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Zoro stood in front of the Cafe for a long time. Luffy had insisted the food here was amazing, but the painted pink hearts and over the top Valentine’s decor in the window display was having him second guess that this was the right place.
It had only been about a month since Zoro moved to Grand Line City, and he was having a rough time finding his way around it. Luffy told him about this cafe, which was only a couple minutes from his new apartment, but took him a while to find it. The All Blue Cafe was a small place, and Zoro easily walked by it a dozen times before he realized this was the place Luffy told him to check out.
Although seeing the state of it now, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go in. The display window had pink and white hearts lined the border, and through the glass there was a small display of flower arrangements, plushies, and even a couple of romance books mixed with it. He could see there were some prices on those items, so obviously the owner was trying to make some money off the upcoming holiday.
When Zoro entered, he saw the decorations didn’t stop at the display. There were heart garlands across the counter, decorative vases with a variety of artificial candles, and streamers of various shades of red, pink, and white. It honestly looked like Valentine's Day just threw up all over the place.
He trusted Luffy enough to still order though.
“Hi, welcome to the All Blue Cafe, what can I get for you?” The girl behind the counter was far too happy for Zoro’s taste but he knew it was all part of the job.
“Matcha Latte.” He looked over the case of pastries next to the cash register, there was a surprisingly big selection for such a small shop. He pointed to what looked to be a croissant that was stuffed with some type of meat and cheese. “One of those.”
The girl, whose name tag said Carrot, just smiled and wrote down the order on the cup.
“Your name for the order?”
Zoro hated giving out his name.
It was a two fold problem really. First and foremost, Zoro was a fairly popular MMA fighter and his name was unique enough that if someone watched the fights at all they would recognize him. And with how quickly he’d been gaining notoriety, it was starting to become an issue. He’d been stopped plenty of times for autographs or pictures as he just tried to live his life like normal.
The second problem was the whole soul mate thing.
He’d always been told that the moment you hear your soul mate say your name, you’d know they were the one. Zoro didn’t believe in any of that crap, if you liked someone enough then who cares if they were destined to be yours or not. Shouldn’t you want to be with a person for who they are and not just because some weird cosmic force decided you should be together.
So he would usually avoid giving out his name whenever possible. Unfortunately in the MMA world it was impossible to do so, and he was getting tired of enough fans screaming his name in hopes that they could be his soulmate. But in places like this, he could easily hide it.
“Wado.” The girl wrote down the name and bagged up the croissant.
While she was making his drink, Zoro looked around to see what seating was available.
The cafe was on the smaller side, the counter took up most of the space. But along the wall were small tables, the one that was closest to, what Zoro assumed to be, the kitchen door was taken. The man was looking through a few notebooks and had a tablet set up, obviously he was working on something. Along the window was a bar counter with a couple of stools but those would probably get uncomfortable after a while.
So Zoro took the table next to the guy working, and unpacked his old laptop from the bag he brought.
It was a rest day, so instead of being able to workout or practice, Zoro decided to spend his time watching over his previous fight against Daz Bonez. While Zoro had won, it was a close fight, he barely managed to get just enough points to be declared the victor. So Usopp, one of Zoro’s coaches, suggested analyzing the fight. Try to see where he may have left an opening when he shouldn’t have, or where he could have gotten the upper hand and missed. Things like that.
As soon as his order was up, Zoro got the drink and started to get to work. Within the first few minutes he managed to make a few notes, seeing that he tended to favor his right side. That could definitely be something to work on in the gym, especially since his next fight was only a few weeks away.
“That’s a little narcissistic, watching videos of yourself in public.” A voice behind Zoro spoke. Without thinking he whipped around to see who it was.
The man at the table behind him had a mess of blond hair, which covered nearly half his face, but through the bangs he could see a curled eyebrow. It was unusual but didn’t look bad. Zoro could admit that he had probably the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. He also had a laptop open, a large spiral notebook resting on the table.
“Excuse me?” Zoro asked.
“Don’t you think it's a little self absorbed to be watching yourself.” He had a devilish smirk, which made him look so attractive. But Zoro wouldn’t be caught dead admitting it to someone who had been so rude.
“It's for my job. I’m a professional athlete.” Zoro rolled his eyes and turned back to his laptop.
“What kind of professional has hair that hideously green?”
“Better than that weird eyebrow you got, curly.” Zoro looked over his shoulder to see the man glaring at him.
“Sticks and stones, mosshead.” The man closed the notebook in front of him. “So what kind of athlete are you?”
Zoro turned back, forgetting about his laptop momentarily. “MMA.”
“That makes sense.” The blond nodded. “You look like you can take a punch.”
“We can take this outside and find out.” Zoro shot back.
The man laughed. Face lighting up in delight as the voice echoed across the small cafe. It was contagious and Zoro couldn’t help but chuckle in response.
“How embarrassing would it be for you to get knocked out by an amateur?” The man gave him a smile that looked as if it could light up the entire room. Before Zoro could say anything else, the man looked past him at the laptop. “Although it looks like you came pretty close to getting knocked out there.”
Zoro looked back to the screen, video still playing at a slower than normal speed. This allowed him to watch the fight and look closely at his movements and reaction times. He could see the kick that Daz Bones aimed at his head, Zoro managed to block it in time but it left him too open, a secondary kick struck him in the ribs. The bruise was still aching on his skin.
That would have to be something he would need to work on. How to keep his guard up, even while stopping an attack. If Luffy were here, they could analyze it together, try and recreate that moment to see what could have been done differently.
“That block you did.” The man continued. “While effective, it doesn’t let you recover quickly.”
“Yeah I figured that, got any suggestions?” It was meant sarcastically, but the other man just stood up, motioning to Zoro to do the same.
He kicked out similar to what Daz did in the fight which meant Zoro’s reaction was still the same. He blocked the overhead strike with both arms, stopping the foot in its track.
“This leaves you entirely open.” Both paused, allowing Zoro to look at the set up. Both arms were crossed in an X shape that allowed his opponent's foot to be blocked from being brought down on his head. The unfortunate part was that Daz Bones managed to jump and deliver a second kick to his ribs before falling to the mat and rolling away. “You change to deflect instead of stop entirely, which sends my foot back to the ground.”
“Or I could do this instead.” Zoro quickly lifted his hands up, the man’s foot still wedged between his arms, forcing him to fall backwards towards the floor. He had every intention of grabbing him by the front of his shirt before he actually hit the ground. What he didn’t expect was for him to use that momentum to plant his hands on the ground and turn it into a backflip, landing gracefully. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Kickboxing you jackass.” He snapped. “Luckily for you or else I’d have a concussion from that.”
“You’re fine. Are you a fighter as well?”
“Not professionally, but I’d still be more than happy to kick your ass.”
Zoro hasn’t felt this excited in a while. He couldn’t remember the last time he met someone outside of work who was also a fighter. Ever since he turned this into a career, it just didn’t hold the same excitement as before. Now fighting was just a job. But meeting someone else ignited a spark he had thought was out for good.
“Want to watch my video?” The man looked a little confused before Zoro pointed back to his laptop, the fight of his latest fight was paused on the screen. “You can point out all the things I did wrong.”
“Now that sounds fun.” He pulled up the extra chair from his table to sit next to Zoro as he returned to his seat. “I didn’t catch your name.”
For a moment Zoro was tempted to give him his real name. There was something about him that made Zoro feel comfortable already, even if all they’ve done was insult and fight each other. But he decided against it, there was a reason it was his policy.
“I don’t give that out.”
The man looked thoughtfully at him. “You know I could probably just look you up online.” Zoro shrugged in response. “Then I’m not going to give you mine, Mosshead.”
“Whatever you want, Curlybrow.”
That comment seemed to set him off. A flurry of insults were hurled at him while they watched the video together. Curly was very knowledgeable, especially when it came to any time of fight that involved kicking. Overall it was one of the best afternoons Zoro had had in a long while.
An entire week passed before Zoro managed to make it back to the cafe. His fight with Kaku was just a few days ago, and he was on rest to recover. That man may have been ridiculous in how he reacted to Zoro’s taunts, but he managed to land a few blows that still hurt when Zoro moved the wrong way.
Valentine's decorations still littered the entire cafe. While Zoro knew that date was drawing closer, he didn’t really care. He’d never felt obligated to celebrate, or find a date, or whatever it is that everyone else does. Instead it was another day, but usually one he’d avoid going out to eat since every place was always packed with people.
“Welcome back!” Carrot was working the counter and seemed far more enthusiastic than necessary. “What can I get for you?”
Zoro ordered the same as last time, a macha latte with a ham and cheese croissant. It was good last time, and he’d been dying to pick up another one. Maybe even this time he may order a sandwich to go at the end, if the pastries here were this good, he could only imagine what the actual food would taste like.
“I’ll have that right up for you.” Carrot finished ringing him up. “Oh, and he’s over there.”
Looking at where he pointed towards, Zoro could see the blonde man sitting at the same table as last time, a pair of over the ear headphones on scribbling something in his notebook. It didn’t seem as if he noticed Zoro had come in, absorbed in his own little world. The way his swirled eyebrows scrunched in concentration was actually quite adorable, not that he would ever admit that.
The last time he was here, they spent a good couple of hours talking about his fight, Curly was more knowledgeable then Zoro thought he would be. At the end of the day, they didn’t exchange numbers, which was a huge mistake on his part. He assumed they would never see each other again, which made for a fairly miserable week when he made that realization. So seeing him again, it was as if everything was right with the world again.
Walking up to the table, Zoro reached out and pulled one of his headphones off before letting it snap back onto his ear. Fury flashed across his face as he tore his headphones off before realization dawned over who had just done that, his expression melted more into annoyance than anything.
“What the hell happened to your face Marimo?” Curly must have noticed the faint yellow and purple bruise around his eye. When Zoro least expected it, Kaku gave him a mean right hook which caught him right in the cheek.
“I’m an MMA fighter. You must not be as smart as I thought if you can’t make the connection yourself.” He smiled as the man rolled his eyes. “And my name’s not Mario.”
“Wow, you do have more muscles than brain.” Curly set his headphones on top of his notebook, tapping at his phone to bring up a picture. Zoro looked at the fuzzy green ball on the screen, it looked like it was taken from behind glass. “I didn’t say Mario, I said Marimo. It's a moss ball. I saw one at the aquarium the other day and it reminded me of you.”
“How sweet you were thinking about me?”
Before Curly could say another word, he could hear his drink order being called out. When he grabbed the pastry and drink, Carrot looked far too happy. He just brushed it off as her weird customer service. He wasn’t planning on staying today, given he was taking a few days off before getting ready for his next big match in a couple of weeks. But seeing that Curly was here as well, Zoro wanted to see if he’d be up for some company.
“Mind if I take a seat?” Zoro asked when he approached the table. Curly looked a little surprised but extended his hand in an invitation which Zoro gladly took, plopping into the chair across from him. “So where did you see a moss ball?”
“Aquarium. My friend Robin had tickets but her fiance ended up being called into work so I went with her so they didn’t go to waste.”
“And you thought about me while out with another woman. I feel flattered.” Hopefully it was obvious that Zoro was flirting. Rarely did he find someone he was interested in, and even after the brief time he spent with Curly, it was clear that he wanted to find a way to spend more time together.
“Don’t be. I just felt bad for this poor creature who has to live without a brain. But then I remembered that you seem to be doing okay without one.” The smirk he wore was absolutely beautiful. Even though Zoro wanted to insult him back, he found himself chuckling along.
“Whatever you say, Curls.” Zoro took a huge bite of the pasty, humming in appreciation. It was perfectly flaky, filled with thinly sliced ham and melted cheese. It seemed as if his memory of last time just didn’t do it justice on how good this food was. Whoever was in charge deserved a raise. “Whatcha working on?”
Curly grimaced at him, probably too proper to stand with Zoro talking through a mouthful of food. But Zoro didn’t care, this was who he was and hopefully the other wouldn’t be too offended by his behavior.
“New recipes.” He explained. “I’m jotting down a few ideas and I’ll test them out later.”
“You cook?” Zoro asked, the other responded with a nod and a slightly confused expression. “You any good?”
He scoffed. “Obviously. You enjoying the pastry?”
“Yeah, this place is pretty good.” Zoro stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth. “I had a friend recommend it, apparently he stops by all the time to get some of the sandwiches.”
“I didn’t know you had friends.” He teased. “What does this friend of your look like?”
“Short guy, always in flip flops and a straw hat. Very friendly.”
“Are you talking about Luffy?” Curly sounded shocked.
“You know him?” Zoro was just as shocked. But it made sense, Luffy was quick to turn anyone into a friend no matter where he went, if Curls was here when Luffy was then they must have met before.
“Yeah, nearly eats everything in the place whenever he comes in.” He wore a soft smile despite his words. “But he’s a good guy. There was a customer being creepy towards Carrot, he didn’t hesitate to help step in. Between the two of us we chased him out quickly.”
“That sounds like Luffy. You can always count on him in a fight.” He remembered back to when he first met Luffy. They were just a couple of kids in high school, Zoro had gotten into a fight with someone who threatened one of the younger classmates. There was a group of three guys that Zoro tried to take on single handly, but wasn’t holding up too well. Luffy didn’t even say anything, just stood next to him and immediately joined in.
They both were suspended after that, but Luffy refused to leave him alone at school. Even if Zoro was always kind of a dick to him. Eventually he grew to respect Luffy, now he couldn’t imagine his life without his best friend.
“So how often are you here that you know of Luffy?” Zoro couldn’t help but ask.
“It feels like I live here sometimes.” Curly sighed. “But that’s the life I chose.”
“Not a bad place to be though.” Zoro looked around the place again. While the decorations were obnoxious, he could admit that the cafe was nice. It made sense that he would want to spend all his free time here. “The food and drinks are good.”
“Thanks.” Curly had a smile on his face upon hearing that, although Zoro had no idea why.
“But why are you here though? If you’re a cook, wouldn’t you be spending all your time cooking?”
“First of all, I’m a chef. Not a cook.” Sanji held up his fingers as if counting. “Secondly, I do most of my cooking at home. I like to sit here and get inspired. See what the atmosphere is and figure out what kinds of foods people would like.”
“Well that sounds like complete bullshit.” Zoro watched as anger flared across Curly’s face. “If it's good, people will eat it. End of story.”
“Such a simpleton. I don’t want people to just eat my food, I want them to enjoy it.”
“You are over thinking things.” Zoro didn’t really understand what he was getting at. If people didn’t enjoy it then they wouldn’t eat it. Those things felt like they were the same, but he also didn’t care too much about what he ate. Most days he would just boil chicken with a side of rice and call it dinner.
“Well, at least one of us is thinking.” Curly smirked. “Perhaps all those punches to the face got rid of any sense you may have had. So tell me about this.” He gestured to his own cheek bone, clearly curious about the most recent fight and the bruises left behind.
“I was up against a guy named Kaku. He seemed like a moron but I let my guard down too easily and he got me.” The fight hadn’t been too bad besides the hit, Kaku was quick but also didn’t land too many blows. Zoro managed to knock him out in the end.
“I don’t understand why you’d want to pick a career where you get beat up all the time.”
“First of all.” Zoro used the same tone Curly did before, making him roll his eyes. “I usually am not the one getting beat up. Secondly, it's fun. Plus I promised Kuina.”
Zoro was reminded of his childhood friend. They both promised they would fight against each other once they had grown up to see who really was the strongest. Even though Zoro had never once beaten her in a fight. But unfortunately she passed away long before they ever had a chance.
“Oh, is that your girlfriend?” That sounded like there may have been a hint of disappointment.
“Nah, she was my friend growing up. We did kendo together, and promised one of us would be the champion at it. I picked up MMA not too long after she died.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Curly’s tone was genuine. Which was nice to hear, too many people offered fake condolences throughout his life that he would tune them out. But it was nice to hear someone who sounded like they actually meant it. “I get that though. My mom is the one who inspired me to cook, and after she died, I just wanted to make her proud.”
Zoro held up his latte, “To the people who inspired us.” Curly picked up his own tea and tapped the side of his cup.
It was such a small thing, but so vulnerable. Zoro had never really opened up to anyone about Kuina before, not even Luffy knew much of her. Although Luffy usually didn’t have a policy of asking about anything, he figured that if people wanted him to know they’d tell him. Otherwise it wasn’t any of his businesses. But being around Curly made Zoro want to open up more, want to tell him about his life.
It was like they’d already known each other, even though they didn’t even know their names. Zoro wanted to do whatever he could to continue to have curly around, whether it be friends or more didn’t matter. As long as Zoro had him in his life.
“Tell me more about your mom.” Zoro figured that continuing the conversation was probably a good way to have Curly stick around more.
“She was so kind.” The smile he had on his face was breathtaking. It was enough to light up the room and then some. “And loving. She always made time for me, and ate everything I cooked, even if it was really bad.”
“She sounds like a good person.”
“She really was.” The smile disappeared off Curly’s face. “I wish she could have had a happier life. But my bio dad never treated her right, he was a cruel man.”
Zoro had heard of people who were abusive to their soul mate, figuring that they could never actually leave since they were bound together by fate. But those cases were cruel and far between. And there was no shame if someone had to leave their fated person. Sometimes you can love someone with your whole heart, but need to be away from them in order to love yourself first.
“I’m sorry she had to go through that. I just can’t understand why people would do that to their soul mates.” Zoro voiced but Curly shook his head immediately.
“They weren’t soul mates. I don’t think my mom ever found hers, but they cared for each other before me and my brothers were born.” Curly propped up his elbow on the table, resting his head on his palm. “That’s why I promised when I meet mine, I would treat them right.”
“Are you secretly a romantic, Cook?”
“It's not a secret.” Curly chuckled before gesturing to all the decorations around. For what reason Zoro wasn’t sure. “I love anything romantic. Walks on the beach, buying gifts, candlelit dinners, cuddling under a blanket as I protect them from all the scary movies.”
“So have you found your soul mate yet?” Zoro was curious. While there was no rule saying you couldn’t date someone who wasn’t your soul mate, some people refused to. This made Zoro think that Curly may be one of those people.
“Not yet. But I’m always looking.” Curly had a soft smile on his face, obviously lost in thought for a moment. “What about you? Someone fan stalk you and declare her undying love for you?”
“No. But if I’m being honest, I don’t really give a shit about that. If I like someone and want them in my life, then it doesn’t matter if they are my soul mate or not.”
That’s kind of sweet. It feels like you can run into problems later with that attitude, but it's sweet.” Curly shrugged. “But I understand, I’ve dated plenty of people knowing we weren’t soul mates, but I just like showering others in affection, ya know?”
“Not really. But if it makes you happy.” This conversation had given him some hope. He knew that he wanted to keep Curly around, and even if he was just a placeholder until that man found his soul mate, Zoro could be happy with that. “Can I get your number?”
“What?” Curly blinked in surprise. “Why do you want it?”
“To call you, dumbass. I didn’t get it last time, so I figured I’d ask now. Maybe you can help me for my next fight. Plus I want to actually take you to the gym and fight you.”
Curly laughed, it was a light sound that Zoro found he really liked.
“How about you come in tomorrow, same time. And if I’m here, you can have it.”
Zoro could feel his heart thumping in his chest. While that wasn’t what he wanted, he would be okay with it. Not only was he going to get a want to contact Curly but he would actually have a chance to see him in person again.
True to his word. Zoro arrived at the cafe the next day at the same time as before. He was both nervous and excited to be seeing Curly again today. Hopefully he will be allowed to ask him on a proper date after today. It had been such a long time since he wanted to even ask someone on a date. But the time they had spent together had been fun, Curls was quick with an insult, but there was a softness to him that Zoro wanted to explore more.
The moment he stepped into the cafe, Zoro was a little taken back. The line was much longer than it has been in his last two visits. He could clearly see Carrot running around behind the counter making drinks as fast as humanly possible. The tables were full as well, chattering voices loud in such a small space.
Zoro’s heart sank a little at seeing the usual table Curly sat at filled with other people. A couple on a date it looked like.
He knew Valentines would be busier than normal, but he didn’t expect such chaos to be happening. He debated leaving, but ultimately decided that maybe the cook was just running late or something. It couldn’t hurt to get a drink and see if he would end up coming.
The line was slow moving but once Zoro got close enough, he could clearly see Curly behind the counter. For some reason he was manning the cash register, taking drinks with a smile on his face. Zoro was confused, why on Earth would he be behind the counter. He knew the man would help with anything, but helping by doing someone’s job seemed a little over the top, even for him. So he continued to wait in line, trying to figure out what was going on. When it was finally his turn, Curly gave him a bright smile.
“Welcome to the All Blue Cafe, what can I get you?” He asked. Zoro could admit that he actually looked good in the blue aprons the baristas here wore.
“What the hell are you doing?” Zoro was glad he was the last customer in line. It gave him more time to have this conversation.
“Working, what does it look like?”
“Since when do you work here?”
“You’re not serious, are you?” Curly pointed to a picture behind him. It wasn’t super large but it definitely should have been noticeable enough for Zoro to have seen when ordering before. It was a picture of a group of people standing in front of the Cafe. Curls was in the middle surrounded by others, he recognized Carrot. But there were also a few other people, one woman with dark hair standing next to a man in an open Hawaiian shirt and strikingly blue hair. An older man in chef whites and a wooden leg looked proudly with his hand clasped on Curly’s shoulder. There were a couple more in the background but Zoro couldn’t make out from where he was standing. “Marimo, I own the place.”
“Oh, so you make the really good food.” Zoro didn’t know what else to say. That would explain why Curly was here whenever Zoro stopped by. And it also explained why he seemed to be happy whenever Zoro complimented the place.
“So I’ve been told.” He smiled. “So what can I get you, another match to keep your hair nice and bright.”
Zoro rolled his eyes but nodded. Curly took a moment to write down his order on the cup.
“And I’m going to need a name for this.” The man looked delighted as he waited, marker hovering above the cup ready to write it down.
Part of Zoro wanted to give him his name, it was a silly rule he had. Even if his man wasn’t his soul mate, that didn’t mean Zoro couldn’t spend time with him. But Curly was a romantic. If he gave over his name and nothing happened, then where would that leave them?
“You already know it's for me, you don’t need a name.”
“When the store is this busy we require it. Can’t have anyone walking away with your drink by mistake.”
He looked far too smug which Zoro couldn’t decide if he wanted to smack or kiss that expression off his face.
Deciding to take a leap, he replied. “Zoro.”
Curly’s face softened slightly. “Alright, it’s coming right.”
“You know it seems a little unfair for you to know my name, but I still don’t know yours.” Zoro countered but the man just tapped the nametag on the apron. Clearly printed on it said Sanji.
Finally he was given a name. He wasn’t sure if something was supposed to happen now. Growing up he always tuned out any discussion of what happened when people met their soul mates, he figured if it happened to him he would know. But now that he was given the name, nothing more happened. He worried if this was a sign that they weren’t meant to be. Zoro would still want to date Sanji, but he wasn’t sure if it would be mutual knowing they still hadn’t met their soul mate.
“Your drink will up in a few minutes.” Sanji didn’t seem to have any reaction after hearing his name.
So Zoro stepped aside and waited for his drink. The hustle and bustle of the shop seemed to dwindle down as more people got their drinks and left. Even some of the people at the tables seemed to have finished their conversation and head out as well, most holding hands with one another. After a couple of minutes, Sanji placed a paper cup on the counter and looked over at him.
“Matcha Latte for Zoro.”
It was at that moment that Zoro felt it. He didn’t know how to describe the feeling, like a warmth that blossomed in his chest, pulling at some invisible string to draw him closer to Sanji. It was like he couldn’t look away as the other just stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to whatever reaction he was having. Zoro may not have paid attention when he was younger, but he could figure out what this feeling was. It was the inevitable pull of a soul mate.
Sanji was his soul mate.
But based on his confusion, Sanji didn’t have the same reaction. Which means he also needed to say his name.
“Go out with me.” Zoro blurted when he came up to the counter to grab his drink.
“What?” To his credit Sanji didn’t sound offended, just a little taken back by his abruptness. “When?”
“Tonight. It’s Valentine's day, you like this romance crap.” Zoro gestured to the decorations strewn about the place. “So go out with me tonight.”
“I’m working, plus this place is going to need a deep clean after how hectic it's been all day.” Sanji insisted.
“I can do that boss!” Carrot spoke up from the espresso machine, making what looked to be one of the last drinks of the rush. “Pedro has to work late anyway so we are going out tomorrow.”
“Carrot, I can't ask you to do that.” Sanji insisted but even Zoro could tell there was a hint of anticipation.
“Easy. You’re not asking.” She placed the last few drinks on the counter, calling the names as people came up to get theirs. Before Sanji could say another word, she walked into the back kitchen area.
“So you’re free to go out with me then.” Zoro couldn’t help the smile that took over his face. “Sanji.”
Zoro could pinpoint the exact moment Sanji could feel it. The same warmth erupting from his chest and pulling his heart towards each other. For a moment Sanji just stared in shock, then his face fell into an irritated curled lip.
“You’re got to be kidding me. Do you know how many beautiful women come into this shop every single day? And not one of them is my soul mate? It had to be you.” Sanji took his apron off, angrily tossing it into a basket in the corner with a few others that looked like it needed to be washed. “I’m going out for a cigarette.” He shouted, Carrot peaked her head out to give him a thumbs up.
A little unsure of what to do exactly, Zoro stood in place as Sanji walked towards the door. When he reached for the door, Sanji paused to look back at Zoro. A simple nod of his head was all Zoro needed to follow him like a lost puppy dog outside.
They rounded the corner into the alleyway next door, and Sanji lit up a cigarette. Zoro stood across from him, leaning against the wall, but didn’t say anything. He wanted to see what was going to happen at this point.
“So,” Sanji exhaled a cloud of smoke. “I don’t imagine you are the type of guy to actually have a plan for this date.”
“Not at all.” Zoro nodded. “But I like you, and I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. I wanted to ask you even if we weren’t soul mates.”
“Damn it.” Sanji continued to smoke. “I really enjoyed being with you too. I just always dreamt that when I met my soul mate, it would be something cute. Like I would help them pick up something they dropped and our eyes would lock.”
“You read too many romance novels.” Zoro teased. “How about I make it romantic for you. I’ll bring flowers and we can wander around until we find something we like.”
“I don’t trust you aren’t going to pick a food truck or something.”
“What’s wrong with a food truck?” Zoro didn’t understand his disdain, sometimes they served really good food.
“I am not having my first date with my soul mate at a food truck. How you come over to my place and I’ll cook.”
“Sounds fine to me.” Not only was Zoro actually going out with Sanji tonight, but he is going to have more of his cooking.
“I still expect the flowers though. How about two hours from now so I can still help Carrot clean and stop at the store. I’ll text you my address.” Sanji crushed the last of his cigarette out.
“Are you going to give me your number then?” Zoro asked.
“Look at your cup, idiot.” Zoro turned the paper cup in his hand and right underneath his name was a phone number.
“So you were going to give me your number even before you knew we were soul mates. You do like me.”
“Such the hell up.” Sanji snapped. “Two hours from now, okay?”
Zoro just nodded.
“And one more thing.” Sanji continued before Zoro could move.
Sanji reached out, grabbing a fist full of Zoro’s shirt and pulling him in. Their lips crashed together, sending a thrill down Zoro’s spine. The taste of tobacco and cloves lingered as they kissed. Zoro had never had a kiss like this before, lips soft and inviting, but the press firm, as if demanding more. Instinctively he reached out to place his free hand on Sanji’s hip, it fit so perfectly, like they were made to be together.
“Two hours, Marimo.” Sanji broke free, looking at him as if in a daze. “Don’t be late.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Curly.”