Sanji whistles as he happily makes food for everyone, Zoro is sadly still away for winter break. Choppers birthday is long gone. New Years is getting closer. The blonde misses Zoro but doesn't have a say in when he comes back home. He hasn't talked to Zoro, or texted him since he knows that his boyfriend is hanging with his family. He was even able to spend time with his own family, the chefs at the Baratie and Zeff's.

So as he wait for Zoro to come back he has been hanging out with his friends. Zeff has been kicking him out of the house, it seems like he knows something. The blonde doesn't know if the old man knows if he's dating someone, specifically who, or maybe he just wants the blonde to go out and have fun with his friends. He hopes it's the latter. He doesn't want to talk about his romance life with the grumpy old man. Just imagining it makes his skin crawl and spine shiver. No way that's ever going to happen.

"Food's ready." he says to everyone. They all gathered at Luffy's, Nami wanted to show the video to the others. Sanji sets the plates of food down, he made them pasta, with garlic bread and salad.

"So that's what happened." Usopp says getting a bowl of pasta.

"No wonder it took so long for Zoro to accept us again." Brook says, now understanding why he avoided them so much. Sanji makes his way through everyone to serve the ladies.

"Now that we know, I think we should talk about the guy we saw. The one Zoro avoided."

"What about him? We haven't seen him since."

"Maybe because Zoro isn't around. He wants Zoro and Zoro isn't around."

"Know when Zoro will be back?" Usopp asks Sanji, all eyes go on him.

"No." he shakes his head.

"Really? You're his boyfriend." Usopp points out making the blonde blush.

"Well he's hasn't told me when he's coming back. He's with his family." Sanji says. "He hasn't been able to do that in a long time." he whispers looking down at the floor.

"Going back too Zoro and the mystery guy," Nami speaks up, "what should we do about him?"

"Nothing." Usopp says.

"This is Zoros problem." Robin adds.

"I'm sure he'll do something, or not." Sanji thinks. From what the blonde knows the man will just ignore the guy like he did the others.

"But shouldn't we help him?" Nami says.

"Would he want our help?" Sanji thinks out loud.

"No, but I don't want to stand by when he needs help." Nami say making everyone pause in their movements.

"Like last time?" Chopper says.

"Yeah." Nami says. She really regrets not helping.

"There's nothing we could do about it, but I don't think Zoro would like us going into his business. Obviously middle school wasn't the best of times for him." Brook points out.

"What about you Sanji?" Nami asks.

"What about me?" he asks back.

"What do you think now that you are dating Zoro?" she rephrases

"I'll be there when he wants me there." Sanji says. Nami frowns hoping he would join her side. "Plus we don't know his back story with Zoro. We could make something worse." he adds.

"Fine." Nami says giving up on all of her ideas. "So, I've been meaning to ask but when did you and Zoro start dating?" she asks the blonde. None of them have asked because no one had the courage plus why would they? They got their friends back, they were just happy to have them back. There was a slight curve on getting use to seeing them like that, like a couple but it soon became a norm.

Nami though had been very curious about it since she heard what happened. While Luffy didn't care she wanted to know everything but there were more important things to worry about.

Sanji smiles at her, a little nervous because he's never talked about his feelings to anyone that's not Zoro. "We've been dating for a while now."

"Yeah, I know but since when?" Nami says rolling her eyes.

"Since Zoro got attacked." Sanji says frowning, he doesn't like to remember that. What happened to Zoro, it always makes his blood boil.

"Which time?" Franky asks, knowing it happened more than once.

"The last one." the blonde says softly. The expression on everyone's face changes to show their displeasure, they knew it got bad on the last one. "I helped him, but wasn't fast enough. After that we started dating." Sanji says with a smile.

They take the time to finish their meal. Luffy mostly done with his own. When they finish Sanii sets some aside for Ace and Sabo to eat when they get home, or when Luffy gets hungry again. When the blonde finishes he joins everyone in the living room. The boys playing games while the ladies sat and talked with each other, giggling here and there. Sanji sat on the couch. It felt nice sitting with his friends again. Before he had Zoro but he was lonely when he had to wait for his moss head to finish work. Even if they are background noise it's still nice.

Sanji takes out his phone so he can continue reading the manga he's been reading. It's very interesting and nothing like he's read before. He looks at the top of his phone as it beeps, signaling he has a message. He clicks on it when he reads the weird text.

For you.

He read that's it's from Bonney but that just made even less sense since he didn't ask for anything. He hasn't seen her in weeks. He goes to his messages just as he receives another text. This time it's a photo. He clicks on it to make it bigger. He starts blushing then closes the message app hiding his phone, he looks around to make sure no one is looking at him. Sanji goes back to the picture. Again he starts blushing. The picture being of a very defenseless Zoro, lying there asleep while in a yukata, it open showing off his hare chest and legs as he slept. He knew Bonney is teasing him and he's reacting how she wants but he can't help but text back a thanks. She's going to laugh her ass off. It's still nice to see Zoro after what felt like so long. Curious he texts back: where are you? He doesn't know if she'll answer or not.

The Wano hot springs, she texts back. So he's at a hot springs. Lucky for him, it's been snowing like crazy here. There's been blizzards and the snow has been piling high. From Nami's prediction it seems like it's going to be a long winter.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Nami asks.

"Nothing." Sanji says turning away, he got caught.

He can't wait for the day Zoro comes back.