Work Text:
“Hey Curls, I’m heading out for a bit!” Sanji hears Zoro’s call from their front door, a familiar rustling sound of shoes following the shout across their apartment.
Sanji is currently getting ready for the day in their room, but pauses his hands while tying his tie. Out?
“Where the hell are you going on our anniversary? ” Sanji shouts back, exiting their bedroom swiftly to meet Zoro at the door.
It’s still early enough in the day that they shouldn’t have to rush to go out and celebrate, but Zoro decides now he needs to run errands?
“I’m just dropping by Nami’s and picking up a few things. I’ll be back in like an hour. Tops.” Zoro argues while still stuffing a foot into his shoe. Sanji doesn’t believe him for a second. “Also she was the one who wanted me to come by.”
With his sense of direction it will be three hours, easily.
Sanji sighs in resignation. He knows that Nami wouldn’t want Zoro to come by on such an important date, so she must have a reason.
“You’re lucky I don’t set a timer for you to get back.” Sanji concedes and approaches Zoro at the door. He presses a quick kiss to his lips in a farewell. “Don’t get lost, Mosshead.”
Zoro snorts in indignation but says nothing more before leaving their apartment with a small wave of his hand.
Sanji waits at the threshold to listen to Zoro’s steps down the hall. After the steps dissipate he jumps into action.
He rushes back to their bedroom to ditch the tie entirely and change his clothes. Zoro back in an hour? Yeah right. He wants to enjoy as much of their day as he can so he makes the decision to tail him and likely lead him home in a timely manner. No harm in that.
Sanji changes into a simple outfit of jeans and a hoodie, a perfect disguise to not be recognized in.
He waits another full minute before grabbing his things and leaving their apartment himself, heading to the street to follow Zoro. He said he was going to Nami’s, hopefully first, so that’s his destination.
It doesn’t take long to find his wayward boyfriend on the sidewalk. He has his head down staring at his phone as if it’s a lifeline. Sanji rolls his eyes playfully knowing that Zoro is likely super focused in order to not get lost and waste time. He gives him credit for the thought.
Sanji casually follows Zoro, keeping about ten to fifteen feet behind. The sidewalks seem to have a decent amount of people spread out today so he can blend in easily. Plus with Zoro focused on his map, he probably won’t be looking around much.
After a few more blocks of following Sanji sees the corner of Nami’s apartment building and silently congratulates Zoro’s navigation skills; he got there with no issues.
Sanji hangs further back and attempts to conceal himself behind a wall. He watches Zoro approach the front of the building but before he gets to the door he stops suddenly and peeks into the alleyway. After another second Zoro disappears into the darkened path.
Sanji grits his teeth in frustration. He was doing so well!
Before he can intervene Zoro appears back at the entrance but is no longer alone. Tucked in one of his arms is a small lump of fur, possibly orange but practically brown with the filth that it’s covered in.
And it’s meowing incessantly at being handled.
“Calm down cat, I’m just trying to help you.” Sanji can hear Zoro complain and he watches him finally approach the door and buzz Nami’s apartment. A moment later the door unlocks and Zoro walks in.
Sanji is left dumbfounded at what just happened. He didn’t know Zoro liked animals, he had never shown any interest before now.
He stews in this new found discovery and tries to remember a time when Zoro could have possibly mentioned anything about liking animals but ultimately draws a blank.
He’s not sure how long Zoro will be visiting Nami so Sanji settles into a comfortable position leaning on a nearby building and pulls out his cigarettes. Not much else he can do in the meantime.
Three cigarettes later Zoro exits Nami’s apartment building but he’s not alone. He’s now sporting a makeshift sling across his chest and a familiar orange and significantly cleaner kitten poking its head out. Sanji can’t help the affectionate smile on his face, it’s such a strange yet endearing picture to see Zoro carrying around something so cute.
Zoro pulls out his phone again and after a moment of fiddling starts walking. No doubt following his map where to go. Sanji follows again, interested to see where exactly Zoro needs to go.
Along the way, Zoro stops passersby to ask about the kitten and if it was theirs. He wasn’t making much progress though when everyone who was asked just shook their heads no.
It didn’t seem to halt Zoro’s progress though and he continues on. After a few more turns and blocks, Zoro arrives at a pet shop and walks through the door.
Sanji hangs back again to not be seen. This day is certainly not going how he thought it would. To him it seems that Zoro is really focused on getting back home in a timely manner so he tosses around the idea of heading back himself and leaving. But strangely enough, Sanji is having a fun time following Zoro like this.
Sanji only has time for one cigarette this time around. He hears the pet shop door open again and checks that it’s who he’s looking for.
Zoro exits with a large bag on his shoulder and the kitten climbing out of the sling. Sanji can easily hear the cat’s high pitched and squeaky sounds as it attempts its ascent.
“You gotta stay in there, I can’t carry you and all your shit right now. I got other stuff to pick up.” Zoro is complaining again directly at the cat, as if it could understand him.
Sanji stifles a laugh in the sleeve of his jacket and catches Zoro gently lifting the kitten off his shoulder and placing it back in the sling. He pats the outside of it gently before bringing his phone up yet again to use as a guide.
Sanji decides then he’s going to see through this little outing as well, and follows.
The next stop Zoro makes gives Sanji his first bout of guilt for following. It appears this trip was to pick up a few things for their anniversary which included a stop into Sanji’s favorite culinary supply store. If Sanji had to guess why, it’d be for a special knife that he had gushed about months ago but couldn’t justify the purchase of at the time.
After that stop his arms start looking a little full with not only shopping bags but also the rambunctious kitten that keeps slipping out of the sling and attaching itself to Zoro’s shoulder. Every time it successfully makes it out, Zoro gently picks it back up and places it back into the sling.
Seeing Zoro being so soft with this cat is making Sanji’s heart swell with affection. If he had known Zoro would be this sweet to a kitten he would have gotten them a pet ages ago when they moved in together.
He doesn’t have time to dwell on that thought now and resolutes to think about it later. He watches Zoro step into the specialty food store they frequent and settles once more to wait for him to be done.
Kitten side quest aside, he really did stick to his time. He’s only over about half an hour what he had told Sanji he’d be, but he still has the walk home to complete. He won’t hold his tardiness against him this time though, he supposes.
Sanji only makes it through half a cigarette this time before Zoro exits the shop. The swiftness of all these stops makes him wonder if Zoro had placed some sort of online orders for all of them to make things quicker.
That smooth bastard.
This time around the kitten seems to have settled and Sanji laughs quietly at Zoro petting the outside of the fabric, “You were just hungry weren’t you? Yeah I get it. Alright let’s get home.” Zoro talks to himself as he pulls out his phone.
Sanji nods to himself as if he were there as well, agreeing. He freezes after processing Zoro’s statement though. Oh shit, home! Which is where Zoro thinks he is!
He watches Zoro as he pulls up his map and without missing a beat he casually, slowly, without drawing attention, turns himself around and heads back around the corner of a building.
After getting out of Zoro’s possible sight, he starts sprinting.
He’s not wearing the right clothes, the right shoes or anything but he has to make it home before Zoro does. Thankfully his internal compass isn’t shit, so he’s able to make it home within about ten minutes.
Sanji gets back into their apartment and catches his breath in the entryway. He hasn’t sprinted like that in years and his smoking habit doesn’t make it any easier. The chain smoking today too just makes it a little worse.
He pants for a minute before trudging over to their couch to sit down and finish getting his breath. He slumps in his seat and spends a few extra minutes getting his breathing right. He’s considering getting up for some water but his plan is foiled when their front door opens.
“Curls!” Zoro announces his entrance by shouting into their apartment.
Sanji takes a long breath in, “No need to yell, I’m right here,” he responds hoping his voice doesn’t sound strained. He wonders for a moment if his face could be red from exertion but he doesn’t have time to worry about it now.
“C’mere then. I know I’m late but you can bitch at me later about it. I found something while I was out.” Zoro beckons and Sanji already has an idea about what he “found”.
Sanji does as requested and meets Zoro in their kitchen where he’s placing his shopping bags on their center island. Forgoing his knowledge about what Zoro has strapped to his chest, Sanji approaches Zoro like he normally would for a kiss to welcome him back but Zoro holds out his hand around his chest.
“Careful Curls, you’re gonna crush him,” Zoro says gently pushing him back in order to open the top of his sling across his chest.
There Sanji can finally see up close the kitten Zoro has toted around nearly all day. His fur looks soft and long, his orange coat striped like a tabbys. The kitten is currently curled up sleeping soundly on Zoro’s chest. He can hear its soft purrs as well.
“Wow Mosshead, I didn’t know errands involved picking up strays.” Sanji jokes as he gently reaches into the pouch to scoop the kitten up into his hands. The thing barely makes a move to protest, he simply stretches out his arms and legs before settling again into Sanji’s palms. It’s ridiculous how quickly his affection is growing for this animal.
Zoro doesn’t immediately respond but Sanji catches his single eye rolling in indignation. He watches Zoro start to put his groceries away from the food store Sanji unfortunately already knew he went to.
“Yeah well I found him right outside of Nami’s and he was filthy and begging for scraps. I didn’t want to leave him.” Zoro reasons while shifting things around in their pantry and refrigerator that Sanji knows he’ll have to fix later. He should know better but Sanji cuts him some slack. It is their anniversary after all.
“Hmm, do you know what you want to do with him?” Sanji asks, already knowing his answer but Zoro’s could differ.
“Well I figured we could keep him. If not, Nami said something about fostering it until she found someone to take him.” Zoro shrugs but the tone of his voice makes it seem like he doesn't want the cat to leave their home. Sanji wholeheartedly agrees.
“I want to keep him.” Sanji states confidently and Zoro stops what he’s doing to turn to him.
“Really? You want to?” Zoro asks and if Sanji didn’t know any better he’d think Zoro sounds excited.
“Of course. We might have to tell the landlord but I want to keep him.” Sanji says lifting the little bundle into the air to get a better look at him. “Did you have a name in mind?”
“Nah, I’ve just been calling it cat.” Zoro shrugs.
“Ugh, that won’t do.” Sanji scrunches his face in displeasure.
“Well what are you thinking?”
“Maybe something like… tangerine, or nectarine. Since you found him at Nami’s, and he is orange.” Sanji offers. When he looks at Zoro for confirmation his face is screwed up in disgust.
“Fuck no that’s dumb. Let’s call him Pasta or some shit like that.”
“We are not naming him Pasta. Does he look like Pasta to you?” Sanji holds the kitten out to Zoro’s face with his hands wrapped around its small chest.
“Looks like he could be a Pasta with some time.” Zoro answers and scoops the kitten back out of Sanji’s hands. “Nami helped me make a vet appointment for it tomorrow so we’ll have to decide by then on a name.” Zoro strokes the small kitten’s frame so gently that Sanji can’t help his chest swelling with affection.
He sighs, deeply. “You were the one to find him. I suppose if anyone were to pick a name it would be you.” Sanji concedes and Zoro grins in response.
“Pasta is here to stay.” Zoro announces proudly and Sanji rolls his eyes now as he enters Zoro’s space again for a small quick kiss.
“Happy anniversary, Zoro.”
“Happy anniversary, Sanji,” Zoro allows himself a moment of softness he only has with Sanji. Since they’re so close Sanji catches Zoro’s eyes drift down his body and his face screws up in confusion. “Did you change or something? You were all dressed up when I left.” He questions.
Sanji scrambles mentally for a reason for the change of clothes, “I decided to go for a jog,” He blurts and cringes internally for the horrible excuse.
Zoro clocks his quick response but doesn’t bring it up, “You’d prolly be more successful if you didn’t wear jeans. Anyway, I got some stuff from the pet store a few blocks away, where do you think his bed should go?”
Sanji is thankful for the subject change and falls in line with Zoro. They have some work to do.