AN: hey, im back. since ive been gone forever, some of you might be expecting some great piece of art, please dont, it is not. im sorry.

I was doing a lot of thought on what i wanted to do with it but had a lack of motivation and inspiration, then i found a little bit from tarrot cards. probably not the greatest way but hey, the human mind can put a lot of random shit together to make sense, and it worked so who cares really?

Anyways, i decided on taking the story in a different direction from originally planned and it might sound kind of weird, but i did try to transition as smoothly as possible...

Please feel free to give constructive criticism and feedback, its greatly appreciated.

The next few days were...tense, to say the least. The entire house had an air of discomfort, caused by the only two tenants present. He entirely blamed that Matt guy. Ever since he came, everything became...weird.

Zoro barely spoke a word to him for two days, hardly even came upstairs! He was being so damn skittish! Everything he did seemed to freak the swordsman out somehow!

He gave Zoro some time to accept Sanji knew about his boyfriend, he got nervous glances at the dinner table when he wasn't looking. He tried to talk reasonably with him, he got a shitty mumbled excuse and Zoro would go practically running downstairs. He tried to act like it never happened, start a fight like they normally would, Zoro just ended up either running downstairs again or sometimes even looking a little hurt from his insults. When the fuck did that start?

He just couldn't fucking win! True, it had only been two days, but still, that merited at least a little less awkward tension! Sanji sighed angrily to himself, this was starting to piss him off. He had this burning curiosity about that fucker Matt, about what the fuck was going on with him and Zoro, and why the fuck Zoro was avoiding him like the fucking plague!

It was eating him alive and he needed to know dammit! He hated the thought of waiting for Zoro to finally be able to stay in the same room with him for five seconds to try and get some kind of answer. That would take forever! And he probably wouldn't even get a straight answer...he just needed some way to find something out...

Sanji frowned as he got lost in his thoughts, his eyes trained on the knives he was sharpening to a pristine point. His irritation showing in the fast and angry (but of course careful) strokes to the blade.

Sanji hesitated when he saw Zoro emerge from the top of the stairs and slowly wander into the living room. This was a little more in character for Zoro, he often wandered aimlessly when he was bored. This seemingly positive improvement caught Sanji's interest, he resumed sharpening the knives, but the pace was much slower as he kept an eye on Zoro.

He was sitting on the edge of the couch stiffly, not moving an inch. Sanji frowned, what was he doing? Waiting for something?

Sanji's hands slowly came to a stop as he watched Zoro. The loud drill of the doorbell made them both jerk out of their thoughts. Zoro's head turned towards the door, just looking in that direction before he threw Sanji a glance from the corner of his eye and rose to answer it.

Sanji's frown increased as his suspicion rose, it was Matt, wasn't it? He gently placed his knives away, trying to be as silent as possible to hear...anything really.

"Hey..." Zoro said tiredly after a long silence at the door.

"...hey...I need to talk with you, if that's okay?"

When Matt's voice reached Sanji's ears he scowled, then what he actually said clicked, his interest levels rose and he poked his out of the kitchen.

Zoro silently stepped aside for Matt to come in, partially masked confusion on his face.

Sanji quickly pulled his head out of view, chewing on his lip.

Perhaps right now was an excellent time to check on his little patch of roses and Nami's oranges...

"Zoro...I just wanted to apologize." Matt started as soon as Zoro sat on the edge of his bed.

Zoro frowned, "What?" he said flatly. Wasn't Matt someone now to be detested? Wasn't he the 'bad guy'?

"I'm sorry, I did something unforgivable! I made you do something you didn't want to do, I hurt you," he paused his eyes flashing to Zoro's, pain and regret in the dark scarlet irises. "I hurt you." he repeated like it was the worst thing to ever happen to the world.

Zoro absentmindedly put a hand on his right thigh, just above the place Matt's teeth left a bloody love mark days earlier.

Matt ran a hand through his hair before he started pacing in front of Zoro. "I..I don't want to hurt you! I don't want it to be like that! I...I..." he made a frustrated sound before he kneeled in front of him, his palms resting on Zoro's knees.

"This is no excuse, but whenever I think about you, its like the world fades and your the only thing there! I...I lose myself, I become selfish and cruel, and I didn't think about your feelings at all!" his anguished voice quieted as he rested his head on Zoro's knees.

"I just want to say I'm sorry. I deeply regret what I did and it will never happen again! I was just so upset and frustrated!" he sighed.

"I'm making no sense am I?...I just wanted to see you smile and hear you laugh again, I didn't want to see you so sad, hell, I still want to see that. I want to see you." Matt turned his head to the side to look up Zoro's face, he gave a little smile.

"I just wanted a chance to be with you...but I lost control and fucked it up, royally. I just wanted a chance..." his voice trailed of as he dropped his eyes from Zoro's.

Zoro stared down at him wide eyed. He was complete overwhelmed by the amount of emotion Matt just dumped on him.

"...This is probably the worst time...but..." Matt buried his face in Zoro's legs, his shoulders tense.

"I've only know you for a short time but you are one, no, the most fascinating, gorgeous, fun, man I've ever met. I've never wanted to be around someone this much before, I've never felt the urge to protect someone this much before. Your the only person who's tears I thought were beautiful while still hatting the fact you were crying...I've never felt like this before...I've never had a...a...connection like this with anyone so soon! I don't know anything about you really and I still feel like this, its unbearable! I want to spend more time with you, I want to know more about you, I want to know everything about you..."

He trailed off, his voice sounding tortured, yet still remaining soft and almost...loving...

"...please...if I just had one chance, just one...just one chance to prove I can be good for you, that I care about you..."

Zoro continued to stare at the man on his knees, begging for an opportunity to be with him...

"please..." Matt whispered, the grip on Zoro's knees tightening slightly.

….He could break it off anytime he felt like couldn't he? Where was the harm in giving him a chance to at least see why it wouldn't work?...

Oh please, what a load of cheesy shit! Like Zoro would fall for cheap garbage like that! Where did he even come up with that? Did he watch all the crappy romance movies he could?

Sanji hovered by Zoro's door, eavesdropping with the ruse that he just came in from checking on the garden, a few oranges in a basket as 'proof'. Last time Matt was here he had been a bit...unprepared that Zoro had sounded like he was doing something not exactly...consensual. But this time he was prepared, if that bastard did anything weird, Sanji would gladly kick him out of the house and sort it all out with Zoro later. Maybe that would help him stop acting so weird! And everything would finally go back to normal!

What about those other times weird things happened? You even started the incident in the alley yourself.

Sanji ignored the small voice in the back of his head, quickly pushing the memories aside before he could dwell on them for long. He was busy and he didn't have the time at the moment to think about it.

"...Alright."

Sanji froze as he slowly comprehended what Zoro just said. He just...forgave him? Just like that? Because he spouted some stupid lines about how this suspicious bastard 'needs' you? Fuck marimo! Not even you are that stupid!

It was quiet again, not silent, but the talking was too quiet to make out what was being said. Sanji leaned a little closer to the door, trying to make out who was talking and what they were saying.

There was rustling and the faint smacking noise of a kiss...followed by another, then another...

"Seriously marimo?" Sanji hissed quietly to himself, Zoro's stupidity was so frustrating!

"Mmp!"

Sanji perked up a bit, straining to hear again.

"Sorry, I'm sorry! I'm just so happy, sorry. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, I'll stop. Sorry."

"...its okay...just...not now."

"I'm sorry, is this alright? If you want I...I could leave for today..." Matt sounded hurt by the idea and he did a crappy job of pretending that it didn't. He obviously wanted Zoro to know that would make him feel bad.

Shitty little weasel!

"...you don't have to go...this is fine..." Zoro said slowly.

Sanji made an involuntary disgusted face.

After a few moments Sanji heard Zoro yawn hugely.

"Why don't you take a nap? I don't mind." Matt whispered gently.

"I dunno..." Zoro mumbled tiredly.

He sounded exhausted...Sanji frowned, possibly slightly worried. Only slightly.

"I don't mind. You look like you could use a good rest." Matt murmured, there was the quiet smack of a kiss again.

"Mmm." Zoro let out a small, half asleep hum of pleasure and Matt chuckled quietly.

Sanji felt sick. He gave the door one last suspicious glare and slowly went upstairs, grumbling quietly.