Title: Green and Purple Post-It Notes
Theme: #15 - Silence
Pairings: Zoro/Robin
Setting: Post timeskip, sailing in the New World

Here's another short one of Zoro/Robin for Zorobin lovers. I'm also getting started on thediaryofnicorobin dot tumblr dot com, if you love Zorobin, you will probably love it. Thanks for reading & reviewing, it means a lot to me (:

"Kenshi-san, would you like to join Nami and me for tea?"

"No, thanks."

Every afternoon at precisely half past five, while the sun is making its way across the sky and waiting to swim into the ocean from the ends of the horizon, Nico Robin would knock the door of the Crow's Nest while Roronoa Zoro was lifting weights with his toes, and asked him the same question every single time – would the swordsman like to join the two girls for tea?

And every single time too, he would say his refusal politely, without looking at her, and he focused on the strength of his legs until he heard the door closed again. Today was the fifteenth time Robin had invited him to have tea together. Robin and Zoro had became crewmates for over three years, and she ought to have known well that Zoro isn't the kind who would spend his afternoons with rainbow cakes and whipped cream. Tsch, that woman herself is a mystery, he thought, concluding his questioning.

The next day, at five fifteen – as the wall clock told him – he put down his weights, and took a green post-it notes he found laying around on the shelf, probably left by Usopp, and a pen with dying black ink. He scribbled, 'No, thanks', on it, and stuck it on the other side of the door, expecting the archaeologist to come again at half past five and find the small note. He thought it would save her time from knocking and asking the same question again to which, he answered with the same thing as well.

At half past five to fifteen minutes after, there was no knock on the door. The swordsman smiled, relieved to have finally able to train in peace, as always. When he decided it was time for him to take a quick bath, washing away the sticky sweat on his muscular body, he placed his weight back down. Odd enough, he was looking forward to dinner – since Robin did not appear on his doorstep today, he missed half a day having the presence of a breathing mass with a soul, in the same room as his.

To his surprise, his note was still on his door, but beside it, was a purple post-it note, with a fresh message; "It's okay, I'll ask Brook instead." Her handwriting was rather cursive, it took him a moment to properly made out the message.

The next day, he did the same thing. He wrote the same thing on the green post-it notes, and stuck them outside the door. At half past five, as Zoro had expected, there was no knock on the door. He checked outside for a reply, and yes, another purple post-it note was attached beside his green one, this time saying, "It's okay, I'll ask Chopper instead." He looked down from the window. Despite the usual commotion Luffy and Usopp had created in his sight, jumping up and down the deck, chasing each other like little toddlers, he could easily spot the raven-haired archaeologist, sitting down and having conversations with the little reindeer doctor, with coffee and cakes Sanji had prepared.

Zoro did the same thing again the day after, in which she replied on a new purple post-it note, it's okay that he refused the invite, and that she will invite some other crew mate instead to have coffee and tea with her. Zoro peeked out of the window at half past five in the afternoon, to find her sitting with Franky, laughing politely over a story Franky seemed excited to tell.

He smiled, somehow relieved at the sight of her being amused by the speedo-wearing shipwright. At least he's more entertaining than I am, he thought, and resumed his daily training routine.

He continued leaving notes on the door every afternoon, with the same 'no, thanks' message, and at the beginning of dusk, he would find Robin's purple notes, every time with different names. He would peek at the window too, one afternoon seeing Robin being excited over Usopp's stories, another afternoon finding Robin amusing Luffy with her hana hana no mi abilities. The next afternoon, Sanji took his time off from worshiping Nami and her deadly attractive hourglass figure, and treating Robin with pastries and cappuccinos instead. Zoro did not leave a note on the door on that day, and it was safe to assume, Robin had stopped appearing on his door with hopes of inviting him for coffee and cakes again.

Another new afternoon arrived, and the green-haired swordsman did not bother to leave a note on the door. He assumed Robin wouldn't climb up to the Crow's Nest again, and found other tea-time companion for the evening. He was right; at half past five, there was no knocking at the door. Routinely, he peered from the window to check who would Robin invite.

She was sitting alone on a lazy chair with a book, two cups of coffee with two pieces of cake on the table beside her – one belong to her, and the other seemed to belong to no one.

Wondering, he checked outside the door to see if Robin had left her purple post-it note to invite him today, but there was nothing at all. He sighed, and climbed down Crow's Nest, headed towards the bathroom. He took a quick shower, got dressed, and walked outside, onto the deck. He threw himself on another lazy chair, which was just beside the table with coffee and cakes. His green towel pillowed his head, he stared at the blue sky, inhaling deeply at the wondrous peace such clouds could feed him with.

Robin switched her attention from the book, to the swordsman. "Kenshi-san? I thought you're upstairs training."

"I thought I should take a day off once in a while," he replied bluntly, still gazing up.

She smiled. "Is your hair wet?"

"Yeah, just took a shower. I still can't work Nami's bubble rain clouds, they're so confusing."

Robin laughed lightly, and got off her chair. She stood beside Zoro's lazy chair. "Up," she instructed, and Zoro sat up. Robin sat on the chair's handle, balancing her weight so that the chair would not fall over. She took Zoro's towel and spread it messily over Zoro's head, towel-drying his hair for him. Zoro flinched a little, surprised, but oddly he didn't refuse either.

"Oi, woman," he said. "You made me look like a child by helping me dry my hair."

Robin laughed. "Kenshi-san?"

"Mmhh?"

"Would you like to have coffee with me today?"

Zoro accidentally slipped out a smile at her question. "Yeah, okay."

The next day, Zoro left a note on the door of the Crow's Nest with the same green post-it note sheet, same childish handwriting, but a different message.

It said, "Yeah, I'll have coffee with you."