Chapter Text
When Zoro thought he was going to have a good night's sleep, he was being optimistic. Too optimistic.
He spent the night feeling cold and uncomfortable, then being too hot all of a sudden . Every time Zoro felt the deep sleep finally approaching, he would cough himself awake. His chest felt tight, heaving with every new fit. No matter how hard he tried, he could not draw a deep enough breath to fill his lungs. It was as if they were only working halfway.
But the worst of all were the sounds he was making. Zoro tried but failed to keep quiet, his coughing bouncing off the walls of their bedroom. He knew Sanji was a light sleeper and that he had an early morning shift the next day. Some kind of bougie event needing a private chef. Zoro knew all that, but he still disrupted his husband's sleep with his coughing. And he hated himself for that.
He suggested sleeping on the couch, so Curly could get some much-deserved rest. Sanji, of course, refused. Zoro must have married an angel. An angel that was rubbing his back and mumbling soothing nonsense into his ear instead of sleeping. An angel that propped up Zoro's pillow so he could breathe easier, and made him drink another dose of cough medicine that, eventually, knocked Zoro out.
When he woke up, it was already past 10 am. Damn it, he was supposed to start working an hour ago. Groaning, Zoro grabbed his phone and scowled at it. He was greeted with quite a few emails and some messages from the cook. Ignoring his work for the time being, Zoro clicked on the chat with his husband:
"I had to leave for work. Be back around 2pm."
Coughing, he scrolled down to read the next messages.
"Your breakfast is on the table. PLEASE take your meds with it."
"AND I want you to call Chopper when you wake up. The coughing sounds serious."
"Love you ;3"
Smiling, Zoro replied with "I love you" of his own. Although he did not feel hungry, Zoro knew better than to waste Sanji's food.
***
After breakfast and several more notifications of Sanji asking how he was feeling, Zoro finally got to work. He settled in bed with a laptop on his lap, Sake by his side and a warm cup of tea on his nightstand. A beautiful picture if not for the constant coughing and persistent fever.
Struggling to focus, Zoro kept working at a snail's pace. By the time he heard Curly return, he was only about halfway through.
"How did it go?" Zoro asked, voice hoarse and tired.
"One of the guests wanted to hire me as his private chef," Sanji smiled, sitting down on the side of the bed.
"Good. Didn't expect any less, Cook," Zoro smiled, a coughing fit taking over right away .
"You shouldn't be working," Curly closed the laptop and yanked it out of his husband's hands. It took concerningly little force to do that.
Zoro didn't resist. His brain felt like some kind of potato mash, anyway. Slumping back against the pillows, Zoro pulled Sake to his lap, starting to absentmindedly scratch behind her ear. The cat purred happily, always eager for cuddles.
"What did Chopper say?" Sanji kept interrogating. He leaned over and pressed his lips against Marimo's forehead, frowning at the heat emanating from it.
"Suggested to get a chest X-ray," Zoro murmured, melting at the soft touch.
"So what are we waiting for?"
"Well...I can't just get one?" He stopped to cough. "First, I need a prescription from our GP... Then I get an appointment for the X-ray... So, if we're lucky, it would take around a week."
"Or we could go to the ER and get one right away ?"
Zoro scowled. He absolutely did not want to go to the ER. Not over his dead body. Literally. And his husband was very much aware of that. "Absolutely not."
Sanji groaned. Of course, his stupid algae would refuse to go to the hospital. "Okay. But if you get worse, I'm taking you to the Hospital. No objections."
"I'm fine ."
"Say that again and I'll divorce you."
"... Are you serious?"
"Wanna find out?"
Zoro did not want to find out. So he shut his mouth and decided to take a nap instead. Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes. Sleep took him easily , the tiredness weighing him down.
***
When Zoro woke up or rather tried to, something felt wrong. Really wrong. Despite his eyes being open, he didn't feel quite awake. The room was dark and hot, almost boiling. Zoro's chest hurt. Breathing hurt too. He didn't know where he was. The place felt familiar, but Zoro just couldn't remember...
He started coughing, thick phlegm coating his throat. Oh, right, he was sick. So he must be at home, then. But where was Sanji? Why wasn't his husband sleeping in bed with him?
"C-curly?" He wheezed.
The coughing got worse. He couldn't stop. He couldn't stop coughing and he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? Zoro could feel his chest constricting, but there was no air to fill it. It felt like drowning.
Suddenly, there were hands on him. Cold, long fingers rolling him over, touching his face, rubbing his back... They were saying something... They were talking to him, calling his name. But Zoro was too busy hacking up his lungs to answer.
The voice said something about a hospital. Zoro didn't like hospitals but if that meant being able to breathe again, he would go wherever.
"Hey, you're okay. Just try to breathe, please."
Well, he was definitely trying! It wasn't going well, though. Black was creeping into his vision, the loud thumping of his heart slowly replacing the worried voice. And then Zoro blinked and everything disappeared.
***
When his eyes snapped open again, bright LED light pierced right through his retina. How did he know it was LED? Zoro has been to a hospital enough times to recognize these motherfuckers everywhere.
There was something in his nose, something else in his wrist. Groaning, Zoro wanted to shake the tube off, but his head hurt too much to swing it around like that. He tried to blow it out , but only got a blow of air push right back into his nostrils. Okay, that makes it to the top 20 most disgusting experiences in Zoro's life. Ew.
A coughing fit crawled up his throat. Covering his mouth, Zoro was surprised to feel that it didn't hurt as much as before. It was also considerably easier to breathe too.
Glancing around, Zoro confirmed his suspicions: he was, indeed, in a hospital. In the ER, to be precise. To make things worse, he was in the hospital. The same one he spent two months in almost eight years ago. Arguably, the worst time of his entire existence.
On the bright side, it also happened to be Luffy's boyfriend's workplace. So, at the very least, Zoro might get a chance to be treated by a familiar face, rather than be poked and prodded by some stranger.
There was some rustling and movement on his left. Turning his head, Zoro was greeted by a dishevelled Curly looking at him with surprise, panic, affection, and anger simultaneously. How the man was capable of experiencing, let alone expressing, that many emotions at once was a mystery to Zoro.
Finally shaking off his initial shock, Sanji jumped to his feet, sending the chair he was previously occupying tumbling down.
"You-you're okay... You.. How are you feeling?" His hands were on Zoro's face, those blue eyes peering right into his soul. "Gosh, I was so worried... I... I didn't know what to do..." Tears filled his eyes, as the cook hiccuped, bubbling out worries.
"Hey...hey, look at me," pausing to cough, Zoro tried to comfort his husband. "I'm okay, it's okay. You did well... Whatever you did..." He stroked Curly's cheek and wiped his tears with a thumb.
"Okay? Okay, he says!" Putting worry behind, Sanji was now furious. "Do you even know what you put me through, you bastard?!"
Zoro could hear some worried murmurs around as well as some fast-approaching footsteps.
"You... You were choking! And your fever was so high! And then you wouldn't respond and I had to call you a fucking ambulance!" Curly kept yelling at him, shaking his husband by the shoulders. The motion was starting to make Zoro dizzy.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" Throwing the poor curtain aside, yelled their mutual acquaintance, Trafalgar Law. Oh, right. Dr. Trafalgar Law.
"Hello, Law..." Zoro greeted, wheezing in another coughing fit. Sanji's grip left his shoulders, opting to rub Zoro's back instead.
"Good to see you awake," the doctor nodded at him stiffly.
How a guy with such a cold and closed-off personality could date Luffy of all people was forever a mystery to Zoro. Maybe Law had Stockholm Syndrome or something... Who knows.
"So... What's the verdict, Doc?" Zoro asked, after finally managing to take a breath again . "Am I dying?"
"You are not actively dying, no. But I would suggest seeking medical help earlier than right before you kick the bucket." Law answered.
"Uh...what do you mean?" Zoro was confused. He looked at his husband, seeking answers in those blue eyes. Probably should have looked for some in Law's eyes, but honestly, the doctor had the gaze of a dead inside fish so maybe not.
Sanji laughed hysterically, wiping tears from his eyes again. "You're such a jerk... How can you ignore your health this much..."
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" All this ordeal was starting to get on his nerves.
"You were brought in by an ambulance in respiratory distress with a dangerously high fever," Trafalgar told him as if reading some kind of death sentence. "By the time you arrived, you were already unconscious."
"Last thing I remember, I was having a nap..."
"You fucking passed out, idiot!"
"Anyways..." Ignoring the couple's bickering, the doctor carried on. "You have a severe case of pneumonia. I've administered antibiotics via IV, but you'll also get a prescription to continue with medication for the next week..." At that point Zoro kind of lost his focus.
It didn't matter. First, because he felt like shit. Second, he already knew he was doomed to spend the next two weeks in bed with no gym, weights or even a jog. Even if Zoro tried to sneak out, Sanji would bully him back to bed. He knew his husband well enough to know that once you're under the cook's care, there is no escaping it.
Zoro was not complaining though. Not right now, at least. Right now he wanted to go home with his beautiful husband and be loved and pampered with attention and amazing meals for the next two weeks.
Maybe pneumonia isn't that bad. Wanted to take some time off anyway.