Author Notes: Written for Lolly Dream's "A Cup For Zoro" contest over at the forum Yaoi Supernova Authors Guild. Come drop by and say hi if you have the time. Nice people everywhere. ^_^

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece. Blah blah blah...

Spoilers/Timeline: After Alabasta Arc; 7 crew members; a little made up something-something in Luffy's past

Pairing: LuZo/ZoLu light and fluffy~

~!~

Mr. Sippy

~!~

They were in the kitchen when the package arrived. Luffy was stealing from Zoro's plate and Sanji was hanging around by the sink, cleaning things up. He never did seem to eat with the rest of the crew. Nami had opened the door a crack to let the sea breeze waft its way through the rather crowded kitchen. With seven crew members, it was a bit confining to fit everyone in the same room, especially on hot days.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a package came flying into the room, smacking Usopp in the face, bending his nose awkwardly.

Luffy stopped stuffing his face to lean across the table and poke at the brown package plastered to his sharp-shooter's nose. "Oi, Usopp, is it your birthday?"

Usopp pulled the package off his face and shook his head while laying it on the table. "N-No..."

Chopper leaned forward to read who the mysterious package was addressed to. "Luffy, it says it's for you?"

While Nami got up to pay the pelican waiting at the door, Zoro pulled the package and slapped Luffy's hands away. "Ne, Zoro, it's for me!"

Zoro lowered his eyebrows and kept a hold on the package, glaring at with distrust. "I'm not letting you open it - you're a wanted man, Luffy; it could be an assassination attempt."

As soon as the idea hit the room, Usopp leapt up from his chair and started backing away, pointing at the package with a shaking finger. "It could be a bomb meant to blow up the entire ship!"

Luffy's eyes went wide. "Wha? No way! That's so cool!" He stretched his arms and ripped the package away from a protesting Zoro, looking down to read who it was from. "Oh, it's just from Ace."

Zoro crossed his arms and grumbled, "Not like a package from that guy is any better than a bomb."

Robin smiled lightly and leaned over to look at the box wrapped in brown paper, reading the note taped to the top. "It says it's an early birthday present for you, Luffy."

At the new information, Zoro felt his body shoot back, the chair legs scraping along the floor. "Wait, Luffy, when is your birthday?"

He could hear the cook drop a dish in the sink, and he knew Sanji had turned to stare at him. Zoro clenched his teeth together and tried to keep his heart calm. So he had forgotten Luffy's exact birth date. It wasn't like everyone would remember his. Besides, he had been sure that Luffy's birthday wasn't during this part of the year.

Luffy's laughter eased his conscious. "It's not until May, and Ace never got me a present this year."

Having found a way back to the table, Usopp leaned his head on his hand, elbow resting on the table top. "So, it's really a late gift and not an early one."

Their captain nodded and crossed his arms, slouching back in his chair, pouting like a baby. "Yeah, he always does this, too."

Zoro made a mental note not to forget Luffy's birthday, or make some lame excuse every year like his brother apparently did. It seemed to make Luffy upset, probably because he knew Ace was just forgetting to get him something every year and trying to use the random gift giving as a cover up.

Nami stepped forward and put a hand on the still unwrapped package. "So are you going to open it and see what he got you?"

Luffy's grin broke the pout and he sprang forward with a "Yeah!" He proceeded to rip the gift open, revealing a red colored cup...a sippy cup of all things. As the rest of the crew stared, Luffy picked it up, shook it to find out there was even something inside, and then laughed. "It's Mr. Sippy!" He exclaimed before putting the thing in his mouth and sucking.

Zoro continued to stare at his captain, unable to believe what he was watching, unable to believe that the man he had chosen to follow was acting like a little kid. Happy over a sippy cup, even giving it a nickname, and... He was just so floored. He couldn't think straight. Here was the kid he had let himself fall in love with, and the damn boy was acting like...

"Hey, Zoro, you should try this!" Luffy said, bouncing up on top of the table, pulling Zoro out of his thoughts.

He blinked back at the smiling face of his captain, noting the juice dribbling off the side of Luffy's lip. He swallowed and then looked at the red sippy cup being offered to him, feeling his eye twitch. "I'm not drinking from that thing!" He snapped. "Damn it, Luffy, stop acting like such a child!"

When Luffy pulled back, hands shaking, lip trembling, eyes watering, Zoro realized he had just made a possible hole in their relationship. "B-But..."

Shaking his head, Luffy lowered his head to stare at the table, the straw hat covering his teary eyes from view. He then stretched out, pushing Zoro back until he fell to the floor with the chair. Zoro was waiting for Luffy to jump on top of him like he normally did after doing such a thing, but Luffy didn't follow. His captain only swung off the table and stomped to the door.

"You don't understand!" He shouted before walking outside and slamming the door behind him.

Silence in the room made Zoro's roaring heart beat feel even louder. He groaned and sat up, not even noticing that the chair back had broken beneath him. Standing up, he scratched at his hair and crossed his arms. "Well, it's his fault for demanding such a stupid..."

"Swordsman-san," Robin interrupted.

He looked up to see the crew staring at him, no where close to pity in their eyes. Sanji looked about ready to kill him, as did Nami. Chopper seemed angry, too, as did Usopp, though he appeared more willing to hide under the table than stand up to the swordsman. And Robin, well, Robin was always hard to read.

"What?"

A knife flew through the air, which Zoro instinctively dodged, but he winced when he heard the thunk behind him, indicating that the knife had been thrown hard enough to get stuck in the wood of the wall. "Marimo bastard, don't just stand there!" Sanji snapped.

Zoro spun to face him. "What do you want me to do?"

Nami was the one to answer, putting her hands on her hips and shouting back. "Go apologize of course!"

With a scowl, he grumbled something under his breath and slowly made his way to the door, opening it and forcing himself the next few steps before closing it behind him. Luffy was sitting at his special seat, his legs crossed and arms by his side. The sippy cup was in his mouth, still being sucked on.

Zoro took a breath and resisted the urge to walk back inside. The crew would not only kill him for doing such a thing, but he wouldn't consider himself any better than a coward. If he ran away from an apology, he would be worse than Usopp when it came to running away. So, gritting his teeth and dreading every closer step, he slowly made his way to stand behind his captain.

He had the feeling that Luffy knew he was there, but the boy didn't move, didn't make any indication of recognizing his presence. For a while, the breeze was the only thing between them, not counting the growing invisible rift.

Then Zoro spoke. "Luffy-"

And was interrupted. "Not listening."

He frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Doesn't matter."

His frown deepened and he could feel his heart hurt at the rejection. Why did it bother him so much? He should have felt rightly justified for denying to do something. He had before, like playing tag or some silly game. Luffy didn't usually have such a reaction; he would just pout, proclaim that Zoro was 'no fun' and then move on.

But this...

He sighed and walked up to the railing, leaning on it for support, trying to get a better look at Luffy's expressions as the captain stared into the distance. He reached out a hand. "Give it to me."

But Luffy shook his head. "Won't make it better."

Zoro could feel his eye twitch again as he brought his hand back to his side, trying to think of what else he could say or do. What would put this right? Luffy wouldn't respond to a kiss now; he was too angry. And he didn't think that would really make everything better anyway. The straight-up apology hadn't worked. The offer to drink it now hadn't worked. So what could he do?

After a moment, an idea came to him. Why else would Luffy be so willing to drink out of a child's cup? It had to be connected to Ace. "So what's the story?"

This idea wasn't initially rejected. Luffy popped the cup out of his mouth and turned to face Zoro, his eyes searching. Zoro did his best to look interested, to show how much he wanted to set things right. "You figured it out?"

Zoro blinked. Felt a little bubble of relief start to form in his stomach. "Yeah. So tell me."

Luffy smiled, holding the sippy cup out. Zoro reached out to grab it, but Luffy refused to let go. "Ace has one too. There was another kid, too, but..." Luffy shook his head as if trying to clear a bad memory. "Well one time there was a girl who was younger than all of us, and she had to have a sippy cup. We took turns taking care of her: against our will at first, but eventually..." Luffy shrugged.

Zoro found his mouth open, finding it hard to imagine Luffy - a younger Luffy - babysitting even for a few minutes. "So why the cup?"

Luffy grinned. "She refused to drink her milk, and I noticed that she liked to copy us, follow us everywhere. So, Ace got the idea to give us all sippy cups, so she would drink because we were..."

Zoro smiled in spite of himself. So that was why. It explained so much. And it made him realize, once again, that Luffy was smarter than he looked, more mature than he seemed to be. One just had to look beneath the shadows, learn the meaning behind his actions sometimes, to understand how much of a man he was.

"And!" Luffy continued, scooting closer. "They were each color coded. See? Mine was red," he said, holding the cup out, shaking it a little. Zoro was a tad amazed to see that there was still some liquid left inside. "Do you want a green one, Zoro?"

"What? No!" Zoro exclaimed, but he held back when Luffy's smile seemed to turn upside down. He put his other hand on the sippy cup, resting it over the boy's hand. "I'll just drink yours."

Luffy grinned. "See, I knew you would say that!"

Luffy let go and Zoro brought the cup to his mouth, fighting back the grimace, praying to all the non-existent gods that the rest of the crew wouldn't be watching. He sucked at the sippy and then tore it away, having tasted...alcohol? "What the hell is in this?"

Luffy just grinned, leaning forward, coming dangerously close to falling. "Apple juice."

"Keh, more like spiked apple juice" Zoro grunted, taking another drink before he could stop himself.

He pulled the sippy cup away and shoved it back into Luffy's hands when he realized what he was doing, but Luffy wouldn't take it, too busy swaying forward. So, sippy cup still in hand, Zoro barely managed to catch his falling captain, though they both tumbled to the deck. Zoro thought about how moments with Luffy always tended to have some point involving Luffy on top of him, and Luffy cuddled close, snuggling in his shirt, refusing to get up.

"You're warm, Zoro." The swordsman felt his face grow hot and Luffy shifted, crawling up to capture his lips. "Mmm, I can taste it here, too," Luffy murmured.

He licked at Zoro's lips a few times before attempting to sit up. Dropping the sippy cup, Zoro reacted by wrapping his arms around Luffy and smirking at the boy's clouded, confused expression. "You're not going anywhere."

"Ne, but Zoro, I'm tired," Luffy complained, lip pouting out.

Zoro frowned, but put his hand on the back of his captain's head, gripping the edge of the hat. "I got the hat, so just sleep here."

It didn't even take Luffy a second to respond, his face lighting up with a grin. "Okay!"

The captain snuggled into Zoro's chest like a kitten getting comfortable. Zoro waited until he was sure Luffy was asleep, then he let his own eyes close, his arms never moving, his hand holding onto the hat like it was one of his swords. Because to Luffy, it might as well have been. Zoro recognized that he had important things in his possessions, and so did Luffy.

Silly red sippy cup included.

~!~

A/N: So was that cute or what? I really liked it, but what are your thoughts? Eh?

Kairi says: FLUFFY! ZOMG! *dies from fluffiness*