ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 36 - Sanji

Sanji rarely cooked as entertainment, but it wasn't because he didn't enjoy showing off. Still, as he did it now, preparing dish after dish to serve the two crews, he couldn't help but remember Zoro's request the other day to 'watch him work his magic.' Which, of course, led to remembering the kiss they'd shared in the hallway outside of the galley.

Which, in turn, led to remembering their most recent make out session, in all its embarrassing, glorious detail.

So it wasn't really surprising when he burned his hand, like a fucking amateur, in front of 8-10 people he barely knew, by knocking into a very hot pan. He managed not to knock it over and to shift it back onto the counter, yelping in pain the whole time. Chopper heard, and came running in to see Sanji holding his hand under cold running water as the small crowd awkwardly thinned.

"Chopper, I fucked up. Can you fix it?" Sanji knew, really, that it wasn't that bad. But he was always so careful with his hands that they weren't used to much pain. He hadn't let his hands get burned or cut in the kitchen for years. Which, unfortunately, meant that any pain in his hands when he wasn't spinning on them in a fight caused a little bit of panic. He would hate it if he couldn't cook, if he became useless to the crew.

"Breathe, Sanji." Chopper went into one of his taller forms to look at the damage more easily. A small blister was already forming on the side and heel of the hand, with red skin tight around it. "It's minor. Superficial second-degree. You aren't going to lose your hand. Probably not even a day of use, with proper bandages and a little more caution." The doctor had already shrunk again and pulled out a burn cream and a roll of narrow bandages out of his backpack. Within seconds the ointment was applied and the bandages carefully wrapped. The cream began its work of cooling the skin it was applied to.

"Now, I wrapped it a little thicker to protect it, but I tried to wrap it in such a way that you have at least some motion. Try to keep heat away from this hand for a day or two. It can come off when there's no longer pain, and won't even leave a scar after a few days."

"Ok. Sorry, Chopper." Sanji flexed his hand, pleased to see that although the lower half of his pinky and ring finger were bound by the bandage. The top halves and the other three digits weren't. It'd be enough to let him chop as needed. What a stupid mistake.

"It's fine, that's what I'm here for. But this isn't like you. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Just got distracted, that's all."

"Uh-huh," Chopper said with a tiny hint of friendly teasing in his voice. "And would this distraction have to do with a certain three-sword wielding swordsman? For instance, am I still going to find a flower in his chest tomorrow?"

Sanji shook his head sadly, very glad that his previous audience had emptied out of the room. "Yes, he was the cause of my distraction, but -"

He was interrupted as the door burst open. Speak of the devil... "Are you ok? Someone on deck said you'd gotten hurt!" Zoro rushed in, almost running over Chopper, who took that as a sign to quietly exit the kitchen.

"I'm fine, marimo. Just a little burn." Sanji held up his bandaged hand, embarrassed. "Chopper already took care of it. Wait, where'd he go?"

At that moment though, Zoro didn't seem to care about Chopper's whereabouts. He grabbed Sanji's injured hand carefully, and guided the exposed knuckles to his lips almost reverently. "Be more careful, Sanji."

"You don't need to tell me that. I know it was stupid." Sanji pulled his fingers out of the calloused ones that held them, trying not to dwell on how nice his name sounded in Zoro's voice. "C'mon. There's a banquet starting out there, I could use some help getting this food out." He lifted four large platters at once, grinned at Zoro, and stepped out to the deck.

As he set them on the large table, Zoro came out trying to balance five, because of course this would be a competition to the swordsman. Sanji smirked as he saw one of them wobble precariously, and managed to make it to Zoro as it fell. A swift, practiced movement, and the tray and its contents were in Sanji's uninjured hand as though they'd never fallen. Zoro glared at him, but there wasn't malice behind that eye as they walked the dishes to the table and set them down. By unspoken agreement, they raced back to the kitchen, dodging the groups that had formed on the deck.

They made it to the door at the same time, both trying to go through it. After getting stuck for a second, they fell through, landing on the floor. Sanji couldn't help it; he started laughing. "I think I won."

"You sure about that, curly-brows?" Zoro asked, wiggling his own brows while half on top of him. He leaned in to kiss the blond.

Sanji accepted the kiss with a smile, but gently pushed the swordsman off when he tried to deepen it. "Don't start that again. I've had enough embarrassment for one day." Zoro obligingly rolled off as Sanji continued. "But I was the first one to touch the floor of the kitchen, so yeah, the race was my win."

Zoro laughed. "Alright, I'll give it to you. This time." He stood and held out his hand to help the cook up. Sanji took it, still grinning. Zoro used the leverage not only to pull him up, but to pull him close. "I'm glad you're here, Sanji. I'm glad I met you and glad it was you that I fell in love with."

The voice was low and sweet against Sanji's ear, and Zoro's arms were tight around his upper back. Sanji froze for a minute, then wrapped his arms around Zoro's waist in return, leaning his head against the other's shoulder. "That sounds too much like last words for my taste. What's wrong? You aren't still nervous, are you?"

"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to express my happiness."

"Well then, I'm happy we met, too," Sanji responded. "But there's still a few more dishes to get out, so let me go for a little longer, ok?"