Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Chapter Six
And all I ever do is give;
It's time you see my point of view
-The All-American Rejects, "Another Heart"
xxx
The movie, as predicted, was some kung-fu action movie with incredible special effects and little in the way of a storyline. In short, not the most romantic thing Sanji could ever have imagined, although he contemplated the fact that being too bold in a movie theatre might just end up with him being punched through a wall. Or a few rows of chairs. So perhaps it was for the best.
At least, that was his mindset until he realized that the movie was never going to end. This was two and a half hours in, and the fact that he had gotten minimal sleep the night before was finally starting to catch up with him. He yawned rather widely and without really thinking about it lay his head on Zoro's shoulder, causing the other man to stiffen marginally before he slid an arm around Sanji and held him in place. "Oi. What's wrong?"
"Hm? Nothing. Just tired," Sanji replied, shifting so he was more comfortable. "Didn't get much sleep last night."
"Hn," Zoro sounded unimpressed, but he let it go. "You want to take off?"
"Nah, you want to see the movie," Sanji shrugged. "Just wake me when it's over."
"Fine," Zoro nodded, and Sanji fell asleep in moments.
He woke up to a slight shaking of his shoulder and blearily opened his eyes. "It's over?"
"Yeah. Let's get out of here. You need sleep," Zoro grasped his upper arm and helped him to his feet, steering him out of the theatre and to the waiting vehicle. "Come on," he opened the door and Sanji climbed in, managing to fall asleep again on the way to the apartment. Zoro decided not to wake him and instead carried him up to the bedroom, kicking the covers back with one foot and laying him down before tucking the blanket around him.
"Hnwha?"
"We're home. Go to sleep."
"Hey," Sanji sat up, and Zoro turned, his dark form silhouetted by the kitchen lights from behind. "Thank you. Again."
"It's fine," Zoro grunted.
"No, I mean it."
"I know."
"I feel like I'm just being a burden to you," Sanji laughed ruefully. "I mean, you're always stuck taking care of me," he got out of the bed and walked over to Zoro, who gave him a questioning look. "I'm gonna grab a snack and go to bed. You want anything?"
"I'm fine," Zoro grunted. "I've got some homework to do."
"Okay. Goodnight, Zoro," he passed by the swordsman and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before sauntering into the kitchen, leaving Zoro staring after him in bemusement.
000
"Oi."
"Oi, yourself," Zoro grunted, kicking his shoes off as he came through the front door. It being Monday, he had a class at 10 and the afternoon free while Sanji's only class was at 3, so the blonde had taken the liberty of preparing lunch. "Smells good."
"Hope so," Sanji was chewing on an unlit cigarette as he worked. "I spent all flipping morning on it."
"What is it?"
"Japanese," Sanji replied. "Teriyaki chicken, steamed vegetables and yakisoba noodles. I know you've probably eaten at those fast food places or whatever, but believe me, they've got nothing on the real thing. Here," he put a plate in front of the other man and a glass of some pale green semi-transparent liquid. "Iced green tea. It's good for you."
"Yes, Mom," Zoro grumbled, glaring balefully at his chopsticks. "D'you mind giving me a fork?"
"Sorry," Sanji blushed. "I keep forgetting I'm not in Japan anymore. Here," he grabbed a fork from the cutlery drawer and passed it to Zoro, who nodded his thanks. Sanji grabbed a plate for himself and sat down, tossing his apron on the back of the chair. "So, how was class?"
"Fine."
"Hnn."
"Oi, Sanji? Last night…"
Sanji rolled his eyes, knowing that this was coming. "Yeah?"
"Why did you kiss me?"
"It's called showing affection, you Neanderthal," he jabbed his chopsticks in Zoro's direction and continued to eat. "Unlike you, most people don't communicate with grunts."
"Har-har," Zoro continued to eat, stopping once to glance up and say, "It's good."
"No, really?"
"Don't get snippy with me," Zoro nudged his foot under the table. "I'm being serious here."
"Yeah, okay," Sanji conceded, lightly rubbing Zoro's calf with his foot. Zoro grunted and sat back, not even flinching at the contact, even when Sanji's foot crept higher and kneaded lightly at his thigh.
"So tell me," Zoro's voice was calm; impassive, "How did you and Portgas hook up, anyway?"
"Not here," Sanji stood and downed the last of his green tea, moving to the living room as Zoro followed, sitting on the couch as Zoro sat on the other side. Heaving a sigh, he lay out so that his head was in Zoro's lap, smiling to himself as this time Zoro did visibly tense, but he still made no comment. "It was the night of his graduation. Because he was only a year ahead of us, in Grade Eleven we got the opportunity to be ushers at the graduation ceremonies. Of course we knew each other before then, through Luffy, but Ace didn't bring a date and he spent the whole night eyeing me. He didn't go to any of the after-grad parties either, and when Luffy went over to Shanks' he invited me to his place. We got there, had a few drinks, and…"
"Ended up screwing," Zoro was as mobile as a rock, and about as comfortable as one, too, Sanji thought wryly. "But obviously it meant something."
"Yeah. He's great," Sanji shrugged, closing his eyes. Eventually he felt Zoro shift and blinked as the other man started to run his fingers through Sanji's hair, parting the golden strands. "Oi, what did I tell you about my hair?"
"Whatever," Zoro moved to draw his hand away but Sanji caught his wrist.
"No, it feels good. As long as your hands are clean and free of all body oils and…"
"Cook, shut up," Zoro rolled his eyes and resolutely moved his hand back as Sanji yawned. "What's up?
"I'm still tired."
"So go to sleep. I'll wake you for your class."
Sanji yawned once more and nodded, turning so that he was comfortable. "Hey, Zoro?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind if I nap here?"
"No," Zoro said shortly.
"Oh. Okay," Sanji closed his eyes. "I'd move if you did."
"I know. It's fine," the younger man assured him, and Sanji 'hmm'-ed and sighed, shifting some more until he finally dropped off to sleep.
000
"So? So?"
"We went to a movie last night, I fell asleep, he carried me into the apartment, I kissed his cheek, I made him lunch, and he let me nap on his lap this afternoon," Sanji relayed quickly as he meandered back to his car.
"Wow. You move fast."
"Thank you, my dear."
"I mean it," Ace was grinning. "Maybe you don't need my help after all."
"I could always use your help," Sanji admitted. "Just because he's being charitable doesn't mean he'll suddenly confess his burning desire to be with me."
"He'll get there," Ace leant back against Sanji's car as the blonde dug out a cigarette. He rooted in his bag for a lighter until Ace just got one out of his pocket and lit it for him. "He lets you smoke those in the house?"
"He has no say in the matter. Me without cigarettes is worse than a woman PMS-ing," Sanji assured him.
"I believe that," Ace nodded as Sanji elbowed him.
"Oi, enough with the woman jokes," Sanji glowered at the dark-haired man. "Why do you carry a lighter anyway? You don't smoke, do you?"
"Nah, but you never know…"
"Pyro-freak," Sanji grinned, nudging Ace with his shoulder. "You waiting for anyone?"
"Yeah. Luffy."
"What, kid can't drive?"
"Are you kidding? He's flunked every test he's taken. Half the time I think the people from the CAA are amazed they haven't been killed," Ace chuckled. "One time he ended up in a field of sheep."
"A field of…what?" Sanji snorted. "Where'd he drive?"
"Apparently out of Vancouver," Ace muttered. "Regardless, kid's not driving. Oi, Luffy!"
"AAACCCEEE!!! SAAAANNNJJIIIII!!!"
"Calm down, kid," Ace caught the boundless bundle of energy as he launched himself at them.
"But Ace, I haven't seen Sanji since yesterday," Luffy complained bitterly, crossing his arms and looking about three years old.
"Where's your girlfriend, Luffy?" Sanji asked, blowing some smoke out into the air.
"Dunno. She's still kind of mad at me for yesterday," he looked guilty as he scratched his head.
"Mad? About what?" Sanji blinked.
"She says that I should have defended you against Zoro instead of just eating," he admitted, putting his trademark hat back on his head. "But I thought she was doing a good job."
"So did the neighbours," Ace grimaced. "Apparently someone even called the police, but when it got out that I was Vice-Admiral Garp's grandson, they let it be. Still got an earful from that idiot Commodore, though," he grumbled.
"Who? Smoker?"
"That's the one."
"You know the girl that was with him on Saturday?"
"The cute one with the glasses?"
"Yeah. She wants to meet Zoro…apparently she's not too shabby with a sword."
"And you're not worried?"
"Worried? Feh," Sanji scoffed. "The day that man looks at a woman is the day I swear off women altogether," he held his hand over his heart dramatically.
"That's the Sanji I know," Ace slung an arm over his shoulders.
"So? What'd your grandpa say?"
"Oh, you know him. What kind of grandson am I, disturbing the peace? What right do I have to carry on the family name? Things like that, although I got the feeling that he thought having a screaming woman in my apartment was a good thing. At least, his last comment was 'well, maybe she'll turn you away from your unnatural perversions,'" he stuck his tongue out.
"Doesn't approve of your gayness, then?"
"Hardly. And I bluntly told him that since I refuse to carry the family name regardless, why should that be a threat to me?" he continued.
"But Ace, I never understood why," Luffy blinked.
"Luffy, you know as well as I do that while gramps may be well-respected, daddy dearest knocked up our mother and then took off as soon as you were born. I barely knew him, and now he's a wanted man. He's one of the most notorious rebels in the country, and I've even seen his name on the US news. The name of Dragon D. Monkey is well known, and since 'Monkey' isn't the most common surname on the planet, I'd rather not associate myself with them. With either of them," Ace clarified. "It's bad enough that, thanks to him and gramps, even the middle initial 'D' has become somewhat iconic."
"But I like the name Monkey!" Luffy protested.
"And you can keep it, squirt," Ace clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Besides, nobody would ever associate you with a criminal. You're too innocent."
"Oh. Good, then," Luffy grinned. "But whenever I tell people in my classes that you're my brother, they don't believe me."
"And that's fine," Ace shrugged. "Most people think I'm odd anyway."
"The girls all think you're hot," Luffy contradicted.
"Yes, but everyone and their dog knows where my sexual preferences lie," Ace countered. "I haven't exactly made a secret of that."
"Which is surprising, considering in high school you were extremely closeted about it," Sanji pointed out, his eyes widening fractionally. "I mean, why else did we keep our little fling under wraps? Unless you were embarrassed to be seen with me…"
"Sanji!" Ace gasped in mock horror. "How many times do I have to tell you that you're gorgeous. Believe me, babe, it wasn't you."
"Oh. Good," Sanji looked relieved as he leant against the larger man. Thinking about Zoro and Tashigi reminded him of something, though, so he decided to voice his question. "Hey, Zoro says he wants to spar with me. Is he any good?" he asked, dropping his cigarette butt on the ground and stomping on it.
"Fairly. He's got a good trainer."
"Trainer?"
"Yeah. You've seen that monster of a scar on his chest?" When Sanji nodded, Ace continued, "Well, he figures that he needs to improve a lot before he can go after Hawk-Eye Mihawk again, so he's got a trainer down at the gym that's teaching him some moves. The guy's come out with us a couple of times. He's pretty cool, but he'll throw you off. He can beat you to a bloody pulp and still act like a perfect gentleman. I think you'd like him."
"But isn't real sword-fighting like…illegal? How did Zoro manage to get this Mihawk to face him, anyway?" he looked confused.
"Of course it is. But there's always opportunity. Mihawk's a strange man, but he does some special sword-training for movies and such, so his name is well known. Zoro ran into him at a tournament a couple of years back and Mihawk agreed to fight him after hours, and well…" he shrugged. "You know how that ended. Chopper got a good workout trying to staunch the bleeding, and luckily his foster-mom agreed to do the rest of the work. It wouldn't have been easy making up an excuse if we'd have had to take him to the hospital."
"Certainly wouldn't be. Well, I need to get going. Zoro's probably out training with this mystery friend of his, but I should get started on dinner. Want to join?"
"We'd never say no to your cooking, Sanji!" Luffy crowed, excitedly hopping up and down. "Ooh, wait…I was supposed to meet Usopp tonight to work on a project…but he can wait! Food!"
Sanji rolled his eyes and unlocked his car as Luffy clambered into the passenger's seat, and Ace stifled a chuckled behind his hand as he went to get into his own vehicle.
000
Zoro leapt lightly out of the way of the katana slice, feeling himself forced back toward the wall due to the relentless barrage of both sword attacks and high-powered kicks. As he ducked one of those kicks and rolled to the side, his thoughts absently wandered to the other person in his life whom he knew could dish out some major damage with his legs. Would Sanji be this good, if they ever got around to fighting?
And what was with him, anyway? What was he playing at, sleeping with Ace and then acting like the whole thing had never happened? And what was the kiss on the cheek for? Really, people just didn't do that! Granted, Sanji wasn't 'normal,' per say, but when he had his feet in Zoro's lap over lunch, that was taking it a little far…
Zoro's back hit the mat and a muffled curse sprang from his lips as his opponent landed lightly on his chest, blinking down at him with wide eyes. "You're distracted," he commented before back-flipping out of range and laying his swords on the ground.
"Am not," Zoro mumbled around the hilt of his katana.
"I can never cause you to lose concentration so easily. Your brain was not focussed on our fight, so therefore, something else must be occupying it. Tell me."
"None of your business," Zoro replied before taking the white sword out of his mouth and replacing all three of them into their respective saya.
"Since you have asked me to help you train for your upcoming duel with Dracule Mihawk and, at your current level, would only end up in a worse state than the last time you fought him, it is indeed my business. As your trainer, and also as your friend," the man crossed his arms and strode across the room, picking up his nearly ever-present baseball cap and settling it over his reddish-gold hair. "Please. Explain."
"Let's get somewhere more comfortable first," Zoro suggested, packing up his equipment and walking outside to stow it in the back of his Element, waiting until his trainer had emerged in his customary high-necked jacket and put his own swords in before they crossed the street and entered a nearby coffee shop.
Well, Zoro had coffee, and was only sad that this place wasn't licensed enough to serve it with a splash (or more than a splash) of rum, but his eccentric companion, as always, had tea. Zoro had spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out his sexual preference, but had never gotten farther than, 'he's polite and he drinks tea.'
Zoro was about to begin when he realized that the other man hadn't actually met Sanji yet. He'd grown up in a small town on the Island and had trained there, honing his skills on endless expanses of North Pacific beach with only the seabirds and the bitter winter wind as witnesses, and had only recently come over to the mainland, where Zoro met him coincidentally as he came to the gym to train after hours. He had a Haida name (claimed that he had some in his blood and had grown up close to several villages), but Zoro wasn't quite sure whether to believe him or not. He was most definitely Caucasian, and Zoro would have bet on European (especially with that hair color) before he would have even considered Native Canadian, but the truth of that was nearly as ambiguous as his sexuality.
And he was good, that much was certain. He fought with two swords, but was nearly as proficient with his feet as his weapons, although he disarmed all of his opponents with a strange speech pattern that made him sound rather formal and elderly, had possibly the nicest smile and purest laugh Zoro had ever heard, and definitely the most ridiculous nose he'd ever seen. He worked for the government, which Zoro decided was a moot point, but he was the greatest fighter Zoro knew next to Mihawk and a great friend besides.
And now Zoro was pretty much screwed. Because when Kaku Mountainwind wanted to know something, Kaku Mountainwind got his answer.
"You haven't told me anything, yet," the other man reminded him with a smile. "What's on your mind, Zoro?"
"You know who Sanji is?"
"The friend…" he cut off as Zoro growled and took a sip of his tea. "Pardon me, the classmate of yours who went to Japan for culinary school?"
"That one," Zoro nodded. "He's my roommate now."
"Interesting. I thought you despised each other, and now you're letting the lad room with you?"
"I wanted to make amends. He's not half-bad, but…"
"But what?"
"He confuses me. I mean, I used to think he was just an idiot, but now he's being…almost too nice. He makes food for me, he meets me after class…I mean, he had really bad jetlag and I took care of him, and I carried him up to our apartment when he fell asleep in the car that one time, but…he kissed me on the cheek the other night," Zoro tried to collect his thoughts and ended up shrugging. "It's not like he's in a relationship or anything, but he slept with this other friend of ours a lot before he left, and now he's started again, so…" he sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, making his earrings jingle. "Help?"
"Is he prone to showing affection like that?"
"Only to women. And it would be hard to mistake me for one of those," Zoro snorted.
"Hard indeed. Which…other friend, if it is not too bold a question?"
"Guess not. He's told everyone else," Zoro sighed. "Ace."
"I see. May I meet this Sanji?"
"Sure. He's probably making supper tonight, anyway, and he always makes too much for the two of us. You want to come?"
"That would be lovely," Kaku nodded. "But I fear I need to pry a little more: do you like him?"
"What kind of like are we talking about?"
"Romantic," Kaku crossed his legs and tilted his head to the side in a gesture that almost screamed 'gay,' but Zoro shook his head clear of the thought.
"I mean…yeah, kind of. It's…I mean, physically, you'd have to be a stone not to see that he's attractive, and he's not a pushover when it comes to fighting."
"And when you compliment somebody's fighting technique, that means you respect them," Kaku grinned. "What's his specialty?"
"Capoeira."
"Really? I'm proficient at that, myself. It would be interesting to dance with him," Kaku had a rather enigmatic smile on his face by this point.
"Dance?" Zoro nearly ended up spitting his coffee across the table.
"Yes. Capoeira, apart from being a useful martial art, is also something that the Brazilian people do as a traditional dance. Fights are choreographed in such a way that while moves come within mere centimetres of connecting and doing horrendous damage, the combatants never actually touch one another except where it is necessary to complete the routine," Kaku explained.
"Dancing. I should have known."
"Need I remind you that several of the kicks I recall you complaining profusely about were the result of capoeira moves?" Kaku leant back comfortably and sipped at his tea again.
"You and he are going to get along real well," Zoro muttered. "But if we don't head out, we'll miss dinner. Coming?"
"Of course," Kaku stood up and stretched, arching his back nearly to the floor and gaining admiring stares from several of the women in the coffee shop.
"Show off," Zoro hissed as he walked by, and he got an upside-down grin in response.
Yes, Sanji and Kaku would get on marvellously. Zoro just wasn't sure if he could handle them both at the same time.
Notes:
1. The Haida people mentioned in this chapter are an indigenous nation of the Pacific Northwest (both Canada and the US). If you want to know more, it can be found en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Haida, and because Haida art is exceptionally unique (and quite lovely) you can take a peek at that at artfromthetribe(dot)com/#links
2. At my school, at least, we got the opportunity to usher for Grad in Grade 11, so that's where that came from.
That's about it for this time around, but please keep those reviews coming:)