ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 10 - Zoro

Never mind the few moments waiting for Sanji's response earlier. The ride back to the Thousand Sunny now took the spot of the longest torture he'd ever endured. He'd gotten a fair distance away in the little boat he'd bought in town, and hadn't wanted to leave it drifting. Which meant it was tied behind the mini-Merry. Add to that that Sanji's haste in getting to him meant that the Merry was low on cola to power the paddle-engine. Sanji estimated that they had enough to get back, but not at top speed. Which had turned a fourteen-hour return trip into nearly another day.

They'd both been silent for hours now. The last time either had spoken was when Sanji had shared his bag of provisions with Zoro, and that had been nearly three hours ago. To make matters worse, the silence around them was not the companionable silence they had sometimes enjoyed on a calm day. No, this was the awkward silence of men who'd said too much but still had more they ought to say. Zoro cursed his eye injury, not for the first time, as it made it hard to steal glances at the blond who sat, of course, to his left. He wondered what the cook was thinking about; if Sanji was regretting the decision to give him a chance to woo him, or just trying to wrap his mind around the entire situation.

He could've asked, he supposed. It wouldn't hurt, and would at least be something to talk about. But he was afraid he was going to overwhelm the curly-brows. Actually, scratch that. He was afraid he already had. He hadn't been able to resist being a little ... touchy after the blond had kissed him so carefully, and now he felt guilty about it all. Sanji hadn't reacted badly in the moment, had even grabbed Zoro's hand and placed it over his own heart. But that didn't mean it wasn't too much, wasn't too far for where they were yet.

Well, where Sanji was yet. Zoro was willing to go much, much further, and he knew this would test the limits of his self-discipline. Another reason to wait until the cook was ready to talk.

His chest tightened again, leading to a round of coughing. Two tiny connected buds came out, still blood free. Sanji muttered something as Zoro straightened back up, tossing the infernal buds overboard.

"Hmm?" Zoro hummed, urging Sanji to repeat himself as he finally faced the other.

"I said it's been almost two hours. Since the last cough like that, I mean. You must really be doing better."

"You've been keeping track?" The thought made his chest tighten in a very different way.

"Yeah. Thought it might interest Chopper, maybe help him find a cure. When I found you, it was practically every few minutes." Sanji's words were nonchalant as his blue eye met Zoro's own. "Or have you been fighting them because you were afraid I'd worry or something? Because holding back a cough can be bad, too, y'know."

"No. It really seems to have eased up."

"Then are you sleepy? You can sleep if you need to - I bet you had trouble sleeping on that boat. There wasn't much room to stretch out."

No, there wasn't, but Zoro could sleep pretty much anywhere, which Sanji surely was aware of. Not to mention that the front seat of the mini-Merry had less room than the boat it towed. Zoro tilted his head just slightly at the curly-brows. "ARE you worrying about me, cook?"

Sanji started to get defensive — Zoro could see the indignant tension crossing his shoulders, reflexes from years of arguments. And then he suddenly seemed to deflate. "Yeah. I guess... I guess I am," the blond admitted, turning his focus back to the sea and the current they navigated beside. "I mean, you were dying and I was —." He cut himself off as if deciding against saying it, but continued as if he hadn't started that phrase. "And then you were talking and laughing, but now you're too quiet again, even for you."

"You were, what?" Zoro couldn't help but be curious at what the blond had cut off. Am I even allowed to ask? Questions like that would've started a fight before; would it now?