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They’d all come back to Sabaody different, but for some reason Zoro could only focus on Sanji’s differences.
He was taller, not taller than him really, but he wore heels now so he always seemed taller. His hair had gotten longer, and he was parting it on the other side now, revealing the hidden part of his face Zoro hadn’t really seen before, almost like he was seeing a whole new Sanji.
He was more confident, somehow. Sanji had always been a confident guy, but after whatever he’d been up to during their two years apart, he seemed more sure and secure with himself, like he finally knew who he wanted to be and was becoming that person instead of just putting on airs.
But the change Zoro couldn’t seem to stop thinking about was that he had pierced ears now.
Two shining studs, right in his earlobes, and for whatever reason Zoro couldn’t stop staring.
It’s not like Zoro had a problem with piercings - that would make him the world’s biggest hypocrite, considering he had three of his own. But something about Sanji’s just irked him, he guessed. Something about them rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn’t know what.
“Like what you see?”
Sanji’s voice dragged him out of his thoughts. They were in the kitchen after dinner, Sanji going about his normal routine of cleaning up, and Zoro was just staring at him like some kind of creep.
Zoro flushed in embarrassment at being caught, his eye darting away, “No.”
A smirk slowly spread across Sanji’s face. He leaned back against the counter and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it in one smooth motion, exhaling the smoke, and despite his best efforts Zoro was staring again.
“You sure?”
Zoro mentally cursed himself and forced himself to look away. He didn’t know what his problem was, but it seemed Sanji did as he chuckled and slinked to the other side of the counter, resting his arms on it as he leaned into Zoro’s space.
“You know,” he started, exhaling a puff of smoke away from Zoro’s face as he leaned in closer, “I did a lot of thinking these past two years. I found out a lot about myself, about who I am, who I want to be.”
Sanji reached forward, his fingers running through Zoro’s earrings and making them chime as he cupped his face gently, “About what I want.”
Zoro’s eye went wide, his heart doing somersaults in his chest. As Sanji looked at him with his bright blue eyes, Zoro felt his face heat up even more, and he held his breath in anticipation. Of what, he still wasn’t sure, but he didn’t hate where this was going.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Sanji asked as he rubbed Zoro’s cheek with his thumb.
Zoro leaned into the touch, mesmerized by Sanji’s gaze, and shook his head.
Sanji chuckled and leaned in even more, his lips all but brushing against his as he said, “Then let me make my intentions perfectly clear.”
He closed that distance between them, capturing Zoro’s lips in a surprisingly tender kiss.
Oh. That’s what he meant.
Zoro kissed him back, maybe a bit too eagerly, but Sanji just chuckled and deepened the kiss, letting Zoro’s tongue in to lick and taste what he wanted.
When they pulled apart, Zoro was panting, and Sanji still had that confident smirk on his face like he’d won something.
And, shit, it must have been attraction that Zoro had been feeling. He’d always been attracted to strength - which Sanji had in spades - but seeing the cook so confident and sure of himself must have pushed him over the edge into actually having feelings for the man. He’d been running around pining after the cook since they’d reunited, and the bastard probably knew the whole time.
“Hey,” Sanji’s tone was soft, no doubt sensing his distress, and ran a hand through his hair, “What’s wrong? Was that too much?”
“No,” he said, because he was worried that if he didn’t Sanji would never kiss him again, and he very much wanted to kiss Sanji again, “It’s uh.”
His eye darted to Sanji’s face again, and was drawn to the sparkling stud in his ear once more, “Your earrings.”
Sanji blinked at him, confused, but pulled away from him to touch his earrings, “You don’t like them?”
“I,” Zoro trailed off, trying to figure out just what he was thinking and feeling and why the earrings irked him so much before he realized.
Instead of answering, he reached up and unhooked one of his own earrings from his ear and placed it on the counter between them.
“I just think you’ll look better in this,” he said, averting his eye, blush creeping even more across his face.
Sanji stared at the earring with wide eyes, and Zoro was just about to take it back and tell him to forget the whole thing when he smiled again, soft this time, making Zoro’s heart race as he picked the earring up.
“You know, I think you’re right,” he said as he popped out his stud and replaced it with Zoro’s.
He looked back at Zoro when he was done. The bright blue of his eyes, the gold sheen of his hair, and the shimmer of Zoro’s earring in his ear. He looked perfect.
“Well,” Sanji reached forward and played with Zoro’s remaining ears, “We can’t let you wander around with only two earrings, now can we?”
Zoro was about to protest - he liked Sanji having his earring - but before he could say anything, Sanji had put his stud into the empty hole.
“There,” he said as he ran his finger across the three earrings, “How’s that?”
Zoro reached up to touch the stud too, that little bit of Sanji he knew he would keep on him at all times.
“It’s perfect.”
“Did you guys swap earrings or something?” Usopp asked as the crew filed in for breakfast, drawing everyone’s attention to Zoro and Sanji.
Zoro blushed, his eye darting obviously to Sanji, not entirely sure how to define their relationship now.
“Of course,” Sanji smiled as he placed Zoro’s plate in front of him and leaned in to kiss his burning cheek, “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, nope, of course not,” Usopp quickly answered as the rest of the crew went back to breakfast, “If you’re happy, then we’re all happy for you, yeah?”
The rest of the crew made noises of agreement, and Zoro was a little surprised by how not surprised they were. Had his pining after the cook been that obvious to everyone except him?
But when Sanji sat down next to him and found his hand under the table, holding it gently but firmly in his own, Zoro found he didn’t care.
In the end, he’d gotten what he’d wanted.