Okay a quick comment before I get to the story, I just want to thank all of you who have continued to read this and who have continued to motivate me into finishing this work in progress. I also wanted to thank all of you for commenting on the Christmas chapter, it took me almost four hours to complete due to the fact that I didn't want to let any of you down with a poor quality chapter for Christmas. In answering a question, I actually say down and made a chart of the characters and what gifts they would get from the others. It took me alot of time to finish it but I'm SO happy with how it turned out and you guys have no idea how happy it makes me knowing you all liked it so much. So as a thank you I am going to make a special chapter for this story, just for you, my readers, of a ZxS date night. Not sure when or where I'll fit it into this story but I will make it happen. Just for all of you. Now, without any more distraction, New Years!

The house a mess in his opinion, balloons and confetti littered the floor; pointy hats and noise makers engulfed the table and the music was worse than any single thing he could remember hearing in his entire life...which said something when your friends with Luffy. Pinching the bridge of his nose he stalked to the fridge and rummaged through it til he found and beer and emerged just in time to be mauled by an over excited rubbery mass and his brother.

"Come on Zoro! You have to be decorated too!"
"Hold still Froggy, this won't hurt a bit."

Zoro felt his eye brow twitch in annoyance and growled and the two of them put a banner across his shoulder and a hot ontop of his head...they were going to die, he could feel his hands itching for his swords. The laughter that followed behind the two of them made the itch lessen and he glanced over the older D's shoulder to see Sanji clutching his abdomen, laughing at the three of them, the bright smile on the blond's face made him feel funny and he looked away to glare at Luffy.

"It was Sanji's idea! He said you looked lonely and if we attacked you, you would have fun!"

Zoro's glare shifted to the blond who held up his hands in defense, his chuckles still not fully gone as he snorted in laughter again at the sight of the glittering 2011 hat on his friend's head.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. They were about to attack me and I know your more used to that kind of thing than me."
Zoro closed his eyes as Luffy detached himself from Zoro and took off across the room yelling at Ussop about something or another.
"Your the devil."

Sanji snickered and walked behind the bar of the kitchen and began to mix a drink for himself.

"Come on, you don't really mean that do you?"
"Depends. If you make me one of those, extra strong. I'll think about it."

Sanji shook his head and pointed to the beer in the other man's hand, the moisture beginning to drip from the frosted can due to the heat from Zoro's body.

"Finish that first. I won't have you wasting perfect liquor."

Zoro let out a 'humph' and popped the can open, Sanji had the horror of watching the man down the can in only a few giant gulps, the sight was enough to make his stomach turn and his appitite leave him for days. Zoro brought the empty can from his lips with a sigh and looked smugly at the blond chef.

"Alright, gone. I'll take that drink now if you don't mind."
"Your a pig."
"We established this the day we met, or don't you remember?"
"I remember just fine. Thanks. I really don't want to talk about that nacho fiasco all over again."

Zoro chuckled at that memory, Luffy and him, a nacho challenge...he lost, all of it in the nearest trash can as he remember correctly. Shaking his head he looked back at the cook and blinked as he noticed the man carefully setting his jacket across a chair, it was the jacket Zoro had gotten him a few days ago; seeing the blond handle it with such care still made his heart tighten. Looking at his feet he frowned, things like that he started happening more and more to him, ever since that first time he had kissed the blond. At that time it had been from a pure physical attraction, the man was sexy, in every form of the word; but now...when he looked at the lithe male, his stomach flipped and his throat got tight. It was hard to speak unless the other started the conversation, it was hard to concentrate with the blond close to him at all. And even worse, the man had begun to make appearances in his dreams the last month or so. Small at first, just passing glances of the man between his other dreams; but now he almost dominated them. It scared the swordsman, made him nervous.
He jumped as Sanji bumped his elbow with his own.

"Hey Marimo, you alright? You spaced out there for a moment, you had this goofy love sick look on your face."

Zoro felt his eyes widen as Sanji's words filtered through his mind...love sick? Love sick...love...sick...LOVE.

"You know what, I just remembered I have to do something...somewhere...that's not here...I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Sanji blinked as the man took off like a bat out of hell down the hall, his drink left on the counter and forgotten; confused and some what hurt the blond shrugged and walked briskly back into the living room unaware of the turmoil his friend was in down the hall, locked in the bathroom. Looking at his watch the time was only half past nine, they still had a few hours to go. Sanji sighed, he was nervous, for more than on reason. It was tradition that on the stroke of midnight, when the new year broke through the old you kissed your loved one to bring good luck...who would he be kissing? Nami had Luffy, Robin was out of the question since he didn't feel like having a hammer through his skull, courtesy of Franky; Kaya and Ussop were together so there went that way out as well. Vivi and Ace were attached at the hip since Christmas and Ace's promise ring and finding one with out the other was rare. Flopping down into the plush couch he glanced at the TV and rolled his eyes as Ace was sniped by Ussop again while playing Black Ops. The poor game had barely had a break since Chopper had brought it over with him. He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling, his mind was a whirl of thought and it screeched to a halt as he closed his eyes only to see a broad grin and tan face flash behind his eyes. His eyes flared open and he sat up slowly. Zoro? Shaking his head he looked at the liquid in his glass and eyes it suspiciously, he had been the one to make it so there was no way it was spiked more than it already was with the strong rum...so why? He shook his head again and decided just to keep his eyes open til it was time to go to sleep. He looked up as the bathroom door opened and watched as Zoro emerged from the hall looking pale and haggard, almost instantly he felt the need to go and see if the man was alright. He paused as the notion struck him as odd but ignored it and stood up, he strolled forward and leaned on the counter putting his chin in his hand as he looked up at the green haired swordsman.

"You alright Moss head? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Y-yeah, just fine. I think I drank that beer to fast."
"Came back up?"
"Yeah. My stomach isn't in the best of moods now."

Sanji frowned and walked around the bar into the kitchen and began to pull things from the spice rack till apparently found what he was looking for, taking a small pot from the cabinet he filled it half way with water and put a tea bag in it to make green tea, Zoro than noticed the spice he had been looking for was crystallized ginger. Raising an eye brow he watched as Sanji went about boiling the tea and ginger together, once done he poured into a mug and handed it to the large man with a smug grin.

"Here."
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Drink it you idiot. It'll settle your stomach"**

Shrugging Zoro took an experimental sip of the hot brew and was shocked as almost instantly his stomach felt a little better.

"I'll be damned."
"You didn't know that? Even being Japanese in blood?"
"Nope, never heard of it."
"Huh, odd. They use that all the time; feel better?"

Zoro nodded and gave Sanji a small grin that made the younger man's stomach squirm, looking away he cleaned the pot and threw away the used tea bag, grabbing his drink he sat back on the couch and waited as the time seemed to go by a little faster. He joked with the man next to him as the talked about the past year and all the things that had happened.

"Who would have thought that I would end up being on a damn dance team, and that you and I would actually end up getting along."
"Well to a degree. I still can't stand the fact that you drink from the carton, on anything, that fact that you snore. Or your utter lack of personal hygiene, the fact that you throw your boots just anywhere you want when you come home from work, the fact you never do a damn dish in this place-"
"Okay, in my defense on that one, it's called a dishwasher, I just use it."

Sanji rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink he was shocked when the rest of the group began to get more and more excited, looking at his watch he blinked as the time blinked up at him.

"Is it really that late?"
"What's that?"
He looked at Zoro with a half smile. "11:59."

Zoro leaned forward on his knees and smiled as his clock chimed, looking over at the blond he noticed the man watching as the couples in the room embraced each other and kissed. Smiling he leaned over and as Sanji turned to look at the swordsman he caught the pale lips with his own, the gasp from Sanji made him smirk and he took advantage of it allowing him self entrance into the cooks mouth. Running his tongue over the blonds he let his eyes flutter closed and bit off the groan that began to rumble in the back of his throat. The taste of rum and nicotine filled his senses, it was addicting and beneath that he could taste a spice that pure Sanji. He brought his right hand up to cup the blond's cheek, what shocked him was when the man clutched the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, at this the groan couldn't be held back and it vibrated through him and into the cook which in turn made a faint moan leave Sanji as well. With much reluctance they pulled apart, Zoro could feel his cheeks burn with the blush that had risen to them during the heated kiss, Sanji's cheeks were flushed as well, but it became worse as a Ace began to laugh and Ussop gave a shrill wolf whistle in their direction. Nami covered her mouth as he giggled and leaned into Luffy.

"Well, it's about time you two."

Zoro scratched the back on his neck and looked back at the man sitting next to him, Sanji looked up at him and smiled shyly; shrugging Zoro grinned evilly and grasped the back of the thin neck.

"What the fuck are you doing you stupid moss headed pea-"

The verbal assault went silent as Zoro covered the lips that were throwing obscenities causing them to go silent as he abused those pale lips again, this time uncaring if his friends watch or not. The strange sensation in his stomach jumping into his throat and making it hard for him to breath. He could feel his body temperature raise and fought with his lungs on whether he needed to breath or not, his lungs won out in the end and as he pulled back panting he locked eyes with the other man and chuckled.

"Now whose the devil?"

Zoro let out a bark of laughter and slid closer to Sanji on the couch and threw his arm around the thin shoulders, with no intention of moving from the comfortable position for some time. This was a new year, and new years always meant changes, he was determined to change his life now, mostly due to the fact that the cook had not beaten him to a pulp, and was now allowing the close proximity. He felt light, and happy; looking down at the smiling blond he felt his stomach do another funny flip as it noticed that the blush had not left Sanji's cheeks completely. Sighing inwardly he got comfortable as his thoughts stopped on a single thought, a thought that no longer scared him.

...He was falling for the cook, and there was no stopping it. But than again, he didn't want to stop it...