The romance is getting closer and closer. Enjoy~

The two soon pulled into the driveway of their house and got out of the car. Luffy slowly walked up the lawn and to the front door. Even though he had wanted to come home badly, he suddenly felt how he did when he first looked at this house, scared of what kind of hell he'd be in next. Robin walked ahead of him and unlocked and opened the front door, entering and keeping the door open for Luffy to walk in. He suddenly felt very small, smaller than he usually was.

Luffy walked towards the stairs and to their room to put change into a new outfit. He felt gross in the one he had on. It had been the same outfit he'd gone to the hospital in. He saw Zoro sitting on his bed and quickly walked to the dresser to get a new outfit. Zoro waited for him to come back once he changed his clothes.

"You okay?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded his head vigorously. "You look better," Zoro said quietly. Luffy looked at him in question. Zoro pointed under his own eyes. "The circles aren't as purple. Mom said you've been sleeping through the night."

Luffy's face turned red. He didn't want to tell Zoro the only reason he'd been sleeping was because he was holding Robin's hand. Luffy nodded and climbed onto his bunk. He expected he'd have to talk to Zoro, so he got his whiteboard and uncapped the green pen.

"I know you haven't been sleeping in here," Zoro said quietly. Luffy licked his lips and nodded. "How long?"

Four days.

Zoro sighed. "You hadn't slept for four days? Why? You were doing fine a couple nights ago," he asked, a little confused.

No I wasn't. I was just being quiet.

"You mean when you gagged yourself." Luffy nodded. Zoro sighed. "What made you sleep through the night in the hospital?" Zoro already knew the answer but he wanted to bring it up like he hadn't known and was hearing it the first time from Luffy himself.

Luffy turned red and looked at the wall. He was embarrassed about it, but he didn't like ignoring Zoro's questions anymore. He bit his lips and wrote slowly, Robin held my hand, and immediately pulled the whiteboard up in front of his face. He didn't want to see Zoro's expression. He didn't see Zoro made no expression. He just turned slightly pink about what he was going to say next.

"You can share the bottom bunk if you need to." Luffy looked up in surprise, though his expression just looked a tad confused. "It's better to feel a little awkward for a bit than to have something bad happen again, like falling down the stairs and this time doing more than a bloody nose and a sprained ankle."

Luffy nodded and wrote a thank you, to which Zoro nodded back as if saying you're welcome. "You wanna play video games?" Zoro asked. Luffy must have been bored in that hospital, even if he had his sketchbook. Zoro confirmed the thought when Luffy vigorously nodded and hurriedly climbed down the ladder and onto the bed, grabbing his red controller from the TV stand. Zoro gave a small smirk on the obvious yet also subtle expression of excitement on Luffy's face. He could tell mostly because of Luffy's widened eyes and slightly bouncing leg.

"Do you want to try online?" Luffy nodded again. Zoro had never offered for Luffy to play online. Luffy had no idea how he'd do. He was good against Zoro and had eventually finished the campaign alright, but he'd watched Zoro play and there were a lot of people all at once. But he was curious and excited to play with other people.

Once the game was set up, Luffy actually was very good. He rarely used the weapon and the other players were getting a little nasty over Luffy's tactics. Most online players are exposed to people shouting obscenities and hate over the headset and don't care, and even post it online, but Luffy was not most players. As soon as people started insulting him and calling him names, he lost of desire to play and gave the controller to Zoro, who frowned. Luffy was frowning at his hands as Zoro muted the conversation.

"Luffy, people are always like that online. Just ignore them and I can turn the sound off," Zoro explained patiently. But Luffy didn't want to play anymore today. Maybe later, he wrote. Zoro frowned when Luffy left the room with his whiteboard.

Luffy went to find Robin and ask for the book he hadn't finished so he could read it some more. He found her in the living room with the others, all watching a movie. He tapped on her shoulder and held up his board, Can I finish that book? already written. Robin smiled kindly and went to get her bag she had brought to the hospital. After pulling out the book, she handed it to Luffy, who thanked her and turned to go back up the stairs. Before he could, Robin said, "There are six more books, but they get longer and longer. However, if you'd like to keep reading the series, I'd be happy to let you read them since I have the whole series." He thanked her, happy on the inside. He didn't really want to read in front of Zoro because of how frustratingly slow it took him to read one page, and he didn't want Zoro to even know he had trouble reading. Sometimes Luffy wasn't embarrassed for other people to see and learn things like this about Luffy, he was embarrassed himself. That he was surprised and disappointed and felt pity towards himself from himself.

He walked up the stairs and into his closet and slouched on the beanbag chair and read the book. He was in there for quite a while, not noticing the passing of time at all. He was so close to finishing when there was a knock on the door. Since he didn't respond, he stood up and opened the door. It was Zoro telling Luffy that dinner was ready. Luffy nodded and wrote I'll be down in a minute as he picked up a crumpled sheet of paper and slid it between the pages as Zoro left and set it on the chair. He noticed the mess of paper he'd left on the floor and felt some shame in the fact he left a mess in Robin's room. Though her closet was Luffy's safe place, it was still part of her room. He hung his whiteboard around his neck and gathered up all the scraps if paper and threw them away in the bathroom garbage.

When Luffy got to the dinner table, he was happy to see real food, and not hospital soup and Jello. He wasn't allowed to eat anything super dry or spicy, but he didn't have a problem with that and ate the breakfast food. Robin knew it was his favorite food, pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs and the like. She made this for dinner as a welcome home dinner for him. The others noticed, but Luffy didn't really get it. He knew Robin liked him for some reason but he didn't really get that she did this for him, like with the book.

Luffy ate more than usual because he had actually missed eating while he was in the hospital. Everyone was pleased when he ate everything on his plate, though they did their best not to stare at him. He looked healthier than before he left, even if he'd only slept a few days. But the circles under his eyes were much less prominent and he wasn't as pale. He'd look normal and healthy if he didn't have that blank face on. He still looked a bit tired, but not like he was about to collapse.

When dinner was over, most of the residents watched cartoons before bed. It was surprising that Luffy sat in the corner and watched the cartoons with the rest of the kids. Robin was pleased when she saw him come over and sit with everyone, (well, except Zoro who was doing something in his room) but still had distance between the others and himself. Robin knew he'd missed home greatly and was happy he was back. She just wondered how long it would last and when he'd have the circles under his eyes again. She knew he only slept well because he had someone to sleep with or at least someone to touch and reassure him he was not in that basement and with whoever was touching him, safe and secure. And best, not alone. He'd been alone too long, but had gotten used to it and it had taken him a long time to get to the point he'd willingly spend time with someone. First Robin, then Nami, and finally Zoro. He felt he didn't click with the others.

By the time the younger kids had to go to bed, Luffy was tired, emotionally. He'd spent a lot of time with many people, and even though he'd been away from all for a short amount of time, being in one room with five other people after being in a room with one person was exhausting.

It was only at eleven that he wanted to go to bed, but since Zoro had offered to share his bed, he didn't want to force Zoro to go to bed earlier than he usually did. He quietly turned the TV off and walked up the stairs. He knocked on the door gently, waiting for Zoro to answer, and when he didn't, Luffy opened the door to see him sleeping. He was asleep sprawled out on his bed, his controller on his lap.

Luffy noticed the game going on with no one playing it, so he did what he'd seen Zoro do countless times and saved the game and quit, turning it off along with the TV. Luffy took the object on Zoro's stomach and put it on the nightstand and then covered Zoro with a blanket gently, not wanting to wake him up. Luffy crawled onto a small open space and curled up to sleep at the end of the bed, since Zoro was taking up a lot of room.

Luffy fell asleep rather easily, and even though he wasn't touching the person he was sharing the bed with, he didn't have nightmares.

Zoro woke up in the middle of the night under a blanket with his day clothes still on. He knew he'd fallen asleep playing and the TV had been on, so he was confused when the electronics were all off and even more surprised when he saw Luffy curled up on the end of the bed like a cat, sleeping deeply. He looked very relaxed even though he was squished in his spot. Zoro smiled warmly, knowing now that Luffy had basically tucked him in.

Zoro didn't want Luffy to sleep in the cold without a blanket and have an uncomfortable neck and back the next day. Luffy seemed very deep asleep and Zoro didn't want to wake him up, so he gently pulled the kid over to half of the bed and put the blanket over the smaller as well, gently tucking a pillow under his nead. They were both sleeping side by side under the same blanket for the rest of the night.

Luffy woke up first, under a blanket and spread out more. He knew he didn't do that himself since he always wakes up in the exact same position he went to bed in. He noticed Zoro was right next to him, but facing away and also noticed they were sharing a blanket. Luffy would have smiled if he smiled, but he felt his face get warm, in a different way than usual, when he was embarrassed or ashamed.

The mute teen got out of bed and stretched, quietly climbing up one step to get his two most important possessions and the book he was almost finished with. He walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly, but an accidental creak was made. He walked down the stairs and onto the couch and started to read.

Zoro woke up when he heard the door creek, and looked over to see Luffy's small bare foot leaving his view. Zoro remembered what happened during the night and smiled. It was really sweet of Luffy to tuck him in and give Zoro all the space. But now he knew he had to leave space for the other to sleep on instead of sleeping on the edge curled up like a dog or cat.

Zoro changed into new clothes and walked out of the room. He looked over the stairs to Luffy curled up on the couch under a blanket and reading something. Luffy looked up when Zoro got to the bottom of the stairs, and nodded, as if saying "good morning". Zoro nodded back.

"Thanks for turning everything off and putting the blanket on last night." Luffy just nodded once and wrote on his board You're welcome. And then added Thanks for giving me more room and putting the blanket on me.

"Any time. Did you sleep well?" Zoro asked as he sat down on the comfy chair adjacent to the couch Luffy was currently on. Luffy nodded once.

Zoro smiled, "Good. I'm glad you didn't wake up screaming last night." Luffy turned red in the face and looked down. "What are you reading?"

Luffy held up the book. It was the first Harry Potter book. He was almost finished with it. "I've read those a few times. They're really good, but get more serious as the series goes on. Did Robin give it to you?" Zoro asked curiously. Usually Robin didn't let the kids read her books, but she'd buy them their own. Zoro could guess why Robin didn't buy the book for Luffy. He'd think he's a bother if he cost Robin anymore money following the hospital "visit".

"Do you like to read?" Zoro asked. He was confused when Luffy turned red once again and turned his head away for a moment, but decided to tell Zoro the truth. He wouldn't have told him if he couldn't read at all, but he was getting the hang of it. Robin was right that it never left completely.

I used to before, but I haven't read since then. I thought I couldn't read at all anymore. I'm still slow.

"Well at least you can read, right? It doesn't matter if you're fast or not," Zoro replied simply, leaning back into the recliner. A thought came to Zoro's mind. "Hey Luffy, have you ever had a cell phone?" Luffy not surprisingly shook his head. "Would you want one?"

Luffy shook his head.

"Ok, what if you got one for free?" Luffy furrowed his brow and wrote What do you mean?

"I'm due for an upgrade on my phone and you get a free second one if you do some sort of change in the plan." Luffy still looked confused. "Buy one get one free," Zoro said simply. Luffy nodded his head. He wrote slowly on his whiteboard, as if thinking of the best way to reply.

It's fine. I don't need you to get me a cell phone. Zoro sighed.

"You're just trying to think of other ways to say you don't want to be a bother. How long is it going to take you to not think that?" Luffy looked down in embarrassment. He was trying his best to word it differently. "You know what, you're getting a phone no matter what. It will be free, so it's really not a big deal or bother. You are not a bother. It's not like you're asking us that we buy you something really expensive. Nami has her own tablet, the boys have Nintendo DS's and Nojiko has an Ipod. It's not weird for Robin to buy you something," Zoro finished, sounding like the conversation was over.

Luffy nodded grudgingly. If Zoro was so insistent then he didn't want to offend him by arguing about it anymore. It's just that before here, he'd never been bought anything before, just for him individually. The concealer was only accepted to buy for him because he looked bad when company came over and he had what looked like fading bruises under his eyes.

"Do you want to use the trampoline?" Zoro asked suddenly. Luffy decided Zoro would know if he was lying at the moment and nodded his head slightly.

"Well no one else is awake if you want to go use it. I see you looking at it a lot from the kitchen and the bedroom window," Zoro said casually, not noticing the panic on Luffy's face. Not because of using the trampoline, but how easily he seemed to be read. He tried so hard to not give anything away most of the time. He hadn't noticed his staring, so why would anyone else? He had to ask about it

Am I that easy to read?

"A lot of the time. Just because you hide your expression a lot doesn't mean you hide your body language." Zoro then knew he had made a big mistake in saying that as Luffy sat up really straight. Crap. "Come on, don't start trying to make yourself not move." Again, Luffy was easily read.

This is how I normally sit.

"Bullshit. That is not how you always sit. You're always trying to melt into the couch or curl in on yourself," Zoro said, pointing as Luffy naturally pulled his knees up to his chest in awkwardness. "Look you're doing it right now!" Zoro would have laughed if it was anyone other than Luffy because the skinny boy in front of him obviously thought this was serious. Luffy frowned at him deeply and left to go outside, taking only his whiteboard with him.

As Zoro watched him leave, he scolded himself inside. But what were you supposed to talk about with him? He rarely innitiated conversations, and when he did they were usually very short. Zoro wished he knew all of Luffy's do's and don'ts.

Zoro got up and followed Luffy outside as he crawled onto the trampoline. He seemed to not be sure what to do. He fell down when he tried walking across the unsteady surface.

"Have you ever even been on a trampoline?" Zoro called from the patio. Luffy began to write on the board that he left on the side of the trampoline.

DON'T WATCH ME! He wrote with a red face.

It was the first time Zoro had seen caps or an exclamation point when Luffy "talked". Zoro messed up big time. He sighed and turned around and pretended to walk inside, when all he really did was go upstairs and watch as Luffy failed to use the thing properly. It was a bit sad that he wasn't jumping. Zoro felt bad for laughing as he continued to fall on his butt.

Luffy was upset that Zoro was pointing out what Luffy did wrong or right. He had gone outside to get away from him, but then he followed Luffy instead. When he stepped on the trampoline, he immediately wanted to get back off, but he didn't want Zoro to see him give up and point out something else that was wrong with him! He kept his back to Zoro as he asked if he knew how to use one. Luffy's face turned bright red and he wrote down for Zoro to not look at him while he attempted to use it.

After a few minutes of falling, he finally got the hang of it and started to jump. It was the most fun thing he'd done in a while, and after about ten minutes of just jumping, he attempted to flip in the air, but failed and fell on his back. He tried again and again until he was doing perfect flips. He didn't know Zoro was watching, so he grinned as he did the acrobatics. He held his hands to his mouth to keep from laughing. Anyone could hear him if he was too loud. The last time he'd heard his laugh it was a silly giggle the people laughed at and said were stupid, so he stopped laughing. Then there was no reason for him to laugh down in that basement, so he hadn't laughed in a very long time. It made him sad.

But he tried to push those thoughts outside of his head as he flipped. He finally got really dizzy and collapsed on the black fabric, panting from the exertion. He laid there for a moment, looking at the sky spinning above him. He felt like he was done for now, so he unsteadily tried getting off the ladder, only to fall off of it onto his back. It didn't hurt, but it didn't exactly feel good.

The dizzy boy stood up and hid behind a thick tree in the corner of the yard so he couldn't see the house and took his sweaty shirt off. He didn't take the whiteboard with him. No one would see him if he was over there, not from any of the windows at least. He accidentally let out a giggle from how much he had enjoyed the trampoline. Then he immediately lost that happy attitude as he heard his laugh. It was still a girlish giggle. He sat against the tree for a long time, scowling at the fence. Why did he have such a stupid laugh? He was stupid in everything. Reading, laughing, smiling and doing ordinary things, like eating cleanly (he still always had food on his hands when he was done eating. No one said anything about it anymore since he did wash his hands afterwards), or even controlling his own body language. His stupid face was also annoying, how he turned red at all the moments he wanted no one to know he was upset or embarrassed. Stupid stupid stupid.

After a few minutes of failing miserably, Zoro watched as Luffy started doing graceful flips and turns in midair. Zoro was surprised, but he assumed having a tiny body also helped. He saw as Luffy smiled while he was jumping, but also using his hands to cover his mouth most likely to keep himself from laughing. Zoro frowned at this. Even by himself he wouldn't laugh. He assumed Luffy thought it was stupid, or other people had told him that, like his smile and voice. Zoro found nothing wrong with either of those things. He found them pleasant and became fairly upset whenever Luffy tried to hide it. He'd only heard Luffy say three words, not counting the screaming over the phone, but he found nothing wrong with his voice. And he thought Luffy also had a nice smile. It was wide, but who cares? Well, obviously Luffy does.

After a while, he seemed to get tired of jumping and all but fell off the thing. When he got back up, he pulled at his shirt like it was sticky and headed over to stay behind a tree. Zoro assumed he'd taken off his shirt to cool off, but began to think otherwise when Luffy stayed behind the tree for quite some time. Luffy was probably scolding himself for smiling or something stupid like that. It really was stupid. No one put him down more than he did himself.

Zoro watched as Luffy walked out from behind the tree, looking absolutely miserable. What could have happened between the joy of jumping and flipping, to just sitting against a tree? The black haired boy got his writing tools off the trampoline and walked inside. Zoro waited to go down for a while so it didn't seem suspicious that he had been watching.

After about ten minutes, Zoro left his room, pretending he was hungry.

"Oh you're back. Did you figure out how to use it?" he asked as he went to the kitchen. Luffy nodded. When Zoro went to the couch where Luffy was and sat down with his yogurt. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Luffy didn't answer for a few moments, but then wrote I'm stupid.

"Why are you saying that," Zoro asked flatly. More like an accusation than a question.

I have a stupid laugh.

"Did someone tell you that?"

No I just heard it and it's stupid. I sound like a girl Luffy wrote, looking like he would have spoken the words out loud grumpily.

"So? Everyone has different voices. You should hear my cousin Perona. She has the weirdest laugh. I don't even know how she pronounces it. When I try, I can't even get the first syllable out," Zoro said with a slight laugh. "It sounds like 'horohoro' really fast and high pitched." Luffy looked down at his whiteboard. Zoro was right in one way; it could be a lot worse. But he still didn't like it much.

What does your laugh sound like?

"Well I can't exactly laugh on cue. Write something funny," Zoro said with a smirk. Luffy was obviously thinking hard about it, but couldn't come up with anything. He shrugged. I can't think of anything.

"Then I guess you won't hear my laugh," Zoro said nonchalantly. The two sat in silence (well, silence for Zoro and normal for Luffy) until Zoro apologized if he upset Luffy. Said boy gave a small nod. He started to write It's okay but remembered what Zoro had told him a while ago and erased it, only to write I forgive you. Zoro didn't miss this, and smiled when Luffy held up the second answer.

"You're really light aren't you?" Zoro asked seemingly out of nowhere. Luffy cocked his head in question. "I saw you on the trampoline."

Luffy turned red and looked away. He hoped Zoro didn't see his smiling. Even though Zoro said he didn't find anything wrong with it didn't mean Luffy felt the same way. I don't know how much I weigh. They had had this conversation a long time ago and the answer was the same; Luffy didn't know and didn't want to know how much he weighed. I don't want to know.

"Why not?" Zoro asked curiously, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees as he watched Luffy.

I'm too skinny, Luffy wrote, looking somewhat ashamed even though his face didn't turn red.

"Well that would change if you ate more and exercised," Zoro reasons casually. Luffy shook his head quickly in protest. "Why don't you eat a lot?" Zoro asked carefully and curiously. He didn't want to sound like he was intruding in Luffy person business.

Luffy considered his answer for a moment. He didn't want to sound stupid and get shot down but he wasn't a very good liar, like Zoro had basically pointed out not long ago. He also didn't want to just drop the topic altogether. Zoro waited patiently for Luffy to find an answer. He was surprised about how much nicer he was to Luffy than the others. He knew Luffy was messed up in the head, but Zoro also didn't want to see Luffy look hurt or scared by him again. Everytime he thought back to those weeks of hatred he directed towards Luffy he felt sick with himself. There there was the whole aftershave incident that freaked him out.

Finally Luffy began writing on the board, but then erased it a few times until he came out with his answer. I don't feel good when I eat a lot.

"Like you feel sick in the stomach?" Zoro questioned, pleased Luffy was telling the truth to him willingly. Luffy nodded. "Are you ever still hungry after you feel sick and stop?" Luffy shook his head. He got full easily, but it still didn't mean he ate a lot.

"You should try something in the gym sometime," Zoro said, not telling him he had to anytime soon. Luffy didn't nod or shake his head.

The two eventually went their ways after some more slightly pointless conversing, Luffy going to Robin to ask for the second book and Zoro went to go on his computer.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. It was the usual. Luffy stayed in the living room in a corner where they wouldn't notice him and drew the scene. Robin knew he was there, but said nothing and didn't give him away He didn't show anyone the drawing afterwards, he just let it stay in his sketchbook. He was very happy he had supplies to draw, instead of using napkins and broken pencils.

Luffy and Zoro once again slept on the same bed, but this time Luffy had his own blanket he was snuggled into. He was a very quiet sleeper, so Zoro had no risk of waking up from snores. Luffy usually fell asleep before him, so Zoro got to see Luffy's face when he was completely relaxed. He looked very different than he had before the hospital because Luffy was actually sleeping. He looked so much healthier and less miserable, though he still rarely looked happy, never on purpose.

Luffy opened his mouth like he was going to sleep talk, but even unconscious he refused to speak as he closed his mouth quickly. After their earlier conversation, he wanted to know what Luffy's laugh sounded like. He wished so much that Luffy would break out of his shell and smile and talk. Then Zoro could tell him that the people who made him think he had an annoying laugh and smile were wrong. Zoro fell asleep watching Luffy sleep peacefully.