#Sabo's gonna 🫦

[hannahbarberra162]

Under the Microscope, Part 14 (Yan Sabo x Reader)

18+ MDNI | on Ao3

The other parts

TW: light somnophilia

Huge thank you to @tryingandfailingtowrite for editing, beta-ing, and helping me with the smutty scene. Thank you to @sordidmusings, @moldychefboyardeecan and @gouraminnow for beta-ing and leaving your comments and suggestions! Thank you to @kitsunechan707 for the Sabo somno inspo :). I'll leave one more thank you at the end to not spoil a bit.

Sabo didn’t have to look at the clock to know what time it was. The darkness of the sky was just being penetrated by the early grays of the dawn, sunrise still a few hours away. After so many years of being in charge of various flanks of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo had become accustomed to waking up and starting his day before five in the morning. Even when the two of you had been on the island together, he’d maintained his routine and worked for hours before either you or Ace started stirring. He always had so much to do, countless reports to read and letters to write, plans to work on, and missions to oversee. It felt like he never had enough time to finish everything he needed to accomplish. 

But now as he watched as your chest slowly rose and fall, your even breath tickling his skin. He couldn’t find it in himself to move away from you. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, but he didn’t want this time to end. As he came to his senses, he realized he was on his back in the bed with you crowding his side, trying to absorb his heat. Your face was pressed against his chest near his beating heart. Sabo brought his flesh hand to rest on your side and put the metal one behind his head. His fingers twitched with the urge to run both of his hands over your body, to feel all the dips and curves under his soft touch. But it was still early and you needed rest. 

 That and Sabo wasn't as forward with you as he was previously. He certainly wanted to kiss you again or have you in his clothes, but given the intensity of recent events, he thought it best to pull back and allow yourself to calibrate to your new normal. To his surprise, his strategy worked. At least for a night. You'd asked him to stay with you and clutched him tight all night long. Yes, you'd asked for Ace first and were really after the warmth of his mera-mera, but he supposed being a sentient heating pad was better than nothing.

Sabo's metal hand ran through his hair, and he winced when one bearing snagged on his hair and pulled a few out. You hadn’t truly grasped what Sabo was telling you with the metal hand, but that was okay. He should have guessed you'd be too distracted by the tech to focus on the meaning behind his example. He wanted you to see that, despite losing his hand, Sabo was still himself. You’d known him as he was for the entire relationship, and finding out he had a metal hand hadn’t changed your perception of him. If anything, it probably endeared him to you a little, given your proclivities. He’d try again later that day to get the example to sink in for you, this time without robotics.

In truth, it broke Sabo’s heart the way you talked about yourself, just like it did when he heard Ace do the same. In that way, you were so similar to Ace, so sure that everyone would discard you at the slightest inconvenience or trouble. That you didn’t have any value to anyone besides what you provided. You’d spoken to Ace about his own issues, but Sabo supposed it was more difficult to apply those same ideas to yourself. 

 Sudden movement from you distracted him from his thoughts. You stirred slightly in your sleep, your brow furrowing as you worried about something in your dreams. A small whimper escaped your lips as your fingers gripped his shirt tightly; whatever you were dreaming about was surely unpleasant. 

Sabo slipped his flesh hand down the neck hole of your shirt to run it up and down your back. He didn’t think you’d mind, you probably would prefer his touch to whatever unpleasantness you were reliving. He kissed the top of your head while bringing his other arm down to hug you tightly. He hoped you weren’t dreaming about the beating you’d taken - he would do anything to have you forget that entirely. Your jaw had been wired shut for weeks, so it wasn’t like he could ask about it, but he suspected you wouldn’t have spoken about it even if you could. Yet another similarity between you and Ace - two people who shoved down their hurt until it erupted at a later time. Maybe he’d try to gently prod and see how you were feeling, he thought as he soothed you. You quieted back down in his arms, your brow smoothing out as your dreams took a more pleasant turn.

But after rubbing your soft skin to calm you in your sleep, Sabo was left with another problem – his raging erection. His flesh hand was still under your shirt and his only option was his robotic hand. He yearned to stroke his cock with you so near but the metal was a much rougher sensation than skin. He could do it, he’d masturbated with it before, but it wasn’t as pleasant. While thinking what to do, Sabo’s fingers traced circles into your back, his aching cock practically throbbing for contact. A near smile graced your lips when you let you a soft sigh, and his decision was made.

Sabo reached for the nightstand at his side and grabbed his glove off the top counter. Sabo used his teeth to pull his glove on with muscle memory while keeping his eyes trained on you, making sure you remained asleep for the duration of his activity. His cock strained against his pants, uncomfortably pushing against the metal zipper. Sabo reached down and unfastened his pants, freeing his weeping cock as it stood rigidly at attention. Before you, the thought of masturbating next to a sleeping woman would have never crossed his mind, but the vision of you peacefully resting on his chest was too much for him to ignore right now. 

His eyes slid closed when he finally wrapped his hand around himself and he imagined it was your hand that fisted the base of his cock.. It was more challenging with the texture of the leather glove, but he’d make do. Sabo slowly stroked the length of his cock, spreading the beads of pre-cum down his shaft with a tight grip. It felt wrong to stroke himself to the thought of you while you slept peacefully next to him, but not enough to stop him. Sabo took care not to wake you as he worked his hand up and down at a measured pace.

 His movements sped up with the thought of your soft skin under his fingertips., His mind conjured more images of you as he pushed himself towards his climax. The way your lips would curve so sweetly when you smiled. What you might look like underneath him when you took his cock. The way your cheeks would hollow when you sucked him off and how you would beg him for his touch. His imagination went further, picturing the tears that would threaten to fall when you pleaded for a reprieve. Your poor pussy overstimulated and dripping as you repeated his name like a prayer as he drove you toward another orgasm. The ring of Sabo, Sabo, Sabo in his ears seemed almost real as his cock twitched and throbbed at the thought. 

He came with a soft grunt, his cum spurting all over his lower stomach. Luckily, he’d been on many missions in close quarters, so making little to no noise while cumming was easy. He was still wearing his clothes which made cleaning up his mess easier. After he ensured none got on you, Sabo gently undid the buttons of his shirt with one hand. Sabo reluctantly rolled you carefully off his chest and onto your side. Slipping out of his button-down, Sabo tossed it on the floor and cuddled up behind you. He yawned just as the rays of the morning sun came up over the horizon. He really should get out of bed and get going. There was so much to do - meetings and notes and plans and calls and-

Sabo yawned again and pulled you closer to his chest, his eyes sliding closed once more.

Your POV

You blinked awake in the same bed that you’d been in for weeks now. But instead of having to turn your head to look out the window, the sunshine was streaming into your room. Oh yeah, Sabo had moved your bed….and was still in it. You felt his warmth at your back; the heat ebbing and flowing with each even breath he took. His arm draped over your middle, and your legs were tangled with his as he twitched slightly in his sleep. His metal hand was in front of you, and now you could inspect it without feeling weird about being watched while you took your time to examine it. 

You slowly picked up his wrist and held the metal contraption as you marveled at the intricate details of its workings. Someone had put a lot of effort and love into Sabo’s prosthetic, even making the plain metal have a filigree style to match his general proclivity towards…frills. It wasn’t a surprise that people loved him; you’d seen the way the RA staff treated him before the battle. Still, you hadn’t thought much about the people Sabo would call his family and friends outside of Ace. 

You were still enraptured by the joint work of the hand when you felt Sabo stir behind you. You dropped his hand and pretended to sleep yourself to ward off any awkward conversations. Sabo yawned but didn’t rub his face on you or pull you closer like he sometimes used to do on the island at night. Instead, he removed his arm and raised them both above his head, grunting as he stretched his limbs. 

“G’morning, Sunny,” Sabo said, smacking his lips a few times and rubbing his chest with his prosthetic hand. His morning voice was rougher and deeper than usual. Now that you thought about it, you didn’t remember waking up with Sabo on the island — he was almost always gone by the time you woke up. 

“Get out, I gotta pee,” you stated with a roll of your eyes, “and why’s your shirt on the ground?” 

Your eyes narrowed as you eyed Sabo. He had never taken off his clothes when you’d slept together before. It seemed odd to wake up to a shirtless Sabo the first time you actually asked him to stay.

“Hm? You kept asking me to be warmer and warmer. Problem was solved when I took off my shirt,” he said with a pleasant smile. One more stretch, and Sabo sat upright in the bed before he swung his legs over to the side. “D’ya need any help to get to the bathroom? I know the nurses helped you walk there for a while. Speaking of -”

“No. Go, Sabo,” you urged, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. In truth, you had needed help walking when your bones were broken, but the nurses had done it without making you feel weak. If Sabo helped you, you might consider turning yourself into the Marines out of sheer humiliation.

There was a knock on the door and it immediately opened to reveal Marco on the other side, your chart in his hands. You hated it when people knocked and didn’t wait for a response before they entered. His smile widened a smidge as his eyes passed between you and Sabo. You wanted to protest that it wasn’t like that to Marco, but it probably wouldn’t have changed his mind anyway. The men had already both annoyed you and the day had barely started.

“Good morning yoi. I see you’re already up — we’re gonna work on some physical therapy and test where you are now that you’re healed-” Marco began before Sabo cut him off.

“In a few minutes, Doc. She needs to-”

“ She can speak for herself. Get out , Sabo,” you said, nudging him with your foot. “Marco I’ll be ready in a few minutes, please leave,” you stated with a sniff.

 You’d never been so direct, always afraid of confrontation or that people would take your words wrong. Now you were bossing around Marco the Phoenix and the Second in Command of the RA like they were errant school children. Marco smiled placidly, unoffended at your statement. 

‘I’ll knock again in 15 minutes-”

“And you’ll wait until I tell you to enter,” you said primly. 

“Of course,” he said, nodding his head at you. Sabo hummed, picked his shirt off the ground, and placed his hat on top of his head. He turned to face you and tried to kiss the top of your head as you dodged him. 

“Be back soon; I’ll go get us breakfast. It’s gonna be a great day,” he said with a bright smile. 

It was not a great day.

In fact, this was one of the most irritating days you could ever remember. It was only beaten out of first place by the time a colleague incorrectly explained to you the concept behind a paper that you authored. Everything was so much more difficult than you remembered — stretching, walking, not bumping into things, judging how far away things were, reading, writing… you were so angry that you wanted to explode everything. Again.

The morning began with Marco leading you through physical therapy exercises due to your deconditioning. He’d healed your body, but your muscles were still weak from weeks of disuse after lying in bed. You were on the floor on a thin mat as Marco stretched your legs, pushing them past what was comfortable. Not only did the stretching cause you discomfort, but Sabo had also invited himself into the room. He threw Marco nasty glances whenever the doctor touched your skin. It was purely professional, but that didn’t stop the dark look that grew on Sabo’s face.. 

For example, Marco was stretching your hamstrings with you. You were laid on your back as Marco took your ankle in his large hand and pushed your leg towards your chest. The groaning of strained metal was audible as Sabo tightened his grip on his pipe. Marco’s patience had finally run out and he kicked Sabo out. 

Not only was the stretching painful but you found that even walking short distances was a challenge for you. Once upon a time, you could walk all day long with no issues, like you had on the island. Now walking up and down the hallway of the ship left you needing rest. Marco kept making you sit down after every pass down the hall. Yes, you needed it, but it was so annoying to sit there while Marco yapped at you about slow and steady progress and muscle retention. After about an hour, you left to go nap in your room before lunch, before he could tell you yet again what admirable progress you’d made.

What really tipped you over the edge was when you and Sabo spent the early afternoon together in his room. You two sat at his desk as he tried to help you rebuild your reading ability. The desk was cluttered with books, letters, and papers, so there was barely any room left for your remedial work. The two of you sat side by side, thighs touching as he went through the basics of phonics with you. You couldn’t even move the desk to get more space from Sabo since it was bolted to the floor, so it wouldn’t move in a storm.

Between your traumatic brain injury and your missing eye, there were several obstacles ahead of you that needed to be solved before you’d be able to be read at the level you were before. Sabo was patient and kind, and you really tried to keep that in mind, but every little comment from him felt like a personal blow. Each one cemented just how behind you were and how much progress you’d have to make before you could be somewhat competent again.

Marco had suggested starting with basic phonics and working your way up to determine where exactly you were with your reading ability. It was a good idea, but after about five minutes, you were ready to be done with the activity. It was humiliating to sit there with Sabo and have him write various letters in combinations and have you sound them all out — and even worse to find out that you couldn’t remember them all. You were a published scientist, allegedly at the top of your field, and you couldn’t predictably tell Sabo what sound “ch” made.

“Wonderful, you’re doing so well, Sunny! Now, what sound does this letter make?” Sabo asked, pointing to a letter on the paper. Your eye had a hard time keeping up with the tasks required and your mind was spinning from all the exertion. You weren’t doing well, you thought bitterly, barely a month previously you’d read through all of Sabo’s textbooks on the island in a matter of days. 

“Sabo, I’m taking a break,” you said, reaching with the heel of your hand to rub at your good eye. Sabo caught your wrist and held it down to the table; a scowl pulled at your lips when he stopped you.

“Let’s just do five more, OK? We’re almost done with two-letter combinations and we can work our way up to three-letter words after your break. Is your eye tired -”

“Yeah, my eye’s tired,” you snapped while using your other hand to rub your eye. Sabo frowned at you.

“Don’t rub, it’s not going to help. If you’re tired, we can do some eye exercises before we move on to practicing depth perception -”

“I don’t want to do eye exercises, ” you hissed at him. You didn’t want to do eye exercises or leg exercises or practice your depth perception or any of the things that you now needed just to be you. You wanted everything to go back to the way it was before, how things used to be for you. Sabo squeezed your hand and gave you a thoughtful look.

“I know you’re having a hard time -”

“Oh, you know, do you Sabo? You know I’m having a hard time?” your voice began to rise as you yanked your hand back from his. Sabo’s eyes widened as he put down the pencil in his hand.

“Sunny, if you’ll let me -”

“If I let you what Sabo? Put me in seastone again?” you yelled, your frustration letting your bottled anger leak out. 

“Sunny, I -”

“No! Shut up , Sabo! You always have an answer for everything, and I’m sick of it! You plan everything in my life, and it’s not fair! I’m not your puppet to move around how you want - I don’t wanna read anymore, I don’t wanna look at letters anymore, I don’t wanna practice my depth perception or stretch or do any of that shit! I DON’T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE!” you screamed loudly enough to make your voice crack, but it did little to quell the fire that raged in you. There was so much you were angry about, but you couldn't even keep all the thoughts in your mind, which only served to enrage you further. 

With a small roar and all the adrenaline you had in your body, you swept all the books, pens, papers, and notes Sabo had on his desk onto the floor and stomped out of the room.

Sabo’s POV

Sabo sat unmoving in his room as papers wafted all over the floor. He’d never seen you so volatile before, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Yes, he knew you were still mad about the seastone bracelet, and he did want to talk to you about it, but your explosive reaction was something new. Marco had told him you’d be emotionally labile and perhaps prone to anger but he didn’t think you had it in you to yell at him. 

He liked it.

Sabo wanted you to feel comfortable enough to yell at him, like you did with Ace. He wanted you to feel safe in your ability to rail at him, knowing that he’d never purposefully cause you any harm. Of course, he didn’t like that you were upset but he felt better knowing that he was perhaps becoming another safe space for you. After all, Ace was leaving the next day and you’d need someone else to rely on. Sabo needed that person to be him. 

Even so, Sabo did feel guilty for pushing you so hard with the lessons that day. It had been a long morning spent with Marco in physical therapy, followed by a draining session of learning to read with him. You were uncomfortable during the time you spent in his room, fidgeting and second guessing yourself at every turn. Your missing eye also played into the issues at hand; Sabo remembered his own strain when he had to relearn to do things without his left eye. He knew you were impatient to get back to working order, but it wasn’t going to happen overnight. He’d keep helping you no matter how much you destroyed his room. 

Sabo sighed as he looked at the upturned books on the floor. He knelt as he began picking them up and placing them haphazardly on the desk to be sorted later. Maybe piling them would add more drama for the next time you shoved them off.

Your POV

Your stomping would have been more cathartic if you hadn’t had to take a break on the stairs on your way to the deck. After resting a minute, you regained your strength and made your way to the deck of the ship while trying to avoid bumping into anything. What you really wanted to do was climb into the crow’s nest and stew there, but you weren’t confident in your climbing ability yet. Then Sabo and Ace would freak out and the cycle would start anew. No, for the time being, you went and sat on the floor of one of the Marine lifeboats after removing the covering. You brooded there and errantly rubbed both your eyes—Sabo be damned—when the smell of a campfire drifted towards you. 

“Don’t rub -”

“If you tell me not to do one goddamned thing, I’m pushing you overboard,” you deadpanned to Ace. He chuckled and sat on the floor of the lifeboat facing you. 

“Bad day?” he asked in an amused tone.

“Fuck off,” you replied as tears filled your good eye. 

“Whoa, didn’t mean to - hey, Sunny, I’m sorry,” he said as you wiped your eye again. He was leaning forward with both arms open but you weren’t in the mood right now.

“Don’t touch me,” you said, hugging your arms across yourself. Ace looked crestfallen, but you didn’t care. You wanted to feel bad and sorry for yourself and it wasn’t your problem that he’d come to find you.

“Tell Sabo and Marco I’m fine. Leave me alone,” you said, pulling your knees to your chest.

“They didn’t send me. I felt the bad vibes in the air and wanted to come commiserate. You know I’m always down for a good sulk,” Ace said, tipping his hat up with his finger. You snorted but didn’t smile. Stupid Ace and his stupid jokes that made you feel a little better.

“Are you gonna show me something else to make me mad?” you asked, reaching into your pocket to touch the bounty poster that you kept on your person at all times. Ace frowned and looked up at you, the very picture of a sad puppy.

“No. I’m sorry, Sunny. I didn’t mean to make you so upset. I don’t know why I did that,” he said, inspecting the skin of his arm to avoid eye contact.

“It’s alright. Sabo probably wouldn’t have shown me anyway. I’m glad I know,” you said, looking past him at the sea. The two of you sat in silence for a few moments before Ace couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why’re you out here anyway?” he asked, now fiddling with the medallion on his hat strings.

“I threw all the stuff off Sabo’s desk and yelled at him,” you replied, still staring past Ace.

“Hah! Hell yeah, I’m not the only one in trouble,” Ace said with a grin. You shrugged. You felt a little bad about pushing the books onto the floor - you’d seen some land on their spines and splay open - but you’d go back and apologize later. Maybe. 

“I’m leaving tomorrow,” Ace said apropos of nothing, still fiddling with his hat. 

“Wh - wait, I thought you had a few more days,” you sputtered. The news was unexpected — you knew he’d be leaving shortly but not that soon.

“No, Marco’n me gotta head off to Wano. Gotta help Loof like always. I think he’s gonna try to take down Kaido? Not really sure,” Ace said speculatively. “But I getta see Yamato and Izou either way, so that’ll be good too.”

“Can I come-” you said as soon as the thought popped into your mind. Maybe Ace would let you join him, and you could-

“No. Sunny, you’re not coming with me. It’s too dangerous. You’re staying with Sabo. We talked about this on the island and it’s even more true now. You need someone to protect you, and there’s only a few people strong enough to do it. Me ‘n Marco will be busy and I don’t want you getting kidnapped or hurt. You’re staying with Sabo,” Ace said with finality as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“I don’t have to stay with Sabo, I could go-”

“No,” Ace said, as if he had the final say in everything. 

“You’re not the boss of me, I could go…I could go to the moon!” you said petulantly as you kicked at him weakly. Ace barked out a laugh and moved his legs to avoid your attack.

“Yeah, to the moon. Good one, Sunny.”

“I could! To the man on the moon!” you said firmly, banging your fist on your knee for emphasis.

“Hah! D’ya need me to get Marco? You hit your head again?” Ace asked with a smile.

“No, he’s invited me! Y’know, Eneru?” you said, waving your hand at the sky.

“What are you -”

“ENERU!” you said, now pointing at the moon visible in the late afternoon sky. Ace’s puzzled look had you zooming in on the moon multiple times until you saw a familiar palace.

“What the fuck -” Ace said quietly as you searched for Eneru. You spotted the strange man and zoomed in a little further. He was sitting on his throne, his long earlobes moving on their own in the low gravity of the moon.

“My goddess, what brings you to my domain? Another discussion about plasma?” Eneru asked with an indulgent smile, but you didn’t return it — you weren’t in the mood to smile back. You’d had some interesting conversations with him in the past about electricity, but now wasn’t the time. “Ah, your eye! What have they done to-”

 You didn’t want to hear Eneru’s strange talk about being a god and how you could be his goddess.ou flicked your hand through the magnification to remove it.

“Did-, do-do people know about that guy? That he’s there ? That- but he- why does he look like that?” Ace sputtered, shaking his head in confusion. 

“Dunno. He appeared on the moon one day,” you stated flatly, “Ace, please, can’t I go with you and Marco to Wano? I’ll be good.”

Your eye filled with tears as you pleaded with him again. Ace sat up and extended his arms toward you and this time you did take him up on the offer. You sat between his legs as he wrapped you in a giant hug. You leaned your chin on his freckled shoulder and allowed his warmth to envelop you.

“No, Sunny. You can’t. It’s not about being good or not. You need to learn how to like, walk again, and read again, and do all the things you like. You’re not a fighter and that’s all there’s gonna be there. All I’m good at is fighting, I gotta help Loof-”

“That’s not all you’re good at,” you interrupted, leaning your forehead on his shoulder to sniffle. “You can also eat faster than anyone else,” you said with mock sincerity. Ace laughed and you chuckled into his shoulder. 

“Wait till you meet Luffy, he’s just as bad as I am. Sabo’s the only civilized one of the three of us.” You hummed at the mention of Sabo as your gut churned. The longer you sat there with Ace, the worse you felt about how you’d lashed out at Sabo. It wasn’t his fault you were tired and upset, at least not about the reading and eye exercises. He deserved the bit about the seastone, but the rest was uncalled for and you’d have to apologize. You sighed heavily and laid your head on Ace.

“You wanna know what I do when I’m sad?” Ace asked, rubbing your back.

“What?” you replied, picking up your head.

“I blow stuff up. You wanna blow stuff up with me?” he asked, pushing you back a little to look at your face. You nodded, your eyes locked on his.

“Yeah. I really do.”

Thank you to BubbleBul on Ao3 for the suggestion that Sunny would see Eneru on the moon <3

Taglist: @mfreedomstuff @epochal-oracle @divinedolliebun @rebeccawinters @extremely-ashtridic @sle3pymarimo @violetmatcha