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The third night of the trek through the Alabasta desert had gone much the same as the first two, and the rest of the crew were still chatting - or rather bickering - around the campfire when Sanji finally stepped away after clearing up the remains of their meal to grab a quick cigarette. The air was especially chilly away from the safety of the fire, and the small, rocky outcrop he’d ducked behind did nothing to keep off the breeze, but ultimately the biting cold of the desert night was no better or worse than that of the open ocean, even without the safety of the ship’s cabins.
The downside was that the rocks also did nothing to disguise the sound of the ongoing and apparently incredibly important argument over what the largest fruit in the world was. Sanji had left them to it; largely because they’d reached the stage where Luffy and Usopp were pretty much just making up fruits as they went along, but mostly because he was starting to really miss his kitchen and he needed a moment to decompress. The sound of his crew happy and hale after a good meal was precious to Sanji, but there was always a moment after that - a quiet, softer one that he kept to himself - where he got a moment to breathe and think and get some order back into a space that was his. Admittedly, he generally only got that quiet moment because the others would very quickly slink away so they wouldn’t get roped into helping him clean the dishes, but he had always made the most of his quiet moment nonetheless.
Except tonight his quiet moment wasn’t so quiet, as above the noise of the debate over the merits of the Greater Spotted Yum-Yum Bananamelon (definitely not a real fruit, Usopp) came the much more frustrating sound of his lighter clicking fruitlessly against the intrusion of the wind and sand as he tried in vain to light his cigarette.
Sanji held the cigarette between his teeth and cursed under his breath as he patted his pockets down in search of a spare lighter, when another voice - this time much closer - cut through the night air.
“Need a light?”
Sanji looked up to see Ace perched atop the rock behind him, grinning down at Sanji as he pushed his hat up away from his eyes.
“Sure…” Sanji shifted towards Ace, but before he could pull his hands out of his pockets to hold the cigarette up, Ace had already leant forward to touch his finger to the tip, and there was a brief flare as the tobacco caught aflame. Sanji inhaled quickly, and for a moment the only sound he could hear was the brief crackle of the settling embers and then his own long, steady exhale as he let out the much needed stream of smoke. It wasn’t until he turned his attention back to Ace to thank him that he realised just how close the other man had leant in, and somewhere in the back of his mind the thought occurred that the first time they’d met, Ace had managed to light his cigarette from halfway across the ship..
“Thanks,” Sanji muttered anyway, taking another drag and leaning back against the rock.
“Least I could do after that meal you cooked for us,” Ace said with an airy wave of his hand. He was grinning brightly, but the rest of him seemed strangely washed out by the moonlight. The warmth of the firelight suited him better, Sanji decided, and then wondered why he did.
“It was nothing…” Sanji said with his own dismissive wave of his hand, thrown out slightly by his own observation.
“Nah, it was amazing. Best food I’ve had in ages!” Ace’s grin was persistent, and he was still leant forward, elbows resting on his knees as he adjusted the hat again. “Was pretty sure that all the way out here we’d be stuck eating scorpions and sandbugs.”
“If you’re anything like your brother, you’d have eaten the lot regardless,” said Sanji, with another dismissive wave as he resisted the urge to point out that he did know several recipes involving scorpions. It seemed a strange thing to brag about, after all, and he couldn’t put his finger on why he had the sudden urge to brag at all.
“Couldn’t just take the compliment, huh?” Ace’s grin widened even more somehow, and his eyes glimmered almost playfully in the starlight.
“An empty plate is the only compliment I need,” Sanji said as he exhaled a steady stream of smoke. He’d been aiming for something along the lines of aloof and mysterious, but even to his own ears it sounded disappointingly trite.
“Ha! Well, I can give you plenty of those!” Ace laughed as he patted Sanji on the shoulder, apparently oblivious to the way the other man stiffened under the unexpected contact.
Sanji glanced across at the fingers splayed over the dark fabric of his blazer, and despite the usually tanned skin looking cold in the moon’s glow, it was as if he could feel them burning through the layers. He didn’t pull away, though the cigarette at least gave him an excuse to turn his head back so he wasn’t blowing smoke into Ace’s face. It felt as though he may have been blushing, but at least the moonlight would wash that out too.
“Keep that fire going and I can cook as much as you can eat,” he said finally, voice choked slightly by the cigarette smoke, having grasped for anything to say to stop the previously sought-after silence from creeping in. Ace’s hand had not moved from his shoulder.
“Can keep it going all night for you, if ya want!”
Sanji couldn’t see the grin this time, but he could feel it, and he nearly bit through the end of his cigarette.
“Man, I can’t wait for breakfast!” Ace patted Sanji’s shoulder, which had stiffened into something resembling the rock he was sitting on, though Sanji still hadn’t pulled away. “Don’t take too long out here, yeah? It gets pretty cold!” Ace added as he got to his feet, hopping down off the other side of the rock just as quickly as he’d appeared, and leaving Sanji bereft of the faint shimmer of body heat against his shoulder.
Sanji exhaled another long stream of smoke, though it may have sounded like a sigh, and let the cigarette fall to the ground, crushing out the last glowing ember beneath his shoe. He briefly considered staying behind the rock and trying to eke out his quiet moment, but Ace was right - it was getting cold, and he wanted the warmth of the fire.