"Mr. Roronoa, you will be seen now."
Zoro didn't know what he was doing. His hands were clasped between his knees, wringing in anxious stress. He looked up as he heard his named called by the raven-haired woman at the desk in front of him. She gave a soft smile and gestured to the door on the opposite wall. She then continued reading some adventure novel that she had in her hand, the cover decorated with aquatic life and pirate treasures. Zoro stood up and smoothed out his black Prada suit, he wanted to look his best. He adjusted the maroon tie around his neck and adjusted his sleeves, which brandished little cufflinks in the shape of tiny swords.
"Thank you, Robin." He walked towards the door, his palms sweating and he could feel his stomach clenching. He really hated stuff like this. He'd much rather be at home sleeping, or at the gym... Just anywhere but here. He didn't mean for it to go so far.
He creaked open the door and walked forward to a cushioned chair adjacent from a fine, oakwood desk. The chair behind the desk was turned towards the expansive window, facing away from Zoro. 'So dramatic...' Zoro thought to himself with a bitter smirk. As if he didn't hate being there enough. He saw a thin trail of smoke rising from the other side of the chair. A thin, delicate hand reached out and tapped a cigarette into a nearby ashtray.
"Mr. Roronoa," the voice belonging to the man in the chair calmly hummed, his voice oozing with charisma.
Zoro was already on his haunches and cranked beyond belief on anxious energy. "I came to discuss business, nothing more..." Zoro felt a blush creeping across his tanned face.
The large, plush, black air chair swirled around, facing Zoro with his host. Blonde hair messily parted to one side, some bangs falling carelessly into his face, a cigarette hanging loosely from the side of a seductive smirk, thin glasses perched precariously on a sharp, defined nose. Blue eyes sparkled from beneath the lenses. "How sweet."
Zoro scowled. This really sucked. How did he get himself into these kinds of situations? He hated nothing more than swallowing his pride, especially in front of him. Zoro pinched his brow.
"Mister 'Demon of the East Coast', who knew he'd show up to my office today?" the lawyer crooned. "What do you want?"
"Mr. Kuroashi." Zoro almost bit his tongue in frustration. This was just flat out difficult.
"Zoro," the blonde lawyer sat back in his chair and stared at Zoro with a serious look on his face.
"Sanji..." Zoro sat down and rested his head on the heel of his hand.
The lawyer sighed, holding a pen cap between his lips as he was doodling various kinds of imaginary fish on a legal pad. "You're here, why exactly? I mean, you've told me why, but how does this involve me?"
"I need a lawyer. You're a lawyer." Zoro really didn't want to give Sanji what he was angling for.
"You could have picked any other lawyer, they would have been cheaper. I'm pricey," the blonde taunted.
"Err...st I ...ow" Zoro mumbled.
Sanji raised a hand dramatically to his ear. "Oh? I didn't quite catch that."
"You're the best I know." It almost physically hurt Zoro to say it, but it was true. He could feel the shit-eating grin start to burn through his last amount of patience. "Well are you gonna help me or not?"
"Hmm, well with your little confession I might consider it..." Sanji sang teasingly. "This case of yours sounds like a sinch, really. Nothing that I can't handle."
Zoro involuntarily let out a small sigh of relief. He had the best lawyer in New York on his side. He'd win the case for sure.
"So you're suing a mister Donquixote Doflamingo, is that right? On accounts of a breach of contract?" Sanji lazily looked up from his doodling. "It's petty."
"It's not petty. It's important," Zoro growled. "He was jipping me money. We agreed on a percentage, and he didn't follow through. It's not petty, it's me wanting what is rightfully mine. I work hard."
"I don't understand your broker-speak. Tell me like I'm just an average person," Sanji whined. "I'm a lawyer, not an investor. You're my broker, I leave that shit to you. But I guess I need to learn a little now."
"Basically, we agreed on our percentages of annual revenue that would go to me when it came to the investments, a fair 10%. He went and decided to buy a fucking island, forcing me to sell most of the stocks so he could afford it. So the stocks were sold, but now the investment was losing money, since the economy is going to shit," Zoro explained plainly as he could.
Sanji stared at Zoro, blinking. "I'm glad you deal with my money because I don't know what the hell you're saying... but it sounds smart," Sanji giggled.
Zoro huffed. "Anyways," he continued, "with the investment losing money, that meant that I was losing money, which shouldn't be happening. I wasn't getting paid, I was paying."
"I think I get it. And you're suing because he did all of this without your consent?"
"Exactly, when we had an agreement in place. It's a breach of contract, a legal document that we both signed off on," Zoro nodded and leaned back in the chair. "Glad you understand now."
"Guy sounds like a tool."
"I tend to advise a lot of tools," Zoro smirked at Sanji.
"Oi you want me to win this case for you, or not?" Sanji spit the pen cap at Zoro, hitting him in the middle of the forehead.
Zoro chuckled. "Of course I do, tool."
That got a pen chucked at him, which he easily dodged. Sanji smirked. "Coffee later? I get off at five," Sanji looked at his watch. "Just two more hours."
"Sure, let's go to Starbucks. I took the day off, so I'll go to the gym and meet you there," Zoro replied, pulling at his tie. "I like wearing my suits but nothing beats sweatpants. Even if I do wear one every day. Monkey suits seem to suit me, eh?" He said with a wink.
"Only because you are a monkey in a suit." Zoro threw his tie at Sanji. "See you at five, shithead," Sanji giggled as Zoro made his way out of the office.
Zoro went to the gym, changed out of his suit and slipped his heavenly heather gray sweatpants on, along with a skin tight blue tank top. "Ahh, much better," he sighed to himself. He proceeded to go through his usual regimen of exercises: bicep curls, deadlifts, seated rows, leg curls, and pretty much everything else you could do in a gym. Workouts really calmed him down.
After the workout, he made his way to the locker room and took a quick shower, making sure he didn't smell like a gym when he went to Starbucks. Normally he wouldn't care... But this was an exception.
He changed into his spare clothes he had in his gym bag: a pair of worn-in Levi's, his blue Sperry's, and his favorite green flannel shirt that he got from Under Armour. He sprayed a small amount of Versace cologne on, looking and feeling like a million bucks. He was ready to go. He looked down at his watch, he had about half an hour to get over to Starbucks.
He got in his car, a black Range Rover, and drove a few blocks down to his destination, where he saw the telltale blue Mustang already parked out front of the coffee shop. Zoro let a sly grin slip into his face as he parallel parked his car right in front of the Mustang. He got out, fed the meter, and proceeded to make his way into the shop, which was relatively quiet at the moment.
He saw his friend sitting on the other side of the room, in a chair, legs crossed comfortably, typing away on an iPad. He was now wearing black straight-legged jeans and an oversized powder blue sweater. He switched out the thin-rimmed glasses for thicker, more square ones, and he had half of his hair held to one side with a long, silver clip. He was sipping on something that Zoro could only guess was some sort of complicated latte. He was focused in whatever he was doing.
Zoro went up to the barista and ordered his typical cafe americano. At hearing Zoro's voice, Sanji looked up with a soft smile, and then continued his work on the tablet. Once Zoro got his drink he plopped down into the seat next to Sanji. "Whatcha doin'?" He asked playfully.
"Just returning some emails and shit. People are so fucking needy sometimes," Sanji smirked. "But I guess that comes with the job territory, eh? You'd understand." He looked up, a warm smile dancing across his features.
"I hear that," Zoro chuckled and sipped on his coffee, which he left black, the way he liked it. He burned his tongue a little and jerked his face away from the cup. Still too hot.
"Haha, you never let it cool..." Sanji shook his head. "Let me finish up this last email and then you'll have my full attention, kay?"
"Do what you need to do," Zoro smiled, wiping his partially burnt lip. He glanced over Sanji. If only the lawyer knew how good he looked right now. Just downright comfy-adorable and just being asked to be snuggled. "You look nice today..." He said under his breath, turning his head away.
Sanji looked up, a hint of pink flashing across his face. With a few more taps, he shut the Smart Cover on the tablet and looked up. He had a face splitting grin. "Aw, what a nice thing to say to your lawyer," he crooned.
"Don't taunt your stockbroker, Mr. Kuroashi. I can really mess your life up," Zoro slyly replied, turning his head slightly to make eye contact with Sanji. "You know how much I like it when you wear my clothes."
Sanji gripped the collar of the oversized sweater and blushed. "It's my favorite..." He mumbled, smiling fondly to himself.
Zoro smiled warmly at the lawyer and took another cautious sip of his coffee, this time without burning his mouth. "Mmm," he hummed into his cup, "hits the spot."
"How was the gym?" Sanji asked while taking a sip of his latte, which Zoro noticed had sharpie scribbled all over it with different letters and symbols indicating the concoction that the lawyer was drinking.
"Usual. Went in, blew off some steam, showered, and now I'm here, feelin' good," Zoro replied, staring at the side of his cup, which only had "CA" on it.
"Hm," Sanji replied. He packed his iPad away into his bag, a brown leather Louis Vuitton document case. He then got up and sat on Zoro's lap, playing with the three golden earrings dangling from his left ear. "What do you want for dinner tonight?" He asked, putting his free arm around Zoro.
Zoro wrapped his arms around the lawyer. "Dunno. Maybe something with seafood?" Zoro looked up into the blue eyes. "Maybe that wonderful paella that you make." Zoro loved Sanji's cooking. If he weren't already an accomplished lawyer, Zoro would suggest Sanji opening up his own restaurant. The people of New York would love his cooking. But the fact that he didn't have a restaurant was okay with Zoro, because then each meal was specially his, and he didn't have to share Sanji with anyone.
Sanji chuckled and rustled Zoro's hair. "Sure," he smiled, "I can do that." Zoro felt a soft kiss planted on the top of his head.
He had the best lawyer in New York on his side, and by his side.
I hope you guys are enjoying this! This is just a short little first chapter to test the waters and see if you guys want me to continue writing this. It's definitely something different for me, but I'm a huge fan of John Grisham novels and he writes business literature, so naturally I thought ZOSAN IN SUITS YES and went with it. Let me know how I'm doing! I'm still fairly new to writing fanfics ^^' ~heartpiratesanji