I can't believe I've kept you guys waiting four months on this. Sorry my dear readership for the long wait!
I'm equally sorry this chapter is kind of lame. On the bright side, keep your eyes out for chapter 11 as I hope to get that one up sometime around New Years!
Oh and Merry Christmas!
Day 10, Thursday
"You sound tired Sanji. Are you alright?"
A cloud of smoke fanned out from his lips as he sighed, the inquiry making him remember what he had noticed in the mirror this morning: horrid purple circles making their way down his cheeks like a distressed damsel's make-up. He hadn't slept well for nearly two weeks now – and it all had everything and nothing to do with his current waiting position.
Still, he hated it when his little sister worried about him, so he tried to force some cheer into his voice as he said, "Of course Kaya!"
It didn't carry over so well through telephone – especially ever since he had gotten older and people started to mistake his maturing voice for his dad's. And dad always sounded tired. "Did you know lack of sleep can affect your intelligence? You better watch out or you'll get dumber than Zoro."
"Well, seeing as seaweed is smarter than that mossball and my intelligence exceeds a dolphin's, at least I have a long way to go." He jibed right back, hearing her chuckle. "Something you just learned in those fancy-schmancy classes, right?"
He could hear her smile as she replied, "Yeah, it was really fascinating. We did this lab to study the effects of sleep deprivation on a couple of mice and they were kept in these little cages that rotated every ten minutes so they'd have to stay awake. After a few days, a lot of them…"
Sanji listened to her carry on as he turned the sausages on the frying pan, humming now and again to let her know he was paying attention even if he wasn't really listening. He loved his sister really, but the medical profession just bored him to death – unless it had something to do with nutrition. What could he say? He tended to have food on the brain. In fact, Kaya would sometimes say if someone cracked his head open like a walnut that's all they'd find inside: a pea-sized nut!
Though these days, maybe they'd find a stupid long nose instead.
"And Professor Hogback got bit trying to separate them!"
"Mmhmm…" Sanji replied noncommittally while cracking several eggs into a pan. Just in time too, because he could hear the jingle of keys in the door.
Zoro came tromping in, looking worn from his graveyard job stocking shelves at the local Shopko. He held up his spatula as greeting, getting only a grunt in response as the male headed down the hall, hopefully to wake up Luffy. He swore if it wasn't for the fact he knew these two idiots would starve without him, he wouldn't cook for these lazy bastards at all.
"Are you sure you're alright?" His sister repeated. "You're pretending to listen a little less than usual."
"Dear Kaya, are you insinuating that I do not give my dear little sister one-hundred and twenty percent of my attention every time she speaks to me?" He replied, mockingly scandalized. Then he quickly assured, "Every drip of wisdom you bestow upon my ignorant ears is like pounds of precious gold to me!"
His sister knew all his tricks though and wasn't buying a cent of it. "I'd probably believe that better if you said it was worth pounds of fish to you. Don't underestimate your 'dear little sister'. She knows when her 'idiot brother' isn't paying attention to her because he's got something on his mind."
"Heh, perhaps you should have been a head shrink instead."
"You'd definitely keep me in business." His laughter was choked short when she demanded, "So, what's up?"
"Ah… well…" He stalled as he filled a few glasses with fresh juice, before ultimately giving in, "It's this guy."
"A guy?" She echoed, not understanding.
"Yeah. This stupid long-nosed idiot of a guy, who has these shitty beautiful brown eyes and the most shitty amazing laughter and this shitty adorable smile. And it just so happens that he's cruelly taken my shitty heart when he's already shitty fucking taken himself!" The yoke of one of the eggs broke as he set it down too roughly. He mentally noted that would be his plate as he served out the other two before reaching for the hash browns still warm in their pan.
On the other line, his sister was 'oooh'ing in realization. "That kind of guy."
He sighed as he dished out the last of the breakfast, carrying two of the plates towards the table. "Yeah. I met him Tuesday before last and I've been a mess ever since."
"Really? And you didn't tell me until now?!" She sounded a little off-put by this.
"You really want to hear my sob story of unrequited love?" He joked, but it came out so bitter he considered drowning his tongue in sugar.
"Well of course I do. It's been forever since you've liked someone! The last time was with that weirdo chocolate girl." Sanji held back a grimace as he tried not to think too hard about the beautiful chocolatier Miss Valentine and their relationship that had crashed and burned faster than an oil-doused airplane with no wings. That had happened last August but now it was already mid-April.
Damn, he really had been out of the game a while.
He quickly forgot his dating woes though when he heard Kaya add glumly, "And… ever since I started school we haven't talked like we used to. I know I might be busy with my classes but I'm still your sister you know."
Quietly, Sanji considered this, and then he said fondly, "Yeah, 'course. Give me just a minute." He pulled the phone down and yelled, "SHITHEADS, FOOD'S ON THE TABLE!" He then gathered his own plate and glass, having to dodge around a pajama-clad Luffy who came barreling through the room with a happy yell, then again around a half-awake marimo who was barely consciousness enough to register other forms of life currently in front of him.
He settled down on his bed, setting his juice on his nightstand and his breakfast in his lap, before raising the phone to his ear. "Alright, I'm ready."
"So, what's his name?"
No matter how hard he tried to suppress it, a smile still rose on his lips. "Usopp..."
Sanji flexed tired fingers as he headed up the stairs to his apartment, the climb feeling more laborious than usual. It had been a long day; everything from his lower back to the tips of his toes was pulsing with pain after standing so long. And since he was on the closing shift he had had to help with clean up, so his already stiff shoulders and hands were aching not just from the plates he carried back and forth but also from the tables he scrubbed and the floor he'd swept and mopped.
It was with a small semblance of relief that he unlocked the door to his home, ready to just collapse on the couch for a little while.
Instead he found Luffy sprawled there, twanging on a rubber band stretched between his fingers. His eyes rolled towards him, grinning widely. "Hey Sanji! Is that food? Can I have it?"
He glanced down at the bag hanging in the crook of his elbow, a Styrofoam box inside that was, indeed, full of food. He had taken the plate when a rather abrasive customer claimed the steak was too overdone and demanded an entirely new plate. Had his shitty manager not been there, he might have exploded over the bastard's wastefulness. Food was a gift, not an ornament that could just be thrown aside!
He settled on taking the food home with him, knowing it would get eaten one way or another. "Yeah sure. I'll warm it up." He headed towards the kitchen, pulling out a plate from the cupboard.
"I hope there's meat, shishishi!" The other laughed, sitting up and clapping his feet together excitedly.
"Why are you still up anyways?" Sanji asked as he loaded the dish and set it in the microwave, noting the time read well past midnight. Zoro, of course, had already left for work.
"Couldn't sleep. Too excited." Luffy replied, rocking back and forth. "When do you get off tomorrow?"
After knowing him for so many years, Sanji had learned long ago just to keep going when he rambled randomly like this. "Three."
"And Nami?"
"I'm graced to be working alongside her, so also three."
"Okay, then you guys are coming! Is my food done yet?"
If his leg didn't currently feel like he had replaced the bones with a gallon of marmalade, he might have kicked him. "Does it sound done shithead? And going where?"
Luffy had pulled the rubber band between his index fingers, pulling one side back with his teeth and watching it rebound and wiggle. "Sabaody Park."
He raised a curly brow at the mention of the amusement park that resided a town over, then, because he knew he wouldn't get an explanation otherwise, said, "Why?"
"Oh, Chopper's coming! He's staying the weekend!"
"Shithead!" Sanji barked. "That's the sort of thing you say first!"
His friend just laughed, knowing he wasn't actually mad. He sprung forward, falling across the couch arm so that half his torso hung over the side, dark eyes lit up brightly. "Neh, neh! Ask Usopp to come!"
He wished he hated the way his feelings rushed at the mere mention of the curly-haired man's name. He wished even more that he hadn't spent his entire shift keeping an eye on the front doors of Diable Jambe, waiting for him to walk through the doors and, when he never came, felt like he had been stood up. "I don't think he can come. He has class tomorrow."
"Class is boring. He can ditch. I want to meet him!" Luffy whined, immaturely kicking his feet into the couch.
"Don't act so selfishly!"
The other pursed his lips at the scolding, grumbling, "You just want to keep him to yourself. Sanji's stingy!"
"That has nothing to do with it." He claimed, though he wasn't entirely sure. "I'll ask him in the morning okay? But don't get all depressed if he can't make it."
In return he got: "If he doesn't that just means you didn't try hard enough."
It took all his self-control not to toss the plate into Luffy's face when the microwave finally beeped.
It was a little before two in the morning when he heard the ring.
With a discussion board due this evening, he had decided to get online to finish his American History assignment since he was apparently going out for the night, instead of staying in to do said homework like he had originally planned. He was just writing the last few sentences to why using the free speech amendment as an excuse to allow hate speech was total bullshit when his messenger let him know someone had just come online.
Eyes burning with weariness glanced to where the program sat in the right corner of his screen only to feel his innards do a flip for joy when he saw the screen name.
SogekingU100
Looks like he didn't have to wait until tomorrow after all.
His sister's words after he had caught her up with his tragic life this morning rolled through his head as he moved the mouse over the name. "Aren't you being dishonest with him anyways?" She had said.
He had responded with, "What do you mean?"
"Well… maybe you really need to ask yourself why you are still hanging out with him. Is it because you really, truly enjoy his company as nothing more than a friend, or is it because you're still banking on the hope he and his boyfriend will break up?" Her voice grew softer, the way it always did whenever she knew what she was about to say would be a harsh blow but was doing so because she loved him, "If it's the first, then it'll help you deal with these feelings that keep upsetting you. But… if it's the second, then you're never going to stop hurting."
His finger was frozen, hovered over the left-clicker like a missile getting ready to fall as he tried to decide whether to ask Usopp along at all. He could be sealing his fate here. If he really was just waiting for a break-up that might not ever happen and everyone became friends with him tomorrow …
He would suffer.
Eternally.
His thoughts were stuck circling in his head for so long he actually jumped when a new window popped open, accompanied with a sharp ring.
'Hey'
He stared, transfixed, at the three letter greeting like it was the most fascinating language he had ever seen.
And as he clicked down onto the response box he thought, Ah fuck it. I'll only live once.
'Hey I'm surprised you're up' He replied.
'Haha, shouldn't I be asking that? Thought you were working a back to back?'
'I am. Doing homework'
'Me too! Some stupid essay.'
'At two in the morning?'
There was a long pause before Usopp finally replied, 'Yeah couldn't sleep. So here I am.'
For one wild moment, Sanji contemplated the utterly insane idea that the artist was having trouble sleeping for the exact same reason he was. He shook off the thought quickly. 'Well, that's cool cause I have a question for you anyways'
'Oh? What is it?'
'Chopper's coming to town so we're all going to Sabaody Park tomorrow after 3. You want to come?'
He wasn't surprised as the minutes ticked by without a response, wondering how many times Usopp was writing, deleting and re-writing what he wanted to say on the other side of the digital stream. He tabbed back over to his discussion board while he waited, but found he couldn't concentrate on what he had been writing. He started idly pulling up his bookmarks, eyeing the shopping sites to see if that spice rack he had wish-listed had gone down in price yet, deleted all the spam out of his e-mail, and scrolled through a few recipes he still wanted to try out.
Just as he was reading through the ingredients for Pork Vindaloo, there was a ding.
'That's nice of you to invite me but I'd just be imposing. I don't want to ruin your guys fun by making things awkward since no one really knows me except you.'
Seeing there was no mention of a sudden U.F.O landing in his living room right this very instant that was preventing him from going, Sanji decided he still had a chance. 'You wouldn't be I swear. If it makes you feel any better it was Luffy who brought up you coming'
'He did?' After a moment, Usopp added, 'And everyone else is okay with it?'
Even over the internet, he had trouble lying outright, so he typed, 'They've been bothering me about meeting you for awhile now'
'But I have class…'
'Can't you miss one day?' He was stuck waiting once more, but only a few minutes this time.
'Are you REALLY sure they won't mind?'
'I promise. They're all pretty easygoing about this sort of stuff' He wrote and then decided to throw in an extra little incentive, 'Come on. It'll be a lot of fun and I'll even sit with you on all the rides if you want me too.'
Again, silence. He sat there waiting with bated breath so long that he almost evolved into the first human that could survive without oxygen.
Ding!
His eyes sped to the IM screen.
'Alright I'll come.'
Sanji threw his arms up and shouted a triumphant, "Yes!" to his ceiling, feeling as if he had just won the Bocuse d'Or.