The bathroom door slammed open, revealing a panting Sanji. Zoro, who had just peeled off a few temporary bandages and his ruined clothes, was about to step under the shower spray. He turned his head toward him and frowned. "Oi, do you mind?"

"Zoro!"

Slightly surprised by the use of his name the swordsman faced the cook, uncaring that he was naked and filthy. He took in Sanji's dishevelled appearance and the wild look in his visible eye. Was that fear? "Is something wrong?" he asked carefully.

"You... You're... Shit, I thought..." He straightened up, took a couple of deep breaths and looked Zoro and all his wounds over attentively. "I heard what happened in town and Usopp told me some of it too and I thought..." He trailed off mumbling something that Zoro couldn't catch but still getting the gist of it. Not fear then; worry. And there was definitely relief in the sigh he'd just let out.

Zoro snorted. "You should know better than to believe anything out of Usopp's mouth by now." His smirk widened at the embarrassed flush covering the idiot cook's face. "Let me take a shower in peace. Chopper wants me to clean up before he covers me with salves and bandages and shit." He stepped under the spray, holding back a wince when the hot water hit the scratches on his arms and they started bleeding again.

Sanji didn't leave. He closed the door behind him and took an unsteady step. He righted himself and his shoes thumped angrily on the tiles as he closed the distance between them. The twitch in the curly eyebrow was even more proof that the cook's blood was starting to boil. "You. Stupid. Marimo! What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Oi." The swordsman really didn't feel like letting him explode at the moment.

Of course that didn't stop him and he continued to advance on Zoro. "You can't take on a whole fucking marine base like that!"

"Oi, cook." Sanji was now very much in his personal space and his shoes were getting soaked.

"Since that happened–"

"OI!"

That finally shut him up. Zoro didn't need the reminder of that particular event. He stared straight into Zoro's eyes, fists and teeth clenched. "What's with the worried act suddenly?" Zoro asked. Was he underestimating him or what?

Sanji gaped a little. "Suddenly? It's the fourth time this shitty week you've done reckless shit and painted the shitty streets with your shitty blood!"

The swordsman eyed himself, noting the rivulets of blood (some his, some not) mixing with the water, trickling down his body to the tiled floor and down the drain. He shrugged. "Tch. It wasn't much blood this time, not compared to the others." No reason to get all worked up, Zoro thought.

He raised his head and jumped a little when he found Sanji even closer than before. The blond head bumped his shoulder and Zoro felt hands grasping at his arms and back. "You bloody idiot." he mumbled, and Zoro could feel Sanji's lips moving against his wet skin. The cook's clothes were getting drenched, sticking to his skin, and stained where they were pressed against Zoro. He figured that Sanji didn't care much about his clothes at that particular moment. He wrapped his arms around the blond's trembling back and he soon relaxed. There were more unintelligible insults muttered in the crook of his neck.

Zoro sighed and closed his eyes, trying to find reassuring words honest enough that he wouldn't get himself kicked for. "I'll try to leave some of the next marine base for you guys." It must have been a good start since only the sound of running water answered him. "And stop worrying like that over scratches. I'd need to be hurt much more than that to be taken ou-OW!" He almost lost his footing when the tip of a shoe hit his shin hard.

Maybe not getting kicked was an impossible goal to start with...

Only Sanji hadn't moved, except for his lips that Zoro was sure had just curved into a smile.

Accompanying pic: http:/ /-syb .deviantart .com/art/quot-You-bloody-idiot-quot-166201579