Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do acknowledge using Eiichiro Oda's characters without his permission.

Warning: AU, Out of Character charas, profanity, slash, TWT (if it ever existed)

A/N: This uploading is hard. I guess that's just what happens when you've been gone awhile. (Or you have a Mac)

Krito1389 - just wait. It gets even worse.

: Hardest of Hearts :

The restaurant was crowded for the mid-lunch hour. The bar area was full, and the waiters were moving quickly. Zoro observed the area coolly while Ussop swept off, carefully moving through the throng towards the kitchen. Zoro was nervous – he felt sweaty, and he felt uncertainty weighing in his gut like cheap liquor. The hostess quickly shooed him away from the foyer and towards a waiting area. Zoro stood near the back, watching the doorway with clenched teeth. After Luffy's reaction, he was sure Sanji's would be even worse. They might even fight.

Anticipation lit his veins. Two years was a long time – he'd only gotten better with his skill, and he was dead sure Sanji had improved on his. Knowing him for as long as he did, Zoro was sure Sanji used his fury to strengthen up those skinny legs of his, sure to use them on Zoro the next time they saw each other. Sanji would fly into him, they'd exchange manly words of greeting – or anger, like Luffy – and they'd get it over with. Zoro was sure he'd explain himself as best as he could to Sanji, Sanji would exhaust himself throwing a dramatic fit, and –

When Ussop walked in with Sanji right behind him, Zoro felt all his words die away. His mind went blank. His blood warmed with frightful speed as Sanji stared at him, his arms falling to his sides. Ussop tittered something that went unheard, and he eventually stepped away with nervous glances between them.

Sanji stared at him without any indication of anger, and that made Zoro nervous. Despite his earlier resolve, he felt an overwhelming sense of joy seeing the other man. Those feelings he had for the man hadn't died away – no, they flared to life like one of those brilliantly speckled birds that frequented Grand Line islands, the fish he used to catch. All colors and emotions and words sprang up to mind, leaving him a dumb mess. His mouth twitched, a ghost of a smile lifting the corners briefly. Zoro stepped forward as Sanji continued to stare at him, giving no indication of movement or emotion.

"I'm back," Zoro said by way of greeting. He took in the other man's appearance – the longer hair, the thicker neck, the appearance of the other eye with that silly spiral. He examined the soft bristle of his facial hair, groomed and managed into something other than a straggly scruff that Zoro couldn't wait to feel on his own jaw. It excited him to see Sanji so grown – Zoro couldn't wait to learn everything new about him that he'd missed out on during these last two years. To appreciate him in ways Sanji had wanted back then, but Zoro couldn't do because he was so stunted.

"It took me awhile, but…I'm back," he said, dropping his arms from his yukuta, stopping just feet away from the silent Sanji. "It's good to see everyone again."

Sanji said nothing, his single eye coursing over Zoro, lingering on visible new scars. Ussop looked from one to another with a worried expression, then finally said, "Luffy was angry, Sanji. He spoke his mind."

"I…I'm aware that what I did was wrong," Zoro said hastily. "I…I upset you guys. Yeah, I get that – I just – I had to do this. I didn't feel right…"

He trailed off as Sanji turned and walked off without saying anything. Ussop winced, fiddling with the ends of his ponytail. "Sorry, Zoro, but…but he's pretty upset."

"Yeah, I get that," Zoro said with a regretful sigh, not looking away from the direction Sanji had taken. "I upset everybody."

"He was really hurt," Ussop added. "We all were."

"Yeah…yeah, I know. I can make it right."

"Well, um…why don't I show you around? Chopper will be happy to see you. We moved, see. Sanji – Sanji has his own place, now, and we, us guys, we're near the campus. We're rooming with this new guy, wait'll you meet him! You'll like him!"

"I'd like to stick around to talk to Sanji, Ussop. This is important."

"Trust me, Zoro, bro – you'll want to come with me. I have a feeling Sanji isn't going to open up to you, anytime soon. At least come stay with us for awhile, until you, uh, find a place, or something."

Zoro frowned, looking off in the direction Sanji had taken. Then he nodded at Ussop, who looked relieved to leave the place.

: :

It was a wide, beautiful apartment. The complex was full of college age kids, and the grounds were spacious and well taken care of. Theirs was located on the ground floor nearest the sea, and Zoro admired the view while Ussop fumbled for his keys. Walking in, Zoro was assaulted by the smells of old food, weed, and stale air freshener. To the right was a cluttered kitchen – to the left a closet stuffed with shoes, skateboards, backpacks – straight ahead was a wide open room with a broken picnic table, a couple of battered couches, a tv that took up an entire wall.

Chopper himself was standing in the doorway of his room with a full backpack positioned against his shoulders, and once he saw them, his mouth fell open. His eyes bulged as he took in Zoro's appearance, fur bristling. Zoro looked at him with affection, but the tiny deer backed up into his room and slammed the door shut.

"I hate you, Zoro!" came the indignant scream.

"Wow, I fucked up everybody's lives," Zoro said flatly.

With a nervous shuffle of his feet, Ussop agreed. "Yeah, that's what I was trying to tell you."

Zoro gave a firm nod. "I know what I have to do. I hope that one day I'll be able to show you all that this was necessary."

"I wish I could see your side, Zoro, I really do, but – it really brought us down when you never came back," Ussop said. "Want a beer?"

"No. No…I'm good. It was hard to find grog out there – I ended up not drinking so much. I liked the feeling."

Ussop looked at him with utter surprise and shock. "Really? Wow, you look good, Zoro, all fit and healthy!"

"It was your heart that rotted out of that well muscled body of yours!" they heard Chopper shout. "You lacked a brain in the first place – that's why you left! You didn't think – your heart went with it! That's why you never told us anything!"

Zoro cleared his throat, then ventured to the closed door. "I'm sorry, Chopper. I really am."

"Not sorry enough, you dildo!"

"I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'm a changed man."

"You're a stupid man! I hate you!"

Amid the muffled sobs he could hear on the other side of the door, he became aware of another voice coming from the other side of the apartment. He looked over in time to see a tall skeleton emerging from the back room, rubbing one side of its face. His unicorn pjs clashed with a bright red silk robe, its black, curly hair piled atop of its skull and held together with a yellow ribbon.

"Brook, this is my old buddy, Zoro!" Ussop said, gesturing at him. "He came back, today!"

"I heard bunches about you, guy!" Brook said, leaving his room immediately. "All the bad stuff, in detail! I was kind of hoping I'd meet the bad guy in person, someday!"

"Well – "

"You don't seem like the monster they described! Ussop isn't afraid of you!"

"I upset them all."

"Well, that's kinda what happens when you leave behind a grocery list, break the heart of the only guy that loved you, and leave behind impressionable kids that only depended on you for all the male role modeling they could ever have," Brook said cheerfully, extending a hand. Zoro took it with some hesitation. After a brief shake, Brook clapped his hands together. "I heard all about your antics! How you wore their clothes, paraded around naked, fought off demon-hand Gin – "

"I'm, uh, I'm a changed man. I left to fix all that."

"You can fix the outside, okay? But the inside will never be the same," Brook said, stalking off to the kitchen. "Ho ho ho! Have you talked to Sanji, yet? I bet that must've been some scene! How many buildings did you guys destroy with your reunion?"

"Well, uh…he said nothing to me. He…he didn't say anything at all," Zoro confessed, frowning after him.

Brook stilled. Then his head rotated to look at him while his body continued to face the cupboards. "Nothing? No…no foul curses, no…no words of anger? No hate?"

"Nada," Ussop answered. "He just stared at him. And left."

"Ooh, ouch," Brook seemed to wince, shoulders cringing.

"You broke his heart and soul, asshole!" Chopper shouted from inside of his room. "You're not a real man, and you never will be! You're just a child in a man's body! Sanji was right about you, asshat! You're just a fool that will never grow up!"

"I deserve that," Zoro admitted, rubbing at his hairline. "I pretty much deserve all that. But – "

"Was he…was he alone?" Brook then asked Ussop.

Ussop paled, looking at Zoro once more. Zoro looked at him with a question. "Yes. Yes, it was…he was there by himself."

"I'm not bothered. I shouldn't be. I have no right to be bothered if he's got a bed buddy by now," Zoro said, crossing his arms tightly. "But now that I'm back, I assure you, it's going to change."

Brook and Ussop coughed hard, then found their attention diverted to different directions. Chopper darted out of his room, wiping his eyes with one arm before pointing at him with the other.

"You have no right to come in and wreck his happiness, Zoro!" he shouted. "You can't just change things again! You have no say in our happiness, now!"

"I'm just saying, Chopper, he's allowed to have a boyfriend or two. But now that I'm here, it's pretty much decided that I'm going to be the only one he ends up with."

Brook and Ussop's mouth fell open while Chopper stared up at him with indignant action. Zoro settled his back against the wall, saying, "I left to make myself a better person for him. He was the only thing that motivated me to experience everything that I had, to come back and give to him in a way I couldn't back then. I was stupid and rejected everything because I wasn't ready – now I am. I've decided that this was what I wanted. He's what I want."

"As romantic as that sounds, Zoro, I don't think – " Ussop started.

"Listen here, Ussop, Chopper, and – you. I'm a changed man! I'm no longer in denial about myself or my feelings! I put myself through shit to kill that foolishness that had me running away from his affection! I killed the child to became a man! A Real Man!"

"Well, Zoro, be reasonable – " Brook tried to say.

"Now that I'm back, he'll see that I'm all this because of him. Because he motivated me to be this," Zoro continued, pushing away from the wall to walk around them. "I'm aware that I tipped the full toilet over, and have a righteous mess to clean up – "

"So eloquently put!" Chopper spat.

" – I will clean it up! Because I love that man more than I love myself!" Zoro finished grandly. "Yes, that's right! I love him. Every night I missed the sound of his snores, every morning I missed elbowing him out of the tiny bathroom I shared with him, interrupting his beauty routine – I actually missed the smell of the rotten death pit that is his breath in the mornings! None of you understand that in order to be a better man for him, I had to kill what was a part of me to be able to see all that!"

"You didn't have to kill us in the process!" Chopper shouted.

"Well…to be honest, I never realized that I would," Zoro confessed, frowning down at his geta. "And I'm truly sorry for that."

"You didn't think your actions would hurt anybody?" Brook asked. "You must be the slow kind of stupid, and not the actual, intentional kind of stupid."

Zoro scowled.

"Oh, he's stupid, alright!" Chopper said, emerging from his room once more. His eyes were dripping with tears. "You left us! You left us, you left Sanji – and now you think you can ruin his life again by thinking you're the only one for him!"

"Chopper – "

"Don't even talk to me, asshole! I'm going to school! Despite me being a deer, I'll be a better man than you'll ever be!" Chopper cried as he raced for the front door. After he left, slamming the door behind him, Zoro exhaled heavily.

"I've got a lot of work to do," he said. He reached into the folds of his belt and withdrew a couple of gold bars, causing Brook and Ussop to gasp. "I need a place to exchange this, first. I'm thinking I'm going to need a place of my own."

"Where did you get that?" Brook cried. "And you're just wearing it? That's a whole year's worth of rent right there!"

"I have an entire backpack full with it. I left it in a locker at the train station," Zoro said.

"You left a backpack full of gold in a locker at the train station? Zoro!"

"I won it all. I wasn't sure how much it was worth."

"How did you get it?" Ussop asked, plucking it out of his hand so both he and Brook could marvel over it. The bar shone brilliantly in his hand, suggesting that it wasn't just of gold.

"I won it off this guy in a bet. It was no big deal."

Ussop gave him a skeptical look. "But how much of the island did you destroy 'winning' that bet?"

"Two of them. He was a little stubborn. It doesn't matter, what matters is I have a lot of work to do, Ussop. In order to make things right again, I need a place to stay. And shower," Zoro added, sniffing himself.

"I've got the day off, I'll help," Brook said. "I wanna hear more about you, Zoro!"

"I've got to get back to school," Ussop said, giving the gold bar back to him. "I'll see what I can do with changing the guys' moods around so that we can at least talk."

"Don't worry about it, Ussop. That's my job. I made this mess, I'll clean it up." Zoro then reached out and ruffled Ussop's hair with affection. "Thanks, buddy. I'll make it up to you, too."

"It's good to have you back, Zoro!" Ussop said, eyes shining. "And good luck to you!"

After he left, Brook let down his hair, patting it idly. "Well, I'm going to freshen up. If you're hungry, the kitchen is open! In fact, Sanji left a bunch of meals you can preheat in the fridge."

"Thanks."

Brooke walked back to his room, sloping his head downward just to do so. Zoro looked away from him, crossing his arms over his chest, and frowned at the kitchen. He had a lot of work to do.