Chapter 11

"LUUUFFY!" the cook called.

Said boy come out of the bedroom.

"Sanji… there's a person in your room!"

Just then did the blond man realize Luffy had come out of his bedroom instead of his own.

"What? Why the hell were you in my room?" he asked with panic showing in his voice.

"I noticed I haven't seen my blue shorts for a while, so I went there to see if they were there by mistake, but there's a person in your bed!"

Franky burst out laughing. "Sanji, you womanizer! Who's the girl? You bring her home and you don't even introduce her to us?"

"N-no…" Sanji could only stutter. His voice seemed to have paralyzed for a brief moment.

"I don't think it was woman! I could only see one foot and that foot was too big and manly for a lady!" Luffy described appealing to his memory. "Maybe it's a thief and he hid under Sanji's sheets in panic."

"That doesn't even make sense, Luffy" his brother said raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Okay, I'm going to check it!" the engineer announced getting up.

"No!" the cook yelled firmly. "It's my bedroom. I'll go check it! You guys stay here."

He rapidly walked into his bedroom to find it empty. He automatically opened his wardrobe.

"Hiding here isn't very effective if Luffy already saw you!" he whispered angrily.

"I'm sorry! But it could convince him that he saw only an illusion" the green-haired man whispered back.

"Couldn't you have done it before he came in? I was able to hide under your bed that time Nami walked into your room!"

"I said I'm sorry. You told me to wait and I fell asleep."

"You're useless, damn it!" the cook said hitting the other on the head. "What am I going to do now?"

The tanned man just shrugged and rubbed his head where he had been hit.

"Sanji? So is anyone there? Or is Luffy-bro hallucinating?" they heard Franky call.

Sanji frown and rubbed his eyes with the tip of his index finger and thumb trying to concentrate. He then grabbed Zoro's clothes and pushed them into the other's chest.

"Dress up!"

"What?"

"Are deaf, you fucking moron? Put on some clothes! Or do you like to walk around naked?" he whispered dangerously.

The swordsman gave him a confused look and obeyed. When he finally had some clothes on, Sanji pushed him out of the bedroom.

"This shitty-bastard was the one inside my bedroom" he announced.

The four at the kitchen titled their head in confusion.

"Zoro?" Luffy called surprised.

"Why are you here?" Ace asked astonished.

"Hmm… well…" he quickly tried to come up with some lie. "I forgot my keys inside my house yesterday. It was pretty late and I didn't feel like bothering the firemen about it. So I remembered you guys. Sanji was still awake and he let me sleep here" he said quite proud of his last-minute story. "He let me sleep in his bed and he slept…"

"I slept on my own bed too! It's my fucking bed. I'm not going to sleep somewhere else, because some bastard forgot his key!" the cook finished before letting Zoro say "on the couch".

Everyone looked confused at him, except for Robin who smiled knowingly at her coffee finally understanding the situation.

"So you slept on the same bed?" Franky asked.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that? The bed is fucking big enough."

Everyone noticed the blonde was pissed off, since he wasn't even watching his language in front of a lady, and it wasn't good idea to ask more questions. No one wanted an even angrier Sanji in their presence. Ace really wanted to ask why the cook hadn't told him Zoro was there before and why when Luffy mentioned there was a person in his bedroom he didn't clarified it right away. But he kept quiet and breakfast went unusually peaceful.

Actually Luffy only made one attempt to steal food from someone else's plate. Unfortunately it was Robin's plate which almost got his head kicked out of his shoulders by Sanji. It truly scared the shit out of the younger boy. It definitely was not a good day to mess up with his cook friend.

Franky announced it was time to leave as soon as he, his wife and his employee were done with breakfast and dragged the black-haired boy out to go to work. The kitchen was left silent as the blond man started to gather the dishes. Zoro was still eating and Ace observed. He had had an interesting conversation with Nami recently. It had opened his mind to new possibilities he had never thought about before. But now they somehow fitted. The girl had admitted she overheard his conversation with Sanji, the one that Sanji was either lying to him or making no sense at all. But Nami told him he might be missing some detail. He could have been asking the wrong question.

"For example, I'm dating, however I do not have a girlfriend." She had said when he asked her to be more specific.

Ace's mind had first thought: 'Of course you don't have a girlfriend! You have a boyfriend'. And that was when it clicked. Could it be what she had meant? He didn't have the time to ask her as she had already left, but it left him thinking. He had no idea why she would suggest something like that, but it explained some details. Why Sanji said he didn't have a girlfriend, even though he admitted he had been on a relationship and why he kept said relationship a secret. If Sanji had in fact a boyfriend he could see him hiding it from everyone. But even if it explained some details, it was hard for Ace to believe. After all this was Sanji.

However, this morning, when he saw Zoro coming out of his friend's room, announcing they had slept on the same bed and judging by Sanji's behavior of not telling anyone before it was necessary, turning incredibly pissed when he was forced to do so and by the other's man embarrassed and lost conduct when having to explain the reason of his presence, it could only conclude Nami was probably right and she most likely knew that.

"So, do you need help to get in your apartment?" he asked, observing closely how Zoro started munching slower. He knew he was just making time to figure out what to say.

"He didn't forget his keys" Sanji replied as the swordsman swallowed. "I'm pretty sure his keys are in his pocket."

"Okay… Why is he here then?" Ace asked carefully. He wanted to hear his suspicion was right from Sanji's mouth.

"He came…" the cook took a deep breath. "He came to see me."

"Why?"

"Damn it Ace! You're a smart man. I'm pretty sure you figured it out already."

"I don't want to make wrong assumptions. I want to hear it from you" the black-haired man explained.

The blonde turned around to face his housemate.

"Zoro is the one I've been having a relationship. I didn't have a girlfriend as I told you. I had… well… Zoro. And I guess we're back together since last night."

The fireman smiled. His friend was finally revealing his secret to him. He wanted to hug him.

"Okay." He kept on smiling while Sanji turned back to the dishes to hide his blush. The tanned man kept his eyes on the food. "You didn't have to keep this a secret for so long. We're your best friends, you know?"

He was interrupted by his phone as it started ringing. He picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Ace-bro! It's Franky!"

"Ah Franky! Did you forget something?"

"No… I was just wondering… we just passed by that neighbor of yours who gets drunk every night. Luffy doesn't know his name. You know who I'm talking about?"

"Ah yes! The drunk guy! Yeah, I don't remember his name either. Hey Sanji, what's the name of our drunk neighbor?" He asked and just then he noticed the blond man held a strangely frozen position. "Sanji?"

Sanji turned around awkwardly.

"Hmm… He's… he's… I don't really know… He's the drunk guy… I'm not even sure he has a name…" he replied with his voice unusually unsteady.

"Okay… So Franky, the guy doesn't have name, why do you wanna know?"

"I didn't ask for his name… I just wanted to know if you know who I'm talking about."

"Oh right! What about him?"

"We just passed him and he told us an interesting story. He says he remembers something from last night, though he's not sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating. I don't think the guy trusts his memory anymore, at least at night. He said he saw Sanji kissing a green-haired man. He's pretty sure it was man, though he's not one hundred percent sure. And well the dude looked confused and he says that memory or dream is a bit blurry, but it got me thinking. Especially because Robin did her all knowing smile. You know how it is, right? And I thought there was something fishy about Zoro's presence there. And well he has green hair! It couldn't be a coincidence with that dude's dream!"

Ace widened his eyes and though Sanji wasn't listening to the conversation he knew what the blue-haired engineer was talking about.

"So do you know something? About Sanji-bro and Zoro-bro?"

The fireman silently searched for permission in his friend's eyes and after some quick, but intense eye contact, he found his answer.

"Well, yeah… I just found out a few minutes ago. I believe that dude wasn't dreaming for once, though I haven't heard about that story yet."

"What? So it's true! Duuudeee! That's suuuupeeee-"

"Hello Ace-san, I'm sorry for my husband, he shouldn't be meddling in other people's lives and he's driving right now, I can't really allow him to talk on the phone, he said it would be a quick call and he already has the answer he was looking for."

"No need to apologize Robin. At least not me, I'm meddling too," He added with a laugh. A soft chuckle was heard from the other end of the line.

"Take care, Ace-san. We'll be talking about this matter soon."

"We sure will." He said with a wide smile. "Take care, Robin."

"Well guys, I'm going to take a shower," the dark-haired man announced and left the room.

Meanwhile Zoro observed as the blond man's knuckles turned white from grasping the counter so hard. The moment the other man stepped out of the kitchen, Sanji, as the swordsman would later describe, sunk. He drooped to the floor crouching, keeping his hands tight on the counter and stuck his head between his knees. Surprised and shocked by the sudden move, Zoro jumped, run to the cook and squatted next to him, laying a gentle hand on his back.

"Oi! Are you okay?" He asked with worry showing in his voice.

As a reply, he received a sudden foot planted on his face. "What the fuck is that worried tone for, asshole?"

"What? What was that for?" he yelled, massaging his sore nose. "I'm not the one who sunk to floor, shit-cook!"

"Say that again and I'll sink you to floor… so deep I'll have to wonder whether to bury your head or not."

He was about to shout a reply like "I'll like to see you try", but stopped himself. Now that he made sure his nose was not broken or bleeding, he was able to focus his attention back on Sanji, who was giving him a stern look, but at the same time his eyes gave away the uneasiness he was probably trying to hide behind that harsh attitude.

"What's wrong?" he made sure to make his voice sound easy and low, but not concerned and caring, so he wouldn't get another kick in his face and not even a little hint of irritation and anger, because that would make it even worse. Just calm, smooth and 'let's get to root of this problem peacefully' type of voice.

The Chef sighed and his hands finally released the counter, slowly dropping down to rest side by side with his body and Zoro noted his always so steady hands were shaking a tiny bit. Sanji then proceeded to bury his head further between his knees and after another sigh the other man had a hard time hearing his next words.

"I wasn't planning to tell everybody so soon. So I'm still dealing with the fact that I just did it and now everybody knows. Even my fucking drunk neighbor."

"If you weren't planning, why did you do it?"

The blond immediately shot his head up to glare at him.

"Why? WHY?" he yelled. "Because Luffy found you, that's why you fucking stupid Marimo!"

"So what? My story was a good explanation. Why didn't you go with it if it was so important to you to keep them in the dark?"

"Come on… It was not a good story and you know it."

"What was wrong with it?"

"Seriously? Where should I start? Oh I know… first is Nami. Nami lives next to you, why would you come to me instead of her?"

"Like hell I would go to Nami! She would make me pay for staying at her house, even if I slept on the floor."

Sanji hummed, seeing the point in his statement. "Okay… Why would I let you sleep in my bed and sleep with you in the same bed?"

"There's where you ruined the story, stupid-cook. You could have let me say you slept on the couch."

"Oh yeah… Because me giving up my bed and sleeping on the couch for a fucking asshole as you would be totally believable" he replied as sarcastically as he could.

"It would… because… you're a kind soul deep down?" the green-haired man said in an asking tone, not quite sure if it was the right answer.

"You're asking me, bastard? I AM A KIND SOUL. Just not towards you, so I don't buy it."

"But your friends would buy it, they know you're a nice selfless person."

That shut Sanji up. Those had been Zoro's words, not his, and it felt good to hear them from his mouth. "Okay… let's leave it… Why wouldn't I have told them you were sleeping in my room before Luffy found you?"

"Because I'm such an insignificant person to you, you even forgot I was here and you were so worried with breakfast you also forgot the detail that you woke up in the couch," The swordsman answered readily with a serious face, determined to make his story believable.

The blond man widened his eyes at first in surprise, but then a soft smile curled his mouth.

"Yeah… I buy it."

"Bastard…"

"Look… it doesn't matter if the story was good or not. The moment I realized I had to lie again to cover up our thing, I remembered how awful it was before, that it was the reason we broke up in the first place. My instinct told not to go through it again. So I made a quick and irrational decision, I wasn't really thinking right, to not lie to my friends. Not tell the truth either. I thought my hostile attitude would keep the questions away."

"So you chose to leave them wondering whatever they wanted."

"It was better than admitting it myself. At least they could also wonder there could be another explanation."

"What made you admit to Ace?"

"He asked a question and it would lead to more lying and I'm tired of it!" Sanji almost yelled. "So my brain dropped down to your level and didn't respond to my rational side at all and I said it. I stopped the lies once and for all."

"Oi! Was the insult that necessary?"

"I'm amazed you spotted the insult." He said with a smirk.

"Asshole! Well I'm glad you told the truth. I really didn't know if I could put up with a whining, stressed, bitchy you again."

"Do want a broken nose?"

Zoro laughed out loud. "Now there are no more reasons for you to stress so much, so please put some weight on those limbs again," he said feeling one of Sanji's way too skinny arms.

"What? What's wrong? Don't tell me you developed some weird fetish about fat guys!" Sanji said eyeing him strangely.

"No… I mean that if you keep going this way, you'll have to change your name to Brook II."

"Aren't you funny? You're forgetting something… Try going yohohoho! I'm almost the same as before, shitty-marimo."

"Yeah… Except that you used to have an ass" the swordsman said, giving a quick, but strong pat on Sanji's ass.

"Ouch!"

"It would hurt less if you had something in there. But seriously this arms creep me out, just by looking, feeling them is even worse."

"I didn't see you complaining last night!"

"Complaining wouldn't make you gain weigh in that moment. I was living the moment. Now I'm thinking about the future."

"Oh? What future?"

"Having sex with you many times again with you back to your normal weight."

"Now I'm not going back to my normal weight just to piss you off, bastard!"

"Do as you please, Brook II."

Before Sanji could reply, Zoro grabbed his chin between his thumb and index finger and kissed his lips. He then stood up, helping Sanji up as well. The cook let out a struggled coughed sound and the green-haired man eyed him questioningly.

"Well… since we're in a tide of telling truths… I… I have something to tell you and ask you…" the blonde said looking nervous all of the sudden and determined not to look Zoro in the eyes. The swordsman frowned, not sure if he wanted to hear those next words. Sanji's attitude was making him feel uneasy. "Remember that night I heard your conversation with Nami?"

"The one after which you became even more paranoid?"

"I kinda heard a bit more than I said I did," the cook said ignoring Zoro's remark.

"Yes?" He really didn't know where the cook was going with this.

"I heard what you said to Nami to make her stop" Sanji blurted out. And it finally hit Zoro. He suddenly knew exactly what the other man was talking about.

"You… heard… that?"

The cook nodded. "So my question is: did you just say it to shut Nami up or… did you mean it?"

Zoro was caught off guard. He just stared into one beautiful blue eye that was finally facing him. He had spent a lot time convincing himself he had just said it to shut Nami up, until he decided to drop the matter and try to forget it. But Zoro wasn't the kind of man who would run away from things. He was the kind of man who would face the problem and would be honest about it. Sanji had just come out of his own plans to stop the lies and face his friends with truth. The swordsman wouldn't be any less of a man than the shit-cook. He wouldn't lie, not to himself and not to Sanji.

"Yes, I meant it." He finally said after a short silence with a neutral and serious face.

The blond was not expecting him to admit so bluntly and he widened his eyes in surprise. But he was more surprised by the wave of warmth that surrounded his heart. He didn't know it would him feel so happy inside by hearing such simple words, to finally know for sure Zoro meant it and he wasn't even trying to hide it.

The swordsman took a step forward, and he was now standing so close to the cook, their noses were almost touching. He looked deep into the infinite ocean that was Sanji's eye. He placed a hand on the blonde's cheek and gently stroked it with his thumb.

"Sanji… I love you. So you better deal with it, shit-cook."

Sanji was sure his chest wasn't big enough to hold his beating heart inside. He wasn't expecting for Zoro to admit he had meant it, but him saying how he felt word by word was definitely not on Sanji's expectations of how this conversation would go. His voice was gone, but he didn't have a reply to that anyway. He just leaned forward and kissed the man in front of him as hard as he could, sending him the message that he could deal with it.

X x X x X

"Zoro!" He heard someone call his name and he knew exactly to whom that voice belonged. He stopped and turned around. "Wait for me!"

"Hey Nami!"

"Hello! It's Wednesday today. The boys and I were at your door this morning, but you didn't answer us. Were you not at home?" she asked.

"Ah!" He had completely forgotten it was Wednesday. "No, I wasn't home."

"Really? Where were you?"

"Oh hello mother, I'm sorry I didn't sleep at home," he said sarcastically. She gave him a mean look.

"Don't be a jackass! You could have at least returned our calls. We were a bit worried, something could have happened to you."

"Sorry to keep you worried mother."

"Zoro! Don't be a joy-killer! Just tell me where you were!"

The swordsman sighed. He guessed it was okay to tell her now, that Sanji had finally admitted to his friends. If he didn't tell her, she would hear it from Luffy or Robin, and then she would be upset for Zoro not telling her and the last thing he wanted was to deal with was an angry Nami.

"I slept at Sanji's house."

"I figured…"

"What?"

"I meant, why did you sleep there?" she asked with a forced innocent smile. He eyed her suspiciously.

"Well… Sanji and I… we kinda are together…"

"Ah! I knew it!"

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't know it. But I had strong suspicions about it."

"What?" Zoro was speechless. Nami was sharp, but he had no idea how she had figured it out. He was so sure he was keeping her in the dark. "How?"

"Don't worry, dear. It was nothing you said" she said bitterly. "So you're back together. I'm so happy! And you finally decided to come out of the closet and tell people! I'm a genius!"

"What again? I really don't know how you can make news like these turned into something about you and how genius you are." The green-haired man said perplexed by the girl's self-centered comment.

"Zoro… Did you really think I happened to leave my book at Sanji's house and ask HIM to bring it to YOUR house, when he lives with my boyfriend and my boyfriend's brother and it would be safer to leave the book at my university's lost and found?"

Zoro just opened him mouth shocked, but no sound came out. He finally found his voice.

"You're a little witch, aren't you?" he said with a wide smile, and for the first time Nami took it as compliment. "You can't keep your nose to your own business, can you?"

"I just want to see my best buddy happy."

"Of course you do," he stated with a hint of sarcastically. "You just like to meddle. And by the way, he may live with your boyfriend and his brother, but you can get Sanji to do whatever you want much faster and efficiently and you know it. You better not abuse it."

She stuck her tongue out to him playfully. "Now… there's question I've been meaning to ask. Who tops?"

"What?" He asked not really getting him.

"You know… who tops?" she asked again giving him an expectant look.

"No. No! You did not just ask me that!" He said suddenly turning around and marching to his building, his original destination. She ran after him.

"Come on! It's killing me… just tell me! It's no big deal!"

"Just let it kill you then. I'm not talking about this." He said in a neutral and deep voice.

"Why? Are you embarrassed? I'm your best friend!"

"I may be your best friend, but I'm not the kind of friend who talks about my sex life. With anyone. Go find another friend for that. Go to Robin."

"Why Robin?"

"Because if Usopp and Chopper have sex lives, I really don't want to know."

"I see… you must be the bottom, then. Even if you're not, if won't tell me I'll just picture you as the bottom."

Zoro stopped on his tracks and faced Nami again.

"Nami… That is the problem. I don't want you to picture it!" He said as calmly as he could.

"Sorry. That request is pretty impossible. I'm doing it right now. Nice ass Zoro!"

The swordsman almost felt like performing seppuku right there in that moment.

"I don't know why Sanji was worried about telling his friends. I should be the one worried about telling my friends." He stated shooting a furious look in her direction.

"Robin is just too polite to say it out loud, but she was picturing it too surely."

"You're making this worse. Don't say anything else about Robin or I won't be able to face her again."

"If you just tell me what I want to know, I'll shut up… If you don't, I can make this even more awkward and embarrassing to you."

"You're a witch!" This time he meant as an insult, the most offensive insult. However she just laughed. An evil laugh for sure. "And you're having so much fun!"

"How much could it hurt, Zoro? Just get over with it and tell me."

She had a point. She was already imagining every possible way, so he didn't have much to lose. And if it was going to spare him from further humiliation…

"Promise me you won't talk about this matter anymore."

"I promise not to force it."

He took a deep breath.

"We both top, okay?"

"Oh… I was expecting that. Now I can picture it both ways and know both happen."

"I will kill you, Nami."

"I'm sorry! I won't tell ever again when I'm picturing it. I'll just picture it in silence."

He just turned away and kept going, trying to erase this fresh conversation from his memory. Nami on the other hand was giggling like crazy.


BONUS – A SIDE STORY

Usopp: "So how did you and Luffy meet Sanji?"

Ace: "Luffy met Sanji when he was 3 years old I think. Sanji was 5."

Usopp: "Really? So young?"

Ace: "Yeah, they were in the same kindergarten. From what I heard Luffy kinda glued himself to Sanji. I think he has a sixth sense and he knew Sanji was going to become an excellent chef."

Usopp: "I'm not surprised…"

Ace: "The funniest thing was next year, when grandpa and I took Luffy to the kindergarten the first day. When people explained that Sanji was now in elementary school, so he wasn't there anymore, Luffy cried his heart out. If I wasn't there that day, I wouldn't believe it."

Usopp: "Oh my god? Are you serious? I can't imagine Luffy crying!"

Ace: "I saw it with my own eyes. But Sanji is sweetheart, so some days after school, he would pass by the kindergarten to see Luffy. His school was very close."

Usopp: "That's cute. But I would have never guessed, the way he's always kicking Luffy now."

Ace: "He does that a lot, but he loves Luffy. He probably thinks of Luffy as a little brother almost as much as I do. It's part of an older brother's job to kick your little brother, when he screws up. And Luffy does that a lot."

Usopp: "How did you meet him?"

Ace: "When Luffy brought Sanji home to play for the first time. Sanji was 10 and I was 11. I found out he was in the same middle school as I was. Sanji brought the best snacks I have ever eaten in my life until that moment."

Usopp: "You know, you're not that different from Luffy…"


I'm so sorry for taking so long to upload ._. I had some free time, but I decided to get lazy, so I really don't have any excuse.

I want to give a big hug to everyone who has reviewed this fic so far. Thank you so much. It really helps to encourage me to write. Thank you so much!

Sanji and Zoro's verbal fights are so much fun to write. It amuses me so much. It's like the characters are writing it for themselves, I just follow their lead. That's why half the conversation was not planned xD Favorite part to write. Nami torturing Zoro is also so much fun too. That's why I like to put her as Zoro's best friend: so she could torture him xD Oh joy! I loved writing those parts in this chapter =D

If everything goes as planned... Next chapter will be the last =O.

(I don't know about other places, but in Portugal you go to elementary school since you're 6 until you're 9. And you go to middle school since you're 10 until you're 14.)