I realised I hadn't posted some of my OP fics, which is a shame! ;)

Anyway, it still and always is for Plume-now !

If you guys are interested, the very same person (plume-now) created a prompt list for the month of December, on Tumblr, and I'm helping her with the side blog. You can participate over there at xmasprompts.tumblr.com it's all explained! If you guys are interested, don't hesitate to follow us and see if you can do one day (or more)! We'll be more than happy ;) If you want to participate, but don't have Tumblr, you can post on FF and send me a PM before, so I'll check your profile in December and will directly share a link on the Tumblr blog (if you agree.) It's opened to everyone!

Of course, this short fic is written before whatever will happen with Sanji in the manga happened, so I've tried not to mention it that much, but just pretend everything's fine and Sanji's back! (it was written back in August, so I don't even think Luffy & cie were on the island already? Or at least they hadn't done a lot.

For the first time in his life, Sanji wasn't in the mood for cooking. His past coming back to him, being so close to losing his hands – losing his dream – and literally walking on food... So he had kept away from the kitchen, also mostly because Nami had insisted he didn't cook for now because they were doing fine, really, haha, no need to go to the kitchen, they were handling it. Sanji knew the worst had happened – Luffy cooking – but he wasn't in the mood to yell at his Captain for this. He had just saved his life, after all. Even if now his family would probably never forgive the crew, or Sanji. Well, nothing new.

Their escape, in precipitation, had allowed them to gain a few days on the journey, and they had been able to join the rest of the crew quickly. Seeing how they had welcomed him back – especially Nami, Chopper and Brook – had made him feel better. He was where he belonged, with his true family, with his friends, his nakamas.

When he opened the kitchen's door for the first time in what felt like forever, he froze. He had been right to worry about its state as an entire wall was black and another seemed freshly painted. And he could hear someone hammering. He snapped back to reality and walked to the source of the noise.

"What..."

"Busy," Zoro retorted without looking up. He then raised his head and his sharp expression softened. "Oh it's you. You didn't knock."

"Yeah, advantage of the kitchen being my kitchen, you know?" Sanji tried to joke around, but Zoro ignored him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked instead, and Sanji sighed. He wasn't up for a fight or even for putting on an 'everything is fine' mask.

"I could ask you the same," Sanji shrugged as Zoro was getting on his feet.

"Nami told me this place was a mess even if they tried to clean it. I just... thought I could help."

Sanji uncrossed his arms – that he had unconsciously folded in a protective way – and pulled his sleeves to hide the marks on his wrists so Zoro wouldn't see them.

"Yeah, thanks," he finally said, casually putting his hands in his pockets to give himself something to do. "Now you can go out, I'll call when dinner is ready," he added, walking past Zoro.

He stopped in his track when he felt a hand on his forearm, right above his painful marks. So Zoro knew or had seen them? He turned angrily at Zoro, trying to free himself.

"Oi!" was all he could manage to say. Zoro had just pulled him into a hug, burying his face in his neck.

Sanji opened his mouth, ready to protest more, but he was exhausted and the past few weeks had been restless. He gave in the hug and brought his free hand up, clenching his fist on Zoro's shirt.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this alone," he whispered against his ear, and Sanji opened wide eyes, surprised.

Then a thumb was stroking the inner part of his wrist, where the bracelet had marked his skin, and he closed his eyes, shivering. That felt good.

Zoro let him go and awkwardly patted his shoulder. "I'll come back later to paint the last wall," he smiled, then turned. Before he opened the door, he stopped and turned only his head to talk over his shoulder, "Oh and, Sanji?"

Sanji blinked. Had he just called him Sanji or was he dreaming? "What?" he stuttered, feeling stupid.

"We missed your food. Especially Luffy."

And with a hand raised above his head as a goodbye – and without letting Sanji the time to answer – Zoro left the kitchen. He looked up at the sky once outside, a hand resting on his katanas, and smiled weakly to himself. He then sighed and walked on the deck, wondering if their shitty cook would ever get over what had happened. But he was strong, Zoro trusted him to be back to his old self again soon.

Last thing: If you like what I write and want to read more One Piece, don't forget to leave a comment.

Really, it's important for me as a writer, but also because One Piece isn't my main fandom to write in. If you don't comment, I won't turn to One Piece to write, but to my main fandom, in which I clearly take more pleasure writing for. But if I see people read (and comment) my OP stories, I might write more! (That's how it works, we, fanfic writers, don't get paid, we just have your comments, so consider leaving one :))