Zoro wakes up slowly with a slightly dizzy feeling in his head. His forehead is pressed against his bicep with his arms stretched out uncomfortably above his head. With a groan he reaches to rub his forehead but is stopped by a sharp jerk on his wrist and a pained feeling spreading from his hand to his shoulder.
"Ow." He winces. He opens his eyes and panic rises when he spots the handcuff around his wrist. He recoils in horror only to be brought up short by the cuffs again. They're wrapped around the post of his bed and, he realises in terror, he's shirtless. He's very close to hyperventilating with panic. He runs his attention over the rest of his body, nothing hurts anywhere that it shouldn't do which relieves him a little. He has no idea how he got here and all he wants is to be free of his confines.
Forcing himself to remain calm he looks around his room, Sanji is sprawled in the chair by the balcony window, his back sunk lowly into one chair and his socked feet up on the other. He's blinking slowly into wakefulness.
"Oi! What the hell?!" Zoro shouts at him, startling the other man out of his chair and onto the floor with an undignified thump.
"Zoro!" Sanji gasps from his knees as if he's the one surprised here. He's not the one that's woken up chained up goddamnit!
The blonde scurries over to him on his knees and peers at him worriedly.
"How… how do you feel?" Sanji asks him, looking intently at him.
"Well, my shoulders and wrists are KILLING me, just like I'll kill you if you don't LET ME OUT OF THESE!" Zoro shouts angrily rattling the handcuffs for emphasis.
"Right! Right, sorry!" the blonde squeaks and digs into his pocket to pull the key out. He unlocks the left handcuff first and as soon as Zoro is able he snatches his hand back only to be punished by the protest from his shoulder. He hisses in pain and doesn't miss the worried look that Sanji gives him.
"Do you remember anything?" Sanji asks him as he releases his right hand.
"No! I-" Zoro snaps but as he says it something comes back to him.
A flash of a red drink in a martini glass, he sniffs it to find that it smells vaguely like hot apples and cinnamon.
"What-?" he starts with a frown.
"From the gentleman down there." The bartender answers, gesturing down the bar before sidestepping away to serve another customer. Zoro stretches his neck and glances down the bar, he can't spot anyone familiar and no one is looking at him. He shrugs and downs the drink in two large gulps.
It's strange that there's no alcoholic tang, even in weak drinks Zoro can usually taste the booze. It's warming though, almost alarmingly so. His skin warms and flushes all over but it's kind of nice actually.
"Hey, another." He calls to the barman, holding up the empty glass. The barman nods and fetches another.
Zoro frowns. He can't have been drunk though, he never got drunk, not without deliberately trying anyway. Another memory flashes back to him.
"It's not alcohol, it's a chemical that messes with your brain chemistry and your hormones." Sanji shouts at him.
He doesn't feel surprised or worried, instead he's far more concerned with how he feels against Sanji's body. He turns in Sanji's arms feeling just how warm he is and how lean. He trails his hand up Sanji's chest and revels in the pleased sound that the action rips unwilling from the blonde's throat.
"The… the drinks." Zoro murmurs. The drinks were strange, the red one that he was drinking seemed to turn his sex drive up to eleven.
"Yeah, the drinks. Do you remember getting back here?" Sanji asks, crouched on the floor by his bed. The memory comes back to him as soon as Sanji prompts it.
He unbuttons his own waistcoat, desperate to get naked and desperate to get Sanji naked too.
"Hey, stop that." Sanji protests, reaching for him a little and pulling his hand back as if he hadn't realized that he had started it. He feels smug, for some reason Sanji is trying to resist him, to fight what he clearly wants, what they both want. Zoro is going to make Sanji break no matter what.
"What, would you rather do it?" He offers, stepping closer to Sanji. He wants Sanji to undress him, he can see that the cook wants to as well, his cheeks are flushed and his eyes are huge with lust.
"No." Sanji says swallowing, Zoro follows the path of his adam's apple, he wants to lick at it. But perhaps if he just takes his clothes off Sanji might give into temptation and actually touch him before he dies of frustration or old age!
"Well then." Zoro shrugs casually stepping back and shedding the waistcoat in a smooth motion. Zoro unbuttons his shirt quickly, popping the buttons and grinning at the way Sanji is gawping at him.
"What's your problem curlicue? I'm keeping my hands to myself aren't I?" Zoro says cheekily and runs his hands down his now bare chest. Even his own hands are delighting his senses, but he doesn't want his hands, he wants Sanji's. The blonde makes a pained noise. Hell, all he wants is to get Sanji into bed with him, why is he making it so difficult for him?!
"Oh god…" Zoro cringes, burying his head in the bed.
"That'd be a yes then. I'm so sorry Zoro, I didn't want to cuff you but… well… I didn't know what else to do. I'm sorry!" Sanji wails unhappily.
"It's… it's fine. Thank you." Zoro sighs feeling humiliated.
He feels himself flush in embarrassment, how humiliating, he has always prided himself on his self control. For the most part he keeps his anger in check, although admittedly that is his weakest area. But his other emotions have always been easily contained, which isn't to say that he's repressed, just that he doesn't let himself get carried away. Last night, the things that he begged for Sanji to do to him, the things that he offered, that was far more than just carried away. Whatever was in that drink must have made him lose all self control entirely.
He looks down at Sanji, crouched by the bed. His eyes track down to the blonde's mouth. Sanji is nervously worrying at his bottom lip between his teeth, he stops and the shining pink lip slowly escapes from between Sanji's white teeth. Zoro feels his heart rate kick up and he suppresses the whine in his throat at Sanji's gorgeous mouth so close to him.
"My eyes are still red aren't they?" Zoro groans and drops his head onto the mattress again. He shifts his weight and realises that he's still rock hard inside his underwear. He must still be under the effects of the drink, he has to be if he's thinking things like that about Sanji!
"A little, it'll probably wear off completely in an hour or two. How do your shoulders feel? Can you move them?" Sanji asks, standing up next to him and stretching the kinks out of his own back, it looks like he slept in those chairs. As the other man stretches his burnt orange shirt rides up, showing lean abs and a gorgeous chiselled V of muscle that dives into his trousers. Zoro isn't sure if Sanji is teasing him or if his brain is still just running on sex but he wants to reach out and touch, the pain in his shoulders be damned!
Nevertheless he focuses on what he should be doing and thinking, shoving aside thoughts of Sanji and his tempting midsection. Instead he tries to pull himself up onto his elbows, but the movement causes both shoulders to crack loudly and painfully as the joints move for the first time in almost twelve hours if the bedside clock is telling the truth. He yelps in pain and drops back down onto the bed with his elbows at his sides.
"God, Zoro, are you okay?" Sanji asks worriedly. The blonde's delicate hands touch his shoulder, sending waves of heat rippling down through Zoro's body. He whines because his shoulders do hurt terribly but also because his body is overexcited at the fact that Sanji is actually touching him!
"Good god Zoro, it feels like you've got rocks in your shoulders!" the other man exclaims. Sanji tightens his fingers over one of Zoro's trapezoid muscles, the whole thing tightens and spasms up incredibly painfully.
"OW!" He snaps at the other man. Sanji ignores him though and rubs a little more, suddenly and somewhat painfully the muscle relaxes.
"That's… actually a little better." He manages with a wince.
"I can fix the rest for you if you like, I should make it better, it's my fault that you're in pain in the first place. If… if that's not completely inappropriate of course, no, what am I thinking, of course it is. I'll just… god." Sanji says nervously. Zoro looks up and Sanji immediately looks away, his expression tortured and almost self-loathing.
Zoro considers Sanji's offer, it's probably unwise to let the cook touch him right now with how overexcited he is but, well, he's never had muscle pain quite this bad before and he'd rather not spend the next week walking around like a robot.
"If it means that I can move my arms again then go for it." Zoro says cautiously.
The blonde looks surprised but, perhaps in his eagerness to make amends he hesitantly crawls into the centre of the bed to Zoro's left and repeats the process with Zoro's left trapezoid muscle. It hurts enough to make Zoro grit his teeth in pain but not so much as to make him actually cry out this time since he's not been caught by surprise. Sanji is proving successful though as each muscle he works on eventually relaxes enough to make Zoro believe that he may be able to use them again today.
"I can't… I can't apologise enough for last night. The way I behaved was completely unacceptable and if you want me to just leave you alone forever I'd understand. I should have warned you properly, I'm so sorry." Sanji apologises as his hands make their way onto the next muscle on Zoro's left hand side.
"You warned me, I just didn't listen. And I probably shouldn't accept drinks from total strangers." Zoro admits, his voice muffled somewhat through the mattress that he's face down on with his pride stinging as much as his shoulders.
"Hey, that's not fair. You should be able to drink on your own without worrying that some asshole is going to try to drug you, it's his fault not yours." Sanji disagrees loudly. Zoro reddens at that, Sanji seems so quick to defend him lately, it's almost… sweet. What… wait. Did he just think that?
"Did… did you see who bought you the drink by any chance?" the cook asks his voice curious but also angry. Sanji moves onto Zoro's right shoulder with care, unaware of the mental confusion that he's just interrupted.
"No, but I did see your uncle at the party, maybe it was him? But I could be wrong, I got the feeling that he only likes women, I know I've only really met him the once but, well. So I can't think of any reason why he'd want me to get all- ow." Zoro stops, Sanji has paused and is gripping Zoro's sore shoulder almost painfully.
"Sorry, sorry." Sanji apologises quickly and rubs it better.
"You think it was him?" Zoro asks, glancing up at Sanji. The cook frowns angrily, his pretty mouth turning down into a scowl.
"I have reason to. He and my father want me to be like them, I can hardly protest how they and the institute treat mates if I'm exploiting you can I?" the other man sighs unhappily and presses hard enough on a stubborn muscle to earn a hiss out of Zoro.
"My guess would be that either they hoped I wouldn't notice that you'd been drinking or that you'd convince me not to care." Sanji grumbles. Zoro doesn't really know what to say to that so instead he just keeps quiet and instead focuses on his muscles.
Sanji continues on in silence, pushing the pain out of Zoro's muscles and leaving behind only warmth. They still ache but almost in a good way. He can't help but feel his cheeks growing warm at the attention that the blonde is giving him and whatever chemicals were in those drinks are still rushing through his veins, making Sanji's innocent attempt to help him feel absolutely fantastic.
He drops his head down to hide his reddening face, but that seems to just entice Sanji's hands up the back of his neck. Zoro bites his lip hard to keep the moan inside of him from coming out. He really really shouldn't be getting turned on so much by this. Although, hell, he was hard before Sanji even touched him.
Sanji's hands move to his shoulder blades and thankfully the man seems to interpret the whine that escapes him as pain and focuses his attention on the muscles there. The guy's just trying to help him out and instead he's getting off on it! This is wrong, he should really… really… say… something… but it feels so good!
"I didn't think that cuffing you would cause this much pain. Although, with the way you were struggling to get out of them all night I suppose that you're lucky not to have dislocated something." Sanji tuts, sliding his thumb up Zoro's shoulder blade and trailing a ripple of heat behind him.
Sanji digs his knuckles into Zoro's shoulder, working on a particularly tight knot. Zoro is bothered enough now though that he can't even tell the difference between Sanji doing something painful to his muscles and Sanji doing something pleasurable to his muscles, both are sending the same signals right to his groin.
He breathes out shakily and pushes himself up on his elbows ever so slightly to tangle his hands in his hair. He needs to get a grip on himself, where's his goddamn self control? Sanji's just rubbing his shoulders not his dick.
"Sanji, you-" Zoro tries abortively as he recognises the heat building low in his belly. He has to cut off what he's saying though or else he's not going to be able to keep his voice under control.
"Sorry, was that sore there? Is that better?" Sanji offers innocently and adjusts his hand. A stab of pain/pleasure shoots through him at that and Zoro realises with mounting horror that there's no going back at this point.
Sanji's dexterous hands run along the sweat slicked skin of Zoro's shoulders and if the other man notices his trembling he doesn't say anything. He's been desperate for Sanji to give him release ever since he downed his first drink, he had begged and pleaded for Sanji to touch him, to do anything. But even he hadn't thought that it would take so little attention from the cook to do this to him!
He bites his lip hard to keep the moan in, it's stupid but he's so so close to actually coming, he just needs-
Sanji shifts on the bed ever so slightly to reach the far edge of his shoulder, but that movement is just enough to move the bed under Zoro's hips and give him the slightest bit of friction that he needs and he's gone. His back arches and although he manages to clap his hand over his mouth as soon as he's able there's no mistaking the sound that he just made, the slight twitching of his hips isn't very subtle either. He's shaking under Sanji's frozen touch and the other man seems to realise in one big shock just what's happened and yanks his hands away as if burned.
"Did you just- did I just make you- oh god!" Sanji squeaks, scrambling to get away from him. His panic jolts the bed enough that Zoro is forced to shoot his hand out and grab the other man to hold him still. He allows himself to shudder the last few waves of his climax out before he looks up at Sanji, well aware that his face must be scarlet.
The blonde is pinned to the bed by his arm that's presently held in Zoro's tight grip. His eyes are huge with shock and the poor guy looks completely mortified, Zoro isn't sure which of them is most hoping for the earth to open up and swallow them whole, him or Sanji.
"I'm so sorry Zoro! I- I had no idea! I really didn't mean to- please forgive me!" Sanji apologises profusely.
"It's fine, I should be the one apologising. You were just trying to help me out you didn't mean to… well. I should have said something earlier, I just didn't realise just how affected I still was." Zoro says reddening further in embarrassment. Now that his body is coming down from its release he's feeling uncomfortably oversensitive and… sticky, not to mention embarrassed.
"And my shoulders do feel better." He laughs weakly, and it's true, with all the pleasurable chemicals coursing through his system post-release everything has relaxed considerably. Sanji actually laughs slightly at that and the awkward tension drops enough for Zoro to feel like he can breathe.
"I'm… I'm going to have a shower. Would you stay here? I still want to talk to you I just… you know." Zoro fumbles as he sits up quickly and turns his back on Sanji, not wanting to expose the fact that he's still half hard.
"Of course." Sanji agrees quietly.
With a nod and not daring to look back Zoro strides off to the bathroom and shuts the door quickly behind him.
Once safely inside he slides down the door with his hand over his mouth in mortification. How could he just let himself react so strongly to Sanji's touch? Even now his body is shuddering just at the thought of it!
He shakes his head and drags a hand through his hair. It was just the drink, that's all. It messed with his system and he hadn't expected it, nothing more. It was just… biology. He forces himself to his feet and quickly divests himself of what remains of his clothing including his incredibly sticky underwear. He turns the shower on hot and high pressured and stands under it, letting the water wash him clean.
His lapse in control was embarrassing, there were no two ways about that. Both from the things he'd said and done last night to how he'd reacted and lost control moments ago. Sanji seems like he feels just as uncomfortable with it as he does.
He soaps his skin up and thinks. Sanji had really done him a favour, and no, he didn't mean just now. Last night he'd kept him safe and away from other people, he'd not let him do too much that he'd regret. He'd kissed the other man plenty and rather shamefully groped him but that wasn't too much more than he'd already consented to when they were both sober.
His soapy hand stills on his chest as he thinks. Sanji had been given every opportunity by him last night, he'd begged the other man to go to bed with him, offered him anything he could want and more and Sanji had still refused. Sanji had told him repeatedly in the night that Zoro didn't mean any of the things that he was saying and no matter what he offered, begged or bargained with he wouldn't budge. Sanji… respected him.
The fact that Sanji was as honest as he was shouldn't please Zoro as much as it did but… well… if anything showed that Sanji could be trusted that was it. He blushes at the fleeting thought that he's not sure he'd mind making such offers again in a sober state. He shakes the thought out of his head and gets to angrily shampooing his hair, it was pathetic to be attracted to someone just because they weren't a scumbag.
But, was that really it? Were his feelings of attraction of the blonde so easily dismissed as just "he's not a bastard"? If he didn't have this awful collar around his neck and Sanji didn't have a key around his would he really be feeling so different? If he'd met Sanji when out drinking with the D brothers would he really be so disinterested? If there was no power dynamics or ownership would he actually ignore the blonde?
Zoro's never been especially good at lying to himself, he's not great at lying to other people either, but he always tries to be honest with himself at least. So reluctantly he has to admit that if the sarcastic, smart-mouthed, argumentative, attractive and above all honest Sanji had stomped into his life in any other way with those shiny black shoes of his then he'd be interested. In any other situation if he'd have got to know Sanji as well as he did now he'd probably have asked the blonde to bed already.
He sighs to himself and rinses himself off under the shower. He'd like to think that all of this was just speculation caused by the red drinks that he's had but even he knows that isn't the case. The temptation to go out there and pull Sanji into the shower with him, that probably is the drinks, but thinking that the blonde is an all around okay guy who happens to be pretty damn hot… not so much.
He dries himself off and grumbles into the towel, of all the people that he had to pick to find attractive it just had to be Sanji didn't it? Why couldn't he just be in this nice peaceful platonic relationship with the blonde and be attracted to someone else? He could have liked Usopp (even though Usopp barely looked old enough to shave although he was) or Franky (who felt so much like an older brother that the thought was icky), or he could have even continued his on again off again fling with Ace. But nooo, that'd be simple, he had to like Sanji didn't he? He could practically hear Nami belittling him for being a moron from beyond the grave, Kuina would probably be joining in that chorus of mocking too. Good god, all the women in his life were dead and still they were nagging him!
He huffs, wraps the towel around his waist and peers at his eyes in the bathroom mirror. There's just a hint of red in his irises now, they're almost back to their usual golden brown colour. He steps out of the door and instantly laughs at the surprised squeak that escapes from Sanji who rapidly whirls around to face in the other direction as if scandalised by his very presence.
Zoro looks down, it's not like he's obviously hard or anything and the towel that he's wearing is covering everything that it should. In fact he's about as clothed as he was five minutes ago. Perhaps the blonde is just hyper-aware of the fact that he's naked under the towel.
"Wow, sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities cook." Zoro snorts, never wanting to miss an opportunity to agitate Sanji.
"I'm not delicate!" Sanji snaps, the tips of his ears going pink through his hair.
Zoro chuckles and saunters into his wardrobe, pulls some casual clothes off of their hangers and dresses quickly. He likes the fact that despite how completely not normal today and last night have been he and the cook are falling back into their usual roles. He had worried that perhaps things might change, if their positions had been reversed Zoro might have had a hard time looking at Sanji the same way again in the morning. But perhaps their unusual relationship was stronger than it seemed.
Shoving his musing aside he re-emerges from the walk in wardrobe and back into his bedroom. Sanji is standing awkwardly by the bed now as if he doesn't know where to put himself. He can't help but notice that the handcuffs that were on the bed are gone too.
Zoro sighs and scrubs a hand through his still damp hair, he should get this out of the way. Sanji starts to speak as well but Zoro talks over him, he needs to get this off of his chest.
"I wanted to apologise, and I don't do this a lot so it's just gonna be the once." He sighs, Sanji looks at him in surprise.
"I'm… sorry. I should have listened to you rather than assume that you were just insulting my ability to drink. And I probably should have realised sooner that those drinks weren't quite what I thought. I'm sorry for all of the things that I said, that was… inappropriate." Zoro apologises. He looks down at his wrists and can't help but notice the dark bruising from the handcuffs that's already starting to come to the surface, those are going to be some nasty bruises.
"Most of all…" He says with regret, staring down at his wrists, "I'm sorry that I got into such a state that you felt that you had to handcuff me. I don't… I don't know whether it was something I said or just how I was acting but- I'm sorry. It's awful really, I've spent so much of my life afraid that whoever owned me was going to force me and threaten me into bed and it ends up being you that has to escape from me." He laughs bitterly as the wave of disgust at himself overwhelms him.
"What? Zoro, no." Sanji breathes softly. Suddenly pale hands are at his wrists, rubbing soothingly along the bruises.
"I wasn't scared of you, not at all. I know you, and despite how… enthusiastic and willing you seemed to be last night, you were still you. You stopped the one time that I actually got concerned, although it didn't stop you trying to convince me." Sanji explains gently. Zoro's head snaps up and he looks at Sanji in surprise, the blonde seems honest.
"I chained you up because I didn't want you hurting yourself. And… I had to admit that I was worried that if I let you just continue as you were eventually I wouldn't be strong enough to say no, and I'd never forgive myself for that. That and you'd probably kill me in the morning." Sanji admits.
Zoro stares at him and smiles whilst ignoring the concerning flutter in his chest at Sanji's words. He doesn't know what to say to that, so many possibilities race through his mind.
"How about breakfast? It's late and I'm kind of hungry." He suggests instead and gently takes his wrist back from Sanji.
"Do you have anything that you want in mind?" Sanji challenges with a smile as they walk out of the room together.
"Uh… eggs?" Zoro suggests after a little consideration.
"Maybe meat too? But I don't know, not sure I feel like something fried. I'm not good at this, I told you." He adds with a frown.
"No, no, that's helpful. How about… scrambled eggs and salmon?" Sanji replies thoughtfully.
"Is that something that you can have? I've not heard of that." He says in surprise.
"Oh, it's a thing. And now you're having it for breakfast." The cook grins in anticipation.
As they near the kitchen they hear voices, Usopp's and Franky' to be precise. They become amusingly clear as they open the doors to the kitchen. Both men have their backs to the door and haven't noticed their presence, busy as they are arguing at the base of a giant ladder that reaches up to nearly the top of Sanji's high ceilinged kitchen and breakfast dining area.
"You're forgetting my can't-go-up-in-high-places-on-rickety-ladders disease! It's very serious, life threatening even!" Usopp protests, waving his arms dramatically.
"It will be fatal if you don't get up that ladder." Franky says flatly.
"Why don't you go up there then?" Usopp pouts.
"Because this is a very rickety ladder and if I fall you won't be able to stop me and that'll work out badly for both of us won't it?" Franky replies with a sigh.
"What're you two doing?" Zoro asks making both men jump.
"Zoro! What happened to you throat?" Usopp gasps looking at him in surprise.
"Uh, I don't know, what's wrong with it?" Zoro says blinking in confusion.
"You've got a big bruise on it! It looks like someone punched you!" The painter exclaims.
"Oh wow, he's right. Just here." Sanji explains gesturing to his own long pale throat with long delicate fingers.
"Oh, it's probably the collar, it bruises sometimes if I sleep funny or knock it. The padlock probably doesn't help either. This is why I don't sleep on my front, damn thing." Zoro curses rubbing at his neck gently. He can feel a dull ache coming from around where Sanji pointed to.
"Does it hurt?" Sanji frowns, touching his neck. Zoro suppresses the small shiver at his touch and prays that the drink will make it out of his system soon.
"A little I guess, this thing almost always hurts somehow. Bruises, scratches, malfunctions, you name it. Big heavy inflexible collars aren't exactly fun." He grumbles.
Sanji looks up at him with his big blue eyes filled with worry and his stupid eyebrows pinched together. Great, now the cook is pitying him too.
"Don't look at me like that, I don't want your pity." he snaps, Sanji starts to protest but Zoro ignores him and turns his attention back to the other two.
"What are you two doing then, replacing a light or something?" Zoro asks, gesturing up the ladder.
"Yeah, the bulb blew." Usopp nods holding up the bulb.
"But yellow belly here is too scared to get up there and fix it." Franky teases the smaller man.
"I'll do it, give it here." Zoro says and plucks the bulb from Usopp's willing fingers. He clambers up the ladder and focuses his attention to unscrewing the dead bulb and replacing the new one. By the time that he's done Sanji has diverted his attention to his cooking and isn't giving Zoro that sad little look.
When he arrives at the bottom Usopp assures him that he would have happily changed the bulb, he just didn't want to ruin Zoro's fun. In fact, Usopp assures him, he was the guy that everyone is his village came to when they needed a light bulb changing. Zoro nods politely for a while until the other man gets too carried away, then he tunes him out.
Breakfast is of course fantastic and actually kind of just what he was craving, which is a little odd. Some part of his appetite feels satisfied in some way beyond simply not being hungry any more. He foolishly decides to mention it to the cook afterwards.
"Hey, so… thanks for the food." Zoro says, dropping the last of the plates in the sudsy water before Sanji.
"No problem." Sanji shrugs and lights his cigarette before he gets his hands wet.
"You know, it's kind of strange…" Zoro begins thoughtfully as Sanji starts to wash.
"You're kind of strange." Sanji butts in with a smirk around his cigarette.
"Shaddap," Zoro retorts before continuing. "Breakfast was actually really good. I don't know, I must have been craving protein or fish or something. I guess I was hungry for that, it feels good."
Sanji's head snaps up and he looks at him with an expression that looks half like a five year old on Christmas morning and part like Sanji's grin might actually crack his head in half.
"Geez! Turn down the brightness of that smile a little why don't ya? You're gonna blind me or something!" Zoro scoffs.
"You really liked it? It was what you wanted?" The cook asks enthusiastically, completely forgetting the washing in the sink to stare at him in joy.
"Yes, now stop looking at my like that. God you're weird." He says shoving the dishtowel over Sanji's face so that he doesn't have to look at the moron's beaming grin.
"Oi, you'll start a fire with my cigarette if you do that. And there's nothing weird about liking making people happy." Sanji pouts around his cigarette, shoving Zoro's towel away.
"It's pretty weird to be that happy about it." Zoro points out and looks away. Sanji's glee makes him almost uncomfortable.
They finish cleaning up in silence, Zoro's feeling pretty tired from being awake so much of the night so it's not too hard to narrow his focus to his current task and ignore the blonde next to him that's practically radioactive with happiness. He really doesn't get the big deal, why is Sanji so pleased with having made something that his body was apparently craving? Still, Sanji's glee at that is preferable to the potential awkwardness that could have happened between them after last night and this morning. After all he did manage to get off from Sanji just touching him. He feels his cheeks redden and fights down the part of his brain that wonders what Sanji could make him feel like if he was actually trying to get him off.
"So," Sanji says before being interrupted by a jaw cracking yawn, evidently he's pretty tired too, "I'm supposed to be doing the evening shift at the Baratie tonight. I know that it wasn't exactly great last time with those bastards in the alley, but the Baratie is pretty great." Sanji says.
"Are you asking me if I want to come with you again?" Zoro asks feeling a little perplexed by Sanji's apparently round-about way of asking. It's a little odd, Sanji could just say "we're going" and they would, that's what he's said about all the parties but then, Zoro supposes, Sanji didn't get much choice in them himself. The blonde almost seems nervous that he might say no!
"Well, you don't have to or anything. Though I have to say I think Zeff kind of liked you, and that's a big deal, Zeff barely likes anyone! Sometimes I'm not even sure he likes me!" Sanji says rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Sure, I'll come with. But I'm bringing my swords." Zoro says firmly, almost hoping that he'll get a chance to use them on those thugs in the alleyway.
"Okay." Sanji agrees with a nod.
"Well, I'm not sure that I can go back to sleep, even if I am completely sleep deprived, so I might go watch a movie." Sanji says, smothering a yawn with the back of his hand as he slowly walks out of the room.
"What're you gonna watch?" Zoro asks curiously as he follows him out of the kitchen.
"Hm, whatever's on." The blonde shrugs.
Whatever is on turns out to be an old spaghetti western which Sanji sprawls out in front of on the cushy sofa. Zoro's never seen it before but he too sits down and makes himself comfortable. It takes all of ten minutes of Clint Eastwood's low voice for both men to be sprawled together on the sofa in a tangle of limbs and in a deep sleep. Zoro's head is pillowed on Sanji's stomach and the cook has his leg hooked around Zoro's hip.
The two men wake several hours later, not because they want to or because they're no longer tired, but because the rather bright flash from Usopp's camera startles them both awake.
"Oh man, that's great!" Usopp grins in glee, looking at the picture displayed on the back of his camera.
"Give that here!" Sanji snarls and lunges for the sharpshooter. Sanji's reach is hindered by being tangled up with Zoro though. By the time Usopp has screamed enough and run far enough away Sanji has worked his other leg free which, unfortunately for Zoro's sanity, places him right between Sanji's legs with his face hovering just above Sanji's crotch.
What disturbs him most about his awkward position is not how he ended up there, which is perfectly innocent, but what his mind is thinking. He hopes that it's the drink in his system that is whispering to him, that is telling him to lower himself down, flick the button on Sanji's trousers open and then pull the fly down with his teeth. He hopes that it's the drink that is imagining just what Sanji would look like freed from the confines of his underwear, and he really hopes that it's not him that wonders what Sanji would taste like…
He forces himself back from Sanji with all of the speed and efficiency of a cat avoiding a bath full of water. He scrambles from the room just as fast and doesn't stop moving until he reaches his bedroom. He leans on the door shakily and tries to calm down a little. It must just be the drink, it has to be. He storms over to the mirror in his bathroom and looks at his eyes expectantly, in the mirror a pair of slightly horrified golden brown eyes look back at him, no red in sight at all.
He shoves away from the mirror and shakes his head, just because it's not in his eyes anymore doesn't mean it's not in his blood. So he could just… stop thinking about it. It was fine, he was more than capable of shoving thoughts of Sanji out of his mind, especially thoughts like that.
He snags one of the books that Robin leant him and stomps out onto the balcony, he drops into a chair and opens the book with a sigh. Reading will take his mind away from the real world, it always has. He buries himself in denial and in his book until Sanji eventually gets him to go to the Baratie.
This time the Baratie feels a little more welcoming, Sanji certainly seems to enjoy teaming up with Zoro to insult that idiot chef that was harassing him last time. Zoro learns that his name is Patty. Sanji is pulling ingredients out of the fridge and handing them to the building pile in Zoro's arms. The cook is happily explaining what each ingredient is going to go into and explaining the dishes excitedly. If Zoro didn't know better he'd almost think that the cook was trying to impress him.
Sanji's got everything neatly laid out at his work station when Zeff comes stomping into the room on his peg leg, moustache twitching angrily.
"What's all the shouting in my kitchen for?!" The old man bellows.
"Sanji and Zoro were causing trouble!" Patty pipes up loudly and with glee.
"Like hell we were carp-face!" Sanji shouts back.
"See!" Carne agrees with a yell.
"Shut it you! Or I'll make you into a shish-kebab myself!" Zoro threatens, flicking his sword free of its sheath in a threatening way.
"You two, out!" Zeff snaps, Zoro grins until he realises that the old cook is talking about him and Sanji.
"Wait- what the hell old geezer, why us?!" the blonde shouts, clearly just as confused and offended.
"Out. Go buy us some new ingredients or something, you're early anyway. Now get lost, you're causing trouble in my kitchen." The old man orders, his finger pointing to the back door that Zoro knows leads out into the alleyway.
"Screw you old man, serve your shitty food without me, I hope this entire place goes under!" Sanji shouts and stomps out of the restaurant like a five year old having a tantrum.
Zoro sighs, rolls his eyes and follows, not missing the smirk on the old cook's face as he goes. The swordsman half hopes that those thugs will be back in the alley waiting for them and he and Sanji can have a good fight, but no, there's just one sulky petulant blonde and a few dumpsters.
"Come on, let's roll. There's an open market not too far from here and they sometimes have nice things." The blonde says in a surly voice. Zoro shrugs and follows him.
Sanji leads them down a few roads and before long and despite his failing sense of direction Zoro recognises the area. This isn't too far from where Luffy and Ace live, he'd been here himself a few times with Nami in fact. He recognises the run down brickwork and railway arches, he recognises that odd house with the spooky windows, and the bustle of the marketplace down the road is just as familiar now as it ever was.
"Hey, I've been here before." He says excitedly, grabbing Sanji's elbow.
But before Sanji can reply Zoro hears, very distantly, the frequently uttered words "Gomu Gomu no GRAB!"
Zoro's instincts have been trained from years of fighting, from years of experience and practice. Therefore, his brain doesn't even have to get involved as his very body knows that those words are usually immediately followed by a stretchy hand on his person and a high speed trip with a sudden painful stop. He latches desperately onto the nearest solid thing which, in this case, happens to be Sanji's arm.
The blonde looks perplexed for half a second before a rubbery hand closes around Zoro's upper arm and the world shoots backwards. They both scream as the world flies past them, but Zoro has the forethought to glance behind him to see what he's about to land on, in this case a rather startled looking Ace in an alleyway, a pleased looking Luffy and plenty of gravel. Great. Zoro hates gravel.
They land painfully, Zoro's shoulder and arm skid along the gravel ripping hundreds of tiny gritty scratches and grazes into his skin. Sanji lands awkwardly with his elbow hitting Zoro in the gut and making him roll onto the front coughing hard enough to threaten to bring his lungs up.
"God- fucking- DAMNIT LUFFY!" Zoro shouts at the ground as he coughs and tries not to retch.
"How MANY TIMES do I have to tell you not to do that?!" He snarls, looking up at the beaming boy.
"Who's-" Luffy starts, looking over at his unexpected bonus prize of Sanji, but Ace leaps in before Luffy can even ask.
"That's him Luffy! That's Zoro's master!" Ace shouts with rage and balls his hand into a fist that instantly catches on fire.
Behind Zoro in the wide alleyway Sanji leaps to his feet, still disorientated but knowing danger when he sees it, smart man.
"Whoa, whoa! Hold up Ace!" Zoro exclaims, getting to his feet as well and putting his hand on Ace's chest. The dark haired man scowls at Sanji over Zoro's shoulder, his expression fierce and made even more sinister by the shadow cast on his face from his cowboy hat.
"Ace?!" Sanji snaps, probably confused. Zoro looks back at Sanji, the poor guy wouldn't have any idea who Ace was but from the look on his face Zoro could bet that Sanji loathes the guy. Which is really unfair because he doesn't know a thing about Ace, although being threatened with a flaming fist does somewhat make for a bad first impression.
Ace is stood stock still glaring Sanji down and Sanji is stood with his feet squared, ready to fight and giving Ace the dirtiest look Zoro's ever seen.
"Zoro come on, let's go. Ace can handle this guy, I can get you far enough away before he calls someone to find you." Luffy urges, tugging on Zoro's arm, trying to pull him down the alleyway and back out onto the street.
"Luffy, no, you've got it wrong." He protests, looking down at the younger teen.
"Yeah Luffy, he's not going to be alive long enough to call anyone." Ace says darkly as flames catch on more of his body.
"Big words from a guy with smiley face stickers on his hat, and you, get your hands off of Zoro!" Sanji snaps, sparing a quick scowl at Luffy.
"Oi, morons, cut it out!" Zoro snaps, shaking his arm free of Luffy and shoving Sanji in the chest. The blonde startles, his aggressive expression falling for a second as he looks at Zoro in surprise.
"Zoro, these two are trying to kidnap you and murder me!" Sanji shouts, gesturing to the D brothers.
"They're not going to, this idiot is my best friend." He says heaving a sigh and gesturing to the now perplexed looking Luffy.
"Oi Ace, I thought we were kidnapping Zoro to rescue him." Luffy frowns, scratching his head through his straw hat.
"We are Luffy." Ace says tersely through gritted teeth, his body still aflame.
"Oh, right!" Luffy nods and gets into a fighting pose, staring threateningly at Sanji.
"No you're not Luffy." Zoro sighs frustratedly, looking over his shoulder at the rubber man.
"Oh, right." Luffy frowns, standing back up normally. He glances from Ace to Zoro as the conflicting information registers in his brain.
"Uwah! I don't know what to do!" Luffy whines in confusion and pulls his hat down over his eyes. Poor, poor, simple Luffy.
"Ugh. Fine, here's the deal blondie, you let Zoro go and don't call him in as missing and I might not kill you." Ace threatens, stepping closer to Sanji.
"You suck at negotiating, freckles. Zoro's not going anywhere with you! Now you get lost or I'll kick your spleen right outta your body and cook it over your burning corpse." Sanji snarls, stepping closer as well. Zoro rolls his eyes, Sanji's creative insults aside this was getting a bit much.
With a sigh he unsheathes Kitetsu and Shusui and holds them out parallel threatening both men equally. Both Ace and Sanji stop in their tracks and stare at the swords levelled at their throats in surprise.
"Zoro, you've got your swords, but how? Where did you-?" Ace asks in surprised confusion.
"I got them back for him, bastard. Because I care about him!" Sanji sneers across the two blade.
"You care? The only thing you rich assholes care about-" Ace shouts back in a rage before Zoro decides that enough is enough and interrupts.
"My turn, how about you both stop and listen to me for two goddamn minutes before I cut you both?" Zoro threatens, moving the blades closer to both of them.
"But Zoro-!" Ace and Sanji protest in sync, causing both to glower at the other for speaking.
"I said LISTEN not TALK!" Zoro snaps. He heaves a weary sigh and begins.
"Sanji, this is Ace. Ace is Luffy's older brother and a long time friend of mine. It'd be great if you didn't try to kick his head off." Zoro says simply, gesturing to Ace with a jerk of his head. Sanji's expression is sour as six month old milk and his teeth are clenched so tightly that a muscle is dancing tensely in his jaw.
"Ace, this is Sanji. Yes, he technically is my master but not really. He's a good guy, honest, he's nothing like any of us expected. Don't set him on fire or hurt him, I mean it." Zoro explains, looking to Ace and gesturing to Sanji.
The two men scowl at each other over Zoro's swords. Ace breaks contact first and looks at Zoro incredulously.
"If he's so nice," Ace begins darkly, "why are you covered in bruises?"
The older man grabs Zoro's bruised up wrist in demonstration, Zoro can't help but wince. The bruises really do look awful, now that they've had a little time to set they've come up all purple and black, it looks like he's been chained up in some dungeon all week.
"It's not what you think." He says quickly, but Ace's eyes are flashing in anger, he doesn't believe him.
"It wasn't like that." Sanji insists in an offended tone.
"Yeah, I bet." Ace growls, clenching his fist by his side as if ready to deliver a flaming sucker punch.
"Ace no! Look, it was for my own good!" he insists desperately, knowing Ace's serious fighting face when he sees it.
As soon as the words leave his mouth he regrets them. He knows just how he sounds, he sounds like some beaten housewife "it was my fault" "I deserved it" "it was for my own good". But this is different, Sanji wasn't hurting him, Sanji was protecting him. Ace's fire burns hotter, turning blue at the hottest points of his fist, he pulls back his arm for a punch of fire.
"Ace no!" Zoro yells, bringing his swords up to block Ace's fatal punch. The ball of blue fire redirects over his blade, altering its path. He can feel the immense heat of it as it whooshes by his face. He feels Sanji duck by his side and then registers a sudden scorch of heat on his forearm as one of Ace's flames hits. He hears Luffy's horrified yell behind him.
"STOP IT!" He bellows, his sword at Ace's throat. The fire fist swallows in surprise and the very movement breaks his skin over Zoro's blade and Kitetsu drinks his blood into her blade, her curse humming happily in Zoro's hand. He makes a mental note to chide the problem child sword later but for now he hasn't the time.
"Sanji is a good man, I'm not brainwashed or beaten into saying that either – give me a little fucking credit!" Zoro snaps.
"Z-Zoro." Sanji breathes shakily, Zoro ignores him.
"Besides, what exactly was your plan? You kill Sanji and Luffy kidnaps me? Where were you two geniuses going to go from there? Like no one would notice that Sanji was missing?!" He snaps, unable to believe the brother's idiocy. Ace glances away, his cheeks reddening.
"We would have thought of something. You could have used your swords to cut the collar off." Ace mutters, clearly upset at being shouted at so harshly.
"Is that before or after the defensive shock that this thing has makes my hand spasm so much that I stab myself through the brain?" He snaps back.
"Zoro!" Sanji pleads at his side.
"Shut up! I know you two meant well but, really?!" He snaps back at Ace.
"Zoro, your fucking arm!" Sanji shouts, kicking him in the side to get his attention. Zoro scowls and turns his gaze to Sanji.
The blonde's trembling hands are on his forearm, and in between his long shaking fingers is a huge burnt out crater in his arm, easily the size of a couple of large orange wedges. The wound is still smoking slightly.
"Oh." Zoro manages in surprise, lowering his other arm in shock. He hears Ace breathe his name in a horrified voice on the other side of him.
"Don't you 'oh' me you bastard. Give me that!" Sanji snaps, prying his fingers away from Shusui and quickly sheathing it in the correct sheath.
"H-hey, don't touch my swords!" he argues, unable to put much venom in his words as the hole in his arms has his eyes glued.
"Straighten your fingers! Wiggle your goddamn fingers moss-head!" Sanji orders, holding Zoro's limp loosely curled palm in his hand.
Zoro's fingers stay motionless in Sanji's hot palm. He focuses as panic rises in his throat. His thumb twitches weakly but his other fingers don't even move. With a terrified breath Zoro clenches his fist, but when he goes to release it the most he can do is relax his fingers. He tries to pull his wrist up but his hand just shudders.
"I- I can't." He breathes shakily.
"Shit… SHIT!" Sanji curses and runs his fingers gingerly around the edges of the wound, Zoro can't even feel the touch.
"I don't feel anything, it doesn't hurt." He says just as numbly.
"Because that bastard has burnt you so badly that your nerves are dead!" Sanji snarls dangerously at Ace.
"I- I didn't mean to!" Ace exclaims reaching for Zoro.
"Keep your hands to yourself, bastard! I'll kill you for this, Zoro will be lucky if he ever holds a sword again, let alone uses one!" The blonde screams at the other man. Furiously he digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
"Usopp, get here NOW! Zoro needs to get to my father's hospital as soon as is humanly possible!" Sanji orders and snaps the thing shut.
"Zoro, Zoro you're gonna be okay right?" Luffy asks, his worried face peeking into Zoro's peripheral vision.
Zoro was at a loss for words, he desperately wanted to say that yes, he was okay, because he did want to be okay. But he couldn't help but stare at the burnt hole in his arm and feel mounting dread. He knew a lot about anatomy, if you wanted to be good with a sword and good at killing people you had to be. He knew that a cut that went as deep as this burn did would sever major arteries, damage or completely cut tendons and even mar the bones underneath. If he'd done this to someone with a sword he wouldn't expect them to use their hand ever again, if they even got to keep it.
Sanji's blue car lands suddenly by their side, making all four men jump. Before Zoro can so much as think Sanji has grabbed him and thrown him into the back and is screaming directions at Usopp and calling the hospital.
Zoro stares numbly at his arm as Ace and Luffy fade into the distance below them.