I'd like to thank my beta: Naliams on tumblr (this shitty page won't let me put the link, sorry)
This is a sequel to the first (ONLY TO THE FIRST) chapter from the fic "In for a Penny, In for a Pound". This is a "what if" fanfic, a bonus. Go read that one chapter and then return to this one if you haven't read it before (if there's more than one chapter don't read them, they have nothing to do with this one). This is what would have happened if what happened in that fanfic had not happened at all.
The blond knocked on the door, and after a couple of seconds, the archeologist invited him in.
"Robin-Chwan, I brought you coffee. I know you like to have it when you're reading". The cook crooned softly to avoid disturbing the serene atmosphere that the brunette had created in her room.
"Thank you, cook-san" she replied with her gentle smile; always so mysterious.
Sanji, satisfied, turned on his heel and walked toward the exit rubbing his hands. But just as he was about to cross the threshold of the door, Robin spoke behind him.
"Cook-san, I do not like to intrude, but I'm curious ..."
"What about, my dear?" Sanji, replied, without barely moving.
"You have seemed tense since we made that visit to the fortune teller." She said absently as she threw a couple of sugar cubes in the coffee.
Sanji turned gently clearing his throat and he straightened. "It's nothing, Robin-chwan, just a coincidence, I have been distracted lately, but that's all". His words sounded empty and totally false, even to himself. How did he expected Robin to buy that lie?
She remained silent while nodding her head and stirred her coffee for a few seconds, and Sanji thought he could get away with it, but he was wrong.
The brunette looked up from her cup. "When are you going to talk to him?" She said matter of factly, even with a certain tenderness and concern in it.
The blond knew that there was no point in denying it. He relaxed his shoulders wich were tense so far and dropping his arms to his sides, as if he were a wimp. He also lowered his head slightly forward, his bangs covering most of his face.
He glanced at her. She made soft taps on a chair beside her, with the intention that he went and sit with her. And so, he did.
"You know also why?" He began, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and other fingers, so they ended with his forefinger and thumb together on the bridge of the nose.
"I get the picture, but please proceed" she said and sipped his coffee elegantly.
Robin is charming but has some… idyllic ideas. Or how do you explain it? She goes and tells me to explain Zoro what worries me? That would not only be crazy, but also stupid. It would give him the opportunity to mock me, to do a zillion of jokes about it. I will not be taken seriously; he simply would make fun of me, because that is how he is.
Or worse, he could be scared; he could run away and break our friendship-enmity relationship. I cannot lose that, I don't want to lose that. Not that ... not that I feel something for him, we're just friends. I don't want to lose that; also it could disrupt the balance of the group. Luffy would suffer; I cannot risk everything for a "skirt problem" as they say.
I will not say anything to Zoro, this issue will… will be forgotten, and if Robin does not touch the subject she'll too soon forget about it. It will be as if it never happened. Period.
Well, the kitchen is sparkling clean, and now I can devote myself to dirtying it. It makes sense; don't think that I've lost my mind. It's just that it's time to make dinner.
"Well, for today's recipe ..." he began thinking in his head.
"What?!", he screamed in his head, and after a split second after he turned to see Zoro entering and slamming the door without warning. "Can I know what your problem is?! This is my sanctuary, you cannot enter here as if we're in a fucking tavern?!" he shouted.
"Do you think I'm stupid?!" said the green-head swordsman.
"Well…"
"You've been avoiding me all morning, I've noticed! Usually we fight every ten minutes, but now every time you see me, you run away and hide!" Zoro stopped making a fuss with his arms, but then he dropped them and got a tired expression. His eyes showed concern with some sparks of anger and incomprehension on them. He clenched his lips, as if afraid to say something, or perhaps trying to control his words and tone of voice.
Sanji was still perplexed, but managed to recover his brain activity in time. "Why the change? You're the one acting strange. Yesterday you were completely normal and today you're screaming at me, what's..." But then he realized. "No..., tell me you didn't…"
"Robin talked to me" he muttered.
The cook's expression became more distressed as seconds passed. His eyes opening wide and disbelieving, seeing how his world was falling apart. Then he felt frozen, despite that it was about thirty celsius degrees that day. "It is fear", he thought. "Robin, why did you do this to me ..."
"She told me to talk to you, that you weren't alright, and that I was the right one to hear you out." He muttered as he sat on a nearby chair with some concern. "I'm never the right one to share feelings, isn't my forte, I don't share my feelings to others, I don't like it". He snorted. "Although I'm good at listening I suppose so ..." he continued as he looked around. "I didn't come because I wanted to favor Robin, I don't have so much to do with her, even if we're nakamas, but since yesterday you´re weird, and I need our stupid fights, they help me to exercise and relax".
Sanji reacted at that time, and went quickly and progressively where the Marimo was, with some precaution, testing the waters, but a little nervous. His voice trembled. "And I…I need it too, I will get sick between smoking like a chimney and my lack of sex!" They both laughed a little at that moment, making eye contact but cut it away quickly. That was uncomfortable, the blond did not know why but it had been the typical time when viewers throw up rainbows. They returned to their serious and worried expression with difficulty and after hawking a little, they looked in every direction except toward each other. The back of the chair where Zoro was sitting looked so interesting right now.
It was a tense situation, and Sanji had to escape at all costs. He turned and walked to the counter, his back to Zoro, and said slowly. "Look, it has passed, see? Everything is perfect, it was nothing, now get out and prepare yourself, then I'll kick your ass".
Zoro stood up and walked slowly and hesitantly toward him. "So all this is for yesterday?"
"No... Well... hey... I don't know... I mean..." Even with his back to Zoro, Sanji didn't know how to respond. Tell the truth or not. He had nothing to hide. After all, is not like he liked him or anything like that, it was just that he feared that Zoro ended tying up the dead ends about him and yesterday. Besides, who knows if that woman really had read the future? Maybe she was just laughing at them. This whole problem was absurd itself.
"Marimo, it's nothing, really, I'm fine. Do you think I'm going to go crazy for some all that "see the future" crap, for what that gypsy said? Nope, not my style. I am strong independent man, who does not believe in that shit... "at this time he smiled to himself and decided to laugh at the matter. "And also… fatally attractive ..."said the cook with excessive confidence while playing with his bangs.
The swordsman laughed. "Oh! Of course," he began sarcastically, "not to mention your lean legs".
They both laughed loudly, probably because of the tension, until suddenly became deathly silent. The one who had stopped laughing first was Zoro, Sanji looked into his eyes. The halt had been too abrupt, there must have been a reason.
He met with a blank stare, lost in his tie but lost nonetheless.
Zoro was glancing at him, it starded at his feet, went up at and pass his tie, but the Marimo didn't stop at Sanji's eyes, but at his hair. Or so, thought the cook.
Zoro didn't blink in about a minute and Sanji didn't stop doing it intermittently and unevenly, unable to control his motor functions, while his brain was frying internally, he could not even articulate mental sentences. He was praying to every deity out there, hoping that what he thought was happening was not happening at all.
Suddenly, Zoro's face changed and became the usual. "Well, I'm gonna train" he added with a smile more awkward than not. And he left the room from where he had entered.
Moments later, the cook exhaled the air that he had been holding for the last seconds. He leaned back on the counter with his elbows, facing the door, and dropped his head forward, bangs covering his eyes and expression.
Having heart attacks so often cannot be good.
A second later, Zoro came back, entered with another door slam, but even more energetic and fast, as if he were dying of thirst, which startled the blond.
Deeply breathing but at an uneven pace, as his shoulders rose and fell, and his gaze sought help in nearby furniture, the swordsman spoke. "IT'S YOU! You were like that yesterday because that woman described you!" He paused while wandering a couple of steps in every direction, unable to keep still as he spoke, looking at Sanji occasionally, but not enough to analyze his expression or give a chance to speak. "Why didn't I notice before?!"
Unexpectedly, Sanji didn't notice the cold on his back like a while ago, perhaps because the atmosphere was different, perhaps because it was past the fear, perhaps because there was no other option or escape. He was facing the nightmare and had to say something right now.
"I... " he muttered quietly as he approached the green haired man. But before he could say anything, he took the swordsman's shoulders and suddenly approached him to plant a chaste peck. Then he broke away from him as fast as he has gathered him. And took his hand to his mouth, eyes wide. "What the hell have I done ?!" yelled Sanji while he brought his hands to his head.
"What the hell have you done?!" said Zoro alarmed. The swordsman having lost visual contact with Sanji, guided his digits to his mouth but did not touch it.
"I don't know! AHHH!" Sanji yelled back. Chances were that half of the ship knew what was happening now, or at least had an idea of it.
Zoro pounced on him, taking him by the neck and slammed his lips on the cook's, hitting their noses in the process.
There was silence.
Nobody moved.
Both had their eyes closed. The blond's hands were suspended in the air of having been clutching his hair until then, but he was lowering them slowly, as if afraid to break something.
His breaths were uneven and sometimes deep, regardless of the pain on their noses, letting out the accumulated air.
The kiss was totally superficial, just lips over lips.
Their torsos were separated. The only thing that united the so strange kiss was Zoro's strong but trembling hand on Sanji's neck. Each second he felt it weaker, as if the green-haired man tried to run away but did not know how. Almost at the same time he parted his lips, but the grip of the swordsman did not disappear. Their foreheads resting on each other's, their sore noses touching. Sanji was the first who managed to open his eyes. Zoro's were closed, closed tight even. However, his mouth was half open, searching for the air that was much needed.
The cook felt the hand on his neck was getting away and unconsciously placed his hands on Zoro's hips, pulling him in, smashing their chests, which were still rising and falling rhythmically trying to regain a healthy heart rhythm.
Zoro's hand returned to his neck, and his fingers delved into his hair, causing the cook feel shivers down his spine.
Their mouths were separated by a few centimeters, until Sanji's lips, unconsciously given up to the dryness produced by his altered breathing, licked.
Zoro closed the gap between the two, but this time more gently, more passionate, moving his still shaky hand to the side of the blond's head.
All of their movements were cautious. The kiss became more sexual at times, and their tongues battled for dominance. Sanji's hands had left the marimo's hips, to catch each one firm and rounded buttock of Zoro's and pressed against him, seeking all possible friction; while one of the swordsman's hands grabbed his hair with force, and the other one was exploring under his shirt.
Sooner rather than later, they parted uncomfortably before they had to masturbate right there, and looked at each other shifty. It was all so surreal. Sanji was trying to put his hair on place, and Zoro had to get his hand into his pants to accommodate himself.
Once they both were more serene, the green-haired man glanced nervously and dubious at the blond, but didn't found solace in his eyes, as they were in the same situation.
Sanji was quick to say something, but the words came too fast. "Itdoesn'tmatterthisthingshappenandIknowthatnothingcandistractyounowandthiswasabadidea… "
But Zoro put a chaste kiss on his lips again, and he was just as flustered and red as him when he answered "See you later", and then leaved the kitchen with a small, shy smirk.
When the door closed, Sanji regained consciousness; returned to the counter, trying to assimilate all that had happened. He licked his lips, smiled and began to cut potatoes.
Thanks for reading. Reviews are most welcomed!