ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 61 - Zoro

"Five... thousand," Zoro grunted, finally lowering and letting go of the weights.

Sanji applauded with a teasing smile. "You're almost back to your usual count, right?" He asked, setting down his meal planning notebook.

Zoro flopped hard on the couch to Sanji's right with a groan, grabbing the juice that Sanji had brought in earlier. "For that one, that is officially my usual. Some of the other exercises are a little low, though." It'd been almost a month since the hellishly-pink island and their little excursion with Bonney, and nearly a full two since he'd had that stupid surgery. It felt ridiculous that he was just now getting back to the shape he'd been in before the flower had tried to rip him apart.

"Well, I'm glad you're taking a break."

Zoro leaned his head against Sanji's shoulder. "I'm glad you're in here, sitting with me. Gives me motivation to show off, to go a little more. I told you you make me stronger."

"Do these have a story or meaning behind them?" Sanji asked, lightly touching the gold earrings Zoro always wore, that now rested on his own shoulder.

Zoro chuckled, knowing his boyfriend had been curious about the earrings for a while. "A little bit of one. Not super deep, though. Wanna hear it?" When Sanji nodded, he began. "You remember Johnny and Yozaku? It was back when I was bounty hunting with them. We'd just gotten a decent 'payday' and they decided we should celebrate. Which, y'know, means booze, so okay. Turns out, they had a bet going with a local bar that I could drink twenty people under the table and not be drunk."

"Did you?"

Zoro lifted his head and raised his eyebrow in mock offense. "Of course. But more challengers came after, and while twenty people was easy, thirty-two people was... not." Sanji looked like he wanted to laugh at that, which made Zoro smile. "I finally got so drunk I called it quits. Started walking back to the place we were staying, but couldn't find it. Instead I managed to wander into the seedier side of town and into a tattoo and piercing parlor that was still open. It may have had other... functions. Businesses. I don't know. I collapsed into a chair and passed out."

"Yikes."

"Yep. According to them, Johnny and Yozaku had finished collecting on their bet and eventually found me, but the owner of the establishment was apparently upset that I'd 'interrupted his business'. So Johnny got the idea to say that I'd meant to be a paying customer, but had drunk too much. Pulled some money from my pocket, and got me three piercings and the earrings, thinking I could take them out later if I hated them — at least so he said."

"You don't sound like you completely believe their account."

Zoro wrinkled his nose, just a little."I'm still not entirely sure it wasn't a prank that they regretted afterward and lied to me about." It would be on par with how the duo would think.

"At least it wasn't a tattoo. Which is probably how he lived to tell the tale, huh?" Sanji asked.

"Only barely. When I woke up nearly a full day later, the hangover was the only thing that kept me from slicing him up. By the time I'd rehydrated and normalized, I had decided that I kinda liked them."

"Lucky for Johnny, huh?"

"Yeah, his taste is alright. Well, in jewelry, anyway. He also got his tattoo that day, which... wasn't his best decision."

"Ever thought about changing them?"

"Johnny and Yozaku? All the time, but where to start?" Zoro joked, causing Sanji to hit his arm. "Fine, fine. Yes, I've thought about it, but I don't trust my own taste in jewelry, so I end up talking myself out of buying a new set every time. Almost asked Nami for help at one point, but realized that would come with a different price tag." He could just see the beri symbol in the navigator's eyes at the thought.

Sanji grinned nervously and pulled out a small box. "I'm glad to hear that. I know it's early, but, um... happy birthday?" He held the box out, and Zoro took it and opened the lid, revealing the simple earrings.

They weren't really much different from the ones he'd worn for all these years. All three were the same; a small bar of narrow gold, with rough gold-edged peridot stones — cut just enough to sparkle, but not so much that they looked too polished — hanging at the bottom that almost perfectly matched Zoro's hair.

Sanji began babbling, like he did when he was a little nervous. "I've had them for a while. I actually got them before your surgery. I've been trying to find an occasion to give them to you, but I kept chickening out. But if you don't like them, I can -"

Zoro silenced him with a kiss. "They're beautiful. All the more so because they're from you, love. Thank you." He efficiently removed his usual earrings, baring that earlobe for the first time in years. "Will you put them on for me?"

Sanji blushed, but he nodded and took the first earring carefully from the box and slid the post into the tiny hole, clicking the backing into place. He repeated the process with the other two, and Zoro relished in those gentle fingers brushing against his earlobe.

Then Sanji laid a gentle kiss on the earrings as he stepped back to admire his handiwork. "They suit you. I knew they would. Gold looks so good on you."

"Hm." Zoro looked at the earrings in his hand, then scrutinized Sanji with that same affectionate smile.

"What?"

"Just wondering what kind of jewelry would suit you. Piercings might look good," Zoro brushed the curve of Sanji's left ear, trailing a thumb to the lobe, then down his neck, landing on his clavicle. "But I'm thinking a necklace. Something simple. Small, so that it doesn't detract from this pretty skin or get in your way. A cord instead of a chain. Gold to match your hair." He tried not to look down at Sanji's hand and imagine the jewelry he really wanted to buy for the blond — a gold ring to circle around that long ring finger.

Sanji blushed. "... I don't wear much jewelry. It was never practical, since I'm always in the kitchen."

Zoro leaned down and kissed the clavicle where his thumb still rested."If I bought you something, would you wear it?"

"Of course, probably as often as I could. But I don't need it, y'know. I don't need anything." Sanji's voice was soft, and a glance up at that eye told Zoro he was thinking something loving. Someday, Zoro'd get his blond to share the thoughts that made his eye sparkle so gently.

"I want to get you something, though. A reminder of how much I love you, in case we ever have to separate again." Not that he'd ever willingly let that happen, but the New World was dangerous and unpredictable.

"Sap. I'm not going to let that happen, at least not long-term. I'll always come looking for you, no matter how lost you get yourself. You're mine, remember?"

"And yet, I'm the sap..." Zoro thought for a minute, something clicking in his brain.. "You said you got these before the surgery?"

"Yeah?"

"Was that on our joint shopping trip? The vendor you stopped to talk to on the street I couldn't get down without losing the bags?"

Sanji grinned. "Yeah. She said she made all the pieces she sold by hand. I was lucky she had three of that style, y'know."

"... I was jealous. You were thinking of me while talking to her, and there I was, muttering under my breath like a jealous idiot." Zoro scooted closer and wrapped his arms around Sanji. "Geez."

"Well, she was pretty cute...." Sanji pretended to ponder for a moment, then shook his head, a smirk on his pretty face. "But I do seem to have developed a thing for a particularly handsome musclebound mosshead who tries to pretend like he's too cool to care, but is secretly the sappiest person I've ever known."

"Hm." Zoro grinned teasingly back. "Well, that sounds like someone I know who has a 'thing' for you, too, so maybe you'll get lucky."

A/N: I know that, canonically, Zoro already had the earrings when he met Johnny and Yozaku. But I liked this version so much, I had to share, and figured this fic veered off enough from canon that it's fine.

 Also, the last chapter  (or at least what is currently the last chapter... I'm debating adding one more, but we'll see) will be published on my birthday as my present to myself. So, you know, something to look forward to.