One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Keeping You Warm ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Keeping you Warm
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rufi/Zoro (mentioned), Ace---> Zoro
Word Count: 657

Permission to Archive: Email me, please.
Notes: This sort of started out as something completely different. And then, I wanted to take part of it and use it for the Cold topic on One Piece Yaoi 100...I've ended up not being able to find a section that will stand alone for a 300 word limit, so I just put an ending where there wasn't one, and played with some other things. It doesn't exactly fit in cannon timeline, but I don't give a damn. I was bored, and I wanted to write.

Makoto and I have had a few other ideas for some similar writings, and this may eventually get trashed, become part of something bigger...or eh, fuck, who knows.

Before you even think about reading this, you should probably take into account that my ideas and writing are going downhill with her overseas.

-k. (05.28.04)

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Zoro wasn't just tired, he was exhausted. Three days of wandering and little sleep, trying to find his shipmates was taking its toll on him.

Ace watched from a safe distance as Zoro's eyes skimmed over a piece of paper that he'd brought to him, still not willing to get terribly close to his brother's lover. The paper was the reason he was here-- delivering a note from his brother, and tracking the man down. It had been days since they'd lost Zoro in the desert, and Ace had volunteered to look for him.

Admittedly, the man was attractive -- in a completely unapproachable way. But this man wasn't someone he could just strike up a conversation with; someone he could just proposition for an interesting romp. Besides being completely stand-offish to the point of being hostile, this green-haired swordsman was his brother's first mate, longest-standing nakama, and, his lover. No, this was someone he would have to earn the trust of -- someone who was going to take a lot of work. Disappointment tinted boyish features, and finally he spoke up, voicing a concern that had been growing in the time he'd been observing the swordsman, waiting for some sort of response.

"You know, you really ought to get some rest," he remarked quietly from his position just across from the swordsman, where he leaned casually against a stone outcropping, observing Zoro's reaction to the letter. Or lack thereof.

Zoro's reply was a distracted grunt, but he folded the paper back up, stowing it away in a pocket of his desert clothing.

"I sorta told Rufi I'd keep an eye on you on the way back-- make sure you took care of yourself."

Zoro gazed levelly at the other boy, seemingly annoyed.

"And I can. I don't need anyone's help or a baby-sitter."

Ace shrugged.

"Well, I found you. It'll be dark soon. Now would be as good a time as any to rest a bit."

"What are you, my mother? Gonna offer to tuck me in and bring me a glass of milk next?"

Not really a joke- more an annoyed insult, but it didn't seem to affect Ace in the way Zoro had intended. The Mera-Mera's face wrinkled up into a grin, making him look even younger than he was-- the grin so trademark of both brothers that Zoro cringed inwardly to see it with his captain so far away.

~

After some arguing and a lot of Zoro's pride shoved aside, he finally relented, grudgingly agreeing to getting some rest-- refusing to admit that only his stubbornness was keeping him on his feet. He lay there beneath two blankets in the small tent, but couldn't seem to get warm. He shivered slightly, eyes drifting to the tent's other occupant who was curled slightly, facing him. His breath was even, and he seemed to be sleeping.

"Baka-mera," he muttered. Of course he wasn't cold. The man had fire in his veins.

Ace could feign sleep as easily as he could fall asleep sometimes, though sometimes doing one caused the other. He cracked an eye at Zoro's muttering- not really hearing the words, but rather feeling the vibrations echo only faintly in the quiet.

"Can't sleep?"

Ace's eye slid closed again.

"Fuckin' freezing." Zoro mumbled, a bit louder this time.

Ace smirked-- he just couldn't resist. He moved over, discarding the sleeping bag he'd been curled up in, and pulled Zoro's blankets aside just enough to slide under it.

"What're you doing?" Zoro tensed, alarms going off in his head.

Captain's brother. Captain's brother....

Ace shushed him, wrapping warm arms around him, and resting his head gently on the other man's chest.

Zoro felt a panic rising in his chest-- a frantic feeling that he wasn't used to, and didn't like. Ace felt the muscles in Zoro's chest tense, and he moved his palm in a slow, circular, calming motion.

"Keeping you warm. That's all."