Work Text:
You took a look at your watch.
80 minutes left until the train would arrive at your destination.
Your phone battery had already died, leaving you with no other means to occupy yourself except a book you’d already read and some tabloid your aunt had bought for you. It had been a nice gesture of her, but you’d never really cared about gossip.
So what were you going to do for the next 80 minutes?
Probably die of boredom.
All of a sudden, the door to your compartment opened, and a man stepped in.
But not just any man, but certainly one of the most gorgeous individuals you’d ever laid eyes on.
Damn.
Looking slightly bewildered and seemingly desperate to find his reserved seat – almost like he’d run through the entire train and back to find it – it took just one look from him to basically turn you into mush.
The scar over his left eye only added to his rugged charm, just like the muscles clearly visible through his shirt and army jacket.
He gave you a small smile before sitting down opposite you. A few minutes of comfortable silence passed and you figured he just wasn’t the talkative type, which was fine with you – just being able to look at him for the rest of your journey was enough of a reward, really – but then he cleared his throat and proceeded to introduce himself.
Zoro.
If his appearance hadn’t been enough to nearly make you swoon over him, his voice definitely was. Truly, you suddenly felt like some hormone-driven teenager again.
The fact that he smiled at you and proceeded to invite you to a game of cards and a sip of sake from his hip flask – hey, it was an evening train, and you weren’t one to refuse a good drink – only encouraged your little crush on this almost-stranger.
He asked you about your reasons for travelling this route, and you told him about the trip to your aunt and uncle you always made around this time of the year.
“So, what brings you on this train then?” you asked him, trying not to stare too much – which was hard.
“Ah, just visiting some friends who moved away for college.” He answered.
You had been right in your assumption that he wasn’t the most talkative person, but he still seemed comfortable with your questions about him, even giving you a crooked grin from time to time.
You found out he was actually Japanese, but had moved here with his family at a very young age. After you told him about your love for japanese popculture, he even spoke a few words in his native language to you. Thank god he was focused on his set of cards just then, otherwise he would’ve noticed the not so subtle blush on your face.
“So, what do you do?” you asked him enthusiastically after neither one of you had spoken in a few minutes, both concentrated on the game.
“I’m on a sports scholarship. Don’t really know what’ll come of it though” he answered, a small smirk on his face.
You went on talking and playing cards, slowly but surely feeling more and more comfortable with each other.
He told you some hilarous stories about the friends he’d just been visiting. Apparently one of them had ordered the entire menu of a restaurant while they’d been eating out, and had actually managed to consume all of it, too.
Truth be told, Zoro probably could’ve told you anything and you would’ve found it entertaining. He wasn’t just good-looking, he was also incredibly laid-back and easy to talk to, and you were suddenly wishing for the train ride to last at least another day.
Just when you contemplated whether you should just take the risk and go for a little flirting, the door to your small compartment opened once more.
“There you are, baka, I’ve been looking all over for you!”
A strawberry blonde, who must’ve been around your age, quickly sat down beside Zoro, completely ignoring you while she went on scolding him.
“I told you to not get lost! This isn’t even our compartment, you’re lucky the train isn’t booked solid!” She poked his nose.
“Ow! Damn woman, would you calm down? I was sure I had the right numbers, ok?”
“Ugh, whatever. At least I finally found you, took me ages.”
Silently watching their exchange, you tried not to let your disappointment show.
Of course a guy like Zoro wasn’t single, what the hell had you been thinking?
And of course he’d be going out with a girl like her. She was beautiful, you couldn’t deny that. The familiarness with which they interacted with each other basically confirmed what you’d dreaded since she’d opened the door to your compartment.
You should’ve known from the get-go it would’ve been too good to be true.
“Oh hi, didn’t see you there. I’m Nami, nice to meet you.”
You reciprocated her greeting and told her your name as you forced what you hoped wasn’t a too obvious fake-smile on your face.
It wasn’t her fault you were really, really jealous of her.
“I hope this one behaved” she jokingly said while poking Zoro in the side.
“Ow! Would you stop?” he said, looking quite embarassed.
If you weren’t so stupidly jealous, you might’ve thought it was cute...
Ok, you still thought it was cute.
Stop looking at him! You’ll make it worse! Get it together, (F/N)!
“Well, I’ll be going back to reading my book, so…” you trailed off while quickly picking up the novel you’d actually already finished before Zoro had even entered the train.
You didn’t really want to talk to either one of them any longer, since you feared you’d only embarrass yourself. Zoro might not have noticed the way you’d reacted to him, but you had the distinct feeling Nami wouldn’t be as oblivious as him, so you’d rather end the conversation here than enter dangerous territory.
While you were already deeply engrossed in your book – or at least trying to make it seem that way, you completely missed the confused look on Zoro’s face, as well as the mischievous smirk on Nami’s as she was glancing back and forth between the two of you.
Zoro and Nami went on talking about their friends, but while you really didn’t try to eavesdrop (ok, maybe you did) you couldn’t help but notice they weren’t holding hands or calling each other pet names or doing – well, all sorts of things couples usually did. Maybe they’d just been together for a long time and were over the whole honeymoon phase.
But then, something really weird happened. All of a sudden, Nami began writing down on a piece of paper, then proceeded to slide it over so Zoro could read it.
Why wouldn’t she just talk to him like she’d done before?
Just then, panic began to arise as you began contemplating the possibility of her having already noticed your interest in Zoro and now telling him about it – or worse, making fun of you because of it, but since she couldn’t exactly call you out, she was doing it like this.
What were you going to do?
You took a look at your watch.
47 minutes left until the train would arrive at your destination.
Crap!
Your mental disarray was suddenly interruped when Nami stood up to leave the compartment.
“I’m going to go and see if the coffee they serve here is any good. Have fun, you two.” And with a small smile and a wink, she left you alone, now even more confused than before.
Slowly peeking up from behind your book, you noticed Zoro didn’t look all that comfortable either, in fact he was – was he blushing?!
No. Impossible.
“So- I – uhm…” you began, unsure of what you even wanted to say.
“She’s not my girlfriend, if… uhm, if that’s what you were thinking. I hope you weren’t.” He was reaching up to scratch his neck. “We’re just friends.”
This time, you didn’t mind him seeing your blush as you couldn’t help but smile.
“I actually did. Good to know I was wrong though.”
He was smiling back at you, the small blush now unmistakably visible on his face.
“So, how about another game?” he asked, holding up the cards you’d played with before.
You quickly took another look at your watch.
45 Minutes left.
You smiled.
“I'm all in."