Sprawled on his stomach with his chin resting on his folded arms, Luffy studies the slow rise and fall of his swordsman's chest with intense interest, his side pressed along the warm line of the older pirate's body. They're squashed into the box hammock like overcrowded sardines, with little room to spare, but the captain doesn't mind; he likes curling up next to Zoro while he watches him sleep.

He's especially fond of the way his lover's face - which wears an almost perpetual expression of annoyance when the other man's awake, even if he's not necessarily in a bad mood - relaxes when he's snoring faintly and fundamentally dead to the world. The frown lines that normally crease his brow smooth out, and even the scar sealing his left eye looks less severe.

It's also a game of personal restraint - measuring exactly how long Luffy's able to hold out, fingers itching to explore the swordsman's bare skin and map the muscled plain of his chest and stomach, before he eventually caves in and starts touching.

They've been sharing a bed like this for several weeks now, the older man holding true to his admission of wanting to wake up together every morning, despite the giggles and knowing smiles of Chopper and Usopp and the snide remarks of a certain disgruntled cook. Brook gleefully serenades them with violin music at every opportunity until Zoro threatens to pound him into dust, but Franky, not necessarily older but certainly wiser, treats his crewmates' new routine with casual indifference, although he extends a cautiously-worded offer of remodeling to give them more room.

The captain, delighted with being cuddled to sleep every night instead of getting chased back to his own hammock, tells the cyborg they'll consider his proposal and then promptly forgets about it. In reality, he not only doesn't mind but actually prefers the close quarters, and although the swordsman grumbles and threatens to dump him over the side whenever he can't quite hold still - which, for the energetic rubber man, is approximately ninety-percent of the time - he just grins and silences the gruff protests with kisses, well aware that Zoro is secretly pleased with the current arrangement.

It's a relief to see the older pirate so mellow, Luffy thinks as he finally loses his tenuous battle to keep his hands to himself and slides a palm across his swordsman's chest, snuggling tighter into his side.

Conscious of his presence even before he's fully awake, Zoro utters a low contented rumble in response to his captain's chirped morning greeting and stretches languidly, and Luffy snickers as he's pulled into a firm embrace by one questing arm because he can't help comparing his lover to a lazy feline.

When the peace is abruptly shattered by Sanji slamming the men's quarters door as he comes stomping in to announce breakfast to the lazy shits in his charge, the disturbed swordsman's angry roar makes the younger pirate laugh so heartily that he topples out of their bunk.