More Breakdance!
Title: A Bittersweet Memory
Character(s): Zoro/Sanji
Words: 1030
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei, and this whole project is inspired by sybile
A/N: The third installment in my and greensan 's breakdance AU.The first part can be found here, and here is the second chapter.
It had become a habit to subtly challenge the other whenever they happened to be at the same circle or dance off, and somehow, that happened quite often after their first encounter. Zoro couldn't say he wasn't interested in the blond, that would be a lie so heavy it would earn him a century or so in hell if you did believe such things. Gazes were shared between the dancer and the watcher as the one not on the dance floor always managed to get a seat up in the front row.
Sometimes Zoro would watch Sanji with one or more of his friends, Luffy, Usopp or sometimes Ace, but more often, he went alone. It was a ridiculous idea, but he wanted that man for himself. He wanted everything about him; his extremely bendy and muscular body, the snarky attitude and the man's moves on the dance floor didn't make anything better.
Of course, both of them pretended like nothing, or pretended that they were pretending it was nothing. He wasn't sure. Both of them played around with the other one, trying to win both dance challenges and arguments, but neither took it that extra step further. That was, until that late evening. A few dancers, dancers much more professional than those they had seen on the day they met, had gathered under the street lights in an abandoned parking lot in the outskirts of town.
He had seen the scenario that played out in front of him before; it seemed to haunt the blond. Someone called him a skinny weakling, and of course that got him fired up, and half of the times, he simply beat up the guys, but the other times, he showed them how it was done. Zoro always enjoyed watching that with a grin plastered to his face.
This night, Sanji tossed a worn cassette to the boy in charge of the portable boombox, and Zoro frowned at the old school music media. He guessed that it was a special song if Sanji had bothered to keep a freaking cassette around. The improvised DJ put the device into the player and started the music.
Zoro had a hard time believing what he heard. How could it be...? That song... How did Sanji know...
He probably didn't know anything about the connection Zoro's brain made as soon as he heard the old 80s classic. Yet he started the same way she had done, and the next step was identical too. Years had passed since Kuina passed away, but he still remembered every step she had ever made. She had been the reason he starter breaking, and her death had just triggered him to become better.
Her moves had been breathtaking and her audience had always gone wild when they thought her back snapped in half, but he had know that she was stronger than that. She was the best he had ever known, and something like a complex move couldn't even harm her. Instead it had been a pair of stairs. A pair of fucking stairs had killed the girl that just weeks before had been named the most promising young breakdancer, both genders.
And here, years and years later, Sanji plays her old favorite song and repeats the steps that made him fall in love with dancing. Yet his body moves so differently from hers. If he used to like watching Sanji dance, it was nothing like this. This was... Art was the word that was best to describe what he saw. He was shining with pure concentration and relaxation in an impossible mix as hands, arms, legs and feet got mixed up in a blurry mess and Sanji seemed to tie a knot with his own limbs.
He saw Kuina's old moves inside Sanji, but he had altered them slightly, like the girl's ghost was trapped inside his skinny body, trying to control his dancing, but he fought to keep it to his personal style. He relied more on his arm strength than she had done, but her shorter legs had been to a disadvantage when it came to some of the pendent moves where long legs gave you power.
At the end of the song, he realized that his chin was threatening to hit the asphalt, and he looked around at the others. Sure, as usual everybody was mesmerized by the blond's moves, like they had never seen anything like it, even less tried it.. They really needed some more competition in this town...
The music stopped and Sanji froze in a double handstand with his back bent so far that one of his feet almost touched the ground, the other leg stretched high towards the stars. Oh god, that was a new personal record as long as Zoro had watched him. Wow.
Sanji jumped down on he foot he had prepared, the other one coming down soon after, and then he stood face to face with Zoro. His dark eyes stared straight into Sanji's blue. The blond's hair was messy after the dancing, but it still covered his left eye.
“Where did you learn those moves?” he asked, his voice harsh as his throat had gone dry with his mouth hanging open and all. “They remind me so much of my childhood friend...”
Smirking, Sanji fished up a cigarette from his pocket, but cursed when he found out that he didn't have a lighter on any matches on him, but Zoro helped him get rid of his nicotine need with a flick of his Zippo. After a long drag on the poisonous stick, his grin widened.
“A wizard never reveil his secrets, mosshead...”
Zoro almost laughed, but settled for an amused huff. Just like the idiot to say something like that... Then again, he had all the time in the world to find out what was behind Sanji's dance tonight. He turned away as to walk home, but something got the better of him and he turned around.
“Hey, dart brow!”, he called out. “I did like what I saw today.” And with a smug grin he turned again and begun walking the wrong way home.
Chapter four, by greensan