[One Piece: Zoro/Sanji] Prompt: Life
Title: Anger
Fandom: One Piece
Characters: Zoro x Sanji
Prompt: 02-Life
Word Count: 1,166
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: Thriller Bark
Summary: Zoro obviously had no idea how precious his life was to Sanji. Or did he?
A/N: for jadeprince, who requested Thriller Bark fic
Initially, all Sanji had felt was relief.
Waking up to find Zoro gone had been pretty damn terrifying; and seeing the man’s precious swords lying on the ground with their owner nowhere in sight had seemed to be a confirmation of Sanji’s fear. But still, he had to hope. For the first time he could remember, he hadn’t bothered waiting around to make sure Nami and Robin were unharmed before he’d run off, not really sure where he was running to, not really caring, just hoping.
And then-instant relief. Nevermind that he’d been drenched in blood, along with everything that surrounded him. Nevermind that Sanji had seen corpses that’d looked livelier than he had. Nevermind all of that. It’d been good enough that he was still alive.
But it hadn’t taken long for that relief to turn into anger.
Now, as Sanji caught the swordsman as he collapsed, he was so pissed that he could’ve finished off that bastard Kuma’s job and killed the idiot right then and there without the tiniest bit of regret.
“Shitty marimo,” he hissed. “Don’t think I’m ever gonna forgive you for this.” He maneuvered the bloodied body so he could carry him back and felt, rather than heard, what might’ve been an apology spoken against the skin of his neck. “Don’t mumble at me, shithead. And I don’t give a fuck if you’re sorry or not, so don’t give me any shitty apologies. You could’ve-”
He paused to swallow the lump in his throat. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, but no less angry. “Do you know just how much your life means to me? No, of course you don’t, dumbass.” (Granted, that was actually probably more his fault than Zoro’s, but it was much easier to blame the nearly-dead guy.) “What was I going to do if you’d died? Huh? Kick around a head of cabbage? Fuck, I would’ve been completely lo-”
He paused again; even if this situation, even with all these intense emotions stirring inside of him, he was loathe to share too much. “You would’ve been fine, you know. If it’d been me instead.” The arm he’d thrown across his shoulders seemed to tighten, just a little, but that might’ve been his imagination. “And I-I wouldn’t have minded if someone else found All Blue, as long as it’s existence got back to the old man and the rest of those guys. But if someone else became the world’s greatest swordsman, you would’ve made one pissed off spirit, and no one wants to deal with that. So next time, just think about the one you’re leaving behind, you stupid idiot ape of a-”
He stopped as Zoro bowed his head and a series of coughs wracked his body. The ground was speckled with blood, and then he went completely limp in Sanji’s arms. Sanji sighed, secured his grip, and resumed walking, continuing to fume in silence.
[--]
It was early morning, a little more than two days later, when Sanji found himself alone with Zoro again. He was cleaning up the remnants of the celebration, gathering the dirty dishes, when the familiar voice, scratchy from not being used in a while, said, “I do know, actually.”
After one deep breath of mental and emotional preparation, Sanji turned around to face the swordsman. “Know what, sleeping ugly?”
Zoro sat up slowly and Sanji graciously pretended not to notice the faint wince. “What my life means to you.”
Sanji swore under his breath and took a cigarette out of his pocket. “I’m not ready for this conversation; I’m still mad at you.”
“You were willing to give up your dream for me,” Zoro continued, ignoring him. “So I realized something.”
Sanji lit the cigarette with shaky fingers. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re in love with me.”
“…Go back to sleep until the bit of sense that you had returns to you.”
“We’re not too different. Your dream means as much to you as mine means to me. You wouldn’t give it up easily and neither would I.” Zoro was looking at him was this Seriousness in his eyes that Sanji was a little afraid would always be there from now on. It made him a little nervous and he inhaled too deeply on his cigarette; Zoro waited patiently for him to finish coughing and didn’t comment on the embarrassed flush that was decorating his face, neck, and ears. “But I would give it up if it meant saving you. Because I’m in love with you.” He smiled in this kind of smug way, like almost dying had made him some sort of know-it-all. “That’s what you were willing to do, so obviously you feel the same way.”
Sanji almost dropped his cigarette. His eyes were wide, his heart was pounding, and he was finding it very, very hard to stay angry. “Th-That’s some shitty reasoning, marimo. I would’ve done it for any of you guys.”
Zoro raised, lowered one shoulder, visibly unconcerned with this little detail. “I’m right, though. Aren’t I?” He didn’t wait for an answer before tossing aside the blanket that was covering his bandaged waist and moving to stand up.
“Oi, oi, your wounds-”
“I’m fine.”
Sanji scowled. “Like hell! You were out for two days!”
“Exactly. I’ve rested and now I’m fine.”
“You are such a-”
“Wanna know something embarrassing?”
“I-” He sighed, exhaling smoke around his cigarette. “Sure.”
Zoro stretched, hissed a little, and Sanji almost told him to sit back down, but then he told him, “The pain was unbearable,” and that killed any words he might’ve said. “It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt and I’m almost sure it was the closest I’ve ever come to dying. But you know what I focused on to make sure I stayed alive?” He smiled again as he started walking right into Sanji’s personal space. “I told myself that I had to make it through, so I could see the look on your face when I told you I knew you loved me.”
“Look, I told you your logic was flawed-”
“And so I could kiss you.”
Sanji stared at him, looked over his bruised and battered body, and told himself that this idiot had almost gotten himself killed and didn’t really deserve a damn kiss.
And then he told himself that this idiot had kept Sanji from getting himself killed. And if that didn’t deserve a damn kiss, he didn’t know what did.
He tossed his cigarette to the ground, stubbed it out. “So, kiss me.”
He was mindful of Zoro’s bandages as he placed his hands gently on the swordsman’s chest, as Zoro’s hands touched the sides of his face and drew him in. They kissed slowly, mouths closed. Sanji ran his tongue over the seam of his lips and Zoro pulled back just slightly, bowed his head so he could breathe Sanji’s name against his chin.
Sanji wasn’t angry anymore.