Closer (Zoro x Reader) PRIZE

You felt soft sunlight on your eyelids, filtered through cheap motel curtains. The smell of freshly made instant coffee—bitter but welcome nevertheless—roused you from sleep, though it was still not enough to mask the scent of the cigarette smoke that permeated the very walls of the place. But you didn’t mind. As far as mornings in motel rooms went, this was pretty close to perfect. Especially when said coffee was being brought to you by a half-naked man in grey sweats that left little to the imagination.

He set the coffee down on the stained nightstand, running one hand through still-damp green hair. You smiled sleepily up at him.

“Mmm, good morning,” you said.

“Morning,” he grinned back.

You sat up and stretched, sighing appreciatively as your joints popped. “What time is it?”

“Just after nine. We got plenty of time.”

You peered at him curiously from under your lashes. “Plenty of time for what, Roronoa?” you teased. You took the opportunity to really appreciate him in all his post-shower glory. Droplets of water still clung to his bronzed skin, sliding down his bare chest to catch in the waistband of his sweats that hung low on his hips. The edges of a tattoo were just visible beneath his left hip bone, raw and wild and everything that embodied Zoro. You tore your eyes away from it. Looking only made it hurt more to know that some stranger bore its counterpart when it should have been you all along.

Zoro noticed the downturn in your mood and tackled you to the bed, peppering kisses over your face and neck, before lavishing attention on your shoulder where your own tattoo stood out like a beacon on your skin. You flinched away from the touch of his lips and he pulled back, the skin between his brows crinkling in a slight frown.

“Hey,” he said, running the pads of his thumbs across your cheek bones. His eyes captured yours, daring you to look away. “I love you. No ink is going to change that.”

“You’ve never met them. You don’t know that.”

“Would you ever go back to him?”

“Not in a million years.”

“If you can walk away then so can I. Trust me, [Name].”

“It’s not you I don’t trust. It’s fate that’s trying to keep us apart.”

“Then we keep running. As long as we need to.”

You smiled then. “And never look back.”

He grinned back. “There’s my girl. Now, we have an hour before we need to check out of here and the this is the first time we’ve had a real bed in a week.”

It was mornings like this you lived for. Quiet motels in the middle of nowhere. No one to recognise you, no one to judge you, to hold you back or tie you down. You could take as long as you needed—it was as if time itself waited for you, the occasional truck thundering along the highway outside the only sign it was even still moving at all.

Some mornings it got away from you, and you would miss your checkout time. Neither of you minded. You would simply pay for another night—you had nowhere to be. On the road, time didn’t exist. Only the feeling of each other’s skin in the back of your Land Rover, of the sharp sting of teeth on your shoulder, mismatched tattoos bared shamelessly to the world. Together, you felt like you could live forever.

But fate doesn’t like it when you disrupt its plans.

“Babe, wake up, we’re nearly there,”

You opened your eyes blearily and looked at the time. Almost 1am. “Wow, you only managed to get us lost twice this time,” you teased.

“Shut up.”

“How long?”

“About twenty minutes out.”

“Wanna switch?”

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll sleep when we get there.”

The car jerked suddenly and the engine sputtered and died. Zoro wrestled it over to the verge, wrinkling his nose at the acrid smell of smoke seeping in through the vents.

“Well, shit.”

Your heart sank. “Seriously, again? This old bucket of junk is costing us more than it’s worth.”

“We can walk it maybe? If we hurry, we can make it before the sun rises, find a motel, call a mechanic.”

“I’m not walking along a highway at one in the morning. We’ll get killed and left in a ditch or something.”

“Then you can wait here and I’ll go get help.”

“That’s even worse!”

“You got a better idea?”

You twisted in your seat to flash him a mischievous grin. “We could just wait here. I’m sure we can find a way to… occupy ourselves until morning.”

Zoro looked at you, incredulous. “You are insatiable.”

“Only for you.”

His hands were on you in an instant, pulling you into his lap. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It was almost noon the next day before the repair service finally arrived and you were dying for a coffee. Despite living out of your car for the last six months, you were still not used to sleeping in car seats. Zoro had even let you take the back seat that night. It didn’t seem to matter; you were still nursing a crick in your neck.

The truck pulled up beside you and a young woman jumped out. She was wearing the most outrageously short jean shorts and a shirt bearing the company’s logo and her name—Bonney—across the breast. Her obnoxiously pink hair was too bright for such a morning and it only left you all the more sour about your situation. For every idealistic morning fooling around in motel rooms with Zoro, there were always those mornings that made you wonder if it was all worth it.

After relaying what happened to the mechanic, Zoro sidled up to you and pressed a kiss to your temple. Humming contentedly, you moulded yourself against his side and closed your eyes.

Yeah. It was worth it.

“I found your problem, but I’m gonna have to take a better look at it back at the shop. I can give you folks a ride into town if you like?”

Zoro was in the middle of accepting her offer when you saw it. The way her shirt rode up ever so slightly as she reached up to pull the hood back down, the sharp lines of the tattoo that stood out stark against the white skin below her left hip bone.

You heard Zoro’s sharp intake of breath. It was the sound of your whole world collapsing around you.

Of all the roads in the country, your car had to break down on this one. You almost wanted to laugh. You felt Zoro’s hand on your shoulder.

“We’ll talk about this when we get to a hotel.”

Neither of you said anything the whole ride into town. Zoro stared blankly out of the window, a slight frown furrowing his brow. You were concentrating on trying to keep your breathing under control, trying not to think about how you were currently sitting wedged between your boyfriend and your boyfriend’s soulmate.

Fate really was cruel.

Bonney dropped the two of you off at a motel close to her shop. “I’ll call when you can pick her up.” Then she was gone and you could breathe again.

Zoro booked your room while you waited outside. You had no idea how he was staying so calm in this situation. If your own experience was anything to go by, rational thought and instinct would be warring inside his head right now. You were dreading the impending conversation. He said nothing as he led you to your room and you were beginning to fear the worst. He was going to leave you. You should have seen it coming the second you agreed to run away with him.

You closed the motel room door behind you and leaned against the cool wood. “Did you feel it?” You knew he would know what you were talking about. It was impossible to ignore—the inevitable tug of the red string of fade, the undeniable draw.

Zoro sat down heavily on the bed and let out a long breath. “Yeah,” he said. “I felt it.”

“Then you understand why I was so worried.”

“Hey,” he said, standing and walking over to you. “You have no reason to be worried. She might be my soulmate but she’s still a stranger. I’m not gonna choose her over you.”

“You say that now, but the longer you wait, the louder the call.”

He took you face in his hands, made you look at him. “So we get out of here. As soon as the car is ready, we take off. We never look back.”

You shook your head, tears welling in the corners of your eyes. “You don’t understand. You don’t know how hard it is. To leave them behind… it’s like tearing yourself apart.”

“Then I will tear myself apart for you,” Zoro growled. “Damn it, [Name], I love you.”

You looked up at him, at the fierce resolve in his eyes. “Prove it,” you whispered.

And he did. Multiple times.

The next morning, you were woken early to a knock on the door. Zoro hastily pulled on a pair of sweats and got up to answer, pressing a swift kiss to your forehead as he did so. You yawned and rolled over, ready to go back to sleep until you heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, I was in the area and just thought I’d stop by to let you guys know your car is good… to go… is that what I think it is?”

Your eyes shot open. Zoro hadn’t thought to put on a shirt.

“Your tattoo… it’s…”

No! You scrambled to pull on your clothes, rushing to his side. Bonney stood in the doorway, eyes darting between the two of you. Zoro reached out and took your hand, squeezing reassuringly. It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.

“Why are you… why would you… I don’t understand.” Her voice was starting to rise. You could feel her gaze on you, on your tattoo. You couldn’t bring yourself to look her in the eye.

“Listen,” Zoro said, trying to keep his voice low. “We can explain everything, just… give us a chance.”

“Why should I?” Bonney’s voice shook. Then she turned on you. “Does your soulmate know? About this… affair? Do you have any shame?”

“Hey!” Zoro cut in. “This isn’t on her. This a choice we both made.”

Bonney scoffed. “It’s not supposed to be a choice. What you’re doing, it’s—it’s unnatural!”

“Look, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I don’t care what the marks on our skin say. If you ask me, forcing two strangers to be together is a hell of a lot more unnatural.”

Angry tears were now beginning to show themselves. Bonney’s lip quivered. “What gives you the right to decide that I should live my life alone? When you realise it isn’t all about you, come find me.” She stormed off without another word.

Zoro shut the door a little too hard behind her. He turned to you only to find you in tears. The anger washed away immediately and he gathered you up in his arms.

“Zoro, I can’t go through this again,” you sobbed. “I can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Shhh,” he soothed, burying his face in your hair. “You won’t have to. I’m gonna go talk to her.” You clutched him tighter and he chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Watching him go out that door was the hardest thing you had ever done. No matter how much he’d reassured you before he left, it did nothing to dispel the dread, the nagging, incessant thought that he might never come back. You had done it all before and it had almost destroyed you had it not been for Zoro. Without him, you don’t think you could resist the call any longer.

You waited in the room, perched nervously at the end of the bed. You didn’t dare close your eyes for even a second because you didn’t want to miss the moment he came home to you.

Please, come back to me.

It was late into the afternoon when you finally heard he key rattling in the lock. You were on your feet and across the room before Zoro had even closed the door behind him. You threw your arms around his neck and hugged him tight, violent sobs of relief wracking your body. He was tired—you could feel it in his posture—but he hugged you back with just as much fervour, sighing contentedly into your hair.

“Told you I’d come back,” he said, voice hoarse with emotion.

You released him and pulled back to examine his face, taking in his dishevelled hair, no doubt from running his hands through it in frustration, and the wrinkle between his brows he only got when he was stressed.

“How did it go?”

Zoro led you to sit down on the bed, and he collapsed beside you. “She’s not happy,” he said and immediately your heart sank. “But I told her our story and she’s willing to give us a chance.”

“What, really?”

He nodded. “She said she doesn’t fully understand it, but she’s never seen two people this happy.” Then he flashed you a grin. “Then she threw a wrench at me and told me to get out of her sight and never come back.”

You chuckled and leaned in to kiss him. You didn’t care what others thought, what they whispered behind your backs. Nothing in your life had every felt as pure, as right as being with Zoro did. No one was going to take that away from you.

“Where should we go?”

“Hmmm…” he hummed, nuzzling your neck as he contemplated. “How about Japan?”

“Japan?”

“Yeah.”

You laughed. “Any reason?”

“Nope. Just the first place that came to mind.”

You smiled. You would go anywhere if it meant you were with him. “Japan it is.”