---

Swirling, writhing, colors, stomach turning.

The sky was an unnatural shade of blue and the birds' song borderline a scream.

Makino and Shanks wouldn't notice their existence no matter the tone or volume at which they spoke.

They walked toward a familiar blond, his arms wide open, they ran and fell right through him.

Y/n's eyes shot open, pain filling their entire back from jolting awake.

"Shhh, don't move around so much, you'll open the stitches." Sanji's hushed voice retrieved their reeling mind back into reality.

They were in their bedroom, sprawled across Sanji, safe and sound. Everything was fine.

"Are you alright? You seemed stressed in your sleep, so I woke you up." He said, searching their eyes for something.

"Yeah, just a nightmare." Y/n sighed resting their head back onto his stomach. "When did we get here?"

"You don't remember? So you weren't fully there when you insisted we nap together and I quote "like two snuggly bugs in a dirty old rug"? Whatever that means." He tiredly laughed.

"Pfft haha, ow, haha." Of course they had said something like that.

- - -

Water dripped from the bathroom sink's facet as they leaned against it's basin. The back of their shirt pinned up, a pained grunt escaped them as he slowly removed the bandages.

"Sorry, I'm being as gentle as I can." Sanji whispered, pausing to give them a moment.

"I know, It's alright. You can keep going." Y/n said in a hushed breathless tone.

"Alright." And so he continued.

The cool water cleansing their marred back felt both unpleasantly intense and somehow soothing.

He stared at scrapes, bruises, and stitches as he cleaned. If only he'd been able to do something. If he hadn't just stood there and watched helplessly, they wouldn't be suffering like this.

He grabbed their softest towel and dabbed them dry.

"This part is going to hurt the most. Let me know if you need a break. Are you ready?" Sanji said comfortingly as though he wasn't filled with dread as he picked up the cream.

They took a breathe before answering "Ready."

He'd just finished cleaning up the supplies and noticed Y/n had been quietly watching him the whole time.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently placing a hand on their uninjured shoulder.

"I think so... Yeah." Y/n answered tiredly.

As he began to pull his hand away theirs reached up and held it there.

"Don't go anywhere ok? I'd miss you." They mumbled looking away from him.

It took him a minute to process what they meant, but he understood.

"Never." He smiled.

- - -

The sound of pencils scrawling across paper and the teacher droning on and on filled his ears.

School was more boring than he remembered it being. Was it always like this before he met them?

The desk beside him was vacant. No one to pass him silly notes. No one to tell him a weird story as to why they were late. No one to lend him their jacket if it got too cold in the room.

It would be about a week before they sat next to him in class again. At least Sabo and Ace were still there.

- - -

Red, orange, and gold leaves from the nearby tree had drifted onto the roof and crunched under their shoes as they walked over to their special lunch spot.

Ace had detention and Sabo skipped school, so Y/n and Sanji had the whole roof and all the noodles to themselves that day.

"Slow down, you're going to choke if you keep eating that fast." Sanji chided softly.

"No, I won't." They mumbled, mouth stuffed with noodles.

"Yes, you will and you've gotten sauce all over your face from eating like that." He exaggerated upon noticing a small smudge on their cheek.

He grabbed a napkin from his bag and turned to them. "Swallow that and look at me." he said with an expectant look.

They slowed down, chewed a bit, and swallowed the way a petulant child would and looked at him.

He gently held their face and wiped the sauce away. "There." He said satiated now that the mess was handled.

His focus returned to them, their flushed face still held in his hands and eyes wandering anywhere except him.

This is normally the moment when he'd pull away and apologize for getting too intimate with them, but instead he got lost in thought.

When did they start letting me do things like this? I barely sleep at my own house anymore. When we get this close? This is our last year in school, who knows what will happen after. I don't want it to change, but I can't avoid it forever.

"Y/n." Sanji whispered upon breaking out his thoughts.

"Yeah?" they answered confused as to why he was still holding their face, not that they wanted him stop.

"I love you." He confessed resting his forehead against theirs.

Y/n's eyes widened as tears welled up and trailed down onto his hands.

"I love you too." They cried closing their eyes and holding their hands over his.

---

The sound of creaking floorboards underfoot echoed the dusty room. An old photo of a man with a golden mustache and chef hat standing next to a smiling blond boy lay upon a box.

Sanji picked up the photo and placed it aside before opening the box. He shuffled through the contents inside only to find clothes and cooking utensils.

"Not much in this one." Sanji called out. "Any luck over there?"

"Well -Achoo!- um other than dust, I found a plushie, keys, and a cook book." Y/n said rubbing their nose with back of their hand.

"Bless you, a plushie?" He said walking over to them.

"Yeah, this lil duck." They held up a slightly worn, but still quite soft, cream yellowish colored duck plush.

"You found Honey!" He excitedly plucked Honey from them and proceeded to stroke it's soft fluff with a smile.

Y/n sat there on the dusty old floor of the dimly lit attic admiring the precious smile on their lover's face. It was the not so glamorous moments they got to spend with him that they loved the most.

"Do you have one?" Sanji asked breaking their trance.

"A plushie? Yeah, Shanks won me a pink bunny at a carnival when I was six. It's in a small box under my bed." They answered as they pulled out and began flipping through the old cook book.

"Does this bunny have a name?" Sanji asked as he sat down beside them resting his head on their shoulder to see what recipes they were looking at.

"Taffy." Y/n said stopping at an orange tart recipe.

"Taffy is a lovely name. Would you mind letting me see this wonderful Taffy when we return, my love?" Sanji said tilting his head on their shoulder to place a kiss on their cheek.

"You just want to put Honey and Taffy together don't you?" They smirked ignoring his adorable attempt to sweeten up to them in hopes of getting a yes.

"They would look so cute together!" He dramatically whined pulling them closer.

"I'm not so suuure about that~" They teased still not looking him as he nuzzled into them.

"Pleeeease, I'll make that orange tart you keep staring at." He pleaded tugging on their sleeve.

"I want to make it with you. Deal?" Y/n said finally looking at him.

"Deal!" Sanji happily buried his face into their neck and placed several kisses.

---

In a dimly lit room toward the back of the Revolution Gang's base two men fought.

A swing, a kick, a swing, and a dodge, back and forth they went.

"You're getting pretty damn good at this, Sanji. You might even beat me soon." Ace huffed between dodging Sanji's kicks.

"Don't flatter me quite yet, I still need to work on it." Sanji said barely avoiding a punch.

"Why did you want to learn to fight so badly?" Ace laughed throwing another punch.

"So Y/n won't have to fight alone again." Sanji said catching himself after swiftly leaning left.

"Ah, so it's about that hallway scuffle, huh?" Ace frowned grabbing Sanji's leg, preventing him from landing a kick.

"That too." He kicked off Ace's grip. "They need someone who has their back." His foot rushed past Ace's head. "Both in fighting and in heart." another kick faster then before grazed Ace's side. "So I have to step it up!" A final swift powerful kick landing dead center into Ace's lower stomach.

Ace knelt down in pain and promptly laid back on the floor. "That's a good reason." He wheezed.

---Later that day---

Ace stared intensely at the cards in his hand, before placing one down. His breath held as he watched Sanji choose a card from his own hand.

Sanji had made his choice, laying his card on top of Ace's. "I win." He said as he dropped his cards and leaned back in his chair with a smirk.

"No! You can't just keep winning!" Ace groaned tossing his cards on the table.

"I can and I will." Sanji said before he placed a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out the lighter Y/n gifted him for his birthday.

The door slammed open and Y/n rushed in.

"We're under attack! Sabo and Marco have the front entrance covered." Y/n yelled coming to an abrupt halt at their table.

"Alright, I got the armory. You two cover the back entrance." Ace said experienced in with situation.

"Will do!" Y/n grabbed Sanji's hand and off to the back they went.

When they'd arrived two rival gang members had just entered only to get a fist and a foot to the face.

Soon more poured in and the fight began.

Sanji's low swift kick tripped one over to be met with an uppercut from Y/n.

"Wonderful timing, dear!" He cheered shortly before he kicked a guy between the legs.

"Never late for you, San-chan!" Y/n laughed after they landed a gut punch and then turned to punch another in the nose.

Through out the fight the lovers had drawn physically closer to cover each other's weak spots.

From the corner of his eye Sanji saw one approach Y/n from the side while they were busy with another. He made a quick turn raising his leg as high as it could go right over their shoulder to kick the fiend in the head.

"Damn Sanji, I didn't know you were so flexible~" They teased as they grabbed an annoyance by the face with one hand to keep them distracted while they gently lifted his leg from their shoulder where it was stuck with the other.

"One has to be flexible when it comes to you, love~" He said as he prepared himself for the next who dared approach them.

One by one the enemy went down and eventually retreated with their injured.

---3 hours later---

Everyone including Sanji, Y/n, Ace, and Sabo had gotten patched up. Since it had gotten late, the Revolution Gang's night time members had arrived to swap out. Y/n and Sanji had taken that as the perfect opportunity to head back to what had become their apartment.

Exhausted the two collapsed on the bed and just laid there for a bit. After a few minutes Y/n rolled over on top of him with a giggle. He lightly grasped the folds of their shirt near their waist.

"That was quite the fight earlier, didn't think the good boy had it in 'em~" They cooed as they played with the collar of his shirt.

"Well of course I do, I'm not just any good boy. I'm yours~" Sanji smiled looking up at them with a half-lidded infatuated gaze.

"Yeah, you are~" Y/n breathed as they leaned down and caught his lips with theirs.

---End---