Sanji can't really say what it was he expected when he finally nailed singing with the emotions that Zoro intended, but he certainly expected Zoro to react in some way. As it is the damn green headed fucker hasn't said a word the entire way up to the kitchen and despite Nami's wonderful praise Sanji finds himself irked.
It's not even like Zoro's said anything bad either, not a word has crossed the fucker's lips.
Nothing. Nada.
To his shame when he comes in the kitchen he's so agitated by Zoro that it takes him a few seconds to notice the gorgeous lady in the kitchen who he's never met before. She's got china pale skin, gorgeous blonde hair and the most chocolate eyes that Sanji could just melt in. She lights up when she sees him, her beautiful mouth pulling into a pleased smile that just freezes Sanji to the spot as if the very heavens had opened and transfixed him.
"Oh! You must be the new singer, Sanji isn't it?" She exclaims, looking at him.
"Yes, Sanji, Kaya. Kaya, Sanji." Nami says, introducing them.
"Very pleased to meet you." Sanji blurts out, stepping forward to her.
"Usopp's told me so much about you, he says you're very good." Kaya smiles angelically at him.
"He… has?" Sanji blinks in confusion, looking at the keyboardist sitting next this angelic creature, he apparently is currently too busy reading something to even pay attention to the conversation at all.
"Kaya is Usopp's fiancée." Nami explains with a smile.
Oh yeah, Franky mentioned something like that when he first came here. But to be honest it'd fallen completely out of his head until now. Usopp is engaged. He looks at Kaya and her radiant beauty and then at Usopp. Despite his best intentions and nicest feelings towards the other musician Sanji can't help but have a moment of thinking 'really?' because as nice as Usopp is he's a little goofy looking and Kaya is drop dead gorgeous. Still, that's not his business and all the better for Usopp for actually managing to get such a beauty into his life.
"Then it's definitely lovely to meet you, have you eaten already? Can I get you breakfast?" He offers quickly with a smile.
"Oh, well, that would be wonderful, thank you!" she smiles at him.
"So when is the wedding?" Sanji asks curiously, moving past the counters and slipping an apron on. Zoro is leaning against the edge of a cabinet glued to his phone with a scowl on, but evidently he has been paying some attention as it's him who answers instead of Usopp or Kaya.
"Two weeks exactly." Zoro says flatly, shoving his phone back into his pocket.
"Zoro is the best man, he's taking it very seriously." Kaya mock whispers with a teasing smile on her face.
"There, that's the flower guy's receipt sent to you, he sent it through to me after I fixed his fuck up." Zoro shouts across to Usopp.
"Thanks." The long nosed guy sighs in relief and crosses something off of the sheet of paper that he's reading from.
"That's pretty soon, are you nervous?" Sanji asks with a smile.
"Of course not!" Kaya giggles gorgeously, Usopp on the other hand seems to turn a few shades paler and makes an anxious squeaking in the back of his throat.
"You worry too much." Kaya adds, clucking her tongue and flicking Usopp's nose.
Sanji starts throwing a wide assortment of breakfast together for everyone whilst Zoro studious ignores that he's even alive, but he's not harassing him or openly mocking him so you know, whatever. Perhaps with enough time Zoro will even warm to him. Maybe this is a step into breaking through Zoro's complete bastard shell.
"Zoro, the dresses…" Usopp asks in his highly strung voice.
"Nami and Robin's are coming tomorrow, calm down, it'll be fine." Zoro says soothingly.
"But the chairs-" Usopp panics again.
"Dealing with it, Usopp. They're fixing it." Zoro cuts him off.
"But- but-" The keyboardist panics.
Zoro huffs and rounds the counter to go to Usopp, Sanji watches him out of the corner of his eye with extreme interest. Zoro ruffles his hand through Usopp's hair and falls into the chair next to him.
"Seriously, calm down. I'd sooner burn my guitars than let anything ruin your big day, so chill out." Zoro snorts.
"Yeah… yeah okay. Thanks man." Usopp mumbles and leans his head onto Zoro's shoulder. Zoro just chuckles to himself, deep and low and throws his arm around Usopp's side, warm and familiar.
Sanji only just manages to avoid burning the eggs. Sure, he's heard of Zoro being nice but he's never seen it. Zoro's been a moody bitch the whole time he's been here but now he's all buddy buddy with Usopp? Sure Usopp had said about it but Sanji had assumed that he was exaggerating or something. He'd thought Zoro's niceness was like unicorns or free elections in third world countries – something that people talked about but didn't actually exist. But here Zoro was being all sweet and shit.
Holy balls.
Zoro and Usopp are still talking and Zoro is even being sweet to Kaya, apparently when Zoro wants to he can be a total ball of tooth-rotting sweetness. Sanji is about having an aneurism over this knowledge. So it really is just him that turns Zoro from this into the dick he's been of late.
A snarl of offence lashes through his system at that thought. He's been nothing but nice to Zoro since- okay, well that wasn't true. He's been mostly cordial or even pleasant to the other man, he doesn't deserve this disparity of treatment! It's not fair!
"Chopper, you need to mix Sanji's vocals, I want to hear what it's like recorded with the music behind it. It was amazing you should have heard!" Nami gushes, completely erasing Sanji's black mood. He looks over to see the manager smiling enthusiastically as their audio wizard that is Chopper.
"Sure, I'd be interested to hear that too." Chopper agrees happily.
"Sanji managed it then? That was quick!" Luffy laughs happily. Sanji doesn't know what it is about Luffy but the kid always seems to be amused about something, he doesn't know if the guy is stupid and easily amused or if he's seeing some bigger picture that Sanji isn't and just likes seeing all the pieces fall into place. He doesn't think he'll ever be sure one way or the other.
He slides the finished breakfast onto the table with a smile and everyone except Zoro thanks him. Fucking Zoro. He supposes that at least Zoro isn't outright insulting him now.
"I think it'll just be better to re-record the whole thing at the next full practice, the whole point of Sanji singing is to let Zoro focus on his guitar work, it'll be better for both of them." Chopper reasons.
"Well, okay. But that'll take time. Couldn't you just give us a cut-together preview?" Nami asks with a slight frown pinching her perfect orange eyebrows.
"I can… but… really I insist that it has to be re-recorded sooner or later." Chopper insists.
"Sure thing, you can do that right Sanji?" Nami asks, batting her eyelashes at him flintily.
"OF COURSE MY LOVE!" He crows joyfully, flailing his arms around and nearly stabbing Franky with a fork in the process.
"Idiot." Zoro mutters.
"What did you say, asshole?" Sanji snarls, jabbing his dangerous fork in Zoro's direction.
"I said, you're an idiot. Is your hearing shot too?" Zoro challenges him back, taking his arm from around the back of Usopp's seat and putting it on the table with a fist curled up threateningly.
"See, this is what I mean." Nami mumbles to Kaya.
"Can't you even try to be nice to me?!" He accuses the guitarist angrily.
"No." Zoro says flatly with a smug grin.
"Well fake it then, make believe, just be less of an asshole!" Sanji yells, throwing his arms in the air. Anything would be better than Zoro's random antagonism.
"Yeah, I'm so filled with love for you it deeply sickens me." Zoro retorts, though some strange expression flits across his face for a moment that Sanji doesn't recognise.
"You know the least you could do is take it back, all the… the vicious remarks and completely uncalled for verbal attacks! You're not this much of a dick to anyone else! What did I do?!" Sanji demands, leaping to his feet and jabbing an accusing finger in Zoro's direction.
"Oh my." Kaya mumbles.
"They're always like this." Robin sighs, distracting Sanji slightly.
"Wait- say that again." Zoro says from his position leaning over the table and staring at Sanji.
"What, about all the vicious remarks and verbal attacks? How you're at total bastard to me for no reason? That part?" He shoots back.
Zoro has the strangest expression on his face, he's looking at Sanji but Sanji suspects that he's not really looking at him. More like Zoro is looking through him at something else. The singer almost turns to look over his shoulder as Zoro's expression is so intensely focused.
"I have to go." The guitarist mumbles and dashes from the table.
"Oh no you don't!" Sanji yelps and disentangles himself from the chair behind him, giving chase to Zoro who has fled out into the hallway.
"What's your problem already?!" He yells up the stairs as Zoro disappears, but the idiot doesn't even answer him.
"GOOD! Just go! Because I can't fucking stand it when you're around!" He yells up at Zoro. This actually makes the other man stop and look at him again for a second before disappearing with another burst of speed.
"FINE!" He screams up the stairs. He is not fine. He wants to kick the ever loving snot out of the green haired bastard and roll around in his blood out of sheer maniacal glee.
Sanji pinches the bridge of his nose. Zoro is not good for his blood pressure, he gives him some really messed up thoughts too. He's always been known for his somewhat short fuse but Zoro just gets him from mellow to murderous in seconds and there's no way that should be possible.
He hisses and mutters curses and death threats under his breath as he descends the plush stairs in what has rapidly become his home. Nami is looking up at him with despairing eyes and he really hates to let her down or disappoint her. He's disappointing himself too but somehow Zoro just seems to bypass his brain and just go straight into Sanji's emotions, he's like some kind of virus, he feels like he's been hacked.
"Sorry mellorine." He apologises hastily.
"All the time?" Kaya whispers to Robin.
"Indeed." Robin confirms, making Sanji's shoulders drop unhappily. Goddamnit, now Zoro was giving him a bad name and he wasn't even here to do it!
"Come on." Nami beckons and he dutifully follows.
His lovely angel leads them all downstairs into the recording studio. Chopper is already at his seat with headphones over his ears, doing something remarkably complicated looking with software. Fancy sliders on the deck are going this way and that, Choppers fingers fly over the keyboard as he cuts up music and stitches it back together, healing over the seams and making everything better than before.
What's more impressive is that the little audio genius can focus with Luffy bouncing excitedly on the chair next to him, his grin wide and expectant.
"Okay… It's just rough because I really want this whole thing re-recorded, but it'll do for a trial." Chopper sighs, sliding off his headphones and messing up his out of control brown tufty hair as he does so. The boy presses play and Zoro's guitar kicks in.
So far so familiar but he's startled out of his skin when his own voice comes through the speakers. It's smoother and more controlled than Zoro's was but as the song progresses he can hear all the raw emotion and despite it having just come out of his mouth this very morning it still tugs at his heart strings and the imagined memory of Zoro's dilemma with his previous love shoots through him.
Damnit. Why is it so much easier to be sympathetic to Zoro when he's not here being an ass? He feels like he can relate so much more to the Zoro that his songs speak of than he can to the sulking angry brat that he knows in person.
As the last wrenching note of his echoes through the air his bandmates come to life, all looking at him excited and happy. Franky slaps Sanji on the back so hard that it makes his teeth rattle a little bit.
"That sounds so good Sanji!" Kaya beams at him. Behind her Usopp smiles happily at Sanji and he thinks that maybe Usopp is happy because Sanji has finally got into Zoro's head. It's helped with his singing, sure enough but it's not helped him deal any better with the guitarist himself.
"I knew you could do it." Luffy grins at him.
"Thanks Luffy." He finds himself smiling. Luffy is always happy but not ridiculously easy to please. Despite his odd position of drummer it's obvious that Luffy is still the frontman of the band and so he's pleased that Luffy sees fit to praise him.
"Nami, we're going to do a show before the wedding." Luffy declares as if that's that. The others all look to Nami for orders but even in his short time here Sanji has noticed that any serious statement from Luffy is met with obedience from all and Nami enforcing Luffy's will with an iron fist. He just wishes that Luffy would order Zoro not to be a jerk.
"So soon?" Sanji balks, wide eyed. He's still not sure that Zoro won't just up and kill him on stage. They're still not able to co-operate unless they're sharing the same microphone and ordered not to move from it on pain of death, surely they can't do that on stage. They're not ready yet, surely?
"I'll arrange it as soon as I can." Nami nods business-like and pulls her phone out.
"Oh my, Zoro won't like that." Brook comments quietly from the back of the room. Sanji almost jumps at the sound, to be honest he frequently forgets that Brook is there at all.
"So don't tell him then." Nami shrugs and returns her attention to the phone.
"I don't think that plan will work long term Nami." Brook reasons, but Nami has already ignored him for whoever has just picked up on the other end of the phone. She issues cheerful greetings to whoever it is as she leaves the room for some quiet.
"I'm… not getting in the middle of that." Sanji mutters to himself. Zoro hates him enough already without him being the bearer of more bad news.
Still, he's excited about the idea of a show, even if he feels a little nervous about it too.
"Well, I need to go to class. We can record this tonight, perhaps. Zoro doesn't have work tonight so we ought to be fine." Chopper says with a nod, hopping off of his chair.
"I'll give you a ride." Sanji offers. Truthfully he doesn't have anything much to do in town, and he doesn't feel like seeing Zeff either, he just doesn't want to be cooped up in the same building with Zoro all day.
"Oh, thank you Sanji." Chopper smiles up at him.
"No problem, come on. It was lovely to meet you Kaya." He adds, giving a deep bow to Usopp's lovely fiancée as he goes.
"You too Sanji, I look forward to the show." She replies with a small wave. Usopp isn't paying attention to what she's saying, his attention is on a quiet conversation with Robin, but Sanji can't help but notice the way Usopp's hand lingers on Kaya's waist. It's as if he's part of her even when he's not actively thinking about her, it's sweet.
Sanji tosses his keys up in the air and catches them over and over as he walks Chopper to his car. The little prodigy follows quietly. Out of everyone in the band Sanji kinda feels like he knows the kid the least, it could be just the age difference but he feels he's got an okay read off of everyone else so far.
Brook is often reading and drinking tea with Robin in dead silence, he's learnt that around Robin Brook tends to say stupid things so one of the few ways they can spend time together alone is in silence with their mutual interests of tea and books. Whilst the two of them can be a little dark they're both funny in their own way and Sanji gets on with them pretty well. Franky is exuberant but far smarter than he appears, he suspects the same of Luffy too. Usopp and Nami both talk to him enough and he likes them both (especially his gorgeous Nami~!)
He spends more than enough time interacting with Zoro, though he obviously neither understands nor likes the man. Chopper though… Chopper has let himself fade mostly into the background. So as the little prodigy slides into Sanji's car in his oversized pink and blue coat with his pink hat on his head and his big headphones on his neck, the singer can't help but feel like this could be an opportunity to get to know him. It actually ends up being Chopper who speaks first.
"What happened to your stereo?" The kid gasps in horror, noticing the same thing that Zoro did.
"Oh, I ripped it out in a fit of anger. The speakers still work and it can play music from my phone, it's Bluetooth or something, but the radio was driving me crazy. Every stupid song just- agh. Stuck." He grimaces in frustration, tapping the side of his head to emphasise just where they got stuck.
"That's fascinating. Does it work with anything you make musical?" Chopper asks him wide eyed and curious. Sanji glances at the kid as he drives.
"Yeah, it's how I remember phone numbers, make them into a little ditty and they're in there forever." Sanji answers with a shrug instantly remembering Zeff's phone number song.
Chopper giggles to himself and Sanji looks down at the brown haired kid in surprise, he's covering his mouth and trying to supress his laughter.
"What?" He asks confused.
"Nothing, it's just… it's really funny how alike you and Zoro seem to be." Chopper beams at him giddily.
"Come again?" Sanji says flatly. He's nothing like that stupid bastard.
"Well, Zoro's sense of direction is godawful, don't ever let him give you directions. But he always struggled to remember the way to Baby's house, she never lived with us you see. He kept getting lost so she eventually wrote him a song that were really directions from ours to hers, he never forgot after that." Chopper smiles in amusement.
Sanji thinks about that for a moment. That's a little sweet, and a surprisingly amusing and human side to the moss headed idiot.
"Wait- she lives within walking distance? Zoro can't drive, right so…?" He frowns as the thought occurs.
"Cycling distance, but yeah. She still does. We run into her sometimes in the city, though she's often off touring. I wish she'd move because I swear Zoro must see her sometimes, it'd explain why sometimes he comes home after being out and he's miserable and touchy for days." Chopper remarks with an unhappy pout.
"Huh." Sanji remarks because he's got nothing else to say to that.
"Here, I've still got the song if you want to listen to it. I really liked it, it took lots of work though to get it to sound just right. Not that we can use it anymore." Chopper adds, pulling his phone out and bringing the song up.
Sanji's car picks up Chopper's music right away and Baby's song blasts through the speakers so loudly that Chopper has to turn it down on his phone itself.
"Sorry, no volume dial." Sanji apologises, gesturing to the crater where the stereo used to be. The song kicks up, it's fast bluesy guitar, not the kind of thing he's used to associating with Zoro at all. Still, it's played fantastically well so he can easily believe that it is Zoro playing and he supposes that it was Baby who wrote the song, not Zoro, so it stands to reason it might be different.
Baby's voice kicks in and it's deeper and smokier than it was in the video Sanji saw of her as a young teenage girl. Some of it is put on to compliment the style of the music but even so, her voice is different. He resists the urge to close his eyes and listen because he is still driving and he doesn't want them to plunge off the road and die.
"Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
And I can get to my honey's house fifteen different ways
I can go around the side, I can cut through the back
I broke a picket off the fence, or I can squeeze through the crack
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
And I can get to my honey's house fifteen different ways
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
And I can get to my honey's house fifteen different ways
I consider myself lucky, just as lucky as can be
And I wanna thank my baby 'cause he moved so close to me
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
Right around the corner, that's where my baby stays
That's where my baby stays, that's where my baby stays
And I can get to my honey's house fifteen different ways"
Sanji raises his eyebrows, the song is catchy as hell and not exactly lyrically complicated either, so it's already in his head for life. Still, it doesn't exactly sound like Baby lives that far away at all. Though who knows as the directions aren't exactly clear to him. It makes sense though, she'd hardly want to give away how to get to her home to just anyone. Still, having sung Zoro's songs and heard how much he seems to both want her back and regret having ever met her… it must be hard having her live that close still.
Is he really feeling sympathetic for Zoro? There must be something wrong with his brain right now.
"I think you're more alike than you think." Chopper says after a few moments, his big brown eyes regarding Sanji as he pulls up to the pavement outside campus.
"I don't see it." Sanji says, shaking his head. But… he's not so sure about that now. Not when with each day he's seeing more and more glimpses of Zoro's human side instead of what he suspects is the front that Zoro's put up to keep him and other people away. He sees flickers through the lyrics to the songs and bits of the mask fall off around Usopp.
"You will." Chopper smiles at him, as if reading his mind.
"Thanks for the lift Sanji." The kid adds, hopping out and shutting the door behind him.
"No problem…" Sanji mumbles, watching the kid run off into the campus, surrounded by people much older than him.
Sanji scrubs his hands through his hair. He needs a drink and a think.
He gets lunch in a little café outside town and listens to some of the band's music whilst he drinks his coffee and eats his sandwich. Zoro can be nice, he's seen it. Maybe he just needs to resolve not to rise to the idiot's bait. But he knows in his gut that doing that won't work, he can't resist the urge to argue back when Zoro snaps at him.
He's also promised himself that he won't use any of his ill-gotten knowledge to wound Zoro, not if he wants to stay in the band anyway, which he very much does. Perhaps he should just do what he did this morning, outright challenge Zoro to explain and vocalise just why he's being such a dick. If Zoro is so reasonable and nice then either he can give Sanji a damn good reason and perhaps they can work something out, or else he has to admit that he's just being a dick because he feels like it and then hopefully back off.
It seemed to work this morning. When he called the other man on his bullshit he got the strangest expression and then just ran off mid argument. Perhaps that's the way to deal with that. With that decided he starts the reasonably short drive home, a trip he's managed to memorise enough to do mostly mentally absently.
He takes the time to sing along to something on his phone that isn't Zoro's voice because he'd like to get warmed up for this afternoon and spend a little more time practicing channelling Zoro's messed up emotions into music. It wouldn't do to be able to do it only the once after all would it?
When he arrives home everyone seems to be missing, he can't hear anyone upstairs and the living room is empty too. It's only when he comes into the kitchen does he find Zoro and no one else.
Zoro is sat cross legged on the kitchen counter eating honey out of a jar with a spoon on account of him being an awful human being. Sanji wonders if it was for his voice, sometimes he's ended up with a sore throat after performing something too screamy the night before and honey in drinks has always helped him. Still, he's never eaten it raw before and certainly not from a jar that everyone uses!
Zoro doesn't notice Sanji right away though and the singer can't help but notice that their guitarist actually looks happy. He's smiling around the spoon in a way that speaks of more than just enjoyment of what he's eating. His body looks relaxed and at ease and Sanji almost feels loathe to spoil it.
"Where is everyone?" Sanji asks suspiciously. It is of course possible that Zoro has killed everyone whilst he was out and stuffed their bodies in the kitchen cupboards and now he's just waiting for his final victim. Possible, but unlikely. Zoro didn't really do well with change and he'd have to find new bandmates.
"I'm someone." Zoro reasons lazily, opening his eyes.
Sanji feels his eyebrows quirking disbelievingly. Zoro looks blissed out as fuck, is he on drugs or something?
"You're not everyone." Sanji points out.
"True." Zoro agrees. Wait. He's agreeing now? Something is definitely wrong.
"Are you okay?" he asks suspiciously.
"Yeah. Everyone's downstairs practicing the new song." Zoro answers almost with a purr, flicking the spoon into the sink and sealing the jar of honey.
"New song?" He asks in sudden interest.
"Yep," Zoro nods happily, popping the p sound in his word, "first one in four months."
"Is that why you look so fucking happy then?" Sanji grins. Zoro looks sharply at him then but quickly relaxes, Sanji's words might not have been as nice as they could have been but he's actually happy for Zoro. Seeing him calm and relaxed is a lot better than seeing him bitchy and angry.
Remembering his earlier plan of attack he decides to actually engage the shitty guitarist come songwriter in conversation.
"What does it feel like anyway, writing music I mean?" Sanji asks, genuinely curious as he gets himself a glass of water.
"Fucking great. It lets stuff out like you wouldn't believe. Don't you ever write?" Zoro asks lazily from behind him.
"I've never been able to, and I've never really needed to in my line of work so far." Sanji answers with a shrug. Hey, this counts as an actual conversation.
Zoro doesn't say anything to that but makes a sound in his throat to acknowledge that he heard, he turns back after getting his drink to see Zoro watching him with a relaxed kind of interest that makes Sanji's skin prickle.
"Oh, here. Lyrics." Zoro says, pulling a sheet of paper out of his back pocket and handing it to Sanji.
"Thanks." The singer nods, unfolding it. It's lyrics with the music down as well, just what Sanji needs. There are notes on the paper on how to sing it, where Zoro wants the emphasis and so on.
"I wrote down how I'd sing it but since that's apparently you job now feel free to tweak it or whatever. Or don't. I don't care." Zoro adds a little irritably, returning to his usual self a little more as Sanji reads through the lyrics themselves to Zoro's new song.
That… that bastard.
The song is all about their fight and how they can't stand each other! He even worked the actual words of their argument into it!
"You're an asshole!" He snaps angrily, prompting Zoro to fall into an amused fit of laugher. Sanji scowls and reads the music and lyrics together, even with Zoro's dick move it's actually… actually a pretty catchy song.
He grumbles to himself and reads it over again, humming Zoro's part under his breath to give him a cue as to what kind of feeling to put into the song. He's never had to do this before, to be part of the creation process and sing something for himself rather than simply copying or putting his own spin on something.
Sanji looks up to see Zoro watching him, not happy like before but not scowling either. Just a studious amount of attention that makes Sanji's feel strange. This is a challenge. Zoro is testing to him to see if he can manage this, to sing for himself rather than just do what someone else before him has done. Like hell if he's going to let Zoro win here.
"What are you waiting for then idiot, are we gonna go and give this thing a run through or are we just gonna sit here with you eyeballing me all day?" He challenges back, meeting Zoro's gaze.
The guitarist flashes Sanji's challenge back at him with a predatory grin that fires up every competitive instinct in Sanji's entire body. He wants to show Zoro just how good he is, to make the other man have to break and admit that he was wrong about Sanji's talent. He wants to be better than he's ever been and shove that victory in Zoro's damn face.
He shudders as Zoro leads the way down to the studio. He and Zoro fight constantly and no one in his entire existence infuriates him more than Zoro does, and he grew up with Zeff so that's saying something! As they get closer to the studio Sanji tries to hold onto that feeling, his indecision about whether he wants Zoro to hurl himself off a cliff and leave him alone forever or to just stop being such an ass all the time. Either way how things are now is almost unbearable.
"Are you-" Nami starts to ask as they walk into the studio together in a tense standoffish silence. Neither of them answer her though and instead both walk to the microphone. The both take their places on either side of it as Zoro picks up one of his electric guitars and slings it over his shoulder without breaking the tense eye contact between the two of them.
Sanji stares Zoro down, he's going to show him. Zoro stares right back, the challenge so evident that it couldn't be clearer if he screamed 'impress me then!' right in Sanji's face.
The rest of the band seems a little more hesitant though, clearly not knowing what to make of the intense feeling. Luffy is just fine though, thankfully.
"Come on, play through, don't worry about them." Luffy orders and counts them in with smacks of his drumsticks.
Franky's guitar kicks in first and plays alone for a few seconds before Luffy's drums and Zoro's guitar join him. The speed is a little faster than Sanji had imagined and he reconsiders the pitch that he'd previously planned on singing it, voting to start off a little higher.
"Midwest love affair
I bend when I am bored
Late night liquor blue
Will lead me to the floor."
The next lyrics however take him to the words that Zoro all but ripped right out of their argument and Sanji can't help but let the irritation and sarcastic bite creep into his voice and it only takes him a split second to decide not to hold back on it. It was Zoro who had so accused him of feeling nothing wasn't it? Well, if Zoro wanted to know how this felt then he's welcome to it. He'll see if Zoro can take it as well as he can dish it out.
"Can we fake it?
Can we make believe?
I'm so full of love
It deeply sickens me.
But all I could do was close my eyes
And cross my arms and hope to die
Cause you don't fucking listen
When I'm around.
The least you could do is take it back
All the vicious remarks and verbal attacks
Cause I can't fucking stand it.
When you're around."
The chorus finishes and far from seeming cowed the feral grin is back on Zoro's face. He doesn't look unimpressed though. Instead his eyes are shining with energy, challenging and demanding more from Sanji. Sanji cracks his neck in the pause in the song, this next bit is slightly more from Zoro's perspective. It doesn't take a mind reader to work out that it's more to do with how people are reacting to the way that Zoro is treating him. Well too bad, so sad. He's not gonna weep for the fact that their friends are telling Zoro not to be such an ass, maybe he should wise up and listen for crying out loud.
He doesn't take the bite out of his words and continues singing with just as much evil energy as before. He lets it build up with every subsequent line without losing his control, layering on the vocal power and exploiting his skills.
"Midwest aftermath, the rumours start to rise
Did I truly do the things that you've described?
They must hate me, every single one
It just sickens them, what I consider fun.
But all I could do was close my eyes
And cross my arms and hope to die
Cause you don't fucking listen
When I'm around.
The least you could do is take it back
All the vicious remarks and verbal attacks,
Cause I can't fucking stand it.
When you're around."
Zoro is still staring right into him and Sanji refuses to give. The song is coming to its end now, with only another repetition or so of the chorus left but there's this strange feeling rising up that he can't seem to shake. He and Zoro are still all but at each other's throats, but it's creatively rather than destructively. This song feels real in a way that he's not quite felt with any other song before. He's not imagining emotion here, he's using his own, it's real. It's… it's real.
"But all I could do was close my eyes
And cross my arms and hope to die
Cause you don't fucking listen
When I'm around.
The least you could do is take it back
All the vicious remarks and verbal attacks
Cause I can't fucking stand it.
When you're around."
Something seems to flash through Zoro's eyes and he leans a little closer to the microphone. Sanji doesn't know how he knows, but he does, Zoro is going to sing. And somehow he also doesn't think that Zoro is about to try to sing over him. Instead when the punk-haired guy sings it's at the same time and speed as him and for once they're listening to each other. Their voices shifting in pitch until they blend together seamlessly into something more powerful than either of their voices alone. Both of them united in the idea that they hate the shit out of the other one. Not exactly the feel-good movie of the year but damn if it doesn't plaster matching sinister grins on both of their faces.
"No I can't fucking stand it, when you're around.
No I can't fucking stand it, when you're around."
The sounds of the instruments final notes hum through the air and there's a moment or two of silence before everyone else seems to come to life and explode in enthusiasm. Everyone seems pleased with how they played and if anyone dropped any notes or screwed anything up Sanji didn't hear it. In fact, he's not sure he heard much outside of Zoro and his guitar.
He pulls his eyes off of the other man, breaking the almost electric contact as he looks around the others. Luffy's enthusiasm is infectious and he can hear Usopp bragging about his perfect work, the whole thing pulls a smile onto Sanji's face. They all seem happy with how everything went for a first run through and even Sanji has to admit that there was something slightly magical about it.
He glances at Zoro and grins at him, earning himself a flash of a smirk in response. Geez, that's almost friendly. Perhaps things between him and Zoro really are turning around, perhaps Usopp was right in his enthusiasm for what a great person the guitarist is. Maybe he's just a little slow to warm to people, that's okay.
"That was great!" Nami cheers, as she enters the room, having left her place in what would usually be Chopper's seat at the recording studio deck.
"A new song will be a great thing to play at the gig this Friday at Loguetown!" She adds happily.
"What?" Zoro says, his voice suddenly flat and dark sliding his guitar off of his shoulder as he stares at Nami in shock.
"A gig, a show. You know, those things that we do where we show up and play music in exchange for money, sound familiar?" Nami answers with a disapproving look at Zoro.
"I understand that but- with HIM?!" Zoro snarls, jabbing his finger in Sanji's face.
Nope. Sanji recalls all of his previous goodwill, Zoro can go take a long walk off a short cliff for all Sanji cares.
"Obviously." Nami says flatly, her hands on her perfect feminine hips.
"You bitch!" the guitarist snarls.
"Oi, I warned you about that." Sanji threatens, grabbing Zoro by the shoulder. He wasn't just going to stand there and let Zoro talk to Nami like that.
Zoro spins and shoves him back, but instead of looking just angry Zoro looks slightly unhinged.
"You STAY OUT of this! You just- you stay out of everything! Why don't you just GO?!" Zoro screams at him advancing towards Sanji and closing the distance with a snarl. Sanji isn't about to back down.
"How about you just calm down you shitty guitarist?!" Sanji argues back.
"No! Calm- I can't even- tell me you haven't told anyone else about this. You have to cancel!" Zoro exclaims turning back to Nami.
"Like I would, we've already sold loads of tickets. People are talking about it online, lots of people are excited to see what our new singer is like." Nami adds, smiling at Sanji who finds himself blushing at her attention.
"You… online?! Fuck." Zoro trails off going pale. Sanji squints at him and thinks that Zoro almost looks like he's afraid. God he knows that Zoro handles change badly and the idea of playing a real gig with him probably makes it much more real that Baby is gone but he's not sure it deserves this reaction.
"What exactly are you so scared of?" Sanji challenges, snapping Zoro's attention back to him.
"I'm not SCARED! As if I would be!" Zoro yells, catching the front of Sanji's shirt in his fist.
"So what's your problem then?" He pushes back.
"You're my problem, just leave the band. Just quit." The guitarist demands, wild eyed and crazy looking.
"Like hell." Sanji says flatly. Zoro shoves him back, making Sanji stumble slightly.
"This gig is not happening." Zoro declares and storms off.
Sanji dusts himself off and scowls. So much for progress. If anything Zoro seems to be crazier and angrier than ever. The door to the studio slams loudly, making everyone wince.
"Well, that went well." Robin sighs, folding her hands in her lap.
Zoro has fucked off to who knows where but he's done the courtesy of kicking a gigantic hole in Sanji's bedroom door and locking Sanji's door to their shared bathroom from the inside. Sanji has no idea where Zoro is but he's going to track him down and kick his teeth in for this. He's got no right to behave this crazily, not when everyone puts up with his shit so well, and talking like that to Nami when she's just trying to do her goddamn job! It's out of line is what it is.
He stalks angrily through the house, no one stops him, but he doesn't find Zoro. On some kind of instinct he goes out to the garage and finds that Zoro has done him the favour of letting the air out of all four of his tyres. Sanji snarls and only just has time to react when a flash of movement in the corner of his vision alerts him to the fact that Zoro is still here.
The guitarist slams Sanji against his own car, both fists curling into the front of Sanji's nice shirt.
"Quit the band!" Zoro snarls, so close to Sanji's face that he can only just look at Zoro without going cross eyed.
"Like HELL. I don't care what your issues are Zoro, you need to grow the fuck up and deal with shit and stop being so fucking mental!" Sanji shouts right back, wriggling out of Zoro's grip.
"I'm not mental!" Zoro snaps back, in his face again.
"Then what's your fucking problem?!" Sanji demands, kicking at him and shoving him away. Sanji leans his weight off of his car now that he's got the room. With no air in his tyres he hardly wants to put pressure on the wheels.
"You're my problem! Just leave the band!" Zoro yells at him, inexplicably angry.
Sanji grits his teeth and remembers his earlier resolution. Don't accuse, don't lash out, make Zoro actually say what's up and call him on it if he doesn't.
"Give me one good reason and I might consider it. Why do you want me to leave?" He questions, sounding a shade calmer than he really is. That seems to startle Zoro into some emotion that's a little less violent.
"What?" Zoro says in a confused voice.
"Why?" Sanji repeats.
"Just go. We're not doing this show, so just… just go." Zoro answers in something closer to a speaking voice.
Ah, so it definitely is about the show then. Because Zoro had been starting to warm up to him beforehand, there's no way he was imagining that.
"What's so important about the show? Why are you so suddenly desperate to get rid of me?" He questions suspiciously.
"I'm not suddenly anything. Did you miss the part where I've hated you since I met you, where I've locked you out of your room to make you leave? Or that time I filled your car with spiders?" Zoro argues and just the mention of that makes Sanji's skin crawl. They were fake most of them but somehow Zoro had managed to throw a few real ones in there too and that had been worse, picking them up and then suddenly finding out that it WASN'T plastic.
He has no idea how Zoro found out about his bug phobia, perhaps just a lucky guess but he loathes him for it. Zoro gives him a feral smirk with threatening teeth behind it and that reminds Sanji just what's going on here, Zoro's trying to distract him which means that there's something worth diverting him from there.
"Yeah, only you were happy when I got back. Writing songs and playing, don't tell me you didn't feel that. Everything worked perfectly, and don't tell me I don't have talent because you and I both know that isn't true and don't insult us both by saying that." Sanji points out sternly and that makes Zoro's jaw click shut as he looks away.
"Look, I can find you another band to play with. Just not this one, just don't do the show and just… just go. Please." Zoro adds, closing his eyes.
"What are you so scared of with this show, with me staying in the band? What's wrong?" Sanji presses because Zoro's expression right now has more than just a note of dread in it. Though not after Sanji's spoken, then it's all rage.
"Like I'd ever be scared of YOU!" He yells furiously, the expression so overt that it just makes Sanji roll his eyes.
"So what then? What do you think is going to happen here? What are you trying to avoid?" He presses. He suspects that he knows. He suspects that Zoro thinks that it's going to be like Baby all over again, that the gig will somehow end up with him leaving. Perhaps the two of them gelling so well in practice just then wasn't a good thing, perhaps it's too much like how he used to play with Baby. But he can't just assume that, he needs Zoro to say it.
"Go fuck yourself." Zoro snaps instead, darting around Sanji to grab his bike and peddle off into the night.
Sanji sighs. Zoro is messed up. But it's a done deal, he's not going anywhere and the gig is clearly going to happen if they've already started selling tickets. He highly doubts that Zoro will actually abandon the band and leave them without a guitarist, though even if he does they've got enough guitarist to about pull through.
He hunts down Franky's tyre pump and starts to refill his tyres, hoping that Zoro's not done any real damage to his wheels or his suspension. Zoro's just going to have to dig deep to find his balls and deal with this situation.
The songs for this chapter are "Right around the corner" by the Detroit Cobras and "When you're around" by Motion City Soundtrack.