Chapter Text
Zoro hurried down yet another street, searching for any familiar landmark. He knew it was pointless. No matter how hard he tried, all the tidy streets looked the same. He was not lost, damn it! He was just cursed to live in a town where every quaint street looked exactly the same.
He cursed Mihawk's name for the thousandth time under his breath. His foster father knew where this damn flower shop was and which flowers to buy but noooo. Because of one remark, he was now Mihawk's errand boy. He had only wished his sister good luck! Okay, he knew that to actually say "good luck" was bad luck in the theater but she had been annoying him about her first official performance for months.
Zoro personally hated the theater but he loved his sister. He had resigned to attending, even with a huge kendo competition looming. Hadn't that been enough? A little needling never hurt anyone but, of course, she had wailed to their father. At the sight of Perona's tears, Mihawk had looked at Zoro sideways with a predatory orange eye. The withering look had been in direct contrast to his tone as he informed Zoro that he had just volunteered to buy the flowers for Perona.
Ever the Victorian traditionalist, Mihawk was a regular customer at the nearby flower shop. He was never overt with flowers, but the man did use them for almost every occasion. Presenting flowers at the end of a theatrical performance was another tradition that Mihawk intended to adhere to. He had planed to pick up a bouquet he had ordered made specifically for Perona on the way to the theater but now that was Zoro's job. He ordered Zoro to meet them at the theater after picking up the flowers and to be prompt.
"Where the fuck is this shop?" Zoro growled under his breath. His phone navigation had been zero help. He swore that he obeyed every direction but then it would shout, "recalculating" at him like a damn curse. He would have already broken the thing out of frustration, if said action wouldn't draw more of Mihawk's wrath. He wasn't scared of him! He just respected the man too much to irritate him further. Instead of shattering the unsuspecting phone, Zoro carefully exited the navigation (he absolutely did not press the screen too hard and he did not feel a new crack) and decided to rely instead on his instincts.
That had been 40 minutes ago.
Zoro cursed again, picked another direction and hurried forward, only to find yet another identical clean street lined with shops. Zoro's stormy grey eye quickly scanned the shops and this time he spotted one that looked promising. As he approached, the shop did turn out to be a flower shop. Zoro sighed with relief. His luck was finally turning for the better.
He ignored the sign on the building as he pushed through the doors. He didn't think there was much point in looking since he didn't know the name of Mihawk's florist anyway. Flowers were Mihawk's thing so he never considered the name of his father's favorite florist to be important information. The door swung open easily and he was greeted by the familiar sensation of cool air and the lush scent of plants.
"Hi, I need..." Zoro began but his voice died in his throat. One glance around the shop was enough to prove that this was not the right shop. However, any concerns he had about that small detail were driven from his mind when his eye landed on the boy by the counter. He was a slender young man with messy black hair, glowing golden skin, and a youthful face.
He wore a white apron over a cream polo, jean shorts, and flip-flops. The apron sported the name of the shop in bold green letters across the chest and a crooked name tag clung to the apron's left strap. It hung off the young man's lean frame despite the long strings hanging from his neck and waist, showing that it had been tightened as much as was possible. The uniform was clean but wrinkled, as if it spent most of its time shoved in a locker. An old straw hat with a red ribbon trim hung behind his head, held in place by a string tied around his long neck.
He was perched precariously on a green 3-legged stool and he was leaning on a counter, fast asleep. His upper body was propped up by his right arm, balanced on his elbow and face cradled in his palm. His mouth was open and drool dripped down his wrist as he loudly snored. His left arm hung limply by his side and his legs dangled loosely with the tips of his toes just barley brushing the tiled floor.
The youth looked like he was only seconds away from sliding off the stool. Zoro knew he should have felt annoyed. He was in a hurry and the only person who could help him was asleep on the job. But, Zoro couldn't bring himself to feel irritated. The scene was equal parts ridiculous and endearing. There was no other word for it; the boy was cute. He didn't know how long he had been staring when a loud voice shattered the peace.
"Luffy!" The young man's head slipped off of its perch and landed on the counter with a deafening THWACK. Zoro winced. The boy, Luffy, judging by his reaction to the voice, hadn't even begun to try to catch himself and yet he appeared unbothered by the hard impact. His head remained on the counter where it had fallen as he blinked open his eyes. Deep, soulful chocolate brown eyes slowly focused and made Zoro forget how to breathe.
Luffy yawned impossibly wide and wiped the drool from his mouth. He glanced at Zoro then away as he sat up, then his eyes snapped back as he fully registered Zoro's presence. Zoro felt Luffy's deep eyes take in his entire appearance and something unnameable passed through his face as they stared at each other. Seconds ticked slowly by and Zoro was starting to feel like he should say something but his mouth felt unusually dry.
Zoro was spared any further thought when Luffy's face split into a toothy and overly wide smile. Zoro blinked as his brain short circuited. Luffy's smile was blinding and uplifting. It felt as if the entire world had grown brighter.
"Luffy?!" The voice called again.
"In a minute, Sabo! I'm with a customer!" Luffy called back. He jumped up from the stool with enough force to make it topple over backwards. Luffy bounced as he closed the distance with Zoro, stopping only when his nose was mere inches from Zoro's. Zoro felt heat rise in his cheeks. He wanted to move away, but something about those chocolate eyes kept him fixed to the spot.
"Hi! I'm Luffy! Monkey D. Luffy!" Luffy announced in a voice as loud and bright as his smile. Zoro continued to stare as his words sank in. Far too late, he realized that Luffy was waiting for him to introduce himself.
"Z-Zoro. I'm Roronoa Zoro." He was finally able to stutter out. Luffy's smile only brightened more.
"Shishishi." Luffy laughed a strange little laugh through his teeth, "I like your name, Zoro! You look cool!" Zoro didn't know what to say to that. No one had ever been so forward or openly friendly with him before.
"Uh, thanks?" He managed to force out. Luffy laughed again, his eyes squinting from his glee.
"You're funny, Zoro!" Luffy was still laughing when new movement caught Zoro's eye. Instinctively, his attention was dragged from Luffy's light in time to see another man walking through a door at the back of the shop. He was tall, a feature exaggerated by a huge, steam-punk style top hat and tail coat. The shadow from the hat's wide brim obscured most of the man's features and the style forcibly reminded Zoro of the Mad Hatter.
Zoro could just make out that this man was older than his own 21 years, had blonde hair, pale skin, piercing blue eyes, and a wide scar over most of the left side of his face. Judging from the way this man was staring at him, he had obviously endured his accident and retained the use of his eye. Lucky dick. Zoro lost his own left eye in a kendo accident. A long thin scar reaching from just above his eyebrow to the middle of his cheek bisecting his eye was his souvenir.
The dick's intact eyes scanned him carefully as he took in the scene. Luffy was still standing close enough that Zoro could feel the heat radiating from his body. A fact the man obviously did not approve of as his face fell before rearranging itself into a more friendly, if fake, expression. From his behavior, Zoro felt he could assume this was Sabo.
"Luffy? Are you going to ask him what he needs?" Sabo asked in a patient voice although his eyes were hard and never left Zoro. Zoro knew when he was being sized up. Never being one to back down from a challenge, Zoro returned his glare as his lips curled into a smirk. He was enjoying the fact that Luffy was so close and that the fact was so obviously annoying Sabo.
Luffy either didn't notice or didn't care about the obvious tension in the air. Instead, he jumped as if he only just realized that he worked here.
"Oh yeah!" Luffy arranged himself into what Zoro assumed Luffy thought was a more professional stance. "Ahem, hello, Zoro. What can I help you with today?" Luffy recited what was clearly a carefully practiced speech. At long last, Zoro remembered why he was here in the first place.
"I need a large bouquet." Zoro answered, glancing to Luffy then back to Sabo. Sabo nodded in approval.
"Okay, Luffy. I'm heading out. You know Koala hates it when I'm late." Sabo said to Luffy but his sharp blue eyes remained fixed on Zoro.
"Ok Sabo! See you tomorrow!" Luffy called over his shoulder while keeping his eyes trained on Zoro. He was starting to feel uncomfortable but he remained steadfast, returning Sabo's glare until he finally turned on his heel and left.
"So, what message is Zoro trying to send?" Luffy asked. The question was innocent. So much so that Zoro was sure he imagined the flirty, almost seductive tone. He chalked it up to wishful thinking and struggled to answer the question. He had no idea what Luffy meant by 'message'. However, he vaguely remembered Mihawk going on and on about flowers having a language or something. He hadn't cared enough to listen at the time but now he was wishing that he had. Damn it, why couldn't anything be simple?! He just wanted to get some flowers to give to his sister.
"I... don't really know much about flowers." Zoro confessed, allowing his gaze to fall to his shoes in embarrassment. The admission caused Luffy to laugh again. Zoro became painfully aware of the warmth growing in his cheeks until it almost burned. As Luffy's laughter slowed, Zoro risked a look at Luffy's face, which was positively shining with excitement.
"Lucky for Zoro, I'm an expert! I know all about flowers and their meanings!" Luffy announced proudly.
For the next hour, Luffy showed him flower after flower and explained what each one meant. Zoro hung on every word: red roses for friendship, daffodils for love, orange lilies for respect and admiration... it turned into an endless line of colors and explanations. Zoro didn't care about the flowers nearly as much as listening to Luffy talk about them. He felt as though he could listen to Luffy talk about his passion forever.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, shattering his Luffy-induced trance. He pulled it out to check but he already knew who it was. Sure enough, there was a single message from Mihawk:
Where are you?
Crap. He had to hurry and buy a damn bouquet and get over to the theater before Mihawk found more creative ways to punish him.
"Ok, thanks Luffy." Zoro interrupted Luffy's flow, "I need flowers that say 'congratulations'." Unbothered by Zoro's interruption, Luffy beamed and with a joyful, "Ok!" he turned and literally bounced around the store. After a flurry of flowers and limbs, Luffy returned with a large and colorful bouquet.
"Here you go! Crimson roses for prosperity, candy tuft for happiness, blue hydrangea for success, peonies for celebration, and willow for luck." Zoro took the flowers and looked them over as he nodded along to Luffy's explanation. They seemed appropriate and looked pretty enough. There was enough pink to keep Perona happy and they were clean enough for Mihawk to find acceptable. He looked back to Luffy who was grinning from ear to ear. Zoro couldn't help but smile back.
"Thank you, Luffy. They're perfect." Torn with reluctance and urgency, Zoro turned towards the door. He hadn't walked more than two steps when Luffy fell into step beside him. Zoro tried not to focus on how Luffy was walking so close to his side that their shirts were brushing and how the heat from Luffy's body was making Zoro's skin tingle.
"Zoro will come back, right?" Luffy asked, his voice so quiet Zoro almost missed it. The question caused an unfamiliar warmth to bloom in his chest. Zoro looked sideways at Luffy and saw that his face was hidden by his messy black hair and he was peeking through it up into Zoro's face. Zoro gave him a cocky smirk.
"You know it." The sunlight returned to Luffy's face. He walked Zoro to the door and waved an enthusiastic goodbye. Before he could think better of it, Zoro pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Luffy. As he hurried away from the shop, he knew he would treasure that picture always.