Some Drabbles
Oct. 9th, 2006 06:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsTitle: Company - for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mei_yanohi
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ace/Sanji but not really
Word Count: 560
“I can take it,” Ace insisted, pointedly meeting the chef’s eyes and not looking over a thin, pinstriped shoulder at the nerve-straining sounds of his younger brother attending to the dishes.
“No you can’t.” Sanji looked stressed, the curled eyebrow visible through the fall of blond bangs twitching with each scrape of cuttlery on china.
It had been a bad idea to pull out the good dishes. They didn’t have a complete set, not with Luffy as a captain and a boor like Zoro aboard as well, but there was enough that the cook could lay a decent table when it was warrented. Company, such as the captain’s brother, was a very good excuse to bring out the proper accoutrements and spread a much-bleached rectangle of linen over the smooth wood of the galley trestle. And because he was company, there was no way in hell Sanji was letting him attend to his clean-up. That would have been the height of bad manners, unspeakably rude especially if the ladies found out. Whatever would they think of him?
No, Ace was not going to be washing his plate and glass and utensils. It was Luffy’s job and he was going to do it. Although it was a pity he had forgotten the captain had dish duty when he had laid out the table. A few feet behind his back, water sloshed about all over his clean counter and drenched the captain’s red vest. The captain, singing something to himself, suddenly shouted “oops” for the fourth time and Sanji couldn’t keep from cringing as a glass slipped out of soapy hands and shattered on the damp floor. Ace smiled beatifically at him while he straightened, patted down his pockets in search of a much-needed cigarette.
“No.” Sanji spoke again, glaring at the freckled pirate when Ace’s eyes darted to the side as if looking for an opening. “You are our guest and as such we will look after you. Now,” he added, unlit cancer stick dangling between his lips, “if you please, I’ll be more than happy to take that off your hands.”
“Ace isn’t a guest. He’s my brother.” Unexpectedly Luffy bounced over from the vicinity of the sink, scattering drops of dishwater as he went. “And he knows how to wash the dishes. He never let me wash them at home because it was his job.”
“Oh?” Sanji spoke a little desperately, stalling as he wondered if it would be ruder to snatch the plate himself or give in. “And what did you do?”
“Took out the trash. Ne, Sanji. I’m done now. Can I go?”
“You are not done. Look Ace still-“
“Can wash his own dishes very well, isn’t that right captain?”
The grin he turned on his younger brother was positively cheeky and Luffy met it with a broad one of his own. “That’s right. Sanji, don’t you know it’s mean to not let a guest decide what they want to do?”
And with that the rubber boy rocketed out of the room, leaving the cook looking rather helplessly up into fire-bright eyes. Sanji sighed and threw up his hands.
“Fine. If it’ll make you happy, you can wash your own shitty dishes.”
“Thank you,” Ace said simply and lit the cook’s cigarette with the flick of a finger as he walked past him to the sink.
Title: Babysitting - forvampire_otaku
Rating: G
Pairing: LuZo but only if you squint
Word Count: 588
“Zoro! ZoroZoroZoroZoro!”
The swordsman in question heaved a very large sigh as nimble fingers tugged at his shirt. He turned around slowly, closing his hand over a slender wrist and pulling it away from his person. Luffy flashed him a wide grin, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he pointed. Zoro looked, squinted, peered even as he raked his eyes over the small crowd of people milling about in the market square.
“Yes?” he asked finally, unsure what had captured the captain’s interest.
“Look! Don’t you see it?”
“Luffy, what are you-“
He didn’t get a chance to finish. The rubber pirate had obviously gotten tired of waiting for Zoro to figure out what he meant and stretched out his arm to grab one of the pillars holding up the front of an official-looking building. Before the swordsman had time to react, the fingers so recently involved in harassing his shirt curved around to capture his own wrist and Zoro was towed along as Luffy snapped himself forward. The pillar was sadly made of marble, hard and unforgiving, and the swordsman didn’t even get a chance to rub at the quickly swelling bump on his head before the younger boy was dragging him again.
Damn that witch. Forcing him into captain-watching duty after Luffy had managed to eat almost twice his weight in chocolate chip pancakes and sticky-sweet syrup. Leave it to his mysterious metabolism to get something resembling a sugar high instead of passing out in the usual food coma. At least his shape was back to normal. If he had to be pulled about and carried off into narrow alleys and crowded markets on the captain’s whim, at least they weren’t bowling people out of the way from the sheer largeness of a rubber stomach. It wasn’t much of a consolation, especially not when he was finally able to come to a halt, rocking back on his heels at the abrupt stop.
The stall he was parked in front of had an array of fruits and vegetables and Zoro gulped down some air and leveled his best menacing stare on the hopeful looking vendor. “I told you,” he said, slowly and with great emphasis so that maybe, just maybe, this time the idea would stick. “That blasted woman didn’t give me any money and you can’t go around just eating whatever you like.” If he was lucky, Luffy would get distracted again before anything could happen. After all, produce wasn’t his preferred food. But the captain was shaking his head stubbornly and Zoro could feel his heart begin to sink. Having already handed out Nami’s name and hotel to one unhappy hot dog vendor, he could see the list of chores that would be waiting for him getting longer and longer with each second.
“No, not that. THERE!”
A warm hand grabbed his chin, wrenched his head to the left and tilted it back. Green eyes widened even as he opened his mouth to shout in protest but as he read the words, Zoro ended up giving voice only to surprise.
“Oh. I, er, I didn’t see that.”
“I KNOW. Geeze Zoro, maybe we should get some carrots or somethin’ after all. Chopper says they’re good for your eyes.”
The frazzled swordsman didn’t dignify that with a response. Luffy never listened to him anyway. And this time he was the one to pull the unresisting and smiling captain forward and into the familiar metallic and oil smells of a smithy’s storefront.
Title: Four Seasons
Pairing: ZoSopp
Rating: G
Word Count: 563
They met in the spring when the leaves were still that pale shade of green and the grass was tender. He had been afraid. Rumor and mystery surrounded the man who stalked onto his island, three swords and a rubber pirate at his side. Zoro wasn’t quite as scary as the talk made him out to be but close enough and Usopp kept instead to the grinning jovial boy in the straw hat. They saved him, those two and the tough young woman who traveled with them. Helped him find his courage so that he could protect the people he loved from a ruthless monster. He had a true story to tell but instead kept silent and nearly wept for joy when they asked him along.
Winter came next, the vagaries of weather in the Grand Line being what they were. He went out with a princess, left the demon (who turned out to be far less and far more than his various titles) behind to guard his most precious treasure. They met in the middle of a field of white, snow as far as even his eagle eyes could see. Zoro was shirtless and barefoot and shivering and clearly insane and Usopp batted him aside when he tugged on his coat. He got clothing soon enough, acquired in proper pirate fashion, and he took up the younger boy’s burden with only a little bit of grumbling when Usopp’s heart proved stronger than his limbs.
Summer came with desert heat, all gritty sand and gunsmoke. They saved a kingdom, all of them, and Zoro is quiet in the palace, thoughtful when he isn’t brooding. Usopp trails bandages like a mummy and tells tales of his part that get bigger with every repeating. The swordsman wears black when they leave, the incongruous haramki oddly comforting over his robes and the sharpshooter clucks over his ship. The season isn’t over when they take a vacation from the ocean to visit the sky. There it is all heat lightning and ominous thunder, steamy jungles and too many biting things. They save another kingdom, an almost otherwordly realm this time with all-too-human problems. Usopp dances around the fire, painted like a native, and Zoro drinks in the shadows and smiles.
In the city of water, the temperature drops and brings with it a hint of coming chill. There is a fight, shouted words and disbelief, and the moon is a pale yellow sickle when he stalks away to plan. In the morning there is fog, a smell of slow decay rolling in with the waves, and Usopp falls to the ground and closes his eyes when they all walk away. It is fitting that he falls in this season, he thinks as he works at his dying ship, but he gets an unexpected chance to fix everything but his craft in the form of a painted mask and a made up hero. Zoro looks at him - on the train, on the roof, carrying him down the tunnel that fills with water, once more on a beloved deck – and holds his tongue. Merry burns, a sacrifice in the season for such things, and he cries even though he has told Zoro he is ready. A new ship is coming, a new year and a new start, and he decides to meet it even though he’s still afraid.
mei_yanohiRating: PG
Pairing: Ace/Sanji but not really
Word Count: 560
“I can take it,” Ace insisted, pointedly meeting the chef’s eyes and not looking over a thin, pinstriped shoulder at the nerve-straining sounds of his younger brother attending to the dishes.
“No you can’t.” Sanji looked stressed, the curled eyebrow visible through the fall of blond bangs twitching with each scrape of cuttlery on china.
It had been a bad idea to pull out the good dishes. They didn’t have a complete set, not with Luffy as a captain and a boor like Zoro aboard as well, but there was enough that the cook could lay a decent table when it was warrented. Company, such as the captain’s brother, was a very good excuse to bring out the proper accoutrements and spread a much-bleached rectangle of linen over the smooth wood of the galley trestle. And because he was company, there was no way in hell Sanji was letting him attend to his clean-up. That would have been the height of bad manners, unspeakably rude especially if the ladies found out. Whatever would they think of him?
No, Ace was not going to be washing his plate and glass and utensils. It was Luffy’s job and he was going to do it. Although it was a pity he had forgotten the captain had dish duty when he had laid out the table. A few feet behind his back, water sloshed about all over his clean counter and drenched the captain’s red vest. The captain, singing something to himself, suddenly shouted “oops” for the fourth time and Sanji couldn’t keep from cringing as a glass slipped out of soapy hands and shattered on the damp floor. Ace smiled beatifically at him while he straightened, patted down his pockets in search of a much-needed cigarette.
“No.” Sanji spoke again, glaring at the freckled pirate when Ace’s eyes darted to the side as if looking for an opening. “You are our guest and as such we will look after you. Now,” he added, unlit cancer stick dangling between his lips, “if you please, I’ll be more than happy to take that off your hands.”
“Ace isn’t a guest. He’s my brother.” Unexpectedly Luffy bounced over from the vicinity of the sink, scattering drops of dishwater as he went. “And he knows how to wash the dishes. He never let me wash them at home because it was his job.”
“Oh?” Sanji spoke a little desperately, stalling as he wondered if it would be ruder to snatch the plate himself or give in. “And what did you do?”
“Took out the trash. Ne, Sanji. I’m done now. Can I go?”
“You are not done. Look Ace still-“
“Can wash his own dishes very well, isn’t that right captain?”
The grin he turned on his younger brother was positively cheeky and Luffy met it with a broad one of his own. “That’s right. Sanji, don’t you know it’s mean to not let a guest decide what they want to do?”
And with that the rubber boy rocketed out of the room, leaving the cook looking rather helplessly up into fire-bright eyes. Sanji sighed and threw up his hands.
“Fine. If it’ll make you happy, you can wash your own shitty dishes.”
“Thank you,” Ace said simply and lit the cook’s cigarette with the flick of a finger as he walked past him to the sink.
Title: Babysitting - for
vampire_otakuRating: G
Pairing: LuZo but only if you squint
Word Count: 588
“Zoro! ZoroZoroZoroZoro!”
The swordsman in question heaved a very large sigh as nimble fingers tugged at his shirt. He turned around slowly, closing his hand over a slender wrist and pulling it away from his person. Luffy flashed him a wide grin, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he pointed. Zoro looked, squinted, peered even as he raked his eyes over the small crowd of people milling about in the market square.
“Yes?” he asked finally, unsure what had captured the captain’s interest.
“Look! Don’t you see it?”
“Luffy, what are you-“
He didn’t get a chance to finish. The rubber pirate had obviously gotten tired of waiting for Zoro to figure out what he meant and stretched out his arm to grab one of the pillars holding up the front of an official-looking building. Before the swordsman had time to react, the fingers so recently involved in harassing his shirt curved around to capture his own wrist and Zoro was towed along as Luffy snapped himself forward. The pillar was sadly made of marble, hard and unforgiving, and the swordsman didn’t even get a chance to rub at the quickly swelling bump on his head before the younger boy was dragging him again.
Damn that witch. Forcing him into captain-watching duty after Luffy had managed to eat almost twice his weight in chocolate chip pancakes and sticky-sweet syrup. Leave it to his mysterious metabolism to get something resembling a sugar high instead of passing out in the usual food coma. At least his shape was back to normal. If he had to be pulled about and carried off into narrow alleys and crowded markets on the captain’s whim, at least they weren’t bowling people out of the way from the sheer largeness of a rubber stomach. It wasn’t much of a consolation, especially not when he was finally able to come to a halt, rocking back on his heels at the abrupt stop.
The stall he was parked in front of had an array of fruits and vegetables and Zoro gulped down some air and leveled his best menacing stare on the hopeful looking vendor. “I told you,” he said, slowly and with great emphasis so that maybe, just maybe, this time the idea would stick. “That blasted woman didn’t give me any money and you can’t go around just eating whatever you like.” If he was lucky, Luffy would get distracted again before anything could happen. After all, produce wasn’t his preferred food. But the captain was shaking his head stubbornly and Zoro could feel his heart begin to sink. Having already handed out Nami’s name and hotel to one unhappy hot dog vendor, he could see the list of chores that would be waiting for him getting longer and longer with each second.
“No, not that. THERE!”
A warm hand grabbed his chin, wrenched his head to the left and tilted it back. Green eyes widened even as he opened his mouth to shout in protest but as he read the words, Zoro ended up giving voice only to surprise.
“Oh. I, er, I didn’t see that.”
“I KNOW. Geeze Zoro, maybe we should get some carrots or somethin’ after all. Chopper says they’re good for your eyes.”
The frazzled swordsman didn’t dignify that with a response. Luffy never listened to him anyway. And this time he was the one to pull the unresisting and smiling captain forward and into the familiar metallic and oil smells of a smithy’s storefront.
Title: Four Seasons
Pairing: ZoSopp
Rating: G
Word Count: 563
They met in the spring when the leaves were still that pale shade of green and the grass was tender. He had been afraid. Rumor and mystery surrounded the man who stalked onto his island, three swords and a rubber pirate at his side. Zoro wasn’t quite as scary as the talk made him out to be but close enough and Usopp kept instead to the grinning jovial boy in the straw hat. They saved him, those two and the tough young woman who traveled with them. Helped him find his courage so that he could protect the people he loved from a ruthless monster. He had a true story to tell but instead kept silent and nearly wept for joy when they asked him along.
Winter came next, the vagaries of weather in the Grand Line being what they were. He went out with a princess, left the demon (who turned out to be far less and far more than his various titles) behind to guard his most precious treasure. They met in the middle of a field of white, snow as far as even his eagle eyes could see. Zoro was shirtless and barefoot and shivering and clearly insane and Usopp batted him aside when he tugged on his coat. He got clothing soon enough, acquired in proper pirate fashion, and he took up the younger boy’s burden with only a little bit of grumbling when Usopp’s heart proved stronger than his limbs.
Summer came with desert heat, all gritty sand and gunsmoke. They saved a kingdom, all of them, and Zoro is quiet in the palace, thoughtful when he isn’t brooding. Usopp trails bandages like a mummy and tells tales of his part that get bigger with every repeating. The swordsman wears black when they leave, the incongruous haramki oddly comforting over his robes and the sharpshooter clucks over his ship. The season isn’t over when they take a vacation from the ocean to visit the sky. There it is all heat lightning and ominous thunder, steamy jungles and too many biting things. They save another kingdom, an almost otherwordly realm this time with all-too-human problems. Usopp dances around the fire, painted like a native, and Zoro drinks in the shadows and smiles.
In the city of water, the temperature drops and brings with it a hint of coming chill. There is a fight, shouted words and disbelief, and the moon is a pale yellow sickle when he stalks away to plan. In the morning there is fog, a smell of slow decay rolling in with the waves, and Usopp falls to the ground and closes his eyes when they all walk away. It is fitting that he falls in this season, he thinks as he works at his dying ship, but he gets an unexpected chance to fix everything but his craft in the form of a painted mask and a made up hero. Zoro looks at him - on the train, on the roof, carrying him down the tunnel that fills with water, once more on a beloved deck – and holds his tongue. Merry burns, a sacrifice in the season for such things, and he cries even though he has told Zoro he is ready. A new ship is coming, a new year and a new start, and he decides to meet it even though he’s still afraid.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 12:29 pm (UTC)And the last one. ;_____; You wrote the four seasons so well argh, hate.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 12:52 pm (UTC)(Yes, I have vowed to be better about reading people's writing XD)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 11:12 pm (UTC)And then the seasons ZoSopp was gorgeous. @_@ Usopps slowly building understanding of Zoro and then the visual of them watching the ship burn together was... understated but... companiony. ...sometimes my attempts at feedback fail. lol.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 03:35 am (UTC)And much love for the Zoro/Usopp one as well. <3