Sanji stumbled around in the darkness, arms stretched out feeling the air in front of him to prevent himself from bumping into anything. After a few more steps forward, he extended his hand to his left side until he felt the cold, hard and smooth surface of the wall. He came closer to it and almost hugged it as he flattened himself against it.
Sanji now proceeded to slide all his way towards the door of the room next to his while keeping both of his hands on the wall. He groped around its surface until he found what he was looking for. Twisting it slowly, he pushed the wooden door ajar as gently as he could so as not to alert anyone of his late night expedition and slid inside the room stealthily.
Through the darkness, the blond could faintly make out a patch of green on the bed. His eyes were already starting to get used to the dark. Silhouettes of the furniture in the room soon became noticeable and he could easily make out the figure to which the patch of green belonged to. It rose and fell evenly with each breath. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly upwards as he gazed down at the sleeping boy.
Sanji bent down until he was an inch above his head and the latter's green hair tickled his face a little. The boy frowned and groaned out in his sleep when he felt his breath on his head. Sanji could not help but smiled brighter at his display of cuteness and gave him a light peck on the cheek.
Straightening himself up, he grabbed hold of the covers. Lifting it up, he climbed up on the bed and made himself comfortable beside the sleeping green haired.
He's sure going to say a lot to me in the morning…but never mind… Sanji chuckled to himself. Immediately, his hands flew to cover his mouth when the boy shifted in his sleep. Sanji sighed in relief when the boy did not wake up and relaxed.
So defenceless… Sanji mused. Another thing about Zoro that he had noticed is that, Zoro really slept like a log and could sleep anywhere and at anytime. Soon he lost track of time while watching the peaceful, innocent sleeping face in front of him. Sanji's eyelids slowly became heavy and he let himself be lulled into sleep with Zoro's quiet snore.
Zoro yawned and stretched his arms above his head. He turned to his left to see what time it was.
"6.55am?" he groaned and switched off the alarm which he had set to go off at 7am. "Seriously, what's the use of an alarm clock if I always get up before it goes off," Zoro pondered.
"Mmmnn Zo…rooo," the green haired stiffened at the moaning sound which seemed to come from beside him. He looked down and indeed saw a blond haired latched onto his waist, face snuggling closer into his T-shirt which he sure reeked of sweat.
"What the hell?!" Zoro screamed and then rubbed his eyes to pull himself out of his morning grogginess.
"Zoro?" Sanji cracked open one of his eyes.
"When did you get in here?" Zoro asked calmly.
"Umm last night?" Sanji smiled sheepishly.
Zoro narrowed his eyes at his words and the previous day's events came rushing back into his head. Unconsciously, his hand rose up to rub at the back of his head where the nasty bruise was.
"Does it still hurt?"
"No, it doesn't. How's your head?"
Sanji patted the back of his own head and shrugged.
"It's not hurting."
The marks of his pale neck caught the green haired's attention and he cringed at the sight. The handprint around his neck had become more visible overnight. It had become an ugly reddish purple colour and was very noticeable at just one glance.
"Your neck!" Zoro could not help to point it out.
"Ooh!" Sanji pulled up the blanket to cover up his injuries.
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you?" Sanji frowned.
"I should have protected you better." Zoro's shoulders slumped down.
"You did do a great job in fighting him. I was surprised and impressed too. You were so cooool~"
Zoro smiled at the blond's eyes' sparkling with genuine honesty.
"You think so?" Zoro averted his eyes, feeling bashful all of a sudden.
"Yeah! Totally! You were like WHAM! and TAKE THAT! and-and-and-"
"Alright, I get it already!" Zoro caught his hands in his to stop him from slashing and punching the air too much. Sanji's hands felt so small in his.
"It's me who's sorry."
"Why?"
"Your bamboo sword is broken because of me…"
Zoro's eyes travelled around the room and landed on his pitiful bamboo sword in a corner of the room.
"Nah, it's ok. It's just a piece of bamboo. It can be replaced. It's a lot better if it's broken into two rather than you being broken."
Sanji smiled up at him and their eyes locked together for a moment.
"Euhh Zoro?" said Sanji after a while.
"Hmm?" Zoro was pulled out of his daze and his eyes travelled down to see what the blond was looking at. Seeing his hands still clasped in his, he quickly let go.
"KIDS?" came a shout from downstairs. "It's time to get up already!"
"YES Mama!"
"Coming!"
And the two boys scrambled to get out of the bed, pushing each other along the way to see who will get down first.
"Hello children!"
Both boys stopped in their tracks.
"Jinbe!" Zoro ran and jump into his lap.
"Hey! Pretty lively this early morning, huh?" Jinbe's large hand ruffled his short green hair. "How are you feeling, Sanji?"
"I'm fine," Sanji's answer nearly came out as a whisper. He approached the table and rounded it to get behind his mother.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Sophia patted his head.
"…nothing."
"Did you already wash and brush, your face and teeth?"
"Euh no?"
"Then go back up both of you and make yourselves presentable for school!" Sophia shooed them away and the two children quickly rushed away to do as they were told.
Once they were out of the adults' sight, Sophia sat down heavily on one of the chairs around the dining table.
"Be brave, Sophia."
"I think he heard us last night. What are we going to do?" Sophia's voice trembled.
"He's going to be back soon and you are going to be together, I promise…"
"Ne, Zoro?"
"Hmmm?"
"If I'm gone one day, what will you do?"
Zoro stopped in his search of finding a particular item and turned to look at Sanji in the face, frowning at his sudden question.
"Why wouldn't you be here? You are going to stay here forever with me, right?"
"But-but what if…what if I have to go?"
"Go to where?"
Sanji pressed his lips into a tight line.
"Somewhere far away?" he said, the sound of his voice betrayed his strong front.
A few minutes of silence fell upon those two before Zoro gave his answer.
"In the first place, I do not want you to go anywhere. I want you to always be by my side. And yesterday I promised to you that I'll protect you…but…if you have to go somewhere…somewhere far away. Then I'll just have to find you and be back with you again!"
Sanji almost cried on hearing Zoro's reply. His chest felt tight as he felt so guilty of keeping all of it to himself. But Zoro's words seemed to have lifted a weight out of his shoulders and he felt relieved.
"Zoro?"
"What is it again?"
"I like you a lot!" Sanji's lips curled up into his signature smile, taking Zoro's breath away.
"W-ha-at?!" The green haired blushed.
Zoro turned around and rummaged some more in his closet and finally pulled out what he was previously looking for.
"Here!" Zoro placed his favourite dark green scarf around the blond's neck. "It's my favourite and I'm giving it to you."
Sanji took the fabric in his hands and brought it to his face, covering half of it.
"Thank you," came a muffled answer, and the scarf did a great job at hiding his embarrassed and happy expression.
