Sanji felt tears welling up in the corners of his eyes and refused to open them. He kept his head bowed and his teeth ground together. Sanji could hear frantic footsteps and he was suddenly shoved away from the stove. Sanji yelped as a searing, burning pain itched at his palms and he landed flat on the floor. Sanji crossed his arms over his chest as hot tears streaked down his face.

Sanji could faintly hear the sounds of somebody rummaging through his fridge and the clinking of ice, but he was too lost at this point to give a shit. The pain in his hands was nothing compared to the throbbing in his head and the ache in his chest.

-"This is COMPLETELY your fault!"-

Sanji suddenly felt warm hands grabbing at his wrists and bringing his hands together. A bag of ice covered in cloth was placed in between his palms and Zoro held his hands tightly in a silent plea to not let go while he did something. Sanji brought his hands to his forehead and gripped tightly to the plastic bag as his eyes burned and his breath hiccupped.

Cupboards were flung open until Zoro found whatever it was he was looking for and ran back to Sanji. Memories continued to slash through Sanji's mind and he cringed.

"Th-the food…" Sanji rasped through what had to be the most embarrassingly pathetic fit he'd ever had in front of somebody.

"I don't give a shit about the food you dumbass!" Zoro yelled as he scrambled to unlock a medical case he was able to locate. "You refuse to use your hands in a fight or you'll risk fucking them up for when you cook, and then you do this shit?!" Sanji's hands were torn away from him and his right hand was opened up. Sanji felt the burn cream he always kept in stock squirted onto his hands and it was rubbed into his palms gently.

The two were silent as Zoro treated his wounds, slathering them in heaping amounts of burn cream before wrapping them in gauze and bandages. Sanji tried his best the entire time to keep from completely losing it and absolutely wailing and cursing just being alive at that moment. Damnit…. Damnit…. DAMNIT! Sanji's breathing was beginning to even out but he was still hiccupping and tears continued to spill from his red, swollen eyes.

The bag of ice was placed back in his bandaged hands and Zoro left him to sit on the floor. For a moment, Sanji thought he would just leave him like that. Leave him to pick up his shit and clean up his restaurant while his eyes still stung and his head still throbbed.

"Open." Sanji opened his eyes and looked up into Zoro's. He was holding what Sanji recognized as the pain meds he kept in the med kit in front of the blonds face. In Zoro's other hand was a glass of water with a few ice cubes in it. Sanji opened his mouth and allowed Zoro to slip the pills into mouth. He felt the rim of one of a glass placed to his lips and grit his teeth.

"I don't need your fucking help… I can do it myself bastard…" Sanji's voice was tense and rough, but he tried to hide it as best he could. He knew he looked weak, and sounded weak too. He would never be able to live this shit down. Letting Zoro see him looking so pathetic, letting Zoro treat him so gently as he tended to the wounds he'd given himself while brooding over his shitty life.

"You can kick my ass later… but right now, just drink." The medication sitting on his tongue was starting to disintegrate and was leaving an awful taste in his mouth. Sanji gripped onto the ice tighter as he allowed Zoro to tip the glass. Cold water flowed down throat and he swallowed the pain meds before Zoro pulled the glass away. Sanji was silent for a moment before looking back up at the stove.

"The-"

"I already turned off the burner and plated it you dumbass. Quit worrying about it, it's not even burnt. Unlike your hands." Sanji sat quietly and stared down trembling, numb hands. I got them so fucked up they went numb… just fucking great. I have a fucking stand to run, I have fucking money to make, how am I supposed to- "Would you cut it out!" Sanji's eyes bulged as he stared up at the now furious Marimo. "I can see it in your damn face, you're worrying about shit you shouldn't be! Would you think about yourself for just a second?!"

Sanji's throat clenched and the tears that he'd finally gotten under control threatened at his eyes again. Zoro dropped to his knees and placed his hands on Sanji's shoulders, shaking him lightly.

"What did I just fucking say… huh? You can't keep this shit in! Do you see what it does to you?! What if I hadn't shoved you off?! Would you have just sat there like a fucking loon and let your hands completely fry? Aren't they important to you dumbass?! Don't you need them to cook?!" Tears rolled down Sanji's cheeks and the blond felt his heart throb with a dull pain.

Zoro's grip on Sanji suddenly weakened, as if he'd just realized something, or done something he shouldn't have. "I… I pushed you too far, I'm sorry…." The last words were weak and Sanji was taken aback by how pleading they sounded.

"Yeah… me too." Sanji looked down at his hands as he moved the ice around and whispered the next thing almost too quietly to hear. "I think… I ought to talk about what happened." Zoro nodded quietly and pushed himself up from the ground.

"Yeah, but later… I don't want to see you like that again, especially not so soon." Zoro sat down again across from Sanji with a plate in his hand and three or four toppings in his arm.

Sanji watched silently as Zoro covered the pancake Sanji had made for him in sauces and seaweed flakes. His hands throbbed and he was thankful that Zoro wrapped them as professionally as he did or he probably would have been in even greater pain at this point. He probably would have questioned how Zoro knew so much about treating wounds, but the moron had now reminded him more than once that he'd been on the run for a long time, getting into fights and being forced to fix himself.

His hands. Sanji was relieved that the wrapping covered them completely or he'd be forced stare at the blistering mess that were no doubt his palms. His hands weren't on there for too long… but it was still more than a first degree burn. He could feel everything now. The numbness he'd felt for a short while was a temporary relief that passed almost as quickly as it came. Sanji guessed that he'd only felt that way due to the emotional state he'd put himself in.

Definitely a second degree. The smell of his burnt flesh assaulted his nostrils, mixed with the smell of the cream and the food he'd prepared. It was sickening. Sanji felt like throwing up.

But he couldn't do that. Not after he'd already looked so damn weak in front of Zoro. He couldn't allow it to become any more humiliating. He'd been letting his guard down around him lately, giving him bits of information about his past that, although small when compared to the staggering amount of shit that happened to him, were still too much to be giving to some guy he only knew for a few months.

At least that's what he should be thinking. He should be refusing to give the dumbass anything else, let him know another damn thing about his business, about his life.

But here he sat, in front of the man that should be laughing at him, taunting him for being weak in front of him. His sparring partner. His, it was kinda funny to think of it this way, but in a way, his enemy. Zoro was staring down only at his food as he ate silently. Sanji knew there was no doubt he could smell the concoction of burnt skin and medical oils, but he continued to eat.

"O-oi… you don't have to-"

"Yes I do. You and I both know that." Zoro glanced up at the cook as he took in another forkful. "You're just gonna throw it up if you eat it, with the condition you're in and you would kill me if I let it go to waste." Sanji hung his head and looked on the floor where he'd dropped his smoke in the chaos. Zoro must have stomped it out already for him. Fuck, he needed another.

"What makes you think I'd throw it up?" Sanji weakly attempted to continue their conversation. Zoro's chewing slowed as he thought of a good way of wording what he wanted to say.

"It's like… if you were covered in blood." Sanji raised his eyebrows. Real great fucking start Zoro. "You can smell it really strongly and you know it's coming from you. You wouldn't just pick up a burger and stuff it in your mouth. Even though there's nothing wrong with the food-" Zoro took another bite. "-it's almost like the blood's soaked into it. All you can smell is blood and putting anything in your mouth at that moment just feels dirty and wrong and makes you gag."

"And there was absolutely no other way you could have put that?" Sanji asked sarcastically. He wasn't really in the mood to have one of his usual fights with Zoro at the moment, but it felt right anyway to attempt at pissing him off.

"You call me a brute every other day and then question why I can't come up with some sort of fancy explanation? You really are as dumb as you look." Sanji heard plates and silverware rattle and looked up to see Zoro had finished eating. His plate was sitting on the floor next to the discarded cigarette. Zoro got up to his knees and leaned forward, sticking his hand in Sanji's shorts pocket.

"Oi! What do you think you're-?"

"Getting myself a smoke. Maybe I'll share it with you if you'll shut your damn mouth." Sanji watched Zoro rifle through his pocket and pull out his cigarettes and lighter, sticking one between his lips. Zoro lit it up the way Sanji had done a hundred times in front of him, and a thousand times alone.

"Since when do you smoke?" Sanji asked and swallowed dryly. Zoro took a drag, falling into a violent coughing fit and holding the smoke as far away from himself as he could. Sanji smirked as Zoro's tongue lolled out of his mouth as if it would help to get the taste out. Zoro gathered himself and took a deep breath as he glared daggers at the cancer stick between his fingers.

"Since the strongest guy I know broke down in front of me…" Sanji bit his lower lip and Zoro turned his gaze from the cigarette to Sanji's eyes. "Since my best fucking friend lost it!" Sanji's breath caught and he made a choked noise as he attempted to hold back another round of fitful sobs. Once was fine, thank you. Breaking down in front of Zoro a second time, he didn't want that.

Zoro held the cigarette next to Sanji's lips and Sanji parted them. He sucked the smoke into his lungs almost desperately before Zoro pulled it away. Sanji kept his lips sealed for a moment as he savoured the ashen air filling his lungs. Sanji groaned as it left his lips and billowed into the air and he felt himself slightly more grounded than he had been seconds previous.

"Best friend huh… what about Luffy?" Zoro helped Sanji take another drag.

"Luffy's different. I admire him and follow him as my leader." Zoro attempted to take a second drag of the smoke, succeeding in keeping himself from choking as much. "He's something special, but not you. You're… unreal." Sanji nodded and felt a bit of colour come to his face. So that makes me something even more special?

Sanji's never really called anybody an actual friend before. Sure, he'd had about ten or so people at his old school in France that pitied him enough to eat lunch with him. Heard his sob story and wanted to be known as the guys that befriended and helped him recover from his trauma. None of them could he really call an actual friend.

And here sat Zoro, calling Sanji the best friend he has.

"Ow! The fuck was that for?!" Sanji growled when he felt Zoro flick him in the center of his forehead.

"Best. Fucking. Friend." Zoro annunciated every words. Sanji's face burned at the sudden closeness between the two and the words Zoro spoke. He turned his head, hoping his bangs would cover it up.

"I heard you the first time bastard!" Sanji stared at the corner of his stand for a while before whipping his head back around and staring Zoro directly in his eyes. "You're my best friend too damnit!" Sanji felt his face growing even hotter than his hands had been but refused to look away. I don't know what it's like to have a best friend and I don't know if calling you that would be doing it justice… but whatever you are to me, I don't want to lose it!

And then, Zoro smiled. Not like he'd seen before though. Not like the way he smiled when he was laughing with his friends or when he was thinking about something he liked. His teeth almost shone and his cheeks pinched where they met with the corners of his mouth. The blinding smile went from ear to fucking ear and if Sanji was standing, he's sure his knees would have given out.

He'd never seen Zoro smile like that. Not at anybody. And then it was gone again. Zoro stood up and turned his back to Sanji, messing with something on the counter of the stand. Sanji barely got a glance at what he was doing before Zoro was wrapping his arm around Sanji's waist as he hoisted him up.

"Wh-what are you-?!"

"Well duh, I'm closing the stand and taking you home."

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT! Not with your damn sense of direction! And I can walk on my own you asshat! It's my hands, not my legs that are burned!" Sanji's face flushed at the contact and Zoro just shrugged his shoulders as he continued to lead Sanji out of the stand. Zoro picked up his and Sanji's bags and threw them over his other shoulder as if they both weren't filled to the brim with heavy-ass textbooks. Zoro stood still for a moment as he rifled through his bag and Sanji took the time to turn back to the stand and look at the sign Zoro had placed there.

-Shitty cook got burnt cooking for his boyfriend. Closed until he gets his shitty act together-

"OI! YOU BASTARD! DON'T GO WRITING SHIT LIKE THAT FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO SEE!" Sanji screamed as his face burned hotter and hotter and he thrashed in Zoro's arms. Zoro turned to look at him as if he'd lost his mind as he slipped his glasses onto his face. Zoro looked over at the sign and laughed. "I'M A MAN OF THE LADIES THROUGH AND THROUGH! IF YOU PUT THAT UP I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FLIRT WITH MY PRETTY FEMALE CUSTOMERS SERIOUSLY!"

"I can see why Kuina says it so fucking often now! Your face has gone so red it looks like your damn head is gonna pop off!" Zoro's laughter roared as he continued to walk forward and Sanji finally freed himself from the Mosshead's grasp. He wanted so badly that he could clench his hands into fists and clock the bastard. His fingers twitched in attempt and he gasped at the pain that followed. Zoro turned and seemed like he was about to say something, but stopped himself. It's not like there was anything else Zoro could do at this point, he'd treated it all properly and wrapped it up already. Doing anything more would just seem like he was treating Sanji as fragile. Sanji appreciated that he knew where to stop.

"You could always just knock it down jackass." Zoro pulled the cigarette from between his lips where he'd left it and offered Sanji a drag. Sanji ground his teeth together as he stared at it. Eventually, he caved in. He craved the smoke more than he the fight.

'Could always just knock it down'. Yeah right. No way would Zoro let Sanji ruin his joke that quickly. Sanji could knock the stupid sign down but his hands hurt too much for that and he needs to put a sign up whenever he leaves the stand. He would end up having to ask Zoro to put up his usual sign and the bastard would just put back up the one he made!

"You know, you could just let me keep it in my own mouth. I've smoked like that before." Sanji grumbled as they walked side by side down the street and Zoro pulled the smoke from between Sanji's lips, sticking it back between his own.

"I thought I said I was having a smoke. Not you. Dumbass…" Zoro chuckled as Sanji fumed next to him.

"And who gave you permission to take my smokes anyway?! Huh?!" Zoro shrugged. "THAT'S NOT A DAMN ANSWER!"

"Oh calm down already! Or do you want to lose your voice as well as however many layers of skin you burned off?" Sanji grumbled angrily at Zoro's remark. Sanji remembered what he'd said to Zoro maybe ten minutes earlier and frowned.

"So… uh. Should I tell you? About what happened..?" Zoro hummed in agreement as they passed the- this is the same bus stop from just a minute ago. "DAMNIT ZORO! PUTTING ON YOUR GLASSES HASN'T DONE SHIT FOR YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTIONS, HAS IT?!" Zoro hummed in agreement and continued walking forward. "DAMNIT ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!" Another hum. Sanji rolled his eyes and groaned as he was tempted once again to jam his fist down the bastards throat.

"Fine." Sanji growled and Zoro pulled the cigarette out of his mouth again. It was a surreal sight. Zoro with a smoke and walking around town with his glasses actually on instead of tucked away in his pocket. The glasses actually made him look… intelligent. Less ape-like. The cigarette… it was just odd. But Zoro had already seemed to have gotten himself comfortable with it.

"Gonna make a habit of smoking those things Marimo?"

"Nah, that's your bit. Unless you wanna start getting lost all the time."

"OH! So you admit it!" Zoro laughed and shook his head.

"Absolutely not! It is the damn streets! They keep moving!" Zoro said almost as if he were rehearsing his lines for a TV show. Zoro's smile began to fade slowly and he cleared his throat, helping Sanji take another drag of his cigarette. "If you wanna tell me now or if you wanna tell me when we get back to your place, I don't give a shit. Just as long as you tell me." Sanji sucked in another long and deep breath as smoke filled his lungs. He nodded and let Zoro take the cigarette away again.

Sanji let his eyes fall shut as the continued to walk forward. It should be about ten minutes of walking in a straight line until they got back to the apartments. That would give him enough time to think. To come up with how he would word what he would be telling Zoro. How he could make some of the more intense parts seem… less extreme. Then again, Zoro hadn't sugar coated anything about his past.

Sanji took in a breath through his nose, loving the way the scent from the trees blended with the different varieties of smell from the city. Being so close to the nature park meant there was always a sort of fresh, earthy smell. It was especially nice first thing in the morning. Sanji opened his eyes again and looked around at what should be their apartments and really shouldn't have been at all shocked that they were once again in front of the same bus stop they'd already passed twice.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE! YOU DUMBASS!" Sanji barely even felt the pain in his hands anymore.