Sanji is sprawled on his back on his bed, the comforting warmth of his duvet covering him completely and lulling his half asleep mind into happy thoughts. Of course those thoughts are of Zoro. Zoro and his perfect little smiles that range from the heart meltingly sweet to the devious and sly. He thinks of Zoro's kindness and his warmth and how much even his smallest gestures mean. He shifts under his blankets and covers his face with his hands to smother his sappy grin, he can even feel how warm his cheeks have become just thinking about his boyfriend. And oh… kissing him, really kissing him is a dream come true.
He rolls onto his side and imagines dreamily of being in Zoro's bed like this, just curled up with him and sharing sleepy words in the dark. Sanji wonders if Zoro's voice would be rough when he's tired like men's voices sometimes get after sex, Sanji would probably die if he heard Zoro all tired and gravelly voiced.
The sound of hooves on the wooden floor of his room stirs Sanji from his sleepy daydreams and the duvet being yanked back destroys them entirely. Sanji groans and flops onto his back and kicks up at his old man's arm, but he can't reach from all the way down on the bed.
"Get up half pint, you have work to do today." Zeff says, looking down at him.
"I really DON'T old man! I pulled double shifts the last two days and fucked my way through half of Upper Manhattan to secure this whole day off so I'm not doing shit!" Sanji argues and sits up to try to pull his blanket back down.
"Great, so you can help me in the kitchen." Zeff says, clearly pleased and clearly having planned this. Sanji lets go of the duvet and falls back onto his mattress with a bounce.
"I… I can't. I have something I need to do tonight, I gotta be somewhere and I have to spend the day getting ready." Sanji explains with guilt creeping hot up the back of his neck.
"But- but if I manage to get some time I'll help and I'll help when I get back if you still need me." He offers guiltily.
"What could you possibly have planned that takes a whole day to get ready for?" Zeff asks skeptically, tilting his head and squinting at Sanji.
"None of your business you old nag!" Sanji snaps and throws himself face down on the bed.
"If you were spending time with work people you'd tell me and I'd know if you were in trouble because I would have found out and probably bailed you out of it." Zeff says thoughtfully.
"Only probably? Gee, thanks so much. I'm trying to sleep you know so if you'd just leave me alone that'd be great." Sanji says pointedly and shoves his face back into his pillow again.
"You're embarrassed." Zeff concludes.
"Are you really not going to let me be until you find this out?" Sanji asks, looking up at his old man.
"I'll leave it alone if you come and work instead. It's your choice." the sneaky old bastard says slyly. Sanji glowers but feels himself relenting. Zeff has been getting his own way for longer than most people have even been alive, he's somewhat outgunned here.
"I'm… dating someone. A guy. It's still kind of new and I've never done this before and it's important so I really don't want to fuck this up." Sanji explains, sitting up and looking down at his bedsheets instead of at Zeff himself.
"Anyone I know?" Zeff asks after a moment of thought.
"No!" Sanji exclaims with a laugh, like he would be seen dead with the assholes who work in the kitchen or any of the wimpy waiters.
"What's he like?" he asks, his fake leg tapping on the ground. The gold of the prosthetic limb sends shimmering patterns of light across the floor.
"Why the interest?" Sanji asks challengingly, meeting Zeff's eyes. He doesn't look angry as such but certainly on edge.
"I took you in and raised you myself, brat. And if some boy thinks that he can use you for any ulterior motive I will grab hold of him and reduce him to still screaming jerky and eat him alive." Zeff growls and Sanji winces at the mental image. An absurd idea occurs to Sanji and he bursts out laughing before he can help it.
"What's so funny?" Zeff demands, stamping a hoof on the floor.
"No, no, nothing. It's just- I mean he's not like that for one thing but I met his sister the other day. She seemed to have much the same attitude to his terrible exes. You two would probably get on." Sanji laughs, not that he has the intention of introducing that nice girl to his old man. It's not like Zeff should really be on Earth anyway, it's not good for anyone.
"You have seemed happier lately, less pissy and bitchy anyway." Zeff hums thoughtfully and twirls his moustache braid.
"I am NOT pissy and bitchy ever! Fuck you!" Sanji snarls, leaping up onto his feet and shoving his middle finger up in Zeff's face. He probably didn't prove his point very well there but nevermind.
"What's this boy do then?" Zeff asks, ignoring Sanji's outburst.
"He's a student. It's advanced stuff, he's pretty smart not that you'd know it until you really get him talking on something. He's not the show off bookworm type." Sanji explains with a happy little smile. His boyfriend is really smart but he's just good at what he does and doesn't need to prove it. Honestly he's honoured that Zoro held him in high enough regard to ask for his help on spellwork. Though the method of teaching him had been more than pleasant.
"Younger than you then." Zeff concludes.
Zoro is nineteen, too fucking right he's younger than Sanji. Sanji is ten times his age! Sure they were crossing a species barrier and it didn't really have much meaning when demons by and large couldn't die of old age. Still, younger is a bit of an understatement.
"Yeah." Sanji agrees as neutrally as he can.
"And he doesn't care what you are?" Zeff asks suspiciously. That right there is the real reason Sanji's never dated before, no one likes incubi and succubi. Except… Zoro. Zoro's never once belittled Sanji for what he is and if anything he had seemed offended that any other demon would look down on Sanji.
"He likes me how I am." Sanji says softly and can't help the dumb smile on his face.
"Fine, you get the day off but you're helping me tomorrow." Zeff says with a put upon sigh and then vanishes in a puff of acrid smoke. It's really not that easy for him to get down the stairs, and why bother when he can just teleport?
Sanji sits back on his bed, there's no chance of him going back to sleep now so he may as well get up. He glances across to his alarm clock and feels his heart stop when he sees that he was meant to be up hours ago and for some reason the stupid thing didn't go off! Oh, he has so much to do and so little time in which to do it!
He flings himself into the bathroom and starts getting ready. He has a long bath filled with all of the best kind of bath oils that he usually hoards for special occasions, he scrubs and buffs every inch of himself until his skin is pink and glowing and perfectly smooth. He cuts and files all of his nails, trims his fringe ever so slightly, applies and removes several face masks and shapes his eyebrows. He does everything. It doesn't matter that Zoro might not even notice, he needs to feel like he looks okay. Sure he can use glamour but it's easier with a good base to work from and he can't seem to hold onto his glamour fully with Zoro around any more. It's as if Zoro makes him drop his guard. And that's… well, fine isn't the word that Sanji would choose but there's nothing he can really do about it. Zoro's still going to be looking at him though and when his glamour eventually does fall he'd rather not look like he fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
Hours later and finally done he still has a few hours left. Nowhere near enough time to choose the right clothes but it'll have to do. He looks himself up and down in the mirror and pouts unhappily. What can he possibly wear to impress Zoro?
Sanji snaps his fingers and goes from wearing just a towel to wearing what Zoro had been wearing the last time that they met. Black jeans with holes in tucked into a pair of big thick boots and a t-shirt for some kind of band that Sanji's never heard of. Although on Zoro the design was so warped by his extensive chest muscles that the text wasn't easily readable. Zoro should look like shit when he wears this crap but he still makes Sanji's mouth water to see him. How does he do it?!
The world twists and warps, getting cooler and then suddenly Sanji is not in his room but in Zoro's living room. He was running late but not that late! Why is he here and, oh shit, and wearing Zoro's clothes too?
"Sanji, I'm sorry, I know it's early but-" Zoro exclaims, he looks stressed and worried. Sanji shoves aside his own embarrassment for a moment and pays attention to Zoro.
"What's wrong?" Sanji asks worriedly.
"I can't see you tonight. We really need a better way of talking to each other than just summoning you. I'm really sorry to bail on you." Zoro apologises.
Sanji's heart sinks. He'd gone through so much to look good for tonight, he'd put in so much extra work to have the day and night free for Zoro. What could be so urgent that Zoro would only tell him now?
"Why?" He asks.
"You know that demonology professor that hates me?" Zoro groans, going to his dining room table and throwing books and supplies in his backpack as he talks.
"I know of him." Sanji says.
"Well he got pissed off because I changed my majors and the department is trying to talk me out of it, but he hates me and wants me gone. So he switched the days of my final so that instead of next week my practical test is in… forty five minutes." Zoro sighs, looking at his watch and then patting himself down until he remembers that his wand is on the table still.
"That seems unfair. Are you going to be okay on the test without the extra time? Can you even get there in time?" Sanji presses.
"Well, I finally got my license back so I can fly there but I am still cursed so it might be a longer route than it should be. But it's at the base of the mountain on this side so it should be relatively easy to find. I'm going to ace the test and rub it in that fucker's face, if he has to cheat to try to make me fail then he stands no chance." Zoro snarls and pulls his bag on. He goes to his hallway cupboard and pulls out a honest to god broomstick and Sanji just manages to stop himself from laughing. He didn't think witches still flew on those things!
"Wait, what did you even do to get your license revoked? And you need a license to fly around on that stupid thing?" he asks, giggles starting to seep in between his words.
"I… got turned around a little and flew into a high energy magic area which was restricted. I got off of the hook when I told them about my curse but it took ages for the paperwork to go through, okay?" Zoro says defensively.
Sanji feels like his grin is probably ear to ear by now but he tries to keep a hold on it.
"So you got in trouble because you got lost? So lost it was illegal?" Sanji cackles and Zoro whaps him in the face with the end of his broom and walks off.
"What do you have to do in your exam anyway?" Sanji asks curiously as Zoro opens the window in his living room and hops up on the ledge.
"Summon a demon." Zoro explains and climbs on his broom a little awkwardly.
"You could summon me." Sanji suggests flirtatiously, leaning against the window ledge and looking up at Zoro through his lashes. That usually gets most people's hearts pounding but it just makes Zoro laugh and lean down to meet him.
"You'd be killed and I'd be arrested. I'll summon you tonight when I get home and we'll work out another date, I'll make this up to you I swear." Zoro says softly and kisses him quickly and gently.
"It's ok. Good luck." Sanji tells him and Zoro launches himself out of the window and flies off. He's following the arrow on his hand but it really shouldn't be needed, not when Sanji can see the mountain in the distance from here. To his credit he at least doesn't fly off in the wrong direction.
Sanji sits on the window ledge and watches Zoro disappear into the darkness. It's clearly not Zoro's fault but Sanji can't help but feel… let down. He had wanted so much to spend time with Zoro tonight and now it's been taken from him. Of course he would have chewed Zoro's ear off if Zoro had tried to ditch his exam just to hang out with Sanji, not to mention what his sister would do.
Still… Zoro said that he wouldn't summon him, not that he couldn't go with. And he can absolutely follow after him and watch how his test goes. Then perhaps if his friends are there they could meet and Sanji could be introduced to them and it would be just like it is in movies. He is so going to follow Zoro. Sanji leaps out of the window and pulls it shut behind him, just balancing carefully on the small amount of window ledge he eyes up the mountain and teleports.
He appears in the dark mountain woods and though he has to teleport around a bit to find the right place he soon comes across the place that Zoro mentioned. There is a large clearing at the foot of the mountain which is lit with a large bonfire and a great variety of small candles. Milling about are students of varying stripes and ancestral liniages. Sanji can see what he meant about pure human being relatively rare at his school if this is a representative slice of his fellow students.
His eyes are drawn to the tall pointy eared man who is standing in the clearing talking to a student with gills who is gesturing to the chalk circle on the floor and saying something about supplies. Sanji settles down on the edge of a hill and keeps his eyes on the distant group. A figure enters the clearing at a slight jog and Sanji can tell that it's Zoro before he's even lit up. A few of his classmates glance at him and one older guy waves sleepily at him. Two people bristle at his entrance though, one of whom is the tall pointy eared man who Sanji assumes is Zoro's teacher. The second is a woman about Zoro's age with incredibly long black hair and a figure that would make a succubus jealous, Sanji isn't sure what she's mixed with but it's clearly something designed to lure humans in.
The incubus mutters a spell under his breath as Zoro draws close to his teacher and suddenly the voices from below are crystal clear in Sanji's head.
"-weren't going to show up to this exam at all." The teacher says snottily.
"Oh no, I appreciated the two hour notice you gave me to get ready for it." Zoro says flatly and Sanji's eyes widen at the barely repressed hostility in Zoro's tone and body language. He's trying for respectful even though his desire is to punch the asshole in the face.
A kindly looking older man walks up to Zoro, clearly the other teacher although he's not wearing anything formal or distinguished. Far from it, the old man looks like he intends to go spelunking in some mountain caves after all this is done. He couldn't look more different from the other teacher.
"Zoro, young man!" The hiker type man booms, his voice loud enough that Sanji could have heard all of it without his little spell.
"Professor." Zoro greets him with a smile and a small respectful bow. Sanji feels a smile creep onto his face and his tail wave happily at seeing Zoro enjoying interacting with someone else. Oh, if only he could go down there.
"It's so good to see you, I didn't realise that you were in this test period until I got here earlier." The man says, slapping Zoro on the shoulder.
"It was… last minute." Zoro says carefully.
"Please tell me you've reconsidered your decision on demon hunting, I know it can get a little nerve wracking at this time in your life what with having to choose your future but you're my best student. You're a bright young lad with plenty of fire in your blood, you'd be an asset to the field." The man says.
Sanji's blood freezes. He knows that demonology was what Zoro specialised in and Zoro had even uncomfortably mentioned before that his teachers were trying to steer him down that sort of path. But the thought of Zoro being like the man who killed Sanji's biological parents and nearly killed him as well as countless others, well it just makes him ill.
Zoro looks almost as uncomfortable as Sanji feels which does something at least to calm Sanji down. He can't see the teacher in the same way again though, who knows how many demons that man has killed?
"I can't, I'm sorry. I still love learning about demons but I just can't… that practical part of it isn't what I want to do. I can't live with that." Zoro insists and Sanji's heart aches for him. It's clear that this change is because of Sanji, that Zoro examined all that he was taught and chose Sanji's truth instead.
"Well seeing as this is a practical test, I guess we'll have to see how you fare with that." The other teacher says meanly and whisks the larger man off with him to check the large circles and runes around the group.
Zoro sighs and walks to the line of students who seem to be ordering themselves in a particular way, presumably the order in which they are to take the test. Sanji watches Zoro grab a piece of paper and tick something off on a sheet, Zoro appears to be working out how many people are before him in his test taking. From this angle he can't see Zoro's face but he can see his body language and sees how Zoro's back straightens and his head turns to scan along the line of people.
Sanji looks in the direction that Zoro seems to be staring in and sees that the pretty woman from before is looking right at Zoro with a smile on her face. Is she one Zoro's friends? She seemed tense at seeing him before but maybe Sanji read that wrong. He knows that Zoro has a few female friends but he's pretty sure that the two Zoro mentioned before had visible feathers, or maybe that was only some of the time. Oh boy, if this girl is one of Zoro's friends then maybe he can meet her afterwards!
The mere thought has Sanji's tail flicking from side to side so fast that someone could harness it as an energy source. He focuses as Zoro fits into place in line next to her. She flicks her hair gracefully over her shoulder and smiles at him.
"Zoro." She purrs.
"Boa." Zoro responds, short and curt.
"Nervous?" She asks lightly.
"No, and I'm sure you're not either." Zoro says and Sanji's tail starts to slow. Zoro's voice is… off. He sounds cold, not angry as such but… calculating. Sanji doesn't know why but this classmate is not Zoro's friend at all.
"Well, I'm glad you're finally acknowledging my superior skill. I mean really, being a witch is for women and men shouldn't be-" She starts to go on dramatically but Zoro cuts her off.
"I was thinking more because of all the practice you have." Zoro says flatly and Boa freezes for a second before loosening up and pretending like she doesn't know what Zoro means. Sanji is starting to get the idea. Sanji isn't usually the one to answer a direct summoning, they have a rota for who answers those. The demon running the summoning just passes the contract on nine times out of ten so Sanji never saw who contracted him to take Zoro's soul.
"I practice all of my chanting and containment circles extensively of course." She says airily.
"You need to stay away from Luffy." Zoro tells her, leaning in a little closer so that people who aren't using magical listening spells like Sanji couldn't hear them.
"No! I love Luffy and he loves me too he just doesn't realise it fully yet and I won't let you stand in my way." She snarls at him, not smart enough to cut her own volume down.
"Kinda hard to top trying to murder me though isn't it? Look, I don't care about your screwed up crush and normally I don't interfere with this but you're dangerous and you don't take no for an answer. He's my friend and it's my job to protect him." Zoro says darkly and Sanji feels himself growling at Boa. Sure she's responsible for Sanji meeting Zoro and he is grateful that happened but he's significantly less happy that she tried to murder his boyfriend.
"I'm sure I could try again, second time's the charm." She hisses at him and Sanji can't help but smirk. Calling another incubus on Zoro isn't going to work any better the second time, Zoro's name is blacklisted now as a case no incubi or succubi will take.
"I'd been thinking that I'd just tell Luffy but he'd either try to make us friends or he'd snap and kick the shit out of you which would get him thrown out of school. That'd either piss us both off or ruin Luffy's dream of being the strongest magical fighter, I don't want either." Zoro continues almost as if she hadn't just spoken and threatened his life again. Rage flashes in her eyes and Sanji watches her hair start to move independently of her, going from silky strands to long thick tendrils that seem to be moving independently. An eye opens on one coil of hair and Sanji's mind flashes up with 'gorgon', he knew she wasn't all human.
"You're not going to do that!" She all but spits in his face and Zoro seems to waver a little, perhaps put off by the still forming snake hair. If he backs down from this Sanji will offer to take her out for him, or if Zoro wants to keep his hands clean Sanji can call in a favour and get her dragged down below by Patty. Sanji's fingernails are shifting to claws and he deeply wants to sink them into her awful body himself, how dare anyone try to hurt his Zoro? He'll end her!
"No, I won't do that." Zoro admits and the triumphant grin on her face makes Sanji want to spit fire.
"Have you thought about what you were going to get the demon that you summon to do? You have to make it perform a task to prove you have it under your control." Zoro says casually, a smile starting to form on his lips. Sanji is completely confused but it at least looks like Boa is just as puzzled, patches of her hair going from snake back to hair once more.
"Are you trying to cheat off of me or something?" She asks in suspicious confusion.
"No, it's just what I'm going to ask mine to do changes depending on if you agree to leave Luffy alone." Zoro says simply and Sanji stares in interest because Zoro's expression is just what he's seen in his spell work before. He's in control and he knows just what he's doing, no doubt unnerving for Boa to see.
"Are you that thick? You can't just get a demon to attack me, you'll be arrested." she laughs at him. She'll be real surprised when Sanji catches up to her then won't she?
"Oh yeah, anyone dumb enough to summon a demon without a license would get kicked out of school and lose their wand, not to mention sending a demon to kill another student. That'd land you in jail for at least twenty years. So, are you going to leave Luffy alone or not?" Zoro asks.
"You can't prove anything and you can't threaten me so no, keep pushing me and the school might end up with a new statue outside of it." Boa threatens, her eyes flashing white for a split second.
"Then I guess I'll be asking my demon to point out which of my classmates has summoned an incubus. Since a bound demon has to comply with a command it's not like it could lie, it would be indisputable evidence. I'd confirm it of course and I'm sure you didn't cover all of your tracks. The end is you're far away from Luffy and he doesn't have to find out why." Zoro states matter of factly.
Sanji closes his mouth, it had fallen open in sheer shock. He knew Zoro was smart but he never figured he was smart in this kind of cunning way. Damn he'd make a fine demon if he's capable of doing that kind of scheme on a regular basis, it's actually kind of… hot. He'll perhaps not mention that to Zoro though, he'd hate for the man to get the idea that Sanji has expectations that he doesn't have.
Boa for her part is an ashy grey as she tries to find a way out of Zoro's little trap. She can't do it though, it's beautiful in its simplicity.
"Hancock, Boa." The teacher calls out and Sanji realises that Boa is the next in line for her test.
Zoro tilts his head expectantly, as soon as she's done it'll be his turn and her life as she knows it will be over. Whether Zoro does that or not is all on her. Boa is frozen to the spot, rather ironic given her species.
"Boa!" The teacher calls out again, sounding agitated.
"Fine! Fine. I'll… stay away." Boa hisses, her tongue catching on the snakelike sounds. Zoro smiles and nods and she marches off to her test, her hair in full snake mode.
As soon as she's not looking at him Zoro visibly sags with relief and looks a hell of a lot less tense. He combs his fingers through his hair and sighs.
"I owe Nami two pints of blood for that easily, holy shit." Zoro mutters to himself and Sanji smiles slowly. So that really was out of character for Zoro, the scheming part at least. Sanji wonders just how much Zoro told his friend Nami to get her relevant help with the issue.
Sanji observes as the part gorgon girl manages to royally screw up her test, likely from nerves. When she commands the small fire imp to do a backflip for her it just cackles madly and flips her off with both tiny hands. They've all been summoning fire imps, the little critters are demons in the way that little zoo monkeys are people. They just have the brains for spite and really basic magic and so they're mostly used to power things across Sanji's dimension. If they keep getting yanked out for this kind of stuff it really explains all of the stupid power cuts the Baratie always gets.
The little demon is dispelled and Boa is shuffled on, her test complete.
"Roronoa, Zoro." The teacher calls out and a thrill runs down Sanji's spine and up his tail at hearing Zoro's true name. A true name has power and Sanji can taste Zoro's as it's called, a little echo of his soul that plays over Sanji's senses. He knows that he's going to repeat it to himself alone in the future just to taste it on his tongue.
All uncertainty falls away from Zoro's figure, his body language becoming confident and determined. He pulls a square of cloth from his pocket and ties it around his head as a bandana. It's not like Zoro has hair to keep out of his eyes while he's summoning or anything, is it a habit he picked up from his longer haired sister or did a younger Zoro have longer locks? Sanji can't help but imagine how cute that would have been.
Zoro moves to the circle and re marks everything, writing the correct symbols and runes in their right places and adding extra layers of security. Zoro steps inside and seals things with his wand, stopping outside magic from getting in and inside from getting out. It also stops Sanji being able to hear Zoro's calm incantations any more from the distance that he's at.
All demons are required to take courses on mortals summoning them, on how to spot when a mortal hasn't set things up properly and leaving them unprotected. Sanji's work is too specialised to need that kind of knowledge for the most part and it would be really hard for someone to accidentally summon an incubus when they were shooting for generic demon. Still if someone did summon him by mistake and wasn't trying to make a contract with him then all of Sanji's restrictions on consent fall away entirely. Sanji could turn someone inside out with the right spell, one Carne taught him in the kitchen one day for a laugh. He's not sure that he'd do that though, not when he has the chance to eat a whole human soul for free.
As he watches Zoro's casting work though he has to admit that it's flawless. Zoro has his magical problems for sure, his inability to levitate things and his troubles with undoing spells spoke to that but in summoning and protective magic he is perfect. Zoro summons the same kind of small fire imp and Sanji notes that he crouches down to talk to it face to face at a safe distance, not ordering it from above like the others had. Zoro asks it some question and the imp responds, looking a little surly but not angry like Boa's had done before. With that done Zoro dismisses the little demon and neatly closes all of his wards and exits his circle. The two teachers look quite different in their reactions, the portly one who was encouraging Zoro to become a murderer of demons is smiling and nodding, even clapping slightly. The one who seems to be less of a fan of Zoro is clearly seething, presumably because there was nothing he could fault Zoro for.
Boa for her part looks relieved, evidently Zoro didn't ask his threatened question and she's not about to spend the rest of her life behind bars.
The last few students take their test with varying degrees of success and then all of them are dismissed while the teachers set about clearing up after the students. Zoro wanders off on his own immediately while the other students hang back and talk to each other he picks up his broom and heads out. Sanji scrambles to his feet and rushes after Zoro, he doesn't want to get too close or risk using too much demonic magic close to this many witches but he has to catch his boyfriend. He could just assume that Zoro is heading in a straight line and then catch up with him further away but this is Zoro and a straight line might be too much to ask.
Sanji's eyes catch something in the distance taking flight and, yeah, that's Zoro. He focuses his gaze on Zoro's moving form. Teleportation is already hard, but teleporting onto a moving object is harder still. He can do this though. He crouches and leaps into the teleportation spell to give himself some momentum.
Sanji bursts out of the air with a crack and lands on the back of Zoro's broom. The weight of it rapidly shifts as Zoro hadn't planned on him being there and Zoro's sudden alarm doesn't help his control any. Suddenly there is a lot of screaming from both of them, the world whirling around them like a top and a flash of steel in Sanji's face. They thankfully smack into a billboard before Zoro can shank him with his sword.
"Wow no wonder you lost your license before." Sanji remarks, getting to his feet on the narrow ledge of the billboard.
"What the FUCK?!" Zoro shouts up at him angrily.
"You're not hurt are you? It's only funny if you're not really hurt." Sanji points out. Zoro looks fine but humans are so… squishy.
"I'm fine you asshole!" Zoro snaps and gets to his own feet unsteadily.
"Then quit whining." He tells him and Zoro's eye twitches in irritation.
"Why are you here you stupid curly demon? There are other witches about, I just had my test and-" Zoro starts to rant angrily but Sanji cuts him off.
"I know, I saw. You did so well!" Sanji compliments him brightly. That ought to change the tone of this conversation, Zoro's clearly just annoyed about the crash. Talking about his test ought to change that.
"You… were there?" Zoro asks slowly, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Yeah. I wanted to see how you'd do, I mean I already got the time off so I might as well have stayed up here. Plus your education is important to you and I wanted to see it myself and I figured… maybe if some of your friends were taking the test with you then you could have introduced us afterwards." Sanji explains feeling a little embarrassed. He just wants to be a more integral part of Zoro's life, to have a relationship to the people who are important to him. Meeting Zoro's sister was a huge boost but his friends would be even better!
"What is wrong with you?" Zoro asks, his voice low.
"What… do you mean?" Sanji asks uncertainly, doubt suddenly gnawing in the pit of his stomach. Did he do something wrong?
"What do I mean?!" Zoro balks, his expression pure disbelief. He still has his sword in one hand and his broom in the other but he seems to have forgotten about them for staring at Sanji.
"I mean that you followed me here when I told you that you couldn't come, you put yourself in danger by getting who knows how close to a bunch of nervous witches desperate to prove themselves and two highly experienced demon hunters. They would have hunted you down without a moment's hesitation and I couldn't have stopped them alone and if they found out that I summoned you my life would be over! Are you completely BRAINDEAD?!" Zoro shouts angrily at him.
"I didn't… think that…" Sanji says weakly.
"What you didn't think I'd mind you stalking me or mind you risking your life and everything I've worked for in mine?" Zoro demands and Sanji flinches back.
He's fucked up, he's fucked up. He's had this relationship with Zoro and he's ruining it, he didn't even think about any of that stuff he just did it. He just wanted to see Zoro being amazing. He needs to fix this, he has to.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what to… I didn't think about it like that I just wanted to see you!" He pleads, reaching out to Zoro as if he can somehow bridge this emotional gap between them with a physical one.
Zoro is shaking his head and muttering angrily under his breath. He stuffs his sword into his backpack and Sanji notes that there's no way it can do that without some kind of space altering magic to it but that's not his concern right now.
"There's always something." He catches Zoro mutter.
Zoro looks up at him and his eyes are hard, almost like how he looked at Boa earlier.
"You can get back home right? You don't need anything from me this time?" Zoro asks, his tone flat.
"No, I don't. Not when you use my name to summon me like you always do. Zoro I-" Sanji says quickly but Zoro cuts him off.
"Great. You shouldn't stay around with this many witches and demon hunters, I don't want you to get killed." Zoro says, swinging his broom around and climbing on.
"But- no, Zoro I should go with you. We should talk about this, let me apologise properly I'll do anything please." Sanji begs.
"No." Zoro says and pushes away from the billboard so that he's floating out of Sanji's reach.
"Go to hell, and stay away from me." Zoro says coldly and with that he shoots off into the night sky leaving Sanji alone on a shitty billboard advertisement for toothpaste.
Sanji feels his heart stab with pain and he can't let Zoro go, he has to fix this he just has to!
But… Zoro was right. He followed him without his consent and he put them both in so much danger. He didn't mean anything bad but what difference does that make? From here he could still teleport to Zoro's broom or even to his home. He could try to reason with him but Zoro made his wishes crystal clear. Zoro doesn't want him to follow.
He's not going to hurt Zoro a second time.
Sanji slides down against the billboard, his hand over his mouth. He wants to scream, break things, swear at his own idiocy and he can't do that here. He can't risk himself or Zoro further.
He squeezes his eyes shut and thinks of home.
His usual spells are more precise, like his room or a particular street. Home is a nebulous concept and the magic tries to find him the closest match without putting him inside space that something or someone else is already occupying. So it shouldn't surprise him that he returns to the middle of the Baratie's kitchen, right at Zeff's metal shoes.
Sanji looks up through tear filled eyes to Zeff's wide stunned ones. Zeff looks him over and his surprise becomes anger.
"Who do I need to kill?" He demands with a growl and another chef quickly rescues the food from Zeff's hands.
"It was my fault." Sanji mumbles, standing up a little weakly and rubbing at his face.
"It was that boy you were seeing, right?" Zeff demands, catching Sanji's face in his large hands.
"I did something bad. I followed him when he told me not to, I could have got us both killed. I found him and he got angry, he told me to leave him alone and then he left me. I'm such a fucking idiot, what is wrong with me?!" Sanji blurts out in one long awful stream and then buries his face straight ahead in Zeff's torso rather than look at him.
"Zeff, please the kitchen!" One of the cooks wails and Sanji can vaguely hear the sound of all of them scrambling out of the way of Zeff's powers and rescuing the food.
"It's not the end of the world!" Patty shouts loudly.
"Feels like it." Sanji whimpers.
"ZEFF!" Another shouts. Sanji looks up.
The wood under the floor is withering away, metal tarnishing and the stack of paper order slips molds and decays before Sanji's eyes.
"Stop." Sanji grumbles and thumps his fist on Zeff's chest. Zeff grunts but the spreading powers seem to halt.
"He just told you to leave him alone?" Zeff says after a moment.
"Well technically he said go to hell as well." Sanji replies unhappily. Zeff huffs a silent breathy laugh and Sanji glares up at the old bastard laughing at his misfortune.
"Knowing my shitty eggplant he chose a boy just as stupid and quick tempered as he is. Certainly as creative with insults. If he's anything like you then take my advice from dealing with you for your whole life, let him cool off. He probably didn't mean half the bad shit he said." Zeff advises him.
"You say that like I'm awful to deal with!" Sanji snarls angrily.
Zeff raises one solitary eyebrow.
Sanji hisses like a scalded cat but of course Zeff remains unthreatened and eventually Sanji drops it and gives up.
"I fucked up though, I don't know how to do this relationship stuff and I blew it. I'm the worst." Sanji sighs unhappily.
"You apologise?" Zeff asks calmly and sensibly. Sanji hates when he sounds calm and sensible.
"Repeatedly. I'm not a complete asshole." Sanji tells him.
"Well, then he'll either forgive you or he won't." Zeff says and rubs his hand in the top of Sanji's hair.
"Yeah those are the fucking options in that binary scenario, thank you for enlightening me shit stick!" Sanji snarls and shoves at Zeff with his foot, not that it budges his considerably larger mass.
"What I mean is there 'aint nothing you can do about it now." the old man says and Sanji groans and paces on the spot, the now rotten floorboards complaining at the movement.
"You know, and if he breaks your heart after this just tell me where he is and I'll give him a long and painful death." Zeff adds lightly.
"Just not in the kitchen if you don't mind?" Carne says pointedly and Sanji looks over to see the other cook clambered on a work surface away from the floor.
"Look at the mess you made, brat!" Zeff says scoldingly.
"I don't have the power to do this, that's you!" Sanji argues back.
"It was your fault. Get out of my kitchen." Zeff snaps and shoves at Sanji.
The blond flips off everyone present and teleports upstairs to his room. Sanji falls face down on the bed and smothers his face in a pillow. Even with just a moment alone to himself Sanji can feel the crushing guilt and self loathing coming back. He had a good thing and screwed it. Zeff's probably right to kick him from the kitchen, he'd be no good around food like this.
He rolls onto his side and sees the bag of chocolate that Zoro gave him before. He's been rationing it carefully but now seems like a good time for it. He takes a small bit and lets the magic flavour melt on his tongue. It makes him miss Zoro all the more and he just has to hope that Zoro will forgive him.