Spit It Out

by HelAuditore

Sanji has repelled love for his entire life as countless events destroyed his trust in it. Unable to deal with his emotions, he indulges in the pleasures of the flesh with random strangers while Zoro, his childhood best friend, is left aside to watch. They share the dream of bringing their metal band to a professional level, but their hearts and minds will make it ever so hard.

12. Chapter 12

Warnings: sexual content.

A/N: It's been 84 years since my last update, but it seriously seems like this story gets harder and harder to write as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, I know exactly where this is going and how it's going to get there, but it gets hard to put into words what I have in mind. Conveying two different POVs and getting into either Zoro's or Sanji's mindset isn't exactly a walk in the park, especially when they're being so hard on themselves.

Anyway, as always, I'm so glad that you guys like this story and all your reviews mean so much to me, you're all lovely! Thank you!

Hopefully you're all going to enjoy this chapter as well, even though major shit is about to go down from this point on.

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Chapter 12

Parties all have different outcomes, different purposes and different ways to go. Zoro had learned to dislike parties in his early teens, mostly because he and Sanji rarely got invited by anyone, and when they began to attend some in high school everyone would get wasted, high and fuck in every possible place making Zoro extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention how it got like when it was Sanji who had started to disappear into random rooms and return with dark hickies and come stained clothes.

Zoro had always been all about drinking with friends, clubbing was perfectly fine too, but being gathered in a single house with a bunch of people he knew nothing about made him want to run away. Once they had started to get to know the people who then became their group of friends, parties became rarer and usually very laid-back and with no strangers, so that Zoro came to enjoy them.

The party for Vivi's birthday and the start of the Murder Of Crows + Freakshow tour was something else, they had invited people who never before joined them and at first Zoro felt like it could have been awkward to spend all that time with people who they didn't actually know all that much.

Initially it had been just like that, everyone was divided into small groups only talking to each other, maybe drinking and eating, while Usopp and Luffy had decided to monopolize Franky's PS 3. Zoro thought it felt a bit like going back to embarrassing birthday parties from high school, and for more then once he had thought about going back home because of how ridiculous things might have got.

Then suddenly the small groups began to interact with each other, mostly because Bonney had overheard something about Franky having watched Over The Top a couple nights before and claiming that when he was younger he had won an arm wrestling contest.

"I won one too, you know?" Bonney arched an eyebrow as she bit into a slice of pizza and proceeded to speak with her mouth full "And I can still beat both Kidd and Killer." she grinned over at Killer who had blushed just slightly.

"You don't always beat me." Killer grumbled.

"She does, she kicks your sorry ass every single time." Heat rubbed it in, and Bonney couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that so?" Franky smirked, adjusting the collar of his shirt. He threw Robin a brief glance, then focused back on Bonney "Are you challenging me?"

Bonney pushed as much pizza inside her mouth as she could fit, then shrugged a shoulder "Sure, why not?" her words distorted as she chewed.

Bartolomeo, who seemed to have taken up residence on the spot next to Zoro on the couch snorted "Franky's gonna get his ass kicked."

Zoro's focus was on Sanji sitting on the floor with Vivi and Nami sitting at each of his sides not too far from the couch. They seemed to be speaking about something important, and some times Sanji looked over at Zoro for a second, then looked immediately away. Zoro was so absorbed by them that he had nearly forgotten about Bartolomeo's presence, so when he spoke Zoro nearly flinched. "W-what?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

Bartolomeo looked at him confused for a few moments, then explained "Franky... He just challenged Bonney to arm wrestle with him."

Zoro's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed at how weird that sentence sounded "Huh?!"

Bartolomeo blinked, then pointed over Zoro's shoulders. Zoro turned around to discover that what Bartolomeo had said was true, because Bonney and Franky were indeed ready to arm wrestle.

"What the fuck is going on?" Zoro asked in bewilderment. Suddenly, a weight dropped on Zoro's lap, making him gasp and rear back.

"He's clearly trying to impress Robin," Sanji stated from his new seat "he just doesn't stand a chance, with none of the ladies he's dealing with." he grinned down at Zoro, then briefly glowered over at Bartolomeo.

Zoro didn't know where to put his hands, and above all he didn't really have a clue about what was happening or when Sanji had decided to sit sideways on his lap. He felt Bartolomeo shift a few inches away from them, and when Zoro glanced at him he saw him chew nervously on his lower lip.

Sanji was doing it again, he was being jealous and possessive over Zoro and Zoro decided he was going to bask into the feeling that Sanji establishing dominance was giving him.

"I'm pretty sure he was lying when he said he won an arm wrestling competition." Sanji spoke softly, as if he wanted only Zoro to hear him.

"U-uh... I wouldn't know..." Zoro shrugged and decided to place a hand on Sanji's hip and the other on Sanji's thigh.

Sanji arched an eyebrow and looked down at his own lap "Whoa there, octopus Marimo."

Zoro's first instinct would have been that of retracting his hands, but then he looked up blankly at Sanji "Seriously? You lounge all over me whenever you get the chance and I'm the octopus?"

A look of utter surprise was painted on Sanji's face "Whoa! Do you realize that this is the longest sentence you've pronounced since this party has started?"

Zoro's jaw clenched and his nostrils flared "Shut up, idiot. That's bullshit."

Sanji shook his head "I'm serious!"

"Fuck!" Franky yelled, and Sanji and Zoro both looked over at him. He looked flustered and slightly in pain as he massaged his bicep, while Bonney guffawed as she stood up clearly victorious.

"You're incredible, Bonney!" Robin chuckled as she applauded.

"I know, I know." Bonney bowed slightly, then went to the food table.

"Ha! I told you he was hopeless!" Sanji clapped his hands together.

"I heard that!" Franky growled.

Zoro sniggered as he looked over at an extremely flustered Franky "Wanna try out with me?" he teased with an arched brow.

Sanji raised his eyebrow as well "Oh, me too!" he waved a hand.

Franky glowered at both of them "Fuck off."

Robin stood up "Don't be so bitter Franky, she could have broken your arm and dislocated your shoulder, but you're still in one piece."

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows, an amused smile curving his lips as he watched the anger on Franky's face turn to bewilderment.

"Oh. Oh, I'm not bitter at all! I will accept my defeat like a man!" Franky flexed his arms, and poorly tried to mask the pain that dared warping his face.

Robin giggled and shook her head "I'll get you a drink. You deserve one."

Franky stared at the girl who turned to walk up to the booze table, possibly even more incredulous than before.

"That's ridiculous." Sanji muttered, making Zoro look at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Did he seriously make a good impression on her by losing like that?"

Zoro huffed and rolled his eyes "You're as deep as a puddle."

"Hey!" Sanji cried, clearly outraged.

"You have no idea how women work, you treat them in the exact opposite way you should." Zoro started, getting more and more fired up "What makes you think that a woman can't like someone like Franky? And why wouldn't Robin like Franky even if he lost to Bonney?"

Sanji was just about to say something in return when he saw a hand thrusting a plastic cup nearly between his and Zoro's faces. Zoro scowled down at the cup, then up at whoever had just handed it to him, and was greeted by an embarrassed yet smiling Bartolomeo.

"I got you some rum. Thought y-you might like it." Bartolomeo explained, not without stuttering, but trying to look as cool as he could.

Zoro saw Sanji's nostrils flare and his jaw clench, but he still grabbed the cup "Uh... Thank you, bud." he slightly raised it.

Sanji turned to Bartolomeo who looked so proud of himself it was endearing, but Zoro was sure Sanji didn't think the same "Are you a fucking idiot or what?"

"Cook..." Zoro sighed.

"We're talking and you just butt in with a shitty cup of booze?" Sanji went on, the vein on his neck bulging "You're rude as fuck!"

"I was just trying to be nice!" Bartolomeo tried to justify himself, looking from Sanji to Zoro "I-I didn't mean to..."

Sanji snapped his fingers, his eyebrow cocked and his lips were in the shape of an 'O', just as if he'd just realized something important "I see what you did here," he nodded, a knowing and totally fake smirk plastered on his face "you saw Robin do this for Franky and thought it was a great idea to do the same, huh?" he laughed a hollow laugh "You're so smart, my friend. A+ flirting going on here!" Sanji clicked his tongue and stood up from Zoro's lap "I'll leave you guys to it."

Zoro hadn't seen it coming, he thought that Sanji was going to keep arguing with Bartolomeo and that he would have had to break the fight, but instead Sanji left, or rather tried to.

"Oi!" Zoro grabbed Sanji's wrist.

Sanji turned around to glare at Zoro "Let go of me." he said in the iciest tone Zoro had ever heard from him.

"Don't be stupid! He just–" Zoro started, and he didn't even know if he was trying to make up excuses for himself or Bartolomeo.

"Sanji, I'm sorry." Bartolomeo suddenly chimed in, Zoro could read in his expression a sort of determination that he'd rarely spotted on Barto's features. "I do things without thinking about theirs consequences one too many times, and I've hurt you twice in the span of a few hours. I'm sorry."

Zoro was genuinely and positively impressed by Bartolomeo's courage and argumentation, but he knew that things like those didn't really work on an angry Sanji, especially not when they came from someone he didn't like much.

Sanji took a good look at Bartolomeo and snorted "Shut the fuck up." he said dry, then shook Zoro's hand off of him "Enjoy that drink, Marimo. Hopefully it won't come out of your nose." he turned around and walked up to Ace who was apparently having a deep conversation of some sorts with Usopp.

Zoro sighed and shook his head, then looked over at Bartolomeo and the baffled expression on his face. He didn't say anything, he wasn't going to comfort nor compliment him, so Zoro looked down at the booze in his hand and knocked it back in a single gulp, hoping that Sanji's not too subtle hex wouldn't work.

"I'm an idiot." Bartolomeo muttered to himself.

Zoro was already rolling his eyes, he didn't have time to nurse an angsty, bulky, green-haired dude, he already had himself to look after. Still a phrase just naturally rolled off his tongue, and it was more of a spoken out thought to himself than a warning for Bartolomeo "There's no winning with him, trust me. I've known him all my life."

"I don't know how to act with him," Bartolomeo sunk back into the couch next to Zoro "he's my favorite singer and all I did was antagonizing him." he let out a dramatic sigh and Zoro watched him throw an arm over his eyes.

For the first time Zoro realized that Bartolomeo must have liked Sanji all along, if not in the same way he seemed to like Zoro, he still liked him as a musician, Bartolomeo loved Murder Of Crows, after all. The realization left Zoro slightly dazed, yet even more aware of how hard Bartolomeo could fail at getting his idols to like him.

Zoro found himself completely unable to spill even just a couple words of comfort because he had no idea as to how Bartolomeo could stop antagonizing Sanji, since Sanji's mind was pretty much set on hating the guy – Zoro couldn't say he completely approved of it, but as long as it didn't cause direct harm to Zoro he didn't really care about sticking his nose into it.

Zoro looked over at Sanji who had started sharing a bottle of that horrible strawberry vodka (that the blond liked so much) with Ace, and eventually even Usopp asked to have his own cup filled with it.

"He stopped talking to you because I was an idiot."

Zoro heard Bartolomeo sigh, so he turned his head to look at him "Well, in an ideal world he wouldn't have left just because someone interrupted us." he shrugged, because yes, it had been impolite of Bartolomeo to randomly chime in but Sanji's was still an overreaction.

"I'm causing troubles between the two of you," Bartolomeo grimaced as if he was enduring a great pain "but you two are like the best duo of all times and I don't want anything to–"

Zoro widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows, suddenly cutting in and stopping Bartolomeo's verbal diarrhea "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Listen, it's alright. We're not married, and if you know us as much as you say you do, then you'll know that we fight quite often."

Bartolomeo nodded "Exactly like a married couple, yes."

Zoro groaned "But we're not."

"I know," Bartolomeo nodded again "but I also know that you're super close and I don't wanna–"

Zoro whacked Barto on the nose with his empty plastic cup to silence him "Stop. You can't possibly ruin anything, alright?" he retorted, kind of exasperated. He wanted to tell Barto that he was giving himself more importance than he actually had, but Zoro didn't want to be so blunt – though he would have been ready do to it if the situation called for it.

"Okay, okay!" Bartolomeo grabbed the dented cup from Zoro's hand and intensely stared down at it "So you..." Barto squeezed his fist around the cup, scrunching it a bit "Want another drink?" Bartolomeo asked, not daring to lift his gaze on Zoro's and turning a bright shade of pink.

Zoro's face scrunched into an unreadable expression, he couldn't even tell what he was feeling exactly but he really thought that Bartolomeo's flirting efforts were both ridiculous and sweet. Zoro wasn't a flirter, not at all, he had practically never done it in his life and it was mostly because he had never cared about just getting laid, and the only person he had ever liked up to that very day was the only person he had ever truly wanted to sleep with and... He had never really flirted with Sanji, probably not even as a joke.

There had been a time in his life in which Zoro had considered the possibility of being similar to his brother Luffy, but Zoro wasn't completely uninterested in sex, he only was uninterested in sex with people he couldn't really give a shit about. Yes, there had been a few drunken intercourses with a couple of his friends from his kendo team when they were in other towns for tournaments, but that was about it, he certainly hadn't charmed the pants off of his sexual partners in those occasions.

Zoro didn't want to give false hope to Bartolomeo, but he didn't even feel like stepping all over his efforts because he could tell just how hard it had been for Barto to muster up the courage to ask him that, so Zoro sighed and nodded "Sure. But I'll go with you. I don't want a slave who fetches me drinks from the table."

Bartolomeo's eyes widened slightly and he blinked a couple times before spluttering out "I-I don't mind being your slav–" he stopped mid-sentence, his eyes now the size of the moon and his face impossibly red "I mean! I don't mind–"

Zoro couldn't help but laughing into Bartolomeo's face and clapping a hand on his shoulder "I get what you mean. Stop talking or your head will blow up."

Bartolomeo's lips pressed firmly together as he vigorously nodded and then followed Zoro towards the booze table.

–

As the night went on, everyone gradually got more hammered. Just by taking a look at every single person scattered around the huge living room you could tell the level of drunkenness they were in. Well, everyone except for Brook who had decided to call it a night and go back home.

Usopp had started hitting on Bonney like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow, and when she had slammed him into a wall and kissed the air out of his lungs just to shut him up, he had randomly bursted into sobs and Bonney had left him to sit in a corner to go eat an entire pizza. Later on Luffy had run up to Usopp to try and comfort him, but just before he could hold him in his arms he had thrown up all the alcohol and food he had in his body on Franky's living room floor, thing that could have costed Luffy his life if Franky's face hadn't been buried into the crook of Robin's neck who was giggling and chuckling at the nonsense that was being whispered against her skin.

Killer and Heat had decided to go outside to smoke weed, since Franky had previously told them that he didn't want his house to smell like a junkie's lair. After a while Bonney had dragged both of them back inside because she wanted to kick their asses at Tekken, but they all ended up falling asleep on the floor in a heap of limbs and with the game still on.

Nami and Zoro had started one of their drinking contests with Vivi and Bartolomeo cheering them on, but at one point Zoro had stopped because Nami had made too many comments about Bartolomeo acting like a very cute and supportive boyfriend, and Zoro didn't want to punch her – especially because he knew Nami's fury all too well.

Sanji and Ace, on their part, abandoned by Usopp, had started looking more and more angsty as they drank and whispered to themselves about God only knows what... That until Ace saw Luffy vomiting all over the floor and Usopp crying not too far from him, so he pulled himself together and marched (or rather staggered to their rescue) leaving Sanji to sit alone and visibly outraged on the floor.

Zoro had just stopped Bartolomeo's attempt to lay his head on his shoulder as he drunkenly laughed at something that Vivi had said, when he caught a glimpse of Sanji glowering at the floor like it had insulted him. Zoro stood up, not even noticing that Bartolomeo had collapsed against the armrest of the couch when he had moved away from him, and walked up to Sanji.

The blond's expression had turned blank while absentmindedly chewing insistently down on his labret, as if he had forgotten about Ace leaving him there all of a sudden and was now deep in thought. Zoro crouched down in front of him, tilted his head to the side as he searched for Sanji's gaze, then waved a hand in front of his face.

Sanji flinched slightly, straightening up and squinting at Zoro as if it were the first time he'd seen him that night "Marimo! Don't sneak up on me!"

Zoro snorted "I literally walked up to you. I didn't do anything sneaky."

Sanji arched an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest "Whatever." he muttered, then his eyes wandered over Zoro's shoulder "Why did you leave your boyfriend alone? He's gonna cry." he nodded as his gaze went back to lock with Zoro's.

Zoro groaned softly and hung his head "Please, can you just shut up about Bartolomeo?"

Sanji shrugged his shoulders and pushed his lower lip out "I don't know, can he get off your dick for a minute?"

Zoro opened his mouth to say something in return but then closed it again as he screwed up his eyes "You care an awful lot about him sitting on my dick. Someone might start to think you're jealous." he knew too well that he shouldn't ask questions like those to an intoxicated Sanji, but it might have been the only way to tear the truth from his lips.

"Shut your mouth, moss-headed bastard!" Sanji sneered as he leaned closer to Zoro, looking ready to gauge his eyes out "I don't fucking like how he acts around you," he breathed out, suddenly so close to Zoro's face that he could distinctly smell the alcohol and tobacco in his breath "I don't fucking like it a bit." Sanji repeated, and this time the sentence sounded less slurred than the first time.

A chill ran down Zoro's spine, and he couldn't tell if it was because of Sanji being so close to him or for his words, but it was probably a mixture of the two. Zoro pulled back slightly, just a couple inches, then gulped before he could speak again "Then you're a stupid, jealous Cook." his voice was somewhat hoarse, but he didn't even think about clearing his throat.

"I'm not–" Sanji's nostrils flared and he bit the tip of his tongue before he finished his sentence "Fuck jealousy. Fuck him. Fuck you." his voice was almost a hiss now, and for some reason it went straight down to Zoro's crotch. Sanji grabbed the almost completely empty bottle of vodka that was sitting not too far from him, but Zoro caught his wrist before he could bring it any closer.

"I think you've had enough." Zoro chastised him with both his voice and his piercing look.

Sanji's visible eyebrow quirked up "I think you haven't had enough, yet."

Zoro rolled his eyes "This has nothing to do with me."

Sanji shook Zoro's hand off his own wrist and raised the uncapped bottle towards Zoro's mouth "C'mon, make a boy happy," he paused and his lips curled in one of those smirks that made Zoro want to smash his own head into a wall "drink up."

Zoro grimaced "No, you know I can't stand that stuff. It smells like shit." he turned his head away from the bottle.

"C'mon! Don't be a weak ass!" Sanji insisted.

Zoro sighed, only giving in because he didn't want to have a completely pointless argument with Sanji over strawberry flavored vodka "Alright!" he reached for the bottle but Sanji promptly slapped his hand away.

"No touching." Sanji furrowed his eyebrows, then jerked his chin towards Zoro's mouth "Open wide."

Zoro's eyebrows furrowed impossibly deep as he gawked at Sanji, bewildered. What was he on about?

Sanji huffed "Open your damn mouth, you moss-brain!" he none too gently tugged on Zoro's chin until his jaw slacked open "There! It wasn't that hard." Sanji smirked again, then moved to sit on his knees before he could start pouring vodka into Zoro's mouth.

As soon as the booze hit Zoro's tongue he couldn't help but scrunch his nose at the terrible taste of medicine mixed with alcohol – God how much he hated that crap. He could also feel it starting to drip from his chin and down his neck, and cursed mentally because of how sticky and smelly his skin was going to be, but it was then that Sanji frowned and stopped pouring the liquor into Zoro's mouth.

"Shit. You can't even drink." Sanji muttered. Zoro was just about to tell him whose fault it was and where exactly he could stick that bottle, but he froze at the sudden feeling of Sanji's warm tongue licking up the streak of booze, painfully slowly, stopping by his lips and pulling back only to say "I don't know why you hate this so much."

"C-Cook..." Zoro breathed out.

"Shut up, Marimo." Sanji whispered before he started sucking on Zoro's bottom lip.

Zoro froze up, he heard the sound of the discarded empty bottle thumping on the floor and rolling away, then felt Sanji's cold hand hooking on the nape of his neck as he pulled him closer for a kiss. He didn't know what to do, how to respond, he looked at Sanji's closed eyes and felt his lips moving against his own but couldn't do anything. Zoro knew that Nami and Vivi were probably watching them, hell even Bartolomeo was with them and he could have been seeing them. That wasn't right, not at all, he didn't want people to look at them while they kissed, that wasn't some sort of show for voyeurs.

"Stop it, stop!" Zoro said lowly as he broke away from Sanji.

Sanji looked terribly offended by Zoro's actions "What the fuck?"

Zoro huffed and subtly jerked his head in the general direction of the couch where Bartolomeo and the girls were sitting "They could be watching us." he explained briefly.

Sanji snorted "Who the fuck cares? Let them be the huge perverts they are." he shrugged and reached out to catch a grip of Zoro again, but to no avail.

"I care! I don't want them to lurk!" Zoro growled as he pushed Sanji's hand away.

"God! You're such a pain in the ass!" Sanji groaned as he slowly got up and tugged on a green strand of hair "Get up, you bastard."

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows but stood up anyway. As soon as he did, Sanji grabbed him by the wrist and walked towards the corridor that would bring them to the stairs that lead the way to the upper story of the house, where the bedrooms were. A mild feeling of panic crept into his body, he didn't want things to take a problematic turn, especially not with a drunken Sanji.

"Is here alright?" Sanji suggested as he stopped in the small space that lead to Franky's store room, right beside the stairs.

"Sanji, I–" Zoro tried to protest, Sanji's name slipping through his lips, maybe not even too accidentally, thing that apparently only served to fire up the blond even more.

"Oh, I like the way you say my name, Marimo," Sanji grinned "I'll make you say it again," he pushed Zoro against a small portion of the wall "maybe you'll scream it." he whispered into Zoro's ear.

The tone was so deep and intense that Zoro let out a small moan only by hearing that. He had never heard Sanji speak that way, it was nearly a completely different sound that came from a side of Sanji that Zoro could only ever dream about. He felt Sanji's lips against his again, pressing roughly until Sanji's tongue slipped between them and Zoro had no chance but to part them and let Sanji's tongue in.

The kiss was hungry, almost bruising, it was very similar to the one they had shared that night in Zoro's bed, but Sanji had taken the lead as he pressed his entire body against Zoro's and pinned one of his hands over his head. Sanji's mouth moved from Zoro's, his teeth nipped at the perfectly shaved jaw, then at his pierced lobe, making Zoro's earrings tingle and his body shake slightly.

"Someone's definitely awake." Sanji whispered into Zoro's ear as he squeezed his thigh between Zoro's legs, earning a moan and a curse that made Sanji chuckle. His lips latched onto Zoro's neck to lick, bite and suck at the tender skin and tear a few more grunts from Zoro.

Zoro knew he shouldn't have let Sanji do all of that, no matter how much he wanted it and how much he was enjoying it, but his mind was completely hazed by the pleasure and utter want for Sanji's entire being. He wanted Sanji's lips on his again, he wanted to taste his mouth once more, to feel that cigarette and strawberry flavor on his tongue again, so he gently pulled on Sanji's hair until he pulled back.

"What is it, Marimo?" Sanji licked his own lips "You don't like it?"

Zoro huffed and shook his head "Shut up." he pulled Sanji in and crashed their lips together.

Sanji's hands went both to cup Zoro's cheeks, and Zoro held him by the hips as they ravaged each other's mouths. Everything was going so fast that Zoro's head spun slightly, he was nearly out of breath but he felt as though that if he stopped kissing Sanji he would have died. He wrapped his arms around Sanji's waist and held him close, he felt Sanji's nails scraping down his neck and groaned against his lips – they were like fierce beasts trying to tear each other apart and who enjoyed every single moment of it.

"I want you." Sanji moaned, almost whimpered out.

It was like the spell that held Zoro bound had been broken and he'd snapped back to reality "Me too but..." he swallowed thickly and watched as confusion washed over Sanji "You're drunk, we can't." he shook his head "And we'll regret this. You'll regret this in the morning, I know you."

Sanji's face warped with rage "Why don't you want me?" he spat "What is it, huh? Am I that repulsive to you?" his voice was filler with anger but clearly dripped pain, and that ache went straight through Zoro's chest.

"What are you talking about?!" Zoro asked in a higher tone than normal "Repulsive? You're not repulsive!"

"Oh I bet you'd fuck me right up against this wall if I were Bartolomeo, huh?" Sanji growled as he took a step back from Zoro "You fucking asshole!"

Zoro's jaw dropped, because the last thing he thought he'd hear was that "You need to fucking stop bringing him into every damn fucking thing! I've had enough of this bullshit!"

Sanji shook his head "I see him and how he tries to lead you on! And I see that you like it! I'm not fucking blind!"

Zoro's eyes widened and he spread his arms "You're fucking stupid if you think that I like him that way!"

"So you do like him!" Sanji insisted.

"Oh my fucking God!" Zoro groaned as he threw his head back, then placed both hands on Sanji's shoulders "I don't give a fuck about him!"

"Don't touch me!" Sanji bursted as he pushed Zoro's hands away from him. He glowered at Zoro and kept quiet for a few seconds before placing his hand on his own stomach "I'm gonna puke."

Zoro's eyes widened as concern suddenly spread through him. He knew it was bound to happen, Sanji had definitely drank too much to keep it all down. "I'll take care of you."

Sanji lifted up a hand "Fuck off, I'll handle myself."

Zoro didn't fully expect that reaction but he understood it, so he raised both hands in surrender and watched as Sanji quickly, but definitely not without any problems, went upstairs.

"Fuck..." Zoro scrubbed both his hands over his face, then up his gel slicked hair. He couldn't believe how stubborn Sanji was about that whole thing with Bartolomeo, yet Zoro couldn't bring himself to say anything more, to spit out his feelings and get everything straight. He just couldn't.

Zoro took one last look at the now empty stairs and shook his head. Sanji was starting to be more and more impossible to deal with, not to mention that he had always been a very susceptible drunk and trying to reason with him was out of question. One thing hadn't changed, though, and it was the way in which Sanji couldn't keep his hands and mouth away from Zoro when deprived of his inhibitions, and Zoro still couldn't wrap his head around it.

He had been around a drunken Sanji plenty of times, still Sanji had never done more than some lounging on him like he'd always do even while being sober, angry make out sessions had never once taken place and Zoro was still shaken by it. He still felt the pressure of Sanji's lips against his, his teeth on his neck and his thigh against his crotch – oh and if anyone looked between Zoro's legs they'd definitely wonder what he'd been up to. He couldn't even hope to have imagined it all because he knew he had at least one huge bruise on the crook of his neck, easy to cover up, yes, but it was extremely real.

Zoro didn't know what to do or think, Sanji had the power to break him and in that moment his mind was shattered into pieces. He needed to sit and he needed a drink, or maybe several. Yes, several drinks sounded perfect.

Even as he moved back to the living room he couldn't shake away the voices in his head, the one voice that told him that Sanji cared about him in more than just a friendly way, that Sanji was jealous and wanted him all for himself, but there was also the voice that told him how much alcohol Sanji had had and reminded him of how fragile and greedy Sanji could turn while intoxicated.

"Shit!" Zoro breathed out as he squeezed his eyes shut. He hadn't even noticed that he had finally made it to the living room, and barely acknowledged the hand on his wrist.

"Zoro..."

A feminine voice. A pause. A tug on his wrist, then two hands were pressed on either side of his face.

"Zoro, are you alright?!"

Zoro shook his head and blinked his eyes open to see Nami in front of him, thin eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Fuck, I thought you were dying or something." Nami sighed out in relief and let go of Zoro's head.

"I wouldn't cross out that possibility." Zoro grunted, then turned to the half empty booze table "I need to get drunk."

Nami shrugged a shoulder "Sure, I'll keep you company."

Zoro raised an eyebrow at her and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

–

Sanji had liked to think that after a long and awful day at work he would have had a nice and fun night with his friends. He had genuinely thought and hoped that, maybe to mainly convince himself as a mean to get through the day and be strong, even if he was seriously struggling between the idea of committing either a patricide or a suicide.

When Sanji had decided to go home for an extra snooze he had accidentally slept in, causing all hell to break fucking loose.

Zeff had barged into his room and literally pulled him out of bed by tearing the blankets and covers all the way off the mattress, yelling like he was possessed and scaring the living crap out of the poor sleeping boy. An epic fight had followed, in which insults and curses had spilled and flooded the room and probably the entire neighborhood, with Zeff threatening to fire and kick Sanji's ass out of the house. Nothing new, yes, but he had brought up the Murder Of Crows gig from the night before and made everything worse.

Sanji needed to grow up.
Sanji needed to stop believing in fairy tales.
Sanji needed to sleep when it was time and at home.
Sanji needed to focus on work.
Sanji needed to stop dreaming to make a living out of something so stupid like music.

Same old, same old.

Zeff had never hit Sanji, but that kind of verbal abuse had always bruised him more than any slap he could have ever taken, and after that stupid fight over absolutely nothing he had been downgraded to waiter and his pay had been reduced until he was going to learn his lesson, a.k.a. fuck knows when exactly.

Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant.

Sanji sucked it up and stopped fighting back, there was no winning anyway, but he was going to take his revenge once his band was finally going to be famous. They were on the right path, they could do it, and then Zeff could take his stupid restaurant and shove it entirely up his ass.

The whole thing with his father had nearly made him forget about all the overwhelming, unwanted and panic-inducing feelings he had been literally slapped with since the night before, but not too late into the day Sanji had started to remember all of them.

He felt nauseous for the greatest part of the day, barely put anything into his stomach and tried to block out all the thoughts about Zoro that crossed his mind, even though it was close to impossible.

Sanji felt like he was completely unprepared to see him, like he was too exposed to the world and his skin wasn't thick enough to bear with it, but he needed to be strong and continue to live his life like he always had. He couldn't just hide from Zoro, it wasn't the right way to deal with it, he could get over it and add up a new layer of steel around his heart.

Luckily enough the Baratie had been packed most of the time, leaving Sanji very little time to think about anything that wasn't waiting tables, smiling, dealing with customers and everything else that came with his temporary job. He calmed down eventually, all the panic slowly seeped out of him and left him with a feeble sense of anxiety in the pit of his stomach, it wasn't perfect but it still was something.

All in all he had been pretty proud of himself even with the way he had handled things during the party, he had tried to be as relaxed as he could and he had also found the strength to face Zoro like nothing inside of him had ever changed... That until Bartolomeo showed up and started hovering around Zoro like a fucking shadow, and Sanji's murderous instincts came all the way back.

He had always been jealous of his and Zoro's friendship, but Zoro wasn't really one for making best friends that easily and unless it came to their group of friends he wasn't really that interested in other people, so Sanji had never really felt particularly threatened by others. Bartolomeo though, was a whole different thing. Everyone and their mothers had understood that he was completely smitten with Zoro and Sanji loathed it.

Bartolomeo had always been a hardcore fan of the Crows, and had always shown a particular interest for Zoro, much like Duval was totally obsessed with Sanji, but things had taken an unexpected turn and Bartolomeo had literally intruded their lives and started getting more and more attentions from Zoro.

His strong dislike for Bartolomeo was tricky, just as much as his new found feelings for Zoro. Sanji had been completely torn between not wanting to deal with both of them and wanting to keep Zoro close to himself and Bartolomeo as far away from Zoro as possible.

Even Nami and Vivi had told Sanji about how Bartolomeo had glued himself to Zoro as soon as he had set his feet past Franky's threshold, and it was then that, fueled with annoyance, Sanji had finally mustered up the courage to sit on Zoro's lap while Bartolomeo was sitting next to him on the couch. It had been the best move, Zoro had started ignoring Bartolomeo and all his attentions were for Sanji, making him feel very powerful... Up until Bartolomeo had had the nerve to interrupt their talk by handing Zoro a drink he had got for him, a drink that Zoro hadn't even asked for.

Maybe Sanji should have stayed where he was, he shouldn't have moved away from Zoro because he was practically playing Bartolomeo's game and giving him what he wanted, but Zoro had looked like he didn't give a shit about Bartolomeo's rudeness and that had made Sanji's blood boil.

From that moment on he had spent the rest of the night with a pair of extremely angsty drunks: Ace and Usopp. They were both complaining about love and relationship crap, but their disappointment fit Sanji's mood enough to have him drink with them. Usopp had been shit out of luck with relationships too many times, and Ace couldn't shut up about Smoker not being there and not even having called him. Sanji would have gladly kicked both of them in the teeth but vodka was flowing and he knew that soon enough he wouldn't even hear their voices anymore.

And there he was a few hours later, kneeling on the bathroom floor and hugging the toilet as he bid farewell to everything he had filled his stomach with until that moment. Drunk out of his mind he couldn't think straight, actually in that situation there was really nothing he could think about, except for how sore his jaw felt and how much his throat burned.

Sanji pulled back and sat down against the tub, resting his head on the lip and closing his watery eyes. Everything spun for several seconds, so he pressed his fingers against his closed eyelids and once again he asked himself why would he do this to his body, even though the answer was always obvious and always the same.

He slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, seriously contemplating if he should have just crawled inside the bathtub and slept in there, since he was so exhausted that he didn't even want to breathe anymore. Then his other senses started to gradually wake up and he grimaced at the awful taste in his mouth, reminding him of how gross it would have been to just go to sleep after throwing up.

Sanji hummed to himself and carefully got up to his feet, flushed the toilet and took a couple steps towards the sink. He tried to avoid looking at his own reflection in the mirror and washed his face and mouth as thoroughly as he could.

The fresh water felt like heaven against his heated skin, and as he started feeling better his mind suddenly reminded him of what had happened with Zoro. He had no idea what had triggered those actions towards him, he mostly blamed the huge amount of booze in his system and probably even Bartolomeo constantly being attached to Zoro, but at this point he couldn't tell if he wouldn't have done it while being sober.

Sanji looked at himself in the mirror, at the sicklish color of his skin and the smudged residues of his make up, and realized for the first time that everything in his life was spiraling out of control: his relationship with his father, his job and now his most important friendship was being threatened. Sanji held onto the sink and looked down at it, he was still far from being sober and his throat ached as if a blade had been embedded into it, his head felt light and if he didn't sit soon enough he knew he would have collapsed.

Tearing himself away from the sink, Sanji staggered towards the tub one last time before giving in and sitting inside of it. The ceramic was cold and his clothes weren't thick enough to protect his body, but he couldn't do anything about it, he needed to rest, even just a little bit. He let his eyes fall shut, curled up as much as he could and tried to ignore the feeble pounding in his head.

–

When Sanji blinked his eyes open, he had no idea that he had slept for nearly two hours, his back hurt, and once he sat up and stretched out it cracked really hard. He got out of the tub and straightened his clothes as much as he could, and when he discovered that his socks were soaked with water Sanji didn't even know when exactly he had taken off his boots nor where he had left them.

He sighed and rubbed at both his eyes with his knuckles, then finally decided that it was time to get back to the party – or what was left of it.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Sanji furrowed his eyebrows at the realization that the house was way more quiet than before. He couldn't hear anyone speak, nor yell, there was just some music playing at what seemed to be a fairly low volume and nothing else. Could it be that everyone had already given in to sleep, even if it still felt quite early to Sanji? There was only one way to know.

He had just began to pad his way down the hallway and towards the staircase when a sound caught his attention, well several sounds actually, moans to be more precise and they all came from the guest room located on the opposite end of the corridor. Sanji couldn't hold back his curiosity, especially when he noticed that the door of the room was cracked open, so he bit his lower lip and tiptoed towards it. He didn't even think about how creepy he was being, but then again he still hadn't gained back complete control over his brain, so he just rolled with it, held his breath and peeked inside.

The last thing he ever thought he was going to see with his very eyes was the scene presented behind the door that was supposed to be shut, but it seemed like everyone had had one too many drinks. On the queen sized bed laid Vivi, her light blue hair was tousled and her dark cheeks were flushed, one of her hands gripped the pillow tightly while the other was between her legs, her fingers tangled into orange hair.

A weird chill ran down Sanji's spine, he shouldn't be watching that, he never wanted to intrude that particular intimate moment between his two friends, yet he couldn't stop staring at the way in which Nami was working her fingers and mouth on her lover and at the way Vivi's back arched up and her jaw hung open in utter pleasure. At least they were both still fairly clothed, and Sanji couldn't help but smirk at the fact that Vivi was wearing the lace teddy lingerie he had bought her as a present.

As he shamelessly stared at the two girls making love a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Vivi and Nami weren't with Zoro anymore, he had been left alone with Bartolomeo and anything could have happened. Sanji's face warped with horror and he quickly pulled away from the door to carelessly run downstairs, missing a step and risking to break his neck, but still managing not to kill himself.

When he finally made it into the living room, out of breath, he saw that everyone was indeed dead to the world and the stereo was playing for no one. Franky and Robin were mysteriously missing; Luffy and Usopp were sleeping cuddled up together on an armchair – which looked incredibly uncomfortable and they were probably going to be very sore in the morning; Killer and Heat laid asleep on the floor in front of the switched on TV and PS3, with Bonney sleeping practically on top of them; Ace looked like he was the only person still awake, huddled up on the armchair next to Usopp and Luffy's with a cup of something alcoholic in one hand and his cellphone in the other. Then he finally spotted them, on the same couch they had sat almost all night long, Zoro and Bartolomeo laid together as they slept facing each other and way too close for Sanji's taste.

Sanji saw red, or maybe black, he stopped thinking, his mind firmly set on how the shitty Marimo had rejected him and went to Bartolomeo behind his back, just like Sanji had thought and feared all along. He didn't know what to do at first, he clenched his fists as he kept staring at the two bastards, panting as his rage grew stronger by the second, then something clicked in his mind and his gaze focused on the only person still vaguely conscious in the room. Yes, that was it, he was Sanji's best solution to whatever was bothering him in during that very day – after all, hadn't he planned to get drunk and fuck someone?

Sanji marched towards the armchair and crouched down to Ace's level, the brunet's eyes were squinting down at the screen of his cellphone, so Sanji brushed his jet black bangs off his forehead and took the plastic cup from his hand. "Ace, give it a break. You should rest."

Ace half-glowered at Sanji "I'm really hurt, Sanji. It really fucking hurts." he slurred out in a whine.

Sanji nodded "I know that," he stroked Ace's cheek with the back of his hand and Ace instinctively closed his eyes as he leaned into the touch. "But I know the best medicine for it."

Sanji's words made Ace's eyes snap open again "You do?"

Sanji nodded and stood up a little too fast, he masterly ignored his dizziness and wriggled his fingers towards Ace "Come with me?"

Ace seemed to be thinking about it for a few seconds, but after that he immediately held Sanji's hand and got off of the armchair. He tried to pocket his cellphone three times, and after the first two misses he finally managed to slip it inside his pocket with his free hand.

Sanji guided Ace towards the staircase, thoroughly avoiding to look at Zoro and ignoring Luffy who had momentarily opened his eyes and called out for his oldest brother.

"Can you go up the stairs?" Sanji asked as he climbed the first couple of steps.

Ace scowled down at the stairs, then shrugged "Maybe?" then he looked up at Sanji "You?"

Sanji snorted "I might miss a couple."

Both guys started laughing so hard that Sanji had to sit down and Ace kneeled on the first step and leaned against Sanji. By the time that the laughter had simmered down to casual chuckling and mild wheezing, Sanji and Ace were making the kind of eye contact that in a matter of moments lead them to instinctively crash their lips together.

It was obvious that it would happen, almost scientific, two young men hurt and drunk, who had always kind of had a bit of a thing for each other, of course they would end up making out, if left alone. Sanji hadn't exactly studied it like this, he had mostly relied on the skills he usually used on men, but he had quickly realized that he wasn't even going to have to make too much effort.

Ace was the first one to break the kiss, gasping for air as he clearly wasn't properly rationing out his oxygen in his intoxicated state. Sanji tipped his head back, closing his eyes and letting out a long, drawn out sigh. He knew they needed to reach the remaining spare bedroom but he wasn't sure they could make it.

"Feel like climbing upstairs, already?" Sanji asked when Ace seemed to have regained control over his breathing.

Ace grimaced and tilted his head slightly "Y-you really think it'd be okay?"

Sanji furrowed his eyebrows "What?"

Ace pursed his lips and waved his hand in the general direction of the top story of the house "Your remedy..."

Sanji rolled his eyes, then mentally cursed at his stupidity for having given himself a stab of pain that pierced right through his brain. "We're both adults, right? Why wouldn't it be okay?" Sanji shrugged a shoulder.

A crease formed between Ace's eyebrows as he scrunched his nose "Smoker, I... I really–" he tried to explain, but Sanji cut him off as fast as lightning.

"Oh c'mon!" Sanji pulled a face "He isn't here, is he? And he didn't even call you!" he watched Ace's expression going from uncertain to pained, and before he could say or do anything Sanji leaned in to place a soft kiss to Ace's lips "I'm here though, we can lick each other's wounds." he whispered, suggestive.

There was a sudden trembling in Ace's body, and as soon as he heard those words he pressed his lips harder against Sanji's, thirsty for the attentions he needed and that could only get from the man sitting in front of him. Sanji swung an arm around Ace's neck, pulling him even closer as he deepened the kiss – he didn't even care if someone saw them, even because he was far too gone to give a damn.

"Let's go upstairs, please." Sanji muttered against Ace's lips. Ace nodded and gripping the handrail tightly he pulled himself back to his feet and tried to help Sanji up as well.

It took them double the normal time to get upstairs, as Ace kept risking to trip over the stairs and drag Sanji along with him, but they made it. Sanji squinted at the closed doors in front of him and tried to remember which one was the empty bedroom.

"Let's just go there." Ace mumbled as he started in the direction of the room that Sanji had peeked into not too long before.

"No! Not there!" Sanji grabbed Ace by the arm with both hands "There's Vivi and Nami inside that room."

Ace scowled at him "What? How do you know?"

Sanji snorted "I saw them." Ace's eyes widened "Everyone's fucking in this house, how cool is that?" Sanji went on as he guided Ace into the opposite direction.

"I haven't fucked in a while." Ace grumbled and stumbled over his own feet, bumping into Sanji's back.

"Well at least wait for me to be naked!"

Ace sniggered and pressed Sanji into the door of the bedroom to bite his neck and run both his hands up Sanji's shirt.

"Ah, fuck!" Sanji groaned as he tilted his head to the side, making more room for Ace's teeth. "We're still outside the room."

Ace's response was grinding his hips against Sanji's and opening the door behind him, making sure that he wouldn't tumble inside by looping an arm around his back.

Sanji laughed and backed away from Ace, he was utterly thrilled by the sudden hunger in the other man's eyes, so he climbed onto the bed and sat on it "Close that and come here." he purred as he beckoned Ace with his forefinger.

Ace threw the door shut and reached the bed with two long and somewhat wobbly strides, letting Sanji wrap both arms around his neck as they kissed again. Sanji pulled away shortly after to change position, pushing Ace down on the mattress and straddling him. Ace placed his hands on Sanji's hips and hooked his fingers on the hem of his pants, he looked up bashfully at him like he was lost and hopeless and that only served to turn Sanji on and unleash his dominating side.

Sanji's lips curved into a mischievous smirk as he began to undo Ace's belt "Relax, sweet summer child," he started as he unbuttoned and unzipped Ace's pants "I'll take good care of you."

Ace's lips curled into a small smile and he visibly tried to ease the tension in his body, letting his head fall back and his eyelids flutter shut. "Everything's spinning. Shit." he pressed his fingertips against his eyes.

Sanji pulled Ace's cock out of his boxers and bent over to speak lowly into Ace's ear "Soon enough you won't even know where you are." he sucked on Ace's earlobe and earned a deep groan in return. He didn't think Ace could be so responsive with the amount of liquor he had filled his body with, but then again he was young and definitely knew how to hold his booze.

Sanji thumbed at the slit of Ace's cock, pressing down on it hard enough to tear another moan from his lips, then started pumping his fist along the shaft. He felt Ace move his legs and bend his knees, he panted and cursed under his breath at the delicious friction and soon enough he was searching for the button of Sanji's pants himself. It took Ace a lifetime to succeed in undoing Sanji's pants, partly because he was drunk as hell and partly because the work of Sanji's hand felt so good that he could barely accomplish anything that wasn't moaning, and at one point Sanji exasperatedly did it himself.

"Thanks." Ace muttered as he bit his lower lip.

"Yeah, yeah." Sanji let go of Ace's erection and rolled on his side to kick off his pants and underwear, then quickly resumed his previous position "Where were we?" Sanji asked as he ducked his head to sink his teeth into the crook of Ace's neck.

"Ah yes," Ace growled lowly "we were right there." he wrapped his fingers around Sanji's cock and began to stroke it in a slow but steady pace.

"I knew it." Sanji licked a long streak along the salty skin of Ace's neck, then nipped at his throat, leaving him breathless for a couple seconds which served to Sanji as a cue to pump his hand faster.

A groan got caught in Ace's throat, and when it finally found its way out it was louder than he had intended. Somehow, Ace managed to increase the pace of his hand, causing Sanji to begin rocking his hips to match Ace's strokes. Sanji moaned against the wet skin of Ace's neck before moving his head up to go back to ravaging Ace's mouth with his own. Ace kissed him back, messy and clumsy, his energy clearly decreasing as things got more and more heated and the booze in his system numbed his mind.

Sanji kept leading the kiss, his hand stopped moving up and down to focus on nipping and sucking on Ace's bottom lip – it was warm and soft, and when Sanji had bit down on it a little too hard he had tasted metal on his tongue. Sanji had a bit of a kink for biting and scratching people hard enough to draw blood, and at that point he was ready to resume jerking Ace off fast enough to hear him whimper Smoker's name out as he came. Sanji didn't care if Ace had called out for Smoker instead of him, he wasn't doing it because he wanted Ace to love him or anything, so he just ignored it and nipped softly at Ace's chin.

"Already?" Sanji teased.

"I told you, it's been forever..." Ace whined, clearly embarrassed, as he struggled to keep his fingers clasped around Sanji's shaft, his legs trembling and his breath ragged.

Sanji arched up an eyebrow "Let's find out how many times I can make you come, shall we?" he suggested as he casually wiped his hand on the bedspread.

"Jesus..." Ace huffed and rubbed at his forehead.

Sanji shifted back, nearly losing his balance and toppling off the bed as he reached the edge "Fuck!"

Ace grabbed him by the front of his shirt out of instinct, taking Sanji by surprise because he didn't think his reflexes would work so well in his state "A-are you alright?" Ace asked, concerned "Maybe we should stop..."

Sanji rolled his eyes, whacked Ace's hand away and tugged his pants past his hips "Shut your mouth you stupid moss-brain." he murmured absentmindedly as he bowed his head to take the head of Ace's cock in his mouth, not even realizing what had just slipped past his lips.

"W-wait..." Ace asked in confusion, but quickly forgot what he was going to protest about when he felt Sanji's tongue twirl around his awfully sensitive flesh.

Sanji knew it could have taken a short while before Ace would grow back hard, especially since he was intoxicated, but he knew he could count on his skilled mouth and fingers. His hand wrapped around the base, stroking it slowly and gently twisting his fist every now and then as his lips enveloped the upper part of Ace's cock and sucked softly.

"Shit!" Ace slammed both hands down on the mattress "Ahh! Fuck!" one of his hands moved to the back of Sanji's head and slightly gripped at his hair.

Sanji felt Ace's cock twitch and start to harden up again, so he pulled it out of his mouth and pumped his hand up and down its full length a couple times as he watched the extremely flustered man underneath him squirm and moan. It was so rewarding to be able to bring people to that point, Sanji loved to see how men fell apart under his touch, nothing else could make him feel so powerful.

Sanji felt his own erection stir, but ignored it as he went back to take Ace's in his mouth, this time starting to bob his head as he sucked hard and gently scraped at the skin with his teeth until he felt Ace's fingers tugging slightly at his hair.

"S-Smoker, n–..." Ace slurred out "No teeth. T-too much..."

Sanji let out a huff of air through his nostrils and avoided using his teeth, so he concentrated on the friction that his tightened lips provoked on Ace's skin and used his tongue piercing to tease the underside of Ace's cock and the throbbing vein just below it. He felt Ace's hips buck twice at the teasing, Sanji knew that he wasn't controlling it, still he placed a hand on Ace's hips to keep them as still as possible as he deep throated him.

"Holy fucking–!" Ace growled out "I can't. I can't!" he gripped tighter at Sanji's hair and tried to spread his legs as much as he could, even though the pants around his knees didn't allow him to move as much as he would have liked to.

Sanji knew that Ace was close, the body language told him and the amount of bitter pre-come that he could taste in his mouth spoke volume. Sanji had thought about slipping a finger inside of him and give Ace a stronger orgasm, but he didn't have the time as Ace's climax hit him suddenly and filled Sanji's mouth before he could even realize it.

Sanji's reflexes weren't the brightest at the moment, but he did succeed in keeping Ace's rocking hips as still as he could while he rode out his orgasm, and even if it had been harder than usual Sanji also managed to swallow most of it.

When he finally pulled back and wiped his mouth on the back of his wrist, Sanji looked at the hot mess that was Ace: completely disheveled, panting, trembling and still humming and whining to himself. On a bare portion of his toned abdomen was still the residue of his previous orgasm and some of it had soiled his shirt too. That was indeed a beautiful sight for Sanji, there weren't many things he liked more than watching a man right after making him come.

Sanji was panting as well, he let himself drop on the bed beside Ace and couldn't help but slide his hand down his own stomach and grab himself. He had been aching for some attention, some relief, and as soon as his fingers touched his cock he couldn't help but let out a quiet moan. Sanji would have much preferred a pair of lips around his erection, or maybe someone to ride into oblivion, but at that point anything would have done as long as it led him to his release.

He bit his lower lip, teeth clicking just slightly against the metal of his piercing, his hand began to move up and down in a steady pace, making his hips roll and his knee bend. Sanji shut his eyes and tilted his head back, he felt his bangs sticking to his sweaty face, and when he squeezed the head of his cock between his fingers he let out a yelp.

All of a sudden a pair of cold lips was against his neck, and a hand clasped around the one he was using to pleasure himself.

"Let me..." Ace whispered in a hoarse voice, and Sanji let out a small whimper, letting go of his own erection.

Sanji felt Ace's tongue lapping behind his ear while his fist pumped at a sloppy motion that still did its job, Sanji thrust his hips to increase the friction and groaned, his hand moving to grab onto Ace's hair.

"Faster!" Sanji growled, and Ace complied, stroking him as hard and quick as he could. Sanji's toes curled and his hips lifted off the mattress as he felt his orgasm building up fast and let his knees drop to the sides until it finally hit him, and he unloaded himself over Ace's fist.

Sanji tried to catch his breath and wet his chapped lips with his equally dried tongue, as he let go of Ace's hair. He touched his wet stomach and groaned "We should clean up." he suggested, even though he had zero will to get up from the bed and search for tissues. His shirt had probably been stained as well, just like Ace's, but he was too tired to be upset.

"Yeah..." Ace muttered with his eyes already shut "Later."

Sanji glanced at him and sighed "Let's get under the covers at least..." Ace hummed but didn't move a muscle.

Sanji pursed his lips and looked down at Ace's legs tangled in his own pants, he was still wearing his boots too. Sanji groaned and proceeded to pull Ace's boxers up and remove his pants and boots. The task wasn't as simple as it sounded, not with the way Sanji's head had started to spin and ache, and with his completely drained energy that didn't even help him lift Ace's heavy limbs.

Once he had finally made it through the ordeal, Sanji tugged down the covers and slapped Ace on the chest to wake him up.

"No sir! The boiler is fixed now!" Ace bursted as he abruptly woke up.

Sanji scowled at him "What the fuck?"

Ace growled and covered his face with his hands "Turn off the light."

Sanji rolled his eyes "Get under the damn covers." he reached out for the switch next to the bedpost and turned it off before finally sinking underneath the covers.

When he shut his eyes his head was still slightly spinning, but his consciousness slipped away as fast as lightning making him fall asleep like a log, with no uncomfortable or poisonous thoughts to torment him.

–

Even morning people at some point will cave in and need more time to rest, especially after exhausting days and long, complicated nights.

Time... Sanji had stopped acknowledging its very existence when alcohol had been severely involved and the hours mixed together until he couldn't tell anymore at what time exactly he had lost consciousness on one of Franky's beds. What Sanji could tell, though, was that people had taken up the nasty habit to startle him awake in the worst possible ways.

During the last moments of his slumber, Sanji clearly felt the bed shake and heard a muffled thump, then when he tried to pull the covers over his head he heard some incoherent words being shouted at him until someone ripped the comforter off his body.

"Hey! What the fuck?" Sanji whined, a shiver running through his body as he was suddenly exposed to the cold of the room. "It's freezing!" he curled up on himself, in desperate search for warmth.

"No, wake up! You need to wake up!"

Ace's panicked voice reached Sanji as it would in a dream, at first. Then everything came back to him all of a sudden, like a bucket of icy water, startling him awake.

"Shit!" Sanji sat up way too quickly, his spinning and sore head making him squint and massage his forehead.

"What the fuck happened here?" Ace asked, his voice nearly an octave higher than usual "Why are you half naked? Oh God!" Ace cried as he thrusted his hands in his ruffled hair, horror twisting his features.

Sanji pulled the sheets over his lower half and waved a hand towards Ace "Shh shh! Don't yell, okay? Just don't! Calm down!" Sanji rubbed at his eyes with the same hand. He knew he couldn't ask Ace to calm down, especially not when his own heart was racing in his chest, and he couldn't quite believe what he had actually done himself.

Ace spread his arms in disbelief "How can I–?" he realized he was still shouting, so he took in a sharp breath and repeated in a lower voice "How can I possibly calm down? I just woke up in a bed with you half naked beside me!" then he pointed at his own shirt and at the bedspread "A-and there's–" he stuttered, covering his eyes with a hand "Fuck, there's come everywhere!" he choked on the last sentence.

Sanji's nostrils quivered and so did his lips when he tried to speak again "A-Ace... I..." he didn't even know how to explain it. He remembered every single thing that had happened with Ace, but he also knew that deep inside he hadn't really meant for it to happen. Somehow he was surprised that he had actually gone ahead with his crazy vendetta, but now everything felt painfully real.

Ace was staring at Sanji with widened eyes but they looked vacant, like he wasn't really looking at him. "Fuck, I'm gonna–" he pressed a palm against his mouth and staggered in the direction of the small toilet of the room.

"Holy shit." Sanji whispered to himself and nervously ran his fingers through his hair. He could hear Ace dry heaving and coughing before throwing up, but he couldn't bring himself to stand up and give him a hand. Well he was pretty sure that Ace wouldn't even want him anywhere near him.

Sanji quickly got off the bed and searched for his pants, once he had found them he fished out his phone and checked the time. It was still before 10 am, so chances were that everyone in the rest of the house was still dead to the world – he needed to flee, and pretty fast too. He tugged on his boxers, and while he was about to pull on his pants Ace moved to tower over him.

"Are you running away?" Ace asked in a mixture of disbelief and outrage, his voice hoarse and slightly broken "You can't leave me alone, not in this fucked up situation!"

Sanji looked up at him and saw his red eyes and tear streaked cheeks, his heart tightening at the sight. "I can't stay here, Ace, I just can't!" he stood up, but Ace pushed him to sit back down on the bed.

"You think I can?" Ace roared, but the tears wouldn't stop rolling down his cheeks "You gotta tell me what the fuck happened, because I don't remember a fucking thing and–" his voice got caught in his throat as a violent sob shook him "Shit!" he vigorously rubbed at his eyes, then pinched the bridge of his nose "Zoro's gonna fuckin' kill me."

Sanji's heart stopped for a few seconds, he grabbed Ace by both arms and tugged on them "No! No, Zoro doesn't have to know about this, okay?" he stood up and shook his head "We made a mistake. A big, stupid mistake, okay? We were drunk, and... We were lonely–" Sanji tried to roughly explain, but ultimately didn't even know what to say or how to justify their actions.

"How?" Ace cried out "How am I supposed to face my brother, knowing that we fucked?"

Sanji raised his eyebrows "We didn't go all the way, though!" he corrected him as if it could lessen the seriousness of the situation, even though it was all in vane. He looked at the raw grief in Ace's expression, he would have wanted to ease his suffering but he knew there was no solution.

"Gee! What a relief!" Ace snorted, sarcastic, then tried to wipe away his tears "He trusted me and I stabbed him in the fucking back!"

Sanji couldn't exactly tell what the fuss was all about, especially because Zoro and Ace weren't dating or anything and all this desperation had started to feel a bit odd. "He's not your boyfriend, so you didn't betray him or anything." he pulled a face.

Ace's face warped in an unreadable expression, and for a split moment Sanji feared that he would have chopped his head off. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? He's my brother and he–" he bit his tongue and his gaze fell on the floor as if the words he wanted to say had just been dropped and he was searching for them.

Sanji furrowed his eyebrows "This might sound a bit problematic, you know?" he tilted his head slightly to the side as he tried to meet Ace's eyes again.

Ace growled in frustration "Stop implying that we're being incestuous or other bullshit! That's not what I mean!" he tightened his fists along his sides and ground his teeth.

Sanji raised his hands in surrender "Alright, alright!"

"You were way more sober than me," Ace started, and Sanji felt the blood in his veins begin to freeze "why didn't you stop me?"

Sanji's teeth immediately went to clasp around the small metal hoop hooked to his lower lip. He knew what he had done, he knew he shouldn't have screwed Ace for many reasons, and he perfectly knew that Ace wasn't so upset because he and Zoro had something going on – of course he knew it wasn't the case, still he couldn't bring himself to spill out the reason why he had lead Ace on.

"Sanji..." Ace growled lowly, demanding a quick answer.

Sanji shook his head "I wanted it. We both wanted it." he began, waving a hand between the two of them "You know we've talked the whole night about how horribly we were feeling, how lonely we were despite having all those people around." he shrugged, and as he watched the attentive way in which Ace listened he wasn't sure that he still wouldn't be furious "I needed someone to want me, I needed someone to fall apart beneath my hands, my body..."

Ace licked his lips "I do remember our conversation, and I do have bits and pieces of memories from last night." he admitted with a few slow nods "But I can't believe we did it, I mean... You're Zoro's best friend, I'm his brother we can't do this to him!"

Sanji nervously scratched at his neck, he was seriously dying for a cigarette but he had no idea where he had left his last packet.

"Look..." Sanji let out a shaky sigh and rubbed at this eyes with a hand, he felt more drained than ever but he needed to leave that house before Zoro woke up, so he placed a hand on Ace's arm and went on "You're his brother and you're sacred, just like the other way around – you shouldn't fuck you brother's best friend, but it's happened, alright?" he looked straight into Ace's reddened eyes and squeezed softly at his arm "We were drunk and we fucked up. But we can just forget about it, right?"

Ace's eyebrows knitted together in horror "I can't forget what I've done! I'd punch myself in the dick for what happened!"

Sanji dropped his head and let out an exasperated growl "Ace, I'll punch you in the dick if you don't listen to me!" he looked back at him "We won't say anything about this, alright?"

Ace pressed his lips together and looked away, swallowing thickly.

"Look at me, Ace!" Sanji tugged on Ace's arm "Zoro doesn't have to know. Especially not now that we have the whole tour thing going on."

Ace stiffened at those words but turned to look at Sanji "I–" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat "Shit, I feel so awful." he shook his head.

Sanji's lips twitched, he knew he had pushed Ace into that mess, but he couldn't possibly pull him out of it, there was just no way, and he knew that asking Ace to keep everything bottled up was hard but he really couldn't go shouting it for everyone to hear it.

"I know you feel like shit, I am dying here too! But you can't say a word about last night, do you hear me?" Sanji reiterated as he placed both hands on Ace's shoulders.

Ace's nostrils flared but he didn't reply to Sanji, he kept looking aside with trembling lips and a tightened jaw.

"Talk to me, Ace." Sanji shook him gently, and Ace pushed his arms away from him.

"I still can't believe we put ourselves in this pile of crap!" Ace sneered as he finally looked at Sanji "W-we should have stopped! You should have stopped me!"

Sanji's eyes widened "Again?!" he huffed and took a step back "I was really into it and you were too, you know? How could we possibly stop in that condition?"

"I have no fucking clue," Ace dropped to sit on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands "but I wish we would have!"

"Well we didn't," Sanji replied promptly, spreading his arms "we kissed, and gave each other a couple orgasms because we needed them."

Ace pulled at his hair as he listened to Sanji's words "Shut the fuck up! It's still wrong! Even if we needed it!" he snarled as he looked up at Sanji "I fucking betrayed my brother! He's gonna hate my guts!"

Sanji's rage built up inside him faster than he thought, and it really took him a lot of self-control not to slap Ace across the face. "He won't fucking know if you keep your mouth shut, you moron!"

Ace's eyes darkened all of a sudden, there was no more desperation in them, just anger "You're a piece of shit, you know that?" he began in a low growl "How can you be so fucking calm about this? We're in this together!"

Sanji's eyebrows knitted at the change of tone and expression, but didn't falter "I'm not calm, you idiot! Do I look calm?" he huffed, bewilderment washing over his face "I know damn well we're in this together, that's why I need to get out of here and you need to keep quiet about this whole thing!"

"Of course!" Ace snorted as he spread his arms "You get your ass out of here and leave me here to lie to my brother!"

Sanji rolled his eyes and moved to collect his boots from the floor in order to slip them on "Your brother, your brother..." he mocked Ace's voice as he zipped up the first boot, then went to fix the other "You don't have to lie, you just gotta shut up. It's that simple." Sanji could still feel the nervousness thrumming through his body, but if he didn't keep up a cool facade he was never going to escape the situation he was in. "Either way, I wouldn't worry too much," he stood up and shrugged a shoulder "I was gonna fuck your brother, but he pushed me away."

Ace's jaw dropped and simultaneously his eyes grew twice as bigger than normal "W-wha–?" he sputtered out as if the wind had just been knocked out of him.

Sanji tilted his head "Told you." he patted Ace's shoulder "You'll be fine."

"What do you mean y-you were gonna–?" Ace tried to ask, but it seemed like words were stuck in the back of his throat.

Sanji licked his lips and shook his head "I was drunk and..." he frowned his lips, shrugging both shoulders "I wanted him. So I tried to... You know, convince him. But it didn't work."

Ace's expression remained frozen and Sanji couldn't figure out why "What? Are you jealous?"

The moment those words were uttered Ace's face went back to threatening and aimed a punch right to Sanji's nose, but the blond was quick enough to block it with a hand.

"What the fuck?!" Sanji cried out as he clenched his fingers around Ace's fist "You need to calm the fuck down, alright?" he yanked Ace's arm down and let go of his hand "You're as much of a psycho as that damn Marimo." he muttered and took Ace's outburst as his cue to finally leave the room and shut the door behind his back.

Sanji didn't know if he had seen that coming or not, but Ace's behavior was overall confusing, too exaggerated even for what had happened the past night. He didn't want to ruminate too much over it though, what he had to do was get out of the house as quickly and quietly as possible.

Sanji took a deep, shaky breath, he could still feel the tension in his entire body and he knew that it wasn't going to go away easily. He started to go down the stairs, cursing each and every one of them as they creaked under his feet louder than necessary, then took a good look around to see if anyone was awake. No one was around the kitchen or the small toilet, but he couldn't tell who could have still been asleep in the living room. He would have gladly skipped that area, but if he wanted to get to his car he needed to cross the living room, and he wasn't sure he was ready to face Zoro, whether he'd be asleep or not.

Sanji swallowed thickly, held his breath and slowly tiptoed into the living room. The first thing he saw were Usopp on the same armchair from the night before and Luffy curled by it on the floor, Bonney had apparently woken up during the morning to get more food and had fallen asleep under the food table, while Killer and Heat were in the same spot she had left them, with great surprise Sanji also found Franky to be sleeping on another armchair – which was definitely too small for the huge guy to sleep into, but he looked completely dead to the world.

Sanji tried not to look past all of them, he forced himself to go and grab his jacket from the rack without turning his head to the couch, and he did a great job at that until he reached the front door and glanced over his shoulder to see Zoro with Bartolomeo's arm thrown over his shoulder. Sanji's nostrils flared and he felt a nasty tug to his guts, he pulled at the doorknob with more strength than necessary and left the house in a haste, slamming the door behind his back.

He wasn't regretting sleeping with Ace all that much after seeing them, he didn't feel better about himself in the slightest, but now he was even too aware of the jealousy that was plaguing him.

–

Zoro was the type of person who could soundly sleep through the apocalypse without acknowledging whatever could happen around him in the slightest, but for some reason that morning he had been startled awake by the loud bang of a door being violently thrown shut. His body jolted and his eyes snapped open at the noise, but what he saw definitely too close to his face nearly made him yell out of surprise.

Bartolomeo was facing him as he lied on his side on the couch, his parted lips revealed his sharp fangs and a small rivulet of drool was dripping down the corner of his mouth as he peacefully slept on, snoring softly. To top it all, one of Bartolomeo's heavy arms was slung over Zoro's torso, just like one of his knees was propped over Zoro's legs.

He had no idea of what had happened before Zoro fell asleep, nor he even remotely recalled how he had ended up sleeping with Bartolomeo snuggled up against him, but panic quickly washed over him and made him push the poor guy off the couch. Bartolomeo landed on the floor with a dull thud, and a groan escaped his throat soon after. Zoro briskly sat up, too briskly, and for a moment he felt like he had been shot in the head.

"Fuck!" Zoro cried out as he held his head in his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Z-Zoro..." he heard Bartolomeo whine, then hiss as if he had just witnessed the presence of a ghost.

Zoro slowly blinked his eyes open, and when he felt his head spin and his mouth being drier than ever he realized just how hungover he was.

"Hmmguys, be quiet! I'm tryina sleep here..." Usopp mumbled in his sleep and squirmed in his seat.

"Zoro, are you alright?" Bartolomeo asked as he got up on his knees and rubbed at his sore hip.

Zoro glanced down at him "Why were you on the couch with me?"

Bartolomeo's face flushed instantly and his eyes wandered around the room to avoid making eye contact with Zoro. "W-well... Y-you and Nami had a drink off and, and... And you passed out at one point, so I-I carried you to the couch and since I was–"

Zoro scowled and grimaced "I passed out?" he blinked incredulous "How much did I–" but then he stopped mid-sentence as he processed all of Bartolomeo's words "You did what?!" he cried out.

"Guuuuyyyyyys..." Usopp whimpered, tossing and turning in the small seat of the armchair, and still he was thoroughly ignored.

"I-I couldn't leave you on the floor!" Bartolomeo flailed a hand as he tried to justify what he had just informed Zoro of.

The drummer stared down at Bartolomeo in utter consternation, he couldn't believe his ears, that sounded like the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to him, not even his brothers had ever had to physically carry him around in the past.

"I-I couldn't have been that hammered, c'mon!" Zoro grunted, his cheeks getting warmer by the moment as he thought about Bartolomeo lifting him up and lying him on the couch.

A small, sympathetic smile curled Bartolomeo's lips "W-well..." he tilted his head, clearly not daring to contradict Zoro in his embarrassed state.

Zoro's nostrils flared, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red "That still shouldn't serve you as a reason to sleep next to me!" he barked and stood up from the couch, his head was still pounding and his mouth felt nasty and way too dry. He needed to drink a couple gallons of water at least, so he marched towards the kitchen.

An ever so flustered Bartolomeo scrambled up to his feet as he tried to quickly follow behind him "I know I shouldn't have but–"

Zoro stopped and turned around so suddenly that Bartolomeo bumped into him "But what? There shouldn't be any buts!" he snarled out of frustration.

Bartolomeo took a step back from Zoro and shrugged a shoulder "Well..." he hesitated, his gaze dropping to the floor for a moment as he gathered up his courage "You're the one who grabbed the front of my shirt and told me to stay."

Zoro's eyes widened comically and his breath got caught in his throat, he didn't know how to get back to what he had just heard, he was just more and more puzzled by Bartolomeo's words. "W-what?"

"I swear!" Bartolomeo placed his hand over his chest "Vivi and Nami saw us, I-I..." his voice cracked slightly, but he went on "I was embarrassed, but you wouldn't let go of me!"

Zoro's face had probably turned impossibly red. What the hell was wrong with him? He had no idea he could turn like such a pathetic huge baby while being pissed drunk, it was insane. Had he known about that side of him he wouldn't have drank as much as he had, he was completely mortified and other people had seen him whine to Bartolomeo about not wanting to be alone or something. God, he wanted to bury himself under six feet of dirt and concrete and never get out again.

"Zoro, are you–" Bartolomeo dared placing his hand on Zoro's arm "Are you okay?"

Zoro winced and quietly went back to get some water "'Msorry 'bout what happened..." he muttered, more to himself than for Bartolomeo to hear.

Bartolomeo resumed following him "I-it's fine, don't worry... I didn't mind."

Of course he didn't, he was smitten with Zoro why would he mind? Zoro shook his head and pulled the fridge open, and when he was about to take a sip of water a horrible thought crossed his mind: where was Sanji? Had he seen them?

Now that he really thought about it, from what he remembered while he was still sober, Sanji had never come down from the bathroom and even if Zoro had thought about checking on him he had never done it. What a shit friend, he had been.

"Zoro, there's something I should tell you..." Bartolomeo's resolute tone didn't sound reassuring, but Zoro kept drinking "I've wanted to tell y–"

"Oh shit!"

That cry cut off Bartolomeo's sentence and startled Zoro, nearly making him choke on the water, so he quickly yanked the bottle away from his lips and looked over at the door.

"You okay, Ace?" Bartolomeo asked before Zoro had the chance.

Ace was standing in the doorway, pale as a ghost and looking completely horrified. Zoro's eyebrows knitted together as he squinted at his brother "You alright?"

Ace nodded vigorously "I-I... Sure. I just didn't think you were here." he shrugged a shoulder and let out a small, nervous chuckle.

"I'm gonna..." Ace jerked his head towards the living room, then moved towards it without adding anything else.

Zoro and Bartolomeo exchanged a weirded out look, then Zoro rolled his tongue over his bottom lip. Well at least his brother had barged in at the right moment to prevent Bartolomeo from confessing anything awkward.

"I gotta go check on him," he muttered, embarrassment hadn't still left him "sorry."

"Uh, sure." Bartolomeo nodded and shifted his weight awkwardly from one leg to the other as Zoro walked past him.

"Ace!" Zoro called out for him and saw him jump slightly "Whoa, you're like a scaredy cat today." he commented with a snort.

Ace turned to look at him with the same frightened eyes as before "Must be the hangover." he shrugged a shoulder and avoided to look at Zoro in the eye.

Zoro frowned "I see..."

That behavior was too unlike Ace, hangover or not, he couldn't even bring himself to look at his own brother in the eyes and kept looking terrified.

"We should..." Ace started, jabbing his thumb behind him "Uh, get Luffy and go home, maybe?"

Zoro tilted his head slightly "Are you sure you're alright?"

Ace let out another weird snigger "Of course? What's up with you?"

Zoro snorted "Where have you been?"

That last bit of color left on Ace's cheeks drained completely, and his eyes wandered around as he turned his back on Zoro completely to start in the direction of the living room again "In the bathroom, I needed to wash a bit you know?"

Zoro blinked, completely taken aback by that weird behavior, still he played along "Yeah, well... You're worrying me."

Ace waved a hand, still not turning to face Zoro "Don't be stupid, man. There's nothing to worry about."

Zoro sighed "If you say so."

They reached the spot on the floor next to the armchair where Luffy was sleeping, and Ace gently poked at the young boy's cheek.

"You bum, wake up." Ace called out, but Luffy just curled up more on himself and groaned.

"Leave him alone." Usopp slurred in his sleep, making Ace and Zoro scowl at him.

"How can he do that?" Zoro asked, and Ace shrugged in response.

"I think we should just carry him out, he's never gonna wake up." Ace sighed and bent further down to pick his little brother up.

A chill ran down Zoro's spine as Ace's words reminded him of Bartolomeo's, and he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder to catch Barto staring at him from afar, then quickly walking over to Bonney when he realized that Zoro had seen him.

"Alright, let's go." Ace said, and he was just about to lift up Luffy in his arms when Usopp farted nearly in his face "God fucking damn it, Usopp!" he growled, and heard Luffy snicker softly in his arms "So you're awake?"

No answer, just a soft snoring.

Zoro laughed and shook his head "I'll get our coats." then he bit his lower lip and looked over at Ace "Hey, have you seen the Cook?"

Ace nearly dropped Luffy "W-what? Why?"

Zoro widened his eyes "Don't make him fall!" he chastised Ace, then let out a shaky sigh of relief "Man, you should quit drinking if it has this effect on you."

Ace huffed "I couldn't fuckin' agree more..." he muttered as he readjusted Luffy in his arms.

"So?" Zoro arched an eyebrow, still expecting an answer from Ace.

"So what?"

"Did you see him?"

Ace shrugged a shoulder "He went home while I was going to the bathroom."

Zoro pressed his lips together and nodded. So he had probably seen him sleeping with Bartolomeo on the couch, brilliant. He wanted to smash his head into a wall.

"Get the coats?" Ace asked in a somewhat high tone.

Zoro perked up and nodded, doing as he was told.

After he covered Luffy with his coat and helped Ace with wearing his,

he shrugged on his own and glanced over to Franky who was still asleep, then watched as Bartolomeo nearly got his ass kicked for waking Bonney up.

Yes, it was definitely time to leave that party, and quickly too. He didn't know what Sanji thought, maybe he was going to text or call him later. Maybe.

To Be Continued...

---

A/N: …...OOPSIE DAISY! I've had people telling me that they were hoping for a bit of AceSan but that at this point it wasn't going to happen, and I couldn't help but screaming internally while thinking about how the story was going to develop.