Love is Great Most of the Time
by Gwendolyn
Edited by Lina
Title:Love is Great Most of the Time
Rating:M
Summary:Modern AU, Zoro has long given up hope to be with Sanji, trying to forget his feelings. But when he see's a flicker of hope, no matter how hard he tries to suppress it, he once again feels himself wishing for the impossible.
"Seriously Sanji, I know you've been struggling, but you really need to pull it together and get a job! I know how much you want to get a good career, but you need to start bringing money in while your searching." Nami was ranting from the passenger seat, sighing frustratedly.
"Nami-Swan! I'm trying! I really am!" Sanji was practically crying in the backseat, begging for forgiveness as he slumped lower and lower in his seat.
"Shut up already! Its bad enough I have to drive this witch around every day, I don't need your bitching to add to it! I'll throw your ass out of my car!" Zoro yelled.
All this constant bitching was distracting him and he just knew if he allowed himself to take a wrong turn there would be much, much more bitching directed solely at him.
"Don't talk about Nami like that you asshole! I'll kick your ass!"
"Hey, just because you don't have a job and I had to practically pay your rent doesn't mean you can take out all your bitterness on me." Zoro smirked as he took a turn.
"Shut up! That has nothing to do with it! I was defending my beautiful Nami's honor!" Zoro watched Sanji's face go from angry to mortified to some undefinable emotion that was a mixture of denial, embarrassment, and pure hate through the rear view mirror in amusement.
"Uh-huh. Had nothing to do with it."
"You fucking asshole! You're just going to hang that over my head forever aren't you? Fuck you!" Sanji finished with a kick to Zoro's seat.
"Oi! Don't fuck with my car! You owe me fucking money, you shouldn't be destroying my shit!"
"Stop it you idiots! I cant take it anymore! And Zoro! I don't believe you have the right to talk about debts when you owe me money!" Nami shouted shooting them both death glares.
"The hell I do! I paid you back three months ago!"
"You forgot the interest."
"Interest? What the hell? I paid you back what you gave me! IT WAS JUST GASS MONEY!"
"But it was still my money you used that I could have used on myself but couldn't because I gave it to you. Therefore you owe me more. You make the most out of the four of us anyways, with your illegal ways." Nami grinned evilly as Zoro grumbled insults, but was no longer arguing.
"Don't insult Nami you bastard." Sanji muttered at Zoro who just gave an annoyed snort. He hated it when the annoying cook and the witch ganged up on him.
"Sanji, why don't you just participate in some of the underground fighting Zoro does until you find the job what your looking for? You could even get enough to get a restaurant started." Nami stated, getting back to her original point.
"Your ideas are always brilliant Nami!" Sanji swooned from the backseat but then deflated sadly, "But I cant put my hands in danger, while I'm sure I could beat them all, one might be just good enough to endanger my hands." he met Nami's eyes through the mirror, asking for understanding honestly. Nami sighed again but nodded.
"I understand. I know your hands are important to your work. But Zoro's been doing extra fights to make sure we can pay all the bills and that mixed with his day job...Choppers getting worried."
"I'm fine!" Zoro grumbled irritably. He wasn't that weak! A couple of extra fights a week were fine! No one challenging has even showed up recently, they were easy wins.
Nami rolled her eyes and gave a small snort, "You said you were fine when you were almost cut in half too." she pointed out.
"Just drop it will ya? I'm fine, idiot cook is looking for a job, Robin said shes getting a raise, we'll be fine for a couple more months." Zoro sighed tiredly. These kind of talks were starting to annoy him. He was fine!
He pulled into the driveway of the house he shared with Nami, Robin, and Sanji. It was a huge house close to the city with a huge back yard, part of the reason it was so expensive.
They had bought it after Nami and Robin got out of collage. At the time they were just starting their jobs and needed help paying for it, Sanji volunteered, he was still working and living with Zeff then and was starting to get his independence once he got his culinary degree. Nami roped him into it with some help with a guilt trip by Chopper.
She said his crappy apartment was a health hazard by itself and spending all his money on booze and take out wasn't healthy. It wasn't fair that she got Chopper to help her with her manipulative ways!
But it turned out okay, he had to admit it was a lot nicer than his apartment and with them having a house together meant that there was enough space for all their friends. He was happy he wasn't dragged to huge parties and clubs all the time, he didn't really like crowds. It made the months of dramatic alcohol reduction almost worth it.
The three of them climbed out of Zoro's car and made their way to the door in silence. Zoro dropped his keys on the table near the door and walked up the mini stairs to the middle floor of their house.
The house had three floors. The top floor had three rooms, one for Sanji, the master bedroom Robin and Nami shared, and a work room for when Nami brought her bank work home or some of Robins artifacts for the museum.
The middle floor had a huge kitchen, which had bought Sanji right away, and the rest was just wide open space which Robin had decorated tastefully. Down stairs was mainly Zoro's space, he had his room, a storage room, and all his training equipment.
The back yard was also beautiful, a welcome change to the skyscrapers and cement they all had to see everyday. Although it had a strange collection of plants, Nami had some orange trees from her sister she wouldn't let anyone take the fruit from, Sanji had insisted on roses so he could give them to the girls when the fully blossomed, Robin had a collection of different flowers all over, and Zoro had a small patch of bamboo he got as a gift.
Robin and him were the only ones who spent a lot of time tending to it though, Sanji occasionally went back to help his roses and tend to the oranges, but Robin spent hours watering and weeding while Zoro maintained the bamboo so it wouldn't spread out of control. He considered it training his mind, as he often meditated while doing it.
He liked their house and his roommates, although his fights with Sanji sometimes got out of hand.
Once they were inside Zoro collapsed on the couch with Nami as Sanji started cooking, Nami flipped on the TV to some news show. Zoro tuned it out and started to stretch and roll his shoulders, trying to ease some of the stress out of them before he decided to nap.
He woke up when Robin came home. She sat down gracefully in a chair to his left and flashed a small smile. "You seem a bit more tired recently, are you getting enough sleep?"
he stifled a yawn before answering "I'm fine. Jeez. Everyone's on my case. I just trained a little to late into the night." he grumbled. Even though he was getting more tired with staying up to fight at night, waiting for the adrenaline to wear off, then waking up early to drive himself and Nami to work, he was fine dammit! Nothing he couldn't overcome!
It wasn't like his job was particularly stressful, all he had to do was carry heavy shit around! He didn't get the hard part of the construction work, that's for sure.
Robin looked at him for a while longer, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes before it disappeared and she smiled slightly at him again, letting the matter drop.
Dinner was uneventful, Sanji drooling over the girls, yelling at him to have more manners, the girls chatting, and the question of where Luffy was tonight. No one paid much mind though, Luffy didn't have his license and Ussop was too busy to drive him over for dinner every night.
Zoro decided to ignore Sanji that night, it was too much trouble. But it was just his luck that him trying to keep the atmosphere calm pissed Sanji off even more. It had turned into a huge yelling fight that almost went to physical blows if Nami hadn't told Sanji to back off a bit.
Zoro didn't even have the energy to jibe at Sanji for Nami taking his side, he just dropped the matter, cleaned his plate, and collapsed into the bliss that was his bed. He was so glad that he didn't fight on Fridays.
Thank you very much for reading! Please feel free to tell me anything about my story, I already know it's not the greatest so its okay:)