Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Author's notes are at the bottom.
Oftentimes, Zoro found himself wishing that Robin had never come to the dojo to begin with.
Their kind of relationship wasn't what he signed up for at all. It wasn't anything common, like constant arguments or infidelity. Sure, they fought, but it was either over something trivial like whose turn it was to do dishes, or it could be fixed with sex. Rather, the confusion and doubt was one-sided.
Zoro felt invisible to her, sometimes. Not only was she incredibly difficult to read, but she could be so detached and she would distance herself from him so often that he felt as if she hated him. And it just wasn't fair; he loved her and he loved being around her, but no one could force her to do anything, and he never tried. Zoro wanted to let her be, let her sit under the covers alone with a cup of coffee and one of her dozens of books, let her fall asleep without a kiss goodnight, but it fucking hurt. It hurt, and he wanted no more of it.
Besides that, he wanted to know just what the hell was in those books that made her that way. With that, Zoro decided to sneak in on one of her reading sessions. It was the afternoon, and he decided on this when Robin decided on bringing her current favourite book - a black hardcover one with silver writing on the spine - to the table to read as opposed to conversing with Zoro over lunch at a nearby café. She didn't notice how he was scowling at her the whole time, and it wasn't fair; he wanted her to feel bad for ignoring him like this, but she didn't even realize it.
And when they were driving home and he leaned over to see the page, she snapped the book shut with her thumb between the two pages she left off on and chided, "You're going to get us killed. Eye on the road."
So, that evening, Zoro trudged into their bedroom and stood beside the bed with a frown and folded arms. Robin was lying down with stomach pressed against the mattress, the book propped up against the pillow. Instead of coffee, today, she had a large bottle of water and a plate of blueberry cookies. He boomed, "Oi, woman."
Robin looked up at Zoro and smiled. "Kenshi-san."
"Make room." He ordered. Robin shrugged and shifted over, allowing Zoro to settle on the mattress as well. Even then, Zoro lay on his stomach beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder blade. "What the fuck are you reading, anyway?"
Robin pursed her lips. "It takes place in the desert, in a city overcome by drought. It centers around the vice president of a criminal organization designed to take over the kingdom. The vice president is on the run from the World Government and the president is affiliated with the World Government itself. You could say she's leading a double life. Right now, she's snuck onto a pirate ship."
Zoro grunted in reply. "Doesn't sound that interesting. Certainly not interesting enough to steal you from me."
Humming in thought, the female asked, "Did you think I was ignoring you, Zoro?"
"Well... yeah," Zoro mumbled. "I mean, I just kinda feel like you don't notice me anymore. Ugh, I sound like a child."
Robin frowned, turning her head and reaching back slightly to run her fingers through the mess of short green hair at her shoulder. "Why couldn't you just tell me?"
"Because it was stupid. It sounded stupid just now." The swordsman answered. He pushed his head up against Robin's palm, nearly purring at the contact. "I guess I was just confused about what was going on with us."
Robin smiled and planted a kiss on Zoro's forehead, staring down at him. "No book will ever come close to being as interesting as you are, Zoro."
The male grinned and kissed Robin. He then peered at the open page and asked, "Anything exciting happen?"
Turning her attention back to the novel, Robin grinned. "She falls in love with the swordsman."
In case you haven't noticed, she's reading a modified version of her canon life story. Yohohoho~ how delightful! This was actually supposed to be the fifth drabble, but I was just so proud of it that I bumped it up to the second. I hope you liked it. :')
Also, thank you all so, so much for the wonderful response. It means a lot, and I love you all.
- Angela
P.S. Did anyone catch the reference to my other ZoRobin story? The schizophrenic murderess? *wink wink, nudge nudge*
