Sanji sighed and placed a package of popcorn in the microwave. Pressing the buttons on autopilot, his thoughts wondered. He pressed 'start' and watched as the kernels began to expand and pop.
He remembered the first time he had ever had microwave popcorn. It had been a dark, stormy night; only a week after him and the old geezer had been rescued from their desolate rock in the ocean. He was having nightmares about that, ones where the old man had died from losing his leg and Sanji was left all alone, with no food. Other times he had died, and the dreams were about Zeff just shrugging and tossing him back into the ocean, cursing his stupidity of saving the darned kid.
But that night, that nightmare was the worst. Zeff hadn't even saved him from the harsh waves. He was pushed under once again, unable to fight or do anything for that matter, just watch as the old geezer jumped into the water, looked around, stared at him for a minute, then shrugged and swam back up to the surface. And Sanji was left there, vision blurring, watching his only chance of survival swim away.
When he awoke later, he found that tears had soaked his pillow. He sniffed and got out of bed. Normally he wouldn't go see the old man for his nightmares, because all he would do was spank him and send him back to bed. But this time Sanji felt so horrible that he decided to risk it.
His bare feet padded down the dark hallway of the Baratie, carrying him towards the geezer's room. He pushed on the door and it opened with a slow creak. He caught sight of the old man lying in bed, form distorted by the assortment of blankets wrapped around him.
Sanji tiptoed up to his bed and climbed in beside him, burying himself under a few of the blankets. "Zeff?" he said softly.
A grunt from the chef. "Another nightmare?" his deep voice shook the bed.
"Yeah," he replied.
The old geezer rolled over and sat up.
Sanji tensed and shut his eyes, expecting a beating. Instead, he got a question.
"Who was it this time? Me or you?"
He blinked. "M-me."
Zeff sighed and stood up, his food-deprived form easily showing his ribs through the skin. "Follow me."
Sanji, surprised, followed the geezer downstairs and into the kitchen, the thunk step thunk step of the man's gait calming him. Then he sat down on a stool and watched as the old man pulled something down from one of the cupboards.
"You know what this is?" he asked, motioning to the package in his hand.
Sanji shook his head.
"It's microwave popcorn." He stuck the package in the microwave.
Sanji's eyes widened. "I thought you had to put the kernels over a fire and catch them when they popped up?"
Zeff chuckled. "That's the hard and old-fashioned way." The microwave beeped and he took out the package, which had inflated to three times its original size due to the popping. He ripped the bag open and sat down on the stool next to Sanji, placing the bag between them. "Try some," he popped a few pieces into his mouth.
Sanji reached out a hand and stuck it into the bag, the hot popcorn scorching his fingertips. But he didn't flinch. The pain felt good, actually. He grabbed a piece and put it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
The microwave version of the snack tasted the same as the original, if not better. The buttery taste made the fluffy treat melt in his mouth, and it tasted like heaven. Sanji reached to grab more but was stopped by Zeff's hand on his wrist. He looked up.
"This dream was different." It was a statement, not a question.
Sanji nodded. "You didn't save me," he said. "You just looked at me and swam back up to the surface."
Zeff bit his lip. In the day or two following his act, he had many a time regretted what he had done to lose his leg and therefore, his fighting ability. But seeing the sad look on the kid's face…well, it made him happy that he had rescued him.
"Well, I did rescue you, and that's all that matters. And we're both alive." He removed his hand from Sanji's.
Sanji was snapped out of his flashback by the repetitive beep of the microwave telling him the popcorn was done. He sighed and pulled the package out. He tore it open and dumped the popcorn out onto the table.
Normally he was a neat freak and wouldn't have ever dumped his food out like that, but popcorn was something different. Seeing it all dumped out like that reminded him of Zeff. He picked up an especially buttery piece and popped it into his mouth. He smiled as he savored the taste for as long as possible before swallowing.
He hurriedly finished his popcorn and headed back to bed. He had to get enough sleep so he could be ready to fight at a moments' notice.
He sighed, turned out the light, and pulled the blankets up to his chin. The smell of the popcorn that had wafted into his room began making him drowsy, and a minute later he succumbed to happy dreams of the All Blue.
I want some popcorn now...please review and tell me what you think. Reviews give me the inspiration I need to write...