Work Text:
“Ah, Luffy! Finally woke up, huh?” Sanji says with a smirk when Luffy walks into the galley. The tone, the smile makes Luffy’s belly flutter, and he smiles back, coming closer without a doubt.
Sanji plants a gentle kiss to his forehead, because Sanji is so gentle and loving, before letting him be and continuing cooking. He hums, he has a good mood, and he doesn’t mind Luffy around.
Then Luffy sees a faint silhouette of a hammock right above him and the dark ceiling around. Its night, and everyone is still sleeping, yet, when Luffy turns his head to the right, he can tell that Sanji’s hammock is empty.
It was a dream, the realisation quickly came into his head, and he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, sitting up. Its still night. Its night and Sanji is not here. Luffy doesn’t smell any food, too.
So surely he gets up, not even bothering to be quiet, because if they can sleep through Zoro’s loud ass snore then they could sleep through Luffy’s noise. They are used to him being loud anyway. Its not like it was back in Dadan’s, when he would be out in the forest for disturbing her sleep.
The Sunny Go rocks on the sea subtly, making his steps a little wobbly, but when he reaches the girls barracks he can see light coming out of the room. Curious, he, of course, peeks in.
Nami is sleeping. Robin is missing, because this weird woman tends to be in the library at night, but Nami is sleeping safe and sound, and beside her, on the chair nearby, sits Sanji. His Sanji.
In glasses and with a book in his hands, he raises his eyes to meet Luffy’s, and Sanji frowns, arching one of his brows.
“Why aren’t ya sleeping, ‘ji?” Luffy mumbles, leaning on the doorframe. He can’t help but feel sleepy.
“...I was just keeping Nami-san company. She couldn’t sleep, so we talked for a while.” His face turns into a satisfied, that Sanji-like smile. “I’m guarding her sleep so go back, Captain.”
Luffy huffs and pouts slightly. Not even a goodnight kiss?
“I’m hungry, Sanji.”
He is not. But when Sanji feeds him he feels cared for, and today he doesn’t feel that well.
As predicted, Sanji frowns. “Are you a black hole or what? You ate three hours ago. Go back to sleep or I’ll ban you from the food for a week,” He says casually, like it isn’t something that could be the best sign of hate to him.
Luffy holds back his frustration, suddenly feels uncomfortable. The dream feels so far now. Of course, after what happened on Whole Cake Island, and after them two promised each other to be a couple, Luffy didn’t expect much: Sanji, after all, always was a lady’s man. Not to mention that his brain makes this thingy when people reject being affectionate because of some protective mechanism. But sometimes Luffy wants a little bit of affection. And he is kind of sick of the fact that he has to beg for it all the time.
Luffy comes up closer, quietly – he doesn’t want to disturb Nami – and stands in front of Sanji, silent. Sanji looks at him, waiting, then sighs, puts his book nearby and spreads his arms. Luffy takes the opportunity to climb onto him and nuzzle his neck.
He exhales loudly, and the scent feels so familiar and safe: here is Sanji, and he isn’t going anywhere. Even if Luffy is not the best option, Sanji is not going anywhere, and he smells like spices and faint cigarette smoke.
Sanji doesn’t do anything, though. Lightly pats his back and leans back, slightly awkward. Pushes him back soon – gentle, but pushing – and Luffy gets back up.
Luffy waits even though he knows nothing will really happen.
Its getting awkward, so he leaves the room.
___
That day Luffy wakes up later than anyone. The sun is high, and the room is empty. He rolls out of the hammock and lands on the floor with a faint knock.
When he comes out to the galley, everyone already finished their breakfast. Sanji was washing the dishes at the sink, and a plate of a nice breakfast, even though smaller than Luffy would want it to be. Sanji turns around to meet his eyes. “Oh. Luffy, morning,” he greets him and turns back to wash it.
“Morning, Sanji!” He stretches the “a” out, like he always does, and his smile is so wide his eyes close and curve up. He practically jumps to the table, inhaling the food without even breathing.
Sanji huffs, half-amused, when side-eyes him. “Don’t choke on it,” He said.
“Weal tafty. ‘ji!” Luffy muffles, mouth full of food. Sanji humms in response, but then his eyes widen.
“Ah! Totally forgot. I should’ve done drinks for dear Nami-san and Robin-chan almost an hour ago!” he tsks, quickly wiping his hands with the towel. He rushes to get all the ingredients needed.
Luffy pouts, cheeks puffing out not only because of the food stuffed in them. “I also want a drink, Sanji! You never make me any,” he whines.
Sanji rolls his eyes. “You won’t like it anyway, its for a high taste. Its not like I can make a cocktail out of meat anyway,” He huffs, chopping all the lemons and whatever there is. He makes the drinks quickly and rushes out with a loud “NAMI-SWAAAN! ROBIN-CHWAN!”, leaving Luffy alone.
And suddenly the appetite is gone.
He inhales everything in one bite anyway, then rushed out to the deck, because he hates staying alone for too long.
___
“Namiii,” Luffy whines, stretching out on the table. Nami was sitting beside him with a map in her hands.
“M?”
“Am I… uh… how is it…” Luffy squints, crawling his head on the table. “attractive? Is that the word?”
Well, that causes Nami to turn to him. “Attractive, you say?”
“M,” he looks up at her, pouting.
“Eh,” She squints lightly, thinking. “I mean. You’ve got clean skin. But you really should work on your image if you want to be. Not like you’re capable of it, though. You’ll probably forget about it in a day so don’t worry too much,” She ruffles his hair. “You’re fine without that.” She said it without caring too much.
Luffy huffs, hitting his head on the table. “Cruel, Nami! You’re awful,” he mumbles out.
“its better than lying, anyway,” She sighs. “Why do you care anyway? Its really not like you, huh?”
Luffy waits a bit, creating a pause. Then sighs. “Oi Nami. Do you think Sanji would want to have sex with me even if I’m like that?” he doesn’t even finish the sentence, before Nami spits out her lemonade.
“WHAT THE HELL, LUFFY? KEEP YOUR PROBLEMS IN BED!” she shouts out, but when Luffy’s suffering expression doesn’t really change, she calms down. “You need to talk about it with Sanji, not with me! How do I even know?” then, mumbles out: “and aren’t you asexual? I always thought that.”
“mm.” Luffy hums, placing his head on his arms. “I don’t know if I want sex, but I know Sanji likes sex. I just want to, um,” Suddenly the thoughts are in shambles, and Luffy realises he doesn’t have enough vocabulary on this kind of stuff. He gives up, flops his head down. “I want to kiss and hug and be affectionate but Sanji won’t do it unless I have sex with him, I think.”
A pause.
“Luffy,” she quietly says. Then her face goes from dumbfounded to softened, and then to pitying. “You guys should talk it though. I’m sure Sanji wouldn’t be such a jerk to you, right?..” She smiles slightly, placing a hand on Luffy’s shoulder, a little unsure.
“I know Sanji loves me and stuff,” Luffy continues, frowning a little. “But I’m not sure if he’d…” he stops. “I don’t know. I feel gross. I don’t like it. I want to be loved. Its kind of bad. I feel bad. Am I too much?” He turns to her, and she feels like she looks at an abandoned child.
Never ever before this she wanted to beat Sanji up this badly.
__
Sanji was actually minding his own business when he felt a familiar weight thrown on his back.
“F- Luffy, goddamn!” he shouts out, then stabilises himself and sighs. “I nearly let this plate go, gosh…” by this point Luffy usually would laugh it off or at least get off his back, but this time warm hands kept clanging to his shoulders. “Luffy?” He asks, confused, looking back.
“I want to kiss and hug and be affectionate but I think that you won’t do it with me unless I have sex with you.” The voice is unusually hoarse, when Luffy mumbles this into Sanji’s skin.
Sanji blinks once. Then twice.
“EH?!”
__
Sanji sat him down at the table, and sat down in front of him. His face is dead serious, and his hands are intervened in the place where Sanji set his chin on. “Why the hell would you even think that?”
Luffy shrinks even deeper into the couch than he was, looking anywhere except Sanji. “I don’t know. Just a feeling.” a pause, and Sanji keeps the intense gaze on him. Luffy purses his lips. “You just fuss over the girls so much and never give the attention to me, even though you said you love me more than anyone,” He mumbles, almost childish, “I know I’m being egocentric but I want to have you all to myself,” he finishes, shifting to the side.
Sanji’s exhale is loud. “Why on Earth.. god,” he sighs, ”Listen, its different. I fuss over girls not because I love them, alright?” he lights a cigarette, clearly talks like that make him nervous. “its a lifestyle. Lifesyle!” he points the cigarette at Luffy. “I am bad at this, okay? I’m messed up. I messed up, too. I’d never want you to feel like that,” he adds, brushing his forehead.
Luffy’s look is slightly softer now, not that sad anymore. Yet its not enough. “listen, when you want something just come up and say it, okay? I mean, not in front of everyone, of course, but…” a pause. “if I ever made the freest, egoistical and great man in the world feel unloved, I’d feel like the worst person ever. I can’t see the signs if you don’t show them, Captain.”
Luffy nods, unsure. Bites his lip. “now… cuddles?”
Sanji snickers, stands up to come over and scoop Luffy up. “right. Like that. Glad you get it,” He chuckles in Luffy’s hair, and his hands feel so big yet so thin on Luffy’s scalp, when he scratches it slightly. He rocks them slightly, and finally Luffy can inhale fully. “What about the sex?” he mumbles. “You need it, right?”
“Wrong. Jacking off exists,” Sanji snickers, planting a gentle kiss to Luffy’s forehead. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out myself, alright? I’m all yours, captain.”
Luffy would purr in response if he could, with tears coming up to his eyes. Weird. He didn’t cry because of stuff like that since Ace left him when they were teens. He bites Sanji’s neck to compromise, and ignores the hiss Sanji does. “alright, enough, okay? Back, captain, back,” He mumbles, tugging him by his hair. The cigarette is long forgotten in the ashtray.
The separate, and Luffy sniffles, but he understands. Sanji never really liked it physical. He remembers him saying its something about Sanji’s family.
Sanji leans in to give him a sweet, deep-deep kiss anyway. They smooch once, twice, then open mouths and the taste is so weird but Luffy likes it and-
“...Well, at least yall aren’t weird about yourself anymore,” And Sanji kicks Luffy in the belly, letting him bounce off the dining room’s hall.
He doesn’t let out a single word when a pen flies into his head with a loud “DON’T DO THAT EVER AGAIN I’M NOT YOUR FAMILY PHYCOLOGIST”, he was embarrassed enough to let out a quiet whine.