Surprise!

"Surprise!"

orig. 12/00/2017

Zoro x Elly

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Sanji banged on the door the desk clerk had told him was the room Zoro had rented. "Come out, you ass! What's taking you so long to answer?" 

The door swung open and he gaped stupidly. The big man was naked to the waist with only a sheet wrapped around his middle. "The hell is your problem, pervert?!"

"Ohhh. That's why it was taking you so long to answer." He snickered. "Well, too bad - we have to..." He trailed off as the woman he was with crept cautiously around the corner. She was wearing what appeared to be Zoro's bright blue shirt he'd had on earlier and apparently nothing else. Her pale legs were bare and her feet padded quietly along the carpet.

Sanji's expression grew incredulous, his face turning bright red with a dribble of blood running down one nostril. "Angel?"

Zoro palmed one big hand over his face. "Crap," he sighed wearily.

"Whoops." Elly blushed a little. "Well, I guess, uh, oops?"

"Stupid cat," Zoro groaned dismally.

"Myep."

"Get inside," he hissed at the frozen cook, who was blushing bright red as he took in the scene before him. He pulled him in and threw him into a chair nearby.

Elly bent over to retrieve something from one of their bags and Zoro reached out and grasped hold of her arm. "Either hold your tail down or put some pants on."

"I can't find my pants," she said sheepishly, glancing quickly aside as Sanji gargled and sank down further in his chair. "You threw them someplace when we..."

"All right!" The swordsman yanked her into his lap, curling an arm about her waist and cocking one leg up so she was covered as much as possible. "Then stay here."

"Okay." She paused. "I think he's going to bleed out."

"Probably." He stared hard at the other man, who seemed paler than usual. He'd attempted to staunch the flow from his nose with tissues, and there were several horribly bloody clumps in the wastebasket already.

"Sanji?"

He twitched at the mention of his name, however. "Eh?"

"What did you want? Is it important?"

He looked at her blankly, then suddenly shook his head as if to clear it. "Oh, no! Not at ... not that important. Not really." Zoro swore under his breath, his eye murderous. "Well, I mean, there's been a little, ah, incident, and we may have to leave sooner than we expected."

This time Zoro swore out loud. He stood up and deposited Elly on her feet facing the bedroom door. "Go get our stuff," he told her in a resigned tone of voice.

"Yeah." She disappeared into the room and they could hear her digging around, stuffing items into the bag.

"How long - how long were you two...?"

"Huh?"

"How long?!"

"Only an hour," he grunted. "Thanks to you, dumbass." Elly snickered softly. She was fully dressed now, holding out the rest of Zoro's outfit for the big man to put back on.

Sanji yelped in embarrassment. "I didn't mean that!"

"Oh." Zoro walked over and took the proffered clothing from Elly. "How long?" He asked her.

"A few months." She shrugged. "Longer if you count the time we spent on ship figuring each other out."

"Kitten!"

"Easy," she ran her fingers through his green hair, combing it back for him. "I meant we needed to see if we both felt the same way. It was a big deal, for me."

"You called her 'kitten'," Sanji choked. "Holy shit."

It was finally Zoro's turn to blush. "Shut up," he muttered. Then he seemed to think of something. "What're you gonna tell the rest of the crew?" Elly's ears perked forward intently.

"Nothing." The blond man spread his hands. "I am, after all, a gentleman."

"Really."

"Yes, damn it! What am I supposed to do, tell them you two are... ah. What are you two, anyway?"

"Does it matter?"

"I think it does." He pointed at Elly, who was trying to avoid looking directly at Zoro. Her striped tail was swishing even harder now, a clear sign of agitation. "Angel?"

"I - I can't..." She placed one finger adorably between her teeth, fidgeting nervously.

Zoro let out an irritated gust of air. "She's mine," he said firmly.

"You can't own a lady, you moron!"

"No," Elly said softly. She placed her arms around the big man's neck and dropped her head on his shoulder. "That's okay. It's perfect."

Zoro smirked at Sanji and mouthed, Asshole. Out loud he simply said, "Let's go."