Title: Juicy Sweet
Author: Chibimono Akuno
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing: Zoro x Luffy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 898 words
Warnings: Overuse of the words apple, sticky, and juice.
Disclaimers: Not mine. Just pretending. Oda pwnz all.
A/N: I had an apple the other morning at work. Ever notice how much Luffy eats apples?

Juicy Sweet
by Chibimono Akuno

Luffy could never turn down meat, but there were always times when it was not available. Bread of some sort was usually next in line of his preferred foods, but that, too, could be hard to come by at times. There was one food, however, that Luffy could always enjoy no matter the circumstance, and that was apples.

Sweet, juicy, tart, or crunchy, Luffy loved a good apple almost as much as sucking on a ham bone. He could eat the whole thing in one bite if he wanted to; from the stem to the core, peel and all. He liked how it felt being crushed by his back teeth, turning to pulp as it gushed it's juices through his mouth. And the juice--mmmm, the juice--always managed to remind him of the first time he sat in a pub with Zoro.

Sure, his new friend had laughed at him for ordering cider instead of ale, but Luffy did not mind. He laughed, too.

The cider was good, very good, and Luffy made sure Zoro knew he was glad he ordered it. He even forced the swordsman to drink it, captain's order, so that he could taste for himself how good it was. Zoro was rather leery at first, but took the offered mug for a sip, deliberately drinking from the side that Luffy's lips had not touched. In the end, Zoro did concede that it was good cider, but he was happy for his ale, thanks.

Luffy had only once ever found apple cider better than that first time. He made a big show of how much he was enjoying it, but his offer to share was shot down by his navigator, sharpshooter, and cook. Zoro, however, snatched the stein right out of his hand and drank. Grinning over the rim of the empty container, Zoro ordered two more ciders, much to his captain's delight.

Carrying an arm full of apples, Luffy found himself sitting near the prow. He munched on them thoughtfully as he stared at the night sky. He bit deeply into the ripe red skin and sucked at the juices before pulling the flesh from the rest of the fruit. It was nothing like the Gomu Gomu fruit, he thought. Apples tasted better.

A shadow fell over Luffy, blocking the light of the lanterns near the cabin that Robin had lit to read by. He knew that profile anywhere and he offered up a smile to his first mate.

"That shitty cook know you have those?" Zoro asked, gesturing at the fruit tucked in Luffy's grasp.

Taking a bite of one, Luffy nodded. "Yeah, he handed'em to me and said that was it for tonight."

Zoro made a hmph sound as he sat down across from his captain, snatching a apple that had tumbled to the boy's lap. The rubber boy only smiled around the apple he was mashing in his mouth in response. He did not mind sharing apples with Zoro.

They were quite then, with Luffy steadily eating his apples and gazing up at the stars around them. Zoro rolled the fruit about in his palms, looking to the sky or to the wood of the deck than anything else. Finishing up his last apple, Luffy leaned back with a satisfied sigh as he rubbed his full tummy. A rubbery tongue swept around his lips to gather up the last of the sweet stickiness that juice.

It was then that Zoro finally sunk his teeth into his apple. He had it turned sideways in his hand, so he could better eat it. His bites were deep and measured, taking the flesh from the core in large chunks. He chewed at each bite steadily as he pondered over his food, his strong jaw grinding the apple to pulp and the juice mixing with his saliva.

When there was one bite left, Zoro held it out. "Here."

"Naw, I'm good," Luffy smiled, patting his stomach.

Zoro leaned forward, still holding out that late bite waiting on the core. "Come on," he grinned at his captain.

Luffy found himself grinning in return, and he leaned forward to take the bite. Zoro was still holding the apple sideways, just like how he had ate it, so when Luffy took his bite, the edges of the broken skin at the top and the bottom of the fruit brushed against the sides of his mouth and left their juice. It was a good apple, and Luffy leaned back again to savor it.

Pitching the core to the side, then licking his fingers of the apple's stickiness, Zoro followed the rubber boy's motion and moved forward. As Luffy swallowed, he did not have the time to let his tongue lick at the apple juice around his mouth before Zoro's tongue was doing it for him.

Zoro was tasting him, his lips and chin, his mouth, tasting his apples and his tongue. And Luffy's tongue was tasted, and he used it to taste back, to lap at the sticky apple of Zoro's lips and the juice of Zoro's mouth and he had never tasted an apple so good.

Luffy's sticky fingers were holding Zoro's face as the swordsman drew back just enough to whisper to him with the scent of apples on his breath.

"That was the best cider we've ever shared..."

Owari