Sanji smooths out the tablecloth in the Baratie and remembers the feel of Zoro's lips against his own, he remembers being straddled in Zoro's lap and feeling Zoro's skin under his hands. It's not just that the tablecloth that he's putting on the table is one of the ones that they laundered together last night, he's been thinking about Zoro almost non stop since then.
Zoro's mouth felt about a million times better than it had in any dream he'd ever had. There was just so much more detail in real life. There was the feel of Zoro's soft eyelashes fanned out on his tan skin when his eyes were shut or how Sanji would feel them flick against him when Zoro dozily opened his eyes to look at Sanji with a kiss drunk and happy expression. There was the feeling of Zoro's arms solidly wrapped around him, holding him in place against Zoro. They weren't restraining at all and Sanji had known full well that if he'd pulled away Zoro would have let him, yet somehow within the warm circle of the man's arms things had felt better than they had in years. No dream could do justice to that.
Speaking of dreams Sanji can't help but remember the dream with Zoro as a teacher, where he told Sanji that there was no way they'd ever date, even if they did get together. The warning and considerable evidence that Zoro just isn't built that way. Sanji has no idea what to think, on the one hand Zoro had asked if they were still friends. What did that mean? Was Zoro just scared that he'd fucked up by kissing his best friend and wanting to make sure that everything was ok or was he trying to reiterate that this was a friends with benefits kind of thing? Sanji has no idea what to make of it. Really he should just try to stop overanalysing the whole thing and just enjoy happiness where he finds it, goodness knows that in his life it's often been fleeting.
"You can stare at that tablecloth all you like, it's not going to help you find where you left your brain." Zoro's voice says teasingly.
Sanji whips around and there Zoro is, right behind him in the Baratie with a smug little smile plastered on his face. A million feelings war within Sanji; lust, love, wariness, confusion, hope, happiness... he could go on. He settles on obstinate though.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sanji snorts, folding his arms defensively.
"I mean, you've been staring down at that thing since I came in a few moments ago. You didn't even hear me come in here, it's like your brain just rolled out of your head and left you there with your idiot mouth open." Zoro grins. Sanji frowns, he supposes he didn't hear Zoro come in, or else how did he get in here? He certainly wasn't here a moment ago, or what felt like just a moment ago. Still, never let being wrong about something get in the way of a good comeback.
"I didn't hear you complaining about my idiot mouth last night." Sanji points out with more than just a hint of smugness. He watches as Zoro's eyes widen in surprise and Sanji delights at the pleased smirk that pulls at the edge of Zoro's mouth.
"No, you didn't." Zoro concedes, his smirk widening and his eyes flashing darkly with mischief. Sanji sincerely hopes that mischief involves him.
"Well then." Sanji responds haughtily, though he's suddenly at a loss as where to go from here.
"What do you want anyway?" Sanji adds, with his best friendly hostility. Zoro's grin spreads wider and he moves quickly, wrapping his arms around Sanji's side in a side-on hug, he rests his chin on Sanji's shoulder and smiles at him with pointy teeth.
"You're my best friend you know that riiiight?" Zoro purrs in his 'I want something' voice. Sanji's too busy focusing on the words rather than the way Zoro's saying them to really take it all in, plus Zoro's arms around him again are more than distracting him. What does it mean though? Is Zoro just trying to get on his good side for a favour or is this him reminding Sanji that they're just friends? Is he trying to be subtle about it so that Sanji doesn't get the wrong idea and fall in love with Zoro? If that's his intention then he's several months too late but... well.
"What do you want?" Sanji asks suspiciously.
"Go out with me. Let's go drinking tonight, just not at that bar where you nearly kicked that guy's face off. I know another good place, I'll text you the address and I can meet you there after you get off work?" Zoro smiles up at Sanji. Fuck, why did he have to use the words 'go out with me'?!
"Yeah, ok. I could use a drink, and you can always keep up." He agrees with as much cool as he can muster.
"Awesome." Zoro says with a big wide smile.
"Right, I'd better get back to class, I'd look pretty bad if my kids showed up before me!" Zoro chuckles and walks off out of the Baratie door with a wide wave. Sanji waves back and watches him go. As much as he likes watching Zoro walk away he can't help but feel frustrated. Are they going out as friends like they did before or is this a date?
Sanji gets off of work at nine and by that time Zoro has already texted him the address of the bar that they're meeting in. Of course, not knowing if he's going to a friendly night out on the town or going on a first date does rather complicate Sanji's wardrobe choices. Eventually he resigns himself to picking a nice shirt and some classy jeans, safe in the knowledge that Zoro probably won't notice what he's wearing anyway, oblivious idiot.
He gets to the bar at quarter to ten and finds Zoro sitting at the bar drinking by himself, Sanji is pleased to note that at least this time no meatheads are hitting on him. Zoro perks up when he sees him and waves him over, despite his warring mind Sanji smiles and relaxes.
"Hey, I was starting to think you'd got lost." Zoro teases him warmly.
"Tch, stop talking about yourself idiot, it's rude." Sanji mocks him back in return.
Whilst Sanji takes off his coat Zoro manages to grab the bartender and pay for one of Sanji's favourite pale ales, it's all golden looking and delicious and Sanji can already feel his mouth watering just looking at it.
"Long day? You're looking at that beer like you've never seen anything you wanted more in your life." Zoro grins. He picks up both of their drinks and leads Sanji over to one of the free booths, it's just as well as a whole herd of bros have just come into the bar and if they'd stayed where they were neither of them would have been able to hear themselves think, much less talk to each other.
"Usual, lots of being on my feet, idiot customers, nothing new." Sanji shrugs, sliding into the booth and taking his ale back off of Zoro. He takes his first glorious pull of it and feels the cool liquid coat the inside of his throat, soothing him and making his taste buds tingle with pleasure.
"Ah, god." Sanji sighs in bliss, putting the beer down and resting his head on the warm wood of the table. He still doesn't know if this is a date or not, but right now he's happy. He's got a man he loves with him, good company, good booze. For now, he's happy.
"What about you?" Sanji asks, realising that the questions have all been pretty one sided so far and he should really be more considerate. Zoro's expression darkens and he breaks eye contact to glare at the wall and down a little more of his beer.
"Zoro?" Sanji prompts with a frown, he doesn't like this.
"I don't want to talk about it, if I talk about it I'm gonna get pissed off as fuck and I don't want-" Zoro shakes his head sharply.
"Tonight is supposed to be fun." Zoro finishes, looking right at Sanji again. His heart flutters in his chest. Still, Zoro is acting pissed off and unhappy, no matter what he says about it.
"Don't you think that talking about it might make you feel better?" Sanji asks reasonably. He knows Zoro, when Zoro someone or something has pissed off he gets grumpy. Then he gets angrier when Sanji makes him talk about it but after he has then he calms down. He's always much happier for it at the end but the idiot still hasn't learnt it.
"No." Zoro pouts, idiot.
"Ok, was it something that happened?" Sanji guesses, it looks like he's going to have to get this out of Zoro twenty questions style. Hm, no real reaction from Zoro except for an exasperated look. Well, if Zoro doesn't want him playing kids games to get his problems out then he should talk about them like a fucking adult shouldn't he?
"Something someone said then?" He guesses again.
"Cut it out." Zoro mutters and drinks his beer.
"Definitely something someone said. Someone at work I'm guessing because you seemed fine the last time I saw you and you're not glaring daggers at anyone here." He reasons, working his way through the logic. Zoro looks away and the slight downward quirk of his lips alarms Sanji. Zoro isn't angry, he's upset. Okay, knowing Zoro he's at least a little bit angry too but still, he's upset.
"I need to get a new beer." The green haired man mutters, starting to slide out of his side of the booth. Before he can get to the edge though Sanji slams his foot into the back of it, blocking Zoro's way out with his leg.
"Sanji..." Zoro sighs, looking down at Sanji's leg.
"Tell me, someone upset you and I want to know what they said to get under your skin like this." the cook says sternly.
"It was just... another teacher was running his mouth is all. Talking shit about things he doesn't know anything about." Zoro answers, resting his hand on Sanji's ankle where it bars his path out. Sanji should worry that Zoro is trying to pull his leg aside, but he's not. Zoro's touch is light, like Zoro is just seeking out the body contact without thinking about it. He's not even looking Sanji in the eye so he knows that it's serious.
Sanji may need to murder someone, he just needs to find out who and specifically why.
"Quit looking at me like that." Zoro orders him, still not looking at Sanji.
"You're not looking at me, you don't know what way I'm looking at you." the blonde points out wryly.
"FINE. It apparently wasn't just the head teacher who saw that photo, at least one of the department heads did too." Zoro answers, his hand momentarily tightening on Sanji's ankle.
Sanji drags a harsh breath in, he feels like he could spit fire. Hell, he may just do. He wants to become a giant fucking dragon and burn that asshole's house down.
"You look like a fucking serial killer right now Sanji, do you wanna chill out a bit. It's not a big deal, he's a fucking bigot and it's not like he implied that I was a danger to the kids or anything." Zoro reasons.
"Maybe I should consider a career change because I feel like killing that guy would be real fucking swell right now. Roronoa Zoro don't you fucking DARE try to imply that this guy isn't so bad because he didn't equate liking men to being a fucking pedophile! The gall of that motherfucker to even say anything at all to you, you're supposed to be coworkers!" Sanji snarls. That is it, he is definitely going to murder this guy.
"Sanji, it's fine. It just got to me a little, it's fine. I'm a grown man, I've had worse before and like I said, I'm fine." Zoro insists.
"No one who's fine says 'fine' that often." He says through gritted teeth.
"Do you see why I didn't want to bring this up? Now you're pissed off and I feel like shit." Zoro says, falling back against the back of the booth in exasperation.
"I'm sorry. Shit like this just makes me so mad, you don't deserve it and it's not okay." the cook says, letting his foot drop just like his mood. He didn't mean to make Zoro feel worse at all, he'd been trying to make Zoro feel better by getting it off of his chest. Zoro slides out of the booth, but instead of making his way up to the bar he instead walks over to Sanji's side of the booth. He puts his hand to Sanji's jaw and tilts his head towards him. Zoro kisses him and butterflies explode in Sanji's stomach, he's still not used to this really happening and not just being something that he dreams about.
"You can't protect me from everything you know." Zoro says in a reasonable tone of voice that Sanji strongly dislikes.
"I want to, no one should ever be mean to you or irritate you in any way. Ever." Sanji insists with a pout that makes Zoro laugh.
"World doesn't work that way." Zoro chuckles and the cook feels pleased to see Zoro looking a little brighter.
"Fuck the world." Sanji retorts and scowls.
"That would take a while and probably be a bad idea, you know, STD's and all." he points out with a laugh.
"Buy me another drink whilst you're fucking off, also, fuck off." the blonde retorts and shoves Zoro away with his foot. His friend/boyfriend's laughter floats over to Sanji as he walks away.
Zoro seems happier now at least, though Sanji has no idea how he made that the case. As for him, he feels heavier. He supposes that perhaps Zoro's burden truly was lightened, a problem shared is a problem halved after all. Zoro is right, as much as Sanji hates to admit it he knows that he can't keep Zoro from every ignorant son of a bitch with an opinion. What he can do though it make Zoro happy enough to forget about it and not let it continue to bother him.
He rests his cheek in his hand and watches Zoro at the bar, he watches as Zoro leans on the bar top, stretching over to point at a particular bottle that he wants. His jeans stretch tight over his ass and Sanji's pulse quickens. His mind clicks back to the dilemma that he's had almost the entire night and predates his anger at Zoro's godawful coworker. Namely; is this a date or not? He bites his lip. Does he want this to be a date?
On the one hand the answer is an obvious yes. He's been pining for Zoro since for fucking ever and having the opportunity to live that out makes him absolutely giddy. Even so, he's dubious about Zoro's ability to date. If Zoro's never done it then why would he start now? If that is what he's doing then is Zoro only wanting to date him because he knows that Sanji doesn't do the no strings thing? That said, Zoro could ask the same of him. Sanji is leaving himself open to seeing Zoro with no strings because he suspects that's the only way that he can be with him.
If this is a date and Zoro is dating him for the sake of Sanji's sensibilities then how long can that last? If Zoro is right and he just doesn't 'get' dating or the whole monogamy thing then isn't this whole venture doomed to failure? It's hardly going to be like Zoro's views will have taken a complete 180 since they talked on the subject last.
If Zoro is just seeing him as a best friends with benefits thing then Sanji would be a certified moron not to wonder how long he can take that. How hard it will be to not tell Zoro that he loves him. How much would be different? Will Zoro stay the night with him or will they just have sex and part ways until the next time they see each other? Will Zoro be sweet with him and will he be open to letting Sanji spoil him when he wants to? He's always been able to make romantic gestures with past partners but will he be able to handle it if Zoro won't allow it?
Is this whole thing a big fucking mistake?
"I have a plan!" Zoro says brightly, returning with their drinks. Zoro has two beers, one of Sanji's and one for himself. He also has shots of... something which he puts down next to the drinks.
"Your plan involves shots, I am instantly dubious about your plan." He deadpans.
"Shut your mouth and drink up, I'm taking you somewhere. It'll be an adventure!" Zoro beams in a way that reminds Sanji of Luffy.
After the two of them finish their drinks Zoro pulls him from the bar by his wrist. Their breath mists in the night air and Zoro looks left and right before deciding on left and pulling Sanji along that way.
"So not only am I dubious about your decision on starting this adventure with shots I'm also dubious about you taking me somewhere when only you are navigating." Sanji teases.
A fist suddenly snags in the front of Sanji's shirt and he finds himself yanked closer to Zoro with their lips suddenly pressed together. Zoro then proceeds to kiss the breath out of Sanji's lungs, leaving him trembling and wide eyed.
"Shut up." Zoro insists and then pulls him along again.
"'kay." Sanji replies weakly.
Zoro leads him downtown, or at least they end up downtown. Saying that Zoro led them there might be giving his navigation too much credit, also Sanji swears that they've passed this grocery store once already. He doesn't mind if they don't get to wherever Zoro is planning on though, it's just nice to walk with him. The two of them have been rambling on in the way that they easily do, conversation just falling effortlessly from their mouths about the dumbest things. They talk about stupid TV shows, old movies, their friends, funny customers and shit that kids say. Everything with Zoro just feels as right as breathing and at some point in their journey Zoro's hand on his wrist has turned into fingers linked together as they hold hands.
"Yes! Found it!" Zoro exclaims suddenly, making Sanji look up.
"The zoo?" Sanji frowns in confusion.
"Yeah, come on!" Zoro says, his smile gleeful as he runs towards it.
"Zoro. It's... half past midnight, the zoo is shut." He says slowly, starting to suspect that Zoro has lost his mind. The idiot leads him around the tall wall that surrounds the zoo.
"I know, that's the best time to see it!" the idiot beams, walking further along the base of the wall.
"No... no it's not. See, there are these things called opening hours and- WHOA!" Sanji's sarcastic explanation is cut short when Zoro suddenly drops down and grabs him at the knees before standing up.
"Less bitching, more climbing." Zoro insists, pushing Sanji against the wall.
"No way! This is crazy!" Sanji exclaims. Zoro narrows his eyes at him and then before Sanji knows it he's flying through the air. Thanks to his acrobatic abilities he manages to land on his feet as he skids across the floor inside the zoo.
"How are you gonna get over genius?" Sanji calls back over the wall.
"Not so LOUD, haven't you ever snuck into anywhere after hours?" Zoro hisses back from the outside.
"No, I have never broken into a zoo in the night, clearly I have lived an impoverished life until now. The point remains that I am TRAPPED IN A ZOO ALONE! Can you even get over here?!" Sanji snarls angrily. If he ends up stuck there until morning and gets arrested he will be so pissed off. It will be the worse maybe a date that he's ever had.
There's a thud and a skid sound and Sanji's eyes widen as fingers appear at the top of the wall. A sound like skidding boots on brick reaches him and then suddenly Zoro it sat atop the wall. He drops down next to Sanji with catlike grace and the cook is oddly turned on.
"So, my point about us being locked in the zoo still stands." Sanji says after a moment or two.
"So does my point about you shutting up. Come on." Zoro insists and drags him along.
With the light of the stars and the moon as well as the small security lights Sanji is able to see where he is going but not much of the exhibits.
Zoro pulls him to a stop by a large cage and stands behind him, his hands on Sanji's hips.
"Tell me when you see it." Zoro whispers in Sanji's ear.
Sanji wants to ask him what he's looking for but he supposes that it defeats the point. His eyes scan the dark enclosure, he can see branches and rocks, a tree... but no animal. He leans as far forward as the barrier will let him get to the bars of the enclosure. He peers around but just as he is about to give up he feels hot breath run along his cheek, but it's not Zoro's.
He turns his head to the side and suddenly, in the inky dark, he sees two dark golden eyes just a few inches from the bars.
Sanji has the common sense not to startle too bad, like yelling or doing anything that might startle or upset the large feline close to him. His eyes adjust to the dark but he still can't see much detail on the thing.
"It's a puma, they're so much more active at night. When you go see them in the day they're just dozing away doing fuck all." Zoro says quietly behind Sanji's shoulder.
The big cat blinks lazily and shifts, looking at Zoro now instead Sanji realises now that it's not so much that he can't see the creature, just that it's so dark that it's hard to pick out. His eyes have adjusted enough now that it's more like he can see a big cat shaped void in the surroundings of the enclosure, and boy is it a big cat indeed. He's stunned at how long it's tail is and how silently it moves as it gets up and walks off to the other side of the enclosure with loping feline grace.
"How do you know all of that?" Sanji asks in awe, straightening up and looking at Zoro in the semi darkness.
"Hah, do you know how many times I've been to this goddamn zoo? It's far better without the sound of yelling children, I assure you." Zoro answers with a quiet laugh.
"Have you ever been in here at night before?" Sanji asks. Initially he feels an instinctive surge of jealousy, the sort of vague regret about doing something that someone has done with a past lover before. But no, Zoro hasn't ever dated anyone before, Sanji will literally be his first for anything relationship related. For an entirely selfish reason he feels a warm glow come over himself with this.
"Nuh uh. Thought it'd be a cool idea though. C'mon, I want to show you the other animals!" He says, pulling Sanji away by his hand in a frankly adorable display of glee.
Zoro takes him around all of the big cat exhibits and Sanji watches them with stunned eyes. He's been to the zoo before, as a kid though. He remembers being pretty interested by the animals but thinking that a lot of them looked sad or were just boring because they slept all the time. This trip to the zoo couldn't be farther from that idea. All of the big cats are awake, stalking each other, playing and attacking their oversized toys. Sanji watches a mother lion and her two cubs playing tug of war with an old tractor tyre and chasing each other around playfully. The mother even lets the little lion cubs 'catch' her a few times and Sanji watches and tries not to laugh as she feigns being pinned by the tiny cats. The tigers are magnificent too, swimming through the water in ways that Sanji is more accommodated to seeing dolphins do than cats.
To his surprise there are also animals awake and alert that he hadn't expected. Apparently kangaroos are nocturnal, or at least nocturnal enough that they bound across their enclosure with all the energy of small excitable children.
It's too dark to read the signs by each animal but Zoro tells him what he remembers from reading them out to his school kids before. Apparently his skill at herding large groups of children and impressing them with his apparent "coolness" makes it so that he is almost always chosen to help out with field days. Because of this the directionally challenged Zoro has this place memorised like the back of his hand.
If Sanji didn't know Zoro better then he'd say that this was a fucking smooth and cunning choice of date. He's pretty sure that it's a date now... he thinks. Zoro gets a chance to be exciting and daring but also to show off his knowledge and skills. It's bragging without bragging.
But Zoro just isn't like that. Sanji knows him better than that and it makes the whole date way nicer. He knows that Zoro has taken him here because he thinks that it's a cool place that Sanji would like. Plus, it's somewhere that they can get into for free (albeit illegally), it fits in with Sanji's work hours (again, mainly because of the breaking and entering) and it's something he knows. Zoro is doing this with him because he wants to.
Sanji doesn't have to worry about all of the usual date problems either. Should he buy food or should they split? Are ice creams sweet and frivolously fun or are they childish? None of the stalls are open so there's no worry there, there's no pressure. There aren't any other people watching their date and making Sanji feel self conscious and they have no one to distract them. It's perfect.
When Zoro takes him to the wolf area of the zoo though Sanji is a little less keen. Unlike the lions and the other big cats the wolves aren't really in an enclosure to speak of at all. It's more a patch of woodland with a walkway above it.
They start across the bridge and Sanji looks down to see a whole pack of wolves looking up at them and following their progress on almost silent padded feet. As Zoro walks along and watches them back Sanji finds himself suddenly wary of how the bridge creaks and how lightly it's suspended amongst the trees. His mind flashes back to every cheap horror werewolf flick that he's ever seen and recalls wolves jumping huge distances to rip out the throat of innocent people. He steps closer to Zoro and holds his hand tight.
"They can't... they can't get up here right?" Sanji asks in a desperate whisper, as if the wolves could possibly hear and understand what he's saying and decide to attack him now before they come up with a plan.
"I doubt it, they'd be pretty dumb to put a bridge here if they could jump this high." Zoro reasons with a small laugh.
"Sure, during the day maybe, but they're awake now! It's night!" Sanji hisses warily as one of the wolves snaps and snarls at another that gets too close to him.
"Ok, but if they could get up here and night don't you think that the zookeepers would be pissed off with having to herd wolves back into their enclosure every morning and risk getting mauled?" the other man laughs. Ok, so he has a point, that would be rather poor zoo design.
"Yeah, ok. But what if one of them gets up here by a fluke?" The blonde insists as the wolves circle below them.
Zoro smirks at him in the darkness, his teeth reflecting the light of the moon and making him seem a little demonic actually.
"I promise, oh delicate Sanji, if a wolf comes up here I will punch it and save you. You know, before you faint all daintily." the asshole mocks him.
"You'd punch an endangered animal in the face for me." Sanji says in a flat tone of voice.
"Yeah, that's how much I'd like you. That's the standard unit of measurement isn't it? Like, if I'd punch a wolf in the face for you I like you but if I'll punch a bear in the face then you pretty much have to marry me right?" Zoro laughs and punches Sanji in the arm.
"Sound legitimate to me, probably legally binding too." The blonde agrees with a nod.
Despite his most sane of intentions and how stupid he knows that this whole conversation is, Sanji is well and truly wooed.
"I know it's late but let me show you one last thing, please?" Zoro asks with bright eyes as the two of them exit the wolf enclosure.
"Well, since you insisted." Sanji says in mock reluctance.
Zoro pulls him across the zoo, away from the larger zoo animals and through the bird section. Some of the inhabitants blink owlishly at him, in the most literal sense there is. It's only when the ground starts to slope down and Zoro's hand comes to the small of Sanji's back that he realises where they're going. It's underground.
Somehow the sea part of the zoo isn't locked up or shut down overnight. As they get through the initial entranceway blue light starts to filter down from above. They're in some kind of tunnel that runs under all of the water enclosures in the whole zoo. Sanji realises that from the path they've wound around the place that the edges of the zoo are ringed with water exhibits, regardless of the themed area that they are otherwise in. The floor around those bits had been glass too, that must be where the light that's filtering down is coming from. Even so it's pretty goddamn dark down here.
"Shit, it's darker than I thought. Have you got your phone?" Zoro asks suddenly, turning to Sanji.
"Even better, it's got a torch." Sanji smiles, pulling it from his pocket and swiping his phone's lock screen up to reveal the little torch application that shines out from the flash light of his phone camera. With that done and a little petty arguing about how shit Zoro's own phone is (for the record, it is very shit and old) the two of them continue along the underground path.
All around them fish swim and arc above them in lazy waves, propelling themselves with long tails. Sharks swim in and out of the darkness and though Sanji should feel terrified being only inches from an apex predator like that he finds himself strangely enchanted.
Some of the decor is tacky, fake coral reefs in the tunnel and sparkling starfish decals on the walls but the place is magical in a way that Sanji cannot describe nor explain. He watches the fish with wide eyes and moves from section to section of the tunnel almost wordlessly.
They get to the area where the dolphins are and Zoro tells him in a quiet voice about how dolphins don't sleep, not really. Apparently they shut down one half of their brain at a time and then the other half so that they're always awake and alert but also resting when they need to. Sanji can't help but think that he could use that at work himself sometimes.
All of the fish flit away from and then back towards Sanji's little light and it feels like far too soon that they get to the end of the underwater tunnel, though he knows they've lingered there for ages. In the end Sanji is the one to say it.
"We should probably go back, I've no idea how we've not got caught already, this place should really have security guards." Sanji says softly, leaning into Zoro's side.
"Yeah, ok. Let's get to the wall and I'll boost you up." Zoro agrees and leads them away.
"Hey, I don't need you to boost me up. I can climb a wall by myself you know." Sanji insists with a puffed up air of indigence that he is only vaguely confident that he can actually back up.
"After you then." Zoro challenges as they get to the wall. Sanji takes a deep breath and then sprints at the wall and jumps. He kicks off it halfway up and uses the momentum to kick him further up the wall until he lands on the top on his feet. None of this climbing up business that Zoro did, he's just standing up there like a fucking cat that owns the joint. He looks down at Zoro with smugness radiating from his ever pore and sees the moss head looking up at him with unguarded awe and... perhaps a little bit of excitement. Did he just manage to get Zoro a little bit turned on by doing that? He's certainly gonna file that information away for later analysis.
Zoro jumps up the wall himself and has to heave himself up to the top with his hands, eventually sitting and straddling the wall as he looks up at Sanji.
"Not gonna stand up marimo? Scared of heights?" Sanji challenges loudly.
"Careful, you'll fall." Zoro says, concern evident in his tone.
"Nah, look!" Sanji laughs and spins on his heel on the top of the wall, his arms spread out in glee. He's stable as anything. If he can run through a crowded restaurant on slippery floors with armfuls of hot food and dodge children and waiters alike then this is a cakewalk.
"HEY! What are you doing up there?! You're trespassing!" A voice yells up at them, startling both him and Zoro. Sanji looks down with wide eyes and spots one of the guards that he'd been maligning so much earlier running towards them.
"Time to go." Sanji says quickly, grabbing Zoro's hand and leaping from the wall. The two of them sprint through town, losing the guard easily, the adrenaline of the chase making them dizzy with laughter by the time they get to Sanji's building. The two of them stampede up the stairs to Sanji's floor, laughing and shoving each other as they go.
Sanji eventually falls against his shut front door and grins at Zoro.
"That is the best night out I've had in... possibly forever." He beams with glee.
"I'm glad." Zoro grins back just as widely.
Sanji bites his lip nervously and then figures that it'd be far better if Zoro were to do that kind of thing. He pulls Zoro forward by his shirt and into a kiss.
The two of them make out like teenagers in Sanji's hallway for a while, hands wandering into places they probably should be. Not that Sanji can blame himself, Zoro has a fantastic ass and he wants his hands on it as much as possible.
"I'm glad you had fun." Zoro says sweetly, finally pulling back and smiling warmly at Sanji in a way that makes Sanji's gut heat and his face flush.
"I really did." Sanji agrees a little breathlessly.
"I'd better go, I'll see you tomorrow." Zoro nods and with a smile, disappears down the stairs.
What? He's going? No!
Sanji desperately tries to think of something to shout after him other than "no, please come inside and fuck my brains out" without sounding so crude. By the time that he's settled on throwing modesty out of the way and begging Zoro to fuck him until he screams the other man is long gone. He rests his head on his front door with a whine, he's hard enough that he could probably fuck his way through the door if he wanted. That was easily the best date that he's been on for his entire goddamn life and he just wants to have Zoro all to himself in every way possible too. Is it too much to ask for absolutely everything he wants right now?
With a frustrated groan he unlocks his front door and resolves to start planning their next date himself, one that will almost certainly end with the two of them naked and fucking. He is at least 95% sure that was a date. Probably. He sure as shit hopes so at any rate.