Hi folks! So this chapter is really short compared to the others but it goes straight to the important stuff. I'm gonna apologise now for what is about to happen.


Chapter 6

It was quiet, peaceful. Unusually blank sleep left him drifting serenely through the darkness. Until a voice loudly permeated the tranquillity.

"...Said he'd taken the day off today and reaaalllly late last night he promised to make me a super big meat breakfast..."

His head hurt.

Zoro groaned internally, trying to black out the noise of Luffy hovering around his bed hooting for breakfast. Why wasn't the cook telling him to fuck off anyway? His skull was pounding far too much for the damn monkey's noise.

"He promised Zoro and I'm really hungry and want some meat but Sanji isn't here where is he Zorooo?"

Wait.

Fighting through the haze in his mind – he didn't get hangovers, why did his head ache this much – Zoro tried to process Luffy's overly cheerful whining. His mattress shook as the younger boy bounced on the bottom of it, causing Zoro to groan in discomfort. He rolled over, curling up against the warm body of his lover.

The sheets where Sanji's lithe body normally lay were cold, untouched.

"Zoroooo where's Sanji?"

The impact of his mind catching up with him was like a train wreck.

~~~The Night Before~~~

The wall rattled as the door slammed back into its frame, and Zoro stormed into the apartment. He was a strange mix of emotions. Anger and confusion and numbness all swirled around inside him as he stood near the kitchen island, heaving for breath, not knowing what exactly to do with himself.

Sanji.

Sanji kissed someone else.

Sanji kissed Gin.

He heard the yelling in the hallway before the door was kicked open, and turned to face it wide-eyed.

"Zoro! Thank fuck you're okay, please just let me explain..."

One look at the golden hair, porcelain face and those lips bracing round a cigarette and the swordsman instantly felt the emotion he regularly associated with his lover. Annoyance.

"Oh, you better start explaining you fucking cook. You better have a damn good fucking reason for why I caught you with your tongue down another man's throat!"

The numbness was gone, succumbed to the anger that currently coursed through his very being like fire. Sanji, his Sanji had just cheated on him. And try as he might to be a damn good boyfriend putting up with all the bullshit he'd been given from the cook recently, this was completely incomprehensible to him. The vision branded into his mind he saw hours earlier, it was the last straw. The dam holding back Zoro's patience broke.

The blond haired cook stood at their apartment's entrance, frozen still at the sight of his lover. Zoro looked so...hurt, so lost and it broke Sanji's heart anew to look into those dark eyes, and see the pain he had caused the one he cared for the most. He flinched at his lover's angry voice, but took the abuse without complaint; it was entirely deserved, he knew, and expected it.

"Please Zoro, just let me explain-"

"What the fuck is there to explain? Did you fucking trip and land on his mouth or something?"

"Fuck it, Zoro just calm down and-"

"Don't you dare fucking tell me to calm down!" Zoro roared, swinging an arm angrily until an accusing finger pointed square at Sanji's chest.

"Please Zoro, I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Then why the fuck were you pushing that bastard into the wall and kissing him then?!"

The apartment suddenly seemed too big, far too big for that immediate moment that was so private for the pair. Still hovering by the door, the few metres between him and Zoro appeared to be much farther, everything distanced, everything sharpened and Sanji almost thought time had stopped as he desperately thought of how to answer the angry swordsman.

Why did he do that? Sure, alcohol has a slight part to play, but he's been drunk and faithful too many times for that to be the only excuse. Gin's confession? That definitely helped sparked the kiss, but there were so many other things he was thinking at the time he had no idea how to explain it.

"I..."

He paused, mouth hanging open, searching for words, and all the while Zoro looked on expectantly, dropping the condemning finger.

"Everything was just so...I was mad, so mad at you Zoro. You almost missed the one thing I wanted you to be there for cause of some shitty assed fight and when you did show I was so angry all I could do was bicker."

"You had no right to be angry Sanji, I've been bending over fucking backwards for you and all you do is bitch about it."

"I know, it's just...When we fought at the bar I was so pissed, I wanted to hurt you so badly, but the second you walked away I freaked out. I finally realised what a jackass I'd been, and I panicked. Gin was just there to calm me down and then it just happened, it was all so sudden I had no idea and you've got to believe me Zoro, please."

"...Had you done it before?"

The quiet accusation threw Sanji for a loop. Zoro's arms hung at his side, his whole frame tense as he asked. The blonde was shocked, and Zoro's nervousness filled in the silence.

"Have you kissed him before? Or anyone else?"

"Wha, fuck no! Jesus Zoro you really think I'd stoop that low? I thought you knew me!"

"I thought I did!" The anger swelled again "Now I don't really know. All those late nights at the TV station, fancy nights out and shit, for all I know you've whoring yourself out to everyone!"

"Hey! Just because I made one fucking mistake doesn't make me some kind of fucking whore!"

Zoro's eyes narrowed as Sanji raged, crossing his arms over his chest and sneering at him, far too angry to hold his tongue and saying things that were intended to hurt.

"Doesn't it? You kissed him. Have you fucked him yet, Sanji?"

"Stop it."

"Given him head? Or have you let him fuck you, fucking writhing about like a fucking slut for him?"

"I said stop it, you fucking asshole!"

The large-seeming gap was closed when Sanji angrily moved towards Zoro, clutching the broader man's lapels and shaking his head.

"I didn't...I've never. You have to believe me Zoro, please..."

Sanji's apologetic rambling reduced to mutters as he moved his lips towards Zoro's own thinly drawn frown. The cook was in a whirlpool of emotions, not knowing how to express to his lover how sorry he was; how much of a stupid drunken mistake it was, in any other way than through a display of affection. Words clearly weren't getting through to Zoro, but this normally did.

When their lips connected he felt the man underneath him sag, a sigh exhaled through Zoro's nose as he welcomed Sanji's mouth. Sanji sought entrance, brushing his tongue against Zoro's bottom lip, and he plundered the warm mouth as soon as the green haired man granted entrance.

Sanji heard Zoro make a content noise at the back of his throat, but as soon as it came it was choked off. The tension wired back through Zoro's body and he was roughly pushed away as Zoro stumbled back into the kitchen island, shaking his head.

"No no no no dammit Sanji, you can't just think that will make it all better!"

Strong hands curled into fists as Zoro denied himself what he wanted. How badly he wanted to just forget this, to kiss his cook and fuck him and then wake up tomorrow like nothing had happened. But he couldn't, he wouldn't let himself do it, to leave the elephant hanging in the room for years to come. A heavy, resigned sigh broke through his lips and Zoro hoped it didn't show the nervousness he felt internally. It seemed like Sanji still picked it up.

"M'sorry Zoro, I just don't know what to do. I swear to you now, I have never, ever cheated on you and I never would, I just had too much to drink and said some stupid things and it just happened. I didn't even realise it had until I saw you. You know I'd never want to hurt you like that." Sanji had stepped back again, giving the emotionally distressed man some room as he struggled with his own warring feelings. "I've been such a moron to you and I don't know how to make it up to you."

Zoro snorted softly "Damn right you have. What happened to my Sanji? The one who would make me my favourite seafood when I was hurt after a fight, or would take four extra stops when going shopping just to buy the imported Sake I like? The Sanji who would sit and dress my wounds and work my muscles on his only day off?"

"He's still here" Sanji stressed "he still is; he's just been busy."

"Doesn't seem like it."

The curled eyebrow rose towards a blonde hairline. "What do you mean?"

"The fight we had, at the bar. Did you mean what you said?"

As hard as he tried, Sanji struggled to sort the memories of the past 24 hours and remember what he said. Unfortunately Zoro remembered all too well.

"You said I was holding you back, Sanji. Do you really think that?"

There was a slight pause as Sanji thought of the right words, but apparently it was too long for Zoro to cope with. His calloused fist slammed on the counter, making the objects on it rattle.

"Damn it Sanji, answer me! Is everything you said true? "

"No-"

"Do you really think I'm a no good fighter that's holding you back, or like what you told those people at the Baratie, that I'm a useless layabout?"

"No Zoro no I don't! You know I just get carried away now and again."

"It's hard for me to believe you when you don't even sound like you believe it yourself."

Zoro sounded sceptical, and looked it as well as he leant against the island. It was only then that he noticed Sanji properly; coat still hanging off him, bowtie hanging loose, and hair clinging to his face from the rain falling outside. His head was bowed as he thought of what to say.

"It's not that I think that way Zoro, honestly. I love you, I love that you're so strong and so determined, and so passionate towards everything you care about. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't annoy me now and again, how I always have to buy everything, or how you mope about my new friends."

There was a creaking as Zoro's hands gripped the island. The truth was painful.

"I don't mope."

"You do, and I know you've been supporting me with this and I think it's brilliant, but sometimes I just get sick of arguing. I've done whatever I can to support you, like always, but it's harder to get permission when I need to make my new bosses happy. And to come back home and get the cold fucking shoulder from you because you just expect everything to be the same as before."

Zoro was silent. He wanted to argue it, but unfortunately Sanji was right, that is what he wanted. He wanted his old Sanji back. He'd been so busy wanting it he was ignoring that Sanji had been trying, but his new life was forcing him to change. He suddenly understood why Sanji had been even quicker to anger with him than normal.

"...Is that why you did it? Kissed him?"

"I don't know Zoro. It was never meant to happen, it just did. There was no reason why."

"...Do you have feelings for him?"

The tension hung in the air like it was tangible; razor sharp in its intensity as Zoro waited for an answer Sanji couldn't give. The cook was thrown at the question. He'd never thought of Gin that way before but now...

Now everything had changed.

Zoro made a resigned noise when Sanji didn't answer, trying to close off the hurt in his voice as he made the decision he was trying to avoid.

"I can't take this Sanji. You should go."

The blonde head looked up as Zoro turned his gaze away, staring at Sanji's smart shoes.

"Oh, right. I'll stay with Zeff for the night, let things clear up." Sanji shrugged himself back into his jacket, making towards the door. Zoro's angry sigh made him pause.

"No Sanji. I can't do it."

Dark eyes met blue for the first time that whole night. And suddenly both of them looked broken.

"I want you out. It's over."

~.~.~

"Zoro? Zoro are you okay? What happened? Where's Sanji?"

Luffy's concerned voice brought him back to reality. The bouncing boy had stopped, now leaning over Zoro with a worried expression on the normally so cheerful face. But Zoro couldn't answer, still dumbstruck from remembering the night before. He just curled up in the cold space left by his absent lover and gave a mournful moan before a broken whisper was mouthed into the sheets.

"Sanji. He's gone."

-.-.-


Kay, so if you wanna call me evil now you can, I deserve it.

I hope I redeemed Sanji somewhat this chapter. He's been trying his hardest, honest, if anything Zoro was being too steadfast. They were both being stupid, as usual. And look where it's got them.

Dedicated to BecauseIWasBored, for her always uplifting reviews, and ZeldaAddict42, for making me very happy with essay like messages that help me alot!