Chapter Text
#Childhood_Friends_01
When Sanji steps into the bathroom to wash his face, he tends to enter a state of hyper focused thinking. Part of the reason why is simple: other than sleep, there was never truly a moment for him to close his eyes and think, to be on his own with his own thoughts.
Everything was always fast paced, kind of like his and Zoro’s relationship origin.
They both don't remember when they started dating, really. It never felt different from being friends at all; they, for all intents and purposes, had been the exact same as they had been growing up–they were just Sanji and Zoro like they always were. The only thing that was different was the intimacy level.
But, other than that, everything felt the same.
"Morning," Sanji hears from beside him, turning slightly to see Zoro right there. His hand reaches over slightly, cutting the foam from the face wash lather Sanji had been working for nearly thirty minutes at this point in half.
See, Sanji should have expected this. Some way, somehow, Zoro always comes into the bathroom when Sanji gets the optimal lather of face wash going. He's been doing it since they started living together, anything different would be weird. He doesn't know why it's so surprising.
"Oi," Sanji says, pulling his hand back, "This was thirty minutes of thoughtful lathering, moss head!”
"Next time, I'll foam up the bubbles," Zoro teases, "Would that make you feel better, prince?”
"Yeah actually," Sanji grumbles, "It would." Sanji can hear Zoro giggling at him. When he turns to Zoro again, he doesn't expect to see him choking back a laugh with soap filled hands and eyes wide open–far too close to his soapy hands to result in anything other than eye trauma. Sanji huffs, saying to Zoro, “Close your eyes. You're gonna get soap in them.”
Sanji likes to think when he washes his face, but he normally can only do it when he’s alone. When Zoro gets involved, all Sanji’s thoughts were on Zoro in the end.
#Childhood_Friends_02
They meet up with Luffy and Nami for lunch at a Chinese fusion restaurant by their apartment.
The last time Sanji remembers seeing them was his senior year of school. They’d gone to the same high school, all four of them: Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Luffy. With Sanji and Zoro being one year their senior, he graduated and they slowly stopped keeping in contact.
Hell, Sanji definitely would have lost contact with Zoro if they didn’t end up living together. He knows that he’d
But then college graduation comes around and, in a brief moment of time before Sanji applies for his culinary program, they have a time to meet up after a little while.
It’s nice, Sanji can’t help but feel. It’s nice taking a quick break after a very long time of study and driving himself insane trying to go to school and deal with gaining his degree. It’s nice to catch up with his friends, to live outside of the stress of college, and relax over a quick lunch.
It’s nice to see Luffy and Nami, arguably the two main reasons he and Zoro even stayed friends throughout high school to begin with. None of this would have happened without them.
The waitress comes by with their drinks, setting them carefully on the table. She says something that makes Luffy’s eyes light up—something about ordering food, if Sanji deduced it correctly by Luffy’s tapping on the table—and it takes him a minute. “Yo,” Nami says, “Are you ready to order?”
“I can’t wait to get stuck into some pepper fried chicken,” Luffy says, “Thinking about it is making my mouth water.” Sanji can’t help but chuckle.
Sanji looks over at Zoro, lightly elbowing him. ”Mn, I might get some salad or something,” Zoro replies, “Not feeling particularly hungry right now, just peckish.”
“Oh, come on, moss head,” Sanji says, “You just came back from a kendo match and you’re gonna tell me you’re not hungry? Liar. I’ve lived with you for how long? ”
“I’m not, though,” Zoro replies.
“I’m paying this time, so don’t worry about what things cost and get whatever you want.”
“Pick for me, then,” Zoro replies, “What do you think I’d like?”
Sanji flicks through the pages. “Oh, you’d probably like the chicken rice bowl. I’ll get the cold noodles so we can split, if you want.”
“I don’t remember you two ever being like this,” Nami says, slightly amused. He takes a sip from the glass of soda he ordered, looking up at Sanji and Zoro.
“What do you mean?” Sanji can’t help but ask.
“It’s almost like you’re dating,” Nami replies. He’s grinning “If you are, it doesn’t matter to us. But it’s just funny.”
#Just_The_Two_Of_Us
They're studying, just the two of them, when Zoro say something so incredible that Sanji has to double take. And it's incredible, not because it's ridiculous, but because it's something Sanji too had been thinking about since they started dating. He's thought about about packing everything up and leaving, going somewhere where no one could find him and staying off the grid, but it's not reasonable for them in the slightest.
“Okay, fine no remote living,” Zoro says, “How about a holiday, then? Just the two of us.”
Sanji perks up, looking at the green haired man. After that bombshell there's absolutely no way Sanji can focus. “Where would you wanna go?” Sanji asks.
Zoro puts the pencil down on the table. His concentration is long gone, the topic of vacation on his mind. “I don’t know, somewhere far maybe. Experience something else other than East Blue-“
“Don’t say that.” Sanji hums, “Don’t say that. I can take you really far away from here.” Because he can. He says it because he absolutely could take Zoro far away from here; he could take him to the North--where he grew up--where it was always chilly; where he'd have to worry about the family he fled and the remnants of what was left of that failing relationship before Zoro. He could take him to the South--where it was always warm. They could go where ever whenever they wanted to. But there was a lot here in the East, stuff that Sanji doesn't know if he'd be able to give up. His friends, for starters. Luffy, Nami, and Usopp were here. All their memories were here. Sanji didn't want to give it up just yet and if he feels that way, he certainly knows Zoro feels somewhat the same.
He can't steal Zoro away from here. It would be selfish of him when so many others rely on him too.
“Dummy, you don’t have the guts to take steal me away from here,” Zoro says. And he’s right. Sanji doesn’t have the guts to steal Zoro from this small town. Zoro doesn’t have the guts to get stolen from everything and everyone he holds dear either, and Sanji would never expect that from him. "And either way," Zoro continues, "It wouldn't even be stealing me if I wanted to go somewhere far away anyway."
In a small, insignificant way: Sanji doesn’t even have the guts to want to be stolen from this place either. The East Blue gave him everything and everyone he could possibly come to love. Anywhere else just wouldn't quite feel like home.