I'd actually already had this written in my head when I submitted a prompt for 'cold night'. When it wasn't randomly selected but 'starry night was', my brain scrambled to salvage it and here we are.
Huge thank you to Zomamievents for, once again, creating such a fun event!
Enjoy.
Nami woke up cold.
Blearily she pried her eyes open to a dark room and she was irritated because that meant it was either a horrendous day outside or it was still night. Based on the silence coming from outside, it sounded like the second option and that would be great, it meant she could go back to sleep, except she was still cold. She curled up tighter, pulling the duvet and blanket that she has layered on the top closer, but the chill still found her.
After all of that, she still wasn't warm and her brain had woken up, meaning she wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. She turned to see if Robin might be up, the woman slept at all sorts of crazy hours, so it was possible, but found her bed empty. It didn't take long for Nami to figure out where she may be. She'd seen the foldout bed in Franky's workshop and whilst the older man had said it was for when he worked late, Nami knew better than that.
With a sigh, Nami slumped back in her bed. She was cold, awake and alone. But not for long if she had her way.
She laid there for a moment longer before forcing herself out of the bed, quickly sliding her feet into slippers and wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. It was even colder outside the bed, but she kept reminding herself that the end result would be well worth it.
If Nami thought it was cold in her room, it was nothing compared to outside and her slippers slapped furiously against the stairs as she sprinted down them. It was just as she made it to the bottom that she lost one of her slippers on the step above and she hesitated, wondering if she should leave it behind to save herself, but when she took another step barefooted it protested loudly against the cold wood. With a sigh she went back to retrieve it and continued on to the lawn deck, taking a sharp turn to face one of the entrances to the men's room.
It was no secret Zoro was like a radiator. No matter the weather or situation, he would exude heat. In the summer it was a nightmare sharing a bed with him but in the winter, she clung to him and had she known it would be so cold tonight, he would have been bullied into her bed. Although, it never really came to that. Like he'd pass up the chance of a comfy bed that came with an alluring woman (she could almost hear him snorting in her head at that, but he never denied it) over a hammock with loud snoring men around him.
Except that hammock was currently empty.
There were snoring men alright, but no Zoro (Nami noted Franky's hammock was also empty). She did another quick look before huffing in irritation. He'd probably fallen asleep in the crow's nest again and the thought of climbing up there whilst her hands slowly froze, and her blanket threatened to fall to the deck below was not appealing in the slightest.
Maybe she should just go back to bed. Except the thought of being there alone is worse than the climb up to the crow's nest and she steeled herself to just get on with it. And quickly because somehow Sanji's figured out she was in there, even though he was definitely still asleep, as he started mumbling something about her under his breath.
She grumbled to herself as she walked out of the men's room but before she could look up at the crow's nest, her eyes locked onto the intended target.
Zoro.
Asleep on the lawn deck, leaning against the opposite wall.
Legs and arms crossed with only a thin top and trousers.
What a moron.
Probably a warm moron, Nami thought bitterly to herself as she marched over to him.
"Zoro, Zoro, wake up!" Nami loudly whispered, nudging his leg in an attempt to wake him, which honestly was very kind of her considering.
His face screwed up, but his head just lolled to the other side as he breathed out deeply. She never could understand how he did that, just roll over like nothing happened.
"Zoro!" Nami snapped, kicking his side now, her patience thinning the colder she got and right now, it felt like she was going to freeze.
"What," he snapped back, his one eye cracking open to glare at her.
"You're asleep outside. Come on, it's cold."
"So what? I was fine before you got here."
"You'll get sick," Nami argued, she wasn't about to tell him the real reason.
"Haven't in all this time of doing it." He shrugged, his eye closing again.
She had nothing to say to that and yeah, she may have kicked him again out of childish frustration, but it made her feel better and it wasn't like she did it that hard.
"Stop making a fuss and sit down," Zoro told her and his previously folded arms opened to welcome her in.
She made a point not to focus too much about how quickly she accepted that invitation but it was hard when Zoro stared down at her knowingly. She settled into the gap in his crossed legs, her head finding its place on his shoulder and her arms tucked into her body but hands on his chest. He radiated so much warmth it was sickening but oh so good. Her fingers were already starting to tingle pleasantly from the sudden change in temperature.
His arms didn't automatically encase her, instead they pry the blanket away from her shoulders but before she can complain it was being draped over them both and then his arms were tightening around her.
This was it. She never wanted to move again. For someone made mostly of muscle he was so comfortable. And did she mention warm?
"Woke up cold, huh?" He smirked down at her, looking far too smug for his own good.
And just for that, she kicked off one of her slippers and brought her foot up to press against the exposed skin at his side where his top had ridden up. It was an awkward angle but it was well worth it when he visibly jumped.
"Shit! What the hell is wrong with your feet?!" Zoro barked, pulling her foot away but instead of pushing it away, he rested it on his thigh. "Feet get cold, but you refuse to wear socks to bed, what stupid logic."
"I don't want to hear anything about logic from you! And you know I can't get comfortable if I wear socks to bed!"
"Picky woman," Zoro grumbled but it sounded fonder that anything else.
"That's what I have you for, my foot warmer," she cheeked back, wiggling her toes on his thigh to make her point.
He didn't have a response for that, but he did teasingly lift the blanket near her feet and as the cold air rushed in, she shrieked and kicked her feet out to reclaim the blanket. She lightly smacked his chest in retribution when he let it fall back around her feet, but it didn't take away from his laughter.
When they calmed down again, Zoro closed his eye and leaned his head back in its original position from when she found him. She was about to scold him because that wasn't what she wanted when she came out here, but she stopped before she could even start as something caught her eye.
A star winking at her.
But it wasn't just one, it was multiple. All of them, smattered across a black canvas like glitter. They gleamed and glittered so much that they reminded her of jewels and her fingers twitched with the urge to steal and hoard them for herself. It was stupid, because she obviously couldn't but it didn't stop her from staring and wishing she could.
She couldn't peel her eyes away from the view and they were so breath taking that she wasn't quite sure how she missed that on her trip to the men's room. She wanted to kick herself for not seeing them sooner. But then again, she wasn't as warm and as comfortable as she was in that moment, so maybe it was the best time to take notice of them.
It had been a while since the sky has been so clear and she'd been able to stay up this late that she could just sit and watch. She was a navigator and it was the oldest trick in the book to use them for navigation, but despite her familiarity with them she never grew bored with them. They always kept her entertained, searching for star clusters and constellations.
She wasn't sure why she did it, Zoro looked like he might have gone back to sleep, but she couldn't resist.
"The stars can be used for navigation, you know. The North Star is the most useful to explorers and sailors alike. It's a star that never moves and will always show you where North is."
Silence was the only thing that responded when she'd finished but she was too busy searching for the North Star to take too much offense to it. But when she did find it, Zoro's time was up.
"It's rude to sleep whilst I'm talking."
"I'm listening," and his voice supported that, he sounded awake despite his closed eye. "You said there's a star that never moved and shows you the direction you need to go in."
It wasn't an entirely accurate retelling but it was close enough and she'd learned what to reasonably accept from him. "Any chance you're going to remember any of this? Maybe you should take notes."
"Why bother? That's why I have you."
She had multiple reactions to that. She hated that she was actually touched by that, because he was probably making fun by mimicking her earlier words, but regardless it still did funny things to her stomach. Zoro had a knack for being oddly sweet in situations that didn't call for them with his blunt honesty. But at the same time, she wanted to scold him, because yes, she was here for these sorts of things, but they weren't always together and even though they were together, she didn't always have the time to babysit him. She spent most of her time searching for him.
An idiot he may be, but that was smooth, and he probably hadn't even intended for it to be.
"Why do you have a weird look on your face?" His eye was open again, looking at her face.
Okay, that certainly helped her pick a reaction.
"I do not have a weird look on my face, don't be rude!" Nami huffed, elbowing him. What a jerk.
He laughed back in response but said nothing, so Nami went back to her little lecture.
"If you look there, you'll see the Plough-" she paused, leaning in closer to him so that he could follow her finger easier as she pointed up to the sky. She wasn't sure why she did it, she didn't even bother to see if his eye was open- "as soon as you find that you can find the North Star from there."
She looked back at him now, taking her eyes off the sky for a moment, and his eye is cracked open and head tilted down to look at her. She didn't actually doubt he was listening to her before but now it was clear. But it was the look on his face that brought the rosiness to her cheeks. Gone were the harsh lines and frown that normally adorned his face, he looked relaxed and content and it was something rare to see on full display and it was all aimed at her. He looked like he was actually enjoying it.
"Looks like a saucepan," he supplied after a moment.
Nami wanted to tease him, it was such a childish observation, but her enthusiasm won in the end.
"Yes! It's also called that for the uneducated." Okay fine, she still wanted to tease. "And the big dipper too, the North Star will always be under, above or to the side of the top of the saucepan, because that moves but the North Star never does."
She looked away from him to point back up at the sky and she could feel him shift closer, so that he can actually follow where her fingers pointed. It made her feel giddy.
Zoro hummed and she took that as affirmation to continue. "But sometimes that's blocked or out of view, so instead you can find the constellation Cassiopeia and it'll always be on the opposite side to the Plough."
Then her finger moved across the star riddled sky to locate the constellation.
"The zig zag one?"
"That's it!" Nami laughed happily because he was actively listening and taking part- even if he would most definitely forget it straight after. It didn't annoy her as much as she thought it would. It meant they could do this again.
"It's interesting, right?"
"More interesting to see you get excited about it." He tried to deliver it casually but there was no missing the light dusting of pink across his cheeks. After all of this time together and he still got embarrassed. It was progress though, before he would have just grunted.
He was interested because she was?
Nami's grin was almost as blinding as the stars above them and she could barely contain her happiness, much less put it into words, so she snaked her arms around his torso and squeezed as her face buried itself in his neck instead.
She heard him chuckle, but he didn't let her stay like that for long, his shoulder jumped and she looked up at him in question at the disruption. She got her answer when he closed the distance between their faces and his lips touched hers. It was a slow kiss but he moved with purpose, there was no hesitancy as his lips moved against hers and goddamn it, his lips were warm too.
Everything about him was warm.
"Your nose is cold," he complained but pressed another kiss to her lips despite his words.
"You're doing a good job of warming it up."
He moved away from her lips and he kissed a heated path across her face towards her ear.
"I can think of another way to keep you warm," his voice rough as he murmured into her ear and his breath was hot against her skin. It sent a different kind of heat sparking through her body to settle in the pit of her stomach.
"Is that so?" Nami responded coyly and her hands unwound themselves from his torso to find his hand and direct it from her waist to under the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. He didn't need any more encouragement than that when his fingers met the lace of her underwear and they moved with more purpose then, smoothing over her skin to play with the fabric.
"You had this in mind?" He quirked an eyebrow at her, but he still looked impressed.
"It doesn't hurt to be prepared." She winked back at him. "It's your favourite too."
Their conversation was over then because Zoro scooped her up into his arms and hastily made his way to her room, the stars left forgotten behind them.
It was always easy to rile him up with red lace.
Merry Christmas, folks!
As always, please forgive any errors (Even more so for this, read the dates wrong- thought I had another day!)
Thanks for reading.