"Your ride's exactly like you."

Sanji was currently seated beside Zoro in his Rover, on their way to the seaside. They had started out early, right after a small breakfast. The sun was barely out of the horizon.

Zoro smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant to be one." Sanji huffed, and immediately saw Zoro's sunshine brighten up.

"Why so?" Zoro asked.

"Just felt like saying it."

"No I mean why do you think so?"

"Oh," Sanji still hadnt got Zoro's speech pattern completely figured out. Zoro was a man of few words.

"I meant it has the same feel as you. Bulky, dark, dependable."

"Well built, you mean." Zoro smirked.

Sanji scoffed. "You wish, Marimo."

"Why Marimo, why not Adonis?"

Sanji stared. "Did you just-"

"Sorry, I'm not good at this, let's just forget I said that."

Sanji burst out laughing. "Cheesy!"

Zoro mumbled incoherently.

"Ok then leave it to me. Mountains or the sea?"

"We'd be driving to the opposite end of the country for the mountains, but I'm taking you to the beach instead."

Sanji nodded. "Yup, makes sense."

"Do you like the sea?"

"I LOVE the sea!" Sanji beamed.

"So if not a chef, what would you be?"

"A chef at sea!"

Now it was Zoro's turn to laugh. "I figured."

"The vastness, isn't it? The freedom. You can just escape and never look back." Sanji breathed.

Zoro glanced towards him, attempting not to stare. Sanji... Was beautiful. And when he smiled? Damn.

"What do you want to escape from?" Zoro asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Someone was supposed to be bad at small talk, hmm" Sanji teased.

Zoro scowled. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, dear."

Sanji smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. All at once, his aura changed to dark and stormy.

"I already escaped." He said, after a pause.

Shit, thought Zoro. "I'm serious. You don't have to-"

**
"I was severely abused by my family till I was eight years old." Sanji began, his eyes unfocused, staring out of his window. "I... Wasn't what my father wanted me to be. We were quadruplets, and my brothers... Weren't too kind either." He chuckled softly. " Things became... Really bad after my mother's death. So I... Escaped." He swallowed hard, the lump in his throat throbbing. " We'd gone for a cruise and my sister spotted another ship about to leave the harbour, and she pushed me onto it." A tear rolled down, plopping on his arm. "That day I... Couldn't walk. Both my legs were shattered." His voice cracked. The tears were flowing freely now. "Somehow, they took me in, but that ship got shipwrecked not long after, and I washed up on Zeff's doorstep. Even then-" he choked on a sob, "even then, I have brought nothing but danger for him. Back then, and even now..." He stopped and buried his face in his shivering hands, staying still for a few minutes.
**

After some time he looked up and grabbed a tissue from the tissue box. "Sorry about that," he fake-laughed, wiping his face with the tissue. He never spoke about his past. Even his friends didn't know. But when Zoro had asked, a dam had burst. And now he felt embarrassed and slightly foolish.
"Don't mind me, I'm over it now," he rambled on, clasping his cold hands together and blowing on them to warm them up. "That time's long gone, Baratie and Zeff and my friends are my family now. So, it's fine, really. I'm fine n-"

Silently, Zoro reached out and grasped both of Sanji's trembling hands, holding them in a firm, reassuring grip, his eyes never once leaving the road.

Sanji stared. First at Zoro's hand, then at Zoro.

Calloused. Rough. And incredibly warm.

The tears began to flow again.