Small Miracles chapter 2

It was 20 minutes past midnight. Sanji was standing on the balcony of the Baratie, the sounds of the party inside seeming so distant in the heavy snowfall. The white flakes were piling up on the shoulders of his jacket. He'd eaten way too much of Zeff's christmas cooking, overdosed on dessert and was holding his eight glass of eggnog for the night.

"Oi! Sanji!" Patty yelled out, breath stinking with all the scotch he'd had over the course of the evening "come back inside and look at what Carne's doin' to da tree!"

"I'll be there in a moment" Sanji waved his cigarette to the other man, staring out at the street leading to the store he worked at. "-Finishing my cigarette." Blue eyes narrowing at a distant black shape, it walked right past, so it couldn't be Zoro.

Patty disappeared back through the door and Sanji allowed himself a disappointed sigh. Why was he actually expecting Zoro to come over? Even IF Zoro had no one to spend Christmas with, he probably had SOME plans that didn't revolve around showing up at a party hosted by his employee's father.

Sanji rubbed his temples awkwardly, what had he been thinking? It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight it just made him want to crawl under his covers and never come out again. Even –IF- Zoro actually showed up, what the fuck was he going to do once he was here? He'd have to talk to his manager, his BOSS, outside of work!

What was he going to talk about? He'd never been able to talk to Zoro without arguing with him at work. What would Zoro expect anyway? Should he even call him "Zoro", or should he call him "Mr. Roronoa"? It sounded strange, but he'd wished him merry Christmas by calling him "Zoro" and the man was just two or three years older than he was.

The bastard always called him by some bizarre nicknames too, like Blondie or curly-brow. Sanji grimaced, he killed his cigarette in the pile of snow on the balcony railing. It was almost 1 am, officially Christmas. It was just for the best that Zoro didn't show up, Sanji hated his guts.

The blond went back inside, putting all thoughts of work and any work related issues aside as he slipped into the couch beside some of the waiters. Carne was throwing all the staff aprons over the tree with clumsy inebriated movements. Sanji rolled his eyes, he'd have to remember to wash them all for his old man.

Time passed and Sanji had completely forgotten about his invitation to his manager. It was almost 2 am, too early to call the party over, but the majority of the party guests were either drunk or well on their way. Sanji was only feeling the slight buzz, not wanting the hangover in the morning by any means.

Zoro was forgotten and Sanji was confused when Zeff walked over to him and kicked him in the shin.

"There's someone by the door for you." Zeff groused, jerking a thumb to the doorway. "He looks shady, if you don't know him, don't let him in."

Sanji blinked in confusion for a few seconds, staring up at his old man's face for a few moments while the words seeped in. When he finally realized that Zoro had actually shown up, he sprung to his feet, pressing the half-finished glass of eggnog into Zeff's hands as he ran for the door.

Sanji fixed his suit, the ugly candy-cane striped tie Patty had insisted he wore slipping back into the jacket as he ran a hand through his hair to fix it up. He pulled over the door, eyebrows raising in amusement when he noticed Zoro's snow covered head and shoulders.

"About time you got to the door" Zoro huffed, shaking snow from his hair with a cold looking hand. Sanji couldn't help grinning at the sight, his usually messily slicked back hair was tousled and all over the place and he didn't look like the same guy who gave him hell for sneaking out for smokes outside of his break.

"I didn't think you were coming, you're really late." Sanji stepped aside, holding the door open for the man. "Did you get lost?"

"I did NOT get lost." Zoro snarled, glaring at Sanji with his one functioning eye and a scowl on his face as he stepped inside into the warmth. The firm denial told the truth; maybe that shape that walked past the street three times before had actually been Zoro.

Sanji chuckled, watching as Zoro yanked off his green scarf and jacket. He'd never seen Zoro wear anything but the work uniform before, seeing him wearing a coat and scarf was hilariously out of place. Zoro looked around before tossing his coat and scarf into the pile on the table, running a hand through his hair to slick the wet mess back.

"So, you said there would be free booze." Zoro turned around, smirk on his face implying he was planning on drinking the place dry. Sanji's mouth opened to answer, but his jaw simply creaked on its hinges when Zoro turned around.

Zoro was wearing the tightest, most form fitting black shirt Sanji had ever seen. Over it he was wearing an unbuttoned dark green shirt with only the thinnest black lines running down the fabric. Zoro frowned, pulling at his shirt to reveal that the tight shirt underneath was in fact a sleeveless one.

"I wasn't planning on attending any damn parties, so you can't give me shit for not wearing anything fancy like you are." Zoro frowned, straightening his tight black shirt at the front where it had started riding up at the front of his black jeans.

"E-Everyone's drunk so they won't care at all..." Sanji managed to stutter awkwardly, tearing his eyes from the way Zoro's shirt was bulging tightly around his upper arms. "In fact, the shirt is more than I was expecting."

"I'm not here to impress anyone, just show me the booze." Zoro grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that strained the seams of his shirt. Sanji internally whimpered as he gestured to the bar.

"I'll show you the selection, come on." Sanji nodded and put his hands in his pockets as he walked across the restaurant to the bar and buffet of food and mixed drinks. Patty and Carne were waltzing across the floor and singing drunkenly to 'Holy Night' at the top of their lungs.

Sanji's cheeks burned, they were so embarrassing.

While his excuse to not look at his boss lasted, Sanji went over a few things in his head.

1. Zoro actually showed up, so Sanji was sort of obligated to keep him company until the party was over or until the man decided to leave.

2. Zoro was actually sort of attractive, in a criminal bad-guy sort of way. This really wasn't a good thing, having the hots for his boss would only make his job unnecessarily hard.

3. Zoro was here and hot at the same time and Sanji had maybe drunk a little too much to be able to ignore the dangerous aspect of this combination.

Sanji paused as he reached the table, grabbing a glass and wiping it off with a napkin. He really shouldn't do anything about this, the odds Zoro went for men were incredibly slim. If he attempted anything of the sort, it would not only make his job incredibly uncomfortable and awkward, but it might actually put it in danger.

Sanji had no idea how Zoro felt about bisexuals or homosexuality, if the marimo bastard was one of those homophobic men who would harass him over it, Sanji would either have to quit his job or even get fired for swinging both ways.

He turned around, resolutely platonic grin on his face as he passed the glass to Zoro. "Clean drinks are at the bar, mixed ones on the table." Sanji got a new glass, filling it with eggnog and taking a sip to calm his nerves. "It's actually really good."

Zoro arched a brow at him, glancing at the glass in his hand. "Are you even allowed to drink?"

Sanji almost did a spit take, his drink pretty close to escaping out his nose. It burned and Sanji swallowed thickly with a grimace. "OF COURSE I CAN YOU BASTARD!" Sanji huffed, wiping at his mouth with the napkin. "This place belongs to my old man you know-"

"I mean legally." Zoro smirked, leaning over Sanji to get a bottle from the shelf. He smelled like wet hair and snow-soaked fabric. "Aren't you only 20 years old?"

"T-That has nothing do to with anything! I'm turning 21 in march!" Sanji frowned, drinking the rest of the eggnog to prove his point. "Besides, isn't the drinking age limit here lower?"

"Not sure, I never really gave a shit about that." Zoro poured himself a liberal amount of alcohol, clashing his glass against Sanji's empty one with a grin. "To booze."

Sanji rolled his eyes, refilling his glass as Zoro took a large gulp of the alcohol in his own. As soon as the moss-head lowered it again, Sanji clinked his against it.

"To Christmas." The blond smiled, enjoying Zoro's frown as the man rolled his eyes. This was much more comfortable than Sanji had been expecting. Seeing his manager so human was a little jarring though, realizing that the man had a life, hobbies and even opinions outside of the store was finally starting to seep in. Sanji's curiosity was raised.

"So, you live here?" Zoro looked around, his one whole eye glancing at various scenes of drunken shenanigans Sanji was getting increasingly embarrassed about.

"I used to." Sanji shrugged, Glancing to the stairs that lead up to the apartment and his old room. "I've moved out." Sanji didn't want to mention the reason for it though.

"Why don't you work here?" Zoro questioned, taking a sip from his glass with his one dark eye resting curiously on Sanji.

"You're asking a LOT of questions you know." Sanji frowned, swirling his drink around in his glass. "I don't have to answer anything."

"I was just trying to make conversation curly brow." Zoro snarled, finishing his drink with a huff and refilling his glass.

"How about we take turns?" Sanji suggested casually, tilting his head questioningly at the other man and raising his glass. "Sounds fair?"

Zoro nodded, taking another sip of his drink, eyeing the other bottles on the shelf greedily. "Then ask me something already." Sanji paused for a minute, looking at his drink thoughtfully as he wondered what he'd like to know about the other man. If he liked men was the first thing that came to mind, but that was a bad idea no matter the answer.

If Zoro said: YES, he might take the question as a hint that flirting was alright. Sanji wasn't sure what he'd do if Zoro tried to seduce him right now, he'd had enough to cloud his judgment and he was pretty sure Zoro's good looks weren't a combination of beer goggles and loneliness.

If Zoro said: NO, then that was either a huge disappointment that might lead to some extremely awkward conversations or even to Zoro walking away and giving him hell at work for it.

"How old are you?" Sanji asked innocently, taking a reassuring drink of eggnog. Zoro Finished his sip of what Sanji suspected was dry vodka, before wiping his lower lip with distracting swipe of his thumb.

"I've been 24 since November." Zoro shrugged, grabbing one of the small appetizers on the plate next to him. He held the toothpick up as he inspected the cheese, meat and olive impaled on it, he seemed to approve of it, since he popped it in his mouth and dragged the toothpick lazily from between clenched teeth to get the food off.

Sanji's distracting himself from Zoro´s mouth by getting one of the cheese crackers and popping them in his mouth. "Your turn."

"Then tell me why you're not working here then." Zoro rolled his eyes, chewing through his words. So unrefined, but at least he didn't chew open-mouthed.

"Well, I can't work here without getting a shitty certificate." Sanji shrugged, swallowing the spicy cheese and washing it down with the eggnog. "They only hand those out twice a year and the test costs a lot of money."

"Certificate?" Zoro's brow furrowed, taking two more of the appetizers and dragging theme off into his mouth.

"It's my turn to ask." Sanji grinned, watching Zoro roll his eyes at him. "Do you like those?" He gestured to the food the man was currently eating, and Zoro nodded with his mouth preoccupied with chewing.

"That counts as a question, shit-brow, now answer mine." Zoro smirked around the words, taking a drink to wash down the food.

"Well, I made those." Sanji nodded to the appetizers, watching Zoro's one eye go wide in surprise as he slowly turned to look at the intricate assortment of food. "I'm a chef. Well, I will be when I finally get my damn license."

"You need a license, even if you can do that?" Zoro pointed at the food, frowning in confusion.

"My turn to ask marimo-bastard." Sanji chuckled and Zoro growled in annoyance, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "How long have you worked in retail?"

"Way too fucking long" Zoro groaned in annoyance, taking a large drink to emphasize the statement. Sanji couldn't help but chuckle at the man's exasperation. That might explain why he was always so grumpy towards the customers.

"Well, I need a license to be legitimately allowed to cook food in a restaurant. It's a formality. I went to a shitty snob school called Kamabakka to learn cooking." Sanji sighed, pulling his packet of cigarettes out of his jacket and looking longingly over to the door. "They usually write the students off with a certificate after the final exam, but my old man got sick and I had to leave, so I didn't take it."

Sanji turned around, pointing to the door. "I'm going out for a smoke, think you can handle standing outside with me or want to stay here alone?"

"I'm counting that as a question." Zoro grinned, refilling his glass before walking to Sanji. "And I answer it by following you so you can inhale your cancer sticks."

Sanji felt a little warmer as he crossed the floor with Zoro following him, pushing the door open and lighting a cigarette at the same time. He stepped outside and inhaled deeply, blowing smoke against the snowfall.

"So that snob school only allows you to retake the test twice a year?" Zoro followed Sanji through the door, taking a drink as he kicked the railing of the small porch, forcing snow to fall off the handle.

"Yeah, it's really expensive and the school is pretty far off." Sanji hummed sadly, looking at his cigarette burn between his fingers. "So I'm just hanging on in that shit job until I can get my damn certificate."

Sanji paused awkwardly when Zoro fell silent. Shit, he'd forgotten Zoro was actually his boss. He cautiously looked up at Zoro, who was looking at him with an amused grin around his glass.

"Shit. I didn't mean that the job was bad, It's just that I'm sort of overqualified I guess and- uh…" Sanji face palmed, sighing deep as deep rumbling chuckle emerged from Zoro's chest.

"Talking casually like this is pretty weird." Zoro mused, taking a sip off his glass with a teasing raise of his eyebrows. "I've gotten so used to having you under me all the time at work."

I can be under you all the time outside of work too. Sanji's alcohol induced mind almost managed to send that sentence to his mouth, thankfully the fact that he was currently smoking a cigarette managed to catch that terribly obvious flirt.

Fuck it he really should stop drinking now. The risk of losing his job was starting to seem less and less important the more he talked to the other man. If he drank anymore he could end up doing something he might regret. Like kissing Zoro, making out with Zoro or even pulling him upstairs to fuck on his old bed.

Well, he might not regret those things too much, but his career might and if Zoro wasn't into men, he'd probably get punched in the face for even trying. Zoro was damn strong too, getting punched by him would really hurt. He'd seen him carrying boxes of books like they were filled with feathers.

"Yeah. It's pretty weird." Sanji agreed after an awfully long thoughtful drag of his cigarette. "I mean, you're usually such a shitty bastard at work." Sanji teased, finishing his cigarette and heading back inside. Zoro followed him, closing the door tightly and brushing snow from his hair before he followed Sanji to the table again.

Sanji put down the eggnog, determined to quit drinking for the night. There was some non-alcoholic punch on the table, so he filled a plastic cup with the cinnamon flavored stuff and sighed into it.

"Whose turn is it?" Sanji went back to the conversation, brow furrowed as he remembered the way Zoro kept twisting his questions into duds. "I think it's mine." Sanji mused, smirking at Zoro who frowned at him. "I want to know what your hobbies are."

"I practice martial arts and swordsmanship." Zoro shrugged, finishing his glass and refilling it. The man was a SPONGE for booze apparently. He didn't even look tipsy and he'd already had over half a bottle.

"oh, martial arts huh? I used to do a lot of Capoeira." Sanji was happy he had at least something in common with the other man. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be friends with him though, It was going to be hard enough to see Zoro around at work without them actually hanging out outside of work too.

"That's the Brazilian kick-thing. The battle, dance thing?"

"It's not DANCING per say." Sanji argued, looking over Zoro's shoulder and directly at his old man who was staring at him with an eyebrow raised in fatherly concern. Sanji blinked at him, and Zeff raised his hands, hitting his first into his palm with a questioning look, gesturing to Zoro. Offering to beat Zoro up and kick him out of the restaurant no doubt.

Sanji shook his head slightly, looking at Zoro and giving him a slight smile to show the old man he was actually enjoying the other man's company. Zeff's brow rose up to his overly tall hat, nose twitching in curiosity as he looked Zoro over from behind.

He didn't seem to disapprove, his face turning into a comical sneer of "not bad" before he walked off, leaving Sanji red-faced and practically shaking with a mixture of laughter and embarrassment.

"What's your problem?" Zoro glanced over his shoulder, Zeff was long gone and Sanji allowed himself to laugh a little out loud. Zoro's one eye was narrowed suspiciously as he scanned the rowdy party around them.

"Ah just… someone fell over and spilled his drink all over themselves." Sanji lied, trying to get Zoro's attention back before he realized what horrible idiots were attending this party. "You missed it."

Zoro snorted, turning back to Sanji. "So no one in this party has anywhere better to be?" the older man questioned casually, eyes not meeting Sanji's as he finished his drink with a sinful toss of his head.

Sanji watched Zoro's adams apple bob as he swallowed, closing his eyes for a second to calm himself. He really shouldn't be saving these mental images for editing later. He was NOT going to jerk off to his boss. NOPE.

"Nope. Most of these sad bastards don't even have a family." Sanji huffed, holding back the horribly sappy statement that they were family in fear of Zoro mocking him for it.

"Your old man's here?" Zoro looked around, eye narrowed. "it that the guy with the braided mustache and huge hat that's glaring at me over there?"

Sanji turned around on the spot, catching the moment Zeff hurriedly turned his head away from them. "Yeah. That's him." Sanji sucked in air through his grit teeth. "Let me introduce you."

He stalked over to Zeff, who was stuffing his face with some shrimps innocently. "Hey, old man." Sanji drawled, gesturing to Zoro. "This is Roronoa Zoro, my manager from work."

Zeff's eyebrow rose at that, turning to look Zoro over in an uncomfortably slow and scrutinizing fashion. Zoro didn't look uncomfortable, but slightly confused. Sanji waited for his old man to stop embarrassing every living thing in the restaurant.

"Alone on christmas eve?" Zeff huffed, looking at Zoro and scowling at him. "You must be single, what's wrong with you then?"

Sanji would have screamed and raved at Zeff's lack of manners if he hadn't been paralyzed in shock. All he could do was stare in disbelief at his old man's face and wait for Zoro to splatter him with his drink and storm off angrily.

Sanji grimaced as he glanced at Zoro, who was staring wide eyed at Zeff with a completely blank look on his face. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't been so terrifyingly hard to read. Sanji was about to apologize for his old man, when Zoro burst out laughing.

The older man laughed loudly and cheerfully, buckling over slightly to hold his stomach. Sanji stared in shock, looking at Zeff who glanced back with a cryptic expression torn between approval and disappointment.

Zoro eventually managed to catch himself, rising up and inhaling deep, grin slipping into a smirk as he spoke.

"I snore." Zoro said casually, bringing his glass up to his lips and taking a sip as Zeff grinned in amusement. Sanji's brow furrowed. That didn't explain why Zoro was single, snoring would just become a problem if people lived together. People could date without sharing a bedroom.

"Is that so? Sanji here snores too." Zeff said with a jab of his thumb in Sanji's chest. The blond growled indignantly, cheeks red as he tried to deny Zeff's accusations. Why was his old man telling Zoro this?

Zoro's brow rose at that, glancing over at Sanji who face palmed. Why was this suddenly such a fascinating subject? He didn't understand why Zoro was looking at him like that, he didn't like it either. He probably looked pretty stupid with his old man raving like that.

"I… sort of do. Sometimes." Sanji almost whined, regretting his decision to introduce the two men. How was this relevant to anything?! Sanji sighed, feeling like there was some sort of joke here he wasn't getting. It was probably on his expense too.

Zeff Patted Sanji on the shoulder. "Patty threw up in the washing machine; I think it's time to call it enough for this Christmas. I'll go tell the others."

"What? So early?" Sanji turned around to look at the clock, reeling when he realized it was almost 5 in the morning. Shit. He'd been talking to Zoro for almost three hours straight. He could swear it felt like an hour. "shit!" Sanji grimaced, suddenly feeling tired when his body realized what had been going on.

"You can stay here eggplant." Zeff patted Sanji's shoulder. "I need you to help me clean up tomorrow morning anyway."

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." Sanji glanced over the mess the party had created in the main hall. Zoro was finishing his glass, placing it on one of the tables when he'd drained it.

"Thanks for the drinks." Zoro nodded once and Sanji walked him to the front door. The others were singing drunkenly and getting ready to leave. Zoro barely managed to snatch his jacket and scarf before Carne tossed it to the floor in a laughing fit.

Zoro slipped on his clothes, checking his phone before he wrapped the scarf around his neck. Sanji felt awkward, waiting by the door. He didn't want Zoro to leave, but there was no way to stall now that Zoro was dressed and walking to the door. Damn it. There wasn't even enough snow to justify him staying over to avoid the blizzard.

"See you Wednesday Curly-brow." Zoro's voice was muffled from behind the scarf. Sanji grimaced at the nickname, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, manager moss-brain." Sanji said with mock politeness, earning himself a cheerful laughter from the other man as he left the restaurant along with a floor of drunken idiots. He did not look at his manager's ass, anyone who would accuse him of such things would surely be wrong.

"Don't get lost and die from the cold!" Sanji called after Zoro, every single drunk on the steps turning around simultaneously and cooing at him, swarming towards him to hug him for his apparent concern.

Zoro was the only one who kept walking without looking back, raising his hand casually in a silent wave as he disappeared into the darkness, obscured by smelly slobbering drunks who insisted on Christmas kisses on Sanji's face.

"GET OFF ME BASTARDS!"

"MERRR CHRISSHMASH SHANJI~

IT'S STILL RELEVANT! Read over and fixed up by Sunshinesthroughtheclouds.