Author's Note: So I went on a Junjou Romantica marathon and this story was born and for some reason, I assume you people want to know the backstories of why these stories exist so I'll tell you and you can read along if you find it interesting. In the episode of Misaki's birthday (where Usagi-san takes him away on the train), Usagi-san says that the main reason why he went there was for the sake of marimo, and then he mentioned fairies so yeah … Zoro's a fairy. Tada. This is a five-part story, pretty short, been reading through Beautiful Disaster and cringing. I made so many stupid mistakes and at untimely times too, like randomly in the middle of a really important emotional scene. I have a question for you, as I always do. Where did they go? Usagi-san and Misaki, that is. It's where this story is set and if you look up where Zoro is from (if he were Japanese), tell me why I find it so funny. If you know where the Junjou Romantica couple went, you know where this story is set. In an alternate universe of that location because I'm too lazy about geography. This is an actual location. I don't own One Piece, since the first chapter of Tag was so big, expect the second one to be that big so it'll take a while. It's all planned, it's a matter of getting around to it. I've played around with fairy anatomy and how it works. Yeah … Sorry about that. Song to listen to through this song is All of Me by John Legend.

Sink or Swim
by: Setkia

Summary

It wasn't his fault fairy tales painted fairies as being beautiful and majestic, full of grace and delicate fragility, swan-like and melodious. Looking at the man sitting at his kitchen table who was all brawn and no brains with bulging muscles and green hair, Sanji was pretty sure the fairy tales had mislead him.

PART ONE: THE FAIRY BY THE LAKE

Sanji's hands wove into the girl's beautiful blonde locks and pulled her closer, feeling her shapely body against his. The sound of her laughter was like tinkling bells and her lips were soft against his own as he opened his mouth wider. He could lose himself in this feeling. The faintest, most timid and adorable moan escaped her lips. And that's when the gagging started.

Sanji snapped an eye open in surprise, looking for the source of the noise. Zeff wasn't supposed to be home for a while and the other cooks were out. The young chef-in-training closed his eyes again, trying to immerse himself into the kiss once more but the gagging stopped him again.

It was through squinting, trying not to show any sign of lack of interest towards his partner, that he spotted … it. He had no better word for it. Twice the size of his thumb was a tiny man with green hair and green wings that looked like glass trying to choke himself by shoving his hand down his throat.

Sanji pulled away and grinned at the girl, though his attention was still captured by the strange little thing that stood on top of the rocks that circled the lake.

"Conis," he said softly, "when are you to be home again?"

"In a few hours," replied the girl with a grin. "Why, Sanji?" She played with his hair with her gentle touch and he was reminded once more why he adored the finer sex, yet that damn grumpy green person was ruining it all for him.

"I think the guys are going to be back sooner than expected so I think it would be best if you left." Sanji's heart yearned to tell her to stay, but until he got the mystery of the strange green man sorted out he knew he couldn't be nearly as suave as he usually was.

Conis nodded, frowning slightly but she gave him a kiss on the cheek and let Sanji walk her home, something that he could not put his entire focus on since he was too busy wondering if the annoying green cock-block had choked and died on his thumbnail sized fist yet.

When he came back, he leant down by the water's edge and stared. The little tiny green man was no where to be seen.

Strange.

"Oi, Sanji! What happened to your date?" yelled Patty with a large, shit-eating grin on his face. "Get bored of you already?"

"I walked her home," said Sanji, rolling his eyes at the big, beefy man's remark.

"Eggplant, don't lean so close, you'll fall in and the mermaids'll get ya!"

Sanji turned sharply and rolled his eyes, glaring at Zeff. "Shut up, old man!"

"You know you can't swim," Zeff said, curling the tips of his large moustache. "Don't go playing around the water."

"I'm nineteen, I'm not a baby anymore!"

"Yeah, that's right Boss," leered Carne. "Sanji's a big boy now, he needs the lake to get some. His charms and wit alone are not enough, he needs that extra shove in the right direction!"

Sanji jumped off the rocks surrounding the lake and grabbed Carne by the front of his shirt. Though the man was at least three decades older than Sanji, he was still shorter and getting up in his face never failed to make a yelp come from the fat, pudgy chef.

The small green man was long forgotten at this point and instead Sanji diced up his fish as usual and served it to the ungrateful bastards he called family.

Growing up near a lake had made Sanji a rather outdoors-y kind of kid so playing by the waterside was nothing new to him, even at nineteen. He liked to watch his reflection in water or see the colours of the fish while he was having a smoke, so him hanging out on the rocks was nothing new. Hearing a yelp beside him was new though.

Sanji jumped and nearly fell off the rock. It was kind of stupid, to live by the water and not know how to swim but Zeff had never gotten around to teaching him, it was always about the cooking, about learning how to make the perfect trout rather than learning how to swim with them. When he looked down at where his hand had been, he spotted the green man again.

He squinted and stared, confused. "What are you?" he whispered softly. The little green man coughed while Sanji picked him up into the palm of his hand and stared. The puffs of smoke that escaped his cigarette made the little man cough once more and he was fairly certain they were growling at him. Like an animal.

"Hands off!" The man's voice was squeaky being so small it made Sanji laugh. He grinned and shook his head.

"Nope, I'm interested now."

"Put me down!"

"Get down yourself," Sanji challenged.

To his surprise the little green man ran to the edge of his palm and jumped right off. The sound he made when he hit the water was a much louder splash than Sanji would've figured someone of his size would make and likewise, Sanji got sprayed with water, affectively putting out his cigarette.

What surfaced from the water was not a small man. Rather, it was a man about the same size as Sanji, perhaps a bit taller. There were many features Sanji could've focused on, from the man's tanned skin to his steel cold grey eyes. He could've remarked about how he was practically wearing a white muscle shirt that showed off everything including a large scar that went on a diagonal across his chest, or how his hair was green for crying out loud! But instead his eyes settled on the most delicate feature on the not-so-delicate man.

Wings.

Large, delicate wings with a beautiful interwoven pattern were spread out on his back. They were green, but a paler green as though to compliment his hair. They looked so fragile. They were wet, which meant they sagged a bit and from the way the man was treating them, shaking his head to rid his hair of water, he was used to them. Just who the hell was this? Or rather, what were they?

"Second hand smoking is worse than first hand," snapped the man and to Sanji's surprise his voice was much deeper than it had been before. He crawled out of the water, revealing strong legs covered in black pants. He was barefoot and around his waist was a green haramaki. Sanji was sensing a colour scheme here.

"W-who … W-what are you?" Sanji spluttered out, backing away from the edge of the lake despite the fact that everything in his body wanted to touch those delicate wings and see if they were as frail as they looked. Such a beautiful accessory to such a gruff looking man.

"None of your Goddamn business," snapped the man who then approached Sanji and grabbed him by his hair. He pushed him onto the ground and mounted him, using his hair to guide his head back as he got up close to his face, staring intensely as though trying to memorize everything about him. He had a very critical and analytical gaze as he shook his head as though dissatisfied with what he saw. "You're defective."

"What the fuck?" There were greater things to say, Sanji knew that. But when the only thing that came out of the dumbass's mouth was an insult, Sanji felt the need to throw back a few cuss words. "You're the one who's straddling me and yanking me around like I'm some rag doll and you're calling me defective Marimo?"

The man blinked, confusion in his eyes. "Marimo?" he repeated slowly as though the word were foreign to him.

"Yeah, Marimo, got a problem with that?" Sanji snapped.

"You're not freaked?"

"Of course I'm fucking freaked, a neanderthal just climbed out of the water after being the size of my thumbs and he looks like the missing samurai of the Feudal period!"

The Marimo looked confused. "But you're not running away."

"No, I can't, you have me trapped."

"And you're not trying to escape?"

"My curiosity overrides my better judgement at times."

The man nodded and leaned closer still, his breath on Sanji's face. Suddenly a hand was pulling at his eyelids. The green-haired thing was inspecting his eyes and could probably see his rods at this point. "You really are defective …"

Sanji slapped his hand away. "Get off of me!"

The Marimo looked surprised but it quickly faded. "What happened to not running away?"

"I changed my mind, you reek of seaweed and coral, get the fuck off of me, I'm wearing a good suit."

The man looked up and down at his attire and rolled his eyes. "You call this shitty thing a good suit? Hate to see what passes as bad."

"Shut up!"

The man blinked. He was so close to him now, his breath on his face he could almost taste him now, his long exhales blowing at Sanji's hair. He felt a shiver run down his back, suddenly very uncomfortable. "You're not supposed to see me."

"What?"

"You're not supposed to see me," repeated the Marimo. "Or hear me. Or be able to touch me." He grabbed Sanji by the chin and tilted his head to various angles. "What is wrong with you?" He opened Sanji's mouth without his consent and started staring at his uvula, before sticking a finger down his throat.

Sanji bit him.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get for sticking your fingers where they don't belong," snapped Sanji. He analyzed his situation. Right now he was against the rocks with a Marimo holding him hostage with one leg in between both of his and another on his outer left, his hands closing in on him. Sanji lifted his right leg, curled it around the man and proceeded to kick him in the skull with it.

The Marimo lurched forward at the impact having the opposite affect Sanji had wished for. He shoved and the strange, winged-thing, still surprised, let go.

"You're wet and disgusting," Sanji snapped at him.

The green haired man rolled away slightly and then sat up straighter until he was sitting cross-legged on the rocks with a balance that, had a tsunami come to take him, he wouldn't have budged. "What's up with your eyebrow?"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "None of your business, what's up with your hair?"

"None of your business."

Well this wasn't going anywhere.

The man's head tilted towards the home a few meters away from the lake. "Is anyone home?"

"Why, are you going to rob us?"

"Why would I?" The Marimo snorted. "Look, I was just curious why you could see me and for my curiosity I get nearly squashed and smoke in my face so I think I'll just stay away from you. You can pretend it was all a dream if you want."

"Why I could see you?" Sanji froze. "You mean—?" Sanji raised his foot and kicked the man in the head once more. "Pervert!"

"You're the one who was sticking your tongue down her throat!"

"She wasn't complaining!"

"She could barely speak, she was choking on all that spit and shit!"

Sanji was silent for a moment, watching as the man got up, ready to presumably go back to wherever he had come from and shrink back to his size of being twice his thumb but something stopped him from letting him go. "How long will it take for them to dry?"

"Dry?"

"Your wings." Sanji had never thought he would say this in his life. "Are you hungry?"

"Doesn't matter," scoffed the man. "And it's not your job to feed me. It's not like I'd eat any of your crap anyway."

The Marimo's stomach rumbled.

Well that settled it.

"Hey, let go of me!"

Sanji shook his head, gripping the man's wrist tighter. "No one's home and it's not like Zeff's going to oppose to me feeding someone," Sanji said, rolling his eyes. "Now come on!" He dragged the protesting winged being across the messy lawn until they were at the home and when he opened the door, the man just stopped and stared at him.

"Come in," Sanji said impatiently.

"You know, if I did want to rob this place, it'd be really easy." The man bent down, his wings twitching slightly, gleaming in the early afternoon sunlight. "You've got no lock to even pick. Confident in your alarm system?"

"Confident in our own abilities more like," Sanji scoffed. He dragged Marimo inside and shut the door behind him, guiding him by his shoulder. It was weird to hold onto his shoulder when he could faintly feel the touch of those fragile wings on his own shoulder. He pointed to a chair at the table. "Sit."

The Marimo sat.

"So do you just feed strangers?"

"If they're hungry."

"Right … Cause that's normal."

"Better than ignoring the needy," snapped Sanji. "You gonna tell me your name?"

"Why would you need it?"

"Well, it's either your name or Marimo, take your pick."

The man crossed his arms and turned his head away. There was silence as Sanji opened the pantry and looked at their supply. No wonder the cooks had gone to the grocery, there was shit in the cabinet. "Allergic to anything?"

"Zoro."

Sanji turned and stared at him. "What?"

"My name … it's Zoro."

"Like the swordsman from that Spanish book by something or another McCulley?"

The Marimo— Zoro— tilted his head to the side inquisitively. "What?"

"Never mind. Got any allergies?"

"Nothing that I know of."

"Anything you don't like?"

"Sweet things."

Sanji and Zoro (God that name was so strange) were silent as Sanji worked, cooking up some stew with what little vegetables were left. When he placed it on the stove to cook he turned to the man. He had barely moved since they had spoken, sitting almost like stone.

They were silent like that, staring at each other until Zoro broke the silence.

"Aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what?"

"About the whole … wings thing? The growing and shrinking? The green hair?"

"Do you want me to ask?"

Zoro turned his head away swiftly, his neck visible, long with a strong jawline. "Not particularly."

"Then I won't ask."

"But you're dying to know."

"Someone's conceited."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Sure, whatever you say." Sanji grinned. He could tell Zoro didn't like how he had just given into his poor attempt at defence so easily. "So when will they dry?"

"Doesn't matter," Zoro repeated gruffly.

"Okay then … So do you just hang around by the lake or what?" asked Sanji, randomly fishing for anything from the mysterious grumpy teen. Well, he assumed he was a teen. Ha. Fishing.

"I thought you weren't going to ask."

"I'm not asking about how you look, I'm asking about your home."

"Don't got one."

"That's stupid, everyone has a home."

"I lost mine a while ago."

"So you're homeless?"

"I guess."

Sanji bit his lip. "So the lake is suddenly a hotspot for the homeless?"

"No, I live there."

"But you said you have no home."

"I don't."

"But—"

"A home is a lot more than just where you live, isn't it?" Zoro turned his chair around, seeming to get more comfortable. He leaned on the back of the chair using his elbows to support his head while he tilted it forward slightly. Sanji could remember Zeff telling him that doing such a thing was dangerous. "I can live somewhere without it being my home," Zoro said with a roll of his eyes. "You humans are so narrow minded."

"So you're not human?" Sanji had a feeling he wasn't, unless this Zoro guy was really into cosplay and had become some kind of blonde idiot who went around drinking potions that made her smaller and eating cake that made her bigger.

"I thought you said you weren't asking."

"About your appearance. This is about biology."

Zoro sighed, as though conforming to Sanji's loophole. "Sorta." He stretched and yawned. "I mean it's a bit complicated. But I guess I'm now something you guys would call a fairy."

"A fairy?" Sanji repeated.

"Got a problem with that?"

Sanji shook his head, but he couldn't help questioning it.

"Don't lie to me, I hate liars." Zoro leaned closer to Sanji, tilting his chair forward even more than before. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"It's just … Aren't fairies supposed to be delicate and fragile and all that shit?"

"Your point being …?" Zoro asked, tilting back onto the feet of the chair.

"Does that make you defective?"

"What'dya say?" demanded Zoro, glaring at him.

Sanji stood up again and glanced at the clock. The stew should be done now. He turned off the stove and stirred it, wondering if what he had said was really as offensive as Zoro took it to be. It wasn't his fault fairy tales painted fairies as being beautiful and majestic, full of grace and delicate fragility, swan-like and melodious. Looking at the man sitting at his kitchen table who was all brawn and no brains with bulging muscles and green hair, Sanji was pretty sure the fairy tales had mislead him.

"Don't ask what I'm thinking if you're just going to get offended by it," Sanji said, rolling his eyes. He poured some stew into a new bowl and set it on the table. "Now sit properly."

"Yes mother."

Zoro ate in silence. No, that was a lie. He ate like a starved man who had forgotten what food tasted like. He was so fit, Sanji was prepared to say he lived on a protein smoothie diet in which he consumed not a single solid thing. He was loud as he chewed and slurped, bits of the liquid dripping down his chin.

"Good?"

"It was okay."

Liar.

Zoro then proceeded to belch very loudly.

Sanji shook his head, laughing. "Whatever you say."

"Oi, Sanji! We're back!"

Both teens looked at each other in surprise, frozen in shock. Sanji knew Zeff wouldn't be opposed to Sanji feeding a stranger, but rarely ever did he bring the strangers into their home. Never mind soaking wet strangers who claimed to be fairies.

To Sanji's amazement, Zoro shrunk himself back down to his previous height of the size of Sanji's thumbs so when the door to the kitchen suddenly opened there was a nearly empty bowl of stew that Sanji was staring at as though utterly dumbstruck.

"What's with all the mud you tracked in?" demanded Zeff.

Sanji opened his mouth but closed it again, unable to come up with words. He sat there, looking like a fish when he felt something on his pant leg. Looking down he realized it was Zoro, shrunken Zoro, clinging to the cloth of his pants. That's right. Crossing large ground was probably hard when you were the size of a small cup of rice. A really small cup of rice. Sanji leaned down and shoved Zoro into his boot before standing up. "Tch, there's no rule against it, is there, old man?" asked Sanji, walking across the room feeling as though his face was on fire.

He didn't know Zoro, not really and he was shoving him into his shoe to get him out of the house? What was he doing? Why was he trying to cover for him? Was there anything to need to hide anyway? He walked swiftly and quickly, his eyes on the ground noticing all the splotches of mud Zoro had dragged in. He then tossed his boots out the door.

"There, satisfied, you old geezer?"

Zeff stared at Sanji strangely before shaking his head and muttering something about "teenagers these days" and barking at him to get the rest of the groceries.

Sanji let out a sigh of relief. They were safe. But from what?

"Your feet stink."

Sanji rolled his eyes. He was sitting on the edge of the lake with new shoes on while Zoro wadded in the water. He scoffed and took a deep inhalation of the smoke. "You got any complaints? I got you out, didn't I?"

"You didn't have to do that," said Zoro. "They can't see me."

"Didn't want to take any chances."

They fell silent and Sanji swore a cricket chirped.

"Well … thanks anyway, even though what you did was stupid."

Sanji smirked and glanced over at him to find that the fairy's ears were tinged pink, his neck even beginning to turn a shade darker. "No problem."

"You still need to wash your feet," Zoro snapped.

"What happened to the thanks?"

"I take it back."

"You can't take it back, it's already out there."

Zoro huffed and folded his arms. It looked as though the fairy was very pissed.

"Shouldn't you be letting your wings dry?"

"Doesn't matter, besides, I live in the lake."

Sanji raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Can you not take your dates here? It's kinda sickening to see you playing tonsil hockey," Zoro said in a huff.

Though Sanji didn't go for men even he could admit Zoro looked adorable that way.

"Does it annoy you?"

"I've lost my lunch on countless occasions, so yes."

"I'll be sure to bring them often then," Sanji grinned.

"Bastard."

Sanji leaned forward on the rock, laying on his stomach and lighting up a new cigarette. "What, you think you do any better? How many girls go for fairy boys?"

"I've never tried. At the very least if you're going to keep bringing them here, you think you could get quieter ones? Or ones that didn't sound like they had swallowed a whole tub of helium?"

"No girl is ever quiet once I'm done with her," Sanji said with a smirk.

Zoro turned his head away.

"Jealous?"

"As if. I don't need the others to get a wind of this and start betting into human affairs anymore than they do."

Sanji straightened up slightly, intrigued. "What do you guys bet on?"

"Stupid stuff, like which one of the loud mouths in that house will accidentally drop something into the water next," Zoro said. "Or how long you'll be with the same girl."

"I'm not a player," said Sanji defensively.

"Of course you're not."

"I'm not," Sanji said. "Girls just prefer not to settle down with me because they can't handle my commitment."

"Please, I've heard you with them, they're probably going home to puke up their dinner from the cheesy lines you feed them," Zoro said with a scoff. With each move he made, his wings seemed to glimmer more. While Zoro could stay still and speak, not being an animated talker in the least, his wings would move with the slightest change of emotion in his voice or twitch of his body.

"How long have you been here, seeing me do these things?"

"Long enough to know you're a complete playboy."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"What do you know?" Sanji snapped. He lit up a new cigarette and gave Zoro a lazy grin. "So, are mermaids hot?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "What, you don't have any other burning questions about my biology? Like how I can survive underwater? Or how I know the English language?"

Sanji shrugged. "I figure if fairies are real then so are mermaids. They hot?"

"Of course you'd think of mermaids."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a hormone driven neanderthal."

"That's the kettle calling the pot black," Sanji said. "Besides, that just means I'm healthy."

"More like horny." Zoro looked at Sanji and under the moonlight all of his harsh features looked even more straight and sharp, not softening his appearance at all and yet the wings added a certain gentle quality to him, like a vulnerability that he couldn't hide. "How are you not freaked out by this in the least?"

"What do you mean?"

"How are you so accepting of the idea of fairies? I mean you were raised to be a normal teenage boy, weren't you?"

"I don't think my brain has finished processing all of this, I'm sure I'll freak out soon. Would you like me to call you when I do?"

"Please and thank you."

"Oh and the brute knows manners!" Sanji chuckled and watched as Zoro turned red again. "Aren't you tired, treading like that?"

"It becomes second nature to you," said Zoro with a shrug.

Sanji rolled over onto his back and stared up at the stars. "So does that make you an Aquarius?"

"What?"

"Your star sign."

"Don't tell me you believe in that zodiac bullshit."

"I don't, I was just curious."

"Scorpio. It's Scorpio."

"Ah, the scorpion."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It fits you. Very aggressive. I'm pisces."

"Of course it's the one with the fish."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a cook, aren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

Zoro gave him a look and Sanji was reminded once more of how he had made food for the man. "Oh. Right." He tried not to blush, but it was rather hard. He averted Zoro's gaze instead. "You know what?"

"I'm not a mind reader, shit-cook."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "You love my cooking. But anyway, what if I just got your approval?"

"My approval?" Zoro echoed, staring at him confused. "Don't tell me you're one of those dependent people who need other people's approval in order to get any satisfaction out of life."

"I am not! I was just thinking … what if I brought the girls buy and to your opinion of them?"

"You'd break up with your girlfriend if I told you I didn't like her?" Zoro asked, sounded awed, not that Sanji could blame him. After all, he was essentially letting a mythical creature dictate his love life so he could swim in the waters as he pleased. "Are you crazy?"

"It's debatable. You don't want to?"

"What on Earth possessed you to think that giving me total control of who you fuck was a good idea?"

"I never would've put it that crudely," Sanji said. He stared at the north star and thought about it. "More like … You'd be screening them. I can always disagree with you if I want to."

"And what, this is for my own self-comfort? You may feed the needy, but you're not a saint. I could tell you wanted to murder me for cock-blocking you. And then there's the matter of you being able to see me, which still doesn't make any sense." He hoisted himself onto the shore and joined Sanji on the rock. "Don't be so selfless, Curlicue. You give someone like me that control and your whole world goes downhill. Besides you have no reason to trust me. I could prevent you from getting laid for the rest of your life."

"Okay you're making this out to be a bigger deal than it actually is," Sanji said. "I'm just saying if it's such an inconvenience to you then we can discuss them when they're gone." Wow this sounded more stupid the more he spoke about it. "Besides I don't think you're a dictator."

"You'd be surprised how evil fairies can be when they want to."

Sanji stared at Zoro who turned away but there was something about the way the moon was profiling him and the way he tensed up that made Sanji pause. "Speaking from experience?"

"People get hurt. Good people." He paused and looked back at Sanji, something broken in his eyes before he blinked and it disappeared. "You don't even know me."

"I wouldn't mind getting to know you."

"You say that now."

"Are you going to be like one of those sparkly vampire types who say that we shouldn't be friends but make an attempt at it anyway and then eventually just give in and press me up against my bedroom wall after stalking me for a while and nearly drain me of all my blood?"

Zoro blinked. The close atmosphere was gone and instead Zoro was laughing. It was a deep, rich chuckle that ran through his whole body, starting from the pit of his stomach, relaxing his body and his face seemed to soften up as he laughed. "Only if you want me to."

Sanji gulped. Banter, he was good at banter, that was just about every conversation with the other cooks, but this … There was something in the air that hinted at something more, something just beneath the surface, something that he hadn't counted on. He felt sparks, he felt the tension in the air that he had only ever felt with a woman. It was almost like it was … "Are you flirting with me?"

"Like I'd want to try my hand at a human, that always ends badly." Zoro shook his head. "Anyway, get some sleep, you're thinking about stupid things. Trust me, giving me a monopoly over something as fragile as your love life is not the right move. You're only young for so long."

"And how old are you?"

"Physically? Probably your age, but I stopped aging a few years ago."

"Why?"

A dark look came over Zoro's face. "Doesn't matter."

"Come on—"

"Sanji. Go to sleep."

Sanji could only stare when Zoro dove back into the water, leaving ripples in his wake. He didn't resurface after fifteen minutes and Sanji could only assume he had gone back to his home.

No, not his home. Where he lived.

"A home is a lot more than just where you live, isn't it?"

Sanji did as told and went to sleep that night, dreams of fragile wings and moss balls leaping abound.

Sanji stared into the water and frowned. Had yesterday been a dream? Everything had been so weird and crazy, could he really believe that fairies lived in the lake? Was Zoro a figment of his imagination? He had said that no one else could see him. But then he remembered the warmth of Zoro's hands on him when he had forced him down on the rocks and he knew it couldn't have been a dream.

"Oi, Zoro!" he hissed in a loud whisper. Zeff was home and maybe this was risky and maybe he'd looks stupid but he was going to do it anyway. "Bastard!"

He leaned closer to the water, knowing he had to be careful. The rocks got slippery with morning dew so leaning forward wasn't the smartest move someone like him could make. "Marimo, scared to come out?"

And then he slipped.

Sanji's arms went flailing out as he felt his body tip over, knees sliding from the rock. He could feel himself falling in so he shut his eyes tightly and gripped the rock, trying to find something secure he could hold onto, his nails digging into the dirt that got stuck between the cracks of the rocks, but it didn't work, he still fell forward. He took a deep breath, cursing himself under his breath. It was probably all a dream and now he was going to die and drown because of something stupid he had done. How much dumber could he get?

His face splashed into the water and it got up his nose. He felt the urge to breathe as he felt his body sink, his lungs screaming for air but he ignored them. If he breathed now he would surely drown faster. He tried to imitate what he had seen others do, moving their legs and arms in a fashion that would keep them afloat, trying to get his head above water but he couldn't.

Suddenly warmth surrounded him in every direction, strong arms around him. He felt himself being hoisted up but he refused to open his eyes, terrified of what he would see. He could feel the hard rock when he was placed onto it though and the warmth of the sun on his suddenly cold body.

He coughed up water onto the land, climbing higher on the rock to get better ground. He had never appreciated air more than he did at this moment. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. For a fleeting moment he had thought he would never see it again.

"Shitty cook."

The sun was blinded by a large head of green hair and Sanji couldn't help grinning.

"You came."

"You nearly died, idiot!"

Sanji gripped onto Zoro's shirt, fisting it tightly beneath his fingers, smelling him, taking him in. "It wasn't a dream."

"Did you have to risk your life to test that theory?" demanded Zoro, pushing him off of him. "Shit, get some dry clothes, you're going to get hypothermia."

Sanji couldn't help but laugh, tossing his head back. It felt so good to be alive. He had never thought of himself scared of the dark but when it was all he could see, Sanji couldn't stand the thought of it bring the last thing he saw. He choked up more water and Zoro frowned.

"You're so stupid."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "W-wouldn't have done it if you had j-just come."

"Don't make jokes when you're recovering."

"W-worried?"

Zoro clicked his teeth and said nothing. "Look, I don't need to play lifeguard, it's not my job to save your sorry ass every time you feel a bit suicidal."

"I'm not s-s-suicidal!" snapped Sanji. "How about you just come the n-next time I call you?"

"You're shivering." Zoro frowned. "Shit, just go inside before you get sick."

"Y-your wearing wet clothes t-t-too," Sanji said through shattering teeth. It was warm in the sun, he would dry off soon. This was like when you got out after swimming, right? He imagined so. "D-don't nag me."

"You could've died!"

"Thought you said f-fairies were e-evil."

"They can be," Zoro said. "You're lucky I'm the one who saw you, otherwise they would've dragged you to the bottom and you can forget about getting warm. A stone cold corpse is what you'd be."

"Y-you're good."

Zoro scoffed. "Don't give me so much credit. Now get inside before you turn into a Popsicle."

Sanji frowned. "D-does that m-mean you'll leave?"

"As far as others are concerned, you're talking to thin air, it would be best if I left."

"B-but you're warm."

"And you're delusional."

Sanji tugged on him harshly and buried his face in his chest. "You're warm," he repeated.

"Look, you need to go—"

"Will you c-come?"

"What?"

"N-next time, will you c-come?"

Zoro stared at him, his brow furrowing. He looked handsome that way, in a strange, rough kind of way. "Will that make you go inside?"

"Yeah."

Zoro sighed and pinched his nose. "You don't want to be around me."

"Are you going to agree or not, s-shitty bastard? A-as you pointed out, I-I might die of hypothermia, d-do you want my death on your c-conscience?"

Zoro had a conflicted look in his eyes, something Sanji couldn't name, emotions flying everywhere. "Do you really want me around?"

"Yes."

Zoro looked behind him, as though he was scared something would jump out of the lake and attack them. "Okay, fine. I'll come. Now get your ass back inside the house."

Sanji frowned. "D-don't agree if you don't w-want to."

"Really? You won't go in if I don't agree to see you, but you don't want me to agree if I don't want to see you?"

"I d-don't want to force you." Sanji took a deep shaky breath that he wasn't entirely sure was because of the cold. "Do you want to see me again?"

Zoro closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do."

"T-then it's settled." Sanji got up from the rock, shivering slightly. "Now, I'm g-going to go before I die b-because of the ice c-cube my body's t-trying to become."

"Whose fault is that?" Zoro said, but there was no venom to his words. He was grinning.

"Yours," Sanji snapped back. He walked shakily back towards his house, though he couldn't help but look back and see Zoro sitting there, staring up at the sun with a grin on his face. He was starting to see why people called fairies beautiful. Maybe the fairy tales weren't so far off.

"What did you do, fall into the lake?" demanded Zeff, drying Sanji's hair with a towel far more roughly than he should have been. "Didn't I warn you about that lake? Do we need to move now?"

"No," Sanji said quickly. He had just gotten Zoro to agree to hang out with him. There was no way he was backing out on that. He shook his head. "I was being careless, we don't need to move."

Zeff stared at him. "Are you okay, Eggplant?"

"Fine," Sanji said. "And could you be a bit more gentle? I'm trying not to go bald," he snapped.

Zeff chuckled and slapped him playfully with the towel. "Do it yourself if you're so concerned."

"I wil."

Sanji took the towel and grinned. Being alive had never felt more good. And plus, now he had Zoro to look forward to.

"What about Robin?"

"She's way older than you," said Zoro. "Is she a cougar or something? She's robbing you of your childhood innocence and all that. Older women are just trouble."

"You say that like you've been with an older woman," said Sanji rolling his eyes.

It wasn't written in a contract or anything like that, but Sanji had gotten into the habit of talking to Zoro about his dates and getting his opinions. As much as Sanji told himself he wasn't doing it because he wanted to find a girl he and the Marimo both approved of, he couldn't help but dump them when Zoro found fault in them. It could've just been because he hadn't ever noticed the way that maybe the way Nami-swan smiled was a bit too sinister, or that Valentine walked funny. Maybe he was being nit picky, but he swore all of his decisions to end his relationships were purely based off of his feeling of lacking spark. Zoro had no influence on him whatsoever. None at all.

"Just trust me, older women are trouble."

Well, now that he thought about it, Robin was like a decade older than him … But that had nothing to do with what Zoro had said.

"Remind me again why I dumped Vivi?"

"She has a duck for a pet. That's cruelty towards animals."

"Cooking is cruelty to animals," Sanji pointed out.

"She has blue hair. Didn't you think that was a bit weird?"

"You have green hair."

Zoro said nothing.

Sanji was sitting on the grass while Zoro sat on the rocks. By being in the grass any chance of Sanji drowning was eliminated. He wasn't going to take anymore chances. Their conversations had become so long that eventually, Zoro's clothes dried on their own as they spoke. The blond stretched out his legs and sighed. "Hey Zoro … you wouldn't happen to be trying to find fault in these women just so I'll stay single, are you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't peg you for being a picky person so all this judgement coming from you is kind of strange." Sanji sat up straighter. "Zoro … do you have a girlfriend?"

Zoro was silent for a moment. "No."

"So are you like the Scrooge of relationships? Since you can't be happy anymore, others can't be?"

"Bah humbug," said Zoro dryly.

"Very funny."

"I think I'm hilarious."

Sanji picked at the grass by his sides. "Why'd you break up?"

Zoro tensed. "We didn't."

"So why—"

"She died."

Sanji froze.

"I'm … I'm sorry."

"Can we talk about something else?"

Sanji nodded. He twirled the grass in between his fingers. "Do you know how to blow grass?"

"Blow grass?"

Sanji took a piece of grass and put it in front of him. He spread the grass slightly and blew softly, letting out a whistling sound. "Like that. Can you do that?"

"I tell you I want to talk about something else and you start showing me party tricks?"

"Why not?" Sanji held out a blade of grass. "Come on, you know you want to try it."

Zoro stared at it curiously and then plucked it from his hand. "How do you do it?"

"Okay, put the blade across the outside of your thumb," said Sanji. "Then you press the other thumb against the base of the first thumb so there should be a small pocket between your thumbs. You just have to blow into the pocket."

Sanji watched, amused, as Zoro tried to blow and nearly swallowed the blade of grass.

Sanji pinched his fingers and played a small tune with a grin. Zoro glared at him. "Your parents must be so proud."

"Not everyone can do it," Sanji said with a shrug. "Anyway why don't you talk about yourself? What's your family like?"

"I don't have a family."

"Friends?"

"No friends."

"Lie."

Zoro stared at him. "Whatever."

"I refuse to believe you have no friends, at least one person in this world has to like you." Sanji thought about it and tilted his head back. "You know, maybe you have tons of friends and don't know."

"How is that possible?"

"Maybe they think you're their friend, but you don't."

"Then we're not friends."

"What, do you need some kind of friendship binding ritual to officially become friends?"

"Maybe."

Sanji grinned and pulled a cigarette out of his pack. "Come here," he said, beckoning him forward with a finger.

"I'm scared," Zoro said cautiously, though he was obviously teasing.

"I don't bite, much. Come, sit next to me."

Zoro slowly got up from the rock he was sitting on and sat next to Sanji. Sanji then lit up his cigarette. "Turn to me," he told Zoro. Zoro, in confusion, turned to him. Sanji shoved the cigarette into Zoro's mouth.

Almost immediately Zoro started coughing. "What the fuck?" he said. He spat it out but Sanji held onto it.

Sanji put it back into Zoro's mouth against his protest. "Calm down, just breathe in slowly and then exhale." Sanji watched as Zoro tentatively smoked his first cigarette. It felt like a milestone of some kind, and Sanji was proud to be the first one to witness it.

"This tastes like ass," Zoro said gruffly. Once the cigarette was half done, Sanji took it away, much to Zoro's pleasure.

Sanji then put the cigarette in his own mouth.

Zoro stared at him.

Sanji finished the rest of the cigarette before grinning. "There. Now we're friends."

"What?"

"We've shared a cigarette together, something you'd only do with a friend," Sanji said with a shrug. To be honest, Sanji had never shared a cigarette in this manner ever before. He had lit another's cigarette for them, had his own lit by others, but never had he smoked the same cigarette as another. He told himself it was because he didn't think Zoro could handle a full cigarette, but something told him it was because he was now slightly giddy from he indirect kiss he and Zoro had shared, whether Zoro realized it or not.

"That's a shitty ritual," said Zoro. "And why the fuck do you like those things?"

"It's an acquired taste," Sanji said with a shrug.

"So … we're friends now?" Zoro said slowly.

Sanji turned to him. "Got a problem with that?"

Zoro turned his head away, a blush rising on his cheeks, the tips of his ear turning pink. "No."

"Good."

"They're really pretty."

Zoro stared at Sanji blankly.

"Your wings."

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

"No, they are. I think they're beautiful. You should take better care of them."

Zoro was silent.

"Can I touch them?"

"What? No!"

"Oh come on, just one touch?"

Zoro backed away from Sanji.

Since their shared cigarette Zoro had taken to sitting next to Sanji by the shore as they spoke about everything from how the cloud in the sky looked like a tiger to debating over whether or not Zeff thought Sanji was insane at this point. Rarely ever did they talk about Zoro and Sanji supposed he was okay with that, if the green-haired man— fairy— didn't want to talk about himself, that was his business. Didn't mean he wasn't still curious.

"No," Zoro said more firmly.

"Come on, aren't we friends?"

"I see, that's how it is," Zoro said. Their banter had turned into much more playful swapping of witty comebacks and insults, which that if Sanji thought about them too hard, he was sure he would call it flirting and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to take that.

"Yes, I became friends with you because I'm a slut for your wings," Sanji said. "But really can I touch them? They look so fragile."

Zoro shook his head. "You shouldn't really do that."

"Why not?"

"It's a fairy custom thing," Zoro said. "You only let someone touch your wings if you trust them. A lot."

"You don't trust me?" Sanji had to admit he felt something in his stomach sink. He thought he and Zoro were closer than that. It had been about three months since they had been hanging out together and Sanji's life had already been put in Zoro's hands. He trusted him, perhaps more than he'd dare to admit.

"It's …" Zoro was silent for a moment.

They both fell into silence while Sanji smoked another cigarette. Seeing Zoro lay in the grass was weird. His wings and hair would blend into the ground and it would almost look like some kind of mystical painting a renaissance artist had made. Zoro sat up and turned his back to Sanji.

"Put out your cigarette."

"What?"

"Put out your cigarette, idiot," Zoro said. "I don't want the ashes to fall on them."

And Sanji realized this was Zoro's way of letting him touch him.

Sanji adjusted himself and moved closer to Zoro, almost pressing against his back but to do that would be to crush his wings. He reached his hand out to touch but stopped. The wings caught the morning sunlight beautifully, looking like sunlight streaming through a stain glass window. Zoro's wings were always the last thing to dry so there were still small droplets of water stuck on his wings, looking like tiny crystals.

"Are you going to touch, or not?" snapped Zoro.

Sanji slowly reached out once more, trying not to get distracted by the beauty of his fragile wings.

The wings felt much harder than Sanji imagined. They looked like silk, frail and delicate but they were made of something tougher, like a rough outer-shell protected them from getting hurt. He couldn't help his hands from tracing the curve of the wings and gently repeating the patterns.

Zoro shivered.

They were silent as Sanji's hand went down Zoro's spine. There was something so incredibly intimate about this act, something that Sanji couldn't put words to. He felt closer to Zoro in these moments than any girl he had ever been with.

"Satisfied?" asked Zoro after a few minutes of Sanji carefully touching his wings. He turned to see him, looking over his shoulder. He was so close, Sanji could see everything in those eyes of his. Those three piercings in Zoro's ear that he had become fond of chimed in the gentle breeze.

And then—

"Zoro, Mihawk wants to see you— What are you doing with a human?"

Author's Note #2: So ... favorite part? Please review! And do you know where exactly this is set? It's a real place. I know this is just so much fluff... It was a lot of fun, something to grin about?