Title: Blueprints
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Franky/Robin
Summary: Clearly blueprints are something to be discussed in private.

He had gone over it a thousand times. He'd checked. He'd doubled checked. He'd triple checked. And each and every time the answer came up just a small bit off. Glaring down at the blueprint littered with his cramped handwriting, Franky searched diligently for the source of the miscalculation.

Growing increasingly frustrated, Franky left his desk and peered into Usopp's factory across the hallway.

"Oi, could you help me with something?"

Two heads turned at his voice. Usopp pushed his goggles back on his forehead and sat down the dial he was tinkering with. Next to him, Robin glanced up from a book written in cryptic text in her lap.

"Which one of us did you want?" Robin inquired, her eyes raking up Franky's form as she suppressed a laugh.

It was clear to both Robin and Usopp that Franky had pulled an all-nighter on his latest project. Dark circles haunted his eyes, his hair drooped a bit and it seemed he had foregone his shirt hours before. Rubbing his eyes, he answered Robin's question.

"I'll take what help I can get, if you're not busy."

Robin smiled. "We were just comparing Skypiean dials to this image in an ancient text. History won't be going anywhere."

"Whatcha need help with, Franky?" Usopp asked, setting his dial aside.

Franky nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…just come and see."

The trio climbed the stairs out of Usopp's main factory and down the stairs into Franky's workshop. As they entered, Franky hastily started shoving aside empty cola bottles and plates littered with crumbs. Casting a sheepish look towards Robin, he mumbled, "Sorry for the mess."

Usopp snorted, "It's always like this."

Franky glared at him.

"So what seems to be the problem?" Robin asked, looking down at the blueprint.

Behind her, Franky shoved a pile of trash behind his tool barrel. Usopp shook his head. It was no secret to him that Franky was trying to impress Robin. Considering some of his previous attempts to catch her attention, feigning a clean work space was practically normal.

Noticing Robin standing over his blueprint, Franky walked up beside her and gestured to Usopp to do the same. As they all crowded around it, Franky pointed to the part of the sketch with the discrepancy.

"It's this here. I swore I had the dimensions perfect, but now I can't get it to calculate correctly. As it is, the projectile won't go more than a meter or so due to lack of proper tension."

"What is it?" Usopp queried.

Franky grinned as if he was hoping someone would ask. "It's the Super Battle Franky Ballista! Like a giant crossbow, this would allow us to launch iron tipped projectiles at any approaching ship. I plan on making it of the finest North Sea wood and using wootz steel for the joints holding the framework together. The ropes here would be made of the best quality sea king sinew. It'll be so super when it's up and working. When the ropes twist, it creates tension that is held back by this winch. Then, the wheels will allow us to maneuver it on the deck and aim and fire! It goes over 500 meters easily and oh she'll be wonderful for dealing with any Marines that dare cross this ship's path. Strong and formidable, flexible and deadly, and she'll always be the perfect shot, I can tell already."

Robin cleared her throat. "Should we leave you and your blueprint alone?"

Usopp chuckled as Franky flushed in embarrassment.

"I'm just- really proud of it, that's all."

"The Greco-Roman culture made something like this once," Robin noted, leaning down further over the designs.

Franky's eyebrows shot up, obviously a bit miffed that some ancient guys had beaten him to this idea. "Oh really?"

He sidled up next to her, his eyes clearly asking her to prove it.

She smirked, tracing a finger slowly down the edge of the frame. "It started out as a combination of a cross-bow and a bolt-shooter. As you can see by the basic design here, it's basically a larger scale version of that."

Franky leaned in closer, his shoulder brushing against hers as he pointed to his design's wheels. "Oh but did they think of these?"

"Of course. They were mounted on carts and wheeled around the battlefield much like you plan to wheel this one across the deck."

Franky huffed and reached an arm around Robin to point out the spring system. "Well I bet they didn't have the torsion springs like this!"

"Actually, your torsion springs are shorter than …" Her sentence trailed off as she turned around directly into Franky's bare chest. The two of them froze, suddenly acknowledging just how close they were.

Usopp cleared his throat and spoke up, his tone clearly amused. "Perhaps I should leave both of you alone with the blueprint. Don't worry; I'll make sure to close the door as I go out."

Neither of them could muster up a reply as they watched him leave, chuckling to himself. As the door snapped closed behind Usopp, Franky gulped and looked down at Robin. Her slender form was pressed between his chest and the drawing table, his arms settled on either side of her.

"I…err… it's gotten a bit hot in here. Furnace must be up too high."

An unreadable smirk quirked at Robin's lips as her hand reached up and grasped a drooping lock of teal hair. "It's a wonderful weapon," she intoned, tucking the hair behind Franky's ear. "Very powerful."

Franky could feel his heart hammering in his chest and sorely wished his cyborg body didn't resonate sound so well.

"But if you keep overworking yourself, then you're no better than the Greco-Romans."

"What, you worried about me?" The gruff words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Robin smiled, resting a hand on his cheek. "You could say that."

"I can manage it. I'm used to pulling all-nighters on projects."

"Ah. But it would be a shame if you were," she trailed her hand down his neck and traced a small circle on his chest, "too tired for anything else."

Franky's eyes widened, and he willed down a blush. "W-what other things did you have in mind?"

"Oh," a smirk crept onto her lips, "Something."

"Ah."

The two lapsed into silence, save for the sound of the waves against the ship, until Franky tentatively moved his hand from the drawing table to Robin's hip.

"So uh, whatcha doing after dinner tonight?"

"Having a date with you, I believe."

Franky grinned, his confidence swelling back up. "Right so you'll be here at…?"

"At eight," Robin replied, reaching up to tuck another drooping hair behind his ear. "But you might want to rest up before then."

She started to pull away and head towards the door when Franky called out, "Robin, wait!"

He grabbed her wrist and the momentum of his movement pulled her back against his chest.

"Yes?" She asked breathlessly, the shock of his sudden action just starting to wear off.

"You forgot something."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"This," he breathed, gently cupping her chin and bringing his lips crashing down against hers.

Kissing him fiercely in return, Robin sprouted hands from the cabinet behind them; her extra hands gripping him on the shoulders and pulling him back against it. He chuckled as they broke the kiss, a lopsided grin on his face.

"Something funny?" She questioned, leaning fully against him now.

"Just thinking."

Robin pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "About?"

"Just thinking that…" his eyes drifted to her loose shirt front, "that…"

He gave up any attempt to continue his sentence, foregoing all speaking in favor of kissing Robin again. She didn't seem to mind, slipping her tongue into his mouth and deepening the kiss. He tasted vaguely of metal and cola, she of the raspberry tea he'd seen her drink that morning; with that both of them instantly developed a fondness for the other drink.

As they parted breathlessly moments later, Robin asked, "What... were you saying?"

"I thought..." he leaned his forehead down to rest against hers, "that we were waiting 'til later. For..." Franky reluctantly removed his hand from her hair to gesture at their current positions, "For all this."

Robin laughed, her fingers trailing down his chest to snap the elastic waistband on Franky's swim trunks. "Pre-lunch dessert," she quipped.

And sure enough, a moment later they could hear Sanji calling out to the crew that it was lunch time. Pressing a quick kiss to the tip of Franky's nose, Robin pulled back.

"It should be five rather than fifteen," she said casually as she passed the blueprint on the drawing table.

She left him pinned against the wall until she reached the door; her extra hands disappearing as she sauntered out. Franky hastily gave chase, coming to a halt in his doorway.

Robin stood at the base of the ladder up to the deck, shot him a meaningful look as she straightened her blouse, and then nodded towards the door across the hall.

Sure enough, Usopp was smirking knowingly out of his factory door.

"So...blueprints, huh?"

Franky grinned at him, his eyes flickering away to watch Robin ascend the ladder.

"Oooh yeah. Blueprints are super."