Surprise

A Zoro Nami story in celebration of Zoro's birthday

Warning: This contains a love scene, a fair share of drama and (maybe) some OOCness.

If you hate any of those mentioned above and still decide to read on…well you must love me.:D

Disclaimer: Nobody you recognize here is mine.

"So tonight…" she began, collapsing on her side of the bed and pulling the sheet up to her chin. She stopped speaking for a moment, allowing her ragged panting to mellow into a rhythmic breath. "We're going to throw you a surprise party."

His good eye cracked open for a sec before closing again. "How is that a surprise by any means? You just told me, woman." he muttered somehow childlike, "…I hate parties. They are noisy and stupid and…noisy."

"That's exactly why I need you to know beforehand, dummy. Look, this is what's going to happen—you're gonna have to fake surprise. The happy kind. FOR US." She lectured as she snuggled up to his side, poking and drawing patterns playfully with her finger tip at his bare torso. He scooted away a little and brushed her hand off from his chest, frowning in the process. "Stop. I'm not your frigging map."

She glared at him before continuing. "So that means no grumpy looks, no snarky comments, no 'why don't you guys all shut the hell up and let me drink in quiet' outburst—that didn't go so well last time, remember? …"

He listened as she rambled on. His eyebrows knitted together in annoyance.

"—and definitely no this." One of her hands rose back to his forehead, smoothing the knot between his brows. He let out a low grunt. "At least I get to drink all the booze ero-cook's been locking up in his fridge?"

"As long as you promise to be nice." she assured him, inwardly laughing at how childish this man could be at times.

"Deal." With that said the green-haired swordsman rolled over to his side, giving her a full view of his tanned, muscular and sweat-glistening back. As pleasing to the eye as it was, Nami couldn't help feeling a slight twinge of rejection rising inside of her.

"You know," she began, her voice quiet and a little bit hesitant. "Sometimes I feel like I'm just a substitute for your hands."

"Not really." He muttered. She fixed her eyes on his bare back while he continued. "My hands ain't vocal. They don't moan, they don't chirp—"

"I don't chirp!" She protested at his horrible sense of humor, kicking him under the sheets.

"Sure you don't." with his back facing her, he didn't bother to hide the small smirk of amusement on his lips. "Now stop talking. Let me get some sleep."

Nami sighed soundlessly and continued to stare at his back as Zoro instantly fell into sleep and began snoring in a steady rhythm. For a guy who had been through thousands of battles his back was surprisingly void of scars. It had been months since they first hooked up, and sometimes it still amazed her that of all men in the world, she was sleeping with Roronoa Zoro, the most fearsome ex-pirate hunter, the biggest idiot when sense of direction was required, the crudest and least romantic male alive ( at least to her knowledge).

She had always thought that she hated him. Maybe she still did, to some extent. At least she didn't like it so much when every time as soon as he finished his business with her, he instantly rolled over and away from her like she was some lifeless machine he could just unplug after using.

"Zoro, Zoro?" She called in a whispery voice; her foot kicking him under the sheets.

He didn't move, still sound asleep. So she tried kicking harder.

When that didn't work she curled her toes and scratched at his behind. Before long he stirred, and then grumbled:" …the hell, Nami? I'm trying to sleep here."

Nami wriggled to his side of the bed, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I want to talk, Zoro."

"What? Now?"

"Yes." She said firmly. "I can't sleep unless I get it all off my chest."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, he raised a hand to wipe his face roughly. "Fine, talk then."

Nami was sure she heard him mumbling some curses under his breath, but she decided to let it slip. After all, it might not be her problem anymore after they had the talk… her heart sank a little at that train of thought. She bit at her bottom lip before speaking up.

"So how long have we been… you know, like this?"

"No idea. Haven't been keeping track…does it matter? "He murmured in a sleepy voice.

"Do you think it's a good idea?"

"It's a little too late to ask, isn't it?" Her seemingly-absurd question got a chuckle from him.

"I'm just thinking, maybe it's about time that we …" she paused to take in a breath. "—start to do the right thing here."

Now he was wide awake. He glanced warily at her from the corner of his good eye. "…what are you talking about? What right thing? "

She stayed quiet for a minute. Then she chewed on her bottom lip again."I think we should let them know we are… well, doing this." She lifted the sheet a little with her finger tips and looked down inside, reminding herself how naked they both were. When he didn't respond immediately, she quickly added in a jokingly-casual tone. "I mean, you don't want one of these days Luffy walks in on us and asks why we are wrestling without our shirts on, right? It's better to confess on our own before we get caught, I think."

He stared at her for a moment, pondering on what she'd said.

"I dunno. Ain't it embarrassing?" He mumbled; a frown of disapproval between his brows.

Despite all her might to stay cool and carry on the conversation level-headed, Nami felt a tight ball of anger exploding in her stomach. "Embarrassing?" she sat up on the bed, abruptly yanking the sheet from his body and wrapping it around hers. "Oh I never knew sleeping with me has become an embarrassment to you. Sorry to have put you through this. I would certainly hate to continue to embarrass you so why don't we—"

"Will ya stop? I didn't mean it like that!" he reached out a hand and tried to touch her shoulder, but she shoved it away in a huff. She then got out of the bed and started putting on her clothes.

"Come back to bed." He ordered. She glared at him.

"…why d'ya have to be like this all the time?" Scrubbing a hand across his face, he gave her a half-annoyed half-pleading look. "Look, it's just, I don't want those guys to make fun of me cuz I'm sleeping with a girl I fight with every day! They think we hate each other; it's hard to explain to them that we don't!"

Nami kept glaring at him, eyes wide in disbelief, even after he'd finished talking. While his every word made perfect sense to her, she couldn't help but feel hurt and rejected by the underlying implication it carried: People thought they hated each other—and he intended to keep it that way.

"…so it's hard, huh?" she gave him a slight nod of her head to show that she fully understood what he meant. A sad smile graced her features. "I guess we both know how to make it easier."

He glared at her, knowing her well enough to guess what her next line was going to be. "Don't do this to me, woman." He threatened in a low voice. And he dropped his head to look at his hands to make sure they weren't shaking when her soft voice hit him.

"I'm sorry, Zoro. I think we're done."

At her last word something brittle inside him snapped. Before he realized what he was doing his arms stretched out and grabbed her hard by the waist. A millisecond later he was spinning her around and pinning her down against the mattress. Nami inhaled sharply in shock, but failed to make any sound of protest when Zoro's mouth swooped down on hers.

He kissed her furiously, his tongue sticking past her teeth as one of his hands spread her knees wide apart so that he could sink himself down between her legs. She shivered helplessly under his assault, too stunned to react in any way until his hot breath moved to the side of her face.

"You are a bitch, you know that?" his voice was low and gruff as he whispered into her ear." You asked me to be nice...now let me tell you something that nice people don't do. They don't go break other people's heart on their frigging birthday. "By the time the words left his lips he had stripped her out of her underpants. With a forward thrust he pushed himself inside of her, stretching her to her limit.

"Zoro don't..." She begged, tears forming in her eyes, as she took in a deep breath trying to ease the pain he was bringing her. "It hurts..."

"Oh yeah?" he nibbled at her earlobe. "...guess that makes two of us."

He began pumping in and out of her, his movement slow and steady; his jaw clenched tight and his muscles flexed with every thrust he made. Beads of tears streamed down Nami's cheeks as she gripped his forearms trying to keep up with his pace. It was not that the pain was unendurable. It was something in his eye that made her heart writhe and ache. She was no match to his physical strength, but still she could feel the restraint he put behind his thrusts. She could feel him everywhere, on top of her and inside of her, hot and heavy and anger-ridden. The feeling was so overwhelming that it frightened her to her very core, intimidating and yet strangely arousing.

"Zoro I'm scared..." She murmured, tightening her arms around the back of his neck.

"Shhh..." He soothed in her ear as his callused fingers gently stroke her cheek, wiping off the tears there. "It's okay...it's okay, Nami..."

The way he whispered her name made her vision blirred with tears again. Her hands slid down to cup his face:" Don't hate me." she pleaded, "Please…you can't hate me."

His response was to dip his head and capture her lips with his.

His hands slid down her sides with so much gentleness that was almost unlike him. She moaned into his mouth as she felt them on her breasts, on her waist, on her hips. After a while he dived into the crook of her neck, his mouth sucking and nipping the sensitive skin there.

"Don't—don't leave a hickey," she managed to stutter out through rapid breathes, "They'll find out."

"Screw them." He growled against her neck as he sucked harder. His hips rocked against hers, picking up speed. Before long she was lifting her hips upward to meet his thrusts, urging him on as she moaned and writhed beneath him.

She threw her head back and muffled a pleasured cry as she felt one of his hand sink down to where their bodies joined. When his thumb located her sensitized pearl and began rubbing small circles over it she fell apart, sobbing his name repeatedly and digging her nails into his back as the whirlwind of pleasure took over.

A few more thrusts and he followed suit, mumbling incoherent curses into her hair before collapsing on the mattress next to her. They lay there panting heavily for a while, allowing their heartbeats to slow down to normal. Then he turned to look her in the eyes, "Did it hurt?" There was guilt in his voice as he asked, his hand stroking her cheek gently.

"A little…at first." She said honestly, forcing a smile on her lips.

"…I'm sorry." After a short silence he muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry too." She told him.

He stared at her, almost too afraid to ask what she was sorry for. His breath hitched in his throat until she resumed speaking: "I shouldn't have said that. I was just… so angry."

"…Me too." He admitted; his body tensed down. "…shouldn't have been so rough."

Nami leant closer to him and gently pressed her face into his chest. "I'm not asking you to put a ring on this, Zoro." She said softly as she held up her left hand for him to see. "I just want people to know that maybe they are wrong about us, that maybe we actually…like each other. Is it too much to ask?"

He stared at her for another moment before taking her by the wrist; his mouth dipping down to place butterfly kisses on her finger tips, one after another. When he was done he said quietly:" Let's get some sleep."

His arms wrapped possessively around her waist and she sighed in content. She didn't need him to say it out loud to know that he was on board with her. She felt warm and secure in his embrace. Her eyelids grew heavy so she let them drop for like 3 seconds…when she opened her eyes again, she found that the room was a lot darker than before.

"Zoro, Zoro," She called in a hushed tone, her hands pushing against his chest. "Wake up!" he kept snoring so she used her thumb and forefinger to pinch the side of his waist. He yelped in pain and sprung up on the bed. "What?"

"What time is it?" She hissed.

"Hummmmmph…" he let out a yawn and turned to check the bedside clock on the nightstand at his side. "…eight thirty?"

"What?! But we're supposed to meet everybody back on the ship by six!" she practically jumped off the bed and fluttered around in the room to collect her discarded clothes, "We are soooo late!"

She hurriedly got dressed and turned around, only to see the swordsman slowly pulling up his pants yawning in the process.

"Oh come on!" she yelled.

"Why?" he shrugged, "We'll be late anyways."

Huffing in frustration, she threw his shirt at his face.

0~0~0~0~0

When they hurried back to the ship it was oddly quiet and dark. All the lights were off. They tiptoed across the deck, standing at the hallway.

"A blackout? We' running out of coke or something? "The swordsman pondered as he scratched the back of his head.

"No, baka. Your birthday party. " After giving him a slight whack over the head, Nami signaled him towards the galley door. "I think they're in there lurking." She said in a hushed tone, "Now go."

He shrugged and readied himself to enter the now dark room. She tugged at the hem of his shirt. When he turned his head she mouthed soundlessly: " Act. Surprised."

He gave a snort-like little sound from the back of his throat before pushing the door open.

"SURPRISE~~~!"

The room lit up instantaneously. His crewmates shouted in poorly-contained excitement while throwing fistfuls of confetti at him. It didn't help that Robin could grow so many hands. Too busy wiping the confetti off his body, the swordsman barely had time to cover his ears when Brook pulled out his violin and started to play a song which was too loud and upbeat for his liking.

His good eye squinted at his crewmates' antics and the corners of his mouth curled up. They were all so stupid and kinda crazy but he couldn't imagine a day without them around, (not anymore). He grinned at them: "Thanks, guys. Now where's the booze?"

Nami rolled her eyes behind him.

The party went on just like any other Straw-hats party would do: A bunch of idiots yelling and laughing and throwing food at each other, a reindeer shrieking in high-pitched girly voice, a cyborg dancing around in his speedo shouting "super" to everyone's face and an ero-cook twirling around ladies with hearts shooting from his visible eye.

"So," Luffy asked with his finger sticking in his nose, pulling an innocent face. "What took you guys so long? I thought you said to meet back on the ship by six." He directed the question to his navigator.

"Well, we uh—" Nami was about to make up some story about the swordsman getting lost and her spending most of her precious time in finding him when Zoro cut her off bluntly.

"We were too busy trying to find a tavern room with clean sheets for Nami and I to have sex on." He said with a shrug.

Several pairs of eyes popped out of their sockets and some jaws hit the floor. Nami's mouth hung open in shock, not sure if her ears had just deceived her or Zoro had really said those words aloud.

For a long moment the galley went deadly silent, until Franky struck his super pose and asked in an unnecessarily-enthusiastic manner: "Owww! So is it a one-time birthday thing or what?"

"Nah. It's been carried on for a while, about 4 months I think?" the swordsman said nonchalantly, quirking an eyebrow. Nami screamed: "ZORO!"

"What?" He gave her a half-annoyed glare, "It was your idea to tell them."

"Not like this!"

"Is Nami your girlfriend now?" Chopper asked curiously.

A small smile crossed the swordsman's face.

"Ask her." He said, giving the young reindeer an encouraging look.

Nami's face reddened more (if it's possible) as all eyes turned to her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sheepishly took a step forward; the corners of her lips twitched up into a rather awkward smile as she announced to the crew: "S-surprise~"

Zoro laughed and flung an arm around her shoulder.

-The End-

Author's Note: So...what do you think?

This one is a little different from what I've written in the past. Hope you like the change. If not...well, what can you do about it? :P

For those who are following "Mesmerized", my other on-going ZoroNami fic: Since I've been spending most of my writing time on this, I haven't started a single word for my new chapter of Mesmerized. It could be a while before I update again.

Don't forget to R & R, my friends~Your encouagement is what drives me on. :3

Wait, I think I forgot something...oh right :HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZORO!

Minami