AN: As of the moment, I am mostly recovered from the AN events of the last chapter, but still in my happy place... (drools) Ahhh! My day is bright indeed. Though at the moment I wrote that it was kinda night.
Sanji's Troubles
Chapter 25.
Sanji could not stop crying. No matter how hard he tried. The events of last night, last week, heck, the last few weeks... it was too much to bear. That was why he actually let down his guard for a while and sobbed into Zoro's shirt, getting snot all over his sleeves and even on his arm. At first the swordsman had been extrememly stiff and made a horrified choking noise, but he had eventually relaxed nad let Sanji cry on him. Which was highly embarassing.
And he still had crapping egg in his hair.
Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh and angry when Zoro tried to wipe off the left half of his face. But still. His worst nightmare was the Strawhats finding out about his scar and thinking he was... ugly. Especially Nami. He had to look perfect for the ladies. It was nice being able to relax and cry for once. He was sick of holding in the tears when anyone was around. (Again, Zeff was the exception.) And it somehow felt wonderful to cry on your worst enemy, ruining their nicer shirts with snot. And it was the best feeling in the whole world to have a calloused hand pat you on the back, and hearing someone's voice echo through their chests as they said apologies and comforting sentences you couldn't really understand because of crying but made you feel better anyway. Especially when that person was your friend.
After a few more minutes, his tears subsided, and he stopped the bawling, instead simply sobbing harshly every few minutes. After even more minutes, he managed to give way to erratic breathing, and finally, he stopped crying all together, simply leaning on the -friend? enemy? um, person- in the kitchen. The one visible eye was red and puffy, and tearstains streaked down his face, leaving clean lines in the soot, egg, and crumbled wall plaster that covered Sanji's face.
"So, you're finished. Finally."
Sanji nodded, and sighed, finally back in control of himself.
"Are you sure you're alright, Sanji?"
He decided to try talking, despite the fact he knew his voice would be quavery and messed up from the sobbing. "I-I think so."
"Good." The swordsman sighed in relief, and Sanji guessed he was grinning. It was a guess because the chef had no particular desire to look up or remove his face from Zoro's shoulder.
"Um. Sanji? Care to tell me WHY you're so upset?"
"N-not r-really."
"I gathered that. But I would like to know. Maybe I can help?"
"N-no. You couldn't fix anything." Sanji sighed as well, less in relief, more in sadness.
"I bet I could. I'm a good..." What was the word? Hmm. Ah. That should do. "Fixer."
"Too b-bad."
"You need a shower."
"Nuh-uh."
"Actually, it's yuh-huh, Sanji. Since I'm not special enough to touch your face, you need to wash it yourself."
"Oh. Y-yeah. That makes sense."
Zoro sighed, making his chest rise and fall, Sanji's head rising and falling with it. "Are you really ok?"
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." The blonde blushed, annoyed to death. Why did the stupid marimo have to be his friend? And what exactly is a friend? Someone you confide in. Tell secrets to. Spend happy times with. So far, he hadn't exactly done any of those things with Zolo, but they seemed to have formed a friendship nontheless.
"No you aren't, Sanji. And you never will be until you tell us what's going on. We care, ok? As much as you piss me off, as much as I want to kill you, you're my friend. And I worry, sometimes."
"I am s-SO fine!" His shoulders shook and he curled up tighter and buried his face farther in Zoro's shirt. Who was he kidding? He wasn't fine. He hadn't been fine in ages. And Zoro seemd to actually care. They all cared. Every one of his crewmates cared.
"..." Zoro sighed yet again and stroked the back of Sanji's hair, humming to himself. As a child, people had comforted him like this. It made sense to try comforting Sanji in the same manner as he had been cared for. Though he doubted it would work, it did seem to get ero-cook to shut up. Geez. Some people didn't know when to quit throwing a tantrum. Nami peered in through the window, looking concerned. The swordsman gave her his bestest, scariest, most angryest MURDER-IS-ON-MY-MIND look and rolled his eyes. She stuck out her toungue and giggled, then turned and yelled something to the crew. He wasn't sure, but by the shape of her lips, Nami was either saying, "Enchiladas are attacking! Don't take my cell phone!" or "Zoro is taking care of Sanji. Leave them alone."
Hey, he never claimed to be a good lip reader.
"Zoro?"
"What now, Sanji?"
"...I'm sorry I ruined your shirt."
"Don't lie to me. I don't care about the shirt, but don't apologize unless you mean it."
"Ok. I promise. Um. Um."
"What?"
"Um..."
"What?!"
Sanji felt kind of like he was on the edge of an abyss. No, on a little strip of land that was going to crumble any minute. Uhm, crumb cake. He should make a crumb cake for Nami...
"Sanji? I feel really really... like I'm talking to myself. Are you in there, somewhere? Yoo hoo?"
"You... can wash off the eggs now." Sanji held extremely still, looking traumatized. Zolo gave him an odd look and contined washing off the huge amount of egg yolks. The chef closed his eyes and tried to hold still. As the green-haired-pissed-off-bored-annoyed-person-who-Sanji-disliked started cleaning his left hair, Sanji forgot to breathe.
As a consequence, he passed out and fell backwards onto the floor.
"Oi! You baka. Open your mouth and inhale." Zoro was in the middle of cleaning Sanji's face, and very irritated as a result- oh. So that's why Sanji wears his hair like that. The swordsman decided to show no sign other than his involuntary stiffening and finished his boring job.
Awkward silence. Sanji was quiet because he had just revealed his biggest secret. Zoro was quiet because he had a hangover and didn't want to make it worse by talking. Neither of them felt like talking, but decided that even a hangover/embarrassing moment was better than... more awkward silence. At the same time, they both said:
"I think that I-"
"Sanji are you-"
Another awkward silence.
"Um, I-"
"If you-"
Yet another awkward silence. This one lasted about thirty minutes before Zoro fell asleep, snoring like only he could. Sanji blinked, contemplated getting up and showering and generally having a normal morning, and changed his mind. The blonde chef closed his eyes and lay down on the floor, and it wasn't long before he was snoring just as loud as the swordsman.
--Nami POV--
Poor Zoro. Forced to babysit Sanji all day. Just now had been too funny, with Zoro being mauled by the weeping cook. She wondered idly whether Sanji was going to get better anytime soon.
Probably not.
But she could still hope, couldn't she? With a sigh, she headed back towards the kitchen, and peered in through the dusty window. Zoro was dead asleep, which was no suprise, but she was a little startled to see that Sanji was just as gone, with his head on Zoro's arm and legs randomly flung around the kitchen floor. Nami tapped the window, then decided to go inside. They looked so comfortable, even though the floor must be cold. She swept her fingers over it, and was suprised to see it was warm. Ah, yes. The kitchen was over the boiler room, was it not? She giggled at the thought of the kitchen being nicer to sleep in than a bed, and yawned. Nami was tired. Last night had been hard. She found herself lying down inbetween the two sleepers and curling up, not really aware of anything other than that the floor was warm, and it was very comfortable...
Oblivion.
--Usopp POV--
"Where IS Nami?" Usopp growled to himself. She had said she would be back with breakfast in a minute. And much more than a minute had passed. He groaned and stood, walking over to where the kitchen was. WHAT? She's ASLEEP?
Well, Nami looked... very happy, sleeping there. Almost pretty. Remember that he said almost. The money grabbing girl was too mean to be pretty. He sighed and opened the door, and knelt down next to the three oblivious sleepers. A very daring thought blossomed in his mind, which he quickly squelched. But it rose up again, and he realised that the floor was very warm. Why not? They were all asleep.
Blushing, Usopp crawled over to where Nami was, and lay down gently. Um. Ahem. He needed a pillow. He grinned as a solution came to him. He took Nami's and Sanji's arms and put them beneath his head, before he completely blanked out and fell into sleep.
--Luffy POV--
He yawned and glanced around, incredibly tired and bored. Where was everyone? He had looked in the storeroom, and in everyone's rooms. He had even looked overboard, just in case. But nothing. Finally, panting after running all over the ship, he reached the kitchen.
Ooh! There they were. All... asleep? It must be a slumber party. He jumped over to the group of people on the floor, and laughed. Luffy lay down sideways across everyone, his feet dangling off of Sanji and his head on Zoro.
If there was a record for fastest time to fall asleep, Luffy would have won it.
--Zeff POV--
As soon as Zeff figured out that Sanji wasn't making breakfast, he had been really mad. Dumb eggplant, making things difficult. He decided to go cook the meal himself, which he had ended up doing every single day. EVERY FREAKING DAY.
It did not improve his mood to find them all asleep. Though it was... cute. Kind of. He sighed, and went to Luffy's bed, pulling off the blanket, which he took to the kitchen and carefully put around the sleeping crew before grabbing a banana and heading to his own room to sleep and eat.
The banana was tasty, but let's skip through the meal. We shan't be bored with details.
As he closed his eyes, the image came back. All of them snoring, each and every one of them. Cuddled together like kittens. They all looked so happy...
Well, if they were happy, he'd be happy too.
So long as he could sleep.
END.
AN: OK. This is IMPORTANT.
To those of you who have read both Wicked Lovely and the Twilight series, who smells nicer: Edward or Keenan? O.O I lie awake at night wondering.
To those of you who have not, just imagine a guy who smells incrediby sweet and a little bit floral and makes you feel woozy, or a guy who smells like summer and makes you really dizzy to smell?
And to those who have read Shaman King manga, am I a lunatic to think that Faust VIII is awesome and hott? (though girly.)
And now, to the stupid conversation of the day:
Me: (woozy) Zo-zo Chan! Aaaaaaaah!
Zoro: ...
Sanji: ...
Faust: Yo.
Me: FAUSTY-WAUSTY!
Faust: What the-?
Me: I nicknamed every manga character. There's Sanji-wanji, Zozo-Chan, Floofy-Loofy, and Cabbage.
Sanji: Wait. Who's cabbage?
Me: Read One Piece volume two and look for an annoying, bissonated swordsman with weird hair.
Sanji: Huh? There's one of those right here. (points at Zo)
Me: No, a DIFFERENT one.
REVIEW, and good things shalt come to you.
Sanji: In other words, she's run out of prizes.