-Tangled Web-
A role-play/joint-fic by Digitaldreamer and Constable Remington
Chapter four: Luffy's Adventures from the Bed

o.o Wow, you people really like this fic...I'm a bit shocked by all the reviews we got for the last chapter…wow. I feel so special that you're all enjoying reading this and are willing to take the time to review, thank you so very much!

I figure I should warn you all right here…this chapter contains a bit of angst. I hope it isn't horribly wangsty, if it is just tell me. ;; Also, this chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, I'm warning you now.

Several long hours passed before Sanji had decided to cook some lunch, not forgetting their young guest, with a sort of amused snicker. He was bringing a plate of simple spaghetti up to the room, knocking the door before swinging it open, expecting to see the kid still asleep.

Luffy was indeed still asleep, practically buried under the covers as he snored quietly.

"This food had better not go to waste," Sanji muttered quietly, setting the plate carefully on the dresser. He turned towards the bed, staring at the form for a moment before yanking the covers up, pulling them slightly away. "Hey, wake up, kid." Sanji prodded him in the shoulder, careful not to touch him where a wound was visible.

"Hnnn…" Luffy mumbled, eyes cracking open to stare up at Sanji. "..Who're you?" He asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Name's Sanji," he muttered, standing fully from leaning over the boy, and taking a step back to flop into the chair. "I live here." He dug around his pocket, finding a cigarette and a lighter and placing the filter between his teeth, lighting the tip of the cigarette in one swift motion and leaning back, enjoying the flavour. Zoro would probably have a freak-attack of he knew Sanji was smoking in his bedroom -- but Zoro wasn't here, now was he? "Brought you some lunch." He gestured to the plate on the table

Oh. So this was the guy Zoro had been talking about earlier. Luffy blinked, sitting with a bit of effort and looking at the bed side table. His mouth widened into a grin that lit up his whole face. "Spaghetti!" He chirped happily. The plate of noodles and sauce may as well have teleported, judging from how fast it took for Luffy to get it from the bedside table to his lap. He began to inhale the noodles as if he were a human vacuum cleaner.

Sanji only watched with a mild sense of surprise and disgust, puffing quietly at his cigarette. Well. That had been interesting. "So," he began suddenly. "You feeling any better?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, I feel a lot better today!" He said, though his mouth was full so it came out sort of garbled. He swallowed. "'Cept it still really hurts to move so I guess Zoro was right when he said I shouldn't move." He said with a shrug.

Sanji only laughed, slightly amused at the possibilities when this was taken the wrong way, but he quickly shook his head. "Well, I'm sure you'll get better and better," he responded. Suddenly though, he grinned. "Hey, Zoro was talking to me this morning and he said something about you. But shh--" He leaned in slightly, giving the illusion that this was privileged information. "It's a secret, and you can't tell him I told you." He grinned. "But, he really likes you. So I think you should definitely go for it!" And with that, he grabbed the empty plate, retreating back to his kitchen, trying hard to keep in his laughter.

Luffy blinked at the door, which had been left open after the cook's sudden retreat. Then he cocked his head to the side. "Zoro really likes me? Go for it? What?" He repeated to the empty room, sounding terribly confused. Well sure, he really liked Zoro too, but what did "go for it" mean? He frowned, pondering this for a moment.

Zoro really likes me? What does that mean? So he likes me a lot…well, I like him a lot too, so that must be a good thing? But why's it a secret then?...What does go for it mean? These questions whirred in Luffy's head for several minutes.

Unfortunately, Luffy's short attention span only allowed him to concentrate on something for a few minutes, so eventually these thoughts were tossed out the window for something more interesting. Like Zoro's door, which Sanji had left open.

Zoro seemed to prefer his door closed…and Sanji had left it open. Luffy didn't want to call Sanji all the way back up and make him close it. So maybe Luffy should get up and close it? But Zoro said not to get out of bed…but Zoro wanted his door closed, right? What would Zoro think if his door were left open when he got back from school? Luffy couldn't just leave it open like that! Surely getting up and moving was worth it if it was for closing the door. He'd just get up and close the door, Zoro would never know.

Having decided, Luffy eased himself over the side of the mattress and shakily onto his feet. However, the moment he put his weight on his legs they began to hurt terribly and ended up giving out underneath him, he just didn't have the strength at this point to stay standing. The boy crashed to the floor with a groan.

Okay, so now he was out of bed, but he was still nowhere near managing to close the door. That wasn't good, he had close the door. In order to get to the door, he'd have to move across the room…maybe if he just used the stuff in the room to help get himself across? That'd work…

Luffy reached up and grabbed the side of the mattress. Clenching his teeth, Luffy pulled himself to his knees, then to his feet. He gasped from the strain but if he ignored the pain racking though his body, it was tolerable. He somehow managed to make his way to the chair in the middle of the room, nearly falling a few times but managing to somehow make it far enough to grab at the back of the chair and collapse to his knees next to it.

Well…he was halfway now! Just a bit further and he could close the door and sleep! Yeah….sleep sounded good. But he couldn't sleep now! He shook his head as if trying to clear it, panting. "…Just a bit further…" He muttered, pulling himself to his feet once more and beginning to stagger to the door.

He could feel something warm dribbling across his stomach, he must've re-opened something. Maybe this wasn't worth it, Zoro probably wouldn't be happy that Luffy had managed to reopen several of his wounds and exhausted himself just to close his door…but he was too far to just turn back now.

The boy finally reached the door and collapsed to his knees again, breathing heavily, as if he had just run a marathon. He glanced up at the doorknob, it wasn't too far…he just had to reach up and close the door, then he could sleep like his body was screaming at him to. Just close the door.

Luffy clenched his teeth and forced himself to raise his arms above his head and push the door, crawling forward on his knees as he did so. He heard the wooden bottom of the door brush against the carpet for awhile, then with a final heave he heard a click as the door shut. He sighed in relief, pressing his forehead against the rough wooden surface. Now maybe he could sleep…

No…he couldn't sleep yet! Had to make it back to bed… Luffy's face twisted into a grimace as his fingers dug into the carpet. He scooted around so he was facing the bed and tried to force himself to his feet, only to find that he didn't have the strength for that. Well, there was always crawling.

So Luffy tried inching himself along the carpet. It was pretty slow, but at least he was making progress. Unfortunately, by this point any energy he'd had in his limbs was completely used up, and by the time he got to the chair they finally gave way and he collapsed face-first into the floor.

Tired…can't sleep here… Luffy's eyelids felt heavy, and the boy finally lost the fight against them and they fell shut as he drifted into unconsciousness.

The hours passed as Luffy slept on the floor. It had just rolled into four o'clock, and Zoro approached and entered the house grumbling to himself over some stupid grade he'd received in English. What did he need to have English for, anyway! He knew damn good and well he was never going to England. Swinging open the front door, he looked around, seeming to be the first one home. Shrugging, he moved up the stairs, going towards his room. Swinging open the door, he stepped inside, setting his schoolbag against the wall and stopping suddenly.

I'm missing a Luffy-sized lump in my bed.

His eyes wandered down, and as soon as Zoro had seen it, he was at the boy's side. Luffy was asleep, but Zoro carefully, carefully scooped him up yet again, gritting his teeth and staring down at the boy's sleeping face. "I told you not to get up," he muttered, rather irritated -- but only to mask his worry. "Luffy..." Setting the boy against the mattress gently, he stopped when he noticed that the boy's bandages had several crimson splotches across them. Zoro's eyebrows furrowed and he cursed to himself.

Tomorrow, he'd just fucking have to stay home from school.

The first thing Luffy heard when he came to was Zoro's irritated voice, followed by the sensation of being placed back on the bed. Wait, what was he doing out of….oh yeah.

Luffy's eyes fluttered open as he looked up at Zoro. He gave a small, weak smile. "Hi Zoro...how was school?" He mumbled.

"Che..." He shook his head, trying to turn his pleadingly worried gaze into one of pure irritation. He ignored Luffy's question. "Why are you of bed?" he asked seriously. "You hurt yourself. I don't want you to get up again, alright? Not until you're healed..." He placed a hand over what bit of Luffy's hair wasn't buried in a pillow and ruffled it awkwardly.

"…Oh yeah...that…sorry about getting up, Zoro." Luffy mumbled, looking sheepish. "I had to get up though…Sanji brought lunch and he left the door open… and I didn't want to make him climb all the way back up the stairs just to close the door, so I tried to do it myself." He laughed quietly. "I got to the door but I couldn't make it back…sorry for worrying you, I won't get up again until I'm better, I promise."

Oh, good, one more reason to beat Sanji's pretty little face in.

Zoro grunted in annoyance, moving away from Luffy and settling in his chair. "Yeah... alright," he muttered. "Listen, whenever you are feeling better, we're gonna go down and check out your records and see where you belong, alright?" He didn't particularly want to say 'goodbye' to the kid, but he was sure his parents or whatever would love to see him.

Luffy sighed and nodded tiredly. "…Zoro? If I don't live too far away, can I come and visit you sometimes?" He asked after a moment of silence, giving the older man a pleading look.

Looking slightly surprised, Zoro blinked, meeting Luffy's gaze and finally answering with a quiet nod. "Yeah," he responded. "Sure..." Though he couldn't imagine why... it wasn't like they were good friends or anything...

Luffy grinned tiredly. "Great…I like being here with you…" He trailed off and yawned. "I feel kinda dizzy…can I go back to sleep?"

The man nodded some. "You don't have to ask my permission to go to sleep," he said, slightly confused. Turning some, he grabbed his bookbag, groaning inwardly at the thought of more homework. Robin was really piling it on...

Luffy yawned again, eyes falling shut. "Yeah, I guess I don't." He murmured before drifting back to sleep.

Zoro watched him quietly for a few moments. Luffy looked peaceful, something like a baby cherub when he was asleep. Feeling the beginnings of a smile tugging on the corners of his lips, Zoro quickly looked away and back down to his history packet. "G'night, kid," he muttered.

Afew hours later as the sun set outside everyone was apparently home, judging from the usual sounds of chaos coming from downstairs. Vaguely one could hear Nami screaming at Ussop to do the laundry, whom would insist that 'The Great Captain Usopp-sama' was too busy watching his new DVD to do laundry. This was followed by more screaming and banging noises. Finally Usopp's pained yelps stopped, so Nami had apparently gotten her way.

Annoyed with the noise, Zoro slammed his books down and stood, going to his door and flinging it open. He didn't bother to shut it again as he made his way down the stairs, pushing in through the kitchen to cast an annoyed glance around. "What the hell is wrong with you all?" he yelled, though the kitchen was empty. He was sure it would be heard somewhere. "No one can get any goddamn work done around here!"

Zoro thought of the katana up in his bedroom... it might be nice to head down to the rec center and get some practice with them... it felt like it had been far too long. Figuring his point had been made, he moved back up the stairs, going to his own room only long enough to get a glance at Luffy and grab up his swords. He then moved down the hall, knocking on Vivi's door.

The girl looked up from her book and gently set it down, going to the door and opening it. She looked up at Zoro and smiled.

"Roronoah-san," she acknowledged with a bow of her head. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah... I was gonna head down to do some training... I was wondering you could keep an eye on the kid for me..." He spoke in a sort of stammer, unused to having to ask favors.

"Of course," she responded with a smile, going back to her bed to grab her book and moving out the door. Zoro followed her down the hall. "I'll sit in your room and watch him, is that alright?"

He nodded some, and she moved into his room, taking a seat while he went down the stairs and out the front door.

Nami glanced up at Zoro from her spot on the couch, orange gel pen in her mouth. She was lying on her stomach at just the right spot on the couch so that if anyone else tried to sit on it they'd have to sit on her and risk her wrath. She rose an eyebrow as he walked past, then glanced at Usopp, whom was sulking on the floor as he folded socks. "Hey, Usopp.."

"Yes, I know." Usopp snapped. "Fold all of your socks in exactly that way, and if even one is slightly out of place you'll kick my ass, I know!"

Nami chuckled. "No, no, it's not about the socks."

The junior blinked, looking back at her. "Eh?"

The orange-haired senior smiled. "Haven't you noticed? Zoro's been tenser than usual."

Usopp rose an eyebrow. "Really? And how's this a change?

Nami chuckled again. "It's kind of funny, don't you think? Zoro brings home some guy that he found in the alleyway, and suddenly he's tenser than usual, and he's definitely rather protective of the kid."

Usopp grinned. "It is pretty weird. What, do you think he likes him?"

Nami grinned mischievously. "Well, he never has shown much of an interest in girls…"

"And he did get pretty mad this morning when Sanji and I were teasing him about it…" Usopp added, twirling his index finger in the air.

Nami's grin widened. "Interesting, isn't it?"

"It is."

She nodded, twirling a lock of orange around her fingers as they sat in silence for a moment. "Well Usopp?"

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you folding my socks?" Nami asked, a dangerous tone leaking through her sweet façade. Usopp yelped and began folding Nami's various multicolored socks once more.

Hours passed, until it was dark and Sanji had returned from work. Zoro still hadn't arrived home. Dinner was set, and Sanji had joyfully informed Nami and Usopp, going up the stairs to tell Vivi and Robin, too. He paused, noticing Zoro's door was open, and peeked inside. Vivi was still reading her book, and he smiled to her.

"Vivi-chan," he said sweetly. "It's time to eat."

"Oh..." The girl bookmarked her page, closing the book and setting it carefully against the dresser and smiling up at him. "Sanji-san, would you bring some up here for him? He needs to keep well-nourished, he'll recover faster."

"Of course, Vivi-chan!" he shouted happily, and Vivi smiled back.

"I'll go tell Robin it's time to eat," she said gently, and Sanji nodded, going out the door and down the stairs to get some of the food on a plate.

Vivi moved from the room and down the hall, stopping short at Robin's door and gently knocking.

"Robin? It's dinnertime."

Robin glanced up from grading papers at her desk when the knock came. She smiled, setting down her red pen and stood. "Alright Vivi-san, I'm coming." She said as she walked to the door and pulled it open. "I assume you won't be joining us since you're watching the boy?" She asked as walked past the younger girl.

"Oh... no, I can't." She smiled a little. "Though I did expect Roronoah-san to be back by now..." She frowned a little, as if troubled by this. "But I'm sure he'll be home soon." She was about to say something else when Sanji charged back up the stairs, holding a plate in each hand.

"I brought your food, Vivi-chaaaan!" he called, and she couldn't help but giggle a bit at his enthusiasm.

"Thank you, Sanji-san," she said gently, taking the plates of chicken and rice and moving back into Zoro's bedroom. She set the plates down on the dresser and moved to shake Luffy awake.

"Hnnn…" Luffy's eyes slowly opened, and then he blinked up at Vivi. "Oh….hi…you're Vivi, right?" He asked, face spreading into a grin.

She smiled to him, nodding some. "Yes, that's me." Glancing back to the dresser, Vivi grabbed up his plate. "It's dinner time. I brought you some food."

Luffy's eyes widened a bit and he sat up. "Food?" He repeated, looking hungrily at the steaming plate.

The girl laughed a bit, nodding and setting the plate carefully in his lap. A fork was balanced atop it. Vivi had already noticed the boy's attraction to food. "It's very good, I'm sure," she said gently, taking her own plate and sitting in Zoro's chair. "Sanji is a very skilled chef." With this, she began to quietly eat.

Luffy grinned, taking a bite of the chicken. "Wooooooooow…this is good!" He said, once again beginning to eat so fast he may as well have been inhaling it.

She watched him with a surprised expression on her face before she broke down into laugher. Suddenly, there was a knock on the open door, and she looked up, still giggling, to see Zoro standing in the doorway, drenched in sweat. He set down his three swords against the wall, raising an eyebrow.

"Did I miss a party?" he asked, slightly amused.

Luffy, whom had burst into laughter shortly after Vivi had (Fortunately nothing had been in his mouth at the time), shifted his focus to the doorway. "I dunno! She just started laughing, so I started laughing too!" He said through peals of laughter.

Zoro rose an eyebrow, shaking his head, and Vivi eventually forced her giggles down. "You were gone a long time, Zoro; did your training go well?"

He shrugged and grunted in response. "It was fine."

Smiling, she stood from the chair, carrying her plate. "Well, I'll leave you two alone." She moved out the door, down the hall, and down the stairs. Zoro stared after her, eventually snapping the door shut. Glancing to Luffy, he went to his dresser, digging around for a change of clothes.

"How's dinner?" he asked. "Did you sleep well?"

Luffy had finally managed to stop laughing and was shoveling rice into his mouth. "Dinner's really yummy! Sanji's an awesome cook!" He said with a rice-filled grin. "And I slept good!"

"Yeah, well," he muttered, still irritated at the chef, "enjoy it, 'cause it's about the only thing Sanji can do right. He's an idiot. Don't listen to anything he says." Finding some pajamas, he sighed. He'd definitely need a shower.

Luffy blinked, cocking his head to the side. 'Don't listen to anything he says'? Well, Sanji had said Zoro really liked him earlier…but he wasn't supposed to listen to anything Sanji said. Did that mean Zoro didn't really like him? He frowned as he set the now clean plate onto the bedside table, not a single grain of rice left.

"I need to get a shower. You don't mind being alone a bit, do you?" Zoro looked to Luffy, completely unaware of what his words had meant to the boy.

Luffy's face fell a bit. Maybe he doesn't want me around? Maybe he's sick of taking care of me? He bit his lip, glancing down at his lap and fiddling with that elusive loose string on the comforter again. "N-no, of course I don't mind." He said, focusing on the small string between his fingers.

"Alright. I shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Just gotta clean off a bit..." And with this, Zoro was out the door, closing it gently behind him, and back into the bathroom. There were three bathrooms in the house, one downstairs that didn't have a shower, and the two upstairs that did. The boys used one, and the girls another, and usually you could tell which was which. No one had really bothered to clean up, and Zoro didn't really have the desire to, so instead of minding the mess, he turned the water on and shed his damp clothes, stepping into the shower and closing the curtain behind him. He turned towards the shower head, letting the water run and trickle down his muscles and wash the stickiness of the sweat away.

Luffy let out a sigh as he continued to fiddle with the string, his mind tumbling in rather depressing circles. Sanji said Zoro really likes me. But Zoro said to not listen to anything Sanji said, so Zoro must not like me and I'm not supposed to "go for it", whatever that means. Zoro doesn't wanna be stuck in his room with me, so that's probably why he went to get a shower…maybe he's mad about the black box thing? But he didn't seem too mad about that…maybe he's just sick of taking care of me….so the sooner I can get up and walk, the sooner I can go home, and that's what's best for Zoro right?

Luffy bit his lip, brows furrowing. But I like it here…everyone here is so cool...especially Zoro. I don't really want to leave…but Zoro doesn't like me…

The boy shifted a bit, sighing again. Then he happened to realize something. He hadn't gone to the bathroom since he'd gotten here…and it's been like, a day now. This meant one thing.

He really had to pee.

Well, crap. He had to get a bathroom to do that…which was probably down the hall somewhere…but in order to get there, he'd have to get out of bed. And Zoro didn't want him to get out of bed, and after his past two adventures Luffy agreed with him. So maybe he'd have to have someone help him…

But Zoro probably wouldn't like that. Zoro probably didn't like taking care of Luffy, which was why Zoro didn't like Luffy. So if Luffy got up and did it himself, Zoro would probably be happier never being the wiser about this little issue.

Looks like it's time for Luffy's adventure from the bed: volume three.

Breathing in the steam of the shower, Zoro sighed, leaning against the tile wall for a moment and thinking. Every muscle ached with the burn of training, and he took a moment to savor the strange sensation that he knew was making him stronger and stronger. His mind idly went over the day's events, pausing, suddenly, at what Ussop and Sanji had been teasing him about earlier. He frowned at the unpleasant memory, glad Luffy hadn't heard it. He hoped Sanji wasn't repeating crap like that anywhere, especially since he had stayed home with Luffy nearly all day long. Deciding that he'd just wash his hair too and skip the shower in the morning in favor of sleeping in, Zoro grabbed the tube of shampoo and scrubbed it through his short, bristle-like hair, working up a lather and letting it rinse out, the soapy suds trailing down his body.
Once again Luffy slid over the side of the bed, letting his bare feet hit the carpet. He bit his lip as he put his weight on his feet, pain once again coursing through his body. Fortunately, it seemed the past few hours of sleep had healed him a bit and given him a bit of his strength back, and the food hadn't hurt either. Thus instead of collapsing like he had earlier, Luffy stood shakily on his feet.

"I can probably make it to the bathroom if I try really hard…" He said to himself, breathing a bit quicker than normal.

He staggered across the room, stopping at the chair to keep himself from collapsing, then made it to the door. Luffy twisted the knob and pulled the door open slowly, then peeked out. He glanced down one way, and then down the other way of the strange hallway. Fortunately, no one was upstairs at the moment, and Zoro was probably still busy with his shower.

He spotted two doors not too far to his left across the hallway, one open and one closed. Judging from the noise of a shower running behind the closed one, Zoro was probably there. The other door was left ajar, and Luffy could see a bathroom beyond it…

Luffy took a deep breath, then limped into the hallway. He nearly lost his balance and staggered sideways, slamming into the wall. He managed to keep himself from collapsing; however, using the wall to keep himself standing upright. The boy let out a grunt of pain and began to inch his way along the wall towards the bathroom.

After a minute he finally made it through the door. Luffy pushed it closed behind him and collapsing to the linoleum floor, panting. "Well…at least I'm not bleeding like last time…" He said to himself with a grin, looking around. The bathroom was fairly clean, with the towels neatly folded and a multicolored throw-rug on the floor. The shower rack had dozens of shampoo bottles and shower gels, forming a sort of rainbow of colors that peeked out from behind the sparkling shower curtain.

"…Wow…nice bathroom…" Luffy commented, pushing himself to his feet and staggering over to the toilet.

Nami walked up the stairs, humming lightly to herself. She planned on getting a shower and going to bed early, as a girl like her needed her beauty sleep and she had to be at school earlier than usual the next day. She headed to the girls bathroom, only to pause at the closed door. Weren't Vivi and Robin still downstairs? Then who was using the girls bathroom?

She frowned as she heard the sound of the toilet flushing, followed by the sound of the faucet running. Then her eyes narrowed and she pounded on the door. "Usopp? You're not using the girls bathroom again are you?" She shrieked.

"I'm still folding your socks, damnit!" Usopp's annoyed voice came from down the stairs.

Nami blinked. "Then who's using the girls bathroom?" She asked as she turned the doorknob and flung the door open. The sight that met her was Luffy, on his knees in front of the still-running sink, breathing quickly and looking as if he had just run a marathon.

Nami yelped in surprise, rushing in. "LUFFY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE GIRLS BATHROOM?" She demanded at the top of her lungs.

To be continued…

KuroKame: X3 Yes, Luffy has been traumatized for life, he'll be staying far away from iPods from now on.

J: Gah! No dancing, please! It's disturbing…y-you can just beg, no need to dance. O.o;;

Em182: O.O Holy crap, I'm on someone's favorite authors list? Wow, I'm honored. ;; You should fave Constable too, since she wrote this too you know. Yes, Luffy's stupidity astounds and amazes people.

Griever5: Glad you liked Sanji and Ussop's teasing. Vivi's not awake yet. noddu noddu

KairiQueen: Ack, I hurt you? O.o I'm sorry! XD Yes, Zoro is a rapist in denial. And yes, Robin calls Zoro "Swordsman-san" in the manga. She calls everyone by their positions on the ship, followed by "-san". Wow, our writing blends as one writer? You're right…that is kinda creepy, though it is a good thing I suppose.

Barkkit: o.o You laughed at our sappiness? Does that mean we do serious stuff badly? You love this story like your cats…um…yay?

Katiiey: XP Yes, but if Luffy followed Zoro down the stairs he probably would end up passing out or something…heh.

TreeStar: No, no, you didn't seem like you were coming down hard at all. Besides, you helped me fix things, which is good. Glad you thought the chapter was great.

night-chan: Heh, Luffy is sweet, isn't he? Glad you liked the conversation between Zoro and Robin, I enjoyed writing it and the stuff between Luffy and Zoro as always.

Kaaera: Whoops! (fixes) Damn you nitpickers, never letting me make my mistakes in peace. X3 Nah, really, thank you.

R-E-V-I-E-W! You know you want to! Hey, that kind of rhymed…