A Crush Leads the Way

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Zoro stared into space behind the register he was posted at. What would be the odds that that handsome curly cook would buy something in one of the stores he worked at? Probably a microscopic chance.

He sighed glumly. Sanji owned the restaurant All Blue way down the street from the clothing store he was working at. His expression became even glummer when he considered the fact that he couldn't afford another visit to that restaurant for the next couple months at least. The darned cook just had to make a pricey restaurant. Zoro could barely afford to keep up rent, buy food, and pay bills.

If only he had been able to get his dream job too...

"Zoro! Earth to Zorooo!" The woman who was wringing up customers in the same shared register cubicle waved her hand in front of his face. Nami had a big smile on her face when he seemed to notice her finally.

"You need to stop daydreaming, there's some customers walking over here!" She frowned when she finished talking as she turned back to her own customers to flash the next person a stunning smile.

Zoro forced himself to at least not frown or glare at the incoming people and succeeded at keeping a fairly neutral expression for them. It was a happy mother and her bouncing child who was walking along beside her. She folded the clothes and put them on the counter beside the register.

"I'd like to buy these today." She smiled at him, her other hand holding onto the toddler dancing around beside her.

Zoro couldn't help the small smile that grew on his lips from the child grinning up at him too. "Alright, your total will be $25.89, swipe when ready." He gestured towards the card swiper on the customer side of the counter.

The woman payed and bid him a good day as she and her small child walked away, items inside one of the store's white plastic bags.

"That's a first, since when do you smile at work?" Nami came up next to him since her side was empty now. She didn't need to work here but there was something she couldn't put her finger on that told her she should.

Zoro didn't say anything for a moment, still relishing in that pure little smile. "Since right now. I thought you wanted me to smile more." He replied to her, hesitant to tell her the actual reason. Nami didn't need anymore blackmail material on him.

"So you weren't oogling that woman with a smile?" Nami teased.

Zoro huffed. "I wasn't "oogling" anyone. No one is interesting here anyway." He checked the time on his phone and cursed under his breath. "I need to get going, I have my doctor's appointment to go to." More money spent he could've spent on seeing Sanji.

Nami glanced at the time too. "I guess you have a point. Not many good looking people are around here. You better go then. I'll give the manager a good word for you!" She raised her voice so he could hear since he was already walking away. She knew he heard her even if he didn't answer. The redhead was worried about Zoro but she brushed it off to continue working.

_____

Zoro rushed into the hospital office, breathing audibly as he quickly signed in for his appointment. It was really just a stupid checkup to see how his latest injury was healing. The cut on his upper right arm was mostly healed by now, acquired from his other job at the daycare.

One of the kids was flinging around a fairly sharp pair of scissors with a firm grip and accidentally almost stabbed Zoro with it when he turned around super fast. One of the owners saw and told him he needed to get it bandaged up even though there wasn't much blood.

"Mr. Roronoa, come with me please." A nurse came out to greet him. Zoro stood up from the seat he just sat down in to walk over to her. He was led straight into a room this time so they could check him out faster.

He could hear talking approaching his designated room before the door swung open to allow the nurse who's been taking care of his arm and two unfamiliar men in.

"Hello, Mr. Roronoa." The taller of the two men spoke as the door was shut behind them. "You're probably confused why we're here and that's what we wanted to talk to you about." The man leaned back against the sink. "We understand that you might be a good candidate for some progressive medicine we've been working on."

Zoro narrowed his eyes at the man talking after listening to him. "I've heard stuff like that before, I'm not helping anyone test some experimental vaccine or cure on me if that's what you're asking." He frowned deeply.

The man shook his head. "It's more of a..." his hands folded together as he thought about how to say it. "Medical breakthrough. You see, it already works exceedingly well but it has not been done to completion on any person yet." He pulled out a small slip of paper and offered it to him. "You would be well compensated for volunteering to help us."

Zoro took the slip of paper and his eyes grew wide.

"A million dollars?" His voice was rough and quieter as he said the dizzying number.

The tall man nodded. "If you help us, that money is yours." He smiled at the green haired man. "What do you say?"

Zoro's heart thumped wildly in his chest. He would get to see Sanji a lot if he said yes.

"It's safe?" He questioned.

This time they both nodded. "It's probably our safest research of all time with a guarantee that nothing will happen to you."

Zoro let out a big breath.

"Yes, I'll do it."

______

Zoro groaned as he climbed into bed that night, stomach queasy and doing flip flops as he tried to get comfortable. Those men injected something into his lower belly and sent him home with a bottle of pills to take daily. He didn't think he'd feel so sick after agreeing to it.

At least he already got compensated for agreeing to it. That eased a little tension in his body. A warm fuzzy feeling settled in his chest at the thought of being able to go to All Blue a lot more often. Even though Sanji thought it was annoying when he came there, at least he got a few little moments with the busy man.

Speaking of food, he still needed to eat dinner. At just the thought of food, much of the queasiness faded to be replaced with gnawing hunger that made his stomach growl painfully.

Zoro groaned along with his body, forcing himself to get out of bed again to go make something substantial enough to satisfy.

The green haired male glanced at the big pill bottle and conceded it would be best to start taking them now. He popped off the lid and swallowed one of the hefty pills before he went back to finding something for dinner. He settled on making a nice big bowl of pasta with some frozen vegetables to mix into it. By the time it was ready, it felt like he hadn't eaten in days.

Zoro dug in as soon as it came off the stovetop. The wafting of the creamy sauce and steaming vegetables was too much to bear. He needed it in his stomach now. The first bite coaxed a long moan from him at how good it tasted. The sound made him blush at how loud he was but he continued to inhale the food. There was maybe a pound of pasta that had been made in the pot so shock struck him when his fork scraped the metal bottom.

The hunger was now gone, replaced by a nice stuffed feeling that made him feel drowsy and ready to pass out. Zoro pulled himself up and dumped his body into bed where he almost immediately fell asleep.

A/N: new story, ik, but it's getting me in the mood. Hope everyone likes this one xD