"Wow, it's really nice of Rika's mom, letting us use their bathroom! And did you hear her say she's gonna feed us too?"
"Y-Yeah," Coby stammers, trailing nervously behind his dark-haired friend, staring with awe and no little consternation at the way Luffy's strolling blithely down the hallway toting the unconscious demonic terror of East Blue, Roronoa Zoro, slung over his right shoulder like a sack of potatoes, head down and limp arms dangling.
Alvida's former cabin boy is carrying the swordsman's weapons, and the sheathed steel's heavy as hell, but he's got both arms wrapped around the bundle in a death grip, convinced the Pirate Hunter's certain to snap promptly awake and gut him on the spot should he begin to drop even just one of the three katana.
Entering the bathroom, Luffy lowers Zoro to the tile floor with a small grunt of effort, then straightens, dashing a few droplets of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Whew! He's heavier than he looks." He cracks his knuckles. "Alright, put those against the wall over there 'n gimme a hand."
"A hand with wh- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"What's it look like?" Luffy responds without looking up from where he's squatting beside his limp crew mate, wrestling the man's haramaki down his thighs. "Zoro spent nine days tied to a pole- he's dirty. And Makino says you always oughta wash up before coming to the table, but he can't do that if he's passed out and I'm too hungry to wait 'til he wakes up, so we're gonna do it for him. Get his shirt?"
Coby timidly obeys, fingers trembling. He stops with the grubby garment scrunched in a wadded tangle between his hands, jaw dropping open, at his first glimpse of the swordsman's bare chest and stomach. "W-WOW, look at those muscles!"
"Lucky," grumbles Luffy as he tosses Zoro's second boot aside and sets to work stripping off his pants. His annoyance at his own rubber body's difficulties with developing a similarly impressive physique turns to undisguised glee, however, once he discovers Zoro's not only wearing NEITHER boxers NOR briefs beneath his trousers, but- "Shishishi! Check it out, Coby; he's green down here too!"
Head turning automatically to see, Coby nearly bites off the tip of his tongue, flushing scarlet. "He's- uh- he's pretty b-big all over, isn't h-he?" Giving a strangled laugh and tearing his eyes away with oblivious reluctance, he stumbles to his feet and starts fussily collecting the clothing strewn across the floor. "I'm- I'm just gonna-" Bumping into the wall as he gropes blindly for the doorknob. "M-Maybe Rika's mother w-would be willing to wash these? I'll just go-" And then he's gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
"Well, that was weird," Luffy remarks aloud, frowning as he casts another long, speculative look at his swordsman's crotch. "Oi, Zoro, I think Coby's scared of your dick." He's not sure WHY, unless his pink-haired friend's accustomed to anatomical measurements scaled by a fairly short ruler, because Zoro's decently sized, without a doubt, but he's not THAT big. Luffy would have to drop his shorts to check but he's fairly certain HE'S actually the more well-endowed between the two of them.
Comparing dick lengths isn't going to get either of them ready for the dinner table, though, tempting as obtaining a definite answer of who's more impressive might be. After a moment or two of speculation about how he's going to accomplish his task alone, Luffy drags Zoro over to where the floor meets the wall and props him carefully against it, below the showerhead. Scrounging around the bathroom, he arms himself with soap and some variety of poofy bath sponge thing he's never encountered before but turns amazingly sudsy after it's been dampened and mashed between his hands a bit.
Might as well start at the top and work his way down.
Zoro's hair proves much softer than it looks, which he finds amusing, because it LOOKS like cactus needles or maybe hedgehog bristles. He runs his soapy fingers behind the other pirate's ears, watching with curiosity as the droplets suspended from the three tiny gold hoops in the left earlobe swing and clink together at his touch. Wondering how much the piercings hurt when the holes were first made, because until now, he's never seen anyone wear more than two earrings in the same ear. Thinking the man's definitely got a thing for threes. Three swords, three earrings-?
He raises the sponge again, intending to scrub the dirt and dried blood from his new crew member's face, and pauses.
There's a grain of rice caught in the corner of Zoro's mouth. Not even a full grain, really, just a fragment of one, and when his stomach growls, Luffy acts without thinking, leaning in to tease it free with the tip of his tongue.
His taste buds register nothing but a salty copper tang, the starch of the rice lost in blood and sweat, so he gives another firm lick to make sure he's gotten it- and Zoro's lips part beneath his mouth, issuing a low, breathy noise that's somewhere between a groan and a sigh.
The captain jerks backward, startled, hand crushing the sponge hard enough to squirt suds on his vest as he loses his balance and plops down hard on his rear. His heart's hammering in his rib cage, his pulse caught in his throat.
Zoro, however, doesn't move, although his mouth remains hanging open and, after a few seconds, begins emitting a soft snoring sound.
Blinking, not quite sure what's just happened or why his heart's pounding so hard, Luffy slowly maneuvers back into a crouch and retrieves the sponge. His stomach's doing funny excited little flip-flops as he resumes cleaning Zoro's face, properly this time, and he tries to ignore it, reminding himself that there's food coming shortly.
In the meantime, however, he takes advantage of his swordsman's slumber to make a closer scrutiny of his features. He's far less spooky without the bandana tied around his head and obscuring almost half his face, and he almost certainly looks younger- closer to Luffy's own age- with his eyes closed and brows relaxed in sleep and the blood stains wiped from his mouth and nose. Careful dabbing at his left cheek reveals a thin cut beneath the crust dried along it, and there's a scattering of bruises in various stages of bloom on his collarbone and torso. Obviously Helmeppo hadn't been satisfied with simply having him tied to the pole on public display, but had ordered him beaten as well.
Luffy scowls, wishing the whiny little jerk was here right now so he could hit him just one more time.
He admires Zoro's well-defined pectoral and abdominal muscles with jealous interest as he scrubs them free of dirt and sweat, and he can't resist giving one bicep a curious squeeze when he raises the arm to clean its underside. The swordsman's palms and fingers are rough with calluses undoubtedly earned from handling his katana. Remembering how the third katana was clenched between his teeth, the captain wonders if the insides of his lips are similarly coarse but reluctantly refrains from checking- Zoro probably wouldn't appreciate soapy fingers in his mouth.
Everywhere, he glimpses thin shiny threads of scar tissue, old minor injuries now healed.
Thighs. Knees. Calves. Ankles. Skin paler here- skin paler from his hips down, actually- so he must spend a lot of time shirtless, although there's not as much of a contrast as Luffy expected, and he wonders if that means his new green-haired friend sometimes sun-bathes in the nude. A thought that lends itself to a mental picture more agreeable than he-
His stomach flip-flops again, with force, and he bites his lower lip, hoping that whatever food's currently being prepared is being prepared in quantity, because his empty belly's antics are starting to get on his nerves. The faster he finishes this, the better.
To reach Zoro's back without toppling him over, he'll need to reach around while leaning him forward in his current upright position, which means getting more soap on his damp vest, so he takes it off. Sliding his arms under the other man's, he's able to pull his upper body forward, squirming until Zoro's chin tucks between his neck and shoulder, which is far more comfortable than having it digging into either of them.
Zoro's warm and slippery and smells like blood and steel under the faint herbal odor of the soap, and Luffy's slightly disconcerted by just how GOOD it feels to hold someone so close, even if that person's not holding him back. Rubbing circles on his swordsman's back with the sponge- unaware he's already thinking of Zoro as HIS swordsman as opposed to A swordsman or THE swordsman- he does his best to clean flesh he can't quite see from this angle, and while his stomach's not only still complaining but doing so with even greater insistence as the minutes pass, being tucked against Zoro like this seems nearly as nice as the thought of the meal awaiting them.
When his hand drops lower, sliding the wet, soapy sponge across the tops of Zoro's buttocks and sending suds slithering between them, Zoro makes that same eager, guttural sound as earlier. This time, however, he utters it directly in Luffy's ear, and this time he doesn't JUST make the noise; this time his spine arches, his hips flexing forward to push his pelvis against the rubber man with insistent force, nearly knocking him over.
Giving a short squawk of surprise, Luffy fights to keep his balance, dropping one knee to the tiles to brace their combined weight. With some effort, since the sandal still resting flat against the floor's threatening to shoot out from under him, he manages to get Zoro's uncooperative body propped back against the bathroom wall without further incident and pauses to catch his breath, eyeing his swordsman's groin with considerable amusement.
If Coby had been embarrassed earlier, Luffy's pretty sure right now he'd be mortified.
"I dunno what you're dreaming," he tells Zoro, a note of laughter in his voice. "-but it must be somethin' pretty good since your dick's doin' THAT!" After a moment of hesitation, he shrugs and gives the semi-tumescent organ in question and the flesh below it a couple quick swipes with the sponge, having reasoned it'd be really dumb to wash the guy everywhere else BUT there. He doesn't linger though, even when his curiosity flares fiercely at the audible moan and additional rigidity the brief contact evokes. He likes Zoro. He doesn't want Zoro to get pissed off and leave, and that's probably what'll happens if he wakes up and thinks that Luffy's-
What? Thinks that I'm doing what? Frowning, not sure where his thoughts are headed, he stands up and tugs the handle of the showerhead out of the base. That I'm not just washing him but trying to-?
Unfortunately, he's so distracted by the confusing notions circling each other like wary canines inside his head that he's not paying much attention to what he's doing, and the freezing cold torrent that comes blasting out of the sprayer into Zoro's face brings him immediately back to consciousness, flailing and sputtering in outrage.
"Hi!" Luffy exclaims cheerfully, discomfiture immediately forgotten. "You're awake!"
"Oi, gimme that goddamn-!" The swordsman tries to rise and slips on the wet, soapy tiles. "Fuck!" He struggles to his knees and snatches the showerhead from his amused captain's hand, turning it towards the floor until he can adjust the temperature and get both feet firmly beneath him. Dripping water, soap bubbles still clinging here and there to his skin and nestled in his hair, he turns his head this way and that, taking in his surroundings and glancing down at himself before just as quickly dismissing his state of undress to return his gaze to Luffy. "My swords?"
Luffy steps aside so the katana are visible where Coby left them leaning against the wall beside the door, and he doesn't miss how the tension instantly vanishes from the green-haired man's posture at the sight of them. "I figured Zoro might wanna see 'em right away after he woke up, to make sure he still had 'em."
"Yeah- thanks." Zoro tests the water still erupting from the sprayer with his hand. "I assume my clothes are around here somewhere too?"
"Uh huh. Coby took 'em to get washed," Luffy explains, watching his swordsman rinse the remaining suds from his hair and body. He's rather pleased with Zoro's nonchalant reaction to finding himself nude AND his lack of distress at remaining so in his captain's presence. Maybe he WOULDN'T'VE gotten mad if he'd woken up while I was using the sponge on his boner. Maybe I could've- …done a better job? He frowns, because this doesn't seem quite where his mind wanted to go for a second or two there, but- Yeah. That.
A discrete peek shows him the erection's completely gone- most likely thanks to the cold water- although why he should find this fact mildly disappointing, he's got no idea. There's been a lot of strange thoughts popping into his head this evening. He supposes this makes sense; it's harder to think when you're hungry.
"Ah, okay." Shutting off the faucet, Zoro returns the showerhead handle to its holder and begins taking inventory of his injuries, droplets of moisture glistening on his bare skin. Water's running out of his wet hair, trickling down his neck, and Luffy's eyes follow one of the thin streams, tracing its path as it travels between the swordsman's thick pectorals and slides over his abs, skirting his navel and eventually vanishing into the small patch of green pubic hair that he'd found so entertaining earlier.
He swallows hard, and his stomach flip-flops with enough violence to make him wince. He knows he MUST be starving if he's wondering how Zoro would taste if he sauntered over to lick the water off that toned midriff before sinking his teeth into it. He's only ever bitten other people during fights that ended up requiring some pretty dirty moves, so the urge to just go ahead and do it for no reason except wanting to, well, that's just bizarre.
He covers his consternation by tossing the taller man a towel, which he snatches out of mid-air with easy confidence. "Rika's mom said she's gonna feed us."
"We're at her place?" Zoro asks. He flops the towel over his head, covering his hair and most of his face, and begins rubbing furiously.
"Uh huh..." Staring openly again, because the vigorous movements of Zoro's arms are making his biceps, pectorals and abdominal muscles- not to mention a particular portion of his pelvic anatomy- do some very interesting things.
"The Marines didn't give us any trouble? I'm guessing not, since we're here, not locked up in a jail cell."
Luffy clears his throat. "Nah, I think they were just happy the guy in charge couldn't- ah- tell 'em to shoot themselves anymore." He's having a difficult time tearing his gaze away from Zoro's flaccid cock, mesmerized by the way it's swaying with his body's movements, although he knows he'd better look away before the towel comes off the former bounty hunter's head.
"They'll probably come after us once they get their shit straightened out," Zoro points out, volume muffled. "-so I'm thinking we shouldn't hang around too long once we're finished eating." With these words, there's a gurgling whine from his midsection and he snorts. "No way I'm leaving without getting some food in me first, though. I'm starving."
"I don't know HOW Zoro made it more than a week without-" The towel comes off and Luffy's statement dissolves into a screech of helpless laughter, because his swordsman's half-dried hair is standing on end, resembling nothing so much as a frizzy green puffball.
Zoro gives him an indignant glare, draping the towel over one shoulder so he can comb his fingers through the damp locks and return them to a semblance of order.
Stifling his outburst but unable to stop grinning, Luffy's about to ask him if his pubes do the same thing every time THEY'RE towel-dried when there's a cautious tapping on the bathroom door before it eases open a crack to reveal Coby's anxious face.
"Are- are you guys decent?"
"Sure!" "Not hardly ever."
Luffy chokes on a giggle at Zoro's reply, which the taller man has voiced with the most deadpan expression he's sure he ever witnessed.
Coby, who's already begun opening the door further in response to the rubber man's careless assurance that all's well, utters a squeaky little scream of dismay and horror at the sight of Zoro casually toweling off his neck, shoulders and arms while the rest of his blatantly nude body continues dripping water on the tiles. He nearly slams the door shut on his own head in his panic, and only Luffy grabbing him by one shoulder and yanking him into the room prevents him from giving himself a nasty concussion. He doesn't appear to notice; he's too busy shielding his eyes. "Sorry, sorry!"
"I don't bite," Zoro remarks mildly, shooting an amused glance in Luffy's direction. "Most of the time, anyway."
It's a jest eerily parallel to what the captain had been musing earlier, and his breath catches a bit as he tries to speculate just what his swordsman means.
"I thought you'd be wearing a towel," Coby blurts, crimson-faced. "Around your-" He makes a horizontal looping gesture with the forefinger of one hand, indicating Zoro's waist.
"It's been a while since I've been around anybody who cared. You want me to-?"
NO, Luffy almost says, but he bites his tongue instead, hiding his disappointment as Zoro retrieves a second towel from the nearby rack and slings it carelessly around his hips, where it immediately begins to droop as though it might fall at any moment.
"Th-Thanks," Coby laughs, rubbing self-consciously at the back of his head, cheeks continuing to blaze, and Luffy feels the overwhelming urge to smack him.
Zoro shrugs and returns to drying his torso.
"Rika's mother said she'll hang your shirt on the line to dry, but she couldn't do more than spot-clean your pants since she figured you wouldn't want to, um, wear them wet."
"Tell her thanks, but it's really no big deal- I've worn 'em wet plenty of times before. Just makes your balls a little itchy 'til everything dries out."
"I'll- ah- let her know. That you said it wasn't a pro-problem, that is, NOT the part about your- err- dangly bits. And I'll be back with your pants," Coby assures the swordsman, looking somewhat scandalized, before he makes his escape for the second time.
"… dangly bits?" Zoro asks the empty air.
It's Luffy's turn to shrug. "I guess he's one of those guys who gets embarrassed real easy whenever somebody starts talkin' 'bout dicks 'n stuff."
"And you're not?"
"Nope."
"In that case, mind if I ask you something kinda pers-"
"Yeah, my dick stretches too," Luffy interrupts, having fielded this particular personal question more times than he can recall. It's usually one of the first things new acquaintances ask after learning he's a rubber man, and he doesn't blame people for being curious. Hell, he was pretty damn curious himself when he initially realized the effects extended to ALL parts of his body. "No, it doesn't hurt, 'though it starts feeling kinda weird if I keep it that way for too long. And yeahhh," He rolls his eyes. "-if I get nailed in the nuts, it still usually hurts."
Zoro's grinning, towel forgotten in his hands. "Sounds like you get asked that shit a lot."
"It's okay, I'm used to it, and besides- you're one of my crew now, right?"
Both of these things are true, but even as he says them, he can't help feeling a bit- well- anxious that it's ZORO asking questions, wanting to know more about him. More about THAT part of him.
I guess it's fair, though, since I saw his. And TOUCHED it. Well, with the sponge, not with my hand, but- At the thought of wrapping soap-lathered but otherwise bare fingers around his swordsman's cock, Luffy feels his stomach do that excited little skip-hop again, and this time he also feels his own cock stirring in his shorts. What-
"-black-mailed me into-"
He realizes too late that Zoro's talking to him, but he's too tongue-tied to ask him to repeat whatever he's missed, because sudden understanding's hit him like a fist driving into his solar plexus. His palms are tingling, aching to flatten themselves against his swordsman's torso, explore the broad pectoral muscles with their large areolas and nipples drawn to sharp points by the rapid changes in temperature and vigorous rubbing with the towel.
I want- I want- He wants to do things with Zoro- TO Zoro- that he's never done with- or to- anyone else. That he's heard other people talk about with hushed voices when they thought he couldn't hear or at least wasn't listening.
He wants to kiss Zoro. He wants to bite him, lick and taste him everywhere. Rip that stupid towel off him and rub against him, squeeze his ass hard enough to leave marks, figure out what'll make him make those same helpless noises like he made earlier, and-
Luffy shivers. He's harder than he's ever been in his life- painfully hard- and it's taking every ounce of his willpower not to simply shove a hand down the front of his shorts. Or grab one of ZORO'S hands and shove THAT down-
Imagining his swordsman's strong, calloused fingers encircling his cock- gripping and stroking him to orgasm- makes his knees weak. He's actually dizzy with the strength of his desire, contemplating how Zoro might do to him all those same things he'd like to do to Zoro. Licking, BITING. His mind flashes back to the swordsman clenching the katana handle in his teeth, lips teasing the tightly wrapped braid as he said "no problem, captain" around it, and oh god, oh GOD, he wants his dick in that mouth, Zoro growling "yes, captain" in that dangerous, sultry voice before taking him deep into his throat and sucking him dry.
His cock twitches again, caught in the confines of his shorts, and he comes close to whimpering at the friction of fabric against his glans, convinced for a moment that he's simply going to cum in his pants, right here, right now, right in front of his new crew mate whom he wants so badly.
Who's now frowning, concerned by the stricken expression on his face, and reaching a hand towards him. "Oi, Luffy, are you-?"
If Zoro touches him, even just to apply casual pressure on his arm, he knows he'll lose whatever semblance of control he's got left, but he can't move.
He's saved from the embarrassment of utterly disgracing himself by Coby, who thrusts Zoro's damp trousers into the man's outstretched hand before it can take hold of his shoulder and cheerfully informs them both that food's on the table and waiting for them, whenever they're ready.
Heart racing, boner raging, brain malfunctioning, Luffy immediately blurts an excuse about needing to fill his empty stomach and takes off, not trusting his sanity to remain intact when Zoro drops the second towel to pull on his pants.
"Oi," The swordsman shouts after him. "Leave some for me!"
Oh, I've got something for you, alright, Luffy thinks inanely as he throws himself into a chair and starts steadily emptying the plate set before him, intent on satisfying the one appetite he already knows how to handle while he struggles in vain to figure out just how the hell to deal with this new one that's turned the world upside down and backwards and inside out.
He's shoveling food into his face with furious, frustrated intensity when Coby and Zoro wander in to join him, and he nearly chokes on his latest mouthful because his swordsman's bare-chested - shirt on the line, right - and carrying his abandoned vest dangling from one hand, the weight of the swords secured in the loops on his trousers making them sag perilously low, and Luffy KNOWS there's nothing under them. Nothing but Zoro himself.
Their fingers brush as Zoro hands over his vest, and the flustered captain feels his unrelenting erection jerk as though it's been stroked through the fabric of his shorts. Thankfully the food in his mouth muffles the stutter in his hasty "thank you" and the subject of his interest's more interested in grabbing a plate of his own than having a conversation.
He shrugs into his vest and resumes eating, and for a good while there's blessed silence but for the clatter of silverware and the occasional scuffle over a choice piece of fish or unattended rice ball. Rika's smiling mother brings them seconds and then thirds, as well as Zoro's clean, dried shirt, which does wonders for Luffy's slowly subsiding libido. It's much easier to concentrate on his plate without his swordsman's bare torso on display right beside him.
Eventually conversation does resume, but by then he's calmed down enough to discuss his interest in the Grand Line without his dick jumping around like a grounded, panic-stricken trout every time he looks at Zoro. And he's guiltily glad Coby's not coming with them, because he's beginning to wonder if his pink-haired friend's bashfulness is hiding feelings similar to his own. Although he imagines they're probably more of the romantic variety than the sexual kind that've been running rampant in his head. Coby looks as though he'd faint at the notion of holding Roronoa Zoro's hand, let alone the idea of shoving a dick in the man's mouth.
In any case, he needs time to determine how to properly inform Zoro of his interest without the added worry of a prospective rival. He doesn't know squat about courtship etiquette, but he's fairly certain opening with a line like "hey, would you mind sucking my dick" or "you know, I'd really love to dump this teriyaki sauce on your pecs so I can lick it off your nipples" is PROBABLY not going to win him any points. For one, Zoro might think he's joking. If not, he MIGHT get clobbered for propositioning a guy who's probably not even into guys, much less one built like a rubber band. Or, in the ABSOLUTE WORST scenario, Zoro might be so disgusted and offended, he MIGHT just turn tail and walk away.
Luffy's pretty sure he can handle having his affections rejected; he's well-acquainted with both hands and the prospect of continuing to jerk himself off if his swordsman's not so inclined doesn't bother him. What DOES trouble him is the possibility that he could end up chasing Zoro away completely if he approaches this the wrong way.
He wishes Shanks' and the Red Hair Pirates crew's stories would've included some instructions on how a captain should go about seducing his first mate - or whatever position Zoro's now holding, other than the vividly imagined positions Luffy WISHES he was holding - but no such luck. He's on his own here, and while he may be yet preparing to set sail from Shells Town, metaphorically he's already out there on the sea in a leaky dinghy with no sail and no paddles, praying for a goddamn miracle.
Sooo, okay, maybe he's a bit more enthusiastic than necessary when he draws Coby into a heated phony confrontation for the benefit of the Marines who've come to kick them out of town, but he doesn't regret it much because his antics end up with Zoro seizing him by the collar to hold him back, and that's all he can think about as they march out the door and down to the docks together. Zoro's hand on him voluntarily for the first time, fingers knotted in the fabric of his vest and warm against the nape of his neck, and he's aware now that he wants that hand- both of Zoro's hands- not just down his pants but all over him.
He's still thinking about it hours later, not that his distraction actually contributes to them getting lost considering neither of them can navigate to save their own lives, because while he has no clue how to turn the tides in his favor - the real OR metaphorical ones - and the odds of succeeding are pretty astronomical, he's also not willing to give up.
Somehow, SOMEHOW, there's gotta be a way to pull this off, with the right words, the right timing, whatever. He wants to be the Pirate King AND he wants Roronoa Zoro at his side, NOT just as his swordsman or the world's greatest swordsman or his first mate or his friend but ALSO as his lover.
