Chapter 2
When Zoro blinked his eyes open the morning after the concert he groaned and had to burrow his face into the pillow as a pounding headache threatened to split his forehead open.
He didn't have the strength nor the willpower to check the time, but he had a few certainties: he couldn't hear Luffy moaning about how much he wanted to skip school, so he was certain that Luffy wasn't home; he couldn't hear Ace playing the damn Game Of Thrones opening theme on his guitar, as he did almost every morning just to piss the whole house off, so he was certain that Ace had gone to work already. Now, these two certainties lead to the scariest one: Zoro was late for work, yet he was too hungover to hurry the hell up and get out of bed.
The funny thing is that Zoro had a very high alcohol tolerance, which made it nearly impossible for him to get pissed drunk, so the night before he had either emptied his whole wallet just to get wasted, or he and Nami had probably started a drinking contest that had resulted in loads of free drinks, since usually even the bartender wanted to see how far they could go – thing that had happened way too frequently. He definitely hoped in the second option since he didn't want to be broke because of booze.
Zoro rolled on his back and carefully opened his eyes again to stare at the dark ceiling as he tried to dig into his memories from the night before. He did have some small and vivid ones, like Franky being three sheets to the wind, taking off his pants and standing on a table only in his speedo as everyone yelled at him that the 80s were over and he sure as fucking hell wasn't Tommy Lee. He remembered Bartolomeo leaning into his personal space and making him so uncomfortable that Ace and Luffy had to physically hold him back from punching the guy's teeth in. He remembered Nami disappearing into the toilets with that cute girl with blue hair and– Ah that was it! That's what had reminded him way too much of Sanji sauntering off with Lucci, that's what had triggered his exaggerated drinking! And then she had come back to their table with that smug grin on her face and had challenged Zoro to a drinking contest.
"Son of a bitch..." Zoro rubbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist and hoped to God that the house was really completely empty, but then he remembered it was still only Wednesday. Fuck, they needed to stop playing gigs during the week.
The door of his bedroom creaked open and the light from outside filtered in, blinding and painful to Zoro's sore eyes, making him groan and press the spare pillow into his face.
"You're late," a deep, hoarse voice came from the threshold and Zoro knew it could only belong to his adoptive father. The grim one.
"Fuck off," Zoro muttered into the pillow and curled on himself. He heard a sigh and the stomping of boots, then the pillow was ripped off his grip, making him groan again.
"Just get up, you bull."
Two fingers tugged softly on Zoro's septum piercing, making him raise his head from the bed to glare up at the stoic figure towering over him.
"Are you hungover?"
"No, I'm peaches." Zoro muttered as he finally found the strength to sit up and swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He yawned, scratched the back of his head and then tried to idly tame the few bangs that were sticking up into different directions.
"Shanks heard you and the guys coming back at four in the morning, stumbling and muffling your laughter."
"Listen," Zoro began as he scrubbed both hands over his face, then looked up at the piercing yellowish eyes looking back at him "I'm sorry we made Luffy drink, we won't do it again on a school night."
With a sharp eyebrow quirked up and burgundy silk clad arms folded against his broad chest, Mihawk tilted his head, his expression not changing much from his usual frown "You better."
Zoro furrowed his brows when Mihawk didn't budge, he thought he would have left the room right after scolding him but when he acted like that there was always something more, something he wanted to say but he obviously couldn't. He wasn't really worried about Luffy, the kid was probably just an excuse, so Zoro sucked in a deep breath and nodded "I'm fine."
A crease formed between Mihawk's eyebrows and he looked like he had just been informed that the earth wasn't round "I know?"
Zoro failed to bite back a tiny smirk "Good."
Finally Mihawk made his dramatic exit, so theatrical that had he been wearing a cape Zoro would have probably heard it swoosh on his way out.
–
Zoro showered and dressed as quickly as he could, hoping to God that he finally had the house only to himself once he'd left the bathroom. He rushed downstairs, nearly missing a step and flying face first on the marble, his head was still torturing him so he was planning on popping a couple aspirins on the way out, but he wasn't as alone as he thought.
"Well, good morning!" the red haired man standing by the counter smiled at him from over his coffee mug.
"Hey Shanks," Zoro cursed mentally and dropped his sports bag on the floor only to search the drugs drawer.
"The pills you're looking for are right next to your bowl of cereals and anti-hangover shake," Shanks sipped his coffee with such a proud look on his face.
Zoro knew that Shanks loved being a father, acting protective and cool, always looking out for his kids, even Zoro who was his stepson, but sometimes he was just too much, especially when he radiated vitality and happiness at 9:40 in the morning and Zoro just wanted to dig his own grave.
Zoro glared down at the empty bowl, the milk jug, the bag of cereals, and a glass filled with a nasty looking substance. He picked up both aspirins and bravely decided to swallow them down dry.
"You dumbass, you're gonna suffocate! Drink something at least!" Shanks chastised him with a frown and a huff.
"You know I prefer tea, and like hell I'm drinking your hangover remedy shit! It tastes like ass!" Zoro growled as he shouldered his bag, ready to leave.
"It'll help you!" Shanks insisted "Besides it does not taste like ass, it's quite nice!" he continued with a more hushed tone.
Zoro shrugged "It's nice to people who like eating ass."
"Zoro!" Shanks cried out as the young man made his way out of the kitchen, then Zoro heard him speak again once he'd opened the front door "You'd definitely like it then!"
Zoro widened his eyes at first, then shook his head and left the house sniggering under his breath.
–
Even though the band's goal was to make music for a living, until the day in which they'd get a contract they all had to either go to college (like Nami, Luffy and Usopp) or work, using a few spare hours in the evening or night to practice and perform live.
Zoro had two jobs, a morning part-time one as a personal trainer in a gym and in the afternoon he worked as a kendo instructor at Mihawk's dojo.
That morning Zoro was supposed to train one of his most annoying customers during the first two hours of work, and he really hoped he wouldn't give him too much grief for being horribly late.
When he arrived at the gym Conis the receptionist gave him a worried look as he threw his badge at her to check in.
"Are you alright? You look awful, are you sick?" she asked with her eyebrows drawn in concern while she checked him in for the morning and returned him the badge.
Zoro was staring at her with furrowed brows all the while "I'm perfectly fine. I just woke up late, that's all!" he shrugged as he pinned his badge to his previously worn uniform.
Conis nodded in understanding even if Zoro could tell she hadn't completely bought it, still he had no time for chatting so he rushed to the lockers. He quickly changed his shoes and turned the septum piercing upside down inside his nose to hide it. Once he'd reached the workout area he found his customer already lifting a few pounds on his own.
Zoro sucked in a deep breath and stepped over to the bench "Hey, Paulie. Sorry I'm late, I just–" he was kind of glad that he didn't have to go through with his excuses, because Paulie dropped the barbell and sat up all of a sudden.
"I had to keep myself busy or else I would have exploded!" Paulie barked and Zoro saw a few heads turn into their direction.
"Shh, keep your voice down!" Zoro raised his hands in order to hush the flushing man sitting in front of him.
"All those girls! Look at them!" Paulie went on, gesturing wildly around the room "Why do they have to dress like this? They're so provocative! They should cover up!"
Zoro rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his broad, toned chest then jerked his head towards the couple young ladies running on the treadmill "Women are allowed to dress how they please, and they're only working out so–" he briefly pointed to the leg press "gimme three sets of thirty, same weight as usual."
Paulie looked outraged for a few moments as he stared at Zoro with his mouth slightly hanging, then turned an even brighter shade of red and spun around to reach the leg press, leaving Zoro to mutter under his breath.
–
Zoro's lunch-break arrived earlier than he realized, that's why Conis had to walk up to him and let him know that his friend had arrived with his food while Zoro was advising a girl on her weight training. Zoro excused himself and followed Conis to the reception where he found Sanji sitting on top of the desk with a shit eating grin on his face and a box in his lap.
"Are you all sweaty and stinky, shitty Marimo?" Sanji asked as he chewed on a piece of gum, then looked at Conis "I always smell good." he winked at her.
Zoro rolled his eyes as he watched them giggle together, then slapped Sanji's knee "Get off the desk, idiot."
Sanji glared at him "No need to get scrappy," he grunted as he held the box and slid off the desk.
Zoro slipped on his hoodie and began to walk outside, hearing Sanji spill some cheesy nonsense to Conis as he followed him outside to their usual bench in the small gym courtyard.
"You went drinking last night?" Sanji asked as he spat out the gum and lit himself a cigarette.
"Yeah," Zoro shrugged as he opened the box with the food Sanji had prepared for him.
It was their special little ritual: since the gym was only a block away from the restaurant Sanji worked at, they'd spend their break together and Sanji would bring Zoro freshly made food.
"Sabaody?" Sanji kept asking.
"Nah," Zoro shook his head and stabbed a few macaroni with his fork "that place near Franky's shop," he said casually as he stuffed his mouth full.
"Ah, yeah. I fucked one of the bartenders there... That guy... What's his name..."
Zoro choked on his food and it threatened to shoot out of his nose, so Sanji promptly patted him on the back.
"What the fuck are you doing? You can't even eat now?" Sanji huffed as he kept his hand between Zoro's shoulder blades.
Zoro coughed and tried to clear his throat as much as he could and managed to croak out a "Fuck off!"
Sanji rolled his eyes "Well, try not to inhale your food again," he chastised Zoro, then took a deep drag of tobacco. "It's been a while since the last time I got drunk," Sanji sighed as he stared off into the distance and chewed distractedly on his thumbnail.
Zoro snorted "Not really, you got wasted three nights ago and you kept saying you were afraid of going home because your old man could have killed you." he watched as Sanji's head snapped back in his direction.
"Well, that's still a while," Sanji shrugged, taking another puff "Next time you go drinking I'll tag along."
Zoro nodded as he chewed his food, not really answering. It really didn't make a difference if Sanji went out drinking with him and the rest of the guys or not, because the outcome would always be the same – Sanji would constantly find some arguably attractive guy who he hasn't fucked yet and he'd end his night at the person's place. Sometimes the guy would tell him that he could only have a quicky in the toilet or the backseat of his car, so in that case Sanji would come back to his friends reeking of sex and making Zoro's stomach twist uncomfortably more than usual.
"So last night I finally saw Lucci's house, he really is as rich as they say," Sanji started with a smug smirk as he lit up another cigarette.
Zoro still wondered how a chain smoker like Sanji could still sing the way he did.
"And he really does fuck like an animal!" Sanji wriggled his only visible eyebrow and sniggered.
Zoro pulled a face "I don't give a shit about how he fucks!"
Sanji raised his eyebrows "No but really, he had me pinned against this huge french door," he explained as he gestured for something larger than a normal window "I was completely naked, facing the street and he just–" he placed his hands at the same height as his hips and began to thrust them with his lower lip tucked between his teeth.
Zoro groaned and threw the empty box at him "Stop being gross and just piss off back to work!"
Sanji dodged the box just in time, then shot Zoro a deadly glare "Don't you dare ruining my work clothes."
"Ruined or not they suck anyway." Zoro shrugged as he rose from the bench.
"Fuck you! I cannot wear leather and studs at work!" Sanji chewed immediately (out of habit) on his lip in the exact same spot where his labret piercing usually was. He wasn't allowed to wear any piercings at the restaurant and needed to keep his roughly shoulder length hair in a ridiculous bun.
Zoro smirked "Do you have to take off the tongue one too?"
Sanji stuck out his tongue at him, revealing that he was still wearing that one at least "How could I? This thing drives guys insane!" he grinned and Zoro rolled his eyes "What about you?"
Zoro showed him his pierced tongue and a pleased expression painted Sanji's features. They had got matching tongue piercings when they were sixteen because they wanted to be absolutely badass, and had regretted the couple of weeks of eating only cold and soft food.
"Too bad you don't pleasure anyone with that, it's gonna go rusty. Like your dick!" Sanji clicked his tongue and Zoro kicked him in the shin "Ow! You fucker!" he pulled a face and returned the kick that Zoro had been definitely lucky to dodge.
"Go back to work. I gotta go too." Zoro stuffed his hands inside his pockets and walked backwards towards the door of the gym.
"You're an asshole!" Sanji growled as he got off the bench and picked up the empty box from the ground.
"Right back at you!" Zoro turned around and entered the gym, raising a hand in goodbye as he prepared himself for another hour at the gym before going to the dojo.
He could still hear Sanji's poorly muffled insults, but he chose to ignore them, and he had just got back to the workout area when his phone buzzed with a text.
'dont forget practice tonight, you shitty marimo head'
Zoro smirked down at Sanji's text and quickly replied:
'im not as dumb as you, shitty cook'
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and politely greeted the girl who was approaching him for the next training session.
–
From the moment in which Murder Of Crows had made it into the underground scene of their city the band had started practicing every day (when possible) in Franky's garage.
Franky himself had turned the garage into a proper soundproof room and equipped it with everything the band needed: amplifiers, microphones, mic stands, spare instruments, a Mac they could use to edit their recorded tracks, and a fridge always stocked with beer, water and sodas. It was their little piece of heaven and it made them feel like they were already famous.
When they all arrived at Franky's he had got pizza for everyone and Sanji was already complaining about seeing it in reverse if he dared eating and then singing, but no one was really listening to him as they shoved pizza slices into their mouths like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow.
"You guys are pigs," Sanji rolled his eyes as he took a drag of tobacco.
Zoro, who was sitting right next to Sanji, had to wave off the smoke that had been blown pretty much all over his face "You don't eat 'cause you've gotta sing, yet you sit here smoking like a fucking chimney." he grunted as he took a bite from off his slice.
Sanji cocked an eyebrow, carelessly flicking ashes all over the floor "Do you have a problem with my smoking?" he asked in a challenging tone.
"As usual." Zoro replied without looking at him.
"Better throwing up pizza than one of your rotten lungs," Luffy suddenly cut in with his mouth full of food, making everyone cry out in disgust.
"You're fucking gross!" Nami groaned as she slapped Luffy on the back of the head.
"My lungs are far from being rotten, thank you very much!" Sanji barked as he nonchalantly threw a leg over Zoro's lap.
"Yeah right, and I'm the queen of England." Zoro muttered as he looked down at Sanji's leg. He never knew whether he should complain about how often Sanji deliberately forgot about the existence of personal space when they were one next to the other or not.
Everyone snorted or sniggered and Sanji moved his hand towards Zoro's forehead to tug on a strand of wet, green hair "The queen of England would never dye his hair green, and she would definitely dry her hair before going out."
Zoro slapped Sanji's hand away "Well sorry dad, I was in a hurry."
"When you two doves are done cooing," Nami started, shooting Zoro and Sanji a glare "I'd really like to know where the hell is Brook. How come he isn't here? He was supposed to play the violin with us, tonight!" she asked as she cleaned her hands with a tissue.
Zoro just sighed and pushed Sanji's leg off his lap to stand up and get a can of beer that he perfectly knew Sanji would have sipped on, then returned to his seat to drink in silence.
"He's stuck working at home, he's preparing an exam for his conservatory students or something." Franky nodded as he finished off his can of coke.
"Wouldn't wanna be his student, man." Ace commented with his eyebrows raised.
"He loves to scare them so much, I wouldn't wanna sign up for that either." Usopp added as he took a bite off his third slice of pizza.
"Can we start practicing, already?" Sanji whined as he snatched Zoro's beer, spilling lager all over him.
"Shithead! Couldn't you just wait for me to actually swallow?" Zoro snarled as he looked down at the wet patch on the front of his shirt and on his lap.
"'Course not," Sanji hummed into the can. Zoro was ready to punch him right there and then, but someone always had the decency to stop them from jumping at each other's throat.
"Alright! Don't start fighting or I'll have to kill both of you!" Nami growled as she stood up and tied her hair back into a ponytail "Let's do this," she nodded and took place behind the double keyboard.
Most of the times it looked like Nami was the true leader of that bunch of scalawags.
Zoro glared at Sanji one last time receiving another deadly glare in return, then stood up to sit at the drum kit. Had they been alone Zoro was sure that it would have ended in bruises and blood, but they were all there to practice and so it wasn't time to throw punches and kicks.
Everyone got to their positions, while Franky and Usopp got comfortable in their seats to enjoy the show once again, never really able to get tired of the talent of their friends.
They had decided to add a few covers of their favorite songs to update and change their set list a bit while they worked on writing and composing new original songs, so the song they had practiced the most during the evening was Nightwish's Storytime. Sanji and Nami had come up with a nice vocal arrangement that fit Sanji's voice range perfectly, while Nami's backup vocals reminded a bit more of Anette Olzon, and Zoro and Ace had worked on adjusting the music to their needs.
"Are you gonna wear a skirt and a corset to sing this one?" Ace teased as Sanji was scribbling on his lyrics sheet.
"You never know, I'm always full of surprises," Sanji shrugged, not lifting his eyes from his paper as he spoke.
Zoro did his best not to let out any strangled sound but his cheekbones had definitely pinked up, because Ace was staring at him like he was about to burst out laughing. The last thing Zoro needed as a distraction was Sanji cross-dressing, damn him and that other bastard of a step-brother he had.
"Are we gonna go drinking?" Luffy asked with a grin that threatened to split his face in two.
"Why are you so eager to become an alcoholic just like your moss-brain brother?" Sanji asked as he put his things into his messenger bag with methodical precision.
"I'm not an alcoholic, you bastard!" Zoro snarled as he threw his drumsticks into his bag.
"That's right, you're a saint." Sanji smirked as he shouldered his bag on, ignoring Zoro's glare.
"So are we going or not?" Luffy whined, pouting as he realized that no one was paying much attention to him.
"I'm going to Vivi's, so count me out." Nami announced casually as she untied her hair and combed her long fingers through it.
Zoro frowned over to her, but before he had a chance to open his mouth Sanji was already speaking.
"Who the fuck is Vivi?"
"She's the girl you hooked up with last night, isn't she?" Franky smirked knowingly at the girl, but Nami shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Yeah, it's her."
Right, the blue haired girl from the bar, the one she dragged into the toilet, Zoro knew he couldn't remember her name. That was a first though, to see Nami seemingly interested in someone so much to see them a second time.
Zoro couldn't help but look over to Sanji who looked somewhat shocked by the news. There was no denying that Sanji preferred men over women, but Nami had been the last of Sanji's girl crushes, and maybe he didn't know how to deal with that. But really, in the end Zoro had pretty much no idea about what was really going on in Sanji's mind most of the time.
"She's still gonna pay to see us live." Sanji warned as he lit up a cigarette.
Nami scowled at him "What are you implying?"
"Just 'cause you two are fucking it doesn't mean that she can watch us perform for free." Sanji rolled his eyes as if he found it extremely irritating that he had to explain himself.
Zoro was glad that since the second year of high school Sanji had stopped screaming, drooling, jumping and all in all embarrassing himself in front of girls, but what he had just said was just too much, too unlike him and Zoro was pretty sure he wasn't the only one confused there.
"Of course she's gonna pay her ticket! We're not married, you idiot!" Nami looked ready to kick Sanji's ass, but all she did was shrug on her coat and leave without a word.
"What... What just happened here?" Usopp blinked, clearly not believing what he had just witnessed.
"She just... Left?" Luffy cut in with the same bewildered expression.
"Without punching his face in?" Franky finished their list of questions.
"Can we fucking go?" Sanji groaned as he put out his cigarette on the floor with the heel of his boot.
"Are you done dropping cigarettes all over my garage?!" Franky yelled all of a sudden.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Sanji cried out in exasperation as he left the garage, too.
Everyone was left behind frozen, unable to speak again or move outside, and Zoro definitely didn't need Ace's eloquent look to know that he had to speak to Sanji. It wasn't the exact moment to do it though, it was better to let Sanji cool down a bit before trying to put some sense into his stupid skull.
The car ride was far from quiet, since there was just no way to make Luffy, Usopp and Franky shut up, not even when it was more than needed, but maybe it was better off that way, too much silence would have ticked Sanji off even more.
Zoro was sat right next to the blond and his leg was pressed flush against Sanji's in the limited space of Franky's backseat, which was rare since Sanji loved to get at least a limb over Zoro. Sanji's brow was pressed against the window and Zoro couldn't tell if he had his eyes open or not.
That was weird. Well actually everything Sanji had been doing the past few minutes had been odd and Zoro wasn't exactly sure why, though one thing he was sure of... There was going to be more room in Franky's car on the ride home.
When they arrived to Sabaody, Franky, Usopp, Luffy and Ace launched themselves at the counter, showering Shakky in greetings and compliments before ordering a drink. Sanji was just about to go over there himself but Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him backwards.
"What do you want, bastard?" Sanji growled through gritted teeth, looking back at Zoro from over his shoulder.
"We need to talk," Zoro began, his voice was low but firm.
"We don't," Sanji bat Zoro's hand off his shoulder, but Zoro promptly grabbed his wrist instead "leave me the fuck alone!" Sanji tried to wriggle away but he couldn't.
"You've acted like a dick with Nami," Zoro cocked his head slightly "that's not you. Why did you do that?"
Sanji's eyes widened and his cheeks suddenly flushed red "That's none of your damn business!"
Zoro raised an eyebrow "It actually is, yes. Especially when it concerns my friends and it could affect the band."
When the word band was uttered Sanji visibly stiffened and his gaze dropped to the floor. That's when Zoro knew that he could let go of his wrist without having to run after him through the entire club.
"Listen, I know you're too fucking stubborn to tell me why you treated her like shit, but you gotta apologize to her, Sanji." Zoro folded his arms over his chest, adamant.
He wanted to know what had gotten into Sanji more than anything else, but he knew his pride, he knew how he didn't like to talk feelings (about as much as Zoro didn't like to get sentimental, no matter what) and he wasn't going to tear a confession from him, but the last thing he wanted was to lose Nami because of his stupid, childish behavior.
Sanji was still staring at the floor, clearly unable to hold Zoro's gaze and ashamed for what he'd done. Sanji used to be different from how he was nowadays and Zoro kind of missed it. If Sanji were to lose his respect and adoration for women, then what else would happen? Maybe he'd stop pestering everyone while trying to get them to eat healthy? Stop cooking... Stop singing? No, Zoro wasn't going to allow that.
"Oi, are you listening to me?" Zoro chucked him under the chin, his fingers grazing Sanji's goatee in the process.
"I am listening, you moron!" Sanji snapped as he finally glared up at Zoro.
"You gonna apologize?" Zoro repeated. He needed to be sure.
"Yeah, yeah..." Sanji muttered as he stared off at nothing in particular, just to avoid looking at Zoro again.
"Call her. Now."
Sanji looked up at Zoro like he was the most stupid person he'd ever met (even though he thought that very often) "Right, while she's banging her girl!" he shook his head and fumbled with his pocket to pull out a cigarette and his lighter.
Zoro threw his head back "Just do it, for fuck's sake!" he groaned exasperated.
"Climb out of my ass, Marimo!" Sanji nearly yelled in return, and Zoro was sure that he was just going to cover him in insults and walk away "I'll do it!"
"Why can't y–!" Zoro stopped mid-sentence as he processed what he'd just heard "Wait, you will?" he furrowed his brows, puzzled.
Sanji rolled his eyes and pulled out his cellphone "Yeah, but not 'cause you asked," he muttered as he searched for Nami's number through his contact list.
Zoro blinked "'Course not..." he licked his chapped lips, watching as Sanji brought the phone to his ear and waited.
"Hey, Nami... Hi," Sanji looked briefly at Zoro, then down at his boots "no, no! Don't hang up, please! I just... Wanted to..." he lowered his voice and turned his back on Zoro, walking somewhere more private to finish his conversation.
Zoro let out a relieved sigh as he followed Sanji with his gaze, seeing him flailing his free hand as he spoke a bit more animatedly. Well at least he could still speak some sense into that blond head of his, that was something.
Zoro walked up to the counter and ordered plain vodka just to start out the night, losing sight of Sanji on purpose and trying to keep himself busy speaking to his friends until everyone decided to hit the dance floor. It was then that Zoro saw Sanji again all smiles and flirtatious attitude as he ground against a random dude. Zoro had the sudden impulse to crash the glass he was holding in his hand, but a familiar voice made him snap out of his thoughts.
"He has quite the effect on men, eh?"
Zoro turned to see an old man laugh beside him. It was Rayleigh, the owner of the club, he wasn't always around but he really liked Zoro and the others, so he often spoke to them.
"Yeah," Zoro grunted and decided it was best to just set the glass on the counter "he's become some sort of a men's magnet ever since high school," he shrugged as if it didn't matter as much as it actually did.
"Well you must be the manliest of them all, then."
Zoro quirked up an eyebrow, quizzically.
"You're the one he has the greatest effect on!" Rayleigh patted Zoro's shoulder and sneaked off.
"For fuck's sake!" Zoro groaned and facepalmed so hard that he probably left a mark on his own face.
To Be Continued...