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“What do you think of this one, Chopper?” Sanji asks, holding up a small purple flower.
“So pretty, Sanji!” Chopper squeals, clapping his hooves together. At his feet, Chopper has a pile of flowers Sanji has delicately selected from Usopp’s massive garden on the Sunny’s deck.
Sanji’s gaze unconsciously drifts over to where Zoro is dozing in the afternoon sun. He looks relaxed, stretched out like a cat on the grassy deck. He’s watching as the soft breeze ruffles Zoro’s soft green hair when he's struck with an idea.
“Hey, Chopper? Don’t you think we need a test subject for our flower crowns?” Sanji asks with a sly smile, pointing over to where Zoro is slumped in the grass, fast asleep.
“You mean Zoro?” Chopper asks, tilting his head to the side quizzically.
“Why not? His head’s already green. It’d kinda look like a flower field, don’t you think?”
“Woah, yeah! Great idea, Sanji!” Chopper exclaims, laughing excitedly.
Satisfied with the little reindeer’s approval, Sanji adds another flower to the pile and continues finding the ones that would match the best. When Chopper had asked him to help with his project, Sanji couldn’t refuse. Besides, Sanji hasn’t had the chance to make flower crowns since he was just a kid, sitting in the castle garden for hours to make crowns of daisies that matched his mother’s hair.
Chopper has picked up the art rather quickly, skilled at tying the delicate stems together even with his little hooves. He quickly makes his final practice crown, and Sanji pats him on the head.
“Looks real nice, buddy. Just remember to make the real one a lot bigger, okay? Ol’ mosshead has a massive forehead,” Sanji explains, picking up Chopper’s flower crown, examining his work.
“That’s for sure!” Chopper giggles. He starts to gather the flower pile, trying his best to not squish any of them.
“You think he’ll like it?” Chopper asks, looking up at Sanji with big eyes. The little reindeer looks so earnest, Sanji could never say no. Besides, knowing Zoro, the swordsman would treasure anything Chopper took the time to make him.
Watching Chopper and Zoro’s relationship grow firsthand is another one of the things about his boyfriend that Sanji treasures most. The same man who could slay an entire army with his own two hands holds Chopper against his chest as they nap in the sunshine. Pirate hunter Roranoa Zoro is a dangerous wanted man, but he's also the man who pushes Chopper on the swing and carries him on his shoulders when he’s too tired to walk. Zoro may deny it, but deep down he has one of the kindest hearts Sanji has ever known.
“Of course he’ll like it,” Sanji says nonchalantly with a wave of his hand. “Now, I’m gonna go make sure he’s still asleep. So bring the flowers over, okay?”
Sanji leads Chopper over to where Zoro lies in one of his usual spots, basking underneath the warmth of the afternoon sun. He’s snoring loudly, his hair mussed up from where he’d gotten comfortable in the grass. For a moment Sanji almost feels bad for disturbing his sleep, but Zoro gets enough sleep as it is. Besides, lying on the ground like that can’t be good for Zoro’s back.
He sits down, maneuvering Zoro until he’s lying on his stomach, head settled comfortably in Sanji’s lap. Zoro grumbles, but doesn’t protest, too used to Sanji bugging him during nap time to care. He only wraps his arms around Sanji’s waist, nudging closer to Sanji’s stomach to get more comfortable. Sanji drops a hand into Zoro’s hair, lightly scratching his fingers across his scalp in the way he knows Zoro likes.
Chopper plops down beside him, dropping his armful of flowers onto the grass between them. They both start sorting through the pile, picking out the flowers they want to use. As Sanji starts on his flower crown, he’s interrupted by quiet giggles.
A few minutes go by and the giggling doesn’t stop, so Sanji stops his progress and looks up to see Chopper gently, and very slowly, placing a stray flower on Zoro’s head. It joins several other disassembled flower blooms and flowers too small to go in a crown. Chopper sits back on his heels, admiring his handiwork for a moment before falling into another fit of giggles. He holds his hooves to his mouth in a poor attempt to keep quiet.
Sanji has a sneaking suspicion that Zoro is aware of what’s happening. He turns his gaze downwards to see Zoro peeking up at him from his good eye. Chopper is busy sifting through the remaining flowers, apparently more interested in turning Zoro’s head into a garden than making flower crowns, so he can’t see that Zoro’s awake yet.
Sanji looks down at Zoro with a wry smile, giving him a slight shrug. Zoro is apparently relaxed enough to tolerate Chopper’s antics, because he simply closes his eye again, settling further into Sanji’s lap and squeezing his arms tighter around Sanji’s waist. The scene is so domestically sweet that Sanji thinks he might have just fallen in love all over again. He returns to his own project, afraid he’ll ruin Chopper’s hard work if he ogles his boyfriend any longer.
“How’s it look?” Chopper whispers, tucking the stem of his last flower behind Zoro’s ear. At this point, Zoro’s hair consists of more flowers than anything else, an array of blues and purples and pinks with small patches of green here and there. Zoro continues to stay still, almost like he’s being careful not to move in his sleep, lest he mess up Chopper’s work.
“Looks mossier than ever, Chopper,” Sanji replies, still smiling contentedly. Sanji swipes a hand through Zoro’s hair unconsciously, scratching lightly at his scalp and consequently displacing all of the flowers Chopper painstakingly placed all over the swordsman’s head. He notices a second too late, hearing Chopper’s gasp of horror.
“Sanji!” Chopper pouts, crossing his arms. “Now his head is all green and boring again!”
Zoro lifts his head up in a daze. “Who’s green and boring exactly?”
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask the mold growing on the deck,” Sanji says sarcastically, picking up one of the flowers to tuck behind Zoro’s ear.
“See, all fixed, Chopper, don’t worry,” Sanji reassures him, patting the little reindeer on the head. “Besides,” he continues, leaning close to Chopper’s ear. “Mosshead needs more than flowers to fix all that. ”
Chopper giggles at his response, pledging to run off and pick better flowers for Zoro. As Sanji watches him run off, he picks another flower off of the deck and places it with the other. Before he can pull his hand away, Zoro catches his wrist, tangling their fingers together
He places a gentle kiss to the back of of Sanji’s hand before settling down to go back to sleep. Sanji extracts his hand from Zoro’s to return his hand to it’s rightful place in his hair.
It doesn’t take long for Zoro to fall asleep after that.