I'm sorry as always for the long wait. I've had quite a few problems this past year.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of value so why would I own One Piece?
Playing with Fire
The Beginning of Something
Ace was still asleep when Sanji woke the next morning. It was something he was getting used to. He wasn't sure whether it was something to be grateful for or frustrated at. On the one hand he wanted to get it over with; on the other he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing or if he'd picked the right words to tell him.
Talking to women came easily to him. Even if he didn't always get a response from them he never had to worry about what to say. For some reason it came naturally to him. Maybe that was where he was having problems with women, he never thought out exactly what to say; just let his thoughts spill from his lips in a torrent of praise.
It didn't make sense that talking to the same gender was harder than talking to the opposite. That was probably only true if you were just friends. Then again he and Zoro were something akin to friends and couldn't keep civil conversation going for more than five minutes. The fact that he didn't know what he and Ace were only made things harder.
Did they even have something? If they did what was something?
He started to make another simple breakfast. He wished he could make something more elaborate. At least that way he would be more distracted then he was now. He thought right now he'd do just about anything to take his mind off things.
Sanji took the flint he'd found the other day when Ace had been out of action due to another bout of narcolepsy or a trip into the woods again. He couldn't remember and was sure it didn't matter. He continued to strike the two bits together whilst cursing his lighter for running out of gas. He almost wished Ace was awake; it would make this task a lot easier.
He was too preoccupied with his task at hand to notice that Ace had woken and was moving behind him. As Ace sat directly behind Sanji his legs on either side of him and arms draped over his shoulder he sparked the fire to life causing Sanji to jump back into Ace.
"I'm sorry Sanji," Ace said before Sanji had a chance to break into his rehearsed speech. "I was out of line asking you to join the Whitebeard pirates. I shouldn't have put you in that position knowing damn well you've got your own dreams. So I'm sorry."
Sanji was surprised there was no mention of Luffy in the apology. Surely it was wrong to try poaching your brother's crew and something that someone as apology conscious as Ace would probably have taken into consideration. It was probably another sign beside the fact that Ace was currently snuggled up behind him that the elder D brother did like him.
Sanji leant back his head coming to rest against Ace's shoulder. Somehow things seemed easier like this.
"You know if I wasn't already a part of Luffy's crew and didn't have my own dream then I probably would have taken you up on that offer."
"Too bad I didn't stop off at Baratie when I first set off."
"Besides have you thought what would happen to Luffy without me there?"
Ace laughed as he dropped his arms to Sanji's waist and pulled the chef closer to him.
"He'd probably try to kill me if he didn't starve to death first."
--
Luffy was sure this kissing thing was taking too long. Luffy was glad he was figuring things out but he was getting fed up of all the waiting. He wasn't a patient person. His preferred way to deal with any situation was to charge in there.
It occurred to him that maybe he should do that now. Maybe the best way for him to make it right was to just go ahead and kiss Zoro. All he knew was that kissing someone was a lot harder than it looked. He'd seen Robin and Nami kiss several times and they made it look easy.
Maybe he needed more advice but Robin seemed to have given him all the advice she was going to give him. Nami's advice was too hard to understand and Usopp's advice was too hard to follow. With Sanji unavailable that left him with Chopper or Zoro.
He wasn't sure which of them would be best to ask. Chopper was good for medical advice but this wasn't medical advice. Besides Luffy didn't even know if reindeer kissed. It would be pretty pointless to ask him about kissing if reindeer didn't kiss. He should probably find that out first before he decided whether to ask Chopper for advice.
Then there was Zoro. Luffy supposed it could be a good idea to ask Zoro. After all Zoro would know better than anyone else what he wanted when it came to kissing. On the other hand it might be weird to ask him.
Maybe the best thing for him to do would be to ask chopper first and see what the doctor had to say. If he still couldn't figure it out after that then Zoro would be his last resort. If that didn't work he could always ask Sanji when they were reunited on the next island. And Ace would be there too maybe Ace would have some advice for him too.
First things first would be to ask Chopper and see what happened. If nothing else he would find out if reindeer kissed and now that the thought had occurred to him Luffy had become curious to find out the answer.
The doctor was easily found in the storeroom pouring over one of his many medical texts.
"Chopper do reindeer kiss?" Luffy said as he burst into the storeroom.
Chopper was startled by the sudden outburst and fell off the stool he was sat on. His book fell beside him with a loud crash.
"What was that Luffy?" Chopper asked as he got to his feet.
"I said do reindeer kiss?"
"No they don't."
"Now that I think about it I don't suppose they would," Luffy said with a laugh.
"Is everything ok?"
"Yep, everything's fine."
"It's just that you've been a bit weird recently. I mean asking Usopp about kissing and now this."
"I was just wondering if reindeer kissed. I'll see you at dinner Chopper."
Without waiting for a response from Chopper Luffy disappeared from the storeroom as abruptly as he'd entered it.
--
Ace could hardly believe his luck. It had been the best morning he'd had with Sanji since they'd arrived and especially since he'd started screwing things up. He still wasn't sure exactly what was going on between the two of them but took it as a good sign that Sanji hadn't complained at having his personal space invaded first thing in the morning.
Well the chef had complained to some extent but that was because he was struggling to finish preparing breakfast with Ace's arms wrapped round him. So reluctant though Ace had been he had moved to the blond's side. He had considered telling Sanji that he wasn't very hungry since the chef seemed keenest to feed the starving but his traitorous stomach had given him away by rumbling.
It had still worked out in Ace's favour. He had moved as Sanji requested and gave him some space to work but Sanji had shifted a little so that their knees were touching as they sat cross-legged. It could have been a coincidence but Ace doubted that considering how aware of his space Sanji seemed to be.
Ace had been beginning to think his direct approach had only made things worse between the two of them but somehow everything had worked out okay. He had no idea how it had happened Ace was just grateful that because of it he had spent the latter half of the morning passed out in another narcolepsy induced slumber with his head resting on the blond's thigh.
It hadn't been till Sanji's attitude had changed that Ace had realised exactly how much he'd missed having company like this. He knew that he was finding himself increasingly lonely but having the opportunity now to experience such close contact again made it all too clear to Ace that he'd been missing it more than he had first thought.
He almost wished Sanji wasn't part of Luffy's crew and didn't have his dream so he could take the chef with him. Either that or that Blackbeard hadn't killed Sacchi (1) and he wasn't on a hunt for the traitor. That way his time would be a little freer.
The thought made him realise he hadn't checked his pose recently. He had been too preoccupied with trying figure out what was wrong with Sanji that the thought of checking his pose hadn't crossed his mind. He looked at it to see that the recording was complete.
"Looks like my recording's done," he announced.
"So what are you gonna do now?" Sanji asked.
Ace couldn't help but notice that Sanji looked somewhat apprehensive. Hadn't he told the cook that he might leave him here alone when his recording was complete so he could continue his hunt for Blackbeard? That must be what was making him seem so nervous.
Of course there was no way in hell Ace was just going to up and leave now. But Sanji didn't know that and Ace hadn't had the opportunity to tease the cook in a few days. This was too good to pass up.
He fixed the cook with a contemplative look. One he hoped made it look like he was seriously weighing up all his options. It had to be doing the trick; Sanji seemed to get more nervous.
"I think I'll…" Ace began trailing off to drag it out as long as possible. He wanted to keep it going but found himself too eager to give Sanji his answer. "…stay."
An apple came hurtling towards his head and he had to move fast to catch it. His reflexes were as good as always and the apple fell heavily into his hand.
"You did that on purpose," Sanji accused. "You knew all along you were gonna stay."
"Yup," Ace replied with a mischievous grin before biting into the apple.
--
Zoro was growing more used to Luffy seeking him out at random times of the day often for random reasons that he couldn't hope to fathom the reasoning behind. In fact it had got to the point now when his day didn't feel complete unless his captain had sought him out for an inexplicable reason.
Though today he would have been quite happy to go without a visit from Luffy.
When Luffy had found him in the galley drinking water after a training session the question the younger boy had asked had shocked him so much he was amazed he'd managed to keep the water in his mouth. He had responded appropriately enough with a 'how the hell should I know?' but what was really bothering him was why Luffy wanted to know how you went about kissing someone.
All he could think was that if Luffy was asking questions like that he wanted to kiss someone. That thought bothered him more than it should have. There was only one reason why Zoro should be as bothered as he was. He didn't want anyone else to kiss Luffy.
All of a sudden Robin's advice seemed to make some sort of sense. She'd figured out that he liked Luffy before he had and had given him the advice in the hope it would help him realise.
Though why she would give him that advice if Luffy wanted to kiss someone he couldn't figure out. Unless it was he that Luffy wanted to kiss.
His mind was reeling somewhat. In a few short minutes he had gone from complete oblivion about his feelings to having some understanding of them and a possible understanding of his captain's feelings too.
Unless of course this was all some new plot of Nami's, he could never be sure when that woman was scheming, what she was scheming or why she was doing it.
All he knew was that if Robin was dispensing advice to him it was also likely she'd given some to Luffy, especially since Luffy had been asking people for advice. If he was willing to ask Zoro for advice on kissing it stood to reason that he'd asked Robin, after all she was quite possibly the smartest person on their ship.
The problem was Nami's influence over Robin. He had no idea how much she had. The two of them were very close, that was obvious even to him. But were they so close that Robin would get involved in Nami's schemes. The woman had proved before that she was a master of deviousness but was she being devious now?
Thinking like this was getting him nowhere apart from round in circles. He had no proof that Nami was even scheming yet alone whether Robin was involved if she was. All he knew was that he liked Luffy and that he suspected Luffy might like him.
He wasn't sure what to do knowing this. How did you act around your captain once you realised you liked him?
He supposed the best thing to do would be to figure out if Luffy actually did like him. The only problem was he didn't know how to go about trying to figure that out. He could ask Robin for advice but considering his suspicions about Nami that might not be the best idea.
Even if Nami wasn't planning something asking Robin's advice would still be difficult. The two women were often together and Zoro would be damned if he was going to ask Robin for advice about Luffy with Nami around. God knew that woman didn't need any more ammunition on him than she already had.
--
The sun was setting and Sanji was snuggled into the warmth of Ace's body. Normally Ace would have been annoyed that the only reason Sanji was allowing himself to be held by him was for warmth but today had been different.
Sanji had kept some sort of contact between them almost all day and Ace had loved it. From knee to knee contact whilst sitting to having fruits passed to him and having their fingers touch rather than having them thrown at him; it was the little things like that that Ace appreciated. The day had gone so well Ace thought he could risk being a little daring.
From his position behind Sanji he shifted round to the side turning the cook's head to face him as he moved. He only had a moment to register the look of surprise on Sanji's face before he was leaning in.
He gently pressed his lips against Sanji's as he snaked his hand into blond hair. The cook gasped but didn't pull away. On the contrary he actually leaned in.
Even though every fibre of him was screaming to keep hold of Sanji and not let go Ace pulled back. He didn't want to push things too far too soon. He also wanted to gage Sanji's reaction.
As he leant back his eyes closed and his head fell forward crashing against Sanji's shoulder.
"Figures," Sanji muttered.
(1) I wasn't sure what to call the guy Blackbeard killed. I've been used to Sacchi but I've read somewhere recently that his name's Thatch. I decided to go with Sacchi because it was what I was most used to. If anyone can shed any light on this I'd be grateful.
Finally another chapter done. For some reason when I came round to planning this I was really excited because I thought I'd have this wrapped up in another couple of chapters. I was very much mistaken; it'll be more like 3 or 4 chapters.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and I apologise for any mistakes. I got in touch with the person that offered to beta for me but haven't heard back from them. I figured you guys had waited long enough so put it up un-betaed.
Also I changed my pen name (in case you hadn't noticed) because I've been bored and fed up with everything lately. So from now on till I next get bored I'll be vicious-kitsune.
I will write the next chapter…but will I really write the next chapter?
