A/N: Jeez, and I was ashamed last time for taking forever to update and look at me now. But hey, I've been on vacation, so I took a vacation from writing as well. I just hope you can forgive me and that this chapter will make up for the delay – also, you might wanna know that I've already started working on chapter eleven.
The most important thing that I have to tell you though, is that after thinking long and hard about it I decided to change the title of this fanfiction from Lilium to Spit It Out, which is the title to an IAMX song that is going to be extremely important to this story – feel free to look up the lyrics if you don't know it. I'm letting you know this right now but I'll change the title from the next chapter, so you won't be too confused!
As usual, thank you all so much for your feedback! Y'all are super sweet.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
Not many emotions can compare to the one you feel when the lights in a concert venue are suddenly killed and the background music stops. It's like everyone is holding their breath in trepidation and anticipation of what is going to happen next.
Murder Of Crows didn't like to step on stage one by one, as their music began, with a dim, colored light to half mask them, they always got on stage all together when complete darkness and a few whispers from the public surrounded them, then all of a sudden Zoro would start banging on his drums and the lights would flash on to reveal the band grinning at the audience, setting the place on fire.
As soon as Zoro played the first notes of The Crows Are Coming, a warm light illuminated the stage and the band came alive, bringing the audience to life along with them as their fans greeted the Crows with shouts and devil horns raised to the sky.
No one could tell how anxious the guys in the band actually were, because they looked so natural and confident on stage, just like they were born to do so, and in the first couple minutes of their opening song even the more skeptic of people in the audience were captured by the talent of the performers.
"Oh you, sweet summer child
It's no use to run and hide
For once the Crows are here, your fate is sealed
Their thirst for blood and vengeance won't spare a single soul."
Sanji's voice resonated deep and powerful inside the Colosseum, accompanied by the hammering rhythm of Zoro's drums and Luffy's bass, and made even more spectacular by Nami's keyboard and Ace's wild guitar riff.
"Well, well, well..." a tall man in one of the back rows nudged his silver haired friend in the arm with his elbow "When you told me that your boy toy had a band I didn't think it was gonna be this good."
"Fuck you, Kuzan!" the man snarled around the cigar he was smoking "I told you he's not my boy toy!" his flushed ears and cheekbones were barely visible in the dim light of the venue, and he thanked his good star for that.
Aokiji threw his head back, a throaty laugh spilling from his lips as he did so "I just love how fired up you get when I tease you about him." he smirked, then cocked his head in the direction of the stage "I'll give it to them, they definitely have the talent to become pretty big."
Smoker didn't say anything, he just nodded with his eyes firmly glued on Ace's figure and his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"The singer looks like he just crawled out of the dirtiest dreams of a pervert," Aokiji raised his eyebrows, impressed "but I know he isn't your type. The guitarist is buff enough to handle your brute strength."
Smoker's head whipped in Aokiji's direction as fast as lightning "Shut the fuck up! Stop being like this or I'll kill you!"
The couple right behind them had been listening to them since they'd started speaking about the members of the band, distracting them from actually enjoying the show, and they were absolutely petrified by their comments.
"It's our son they're talking about?!" Shanks sneered between gritted teeth.
"Those perverts are like... Our age or something." Mihawk commented in a stern tone, still keeping his usual calm.
"Ace isn't a piece of meat! Nor Sanji is!" Shanks kept going, his fists tightening at his sides "That's disgusting, they're just kids!"
"Not really..." Mihawk dared contradict his husband with furrowed eyebrows.
"They are!" Shanks growled lowly, making Mihawk sigh. Hadn't the opening song just ended, Shanks would have probably kept on complaining, but it was just impossible to be heard from over the roaring crowd.
"Good evening, you beautiful bastards!" Sanji cried into the microphone, and everyone screamed greetings back at him. He sniggered, propping one of his feet on top of a speaker and leaning his arms on his knee "I hope you're all doing wonderful!" he continued in a lower voice, the shouts he got in return made his grin grow wider. "Many of you might not know us, but we're here to get close and personal with you all."
"Get close and personal with me, Sanji!" a male voice cut in, making some other people laugh.
Sanji hung and shook his head before replying with a smug smirk "Maybe later..." a few wolf whistles reached the stage, but from behind Sanji came what everyone though was an accidental bang on the drums, making the singer turn around with a scowl "You alright back there?"
Zoro waved a stick, not even looking at Sanji in the eye and just staring down at the bass drum.
Sanji shrugged a shoulder as he went back to speak to the audience "He probably just slipped on a pedal."
Shanks exchanged a somewhat incredulous glance with his husband "Why did we ever allow him into Zoro's bed?"
Mihawk shook his head, slowly "Now I know why Zoro is always so tense. Not even meditation can overcome that kind of frustration."
"Mihawk!"
Sanji pulled back from the speaker in a theatrical manner "We are Murder Of Crows! And this is The Siren!"
Nothing but the sound of Nami's keyboards filled the air, as Sanji turned his back to the public, Luffy hopped on the dais of the drums and Ace quickly brought a bottle of water to his lips as he tried to hydrate himself moments before he needed to attack, causing the water to drip down the corner of his lips and roll down his neck and bare chest.
"Oh for Christ's sake." Smoker bit down so hard on a cigar that he nearly chopped off its butt.
Aokiji snorted beside him "I can feel your pain as if it was mine, my friend."
"I'm ashamed of myself," Smoker shook his head and placed a gloved hand over his forehead.
"You're only human." Aokiji clapped a hand on Smoker's shoulder, giving it a sympathetic squeeze.
"I'm gonna murder these men! I swear to Ronnie James Dio!" Shanks growled as he began to roll up the sleeves of his shirt.
"Don't." Mihawk grumbled as he shook his head.
"Are you listening to them?" Shanks cried out in outrage.
"I am," Mihawk rolled his eyes, already exasperated "but Ace is a man now, and it's to be expected that people will make comments on him."
Shanks stared at his husband like he was completely demented "Do you even listen to yourself?!"
"I do." Mihawk paused briefly, his frown deepening "You're too much of a nice man to go Burzum on these people."
"...did you seriously just say that?" Shanks blinked and Mihawk shrugged in response "I was just going to kill them, I wasn't planning on burning churches down."
"You never know."
The second song simmered down and the lights dimmed, the voices coming from the audience sounded enthusiastic and the band was quivering in excitement.
Sanji was smiling back at Nami who grinned and gave him a thumbs up, then Luffy stepped between them only to wrap an arm around Sanji's shoulder and press a kiss to his temple. Zoro was watching them with an ever so fond smile, before something in the crowd caught his attention and he couldn't help but beckon Ace towards his drum set.
"What?" Ace asked, eyebrows drew in confusion as he stood close to his brother.
"Please..." Zoro began as he pointed at a spot in the far left of the venue, not too far from the bar "Tell me that the guy standing just in front of our parents isn't Smoker."
Probably for the first time in his life – alright no, it really wasn't the first time, Zoro had only seen that same look on Ace's face already, when Luffy had snapped his elbow right before their eyes as a child. For the second time in his life, Zoro watched horror twist Ace's gentle features and color wash away from his cheeks.
"Shit. You're not gonna throw up, right?" Zoro widened his eyes as he looked at Ace's horrified expression.
"Fuck, what were the goddamn odds?" Ace growled low as his left hand clutched the neck of his guitar.
Zoro bit his lower lip, regretting even opening his stupid mouth to point that out. But who knows? Maybe Ace would have seen them while performing and that could have been worse.
"This next song..." Sanji's voice disrupted the moment of torment, hopefully putting everyone back on track "It's sort of a tribute to the band we're going to tour with–" Sanji had to pause, a smirk tugging at his lips as Freakshow fans went nuts. "It was a bit of a last minute change, but we're really big fans of this song so I guess we'll be able to do justice to it." Sanji went on with a theatrical gesture of his hand.
Zoro kicked the double pedals of his bass drums a couple times for effect, not exactly appreciating the way in which Ace flinched slightly as if he had been lost in thought and brutally startled back to reality.
"As you all know, Freakshow started out as a Marilyn Manson cover band," Sanji continued as he rested his foot on the speaker again, his voice turning deeper and warmer "so tonight, we'll play for you and for them, our cover of the brilliant Marilyn Manson's version of Personal Jesus!"
The audience went absolutely wild as he lights turned off and as soon as Sanji growled out "Reach out and touch faith!" Franky switched on only the red spotlights, revealing Sanji lying on his back on the floor as he purred the lyrics into his microphone, with a lit up cigarette between his right middle finger and forefinger.
That was the first time they performed Personal Jesus in front of an audience, sure they had played it plenty of times for fun during practice at Franky's, but Zoro could only imagine what Sanji could have done while singing it during a show, since he had always claimed that Marilyn Manson's songs made him want to have rough, toe curling, sheet tugging and pillow biting sex.
It was truly a blessing that the rhythm of the song wasn't complicated, nor hammering, Zoro still needed to focus if he wanted to play right, but he couldn't really take his eyes off Sanji, not when he sat up on his knees to drag his black lacquered nails down his neck and chest as he sung, only to do the same to the bare portion of his thighs, sucking on his cigarette every now and then as he sang.
Zoro didn't even have to look at the crowd to know that both men and women were drawn to Sanji, he knew that the blond was exactly like the siren he'd been singing about on the previous song, and Zoro was the most helpless of his victims. He messed up slightly during the chorus but quickly made up for it, shaking sweat and a few wet bangs from his forehead as he focused on the skins of his drums alone.
Shit. He couldn't fuck up on that particular night. He needed to pull himself together and keep his gaze away from Sanji as much as he could. Especially now that he was half curled around Luffy who was smirking like a little shit while everyone howled at how Sanji was grinding up against him.
Sometimes Zoro wished he could be as totally unbothered by sexual advances as his little brother.
On the other hand, Ace seemed to have finally regained both color and confidence, as he strummed his guitar with closed eyes, completely enraptured by the melody. There were no more distractions as he wandered around the stage when no particularly complicated riffs were in sight, and only stopped to play back to back with Luffy.
The lack of interaction with the rest of the band for he and Nami had always kind of bothered him, but it really couldn't be helped. But then again at times like those, not having Sanji rub up against him was an actual blessing from the gods.
A song that lasted four minutes seemed to carry on for an hour, as Zoro struggled with the urge to look at Sanji and his lecherous movements, while his brain forced him to focus and not forget how to play drums all of a sudden.
Zoro had no clue about how time and space worked anymore, mainly because he was having the time of his life on stage. The world outside had stopped existing when they'd hopped up on stage and the ticking of the clock didn't matter anymore. He had this rush of adrenaline pumping through his well trained body that didn't allow him to feel fatigue, nor soreness, he could have probably gone on playing for hours.
The feedback they were receiving was mind blowing, overwhelming, the band was on fire and the audience was as in flames as them. If someone was scoffing and huffing they wouldn't have known, because at least 98% of the people in the venue was jumping and singing along with Sanji, sometimes even when they didn't know the lyrics. Putting an end to that beautiful night on that stage felt more surreal than starting it out.
"Thank you so much, Colosseum!" Sanji shouted into the microphone from over the virtuosities of his musicians and the screams of the public "You're all beautiful! And we hope to see you again really fucking soon! Goodnight, you guys!" he blew the audience a kiss and the music gradually stopped playing.
Zoro, Nami, Ace and Luffy joined Sanji by the edge of the stage to wave at the public and bow three times, enjoying the shower of applause and excited whooping, then they slowly and neatly made their way off the stage.
"You. Guys. Are. Fucking. In-cre-di-ble!" Usopp cheered as he saw his friends stepping off the stage.
Franky and Brook looked on the verge of tears as they applauded and shook their heads, still not ready to give in to their emotions.
"We fucking ruled! We're fantastic!" Luffy shouted as Usopp pulled him into a bone crushing hug.
Zoro nearly didn't see Vivi rush into Nami's direction and crash into her arms, but as he walked off stage last he nearly bumped into her.
Everyone was yelling and laughing, holding one another – spinning each other around as they did so, and Zoro's ears were buzzing so much that he nearly didn't know what was going on anymore until...
"We did it, Marimo! We killed it!" Sanji cackled as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere before literally jumping on Zoro's front, and if it weren't for the powerful muscles in Sanji's legs that allowed him to hold fast onto Zoro's sides, the drummer would have probably dropped him.
It took Zoro a few too many moments to realize what was going on, but then a huge grin that matched Sanji's spread on his lips as he held the blond in his arms and looked up at the excitement painted on Sanji's face.
Now, that was really something that made Zoro forget about the existence of anything and anyone else that wasn't that shitty cook. Zoro was suddenly painfully aware of the arms looped around his neck, of the knees wrapped and pressed around his sides, of the gorgeous smile and the glistening eyes staring down at him, and he had no idea as to how he was still standing upright.
"We are great, Marimo! Did you see the crowd? They love us!" Sanji went on chuckling like an over excited child. "And you almost never fucked up!"
Zoro scowled and pouted "What?! I never fucked up!" he lied through his teeth.
Sanji laughed this bubbly, crystalline laugh, throwing his head back, that made Zoro's knees way too weak.
"I actually never do!" Zoro kept blabbing, this time getting infected by Sanji's laughter.
None of them had realized how everyone had gone completely still and quiet around them, none of them could tell that they had everyone's gaze glued to their figures, but they had realized how their noses had softly brushed together, how their eyelids had drooped and their breathing had gone unsteady.
"Oh shit! It's gonna happen!" Luffy couldn't help but whimper out.
"Shut up, dumbass!" Franky whispered as loud as he could.
It was then that the atmosphere broke, and Zoro and Sanji stared at each other with comically wide eyes, blushing so hard that both their faces could have been used to harvest the heat necessary to warm up a small country.
"I-I..." Sanji stuttered as he dropped back to his feet.
"Y-yeah..." Zoro replied as he let go of Sanji's hips and coughed harder then necessary, pretending not to see how fast Sanji slunk off in the direction of the toilets.
"Luffy, you're dead meat!" Zoro heard Nami threaten his younger brother, who squealed under a few of her blows.
Fuck. That was the closest Zoro had ever been to kissing Sanji while sober in all those years. How the hell had that even happened? And with a freaking audience too! Oh God, he wanted to bury himself under six feet of dirt and never come out.
And to top it off his brain had started computing random things and making up theories and other stuff that were only going to make everything worse at the speed of light.
Why would Sanji even do that? Glomping him was something, but leaning in so close to Zoro's face? That was an entirely different matter, and Zoro was probably going to torture himself with those questions. Especially because it had felt too much like something he'd already lived, a deja-vu of the night in which they'd drunkenly made out.
Had Sanji really forgotten about that, or did he just pretend like he couldn't recall it? Of course Zoro had acted like nothing unusual had happened at all, but then again Sanji had indeed fled Zoro's house before the drummer could even wake up.
Fuck, why did those thing had to even happen? Why Zoro was the universe's favorite person to play around with?
"Guys!" a way too familiar voice made him snap out of his state of panic and utter confusion "You were too awesome for words! Wow!"
"Shanks! It's been so long since the last time you came out to see us!" Nami cried out, and Zoro squeezed his eyes shut in order to calm down and face his parents.
"My darling!" Zoro heard Shanks pause, probably to greet Nami, then went on "It's Mihawk, y'know? He's getting older and he doesn't feel like going out at night, especially to concerts and stuff."
Zoro turned around quickly enough to catch a glimpse of pure murderous threat in Mihawk's eyes.
"Oh please, you two look wonderful!" Nami chirped with a shake of her head "You both look as young as we are!"
Zoro rolled his eyes at Nami's flattering words, and saw Ace and Luffy sprinting towards their parents before Zoro could even take a few steps ahead.
"I'm so happy you came!" Luffy pulled both men in a tight hug that only Shanks returned, while Mihawk awkwardly kept still with his arms folded across his chest "It was very important for us!"
"It really is awesome!" Ace echoed while Luffy finally let go of Shanks and Mihawk "Did you enjoy the show?"
"It was great! Really!" Shanks smile was all teeth, and Zoro could tell that his excitement was genuine, but then the expression sort of dropped from his father's face "I just–" Shanks bit his lower lip, looking down at the floor as if he was searching for the right words to use in his head "There were these two guys, standing in front of us and–"
"Oh God no, why would you even bring that up?" Mihawk cut in with an eyeroll.
Zoro saw the color being drained from Ace's face all over again, and that was how he knew that that was his cue, so he jumped in, squeezing between his brothers with an arched eyebrow. "No love for the middle child, I take it?"
Shanks scowled at him "Don't be stupid, we love all three of you, you weren't here!"
"Yeah, yeah, right." Zoro crossed his arms over his chest, and Ace seemed to relax next to him "So, how did you like the gig, old men?"
"That's the second time I've been called old, I won't take this abuse any longer." Mihawk grumbled, making the other men laugh.
Zoro noticed that Nami had disappeared, and apparently everyone else had sauntered off God knows where, the toilets and the bar were his best guess. He did wonder if Sanji had sneaked away from a window or something, as panic-stricken as he had looked.
"I was just trying to tell Ace something about these really gross grown men that were standing right in front of us." Shanks reattempted resuming his story, and this time Zoro couldn't do anything but glance at his brother and let the carnage begin.
"W-what gross men? What'd they... do, or say?" Ace tried to keep his voice from cracking as he shoved both hands in the back pocket of his pants.
Mihawk shook his head and looked away, as if he didn't want to take part in the conversation that was about to start.
"Wait, what older men?" Luffy frowned.
"I don't know who they were, but they kinda looked about my age, and they kept making these depraved comments about Ace!" Shanks shrugged, then looked over at Ace "They seemed to know you, or something! Or at least, one of them did."
By that time Ace's face was nearly purple, and Zoro had to actually nudge him in the ribs to remind him that he needed to breathe. "W-what? Really?" Ace let out a nervous chuckle "Th-that's silly! I don't think I–" another nudge in the ribs, this time harder, made Ace look down at the floor "I-I invited him..."
Mihawk seemed to come back to life, as his head snapped in Ace's direction and a crease of concern formed between his eyebrows.
"You what?!" Shanks yapped "You invited an old perv to the concert?"
Ace looked like he was ready to perform seppuku there and then, when Luffy suddenly jumped in.
"I knew there was something going on!" Luffy cried out as he stared up at his brother "He must be that mysterious customer that makes you come home all smiley and giddy, huh?" Luffy cackled.
"Luffy!" Ace and Zoro both cried out.
"You knew about this?" Shanks asked Zoro, outraged.
"Why am I suddenly pulled into this?" Zoro huffed, raising his hands.
"Dad! Calm down!" Ace stepped in "I can't even believe Smoker would make such comments about me!"
"Actually his friend was making them, just to tease him." Mihawk chimed in, earning a glare from Shanks "What? It's true!"
Ace raised his eyebrows "R-really?" he blinked and his expression softened into a more sheepish one.
"They were being gross, and you're practically a child!" Shanks growled in return.
"I am an adult! And a consenting one!" Ace retorted, taking Shanks somewhat aback "I like him, and he's a nice guy..."
Shanks was just about to say something in return, but all of a sudden another voice came from between Zoro and Luffy.
"Oh look, my favorite family all reunited!"
Zoro's eyes widened when he saw Sanji smirk at his parents while casually standing beside the person he had nearly kissed a few minutes before.
"S-Sanji!" Shanks looked... Well, Zoro couldn't quite place his odd expression, but Mihawk was staring at Sanji in a way he had never looked at him before.
Right. That was their first time seeing Sanji's way of performing. And they weren't even used to see him dressed like that.
Oops. Shit.
"Did you like us?" Sanji asked with a grin "We've never been this successful, it's insane!"
"Yes!" Shanks tried to imitate Sanji's same thrilled tone of voice "Your voice, oh God! You've got so much better!"
"Really?" Sanji's expression and voice melted into something so pure and genuinely incredulous that Zoro couldn't help but stare at him.
"Son..." Mihawk was suddenly whispering in Zoro's ear, and it had been a miracle that he hadn't shrieked out in fear "Now I know why it's always about him... Do you want me to find a stronger meditation method?"
Zoro reared back as if his ear had just got burned, and stared at his father in horror. No way in heaven, hell or on earth he was going to talk about how much Sanji turned him on with Mihawk.
The moment in which Zoro focused back on Shanks and Sanji, Shanks had gone back to barking at Ace.
"I don't like that he makes obscene comments about you!"
Sanji furrowed his eyebrows "I do not!"
Shanks squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head "No, not you! That... Smoker dude!"
Ace facepalmed really hard "I thought it was just his friend teasing him!"
"Wait, who's the Smoker dude?" Sanji asked, eyebrows impossibly drawn together in utter confusion.
"Ace's boyfriend." Luffy nodded.
"You have a boyfriend?!" Sanji's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Ace yelled all of a sudden.
"Oh, but you wish!" Shanks retorted with a severe expression.
"Guys," Zoro grimaced "please, stop this."
"I'm gonna get a beer." Mihawk sighed and calmly tried to get away, until Shanks grabbed him by the elbow and kept him in place.
"You're not going anywhere!" Shanks growled.
"Oh Christ..." Mihawk hissed through gritted teeth.
"Of course I wish!" Ace finally answered "I like him! A lot!"
Shanks would have said something in return, but Freakshow appeared all of a sudden in their uniforms, grinning at the Crows.
"Hey! Great job earlier!" Bonney smirked and playfully punched Luffy's arm.
"Yeah guys, we really liked it!" Kidd gave them a thumbs up and patted Zoro on the back.
"You were some proper eyecandy." Law eyed Sanji from head to toe. The blond gritted his teeth and looked away, and suddenly Zoro's hands itched particularly bad.
"Shut up and walk, Trafalgar." Bonney growled as she pushed him forward.
"Hey, break a leg!" Ace raised a hand before Shanks placed a hand on his arm.
"We're going home now, but we're not done, yet."
Ace dropped his head and didn't say anything.
"We'll see you at home." Shanks told the others "Night Sanji."
Sanji nodded "Goodnight."
As soon as Shanks and Mihawk were gone Sanji turned to look at Ace with extreme suspicion. "How dare you get a boy toy and tell me nothing about him?"
Both Ace and Zoro glared at Sanji.
"Because he isn't my boy toy?" Ace huffed "He's just..." he shrugged, clearly unable to describe what Smoker actually was "He's just this incredibly sexy, hot man that I cannot seem to get." he heaved a long, drawn out sigh as he hung his head.
"How do you guys cope with this sexual frustration thing?" Luffy grimaced, scratching the back of his head as he looked at them "It sounds exhausting!" then added with a smirk "I'm so glad I only care about food, music and videogames."
Zoro and Ace both frowned and sighed out in unison "You really are lucky."
Sanji rolled his eyes "You weak people."
In the meantime, as they were too busy chatting, Zoro hadn't noticed the figure that was staring at them from a small distance, half hidden in the penumbra. Once he'd caught a glimpse of the presence out of the corner of his eye, Zoro whipped his head into their direction only to see Bartolomeo looking his way, adoringly.
"He-hello, you all!" Bartolomeo finally waved at them.
"'Meo?" Luffy furrowed his brows at him "Hey! What are you doing over there? Come here!" he beckoned him over with a huge smile.
"Oi! Were you lurking, all this time?" Sanji barked, not even remotely considering uttering a simple word of greeting.
"Hey Barto! You alright?" Ace offered him a smile.
Bartolomeo, clearly overwhelmed by the amount of attentions he was getting from his idols, stumbled towards them, nearly falling face first into the floor. Zoro sprinted forward out of instinct to prevent him from falling, and it was in that moment that Bartolomeo nearly showed his entire fist into his own mouth to keep from screaming.
"O-oi! Are you okay?" Zoro asked, worried by the look of apparent horror on Bartolomeo's face.
"I-I-I-I'm... G-great! Th-thank you so much!" Bartolomeo managed to stutter out as Zoro let go of his shoulders.
"You're so weird, 'Meo!" Luffy cackled and shook his head.
"You shitty Marimo!" Zoro heard Sanji sneer from behind him, then he felt a powerful tug on his ear "Let's go watch Freakshow perform, you boorish fuck!"
Zoro threw his head back, groaning in pain "Ow! You fucking asshole!" he turned around to grab Sanji by his neck or something, but the flush on the blond's angry features stopped him from doing so. "I'll kick your ass, later." was Zoro's half-hearted retort.
"Yeah, right." Sanji turned around and began walking in the direction of the best spot where they could watch the band perform from backstage.
"Z-Zoro..." Bartolomeo said softly.
Zoro turned around, a small apologetic smile curving his lips as he shrugged "I'll talk to you after the show, yeah?"
Bartolomeo smiled and nodded "Uh, okay!"
Ace clapped a hand on Bartolomeo's shoulder "Hey, come grab a drink with me and Luffy!"
Zoro hadn't realized right away how hollow Bartolomeo's smile looked, until he saw his eyes light up at Ace's request. Damn it, Zoro was hurting him without realizing it, already.
"Ma-ri-mo!" Sanji called out again.
"Yeah, yeah!" Zoro growled "Bossy little shit." he muttered as he avoided looking back at Bartolomeo again. He wasn't going to let guilt ruin that night.
Up to that point Zoro was fairly sure that Sanji was dead jealous of Bartolomeo, no matter the real reason behind it, and Zoro would have lied if he said that he didn't enjoy it a even a little bit. Zoro was also pretty sure that if Bartolomeo hadn't appeared all of a sudden, Sanji wouldn't have cared that much about Freakshow's performance, especially after the Crows' successful one. But that was okay, because Zoro was definitely up to spending some alone time with the stupid Cook.
They found a semi-comfortable backstage spot, sitting on a pile of dusty old unused instrument cases, maybe they didn't exactly have a full view of the stage, but it was good enough.
Freakshow looked completely at ease on stage, everyone was moving around freely and confidently as though they were at home.
Bonney was absolutely kickass as she shredded her guitar back to back with Killer, Heat was an amazing drummer and at times it looked as though he had four arms or something. Then there was Kidd, majestic and statuesque in his stage performance, his voice so deep that it made one's chest vibrate, and not so far from him came Law, strumming his bass and moving with feline grace until he was standing with his back against Kidd's chest and the singer's hand sneaked inside his unbuttoned black shirt.
"Are they fucking kidding?" Zoro didn't even realize he had said that out loud, until he heard Sanji snort beside him.
"That's one hell of a sexy thing to do on stage." Sanji commented, and Zoro saw a weird smirk creeping up to his lips.
Damn, he had never paid much attention to Freakshow's concert to realize how extremely suggestive Kidd and Law were together on stage, a lot more than Sanji's playful grinding against Luffy or Ace. If one of them had the chance to grope, rub against, lick or even kiss the other they seized it, and it wasn't only just for show, you could definitely tell that the passion between them was authentic.
"Shit." Zoro grunted, way too embarrassed that his mind was wandering and fantasizing about Sanji being like that with him, and that his body was being responsive to those thoughts.
Of course Sanji noticed, turning around and cackling at Zoro's discomfort "It's too bad you're on drums, huh?"
Zoro widened his eyes and blushed wildly in the dim light of the backstage "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Sanji raised an eyebrow, a knowing smirk curving his lips "Or I could still come over there every now and then, and see how much I can make you fuck up."
Zoro's mouth felt suddenly dry, and he couldn't help but shove Sanji's face away "Shut the fuck up and keep humping my baby brother!"
Sanji gasped and slapped Zoro's arm "Put your hand on my face again and you'll have to play drums with your ridiculously big forehead!"
"Go on, try it!" Zoro growled. Sanji didn't waste any minute to grab a fistful of Zoro's green hair, since the drummer was still shirtless. "Ow, you shitty dumbass!" Zoro tried to wrestle Sanji's arm away while the blond kept pulling on the bunch of hair in his fist.
"Christ! Why don't you guys put all that energy into something more productive like... Fucking each other?" Nami's annoyed voice was enough to make them both stop and look at her, while Vivi and Usopp sniggered beside her.
"Yeah guys, let out all that frustration that is stored up inside you!" Usopp topped it off, and with a gesture of his hand he showed them the way to the toilets "Get a cubicle, a stall... Something!"
As everyone cackled, Zoro and Sanji were glaring daggers at their friends and their suggestions.
"What a bunch of comedians!" Sanji stood up and walked over to Usopp, snatching the drink he was holding "What is this? A vodka redbull?" he sniffed it and wrinkled his nose "How do you even drink this kinda shit?"
"I got it exactly because I know you hate it, so you wouldn't steal it!" Usopp smirked, then held his hand out to get back the plastic cup from Sanji "Now be a good boy and give it back."
Sanji snorted and handed the drink back "Jerk."
Usopp grinned and took a sip of his cocktail in reply.
Zoro pushed himself off the cases and dusted off the back of his pants. Sweat had been freezing on his skin long enough, and now that every single possibility of being alone with Sanji without arguing was gone, he could finally go back to the changing room to grab a hoodie.
Once he got in front of his locker and opened his bag he snorted at the fact that he had brought his House Targaryen hoodie and prayed that no one was going to make any more stupid Ser Jorah remarks. He pulled the hoodie on and put the bag back inside the locker.
Zoro hesitated for a few moments and decided that lingering in there for a bit longer wasn't going to do him any harm, especially if it gave Sanji some time to cool down after their small fight and their friends' teasing. He sat down on the bench and rested his head back against the wall, he should have emptied his mind if he wanted to relax even just a little, but there was no way he could switch off his brain after every small thing that had happened that night.
Now that he was alone with his thoughts he suddenly recalled the kind, even sweet way in which Sanji had decided to fix Zoro's hair, and if he concentrated hard enough he could almost feel his fingertips combing through his hair again. Things like those didn't happen that often, especially not before a concert and certainly not while other people were watching.
Also what about that almost kiss? How did that even happen in the first place?
Zoro's eyes twitched but they remained shut. He chewed nervously on his lower lip as he thought back about how glorious it felt to kiss Sanji, and how much he had wanted to kiss him again while he was propped up in his arms, all giggles and shiny eyes.
Fuck. On second thought he should have accepted his father's offer to being taught a stronger meditation method, he could feel his stomach quiver and his hips rolled back on their own to ease the tension in the pelvic area.
"Oh, you're here!"
Zoro's eyes snapped open and his head whipped in the direction of the door to see Ace holding a plastic cup of beer.
"Sorry," Ace grinned "I didn't mean to startle you."
Zoro sighed and hung his head, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees "It's fine." he heard his brother step over to him, and suddenly the cup Ace was holding was placed right under Zoro's nose.
"I got you this."
Zoro looked up, then back down at the beer "Thanks, bro." he grabbed the cup and rested back against the wall.
"Seems like we're both having a hard time tonight, huh?" Ace started as he grabbed a hoodie himself.
Zoro grimaced "It should be a great night."
Ace shrugged "It still is," he tugged on the hoodie, then ran his fingers through his hair "by the way, Bartolomeo is out there speaking to Luffy. I hope Sanji won't murder him."
Zoro looked over at Ace with the expression of someone who'd been punched right into the guts "Fuck! I had forgotten about him!" he cried out.
Ace laughed and leaned with his shoulder against his locker "You'll do fine. Definitely better than I did with Smoker." he sighed.
Zoro raised an eyebrow "You saw him?" Ace nodded "Well, what happened?" he suddenly remembered about the lager in his hand, so he took a big gulp of it.
"I'm an idiot." Ace shrugged "I kept grinning while he spoke and making lame jokes when I was embarrassed, and now I want to bury myself alive." he whined as he pushed himself away from the lockers and sat down next to his brother.
Zoro gave Ace a sympathetic smile "Well that's part of attempting to flirt." he shrugged a shoulder "At least you're not constantly trying to kill each other." he muttered into his cup before taking a swig.
"At least you experienced some pretty hot kissing attempts."
And there Zoro bursted, spitting beer all over the floor and choking on the ale that was still in his throat. Ace didn't even try to help him stop coughing, he just sat there holding his stomach in hysterics.
"I-I swear to God–" Zoro coughed and burped at the same time, making Ace laugh harder and ending up laughing himself.
When they had both finally calmed down, Ace took the cup out of Zoro's hand, probably to make sure he wouldn't drink while Ace spoke to him. "Seriously, what happened there?"
"Don't ask me, I have no idea." Zoro shook his head "Now give me my booze back."
"I'll have you know that Franky invited Smoker to the party. Embarrassing me even more." Ace rolled his eyes as he handed Zoro his beer back.
A glint of murder shone in Zoro's eyes as he glared at his brother "You introduced Smoker to Franky and not to me?"
Ace raised both hands "I did not! I went to speak to Smoker on my own and Usopp, Luffy and Franky got there a few moments later." he shook his head "It was terrible, and I wanted to incinerate them."
Zoro didn't answer, he just finished off his beer.
"Oh please!" Ace growled "Don't you dare sulk!"
"Is he coming to the party, at least?" Zoro mumbled.
Ace pulled a face "He started muttering in a distressed manner, then thanked Franky and said he had to work tomorrow night."
Zoro sighed "Well he's a cop, he's probably busy." then he cocked his head "And our friends possibly scared him."
Ace sniggered "That's likely."
"Think we should go back out there?" Zoro licked his lips.
Ace scrunched his nose "Yeah. I think we should."
"Thought so." Zoro sucked in a deep breath and pushed himself back to his feet. He wavered, looking between the door and Ace's feet, when another thought that had been buzzing at the back of his head came to him. Zoro looked up at his brother with an unsure expression, biting back the words he wanted to say.
Ace furrowed his eyebrows "Zoro?" he tilted his head slightly "You alright?"
Zoro knitted his eyebrows together, staring down at the floor for some moments as he finally began to articulate a sentence "Sanji's so weird tonight..."
Ace snorted "As usual."
Zoro shook his head as he lifted his eyes on Ace's "No, it's different from usual."
Ace stood up from the bench "For the attempted kiss?" he failed to bite back a smug smirk.
Zoro glowered at him "Yeah," he paused for a moment, trying to figure out whether he'd been over reading things in his own head or not. "He hits on you and the others all the time, right?"
Ace's cheekbones suddenly pinked up, and he began to wave his hands as to plead innocent "Well, he can do it how much he wants, he's not getting anything from me!"
Zoro rolled his eyes and for a moment he wondered how scary he must have been to others – not that it bothered him, it was quite the contrary. "I'm not accusing you of anything," Zoro chanted, then narrowed his eyes "unless you really got something to be so worried about." he playfully accused him.
Ace widened his eyes "I'd never do such things to you and you know it!"
Zoro smirked slightly "Good," he stuffed both hands into the pockets of his hoodie "jokes aside, what I was really getting at is that Sanji's been like..." he pulled a disconcerted face "Making innuendos and shit with me, which isn't that common."
Ace frowned thoughtfully as he listened to what his brother had to tell him, then shifted his jaw aside. "He does make this kind of jokes with you too, though... Doesn't he?"
Zoro tilted his head from side to side "Not really, no. He never flirts with me," he shrugged a shoulder "I mean have you seen Trafalgar and Eustass on stage?"
Ace snorted "Shit, they nearly fucked on stage, how could I miss that?"
Zoro nodded "I know. We were watching it too and Sanji told me that even if it was too bad that I had to sit behind a drum set, he'd like to do that kind of things to me, too."
Ace's eyes widened so much that Zoro wondered if it was even humanly possible "He said what?" Ace's voice came out louder than Zoro thought it would.
"Shh! Don't yell!" Zoro hushed him and automatically checked the door "I told you! He's being weird!"
Ace stared down at the floor for some moments, blinking and probably trying to make out what he'd just heard, then looked back up at his brother "Man, I think it's time for you to do some actual flirting with him."
This time it was Zoro's turn to shout like a maniac "Are you out of your fucking sick mind?!"
Ace raised his eyebrows "You'll never know the outcome if you don't give it a try!"
Zoro vigorously shook his head "Forget it, I already know what will happen. I'm not ready to lose him, things are fine just the way they are."
Ace sighed and pursed his lips "They aren't fine, brother. They never are." he rolled his tongue between his lips and placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder "You are not fine."
Zoro gently pushed Ace's hand away, then shook his head one more time "I'm perfectly fine. Stop being concerned over things that don't exist." and with those final words, Zoro exited the changing room, even if he still wasn't ready to face the rest of his friends.
The moment that he stepped out of the changing room Zoro realized that even Freakshow's performance had ended, making him frown as he wondered for how long he'd actually been locked away with his thoughts and... Well, speaking to his brother had actually taken a while.
He could hear the music from the dj set blasting through the venue, and the voices of the crowd were still loud and excited after the show. He was actually greeted from the music before he could even notice that Freakshow and the Crows were all gathered backstage, speaking and laughing.
Bonney and Luffy were already eating everything from the small buffet that had been offered to the bands as Bartolomeo hovered next to Luffy, Nami and Vivi were animatedly speaking to Wire and Heat and each one of them had a huge beer in their hands, while Usopp, Franky and Sanji were in the farthest corner with Kidd and Law.
"Oh! Food!" Zoro heard Ace say from behind him, then suddenly saw him sprint towards their younger brother. Useless to say that as soon as Bartolomeo realized that Zoro was there and alone, he quickly walked up to him with an excited grin.
"Zoro!"
"Hey Barto, you alright?" Zoro smiled at him.
"Yes, thanks! How about you?" Bartolomeo asked before furrowing his eyebrows "I was a little worried that I wasn't seeing you around."
Zoro shrugged a shoulder "Nah, I'm all good. I was just taking a break from–" he gestured around them "all this." he smirked.
Bartolomeo sniggered "It's crazy tonight, huh?" then he shook his head and brought both his fists up to his chin "And you guys have been mind blowing! Oh. My. God.!"
Zoro's smirk turned into a full on proud grin "Are you being sincere?" he arched an eyebrow "You're too big of a fan of ours, you might be biased." he teased.
Bartolomeo's eyes became the size of the moon, and a slightly panicked expression twisted his features "N-No! I-it's not that! I-I mean... I might be biased, yeah, but you were truly fucking fantastic!" he cried out, probably loud enough for everyone to hear "I swear! On my life!"
Zoro squinted at Bartolomeo long enough for the poor guy to break a sweat, then smirked and patted Bartolomeo's shoulder "I believe you, I'm just being an asshole!" he cackled, feeling just slightly guilty because of Bartolomeo's bewildered expression.
"Ah..." Bartolomeo blinked for a few moments, still slightly taken aback, then he couldn't help but being infected by Zoro's laugh.
Zoro enjoyed the few minutes in which he was invisible to the rest of the people, to just chat with Bartolomeo. Zoro had never been the type of person who demanded to be complimented by everyone, but after such an important show a bit of flattery definitely wasn't going to hurt him, and Bartolomeo was the right person for that.
"I am serious, the more I listen to Blood On The Snow, the more I fall in love with it," Bartolomeo explained as he shook his head and spread his arms "you're seriously great at writing this kind of epic songs, Zoro!"
"I guess I'm just a big nerd who listened to Blind Guardian, Helloween and Stratovarius for too much as a kid," Zoro smirked, then tilted his head "and I have to thank my parents for that."
Bartolomeo raised his brow in a clear sign of being positively impressed "Well, guess I'll have to thank them too!" he gave a small chuckle, then probably realizing what he had just said he pressed his lips together and looked away in embarrassment.
Zoro blinked and let out a snort. Bartolomeo was the absolute master of sputtering the less appropriate things to everyone he liked, and Zoro couldn't help but finding it funny and kind of endearing too. Even though the aftermath usually resulted in Bartolomeo panicking and trying to make up for what he said, which was more annoying than endearing.
"I didn't mean it like–" Bartolomeo stammered out, cheeks pinking up as he waved both hands in front of him.
Zoro sighed and hung his head "I know what you meant, really. Relax."
Bartolomeo seemed to be chewing down on his tongue as he looked at Zoro with the most sheepish look he could muster "I can only ever make a fool of myself in front of you." he let out a dramatic sigh.
Zoro pursed his lips "You excuse yourself too much," he shrugged a shoulder "I know how you are, and I'm getting used to it. So stop worrying all the damn time!"
Bartolomeo stared at Zoro with a slacked jaw, and for a moment Zoro thought that he was going to bawl his eyes out for having been scolded.
"O-oi..." Zoro scowled deeply as he tried to read Bartolomeo's expression.
"I-I just..." Bartolomeo swallowed thickly "Thank you, this means a lot jus–"
"You fucking nerd! Stop harassing Roronoa!" Kidd's voice interrupted Bartolomeo's words, and Zoro could have sworn he'd seen flames flaring inside Bartolomeo's eyes.
"What the fuck do you want?!" Bartolomeo barked at his brother, making a 360° change of attitude at the drop of a hat.
Zoro turned his head towards Kidd and found him grinning, while not too far from him Sanji was looking just as smug.
"Just come here, both of you!" Kidd beckoned them with a gesture of his gloved hand "C'mon!"
Bartolomeo growled and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, but even if he couldn't quite place those words Zoro was fairly sure it was probably a colorful string of curses.
Both men approached the small group standing not too far from the stage ladder, and all of a sudden Bartolomeo was enveloped by one of Franky's huge, muscular arms.
"So hey! Listen here, little brother!" Franky exclaimed all of a sudden, then looked at Kidd and Law as well "We're having a party at my place tomorrow! How about you tag along?"
Zoro arched an eyebrow, not exactly sure that he liked that decision, and as soon as he glanced at Sanji he knew that he definitely hated it, judging by the bare teeth and the deadly glare that the singer was shooting at Franky. Zoro bit his lower lip, clearly holding back his amusement, then turned to look at Bartolomeo, Kidd and Law again.
Bartolomeo was staring at Franky as if he'd just told him he'd won the lottery, and Zoro actually squinted at the way he was slightly but visibly vibrating as Franky still didn't let go of him. Kidd and Law, on the other hand, looked at each other with an extremely relaxed expression, as if they were trying to remember if they had any previous engagement for the next day.
"I guess we could come?" Kidd shrugged, still looking at Law who was sporting a deep, thoughtful frown.
"Err... Yeah?" Law tilted his head, then turned to look at Franky "Yeah, we should be free!"
Zoro didn't feel particularly enthusiastic over Trafalgar's presence at the party, for the sole reason that Sanji would have been there too, but if Eustass was coming along then there shouldn't have been any problem.
"Great!" Franky boomed and let out a small laugh before looking down at Bartolomeo and tightening his hold on him "What about you?"
"Oh God, yes!" Bartolomeo cried out, or maybe it was a moan...? "Yes! I'd love to! Thank you so much!"
Franky chuckled again, then patted Bartolomeo's shoulder (probably a bit too hard) "No problem! The more we are, the better it is!"
Zoro could hear Sanji sneer like an angry dog, and for some reason a deep sense of satisfaction pervaded his body, making it hard for him to bite back a smirk.
"Ohhh! If it isn't my one favorite ladies in the entire world!" Bonney's half-shout made everyone perk up and turn their heads in curiosity.
"Bonney, you're as charming as ever." the tall, jet black-haired woman standing in front of her smirked.
"Robin, long time no see!" Heat smiled as he recognized the woman and walked over to greet her.
"I know, Heat, I'm sorry. I've been quite busy." Robin apologized politely.
"Oh Lord have mercy..." Sanji breathed out as he stared at Robin "That wonderful, majestic creature is a friend of yours?" he cried out with the high-pitched tone he usually used when he spoke about women, and Zoro turned to glare at him in mild disgust.
Law arched an eyebrow, irradiating a somewhat skeptical vibe as he proceeded to answer to Sanji "Uh, yeah... She's a good friend."
Sanji joined his hands together, heaving a dramatic sigh "How could a fairy like her hang out with a bunch of brutes like yourselves?"
Kidd scowled "Now I understand why Roronoa always threatens to break your legs or murder you." he growled.
Zoro raised his eyebrows and nodded in approval.
"Whatever, the Marimo can't understand most things!" Sanji waved a hand as he prepared to leap into Robin's direction under the deadly glowers of Zoro, Kidd and Law, until something unexpected happened "Mademois–!"
Franky pressed one of his large hands on Sanji's face and shoved him to the side so hard that he bumped into Bartolomeo who quickly jumped away in terror. "Don't you dare Sanji, not this time!"
Zoro furrowed his eyebrows quizzically as he scanned Franky's expression in order to understand what was going on.
"She's a goddess and deserves nothing but–" Franky pushed his shades further up his head and jabbed a thumb in his own direction "a super guy like me!" he grinned, not even deeming Sanji worthy of a look as he stared at Robin who was being introduced to Nami and Vivi.
"How dare you! You dickwad!" Sanji sneered, but before he had a chance to aim a kick to Franky's head, Zoro caught him by his arm and kept him in place.
"For fuck's sake, Cook, he likes her," Zoro scolded him "why are you so dumb?"
Sanji looked back at Zoro incredulous, and for a few moments he genuinely looked like he was at a loss of words as he stared into Zoro's eyes. "You're so fucking pathetic, Marimo! Mind your own business!"
Zoro rolled his eyes "No, you're pathetic. You don't even like girls!"
"I do like girls!" Sanji retorted with a grunt.
"You know what I mean," Zoro growled lowly, through gritted teeth "stop being an asshole."
Sanji huffed and shook his arm "Well let go of me!"
Zoro loosened the grip and watched Sanji folding his arms over his chest before starting to sulk like a spoiled child who had just been denied his candy.
God he was so exhausting.
Zoro limited himself to shake his head, then glanced at Bartolomeo who was staring at Sanji with an unreadable expression. "Everything okay?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh?" Bartolomeo looked at Zoro with widened eyes, then nodded vigorously "Oh, yes! Yes, I'm fine."
Zoro nodded himself, then looked over at Franky who had just approached Robin and the others. They had all seen Franky mildly flirt and fool around with girls, just like they had heard him comment on them, but that was the absolute first time that Zoro had heard Franky address someone as a goddess, and the very first time that he had seen that look of extreme determination in his eyes.
He couldn't exactly hear what Franky was saying, but he had probably started off with something stupid, because Vivi had broken into a soft giggle, while Nami and Robin seemed to be staring at him blankly. If Zoro looked a bit to the left he could also see his brothers and Usopp trying to muffle their laughter as much as they could with food and all the rest, so yeah, Franky was probably making a fool of himself. Poor guy.
"I'm gonna get changed," Law's voice suddenly broke the silence and made Zoro turn to look at him "you comin'?" Law asked as he looked at Kidd. He didn't even wait for an answer and just sauntered off in the direction of the changing room that had been assigned to them, and Kidd followed him without a word.
"What's wrong with all these couples or wannabe couples?" Sanji bursted all of a sudden, making a disgusted noise "Jesus Christ."
Zoro threw his head back and let his eyelids drop shut. He was starting to be way too tired to argue with Sanji, so he didn't comment on his words, but he did feel Bartolomeo shuffling closer to him to whisper almost in his ear.
"He must be fun at parties."
Zoro literally had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting into laughter, but even if he tried to be as quiet as possible Sanji still turned around.
"What's so funny?"
"N-no–" Zoro cleared his throat "Nothing." he shook his head.
Sanji didn't exactly look like he'd bought it, but he too took off in the direction of the changing room.
Zoro turned to look at Bartolomeo "Don't ever do that again while he's here, please."
Bartolomeo's jaw dropped and he gripped at the sleeves of Zoro's hoodie "I-I'm terribly sorry! I'm a rude idiot, oh God!"
Zoro shook his head "No, it's not for that! I just don't want him to hear and probably well..." he shrugged a shoulder "Kill you."
Bartolomeo suddenly let go of Zoro's sleeves and blushed "R-right!" he looked down "Well... That was rude, still."
Zoro frowned "A bit. But funny, nonetheless."
Bartolomeo beamed up at Zoro, and Zoro smirked at him.
Why couldn't Zoro have that kind of relaxed conversation with Sanji as well? It wasn't exactly like he and Sanji never spoke lightly or about more important matters, but after a few minutes of conversation they mostly and inevitably ended up fighting. Being able to hold a civilized conversation with someone who wasn't one of his brothers was actually refreshing.
"I should probably get changed too." Zoro announced as he shoved both hands into the pockets of his hoodie, but as Bartolomeo was about to say something to him he saw Franky, Luffy, Usopp and Ace walking up to him, so his attention was completely caught by them.
"Franky has a date, apparently!" Usopp teased with a snigger.
"No shit." Zoro grinned proudly.
"Not really, Vivi and Nami had already invited the rest of Freakshow to the party, so they told Robin to tag along." Ace snorted, and earned himself a punch in the shoulder.
"Fuck you, Ace!" Franky groaned "What's not to like about me?"
"I'm sure she's going to love you!" Luffy assured Franky with a pat on his arm.
"Don't get his hopes too high, Luffy," Usopp started with a sigh "she's a real lady, Franky is a klutz."
"Have you got a death wish?" Franky barked, making everyone else laugh.
"Oh c'mon, you just met her," Zoro shrugged "give it time, get to know each other."
"That didn't really work out well for you, huh?" Franky smirked, but as soon as he saw the smile dropping from Zoro's face he covered his mouth with a hand "Shit Zoro, I'm sorry."
Zoro rolled his tongue between his lips and shook his head "It's okay." it wasn't exactly the first time that someone had made fun of him for being in love with Sanji for so long, and most of the times he'd just shrug it off, but other times it stung, even if just slightly. Zoro could feel Bartolomeo's eyes on him, and he also saw him shift uncomfortably beside him out the corner of his eye, but Zoro didn't intend to do anything about it.
"Why don't we go get changed?" Ace clapped a hand on Zoro's shoulder.
"I'm not five, Ace!" Zoro snapped suddenly, making his brother flinch "Stop treating me as if I'm made of crystal." and with these last words he stormed off into the direction of the changing room.
"What a bunch of losers, you just don't know when to shut up, huh?" Zoro heard Luffy's words as he reached the changing room. As usual, his younger brother seemed to be the only one who could really get him.
In the heat of the moment he didn't even recall that Sanji had got inside the changing room before him, but when Zoro opened the door and saw Sanji taking off his make up, wearing tight black jeans and a baggy black and white striped sweater he froze.
Sanji jumped slightly, startled by the door opening so suddenly, and turned to look at Zoro. "Ah... It's you." he mumbled as he resumed removing the rest of his eyeshadow.
Zoro shut the door behind his back a little harder then necessary "You'd have wanted it to be someone else?"
Sanji shrugged, still looking at himself in the mirror as he rubbed black off his eyelid "I'm sure you'd wished the same," he paused as he started the other eyelid "Bartolomeo, perhaps?"
Zoro felt the urge to smash his head into the nearest wall but restrained from doing so. "If you keep talking about him people will start thinking that you're in love with him." Ah yes, Zoro, what a smart comeback. He grimaced slightly at his own words and started in the direction of his locker.
Sanji snorted "No, thanks. I'll leave his ugly face to you. His beloved, moss-brained asshole."
Zoro didn't even reply to that and just took his bag out of the locker to change into a more comfortable pair of jeans. His energy was almost completely drained and he didn't want to waste its remains on fighting Sanji.
"It hurt, you know?" Sanji said in a different tone from earlier.
Zoro froze and glanced over at him, at the way he dropped his arms along his sides and kept staring ahead at his reflection in the mirror. "What?" he finally asked, feeling an uncomfortable sensation settling into the pit of his stomach.
"I heard him make fun of me," Sanji finally said as he clenched his fists, then looked over at Zoro "and you laughed, of course. You bastard." Sanji's voice was trembling ever so softly, and Zoro couldn't quite tell if it was rage or sadness, or maybe a mixture of the two.
"Sanji, I..." Zoro was at a loss of words, but speaking Sanji's name in that moment felt like the right thing to do. He saw Sanji stiffen in his place, it was so weird to see him react like that over a stupid joke. "It was just a lame joke, and the timing made me laugh more than anything else." he furrowed his eyebrows, not even knowing how to properly apologize or excuse himself for the matter. "We tease each other all the time!"
Sanji's head snapped in Zoro's direction as fast as lighting, as soon as the last sentence was uttered "That's the fucking point!" Sanji snarled "The whole fucking point!" he repeated, and the raw anger was bleeding from his hoarse words "You can do it, our friends can do it, but that shitty jerk? He's nothing to me! He has no business making fun of me, and you–" he jabbed a finger towards Zoro "you're a fucking asshole for having encouraged him!"
By the time that Sanji's outburst was over he was panting and shaking while Zoro was gawking at him, unable to speak or move. Zoro knew how incredibly strong was Sanji, but what he sometimes failed to remember was how quickly Sanji's strength could crumble if something triggered his memories from being bullied as a kid, and in that moment Zoro would have given his left eye for the floor to split and swallow him alive.
"I'm an asshole," Zoro started off, shaking his head.
"No, don't you dare playing the victim, I'll kick your teeth in!" Sanji growled, raising a hand.
Zoro shook his head again "No! I don't intend to!" he spread his arms "I am genuinely sorry for making you feel like shit, you gotta believe me!"
Sanji looked away from him and lit up a cigarette before slipping on his creepers.
Zoro sighed and hung his head for a moment, then walked up to Sanji, he didn't dare touch him or even lifting a hand near him, because chances were that Sanji would have broken one or several of his bones. "Cook, I'm fucking sorry," he licked his chapped up lips "I truly am."
Sanji straightened back up, blew some smoke through his lips, then grabbed a packet of towelettes and threw it at Zoro, who promptly caught it in one hand "You got black smudges all over your cheeks," he commented in a more relaxed but weak tone "when will you fucking learn to do your shitty make up?"
A knot formed in Zoro's throat, and he squeezed the packet in his fist "Maybe I never will." he said in a hoarse voice. That was Sanji's way to let him know that he had accepted his apology, and it felt like a nasty grip had released his heart, along with a rock that had been lifted from his stomach.
"Figures." Sanji muttered as he walked past Zoro to finish putting his clothes back into his bag.
"Still spending the night at mine?" Zoro dared asking as he pulled a wipe out of the packet.
"The least you can do to earn my forgiveness is letting me sleep in your bed and accidentally get your balls kneed in the process." Sanji said simply, and Zoro couldn't bite back his grin.
To Be Continued...