Mixed Up (ZoSan)

Karuna

For what must have been the third time since she'd called Sanji that morning, Nami apologized.

"It's just, I got pretty wasted," she admitted with a sigh, walking slowly through her kitchen to prepare herself some coffee. "And I ended up bringing my date home with me, and, well, you know how that goes."

"I don't mind! I'm just flattered you remembered to call me at all; you really are so sweet!"

Despite the early hour, Sanji already seemed to be running on full energy, which at first had been kind of annoying, but was now starting to become tolerable. He'd been so chipper when she'd first called that, for just a moment, Nami'd thought that he'd gotten over his issues himself.

But whenever she started to mention Zoro, Sanji would either abruptly change the subject or stop talking altogether. As if his forced attitude wasn't annoying on its own, the fact that he was unwilling to confront his problems was beginning to wear her down as well.

Ignoring the monumental headache her hangover was causing her, she did her best to keep herself in a positive mood. She'd been worried at first that his attitude was because he was upset with her for neglecting to call him like she'd promised the night before, but she was sure now that it was just because he was struggling.

Barefoot, she stepped as quietly as she could across the linoleum flooring through the kitchen. Her skin stuck and peeled with each step she took, and though the action hardly made any noise, she felt like her date, still sleeping in her bedroom, could probably hear it.

"How was your date, by the way? Did he treat you as well as I did on ours?"

Sanji had been casually trying to get details from her about her evening throughout the duration of their conversation. He'd been subtle about it at first, but when he realized subtly was getting him nowhere he began to ask about it directly. She wouldn't have minded so much if she didn't know that he was just using it as an excuse to avoid talking about his own romantic issues.

"My my," Nami teased, tucking and holding her phone between her ear and shoulder as she spoke. "Is that jealousy I'm sensing?"

She heard him scoff as she filled the Keurig machine with water and then sifted through the pile of k-cup coffee pods she kept to find the flavor and strength she wanted.

As she turned it on and began to wait for the water to heat up, she set the phone down on the counter briefly to hoist herself up to sit beside the coffee maker.

"I'm just making sure that the standards a woman of your caliber must have, have been met!" Nami laughed quietly at his words as she picked her phone up to hear the tail-end of his rant. "Especially since you brought the man home!"

A cheeky grin crossed her face that Sanji couldn't see.

"Not that it's any of your business, but, yeah, I'd say my standards were met," she mused, stretching out her legs. "But, hey, enough about me; we both know that this conversation isn't supposed to be about me and my romantic interests."

That shut him up, but if he was going to be direct with her, then, well, she'd just have to be direct with him in return.

Waiting for Sanji's response, Nami yawned and stuck her k-cup pod into the machine once it alerted her that the water had finished heating up. Almost as if called in by the machine itself, Nami's sister appeared in the kitchen.

Fully dressed and in the process of tying her dyed blue hair up into a bandanna, Nojiko quirked her brow when she noticed Nami was on the phone.

"Who're you talking to?" she half whispered, half mouthed.