Now…

Zoro couldn't sleep because his pillow refused to sleep, and it was starting to get damn annoying.

Sanji's breathing just wouldn't relax, and even though his fingers played gently with Zoro's hair, it was more out of distraction than want to soothe him.

"Ugh," Zoro eventually grumbled quietly, not moving his head from where it rested atop Sanji's bare chest. "Go to sleep already. I can hear you thinking."

"Shut up," Sanji replied, digging nails into his shoulder briefly, before holding his overgrown moss ball closer. "What color should the theme be?"

"The theme….?" came Zoro's muffled reply against his collarbone.

"You know. The wedding theme. Usually people decide on colors for their wedding party's outfits and the invitations and-"

"Ugh, I don't care," Zoro mumbled, exhausted and exasperated. "Whatever you want. Just go to sleep."

"Alright, alright," Sanji conceded, and went quiet...

Only to pipe up about twenty seconds later.

"Okay, but the flowers-"

"Fucking hell, cook! I'll strangle you!"

And Zoro pushed himself up on the blond's chest, digging elbows in harder than necessary before wrapping hands around Sanji's neck to do just what he'd voiced.

But Sanji only grinned and lowered his voice teasingly, "Getting kinky on me? Huh, mosshead?"

Zoro made a disgusted noise though and pushed off him, flopping to the mattress beside him and dramatically throwing an arm over his face.

Sanji chuckled, sliding over to his sleepy fiancé. He slid a hand smoothly over Zoro's chest and leaned in to kiss the corner of his lips.

"I can't help that I'm excited, love," he crooned, trying to appeal to Zoro this way. He didn't want the idiot falling asleep irritated with him. "We're getting married."

Zoro kept his arm over his eyes, but even in the darkness, Sanji saw his lips turn up.

"Not until August," he grunted, though it was clear he was happy about it. "Two months is plenty of time to plan shit."

"Coming from the guy who took his girl to the fucking courthouse," Sanji teased.

"Hey! It was Kuina's idea! Take it up with her!"

"Fine," Sanji said, then looked up at the ceiling. "Kuina? You listening? I'm gonna make this oaf have a proper romantic wedding. Gonna pry some sappy vows out of him and everything. And maybe even make him wear a wedding dress-!"

"Like hell you are, freak!"

Despite how damn exhausted he claimed he was, Zoro still found the energy to tackle Sanji amidst the blond's loud laughter, throwing a leg over him and pinning him to the bed roughly.

Not long after the ruckus started up, however, there was a thump on the adjacent wall, behind which they knew Tana's bed to be located.

"Tryin' to sleep here!" came her faint voice through the somewhat thin walls.

Sanji quieted his snickers, brushing at Zoro's jaw with a thumb when the swordsman rolled his eyes and flopped off Sanji to pout into the pillows again.

His daughter was eighteen, just graduated high school a few weeks ago, and dammit, he sometimes felt like she acted like the parent, especially these days.

Nevermind that he was thirty-seven. They respected each other, but Tana certainly wasn't afraid to let her dad have it, something she'd gotten from her mother. And probably Sanji too, considering she'd spent her entire teenage years with the foul-mouthed blond as a hugely important part of her life.

Sanji was glad Tana had taken that opportunity to scold them through the wall, because it afforded him an opening, while the girl was probably on Zoro's mind. It afforded him the chance to ask Zoro a question, a question he'd been thinking about for a few years now, since he and Zoro's relationship turned unbreakably serious.

The second he'd known he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this idiot, he'd also known just who else that included. Zoro and his daughter were a package deal, after all, and Sanji had come to love Tana just as fiercely as he would if she were his own flesh-and-blood child.

"Zoro," he breathed, to which Zoro very nearly whined.

"What. This isn't some giggly sleepover," the swordsman moaned into the pillow. "I love you. There, I didn't forget, now seriously, cook-"

"This is serious, Zoro," Sanji said quietly, the tone in his voice changing a little. He wasn't necessarily nervous to bring this up….but, okay, dammit, maybe he was a little.

Logically, he knew Zoro wouldn't react badly, but this was still very, very big, just as big as when they'd mutually decided to get married.

There hadn't been much of a proposal, Sanji having yet to get a good, proper one out of the other man, but the first time Zoro had brought it up, Sanji's heart had fucking fluttered, and the sex that night had easily been their best.

"Look at me," Sanji urged his fiancé, sneaking a finger under Zoro's chin, and there was something about the softness in his voice that actually had Zoro sighing and letting his head turn to look at the blond.

Sanji's hand slid up to caress the side of Zoro's jaw delicately, play with his earrings gently just as Kuina used to, and it was actually enough to have the swordsman relax entirely, shifting closer and wrapping an arm around Sanji's waist in his contentment.

He blinked sleepily at the blond, thinking about how he'd marry him right now if he could. Screw the big ceremony.

But it meant a lot to Sanji, and the friend circle he'd walked into by default after meeting the cook was considerably bigger than it was the last time.

Maybe a fancy wedding wouldn't be so bad. It might be hilarious at the very least.

For a long moment, he didn't think Sanji was going to say anything else, and his eyelids began to droop again.

But just before he could close them for good, Sanji murmured something that had him snap to attention immediately.

"Zoro…..may I have your permission to adopt Tana?"

His next inhale came sharply and stayed there in his lungs for far longer than normal before he let it out in a shuddering breath, a rush of warmth flooding his chest.

"You-" Zoro stuttered, feeling, for the first time in a while, a veritable blush coming to his cheeks. He tried again. "You want to-" But words still stalled.

Sanji didn't seem worried by his lack of eloquence. The blond stayed calm, even smiling a little, as he met Zoro's wide eyes in the darkness, tickled fingers through his hair, which had grown out a bit longer these days.

"I'll have to ask her too. There's the legal shit. She's eighteen, technically an adult. But-" And he pressed himself closer with confidence, brought both hands to Zoro's gaping jaw to drive home his words. "I love your daughter, Zoro. I love her like she was my own kid. And I want her to know that a lifelong commitment to you is also a lifelong commitment to her."

Zoro had stared at him in shock for a long time, but Sanji waited patiently, knowing the mosshead just needed to work through things a little more slowly, thoughts having to get through a thick bed of grass before they actually led to action in situations like this.

So he stroked at his frozen neanderthal's face, waited for Zoro to give him a reaction.

Of course, he sort of knew what that reaction was going to be, and, thus, he was ready, catching Zoro easily with his lips when the swordsman dove at him forcefully.

He'd kissed Sanji everywhere, his lips, his jaw, and when the blond felt a telling wetness transfer from Zoro's cheek to his, he couldn't help but smile broadly.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, to which Zoro let out a short laugh, and pulled back, swiping a hand over his eyes in a subtle attempt to wipe away the tears that had clearly welled there.

But he nodded, and as soon as he did, Sanji kissed those stray tears, teasing, "I make you cry~?"

"Shut up," Zoro growled halfheartedly, through a smile that actually turned devious after a few moments. "I just - can't believe she's gonna have a mother again…"

Sanji had shrieked, thrown Zoro's stupid face into a pillow, and despite Zoro's earlier complaints about wanting to sleep, the sex they'd had after that might have overtaken the top slot as their best.

It was a few days later that Sanji was finally ready to execute part two of his proposal. Because yes, he was treating it as such. It was a symbol of commitment, to someone he cared for deeply, and unlike Zoro, he wanted it to be sweet and perfect. He wanted Tana to know just how special she was.

Sanji knew her, knew she wasn't into sappy shit, just like her dad, but dammit, he was going to pull this off, and the day he was ready to put his plan into motion, he had a pleasant swarm of butterflies in his stomach from the moment he'd woken up.

Zoro and Tana were heading to the dojo for the day, Zoro already swinging the car keys on a finger as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, bitching up a storm yet again as soon as Tana mentioned Kanai was going to be there in her class of twelve-year-olds that afternoon.

Sanji had tried to knock it into Zoro's thick head that he should feel damn good that Kaku, the guy who'd beaten Kuina out of her kendo scholarship so long ago, was now bringing his son to her daughter to learn. But Zoro insisted on disliking the kid, even though the little redhead was actually one of the most mature and polite students in the class.

The boy didn't much tolerate flattery though, but that was most likely thanks to his mother. Kalifa was beautiful, but she didn't like to hear it from anyone but her husband, Sanji had learned from his brief encounters with them.

Sanji distracted Zoro from his hissy fit with a goodbye kiss and a squeeze to his waist, promising to drop by later after he met with the graphic designer about All Blue's menus. His restaurant wasn't due to open for a few weeks yet, and construction was complete, but the preparations were still managing to keep him plenty busy.

Tana had leaned in to kiss Sanji's cheek too before following her dad out the apartment door, grabbing the car keys from his hand before he could protest, but Sanji stopped her, catching her wrist gently and tugging her back.

"Hey, one sec," he said as she turned around again to face him with a quirk of her brow. "You got plans tonight?"

She shook her head and replied, "Nah. Why?"

Zoro had paused in the doorway, confused at first, before realization slowly creeped onto his features, brought a knowing smirk to his face and a host of stupid feelings to his heart. He kept quiet though, letting Sanji do his thing.

"Mind if I take you out to eat?" the blond asked, drawing a skeptical look from her.

"You? Eat someone else's food-?" she started to say, but he shook his head with a chuckle.

"To All Blue," he clarified. "Let's test it out, see how the atmosphere is. I'll make you anything you want. Consider it an extra belated graduation gift."

Not that he didn't cook whatever she liked always, but still, there was something about the way he was asking that had Tana wonder if he wanted to talk. There was a lot going on lately, a lot of big things happening in their lives. It was quite possible that he wanted to get her thoughts on it all.

"Is Dad invited?" she asked, smirking, to which Sanji replied, "Nope. All Blue's first dinner guest has to be civilized."

"Hey!" Zoro yelped behind Tana as she snickered.

"Kay. Sure," she said, shrugging.

"Good," Sanji replied. "Then we'll go as soon as you get home."

"Thank fuck, 'cause I'll be starving," Tana shot back with a grin.

Then she'd pushed her still-grumbling father out the door, and the curiosity over Sanji's mysterious invitation sat in the back of her mind all day.

Sanji had indeed stopped by the dojo for a quick spar with his fiancé that afternoon before having to head out again to "run some errands."

And by the time Tana and her dad returned to the apartment that evening, Tana had several expectations. She expected whatever Sanji brought up with her to be sentimental, something about being proud of her, maybe telling her he wanted her to play some big special part in their wedding, which she'd do but wouldn't exactly be thrilled about if it involved giving a speech.

She'd asked her dad in the car if he knew what Sanji was up to, but Zoro had merely shrugged and made a vague series of non-verbal noises that somewhat resembled, "I dunno." Unfortunately, with how clueless her dad could be, it was sometimes near impossible to discern if he really did know anything.

What Tana hadn't expected though was for them to walk in and find Sanji waiting and ready to go, dressed in one of his best blue suits no less, complete with a stylish belt chain and his silver watch that he only pulled out for special occasions.

Both Zoro and Tana stopped short not two steps in the door at the sight of the blond, Tana having to whack her dad in the chest after a minute so he'd wipe the lovestruck drool off his face.

"Uh," she said, hoisting her gym bag up a little on her shoulder. "There a dress code here?"

She'd showered at the dojo, but only gotten back into a loose T-shirt and jeans.

Sanji looked up from fiddling with his cufflinks with a grin.

"No dress code. Wear whatever you want~" Sanji replied. "Throw your stuff in your room and let's go."

"Ooookay," Tana answered slowly, shaking her head a bit to clear the initial shock of seeing Sanji dressed to the nines before heading out of the kitchen on the way to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, Sanji crossed over to Zoro, stopped in front of him and asked, "How do I look?"

When Zoro's only reply was another bunch of non-verbal sounds, Sanji rolled his eyes and reached up to pat Zoro's cheek.

But shortly after, he snuck his hand around to the back of Zoro's head, pulled him closer to kiss him, lips working slowly over his partner's, in a tender way that worked to spell out all his love and devotion, everything he wanted to convey to Tana that night.

When he parted for air, he stayed close, nuzzling his nose into the swordsman's, eyes still shut.

"Don't get too sappy on her, kay?" Zoro murmured against his lips, and Sanji had to give a quiet laugh.

"No promises," he said, and though Zoro replied with a huff, the swordsman still leaned in to kiss him again, the two of them relishing in the pleasant sparks that had yet to fade even a little bit since they'd both finally accepted this ridiculous connection between them.

"Ahem…"

A loud clearing of a throat forced the two apart after who knew how long, Sanji letting out a soft chuckle over Zoro's lips.

Arms still around Zoro's shoulders where they'd settled during their small bout of passion, he turned to see Tana standing there, weight shifted to one foot and arms crossed over her chest.

She still wore the same outfit, still had her hair halfway up in a messy bun, but she'd changed her nose ring (the proud piercing she'd gotten at the mall soon after her eighteenth birthday) for a stud, maybe in an attempt to look more sophisticated.

It didn't matter. Sanji wasn't looking to take her out of her comfort zone by making her dress up. What mattered was that she'd be there with him.

"Ready?" he asked her, to which she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Think I should be asking you that," she pointed out, then headed over to the door, adding, "Have fun heating up leftovers, Dad~"

Though leftovers of Sanji's food were never anything to complain about.

Of course, they still paled in comparison to his freshly-cooked meals, the likes of which Tana never got tired of, and the setting of their dinner that night sure was adding to his food's appeal.

All Blue had an upscale waterfront location, similar to the Baratie, but, in keeping with Sanji's vision, it incorporated the ocean as much as possible. From the floor-to-ceiling aquarium tanks inside, to the stunning outdoor deck that jutted out over the sea itself, crashing waves splashing up under the glass panels Sanji had insisted upon installing in the floor, it was a place of nonstop nautical encounter.

Tana could practically hear the Michelin stars coming its way.

Sanji had made her a fabulous seafood pasta, crème brûlée for dessert, which they'd eaten out on said deck, talking about their respective days, college, what Tana's friends' plans were after graduation, who was going to make sure Zoro wore a suit to his and Sanji's wedding.

It had been relaxed and pleasant, and eventually, they'd sat back to watch the sunset over the water, Tana folding a leg up on her chair and turning to rest her arms and chin on the backrest.

Sanji took this moment to look at her, really take in how much she'd grown and changed over six years, from that lonely, miserable little girl he'd found punching angry holes in crates in the Baratie's alley to the confident, well-adjusted young woman that sat across from him now.

Never in a million years could he have foreseen this to be their future.

Never in a million years did he ever expect that meeting her would be the catalyst for his life to change, for him to move on from the love he'd lost, only to find something better.

Never in a million years did he think he'd want to be her father as badly as he did now.

"Hey," he said gently, and when Tana looked over at him, he reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a small, velvet-covered square box he'd been keeping there.

He slid it across the table to her with a soft smile.

Her eyes fell to it, then instantly widened because that thing sure as hell looked like a ring box…

"Uh…" she stammered, unable to form words for a couple seconds. "How am I explaining this to Dad…?"

"Right," Sanji shot back sarcastically. "I'm proposing to someone half my age. Would you just open it?"

Tana scrunched her face up in confusion, but she reached out slowly to take the box, cracking it open and peering at its contents.

Nestled inside on white silk was a long, silver-chained necklace, on which hung a ring, also silver, the metal of the band twisting delicately around tiny, evenly-spaced sapphires embedded within.

"Whoa," Tana breathed, not really sure what else to say because the piece was beautiful, and it looked rather valuable.

Another minute of admiring before she looked up at Sanji again.

"What is this…?" she asked.

He smiled, leaning forward to rest an elbow on the table and his chin in his palm, watching her fingers turn the ring around ever so carefully.

"It was my mother's," he said calmly, which only made Tana let out another noise of disbelief in response.

He nodded, continuing.

"Yeah. I held onto it after she died. Just...something that made me feel close to her."

Tana understood. Her mom hadn't worn jewelry, but she still knew the unsuspecting power of inanimate objects to carry little pieces of their past owners. It was why she loved fighting with Wado so much. It made her feel like her own mother was right there with her.

She brought her attention back to the beautiful ring again with greater appreciation, brushing fingers over it.

"It's awesome," she said truthfully after a minute, gaze shifting between saturated blues, from the ring's stones to Sanji's eyes.

The cook's face lit up in another smile.

"Glad you like it," he replied. "'Cause it's yours. I know it's not really your style, but I want you to have it."

Tana couldn't help but jolt a bit in her seat, not expecting to hear that in the slightest, not after he'd said it had belonged to his mom of all people.

"Wait - what?" she nearly yelped, staring at him like he was off his rocker. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Really. I'm sure," Sanji repeated, and she saw him take a deep breath before he lowered his hand, as if preparing himself for what he was going to say next. "It's something….I know she would've wanted to keep in the family."

Tana's brow furrowed, her mouth opening a bit as if to speak, but she ultimately kept silent, watching him with a look that seemed wary but was really anticipating what he was getting at.

Her heart picked up speed when Sanji reached across the table, took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"It's something I'd want my daughter to have," he said softly.

The breath shuddered out of her, and she felt almost frozen as she tried to make sense of what he was implying here.

"Your...daughter?" she stuttered, making him hold onto her hand tighter.

"Yeah," he said. "Look, I know I'm not your mom. But….I'm marrying your dad. And it's never only been about him. My commitment to him extends to you. I want it to be official though."

He lifted her hand then, pressed a kiss to her knuckles, stroking his thumb over her skin.

"I love you, Tana," he implored. "I love you like my own daughter. And I want that. If you're okay with it. I want to adopt you."

She gaped at him, stunned, and the fact that she completely reminded him of her father in that moment, with that dumbstruck look, only served to make Sanji's grin widen.

It took a minute, during which he waited patiently for her reply, especially when, slowly but surely, tears appeared in her eyes, and despite her best efforts to quickly wipe them away, they weren't going anywhere.

Much like him actually, which she now knew to be absolutely true. Not that she'd believed otherwise, but hearing he wanted to formalize it, that he wanted to take complete responsibility for her for life.

"I-" she stammered, scrubbing at eyes furiously and sniffing hard to no avail. All she could do was give a tearful laugh through a shrug and nod vigorously.

"I - I mean, yeah," was all Tana could finish with, and when Sanji had stood, rounded the table and gathered her into his arms, she'd choked out, "I love you too," and clung right back to him as tightly as she could manage.

Since her mother's death, there had always been a hole. A hole in her heart that grew smaller with every passing day, but she'd still figured it would always be there. She'd learned to accept it.

In that moment, she forgot it existed completely.

They'd come back to the apartment, Tana with that silver chain and its brilliant ring dangling from her neck, to find Zoro passed out on the couch with the TV on mute, a couple cans of beer and his half-eaten bowl of dinner - er, popcorn rather - on the floor beside the couch, his hand almost comically drooping into it.

Tana crossed over to him without hesitation, lingering excitement clear on her face as she tapped at his cheek until he jolted awake, blinking up at her with confusion.

"Dad," she said, grinning and wasting no time getting to her point. "You totally knew what he was up to."

"Huh? What?" he garbled eloquently, wiping drool from his face and sitting up slowly, affording Sanji, who'd come into the room after, a wonderful view of his fiancé's completely disheveled cactus head, spikes sticking up every which way.

"He knew," Sanji answered for him, stepping up to the couch so he could give Zoro's hair a ruffle, messing it up more just for fun. "And he cried too, so you don't have to be so embarrassed~"

"Hey, and so did you!" Tana insisted, knowing for a fact there had been no dry eyes between the two of them that night. "Can we drop it?"

"Never!" Sanji shot back, a hand still atop the swordsman's head, petting absently like he'd acquired some overgrown house cat. "I've been waiting a long time to be able to embarrass a kid of mine, and now I finally get to!"

"It's not official yet!" Tana argued. "You keep being the cool guy who dates my dad, beats him up, and cooks us food until then!"

"What?! Is that all I was to you?!"

"Oh, you talkin' about the adoption thing?" Zoro finally cut in, yawning and looking between them, prompting Tana to drop her head into a hand, Sanji knocking a fist over his dumb head.

"Yes, genius, what else?" Sanji replied through gritted teeth, trying hard to remind himself why he'd fallen in love with such an imbecile. "And we're all gonna be one big, happy family that Kuina would be proud of, got it, Zoro? Model parents only. No smelly drunkards allowed."

"Oi! You let her drink wine with dinner all the damn time! And she's fucking underage!" Zoro screeched, as if he was competing with his own daughter over who had the most rights in the household.

Tana looked over at Sanji with a smirk, wondering how he was going to talk his way out of that one.

"Model parents give their children freedom to experiment in safe, controlled environments to reduce the possibility of them making bigger mistakes in worse situations," Sanji justified, giving Zoro's shoulder a shove for good measure.

"Bullshit! I drank underage in a safe environment and that's how I ended up with a kid at nineteen, Mr. Model Parent!" the swordsman squawked in return, his daughter instantly pulling a face.

"Oh, gross! Good night!" Tana shrieked in horror, quickly turning on her heel and retreating to her room, leaving her fathers to continue their stupid argument that really….wasn't so stupid in the end.

It was an argument parents would have, albeit probably without physical violence, the two of them nearly breaking the coffee table when Zoro attempted to tackle Sanji onto it in an impromptu wrestling match.

That was probably a mistake.

But then again, mistakes weren't always the end of the world, even big ones. Mistakes could lead to good things, so long as one learned to live with them.

And Zoro wouldn't let his life be ruled by the fear of making such mistakes.

Not now, not ever again.