Work Text:
"What the hell..."
Zoro stared at the huge ship in front of him with his mouth agape.
Perona was next to him and had a similar expression.
"That's Whitebeard's ship" she said, floating alongside him.
Whitebeard's ship, huh? Maybe Ace was there.
He blushed and his heart raced at the thought of seeing him again.
The last time he had seen him was when he came to visit him just before Water Seven, before he was captured.
When Mihawk had returned to Kuraigana saying that Ace had miraculously escaped his execution, he had been so worried, he was ready to sail away with all his wounds and see with his own eyes that he was fine, that message from Luffy in the newspaper had been the only thing that had kept him on that island.
"You're almost cute when you think about your stupid boyfriend" Perona muttered "Almost"
“Shut up” he grumbled “Don't you have anything else to do? Someone else to annoy?”
The girl made an offended face and puffed out her cheeks.
"You're not cute at all!" she exclaimed "Show some gratitude, without me you wouldn't even be here, you would have already been lost!"
"Thanks for this, ghost girl!" said a voice "But now I'll take care of him"
Zoro looked up and saw Ace sitting on the edge of the ship.
The pirate pushed forward and landed right in front of his boyfriend, lifting as if he weighed nothing and spinning him around.
"Ohi, put me down!" he exclaimed blushing.
The older boy chuckled, but set him down, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him against his chest.
"I missed you," he whispered, kissing his cheek.
Zoro buried his head against his chest and smiled.
The warmth of his body, his smell, him...he had missed everything about him.
He stood on tiptoe to kiss him, but stopped when he heard giggling.
He looked up once again and his eyes widened when he saw Ace's entire crew looking at them with smirks, including Whitebeard himself.
"Is that Whitebeard?" he asked in a whisper to his boyfriend.
It was the first time he had seen him in person, he had only heard about him from Ace's numerous chatter.
“Yes, that's Pops and he can't wait to meet you” he said enthusiastically.
"He wants what…" he didn't even have time to finish his sentence because suddenly his feet were no longer touching the ground and he found himself in Ace's arms like a princess.
With a single leap, Ace had once again landed on the wood of Moby Dick.
"Ace, put me down!" he squirmed in his arms.
His boyfriend chuckled and gently lowered him.
"Pops, this is Zoro, my boyfriend" he said then wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"We finally meet the boy who stole this idiot's heart" Marco said chuckling "My condolences, it must be terrible to stand him"
"Never as much as it must be for you who stand him every day" was the swordsman's prompt response.
"Ehy!" Ace exclaimed offended.
Whitebeard instead burst out laughing.
"I like this kid" he said "You can tell he's a friend of Strawhat, why don't we drink together, boy?"
Zoro smiled.
“I mean, I never say no to alcohol” he said.
Whitebeard laughed again.
"That's the spirit, boy"
***
"Pops really likes you" Ace said as he patted his shoulder.
"Do you really think that?" he asked with a smile "I like him too"
"Yeah, pretty sure if you weren't already part of Luffy's crew, he would have asked you to join" he chuckled "And the rest of the crew likes you too, especially Marco and Izo"
"Your crew is very noisy" he said "But I like them, there's a nice family atmosphere here"
“Yes, I see what you mean” he said, kissing his bare shoulder “What happened to your eye, anyway?”
Zoro shrugged.
"Nothing to worry about, an accident during training" he explained wrapping his arms around his torso "I missed you"
"You too, babe" he said with a smile "Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about you"
The swordsman blushed and buried his head in his neck.
“Don't say such embarrassing things” he muttered.
Ace burst out laughing.
"I was so worried when I heard you were almost executed" he whispered "I missed you, I missed everything about you, I'm happy you're alive"
Ace turned serious again and gently stroked his hair.
"I'm sorry for scaring you, but I'm alive, I'm not going to die yet, I have promises to keep, and then..." he said, pretending to think of something "I'm too possessive to let anyone try to console you from my death"
Zoro chuckled.
Ace had a unique way of making him feel better.
"Goodnight, Ace" he whispered.
"Goodnight, babe"
***
"Are you sure you want to leave already?" Marco asked with a dramatic sigh.
"My crew will be looking for me and that shitty cook will already be mumbling things about me getting lost" he said stretching "But I'm sure this won't be the last time we see each other"
"If you change your mind and decide to join this crew, the place will always be free for you, boy" said Whitebeard putting a hand on his shoulder "I will be ready to welcome you as my son"
Zoro blushed slightly.
"Thanks old man, but I made a promise to Luffy and I won't back out" he said with determination.
"I'll take you to them, we don't want you to get lost and have Sanji scold you" Ace said chuckling.
"I'm not getting lost!" he exclaimed.
"Whatever you say, babe" he said, grabbing him and climbing out of the Moby Dick with his boyfriend in his arms.
“You need to stop doing that” he muttered.
"Never" he said.
He got him out and started walking towards the Sunny.
"Wait..." Zoro stopped him "Before we go away... I have a gift for you"
Ace looked at him in surprise.
"Huh? A gift?"
***
"You're late, Marimo" Sanji said as they ran away from the Marines "I see these two years haven't improved your terrible sense of direction" he teased.
"Shut the fuck up, you shitty cook!" he exclaimed "I'm not getting lost!"
"Ohi, Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed with a toothy grin "I'm so happy to see you, you look even more badass without one eye!"
The swordsman smiled, he missed his captain.
"Ohi, Zoro..." Luffy said once again "You're missing an earring, have you lost it?"
Zoro blushed and smiled slightly.
"A thing like that"