Chapter 9

It's probably not a wise idea to cook rice with beer instead of water and serve it to a seventeen year old prodigy doctor but the alcohol's gonna evaporate while it cooks anyway, so it wouldn't matter much. Sanji took the steaming rice from the rice cooker and placed them in a large bowl, which he places on the center of the table beside the pot roast and steaks.

Sanji hummed to himself as he cooked, a habit he picked up from the old man, not that Zeff'd ever admit to anyone he hummed while he cooked. He wondered who Chopper would bring over. If it were Luffy or Ace, then he'd just have to let them wait in the living room while he prepares more food. If it's Law then, well, that's impossible since Law's taking Chopper's shift. Ussop's probably slaving away with Robin and the others back in the office, finishing off the remaining people who wanted to audition for the part. Which left Zoro. He wasn't hoping, but there was a slight possibility that the man might be coming with Chopper for lunch.

Which was why he chose to prepare booze-rice. Luffy had told him that the moss head was crazy about booze the way Luffy was crazy for meat, which gave him an idea on what to feed the guy. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach after all. Though that probably only applies to Luffy and Ace.

If Zoro were to walk through that door though, what would he do? Sanji smiled to himself, entertaining the thought. Zoro walking in with Chopper and taking a seat. Sanji would feel the other man's eyes on his back but would pretend not to notice while Chopper magically needs to use the bathroom for an hour giving them plenty of time to— The door bell rings, pulling him from his thoughts. Sanji sighs, just when he was getting to the good part…

"Sanji? It's me! I brought a guest too if you don't mind!" Came Chopper's muffled voice.

"Sure the door's open. Just let yourself in," Sanji yelled, grabbing the pan and flipped the shimmering meat. "And unless you brought Luffy, Ace or Sabo with you, I wouldn't mind. Besides, I told you that you could bring a guest anyways."

"Yo curly brows." Sanji almost dropped the pan. Well, shit.

"What are you doing here?" Sanji turned, a bit shocked, to face the person of his dreams and fantasies, which also happened to be the very person he was trying to avoid.

"Chopper invited me."

"Right. I was expecting Ussop or Luffy though."

"They were busy."

"Oh." Great. Life hates me. "Go sit or something. Make yourself at home I guess."

"So… Are you really Luffy and Ace's cook?" He asked suddenly.

"And Sabo's and Robin's too. And all the customers at the Baratie's too. I'm basically everyone's cook. So I guess yeah. Why?"

"It's nothing," Zoro muttered, and sat down beside Chopper who immediately stood from his seat.

"No it's not! You love Sanji's food right? So you're jealous of Luffy and Ace!" Chopper spouted naively. Zoro blushed and Sanji refused to face them. "Right?"

"Those… aren't exactly the kinds of things your blurt out Chopper," Sanji said weakly, covering up with a cough. He placed the meat on a platter and handed it to Chopper. "But I feel flattered. I think. Anyways, I'm going to the balcony for a smoke so… holler if you need anything… or something like that.

"Eh?" Chopper tilted his head, perplexed at his friend's behavior. Zoro wanted to strangle the kid, but couldn't find the heart to. How can you strangle him when he's looking like… that? Big, innocent eyes looking questioningly at you as if he didn't even realize the awkwardness of the situation he just placed them in. If it were Ussop or any other person he'd punch them without a second thought. But adorable, naive, innocent little Chopper?

"Forget about that Chopper," Zoro mumbled, grabbing a large serving of the weird brown rice with the disgusting looking peas and another huge serving of meat. "C'mon let's eat."

"BLEH," Chopper quickly grabbed a glass of juice and washed the horrible flavor off his tongue, as Sanji quickly walks back in with an unlit cigarette in one hand. "Hey Sanji… This tastes weird…"

"Sorry Chops," Sanji smiled goofily, making Zoro's heart skip a beat. "I didn't think you'd notice it."

"It's *cough* alright, Sanji," the little doctor choked on the second spoonful and Sanji just couldn't stand seeing him like that.

"Hey, I'll make you fried rice from last night's leftover rice, is that okay?"

"Thanks I'd like that."

Zoro looked at his spoon, not knowing whether or not he'd want to taste it anymore after seeing Chopper's reaction. But he ate it anyway, seeing as it'd be a waste not to eat his favourite food. Even if it's a different color from what he's used to. Chewing a bit and trying to figure out what made Chopper go "bleh", his eyes suddenly went wide as he took another, this time bigger, bite. "Bish ish sho ghood!"

"Of course you'd like that Zoro," Chopper said. "It has beer after all. Geh."

Sanji wanted to just run away, but a good host has to be present until the guests leave. His mouth felt dry and all he was able to do was whisper a hoarse "thanks" as he hid his growing blush while rummaging through the refrigerator for some old white rice. He emptied the container on the pan he just used to cook the sea king meat and turned the stove back on.

"Hey, Sanji, where'd you get the idea to make something like that?" Chopper asked.

"Mmm? Well it's not exactly an original recipe. Way back then when me and the old man were bored out of our wits during our stay in Japan and decided to turn on the TV. Then this weird show pops out where five guys try experimenting with different kinds of ways to cook rice and what ingredients they could cook it with.

The first one used beer instead of water and cooked edamame beans with it. It looked okay and even got a score of 8 out of ten stars so it must be okay. We tried it and it tasted pretty good so we often had that," Sanji got an egg from the fridge and cracked it open on the cooking rice. He glanced back and saw Zoro busy eating his cooking as Luffy would. Sanji felt his lips involuntary curl up into a smile.

"And?" Chopper's eyes sparkled with excitement. "What did the other four cook?"

"You're suddenly interested in cooking, huh?" Sanji chuckled. "Well, one of them actually placed a whole strawberry shortcake inside the rice cooker to cook along with the rice."

"EEEHHH?" Chopper screeched happily and Zoro almost spat out his food. "Strawberry shortcake rice? Can you make that Sanji?"

"Hell no! It looked fucking horrible! You do not want to eat that!" Sanji cringed at the horrible memory, brown soggy strawberries that looked worse than those mysterious brown things inside a public toilet bowl. "I think even moss head here disagrees." He pointed his spatula at Zoro who was coughing and beating his chest.

Moss Head?

"Ehh…" Chopper pouted as Sanji handed him a steaming plate of fried rice. "Ah, thanks, Sanji!"

"So how long's your break?"

"Law promised that I can stay out for as long as I want. But I wouldn't want to bother him much so I told him I'll be back after lunch," Chopper chirped happily as he gobbled down his food.

"Law's a really nice guy huh."

"Yeah, he is!" Chopper held out his plate. "Seconds please!"

Zoro just about finished his third serving of rice and meat and was drinking from a bottle of booze he had brought a long with him when Chopper pushed his chair back and let out a long sigh of satisfaction. "That was really good Sanji!

"You're welcome," he smiled at the kid.

"Well, I'll be off now okay?"

"Take care, Chopper," Sanji smiled gently at the little doctor and handed him a little lunch box. "Here's dessert. I made it extra sweet for you."

"Ah! Thanks so much Sanji!" Chopper bowed slightly as he gratefully took the container from Sanji. He eyed Zoro who was busy eating what's left of the beer-rice and bolted towards the door. "Zoro, I can hail a cab from here! Okay, bye!

"Eh? What—" Before Zoro could react, Chopper was already running out of the

"Wow, you really finished all this?" Sanji suppressed a smile as he held up the large bowl that was once full of beer-rice. "You eat like Luffy."

"Not always… It's just that… I like rice… and beer. So," Zoro scratched his head awkwardly, not knowing where the conversation was going. Flattering people was never his thing. "Um… Thanks, it's really… good."

Sanji blushed for the nth time that hour. "Y-yeah, sure no problem."

"What's it like?" he asked suddenly

"What?"

"Cooking. What's it like to cook?" he clarified

Sanji looked at Zoro, wondering why the man would even ask such a thing. "It's relaxing I suppose…"

"So cooking for Luffy and Ace is relaxing?" Zoro looked incredulous

Sanji snorted. "Not as much, but seeing their satisfied faces when they eat my food. It really feels good here." He gestures to his heart.

"Oh…" There was a brief awkward silence. Sanji scratched his head. "So uh… Do you like modelling?" he asked, trying to fill the silence before it became too awkward

"Pfft. No." Zoro scoffed

"Oh? Well you never did look like the super model type. You look more like the type of person who'd wave a stick around and hit people at random."

Zoro almost sprayed his drink across the table and struggled to force it down his throat. "I used to. Just not at random."

"What." Sanji had probably misunderstood him. There was no way that the idiot moss head actually—

"No joke. And I used a sword. Not a stick." Zoro said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Who uses a sword in this day and age?!" Sanji practically screamed.

"Um, I do?" Zoro smirked. "I just said that. What are you, deaf? Or are you just too much of an idiot to comprehend what I just said?" He smiled teasingly.

Sanji rolled his eyes, but found himself smiling. "Or maybe you're just too much of an idiot to understand what a rhetorical question is."

"A what?"

"See what I mean?" Sanji laughed, pulling out a stick of cigarette from his pocket while Zoro stood from his seat to get water from the counter behind the cook.

"Shut up," he pouted and poured himself a glass, wishing he had more booze.

"Y'know, if you wanted more booze, you could have just asked," Sanji said, reading his mind. The blonde turned to grab the booze he stored in the fridge only to find himself inches away from Zoro's mouth. Their noses slightly touching.

Surprised and very, very embarrassed at the awkward situation they are in, Sanji jumped back clumsily and lost his footing. His quick reflexes kicking in, his hand shot out to grab something, anything to balance himself, but he promptly found himself in an even more awkward position than he was previously in.

"You okay?" Zoro asked him, his one arm wrapped around Sanji's slim waist while the other hand was holding the hand Sanji had previously reached out in hopes to grab something to prevent his fall.

"I… yeah, I'm fine. You uh… can let go now," Sanji pulled away, but Zoro doesn't seem to have any intention of letting go just yet. "I um… Have to go smoke this outside," he mumbled awkwardly, waving the small white stick back and forth.

Zoro let go reluctantly as Sanji took a step back. He got to the balcony and lit up cigarette, inhaling the familiar poison that calms his nerves in a way nothing else can. He blew out a few puffs of smoke when he felt that same rough but gentle hand grab his wrist. Again.

"Hey, wait um…" Zoro didn't know where to start so he chose to get straight to the point. "You… You called me 'moss head' a while ago…"

"Yeah, so?" Sanji wanted to just kick him away. His heart was hammering against his ribcage. He tried tugging his wrist free but either Zoro had an iron grip on him or he was too weak from the sudden wave of emotions to pull it free.

"Sanji… you…" Zoro tugged his wrist so Sanji'd turn and face him. He gazed into his face, taking it all in. His beautiful blue eyes, his strangely charming eyebrows.

"You're not supposed to tell me who you are you idiot moss head," the blonde rolled her eyes, crossing his arms. Zoro grinned at the nickname. Normally he'd be ticked, but there's just something in the way the blonde said it that made it seem almost endearing.

It was almost as though that night was replaying, except right now there was no party, right now there were no masks. Just him and… Sanji. If he didn't have a sister then…

"Sanji, you're…"

The banging of the door snapped them out of their little moment. "OI CURLY BROWS COOK! YOU HOME? I NEED TO TALK TO YOU," Boomed an impatient voice.

Zoro immediately released the blonde's wrist while Sanji hurried off to answered the door. "What was I doing…" he whispered softly to himself.

"Oi Roronoa, what're you doing here?" came a gruff voice

"What are you doing here, Smoker?" Zoro retorted, wondering what the grey haired officer was doing, barging into the cook's home.

"Nothin, just gotta talk to ol' blondie here about something," He shrugged lighting his cigars and puffing a few whips of smoke.

"Oi, don't smoke in the kitchen," Sanji kicked Smoker's leg irritably. "So you two know each other?" he questioned

"Ow, that'd probably bruise. Well whatever. Yeah, Roronoa's a former officer before he came a sissy model. 'Nyways, that Trafalgar got us some pretty useful information 'bout why you were attacked that night and—"

"You were attacked?" Zoro gave Sanji a worried, choosing to ignore Smoker's comment for now.

"No big deal."

"Yes it is! Were you hurt?"

"When did you become such a softie, Roronoa?" Smoker looked at both of them, amused.

"I'm fine," Sanji answered, not sure whether to feel embarrassed, humiliated, or happy. "I kicked their asses pretty good."

"That you did. So much so that Enel bit his own tongue off and—"

"You fought Enel by kicking him?" Zoro was shocked. The stupid curly brow was insane!

"DAMMIT RORONOA LET ME FINISH!" Smoker was fuming due to Zoro's constant interruptions. Sanji couldn't help help but laugh. "Yes, he fought Enel with his legs, happy now? Anyways, so Enel bit his own tongue off so we can't exactly get anything from him, but Trafalgar was able to persuade Spandam to talk. And from what we got, this man who calls himself "Prince" hired them to capture you alive."

"So?" Sanji asked casually, fiddling a bit with an unlit cigarette.

"Well, this Prince person seems to know a lot about you. And I'll bet both of you know this guy too."

"I do?" They said at the same time. Sanji had a bad feeling about this. He didn't know a lot of people, and sure he pissed of a number of guys in the past, but he'd doubt anyone of them would come back to take revenge on him or anything. Those things only happen in the movies. Right? He stole a glance at Zoro and saw the man tensing. Was Zoro the one at fault then? He did go whacking people with a stick—er—sword in the past, or so he said.

Smoker looked like he wanted to just beat the shit out of someone as he spoke. "Look, the guy we're dealing with right now's a real nutcase. Curly brows here knows him as Cavendish. You know that rose-eating blonde guy. From what we gathered, he wanted to take his revenge on you for stealing his life-long dream from him."

Sanji didn't know how to react, he just stared at Smoker like an idiot. What life-long dream? For all he knew, Cavendish only wanted to be the most popular guy on the planet. Sanji was barely known for anything but his cooking, and even so, Zoro was more well known that him, popularity wise both locally and abroad. Oh.

"Then shouldn't he be going after Luffy?" Zoro asked, breaking the ice. "I might be on covers and spreadsheets, but we all know who's the king here."

"Yeah well, here's the thing," Smoker sighed, exhaling a puff of smoke. "Curly-brows here, well apparently he blames you for contributing to Luffy's popularity. And Roronoa here, well you ARE the most-wanted bachelor right now, aren't you? Except, I'm not really sure on why he's after you. But curly here, well, looks like you two went way back. Embarrassed him in a bar fight a few years back, kid never lived it down, or so we were told."

"He was drunk," Sanji protested, remembering the moment perfectly. Cavendish slurring unintelligible words while drunkenly swinging his sword and hitting random things. All Sanji did was knock him unconscious with one swift motion of his leg. How was he supposed to know this would be the root of the man's revenge?

"Yeah, well apparently he remembers the day pretty well," Smoker shrugged. "Oh and Roronoa, you know that Sarah Faust that auditioned?"

"What about her?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, long nose told me you were head over heels," Smoker snickered. "That was Cavendish."

"WHAT."

"Well, according to that morbid lady, she, rather, he was saying something about attending her party, which, according to her, was false information, seeing as she handpicked her visitors, making sure that the people in the party were all close friends or acquaintances. No strangers. So where does Sarah come in? Well, your old man noticed a someone was watching you while you were off dancing with some princess."

"Wait, what?" Zoro didn't think his face could be any redder than it is now, but he tried not to be fazed by it. "You're telling me, I was being watched and I didn't notice?"

"Mihawk was saying something along the lines of, 'Damn brat's too starry-eyed to even notice such an obvious presence'," Smoker snorted. "Both of you were, apparently."

Both…

Zoro's looked at Sanji, who was staring at Smoker with a how-the-fuck-did-you-know expression on his face. "Smoker you—"

"It was pretty obvious, wasn't it?" Smoker shrugged, not feeling the heavy tension hanging in the air. "I mean, you're the only person that Robin knows with a curly eyebrow. What, don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet?"

Sanji couldn't take any more of this… humiliation. He backed a few steps and broke into a full sprint. He shot out of his (and Ace's and Luffy's) house like a bullet and ran towards nowhere. Anywhere will do. As long as it got him far away from Zoro. He ran past buildings which seem like a blur to him. He isn't really thinking about where he's headed to or where he wants to go. At the moment, all his brain could process was shit. shit. shit. shit. shit. His legs gave way and he toppled face first on the soft grass. Sanji sighed and rolled on to his back. The cemetery huh. So Zoro knows now, thank's to that idiot Smoker, he's even more of an idiot than Luffy is. What now?

"So you had a fall out with your boyfriend or what?" Smoker asked insensitively.

"He's not—" Zoro clenched his fists as a blush creeped up his face, a thousand emotions rushing through his head right now. Sanji was her all along. So does that mean the idiot cook liked to cross-dress? He surely doesn't seem the type. Then again…

"Yeah, yeah, save the drama kid. I know one when I see one."

"Says the single old man."

"Who says I'm single?" Smoker looks at him like he was stupid.

"You are. Aren't you? Holy shit, you were fucking Tashigi? Gah! I don't have time for this!" Zoro shook out of his momentary stupor and ran out of the door to who-knows-where.

Smoker watched as the man ran out of the door and scratched his head. "Really, Roronoa? Five years as a detective and this is all you can come up with? Then again, you were always assigned with the all the dirty work, never investigation," he said to no one as he closed the door and made himself at home, kicking his boots off and settling on the couch and smirked as he said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Thought Portgas would have pretty much broadcasted it to everyone by now who was fucking him every night."

A/N: This took forever yes, and I'm sorry! But it's here now! I had to make some changes here and there, since the plot became to feel forced. Then there was also college to worry about… OTL I was this close to failing. But I passed my midterms so back to writing fics! Over 8,000 views, 94 follows and 45 favorites! (Okay I'm just really happy with the numbers! It may be small compared to others, but it makes me really happy! Thank you everyone for sticking with me even if I update horribly slow!) And thank you for bearing with me until now! (It's not the end yet! But we're close!)

Oh and a very big thank you to CaelumXIV for beta-ing this chapter!