Love to Give (Zoro x Reader)

You were drunk. No doubt about it.

Your face felt heated and you were sure the other crew members could see how red it was. You could feel your head pounding as it lolled around on the arm cushion of one of the couches in the Thousand Sunny's aquarium room. You couldn't even get the slamming of your accelerated heartbeat out of your ears, the volume of your body functions overpowering that of your nakama's conversations. You wanted to move faster, even be more animated for the sake of their party. But you just couldn't. Your life at the moment was stuck on a slow-mo button with no way to reverse the effect. Your eyes lazily drifted over to a soft head of moss that was sitting next to you. You really wanted to touch his hair. You really wanted to fiddle with his three gold piercings hanging at his left ear. And most of all, you didn't know why, but you wanted to plant a gentle kiss into that crook in his neck with an already prosperous garden growing at the top. Leaning forward, you began your move, only to be met with the steady pounding in your head that only got more intense. You wince in pain and end up drawing the moss-head's attention. After finishing his nth cup of sake, he craned his neck in the direction of your limp body. A smirk grew on his irritatingly yet attractively arrogant face.

"Oi. I thought you said you were gonna keep up with me."

You giggled in response. You never giggled like this before and you didn't know if you liked it. "Shut up. I just wanted to try something new. It's only my first time getting drunk, you know." You attempt to throw a light punch at his shoulder, only for the arm to fall limply down the side of the couch.

He chuckled at your vain attempt to rationalize, "You're such a light-weight."

You slurred, "Not much else to expect from a first-timer, right?"

He sighed, "Six shots of this stuff and you're already feeling it. I can't imagine my tolerance being that low anymore."

You laughed uncontrollably at that. Why were you acting like this?? You knew the reason why but you didn't want to act like that around him. Especially not around him. Slowly sitting up, you take your pointer finger and spiral it towards his nose, "You, sir, have quite the drinking problem." As gently as your drunk body could manage, you boop his nose, earning a bewildered expression on the swordsman's face. You giggle some more and, content with your "retort," you fall back onto the couch, the back of your head thumping against the arm rest and sending more painful throbs down your spine. You'll definitely regret that later.

The Marimo noticed your pained discomfort and turned his body to face you entirely. "You alright?" he asked, an eyebrow raising in concern. You try for a smile and a laugh to wave off the question, but the throbbing is too much. Instead, you wince and, with half-glazed eyes, slowly shake your head, replying dumbly, "I'm so drunk, Zoro."

Amidst the quick beating of your heart, you hear his laughter resound over all of that. You tried your best to hold onto that beautiful sound but got pulled under by your quickening heartbeat and throbbing headache. After a good few seconds of laughter, the man in front of you stopped and looked at you up and down your body, but mostly at your face. At least, you thought he was just looking at your face. His eyes held so much care despite his callous nature. And you didn't understand why, but you thought he was beautiful because of it.

Zoro interceded your thoughts by asking again, "Seriously though, _______, are you alright? Do you need help right now?"

Your slowed-down brain pondered the question for a moment. Finally, you gave in, stating, "I wanna go to bed, Zoro."

You didn't know if it was the heat on your face or your slowly tunneling eyesight, but you could swear you saw him blush as his eyebrows raised to your reply. His eyes scanned the aquarium room and the rest of his nakama before turning back to you. Gently putting his arms underneath your limp body, he picked you up bridal-style from the couch and began walking in the direction of the sleeping dorms. "Fine," he said curtly, "I'll help you out."