You were on the couch with your foot in Mihawk's hands. He had just taken the bandages off and was scrutinizing the state of the wound. It had been four days since the break-in, and you were well-rested and settling into your new home nicely. Well, settling as much as you could while you were still an active patient.

The only times you'd been relying on your crutches were when Zoro was working an EMT shift. Otherwise, the greenette always seemed to show up when you were ready to move from point A to point B. Not that you were being left alone a lot. You and Zoro had been spending a good amount of time together, even if most of it was shared silence, it wasn't awkward.

"It's healing up nicely," Mihawk assures you, putting a small bandage over it and not wrapping your foot up for once. "Take a couple steps, Miss (Y/N)."

You were glad it only took a couple days to convince Mihawk to use your first name. Now if he could drop the 'miss' your victory would be complete. For now, you just nod, swinging your feet around and setting them on the floor before carefully standing up.

It felt weird to have both feet on the floor, you'd been hobbling around in one way or another for the last few days. Taking a few easy tentative steps away from the couch you felt a small zing of pain go through your foot, but nothing major. After a few more steps it wasn't even all that noticeable.

"It's still a little tender," you admit, "but it doesn't feel too bad at all. I should be able to go back to work soon."

"Sit," Mihawk instructs. It's gentle, but not up for negotiation, and so you sit back on the couch and put your injured foot back into his lap. He pulls the small bandage off and there's a fleeting shift in the expression on his face.

Zoro could be hard to read at first, but Mihawk was like trying to decipher the emotional state of a flash of lightning. You couldn't stare, but you couldn't blink either. The only thing working in his favor was that his default setting was a little more approachable than Zoro's. The younger one had a near permanent scowl, Mihawk was just a very intense neutral.

"It split, but it's not bleeding." He explains evenly before you have a chance to ask. "I'm going to wrap it again. You can use it more than you have been, however avoid putting all your weight on it for today."

"Yes, sir." You nod with a smile.

You restrain yourself from wandering freely around the entire estate just because you've been given permission to move without the crutches. It wouldn't do any good to end up pulling the wound open entirely and bringing yourself back to square one. The crutches made getting around easier, especially since you didn't have to put all your weight on the crutch.

You milled about in your room, reorganizing some things around now that you could stand up on your own for a bit. You heard the rumble of the car returning after a couple hours and hopped your way to the front of the house.

You meant to greet Zoro with a smile, since you could get yourself to the door on your own. Once you saw him, however, your face fell. His clothes were different, and there was something about his expression that carried a terrible weight. He stopped in front of you, but it took a minute for him to look up at you.

The burden of loss was in the air, along with the light, but unmistakable, smell of blood.

"It's okay." You blurt out the words. You don't know exactly what happened, but you knew he was doing EMT work. It was obvious that sometimes things would go bad, no matter how hard one tried to stop it from happening. "You can talk about it if you want, I can listen, and if you don't want to, you don't have to. It's okay."

The soft smile that finds his face before the weight of the day pulls it back down nearly breaks your heart. You reach out to hug him, but you pull your hands back. The desire to hug him was yours, he might not want the contact.

"It's okay." Zoro says hoarsely, and he leans toward you a little as you lean up a little and hug him.

He doesn't hug you back, but his head sinks into your shoulder and you both stay there quietly for a few long moments before you hear Mihawk coming up behind you. Zoro takes a step back from you and you turn toward Mihawk. The young man puts a hand on your shoulder as he walks by, stopping briefly and bowing slightly toward Mihawk before continuing into the house.

You bow slightly to Mihawk as well and head to the kitchen.

An hour later you slide the door to the dojo open and set a tray down just inside the room. You can hear Zoro training, and you look up before you can stop yourself. He only has one "sword" in his hands. It's more like a modified barbell, that can be gripped like a katana, but it has several weights set on it for more resistance.

The movements are basic, but practiced and flawless, at least as far as you can tell. He wasn't a bad looking man by default, but something about him right now was gorgeous. Watching him train could be bad for your health – good for the arranged marriage, perhaps, but now was a bad time to point that out.

You close the door quietly, and sit down in the hall, just off to the side, opening up a book you'd taken from the library. The steady sounds of his training comfort you as you read. There's something relaxing in his tempo, and maybe that's part of why he's in there right now.

The steady rhythm of his training fades into the background of your mind, as you fall deeper and deeper in your book. It wasn't anything overly interesting, but it was written in an older language, so the extra concentration demanded your focus. You don't know how much time passed, but you realize the sounds of Zoro's training have ceased.

Closing your book, you look around just in time for the door to the dojo to slide open. Zoro has the tray of food you had made in his hand, and you see the flash of surprise on his face as he steps out of the room and into the hall. You offer him a smile and fold your legs neatly in front of you in case he means to walk by.

Instead he sits down. He smells of iron and sweat, and you can see the signs of his efforts soaked into his Gi. You had believed muscle heads to be stinky and offensive, but none of those words felt applicable. He might not smell like dried flowers and rainbows right now, but it wasn't bothersome.

"You were out here the whole time?"

You shrug. "I made that first, got this book, and then yes."

"You can cook?" There's a bit of surprise in his tone that ruffles your feathers, but you let it go.

"I can. I won't be opening a restaurant or anything, but I think I do well enough." You admit with a small smile. "Cooking for people makes me feel... good." You were going to say "useful", but it felt too self-deprecating, even if it was more toward the truth.

Zoro grunts, uncovering the tray and reaching for one of the rice balls. He takes a bite but doesn't say anything. He doesn't make a face either and when he takes a second quiet bite you decide to take it as a positive sign.

The two of you sat there quietly. He never said what had happened at work, and you didn't ask. When he was done, he set the tray on the book, set the book on your lap, and then picked you up easily. You laugh a little, but don't move against him.

"I'm allowed to walk a bit today, your father said so."

There's a moment's silence, and then a fleeting quiet smile. "It makes me feel good."

You lean your head against his shoulder with a smile of your own and the two of you move about the house. The book is returned, the food tray is returned, Mihawk is slightly ignored as you're carried past him without Zoro even stopping, and then you're outside the door to the big bathroom. There's a tense moment of silence as you both start trying to sort out what's going on.

Zoro sets you down, and there's pink in both of his ears. His mouth shifts for a moment and he seems to be trying to figure out how to say what he wants to say.

"You need a shower." You prompt.

"Yeah."

"I do too, I suppose." You admit, realizing that while he doesn't stink, he was sweaty, and now you are too.

He looks away and the heat moves beyond his ears to his cheeks.

"It's... perhaps a bit soon to, um, shower together." You admit, feeling your own face start to heat up. You two haven't had a proper hug, or kiss, never mind anything beyond that. Now that your mind is going that route you can't un-think it, and your poor brain is panicking.

"Just... wait here." Zoro walks away and comes back a few minutes later with a chair and the book you had been reading earlier. You smile, it's obvious what the issue is. He needs to shower, but you've been enjoying each other's quiet company and he doesn't want you to wander away.

"This works." You assure him, sitting down and flipping back to your page.

"Thanks." The single word has weight to it and is followed by a warm quick kiss on your forehead before he disappears into the bathroom.

It takes you a few moments to begin reading your book.

You and Zoro trade off on the bathroom and the chair, and after you're done you come out and find him reading the book.

"You know that language?"

"Yeah. Not well, but I can manage." He admits, closing the book. "Need to wrap the foot?"

"Yeah. Mihawk said it doesn't need much, so I think it's just to make sure nothing gets on the floor if there's an accident." Zoro stands up and you take a step back, face already red. You had decided during your shower that you were going to ask, and the words are a lot harder to say than you imagined.

Zoro's head tilts to the side after a moment.

"If you don't want me to pick you up, I won't."

"That's not it. I," you open your arms, "I want a hug. You've been carrying me around and it's nice, but I want a hug."

You can feel the smile on his face and hear the soft escape of a chuckle before he leans down and wraps his arms around you. One around your waist, one around the middle of your back, leaving you to wrap your open arms around his shoulders. Your hands shift a bit, and your fingers absently wander into damp hair.

The world seems to slow down. You can feel the thump of your heart, the warmth of his hands, and the comfortable pressure of the embrace. It would be so easy for it to shift into something more, but the pre-arranged marriage makes you hesitant. There's no choice in the end result, but the journey should be something you can both control, and you're worried about wresting control from him and having it make things awkward.

"Don't let go." Zoro says after a moment, shifting his hands and lifting you up while you're still hugging him.

You bury your red face into the crook of his neck. Your heart is thundering in your chest, and your chest, thanks to the combination of the hug and lift, is pushed against his. Your jig is up, your goose is cooked, you have been found out, you are completely certain of it. You're watching the floor over his shoulder, and your racing mind settles on the fact you're not alone in this house, but you also haven't seen Mihawk since Zoro ignored him earlier.

"I won't do anything you don't want." Zoro says finally, setting you down on the couch and grabbing the first aid box.

"I, uh, what?" You come out of your brain frazzled thoughts at the sound of his voice.

"Your heart's going to pop at that rate, I'm saying you can calm down, I'm not going to eat you." There was a grumble in his voice, but you could see the blush on his ears as he sat down and opened the box.

"Oh... um... I'm not afraid of you." You admit quietly, lifting your foot up for him. Your eyes keep darting to him and looking away, but after a few long moments you find enough gusto to go for it. "If anything... I'm glad that... you're my match."

You felt his fingers twitch as he was wrapping your foot, and the heat shot up your face so fast you were concerned your damp hair would literally steam. Zoro sets your foot on the floor, and you felt him shift nearer to you, kneeling on the floor in front of you, hands on either side of your lap. His gaze catches yours, and something in those deep dark eyes of his cause your heart to calm, but even so you can't hold onto it for long.

His hands move up along your arms. Steady and slow, with every opportunity for you to either move away or ask him to stop. Calloused, worn fingers slip through your hair, gently rubbing the damp locks between his digits. He moves his head deliberately to catch your gaze again, his scowl much less of a scowl than usual, but not enough to be called a smile. There's a seriousness in it, one that causes you heart to start speeding up again.

"Me too," he whispers softly, eyes shifting away from yours and to your lips.

The door in the entry slides open and Mihawk steps in. He's not loud, but he's not quiet, and you're both snapped out of your mood by the unexpected intrusion.

The older man doesn't even glance your way, "I'm not so easy to ignore twice, I see."

Your face and Zoro's face go red, though for entirely different reasons.