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It had been two whole years since the strawhats had seen each other last. There'd been some notable developments in each of the crewmembers, and Luffy was never one to be very fond of change- but what pisses him off the most is Zoro.
The scar on his eye is too out of place, and the scowl on his face is deeper than before. He's also too… serious. Zoro had always been serious, and more strict with himself than the other crew members- but now, he wouldn't even show more than a measly smirk when Luffy threw his arms around the man again for the first time in two. whole. years- which is like, a million days, so Zoro should have obviously had more of a reaction to their reunion!
Already, Luffy misses Zoro's old self.
He wonders what sort of hell Perona and Mihawk put his swordsman through.
"Ne, Zoro." Luffy whines from the floor of Sunny's deck, flopping around like a beached fish. This morning he has nothing else to do with his boundless energy besides… energetically lay there, apparently.
Zoro, his back propped against Sunny's wall, the grass of the deck soft beneath his thighs, raises his eyebrows in acknowledgement, but to Luffy that isn't a dignified response.
"I want to try something."
"What is it?"
Luffy scoots on his stomach like a worm across the lawn, shifting his rubbery body into the larger Pirate's lap. He shuffles halfway onto Zoro's broad thigh, and flips onto his back to stare into his right hand man's eyes. Or… eye, now. Luffy barely contains an annoyed grumble.
Zoro runs his large, calloused hands through Luffy's hair absent-mindedly, shifting the Captain's straw hat down his scruffy neck.
His hair is coarse and thick with salt, but Zoro relishes in the feeling of it between his fingers, rolling his nails lightly over Luffy's scalp, earning himself a contented hum.
"Could I have a kiss, Zoro," Luffy whispers, nuzzling his head into the crook of Zoro's arm.
The Swordsman laughs softly, the sound like candescent song to Luffy's ears.
Zoro bends forward, the gold teardrops in his ears jingling againt the sun soaked skin of his neck. He lovingly cradles his Captain's head in one hand, and with the other he lifts the smaller man up by the waist. Zoro smiles, his eye crinkling at the edges.
With a small flourish, the Swordsman smooths Luffy's sweaty black hair away from the surface of his forehead, and ghosts his chapped lips over it's flesh for a second, before sinking further and pressing his mouth to the soft skin there.
Luffy giggles, a warm feeling bubbling up his stomach.
"I like that, too, but I meant an actual kiss, Zoro."
Luffy purses his lips for emphasis, and makes grabby hands in the air. Zoro's expression is perplexed, but he turns his eye over Sunny's surface.
Chopper is tending to a wound Usopp had gotten earlier that morning, Jinbei is taking a nap, Sanji is in the crow's nest, most likely not watching the deck, and Robin and Nami are off doing their own thing inside the girls dorm. Franky… Zoro doesn't know where he'd be, but he doesn't see the loudmouth cyborg anywhere. Brook is probably aggravating the girls.
There's no one around that could see this, no one who would judge him...
So, he bends down again, sliding his rough palms along Luffy's face, and kisses him so gently, with such reserved tenderness, his lips plush but rough but also so, so nice against Luffy's own. He had never seen such a careful, almost soft side of his right-hand man like he is now. And it's odd, and so weird, but he likes it, and Zoro is smiling, so who cares?
Luffy closes his eyes and leans in, his breath faint and playful as it dances along Zoro's lips, who rests his heavy head against Luffy's, noses smooshed together.
When he peels back, the expression Zoro wears holds too much affection, an unfamiliar face of longing. There's an incredibly loving devotion reminiscent in his gaze, and It makes Luffy's stomach hurt in such an odd way, and he finds that a strange tickle in his chest had arisen.
Luffy runs the pad of his thumb along the scar on Zoro's eye. The Swordsman flinches, a shiver rolling down his spine. "This is new," luffy whispers. "I don't like it."
Zoro gives a hearty chuckle.
Luffy frowns, and moves to take his hand away, but Zoro grabs it, twining their fingers together, and presses his captain's palm into his cheek. His skin is smooth and incredibly warm, tanned, weathered skin littered with little white scars. Zoro keeps Luffy close to him, his affection like wildfire, decadent touches and unabashed demands barely enough to satiate the need firmly rooting itself in Zoro's chest.
"Zoro," Luffy hums, squirming so that he settles more firmly in the larger man's lap.
"While I was training, I learned about a special kind of kiss you only do with people you love. Hancock said I should do it to her, but I don't really love her as much as you, Zoro."
It feels strange, how Luffy keeps calling Zoro's name, so casual and yet, there, underlying his normal, demanding, straightforward tone, every time his name escaped Luffy's smiling lips, an odd sort of quality undertook his voice. Such sent another shiver along Zoro's spine.
Luffy smiles and wraps his other arm around his Swordsman's neck, pulling him closer with an impatient tug. He lifts an eyebrow but allows himself to be drawn further toward his giggling Captain.
"Do you know how to do it?" Luffy asks, kicking his feet absently.
"I've never kissed anyone, and I don't know what kind of 'special kiss' you're even talking about, Luffy," Zoro responds.
Luffy smiles wider and insistently pulls Zoro's face to his own. "Open your mouth, Zoro."
He obliges, though rather hesitantly.
Luffy leaps up, closing the distance between them rapidly. He crashes his teeth into Zoro's with a loud clack, but perseveres despite the older man's pained grunt, which is quickly replaced by a muffled, confused squeal, as Luffy stuffs his tongue quite literally down his throat.
"Joth'd hod stiw," Luffy commands, and he wiggles into a further-upright position.
He's a mess of saliva and unrelenting fervor as he practically eats Zoro's face, which he now grips fully with both hands on either side of the Swordsman's jaw.
Zoro's expression is a mix of confusion, embarrasment, terror, and odd arousal as Luffy continues his violent barage.
"We hath tou hod ou beth, wid ou tones in ea-oher mouds," luffy says- or tries to say. Communication with your tongue stretched down your best friend's esophagus isn't exactly the easiest.
"What?!" The mint-haired mossball manages to get out, before Luffy smacks his lips back into Zoro's, puffing out his cheeks.
They both close their eyes and hold their breath, tongues settled in the other's mouths, completely still.
A minute passes. They just sit there. Zoro coughs, and they break free with a loud, synonymous gasp.
"I don't think that's how you do it," Zoro sputters, wiping the drool from his chin.
"It's called tongue kissing," Luffy states matter-of-factly. "I was told that you have to hold your breath, and put your tongue in the other person's mouth."
Luffy's rebuttal sounds quite logical to Zoro, so he nods, and shifts his hands to the small of Luffy's back and opens his mouth to let his Captain back in again.
They try a few more times to "kiss with tongue" until Usopp, leading Chopper by the hand to go play on the ship's swing, stumbled onto the deck.
Zoro frantically tries to pull back, but Luffy holds steadfast, and refuses to let him go until he can't hold his breath anymore. Usopp stares, his eyebrows pressed together so harshly that they form one.
"What… are you two doing," he asks, backing away. Luffy smiles brightly, flashing his gums and teeth wholly.
"Kissing with tongue! Do you wanna try?" Luffy rambles, jumping from Zoro's lap, bounding toward the astonished Sniper.
"No thank you! I'm good, Luffy- where did you even get the idea to do that," he says as he shoots Zoro a harsh look, to which the Swordsman just shrugs.