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"Hey Swirls you're off shift, go to bed." Zoro's hand brushed across his back and Sanji flinched at the touch. Unable too stop the cry of pain.
Zoro instantly froze.
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine." Sanji shook his head tried to move past him, run. Tried to ignore how his face was burning. How his body was screaming out in pain.
Zoro caught his wrist.
"No, you're not." Zoro held him in place, not enough that if Sanji really needed to get away he couldn't... but enough that Sanji knew he was serious.
He was worried.
"What hit you?"
The battle of the day had been messy, he'd been hit by a lot honestly. But this wasn't from that... he didn't know how to start explaining this. Didn't want to...
"Nothing...."
Zoro looked so unconvinced.
"It's... it's old..."
Zoro stilled, his grip loosening.
"How old?"
"Avalanche..." Sanji whispered. "Drum."
Zoro's eyes scrunched as he nodded. A breath, soft sound of understanding.
He knew.
"Alright, let me see."
Sanji sighed, there was no way outta it now. He'd worried the mosshead too much.
"Yeah. Yeah, Alright."
He pulled out of his ruined jacket, revealing the burned and tattered shirt beneath. He hissed when he pulled the shirt away and fully gave up on keeping the pain covered as the swordsmen moved to check the damage.
Zoro didn't make a sound, didn't give any of his usual snide grumbles, nothing. But his hand reached out, and calloused fingers brushed over the scars that littered Sanji's back.
Sanji couldn't keep from flinching again.
"Sorry..." Sanji muttered but Zoro said nothing, and his hand moved even more carefully.
"I know..." Sanji muttered, glancing over his shoulder to try and see Zoro's face. "Scars on the back are shame and whatever...."
"For a swordsmen." Zoro's hand gently traced the scars of his spine and rested over the cluster of pain at his lower back. "You're not a swordsmen. You're our Cook. You protect. All of this... this was you keeping us safe."
Sanji shivered.
"I face our enemies head on." Zoro looked at him, very serious now. "You carry our crew on your back."
Now that wasn't fair.
He wasn't supposed to understand. He was meant to make a joke, brush it off, call him a name... not... look that worried.
"All of it hurts?" Zoro asked shifting just outta view. Sanji couldn't see his face, couldn't read him anymore.
"I... no... not...." It did. It all did. Everything hurt and he'd never get a chance to say so without feeling like an idiot again... so.... "Yes."
"All the time?"
"Yes... but... not always this bad..."
Zoro was back in view, he had tugging a blanket off the sofa to drape around him, pulling him away from the kitchen, away from the tower of cleaned dishes, away from the list of things Sanji had still planed to get done before calling it a night... Closer to himself, "Why didn't you say?"
"Would you?"
"No. But you call me an idiot. I thought you were supposed to be smarter." Zoro's smirk was back, but it didn't reach his eyes. The teasing tone still missing. He was still to serious.
"They'll worry." Sanji sighed. "I'm indestructible..."
"Just because you survive doesn't mean you don't hurt."
Zoro knew that better than anyone.
Sanji had seen time and time again what Zoro put himself through.
"They need me to be fine. So I will be. It's just.... bad today."
Zoro sighed.
"I can't even touch you."
"What???"
"I don't wanna be hurting you."
"You haven't...."
Zoro's brow raised.
"I barely brushed against you, and you cried. You... you're still crying."
"No I'm..."
Zoro's hand was on his face wiping away tears he hadn't felt. Tears he couldn't feel.
He hurt....
"That..." Sanji was reaching for his hair. His breathing was going wrong. He shouldn't be crying. "It's just bad today... it's not.... wasn't you..."
He couldn't stand the thought of loosing that contact. He felt panic seizing his throat.
Zoro didn't talk much anymore. Zoro didn't share much. But Zoro had picked up the habit of making soft contact to let Sanji know where he was early on. It was their most prominent form of communication most days... he'd let Sanji know how close he was, when he was passing by, if he had approached without sound, if he was leaving...
"I..."
"Wow... wow, hey... Cook!"
Zoro snagged his arms again as Sanji started to go down.
Sanji couldn't lose the only thing he knew for sure was Zoro showing affection. The kindness in it, the safety net of knowing even if they were yelling and name calling all day- Zoro was there, he had him....
"Zoro..."
Sanji looked up and saw the worry and then the relief that washed over Zoro's scarred face.
"Damnit Cook. You could have just said, you'd miss me."
"I would." Sanji said immediately. "I would. Don't... don't do that."
"Alright. Hey... I won't. It's alright."
Sanji started to pull away, "Shit..."
Zoro hugged him.
It wasn't really a surprising action, but the carefulness of it made Sanji's chest ache. The warmth, the kindness of it made his eyes burn again.
Stupid Mosshead...
But it was too late, he was already crying and Zoro was already holding him, and he'd feel stupid about it tomorrow- but... Sanji hugged him back. Clinging, and hating how weak his tired limbs felt when he did.
"Next bad day, let me do the dishes." Zoro mumbled.
"Alright."
"Good." Zoro gently moved them, Sanji stepping with him, as weariness took hold. "We aren't getting you to the bunks so it's a sofa night."
Sanji mumbled a small agreement, and sank onto the sofa, reaching for the pillow and blanket they'd taken to leaving for just such nights.
He was surprised when Zoro laid down next to him, slipped an arm under his head and dropped another blanket around them.
"It's a cold night, isn't gonna be good for your back."
"And you staying will help that?"
"Sure." Zoro let their forehands bump together gently, and he closed his eye. "No one likes being hurt and alone."
Sanji could not deny that.
"This is stupid..." Sanji muttered.
"That's alright." Zoro's breathing was already slowing. "You always call me stupid."
"I don't mean it." Sanji admitted, voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah, I know."
Sanji didn't know how to feel about how soft Zoro's voice got, or about the level of understanding he'd just freely displayed, the kindness he didn't think he'd be able to pretend hadn't happened tomorrow... but he did know for the moment, maybe the first moment all day, he forgot how badly he hurt.