Authors note:

The rating is for sexual themes and swear-words.

Yaoi

Pairings: Zoro-Luffy, Sanji-Nami, Usopp-Kaya, Vivi-OC, Franky-Robin, Ace-Smoker, Kalifa-Paulie, Lucci-Kaku.

Any guesses right? I give you til the next one.

I DON´T OWN OP! But I own Everything I do and this fic. I also own my pc crashes, sadly...

Shanks pouted a bit before slumping down on a bench. Damn! He´d only just missed the last ticket, and the boxing match that was on tonight was promising too. He´d placed a few bets, but he´d kind of wanted to see it also.
Well, not much could be done about it now. He leaned back against the backing of the bench, looking up at the reddening sky and yawned. Soon it´d be night, so he´d better get back to his hotel. He shuddered as a cool and sudden gust of wind rustled through the trees and disturbed several newspapers, causing them to fly from the bin and tumble across the park. It was getting colder, and he needed to get a jumper on. Yeah, go back to his warm hotel room and find his jumper, and maybe a bottle of rum or two.

He laughed merrily and stood up, wondering to himself why exactly he´d put on sandals instead of shoes more appropriate for the time of year. He headed out of the park and up the street.

--

Chopper and Luffy were getting ready for bed.

Luffy´s mum had explained to Luffy exactly what Chopper´s job was (namely helping Luffy keep his room clean and tidy and caring for his health, seeing as Luffy had numerous accidents of very peculiar natures) and told Chopper where he would sleep, when he´d get up and when he had free days. They had both been all right about time-tables, but Luffy had insisted Chopper slept in the spare bunk in his room. Chopper had no problem with that and Luffy´s mum was finally talked into it when Luffy sat down on the sofa facing away from her and pouting for long enough.

They had got into their pyjamas -Luffy´s were bright red with yellow smiley faces on them, Chopper´s pastel blue with smiling skull´s and crossbones, more amusing then scary- and finished brushing their teeth and were currently sitting on a small circle of space they had cleared on Luffy´s carpet playing with building blocks and reading short stories out loud. Luffy had insisted on reading plenty of horror stories, much to Chopper´s dismay, as he was easily scared and Luffy had a collection of the scariest. He held tightly onto his building block, eyes wide with terror as Luffy held the flash-light under his chin and made all the scary sound effects between every line of gory detail. It wasn´t like Luffy was the best reader, he stopped a lot, miss-pronounced words and repeated phrases; but still, Chopper was in a strange house, in a strange room, with all the lights out, and the curtains drawn to create the atmosphere, and that was bad enough for him.
At one point Luffy made a particularly scary growl, complimented by a particularly gruesome face that sent Chopper diving under the covers of the lower bunk, casting aside his building block as he pulled the covers over himself and lay flat on his stomach, pinning the covers down with his fore and back hoofs. That was scary, and he didn´t like scary things, he shivered a bit, his imagination running wild, scaring himself out of his wits. He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt someone poke him. He panicked a bit, before remembering that Luffy was out there, and, still cautious, lifting the edges of the blanket to poke a shiny blue nose out and leave two tearful eyes visible behind that nose, still just covered by the edge of the blanket.

-Wha-what?

Luffy frowned. -Come on Chopper, it´s only a story.

-You scared me!

-Sorry... -Luffy whined a bit and pouted before turning the light back on, giving Chopper enough confidence to stick his whole head out and sit up, wrapping the blanket around himself, forming a cocoon, only his head and a small piece of pastel-blue pyjama poking out. The blanket was warm and comforting, and Luffy´s expression did hold some remorse, though it mostly read that he was upset at not finishing the story. Chopper suddenly felt foolish and giggled a bit, before saying he was sorry for ruining Luffy´s story. After they had both said sorry to each other Luffy yawned and decided it was bedtime. He climbed up the ladder to the top bunk and, after making sure Chopper was OK, turned out the light.

But Chopper found it hard to sleep. He´d hardly been in any house but his own during the night, and the dark scared him into imagining things. He knew it was just a silly phobia, just him imagining or exaggerating sounds and black silhouettes in the dark; but when the moment came to tell himself that, it was just all too scary, all too weird for him to help himself. Not to mention, the horror stories hadn´t helped much: his imagination was wilder then ever, and every creak from the hallway was like a footstep approaching the door, and every shadow of every object was an assassin, or a ghost, or a monster. He pulled the covers over his head, trembling quite a bit, but the absolute darkness was even more terrifying, making all the sounds emphasized, and once or twice he had to peep out, just in case there was a pair of yellow eyes set in a face worthy of a Halloween-mask contest prize glaring at him.

He mentally scolded himself. He was such a bundle of nerves, especially during night-time, but he couldn´t really help it, it was who he was. He scanned the room with his eyes, and every dark corner looked so sinister! And there were so many dark corners in Luffy´s room, it was such a mess Chopper couldn´t believe the boy could ever be in there without breaking something. And now the whole dump looked like a mass of dreadful creatures leering in the dark, waiting for a chance to...

Chopper couldn´t finish that last sentence of his train of thought as he had scrambled up the ladder, knocking it down in the process, and into Luffy´s bed, where he got a firm grip on Luffy´s pyjama top and buried his face in it, jerking Luffy somewhat violently. Surprisingly, the latter didn´t wake up or even seem disturbed, he just continued muttering and chewing in his sleep. A few minuets afterwards Chopper fell asleep, slightly more comforted.

--

MiHawk yawned, it was way past two in the morning, and he had to get as much sleep as possible to prepare himself for the next day. He´d probably be busy all day long, and then he´d have to go out of town in the afternoon and spend a night or two in one of those uncomfortable hotel rooms. And he´d still insisted on finishing his paperwork instead of leaving it until later. He mentally cussed himself over and over for not being slightly more responsible for his health, not to mention, his boyfriend... boyfriend? No, more like a lover at this point, the only intimate moments they had between both their jobs was sex. But, yet again, there was definitely something more, no? There had to be, so “lover” wasn´t appropriate either... Well, never mind, whatever he could call him, it wouldn´t change the fact he was going to be far from pleased at the situation of MiHawk getting home late on one of the few free evenings they could have together.

He silently opened the door, more out of habit and patience then out of caution, and walked inside with his usual stride, exiting the long hallway and scanning the room he had just entered with one quick glance before walking over to a seat where another man was seated, his back to him.

-You´re late again...

-I know, I just so happen to have duties to attend to... -He turned around and poured himself a medium whiskey, just enough to help him sleep.

He was about to head for the sofa when he felt two arms wrap firmly around his waist and a pair of lips brush his ear. -Come now, honey, you aren´t moody, are you?

He turned around and kissed Crocodile gently before subtly slipping from his grasp and sitting down on the sofa, crossing his legs and leaning back into the soft upholstering. As he expected, he heard the creak of the sofa as Crocodile literally fell onto it.

-Don´t do that, you´ll break it. -MiHawk muttered as he closed his eyes and sighed. Work had been hell, he hadn´t slept properly in the past three days, which was awful for his concentration, and to top it off Crocodile was horny. He took a long sip from his whiskey and opened his eyes and leaned forwards to place the glass on the table. Crocodile grinned before wrapping his arm around MiHawk´s shoulder and leaning in to nibble at his ear. MiHawk pushed him away, somewhat annoyed that all his significant other could think of was sex. He didn´t even know why he´d agreed to their relationship to begin with. He hardly considered himself the type to be attracted to men, he knew he wasn´t gay, he just, liked that one guy, that didn´t make him gay, right? But now he even doubted whether he liked the guy any more, it wasn´t that he couldn´t love him, more like Crocodile didn´t want his love. It pissed him off, but he couldn´t leave the guy, he liked to have more control over his life then that, not to mention he didn´t really want to lose a friend like that.

--

Zoro grunted and rolled over in bed. Still finding himself uncomfortable, he sat up and rubbed his forehead. Something wasn´t right, something was definitely not right with Luffy. The boy had seemed to have lost that essence he had, that glee and something else Zoro couldn´t quite put his finger on. Something that made Luffy, well, Luffy. The boy seemed so absent, so lost, too sad to even appear to be himself, and he still tried to cover it up...

Zoro put on his pyjama top before skulking downstairs. Maybe a drink would make him feel better. Sadly, it seemed the world had other plans, he forgot to turn the light on, walked off in the wrong direction, tripped on a rug and fell down a flight of stairs, crashing into a table and breaking several glass items. All of a sudden, all the lights in the house were on and everyone was sticking their heads out of their bedrooms to see what was going on.

Zoro sighed in frustration and rubbed his head before standing up. The world seemed against him...

He frowned and looked into the coffee. Sure, he´d wanted sake, but his damned step-mother had insisted on getting him a de-caf. He yawned and looked at her. She knew something was wrong; he knew she knew something was wrong, but they both knew he wasn´t about to drop it. Not that “it” was anything much, he hardly knew what was going on with Luffy himself.

He yawned again, leaving his step-mother reason enough to believe there was nothing wrong that couldn´t be solved by a good night´s sleep. After all, Zoro was just Zoro.

But, contrary to her belief, he couldn´t sleep. He tossed and turned, trying to get it out of his head, but Luffy´s sad expression haunted him. Had he... Had he done something wrong? Was it his fault?

--

The next morning, Zoro was completely knackered. And still, despite how tired he was, all he could think of was Luffy.

He practically ran to the kid´s house, almost getting hit by a car on the way there. He rung the doorbell and looked up at Luffy´s window impatiently as he waited for someone to answer.

Nothing.... nothing.... The door finally opened, Luffy´s mum yawning.

-Oh, hi Zoro. Luffy isn´t here at the moment... -She yawned again. -I think he´s down at the park, with his new doctor.

-Ah... OK then... -Zoro walked somewhat more calmly to the park.

--

Luffy giggled as Chopper tripped and fell into a puddle, stopping his laughter abruptly when a few tears came to Chopper´s eyes.

-Are... are you OK?

-Mhm... -Chopper pouted, poking a slight bruise that was starting to show on his knee.

-Ah, OK then, want to go on the swings? We can take turns pushing each other.

Chopper grinned and nodded once before getting up and rushing towards the swings. He couldn´t be happier. Luffy was so nice and caring and didn´t seem to mind if he was some sort of genetic experiment, he was Chopper, and he was Luffy´s friend, and that was all that mattered.

They took turns for a while. Until Luffy noticed something, a figure sitting on a park bench, a drink in one hand... his only hand. And red hair glistening in the sun. He jumped down from the swing and rushed towards the figure.

-Shanks? Shanks? Shanks! It´s me! It´s Luffy! -He jumped onto the figure and wrapped his arms around Shanks´s neck, almost bursting with happiness.

-Luffy? It´s really you, eh, kid? -The man ran his hands through Luffy´s hair, repressing his emotions for a few seconds before hugging the kid as tight as he could, as they both started crying out of happiness.

Chopper, not understanding anything, and feeling a bit left out, started crying too until Luffy noticed him and gave him a hug and introduced him to Shanks.

-So, how about we get an ice-cream, kid?

-Sure!

-I´ll be the one to decide who Luffy runs off with, thank-you very much. -Zoro growled from behind them.

Shanks looked at Zoro once and broke into a cold sweat.

-Zoro! It isn´t what you think, this is Shanks! -Luffy said, holding onto Zoro´s arm in case of emergency.

-Ah... Shanks. -Zoro muttered, relaxing somewhat before smiling slightly nervously. -Err, sorry?

-It´s OK, I guess you have a reason to be defensive, Luffy´s a cute kid, anyone would want him.

-Oi, watch it.

Shanks smiled and got up, dusting his shirt off before looking at his discarded can of sake. He muttered something before him and Zoro each took one of Luffy´s hands and headed to get the younger ones an ice-cream each.

--

Kaya sat down, panting a little, everything seemed to take extra effort lately. She went to the fridge and took out a large tub of hummus. Such strange cravings. She had never liked hummus before...

She sighed, her doctor had told her that, with her condition having the baby was putting both their lives at risk and said he strongly recommended an abortion. An abortion? She wanted that baby, couldn´t anyone see that? She started crying and let herself slide down the wall, curling up in the corner as she covered her face and wept.

She tried as hard as she could to stop, to hold it back. She didn´t want Usopp to see her like that, he was feeling bad enough on his own, and now that he was finally pulling himself together...

But she couldn´t hold it back, she just choked and sobbed until she finally broke into tears time and time again. And she just cried like that, until she fell asleep.

--

Nami bit her lip as she walked up to the gates.

Her father had agreed to allowing her to inherit the family fortune and the business, but only if she got an education and a degree of some sort. That meant wasting four hours a day going to pointless university classes.

Seeing as he also attended the university, Sanji had driven her there in his newly fixed car (a certain incident had taken place with it that involved Usopp, Luffy and smoke-bombs gone wrong). The only difference there was was that Nami was going there to attend class, whereas, Sanji was starting to teach the cooking course.

Nami smiled slightly as Sanji wrapped an arm around her waist and pecked her on the cheek. Then, she giggled as she remembered the irony. Her father had insisted so long that she should pick up the cooking class, seeing as it was “more fit for a woman” and she, being the feminist she was, wouldn´t stand for stereotypes like that. But, the second she heard her sweet Sanji was teaching the class and that the grade was as good as in the bag, she´d signed up immediately. Well, you didn´t have to conform with all the more “macho” classes just because you were a feminist. That was just feeding a new stereotype.

-Ah, my angel, your laughter illuminates my day as if the sun had came out from between the storm clouds.

She giggled at his weird display of love before giving him a kiss.

-I´ll see you later, Sanji-kun, I have chemistry class first.

She giggled again as his head drooped and his expression went blank, like a dog who´s toy had been confiscated. Then, she jogged up the stairs and ran towards the class-room. If she wasn´t mistaken, Vivi took the same class. Maybe they could sit together?

--

Sanji frowned as he watched her disappear into the gates before he too walked up the stairs and dragged his feet in a somewhat childish way to the class-room where he was supposed to put up with brats until three hours later.

He walked, in, excusing himself for being late as he tied an apron around his waist. Well, they were hardly “brats”, quite a few were even older than him. The professional chefs of the future. At least that was a relief, they had some experience.

-Well, class, today we´ll start on history and preparation of French cuisine.

--

Usopp sighed as he leaned back in the seat and observed the people in black suits as they unrolled his plan designs and nodded and pointed and muttered a few things between them. All he could do was wait and hope that they liked them. He really felt like a stiff drink then, just to calm his nerves, but Kaya would disapprove of that. She always disliked it when he drank, and he wasn´t all that keen on it himself, but sometimes he needed his nerves calmed....

-We´ll take it.

-Huh?

-The plans, they´re gorgeous. When can you start work?

-Um, I don´t know, what were you thinking of?

-Tomorrow?

-Well, sure...

-OK, we´ll call you to tell you what time. Thank you very much.

A few minuets later he found himself walking home. It had all happened so fast he hadn´t had time to think. But he had a job now, and that was what mattered.

When he arrived home he found Kaya passed out on the floor.

--

Ace grinned as he felt Smoker put the handcuffs on him again. Third time he´d felt those handcuffs that week, and it was only Tuesday too.

He looked up at the wall where he had painted his “art”. A large-scale drawing of Smoker. Not quite perfect, but still, very detailed. “You know you want some” was wrote underneath and just about anywhere it could fit. Along with the lines “in your face, baby”, “hot stuff” and, to boot, “Ace´s property” was wrote across him as censorship. Ace had even drawn little hearts around it. But the worst part, the very worst part in Smoker´s eyes, was that it was wrote on the side of his own house.

-You stinking little... -Had been Smoker´s first words when he saw it. Then, he phoned up Tashigi to bring the police car.

-I guess it is kind of prejudicial, I mean, just because you enjoy walking around half-naked in front of other men doesn´t mean you´re gay, but still, “when the river flows, it must carry water”. -Ace had remarked cheekily.

He knew that this sort of behaviour would be the ultimate turn-off for most people, let alone a police-officer, but, behind all the anger, he saw something different in Smoker, something that he had to beg for more of. Even if that meant vandalizing private property or getting undressed in front of the police-station. He leaned in and pressed his lips hard against Smoker´s before getting shoved into the police-car.

On the way there, he whined and bitched and bit Tashigi´s shoulder until her and Smoker switched places. Then, he leaned his head on Smoker´s shoulder and fell asleep. He´d been up all night to draw that bloody thing. And without a decent reference too. He´d have to comment on that when he woke up.

--

Kaku smiled as Lucci leaned in and kissed him softly, running his finger up and down the ginger sideburns. Then, he leaned in and nibbled Lucci´s ear before whispering sweet words to him, that slowly turned violent and sadistic.

Lucci gave him another kiss and rolled over one one side, glancing at the alarm clock.

-Oh crap....

-What? It´s still 6´30.... oh...

-The clock stopped. We´re going to be late and I still have to get you to your place so you can change.

-Well, actually, I do have my uniform on me...

-We´re still going to be fucking late though! -Lucci shouted, swearing loudly as he hurried getting his clothes on and practically pushed Kaku out of the bed. Everything was taking too long for him: Kaku´s shower, the way he got dressed, how he grabbed his papers, the way he walked down the stairs. Even the speed the car engine started at wasn´t enough for him. After the car was already running he lit himself a cigarette and drew a deep breath before rubbing Kaku´s thigh as a way of saying “sorry”.

Kaku just smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaning back in the seat and opening the newspaper.

--

Paulie walked along, Kalifa striding in a somewhat elegant way next to him. She was looking nice today, not too much showing either. He preferred her when she was covered up by furs. Yes, winter was a marvellous season. He politely offered to buy her a coffee.

-That´s se.... sure. -She smiled, her expression showing more affection than he had expected. Still, he had offered. Soon they were sitting down in a café, facing each other, coffee´s in hands. The silence was awkward, but not only to him, it seemed as Kalifa looked him in the eyes once and averted her vision.

Then, Lucci´s car stopped right next to them.

-What the hell are you doing not at work?! -He shouted at them.

Paulie and Kalifa stared at him for a few seconds before Paulie broke out laughing, closely followed by Kalifa.

-Today is Saturday! You fools!

Kaku blushed and giggled a bit himself, but Lucci´s face went bright crimson and he looked to the floor of his car, as if he wanted the earth to swallow him.

Still, they both joined the table and had a drink and, after a while, everyone had just about forgotten.

--

Somewhere else, Shanks was returning to his hotel room, when he bumped into someone.

-Mi... MiHawk?

MiHawk went slightly pale as he slowly recognized that face. But from where? From where? He hoped not from the Mafia... No, sure enough, he remembered that face fast. Before the Mafia, way before it, even before he was an adult. Shanks.

-Hi...

-What´s up?! I haven´t seen you for frigging ages!

About half an hour later they were in a café, having a late breakfast (or “brunch” as Shanks enjoyed calling it) and chatting over everything the other had missed out on, that is almost everything. MiHawk couldn´t possibly tell Shanks about him, about the Mafia. Shanks was the only childhood friend he had left, and he didn´t want to risk losing him.

-So, you have a boyfriend, eh? I never took you as one to be gay.

-I´m not gay, I like the one guy, just the one. OK?

-Aaaand, will we be hearing wedding bells quite yet? -Shanks nagged on

-I doubt it. I don´t even know if we´ll be together for much longer. So, do you have anyone?

-Nah. How´s work then?

MiHawk glanced at Shanks, feeling slightly annoyed at how the latter had so blatantly changed the subject. Still, it wasn´t like he was interested in talking about Crocodile in public either...

-Work´s just fine. -He smiled for the first time all day.

--

Luffy smiled as he walked home, holding Zoro´s hand, smiling and laughing as he covered up the pain. Wherever Zoro touched him, he felt as if his body was being sliced apart. Chopper´s true, honest laughter was the only thing that lifted his spirit slightly.

Chopper, who was sitting on Zoro´s shoulders, seemed so happy with them, it almost hurt more that they might never see each other again. But he didn´t know if he could bare to even look at Zoro once it was all over. Only one line seemed to cross his mind when he saw the green-haired man: “Two timer...”

SORRY!!! So sorry to have kept you waiting for so f***ing long!!! As a sign of regret, I am your slave!!!

BTW: You have another chapter to guess the next pairing.