WHAT. These two idiots finally getting their shit together WHERE. Near Galdin Quay WHEN. March 2nd 2024 WARNINGS. None it's pretty tame STATUS. Complete CREDIT.here
Sanji couldn't remember ever planning a real date. There'd been the occasional conquest on the Baratie, but most people weren't there for long enough to even say the word date, let alone plan one. And he hadn't especially wanted to devote that kind of energy to anyone there, anyway. Because as much as he'd used the Baratie as a crutch, as much as he'd clung to it as a safe harbor with a family that actually wanted him around, Sanji always knew it was temporary.
Ironically, so was this. Vallo. This strange pause on their lives. This opportunity to do something he wanted to do but was deeply afraid of as well. Luffy was gone and who knew when they'd go back with him. It could be months from now. It could be tomorrow. Sanji was tired of wondering if it was all in his head. And if nothing else, Zoro deserved at least one nice date.
Preferably with him.
Sanji tripped in the sand on his way to where Zoro was napping in the dying rays of the sun. In his defense, the sun was in his eyes and it was only a tiny bit because Zoro looked gilded and beautiful, scars and all. Sanji made it the last few steps and dropped a picnic basket onto Zoro's stomach abruptly.
"Wake up, mosshead. We're going to miss the sunset if we don't move quickly."
When Zoro had been dragged out there that day, he had followed willingly. Everything was fleeting and nothing would stay, a lesson that was learned the hard way when Luffy had been sent away. So what was the point of anything? What was the point of fighting?
It was just easier to do what he was told. Easier when someone was there to tell him to fall in line.
He had been laying on the blanket that Sanji had set out there, figuring he'd ask the man what was up when he finally got down there off the ship, when the other had returned abruptly. Grunting slightly at the sudden weight on him, he opened his eye, squinting at the shadow that was Sanji against the backdrop of the setting sun.
“You could say please,” he muttered, sitting up and shifting the basket off him.
Sanji sighed. He used to consider himself a very well-mannered person. He wasn't sure why Zoro always brought out the impatient and intense side of him. It probably had something to do with that being the real him.
"Please get up. I promised you a date and I know you're comfortable here and this beach is lovely but I want something…" More private, his mind supplied. "...Else." He pushed his hair back, a rare nervous tic that he really wished he'd left in Germa. He waited until Zoro was standing and then grabbed his hand to start pulling him towards the treeline. "It's a little bit of a walk but it'll be worth it, I promise."
He was aiming for the cliff nearby and the grassy rise at its peak. It was a perfect view of the horizon with the comforting shade of trees that didn't get in the way. There was a spot that was made for picnicking up there. Sanji made a startled noise.
"Shit, wait." He let go of Zoro long enough to grab the blanket and flap it free of sand then he was back to pulling the swordsman up a hill.
The very bitter part of Zoro almost bit off ‘What's the point of having anything nice if Vallo was going to take it?’ before he stopped himself.
That wasn't fair to Sanji. This whole time, they've been in this metaphorical dance of will they or won't they, and it wasn't fair to take out his frustrations of their circumstances on the man, when it was all Zoro's own doing, when it was Zoro who refused to be brave in the face of heavy loss.
He wished, for the nth time, that he had been able to step up whIle their captain had been around and shown everyone he was capable of the bravery that Luffy had believed of him. Instead, he bit his tongue and nodded, letting Sanji pull and drag him. “You didn't have to do this,” he said, not for the first time. The hand in his was nice though, nice enough to forget that he didn't deserve any of this kindness.
Zoro's bitterness squeezed at Sanji's heart. It was a fair point, and one he'd wallowed in on his own time as well. But he'd come out the other end thinking it was worse living in limbo for fear of loss. He'd spent years living in fear of disappointment. Fearing loss wasn't any better.
"I don't know if you've noticed," he argued, pulling Zoro around a tree, "but I don't do things I don't want to do. And if I didn't want to spend time with your frustrating self, I wouldn't do nearly so much of it." As sad as he was about Luffy, he was quietly pleased this was something he could do now. That Zoro had come along without much of a fight. The handholding was new, but it felt right too. It sent a little thrill up his arm to yank Zoro closer as they got closer to his destination.
"I know this - all of this - isn't how we would prefer things to be. But that doesn't mean we can't take some small pleasures where we can find them." His gaze was soft and uncertain. "Right?"
Maybe Zoro would never understand why anyone would want to spend time with him so willingly. But he was at the point where his understanding wasn't needed. It didn't matter why anyone - why Sanji - wanted this.
He would take it, that earnest but unsure expression on the cook's face. He would take it and stop questioning it because it was time to start being brave.
Zoro squeezed the hand in his hand then, trying to send reassurances in lieu of the words he didn't have. “Right,” he confirmed, to the best of his ability. “Show me this spot of yours.” And maybe Zoro's face was not as pinched as usual when he said this. Because he wanted this and he was tired of feeling selfish for it.
"Well that was way too bloody easy," Sanji poked Zoro in the side. If he hadn't already known Zoro was sad, the way in which he gave in to reassurance without a fight would have given him away. But Sanji didn't look at it too closely. No doubt he would give in to Zoro easily right now too. He hid a helpless little flutter of a smile as he turned away and took them up over the rise of the hill. The ocean spread out around them, blue green against a pinkening sky. The sun was starting to dip behind the horizon and Sanji's scouting the night before hadn't been in vain: this was a beautiful spot for a picnic.
"I thought about taking you to dinner somewhere. Or to a movie. I hear that's a common date activity." He let go in order to shake out the blanket over the spot that he had meticulously cleared off rocks and sticks last night. It was a circle in the middle of four lanterns that would give them a soft light when the sun finally set. "People apparently play tiny golf? I didn't quite understand that one, but I'll look into it more. Dancing was out, since you'd just hold up a wall," Sanji teased. He was rambling. Worse, he was nervous. Stupid, really, but undeniably true. He wiped his hands on his trousers. "Eventually, I realized I…" Wanted you alone. "...Don't actually know anything about dates," he admitted ruefully.
Rolling his eye, Zoro asked with a slight smirk, “You want me to give you shit about it, Cook? Because I'm more than capable.” But the words lacked their usual bite, as they made their way to their destination, and noticeably Zoro still held onto that hand in his, grip firm. It was with extreme reluctance that he released it, when Sanji let go and started in on his nervous chatter. The swordsman watched him as he moved to set up their date, silent as understanding finally dawned on him.
This whole time, he thought he had been alone when it came to the depths of what he felt for Sanji. Yeah, there was obvious attraction between them and they had a mutual respect and understanding of each other in their nakama. But the various times he had fallen for a Sanji that wasn't his, when he had tried to leave because he hadn't been strong enough, when Luffy disappeared and the heartbreak they had shared was overwhelming, it had all been leading to this - an opening of his eye to what was in front of him.
What he was feeling was reflected back, was just as strong, and he had been blind not to see it before now. Now that he was looking for it, he saw that this date was more than just a dumb point the other man was trying to make. It was his attempt at showing how he felt and here Zoro was, too stupid and too stubborn to have seen it before.
When Sanji's rambling finally came to an end, Zoro stared at him, wondering what could have been if he hadn't wasted so much time before. It didn't matter now though, as he finally came to sit down on the blanket across from the blond. “Is this your first date too then?” He asked, leaning in close.
Having all of Zoro's attention on him was always a heady feeling, but Sanji tried not to embarrass himself even more by blurting out anything else. He started to reach for the picnic basket instead - as a distraction - but then there Zoro was, so close and quiet, and asking him a rude question.
Sanji huffed a sigh. "It's complicated," he argued petulantly. "This is hardly the first time I've been alone with someone, but it's…well. It's you, isn't it?" He said that softly, as if it was a sudden realization and not one that had been annoying him for months. His mismatched eyes were round and uncertain as he stayed leaning closer, mirroring Zoro. "And I planned this for you. It's different."
The smile was big and bright, more alive than Zoro’s smiles had been since Luffy’s return back to their world. He had been such an idiot, not realizing that Sanji had wanted this, that it wasn’t just him in these feelings, that he wasn’t reading into things.
“How embarrassing,” he teased now, as that grip on his heart eased. Luffy had been right about this, after all. He should have known better than to doubt their young captain whose eyes saw more than they could ever understand. “You did this for me. You like me.” And now it was about pulling pigtails, so to speak.
Sanji blinked dumbly for a moment. Of all the ways he'd pictured this going - and he had pictured many - the most obvious way had eluded his imagination. Of course, the mosshead would torment him. Sanji's expression soured comically and he rolled his eyes.
"Ugh. I should've known you'd be annoying about this." He didn't sound all that bothered. Well besides the overdramatic groan, anyway. There was even a hint of the smile he was fighting at the corner of his mouth. He gave Zoro's shoulder a playful shove. "Can't you pretend you're not infuriating for five seconds? Try appreciating that I came up here and picked up rocks so your stupid arse wouldn't sit on one!"
“Such concern about my stupid arse,” Zoro continued, full on mirth in his words. Now that all his hangups had been demolished, it felt easier to revert back to the poking and prodding of their earlier days - albeit with a much more fond edge to it now. “Does the thought of it cross your mind often?”
This felt like familiar territory in all the best ways. But the change in the nature of their bickering was starting to become more apparent, as Zoro reached out and pushed that stupid flop of hair away from Sanji's eyes. “I think about yours often.” He held eye contact now, smiling but a flush picking his cheeks.
Sanji started to sputter - that alone set Zoro apart from everyone he'd ever been attracted to, the way he made Sanji lose his cool so easily - but then Zoro was touching his hair and Sanji's mouth stopped moving for once. His heart did the moving instead, thumping wildly in his chest. After a few stunned seconds, he laughed quietly, flustered warmth clear in every softened line of his face.
"You do, do you?" he asked. "I suppose since we're being so honest…I've spared it a few too many thoughts. But not as many as this…" Sanji grew brave and threw a long leg over Zoro to straddle his lap. That was enough to make his pulse race but he didn't stop there. He cradled Zoro's jaw in both hands and pressed a thumb to his bottom lip. "Your ridiculous mouth haunts me, Marimo."
Letting the wave of courage lead him, he dipped his head and pressed his mouth to Zoro's.
This was completely new territory. Not physical affection, rather, intimacy. Zoro had never felt anything for the people he had been with in the past. Passing affection, at most. But with Sanji…his brain stopped working the second the other man made a seat for himself in his lap.
The confidence of a minute ago was nowhere to be found. His hands scrambled to find a place to put them, as his mind over thought all his next moves. But thankfully his hindbrain took over and they found a home at Sanji's hips, steadying him as their lips came together after months of dancing around each other.
It took three Sanjis and three different circumstances, but Zoro was relieved to find that this press of lips felt right in a way that he had been searching for this whole time. His heart thumped hard, thinking finally, as his eyes closed and he angled his head to press up and forward more fully.
The thrill of finally - finally - kissing Zoro was a lot like Sanji felt in the kitchen. It was exhilarating and comforting all at once. Like it carried the drunk buzz of a first and still felt like they'd been here all along. He'd have been disturbed by that if he wasn't busy digging his hands into Zoro's hair and pressing as close as he could without dislodging Zoro's hands on his hips. He'd like to keep those where they were, thank you very much.
Eventually he had to come up for air, but he didn't go far, only back enough to blink dazed eyes at Zoro from close enough to enjoy the sooty sweep of the swordman's eyelashes.
"You're not going to dump me into the dirt and run away again, right?" he whispered teasingly. "I might kick you down this hill if you try, fair warning."
They didn’t need to breathe, as far as Zoro was concerned. His eyes stayed closed a second longer than the kiss lasted, leaning forward to chase Sanji’s lips as he pulled away. He only opened them when Sanji began his annoying teasing, glaring at the blond as he tightened his hold on the man’s waist. “You’re doing a lot of shit talking when we should be kissing,” he pointed out, before abruptly shifting his weight forward to bully the other man down onto the ground, where the picnic blanket protected them from the dirt.
“I’d like to see you kick me down a hill now,” Zoro smirked as he braced each of Sanji’s wrists against the ground with his own hands, because there was never a challenge that he didn’t rise up to meet.
Sanji's face lit up with joy when Zoro said they should be kissing. That was miles more direct than he'd even hoped for. It was good enough even to smother the instinct to fight back when someone stronger than him had him pinned. That and the fact that Zoro - despite being a giant pain in the arse - always made Sanji feel safe. He wasn't examining that too closely right now.
"You're lucky I don't want to dislodge you," Sanji murmured heatedly. He gave the picnic basket a scrutinizing look and then hooked his strong thighs around Zoro's hips. "And that our dinner will keep. Now what are you going to do with me now that you have me?"
For someone that usually looked so calm and collected, even mid-battle, the flush on Zoro’s face was spreading quickly down his neck and disappearing into the collar of the shirt he was wearing. He already had a fairly good idea about how strong Sanji’s legs were. But to have them wrapped around him like that?
Yeah, he wasn’t going anywhere despite the initial urge to cool this down and focus on the picnic that Sanji had prepared for them.
He had to clear his throat for the fear something squeaky would come out of his mouth now, but once he was sure that wouldn’t be the case, he reached down to grab the bottom of his shirt to pull it off and throw it somewhere behind him. Hopefully, not down the hill. “Guess I should probably give you part of your birthday present now.” It hadn’t been just Robin’s file he had snooped through.
"Wait, wait, are you blushing--" Sanji's baffled and thoroughly charmed laugh was cut off as Zoro stripped off his shirt. It was hardly the first time he'd seen this sight but this was different. He felt the embarrassing heat of his own flush racing up his neck. His smile still managed to be sly and pleased though. He pushed up on one elbow and stroked a greedy hand up Zoro's chest.
No one but Zeff had ever cared about his birthday. It was embarrassing how much Zoro mentioning it made his insides turn molten.
"Well, then," Sanji grinned. "Happy birthday to me."