Hello again~!

It's chapter 4 already (time flies). My thanks go to my pre-readers and of course everyone who read and review my stories (if I haven't gotten back to your review, like always, I'm sorry ^^;)

Please enjoy!

Hot as Fire

Chapter 4

"Now go left," a metallic female voice came from the navigation system. Zoro put on his indicator.

The blond chef next to him sighed deeply. "The other left, Marimo."

The swordsman looked at him confused. "But there's only one left."

"Yes, the complete opposite direction of were you were about to go."

Zoro muttered something about making up their minds which direction was which, but he put on the indicator to the left at the last second.

Sanji couldn't hide his smile. Nami had been right that they should take all the time they could get, with Zoro's sense of direction… At first the blonde had trusted the swordsman had known were he was going, after all, he just had to follow the signs. After their third U-turn, Sanji had found a navigation system in the glove compartment, but that hardly helped the directionally challenged marimo. Then the cook had resolved in pointing out the directions with his hands, but Zoro had only gotten mad and yelled he wasn't retarded. So now Sanji only interfered when the other man put his wrong indicator on – which was most of the time.

The silence in the car was probably good for Zoro to focus on the road, but it made the chef uneasy. "Is Nami the one that called you when I was at your place?" he dared to ask.

"Yeah."

Sanji sighed. How on earth had he thought the moss headed swordsman would answer with more than one word. "So how did you meet?"

"College."

The blonde felt like smashing his head into the dashboard. Was it too much to ask to elaborate of his own record? "So you guys have been friends for a long time?" he asked with clenched teeth.

"I suppose. Though Nami and Luffy are more than friends now."

"Eeh?!" Sanji's jaw almost hit the floor. "They're dating?!"

The green haired man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. You didn't get that?"

"But how can a beautiful swan like that date someone like Luffy? Although," he continued musing, "it does explain why she didn't gave in to my advances."

"No. That's just because you are a moron."

"What did you say?!"

Though he had already seen some of the cook's flexibility, it still surprised him when the blond man managed to kick him without taking his seatbelt off.

They drove further in silence, aside from the occasional directions from Sanji, when the chef asked: "So, what's with the swords?"

"Kendo."

The blonde rolled his eyes. "I assumed that much. But real swords?"

Zoro shrugged. "Swords always fascinated me. And real ones are more fun than wooden ones. What's with the kicks?"

Sanji decided to answer Zoro-style. "Savate."

"That's French, right?"

"Yeah. I did a chef's training in France, when I learned it existed. Zeff's always kicking me, so I figured he has learned it as well. He's created is own style, though. Anyway, I wanted to beat him, so basically all I did in France was cooking and training. And flirting with beautiful women of course."

At the last remark Zoro rolled his eyes, but then he asked: "But you can use your hands in savate, right? Why don't you?"

"You really know your martial arts," Sanji said a little impressed. "Yes, according to the rules you can use your open hand in combat. But as a chef, my hands are way too important to risk. Besides, the way I fight is how it was intended, by sailors who had their hands full back in the 1800s," he added in a cocky way. "Take this exit."

A bit caught off guard, Zoro asked unintelligently: "Huh?"

"This exit. Go right! Follow the huge sign which says 'airport'!" Sanji waved with his right hand impatiently.

Hastily Zoro put on his indicator and at the last moment swung the steering wheel to the right, ignoring the sounds of angry honking behind him.

"So, what does the guy looks like?" Zoro asked frowning as they were making their way through the crowd.

"Hm, old geezer, grumpy. He's blond and has a moustache." Sanji thought for a moment. "Ah, and he has a peg leg."

"Shouldn't you have said that one first?" Zoro mumbled. Really, there were a lot of people with moustaches, weren't there? And how many people had peg legs nowadays?

But when he saw the guy, he understood why Sanji had mentioned the moustache first. It was huge, and on top of that, it was braided.

The younger chef didn't wave, he just strolled to the restaurant owner and nodded to him in acknowledgment. "Old geezer."

"Eggplant," was the gruff response.

Zoro looked from one to the other. There was a lot of tension in the air. Both man stood in a defensive pose, ready to strike.

Finally the older man snorted and the tension seemed to drain. "So, who's the grass head?"

Sanji couldn't help but smirk at Zoro's new nickname. "Your chauffeur. My car broke down, so Marimo offered to bring you home."

"My name's not Marimo. At least introduce me properly, Curly-brow!" the swordsman snapped. Then he looked at the older chef. "I'm Zoro."

"Zeff. So, String-bean, now your car's broken too? You can't do anything right, can you?"

Zoro watched Sanji's cheeks flush with anger. This man really knew how to rile him up. But then again, so did the swordsman. He smirked. The blonde looked rather cute like this.

"Just be happy I took the time to pick you up, you shitty old fart!"

While the two argued Zoro's mind drifted to the conversation he had with Sanji earlier. When the chef had talked about the sailors who invented savate. 'Quite fitting,' he thought, now that he heard him argue. The man cussed like a sailor himself. Though Zeff had quite a colourful vocabulary as well. They only stopped bickering when a large group of people had gathered around them and Sanji saw a young mother put her hands over the ears of her son. Abruptly he shut up.

Zeff cleared his throat. "Let's leave now, before someone calls the cops. Again. Now, go get my suitcase."

"You heard the man," Sanji smirked at Zoro, which earned him a kick in the head with Zeff's peg leg. "I meant you, String-bean."

As they walked to the car, Sanji lit a cigarette. Zeff snorted. "And you're sure not one of those cancer sticks burned down my restaurant?"

"I already told you, it was arson, old man!"

Zeff snorted again. "With a bunch of incompetent chefs such as yourself, I find that hard to believe."

"The police even made an arrest!" The blonde massaged his temples with his fingers. "That's it. Tomorrow I call the arson inspector and let him explain it to you. Fortunately, he seemed like a man with a lot of patience."

As Zoro walked to the door at the side of the driver's seat, Sanji crushed the butt of his cigarette. "Are you sure I shouldn't drive?"

"Why would you drive? It's my damn car."

The blonde rolled his eyes. "I know it's yours. Mine doesn't look like it is going to fall apart by mere looking at it. But it's getting late and with your sense of direction…"

"There is noting wrong with my sense of direction."

"Okay, think quickly. What's your right hand?"

Zoro held up his right hand. "This is." Seeing Sanji's raised eyebrow, he added uncertain: "Isn't it?"

An amused smirk spread across the cook's face. "I knew it. It was just a lucky guess. Now give me the damn car keys."

"Like hell! How do I know that weird looking thing you call an eyebrow doesn't have an effect on your brain?"

"At least my eyebrow isn't spread across my head. It could only influence a small part of my brain, unlike the roots of the grass growing in your head!"

While they were bickering, Zeff yawned. "Could you two continue this at home? You sound like an old married couple."

Turning around sharply, Sanji exclaimed: "Don't you dare call us that, old geezer!"

The restaurant owner shrugged. "It's none of my business what you do in your free time. Now, let's head home, so the two of you can have make up sex."

Zoro snickered. The blonde looked furious right now, so the swordsman decided to give one last push. "Come on, dear."

That did it. Sanji exploded. The only thing what the swordsman could see was a rain of kicks landing down on him. Though he defended himself as well as he could without his swords, for a second he thought this was how he would die. It had been worth it, though.

Fortunately, Zeff intervened and prevented his untimely death. "Stop playing around, Lil' Eggplant." With a swift kick in the head, the younger chef froze and rubbed the painful spot. He was still mumbling cuss words when Zoro stepped grinning behind the steering wheel.

After some detours they finally arrived at Zeff's house. It was an old building, but well maintained. Zoro stayed in the car as Sanji helped the older man unload his suitcase out of the boot. He looked up when he heard someone knocking on the window. "Come in, grasshopper, I'll make you some food," the restaurant owner said.

Not knowing whether he should be insulted or not, the green haired man stepped out of the car. The first thing he saw though, was Sanji's smirking face. "You're coming too?" he asked gruff.

"Of course I'm coming. Just be honoured you are allowed to spent more time in my company." The blonde tilted his head in a cocky way.

Zoro snorted, but followed the cook anyway. At least he had a nice view.

Inside Zeff immediately went to the kitchen. The younger cook was right behind him, but after a few minutes he was back, sitting on the couch next to Zoro and handing him a beer.

"Shouldn't you be in the kitchen?" the green haired man asked taking a sip.

Sanji snorted. "Like the old geezer will let me help."

They sat in silence for a while. Zoro noticed that the blonde had brought a coke for himself and couldn't help but grin. It seemed like the young chef wasn't comfortable drinking around him anymore.

"So," broke Sanji the silence. It was obvious he was ill at ease. "Did you think of anything yet?"

"A favour for you to do, you mean? No, not yet."

The cook took a relieved breath, but said: "Okay, let me know when you do."

A little while after that Zeff came in holding three plates. He gave Sanji and Zoro each one and then took a seat in an old rocking chair. He and the blond started to talk about the restaurant and shit, so the swordsman tuned them out. He had been getting hungry again in the meantime and attacked the food like he hadn't eaten in days. It was delicious, even better than Sanji's cooking. Well, now he had met the master.

Sanji looked at him disgusted as he crammed down the food. "You're starting to look like Luffy, Marimo."

"'s Good," he answered with his mouth full.

Zeff nodded approvingly seeing his healthy appetite. Then he turned to Sanji. "Why are you letting that poor boy starve? I surely taught you better than that."

"Starve? We just ate right before we came to pick you up! True, there was another guy who seemed to have a black hole instead of a stomach, but I made sure everyone ate enough. Like I always do."

Zeff just shook his head.

The next morning Sanji woke up late. They had ended up staying quite a while with the old geezer. Zeff had liked Zoro, much to the blonde's annoyance. To think that the two most irritating people he knew could gang up on him… He already regretted introducing them.

After that Zoro had brought him home, even though he and Zeff didn't live far apart. For some reason there had been a lot of tension in the air. When they arrived at Sanji's place, the green haired man had scratched the back of his head and asked if he should walk him to the door. The blonde had yelled at him that this wasn't a fucking date and that he was taking the old man's married couple joke too far. After that he had slammed the car door shut.

He sighed and stood up to take a shower. Maybe he had overreacted, but he was tired and the guy just knew how to get under his skin. When he had left Zoro's place, he could have just walked out of there and never looked back. But his pride withheld him. He couldn't just let that favour go unreturned, even if he hadn't asked for it. But at that point he had just thought he would repay his debt and that would be it. But as it turned out, Zoro was everywhere. And the worst was that it were just coincidences. If the swordsman was stalking him, he could beat the shit out of him and get a restraining order or something. But no, it were fucking coincidences and there was nothing he could do about it. Especially now that Zeff liked the marimo. No, he was stuck with him.

Sighing he dried himself off and made a light breakfast. He decided not to think about it anymore. At least not until Zoro had thought of something to repay his debt.

After he had eaten he grabbed the phone to call the arson inspector. Maybe he could get through to the shitty old geezer's thick skull and Zeff would stop accusing Sanji of the destruction of the restaurant.

The phone rung a few times before it was answered.

"Marco Fenwick."

"Hey Marco, it's Sanji. From the Baratie."

"Ah, yes. What can I do for you?"

"You said to call if I had any questions. Well, the owner, Zeff, is back in town and he doesn't seem to believe the whole arson story."

It stayed silent at the other end of the line for a moment. Sanji was just about to check if the man was still there, when Marco continued: "He doesn't believe it's arson?"

"No. He keeps accusing me and the other chefs of doing something stupid to let it happen."

The arson inspector burst into laughter. "That's so ironic. Usually someone does something stupid and people wish it was arson. But now it's the other way around and he's still not happy."

The blonde waited patiently until the man was done hiccupping, before he asked: "So I was wondering if you could explain it to Zeff. Maybe if he hears the technical details, he'll believe it."

Sanji heard some ruffling through papers, probably Marco was checking his dayplanner. "Sure, if you like, I could pop by tonight. I'll be there around six."

"That would be great, thanks. I'll make sure there's dinner."

"That's the least I expect when visiting two chefs," Marco joked.

It was towards six thirty when the doorbell rang. Though Sanji had promised he would take care of dinner, Zeff had kicked him out of the kitchen before he could have gotten an apron. Grumbling something about shitty old farts who thought they could do it better, the younger chef opened the door and showed Marco in. The arson inspector was a tall, slightly muscled man in his early thirties, with blond hair in an odd hairstyle, for some reason reminding Sanji of a pineapple. He had some stubble on his chin from a few days not shaving. His eyes were a bit droopy, as if he was really bored, but the chef had soon learned that was just his face in a relaxed state. In reality he was quite nice to talk to.

Sanji showed Marco in and called for Zeff. The older cook came in with in his hands a steaming bowl, filled with food.

"First we eat," he said gruff after curtly introducing himself.

During dinner Marco explained Zeff the technical details about the fire. He had found traces of an inflammable fluid. Sanji hardly listened. He had already heard the story and at this point all he could think about is what Zoro might have in store for him. So much for not thinking about it.

"So, how's the investigation going?"

Marco's question started him from his thoughts. "Sorry?"

"The investigation. Or doesn't the police keep you up-to-date?"

"O yeah, that. Actually, they already arrested someone."

Taking a bite, Marco raised an eyebrow. "So soon? They really want that pyromaniac behind bars. Have you seen him?"

The chef nodded. "Though I don't think he did it. I mean, what kind of fireman is a firebug at night?"

Marco's fork paused on the way to his mouth. "Fireman?"

"Yeah. Name's Ace."

Now the fork slipped from the man's hand and his eyes widened. "P-Portgas?!"

"I don't know the guy's last name," Sanji shrugged. "Ya know him?"

The arson inspector wiped his fork clean with his napkin, his cheeks slightly red from embarrassment. "We've never met."

The younger chef exchanged a confused look with Zeff as Marco seemed to be lost in thought. "That explains some things," the arson inspector mumbled.

Sanji was about to ask if he meant that Ace was capable of arson, but his adoptive father shook his head almost unnoticeable. Marco had his own things to deal with.

After dinner the arson inspector politely refused coffee and got ready to leave, saying he still had stuff to. Sanji didn't buy that though. Ever since he revealed Ace was arrested, the man had been rather quiet.

So when the arson inspector had left the house, he quickly said goodbye to Zeff and followed Marco outside. "You okay?" he asked.

The other man stopped and toyed with his car keys. "Sure. I just need to do stuff."

"Like what?"

When Marco didn't answer him, he continued: "Wanna grab a beer? On me of course."

"I just got a free dinner."

"I know. But if you're going to worry about shit, what better way to do it than with booze?" Sanji explained chuckling.

The arson inspector thought it over for a moment, and then nodded. "Sure. A beer sounds good."

The two of them strolled to Marco's car, a light blue sports wagon. Sanji whistled impressed. "Nice car. Getting a bit overpaid?"

Marco just smirked and got behind the wheel, as Sanji opened the door on the passengers side. The seats were from leather. This car was so much better than the rust-bucket Zoro called his ride. He really should stop thinking about that guy, before it drove him mad. The marimo wasn't here and for the first time in a long time he was out with someone he actually got along with. No way he let that green haired bastard ruin his night without even being there.

They drove to the nearest bar, but before Marco could get out of the car, Sanji stopped him. "Hey, before we go… What's your sexual preference?" That sounded way worse than it did in his head, and when he saw the other man's raised eyebrows, he knew Marco thought so too. "I didn't mean it like that…" He was really bad at this, so much had he proven in his conversation with Ace. "Look, I was just wondering, in case there are girls, which there probably are, if you would be interested."

Marco looked at him for a while with his bored expression. "They're all yours," he then said and got out of the car.

Sanji followed him hastily. "I haven't offended you, have I?" He was a bit worried his new friend had taken his words the wrong way.

The arson inspector stopped, one hand in his pocket, standing in a relaxed pose. "Just buy me an extra beer," he smirked.

Inside Sanji ordered two beers. Again he was very glad Zoro wasn't there, he didn't dare to drink a single drop of alcohol near the swordsman. A shiver went down his spine as he recalled what had happened at Zoro's house. Marco raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything and started on his beer.

The blonde chef couldn't help but check the door every few seconds, expecting the green haired man to barge in any minute. After all, the swordsman always seemed to be where he was, those fucking coincidences. When he turned around to take another sip, he saw that Marco had already ordered a second beer. The arson inspector looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"What? Hell no!" Flushed he grabbed his beer bottle. Damn marimo bastard even got on his nerves when he wasn't around.

Marco just shrugged and continued his drink. Sanji had only finished half his bottle when the other man ordered another and by the time he finished his beer, Marco had switched to something stronger. The blonde cook wanted to point out he only offered a few beers, but then he noticed some girls waving at him.

"Do you mind?" he asked his friend, who shrugged again, already pretty tipsy.

Sanji walked, or better danced, to the girls and offered them a drink. Every once in a while he would cast a worried glance to his new friend, who was still alone at the bar drinking. But at least he wasn't thinking about a certain green haired swordsman. He could practically hear Zoro snort and call him an idiot for fussing over these girls. But really, who was the idiot? The girls were sweet and cute, they all deserved his attention. Stupid Muscle-head.

Fuck, he was thinking about him again. Quickly he focussed his attention on a brunette who was telling about her supposedly really cute dog. Until his eye caught the bartender, who was serving Marco again. Shit, the man was really drinking away. Something had to really bother him. Sanji was inclined to introduce the girls to him, but the arson inspector had made clear he wasn't interested. They were all his, he'd said, which could mean that he either was in a relationship or he just wasn't interested in girls. The chef thought the latter.

Something told him Marco's drinking had something to do with Ace. Though the arson inspector had insisted they had never met, the man had become rather quiet after he'd heard Ace was arrested. And now he was drinking like a fish.

The chef was startled out of his thoughts when a girl whispered something in his ear and he almost swooned. He shouldn't worry so much. Marco could deal with his own problems. Or so he thought. Before he could respond to the girl, he saw from the corner of his eye that the head of the arson inspector fall on the bar. He sighed. "I should go help my friend." The girls made a disappointed sound. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "He seems to be very drunk, so I better bring him home. But I promise we will meet again soon."

"Ah Sanji, you're such a good friend," the brunette with the dog sighed.

He smiled at her and was about to pay her some compliment, when Marco almost fell off his bar stool. Cussing to himself, he hurried himself to his friend and helped him on his feet. "Come on, time to go." He paid the bartender before he directed himself to Marco again. "Give me your car keys."

The other man glazed at him.

Sanji rolled his eyes. He would have to find the keys himself. Marco didn't have any breast pockets, so they should be in one of the pockets of his pants. Sighing, Sanji searched him, until he heard something chink. He put his hand in Marco's left pocket, when he heard giggling behind him. It must really look like he was feeling the man up. But no, that couldn't be the cause of the girls' merit, they would not have such filthy thoughts. Fishing the keys from Marco's pocket, he slung the man's arm around his shoulders, waved at the girls one last time and made his way to Marco's car.

Somehow, he actually was kind of glad the arson inspector got drunk, because now he had the chance to drive his awesome car. Sanji hoisted Marco in the passengers seat and took place behind the wheel. He didn't even bother asking the man where he lived. He found a navigation system in the glove compartment and simply pressed on 'My home'. Fortunately, Marco didn't live far away from his own house, as he had to walk home.

The next day he received two phone calls. One was from Marco, apologizing for his behaviour last night and explaining he normally didn't drink that much, but right now he was under a lot of stress. Sanji brushed aside his apologies, saying everybody got drunk sometimes. Marco then hung up with a thank-you for bringing him and his car safely home.

The second call came from a number he didn't know. After staring at his ringing phone for a few seconds he decided to answer. "Sanji Prince."

Zoro had been nervous all day. Finally he had thought of something Sanji could do for him, something that would work for his benefit as well, and now he was trying to find the courage to call the blonde. He didn't really know why he was so anxious. The worst Sanji could do over the phone was laugh at him or yell at him and he was used to that. Taking a deep breath, he dialled the number.

"Sanji Prince."

When he heard the suave voice, for a second he was taken aback. It wasn't until the chef asked: "Hello?", that he cleared his throat and said: "Yeah, Curly-brow?"

"Marimo?" the voice at the other end asked.

Zoro scratched the back of his head. "You're probably wondering why I'm calling–"

"You've thought of a thing I can do." It almost sounded like a sigh. "Lemme hear it."

"Well, the thing is, I need a date–"

"I told you, Marimo, I don't swing that way."

"It's not like that!" the swordsman burst out. "If you just would let me finish a damn sentence." When it stayed silent at the other end of the line, he continued: "This Saturday is my cousin's wedding. Normally I wouldn't go to these family events, but I kinda like Vivi, and her fiancé is nice as well. And I've already said I would bring my boyfriend."

"But you don't have one. You didn't strike me as the type that cared whether he was single."

"I don't. It's just… Another cousin of mine is coming as well. She's really annoying, always sneaking up on me like a damn ghost or something. For some reason she seems to think I'm cute and tries to put me in a bear suit."

It stayed silent for a moment. Then Sanji said: "I'm sorry, I thought you said she wants to put you in a bear suit."

Zoro sighed. "I did. But now I thought, if I brought my boyfriend, we could act all clingy and she wouldn't dare to come close."

"And you want me to act as your boyfriend?"

"That's right."

"Why me?"

"Well, I wanted to ask Ace, but that's not really an option anymore, is it? And perhaps that would be kinda awkward, with his past with Vivi."

"He dated your cousin?!"

"Briefly. They separated as friends though."

"And why don't you take Luffy?"

Zoro snorted. "Why the hell would I want a rubber ball like him to play my boyfriend? Besides, he's already going as Nami's date. She's the maid of honour. She and Vivi were BFF's in high school, or whatever chicks call it."

"So, let me get this straight. I have to play your boyfriend during this wedding, and if I do that, I'm out of your debt?"

Zoro shrugged, not realising Sanji could not see him. He never thought Sanji was in his debt in the first place, but the blonde had insisted. "If you do a convincing job, sure."

"Don't underestimate me, Muscle-head. I'm a great actor."

"So…" The swordsman hesitated. "Will you do it?"

He heard a click and a hiss, Sanji had lit a cigarette. "Okay."

Zoro frowned. "Really?" He hadn't expect the cook to agree so easily.

"Sure, why the hell not? I mean, you could have asked for much worse. But now you've already asked for this!" he quickly added.

The green haired man snickered. "You were really anxious about this, weren't you, Cook?"

"Like hell." Sanji snorted.

"You do realise what this means, right?" Zoro continued carefully. "You're going to be my boyfriend, which means I'm gonna touch you."

"I get it. And don't make it sound disgusting."

"Oh, and Cook? That also means no flirting with the bridesmaids."

"I'll try."

"Good. I'll pick you up Saturday at noon. Don't be late, Curly-brow." He hung up before Sanji could make fun of his sense of direction. Which was nothing wrong with. Still, he couldn't help but smirk. Saturday he had the cook all to himself and could do with him whatever he wanted. Now, let's see how far he could push the blonde.

~ To be continued

A bit of trivia: Marco's last name, Fenwick, is a corruption of the last name Phoenix. I considered the latter, but I found it a bit too obvious XD

Ah, and my apologies to all ZoLu fans out there, I just don't see it XD

Until next time...