What do you do when you find out someone you know was abused?
Sanji was truly ready to tear his hair out.
The fact that there was a 'was' in that question made it all the more difficult because there wasn't anything he needed to act on to help Zoro. If he was right then this new guy was his foster parent which meant he was okay, right?
So the question was actually; what do you do when you know about the abuse but the person who was abused doesn't know that you know this incredibly personal thing about them?
It was driving him insane.
He didn't know whether talking to Reiju about it was the right call; she and Zoro spent a lot of time together so maybe sharing all that with her wasn't the best idea considering the friendship the two of them had seemed to have established.
He couldn't talk to Zeff about it either, no way.
So maybe it did have to be Reiju?
A tapped foot on the floorboards had him turning.
Speak of the devil.
Reiju furrowed an eyebrow.
"You okay?"
He took a breath.
"Can I talk to you?"
After he'd talked her through all of the stuff he'd deduced yesterday Reiju didn't say a word as she read the notebook. She hadn't spent too long looking at the photos, her breath catching in her throat as she'd quickly placed them down on the sidetable out of view.
Once finished she scrubbed a hand down her face.
"Who else knows about this?"
"Just me."
"And Zoro gave you this himself, right?"
"Yeah but I don't think he knew this stuff was in here or he wouldn't have."
Reiju shook her head.
"Fuck…"
She looked up at him.
"You doing okay, Sanji?"
He nodded knowing exactly what she was referring to in her concern.
"I'm fine; I'm more worried about Zoro right now to think about any of that crap."
"Good, but if that changes let me know."
"I will."
Reiju leant back against the wall adjusting the pillow.
"Ohhh Zoro, what are we going to do with you?" She sighed.
"What should I do?" He asked. "Should I do anything?"
"Sanji, you read and saw some stuff you shouldn't have, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well I think it's only fair on Zoro that you give him all of this back, photos and all. This is…" Reiju paused. "…some really personal stuff that he needs to be in control of. If he was abused by his parents then he probably hasn't had much control of his life to begin with so the least you can do is give him this."
Sanji nodded.
"And I know it's gonna' mean admitting what you know, but it's either going to go one of two ways. One, he'll be angry but eventually he'll realise that he has someone he actually can open up about everything with and he ends up better off because of it, or two, he's just going to be angry and he might not be too happy that you know all this. Knowing Zoro though I'm pretty sure it'll be the first one."
"Thanks, Reiju."
He'd sent Zoro a message and arranged to meet in the park; Sanji could barely light his cigarette his hands were shaking that badly.
Green hair appeared in the distance with a wave.
"Hi." Mosshead smiled.
"Hi."
He must have sensed something was off.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Sanji tried to keep his breathing under control as he pulled the notebook from his bag along with the photos and handed them out.
He watched as Zoro's expression changed in seconds upon sight of the photos.
"Where did you get these?!" His tone was low and warning.
"T-t-they were inside."
Fuck sake this wasn't the time for his speech to not fucking work.
Mosshead flicked through the photos before a gasp escaped his lips at the last two.
The one with the bruises and scar.
And the one with the caption.
'why should your parents get all the fun?'
Zoro gagged before he violently emptied the contents of his stomach into the grass.
"Zoro!"
Sanji rushed closer and wrapped his arm around his friend to keep him upright.
"Get off me!" He tried to shove him away but he stayed firm.
"No!"
Zoro furrowed an eyebrow.
"Sanji just-."
"If I let go… I don't think you'd ever want to see me again… and I'm scared." He admitted, voice shaking. "I'm scared because I saw all this when it's private, and I've hurt you, and I don't want to lose you as a friend because as hard as you might think otherwise I do care about you and I've barely slept worrying over all of this."
Mosshead had calmed, no longer throwing up.
Sanji stayed clinging onto his arm.
"Why?" His quiet tone asked.
"Because if you're hurt then I want to help, or at least be there for you."
"You said you weren't ready to be friends yet?"
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because I'm apparently scared of everything." Sanji sniffled. "Fuck… this should not be this hard."
Zoro gently wrapped an arm around him.
"I'm sorry; I'm making this about me when it should be about you."
Mosshead shook his head.
"I don't want it to be about me either."
Sanji smirked.
"Then we have a problem."
Zoro smiled before looking back at the notebook and photos.
"How long have you known?"
"I read the notes the other kids left you the night you dragged me off the bridge, but I didn't find the photos till last night."
"And?..."
"And what?"
Mosshead sighed.
"I was expecting you to have run a mile by now, or at least have a thousand and one questions."
Sanji quickly shook his head.
"I've already pried way too much, the only way I want to know about anything else if is you want to tell me yourself. And if you think I would run away from something like this then you have the wrong idea about me."
Zoro's breath shook.
"Did… did you tell anyone?"
"I told Reiju, and I know that even that's one person too many but-."
"It's okay."
"I know but…" Sanji paused. "Wait…"
"It's okay, out of anyone she was probably the closest to finding out anyway."
"So you're not mad?"
He shook his head.
"Surprisingly no."
"Were you expecting to be?"
"Kinda'."
"There is something I need to ask you about though."
"The caption?"
"Yeah."
"Well they weren't my parents they were my foster parents, and they're long gone. I'm with Rayleigh now, have been since you transferred, however long ago that was. He's good to me, I like him."
"Good." Sanji smiled, obscenely relieved to hear that. "So you're safe?"
"I'm fine; you don't need to worry about me."
Zoro took a deep breath before a smile came to his face as he slumped backwards to look up at the sky.
Neither of them said a word for a few minutes before…
"Thank you."
He furrowed an eyebrow.
"What for?"
"I've never had someone I could talk about this with outside of Rayleigh and my social worker." Mosshead paused. "And for saying we're friends, although you didn't do it the way I was expecting you lazy shit."
Sanji gasped in mock offence.
"Fuck you, mosshead!"
Zoro burst out laughing as he turned on his side to face him.
He rolled his eyes.
"Fine…"
He pointed to Zoro.
"Can you."
Then to himself.
"And I."
Before cupping his hands together and bringing them close to his chest.
"Be friends?"
Mosshead smiled and it was so painfully genuine.
"Yes, that would make me very happy."
Sanji felt a tug at his heart.
Zoro took a breath.
"I'm going to tell you what happened to me because I think it would help if I was able to just get it out, but not today… I…" He shook his head. "I can't today."
"No, no, please don't rush or anything, I'll be ready to listen whenever, okay? Just let me know and I'll be there."
Mosshead looked baffled.
"Why are you so nice to me?"
"We're friends, right?"
He lit up a cigarette with a smirk.
"Apparently we're already cheesy enough to say things like that to each other."
Zoro laughed.
"Seriously though, thank you."
"I know, mosshead."