Chapter 4 A tempting menu
The Baratie is unexpectedly bigger than I'd first imagined it… When we walked in through the side were greeted by a huge old man with a grumpy look on his face. He looked over Luffy, Ace and I and then scowled at Sanji who returned the scowl just as fiercely.
"What? Got a problem old geezer?" He stomps.
"I was just so sure that my little eggplant was lying about his so called friends. Tsk." The old man huffs in disappointment.
"Who are you calling eggplant you shitty geezer!" The two argue for a bit while Luffy laughs, Ace smirks and I just roll my eyes. Zeff eventually puts Sanji 'in his place' (As he put it) and returns his gaze to us. "I'm Zeff, the eggplants adoptive father."
"Thought so." Ace replies politely. "I'm Ace, this is my brother Luffy and the scowling guy is Zoro."
"Pleasure. Well now that I've seen you're real I can leave for my business trip. Break anything and I'll make you work here for a year on little to no salary." We all nod in understanding and he turns to Sanji and hands him a pair of keys. "Lock up, all that regular nonsense. I'll be back very late Sunday, more likely Monday afternoon; so make sure you leave no mess."
"Whatever, I got it old man. Now leave." He ushers him out of the door and locks up behind him. "Jeez. He's such a hassle." He sighs, blowing a tuff of hair away from his eye.
"Eggplant…" I laugh. He looks up at me angrily, his cheeks slightly pink from embarrassment.
"Shut up, shitty marimo. Any of you call me that and you're dead meat." He walks past us, angrily, and indicates for us to follow.
He leads us through the restaurant kitchen, dragging Luffy by this throat so that he doesn't attack the fridge while he's not looking (doesn't matter anyway because it looks like one of those code operated fridges)and reminding me that it's a right not a left to where we're going. He takes us through a small door at the end of the kitchen that leads to a flight of stairs. Following that, we're lead into a huge apartment that opens straight into a front room with a huge television and an equally large sofa opposite with another, slightly smaller, sofa along the left of the other and a comfy looking single sofa chair opposite that. It's quite obvious that the kitchen is at the end of the apartment and it too looks big. Not surprising since two chef's live here. There are three doors along the wall on the right (I assume two are bedrooms and one is a bathroom). Sanji walks in a little further and holds his hand out to the front room.
"Make yourselves at home." He smiles invitingly. "The bathroom is the door in the middle. My bedroom is the door at the furthest end of the room, I don't mind if you're curious and want to look just, wait until I've put my school stuff away. Put whatever you want on TV. Choose one of the films on the rack or play on the games console if you want. Make yourselves at home. I'll start dinner in a bit so get comfy."
"Whoa! Sanji, your place is awesome! Luffy's all over the place, staring and touching as much as he can, running around with that stupid look of awe on his face.
"Whatever. Just don't break anything. Back in a minute."
He wanders off to his room and Ace and Luffy waste no time in making themselves comfy on the bigger sofa. It doesn't take long until they start arguing over what movie to watch then decide to play against each other on a fighting game. I sit on the slightly smaller sofa and watch them play, smirking slightly when Luffy choses a character that fights mainly with kicks and Ace chooses someone with two swords. It's not exactly us, it's close, but I think to myself how our fight was more intense and powerful than this game.
It's a good ten minutes before Sanji returns, with his jumper removed and shirt un-tucked so that he looks more casual and ready to relax.
"Right." He claps his hands together. "I'll get the alcohol and then start on dinner."
"Yeah!" Luffy roars. Momentarily taking his eye off the game and allowing ace to win 1/3 of the rounds. With a huff and a moan, Luffy returns his attention back the game with fiery determination in his eyes. Sanji laughs and walks into the kitchen bringing out bottles of various alcohols and crates of beer. I help myself to a bottle –yes a bottle- of sake and replace myself back onto the sofa, finishing the last drop just as dinner is served. Still blindingly sober.
"Whoa, Zoro, you really know how to drink." Sanji smirks as he places the dishes in front of us and takes the empty bottle from my hand. Ace laughs as he digs into his second beer.
"That's Zoro for you! Guy's a monster!" He spurts.
"I can drink barrels of the stuff and still come off sober." I proudly point out. Sanji brings out the last of the food from the kitchen and returns with the last of the food.
"Well, I've enough of the stuff to test that theory that's for sure!"
"Bring it on, shit cook." I laugh. Luffy breaks out into hysterics as he scoffs down the food in front of him.
Luffy has also finishes his first beer and has a second on standby. He's eyeing up Ace's half empty second can and takes a moment from eating to down his own. I can just tell that this is going to turn into a drinking contest before the end of the night.
We put the drinking aside as we dig into what must be the best meal we've (I assume I'm speaking for everyone when I say this) ever eaten. I don't remember what he called it but it's outstandingly good. I look up at Sanji who is smiling as he eats his own and blush as I consider what to say. I should complement him or at least say that it's good food. I'm about to say something, as Luffy finally stops talking about how awesome the food is to take another mouthful and Sanji catches my eye causing me blurt out the first thing that comes to my head.
"It's not bad, shitty cook. In fact, I'd say it's good even." I feel a bit more confident and relaxed now. I'm able to speak to him normally without stuttering or making a fool of myself. It's not exactly what I wanted to say, but it's not far off the mark and it gets my point across.
"How would a marimo, such as you, even be able to tell with no taste buds?" He smirks.
"I have taste buds!" I demand. "And I'm telling you its good!" He laughs then stops and blinks.
"Oh that's right…" He mumbles to himself. He places his plate down and walks into the kitchen, returning with three bottles of the same wine. "This is the best drink to have with this meal. It complements the meat better than any other alcohol I've ever tried with it. So everyone have some." He passes a bottle to me and pours out a glass for Luffy and Ace.
"What am I, an animal?" I grunt.
"No, you're moss." The three of them laugh. I shoot him a look. "You'd only drink the whole bottle anyway, right." He says indicating to the second empty sake bottle beside me. Fair enough. I shrug, open the bottle he handed to me and take a sip. Damn, he was right; it really does taste freaking amazing with this dish. Luffy and Ace seem to agree and thus our night of drinking continues.
Luffy and Ace drink almost as much as me in the end and pretty much knock themselves unconscious. Good thing Sanji noticed just after we finished dinner that Luffy and ace were locked in a drinking battle and made them call home and say that they were staying over Sanji's for the night before they got totally wasted and passed out on the sofa. Sanji hasn't drunk enough to do that to himself but he's sitting next to me and swaying slightly so I know he's drunk. His face is slightly pink and he feels hot sitting next to me. I bite my lip to restrain myself from doing anything I'd regret and drink down the bottle of sake in my hand. Sanji blinks awake and looks around the room. Tilting his head and laughing at the two passed out brothers sprawled out across the sofa.
"So who won in the end?" He dizzily asks half paying attention to the question he just asked and half staring in spectacle at the empty bottle I just placed on the floor in front of us.
"Neither, they both drank themselves to sleep before they even finished their last bottles."
"They'll be angry when they wake up." Sanji laughs and nuzzles slightly into my arm sending a shiver down my spine and a flush to my cheeks. "M… glad I met you guys." He admits drunkenly. Oh, so he's an honest drunk.
"I thought you hated me?" I quiz. I know I'm taking advantage of his drunken state but he doesn't seem too far gone to make it a bad thing to do; he's just drunk enough to be more open to honestly answering questions.
"I… dun hate you. M… just mad that you don remember…"
"Remember what?" I press.
"Me…" He sighs. I blush, so I have met him somewhere before… but where? When? And, more importantly, how the hell did I forget him?
"Not your fault though… I know that. I jus… thought, I could make you… remember." He slumps completely into my lap and I can't help but run my hand through his hair. It's silky, if a little bit tangled, and the individual strands shine as they slide through my fingers. He seems to purr at my touch and I withdraw my hand sharply before I can no longer bare it and lose my mind. I snap my eyes to my watch and sigh.
"It's late…" I start. "I should be leaving soon…" He shakes his head clumsily.
"No… you stay too or else you'll get your dumb ass lost on your way back." He laughs. "The sofa's all yours." He pats the arm of the sofa we're sitting on and begins to try and pull himself up. He shakily gets to his feet and wobbles as he tries to stand straight. He's about to topple over when I catch him and help him stand up. My hands are on his hips and I notice how slim and surprisingly muscly he feels, I blush at the thought and move one of my hands to his shoulder instead.
"Sorry Marimo… but could you… help me into my bed?" He mumbles. I blush again as I nod and pick him up princess style. He holds onto my shirt and buries his head in my chest. I can feel his hot breath against my shirt and I have to do my best to keep my own balance.
"You're such a pain." I grumble, but I don't mean it.
I remember him saying his was the third door down and enter it apprehensively. It's a cream coloured room with shelves of neatly ordered cooking books and notebooks labelled with various titles of dishes, wines and separate ingredients. There's a huge double bed in the centre with a bedside table on the left side and a desk on the right. He looks up from my chest and over to the bed. I follow his gaze and walk over to the bottom of the bed and place him there, sitting. I feel the urge to do things so I need to get out of here quickly.
I turn to leave but am caught by something gripping onto my sleeve. I turn around and Sanji sitting there gripping tightly onto me; smiling at me with a picture-perfect, yet slightly drunken beam. I can feel my pulse start to race and my hands start to heat up as I notice that his shirt is loosely hung around his shoulders and I can see his collar bones through the slack of his open collar. He pulls me adjacent to him and presses his lips ever so lightly against mine. Weather he meant to actually pull me in for a kiss or not, he's pushed me too far. I grab the arm that's clinging to my shirt and make him release. My hand is shaking, my palms are sweating and my pulse is racing.
"What's wrong?" He light-heartedly asks. I try to cool my head but it's no use and my body moves before I can think about what it is I'm doing... I act on my desires.
TBC
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Disclaimer: The characters belong to Eiichiro oda; the creator of One piece.