Author's Note #1: I don't own One Piece. I think I got … weird near the end of this chapter, but it's taken forever, and it's done. Be prepared for long-ass paragraphs cause they start ranting at one point. Also, I really hope you like Sanji's interactions with Zeff, I really love their relationship and don't think it's in enough fanfics.

Tag
by: Setkia

"You can't just make a beautiful masterpiece representing your love for me, put it on the wall right behind my workplace and then run away!"

Sanji has a few options.

First option: he can tell Zoro he doesn't want his fucking explanation, and kick him in the face.

Second option: he can let Zoro explain, while trying to contain his inner anger about being lied to.

Third option: he can get the fuck out of there.

Like any reasonable, sane person, Sanji chooses option number three.

He nearly trips over his feet as he dashes out the door, ignoring Zoro who is calling him by name (which is weird, because Zoro never calls Sanji by his name), and he doesn't stop running until he's at the Baratie and Zeff is yelling about where the fuck has he been and doesn't he know that right now is not the time to just run up to his room like he's five, but Sanji ignores him and slams his bedroom door loudly.

Zoro … is a tagger.

That's a lot to wrap his head around.

Sanji's always known that Zoro likes taggers, he told him so. He said he respected them, for speaking their mind and coming up with creative ways to be heard. Sanji remembers Zoro telling him that while some kids would idolize mangaka, Zoro idolized taggers. Maybe Sanji should have seen it coming? Zoro's eyes lit up when he spoke about taggers, the same way they did when he spoke about kenjutsu.

The cook slides against his bedroom door and tucks his knees into his chest.

Breathe. Don't freak out. So Zoro's a tagger, no big deal.

But the more sane part of his brain is screaming BIG FUCKING DEAL because this shatters everything Sanji thought he knew about Zoro.

Zoro always got quiet whenever he mentioned the new graffiti, and come to think of it, hadn't he known the guy in charge of the paint shop? Does he go there regularly and Sanji's only just found out? There are so many questions Sanji has for the green-haired swordsman, but at the same time he can't find it within himself to ask.

Sanji doesn't know what he'll do if he sees Zoro. He might just punch him, with his hands, and Sanji can't let that happen, he's so irrational right now he can't injure himself over something stupid like the Marimo.

He's not worth it.

"Eggplant?"

Sanji shakes his head. He can't speak, he can't respond to anyone right now. He needs to calm down, needs to think about things rationally but the only thing he can think is

Zoro is a tagger. Zoro's a tagger. Zoro is a tagger. A tagger. Zoro. Zoroisatagger.

"Leave me alone-"

"I thought we were past that moody teenage phase," says Zeff. Sanji can't muster up a chuckle, or an angry huff.

"Just go back to work, you old fart!"

Sanji needs to clear his head. Think about this.

Think about this very hard.

It's so obvious and Sanji wonders if he always knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, and he was just pushing it back so he didn't have to deal with it.

The broken compass, the beer, the fighting scenes, the sleeping man, the empty wallet, everything points towards Zoro. Small pieces of his personality laid out in beautiful art, and the swords … how stupid did Sanji have to be to have missed that?

"Open up the fucking door, or do you want me to kick it down?!" demands Zeff.

Sanji doesn't have the patience for this. He really doesn't. He needs a quiet place to just spend his time, to relax, to calm down from the adrenaline, to just think this through.

There's a forceful push against the door and against his will, Sanji is propelled forward. Zeff stands in the doorway with his hands on his hips, his moustache looking even stupider as it hits either side of the doorframe.

"What the fuck is wrong with you today? Did I raise you to be a coward?"

"Get the fuck out of my room-"

"Watch it, you brat," Zeff snaps. "How about you tell me what's going on-"

"You have a restaurant to run, or did you forget?" Sanji snaps. "You have better things to do than bother yourself with my problems."

Zeff sits himself down on the floor, which is awkward, yes, and Sanji feels like he's fifteen again, getting The Talk from Zeff, after which Patty and Carne decided to have fun poking at him about it. The door has been kicked off it's hinges so now there's not even a semblance of privacy and it unnerves Sanji to no extent.

"You listen here, and you listen well, I built this restaurant from the ground up and I haven't taken a goddamn break in over twelve years, if I want to stop to talk to my ungrateful bastard, then I will, you hear me?"

"You always had a way with words," the blond says dryly.

"I choose what I waste my time on, so now I'm going to waste my time on you. If you want to sit and mope for the next three hours, then I'm going to sit right here and mope with you, but you only have these three hours. Once they're over, you better have your shit together and be ready to work. I won't have you slacking off because of some stupid swordsman."

"How … how do you know it has to do with the Marimo?"

Zeff rolls his eyes. "When does it not have to do with the Marimo? Did he forget your anniversary?"

"We're not dating, idiot," Sanji snaps, picking at the lining of his shoe.

"Don't do that, those are expensive," Zeff says, swatting away Sanji's hand.

"If I want to mope by picking at my shoes, I'll mope by picking at my shoes-"

"Not under my roof you won't," Zeff says. "You think I can afford your smoking habit?"

"Everyone smokes here," the cook says, rolling his eyes. "More importantly, what gave you the crazy idea me and Zoro were dating?"

"Have you ever seen the way that boy looks at you?" Zeff shakes his head. "I figured you were hiding it cause you didn't want your old man to find out, or you were embarrassed or whatever, but everyone knows you're dating him-"

"We're not dating!"

Zeff nods. "Okay, sure, you're not dating."

"You don't believe me."

"Oh no, I believe you," Zeff says. The blond stares at him, tilting his head. He can't find any indication that Zeff is lying. The elder man leans back and yawns. Something is still off.

"What?"

"Nothing," Zeff says.

"Cut the innocent bullshit, it doesn't suit you."

Zeff turns serious, meeting Sanji's gaze intently. "Does he know that?"

"Know what?"

"That you aren't dating."

"What? Of course!" Sanji says, rolling his eyes. "Why would he even think we were?"

"The coffee? The fighting? The fact that you didn't take down his art?"

Sanji frowns. "His art? Did you know? That it was him?"

"How stupid do you have to be, Eggplant?" Zeff shakes his head. "Never mind. What are you going to do?"

"I need time to think," Sanji says with a shrug. "It's a lot to take in."

"You take as much time as you need. But remember that if this ever happens again, I'm going to kick your ass," Zeff says, ruffling Sanji's hair, before hitting him slightly on the back of the head.

Yeah, like this specific circumstance will ever happen again.

Sanji sits in his room in silence for hours, not sure what he should be thinking about more, this Zoro that he realizes he may have never known, or if the meaning of the graffiti has changed for him now that he knows who did it.

He has no real answer.

It's a week from the day Sanji finds out that Johnny and Yosaku walk into the Baratie. The blond hasn't spoken to the swordsman since, mainly because he doesn't even know what he would say. He's been trying to push it to the back of his mind, but it doesn't really work that way when the image is burned on the backs of his eyelids.

The two of them barrel in full force, nearly knocking over Moodie as she exits.

"SANJI-ANIKI! HAVE YOU SEEN ZORO-ANIKI?"

"Oi, Sanji, you're stupid friends are here-"

"They're not my friends, Patty," Sanji shouts back, "They're the Marimo's."

"They're gonna scare off the customers, get them under control," Patty shouts back.

"Like your ugly mug doesn't do that enough?" Sanji snaps back, but then he turns to the two men who act as though they are twelve and sighs. "If you're looking for Zoro, I don't know where he is."

The two of them stare at him wordlessly.

Sanji frowns. "What?"

"Sorry," says Johnny, dropping his head solemnly.

"What do you mean sorry?"

"Sorry," says Yosaku.

"What do you mean?" Sanji repeats. He doesn't have the patience for them, and he doesn't understand how Zoro does.

"You look dead."

"Well, I'm not."

"It's okay, we're here for you," says Johnny, patting Sanji, who pulls his arm back defensively.

"The fuck?"

"It's going to be okay, Sanji-aniki," says Yosaku. "It's very important that you get enough sleep, and don't forget to eat, because regardless of the ache, it still is possible to sleep, and you do need to."

"I'm not mourning, or whatever the fuck you guys think I'm doing, I'm fine," Sanji says, rolling his eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Zoro-aniki's been … weird," says Johnny with a sigh. "And we knew it had to do with you-"

"Why's it always got to do with me?" interrupts Sanji. "Why is it that every time something is wrong with Zoro, everyone comes to me? It's not my fault,-"

"We're not saying it's your fault," says Yosaku quickly. "It's just-"

"You're saying it's because of me, which means it is my fault, which it's not, I'm not the idiot's boss, he can do whatever he wants, if he's decided to act stupid, that's got nothing to do with me!"

"Sanji-aniki, do you hate Zoro-aniki?"

Sanji stares at Yosaku, who looks so small. It's a strange look for the usually brazen man.

"I don't hate him," says the blond slowly. "I'm just very … confused. I haven't figured out how I feel about the whole thing. It's weird. It takes time to get used to realizing that everything you thought you knew wasn't true."

Yosaku nods slowly. "I get it, but still, Zoro-aniki is a wreck. He isn't going to work, he tenses whenever your name is mentioned. It's really done a number on him."

Sanji sighs. "I just can't face him. Not yet."

Johnny nods. "Okay. But … just don't take too long, okay?"

The cook nods.

It's a week later when Sanji gets a call.

Sanji frowns at the unfamiliar number on his phone. "Hello?" he answers hesitantly.

"Sanji-aniki?"

"Johnny?! How the fuck did you get my number?"

"That doesn't matter. I know you and Zoro-aniki aren't getting along right now-"

"First of all, how do you know that? Secondly, it matters to me, so where the hell did you get my number?"

"Zoro-aniki's sorry."

Sanji pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply. "Sorry doesn't change the fact that he lied to me." At this point, Sanji can admit that he doesn't really care anymore what Zoro's done, but it's mainly for his pride that he's keeping it up.

"I know that, trust me, and he knows that-"

"Did Zoro get you to call me? Because I really don't have time for this, okay? You may not think it, but I have a busy schedule and a lot of things to do," lies, lies, lies, "so can you just hurry this up and get to the point?"

"You're at the Baratie, right?"

"What does that matter?"

"I need you to go outside."

Sanji spins around and glances around him. "Are you stalking me?"

"Just, I need you to trust me and go outside," says Johnny with a desperation in his voice that Sanji has never heard from the sunglasses-wearing man before, and he's heard him beg with Zoro to come to a (group dating thing they do in Japan) numerous times.

"I don't need to see more of his fucking art, okay?" Sanji snaps. "It's enough that he lied to me about being a tagger, but that he's been the one defacing my property, it's just-"

"Please." His voice is quiet. "You need to see this."

Sanji sighs and hangs up his chef hat, grumbling under his breath. "This better be fucking something, or else I'm going to find where you are and kick the shit out of you!" The cook wrestles with the door leading to the Baratie back alley that he's spent way too much time staring at, memorizing each bit of spray paint for too many months for him to keep count anymore. He knows what he's going to see, it's been that way forever, but when Sanji opens the door his cigarette falls from his lips.

"Maybe they're building up to something."

There, in the center of all the spread out and scattered images Sanji has been memorizing is a blond cook, wearing a blue and black pinstriped shirt, their sleeves rolled up, a cigarette in the corner of their smiling mouth as they pour a sauce into a sizzling pan, a gleam in their one displayed blue eye, below a strangely curled eyebrow.

It's him.

In an arc above the work, written in green spray paint are the words: ALL THAT I AM AND AT THE CENTER IS YOU.

"Have you ever seen the way that boy looks at you?"

Sanji chokes.

"Sanji?"

Sanji has to bite his lip to hold in his tears. He's nearly forgotten Johnny is on the other end of the line, but he's truly speechless. He can't find words, he doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know what he can say.

"Sanji, are you okay?"

"Johnny," the cook finally manages to utter, trying to gather his composure. His lips are dry, his throat is sore, his chest feels tight. "Where's Zoro?"

After Johnny tells him that he hasn't seen Zoro in forever, Sanji finds himself rather relieved. Because while his first immediate impulse is to find the swordsman and have him explaining everything to him, he doesn't even know what to say. After two weeks, he's finally come to terms with the fact that Zoro is the tagger who has been decorating the back wall of the Baratie for the past few months. Finding out your best friend is secretly a tagger, but more importantly, the secret tagger that's been vandalizing your workspace is one thing. Finding out that he's in love with you is another. Once again, Sanji is launched in feelings he doesn't understand, nor does he know how he should be acting.

He goes for a long walk and thinks it over.

So.

Zoro is a tagger.

And he's in love with him.

It doesn't bug Sanji at all that Zoro is gay, or bisexual? Sanji isn't really sure what to label it. Either way, that's not the weird part. The weird part is why does he love Sanji?

In all the years they've known each other, Sanji hasn't been the model friend to him in any way. They're always fighting, at each other's throats, literally or figuratively. Sanji understands that he's attractive, but at the same time, why would Zoro go for him? Sanji can name all his flaws himself; he smokes way too much to be healthy, he has a bad temper, he's a flirt, he seems flighty to many people, he only seems to get really serious when it comes to cooking. Most of his relationship with Zoro is built on mutual respect for each other's strength, and most of the time it's spent arguing. Sanji isn't soft with Zoro, he's always angry, always yelling. There are only a few brief pauses in their conversations that can be taken as civil. How they're even friends is beyond him.

Either way it's strange.

But the fact that Zoro likes Sanji aside, Sanji finds the strangest thing is how much he doesn't mind.

He knows that for some people, the thought of their same-sex friend being in love with them would be the thing of nightmares, but he can't find it that way. He actually finds it pretty flattering.

Zoro is handsome, and that's not an opinion, that's a fact. He's a certain type of good-looking that comes from muscles and facial bone structure, and the way he holds himself is confident and breath-taking in its own right. His callused hands are tough and hard-worn, his arms are nicely toned, his eyes are concentrated and serious. He dresses like a slob, but when he cleans up, he looks good. Someone that handsome liking someone like Sanji, who has his own type of handsome that's more domestic and less wild is kind of flattering.

There are many qualities of Zoro's that Sanji finds attractive. He's loyal and headstrong and one of the most stubborn people Sanji has ever met. He works hard, has goals, is motivated, and knows what he wants. He's respectable, and strong, he carries himself in a way that says he's a leader. Perhaps, if Zoro were female, Sanji could see himself liking her. But at the same time, the easy relationship Sanj has with Zoro wouldn't work if he was a girl. Sanji would constantly feel the need to be gentle, he wouldn't feel challenged anymore, wouldn't feel matched. There's a certain delicacy that women have that Zoro lacks, but it drives Sanji to try and beat him, to prove him wrong.

Sanji wouldn't have the same relationship with Zoro if he was a girl. The whole spark, the thing that makes them work, would be gone.

The rush Sanji gets when fighting Zoro, he doesn't get that anywhere else, not even a cigarette can mimic that kind of high, and while girls are nice and all, Sanji is always scared of being too rough, of not being gentle enough. That's not there when it comes to Zoro. There's a kind of something that Sanji can't name that he gets out of his relationship with Zoro that he could never get out of any relationship with a woman.

If Sanji's being honest with himself, he'd probably date Zoro as he is-

"SHIT!"

The cigarette falls from Sanji's lips and scorches his shirt. He hisses in slight pain, but he can barely register it underneath the panic about Zoro.

Did he actually think he could date Zoro? Zoro? Muscular, idiot Zoro?

Sanji grits his teeth and his thumb slips numerous times as he tries to light up another cigarette. He needs a minute to think. Think about this clearly.

Okay what are the pros of dating Zoro?

Pro: Sanji doesn't have to be gentle with Zoro

Pro: He doesn't have to worry about being rude or ungentleman-like

Pro: he'd have something to do with all that extra energy Zoro always gives him after a fight

Pro: He knows Zoro's body really well

Pro: Zeff already knows Zoro

Pro: He's not walking on eggshells around him all the time

Con: he's a man.

Sanji frowns.

He feels like there should be more cons, but he can't really think of any. Is the really downside to dating Zoro that he's male? Because if Zoro weren't male, he wouldn't be Zoro. It washes over him with a strange type of calm that he's pretty sure any other man in his place wouldn't have. The prospect of dating Zoro isn't as terrifying as it should be, and that's what terrifies him.

Sanji can see a relationship with Zoro being as good as any he's ever had with a woman, perhaps even better, and it doesn't seem all that strange to him, which is strange. It should be weird, shouldn't it? That the idea of being with Zoro, close to him, kissing him,-

"That bastard."

Of course after Sanji gets his shit together, Zoro has to decide to fall off the edge of the universe.

Sanji checks all the usual places, (the dojo, the bar, random streets that Zoro continuously gets lost on for inexplicable reasons, his apartment), and the unusual places (the woods where he likes to train, marked by several slashes against the bark, the cemetery, the harbour, the sword shop), but it's almost like he's never existed.

He has to talk to Zoro to figure this shit out, because Sanji can only get so far with contemplative walks in the park.

"Where the fuck is he?" he demands, kicking open the Baratie door open. The cooks all turn to him, glaring for his disruption of the calm in the restaurant. He glares at them all. "It's not like you've never had a bad day!" he snaps.

Zeff pushes his way through the many people at the reception, waiting to be seated and grabs Sanji by his ear, pulling him into the kitchen. "I'm assuming you've got your shit together?"

"It's that bastard Marimo-"

"You can't blame all your problems on the swordsman-"

"Tell me that again, when you see him, because I sure as hell can't find him-"

"Ever thought about contacting him?"

Sanji freezes.

"You haven't, have you?"

Sanji wants to give a good reason, like he's been too busy going from place to place, but it doesn't take much time to send a quick text to Zoro. He could ask him where he is, and he could say the reason he hasn't is because Zoro is for sure avoiding him, but a part of him says that he should've at least tried. He's trying to hold on as best as he can because he's still pretty shaken and it's easier to run around like a chicken without his head than sit contemplatively again, because he just can't figure Zoro out, and maybe by the time he does find Zoro, he'll have his head on straight and the casual way he seems okay with dating him will go away and he'll be normal again, and-

"Stop being an idiot, Eggplant, and give him a call."

Sanji's shoulders slump. He really hates it when Zeff is right.

"Oi, Old Man-"

"I'm cutting you some slack for now, don't let it happen again. And if you dare let your … activities get in the way of work, then you can consider yourself fired!"

"OI!"

Zeff chuckles heartedly and slaps Sanji on the back. "Go get him, Tiger."

Zoro is being a jerk. He can acknowledge that. He's been avoiding Sanji and there's no shame in admitting it, he can be a big boy, swallow his pride and fess up that hearing Sanji's response to Zoro's illegal love confession scares the shit out of him.

He's probably painted over it now, knowing what it really means and Zoro can pretend that it doesn't hurt him but it does, oh does it. And he wasn't going to finish it, not when Sanji looked at him with those blue eyes blown so wide in amazement, in confusion, in betrayal. But rather than have trouble picking up the can again, Zoro couldn't help himself. It had been his pledge to himself, on his honour, that he would finish the masterpiece and it would be his way of telling Sanji. It would be out in the open, and he'd get it done and then he'd figure out what to do with Sanji's reaction.

Clearly, past Zoro was much more relaxed than present-Zoro, because right now Zoro would rather do anything than confront Sanji.

He's always known that Sanji has a hatred for those who vandalize, but Zoro's always been a tagger, the same way he's always fought with his swords, he's so used to it, he can't separate it from who he is. Zoro Roronoa, swordsman and tagger. It's his identity. The same way that Sanji has molded himself underneath Zoro's skin, his face sewn to the backs of Zoro's eyelids, the urge to tag has always been there. There are always three impulses Zoro can never fight, no matter how he tires: fighting, tagging, and Sanji.

His phone rings and Sanji lights up his screen.

It's been months. He should be able to face him now.

Zoro picks up his phone, his finger hovering over the answer button.

Sanji is his best friend, whether or not he knows it. And while Zoro has been terrified out of his wits to the point where he's barely been sleeping, he can admit that more than anything, the loneliness that consumes him has been harder than anything. He's not even sure if it's Sanji's voice, or if it's just his presence. The cook is one of the few people Zoro can stand silences with because they aren't awkward, they just are, and it feels right and fine and-

No, in the state he's in, he can't talk to Sanji, he can't trust himself not to reveal something, he can't assure himself his voice won't crack. He clenches his fist-

"Marimo?"

Shit.

The swordsman feels heat rising as he panics. His thumb slipped and hit the answer button.

"Listen, you don't have to talk to me, but I heard you're not going to work. Who else is gonna whip those kids into shape? You need to pay your own rent, idiot. Get your ass back at the dojo, you hear me?"

Zoro gulps.

"I can hear you breathing on the other line, so you are hearing this. If you don't get yourself over to that dojo, I'm going to stomp your ugly mug and make it impossible for you to ever get laid again, you hear me? And you're already pent up as it is-"

"Alright, I got it, you fucking bastard!"

Sanji laughs and the tension leaves Zoro's shoulders. Somehow, without even trying, Sanji's managed to trigger something in Zoro, and though he still feels slightly unease it's nowhere near as paralyzing as before.

Still though, if Zoro goes, he knows that it's going to mean he'll be seeing Sanji.

He doesn't know how to do it yet. How to look Sanji in the eyes and pretend he's okay, to shove everything under the rug, to pretend nothing happened. Because he can't, the image is burned into his mind, the kiss Sanji gave him was just the catalyst for Zoro's personal doom. He can't go back from that.

Zoro stares at himself in the mirror.

He looks like death warmed over. Bags underneath his eyes, hair a mess, he smells like he hasn't showered in a century, his clothes are sloppy and baggy, his posture is horrible.

Clean up first.

Zoro's going to look damn good when Sanji inevitably tells him no.

Sanji fidgets, unable to stay still. He doesn't know what to do with his hands, so he keeps flicking his lighter on and off again. He feels stupid, so stupid, what is he even doing? But he knows if pressed, he can't manage it, can't make words, he'd choke on them as they tried to climb up his throat. Talking to Zoro isn't an option. The phone call alone nearly drained him.

Sanji rocks on his feet, unsure of himself. He has to get a grip. Because if he knows anything about Zoro, Zoro'll be here in the next hour, and he's going to be unpredictable.

Sanji paces like a lunatic for the next several minutes before deciding to take it out on the punching bag (using his legs of course) when the door to the dojo opens.

Sanji spins around, the stuffing of the punching bag falling onto the floor. His eyes meet the Marimo's, who stares at him wordlessly, before promptly going to shut the door.

Sanji sprints quickly and stops the door with his foot.

"Listen here, you idiot Marimo! You can't just make a beautiful masterpiece representing your love for me, put it on the wall right behind my workplace, and then just run away!"

Sanji can see Zoro's body tense, squaring his body. The swordsman breathes in deeply and exhales. "Can we forget about it?"

"It's a bit too late for that, don't you think?"

Zoro sighs and leans against the door. "Can we get this over with then?"

Sanji blinks. "What?"

Sanji has expected many reactions from Zoro. Running away, screaming, getting sad, but this seems to be numbness. He seems … dull. Like he isn't even processing what's happening. Sanji has never known Zoro to be a man of neutrality, he has always been fiery with whatever emotion he felt at the time. This feels … wrong.

"Just say what you want to say, and then I can go home."

As predicted, Sanji can't speak. He instead grabs Zoro by the arm and pulls him into the dojo. Kicking him in the back so that Zoro will fall to his knees, Sanji grabs his head and forces him to look straightforward.

"Do you have to humiliate me? Isn't this enough-"

"Open your fucking eyes, idiot," Sanji snaps and he knows the instant Zoro does because his breath hitches.

Recipe for Love

A teaspoon of idiocy

A cup of passion

A giant bucket of green moss

A tablespoon of strength

½ a glass of muscles

⅛ cup of loyalty

Stir up well

Fan the flames until fired up

Treat with force

It's written in shaky hand, with spray paint across the dojo's normally white screen. Sanji can remember trembling each time as he wrote, terrified out of his mind. He didn't know what he was doing, still doesn't really know, but he tries to keep himself from second guessing himself now.

"W-what-?"

"I am the Love Cook, aren't I?"

Zoro laughs dryly, the words getting caught in his throat. Based on his silence, Sanji doesn't know what to think. He bites his lip and teeters on his heels, unsure of his next actions.

"It's stupid-"

"No," Zoro cuts him off. "No, it's not."

Sanji falls silent.

"I mean, it's not smart either, but it's not … not really stupid. No stupider than what I did." Zoro tilts his head and frowns. "So uh … I guess we're both idiots?"

Sanji doesn't like this. The atmosphere is tense, and he feels like he's choking on air, and it doesn't work because part of the reason Sanji likes being around Zoro is silences are comfortable with him, and he doesn't feel the need to talk and talk to fill up the empty space and now he feels like he doesn't know what to do with his hands, or where to look, or how his feet should be or even how does he inhale and-

"Did Kyousuke shit his pants when he saw you again?"

Sanji rolls his eyes. "I wasn't that scary-"

"Are you kidding me? That kid looked ready to give you all his money and his first born," Zoro scoffs. "You terrified him."

"I guess he was a bit jittery when I visited …"

Zoro rolls his eyes. "So how'd it feel to walk on the wild side?"

"Are we … are we not going to talk about this?" asks Sanji, watching as Zoro stands up and dusts off his hands. "I mean the whole …"

"No, no we're not going to talk about it, it was a moment of weakness, and now it's under the bus-"

"A moment?" Sanji repeats. "That thing took you months-"

"Temporary insanity," Zoro shrugs. "So-"

"No! Not so!"

Zoro takes a step back, his expression going from surprised to tired. "Listen, I'm trying to make this easy for you. It never happened, okay? It's history. Let it go and move on."

"What if I don't want to move on?"

"Goddammit Sanji! I know you, okay? I know you're straight, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but if you'd just rip off the band-aid so I can forget this whole dumb thing happened-"

"Do you not have eyes?!" Sanji snaps. "Do you think I'd toss all my morals out the window for a joke?" The blond is fuming. He knows Zoro is thick, he knows it's going to take some time, but he can't account for this. This is ridiculous. "Do you think that little of me? That I'd just string you along?"

"It's what you're good at," Zoro says softly.

Sanji can't speak. His mouth opens and closes, trying to make words, but nothing is coming out. Instead he can only stare.

"Listen, I know you don't do it for kicks. I know that anything that I thought was happening is my own mind, because you're not like that, and you're not that cruel and I read into things too much, I get that, okay? But damn Sanji, you let me take you out for coffee, and you bitch to me when the day's been bad, and you fight with me with your body all spread out over me, and it can drive a guy insane, okay? You make the line between friendship and something more very thin, and very easy to forget about! So just … give me some time, okay?"

"You idiot!"

SLAM!

Zoro's back hits the dojo's training mats. Sanji leans over him, pressing his knee against Zoro's chest. "You are so stupid, aren't you? I tried to be subtle, but then again, nothing ever gets through a skull as thick as yours, so of course it didn't work. But listen to me, alright? I. Like. You. And I'm not in love with you or anything that extreme, but I think I could, and I mean I can see myself waking up to see you walking around in sweats and nothing else, and you eating my dinner every night, and I can see you coming back from the gym all sweaty and I'll force you into a shower and you'll whine, and then we'll fight over who gets which side of the closet and all that shit, and I can see myself yelling at you for not remembering how I like my coffee, and I can see us doing absolutely nothing about national holidays cause they're a corporate scheme to force money out of us, and I can see you being really stupid on New Years, trying to kiss me and yet somehow screwing it up, and you forgetting our anniversary and I can see myself bending over backwards worrying about how I look when we go out, and you'll tell me to suck it up and get it together already and I can see how much fun fighting would be, and how great the sex would be, because I mean, fuck, you're built like a house and I just … I want that! Okay? It's stupid but I want someone to nag when they steal my section of the newspaper, and I want us to do the crosswords on the weekend, and I want you to forget stuff on the grocery list and I want to talk about getting a pet and settle for a low-maintenance plant that you'll inevitably kill anyway, I want to kill cacti with you! I want to load the DVR with your stupid soap operas, and I want to fight over the tabloids, and I want us to fight in general until we both can't breathe, and I want us to slam doors so hard they rattle in their frame, and I want you to polish your swords while I tell you to get that shit out of the living room, and I want to build crappy Swedish furniture together! I want you to get mad, so mad you leave and then you plan on coming back to yell at me again but you'll get lost and then I'll find you and then I'll kick you in the head, but then we'll have make-up sex, which I hear is the best sex ever, and I'll yell at you for not being romantic and you'll get me a new lighter for Christmas, and I'll tell you to get rid of your stupid fucking swords again and you'll say no! I want to cry over stupid movies with you, and play random word games and fight over who will pay which part of the rent and forcing the other to sleep on the couch when we're pissed at each other, and I want you to try and microwave eggs with Luffy again and I can get mad at you for your stupidity, and we can fight over so many, many stupid things, like that I hog the blankets, and you take up too much space on the bed, and then we can resolve it through stupid ways and you can call me a bastard and I'll call you a moron, but we both know that we actually don't mean a word of it, and we can get each other obnoxious cards that make our anniversaries ironic, and we can compete against Luffy and Nami to see who can be more sickeningly sweet, I just … I just want you! You and your craziness and your unpredictability and your tendency to run without any idea where you're going! I don't care what hell I go through, I just think it'll be all the better to go through it with you!"

Zoro stares at him and Sanji's chest is heaving because he can barely believe half the things he's said and he can't believe Zoro didn't stop him earlier, what has he even said-

"You don't love me?"

Sanji laughs. Out of everything Zoro's heard, this is what he picks up on. He tosses his head back and his body shakes and he wonders how he never noticed the way Zoro's eyes trace his neck, his figure. "Not yet, but fuck, you make it seem so easy …"

"It's not," Zoro says. "It's never been. Do you know how fucking terrible it is? It's like I'm constantly at the top of a rollercoaster, about to fall, or like I've been sent into the battlefield without any defence, it's like … God you make me want to smash your head, and part of me wants to see your brains spill out onto the floor because you're so fucking annoying, but then your ticks became endearing to me and I like the way you smoke and I've seen you be an idiot over girls and I think you're stupid as fuck, but at the same time, Christ, is that girl lucky to have your attention and you swear so fucking much, despite all your grace and it's so fucking amusing to hear it come from you because you open your mouth and it's like a completely different person and your legs do this sinful thing, just by being there! And that look you get when you're really focused is just … and then you smirk, or your voice starts layering it on, and to be honest, you sound so fucking dumb when you try and flirt with girls, and you look kind of ugly as fuck, but then you start swearing and yelling and you get red in the face and I can tell you have trouble breathing but you just want to drill how fucking stupid I am into my head and I just can't even speak when you're like that because your eyes start bulging and you just look so alive, it's like I can't even think straight! And when you fight, you get so into it and when you break something, the way you still stand like you haven't crushed every bone in your hand and you just lazily hold onto that cigarette! Do you know how hard it is to be around you? And how confusing it is for me, when a large part of me wants to grab you by the tie and listen to you choke while another part of me just wants to pull you closer, my dick is so confused because of you! I didn't even know there were fetishes for this type of thing, and it's not like a BDSM thing, I should go on the internet and let the world know about this new kind of kink that involves hate sex but it's not and it's just … why can't you make sense?"

Sanji grins. It's just so Zoro to look completely lost and helpless but at the same time angry as hell, like he's angry that he's confused, and he doesn't know why, so it makes him even angrier.

Sanji pulls him close by the neck and Zoro's complaining about how can he do that? Doesn't he know he could break his- oh shit.

Zoro's lips are wet, and Sanji can't tell if it's from sweat, but usually they look so chapped, and he inhales deeply, and their noses collide and he nearly presses all his weight against Zoro, his knees buckling. His nails dig into Zoro's bicep, his elbow in the crook of Zoro's neck. One of the cook's legs wrap around the swordsman's hip, and the green-haired man holds him there. Sanji feels like he's trying to crawl inside of Zoro's body, and he can't explain it because it's never been like this before, and he feels like he's fourteen again, stupid and horny and unable to control his hormones and inexperienced as their teeth knock together and Zoro bites his lip until it starts bleeding, but Sanji just licks up the metallic taste and remembers to breathe and then he's clawing at Zoro's skin, his arm hooking even harder into Zoro. His other arm drops his hold and wraps itself around Zoro's neck so that he can't pull away, but it doesn't seem like he wants to, and then Sanji's tasting everything and it's not like beer, and it's not like metal and it's sort of like spearmint (heh, spearmint) but not and he can do nothing more than try and figure out what it is, when Zoro bites his tongue and he barely notices and then Zoro's coughing and-

Sanji releases his arms the moment he realizes what's happened.

Zoro clutches his throat, coughing heavily. His hair is mused, his pupils dilated and somehow it feels more personal, more intimate than any time Sanji has ever had sex with a woman before and he's just breathless.

"Who needs to breathe now?"

Zoro growls at him. "I would, if you'd fucking let me," the swordsman snarls, but there's a chuckle in his tone and Sanji knows that he might never admit how kinky he thinks it is that Sanji nearly suffocated him. "Bastard, does everything need to be a fight?"

Sanji licks the blood off his lips and smirks. "Would you want me any other way?"

The green-haired man coughs again and wipes his mouth. "Fuck, tell me I'm not dreaming."

Sanji frowns. "Why would you be-"

"Because it's you!" Zoro says, opening his eyes with a certain craze in them. "It's you, and you're unpredictable and I can never tell with you, you crazy motherfucker, and maybe you're just experimenting or something but I mean, you know how I am, I'm not like you, I don't want to fuck everything I see, I need … I need something with them, and Christ, I've done this so many times …"

"Done?"

"This!" Zoro gestures to the dojo. "Screamed at you, then kissed you, and then you'd say something and then it'd be all nice and rainbows and whatever the corny shit is, and then it'd be morning and you wouldn't be there and I'd be pissed for the rest of the day and-"

"Zoro," Sanji says, pressing his nails into the swordsman's arm, his nails leaving a mark, "this is real. This is happening."

"Then what is this?"

"I … I don't know," Sanji admits. "It's not experimenting, you can trust me on that. It's … I don't know. There's something here, and I want to give it a try, if you'll let me. Because I think we could be fucking amazing together and I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, and that I don't love you yet, but like I said …" Sanji's arms fall helplessly at his sides. "You just make it seem so easy. I can see it, I can believe it, that some day I'll just … fall. Hell, I might even be falling, I don't think anyone ever knows they're falling till they've hit the ground, heh?" Sanji pulls at Zoro's pants, drawing him closer. "So, will you kiss me again, or will I be pre-occupying my mouth with another cigarette?"

Zoro stares at Sanji like he's something out of a dream, like after everything that's happened, he still can't quite believe it. "I just … I don't want to wake up."

"You don't have to," Sanji says, "because you're not dreaming." He looks at Zoro and finds that he was right. Zoro is nothing like a girl. And he wouldn't want him any other way. "There's nothing to wake up to."

Zoro bites his lip and Sanji waits. Slowly, the confusion and tension leaves his expression and then he's grinning shyly and it may be Sanji's favorite look on the swordsman. He's known him for years and years, but there's something amazing about finding out something new about him, knowing there is still so much to learn about him, so much to understand, so much to unravel.

Zoro kisses him and it's softer than anything before, but just as passionate, full of promise and uncertainty, but also thrilling adrenaline and hope. His hands thread gently through the blond's hair, and Sanji holds onto his bicep, the other around his waist. Zoro laughs against his lips and Sanji swallows the sound, and he feels like he's sixteen again, thinking he's in love with that girl in the back of the class but this feels more real than that, and it feels right, and when Zoro finally separates from him, he's breathing hard.

"Breathe, idiot," Sanji chuckles softly.

Zoro's eyes pop open.

"You remember?"

Sanji shakes his head. "I didn't before, but uh, it came back to me a while ago. Went to find you, but you weren't anywhere to be found."

"Huh."

Sanji tilts his head, looking up at Zoro, his … boyfriend? He kinda likes the sound of that. "What?"

"You better not forget it this time."

Sanji smirks.

"I don't plan to."

And when Zoro kisses him, Sanji thinks he's just hit the ground.

Author's Note #2: The thank-yous!

Kitt21: Hey! So yeah, I finished it! And it's early! Because I'm about to be launched into finals, so I had to get it written before finals, and I'm just really happy it's done, so it's posted early.

mrscreepyheather: Well it's here! TADA! I hope you like it!

Sailor Saturn fan: Yay!

Guest: It is here!

So guys, that means I finished a story that's longer than a one-shot! Goddamn, I gotta finish Sink or Swim, I keep reading it to edit but then I get caught up in the story and then get mad there's nothing more and that's when I realize I'm the one who wrote it and it needs a new chapter …. That rarely happens. I'm going to take a small break (I know, AGAIN?) but finals are coming up so I need to sort myself out. I will return once they're done though, which is in mid-December about.