never failed to piss Zoro off. After Sanji had joined the crew, Zoro noticed himself waking up in the middle of the night. Unsure as to why, he began to pay more attention to his surroundings and quickly located the source: the cook was a noisy sleeper. His constant murmurs and shifting positions coupled with the occasional shout or sob alerted Zoro's innate vigilance almost every night. And at seemingly random times of the month, the interruptions would begin increase every night as Sanji became more and more restless. On those kinds of nights, Zoro would be disturbed as much as seven times. And with it, daytime Sanji seemed even more on edge and even easier to snap –physically or mentally. Hands would tremble and his eye would glass over in exhaustion. It was around this point –Zoro mentally referred to it as 'The Cook's Breaking Point'- that Zoro would wake up by the sudden weight of someone collapsing onto him or beside him. And Zoro could never tell if the cook was awake or not, as he was besieged by gangly limbs kicking and elbowing him throughout the night. The only way to ensure sleep was to trap Sanji with his arms and legs, forcing him to remain still. And this would continue for 3 to 6 nights, after which it would return to a minimally restless Sanji that slept alone and only woke Zoro up once a night.
And while Zoro probably hated nights with the cook the most, it was easy to say who his favorite –and probably most frequent- sleeping companion was. After all, Chopper was quiet, still, and served the dual purpose of pillow and heater. He was also the only one to ever properly ask Zoro if he could sleep with him. The first time he asked, Zoro could still remember well. Chopper has only been on the crew for 5 days and was still timid around the members. Zoro woke up from a gentle nudge on his forehead by a hoof, the nervous owner of which regarded a now awake Zoro with teary eyes. Zoro didn't bother to vocalize a question –now quite used to this odd role he'd been wordlessly assigned- and pulled the reindeer towards his chest with a hug. He could feel Chopper relax in his arms and didn't fall asleep himself until he heard the doctor's soft snores.
It was a while before Zoro ever slept with Nami. With there being an entirely separate room for Nami –and later on Robin- he never really expected it to ever occur. The first time was actually after a beach party. They'd been drinking together and had fallen asleep beside each other. Zoro woke up first and found the navigator resting on his arm like it was a pillow. His movements awoke her and she stuck her a tongue at Zoro playfully, saying his arm was the single worst pillow she'd ever used. And while Zoro knew the insult wasn't serious, he still hadn't expected her to sleep on his arm again at the next beach party –a couple weeks later. If anything the temporary loss of feeling in his arm –her head was heavy- was certainly worth the look of anger and betrayal on the cook's face when he woke up to make breakfast.
And however sparing Nami was in sleeping with him, Robin was even more so. Zoro could count on one hand and easily remember each separate occasion the woman deigned to sleep next to him. And each time was more a nap than genuine slumber. Zoro hadn't been all that surprised when he woke up from an early afternoon lap one day and felt the weight of someone's head on his shoulder. What had been a genuine shock was the owner of the head, a certain dark haired archeologist who had only been on the crew for a 9 days. He saw her eyes flutter open and she sat up, flashing Zoro one of her less restrained grins. All she said was that he looked like he really enjoyed his naps, and Zoro quickly surmised that her actions were more for curiosity than for security, affection, or simply as a surface softer than the ground. Zoro figured she had liked the experience as well because every so often, on particularly sunny days, Zoro found archeologist indulging in a nap with him. Somehow the faces the cook made when he saw these rare occurrences were even funnier than the faces when Nami uses his arm.
Sleeping with Franky was very similar to sleeping with Robin, in that the two slept sitting against the wall or rail, and with Nami, in that it typically occurred after a party on deck. Shoulder to shoulder, the two biggest crewmembers would lean against each other, achieving a comfortably even distribution of weight, and fall asleep with their heads either to the side -against each other like their shoulders- or down towards their own chests. Sleeping like this wasn't very different from sleeping by himself, in that he was hardly being touched, but added an ineffable feeling that Zoro could only describe as comradery. If only the guy didn't snore so loud, then Zoro wouldn't mind sleeping next to Franky more often.
Zoro only slept with Brook once, at least, he thought the skeleton had been asleep (it was always so hard to tell without any eyes to close). Once again he had been napping –it had occurred to Zoro some time ago that his constant naps only provided opportunities for the others, but was far too enamored by napping to care- though was lying supine on the grass rather than against the rail. It was a more comfortable position for his back, which was still a bit sore after Thriller Bark, and allowed his skin to wallow in the warmth of the afternoon sun. Half expecting to wake up with someone beside or on him, Zoro wasn't even surprised to see the skeleton lying perpendicular to Zoro and using his stomach like a pillow. Certainly the oddest thing was how light the skeleton was, not that it had taken the newest crewmember only 4 days –2 of which Zoro had been unconscious- to recognize and exploit Zoro's unofficial role.
And then he was alone. The silence was so loud. And the space made him anxious. His mind wandered too much and his arms felt empty and useless. For two years he only half slept, wavering back and forth on the edge between conscious and unconscious, his mind –or maybe his body- never committing to sleep. Especially not the kind of sleep that would allow dreams. It just wasn't right.
After all these shared nights, Zoro had always thought he was indulging the others in these strange sleeping habits of theirs; whether it be as a cushion, a shield, a source of heat, or unconscious comfort. And during these sleepless nights Zoro would wonder: at what point had these sleeping arrangements become mutual? When had sleeping become a symbiotic action that required another to feel complete? This realization came after only a month on Kuraigana Island and didn't sit well with him, but with one year and eleven months left on the island there was nothing he could do except wait.
Wait for his family to be returned to him.
A/N: I think this is the closest to fluff I've written for this site, hopefully I didn't butcher these "emotions" people keep telling me about. And this was supposed to end on a happier note, but my not-very-secret love for bittersweet endings demanded some limelight. So, there you go.