Merry Christmas, Stupid Cat

"Merry Christmas, Stupid Cat"

orig. 12/unknown

Zoro x Elly, PG

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"Are you serious?" Sanji raised a curly eyebrow at the big man standing next to him. There was only a grunt in reply and he nudged him with his shoulder. "You're serious. You don't know she likes you?"

"Idiot," Zoro muttered. "Maybe I don't care."

"Right. If you didn't care you wouldn't look so nervous." He tapped a thick-soled shoe on the wooden planks of the ship.

"I do not look nervous!"

"You're sweating."

Before Zoro could retort the door behind them opened and the ladies walked in together. They were all dressed in glittering outfits: Nami in green, Robin in red and Elly was clad in silver. It was all very festive and the girls flanking the nekomata were showing off quite a bit of skin. Sanji took one brief moment before he started gushing to peek at the swordsman's reaction and it was well worth it. He looked like he was being strangled by an invisible hand around his throat and he turned and clomped away into the safety of a darker corner by the holiday tree they had set up.

Elly looked distinctly uncomfortable in her dress although it was far more modest than what the others were wearing. She wasn't used to the outfit; it was lower than anything she'd ever worn before. She slunk off to the same corner Zoro was hiding without even realizing it.

"Erk."

"What?!"

They stared at each other for a long moment, ignoring the screaming and crashing noises coming from the rest of the room and inadvertently leaning together. Just when it was getting uncomfortable the tree suddenly lit up and they weren't in the dark anymore. Both turned a bright shade of red as everyone whooped and hollered suggestively.

Zoro was the first to recover. "Shut up!"

"I told you the dress would be a good idea," Robin murmured. Several others chimed in but the big man wasn't listening anymore. He scowled as he stood up but Sanji placed a hand flat on his chest, pointing up with his right. Zoro's eyes widened as the flushed color drained from his face rapidly.

"No, Sanji." Elly rolled her eyes. "Mistletoe isn't compulsory."

"But -"

"No. He obviously doesn't want to." She sniffed and raised her chin in the air, expression firm. "Don't tease him, all right? It's a holiday and that's no fun!"

"It is fun. It's one of my favorite past times," He grumped. Elly patted Zoro briefly on the arm before moving away towards the chairs in the middle of the room. The green-haired man stood frozen in place, eyes baffled.

"What the hell just happened?"

"You really hurt her with that one, idiot." Sanji looked backwards over his shoulder, his visible eye worried. "Nice job."

"The f-"

"Oh, hell. It's the holidays." He straightened and dipped into his pocket to bring out another small clump of the little berry plant, pressing it into the startled swordsman's hand. His voice dropped lower, for Zoro's ears only. "Fix it. It's not right for this embarrassed bullshit anymore. Go find her and give her a gift she won't forget."

Red-faced with his mouth hanging open, the bigger man looked like he was about to smash a fist in Sanji's face but he rolled his shoulders back instead, a grim look settling over his flushed features.

"We'll talk later," he growled before pushing past.

He was muttering to himself as he stormed down the halls, absently tracking her light lavender scent without even realizing it. He simply knew where she was - always did. This wasn't something that Zoro questioned or thought about; it was a fact of life now, akin to how he could always smell that idiot cook's cigarettes from a distance or pick Luffy's squeals of glee out of a crowd. As a matter of fact he could still hear Luffy. He winced at a particularly shrill note in the Captain's throes of meat-induced ecstasy as he paused at the door to the common room. He shrugged, then entered without knocking.

"Came here to get away from the noise?" She was seated on one of the low divans near a porthole. The phrase was amiable enough but she spoke very strangely, completely deadpan.

"No."

"Oh. Well, I was just about to go get some food." She got up and brushed her legs off fussily, more so she wouldn't have to face him than anything. Zoro circled around quickly while she had her eyes averted and stepped close beside her. He'd snatched up her hand before she even knew what was happening and pulled her backwards to him. He was a couple inches taller than Elly, so she had to peer up to stare incredulously at him.

"What the hell -"

"I owe you." He calmly held the mistletoe cluster up in front of her startled eyes and then kissed her. It happened so fast that she didn't know what was happening  at first but the warmth and softness of his lips against hers convinced her it was real. She kissed back, tentatively at first then more firmly when he answered her response with the gentle touch of his hands on her shoulders. When they finally parted both were breathing hard. She glanced around, thinking of what to say and saw the little plant he'd held in his hand had been negligently tossed on the table next to them.

"You didn't have to, you know."

"Merry Christmas," he mumbled.