It had been a long time since Sanji had ever woken up lying on his back, and it felt refreshing. Unlike the heavy body weighing down on top of him, which caused Sanji to groan at what a pain it was going to be to get up. From the light he could see outside the small port hole in the room, it was at least 5 in the morning, which was much too early for Sanji to need to be awake. His body clock was set to wake up at at least around 6am, so something had obviously disturbed his sleep if he was awake earlier than usual. There were currently a dozen different sensations along his body that could've woken him up. It could've been the deep, warm breaths on his pale neck, or the heavy arm that was slung over his chest. It might've been the warm body that was lying on his left arm, numbing it completely, or maybe it was the blunt object poking into the side of his hip. Yes, that was most definitely the cause of his awakening. Sanji couldn't blame zoro for having this sort of reaction whilst being in such an intimate position with another human being. Morning wood was normal for men, and the cook had to admit he was currently sporting one too. Yet Sanji's was quite painful at the moment, because a heavy leg was resting directly across his lower hips.
Sanji knew that if he tried to fall back asleep he would never wake up again, so the chef decided that he would just have to get up extra early today. A pale hand grabbed the wrist of the arm wrapped around his chest and tried the pry it off. Terrible mistake. The tanned arm seemed to grip Sanji's upper torso tighter, and suddenly Zoro's hardness was pressed closer to Sanji's side. A few garbled grunts left Zoro's mouth before the room was silent again. A blushing Sanji narrowed his swirly eyebrows in annoyance at the swordsman's reaction and tightened his grip on the wrist again. Sanji tried harder to extract the limb off his chest and started wiggling his hips in an attempt to shimmy the leg off him too. The hot breathing against his neck increased in speed, and Sanji almost let out a whine as Zoro began to thrust his hips back and forth. Sanji cringed at the feeling of Zoro subtly humping him, and he felt himself twitch at the motion of the other man's hips. Feeling betrayed by his own body, Sanji's annoyance only grew at the swordsman's lustful actions and just as Sanji was about to finally let all hell loose, a single whisper of, "..cook..." halted all plans of attack.
Suddenly Sanji felt unbearably hot as the green haired mans lips grazed against his pale neck. Shit. He needed to end this, now.
Sanji had to admit he was enjoying the attention from the unconscious swordsman, but the consequences could be dangerous, and he didn't want it to become even more awkward between the pair. He couldn't give in, he just couldn't, plus not only was Zoro his rival, he was a man! Yet all arguments in his mind were interrupted by the increased body weight on his side, and the strong hips were gyrating harder against Sanji. Twitch. A wet tongue sloppily trailed along Sanji's neck in repetitive motions. Twitch. Sharp teeth began to nibble lazily at his neck. Twitch. A quite moan of '..Saa-n..' was repeated in deep, scratched tones of pleasure. Twitch.
All movement abruptly stopped and Sanji felt as if the world had paused. Both men were breathing heavily, and Sanji's body laid limp on the floor in a puddle of ecstasy. A heavy sigh and a whispered "Shit.." from next to his ear piqued Sanji's attention. All warmth was extracted from him as Zoro released his grip on Sanji and rolled onto his side with his tanned back now facing the cook. So the oaf has finally woken up, huh? Idiot. Yet Sanji strangely felt sad that Zoro had left him, and he shivered at the sudden coldness. Turning on his side facing away from Zoro, the chef curled up again and gazed down at his hardness. With the sudden coldness and the throbbing pain beginning to spread along his back, he knew that in only a few moments his problem would die down.
Squinting his eyes in pain, Sanji realised he should've gotten up as soon as Zoro had let go, because now the chef felt as if he couldn't move at all. His back was not appreciating the arching of his spine, and the pain from the night before returned ten-fold. Sanji wracked his brain as to what he should do. He didn't want to shout for Chopper and alert the men in the room of his predicament, and he certainly did not want to beg for Zoro's help, but the chef felt as if he had no other choice. Moving his left arm behind him, Sanji tapped at Zoro's back as best as he could to gain the swordsman's attention. After a few more hits it seemed the other man had finally noticed and turned around to see what the chef's problem was. Sanji laid and waited for Zoro's reaction to his fetal position and groaned in pain. That was enough to prompt Zoro to lay down behind Sanji and spoon against the chef's back. Sanji grimaced at the feeling of Zoro's hardness pressing against him again, yet indulged in the arms that wrapped around his chest and hips. Strong arms pulled Sanji's body so that it both men arched backwards and soon a loud crack resounded through the room. Sanji tried to muffle his moan of satisfaction at the bone popping bone, but it was heard, and Sanji felt Zoro's length twitch against his backside.
Nervous breaths were released between the pair and neither made a move to retract from one another. Both men laid in awkward silence until finally Zoro's warm breath closed in next to Sanji's red ear.
"You're going to explain this whole 'back' shit to me today, whether you like it or not."
With that Zoro parted himself from Sanji's back and sluggishly stood up, slipped on a shirt and crouched in front of Sanji, holding out his hand.
"Now?!" Sanji shouted in a hushed whisper, glancing between zoros narrowed eyes and his outstretched hand.
"First food, then story time curly brow." Zoro urged his hand closer to Sanji's face and the chef grumbled in annoyance before he took the hand in front if him. After the chef was pulled to his feet, the pair slipped on their shoes and quietly made their way up to the deck and then into the kitchen.
Leftover fruit salad from yesterdays dessert was placed between the two men, accompanied by hot cups of tea. Sanji nibbled on a pineapple slice in silence as he sat and thought on where he should start. A loud crunch of apple from Zoro prompted Sanji to begin his story.
"So I guess you have a general idea of my... Past"
Zoro grunted in recognition and simply replied, "You starved on a rock or something. I was kind of busy with my own problems when you showed up."
Sanji had expected an answer like that, and somehow always knew that Zoro never really cared about his history up until now.
"It's not really as simple as that. You went without food for a while once right? So you know how it feels."
A loud slurp of tea was the only reply to his question, and it irked Sanji that Zoro didn't seem very respondent.
"Long story short; there was a storm, Zeff saved me, gave me all of the food and eventually I ran out."
"Ok, So you got hungry for a while, what has that got to do with your weird back problem?"
Sanji chuckled at that, yet there was no humour intended. So the marimo thought that I just "got hungry" huh?
Setting down his cup of tea, Sanji grabbed a small grape and held it up to eye level, slowly inspecting it. Sanji began to describe the feeling of slowly withering away on a small rock with no food or water. He recalled the times when he slurped old rain water from a puddle to quench his thirst, and how each day all he could do to pass the time was stare at the endless horizon wondering if every sunset would be his last. He described the cold nights where he would curl up to keep warm, and how he would ball up to protect himself from the vultures pecking at his lifeless body. Sanji told Zoro how the habit of creating a shell never left him, and even after years of being in a safe environment, he still felt the need to protect himself whilst he slept.
The chef finally popped the small grape into his mouth and slowly chewed, savouring the flavor of the fruit before swallowing.
"It's a shitty explanation I know but, even in the safety of this crew I still feel...like I need to protect myself."
Suddenly a large hand was splayed against Sanji's back, and the chef only now noticed that Zoro had shuffled closer to him during his heartbreaking story. Was the swordsman trying to... Comfort him?! The chef whipped his head to face Zoro and was shocked to see the sympathetic face so close to him. All that the swordsman could utter was a small "Sorry" before his other arm circled around Sanji's torso and awkwardly side-hugged the cook. For a while the two men sat in stunned silence, both sporting a terrible blush. Sanji had never in his whole life thought that he would ever see Zoro hug someone, let alone be the one the oaf would hug.
"I never thought that you were this affectionate, marimo."
"Tch!"
The other man let go of the chef, and moved back to his original spot. Zoro then sat in thoughtful silence, occasionally sipping his tea, looking as if he were contemplating something trivial. Sanji only watched on with slight confusion and munched on the fruit still sitting between the pair. Eventually one of Zoro's fists hit his other outstretched palm with a loud "poh!" and the swordsman sent a determined look Sanji's way.
"I'll sleep with you then, every night."
Sanji sputtered at that, and kicked Zoro to the other side of the room.
"What nonsense are you spouting you shitty moss head?! Pervert! Algae! Idiot! Neanderthal!"
"Geez quit your whining you idiot cook! I only meant laying down like we were before. What perverted things were you thinking of you perverted cook?!"
Sanji sighed in relief at that but suddenly realised the inclinations of what Zoro had just suggested. Zoro wanted to snuggle with him every night? Sure it helped him sleep straight and stopped his back from aching, but to be held by Zoro like that... It didn't seem right.
"I dont know.." Sanji voiced out, and took a seat at the table again.
"I don't see why not," Zoro replied, taking a seat next to Sanji, "we've already done it without problems these last two nights, and its obviously helping you from what I heard Chopper say yesterday."
But Sanji had nothing to argue with in return. Everything the swordsman said was true, and he was sick of being stubborn.
"I don't see a problem with it then. See you later curly brow." With that Zoro left the kitchen and a surprised chef sitting alone at the table. Finishing off his tea and eating the last of the fruit slices, Sanji soon rolled up his sleeves and prepared the kitchen for the day.
So this is another shortish one. Think of this chapter as a small christmas present to all of you who have been supporting me. I hope you liked this chapter though, I kind of felt like adding something a bit sexual to spice up the story for those who like steamy ZoSan moments (like me). It seems this story might go on for a bit longer (yay) and i'm really excited to keep writing it! Would you like more intimate moments between the pair? or should I turn the sexual tension down a notch? I just wanna make you all happy!
(p.s) If there are any mistakes or something that doesn't make sense, please point them out to me. I was kind of rushing with this chapter and I wanted to post it as soon as possible! Thanks for reading :)