disclaimer: I don't own one piece

"It's just stupid!"

Zoro stared, wide eyed, as Nami guzzled her 23rd tankard of beer. He figured that when she ran back to her room to get some money she'd only bring enough for a couple drinks, he now realized, as she gulped down the copious amounts of alcohol, that he had significantly underestimated her.

"...What?" He had been too busy gaping at her to listen to what she was saying.

"I said 's stupid! I shouldn't even be upset."

He nodded along silently, she still hadn't told him why she was upset but she had told him repeatedly that she was upset. The increasing slur to her words indicated that he probably wouldn't find out either.

"I mean….it's not my fault," She rested her cheek against the cold wood of the table, "and it's not like….anyone ever tried to visit me on my birthday."

He raised an eyebrow, could she possibly be saying something coherent?

"...Hey Zoro." she said, blowing a piece of hair out of her face, "do you know what day it is?"

He hummed in acknowledgement, "Wednesday."

"No, you idiot!." she yelled, throwing an empty mug at him.

Zoro cursed when it hit the side of his head and mumbled something about her being a hag. When he glared back at her, Nami's expression had changed from annoyed to serious. Her face was still pressed to the table, and in spite of her current state of intoxication, she looked sober. He shut up and waited for her to say something.

" ….If I tell you….will you not bring it up again?"

He considered it, then slowly nodded. He didn't make a habit of listening to peoples stories, that was their business not his, but this time he was surprised to find that he wanted to know. Nami bit her lip, unsure if telling him would make a difference or not.

"Today is my sisters birthday." She moved her arm so it covered her face. "It's a stupid thing to get so emotional about, considering all the things we've been through but…."

She tried to pull her hair over her face so that it was even more hidden. Zoro watched her for a moment then averted his gaze. He didn't know what he had expected, everyone had baggage and it made sense that she still thought of her family in Cocoyashi Village. He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

"It's not that stupid. "

Nami lifted her head up to look at him. When she was thinking about telling him she hadn't really thought about what his reaction would be. She guessed that, since it was Zoro he might just fall asleep or tell her something akin to 'I don't care'. She smiled a little.

" ….Hey, what did you do on your birthday?"

They briefly made eye contact again before he looked away. What was with her tonight? Venting was understandable but when he invited her along he hadn't thought she'd actually try and make conversation. He rubbed the back of his head trying to think of the last time he could remember celebrating his birthday.

"Uh….not a lot. I usually just spent it training like everyday."

Nami looked at her feet, she seemed disappointed. He thought about it harder, was there anything? Oh!

"Oh yeah, Koshiro, he was my teacher, would um, yeah! he would give me a mooncake every year and tell me to make a wish or something. I thought it was kind of weird but he did that with her too so…."

"her?"

Zoro looked to the side, "No one, just his daughter. I guess it was tradition or something."

For a moment she looked like she was going to ask him more about it but suddenly decided against doing so. She smiled at the floor, then cupped her face in her hand so that she was looking at him.

"That's pretty lame compared to what we did."

He rolled his eyes, of course she had an ulterior motive for asking about him, she wanted to talk about herself.

"On me and Nojiko's birthday, Bellemere would pick the best looking mikans from our grove and use the rinds to bake a citrus cake, then she would take us to a shop in town and we could buy one thing we wanted." Her eyes lit up excitedly. "And if she had enough money, we would go out to dinner together, just the three of us."

She stared into the liquid content of her cup feeling bittersweet. Talking about Bellemere and her sister made her a little sad, but she felt better. Maybe it was the inhuman amount of beer she had consumed but Nami had cheered up considerably.

" Orange cake sounds kind of…."

She wrinkled her nose at the look of distaste on his face, "What?"

"Nothing, it just sounds kind of gross."

She gave him a look that was somewhere between anger and dismay, " ….Are you stupid?"

"Hey, shut up!" He crossed his arms defensively, "All I'm saying is that fruit is fruit and cake is cake, mixing them seems weird."

"You're weird."

"What are you, five?"

she huffed and joined him in crossing her arms, then muttered, "I'll make you a citrus cake for your birthday just to spite you."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, both refusing to look at the other. Finally, Nami broke the silence.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" He answered a little irritably.

" ….We should do this again."

Zoro snorted.

"Hah, you had me fooled for a while, but you really are wasted aren't you?"

She flicked his arm with her fingers, "I'm serious you ass, this was fun!" She grinned to emphasize her point.

He rubbed his arm as if the small strike had actually hurt him and took a swig of his beer (which had been neglected for longer than he would've liked). He had had fun, the only reason he never drank with her before was mainly because he feared doing something to increase his debt but, amazingly, she hadn't brought that up once. His thoughts were interrupted by fingers prodding his shoulder.

She removed her hand and leaned back into her chair. Looking a little abashed, she mumbled something under her breath.

"What?"

She gave him an annoyed look, as if it was his fault for not being able to hear her. She puffed out her cheeks and twiddled her fingers.

"Thank you."

Immediately he felt his ears go red. " No need to thank me, you bought all the drinks anyway. All I did was get us here." That was a lie, she'd had to pull him by his haramaki so he wouldn't wander off in the opposite direction

"That's not what I….just, thanks."

He shrugged, he'd been doing that a lot tonight. "We should head back."

Nami looked out of a window at the darkened sky, he was right. They had been there long past sunset and the others (Sanji) were probably getting worried about them (her). Sighing, she pulled out some cash from her bag and placed it on the table.

"Alright, let's go."

Thanks for reading! I know this chapter was pretty short and i've been making the development go pretty slow so i hope you can hang in there. pls review! tell me your opinions and criticism is welcome too! :)