Tony had been a struggle for the whole day and especially to put to bed, so excited was he for Santa Claus to come, that it was a relief to finally be able to sit down and have a quiet moment. But no sooner had Zoro slumped onto the sofa then the doorbell suddenly rang and he let out a growl of frustration. It wasn't like he was expecting anyone since that argument with Sanji had clearly cancelled any plans they'd had for Christmas Day. Maybe whatever god up there just really hated him.
The doorbell rang again, compelling him into action and he called out as he forced himself to walk into the hallway, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!"
He pawed in the bowl on the table next to the door for the keys and flicked through them. The stranger stood at the door was fairly tall and smudged through the warped glazed glass and Zoro wondered how cold they must be out there in the snowy night. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, "Hello?"
"Hi," Sanji said from the doorstep, breathless and flustered.
Zoro blinked. The teacher looked awfully chilly, his pale skin bitten red on his nose, chin, and cheeks and the soft pink of his lips starting to gain a light blue tint. His blond hair was damp and matted to his head, soaked by the snow, and he had an intermittent tremble that he seemed to be trying to pass of as nothing. Zoro was so surprised by Sanji's appearance that he cursed when he realised his ignorance, "Shit! Sanji, get in, you must be freezing."
Sanji took the offer gratefully and Zoro shut the door after him, noticing Sanji's canvas trainers, completely soaked by the snowy ground- the teacher clearly hadn't come prepared at all for the weather. He went to ask the reason to the teacher's sudden appearance when Sanji rubbed the tip of his cold nose with an equally cold looking hand, "I wanted to apologise, to sort this out."
"Did you walk here?!" Zoro exclaimed, taking note of the bottom of Sanji's jeans, completely soaked through.
"Yeah, but that's not the-"
"Why the hell did you walk here?! I thought you had a car?"
"Yeah but the windscreen was taking too long to defrost so-"
"You walked all the way through the snow just to apologise?" Zoro remarked, completely flabbergasted, "You're a moron, you know that?"
"Look are you just going to talk to me like your my mother or are you going to let me fix this, idiot?" Sanji snapped, "Because I-"
He was cut short as Zoro placed his hand on his shoulder with a disbelieving smile, "I forgive you."
Sanji faltered at the suddenness of acceptance, "Are you sure? Because I had a whole speech prepared and everything…"
Zoro laughed, "You really are a moron," he motioned for Sanji to follow, "Come on, you look like you're about to freeze to death."
Sanji couldn't refuse that, his fingers and toes so cold he could barely feel them.