Zoro slicks his hands through his hair, it's still a little wet after his post-run shower. It'll dry soon enough though, it's a nice warm day. He sidles into the Baratie as he usually does at least once a day, the amazingly irritating blonde isn't behind the counter for once, and instead he's sitting in one of the booths by the window.
Surprisingly for Sanji he doesn't even notice Zoro come in, but he's on the phone in all fairness. His eyes are screwed shut and his teeth are gritted. In his free hand he's tensely winding a butter knife around his fingers, sliding it between one then the other so that it makes its way up and down his hand, every so often he seems to just spin it and clutch it tensely as if he wants to leap through the phone and stab whomever he's talking to.
"Yes, I got that but-" Sanji grits out between his teeth.
"No, look… isn't there someone else I can talk to? Someone higher up? We just need a few more months to catch up, we're paying you whatever we can manage, it's not like we've not paid at all." Sanji reasons, spinning the knife in his hand and tapping at it tensely with his nails.
"Listen, I know that you've got a job to do but we just need more time to pay the mortgage. Can't you just drop us down to interest only one, even if just for a little while? I'm working all the hours of the day to keep this place open and we can't just-" Sanji pleads, sounding broken. Zoro hesitates in the floor of the middle of the restaurant, he probably shouldn't be hearing this.
"Please, this restaurant is everything to my father, we're giving you all we have. Can't you just make an exception this once?" the blonde begs. Zoro frowns and peers at the table, there are bank statements, order forms and final demand letters from the bank all over the place.
"The end of the month isn't- hello? Are you still there? Hello? Oh shit fuck shit shit shit!" Sanji snarls, slamming the phone on the table and burying his head in his hands.
"Sanji?" Zoro calls quietly, touching the blonde on the shoulder and startling him.
Sanji looks up at him with stunned tearful eyes, though Zoro can actually only see the one of them. Ever since Kuina died Sanji's somehow become one of the most important people in Zoro's life perhaps… perhaps even the most important. Sanji's brilliant wit and shitty grin was what helped Zoro stick his heart back together after that phone call about Kuina's death shattered it. It's only been a few months but still, he sees him every day, they hang out together. With Sanji around Zoro feels whole in a way that he can't explain.
Only now Sanji looks as bad as he felt the day Kuina died.
"Oh god, Zoro. I didn't even- I'm so sorry I was- let me get you-" Sanji stammers out, trying to get to his feet. Zoro puts pressure on his shoulder and shoves him back into his seat, like hell is he going to let the cook run around after him when he's like this.
"Talk, or I kick your ass. You know I will." Zoro threatens. And he means it too, he and Sanji have had their scuffles since they met, arguments that became so heated that blows were exchanged. Admittedly it is mostly a way of letting off steam and it always pretty quickly devolves to scuffling on the floor, kneeing and elbowing each other until one of them gives up. It usually takes a while but judging by the grin on Sanji's face whenever they fight it always makes both of them feel a mile better. Zoro would admit in the privacy of his head that being sprawled out on the living room floor with Sanji all banged up, sore and sweaty that it was almost as good a stress reliever as sex. Not that he ever thought of Sanji like that of course. Still, fighting with Sanji was easier than getting laid and usually he got a beer and some good conversation after.
Still, a fight isn't what the blonde needs now, right now he needs to talk.
Sanji looks sick. His gaze drops to the paper on the table.
"It's the bank. This place used to be hugely popular so we could afford a really big mortgage on the place, we always turned a really decent profit with enough left over to save or splurge on really fancy ingredients. But then I pissed off some middle man at a fancy newspaper and he went around to all of his friends telling them how awful we were." Sanji explains tightly.
"He even went so far as to bribe health inspectors to harass us when there was never anything wrong with the place at all. You know how finicky I am about cleaning up when I cook." Sanji argues fiercely, looking up at Zoro with determined eyes.
"You're pretty anal about it. But couldn't you just have appealed? There must be something in place to get you re-tested." He frowns at the blonde.
"We did, and they reversed their decision, but the damage was done. No one came to eat here anymore and we had to shut down the other half of the place, through there." Sanji says, pointing to the screen that separates the Baratie from what Zoro had always assumed to be an empty building next door.
"We had to cut back on staff so it's just me and Zeff, but the geezer is old and he can't work endlessly like I can, so we have to pay Patty and Carne to fill in when he needs time off, he still does forty hour weeks though. But with the outgoings and shit we just… we've been under paying on the mortgage and I've been trying my luck with the bank for the last six months but…" Sanji cuts himself off with a shake of the head.
"If I don't pay them for the last two months at least then they'll come in at the end of the month and repossess the place." Sanji finishes tightly, dropping his head into his hands. He's shaking slightly and Zoro thinks that he might be crying.
Zoro is reeling. He knows just how much this place means to Sanji, it's his life and it was his old man's dream. Sanji would do anything for this place and for his old man. This explains why Sanji never takes a day off if he can help it though, if he does someone else has to cover him and, Zoro guesses, they have to pay for it. For a paranoid moment he wonders if Sanji's refusal to let Zoro pay for his food every time has done this, but he shakes it off. The mortgage for a restaurant as big as this, if they do indeed own next door too, in a place as nice and central like it is… it must be phenomenal. His meals that Sanji occasionally gives him for free are just a drop in the ocean in comparison.
"How much would it take to save this place?" He demands, grabbing Sanji's shoulder.
"Zoro, I can't take money from you, and I doubt you have that much just lying around anyway." Sanji answers shaking his head.
"I didn't say that, just how short are you?" he asks again.
"Forty grand, and I've got ten days to earn that in. It's not going to happen, we've lost." The blonde says in a tiny voice and Zoro feels the tremor that runs through him.
"That won't happen, I won't let it. How many people could you get in here, how many could you feed as an absolute maximum?" Zoro questions him, leaping up and looking around the place.
"Like… two hundred at a push. But even in our prime we so rarely-" Sanji protests with a deep frown.
"I don't care, could you feed them if you had to?" He presses, turning back to the confused blonde.
"Well, yes but-"
That's all the answer Sanji needs, Zoro is already running for the door.
"Get everyone working here tonight, get as much food as you can and open up for everyone. You're not going out of business Sanji, not whilst I'm around!" He yells over his shoulder as he sprints out the door.
He heads to the Galley-La company first to see Franky but on the way he pulls out his phone and calls Luffy.
"Oi, Luffy! I've got this great place to eat, we're gonna have a huge party there tonight, we've got the whole place to ourselves. I swear, you can eat until you explode, just pay for it." He pants down the phone as he runs.
"Oh BOY! Is it really good? You know that buffet place won't let me back, they said I ruined the all you can eat deal. Will this place have enough food for me? Oh, can Ace come too?" Luffy gasps excitedly.
"Bring Ace, I don't care if you have to drag him there. All you have to do is pay, alright? It's called the Baratie and it's right on All Blue road, running right through town. Tonight at seven, be there!" He orders as Luffy hangs up with an excited whoop. Well that's Luffy and Ace sorted, no doubt Ace will bring his boyfriend Marco or whatever.
It doesn't matter as by now he's at Galley La. He runs through the buildings, ignoring people shouting at him until he runs into Franky.
"Franky! You know how you said that you owed me big for bailing on me when you were supposed to help me move?" Zoro gasps, trying to catch his breath as Franky looks up at him dubiously from some complicated schematic or plan that Zoro will never understand.
"Yeah but, Zoro-bro, I'm working here. How did you even manage to run in here past everyone? Security should have-" Franky frowns at him.
"Don't care, not my problem. You owe me, time to pay up. There's this restaurant on All Blue road, the Baratie. I need you to bring as many people there tonight as possible and eat there." He orders the blue haired guy.
"I can't just get everyone to-" Franky protests weakly.
"I know you can, and you owe me. Do this for me and we're even, I'll even owe you if I have to, just get everyone there!" Zoro argues back as he backs out of Franky's office.
"Why are you so insistent on this place? What's up with you?" the engineer questions him, following him out of the room.
"It's a favour for a friend, just bring everyone!" He shouts over his shoulder as he heads off in the direction of the university to see Robin.
"A friend? What friend Zoro?! OI!" Franky hollers after him but Zoro is already dialling Usopp's number as he runs.
Zoro spends all morning bouncing from place to place, hitting up all of his friends, all of the mutual friends that he has. He even goes so far as to call up flings and his semi-regular booty call to get them to show up as well. He calls in favours, accepts owing people favours, and even goes so far as to promise to buy half of Nami's drink for her to get her to bring her family. All told though he's fairly certain that Sanji will have people queuing out the door tonight, and he got the people who couldn't make it tonight to agree to show up tomorrow.
He texts the Baratie's address out to so many people that he's sure he sees it when he shuts his eyes. That was of course if he image he saw when he shut his eyes wasn't Sanji's tearful face. Every time he thinks about his friend losing the thing he loves most it feels like his heart is being ripped out. He won't let Sanji suffer like that, and if it means that he has to stomach parties with friends of friends that he doesn't really like then he'll do it a million times over. Anything to never have to see Sanji looking like that again.
When he shows up at six feeling dog tired there are already near thirty people there, forty if you count how many Ace and Luffy are eating for and more are coming in all the time. He smiles in relief and heads over to the D brothers who are wolfing down food like it's going out of style. He doesn't get there though because Sanji catches his arm and pulls him close.
"Zoro, what the hell? All these people say that you told them to be here, did you call up everyone you knew or something?" Sanji asks him, wide eyed with his hand on Zoro's elbow.
"You can feed them all right? Because there's way more coming tonight." He asks with a frown.
"Well, sure but… how many more?" the blonde asks wide eyed.
"You're not gonna have any seats left by the end of tonight. Do you need me to get anything so that you can feed everyone?" he questions, leaning into Sanji's space a little to be heard.
Sanji looks at him, his blue eye shining and looking at him as if he's only just seen him for the first time or something.
"Really that many people?" the blonde asks in a tiny voice.
"I said so. You're not going to be short of that money, so, do you need me?" He asks.
"Shit. I can send Patty out to get more food and I can cook faster than him at any rate and better. Could… could you wait for me? Take people's orders?" Sanji asks him, looking hesitant to ask that much.
"Sure thing. You got something to write on?" He asks. Sanji nods and hands him the pen and paper from his pocket, taking the filled sheets on top. Zoro nods and turns to go to Robin and her university friends as they come in the door.
"Zoro, you got all these people here for me?" the cook asks him from his side, his expression intense but unreadable.
"Of course I did, moron, who else would I have done it for? Go cook, dumbass." He snorts and shoves Sanji in the direction of the kitchen.
He then heads for Robin and her friends.
"So this is where your little friend Sanji is from." Robin purrs as she slides in next to Nami and her sister.
"You knew about this guy?" Nami gasps, looking at Robin.
"He helped Zoro move out of mine, they were very friendly." Robin says innocently in a way that suggests that Zoro had thrown Sanji down on her couch and fucked him or something. Which is stupid because, duh, this was Sanji and it's not like that. But her goddamn tone implies otherwise.
"Zoro!" Nami's sister gasps with a sinful grin. Shit, Zoro can't remember her name. It starts with N. God, this is why he doesn't hang out with his friend's friends or family, he doesn't like talking to people when he's not drunk and he doesn't like talking to people he doesn't really care about. Not that there's anything wrong with Nami's sister, she's just not one of his friends is all.
"Are you working here now Zoro? What about your job?" Nami questions him with a frown.
"I'm only working here tonight, and it's just for Sanji. I'm doing him a favour. Now, are you gonna order something or not?" He prompts with a scowl.
"Social skills Zoro, work on them. What's good here anyways?" Nami asks with a curious frown.
"Everything is amazing, pick something." He growls. They all eventually order and he manages to write the orders all down in neat handwriting that he really hopes Sanji can read. He even manages to write all their drink orders down too and ignore all of their prying questions and giggling laughs.
He rushes around handing order after order to Sanji and working out how to serve drinks, with Sanji yelling instructions at him through the open hatch in the wall behind the bar.
By the end of the evening the place is absolutely packed, with people crowded into booths far more than they should and people having paid and left and new ones replaced them. The compliments are effusive and Zoro readily tells anyone who will listen to come back tomorrow and, hey, the place is open for breakfast and lunch too!
Before too long the pace of ordering has slowed down enough for Sanji to take over as Patty works in the kitchen, just keeping Sanji's dishes ticking over and replenishing as he needs to. Sanji is not only a better cook but a seamless waiter too, putting Zoro's efforts to shame. The cook eventually forces him into a seat at the bar and makes him some special off the menu dish that Zoro has no idea what it is but tastes fantastic. Afterwards he's not sure that he could tell you what was in it beyond just gesturing at the empty plate and making satisfied sounds.
He decides to get his friends drinking more to drive the bill up, he knows that they're good for it anyway. So he sits at their table and starts a drinking contest with Nami which the others all try to keep up with a little. Sanji comes over and starts dishing out drinks.
"SO, SANJI." Nami blurts slightly drunkenly, catching the cook by the elbow. Zoro winces inside, this will be bad.
"How long have you known ZORO here?" She asks overly loudly, gesturing to Zoro who is rapidly regretting getting her drunk at all.
"Uh… a little while my loveliness." Sanji answers, perplexed but still ruthlessly polite.
"So a couple of years? How come you've never told us 'bout him Zoro?! What's with you?!" Nami accuses him and kicks him under the table.
"You're drunk, shut up." Zoro growls back, earning himself a whap on the head from Sanji's order pad for the insult.
"It's actually more like three months, that about right?" Sanji answers, flicking a look to Zoro. Zoro nods and slides down in his seat as all of his friends bar Robin nearly disjoint their necks in their sudden haste to look shocked at Sanji.
"What?" The blonde asks surprised as Zoro tries to calculate the odds of getting caught if he just slides under the table and crawls away from what is sure to be an awful conversation.
"Zoro never makes friends that quickly! We all had to force ourselves on him!" Luffy laughs loudly.
"You all but stalked me for a month, that's not normal!" Zoro argues back, but Luffy just laughs.
"It took you six months to stop looking at me like I was planning to kill you." Robin points out softly.
"And I'm still not sure about that, look will you just-" he protests but Usopp is cutting over him.
"Yeah, and it was about the same until Zoro ever called me and invited me anywhere without Luffy!" the longnose chips in, a few of the others agree.
"Look, will you stop making me look like some evil people-phobic bastard!" He snarls at them.
"Zoro-bro, you don't like people. You know everyone in this room but the only people you actually decide to let be your friends are on this table." Franky says solemnly, gesturing to them all.
Zoro deliberately does not look up at Sanji, he doesn't want to know what kind of expression the cook is wearing right now.
"And for Zoro to do all of this for you so soon…" Nami continues but seems unable to find the words and instead just laughs in disbelief.
"I think I left some whiskey behind the bar." Zoro mutters, getting up from the table and stalking over to the bar. He grabs a third full bottle of whiskey, drops thirty dollars in the till and leans against the side of the bar to drink in peace.
He doesn't want to know what his friends are saying to Sanji. He's really not as bad as all of that. He just… he's clear on what people are. He has lovers, he has friends and he has people he tolerates. There are also people he hates but he didn't invite any of them. Why should he pretend to be friends with someone if he isn't really? It's just rude. It's not like he's crazy or anything.
He glances to the side to see Sanji standing silent and wide eyed as his friends laugh and talk to him. The blonde looks his way and pins Zoro with a look of confusion and something… something deeper. He's seen Sanji look at him that way before, late at night when they've had a bit to drink Sanji looks at him sometimes with real affection in his eyes. It's a testament to how powerful their new friendship has become that Sanji can seemingly put that intense bond into a look that right now has frozen Zoro to the spot.
He shakes it off and heads out the back and offers to wash up. Zeff gladly accepts his help and to Zoro's pleasure leaves him in silence.
Zoro glances out into the restaurant and sees Sanji tallying up bills and the people he invited gladly paying up and tipping heavily, as they should for such amazing food. The till is overflowing and the beep of the card machine is continuous. Zoro smiles to himself, no way the Baratie is going out of business now, he can hear Luffy and Ace swearing to come here every day.
Eventually everyone trails out of the restaurant at about two in the morning and Sanji joins him at the sink where the cook washes and Zoro dries.
"How much did you make?" he questions after a little while.
"There's costs as well of course but… I think about fifty grand I don't… that's more than I needed for the rest of the month. How did you even manage that?" Sanji asks him, leaning away from the sink as the last of the water drains out of it and he dries his hands.
"I just called in a lot of favours and got my friends to call everyone they knew. Some couldn't make it so I hope you'll be able to serve the same number tomorrow too." He shrugs, sliding the last of the plates away into a cupboard off to the side.
Sanji's hand catches on the back of his shirt and the blonde rests his head on the back of Zoro's neck, he stays still.
"How can I ever repay you for this? You've saved us, in one night you've…" Sanji breathes against Zoro's back. He can feel Sanji's eyelashes on his neck.
He turns and the cook is so close, his face flushed with emotion that makes Zoro's heart warm. Sanji loves this place so goddamn much, it's just radiating from him, and now he gets to keep it.
"You don't owe me a thing. I told you, I wouldn't let your dream die whilst I was around." He grins back.
"But still…" Sanji frowns.
"Sanji, you're one of my closest friends, you don't owe me a thing. Unfortunately now you're not gonna be able to get rid of them, so I hope you liked them, Luffy especially." He teases, that makes the cook laugh.
"I've never seen anyone eat like that." Sanji agrees with a chuckle, heading out to the front to clean the tables. He throws Zoro a wet rag and he helps out, turning chairs onto the table when he's done.
They're both dog tired so they mostly clean up in silence, though he catches the cook staring at him over and over again, with some unreadable expression on his face. He must just be so overwhelmed at not losing the Baratie. Zoro smiles, it feels good to help Sanji out, he deserves it. He made the worst day of his life okay, the least he can do is this.
When Sanji locks up, they both walk home together, shoulders bumping tiredly as they follow the route together, Sanji's building is just beyond his after all. They come to a stop at the foot of Zoro's building and as he turns to say goodnight to the cook he finds Sanji giving him that overwhelmed expression again.
"If you thank me again or say you can't repay me one more time I swear you'll be picking your teeth up off of the floor." He threatens, getting quite tired of Sanji making him feel weird inside from the gratitude or whatever. He thinks it's that expression Sanji keeps wearing.
The blonde laughs and instead does something unexpected. He leaps forward and wraps his arms around Zoro's neck, pulling him tight into a hug that says all those things and more. His hands linger on Sanji's sides for a moment before sliding around his back and holding him close as well.
"Careful shitty cook, I might think that you're being nice to me if you keep this up." He warns quietly.
"Can't have that." Sanji agrees with a sniff as he pulls away and swipes a hand at his eyes. The cook would probably deny that he's crying a little bit.
"See you in the morning for breakfast, curlicue." Zoro calls as he heads into his building.
"Yeah." Sanji replies faintly.
Zoro yawns and heads inside to go to sleep. He's so so tired. He'll probably never hear the end of his secret friendship with Sanji from the others. Robin and Nami will pull at him for information forever and Franky will tease him. Right now though… he's okay with that. It was worth it.