Single Dad's
(Knock knock)
"Coming, just give me a second" Sanji placed the tray of brownies onto a cooling rack, which sat on the island in the kitchen. He took off his oven mitts and put them by the tray and headed to the door
As he was walking through the decently sized house he caught sight of a clock hanging on the wall '3:10? He shouldn't be here yet'
"Hello? Nami-san" Sanji said opening the door
"Nice place, I was a little confused when you said you had moved, glad It was to somewhere nice" Nami said looking around with unkind eyes
"So is he in the car?" Sanji asked trying to be polite
"Yeah, I picked him up after school and drove straight here, mind if I come in?"
Sanji moved to let her in "Of course, make yourself at home, I'll go get him"
Sanji waited until she was well inside the threshold before moving to the car, quickly spying the messy brown locks of hair barely over the window in the car
"Daddy!"
"Hey Chopper!" Sanji opened the door, and was jumped on by his son "You been a good boy for mom?"
"Yes, we even played a whole bunch, although she made me do homework first" Chopper said with a pout
Sanji gave a light hearted laugh "You know the rules though" he said while grabbing the kid's school bag
While they were walking towards the house Chopper stuck his nose in the air and started sniffing "What's that smell? Oh it smells good! What did you make daddy? What did you make?"
Sanji laughed again as they entered the two bedroom house "I made some brownies for you"
Choppers eyes went comically wide "Can I have some now?" Chopper asked bouncing up and down
Sanji saw Nami eyeing him from the living room, and got slightly irritated, but didn't let it show "Well what have you eaten today?"
Chopper looked at his shoes while thinking "Oh I ate some carrots, and had some apple juice! And also had a sandwich with all the things you told me to put on it"
Sanji kneeled down and patted his head "Okay then you can have some, there in the kitchen, but there hot so be careful, and use a napkin"
"Yay!" Chopper shouted in excitement and ran towards the kitchen
"Not too many either, save some for later!" Sanji called after him, and then walked to the living room "Want something to drink?" he asked trying to be polite
"Don't give him to many sweets, I don't want him to get sick" Nami responded as she stood "Although I do feel more comfortable now that you're not in a shit house raising him"
Sanji bit his tongue almost to the point of it bleeding trying not to bite back "I am capable of raising my son" He said in a low voice
Nami scowled at him "Of course you are, that's why it took you two years just to get joint custody right?"
Sanji scowled right back and raised his voice so that Chopper could hear "Buddy come say by to mom, she's leaving"
Nami threw on an evil smirk, knowing she struck a nerve with her ex-husband then went to meet her son half way and gave him a big hug and then left, closing the door behind her as she left, maybe a little too harshly.
"What were you guys talking about?" Chopper asked using a napkin to wipe the smeared chocolate off of the area surrounding his mouth
"Nothing much, just catching up, so it's Friday, want do you want to do for dinner? Maybe head out and go see grandpa Zeff?"
"Yeah!" Chopper shouted excitedly "But mom said he's a bad man… so I don't know if I should go"
"Oh Tony, he isn't a bad guy, he and mom just don't get along, it happens with adults, but I know he likes you a lot, I'm sure he'd be happy to see you!"
"Okay let's go!" Chopper shouted again
"Okay, we'll leave at six, so we have a few hours, so how about we get your homework done and maybe play?"
"Yay!" Chopper shouted again making Sanji smile brightly, it had been a while since Zeff got to see Chopper
…
Usopp opened the front door to a small two bedroom apartment on the third floor of the apartment building and closed it behind him "Hey dad, I'm back, got my grades"
"Oh? Let's have a look then shall we?" Zoro said coming towards him with a playful smile on and took the offered paper and opened it up
"Okay let's see, f, f, f, f,"
Usopp rolled his eyes "Dad"
Zoro smirked "Straight A's, very nice" Zoro patted Usopp on the back "Say let's celebrate, let's go out to dinner, you like seafood right, I heard of this great place called the Baratie, best seafood in the city"
Usopp shrugged nervously "Do we have the money for that, I thought things were tight since they raised our rent"
Zoro smiled at the teen "Hey, neither heaven nor hell could stop me from showing that I'm proud of my son, plus I just got word from Robin, I got the job at her firm so we are alright"
Usopp looked a little sad "I hate that you have to work two jobs, I mean I could get a job, I am 17. I'm sure there's something I could do to get some money"
Zoro's smile fell a little "Nah, don't worry about it, they don't take much energy, plus, you got to focus on school if you want to get into that art college you've been talking about, 6:30 sound okay?"
Usopp smiled "Yeah sounds good, thanks dad"
"Not a problem, so want to kill some aliens on the Xbox with me?"
"Sure! Let me just go put my stuff away"
Zoro went and sat down on the couch and grabbed the controller "Want to play on competitive mode?"
Usopp emerged from his room and tied a bandana around his head to push his hair back "You sure you want to do that, I don't want to beat you so bad that you don't take me out to dinner"
Zoro gave a playful glare to his son "Just grab a controller and prepare to eat your words brat"
"Haha, we'll see"
…
"Hey Patty, is Zeff there? Yeah it's Sanji, Okay thanks"
Sanji smiled at Chopper who was looking up at him "Just telling grandpa were going to eat at his restaurant tonight, that way they know to make sure there's ice cream"
Chopper smiled and did a little happy dance with some toy action figures in his hands, and Sanji put the phone back to his ear
"Hey old man… yeah…yeah, so listen, I was thinking about bringing your grandson by around 6, thought he might like to see his grandpa…well you are old so deal with it… hahaha, ok see you then, bye" Sanji took his phone away from his ear and put it back on his hanger "Okay buddy, let's get ready and go"
"Okay" Chopper said excitedly and put down his toys
…
"Ack" Zoro set his controller down, having died again "cheater"
"It isn't cheating, it's called a sense of direction" Usopp laughed back still immersed in the game
Zoro used this moment to look at his watch "Oh shit, we are going to be late" he said standing up
Usopp turned the console off and leaned his head over the couch to look at his dad "So how did you get us a reservation at a five star restaurant anyways?"
Zoro turned from where he was putting on a tie (unsuccessfully) and smirked at Usopp "Magic, now go put on a button up and some slacks, it isn't a black tie place but that doesn't mean it's casual friendly"
"Okay" Usopp said walking into his room "But I'm just saying, you just made the plan today, and that phone call you made during our break didn't last that long, I'm just wondering how you did it" he called from his bedroom
"Well, you remember your aunt Kuina right?" Zoro asked while tying his shoes
"Yeah?"
"Well I got her to pull some strings, turns out she's tight with the owner or something"
"Ah, I see, she strikes again" Usopp said walking out of his room pulling his hair into a ponytail, he was now dressed in a smooth black button up with the sleeves rolled up and matching slacks
"Hehe, yeah, she's good at that, okay ready to go?"
Usopp nodded moving a few bracelets around on his wrist "Yeah"
"Cool let's get going then" Zoro said grabbing his keys
…
"There's egg plant and eggplant Jr. come here you little rascal" Zeff bellowed throughout the restaurant half walking half hobbling on his peg leg towards them and hugged Chopper "God you're so big now! You know who I am right?"
Chopper nodded excitedly "Yeah, I didn't forget"
Zeff smiled "Good, I'm glad, hey so, Patty will show you to your seat, then I'll bring out a bowl of some homemade chocolate ice cream, sound good?"
"Yeah!" Chopper said enthused at the thought
Sanji chose this moment to bring a closed hand to his mouth and 'cough'
Zeff looked up at him then back to Chopper "Right sorry, got to eat dinner first, but then I'll give you the ice cream"
"Oh okay" Chopper said a little sad
"But hey, it tastes even better when you have to wait for it" Zeff said trying to cheer him up
"Yummy, okay I'll wait!" Chopper said happy again causing Zeff and Sanji to laugh, both of them aware that most of the customers were staring at them
"Okay well, go to Patty, Chopper, he'll show you your seat" Zeff mentioned
"Okay grandpa" Chopper said then trotted off to Patty oh grabbed him up in his arms and hugged him and began walking towards a booth. Sanji watched in amusement at the scene, it really had been to long
"Everything going okay lately?" Zeff asked getting serious
Sanji turned to face his dad "Yeah, I'm all moved into the new house. I no longer have a connection to anybody from that chapter in my life, and my restaurant is going good."
"You're still using that alias right, blackleg, instead of redfoot"
"Yeah" Sanji replied, remembering how he had to switch his and Choppers name
"Your ex-wife still giving you grief?"
Sanji sighed "Yeah a bit, she tried to imply I wasn't fit to be a dad"
"Well you weren't, you had fucked up pretty bad, but don't you listen to that kind of bullshit anymore, you're a good person now and a great father, so she can shove it" Zeff replied angrily
Sanji smiled "Thanks dad, I think I needed that"
"Okay, now enough of this sappy shit, go have dinner with your son, but fair warning, the kitchen staff might come out and visit throughout the night, they missed the little guy"
Sanji smirked "alright, fair enough"
…
"Yes, party of two, under Roronoa" Zoro said to the receptionist
"Yeah okay, got you right here, go ahead on in, just find a empty table, nobody pays attention to that sort of thing really, plus we are short on waiters tonight" She said in a kind voice
"Thanks" Zoro said passing her, Usopp bowing his head politely as he passed
"Wow, five star restaurant where you get to pick your seat, cool" Usopp said when they were a fair distance away from the receptionist
"Yeah, it is a little bizarre, hey there's a table" Zoro said pointing and started walking off in its direction
"Usopp!?" Usopp turned to face the loud voice that called him, he scanned the tables trying to locate where the familiar voice came from, and then spotted it
"Hey Chopper!" Usopp waved back
Zoro turned and followed his son over to another table "so whose this little guy?" Zoro asked with a smile on his face looking at 'Chopper'
"Oh you remember when I volunteered at the elementary school for a few weeks to help out with their art program, well this was one of the students there, Chopper meet my dad Zoro, Zoro meet my student Chopper"
"Hey" Zoro said holding out his hand
"Hi" Chopper said a little nervous, but none the less shook Zoro's hand
"Hey Chopper, um who's this?" Sanji asked approaching his son protectively
"Oh Daddy, this was one of my teachers at school and his dad"
"Well, temporary teacher, I just helped out" Usopp said laughing a little "Hi, I'm Usopp" He said holding out his hand
Sanji took his hand "and I didn't catch your name" Sanji said holding his hand out to Zoro
"I'm Zoro, Usopp's father" he said taking the hand "Nice to meet you"
"You too" Sanji said to both of them "now that I think about it, I think I remember Chopper talking about you" Sanji said talking to Usopp "He had a lot of fun with your art class
Usopp smiled "Yeah, we were real buds, I like teaching him all the cool things you could do with clay and paint and so on"
"Hey Usopp, want to have dinner with us? Please?!" Chopper asked
"Oh I'm not sure if I could, I mean" Usopp started looking at Sanji
"Well I don't mind" Sanji said sitting on the opposite side of Chopper
Usopp looked at Zoro, who shrugged
"Sure I don't mind, they seem like nice folk, plus the kid really wants to catch up with you" Zoro said
"Yay" Chopper shouted
"Chopper, remember you can't be too loud" Sanji said, making room for Zoro to sit down
"Oh right sorry" Chopper said, then made room for Usopp
They quickly sat down, and the two youngest were quickly immersed into a conversation about something or another
Zoro turned to Sanji "Sorry if were intruding on your night out with your son"
"Oh it's not a problem" Sanji assured "Chopper really liked him as a teacher and friend so I don't mind if they catch up with each other"
They remained silent for awhile watching their sons chatter on about what sounded like action figures and videogames
"I'm surprised that your son gets along with a little kid so well" there was second of silence before Sanji thought the statement over in his head "sorry that sounded rude, I didn't mean it like that" Sanji said
"Nah I understand what you meant, most boys his age are all about girls, cars and what not, but he has always been a little kid person"
"So how old is he?" Sanji asked, glad that he didn't offend Zoro
"17, turning 18 in a few months"
"Oh wow, almost an adult huh, what's that like?"
"Well, a little jarring at first, but you get used to it, what about your little boy? How old is he?"
"Oh, he's only 7… I don't have to worry about him growing up quite yet"
They both laughed a little
"So, where's the kid's mom tonight? At home or something, letting you guys have your fun?" Zoro asked trying to make some conversation
"Oh, um" Sanji coughed a little "We are no longer together, and starting today, is my 7 days with him, we switch weekly"
"Oh, I'm sorry about that" Zoro said "Didn't mean to ruin the mood"
"hehe, don't worry, she already did when she dropped him off today"
Zoro smiled a little
"So what about his mom" Sanji asked out, hoping to learn a little more about the kid
"Well, the last time either of us saw her was when she dropped him off two weeks after he was born, she was a old girlfriend, it turns out that she was pregnant when we broke up, I had no idea, and 10 months later she comes by and gives me a kid then just leaves"
Sanji looked down "Damn, sorry I didn't mean to…" Sanji let the sentence die there
"No its fine, I did it to you, now were even"
Sanji pondered that for a little while before thinking of a way to improve the mood, hopefully "So why doesn't he have moss growing out of his head?"
Zoro looked at Sanji who was smiling at him and smirked "Well why doesn't Chopper have dart boards over his eyes?"
They both laughed again, and then all four turned to the end of the table when they heard a man clear his throat "Here are your menus"
"Thank you Zeff" Zoro said making Sanji arch his eyebrow in curiosity
"Um how do you know Zeff" Sanji wondered out loud
"Oh you didn't know? This is Kuina's little brother" Zeff answered "I thought you knew, which raises a question, why are you sitting with them if you don't even know them?" Zeff asked raising his eyebrow
"Chopper knows Zoro's Son Usopp" Sanji pointed out and Usopp looked a little nervous under Zeff's stare
"Wait, how do you know Zeff?" Zoro asked Sanji
"He's my son" Zeff answered making Zoro pale and frantically look back and forth between the two of them "Oh" he said and stopped looking back and forth
"How do you know this guy Chopper?" Zeff asked pointing his thumb to Usopp
"He was my art teacher at school for a little while, and he was my friend!" Chopper said happily
"Hi" Usopp said nervously holding out his hand towards Zeff
For a few moments Usopp just boiled under Zeff's gaze, until finally Zeff shook his hand "Any friend of Chopper's is a friend of mine" he said laughing "Okay well, I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders, have a good one" Zeff chuckled out walking away.
The table was quiet for a little while, all of them looking back and forth between each other
"Well I guess you learn something new every day" Usopp said cautiously
Zoro and Sanji looked at each other for a few seconds before shrugging it off "Yup" they both said and then started looking through the menus
…
"No way!" Usopp said trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard
"Oh yeah, so Zeff comes walking over into the small kitchen in our house and just yells 'what the hell did you do eggplant!" Sanji says laughing also
"hahaha, and so what did you tell him?" Zoro asked also laughing
"Well the evidence was right there so I was honest and told the truth, that a magic fire fairy came and burned the food" Sanji said and everybody laughed hard at that "Oh man, he made me eat every piece of that burnt bread, but I never brunt another loaf or anything else ever again" Sanji said wiping a tear from his eye
"Man" Usopp said patting his belly "Your dad knows how to cook"
"Ah, his food's okay I guess, I can cook better" Sanji said bragging
Suddenly two arms reached from behind Sanji's head and place a bowl of ice cream in front of Chopper and Usopp. Sanji instantly paled feeling the presence
"Could you repeat that egg plant?" Zeff asked hovering over Sanji as Chopper and Usopp shouted in joy at the ice cream
"uh oh" Zoro said scooting away from Sanji a little
"Well I could cook better, you shitty old man" Sanji said knowing he was dead already
"You ungrateful little brat!" Zeff yelled bringing his peg leg down onto Sanji's head
"Ow!" Sanji yelled out cupping his head and leaning forward "Ow ow ow, you shitty old man" Sanji said as Zeff was walking away
"Hahahahaha!" Zoro laughed out "I love this place, it isn't all up tight like most fancy restaurants, and I even got to see the owner kick his son hahahaha"
"Oi shut it marimo!" Sanji barked back, and began tapping his fingers on the table
Zoro took notice of the tapping and looked at the kids who were eating the ice cream, and enjoying every bite, Zoro leaned over to Sanji almost whispering "Need a smoke?"
Sanji nodded a little. Zoro nodded back
"Hey Usopp, can you watch Chopper? Me and sanji are gonna go get some fresh air" Zoro asked
Usopp looked at him and nodded "suhre nho probmum" He said around a mouth full of ice cream
"Cool" Zoro then got up and walked towards the front door, with Sanji following him
They exited the restaurant and Sanji quickly pulled a pack of cigarettes and lit one up and inhaled deeply "Mhh, want one?" he asked offering them to Zoro
Zoro waved him off "Nah, I quit a long time ago, couldn't afford it, I don't want to start again"
Sanji nodded in understanding "Yeah, I tried to quit a few times, but since I started so young I never could shake it, it's like smoking is just part of my being"
Zoro nodded, rubbing his hands and blowing into them "you know I used to be able to make squares with the smoke before I quit"
Sanji looked at him "Yeah?"
"Yeah"
"Could you do this?" Sanji asked then inhaled, and then exhaled, moving his mouth so that the smoke made a heart
"Nice" Zoro said nodding "Oh damn, let me have one, just one won't hurt"
Sanji handed one over "If you say so, be carefully" He said while lighting it
"Yeah that's not ironic, telling me to be careful while lighting it"
"Shut up, I'm just being nice" Sanji replied
Zoro inhaled then looked at Sanji and blew out a big ring, and then a smaller ring a little faster than the first, and then a smaller third ring, and then blew the last of the smoke up towards the fading rings, in a straight line, that went through the middle of the smallest ring
"nice" Sanji replied inhaling, he then exhaled moving his lips in a pattern making the smoke look like a regular leaf
"Show off" Zoro smirked out
"Like you weren't" Sanji replied
"Fair enough, oh I got one" Zoro said inhaling again, and then exhaling downwards and moving his head back slightly, making a smoke train that moved like a snake, until he stopped inhaling, and then it just floated
"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Sanji asked surprised at the skill
"Optical illusion, the trick is to keep you head moving and you have to keep exhaling"
"You know, I've been smoking forever, and never thought to do that" Sanji said laughing slightly
"Yeah, well, when I did smoke, all I did was try to figure out cool things to do with the smoke, figured it'd be a good way to impressed people at bars, then take them home and, well, kick them out the next morning, you know, it's kind of funny, It's like getting Usopp set my life on the right path, instead of just going to a bar every night" Zoro smiled as he remembered holding the baby Usopp in his hands, missing the sad look that passed onto Sanji's face, before it left again
"Wish it would have been that way for me" Sanji said out, not meaning to
"What?" Zoro asked turning to Sanji
"I'll tell you some other time; I think we should get back to the kids"
"Right" Zoro nodded and put out his cigarette on the ground
…
"And that's how you get the really nice deep purple"
Sanji and Zoro came back to the table to find that Usopp and Chopper had finished their ice cream and were now talking about, what seemed like painting; they had just sat down when Zeff walked over
"Here is the check eggplant's" Zeff said placing it down in front of Sanji and Zoro, and then turned and left
Zoro grabbed the check and opened it and looked at the number "Well, I can get half, here" Zoro said setting the check down and pulling out his wallet "There's 62.35, that's half right? He asked turning to Sanji
"Um yeah, plus a good tip" He nodded setting down the other half
"Okay, well shall we get going then Usopp?" Zoro asked turning to his son
"Um yeah sure, see you later Chopper"
"Yeah okay" Chopper said a little sad
"Hey Zoro" Sanji said causing Zoro to turn around
"Yeah?"
"Here's my cell phone number, just give me a call when Usopp's wants' to hang out with Chopper" Sanji said handing him a piece of paper
Zoro quickly took out a pen and ripped part of the paper off and wrote down something "I don't have a cell phone, but here's my home phone, just tell Chopper to call" Zoro handed the paper to Sanji and then turned to leave
"See you soon marimo!" Sanji called after him
"Same dart brow" Zoro said back "Nice to meet you"
"Bye Usopp!" Chopper called
"Bye Chopper!" Usopp called back
…
Zoro walked through the door after Usopp and locked it behind him "Well that was fun" Zoro said "Have fun with Chopper?"
"Yeah, tons, he's a fun little kid"
"Do you want to hang out with him soon; maybe you could babysit for Sanji or something"
Usopp smiled "ahh, now I see"
Zoro gave a look of confusion "What?"
"Someone's got a crush" Usopp sang as he walked towards his room, causing his dad to flush
"Shut it you brat!" Zoro yelled in embarrassment and then went to sit on the couch, and saw that there was a new message on his machine, he quickly went over to it and hit the play button
"Hey Usopp, it's Kaya, just wanted to make sure we were still on for Saturday, so, give me a call back, chow"
"Hey Usopp, Who's Kaya?" He called in a mocking tone
Usopp quickly rushed out of his room and stared at his dad "How do you know that name?" he asked in worry and embarrassment
Zoro laid back on the couch and kicked his feet up onto the table "she sounds cute, even through the messaging machine"
Usopp quickly went to the machine and pressed play, and listened to the message before picking up the phone and going to his room
Zoro clicked the T.V. on and began watching whatever showed it had turned onto 'Kid got's a girl, oh this will be fun, so much fun' Zoro thought and then began thinking of a few embarrassing stories from Usopp's childhood.
TBC
A/N: Okay guys, so just doing a action story focused on no romantic things was getting hard to write for and my mind began getting clouded with romance, so I created this to filter it out, I hope you guys like it!
