Chapter 2 – Starting Off Young
Zeff still remembers the first time Sanji became interested in cooking, and he admits that he kind of pushed his son towards the same profession as himself on more than one occasion, however, Sanji had started this interest all on his own, and he was only 1 ½ years old at the time...
Sanji is playing with his toys in the playpen as Zeff sits on the sofa and flicks through the channels on the T.V., stopping when he comes across a cooking programme. Zeff has finally given himself another much needed day off, and he's thankful that Sanji has been quietly playing with his toys for most of the day. Though, in a way, taking the day off from working in the kitchen, to watch cooking programmes on T.V isn't much of a change as he's still watching carefully at what other people are making and cursing and shouting when they get things wrong, he just can't step in and fix things this time, which is frustrating to him, especially when the man on T.V over-whisks the cream for his dessert, and just abandons it, throwing it away to start afresh.
As he is shouting at the T.V once again, he notices Sanji crawling over to the sofa, "Oi eggplant, how do you keep getting out of that damn shitty playpen?" Zeff says as he glances over to the playpen.
Nothing has moved, and the wooden frame is definitely too high for a baby to climb out of, well it's supposed to be…
Zeff gets up then walks over to the playpen and checks for any broken wood or gaps that could allow a 1 year old to get through. Sanji still can't open the gate yet – which is a good thing – so unless he managed to climb over the frame then there is no other way he could have gotten out. Zeff makes his way back to the sofa and is surprised to find that Sanji is now sitting in his seat, which is also too high up for his son to get on without any help.
As he sits down on the sofa besides his son, Sanji doesn't even glance to him, as he is too transfixed on the T.V. His blue eyes are fixated on the cooking show and it's as if he can't look away. Together with Zeff, he watches the amateur chefs battle it out for a spot in the show's semi-final. The chefs have the difficult task of creating a four-course meal, including dessert, within two hours. Of course, the time is fast forwarded and some of the content has been edited out to fit the network's time slot, but overall the show is very interesting. Sanji gasps softly at the way each dish looks, and grins when the chefs describe their courses to the judging panel.
"You can be like those chefs when you're older, eggplant. You just need to learn how to cook the right way," Zeff grins as he gently ruffles his son's soft blond hair.
Sanji doesn't really understand most of what was just said to him, but the more he watches the cooking show, the more he wants to do what the men and women on the T.V. are doing.
Zoro was around the same age as Sanji, when he first started becoming interested in swordsmanship. Koshiro had started bringing Kuina to the dojo after school when he was late starting his lessons because of the school run, and had to bring her along, but he wouldn't let Kuina join in as she was too young. Instead, she had to sit and watch until it was time to go. As she had been watching their father practicing and teaching kendo to the children in the dojo, she had become interested in swordsmanship. She'd also been watching samurai films with Koshiro. When Kuina was playing with a toy sword and was copying the moves she'd seen on the T.V. as well as the ones from their father's classes, Zoro would watch her, and as he'd watch her, he'd become transfixed and would often try to imitate Kuina's poses.
Once they had caught Zoro imitating Kuina, they had bought him his own toy foam sword to play with. However, they had to eventually take it away from him for a while as he kept hitting Sanji with it whenever Zeff would bring the blond around. When Koshiro gave the foam sword back to Zoro, he tried showing him how to use it in self-defence - hoping that it would stop his son from using it on Sanji -, even though Zoro couldn't really understand what his father was showing him, but at that age he learned best through imitation.
Koshiro had been teaching Zoro defence technique stances, when Zeff barged in through the front door; carrying Sanji (they had recently given each other spare keys to their homes in case they ever needed them).
"I'm so sorry Koshiro, but can you watch Sanji for me? I'm needed at the Baratie. I don't know what's going on but those idiots I have working for me were sounding more panicky the longer I was still on the phone to them."
"Sure, I'll look after him for you."
Zeff sighs with relief as he passes Sanji over to Koshiro, "thank you, I'll be back as soon as I can."
Koshiro smiles and says goodbye to Zeff as the man rushes out to get to work, and he places Sanji on the floor next to Zoro, "I'll go and get some more toys out for you two."
As he goes upstairs to rummage through the wooden toy box in Zoro's room, Sanji and Zoro are staring at each other on the floor, in front of the sofa. The green-haired boy holds up his toy sword and shows it off to the other, who seems completely uninterested in the object. Zoro makes an annoyed sound before swinging the toy at Sanji, smacking the blond directly in the forehead. In retaliation for getting hit with the foam sword, Sanji kicks out at Zoro, trying to imitate the way he's seen Zeff kick his staff or any rude customers out of the Baratie, though obviously his kick has less force.
Zoro hits Sanji with his toy sword again, and the blond makes a grab for it, trying to snatch it off of Zoro. As the two of them keep fighting over the foam sword, Koshiro comes back downstairs, with a few of Zoro's toys for the both of them, and has to pry them away from each other as they are now grabbing and pulling at each other's clothes and hair.
Zoro and Sanji's constant fighting drives their fathers crazy. All they wanted was for their sons to get along and become friends. Koshiro and Zeff would often sit with them and try to make them play nicely with each other, but that wouldn't work either, just prolonged the eventual fight which would happen between them. As Zoro and Sanji got older, the fighting didn't stop, and they would mostly yell at each other or insult one another, only turning to violence when one of them initiated the fight.
Once they'd started school, their fathers would always have to rush out from work to pick them up when the fighting got too much for the teachers to handle. If it wasn't for them constantly pleading with the school, Zoro and Sanji would have been kicked out at just the age of four, for constant misbehaviour.
Zoro and Sanji had settled in nicely with most of the other children in their year when they first started school, and their teacher at the time had been very patient when dealing with them. The teacher for their first year in school was a young woman called Makino.
Makino is a kind teacher, who always likes to make sure that the children she's teaching are happy, and are not left out to play on their own. She has brown eyes, and black hair, which she'd often keep in a yellow bandana, and she teaches the reception class at the primary school Zoro and Sanji attended. The reception class is like a nursery or a preschool, where the children mostly learn through play. It is more of a transition class to help the children get used to the school, and for the teachers to learn where the children are in their development and what they can and can't do, before they'd go on to learning more through written work and other similar activities.
When Makino had Zoro and Sanji in her class, she found them to be quite a handful, but she could easily keep them in line. Most of the time, she found that Zoro and Sanji's fights in school were mainly started by Zoro being jealous that Sanji was spending more time with the other children instead of playing with him. She remembers that the first time she figured this out was not long before she confronted Zoro while he was sitting on his own one day….
Makino smiles as she glances around the room and watches the children playing together. She looks on in concern when she notices Zoro sitting in the corner of the room on his own, and makes her way over to him. Crouching down beside Zoro, she smiles when he looks at her, "what's wrong Zoro? Why aren't you playing with the other children?"
The four year old glances away from her and looks over to the small toy kitchen with the plastic pots, pans, foods and other kitchen accessories.
Makino follows his gaze and spots Sanji who is grinning as he plays with the toy kitchen set and makes pretend food for the girls that are playing with him.
"He'll only play with the girls," Zoro says with a pout.
"I see. So you want to play with Sanji too?"
A light blush tints Zoro's cheeks, "N-No!" he snaps, looking up at Makino with his eyes wide, "why would I want to play with him? I hate him…"
"Now now Zoro, hate is a strong word and I know you don't really mean it. Why don't you just go over and ask if you can play with them?"
"I don't wanna play with them, just Sanji… and even if I did, he won't let me."
Makino tries not to giggle as she finds it really cute that Zoro is admitting that he actually wants to play with Sanji, and she smiles as she glances over to the blond, then back to Zoro, "have you already asked him?"
"No…"
"Then how do you know that he won't let you join in? Come on Zoro, I'll go with you," Makino smiles as she gets up and holds out her hand for Zoro.
The green-haired boy looks at her hand for a while before gently placing his hand in hers and lets Makino take him over to Sanji and the girls.
"Sanji~ can you make tea for me and Zoro please~?" the teacher asks as Zoro sits on one of the small plastic chairs by the table, while she sits on the floor beside him.
Sanji looks over to them with his big blue eyes, and grins, "yes Ms. Makino~."
The blond goes over to the toy kettle and pretends to pour two cups of tea, one for Zoro, and one for Makino. He smiles as he hands his teacher her tea, then passes the other cup to Zoro, "here's your tea sir, please ask if you need anything, I hope you enjoy your stay~," Sanji says, fully getting into his role as a waiter.
Zoro grins as he takes the cup, "thank you, I will~."
Makino giggles quietly, and smiles as she pretends to drink tea, "mm~ this is good tea, Sanji."
Sanji grins and wiggles slightly in his spot with hearts in his eyes, "thank you, Ms. Makino~."
Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji catches Zoro rolling his eyes at him, so he snatches Zoro's cup of tea out of the green haired boy's hand.
"Oi! I wasn't finished with that yet!"
"So!" the blond four year old retorts as he sticks his tongue out at Zoro.
"Give it back, Curly-brow!"
"No, Marimo!"
The green haired boy makes a grab for the cup, and Sanji kicks Zoro's leg under the table. Before the fighting becomes more physical, Makino quickly stops them, "boys, there's no need to shout, and Sanji, it's not nice to snatch things from others, so hand the cup back. The both of you need to apologise to each other. If you two don't play nicely you'll have to have another time out and sit in the corner."
Zoro and Sanji show no signs of behaving as they pout and fold their arms, avoiding each other's eyes and mumbling a few hateful words towards one another. Makino sighs softly and leads the pair to the corner of the room which has two chairs. Zoro frowns as he sits in the little blue chair, while Sanji sits in the green one next to him.
"You're both in time-out for five minutes. When I come back I expect you to apologize to one another," Makino explains before leaving to help some of the other children.
Not a minute goes by before Zoro and Sanji are fighting again. Light kicks to each other's chair legs and mumbled insults are passed until Sanji kicks Zoro off of his chair. As he's too busy laughing, he fails to notice Zoro reaching out, and the blond squeaks when his chair is pulled out from under him, causing his to land harshly on the floor. Sanji glares at the green-haired boy then pounces on him. Hair is roughly pulled, arms and legs are swinging as they hit and kick out at each other, and Makino rushes over to try and stop them. As the shouting gets louder, the teacher from the class next door comes running in to see what's going on, and it's not long before the boys' fathers are called, and the two of them are reluctantly sitting outside the headmaster's office.
"This is your fault, moss-head."
"No it's not."
"I can hear you, you know!" the headmaster shouts, causing the two boys to jump in their seats.
Sanji glances to the floor and crosses his ankles, tucking them under his seat. They hear rushing footsteps, and he looks up to see Koshiro, who looks at them sternly as he makes his way over before he knocks on the door of the head master's office then goes inside.
A few minutes later, Koshiro walks back out and stands in front of them, "you're both lucky that they are not throwing you out already."
"Sorry…" Sanji says with a pout as he looks back down to the floor.
Koshiro sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, "and you, Zoro?"
"...Yeah. Me too…"
"Right, let's get the both of you home. Come on."
The boys get up from their chairs and follow Koshiro to the exit. Sanji bites his lip and looks down at his feet while he walks, "um, where's my dad?"
"It's the lunch time rush at the restaurant, he can't get away."
The blond simply nods, even though Koshiro can't see him, and he goes to stay at Zoro's until Zeff gets home. Once they get inside, they take off their shoes and coats.
"Right, I need to make a few phone calls, you two go and play in Zoro's room. I'll call you down for some snacks in a bit."
"N-No!"
"Yes Zoro. I know you don't like it when other people play with your toys, but you need to learn how to share."
Zoro bites his lip and quickly runs up the stairs and into his room.
Koshiro sighs as he watches his son, then turns to Sanji, "just go on up, and remember, no fighting."
In his room, Zoro makes a dash for his bed and grabs the brown teddy bear which is on his pillow. He quickly puts the bear into the back of his wardrobe, behind his other shoes and a few toys, and then hurriedly shuts the door.
As he turns around, Sanji walks in through the doorway. The blond glances around the surprisingly tidy room as he looks for something to play with and spots Zoro standing in front of the wardrobe door with his arms stretched out.
"What are you doing?"
"...Nothing."
"Are you hiding something?"
"No! Now go away!"
Sanji ignores his words and walks over to Zoro's bed. Zoro's bed has a built in compartment with sliding doors and it is where some of the green-haired boy's toys are kept. Most of the toys kept there are action figures with swords as weapons. Sanji remembers this, and though he has no interest in them, he goes to look in their anyway. Before he has a chance to open one of the doors Zoro shouts at him as he doesn't want Sanji to play with his things.
"Oi! Get away from there!"
"Are you going to move and stop me?" the blond says, and sticks his tongue out at Zoro before grabbing a few of the action figures and sitting on the floor with them in the middle of the room. The green-haired boy can tell that if he moves away from the door, that Sanji will try and look in there to see what he is hiding. He can't let Sanji know that he is hiding the other's teddy bear in his wardrobe, so he stays by the door and sits down in front of it, watching Sanji carefully while the blond plays with Zoro's toys.
They stay this way in silence, and it's not long before Zoro falls asleep in front of the wardrobe door, and eventually, Sanji gets bored and goes back downstairs to Koshiro.
A few hours later, Zoro wakes up when Kuina excitedly runs into his room after coming home from school.
"Zoro~, dad's taking me to the dojo tonight to train with the boys~."
"That's not fair…" Zoro says with a pout since he isn't old enough to attend the classes at the dojo yet.
His sister just smiles with excitement as she runs back downstairs; hugging Zeff who'd just turned up to get Sanji after finishing his day at work early.
Zeff chuckles as he returns the hug, "What's got you all worked up, Kuina?"
"Dad's letting me train at the dojo~."
"That's great, I'm sure you'll enjoy it," the older blond says with a smile as he gently picks up Sanji when Koshiro brings him to the door after helping him get his coat and shoes on, "we'll see you guys tomorrow, and Koshiro, bring Zoro over whenever you're ready to leave for the dojo in the morning."
Koshiro nods and thanks the other man as they say their goodbyes. Sanji spots Zoro sitting on the top step of the stairs, and he waves to the other boy. The simple gesture is returned before Sanji gets taken home, leaving Zoro alone at the top of the stairs.