AN: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda!
Hey! You were actually supposed to get this before Christmas (oops?), so hope you enjoy it! It came from the prompt "Wasn't I worth a goodbye?". So here's a rare bit of Zosan from me!
(And there is a very long sentence in this and, yes, it is supposed to be like that! It's part of a rant, like you do in real life ;P )
"Wasn't I worth a goodbye?"
"Huh?" Zoro grunted as he turned towards the blonde chef.
"I was wondering why you were trying to leave without saying goodbye." Sanji sighed as he released a pale stream of cigarette smoke.
"I did say goodbye, Ero-Cook." Zoro grumbled as he forced the zip of his bag closed.
"Not to me, you didn't." Sanji returned in annoyance.
"Must have forgotten." Zoro shrugged as he slung his rucksack over his shoulder.
"Thanks, Shitty-Swordsman." Sanji snorted in indignation. "What's this journey for anyway?"
"Just needed some time to myself." Zoro sighed as he shouldered past Sanji to get to the door.
"You spend half your time on your own anyway, so how's taking some shitty journey going to get you some more alone time?" Sanji began as he turned to follow after his green haired friend. "You'll just end up lost and never find your way back."
"And I doubt that would bother you." Zoro snapped as he pulled the door open wide enough for both him and his bag. He felt Sanji flinch and paused. "Look, I just need to do this, ok?"
"You know we'd miss you if you never came back, Marimo." Sanji mumbled awkwardly, his gaze focused on Zoro's boots.
"Don't bother with the shitty spiel, Cook," Zoro growled, "we both know you 'have' to say it. We've always been blunt with each other before, so don't start that shit now. Just go back to the party and swoon over the girls." He finished as he walked out of the room without looking back over his shoulder.
Sanji stared at the empty doorway as something pulled in his chest. Why the hell was the idiot so determined to go? They had had pretty serious fights before, but none that made either of them want to leave! But Zoro was refusing to say goodbye to him, so it had to be his fault. There was no way this was over the shit that happened last week! Yeah, he had shouted at his roommate for going through his stuff and they had ended up in a fight, but that should not have made the Marimo want to leave!
Sanji stormed out of the room, determined to find out the truth. There was no way in hell he was just going to go back to the party as if nothing was wrong! Why were their friends not trying to stop the idiot?! It just did not make any sense! The Marimo had said goodbye to them and they had just accepted it! If it had not been for Robin, he would not have known the idiot was leaving, never mind in the middle of his own damn birthday party! He had not cut his damn cake yet!
"Zoro, you shitty Marimo, get back here!" He yelled as he started to jog down the hallway.
"I thought I told you to go back to the party!" Zoro called back.
"Not until you tell me why the hell you're leaving and don't you dare give me that bullshit about needing space! I don't like being lied to either, asshole!" Sanji exclaimed bitterly as he caught up with the muscular man and gripped onto his shoulder.
"Well maybe I'm just sick of your shit." Zoro glared, rounding on the blonde cook and grabbing Sanji's wrist tightly to remove the hand from his shoulder.
"Let go of my wrist, Marimo." Sanji hissed as he returned Zoro's glare.
"I'm leaving anyway, so you can go tell Nami on me if you want because I really don't care." Zoro returned, venom weaving through his words.
"Just tell me what the hell you're angry about!?" Sanji yelled back as he threw a kick at Zoro's elbow. Zoro released his wrist just in time to dodge the kick and stood glaring at Sanji for a moment before turning his back on the chef. "Don't walk away from me, Zoro."
Zoro froze. Sanji gulped as he watched his friend standing in the middle of the corridor with every muscle in his broad body tensed. Was this going to be a serious fight? He just wanted the truth! Why could the idiot not just tell him?! He had not wanted to make things worse! He had just wanted to know how things could have suddenly gotten so shitty between them!
"I have no choice but to walk away from you, Ero-Cook." Zoro stated as he took another step away from Sanji.
"Why?" Sanji demanded as he took a stride towards Zoro's retreating back.
"Just go back to the girls, Sanji." Zoro pushed, an unfamiliar tone lurking beneath his strong, serious one.
"I'm not just going to let you go, Zoro." Sanji continued as he began to close the gap.
"Maybe you should think before you speak." Zoro growled, a note of bitterness causing Sanji to pull back his hand before he could grab the swordsman's shoulder once more.
"What happened between us that makes you want to leave so badly?" Sanji asked quietly, letting his own bitterness seep through.
"Nothing." Zoro snapped, flinching at the sound of his own voice.
"Then why won't you at least say goodbye?" Sanji returned as he managed to overtake Zoro and stop the green haired man in his tracks.
"Nothing's happened and I guess I've accepted that nothing ever will." Zoro sighed as he turned his face away from the cook. "I just don't want to watch you doing your usual shit anymore and leaving seems to be the best way to not have to."
"So you're bored with my company? That's why you're leaving? You really are a complete asshole, you know that!?" Sanji snapped, shoving Zoro's chest and failing to move the dense wall of muscle. He lifted his foot and rammed it into his friend's stomach, sending the swordsman flying backwards. "Do you know how unfair that is?! On everyone? On me?! We're friends and you couldn't just talk to me!? Well, sorry if I'm so fucking boring!"
"Sa-Sanji-kun?" Nami's voice called nervously from behind him.
"Nami-swan, I'm sorry your delicate ears had to hear that!" Sanji cooed as he moved towards the top of the stairs where the orange haired girl stood.
"What are the two of you arguing about?" She demanded, suddenly seeming less unsure.
"I was just pointing out to the Marimo that he was being unfair to all of his friends." Sanji smiled charmingly, before throwing a glare in Zoro's direction.
"Sanji, Zoro has his reasons for leaving." Nami sighed, giving the swordsman a strangely sympathetic look.
"I don't need your pity, Witch." Zoro growled as he began to walk towards them, or rather, the stairs.
"Don't talk like that to a lady, Shitty-Swordsman!" Sanji snapped, irritated all over again.
"Fuck off, Ero-Cook." Zoro grunted as he moved to shove passed Sanji.
"No." Sanji stated firmly as he blocked the top of the stairs.
"I told you to fuck off!" Zoro growled as he finally met Sanji's visible eye.
Sanji glared back into Zoro's eye, searching for something. He frowned as he noticed a look of almost desperation in his roommate's dark eye. What the hell was it that no-one would tell him? Sanji had not understood why the others had not tried to stop Zoro, but now it seemed that they all knew something that he did not. Why had they not told him? Was it something that only Zoro could tell him? In which case, why the hell would Zoro not tell him?! They had always been brutally honest with each other before!?
What if they had not?
Sanji gulped as guilt began creeping over him. There was something that he had not told Zoro, but it was not something that the idiot swordsman would ever be okay with. Had Zoro found out the truth and now he was so disgusted at the mere sight of Sanji that he had to leave? He had never thought Zoro would be so unfeeling. Hell, he had thought Zoro had been completely dense, so he could not exactly say that he would be correct in his assumptions about the swordsman.
"Nami-swan, could you please leave us for a moment?" Sanji asked quietly, earning a nod from the orange haired girl as she hurriedly disappeared back down the stairs. The others would likely appear in a few moments so he would have to make this quick. "Marimo, I'm sorry you find me so disgusting, but you don't have to leave. I'm sure one of the others will swap rooms with you, then you at least don't have to share with me." He began bitterly as he glared at the katanas attached to Zoro's waist. "I never thought you'd be this much of an asshole about it though." He added as he clenched his fists.
"Your stupid flirting doesn't disgust me, Ero-Cook." Zoro sighed, seemingly finally accepting that Sanji was not just going to let him go without an explanation.
"Then why do you have to leave?" Sanji demanded as his chest began to ache. He had not expected Zoro's rejection to hurt more than his disapproval.
"I just need some time to get passed this." Zoro grunted as his attention fell to Sanji's jacket pocket.
"And then you're just going come back and act as if nothing's changed?" Sanji returned in disbelief. "You know now and you have to get away from me, so how's leaving going to make things better?!"
"Because then I'll have a chance to refocus on what's important, Shitty-Cook! I don't need you constantly flirting with them when I just need to get all this shit out my head!" Zoro exclaimed, glaring back at Sanji.
"Wait, what?" Sanji frowned, narrowing his eyes at the swordsman in confusion.
So Zoro was not upset at him flirting with him, but for flirting with the girls? Was he honestly going to be so damn childish?! How was Sanji supposed to know that he had found out?! He was not psychic! Zoro was being completely unreasonable! It was one thing to be upset at someone for liking you, but it was something else entirely to be upset with someone for liking you but flirting with someone else when they did not know that the person they liked in the first place knew that they liked them!
"Just go back to your constant womanising and leave me alone." Zoro sighed as he moved to push passed Sanji.
"Zo-" Sanji felt himself stumble, cutting off as he began to fall backwards.
Sanji reached out to grab onto the banister to stop his fall. A strong hand latched onto his bicep and he came to a jolting stop. He looked back at Zoro as he hung there, his feet finally finding a step. Zoro sharply pulled him back to standing with his right hand as he held onto the banister with his left to stop them both tumbling down the stairs. Sanji glanced awkwardly down at his bicep as his suit sleeve was crush against it, emphasising the fact that his jackets make him look less 'skinny'. He was toned, but he was not quite the 'monster' that Zoro was.
"I figured grabbing your arm would be a better idea since grabbing your hand could damage it with the force." Zoro mumbled as he looked away from Sanji.
"Eh, thanks..." Sanji replied, clearing his throat slightly. He moved his other hand to casually remove the cigarette from his mouth to blow smoke into to the idiots face to give himself an air of annoyance. He frowned and glanced down the stairs to see a gentle glow on the concrete below. Well, better the cigarette than him he decided as he took the packet out the inside pocket of his jacket to get a fresh one. "So why attempt to save my hands now when you threatened my wrist earlier?"
"Because you're an asshole." Zoro returned, his ears a strangely pink colour. "You know I wouldn't damage your hands, just like you wouldn't damage Wado."
"Then why make the threat?" Sanji demanded, his annoyance returning as Zoro still tried to avoid answering him.
"It doesn't matter." Zoro grunted as he released Sanji's bicep.
"You know we don't want you to go and I'm not lying or giving you some spiel. I don't want you to go." Sanji admitted quietly as he stared at his crumpled sleeve. "If you go, who am I going to fight with? Surely this gives you even more reason to try to beat me." He mused as he carefully lifted his gaze to Zoro's eye.
"Why? Because slicing you up is actually going to change how I feel? Change how you feel?!" Zoro exclaimed, causing Sanji to tense as he remembered they were still on the stairs. "The only way I'm getting out of this mess is by getting out of here and away from you!"
"Since when were you a quitter, Marimo?" Sanji challenged calmly, lighting his cigarette before placing his hands in his trouser pockets. Zoro moved to walk around him. "I asked," he began, raising his foot and pressing it against Zoro to hold him onto the wall, "when you became a quitter."
"There's nothing to win, Ero-Cook." Zoro stated coolly, apparently ignoring Sanji's well-polished shoe digging into his bicep. "If I stay, I'm going to lose my sanity."
"Since when were you sane?! You lick blood off of your katanas!" Sanji mocked, pressing harder with his foot. "You're just running away because you're scared!"
"I'm not scared." Zoro returned, his tone surprisingly hollow.
"If you weren't, you wouldn't be running away." Sanji continued, trying to break through.
"I am not running away." Zoro muttered as he turned his head slightly to look at Sanji out the corner of his single eye.
"I never thought that you'd run away from me," Sanji mused, leaning in closer, "is this new observation about me really all that scary?"
"Observation about you?" Zoro frowned, clearly confused.
"Yeah...Isn't that why you're leaving?" Sanji asked, mirroring the Marimo's confusion.
"What observation about you?" Zoro inquired, his tone almost threatening. So now Zoro wanted to talk? After trying to walk away several times?!
"If it wasn't because of me, then why were you leaving?!" Sanji demanded, refusing to give in as he pressed even harder with his foot.
"What observation about you?!" Zoro repeated, glaring at Sanji with a very strange expression lurking in the depths of his dark eye.
"Just tell me why you're leaving, Shitty-Swordsman!" Sanji yelled, removing his foot for a fraction of a second in order to kick Zoro with it before continuing to put pressure on Zoro's arm.
"Break my arm and I break your leg!" Zoro snapped back.
"Tell me why you wouldn't say goodbye!" Sanji demanded.
"Because I couldn't, asshole!" Zoro roared, suddenly turning on Sanji and shoving him up against the banister.
Sanji gulped as he stared into Zoro's desperate dark eye. He could feel Zoro's body pressed against his. He bit the inside of his lip as he realised just how close Zoro's face was to his. There were just mere inches between their lips. He felt his lower body begin to twitch. Zoro could not know how he felt or he would not have put them in this position. He was not leaving because he was afraid of how Sanji felt for him.
He glanced down at Zoro's lips, bringing his gaze back up only just in time to catch the flicker of confusion pass through Zoro's eye. The idiot frowned and seemed to lean closer, pressing more of himself against Sanji, bringing their lips closer together. Sanji began to panic as he felt the bulge in his trousers grow. There was no way Zoro could not feel it now, not with how close they were. Realisation seemed to appear in Zoro's eye as a small smirk pulled at his lips. Shit. Zoro knew. Zoro knew exactly what was going on. He was never going to live this down. Zoro was going to hold this over him until the day he died.
Sanji gasped as he felt rough lips press against his almost tenderly. They began to move cautiously against his, testing him. They seemed to pull back slightly, but Sanji fisted Zoro's stupid green tunic and pulled the idiot back as he began to return the kiss. Zoro's hands moved around to his back and held him tight against the swordsman's muscular body. Sanji groaned as Zoro's kiss grew more passionate, more desperate. He felt Zoro's tongue glide along his bottom lip almost demandingly. Sanji bit it in defiance, only to earn a groan of pleasure from the man he was kissing. Zoro took advantage of Sanji's surprise and slipped his tongue into the cook's mouth. Sanji choked on the taste of blood and alcohol and pushed the swordsman away.
"You're drunk." He stated as he tried to get his breath back. He could not believe it. He was finally starting to think that Zoro was actually interested and the bastard was just drunk!
"I've been drinking, yes, but I'm not drunk." Zoro returned as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Charming. The idiot felt the need to wipe his mouth free of a kiss from him. "If that's all, I'm gonna just go put my bag back in our room."
"Wh-What?" Sanji gaped as Zoro began to head back up the stairs into the corridor.
"Should I push the beds together or leave them as they are?" Zoro smirked as he turned back to look at the dumbstruck Sanji. "I wouldn't have bothered yet, but you seemed pretty desperate when you were kissing me back."
"I'm not desperate!" Sanji snapped as he began to follow after Zoro.
"Just head back down to the party and I'll join you in a minute." Zoro grinned as he pushed Sanji back in the direction of the stairs. "It's not like I have to leave to get over you now, is it?"
"That's-"
"-That's why I couldn't say goodbye, Ero-Cook."
