Sanji opened the next box nearest to him with a sigh. There were pictures inside, the few Zoro had let him take of the two of him. They were all taken inside of their old house, and looking at them made Sanji's heart ache.
He sighed, dropping the picture back into the box. The house Zoro had found for them was larger and more grand than their old one had been, but even so, Sanji missed their old home. The fact that moving into the new house had been a never ending adventure of repacking hardly helped him feel any warmer to it. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to leave.
A pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him back against a strong chest and familiar warmth.
"It'll get better," Zoro murmured into his ear. "I promise."
Sanji sighed heavily. He doubted very highly that he'd ever love this house as much as their old one, but he knew Zoro was only trying to protect them, and he wasn't going to raise an argument against that.
"Besides," Zoro grinned, his teeth nibbling gently at Sanji's ear, teasing the skin there and making Sanji's body stir with excitement. "We haven't gotten to properly wear in the new bed yet."
Sanji was just about to suggest they get a move on that right now when he was interrupted by the doorbell. He and Zoro shared a look, both confused by the sudden unexpected visitor.
The door swung open to reveal a young man, maybe a few years younger than them, with messy black hair flattened under a straw hat and a scar under one eye. He was beaming excitedly up at them and immediately launched into an excited flurry of words that might have been some kind of speech the moment the door was opened.
"Whoa I was right there are people here! I thought I saw people but then you don't have a car and everyone has cars so I said I was wrong but then I thought it couldn't hurt to check and-"
The speech continued. There wasn't any pause or break in it, and Sanji was sure the young man wasn't even breathing.
Finally, after a long bout of talking, the stranger stopped to draw in a deep breath before saying, "Hi! My name is Luffy and I'm your neighbor."
Sanji looked at Zoro, and Zoro looked down at the boy, his eyebrows knitted in what passed for a look of confusion on Zoro.
"The nearest house is a mile down the road," Zoro said. "And I thought it was abandoned."
"It was!" Luffy declared happily. He stepped inside between Sanji and Zoro as if he'd been invited, and the two off them were still to shocked to complain. "I found it one day but even though no one lives there it's still a nice house, so I took it!"
Sanji felt his eyebrows rise. "You…took it? Just like that?"
"Yeah!" Luffy smiled. "I mean if no one else wants it there's no point in keeping it empty, right?"
Sanji couldn't really argue with that logic, no matter how unorthodox an idea it was. He barely had a moment to consider it before Luffy was off again, leading the way through their home while Sanji and Zoro followed uncertainly after.
"You guy's got any food in this place?" Luffy asked, making his way into the kitchen as if he knew the way. Of course, given that the young man was in the practice of just taking houses, it was possible he did. "I'm starving."
He worked his way into the kitchen and had managed to open the fridge before Sanji managed to come in and slam the door shut. Just in the nick of time too, Sanji knew he'd left the heart of Zoro's last victim in the middle shelf, right in perfect view of their unwanted house guest.
"Heeeey," Luffy whined. "Stingy. I just wanted a snack. Come on!" Luffy tugged on the fridge handle again, but Sanji held it fast.
"It's rude to go into someone else's fridge!" Sanji snapped.
"But I'm huuuungryyyy," the boy whined again.
"I'll cook you something but stay…out!" Sanji managed to pry the kid away from the fridge. "Oh sit down at the table and don't move."
Zoro, who had only watched and hadn't helped, remained standing in the kitchen, looking after the kid as he pouted and made his way to the table. The green haired man was smirking slightly, and that pissed Sanji off.
"You too, moss head. Sit," Sanji ordered. He reached for his apron as usual but froze before he picked it up. It was covered in blood stains from all the bodies he'd been carving up, and it would be hard to explain even the old dried stains away. He'd forgo the apron today, just this once.
He made lunch quickly, frying up thin sliced steaks and sautéing them with a variety of vegetables and serving the mixture over fluffy white rice. The rice and seasonings should more than hide the slightly unique taste of the unusual kind of meat, and Sanji set a plate down in front of the drooling younger man.
He handed Zoro his plate as well and sat back to watch the young man eat. Luffy forked mouthful after mouthful without even pausing to chew in between.
He was nearly halfway through his plate when he stopped, chewing his current bite carefully, considering the flavor.
"What kind of meat is this?" He asked curiously.
"Pork," Sanji answered quickly.
"Doesn't taste like pork," Luffy frowned. "Something else. Are you sure it's not beef?"
"It's pork," Zoro agreed. Unlike the panic Sanji felt, Zoro looked perfectly at ease and even amused by their guests little guessing game.
"No, it can't be," Luffy chewed at another piece. "Lamb maybe?"
"Pork," Sanji corrected.
"Veal?" Luffy asked.
"It's people," Zoro finally said. "You know, like human."
There was a stretch of silence, Luffy froze with the bite in his mouth half chewed, and Sanji had to resist the urge to reach across the table and smack his lover upside the head. They'd only just moved in, Sanji wanted the place to stay clean at least a little while.
Finally after the silence grew almost frightening, Luffy broke out into a loud laugh. "That's funny! You're a funny guy! Anyway, this is delicious! Can I come over again sometime and have some more?"
Sanji and Zoro exchanged a glance. Sanji was really beginning to wonder if moving had been a good idea after all.