Filler: Modern AU (Pt1?)

I decided to finish this bc I'm super anxious and writing random things on my dome is very relaxing. Too bad im an engineering major LMAOAOAOAO (end me)---

"Oi... Oi!... OI!"

I shot up when I was kicked in the leg. "What the hell?!" I shouted, glaring at the perp. Of course, it was Zoro.

"You passed out on the floor last night. We need to get going," he grunted, nodding his head toward the door.

I rolled onto my stomach and hid my face in my arms, "You know what? I think I'll actually sleep through my classes."

He started walking towards the door, "Fine by me. Have fun failing."

"Like Sanji will let you in the car without me," I chuckled dryly and got comfy in my position on the carpet.

"It's not that bastard today, it's Nami. Today's Tuesday," he said, his tone sounding incredibly smug. He knows the difference between a Nami driver and a Sanji diver.

I sprung to my feet, "FUCK! Hold on, I'll go! I don't want her to drag me to the car again." He leaned against the door and watched me run into the hall to my room. I slammed the door behind me and quickly splashed my face with water, followed by stuffing a toothpaste covered toothbrush into my mouth, scrubbing it aggressively while I changed my pants.

The feeling that I was in a 2000s young adult film intensified as I spat out the toothpaste and hurriedly gathered my hair to place it into the most horrifying ponytail-clip-thing I've ever seen. Sadly, this was not a cute one, this was the one that was barely staying in place to the point of irritation with multiple strands of hair being free at the bottom of your head. There was literally no time to fix that, though.

By the time I rushed to the front door, Zoro already had the key in the open door to lock it behind us. I ran down the stairs to our apartment and into the parking lot, where Nami was waiting very impatiently. I could see her finger tapping against her steering wheel from here.

When she spotted me, her eyes visibly narrowed. I ignored the cold sweat trailing down my face as I carefully approached her car. As soon as I opened the passenger door, she opened her mouth to say, "You just woke up, didn't you?"

Zoro got into the back seat and threw my school bag to the vacant seats to his left. "Thank you," I said. He nodded. I looked back at Nami and confirmed her assumption.

"Figured. Stop getting drunk on school nights," she scolded.

I sank into my seat. "It's not my fault. Zoro was drinking, so I-"

"ZORO doesn't have school. You do," she interrupted me.

"Okay, Mom," I sighed out, reaching up to fix my hair. "Sorry for holding you up. You won't be late to your class, right?" I asked.

She backed out of the parking spot and started the route to the school gym, "Of course not, I'm not an idiot. You already know what happens if my attendance is in jeopardy."

"Yea, I do," I shivered at the thought. She really did physically drag me last time. Down the stairs and everything. It was actually kind of impressive.

The car stopped and Zoro opened his door, getting out. "When're you getting out today?" he asked.

"I've got a team meeting thing, so maybe like 5," I replied.

"Alright, I'll be here until then," he nodded and walked to the entrance of the gym. Just so you know, 5pm is 7 hours from now. He's insane.

Nami started driving as soon as he got into the building. We always have to make sure he makes it in there, or else we'll never see him again. "So, have you guys hooked up yet, or what?" she asked out of the blue.

I rolled my eyes and leaned on the passenger door, "PLEASE stop asking that."

She laughed and made a turn before giving me her signature 'c'mon' look. "It's only the second time I've asked. You guys have been living together for two weeks now, it's even more likely than it was before," she told me.

"IT WASN'T LIKELY BEFORE!" I shouted, dragging my hands down my face in embarrassment. I've known Zoro since I was a kid, and Nami has this idea in her head that Zoro has a crush on me. The "best friends to lovers" trope is living rent free in her brain. "He doesn't see me like that. It's pretty obvious with how it's been TWENTY YEARS OF NOTHING."

"Oh please, he's just scared to change what you guys have. The only reason he wakes up on time to get picked up is because he wants to wake you up for your classes. Otherwise, he's literally dead asleep," she huffed, pulling into the lot for the engineering building and parking.

"Stop putting the idea into my head, Nami! I'll start seeing him romantically and then it'll turn into an entire thing," I groaned out, reaching into the back seat to grab my bag while my other arm threw the car door open. "I have more of a chance with that red head mechanic at my job."

She shook her head, "That guy's gotta be on parole for something. Stay away from him."

"See, now I wanna talk to him more," I joked and slung my bag over my shoulder, stepping out of the car.

"You better not! I'll seriously disown you," she warned.

I smiled and closed the car door. She stared at me through the window, clearly judging me, but ended up taking off anyway. Is she right about the red head? Maybe a little. He's kinda hot, though. I chuckled to myself and walked into the engineering building, mentally preparing myself for the most boring and awful lecture to ever exist on the chapter I did not read last night. The only engineering class that actually makes me happy is the one run by Franky. I don't have that one on Tuesdays, though.

---

I rubbed my temples and walked into the cafe for my team meeting. Meeting new people is always iffy. In the exact moment I walked in, I was approached by a certain blond. "(Y/n)~~~! I was waiting for you to come! I couldn't see you this morning, so I have to relish this time!" he chirped, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. The first time he did that, I slapped him, but I'm used to it now. It really caught me by surprise.

"Good to see you, too, Sanji," I laughed and walked to a table, him close in tow. I slid into a booth next to a window and motioned to the other side, "Sit with me while I wait for my teammates, pretty please."

His gladly took a seat in front of me.  "Do you know what they look like? I could direct them to this table for you when they arrive," he said.

I shook my head, "Nope! The instructor posted a document with who was in what group, along with the emails associated with each person. We set up the meeting through email, not even through numbers or Instagram groups, and it's a 200+ lecture hall soooooo.. yea I have no clue who these people are."

He let out a small laugh, "That must have been difficult. You don't tend to look at your email."

"I know! I was so paranoid that I was missing out on something, so I forced myself to keep checking my stupid email. And for what? Nothing was ever there. Why did I expect these people to already start talking?" I groaned, placing my chin in my hand. "But I don't want their numbers or anything too personal if I don't like them, you know? Cuz then they always have my contact, and I don't like that. Maybe I'm weird."

He shook his head and smiled, "You're not weird. It's great that you think about those things. Your safety and comfort are important."

I smiled back at him and scanned over his face out of habit. "It's nice that you're keeping more of your facial hair. It looks good on you," I complimented.

The redness in his face when he's around women grew darker and he broke eye contact for a few seconds, taking his time in looking everywhere but me. "Oh! Thank you, I'm glad that you like it," he replied, very obviously flustered.

A chuckle left my lips as the door to the cafe let out a ding. Someone entered. Both Sanji and I looked back at the entrance. A guy around our age and looking around for something. I waved my hand for him. Sanji didn't bother to welcome him in, since he was a man, and just watched as he approached. His boss dislikes this, but he can't do anything about it because Sanji's too good at every other part of his job.

"Hey, are you here for the Climate Change group meet?" I asked the stranger.

He fidgeted with the phone in his hands and said, "Yea, actually. My name's Koby."

"Nice to meet you Koby, I'm (y/n)," I introduced myself and held a hand out, smiling welcomingly.

He took my hand and smiled back, seeming to get the welcoming vibe I was going for. "N-nice to meet you too!" he cleared his throat and looked at the blond across from me. "Hello! Are you also in our group?"

Sanji sighed and stood up, all while giving Koby the stinkiest eye humanly possible. "No, I'm not. Just a friend," he responded dryly. "Have a seat."

Koby shrunk back a little and very stiffly scooted into the booth across from me. "Yea, he was keeping me company while I waited for everyone. Now we've only got two more to wait for," I hummed.

"Yea, Nick and... the other guy. I don't remember his name," Koby said, rubbing his neck in slight embarrassment. I gave him a smile and then looked back at Sanji, who was just glaring at Koby. Koby'd already developed a cold sweat from the daggers the cook was throwing at him.

"Sanji, I think that girl over there wants to order something," I told him as I motioned to the front of the cafe, where a pretty woman was waiting.

He gave a glance at what I motioned to before locking his eyes on me again, gaining his big smile back, "Right, thank you, (y/n). I'll be back!" He turned around and sped to the counter.

"He's... nice," Koby tried to compliment. He was tugging on his collar uncomfortably.

"He is, he's just hard on guys who get alone time with the girls," I told him with amusement in my voice. "He's kinda girl crazy."

Koby's eyes glanced to the cash register where Sanji was giving the most over the top customer service known to man to this woman that walked in. "Ah... I see," he laughed slightly.

"I like your bandana. Where'd you get it?" I questioned, having spotted the green bandana with a flower pattern tied around his head.

"Thank you, um, I don't really remember where I got it," he said, his face getting flustered. "I've had it for a while."

"No problem," I hummed, relaxing in my seat. "Where do you think the other two people are?"

He opened his phone and scrolled a bit. "I don't know, no one else seems to be responding to the email you sent after getting here."

I waved a hand, "Oh well. This happens all the time. If they don't show in the next 30 minutes, I'm out. I've gotta go get a muscle head from the gym."

He laughed, "Alright, that sounds good to me. Would you like to order something while we wait those 30 minutes out?"

"Nah, I'm too poor right now. Maybe on the next meeting," I replied.

He shook his head, "No, I could buy it! I have a lot of money left over from scholarships right now."

My eyes widened, "Wow, you actually filled out scholarship applications? I wish I was that productive. What year are you? No, no, how old are you?"

His face got red again and he answered, "I'm 18, and I'm a freshman."

"Whoa! Yea you are so much better than me when I was a freshman," I chuckled out.

His eyes widened. "What year are you?" he asked.

"I'm 20, and I'm a junior," I replied.

"Already?! Ahem, okay. Um, would you like something?" he repeated his question, a bit more fidgety now. Maybe he thought I was the same age as him.

"You can go get something, I'll stick with my water for now," I said, making a shooing motion to get him going after showing him my hydroflask(I get unnaturally attached to objects and my hydro is one of those objects. In my defense, its a very cool hydro.). He nodded and got up, heading for the register.

I looked at Sanji, who clearly saw the kid approaching. Sanji made eye contact with me. I traced a smile onto my lips, which was a signal for him to be hospitable when Koby walked up. He nodded and proceeded to treat Koby with kindness when he started ordering. I could see the blond and the pink haired man taking glances at me midconversation. I pretended not to notice and used my phone to check what was up with our other two teammates. No emails. How annoying. I guess it's just gonna be me n Koby against the world for this project.

Koby came back with a small paper in his hand. "It is now 15 minutes past the meeting time and no updates. I think we're the only ones in this group now," I told him as he sat down.

He chuckled and set the slip of paper on the table, saying, "I'm sure we'll be fine. It's only a small presentation and I'll make sure to hold my own."

I nodded, "I'm sure you will, Koby. You seem pretty reliable. Are you good at presentations?"

He shook his head, "Not really, but when the day comes I'll be sure to come prepared. How are you with presentations?"

"I'm not very good at them either. I forget some lines and stumble because I get nervous in front of so many people. Since we have so much time to memorize, though, and I actually like you, I'll be sure to practice a bunch," I replied, giving him a thumbs up.

"Great! I'm glad to be working with you," he said enthusiastically. He's got a nice energy about him. Hope that doesn't get absolutely demolished over the next four years of being in this damned university.

I turned my head to the side when I spotted Sanji walking over from the corner of my eye. I noticed that there were two cups on the tray he had. "I made your favorite, (y/n)~~~!" he sung as he sat the drink in front of me. This isn't on the menu, but he makes it when I ask for it. Even his boss knows of it, so he set a fixed price since I come here so much. Anyway, after placing my cup down, Sanji placed Koby's cup in front of him.

"You know I'm broke this week, right?" I asked, a smile on my face because I did want this drink anyway. He never asks me to pay for it, but I usually have cash on me when I come in here, so I leave money on the register and run away. If I don't do that, then he pays for it himself.

"This time, Koby paid for it. Don't leave money this time," he said, the last bit sounding stern.

I looked at the pink haired man, "Oh really? Well, I guess I'll buy you something during the next meet."

"No, I couldn't, re-"

"SHHHHHHhhhhh. I'm doing it. Don't try to deny my ability to even out the score," I shushed, holding a finger to my lips to emphasize my shushing.

He heaved a sigh and nodded, "Alright."

"Good," I nodded. Then I looked back at Sanji. "Thank you for your service, kind sir. You're the best."

His eyes turned to hearts as he said, "Anything for you, (y/n)~!"

The bell rang and he went running to the register begrudgingly. I looked back at Koby and took  sip of my drink. He was wide-eyed at our conversation. I guess he's never seen anyone as girl crazy as Sanji. "Alright, what do you say we get down to business. What's your number? I hardly use my email," I said.

He snapped back into reality, "Ah, it's 8283736352(Button mash)"

"Great! I'll text you real quick and then we can get to finding a topic from the list. Cool?"

"Yea!"

---Anyway. Maybe if yall liked this lil verse I could keep going with different scenarios for it. Next one will probably be centered around Luffy