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"This sucks."
Yn now sat on the kitchen counter, their hand in Sanji's while he wrapped their cut finger. Guilt nabbed at their gut, seeing his baby blue eyes wrought with worry. Yn scanned the room, but nothing was worth noting---only a metal pot of boiling stew on the stove and some leftover tomatoes on a wooden cutting board near the sink.
"Don't say that, love," he chides. Yn's gaze drifted back to him, their cheeks hot. "Accidents happen. There's no need to feel bad about it."
There was no hint of anger or disappointment in his voice. Rather, his tone reminded yn of a mother soothing her crying child, who was reeling with pain from a cruel and brutal beating. She was his sole light amid such a harsh world. Yet, even she had to be taken away from him.
Yn watched as Sanji cut the extra gauze and set the remaining roll on the counter. "Alright yn-chwan, you're all done," he croons, getting a grateful smile from them.
"I feel privileged," they tease, trying to gain back some confidence. "It's rare to see this gentle side of you. Maybe I should mess around with knives more often."
Terror flashed in his eyes. "Y-you don't have to do that!" he pleads in a panic.
Yn laughed, ruffling his soft blond locks. "I'm only kidding, pretty boy. But sometimes it's just..." Their gaze drifts down as they hang their head, untangling their fingers from his hair. "You don't have to trouble yourself all the time for me. At least give yourself some care, because I worry when you don't."
Sanji blinked up at them. Then he leans closer, wedges himself right between their knees, and plants his arms on both sides of the counter next to them. "You...really mean that?"
Heat rushed to yn's face, realizing that they were effectively trapped between him and the kitchen wall. The air suddenly turned steamier. Yn's half-lidded eyes traveled all over his face until stopping on his lips. And oh Oda help them, that pesky unbuttoned collar on his blue striped long sleeves was getting distracting really fast...
Sanji must've noticed. Yn gasps softly and shudders, feeling his hot breath graze their neck and linger up the shell of their ear.
"Something wrong? You haven't answered my question yet, yn."
And for good reason. The way he uttered their name in such a low, husky tone was burying them in unspeakable thoughts. Yn didn't trust their voice for fear of...whatever...they might accidentally blurt out. Their pulse quickened. Police sirens and security alarms rang in their head, their legs tense around Sanji's waist.
Welp, better answer him before losing all self-control.
"Y-You think I take you for granted, huh?" Their voice came out an octave higher than usual. "I'll go through hell and back for everyone on this ship, you included."
One can only imagine how painstakingly difficult it was trying to craft a proper sentence while low-key straddling this Michelin star meal of a chef. They swore to get back at him for this in the future.
"How can you think I'm worth all that trouble?" he asked, almost as if offended by the thought.
They almost sighed. This man dropped the self-worth question like he literally wasn't flirting with them just a few seconds ago. Nevertheless, it was enough for Yn's heart to tie itself into a painful knot. The self-loathing he had was probably worse than Ace's, stooping so low to the point where he didn't care if he died anymore.
When Sanji was first introduced in the Baratie arc, yn didn't think much of him---just a shallow character who was always down bad. But as the series went on, his kind, self-sacrificing nature for the crew grew on them. And don't even get started with the whole Cake Island fiasco---yn's heart was torn to shreds. They had been so wrong about him.
Sanji never deserved any of the insults, beatings, and imprisonment. After the only person who loved and accepted him died to spare his life, the one thing that kept him hoping in the cold dungeon was his dream of the All Blue. Even that was ridiculed.
Yn reminded themselves to give certain royalties in Cake Island an absolute nightmare once the crew got there.
Yn takes his face in their hands, their gaze intense into his blue-gray eyes. "You're not a burden, you hear me? You're not useless. You're not weak."
He blinks, and a flash of vulnerability cracks through his fluster. "But--"
"It hurts me when you think so lowly of yourself," they snap. "I can't stand it whenever you decide to throw away your life just like that. What about the crew? Who will be starving out at sea?"
"Certainly not Luffy," he remarks dryly, before meeting their gaze. "I just don't...understand. I'm messed up. I'm a monster.” Azel almost balks at the casual way he just declares that about himself, like it was a fact. “How can you choose to stay with…someone broken like me? A mess like me?"
"Sanji--"
“Just what the hell do you see in me?” he demands, his voice cracking like paper, and yn’s heart breaks a little more.
Their gaze on him softens, but remains determined. "Being different doesn't make you weak," they mutter, searching his face. "I'm fully convinced that none of us in this ship will hesitate to fight or even die for you if need be. Because that's what makes us family." They tapped his chest, emphasizing each word. "Your family."
He inhales shakily at the word, like it meant something foreign, something alien to him. Tears glisten in his eyes, lost in a bittersweet longing. "Family..."
Yn's shoulders sagged, relieved of pent up emotions. They spread their arms. "C'mere."
Momentarily stunned, the cook then obliges, burying himself in yn's hold. His arms went around their waist. They hum contentedly, sifting through his golden locks.
It stays that way for a few minutes, with only the bubbling sound from the stew and the crew's thunks on the wooden deck above resonating faintly in the kitchen. But in that moment, nothing else mattered to yn except for their nakama they so preciously cradled. Whether he agreed to it or not, they were sticking to their words with no regrets.
"You never have to be anyone else for this crew to accept you," they mutter, unbelievably soft and tender. "After all, you're the only Sanji of the Strawhats."
Yn pulls away, brushing a thumb across his cheek.
"And that's more than enough for us."