In retrospect, he should have seen this coming a long time ago.
It was almost as if he could taste the change in his kisses, feel how things just didn't feel right anymore when he held him. Things weren't right, and hadn't been right for a long time. He couldn't pinpoint when everything started changing, which should have said something in its self—if he couldn't even tell when their relationship started crashing.
But it did.
And it had been going on for far too long.
They both knew the tour was coming up. Zoro had told him about it as soon as he found out the date. He'd watched his eyes as he relayed the information and there was something in them that didn't sit right in his stomach.
Like he had decided something. Something important, about him—about them that was going to change everything forever.
He could see it in his eyes every day after he told him about the tour. For those weeks, things seemed almost normal again. There was still the bitter after taste of lies and an utter sense of wrong when they had sex or kissed. But he still found himself suddenly starved for the attention, for the touch.
For anything his lover had to offer.
He should have seen it coming.
There had been many signs. The failing relationship, the wrong kisses and touches. Deep down he knew what was happening, and it had only caused him to hold onto his green haired companion tighter those last few nights.
When he finally came to him on the day before his plane was planned to leave, Sanji knew what was happening the second he sat them down. As he watched those perfect lips he'd memorized with his own time and time again tell him how much he had loved him. As he felt the strong hands that had mapped out the planes of his body hold his hands in a trembling grip—He knew what was happening.
Zoro was saying goodbye.
Not just for a couple years for his tour, either. Sanji had watched the bags get packed and had said nothing as he put in suits and books he wouldn't need on the road.
He was saying goodbye for good. Goodbye to them, to everything they had been building these last years.
He should have seen it coming.
But when his lover said his final goodbye and pressed his lips against his forehead one last time, the flood gates opened and he found himself wanting to beg him to stay. It felt like a shock despite all the signs. Despite the failing relationship, the stale love between them.
Whatever love there had been had died, and Sanji didn't want to let go of the memory.
As he watched Zoro exit the apartment and climb into his car, he realized that it was for the best.
It didn't make it hurt any less, though.