ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 39 - Zoro

When Zoro woke up the second time, he was much more awake. Sanji was still sitting beside him, holding his hand tightly enough so he was sure this wasn't a dream. "Hello again," the blond greeted, that pretty blue eye soft and warm.

"Sorry," Zoro said, trying to blink his surroundings into focus. The ceiling was different, and he was on something softer than the table. They must have put him on a bed somewhere away from the operating room.

"For what?"

"Fallin' asleep again." Still more metal than wood. So probably still on the Polar Tang.

Sanji chuckled. "So you remember waking up before? Chopper told me it could take a couple more hours for the anesthesia to fully process out, so no need to be sorry, marimo. He also said it could make your mouth dry. Need some water?"

Zoro nodded, and Sanji almost instantly brought a cup to his lips to help him drink. The water was cold and fresh, and Zoro breathed a sigh of relief as he swallowed. "Where are the docs?" He got out.

"Both back on the Sunny," Sanji answered. "We've got a transponder snail so we can call them when you're awake enough to deal with our noisy crew, and one of Law's people has been checking in about every half hour."

"How long have I been out?"

"It took about a half hour for you to come out of it initially after your surgery. You woke up long enough to say hi and ask if it was all out, then fell back asleep. That was two hours ago. So it's nearly one, now."

Zoro grinned, still a little loopy from the anesthesia. "Aww, are you ...shirking your cooking duties for me?"

"What makes you think I didn't go and whip something up for them in the two hours you've been asleep?" Sanji said teasingly.

"You didn't. I can tell. You stayed at my bedside instead of cooking~." It came out sing-songy, and some part of Zoro knew he'd cringe about it later.

Sanji blushed, confirming Zoro's suspicions. "Well, it's not shirking if someone else is covering for me. Besides, you never finished saying what it was you didn't want to wake up to. I stayed in case the ending was 'an empty room'."

Zoro blushed then, and started trying to sit up, but his recently-cut muscles wouldn't cooperate, especially not with the anesthesia still floating in his system.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa. What are you trying to get up for?" Sanji asked, suddenly worried.

"You're saying sweet things like that and I can't kiss you from down here," Zoro said. It was almost a whine, he was so frustrated with his lack of control.

And there it was, that beautiful blushing smile. "Then ask, silly marimo." And Sanji leaned down so he was just barely hovering over Zoro and kissed him gently on the lips. As he sat back up, he teased, "I'm not sure whether to hope you're still groggy enough to forget this in a few more hours or to hope you're just coherent enough to remember."

"I'll prob'ly remember. Think I've had hangovers worse than this."

"... I didn't know you could ever drink enough to get drunk, much less hungover. I'll have to see that sometime." Sanji shifted, reaching for the water again. "Your lips were still pretty dry. Have some more."

"Ooh, you could feed it to me..." Zoro wiggled his eyebrows suggestively in case Sanji didn't know exactly what he meant.

Sanji's blush darkened. "O...K..! You definitely have a little too much anesthesia still in your system, don't you? That's gonna be a no. We're still on someone else's ship, remember? Now tilt your head up."