Spaziergang
"Not all who wander are lost"
Zoro sits on the rooftop alone, eating a packed lunch he made the night before. He hardly notices what he's eating, because his concentration lies on the overhead view of the school grounds he's aqquired from sitting next to the railings. He takes into detail the paths and roads surrounding the school. Flocks of students walk back and forth below him. At the same time, hundreds of cars and pedestrians are going past outside of the gates.
A metallic bang and a loud cheer alerts him to his friends arriving to join him for lunch. His concentration on the landscape disappears as a casual grin fills his face. Now that Luffy's here, the rest of his lunch is gone with his stomach only half full, but that's okay because he knows Chopper will give him half of his candy out of pity. He tries to say no but Chopper's just as stubborn as he is and they share the candy evenly.
A kick to the side makes him shuffle over and make space for the late-comer. The trio assure Sanji that the smoke doesn't bother them, but he always insists he smokes away from them before sitting down with them to eat. Zoro offers him one of the chewing gums he carries around with him for no reason (yet he never seems to run out of them), and the blonde takes one appreciatively, sticking it in his own pocket to save until after the food's gone. He reveals his own lunchbox; three tiers high. A bonus coming from living above his own restaurant.
The first tier is immediately snatched by rubber-like arms and equally as quick is it devoured. The second tier is opened and to Zoro's surprise a clingfilm wrap of three onigiris is shoved half-casually into his hand. He doesn't thank him out right, but he bumps shoulders with him in a friendly-ish way.
He gets a quiet snort and a half-hearted shove in return.
He eats quickly, half-worried they'll be snatched back. They're as amazing as usual. Perfection in each bite. Zoro always wondered how Sanji seemed to effortlessly master foreign cuisine without ever experiencing the actual country and culture. But master it he does, and Zoro will forever be (quietly) thankful.
The rest of the second tier is shared between Chopper and Sanji himself. The bell goes a few minutes later, with the third tier still unopened. It was normal though. Neither Luffy nor Chopper knew what was always in the third tier, but Zoro did. He revelled in the fact that he knew, because it was a secret between him and the curly cook.
On the way down from the roof Zoro takes a sharp turn just as no-one was looking, wandering off in a completely wrong direction. It takes a few minutes, but eventually the familiar sound of light, well-balanced footsteps head towards him and he barely has time to steady himself before Sanji is crashing into his back, laughing.
"Jeez Zoro, you're such a directionless moron," he chuckles,rapping his knuckles against his head of mossy hair only half-friendly. A small tick mark appears on the blonde's forehead as the late bell rings. "And you've made us late, again."
"You didn't have to come find me," Zoro points out quietly, briefly glancing at Sanji before looking at where they were heading. Sanji subtly nudges his arm to make him turn down the right hallway.
"Yeah well I can't just let you wander the school by yourself now can I?" Sanji wiggles his stupidly curly eyebrows and pulls a funny face. Zoro grins happily in return, but maybe not for the reason Sanji thinks.
In the last class of the day they're handed their Geography tests back. Zoro swipes his and immediately crumples it and stuffs it into the depths of his bag, wary of his friends, and one particular blonde, possibly seeing it. If he saw it may just ruin what little positive relationship they were building.
However, luck doesn't seem to be on his side today as Sanji spots him stuffing the paper in his bag and smirks teasingly.
"That bad Marimo?" he pretends to casually fan himself with his own paper, but in reality he's showing off his result: an 83 out of 100. One of the top scores.
"Yeah," Zoro replies in a fake annoyed tone. "I think the teacher's blind, I got all of it right."
"I'm sure," Sanji hums out in a musical tone, amusement clear in the grin trying to break through. Zoro rolls his eyes and punches his shoulder, where Sanji just dodges the weight of it.
Together they leave school and forget about their tests as they stroll leisurely down to the Gym to train together. It was Zoro's favourite part of the day for good reason.
"Nami-san held my hand a whole three seconds longer today when I gave her her lunch!" Sanji announces happily as he peels off his blazer in the men's changing rooms. Zoro grunts non-comittedly, and removes his tie whilst kicking off his shoes.
"She just wants more free stuff from you," he mutters under his breath. Sanji seems to not hear, or maybe he was just ignoring him.
"I think I'll get her to love me soon," Sanji grins at him brightly and for a moment Zoro's lost for words until his blonde crush strips off his shirt and he looses the function to breathe too.
Zoro regains his focus and snorts but doesn't say anything. They've gotten past the stage of hate and fighting at the beginning. They were sort-of friends now, sparring buddies. Sanji with his savate and Zoro with his three-sword-style.
They're dressed in their training clothes now; both wearing tight vest tops and loose bottoms. Sanji's pale grey top left no room for imagination: he was a hard-gainer with his skinny build and fast metabolism but his abs and muscles were perfectly defined and trained into a compact body shape. He wasn't nearly as ripped as Zoro but that was fine because his legs were stronger, longer, and more agile than his. He was quick and light on his feet whereas Zoro had more upper-body strength and was about power.
He unlocked his locker and retrieved his wooden katanas. As he turned back he caught a glance of Sanji's perfectly toned stomach muscles as he stretched backwards into a handstand. He took a moment to appreciate the view before going into his warm-ups.
As if on cue, both teens stopped their warm-ups suddenly and flew at each other, growling out insults and accusations, releasing up their day's worth of pent-up frustration: at teachers, at shitty grades, at Zoro's sense of direction. Yes, Zoro knew that he often got on Sanji's nerves when he gets 'lost' but he refuses to have anyone else look for him.
An hour later and the two are stretched out side by side in the middle of the room, coated in sweat and panting for breath. Both are grinning at each other and when ever they have enough air in their lungs they spew lame insults at each other and laugh.
Eventually they go shower in separate stalls and put on their uniforms again. Zoro locks away his bokken and meets Sanji at the front of the Gym.
"Well, shall we?" Sanji asks in a fake posh voice.
Zoro turns up his nose and frowns snootily. "We shall."
Sanji snorts in laughter and they head off on the way home, because as fate should have it, they live on the same street too. However, there was always one problem: the path home from the Gym had stairs. A flight of a hundred steps loomed ominously ahead of him.
Zoro wouldn't say that he had a phobia of them since his sister died falling down them, but he avoided them when he could. And he did so now, the moment Sanji turned and tried to persuade him to go up them.
"Zoro! Come back you moron! You'll get lost AGAIN!"
Sure, Zoro thinks. I know more than you think. He takes off at the side-splitting pace, twisting left and right and taking as many side streets and alleys he can find. He knows where he's going though.
After all, today's the day.
He was going to tell Sanji he was gay.
He wasn't sure Sanji had an extreme hate for gay people, but he knew he'd had a traumatizing experience with one before so it was why he was hesitant.
Plus, you know, Zoro was completely smitten with Sanji and will probably go kill himself if Sanji hated him for being gay. For him.
Eventually he stops on the outskirts of the city and slows his pace as he wanders up the nature trail he knew would be there. He takes his time, certain that the curly-browed classmate of his would be following him from a distance. He wanders off the path after a moment and cuts through the foliage, hearing Sanji catching up to him now that he's wandered off another path.
Sanji catches up with him just as he brushes through the last bush and his secret view is revealed. It wasn't terribly special; its was a view of the part of the city below them. Zoro loved it though because the Baratie was in plain sight from here.
He sits down comfortably in the soft grass and gestures for Sanji to do the same.
"Tada," he announces half-sarcastically, sweeping his arms out in front of him.
"Wow," Sanji whistles, slightly impressed if the angle of his eyebrows were anything to go by.
"I come here a lot, to think." Zoro starts, fidgeting slightly as Sanji sits down much closer to him than he anticipated. "I found it not too long after...she died. I ran through the woods near here and kind of, er, fell into this place. Thankfully I didn't go straight over the edge."
Sanji chuckled, imagining it.
"But yeah, this pace...it's important to me. It's my place." Zoro finishes quietly.
"Then why'd you bring me here?" asked Sanji, his curiosity certainly peaked.
"Let's eat first?" Zoro's stomach growled. Sanji smirked and unpacked the third tier of his lunchbox. It was opened to reveal several snacks of various cultures and more onigiri for Zoro. Sanji offered him the onigiri and he took it.
After all, this could be the last time he had Sanji's food.
He takes a bite and chews slowly, savouring the taste and texture. Sanji watches him, amused.
"You're eating that like it's your last meal," he jokes, having finished his own snacks.
"It might well be," Zoro muttered, barely audiable but Sanji hears it and frowns.
"Okay. What's up?" Sanji looks half-concerned, half-angry. And suddenly Zoro forgets the whole speech in his head because Sanji is pouting like he's never seen before.
"I..er, well..."
Sanji goes to slap his head. "Spit it out, stupid Marimo!"
"I'm gay, okay?!" His arms raised in defence, he blurts out the truth in the most awkward way. This wasn't going well for him so far. He risks a glance at his friend-crush.
Sanji blinks owlishly at him. He seems to have not understood at first, but once the realisation sets in his face erupts into a bright red hue. He pulls back as if Zoro stung him.
"The fuck?!"
Zoro just sighs, dropping his arms. His shoulders slump in defeat as Sanji slides a bit farther away from him. "I knew you'd react like this..."
"Since when did you know?" Sanji asked suddenly. Casting a wary glance at the person he wasn't sure was his friend anymore, he noticed that though he moved a bit away he'd simply gone to cross his legs. His head was rested in the palm of his left hand, the elbow of which was supported by his knee. His hair and free hand covered most of the rest of his face, leaving only one bright blue eye watching him intently. Zoro didn't quite understand the emotion that was reflected there, and it made him uneasy.
"Er... a while ago." He thought about how far back it was when he first met Sanji. "About... 2-ish years?" He added 'ish' to make it sound like it was before he met Sanji, since technically he was only gay for him, but he wasn't about to tell him that.
"And why are you telling me now?"
Zoro shrugged, and replied honestly: "Felt like it?"
Sanji made a frustrated noise and hid his face in his hands. Zoro took this as his cue to high-tail-it out of there and got up, grabbing his half-open bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
"I get it if you don't wanna talk to me ever again, I'll stop hanging out at the rooftop at lunch so don't worry about things being awkward with the others." He paused, then added quietly as he passed the still form of the blond boy, "Was a'right, being friends with you."
He'd almost made it completely past the blonde when a hand snapped out and yanked on the other strap of his bag.
"Where the fuck-" Sanji growled. "Do you think you're going?"
Startled, Zoro whirled around only to be pulled down as his bag unzipped all the way and his things scattered everywhere. He didn't notice though, he's currently two inches from Sanji's face.
Despite the teen's obvious anger for some reason or another, Sanji's face was still quite red. He was either blushing or quite furious, Zoro couldn't tell.
"Zoro," Sanji managed, surprising both of them. "Did you...did you tell me this... because you have someone you like?"
It was Zoro's turn to stutter, and it took a moment for something intelligent to form. "I...er...basically. Yeah. I guess I do."
Sanji closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and sighed. When he opened them again, he seemed more determined.
"First off: I don't hate you." He flicked the moss-haired teen in the forehead, making him fall back with a yelp. "You being... gay, it doesn't matter. You're still a moss-headed, directionless moron."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Secondly: I'll...support... you.." Sanji seemed to have trouble saying those words. "You know, with the guy you like. I'll try to be okay with him." Giving him a small smile, he asked curiously, "So...who's the lucky guy?"
Zoro frowned. "I'm not telling you."
Surprised, Sanji frowned too. "Why?"
Zoro chuckled. "You'd seriously hate me if you knew. So it's fine like this. You don't have to support me. It's more than enough that you're even okay with this." Grinning, he waved a hand in front of him.
Sanji sighed. "If you're sure. Let's head home, 'kay? I feel like playing Mario Kart at yours tonight."
Smirking, Zoro started collecting his scattered items. "You sure you can handle defeat so soon after the last time?"
Sanji snorted, helping him collect his papers. "Do you have amnesia? I'm like, 200% sure I won the last tournament."
Sanji's hand landed on a crumpled sheet of paper.
"Oi, isn't this your Geography test sheet?" Sanji muttered, going to unravel it.
"No!" Zoro reached out for it, but it was too late. Sanji scanned the score at the top corner of the sheet.
"A 98 out of 100?!" he screeched, and inwardly Zoro knew he was doomed to never be happy.
"Yeah,"
"How? You're so directionally challenged when I'm.. around.."
Zoro shrugged. Sanji went silent for a moment. Then something clicked and immediately Zoro was filled with dread.
"Zoro... do you get lost on purpose...?" Zoro couldn't see the blond's face, and he wasn't given any clues by the tone of his voice. He concluded he was about to be kicked over the ledge of this cliff and resigned himself to his fate. Ahh well, it sure was nice while it lasted.
"Sometimes."
"By 'sometimes' you mean 'whenever I'm there to fetch you'?"
"Basically."
"And when I'm not?"
"I know the whole town like the back of my hand; always have, always will."
"So you get lost on purpose just so I can come find you?"
"Yeah?" Zoro wondered what was taking so long, he'd rather get the whole thing over with soon.
"Zoro, am I the guy you like?"
"Yeah - wait! I... er..umm..." flushing red, he muttered quietly. "Yeah. Sorry."
Sanji's shoulders started shaking, Zoro had no idea why. Was he super pissed? Was he really genuinely about to die?
"Pfft." A small snort of laughter burst from the blond-haired teen in front of him, and Zoro sat, bewildered, as Sanji errupted in messy chuckles as tears fell from his heavily blushing cheeks.
Zoro remained silent, having no idea what was going on.
"Oh, Marimo, you really are dumber than you look." Sanji wiped some tears away. When he noticed Zoro being frozen and unable to say anthing, he smiled and touched a hand to the other boy's cheek, startling him. "How in the world have you not noticed?"
"Uhh..."
"I've liked you this whole time too, idiot." Sanji laughed. "You really don't get hints very well, do you? Jealousy doesn't work either."
"Wait, what?" Zoro was still dumbstruck. Sanji rolled his eyes.
"I basically make you lunch, I treat you nicer when we're alone - mostly, anyway - I spar with you, and give it all I've got, because I respect you as my equal, I even talk about Nami a lot to try and make you jealous! Jeez, what more do you want from me?"
Zoro's brain seemed to have reached it's limit with this information, as half-formed words stumbled from his lips as he tried to make sense of things.
"Am I dreaming?" he blurted out coherently.
Instead of making fun of him as he'd usually do, Sanji's gaze softened as he smiled sweetly, the hand on Zoro's cheek moving to cup the back of his neck. "No, Zoro, even better. It's reality."
And then he kissed him, and Zoro lost track of all intelligible thought after that.
Afterwards, they did end up playing Mario Kart, and Zoro got his ass handed to him.
This has been finished for a while so I thought I'd post it. My first Zosan story! Well, one-shot. I've never written one before though I've got several oneshots from the 100-theme-challenge sitting around too. Check out my poll on that!
"Spaziergang" is the German word for the noun "walk", by the way. It just came to mind after I started writing this.
Please let me know what you think!
(for those who read my Gajevy stories, they'll be updated soon enough! Sit tight)
((also if you know the orginal artist of the cover art, please let me know so I can give them proper credit))