[AN] My first One Piece fanfic. Don't kill me =P I started this a week or two ago and finished it while I was sick, but that should be no excuse for the quality of this piece of work. Or nonsense. This is really just a warm up story before I actually start this idea I had that keeps changing and needs a bit of fine tuning. This couple isn't as popular, but I think it's cute. The other couples are fine too (i.e. Luffy/Zoro, Zoro/Sanji, Sanji/Nami, etc.) but I lean more to couples that have more evidence. Anyway, hope people don't flame me for this ;; I don't have a beta reader to help and I only really do spell check and don't like to read it over, so overlook the mistakes, ok? Thanks for reading my note and enjoy!
[Summary] Alternate Universe- Nami faces her toughest challenge yet as a tutor... More commonly known as Monkey D. Luffy. One Shot.
[Disclaimer] I don't own One Piece.
The minutes ticked by as Nami placed her index finger to the corner page of her book before turning it and continued her reading. For half an hour, she had been out there waiting and reading her novel, out to enjoy the beautiful afternoon with no chances of rain today. Of that Nami was most certainly sure of, but she still sat with her back against a large tree truck to take advantage of the shade offered to keep off the heat of the day. An additional cool breeze now and then also made the waiting a lot easier and it seemed more like a time for Nami to relax, rather than the specified meeting place for her to tutor a certain young man.
A soon to be dead man if he didn't arrive in the next ten minutes.
Nami knew it was pointless to get upset --she went through this at least twice a week-- and she was being paid. So basically, this was free money right? He made the appointment, chose the place and time. If doesn't come, then fine, that's his lost. She was still being paid, so it was no skin off her back.
Then again, if he failed his exams and had to repeat his entire senior year again, Nami was sure she would not be hired as his tutor ever again. Or by anyone else for that matter if word was spread. Nami sighed as she placed her makeshift bookmark into her book and placed it down besides her on the soft patch of grass she sat on. Well, at least she was still going to be paid for the time being whether he made it or not and she could surely prove her worth as a tutor to some other, easily manageable kid, so why did it bother her so much? It's not her fault he's a brainless, watch-less, stubborn dolt that couldn't even make it to the appointment he had made himself-
"Oi Nami!" Speak of the devil...
Nami quickly schooled her face into an expression of annoyance as she directed it towards the sound of his voice. She pushed herself up to her feet and dusted off any stray grass that may have clung to her black slacks, then onto straightening her jacket that stiffly clung to her body and smoothing the wrinkles that could be seen on her crisp white dress shirt.
He was waving as he made his way over to her. Even at that distance, she could make out his broad grin and clad in his high school uniform. It was a simple black coat, black slacks and white under shirt uniform. But with Luffy being Luffy, it wasn't all black in white. He wore the black coat but it was unbuttoned and opened wide to reveal the red, not white, undershirt beneath and he had rolled up his slacks just below his knees. To Nami, it looked quite unbecoming and a bit laughable as he had completed his ensemble with straw sandals and of course, that worn down, old straw hat. She crossed her arms over her chest, her annoyance growing with every step that brought him closer to her. She opened her mouth to begin her usual lecture, but he cut her off before she could say much, "You-"
"I know. Sorry, sorry!" He even chuckled a little as he was finally within arms length of her. Not a very smart thing to do if Nami had been really angry. He plopped down on the ground with his legs crossed Indian style, "But it was amazing!"
"Oh?" Nami's brow twitched a little at his shameless smile. Not even a bit guilty for keeping her waiting, as usual.
"Usopp offered to give me a ride over here. He even let me drive the car-"
"He let you what?" Nami gasped as shock quickly replaced her anger. It wasn't often that Usopp let anyone touch his pride and joy, the very special car that was given to him by his long-time friend, Kaya. Usopp and Kaya were indeed, very close, and Kaya was very rich. The car itself wasn't anything special, it was a very practical car and generously given to Usopp who had to travel by bus just to get to school since they're family didn't have all that much money to spare, but once he had gotten his driver's license Kaya had insisted on the gift. The fact that it was from Kaya had Usopp guarding it so zealously, so it was a surprise that he would let someone like... well, like Luffy to even sit inside, much less drive it. Nami didn't believe it for a second.
"I got to drive over here, it was so cool--"
"Liar."
He blinked up at her several times, "No, really, Usopp offered me a ride and-"
"He wouldn't let you drive it-- And when did you get your driver's license?"
"But he did! He let... oh... Mm..." Nami raised a brow as he seemed to register her question and found the grass a lot more interesting. She tapped her foot a little as her brows creased into a frown. It was a little known fact that Luffy had failed his driver's test an abounding number of times. He did try driver's Ed, but that only made his situation and kept all driving teachers in the area to steer clear of the certain teen. Nami didn't blame them either.
"Lu-"
"Wow! Nice shoes Nami. They're so black... and shiny!" His eyes traveled upward, following the path of black with an expression of awe, "Wow, you're all dressed up! But... it's so hot Nami! You didn't have to go to all that trouble for me." Luffy chuckled.
Nami cuffed Luffy and quickly silenced his laughter as she bent down to his eye level. She pinched his cheek and pinned him with a hard glare, "Look you... I've been waiting here for over half an hour for you, I had to rush from my interview just to get here on time, thinking you would be early or at least on time since you suggested the time and place..."
"Interview?" Luffy questioned, though it was slightly mumbled with Nami's hold still clamped firmly on his cheek.
"Mmhm. I can't be tutoring for the rest of my life, especially not you, so if I don't get this job I'm charging you thrice my normal wage." Though, this was a little exaggerated. Nami did have an interview that day, but she had ended half an hour before the appointment with Luffy. It was just that she couldn't really be bothered to go home and change into something more comfortable, then come back. It was her bad judgment to think Luffy would be on time. Nami unconsciously shifted into a more comfortable position that her clothes would allow her.
"Ah, don't worry!" Luffy assured as he removed Nami's hand from his face and grinned widely, probably testing out the muscles in his abused cheek, "You'll get the job, you're super smart, aren't you? Here!"
"Orange juice?" Nami questioned as she caught the can in her lap. She was pleasantly surprised to find it cold and refreshing on such a warm day. "Don't try to bribe me like this... money works better."
Luffy merely laughed, "It's passion orange juice! It's really good-"
"We still have five minutes left in our 'session,'" Nami said, cutting him off at once. She narrowed her eyes at him as she leaned back on her heels before finally allowing herself to fall back onto the ground, "Might as well put it to good use, any questions you have for me or anything you really need to work on?" Nami sighed when Luffy answered immediately, shaking his head and gesturing with his hand in a negative response.
"Nope, nothing."
"Really now?"
"Yup! Well, see ya next week Nami!" Luffy jumped to his feet at once, grinning broadly as he started to head back the way he came. He didn't get far, finding himself flat on his face and mouth full of grass. "Eh?" Luffy immediately sat up and spat to the side in disgust, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and looked around to find the cause of his fall.
An outstretched leg that lay behind him was his answer. His eyes traveled up that leg to find the culprit sitting quite calmly with one leg lying straight out in front of her and the other folded at her side on the grass. She was flipping through one of her folders, oblivious to the angry teenager that turned on her, "Hey Nami, you jerk! What did you do that for?!"
"Excuse me?" Nami snapped back as she found what she was looking for and headed for her bag next, "We may be friends, Mr. Monkey D. Luffy, but as you're hired tutor you will treat me with the respect and honor that I deserve, got it?" She pulled out a pencil during this little reprimand and finished her sentence by tapping the eraser on the tip of Luffy's nose. Luffy rubbed his nose, glaring at her and pulled a face.
"Ow!" Luffy whined when Nami retaliated by pulling on his ear quite roughly. She gave him a final tug, causing him to howl before she lobbed the pencil at his head and hitting him square between the eyes.
"You've got twenty minutes to finish this review sheet I made you. No questions right? So you're basically prepared for anything I can throw at you then," Nami ignored Luffy's protests as he rubbed his forehead and seemed to be tempted to throw the pencil right back at her, "So get to it."
"You said we had five minutes..." Luffy grumbled as he took the paper from her glumly and looked it over with increasing dismay.
"I lied." Nami confessed with a smile as she sat back and waited for him to finish, setting up her watch to time him, "We actually have two hours."
"Two hours... Two hours?!" That had Luffy dropping his pencil and he looked up at her in shock. Her smile became more sinister as she registered the panic in his eyes, "But... We only study for an hour! And I was late! How can we have two hours?!" Luffy argued, looking both fierce and painfully confused.
"Just making up for lost time... Don't worry, I'll only charge half price since I really don't have anything to do after this. Aren't you lucky? We can spend the whole afternoon cramming, if you wanted!" Nami thoroughly enjoyed the look of pure horror etched on the young mans face and smirked, "Is there a problem?"
"Usopp is waiting for me... We were going to get a bite to eat..." Luffy looked much like a kicked puppy and Nami patted his head in sympathy, "Yes, I know how much you love to eat. Oh well!" She ended in a sing-song voice with a grin that could rival his own, had he been in the mood to smile.
"I was going to invite you to. You're so mean Nami..." Nami nodded, "Yes, yes. Quite a slave-driver aren't I? I'll call Usopp and tell him you're going to have to miss out. Hurry, you've only got seventeen minutes left."
Depression radiated off of Luffy in waves as he took up his pencil and started on the worksheet. Nami shook her head as she reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Usopp's number. "I'm doing this to help you. I don't enjoy being the bad guy, you know." At this moment, that was a lie, but Nami knew this really would help Luffy in the long run. Well, hopefully in would.
"Hello?"
"Usopp, Luffy's kind of busy right now-"
"She won't let me go--"
"You! Get back to work--"
"Luffy?!" The over-dramatic gasp had Nami clenching her jaw, "Nami, you slave driver--"
"Oh knock it off, you know he's been avoiding his study sessions purposely. I also know for a fact that you've been helping him..."
"Er... I have no idea of what you're talking about..." Nami sighed, looking out of the corner of her eye to find Luffy staring at her quite openly as he listened in on the conversation. She turned her head to match his stare, both of them able to hear Usopp's babbled excuses over her phone. Her brow twitched in irritation as Luffy continued to stare back at her blankly.
"Ow!" Luffy rubbed the bump on his head. Nami pointed to his paper and then tapped her watch. Luffy frowned at her, "I don't know what time it is Nam-"
"Just get back to work! Anyway, Usopp," Nami said as she cut off his ramblings, "just leave Luffy with me--"
"So you can torture him for information!?" Usopp's tone quickly changing as he started to name off different sorts of tortures he had picked up from who-knows- where causing Nami to sigh. Why did they always have to be so dramatic about it? "Usopp..." Nami began slowly, revealing her sudden exhaustion, "Don't you mean, torture him with information? I don't think I could get much out of him, even if I were to squeeze him out like a sponge."
"Hey!" Luffy interjected, but Nami shushed him and turned his head back to his paper.
"You have a point there..."
"And what's this I hear about letting Luffy drive your car?"
This caused Luffy to start laughing when he caught this, but a glare quickly silenced him.
"Argh! That's right, that damn jerk!" Nami sighed, "He hopped in the driver's seat and I was forced into the passenger seat. He nearly crashed three times on the way over here and I think there were police cars... I think that was after the fruit stand in china town-"
"Ok." Nami cut off having heard enough, "I don't really want to know. Just leave him to me."
"All right. Well he's your problem now," Usopp laughed into the phone, Nami keeping this in mind to whack him later, "Have fun!" Nami snorted, ending the call and tossing her phone back into her bag carelessly. Of course, fun, Nami thought irately as she had the urge to remove her restricting clothing. Nami ignored Luffy's questioning look as she began to struggle with her jacket. He soon lost interest and went back to stressing over the piece of paper. Nami tossed her jacket onto her bag, also undoing a couple of buttons on her dress shirt and the buttons on her cuffs.
That's better, Nami thought as she flopped onto her back and stared up at the sky, finding her view of the vast blue space obscured by the thick branches and foliage above from the tree that they were using to take advantage of the shade. Sunlight filtered in through the leaves and left odd shapes of shadows across her entire body. Nami let herself relax a little as she took in the beauty of the day and let out a sigh.
"Nami?"
"Give me five minutes... Just need to rest..." Nami mumbled thickly, a little bit surprised at how tired she actually felt. She just barely heard Luffy's cheerful affirmation of her request. That was the last thing she caught before drifting off.
"Nami?"
She shifted a little with a soft moan, but did not wake. There seemed to be a constant press against her cheek, but she merely raised a hand in her half-conscious state to brush it away.
"Nami!" The voice sang out her name, sounding a little clearer and a lot closer this time, the touches now going to her shoulder. The constant lift and press of pressure seemed to wake Nami from her slumber and her eyes began to flutter open. Her eyes were half-lidded now and blurry, but she could just make out a vague shape in front of her. She blinked several times and a rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand gently and stared blankly for a few moments. It was then that she registered a large pair of eyes staring directly into her own at a very close range.
"Nami let out a surprised yell and lifted her head, colliding it with the owner of the pair of those large eyes. "What the--?! Ow!"
"Ow ow ow..." Nami glanced over at the other person whimpering in pain as she rubbed her forehead at the point of impact and brought herself to a sitting position. She wasn't surprised to find Luffy clutching his own forehead and giving Nami a glare, "What did you do that for!?"
"I should be asking you that, idiot! What are you doing with your face so close to mine?" Nami retorted. She winced as she touched the area where they had collided. Now I might have a bruise, I always knew he had such a hard head...
"You were sleeping." Luffy answered in a matter-of-factly tone, sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded over his chest. "Even though I left for a while, I came back and you were still sleeping."
"Well I didn't get much rest last night, okay? I had a test this morning that I was studying for and the inter-" Nami stopped as Luffy's response slowly registered in her, still, slightly fuzzy brain and stared at him incredulously, "You left?!" Luffy nodded. "What? When? I..." Nami glanced at the sky and realized how considerably darker it had gotten and fumbled for her watch. Blinking rapidly, she discovered is was very late in the afternoon. Over three hours had passed since Luffy had arrived for their little study session.
"But... I... You left?!" Nami stumbled over her words; still half-asleep she raised her hand and ran it through her hair, catching little snags and tangles.
"Yup. I finished the paper thing-"
"So why didn't you wake me up?" Nami demanded as she interrupted him, but he ignored her and continued on, "I was kind of hungry so I went to go find some place to eat. This place was really far from any good restaurants, you know? It took me a while to find a shop that sold meat-"
"You should have woken me up at least!" Nami snapped as she gave Luffy a well deserved bump on the head. "You did it on purpose again, didn't you? So we wouldn't have do anymore work right?" Nami accused the teen angrily as she leaned back, now wide awake. Luffy winced and rubbed the new bump on his head, frowning.
"No, I was really hungry!" He answered honestly, "And you were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you."
Nami snorted to herself as she looked to the side with an expression of disbelief, "It's just a coincidence that you become considerate enough for me in order to miss the rest of our session together, huh?" Luffy blinked at her, and then nodded, "Yup."
That gave him another lump on the head, "We're still going to finish this session, even if we have to stay out here all night!"
"What? Aw come on Nami... can't we do this next week? I'm really sorry that I left." Luffy whined as he rocked from side to side, pouting. Nami inwardly groaned at his childish behavior and shook her head in a negative response. Luffy continued to pout at her, but this had no affect on Nami whatsoever.
"More importantly... How could you just leave me like that? You know how many weirdo's are out there? I could have been raped or something!" Luffy gave her a dubious look, but Nami ranted on, even if it was a bit exaggerated, "I was here sleeping and defenseless in this secluded place, that you picked yourself, and left alone where someone could have come along and kidnapped me and done, who knows what to me!"
"Really?" Luffy questioned, blinking and put a hand to Nami's shoulder. Nami pulled out of her ranting mode at his touch and fixed a rather hard glare on him, " Yes, really... Anything can happen, you know."
"Well..." Luffy stressed the word as he began patting down Nami's body. Her look turned to that of puzzlement as he peered at her closely, patting his hands about her body. Had it been anyone else, Nami would have believed that person was trying to feel her up, but since this was Luffy, that thought was out of the question. At least, it better be.
"Hey..." Nami began, her brow beginning to twitch as Luffy continued, whatever it was he was doing, "What are you doing?"
"Just checking you." Another lump was added to Luffy's head. Maybe he's not as naive and innocent as she thought, "What do you mean by that?"
"Ow... I don't think you were raped. You feel alright to me. I don't think anyone could touch you without waking you up anyway." Luffy added and laughed as he rubbed his battered head. Nami rolled her eyes and sat with her legs beneath her.
"Of course I wasn't, idiot. I was just trying to make a point. Just wake me up next time, okay? If you did, I could have just driven you somewhere and we could have gone to eat or something afterwards..."
"Really?" Luffy questioned excitedly and Nami nodded. "All right! Then let's go now!"
"Wait, wait... Let me see that paper first." Luffy didn't seem deterred at all and pointed to her bag. Nami reached over to it and found the paper sticking halfway out, slightly crumpled and crushed to one side by the zipper. She shook her head slightly, but not enough to catch Luffy's attention and pulled the paper out, smoothing it out on her lap and started to go over it.
"Let's go! Let's go! Food, food, food! Meat, meat, meat!" Luffy began to chant cheerfully as he constantly wriggled in his spot across from her. Nami slowly raised her eyes to meet Luffy's usual optimistic expression, her left eye twitched.
"Luffy..." He continued to grin and wriggle about excitedly, "You..." She whapped him in the head with her bag, "Idiot!"
Luffy blinked, the bag having little effect since there wasn't much in there, just her cell phone and a folder holding her back-up resume and some notes. "What kind of answers are these?" Nami yelled at him as she brandished the paper into his face. He blinked at the paper once, and then looked at the rather upset expression on her face. "What? Are they wrong?"
Obviously... Unless I always try to pop a vein when you do something right for once, Nami thought as she started to count backwards from ten and instead snapped at him, "What do you think?!" She then turned the paper around so she could read some of the questions and answers aloud, hoping that maybe if he heard them he would realize his mistakes, "Look at this one, 'What was the significance of the Battle of Midway?' and what did you put..."
"What did I put?"
Nami growled at him and Luffy realized he shouldn't push his luck, "Your answer," She began through clenched teeth, "was 'They fought midway.'"
Luffy nodded, arms crossed, "Oh, so that's why!"
"No that's not why!" Nami screamed at him and shoved his head into the ground, rubbing his face into the grass and sorely wishing it was jagged rocks or broken glass instead, "We just went over this last week, you idiot! We spent... I spent hours drilling it into your head!" Luffy's response was muffled through a clump full of dirt and grass lodged up in his mouth and nose.
"Jeez..." Nami sighed as she relinquished her hold on Luffy's head and let out a long sigh as her shoulders slumped. She sat with her legs folded outwards and she pressed her palms against her eyes, mumbling, "Why me?" Over and over again as Luffy coughed and snorted out the stray pieces of grass and dirt.
"Why'd you do that Nami?" Luffy yelled as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She slowly removed her palms from her eyes with a 'are you kidding me?' look, which he did not seem to catch. "I just messed up one answer right? The others are correct, aren't they?"
"Oh, you wish..." Nami growled, causing Luffy to frown. She sighed at his stubborn attitude when he demanded she check the rest. "Alright! Okay," She conceded tiredly and read off a random question, "'Solve the equation for the ellipse, three X squared plus two Y squared equals twelve.' Your answer... 'There won't be an eclipse for a while since it was a full moon last night.'"
A long silence stretched between the two and the sun slowly began to ease out for the day. Luffy blinked at her, waiting for her to continue. Nami tried her best not to blow up, "Luffy..."
"Wait Nami! See I have proof!" He proceeded to point somewhere to the left and grinned, "See, see!"
Nami slowly fixed her gaze in the direction Luffy was pointing and blanched. The object they were looking at was the moon that had seemed to shine more brightly with every passing second with the sun slowly sinking down. It did seem like the moon was very full and visible. "Luffy..."
"See? Not all my answers are wrong!" He grinned widely and started to laugh in triumph.
Nami was already at her limit, "You idiot!" She hissed out like an angry cat. Luffy flinched back a little, his grin faltering because he knew that she was getting frustrated. She hadn't even hit him, now only starting to create wrinkles and tears in his paper that was clenched tightly in both of her hands. "It said ellipse! Not eclipse! This was a math problem you dolt, what do you think the numbers were there for?"
He shrugged, "To throw me off?"
Nami made little noises that had Luffy raising a brow, but she looked away. Her bangs were overshadowing her eyes, but the way her jaw seemed to flex and how his paper was soon to be confetti; he could easily guess how his tutor was feeling. But quite suddenly, she suddenly went limp and let herself fall into a heap on the ground. Luffy gazed at her in puzzlement and waited for her to pick herself back up, but as she continued to lay there unmoving, he began to worry. "Nami?"
Nami was very still, her body not even moving to show her slight breathing. He inched over to her and patted her side cautiously, "Nami?"
It took a long time for her to respond. Long enough to get Luffy a bit worked up and get him to believe that something was seriously wrong with his tutor. He reached toward to her shoulders to shake her awake, but jumped back when she stirred. She slowly turned so she was lying on her back and gazing up at the rich colors of red and orange lighting the sky and answered him quietly, her expression unreadable, "I give up. I don't care how much I'm being paid. This is just too much." With that said, she turned her head out to gaze at the sunset, her body following to curl up on her side.
"You can go." Nami spoke, her voice vapid and with a note of defeat. Only silence greeted to her order, so she expected he had left. She knew this wasn't very mature or professional of her, but three months of this and see how someone else would hold out. Nami guessed that Luffy probably thought that this was just one of her 'moods' and that next week they'd be back in the same place, same situation, same old, same old. They had begun in the library at first, with all the resources available to them, if need, but Luffy was not one to be kept inside. He refused to be boarded and locked in, so she adjusted and moved them outside. After all, she didn't want to be banned from the main library or have Luffy cause any damage that may turn out to be irreparable. The kind of destruction he's apt in inflict out of boredom.
When he realized Nami was willing to adjust to his preferences; he took full advantage and tried out many spots to hold their 'study sessions.' Most of which turned out to be a failure, ranging from video arcades, restaurants (he wouldn't stop eating to even look at his books, the only thing he seemed to memorize was the menu), and then this park. Nami had to say, the park was an improvement, especially on the first day they arrived to find it practically deserted and, best of all, quiet. But that was ruined when Luffy had spent most of him time running around and causing a disturbance to the few people that were there (including Nami) and it had been pure chaos that one time a couple brought their dogs.
Nami pulled out of her reminiscing and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She blinked at the sudden rush she received and tilted a bit to the side as she began to feel light-headed. She leaned one way, then the other, before she felt herself falling back. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact as she wondered how long she had been dazing to feel so dizzy and loose the feeling in her left hand that had been tucked beneath her head as a pillow. The impact never came, but the needles in her hand as the blood rushed back through it did.
"Sorry Nami." She blinked, realizing Luffy had braced her and stopped her faint. She turned her head slightly to glance at his face, but he was staring out at the sunset that was almost complete. She had to admit, it was cozy sitting there with Luffy's legs on either side of her body, her back supported by his chest, and her head cushioned by his shoulder. It was a bit awkward, but she felt herself relax against him already half-asleep. Must be the atmosphere, Nami thought as she restrained a yawn. That's when she finally registered Luffy's words, "Sorry?"
He nodded his forearms resting on his knees with his hands hanging limply in front of them. He was grinning, but it was a softer version of his usual all-out smile. She fixed her gaze on the sunset and waited for him to evaluate. But when he didn't continue, Nami decided maybe he was waiting for her to go first, "I'm sorry to... I guess," She added somewhat reluctantly and thought of what she would have to say, "I know you're trying your best, but sometimes it gets so irritating when you don't get it-"
"I do." Luffy interrupted suddenly.
"You do? You do what?" Nami asked, frowning.
"What you're teaching me. I get it, I mean, I'm not that smart, but I know this stuff already." He laughed, breaking the atmosphere of serenity and peace. He didn't notice as Nami stiffened her eyes wide as she continued to stare out ahead. The lamps in the park and ones lining the road began to flicker on in sections, just as the last rays of sun began to disappear.
"You... know...?" Nami repeated slowly, her voice in a monotone and her eye twitching as she felt Luffy nod, still laughing. "You get it..."
"Would you stop tapping your pencil like that? Either use it or lose it." Nami snapped as she sat on a bench dawning a pencil behind her ear, a large textbook opened before her with a folder or two and a collection of papers over layer each other, another small book in one hand and what looked to be a chicken sandwich in the other. She didn't pose as a very threatening image, but the culprit stopped his incessant tapping.
"Sorry," Roronoa Zoro mumbled carelessly as he dropped the pencil on the bench that he shared with her and leaned back in his place against the wall with his fingers laced together and pillowing the back of his head, not even caring as the pencil rolled off and disappeared somewhere beneath it. Nami scowled as Zoro's countenance eased a few moments later, a sure sign that he was either sleeping or feigning sleep to have an excuse not to interact with anyone.
Not a single book, piece of paper, nothing (except for the recently missing pencil) was presented from him. Nami was unable to understand how he could be so lax when she had a few exams coming up and papers due within the next week. She was sure that they had at least one class together and so far, every one of her classes assigned some work.
"Zoro."
Zoro gave a particularly loud snore, causing passersby to glance their way. Nami's brow twitched and she put down her smaller book, tempted to lob it at him. She knew Zoro long enough to know when he was sleeping and when he was faking it. Right now, she was sure which one he was doing and took a great bite in her sandwich, chewing loudly.
"Very attractive." Zoro murmured without opening his eyes. Nami swallowed hard and decided the sandwich would cause more damage than the book, but not wanting to get in a fight during break, she decided to let it go. So what if he was just lazing around while she was studying her ass off? He'll just fail and she'll pass with flying colors, ha ha ha!
Yes, the very mature way to go.
"Oh damn it." Nami suddenly cursed as she looked down at her notes. She had been writing on the wrong paper, "That's Luffy's."
"Luffy's?" Zoro was now staring at her, but he had not moved from his spot. Then glancing down at the mess of papers he asked, "What are you doing with his stuff?"
"I am his tutor," She took another bite of her sandwich and searched around for an eraser.
"So you're doing his work for him, that way you get paid without being found out?" Nami didn't resist the urge to lob something at him, which happened to be her eraser.
"Damn, give that, I need that and I am a good tutor," Zoro snorted as he removed the eraser that bounced off his temple and into his lap. Nami tapped her nails against her folder as Zoro fumbled for her eraser that fell from his lap and onto the ground, causing him to shift to search for it beneath the seat. He retrieved it a few moments later, along with his pencil and tossed at her.
"Next time I'm keeping it," Zoro threatened half-heartedly as he glanced over at the paper she was cleaning, "Hey."
"What?" Nami mumbled as she dusted it off and placed it on the bottom of her stack and searched for her corrected paper. Zoro twirled his pencil between the fingers of his right hand, with his left hand rubbing his chin as though lost in thought, "I think Luffy and Usopp took that test already." He laughed, "Some tutor you are, no wonder he doesn't get anywhere. Teaching him stuff he's already covered-"
"What?" Nami cut him off with a sharp look. Zoro continued to laugh, causing Nami's irritation to rise, "Don't lie to me," Nami snapped and reached for the paper she had before, looking at it carefully before frowning, "Luffy said they were going to take the test next week."
"Well, he told me a few days ago and Usopp was there and he didn't deny anything. They seemed happy, so I guess they had passing grades," Zoro informed her, his laughing dying down to a smirk, "but I could be wrong. Could of flunked the entire course and that idiot would still be grinning." Zoro commented, obviously talking about Luffy.
The sandwich fell from her hands, just barely missing her foot as she stared at Zoro in disbelief. Luffy... lied to her? He actually lied? The very thought seemed absurd, but according to Zoro and his supposed proof, Usopp, it was true. She eyed Zoro carefully as she tried to judge how genuine his story seemed to be, but gave up as he continued to hold his smirk against her. For Luffy to lie wasn't impossible, she knew he was capable of it, but to lie and not give himself away was another story.
Then Zoro had to add in the last word just as her watch went off to single the end of her break, "So now what teach?"
"You..."
"Yeah, sorry. I guess I should have told you, but everyone thought I needed help." Luffy grinned unconcernedly. She could see his expression from the light given by the lamp a few feet away and reached her hand up to his cheek and pinched it. "Ow!"
Nami kept her hold on him even as he squirmed and yelped at her to release him, but she merely closed her eyes as she took on an unnaturally calm tone of voice, "So why do you get such bad grades?"
"I just do--ow!" Luffy cut off with another cry as she pinched harder.
"Sorry, not the answer I'm looking for!" Nami chirped with a smile, whether it was genuine or a cover-up, Luffy couldn't tell. Tears sprung at the corner of his eyes and he finally relented, "Ok! It's 'cause I don't care!" This gave the desired effect, Nami's hand releasing his sore muscle and he quickly covered his red cheek with his hand in case she changed her mind and started her torture again.
"Luffy, how can you not care? If you keep failing, you'll never get into college or graduate High School-" Nami started reprimanding him, but Luffy merely shrugged, "Don't need to."
"What?!" Nami gasped and pushed away from him, staring at him with wide eyes, "Look, if you don't want to go to college, that's fine but if you don't graduate, you know how hard it'll be for you to get a job?" Luffy merely grinned, "Don't worry, I'll be okay!"
Nami stared at him hard, "How can you say that? Why don't you want to, at least, finish school?" Nami began to get a desperate edge to her voice. She certainly didn't want to wind up ten years later, finding Luffy on the street begging for money, or worse... maybe even dead or getting into the wrong sort of things. Many scenarios played through her head, even though she was dimly aware that a lot of drop-outs usually did pretty okay for themselves, but she never had thought Luffy would be that type of person. "How can you give up like that?"
"I'm not giving up, I just know what I want." Luffy spoke firmly, his expression serious. Nami blinked at finding no trace of his usual grin, but she was not comforted by his response, "And what do you want?"
He grinned, "I'm not going to keep to school and all those rules or even out in the rest of the world," Nami felt her heart sink, was he telling her he was going to be a criminal? Organized crime, gangs, drugs, the list went on as Nami tried to shake the thoughts from her mind. No, Luffy wouldn't do something like that willingly. But... he really was an easy target for manipulation and corruption.
"I'm sure there's some kind of job like that and whatever it is, I'm going to have my name known through out the entire world." Luffy finished up and Nami stared at his vague explanation.
"So... you want to become some celebrity?" Nami questioned with a frown, "Or some world leader? If you want that you should go to college," She added quickly, looking hopeful that maybe she could change his mind, but he shook his head. "Don't know, just something good." And then he laughed.
"Something good?" She echoed him, feeling even more exhausted than she ever did in the entire day. Luffy nodded, still chortling. Nami suddenly felt as if the night had become a lot drearier and not even the street lights could not help light up the way. Luffy must have caught onto the blank look on her face to mean that she was not entirely happy with his decision because he stood up and held out a hand to her.
Nami regarded it carefully and looked up at his broad grin that seemed to radiate self-confidence, reluctantly grabbing it. Luffy heaved her up in one sharp tug and Nami used both hands to hold on to his arm to keep from falling back down. She rubbed her slightly sore shoulder at nearly being pulled out of its socket and fixed Luffy with a very grim look. Luffy countered it with his usual smile, unperturbed.
"It's late," Nami responded, startling Luffy who had expected another lecture, but not for long as he watched her pull her car keys from her bag, "Let's get some dinner..."
This phrase had Luffy jumping for joy as he headed to her car. He shouted out exclamations to express his excitement and anticipation, but Nami did not follow immediately. By the time he had covered about a quarter of the distance to the parking lot, Nami shouted to him, "Luffy!"
He finished off another yell and turned around in mid-jump to acknowledge her, "Yeah?"
"You better not be lying. I don't want to be worrying over you forever, so you better turn out all right." Nami told him, speaking loudly and clearly enough for him to hear, her face still grim to show how serious she was being.
Luffy stared at her with a look of consideration, before nodding with an added breath of, "Right!" Then he broke out into a full-blown grin and motioned for her to hurry to the car before heading in that direction himself. Nami let her face soften and smiled at his childish antics.
She started after him, pulling on her jacket all the way before letting out one last thing, "I'm trusting you, Luffy."
[AN] Kinda pointless huh? =P More of a friendship fic than a romance one. Sorry for lack of Sanji, Chopper, and Robin. No Vivi, even! Oh well, but at least there was some Zoro and you can't go wrong with that! Well that's it for my one shot, sorry for annoying grammar and spelling errors that I've missed. Oh well, I can just delete/ revise it later if it hurts the eyes that much. Sorry, I really need to learn to beta read or get a beta reader =P Sorry for the weird spacing too