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itsthemoofacewriting · 6 months ago
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trip down the road (walking you home)
Summary: Drunk Nami had a lot to answer for.  Rating: M - Explicit
This can be found on AO3.
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jelliclewrite · 5 years ago
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Affair of Affairs Chapter 4
4900+ words
Warning for Blood and Minor Violence SPOILER for exact content warning - Munkustrap fights and kills a rat and gets blood on him
Tensions are rising rapidly as family ties begin to be dragged into the light. Vermin are threatening the peaceful nature of the Jellicle tribe while winter is soon approaching. What tragedy befell the clan during the blizzard of years past and what can be learned from its trauma. What makes a Jellicel? What makes a leader? When is family your foe?
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bhillson · 4 years ago
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Chasing Victory by Olivia Peters
Chasing Victory by Olivia Peters
Title: Chasing Victory Series: The Game Changer Series Author: Olivia Peters Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: April 26, 2021 Cover Design: Joan Queitzsch Victory When my best friend’s older brother breaks my heart, I flee to New York City without ever looking back. Well, almost ever. It’s not always easy to leave his perfectly chiseled body in my rear view. I’m determined to resist…
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payton-taylor-author-blog · 5 years ago
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Don’t miss our LIVE on Insta today! 3-5 p.m EST. There will be some awesome authors, giveaways, games, and of course my hair color reveal! Whoop! ❤️❤️❤️😘😘 #readingaddict #bookalicious #bookishlife #jenniferlarmentrout #hoochsquad #bookstagram #bookshelf #bookworm #bookblogging #bookobsessed #crownofsunlight #palaceofmoonlight #paytontaylorauthor #sarahjmaas #cassandraclare #jrwardauthor #readersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram @hoochsquad @sydwestauthor @savannahlayneromance @authoremilymurray @authorwaverlysuealexander @eroticdread @brookeellisauthor @opwrites @bcournoyer https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_RbuCgSWE/?igshid=1lv39zk1h4xlz
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joyffree · 4 years ago
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#PreOrder Tour
Title: Chasing Victory Series: The Game Changer Series Author: Olivia Peters Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: April 26, 2021
Victory When my best friend’s older brother breaks my heart, I flee to New York City without ever looking back. Well, almost ever. It’s not always easy to leave his perfectly chiseled body in my rear view. I’m determined to resist temptation and his pleas for me to move back home. Back to him. History always repeats itself, and when a man breaks you once, only a fool would let him do it again… So I guess you can call me a damn fool.
Cade Letting the love of my life walk away was the biggest sacrifice I ever made. And now Victory has me firmly in the barely-friends zone as the penance I deserve. When tragedy throws us back together, we seek comfort in the familiarity of each other’s arms – and my bed. I’ve finally earned a second chance, and I won’t make the same mistake twice… Even if that means lying to her about the real reason we broke up.
#chasingvictorycoverreveal #chasingvictoryoliviapeters #oliviapetersauthor #coverreveal #comingsoon #aprilrelease #contemporaryromance #amazon #kuromance #kindleunlimited #preordernow #tbr #gamechangerseries #enticingjourney @opwrites
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reesourire · 4 years ago
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#ReleaseBlitz: Seductive Scoundrel by @opwrites & @marlo_lanz ~ 4.5 stars
#ReleaseBlitz: Seductive Scoundrel by @opwrites & @marlo_lanz ~ 4.5 stars
Title: Seductive Scoundrel A Cocky Hero Club Novel Authors: Olivia Peters & Marlo Lanz Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: June 6, 2021 Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward are excited to bring you the Cocky Hero Club: original works from various authors inspired by Keeland and Ward’s New York Times bestselling Cocky Bastard series. BLURB Dean McCormick Everything in my life is big from my…
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itsthemooface · 5 years ago
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Merry Christmas to @classiccutie, this is your gift for the Secret Santa event organised by @zonamievents. A huge thank you to @maidenoftheworld for all your hard work, this had been a lot of fun!
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writesailingdreams · 8 years ago
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Rekindled Promise
Written: 17 May 2015
Subject: One Piece, Sabo
Word Count: 233
what do people write here? I don’t really have anything to say. It’s just a thing I wrote awhile back that I finally got around to finalizing; hope it’s all right.
White sunlight glowed gently over the overgrown grass. Two years had devoured the orange cosmos and tiger lilies, exposing the mildly withered tomb. Brushing aside excess grass, he stomped out a patch in front of the one he had come to visit. A green-striped dagger sheath caught a free-floating sunbeam, sending an echo of light over an orange hat that had seen better days. They were all that remained.
He planted down a crate, a makeshift table that was more portable than a tree stump.
A weak smile flickered over his lips, the wavering sheen of an old candle that was unsure if his memories were comforting reminders or sour reprimands.
Swallowing, he automatically set out three cups and filled them with sake. His grip on the bottle was steady. Pride swelled at that small accomplishment, even as rainclouds curdled at the bottom of his heart. Mentally blowing them away, he crossed his legs, sat, and drank his cup. The sake struck the roof of his mouth, sour-sweet flavor burning the back of his throat.
And then he talked of all things their brother had done. Words gushed out of him, a fount sprung by a friendship that had blossomed into brotherhood. But most importantly, he confirmed that he had accomplished his last deed before he died; Luffy was alive. It had all been worth it.
He left the newspaper as a reminder.
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itsthemoofacewriting · 1 year ago
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Part time soulmates, full time problem
Summary: Two idiots without braincells finally find someone holding them all. Or, Luffy and Zoro break into the wrong apartment. Rating: T For formatting reasons, I'm not posting this here but I know some people follow me here instead of on AO3, so I thought I'd share the link! You can find this fic here. Enjoy!
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itsthemoofacewriting · 6 months ago
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to me, you're all I am
Summary: “You can have them if you want.” He didn’t mean…  “What?” She was sure she’d heard it wrong.  “You and Luffy, you can have one each.”
Zoro gives Nami and Luffy an earring each but it’s so much more than that.  Rating: T
This can be found on AO3.
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itsthemoofacewriting · 2 days ago
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making eyes from across the room
This is for our server’s annual gift exchange, @sanamievents , and Shz was my lovely giftee! Their prompt was jealously, particularly on Nami’s side and what better than to make them both jealous! 
Summary: He was too blind to see that she had always been looking at him.  Or, three times Sanji was jealous and one time Nami was.  Rating: T This can be found over on AO3.
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itsthemoofacewriting · 1 year ago
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One more shot
Summary:
“Another round?” Both glasses were filled before she could answer but, then again, she never had turned down a drink before. “What, you want us to know each other’s star signs and favourite colour?” She snarked, sitting on the bench.
Or, Nami and Zoro begin to make a habit of drinking shots and getting to know each other. Rating: T I'm still not sure if I'm going to post full fics on Tumblr, but I know some people follow me here instead of AO3, so I thought I'd share the link! You can find this fic here.
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itsthemoofacewriting · 2 years ago
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Solar powered
I realised I only posted one zonami fic last year and I knew I had this knocking around somewhere almost complete. So I tidied it up. Hopefully it’ll motivate me to complete/start other pieces.
Summary: Zoro liked to nap in the sun and sometimes, Nami joined him. Rating: M
This can also be found on AO3 and FFN. 
Enjoy! 
She really should have noticed sooner.  
Zoro slept in the sun. A lot.
Which wasn’t that ground breaking nor difficult considering they were out on the open sea and he liked to nap (a bit too much, in her opinion) but that wasn’t it.
It was that he moved around the ship throughout the day, chasing the sun and dodging shadows.
The reason she finally noticed was because when he’d finally got his act together and they got together, she’d sometimes join him. If she wasn’t lounging with Robin and had a spare moment where she just wanted to read, she’d sit next to him. It was peaceful and as long as it wasn’t too hot, the warm sun felt nice mixed along with a chilly breeze.
If he wasn’t in a deep sleep, he’d sometimes hear her approach and crack an eye in greeting but when he was, it was comical to see him wake up and do a double take at her presence.
But the most interesting thing was how, regardless of how deep asleep he was, he’d sooner or later realise when the sun had moved. If he was only resting his eyes, he’d notice within a few minutes before getting up and moving further down the ship to give himself as much time as possible before having to move again. If he was in a deep sleep, the longest she’d seen him go was ten minutes before waking and moving.
When she was with him, he’d nudge her gently, disturbing her from whatever she was reading to let her know they were moving. If she was deeply engrossed in whatever she was reading, she’d move with him to continue, but sometimes she used it as a timer. Spend some quiet time with him and when he moved, she’d go and do something else.
That little bit of information explained a lot. Like how he was so much more tanned than the rest of them, even though they all spent time outside. Why he moved around the ship throughout the day. Before she’d thought he did it to be annoying with the number of times she’d heard Sanji swear at him as he tripped over his legs, not expecting him there… and okay fine, she’d seen him move his legs out just before Sanji was about to walk past, so some of it was on purpose. But that seemed more opportunity than actually planned.
Yet, without fail, every time he moved, he’d settle back in and stretch languidly in contentment, sun warming his skin as he closed his eye.
It reminded her of a cat.
A big, grouchy cat.
.
.
.
Nami hadn’t come into the library with the intention of looking for Zoro but she found him anyway when she entered to find her book on sea patterns. She hadn’t seen him for a few hours and she’d figured he was either in the crow’s nest or further down the ship as it was late afternoon. But this was where he was instead, stretched across the bench, legs crossed, arms behind his head and topless as the sun shone through the window.
She’d be a fool not to appreciate the sight for a moment when she could. The sun casted him in a golden glow, lightening his tan whilst casting a shadow against the lines of his stomach, further highlighting the groves of his muscles. Yet it had the opposite effect on his face; the light skimmed across his features, already softened by sleep and she liked the contrast.
He was handsome.
And he was laying right in front of her section of books. She grinned to herself.
She walked over normally, sandals clicking against the wooden floor in the quiet room as anything else would wake him up and she was pleased to see not even an ounce of consciousness on his face when she reached him. She leaned over, obstructing the sun and pretending to choose a book, finger skimming across the spines.
It didn’t take long; he wasn’t as asleep as he appeared.
“Oi, you’re blocking the sun, it’s warm,” he said, voice gruff from not speaking for a while and squinting at her.
“You’d also be warm if you put a top on,” she retaliated, eyes flicking down to his bare chest for a second.
“Too comfortable to move.”
“Convenient.” She selected the book she’d come in for but her previous plans of leaving the library with it were abandoned. “Now scooch, I want to sit there.”
His eye opened again. “There’s a whole bench free.”
“True, but this is the only spot in the sun.” She smiled down as him innocently, batting her eyelashes.
“Don’t be difficult on purpose,” he told her, voice turning exasperated.  
“But it’s so fun.”
He grumbled, irritated but let his eye close again.
“I said it was fun but I really do want to sit there.”
He ignored her, pretending to be asleep.
“There’s space for the both of us, don’t be selfish,” voice taking on a whining edge that she knew he hated.
He laid there a little longer, like she’d go away if he did but when he cracked his eye to look at her after a moment, he huffed, sitting up. He looked like a ruffled cat, agitated as he crossed his arms, back now to the sun. She took her seat next to him, ignoring his sulking and enjoying the way the sun warmed the back of her arms.
She didn’t look at him as she said, “I didn’t say you had to sit up.” She patted her thigh, inviting him to lay back down.
“Oh.”
That pulled him out of his sulking as he laid down again, his head now pillowed on her thigh instead of his arms.
“Yeah, ‘oh’. No need for a temper tantrum.”
“Then say it in the first place!” He complained, although it didn’t match the way his face relaxed and his head nuzzled into the skin of her leg, getting comfortable.
“No thanks,” she chirped, placing the bookmark on her unoccupied side and opening the book to the last page she was on.
If he was going to say anything, it was put to bed when free her hand ran through his hair. Her hand carded through his hair, working from his forehead back until she reached her thigh. She did this a few times and he sighed in contentment, which was the closest she’d get to a compliment.
For someone who, to her disgust, didn’t wash as much as she’d like, his hair was surprisingly soft and she liked that it was a little longer after their two-years apart, there was more to play with.
His breathing evened out shortly after but she still continued, liking the way it felt under her fingers. She carded her fingers through his hair a few more times before randomly picking a section of hair and stroking from the root to the end of his hair, working methodically through, occasionally parting as she went. The only time she stopped was when she needed to change the page or when he’d turned in his sleep, mumbling something under his breath as he faced towards her stomach. It freed up the nape of his neck and she took full advantage of the untouched hair there.
When she finished her chapter, she used the small break to look at him again. She thought about her previous description of him, how he chased the sun, the warmth, like a cat. Except that didn’t quite fit him; he was too large, too intimidating, to be considered the same as a household cat. He was more like a lion or tiger.
.
.
.
Nami was tired today. She hadn’t slept well the night before and by mid-day, her eyes were stinging even with the two coffee’s she’d had in the morning.  
Despite that, the weather was too nice to go and lay down and her trees were calling. It’d been a while since they’d been tended to and there were a few stray branches that she wanted to snip off. Maybe add some fertiliser to the soil.
She’d barely started, not even one tree complete when she heard a voice call, “Nami.”
A very familiar, gravelly voice.
Peering around the tree’s, there was Zoro, arms and legs crossed, leaning against the opposite railing. He was almost halfway between the library door and Robin’s flower patch. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d missed him when she came up. It made sense though, the sun was high in the sky, Luffy and the others were rambunctious today that he’d get peace up here.
“I thought you were in the crow’s nest,” she told him, walking towards him.
“Probably later if nothing happens.”
He looked comfortable and with the heat bearing down on her, it only made her eyelids feel heavier. Oh screw it.
“Zoro, scooch,” she repeated her words from last week.
He looked gobsmacked before outraged as her words sunk in. “You’ve got to be kidding, the whole deck is in the sun! And you’re doing your trees,” he argued.
“No, I mean-” she pointed at his crossed arms, refusing to say what she actually wanted.
It was clear he still wasn’t quite sure what she wanted as he slowly unfolded his arms but soon figured it out when she sat herself on his crossed legs. It took a bit of adjusting to get comfortable and she refused to look him in the eye as she draped one of his arms over her legs. His other arm moving by itself to settle around her back. When she did finally look at him, his raised eyebrow made her feel defensive.
“What?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
“It’s not often you wanna nap with me.”
Whilst she may sit with him, it was far rarer that she actually napped with him. She could count it happening on her hand, regardless of them being together.
“Ah Zoro, you almost sound happy. You want to cuddle?” She teased.
He huffed, “Shh. Sleep.”
She ignored him, eyeing the shadow she casted over his chest. “I’m going to ruin your tan sat like this.”
“Don’t really care.”
“The fearsome Roronoa Zoro has tan lines from letting his girlfriend sleep on him.”
With a grin smug, he asked, “Fearsome, huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s what you took from that sentence?”
He smiled, closing his eye and although she was warm and comfortable, and tired herself, as she still looked at his skin, she thought-
“Have you put lotion on?” She poked his cheek, as if that would tell her the answer.
“Huh?” His voice was just starting to sound exasperated as his eye opened again.  
“To protect against the sun?” She said it in such a way you could also hear the silent ‘duh’. “I’m sure Chopper lectures you about this.”
He looked at her blankly.  
“I’m going to be all young and you’re going to look like a walking leather wallet!” She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “People are going to wonder how you got so lucky to land a jackpot like me.”
“Plan on sticking around that long, do you?”
He was trying to embarrass her, trying to get a rise out of her. Not today. “You don’t?”
Thin ice, he had to tread carefully and she bit down her grin as she looked at him.
He looked weary, knowing it could end in being punched. “I didn’t say that,” he cautiously settled on.
She cooed, teasingly pinching his cheek, “That’s so cute Zoro, who knew you thought about the future.”
“I thought you were here to nap?” He snapped after having the tables turned on him.
“I am, but I’ll make sure you put on lotion next time.”
She settled, head tucked into the crook of his neck and arms gathered in front of her, one hand on his chest. When he hummed in acknowledgement, she felt the vibration rattling through the skin of her palm.
They lapsed into silence and she was almost asleep when his hand found its way into her hair, idlily playing with her hair. It was almost like he was repaying her from the other week. She melted against him and if she could purr, she would. His hand was warm and when his fingers touched her scalp, little sparks shot down her back.
Normally she’d want to check the cleanliness of his hands before letting them anywhere near her hair but now… now…
She couldn’t focus or think of anything else other than how good it was. She leaned in, trying to get closer and gasped when he parted her hair. He did it again in a different spot before the pads of his fingers massaged her scalp and her hair would be greasy so much quicker because of this but she didn’t care. Not when it felt so good.
When his hand stopped dead, she groaned. “No Zoro, don’t stop,” she whined, trying to push her head into his hand and urge him to continue.
“Then stop wiggling.”
She hadn’t even realised she had been. “But it feels good.”
“Yeah?” He asked, voice low and it was a tone that sent shivers down her back. She knew that tone well.
When she looked up, his gaze was already trained on her. She leaned up closer again but this time, not to get his hand to move but to kiss him and he met her halfway
And oh. That was why he wanted her to stop wiggling.
“So much for napping together.”
“We’d be asleep right now if you would’ve stopped wiggling.”
“Then don’t play with my hair, you started this.”
“Stop talking.”
Before she could scold him for being rude, his lips were back on hers, demanding and she matched his pace, like that would make her point she was so rudely interrupted from. His hand dropped from the crown of her head to the base of her neck, his other moving from her legs up until he cupped her breast, rubbing her nipple through her bikini top with the pad of his thumb. She gasped and their kiss stuttered to a stop when he wouldn’t let up.
“Maybe we should move this somewhere private.”
He moved his kisses to her jaw with the interruption. “This won’t take long and then we can nap.”
“The crew,” she uttered out, trying to contain a whimper when his hand slipped underneath her bikini top.
“I’ll hear them coming from a mile away, they’re hardly quiet,” he assured, fingers moving with experience and she squirmed, thighs rubbing together.
“Fine, but let’s be quick about this.” She tried to sound put out, like he’d convinced her but it was hard to do when she was already panting.  
“Huh,” he said, almost to himself and ignoring what she said, his hand stilled, “I never thought you could tan.”
She followed his gaze until she saw a patch of uncovered skin from where her bikini top had shifted and although subtle, there was a feint line. “You’re a bad influence.”
He smirked, almost like that was an achievement and kissed her again. She tilted her head to find the right angle and their lips slotted together. For someone that carried a sword in his mouth, his lips were never chapped. She slipped her tongue between his lips and his soon joined her.
“I miss the days you used to wear skirts, would’ve made this a lot easier.”
“Stop you’re whining and get to work,” she whispered and instead of being annoyed, he smirked when he opened her jeans one handed, with practised ease.
There wasn’t time for teasing and their position certainly didn’t allow for it, she was very aware that someone could come up there any minute. He was too when his middle finger slipped between her lips and whilst they hadn’t done much, she was wet. Maybe it was the thrill of getting caught, which she blamed Zoro entirely for turning her into a pervert.
His finger stroked between her lips, spreading the wetness and she let out a shaky breath which turned into a sharp gasp when his finger circled the bundle of nerves at the top. Her legs widened, trying to make space for him, to get him closer and she was too lost in the sensation of his fingers on her to feel embarrassed about her position.
“Zoro,” she moaned far too loudly.
“Feel good?”
He didn’t wait for her to respond as he kissed her instead, swallowing her pants and using them to spur him on. He teased along the folds a few more times until he started to find a rhythm.
After being together for a while now, he knew what he was doing to get her to orgasm and to get her to a good one. As they were doing this on the sly, he focused on the bundle of nerves, slowly circling with the pad of his finger. It started gentle but as the he was building speed, he applied more pressure, not taking his finger off for even a second.
They were both too focused on other things to kiss properly now but she still pressed them into his neck sporadically, both because of how good he was making her feel but also to try and contain the sounds that were falling from her mouth. There was also part of her that liked how safe she felt, liked being this close to him whilst he was making her see stars.
Her hand tightened on his shoulder as the pressure in her stomach was building and she could hear herself in a mixture of moans and calling Zoro’s name. She trusted that if the crew were close by, he’d have quietened her. Her back arched as the wave came crashing over her and his finger didn’t stop until she moaned weakly, trying to close her legs.
She sat there, curled into him and when she finally managed to open her eyes again, he was looking down at her fondly. It wasn’t a look many were lucky to see on his face and it made her feel warm. He leaned down to press a kiss onto her forehead and she hummed.
“You okay?” He asked, comfortingly stroking the outside of her thigh.
“More than okay,” she assured, still soaking in the last wisps of her orgasm.
With her head on his shoulder, she looked up at him. “What do you want?” She purred, hand smoothing over his pec, only for her fingers to play with the puckered skin of his scar.
“Later,” he said, arms tightening around her as he settled again.
“Really?” She could still feel him pressing into her backside.
“Too messy and I don’t want to move.”
She could relate, she thought as her thighs rubbed together. Then again, it was nothing compared to the mess he’d make and she could somewhat ignore it. Especially as she felt her muscles go lax from the warmth of the sun.
He yawned one more time before his head tilted back to rest against the railing. She stretched in contentment, the sun warm on her skin and her head settled back into the crook of his neck. The sounds of the crew’s natter in the distance and soft waves hitting the ship lulled her into a dreamless sleep.
Maybe they were both like cats.
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Sometimes, all I want to do is talk about how attractive Zoro is and write about nothing with these two… and okay fine, I wanted them to cuddle damn it.
As always, please excuse any mistakes.
Thanks for reading.
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itsthemoofacewriting · 2 years ago
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A bag of coffee
So, this was actually started before Amongst the trees but got pushed to the backburner. It was also where I realised there’s a damn pantry as I was looking at the blueprints for Sunny. As you can tell, I’m now making full use of this new discovery for my fics.
You know that part in the relationship, where it’s just been established but it’s all so new and you’ve known this person in a certain way for so long that you overthink everything? No? Just me projecting? Well, I think poor little Snooj would be the same.
Summary:  Inventory counting was not meant to send his heart racing. Part two of the Potato Peeling series Rating: T+ You can also find this on FFN and AO3. 
Enjoy!
Six bags of rice… two bags of flour…
Sanji’s pen scratched quickly across his pad as he made notes, eyes methodically scanning over bags, tins, barrels and the odd loose item. Occasionally, his pen would flick up, pointing at the item to help him count if there were a few before going back to the pad.
Once a week he would do this; come into the pantry and take an inventory of what stock he had left. It helped him plan for the week and made sure no ingredients would be wasted. It also kept him on top of what was used more often and how much he should buy the next time they arrived to stock up at an island.
A bag of coffee…
His pen halted its movement
A singular bag of coffee.
He frowned. That was a little too low considering how often Robin drank it… actually, that was way too low considering he made sure to get more of it once Nami had started drinking it more often too. He flicked back to last week’s notes and saw he had three bags of it then. Where the hell had two bags gone? Mentally, he started to make a list of what he’d been doing within the span of a week and came up blank.
Naturally his first suspect was Luffy because he was a menace. His name was mentally scrubbed out when he gave it more thought. Luffy was really only interested in the fridge, everything in here was dried that he was convinced Luffy had simply forgotten the room existed.
The next thought sent a shiver down his spine. What if Nami or Robin were making their own drinks? He didn’t think they would, he almost had a sixth sense for when they needed drinks, although he would keep an eye on that now.
Still though, that theory didn’t explain two whole bags of coffee disappearing. They drank coffee but not that much.
But when he roll called everyone in the crew, he thought about how he had caught Franky stealing his cooking oil a little while ago, using it as lubricant for one of his contraptions when he’d run out of oil and it’d earned him a swift kick out of his kitchen. The insult. As much as the idea of using cooking ingredients for things like that offended him, he was sure coffee couldn’t be used in the same way. Although he did use cola as fuel…
Hm. He’d keep an eye on it and consider getting the mouse trap out again.
Maybe he should just lock the kitchen and be done with it. That way everything would be safe from the vultures.
It would certainly be nice for when he spent time with Nami. To have her all to himself with no distractions.
Not that they didn’t spend a lot of time together. Even before they officially got together two weeks ago, they’d spent a considerable amount of time together but now it had increased and the memory from two weeks ago played in a loop in his head. A silly smile spread across his face. That was a top five moment for him and right now, it sat comfortably in the top spot. Just the two of them cooking together, being close and sharing a kiss that still made him sigh dreamily.
“Sanji-kun?”
Speaking of the angel…
“In the pantry, Nami-san!” He called, already walking to the door to meet her there.
His smile broadened when she came into view, she’d always been beautiful but it was different now he knew she felt the same way. He could gawk at her as much as he wanted, he could hold her hand, hug her, taste her lips. And as much as he wanted to, thinking about something and doing it were two different things, especially when he’d spent so long holding himself back. It almost felt wrong to act on his urges.
Right now though, he wanted to sweep the hair obstructing her face, cup her cheek because he could do that now but uncharacteristically, he held back. Maybe later, when he’d built up the nerve. It didn’t stop him from eyeing the piece and longing, instead.
“Are you okay?” Nami asked, head cocked and belatedly, he realised he’d been distracted for a bit too long.
“Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “I’m fine. I’m almost done here and then I’ll be outside.”
“I can help, we’ll be done quicker this way,” she said, breezing past him.
He perked up at the idea, more than happy to spend some quality time together.
“As always, I’ll be your lowly assistant,” he said, handing her the pen and notebook before pulling over the stool for her to sit on. She took his hand when he offered it to help her sit and his heart jumped despite the innocent gesture.
“Who knows, maybe if you do a good job, I can promote you,” she replied coyly.
And, slightly sweatier than before with her teasing, they picked up where he left off. He continued to move methodically through the racking, calling what it was and how many they had.
“Three bags of potatoes, Nami-san.”
“Three bags of potatoes,” she parroted back, pen diligently writing down what he called out, pen quickly scratching across the page. Her writing was much nicer than his and he’d always admired the way her letters looped gracefully.
Since she’d been helping him, they were actually working through it quicker. They were already done with one of the racks, there was only two left until-
“You missed one,” Nami called, breaking him from his trance.  
“Huh?”
“You missed one,” she repeated, pen pointing at the line of spices he’d just counted from the racking.
Frowning, he counted the line again and got the same number. “Five?”
Shaking her head, she got up, putting the pen behind her ear and knelt down next to him at the bottom shelf of the racking. Leaning down, she pushed the five small containers aside to reach for another one right at the back, hidden behind another spice in a different row.
“And that makes six,” she corrected, holding the cinnamon.
“This is why you’re head chef!” Although he certainly hadn’t moved it. It only roused his suspicion further about someone coming in here when he wasn’t around.
“Come on, give me a page and I can do some counting as well. The head chef has to muck in too. I can help more if we split what’s left and do our own count.”
“Nami-san, you can leave, it’s really okay!” It was only natural, it was a beautiful day outside, who would want to do an inventory count? Which is why he assured, “I’m almost done here; I’ll meet you on the deck.”
“It’s fine, I like spending time with you,” she dismissed, steamrolling over his excuses for her. “Do you mind if I rip a page out? I can do my own count this way.”
“Not at all.” It was only his inventory book; he didn’t mind at all.
He watched her rip the next page out but instead of taking the book, he took the piece of paper, leaving her with the pad.
“Always the gentleman,” she teased. “I’ll take this rack and you take that rack.”
He nodded and they got to work.
They worked back-to-back, Sanji continuing on his racking and Nami behind him working of her own rack. The pantry wasn’t huge to begin with and not always knowing how long it was until the next island meant the room was filled and space was vital. Their backs brushed most of the time with how tight it was and whilst they had separate papers, they didn’t have two pens, so they ended up going back and forth with the pen. It probably wasn’t the most productive way to work but sharing a pen came with its perks. Instead of working in silence, there was the murmured question for the pen filling the gaps and it meant touching. Lots of touching. Hands brushing, shoulders bumping and his cheeks were constantly tinted pink.
Since getting together, they hadn’t done very much and it wasn’t from a lack of want. There were plenty of opportunities, plenty of openings but he fumbled every time. It was similar to that night in the kitchen where she’d adjusted his tie, he just panicked and it was only after the moment had passed that he kicked himself.
But it was hard. He’d spent so long imagining and being her friend and as much as he liked to think he was smooth; he maybe, perhaps, wasn’t so much when the moment was presented to him. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. So, since getting together, it’d been very modest pecks, kisses to the cheek and, to his delight, the occasional hand hold. He wasn’t complaining though, it was more than he could have ever imagined and he’d counted his lucky stars ever since.
But now with just the two of them in here, the atmosphere was stifling in the best way possible and he was sure Nami was on to him. She hadn’t said anything but he was sure she was touching him more than needed and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest with the anticipation.
At first, she’d tapped his shoulder to get his attention and when their fingers brushed, his heart had jumped and he felt light headed. She’d smiled before turning around to double check her count and write down the number. When she’d returned the pen, her hand had lingered and he’d swallowed at her half-lidded look.
He’d tried to return the gesture as much as he could and he’d felt particularly daring when his fingers had grazed hers on purpose for no reason when they were working back-to-back.
After that, she was gradually becoming bolder and, he realised, she was definitely teasing him.
He had zero complaints.
The innocent touches and lingering moments came to an end when he’d been crouching down to count something and he felt her breath on his ear asking for the pen. A shiver slivered down his spine before he’d snapped up to his feet and fought down the urge to stutter.
She’d giggled, before pretending nothing had happened, like she hadn’t just sent his head spinning.
Whatever game they were playing, it was truly afoot. She’d made their previous interactions look like child play.
She was everywhere.
A hand on his back.
Breath hot on his neck.
Body leaning over his shoulder.
He’d had to recount the sugar twice already and he still had no idea what the final number was. His brain had melted out of his ears long ago and all that was left in its place was Nami.
“I think you missed one, Sanji-kun,” she said, voice light and playful that he knew she was joking. Her voice was closer than he’d expected, despite the little game they’d been playing.
He turned, still crouched down and he’d expected her to be in a similar position until he came face to face with her thighs. He imagined he looked like a gaping fish but his brain was elsewhere as his eyes slowly travelled up her body. From the full of her hips to the swoop of her waist and he settled longer on her bikini clad breasts. She had a new one on, a pale blue that matched her jeans. She looked phenomenal in it and he had to tear his eyes away far sooner than he wanted to.
When he reached her eyes, she was already looking at him, eyebrow quirked and amusement over her features. She was clearly more than aware of his ogling and he took it as a positive sign that she didn’t leave.
He cleared his throat, trying to dispel any tension and stood. Whilst there wasn’t a lot of space to move around, she was a step closer than she had to be and he fought the urge to fidget.  
“I’m done, how are you getting on?” She asked, nonplussed by his silence or proximity.
And whilst he’d heard her, his brain wasn’t functioning properly, if at all, and she was so pretty. Really pretty. And that hair that he wanted to move was still there.
Unable to form a decently structured sentence, he wordlessly showed her his paper but she wasn’t angry with his half-completed rack.
She looked up from the piece of paper and he wasn’t sure what he expected but it wasn’t silence. Nor the way she eyed him. From his chest, they slowly swept upwards, lingering on his shoulders and lips until she as looking into his eyes. He hadn’t seen that look in her eye before and it made his palms moisten and his breath shorten. The way she looked at him made him feel naked, like she was looking through him. He wondered if that was how he’d just looked at her.
There was a tense moment and his brain was running to fill the silence, until she relieved him. “Do I make you nervous?” She was fighting down a smile and he suspected it was because she already knew the answer.
“Ah, no.” That was a lie. “… well,” he tacked on, not knowing how to explain. He didn’t want to offend her.
“You didn’t seem to have a problem in the kitchen two weeks ago.”
It was a statement but he still answered it like a question.
“You know, heat of the moment.”
With the little distance between them, she managed to take a step forward and there was nowhere for him to go but lean heavily against the racking. Internally, he was grateful for it being bolted down.
She leaned forward, closing what little space there was and he could feel her chest press into his. With a hand on his lapel, she lowly asked, “Do I need to get you back in the moment, little eggplant?”
His eyes bulged and he wheezed, her offer taking his mind straight to the gutter, despite the childish name that sounded sinful coming from her mouth. He felt like he was going to faint with her just this close and at most, he thought he’d be able to cope with kissing but more than that? It made his pulse quicken.
Her hand burned on his chest and his eyes darted around her face, trying to figure out if she was joking. It’d be fine if she was, but he’d rather know before he made more of a fool out of himself.
“You’ve been very respectful these past two weeks,” she noted observationally, disregarding his silence, and then her eyes lidded, “you can touch me you know.”
He nodded, because that was all he could whilst he tried not to hyperventilate, and although he understood, his arms stayed locked at his sides. Now would’ve been the perfect time to have a cigarette, he needed something for his hands to do. It took her chuckling and moving his arm for him to actually touch her. He instantly missed her palm on his chest but it was short-lived when she moved his hands to sit low on her waist and his fingers twitched on reflex. Her skin was warm and soft and he already wanted to spend his time mapping the flare of her hips.
His attention was caught again when not one but both hands returned to his chest. She leaned in, so close he could count the individual lashes on her eyes and feel her breath warm against his lips.
“Do you want to kiss me?” She all but whispered yet the words echoed in his brain like she’d shouted.
When he met her gaze, all traces of teasing were gone and in its place was something else. It was open and raw and it took him a second to realise it was vulnerability. It was enough to knock the dumbfoundery out of him.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Even to his own ears he sounded winded.
Her eyes warmed at his response and it might be his new favourite thing to watch.
Their noses brushed, sliding as their heads tilted and he kept his eyes open for a moment longer to watch hers close.
When their lips touched, it felt like time had suspended, the seconds turning into minutes and he was a fool for not using every opportunity up until now to do this. Her lips were soft and he was delicate, savouring the drawn-out kiss to ingrain the moment in his brain.
His lips moved and time restarted as he let a shaky breath through his nostrils. Her hands slid from his chest up to his shoulders and into his hair. He tightened his hold around her, moving from her waist to her back to draw her in and she reciprocated in kind.  
They exchanged a series of kisses, from lingering and long to small and sweet. They were finding their tempo and he never wanted to stop.
She tried to pull away and a desperate sound bubbled from his throat as he chased her lips, successfully drawing her into another kiss.
It was short lived when she pulled away properly but he couldn’t be disappointed when their foreheads rested against each other’s and he was treated to the view of a thoroughly kiss Nami. Her lips were slightly swollen and he had to resist the urge go back in.
Instead, he did the next best thing by grazing their noses, rubbing them together and in that moment, he realised it might just be as good as kissing her. Her cheeks flushed prettily and her eyes crinkled and he returned her smile, feeling breathless. She was ethereal.
“I couldn’t figure you out,” she started, fingers curling in his hair at the nape of his neck and his thumb brushed across the dimple on her lower back in encouragement, “I didn’t know if you wanted to take things slow, which is fine, or if you were nervous.”
He was right, she had been testing the waters, trying to figure him out. And when she had, she’d tried to tease him into action.
His eyes flicked back down to her lips when they curled into a smile.
“But then you kept staring and you’re not subtle at all.”
He laughed lightly, looking back at her eyes and apart from amusement, there was a curiosity there.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed out, like that explained everything and for him, it did. But he continued. “And I’ve wanted this for so long, that I can’t quite believe that I can do this now and I don’t want to mess this up.”
“You’re not going to mess this up. I fell for you how you are and I knew what I was signing up for.” She smiled, genuine and happy.
His nerves had still been there but they were replaced by giddiness at her words.
Feeding from his new found confidence, he brushed the hair from her face like he’d wanted to this whole time, tucking it behind her ear to then cup her jaw. She tilted her head, leaning into his touch and his thumb mapped her cheekbone in a slow caress.
Using his hand, he drew her into a slow kiss and he relished the easy way she responded.
“Besides, now you get act on your thoughts,” she told him, breaking their kiss to give him the news.
Her eyes darkened and before he could respond, she was tugging on his tie to pull him back in. There had been nowhere else for her to move, she was already pressed up against him until he parted his legs and she wasted no time filling the small gap. His thighs bracketed her hips and it was more intimate, it changed the mood between them.
Gone were their sweet kisses and instead, their lips slid together firmly as they found their feet.
So far, their kisses had been closed mouth but when her tongue came out to tease at his lips, he couldn’t hold back the moan from the back of his throat. He’d tasted her oranges before but it didn’t compare to when he tasted it on her.
With one hand on her cheek, the other was at her waist, carefully touching the exposed skin there, already feeling far too risky. Well, until her hand detached from his shoulder to push at the hand on her waist until it sat dangerously as the edge of her bikini.
He was glad for the racking that he could lean on behind him because his legs felt like they’d turned into jelly.
“That’s what you wanted, right?”
He nodded dumbly, brain only producing white noise as his finger flexed across her sensitive skin and she shivered. He felt a shot of adrenaline, he’d caused that reaction - it was almost heady.
“Don’t overthink it, I’ll say if I don’t like something.” And then she was kissing him again.
It was like the gun at the starting line had gone off because there were hands everywhere. His hand was not moving from her breast, not when he’d been given an enthusiastic shove and he’d spent his time cupping her, fingers playing around the sensitives skin and fabric. He drunk down her breathy moans enough times now to know his touch was very welcome.
Her hands were at his shoulders, pushing his jacket out of the way to sit at his elbows and then they were running down his sides, over his shirt to map out his abs. This was not how he’d expected his day to go but he was thrilled at the turn.
It was so hot in the pantry but he couldn’t get enough as they kissed frantically and their hands didn’t know where to go next. He realised belatedly that this was a make out session and kicked himself that they could have been doing this much, much sooner.
As much as he didn’t want to part from her lips, the desire to kiss down her neck was stronger and he was glad he did because her arms tightened around him, trying to merge them into one. He helped when the hand at her jaw skimmed down until it clutched at her rear and he couldn’t imagine anything better than this moment.
Her neck was sensitive going by the sounds she produced and he made it a personal challenge to find a spot better than the last until-
“Little eggplant,” she moaned but then a second later, “Too much?”
“Not from you,” he murmured against the delicate skin of her neck and it was true. He’d settled into that far quicker than he’d expected and honestly, he’d be into any nickname she gave him.
She laughed breathily as it turned into a moan. “We could’ve been doing this for a lot longer,” she panted.
“I’ll make up for lost time, I promise.” And now they were on the same page, he would. He wasn’t missing out on any more of this.
“I’m sure you will.” Her hand was back in his hair, soothingly playing with the strands. “Although I’m not sure how accurate your count was, so maybe we should start again.”
“I’d stopped counting ages ago,” he admitted, pulling away from her neck to look at her.  
“Was it around the sugar? That’s when you started getting jumpy.” She kissed him afterwards, short and sweet to let him know she was teasing.
“We can use inventory counting as code for this instead,” he said enthusiastically, wiggling his eyebrows at her as his hand slipped into the back pocket of her jeans. He still felt the thrill when she let him.
“I’m pretty sure half the crew already think that when we’re in the kitchen together. Why do you think we get left alone so much?”
Huh. He hadn’t thought about that. “No complaints here, it means I get you all to myself.”
They were winding down which was probably a good idea considering they’d been in here for quite a while and whilst the crew may give them a wide birth, nothing would stop a rampaging Luffy. Even that threat didn’t stop him from pulling her into one last slow kiss.
She righted his jacket afterwards, smoothing along his shoulders to get rid of any wrinkles and when her hands travelled down his arms, he caught them to hold her hands.
“Would you like to help me with dinner?” He brought one of her hands up to place lingering kiss to the back of it.
She hummed at the move; eyes warm again. “Sure and we can finish the count later.” It sounded like an innocent suggestion but her tone was mischievous.
He couldn’t wait.
-------------------------------
Could you tell I didn’t want this to end?
I love teasing Sanji; he makes it so easy and it’s so fun!
Please excuse any errors.
Thanks for reading.
14 notes · View notes
itsthemoofacewriting · 2 years ago
Text
Freshly Brewed
I posted this on AO3 a few days ago before Christmas, but now I have some time, I’ll post it here too. 
Summary: Sanji changed his shift because it worked better for his class schedule, not because of the gorgeous morning regular. Yeah right.  Rating: T
This is for the SN Secret Santa exchange Ray and I hosted on our discord and I was Mome’s Secret Santa! Mome’s prompt was modern college students AU but that goes hand in hand with a coffee shop AU, right?
I’m basing this on the UK education system, although it shouldn’t really matter.
You can also find this on AO3 and FFN. 
It was going to be a long day.
Stupidly, Sanji had agreed to come in to cover part of Usopp’s morning shift. The engineer student had begged almost everyone to swap shifts, only to be met with refusals. He’d caved after Usopp had whinged for half a day, and that was only to covering part of his shift.
But it now meant Sanji would need to run to make it in time for his classes that morning and come back afterwards to do his normal shift in the evening.
A very long day.
“Usopp, shouldn’t you be going?” He’d been here almost twenty minutes and Usopp had yet to leave.
“I’ll leave in ten minutes; you’re going to want the help,” Usopp informed him gravely, getting an extra bag of coffee beans down from the cupboard.
Sanji looked around the little coffee shop, it was virtually empty apart from the one person already sitting. They’d only had one other person before them and they’d left with their coffee. What was he going on about?
But Usopp was right in the end and he hadn’t been prepared in the slightest.
As the bell kept tinkering, growing more and more irritating by the second, and more sets of feet walked in, he was grateful for the extra sets of hands. One minute it was quiet and the next there was a queue almost going out of the door. The change was so sudden that he presumed this was the morning rush Usopp always complained about.
It’d been a mad fifteen minutes, both of them working around one another in silence to get the queue down as quickly as possible and it was only once their final customer was gone that Sanji voiced his surprise.
“I know! I keep saying but no one listens,” Usopp whined in response.
“Maybe because you’re so dramatic all the time,” Sanji said, eyeing the way Usopp was slumped over the counter, pretending to be dead.
He laughed when Usopp shot up, outraged at the accusation.
The door opened and whatever he was going to say died on his lips, instead saying, “I’ll help you with one last customer and then I’m going.”
Sanji was going to protest, to say he could leave now, until he caught sight of the next customer and stopped dead in his tracks. He was suddenly glad Usopp had stayed, because he could no longer speak, language lost on him as he gaped at the women approaching the counter.
He would have made a fool of himself in front of her if he’d been left by himself.
Now, Sanji was pretty sure before this moment that he didn’t have a type. He’d always thought he appreciated all people and the different features they had as each person was beautiful in their own way. But looking at the person before him, he realised just how wrong he had been. She ticked all the boxes he hadn’t realised he had.
Long, orange hair? Check. Round doe eyes? Check. Soft pink lips? Check. A body that if he looked at for too long, he’d pass out? Check.
She was gorgeous.
What shocked him out of his stupor was when Usopp greeted her so casually. “Hey, you’re later than usual, I didn’t think you were coming.”
And she reciprocated in kind, “Morning Usopp! I woke up late and debated it, but I need this if I’m going to make it through my morning lecture.”
She knew his name?
They chatted back and forth so easily. Usopp moved around him, making her order, as he stood there like a fool. All he managed was a wobbly smile when she looked at him and she’d offered a more confident one in return. That had almost been enough to finish him.
He was interrupted from him gawking as she spoke, “I should definitely be getting free coffees! I’m a regular, you should be looking after me.”
Based on the way Usopp rolled his eyes at her, it was an argument they had frequently.
Rude. He’d give her whatever she wanted. Free coffee… His heart…
“You’d bleed the shop dry if we did that! And don’t pretend I didn’t give you one two visits ago!”
“You did not!”
They squabbled back and forth for the rest of the transaction and Sanji couldn’t help but feel a tiny stab of jealousy at how relaxed they were around each other. Although it was over soon enough, as she took her drink and made her way out of the shop, throwing a casual wave over her shoulder as she went.
As soon as the door closed, Usopp turned, ready to go but bumped into Sanji who was breathing down his neck.
“Who is she? How do you know her? Is she single?” The questions spilled out all in one hurried breath.
Wide eyed, Usopp took a step back and pointed to the back room where his stuff was, “I have to go now, I’m going to be late.”
Sanji’s hands gripped his shoulders, shaking him like the answers would come tumbling out. “You’ve stayed this long; you can spare me another minute!”
Sighing, Usopp answered, “Her name’s Nami. She’s a regular but we also go to the same university-” Sanji silently cursed himself at that, he knew he should’ve gone to university- “and I don’t know. I’ve never seen her with anyone, and she’s never said anything.”
Somehow, Sanji crowded in closer, “Introduce me,” he demanded, but then faltered, “wait no, don’t. Too obvious.” Then thought again, “But then if you’re friends, it’d be weird if you didn’t.”
Usopp pried himself free as Sanji continued to mutter to himself, putting some distance between them. Snorting, he said, “You’re overthinking this.”
“You’re right. I’ll just go with the flow. Does she come in randomly or on certain days?” He’d be prepared next time, he’d make sure of it.
“I normally only see her on Monday mornings, she might come in other times, but I don’t see her,” Usopp informed him, Sanji trailed behind him as he grabbed his bag to leave.
Suddenly that rush to his morning classes didn’t seem all that bad after seeing her.
“Swap shifts with me!”
.
.
.
Convincing Usopp had been easier than he’d expected and he suspected it was due to the early start after the weekend.
The week had been longer than normal. Classes had dragged, he’d burned himself, which he hadn’t done since the start of the year, and he hadn’t seen Nami at all. He’d been on high alert since Monday, both in and out of the coffee shop. The door would open, and he’d spring into action only to be disappointed. He felt like he’d been looking over his shoulder as he went about his normal week, just hoping to catch a glimpse of long orange hair. He’d been tempted to visit Usopp on the university campus but he decided that might be a bit too desperate… for the time being anyway, he wasn’t ruling anything out in the future.
But finally, the following Monday had rolled around. It hadn’t been hard to get up for his newly acquired early shift and he had a spring in his step since he’d left the bed at the thought of seeing her.
As he opened up the shop at 6am, he pondered on when he’d actually see her. He hadn’t asked Usopp what time she usually came around, but he tried to settle his nerves by not thinking about it. Which was hard to do, considering it was so quiet. To occupy himself, he’d cleaned the tables, moved a few of them around and cleaned the coffee machines knowing it’d have to be done later anyway. He’d only served a handful of people in between and if he hadn’t seen how busy it could get, he’d call Usopp a liar for constantly complaining.
Which was why, when he turned, cup in hand, the last thing he expected was to see her standing there. Luckily said cup was empty because in his surprise, the cup slipped out of his hands and he fumbled, with what he hoped was some form of grace, to catch it before it smashed on the ground. His hopes were quickly dashed when he looked to see Nami trying to contain a laugh. He could feel his face heating up, from embarrassment and because she was even prettier than he remembered.
He tried to muster up some form of confidence as he greeted her, “Hi! Good morning! Did you want the orange latte again?”
She quirked an eyebrow at him and he realised a second too late just what he’d done. Sure, he’d been obsessing over every detail from her last visit, but he didn’t need her knowing that.
Luckily, she spared him. “Morning, no Usopp?”
“Ah, no. I swapped shifts with him, this works better for his schedule.” It wasn’t a total lie and he was not going to tell her the truth, he’d sound like a creep.
She nodded, smile looking a little too knowing and it made him sweat but she didn’t challenge it. “I’ll have the orange latte to go, large, thanks.”
“Coming right up.” He could do this, just make the coffee, strike up casual small talk and he’d be fine. He moved around, starting the process of making her drink and asked, “Boring lecture again?”
“I was up late from work and it was a slow night.”
“Oh, what do you do?” Maybe she also worked at a coffee shop, they had 24-hour coffee shops around here, right? And competitor or not, he would be visiting if she did.
“I work at a bar down the street, it’s normally lively regardless of the night but it dragged last night.”
Her pout was adorable and as much as he wanted to talk to her more, there was already someone waiting and he’d witnessed first-hand last week how quickly things could change. Besides, he was in no rush, he had time.
“Well hopefully your day goes quicker!” He said, placing her coffee down on the counter for her. “It’s on the house.”
“An improvement on Usopp already,” she said, winking at him.
He was in love.
.
.
.
Sanji liked working at the coffee shop. It was owned by an elderly couple who were more than understanding that students needed part time jobs, so they’d hired a few full timers and multiple part timers to cover shifts in the mornings and afternoons around classes. He spent half of his time working alone and the two other shifts working with Luffy or Usopp.
It wasn’t a big commercial chain coffee shop but it was busy enough. It was small and quaint, with dark wooden panelling on the floor, scratch marks haphazardly scattered across them from chairs scraping over the years, and mismatched tables dotted around. There were sofas pressed against the walls at the back and photography on the walls, varying from local landscapes to someone’s cat. It was homely and he’d always liked it there, even from the first-time walking in to hand in his application.
But now it was even better because there was a beautiful woman that graced him with her presence multiple times a week.
He always saw her every Monday morning since swapping shifts, so he’d come to expect that but she’d also started to appear on a Wednesday and Thursday evening, as well as a Sunday afternoon. Not like clockwork but frequently enough and he had to shove down the thought that maybe she’d asked Usopp for his schedule. The thought made him giddy but he was trying to play this cool. For now anyway.
From their brief encounters, he’d learned that she was in her first year of university, studying meteorology and she was brilliant. She was smart, really smart and friendly and pretty and kind. A little girl had dropped her croissant the other day and before he could offer a new one, Nami’d given hers up. He’d of course given Nami a new one but she hadn’t thought for a second before offering up hers.
But most of all, above everything else, they were slowly getting to know one another and it seemed like they were getting along so far, which was the biggest thrill.
.
.
.
He was working on Wednesday afternoon with Luffy and every time they worked together, he questioned what the owners were thinking when they employed Luffy and then their sanity when they actually kept him. He was a good friend, having met through working together, but he burned the coffee and ate the food from the display shelf, which was why he mainly cleaned and collected used cups from tables.
At the moment, Luffy was finishing his break in the back when Nami walked in.
“Hi Nami, the usual?” Sanji greeted as she entered, in his multiple times serving her, she’d never ordered anything different.
“Hi Sanji, yes please, but to stay this time.”
“Oh?” He couldn’t hide the note of delight in his tone and he suddenly got an idea.
“I’ve got some notes to go over and it’s quiet here.”
He moved to make her order. “Party?”
“No, someone has… company.”
It was totally natural and common knowledge with what went on at university with students all living together but coming from her made his cheeks warm, like he was some prude.
He was saved from having to give a response as the back door swung open and Luffy hurried in.
“Nami!” He cheered.
“Hey Luffy, the place is still standing I see?”
“Not without effort,” Sanji deadpanned and felt proud when she laughed.
He was distracted once the mircofoam was ready and his focus went onto pouring it meticulously into her cup.
“How come I don’t see you as often now when I’m working?” Luffy sulked and although his back was turned, he imagined the other boy had turned on his puppy eyes.
“I’ve been busy,” Nami excused and whilst he could understand that, her tone was flustered that he couldn’t resist peeking over his shoulder. She had rosy cheeks and her eyes flittered to his nervously, quickly looking away when they made eye contact.
“Here you go,” Sanji interrupted, saving her from their conversation, even if he didn’t fully understand what was going on.
“Thank you.” She almost went to take the cup but paused. “Latte art?”
“Yeah, I’m working on it-” He’d practised this design ever since he’d learned what she was studying but it’d still taken everything in him not to do a heart and now he was glad he hadn’t. It would’ve been far too forward- “so it’s on the house.”
At this stage, he didn’t need to give her excuses for free coffee, he’d never made her pay when he served her.
She thanked him before commenting, “I haven’t seen a lightning bolt before though.”
“I like a challenge and you’re studying meteorology, right?”
Her smile was warm and it was worth it all. “I’ll have to take a picture to show my roommate!”
She went to find a table a few minutes later after he’d explained how he’d managed to make the art and he watched her go, eyes scanning from her appealing backside to the gentle swish of her long hair.
Before he was caught by her, he turned to see Luffy blinking at him owlishly. Shit, he’d forgot he was there and whilst he could be an idiot, if Luffy stared him down for long enough, he might just figure it out, so-
“There’s a new recipe I need to you taste test.”
“Can I have it now?!”
“Does it look like I can make a full meal here? I’ll bring it in next week.”
With Luffy now distracted, they carried on at they normally did. Well, at least he tried to. Whilst Sanji was normally distracted when Nami visited, it’d never been like this before and he found his eyes wondering over to her whenever he had the chance. Normally she came in, chatted for a few minutes and was then gone, but now, she was constantly in his peripheral and her presence was bewitching. He’d already discovered that when she was thinking, she’d absently tap the end of her pen to her lips but then her face would light up when she figured it out, pen quickly moving across the paper to jot it down.
He'd tried not to bother her and had even stopped Luffy from going over twice after she’d said she needed some quiet but when he’d noticed her cup was empty, he’d allowed himself to go over, hot drink in hand.
She’d smiled at him as he approached and whilst swapping the empty cup for a new one, he’d asked how she was getting on. She told him that she was also taking a few accounting classes per week, to keep her options open whilst she decided what she wanted to do but between that, her job and some tough papers, she was trying to catch up. He was about to excuse himself, not wanting to overstay his welcome when she was clearly busy, when she asked-
“What about you? I haven’t seen you at the university?”
“I’m studying at the culinary school down the road.”
“Down the road? That’s the best one in the area!” As an afterthought she added, “no wonder your latte art is so good.”
He beamed at her, silently relishing the awe on her face. “I want to be a professional chef and further down the road, own a restaurant.” He paused, eyes flicking to her papers to add, “Maybe it’s a good thing I know an accountant?”
Her eyes gleamed and it was an expression he hadn’t seen before but liked all the same. “I might be able to cut you a deal if you play your cards right.”
“I’d be honoured.”
The sound of the door opening meant the arrival of a customer and as much as he didn’t want to part so soon, he couldn’t leave Luffy to serve them. He pulled away, practically gliding towards the counter, as the conversation played in a loop and he squirreled away all the new information he’d learned.
Once the customer was dealt wit and out the door with their coffee, his gaze naturally returned back to Nami. She was typing on her laptop now, fingers furiously moving across the keyboard and even when she was concentrating, she was so pretty. And smart. He couldn’t stop the sigh that left his lips.  
“Ooooooh,” Luffy said far too loudly from where he was sitting on the counter, legs swinging haphazardly, “that’s what Usopp was talking about.”
He tore his eyes away from Nami to ask, “What’re you talking about now?” If it was another tall tale he’d lied about, he’d kick them both. He still hadn’t recovered from the toaster incident.
“He said you were all starry-eyed but that doesn’t make sense because no one has star for eyes, right? So I figured he was lying or something-”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He cut off, exasperated and wiping down the counter.
Luffy leaned forward, eyes shining as his mouth opened, “You have a crush on N-”
He dropped the cloth in his hand like it’d electrocuted him and slapped a hand over Luffy’s mouth to stop him from loudly sharing his own damn confession. He’d tell Nami at some point, if he was lucky enough to get closer to her but he’d be damned if it came from Luffy of all people.
“Keep your voice down,” he hissed and looked over his shoulder but luckily Nami was still working.
Even with his mouth covered, Luffy still managed to look mischievous as he waggled his eyebrows at Sanji.
“If you open your mouth, you’ll have to survive on Usopp’s cooking from then on.”
They both knew that was an empty threat but with eyes like saucers, Luffy still nodded and when Sanji dropped his hand, he pretended to zip his mouth closed.
With one last glare, Sanji went back to stealing glances at Nami and moved onto a new patch of counter to clean. It didn’t matter that the counter was squeaky clean already, from here he could pretend to work and keep tabs on Nami’s cup and maybe sneak a few more glances at her.
“I’m doing all the work,” Luffy huffed behind him, still sat on the counter doing sweet nothing.
“I don’t want to hear that from you!” Sanji snapped. “Don’t think I’ve missed you stealing muffins from the case. Go sweep the floor!”
“Dunno how you saw that when all you do is stare at Nami,” Luffy muttered under his breath, pouting as he grabbed the broom.
.
.
.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas break, it was getting busier for the both of them and he liked to think they’d bonded over that, even if it meant they were sometimes like passing ships.
She’d lamented about doing things outside of her degree, especially as the bar was getting busier so they asked her to cover more shifts and the same thing was happening to him. She had two exams coming up and a paper she still had to finish and he had practical’s coming out of his ears as well as presenting a menu he’d created.
They were both stressed and counting down the days until they could breathe a sigh of relief.
.
.
.
It’d been raining on and off all day and it’d just started again as he went in to cover for someone who’d called in sick on Friday after a long day of classes. He didn’t really feel like it, not after he’d had a practical today but it was money he didn’t want to pass up that could go towards his restaurant fund.
He wasn’t far from the shop when something caught his eye on the opposite side of the road and he realised why when he saw long orange hair. The figure was hunched over, walking just a few steps ahead of him and by the looks of it, powerwalking. Whilst he couldn’t see her face but he’d recognise her anywhere.
“Hey!” He called, “Nami!”
He checked the road before half-jogging across the road just as she turned, searching for the voice and his heart panged, she looked miserable.
She stopped as he approached and he gave her a once over. She was soaked and although it was raining, it wasn’t raining that much. “Hey, where’s your umbrella?” It was a stupid question. It was obviously not with her otherwise she’d be using it but it was mainly said out of concern.
Without a second thought, he stepped closer to cover her with his umbrella, shielding them both from the rain. Although it might not be so effective for her anymore.
“This guy splashed me with his car! He could have easily gone around the very large and obvious puddle, there wasn’t any traffic! And he didn’t even stop to apologise,” she seethed; eyebrows furrowed and ignoring his question. “If I ever see him again, I’m-”
“I’m going to kick his arse,” he interrupted, feeling furious. That explained why she was so wet but he couldn’t believe someone would splash her.  
A bark of a laugh bubbled past her lips. “At least chivalry isn’t dead but it’s probably for the best we don’t get you a criminal record, I can’t imagine that’ll help with your future restaurant business.”
“I just can’t believe someone would splash you, what a lack of manners.” He was too angry to joke with her, even if the light returning to her eyes did take the edge off.
“I know but at least you and your umbrella were here to save the day.”
“I’m glad I am. I’m not meant to be working today but someone called in sick, so I picked up the shift. Come on, we’re not far from the shop, we can dry you off there.”
He didn’t really wait for her to agree as he swapped the umbrella into his other hand and used his free arm to gently guide her into walking with him. He made sure to position himself on the outside, so that if anyone did dare to splash them, she wouldn’t get even wetter.
“At least my bag isn’t soaked, it has my notes and laptop in,” she told him, loosening her arms to show him the bag that had been curled into her body. Now he understood why she was hunching over. Still though-
“Did you get their number plate?” He half joked.
“Sanji, no!” She laughed, playfully smacking his arm.
He ignored the barista’s raised eyebrows as he walked in with Nami, stopping to shake off any excess water before collapsing the umbrella and putting it in the stand. His hand was gentle on her back as he guided her through the shop, passed the counter and to the back.
“It feels forbidden to be back here,” Nami told him in amusement.
“If only it was that interesting.” There was a small hallway which branched off into two rooms. One was a small staff room for people to take breaks and the other was for a storage cupboard for cleaning products, coffee beans and cups.
He ended up taking her to the storage cupboard where they had clean towels to help with any spills and moved to grab some towels for her.
He didn’t think about what he was doing when he wrapped the towel around her shoulders, gently lifting her hair so it sat over the top. He definitely didn’t think about the fact that she let him. He was so close he could see the freckles on her face but they were slowly being lost to the pink on her cheeks and he cleared his throat, feeling his own cheeks warm.
“They’re clean, I promise,” he said, trying to seem casual as he handed her a towel to dry herself off.
He tried not to gawk as she dried herself off, dabbing her arms, scooping up her hair to try and get as much moisture out as possible but there wasn’t anywhere else to look. Well, that was of interest.
“Hopefully this dries off quickly.” She pinched her top and he watched the way it stuck to her when she let it go.
“You can wear this,” He offered, not waiting for a response as he pulled his hoody off over his head, no doubt his hair looked a bit fluffy afterwards, and held it out to her. “I can’t wear it for my shift.”
He took it as a win when she just accepted it with a smile but when neither moved, her smile turned sharp.
“Turn around then, unless you want a show? But I can assure you it’s not free,” she teased, leaning in and he gulped heavily as he looked down at her lips.
There was a pregnant pause as he stared at her wide eyed, his brain short-circuited before remembering himself and turning around. He tried not to think about the rustling from the clothes he could hear, her wet top peeling off her body to be replaced by his hoody. His hoody. Which she had no problem wearing.
And his thoughts were spiralling from there until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
All he could do was stare and he wasn’t bothering to try and hide it. The blue in his hoody brought out the vibrancy of her hair and she was almost drowning in it. The hoody was big on her, the sleeves bunching at her wrists, threatening to slip down and went down to her thigh. All he could think about was how pretty she was and that it was his. That really did it for him apparently.
“Do I look okay?” It was a stark difference from her previous comment and he realised it was because she was self-conscious. He didn’t like it.
“Yeah.” And whilst it may have seemed like a plain response, when it was paired with the breathy way he’d said it, like he’d been punched in the gut, he might as well have written a poem dedicated to her beauty.
Her hair was still damp but it was starting to curl as it dried and her wet top was in her hands now. And he was suddenly very aware that they were in the back storage room alone and it wasn’t spacious. She was so close he had to look down with their height difference and he still couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping to her lips.
His hand twitched to tuck a loose strange behind her ear and he needed to get out of here, otherwise he was going to do something stupid.
“I- my shift is about to start.” It broke the spell they were under and she took as small step back as he cleared his throat. He had been about to do something stupid. “Let’s find you a radiator to sit next to, I’ll turn up the heating.”
He got her settled on one of the tables to the side, pressed against a radiator and when she pulled out her wet top to rest over the top, he tried not to think about the fact she had nothing on under the jumper. Instead, he focused on her wide smile when she saw her dry laptop and notes.
He left her momentarily to get her a hot drink and he smiled when her hands curled around it, a small shiver going down her body from the warmth.
His shift had started and he was now alone to man the shop, yet he had some time to spare to ask, “Apart from the obvious, how was your day? Better I hope?”
“Not really, this was just the cherry on top. Today’s one of my heavy days and I have Professor Enel and if I have to listen to him talk about his crusty old paper from years back one more time, I’m going to scream.”
He laughed and when she gave him an unimpressed look, he explained, “Sorry, it was the crusty paper that got me, not your awful day.”
She laughed then too. “It’s funny now but not when you have to listen for the hundredth time about his ‘ground-breaking’ paper from day dot.”
“Boring or self-centred?”
“He’s very knowledgeable but he’s a know it all and loves himself,” she told him with an eyeroll. “His paper didn’t hold up in peer-review but he conveniently forgets that.”
“Someone should tell him.”
“Unless you want war, sure. If someone snaps, I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Just send in Luffy.”
She laughed and this was what he wanted. They’d spoken quite a bit now over the last few weeks and he felt like he was getting to know her, especially as they shared friends. They were getting past the polite small talk and he took that as a win. He didn’t want to just ask her out, especially as he wasn’t sure she’d accept.
He had to leave her shortly after to get some work done now that he was by himself but the few times he’d been caught looking over, she’d smiled at him. The time went quicker today, from being alone and because whenever he had the chance, he’d go over to talk to her more or, for the first time, she’d come up to the counter to talk to him under the illusion of returning her empty cup.
When he checked the time, he was surprised to see he only had half an hour left and that Nami was still at the café.
“Hey, my shift finishes in thirty minutes, if you wait, I can walk you back.”
“Are you sure? It’s the opposite direction.”
It wasn’t a no.
“It’s still raining out and it’s getting dark, I can’t let you walk back by yourself and I don’t mind the walk.”
“Okay, I’ll finish what I’m doing and pack up.”
She waited for him under the umbrella outside as he did a final scan before turning off the lights and locking the doors. All of them had a set of keys to let themselves in and out with, apart from Luffy who had lost his. They had to work the rota around him now.
When he was done, he took the umbrella from Nami to hold between them and started to walk towards the university.
She was the first one to break the silence as she asked, “If you’re studying to be a chef, why didn’t you choose to work at a restaurant?”
It was a good point and Usopp has asked too. “My Dad, Zeff, owns a restaurant but he said that until I’m qualified, I’d just get in the way.” He huffed a laugh, rolling his eyes. “But really, he just wants me to focus and pass.”
“So why not work at a different restaurant?”
“I don’t really want to work for competition and they probably couldn’t give me flexibility I need.”
“He should just let you work there; you’ve got a job anyway.”
Exactly the point he’d made every time they discussed it. Or he discussed it and Zeff shooed him off. “He’s too stubborn!”
With the topic of family, he’d asked about hers and she’d told him about her mother Bell-mére, sister Nojiko and father figure Genzo. She’d told him she was adopted and maybe a bit too eagerly, he’d told her he was too.
When they made it to campus, she took the lead and their conversation drifted from family to pointing out notable places as they walked to her dorm. The cafeteria, the buildings where her classes were, the football field Luffy had broken into late at night and he’d hung on her every word. As it was a Friday, there were people meandering around but apart from the casual wave Nami gave a girl in passing, no one had bothered them.
He was disappointed when they arrived in front of her building, knowing that his time with her was coming to an end. Even if it was just casual between friends, he liked hanging out with her and considering she’d stayed in the shop all evening, he hoped the feeling was reciprocated.
When she lingered in front of the door, fiddling with her keys, he took the opportunity to spend a few more minutes with her.
“After knowing Usopp all this time, I’ve never actually been on campus.”
“Well, when there’s a party next, you should come.”
That was his opening.
Ask for her number.
“Yeah, I’m sure Usopp or Luffy will let me know.”
Idiot.
“Or I could.” There was a look in her eye that made his palms sweaty.
Do it now.
Ask for her number.
Ask her on a date.
Kiss her.
Anything!
“Yeah, that’d be cool.”
… Other than that.
Cool? What was he, 12?
After a brief pause, like she was waiting for him to continue, she quirked her lips, amused, and he felt like maybe there had been an opening after all and he’d missed it.
“Well, this is me, I live on the top floor but if you wait a second, I can get changed and give you your hoody back.”
“No it’s fine, keep it.” That sounded too forward. “I mean, you can give it back to me when I see you next.”
She almost looked exasperated for a second before the look disappeared and she said, “Thanks for walking me back, night Sanji.”
“Goodnight.”
He watched her open the door and forced himself to move after she looked over her shoulder to give him a final wave goodbye.
He was an idiot.
.
.
.
It’d been a fairly busy shift as Usopp was on holiday. It was busy in short bursts that left him rushing around and then so quiet he felt like he was twiddling his thumbs, just looking for things to do.
Right now it was quiet. He’d cleaned the coffee machine a few times now, the few customers he did have in the shop were all served and sitting at tables enjoying their drinks, so he’d turned to his coursework for the week. It was due tomorrow and he needed to put finishing touches on it.
The jingle of the bell caught his attention and he perked instantly when he saw Robin walking through and eagerly stood at the counter trying to subtly peer around her for a glimpse of Nami. He tried to smother down his disappointed as the door closed behind Robin.
“Good afternoon, Sanji,” Robin greeted him pleasantly, but her eyes were sharp. “No Nami I’m afraid, just me.”
He couldn’t stop the guilty look spreading across his face; she’d seen straight through him. Worried about offending her he argued, “No! It’s lovely to see you too!”
Wasn’t it a sacred rule not to upset the best friend? He was such a tool.
She gave him an appeasing smile but she didn’t look like she believed a word he’d just said. “She’s got back-to-back lectures and then her study group.”
“Yikes,” he grimaced.
“Mm, I imagine she’ll be quite tired when she’s finished for the day.”
Poor Nami. Maybe he could give her something.
“Black coffee?” He asked, but there was no point. In all his time of serving her, she always had the same thing. Black coffee, no frills.
She hummed in agreement, “To stay, please,” and he moved on autopilot to make it.
“How’s your day going?”
“Good, I almost finished my assignment but I just need to make some finishing touches and thought this would be the place to do it.”
“What’s the paper on?”
She perked up at his question. “It’s about the Akkadian language and it’s development through the ages before its subsequent death…”
He nodded, listening as he poured the coffee into a mug.
He liked talking to Robin. She’d come in a few times with Nami and she’d been introduced as Nami’s roommate. She was a calm woman, pleasant and incredibly sharp. So much so, it made him feel like she constantly saw through him. He didn’t doubt that she knew about his interest in Nami but she’d never said anything outright and from what he could gather, she never said anything to Nami, which he appreciated.
Outside of that, he liked listening to her talk about her interests. She was in her third year of Archaeology and he had no doubt that she’d go far. She absorbed everything and was well into learning her second dead language. It made her fascinating to listen to.
They chatted for a bit longer before she went to find a table with her coffee in hand and he was entering into his busy period as he worked quickly to take orders, work the till and make the coffee’s.
But as he worked, he felt paranoid as he could feel eyes on him. Yet when he looked up in-between making drinks, he couldn’t find anything out of place. No awkward eye contact or heads quickly moving to avoid detection. It was always when his head was down or his back was to the room that he felt them heavy on his neck.
Maybe he was just tired.
A gaggle of women came in then, distracting him from his thoughts, they were rather loud and giggled between themselves. Although he tried not to be big-headed or presumptuous, he was sure one of them was flirting with him. Whether it was genuine or not he didn’t know and in the past, he might have indulged their flirting but now, all he could think about was how they weren’t Nami. How they didn’t have her sharp wit, her soft features or the way she made his heart pulse through his chest.
So instead, he was flattered but kept it polite as he served them. Maybe it was rude to charge them, they looked disappointed but he’d feel weird if he didn’t. Almost like he’d betrayed Nami.
The thought was disregarded as soon as they left and he moved onto the next customer, absently wondering what Nami was doing right now. He wondered if she thought about him.
“I’m off now Sanji, I’ll see you next time!” She said, placing her empty cup down as the last customer left.  
“Oh, you’re leaving? Would you mind taking this for Nami?” He asked, picking up a paper bag that he’d prepared to hand to her.
“A muffin?”
“Maybe it’ll cheer her up? It sounds like she’s having a tough day. There’s one in there for you too.”
“Thank you, I’m sure she’ll appreciate it, I’ll let her know you’re thinking of her.”
Robin definitely knew but at least it seemed like she was in his corner.
It was a little while later that Sanji realised that feeling he’d had for most of his shift was gone. It didn’t feel like he was being watched anymore and he couldn’t feel eyes on him. He looked towards the door as the most notable thing that changed was Robin leaving. Would she…? He shook his head; he was being silly.
It wouldn’t be until later, much later, that Sanji realised he had passed the test with flying colours.
.
.
.
Christmas break was just around the corner, his practicals were done for the year now and he knew Nami’s exams were over too. After knowing her for so long now, he wanted to ask for her number but he hadn’t built up the nerve yet. He was sure they were friends now so he wasn’t worried about her saying no, but he wanted to ask her on a date and get her number because of that. That was what he was worried about.
He wasn’t sure how she felt about him. Sometimes he thought it was reciprocated, with the way she looked at him; smile wide and eyes warm. Especially after the other night, after finding her in the rain and walking her home, the scene played in a loop in his head as he picked it apart obsessively.
He’d been distracted for most of his shift and Usopp had already huffed at him multiple times. Sanji had told him about the other night and asked for his opinion on whether he thought Nami might like him but he’d been very plain in his response, “Just ask her out already.”
The moment Nami had walked through the door, chipper as she waved at Sanji, Usopp rolled his eyes muttering about him being lovesick. Before she made it to the counter, he muttered to Sanji, “You’ll be of no use now, I’ll cover you.”
Although rude, Sanji appreciated it and he’d make sure to bring him in something the next time they worked together.
Him and Nami fell into their usual routine as he made her coffee and stood off to the side after he’d passed it to her. He didn’t bother telling her it was on the house anymore.
“Christmas break is coming up; do you have any plans?”
“My last class is in a few days and then I’m going home until classes start again in January to be with my family,” she explained. She’d come in earlier in the week gushing about how she’d passed her final exam and he grinned at the weight that’d lifted off her shoulders. “What about you?”
“I’ll be working through the break here and probably helping Zeff at the restaurant when he’s not being stubborn.”
He’d miss her coming into the café whilst she was gone but this was his chance, he should ask her now. If she said yes, the two-week gap would kill him but if she said no, hopefully any awkwardness would be gone after two weeks and they could pretend nothing had happened afterwards. Because as disappointed as he would be, he’d still want to be her friend.
He could do it; he could do it. He was trying to mentally prep himself. Maybe we can keep in touch whilst you’re aware? It was smooth and he could recover if she said no.
It was a great plan but unfortunately, what came out instead was-
“So, whilst you’re here, I was just wondering-” He couldn’t do it, he faltered when he caught her expectant face looking back at him waiting for him to continue- “if you have any plans for whilst you’re home?” His shoulders sagged in defeat.
Usopp snorted from behind him, which was even worse because he’d heard too. He was never going to hear that end of that.
He wanted to hang his head, what a loser. It was so easy in his head but when actually looking at her, he was tongue tied.
“Are you ever going to ask me out?” Her tone was caught between impatient and amused.
His throat went dry and all he could do was gape as he was caught of guard. It was the last thing he’d expected to come out of her mouth. She’d said it so matter of fact and calmly. Even now she was looking at him like she’d asked him about the weather
“Uh- Sanji, sorry to interrupt, but we need cups.”
He turned to glare at Usopp, if he thought this was a funny thing to do- except the shop was now looking considerably busier and there were only two cups left. Shit. Of course this would happen, of course it would!
He turned to face Nami and he could feel his mouth moving yet no words were actually coming out.
She frowned, confidence wavering for a second. “Or have I got the wrong idea here?”
“Yes!”
Idiot, he’d just answered the wrong question. Her face was unreadable now and he had to move quickly because he was about to mess up the best thing that’d ever happened to him.
“No!”
Great, now she looked confused and he couldn’t say anything more than one syllable words.
“Sanji!” Usopp called, exasperated and down to one cup left.
He finally managed to get his mouth to work as he replied to Usopp, “I’m going, two seconds.”
He then turned to Nami who was looking at him cautiously and the words fell out, “No, you haven’t got the wrong idea and yes, I’ve wanted to ask you out since the first time I met you,” any plans for a romantic confession were out the window, he was apparently doing it here, “but I didn’t want to do it like this-”
“For the love of, Sanji!”
“Just, wait here- don’t move, I’ll be right back!”
Shitty cups and shitty timing, he cursed to himself as he kicked the door open to the storage cupboard. Arms loaded with paper cups, there would be no reason to distract him now, he made his way to the front to dump the cups but he couldn’t stop himself for scouring the shop for orange hair.
Hair that wasn’t anywhere in sight.
He tried to swallow down his disappointment, he thought that conversation was going somewhere else. Maybe she just didn’t want him getting his hopes up.  
Just as he was about to put the fresh cups down, he saw a cup where Nami had been standing only minutes ago and his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest when he saw writing on it.
Coffee?
07700 900 4960
X
There was a pink kiss mark below her writing.
He swooned.
“Sanji, the cups!”
Usopp did not.
--------------------------------
You can join our sanami discord here, the more the merrier!
As for Luffy working at the coffee shop, don’t you think there’s always someone that can’t really do their job properly but they’re such as personality that everyone loves them regardless?
As always, please excuse any errors.
Thanks for reading. 
18 notes · View notes
itsthemoofacewriting · 2 years ago
Text
Cling to me
I went in with a fairly clear plan before sitting down to write this and that went to shit pretty quickly. So, have whatever this is instead (sanami and strawhat bonding).
Summary: Sanji loved it when the weather turned cold. Rating: M. Explicit. 
Can also be found on AO3 and FFN. 
Enjoy!
Sanji loved winter.
He hadn’t given it much thought before but over the last few months, it had secured the top spot. And why? Because his sexy, strong, independent girlfriend wouldn’t let him leave the bed in the mornings.
He hadn’t noticed it at first, just thought that she was in the mood to cuddle, which had been more than fine with him. He wasn’t going to question it. So far, they’d cuddled but she’d always let him get up, which was fine because he needed to get up to make breakfast for the crew, he didn’t need a very, very tempting distraction so early on top of what he already had. But when they had visited their second winter island since getting together and he noticed how she would cling to him after visiting a summer island, it’d clicked into place.
Except, it made getting out of the bed without disrupting her harder. Where she would normally be on her side or loosely connected and he could slink out, now her nose was buried into the crevice of his neck and her leg thrown over his body. Not that he was complaining, he’d dreamed of this ever since he’d met her and as his hand ran up her leg, he just wished he had longer to be with her in the mornings. But she didn’t deserve to be woken by Luffy’s rampaging or his shouts as he fought him off.
With a gentle kiss to the crown of her head and one last caress to her bare leg, he tried to slide out from underneath without jostling her but he didn’t make it far before her hold tightened.
“Mmm, it’s warm,” she murmured, voice still heavy from sleep and nose nuzzling into the skin of his neck. He was going to have heart palpitations, she was adorable.
“Good morning, Nami-san,” he whispered, hoping to lull her back to sleep, “I have to get up for breakfast.”
She moaned in discontent, “You’re so warm, ten more minutes.”
Her arm stretched across his chest, holding him there along with his leg and who was he to deny ten minutes from her. She relaxed when he leaned back and his own arms tightened around her body, breathing in the smell of her fruity shampoo.
She tilted her head to look up at him and pouted. “It’s unfair how warm you are.”
He hadn’t really thought about his body heat before they got together, it was only when she pressed her freezing feet against his legs for the first time that he’d considered whether he was warm or she was cold. Now, he pondered if it was both and it made him smile to think how well suited they were for each other. He was happy he could keep her warm. Although he was sure she didn’t feel that way in the summer when it was hot and the room was stuffy and he was a walking furnace.
He kissed her pout away. “It’s a good thing I’m here then.” His hand circled her hip, playing with the fabric of her underwear.
The haze in her eyes from sleep started to clear to make way for something very familiar that made his pulse quicken. Her fingers danced along his chest as she propositioned, “If you don’t move the covers, we can do something other than cuddling.”
She didn’t even get the chance to finish the roll of her hips against him before he flipped them, covers firmly in place because he wasn’t missing out on this crucial morning activity and listened to her giggles as he smothered kisses down her neck.
They were longer than ten minutes.
-
“Quit hogging him!” Luffy demanded as soon as they’d entered the kitchen, arms crossed and pout firmly in place.
“Hogging him?!” Nami scoffed, not batting an eyelid as she sat at the table with her newspaper. “Don’t be such a child, you can wait a little longer for breakfast.”
Sanji moved into the kitchen, unlocking the fridge and pulling out what he’d need for breakfast. He might have felt a bit bad if it weren’t for Nami’s expression still fresh in his mind from when he’d made her orgasm twice earlier.
“I’m the Captain! You shouldn’t challenge me!” Luffy retaliated in his brattiest tone.
“Ooooh, that was bold of him,” Usopp whispered as he walked in with Chopper who nodded in agreement.
Sanji had never had two people bicker over him and whilst he was delighted one of them was Nami, he never thought the other person would be Luffy. He continued moving around the kitchen, letting them argue behind him, it wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last. Besides, she was more than capable of holding her own against Luffy, it was playful anyway.
They continued in the background, commentary from Usopp running alongside it and he only loosely followed it. He focused instead on getting two cups down from the cupboard and boiling the water.
“Sanjiiiiiiii,” Luffy whined, no doubt trumped by Nami but he had no idea why Luffy thought he’d side with him.
“Don’t be a brat, Luffy,” Sanji said, walked to the table with two steaming cups in his hand.
“Your coffee, Robin-chan-” he placed her coffee in front of her and turned to Nami- “and your tea, Nami-san.” He lingered beside her, hand running over her back to rest between her shoulder blades and she smiled up at him.
“Saw that coming,” Usopp commented to Chopper and now Franky who had just entered.
“I don’t know why you’re squabbling over him anyway,” Zoro grumbled, sauntering in like he owned the place.
It was nails on a chalkboard to Sanji and regardless that he was meant to be cooking, he could spare a few moments to kick his arse.
“Ha and what, survive on your food?” Nami mocked and Sanji’s heart filled with love for her.
“Your food sucks,” Luffy chimed in, turning the tables to side with Nami.
“It’s not that bad!” Zoro argued, frown heavy on his face.  
“Definitely last in the crew,” Usopp added before squawking as he dodged around Zoro.
Which was how the crew quickly found themselves ranking everyone’s cooking abilities. No one disputed Sanji’s spot at the top and Nami came in at second place as Usopp explained why to the others who joined after Sanji (“It’s good but expensive,” “I’m an expensive lady”). Chopper came in eighth above Zoro, followed by Luffy and that was only because he could cook meat adequately well and no one mentioned the disaster stew that almost destroyed the kitchen.
The struggle seemed to be allocated spots between third place to sixth place.
“I used to cook for myself,” Brook reminded everyone and the flood gates opened.
“That doesn’t mean it’s good though.”
“Yeah, actually, can you taste anything?
“Do you even need to eat?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It’s a valid question!”
“Well he does poop.”
Brook’s mouth opened and Nami snaped, “Enough, we’re not doing this at the table!”
A blessing really.
Brook came in sixth, Franky in fifth and surprisingly, the argument boiled down to Usopp and Robin.
Sanji’s vote was an obvious choice, “Robin’s third.”
“You’re disqualified,” Usopp objected, “you’re biased!”
Franky tried to intervene and came to an abrupt halt when Usopp’s finger turned on him. “You’re definitely biased.”
“I vote Robin,” Nami interjected and Usopp almost wheezed.
“I’ve been betrayed!”
“Robin was on the run for years, she had to cook for herself and make do with what she had, she obviously has skills!” It was a case well-made and the rest of the crew nodded, considering this.
“Hey, I have loads of spices, which I know what to do with, and I’ll have you know, Kaya used to love my cooking.”
“Kaya’s biased,” Franky muttered under his breath.
“I’m happy with fourth,” Robin said pacifyingly.
“It’s settled then, Usopp gets his pity third place,” Sanji settled, turning to go back to the kitchen.
It had the desired effect when the crew laughed and Usopp stood, chair clanging to the floor in outrage. “Move aside, I’ll do breakfast and show you!”
Breakfast was further delayed.
-
They would be leaving the chill behind them shortly and whilst warmer weather would be nice, Sanji would miss it. Nami would still cuddle him (or he would to her) but she wouldn’t cling to him like she did when it was cold.
And he was currently making the most of it.
He woke up spooned behind her, one arm supporting her neck and the other cuddling her to him, hand splayed across her stomach and fingers brushing the swell of her breast. Since they’d first shared a bed, she’d started braiding her hair or tying it back after it kept getting trapped or he accidently laid on it. As much as he liked her fiery mane everywhere, he felt bad when she twinged in pain when it’d somehow wormed its way under his arm. Besides, this way, it freed up her neck and shoulder.
He pressed a kiss to the soft skin of her shoulder, her skin warm against his lips and she sighed in contentment, curling in to fit against him, soaking up all the warmth of his body.
She stirred, slowly waking when he then kissed her neck.
“Morning, my love.”
“Mmm, good morning,” she sighed, stretching her legs as she started to wake before going boneless against him again.
“Do you know what the time is?” He didn’t want to entertain the thought of getting up, but he had to. Although it still sounded eerily silent outside.
“If I tell you, will you have to leave?”
Oh?
“I always have time to spare for you.”
“Good answer,” she joked, dropping a kiss on the soft skin of his arm that was under her.
His hand ghosted along the skin of her stomach, palm flat to touch as much of her as possible and he couldn’t resist his fingers teasingly grazing the delicate skin under her breasts. Without having to look he knew there’d be goosebumps along her arms, but not from the cold.
She quietly exhaled at the attention, body already fidgeting.
“Was there anything in mind you wanted?”
“Touch me.” And despite how many times he’d heard her say that, whether exactly the same or a variation, it had the same effect.
He complied readily, not needing any further instruction for his hand to slide from her stomach to cup her breast. She gave an aborted sigh when his thumb ghosted over her nipple and it hardened under the minimal attention.
“Was this what you had in mind?” He asked and she shivered when his breath played along her neck.
“Not for the main course.”
Whether it was predictable or not, he loved it when she indulged him and his arm tightened around her.
“Is this more like it?” With one last parting caress of her breast, his hand moved south back over the familiar skin of her stomach and finding her hip bone.
“Getting warmer.”
His hand moved lower and her breath hitched when skimmed over the lace of her underwear, fingers teasingly stroking over her the fabric. Once last stroke and then he found the supple skin of her thigh, caressing upwards to gently encourage her leg to bend to give him space to work. Once propped up his hand was still on her thigh, taking his time to explore her.
“Colder, getting colder,” she said, pout in her voice but tone heavy with arousal.
“Sorry, you’re too hard to resist.” Although for once he wasn’t too sorry. He kissed from the bottom of her neck upwards until he reached her hairline and she shivered when his beard grazed the sensitive skin.
He didn’t need any more prompting for his fingers to return to lace and she’d had to wait long enough, so he pushed the fabric aside. His fingers teased between her lips and she was just starting to get wet. Despite how cold she could be in the cooler weather; she was always hot for him here. Intent on working her up further, his fingers stroked along her, spreading the wetness and coating his fingers.
Occasionally, he’d brush the bundle of nerves at the top and her breath would jump.
It didn’t take long for her to squirm and her hand grasped his forearm. “Sanji, I need more.”
“Like this?” His middle finger circled around the bundle of nerves, teasing the edges without directly touching and her hand tightened on his forearm.
Her breath stuttered and hips ground down, trying to get him to touch her more. “Ahh, that’s- that’s it.”
God, she sounded amazing already and he’d barely touched her yet.
“You sound so good. I love the noises you make for me; they turn me on so much. I could get drunk off of it.”
His fingers stroked along her folds and she was properly wet now, his fingers coated from his ministrations.
She laughed breathily, caught on a moan and stuttered a moment later when his finger slipped in, testing the waters. He knew he was on the right tracks when her hand left his forearm to reach back into his hair.
“Kiss me,” she demanded, voice thick and who was he to refuse such an offer?
The angle was awkward, with her twisting her upper body to meet him but it didn’t matter when he was swallowing down her moans. Their lips slid, uncoordinated from her pleasure and his focus on his fingers, yet it was still hot with all the want and need poured into it.
They parted when another finger slid in and his thumb flattened on her clit, both working in coordination to make her toes curl. Her hand didn’t leave his hair and he tried his best to focus on his rhythm despite the pleasure playing across her face and her hand tightening on his hair, sending little shocks down his spine.
The sounds she was making were sinful and he even knew she was trying to keep quiet. It pleased him endlessly that he could draw those sounds from her and at first, he’d got by just on his enthusiasm. Whilst that hadn’t dampened in the slightest after being together for a while, now he knew her body and what was the best way to get her toes to curl.
He’d been turned on before she’d even woke, a combination of morning wood and her pressed so intimately against him. The current activities leading up to this, including his fingers currently buried in her, meant that precum was smearing in his boxers and they’d be ruined in no time but that was a price he was more than happy to pay. With the way his fingers were working her over, her hips ground against him, meeting his pace, rubbing into him.
And it was so, so good.
There was only his boxers and her dishevelled underwear so he could feel everything. With every roll of her hips, it worked him up further and further, until he was panting along with her, bucking up in time with his fingers. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, especially paired with her muffled moans and occasional groan of his name.
He focused on her pleasure first and foremost, which meant sliding in another finger and picking up the pace along with his thumb. All the years of kneading dough rewarded him now when there wasn’t a cramp in sight and his hands held strength.
She was close when her grip in his hair tightened and her moans went up a pitch, slowly increasing in volume. His hips jumped at the sound, which spurred her on.
“You feel so good on my fingers, so warm and wet,” he uttered into her neck. She’d confided once that when she was close, she liked hearing his voice. “The sounds you make turn me on so much, can you feel me against you? You do that to me.”
She moaned, grinding back on him as if to confirm, unable to find the words in her pleasure and his fingers were unrelenting in her. She came on his finger’s moments later, spasming and he couldn’t hold it any longer, his eyes clamping shut when his own release rolled over him. His hips snapped and boxers turning very wet and sticky but at the moment, he was in bliss.
Her chest heaved, catching her breath and too out of it to put together a coherent thought. He knew she’d be back in a few seconds and he curled into her to bask in the moment.
He removed his fingers as gently as he could but she still let out a whimper. He brought his fingers to his mouth and hummed in content at the taste of her on his tongue. He wondered if he’d have time to sample directly from the source in a few minutes or if he’d have to find time later.
She stirred a few moments later, sighing happily before she thought of something.
“Sanji, did you-?” Her hand reached behind to palm him through his underwear and his hiss from overstimulation was answer enough.
“I’ll repay you later then,” she answered herself, as if making a mental note.
He was the luckiest man alive if she thought she had to repay him after that.
“That was perfect,” he assured into her hair. He would be uncomfortable in a few minutes when it started to cool in his underwear but he wouldn’t change a thing.
“It was,” she happily sighed.
She rolled over after another moment in silence and he didn’t waste any time in taking in her face. Her eyes were still hazy and cheeks flushed and it was one of his favourite looks on her. He brushed a loose piece of hair from her plait back over her shoulder, thumb stopping to brush there in affection before returning to the alluring dip of her waist.
“Hi,” Nami murmured, looking adorably shy considering what they’d just done.
“Hi,” he greeted back, feeling fondness bubble up in his chest for the woman in his arms.
They met in the middle for a soft kiss, lips delicately brushing against one another’s in the come down of what they’d done.
“You come here often?” He murmured when they parted, warm breath dancing over her lips.
She snorted, rolling her eyes at his corniness. “Almost every night.”
“Surprised I haven’t seen you around,” he replied, undeterred. “Must be my lucky day.”
“Normally I have my boyfriend with me.”
He tried not to beam with her playing along and look serious.
“Boyfriend? What deal with the devil did he make to win your heart?”
“I don’t know but considering he’s so good with his hands, I might want in.”
“Angels don’t need to get involved with devils.”
She barked a laugh. “Dork,” but her tone was soft and face even softer as she looked at him.
When they lulled back into silence, her hand resting on his chest and his free one soothingly skimming along her waist, his mind drifted to the last couple of days.
“I love when it’s colder, you cling to me and make it so hard to leave the bed.” The time was already ticking for when he’d need to leave, but he had a few minutes more.
She hummed. “I can tell, you’re handsier when it’s colder.”
“You’re just irresistible all pressed up against me. You’re gorgeous,” he told her in awe.
“You’re not making it any easier for me.” Her fingers played across his chest.
He smiled down at her. “You’re welcome to cuddle up to me anytime.”
“Yeah, I bet I am but you’re too hot in the summer.”
“Oh, so I’m just being used for my warmth?” Voice laced with faux hurt. “The pain, I might never recover.”
“Well, you also know how to cook too, which is really handy. You’re a bit like a Swiss army knife.”
“As long as I’m your Swiss army knife.”
“Only one I want.”
They still had a few more days before the weather got warmer and Sanji was going to make the most of it.
-
Twenty minutes later, a fresh pair of underwear and a blissed-out Nami in bed that he really didn’t want to leave, he was walking into the kitchen. Scoping out the room, he found the fridge was intact, lock living up to its reputation, but the pantry door wide open.  
Annoyed, but not too concerned, Sanji found Luffy looking sorry for himself in the centre of the small room.
“What did you find?” Sanji asked, now more amused than anything else as he walked past Luffy to grab some flour.
“Oliiiiiives~” Luffy snivelled from the floor, dramatically falling onto his back.
-----------------------------
No Luffy’s were harmed or neglected in the making of this. He literally has to wait like an extra 20 – 30 minutes but he’s being a brat. Also, I know the crew doesn’t really have a sleep schedule but indulge me.
Franky’s a dad, so naturally he’s good at barbequing and therefore got fifth place. That’s the only thought process I put into that one.
I’ve been in a funny place writing wise these last few months but I think I might be getting my groove back. I’m working on multiple pieces again, which is a nice.
As always, please excuse any errors.
Thanks for reading.
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