It was the neighbor's loud shouting voice that woke him up from a deep slumber. He sighed, wiped his face with the palm of his right hand and opened his eyes to glare at the ceiling. The city lights shone in through the windows, lightening up the dark room like during the day. Their quick afternoon nap must've turned into a long slumber, so he wasn't quite surprised to find the other side of the bed empty; his boyfriend was probably preparing dinner for them.
A weak smile crossed his features; he loved to wake up to find his boyfriend still fast asleep next to him. The mess of blond hair covering half of his face, his head resting on his arm and the other hand always around his belly. His lips would be parted a little and sometimes his bottom lip would twitch and Zoro always wondered what he was dreaming about but he never remembered to ask him.
Foot stomping from above made him groan in annoyance, one day they would crash it and he wouldn't hesitate to draw one of his katana and feed it fresh flesh. They were quiet at night but noisy enough during the day. When Sanji had late shifts at the Baratie, he would sleep during the day after to catch up sleep and Zoro felt responsible to keep everyone and everything quiet for his boyfriend. Which sometimes ended with him knocking at their neighbor's door and holding them a lecture, rarely threatening with his katana. But those bastards never learned and he grew more and more fed up with their disrespectful behavior. Thus he was doing hours at the dojo so they could move out and afford a better apartment.
With a sigh he sat up, quickly glanced at the alarm clock and climbed out of bed. He was still dressed in his work clothes, when he had gotten home Sanji had been asleep already so he had just laid down next to him to be close and recover from work. Before he left their bedroom, he changed into more comfortable clothes and paid the bathroom a quick visit.
His pajama pants were draped over the end of bed as usual, he never had the mind to put them back into the closet when he wore them every day anyway. So when he stepped in front of the sink and found only his own toothbrush and paste on the shelf, it hit him like a truck.
While putting on a shirt and shoes in a rush, Zoro's mind was spinning, he felt dizzy and strangely tired. It wasn't the first time that Sanji had packed his bags and left without a goodbye, it wasn't the first time he woke up to an empty apartment. Not the first time in general but the first time in a while.
Sanji had always been up for drama. There were a few things in his life that he had never dealt with, and he was carrying them through his life without ever once complaining. He just gave into their weight once in a while and that was when he ran away. Usually to the same place, sometimes Zoro would notice in time so that he would catch him just around the corner, or across the street. But sometimes he'd find him at the train station, about to buy a ticket to wherever he thought he had to go.
Dressed in just his pajama pants and a worn down shirt, Zoro ran through the streets towards the closest train station. It was dark and rainy and people threw glances at him as if he had gone mad, running around in such clothes in the middle of February but he couldn't think clearly anymore. He had to reach him, he had to find Sanji in time. What if he was too late? The blonde had big dreams, dreams about going abroad and become something greater than he was. Ever since they had met in high school, Sanji had been dead serious about leaving Japan one day and he had ever since been trying to afford a flight to Europe.
It was thanks to their love and Zoro's constant begging that Sanji stayed. At least Zoro hoped that he was the reason. He didn't want Sanji to stay unhappy for him but he wanted to be the reason why he kept his sanity and going to France out of the blue with no money nor an idea about life there was insane in Zoro's opinion.
He didn't have time to wait for the traffic lights to change and he almost got hit by a car when he ran across the main street like a maniac. His clothes were soaked from all the rain, stuck to his body like a second skin and some part of him felt cold and tired from running and from chasing after Sanji again. Even though he loved the blonde cook with all his heart, he was sick and tired with the treatment he received in return. He did everything Sanji asked him to, he had always done everything necessary to see Sanji smile. But it had never been enough.
The entrance hall of the train station was crowded and loud, too many blonde's, too many people blocking his way as he tried to find his boyfriend. He could already be on his way to the next airport and Zoro couldn't be there in time because a group of stupid teenagers was sitting on the stairs to the tracks. He kicked one of them in the side and shouted "Be useless somewhere else!" as he ran past them, too fast for any of them to follow. If he'd missed Sanji, he would come back to beat them up.
As Zoro reached the top of the stairs and gained an overview over the tracks, he felt his heart beating painfully in his chest. His eyes scanned the crowd of people waiting for their trains to arrive, there were too many and too many that looked like Sanji from so far away. He climbed down the steps towards track three and four, ignoring everyone he bumped into. A train arrived on the left side, people stepped out and people stepped in and soon track four was almost empty.
What if he had missed him? What if that train had taken him away from him? Zoro didn't want to imagine it, the nightmares he occasionally had were enough for him. Brushing through his wet green hair, Zoro walked over to the bench separating the tracks. His eyes never stopped to look around and look for the blonde who could be on any other track, he didn't know on which he could be either.
When he turned around, to look over to track two, he saw him. He was standing right opposite of him, two lines of tracks between them that Zoro was about to run across when the train on track three arrived. Instead he turned on his heel and ran up the stairs over to track two; he almost fell down the stairs on the other side. He bumped into a lady and almost knocked her off her feet but he didn't look back, he ran and ran until he was close enough to pull that idiot into his arms.
They embraced and kissed almost kicked over the suitcases standing by Sanji's feet. Zoro held him tightly in his arms, determined to never let him go again, to never let him go so far and almost leave him forever. It didn't take him long though to notice that Sanji wasn't sharing his enthusiasm in being found in time by him.
"Let's go home again, okay?" Zoro smiled carefully, leaning his forehead against Sanji's who pulled his head away just a moment later.
The blonde shook his head. "No, Zoro, I won't go home." He slipped out of the green-haired man's grasp and stepped back, hands in his coat's pockets to search for his cigarettes and lighter. "This is it, Zoro."
"No... no," Zoro shook his head and reached for Sanji's hand, "We go home and have dinner and talk about this, okay? Everything will be alright again, I promise! Didn't we want to move out anyway? We could... we could move to France together, we could plan this for real, and leave together!"
"Don't be ridiculous! You have a job here that you love. No one is into old-fashioned Japanese sword style in France," Sanji frowned and freed his hand out of Zoro's grip, "You have friends and family here, you have a life here. You can't just leave!"
"Neither can you!" Zoro pointed out in a loud voice that made a group of high schoolers stop and stare at them in shock and interest. "You too have family and friends here, don't you think we would miss you? We want you here! We need you here, I need-"
"BUT I'M SICK OF IT!" Sanji shouted angrily. His whole body was trembling from the outburst and Zoro noticed tears brimming in his eyes. There was a pause in which he just stared at the blonde who fumbled with his pack of cigarettes, desperately trying to get a smoke. When he had finally inhaled a long drag, he continued, "I am not as lucky as you, Zoro. My life's goal isn't here, it's not where I was born and grew up like you. I'm not happy here and I can't become what I want to be here. Can you imagine how frustrating that is? Can you imagine what it feels like to watch everyone happily doing their dream job while I'm stuck at the old geezer's shitty tavern? I want more than that!"
Zoro didn't dare to say anything, he let his shoulders drop in defeat. He couldn't beat that, he didn't have anything to bring up that could win over Sanji's reasoning. Again, they were silent, Sanji was probably trying to calm down before he continued. So Zoro finally decided to say something. "But we could still-"
"NO! Goddammit, there is no we in my dreams, Zoro!" Sanji interrupted him, "I can't wait anymore, I have no time or mind to plan anything! I am sick of my job, I am sick of this town, I am sick of Japan and I am sick of YOU!"
Zoro's heart stopped beating for a moment. It was hard to breathe, the world around him turned blurry for a minute, all he could see was Sanji in front of him. The only person he had ever loved, the only person he would kill and die for. He had given up on so many things for him to make their relationship better because he thought their feelings were mutual... So it had been wishful thinking all this time.
"Okay," Zoro said plainly, his voice calm and emotionless, "Fine, go. Good luck with your dreams. I've always wanted you to be happy, I hope you will find real happiness over there." He turned to leave, there was nothing more to be said anyway.
"No, Zoro, I didn't mean it like that," Sanji said hastily and grabbed Zoro's hand to make him stay, "I love you. I just need you to understand me... I am happy with you and you make me happy but I need to fulfill my dream and I need to do it now, not in a year, not in whenever. Don't get me wrong, please, I didn't mean it like that..."
"You said what you meant, Sanji. Go and be happy wherever you need to be." That said, Zoro pulled his hand away and left.
That's it so far, will definitely add another chapter or even two ;) This just popped out of my flu-weakened mind so bare with me if it's a little weird. And that it's so short, I promise to make the next one longer!
Thanks for reading!