Courage

Strong hands held his thighs in a grip that was just painful enough that he noticed. Warm lips and a hot, no—burning tongue trailed up his neck, leaving wet kisses across his skin and lapped up the sweat that had beaded just below his jaw. There was a deep groan against his neck and one last hard thrust into him, and then tiny ripples of pleasure teased through his body, tickling up his back and shoulders, his arms, his legs, his spent cock.

"Fuck…" Zoro gasped, grinding against him, "goddamn…"

Sanji couldn't help but grin into the swordsman's coarse hair and revel in the tremble that wracked through the other man's frame. When Zoro came, he came hard, at least with him. Sex had turned out to be the one thing Sanji could best Zoro at every time, he didn't even have to try. For the last two weeks, since that fateful night at the dojo, and then the next morning at Zoro's apartment, their physical relationship had grown into something so intense and exhilarating that sometimes it seemed too amazing to even be real.

"You feel better?" Sanji asked, kissing Zoro's temple.

"Yes," Zoro panted.

The swordsman was shaking, his body was still as strong as ever but in the few minutes just after release, Zoro was always vulnerable and Sanji loved it. He loved seeing this side of the man who had always seemed so impenetrable and unshakeable come apart for him. It made it easier for Sanji himself to just let go, meet him halfway. With their walls down and both open to each other completely, the two of them had found they could find comfort and strength and unbelievable bliss together.

"I have to get back to work," Sanji whispered.

Zoro groaned and wrapped his arms around Sanji's waist. "No," he said and defiantly burrowed into Sanji's neck, letting his full weight come down on the cook's body.

"I mean it, Zoro," Sanji chuckled, "I have to make the soup for tonight. I have like…" he turned his head and looked at the clock sitting on his bedside table, "less than an hour."

"No one's eating soup tonight," Zoro growled.

Sanji chuckled again and managed to pry Zoro's arms out from beneath him. "Come on, you big oaf, lemme go."

Growling Zoro came off him and rolled to the side so Sanji could climb out of the bed. Looking around at the mess of discarded clothes and boots, Sanji grinned. "Where'd you throw my pants?"

"Don't know," Zoro was watching him with a sleepy look in his eyes. "You don't need them anyway."

"I don't need my pants?" Sanji laughed and opened his closet. There were three suits handing on the hangers and he pulled out the black one with the pinstripes. "I think I have to disagree."

Zoro was quiet as Sanji washed up in the tiny bathroom and dressed. As he knotted a fresh tie around his neck, the cook felt the other man's eyes on him and when he turned he found a much heavier gaze than he had expected.

"You okay?" he asked.

Zoro blinked and nodded.

Sanji had not yet figured out every nuance when it came to Zoro's facial features, the man was quite stoic when all things were considered, but over the last two weeks, besides when they were working, the two had spent almost every minute together. Sanji would have to have been completely oblivious or blind if he hadn't learned something.

He moved across the small room and sat beside Zoro on the bed. He reached out a hand and ran his fingers over a sweaty brow.

"Tell me," he said softly.

Zoro hesitated for only a moment. "Aren't people going to wonder why we went upstairs together and then an hour later you come back down with different clothes on?"

In reality, Sanji had not thought about that at all. In the back of his mind he didn't care what the people he worked with thought. They had known him since he was very young, they were all friends of his father. They were like his second family and Sanji knew that they were all crass and talked a big game and made lots of jokes that could spoil milk, but they were all good people. They probably wouldn't care.

Plus, Sanji already knew that none of them could tell his suits apart. The cooks downstairs had no fashion sense whatsoever.

What was foremost in Sanji's mind at that moment, was how Zoro seemed to be uncomfortable about it. He was looking away from Sanji, a strange, almost worried expression painted his face and it sent questions reeling through Sanji's head. What if people did find out? How did he feel about people knowing? Were they going to tell anyone? What if someone had already found out?

Those questions swirled and spun and started to smolder until they burned away and another, deeper thought emerged.

Did Zoro want to keep it a secret? Was Zoro ashamed?

Those last thoughts hurt more than Sanji had ever expected, but they were the kind of thoughts he didn't want to be thinking about during the second half of a fourteen-hour shift.

Sanji grabbed his pack from the window sill and shook out a stick. He slipped it between his teeth and lit the tip with the lighter he had tossed on the floor earlier. He opened the window and blew the smoke out into the early evening air and slipped his hands into his pockets.

"We just had mind blowing sex—for the fourth time today, I might add—and you're getting hung up on how my crew might notice I changed my clothes? Come on, Zoro, relax a little."

Zoro had sat up and thrown his legs over the side of the bed. He now sat with his elbows on his knees, looking at Sanji with a fairly unreadable expression.

"That's not really what I'm worried about and you know it."

Sanji pulled another drag and took the cigarette from between his lips. This was not a conversation he was ready for and he probably never would be.

"I have to go." He tossed the cigarette out the window and turned to head toward the door.

Zoro was there before he could turn the handle. The swordsman had moved so silently, so quickly, Sanji had no time to react. He tried to move away, turn his face so Zoro could not see his surprise, but then the swordsman was on him, pressing him up against the wall. He was gentle, but firm, and Sanji was suddenly embarrassed to find himself getting hard at the subtle power display Zoro was showing him.

"Zoro, seriously, I have to—"

"What time is your shift over?" Zoro asked.

Sanji took a moment to breathe, trying to calm his racing heart. "Uh… ten? If we get everything cleaned up quick?"

Zoro's breath was warm against his lips, and the look in his eyes sent another one of those amazing chills down Sanji's spine.

"Will you come to my place after? I just want to talk about some stuff."

Sanji swallowed. There was no way Zoro wanted to talk about anything good. And since when did Zoro want to talk about "stuff?" When it didn't involve sex, it was almost impossible to get the green-haired bastard to open up about even the smallest of things. What could he—

"I can tell you're worrying about some stupid shit that I won't be able to comprehend," Zoro said softly, "so just believe me when I say it's nothing bad. Okay?"

Sanji closed his eyes and shook his head. "How could it be nothing bad if—?"

Zoro silenced him with a kiss. A long, languid kiss that shortened Sanji's breath and had his heart pounding by the time they parted.

"Promise me you'll come over," Zoro said.

Sighing, Sanji liked his lips and nodded. "Fine."

"Say it."

"Oh my God, fine. Yes, I promise."

Finally, Zoro smiled and stepped back. "Okay, I'll see you later."

Sanji arrived at Zoro's apartment about a quarter after ten and was about to knock when he remembered the swordsman had given him a key. He pulled his keyring from his pocket and held the keys loosely in his fingers. As he studied them, his breath caught at the thought of how much weight was sitting between his thumb and middle finger.

It was funny, if someone had told him a few weeks ago that he would soon have a key to Zoro's apartment on his keyring, he would have laughed until he cried. Or possibly just cried.

Sliding the key into the lock, Sanji unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Zoro was waiting for him in the kitchen with a cold beer. Sanji took it and popped the cap with the bottle opener he was offered.

"Hey," Zoro said softly, a small smile pulling at his lips.

Sanji smiled back, "Hey."

The swordsman looked like he had just stepped out of the shower. Hair damp and dressed in fresh sweats and a tee shirt, he made Sanji want to slide his arms around that muscled torso and kiss all that tanned skin.

"So, what's up?" Sanji asked after taking a long swallow. "What did you want to talk about?"

Zoro's smile faltered and he looked down at his beer. "I've been thinking about… a lot of things."

"Yeah?" Sanji's voice trembled a little but they both ignored it.

"Do you think we should…" Zoro faltered for a moment but then he started again. "Do you think we should tell everyone? About us?"

Something heavy fell into the pit of Sanji's stomach and a lump formed in the back of his throat. Suddenly it was hard to speak.

"I… don't know," he stammered.

Zoro sighed and scratched at his chin. He downed the rest of the beer and set the bottle on the counter behind him before he straightened and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at a loss. Unsure of what to say or do and it was such a strange thing to see. The swordsman always seemed so confident in himself. It was one of the things that had at one time made Sanji so incredibly jealous.

"Why?" Sanji asked. "I mean, do you want to?"

Zoro shrugged. "I don't know. I was just… thinking about Chopper."

"Chopper?" Sanji asked, confused.

"Yeah, I haven't talked to him in almost a week and a half. I have all these texts and emails from him, but I haven't responded 'cause I don't know what to say."

After a long moment Sanji nodded. He completely understood. He hadn't spoken to Ace in more than a week for the same reason.

It didn't take a lot of introspection for Sanji to understand that he was scared of telling his friends about his relationship with Zoro. It was not because he thought they would hate him for it or make fun of him, no, he knew his friends would never do that. It also wasn't because he thought they would treat him differently because he knew they wouldn't do that either. So, in retrospect, there wasn't a tangible reason at all. As Sanji stood staring at the floor, he realized he had no idea why he was so terrified. He just knew that he was.

It was all so incredibly stupid because he really wanted to tell everyone.

"Sanji?"

Zoro's voice pulled him from his thoughts and he looked up. The swordsman was studying him with eyes that looked slightly hurt, and that more than anything made Sanji move.

He set his beer down on the counter and closed the distance between them. Putting his hands on either side of Zoro's jaw, Sanji brushed a kiss across soft lips.

"Zoro, do you want to tell them?"

Those dark eyes lifted and regarded Sanji with so much raw emotion the cook could almost feel the force of it pressing against his body. There was so much apprehension, so much excitement, so much fear and worry in those beautiful eyes it made Sanji's heart want to break. When he felt Zoro's hands come to his hips, he relaxed against the swordsman's body, pressing them both up against the counter.

Softly, Zoro whispered against his lips.

"I want to scream it."

Sanji's heart skipped. "What?" he breathed out, his voice catching.

Zoro lifted his hands to take Sanji's wrists in a grip that was gentle but firm enough that the cook knew he probably couldn't get away. He shivered as Zoro straightened and brought their foreheads together.

"I want to tell everyone. Everyone I've ever met. I want to stand in the middle of the street and scream it at the top of my lungs. Every day I go to work and it's so fucking hard not to just start grinning like an idiot and tell everyone I'm sleeping with you because it's just… it…" he trailed off, breath labored as he searched for what he wanted to say.

"It just feels so good to be with you," Sanji finished.

Zoro looked back up at him and smiled.

"Yeah."

Oh, that was the missing part. That was the piece that had Sanji holding back, but now that he knew the swordsman wanted it just as much as he did, everything finally fit into place. The fear drained from him almost immediately and he felt courage filling up the places it had left.

He kissed Zoro then, and his heart sored as the swordsman's arms came around him and held him so tightly. Zoro's mouth was warm and his tongue was demanding. They pushed and pulled at each other, gave and then took what they wanted. The cook felt his back bowing and then the counter was pushing into his back. He was being lifted and then his legs were going around Zoro's waist.

"All right," Sanji said breathlessly. "All right, we'll tell them."

"Tomorrow?" Zoro asked.

"Yes," Sanji whispered, "we'll do it tomorrow."

Their clothes started to hit the floor, and the conversation was over.

The next evening, Sanji stood by one of the living room windows in Vivi's condo apartment, watching his friends as they talked and laughed around the island in the kitchen. He was so nervous he almost couldn't breathe, but he knew by the end of all this he would feel better. It would all be worth it.

He glanced up when the door opened and Zoro came in. No one noticed him right away, so the swordsman made his way over to where Sanji was standing and stood for a moment looking out the window, hands stuffed in his jean pockets.

"Class ran late?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. One of my kid's mom didn't show up at pickup so I stayed with him until she did. Custody something-or-other, she didn't know it was her day to get him."

"Rough," Sanji said, "was he okay?"

Zoro nodded. "We talked about video games and some other stuff. He's a kid but he can be… all right, I guess… uh…"

At first, Sanji couldn't figure out why Zoro had trailed off the way he did, but then he realized that the room had gone silent. When he turned to look over his shoulder, his friends were all standing, or sitting, staring open-mouthed at both him and Zoro. The looks of dumbfounded amazement and surprise were so comical and so identical that Sanji had to smother his grin with his fingers.

Nami was sitting on a barstool, holding the edge of the marble countertop in what looked like a death grip.

"Are you guys… okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Usopp said quietly from beside the stove, "you aren't about to tell us that you guys killed somebody, are you?"

"Okay, let's not get overdramatic," Ace said.

"I'm not being overdramatic!" Usopp whispered loudly. "They might have accidentally hit someone in like a crossfire situation, like someone just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong—"

"Usopp, shut up!" Chopper barked.

Everyone went silent again, glancing at Chopper and then turning back to Sanji and Zoro for explanation. Sanji saw Kaya slip her hand into Usopp's and Ace moved in a little closer to Vivi.

"Is something wrong, you guys?" Chopper asked, and his eyes were so afraid it tore at Sanji's heart.

"No," Zoro said calmly. "Nothing's wrong, in fact… everything is really great."

Sanji nodded, but he felt like he was in some kind of dream. He couldn't get his limbs to work or his throat to say words. It was almost like he was underwater.

"I'm sorry that we've been sort of absent the last few weeks," Zoro said, "since the fundraiser."

"We seriously thought you guys killed each other," Chopper murmured.

Sanji cleared his throat and fished for a cigarette, but then remembered that Vivi didn't like him to smoke in the house so he just fingered the pack in his pocket.

"What happened, Sanji?" Ace asked. "Where have you been?"

Sanji cleared his throat again and scratched absently at his chin.

"I've been at Zoro's."

Zoro looked at him and smiled a little. "We were at the Baratie too."

Sanji elbowed his ribs and the swordsman made a half whine, half chuckling noise. "Well, that's because you just kept showing up. It's not like we made plans or anyth—"

"—Okay, what is going on?" Ace held up his hands as if to fend off some invisible attack. "You guys are being friendly with each other, and don't get me wrong, that's awesome, but it's totally throwing off my understanding of the universe."

Unable to form the words he wanted so desperately to say, Sanji looked at Zoro, and found the swordsman was doing the exact same thing. Those dark eyes looked straight into him, giving him courage and taking courage from him at the same time. Sanji felt stronger just from having Zoro at his side, and so he turned back to his friends and took a breath.

"Zoro and I are together."

The silence that followed was filled with confusion more than anything else. Usopp and Kaya turned to each other with similar looks of bewilderment on their faces. Ace and Vivi were more surprised, their eyebrows had crawled up into their hairlines. Chopper had gotten to his feet, but his expression was unreadable because his hands were covering most of his face.

"Oh," Nami said.

Sanji and Zoro both turned to her at the same time. She was trying to hide a smile, but she wasn't trying that hard. It was exactly the look Sanji had expected to see on her face and his heart warmed at the sight.

"Together together? Like…" she made a rude gesture with her hands and Sanji snorted. Apparently Zoro thought it was funny too because he grinned and nodded.

"Yes, exactly like that."

Sanji elbowed the swordsman again, this time it was hard enough to elicit a satisfactory "ouch!"

Then Luffy, who had been strangely silent through this entire ordeal, hopped down from the counter and slowly made his way over to where Sanji and Zoro stood. The cook watched him, quiet, worrying at what his friend might say. He was younger, yes, and his needle might be permanently stuck on eccentric but Sanji respected Luffy more than anyone else he had ever known, including Zeff. Whatever the others thought, or however they reacted to all this Sanji knew he could handle it.

However, Luffy's opinion was something else entirely. Luffy's opinion mattered, and Sanji knew Zoro felt the same way. Whatever Luffy decided to do and however he decided to take this would set the tone for the rest of Sanji and Zoro's lives.

The young Portgus moved in close to Sanji and put a hand on his shoulder.

"So, you and Zoro… you guys are boyfriends now?"

"Yes," Sanji said without hesitation.

He felt the swordsman's hand slip into his own. The cook suddenly realized he couldn't tell which one of them was shaking. Or maybe they both were.

"Are you happy?" Luffy asked.

Sanji glanced at Zoro, who's smile widened and he answered, "Yes."

Sanji turned back to Luffy and nodded. "Yes."

There was a moment then where Sanji almost lost his mind. Luffy took several long moments and looked from Sanji, to Zoro, and then back to Sanji again with such a serious expression it was almost suffocating.

Then his face broke out into a smile, a sunny, radiant smile that lit up his features and relaxed the atmosphere of the entire room. He clapped Sanji on the back and nodded his head once.

"Cool. So, are you gonna make food now? Or…"

Sanji felt Zoro squeeze his hand and he couldn't help it.

His heart lifted, and he laughed, throwing an arm around Luffy's shoulders. "Of course, what do you want?"

"Eggs and bacon!"

"Luffy," Usopp scoffed, "it's like five o'clock. It's dinnertime."

"Breakfast for dinner!" Luffy cried merrily.

Sanji glanced at Zoro, who was hugging Chopper and smiling into the younger boy's curly, brown hair. When the swordsman met his gaze, that smile turned into something even sweeter, even more lovely. The cook could do nothing but smile back as he was pulled all the way into the kitchen and into the arms of his friends.

Yes, he was happy. Zoro was happy. Their friends were wonderful, and they accepted them and everything that they were without question, just as Sanji had known they would.

Things wouldn't always be this easy, but as Sanji started dinner and chatted excitedly with Ace and Usopp and listened to Zoro talking and laughing with the others, he knew that with this crazy group of misfits, he would be all right.

With his family, and with Zoro, he could make it through anything.

END