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The fires were still gently burning as Zoro watched the cook make his way to where he'd been quietly drinking. It marked the start of Zoro's favourite part of the celebrations, when his partner was finally done cooking for the endless banquet, and would be all his for the night. The sake had been especially fine that evening, so the swordsman was in a good mood and had drawn Sanji into his arms within seconds of him sitting down next to him. The blonde had settled into his embrace with a soft sigh as Zoro hummed into his shoulders, pleased, but Sanji was beginning to seem restless.
"Oi, cook. You okay? Forget to make the witch her 10th special dessert for the night or something?"
"Hey! Don't talk about Nami-swan like that! I should ask her if she's had enough though or if she'd like a coffee or..."
"Nami's currently swimming in the beris she won by drinking some hapless idiots under the table earlier. Don't worry about her."
"Mm", Sanji mumbled to himself as he settled back onto Zoro's chest but he was now rocking his leg like he needed a cigarette though he already had one lit between his lips.
He gently nudged Sanji’s chin until they were face to face, and took a deep breath before asking, "Okay what did I do, curly?"
He watched the spiral eyebrow narrow as the cook snapped, "What the fuck does that mean, marimo?"
"You're with me but look like you want to be anywhere but here! You aren't even trying to start a fight! I'm trying to figure it out and I don't know what I did wrong!"
"Oh my god, not everything is about you! You're not the centre of my universe, shitty swordsman"
Zoro let out a huff at that as Sanji moved himself away and lit another cigarette. The cook was bouncing his leg again but he seemed like he was mustering up the resolve to say something, so Zoro waited. He looked out to the rest of the party, smiling fondly at Luffy and Usopp belting out shanties. Chopper was hopping around with chopsticks up his nose while Franky and Brook accompanied them on their instruments. Robin and Jinbe were sitting not far off having a surprisingly animated conversation. He turned to his partner when he heard Sanji clearing his throat, but nearly choked at the words he heard next.
"Why do you never dance with us?"
Sanji looked almost sad. Zoro was a bit too baffled to form a response but Sanji had started to turn away. He stuck his arm out to bring him back and tried to think of the right words.
The cook still looked away, grumbling around his cigarette, "Eh, I'm probably stupid for asking. Forget it. It's just that we have these parties and I slave away cooking for everyone - which I love of course even though our idiot captain inhales it all in minutes. Does he even taste my food? - and then I come here to you and we y'know - which is nice but I just... " He trailed off looking disappointed and blew out a stream of smoke which seemed to mirror the way Zoro's heart deflated at his words.
"I'm sorry, cook. I really... I didn't mean to... uh, you should go dance now! Don't let me keep you. You can come back and sit with me after." He watched the cook go stiff. "What? You said you missed dancing so go dance! Why are you angry with me?"
Fire burned in the blue eye that suddenly trained on him, ready to turn him to ash.
"You absolute moss-for-brains piece of shit swordsman I want to dance with you !"
"Oh." Zoro was unable to respond for the second time that night and could only stare until that same fiery blue eye seemed to extinguish and Sanji stood up with a curt nod. Zoro watched him go before realising what the exchange had looked like and yelped. He stood up as Sanji turned to him with a frown and he forgot how to speak again, rubbing his neck nervously and he let out a breath, "No one's ever asked me to dance before. I... I've never danced"
Zoro tensed expecting a yell that never came. Instead, something shifted in the air and he felt himself being sized up like prey. This is going to end badly , he thought as he was bodily dragged towards the crew. Sanji had brought them to a stop and arranged them into some kind of stance - shoulders squared and facing each other and Sanji's foot forward where Zoro’s was made to step back. The cook put his hand gently on Zoro's arm and looked at him with a smile. He knew he probably looked a little scared and tried to school his features to match Sanji's but the cook was clearly far more excited about this than he was. He could hear Franky egging them on and tensed.
"Relax, marimo! Just listen to the music and follow my movements, okay? We fight perfectly in sync all the time so this should be a breeze, even for a mosshead like you"
Zoro didn't trust himself to do more than nod.
It was not a breeze. For one thing Zoro did not know what he was supposed to do with his hands here. And how did Sanji just move like that? Like the music was telling him exactly what to do next while Zoro was left tripping over himself to keep up. They stumbled through a tune like that, Zoro getting increasingly flustered while Sanji was finding it more hilarious by the minute until he was laughing so hard he couldn't do anything else. Zoro crossed his arms and let himself pout, making a point of ignoring Robin's giggling, waiting for his cook to collect himself.
"Hah! Okay I see why you don't dance"
Zoro groaned as the cook doubled over in another fit of giggles and started to stomp away. He paused when Sanji, who had finally calmed down, reached for him. The cook's hand rested on his arm like it had before and he could see that curly brow furrowed in thought. He suddenly brightened and Zoro was left wondering what he was going to be subjected to now. He wanted to make the cook happy but he also really wanted to drink and wind down. Sanji was not having it.
"Okay I think I know what to do"
"What now, curly? You've seen I can't dance like you"
Sanji didn't answer, just let a sudden huge grin take over his face and swung out to slap kick Zoro's head. He could see Sanji wasn’t in a fighting mood and they were too close for him to draw his swords. Confused, he decided to let his instincts take over. Zoro scowled but easily blocked the kick, grabbed the leg on its downswing and used the momentum to aim a punch at Sanji's ribs. He felt his hand being yanked and suddenly found it resting on his partner's hip. Zoro was confronted with the most infuriating smirk he had ever seen on the cook's face.
"What are you playing at, cook?"
"I'm not playing at anything, little lost child. I'm dancing. With you ." And at that Sanji hopped, aiming a kick at his shins. Zoro naturally stepped back, dropping the leg he had been holding and lunged at Sanji - who seemed to be falling backwards... what? Without thinking he curled an arm around him to stop his fall, only to find Sanji perfectly steady, almost waiting for his hold, and grinning like he'd found All Blue. He glanced around when he heard a yohohoho and got a thumbs up from his captain and a whistle from Nami. He looked back at the man in his arms and saw an overwhelmingly fond blue eye still watching him and he couldn't stop himself from pulling Sanji into a kiss.
"A perfect dip, marimo. I knew you had it in you", Sanji sounded a little breathless and Zoro had no idea what he was talking about. He heard Brook start up a new tune and the rest of the crew went back to their antics like they hadn't been shamelessly staring at the couple. Sanji laughed and pulled away to start his strange kicking again and only when they found a rhythm did Zoro realise what had been going on - they were dancing . In their own weird way, admittedly, but they were actually dancing.
Maybe this wasn't going to end as badly as he'd thought.