Chapter 7 - The Storm

"Zoro~! Sanji~!"

They hear their names being called as they walk out of the school gates, and as they turn around they have no time to prepare for another one of Luffy's hugs which causes them all to topple to the ground.

"Luffy," Sanji groans, "how many times do i have to tell you to stop doing this?"

"Shishishishi~ But it's fun~. Don't you like my hugs?" the younger boy asks with a pout.

Somehow, during the fall, the blond must have turned towards Zoro, as his arm is across the swordsman's waist, and their legs are tangled together. Sanji notices and quickly gets up and away from Zoro once Luffy has gotten off of them so that they can move, and the cook rolls his eyes at the younger boy.

"No. You always use too much force and send us flying."

Luffy simply laughs and wraps his arms around them both as they walk away from the school, "guys~ let's walk home together~."

"Do we even have a choice in this?" Zoro asks.

"Shishishishi~ of course not~. We haven't walked home together in ages~."

"We walked home together yesterday," Sanji chuckles, "and here; I know what you're really here for."

The blond removes his backpack as they walk, and takes out a lunch box filled with chocolate chip cookies. He then puts his bag back on his back, and takes out two cookies, giving one to Zoro, before handing the box with the rest of them in, to Luffy.

"Yaay~ thank you~. I love Wednesdays~."

"That's only because I have practical in food tech, and you get to eat what I make."

Luffy laughs and scoffs down the cookies as they walk home.

"Hey Zoro, have you told him yet?" Luffy asks too loudly to be subtle.

"Told me what?"

"Nothing, cook. Just keep walking."

Sanji frowns and stops in his tracks, "what's going on? What aren't you telling me? Luffy?"

"U-uh… I don't what you mean…"

"You asked Zoro if he's told me yet, so you must know."

The swordsman groans as he and Luffy are forced to stop walking. That idiot…. Why did he have to ask me that now?

The blond taps his foot impatiently, and Zoro is unsurprised when Luffy sprints off ahead, claiming that his brother, Ace, is waiting for him and that he can't be late home. Sanji glares at Zoro and grabs his wrist, dragging him home. They enter into the cook's house and he's pulled into Sanji's bedroom, the grip on his wrist tightening, only letting go when the bedroom door is shut.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"I don't have time for this, you shitty swordsman, so tell what is going on. What do you know?"

"It's nothing."

"Like hell it is! I know when you're lying to me. Does this have to do with the reason you left Luffy's party early the other week?"

Zoro glances away as the cook glares at him, waiting for his answer. He knows now that he can't get away without telling Sanji the truth.

"Fine. I'll tell you. But you're not going to like it…."

"I don't like your face but there's nothing I can do about that."

Zoro rolls his eyes, "okay, well…. Law's cheating on you…"

"W-What?!"

"At the party, I caught them upstairs, making out with each other."

Sanji's eyes widen and he shakes with rage at this information.

"I'm sorry cook. I can tell you're angry at him, who wouldn't be? But just think about. You're better off without that cheating bastard anyway."

"I'm not angry at him," Sanji growls, "I'm angry at you! I should have seen this coming. We all know you hate him, but to say that he's cheating, just to split us up? That's low, even for you."

"Oi! I'm not making this up. I saw them! Yeah I hate him, but I wouldn't say all this just to upset you."

"Upset? I'm not upset! I'm fucking pissed off!"

"I'm not the one you should be getting angry at here!"

"...You're lying! He wouldn't do that to me!"

"Everyone knows Law's past relationships failed because he was cheating on them with Kid! You know that!"

"He's changed!"

"Hah, you're delusional, shit-cook!"

"Yeah?! Well I'm not the one who caused my sister's death! It was 10 years ago marimo! Get the fuck over it!"

Zoro's eyes widen at the words, and he clenches his fists to his sides, "You fucking bastard, I hate you! I wish I'd never met you!"

With that, the fight comes to comes to an end, and the swordsman rushes out of the house, stomping his way next door to his own, both of them leaving it with words they wished they'd never said.

A few weeks later after their fight, they still haven't spoken to each other, and Sanji is making his way to Law's apartment during his lunch break to surprise his boyfriend with some lunch. This is one of the first days off from work that Law has had in a while, and Sanji wants them to have their lunch together. The blond is still pissed off about what Zoro said about his boyfriend. He knows that they both said things that they regret, especially himself. He should have never have said what he did about Kuina's death. He knows that it wasn't Zoro's fault. He'd just gotten so angry that those words had fallen out of his mouth before he could stop them. He wasn't thinking straight. With that being said, he is in no way going to be the first one to apologise. Yeah, he'll admit that he said went way over the line, but Zoro had said some pretty hurtful things back, and he is not going to apologise until Zoro admits that what he said to him about Law is not true.

Although he and Zoro are not on good terms, he's still been having wet dreams about the swordsman. His feelings for his best friend, well, currently ex best friend, have become so much more confusing since their fight, and he has become more paranoid about what Law has been up to. Though he knows it's not true as Law gas just been busy with work a lot more recently, that's it. And so, that's why he is now at Law's apartment. It will be their first time hanging out probably since that time they'd gotten stuck in a lift before rearranging the furniture in Law's apartment.

Opening the door, Sanji steps into Law's living room and calls out to his boyfriend as he shuts the door behind him. He frowns when he gets no answer, and proceeds to place the lunch he's brought with him, onto the kitchen counter. After calling out once more, he hears a muffled noise coming from the bedroom so he makes his way down the hallway and towards Law's bedroom door. Another noise, and this time he can tell that what he is hearing are muffled moans. His pulse picks up, and his heart pounds as he reaches for the door handle. The moans have gotten louder, and he can hear the creaks from the bed moving in a steady rhythm. That can't be what he thinks it is, right? There's just no way…..

His eyes widen when he opens the door to see another man on top of his boyfriend. And not just any man. That man is Kid. The two quickly pull away from each other when they finally realise he's there.

"Shit…. Sanji, I…. It's not what it looks like…"

"Hah, seriously? What else could it have fucking been? Don't treat like some dumb kid," Sanji growls as he makes his way into the room and in front of Law, "You're both naked and in your bed. What innocent explanation can there can be? You fucking piece of shit!"

The blond kicks Law harshly, causing the older the man to fall to the ground as he was unprepared for the attack.

"I should have fucking known. No…. I should have believed the stupid moss ball when he told me. But I thought he was just trying to split us up because he hated you. I trusted you… And you…," Sanji growls, turning his anger towards Kid who's still standing there in his naked glory, not showing any kind of remorse or regret for his actions, "…if you fucking wanted him you should have just got with him instead of messing up other people's relationships! You two are welcome to each other."

Sanji turns to leave, but is stopped by a strong grip on his wrist, "Sanji, don't go. I don't want him, I want you."

"Then you should have thought of that before you fucking slept with him. You're the one in denial here. Not me. Not anymore…. Enjoy your lunch."

Law finally lets go of him and he quickly leaves the apartment. He can't believe he's been so stupid. He feels more anger than hurt. And he realises now that he was never really in love with Law, he just wanted to feel loved, and that the older man was just the next one who came along. And Law definitely didn't love him, being able to do what he did. Realising this doesn't make him feel any better. In fact, it just makes him feel worse. Sanji feels that all of his past relationships failed because of himself. He'd either give too much, or too little. Maybe I really am unlovable...There's no fucking way I can face that marimo after this... especially after what I said to him….

With one week left until the kendo tournament, Zoro has been skipping out of some of his school lessons in order to train. Luckily Koshiro had managed to convince the school headmaster to allow him to have a few afternoons off during the school week for this very reason. Zoro has also been allowed an authorised absence for the two days that the tournament is being held. The city that the tournament is being held at is around six hours away, so the plan is to leave early morning on the first day in order to make it there on time. A hotel has been booked for the first night only, as after the second day, Zoro will need to get back home so that he can attend school the following day. Unfortunately he couldn't get three days off unless he attended all of his lessons this week.

Zoro's friends aren't allowed to miss school as they are not the ones who will be competing in the tournament. However, he knows that Luffy is planning on going anyway, and trying to convince the others to go too. Robin, Franky and Brook, obviously can't go as they will be teaching, and the only other person who definitely can't go because of his cooking exam, is Sanji….

Back at the D brothers' party, the cook had said that he would try to make it for the second day of the tournament, but Zoro doubts that it will happen now. Not because he won't make it through to the second day, but because of the fight that they had. He knew it would have been a bad idea to tell Sanji, even if it was the right thing to do, but he didn't expect things to get so out of hand.

Zoro switches from doing push ups, to using his training weights, but his vigorous training isn't progressing as planned since Sanji's hurtful words are buzzing angrily inside the swordsman's head like a swarm of wasps. I can't believe he said that! I was only doing the right thing by telling him Law was fucking cheating on him…. And what he said about Kuina…..Her death was my fault, but he didn't have to bring it up again… Whatever, he's a moron anyway...but I'm still in love with that idiot cook...

Nothing is calming Zoro's thoughts, not even training, but the swordsman knows he has nothing to apologize for, except for saying he'd wished that he and the blonde had never met, because that was not true at all.

The swordsman stops what he's doing to take a breather. I have to pull myself together. I can't let the cook get in the way of my training. Hawk eyes is rumoured to be at the tournament next week, and I need to be ready.