ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 19 - Zoro

Zoro could've damn near skipped as he left the galley, were he the skipping kind. As it was, he wasn't entirely sure his feet stayed on the ground. And it definitely wasn't the wine's fault.

Sanji had stared. There had been a moment of attraction, of visible want in that blue eye when he'd finally looked properly at Zoro. It had been one thing to hope for an emotional connection after the boat. But he'd never seen Sanji show any signs of being physically attracted to a man. Maybe testing that now had been selfish. It had been impulsive, at the very least, a sudden need to find out if it was possible. And it had definitely had the desired effect. Some part of Sanji wanted him.

Hope was REALLY a hell of a drug, and Zoro was almost afraid he was becoming addicted to it. If not the hope, then Sanji's blushing face. He could be content causing that face for the rest of his life, he was sure.

Zoro pulled the top half of his yukata back on and leaned against the railing on the upper deck, enjoying the wind in his green hair. It felt like only minutes that he sat there, enjoying his good mood. But Chopper's clock had read an hour later when the small doctor had decided to interrupt Zoro's happy sea-gazing.

"Ready for your checkup?"

Zoro snapped out of his daze, the contented smile on his face going a little more neutral. "Yeah. Sorry."

Chopper just nodded and led the way back to the infirmary, where he tapped the bed to indicate that Zoro should sit. Zoro did so, unsurprised when the doctor brought out too-familiar scanning equipment. He scanned Zoro's chest, as he had so many times before, and hummed thoughtfully as the image appeared.

"Well, it looks better. Whatever happened between you and Sanji seems to have set the bloom back almost two weeks, in terms of size. How are you feeling, though?"

"Better. Stronger again," Zoro admitted.

"How was your workout?" Chopper asked, warming his stethoscope. "Any difficulty breathing?"

Zoro tried not to groan in annoyance before reporting. "I got to about eighty percent of what I could do before. It's... still a little harder than I'd like it to be. But it felt good to be in motion." He may have loved Chopper like a brother, but doctors tended to insist you be honest about your weaknesses, which made them as a category not exactly Zoro's favorite people. He understood the necessity, which is the only reason why he would be honest with Chopper, but he hated every second of it.

Chopper put the instrument to Zoro's chest and back, listening to his breathing and heart. "That's still a good start to recovery. You coughed at dinner. How often are the coughing fits coming right now?"

Zoro grimaced at the mention of his embarrassment earlier. "Roughly every four to six hours. If you need more details, Cook was apparently timing them somewhat on the way back."

Chopper nodded, placing his hand on Zoro's wrist to measure his heartbeat. "I'll get those from him. Every detail may help. Any pain, currently?"

"No."

"If it comes back, come to me for pain medicine," Chopper instructed, causing Zoro to roll his eyes. "I know you aren't going to want to say, but it could be important to finding a cure for this in the future, so I'm going to ask anyways: what exactly did happen when Sanji found you?"

Zoro felt his face flush again and had to clear his throat before answering. "Short version? He convinced me to tell him, he didn't hate me for it but seemed like he could maybe someday reciprocate, and I asked him to kiss me. It eased up almost immediately after."

Chopper's eyes went wide and Zoro could tell he was struggling to retain his professionalism as he jotted a note down into a notebook. "With tongue or without? Long or short?"

Zoro glared daggers at him until the doctor continued. "Duration, d-depth, and pressure may have had an impact on how much it retreated! Only reason I'm asking, I swear!"

"Short, soft, and without tongue," Zoro finally answered. "We done yet?" As much as he wanted to keep thinking about that kiss, he didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to keep that sweet moment for himself.

Chopper added that to his notes, scribbling furiously for a minute. "Yeah, I think I have what I need. But I'll want to check on it every three days or so, unless something changes. Let me get a blood sample from you, just to cover all bases, then you can go."

Chopper did the process quickly, capping the vial and putting it in the fridge until he could run the tests he wanted. Like an afterthought, he added, "Oh, and if it continues to shrink to a point where I think it'd be safe to try to surgically remove again, I'd like your permission to contact Trafalgar Law for assistance. His devil-fruit powers might be useful, and he's better at invasive surgery than I am, anyways."

Zoro swore internally. The doctor had asked that before, when they'd first talked about trying to remove it surgically, but contacting their ally for that when his own captain hadn't known would've violated Zoro's personal code. Now the Straw Hats knew, so it wasn't as treacherous, but Zoro still wasn't sure he wanted to get the Heart's captain involved, allies or not. "I have time to think about it, right?"

"Of course. We'll need to see if it continues shrinking, anyways."

"Then I'll let you know later," Zoro announced as he slid off the table and began walking out of the room.

"That's fine. I can tell you're a little dehydrated even without testing, so drink plenty of water over the next few days. Maybe cut back on the booze, too, just for a bit, although Sanji did leave a bottle on the kitchen counter for you. Though, speaking of, Zoro?"

The green-headed swordsman had been nearly out the door, but stopped and turned at the tone in the doctor's voice.

"I think you really humiliated Sanji at dinner. You should probably talk to him ... and be more careful..."

Zoro nodded, his face not revealing his surprise at the statement as he left the room. Humiliated Sanji? I was only been teasing a little, trying to...

It hit him like a cannonball as he finished his thought in a whisper. "Trying to find out if he was physically attracted to me... by flirting while half-naked... when he was still working on processing that and my feelings and whatever he may be feeling. And I did it in front of everyone, too, when he wanted to keep it low-key."

He slumped against the wall, all traces of his prior good mood vanishing in a puff of smoke. It was official. He was the absolute worst. He'd gotten carried away with his impulses and hurt and embarrassed the man he loved.

He groaned and turned on his heel to find the galley, and hopefully the cook so that he could apologize. It took him far too long to find the galley, because as usual it had moved, but he found it and opened the door, expecting to see the cook cleaning up from dinner. But Sanji wasn't there, and the mess still partially was. If guilt hadn't already been coursing through him, it would've been now, anyways, because Sanji hated leaving his kitchen a mess. He must've been feeling terrible, which made Zoro feel terrible.

He had a lot of apologizing to do. Maybe helping clean the kitchen would be a good start. He removed the top half of his outfit again and got to work.