After finishing the little bit of cereal that Tony had leftover from breakfast and putting the bowl in the sink, Zoro hurriedly swallowed the unwanted crusts from the sandwiches he'd made to bring along for his son and wandered into the living room area to get dressed. He pulled on clean sweatpants, his favorite dark-blue sleeveless tee, and a worn jacket. The brief stretch of putting on his clothes sent a twinge of pain through his still-injured side. It had been a damn week, but the doctor had warned him that his ribs would most likely take a month to heal properly. It was frustrating, and he was just grateful that Garp was letting him come into work.

Grabbing his wallet, and a grocery bag that had his Sunny Mart uniform and the ziploc bag with Tony's two sandwiches off the kitchen table, Zoro found his gaze straying back to the still-strange, empty spot where the television had been. In the end he'd needed to pawn the stupid thing and sell his car to some shady bastard in order to try and make a dent in his endless bills. He'd straight up refused to take any more of Luffy's money since the store owner had already footed the bill from the ER and his prescriptions. There was no way he'd ask for anything from Garp either; if fact he hadn't even explained that he'd busted his side at the gym. Lately the gym had been struggling to keep up attendance at their classes, and with the competition from multiple, better-equipped facilities in the city there was no way that Garp would be able to pay him for sick leave. In the end Zoro had missed one of his loan payments, but he'd managed to keep the apartment, pay the utilities and keep his son fed and himself from starving.

Striding over to Tony's room, Zoro stuck his head inside and grinned at the sight of his son rolling on the floor trying to zip up an overflowing backpack, his fuzzy hair sticking up wildly in strange directions. "Chopper-buddy, you ready to go?"

Tony pouted up at him with his lethal, brown, puppy eyes, "It won't shut!"

Zoro carefully got down on one knee and examined the problem, "Well Tony-Tony you have too much stuff in there. You gotta leave some things here, okay?"

"But daddy!" Tony whined, tears springing instantly to his eyes, "I need all this stuff!"

Rolling his eyes, Zoro tugged a sweater from where his son had tried to jam it in with his coloring books, "Really?"

Tony fidgeted, "But it might get cold?"

Zoro snorted, "You're wearing a jacket, weirdo." He dramatically tossed the sweater over his shoulder and pulled out the illustrated children's encyclopedia on the letter 'h', "Well you're already too smart so you don't need to bring this either!" He grinned as he threw the book into a corner. By now Tony was giggling, and joined him eagerly in the fun of unpacking. The two of them pulled out a few more picture books and a large godzilla action figure from their last thrift-store visit and flung everything haphazardly around the room.

Still laughing at Zoro's antics and silly faces, Tony let Zoro help him put on his now zip-able backpack, "Daddy, you made a mess!"

Zoro looked around in wide-eyed, mock horror, "Oh my god we better run before we have to clean it up!"

Tony dashed out of the room with a delighted squeal, and Zoro gingerly got back to his feet before jogging after his son. He paused to lock the apartment and shouted down the hall before Tony reached the stairs, "Don't go too far, speedy!"

His son was squirming impatiently by the time Zoro caught up, and he was racing ahead down the stairs the instant Zoro started down the steps. "Tony! Don't run down the stairs!" But his warning came too late and he heard his son yelp and the distinct sound of a slip. His heart pounded as he rushed ahead.

However, instead of hearing Tony fall or cry Zoro heard a familiar warm chuckle, "Whoa little buddy! That was a super dive you just took! You gotta be more careful on the stairs!"

Zoro felt relief wash over him when he made the last turn on the stairs and saw Franky set Tony safely on his feet at the bottom of the stairwell. However his neighbor's cheerful expression fell and his mouth thinned unhappily when he looked up at Zoro. Avoiding the sharp gaze behind Franky's stupid sunglasses, Zoro jogged down the last few steps and took Tony's hand, "Did you thank Mr. Franky?" Tony smiled sunnily and chirped a polite thanks before launching into an energetic monologue about how he was going to get to ride a real bus. Zoro tugged at Tony's hand, "C'mon, Chopper-buddy, we can't miss the bus." He continued to avoid Franky's displeased gaze as his son said goodbye before he could finally pull him away and start off for their bus stop. He still felt bad about the situation with Franky, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't afford to pay the man to watch Tony anymore. He sure as hell wasn't letting Franky do it for free either - they'd had quite the fight over it, and obviously his neighbor was still 'fed up with his super stubborn insistence on being an idiot who was too proud to accept help when he needed it'. Whatever. Tony was excited to come to work with Zoro, and they had everything under control.

Moments later Zoro was feeling a lot less in control and a lot more frustrated as they ran up to their stop just as the shitty bus was pulling away. It kept going even though Zoro shouted after it and waved his arms wildly. Gritting his teeth and grabbing Tony's hand again, Zoro tried to think through his options. He knew there would be another bus along in the next forty minutes or so, but he would be horribly late to work, and he couldn't do that to Garp after the man had already been down an instructor for the last week. They would still be late if they walked, but it might be better than waiting for the next bus…

"Excuse me young man," Startled, Zoro spun to face the stranger who had snuck up on him. The short, elderly lady looked up with him with a disconcertingly large grin. She looked like she might be homeless - with her wild, curly hair, and ugly, mismatched clothes - however her eyes were kind, "Now listen to auntie Koko, there's another bus stop two blocks away and you can catch that bus if you run!"

Zoro glanced in the direction that the strange lady was pointing and saw that the bus was still waiting at the red light on their block. "Right, okay, Tony let's piggyback, okay?" Zoro crouched just enough to let his son clamber onto his back and cling to his shoulders. His healing ribs ached after bending over even just that little bit, but Zoro ignored the discomfort and hooked his arms securely around Tony's legs. He nodded his thanks at the strange, old woman before dashing off down the sidewalk. Tony squealed with delight as Zoro dodged angry businessmen clinging to their cellphones and glaring women in high heels. It was close, but they made it just in time. Exhausted from pushing his weakened body so hard, Zoro let Tony down and stumbled up the few steps into the bus. The driver eyed him dubiously as he stood there sweating and shaking, but Zoro didn't give one shit what that bastard thought as he dug out his wallet and tapped his new, seven-day passes on the validator. Catching Tony's hand once more, Zoro tugged him to an empty seat. The little boy quickly scooted over to the window where he alternated between staring wide-eyed at the city passing by, and gawking rudely at the motley collection of bus passengers. Keeping a close eye on his son, Zoro slouched comfortably in his seat and watched for their stop.

They got off the bus just across the street from the Iron Monkey Gym. Zoro held tightly to Tony's hand as the two of them rushed across the crosswalk. His was the first class of the day on the weekends and the parking-lot was empty except for the gym owner's old, blue pickup truck. Using his copy of the gym's key to get in, Zoro wasn't all that surprised when Garp bellowed a hello from his office as soon as they walked in the front door immediately followed by his boss demanding, "Roronoa! Get your ass in here!"

Zoro groaned. What could his boss possibly want? He was actually a few minutes early for once! Please don't let this be the day that Garp decided to fire him... Tony's eyes were huge and he clung tightly to Zoro's hand as Zoro slunk unhappily into his boss' office.

Garp stood up from his desk chair when they entered. He easily had half a foot on Zoro, and his height made his thick muscles look even more intimidating under his black tee-shirt when the gym owner crossed his beefy arms with a scowl. "I need to make something clear, son" Zoro swallowed under Garp's piercing gaze, "If you ever - and I mean ever - pull the shit you did last week again I will not hesitate to kick your ass and then throw you to the curb! Got it?"

"Yes sir…" Unable to stand the anger and disappointment in the old man's expression, Zoro dropped his eyes and mumbled, "I didn't mean to take that much time off, but I'll be careful not to get sick again. And-"

"Dumbass!" Garp roared; making Tony scramble to hide behind Zoro's leg, and Zoro flinch back toward the office door, "I'm not talking about that! I'm saying that if you hide a work injury like that again I will break both your legs!"

Zoro blinked, "Oh." Giving his frightened son a reassuring pat, Zoro murmured sheepishly, "So Luffy told you, huh."

Garp nodded seriously, "He also reassured me that he handled everything. So you better thank him, because if my grandson hadn't stepped in, I would be strangling you with my bare hands, you stubborn fool." The older man sighed, "You are incredibly talented, son. I want to see you succeed here, but I can't allow a trainer to work in my gym who abuses his body. Understand?"

"I'm sorry." Zoro felt ashamed, but he met Garp's eyes sincerely. He would work harder and make sure he didn't get sick or injured again.

His boss' lined face crinkled in good humor as he grinned broadly, "Apology accepted! Now is this little brat your Tony? He's growing like a damn weed!"

Tony still had a death grip on Zoro's pants - brown eyes enormous as he watched Garp step closer and crouch his huge frame to get eye-level with the little boy. Zoro smiled and gently tousled his son's wild hair, "Yeah, he won't stop growing. I'm terrified that I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and find him going to medical school or driving!" Tony relaxed slightly and giggled softly at that.

Garp snorted, "Tell me about it. Hey little man. You want to learn how to throw a real punch?"

Tony's eyes sparkled with delight and he nodded so quickly he bumped his head against the back of Zoro's leg. Zoro rolled his eyes, "Garp. He's too little to train with the adults. He can watch us, but…"

"Actually," Garp straightened with a wink, "That's the other thing I want to discuss with you." Coming close, the larger man clapped a broad hand on Zoro's shoulder and urged him out of the office. Tony scrambled to follow - still anxiously clutching Zoro's pant-leg on the opposite side of the gym owner as he snuck glances at Garp. They strolled toward the equipment storage as Garp explained, "That damned twenty-four hour gym down the road has been stealing our business for months. Of course we have better trainers, but that doesn't matter to the sad sacks that flock to those places." Garp scowled, "I know I've told you that profits have been down."

Zoro nodded as he watched Garp unlock the storage room, "We got a few new clients several weeks ago though."

"Doesn't matter." Garp grunted as he shoved aside a plastic bin filled with blue training mats, "We were looking at having to close next year if this shit kept up."

"What?!" Zoro looked at his boss in horror. He couldn't lose this position! He'd might as well go back to working in a goddamn factory if this place closed, because there was no way in hell one of those fancy downtown gyms would hire a man without a college degree, or even a fucking highschool diploma.

Garp grinned and tapped his white-haired temple, "So that's why I came up with a plan! We're starting two kid's classes, and I want you to teach them."

Zoro's eyes went wide as he stumbled over his words, "But I've never-! What about my other classes? I don't know if I can even…"

Patting him reassuringly on the back, Garp chuckled, "Son, I know you can do this. See here - we have all the equipment you could want." Pulling out child-sized training bags, Garp continued to explain, "We're doing the kiddie classes on the weekend only right now, and I'm moving all your weekend adult classes to the other trainers." The older man held up a finger before Zoro could protest, "I'm also adding an early morning class during the week, so I'll need you here at four. Think you can handle that, Roronoa?"

Chewing his lip uncertainly, Zoro looked down at his son. He wanted to agree, but he couldn't drag Tony down to the gym everyday that early. He couldn't leave him home either because he didn't have a babysitter anymore... "Um, I-"

"Think about it. We won't be starting the early classes until January."

Zoro nodded in relief, "I'll think about it, sir."

Garp scoffed, "Now that all that business nonsense is taken care of - get your lazy ass changed and I'll show you the new equipment. You have five students coming in half an hour."

"Yes sir." Zoro grinned at the mischievous twinkle in Garp's eye.

The gym owner gave him a friendly, but painful, slap on the back and laughed, "Good man! You'll see! These new classes will put us back in business, and then I can retire and have you run this shithole instead!"

His shoulder still stinging warmly, Zoro headed for the locker room. Tony was right on his heels asking incessant questions about Garp and why his boss 'says so many bad words'. However, Zoro was too distracted to do more than give him half-assed answers. His thoughts were still stuck on Garp's comment about having him run the gym, and he couldn't help but feel like shit was finally starting to go his way. He just had to make things work a few more years and pay off his shitty loans.

After the class, Zoro was tired and sore but still feeling positive. His new students had been eager to learn and adorably obedient. It was actually a welcomed change from how the older ladies in his Tai Chi class would giggle and leer while making excuses to touch his chest and arms. Tony had been equally excited to take part in the class, and Zoro was immensely proud of how well his son followed instructions and learned the first few moves of his first form. He was actually looking forward to bonding with Tony through a new, shared love of martial arts. Inside the locker room, Zoro listened as the little guy happily chattered about what he had learned. Moving somewhat stiffly, Zoro changed out of his karategi and showered before putting on his slightly wrinkled Sunny Mart uniform in the single stall. His son wasn't at all enthused about getting ready to leave as he sat on the locker room bench munching on his peanut butter and banana sandwich, and playing with the ends of his new, beginner's-level, white belt. Tony was so pleased with the child-sized gi that Garp had given him, and he'd started to throw a tantrum when Zoro tried to make him get dressed again. In the end Zoro had needed to bribe him with the promise of gum later on at the Sunny Mart in order to get Tony to change back into his jeans and tee-shirt.

Zoro grabbed his wallet and his outdated cellphone from his locker as he wriggled his socked feet into his old sneakers. He had thirteen missed calls. Frowning, he scrolled through the numbers with a growing sense of dread; they were all from the same caller. Chewing on his bottom lip, Zoro eyed the single, message-waiting indicator for his voicemail. He knew who had been calling. It was the same collection bastard that had been calling him every day since he missed his last payment to Krieg's loan agency. Feeling anxious, Zoro shoved the phone into his jacket pocket. The calls had been getting more aggressive, and Zoro just really didn't want to deal with that shit right now.

"Tony, are you ready to go?"

The little boy bounced with excitement, "Are we going back on the bus?"

Zoro snorted, "Yeah, Chopper-buddy. Daddy has to go work at the Sunny now, remember?"

"Yeah!" Tony grabbed his hand and began to tug him toward the door, "I wanna sit by the window again!"

"Sure thing, Tony-Tony." Zoro nodded a goodbye to Garp as the gym owner bustled about before waving to the next instructor who was setting up for his class. Kaku taught muay thai style kickboxing and yoga, and had been hired by Garp only a year after Zoro.

Jogging over, the friendly redhead reached out to give Zoro a quick fistbump, "Wasup, homey! And who's this fly little man?"

Zoro smiled proudly, "This is my son, Tony."

Kaku laughed and held out his fist for Tony to bump shyly, "You lyin'! Last time I saw this dawg, he was just a lil' shorty! Now he's all grown up!"

"It has been a while." Zoro nodded in agreement. When he'd been hired by Garp three years ago, Tony was still a toddler, and Zoro had to take him everywhere because he couldn't afford a sitter the first year after he quit his factory job. In the end he'd worked out a deal with Franky, and he'd been able to work more hours. Zoro reached down and rubbed Tony's back, "Chopper-buddy do you remember Mr. Kaku? He used to help me watch you when you were younger."

Tony bobbed his head in affirmation - his gaze was fixed in fascination on the multi-colored tattoo sleeve on Kaku's right arm. The older man grinned and crouched so that the little boy could take a closer look at the flowing designs revealed by his sleeveless, white tee-shirt. Tilting his head curiously, Tony asked, "Did you color on yourself? Daddy says I shouldn't do that."

Zoro couldn't hold back a laugh at that, and Kaku covered his face with one hand; his shoulders shaking as he chuckled. Tony looked between the two of them - his expression part confusion and part offense, "What?!"

Kaku tapped his tattoo, "This isn't marker, little man. This is real ink. I paid out the ass to get this shit done, 'na mean?" The redhead glanced up as Zoro cleared his throat pointedly. Kaku smiled apologetically, "Ah sorry. Gotta watch my damn mouth. I mean, it takes a lotta cheddar to get tattoos like this."

Tony gently poked at a neon image of a scowling, anthropomorphized giraffe holding a bloody sword. It took up a large part of the sleeve while the rest of the image was filled in with zombie pirates, strange fruits and other colorful, random designs. The little boy was obviously impressed, and his brown eyes practically gleamed in admiration, "So cool!"

Zoro snorted and offered Kaku a hand up, "We need to catch the bus so we need to get going. We'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, sure." Kaku let Zoro help him to his feet before pulling the younger man in for a one-armed hug, "Holla at me sometime and we'll hang. You got my digits, right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do." Zoro stepped back and gave Tony a nod, "Make sure you say goodbye to Mister Kaku."

"Bye!" Tony chirped obediently with a broad smile.

Kaku gave the little boy a parting fistbump, "Catch you on the flip-side, homeslice!"

Zoro made sure that Tony had his backpack and jacket properly zipped up before they left out the front door. Kaku gave them one last wave as Zoro held the door open for his son before the redhead went back into the main room to finish his setting up for his class. Taking Tony's hand, Zoro led him back across the street to the bus stop. Travelling by public transportation took a lot more time than Zoro driving himself - so to make sure they would be on time for his shift they were going straight from the gym to the Sunny Mart today. Zoro reminded himself that he was going to have to talk to Nami about adjusting his schedule during the week so he could pick Tony up from the school-bus every day.

Tony was just as excited for his second public transportation ride as his first. He made a beeline for a window seat as Zoro swiped their cards. Just as Zoro got settled and the bus pulled away from the curb, his phone started vibrating in his jacket. Pulling it out, Zoro eyed the all-too-familiar number. It was the goddamn goon from Krieg's loan office again. Zoro felt a moment of panic and indecision before he rejected the call. He shoved the cellphone back into his pocket. There wasn't any point in talking to those bastards. He had no fucking money, and they wouldn't get their fucking payment until he was damn well able to pay. It wasn't even three minutes later when Zoro felt his phone go off again. Gritting his teeth, Zoro jerked his phone back out and forcefully jabbed the power button until the fucking thing finally shut down. He leaned back in his seat with an unhappy sigh, shoving his cellphone back into his coat. There was just no way he was ever gonna catch a damn break, was he?

Zoro spent the rest of the ride worrying. Krieg wasn't a kind man, and Zoro knew that ignoring the calls from the loan office would just piss the bastard off more. Honestly, Zoro didn't want to be on his bad side, and his mind raced as he remembered all the threats from the last time he'd missed a payment. By the time the bus reached their stop, Zoro was jumpy and paranoid. As he walked down the block to the Sunny Mart with Tony at his side, Zoro swore he could feel someone watching them. However, every time he turned to look there was no one there... He felt uncharacteristically relieved to step through the front doors of the Sunny Mart, and Zoro was more than a little embarrassed with himself for how he'd let his thoughts get carried away.

After getting Tony settled in the breakroom with his coloring book and crayons and strict instructions not to move, Zoro walked out to punch in at the time-clock by the office. Coby waved him over to the register, and Zoro clocked in before strolling over, "Hey man, thanks again for covering those shifts for me last week."

Coby adjusted his glasses with a grin, "It's good to see you back! Usopp and I had a hard time while you were out."

"Sorry about that."

Scratching at the shaved sides of his light-blond undercut, Coby shrugged, "We made it work, and you needed the time off." His eyes darted to the breakroom door before he asked, "So is that your kid?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna be bringing him to work for a little bit."

Coby frowned, "You know I could watch him in the evenings if you need someone? I like kids, and I used to babysit my nieces all the time for my sister."

Zoro smiled genuinely, "That's okay. This is easier for us, and Tony actually likes coming to my jobs. Besides, you need to keep up with your training before you start with the police academy."

"That's true." Coby patted his stomach ruefully, "I think I gained weight again. It's hard to keep up my routine during midterms."

"Don't give up on it, and just keep focused on the goal. You've come a long way, man." Zoro reached across the counter to give the younger man an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Back when Coby had first found out that Zoro also worked in a gym, the college student had confided that he struggled with weight, and that he was afraid that it would get in the way of his dream to become a police detective. He was a good kid, so Zoro had helped him form a basic fitness routine, and he tried to encourage Coby whenever it seemed like the young man was starting to get discouraged by college stresses and persistent food cravings. "Have you talked to Garp yet about joining our gym?"

Coby nodded enthusiastically, "He agreed to let me join at a reduced rate if I come help clean the equipment at least once a week. I'll be joining after acedemy! Thanks for putting in a good word for me, Zoro. I really owe you big time for all this."

"Don't worry about it." Zoro shrugged off his coworker's embarrassing gratitude, "By the way, have you seen Lu-"

"Zoro!" Nami stormed up to them with a stormy expression, "Have you clocked in yet?" When Zoro nodded silently she rolled her eyes in relief, "Oh thank fuck. Okay grab a mop and the hazardous materials kit. Some brat barfed all over the men's room and tracked it out the door. I already took care of the sales floor but I am not dealing with that shitstorm in there."

Zoro scowled. Vomit really was the worst. "I am not getting paid enough for this, Nami."

She glared at him with her hands on her hips, "If you don't get a move on you can be 'paid' nothing!"

"Fine, fine." Zoro held up his hands placatingly. He still needed to talk to her about the schedule, but bringing it up when she was obviously in a bad mood was not a bright idea. He'd take the coward's way out and leave a damn note in the office.

Coby spoke up, "I don't mind tackling the restrooms, Zoro, if you'd rather be on the register."

However, before Zoro had a chance to refuse the offer Nami interjected snappishly, "No. As soon as Luffy gets his ass here you and I are clocking out. We're both overtime on the pay-schedule as it is!"

Zoro rolled his eyes before trudging off to get the fucking mop. It figured that the manager would be more upset about having to pay for overtime than all the other bullshit that happened here daily. After checking to see if Tony was behaving himself, Zoro got together all the cleaning supplies, slipped the cloth shoe-covers from the hazardous materials kit over his sneakers, and got to work.

It took almost forty minutes for Zoro to get the men's room completely vomit-free. By the end of it he was exhausted, slightly nauseous, and thoroughly pissed off. He just didn't feel clean even after scrubbing his hands and arms all the way up to his elbows. After rinsing off the mop and emptying the bucket in the back, Zoro made sure Tony was still okay before he went out to find Luffy flopped miserably over the edge of the cashier's counter. "I'm finished with the bathroom, Lu. I can take over the register."

Whining, Luffy pushed himself up off the counter, "Nami yelled at me today."

Zoro teasingly flicked the brim of the store owner's yellow ballcap as he went to log in to the register system, "That's because you were almost an hour late to your shift, Lu."

Luffy straightened his hat with a pout, "She didn't have to be so mad! There were these cool ducks over by the canal, and I was feeding them bread and they kept trying to bite me!" Chuckling, Luffy headed for the freezer as he called back over his shoulder, "You should have seen them! They ate a whole loaf, and it was so funny!"

Rolling his eyes, Zoro muttered, "Fucking weirdo." Honestly though he was a little bit jealous of those ducks. He hadn't eaten since those few crust and leftover cereal from that morning, and he was hungry. During the week eating like that hadn't been as bad since he'd spent his recovery time mostly lying around sleeping or coloring with Tony, but after teaching at the gym and jumping right into work at the Sunny Mart, Zoro was all too aware of how little he'd been eating. He already knew that he needed to spend as little on groceries as possible since he had missed so much work, and that he should be thinking about his son and his bills instead of food, but he couldn't help wandering over to check and see if anything in the refrigerated case would be expiring that night.

Before he had the chance to sort out the old food into bags so that he could take some home - of course while also setting aside some for Luffy - a fucking bus-load of high-schoolers coming back from some sports competition descended on the store like a ravenous pack of hyenas. Zoro had to call Luffy out of the cooler to have him help out at their rarely-used second register, and after the rush of customers had passed Zoro had to clean up after the little shits. He swore that the shitty wannabe-jocks all had made an actual effort to fuck up the shelves as much as possible in their ruthless hunt for cheetos and reese's cups. However, balancing having to deal with customers; making sure that Luffy wasn't eating any stock in the back room; and regularly checking on Tony; meant that it took Zoro hours to get the store back in order, and all the candy re-stocked. By that time he was frustrated and sore; his side aching constantly from too much bending and stretching while putting away products. At least he hadn't had to sort out the delivery. Luffy had taken care of it - but that meant that he'd only had time to grab a pack of saltine crackers and make sure that Tony got his last sandwich and some water since Luffy needed him to watch the register. On top of everything, the steady customer traffic had vastly depleted the stock in the refrigerated case and Zoro had the sinking feeling that there might not be anything left to take home after all. Zoro consoled himself with the fact that there was only another hour to suffer before he could take the bus home and pass the fuck out.

Naturally that's when that bastard, Sanji, walked in the door.

The blond didn't even look up from his phone once as he strolled straight back to the coffee counter. Zoro cringed as he suddenly remembered that he hadn't checked the carafes at all that night. He hurried over to wash his hands so he could brew a pot when he heard an all-too familiar sarcastic drawl from behind him, "I suppose you fucking forgot how to do your damn job while you were gone, because this shit has obviously been sitting out since the fucking dawn of time!"

Zoro glared at the blond fucker as he went about getting a new filter and measuring out the grounds. It seemed that Sanji being helpful last week had been some sort of anomaly - probably due to sunspot activity or some shit - and now the bastard was back to being his hateful, asshat self. "We were busy. Fuck off if you can't wait five minutes."

Sanji snorted, "Good to see you didn't manage to learn any manners in your time off either."

Sneering, Zoro set the coffee to brew, "And yet you still come here and pay for the shitty customer service."

The tall blond leaned his ass against the coffee counter like he owned it and smirked, "At least you admit that you're a shit employee."

Zoro flipped him off, and the fucker just laughed. Deciding to ignore the obnoxious blond, Zoro pulled out a box of sugar packets from under the back counter to refill the neglected container on the coffee display. He knew that if he didn't Sanji would just end up bitching at him about it anyway. Zoro could feel the chef watching him, however the blond stayed mercifully silent - for a few minutes anyway.

"I'm glad you're not coughing all over everything anymore, but you still look like hell."

Scowling, Zoro folded the top of the sugar packets' box closed, "What the fuck did I do to make you think that I care about your opinion?"

As he shoved the supply box in its place with more aggression than strictly necessary, Zoro noticed the blond cook watching him keenly with crossed arms, "You've really lost weight too. Have you been back to the doctor's for a follow-up, because-"

The wannabe-chef-Boyardee had just pushed his last button, and Zoro marched over to growl in his face, "You are one sad motherfucker if all you do is come in here day after day to harass me. Get your own fucking life, and keep the fuck outta mi-"

"Daddy…?"

Zoro felt his stomach drop in horror. He'd never wanted his kid to see him like this. Tony was staring up at him with confusion and uncertainty, and it instantly made Zoro feel like shit. Stepping back from Sanji - who was gaping at his son in shock - Zoro quickly tried to reassure his son, "I'm sorry, Chopper-buddy. I was having a disagreement with mister cook, here. But everything is okay."

Tony's worried gaze darted between the two men as he clutched his favorite coloring book to his chest, "Did you say sorry? You said we're always supposed to 'pologize when we yell."

Zoro ground his teeth and glanced at the shitty blonde from the corner of his eye. Obviously Sanji had gotten over his momentary surprise, and the fucker was blatantly laughing behind one hand. Unwilling to sink to an even greater low in his 'father-of-the-year' rating, Zoro turned and faced Sanji seriously, "I'm sorry I lost my temper."

"And said mean things!" Tony cheerfully added, coming over and grabbing Zoro's hand.

Rolling his eyes, Zoro gave the blonde a wry smile, "And for saying mean things."

Sanji smirked and stuck out his hand, "Apology accepted."

It didn't surprise Zoro one bit when the bastard didn't 'fess up to his own shitty behavior. However, he wasn't about to lose his temper again in front of his son, so Zoro shook the fucker's hand and just decided to ignore the issue for now. Turning back to his kid, he fondly tugged at Tony's tangled mop of hair, "So what's up, Tony-Tony? Did you need something?"

Tony nodded seriously, "Can I have more drink, daddy?"

"Yeah, buddy. Let's get you some more water, okay?" Zoro guided Tony over to the fountain sodas. As he filled up a cup of ice-water for his son, Zoro was all-too aware of Sanji watching them. Distinctly uncomfortable with the attention, Zoro tried to put the cup lid on too quickly; spilling cold water on his pants and making Tony giggle.

Feeling unpleasantly damp and frustrated, he handed the little boy the cup and straw, "Okay, daddy has to go back to work; so you need to go back in the breakroom and color or read some more."

Tony pouted, "But you said I could have candy!"

Zoro sighed in defeat. He had promised that earlier, and he really didn't want to deal with one of Tony's temper tantrums right now. Looking up, he saw that Sanji had finished dicking around with the coffee and was watching them with interest from beside the register. "Okay, Chopper-buddy. I'll get you candy, but I need to finish something up real quick." Placated by the promise of sweets, Tony agreeably followed Zoro behind the register counter where he stood at Zoro's side, clutching his drink and watching Sanji with curiosity.

Slapping the damn blond's cigarettes on the counter, Zoro impatiently waited for the bastard to pay. Sanji took his sweet time counting out his money before handing it over, "So you really are a dad, huh? Never pegged a hooligan like you to be a family man."

Zoro grunted in absent-minded irritation as he thumbed through the bills. The cook let out an amused snort before addressing Tony, "So how old are you little man?"

Tony beamed and eagerly replied, "I'm six! What's a 'ooliggin?"

Sanji nodded solemnly, "They're bad, angry people."

"That's not my daddy!" Tony glared up at the cook, "My daddy works so that we can have food and our 'partment, and he always lets me sleep with him when I have bad dreams!" Zoro couldn't help but feel pride in his son as Tony stared Sanji down - an impressively ballsy move for the little guy - as he defended Zoro fiercely, "My daddy is the best!"

Blinking in surprise, the blond was silent a moment before giving Tony a small smile, "Yeah that doesn't sound like hooligan at all." Sanji accepted the change Zoro shoved at him and hesitated a minute before grabbing a pack of twizzlers from the counter display and plopping them in front of the register. "I want these too."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, but rang it up anyway. Who was he to argue if the shitty cook wanted to spend all his money in one place. Sanji paid for the candy with exact change, and then promptly walked off toward the front doors - leaving the candy on the counter. Confused, Zoro called after him, "Hey! Blondie, you forgetting something here?"

Sanji paused partway out the door and shook his head, "Give it to the little man." Zoro was about to protest, but the cook held a shushing finger to his lips, "It's for the trouble, okay? You've got a good kid."

Feeling uncomfortable all over again, Zoro glanced down at Tony's eager expression and fought the urge to chew his lip unhappily. He wanted to so badly tell this fucker off, but Tony had already seen the candy, and woe betide Zoro if the little guy didn't get it now, "Fine. Tony, say thank you."

"Thank you mister blondie!" Tony chirped out obediently as he set down his water on the edge of the counter and made grabby hands toward the candy.

Laughing, Sanji finally left, and Zoro couldn't help but follow him with his eyes as the other man paused just outside the store to light up a cigarette from one of his new packs. The cook turned and waved at them through the shop window before getting into his expensive car and driving away into the night. Zoro helped Tony open his candy and ushered him back to the employee breakroom with his cup of water. After that he returned to the register and spent the rest of his shift puzzling over Sanji's conflicting behavior.