#opvalentines2019

[pingo1387]

For Their Sake

One Piece Valentine’s Day Exchange 2019! @opvalentines  Written for @zu-lake-ah!  College AU  Pairing: ZoSan 

Luffy, hanging upside-down at a desk in an empty classroom, tilted his head when the door slammed open and someone yelled, “I just can’t stand it anymore!” 

“Hi,” Luffy said to his friend with a wave as they pranced in and sat on his desk. He sat up. “What is it today?” 

“Mr. 2!” 

“Okay. What can’t you stand?” 

Mr. 2 clapped his hands to his face. “Our dear friends the samurai and the cook!” 

“What about Zoro and Sanji?” 

“Darling, they’re in love, but they won’t do anything about it!” 

“So?” 

“So we must do something to rectify this situation! Oh, my poor heart aches at the thought of their pain! Come along, Mister Straw-hat!” 

“Sure,” Luffy said, hopping to his feet and jogging after Mr. 2. “Why am I coming?” 

“Emotional support, for me and them both! They’re your friends, too!” 

“But why do we gotta do anything about it in the first place?” Luffy asked as Mr. 2 threw open the doors to the empty theater and spun into the dressing room. 

“Because they’re suffering, darling! Our friends are suffering!” 

“Oh, no!” Luffy exclaimed in horror. “I didn’t know! We gotta do something!” 

“Exactly! Now, I have a plan to end their woes! Just give me some time!” As Mr. 2 dug through the drawers for makeup and ran to the cabinets for wigs, he said, “Do you know where the poor dears are at the moment?” 

“Zoro’s got . . . um, some kinda math,” Luffy said. “In . . . the building that looks like a spiral.” 

“And Blondie?” Mr. 2 said, slicking back his hair and placing a blonde wig on his head. He took it off and pulled out the makeup he needed, seizing tools and dusting something onto his face, opening his mouth and staring at his reflection in the dusty mirror. He ran back to the cabinet and pulled out a fake suit, yanking off his normal clothes and jumping into it. 

“Sanji’s . . .” Luffy scrunched up his face and looked at the clock, squinting. Mr. 2 looked at it and told him the time. “Sanji’s . . . got science. Chemistry? In the building that looks 2-D.” 

“Fantastic!” Mr. 2 placed the blonde wig on again, combed the hair a certain way, and turned around. “How do I look?” 

Luffy jumped. “You look just like Sanji! Wow!” 

Mr. 2 had applied makeup in such a way that his face shape had altered completely. He had a colored contact in just one eye, for the other was covered decently by the blonde wig, and a black pencil made his visible eyebrow curl up at the end. 

“Think it’ll be enough to fool dear Zoro for a few minutes?” he asked. He coughed and cleared his throat, lowering his voice. “Is this better?” 

“You even sound like him! Zoro’s dumb, so that’ll get him for sure!” 

“Then off we go!” 

Zoro looked around as Mr. 2 and Luffy sat on either side of him in the lecture hall, grinning. “I’m in the middle of something,” he said, scowling and gesturing to the questions on the projector. “If you’re gonna be dicks, can you do it later?” 

“No, no, I have something important to ask you,” Mr. 2 said. He placed a hand on Zoro’s desk. “I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time . . .” 

“W . . . What is it?” Zoro said, looking down at his hand and back up at Mr. 2. 

“I like you, you silly fool.” Mr. 2 smiled. “Won’t you go steady with me?” 

Zoro’s eyes widened. “Oh,” he said. He stared at his desk. “Geez, all of a sudden . . .” 

“Won’t you?” Mr. 2 insisted. “You don’t know how long it took to work up the courage . . .” 

“Y---Yeah,” Zoro said, hiding his face. “Of course. Of course I will.” 

“That makes me so happy! Will you meet me at the café in the quad in about an hour?” 

“Yeah. I’ll see you there.” 

“I look forward to it!” 

“Bye, Zoro!” Luffy exclaimed, causing heads to turn as he and Mr. 2 pranced out of the classroom. “He’s really happy.” 

“I can never tell with him,” Mr. 2 said, popping out the contact as they moved. “The poor man has the worst case of resting bitch face I’ve ever seen.” 

“So what’s the plan now?” Luffy asked as they hopped down the stairs. “Zoro said he’d meet you for lunch, but he was talking to Sanji, and Sanji doesn’t know about this.” 

“You simple dear! We just need to pull the same stunt with Sanji!” 

“Oh, of course!” 

Due to troubles with finding an appropriate green-hair substitute, it was almost time for the lunch date when Mr. 2 and Luffy finally met up with Sanji in his classroom. 

“What do you assholes want?” he snapped, packing up his things amid the end-of-class chatter. “I’m busy.” 

“Busy?” Mr. 2 said. His face was neutral, having drawn on stern eyebrows with the same pencil from earlier, and he wore a sweater to cover up the lack of muscle in his arms. Having used several packets of green Kool-Aid to dye his hair and his fingers to mess it up, it looked just like Zoro’s. “That’s too bad. I was hoping we could hang out.” 

“Yeah, well, you can take your hanging out and shove it---” 

“On a date.” 

Sanji froze, his ears turning red. “What?” He looked at Luffy. “Uh . . . so, Luffy, why are you here?” 

“Emotional support, he said,” Luffy said, pointing to Mr. 2. 

“Don’t change the subject,” Mr. 2 said, clearing his throat. “I’m asking you out.” 

“But---but---you---” 

“It’s a yes or no question, curly. Will you at least meet me for lunch?” 

“Yes,” Sanji burst out. He twirled his hair in his fingers, smiling. “Yes, I’ll come. Do you have someplace in mind?” 

“The café in the quad. We can talk more there.” 

“Okay! Yeah, sure!” Sanji grinned. “I never thought you’d be the one to ask, you idiot. Stupid. Give me a few minutes to get ready, okay?” 

“Whatever you need,” Mr. 2 said. “I’ll be there. See you.” 

“Bye-bye,” Sanji said, waving. He turned around, smiling out the window as Luffy and Mr. 2 ran away. 

“We did it!” Luffy exclaimed, high-fiving Mr. 2. “So what now?” 

“Now we spy! We’ve got to make sure the plan worked!” They made it back to the dressing room, panting, and Mr. 2 threw off the clothes and changed back into his normal ones. 

“Your hair’s still green,” Luffy said, pointing. 

“No time to wash it out!” Mr. 2 ducked into the sink in the corner, scrubbing his face until the makeup vanished. He applied his normal eyeliner and lipstick again and combed his hair back to its usual style. “We’ve got a date to supervise!” 

“Use this,” Luffy said, taking off his hat and handing it over. 

“Thanks ever so much, darling! Now let’s go!” 

Sanji arrived at the café and spotted Zoro at a table already, the sun shining through the window and the lights low inside. He took a deep breath and strode up, sitting across from him. 

“Hey,” Zoro said with a small smile. 

“Hey,” Sanji said with a big one. “So . . .” 

“I’m, uh . . . gonna get some tea,” Zoro said. “You want anything?” 

“Coffee. Black.” Sanji handed him a few dollars. “If that’s too much, let them keep the change.” 

“Sure.” Zoro stood and Sanji tapped his fingers, smiling. Zoro soon came back with two cups on a small tray, one full of coffee and one full of hot water and a teabag. 

“Thanks,” Sanji said, taking his cup and stirring it. “So . . .” 

“So . . .” 

“Here we are.” 

“Yeah.” Zoro sighed. “Why today, of all days? What pushed you over the edge?” 

“What?” Sanji said, halting his stirring. 

“You’ve . . . liked me for a while, right? I have, too.” 

“You have---? Yeah. Yeah . . . ?” 

“So, what? You just couldn’t stand it any more?” 

Sanji frowned. “Don’t act like you didn’t instigate this.” 

“Huh?” Zoro said, dunking his teabag in and out of the water. 

“You and Luffy barge in as I’m packing up and making other plans, and you ask me out all of a sudden, and now you’re pretending it’s all my fault for saying yes?” 

“What---when did this happen?” 

“Like, twenty minutes ago. When my class ended.” 

Zoro frowned and folded his arms. “You’re mixed up. You and Luffy barged into my class about an hour ago, and you asked me out.” 

“Wait, wait, what? I was in class this whole time!” 

“So was I.” 

“So what---who---” 

As one they looked around the café and spotted Luffy and Mr. 2 hunched over a table together, Luffy with hot chocolate and Mr. 2 with iced tea. They stood together and marched to their table. 

“Hi,” Luffy said, grinning. “Are you guys having fun?” 

“What’s the meaning of this?” Sanji hissed. He looked at Mr. 2. “What is it today?” 

“Mr. 2.” 

Sanji yanked the hat off of his head and stared at the green hair underneath. He glared at Mr. 2 and Luffy, who smiled back. 

“So,” he said through gritted teeth. “You thought it would be funny to disguise yourself as us to get us on a date together?” 

“Not so much funny as necessary, dear,” Mr. 2 said, drumming his fingers on the table and taking a sip of his tea. “You were never going to do it yourself. And you both said yes.” 

“But---” Sanji looked between him and Zoro. “I---” 

He gave up, kicked Mr. 2′s shin, and stormed back to his table. 

“You’re a dick,” Zoro said to Mr. 2 and Luffy, punching Mr. 2′s shoulder for good measure before following Sanji. 

“They say thank you,” Luffy informed Mr. 2. 

“They’ve got a funny way of doing that,” Mr. 2 moaned, rubbing his shoulder and leg. “My poor limbs!” 

Zoro sat across from Sanji again. “So . . .” 

“So?” 

“Wanna go out?” 

Sanji stopped tapping his foot and stared at him. “What?” 

“They’re right. We both said yes.” 

Sanji folded his arms, unfolded them, and stirred his cooling coffee again. 

“Yeah,” he said at last. “Yeah. How about you? Wanna go steady?” 

“Of course.” 

“Good.” Sanji glanced again at Mr. 2, who waved at him with Luffy. “For our second date, wanna shank them together?” 

Zoro grinned and placed his hand over Sanji’s on the table. “Sounds perfect.”