Chapter Text
Ichiji was acting weird.
That's what Sanji thought.
It had been a few days since his brother, the oldest of the four, had been avoiding him. Exactly, Ichiji was avoiding him, Sanji, the failure of his family, which they all made a point of reminding him.
And Ichiji certainly wasn't an exception; he always stood by Niji and Yonji whenever they hit him, insulted him or even spoiled his recipes whenever he managed to escape to the kitchen.
Where was exactly where he was, trying to understand why Ichiji was avoiding him. Of course, he wasn't feeling bad that one of his brothers was avoiding him, on the contrary, now the beatings he took weren't as strong as before, of course they were still painful, but he was grateful to have one less brother beating him.
Sanji was at that exact moment finishing decorating mini-cupcakes, all attention to not doing anything wrong. While decorating the cupcakes, Sanji thought back to his brother's strange behavior with him; as far as he could tell no one but him, and maybe Reiju, had noticed his strange behavior.
He didn't understand how his father and brothers hadn't noticed, well, maybe if Ichiji keeps going like this the other two will notice, since they are almost always together; he wouldn't be surprised if they went to ask Ichiji what was going on with him.
When Ichiji first avoided him, it's surprised and confused him;
that day, Sanji was walking in the corridors in a lot of pain, and with some parts of his body bandaged, he was a little distracted with the pain that him hadn't noticed Ichiji, so he turned to the other corridor, bumping directly into him;
Of course, Ichiji was like he was made of titanium, so Sanji was the one who ended up falling to the ground from the impact.
As soon as he had realized who it was, he froze, fear filling him whenever he saw his brothers.
Closing his eyes tightly waiting for Ichiji to hit him and curse him for bumping into him.
But the beating never came, just listening to his brother's silence; he opened one of his eyes hesitantly, thinking his brother was waiting for him to open his eyes to hit him right in the face.
But as soon as Sanji looked at him confusion appeared on his face; Ichiji was just staring at him with a slightly furrowed forehead, and oddly enough, it wasn't anger.
He looked... frozen?
Besides, he could have sworn that, looking directly into his eyes, he looked hesitant, and maybe even...
Distressed...?
Ichiji continued to look at him, it looked like he was in doubt, but what to be exact? He never hesitated if the matter was to harm him.
But suddenly Ichiji takes a step back, a sudden movement that Sanji can't help but flinch;
And obviously Ichiji noticed, eyebrows furrowing some more, and now his expression looking guilty; much to Sanji's surprise and confusion;
Sanji then decided to take a chance and talk to Ichiji, still scared but confused at the same time:
-"Uh... I-Ichiji? Are you...a-are you okay?"
Silence was what Sanji received, but in return, Ichiji's expression seemed to be mildly surprised by his younger brother's question. And before Sanji could realize it, Ichiji had hurried away, leaving a confused Sanji behind.
And so since that day Ichiji never hit or cursed him again, at most exchanging a few non-offensive words to Sanji; and every time he stopped to think about it, it got weirder and weirder.
Trying to take his mind off his red haired brother a bit, Sanji had finally finished the mini cupcakes, he hoped there wasn't something wrong with the recipe.
Now he could try it and see what the Cupcake tasted like; even because, besides him, there were only the mice and his beloved and adored mother to displease his attempts at cooking.
He had enough mini-cupcakes for the little mice, him and his mother; he just hoped none of his brothers showed up and ruined everything.
Sanji took a mini-cupcake and devoured it in moments; it looked like he finally hit the point on the cupcakes! The last time he tried to do it, he ended up going a little overboard.
He had promised his mom that he would make her the best cupcakes, and it looks like he finally did!
Now with a big smile on his face, little Sanji set out some cupcakes for Sora; Leaving some for the hungry mice.
He loved to cook, as it was the few times he was genuinely happy, other than when he got to visit his mother.
The cupcakes for his mother he packed as carefully as possible, and put them inside his little bag, so he could take them to his sick mother as soon as he could.
But the moment he closed his bag, the kitchen door opened, and he appeared.
Ichiji was at the kitchen door, which was half open; looking at Sanji with an unreadable expression.
Sanji was afraid that Ichiji would destroy his little achievement, as he still had some mini-cupcakes on top of the kitchen counter, in addition to the ones he had saved for Sora.
Sanji without noticing, placed his hands protectively over the cupcakes that were in his bag, for his mother; Taking a step back just as Ichiji entered the kitchen fully, the door closing behind him. Sanji nervously swallowed his saliva.
- "Sanji..."
It was the first thing Ichiji said when he got closer to his second youngest brother; Sanji shivered slightly automatically.
But what he said next shocked Sanji completely:
-" Don't worry, I won't hurt you. "
Sanji's mouth opened slightly, completely disbelieving what his brother had just said.
-" Uh?! You w-won't ?.. "
Ichiji looked down for a moment and spoke again:
-" Yes... I won't do anything with you, Sanji. "
Sanji was trying to muster up some courage if he had it:
-" S-so what do you want? "
Sanji asked, still with his hands on his bag.
Then Ichiji finally looked into Sanji's eyes and replied:
-" I came to... to talk to y-you..."