Title: The Lucky Ones (3/?)
Author: Chibimono Akuno
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing: Zoro x Luffy, Shanks x Ben
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,079
Warnings: Foster-children situation. Highschool dropout. Gay relatives having custody of a minor. A budding romance between two male friends. If any of this bothers you, please don't read.
Disclaimers: Not mine. Just pretending. I love Oda with all my heart.
A/N: A modern-ish AU. This is unedited/unbeta'ed and was written over a span of time. None of the parts are written in the same exact style. If you see any glaring errors, feel free to point them out.

The Lucky Ones
- Part Three -
by Chibimono Akuno

Zoro had worked with many gay men through his many different jobs. However, he never had many chances to see the way they behaved around their significant others. And while Zoro has known Shanks and Ben for near to three years now, he had never really seen them... well... act gay, for lack of a better way to put it.

Sure, Zoro had known many guys that were rather flamboyant and quite fine with the rest of the world knowing their preferences. Then, there were the other guys that you never even knew were the slightest bit gay, until you caught them behind a dumpster, in a company van, or in a bathroom stall with another man.

When it came down to it, Shanks and Ben were the other guys. Shanks was one of three head supervisors for a construction company known as Tom's Workers. He could drink and get rowdy with the rest of them, was calm and seemingly carefree, and was the best person to go to for a good laugh. He was smart, too, and could get his whole crew motivated like no one else. Between Shanks, Cutty Flam, and Iceburg, Tom could almost sit back and let the company run itself.

And while Shanks was the happy-go-lucky type, it was Ben that was the rock. He was quiet and strong, a serious thinker. An owner of three automotive and autobody shops, Ben was good at holding things together and seeing that things were done properly.

They had plenty of money to throw around, though they never flaunted it. They had a beautiful home of four bedrooms and a very well-kept yard. As Zoro sat in the driveway with his shabby little motorbike and well-worn clothing, he felt very out of place.

The moment the front door opened, however, Zoro felt very much at home. Shanks welcomed him like a good friend, with a hug and a pat on the back. Ben took his small knapsack and offered to serve up lunch if Zoro was hungry. The boy did not even have a moment to answer before a body came flying at him, having vaulted from the railing halfway down the stairs.

"ZORO!"

Shanks laughed as Zoro landed in a heap on the floor with a pile of Luffy on top.

"ZORO! It's been forever!" And when Luffy began running off at the mouth, like he had to catch up on whole years instead of just a few months, Zoro wasn't so sure he had ever been this happy before.

Zoro had never really seen men that were... touchy-feely, he guessed he would say. Unless you counted sports and the endless butt-smacking, but that's a jock thing, apparently. Maybe he just never paid attention to it before, but he was truly beginning to see it now. Simple gestures, like a pat on the shoulder, a hand on the lower back, a hand on a knee. Zoro thought it was odd that he found Shanks and Ben's little shows of affection to be interesting instead of uncomfortable. In a way, he could see that was where Luffy had learned much of his huggy, shoulder-hanging, rib-poking, tickle-loving ways.

The physical contact was like a way to show what words were wasted on. It was an affectionate way to let someone know that the other was there, right there, for them.

Zoro turned to his friend, watching bright eyes turn to him in response. A huge smile broke out on Luffy's face before he grabbed for Zoro's hand and pulled him off the sofa.

"Let's play video games!"

Luffy's room was big for just him. He had his own queen sized bed, an actual desk, a sofa of his own, and an entertainment center for a fairly big television, stereo, and several game systems. He even had satelite connection and a massive collection of DVDs at his disposal.

"Eight hundred channels and nothing is on," Luffy sighed as he sat down and switched on a game consol. "Except for Myth Busters. That show is so cool. They blow up stuff."

Three different fighting games and countless rounds of button-mashing, elbowing, sword-clashing, laughing, mecha-bashing, insult-flinging, boxing, foot-nudging, car-crashing, tickle-fighting battles, Luffy and Zoro chased each other to the kitchen for dinner. Light shin-kicking continued under the table until Shanks asked Ben if they could play footsie, too. Zoro and Luffy both found their plates to be more interesting for the rest of the meal.

Though they still got in three more kicks between the two of them.

After dinner, the boys returned to Luffy's room. The evening began with them lounging on the sofa, the television playing some odd music channel just to have something in the background. They talked, really talked, about what their worlds had become since they parted.

Zoro complained about his work, and how he wished he could just find one job that could make him enough money to support him and a small apartment. Luffy thought the world had slowed to a halt, and that nothing would ever move again in between the time he left Makino's home till the moment Zoro pulled in the driveway. Zoro slaved through work, couldn't sleep, hated fast food, and sometimes felt like he had nothing to live for when Luffy went away.

The night wore on surprisingly fast, and they laid back on Luffy's bed as they kept talking.

Luffy was bored without his best friend. Zoro couldn't remember the last time he saw a movie. Luffy wanted to go to the circus when it was in town. Zoro thought girls were a waste of time. Luffy wanted to learn to cook like Uncle Shanks and Uncle Ben. Zoro wished for that neat little house. Luffy wanted to give him that custom bike. Zoro was going to keep their promise of just them. Luffy missed Zoro. Zoro missed Luffy.

Somewhere along the line, they had both fallen asleep in Luffy's bed. Zoro did not know how they had been tucked in, but he guessed Luffy's bed was big enough for the two of them.

Zoro woke little later on in the night to the feeling of a warm body snuggled against him, and as he drifted back to sleep, he wondered what it would be like to be gay, if only to return the affectionate contact that Luffy loved so much.

- to be concluded -