Original characters (c) Eiichiro Oda. Creative story (c) shipfiend. Cover Art (c) gg-xx on Tumblr.

"Zoro, I am f-freezing." Nami rubbed her hands together in frustration as Zoro laid the sleeping bags down.

"Again, telling me about you being cold doesn't make it any warmer." Nami threw a plastic flashlight at his head and it bounced off his giant hoody. "Ouch, damn it, Nami! Just get in the sleeping bag and you'll be warmer."

"Honestly, I d-don't know wh-why I trust y-you. You act so high and might-t-ty when your nose is just as red as mine."

Zoro groaned, "I am cold, yes. Because this is a mountain. I told you the shots I needed to take weren't going to be done in some lodge."

"Comfort-t-able lodge."

"Okay, Nami, did you want to write about how great the showers are at the lodge or did you come here to write something no one has ever even heard about before?"

She crossed her arms and managed to get inside the sleeping bag, "The latt-ter."

"Good. Now, please stop complaining and go to sleep."

Zoro started unzipping his jacket and Nami looked at him in wonder, "What-t are you doing?"

"Taking off my jacket."

"But won't you get-t cold?" She said with a raise of her brow.

Zoro shrugged, "I'll be fine. I'm not totally comfortable in it anyway."

Nami glared at him, "You're just t-trying to be t-t-tough again. You're such a child."

Zoro rolled his eye, "No, Nami. I am just being me. If anyone is acting like a kid, it's you. Now, go to sleep." He began to settle in when he heard unzipping and turned to see Nami remove her jacket and lay down in her thick sweater. Zoro sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose, "What are you doing, witch?"

Nami let her hair loose and it draped over her shoulders as she got back in the bag, "I am just-t as t-tough as you."

"Nami. You have nothing to prove-"

"Really? Because you are treating me like I'm a burden to you. Every time I t-tell you I need help, I get a frustt-trated sigh. Then when I don't ask, you just go ahead and do what-t you want-t. If anyone is acting like a kid, it's you. I can map out-t where we're going and plan this trip, keep our money t-t-ogether, and all the responsibilit-t-y, but you look at me as if I'm the worst person you e-ever had near you."

Zoro flopped back down and sighed, "I don't think you are a burden, Nami. I think you sometimes talk too much and you choose the worst footwear for any occasion and-"

"Okay. Enough. I'm t-too cold to fight you or hear you degrade me any further."

"Nami."

She turned and looked at him stare at her. He had propped himself up by the elbow and looked as if he was inviting her into his space, but she knew better. They had managed to keep themselves to themselves during the flight from Stockholm to Kiruna, then on the night train from the town to the lodge. They stayed one day and then left early to make it to the mountain range and had to stop to set up camp. Now, she was in a heavy-duty tent with a man she loved to hate. It took a lot out of her to stop her teeth from chattering or her hands from wandering.

"What do you want, Zoro?" She finally asked him.

He gave her a stern expression and responded, "I don't want anything from you. But I need you to stop taking yourself for granted. You don't need to pretend you are tough because I know you are. Do you know why I've traveled alone?"

"Because you're annoying."

"Wh- ugh, no. I travel alone because people can't keep up with me. And frankly, you do. You sometimes even race ahead of me. So, Nami, stop lying to me and yourself. You're tough. You're smart. You're probably the smartest person I know…so…can you just go to sleep now?"

Nami gave him a grin and snuggled into the sleeping bag, "Oh, goodness. T-to be praised by Roronoa Z-zoro. Aren't I lucky?"

Zoro groaned but went back to his sleeping bag and finally drifted to sleep. However, it only seemed like a few hours when he suddenly stopped hearing the chattering and shivering beside him. He turned over to see if Nami was okay but he saw her face was oddly pale and when he went to touch her, she was unnaturally cold.

"Nami!" He shouted, trying to wake her but her frozen fingers found his forearms.

"I'm…I'm so cold, Zoro," she moaned. She breathed low and Zoro pulled her into his much warmer sleeping bag. He started rubbing her frozen appendages. She responded faintly, "Zoro, what are you doing?"

Zoro did not stop trying to make her warm, "You weren't shivering so you weren't getting warmer on your own so, I'm doing body-to-body rewarming."

Nami flickered her eyelashes as she slowly came awake, "Doesn't t-that work best when you're naked?"

Zoro let out a chuckle, "Looks like you are coming back."

"I never left, idiot. I was just cold," She said with snark, but she was grateful for the warmth he radiated. "You're gonna get colder if I take all your heat."

"Couldn't if you tried, witch."

She smiled into his chest, "I don't think my ass was cold but nice to know you're keeping that warm."

Zoro chuckled and pulled her under his chin, "Shut up and go to sleep, witch. I'll heat up all of you just fine."

Nami did not want to wake him, but the cold had battered every part of her. She thought if she could keep quiet, she could just wake up in the morning fine, but clearly, her plan was very flawed. Regardless, against his chest, she took in the faint smell of mint. He was hard and hot, and Nami would blame the cold at the red face she had. She did not know why she was so cheeky in suggesting they needed to be naked to get warmer, but regardless, she felt at home under his chin and against his chest. His broad shoulders seemed to block any frigid air from touching her petite frame. Their legs wove within one another and Nami fell to sleep peacefully.

Zoro woke up the next morning to an empty sleeping bag. He suddenly shot up and looked around for his human comforter. At the shuffling outside, he opened the tent to be blinded by the white snow and chilly breeze.

Nami stretched before him in her full fur parka and turned with a grin, "Come on, idiot, we got work to do!"

Zoro grinned back and wondered why the morning seemed so much brighter today than it ever did before.

So, real talk, I was going to do the whole "let's get naked in this sleeping bag cause we're trying not to freeze to death" BUT, research showed that that doesn't actually do anything better, and I don't think Zoro would use such a sleazy method to get Nami naked. Even if it was to "save" her life. Also, real talk, Zoro is an ass man. FOR SUREEEE.

Also, yeah, I know- they are such children. I think they were like that when they first met in the anime/manga, so I wanted to touch on that. And eventually...they'll have "grown up problems", ya know. Cause sex is grown up time. Haha.

But hey, ya'll get cuddles in the cold. I want to also explain Sanji's reaction and how the others are taking this business, cause ya know- #wellrounded BUTBUTBUT that lemon is right after. PROMISE!

I'm keeping it juicy, right? Haha. #lessangst

UPDATE: I accidentally posted "The Meeting" before "The Tent" so...APOLOGIES FOR CONFUSING ANYONE. Hindsight, doing two multi-chapter stories in different AUs but with the same characters is super confusing. However, I hope to not mess up again! Sorry!

Also, I guess I should make it all up to you now, huh?

XoXo shipfiend