Work Text:
There is nothing in the world that Sanji loves more than consistency. He had learnt to value it the hard way, yet his life doesn’t give a lot of possibilities for him to stay consistent.
The world was mostly consistent. The sky was always blue, the sun was always bright, people were always bitter and mean, and nothing could break the world’s consistency. The only people that didn’t include in the third rule of consistency were Sanji’s current crew and his mother, though, we ain’t talking about that. As consistent as the sea having salt, Luffy is unable to learn in a normal way. That was something everyone always knew. Luffy has his unique way to learn, and it's visible only to him. So when someone had a thought of teaching him to do something it was always hopeless.
But Sanji got so tired of him. Along with Chopper, by the way.
It was the fourth time this month Luffy got food poisoned and its not even funny anymore.
Sanji keeps trying to keep Luffy out of the kitchen at night. He keeps trying to feed Luffy nutritious, quality food. But Luffy’s dumb ass always finds a way to steal some raw meat from the fridge, and hours later - boom - he’s nauseous, whining, and crawling on the floor like he was stabbed. After more hours, he’s in the hammock, curled up like a fried shrimp, sweating with a fever of 38.4C, and Sanji can’t help but feel pity enough to stay with him for the night, stroking his hair until Luffy falls asleep - because the only time he can allow his affectionate self go out was when someone wasn’t really in their mind. Chopper keeps curling up against Luffy at night, and Sanji can’t blame him.
Currently the Going Merry is on its way to Skypea, Luffy was sick for a week now, and his fever started to fade. Sanji was humming, standing in the galley and making a large dinner - because his captain needs a lot of energy to get better and Sanji was not going to deny him in that.
Zoro was napping in the corner with Chopper in his lap, Usopp was fixing a wall in their barracks, Nami was recounting their budget for the next island, and Robin was reading quietly near her. Luffy was bored, plopped on the chair beside her - but at least he had energy, which made Sanji’s lips slightly go up. He proceeded to stir the soup - healthy and easy, right for Luffy’s sick stomach.
Robin flipped the page, a quiet sound of a rustling paper was breaking the consistent sound of water boiling and knife chopping.
“Isn’t that a Hercules beetle?!”, was shout out so loud Sanji shuddered and slipped a wrong vegetable in the pot. He tsked, reaching out for the tongs to get carrots out of there.
Robin’s eyebrows rised, and she turned her head to the captain. Luffy’s eyes were gleaming like the saw a miracle, when he leaned in and practically stuck his head in between Robin and the book.
“..Yes, it is. Didn’t know you could read, Captain,” she teased, expression playful.
Luffy turned his head to her, pouting - “I cannot,” he said, “The pictures there are just cool. Whats the book about?”
Zoro’s eye cracked, showing a glimpse of interest; Chopper’s body got all tense, his eyes running to the side in shock, and Sanji froze. Robin’s eyes widened in surprise, then her lips stretched into a smile.
Luffy got interested in a book?!
“That’s an encyclopedia of insects. I was just going to read about Goliathus.” She explained calmly, waiting for a couple of seconds - unsure, with doubt - but then brushing a strand of Luffy’s black hair under his ear anyway, then pushing gently his head back to adjust the book on her lap - her touch weightless, almost non-existent.
“Ohhh! They are pretty. They also fight a lot,” He gave her a wide toothy smile, shishishi’ing at her with warmth. “I used to bet on them with Ace. We would find them in the forests and place them on a stump and watch them fight.”
“Sounds like a great way to spend time with your brother,” Robin answered, flipping the page again. Luffy hummed in response, rocking on his chair back and forth, looking in the book for the pictures. She let Luffy lean in, resting his head on her shoulder.
Sanji shook a ladle over the sink to shake off water after washing it, then lowering it into the pot of boiling soup and carefully carrying it over the table, walking over to Luffy. “Try it, shitty captain.” He holds up the ladle to his lips, and Luffy takes a sip obediently.
Luffy frowns, and Sanji had expected that. “Too plain,” He mumbles, licking the liquid off his mouth.
“As it should be,” Sanji answered sternly, before walking over to the kitchen area. “For your shitty weak stomach.”
“My stomach isn’t weak! Dunno why its acting like that, though,” Luffy mumbled in return, curling up further. “Ah! its a Titan beetle! These are the biggest!” He shouts out excitedly, looking over the pictures.
“They also do not eat once they grow up… interesting, isn’t it?”
“Wow, cool! How do you know that? Were you watching them when you were younger? I did but I never even could find their caves.” Luffy exhales, leaning in and placing his chin on her shoulder.
“Caves?...” Robin snorts, but brushes it off. “I didn’t. Its written in this book. People who wrote it probably did.”
“Written it, huh…” Luffy mumbles, lips pressed together tightly. The room felt tense. Luffy was chewing his lips like thinking about something really hard.
…Until Luffy bounced up and rushed towards the outside to throw up into the sea. Sanji’s shoulders eased out with a heavy sigh, and he leaned on the counter with his whole body. Zoro snorted and let his head fall back on the wall. Chopper walked up to Robin to ask about something, and Nami was still counting numbers - because no one could be focused when its so loud in the room.
Sanji gave her warm tea with a lemon and she smiled at him, making his day a bit brighter.
_____
There is no description to Sanji’s surprise when he saw Robin teaching Luffy to read that night.
Sure, Luffy kept getting distracted over a candlelight. Sure, he would groan because he forgot how to read the letter “j” again.
But goddamit the whole ship knew that if he fails that night they would lose any chance to teach him at least something.
So they tried.
Nami walked by, ruffling Luffy’s hair and wishing him success - unironically. Usopp sat with them for a couple of minutes just to make Luffy laugh and rise his interest up, before wandering off to go take a swim in the sea before going to sleep. Chopper actually tried to help Luffy with pronunciation of hard words, before hugging him and rushing off to go to sleep - not forgetting to tell them to do the same, because keeping a sleep pattern is important. Zoro teased him while walking by, even though the idiot hardly knows how to read himself.
Sanji was waiting for three hours, pacing the galley, before actually doing something. Because hey, he cared, alright? If Luffy could learn to read he could read about health. He could read about not being an absolute idiot and finding out how much of a bad stuff happens in his body because of bad eating habits.
He ended up overdoing a dessert, making a too-overstuffed tea for Luffy that would help him stay awake and be healthy at the same time and getting too nervous not to spill it on the rocking ship.
When Sanji carefully approached the deck, where Luffy and Robin were reading, Robin was already getting up. They exchanged knowing looks, and Robin smiled to them both
“I am going to go to the quarters, alright?” she said, adjusting her shirt because of the cold of the night. Luffy hummed in response, not even looking up - his face was comedically frowned while his eyes burned into the letters.
Robin was gone before Sanji could even blink.
And god was this awkward.
Sanji wasn’t really used to be alone with his captain. He himself usually was in the galley, either alone or with a bunch of people in there waiting for dinner. Luffy was always everywhere, never quiet and never without people.
Pushing through the embarrassment, Sanji sat down carefully near Luffy. He silently pushed the cup of tea and the dessert to him, not really sure what to say.
Luffy looked up at him, stared with these black round doe eyes, and took the tea.
Sanji’s exhale through his nose was literally audible.
He actually wasn’t sure why was he so freaking tense.
This was just ordinary. Nothing in Luffy was consistent. Sanji could never expect Luffy to be Luffy forever. If Luffy wanted to learn to read, Sanji should freaking accept it, not freaking out about it. If Luffy was okay with being affectionate - which, to be honest, even the word was too foreign for Sanji - then fine, why not? Its a good thing, isn’t it? It's Sanji’s problem if he was so unloved as a child that now he can’t even accept a hug because he feels like he’ll be hit and laughed at right after it.
“Why do you want to read all of sudden?,” Sanji asked, not recognising his own voice, words slipping out of his lips before he could stop them.
Luffy hummed before responding. “I wanna learn more about beetles. Robin told me there were some I haven’t even seen yet. Isn’t it cool if I can learn about something I can’t reach?” Luffy turned to him, smiling. “I will also go to all the islands and find every single one. They won’t be able to hide from me if i knew all their tricks,” Luffy giggled, and Sanji felt his chest tighten.
“Of course you will,” the words appeared themselves, and Sanji’s lips turned into a grin. “Shitty captain.”
Luffy laughed, looking up at him from under the hat.
Sanji waited for a couple of seconds, then, unsurely, quietly and awkwardly, shifted closer, to curl his awkwardly tall body against Luffy and take his hand into his.
Sanji was craving to do this for weeks now and the idiot didn’t even blink.
Just leaned in. pressed himself to Sanji’s side, knees falling to left, hat slightly crooked on his hair.
Sanji could smell the smell of sea salt and sunshine from here and he nearly cried about it.
He didn’t want to make it difficult. He didn’t want to make this beautiful evening about him. He didn’t want to talk. So he held back the tears of needy clinginess he held up for years, smiled and continued to watch Luffy learn with the precision only he is capable off.