Love/Hate -Zoro-

-Nine-

You weren't planning on crying more than an hour's worth of tears for your father's death. To your dismay, your tears hadn't stopped flowing for six hours. Your eyes were worn out, your face was settled into a permanent frown, and your hair was messy and covered in wet spots from where your tears would slide down to your scalp while you lay down. Chopper, Zoro, and you have been locked up in Chopper's bedroom in silence. Zoro was taking care of you like a caring boyfriend, but he was also caring for Chopper like a big brother to him. It made you smile when you saw the scene of him giving Chopper a box of tissues and a water bottle to rehydrate.

"Thank you," You whisper as you grab the slice of toast with butter on it. Zoro nods and hands one to Chopper as well.

"I know you guys don't feel like eating, but you haven't eaten since last night," He explains as your brother takes a small bite of his toast. There was another long silence, but this time it was comfortable.

"Why are you trying so hard?" Chopper asks suddenly. You whip your head to look at him. He was glaring at Zoro, but not angrily. "You barely know us. Why are you trying so hard to make sure we are staying sane?"

"Chopper!" You scold. "Don't be so rude about someone who's trying to help!"

"It's okay, Reader," Zoro says quietly. "When I lost my best friend at a young age, no one comforted me. They all avoided me. The only one who showed any kind of care for my feelings was her father. He was also my mentor in learning sword fighting. He taught me a lot of valuable lessons, but he told me that comfort comes from those who know loss." You frowned empathetically before placing a heavy hand on his shoulder. He nods at you, showing he was okay.

"Sorry," Chopper mutters. "I didn't mean to be so rude, I just wasn't wanting pity."

"I'm the last person to show pity to anyone," Zoro promises. "Anyways, it's fine." He rests a hand on Chopper's head to ruffle his red/brown hair. Chopper smiles weakly and gently shove the heavy limb from his hair.

"Will you be okay here tonight?" You question your younger brother. He sighs and nods with a slight shrug.

"Mom said I can go back with you when you leave. For now, I think I just need to pack." You nod and stand from the bed before leaning over and kissing the top of his head.

"Get some rest, Chopper," You whisper. "If you need me I'll be only a couple of streets away at the hotel, okay?" He nods and says goodbye to both of you as you shut the door behind Zoro. The walks down the hallway and staircase were quiet until you stopped to stare at your mother as she sat at the dining room table with a glass of wine half drank in front of her.

"Hey," She greeted quietly, wiping her eyes. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine," You reassure her lowly. "He said he's gonna pack and then get some rest."

"Okay..." She trailed and you could see her lip quivering.

"Mom, you know it's for the best he lives with me."

"Of course I do," She replies quickly. "That doesn't mean I can't be sad about it." She sighs in the silence that the sentence created.

"I'm gonna go to the car," Zoro whispers. "Take as long as you need." You nod and watch him quickly disappear out the door.

"He treats you well." Your eyes went back to your mother as she also watched Zoro's figure disappear. "I'm glad."

"Mom," You take a seat next to her. "I'm sorry that I had to say what I did to get you to realize how you treated us, but I don't regret it."

"I know," She sighs. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize that not everything I wanted to have for myself needs to be my kids' goals as well." You smiled softly and rested a hand on hers as she whimpered to herself. "What am I gonna do without him, Reader?"