Sanji is learning to accept that Zoro is simply never going to feel for him what Sanji does. Zoro doesn't do romantic love and that's a real shame. But as he looks over at Zoro in the bar that Zoro persuaded him to come to he can certainly say that Zoro loves him in his own way.
He rests his cheek on his palm and smiles at the marimo, Zoro is talking about his day with the kids at school and saying for about the millionth time how happy he is to have his job back and how much he thanks Sanji for it and... yeah. There's no way this guy doesn't love him. Zoro is practically glowing as he turns to Sanji and beams at him and it just melts Sanji's heart. Zoro is his best friend and he's lucky to have him. He's been so focused lately on being romantically attracted to the man that he's not paid so much attention to what a great friend he is.
"You've got that goofy look on your face cook, what are you thinking about?" Zoro smirks, poking Sanji in the forehead.
"Oi, don't poke me, asshat. I was just thinking that I'm glad we're friends." Sanji says, swatting Zoro's hand away and turning back to face his drink.
"Don't get too sentimental on me cook, I might cry." Zoro grins, bumping his shoulder into Sanji's affectionately.
"Oh, that reminds me. I wanted to ask you a favour." Zoro says, perking up a little as he drains the last of his whiskey in the glass. It's a nice one that this particular bar has, it's pretty much what Zoro dragged him here for but Sanji doesn't much like the stuff so it was probably a waste on Zoro's part.
"Would you teach me how to cook something?" Zoro asks softly, looking over at Sanji.
The blonde's heart catches in his throat. Zoro's never expressed an interest in learning to cook before, despite Sanji's endless mocking of his lack of skill. This is certainly new.
"What are you wanting to learn how to cook?" He asks in curious interest.
Zoro frowns and scratches his chin as if he hadn't really thought that far ahead, typical Zoro.
"I don't know, what would you be impressed with if someone cooked it for you? What would you like?" Zoro asks, looking at him carefully. Sanji's eyes widen and he feels his face redden, is... is Zoro trying to learn to cook to impress him?
Sanji is just opening his mouth to formulate a reply when a hand lands on Zoro's shoulder and startles the other man. They both look up in surprise and look pressingly at the guy with his hand on Zoro's shoulder. He's tall, probably about four inches taller than Zoro and the guy is broad too, his shoulders and chest are all bulging with an improbable amount of muscle. His biceps are probably bigger than Sanji's head.
The guy is wearing a baby blue polo shirt with a popped collar of all things, the kind of thing that makes Sanji's internal sensors ring out "douchebag" just on sight. His skin is a tan colour which is probably a fake imitation of Zoro's natural hue.
"Vodka red bull for me and a refill of whatever this guy is drinking." The guy calls to the bartender with a grin that makes Sanji's hackles rise. Who the hell does his asshole think he is?
The bartender hands the drinks over to Douchebag (as Sanji has internally dubbed him) and he pays, he passes Zoro drink to him, his fingers lingering on Zoro's for a touch too long. Sanji watches as Zoro's eyes flick up and down the guy.
"Uh, thanks." Zoro says with a slight scowl and puts his drink next to his empty one that he'd drained earlier.
"No problem. You come here often? I've never seen you here before." The guy smiles at Zoro and leans on the bar 'accidentally' flexing his biceps as he does so.
Sanji scowls, this clown is such a pretentious ass, who does he think he's impressing with his muscles? Oh. Zoro. Zoro is probably who he thinks he's impressing and...
Sanji's mind flashes to the picture of Zoro pinned under Daz naked and sinfully arched under the much bigger man's hands. This guy isn't as big as Daz but he's easily bigger than both Sanji and Zoro and Sanji is pretty sure that this is Zoro's thing. Shit, Sanji would sooner die than see Zoro get off with this douchebag!
"Sometimes, I like the whiskey here." Zoro shrugs and sips his drink.
Sanji grits his teeth, why the hell is Zoro answering this guy?! He's just encouraging him! He grinds his beer bottle into the bar as Douchebag introduces himself and Zoro gives his own name back in response.
"You wanna go dance?" Douchebag asks, his voice low and seductive.
"No." Zoro answers simply and sips at his drink. Sanji gives an internal cry of victory and tries to give Douchebag the best 'fuck off and leave' glare that he can. Douchebag seems to notice him at last and his gaze settles on Sanji, he looks the cook up and down and raises his lip slightly in a little sneer as if he's not impressed with what he sees.
"What, don't wanna leave your buddy here alone?" Douchebag asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You'll be okay right, pal?" Douchebag says looking condescendingly at Sanji.
"I ain't your pal, shithead." Sanji growls darkly as spots the slight twitch at the corner of Zoro's mouth. His anger apparently amuses the marimo.
"Whatever, tiny." Douchebag snorts arrogantly.
"I'm not gonna dance with you, so you might as well go. I came here with him, I'm not gonna just fuck off and leave him because some guy asks." Zoro says firmly.
"So leave." Sanji agrees, scowling at the guy.
"Fine, I get that you don't wanna leave your little friend here. But I bought you a pretty pricy drink, you at least owe me a little conversation." the guy insists, leaning into Zoro's space.
"I don't owe you shit. Fuck off." Zoro snaps, his eyes angry. Sanji is by now used to reading all of Zoro's little tells and the other man is seriously angry.
"Aw come on. Tell you what, answer me ten things truthfully and I'll leave you be if that's what you want." the douchebag offers.
Sanji watches as Zoro rolls his eyes and then drops his shoulders in defeat, probably figuring that agreeing is the easiest way to get this guy to goddamn leave them alone already. Zoro flicks Sanji an apologetic look before adopting a face of pure boredom and resting his chin in his palm.
"Ten and then you leave me the hell alone." Zoro grumbles irritably.
"Okay, starting now?" Douchebag asks, sitting in the chair next to Zoro sideways on.
"Yes, starting now. Nine questions left." Zoro says, bored.
"What, you can't be serious!" Douchebag gawps, Sanji grins at his idiocy, another question down.
"I am. Eight left." Zoro responds and Sanji laughs quietly, earning him a scornful look from the popped collar wearing moron.
The fake-tan wearing narcissist scowls but finally catches on.
"Fine, then. Are you into guys?" He asks Zoro bluntly.
"I am. Seven left." Zoro responds as disinterestedly as if the guy had just told him the time or something else equally mundane.
"Okay. Would you dance with me if your little friend wasn't here?" the guy asks, throwing a condescending look at Sanji as if he's barely worth the effort to look at. Sanji tries to resist the temptation to relocate this guy's lower jaw to somewhere like the ceiling.
"No. Six left." he replies, making Sanji's heart sing.
That seems to really shock Douchebag, he'd evidently chalked Zoro's reluctance down to Zoro being a good friend and simply not wanting to abandon Sanji at the bar alone. Hearing that it's not the case makes Sanji unreasonably happy. Sanji watches in glee as the guy gathers his wits together and a truly nasty scowl comes onto his face and Sanji feels justified in his hatred for this guy, he's clearly a nasty piece of work.
"So what, then? Don't tell me that this scrawny twink here is your boyfriend, are you only into girly guys or something?" Douchebag laughs at Sanji.
Sanji's ass leaves his seat as he sits up and prepares to kill this steroid riddled motherfucker. Zoro's hand on his chest stops him though.
"No, he's not. As for my type, it's not you. I like guys who are strong enough to challenge me and make it feel worth it when I get to top or like they've earned it when they top me. I've had guys who are way bigger than you, but he wasn't on steroids like you are so his strength was real and natural. Your muscles are just for show and my friend here stands a hell of a lot better chance in a real match up with me than you do." Zoro says, jerking his thumb in Sanji's direction.
Sanji feels like an entire goddamn colony of butterflies have exploded in his stomach. Zoro... Zoro would consider sleeping with him? He's... he's not just into guys like Daz? Had he leapt to the wrong conclusion? Oh god, could he really genuinely stand a chance with Zoro? Fuck, he's gonna die if Zoro's just saying this shit to get rid of Douchebag.
"Now, you're outta questions. So get the fuck outta my face." Zoro growls threateningly, leaning over the bar so he's right in Douchebag's face.
"The way I count it, I've got one left. So here it is. You wanna fuck that blonde of yours, huh?" Douchebag asks and Sanji watches how Zoro twitches back and his face goes red, making Douchebag laugh right at him.
"Oh what, you not gonna answer me?" Douchebag laughs, shoving Zoro in the shoulder.
Sanji's hand snaps forward and he grabs Douchebag's hand before he can touch him again.
"You and me, outside. Now. I'm gonna kick your ass, and if they haven't shrivelled up entirely I may even kick you in the nuts for touching Zoro." Sanji snarls, getting out of his seat as he flings the guy's hand away and makes his way around the chair.
"Sanji, no, what are you-" Zoro tries, hoping to stop him. Sanji shakes him off though, this guy has insulted him more than enough tonight to warrant the ass kicking, let alone all of the harassment that he's given Zoro. Besides, there's a hopeful little voice in his head that says maybe if Zoro sees that he can really kick ass then maybe Zoro might consider him for a romantic partner. Maybe he can convince the idiot to give love a shot for once because he really wants to be more than Zoro's best friend and fuck buddy. He wants to be the love of Zoro's life, he wants Zoro to yearn for him like he does for Zoro. And yeah, this is stupid but he's got a history of doing dumb stuff to impress girls, why should Zoro be any different?
Douchebag has the audacity to laugh right in Sanji's face, his popped collar waving with the motion.
"What, you?! I'd break you like a twig, shrimp." Douchebag guffaws.
"Then what's stopping you from proving it? I'll be outside, come join me to get your ass handed to you by a guy half your weight." Sanji says firmly, shoving a cigarette in his mouth and pulling his lighter out.
"And you stay here Zoro, I'm not having someone take your picture outside a bar again, not after last time." Sanji orders and stalks off outside the bar. He lights his cigarette as soon as he gets outside and walks a few paces past the door.
He rolls his shoulders and taps his feet into place in his shoes, happy that he wore his hard dress shoes to go out with Zoro, he's wearing his tailored black suit trousers too so he can happily kick straight up without risking splitting a seam. The rest of him is dressed more casually with a nice T-shirt under his blue jacket, all in all he thinks he'll be able to fight nice and easily without being restrained. Which is good, he doesn't want to restrain anything with this fucker.
Douchebag makes his way outside and stands by the door as it swings shut behind him, his sneer visible in the light of the bar spilling out onto the street.
"Decided to finally join me then? Glad to see you worked up the courage." Sanji smirks around his cigarette.
"I'm gonna paste your face across the floor." Douchebag growls angrily, he's clearly not used to people standing up to him. Sanji doesn't care though, he's going to be the one doing the pasting here.
He rests back on his hips a little, tilting his balance to lower his centre of gravity and load up his hamstrings for a jump. Douchebag readies his fist and just straight up charges at Sanji with his arm out like a battering ram. Sanji rolls his eyes and neatly steps to the side, flicking a nice kick into the back of the guy's own hamstrings, making his leg go dead and Douchebag stumble. The guy snarls and whips around to face Sanji, clearly not used to people fighting smart. Sanji isn't an idiot this guy weighs at least twice what he does and technique or no simple physics will make it really hurt if this guy makes contact with him at all, he doesn't intend to give him that opportunity.
The guy throws haymaker after haymaker as Sanji casually backs up, this guy knows nothing about fighting at all. He waits for the guy to throw another, twisting his body and leaving his side vulnerable, lo and behold captain predictable does just that and Sanji rewards him with a strong kick in the ribs. The buy buckles to the floor and Sanji follows his move up with another kick to the underside of the back of his ribs, right in all of his squishy organs.
The cook dances back out of his reach again, wary of the potential for Douchebag to lash out against him. He doesn't get out of the way quick enough though and the other guy's arm snaps out fast enough to throw Sanji back against the dumpsters by the bar. The impact of his body sends out a large metallic clang.
Sanji darts out of the way as Douchebag leaps to his feet snarling and flings himself at Sanji. Unfortunately the cook is running out of room to duck and weave out of the way. He needs to go on the offensive.
He kicks into the guy's stomach and bounces back away from him with his other leg, he ducks a large handed swipe for his head but unfortunately doing so limits his ability to move back even further and he's forced to kick out again in order to keep the guy at a safe distance. A pumped up meaty arm clamps around Sanji's leg as Douchebag takes the hit to his side but refuses to let him go. Sanji pales, he's trapped in the guy's range now with nowhere to go!
"Let him go!" Zoro roars from behind Douchebag, startling the guy.
Sanji seizes the opportunity and puts all of his weight on his trapped leg, tipping Douchebag backwards at the sudden change of balance and using his other leg to kick straight upwards. His flexibility means that he can kick vertically even at this close range. Douchebag's head snaps back as Sanji's kick catches him right under the jaw. He tumbles back onto the floor, dragging Sanji down with him and bouncing the cook painfully on the concrete as he goes.
Zoro swoops in, his arms coming around Sanji's sides as he pulls the cook free from Douchebag's slackened grip.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sanji insists, shaking Zoro off. Douchebag seems more or less down for the count and Sanji doesn't want to be around when he gets his senses again, so he doesn't resist when Zoro grabs his hand and drags him off into the night.
"Are you crazy? That guy wasn't worth the fight, he was some loser, I could have dealt with it and he would have gone away sooner or later!" Zoro snaps at him, pulling him down an alleyway as they cut across town.
"You might be happy to sit there and be insulted but I wasn't and I wasn't going to let him talk to you like that either!" Sanji argues back, pulling his hand from Zoro's and stopping in his tracks, folding his arms petulantly.
"Well thank you for defending my virginal honour, how ever can a young maiden thank you?" Zoro asks sarcastically.
"You should have just left it, you stupid fuck!" He snaps, shoving Sanji angrily.
"What, you think I can't take the guy? That I can't handle myself?!" Sanji argues back. So Zoro really doesn't think him worthy as a partner, or at least he'd considered him too weak for it. Well fuck him, he'd shown him hadn't he?
"Did I say that?" Zoro groans in exasperation, rolling his eyes.
"Either of us could have easily trashed that moron, you just did. It's just not worth the risk or the time, who cares what that moron thinks about me? I don't. Besides, your clothes are all messed up now, was it worth it?" Zoro sighs, dusting Sanji's jacket for him. Sanji looks himself up at down, Zoro's right, he's a little grubby from his fight.
"And you've got road rash on your face now from after you brought him down." Zoro murmurs softly, reaching to touch Sanji's cheek gingerly with his thumb. True enough Sanji can feel the sting of broken skin as Zoro's fingers ghost over his cheekbone. The sensation is overwhelmed by the flutters in his stomach though and between that and the concerned and affectionate look in Zoro's eyes makes it super hard for Sanji to not just lean in and kiss the other man.
"I guess I let my temper get the better of me, but that guy had it coming." Sanji admits grudgingly, his skin flushing with embarrassment.
Zoro's face cracks into a grin at that.
"Yeah, he kinda did. And I didn't know you were flexible enough to kick that high either, that was pretty cool." Zoro agrees with a laugh.
"I am all kinds of flexible." Sanji boasts and leans backwards, bending himself back into an arch until his fingertips ghost the floor before shifting his weight onto them and achingly slowly bringing his legs up into a hand stand. He then drops one leg down to his hands whilst keeping the other straight up into the air, essentially doing the splits. His showing off completed he flicks back into full standing with a flourish and an exaggerated bow.
"Show off." Zoro mutters, shoving Sanji in the shoulder and walking off.
"Hey, if you were this awesome you would too. Sadly, you're not." Sanji mocks, shoving him back and gently steering them back on the course for home, rather than the direction that Zoro was taking him.
"Shut it." Zoro grumbles, shoving him again.
"You know..." Sanji begins and steels his courage, "I thought when that douchebag came up to you that you might actually take him up on his offer. Especially after you accepted his drink. I'd thought he was your type, you know, after Daz..."
"What? No way. I have better taste." Zoro squawks indignantly, looking at Sanji in horror.
"I just don't turn down free booze." He adds on thoughtfully.
"Hm, and look where that landed us." the blonde points out and Zoro grumbles unhappily at that, he clearly didn't want Sanji highlighting that particular fact.
"Anyway, Daz was different. Daz's strength was real, not something you can buy. Daz was a big guy so he was bigger and stronger, but if you took him down to our height he wouldn't have been much more muscled than I am. He was just... scaled up I guess." Zoro shrugs.
Sanji nods thoughtfully, a little more relieved that Daz's appeal wasn't just his size. Zoro sighs and sounds a little melancholy. Sanji looks over to see Zoro walking a little slower, his hands jammed in his pockets and his shoulders dropped a little in sadness.
"What?" He prompts in concern.
"I just feel a little bad about Daz. It wasn't his fault that his girlfriend was a psycho. He was a nice guy, despite his irritating habit of using pet names on me and being crazy kinky. I liked him." Zoro mumbles a little sadly. Sanij's eyes widen, he's not going to lose Zoro to Daz, not again! He can't compete with that!
"You're not thinking of getting back together with him are you?" He balks in horror.
"What? No. Even though it's not really his fault I can't really trust him like that again. But... I don't know. Maybe I could try to be friends with him, he was an okay guy. Meh, it's just a little sad is all. Come on, it's cold as hell out here, let's go home." Zoro pouts, shoving Sanji until he leads the way home again.
Sanji relaxes a little, he supposes it's okay for Zoro to miss something that he had in his life, as long as he doesn't want to go back to Daz, as selfish as that is of him to think that.
Sanji shoves his hands in his pockets as he walks, enjoying the tingling come down from the adrenaline of the fight as well as the flutters in his stomach from impressing Zoro at least a little. Zoro seems to be thinking about something too so the both of them walk in one of their traditional peaceful silences.
"So... you were gonna teach me to cook something?" Zoro says after a while, a note of hope in his voice.
"Of course I will, you said you wanted to learn something that'd impress me?" Sanji says as nonchalantly as possible.
"Yeah. For one thing I need to get on Robin's good side. I've got something to ask her and I'd like to put her in as good a mood as possible." Zoro says vaguely.
"Oh, well... ok. I'll think of something to teach you." Sanji agrees a little less enthusiastically. They're reaching Zoro's building now and he can't help but be a little disappointed. He'd thought that Zoro was wanting to learn to cook to impress him.
"You know cook..." Zoro says slowly, leaning on the entrance to his building and opening the door.
"I think you might be onto something with this romance thing. Maybe falling in love is worth a try. Night." Zoro says casually and disappears into his building with a casual wave, as if he hadn't just dropped the biggest bombshell ever on Sanji and left.
Sanji just stares. No way were those two topics unrelated. He wanted to learn to cook to impress Robin and he had something to ask her? Something he wanted her to say yes to and... and Zoro thinks that romance and love are worth a shot? He... he can't be into Robin can he? But he had crashed there before, and true enough he'd denied that there was anything going on between him and Robin then but Zoro also then said that he didn't believe in love at that time.
Shit, he was so worried about keeping Zoro from Daz and douchebags like the guy tonight that he'd not even considered the other gender, he'd thought that Zoro was just interested in guys. But had Zoro ever said as much? He couldn't remember.
Sanji walks home on unsteady feet, his world falling out from underneath him. Zoro was considering romance and he wanted Robin and not him. God... no.