Title: The proof is in the lie
pairing: San/Zo
rating: G
words: 336
topic: Kindness (sorta...belated)
notes: Hmm...if I did my job here you might feel a little sad afterward.
Years ago Zoro had walked into the kitchen to find the blond cook crying, jars and spices laid out around the counter and Sanji looking broken in despair.
They had been getting steadily older through the years so it was bound to happen eventually, but as even Zoro felt his senses dull with age he never considered how the dulling of taste might affect his long time companion cook.
That day had arguably been one of the worst ones in his life. Holding those wrinkled hands he had grown to love and begging Sanji to see his worth beyond that of a chef, if even for a moment. Even if he had lost his hands in battle he probably could have just cooked with his feet, the blond was muttering, but his tongue…a cook without taste was less than worthless.
Zoro had told Sanji he would be his tongue for as long as he could taste and that the idiot was so good in the kitchen that a little faith that lettuce had remained tasting like lettuce from the chopping board to the plate was going to hurt very little in the grand scheme of things. He had held his thin lover and petted him with his own warm and worn hand, trying to comfort, trying to show he was still loved, still had value.
Somehow, Zoro still wasn't sure how…he had brought the man back from that dark place. Looking back on it he was surprised he could be so tender.
What really made him realize he had gone soft and his begrudging love for this man had trumped everything was during breakfast this morning, when Zoro realized his food that Sanji had made him with love tasted little more than a dull paste. That age had finally robbed him too of tasting the passion and skill of his lover.
"Oi, geezer marimo…" Sanji's came closer to repeat himself when he saw it. "Zoro…are you crying?"
"What can I do? It just tastes so good…"
