Work Text:
this was it.
liquid courage coursing through his veins. a place the two of them could hash things out. sanji standing there. if there was any time to do it, any time when he wouldn’t be able to talk himself out of it, to become too pissed off to do anything about it, now would be his chance.
a city-wide celebration was being held in water 7 for the strawhats, and like the band of pirates did before many times in the past with previous islands, they drank and partied to their hearts’ content. well, as much as it could be without their ex-crewmate. that matter was between his captain and usopp. for now, they appreciated their battles won and honored their losses. even so, they continued to celebrate hard deep into the night. zoro kept out of it more so than usual, his mind temporarily preoccupied with other things. so, he left, wandering the streets.
something had been bothering him ever since they stepped on water 7, a little inconsequential problem that had been bubbling beneath the surface of more serious issues. but seeing sanji again had reignited it. he wanted to face it head on, but wasn’t like it was a mortal enemy or a matter of maintaining his dignity as a man. it was more convoluted than that, an infuriating inevitability when it was related to the cook. and it was all over something as minuscule as this: he has never reciprocated sanji’s affections.
it was stupid. an idiotic sentimentality that he has no use for. it wasn’t his fault that the cook was always pestering him about it, that he wouldn’t accept his minimal reactions. he didn’t have to flaunt it like some damn stage performance, and certainly it would be enough to tolerate sanji to an acceptable degree, only stopping him when he gets too close. but those boundaries are all just him holding himself back. a type of self imposed punishment, only meant to impede himself of the right to admit that he felt something whenever the cook was warm towards him. him being another man wasn’t the problem here, since he’d seen it plenty of times during his upbringing. it just was the type of man sanji was made things harder to deal with.
zoro was never good with emotions. even worse with his own. when sanji tried explaining why he’d like a swordsman like him, he couldn’t understand a single thing. all he knew was the overwhelming, scalding, warmth that had festered inside of him like a battlefield fever that just wouldn’t die down. something like that.
were ordeals such as these always so damn hard to put to rest? filled with so much fighting; constant on and offs? was it because they were pirates, or was it because they always kind of hated each other? zoro hadn’t gotten a clue.
there was nothing even close to this when he was growing up in the dojo or when he was roaming as a pirate hunter. he was never interested in anyone. simply put, this was all new to him and he didn’t know how to move past it.
he just didn’t want to fuck it up. this was somehow important to sanji, zoro being mutual with his feelings. as long as his intentions were clear, honest, everything would be less confusing, that it would make sense. either that or whatever sanji was trying to make between them wasn’t meant to be. at least it'd be over.
they were standing on an empty sidewalk, the bodies of water around them lapping at the elevated street banks. the echoey sounds of the strawhats and citizens of water 7 celebrating into the night wasn’t very far off, nearly making it difficult for zoro to think with its unintelligible noise spreading throughout the city. an influx of cheering and the boom of fireworks just made it worse. but it didn’t matter much anyway. the swordsman was too buzzed to worry too much. and sanji just happened to follow him, like he wanted.
“there you are, damn mosshead! nami was wondering where you ran off to! you don’t like the party or something?”
zoro stared for a moment. an explosion of noises surrounded them. he didn’t know why, but he felt right about this.
he didn’t have to raise his voice when he closed the distance between them.
“hey, cook.”
“what? hey wait, are you drunk?”
“no, dumbass. i’ve been thinking.”
“that’s new.”
“shut up. you wanna make things work, right? so listen closely.”
“huh? make what–”
zoro covered sanji’s chatter mouth with his palm. a flash of irritation appeared on the cook’s face but it faded when the other seemed so focused. like he was making some sort of effort.
“close your eyes.”
“it’s abrupt but…whatever, mosshead.”
the commotion continued in the blanketed dark he was in. zoro decided to uncomplicate things in a very literal way.
“don’t think about anything else. just focus on the bare parts.”
“wha–?”
zoro kissed sanji, pulling him by the shirt and mashing their faces together. it hurt a little but he didn’t care. he gave it all he got, nearly toppling the two over as he gave him a few awkward kisses, following what he felt rather than all the noise around them. he supposed that’s all that mattered in something like this. it was proof of his feelings.
“get it now, idiot cook?”
the look on the cook’s face was priceless, bright eyes shining in the sparks of fireworks. his cheeks were coloured in an angry flush, but a small smile was coming on. he was glad.
“bastard…you don’t get to show off like that, only i’m allowed to do that…”
zoro gave a confident smirk of his own.
“not anymore.”
the swordman left the street, having enough trouble for one day. and although he was getting farther away from sanji, the heat in his chest grew.
he thinks he finally understood now.
this was it.