"Happy Birthday Nami!" Sanji calls as he walks through the bar where Nami's birthday is being held. The redhead lights up with a big smile and pulls him into a hug which Sanji only swoons a little bit over.
"It's so good of you to come along Sanji, I'm so pleased to see you." Nami smiles happily.
"It'd be a crime to miss out on your birthday my dearest." Sanji flutters and hands over her gift.
"Oooh, oh Sanji, home made chocolates? You shouldn't have." Nami purrs, peeking in the box, her tone of voice absolutely saying that he should have and she'd really like if he did so again in fact. Sanji beams in glee at his gift being so well received. The redhead looks around and frowns a little.
"Is Zoro not with you?" She asks, searching for Sanji's... boyfriend... maybe? Whatever he is. Searching for Zoro.
"Uh, no. I just came from work, we hadn't planned to come here together or anything. Why, did he say that we were?" Sanji asks in confusion. He's pretty sure that Zoro hadn't said anything about hitching a lift or about waiting for each other to go there. Zoro had just bitched about having to choose between getting Nami pricey booze and getting her lots of booze.
"No, just- ugh, he's never been here before so he's probably lost." Nami groans and flicks her hair over her shoulder in agitation.
"Do... do you want me to track him down and bring him here?" Sanji offers uncertainly.
"No way! Zoro's lack of navigational skills is his own problem, not yours. Besides, the pull of booze will bring him here soon enough. It's not like you're attached at the hip or anything, go enjoy yourself." Nami orders him, shooing him off towards the bar before she squeals in joy and throws herself at the incoming Robin.
Sanji orders himself a drink and leans against the bar uneasily. Whilst he's friendly with Zoro's friends and he's starting to become part of the same group he's not quite there yet and it feels little like he's just hanging out with Zoro's friends without the man there. He wanders through the tables, drink in hand as he looks for someone that he knows reasonably well to talk to without monopolizing the attentions of the birthday girl, no matter how lovely she is.
His choice is made for him however when a hand on his elbow stops him. Sanji turns to look at the guy who's leaning against a high bar table and grinning at Sanji broadly. He recognizes him, he's sure of it and it's the grin that tips him off. He looks like Luffy.
"You're... Ace, right? Luffy's brother." Sanji says, though the more he looks at the guy the more certain he is.
"That's me." Ace laughs brightly.
"Sorry, I'm not so great with names." Sanji apologizes quickly, feeling a little ashamed of even having to ask.
"Hey, you got it right didn't you?" Ace points out.
Sanji shrugs and his brain desperately rifles through his mental notes of what he knows about the guy. He... can't remember his job but equally he can't remember if he's ever been told it by Zoro and... oh yeah, there's the other thing that he knows about Ace. He and Zoro used to sleep together. He knows that they haven't for some time and he's pretty sure that Ace ended it but Sanji finds himself a little jealous all the same. Whilst he and Zoro had that incredible evening a few days back they still haven't slept together. A fact that hadn't bothered him until he was standing right in front of a man who repeatedly has.
"I see you're not with Zoro." Ace says, leaning on his fist and looking at Sanji. The blonde bristles inside but he keeps his cool, he doesn't know exactly what Ace means by that and he's not going to give anyone reasons to ask questions about him and Zoro, especially when he's not 100% certain about what's going on with the two of them in his own mind.
"Yeah, he's probably lost. You know Zoro." Sanji says lightly.
"He's hopeless." Ace says with a shake of his head, making the tie of his hat shake with the movement. Who the hell wears a hat inside anyway? It's just rude. To top it off the guy's not even wearing a shirt, how was he allowed into the bar? What an asshole.
"Hey, I know that we don't know each other much or... at all really... but I hear a lot about you from Luffy." Ace says quickly.
"Ok?" Sanji frowns, not getting where Ace is going with this and frankly not wanting to get to know the man any better. Sanji really hopes that Zoro saw more in this guy than just his abs and tattoos. Though actually, no, he hopes that Zoro didn't see anything in him but that. Their relationship was just physical, however much it pains Sanji to think of it like that. He doesn't want them to have any interests in common, not even amazing abs.
"Ok, I know that you two are close I just wanted to give you some advice quickly about Zoro." Ace says quickly, glancing around as if someone might overhear them.
"Like what?" Sanji asks flatly, not liking where this is going. Do people know about the two of them? If so he hopes that one of them will explain it to him so that he can know what's going on.
"Just don't get involved with him, okay? I mean, stay friends with him but that's it." Ace insists.
"What the hell? None of that is any of your fucking business!" Sanji yells angrily.
"Shh! Shh! Not so loud!" Ace hisses at him.
"I'm just saying that... that's Zoro a great guy and I know you like him, you're great friends and it's just... it's easy to fall for him, you know? I'm warning you not to do that though, it's not worth it." Ace says lowly.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sanji spits. Ace doesn't know what Zoro can be like and he sure as shit has no grounds for presuming Sanji's sexuality or interest of any kind in Zoro.
"I know that falling for Zoro is an easy thing to do, I know what I'm talking about there. Just... learn from my mistake and just don't do it. That's all I wanted to say." Ace says in a quiet voice.
Sanji just stares at Ace in shock. He thought... he swears that Zoro told him that Ace broke it off because he got into an actual relationship with another guy. Is that just what Zoro thinks though? Had Ace been in love with him and Zoro didn't know it? Or maybe Zoro did but just hadn't wanted to tell Sanji that, but why would he lie? They'd discussed Ace long before whatever this is started between the two of them. What does this even mean?
"Hey Marco!" Ace calls loudly as another man that Sanji remembers seeing around comes up to their table.
"Hey, what's up? Oh and... Sanji, right? You're Zoro's friend. I think we've kind of met but not really met. I'm Marco." the blonde with the odd undercut says with a warm smile and offers a hand for Sanji to shake.
"Yeah, I think you came to the Baratie that night. Thank you for that by the way." Sanji says earnestly. Ace might be rude and out of line but his buddy doesn't seem to be so bad.
"So, what were we talking about? Here's your beer, they didn't have the single filtered so it's double just so you know." Marco says, that last bit directed at Ace who's face lights up.
"Woo, stronger alcohol. And we ah... we weren't really talking about anything." Ace lies and takes a sip of his beer. Sanji's eyes narrow, so Ace was in love with Zoro then and his boyfriend doesn't know it. Shit, he was probably in love with both of them at the same time, maybe he just settled for this Marco guy. What a fucking asshole!
"Ace was just telling me not to get involved with Zoro." Sanji answers bluntly. Ace spits his beer out in shock and Marco looks at him with a flat and unimpressed expression.
"Really." Marco says flatly and Ace ducks his head in embarrassment.
"I was just trying to help the guy out." Ace responds a little meekly.
"How, exactly? Anyway, I thought the two of them were already really involved. Zoro wouldn't have scrambled everyone like that if they weren't and Luffy's always talking about the two of them in the same breath." Marco points out.
"Yeah, they're best friends but I meant more... physically." Ace hedges uncomfortably, clearly he hadn't wanted to have this conversation with Marco around.
"That's not really any of your business Ace." Marco remarks, his hands on his hips and his sleepy face pulling into an expression of displeasure.
"Thank you." Sanji interjects and considers just walking away.
"Look, I'm not just bringing this out of nowhere, the general consensus is that something else is going on with the two of you. I'm just trying to help is all." Ace insists to Sanji.
"He's telling me not to fall in love with the guy." Sanji says to Ace out of spite, like hell he's going to cover for Ace's shit behavior to his boyfriend. He's not going to be complicit in his lies.
Marco looks at the two of them with surprise written all over his face and then his mouth pulls into a flat line as he looks Sanji up and down.
"That at least might actually be good advice. Zoro doesn't do love." Marco says, leaning his elbows on the table and taking a long pull of his beer. Sanji scowls, and to think he'd been starting to like this guy better than Ace. These jerks deserve each other for talking behind Zoro's back like this.
"Yeah, I know his policy. What happened to this not being any of your business?" Sanji says through gritted teeth.
"Nah, it's not. It's just... a theory I have. He's like Luffy I think." Marco says, looking across the room at the boy in question who currently has chopsticks up his nose and pulling down his lower lip. Where did he even get chopsticks in a bar anyway?
"This again? Look, there's no proof that Luffy is like that." Ace says with a put upon sigh and a slight glare at Marco as if this is a debate that they'd had many times before. Marco shakes his head and smiles.
"Look, Luffy's never shown any interest in sex at all. Not with anyone. He's never dated and I've never seen him eye up anyone and Ace hasn't either. He's asexual, I'm sure of it." Marco says with a knowing smile and another look at Luffy who is now dancing on a table with chopsticks up his nose, that can only end badly, Sanji is sure of it.
"So?" Sanji prompts.
"Yeah, if anyone is the opposite of Luffy it's Zoro. The number of people that guy has slept with I swear-" Ace argues but is silenced by Sanji's death glare, it's about the first sensible thing that Ace has done all evening. Like fuck is Sanji going to stand for these two shit heads effectively calling Zoro a slut. No way in hell.
"Not with sex, with romance. You can be aromantic." Marco explains.
"Okay, now you're just making up words." Ace laughs loudly and Sanji wants to kick him in the face.
"No, I'm not. Look, he's never shown any interest in it, he doesn't get why people do it, he's said a thousand times that he'll never fall in love and it's not for him. Even if he changed his mind about wanting to I don't think he's capable of it." Marco says smoothly with words that freeze the marrow in Sanji's bones. Marco isn't talking shit about Zoro, he's not said anything there that isn't true or that Sanji hasn't thought himself.
The fact that Zoro might decide that he wants to do romance it doesn't mean that he can or that it'll work for him. Shit, everything fits so well. Zoro probably doesn't even know what romance feels like. Sure he feels love for his friends, Sanji knows that. Zoro is his best friend and Zoro loves him, he knows that. Zoro has come to his house at ungodly hours just because Sanji needed him, he saved the Baratie for him, he knows almost every little thing about Sanji and he knows when to fight and when to just let him vent his spleen to get his bad mood out. That's love, but it's a love of friends.
He knows that Zoro is sexually attracted to him. Does he ever know that. There's no faking the way that Zoro wrecked him the other night, the way that Zoro looked at him with such heat in his eyes. Zoro wanted that, Zoro wants him.
Zoro wants him and he loves him as a friend, all of that Sanji knows down to his bones now. But if Zoro can't feel romantic love then it's possible that he's just faking it for Sanji. It's probably not even deliberate, if Zoro has never loved any of his partners like he does with Sanji then maybe he thinks that he is in love when he's not. It's like trying to explain the difference between red and green to someone who is colourblind.
"Yeah, see this is what I mean Sanji." Ace says softly and Sanji snaps out of his thoughts to realize that he'd been standing there in wide eyed shock for too long.
"Fuck both of you." Sanji hisses and stalks off.
Sanji leans against the bar in the furthest corner of it away from Marco and Ace and grips his wine glass harder than is strictly advisable. He downs it and flags the barman down for another drink, this time he's skipping straight to quality vodka. He holds a finger up, gulps the whole glass back and gestures for another, paying for both at the same time.
He glares down at the clear alcohol and the ice in his glass. His own subconscious had warned him about this, about how Zoro was incapable of love and how he'd try to fake it for him. He's already in love with Zoro, far too far in love to back out of it from common sense. Zoro is going to break his heart, he can see it. He can't deal with that happening to him again, he simply cannot. He's had to put his own heart back together so many times that he's not sure that all of the pieces fit right together any more. If he lets Zoro break his heart then he may never be whole again, he cannot risk that.
A finger jabs him hard in the side, making Sanji yelp and spin around angrily only to see Zoro laughing at him.
"Oh god, you sounded like a kicked chihuahua! Do it again!" Zoro cackles and jabs Sanji again.
"Quit it." Sanji snaps and bats the other man's hand away.
"You're no fun. Hey, whiskey please." Zoro says, turning his attention to the barman halfway through. The barman nods and goes off to make Zoro's drink.
Sanji looks at him for a moment. His gorgeous best friend with skin like bronze, sharp features and bright eyes. Zoro turns back to him with a smile as bright as a small sun. Despite himself Sanji's insides heat up and he finds himself relaxing. Even if Zoro doesn't love him like that he can't deny that they have something deep and meaningful. Zoro has his hands deep into Sanji's chest and he can untangle the mess in Sanji's head and his heart without even trying.
"You okay? You look a little pale, well, more than usual." Zoro asks teasingly.
"I- Nami was looking for you. You should probably find her." Sanji says instead, glancing off across the room to find the long waterfall of red hair that indicates Nami's presence.
"Yeah, good point. Come on." Zoro agrees and takes his drink from the barman and gives him a note with the same hand in one smooth movement.
Zoro leads the way through the crowd and Sanji follows as if bound to Zoro by an invisible rope.
"Nami!" Zoro calls and when Nami turns to look at him he scoops her up into a hug that lifts her off the floor, making her shriek and bat her fists against his shoulder to put her down, she's laughing though and her face is glowing too so Sanji knows that she's happy to see him.
"Present." Zoro says with a grin, holding up a shopping bag.
"Your gift wrapping could use work." Nami huffs, taking the bag from him and putting it on the table nearest her. She opens it and gasps in delight, pulling a bottle out. Sanji peers in to see five others just like it.
"It's that citrus spiced wine, where did you even find this? Oh ZORO! Thank you!" Nami exclaims in joy, throwing her arms around Zoro's neck. Sanji looks at the label on one of the bottles at his eyes widen in shock, the wine is 11% alcohol, this is some strong shit!
"Glad you like it. Now get offa me, your perfume is gross." Zoro grouses as Nami lets go of him. He knows that Zoro isn't serious, nor is Nami when she kicks him in the shin, they're just playing. The two of them don't get on a lot of the time, they rub each other up the wrong way too often, but when they do get on it's an amazing thing to see.
"You're gross you caveman." Nami retorts, slapping him on the arm and sticking out her tongue.
"ZORO!"
That's about all of the warning Zoro gets before he's practically clotheslined by a hug from Luffy. Sanji steps back just enough that he's not caught in the flail of limbs from the overexcited guy and Zoro's flailing. Luffy babbles happily to Zoro, asking him why he took so long getting there, if they're gonna play pool whilst Zoro is here and did Zoro bring him a present too. Zoro meanwhile is answering the questions as fast as they come whilst also trying to pull the apparently very stretchy and flexible Luffy off of him but having no luck. When Luffy wants to hug you there will be hugs whether you like it or not apparently.
Sanji stands off to the side with Nami who is watching the pair with an expression that seems both exasperated and fond. Her eyes catch his after a moment and she grins at him.
"He's known Zoro the longest out of any of us but every time he sees him you'd think that Zoro's been away for years without contacting him." Nami sighs and rolls her eyes.
"How long have they known each other?" Sanji asks curiously as Luffy clambers up onto Zoro's shoulders. Sanji isn't sure which is more impressive, that Luffy is able to squirm around in Zoro's grip enough to do that or that Zoro's managed to not spill a drop of his drink throughout the whole tussle.
"Since Luffy was fifteen, they met in school. Luffy just decided that Zoro was going to be his friend and that was that. You've not got any hope of getting away either now, just so you know. Luffy's decided that he likes you so I'm afraid that you're stuck with us." Nami says with a devious grin on her face.
Sanji watches the two of them for a long moment in silence as Marco's words continue to ring through his head. He chews his lip in indecision.
"You've known Luffy a long time too though, right?" Sanji questions her without taking his eyes off of the pair of them.
"Usopp's known them longer but, yes. It did take Zoro and I quite a while to be friends. It usually takes a really long time before Zoro decides if he likes you or not, though I think he took the longest with me. You on the other hand..." Nami says with a sly smirk as she looks up at Sanji.
The blonde reddens. He's often been told that Zoro took to him faster than anyone on record and he's seen enough knowing eyebrows arched at him from their group to know that they think something more is going on there. Sanji no longer knows what he thinks about that.
"So in all the time you've known Luffy... has... has he ever dated anyone or slept with anyone?" he asks carefully. It doesn't seem to be carefully enough though because Nami's whole body turns to him and she scrutinies his face like a detective in a cop movie who's trying to press someone into confessing.
"Why? Are you interested in him?" She asks flatly, her arms folded under her ample chest.
"What?! No! No. I was just curious, it was something I'd heard is all. It seems a little odd, you know? Luffy's a little... over enthusiastic and playful." Sanji concedes as Luffy blows a raspberry on Zoro's neck. Usopp has run over to join the fun and is now trying to tickle Zoro's side with some success.
"But he's a good guy and he's not unattractive. It seems a little odd for him not to have... you know." Sanji finishes lamely. Nami seems to get the gist of Sanji's question though.
"Well, he's had himself a few admirers, that's for sure. Oh, there was this one woman who was completely- uh, never mind." Nami says, shaking her head with a grimace that suggests that the whole thing is a little gross for her to think about.
"But no, he's never really been interested as far as I know. But it's none of my business." the red head says and Sanji gets the point that it's none of his either.
"Oh, absolutely. Whatever he does or doesn't do in his bedroom is his look out. It's just nice that he's happy, that's the main thing." Sanji agrees, trying to smooth Nami's feathers at his ham-handed questions. Nami seems to relax again and she looks at the three guys and laughs behind her hand.
Sanji watches as Zoro finally wrangles Luffy into a headlock and starts scruffing up his hair. He can't help but smile at the sight.
It's not that he avoids Zoro for the evening, that'd be a shitty thing to do, but he's got a lot of thinking to do and observing Zoro interacting with people is actually helping. He finds himself going back and forth on his opinion of Zoro's feelings for him, but more importantly he keeps alternating how he feels about each option. If he presses Zoro to find out his intentions and stop all of this vague bullshit then it could very well hurt both of them and the last thing that he wants to do is to hurt Zoro.
Sanji orders a few more drinks, he doesn't want to get drunk but he sure as hell doesn't want to be sober right now either. He finds a nice middle somewhere in between.
Feeling a fair amount less sober he wanders over to Zoro playing Usopp at pool and thoroughly losing. He comes up behind Zoro and wraps his arms sloppily around Zoro's waist and rests his chin on Zoro's shoulder to survey the table. Usopp does some kind of impossible trick shot that makes Zoro groan in despair and Sanji just stare in shock.
"Remind me never to play against him." Sanji says to Zoro who laughs.
"I just like seeing him do it. You know that Nami takes Usopp around to bars sometimes and convinces people to bet against him whilst she bets in favor, right?" Zoro smiles at him. Sanji melts inside, he can make himself forget all of his Zoro uncertainty, at least for a while. In the meantime he can just enjoy the way that Zoro radiates calm and makes Sanji happy deep down into his core.
"We clean up, not that she gives me a fair take of it mind you." Usopp comments before standing up and gesturing to Zoro for his turn.
Sanji lets Zoro go so that he can make his shot. Besides he's probably not helping to keep whatever it is between them secret if he's draping himself all over Zoro like a stupid cape is he?
He watches Zoro's strong fingers press into the table, setting up a steady point for his pool cue. The man is actually reasonably decent at the game, if he was playing against someone less freakishly skilled then he might win. Zoro seems to be having a good time but despite the decent buzz that Sanji has got going he still can't relax. Everything that Ace and Marco said to him are sticking his mind like a splinter, aggravating him constantly. There's that uncomfortable voice in the back of his head reminding him that everyone else has left him and that if he and Zoro are dating then there's no reason for Zoro to be any exception.
"Aw shit." Zoro laughs, folding his hands on the top of his pool cue and watching at Usopp sinks the last ball with a cocky grin.
"I'm gonna go see if I can convince Franky to play." Usopp declares, puts his cue on the table and walks away.
"Oh boy, I just hope he doesn't bet money." Zoro remarks.
"I hope he does, I could use my drinks bought for me for the night!" Usopp calls over his shoulder with a laugh.
"Wow, he's been hanging out with Nami way too much." Zoro chuckles and leans back on the pool table, his butt against the edge of it, side by side with Sanji.
Zoro pokes him in the side with his elbow and raises a dramatic eyebrow at him.
"What?" Sanji asks defensively.
"Come on Sanji, you've been brooding all night. What's got under your skin?" Zoro presses him. Sanji tries to contain the wince. He is Zoro's best friend, he loves that, but is he just Zoro's best friend or is he his boyfriend or what?
"I've just... got a lot on my mind." Sanji hedges and stares at the faded and worn carpet. He doesn't want to tell Zoro what he's thinking, he doesn't want to hurt him. But is not talking to Zoro about it going to hurt him worse? He's so confused.
"Well, I want to know but you've got that stubborn ass face that says that you don't wanna talk about it." Zoro concludes, pushing away from the table and turning to face Sanji.
"Thank you." he says softly and leans in to rest his head against Zoro's chest. He just wants to stick his head in the sand and pretend that this isn't happening and that everything is okay.
"Eh, whatever." Zoro shrugs easily.
"Okay, well, Nami and I have to have our bi-yearly drinking contest so you may well have to drag me home later. Bitch is the only person who can out drink me and I'm not going to let her win twice in a row, it's bad enough that she got me on my birthday." Zoro says with a scowl across the room. Sanji pulls back and sees Nami grinning her cheshire cat smile at the pair of them. She holds up a shot glass and wiggles it enticingly.
With a muttered 'it's on' Zoro stalks off and Sanji stays where he is, eventually playing spectator to Usopp and Franky's match whilst watching Zoro and Nami get progressively drunker as the pile of empty glasses gets higher and higher. In either case Sanji isn't really present in the moment, his head too consumed with the fog of worry to enjoy himself.
He's snapped back into reality after dazing off and watching Franky and Usopp's pool game when there's a sudden crash and a bout of cheering. Sanji walks over to the bronze bar that runs around the slightly raised level where the pool tables and booths are to see Nami standing on her chair with her arms raised in the air and cheering and Zoro sprawled on the floor.
"Oh god." Sanji groans and heads down to deal with the problem.
"You bish, you, you... fukkin... whyyyy?" Zoro slurs unhappily from the floor.
"You are trashed." Sanji remarks, looking down at Zoro.
"She won!" Zoro wails, flailing his arms and catching Sanji's hand.
"Yes, I can see that she literally drank you under the table. Up you get." He sighs and hauls Zoro upright. Zoro laughs at nothing in particular and presses his face into Sanji's thigh and honest to god giggles.
"Winner winner chicken dinner, yer paying for Sanji to cook me anything I like!" Nami crows, jumping off of her chair and landing unsteadily on the floor.
"I look forward to it, but for now I think I'd better get him home to bed." he grunts, lifting Zoro to his feet.
"Yeah, I bet you will." Nami says with a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows that makes Sanji redden to the tips of his ears, it doesn't help that his blush only makes her laugh more. Zoro clinging to every part of Sanji that he can in an effort to remain standing doesn't help Sanji's case either.
"Let's go. Uh, happy birthday Nami!" Sanji calls as he walks the stumbling man out of the bar.
Being out in the dark and relatively cold air sobers Zoro up fractionally, but not much. Zoro has his arm wrapped around Sanji's waist and his head on Sanji's shoulder whilst the cook clutches Zoro close to himself to steady him. Zoro is rambling on about what Nami had him drink and how she beat him and that Zoro is definitely going to beat her on his birthday as if Sanji cares at all about the dumb drinking contest.
Sanji's only seen Zoro drunk once before and that is not a happy memory. This time at least Zoro is happy and he's not as trashed as he was that one night after the whole ordeal with Daz. He guides Zoro to his building and up the stairs to his own front door. Zoro slumps against the wall and grins at Sanji as the blonde uses his key to open Zoro's door.
"You're pretty." Zoro says suddenly, making Sanji jump and miss the lock on the door. He looks over at Zoro wide eyed in surprise and feels his face heat up.
"You're drunk." Sanji replies and shoves the door open.
"Both are true." Zoro agrees as Sanji walks in with Zoro following him.
Sanji wanders over to Zoro's kitchen and takes a pint glass from his cupboard and fills it with water. He leaves it on the side and goes into Zoro's medicine cabinet and returns with aspirin.
"What're you doin?" Zoro asks, tilting his head at Sanji and nearly losing his balance in the process.
"Doing you a favor and ensuring that you won't be so hung over tomorrow. Drink this and take these." He orders, handing both to Zoro.
Zoro sighs petulantly but does as he's told. They've been friends long enough that Zoro knows the fights that he won't win. When Zoro has downed the glass Sanji gets closer and looks at Zoro, he doesn't seem to have hurt himself when he fell off of his chair and lost his bet but it's good to be sure.
Zoro however seems to misinterpret Sanji's actions and leans in and kisses him. The action makes Sanji gasp and Zoro presses forward with surprising coordination for a drunk man. Strong and hot hands touch Sanji's sides and the blonde feels at peace. It's amazing how happy he can be when his self doubt gets silenced. Before he and Zoro started this thing he was worried that his feelings would screw up their relationship and now he's worrying about whether Zoro really loves him or not.
His eyes drift shut and he wraps his arms around Zoro's neck, one hand creeping down between his shoulder blades and idly brushing the soft shirt that Zoro's wearing. Zoro pulls back a little and kisses Sanji's cheekbone before burying himself in Sanji's hair with a happy hum that Sanji feels in his chest. Sanji squeezes his eyes shut even tighter and tries to absorb the warmth and Zoro-ness from the other man, to drink it in entirely. He wants this so badly and he really doesn't want to lose it because this moment is perfect.
"Hey... fuck me?" Zoro asks hopefully, his breath misting across Sanji's cheek and into his ear. The blonde jolts in shock, way to ruin the perfect sweetly affectionate moment. He pulls back and stares at Zoro.
"I'd offer to fuck you if you preferred but I think my coord-cordinashion co...whatever is a little shot." Zoro grins sloppily at him.
"No doubt." Sanji agrees flatly.
"So... please?" Zoro asks hopefully, his thumbs rubbing Sanji's hipbones and making him shiver out of instinct.
"Zoro, you're drunk." Sanji says simply. He should feel less conflicted by this but Zoro is looking at him so intently, like he needs this so badly. Sanji's heart clenches hard inside his chest as the thought occurs that Zoro needs him that badly, that he wants Sanji to sleep with him that much.
"Yeah." Zoro shrugs and presses a messy kiss to Sanji's cheek and tugs at Sanji's black jeans. Sanji squeezes his eyes shut and reminds himself to breathe. Zoro is too drunk for this. He's pretty sure that Zoro really does want him but it's pretty skeevy to be more or less sober himself and sleep with Zoro when Zoro is so far gone. Zoro could be asking for it and not really mean it and... that's not how he wants this to go down.
His body has other ideas and Zoro's encouraging it for all he's worth. Zoro's hands are on Sanji's ass and Sanji can feel just how into this the other man is and his own body is just as eager. His mind is running ideas of just how good Zoro would feel under him and how much he's wanted this and for how long. He could get to hear just what Zoro sounds like and see his expression and- no he can't. He'll get to do that some other time, he will.
"You're too drunk." He clarifies, pushing Zoro away from him.
"But I really, really want you. I think about it so much." Zoro whines unhappily, his forehead dropping against Sanji's shoulder in despair. Sanji's entire nervous system jerks at Zoro's words. Zoro fantasies about him. It makes sense seeing how far they've gone but hearing it from him is a whole other thing.
"God, me too." Sanji says in a choked voice as a shiver runs through him.
"But we could-" Zoro starts again, his voice hopefully.
"But you're still too drunk. Go to bed and, I don't know, jerk off or something if you can't deal with it." Sanji mutters, looking at the floor with his face heating up at having to even say that to Zoro.
"Yeah, ok." Zoro sighs, pulling back from Sanji and lacing his fingers together behind his head to give Sanji a smug grin.
"I'll be thinking about you the whole time though." Zoro grins deviously.
"Okay, time for me to go." Sanji says in a high strained voice as he stiffly marches himself out of Zoro's flat and shuts the door after him. He hears a deliberately fake porn moan come through the door and Sanji grits his teeth.
"Fuck you Zoro!" Sanji snaps irritably.
"Please!" Zoro calls back with a trace of laughter. Sanji grinds his teeth and stomps off home knowing full well that he'll be taking his own advice and thinking about Zoro thinking about him.