The window shade
The nursing aid
To let it all just work the way
From head to toe
A shadow grows
Since forever and a day
-"Just So" Agnes Obel
XxxX
Sanji started sending texts half an hour after Zoro left. He was putting stuff away in his old room and he was bored, also sort of freaking out. It was more that he had started freaking himself out, initially he was fine but then he talked himself into a panic.
Sanji 1:53 PM
Hey, so we will never be speaking about that again, right? That thing that never happened. Right. Good, I'm glad we're on the same page. Just so you know I think I'm going to pretend I don't know what you're talking about if you mention crazy things that may or may not have happened.
Sanji 1:54 PM
Oh, also don't text me back if you're driving. I will break your legs if you text and drive. You'll end up killing an Amish family.
Sanji 1:54 PM
Sorry, I saw a texting and driving thing where a guy killed an Amish family. Or like, half a family.
Sanji 1:56 PM
I should stop, I'm just freaking myself out and this is how I'm consoling myself. I think I'll just start typing out messages and then deleting them now. Probably should have done that in the first place. Too late now :/
Elsewhere Zoro did not know what to think. His brain was running on loop, replaying the incident like he was processing how he should react. He supposed that first he should probably check the growing amount of texts he was receiving from Sanji, that sounded like a good start. His phone had been making a lot of noise in the last few minutes.
He didn't respond to those texts for another hour and forty minutes, after he was home. The texts appeared slightly rambling with a touch of hysteria. That wasn't far from the usual with Sanji.
Zoro 3:48 PM
Sure you don't want to talk about it? Because I am very confused, not gonna lie.
Sanji did not get the reply until later at night because he had finished sorting out most of his things and had gone down to the kitchen to do his job. Ignoring all the pointed comments made his way concerning a certain green haired friend, although the way they said it it was a more italicized friend. As in his friend, wink wink, nudge nudge. They obviously had no idea what they were talking about.
Then he remember his previous anxiety when he saw that Zoro had texted back.
Sanji 8:37 PM
I don't know what you're talking about, but if I did then confused would sound much better than say angry or murderous.
Zoro 8:41 PM
Well, my first question would obviously be why did you do it?
Sanji 8:42 PM
And my first comment would be. no comment
Zoro 8:43 PM
Fine. Why on the cheek? You could have gone all out and kissed me on the moist
Zoro 8:43 PM
*mouth. I meant mouth. Ugh that sounded gross. That's like the worst word ever.
Sanji 8:46 PM
Well if I were going to do something like this then I would say that my chances of being punched would be lower if it were on the cheek. I would have punched me, but that's just me.
Sanji 8:47 PM
That's a lie, I would have kicked me in the balls. I'm glad you didn't do that.
Zoro 8:49 PM
I was too shocked to do anything plus you ran away.
Sanji 8:50 PM
Are you saying you would have given the chance?
Zoro 8:51 PM
I don't know, I didn't have the chance.
Sanji 8:51 PM
That was the point of the running away.
Zoro 8:51 PM
Well now I'm questioning everything around me. Thanks.
Sanji 8:52 PM
And you think I'm not? I'm having a serious crisis here.
Zoro 8:52 PM
Not gay then?
Sanji 8:54 PM
I'm sure told you at some point that I'm not BUT, not gonna lie, I wanted to kiss you on your stupid mouth. Just saying.
Zoro 8:54 PM
Great, now I don't know how to react to that either. It's been a confusing day. You're overloading my emotional processing unit.
Sanji 8:55 PM
Say: yes, Sanji it's okay. I understand everything, also Zeff doesn't have cancer and you're not crazy.
Zoro 8:55 PM
All of those things would be lies
Sanji 8:55 PM
But they would make me feel better.
Zoro 8:56 PM
Sure, whatever. Just be glad that I don't want to avoid you for the rest of existence.
Sanji 8:56 PM
You don't?
Zoro 8:57 PM
Nope, I still think you're strange and mysterious, probably even more so now.
Sanji 8:58 PM
Score, the ladies love a bit of mystery.
Zoro 8:58 PM
Says the guy who just admitted to wanting to kiss another guy.
Sanji 8:58 PM
Shut up.
Zoro 8:59 PM
It's okay, I probably wouldn't have punched you if you had. Probably.
Sanji 9:00 PM
Good, I guess. I do feel slightly better.
Zoro 9:02 PM
Yeah, good. Don't go avoiding me or anything.
Sanji 9:03 PM
I'm in an entirely different city than you right now, it's going to be hard not to avoid you
Zoro 9:04 PM
You know what I mean.
Sanji 9:05 PM
Yeah
Sanji 9:05 PM
Fuck, Zeff is trying to take my phone. Text you later
Zoro 9:06 PM
Bye.
XxxX
Days seemed to pass more slowly for Zoro with the absence of Sanji. When he went to the bar the new bartender, Vivi, respected his privacy and did her job but somehow that felt disappointing now. He drank silently, wishing that Sanji was at least off work so he text him but he didn't stop working until late.
Also, on the weekend he had to go train on his own, there was no one now to fight with. Well, he could always fight with Luffy but somehow their styles weren't as compatible. Luffy was more of punching and grappling kind of guy so when faced with a sword he ended up with a lot of bruises and cuts.
Zoro seemed to spend a lot more time staring off into space, letting his thoughts drift around than he had before and it was very annoying. He didn't get as much sleep either because he always stayed up to text Sanji for a while. According to this evidence one could conclude that he actually- he- he sort of missed that blond idiot, as much as it might pain him to admit. He hadn't realized how boring things were before.
Sanji also felt an emptiness for leaving his friends so he drown himself in work. He worked as long as possible and as hard as he could. He knew he was stressing himself out more than he should be, what with all his headaches and their increasing pain. It happened more and more that he would wake up and be almost incapable of getting out of bed. It wasn't fun but he was glad that he was there to take care of things in Zeff's frequent absences and to lift the weight of some of the responsibilities, whether Zeff liked it or not.
So obviously he and Zoro kept in close contact, avoiding awkward topics for the most part. They talked about Zeff's treatment a lot. He had started his chemotherapy. Sanji hated going to that place, it was so weird. There were cubicles with what looked like dentist's chairs and an IV holder for the chemicals. The ceiling tiles were painted with an assortment of pictures probably done by other patients or the families of other patients. All of this set Sanji's teeth on edge, something about it just seemed off to him.
After three weeks of separation they decided to get together. It was actually Luffy's idea, he was upset at the lack of Sanji's cooking he was receiving. Zoro and Luffy were both coming down to hang out on a Sunday. The would be going to COSI for the day and having a late lunch at the Baratie.
On the way Zoro got lost and had call Sanji for directions, something he loathed to do but he wanted to get there and he had taken out his gps to change it's batteries earlier and had forgotten to put it back in. In the passenger seat Luffy was asleep with his face sticking to the window. Zoro could only imagine what he looked like to the people driving to his right.
Zoro flipped out his phone while he was at a red light and put in the number, lifting the device to his ear.
"What is it, marimo?" asked Sanji in his usual impatient and irritated way.
"I'm a little turned around," he admitted, launching into an explanation of were he was.
"How the hell did you get turned around? It's not that confusing," came Sanji's irritated voice through the speaker of Zoro's phone after having given him the right directions.
"The roads are like a fucking maze, it's not my fault," Zoro claimed, not mentioning that he'd forgotten his GPS.
Sanji sighed on the other end, "Whatever, you better hurry the fuck up. You're on North Washington Avenue now, right?"
Zoro looked at the street sight and turned into the correct avenue. "Right," he confirmed.
"Okay, good, you need to turn onto Gay now."
"I need to what?!" Zoro exclaimed, sure he heard into and not onto, which still didn't make a proper sentence but had an interesting point to it.
"I said you need to turn onto Gay Street, you imbecile! Not whatever you thought I said!" Sanji fumbled. He'd just been naming off the street name without thinking.
"That's not really the street name, is it?" Zoro said looking ahead at the street names and sure enough the little green sign said 'Gay St."
"It is, I didn't name it but it goes by the art college so, you know. Just keep following that road, you're only a few minutes away. Don't get fucking lost on the way, and hurry up," Sanji complained.
"I'm coming as fast as these other people will allow me to," Zoro grumbled, glaring at the cars in front of him. He could just ram the back of their car and there was nothing they could do about it. He could make a sharp turn and run over the pedestrians walking by. He wouldn't of course but the impulse was there. He hated impulses.
"Unacceptable." Sanji chirped, oblivious to Zoro's homicidal thoughts, "So anyway, while I have you on the phone. We are good, right? No lingering awkwardness? Just want to confirm that so I don't have to jump in the Scioto river when you show up," he laughed awkwardly.
Zoro rolled his eyes at Sanji's insistence with making sure he hadn't fucked things up. "We were fine weeks ago, dumbass, if you keep acting weird about it I will throw you into the river."
"Hah," Sanji let out a confident laugh, "Joke's on you. I'm actually a merman and I would be perfectly okay with being thrown in the river."
"If you're a mermaid then what are those things you use to kick people with?" Zoro thought that Sanji had the hair to be a mermaid. He would be especially suited for it if he had long, flowing hair. The use if his long and powerful legs, however, ruined the illusion.
"Merman. And I was given legs by a sea witch so that I could charm a handsome prince. I would pause to wink at you but I have hair covering half my face so it would just look like I was blinking... Or staring awkwardly." Despite this on the other side of the line Sanji was sitting in his car winking to himself, "Also you aren't a prince as far as I'm aware."
"Well, I can't see you anyway," the swordsman pointed out, "and I didn't hear any denial of my undeniable handsomeness."
"Right, I would but that would put me in the awkward position of having kissed someone I proclaim to be unhandsome." He couldn't do it without sounding overly hypocritical, which would irritate him.
"And so I win this argument."
Sanji nodded to his phone, "And so you do. Now don't get lost again, you don't want me to have to come find you."
Zoro did manage to turn up a few minutes later, Luffy all but jumped from the car running up to Sanji and bouncing around excitedly. He was babbling about how badly he wanted meat but Sanji tuned him out and looked past him to Zoro, who was slowly approaching. In the warm daylight he looked paler and sicklier than when they had last seen each other. The blond shot over a half smile before turning back to Luffy.
"We'll go to the Baratie for lunch," Sanji assured him, "And you can have all the meat you can pay for."
Luffy let out a long whine of despair, "But I don't have much money and it's fancy there."
"True," Sanji said thoughtfully, "So I will pay, although I warn you that the other chefs aren't quite as good as me," he said grinning.
"That's okay, as long as they bring me food!" Luffy proclaimed.
"Good, now what do you guys want to do first?" Sanji asked as they were walking in. The entrance was large and as they set foot inside that COSI smell hit them. It wasn't a bad smell, it reminded Sanji of a field trip he'd taken in fourth grade here. Things still looked about the same. The stringless harp sat near the doors with little kids running their hands under the lasers, the big pendulum clock rocked back and forth in clear view, and above the tight rope unicycle was peddled by those brave enough to ride it.
Nostalgia was a powerful thing, Sanji tried not to be too caught up in it as they purchased their day passes.
Luffy demanded to go see the titanic exhibit first. The titanic was a super massive ship and Luffy thought it was super fucking cool. Unfortunately, to go somewhere with Luffy was like keeping an eye on a large two year old, which was in part because most of the other people in COSI had small children with them. It was a child oriented place after all. He wandered off, he got distracted, and he got in people's way. It was hard enough watching him when Sanji also had to make sure that Zoro wasn't getting lost in the crowd. He needed leashes on both of them, honestly.
Instead he settled on holding onto the back of Luffy's shirt so that he couldn't run away and dragging Zoro by the arm so he couldn't fall behind. They probably looked pretty strange walking down the hallways like that. Sanji didn't care, as long as it kept them from being separated.
The second place they went to was the ocean exhibit. When Sanji was little they used to have this thing where kids could connect pipes to get water from one place to another but that was gone now, probably for good reason. The ocean place had always been Sanji's favorite if only just because he liked the dark and watery décor.
The next stop was to the progress exhibit, where they went back through the decades like a time machine. They went into the little fake shops and pretended to make a news broadcast at the broadcasting station, which made all the little kids laugh.
The third place they went to was the space exhibit upstairs, Sanji had always hated this one. The tunnel into it was a bridge with a space backdrop which spun around and may you feel like you were flipping around in the tunnel. Plus, Sanji really didn't like the space aesthetic very much, it sort of freaked him out. It was nice to look at but all that dark emptiness everywhere around him, all that unknown area, who knew what was lurking out there. He would rather observe it than be inside it.
For Luffy's sake Sanji did not complain as they made the trip through. Luffy and Zoro liked the gravity simulation best. There were four bowling balls attached to poles keeping them attached to the table but able to be lifted. They simulated the gravity on the moon, earth, mars, and Jupiter. They all had fun playing with them. Zoro was the only one who could lift the Jupiter one farther than about two centimeters. It only weighted about forty pounds but that was hard to lift from a table like that.
As they moved on they passed the little kids play area, which made Sanji's heart ache. He didn't get to do many childlike things as a kid but on other kids birthdays sometimes he would go to COSI and play in that area. He would run around on the soft floor, playing with the hard foam balls and shooting them up on blasts of air. There were little buildings where he would play with the other kids and in another room there was the water works place where they would play with boats, locks, and tubes. As they passed the windows Sanji wished he could go back to that time, things were so uncomplicated then. He shook himself slightly and picked up his pace, there was no need to dwell on things like that. They would only serve to make him depressed.
After those few hours of being dragged around Sanji was almost willing to throw Luffy over the metal railing of the balcony, onto carpet below. In order to give himself at least a moment of calm he let Luffy go wait in line for the tight rope unicycle. Sanji had gone on it before and it wasn't as scary or as fun as it looked but as a kid it had looked amazing. Zoro stayed behind with Sanji and watched Luffy move through the line.
"He can be a hand full," Zoro said in apology as he observed Sanji's strained expression.
"I just have a headache from the space tunnel," Sanji said, which was true.
"Not a fan of space travel then?" Zoro smirked, "You'd make a sucky astronaut."
"I wouldn't want to be an astronaut in the first place. Why the fuck would anyone want to actually go to space?" Sanji grumbled, sliding a hand over his eyes.
"Part of it is mystery of it," Zoro shrugged, "Who knows what's out they, you know? The other part is crazy nuts out there who think they're going to contact aliens, which adds to the mystery."
"Fuck that," Sanji said, his hand sliding roughly against the back of his neck, "If there were aliens out there we should stay the fuck away from them. Fuck you, crazy hair guy on Ancient Aliens." That show was absolutely ridiculous, but that was probably part of its charm. Not that Sanji ever watched it, he didn't really have time to watch stupid tv shows.
"I don't know, I think it would be cool," Zoro said as he imagined cutting up alien like a badass action hero. He had a feeling he would to well in that kind of apocalyptic scenario. Honestly, he felt like he would to well in any apocalyptic scenario, unless it was one where you had to pay yourself out. That would not go well for him.
Sanji slammed his other hand against the railing, "It would not be cool, it would be fucking horrible!" He exclaimed, sounding more upset than he realized.
Zoro held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, calm down. An alien invasion would suck, don't bite my head off."
"Sorry," Sanji breathed tensely, his hand finding it's way back to his forehead. He was trying his hardest to be happy about today but his throbbing head was making it difficult. "I just feel like a parent with two uncontrollable children."
Zoro's eyebrow twitched. "What, you're going to call me a child too? Luffy's the one who's a child."
"I practically had to hold your hand to make sure you wouldn't get lost," Sanji pointed out.
"I don't get lost. People just get in the way and by the time I look up you're gone." He automatically made an excuse for himself.
"Yeah, whatever," Sanji snorted, staring over at Luffy, who was eagerly bouncing in line watching the people in front of him go out.
"So how is Zeff doing?" Zoro asked after a moment of silence.
Sanji sighed, "He's doing okay, I guess. It's hard to tell sometimes, if he's in pain he's hiding it. I have to take him to chemo every Wednesday."
"Had he started losing hair or anything?" Zoro wasn't quite sure how that worked.
"Nah, he's only had like three sessions and last time his hair held out pretty long. It was gross when he started losing it, he shaved pretty quickly after that. That was weird. I think usually he feels sicker than he actually looks. I even saw him puke last week." Zeff generally had a high tolerance for pain and a strong body, but he couldn't help his reaction to the drugs he was pumped full of.
"He'll be okay," Zoro said softly.
"I know that," Sanji replied lightly, "It's either that or he won't and either way there's nothing I can do about it. Does saying that make me a heartless bastard?" He looked to Zoro for counsel.
"I'm not sure, you'd have to ask someone with a working heart." Zoro said placing a hand over where his heart should be, imagining that he felt no beating.
"I'm sure you have a heart in there somewhere, marimo," Sanji laughed. They were standing close together, both leaning on the rail. Sanji wanted to lean against the swordsman but suppressed the thought immediately.
Just watch the Luffy, no unwanted thoughts.
But there was that little voice in the back if his head telling him that maybe it didn't have to be a thought labeled as "unwanted", there was always the chance that things could work so that that thought was refiled into the category of "yes, do it now" without the addition of "before you have time to think it through". So for now he just stood there watching Luffy.
"Did you come here a lot as a kid?" Zoro asked after a beat of silence. He had noticed Sanji looking around with a fondness that could only be of recognition and thinking back. He could see why people wanted to take kids here; it was an interesting and colorful place. It was probably a good thing where wasn't a place like this near them because Luffy would have terrorized it as a kid.
"Sometimes for school trips or other kids birthday parties. Zeff wasn't really into taking me places, I mostly helped in the Baratie."
"What, even as a kid?"
"I started as a potato peeler and worked my way up," the chef smiled, "Now I'm the best."
"Says you."
"Says anyone with a decent pallet."
When Luffy finally got to the front of the line he was strapped to the unicycle and began to peddle backward down the line, grinning like a lunatic. He waved to Sanji and Zoro, making faces at them as they waved back. He met the end of the line and peddled forward again until the employee grabbed him and pulled him back. Fun but strangely disappointing at the same time.
When Luffy joined up with them again they decided that it was time for lunch. On the way out the map disposal boxes had scientists names and faces on them. It was like a popularity contest between the hopeful homecoming queens of the science world. Einstein was winning by far. Sanji put his map, as well as Zoro and Luffy's, into Marie Curie's box because she was a fucking amazing person. She was in last place because no one apparently knew how amazing she was. Probably because no one likes chemistry because it's too boring. Seriously universe, the fuck?
She was all about radiation and understand it, an endeavor which would cost her her life due to cancer, she melted down her metals to help with the war effort, her husband died because he was run over by a horse drawn carriage somehow, and was all around an amazing person who deserved some credit where credit was due.
At the Baratie when they walked through the doors Patty looked sufficiently irritated.
"You're back," he grumbled, "Can't you go eat somewhere else? As soon as you start eating you'll complain about how it's not good enough."
"Well, make it better then." Sanji spat back, although he knew that he made a terrible customer. "In the mean time, escort us to a table, dumbass."
They were begrudgingly guided to a table in the far left of the room, as away from everyone else as they could be and as soon as they were seated Sanji immediately ordered for everyone. The wait was not as long as it was in some places, they cooked as quickly as they could back there. Sanji had to make an effort to stop Luffy from disrupting the other guests while they waited. He wasn't a fan of sitting still and talking quietly.
The food eventually came as a relief and was promptly devoured in about five minutes, when Luffy whined for more Sanji told him that he'd had enough for two and he should appreciate that.
Before they left and while Sanji and Zoro were still eating, giving their best efforts to guard their food at the same time, Zeff came over to their table.
"Back again?" asked Zeff as he approached, looking at Zoro who just shrugged like his existence there was debatable. "And there's another one." The blond man looked at Luffy.
Sanji's expression soured, "Go away, old man, you aren't wanted here."
"I'm just surprised that you made friends, you've never made that effort before. As a parent it's my job to make sure they're a good influence," he said snidely, although he was genuinely curious about Sanji's new friends. It wasn't to say that Sanji never had friends, they were just never close friends who he brought home. He spent too much time in the kitchen for that. Zeff always made sure he had work to do.
"Great, I'm glad you've suddenly decided to be a concerned parent. I'll make it easy for you and say I've made friends with a manchild," he gestured to Luffy, who let out a long string of laughter, "and a probable serial killer," he gestured to Zoro.
"What the fuck? Why am a a serial killer?" Zoro complained. He wasn't that much of a freak, was he?
"You have a murder vibe coming off you, I'm surprised that you don't frighten off small children or yourself in the mirror," Sanji said insightfully as Zoro made a sound of outrage.
"I feel like somehow I've failed as a parent," Zeff stated, looking unimpressed with Sanji's friends.
"Good, now leave us alone!" Sanji shouted in exasperation.
"Alright, fine, I'm going, I'm going. Just remember that you should always manipulate your boyfriend into paying, eggplant, you don't get a discount just because you work here," Zeff said before rushing off as Sanji sputtered indignantly.
"What did he mean by that?" Luffy asked, thoughtfully.
"Shut up, Luffy," said Sanji, slouching back in his seat, his face slightly red.
After that Sanji rushed them out and they spent time wandering around the city. They had to leave by four. Sanji insisted that they stay for dinner but Nami was blackmailing them into helping her out with some bar stuff so Sanji made little effort to argues against that, although he may or may not have wanted to.
When they were saying goodbye Luffy jumped on the blond and gave him a huge hug, nearly snapping his slight frame in half. He was then promptly kicked in the head. While Luffy sulked back to Zoro's car, running his poor head, Zoro himself stayed behind for a moment.
"We should defiantly do this again," Sanji said smiling hesitantly at first, unsure of where to start. It had been a lot of fun.
"Yes, we should," Zoro agreed, "It's boring without you around, and the new bartender sucks."
"I remember that you weren't so fond of me when I started either," Sanji said poking him accusingly in the chest.
"Yeah, well I was lying anyway, she's too nice." Vivi, the new bartender was an old friend of Nami's. She was loaded but she wanted a way to get out and Nami needed the help.
"Then why are you complaining, moron? You should be glad to have a pretty female bartender." Sanji scoffed as his disregard for a presumably beautiful lady.
"She's too boring. She doesn't bother me with invasive questions or space out when I talk to her, and she isn't insane." Zoro complained.
"These all sound like good qualities to me," Sanji observed, slightly confused, "Now go, Luffy is waiting for you."
"Whatever, you'll never understand," he sighed dramatically, "But before I go." Zoro stepped forward and pressed their lips together briefly, quickly drawing back. "Just so that you don't turn into sea foam. I know I'm not a prince but you can never be too sure." He winked and started walking away.
"You're very smooth, you know that?" Sanji shouted after him, smirking. "But the car is that way," he pointed to the opposite ways Zoro was walking.
"Shut up," Zoro said punching the blond as he walked by, earning him a kick to the back of his knee.
"See ya, marimo," Sanji smiled brightly.
XxxX
A/N: im so tired Mmm msn. I can't even type. Skipped Luffy' s birthday. Oh well.
Sorry for my lame Gay street joke, I saw it on Google maps and I couldn't resist. Also I think the space tunnel was a Smithsonian thing not a cosi thing, oh well. And I feel like I never write Zeff right.
Thanks.
