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“Have you ever kissed anyone?”
Sanji cracked open an eye and sluggishly lifted his head from the tavern table. Looking across the table, he snorted at the sight of Usopp slouched in his chair. His head was tilted back over the edge of his chair, his nose sticking out in a comically straight line, high in the air. One arm was slung over the chair hanging out an odd angle, while the other had a firm grip of his tankard on the table. Only the tankard was lying on its side, and a small amount of remaining alcohol had sloshed out onto the table top.
“You’re drunk,” Sanji accused.
Usopp lifted his head and looked back at Sanji, his eyes squinting at the blond. He blinked in slow motion and then slung his hand not holding the tankard out and pointed an accusing finger at Sanji. “You’re drunk!”
“We are both drunk,” Sanji acknowledged, snickering as he sat up in his chair.
They were perhaps being a little reckless, but after the mess with Arlong and freeing the long-suffering Cocoyashi Village, an overblown party was needed. Besides, Zoro needed a bit of time to recover, and Nami’s freshly tattooed arm and recently mended heart could do with a little tender care too.
Usopp giggled, and Sanji grinned at him. “What is it?”
“I dunno,” Usopp sighed. “Forgot. Hmm.” Abruptly he sat up and then smiled brightly at Sanji. “Oh! Right! Kissing!”
Sanji grinned and propped his cheek against his hand. A quick glance told him he and Usopp were the only ones awake in the tavern after the previous day’s triumph against Arlong. “You asked me about kissing,” Sanji vaguely supplied as he looked for Luffy.
He’d been here eating the other night, but perhaps he was back with Zoro now. Luffy had pretty much ditched the loud, joyous party of the tavern as soon as the food ran out.
“Yes. Kissing. Have you ever kissed anybody?” Usopp asked. He tried to take a sip of his tankard, only to realize it was empty, and turned sideways. He did not have the dexterity to try and turn it right side up.
“Sure,” Sanji said breezily, "of course.”
“Of course he says!" Usopp harped before tossing his empty tankard aside.
Sanji picked up his own cup and took a sip out of it and grinned at the offended look that came over Usopp’s face. “Mmm… refreshing water,” Sanji said, smacking his lips just to be a menace. “And you haven’t kissed someone?”
“Nope!” Usopp said loudly, popping his 'p' in the word. He got up, swaying dangerously, and sidled over to Sanji before he all but spilled into Sanji’s lap. Rather than reject Usopp, Sanji shifted the younger man so he was comfortably sitting in his lap, his legs hanging over the side of his thighs. He wrapped an arm around Usopp and placed his tankard in Usopp’s greedy hands.
Sanji was more tipsy than drunk, but Usopp was pretty far gone. He could share his water with the sniper. He’d probably need it if there was any hope in reducing the massive hangover that would hit them both eventually. Usopp drank readily from the tankard, Sanji half assisting him so they both wouldn’t get covered in water. Usopp drained half the tankard before he stopped, sighing with content when he was one. Sanji set the tankard back on the table while Usopp slipped his arms around Sanji’s chest and tucked his head against his shoulder.
“Sleepy?” Sanji asked gently.
“Mmm,” Usopp hummed, snuggling closer to Sanji, who tucked the younger man against him.
Sanji had grown rather fond of the Straw Hats, and it was this journey to Nami’s island that made him feel like he was already one of them. He wasn’t used to having someone cling and cuddle him, and if he were more sober, perhaps he’d be uncomfortable about it. But Usopp was a friendly, if not cowardly kind of guy that had somehow charmed Sanji. Despite cowardice, it seemed Usopp could be counted on, and Sanji was growing fond of him.
“I’ve not kissed anyone. Just my mom, you know?” Usopp slurred.
“Well, that’s a kiss.”
“Not like… a kiss-kiss.”
Sanji laughed. “Are you wanting a kiss-kiss?”
Usopp yawned, and Sanji echoed the yawn with one of his own. Usopp was warm, his body radiating a comfortable heat that was lulling him back to sleep.
“I want to know how it’s done,” Usopp mumbled. “If I’m going to be a great pirate captain one day, with over 8000 followers, I might have over a hundred wives.”
“Only a hundred?” Sanji teased rubbing a hand up and down his back.
“I think 99 of my wives is 99 too many,” Usopp said with grave seriousness.
Sanji snickered and nodded, “Well, you’re young.”
Usopp giggled, his warm breath tickling his throat. “Sanji wants a hundred wives.”
“Why stop at a hundred?” Sanji joked, laughing along with the giggling Usopp.
A moment of quiet passed and then Usopp mumbled. “I need practice. Kissing practice.”
“You could always kiss your fist,” Sanji suggested, making a fist and showing Usopp the crease his thumb and pointer figure made. “It can’t kiss you back, but it’s kinda close.”
Usopp wrinkled his face and then shook his head. “Nah… then it’s like… what’s the point? My fist can’t help, so I’m not learning.”
“Hmmm,” Sanji hummed, a crazy idea entering his head. Perhaps he was drunker than he thought, because he tucked two fingers under Usopp’s chin and tilted his face up. Usopp looked at him with sleepy eyes and smiled at him. Leaning in, Sanji kissed Usopp, squeezing the side of Usopp’s face to encourage him to pucker. Usopp was unresponsive at first, probably surprised, but then he pressed against Sanji’s mouth, trying to mimic him.
As kisses went, it was chaste but nice. Usopp’s mouth was rather plush and inviting, and if Sanji had ill intentions, he could take this mouth and really teach it how to properly kiss. But that kind of devilish kiss was meant for sober people and women.
Ah, women. Sanji liked women. ...But kissing Usopp was really nice too.
Sanji pulled back and smiled at Usopp, his eyes closed, and his mouth still slightly puckered. It took Usopp a few prolonged seconds to realize the kiss was over, and his eyes fluttered open. He then smiled at Sanji and declared, “Gee… that was nice.”
“Not bad at all. You should keep practicing though if you want to become a passionate kisser,” Sanji advised, tucking Usopp back under his chin. He yawned and suggested, “Maybe there will be a nice pretty lady in another town you can practice with.”
“Mmm,” Usopp agreed, snuggling further into Sanji’s arms.
He was asleep a second later, and with Usopp a comfortable warm presence in his lap, Sanji fell asleep too.
When they both woke with headaches and stiff limbs, they avoided looking at each other; the kiss was remembered. It became one of those things that they both knew about, but neither brought up. And thank goodness. Sanji really wasn’t sure how to explain what had compelled him to kiss Usopp in the first place.
The tyrannical God Enel was defeated at last, a four hundred-year-long war was ended, and those that dwelled on Skypeia celebrated like no other in the ruins of Cyandora.
The party to mark such an event was epic.
Every bit of Sanji still hurt, but he and his friends were alive, and there was so much joy spreading around that it was a living thing that moved them. He and Usopp had clasped each other's hands at some point and started to sway and dance with the others, grinning and laughing as the bonfire lit up their faces.
They stuck close together and danced until they both stepped out of the merry group of dancers for food and drink. With that in hand, they found a more secluded place together to eat and drink, laughing and chatting about their adventure.
“Do you taste copper in your mouth? My mouth tastes like… like iron, or something!” Usopp grumbled as he sipped a tankard of some kind of wine.
“It’s gotta be from that shitty lightning!” Sanji snorted, his jaw rippling with tension. He rubbed it and added, “I taste iron or something too. And my jaw hurts as if I ate something sour. This better not last for long! I wouldn’t want it to affect my pallet. A chef’s pallet is important!”
"Yeah! If you can’t cook anymore because of that God asshole, I’d have to find him, fight him, and defeat him all over again!" Usopp crowed, puffing up his chest.
Sanji snickered and clapped his hands. “The brave and mighty Usopp.”
Usopp grinned and leaned against Sanji in companionable silence. Eventually, he murmured, “That felt pretty close. I was worried for a while.”
Sanji nodded. “It certainly was a bit harrowing. But we’ve been in worse, haven’t we?”
“Arabasta was bad too,” Usopp agreed with a shudder.
Sanji looked at Usopp’s goggles, recalling the anger and dread he had when he saw them on Mr. 2’s head. Even before they had messed up in showing the bandaged arm and not the X underneath, Sanji had suspected he hadn’t run into Usopp when he’d found Mr. 2.
Mr. 2 had not felt like Usopp.
They had not felt the same, and while Mr. 2 certainly sounded like Usopp when he was disguised, the cadence of his words had not been right. Usopp was also certainly noisy enough to let himself be known, even if Usopp was quiet or Sanji had his eyes closed. He could always tell when Usopp was next to him. There was a warmth and comfort that the other brought that he could always pick up on. It hadn’t been able to be replicated by that phony Mr. 2.
“Yeah,” Sanji agreed and then reached over and scuffed Usopp’s already messy hair.
Usopp had still been drinking from his cup, and with Sanji messing with his hair he snorted in outrage. Unfortunately, that meant he snorted half his drink up his nose, and Sanji laughed in startled surprise as liquid propelled itself out of of Usopp’s nose. Usopp choked, and Sanji only laughed louder, holding his ribs as his body ached.
“S’not… fun...funny!!” Usopp wheezed. “You trying to kill me?!”
Sanji wiped his teary eyes and sputtered, "It's just… your nose is so long; if something spurts out your nose, it’s like an elephant trunk spewing water!” He howled with laughter again as Usopp gasped in outrage. Leaning over, Sanji began to pummel insulted fists on Sanji’s shoulder, but the blows were rather weak.
“You asshole! Stupid ero-chef! Stupid Sanji!”
Sanji turned and caught Usopp’s hands, still sputtering around his laughter as renewed tears seeped down his cheeks. “Easy, Usopp! Your hands are already hurt!”
“King of Jerks!” Usopp bellowed one last halfhearted attempt at an insult and struggled in Sanji’s sure grip.
“Oh, come on. Don't be so sore,” Sanji sniggered. “I’ll make it up to ya.”
"How!?" Usopp demanded, now pouting. “You snort something up your nose and let me laugh at you!”
“I don’t think I can just make that kind of thing happen,” Sanji said, his voice trembling and on the verge of turning to laughter again. Perhaps it was his giddy mood that made Sanji suggest, “How about a practice kiss?”
There was a moment of stillness as Sanji brought up the thing they’d been avoiding talking about for months. The drunken practice kiss they’d both shared at Arlong Park. Neither of them had forgotten, but after a week of awkwardness, they both had learned to relax around each other. Neither of them had brought it up, and it seemed like that was what both of them wanted.
So they’d been normal for all this time… and Sanji had just brought it up.
Sanji felt his humor die as he sat, appalled with his mouth for bringing up the subject now.
But then, in a quiet voice, Usopp said, “Well… alright.”
Sanji finally sobered up, his fits of giggles gone.
Usopp’s lower lip was stuck out in a pout, and his face was flushed from the drink that had shot up and out his nose. The flush seemed to be getting worse, spreading to his ears and down his neck, as his eyes shone with anxiety. Whatever Sanji did next would probably set the tone of the branch their friendship might take.
For whatever reason, because it was Usopp, and only because it was Usopp, Sanji took a hold of Usopp’s chin and pulled him close. “Well, if it’s practice, shall I try something different this time?”
“D-Different?”
“The next level of kissing. A French kiss. That fine with you?” Sanji asked, sounding much cooler than he felt. The skin of his ears felt hot, and it was a different kind of heat than his his electrical burns felt.
Usopp nodded, his eyes wide and slightly hopeful. Sanji should have been concerned with how cute he found his big eyes and dark skin that was getting darker. It should have been a warning that he thought about before he took action and made things worse.
Only, Sanji was already kissing Usopp, deciding to put off thinking for tomorrow.
Usopp’s lips were as soft as he remembered, and he leaned into Sanji’s embrace easily. His nose slid against Sanji’s cheek, and the chef thought it was charming how they fit together. But Usopp wasn’t as close to Sanji as he wanted. They were sitting next to each other, and Usopp was leaning in for the kiss, but something was awkward.
Reaching out, Sanji pulled Usopp towards him, and the sniper came willingly into his lap. It was not as comfortable as it had been back on Nami’s island, but Sanji was treated to Usopp straddling his lap, which stirred a heat in his belly that shot straight to his groin. He slid one hand to Usopp’s lower back and then slid it up his tattered shirt. He touched what skin wasn’t covered in bandages and dragged his tongue over Usopp’s lower lip.
He had to do it twice more before Usopp tentatively opened up. Sanji delved in, stroking his tongue against Usopp as he cupped the back of Usopp’s neck, and his other hand roamed for warm patched of Usopp’s skin. Usopp’s hands were trembling, and they’d moved up to grip the collar of Sanji’s shirt in a death-like grip.
Sanji slid his mouth to the side and murmured into the corner of Usopp’s mouth, "Easy, Usopp, don’t be afraid. Ease up on your grip; don’t tear my shirt.”
Usopp made a soft, compliant sound before his hands went flat against Sanji’s chest. They were hot and sweating through Sanji’s shit, and he could still sense the tremble of them. Trying to comfort Usopp, he enfolded the sniper fully in his arms, pressing them chest to chest as he went back in for another probing kiss.
Usopp moaned, and Sanji groaned back, arching into Usopp’s body possessively as he sucked the sniper’s tongue.
Usopp was an enticing flavor of salt and alcohol, a combo Sanji hadn't realized he liked so much until now.
They kissed for a long, long time, until they were both panting messes, and Sanji didn’t have to look to know they were both hard. Usopp had his brow resting against the bridge of Sanji’s nose as he panted, trying to catch his breath.
Sanji wanted to kiss him again, but his bravery had faded.
“Good practice for now?” Sanji asked, keeping his voice carefully controlled.
Usopp’s dark eyes darted to him, and he nodded. He tried to get up, but Sanji pulled him close and held him tucked under his chin. He could feel both their erections squished between their bodies, and the wise thing was to let Usopp go. But Sanji wanted to hold onto Usopp a little longer, reluctant to let go of his warmth.
Usopp stayed there far too long, and when they parted, it was awkward for both of them.
Privately, Sanji wondered if Usopp had needed to jerk himself off in the bushes somewhere too, or if that was only Sanji’s new secret embarrassing memory.
With a new crewmate and Usopp back with the Straw Hats on their new ship, the Thousand Sunny, things felt explosive. So the very loud, raucous party that was thrown the night they set sail, was no small celebration. It felt like they had three people to celebrate that night, so it could be no small event.
Robin was back, and her broken, distrusting heart might have finally been mended and found a home with the Straw Hats.
Franky had joined them, along with the amazing ship he had designed and built with his own hands.
And Usopp, who had still proven loyal and true, even when he and Luffy had sunk down in a muck that seemed insurmountable.
Yeah—it couldn’t be any small celebration, and as the Straw Hats' chef, Sanji had made sure not to hold back.
The feast and alcohol Sanji prepared were his best efforts yet, and even Luffy couldn’t eat everything he had prepared. The anchor was cast for the night as they used their stars as their night light, and the straw hats littered the deck like bloated bits of trash.
Sanji found himself walking around and picking up scattered bits of trash as he did a private head count of the crew. He had started counting his friends after Usopp left. And while Usopp had only not been with them a handful of days, Sanji had a feeling he would never not count the number of his crew. He’d never have comfort unless all of them were there, and he knew it now.
He paused in his trash collecting because his count was off, and worst of all it was Usopp. He could not find Usopp.
“Mr. Cook," Robin called out to him in a whisper.
He snapped his head to her, opening his mouth to answer her, but she merely pointed up with a knowing grin. “Usopp’s up in the new crow’s nest. He snuck up there a little while ago.”
Sanji held her gaze and then smiled at her and nodded. "Thanks, Robin.”
“Of course.”
“Can I get you anything before I go?”
Robin laughed a little. “There’s still plenty in the kitchen, and believe me… I have everything I need here.” She cast her eyes out over the crew and lingered on Luffy, who was as bloated as a sea lion from all his efforts of eating.
Sanji grinned, completely understanding what she meant. Going to the foremast, he climbed the ladder, knowing that if he reached the top and included Usopp in his count, he too would have exactly everything he needed.
When he pushed open the trap door to the crow’s nest and crawled inside, Sanji found Usopp sitting at one of the cushioned seats that sat on the perimeter of the enclosed room. Zoro’s weights were already neatly set up inside the room, the perfect place for him to train. The room had a fresh and unused feeling, unlike the deck of the ship that already felt like it was part of the crew. Perhaps when Zoro actually used one of the weights, the crow’s nest too would feel like home. But for now it was a strange place with a familiar warm presence sitting within it, Sanji was always drawn too.
“Hey,” Sanji called out to Usopp, “you good?”
Usopp jumped, but only a little. When he looked at Sanji, he froze again, a moment of guilt and regret flashing in his eyes before neatly tucking itself away. “Sanji… yeah, I’m good. I just… a lot happened. I wanted a moment to myself as the night winded down.”
"You mean as everyone got roaring drunk and passed out,” Sanji joked as he joined Usopp on one of the cushioned seats.
Usopp smiled a little and shrugged. “Yeah. I wasn’t up for much drinking.”
“Meet me either," Sanji said. He hadn’t had much to drink, unlike the rest of the crew. Rather than alcohol, the thing he’d wanted to do was look at Usopp and just keep track of him. He was back, back where he belonged, and yet Sanji was afraid he was going to lose him again. Right before his eyes. It was a feeling that clung to Sanji’s heart, as if a fish hook had managed to snag it inside his chest.
“Do your wounds hurt?” Sanji asked, worried that Usopp hadn’t had enough treatment. It was bad enough how beaten he’d been by Franky’s men, then Luffy, and then dealing with all of CP9. Chopper had looked over at him again, but Sanji was quietly worried out of his head that Usopp would be wrapped up in bandages forever. The young man had taken quite a beating, physically and emotionally.
“Thank you for coming back,” Sanji said, the words coming out of him in a hard breath.
Usopp snapped his eyes to look over at him, his eyes the widest Sanji had seen them and shining with a fresh sheen of tears.
“What?” Usopp whispered, the words shaking.
Sanji reached out, leaned towards him as much as he could, and cupped his face. “Thank you for coming back. I… It would never be the same here without you. I don’t know if I could do it.”
“Sanji…”
“I would have missed you too much!”
Usopp hiccuped and moved to wrap his arms around Sanji, and the chef embraced him, stroking a hand down Usopp’s hair as he held him.
“I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
“No more apologies, Usopp. I know. I know! It was too much. It was a terrible, bad day, and… and it got out of hand!”
“It wasn’t just Merry,” Usopp whispered, fresh tears falling on Sanji’s neck. “It’s been… it’s been me—"
“No!”
"No, it was! It was. I've had this terrible uncertain feeling brewing in my guts since Drum Island. I’m not like Luffy. I’m not like Zoro. Or you, or Robin—"
"You don’t need to be anyone but yourself! You do what we can’t!” Sanji whispered, repeating a refrain that he truly was holding onto. There was so much truth in it and Usopp was the embodiment of that truth. Usopp wasn’t as strong as the others, he didn’t have fruit-user abilities, and compared too all of them, he was the most normal apart from Nami.
But Usopp’s sniping abilities, and his willing to be brave when it really mattered, that made Usopp great. There were so many things, small things, that made Usopp reliable, strong, and… just Usopp!
And ‘just Usopp,’ was all Usopp needed to be.
Sanji squeezed Usopp tight, knowing it was probably not comfortable in Usopp’s injured condition, but he had to hold on to him. He had to tell him how much he was needed and how much Usopp actually did for them all. And if Sanji was going to fumble the words, he could at least convey that in not letting him go.
“I just… I don’t feel like enough. I didn't—"
“But you are! You are!” Sanji hissed, pulling back to look into Usopp’s eyes and to let the sniper see he was crying too. “You’ve done a lot for us. You do a lot for us! I know maybe you don’t think so, but you’ve held us together, held Merry together as long as you could! Don’t doubt your place here again. I can’t watch you leave again.”
Usopp nodded, his tears making it impossible for him to speak again. He reached for Sanji’s face, and it was the way Usopp’s thumbs fell on Sanji’s cheeks that the chef knew the sniper was asking to kiss him.
“Please,” Sanji whispered in a tiny voice, and Usopp leaned forward and did just that.
Utilizing the two times they had kissed before, Usopp kissed Sanji not with practiced ease, but with confidence. Sanji welcomed Usopp’s kiss, helping him shape the bold press into a passionate exchange. They wrapped around each other until Sanji wasn’t sure where one of them started and the other ended and kissed until they were both gasping.
When they stopped, Sanji realized they’d sunk out of the chairs and to the ground of the crow's nest and were curled around each other, clinging as if they’d never let go.
“You’ve gotten good at kissing,” Sanji told him.
Usopp let out a wet laugh. “It’s all the practicing.”
“Want to practice some more?”
“Yeah.”
They surged together and kissed until their lips were chapped and then fell asleep in the crow’s nest together, Sanji wrapped around Usopp like an over-sized backpack. When they were found the next day, they blamed the alcohol, and Sanji was sure everyone believed it but Robin.
It was at Sabaody when Sanji realized that terrible fear of dreading seeing Usopp lost in front of him had been a terrible prediction.
Kuma had taken Usopp away, with an extended arm and an open palm.
A moment before Kuma transported Sanji away, as he raged and charged in blindly in retaliation, Sanji wished he’d kissed Usopp one more time and given up on that comfortable lie of calling it practice.
It hadn’t been practice from the very start.
It had been real, but Sanji hadn’t known what it was. Or if he had, he’d been too afraid to put a name to it.
The moment before Kuma touched him, he hoped whatever awaited him at the end was Usopp, and if he was there, he would get it right this time.
It was their first night under the sea after their reunion and the departure from Sabaody, the place that had haunted all of Sanji’s dreams, that Sanji finally got to see Usopp alone again.
He’d reunited with everyone, of course, laughed, hugged, and even cried as they rejoined each other. There were so many new changed among them all, and Sanji wished he’d been there to see it. All the things that had made them change. But he supposed they did have to get stronger by being apart… even if it had been the hardest two years of his life.
Sanji knew he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had the grandest of times. Zoro had lost an eye, and Franky had needed to reconstruct himself after his awful landing. He was sure as more days passed there would be more stories that came out amongst them of terrible long years and hardships each person had to face. Luffy’s new scar across his chest, and knowing the weight of that scar was evidence, if any, that it had all been very hard.
Sanji could only hope all of their training, suffering, and longing had been worth it. Perhaps when they reached Fish-Man Island, they’d find the answers to that.
But the answer Sanji wanted right now, was what he hoped to get out of Usopp. Dinner had finished, the dishes were clean, and Zoro and Brook had taken the first watch of the night. Zoro kept an eye out for trouble, while Brook played a tune for a group of whales that were following them.
Sanji went to Usopp’s workshop and with elation found him exactly where he wanted him.
Usopp turned as Sanji opened the door, in the middle of twisting down his hair for bed. His strong muscles and more grown face made Sanji ache a little bit. It was both desire and regret. The regret was for missing such a change in Usopp. He would have loved to see Usopp grow before his eyes, but if he had any say about it, Sanji wouldn’t be missing anything else from now on.
If Sanji got his way, they’d grow old together.
“Sanji,” Usopp said, his voice breaking into his thoughts. Usopp’s eyes were wide and a little incredulous as he gasped, "Your nose is bleeding.”
Sanji stepped fully into Usopp’s workshop and covered his nose. “Ah, yes. Well, it does that.”
“For women?”
“For women and Usopp,” Sanji insisted.
Usopp blinked rapidly, looking very surprised, and then he smiled. It was the same wide, warm grin Sanji had missed for two years.
“For women and me, huh?” Usopp mused, dropping his hair, leaving a third of it unfinished as he stepped over to Sanji.
“Yes.”
“Must I share?”
Sanji swallowed. Usopp’s new confidence was unexpected and certainly attractive. He feared he’d melt in a puddle if Usopp kept it up. Sanji squeezed his nose with a handkerchief and stuttered, “O-only the nosebleeds. The… the nosebleeds will be because of women and you. As for kissing—"
“Practice kissing?” Usopp asked, his tone teasing and expectant.
Sanji swallowed hard. “No. Not practice kissing. As for kissing, I want that to be only between me and you.”
Usopp clicked his tongue, and for a second Sanji thought he’d said something wrong. But Usopp reached out for Sanji, his strong arms sliding over Sanji’s shoulders and tugging him close.
“Dammit Sanji… I was going to be the brave one about this. About us.”
Sanji wrapped his arms around Usopp’s waist and whispered, "You've always been the brave one, Usopp. It was high time I returned the favor.”
Usopp’s eyes shimmered, a gleam of new tears in his eyes, but he held them back as he leaned for Sanji.
“C’mere,” Usopp whispered, tilting his head up and leaning for Sanji’s mouth.
Sanji leaned down, and they kissed, though they were a little off. It took a moment for their kissing mouths to find the right rhythm. But when they found it, Usopp was leaning back into the wall of his workshop. As Sanji crowded around him, pressing into the man as if he were starved.
They parted briefly, and Usopp was the first to speak, his tone teasing, “Well… we fell out of practice, didn’t we?”
“I didn’t have my partner with me,” Sanji purred. “We’ll have to practice again.”
“But more frequently,” Usopp insisted, his eyes holding a question.
“Much more frequently, my love,” Sanji confirmed, smiling as Usopp’s eyes widened as he got his answer.
Usopp grinned and tugged Sanji back for another toe-curling kiss. As one of Usopp’s hands, strong and unafraid, loosened Sanji’s tie, Sanji felt quite pleased that all their practice had been worth it.
The End