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somnolence
(adj.) the quality or state of being drowsy; sleepiness
she slowly tiptoed around the other female shipmates who were sound asleep. wincing at every squeak the floorboards made, she finally made her way to the door of the cabin, opened it, squeezed out, and shut it quickly lest the moonlight flood in and wake up nami and robin.
that was one of the many things she loved about being on the sea. against the pitch black sky, she could always see an infinite amount of twinkling stars and the moon’s dazzling reflections across the endless ocean waves.
she shivered slightly from the cool breeze but nonetheless embraced it. another thing she loved about the ocean, it's cool weather (when it was calm.) she absolutely detested the heat.
she leaned against the nearby railing, looking down at the water. her mind began to wander, the gentle waves lapping against the sunny serving as soothing background noise. she observed yet another admirable characteristic: the ocean’s depth. it amazed her how the galaxies had been frequented more so than the depths of the sea. well, that's why she was on a ship, right? she'd pick the ocean over outer space any day, in a heartbeat. as her eyes roamed over the waves illuminated by the moonlight, she wondered what kinds of marine creatures were swimming under the ship or even deep down below. (hopefully not a sea king.)
her small frame was suddenly wracked with an onset of shivers, and she realized that her thin tank and shorts would do little to fight off the cold. the soothing sway of the ship almost lulled her to sleep. almost. still feeling awake, she decided to head to the crow’s nest, her favorite spot.
as she headed to the main mast and prepared herself to climb the rope, she remembered that one of the crew should be on night watch. scanning the visible areas of the ship illuminated by moonlight, she caught sight of no one, and thought they may have been in the bathroom or kitchen getting a late night snack (if sanji allowed it.)
she shimmied up the rope and climbed the ladder, panting from the physical exertion by the time she set foot in the crow’s nest.
she froze upon seeing another person sitting in the room.
the one other member who shared a particular liking for this location. “zoro?”
he cracked an eye open.
“oh, you must be on night watch.” she relaxed and padded across the room, careful to avoid his heavy and very large weights. “and you're not doing such a great job, aren't you, you lazy bum?” she noted his seated position, cross legged, arms crossed in front of his broad chest, back against the wall. meaning that he faced the opposite direction of the nearest window that he was supposed to be looking outside of for any dangers or unexpected occurrences (like sea kings.)
he ignored her and instead asked in a gruff yet slightly sleepy voice (that may or may not have sent a slight shiver down her spine), “well, last time i checked only one of us is supposed to be on night watch.” he yawned widely, jaw cracking. “why’re you here? couldn't sleep?”
“well yeah, and this is my favorite spot on the ship too, you know?”
of course he did. he always spotted her coming up here but if he happened to be here as well, he would try to avoid her, to avoid being in the same room as her.
hell, being on the same ship as her was hard enough.
zoro watched her grab two pillows from a corner of the room and then walk back to his side of the room. she sat down beside him.
he swallowed.
she yawned and stretched her arms upward, suddenly hit with fatigue. “i also love sleeping here too.”
he tried not to look at her exposed stomach, eyes quickly flashing to another area of the room when she put her arms down, her tank covering her skin once more.
seeing her fluff one pillow, he suddenly panicked. if she fell asleep here, that would mean she would be here for the next few hours. a few hours. that would be a record- being in the same room as her for a few hours.
“aren't you going to go back to your cabin? probably more comfortable there.” he sensed that his efforts to keep her from staying were futile, seeing as how she was already laying her head down.
“nah, it's okay. i'm fine. you'd think that being on the same ship would mean that i'd see you more often but man, it's like you're hiding or something.” she chuckled. “can't i spend some time with you?” just the two of us?
good thing it was dark or she might have seen a faint blush on his face. it was true after all.
suddenly, she sat up. pouting, she said in a childish voice, “i'm hungry.”
he rolled his eyes. being cute was not helping. before zoro could say anything, she stood up and headed for the ladder.
“maybe sanji’ll be okay with only some food missing. or-considering luffy’s cravings-sanji’s probably sleeping in the kitchen. maybe i'll wake him up and ask him to whip up something for me.”
zoro huffed. “probably gonna have to ask him real nicely.”
she shrugged. “well, yeah. he’ll probably freak out and dote on me anyway if i wake him. but batting some eyelashes or promising him some hugs would probably help.”
somehow the thought of her acting all cutesy with the shitty cook bothered him. or even hugging the shitty cook.
he clenched his swords.
this girl needed to stop acting so cute around everyone. now that he thought about it, she was so damn nice to everyone too. nicer than nami, yet not as quiet as robin. she actually tried to be social with him (he tried not to feel the unwanted flutter in his chest), but he rebuffed her advances most of the time. hence the being-in-the-same-room-as-her-for-only-five-minutes record.
well damn, now he was feeling guilty.
he was left with these unwarranted guilty thoughts as she scampered down the ladder, not before quickly saying, “actually, i don't want to interrupt poor sanji’s sleep (zoro bristled at her endearing tone.) luffy probably keeps him up enough. i'll just grab something real quick.”
again with the niceness.
as soon as she was out of sight, he finally relaxed his tense muscles. part of him hoped that she would just somehow fall asleep in the kitchen, and he’d be left alone for the remainder of the night. an even smaller part of him hoped that she’d return.
in her absence, he was left to ponder on these contradictory thoughts and feelings, something he didn’t usually enjoy doing; it made his head hurt. how he wished for some alcohol right now. that way, he’d be able to drink himself to a stupor, leaving him unable to comprehend the unusually wide spectrum of emotions that she was making him feel.
all this introspection and thinking had him feeling drained, and he felt his eyes slowly beginning to droop, only to be awoken once more by said girl climbing up the ladder.
“falling asleep again, aren’t you? is that all you do? eat, drink, fight, train, and sleep?”
he shrugged, not really trusting himself to speak. her return provided him with a strange sense of delight.
she sat down beside him again, and he noticed the objects in her hands.
“lucky me, i found some onigiri laying about,” she gently placed one beside him, “and thought you might like one.”
“...how'd you know?”
“know what?” she said in between bites of onigiri.
“that i liked onigiri?”
“well,” her cheeks warming, “..i noticed you liked eating rice. anything with rice really.”
he grunted. “favorite food.”
“wait really?” she said mid-chew. she quickly swallowed. “so my observations were correct?” she stared at him in earnest, grinning widely.
he grunted.
she giggled, “finally, i know something about the man called zoro- other than the fact that he sleeps, eats, drinks, trains, and fights with swords all day- in no particular order.”
her childlike joy directed towards him stirred that unwanted flutter in his chest once more.
once they finished their late-night snack, they sat in a peaceful silence. but she suddenly rose up again, this time to open one window, letting a cool breeze enter the room. she rested her elbow on the windowsill, and then her chin to her palm, calmly soaking in the night air. (being around zoro made her feel uncharacteristically warm.)
he side-glanced at her subtly, noting how the slight breeze tossed her long locks to and fro. the moonlight illuminated the smooth skin of her face, neck, and arms whilst leaving the lower half of her body in shadow. though the light gave him enough visibility to see her toned legs. the studs in the ear visible to him glinted, three-just like him.
for what seemed like the umpteenth time, his eyes slowly closed, but this time, the image of her awash in moonlight was imprinted on his eyelids.
-
she had stared out at the sea for so long that she didn't notice that zoro had fallen asleep-again. she pouted, her chances of making conversation were gone. hands on her hips, she observed his sleeping form, still sitting, head slightly nodding forward. wasn't he uncomfortable? steeling herself, she took the other pillow and placed it next to him, and slowly, carefully pushed him towards it.
of course, the seasoned warrior he was, he woke as soon as he felt her feather light touch. “what are you doing?”
she grinned sheepishly. “well if you're gonna sleep, might as well do it comfortably.” she began pushing him again. “come on, lie down. i got two pillows for a reason.”
he glared at her hands, now relentlessly shoving him towards the cushion. he slowly rested his head on the pillow, his nostrils suddenly flooded with her scent. great. he lay stiffly on his back, arms tightly crossed on top of his chest.
she plucked up her courage and placed her pillow next to his, laying down on her side and curling up in a fetal position facing him. “well, goodnight.”
he closed his eyes in response.
-
the next morning, zoro felt the incoming rays of sunshine through the windows and buried his face into her hair, in an attempt to block the bright light out. wait. his eyes flew open.
somehow during the course of the night, he had turned on his side and pulled her against him. and now he was hugging her waist so that her back was pressed against his chest. and one of her petite hands was resting atop his own.
at this point he was close to hyperventilating, and he slowly tried to disentangle himself from her. he froze when she suddenly stirred. “zoro?” she murmured in a drowsy voice, (god damn, it was too early in the morning to feel that flutter in his chest again,) “what are you doing?”
he swallowed thickly.
suddenly, she turned on her side so that their fronts were now facing each other. she subsequently tucked herself closer to him, nestling her head under his chin.
zoro watched this exchange wordlessly, and huffed in exasperation when she seemed to fall asleep again.
but suddenly, she murmured sleepily, eyes still closed, “hey. move.”
eyes half open, she lifted herself up and pushed him so that he lay on his back. then she lay her head on his shoulder, and curled up in a fetal position in the space between his arm and his body. one of her arms was on top of his chest, her hand resting lightly on his diagonal scar.
he could only look down at her in disbelief, feeling flustered at how close they were. and now she was falling asleep again.
well...there was nothing he could do, could he? he slowly relaxed, succumbing to sleep once again, more quickly than usual because of the warmth and scent of the girl in his arms.
hopefully, no one would find them like this.
-
“oi! you fucking marimo!” sanji grumbled his way up the ladder to the crow’s nest, trying to locate one of two currently missing crew members. “don’t make me actually come up there!” why was he, of all the available people on this goddamn ship, tasked with finding missing persons when he was clearly busy cooking an absurd amount of food for said available people?
sanji set foot in the crow’s nest fully intent on chewing that marimo’s head off, figuratively and maybe literally, when he came across both of the missing members, and the most horrifying sight.
“what the fuck! you dumb marimo, get your filthy-” he rushed over to the current display, “hands! off! her!”
the marimo angrily swatted sanji’s hands away with surprising force for someone who was seventy-five percent asleep and currently supporting another person on top of his body. “shut the fuck up, you shitty cook,” he hissed. “can you not see that we’re fucking sleepi-”
the two males quickly hushed when she fidgeted and blearily opened her eyes.
“zoro?” she yawned widely, “what’s going on?” she quickly closed her eyes again and fisted his robe, trying to bury her head in it to salvage the last few vestiges of slumber.
zoro’s hands immediately came up to cradle her small frame. sanji practically growled.
“oh, sanji?” she lifted her head up, albeit with great difficulty and squinted at a very visibly agitated cook.
when she noticed his exasperation, she slowly sat up and rubbed one eye with a closed fist. she then stretched both arms up, her tank top flashing a strip of her stomach. both men’s eyes zeroed in on said skin, sanji visibly deflating into something less angry and well on his way towards heart-eyes, zoro slowly bringing his hands to softly grip her waist instead.
then, both sanji and zoro made eye contact, sanji’s eyes glinting in anger and zoro’s with something more of a challenge.
she, clearly oblivious of the obvious sparks shooting from both men’s eyes, addressed sanji with a sleep laden voice, “oh sanji, i’m sorry, i bet you were looking for us weren’t you?” she yawned widely again. “sorry, me and zoro-,” she suddenly cleared her throat with a slow blush rising to her cheeks, “overslept; we’re sorry for worrying you.” she then looked up at sanji through her eyelashes and said in one of her sweetest voices, “give us a few minutes, will you? we’ll be down real soon.”
with that, she snuggled back into zoro’s frame and closed her eyes. zoro shifted so that she was resting atop his body again and tightened his arms around her. he smugly glanced at sanji before closing his eyes again.
“oi! marimo! what do you think you’re doi-” he was quickly hushed by said marimo, who cracked one angry eye open and fully embraced the girl atop his body.
sanji’s mouth fell open.