Prompts

Sanji looked around the small living area as Zoro and Nami talked in English behind him. He was feeling left out already and to top it all, he couldn’t believe that he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind when he saw the green haired boy. He was lucky that he spoke in Tchach and not in a language that the other guy understood though it didn’t really contribute in making the whole situation any less embarrassing. He hoped Nami wouldn’t tell Zoro what he had said.

Turning around, he saw the other two still talking, looking into their mobiles and discussing something. Nami caught his eye and she smiled at him before returning to the conversation between her and Zoro. Sanji looked at his bags set near the quaint sofa, thinking about what to do next. He should unpack. He looked around again. The room had a sink and induction stove set up on a simple marble stand with a cabinet and a standard fridge at the very end.

Picking out the bag that contained the home cooked sweets and snacks, he approached the kitchen corner of the room and started unloading his stuff. There were chocolates, pickles, half boiled fries, all sorts of candies, simple cakes and a freshly picked fruits. Zeff had packed this bag and had told Sanji he would send items regularly via post. Looking at them, Sanji felt a small pull in his heart. He had never before been away from Zeff for longer than a day.

He set up everything in the surprisingly almost empty fridge. There were around two dozen cans of beer stashed in the bottom rack and a few eggs in the holder on the right but other than that, nothing. Finished with making the fridge look fuller, he turned to start unpacking his other things when he saw Zoro leaning on the sofa next to his luggage and smiling at him.

“Hey,” he extended his arm as Sanji walked forward, “I’m Zoro.”

Sanji took the offered hand and the two exchanged a formal shake, “I’m Sanji.” That was probably the only sentence Sanji could speak in a discernible accent.

“Need unpacking help do you?” Zoro spoke in Tchach, in such a heavy slang that Sanji almost didn’t realise he was speaking it, not to forget the jumbled words.

“Uh…” Sanji wondered if maybe Zoro understood a little Tchach in which case, he definitely understood what Sanji had said at the door and Sanji reddened instantly. “You understand Tchach?” he stuttered, hating himself for messing up his own language.

Zoro looked a little lost before he pulled out his phone, unlocked it and held it out for Sanji. The blond took it hesitantly, yet curiously and saw that Zoro was using an app with the Grand Line Insignia on it. There were two blocks, one where Zoro had written a sentence in English and Sanji saw the Tchach translation in the lower block.

Ah!

Sanji looked up at Zoro, a little surprised as he returned the cell. That was quite sweet of him. He smiled at Zoro, suddenly feeling much better and saw the other boy relax too.

“Uhh…” Sanji faltered for a moment, then pointed to his luggage and said, “bedroom?” He felt uncomfortable almost instantly as he realised his accent totally mutilated the word. But Zoro nodded understandingly and picked up one of the bags and motioned at Sanji to follow who picked the second bag and did.

Zoro opened one of the doors and Sanji halted in his steps as he saw a bathroom inside instead of the bedroom. Did he speak so bad that ‘bedroom’ ended up sounding like ‘bathroom’? Zoro suddenly turned to him and pointed inside, his ears a little red as he spoke, “This is the bathroom.” then walked sideways to open a second door to reveal their common bedroom, “This, is the bedroom.” He said and walked in.

Sanji stood there, slightly flabbergasted. He shook his head and entered the room, realising that Zoro had probably pointed out the necessities instead of waiting for Sanji to ask for it specifically. That was good.

Zoro had switched on the lights and Sanji set down his bag for a moment, taking in the room’s settings. There were two single beds set on the opposite walls, the room quite spacious. There were two study tables and two attached almirahs, multiple cabinets and two different windows. There was an AC set at the top of the common wall and a fan on the ceiling.

It looked quite… dormy. Little privacy but then he did opt for a double room instead of single.

Zoro suddenly started speaking and Sanji looked at him, not understanding a word but Zoro had pointed to the free bed and then to his made one and Sanji guessed he was just stating the obvious and saying that the other bed was his.

Sanji nodded and moved his luggage to his bed and started to unpack. He started with cleaning the whole area, the desk, the bed, the almirah, laying down the sheets and setting wax papers on the base of the almirah shelves before unpacking his clothes, shoes, undergarments and slippers onto them. He next set up his novels, new diary, his favourite pens, pencils and colors, English dictionary and other eatables that were to be kept in the room.

All the while he unpacked, Zoro sat on his own bed, going through his Instagram or chatting with Usopp, looking up occasionally in case the new guy needed any help.

Sanji picked up his toiletries and headed to deliver the last contents of his luggage to the bathroom when Zoro called out to him. He turned around to see Zoro furiously typing into his mobile for a few seconds before he started speaking, reading the words on his translator “side left slipping, right side cabinet lose. Left mine, sharing it?”

Sanji stared at Zoro, realising for the first time that this is probably how he sounded when he spoke in English with others and was hit with a rush of insecurities. He nodded at Zoro and tried to smile but he was sure he looked scandalised because Zoro suddenly looked uncomfortable.

Not wanting the awkwardness to extend, Sanji walked out the room and headed to the bathroom, keeping to the right to avoid slipping on the floor. No sooner had he set his foot in, he felt it slide unceremoniously, making him gasp as his hand instinctively grabbed on to the cabinet on the left, his toiletries clattering on the floor. The cabinet however, came lose the moment Sanji touched it, doing nothing to pause to fall, rather accelerating it.

Zoro jumped at the sudden cry and the noise of different cracks and things falling. He hurried out the room to the bathroom to find his new roommate lying flat on his back, blinking at nothing, looking dazed, surrounded by various broken bottles of soaps, shampoos, towels, trimmer, a box of condoms and the cabinet seemed to have trapped a bony arm under it.