Re-edited: 17/11/14
There's a cold chill in the air as Sanji and Zoro walk out of the train station early morning. Even with his long black coat, with purple fur on the collar, Sanji is still freezing cold and he wraps his arms around himself tighter to try and warm up. The journey home was long and dull, and Sanji is exhausted. Smiling slightly, he watches Zoro as he walks ahead of him and leads the way. The moss head had insisted on carrying Sanji's bag for him, and he only agreed on this as long as he could buy a coat for Zoro before they left. Not that he was worried about him in just a t-shirt or anything. And so, Zoro is wearing the light green coat, with brown fur on the collar, which Sanji had picked out for him, while he gets them lost. Again.
Normally he would have snapped at the swordsman by now, but he had missed this. It always amuses him to watch Zoro lose his way, and he found it, dare he say cute, seeing the slight confusion and irritation in Zoro's expression as he turns down the same street for the fifth time this morning. The only problem is that the weather is getting harsher, and the longer the swordsman walks in the opposite direction of his house, the more annoyed Sanji is getting.
"Oi, marimo, lost again?"
"Shut up! I'm not lost!"
Sanji snickers and continues to follow the lost puppy, "Oi moss head."
…..
"Oi!"
…..
"Oi!"
"WHAT!" Zoro finally turns around and glares at him.
"Where exactly am I going to go? I don't have a place to live down here anymore, remember?"
"You can stay with me."
At this, the swordsman turns away from him and continues walking, leaving him behind in shock. Staying with Zoro… That should be okay until I can find my own place. But, aren't I forgetting something? Oh yeah, that's right. Kuina!
"Shit head wait!" He shouts as he runs to catch up with Zoro, "What about Kuina? It's been a few months since I left, she's moved in with you now right? Will she be okay with me staying there?"
He watches Zoro as he turns down another street, picking up his pace.
"We're not together anymore."
"What? Seriously? What happened?"
"Nothing happened. Come on, let's get home already, it's freezing out here."
Sanji decides to leave it be for now. The marimo obviously doesn't want to talk about it. I'll ask him another time. Well, if are going to get out of this cold, we need to be walking in the right direction for a start. Leaning forward, Sanji reaches out, and grabs Zoro by his coat sleeve. He turns them around and heads off in the right direction, not letting go of the swordsman.
"Oi curly, what are you doing?"
"Taking us the right way, so stop talking and keep walking marimo."
He hears Zoro grunt from behind him. "You can let go of my sleeve now, idiot."
"Not risking it. We don't want you to get lost now do we?"
"I DON'T GET LOST!"
He knew Zoro could easily pull away from him if he wanted to, but the fact that he didn't even try, made him smile.
Zoro woke up from his mid-morning nap to a wonderful smell coming from downstairs. Sitting up in his bed, he rubs the sleep from his eyes. When he fully wakes up from his sleep induced state, he registers that the amazing smell is Sanji's cooking.
At this realisation, he grins and jumps up out of bed, not bothering to put anything else on besides his boxers, and rushes downstairs. Before walking into the kitchen, he slows down his pace, as he doesn't want to seem too eager, and lets his grin fall into a neutral expression. As he walks in, the cook is humming a tune as he moves around the room with ease. Zoro's eyes are watching Sanji's every move, and in a trance like state, the swordsman sits down on the stool at the kitchen counter.
"Oi cook, what are you making?"
"Pancakes, want some?"
Sanji picks up the pan from the cooker and flips a pancake, catching it effortlessly. Zoro grunts in reply and continues to watch the blonde cook. He'd be lying if he said he didn't stared at Sanji's ass on more than one occasion.
"Marimo?"
"Yeah?"
"Do the others know I'm back?"
"No."
Sanji spins around with a spatula raised, "What the hell! You haven't told them?"
He looks back up at Sanji's face when the cook's posture falters - is he blushing? Sanji quickly turns back around and continues focusing on the pancakes.
"And why the hell aren't you wearing a shirt!?"
Zoro smirks, puts his elbow up on the counter and rests his head on the palm of his hand, "I'm only wearing boxers, cook."
Watching the idiot clumsily drop the spatula amuses Zoro even more.
"Put on some clothes! You're not sitting there like that in this kitchen!" Sanji screeches as he bends down to pick the cooking utensil back up.
"My house, I can do what I want." The swordsman calmly remarks, as he leans over the counter and observes the blonde, with a sly grin.
Sanji wordlessly puts the spatula in the tub in the sink, and gets a clean one out from one of the draws, "So why haven't you told the others?" he takes out another plate from the cupboard and places it next to the one filled with fresh pancakes.
"Like I said before, as soon as Smoker gave me your address I just left, didn't think about it."
Sanji halves the amount of pancakes, adding the one from the pan onto Zoro's plate. To the swordsman's he adds cinnamon and to his own, maple syrup.
At being given his plate and a fork, Zoro dives into his pancakes, trying to supress a moan of pleasure at the taste. Looking back up, he sees the shitty cook smirk as the blonde leans against the counter by the cooker, holding his plate.
"Want me text them to meet at Shank's later?"
"I don't know marimo." Sanji's smirk turns into a frown as he puts his plate down on the kitchen counter behind him, his food hardly touched.
"Why not?"
"They probably won't want to see me. I'm not nakama anymore. This isn't my home."
Feeling angered the swordsman slams his fork down. The bang makes the cook jump and look over at him sharply, "What the hell, Zoro!?"
"That's what I should be saying to you, dumbass." he snarls as he gets out of his seat.
Sanji's just stares at him wide-eyed as he walks around the kitchen counter and over to the blonde, "Don't talk bullshit like that!" As he reaches Sanji he grabs him by the front of his shirt, pulling him close as he snarls at him, "you're still nakama Sanji! To me and to them, so they definitely want to see you. And you do have a home. It's here with me!"
The cook gapes at him in shock. He would have laughed at the others expression if he wasn't trying to keep this conversation serious.
Zoro stares back at him, quickly glancing at the blonde's lips once, before looking back into his eyes.
The cook smiles a little bit as he seems to get over his shock at the swordsman's words, "Thanks, Zoro."
As his sudden burst of anger melts away, Zoro realises how close they are and he feels his cheeks getting warmer. He bites down softly on his bottom lip and he can't resist leaning forward slightly. Sanji doesn't move, or push him away, and as he's about to press their lips together, his house phone rings, startling them both. They jump away from each other and the swordsman rushes to pick up the phone which is hanging on the wall behind him.
"Shishishishi ZORO!"
He yanks the phone away from his ear, groaning as he answers the idiot on the other end. Great timing….
"Luffy. What do you want?"
"WANT TO COME OVER? USOPP FOUND THIS HUUUGE SPIDER IN HIS ATTIC AND - "
"In not interested!" Zoro barks as he rubs at his forehead, feeling a headache coming on, "please just stop shouting."
Luffy laughs again and he can hear Chopper squealing in the background and shouting at Usopp to stop chasing him with the spider.
"Oi, round the crew up at Shank's bar tonight. It's important."
He turns around slightly and notices that the cook is washing up, is food still untouched, as Luffy's voice comes out seriously through the phone, "What for? Has something happened?"
"I'll text and let you know later. Just make sure the crew turn up. It's nothing bad. It's good. I Promise."
"Ok Zoro! See you later!"
It still surprises him sometimes how quickly Luffy's demeanour can change in a split second. Hanging up the phone, he goes back to the counter, sits on the stool and digs into his pancakes again.
"He sounds happy," Sanji says as he continues to wash up at the kitchen sink.
"Yeah," Zoro mumbles, around the food in his mouth, and his eyes widen when a hand towel hits his face, hard.
"Don't eat with your mouth full, marimo! It's disgusting!"
Zoro grins and pulls the towel off his head, "Fuck off curly!"
"Bastard! Learn some manners you ape!"
Chuckling, he continues eating. He can't wait to see his nakama's faces when they see the cook later. He glances over at Sanji's uneaten food. I'll have to make sure the idiot eats something before I go and change. And I'm definitely telling Luffy what the shitty cook said earlier. If anyone can convince him he's still nakama, it's our captain for sure.
