Sanji stood there, outside her door for a second, looking down at the tray of dishes.

He never planned on that. A simple kiss to the cheek goodnight never was supposed to turn into an intoxicating breath of...her. But he thought about it more and more, and found himself frowning. Robin probably thought he was more of a pervert than before. After all, he'd gained the nickname "Ero-cook" for a reason. He sighed in self disgust and reached one hand into his pocket, fished out a cigarette, and stuck it in the corner of his mouth, unlit.

Sanji took his time doing dishes, casting glances at the door every now and then when he heard a creak. But it was always the sea. He frowned and reached for a towel and dried his hands as he finished the rest of his cigarette, then stabbed it out in the ashtray by the sink. Sanji stepped out of the kitchen and crept across the deck for the men's quarters. Hopefully, no one realized he'd been missing from there most of the night. He wondered if Robin was asleep by now. She probably was. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned. He had to be up to start on breakfast soon, so he might as well sneak in a moment's rest while he could.

She collapsed, back first, onto her bed, arms spread out, staring at the ceiling. She took a breath. Technically she should be sound asleep right about now. But after . . . well, she wasn't entirely sure she'd ever be able to sleep again. She got up a few times, thinking she heard a faint tap at her door; though every time she opened it she was greeted with the same silence.

She was hallucinating, that was all.

No, there was absolutely no way Robin was going to be getting any sleep tonight. She kept thinking about his scent. And what his breath felt like. Warm... though not too heavy. It was so... no. No no no. This was Sanji she was talking about. He was just being... himself. Besides, what kind of interest could anyone have in her?

Don't kid yourself... she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. All she wanted to do was sleep. Well... on second thought, maybe sleep was a bad idea. Because sleep meant dreams. And she knew all too well what dreams meant.

His feet carried him back to her room.

Sanji couldn't bring himself to acknowledge why, though he knew. He stood just outside her door, forehead just short of touching it, and turned to look at Nami's room. She was asleep, he knew. But Robin?

He leaned closer and stilled, listening for any sign of restlessness. He didn't want to knock only to discover that she'd been asleep and he woke her. Sanji was still a gentleman, "Ero-cook" or not. Still, he watched as his hand raised, curled into a fist, and knocked softly, softly, soft enough not to wake. And his voice followed, a little dry, a little hoarse, a little anxious.

"Robin-chwan..." he called."Are you still awake?"

She sat up, almost immediately. Was that...? She sighed. She must be hallucinating again...

She was about to lie back into bed when something stopped her. For some reason she decided to check the door one last time. And if it was nothing... well, then, she was truly insane. She got up, and walked over to the door, opening it slowly. She couldn't figure out if she was more scared that no one would be there, or more afraid that someone would.

"Cook-san," she said quietly upon seeing him in her doorway. She was definitely not expecting that. She blinked a few times, just to make sure it wasn't another hallucination.

That little-boy-ish smile came back and he reached up to rub at the back of his neck. Excuse. He searched in his head desperately for an excuse while the less logical side of him simply wanted to lean forward and...put some kind of connection there. He felt a spark between the two of them when he'd leaned in originally to kiss her goodnight and here he was, facing the aftershock of it all, not quite sure what to make of it.

"Maybe...eh..." Sanji leaned to the side, looking over her shoulder. "You've got some dishes I might've missed? Maybe..."

Like the feet that led him to her, like the hand that knocked on her door, his body moved on its own accord. "Maybe..." Sanji stepped close to her and closed the distance between them and bowed his head, lips by her neck. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this. Maybe there'd be a flurry of petals and he'd be on his back on the floor, writhing with a few broken bones here and there.

But he had to face those maybes. That spark was there, he wasn't imagining it, and he wanted to feel that again. "Maybe you felt it, too." Sanji said, closing his eyes as his arms raised, holding her against him by her shoulders. His lips pressed down on her skin in a kiss.

The moment she opened the door and saw him there, she had a feeling he wasn't just there to collect dishes.

She felt the warmth of his body closing in on her own, and she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Her hands must've had the same complex as Sanji's did, because she had somehow lost control over them. Somehow she lost control over herself, entirely. One of the few things about herself she valued with such fervor, her control. And it was gone, in a goddamned instant.

She began tracing her fingers nimbly over his back, and she noticed that the screaming in her head began to subside...

At first, he was certain she was going to push him away. The doubts began to settle when he was met with silence, but they vanished as soon as he felt Robin's hands on his back. Those were welcoming, he told himself.

He turned his head, his lips trailed up her neck and he paused at her ear, all the while slowly making his way into the room in an awkward little push and shuffle. His hands settled at her waist as he reached back with one leg and toed the door shut. "I was just...thinking about you. The whole time," Sanji confessed with a small frown. "The whole time." The love-sick, prancing fool was absent. The ongoing rambles and worldly metaphors of endless love were gone. All of it had been replaced with a genuine sincerity that Sanji didn't know how to handle, it seemed.

He licked his dry lips and pushed her hair away with the back of his hand, slow with every move, and touched his lips around the shell of her ear. He pulled back, nose brushing across her cheek. Sanji paused there, his lips just before hers, one hand still on her waist.

He felt as foolish as Zoro often said he was. So he stopped here, waiting for a reaction from her. Some kind of stop, some kind of go. Some kind of anything, really.

With every touch and breath she felt a tingling sensation from the top of her neck to the small of her back. Robin, who was always so calm, so collected, so... sure of herself, for once had the feeling (maybe it was nerves, maybe not…) of not knowing what in hell would come next. And strangely, she sort of liked it.

She traced a few fingers over his cheek and across his jaw line, feeling every crease and distinguishable feature she possibly could.

"I can't even tell you how many times I ran to the door, hoping you would be there," She laughed lightly at herself, slightly embarrassed. "Ridiculous, ne?"

Sanji laughed himself, filled with relief. He wasn't the only one, then, and that put him at ease. "Not as bad as me," he confessed, lying her down on her bed. "I thought I heard you coming to the kitchen. Every time, I'd stop. Took me forever to get through all of them." Sanji grinned as he crawled up on top of her, leaning on his elbows and on his knees.

He raised a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear affectionately, smirking to himself. "Went through a thousand and one cigarettes..." he said, leaning closer and closer to her lips. He'd yet to kiss her once tonight, and he wondered if that spark would be there, too.

"And then I was surprised," Sanji said, his eyes looking up to hers. "That you were still awake." He stole a kiss then, eyes closing as his hand reached for hers and locked their fingers together.

He was here tonight, that was what mattered. He didn't mind spending it in her arms and sleeping, he didn't mind doing whatever she pleased. He was still Sanji, and he was still as eager to please her as ever. The only difference was now, he found that interest in her deepened considerably and sincerely, and he was warming up to her, taking his thoughts more seriously. He pulled back, looking at her, armed with a lazy smile.

"What kept you awake?"

She sighed, so relieved that she was not in fact going insane. She had never felt as nervous as she did right that second, and she was so glad that he had said something.

"A thousand and one, huh?" She was surprised she could say much of anything, because that kiss, weakened her, almost. What did keep her awake? Dear God, she wished she knew. Well, being honest, she did. Somewhere in the dark recesses of her heart she knew. Whether or not she would acknowledge this and tell him remained to be seen. "I just... I couldn't sleep. My mind was a complete..." She bit her lip. Robin had never been too skilled with orally articulating her innermost feelings.

Sanji remained perfectly oblivious to whatever reason it was that kept her awake this entire time, and that suited him just fine. There was always a possibility that she simply didn't feel like telling him, and Sanji, being the gentleman that he prided himself in being, acknowledged that and took it without insult.

"It's okay," he told her, leaving a kiss at her forehead. "I'm here." He hoped that was some kind of assurance; Sanji didn't mean to sound full of himself, by any means. But he threw it out there for her to know. He was here, he cared, and he didn't want to leave her.

He was still testing the waters with her, wondering when and if Robin would ever sit up, shove him off and if he'd see floating petals in front of him before he felt a crack in his back. But Robin didn't give him any inclination that she'd do that, so the hand he had in her's slowly moved down, fingertips across her arm, over her chest, around her curves, down her flat stomach and pausing there at her pantline. Sanji kissed her again as his hand trailed lower, down to her thighs and up again, ghosting his touch.

"Yeah," he added. "A thousand and one cigarettes." Sanji grinned proudly. "And I didn't cough once."

His fingers curled and kneaded against her slowly, teasingly as he nudged her legs apart with his knee, all the while watching her expression, waiting for a flicker of objection. "Not once~" he repeated, "Have to buy another box of 'em when we dock again..."

Every touch of his was electric. She tried to remember the last time anyone touched her like that, the last time anyone made her feel as though her skin was on fire. She couldn't.

"I suppose I owe you then, don't I?" she said casually, attempting to mask the fact that her entire body was tingling as she watched his fingers, intrigued, mesmerized, for the first time being completely out of control and not really minding it. "Cigarettes don't come cheap these days," she added with a sly smile.

He couldn't stop himself from grinning. "Owe me?" Sanji chuckled, "Robin-chwan, you know I could never let you stay in my debt..." This was Sanji, of course. Spoiler of women. He couldn't let that happen, no matter how promising it sounded, to have Robin, who was beneath him and willing, to be in his debt.

He massaged her a little more, pressing against the cloth of her pants, then moved his fingers up when he felt he'd done enough, and started to slowly unbutton Robin's shirt, button by button. He spread his fingers over the smooth of her stomach when he pushed her shirt open and kissed her soundly, most of his weight on the one hand he had planted firmly beside her head.

The feeling of his fingertips tracing her bare skin was enough to drive her utterly mad. And the kiss... well, that was an entirely different story. Every kiss caught her soul a flame, and she returned them, as best as she could, trying to keep up, wishing the room would just be still...

She wanted to touch him. Everywhere. All at once. Though she did make an attempt to restrain herself, she wasn't exactly being too skilled with the endeavor at the moment... Her fingertips traced along his neck, touching his ears, entangling themselves in his hair.

Even as he kissed her, the corner of his lips quirked into a small, satisfied smirk. Sanji's hand crept around the small of her back and went up and fiddled with the clasp of her bra in vain. He groaned into her mouth in frustration, then finally, he got it to open, and pulled away just long enough to gather her upper body up in his arms, undress her, and then pull the shirt off from over his head. His lips found hers again, caught up in his own passion he'd created.

At one point, he'd wanted to tell her very clearly that he wanted to make love to her. But Sanji was past that by now, and most of everything he was thinking about moments ago were pushed to the back of his head to be considered at a later time. Lust, he found, was a powerful drug that took over him almost entirely.

Typically, her reflexes would've told her to beat him to a bloody pulp at that point. However, she found that she was... an entirely different person with him. She didn't feel as though she had to be on her guard from anything, not even from herself.

She sighed softly into his lips as she felt his skin touching her own. She still had that intense desire to touch him, and it wouldn't leave her. She moved her hands across his back, over his chest, around his neck, to every accessible place she could reach.

He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, welcomed and warmed by her all around him. If that brief contact he'd shared with her earlier that night had been intoxicating, this was indescribable. Sanji was driven by his desires, and his body reacted accordingly.

Everything that happened came in blurs, pressed to memory only by sensation, and quite suddenly, Sanji found himself undressing himself and her without the slightest of difficulties. He kicked his pants off over the foot of the bed and his hands lifted her by her thighs, pulling her closer to him.

Sanji was over her, his lips at her neck as he slowly pushed himself inside of her, holding onto her gently by her shoulders, burying his face into her neck, her hair, letting out a shuddering sigh against her skin when he filled her.

She winced slightly, letting out a groan as she turned her head to the side. She then curled her toes, as if that would somehow slow the process of the impending cataclysm she felt inside her. She tried, briefly, to think, but Robin, with her ever-vigorous mind, found herself unable to think of anything at all except for him. Everything was him; the universe was him. As obvious a logical absurdity as that last statement was, that was what he had done to her.

He covered her in kisses across her shoulders, her cheek, fleeting, short over her lips and in her hair as he started a slow, steady rhythm with his hips, giving a low grunt every now and then when he couldn't constrain himself. He worked at this until he'd developed a thin sheet of glistening sweat over his back and picked up the pace, the entire bed groaning under their weight.

Just then, her eyes shot open, and she tightened the grip of her thighs. Her breathing became heavier, and she began to rake her fingers into his back. She pulled him in, closer to her, as if he wasn't already close enough... he could never be close enough. Just then, she locked eyes with him, and firmly decided that she needed more.

Dawn streaked in through the small window of Robin's room, but Sanji paid it no mind. He was lost in a sea of sensations, thinking only of Robin.

He groaned, his hand sliding down to her hips. Sanji thrust into her, thinking of her nails on his back, her legs around him, everything. He was suddenly overwhelmed by every slick sensation that he couldn't control himself anymore, and he gave her just what she wanted: more.

He released inside her in shuddering bursts with thrust after thrust, groaning and grunting, even gasping into her shoulder. Sanji's body gave a short tremble and he pulled his head back, sucked in a breath of air, and released it slowly. His chest heaved with every breath and he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, holding her in his arms, nailed with exhaustion.

In that moment, there was no crew, no boat, no sea, no world . . . nothing except just the two of them.

She felt something like an upsurge inside of her as she was being swallowed up by the magnitude of her own ecstasy, and once it swallowed her whole and spit her back out, she gathered enough strength to say one thing.

"Sanji..."

There was nothing else to say but his name. His real name. It encompassed every swirling emotion she had mixed up inside of her.

Sanji opened his sleepy eyes and looked down at her. He gave a weak little chuckle and reached up, his hand trembling, and threaded his fingers in her hair.

He shifted slowly, carefully, and touched his lips to her head, leaned back and turned his head to the side, resting against the pillow.

Breakfast be damned, crew be damned. So it was dawn. He couldn't do anything but sleep right now; it almost demanded it. His body felt like a weight, nothing but a heavy weight, and Robin's warmth and the promise of sleep were open arms to all he needed. He closed his eyes and gave into that need.

She wasn't exactly sure she wanted to sleep. Sure, she was about to pass out, but she was afraid, in honesty. She was afraid that if she fell asleep he wouldn't be there when she woke up. She was afraid that she would suddenly discover it had been a dream. A fantastically wonderful dream. A cruel joke of a dream because it hadn't been real.

She yawned, looking up at him. Apparently for him, sleep wasn't an issue. She moved a bit closer to him, carefully inching. Maybe... sleep wasn't such a bad idea... and if it had been a dream... well, she'd just go on with her life as she always did.

Slowly, reluctantly, her eyes began to close.