Art Credit to gg-xx & crazed fangirl credit in the form of these words goes to shipfiend.

Nami looked at her empty suitcase and pondered her next move. "Oh my gosh. This is really happening." She started to look around her room, and the emotions flooded her brain. "What if I can't do this? What if this is a terrible, horrible mistake? Oh my-"

She put her hands to her lips and screamed internally. I just made out with my co-worker and now traveling companion in front of my boss and all my other co-workers…and my brother. With tongue. Oh stupid, stupid Nami! I mean…did you have to moan? Like that's not normal. We barely knew each other. Sure, I'm hot. He's hot. We're hot. But no. No!

"I am so fucked." Just as she was about to reach for her phone and call the one person she could rely on to steady her crazy inner monolog when her phone buzzed between her breasts and she smiled as she pulled it out to see the caller ID. "Nojiko! I was just about to call you!"

"Oh?" came the sweet voice on the other end, "About?" Nami smiled then bit her lip. Nojiko chuckled. "Come on, Nami. I can practically hear your thinking face through the phone."

"Well…I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" There seemed to be some worry laced in the question.

"Don't freak out…but Luffy is finally sending me out for work."

"Oh, wow! Where?"

Nami reached for the stack of papers on her dresser, the ones that had collected dust for the weeks of never being touched since she was first hired. She could only blame one man for that. "Uh…it looks like we are going to Sweden first, then Brazil, then South Africa, and Japan, and-"

"Whoa! That is a lot! All by yourself?"

Nami chewed the inside of her cheek. "Not exactly", she mumbled.

"Nami. I swear! Asking you questions is like pulling teeth." Nojiko said playfully, but Nami understood her sister was at her limit.

"I am…I'm actually traveling with a co-worker. The magazine's photographer. Ya know. The one we never met."

"Ah! The hot one. Yeah, you're right…all the times Law brought us around, I've never seen him."

Nami blushed at her sister's crystal-clear memory. "Yes. Him."

"So…is he as attractive in person as you thought?"

"Nojiko!" she hissed into the phone, "I never said he was attractive."

Nami could feel Nojiko's pride ballooning. "So, you're calling me a liar, little sister? When you were the one getting tipsy at their holiday party and ogling his picture and said, and I quote, 'Wow, I could climb him like a tree'."

Nami fumed, "Ha! That is clearly a lie because we both know I don't climb trees."

"Nami, I will conference call Mom in and she will beat your ass through this damn phone if she heard such blasphemy."

"Alright, alright- you're right. I did find him slightly attractive and yes, he is just as his picture depicts him." Nojiko smiled but Nami continued, "Lifeless and frozen…only dumber."

"Well, no one is perfect."

"Yes, but he is utterly clueless. He got lost in an elevator. How does that happen?"

"Good thing you're good with directions then!"

"Directions? I am practically his monitor this entire trip!"

"But you wanted to travel, right?"

"Yeah-"

"And you are still getting to write?"

"Yes, but-"

"No, buts, Nami. I am your big sister and I am telling you to enjoy this adventure. Allow yourself to be happy…"

"I do."

"Really? Cause it seems to me you still haven't packed because you're afraid of leaving…"

Nami glanced at her bed where her empty suitcase laid open. "No…I just…I don't know."

Nojiko sighed. "Listen, Mom and Dad are fine. Law is fine. I am fine."

"Just fine?" Nami whispered.

Nojiko smiled, "More than fine actually. Johnny is taking me out tonight. Kaya and Usopp agreed to watch Darin for the weekend."

"Wow, a babysitter for the weekend? Johnny is pulling out all the stops, huh?"

Nojiko laughed. "Well, he tries. And I love him for it."

"Ugh, you guys are so cute, it's disgusting," Nami said lightheartedly.

"Yeah? I hope you get to be this cute one day."

"What? Have a kid? Be with an artist? Settle down?"

"Well, maybe not in that order. Law might kill you."

"He didn't kill you."

"Because he knows I'd beat his ass…and…and he knows I know what I am doing."

"Yeah, I know. You did good, sis."

"We all did well. Your past doesn't define you, Nami…I just wish you'd embrace the present."

"I am! I'm traveling like I've always dreamed."

"I'll believe it when I'm waving you off. When do you leave?"

Nami looked at her watch, "In a few hours actually."

"What?" Nojiko shouted into her ear, "You weren't even going to say goodbye?"

"I said I was gonna call ya."

"Mom and Dad will be pissed."

"Yeah, but it might be better to not tell them until I'm on my plane. Knowing Dad…he'd probably trip and somehow set the tarmac on fire."

"That was one time, and Law got him and Mom to quit smoking." They both laughed as Nami picked up a family photo and placed in her bare suitcase. "Nami. Have a safe trip…and…just let yourself explore the possibilities, okay?"

Nami scoffed, "When did you start sounding like a fortune cookie?"

Nojiko smirked. "When I get some juicy intel."

"Juicy intel?"

"Yup. Usopp snapped a picture of your little meeting with The Tree."

"Tree?" And Nami's faced contorted from confusion to anger. "What? Usopp took a picture?"

"Yeah! He owed me for watching King all those times he needed to take Kaya to her appointments."

"I'm going to kill him!"

"Why? It seems you two hit it off. The photographer and the writer. Match made in heaven."

"More like hell! You don't even know him."

"Neither do you, but it seems like you want to know him…biblical speaking."

"Oh, shut up, Nojiko. You're not going to tell Mom and Dad, right?"

"Your dirty little secret is safe with me. What about Law?"

"He, well, he kinda caught us."

"Wow, Nami! And you say your work is boring."

"Well. It was."

"Until he came into your life," Nojiko mocked in a dreamy tone.

"Ew, enough."

However, she continued her narration, "You thought you were getting a job…not falling in love."

"Stop talking, please."

Nojiko grew louder, speaking deeper like a trailer for a movie, "It happened so quickly, but she welcomed it…and him into her life."

"You need to stop reading those trashy romance novels."

"What? I would never. Fanfics for days." Nami laughed. "Oh shut it. I'm a busy mom…do I look like I have time for books?"

Nami was about to respond when a shout came from her living room, "Oi, Nami! Are you ready to go or what?"

Nami suddenly looked around her wondering if she had transported herself somewhere new. But no. They were still in her apartment. The issue was why was there a "they" to begin with? Was Zoro hiding in her place and listening to her dreadfully embarrassing phone call?

"Zoro? What the hell are you still doing here?" she shouted, trying to cover the phone best she could.

Nojiko's voice cried past her hand, "He's in your apartment? Nami! You literally just met him! I didn't you were that into him but wow- oh wow!"

Nami blushed as Zoro watched her thumb the phone to lower the volume, but she gave up midway, "Okay, goodbye, Nojiko! I'll talk to you later."

As she slammed the phone shut, Zoro continued to watch her through the bedroom doorway, his arms crossed and leaning on the doorframe, "Who was that?"

"None of your damn business." She pushed him back until he was in her living room/kitchen/foyer.

"Okay, damn! You don't need to shove."

"I do because you are in my house."

"You're a terrible hostess."

"Are you kidding me? You literally followed me up here when I told you to go to your place and pack!"

"And you didn't listen when I said I don't have a place cause I'm always traveling so I usually just crash with Luffy. Well…not anymore cause of Law."

"Boohoo, still doesn't explain why you're here!"

"I just told you! I don't need to pack because I don't pack. And…I wanted to nap so I just slept on your couch for a bit. But it's been almost half an hour!"

Nami tried to ignore the gross infringement of her personal space and resigned herself to get at the matter at hand. "Zoro. We are going to be traveling. What are you bringing with you?"

"Uh, myself. My camera…another lens when you give me my half of the money. And I guess my passport."

Nami looked at him as if he was speaking French…which she spoke because her mother taught her, but he was not making any sense. "What about clothes?"

"I'm wearing them."

"No. I mean a change of clothes." Nami felt like she was scolding a child. A child that was taller and bigger than her, but still immature and rash.

"I don't really need to…unless the clothes get really ruined and then I just buy something."

Nami grew flabbergasted, "Oh my Lord. No. Ew. What about underwear?"

"Why do you care about my underwear?" He asked confused.

Nami pinched his ear in frustration. "Because I have to travel with your sorry self and I don't want to be next to a disgusting human being."

"Then don't be next to me, or can you not survive being away from me for too long?" Zoro gave her a cheeky grin and Nami pinched his cheeks in response.

"Ugh! Why are you so stupid?"

Zoro gripped her hands, trying to pull her off him. "Why are you so annoying?"

Suddenly the clock on Nami's wall chimed away. "Damn it! We're going to miss our flight at this rate! See! This is your fault!" Nami let go and turned back to her bedroom.

Zoro rubbed her face and followed after her, "My fault? You're the one who only managed to pack…what is this? A family photo?"

Nami snatched it out of his hand. "Hey! I want that!"

Zoro rolled his eye. "Whatever. Just pack faster!"

Nami put the photo back in the suitcase and turned to her walk-in closet. "I know! I just…am having some trouble."

Zoro grew impatient. "Seriously? You have that many clothes and you can't think of one thing to bring?"

Nami tapped her foot. "No, I'm thinking of a thousand things."

Zoro opened drawers and threw things into her suitcase. "Fine. Let me. You need some bras and underwear, I guess. And I think socks would be nice, too."

Nami rushed at him and tried to simultaneously close her drawers and grab the items in his hand, which had to be her lacy undergarments. "Ah, Zoro! That's my personal stuff. Get your disgusting hands off my underwear, pervert!"

Zoro sidestepped her and threw them into the suitcase while he made his way to her closet. "You clearly need help packing and I'm helping you. How does that make me a pervert?"

Nami caught the clothes he threw towards her and tried to fold them on the bed. "You don't just go through a woman's drawers. What are you, some kind of animal?"

Zoro peeked his head out of the closet as he held two pairs of shoes up, and Nami nodded to one which he tossed to the floor beside her. "What I am is annoyed and what you are is annoying and what we're going to be is late if you don't get your ass in high gear."

He returned from the closet with a jacket and another pair of shoes which he tossed into the suitcase. Before Nami could pull them out to fold and neatly place them, Zoro shoved everything else on top and started zipping the suitcase closed. "Wait! I don't have my toiletries!"

"So? They usually give you ones on international flights, which is our flight. And the rest they won't let you carry in a carry-on, so this is all you're taking and that's that." Nami fumed but Zoro tugged at her hand and led her to the door, with her suitcase easily carried in his other hand. "Now, let's go. I don't want to miss the flight and stay in those crappy airport hotels…or worse…at Luffy's cause, I'm pretty sure Law hates me."

"He doesn't hate you", Nami said as she locked up her apartment for what felt like the last time in a surreal moment, "You just happened to be making out with his sister and that was awkward. For everyone."

Zoro scratched his head, "Well, it's not like I make out with everyone I met."

Nami hid her blush and turned to face him, "Oh? So, you just like a challenge, is that right?"

Zoro held his chin in thought, "No, I mean. There was money on the line. Why? Did you mean it to mean more?" Nami grew embarrassed and reached for her suitcase in his hand, but instead, Zoro grabbed it without a thought as he led them to the stairs. "It doesn't really matter to me. It was just a sloppy wet kiss."

Nami shouted at him, "You pig. So you do just kiss whoever you please and do whatever you want…why? Cause you can take some pictures of a frog humping a lily pad and everyone calls it art?"

Zoro did not look over his shoulder but mumbled, "It was an endangered frog. And no…I kiss who I want to kiss."

Nami flicked his reddening ear, "What was that?"

"Nothing!" he shouted as they reached the door and stood on the curb.

Zoro seemed to wait for something so Nami finally stood in front of him and asked, "What the hell are you looking for?"

"Uh…how do we get to the airport from here?"

Nami smacked her forehead and reached into her dress for her phone. "I'll call a cab, you clueless man-child." Zoro watched her slight smile as her fingers held onto his, and did not dare acknowledge the fluttering in his stomach at the thought of what the future held for them. "Alright, it's on its way. And we should be there just in time. Sorry, do you mind if we buy your new lens once we land in Sweden?"

Zoro looked at her, at the way she was so ready to charge into this unknown adventure. He admired her wandering, but more importantly, he recognized that she wandered with purpose. It gave him a structure to lean on, and though new and jarring, he found a sense of comfort in her presence. "I guess I can trust you with our money until then."

She smiled at him and then turned as a horn brought her attention away from him. Before she could blink, he snapped a picture of her secretly. Maybe I don't need a bigger lens, he thought. As he put her suitcase in the trunk and got into the car, he glanced at the picture before turning his camera off and letting it hang around his neck again. Maybe we'll be just fine.

Aw, isn't that sweet? I know, I know. It seems like they are pretty chummy after JUST meeting, but I wanted to show how seamless that seemed. Like they fit. #always Anyways, perhaps this can offer some explanation to why they were so quick to jump on each other. I feel like Zoro is not necessarily a shy man, but he is not really "romantic". Physically….all there. Emotionally…maybe a bit stifled.

As for Nami, I think she's fun and outgoing. She does what she wants and waits for no man, woman, or child…but she can be hesitant with new experiences and events…hence Zoro by her side. Ya know?

#yinyang #penisvagina #navigatorlostboy #zona

BUT don't worry my pretties, you'll get that lemon soon. Oh, it's a coming. #punintended

XoXo shipfiend