Chapter Text
After her therapist ended the session, Nami shut off her laptop and closed the lid down with aggression. No matter how many sessions she tried, she wasn't getting better. Nothing was getting better.
The girl sighed and wrapped herself in the cocoon of her blanket which she rotted away in for the past 5 days. Nami wanted these thoughts to disappear. Or, if that couldn't happen - make herself disappear.
She thought to herself. She was sure no one would notice if she killed herself. None of her roommates had noticed she hadn't left her room for five days, and not even her sister, Nojiko texted her to see if she was alright. Hell, not even her university called up to ask why she had missed so many lectures.
Tears filled her eyes, but no sound of a wail or cry came out of her mouth. The tears stained her eyes, stinging as they burnt her skin. She didn't care, she endured the suffering. At least the burning of her eyes hurt less than leaving her bed and facing the real world.
Nami turned her head and looked onto the floor. She knew she shouldn't have, and this made her feel even worse. Energy drink cans and coffee cans scattered the floor, along with clothes she chucked and random wrappers that were left on the ground. The mess hurt her head even more and caused her to cry harder. It stressed her out immensely.
Facing the wall to block out the stress, she felt her eyes droop down. Despite withering away in her bed, her sleep schedule was horrendous. She was too paranoid to sleep. Most of the night, she'd stare at the ceiling, hallucinating figures that crawled across it. This would go on for hours until dawn rolled around, and the morning light from the early hours had knocked her out.
Her phone alarm bleeped, reading 10:30AM. She had been awake since 11.34PM. The girl turned off the loud, annoying alarm and put her phone back onto her bedside cabinet. Within a second of the alarm turning off, she could hear footsteps and creaking floorboards head towards her room. Had everyone not left yet? She hadn't learnt the footsteps of her other roommates, but she knew someone was there. She was too scared to breathe.
There was a small, shy knock at the door. She kept her breathing hitched and remained silent. However, the door opened and the person let themself in. Nami turned her head, ready to scream in anger.
Standing in the middle of the bedroom was a male with short black hair, donning the largest smile known to man. He sported a red jacket and a pair of jean shorts - and most notably, his favourite hat. A straw hat.
"Hey, Nami!" The male cried out, walking over to the metaphorically decaying body of Nami. In response, she gave an uninterested groan and rolled to the other side of her bed, facing away from him.
Despite this, the boy got closer, practically breathing down her fair skinned neck. This made Nami shudder, turning back around to face him - paired with an annoyed expression.
He pouted, "Don't ignore me! I'm trying to speak to you here!" His presence was enough to make the orange haired girl's blood boil with anger.
"What?" She stated in a cold and blunt tone. She was about to fall asleep. Of course someone had to ruin it.
"Our Mikan trees have finally grown! You said we could see them together when they had!"
...
Recollecting her thoughts, she realised that she had made a promise to the boy standing in front of her. A promise she told herself not to break. Nami gulped a little, trying to gain some recomposure. She gave a little nod.
"Fine, Luffy. I'll be there in a minute..." And to this, Luffy smiled and jumped out of the room, waiting for her to be ready.
Just because she had an inevitable reason to get out of bed now, didn't mean that it was easy to. For five minutes, she laid there, staring at the ceiling. A heavy sigh, and the girl heaved herself out of bed.
Upon leaving her bed, she caught herself in the mirror. Thin waist, large chest, soft lips, nice thighs. Any normal girl would dream for a body like Nami's. But she didn't. Nami wished to have a normal body. She wished for the sexual harassment to stop. Her body wasn't an excuse to flirt with her or make her feel uncomfortable. And her body definitely wasn't an invitation to touch her without permission. She wished she could one day stand up to all the boys who wronged her and shout at them all for the sins they committed.
Pulling on a blue and white shirt, paired with an orange and white skirt, with some brown boots, she was ready to leave her room. She walked over to her door and stared at it. Her breathing was heavy. Her hand shakily lay on the doorknob. She knew Luffy was just outside, waiting for her with a big smile painted across his face. For some reason, he never dropped his signature smile unless things got serious.
Her hand twisted the doorknob and she opened it, seeing the picture she illustrated in her own mind. Luffy looked excited to go see the Mikan trees. It was common fact. During their first year of university, as soon as they moved into the house, Luffy and Nami went and planted tangerine trees together, to have a part of Nami's family while she was away from them. 2 years later, they had finally grown and started to bear fruit. Something as little as this got the playfully immature Luffy going.
They both ventured to the garden of the house. Even though she felt empty, a small smile was plastered on her face. It made her happy to see Luffy happy. His laughter was contagious, and his smile was like the sunshine. She was jealous. She was jealous of the fact someone could be so happy. Nami wanted to be happy like Luffy.
Upon arrival, they saw three beautiful trees adorned with tangerines. One of Nami's sub-dreams had finally happened. She smiled, taking out her phone and snapping a picture of the occasion. One was of all three, a few of them had Luffy in them - being as stupid and as immature as ever (she'd send these ones to Vivi) and the latest one, a selfie of both her and Luffy standing in front of the Mikan tree, both smiling. Both real smiles. Nami felt a twinge of happiness today.
Taking one for the each of them, they both sat down together on the luscious grass. Nami giggled as she was reminded of Zoro's (another roommate of their's) green hair. She began to unpeel her mikan and so did Luffy. But, after a while he gave up.
"Namiiii..." Luffy groaned, trying to pick at the zest of the tangerine, "I can't do it..."
"Give it here," Nami sighed in annoyance. She was sick of doing everything for the younger male. However, it made her happy that he trusted her with these things. Unpeeling his tangerine, she gave it back to him and smiled. Right now, she felt genuinely happy, even if it was for a little bit.
Luffy glanced at Nami, and then opened his mouth, "By the way, Nami," the girl's eyes snapped up towards him, "Why haven't you left your room in five days? You know I'm not stupid. You can speak to me."
Nami kept her head down and sighed. She didn't want to burden him with her problems, "It's nothing, Luffy. Leave it, please. I'll tell you when I'm ready."
So there was something up with her, Luffy thought. Respecting his close friend's wishes, he nodded and smiled, starting to eat his orange.
In honesty, he missed Nami. None of their other roommates seemed to notice her sudden disappearance and it killed him. It killed him to see his friend in pain. He didn't like it when his friends were suffering. Especially when no one else could notice. But when he really paid attention, he noticed. He just wish it could go back to the way things were. Everyone eating dinner together as friends, instead of Nami running off to 'finish the leftovers' in her room, or Nami not being there at all. Playing games together, going out to eat together, hanging out together after classes. He wanted things to go back to normal.
But even Luffy knew things changed. And he knew things wouldn't go back the way he wanted it to, in a flash.
Nami sent a gentle sunwave of a smile in Luffy's direction, "Thank you for letting me see this, Luffy."
Luffy gave back his dopey smile and laughed, "No problem!"
The atmosphere changed as Nami rose from sitting, "I have to go now, I need to start on my course assignments. I really wish I could stay longer."
And in response to this, Luffy pouted, but he knew her work was important to her. He knew of her dream, ever since they were in middle school. He would never let her give up her dream. He didn't protest. He just nodded.
Nami didn't want to leave on a bad note, so she quickly enveloped her arms around him, "I'll see you later, Luffy."
She didn't know when 'later' was, and she didn't want to leave right now. However, she was being pulled back to the gloomy chains of her bed, to swallow her up once more. As she walked back into the house, she heard a quick, 'See ya, Nami!' from the joyous male. This made her smile grow a little more.
Making her way back into her room, she opened her door and locked it behind her. She stood there, surveying her room. Trust Luffy to not even mention the massive mess on the floor.
With a sigh, she began to pick up a few pieces of rubbish with this new found motivation of hers. She put the cans and wrappers into the bin, and chucked her dirty laundry into the nearby laundry basket.
After everything had been dealt with, she volleyed back into bed, coming to terms with the familiar feel of the blanket and warmth it gave off.
Nami pulled out her phone and looked over the photos she took. The more she looked, the more she realised that Luffy looked good paired with mikan trees. And he looked even better with her. Looking at the photo of the both of them, something seared within her heart. She took a deep breath in. She knew she was only overreacting.
Without any thoughts, she pulled up the chat between her and Luffy. Hesitantly, she sent him the picture of them both standing against the tree together, captioned with '❤️🧡'.
This sudden yet honestly platonic act made her feel all fuzzy. She placed her phone on her cabinet beside her and hugged her pillow. She was so scared as to how he would reply.
Although, after a few minutes, her fatigue kicked in, and she drifted off into a slumber.