Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Zoro placed his thin textbooks back into his school bag. The school ended and everyone was either going home or heading off to their clubs. He joined the kendo club when he first enrolled into this high school, so he was preparing to go to the kendo classroom.
He glanced about and saw some of the students who were going home talked amongst each other about karaoke or going to each other's home for homework. Some laughed and discussed whether they wanted to stop by at a nearby café to get something to drink. Zoro felt a sting in his chest, but he kept an impassive expression as he clicked the buckle on his bag closed.
Hoisting the bag over his shoulder and gripping the slender black bag that held his kendo swords, he silently walked out of his classroom. He only took three paces when he heard someone call out his name. Snakes crawled up his spine and his heart palpitated quickly and he tried to cool himself down. Zoro took a deep breath, pulled up the most bored expression he could make, and turned to the student.
"Hm?"
Sanji had shiny blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that shone brighter than crystals. For some reason unknown-recent fashion probably-Sanji hid one of those pretty eyes. He was a popular one at school because of his handsome looks and friendly attitude. Zoro too, but mainly because of how strong he was in his kendo tournaments. Zoro was only social around people he knew.
Sanji scratched at his head and he looked down at the floor. Zoro put his hands on his hips, letting his bags hang loosely in his hands. The blond put his in his pockets and inhaled.
"Look, I don't really like this."
"You're the one who caused this." Zoro said quietly.
"No, you-!" Sanji held his shout and his voice lowered again, "Okay, I'll apologize. I'm sorry that I've been ignoring you. I want to make it all up. You know the movie that's coming up this weekend?"
""Moonlight"?" That was the first thing Zoro thought of since nearly ninety percent of the girls at his school were screaming about it. Most of the male students were getting used to it and some were just as eager as the ladies. Sanji was definitely the type to like "Moonlight".
"No, "Dyed in White"." Zoro raised an eye but didn't reply.
"Well," Zoro watched silently as the blond rustled his hands through his pockets and pulled out a thin envelope. Zoro stared at it carefully, looked up at Sanji, looked back at the envelope, and at last with a grunt he lowered his school bag to take it. He was about to put away when Sanji's voice stopped him, "Open it."
Zoro had a blank face as he slipped his fingers around the flap of the envelope and kept that expression when he pulled out a movie ticket with the title, "Dyed in White the Movie Four: Hell's Gate" on it.
"This Sunday, you, me, Hina, Valentine, and Shuraiya are going. You better be there before ten! At the dog statue okay?"
"What about Carmine?" Carmine was Sanji's recent girlfriend. Sanji was head over heels over her and stayed close to her like a baby duck following its mother.
Sanji scraped his shoes, "She's not going because she doesn't want to see "Dyed in White.""
The green haired sighed as if he were tired, "Then why'd you pick it? You know she doesn't like those kinds of movies-"
"The 'Moonlight' tickets were sold out." Zoro didn't answer but he returned a nod. He didn't think too much about it. Sanji nodded and ran down the hall, only to be yelled by a student representative. Zoro slipped the ticket back in the white envelope and shoved it in his pocket.
He wasn't worried but he decided to tell his other friend about it.
-.-.-
Twelve miles away from the high school Zoro attended and fifteen miles away from the Women Academy stood a decent two story home. This was Nami's home, Zoro's childhood friend. She and he attended the same schools and stayed together like peas in a pod until the end of middle school. Zoro chose the school that was closer to his home and Nami chose the school where no matter how much Zoro tried would never be able to enter: a women only high school.
At first Zoro teased her that the only cute boy she would be able to communicate with was himself, but he received a huge bump in the head as an answer. Nami decided to attend the school so she was obstinate that she would love it. She was right about that. There wasn't a perverted minded boy nearby so she could do whatever she-or all of the girls at the academy-wanted.
She could spread her legs as far as she could, even accidentally show the pattern of her undergarments, and no boy was around to drool or attack her. Since she didn't need to care about her feminine manners, she ate as much as she wanted with vigor. She noticed that even the girls with the best manners had two large slices of meat patties and three bowls of rice for lunch.
Zoro was right about meeting boys. The closest man she met was her father and Zoro, but sometimes he introduced her to some of his friends so she didn't feel as empty.
Today she invited her closest friends from her high school to work on their homework and discuss their love interests. They were supposed to be finishing up their Calculus but the newly released movie deterred their thoughts.
"I think Beni should be with Edwin."
"No, at this point, she's going to end up with Jason. She has to."
"Team Edwin! I'm for Team Edwin!"
"Go away Team Ewwin! No one wants to see your shiny hair!"
All of the girls were giggling mirthful with each other when Nami's cell phone started ringing with an oriental samisen instrument.
One of the girls with pale yellow hair curved up a smile, "Who's that? Your new boyfriend?"
"Oh shush Kaya! It's not!" Nami stuck out her tongue as she flipped it open, "Hey Zoro. I thought you had Kendo class."
"Hey Nami," Zoro's voice sounded tired. He always was like that, but Nami was able to see through his disguise even during phone calls, "and yeah, I left early. Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Uh...My friends are over and they'll probably stay for a few more minutes. I can call you back."
There was silence on the other side of the phone. "I'm right in front of your house."
Nami let out an exasperated sigh, "Zoro! I told you not to do that!" she suddenly got up and stomped out of her room, "Fine fine! You can come in but only a few minutes!" She gave a quick glance at her friends who looked slightly disappointed because the 'Girls Only" moment was going to be ruined.
"Don't worry," she said as she reached for the doorknob, "he's half a woman." When Nami ran down the stairs as if a large mouse was chasing after her, all of her friends looked at each other and opened their mouths in an 'o' shape.
So, this was the gay friend Nami was talking about.
-.-.-
Zoro waited at the entrance of Nami's house, staring absentmindedly at the flower pots lining up along the steps. He snapped out of his trance when the door opened and a sour faced Nami greeted him. The green haired teen was not faltered by her mood and he gave her a quick hug. Her anger burned out-slightly-and she was in better spirits to hug him back.
She pulled away quickly and put her hands over her hips, "What's the matter? Did something happen at school?" Nami paused to take a breath and she continued, "Did Sanji finally start talking to you?"
"Yeah, I mean, the last one, yeah."
"Really?" she grabbed his hand and pulled him in, "I want to hear more about this!"
"That's why I came here because I knew you wanted to." Zoro replied softly, but with a smile.
She led him to her room where all of her girl friends were fidgeting around, anxiously waiting to meet Nami's friend. When he entered, all of their stereotypical ideas of gay men were thrown out of the window. The teen didn't skip around and lift his pinky finger and he definitely didn't talk in a sing-song voice. He actually looked and acted like a normal man, the only exception was that his eyes never once flew to their breasts or their shirts with their nipples poking out.
Yes, all of the girls thought simultaneously, gay men are awesome! So they returned to their normal places: Robin sprawled supine on Nami's bed while Hancock laid her head against Robin's groin while she read a book, not minding at all that she was unashamedly showing off her inner thighs.
Zoro pulled Nami's desk chair in the middle of the room and waited until Nami pulled up a chair also. Eventually, all of her friends formed a semi-circle around Zoro and he felt as if he was before a job interview. Robin and Hancock, who seemed uninterested at first, entered the circle also.
Nami leaned on her knees, "So, tell us from the beginning." Zoro couldn't help but hear the word, 'us' as bold as an ink stain.
He shuffled his hands together and fell into silence for a few seconds. A mature looking girl with long black hair, whom he heard Nami call her Robin, pushed a pretty teacup to him.
"Would you like some?" Zoro uttered a silent thank you and took the fragile cup into his hands. It tasted floral and sweet like the design on the teacup. He pretended not to hear the squeals on how adorable he looked. He set the cup down along with the other cute cups and placed the envelope onto the same table. He silently pushed it to Nami and she took it and examined it briefly.
When she read the ticket, she let out a gasp. "A movie? He's inviting you to a movie?"
Suddenly questions that didn't have anything to do with the current topic exploded like firecrackers, "Is it 'Moonlight?'"
"Is it the 3D version?"
"Oh my gosh! Edwin!"
"Stop with the Edwin! Jason's much better!"
"Enough!" Nami shouted and immediately the chirping died. She raised the ticket so everyone could see, "See! This isn't 'Moonlight', it's 'Dyed in White'!" The booing came right after, but she paid no interest to it. Her eyes were actually glowing, "Is this a date?"
"No," Zoro dismissed the question with his hand and he laughed it off, "no Nami. It's not. He invited three other friends, so it's the normal 'friend gathering.'"
"Really?" Nami narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Then why is it 'Dye in White?'"
"Why can't it be?"
"Zoro, I know you're a maniac with the whole samurai stuff, but the rest of us are into 'Moonlight.'"
"Nami," Zoro started, suddenly looking bored, "he said that the 'Moonlight' tickets were sold out so that's the only one he could buy." Nami's friends were moving their heads left to right as the two friends shot out their conversation back and forth.
"-but this is not 3D."
"I could see that."
Her eyes glittered the same way when she found a dollar bill on the floor, "You don't like watching 3D."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"This is fishy. Sanji's acting too friendly."
"He said something about making up the whole two months he'd been ignoring me." Zoro stressed the amount of days since he counted it frequently enough to remember.
"Even if it's just was something to welcome you back as a friend, this is weird. He picked your favorite type of movie and he even chose the one without 3D."
"That's only a coincidence and besides," Zoro's voice that was already quiet had fallen to a whisper, "He said no." Zoro was talking about the incident that happened two months ago, before there was an uncomfortable boundary between them.
Two months ago, he and Sanji were just two normal guys, the best of buddies, until Zoro told Sanji his true feelings.
Sanji declined, but he added that they could still be friends. The blond didn't seem to be disturbed so Zoro agreed. The day after he had said that, Sanji avoided him and the uncomfortable wall was formed. On hearing this, Nami thought Zoro was going to break down and at least drop a tear or so, but his friend stayed firm. He told her that he was glad that he confessed because he was able to let out the stress he had been bottled up for so long. He was honest on how he was disappointed that he was dumped, but he felt better.
Nami was the only one in the room who knew the whole story so she fell into silence. Some of her caught the situation and they felt sympathy for their new gay friend.
Zoro broke the silence with a smile that tore all of the girls' hearts, "-so should I just pretend to act like a normal straight guy and get along with my friends like the old days?"
Nami produced one of her best smiles as she tucked the ticket back into its little white envelope home, "Do your best Zoro." The green haired smiled but let out a weak sigh.
"Thanks Nami."
"What, you're already going?" One of the girls asked.
Zoro nodded, "That's all I came to talk about. See ya Nami." He leaned down and gave her a hug and a gentle kiss in the cheek. She smiled and kissed him back, cheek of course.
"Can you find your way back?" she teased as Zoro reached the doorknob.
He frowned, "I think I know by now."
All of the girls rushed to Nami's room window to wave goodbye to the handsome boy. When he was out of their sight, all turned to Nami who still sat perfectly still in her chair.
"He's cute."
Nami had a lifeless smile on her face and she sighed, "Yeah, there's nobody like him."
Right now she had this complex emotion on her face. Zoro was experiencing the same feeling that she had and it was all because of his fault.
It was a shock for her when she found out that Zoro was gay. She performed a poker face in front of Zoro when he told her the reason why he couldn't love her back, but she cried her tears out when she went home. Now, she healed her broken heart by a new love, although it was not as perfect as the first.
Her friends exchanged nervous looks as the atmosphere grew heavy. Robin was quick to sense the air and she started, "How are you and Luffy going?"
Nami's frown flipped upside-down and she beamed, "He's really sweet."
-.-.-
The school days blew by like a breeze and it was Saturday morning. Zoro awoke later than usual so he was forced to make his own breakfast, which wasn't really a problem. He cracked a raw egg on his bowl of rice when he heard the home phone ring. He ignored it since he knew one of his older sisters would get the phone. Kuina got it since she was just entering from a morning jog and she talked to the receiver for a few seconds.
"Zoro," she called out from the hallway, "it's for you!" Zoro placed his chopsticks onto his bowl with a sharp click and stomped over to the hall. Kuina handed the phone silently and she went upstairs to change.
Zoro plucked a grain of rice off his lips and answered, "Zoro here."
"Hey Zoro," it was Sanji's voice-and it sounded deeper on the phone, "I-I kind of have a problem."
"Hm?"
There was a pause as if the blond was not particularly happy with the response. "Well, everyone suddenly got plans so they're not coming."
Zoro felt disappointment but he tried not to speak it out, "Okay, so it's canceled?"
"...No...You and I are going."
The hand that held the phone suddenly tightened. His heart pounded hard against his ribcage. Without much thought, Zoro suddenly blurted out, "I-it's okay! You can ditch too, I'll just watch it by myself. It'll be a waste of a ticket."
He shouldn't have said the last phrase because Sanji retaliated, "Then mine will be a waste too."
Zoro wanted to slap himself or slap Sanji for being such a brainless nitwit. He wanted a good excuse, something that magically happened this morning so that he could not be able to go out tomorrow, but nothing formed in his truthful mind.
Instead, he replied, "You know what? I'll introduce you to someone tomorrow and then all three of us can watch the movie! I'll pay for her ticket since you paid mine!"
"Wait Zoro! I-"
Zoro didn't hear Sanji's protest because he had slammed the receiver back into its place. He yanked the cord off the wall so the idiot wouldn't call back. He might try his cell phone but he was going to silence that real soon. He set his forehead against his hands and he felt a wave of sweat pouring out from his shaking body.
Nami, can I panic now?
-.-.-
Nami was in shorts and a tank top as she stretched her body, mimicking the exercises on the Nii Fit game when her cell phone rang. She stepped off the board and earned a warning from the machine. She flipped it up and answered since the ringtone was so familiar to her.
"What's up Zoro?"
"Nami." Immediately, when Zoro spoke, a shiver went down Nami's spine. There was panic in his voice and she knew something bad was either happening or going to happen.
"W-what is it?"
"...can I come in?" Nami sucked in a breath and decided not to yell at Zoro about it this time.
Minutes later, Zoro was back in the desk chair looking straight into Nami's eyes. This time, Zoro pushed a movie ticket toward Nami.
"I bought this for you."
Nami picked it up and confusion crossed her features, "What's this for?"
Zoro sighed, "Sanji told me that he and I are the only ones going to watch the movies."
"What?"
"I know, so I kind of told him that I invited you to watch it with us."
"What!" This time, Nami's voice rose to a shrill. Zoro slid back to his seat and frowned at her sudden odd behavior.
"Zoro, are you that dull? If Sanji didn't like you, he would've ditched faster than his other friends! He's asking you out Zoro!"
Zoro did not think for a second at what Nami had shouted because that was what he had thought of a few hours ago before he shoved it down. Zoro clenched his fists together, "No he's not! He paid for the tickets so he doesn't want to waste it!" the anger disappeared and his voice was suddenly lifeless, "He's probably grossed out because it'll look like it's a date. God, why didn't he just-"
Nami pressed a hand over her face, but she didn't continue anymore. Even if her assumptions were right, she was not going to press it any further because if she was wrong, it would hurt Zoro again. She sighed, "Okay, I'll go with you two tomorrow."
The vexed expression left Zoro's face and he sighed of pure relief, "Thanks Nami."
"But first, you need to get a dress over. You are not going out with those grandpa pants while I'm around."
Zoro rolled his eyes, "Fine, do whatever."
He wished he hadn't said that.
-.-.-
Sunday morning at nine forty-five a.m. Nami and Zoro stood by the tall dog statue, waiting for the blond. Quite a few people gathered around this famous statue since it was the great marking spot for gatherings. Zoro leaned against the side where if he raised his head he could see the snout of the dog.
This was actually Nami's first time seeing Zoro's crush so she was grinning in excitement. Zoro, on the other hand, felt like he wanted to hide under a rock. Maybe this dog statue would do the trick.
"Nami."
"Hm?" she asked innocently.
"I told you to keep it casual."
"You only told me to do whatever I wanted. Too bad you're such a poor speaker." Nami had a hand over her mouth to suppress her evil giggles. Zoro crossed his arms over his chest, hiding the wrist bands and metal objects dangling heavily on his arms. He was forced to wear tight jeans that outlined every inch of his legs and hips and shoes that had heels a little too high for his liking. This was definitely not an outfit to wear on a nice and friendly peer gathering.
"He's going to run when he sees me in this."
"Oh please Zoro. He's not." Nami grinned like just any other sweet little girl, "Those pants bring out your nice legs."
"I don't want to brag about my legs." Zoro snapped, "You don't know him. He's straight as a board."
"Even the straightest of boards are marginally crooked."
"Nami! Stop contradicting me!"
"Oh, oh!" Nami let out a gasp, "Look! Is that him?" Zoro wanted to grab her neck and shake her for ignoring her, but he was quick to her exclamation and he followed her gaze. Yup, there he was, and boy, what a mood he had on his face. It had been a long time since he saw Sanji without his school uniform so his heart leaped up his throat. The teen wore a clean white t-shirt with a v-neck collar which his flawless pale skin gleamed in the morning sun. He wore normal men jeans (see Nami) and although they were normal, Zoro couldn't stop staring at his lower body.
Zoro had better eye sight so Sanji had to approach quite closely so that Nami could take a good look at him.
After a moment or two, she tiptoed up to Zoro's ear and whispered, "He's not even close to the samurai type."
Zoro felt his cheeks heat up and he hissed back, "Of course he's not!"
"But I thought you only liked samurai type of people. Hm hmm... I learned something today."
Zoro pinched his lips together, but he realized he had to introduce Sanji to her, "This is my friend, Nami."
"Hi, hi." Nami grinned and she gave a quick wave, "I heard a lot about you Sanji-kun."
The tight frown the blond had on his face loosened and he melted in a smile, "Really?" His perverted round eye was going up and down Nami's body and Zoro couldn't help but snarl at him. Even though he wasn't interested into girls, Nami was like his sister and he did not want some idiot-even if it was the idiot he liked-to be ogling at her.
Ah, at least he's smiling. Zoro mused. He was greatly thankful that Nami came along. Sanji blabbered on, adding more to his personal data so Nami would think better of him. Zoro noticed that Nami picked a soft orange t-shirt that puffed up around the hems like a skirt. Underneath, she wore a denim fabric skirt with the nice brass buttons around the hips.
"Come on, the movie's going to start," Sanji let out a hand, pointing the way, "The movie's this way Zoro."
"Che, I could see it from here, idiot."
Nami giggled but she stopped short when Zoro ran a hand through her face and collected a lock of her hair, "Did you perm it?"
"Y-yeah..." Nami tucked her face down to hide a blush.
Zoro bent down and smiled in her direction, "It looks cute on you."
This was why she still couldn't give up liking Zoro. He sometimes dropped a simple, but most significant flatter and she felt as if she was floating in air. Even while they headed to the theater to buy some bags of popcorn and sat in the eerily warm seats, she was seeing heaven. She was still in a trance when she sat down and finally awoke when the opening theme song erupted through the whole walls of the theater. She looked around the dark place and saw that she sat right between the two men.
Smart idea Zoro. Nami raised a thumb up but it was too dark to see and probably the time had passed for Zoro to get her message.
The green haired man's eyes were glued to the screen where all of the wonderful, strong, and amazing samurais clothed in black were brandishing their swords. Nami smiled at how childish and happy Zoro looked. While she watched the first part of the film, she thought she wouldn't be as interested but soon she started raising her fists just like Zoro and shouted and screamed whenever a character fell.
"Go go! Wait, who's that?"
"Zoro, who's that?"
"Wait, I thought he fainted! Who's that then?"
Nami kept asking questions and Zoro explained each and every character's name and personality as concise as possible.
-.-.-
The sun blinded their eyes momentarily as they stepped out of the dark lighted movie.
"Wow," Sanji blinked the stinging tears away, "That was really good."
"I liked...the main character the best! What was his name again?"
"Shirosaki Ringo," Zoro smirked, "Nami, I'm definitely going to let you borrow some of my comics." The smirk was wiped off from his face when he saw that the blond was staring right at him. His eye was distant or looking at him in a dazed manner, Zoro didn't know which but it was odd.
"Hey Sanji. You alright there?"
Sanji blinked and the color returned to his eye. The eye immediately went to Nami and the space between his nose and mouth stretched.
Zoro ignored the annoying beating of his heart and he smiled, "Thanks for inviting me to the movies. I had fun."
Sanji sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "You're welcome." Zoro wondered why the blond was suddenly acting so skittish-wait, he remembered. It was because of Nami.
"So, see you on Monday? This time, for sure?"
"Yeah yeah."
They exchanged somewhat friendly goodbyes and they parted. Sanji went, who knows where, and Zoro and Nami went to their favorite restaurant, the D. Café. Since they found this café, they always asked for the same things: Zoro ordered the dark chocolate parfait and Nami with the fruit parfait with extra oranges. They were greeted by several good looking waiters and as they sat down in one of the booths, Zoro and Nami discussed which character they liked in the movie. Their conversation eventually diverted to the waiters.
"I always liked the guy with the freckles. His name's Ace right? He's hot." Zoro grinned.
"I think the Sabo person is really cute too, but don't tell Luffy that."
"I won't, I won't." Zoro glanced back at the two waiters working about, "Sabo huh..."
"But, the freckles man looks a lot more samurai-ish than Sanji-kun."
"Stop with the samurai!"
They both shut up when the said waiter placed the glasses in front of them. When they were alone again, they suddenly forgot about what they were talking about earlier and dove in for the parfait.
"You're paying for this right?"
"Yeah. Without you, today would've sucked." Zoro picked up the tiny pitcher of melting hot chocolate and poured it over his parfait.
Nami suddenly grinned, "Hey Zoro, guess what."
"What?"
"During the whole movie, I mean the whole movie, Sanji was looking at you."
Zoro choked on the ice cream and it ironically burned his throat.
"No way."
"Yes way."
Zoro eyebrows twitched and he suddenly broke into laughter. It was so loud that customers who were close by eyed them oddly.
"Thanks Nami! You're the best!"
Nami puffed her cheeks together, "I'm not joking!" Zoro brought out another laugh and she couldn't help but laugh also. She knew, however, that upon the sight of Sanji, her girl instincts told her that the blond grew some interest in her best friend. No straight guy would ever invite the same gender like that.
But, Nami thought as she ate a piece of apple, he needs to do better than that. As Zoro's childhood friend, she was going to watch over and not say a word and hope that Zoro would eventually find out.
The End