A/N: o0o Wow, this took a while. Too much pressure, dearest reader-this entire week, I just did NOT have the romance bug. It took a random Sunday night to finally seize me and force me to write like a MADWOMAN. I said no to plans with a dude friend, ignored my cat until it had to sit on my face for me to feed her, and forgot dinner. Now I am hungry, but AT LEAST I FINISHED SOMETHING! *self goals for deh win 8D* Oh, it is a good day when Dormy finishes something on -my friends know it, because I bug the HECK out of them about it with my good mood. NOW TO FINALLY RETURN TO THAT HALF CHAPTER FOR ONEDERLAND! ...Maybe...I kinda, maybe, got distracted again. ^.^; *oh, dearest reader, its a miracle you don't kill me for my ADHDdom x.x*
Anyways-enjoy the last chapter! Yes, this is the last chapter. Do you realize that this was only suppose to be a long one-shot? HOW DID IT GET SO LONG?
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Oda's skillz are so much more ninja than mine...
Near to You
'You and I have something different,
and I'm enjoying it, cautiously.
I'm battle-scarred, but I am
working oh so hard to get
back to who I used to be...'
~A Fine Frenzy
Zoro's eyes widened. Next to him, Nami held the same flabbergasted expression.
"Lu...Luffy?" she squeaked, in a quiet pitch that probably only dogs could here.
Luffy grinned. He wrapped his arm around her waist, then pulled her against his chest. "Right, Nami?'
In response, the flushed ginger opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Finally, she managed to look at Zoro, who still seemed flabbergasted, and meeped, "Yea...right."
Luffy's grin widened.
Zoro still didn't speak, not even when it was thier turn in line. He had to be dragged by Perona into the car, and then he looked away to hear her berrating all the way up.
Robin's voice was what snapped Nami out of it: "Well...I guess that's that."
Franky slapped him on the back, effectively knocking the breath out of him. While Luffy bent over, wheezing, he grinned.
"Wait a go, kid. I'm so...so proud..." Suddenly, the huge man started tearing up. After a few sniffles, he had to cover his face with his arms as he fell into full-fledged sobs. "STUPID! I'M NOT CRYING!"
Robin was instantly at his side, letting him cry on her with a detached air while she watched Nami mechanically follow Luffy into the next car. Her usual enigmatic smile was on her lips.
'Have fun' she mouthed. Nami continued to look bewildered in reply.
-x-
Nami sat across from him, her back strategically to the direction of Perona and Zoro supposedly swapping spit. The ride hummed back to life, and they started ascending. She watched Luffy rolling in laughter as he regained his breath. "Hyuck ha ha! Those guys are funny."
The ginger just sat in silence across from him. Over his shoulder, she could see Franky and Robin, sitting close with their heads together as they talked. Her face was extremely heated-bewildered, she put a hand to her cheek. What...was she actually affected by this? She scrunched up her face in confusion, wondering at the flip flopping of her chestal cavity organs.
She didn't notice him when he stopped laughing until he was suddenly in her face, his lurch causing the car to swing. Her face flashed with surprise right as he leaned over closer to her. She could practically feel his breath on her cheeks.
"Hey..."
Nami blanched. She had wanted Zoro out of her mind all day today-right at this moment, it was Zoro who? Her eyes were wide and locked on Luffy.
He put a hand on her flushed forehead, causing her mind to go blanker. He had a serious, straightforward face: "You're not sick again, are you?"
Nami went from a soft pink to an annoyed red. She shooed his hand away, her voice snappish. "No, I'm not!"
Luffy put his hand away, but he barely leaned back. Instinctively, Nami inched away. He blinked and cocked his head. The air still held a heavy, serious air...or maybe it was all in her head.
They sat in silence, the ride moving soothingly around them. Finally, she blurted out, "Why did you say we were dating?"
Luffy blinked. "Is it a big deal that I did?"
A very red Nami huffed. Of course he was clueless-she had seen him as only Zoro's friend, but how could she be so dense? "Yeah, it is! Idiot-now everyone will have the wrong idea about us!"
Luffy seemed even more confused. "Ehhh? I don't get it-something wrong with hanging out with a friend?
The ginger rolled her eyes. "That's not what 'dating' means."
"Then...what does it mean?"
"It means..." Nami stopped, sighing. "Nevermind Luffy. You don't need to know."
He became very quiet. It made her a little uncomfortable. Just as she thinking of something else to say, he muttered:
"...Does it bother you that much that I said it?"
Nami cocked her eyebrow. "Well...yeah, it sorta does." She sighed, continuing with dramatic hand movements, "Once again, your stupidity has caused another huge misunderstanding...now everyone thinks I'm going out with you-"
Almost insistently, he said, "Well, what if we really were going out?"
She deadpanned. Then, for a moment, Nami pondered it. Going out with Luffy? She couldn't see it-he made her angry most of the time, right? Didn't she hate him?
No you don't, said the tiny voice deep inside her head. The tiny voice that had gotten her here in the first place. Damn meddling voices. He's just never been more than Zoro's friend-one of your best friends, like Usopp or Sanji. We just kept him in the 'friend zone.
Yea, she retorted, completely stomping on the voice. And there's a good reason why they're all in the 'friend zone'-Usopp's a liar, Sanji's a flirt, and Luffy's an COMPLETE. IDIOT!
And Zoro's an...asshole? sarcastically snarked the voice. Is that why he was better?
SHUDDAP! she snarked back.
Returning to the real world, she put her hands in her lap in defeat of Luffy's ignorance.
"No," she groaned, "You're misunderstanding again..."
Nami nearly jumped out of her skin when his warm hand gripped hers. He was leaning over-Nami's skin felt tingly hot again. He still sounded insistent.
"No, I'm serious! We'll really go out-to the movies, the park, Sanji's work-"
Nami snapped, trying to interrupt him. "That's 'hanging out' Luffy! We already do that-there's a difference between 'hanging out' and 'going out'!"
Luffy huffed, looking a little frustrated, like a kid being talked down to by a misunderstanding adult. "I know that! It will be different!"
Nami locked her jaw, annoyed. "How?"
"Because we'll go on adventures-"
"WHAT?"
"-just you and me-"
Nami snarled, angry. She tried to push him back. "Just shut up, Luffy-"
He grabbed her battering hands, his face sharp as he shouted. "-and I'll promise never make you cry, Nami!"
That made Nami stop.
-x-
Some small, sensible part of her was glad for the plastic walls that muffled Luffy's shout in the car. That, coupled with the noise from the brightly lit world below.
Silence had ensued. He still hadn't let go of her wrist-she hadn't even bothered to struggle. He looked at her, still sharp, but waiting. He was still close, her back on the walls of the tiny car while he on the edge of his seat. Slowly, Nami's eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper in confusion.
"Luffy...?" she finally uttered.
Luffy opened his mouth, as if to give straightforward reply, or an explanation. Yet he didn't get to it-the operator below suddenly thought it was a good time to stop the revolving ferris wheel with a jerk, having a line to facilitate and all. The jerk jolted Luffy right out of his seat, straight onto Nami.
By probable accident, his opened mouth of surprise met Nami's.
She blinked rapidly in shock, the car rocking wildly til it leaned sharply to the left from the weight. From the shift in balance, he was quickly fully in her seat. Her instincts must have been off, for she did not immeadiately shove him from her person. She instead shifted under him-he made no move to pull away in that split second.
Nami did-she leaned away from him. He comically blinked at her, as if he was deeply shocked. For some reason, she found it highly amusing. Oh, he was very much a dunce...not even he could have meant this on purpose.
A coy smirk suddenly flitted across her face. After a brief sweep of her hindrances, she lifted herself back up by her elbows, her lips pursed a little. She softly kissed him.
He looked even more bewildered. She could have laughed-she had meant it as a joke. Something to tease him about later, or blackmail him about. She completely did not expect him to kiss her back.
But, he did.
He grabbed her chin with his hand when she tried to pull away, tilted it up, and gave an equally gentle caress with his lips to hers. She surprised herself by welcoming it-what...what was she doing? Mmm, but his lips were soft-she had expected them to be chap, or rough. They moved smoothly across hers, with velvet purpose tingling with warmth. She had expected him to be sloppy; she found herself wondering what he would taste like.
Wondering turned into her kissing him back, which made him hum happily. The kissed deepened-good, because she didn't like him going slow. She was too curious. He weaved his arms around her waist, hugging her close. She wound her fingers in his mess of hair. His tongue darted at her lips, and she invitingly let him in. It slipped deliciously across hers. She found, in amusement, that he actually did not taste like meat-he did, however, taste addictive. Rich, even.
She traced her fingers across the back of his neck, feeling him shivered. Her lips twitched up with a smile at that. He pressed against her, and she leaned further into him. His smell was everywhere-of oil from his work and of the sea air from the nearby coast. Every ruffle of his hair released it around her, and she reveled in it. Slowly, she was sinking more and more into the electric warmth running across her nerve endings.
They did not notice the ride being over, or even where they were, until the door was wrenched opened for them and they were told by the conductor of the ride to get out already. Nami once again went from a pleasurable pink to red-a deeply embarrassed red. Luffy looked maddeningly unconcerned; he had only looked up to see what the disturbance was.
The ginger uncoiled herself, with Luffy's help, and left the ride. An unamused couple brushed past her, but she didn't notice. Her heads was extremely light. She looked down and recognized Luffy was leading her to the exit, his hand closed around hers. When had their fingers weaved together? She didn't bother untangling them.
Unthinkingly, she looked for Zoro. He must have already left; she couldn't see him in the crowd. Robin and Franky as well. She looked up at Luffy, almost meekly. To her intense satisfaction, she could see a sliver of pink running across his face. She grinned.
He grinned back, almost in relief. She randomly started laughing-this was somehow really funny. Maybe that was due to the fact that she felt like she was high on helium.
With a jerk of his arm like a rubber band, Luffy stopped her laugh short to curl her to his chest. His arm was around her, hugging her. Nami whined through her grin, wiggling in his grip with her back to him. "Hey, stop-Luffy!"
He didn't. Instead, he chuckled while nuzzling her neck.
"So," he said, breathing on her skin. "You wanna go out?"
For it to come from Luffy made her bubble with laughter. Never in a billion years had she ever expected something like that to come out of his mouth-especially not to her. Instead of answering, she suppressed her giggle fit and haughtily declared, "That's not how it works, stupid. There has to be a first date first."
"Hehhhhhhhhh?" Luffy cried, in a very Luffy-like manner. She rolled her eyes. The guy could kiss, but he knew nothing about dating? Suppressing a smile, she managed to writhe from his grip and lead him to the exit, the whole way explaining to him 'dating'.
-x-
Walking back to the apartments, Nami and Luffy walked side-by-side, talking animatedly like always as if nothing had happened. Luffy still kept saying stupid things, and Nami still kept punching him for it; the only difference now was that their hands were interlaced together, and she was smiling.
They quickly came to the door of his and Zoro's apartment. Nami could hear the blaring sounds of a video game coming from behind the thin door-seems Zoro had finished his date. She looked up, and Luffy grinned at her.
She smiled. "12 o'clock, Saturday, movies. You'll remember?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah yeah, I'll remember."
He won't remember. Nami mentally sighed, telling herself she would beat it into his head for the rest of the week to assure herself.
His grin widened. "Thanks for letting me tag along at the fair."
Her smile morphed to a smirk. "Idiot. Acting as if it was my idea."
"Well," he said, snickering. "It was still fun, right?"
Nami smiled, but did nothing except hug Biri. He didn't need an answer, it seemed; he turned and knocked the green-painted door, loud enough to probably wake the neighbors on the hall. A frown grew across her face-finally, indecision faded and she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
Luffy turned around, rubbing where she kissed him. "Hah? What was that for?"
The ginger pouted, exasperated. "You know...idiot."
He cocked his head.
Suddenly, the door opened. Zoro poked his head out, and leered sleepily at his roomate. "Eh?" he muttered. "Did you lose the key?"
"Yeah...sorry."
Nami stood beside him, watching Zoro open the door wider to let him in with a "whatever" and lean on the door frame. He barely glanced at her, and with a sigh she realized she didn't care so much. Still hurt a little, though.
She huffed, turning to Luffy. "Goodnight. I'm officially worn out because of you."
"Shishishi!" Luffy waved, watching Nami wave back and turn to walk down the hall. He then slipped into the apartment and flounce onto the couch to grab a controller. Zoro, however, didn't move.
He quietly closed the door behind him, then called after the orange-haired twenty year-old. "Oi, Nami-wait up."
She begrudged herself for pausing, but did it automatically. Slowly, Nami turned around, and found with satisfaction that him advancing towards her did not send butterflies disgustingly fluttering about in her chest. She calmly waited for him to reach her, while he took his sweet time.
A ruthful grin spread across his face. "So..." he thumbed in the direction between her and the apartment door. "You and Luffy...?"
Nami was instantly on the defense, for some wierd reason. She crossed her arms. "Yeah-so?"
Zoro raised his hands, his grin slipping to just a smile. "Alright, I get it-it's fine, I'm really glad for you two."
His reassurance didn't keep Nami from scrutinizing his face. Well, he did seem...'glad'. She decided to lower her barbs a little.
"I mean," he continued. "I just always thought you hated him. And...does he even know what going out is...?"
The barbs were back up. Yet she hid them behind a smile. "Something you need, Zoro?"
Her green-haired ex shifted his weight back and forth, silently. Finally, he said, "Just making sure things were cool between us-we haven't talked since...you know, you broke up with me."
He said it very hurriedly, which made Nami frown. No, YOU haven't talked to ME since then. She flipped her hair and said casually, "I don't see why we wouldn't be okay."
He seemed relieved. Nami wasn't buying it. "Oh, great. Just wondering, because, well...you know that...I'm here if you need me, you know."
Nami nearly lost face to that, just as he leaned over and smiled.
"I mean...I'm ALWAYS here..."
She went completely silent, staring up at Zoro's hazy black eyes. His breath smelled like alcohol, which was normal, but today it was more pungent.
Nami couldn't see, but Luffy was leaned up against the door. He had put down his controller to listen in, his back on the peeling wood.
Zoro gently took a hold of her arm; he rubbed his thumb up and down it. "You know, if you still wanted me, I'd gladly come back. Me and Perona? Just comfort food-I really miss you, Nami..."
Nami felt something snap.
He was surprised when she gave him a deep frown and snatched her arm from his grip. As he blinked incredulously, she put on her most brilliant smile. "I don't know if you happen to remember, Zoro, but I'm the one who ended us. And believe me, I think we're definitely through with each other. But hey-thanks for the offer."
While he still looked like a flabbergasted fish, she faked a yawn and stretched. "Wow, I think Luffy really wore me out. I'm heading back to my apartment...Glad we had this talk, Zoro!"
As she turned, Nami cringed at her last shot. Perhaps too excessive-still, it felt damn good to say!
Zoro was left to watch in confusion as Nami swagger hurriedly off to the elevator. Finally, he snorted, grumbling under his breath as he sauntered back to his apartment. When he walked in, Luffy was lying on the couch with the t.v. on, snickering at some program aimed at much younger kids. For some reason, that only put the green-haired best friend in a darker mood. He slammed his half-finished beer into the garbage, then stalked to his bedroom to slam the door.
Meanwhile, at her apartment, Nami was just getting over the affects of what she had just done. A victorious grin spread across her face. She threw her hands up to ceremoniously spasm with joy at having finally told Zoro off. Her revelry, however, was cut short by the cellphone in her pocket suddenly vibrating. She dug it out and opened it.
A text from Robin greeted her-"How did it go?"
The smile across her face grew. She fingered her phone wordlessly, trying to think of an appropriate answer. Finally, she put: "It went...great!"
Nami closed her phone, grinning as she snuggled Biri and headed to her bedroom.
{The End.}
A/N: Holy teacakes! I believe this fic has a moral:
Don't date out of your closet friends group...unless you know what you're getting yourself into.
Also:
Tilt-a-Whirls cause romantic situations to happen. GUARANTEED.
...Okay, maybe the last one wasn't a moral.
If I do continue this, I might just add the drabbles of ideas I had for this AU that I thought of at the end. Such as Sanji appearing at the fair and suddenly seeing Nami with Luffy in the ferris wheel, or Zoro's (or Luffy's, because I think both of their behavior's need to be explained) POV about this whole thing, or maybe about Franky and Robin's date. Just put them all together in one last chapter, for random purposes. Because I like random-purposed chapters.
Thanks for reading, dear reader! Here's a cookie-ignore the 'please review' iced in blue icing on one side if you like...no I'm not trying to pressure you into flaming me again, what are you saying? Really...
The very idea.
