It was difficult for Chopper to describe his feelings upon waking up and finding that Zoro was still beside him. Part of him deep down was still worried that all of it would be taken away by sleep. It was similar to how he felt waking up his very first night on the straw-hat's ship so long ago. Happiness, disbelief, and a twinge of fear at what exactly would come next. Even still every time he closed his eyes he feared Zoro might be gone when he opened them once more. He pressed his hoof to Zoro's chest to feel his beating heart just to assure himself that this was real. He wanted to take in this moment with every sense he had, and chizel it into his head to be permanently ingrained.
He slept with Zoro last night. They had spent countless hours talking. They had been so close throughout the night that not once did Chopper feel a hint of cold despite the wintery landscape outside. Chopper could feel his heartbeat accelerate at these thoughts. His eyes began to sting to the point he had to shut them and bury his face against Zoro's arm, which he had been using as a pillow throughout the night.
Every time Chopper thought he couldn't feel happier, something new came up to prove him wrong. This morning was only the most recent in the past few weeks of happiness.
Once he managed to get control of his emotions Chopper lifted his head. The weight of Zoro's other arm pressed down on his back, making movement difficult. He stared at Zoro's face. Zoro always looked angry, or annoyed to some degree. Even when he slept his brows were furrowed with a crease in the shape of a triangle between his eyebrows made from years of constant scowling. Still, he looked peaceful. Chopper squirmed his body somewhat free of Zoro's grasp and stretched out his neck until he could gently press his muzzle to Zoro's cheek.
"Mmm," Zoro made a noise upon contact and Chopper felt his body jolt with worry. A few moments later the swordsman opened his eyes, and Chopper was forced to stare back.
"Sorry," Chopper said quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"Sokay," Zoro said. His words were a slur of exhausted speech. He lifted his arm off of Chopper's back to rub at his face right where Chopper had just kissed him. "Your nose is freaking cold."
With those words Zoro swung his arm back over Chopper's body and rolled until the reindeer was pressed firmly against him. Chopper let out a tiny gasp at the sudden affection, but didn't dare squirm or make any more noises of complaint in fear it would make Zoro stop. His heart, however, could not so easily be controlled. It continued to pound viciously in his chest.
"First damn night we've been here that I didn't freeze my ass off," Zoro said with a light chuckle as he clutched Chopper tighter. "It's nice to be so close to somebody for a change."
"That's not very good," Chopper said. "That's a good way to get hypothermia if you're not careful."
"Really?" Zoro asked. "I just said how great it was to cuddle up with you and you start giving me the doctor talk?"
"I'm just trying to… Hold on, did you just use the word cuddle?" Chopper asked. Suddenly he was unable to keep himself from smiling no matter how much he tried. It simply broke out on his face upon the realization of what exactly Zoro had said.
"Yeah?" Zoro replied. "So?"
"It's weird to hear you say that," Chopper said. He was trying to keep himself from cracking up but it was going very poorly. "Your voice is so gruff and mean sounding and… I dunno, manly? It's really weird to hear, is all."
"It's not that weird," Zoro said. He was frowning now, but Chopper could tell it came from confusion more so than any negative feelings. "It's kind of what we did. What else do I call it? Snuggle?"
"Oh, gosh, that's so much worse," Chopper laughed. "C'mon, you know Sanji would give you so much hell for saying that to me! Even more if he actually saw it."
"Why the hell would I care?" Zoro said. "I'd like to see him try to make fun of me before I cut his precious hands off. I'll snuggle with whoever the hell I want to."
It was with that sentence that Chopper was unable to contain himself and burst out laughing. Really, it wasn't even all that funny. It was simply the absurdity of Zoro, one of the strongest and most deadly men Chopper knew, opening up so shamelessly to Chopper.
"Piss off, furball," Zoro groaned before running his hand forcefully through Chopper's chest fur to fluff it up. He made a swift motion with his arm and suddenly Chopper was forced under the large blanket that Zoro threw overtop him. He yelped and squirmed, trying to fight his way to freedom as he felt Zoro climb overtop him off of the bed. The sound of the swordsman's feet creaking on the wood floor was what Chopper heard just as he managed to free his head from the blanket. He was greeted instantly by Zoro standing before him picking up his strewn about clothing piece by piece.
Chopper was finding it difficult not to stare. Last night he had been so inside his own head trying not to screw up that it had been difficult to appreciate all of Zoro. When Zoro glanced behind him Chopper instantly shot his head down. His cheeks felt warm.
"Shut up," Chopper said quickly.
"I didn't say anything," Zoro said.
"You were gonna," Chopper mumbled.
"I might have been thinking of a comment or two," Zoro replied. "What, you didn't get a good enough look last night?"
Zoro then smirked, and Chopper felt his face become so warm that he buried his face under the blankets to mask his embarrassment.
The reindeer listened to Zoro finish getting dressed as he calmed down under the safety of the blanket. After a minute the swordsman got down onto his knees and Chopper could make out the faint outline of Zoro through the thin fabric. Zoro pulled down the blanket to expose Chopper's face.
"Your face is red," Zoro said.
"Jerk," Chopper mumbled.
"I know," Zoro replied as he stroked the fur on Chopper's cheek. The reindeer's nerves near instantly soothed at that slight touch. It was almost annoying how Zoro could do that to him. "Listen, if you're not sick of me yet how about we give our time together off the ship another shot today? We can stay in town this time so we don't wind up in a cave for three hours."
Chopper felt his heart begin to flutter.
"You mean a date?" Chopper asked.
"Ugh," Zoro groaned and rolled his eyes. "If you tell Sanji I said this I'll skin you… but, yeah, basically. It's a date."
Chopper smiled to the point he wasn't sure if he could physically restrain himself from showing teeth. He squirmed and gave a nod of his head. Zoro gave a light smile of his own before he leaned in and gave Chopper a quick kiss. Again, like many times before, Chopper felt his heart flutter at the touch of Zoro's lips. When they parted he was already giggling.
"You're really mushy lately," Chopper said.
"Whose fault is that?" Zoro asked with a smirk before he squeezed Chopper's cheek. After a few moments he released his fingers, and then his smirk faded. His eyes cast downward very briefly as a new emotion crossed his face. Chopper struggled to read what Zoro was feeling.
"Is something wrong?" Chopper asked.
"No," Zoro said as he shook his head. He reached down his hand and grasped Chopper's hoof. He squeezed it in his hand and let out a long sigh. "I'm just thinking about when my body moved to block that bullet… I'm really glad it happened. I think I would have been too thick to figure out how I really felt, otherwise."
Zoro frowned and shook his head again, this time with a groan.
"That sounds wrong," Zoro grumbled. "I just me—-"
"I'm glad too," Chopper responded before Zoro could finish.
Zoro looked to him, and for a moment they just stared at each other. There wasn't Zoro's usual cocky smile or even much emotion. Him and Chopper just stared at each other in silence, taking in the weight of those words. Chopper's heart was pounding but not once did he look away. Finally the spell was broken when Zoro lifted his hand and put it on the back of Chopper's head and began to lightly tossle the fur on the reindeer's body.
"Get some rest," Zoro said. He reached down and picked up Chopper's hat, which had been sitting on the floor this entire time. He put it over Chopper's head and squeezed it past his antlers only to push it down past his eyes. When Chopper pushed it up Zoro was already standing. "I'm gonna go train. Wanna meet up around lunch?"
"Sure," Chopper said.
It was getting really hard not to constantly smile.
—-
The kitchen was already a mess by the time Chopper worked up the energy to crawl himself out of bed and try to get breakfast. Minus Zoro, it seemed that the reindeer was one of the last to come to the kitchen that morning. As he wandered inside, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, he saw Sanji with his sleeves rolled up plunged into the kitchen sink scrubbing at plates.
"Morning," Chopper said sleepily as he made his way inside. He noticed Nami, Luffy, and Usopp all at the table. Nami was staring downward at a map with a cup of coffee pushed to the side while Luffy was too busy stuffing his face to notice the reindeer. The only one who glanced his way was Usopp.
Usopp did something strange when he saw Chopper. His eyes widened, and then he glanced away quickly.
"Morning," Sanji said, distracting Chopper before he could think too hard about his friend's strange look. "Is Zoro not with you?"
"No," Chopper said, instantly feeling warm in the face at Sanji's assumption. "He's up training."
"Figures he'd take his swell time," Sanji grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "Food's on the counter. Dig in before Luffy steals it all."
Chopper did just that. He grabbed his plate of food quickly before heading over toward the table on the end that both Luffy and Usopp were sitting.
"Morning," Luffy said, his mouth still full of food as he attempted to speak.
Usopp didn't greet Chopper. In fact, he seemed to tense up as the reindeer approached. Once Chopper was closer he saw that Usopp's plate was almost full compared to Luffy's practically empty one. It wasn't unusual for Luffy to eat the fastest, but it was for Usopp to be moving around the food on his plate without so much as lifting his fork. He was staring downward when Chopper sat down with his head leaning on his hand. Once Chopper cocked his head and tried to meet Usopp's eyes only then did Usopp look up. He seemed to jump upon realizing that Chopper was staring at him.
"O-Oh, hey!" Usopp said quickly. "Sorry, I was thinking about something."
"It's fine," Chopper said. "You okay?"
"What?" Usopp asked. He looked up again at Chopper. It seemed like he had already drifted off in thought, because when he responded he jumped again. He was definitely avoiding Chopper's eye. "Sorry, I uh… I just remembered, I promised Franky I would help him with a… thing."
"A thing?" Chopper asked. He was even more confused now.
"An IMPORTANT thing!" Usopp said before standing up. "Sorry, gotta run!"
Before Chopper could think of what to say Usopp was already half-jogging out of the kitchen. He breezed right past Sanji and nearly stumbled his way out of the door. Chopper watched with a frown on his face.
"What's with him?" Chopper asked before looking back to Luffy, who was already grabbing what was left on Usopp's plate and shoveling it onto his own.
"Dunno," Luffy said before stuffing a slab of meat into his mouth. "Man, I can't believe he just left this food. This stuff's good!"
Chopper frowned and stared back at the doorway. Part of him was tempted to abandon his meal and go after Usopp himself, but before he could give that any real weight he heard his name be called.
"Hey, Chopper," Nami said from the other end of the table. "How are we on medical supplies?"
Chopper's train of thought was forced to derail.
"I've only had to use a few bandages on Usopp" Chopper said. "Are we leaving soon?"
"Hopefully tonight," Nami said. "Last night while I was out all the locals said a storm was coming tomorrow. The log pose was ready this morning, so I'd like to get out of here and avoid another blizzard like that last one. So stock up on what you need before we head out, alright?"
"Alright," Chopper said with a nod. "Me and Zoro were planning to go out around lunch anyway."
"Again?" Luffy asked. "You two have been together a lot lately."
Instantly Chopper felt his chest tense up. For Luffy of all people to realize something was going on worried the reindeer to no end. He really was bad at hiding this sort of thing.
"Um… A little, I guess," Chopper said as he rubbed uncomfortably at his neck.
"Hey, Luffy," Sanji snapped. "Get your ass over here and help me wash dishes! It's your turn, anyway."
"Uuuugh, fine," Luffy whined just as he finished the last of Usopp's food. Chopper looked to see Sanji smile briefly in his direction before turning away back toward the sink. Chopper let out a long sigh to himself once Luffy was up and heading toward the sink.
Chopper began to properly eat his food as he worked to smooth out all his jumbled thoughts. He thought the only thing he had to worry about today was what exactly he and Zoro would do together. However, Usopp's behavior was lingering in the back of his mind. On top of that, he had to worry about Luffy noticing him and Zoro's time together and start making a list in his head of what he wanted to look to buy medically speaking.
"Ugggh," Chopper groaned under his breath. His head felt like it might burst with worry.
Then, seemingly just to push the reindeer over the edge, Chopper felt a hand press to his side. This concerned him, seeing as how he was utterly alone at his end of the table. He yelped and jumped straight out of his seat only to fall right onto his back with a loud thud.
"What the heck was that?" Nami called, standing up to look down at the reindeer.
Chopper sat up slowly. His eyes widened as he saw a long, tan arm sticking out from the underside of the table and slowly sink back in until it disappeared.
Robin.
"S-Sorry," Chopper said as he got back up and rubbed where he had fallen. "I guess I just slipped."
"Well jeez, be more careful," Nami said before sitting back down.
Chopper looked around the room and toward the windows, but he didn't see Robin anywhere. He reached up to grab his plate, which he was already close to finishing, and shoved the last few bites in his mouth before handing it off to Luffy.
"Thanks for the food," Chopper said quickly before he turned to leave the kitchen. His heart was racing as he stepped outside.
He still didn't see Robin. That was until a new hand sprouted right in front of him, startling the reindeer. It pointed its finger directly at Chopper, who slowly turned around and glanced up. There he finally saw Robin standing before the railing on the second floor. Her eyes were locked on a book in one hand, but upon seeing that Chopper had found her she shut it gently and gave him a smile.
"Hi, Robin," Chopper said, turning to gaze up at the woman. "Did you need something?"
"I don't think I need you, but," Robin began. "I have a feeling you want to talk to me. Am I wrong?"
Robin's voice was gentle and soothing. It only made Chopper feel all the more silly for feeling so anxious at the sight of her. But Chopper couldn't stop thinking of the night before.
She knew Chopper's secret. That simple fact made the reindeer feel sick to his stomach. Though it was usually hard for the reindeer to read her blank eyes he saw a hint of compassion behind them. He reminded himself that Robin wasn't malicious, and more importantly that she was his friend.
"I-I do," Chopper said, hoping that his voice didn't sound nearly as nervous as he felt. He looked down, his face already feeling warm. His ears twitched when he heard Robin's gentle chuckle.
"Well then," Robin said. "Should I get Zoro's attention, or do you want to go fetch him?"