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If you asked Ace, everything about Sanji was interesting. Her coworkers at the garage knew all too well how anything her girlfriend did could be expanded upon into a doctoral dissertation. The most common topic was her culinary prowess, which everyone was happy to hear about as it usually indicated that a dish had been sent along for the team to have with lunch. After that was her passion for kickboxing, and third most was her love of verse; which, following the first two topics, always felt like a bit of a departure in taste to her friends but to Ace was just another compelling facet.
Her dear girlfriend enjoyed quoting lines from random poems as epigraphs in conversation, and more than once had recited a full poem completely off the cuff when well into her cups.
When asked about the reasoning behind it, Sanji just shrugged like it wasn’t anything especially interesting.
“I don’t know,” she would reply. “I’ve just always done it. I like poems.” And she would return to whatever she was doing.
“There has to be more to it than that,” Usopp said one evening when they were all together having dinner and the topic had come up once again. Every group dinner had a different main focus, and when Sanji quoted Yeats after Luffy nearly dropped an entire open bottle of wine, the fates seemingly decided that tonight it would be her. “How did you even get into poetry to begin with?”
“I mean, my mother enjoyed it. She was the one who gave me my first anthology. But it wasn’t like she told me to memorize a poem a week. We just read together occasionally, I did the rest on my own.”
“What was the first poem you memorized?” He asked, emboldened by her apparent willingness to engage in the topic. Usually when her late mother was brought up she either got quiet or snappish, not wanting to touch some spots that were still very clearly raw.
“Just a little one by Dickinson.”
Around a mouthful of pasta, Luffy mumbled something that sounded like “And what’s your favorite poem?”
Grimacing at the sound, Sanji considered the question. “I don’t know if I have a single favorite. My mom’s favorite was called The Orange, so I’m pretty fond of that.”
“How’s that one go?”
That was the question that poked too far. Sanji’s face closed, and instead of saying anything she took a prim sip of her water.
“Eat your food,” she said, gesturing firmly with a fork. And that was that.
/\/\/\/\
At least, that was that until dinner was done and they were sitting around in the living room. Sanji had perched herself in the armchair on Ace’s lap, and Ace was struggling to keep her hands in appropriate places. One hand rested around Sanji’s waist, and the other sat on her thigh, where the hem of her slim wool skirt ended and gave way to sheer black tights. Sanji had one arm over Ace’s shoulders and leaned back into her embrace comfortably until Nami apparently felt the need to stir the poetry pot again.
“Ace, how many love poems does she know?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Does she woo you with them?”
Ace just laughed. “A lady never tells,” she hedged, which just made Nami laugh in turn.
In truth, Sanji didn’t really...do that. A fact for which Ace was quietly a little grateful. The thought of being the center of such focused romantic attention made her a little antsy.
“Now I’m curious!” Usopp said. “Sanji, pick a love poem to recite for her. What would it be? What makes you think of Ace?”
“Ew, don’t ask that,” Zoro interjected, “We don’t need to hear whatever dirty rhymes she’s spouting when we’re not here.”
“I’m not about to recite Catullus in front of you!” Sanji squawked, an angry flush high on her cheeks, and Ace tightened her hold around Sanji’s waist so she wouldn’t be tempted to leap off and take a swing at him. “Or the fucking...Song of Solomon!”
“Is Catullus especially sexy?” Nami cut in, raising an eyebrow. Out of the corner of her eye, Ace caught the sight of Robin making a very interesting facial expression. “And isn’t that song from the Bible?”
“Answer the question, Sanji!” Luffy pressed. If she didn’t know better, Ace would have said her little brother wanted Sanji to prove herself by picking a poem he thought was worthy of his sister. She knew full well that Luffy wasn’t in the habit of putting his sibling’s partners on trial, and anyway it was a little late for that. But it was still interesting to see him be so emphatic about it.
Sanji shifted in her lap to face her again , and without a moment’s hesitation said “She Walks In Beauty, by Lord Byron.”
Mortifyingly, Ace felt her entire head, neck and chest blush bright red. She wasn’t familiar with the poem, but with a title like that it was probably some grade-A romantic shit. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to hear her girlfriend wax rhapsodic about her (frankly somewhat dubious) looks at all, much less in front of her little brother and friends.
“That’s a lovely one,” Robin said, with her normal enigmatic smile. Sanji didn’t look away from Ace, and, somewhat embarrassed by this sort of attention, Ace hid her face in her girlfriend’s collarbone.
Patting the back of her head, Sanji addressed the group dryly. “ Shall we discuss the romantic exploits of anyone else tonight? Zoro, weren’t you saying just the other day that-”
Invoking Zoro’s personal business set off his hair trigger, and soon any thought of Sanji reciting love poetry was cast aside under the ferocious arguing that soon kicked into gear.
/\/\/\/\
After everyone left, Ace busied herself with tidying up as Sanji washed the dishes. There wasn’t a whole lot of mess though, and soon she was standing in the doorway watching Sanji work, which quickly shifted into just staring at her girlfriend.
She’d been growing her hair out just to see if she liked it long, and today she had it up in a French twist. The window in front of the sink was open to let in the warm evening air and the few blond flyaways that had escaped over the long day fluttered in the breeze. Her pinstriped dress shirt with the cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up to her elbows, still looking as crisp as it had when she put it on that morning. Ace’s eyes lingered on her waist, on the tidy line of her pencil skirt and her long, elegant legs. The only odd part of her outfit was the bright pink house slippers, but even that was charming.
She was so beautiful. Ace felt boorish and blunt next to her sometimes; sometimes wondered what such a stylish woman saw in a grease monkey like her.
“I can feel you staring, babe,” Sanji said, cocking a hip and looking over her shoulder. She grinned around the cigarette in her teeth. “Come on, don’t just lurk in the doorway.”
Ace walked up behind her and pressed close to her back, settling her hands on Sanji’s hips and hooking her chin over her shoulder.
“So, what’s the deal with Zoro?” She asked, curious about what Sanji knew that could have set him off so quickly.
“Oh, nothing you don’t already know. He’s obsessed with Luffy, but the mosshead refuses to make a move. He was making noise about the whole situation at the gym the other day.” She scoffed, although not wholly unkindly. “Knowing him he’ll pine till the heat death of the universe, because he thinks Luffy just sees him as a friend and he doesn’t want to risk hurting their relationship.”
“Huh,” was all Ace had to say, because as far as she was concerned it was pretty obvious that Luffy thought Zoro hung the moon in the sky.
She felt Sanji’s shoulders and chest shake in silent laughter. “Yeah,” she agreed. “My thoughts exactly.”
They stood in a moment of quiet before Ace spoke again. “You want me to dry?” She asked.
“Nah, but thanks,” Sanji replied. She shook one hand as dry as she could, plucked the cigarette out of her mouth, and craned her neck around to kiss Ace on the temple.
“You stay right there,” she murmured against her skin, and Ace’s insides went all gooey. Unable to stop herself, she wrapped her arms around Sanji’s middle and held her tight.
A bit more time passed like that, Ace holding Sanji as she washed dishes in the comfortable quiet.
“So,” Sanji said, drawing the word out a little too far. She sounded hesitant about whatever it was she was about to get into. “I hope I didn’t make things weird with the whole love poem situation, the fact that I have ones that make me think of you. You just seemed uncomfortable during that conversation.”
“No, not at all!” Ace squeezed her in a way she hoped felt reassuring and not panicked. “It just kinda threw me, is all.”
“Why would it throw you?” Sanji asked.
“I mean, I’m not really the sort of gal they write poems about,” She shrugged, trusting that Sanji would be able to feel the silent gesture since they were pressed so closely together. “It just felt a little strange to be focused on like that.”
“Wait, what?” Sanji seemed even more confused at this. She turned around in Ace’s arms and set damp hands on her shoulders. She looked confused and a little hurt. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant even as she felt nervous about probing this topic. “I mean, Shakespeare wasn’t out here writing poems about how his lady love was just average looking, y’know?”
Sanji stuttered. “I mean, he absolutely did. He did do that. Quite famously. But that’s not the point. I don’t even know where to start with the point.” She took one last drag on her cigarette, blew the smoke out of the corner of her mouth, and doused the butt in the dishwater. When she looked back at Ace, her expression was one of solemn seriousness.
“The point is twofold. Part one: Ace, babe, you are perfect. You clearly have no idea how you look if you think you’re just ‘average’.” She fluttered a hand vaguely in the meager space between them, gesturing up and down the length of Ace’s body. “Part two: the point of the poem is to capture the essence of the feeling. You’re fucking gorgeous, but it wouldn’t matter if you weren’t. What you are in my eyes and my heart, that is what needs to be conveyed.”
The confidence seemed to bleed out of her after saying that, but she kept talking. “I’ve been wanting to, you know, ‘woo’ you, I guess. With these poems. But I was worried it was too much. Too cheesy. I have a habit of going too far with the romantic stuff and putting people off.” A shy blush crept over her features, and now it was Sanji’s turn to look away.
“Aren’t we a pair,” she said, and Ace laughed. Sanji blushed harder, fighting the smile that worked across her mouth. Soon they were both giggling, the tension dispelled.
“Tell you what,” Sanji said. “You go get comfortable, I’m going to finish these up really quick, and then we are going to do this. I’ll meet you in the living room in five.” She rocked up on her toes to peck a kiss on Ace’s cheek and then spun back to the dishes.
/\/\/\/\
The scene was almost the same as it had been after dinner, albeit minus their friends. Ace sat back in the armchair, and Sanji made herself comfortable on her girlfriend’s lap. But there was something different, a charge to the air that raised goosebumps on Ace’s arms as Sanji settled herself and then focused her attention on Ace.
Sanji raised a hand and traced it delicately along Ace’s jawline, her touch barely there. She looked intently at her face with the same intensity and focus she paid to the crystalware at the restaurant or to the act of plating a delicate dessert. Suddenly hyper-aware of every blemish and flaw on her face, she turned away. Sanji wasn’t about to let her escape, however, and with a firm finger under the chin turned her back to meet her gaze. Her wine-red lips were quirked up at the corner, and she clearly knew what this was doing to Ace.
With a shiver, Ace remembered that for as goofy as she often was, her girlfriend had game.
And then she began to speak.
“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies,” her voice was low and smoky, and all Ace could smell was the traces of the cigarette she had smoked while washing dishes mingling with the heady scent of her perfume. Her head spun.
“And all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes, thus mellowed to that tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies.” There was that delicate touch again, the barest whisper of her fingers along Ace’s brow. Her eyes fluttered shut and she felt the gentle tug and release of Sanji removing the tie holding her hair up, and the cool brush of her hair falling down around her neck. Sanji’s clever fingers threaded through her hair and combed through the lazy waves, scratched gently at her buzzed undercut. She opened her eyes in time to see Sanji press a lock of her hair to her lips.
“One shade the more, one ray the less, had half impaired the nameless grace which waves in every raven tress or softly lightens o’er her face; where thoughts serenely sweet express how pure, how dear their dwelling place.”
The house could have fallen down around her and she probably would not have noticed. Her entire world had narrowed to the beautiful woman on her lap and the heady words she was speaking. That airy hand settled on the side of her face and Ace was helpless to do anything but nuzzle into her palm. Sanji’s thumb smoothed over her cheekbone and her other hand came up to completely cup Ace’s face. She turned in Sanji’s gentle hold to look her in the eye, and felt like a flower turning towards the sun. Sanji’s face broke into a gently joyous smile.
“And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, so soft, so calm, yet eloquent, the smiles that win, the tints that glow, but tell of days in goodness spent. A mind at peace with all below, a heart whose love is innocent!”
She felt overwhelmed, subsumed by the tide of feeling. She pulled Sanji close and rested her head against her heart, where she could hear her beloved’s heart pounding.
“That’s how you make me feel,” Sanji murmured into her hair. “And I will steal every single line the greats ever wrote to tell you every day.”