1 - Crocodile and Yvonne

Crocodile ended up sighing when it was confirmed that yes, Yvonne had looked elsewhere and yes, she was unfortunately right about the whole thing.
"We still have the canvas, right? He asked her in a tired voice. "I'll see what I can do with that." Not much, that was for sure.

Yvonne sighed as well. "Be my guest. I guess you could try to hoist it up somehow, but of course it won't stay in place with only that single pole." She glared at the few pieces of the tent that were still scattered on the ground. Useless junk. If only she could have walked all the way back to that shop, she would have surely given a piece of her mind to that seller.
Her gaze fell on the tent she'd set up and she pressed her lips into a tight line.

There was no way the two of them could ever fit in there together - not without making it absolutely uncomfortable. In every meaning of the word.

Crocodile was quite a stubborn man. He was. He tried to make it work the best he could, because there was no way the two of them would ever fit under one tent. One, because it was small, and two, he didn't even want to think about the kind of tension there might be between two ex lovers whose relationship had met a rather bad ending.
Not that he still had hopes about it or anything. Yvonne was still as lovely and desirable as ever, but there was a whole wall of resentment between the two of them. And along with the wall, he intended for it to be two layers of tent fabric.

He took a deep breath, trying to collect himself, and eventually came back towards the fireplace, where he sat down, with a grim look on his face.

Yvonne had sat herself on the other side of the campfire and started to rub her gloved hands together a little, at times getting them closer to the flames to warm them up.
From her little corner she quietly observed Crocodile's numerous and sadly useless attempts to shape the mess of too few metal parts and fabric into something that would vaguely resemble a tent.

Oh he was stubborn alright. Extremely stubborn. But for how irritating it could have been at times, she guessed that was part of his charm - and she couldn't deny that his confidence had been one of the first things that had drawn her in. 
That, and his large shoulders had definitely played a part.

She scoffed and forced herself to look away, and again towards the only proper tent they had. For how handsome and attractive Crocodile still was to her, the mere thought of having to share such a tight space with him after the way things had ended between them...

No. Personal space was definitely needed.

She carefully looked at him, studying his expression when he finally sat back down in front of her. "So", she started. "What are we going to do?" Well, since he looked so grim, she thought it better have him decide. She wasn't trying to be argumentative.

"We?" Crocodile scoffed, and shook his head. Now, had it been anyone else, he'd have claimed the tent, and would have been ready to fight for it.

His expression softened just a little, however. He hid it quite quickly with another pissed frown. "I'm going to stay out and stand watch. No matter how wet this jungle is, as long as it doesn't rain, I'll be fine."

The air was quite wet, but if the locals had told Yvonne that there wouldn't be any more tempest or something close to that, there was no reason for him to get worried. And after all - that wouldn't be his first night sleeping outside, directly on the ground. He too had been young and adventurous, one day.

Yvonne scoffed back at him. "Yes, we - in case you haven't noticed yet, there's two of us here, who need to decide on things together for the time being", she pointed out flatly.

She was a little taken aback by his suggestion, though. Weirdly gentlemanly of him, actually, and she could maybe have felt a little touched by the gesture, if it hadn't been for the infuriatingly pissed expression he was sporting.

Well. She wasn't going to sit there and just let him decide on everything. She could be equally as stubborn as him.

"Fine", she answered. "You may wake me up after four hours. We can take turns." Sure, maybe she was more used to be in the lap of luxury, but during her training as a soldier she had definitely slept in worse places than some jungle on an insignificant island.

Crocodile scoffed, but didn't protest this once. Alright. He could eventually use some sleep inside the tent at some point, it wasn't a ridiculous offer. "We'll do that," he replied eventually, before he took a serving of whatever cans they had heated up for that night.

Heavens, he couldn't wait to find an inn again and pay for a room and eat at a table.

The rest of the evening passed by painfully slowly, with neither of the two making too many efforts at conversation, and then he left Yvonne be for the night. He remained sat at the fire for the time being, seeing no use of lying down on the ground on the fabric of the second, useless tent.

'At least it isn't raining,' he thought to himself once more, focusing on the wetness of the air to prove himself that no, this wasn't that bad.
Just when he thought that the air felt a little odd compared to before, a drop of rain comically fell on his nose.

Even though she would have definitely rejoiced as soon as she'd have access to real food, a bathroom and a normal bedroom with a mattress, Yvonne was quite used to silent dinners, so she couldn't say she was overly bothered by how the rest of the evening had played out. Plus, she had her little victory for the night (Crocodile had surrendered to her compromise), so all was good.

She had excused herself soon after she was done eating, and had retired inside the tent, where she had proceeded to unroll the bedding before starting to prepare for the night - clean her face, undo her hairdo into a loose ponytail. She had been laying down for a while and had almost fallen asleep by the time rain started falling, hitting the fabric of the tent sparcely and slowly at first - then rapidly evolving into something far less gentle.

She mentally readied herself, at that point. Well - no one in their sane mind would have stood outside under that downpour, so of course she expected Crocodile to grumpily make space for himself inside the tent any moment now.

But Crocodile didn't come.

Honestly, now. She could have turned on her other side and absolutely not care about anything that was going on outside her little refuge. She could have. And instead she raised from her makeshift bed and opened up the entrance of the tent. "Crocodile?", she called out. Was he really still sitting there!?

"What."

To say that Crocodile was pissed would be the understatement of the century.

The rain had started slow, alright. It had left him the time to grab the fabric of the second tent and wrap it over him, using his powers to have it hover a little over his head for some comfort.

But then there had been some pouring rain, that made the air so wait the tent had fallen on his head, soaking him in the process from head to toe.
Marvellous.

He had just spat out his now useless cigar into the former fireplace when Yvonne called out to him, making him even grumpier than before. Oh, so she wasn't sleeping yet? Couldn't she take advantage of that stupid, sole functional tent while she could?

Yvonne hesitated when she heard the barely concealed anger in Crocodile's voice. She was strongly tempted to close her mouth and simply get back inside the tent. Only for a split second, though.
Then she sighed, deciding to let her sympathy get the best of her.

How couldn't she. That might have been one of the most pitiful scenes she had ever seen in her life - and she had seen a lot of those, unfortunately.

"Oh, don't tell me you're seriously intentioned to stay there and keep on soaking yourself for the next three hours", she answered with a scoff - but a lot more gently than she'd been until now, really. "Come on, get in. It might be a bit narrow in here with the two of us, but I'm fairly sure it's a hundred times better than the rain."

Crocodile groaned, and would have probably argued that no, this was a stupid idea, that it'd get uncomfortable for the both of them on so many levels...

But then again, he was soaked wet and he hated the feeling. He got up, and winced when he felt some water making his feet squish inside his own shoes.

"Get back inside, and make some space for me. I'll need to get everything off first," he grumbled moodily to Yvonne, not thinking once about clarifying what he meant with 'everything off'. It might have just been the tent fabric over his head.

Yvonne felt relieved that she didn't have to fight a grown man out of his own stubborness - because honestly, she was certainly not going to beg him to be reasonable, nor was she feeling charitable enough to get outside her dry repair to try and shove him inside.
She would have resolved to do that in the end, but not out of charity, mind you. It would have been out of aggravation.

She simply nodded at him, definitely agreeing in her mind that yes he would have to get rid of that stupid fabric he was wearing over his head and shoulders before he'd be allowed to set a foot inside the tent, and returned back inside. She unrolled the second bedding, making sure to cover the whole ground (that was protected by an additional layer of water-proof cover, of course), and then tried to make herself as small as she could, rolling all the way on one side of the tent.

Crocodile had thrown the fabric of his own tent over Yvonne's, and created a small roof over his own head with that stupid, useless pole so that he might get anything soaked off him.

He had to use his powers in the end to mostly dry himself up. He was rather tired so this didn't feel perfect, but it was better than nothing.

When he finally carefully crawled into the tent, he was wearing no more than his underwear (as in, his undershirt and a pair of boxers).

Yvonne, who'd been trying to find a comfortable position laying on her back in the leftmost corner of the tent, propped herself up on her elbows when the fabric opened at the entrance to let Crocodile in. Well, he was the most cumbersome out of the two of them after all, and she needed to be ready to adjust herself accordingly.

What she was not ready for was all that naked skin, or the fact that she actually suddenly felt the tiniest bit flustered about this.

Alright, look, it wasn't as if it was all that extremely inappropriate. It was only logical that he'd leave his soaked clothes outside the tent. He was still fairly covered up, as far as underclothes go. She was quite dressed too, only missing her ankle boots and her jacket.

It was the context more than the sight itself, really (even though the fact that despite herself she kept on finding him attractive surely did not help). Their past history, for one. The very little amount of personal space they'd have for the next hours. The fact that Crocodile was usually so overdressed too made this sudden half-nakedness feel way more scandalous than it should have been, honestly.

She wordlessly looked elsewhere before she could be caught staring, and quickly busied herself shifting a little more so that he could enter the tent with the least trouble, adopting the most nonchalant expression she could muster.

Crocodile had to look up at some point, and his gaze probably caught Yvonne's for a brief second before she looked away. That too unsettled him just a little bit: was she embarrassed to see him by now? Why then, out of shame of what had once happened between the two of them?

A tiny part of his brain hoped that she was just flustered by being reminded of what they had once been, but he quickly shooed it away. Instead, he closed the tent behind him, and tried to find his way inside. It was a small tent, alright. Meant for only one person.

He sighed deeply and tried to lie down, but found it rather difficult to put his limbs anywhere. That, and one of his limbs ended with a huge metal hook.

For as much as she had kind of been the one taking the first step towards that particular direction back then (by lightly hinting at how late it was and then not making a single move to leave), Yvonne was still a bit old-fashioned when it came to certain things. So yes, it was safe to think she was also embarrassed.

Fluster and embarrassment alike kind of vanished when they started to try and find a way to lay down that wouldn't bother one or the other. She tried to adjust herself without complaining, she really did, but the fact that Crocodile was shaped like a behemot and literally took up three quarters of an already quite small space didn't make that easy. 

"Your elbow is planted in my back", she let out when he had stopped to move. She tried to move herself at that point, but by doing so she probably shoved him too close to the other end of the tent - or ended up kicking the back of his leg.

This was not going to work.

Crocodile groaned with frustration when Yvonne complained out loud about one of his limbs being stuck where it shouldn't be. This definitely wasn't going to work this way.

Being back to back had proved impossible, facing each other was out of question because logistically speaking this was stupid, and lying on his back had been impossible.

"Turn your back to me," he eventually said with mild irritation, while he himself turned on his side, resting his head on his own elbow. If Yvonne did as he had asked, he'd wrap his heavy arm with the hook across her waist, and sigh with relief when it turned out that his legs weren't all that cramped anymore.

Yvonne huffed, but she did turn her back to Crocodile as he had asked because she was tired, she wanted to sleep, and she was feeling a little cramped as well. By now any solution that would work was welcome in her book, and if Crocodile had one then good.

Then she felt his arm slung across her, at her waist's height. She stiffened minutely.

Ah, she thought idly. Well. Yes, this was possibly the only solution. She could stretch out her legs without bothering him now, and draw her arms up towards her chest to avoid his hook. It was not the most comfortable she'd ever been, but still. There was no need to be childish about this. "Well", she observed quietly, "I suppose this can work." She lifted her hand to brush her hair out of the way, lightly bumping into his chest as she did so. "We'll both have to avoid moving too much, but it won't be a problem."

"It's never been an issue before," Crocodile muttered back in a tired voice. Granted, they had very rarely slept like this. Crocodile was the kind of man who liked his space when he slept - and when they did sleep together, there usually had been a former activity that got him to get rid of the hook.

There was no ounce of intimacy between the two of them anymore, so feeling Yvonne slightly flushed against his chest didn't make his heart feel light. Quite the opposite, actually.

It did however help him to relax enough to fall asleep quickly like this.

Yvonne pressed her lips together. "I know. I remember", she murmured. It was more to herself than to answer him, and the words brought a twinge of bittersweetness along with them.

But the warmth of his body next to hers made her unease die down in the end, and that, united with the exhaustion brought on by the day, made her fall asleep shortly after.

She would wake up when the sun would start to light up the area a little, and either wait for Crocodile to wake up if he hadn't yet (she couldn't possibly move on her own without waking him up, with his hook blocking her in place) or silently put her jacket and shoes back on again before exiting the tent in case he'd be gone already.

Crocodile had turned to sand early in the morning, when the air was dry enough, and he had gone outside to dress back up again. He was sitting by their former fireplace, busy smoking after he had eaten his breakfast.

"I've taken a look out," he told her in lieu of a proper greeting, and pointed at the sky to explain wordlessly that he had flown up. "It'll take us a few hours, but we'll reach the edge of the island, and we might join a town by the end of the day."

No, he wouldn't address the fact that she had been right on the previous night to prevent him from walking any further ahead.

Yvonne stood silently at the entrance of the tent as she listened to Crocodile, diligently buttoning her jacket back on. "Good morning to you as well", was the first thing she answered pointedly to him, with a little smile. "But, good to know. I miss civilization - and if the town is large enough, we could find a good enough boat to bring us further on." She paused. "A few hours, hm. Alright", she casually added. Yes, she definitely had been right.

She was quite quick to prepare her own breakfast while he smoked - and made quick work, while she was waiting for her food warm up a little bit, to carefully fix her hair back up and re-apply her lipstick.
Being in the middle of nowhere wasn't an excuse to look sloppy and shabby.

Crocodile had remained pointedly quiet - there was nothing to add to what Yvonne had said. He couldn't wait to go back to civilization either.

He did look at her for a bit while she got ready for the day - fixing her hair and make-up - and didn't comment on it. Why would he? He got it, alright. They might be in the wild, and he might have been soaked wet on the night before, but he too had taken the time to be presentable on that same morning, going as far as to comb his hair.

Besides, he was too busy trying not to think about how nice it had felt to wake up at Yvonne's side on that morning.
He shook his head, and started to take down their stupid tent after drying it up.

--

It took them roughly two weeks to finally get their hands on snailphones. Crocodile had thought he was about to lose it when they had to share a bed again on their last night on this stupid archipelago, but one look at Yvonne and he had just brushed that frustration off and under the rug.

He was just mostly frustrated at himself, honestly.

They had crossed jungles, plains and a little bit of sea together during those past few days, and Crocodile had found himself appreciating Yvonne's company like he did before. Except...Things were different, now.

They had shared a bed on their last night together because the inn was packed, not because they wanted to. He had held her against his chest because there wasn't enough room for the two of them on that mattress, not because they wanted to.

He had however taken the hook off this time, and although he had woken up first as per usual, he had not gotten up from bed right away. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he liked the cosiness of it. Of them, in this bed, curled up against each other. Of Yvonne's hair that smelled of her shower from the night before. Of her chest, pressed flushed against his own, that rose and fell at a familiar pace.

Things were different. Yes, that was the perfect way to describe how it worked between her and Crocodile - how it had worked during those two weeks of travel, too.

Yvonne had no difficulties to admit that she had been the one to build most of the wall of distrust that stood tall between the two of them - she could argue she'd had all the rights to. She had been the one who had been betrayed, out of the two of them.

But as the days went on, as they traversed that god-forsaken archipelago together, she could feel a little bit of that wall crumble under her fingers even as she desperately tried to keep it up. Crocodile was, at the same time, everything she remembered him to be and a person she was utterly unfamiliar with - and this confused her in a way she'd never thought possible.

When, right on their last night on the last island, they found out that they'd have to share a bed once again - because apparently destiny found putting the two of them in this kind of situation extremely funny, she guessed - she had huffed and issued a little complaint, but the doubt that her protests were only half-hearted ones kept on bugging her for a long time afterwards.

She too had shoved her own frustration away after one glance in Crocodile's direction.

She had fallen asleep in his arms, listening to his steady heartbeat and put into a strange, familiar ease by the warmth of his body against hers - and when she had woken up, shortly after him, she too had not immediately moved away, choosing to soak in those last moments of peace before the wall between them would have to be brought up once again.

She stirred a bit after a little while, feeling like it was probably the right thing to do - make him aware that she was waking up, so that he could get away.

When he felt Yvonne stir, Crocodile reluctantly let her go, without a second of hesitation. Their past relationship was way behind them, and he had mourned it already.

He vaguely pretended to have just woken up as well, and stood up just a few seconds later, to get his shirt on, and then he grabbed the harness of his hook to attach it on his arm with a practiced move.

Only when he heard Yvonne getting up from bed behind him did he speak up.
"Good morning."
The last time he had greeted her with such words first thing in the morning dated back to a little more than two years ago. Now, the words felt odd on his tongue.