The red welt throbbed across your arm from the sharp crack of the bamboo shinai. It had been a few days since the incident with the arrows, and you had thrown yourself into learning from Mihawk. Admittedly, you had done so haphazardly and were currently paying for it. He had warned you against trying to learn too fast, but you'd been pushy about it, and were now being promptly put in your place.

Zoro hadn't intervened, it was a lesson for you to learn and he wasn't your teacher. Quite thankfully as far as he was concerned, especially right now. Every snap of the shinai made his fingers twitch. He knew his father wouldn't truly harm you, and you were learning a harsh lesson, but it was still difficult.

In the end you had bowed to Mihawk and apologized for your behavior. The kind countenance of his that had evaporated moments earlier as he rather mercilessly beat the crap out of you with the shinai returned. It was a subtle difference in his physical expression, but you were getting used to picking up on, well, his aura, for lack of a better word.

"As I have said before, (Y/N), you have been through – and are continuing to go through – a great ordeal. I'm simply relieved you learn quickly." He leans down and his voice goes quiet, "I broke quite a few shinai teaching the same lesson to my son."

"Thank you, Mihawk-Shishou." You smile as you straighten up. "I feel like I've been rewarded with a picture of Zoro as a kid." You admit with a warm smile.

"Mm, I believe I have a photo album or two that would be of great interest to you." Mihawk muses, his voice still quiet. "Get cleaned up, and I'll see what I can find." He instructs, his voice back to its usual levels.

The great wide smile that graced your face was the most genuine smile you'd had in some time. You were practically skipping out of the dojo and didn't notice Zoro in the hall, as you nearly ran to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

After the incident with the arrows the entire estate had been effectively put under protective custody. There had been notices sent to the families of the students who attended the dojo, and they were given a choice as to what to do based on the information that the police were aware of. There was nothing to suggest the perpetrator would harm the students, but it was impossible to fully predict.

In the end, barely 20% of the students had decided to put their lessons on hold. School was in session, so you still had Zoro, Mihawk, and the house almost entirely to yourself for the vast majority of the day. There was one class in the late afternoon, and another in the early evening during the week, and five classes Saturday and Sunday.

Mihawk usually led all the classes, but since Zoro wasn't leaving to his EMT duties he was leading a good chunk of the classes himself. He wasn't one for saying much, but he instructed the younger kids so well you caught yourself standing outside the dojo door listening to him for entire class at one point. You were certain he knew you were in the hall listening in, but only because one of the students had asked why his ears were red.

"Focus on your stance, not my ears." Zoro had grumbled.

The memory played through your mind as you soaked in the bathtub. The quiet emotion that had been building in your heart for the last three weeks was obvious, even if you were hesitant to name it. The warm water was suddenly insufficient, it wasn't warm the way he was. It scared you a little bit, that someone had become this important to you.

No one had dared to become important to you since you were sixteen. Even if they tried, you hadn't let them. But he had stepped through walls you thought were impassable with such ease you weren't sure you had ever built any to begin with. You weren't even sure when you had consciously become comfortable around him.

You had invited him into your apartment after knowing him for a day. You'd embraced him and kissed him before two weeks had even passed. It didn't matter if those time frames were fast or slow for others, but you knew Nami for almost a year before you had let her hug you.

You wonder idly, how things would've gone if you had met him on your own. Would your paths have even crossed without intervention from the WG? Something about owing gratitude to the government rankled in you, but you pushed it aside.

The end result was good. Even if you lucked out, there was no reason to dismiss that. You imagined though, what it would've been like to meet him at the library, for no other reason than random happenstance.

Your face scrunches up and your heart twists. The world was what it was and for a brief moment you had imagined finding him at your library reading a matchbook belonging to someone else. Someone wholly different from you, but still a good fit for him. Someone who didn't have some psycho arsonist archer putting holes in his childhood home.

Your mind and emotions get away from you and you couldn't stop yourself from the sob that spilled out. You let yourself cry it out, settling down relatively quickly and washing your face a second time to relieve some of the swelling. It was a terribly useless thought to have, things hadn't gone that way, but the very idea of it was more painful than you had expected.

You got dressed and towel dried your hair, and when you stepped out of the bath you weren't entirely surprised to see Zoro waiting for you outside of it. The look on his face made you stop and regard him a little more closely than usual.

"You okay?" You ask, reaching out and intertwining your fingers with his.

He nods, lifting your hand to his mouth and kissing the back of it lightly. He'd started doing that when you started talking again, and the gesture was sweet and reassuring.

"Are you?" He questions, inclining his head toward the bathroom. "I didn't mean to hear."

It takes a moment for you to realize, and your face goes red. You look down at your feet, leaving your hand tangled in his and clear your throat softly.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I... I just..." you pull your hands away and cover your face. "It's embarrassing, but it wasn't bad, I mean, it was, but you don't have to worry about it." You peek up from behind your hands. "I really am okay."

He gives you a disbelieving look, which isn't too different from his usual scowl, and crosses his arms. "Tell me."

Mihawk had, at one point, told you both you would need to use your words more to avoid silent assumptions. Just because you had been doing well so far, it was good practice to be almost painfully honest with one another sooner rather than later. Especially since there wasn't a safe way to get you both to a counselor with the arsonist still on the loose.

"I... thought about you reading a matchbook belonging to someone else, when we had first met in my library, and it made me cry." You say quietly. You could feel him tense, and you looked up to clarify, panicking slightly. "I mean, I wondered what it would've been like to get to know you without the government having set it up and how I hoped things would still work out, but things are what they are, you know? And if we had met under different circumstances then that would've meant you would've had someone else as a match and I didn't want that, and so thinking about it made me sad and I cried, but I'm okay."

His initial frustration was lost in the deluge of your words, and you can see the pink creeping across his cheeks and into his ears. He doesn't say anything but eventually he puts a hand over his mouth and looks away as his face continues to go red.

It looks positively adorable, and you can feel relief, and a grin, bubbling up in you.

"Say it," you request, moving to try and catch his gaze. If you had to use your words, then so did he.

He dodges your gaze a couple times before he spins you around and hugs you from behind. You lean back against him, enjoying the warm and safe feelings that comes from this position.

"Cute," he manages to say. "You looked cute when you were rambling and," his voice drops low, and you can feel his arms tighten against you. "I wanted more."

Your face goes as red as his and you nod. "T-tonight." You say quietly. He grunts and there's an acceptance in it, and oddly also a feeling of impatience. "Mihawk is waiting for me, so I c-can't right now."

"Humph."

You giggle. "Don't be jealous of your father."

"I'm not jealous," he grumbles, holding onto you tightly for a moment before releasing you. "He just needs to go on a vacation."

Zoro smiles at the embarrassment scrawled across your face and kisses you softly on the forehead. "Go on."

You head to Mihawk's study, desperately trying to think about all the cute Zoro kid pictures you're going to see, and not about all the sexy Zoro adult you're going to see tonight. You knock on the door and open it up when you hear Mihawk speak on the other side of it.

The study is more brightly lit than usual and there are three photo albums on his desk. Mihawk usually kept the light focused on his desk, but there's plenty of extra light to look at the pictures. He taps the albums and gestures to the chair that had been set nearby.

"You may look at them at your leisure, but if you have any questions, I am available." He states as you sit down and pick up the first heavy leather-bound book.

You open the first book and have to stifle a squeal that would send nearby dogs into a frenzy. A very young Zoro has his mouth open, showing off the gap of having lost both of his front teeth at the same time. He was terribly adorable.

The pictures in Mihawk's collection weren't all that different from the ones in the Matchbook. Little Zoro smiled more, but he was practicing that scowl of his even as a toddler. You were stuck with the most pleased, goofiest grin on your face as you flipped through the pages.

You had gotten through one book, pausing to ask Mihawk who some of the people were, or what event was happening, but mostly just looking quietly on your own. When you opened the second book Zoro came into the room. He didn't fully clear the doorway before realizing what was going on.

He made a strangled kind of noise, but the look on your face stopped anything he might have been ready to say. He came into the room, caught between a few emotions, and turned to Mihawk.

"Afternoon class is here."

"Do you want to instruct them, or answer questions for Miss (Y/N) when she asks?" Mihawk questioned, looking sternly at Zoro. The point was, no matter what, you were going to be looking through the photo albums, and the grumpy swordsman wouldn't be able to stop it.

Zoro looks at you and you smile up at him. "I would love to look through these with you." You say happily.

He lets out a sigh that is equal parts resignation and defeat and Mihawk gets up and leaves the room without another word. Zoro moves the chair, a footstool, and you, without a word.

When he's done, he's in the chair, and you're in his lap, his legs and your legs are propped up on the footstool. The album's in your lap and he can see easily from over your shoulder.

"If I had known," he grumbles softly as you open the second book.

"Mm." You reply with a smile and a satisfied hum. "And that's why I didn't say." Your voice has a mischievous edge to it as you turn a page. "Omigosh."

You hear Zoro click his tongue as you nearly squeal at the image. Little Zoro, probably no more than six, is in a suit. His hair is as tamed as any six-year-old's hair can be, and there's a little blue flower in the jacket pocket. He's holding a ring box and looks absolutely furious to have been roped into being a ring bearer.

"One of Mihawk's friends had gotten married just before the Arranged marriage stuff went down. They did one of those Justice of the Peace deals and then for their 10th anniversary had a ceremony." Zoro explains.

"Oh that's... kind of bittersweet." You admit, and Zoro makes a soft sound of agreement. "You were terribly adorable as a kid though." You say, changing the subject.

"All brats are cute; they can't help it." He grumbles.

Turning the pages, you realize there's a young girl recurring in them. "Who's she?"

"Kuina," you feel him take a deep breath and he sighs. "She died when I was eight."

"Oh. Oh I'm sorry." You realize it was a lot of years ago, but you still feel bad about bringing up such a sad memory.

Zoro ruffles your hair. "It's okay. I started developing Santoryu after that." He admits.

You smile and lean back into him. It was a very Zoro way to remember someone dear to him, you had to admit. After a moment you go back to turning through the pages of pictures, and the room fills with sounds from both you - pleased gasps from you, and grumpy muttering from Zoro. Especially when you found a series of him in different Halloween costumes.

Your favorite was his pirate costume, but the matching chef's outfits him and a classmate had worn were cute as well.

Putting the photo albums back you felt him come up behind you. His finger traces along the lines of the books, caging you between him and the bookcase. You can feel the need rolling off him, and frankly you're just glad he hasn't initiated things in the middle of the study.

"After dinner." He says quietly, his lips brushing over your neck softly.

You nod, making a soft affirming sound, and he turns away and exits the study a little faster than usual.

A/N: >.>
ahem. 

Also, I've decided what I'm going to have happen (finally!) so don't be surprised to see this story hit Completed Status before 2023.