Work Text:
“What do you mean Doflamingo canceled?!” Nami screeched into her phone, probably damaging the eardrums of whoever was the unfortunate caller on the other end of the line. “Do you understand how detrimental it is that we get this photoshoot done today? The magazine wants the pictures as soon as possible, do you have any remote idea of how much money this is going to cost the agency? Of course you fucking don’t!”
Sanji winced from his high chair, all dressed up and ready for the photoshoot that probably isn’t happening if Nami’s more irate face by the minute was any indication.
“And he couldn’t have said he was going to be unavailable any other time than right now!? How in the fuck am I suppose to get another model?”
The sound of the call hanging up was audible even from where Sanji was and he is 100% confident that if it wasn’t because of how expensive her phone was, Nami would have thrown it against the wall in frustration.
“So,” he started once it seemed that she at least had calmed down a bit. “Does that mean we’re going to cancel?”
The glare she sent his way made him close his mouth real quick.
“Are you insane?” She reprimanded him. “We can’t cancel, you know The Charlottes, they will be expecting the pictures so they can start the campaign for their new clothing line by Monday first thing in the morning and I don’t know about you but I really like to live peacefully, something that would go down the drain if we dare to disappoint Big Mom.”
Well, she had a point. “Nami, you know I never doubt your powers, you are the best agent in the entire world and I would be so fucked without you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get to the point, Sanji.”
He looked around, at the crew that had stopped doing whatever it was they were doing as soon as Nami’s voice started to rise on that phone call, all of them having the same question written all over their faces.
“My dear, how are we going to find someone that can do the shoot with me, at this really short notice?”
Nami groaned. “I have no idea but we need to figure it out, like right now , because we’re renting this place by the hour and Robin is going to kill me if we go above the budget we had planned.”
Sanji bit his lip, trying to think of who they could call in such a hurry, coming up empty because all the people he knew were booked to the brim for the foreseeable future.
After all, the modeling world was as busy as it was big.
“So are we just waiting for a miracle to walk through the door or something?” The photographer, Law, said in a deadpan voice from where he was standing. “And I want it on record that I told you that Doflamingo wasn’t trustworthy, but you didn’t listen to me.”
“Shut up, Law.” Nami growled, frustrated. “I have zero ideas, who the hell is going to be available right now?”
Almost as if their prayers were heard and answered in succession, a new voice came anew.
“Curls, I got the coffee you like!” Nami and Sanji turned their heads in unison to the door, where Zoro, Sanji’s bodyguard and boyfriend, yes, sue him, they broke protocol but they didn’t give a fuck; walked through the door holding a paper tray containing a few cups. “Also I got the latte the witch loves and an espresso for Mr. Grumpy photographer over there.” He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed that every single eye in the room had turned to him. “Why are you all looking at me like that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Nami pinned his gaze on Sanji, communicating with her eyes, he, in return, sighed, knowing that this is probably going to cost him his entire stack of liquor but nodded his head, getting the message loud and clear.
Law seemed to catch on what they were planning, he took his coffee from the tray. “Here we go.” He smirked.
Zoro from his part looked even more confused but before he could ask again, Sanji was already at his side, a smile too big on his face that made Zoro squint his eyes.
“My mossy idiot!” Sanji started, taking the tray from him and putting it on a table, then proceeding to throw his arms around his neck, Zoro’s own hands going to his waist almost on instinct. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, I love you too, curls.” His words were genuine but the suspicion was audible in his tone. “But right now you want something, on with it, you know how much I dislike riddles.”
Sanji pouted, leave it to Zoro to be so intuitive. “Well, it just so happens that Doflamingo, the asshole, canceled at the last minute, so now we have the entire studio ready, with a deadline hanging over our necks, but we’re one model short.”
Zoro’s eyes widened, understanding what was being asked from him. “No.”
“C’mon mossy.” Sanji whined. “We really, really need your help.”
“Curls, I am your bodyguard, I am no model and frankly I have no interest in being one, you know that.” He tried to reason.
“I know,” Sanji replied. “And I promise you I’ll make it up to you, I’ll let you raize the entire booze stack.”
Now that seemed to interest Zoro, but he still looked at him with hesitance. “All of it?”
“I swear it on my mother.” Sanji said, solemnly.
Zoro looked from Sanji to Nami, who was looking at them with a grin, like she knew he had caved in already, to Law who was setting up his camera like he already knew the answer he was going to give and to the rest of the crew who were staring at him with hope in their eyes.
He sighed, knowing he was beat. “I don’t want to hear a single complaint when the first bottle I open once we get back home is that expensive one you’ve been saving.”
Sanji’s eye twitched, but he refrained from making a comment. “So, you’ll do it?” He asked, just for clarification.
In response, Zoro rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ll be your partner for this shoot, don’t say I never do anything for you.”
A hug was what he got, followed by the cheers of the crew in the room.
“Alright then!” Nami clapped her hands, gaining the attention of the room. “Zoro, thanks to your heartfelt collaboration, your debt will be reduced by 10%.”
“You’re so generous, witch.” Zoro said in a mocking tone, receiving a slap on his shoulder from Sanji, he grunted.
“Yes, I’m the best, we already established that, now if you will follow my dear friend Conis here, so she can get started on getting you ready, that would be delightful.”
Zoro’s eyes swayed from the girl beside Nami, with a few outfits at hand, to the guy beside her with makeup brushed and then back to Sanji.
“Is it too late already to back off?”
“Yup.” Sanji bit out with a laugh, taking Zoro’s hand and directing him to the makeup station. “Don’t worry, It will be fun!”
Zoro sighed, he was doing a lot of that today.
The things he let Sanji talk him into.
“I will never let you forget this.” Zoro warned him when he stepped out of the dressing room. “I’m going to take you up on your promise and I’m going to drink all the expensive wine in the apartment.” He continued his tirade but Sanji almost didn’t hear him, not with the way his eyes were laser focused on what he was wearing.
Because damn, Zoro looked hot.
Which, of course, he is, but trying to get the mosshead into anything other than a good pair of pants and a comfy shirt was a hassle on a regular day, the other man always complaining when he had to wear something out of his regular choice.
But now, since this was a photoshoot to promote a new clothing line, Zoro kind of had to get into clothes he wouldn’t normally use.
Hence the too tight green shirt, with the first few buttons opened up and Sanji had the feeling that it was to prevent the buttons from popping apart, given that there was not too much that could contain his boyfriend’s beautiful, but very large chest.
He’s getting distracted.
To accompany the shirt were an equally looking tight set of white pants, and to top it all, in his hands he had a maroon jacket, which he is to hold during the photoshoot rather than use it.
In other words, he looked fantastic, at least in Sanji’s eyes.
Zoro gazed at him and he was sure, given by the smirk that started to show on his mossy face, that his own was flushed.
“Do I look good, curls?” He asked him, a shit eating grin shining through.
Sanji, not one to be deterred, tried his best to save face.
“You’re okay,” he said but his voice came out with a pitch, damn it.
Zoro opened his mouth, for sure ready to make a witty comeback, but Law clearing his throat stopped him from doing so.
“I suggest we get started with this, given that we’re renting by the hour and we’re already behind on the schedule.” He reminded them in a flat tone.
“He’s right,” Nami clapped her hands, taking both of them by the arms and directing them towards where the set was. “Let’s do this and afterwards, you can flirt for as long as you want.”
“Nami!” Sanji exclaimed, now fully convinced that his face looked like a tomato.
Nami just laughed. “You can’t fool me, now do your job and be pretty and listen to Law, unless you want him to kill both of you.” She walked away.
“At least someone in this room has common sense.” Law chimed in from where he was. “Alright, at first, given that you were doing the set with Doflamingo,” everyone could hear the venom in his voice when he said that name. “I was going to go for more reserved poses, because I didn’t want to give that fucker too much of an opening to be even more annoying than he usually is.”
Sanji raised an eyebrow. “And now?”
“Well, given that now your boyfriend is your co-model, I figured I can take more liberties, we will be starting with the pair photos and then we’ll move on to the individual ones.”
“Zoro-ya” He called. “I need you to sit on this couch right here.” Zoro did as he was told. “Sanji, sit on the arm rest.” Sanji followed as he was instructed.
“So, am I supposed to smile or something?” Zoro asked and Law groaned. “What? I've never done this before.”
Sanji couldn’t help the giggle that escaped him. “You’re doing great mossy.”
“Right now, I need you to look at the camera and make a not so serious face but also it can’t be a full on smile.”
Zoro looked at Sanji, asking him for guidance with his eyes.
Sanji’s own gaze softened and he gave Zoro’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Just imagine it’s the two of us, alone, focus on me.” He gave him a small smile, which Zoro returned with a gentle smile of his own.
A click and a flash were heard immediately.
Both of them wiped their heads to look at Law, who was staring at his camera with an approving face.
“What the hell Law?” Sanji exclaimed. “We weren’t ready.”
“Oh I assure you, you were, change of plans.”
“What?” Nami appeared faster than light, planting herself beside the photographer. “What do you mean, change of plans?”
Law sighed. “I’m discarding everything I had planned and letting the lovebirds do their own thing, given that Charlotte Linlin didn’t give as much instructions more than she threw her new line at us and I have it on a good source that she loves romantic comedy shows and movies, I think we can go for something like that and it would look more natural.”
Nami seemed to consider his words, before nodding her head. “Alright, I trust you on this one because you have done way more jobs for her than us.”
“So what do we do now?” Zoro asked.
“We’re going to do exactly as Sanji said, act like it's just the two of you here, like what you would do if you were alone.”
The deadpan tone Zoro answered with could have been given an award. “I’m sure that what me and curls over here get up to when we’re alone is not something you want to take pictures of.”
Another sigh and a slap to his shoulder were the answer, Sanji’s glare on him would have intimidated him if he didn’t know that it was in response to being embarrassed. “You know I’m right.”
“Still! You don’t have to broadcast it.” He growled, a minuscule pout on his mouth that made Zoro smile.
“I can do whatever I want curls, we know that, and since I’m allowed to do everything it seems-” He didn’t wait for Sanji to reply, taking the other’s arm and pulling him, until he landed on his lap, the other’s legs over the armstand.
Sanji yelped. “What are you doing?”
“Law wants natural? You love to sit on my lap.”
Sanji blushed, lowering his head. “Shut up.”
Zoro’s grin was delighted. “Never.” He put his forehead against Sanji’s. “I’m the bane of your existence.”
They heard another click, followed by another.
“Just like that,” the photographer said, “We need more of that.”
Zoro’s grin widened. “So what do you say curls, let’s do this.”
Sanji felt his own smile start to form even though he knew his cheeks were still flustered. “Alright moss, let’s do it.”
“Tell me again what he said?” Sanji asked through his phone, from where Zoro was, sitting on the stool near the kitchen counter, he was able to hear the bark of laughter coming from the device, he raised an eyebrow, which didn’t go unnoticed by Sanji.
“Wait, let me put you on speaker, seems that my mossy over here wants to listen too.” He moved until he was next to him. “Is Law, by the way.” He informed him.
Zoro nodded, Law’s voice the most gleeful he’s ever heard it since he has known the man.
“Doflamingo was fuming.” Law basically squealed, if you could believe so. “He was so red, I thought his head would explode and his blood would be all over the office.” Now that was the Law he knew.
“Why the fuck was he mad though?” Sanji questioned, his brow nearly touching his hairline. “He was the one that canceled on us, at the very last minute, if it wasn’t for my mossy here in shining armor, we would have gotten in so much trouble.”
“Which is exactly why he was so angry.” Law told them. “Doflamingo has some petty beef with Big Mom, the details are unnecessary for you to know, but the asshole wanted to ‘teach her to not mess with him’, well, look how that turned out, this new line drop has been the most successful for the Charlottes so far this year, Big Mom is swimming in money and sweets.”
And Law wasn’t exaggerating.
After the pictures for the new line finally started to show around the city, in billboards and fashion magazines, it seemed like everyone wanted to know more about the mysterious bodyguard turned model.
Nami has had to deal with so many phone calls since the drop, having to make clear over and over that Zoro was not available for modeling.
He made that very clear.
“It doesn’t interest me.” He had said when Nami got the first ten calls asking for Zoro’s availability, after asking about his opinion on the topic. “I mean yeah, it was fun to do so, because it was with curls over there and Law and you are both people I know and trust, but I have no plan on getting into professional modeling, I’m good with my job as a bodyguard and my job at the dojo on the side.”
Nami had looked at Sanji then, but it was fruitless because both of them knew that Zoro never changes his mind when he has decided on something.
And that was that.
“Seeing Doflamingo so angry has been the highlight of my year so far,” Law’s voice brought them back to the present. “And I have to thank both of you for that.”
Zoro huffed out a laugh at those words. “Well, you’re welcome then.”
Law has hung up not long after that, leaving Sanji and Zoro to the quietness of their apartment. Zoro scrolled through his phone while Sanji was busying himself at the stove.
“Are you 100% sure you don’t mind having our pictures all over the internet?” Sanji asked him, making Zoro roll his eyes and sigh.
“Curls, as I said the hundred times you asked this already, I don’t care, your pictures are always all over the internet and the streets and the magazines.” He replied, proud for the way his voice came out even.
“Yeah, but I do this for a living, you got yourself mixed up in this because I asked you to and now everyone wants to know more about you.” Sanji talked back.
“Your fans already wanted to know everything about me because we’re dating.” Zoro deadpanned.
Sanji huffed a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, but it’s not the same!” He exclaimed. “Because now they want to know everything, where you were born, where you went to school, what else you do, someone tagged me in a tweet where they were guessing what you smell like! Can you believe it? They want to know what your favorite food is and some idiot even had the nerve to ask me what your favorite pastimes are? Why do they want to know that? Who do they think they are?”
The more Sanji talked, the more Zoro’s smirk sharpened.
He had a pretty good idea why Sanji was throwing such a fit.
“Curls,” Zoro’s voice came out, holding back the laughter. “Are you jealous?”
Sanji turned to glare at him, but the way his cheeks reddened were all the answer he needed.
“I am not fucking jealous, moss.” He threw back, his voice rising again. “I mean why would I be jealous of people that don’t even know you? That’s ridiculous, you’re ridiculous, I’m just saying that you’re not that used to people trying to invade your privacy and-- FUCK!”
Zoro was up from his seat in a heartbeat, rushing next to Sanji who was cradling his hand close to his chest.
“Stupid fucking stove.” Sanji’s words came out with venom. “And stupid fucking me, how old am I that I burned my fucking hand!” He complained though it came out more as a whimper, no doubt trying to play how much it hurt.
Zoro turned the stove off, before taking Sanji’s hand, inspecting it.
It wasn’t a large injury by any means, but it also wasn’t small and blisters were starting to form, no doubt it hurt.
“Go sit on the couch, I’ll get the kit.”
It was obvious that Sanji wanted to brush it off but Zoro was not going to let him.
“Sanji, on the couch, now.” He practically ordered him.
Sanji tried to glare back but in the end relented, sighing.
“Alright mossy, we’ll do it your way, I’m just saying, it’s just a burn.”
“Listen, curls, is either you let me clean it and bandage it or I can call Chopper and see how well that fares for you.”
The threat of calling their very, very, protective doctor friend was enough for Sanji to shut his mouth and direct his ass to the couch.
Zoro smirked at the sight, before swiftly going to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit, getting a bucket of water and then joining Sanji in the living room.
He didn’t say anything once he sat down, opening the kit and getting a compress out of it, wetting it a bit on the bucket he had before moving on to clean Sanji’s hand gently.
The aforementioned hissed as soon as the cool compress touched his skin.
“Sorry,” Zoro muttered, his eyes never leaving the task in front of him.
“It’s alright, it’s what I get for being distracted.”
Zoro threw him a look, which made Sanji turn his head away.
He finished the cleaning, before proceeding to pat it dry and then applying the salve Chopper gave them for these kinds of situations and finishing with wrapping the hand with gauze.
During all the process, Sanji kept quiet and even now that he finished, he didn’t give any indication that he wanted to have the first word right now, which was undoubtedly a first.
Zoro sighed, leave it to Sanji to make things more complicated even when they weren’t.
“You don’t have to be jealous, you know.” He said, raising a hand in the air to stop Sanji from talking, no doubt the other was ready to deny what he was saying. “Curls, you can’t lie to me, I’ve been dating you for 3 years, working with you for 5 and known you for more than half of my life.”
Sanji deflated, knowing he was beaten.
“Alright, alright, maybe I was a tiny bit jealous.” Zoro huffed a laugh at that which in turn made Sanji glare at him. “Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Sure you didn’t, but anyways, can you blame me? The entire internet is saying how much they want you! And some of them are actually very graphic on what they want you to do to them, Usopp showed me and I’m not going to lie, a lot of them seemed painful just by imagining it.”
“Curls.”
“Sorry, I was getting sidetracked, I know I shouldn’t care too much and lord knows you have put up with having to see a lot of the things people have said about me over the years, but I can’t help it! You’re mine! And those fuckers have some pretty good nerve thinking they can talk about you like that.”
He finished his rant with a pout and reddened cheeks, no doubt embarrassed about his tirade.
Zoro, now that Sanji was done, didn’t hold back in his laughter.
“Oh sure, laugh at my misery, won’t you?” Sanji grumbled, standing from the couch. “I’m gonna go and hide in the bedroom before more of my dignity is lost around here.”
But before he could even take a step further, he was stopped by a hand grabbing his arms and pulling him, just like that day in the photoshoot, into the other’s lap. “Mosshead!”
“You’re ridiculous, curls.” Zoro nuzzled his cheek with his nose. “I don’t care what the internet has to say about me, you know that and let me tell you how I have dealt with all the thirsty comments people have said about you over the years.”
Sanji raised an eyebrow, telling him to go on without words.
“People can say whatever they want, they can say they want you and all the kinky shit they please and it doesn’t bother me because at the end of the day, I’m the one you’re coming home to, why would I be jealous of other people’s fantasies, when I get to have the real thing?” He took Sanji’s injured hand in his own, raising it so he could give a chaste kiss to it.
Sanji blush was now going on full force.
Stupid mosshead and his stupid blunt but really romantic ways.
He groaned, hiding his face in the crook of Zoro’s neck while the other laughed.
“I hate when you make sense.” He complained.
“Whatever you say, curls.”
Sanji threw another glare at him.
“Anything else you want to add?” Zoro tainted him, the grin never leaving his face.
Sanji rolled his eyes, but relented. “I’m sorry, I was being unreasonable; you’re right, I don’t have to care about other people, when at the end of the day they’ll never have the real thing because that belongs to me.”
Zoro closing the distance between their faces was all he needed as an answer.
“I love when you get possessive.” Zoro said when they separated, running his hand through his boyfriend’s hair.
Sanji grinned. “Takes one to know one, I guess.” He looked at their intertwined hands before raising his head again to look at Zoro.
“So, are we taking this to the bedroom or-”
Zoro lifting him bridal style, making him yelp in the process, told him everything he wanted to know.
Sanji laughed all the way to it.
He had nothing to worry about.
Nothing at all.