𝐈𝐂 𝐈𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 🦚 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙿𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚘𝚌𝚔

[romancedawn]

@3swords

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⚠️ cw: blanket nsfw warning 🔞; anything on the kink list may make an appearance.

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[cartographie]

There’s no space for embarrassment after she knows she’s been caught, not with the softness of relief blooming through her when Zoro collects her into his arms and carries her into his room. The familiarity, the rightness of him holding her, doesn’t blunt all the sharp edges that are part and parcel with the fears and anxieties the powerful feelings his presence at the casino has breathed into existence—but it’s wonderful enough to make all those thorns bearable. She’d do anything for her crew, but for Zoro that sentiment deepens into something warm, something that doesn’t make it seem insane or impossible when he tells her he’ll marry her when their quest for the One Piece is said and done.

Saying nothing, Nami tucks her chin and rests her head against his collar, hiding her face as her weight shifts until her side’s snuggled securely against his chest, shutting her eyes in an effort to steel herself against the weight that’s still settled hard on her chest. Her forehead creases when he chooses to sit on the floor instead of beside her, and for what feels like a long, drawn-out moment, neither says anything, the quizzical look on his face mirrored in her own expression.

She should care more about what a fool she is for him and work hard to guard herself against that, but he wears down her armor like nobody else in this world or any. Nami is not the kind who’ll ever give up, but she knows a losing battle when she experiences one. Fighting to not adore him, to now hang on every word, touch, and glance, is a fight she’s surrendered to right around the time this fool had the audacity to tell her he needed her.

Just like then, she slips out of her seat and joins him on the floor, and just like the first time, her arms find their way around him as smoothly and comfortably as someone who’s spent years being this close to him. Her eyes are round and pensive, sadness guiding her lips to curve down in a frown as she reaches out and gently cradles the side of his face, searching his expression for a clue, because he’s beautiful, because while she can’t find the words for it, she knows he’s struggling, and she hates to be a part of it.

Her forehead rests against his as she takes a deep breath, eyes fluttering half-closed as she lets herself move past the need to think and form a plan before she does. The hand on his jaw drifts to the back of his neck, where the blunt tips of her nails graze across skin. 

“What I feel for you, I don’t feel for anybody else,” she mumbles, once she’s found her voice in the wake of that apology and everything that’s led up to it. Nami takes a moment, finding her resolve enough that she can draw back and look at his face without her expression darkening and contorting to reflect how tangled up inside she’s been in his absence.

“There’s nobody I love for the reasons that I love you.” The urge to wince or blush is strong, but for the time being, Nami is stronger, unwilling to relent to do anything that might make him hesitate or doubt that she means what she says. Being at the resort has allowed them to move forward in a direction neither of them really imagined beyond a passing fantasy on a quiet afternoon, but it’s also let in the bad too—the envy, the shitty compulsion to try and determine which parts of what they share have a place elsewhere with other lovers.

“So let me keep doing that.” Her eyes finally lower, both hands curving over his shoulders, steadying herself as much as she is reaching for him, her voice maddeningly weak to her own ears. “Don’t go.”