phosphenes (n.) zoro x sanji [roommates au]

chapter 9 - solivagant

s/n : pools, NIKI

"I'LL HOLD YOU

IN MY HEART

UNTIL  I CAN HOLD YOU

IN MY ARMS."

☞ ☞☞

[zoro]

THE LOUD MUSIC THRUMMED
IN HIS EARS AND THUDDED IN HIS CHEST.

"Doesn't this look lit, Marimo?" Sanji laughed gleefully as he got out of Zoro's car, racing into the kaleidoscopic mansion.

Zoro sighed through his teeth as he parked his car, his eyes following the blond helm of hair to the crowded party in the house.

He decided Sanji was an anchor. The bad kind, he thought to himself. The kind that traps you near jagged rocks and volatile waves. The kind that makes you drown in your bad decisions. The kind that makes you go to crowded frat parties in cramped rooms of drugs and smoke and alcohol.

Zoro gritted his teeth as he walked to the driveway and entered to deafening music, breathless laughs and alcohol-tinged breaths.

He couldn't spot Sanji's golden head anywhere and the chaos around him grappled at his chest. He clenched his fists, feeling his nails bite into the skin of his palm as the huge throng of sweaty bodies swallowed him in.

He tried focusing on that magical three nights ago, that moon-drunk, ethereal boy with those beautiful strands of golden hair—
—and his magnificent daydream was interrupted by a forceful grip on his shoulder.

"Grumpy face!" Ace's smug, freckled features met Zoro's annoyed eyes, releasing his shoulder to press a red plastic cup to his hands.

"I recognise you." Ace scrunched his brows as he barked out an amused laugh. "You're my little brother's friend, aren't you?"

Zoro gave him a curt nod as he stared down at the reddish-colourless liquid sloshing in the cup.

The brown-haired, freckled senior followed his gaze and patted his shoulders, gifting him another gassy, alcohol-stinked chuckle.

"Don't worry, kid." Ace smirked.

"It's just 7-Up."

Ace's obnoxious laughter flitted in the space he left as he sauntered back to the crowd.

He wisely left the suspicious drink on a crowded tabletop and made his way to the kitchen where he thought he might find the golden-haired boy.

One second—that was all it took for his heart to sink all the way to his toes and his vision to become blurry and his mind to become a hurricane of—you'd always known this would happen; why are you still kidding yourself?

He turned on his heels and grab at the nearest red cup he could find and downed it greedily.

How it burnt—it definitely wasn't 7-Up.

The alcohol gnawed at his throat but he took another once he was finished. Cheap vodka was the only comfort for the suffocating heaviness in his chest.

The pretty brunette that Sanji was kissing—she was lucky beyond reason—to be doing something Zoro dreamt of for months.

He couldn't even allow himself to think; why couldn't it be me?—he knew he had absolutely no chance.

But hope still sickeningly grew between the spaces of his guarded rib cages. He tried to ignore the tell-tale signs of a free-fall for his blond roommate, but it only grew more overwhelming by the second they spent together.

He could only laugh brokenly to himself as he took yet another cup from a table.

Cheers, he mused to himself.

To yet another heartbreak.

written : 12 Dec

do you like the music?

thoughts about this chapter? ;")