Written for mustangisinflames on Tumblr who wanted a sequel to the drabble on Ch. 6 The Tango (I recommend reading that one first before reading this one).
Opening night of the show saw Sanji backstage amongst the chaos of everyone in the production getting everything in place. Sanji couldn't blame everyone's nervous anticipation, this was his first production too. In a few minutes, each person among the audience will get to watch Sanji's choreography with a critical eye and the blond's heart raced at the thought.
Yet despite his nervousness, Sanji was absolutely certain that everyone would do well. Even...even the shitty moss head.
Sanji sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Ever since his private dance lesson with Zoro, the blond had tried his damned hardest to avoid the other man. It wasn't too hard. It seemed that Zoro was finished mocking the dance instructor, choosing instead to focus on the show's rehearsals. He had heard from Robin the day before opening night that ever since his private lesson with Zoro, the male lead had been doing exceptionally well during rehearsals, dancing and all. The thought that the intense dance and close contact that the two men shared that day was probably nothing more than a prank made Sanji's heart clench uncomfortably. He didn't need to be feeling anything for the big muscled brute and it was better if he just didn't see him for the rest of his life.
"Five minutes before opening!" The stage manager announced.
"Thank you, five!" Came the chimed reply from everyone. Sanji let out another sigh and made his way toward the exit. He needed a cigarette.
A rough, large hand grabbed the blond's shoulder, halting him in his tracks. Sanji mentally swore as he felt the familiar heat of Zoro's body reach his skin.
Glancing over his shoulder, Sanji scowled. "What do you want, moss head?"
Zoro had the same unreadable expression that he always did, but this time it was emphasized with the man's thick make up.
"Aren't you going to watch the show?" Zoro asked, removing his hand and freeing Sanji from the uncomfortable heat that it provided.
"Of course," Sanji rolled his eyes. "I helped practically make this show, the least I can do is make sure you shitty actors don't screw it up. I'm just going out for a smoke."
The two lapsed into silence then, Sanji left feeling uneasy by Zoro's intense stare.
Finally, Zoro opened his mouth. "Look, curly-brow, about the other day-"
Robin's arrival cut the green haired man off. The female lead gave the men a polite smile before offering her hand to Zoro.
"Shall we get into place, Zoro?" she asked.
Zoro grunted an affirmative before glancing back at Sanji. "We're not done here. We'll talk during intermission."
With that, the two leads made their way to their blocking leaving the blond dancer behind. Sanji's fingers reached for his smokes. The marimo bastard wanted to talk, huh? All the more reason to avoid him then.
/
Intermission came much too quickly for Sanji's liking. He'd been enjoying the show so far, impressed and proud that the ensemble were making the blond's choreography something to applaud at. A few of them were staggering behind a bit, something he would need to remind them about later, but Sanji was happy nonetheless.
All the while, the dancer instructor stubbornly refused to watch Zoro's performance. He assumed the other man was doing well (based on the audience's positive reaction every time the man finished a song) but really, the last thing the blond wanted to see was Zoro dancing his dances. It only brought back memories of dancing together, of Zoro holding him impossibly tight and close, matching each other step for step. Yeah, Sanji really didn't need those memories.
When the speakers announced that there would be a 15 minute intermission, Sanji darted away from the stage as quickly as he could. All he had to do was avoid Zoro and the conversation that the green haired actor wanted for 15 minutes and then he'd be free.
The first five minutes had been easy. Sanji assumed Zoro would head straight to his dressing room first to change into his next costume and reapply make up, before going to look for him. So Sanji made his way over to Robin's dressing room. It was far enough away from Zoro's and he was sure Robin would be sweet enough to let him hide out in there until intermission was over. Who knows, maybe he'd even get to watch Robin change too...
Knocking on the female lead's door, Sanji called out sweetly. "Robin, my dear! Are you there?"
The door was yanked open and Sanji's heart stopped at the sight of who opened it.
Zoro stood before the blond dancer, smiling wildly as he watched Sanji's expression morph from confused to horrified.
Before Sanji could make a run for it, Zoro grabbed the other man by his collar and pulled him roughly inside the dressing room, shutting and locking the door behind them.
"Let go of me you shitty bastard!" Sanji struggled against the actor's tight hold. Why the hell was Zoro in Robin's dressing room? A quick look around showed no sign of the woman, the two men the only occupants of the room. The blond attempted to turn himself around to face the other man directly. If he could just get one good kick on the bastard he could make a quick escape.
"Quit struggling!" Zoro ordered trying to keep out of reach from the blond's lashing legs while keeping a firm grip on him.
"Like hell, asshole! Let go!"
"Not until you tell me why you've been avoiding me."
The unexpected response caused Sanji to pause in his attempt to escape. Not meeting the actor's eyes, Sanji grumbled under his breath.
"How do you know I'm avoiding you, moss bastard? It's not like we're friends or something."
Taking advantage of Sanji's lax state, Zoro made his grip on the man tighter. Sanji could feel Zoro's hard stare.
"Ever since that dance practice you won't even come within five feet of me. When the rehearsals were just me and Robin you refused to come at all!" Zoro went quiet then, long enough for Sanji to get curious and glance up at the man's face. The actor was still watching him but his expression was much softer than before. "Was it something I did?"
Something inside Sanji snapped at the moment. In a fit of anger the blond dancer yanked himself away from Zoro's hold and delivered a hard kick to the green haired man's gut. Zoro grunted in pain from the impact, falling to the floor with his arms clutching his stomach.
"Was it something you did?" Sanji repeated in anger. "You shitty bastard, you know what you did! Who the fuck goes through all the trouble of pretending to be shit at dancing just to fucking mock me in the end, huh? Shitty, stupid, idiotic, algae assholes, that's who!"
Sanji couldn't stay in this room, not with the other man, he needed to leave before he made it so that Zoro wouldn't be able to walk back on stage after the intermission. Grounding his teeth together and shaking with fury, Sanji stalked his way toward the room's door fully intending to leave the whole mess behind.
A pair of tanned arms wrapped itself around Sanji's torso, stopping the blond at the door. Sanji could feel Zoro's chest pressing against his back bringing him back to the intimate moment of their dancing when they had been this close before. Zoro leaned forward enough for his breathe to tickle the dancer's ear and Sanji suppressed the urge to shudder at the feeling.
"Let go."
"Not until you listen to me, curly-browed diva." Sanji snorted at the nickname but otherwise stayed silent. "I didn't pretend to be bad to make fun of you. It's just...since the beginning you worked closely with everyone, even some of the other guys. You gave everyone one-on-one help...except me. And maybe I got cocky at the end there, sure, but I wasn't trying to make fun of you." Sanji could feel Zoro's smirk press against his ear. "Not that time at least."
Zoro released the other man then, waiting for Sanji's reaction to the news. When the blond did finally turn around he was watching Zoro's expression carefully.
"So you did all of that to...get my attention?" Sanji couldn't decide whether to be flattered or smug about the fact that the bastard went through all the trouble of trying to get closer to him. He decided to go with smug when he saw Zoro looking at everything but the blond.
"Ah, well...you know." As Zoro struggled to find something to say, Sanji took pity on the man deciding to close the distance between them once more.
"Hey marimo," Sanji smirked. "Would you like to dance the tango with me again?"
/
When the stage manager came looking for Zoro, panicked that the man missed the call that intermission was over, he found Sanji and Zoro stumbling out of Robin's dressing room flustered and disheveled. The blond frantically claimed to have been giving Zoro some last minute pointers for his next dance but Zoro's satisfied grin spoke of something else entirely.