Work Text:
Sanji ripped open the drawers in his kitchen, frantically looking for a knife, slamming each one shut with a curse once he didn’t find what he was looking for.
“Shit! Fuck! Dammit!” he slammed another drawer shut as he turned, hands gripping his hair tightly, and stared at his kitchen like it would tell him what he needed.
He didn’t realize it was today, of all days, and he wasn’t prepared at all. Each knife he found was already perfectly sharpened because of course it was. Sighing, he grabbed the vegetable peeling knife he had on the counter. He calmed his breathing as he took a look at the blade. The edges were all smooth, not a single knick to be found, and he knew it was sharp - he had used it earlier that same day. Thinking back to last month, he couldn’t remember if he used this knife then or not. Sanji shook his head, the idiot would hopefully not notice.
Gazing back at the perfectly sharpened knife once more, he let out a breath before raising his arm over the edge of the counter and hitting the knife’s edge across it. Holding his knife back up, a smile crossed his face, it was damaged. Well now he just had to wait for the knife sharpener to come by to get it fixed! Glancing at the clock, he had maybe twenty minutes before he came by, enough time to freshen up a bit. You have to look your best when dealing with idiots, Sanji told himself. He placed the knife back on the counter, gently, and ran upstairs. The calendar on his wall was unsettled by the breeze he created by running past - today’s date was circled in red with the name, “Zoro,” written in its box.
Sanji lived on a corner lot in the suburban village of Oak Park. He loved its location for several reasons - the most important one being that he could clearly see down the street both ways from his living room window. He stood there in his newly changed outfit with a bit of cologne sprayed on, but not too much to feel overwhelming. His foot tapped nervously as the vegetable peeling knife tapped against his leg. Looking at his watch, Sanji realized it was ten minutes past the time he usually showed up.
“Shit,” Sanji mumbled, “What if he doesn't come this month? What if he’s tired of sharpening my knives?”
His mind started to fill with all the horrible possibilities until he finally heard it - the tinkle of a bell - his head shot up so fast that he felt his neck crack. His eyes zeroed in on his target, who was unaware he was being watched as he slowly walked down the street pushing his large cart. The giant red wheels worked well with the green color of the cart itself. The cart looked extremely heavy. Sanji often told him to get some sort of bike attachment to make it easier to get around, but he insisted that he enjoyed the stroll. Sanji would never want to push that cart around all day.
As his target crossed the street and came in front of Sanji’s house, Sanji ran to the door and opened it as normally as a person could open a front door. His target noticed and paused in his stroll to glance over, probably wondering if he had a customer - Sanji wanted to be his favorite customer. Nerves filled Sanji suddenly and he felt like he did the first time he saw the man. His shockingly natural green hair, the gleam of his earrings in the afternoon sun, the obvious muscles hidden under his clothing, and that look - the sharp gray eyes that seemed to stare into your soul and know everything about you. Sanji loved it all.
He cleared his throat, walking up to the man and putting his hand up in greeting. “Zoro!” He said loudly as he got closer. Zoro turned his full attention to Sanji and smiled - a sweet smile that someone would give a customer, but Sanji felt himself melt a little still. “I nicked my favorite peeling knife.”
A deep chuckle came from Zoro causing Sanji to smile softly at the man he was trying, and failing, to woo. “How do you always have a knife for me, curly?”
“I’m intense when I cook,” Sanji scoffed, attempting to play it off as an everyday thing. He, in fact, was intense when he cooked - or he thought so - but he never damaged his precious knives, unless Zoro was coming by then he would throw the entire set away just to have Zoro sharpen new ones for him. Sanji felt ridiculous but he couldn’t stop himself - it was like he was addicted. He only saw Zoro once a month, and he had no idea where Zoro lived or much else about him besides that he walked around with a cart to sharpen knives for people.
“Intense cooking, huh?” Zoro asked thoughtfully, “That’s something I’d like to see.” He clicked the wheels in place as he went around to the other side and pulled down a small seat. Sliding in, he placed his feet on pedals located underneath the massive cart, pushing them down to spin the stone wheel on top of the cart before he turned back towards Sanji and held his hand out.
As Sanji put the handle of the knife into Zoro’s hand he asked, “Well if you’d like to see it you could come over for dinner.” A sudden burst of embarrassment filled Sanji, but he kept his face as neutral as he could as Zoro looked at him once before turning, pushing down on the pedal to start the wheel spinning, and began to sharpen the knife, which emitted a metallic grinding sound.
There was a moment of silence before Zoro replied, “That sounds fun. Don’t cook much myself, so it’d be nice to have a meal cooked by a professional chef.”
Sanji smiled brightly - not that Zoro noticed - he was too busy, but Sanji didn’t care. His mind immediately thought through his schedule in the next week or so to see what day he would be free. “What about next Saturday?”
Zoro stopped the wheel from spinning, turning towards Sanji as he seemed to be considering the date. “A little over a week from today? Yeah - I’m free then.” As he turned back to the knife he held, checking it over as he added, “What time?”
“Does four work? We can try one of the newer wines my restaurant recently received. I have a few entree ideas that would pair with it very well.”
Zoro smiled widely and Sanji realized he would do anything to keep that smile on Zoro’s face. “Wine, huh? I’m always up for trying new booze. Four works for me.” He stopped the stone wheel and looked over the knife from each angle again before handing it back to Sanji. “Good as new. Don’t worry about the bill. I’ll take the wine next week as my payment.”
The smile was still on Zoro’s face and Sanji felt lost in it. He watched as Zoro hopped off the seat and folded it back up into the cart, clicking it securely in place, before walking back around and unclicked the wheels. He turned towards Sanji, “I guess I’ll see you next weekend. Stay safe till then, curly.” Zoro pushed the cart forward and started walking away.
Sanji clutched his newly sharpened knife. “Yeah! See you then. Don’t get lost, mosshead!” Zoro waved his hand in goodbye, putting his fingers down until only his middle one remained before lowering it once more to the cart. Sanji stood there watching until Zoro turned the corner and was completely out of sight.
He skipped back into his house, putting the freshly sharpened peeling knife away, and took down his notepad from the fridge to start coming up with what he was going to make for Zoro next weekend. Excitement filled him and he found himself wanting the day to come as fast as possible.
Sanji never regretted much in his life, but he found himself regretting wanting the dinner with Zoro to come quickly. The first few days crawled by slowly, but as his nervousness grew the days began to pick up speed until they were flying by - it was now Saturday afternoon. Sanji had just returned from grocery shopping for the dinner and found himself standing nervously in the kitchen. Zoro had said he wanted to watch him cook so Sanji couldn’t prepare most of it beforehand but what if Zoro forgot about that? What if he was only joking? Sanji felt his stress levels rise to a level similar to ones he had when he first started his restaurant - his hands clenched his shirt in an attempt to stop himself from grabbing his hair. Breathe , he told himself. The steps he hadn’t had to use in years slowly filtered through his brain. Sanji took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it out slowly. He repeated this until he felt himself calm down.
He placed his hands on the kitchen counter and stared down at the marble - he was hit with a realization that this wasn’t just a simple crush - he had deep feelings for Zoro and was terrified that he was going to fuck this up. His eyes glanced at the clock he could see in the living room - thirty minutes until Zoro was supposed to arrive. He could make it that long.
As each minute that ticked past four o’clock, Sanji’s leg bounced as he sat on the couch with a glass of wine in front of him. Taking another sip he stole a look at the clock: 4:30. “Shitty green haired asshole,” he murmured as he laid his head back on the couch. His heart felt like it was slowly breaking. Of course Zoro wasn’t interested - no one had ever been that interested in him, sure he flirted but when it came to dating he was always stood up. Putting his hand over his eyes he tried to not think of anything as long as possible.
A firm knock at the door startled him so much that he almost spilled his drink. Looking at the clock, he saw it was fifteen till five. Sanji stood up with wine still in hand and walked to the door to see who it was. Sanji had already convinced himself that Zoro wasn’t coming so when he opened the door and saw Zoro standing there with a guilty look on his face he froze in shock for a few moments. Those silent minutes were filled with Sanji allowing his eyes to gaze up and down Zoro’s body. Zoro was out of breath and looked incredible - he wore a black button up with a nice pair of jeans and his usual black boots.
When his eyes locked with Zoro’s, Sanji felt his breath leave him, the man looked apologetic, speaking in a low tone, “Uh, sorry about being late. The roads move on me all the time.” Zoro’s eyes flicked to the half empty glass of wine.
Sanji looked at the glass he still held for a moment before pushing it towards Zoro. “I, uh, got this for you! I wanted you to try it as soon as possible!”
Zoro eyed Sanji before grabbing the glass and taking a sip. Sanji mentally breathed out a sigh of relief before he watched as Zoro sipped from the exact place Sanji had. His brain froze as his eyes zeroed in on those soft looking lips touching the glass. It was an indirect kiss and Sanji felt his face warm considerably even through the cool evening air. After taking a sip, Zoro brought the glass back down and nodded. “That’s good shit.” Then raised the glass again to take a bigger gulp. Sanji watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, then stared in awe as Zoro licked his lips. Holding himself back from pouncing on Zoro was becoming harder as every second passed. I need a distraction , Sanji thought.
“Come on in. I need to start cooking if we want to eat.” Sanji moved away from the door to allow Zoro to walk past him.
“Sorry again about being late.”
Sanji waved his hand as he shut the door, “Don’t worry about it. Happens to us all.” As Sanji walked towards the kitchen, he said over his shoulder, “Come over here if you want to watch my intense cooking.”
Zoro laughed as he followed. Sanji took advantage of having his back to Zoro and calmed himself. You may have a crush on him, but act natural , he kept telling himself.
As Sanji retrieved the ingredients, he decided on asking an ice breaker question he had found online while researching how to talk to a crush. “So, besides pushing around that huge cart all the time, where else do you work?”
“I do odd jobs and volunteer at the Japanese Cultural Center whenever they need a kendo instructor.”
“Oh? Is the cultural center in the city?” Sanji asked, intrigued. A simple question earned him more information about Zoro than he had managed to squeeze out of him over the course of the several months they had known each other.
Zoro brightened as he answered, “Yeah! It’s up on Belmont. They have several different classes and events throughout the year. If you’re interested in Japanese culture it’s a cool place to go.”
“So you’re Japanese?”
“Half. Mom’s from Japan. She’s the one who introduced me to the cultural center when I was a kid so I figured I’d volunteer my time.”
Sanji nodded. “I’m half French,” he said as he turned his back on Zoro to place the chicken on the other side of the counter.
“Oh? Do you speak French?”
“Oui,” Sanji said smoothly, turning in time to see a blush spread across Zoro’s face. He smiled and decided to steer the conversation in a different direction. “You ever have that cart of yours stolen?”
“Yeah,” Zoro answered with an amused smile on his face. “Not sure how they took it, but it was found abandoned in Beverly. I guess they found out that no one wanted to buy something as out of date as Wado. Lucky for me.”
“Wado? Did you name the cart?”
“Nah,” Zoro smiled, “my grandpa did. Not sure where the name comes from though.”
“Did he teach you how to use it?” Sanji asked as he took out the vegetable peeling knife Zoro had sharpened for him. He glanced up and saw Zoro watching his hands intensely, gray eyes fixated on their movements.
“Yeah,” Zoro answered without taking his eyes off of Sanji’s hands. “He used to do the same thing back in the day. He taught me the trade before he passed so I figured I’d honor his memory by using it.”
“That’s incredible.” Sanji smiled, feeling himself falling deeper for Zoro the longer they talked. The conversation came easy for him and Sanji felt like he could talk to Zoro all day - he wanted to talk to Zoro all day. “Do you get many customers?”
Zoro took a sip before answering. “Nah, most people nowadays are working when I come by. Either that or they don’t think they need to keep their knives sharpened. I have some constant customers besides you - there’s an old lady who lives a couple streets down that always has shears that need to be sharpened.” He paused as Sanji watched Zoro think back on fond memories - Zoro’s face relaxed as he smiled. “She always has some sort of cookies to give me when I come by. I’m not the biggest fan of sweets, but her cookies are some of the best I’ve ever had.”
Sanji laughed softly as he looked back down at the skillet he was cooking the chicken in, “Homemade cookies really are delicious.”
“I bet yours are better.”
Sanji’s head came up quickly as he stared wide eyed at Zoro who’s face had transformed into an enamored expression as he watched Sanji cook. Clearing his throat, Sanji said as evenly as possible, “Dinner is ready.”
After they ate, Sanji found himself sitting on the couch with Zoro drinking wine. Images of Zoro moaning when he first took a bite of dinner played through Sanji’s mind as he took a sip. He felt truly relaxed around Zoro for the first time since he had met him and will forever blame that feeling and how much wine he drank for what he said next.
“I like you a lot,” Sanji said evenly. There was silence for a moment before he realized what came out of his mouth. Fear gripped him as he turned towards Zoro with a hand up ready to tell him to forget that Sanji had said anything. When he saw the look on Zoro’s face, his words died on his tongue.
Zoro was blushing - it ran from his hairline, down his face, briefly touching his ears, before disappearing down his shirt. Sanji had an urge to unbutton the shirt to see how far it went, but instead of doing that he grabbed Zoro’s collar and pulled him into a searing kiss. Zoro tasted like the wine they drank, the food they ate, but also steel. As their lips slowly moved against each other, Sanji’s hand released Zoro’s collar and journeyed slowly up his neck before grasping the back of Zoro’s head. He titled his head to dive deeper into Zoro’s mouth - their tongues touched - a strange feeling that soon became more and more enjoyable as they moved against each other. Zoro’s hand traveled down to Sanji’s hip, gripping it, and pulling him closer to Zoro’s body. They kept kissing, neither wanting to stop first, but they eventually did, gasping for breath. As Sanji opened his eyes, he saw the same smile on Zoro’s face he had on earlier when he had mused about how good Sanji’s cookies would be.
Love.
Sanji realized love was what he was seeing portrayed so clearly in Zoro’s expression.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile now,” Sanji said breathlessly.
“Me too,” Zoro replied, then added, “I like you a lot too, Sanji.” Hearing those words filled Sanji with so much joy he felt like he could burst.
“I, uh, also have been damaging my own knives so I can talk to you when you come by.”
“I know,” Zoro said smiling. “A chef like you would know how to take care of their knives to make them last longer than that. No matter how much intensive cooking you do. And I’ve never met a vegetable that would put such deep and dark dings in the edge. What the hell were you doing to those poor things?”
Sanji laughed, it felt so freeing to finally admit his feelings to the handsome man sitting next to him. All the pining he did was worth it for this happy moment. As they sat on the couch for the rest of the evening, interrupting their wine drinking to kiss, Sanji felt his stress release fully. He fell asleep in the arms of the man he had yearned for these past months. His heart sharpener.
~ The End ~