Sanji had to keep reminding himself not to bite down. He knew from much experience that biting ruined the effect that this slow deliberate sucking produced. Sure, it gave him momentary satisfaction and filled his mouth quite delightfully, but it also ended things far too quickly. Yes, especially under these circumstances, slow and patient was the way to go.

"Doing OK down there, Cook?"

At the sound of the husky voice, Sanji looked up with no small amount of defiance written in his sea-born eyes. Reluctantly, he eased the candy from between sticky lips.

"You're a fucker. And I hate you." He replied in a flat voice.

The candy was promptly returned to its previous position. Sucking resumed.

Like most of the ridiculous things that happened in his life, this current situation was all Zoro's fault. Zoro, whose fourth favorite thing in life (right after fighting, sleeping, and fucking Sanji; not necessarily, but most likely, in that order) was boasting about how tough he was, and then following it up with number five, which was telling Sanji how tough he WASN'T in comparison.

Inevitably, they would smoothly and with great volume, slide right into his sixth favorite thing in life, which was fighting with the Cook.

Usually, this lead them right back to good ole #3, but last week, Sanji had had enough of his manliness being called into question before the sweet and sensitive ears of Nami-san and Vivi-chan. Thus, the bet.

Zoro had challenged the blonde to give up cigarettes for a month, in order to prove that he was indeed as strong as he had argued. Angry, Sanji had hastily accepted. But, in turn, he had challenged the other man to give up something he craved just as fiercely.

Sex with Sanji.

At the time, it had seemed like the perfect revenge. The effect on the swordsman had certainly been dramatic when Sanji had issued the challenge. The tanned face had paled impressively at the words, but Zoro being Zoro, the swordsman had refused to back down, and accepted the celibate gauntlet thrown.

But, Sanji's satisfaction had been fleeting, since he was now not only dealing with nicotine withdraw, but he was also brimming with his own miserable weight of sexual frustration.

He refused to turn when warmth settled at his side. The two men sat in a tense silence; Sanji could not remember a time when he had ever felt more edgy. Needing to distract himself from the irritating presence beside him (who, btw, really had no right to smell so good given the dry heat of the afternoon), Sanji began sucking harder.

"So, um, does it taste good?"

Curious at the shaky tone, Sanji turned slightly to get a good look at the other man. Zoro's eyes were intensely focused on the candy held firm between the blonde's lips, and if he wasn't mistaken, there was a telltale line of drool hinted at the corner of the swordsman's mouth.

Suddenly feeling inspired, Sanji removed the candy, and tossed it over the side of the ship. With a flirty smile, he pulled himself to his knees, leaned over, and kissed Zoro hotly. Pulling back, he licked his lips slowly, openly savoring the combined flavors of Zoro and the sticky candy.

The other man sat rigid, with his eyes screwed shut and mouth parted slightly as short pants slipped out. His arms were held above him, holding the railing in a white knuckled desperate grip.

Sanji's voice adopted its silkiest tones.

"Well, there's a taste. What do you think? Do you want some more?"

He smiled smugly thinking of the cigarettes stashed in the nearby pantry and of other more immediate things, as the swordsman's hands trembled, before finally releasing their grip from the smooth railing, to reach towards him.

Finally.

"Shit!"

Suddenly distracted, Sanji rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he had just been smacked, rather rudely, by a bright yellow ball.

"Oi, Sanji, stop kissing Zoro and throw us back the ball!"

He turned and glared at Luffy, who was watching him expectantly. Beside him, Usopp was hugging himself and making obnoxious little kissing faces at the blonde. Sanji leveled a deadly glare at the artist. Usopp stopped what he was doing, wilted considerably, and the ducked to hide behind the still waiting captain.

Despite that, Sanji was sure that he could still hear the sounds of muffled sniggering.

Remembering what he was doing before being so annoyingly interrupted, Sanji turned back, only to face an empty spot where Zoro had been only moments before.

Well.

Goddamnit.

Sanji sighed, got up, and went looking for more candy.