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Entry tags:
Yet More ZoSopp
Title: Sunlight Through the Leaves
Rating: PG
Pairng: ZoSopp
Word Count: 587
A fragrant breeze ripe with the scent of apples and a few late-growing nectarines playfully flitted through the small grove and gently rustled the pages of the sketchpad sticking out of a corner of the picnic basket. It tugged lightly at a few curly black strands that had slipped free of Usopp’s bandanna, barely nudged the golden drops in Zoro’s ear so that they chimed once very softly. The sharpshooter stirred, flushing faintly when he realized he’d fallen asleep tucked comfortably against the swordsman’s side. He blinked once to clear the remains of his unscheduled nap from his eyes, glanced around fuzzily for any sign of the rest of their nakama.
Apparently Luffy had everyone else distracted with some adventure or other or maybe Sanji and Nami were granting him a small moment of peace for the large cotton square of the picnic blanket was empty of any other bodies besides Zoro’s and his own. A smile that threatened to stretch into a grin danced across his face and he carefully shifted away from the older pirate’s warmth. Zoro made some small noise at the back of his throat, arm moving almost restlessly until he finally settled it across his stomach. Usopp looked down at him fondly for a long moment then tiptoed in his bare feet across the blanket.
He hadn’t expected to get a chance to draw but he had brought paper and some sticks of charcoal along just in case. With no overeager captain or curious reindeer to distract him and no cook or navigator to order Zoro to stop loafing, he could actually sketch one of his favorite subjects in peace. The fall island was beautiful, the first hints of the true glory of its main season tinting some of the leaves pale gold and light orange while the rest remained a vibrant green. Overhead the sun shone brightly, warm but not fierce, and dappled the grass and everything else beneath the patchy canopy of trees. Zoro was breathing easily, leaning up against the smooth gray trunk of an apple tree. He had his legs stretched out and a hand behind his head, his swords in easy reach next to him. A spot of sunlight marked his cheek and another pooled at his hip and Usopp sighed softly to himself as he mused over how peaceful Zoro always looked in his sleep.
Talented hands moved easily over the white page, filling the blank canvas with soft black lines that somehow managed to capture the light in spite of their own dark nature. He was nearly finished, touching up the folds beneath the fingers resting on the firm stomach, when Zoro opened his eyes. The swordsman didn’t move much more than that, catching Usopp’s attention and letting the corners of his mouth turn up briefly. There was no need to speak, to explain, and he went about putting his pad and charcoal away in silence once he was done. The patch of light had moved, caught now on Zoro’s earrings, when he crossed back over the blanket and it dazzled his vision. He missed the sudden movement, the cat-quick pounce, and he was on his back with the sun directly in his face before he had time to react. Then Zoro leaned forward over him, head casting a cooling shadow, and Usopp lost sight of everything but a vivid emerald gaze. And then even that was gone when his eyes slid shut at the first touch of lips to his own.
Title: Power Outage
Rating: G
Pairing: ZoSopp
Word Count: 689
It was never a good thing when Nami sat at the head of the table and swept her gaze over the rest of them like that. Usopp kept his eyes trained firmly on his dinner, half to keep from catching the navigator’s eyes and half to make sure Luffy didn’t steal anything ELSE off of his plate. He chewed quickly, mind desperately searching for some sort of excuse that would get him out of the kitchen before the determined young woman managed to spring whatever it was she had planned. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him after all. Unfortunately for him the swordsman had noticed Nami’s almost predatory alertness as well and had made a comment about it. The fight that started with Sanji managed to block the door AND distract the sharpshooter long enough for the rubber captain to polish off the remains of his meal. After a few minutes of watching the two older boys wrestle on the floor, Nami finally slammed her palm down on the table.
Under her hand was a sheet of paper divided into a grid. Sanji, being raised as he had, recognized it immediately, going heart-eyed and swooning about how his ‘Nami-swan was so smart to think of something as practical and efficient as a chore chart.’ That got everyone else’s attention, even Zoro stopping in mid-swipe for the cook’s tie to goggle at the navigator. After a few stern words about how much fighting there had been over chores and how the Going Merry was looking like a pig sty and after Luffy found his name and discovered he had deck scrubbing duties all week (a favorite activity for the rubber boy because he liked to slide around on the soapy boards), there was a grudging acceptance from the rest of them. That is until Zoro found out he had to handle dish duty with Sanji for the week and they started fighting all over again. Usopp’s own duties weren’t too terrible. He had pump duty for the week and while that meant rising early to accommodate Nami’s habit of showering in the morning, for the most part his time would be his own.
It was just his luck that the navigator had decided that her crewmates were going to be as clean as their ship. Despite the loud protests of the captain and the quieter grumbles of the swordsman, both boys were ordered to bathe and more than once! Luffy’s first shower had taken almost an hour to get him even remotely clean and Usopp found out that Zoro, even though his habit was to shower only twice a week, liked to indulge himself by making them long. By the time Friday rolled around, his legs had gotten more exercise than even his old daily morning run through his village had provided. He was dead tired and looking forward to something much more relaxing the next week, like maybe cleaning out the bulkhead or repairing lines and sails. And then they got attacked.
The marines never stood a chance but there had been a lot of them and no straw-hat pirate was without a scrape or two. Zoro was bleeding like a stuck pig, getting crimson spots all over Luffy’s relatively clean deck and he went without protest when Nami pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Usopp was another matter and he let the navigator know most vociferously about how much he needed a rest. But Nami was undeterred and with leaden limbs the sharpshooter took his place on the bicycle. He actually lasted nearly twenty minutes before he collapsed, draped over the handlebars like a wrung-out dishrag. Zoro eventually stomped up on the deck, towel around his waist, soap still in his hair and fresh lines of red making parallel tracks with the water beads down his body. He opened the door to the pump room, fully ready to holler at Usopp for lying down on the job. Ultimately he ended up softly shutting the door instead and finished cleaning himself up with a couple of towels. After all, it was the shitty cook’s week for laundry.
Title: Eyes
Rating: PG
Pairing: ZoSopp
Word Count: 649
He’s always thought he got the short end of the stick when it came to looks. He couldn’t fault his nose for it was the same as his mother’s and she had once remarked that his father had marveled over that family resemblance within minutes of his birth. But otherwise he thinks he’s on the scrawny side, with unmanageable hair and boring, plain brown eyes. At least he has skill and a ready supply of attractive models. Sanji is a true blue-eyed blond, even if he has never actually seen left side of his face, and his eyebrows grow in the most amazing way. Nami has hair the color of her favorite food and eyes that are nearly the same shade. Zoro, too, matches, green for green and even more startling than the navigator. Robin and Luffy at least have the same dark hair as he does, but the archaeologist has an unfathomable cerulean gaze and the captain’s own laughing eyes are an excited black. Chopper has brown eyes like him but they are large and, of course, doe-like. Soft and melting and so very innocent, they are nothing like his own muddy ones.
He captures them all, muttering as he does so about just how difficult it is to get the right hue, the proper highlights, to capture the shade just so. They are all suitably impressed, as they should be when the Great Captain Usopp actually bothers to exert himself, and he hangs them in the galley along the back wall, the place looking more homey somehow now that something like a family portrait covers the bare wood. Later, after they’ve snuck into the kitchen for a snack and a few stolen kisses, Zoro stares pointedly at the impromptu gallery and asks where his is. Usopp stammers, hems and haws and doesn’t get to use his ready excuse about self-portraits being hard to do when the swordsman points out that he’s seen him paint perfectly adequate ones before. The real reason leaves his lips before he has a chance to bite it back and he hangs his head for a moment, mind racing to think up a suitably glib and Captain Usopp-y response to cover up his slip.
Zoro laughs and he almost bristles but rough fingers have his chin, his jaw, tug his face up to look into the swordsman’s in the faint light of their shuttered lantern. He never expects it when Zoro speaks with his heart and with a careful intelligence although by now he shouldn’t be so surprised. Nevertheless he blinks, momentarily silenced by the thumb tracing the top of his cheekbone and by the words murmured across his skin. “I have moss on my head and what the damn chef at his politest calls cabbage-colored eyes. I guess we really can’t see ourselves clearly, aren’t built for it like some animals are.” He’s trapped by that gaze, anything but cabbage-colored, and he doesn’t move when the warm hand leaves his chin and threads carefully through his hair. “I don’t really know what’s a good way to describe brown but whatever that is is what you look like. Tree trunks or tea or chocolate, stuff that’s strong and warm like that.” It’s a very Zoro sort of compliment, unpolished and sincere, and Usopp smiles and lets his head tip back into a strong, comforting grip. The kiss Zoro steals is more searching and slow than the ones he took earlier and it shoots a thrill down the sharpshooter’s spine. Of course the big dork has to ruin the moment seconds later when he pokes him in the chest and demands that Usopp get started on his self-portrait before he gets Luffy to do it instead, and they leave the galley laughing, Usopp trying to get out of an unforgiving headlock that he KNOWS is a precursor to a further tangling of his hair.
Rating: PG
Pairng: ZoSopp
Word Count: 587
A fragrant breeze ripe with the scent of apples and a few late-growing nectarines playfully flitted through the small grove and gently rustled the pages of the sketchpad sticking out of a corner of the picnic basket. It tugged lightly at a few curly black strands that had slipped free of Usopp’s bandanna, barely nudged the golden drops in Zoro’s ear so that they chimed once very softly. The sharpshooter stirred, flushing faintly when he realized he’d fallen asleep tucked comfortably against the swordsman’s side. He blinked once to clear the remains of his unscheduled nap from his eyes, glanced around fuzzily for any sign of the rest of their nakama.
Apparently Luffy had everyone else distracted with some adventure or other or maybe Sanji and Nami were granting him a small moment of peace for the large cotton square of the picnic blanket was empty of any other bodies besides Zoro’s and his own. A smile that threatened to stretch into a grin danced across his face and he carefully shifted away from the older pirate’s warmth. Zoro made some small noise at the back of his throat, arm moving almost restlessly until he finally settled it across his stomach. Usopp looked down at him fondly for a long moment then tiptoed in his bare feet across the blanket.
He hadn’t expected to get a chance to draw but he had brought paper and some sticks of charcoal along just in case. With no overeager captain or curious reindeer to distract him and no cook or navigator to order Zoro to stop loafing, he could actually sketch one of his favorite subjects in peace. The fall island was beautiful, the first hints of the true glory of its main season tinting some of the leaves pale gold and light orange while the rest remained a vibrant green. Overhead the sun shone brightly, warm but not fierce, and dappled the grass and everything else beneath the patchy canopy of trees. Zoro was breathing easily, leaning up against the smooth gray trunk of an apple tree. He had his legs stretched out and a hand behind his head, his swords in easy reach next to him. A spot of sunlight marked his cheek and another pooled at his hip and Usopp sighed softly to himself as he mused over how peaceful Zoro always looked in his sleep.
Talented hands moved easily over the white page, filling the blank canvas with soft black lines that somehow managed to capture the light in spite of their own dark nature. He was nearly finished, touching up the folds beneath the fingers resting on the firm stomach, when Zoro opened his eyes. The swordsman didn’t move much more than that, catching Usopp’s attention and letting the corners of his mouth turn up briefly. There was no need to speak, to explain, and he went about putting his pad and charcoal away in silence once he was done. The patch of light had moved, caught now on Zoro’s earrings, when he crossed back over the blanket and it dazzled his vision. He missed the sudden movement, the cat-quick pounce, and he was on his back with the sun directly in his face before he had time to react. Then Zoro leaned forward over him, head casting a cooling shadow, and Usopp lost sight of everything but a vivid emerald gaze. And then even that was gone when his eyes slid shut at the first touch of lips to his own.
Title: Power Outage
Rating: G
Pairing: ZoSopp
Word Count: 689
It was never a good thing when Nami sat at the head of the table and swept her gaze over the rest of them like that. Usopp kept his eyes trained firmly on his dinner, half to keep from catching the navigator’s eyes and half to make sure Luffy didn’t steal anything ELSE off of his plate. He chewed quickly, mind desperately searching for some sort of excuse that would get him out of the kitchen before the determined young woman managed to spring whatever it was she had planned. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him after all. Unfortunately for him the swordsman had noticed Nami’s almost predatory alertness as well and had made a comment about it. The fight that started with Sanji managed to block the door AND distract the sharpshooter long enough for the rubber captain to polish off the remains of his meal. After a few minutes of watching the two older boys wrestle on the floor, Nami finally slammed her palm down on the table.
Under her hand was a sheet of paper divided into a grid. Sanji, being raised as he had, recognized it immediately, going heart-eyed and swooning about how his ‘Nami-swan was so smart to think of something as practical and efficient as a chore chart.’ That got everyone else’s attention, even Zoro stopping in mid-swipe for the cook’s tie to goggle at the navigator. After a few stern words about how much fighting there had been over chores and how the Going Merry was looking like a pig sty and after Luffy found his name and discovered he had deck scrubbing duties all week (a favorite activity for the rubber boy because he liked to slide around on the soapy boards), there was a grudging acceptance from the rest of them. That is until Zoro found out he had to handle dish duty with Sanji for the week and they started fighting all over again. Usopp’s own duties weren’t too terrible. He had pump duty for the week and while that meant rising early to accommodate Nami’s habit of showering in the morning, for the most part his time would be his own.
It was just his luck that the navigator had decided that her crewmates were going to be as clean as their ship. Despite the loud protests of the captain and the quieter grumbles of the swordsman, both boys were ordered to bathe and more than once! Luffy’s first shower had taken almost an hour to get him even remotely clean and Usopp found out that Zoro, even though his habit was to shower only twice a week, liked to indulge himself by making them long. By the time Friday rolled around, his legs had gotten more exercise than even his old daily morning run through his village had provided. He was dead tired and looking forward to something much more relaxing the next week, like maybe cleaning out the bulkhead or repairing lines and sails. And then they got attacked.
The marines never stood a chance but there had been a lot of them and no straw-hat pirate was without a scrape or two. Zoro was bleeding like a stuck pig, getting crimson spots all over Luffy’s relatively clean deck and he went without protest when Nami pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Usopp was another matter and he let the navigator know most vociferously about how much he needed a rest. But Nami was undeterred and with leaden limbs the sharpshooter took his place on the bicycle. He actually lasted nearly twenty minutes before he collapsed, draped over the handlebars like a wrung-out dishrag. Zoro eventually stomped up on the deck, towel around his waist, soap still in his hair and fresh lines of red making parallel tracks with the water beads down his body. He opened the door to the pump room, fully ready to holler at Usopp for lying down on the job. Ultimately he ended up softly shutting the door instead and finished cleaning himself up with a couple of towels. After all, it was the shitty cook’s week for laundry.
Title: Eyes
Rating: PG
Pairing: ZoSopp
Word Count: 649
He’s always thought he got the short end of the stick when it came to looks. He couldn’t fault his nose for it was the same as his mother’s and she had once remarked that his father had marveled over that family resemblance within minutes of his birth. But otherwise he thinks he’s on the scrawny side, with unmanageable hair and boring, plain brown eyes. At least he has skill and a ready supply of attractive models. Sanji is a true blue-eyed blond, even if he has never actually seen left side of his face, and his eyebrows grow in the most amazing way. Nami has hair the color of her favorite food and eyes that are nearly the same shade. Zoro, too, matches, green for green and even more startling than the navigator. Robin and Luffy at least have the same dark hair as he does, but the archaeologist has an unfathomable cerulean gaze and the captain’s own laughing eyes are an excited black. Chopper has brown eyes like him but they are large and, of course, doe-like. Soft and melting and so very innocent, they are nothing like his own muddy ones.
He captures them all, muttering as he does so about just how difficult it is to get the right hue, the proper highlights, to capture the shade just so. They are all suitably impressed, as they should be when the Great Captain Usopp actually bothers to exert himself, and he hangs them in the galley along the back wall, the place looking more homey somehow now that something like a family portrait covers the bare wood. Later, after they’ve snuck into the kitchen for a snack and a few stolen kisses, Zoro stares pointedly at the impromptu gallery and asks where his is. Usopp stammers, hems and haws and doesn’t get to use his ready excuse about self-portraits being hard to do when the swordsman points out that he’s seen him paint perfectly adequate ones before. The real reason leaves his lips before he has a chance to bite it back and he hangs his head for a moment, mind racing to think up a suitably glib and Captain Usopp-y response to cover up his slip.
Zoro laughs and he almost bristles but rough fingers have his chin, his jaw, tug his face up to look into the swordsman’s in the faint light of their shuttered lantern. He never expects it when Zoro speaks with his heart and with a careful intelligence although by now he shouldn’t be so surprised. Nevertheless he blinks, momentarily silenced by the thumb tracing the top of his cheekbone and by the words murmured across his skin. “I have moss on my head and what the damn chef at his politest calls cabbage-colored eyes. I guess we really can’t see ourselves clearly, aren’t built for it like some animals are.” He’s trapped by that gaze, anything but cabbage-colored, and he doesn’t move when the warm hand leaves his chin and threads carefully through his hair. “I don’t really know what’s a good way to describe brown but whatever that is is what you look like. Tree trunks or tea or chocolate, stuff that’s strong and warm like that.” It’s a very Zoro sort of compliment, unpolished and sincere, and Usopp smiles and lets his head tip back into a strong, comforting grip. The kiss Zoro steals is more searching and slow than the ones he took earlier and it shoots a thrill down the sharpshooter’s spine. Of course the big dork has to ruin the moment seconds later when he pokes him in the chest and demands that Usopp get started on his self-portrait before he gets Luffy to do it instead, and they leave the galley laughing, Usopp trying to get out of an unforgiving headlock that he KNOWS is a precursor to a further tangling of his hair.