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"Oi cook," he hears from outside, "Where are you? Are you in here?"
"Yeah, I’m here," Sanji replies, "In the bath, you dumbass.”
It takes Zoro a while. Even on a ship he’s navigated through for years now, Zoro still gets lost sometimes. It’s not even like the Sunny was constantly under repair either, Zoro just genuinely didn’t know how to orient himself on the ship most of the time. It’s one of the most irritatingly endearing things about the stupid moss head, in Sanji’s humble opinion.
Finally, after what seems like forever, Sanji hears the bathroom door creak open and sees the green haired man enter. “The water should be to your liking,” Sanji says, “If you’d like to join me, that is. You’re the only plant I know that’s hydrophobic-”
“Sure, just let me get a towel,” Zoro replies, reaching above the sink. Once he grabs one—of course it’s the green one, Sanji wouldn’t expect anything different from the moss head in the slightest—he makes haste to strip his clothes and get in. It’s peaceful when Sanji doesn’t need to argue back and forth with the moss head to even consider getting in the bath.
Mere minutes pass when Sanji ; the question takes Sanji mere minutes to ask, but embarrasses him all the same. "Do you want me to wash your hair?" slips from his mouth so easily, so comfortably, and really Sanji is glad Zoro isn’t looking at him in the moment; Sanji is relieved that Zoro can't see the blush creep up on to his face. He knows the moss head would be making fun of him for it, not out of malice but out of love.
"Sure," he replies, "If you'd like to." Zoro relaxes into Sanji’s chest and everything is calm.
And that's all it takes, really. Sanji scoops up some bath water into his hands, carefully dumping it onto Zoro’s head to really get everything as wet as he could. He nearly tips over the bottle of shampoo trying to find it, too distracted by the handsome moss head in front of him that he wants to kiss. Once he finds it, he pumps two pumps of shampoo into his hands and lathers it against Zoro’s wet hair.
Zoro leans into it. “Feels nice, cook,” Zoro says after Sanji pauses for a bit.
"Your hair has gotten long again," Sanji notes. He cards a hand through Zoro’s wet hair, gently massaging his scalp.
"I was going to go to a barber on the next island-”
“The next island is almost three weeks out, moss head,” Sanji replies, “By then, this shaggy moss is gonna be over your eyes. And if we get into a fight, forget about it. You’re already directionless, you don’t need to be blind too.”
“Hey!” Zoro says, “You seem to do pretty well with your long hair over your eyes-”
“Yeah sure but that's over years of having it longer. You've always had your hair short, so much so that I don't even think you truly understand how much your hair can be a nuisance when it's as long as mine.” The quiet part isn’t said out loud at all. Sanji doesn't outwardly say that he worries for Zoro's discomfort with a long green mop of hair in his face. He doesn't say that longer hair is a nuisance to work out with as intensely as Zoro likes to, or even how hair as long as his likes to shed at the most possible time. He hopes the marimo gets the hint and lets him cut it.
“You know what? Touche,” Zoro says. Sanji hears the water sloshing around, scared out of his mind that it's going to splash over the edge of the tub. “Your turn now. Come on.”
Sanji does his best to turn around carefully, avoiding spilling water outside of the tub. “Okay,” Sanji says and it sounds so small coming out of his mouth.
Sanji looks at his hands. They’re turning to raisins from being in the water for too long. He reaches for his towel to dry off his hands and dangle them outside the tub while Zoro massages shampoo into his own hair. Eventually, Sanji finds he has to get out.
“Oi,” Zoro says, “You’re not gonna get out of this bath without giving me a kiss, right cook?”
And Sanji feels it this time, he feels his cheeks flush red. “Fine,” Sanji says. The peck on Zoro’s lips was quick and careful. “I love you, moss head. You know that, right?”
“I know,” Zoro replies, “I love you too, cook.”