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Zoro entered the library and glanced around, looking for his study group.
“Hey, Zoro!” Luffy shouted and waved from a table near the back, earning glares from their fellow patrons, “We’re over here!”
Nami yanked his arm to get him back in his seat, and Zoro smiled as he made his way over to them.
The three of them had been friends since grade school, and had managed to get into the same college too, although Zoro still wasn’t sure if Luffy actually attended classes or if he just hung out around campus with everyone.
Either way, they decided that studying together was better and way more fun than studying alone, so they made time to meet up in the library a couple of days a week.
As Zoro sat down between the two of them and pulled out his calculus book, Nami leaned in and said, “So, about that guy in my accounting class.”
Zoro growled instantly at hearing about the one person on campus he loathed the most, “Yeah? What about him?”
“You know Usopp right?”
Zoro nodded. Usopp was one of Luffy’s friends from who knows where, but apparently they’d known each other forever. Luffy recently found out he attended school here too, and had been making an effort to fold him into their broadening friend group.
Usopp was a nervous kind of guy who lied like it was breathing. But past the ridiculous boasting, he was kind and funny, and — like most of the people Luffy forced upon him — he didn’t hate him.
What he had to do with Zoro’s nemesis he had no idea.
“Well,” Nami grinned, always down for spilling tea to him, “Turns out he’s his roommate.”
“No shit,” Zoro shook his head, “That sucks for Usopp.”
“Oh,” Luffy leaned in too, “Are you guys talking about Sanji?”
Zoro growled again upon hearing the asshole’s name, “Maybe.”
“He’s great!” Luffy smiled wide as he laughed, “He’s a restaurant major, and his food is the best. Next time he comes around, you’ve gotta try it.”
Zoro huffed an, “I’ll consider it,” to appease Luffy, but it would be a cold day in hell before he touched anything made by that bastard’s hands.
He wasn’t surprised Luffy was friends with Sanji — it seemed like Luffy was somehow friends with everyone — but Zoro hated when he was forced to be in the same room with him because of it.
Zoro had only met Sanji in person once or twice, but each time he did was the most excruciating experience of his life.
And maybe he didn’t really know the bastard, having only met him a few times, but he’d heard Nami bitch about the guy in her accounting class enough to know how terrible he was.
He was rude, with every other word out of his mouth a curse word, he was violent with a hair-trigger temper to boot, he thought he was better than everyone else in the room, and he flirted with any girl in his line of sight,refusing to take no for an answer.
In short, he was scum, the exact kind of man Zoro never liked, and Zoro despised him.
“Good,” Luffy nodded, “You’d like Sanji if you got to know him, I’m sure of it.”
Zoro rolled his eyes. He highly doubted that.
They turned back to their studying, and Zoro focused more on formulas and numbers than his stupid fucking nemesis.
About an hour into their study session, he felt a pang running through the small red thread tied to his pinky.
He instantly glanced down at his left arm, where thick black letters suddenly appeared:
Are you busy?
Zoro scrambled to his backpack to find the black marker he always kept on hand for this very purpose. He uncapped it with his teeth, as he pulled out a packet of wipes, then quickly scribbled on his right arm:
No, what’s up?
The words on his left arm vanished, and were replaced by new ones:
Just a really long day
A wave of exhaustion came through the string, and Zoro sighed as he let it wash over him, taking on that burden for his soulmate.
He sent his own love and encouragement through the bond back to him, biting his lip as he thought about what to say next.
Before he could, the words disappeared, replaced with:
Thanks for that, just knowing you’re there helps a lot <3
Zoro smiled, sending another wave of log and affection to him, then wrote on his arm:
Anything you need <3
He basked in the love he got in return, draped it around himself like a cloak that could protect him from all the world's harms.
Then his soulmate wrote back:
What are you up to?
Zoro smiled, nibbling the end of the marker as he read it, then wrote back:
Just some studying. What about you?
Just got home, was thinking of crashing but I can’t let you be so studious alone <3
His soulmate started drawing hearts on his arm, punctuating each one with another burst of affection and appreciation.
Zoro began doodling random spirals on his own arm, making sure to send over constant waves of love you, miss you, wanna see you, wanna hold you, want you.
Nami cleared her throat suddenly, startling him out of his task and reminding him that not only was he in public, he was supposed to be paying attention to his friends.
He drew one last spiral, sending through all the love he felt for his mysterious soulmate along the thread with it, then capped his marker and turned back to Nami, “What?”
She raised a knowing brow, “Are we interrupting something?”
“No,” Zoro flushed as he crossed his arms, his attention turning back to his homework, even as he rubbed soft circles over the hearts his soulmate had left him.
“You still don’t know who your soulmate is, huh?” Luffy asked, his mouth full of pretzels he’d gotten from somewhere.
“No,” he shook his head, and glanced forlornly down at the hearts on his arm.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to know who his soulmate was, he very much did. He’d been in love with his soulmate since they were kids, since he first figured out what the red string on his pinky meant and who it led to. Since he lost his best friend Kuina too young and his soulmate helped him through it in the only way someone who knew him on a deep, intimate, level could.
So yes, he wanted to meet the person who had so completely captured his heart.
But his soulmate was a romantic, and a bit of a traditionalist. He wanted fate to be in charge of their meeting, and insisted on no names or locations until then.
Which was fine by Zoro. He knew they would meet someday, and the anticipation did make the whole thing more exciting.
Still, Zoro yearned. He wanted to meet his soulmate, to shower him with all the love and affection in his heart, to hold him on days like this where he was exhausted and overwhelmed until all his problems disappeared and Zoro’s love was the only thing he knew.
But until then, Zoro would have to be content with sending his feelings through the bond and his words on his skin.
“Why don’t you just follow the string?” Nami said, tapping the table with her stringless finger, “Even you should be capable of that without getting lost.”
“He’s too far away,” Zoro told her with a sigh, glancing down at his string with a frown.
He’d tried that when he was a kid, but he’d ended up three towns away, and still had miles and miles stretched out before him. His soulmate was too far, it wasn’t like Nami and her soulmate Vivi, who’d been friends since kindergarten, or Luffy and his soulmate, his brother Ace. They’d both been able to touch the ends of the strings early on, unlike Zoro, who still had his string visible for all to see.
He believed in fate, he believed in his soulmate, he believed they would meet someday, knew they’d have to.
He trusted his soulmate to make himself known when the time was right.
Even if the wait was killing him.
“You guys’ll meet someday,” Luffy assured him in that confident way of his, “I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah,” Zoro smiled at him as he glanced back down at his arm, “Yeah, I’m sure we will.”
He sent one last surge of love through the connection to his soulmate, then buckled down for studying.
He couldn’t disappoint his soulmate, after all.
Sanji groaned as he came back to his apartment at the end of his shift at the Baratie. Maybe old man Zeff was right. Maybe being a full time student and still maintaining a full time job was too much of a workload for him.
No, he shook his head, no, it was fine. He could do this.
He dropped his things on the floor and collapsed on the couch with a groan.
He still had to make dinner. He still had to study for chem. He still had to clean out the bathroom. He still had so much to do and no energy to do any of it.
He glanced down at his phone. No messages, not that he’d been expecting any.
While he’d been having no problem meeting people since he came to school in East Blue, he had been having a lot of trouble making friends. His classmates and coworkers all seemed to like him well enough, but when it came time to do anything other than work or school, he found himself floundering and alone.
He sighed as he glanced up at the ceiling.
Exhausting days like these really highlighted how it was him against the world.
Almost reflexively, he began to play with the red string tied to his pinky.
But he wasn’t alone, was he? Not really.
He tossed his phone on the table and instead reached into his bag, pulling out the black marker and small packet of wipes he always carried with him.
He wound the red thread around his opposite pointer and gave it a few insistent tugs to give his soulmate a heads up, then wrote on his left arm:
Are you busy?
Not even a moment later his soulmate wrote back, in clear bold letters on his right arm:
No, what’s up?
Sanji smiled, he could always count on his soulmate for a quick response. He wiped the old words away and quickly wrote new ones:
Just a really long day
He sent a wave of exhaustion through their bond so his soulmate could get a general idea of it.
His tiredness was met by a bigger wave of love and encouragement, of support. His eyes welled up with tears upon feeling it, just knowing that there was someone out there who gave a shit about him doing wonders to improve his mood already.
He wrapped his soulmate’s love around him like a blanket, basked in the warmth of it, using it to drive away the rest of his exhaustion and loneliness until it was nothing more than a bad memory.
Sanji sighed, and wiped away his words to write:
Thanks for that, just knowing you’re there helps a lot <3
The reply came back almost instantly:
Anything you need <3
Sanji smiled, sending his own wave of love and appreciation through the bond to his soulmate, hoping to please him in the same way.
Idly, he wondered what his soulmate was doing right at this moment.
What are you up to?
Just some studying. What about you?
Sanji glanced down at the books in his bag.
When he came home, all he’d wanted was to lay on the couch and do nothing, but after talking to his soulmate and getting encouragement from him, he felt reinvigorated.
If his soulmate was studying, he wanted to be studying too.
Just got home, was thinking of crashing but I can’t let you be so studious alone <3
Suddenly overcome with love and affection for his soulmate, he began doodling hearts on his arm for him, making sure to send a burst of love through the bond with each one, just for him, just so he knew how Sanji felt.
His soulmate responded with spirals, sending over his affections with each stroke, and Sanji let the love fill up inside of him until he was almost bursting with it.
Eventually the spirals stopped, the emotions being sent through the thread fading away as his soulmate most likely got back to work.
Right, Sanji should stop distracting him with this nonsense and get to work too.
Sanji loved his soulmate, he truly did. Just the thought of him was enough to turn him into a blushing, stuttering mess. His soulmate was kind and caring, strong and reliable, all the things Sanji always wanted in a partner.
His soulmate had been his companion for as long as he could remember. By exchanging feelings through the bond and words on their skin, they were able to communicate and learn a lot about each other. He knew his soulmate’s favorite color (green), his favorite food (onigiri), and his hopes and dreams for the future (to be the best, whatever it took). He knew he lost his best friend when he was around ten, and that her loss cut him deep to this day.
He knew he was loyal to a fault, that he worked hard to get what he wanted, that he loved Sanji wholly and completely too.
He’d helped Sanji through the worst moments of his life, after all, through his mother’s death, his father’s subsequent abuse, and being taken out of that environment and adopted by Zeff.
He knew everything about his soulmate except his name and where he was right now.
Sanji figured it was better this way. While it was nice to be able to communicate with his soulmate, it was far more romantic to let fate determine their destined meeting.
Which was what he told everyone who asked, even his soulmate. But deep down, he was afraid of being rejected by him after they met face to face. He knew the possibility was low, but it wasn’t zero, and after being rejected so thoroughly by his first family, he couldn’t bear the thought of going through something like that again at the hands of his soulmate.
No, it was better to indulge in what he could while he could. Fate would arrange their meeting for them, and they’d take it from there.
He was making good progress with his chem homework when Usopp, his roommate, came back.
Usopp was an interesting guy, always with a tall tale or seven to tell. He’d met his soulmate Kaya, who was a med student here, when they were kids, and had been madly in love with her ever since.
If Sanji and his soulmate could be half of what Usopp and Kaya were, he’d consider himself the luckiest shithead on the planet.
“Hey,” Usopp plopped on the couch next to him and sighed, “You’ll never guess which green haired classmate I saw at the Spider’s Cafe this afternoon.”
Sanji scowled, whatever mood he’d had thoroughly ruined by the mention of his mortal enemy, “Not that shithead moss-brained Zoro.”
Sanji had had the misfortune of meeting Roronoa Zoro in person only once or twice, but he'd heard enough about the bastard from Usopp and his friends to know he hated him.
He was rude, he was selfish, he was a tough guy that bullied and menaced anyone who bothered to cross his path, he disrespected women — disrespected anyone who had the misfortune to be in his line of sight — and he thought he was better than everyone. In short, he was the last person Sanji wanted anything to do with.
But unfortunately he was friends with the few people here Sanji actually knew, so he had to put up with him. If not with his presence, then with their constant mentioning of him.
“The very same,” Usopp nodded, “He scowled at the barista the whole time. Looked like she was gonna bolt, but I heroically stepped in and saved her.”
“Good,” Sanji huffed as he returned to his chemistry book, “The last thing a beautiful maiden needs is to be harassed by a green ogre.”
“I mean,” Usopp rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah he's terrifying, and our first encounter still gives me nightmares, but he's not all that bad. Luffy's friends with him, after all.”
“Luffy would be friends with a damp sponge with a rap sheet,” Sanji said with a huff, “That's not exactly a good character reference.”
“True,” Usopp nodded slowly, “But still, maybe if you got to know Zoro-”
“I know everything I need about him,” Sanji insisted as he turned back to his work, “And I know I don't want anything to do with him.”
“Okay, fine,” Usopp sighed as he stood back up, “Do you want me to make dinner?”
“Oh,” Sanji glanced at the clock. Shit, he meant to do that hours ago, “I got it.”
“You sure?” Usopp asked as Sanji put his stuff away, “You've cooked like every meal, so if you want a break-”
“It's fine,” he insisted, wanting to do as much for Usopp as he could to thank him for putting up with him in his space, “It’s good practice for me anyway.”
“If you say so, you culinary students are always working,” Usopp chuckled, setting himself up behind the counter as Sanji got to work in the kitchen proper, “And I can never say no to your food.”
Sanji grinned as he got out all the ingredients he had set aside for dinner.
The routine of cooking pushed all negative thoughts about Zoro out of his mind, and he let himself focus on important things, like the task at hand and the inevitable meeting with his soulmate.
Soon, he assured himself. He was sure fate would throw their paths together soon.
He just had to have faith and believe in his soulmate until the end.
Another Wednesday, another polisci class over and done with.
Zoro yawned and cracked his neck as he sauntered out of the classroom, hating how uncomfortable the lecture hall chairs were to sleep in.
As he meandered out of the building on his way to his next class, he felt the string on his pinky tug sharply. He quickly glanced down at his arm, but it was blank, no message from his soulmate to be had.
Zoro frowned, his soulmate usually only tugged to get his attention when he had something to say or share with him, but with no words on his skin and no emotions coming through the bond, he wondered what was going on.
He'd heard that if a soulmate was nearby and moving around there would be some tugging, but that had never applied to Zoro, his soulmate being so far away.
But, well, they were destined to meet at some point, weren't they?
What if his soulmate was nearby?
Heart pounding in his chest, Zoro followed his string, taking care not to give it any additional tugs that would throw it off and have him lose his way.
It took him to the patio just outside the student center, where two blondes were talking. He scowled when he noticed one of them was that dickhead Sanji, the other was a much taller woman sipping an iced coffee that Zoro vaguely remembered from his statistics class freshman year. Marian or Mary, he thought her name was. Something with an M.
His string seemed to pass right through them, but Zoro was loath to get anywhere near Sanji, especially while he was doing his stupid flirting, so he hid himself behind a nearby column to figure out what was going on and how he could avoid them and keep following the string.
“I must say, dear sweet Maria,” Sanji simpered — Maria! That was her name — a pathetically wide smile on his face as he leaned closer to her, “You look wonderful this afternoon.”
Maria hummed in disinterest, giving Sanji a clearly unimpressed once over as she sipped her iced coffee, “I know.”
Zoro rolled his eyes. She clearly wasn’t interested, and yet Sanji was still going at it. How dumb could one guy be?
Sanji continued his over the top flirting to a disinterested Maria, and Zoro wanted to puke in his mouth a little at the sight, wondering how much longer he was going to have to be subjected to this.
As Sanji flailed his arms about, Zoro noticed the red string tied to the end of his pinky.
So Sanji hadn’t met his soulmate either, huh? His sympathies went out to the unfortunate bastard.
But as his eyes followed the ends of Sanji’s string, he noticed that his own string was tugging in time with Sanji’s movements.
Did that mean…Sanji was his soulmate?
No, impossible. His soulmate was good and kind and loving, nothing at all like this asshole.
To prove it to himself, Zoro gave his own string a good, hard tug.
And Sanji’s hand gave a very noticeable twitch when it did.
As if to further dissuade any excuses Zoro could come up with for the coincidence, Sanji stopped flailing to glance down at his hand, then immediately pushed up the sleeve on his right arm.
Where Zoro always sent his soulmate messages.
What the fuck.
“What’s wrong?” Maria asked, still as disinterested as ever, but apparently curious about Sanji’s behavior.
“Oh, nothing,” he shook his head, his fingers playing with the red string, and now that Zoro was paying attention, he could feel the little tugs the movements caused through his own string, “I thought my soulmate wanted something, but I guess not.”
“Oh,” Maria frowned, “You’re still into soulmate stuff? Isn’t that, like, for little kids?”
Zoro’s heart clenched at her words. His soulmate meant everything to him, and he was sure his soulmate — who was apparently fucking Sanji — felt the same.
But Sanji just laughed as he let go of his string, letting it drop to the ground as he said, in his high pitched simpering voice, “Yeah, I guess it is a little silly.”
It felt like the rug had been yanked out from under him, like he was falling with nothing to hold onto and no way to stop it.
Had Sanji just been pretending with him the whole time? Humoring him? Had Zoro poured his heart and soul out to an uncaring, indifferent wall for all those years?
The thought crushed him, the betrayal running deep.
Zoro rushed out of there, not wanting to be around them or anyone else right now.
Once he was back in his dorm room, he tossed his bag to the floor and fell onto the bed, curling up around himself.
How stupid could he be, to fall for someone like that.
He brought his left arm up to cover his face, and noticed there was some writing from his soulmate on it. From Sanji.
What’s going on? Is everything okay?
No, everything was not okay, and now he knew Sanji didn’t even care.
He growled and dug through his laundry until he found his favorite black hoodie. He pulled it on and tugged on the sleeves until they were covering his arms, hiding the message from sight.
If Sanji didn’t care, neither would Zoro.
Sanji was walking out of the student center when he bumped into none other than Maria Black.
She was a gorgeous blonde who sat next to him in his algebra class. He'd helped her with her homework a handful of times, enough that he figured he could try talking with her outside of a classroom context and see if they could be friends.
She seemed a bit distracted, and he was desperate to keep her attention, so he did his best to make her happy and welcome in his presence.
“I must say, my dear sweet Maria,” he beamed at her, his eyes sweeping up her form, “You look wonderful this afternoon.”
She always looked good, maybe a bit too heavy on the mascara for Sanji’s tastes, but she always wore top of the line clothing that fit her well. It was what had caught his eye in the first place.
“I know,” she replied with an edge to her tone as she sipped her iced coffee.
He was losing her interest. Why was it so hard for him to make friends here? What was he doing wrong?
He tried his best to be friendly, paid her any compliment that crossed his mind, but nothing seemed to be working. All it got him was her disinterest and boredom.
Why was talking to people so damn hard? What was wrong with him?
As his panicked mind started to spiral, he felt a sharp tug on the string attached to his pinky.
He glanced down at his hand, then immediately rolled up his sleeve to check his right arm where his soulmate left him messages, but his arm was blank.
Usually they only tugged on the string to get the other’s attention if they were writing something and wanted a response, but maybe the tug was an accident. Maybe it was just a tug to let Sanji know he was thinking of him, and didn’t need any follow up comments.
Sanji couldn’t help the soft smile on his face that formed on his face at the thought.
“What’s wrong?” Maria asked, his sudden silence no doubt worrying her.
“Oh, nothing,” he answered, shaking his head a little as he focused more on the conversation at hand, even as he wondered about what his soulmate was doing. He twirled the string nervously between his fingers, tugging it ever so slightly to let his soulmate know he was thinking of him too, “I thought my soulmate wanted something, but I guess not.”
“Oh,” Maria frowned, the corners of her mouth pinching as a result, “You’re still into soulmate stuff? Isn’t that, like, for little kids?”
Sanji froze, his heart clenching in his chest.
His soulmate meant the world to him. All of his romantic fantasies ever since he was five had revolved around him. Whether it was their first meeting, their first kiss, their marriage, and everything else life had to offer, he wanted to do it with his soulmate. He was the perfect partner that Sanji always needed, the constant companion that he didn’t know what to do without.
To hear Maria trivialize all that, boiling it down to just kid stuff like it didn’t even matter, was disheartening to say the least.
But maybe that’s how people thought about soulmates in East Blue.
He knew soulmates and soulbonds meant a lot in North Blue, that kind of relationship carrying so much weight and importance to the point where it superseded all others. He’d read about other places in the world that placed significantly less importance in it, countries where people didn’t even marry their soulmates, and others where the red string was severed at birth to allow people to find their own love free of fate’s intervention.
Was that why people didn’t like him here? Because he walked around with his string showing like it was the most important thing in the world when they all got over it years ago? Because he loved his soulmate — some person he hadn’t even met yet — too damn much?
Sanji forced out a stilted laugh as he let his string slip through his fingers.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice an octave too high, “I guess it is a little silly.”
His chest ached at his own words, his stomach turning, and he hated himself for even thinking them. But if he wanted to fit in and make friends here, maybe this was what he had to do.
Maria hummed in response as she sipped her coffee, her gaze drifting away from Sanji a bit, “Yeah. Listen, I gotta get to class now, so…”
“Right, yeah, of course.” Sanji stood up a little straighter, giving her the best smile he could muster while he felt so sick and unsure, “I guess I’ll see you-”
But she was already gone, walking away at a brisk pace as she hurried off to her next class.
“...Later,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair as he watched her go.
Shit, he really wasn’t making any progress like this, huh?
He glanced down at his right arm again, disappointed to find it still blank. He ran a thumb over the skin there, wanting nothing more than to see and talk to his soulmate, to connect with what felt like the only person who understood him.
That was a very insistent tug earlier, and with no follow up response, Sanji was starting to worry about his soulmate. Was he okay? Did he need something, but Sanji was too caught up in his own shit to notice?
He got the marker out of his bag and wrote on his left arm:
What’s going on? Is everything okay?
He waited for a moment, but no words appeared on his right arm in response.
Unusual, but it could mean nothing. Maybe his soulmate was too busy to write back right now, and would get to it later.
Sanji glanced down at his phone and realized he was running late for his next class. Cursing himself, he gathered his things and rushed off.
His soulmate would respond — he always did — and when he did, Sanji would be there to help and support him in any way he could.
He couldn’t fuck up the one relationship that mattered most to him.
Now that Zoro knew Sanji was his soulmate, fate seemed to be putting him in his life more and more.
Somehow he always had a class in the same building as him, he was always at Spider’s Cafe just when Zoro needed coffee, Luffy and Usopp kept insisting on dragging him along whenever they hung out.
He was practically inescapable.
And the worst part was, the more time he spent with Sanji, the more he realized why they were soulmates.
Sanji was an annoying people pleaser, but he was genuinely kind, going out of his way to feed anyone who was hungry and help anyone who needed it.
He pushed and prodded at Zoro’s last nerve, but he also challenged and pushed him to be at his very best, never accepting anything less.
He was cute, he was funny, he was a hard worker, his friends all seemed to like him. There was just one problem.
He didn't care for his soulmate, not really.
The more Zoro thought about it, the more it pissed him off. Had Sanji just been faking their whole life? Only pretending to give a shit about him, while secretly just wishing Zoro would leave him alone?
Sanji had continued to leave him messages on his arm, but after a week of no response from Zoro, he'd stopped even that.
Did he even think of his soulmate anymore, or was he just relieved to have him gone?
He was at one of Luffy’s parties, a huge house party that everyone from this school and every other school in the state was at it seemed. Zoro stuck to the people he knew for the most part, exchanging friendly greetings and hearty handshakes with everyone.
When the conversations grew dull and his drink grew empty, Zoro excused himself and went to the kitchen.
Where he found none other than the very man he’d been trying to avoid, baking up a storm for some unfathomable reason.
“What the hell are you doing?” Zoro growled.
Sanji looked up at him and scowled, “I could be asking you the same thing, shithead.”
“I’m getting a drink,” he huffed, shoulder checking him as he passed him on his way to the fridge to grab a beer, “And mingling. You know, what you’re supposed to do at parties? Not,” he gestured at the plate of cookies, “Whatever the hell you’re doing.”
“I'm making treats for everyone,” Sanji huffed as the timer went off, and he turned back to the oven, “I noticed that there wasn't much in the way of food, and the kitchen was fully stocked, so…”
“So you decided to help yourself?” Zoro shook his head as he closed the fridge and leaned against the counter, “Kinda presumptuous of you.”
Zoro’s eyes followed his string, tied around his pinky as it ever was, but the end connected to Sanji was covered by the oven mitt. He crossed his arms to hide his own string, and took a sip of his drink.
“I asked Luffy if it was okay,” he frowned as he pulled the baking tray from the oven, “He said it was.”
“Luffy just wanted some cookies,” Zoro scoffed, taking a cookie from the nearby plate and trying it for himself.
He'd never been one for sweet things, but as the cookie melted in his mouth he had to hold back a moan. The flavors danced across his tongue, igniting them in a way no sweet even had before.
It was delicious, and he immediately grabbed a second and shoved it in his mouth.
“Nothing wrong with wanting people fed,” Sanji said as he scrapped the cookies off the tray with a spatula and put them on a separate plate.
Zoro glanced around the kitchen, noting that there were at least a dozen plates full of cookies already baked.
How long had Sanji been in here baking? Had he been by himself the whole time?
“You've made enough cookies for an army,” he said instead, “Even Luffy should be satisfied.”
“Yeah, well…” Sanji shrugged as he fidgeted with his fingers, “it's all a bit…overwhelming in there, with all those people I don't know. Baking helps me relax.”
Zoro’s heart ached for him, just like it ached whenever his soulmate felt alone or scared and reached out to him for companionship.
Sanji sounded lonely, and Zoro wanted to do whatever it took to make him less so.
“You don't need to coop yourself up in here all night,” he said, much softer than he intended it to be.
Sanji looked up and blinked at him, a red blush crossing his face, “I…I know that. I just…” He fidgeted some more, and glanced away, “I just want to contribute something.”
He recalled suddenly all the times his soulmate confessed to him about feeling like he was taking up too much space, of feeling like the worthless failure his family always said he was.
Zoro wanted to reach out to him, to tell Sanji he was enough, that this was enough, that he didn't have to lock himself away and come with offerings to get people to like him.
But then he remembered that Sanji didn't care about his soulmate, that he didn't want that from Zoro, and he held himself back.
“Do what you want then,” Zoro scoffed as he shouldered his way past Sanji and back to the bustling party, ignoring the aching heart he left back in the kitchen.
He bumped almost immediately into Nami, her drink sloshing a little over the edge of her cup as she scowled up at him, “Hey, watch it.”
“You watch it,” he scowled right back, still on edge after his run in with Sanji.
When she realized who she was talking to, her defensive posture relaxed, and she looked him up and down as she sipped her drink, “Hey, have you seen Sanji yet? He’s supposed to be here somewhere.”
Zoro’s scowl deepened as he crossed his arms and huffed, “Yeah, prancy idiot is in the kitchen baking up a storm.”
She hummed, swirling her drink around as she gave him a look he couldn’t decipher, “You’re still not getting along with him, huh?”
“Why would I?” He scoffed and clenched his fist at his side, “He’s rude, he’s obnoxious, he’s such a try hard people pleaser. Who could get along with him?”
Nami clicked her tongue as her gaze darted towards the kitchen, “He’s not like that at all, you know. Granted he doesn’t make the best first impression, but he’s actually really sweet and kind once you get to know him.”
Zoro huffed as sipped his drink.
He knew all that already. He knew Sanji was a great guy, he knew they were made for each other, and after getting to know him even just a little he knew why they would fit together so perfectly.
He could see them together, even see them happy together, knew deep down they could be good together.
It was part of the reason all of this hurt so damn much.
To Nami, he gave a dismissive, “If you say so.”
She sighed and shook her head in disappointment, but didn’t stop him when he moved past her towards the rest of the party.
He wondered idly how much he’d have to drink to forget about Sanji.
Sanji’s soulmate hadn’t responded to him in over a week.
He tried not to let it get to him. This was the inevitable turn of events, after all. Sanji knew one day his soulmate would get sick of him and move on to someone more worthy of his time.
Still, it hurt. Being rejected like this always hurt, even when he knew it was coming.
His pathetic moping was bad enough that even Usopp noticed, and he began dragging him out with him and Luffy and all of their friends more and more.
Which meant Sanji was inevitably seeing more and more of Zoro.
And as much as he was loath to admit it, the more Sanji got to actually know him by more than just his reputation, the more it turned out he was actually a pretty okay guy.
Zoro was popular in a way Sanji never could be. Everyone loved him, even people who were scared of him for one reason or another only had good things to say about him, and Sanji was starting to see why.
He didn’t suffer fools and would always let people know when they pissed him off, but he was gentle and kind to those he considered close. He was stubborn and hardheaded, but confident and determined, sure of himself in a way that Sanji both envied and admired.
Still, for all that Sanji was starting to warm up to him, Zoro made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with Sanji.
He was always so cold and distant, even when Sanji finally swallowed his pride and decided to be civil with him, never giving Sanji more than one word answers.
Well fuck him. If he wanted nothing to do with Sanji, Sanji wanted nothing to do with him.
Except…the more of Zoro he actually saw, the more of him he realized there was underneath the cold, cool exterior. He was a genuinely nice guy that got along with people, that people liked, that they felt drawn to and wanted to impress, Sanji included.
And he didn’t hate him, couldn’t hate him. Maybe even like, like liked him.
Which was a ridiculous thought on so many levels. Sanji’s own soulmate wanted nothing to do with him. Why the hell would Zoro?
No wonder he couldn’t make any friends. Between getting flat out rejected by his soulmate like this and getting a crush on a guy who hated his guts, he felt he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life.
Or as alone as someone can be when they know Luffy Monkey.
Luffy was throwing one of the house parties that he was so famous for, and Zeff had forced Sanji to take a night off so he could attend. There may have been an occasion for it, but if there was it was lost to Sanji.
Parties were a good way to meet people, he knew, and Luffy knew a lot of people. He could mingle, talk to people, get to know them a little better, and maybe come out of this a little less lonely about the whole going-away-to-college thing.
But the thing was…Luffy knew a lot of people.
He recognized someone here or there from one of his classes or around campus, but for the most part, these people were strangers to him. And they were everywhere, every room of the tiny house was crammed full of people.
And still, Sanji found himself alone in some corner of some room, unable to talk with anyone.
It was quickly becoming too much, the press of bodies, the heat of them, the smell of alcohol and all the laughter coming from it seemed every corner of the house.
So Sanji retreated to the one place he always felt safe: the kitchen.
Luffy was in there talking with Usopp. They were laughing about something, but stopped the moment he entered the room.
“Oh,” he chuckled awkwardly, “I didn’t realize you guys were here.”
“Sanji!” Luffy grinned as he launched himself at him, wrapping his arms around Sanji in a tight hug, “I’m so glad you’re here. Hey, have you met Usopp?”
“He’s my roommate!” Usopp laughed, smacking his shoulder, “I’m the one who introduced him to you!”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Luffy laughed as he turned to Sanji, “Are you enjoying the party?”
“Sure,” Sanji said, doing his best to keep his smile on his face, “It’s been fun.”
“Have you had a chance to talk to Zoro yet?” Luffy asked, “I really think you two should be friends.”
Sanji grimaced, hating that even here even now, Zoro was still being brought up, “Uh, no. I haven’t.”
“You really should give him a chance,” Usopp said as he leaned against the counter, “I know my first impression of the guy wasn’t the best — and he does have a resting murder face — but he’s really a great guy. You two would get along.”
Sanji’s smile faltered a little, trying not to let the Zoro talk get to him, “If you say so.”
What he needed was a destresser, and standing in the kitchen like this, he could only think of one, “Hey, do you mind if I bake something in here?”
Luffy’s eyes went bright and his grin grew wide at the topic change, “Hell yeah! Go for it! Make whatever you want.”
“Hey, Luffy!” Someone called from outside the kitchen, “Where are you?”
“Oh!” Luffy grabbed Usopp’s hand and rushed after them, “We’re coming, Ace!”
Sanji turned to wave, but they were already gone.
He was a bit grateful for the space, but it didn’t take long before the loneliness crept up on him again.
Instead of dwelling on it, he turned his attention to baking, filling the space with activity and the smell of fresh cookies as he did his thing.
Soon the kitchen was filled with plates upon plates of cookies, maybe too many cookies if he was being honest, but the jittery feeling hadn’t left him, so he decided to make one more batch.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Sanji’s head snapped up to find Zoro of all fucking people standing in the doorway.
Sanji scowled at him, “I could be asking you the same thing, shithead.”
“I’m getting a drink,” Zoro rolled his eyes, knocking his shoulder against him as he made his way to the fridge, “And mingling. You know, what you’re supposed to do at parties? Not,” he gestured around the kitchen, “Whatever the hell you’re doing.”
“I'm making treats for everyone,” Sanji said, and it was true enough, he supposed.
Baking was mostly a coping mechanism for him, but the good part about it was there was always plenty to go around when he was done.
The timer went off, and he turned his attention back to the oven, “I noticed that there wasn't much in the way of food, and the kitchen was fully stocked, so…”
“So you decided to help yourself?” Zoro scoffed as he settled somewhere behind him with his beer, “Kinda presumptuous of you.”
“I asked Luffy if it was okay,” he scowled as he pulled the baking tray from the oven, the cookies a perfect golden brown, “He said it was.”
“Luffy just wanted some cookies,” Zoro pointed out, and maybe that was true, but so what? Sanji was still more than happy to make them for him.
“Nothing wrong with wanting people fed,” Sanji replied as he moved the cookies from the tray to a new plate.
He turned to put this plate with the others, and caught sight of the red string still tied to Zoro’s pinky.
So, even Zoro had someone waiting for him, huh? He really never stood a chance.
He felt a sharp pang in his heart as he thought about his own soulmate. He hoped he was okay, wherever he was. All he’d ever wanted was for his soulmate to be loved and be happy, and if he found that happiness without him, Sanji couldn’t really fault him for that.
“You've made enough cookies for an army,” Zoro’s comment interrupted his contemplation, “Even Luffy should be satisfied.”
“Yeah, well…” Sanji shrugged as he tried to find something to do with his now empty hands.
This was pretty much the first time he was alone with Zoro and having an actual conversation with him, he realized. He wanted to keep it going, but didn’t know what to say.
So he admitted softly, “It's all a bit…overwhelming in there, with all those people I don't know. Baking helps me relax.”
“You don't need to coop yourself up in here all night,” Zoro responded, some of that gentleness he displayed around his friends seeping through, his gaze soft as it focused on him.
Sanji felt his face grow warm at having his full attention, “I…I know that. I just…” He glanced away to collect himself, “I just want to contribute something.”
Zoro stared at him for a long moment, and Sanji wondered if he should say something more, something engaging, something to keep him here and talking to him.
He should ask him something, a question. That was how you engaged people, right?
Should he ask him his favorite food? Should he offer to make it if the ingredients were on hand? Would that be too forward of him, considering he clearly had a soulmate out there waiting for him?
But before he could come up with something to say, Zoro had already shouldered his way out of the kitchen with his typically cold, “Do what you want then.”
Sanji turned after him, his mouth open to either curse him out or ask him to stay, but Zoro was already gone, melting into the crowd of the house party.
Sanji sighed as he glanced around at the kitchen full of cookies, the loneliness practically crushing him.
Maybe he should just go.
He tried to find Luffy to at least say goodbye, but he was surrounded by a group of his friends, in too deep of a conversation for Sanji to interrupt.
With a heavy sigh, he just left the house.
When he was outside, he rubbed at the string tied to his finger, wanting desperately to reach out to his soulmate for comfort.
But the last thing in the world he wanted to bother him when he clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
So with a heavy heart, he made his way back to his apartment alone.
Parties weren’t really his thing, he supposed.
Spring Break came at the tail end of midterms, and Luffy insisted on celebrating the break with all their friends at the beach.
Zoro was content to sit in the sand and sip alcoholic drinks out of a coconut all week, but fate had other plans, specifically an impromptu volleyball tournament Nami decided they had to do.
“We’ll pair off by soulmates,” Nami said, her arm wrapped around Vivi as Luffy let out a whoop and jumped on Ace’s back. She pointed between Zoro and Sanji, “Since you two haven’t met your soulmate yet, you can partner up.”
Zoro gave her a glare as Sanji made to protest, “But Nami…with him?”
She just winked at him, “Unless you want to concede defeat.”
That was one thing Zoro refused to do, even if it meant having to work with Sanji.
Sanji seemed to be in a similar mindset, cracking his neck as he approached the net and sparing Zoro a, “Try to keep up, Mosshead.”
The smirk formed on Zoro’s face before he could stop it, “As long as you don’t slow me down, Curly.”
Sanji scowled, but turned his attention to the net, focused on the game.
Zoro glanced down at the string on his pinky tying them together, then shook his head as he did his best to forget about it for now. They had a game to win.
Zoro made sure to keep himself behind and to the left of Sanji as long as he could so Sanji couldn’t see his string, but even with that awkward positioning, they dominated the game against Usopp and Kaya. The two of them worked in tandem like a well oiled machine, barely even exchanging words, just somehow knowing what the other would do and getting in position to support them.
It was exhilarating. Zoro had never had someone get him so completely before.
He never wanted it to end.
But the game had to end sometime, and it did with Zoro and Sanji’s complete victory.
They grinned at each other, then seemed to remember just who they were grinning at, then both scoffed and turned away.
Sanji played with the string on his finger, and Zoro turned and sat in the sand along the sidelines, trying his best to ignore the tugging. He expected Sanji to take the chair on the other side of the makeshift court, but he surprised him by instead going to the towel right next to him, sitting in silence as they watched the next match.
Luffy and Ace trounced Nami and Vivi. Despite the girls’ coordination and strategizing, Luffy’s impossible reach and Ace’s overwhelming power won out.
With that, the final match was set: Zoro and Sanji against Luffy and Ace.
It was a tough game, with neither side giving an edge, but in the end Luffy and Ace proved to be just too much for them to handle.
“I guess this is the power of soulmates,” Sanji sighed wistfully as he glanced down at his pinky.
Zoro clutched his hand into a tight fist, refusing to say anything.
“Still,” Sanji grinned as he turned to him and held out his hand, “It was a good game. We worked pretty well together, huh?”
“Yeah,” Zoro agreed with a smile of his own, “I guess we do.”
He grabbed his hand without thinking, and their tied pinkies brushed together.
A warm jolt zipped through Zoro from the contact, engulfing his whole body in a pleasant heat. The wide eyed look on Sanji’s face said he felt it too, and they both looked down to see the red string tying them together disappearing.
Zoro felt his stomach drop at the sight. There was no way Sanji didn’t know he was his soulmate now, the soulmate he didn’t care anything for. Whatever comradery they gained during the game was now shot to hell.
He glanced up, almost afraid of what look he’d find on Sanji’s face. He was still looking down at their hands, at where the string had been only moments ago. Slowly, he tilted his head back up to face him, “You…”
Zoro bolted.
Zoro had never considered himself to be a coward. He always faced every challenge he met head on, and prided himself on never backing down. But he already hated simply overhearing Sanji telling someone else what he thought of him. He just couldn’t face being told he didn’t matter to him to his face.
Zoro eventually reached the end of the beach, where the soft sand met a sharp outcropping of rocks. He sat behind the rocks and leaned his head against them, wondering just what the fuck he was supposed to do now.
He felt a cold, sinking fear that wasn’t his own overtake him. It seemed that now that their bond had been completed, he was even more in tune with Sanji’s emotions than before,
He took deep, steadying breaths as he forced himself to relax, to feel nothing, to not let his panic and shame seep through to Sanji.
When he finally opened his eyes, he glanced down and saw writing on his arm.
Zoro? Are you okay?
Despite everything, Sanji was still trying to reach him.
Zoro held his arm to his chest, and just for a moment let himself believe that Sanji did care, that he wanted this just as much as Zoro did.
When he pulled away, the words had been replaced.
I’m sorry.
Zoro ran his thumb across those words. He was sorry too, sorry he had been nothing but a burden to the person he loved.
But the words kept coming, rapidly, like Sanji was scribbling them down the moment he thought them.
Sorry it’s me you have to sorry I’m not you deserve more you deserve better sorry you’re stuck with i get that you don’t
The words were crossed out, scribbled over with huge black strokes that stained his whole arm black, each stroke filled with Sanji’s grief, longing, and regret.
Then, on his right arm, the one usually reserved for Zoro’s messages to Sanji:
You can come back. I’ll go.
And he knew if he let Sanji leave now, he’d never see or hear from him again.
Despite everything, Zoro still wanted him, was still in love with him, could not let him leave his life like this.
Despite everything, Zoro was too selfish to let him go.
He cursed himself out for not bringing his marker with him. He was too far away from their beach hangout spot to make it back before Sanji left, and he had no way to tell him he wanted him to stay.
But, if the completed bond left him more attuned to Sanji’s emotions, surely it left Sanji more attuned to his.
So he let himself feel everything, everything he’d ever felt about his soulmate, about Sanji, let all of that wash over him and consume him. All the love, all the pain, all of the longing, and topped it all off with one simple thought.
I want to see you. Come here.
He leaned back against the rock, hoping his pathetic desperation would be enough to keep his love in his life.
The volleyball tournament had been a brilliant idea, and Sanji didn’t just think that because it was Nami’s.
Usopp and Luffy had insisted he come with them all to the beach for Spring Break — there was plenty of space for him in the house they’d rented, and he’d be doing them a favor by going, they assured him — but he’d still been feeling awkward and unsure around everyone. Especially around the new people — Ace, Vivi, and Kaya, Luffy, Nami, and Usopp’s soulmates — double especially around Zoro, who was acting as aloof towards him as ever.
But with the beach volleyball tournament on day three, it allowed him the opportunity to compete at something, to force his way out of his shell and strive for the win.
He’d always had a competitive nature.
When Nami insisted they pair off by soulmates, he felt a little sting of sadness, but that gave him the opportunity to team up with Zoro.
And, as it turned out, they were a great team, easily defeating Usopp and Kaya in the first round.
However, they met their match against Luffy and Ace in the finals.
“I guess this is the power of soulmates,” he admitted with a sigh as he glanced down at his pinky, wondering how he and his own soulmate would have fared against the ultra athletic brothers.
If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure they would have done much better. He and Zoro had been perfectly in sync the whole time, playing off of each other with little to know words, instinctively knowing what they needed to do to support the other.
If his soulmate was somehow supposed to work better with him, he wasn’t sure how.
“Still,” he smiled as he turned towards Zoro, the adrenaline from the game pushing away any remaining awkwardness he felt around him, and held out his hand “It was a good game. We worked pretty well together, huh?”
“Yeah,” Zoro said with a grin so wide that made Sanji’s heart stutter in his chest, “We do.”
Zoro grabbed his hand to shake it, and their tied pinkies brushed together.
Warmth spread through him at where their fingers met, surrounding him in a pleasant sensation. He glanced quickly back at Zoro, and knew from his wide eyes and open mouth that he was feeling it too. They both glanced back down at their hands, just in time to watch the red string between them vanish.
Sanji couldn’t believe what he was seeing. After all this time, all these years, he had found his soulmate. His soulmate was Zoro.
The euphoria of knowing that the guy he was developing a crush on was the same one he’d been in love with his whole life was tempered by remembering that his soulmate wanted nothing to do with him.
It made sense, he realized suddenly. How Zoro was so cold and distant with him and so warm and bright with the others.
But that meant…had Zoro known? This whole time?
Is that why he cut Sanji off?
He slowly lifted his head, as if he was afraid moving too fast would scare Zoro off, and he was met with what could only be described as a look of pure terror, “You-”
But before he could even say anything, Zoro fled, dropping his hand like so much trash and sprinting down the beach, getting as far away from Sanji as he could.
That was not how he expected this to go, to say the least.
“Damn,” Luffy whistled from where he was seated on Ace’s shoulders, “Never seen him run that fast.”
“Didn’t think he was that sore of a loser,” Ace shook his head.
The disappointment sunk in him like a stone, making him shiver despite the warm sun beating down on him. He tried to move his feet, but he felt like he was stuck, and could only watch as Zoro got farther and farther away from him.
Sanji felt a soft touch on his elbow, and jolted at the sensation, but it was only Nami.
“Are you okay?” She asked, her voice fully of sympathy.
“Yeah,” he did his best to smile, “No, yeah. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
She frowned like she didn’t believe him — and that was fair enough, he supposed — and said, “Sorry, I didn’t think he’d act like that. He’s always been so excited about meeting his soulmate, I thought for sure…”
“Wait,” he furrowed his brow, “You knew?”
“Well, yeah,” she gestured towards his pinky, where the red string had been just a few moments ago, “Usopp and I have known for ages. It’s why we arranged all this for you.”
“The volleyball thing was your idea,” Usopp said with a pointed jab of his finger as he reached into the cooler for a bottle of water, “I was content to wait for them to realize naturally on their own.”
“You were not,” she rolled her eyes, “You were complaining more than anyone about how they always danced around each other. You're the one who wanted them both at the beach so maybe they'd notice their string lead to each other.”
Usopp raised his hands in surrender, and Sanji glanced down at his empty right arm.
He felt a panic alongside his sinking disappointment, and wondered if that was Zoro. Now that their bond was complete, they should be able to feel each other more directly, or so he'd been told.
While Nami and Usopp argued over whose fault this was, Sanji went over to his things and grabbed his marker out of his bag.
He paused for a moment, the tip hovering over the skin of his arm, but decided to write a tentative, Zoro? Are you okay?
No response, not that he was expecting a response after weeks of nothing. He just wanted to reach out to Zoro, to his soulmate, one last time.
And there was really only one thing he needed to say to him, so when he felt Zoro’s emotions even out, that panic leaving him, Sanji wiped that away and wrote it out.
I'm sorry.
He let it linger for a moment, the marker shaking in his hand before the words he'd been thinking ever since Zoro cut him off came flooding out, crashing into each other in a huge rambling mess.
Sorry it’s me you have to sorry I’m not you deserve more you deserve better sorry you’re stuck with i get that you don’t
He growled in frustration, scribbling over his stupid monologue with broad strokes.
That wasn't what he wanted to say.
He needed to stop forcing himself onto people, onto Zoro. These were his friends, this was his life, and Sanji was only getting in the way.
He shifted the marker to his left hand so he could write on his right arm where there was space.
You can come back. I’ll go.
He gathered his things, and stood, walking away from the group.
“Sanji!” Luffy shouted to him, “Where are you going?”
He ignored him, gritting his teeth as he walked further away.
If Zoro didn't want him in his life, Sanji would just disappear. He'd focus on getting his degree and open his own restaurant, and he didn't need friends or a soulmate for that.
A sudden wash of emotions stopped him in his tracks, and he held his mouth as he tried to process them all. There was love, there was pain, there was longing and fear and joy, a mix of almost every emotional imaginable.
Was this from Zoro? Was this what Zoro was feeling right now?
Tears formed in his eyes, dripping down his face and over his hand unbidden.
Through it all, there was an undercurrent that he couldn't possibly miss:
I want to see you. Come here.
He dropped his bag and took off, ignoring the shouts of the others as he took off down the beach after Zoro.
When he reached the end of the sand, he spotted a tuft of green hair poking out over the rocks.
He took a deep breath to steady himself and came around until he was standing in front of Zoro.
He had a hand buried in his green hair, mussing it until it stuck out every which way, his knees pressed against his chest with his arm wrapped around them.
He looked as bad as Sanji felt.
“Hey,” he said, digging his toes into the sand, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.
“Hey,” Zoro unfurled from himself just enough to look up at him, “You came.”
“You…uh,” he ran hand through the back of his head, “You wanted me to. I think.”
“I did,” Zoro turned away, hiding his mouth in his arm.
Sanji’s heart fluttered at that. Despite everything, Zoro wanted to see him.
“So,” he scratched his cheek, “Why did you run?”
Zoro folded more in on himself, becoming even smaller in a way that made Sanji’s heart ache, “I didn’t want to hear it. Not from you.”
Sanji’s hands clenched into fists at his side, and he tried his best to keep both his temper and his overwhelming sadness in check.
He knew Zoro wanted nothing to do with him, this shouldn’t be a surprise.
And yet still hurt, hearing that Zoro didn’t even want to hear what Sanji had to say.
“I see,” he said, doing his best to keep that hurt out of his voice, “And, why did you want to see me?”
He held up his right arm in answer, where Sanji’s words were still visible on his skin.
“I don’t get it,” Sanji admitted, wishing he had a cigarette tucked away in his swim trunks somehow, sorely missing the nicotine hit for this conversation, “You don’t want to hear me, but you want to see me? Talk about mixed signals.”
“You wanna talk mixed signals?” Zoro growled, his head popping up, “How about you, being all nice and lovey with me when we’re,” he shook his arm for emphasis, “But not giving a shit about me in reality.”
“What?” Sanji could only gawk at him in shock, “I’ve done nothing but give shits about you since I was fucking five. Where the hell did you get such a stupid idea?”
“Uh, from you?” Zoro said, like he was the one being stupid here, “I heard you say it.”
“I have never said anything like that!” Sanji snapped as he took a threatening step towards him, his early awkwardness gone in the face of burning rage.
“You did,” Zoro insisted.
“When did I ever-?”
“At the student center a few weeks ago,” Zoro scoffed as he folded in on himself again, “To that blonde bitch, Marian. I was nearby and I overheard you talking to her.”
“Maria,” he corrected, then said automatically, “Don’t call her that.”
Then what Zoro said hit him fully, and he froze as he remembered what he’d actually said to her.
He had agreed with Maria that soulmates were silly and childish, hadn’t he?
And Zoro, his soulmate, had heard him? No wonder Zoro hated him, he was the worst kind of scum.
“I…” he bit his lip, trying to come up with something to say, “I didn’t mean it.”
Zoro stared at him for a long moment, before finally sighing and looking away, “It’s fine, really, I’m a big boy, I can handle rejection.”
“The way you fucking bolted just now says different.” The words slipped out of him before he could stop them.
Zoro grimaced and ran a hand roughly through his hair, “Yeah I…yeah. I guess.”
He looked back up at Sanji, “I mean, if you don’t love me, you don’t have to pretend otherwise for my sake. I can handle it, and I never wanted to force my feelings on you.” He scowled and looked away, “We don’t have to be anything to each other, if you don’t want to.”
He sounded so despondent, so desolate, that Sanji’s heart clenched at the sight. His missteps and ineptitude had driven his soulmate to this, and there was only one thing he could think of to say in the face of it, “Fuck you.”
That startled Zoro enough to sit up fully, his back straightening as he turned a ferocious scowl to Sanij, “Huh?”
“You didn’t force shit on me,” Sanji scowled right back, taking a step forward so he was right in Zoro’s space. He grabbed his face, tilting his head so he could look him right in the eye, “I’ve been in love with you since I was five, shit for brains. If anyone is forcing their feelings onto anyone, I’m forcing them on you.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, and Sanji watched as a pink flush slowly spread across Zoro’s face as his words sunk in fully.
“You’ve been the most important person in my life for most of my life,” Sanji continued, softer this time as his thumb gently caressed his glowing cheek, “If I’ve done anything to make you feel like you were anything less than that, then that’s on me. I’m sorry.”
Zoro leaned into his touch, nuzzling his hand as he watched Sanji carefully, “So why did you say that to Marcia? If you didn’t mean it.”
“Maria.” He corrected automatically before shaking his head, “And I don’t know.”
Sanji sighed heavily as he released Zoro to flop down in the sand next to him, “I’ve been having trouble making friends since I came to East Blue — not that I had a lot of friends in North Blue.” He frowned as he pushed around some of the sand near his thigh, “I figured if people in East Blue didn’t care about soulmates, then it would be easier if I pretended that I didn’t either.”
Zoro heaved a heavy sigh of his own, “You’re such a fucking idiot.”
Sanji hummed, not disagreeing with his assessment, and curled in on himself a little as he turned to face the ocean.
A soft touch on his hand drew him away from any dark thoughts, Zoro’s fingers lightly caressing his knuckles before settling between his own fingers.
“I don’t hate that about you,” Zoro admitted softly as he squeezed his hand, the warmth from his touch completely enveloping Sanji.
Sanji hid his blushing face in his other arm, turning his hand in Zoro’s grip so he could hold it back.
“East Blue is a lot of small towns,” Zoro explained as he rubbed his thumb against his knuckles, “I don’t know how it works in North Blue, but most people here meet their soulmates when they’re still kids. There’s a couple of stuck-up people like Muriel-”
“Maria.”
“-Who think it doesn’t matter past then,” he continued, completely ignoring the correction, “but those people tend to be self-centered and insufferable. Most of us care about and stick with our soulmates through, well, everything.”
“Oh.” Sanji said as he squeezed Zoro’s hand. It was comforting to know that Zoro didn’t think like that, but mostly he just felt embarrassed for doubting in the first place, “That’s good.”
“As for the friends thing,” Zoro shook his head, “You have friends, we’re your friends. Luffy and Nami and Usopp and me.”
“They only hang out with me because I live with Usopp,” he pointed out, hiding his face against his knees, “They don’t really like me, they just tolerate me.”
Zoro snorted, “You think Luffy has the patience to tolerate people? If he wants to hang out with you, it’s because he likes you. And once Luffy’s claimed you, you're his for life. Like it or not curls, you’re stuck with all of us.”
“I see,” Sanji felt his eyes watering and hid his face further, not wanting Zoro to see him cry over something like this.
He’d spent most of his life alone, with his mysterious soulmate as his only friend, and he’d been fumbling making friends since he first arrived at East Blue. To find out he’d had friends the whole time, that he’d been part of a group like this, was a little overwhelming.
In a good way, though. It was nice to have people to belong to.
Zoro must have sensed his emotional state through the bond, because he wrapped an arm around him and tucked him against his side, rubbing soothing circles into his shoulders.
Sanji leaned into his touch, nuzzling his face against his shoulder, “I really fucked this all up, huh?”
Zoro laughed, a bright, joyful sound that made the pit of Sanji’s stomach feel warm, “Yeah, but I think there’s blame enough to go around.”
Zoro glanced down at his left arm, where the giant mess of black that Sanji scribbled still was, then leaned in and placed a soft, gentle kiss on the top of Sanji’s head.
“I'm glad it's you,” he whispered into his hair.
Sanji stiffened. His first instinct was to protest, to deny Zoro’s claim. Sanji was a mess, always fighting and cursing, and was never good enough no matter how hard he tried.
How could anyone be glad to have him as a soulmate, least of all Zoro, who he’d done nothing but argue with at every turn, who he misjudged so egregiously for so long.
But he felt the truth of his statement through their bond. Zoro’s joy and contentment and pure, unadulterated love came pouring through it along with his statement, giving Sanji no choice but to believe him.
Sanji tilted his head up so his lips were brushing against Zoro’s cheek, “I’m so glad it’s you.”
Zoro tilted his head so he could place a tender kiss right on his lips.
Sanji melted into the kiss, drowning in the passion of it and the feeling of Zoro against him. He surged forward so he could wrap his arms around his neck and feel him more, pulling him closer and closer to him until they were spilling over onto the sand.
The sudden impact startled them apart, and they laughed as they rolled around, getting sand everywhere, but unwilling to let the other go just yet.
Sanji ended up splayed out on Zoro’s chest, feeling completely content for the first time since he came to East Blue.
That contentment must have bled over to Zoro, his grin growing wide as he leaned up to kiss him again, a warm echo of happiness coming through the bond from him.
When they broke apart, Sanji pulled himself away from Zoro and got back to his feet, offering him a hand up and a soft smile, “C’mon. The others were worried about you.”
Zoro smiled up at him, his gaze filled with so much love Sanji felt the warmth of it in his chest, then took Sanji’s hand and let him pull him to his feet.
They walked back slowly together, their hands intertwined, talking about nothing and everything to fill the distance.
“Hey!” Luffy shouted and waved eagerly at them once they were in view, “There you are! Did you guys figure out the string thing yet?”
Nami and Usopp quickly turned to shush him, but Sanji could only laugh as he held Zoro’s hand tighter.
“Yeah,” Zoro shouted back, pulling Sanji just a little bit closer to his side, “We figured it out.”
“Good,” Luffy grinned, “You’re just in time! Ace has a barbecue set up, and we got tons of meat to cook! Sanji, you gotta help us out!”
Sanji smiled as he followed after him. Zoro trailed behind him, refusing to let go of his hand, and Sanji beamed at the warmth of him.
How wonderful it was to finally belong.