Sanji has woken up many times not knowing where he was exactly, there were various things that had caused this over the years; going home with pretty girls, too much booze, knocked out in a fight. However magic flowers was a relatively new addition to that list. This also managed to rank pretty high up on the list of places that he'd hate to wake up in.
He was leaning slumped against a dumpster, a particularly sticky and foul smelling dumpster. As he gathered his wits about him and rubbed his aching head he became aware of two people leaning over him.
"Hey, he's waking up." One says to the other. Sanji groans and opens his eyes properly and focuses on the two people. They look like an unfavourable sort and the type that pirates consider unfavourable are usually pretty rough.
"Think he's got any money on him? He looks pretty fancy in that suit." The other asks with a sniff. He spits absently on the ground next to Sanji and the cook's already low opinion of the pair drops further.
"Fuck off." Sanji groans out as he sits up unsteadily. Unperturbed the second thug leans in and has an experimental rifle through Sanji's jacket pockets for a wallet or something of value. Sanji's actually so stunned by the man's brazen attitude that for a few seconds he doesn't react.
"I said fuck OFF!" He yells kicking the two guys clean out of the alleyway without much effort. They fly in an impressive little arc before landing cursing on the pavement. They give him an evil look but know that Sanji is worth more effort and risk than is worth the potential reward.
"Losers." Sanji mutters to himself and inspects his suit, the jacket looks okay if a little un-specifically sticky at the back with something that Sanji doesn't want to find out more about. His trousers look okay if a little scuffed. He's trying to inspect the back of his own trousers with a little difficulty, as flexible as he is even he has a little trouble looking at his own butt, when a familiar voice jolts him.
"Sanji?"
He glances up and sees Luffy peering quizzically around the corner of the alleyway at him. Well, it is Luffy and it isn't. Although his shorts and straw hat remain the same the rest of his clothes are different, he's got a bright red t-shirt on with a picture of a smiling hamburger on it and flat red and white shoes with a white plastic cover over the toes and stars on the ankles.
"Luffy." Sanji says surprised. He's not seen this world's version of Luffy yet, he's aware that he'd been travelling with Robin and hadn't been able to see him before he disappeared back to his own world.
"SANJI!" Luffy yelps excitedly and launches himself at him. Sanji stumbles backwards dropping his jacket in his surprise and gets his clean shirt pressed against the sticky dumpster for his trouble. Luffy's arms are wrapped around him in a bone crunching hug and the boy is babbling about how worried everyone has been about him and how long he's been looking for him, eventually Luffy starts going on about how much he's missed his food and it's not fair of Sanji to disappear like that when he's hungry. Ignoring Luffy's babbling Sanji experimentally touches Luffy's skin. Despite his normal appearance Luffy is a rubber man and if you're looking for it you can tell by the feel of his skin. It's not exactly like touching someone wearing latex gloves, Luffy does have body hair after all - fine and downy like a girl for the most part - but you can still feel the rubber skin. This Luffy however just feels like a normal person, of course he does, he's not eaten a magical fruit and become more than human.
"I've got to call Zoro! He'll be so happy!" Luffy exclaims pulling back from Sanji and retrieving a phone from his pocket. He dials a number by heart and presses the phone to his ear. Sanji only gets to hear one side of the conversation but it's telling nonetheless.
"Zoro, it's me. I've found Sanji! I- yeah, he's fine. We're about a mile from the Baratie, near that little antique place with the maps that Nami loves. Nah he's cool, he was just kicking some guys about when I found him. He-yeah? Okay see you in a few then."
Luffy turns back to him with a big grin evidently pleased to have found him.
"Zoro said to wait here, he'll be here as soon as he can." Luffy explains as he puts his phone back in his pocket. Sanji nods mutely, he doesn't quite know what to say. He can't exactly explain where he's been without sounding nuts and he wants to tell Zoro first before anyone else and knowing the marimo he probably isn't going to take it well. He can't pretend that he's sick or something, or that he lost his mind but he certainly doesn't want Luffy to think that he just waltzed out on Zoro for no reason and made him sick with worry.
"You are okay right?" Luffy finally asks, giving him an assessing look.
"Yeah, I feel fine." He answers with a nod. Leaving the two of them standing in silence again.
"You had everyone pretty worried you know." Luffy says slowly, giving him a sideways look. Sanji doesn't like his expression, it's that rare serious look that Luffy gets from time to time when something important is going down.
"I- yeah, I figured. It wasn't deliberate, I wouldn't just leave like that." He insists hastily.
"Don't be stupid, I knew that. I know you." Luffy says giving him an earnest look and clapping him soundly on the shoulder reassuringly.
Sanji's ears pick up a screech of tyres and an engine in the distance, not an unusual sound in this city, he'd gotten used to that pretty quickly, so really it shouldn't attract his attention. And yet there's something specific about that sound that's got Sanji's ears all perked up. He hears a yell and some curses and distantly a man yelling for someone to drive on the road instead.
Luffy grins, wide and manic, and steps out of the mouth of the alleyway and onto the street properly. He waves and in a second has to jump back as a green blur skids sideways into view. The green bike is still rumbling loudly but its rider is already dismounting in a hurry, all arms and legs in a tangle from moving too urgently. The helmet is yanked off and beneath it Zoro is revealed. His hair is a mess and he's wide eyed and panting with exertion, he stares at Sanji for a split second before the cook finds himself crushed into an embrace.
If this was the other Zoro Sanji would violently protest, hell, even with this Zoro it wasn't so long ago that he would have pulled away. But things have changed. Instead Sanji just buries his head into the leather collar of Zoro's jacket and breathes a sigh of relief as a tension that he hadn't realised he'd been holding onto washes away.
"Sanji." Zoro gasps into his ear. The word is ragged as if Zoro had to drag it out of himself painfully, Sanji squeezes Zoro reassuringly, his arms are wrapped around the other man's back but he manages to pull his arm back and slide it inside Zoro's leather jacket and under the soft t-shirt underneath. His hand spans Zoro's hot skin and he strokes a line down Zoro's back soothingly.
"I'm so sorry." He apologises quietly. Even if he hadn't seen Zoro's anguish in the fountain he can feel it now through ever inch of Zoro's tense and terrified body. Zoro thought that he had lost him, that Doflamingo had spirited him from under Zoro's nose and murdered him horribly. He hadn't left deliberately and he hadn't known that this world was still going to be here when he left either, still he feels guilty.
Zoro pulls back from him and holds him tightly at the shoulders as if he was afraid that he might disappear again otherwise. His eyes rake over him, not in the way that set that pleasant flutter off in Sanji's stomach though, Zoro was checking that he was unharmed.
"I'm fine." He insists gently. After a moment Zoro nods sharply in agreement and his eyes come back up to Sanji's.
"Where were you?" He asks seriously.
Ah. He'd known that was coming. He's still not sure how to answer though, he doesn't want to lie but he's not sure how well Zoro would take the truth. His reactions to Sanji talking about where he was from ranged from mildly interested to upset and angry. Further to that he doesn't know how Luffy will react either or how much Luffy knows about what's happened to him.
"I- I woke up somewhere else. Back where I was from, the place I remembered. The island with the lotuses, the one I told you I remembered." He says because there's no point saying anything else.
Zoro looks at him wide eyed obviously wishing that Sanji had said something else, although Sanji can't imagine what answer he'd prefer. 'I was abducted by Doflamingo' would fit Zoro's worldview better but make the man feel horrible. He wasn't sure if 'I was trying to leave you because I'm a bastard' would be any better either, it might even be worse. After a few tense seconds Zoro nods as if accepting Sanji's words.
"Right, you're going to the hospital then." Zoro states. Sanji opens his mouth to protest but shuts it again right after, there's clearly no dissuading Zoro from this and if hearing Chopper tell him that he's medically fine will sort this out then so much the better. He shrugs in agreement, which Zoro is apparently satisfied with.
Zoro turns around to deal with his bike and apparently remembers that Luffy has been here the whole time. Zoro starts forward and grabs Luffy into a tight albeit brief hug.
"Thank you for finding him." He says reverently.
"Hey, he's my nakama too." Luffy laughs slapping Zoro jovially on the back.
"Come on." Zoro insists tugging Sanji towards his bike. He pulls Sanji's motorbike jacket out from under the seat of the green menace and manhandles Sanji into it despite his protests that he's perfectly capable of doing it himself. Before he realises what Zoro's doing the marimo has put his green helmet on Sanji's head too.
"Geez your head is big, shouldn't you be wearing this and me be wearing mine?" Sanji asks feeling the helmet wobble almost comically as he talks.
"I didn't bring yours, no place to carry it." He offers by way of explanation and pulls Sanji onto the back of the bike with him. Sanji starts to protest that Zoro should really be wearing this helmet as it's his bike and it fits him better, but the stubborn marimo deliberately revs the engine of the bike louder every time Sanji tries to speak. Eventually he gives up, no point trying to argue sense into that over protective moron.
With hindsight Sanji couldn't say what was worse, the knuckle whitening ride to the hospital or all the boring waiting around in the hospital for pointless tests that said nothing different than they did last time. Namely that he was fine and there's no reason that he should be imagining these things. All of that made a lot more sense now that he knew that he wasn't imagining anything at all, the reason no one could say he was making it up, hallucinating or lying was because he wasn't.
He's sprawled out in the waiting room taking up all the aisle space with his long legs when the question occurs to him. It really should have come to him earlier because he's had plenty of time to think in all the waiting between his battery of tests, right now he's waiting for his fifth blood test and at this rate he feels like he's going to leave with more perforations in his skin than a colander. Zoro's sitting in silence staring disinterestedly at the ceiling so he doesn't notice the sidelong look that Sanji gives him.
Sanji bites his lip a little before steeling his nerves and leaning forward. He presses a gentle kiss to the edge of Zoro's jaw and feels the pleased hum rumble through Zoro's throat.
"Flirting with me won't convince me to let you skip the rest of your tests you know." Zoro says in a voice that suggests that he wouldn't be unhappy if Sanji tried though. Sanji laughs breathily against Zoro's neck and tilts his head happily when Zoro reaches up to stroke his hair.
"That's fine. I'm just glad that you're you and not…" He trails off. Zoro's hand pauses and he leans back to give Sanji a quizzical look.
"Not who?" Zoro asks with a curious lift of his eyebrow. Sanji squirms under Zoro's scrutiny because he doesn't really want to talk about this. He relents though because he knows Zoro, he knows that the other man will just keep pushing and investigating until he knows whatever it is that Sanji is hiding.
"I'm happy that you're not your other self, the you that I know from my world. When I woke up there I thought this place had just been a big lesson on what I really wanted, what my wish was. I figured that it was you. So… so I followed that advice. I tried to persuade the Zoro in my world to… to see me how you see me. His answer was a pretty definitive no." Sanji says slowly as he tries not to look at Zoro. This whole thing is fucking embarrassing damn it!
He remembers Zoro's eyes widening in surprise and then the slightly pitying look, he remembers Zoro trying to be kind about letting him down. He remembers his desperation, how much of a fool he made himself look trying to chase something that he wanted but clearly wasn't going to have in that world.
Zoro gives him a puzzled sidelong look before giving him a small smile.
"Well I wouldn't say no. I don't know why you dreamed what you did when you were… wherever you were when you hallucinated this but it's not real. We're real." He offers reassuringly and scratches his fingers through the hair at the nape of Sanji's neck comfortingly.
Sanji's mouth opens and shuts, he doesn't want to irritate Zoro further by insisting that he wasn't wandering around London imagining some fantasy world for a day. He knows where he was and that's what matters. Zoro means well, and Sanji can understand how he's having such a hard time buying the truth, Sanji himself would be incredulous if someone told him that story. He decides to let it go and press on with his original question, the thing that's been quietly worrying away at the back of his mind since Zoro shut him down in the real world.
"If I had asked you out before you realised that I was your… exception or whatever. If I'd asked you then instead of later when you were flirting with me about my food, would you have still said yes? I mean, there was a time when you didn't understand what you felt for me wasn't there? Do you think you would have changed your mind, that you would have said no but changed your mind later?" Sanji asks frowning at the floor.
He has to hope that the Zoro in his world is going to change his mind, that he'd caught Zoro when he didn't understand his feelings. But he'd known that Zoro longer than his counterpart and this Zoro had known each other, the night at the Baratie after the fight with Arlong in his memory had only been two months after they met and Zoro agreed to go out with him then. Surely if Zoro was going to become attracted to him in his world it would have happened by now.
"What?" Zoro says slowly.
Sanji rolls his eyes irritatedly, even this Zoro tunes him out and stops listening. He's about to yell at Zoro and repeat his slightly rambling question when he realises his mistake. He glances up at Zoro who is staring at him intently, the hand in Sanji's hair is frozen mid-scratch too. He just asked Zoro about a memory that he's not supposed to have, Zoro doesn't know that he'd been getting those memories back at all.
Shit.
"You remember that." Zoro states intently, his eyes narrowing. That's not a question that he's asking despite the phrasing. Zoro's caught him in his lie and pinned him. Sanji really should remember that this Zoro is a private detective, he figures people out for a living, and if he's anything like the Zoro Sanji knows he's gonna be damn good at whatever he puts his time into. Well shit, no point lying anymore.
"I- yes." He admits quietly. Zoro nods slowly and absorbs this information.
"How long have you had your memories back for?" He asks quietly.
"I've not got them back. I've just been getting… pieces. Little fragments of memories, they come at the oddest times. That's why I didn't tell you, I didn't know if I'd get everything back or if I'd continue getting anything else back at all. I didn't want to get your hopes up and dash them again. I couldn't do that to you." He insists looking Zoro squarely in the eye. Zoro's eyes narrow dangerously but he's not yelling, evidently this Zoro has a slightly longer fuse than the Zoro from Sanji's world.
"Alright. I get that. I don't agree at all mind you, but I see why." Zoro concedes, his dangerous expression fading.
"So?" Sanji prompts. Just because Zoro busted his lie doesn't mean he's going to let Zoro get out of answering his important question. He watches Zoro's brow scrunch as he obviously replays the conversation in his head.
"Oh. No, I don't think so. I realised pretty quickly what it was that I felt, I'm not stupid. It was scary as hell and if you'd asked me when I was freaked out like that I might just have punched you and run off, but I don't think I'd actually tell you no even at that time." Zoro answers with some consideration.
"That's what I figured." Sanji sighs with a big huff of air. So his rejection by Zoro really was a genuine honest-to-god rejection. That sucked.
"The Zoro in my world was so calm about it after he realised I was serious. He tried to be nice about it too, god, I was so embarrassed." He whines hiding his face in his hands.
"I don't know what to tell you. I didn't say no, I'm right here with you now. Your dream world doesn't matter." The marimo says simply. Sanji wants to yell at him because it's not that simple, at some point he's going to go home and have to face the real Zoro, the Zoro who does say no and doesn't want to be with him. But this Zoro doesn't understand that, he can't understand that.
"Sure." He smiles weakly at Zoro.
It was dinner time by the time the hospital had run every test it could think of on him and Sanji gladly took the opportunity to cook and mull his situation over whilst Zoro called everyone he could think of to let them know that Sanji was okay. He felt like comfort food after the day he'd had and for them that meant chicken pasta, a simple dish but one that was warming and could be infinitely played with when the right combinations of spices were used, the fact that he had a large bottle of white wine in the fridge only helped that situation.
It took him halfway through cooking the meal and halfway through his second glass of wine before he settled on the solution to his problem. His reasoning went like this. If this world was made as a representation of his wish then he needed to find out what that wish was, maybe he could apply it to his real world. He'd thought, incorrectly, that Zoro might have been his wish. It was easy to think that, Zoro was the most obvious and immediate difference between the two worlds. And if nothing else the other night had certainly proved that he wanted Zoro. But Zoro clearly wasn't what this place was about. What was it she'd said Zoro was? A side-effect? Zoro was some kind of bonus to this place.
He frowned at the sauce in the pan. He'd have to take a leaf out of Zoro's book and do some detective work of his own. He was going to track down what made this place different to his world and find out what his wish was. And, he considered as Zoro wandered through his line of sight half clothed and looking for a clean shirt, it wouldn't hurt to enjoy the scenery now that he was here.
"Oi, marimo. Forget the shirt and lay the table, dinner's almost done."
"Eh. Sure."