One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Face ❯ Chapter 1

Title: "Happy Face"
Pairing: Zoro/Rufi (um...sort of...)
Rating: PG
Words: 229
Notes: Placed in the Alabasta arc, right after Ace leaves. (probably either anime or manga timeline would work here...) Another drabble written for the "Lies" topic on One Piece Yaoi 100

-k. (04.21.04)

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Loud. Obnoxious. Smiling from ear to ear, as though he hadn't a care in the world.

Zoro watched his captain silently from feigned sleep as he carried on. He seemed louder than usual tonight, more energetic. A teenaged boy without a care in the world; happy as they come. Not a captain with responsibility. Not a boy who had been abandoned by the people he cared most about, who had just watched his brother walk out of his life for the second time. Not a boy who whined all day about being hungry or thirsty in the desert, who had watched his nakama suffer at the hands of others.

No, this was a happy face.

At least, that's the one he put on for everyone to see.

But Zoro knew better. The louder he was now, the tighter he'd curl around him later when they were alone, in the dark seclusion of a tent, under the pretense of needing to share space; the pretense of keeping warm. That's when he'd cry those quiet tears, and Zoro would pretend not to notice.

Because that would ruin the game. That would ruin his happy face.

If he admitted to it, he might not be able to smile and pretend and make everyone believe that he was happy.

If he admitted to it, he might not be able to believe the lie.