Title: So Good So Far
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters/Pairing:Zoro/Sanji, Law/Sanji, eventual Law/Zoro/Sanji
Chapter: 15/?
Word Count: 3411
Summary: Written for a prompt from curlybrow who requested "Sanji confesses his confused love for Zoro, but Zoro refuses him, then Sanji turns to Law for comfort, and when Zoro secretly learns that Sanji and Law are doing it, he becomes really jealous…".
Spoilers: For recent chapters

Chapter Fifteen

He woke up to the sounds of soft conversation, and part of him was surprised to see Law and Zoro talking rather civilly on the balcony. The storm had moved off entirely overnight, the wind dying down to a mere breeze, and the sun was shining brightly over the water. Law had a cup of coffee in his hands and was leaning back on the balcony rail while Zoro had propped himself up against the building across from him.

Things didn't look tense, at least. Sanji pushed himself out of the bed, wincing a little as he straightened up and walked slowly over. Law passed him the coffee cup as soon as he'd set foot on the balcony and he took it and inhaled gratefully, taking a sip before handing it back over.

He noticed Zoro looking at him curiously and realized belatedly how domestic that had probably seemed, but he wasn't going to worry about any of that anymore because as far as he was concerned they'd worked it all out the night before.

At least, he still hoped that was the plan.

"Come on. Bandages," Law set the cup down on the rail itself and stalked back into the room, leaving Sanji to follow him.

"When did you get back last night?" he asked Zoro. The swordsman shrugged his shoulders, glancing off to the side.

"A couple hours later. Luffy almost broke a few bottles so Nami decided it was time to get him out of there and the rest of us kind of followed after a while. You guys looked pretty comfortable, though," he was frowning, staring off at the ocean. "I guess your talk went well."

"Eventually," Sanji admitted. "He's damn stubborn and was stuck in some shitty 'woe-is-me' cycle so I had to snap him out of that first. You didn't sleep in the bed, though," he felt he had to mention it because he knew he'd have felt it if Zoro had joined them at any point.

Zoro blushed and ducked his head, looking a little guilty, and mumbled something about sleeping on the armchair so Sanji kicked his knee lightly. "Oi!"

"Sleep in the bed, dumbass. You were fine lying there when Law was asleep, and it's big enough for all of us," he glared at Zoro, crossing his arms, and finally the green-haired man nodded.

"Fine," he grunted. Sanji ruffled his hair on the way by, grinning back at him before making his way into the bathroom.

000

"Sometimes I have to remind myself that you're not him."

Sanji hummed, letting his eyes slide closed and turning his body toward the stream of hot water from the shower. Law, it had turned out, really had no intention of just changing his bandages and instead had suggested they take a joint shower.

"Mm, I'm not," Sanji tipped his head back onto Law's shoulder, stroking his hands down the other man's arms. "But he seemed like a fucking amazing guy, so if I'm anything like him, I'm glad."

"Before he was killed…" Law swallowed, his arms tightening around Sanji's waist. "He told me to survive and be free of Doflamingo, and that he loved me, and that…" his breath hitched and he paused, obviously fighting back some strong emotion. "He promised he wouldn't die."

Sanji sighed, because yes, he had said pretty much the exact same thing. He wasn't going to die, though…at least, not before he found the All Blue and brought the shitty old man there to see it for himself.

"He did love you," Sanji whispered, lifting one hand to brush his own wet bangs out of his eyes. "But just because he's not here anymore doesn't mean you should close yourself off from love entirely."

"It's easier," Law mumbled against his shoulder. "If I make myself unlovable…"

"You're not doing a very good job," Sanji grinned. "Unless you normally take naked showers with people you hate."

"You're becoming an exception to most of my rules," Law muttered dryly, but there was a warm undercurrent to his voice that Sanji had realized meant that he was far from serious. "I still can't help but feel one day I'll come to regret that, but…" he sighed heavily and kissed Sanji's shoulder,

"Hey," Sanji reached back to smack his hip gently. "No more of that. Fuck, I thought I was a realist, but I've got nothing on you when it comes to killing the mood," he started, but it was impossible to stay even the least bit angry when Law trailed a line of kisses up to his neck, sucking gently at the skin there.

"I'm trying," Law mumbled against his skin. "I am, but I've trained myself into a pattern of always expecting the worst."

"So've I," Sanji grunted. "But that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy myself when there's nothing to be afraid of."

"You do have a point," Law sounded utterly resigned. "Sanji, I…"

"Keep doing that," Sanji said, cutting off Law without realizing it.

"Hmm?"

"My name. Keep calling me that," he requested, because the only other time Law had done that was before everything had started to fall apart. "Is that…I mean, is that another way for you to try and distance yourself?" he asked cautiously, and he could feel Law shrug.

"Perhaps inadvertently," he admitted. "Although I generally only call people by their given name if I don't respect them much. That's not the case with you, though," he added quickly, as if Sanji would think otherwise.

Sanji turned around, looping his arms around Law's neck and staring up at him for a few breathless moments before he decided to throw caution to the winds and leaned in to kiss him.

He hadn't, not since they'd agreed to their new arrangement. He wasn't exactly sure why he was hesitating when he'd never had any issue kissing him before, but it was easy to get lost in it. Law was just really fucking good with his mouth.

The older man let out a slow breath through his nose as he returned the kiss, hands framing Sanji's hips. He opened his mouth and Sanji let himself sink into it, for once clearing his mind of everything except what was happening in that moment. He slid his hands up a little, one framing the back of Law's neck and the other clenched in his hair.

He could feel himself starting to get aroused, Law's cock nudging against his hip telling him the other man was in a similar situation. They shouldn't, not yet, but…

"Oi, you guys aren't doing things in the shower, are you? 've gotta piss!"

Zoro was pounding on the door and Sanji broke away from Law's mouth, coughing a little.

"We're behaving perfectly appropriately, Mr. Zoro," Law called, not sounding out of breath in the least. He was turned on, though, cheeks flushed more from just the heat of the shower and cock half-hard as he looked at Sanji and smirked.

"Good," Zoro pushed his way in and Sanji was glad the shower curtain wasn't see-through so he probably couldn't tell what they'd been about to do. Law sighed and reached to turn off the water, sticking his hand out of the shower to grab a couple of towels and passing one to Sanji. He wrapped the other around his waist and stepped out, Sanji following once he'd gotten himself covered as well.

"Right. Bandages," Law nodded, and Sanji carefully unwound the now-wet strips of fabric before letting them fall away. The bullet wounds themselves were healing as well as could be expected, he guessed, since they didn't look infected and the bandages were free of blood. "Good. If you promise to take it easy, I think we can forego the bandages and just use a gauze pad for the next day, and then tomorrow I'll take a look at it again," he was using what Sanji had started to call his doctor-voice now, low and soothing and even.

"I will," he nodded and that seemed to be enough for Law.

"I'll be back with the supplies in a bit," Law walked out of the bathroom.

Sanji leaned back against the counter and looked at Zoro, who was staring at him rather pointedly. "You've seen me naked, Marimo. Why are you acting like I'm somehow offending your delicate sensibilities?" he snorted.

"It's different," Zoro frowned, narrowing his eye. "Before you were just some annoying guy I had to deal with, but now you're…" he waved his hand vaguely. Sanji tilted his head to the side, honestly not sure what Zoro was talking about.

"What?"

"I never realized how hot you are. Okay?" he snapped, covering his face a second later. Sanji's first response was to burst out laughing until he realized that Zoro was being serious,

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Sanji asked quietly, reaching to touch Zoro's shoulder. "I mean…"

"Yeah Fuck. I don't know," Zoro turned back around and Sanji could see that he was blushing, and it was really endearing to see somebody as self-assured as Zoro being completely out of his element.

"Hey," Sanji took a step forward, settling both his hands on Zoro's shoulders now. "Trust me, this is gonna work a whole lot better if you can admit you're attracted to me," he grinned before noticing that Zoro had clenched his hands into fists at his sides, teeth gritted and looking rather ill. "Touch me," he prompted, reaching to take Zoro's wrist and moving his hand so that it was hovering over Sanji's waist.

Zoro's hand settled just above his hip, heavy and warm. The swordsman shivered a little, his fingers gently moving along Sanji's skin. There was a look on his face that seemed both reverent and amazed, and Sanji had to admit to being a little flattered by all of it. Zoro's hand moved up his torso, feather-light touches that felt almost ticklish. He rubbed his thumb along the defined ridge of Sanji's collarbone, sliding over to his shoulder and down his arm.

There was something so careful about how he was touching Sanji, and yet the blond knew that every touch had a purpose. The look on Zoro's face was full of intense concentration, like he was mapping out Sanji's skin under his fingers so that he'd always remember it.

Sanji had rarely seen him so gentle or focused, except…that white sword, he realized with a jolt. That was how he touched it, whether to clean it or when he was drawing it for battle. He wasn't being gentle because he thought Sanji was breakable, but because for him that was showing the ultimate form of care and respect.

It was overwhelming and Sanji wanted to say something to break the moment, unsure if Zoro even realized what he was doing.

"Oi." His voice came out far breathier than he'd intended, and he set his hands on Zoro's cheeks to pull him into a kiss. He broke away faster than he would have liked, but he knew Law wouldn't take that long to find the gauze and ointment, and when he turned to look at the door the surgeon was standing there with a look on his face Sanji couldn't read. It reminded him a little too much of what he'd seen the day before when Law had walked in on them in bed, and considering what had happened after that…

"You should…ah…" Zoro blinked at him before stepping back.

"Yeah," Sanji nodded, leaning back against the counter again as Law came into the room, face carefully schooled into neutrality again.

Sanji told himself it was probably his imagination that Law touched his skin directly as little as possible while he was working, or that his touches in general were far more formal than usual, but he couldn't be sure.

000

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your…moment this morning," Law was wearing those damned sunglasses again so Sanji couldn't see his eyes, and as a result it was almost impossible to tell if he was making light of it or not. "You seemed to be having a rather intense connection."

"Zoro's always intense," Sanji replied, digging his toes into the sand and feeling the half-wet ground crumble between them. "Seriously."

"Don't play me for a fool, Sanji," Law murmured, and this time Sanji's name dropping from his lips did sound scathing. "You and he are cultivating something that's been building for several years, by all accounts, and it's something that even I with my limited time being around you can tell has the potential to be incredibly strong. I'm in the way of that, no matter how you perceive it…"

"We've been over this, shitty surgeon," Sanji groaned. "And seriously, if you're going to wallow in self-pity again I'm fucking walking away and never speaking to you again."

"Don't," Law grabbed his wrist, something panicked in his voice. Sanji immediately felt bad and settled down again, staring out at the ocean.

The day had gotten bright and warm after the storm of the night before and they were sitting in the shade of a large palm, out of the way enough that they'd see anybody coming long before they'd be noticed themselves. Sanji wasn't necessarily that worried about anybody on the crew finding them out anymore, since half of them knew already, but he knew Law wanted the privacy.

The cook went back to flipping through the book he'd brought, a collection of recipes he'd managed to borrow from the resident chef at the Inn. It was full of local delicacies and sauces made from ingredients found on the island, and he was getting a lot of good ideas for the varieties of fish he'd seen in abundance at the market.

He heard Law shifting before he felt a hand on his back, and when he turned to glance at Law the other man was staring at him like he'd never seen him before.

"I want this," Law said quietly, guilt lacing his tone. "I can't think of the last time I wanted something and allowed myself to…to have it, much less when it was so freely offered. I know you told me not to worry about what's happening between you and Mr. Zoro, but I don't want to be the reason that you and he won't be able to become everything you could if you didn't have a third party lurking."

"Trust me, Zoro and I will work it out just fine," Sanji patted Law's leg, setting his book aside and swinging himself over to straddle the other man's lap. "I want you, too, you know. I'm not doing this as some sort of…favor to you because secretly I despise it but I want to protect your feelings or something," he wrinkled his nose. "I thought you'd figured that out."

"I have," Law admitted. "I doubt myself entirely too often but I know that you…you like me."

"Damn right I do. And I was serious when I said I'd leave if you started closing off again," he added, trying to sound as serious as possible.

He was, both because it was way too draining to constantly be reassuring Law and also because Law really had no reason to worry about it.

"I'll try to stop," Law replied, and Sanji figured he'd have to be content with that for now.

"Good," Sanji leaned down so their foreheads were resting together, holding himself there and feeling Law lean back against the tree. "Anyway, this morning…you were going to tell me something and I kind of talked right over you, so what was it?" he opened his eyes, looking directly into Law's golden ones.

"Nothing," Law said, far too quickly to be convincing.

"You used my name for like only the second time ever right before. It wasn't 'nothing,'" Sanji made sure Law knew he wasn't going to accept some bullshit excuse by keeping his voice as dry as possible, and after a tense few seconds Law sighed.

"I think I'm…" he paused, biting his lower lip nervously. He looked a little afraid, something that Sanji wasn't used to seeing from him. "I don't think telling you would be beneficial to our current relationship and might in fact be a detriment to…"

"Fucking tell me," Sanji growled, fingers digging into Law's shoulders.

"I think I might be a little in love with you," Law said it so fast that Sanji wasn't sure he'd heard it right, but when it registered in his brain the surprise he'd thought the words would bring just…wasn't there.

Of course Law was. It was fucking obvious, and Sanji knew damn well the man would never admit it unless it was true. He wrapped his arms around Law's shoulders and buried his face against the older man's neck, feeling Law embrace him almost as tightly and trying to fight down the veritable surge of emotion that coursed through him.

"It's okay if you are," Sanji mumbled against his neck, although part of him wanted to laugh at the irony of him starting to feel exactly the way he was so pissed off at Law about. He didn't deserve having two guys as special as Law and Zoro both having feelings for him, because he was just some fucking cook. Yeah, he was good at what he did, but Law and Zoro had goals that were so much bigger than he could ever fathom when all he wanted to do was find a magic ocean.

In the long run, that was pretty lame compared to what everybody else was trying to accomplish, but both of them had still risked their own lives to save him from those bounty hunters.

Fuck, he was a mess, he thought bitterly, and he had no right to gripe at Law about it when his own sense of self-worth was pretty fucking non-existent a lot of the time.

Maybe that's why they'd been drawn to each other, he thought, and maybe that wasn't a bad thing, but this was all so new. Still, he kept telling Law to stop thinking so hard about things that were remarkably simple and it was advice that he should probably follow as well.

"I apologize if…"

"No. Don't ever apologize for how you feel," Sanji said firmly. "You're a fucking beautiful person, and maybe the two of us were never supposed to end up like this but I'm never gonna take advantage of your feelings," he vowed, because that was one thing he could promise. "You're gonna find somebody one day that can give you everything, but if I can help in the meantime…well, like I said, it's not like I hate it," he grinned and Law chuckled a little, looking immensely relieved.

"I do appreciate that," he admitted, leaning in to kiss Sanji, but before their lips could meet Sanji heard a rather high-pitched voice from behind them squeak and he spun around.

"I'm so sorry!" Chopper was flailing his hooves, eyes squeezed shut. "I wanted to ask Torao a question, I didn't know!"

"It's fine, Chopper," Sanji got off of Law and sank down beside him again. "Don't worry about it."

"O-okay," Chopper swallowed heavily and plodded closer, a heavy book held in his arms. "I wanted to know if you'd look at this with me? I know we're both from cold places and this is a list of plants and animals found on summer islands like this one…the man at the bookstore said it lists what's good to eat and what's poisonous, and I thought…" he wriggled a little, holding the book out.

Law glanced over at Sanji, brow furrowed, but he did accept it. "I think that would be very useful, Mr. Tony, because you're right in that my…experience with warm-weather flora and fauna is limited. I'd be happy to look over it with a talented doctor such as yourself," he stated.

"Don't say that, you asshole! That doesn't make me happy at all!" Chopper's wriggling intensified and Sanji didn't bother to hide his laughter either at that or at the shocked look on Law's face when Chopper plopped himself right into Law's lap, holding the book so they could both see it.

He decided to leave them be, happy to see Law was finally letting his walls down enough to bond a little with the rest of the crew, and went to go see what the others were up to.

Notes:

1. Well, I had intended that chapter to be pure fluff but I see some angst snuck in there anyway…still, I think it was fluffier than most of my chapters, at least?

2. Thanks as always to everyone for continuing to read and comment on this fic!