Hello everybody,

it's time for a new chapter. This scene has been asked many! times, but as always when I start writing, things don't go as planned, so I hope you will enjoy how it turned out^^

Have a great week!

Miscommunication

At some point after the third part

In a hotel on some island of the Grand Line. It's late evening and the Straw Hats are still celebrating.

-Mihawk-

"Mihawk!"

He lowered the towel he was using to dry his hair and looked up as the door to his room got torn open.

"Roronoa, how may I help you?" he replied, folding his arms in front of his bare chest.

He was not particularly surprised, after all, he had heard his companion's footsteps stomping all the way down the hallway, and yet he wondered why Roronoa was visiting him right now, even though he could enjoy the late evening hours with his crew.

"You bastard!" growled Roronoa, obviously angry, slamming the door shut behind him.

His bad mood did not unsettle Mihawk, that he had easily found Mihawk's hotel room on the other hand did; something had to be off. The next moment confirmed Mihawk's dark premonition when Roronoa tore off his ugly coat and trudged towards him.

"What is...?" Before he could even finish his question, Roronoa had grabbed him by the neck, pulled him down, and slammed their lips against each other.

More than confused, Mihawk stared at Roronoa, realizing even without that angry glare that this was not a gesture of affection, not an awkward kiss of tenderness; this was an attack.

Without breaking contact, Roronoa pushed him back two steps until Mihawk's legs slammed against the bed and then he realized that it was indeed Roronoa's intention to push him onto the bed.

But enough was enough, such antics being anything but entertaining, at least on a day like this.

"Roronoa, what are you doing?!" He broke away from the other and pushed Roronoa a little at a distance at the same time.

"Isn't that obvious?" Roronoa was relentless, allowing himself to be pushed back, yet withstanding the pressure unimpressed. But nothing about his behavior was self-explanatory for Mihawk and his face had to show that, because Roronoa looked at him as if Mihawk was deliberately acting stupid, which of course he would never do. "We're going to sleep together, now!"

…

"Wha… what?"

Roronoa was still looking at him absolutely serious — and absolutely angry — his arm tense against Mihawk's hand, but his words made no sense at all.

"What are you talking about?"

Now Roronoa tilted his head and a vein of anger throbbed on his temple. However, Mihawk was not in a good mood either. He had been late due to unimportant meddling with the Cho family and could hardly enjoy the little time in the presence of his partner due to Roronoa's noisy crew and Mihawk's annoying headache. Now he just wanted to go to bed and give his exhausted body much-needed rest, and did not understand why Roronoa just stormed in, threw incomprehensible gibberish at his head, and pretended like Mihawk had committed some crime, which of course was nonsense; he had even tried to be polite to the Straw Hats most of the time.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"No, I rather have the impression that you are allowing yourself a tasteless joke at my cost. Earlier this night you have shown no objection to my intentions to retire early this night and now you are acting like this..." With his free hand, he gesticulated meaninglessly in Roronoa's direction in a frustrated attempt to describe this strange behavior. "What kind of act is this even? Ripping off your clothes, almost attacking me, and pushing me over to the bed. It almost seems like you would want to..."

Oh?

"... Sleep with you? Yes, that's what I said," Roronoa grumbled, now looking at him with a slightly twitching eyebrow, but no longer bracing himself so much against Mihawk's hand.

Oh.

"Now what? Got a stroke?" Roronoa grumbled, crossing his arms, tilting his head to the other side, as if he did not know whether to be angry or amused.

Oh!

Mihawk stumbled back, against the bed, fell onto it, sitting there while an unexpected heat chased up his cheeks.

"Okay, and what's wrong now?" it came after a few seconds from Roronoa. "Are you really that freaking prudish? Geez, making the whole thing even more annoying."

Something about this statement was off as well, but Mihawk's brain had long since passed the safe operating temperature and was just not able to follow a more complex train of thought. Clearing his throat, he leaned back, tried to cope with the situation, obviously failing.

"Please, leave the jokes aside," he finally said, rubbing the back of his neck, tugging at his towel with the faint wish he would at least wear a shirt, as if this situation would be less embarrassing if he were less undressed. "What is this all about? This whole charade? Did you really interrupt your merry party evening with your crew just to make fun of me?"

Roronoa glared at him suspiciously, still standing there in the middle of the room looking like a lost wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Do I look like I'm making fun of you?" he replied with obvious annoyance, but the anger from before seemed to have subsided somewhat. "Besides, you're the one who fools me all the time just to make fun of me."

Perhaps Mihawk had been wrong. These words revealed that Roronoa was indeed still angry. Apparently, he believed that Mihawk was manipulating him again, as he had done many times in the past, but still, none of this made sense. Roronoa was angry with him because he thought Mihawk was manipulating him, but at the same time this had been some weird attempt on his part to bed Mihawk, even though the whole situation annoyed him? None of this fit together and Mihawk had absolutely no idea why he was supposed to be the villain, even though he had not been guilty of any wrongdoing, at least this time.

"Alright, let me... let me understand your train of thought," he murmured, rubbing his face, but could not lessen the heat in his cheeks. "Well, maybe I misread you, but so far I had not... the impression that you... are interested in such activities... And yet you rush in here – obviously angry – and demand to carry them out? Did I misunderstand something?"

"No, fair enough so far," grumbled the other, and when Mihawk looked up, Roronoa met him with his arms crossed, showing his calm but stoic nature, as often when something did not suit him.

Mihawk shook his head doubtfully. "Well, then you have to forgive me, but I absolutely do not understand your reasoning. Where does this sudden change of heart come from and why are you so angry? When I retired, you did not seem to be in that mood."

Could it be that Roronoa was mad at him for withdrawing so early, after he had already been late? This would at least explain his mood, but none of the other issues.

"There was no change of heart," Roronoa explained coldly, glaring him down as if they were enemies, "but you know I can't stand it if you manipulate me and make decisions that concern me as well on your own."

What?!

What was he talking about?

Ruffling his hair, Mihawk leaned back, supporting himself with the other hand on the mattress, still so incongruously bared, and felt like he was getting answers to questions he had not asked. Seldom he had struggled this much to understand Roronoa's thoughts, but right now he felt like they were speaking different languages.

"I hear your words, Roronoa, but I do not understand anything you are saying," he groaned in frustration as his headache grew and the heat on his face slowly dropped to a bearable level. "I cannot see the connection, so please, be so kind and explain to me what is going on. The day has been long, I am tired and apparently no longer able to draw meaningful conclusions."

He could see Roronoa weighing whether this was a tactical move by Mihawk or a simple request, but to his relief, Roronoa only took a deep breath and seemed to be ruling in his favor.

"Okay, then answer honestly: Am I still some brat for you that you can't take seriously?"

Mihawk stared at him for a long time before he found the right words: "This question is not in the least capable of dissolving my confusion. Do you want to upset me? If you want to act funny, rest assured that I do not find it amusing."

That had been a mistake.

Immediately, Roronoa's vein of anger throbbed faster, and he planted himself in front of Mihawk.

"Is it true," he growled in such a deep voice that his whole chest seemed to vibrate, "that you are holding back and that you're not telling me you want to sleep with me because you still see me as a child, meaning sex is out of the question?"

Once again, Mihawk had nothing to answer as he processed this question, these direct words. But at least this question explained a lot. That was why Roronoa was angry, that was why he thought Mihawk was manipulating him, and that was why he had rushed in head over heels and wanted to do something he otherwise showed no interest in. However, this left one question unanswered.

"Who put such nonsense in your head?" replied Mihawk, and now, for the very first time, Roronoa showed something that could be interpreted as uncertainty. Dodging Mihawk, he lowered his gaze as if remembering something he would rather forget. But Mihawk certainly would not let that stop him. "I am listening," he inquired.

Roronoa stared at the ground for another second, but when he looked up, his intense gaze gnarled directly into Mihawk's soul, as often when he had made a decision.

"It was just a joke, they were just teasing me after you left so early, but..."

"Who were teasing you with what?"

They looked at each other for long-lasting seconds, without Mihawk backing off, although he could imagine the answer. He wanted Roronoa to say it.

"The others. Said you expected more from today, but that I wouldn't even notice your advances. The Cook claimed that you wanted to sleep with me, but that it would probably never happen, because I don't understand subtle hints and you are too prudish to just openly address this topic." This, of course, explained a lot. Presumably, the crew members had only allowed themselves an – albeit inappropriate – joke with Roronoa and teased him for general amusement, but the Chef had a certain talent for unconsciously or consciously choosing words that got under Roronoa's skin and at least in this one thing Roronoa was often awkward and insecure, Mihawk should have known. "The way he said it, it sounded like I was still some little boy in your eyes, not much more than a puppy you have to protect."

"Excuse me? Just because the Chef has to regale himself with mentioning lustful thoughts about..."

"I don't care what he thinks," Roronoa interrupted, tearing his hands apart. "I don't give a damn about his thoughts. What I want to know is, is he right? Is that true? Do you think like that about me?"

Mihawk hesitated, not sure if it was really anger what the other was showing, or maybe something else entirely.

"Have I ever made you feel that way?" he replied, deliberately calm, knowing that this was about much more than simple sex. "Since we entered into this relationship, have I ever made you feel like you are not equal? Did you ever feel like I still saw you as a child?"

"Shouldn't I?", Roronoa objected, now much calmer. "You like to treat everyone condescendingly and constantly stress how much older you are. You hid your feelings from me for months and preferred to use me as a pawn rather than tell me your true intentions. It would suit you, wouldn't it?"

He finally understood what had happened, and now Roronoa's actions made sense.

"And instead of confronting me, you decided to just take action yourself, even though you do not really have any interest in such a thing?" asked Mihawk. It was truly a special way Roronoa always decided to solve problems, stoically banging his head through the brick wall.

He could see that Roronoa did not know what to answer. A soft pink had surprisingly settled over the bridge of his nose, but he still seemed anything but shy and it would be a mistake to consider the dispute to be already over.

"Jiroushin once told me that he plays along if you use him as a pawn, and that he's okay with that for whatever reason." His voice was calm, but his glare still deadly. "But I'm not a pawn and this is not a game. We're not kids who play adults, so don't think you can treat me like one and play your stupid games with me."

Mihawk nodded softly and lowered his eyes. With one hand he waved to a nearby armchair, hoping that Roronoa would settle down, and the tension would subside somewhat, but the younger did not do him this favor. So Mihawk leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, and folding his hands as he pondered these words.

"It is true," he finally admitted, "it is actually quite difficult for me to ignore how much younger you are, and certainly my interactions with those around me are anything but flattering. So I can understand your motives and yet I want to make one thing clear." He looked up decisively and met this unreadable look irrefutably. "The jokes of your crew, the remarks of the Chef, they are not true."

Roronoa did not reply, just staring at him suspiciously, making Mihawk sigh.

"Say, Roronoa, did you ever think I would expect such a thing from you or hint at such advances?" he asked and received a clear headshake in response. "Well, that is not surprising either, because there have never been such advances. Not once did I face you with such expectations. I assure you that I do not play stupid games, and despite our notable age difference, I am well aware that you have not been a child for a long time. Is this clear enough to silence your doubts? I do not intend to manipulate you in any way, and it is a mystery to me why the Chef dares to make such claims about me."

Roronoa was still standing in front of him with his arms crossed and Mihawk could see how it worked inside him and once again he had no idea what his conclusion would be.

"I know you never made any hints," he finally replied, absolutely calmly. "As I said, the others made a joke and I know you, you're way too uptight for such crap. That's not the point, I'm talking about that shit the Cook came up with and which you just now evaded in your great explanation. "

So he had noticed.

"Is he right? You never mentioned it, never said anything about this crap, but could it be that you want to sleep with me?" Yes, that reaction served him right. Roronoa looked at him as seriously as if he were accusing him of murder, while Mihawk once again could not hide his warm cheeks. How could he talk so directly about such things? "And no excuses this time, understood?"

Sighing, Mihawk lowered his eyes and admitted his defeat. Perhaps he should not be surprised, after all, his partner was a pirate, and just because Roronoa himself had never shown interest in such activities did not mean that he had been spared such subjects, just as he did not spare Mihawk. He sighed again, how annoying, how embarrassing.

"Well, if you ask me this straightforwardly, then yes, of course I would want to. Of course, I would love to get close to you in a way that no one else ever would, to touch you like no one else ever would, and to see you like no one else will ever see you. I would love to be intimate with you," he admitted quietly. "I was afraid you would not understand, but you know, back when we decided to enter this relationship and I talked about my fantasies - the not-so-innocent things that adults do with each other, do you remember? – I actually meant... what in God's name are you doing?!"

Startled, he pulled his head up as the other's plain shirt slapped on the floor at his feet, and Roronoa, in an extremely unflattering position, tried to take off his boot while standing.

"What does it look like?"

"Could you please stop undressing?"

Obviously surprised, Roronoa paused to take off his boot, jumping slightly to the side to keep his balance.

"What's your problem now?" he growled, although he seemed anything but threatening in this pitiful posture.

"My problem is that you are undressing right now," Mihawk replied with fiery red cheeks.

"Because you just said you wanted to have sex with me!"

"Yes, but that does not mean you should undress!"

Mihawk had jumped up, but Roronoa looked at him perplexed, lowered his raised leg, now without boot.

"Oh, that's how you want it," he murmured, waving his boot in his hand. "Well, I don't care whether with or without clothes."

"What?! No! That is not what this is about!" he rejected loudly and threw up his arms in a desperate attempt to somehow save the situation.

"What are you getting upset about now? I should be angry," Roronoa growled, pointing his boot at Mihawk almost like one of his swords. "After all, you have once again..."

"I have done nothing," he interrupted, grabbing Roronoa's boot. "All I have done..."

"You didn't open your mouth!" The boot flew to the ground near the bathroom door when they let go almost at the same time. "I don't want you to keep some shit from me only to find out about it from the Cook."

Mihawk dropped his hands in surprise, while Roronoa snorted loudly.

"Roronoa," he began deliberately calmly as he slowly – far too slowly – grasped the background, "I have not withheld or concealed anything from you. Anything that..."

"Of course, you have!" he growled, behaving almost like the boy he obviously wasn't anymore. "You didn't mention a single fucking time that you wanted to..."

"Because it does not matter to me!" He grabbed Roronoa's wrist as he made a wide gesture and Roronoa stared at him in confusion. "I have never concealed those fantasies from you. Back then I actually told you about them, even if you did not understand me. But they were never more than that for me, fantasies. I never once thought about making them a reality."

"But the Cook..."

"Since when do you care about his words?"

They were silent for a moment, then Mihawk sighed and tried to de-escalate the situation.

"Roronoa, listen to me. For a young man like the Chef, a relationship without sexual connection may seem unbelievable and bizarre, so he may say such stupid things, but please do not let him speak for me." Now he gave Roronoa a quiet smile. "You know, I am not twenty anymore and maybe that is the only good thing about being so much older than you. I have had enough time to sow my wild oats, try some things, experience other things, and my priorities have changed. I know exactly what I want, what I expect in a relationship with you, and nothing – absolutely nothing – has a sexual background. I want you and your intimacy, with everything you have to offer, may it be good or bad, but I do not need sexual intercourse and if we never take that step, that is absolutely fine with me. The way our relationship is right now, it makes me very happy. That is why I did not mention it, not to hide anything from you or to show false consideration, but simply because it did not occur to me, so unimportant were these fantasies."

Once again, Roronoa looked at him far too seriously for far too long, but at least he did not resist Mihawk's grip. Would he ever get used to this intense look? Mihawk almost envied that Roronoa could hear such words and stare at him completely unimpressed while his own cheeks burned. In the past, such topics had not been so difficult for Mihawk. But then he remembered that he had never felt this way before. Without feelings, it was simple, insignificant fun. But nothing about Roronoa was insignificant and thus it was not simple for Mihawk.

Then the gears seemed to snap into place and Roronoa tilted his head slightly, an obvious sign that he was trying to understand Mihawk.

"Okay, but still, you'd want to, wouldn't you? You would want to sleep with me?"

Groaning softly, Mihawk rubbed his face with his free hand, not understanding why the other had to ask such questions and could remain so factual but knew that he had to answer them seriously.

"Yes, Roronoa, a... could you please stop that and let me speak?" he hissed as Roronoa bent down directly at his first word to take off his second boot with his free hand. "No matter how this conversation will continue, we will not sleep with each other today, understood?"

"What? Why not? I thought you wanted to?" Obviously confused, Roronoa looked at him. Was he serious? He could not truly be so simpleminded. Today, he was really challenging Mihawk's patience.

"Yes, but not under the premise that you let yourself get upset by the words of the Chef and carried away to thoughtless actions."

"Huh?" Especially at that moment Roronoa seemed incredibly naïve and young, as he did not even begin to understand what he had been about to do. "What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about that we are only having this conversation right now because a few teasing words from the Chef were enough to unsettle you. On your own, you would never have thought about ever asking me if I had such an interest, and for that reason I will not simply get physical with you, even if it is something I would like to do."

Roronoa looked at him as if he were getting a headache – and Mihawk could understand the pain only too well – and tilted his head even more.

"I absolutely don't understand what the hell your problem is," he replied, much calmer than before. "Okay, it was a stupid remark from the Cook, but if sex is something you want to do, then we should talk about it and..."

"Roronoa, it is like you say. Our age difference concerns me - but not for the reasons you mentioned - and of course this also means that I have already gained experience in some areas that you do not yet have and may not even want to have." Mihawk spoke gently, trying to be careful with the other and at the same time somehow survive this precarious topic. "And yes, it would make me quite happy to get physical with you, but just as you thought that I did not talk to you about such things out of false consideration, I do not want you to be carried away by such acts out of false consideration."

"Which means?"

"Which means I do not want you to force yourself on me, just at someone else's words. If we ever become intimate with each other, it will be simply because you and I want to. So, Roronoa, let me ask you your own question: Do you even want to sleep with me, or did you storm in here just to act in the heat of the moment?"

Roronoa's eye widened and the surprise on his face confirmed Mihawk's suspicions.

"I... I've never thought about that."

"No surprise," Mihawk sighed with a soft grin, "and that is okay. You do not have to decide, and you do not even have to think about it, not tonight nor in the future. But if your thoughts ever cross this topic, we can still talk about it... and maybe, but just maybe, more than that."

And to his surprise, it was Roronoa who blushed slightly, as if Mihawk had said something truly ambiguous. He lowered his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Somehow I feel really stupid right now," he murmured after a few seconds and finally he accepted Mihawk's offer and fell onto the empty chair.

"Well, I admit that it surprises me how easily you let yourself be unsettled by the Chef's words. Normally, you do not care about such comments," Mihawk relented, watching him carefully.

"No, I was already pissed off and he just took advantage of it," Roronoa grumbled dissatisfied, rubbing his face.

"Because I was late?"

"Because you were in a bad mood, but pretended like nothing was wrong, before you just got up and left." All of a sudden, Roronoa looked at him coldly again. "I could see something was wrong with you, but because I didn't know what, the Cook might as well have been right."

Mihawk sighed.

"Forgive me, Roronoa. But my behavior really had nothing to do with your crew's assumptions. It has been a long day, I have been annoyed by being late, and I have been plagued by headaches all day – as I always do when I got exposed to the Cho family for too long – but I did not want to burden the few hours I can spend in your company with such trifles. I should have been aware that you might notice and misunderstand."

"All right," Roronoa grumbled in his usual stoic composure as he clumsily rose and collected his second boot. "But while we're at it, you just said something about not getting physical with each other today no matter what. So not even if I wanted to? Why? Why wouldn't you want to?"

Once again he made Mihawk smile. Sometimes his train of thought was quite peculiar. Blushing, he lowered his eyes, have never thought that he would talk to Roronoa about something like this.

"Because it is something we both should enjoy, Roronoa, and at least today I would not enjoy such activities."

"Oh," Roronoa said, "that's right, you said you're tired and have a headache. "

"It is not that bad, but yes, I am certainly not in my best shape today and like with our first real fight, I do not think your first time should be rushed or half-heartedly approached. I want to make sure we can both enjoy it."

Slowly, the younger nodded, as if thinking about Mihawk's words, before yawning openly.

"Okay," he murmured as he yawned, put on his boot, and straightened up. "Then I should go now and let you catch some sleep, right?"

Mihawk shrugged. How could he conclude such topics so easily as if they had talked about training? Truly enviable.

"Well, if you want to celebrate some more with your friends, you should. But if you are tired as well..." He pointed with one hand behind him. "... the bed would be big enough for two."

Roronoa looked up at him suspiciously.

"Well, you wanted to sleep with me, Roronoa, then let's sleep together."

Suddenly, Roronoa's face brightened, as back in the days when Mihawk had agreed to an additional training session.

"Oh, I like how that sounds."

Laughing, he ruffled through the younger man's hair, who slapped his hand away as usual.

"I assumed you would prefer that."

Reading the newspaper, Mihawk leaned against the bedhead and looked up as Roronoa came out of the bathroom with only a towel around his shoulders and otherwise completely exposed.

"You're not hiding like usually" he remarked teasingly, without even looking at Mihawk, but walked over to Mihawk's suitcase. "I'll borrow one of your shorts, okay?"

"There are new ones in the compartment in the lid, please take one of them," he replied with a pleasant warmth on his cheeks, while he allowed himself to observe the younger one quite unabashedly, "and I have told you, haven't I? It is different now."

"Because I'm your companion now?"

"Indeed."

For a moment they just looked at each other, then Mihawk lowered his gaze back to the newspaper and Roronoa rubbed his hair dry.

"Had you expected this?" he asked quietly, securing Mihawk's attention, while he walked to his swords and carried them to the bed. "Did you expect back then in the East Blue that things would turn out like this?"

"You mean that one day Roronoa Zoro would storm into my hotel room and demand sex?" He laughed softly. "Of course not, although you challenged me to our fight in a similar way, so it should not surprise me."

He sighed softly, remembering Jiroushin's words. "But looking back, who knows, maybe I was already under your spell back then."

"Huh?" Now Roronoa looked at him as he leaned his swords against the bedside table. "Seriously?"

Mihawk shrugged. "Well, what do you expect me to say? According to Jiroushin, I have probably always been fascinated by you."

Roronoa sat down on the edge of the bed and remained silent.

"Was that too direct for you?"

"No," he murmured, then looked at Mihawk. "What did Jiroushin mean? Since...?"

"No," he immediately interrupted Roronoa's concern. "Not just since Sasaki."

Once again, Roronoa's eye grew wide with astonishment.

"Ever since the East Blue."

Now Roronoa lowered his gaze and an almost stunned smile glided across his features, like the naïve little frog he was, that he was still unaware of how impressive his behavior had been.

Then Roronoa threw his legs on the bed and crossed his arms under the back of his head without even thinking of covering himself.

"Well then, good night."

Mihawk looked down at him, wondering what was going on in Roronoa's head, but before he could answer anything, the other began to snore quietly, falling asleep within seconds.