Small Miracles

Merry Christmas dear reader. I hope you have the best holiday ever. You are amazing.

Sanji was angry. Fuming actually.

He was stacking boxes at his shitty job, knuckles white with anger. He didn't want to be here, who in their right mind was working all Christmas eve?! He was stuck here until midnight, damn it!

The store could go to hell for all Sanji cared. No one was coming here this late. Well, it wasn't late really, not yet. There were still people walking around and other staff bidding the customers a Merry Christmas as they left the store with a cling of bells.

He should have had the evening off, but the poor girl whose shift Sanji was currently working had been crying. Apparently she really wanted to spend Christmas with her boyfriend. Sanji couldn't help offering to cover her shift. He had already promised Zeff and the others that he'd attend the Baratie's Christmas party, but he couldn't refuse a lovely lady something so close to her heart.

Well, he was sure he'd heard she'd been begging everyone else to cover her shift because she wanted to get drunk- but that was none of his business! If she wanted to get drunk with her boyfriend on Christmas, that was perfectly acceptable.

Even if he was pretty sure the girl was single, at least the last time a customer flirted with her, she had flirted back. And that was this morning. The suspicion the girl had lied clawed at Sanji's mind.

Sanji shook his head, a man always forgives a woman's lies!

He wasn't angry at the girl or himself, he was angry at the store. This shitty store he worked at that wasn't closed on shitty Christmas! Sanji slammed the jar of pickles on the table, grumbling to himself and itching for a cigarette he probably wouldn't be able to get for at least five hours.

"Later Sanji!" The others in the store waved, holding small complimentary presents from the store in their gloved hands, leaving the blond alone with nothing but an obnoxiously cheery automatic Santa clause statue occasionally screaming out, "Ho, ho, ho!"

Fuck this. Sanji grumbled, taking a seat behind the counter and glaring at the snow piling up outside. The streets were getting empty; people were retreating to their homes to spend time with their families. Sanji sighed, a sting of guilt in his stomach. He'd done the right thing, he didn't have a lover to spend the holidays with, so he didn't have anything special to do. Christmas came every year, Zeff would understand.

It didn't change the fact the store was a piece of shit for not being closed. No one was coming in here! He could leave if he wanted and no one would know!

Well, his shitty manager might find out. The green haired bastard of a boss would probably fire him on the spot if he left. He hated that guy, he had a stupid as fuck name too, 'Roronoa Zoro'. Who in their right mind would name their kid 'Zoro'? It was almost worse than 'mistake'.

The guy was just a couple of years older than Sanji too, and was already the store manager. He looked like a criminal, a scar across his eye and three earrings. How someone like him got a manager's position baffled Sanji.

It could come in handy though. When an angry customer called for the manager after screaming Sanji's ear off for what seemed like forever for no particular reason, Sanji would ask Zoro to come over and take this customer's complaint.

Zoro was above average height, slicked back green hair and incredibly muscular, which was clearly visible under the obnoxiously dark green t-shirt with the store's logo on the front. The stupid smiley face was stretched across Zoro's chest, seeming almost deformed and moving as the man breathed.

Usually the customers backed off at the sight of Zoro's sour grimace and piercings. The slicked green hair and smiley face name tag saying 'Manager' contrasting hilariously when he snarled out, "What the fuck do you want?" with all the politeness of an inebriated rock.

Sanji had no idea how Zoro had kept his job for this long. He was rude to the customers, sour to the higher ups and got lost in the home appliance department every time he was called there for lifting heavy boxes. It was sort of the one 'job' Zoro excelled at as a manager; moving extremely heavy stuff.

Zoro seemed to like arguing, but Sanji tried to avoid talking to the manager. He couldn't resist getting into a heated vocal fight with the man until he remembered that he was his manager while in the middle of insulting him, so he usually backed off. It infuriated him because Zoro usually smirked at him like he'd won the argument fairly.

Sanji hated his boss with a passion, but it was good to know he always had his back when it came to horrible customers.

Sanji sighed, wondering if he should just buy himself something to read while he sat here waiting for nothing to happen. He'd already been here for half an hour and he was bored out of his mind. If he was going to miss the delicious Christmas dinner Zeff was no doubt making AND half the party afterward then he might just as well buy himself some cookies or something.

No one was going to know anyway. Sanji stood up and traversed the cookie aisle, picking out some tempting packs and taking them back to the register. The store was completely mute now, someone had turned off the infernally looping Christmas music that had been sounding through the speakers for months.

Thank god for small Christmas miracles.

He might even get his media player and headphones, no one was going to care; there was no one in the store! Damn it this was such a fucking waste of his time. If there wasn't going to be a single damn customer that came through tonight he was going to complain to the owner for ruining his Christmas for absolutely nothing.

Sanji walked around the register, ringing his two boxes of cookies casually. He wasn't allowed to ring his own shopping, but fuck it there was no one here to stop him and he wasn't planning on doing anything wrong! He leaned over to type in his company discount code when his concentration was broken.

"Oi! What are you doing!?" Zoro's angry growl echoed through the silence of the store and almost startled Sanji out of his seat. He fell forward, hitting the register scale with his elbow, bashing his head into the monitor at the side as he yelped in surprise and pain.

"Don't sneak up at me like that you bastard!" Sanji snapped, turning back to glare at his manager. He erased the ten kilograms of bananas the system had misunderstood his flailing as. Zoro was walking towards him, frowning like usual and staring at him with his single functioning eye. "I didn't know you were still here, It doesn't matter if I'm ringing my own shopping! I'm not cheating or anything!"

"That's not what I was talking about." Zoro groused, jerking a thumb to his office door with an annoyed huff. "You didn't come to the office to pick up your present. You read the notice, right?"

"I figured I'd pick it up before I went home. I can't really use a shitty present while I'm stuck at work." Sanji remembered the notice hanging in the staffroom. He just didn't give a shit. He didn't want anything Christmas related from this shitty workplace.

Zoro walked back to the office without a word, turning his back on Sanji, unable to see the blond boldly flip him off from behind his back. God he hoped Zoro left soon. Sanji ran his card through the slot, finishing up his shopping before anything else came to ruin it.

"Here."

Zoro appeared again, smacking the present in his lap with a dull thud. Probably chocolate. Sanji rolled his eyes, it even sounded cheap. It was terribly wrapped too, the moss-brain probably wrapped it himself.

"What is it?" Sanji asked, with a slight curiosity as he eyed the crumbled green and blue wrapping paper.

"Chocolate." Zoro stated plainly, no emotion in his voice as he flat out told Sanji the contents of the present and robbed it of any mystery it might have held.

"Huh." Sanji frowned disinterestedly, pulling open his bag of cookies and stuffing one in his mouth rebelliously in front of Zoro.

"You can go home now."

Sanji almost chocked on his rebellious cookie. "W-wha?"

"I said you can go. Get out. Merry Christmas and all that shit." Zoro crossed his arms over the stretched logo on his shirt. Sanji took a moment to cough up a metaphorical lung and half a cookie before he managed a proper reply.

"But the store?, It's not closed and-"

"No one is going to come here tonight. I can manage it fine on my own. You should go." Zoro said nodding towards the window. "Before you get caught in a blizzard."

"uh... okay." Sanji said dumbly, jumping from the seat and stuffing his cookies into his bag. "you sure?"

"I am. Get out. See you Wednesday." Zoro said calmly as he sat down in the chair Sanji just vacated, slamming his feet on the register with a clatter of chains at his hip. The man yawned lazily and crossed his hands behind his head.

Sanji grabbed the company chocolate and stuffed it into his bag, running down to the changing room before the manager changed his mind. He couldn't believe his luck! Maybe Zoro wasn't such a bastard after all?

Sanji hurriedly pulled on his coat and snow boots, wrapping a scarf around his neck and up to his ears before he made his way to the staff exit. He hesitated at the door, the doorknob cold as his hand lingered on the metal.

He made his way up the stairs to the store front, eying Zoro who was staring at the snow piling up outside with an incredibly bored expression. He paused at the top of the stairs, glancing at the clock before he cleared his throat awkwardly. Zoro turned his head to look at him.

Sanji remained Silent for a moment, his mouth dry as he watched the man from across the room. The silence in the usually loud store was deafening, Zoro looked incredibly calm and at ease, no tension in him as he reclined in the chair. He didn't look like he had anywhere he'd rather be.

"Merry Christmas, Zoro." Sanji said with as much sincerity as he could muster, maybe he was the only one who'd said this to him today and meant it? Maybe Zoro didn't have anyone to spend Christmas with? The fact that he knew nothing about his manager outside of work suddenly hit Sanji like a pile of bricks.

"Merry Christmas, blondie." Zoro's deep voice was softer than usual and Sanji could hear the hint of a smile in the words, they weren't meant to aggravate him, even if Sanji loathed the man's nicknames.

Sanji waved awkwardly, pulling up his scarf to hide the faint blush on his cheeks as he headed for the staff exit.

"Uh..." Sanji muttered softly, pausing halfway down the stairs. "When you finish up at midnight, there will be an open Christmas party at my old man's restaurant." Sanji blurted out with only a glance over his shoulder to make sure Zoro was listening.

"If you want to stop by for a drink, it's called the Baratie." Sanji continued waving the subject off casually. "-It's on fifth and main down the East-blue."

He didn't wait for a reply. His heart was hammering in his chest for some reason and he bolted out the door before Zoro could say anything.

He didn't care about following other people's footsteps to avoid getting snow in his shoes. He didn't mind the cold biting at his heavily blushing cheeks. He lit himself a cigarette, looking up at the softly falling snow that was slowly making its way to the ground in slow lazy sways.

He didn't know why, but he really hoped Zoro would stop by for a drink later that night.

I have no idea if this will go any further. I'd appreciate to hear your opinion on this, I just felt compelled to write something xmass-y.