A/n: Okay this a sorta song fic. The way it works is that each stanza has it's own different drabble/short story (Sanji/Zoro yaoi centric) to it. Although I grouped the chorus together. And it's not chronological order. And it's different points in their relationship. Oh, and it's not mine. And the song is "Show Me Love" by t.A.T.u. (who are AMAZING!) Okay? Cool. Oh, and there's some implied sex. And a coupled different writing styles, but all my work. And to all Skip Beat! readers (for either Fairy Love or Yankee-Girl (though that's technically a 1-shot.) the next chapter of FL will be out in like, two days.
Sidenote: Do you think I should've broken this up into chapters?
This was an accident
Not the kind where sirens sound
Never even noticed
We're suddenly crumbling
It was an ordinary day. For the Thousand Sunny, of course. Luffy was swinging on the swing, which, with his Devil Fruit Powers he could make swing as high as the swing could reach (he'd only fallen twice, one into the deck, the other time an annoyed Zoro fished him out). Nami and Robin were hiding away from the dreaded shots Chopper invented and was making everyone take. Franky was busy working on some type of new upgrade for their new ship, and Sanji was in the kitchen. But it was a special day, if some of the nakama didn't realize it. It was one of their shipmate's birthday.
Zoro's to be exact, and he took no small pleasure in being able to ask for all of his favorites to eat from the cook who was so good at making all sorts of dishes.
"Sushi!" He commanded at about noon that day, finding Sanji holed away in the kitchen.
"Sushi what?" Sanji asked, looking up from the book that he borrowed from Robin. It was about the genealogy and history of North Blue. He was trying to find his other family.
"I want sushi tonight," Zoro said. "And leek onion soup, and…"
"Who died and made you the ruler of what we get to eat?" Sanji asked, checking his pocket for his cigarettes. He lights another with a flick of the wrist, and calmly takes a breath.
"Don't you ever look at the calender, dart-brow? It's my birthday, stupid," Zoro says, crossing his arms. "And I want sushi."
"Huh? It's already November?" He checks the calendar. "Well I'll be. You're right." He shuts his book.
"So are you going to make me what I want?" Zoro asks.
"What was it again, marimo?" Sanji asks. "Scratch that, write it down. And cake?" The Grand Line shifts, and the cabin is almost tilted sideways. Zoro loses his balance and crashes into Sanji, still upright, even with the crazy angle. They fall to the side before the ship rights itself. Outside their Captain is yelling as they right themselves.
"I'll…I'll write it down and give it to you," Zoro mutters, untangling himself from Sanji and going out the door.
"Sushi, huh?" Sanji murmurs to himself, going to the freezer and getting out the special, choice part of the Elephant True Bluefin from Roguetown he'd been saving for a special occasion.
[Time Break! Zoro/Sanji best non-canon ever!]
"Happy Birthday, Zoro!" The crew cheers. "Let's eat!" Sanji brings out the food, setting a plate of sushi in front of everyone, each with their favorite type of fish in it, and a large platter of the odd pieces for Luffy, plus a couple small roasts of meat.
"Yum!" Chopper says happily, eating the vegetable sushi with delight. "This is good!" The ship rocks again, and they all grab their plates to keep from falling.
"We better be getting there soon," Usopp conplains, eating his catfish sushi. "The waves are unbearable."
"I know what you're saying, man," Franky says, eating his sharkfish sushi as they roll. "I can hardly pour coke into my bottles!"
"We'll be getting there within the next two days, guys," Nami says.
"Okay, Navigator-san," Robin says, delicately eating more of her salmon sushi, held in place by some of her many hands. She makes more hands and Nami stops rolling as well.
"Thanks," Nami says, returning to eat some more of her sushi, rice with various types of fish.
"Like it, Marimo?" Sanji asks, leaning against a wall where he slowly eats his own sushi, flounder-flavored with a bit of garlic.
"What happened to the soup?" Zoro asks, eating the True Bluefin sushi.
"A wave knocked it off the stove. I'll make it some other time," Sanji says to Zoro, watching as his nakama's lips wrapped around his food. The ship rolls around once again, and even Robin's hands are no match for gravity and the various forces rolling them around the kitchen cabin. Sanji and Zoro are knocked together once again, but this time, they're connected by the lips.
Neither of them remember anything that's going around them as they kiss, sliding they're arms around each other, Zoro's around his waist and Sanji's around his neck. The storm still goes on, them being bounced around the room in each others arms.
"Nami! Nami! What are they doing?!" Luffy asks wildly as they're turning.
"Just redefining love and the amount one can go without air," Nami says. "Which reminds me...Robin! You own me a thousand beli! I told you they would crumble in this sort of incident!"
"So you did..." Robin says. "I never expected a storm like this to occur so quickly."
"Well, I am a navigator!" Nami says with a wink.
Tell me how you've never felt
Delicate or innocent
Do you still have doubts that
Us having faith makes any sense
"Let's play a game."
"What?" Zoro asks, looking up from his spot on the couch.
"Let's play a game!" Sanji says. "I ask a question, and then you ask a question. It'll be fun," Sanji says, cuddling up to him on the couch. He gives Zoro the, "I'll-Make-It-Worth-Your-While-Tonight" look, and he sighs.
"So you want to go first?" Zoro asks begrudgingly, but smiling all the same. Sanji shakes his head. Zoro sighs. "Do you own any casual clothes at all?"
"What kind of question is that?!" Sanji exclaims, lightly kicking Zoro's foot. "But yes, I do own some tee shirts. And a pair of cargo shorts."
"Then wear them sometime!" Zoro exclaims. "Don't go all fancy when you're in a boat, on an ocean, wanted by the Marines!"
"My turn!" Sanji says, ignoring Zoro's comments. "Hmmm...What's your favorite color?"
"Blue," Zoro says without thinking. "Definitely blue."
"Well what kind of blue?" Sanji asks.
"That color," Zoro says, embarrassed, pointing at Sanji's eyes. "Definitely that blue." He pauses. "The blue that's the bastard offspring of robin's egg blue and sky blue." Sanji laughs. "Okay, who do you love more? Nami or me?"
"Not fair!" Sanji exclaims. "You know it'll always be you!" Zoro grins, like he knew the answer the entire time. "Do you believe in God?"
"No. Why believe in something that isn't true?" Zoro says with a shrug.
"What?" Sanji exclaims, looking at Zoro. "How cynical is that! Why don't you...?"
"Let's just say my mother didn't hug me enough as a child," Zoro mutters. "I went to the dojo when I was five. I hardly even know what she looks like, and other than those times she actually bothered to come around I never saw her."
"Why not?"
"Because she never wanted to see me," Zoro says bitterly. "No matter how much I asked to see her when she came."
"And you prayed," Sanji says simply. "You prayed and prayed, every night, every time you were alone, that she would come and you would be a real family." Zoro looks up at him in surprise. "But God never answered your prayers, and with every day, every week, every year you never saw her, you lost more faith."
"How do you...?" Zoro asks wildly, getting up off the couch. "How did you know that?!"
"Because," Sanji says mildly. "I wasn't a chef's boy at ten for no reason. I have at least twelve other brothers and sisters in North Blue. They couldn't take care of all of us. Or rather, my father. My mothers all died when I was six." He side glances at Zoro's confused face. "Polygamy. Suicide. All four of them." Sanji looks away. "My dad used to smoke too. I remember the smoke, all around the house while all my siblings were crying. I wasn't the oldest. I don't remember how many came before me, or even after. I can't even remember their names, much less their faces."
"Sanji..." Zoro says.
"I stopped believing on that god forsaken rock with the crap-geezer," Sanji pauses. "But then, when I was on that ship, rescued, trying to get some type of nourishment in my body, I believed again." Sanji pauses. "Maybe something like that makes you want to believe something's out there, shining on you."
And as Zoro looks down at Sanji, looking as only Sanji can look, fancy clothes and hidden eye and adorable pout, Zoro can imagine that something must be smiling at him for him to be this lucky.
Tell me nothing ever counts
Lashing out or breaking down
Still somebody loses 'cause
There's no way to turn around
"Don't."
"What?" Zoro asks, irritated. "I challenged you! Are you going to back down?"
"I don't want to today," Sanji says. "It's always annoying."
"Alright, fine, dart-brow. If you're too girly to handle a challenge today..." Zoro glares at Sanji.
"Don't. I just don't want to! It's always just a game, and I don't feel like playing. Now leave me alone!" Sanij growls, heading back into the galley. Zoro glares at the shut door.
"It's not as if it counts or anything," Zoro mutters, kicking at the Thousand Sunny's deck. "I just want to play."
"Sanji?" Zoro asks quietly. "Can we..."
"I don't want to play your stupid games, marimo," Sanji says darkly.
"No...I just want to..." Zoro trails off, not sure what to say.
"Talk?" Sanji supplies, and he nods, cheeks slightly pink for asking for something so unlike him. "Come on, no one goes to the bottom deck rope room." Zoro silently trails Sanji to the room, finally making eye contact with the cook when they sit on two giant coils of rope.
"I just wanted to ask if you know that nothing we ever compete in counts," Zoro says. "They don't mean anything."
"Then why do it?" Sanji asks sharply, lighting up. "I'm sick of it."
"I just want to...play..." Zoro says lamely. Sanji looks at him, jaw dropped, cigarette hanging out of his mouth in surprise.
"Play? You want to play, marimo?" Sanji asks. Zoro nods, embarrassed again.
"I get bored. I can't just sleep, mediate, and work out all day," Zoro says. "There's nothing to do on this ship. Everyone's either doing their job or something moronic with Luffy."
"Forget it. I'm not going to be your plaything," Sanji says, getting up, and heading towards the door, but pausing and turning around, smirking at Zoro. "Out of bed, anyway."
The swordsman lunges at Sanji, his lips crashing into his, as his hands make their way to his shirt buttons, undoing them with ease that came from experience, and lots of it.
"Thank God Luffy insisted we buy that soft rope," Sanji says with a grin. The door shuts.
Staring at your photograph
Everything now in the past
Never felt so lonely I
Wish that you could show me love
They had done it. They were the best. They had taken down the world government, and every single person in the world was happy and free. All except for one.
Sanji was lonely. Sure, he had All Blue, and all the ingredients he could want. Luffy, the new leader of the Free (the name he had given the new World Government) comes to his small cookhouse often to regal him of tales outside of his own little paradise and to eat delicious seafood from All Blue. But Sanji has no one else.
Robin-chwan and Nami-swan had left on a grand adventure for money and history. The first thing Luffy did was spark the age of Discovery when he announced that anyone defiling history or historical artifacts were sentenced to Impel Down for at least twenty years, and anyone with revolutionary historical artifacts or history were to be given gold. Robin and Nami were a great team.
Usopp returned to Kaya and his hometown island, celebrated as both a storyteller and a warrior of the world. His island was not without tragedy, however. Kaya and Merry were the sole adult survivors of a terrible plague. Almost all children living there were without parents. Even Kaya's medical training did nothing to help the dying. So, when the plague finally left the island with the last body burned, she adopted all the orphaned children. Usopp and Kaya finally married, and he adopted all the children as his own, too, though the happy couple did have a child of their own, and were thinking about another.
Franky and Chopper decided to see the world, not just the Grand Line. They left on an adventure to find all sorts of great techniques for ship-building and medical work. They're still a bit pirate, though, and have their own crew. They offered all the remaining Straw Hats a place in their new life, but all declined. They're now somewhere in North Blue, and are planning to send Sanji news of his parents and family if they find them.
Brook returned to the lighthouse and Laboon from all those years ago. Laboon did not recognize him, but it seems that the Devil Fruits do have limits, and his ended in his demise. It turns out that the fruit he was given was only effective until he completed what he was sent back to do. Once Laboon recognized Brook as his old friend, his bones disintegrated and Brook was no more.
As for Zoro, he died in the last battle, the final fight before they were the best. He died in Sanji's hands, as fighting raged around them for their ultimate prize. He died smiling, and Sanji kissed him once more before his heart finally gave out.
Sanji misses him the most. The other part of his soul, and his lifeline. Sanji feels empty, and he can't bear the emptiness. They got together shortly after their escape from Water Seven, on that mad train ride to save Robin, and they never looked away from each other. Nami and Robin eventually got used to not having Sanji's spotlight on them, and instead found ways to make Zoro's life a living hell for Sanji's spotlight to be turned to him. Sanji and Zoro were happy, and now that Zoro's gone...Sanji puts his burned out cigarette in his ash tray, returning to the present, and the infamous wanted poster of Zoro the Pirate Hunter, Demon, once the greatest swordsman in the world, and Sanji's love.
"It's not as if I have much longer to go," Sanji mutters to himself, his hands shaking again, as he tries to light another cigarette. He had developed lung cancer, and even Chopper couldn't help him.
"It's your cigarettes, Sanji!" Chopper had said angrily, the little reindeer shaking with fury. "And I didn't even catch on to it until it was too late!" He turns away from Sanji. "You have a couple years, maybe. There's no turning back from this. You can't get better. I know."
"I'm sorry," Sanji stated, as he lit up again. "But then I'll see..."
"Don't talk like that!" Chopper said, turning towards him with rage. He couldn't say something like that! "Don't!" He turns away again. "Goodbye, Sanji."
That was the last time he saw the little reindeer.
Sanji scribbles one last thing on his piece of paper, and he finally puts the pen down. Luffy was due in a couple hours, he had to hurry. He moves towards the bathroom, the tub already full of water. He looks at his cooking knife, throwing away the last thing in the world that he treasured.
"I'm coming, Zoro," he whispers.
Show me love, show me love, show me love,
Show me love, show me love
'Till you open the door
Show me love, show me love, show me love,
Show me love, show me love,
'Till I'm up off the floor
Show me love, show me love show me love,
Show me love, show me love,
'Till it's inside my core
Show me love, show me love, show me love,
Show me love, show me love,
'Till I'm screaming for more
"What do you want, marimo?" Sanji slurs, looking up at the sound of the creaking door.
"What happened to you?" Zoro asks, heading towards the sake cabinet.
"Women. All the same," Sanji spits from his seat on the floor.
"What?" Zoro says confused. "I thought you were supposed to be the chivalrous, women-are-always-first one."
"Nami, man, she..." Zoro pauses, his bottle of sake halfway to his mouth.
"Did you actually confess to her?" Zoro asks. Sanji nods. "Then, she..."
"I got dumped, man," Sanji says morosely. "Before it even began..."
"She messed you up bad, dart-brow," Zoro says, taking a seat at the table. This drunk Sanji was more interesting that the normal, women-are-all Sanji one was used to seeing.
"I know...but she's still so....perfect!" Sanji says, taking another gulp from his bottle of wine.
"Face it, dart-brow, she's a witch. Money grubbing, conning, conniving, witch," Zoro says, gulping his own bottle down.
"Of course, marimo," Sanji says dismissively. "I know that..."
"Then why did you confess?" Zoro asks, wondering what kind of answer he'll get from the love-cook.
"Because man, you gotta spread the love while it lasts!" Sanji says, and Zoro briefly wonders if Sanji is high as well as drunk. "Then the love is gone and then...what else is there to do if you can't love, man?"
Zoro looks him over for a second. He'd always been partial to the impossibly lithe, long-legged blond. Only Luffy knew of his...orientation, from way before any of the other Straw-Hats were even in the picture, much less the Grand Line, and he was sure Luffy had forgotten by now. But he did find himself very attracted to his nakama, although he never thought he would act upon his feelings.
"So, you want the love to spead?" Zoro asks.
"As far as love can go, man! Everyone deserves love!" Sanji says with a grin. "That, and food! You always have to have food!"
"So, you don't care how the love spreads? You don't care if it goes from woman to woman, or man to man?" Zoro asks carefully, slowly gulping down the last of the bottle, watching Sanji carefully.
"No way! It doesn't matter! Nothing matters! Except you, man, you deserve love. Always training away, no love at all in that!" Sanji says. Zoro privately decides that Sanji needed to get drunk more often, he was a lot more interesting drunk.
"You wouldn't care if I do...this?" Zoro asks, going on the floor to touch the love-cook's leg.
"Nope! It's love, man, I could feel it from the Baratie! You with your stupid dream, me with all my shit-worrying about you...your love's awesome!" Sanji says, polishing off his bottle of wine, pitching it to the side with another.
Zoro gauges him carefully. He knew he would be in trouble tomorrow, but that didn't matter. Right now, all that mattered was a little action and a lot of lube. Still keeping his eyes on Sanji, he leans in close, so their lips are less than six inches apart.
To his surprise, it's Sanji that closes the gap, and he's shocked, but kisses him back with passion, holding his arms firmly, but not too tightly as he puts them in a standing position.
"You already spread the love, baka-cook," Zoro says breathlessly. "Now..."
(Page Break!)
Luffy quietly walks to the galley, hoping to filch some food for his midnight snack, when he hears voices, both that he knows immediately. Sanji and Zoro were doing something, and it appeared to be something that they both liked very much. He peeks through the galley window and sees the two of them on top of the dining room table, doing something Chopper decided to teach the crew about one day. He grins, and decides to wait it out until breakfast.
"Hm...maybe I should suggest an outdoor picnic breakfast..." Luffy says with a grin, just as Sanji screams something incoherent and probably not something he should be hearing anyway.
Random acts of mindlessness
Commonplace occurrences
Chances and surprises
Another state of consciousness
"Here," Sanji says, holding out something to Zoro. "Take it."
"What the-hey! Ero-cook! Get back here! What is this?!" Zoro yells, looking at the package dropped on the floor of his training room. He picks it up (after putting down his 600 kg barbell) and opens it.
"Wow..." Zoro says, looking at the cleaning cloth. It was one he had been lusting after, that supposedly got rid of all the smudges, marks, even rust spots on swords with just one swipe. (Not that he had rust on his swords, of course.) Top of the line, and with his ridiculous amount of debt, not something he could buy. He turns to the empty door frame. "What the...?" He sighs, and goes over to a cupboard, adding it to the other few gifts he had come by via Sanji, a bottle of cologne (which was actually something he liked, a clean scent with a hint of musk) and surprisingly, a flower, which he had Robin dry and preserve.
"Supper's on table!" Sanji calls to the rest of the crew. "Get it till Luffy gets here!"
They file into the aquarium room, Nami and Robin escorted by Sanji, the others trailing behind, when they see the table set fancy and food already heaped on. Sanji had outdone himself for this one. A mountain of food was at Luffy's place at the table, and there were beautiful arrangements of appetizers littered on the table, each plate strategically placed so that each crewman's favorite was close to their spot at the table.
"Eat up, everyone!" Sanji says with a smile, lighting up as he pours drinks, bottles of wine already set in buckets of ice and soda for the crew who didn't drink (Luffy, Chopper, and Robin)
"What is the occasion, Sanji?" Chopper asks as he takes from one platter with veggie rolls.
"I wanted to," Sanji says with smirk. "And since we're docked on an island, I had the opportunity to. Besides, didn't you suspect something when all I gave to you for lunch were sandwiches?"
"Those were amazing sandwiches, though, Cook-san," Robin says as she has one of her many hands get her something from the far side of the table.
"Thank you, Robin-chwan!" Sanji says, though not with his usual hearts in his eyes. When all the appetizers had been consumed (mostly by Luffy), he gets up and goes to the small kitchen by the aquarium, perfect for keeping food hot, and returns with a cart and bowls of soup, putting each bowl in front of each person, and a soup tureen in front of Luffy.
"Eat up," Sanji says. "Now, I skipped the salad course, but I did make a small side salad to go with the entree. For Chopper and any of the lovely ladies in our presence, of course."
"Is this the soup you made back on the Baratie, Sanji?!" Luffy asks, gulping the hot liquid down.
"Very good. I didn't think you'd remember," Sanji says calmly, eating his own.
"This is good," Zoro comments. "What's for the main course?"
"You'll just have to see, marimo," Sanji says with a knowing grin, getting up to collect dishes and refill glasses.
"More, more!" Luffy pleads.
"No, we'll just continue on to the main dishes," Sanji says. "Zoro, could you give me a hand?"
"With what?" Zoro asks.
"Oh, I just could use an extra hand, you know how big Luffy's plates of food can get," Sanji says dismissively. "Come on, marimo."
Zoro hesitates, but takes the lead into the small kitchen, where Sanji quietly shuts the door.
"Oi! What's your game?" Zoro says, overreacting. "You going to murder me and serve me up?"
"No, of course not, you're too lean. You'd be too tough if properly cooked," Sanji says. Zoro growls, but Sanji merely goes over a pot that seems to be simmering over a very low heat.
"I just wanted you to sample the dessert. I want it to be...perfect," Sanji says, his back turned. He holds out a wooden spoon, putting some of it in his mouth. "Now..." He quickly but gracefully crosses the threshold of the kitchen and kisses Zoro cleanly on the mouth. The swordsman responds eagerly, kissing the cook back, putting his arms around him in an iron grip, as Sanji's hands lock into his hair.
"Chocolate?" Zoro asks, as they break the kiss off to breathe.
"You like it?" Sanji says breathlessly.
"I..."
(Page Break!)
"ZORO!" Luffy yells in his ear. "It's almost time to eat!"
"What?" Zoro asks, waking up from his dream. It was an odd dream to say the least, but even still...he found himself almost aroused by the thoughts of him, Sanji, and a vat of chocolate to play with.
"Supper's on the table! Get it till Luffy gets here!"
Zoro grins. Maybe his dream will come true after all.
Tell me nothing ever counts
Lashing out or breaking down
Still somebody loses 'cause
There's no way to turn around
"Doesn't this count?" Zoro asks with a grimace, opening his eyes from trying to sleep. They were both in the galley, Zoro's head on Sanji's lap as he slept. This was almost their sixth month of their relationship, and the crew couldn't be happier for their nakama.
"What doesn't?" Sanji asks with surprise, looking up from his cookbook. "We weren't doing anything."
"Exactly!" he exclaims. "Just, nothing ever counts with us." He sits up, running his hands through his hair. "Why doesn't it?!"
"What's wrong with you?" Sanji asks, closing his book. "What brought this?"
"I want you," Zoro mutters. "I want you to be mine."
"I am yours," Sanji murmurs. "I am."
"No, you aren't. You're Nami's and Robin's. Not mine!" Zoro says angrily. "Why aren't you?"
"What brought this? Why are you asking me these things?" Sanji asks. "I'm always nice to ladies, especially Robin-chwan and Nami-swan."
"I'm your boyfriend," Zoro says. "And yet, no matter what I do, I'm never as good enough as them."
"Hey! You are!" Sanji says. "Why are you doing this?" Zoro looks away. "Answer me!"
"Just forget it," Zoro says. "Forget it." He walks out of the galley.
"What did I do?" Sanji asks to no one. He follows the swordsman out, just catching a glimpse of his hair as he goes below deck. He crosses the Sunny quickly and goes to the deck below, hearing Zoro's door slam behind him. He sighs, knowing this antic, and lights up as he waits, occasionally knocking on the door.
(Page Break)
An hour later, and the doorknob creaks, and the door opens. Sanji gets up from his position on the floor, and goes into the darkness of Zoro's room.
"You've finally opened up," Sanji says, looking at Zoro, sprawled on his bed, arm covering his eyes. "It's been an hour."
"Shut up," Zoro says. "Let's pretend this never happened."
"What?" Sanji asks. "The fight?"
"No. All of it. All of us," Zoro says, gesturing to the two of them. "I can't take it anymore."
"Zoro..." Sanji says, fighting the urge to kick him. He loved him, no matter what the stupid marimo thought.
"No. I want to talk." He sighs. "We can't deny our true natures, can we? You as some sort of women-lover, me as a loner. Let's stop!" He finally sits up, but turns his back towards Sanji. "Game over, we lose." He pauses. "I can't take it. I can't stand this feeling, and...we're nakama still. We'll always be nakama."
"Zoro! No! You can't do this!" Sanji yells. "I love you, dammit!" Zoro freezes, his back stiff.
"What?" Zoro whispers.
"I can't just stop treating Nami-san and Robin-chan like ladies!" Sanji says, starting to babble. "But I want you. I don't want to stop us, I don't think we could stop us even if we did, I mean, what's stopped us before? The World Government? Morals? Yeah, right...I don't want to lose you, I can't lose you...I love you, and dammit, I just realized it right now, I can't stand to be apart from you, shit, I sit in front of your door for a goddamn hour just so I can talk to you...I don't know what you're doing to me, dammit! But Zoro I..."
"Sanji." He freezes mid-babble, and Zoro turns to him, wide-eyed. "I love you, too."
Sanji's cigarette falls out of his mouth in shock, and he stares at him while the embers burn out on the floor.
"Franky will have your head for marking up his ship's floor," Zoro says wryly, but then Sanji's all over him, kissing his face, running his hand through his hair, desperate just to feel him, his love, his Zoro.
"I love you!" Sanji says, hugging him tightly. "I know I'm too good to Nami-san and Robin-chan, but..."
"I'll learn to work around it," Zoro says. "And I know you hate that I'm never with you enough."
"But I know you're training is important, and I can learn to get outside and work around it," Sanji says, echoing his words. Zoro wrestles away from his grasp, and goes to his dresser. Sanji watches as he digs into his sock drawer. "The sock drawer. How original."
"Shut up," Zoro says, his back still turned. "I picked this up on the island we were just at. Nami was very cheerful about it as she added the amount to my debt." He turns around, holding out the ring box. "I don't have to get one one knee, right?"
"What...?" Sanji says, looking at the ring, the band as gold as his hair, with a shiny stone, a green he can only describe as the same color as Zoro's hair, with many layers and shades.
Zoro sighs, but smiles and smirks at the same time as he gets down on one knee, looking up as Sanji from his spot on Zoro's bed. "Will you marry me?"
"What am I, some type of woman?" Sanji scoffs, but smiles and tears up as he holds his hand out. Zoro puts it on his ring finger. "Of course, baka-marimo."
"There'll be no turning back after this, mind you," Zoro says.
"I know," Sanji says, still looking at his ring. "I love you." Zoro's heated kiss is all the response that he needs.
(Page Break!)
The rest of the Straw-Hats peek into Zoro's room and smile, watching the couple sleep intertwined with each other, Sanji's arm thrown around Zoro's chest, making his ring sparkle in the dim light they let in.
"Since I'm the Captain, do I get to officiate the wedding?" Luffy asks in excitement.
Tell me how you've never felt
Delicate or innocent
Do you still have doubts that
Us having faith makes any sense
"Five thousand, six hundred and twelve! Five thousand six hundred and thirteen!" Zoro mutters, benching an enormous weight on the Observation Deck.
"Oi! Marimo!" Sanji walks into the room, carrying a sandwich on a plate on his head and two large thermoses in each of his hands, stew and green tea, a spoon sticking in his jacket pocket. "Lunch!"
"What?" Zoro asks, putting down the weight. "It's only..." He glances at the wall clock. "Oh."
"You didn't hear me call for lunch, so..." Sanji trails off. "I brought lunch to you." He puts the thermoses down on the table, and puts the plated sandwich alongside it. "Enjoy. Supper will be ready by seven." He shivers. "We're getting close to a winter island I guess." He takes in Zoro's naked torso, running his eyes along the long scar. "You might want a sweatshirt."
"I'll keep that in mind," Zoro says, sitting at the small table and taking a bite of the sandwich, noting that the ero-cook made his favorite, tuna on wheat bread with a hint of garlic in it. He didn't think Sanji would notice that he secretly added the particular spice. He glances up and notices that Sanji isn't there anymore, but he turns back to his sandwich. "Not as if I need the company..."
(Page Break)
"You're still up here?" Sanji asks, walking into the room an hour or so later. "Ah, well..."
"What?" Zoro asks, annoyed. "Why would I stop working?" He looks over the cook, wearing simple work out pants and a hoodie. "Are you going to work out?"
"Why else would I wear something like this?" Sanji says. He goes over to where Franky installed cushy mats. "I wanted to work on my stretching." He sits, takes his shoes off, and takes a deep puff of air while doing a couple of experimental stretches.
"What for? You're too flexible, in my opinion," Zoro says. "A guy shouldn't comfortably be able to split like that."
"It's something you gotta work for," Sanji says with a smirk, doing an easy split, one leg in front of him, the other in back, and leans back. "It took forever to learn how to properly contort like this." He softly grunts as his forehead touches the back of his thigh. He slowly goes upright again.
"Teach me how to do that," Zoro says, coming over to the mats.
"No, you're not limber enough. You're more tough, too many muscles," Sanji says.
"At least teach me a little," Zoro says. "It might come in handy."
Sanji sighs. "Take your shoes off and I'll stretch with you." Zoro chucks his boots and socks off, and Sanji goes through some basic stretches. "You're not going to get good, mind you." Sanji curls his leg backward, the sole of his foot hitting him square in between his shoulder blades, his arms curling back to stretch his leg. He does the same thing with his other leg. "Definitely not as good as this. But I can teach you some basic things that might help with swords." He leans forward.
Zoro looks at him with awe. He'd never been that flexible, and he doubted he ever would be, even if he trained. "That's..."
"Really girly looking?" Sanji supplies ruefully. "I know. I don't care. That's not even that girly looking, in perspective to other stretches. Now..." He curls back, going to a handstand, curling one leg to his stomach and the other straight in the air. "This is girly-looking." He moves so one hand is out sideways, then flips, landing on his feet.
"You're a frickin' ballerina," Zoro says, wide-eyed. "How the hell did you get to be that damn flexible?"
"It's a gift, I guess..." Sanji says.
"You look so delicate, and..." Zoro struggles with the words, not used to the adjectives he's trying to use. He sighs, and gets up. "I'll never be like that."
"Hey," Sanji says. "You said you wanted to learn, now I'm teaching you. Come on," he pushes Zoro down to the mat. "You'll get delicate, if you're as faithful to working at stretching as you are at strength."
"But it's always been about strength for me," Zoro says. "Never about...girly things. Dojos and all...even the girls weren't really girls there."
"Just, let's keep working," Sanji says. "Try again." Zoro sits back down and tries to touch his forehead with the insoles of his feet. Sanji kneels behind him and rubs the muscles in his back.
"Oi...!" Zoro says, still trying to lean. "What the...?"
"Just keep going, marimo," Sanji says. "This will help." He keeps going, centimeter by centimeter, until he's almost there. Zoro's surprised to find that the rubbing does help, and then his forehead finally brushes his back. He holds it for a few seconds, and then he goes to sit straight. "Slowly...slowly..."
"I got it!" Zoro says with a smile. "I got it!" He does it again, and his grin gets wider. "How does this help for doing cool stuff, like splits?"
"That's next, but not upside down ones like," Sanji demonstrates. "Sorry, I'm not that much of a visual person." Zoro laughs. "Okay, just try..." He moves his legs a medium-distance apart, and slides, moving his hands down as he slides down. "Try."
Zoro obliges, but quickly finds himself stuck. "Hey, dart-brow! A little help!" Sanji smirks.
"Now, I'm only doing this now, because you look like you're in a bind, and I don't know if I'll ever get you in this position again," Sanji murmurs, as Zoro gets panicky.
"Are you going to murd...mmfph!" Zoro gets cut off by a pair of lips. A pair of soft, delectable, lips that tasted like cigarette smoke and spices. "What the fuck?!" Sanji smirks, helps him up and darts to the door, turning back to smirk and lick his lips.
"Not bad, marimo, not bad at all. It does look like you'll need some private lessons on your...stretching though. How about tonight?" Sanji chuckles, blowing him one last cheeky kiss before disappearing.
"That ero-cook!" Zoro seethes, touching his lips briefly, before deciding that he might indeed need some more very private lessons.
You play games, I play tricks
Girls and girls, but you're the one
Like a game of pick-up sticks
Played by fucking lunatics
Sanji was officially in paradise. It was the best island yet on the Grand Line, an island where ninety-five percent of the population were very, very, pretty girls. All kinds of girls, short, tall, mysterious to cute He goes to the market with an appreciative eye for all the women who point him out and smile at him. He restocks the Thousand Sunny, making arrangements for all the shopkeepers (all exquisite) to take his wares back to the ship, and decides to try a local café near the port's market. He chooses an outdoor seat under an umbrella and orders an ice tea.
"Oi, Dart-Brow," Zoro says. "Can I eat with you?" Sanji turns to see the swordsman face, considers.
"If you must," Sanji says. "Afraid of getting lost?"
"Yeah right, ero-cook," Zoro says with a sneer. "Five of these girls all walked up to me and tried to take me somewhere, and I just couldn't take it."
"Five?!" Sanji says. The waitress comes back with his iced tea and notices Zoro with a blush.
"Hello," she says shyly. "Can I...help you with anything?" She smiles at him.
"Yeah, I'll have a sake, and a menu," Zoro says, immediately turning back to Sanji. "Where are all your bags? Didn't you get anything? Or were you too busy flirting with all of these chicks?"
"All the vendors said that they'd take them to the ship," Sanji says. "And how are you getting all the girls?"
"Huh?" Zoro says, looking up from the menu. "I dunno. They're coming to me."
"It's because you're the one!" One says with a chillingly lovely sigh. They were collected around the railing of the cafe, all watching Zoro.
"The one?" Zoro asks, eyebrow raised, bottle of sake almost to his mouth.
"You're the prince!" Another girl says. "You're in the story!"
"Story?" Sanji asks, taking another sip. "What story?"
"Well," the first girls says with a giggle, starting to tell the tale. "It's a children's story, all of us know it. It's about a prince with bright green hair, who is the pride of their land, who goes around the world with his crew to bring honor to a great warrior that had fallen long ago. He vows to become the greatest swordsman in the world before he goes back home! He also made a promise to his father to bring back a beautiful princess so that when he's the greatest, he can be married and become king himself! In the end, it's said that his golden-haired crew member falls in love with him, even though she's really a princess-spy from the land that's the sworn enemy of his kingdom! But they fall in love, and he becomes the greatest, defeating all of the evil in the world! Then they get married, and live happily ever after." She sighs with happiness. "It's the most famous story on this island! So, we all were wondering..."
"Which one of us would be considered your princess?" Another chimes in with a giggle. Sanji stares, his cigarette almost falling into his drink. He turns to Zoro in horror, who's merely grinning.
"Princess?" Zoro says with a wicked grin, turning to his crew member. "Who said it had to be a princess?" The girls giggle again, and Zoro gets up to lean close to the dart-brow cook. "What if he's really a prince?"
"Marimo!" Sanji exclaims with a blush.
Zoro grins and puts his arm around Sanji's, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Play along." He turns to the ladies. "Pet name. I can't help but let him, he's just too cute." He lightly kisses the blushing cooks' cheek and helps him up. "We've got to get going." He steers them away, and Sanji can't help but follow and let his finger's be laced with Zoro's fingers, his arm still around his shoulders.
Then Sanji gets a wicked idea. It would possibly he harmful to his health, but he tossed that notion aside. Zoro would never really kill him. Just maim him brutally, but leave him alive. He stops, and Zoro stops with him, and Sanji smiles, like he does with Nami-swan or Robin-chwan. He leans in, glad that there's no height difference between the two of them and flicks his cigarette away before pushing his lips down onto Zoro's, right in the middle of the street.
It's different from his other kisses, Sanji realizes. He was no stranger to either gender kissing him (he was on a ship with only males for eight years) but even the roughest male's kiss could never compare to Zoro's. Even though Sanji initiated, Zoro always dominated, in a powerful way he didn't even understand. He simply rolled with the punches, and was surprised that Zoro didn't stop kissing him, only kept it going, until both men were out of oxygen and had to stop their...activities.
"C'mon, let's go to the ship," Zoro says with a smile. He pauses, his grin turning into a smirk. "Princess."
Sanji smiles. He turns his back from the girls on the island and takes Zoro's hand again. There might be a million girls, but there was only one marimo for him.
Show me love, show me love
Give me all that I want
Show me love, Show me love
'Til I'm screaming for more
Sanji was a selfish lover. He even admitted it himself. He never wanted anything sexual, because he had it all. He always got what he wanted, when he wanted, almost all the time (out in public was the only exception, and then it was only a hotel room away).
Never was he unsatisfied with a romp or "playdate" as he had come to dub them in his mind. They both got that satisfaction that they got from their passionate sex, and that seemed like more than enough.
But Sanji was confused. They'd been at their "game" for a little over the year, and Sanji had to admit that it was pretty damn good. He'd never been left hanging, and Zoro was good. But lately Sanji had distanced himself from Zoro, not going to him for over a week, a first since they'd began (and Sanji was feeling the effects, it was killing him). Sanji had to think about them, something he never did with a woman, who to him were predictable, easy, and something one did not have to think over (besides remembering the name of the girl of the week, of course).
Zoro was different. Sanji wasn't sure how, or why he was, but he had to think about where they were going, something else he never thought about with a woman. Women came naturally to him (maybe just a little too naturally), and he was already bored of their tendencies and actions. Zoro was amazing, he unpredictable and exciting (not surprising for someone who kept a sword in his mouth), with something new every time they seemed to get together for a "playdate."
This is what confused him. He was only in it for the sex (and it was worth it), a warm body (and it was indeed vary warm...almost like a furnace), and the companionship when life on the Grand Line was just a little too lonely between islands (and the distance always seemed just a little too long for him). Sanji never considered himself one for love (other than Nami-swan's and Robin-chwan's, of course). He never thought he needed it, only the benefits of that came along with it. And he was already getting that (and plenty of it), so why was he feeling this way?
(Page Break!)
After smoking the last cigarette of the day (he limited himself to a pack-a-day, trying to cut back after a particularly bad fight (eh, verbal disagreement) with Zoro and Chopper combined about his bad habits and a nasty image accompanying them of what Sanji's lungs looked like) he decided to go straight to the source of his internal battle. He was not surprised when he found Zoro training.
"Hey," Zoro says, surprised to see the chef in his workout room. He put down his massive weight and stood up, ignoring the stench of his sweat (it wasn't like Sanji hasn't smelled it before, sex can be a good workout). "What's up? Lunch?"
Sanji looks at the clock on the wall, horrified, but then quickly returns to normal, deciding that this mas more important. "No, I just wanted to, um...talk..."
Zoro grins. Usually it was just about using Zoro's body, but this was more interesting. He had found it odd that Sanji hadn't even tried to get in his pants for over a week, but this might just explain everything. "Sure, dart-brow. Let's talk."
Sanji refuses to sit, instead starts to pace, still trying to figure out the puzzle in his head (which just gave him a headache, he was going around in circles) and trying to find the right way to start this conversation. "Well, it's just that..." He pauses, then gets angry (for he just realized that it's the shitty-swordsman's fault anyway), running his hands through his hair. "It's you, alright! You're the problem!"
Zoro looks at him, confused. He knew the unspoken terms of their arrangement. Sanji comes to him when he needs a little...help with his tension, and they ignore and fight until Sanji comes to him again.
"What did I do, exactly?" Zoro asks. Sanji looks at him, a crazy look in his eyes (well, eye, the only one Zoro could see) and a scowl on his lips.
"I don't know! You're just there, and I can't stop thinking about you, and you're hot, face it, and I want you all the time, I don't even think about the girls anymore, any girls, just you! You're wild and unpredictable, and it makes my heart race and my head fell dizzy like I can't stop thinking about you, but even still, I just want to push you!" Sanji groans. "I don't know what's happening to me!"
Zoro pauses, contemplating (granted, he didn't do this so much, but it was what it was) the situation Sanji currently found himself in. Then he grins, clicking all the pieces together. Then he laughs, then ducks, narrowly avoiding the kick aimed at his head. "Oi, ero-cook, I know exactly what your problem is."
Sanji stops cold midway through another kick. "What?"
"You heard me. I know what's wrong with you," Zoro says with a smug grin, pulling the cook into a hug. Sanji tried to squirm away from the sweat from Zoro's body, but then he stopped, relaxing into his embrace all the while wondering what was going on. "You're in love with me."
"What?!" Sanji snaps, trying to get away again. "That's not it!"
"It is, and you're just to afraid to admit it, ero-cook," Zoro says with a smirk (Sanji did admit, it did fit all the things that were happening to him, and why he didn't want to be released from Zoro's iron grip). "Face facts, you want me more then just for my body."
Sanji groans, letting Zoro know that was in fact, right (something he was rather shocked to hear himself, he was usually never right) about his predicament. "Then what do I do about it, shitty-swordsman?"
Zoro smirks. "First you get on your knees."