A/N: Oh God, I've finally managed to write it. Sorry for taking so long ;A; But now it's here and I hope you'll like it!

And, as always, big thanks and mass love spam for my beloved beta—IshiIchiMari—as well as all my Readers and friends who support me. And thank you all for your revievs and favs, too, you're wonerful. I love you all!

Zoro woke up early in the morning. He was damn thrilled and curious at the same time. He wondered how Sanji would react at the sight of him. Would he be shocked, angry, or maybe he wouldn't care at all? Either way, he couldn't wait to see his face.

The moment he opened his eyes, Roronoa swore to himself he won't lose his cool today. No way. He wouldn't let Black drag him into his game. He planned to be so nice and polite so that Sanji was going to be the person who would get pissed off this time. And he was going to talk. A lot. He wasn't the talkative type, but this time he wanted to sacrifice himself for the greater purpose. Yes. Zoro was going to bore Sanji to death or make him go nuts or make him change his attitude. Sounded like a plan.

He put on a loose T-shirt and trousers, a pair of comfortable shoes and went for a jog. He liked taking some laps in the nearby park in the morning, just when not too many people were walking around. He didn't jog often so early, though, since he preferred to sleep. Zoro loved sleeping as long as he could; he also liked taking naps during the day. But a little exercise like this from time to time probably wouldn't hurt him.

Six laps later he decided to come back home, take a quick hot shower and eat something. He searched throughout his fridge to find anything eatable. He could prepare scrambled eggs... Or better not, whenever something he had made touched a pan, it almost immediately got burnt. He put the thought of preparing eggs aside and looked for something else. He had cheese. Green cheese. And some ham, which was suspiciously slimy. And... What the hell was that stinky thing? Did he have any bread at least? He looked around. Nope, he didn't.

"Oh, well," he said gloomily, "whatever, I'll buy something later." He shrugged and glanced at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. "Time to get going and start the game."

Sanji expected to see irritated Saga in the morning, giving him pills and changing bed sheets like every Friday. He expected to see the man who, luckily, refused to talk to him, or even look at him. The blonde was cool with that and didn't want to change it.

But he would have never imagined to see him—that stupid, annoying marimo, with oh-so-big forehead, three gay-ish gold earrings in only one ear and that idiotic smile on his face.

Sanji stared at the man standing in front of him with pure desire to kick his sorry ass in his one visible eye.

"Yo, curly-brow," Zoro said happily, grinning. He was holding clear white bedding in his arms. "How are you feeling today?"

Black was silent for a while, still not believing what he saw. Didn't he tell Roronoa not to come back?

Damn it, he didn't like him, not even the tiniest bit! Couldn't he just get out of his—already fucked up—life?

"Where is Saga?" Sanji asked coldly; an unfriendly, wary sparkle appeared in his blue iris.

"He's looking after someone else, I believe." Zoro shrugged and acted like it was so normal and obvious. "From now on, you're under my care. I know you're happy."

What? No, that was not possible. He didn't want the damn moss-head to be his "guardian". Not in million years. He preferred Saga, at least he was less dumb, didn't talk much and didn't bother him almost at all, so the blonde had peace and quiet.

Did it mean he had to say a good-bye to his calm days spent alone?

"As if," Sanji snorted and folded his arms. "I bet that Saga bastard's just ill and he'll be back sooner or later."

"No, he's not. He's just fed up with you, that's all; and he passed the wonderful duty of taking care of you onto me. Isn't that great?"

Zoro observed Black carefully, trying to perceive any sign of greater emotions. He was unable to, though. Sanji seemed a little angry, but only a little. Aside of that, he was still surrounded by the aura of sadness and indifference. Nothing more, nothing less. The green-haired man was definitely going to change that.

"Whatever." The blonde murmured, sat on the windowsill and looked the other way. Just the sight of that grass-head idiot made him want to puke. "I didn't like him anyway. Not like it's the other way around with you, shit-head."

Zoro just smiled a little goofily and started changing the bed sheets since Sanji was sitting on the windowsill, which seemed to be his favourite place. The blonde was looking out of the window, but from time to time he shot him a quick glance. He still didn't believe it; how that Saga fucker could do this to him. He would kick the said man's shitty ass later. Fucking betrayer.

But, goddamnit, what's done cannot be undone. Saga was gone and he was stuck up with marimo unless the idiot decided to leave him. And he knew it wasn't gonna happen so early. Most of the volunteers here were stubborn as hell and mostly were unbreakable. You could yell at them, hit them, and say shit about them. They wouldn't give up.

Sanji wondered if Zoro also had so strong willpower. Was he able to put up with him and his behaviour? Was he able to endure all the insults and whims?

Black smiled to himself. Fine. If he wanted to take care of him so damn much—fine. Let's see how tough he was.

"Oi, algae," Sanji said and Zoro turned his head to him, "bring me something to eat, I'm hungry."

"I'm not an algae, curly-brow." The green-haired man snorted. "What do you want?"

"Anything's fine. And if you call me 'curly-brow' one more time, my foot will say 'hello' to your dumb face."

"You can try if you want." Zoro shot him a cocky smirk and headed to the door, but he stopped before exiting the room. "Uh, what do you want to drink? Tea, coffee, water, juice?"

Sanji thought for a moment and then replied, "Cappuccino."

"Okay."

Zoro left the room and then cursed under his breath. The hospice's canteen didn't serve cappuccino. It was a problem. He supposed he would have to go and ask personnel if they had some. And what if they didn't? Hell, Black would have to deal with it. Oh, and the medicaments. He needed to get them.

Meanwhile, Sanji sat on his bed and sighed loudly. He didn't like what he was going to do, but he didn't have any other ideas. He was going to make Zoro crazy. So crazy he would stop coming to him and 'taking care of him'.

He ran his hand through his blond hair. He hated people like this. So lively and way too nice. It was all fake, so damn fake. All of them came to him because they had to, not because they actually wanted to. He didn't want it. He didn't need it. All of the pity, the insincere smiles and words that were supposed to cheer him up.

'Bullshit,' he thought bitterly and lied down, curling knees up to his chest. 'All of it.'

He believed—he knew—that Zoro was no exception. He could bet Saga just asked him to look after him because he'd had enough. After over a year of insults, mean looks and being pushed around... Sanji wouldn't be surprised. But he had to admit that the Saga bastard was tough—he put up with him longer than anyone had before.

He stayed like that until he heard a worried voice behind him, "Hey, are you alright? Does something hurt?"

Oh dear God, wasn't he even allowed to lay down for a little while? It was his fucking room and his fucking bed after all; he could do anything he pleased!

Black clenched his teeth and surpassed the desire of kicking Zoro right in the middle of his stomach. "I'm fucking fine, jackass," he growled.

Zoro sighed with relief, "Good. You're so curled... I thought you were in pain." He put the plate with food and pills on the night table as well as a blue mug containing cappuccino.

The blonde ignored his comment and sat up, glancing at the simple breakfast in front of him. Really simple. On the white porcelain were two slices of bread covered with butter and blackberry jam. Sanji raised his eyebrow—was it all the hospice's cook was capable of making? As far as he remembered breakfast looked different here...

"I'm sorry," the green-haired man said, noticing Black's confused look, "I know it's nothing amazing... The man who's the cook here had a break so I had to prepare something myself, and, well, hah, uh, my cooking level's below zero." He laughed a little nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yes, indeed. The bread isn't even nicely sliced, not to mention the overload of butter... I don't mind it, though, but..."

"But what?"

"I'm allergic to blackberries," he said looking at Zoro.

"Really?" This time it was Roronoa who raised an eyebrow. He was sure that Sanji wasn't saying the truth. Or was he? Would he lie to him about food? Naw, he wouldn't... And what if... Hell, whatever. Even if he was, he wouldn't mind it—after all he was supposed to be super-nice and loving. "I'll go to make something else, then. And, before I forget, take your medicine."

"I thought I made it clear yesterday that I don't want any—"

"Take it and I'll leave thirty minutes earlier," Zoro interrupted.

Black considered it. "An hour."

"Forty and no, I won't leave fifty minutes earlier."

"Fine." Sanji agreed. Snorting, he took the pills and put them into his mouth. Reaching for the bottle with water near his hand, he took a draught from it. Zoro smiled and left, taking the plate with him. As soon as Roronoa wasn't in the room, the blonde spit out the medicine to the plastic bag.

'I need to get rid of this,' he thought and hid the bag under his sweaters and dress shirts. 'At least the shitty marimo is brainless.' He returned to the bed and leaned his face to the mug with cappuccino. He sniffed and noticed Zoro had put a spoon of sugar in it, even without tasting the hot drink. 'I'm ashamed of myself, wasting food so much... And I promised him I would eat anything I was given... The old geezer would kick the life out of me if he saw what I was doing...'

But he had to do. He had to make Zoro leave him alone.

"I wish Usopp was here so we could talk," Sanji said to himself resting his chin on his hand.

"Usopp? Is he your friend?"

Black turned around and shot Roronoa a death glare. He hated him. Oh, he hated him so much for many reasons but mostly for being a total idiot. Did he always have to come in during the most inappropriate moments?

"Maybe," Sanji growled. "It's none of your business."

"Calm down, dart-brow, I was only asking." He snorted and handed the other man a new set of sandwiches, this time with cottage cheese and honey. "Here. Is it better now?"

"Well, yeah..."

"But...?"

"The cappuccino. It's too sweet. I don't put sugar in anything—tea, coffee, cappuccino, chocolate. And, wait. Wait. What the hell did you do with the previous portion?" Sanji looked at him carefully.

"Erm," Zoro was confused due to the sudden question, "I put it... on the 'leftovers' window... In the canteen?"

"W-What!" Black snapped, jumping to his feet and pushed his index finger into the green-haired chest. "Are you fucking crazy? How dare you, bastard!"

Zoro was very surprised at this unexpected outburst. He stared at the blonde with eyes wide open, not understanding what his problem was. Wasn't it normal to leave things like that by leftovers window? He always did.

Well, at least he achieved something, somehow. Sanji showed something more than his casual indifference, sadness and shadows of irritation.

"What the hell?"

"Go there and eat those sandwiches immediately! Right now! Before someone throws them out!"

"What? Why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because you cannot simply waste food," Sanji said angrily and very, very slowly, just as he wanted to be sure that Zoro was able to understand him, "so you will go there and fucking eat what you have prepared. Understand?"

Roronoa furrowed his eyebrows but then remembered what he had decided that morning. He had to be calm and nice even if he hated it to the bone.

"Well, whatever," he murmured shrugging, "I haven't eaten the breakfast anyway."

"Y-You idiot! Imbecile! Fucking moss-head! You really don't have a brain, not even the fucking smallest one! Don't you know that breakfast is the most important meal during the whole day? Shit! Go there and fucking eat those fucking sandwiches!" He pushed him out of the room. "Oh, wait a sec." Sanji went back to get the mug and shoved it in the other man's hands. "Drink it as well. And prepare me another mug of cappuccino, this time without sugar. Now, go!"

"Fine, fine... Sheesh. I don't see your point, though, curly-brow..."

"Shitty idiotic grass-head."

It didn't take Zoro long to return to the room number twenty-three with a new cup of cappuccino. He also held those unfortunate sandwiches. He sat on a chair nearby the bed, placed the mug on the night table and started eating; glancing from time to time at Sanji. The other man was once again an indifferent statue with one visible matt, sad eye, sitting on a windowsill with a book in his hands. All Blue, the title said. Roronoa had no idea what the book was about, he had never heard of it before. To be honest, he didn't read that much. And when he did, the books he chose were from Japan—the place he was born.

"So... what's wrong in leaving uneaten food by leftovers window?" Zoro asked.

Black shot him a quick glare and replied in a calm, cold voice, "People all over the world are dying from starvation and lack of water, and you ask what's wrong with wasting food?"

"Ohhh, now I see your point!" The green-haired rubbed his chin. "Yeah, you're right. I've never thought about it that way. Now I won't do it again... I think."

"You better not. If you do—I'll find you and fucking kill you."

"I doubt it, but fine, you can try." Roronoa grinned and took a bite of sandwich. As Sanji said—it was butter-overloaded. He kept eating anyway. "So, what are you reading?"

"Nothing you would be interested in," the blonde replied and turned to the next page.

"How can you be so sure?"

Zoro received no reply. He supposed it meant that the blonde was back to his "mute jerk" mode. Giving a clock in the room a glance, he noted he had to spend here three more hours or rather two and some, after taking away those forty minutes. They still had a lot of time. So far he was nice, he didn't get angry—not on the outside at least. He was able to make Sanji pissed off, just as planned. He had also a chance to eat a free breakfast... Summarizing, everything went well. And now the only thing he needed to achieve was forcing Black to talk.

"So... You had mentioned a guy named Usopp before. I suppose he's your friend, right?

"I told you, idiot, it's not your business," Sanji growled.

"Ah, c'mon, you can tell me."

"Of course I can but I fucking don't want to. So shut up 'cause you're disturbing me." He shot Zoro a death glare and went back to reading.

After a while, the blonde jumped off the windowsill, took the plate with food, came back to his previous sitting place and then started eating, everything without stopping the lecture for even one second. He kept silent, lost in a beautiful world of written words.

Oh, how Zoro hated his attitude...

"Tell me about your friends," the green-haired asked, "what are they like?"

Silence.

"Fine, I get it—not questions about friends, sheesh. You're no fun, you know?" No reply. "So, maybe tell me about your favourite type of books?" Silence. "Genre of music? You seem like a person who likes classic and jazz as well." Silence, only another small bite of a sandwich and a sound of page turning. "Okay... What movies do you like? Comedies? Romantic stuff maybe? Don't tell me you like horrors because I won't believe it..."

Zoro kept on asking different questions and moving a lot of topics for another ten minutes—he asked about favourite food, if Sanji had been ever abroad, about the date of his birth or even about the reason he wore a dress suit. With the every next question he received no answer, though, but he was able to see Sanji was getting more and more angry. He noticed little twitches as well as that his fingers hold pages more tightly than before. It almost seemed the blonde was going to rip up the book.

"How about—"

"Can you shut the fuck up for the God's sake?" Sanji interrupted and finally looked at him. His visible eye blazed up with anger for one mere second; it disappeared, though, leaving only an irritation.

Zoro thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. Then he smiled widely and answered, "Um... Nope."

The green-haired man wasn't the type who liked to talk so much, but this situation just required it. If one of his friends saw him right now, they wouldn't believe their own eyes since Roronoa preferred to listen or simply pretend to while taking a nap.

"W-what?" Black made a surprised face. This stupid marimo was...was... was too insolent! Arrogant! Who did he think he was?

He felt like kicking him right in his idiotic face. Or even better—exactly between his legs. Maybe that would teach him how to behave properly. And, what more, it didn't seem like a bad idea at all. He'd just literally kick him out of his room and the problem would be solved. Yes, that was a good plan.

And when he was about to approach him, Zoro started talking again.

"Okay, so if you don't wanna talk about yourself, I will," he said, looking extremely proud of his decision. It worked. It really worked. He was able to make Sanji pissed off not once, but twice. Quite an achievement.

"N-no, I prefer not, shitty marimo, you don't have to—"

"I was born in Japan," Zoro started enthusiastically, "in a small village my mother came from. My dad is American, though... We moved here when my mom died when I was two or something, I don't even remember, with my cousin and mom's brother. My dad works as a policeman..."

"Stop it—"

"He's pretty cool, you know, and is such a huge guy, really!" Zoro did a move with his hands to emphasise his father's "hugeness". "He's about twice as me, I swear..."

"Oi, fucker—"

Roronoa laughed in his mind happy that this method was really successful. He doubted it at first, thinking Sanji'd stay as a motionless, emotionless statue as always. That he'd—maybe—mumble something under his nose about how stupid and annoying Zoro was. But no, he actually wanted to stop him from talking, and it was great. Somehow the green-haired man found it funny to irritate Black and he didn't know why. It just was and it came out almost naturally like he had been doing it for ages.

Screw the fact he hated talking about his private life! What he saw—Sanji's annoyed look, tightened muscles, a dangerous sparkle in his eye... It was absolutely worth it, without any question.

Totally ignoring the blond, he kept on babbling. "I like watching criminals, yes, they're great. But I'm never able to guess who's the real killer, I always fail at it... About the books, I read mostly Japanese ones, especially to not forget the language. Oh, if I did, my uncle would kill me for sure..."

"For the last time, Roronoa—"

"And I love swords, they're my passion. I teach kendo to kids as well as adults. I aim to be the best one, to win the world's championship and..."

At this very moment the green-haired grabbed someone's long leg that wanted to hit his right side of the head. He was surprised of how much power the blow had—he almost fell from the chair. He looked up and saw Black's mad face and anger flickering in his blue iris. And he liked it. This had shown that Sanji was still alive, that he had some sparkle of life deep within him and it just had to be taken out by someone.

"I thought," the blonde growled, his teeth clenched, "I had told you to shut the fuck up, didn't I, shit-head?"

"It's a free country, I can do whatever the hell I want, curly-brow," Zoro smirked. "And I had no idea you have any muscles in this tiny, thin body of yours."

"You! I will kill you!"

The blonde managed to pull out his leg from Roronoa's grip and struck again, but he failed. The other man made another block with his forearm and his smile grew wider and became cocky.

"Ya sure?"

Sanji couldn't stand it, his patience lost its limits. He was so angry at this bastard. Saga was annoying as hell, too, but he knew his place here—this damn broccoli-head didn't.

He attacked again, this time scoring a blow to Zoro's stomach and knocking him off the chair right to the floor. This surprised the green-haired, again. How was it possible that someone so ill and thin was so strong?

Seeing the next attack coming he rolled to the other side and then heard a loud crack sound. He glanced at Black, or rather at his long leg which almost hit him and noticed a break in the flooring. He gulped.

'Oh, shit,' Roronoa thought, 'I don't wanna know what'd happened if he actually managed to hit me.'

He stood up quickly and jumped back just in time, dodging the next blow. Sanji was fast and pissed and he had a serious kill intent hidden in his eye... That was not good—why was it so much fun anyway?

The only real problem was the crack in the floor...

The blond kept on kicking as Zoro was dodging. He'd love to fight back but couldn't because if someone saw this, he would be done. Hell, they'd sue him anytime. So, instead of counterattacking, he suddenly grabbed Sanji's leg that was about to hit him again and also one of his hands.

"Wha-what are you doing, bastard! Don't touch me! Let me go!" Black shouted.

"Only if you calm down," Roronoa said.

"As if, idiot! Let me go! Now!"

"You're so damn stubborn and annoying as hell." Zoro sighed deeply and moved to the bed with the other man. "If you think you can break me—you're deadly wrong."

"Let. Me. Go! Pervert! Molester!" He yelled as the green-haired laid him down and pressed him against the mattress with his own body. "Perverted shitty marimo, get off me or I'll fucking kill you! Shit!"

"Shout as much as you want, dumbass, it won't help you. You can have pretty powerful legs but I'm much heavier and have stronger arms. In this situation, you're defenceless and stand no chance."

Black struggled like crazy wanting to free himself. He kicked and even bit but Zoro didn't back off, he didn't even flinch. He was like a strong, indestructible, unmoving rock.

Slowly, Sanji's blows became weaker by every minute and less and less ferociously and Zoro noticed he was getting tired—his breath was quick and a little too unsteady, he coughed three or four times and after some more time he eventually stopped moving. He only lay on the bed, exhausted, and looked at Roronoa with pure hatred.

"I. Fucking. Hate. You." The blonde panted heavily.

Zoro didn't react and waited a little more until he was sure Sanji calmed down completely, and then sat next to him.

"The deal is," he said finally, "if you don't talk to me, I'll keep babbling about everything I can think of. If you converse with me like any other normal person would, we'll chat at some proper level. And, for your information, it doesn't matter how much you struggle, kick or bite—I just won't break, run away and stop talking or coming here. Hell no. Maybe it's your room but you do not own the whole place and furthermore you're just a normal patient, thus you must obey some rules even if you don't want to." He glanced at the clock. "Oh, it's time for me to go. I'll see you tomorrow." He gave the other man a big smile and walked out of the room. And just when Sanji thought he'd been left alone and he'd have some peace and quiet, Roronoa peeked in the room once again. "I forgot to tell you one important thing," he said with a serious expression on his face. "You're an idiot." After those words Zoro smiled again and then he was gone.

Hope it was good and you enjoyed it even a little :)