Chapter Text
"Do you believe in ghosts?" Luffy asks as he peers up at his boyfriend, wide eyed, plus an emotion the other can't decipher.
"No." Zoro responds simply.
"Oh," Luffy responds, looking forward again as they walk out of the shop with smoothies in one hand and each other's hand in the other.
"Oh?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all!"
Zoro grimaces, "If someone's pulling a ghost prank on you-"
"No way, don't do that!" Luffy snaps, knowing exactly what he was about to say.
"Kay, I won't," Zoro says, still with a particular protective tenseness that Luffy can feel through his hand. Zoro looks around for a bit while they walk. "Is your house really around here?"
"What's that mean?" Luffy asks, confused.
"Are you going the right way?"
"Of course! Don't talk to me about directions, Zoro can't do directions."
Zoro scoffs. "You're bad at directions too," He points out plainly, then instantly gets an elbow in the gut.
"Zoro's directions are worse."
Zoro doesn't say anything else. There's a silence until Luffy's smoothie starts making a gurgly slurping sound, indicating he's near finishing it. "Do you want the rest of mine?" Zoro asks, the smoothie being too sweet for his liking.
"Yes!" Luffy says, snatching it and already drinking it in only a moment.
Luffy hums, the straw still in his mouth. "Why aren't there meat flavored smoothies?"
"Because that's disgusting."
"But you like gross stuff too!"
"Like what?"
Luffy pauses and thinks for a while, humming again all the while.
Zoro smiles, waiting patiently.
"Don't give me that look! I know you like gross stuff, I just can't think of anything right now!"
"Yeah, yeah," Zoro's smile doesn't fade.
By the time they get to Luffy's house, Zoro's former drink is making that sound like Luffy's first drink did. His house is quite a lot bigger than he was expecting.
Luffy stops in front of the house abruptly. Zoro looks at him, seeing his brows furrowed. "You okay?" Zoro asks.
"Mhm!" Luffy says, loosening up and looking up at Zoro brightly.
With that, Luffy opens the door.
Only a few moments inside the house, there's a piercing sound of something shattering and Zoro feels as if that very sound just went up his spine, oddly only moments after hearing it.
The two both rush in the direction the sound came from and discover a broken mug on the kitchen floor. "Ugh," Luffy groans as he puts the two empty smoothie cups on the counter. He kneels in front of the mess and starts picking up the shards.
Zoro kneels next to him and starts helping him out. "Do you have a cat?" Zoro asks, maybe a bit too hopeful.
Luffy stays quiet and Zoro decides not to ask again.
"Let's go downstairs! We can watch shows or something on the TV down there and get pillows and blankets and stuff."
Zoro pauses for a moment. Luffy's not worried about the mug falling by itself, surely Zoro shouldn't either. "Alright," He says, proceeding to help Luffy with cleaning up the shattered mug.
***
Luffy opens the door to his house cautiously. So far so good. The coast looks clear.
Then there's the crash. Thought too soon.
"Luffy, who is that?" Sabo appears out of nowhere with a scowl, pointing at Zoro. Luffy ignores him, of course, leading Zoro straight into the kitchen. Luffy doesn't dare look back at him but he's sure Sabo looks infuriated.
This wouldn't be a problem if they didn't come in holding hands, making Sabo think they're anything more than friends: but they are more than friends, so part of Sabo's speculation is correct.
"What's going on?" Asks a second entity, Ace, rather blankly and uncaring.
"LOOK at that." Sabo says, grabbing Ace's shoulder and shoving him to look at the two boys running into the kitchen which is visible from there.
"What a shame. You dropped your tea." Ace tells Sabo, sounding very ungenuine.
"That boy, Ace! The ugly green hair!" Sabo growls as he drags Ace into the kitchen to follow them.
"Luffy comes home with friends all the time."
"Not this time! They came in holding hands!"
"Have you ever considered: friends can hold hands?"
This only feeds Sabo's growing rage. "LUFFY!! Is he a BOYFRIEND??"
Sabo finally says it; finally asks the pressing question. But Luffy only groans at their dispute as he kneels down to clean up the mess.
"Do you have a cat?" This guy, neither of the other two recognize, even with that ugly green hair, asks Luffy.
This makes Ace snort, "If you count me, I'm a cat."
"There's more pressing matters than you being a furry, Ace!"
This finally gets Ace to scowl. "How dare you."
"Let's go downstairs! We can watch shows or something on the TV down there and get pillows and blankets and stuff." Luffy says as he throws the broken mug in the trash.
"OH, HELL NO!!" Sabo screeches.
Suddenly terrified of his invisible older brother, Luffy frantically snatches Zoro's wrist and drags him down the steps, causing Zoro to stumble a bit.
Luffy had gotten pretty good at ignoring his brothers when a new friend was brought along. His brothers are familiar with Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper who would come over sometimes to watch movies on the big TV Luffy has (or rather, he and his brothers have. Luffy doesn't use the TV by himself very often). Even Nami's girlfriend, Vivi, would come along occasionally, but she's usually very busy. TV is the main thing they did at Luffy's house strictly because of how cozy it is.
His brothers like his friends, so they were normally left alone. Luffy knew if they found out about his boyfriend it would be much different. However, it's been long enough that Zoro never having been to Luffy's house has gotten a bit weird.
Sabo and Ace spy on the two very ungracefully as they follow them downstairs.
"Cozy," Zoro says when they get into the TV room. Pillows and blankets are sprawled around the couch.
Luffy sits down next to Zoro and snuggles up close to him. Zoro automatically puts his arm around him.
Sabo gawks at the sight.
Luffy sticks his tongue out at Sabo, who scrunches his face up so hard and furiously, Luffy's convinced his brother's face might go in on itself. Luffy whips his head away from Sabo and directs his attention to the TV.
Ace leans over the back of the couch right above them.
Luffy points to the remote and Zoro grabs it and gives it to him. "You choose," Zoro says and Luffy gladly takes it.
Luffy savors the few minutes of silence from his brothers, until one of them enevidably speaks again when Zoro runs his fingers through Luffy's hair.
"I see the problem." Ace says,
"Really!" Sabo says folding his arms, quite relieved and tired of waiting for Ace to catch up on the situation at hand. The two usually end up in agreement when it has anything to do with Luffy.
Luffy rolls his eyes.
Zoro takes his hand off of Luffy's head when he feels him tense up after the action. Thanks to his brothers, the peaceful moment was interrupted.
Luffy grabs Zoro's hand and puts it back on his head.
"You're confusing." Zoro says with a smirk, going right back to fluffing his hair.
Sabo and Ace both leave them alone for a bit, but it won't be for long.
Sabo takes one last peek at the other two on the couch before retreating into another room with Ace. "Luffy can't have a boyfriend like that! Look at his hair! The edgy triple earrings? He looks irresponsible! What if he's toxic? How could he!?" Sabo rambles frantically,
"Relax. Let's figure this guy out first." Ace says, waving his hands in an attempt to soothe the other brother on the verge of panicking.
"I am relaxed!!" Hearing himself, Sabo takes a deep breath. "Alright, alright. You understand the dilemma now. We have to make sure this guy is safe. As stubborn as he is, our baby brother is so easily manipulated!"
"You want to test this guy?"
"Precisely."