Sorry for this being late, as usual. Just like my attempts at world domination, my attempts to get the rights to One Piece are going nowhere.

Thanks to crimsonphoenix13 for the beta work.

Playing with Fire

Burning

Zoro was surprised at how easy it was to get Robin alone. The historian was up a little after dawn to make a start on breakfast and he had been on watch during the night. So he went to offer her a hand even though it wasn't necessary with her devils fruit ability. Without a word he took the mushrooms she'd set ready to chop over to the table and began preparing them.

"Why did you tell me to spend more time with Luffy?" he asked without looking up from his task.

"Haven't you figured that out for yourself yet swordsman-san?" Robin asked back.

"I might have."

There was no point in trying to deny that he was harbouring some feelings for his captain. On a small ship it was near impossible to hide anything from your nakama unless you happened to be as devious as Nami; Zoro was fairly sure she could manage to hide a few things. If it was near impossible to hide things from the crew's dimmer members it was definitely impossible to hide anything from its most perceptive member. There was no point in lying to Robin but there was also no point in telling her the truth yet.

"Well if that's the case there's no need for me to explain my advice to you," she began, turning to smile at him. "You should know what you want to do."

He stopped chopping mushrooms and saw her smile grow wider. She was right; he should know what he wanted to do. He did know what he wanted to do.

He was just confused as to whether he should do what he wanted.

He briefly considered trying to ask Robin for more advice. She would probably just tell him to do what he thought he should. There was nothing more she could do for him. It really was all up to him to decide now.

They went back to the task of preparing breakfast in silence. Between the two of them the preparation work took half the time it normally would have. So before starting to cook everything, Robin poured two cups coffee and took a seat opposite Zoro at the table, handing him one of the cups.

"Out of curiosity swordsman-san, have you decided what you want to do in regards to our captain?"

Zoro sighed in response. He knew how she would interpret that sigh and she would be right to think it meant he wasn't sure what he was doing.

"Try not to keep him waiting too long."

What in hell she meant by that Zoro wasn't sure. The woman needed to learn to speak in a less cryptic manner as far as he was concerned. Even when she was giving advice away without being asked for it, he was still on his own.

They finished their cups of coffee and whilst Robin cooked breakfast, Zoro went round the ship to rouse the rest of the crew. Then with everyone gathered and the meal prepared, the fiasco that was breakfast on the Going Merry began.

Zoro watched Luffy as the younger boy devoured his mountain of food. It was true their captain wasn't at his best at meal times, but the fact that Zoro found a certain charm to Luffy's uncouth behaviour had to mean something.

That revelation wasn't helpful to him. It told him nothing more than what he already knew; he liked his captain but didn't know how said captain felt towards him. Zoro realised he would probably never figure out Luffy's feelings just by watching the boy.

There was only one way he could think of for figuring that out. Only problem was he had to decide whether to go through with it or not.

--

Sanji would have been lying to himself if he had tried to pretend that he wasn't disappointed with the events of the last night. He knew full well that Ace's narcolepsy could strike at the most seemingly random moments; he wasn't sure how many times he'd seen the man fall asleep in a meal for Christ's sake.

The events of last night had been somewhat unexpected to him though. Some part of him had thought Ace would be able to keep it together enough to at least see everything through before he fell asleep. He had been wrong in thinking like that though. It was quite clear to him now that he didn't understand the mechanisms of Ace's narcolepsy at all.

Disappointed as he may be, there was no way he was going to let Ace know that. The look on Ace's face since he'd woken showed that he was disappointed enough in himself. There was no need for him to make it any worse. If there was going to be any chance of things happening that evening instead, it would probably help if Ace wasn't feeling pressured to perform, so to speak.

The way Sanji saw things it was either tonight or most likely not at all. They were after all on their sixth day on this god-forsaken island. That meant tomorrow his crew would be able to come looking for him. They had arrived at the previous island in the morning so by his reasoning they should be able to set out in the morning. Considering it had taken them less than a night to get to the island there was a good chance that come tomorrow evening, they would be having company.

As far as he was concerned that wouldn't bode well for him and Ace.

He was cursing himself for at first being too ignorant to notice Ace was making advances, then too damn stubborn to admit that he was attracted to the elder D. brother. It would have given them more time. Now Sanji knew that, realistically, he was likely to get a quick fumble, which would be awkward and nowhere near as good as it had the potential to be.

It wasn't that he thought Ace or himself were going to be terrible. It was just the way first times always seemed to go from his experiences. It didn't matter how good you were; it took time to get to know another person's body. What they liked and didn't like. So consequentially, first times were awkward and it took time for them to improve.

Time that, unfortunately, they didn't have.

That wasn't to say he wasn't looking forward to being reunited with his crewmates. On the contrary he couldn't wait to see Nami and Robin again and to a lesser extent everyone else. Though maybe not Zoro.

He was definitely looking forward to having his kitchen back. Though he had to wonder what kind of state he'd be getting it back in. Depending on who had taken over cooking duties, it could turn out to be a nightmare getting the kitchen back.

That didn't matter too much to him now. He would just have to properly punish the culprit then make his kitchen his own again. Following that he could do what he had been dying to do for the past week, prepare a feast. A feast the likes of which none of them had seen in a while.

--

Zoro had been hiding all day and Luffy was sure that wasn't fair. Zoro was meant to be a swordsman, not a ninja and swordsmen weren't supposed to be as sneaky as ninjas. How was he supposed to figure out anything if Zoro kept hiding?

He was on the verge of giving up and joining Usopp and Chopper in their room when his wanderings led him to the storeroom. Just visible propped against a crate were the hilts of three swords. Wherever those swords were, their owner was bound to be.

Luffy rushed round to the other side of the crate to find said swordsman ninja asleep against it.

"Found you!" Luffy shouted, remembering how they had played hide and seek.

Zoro was quick to react, grabbing Luffy and clamping a hand over his mouth.

"Do you want Nami to hear you?" Zoro asked in a low voice. "If that damn woman finds me, she'll have me on watch again tonight and I'd rather sleep on the couch than in the crow's nest again."

Luffy tried to apologise but the large, calloused hand over his mouth prevented anything more than a muffled sound making it past his lips. He was about to run his tongue over Zoro's hand, hoping it would make the swordsman pull it away when Zoro started talking again.

"If I let you go will you keep your voice down?"

Luffy nodded and Zoro removed his hand as agreed.

"Sorry Zoro," Luffy said in as hushed a tone as he was capable of using. "Least now I know why you were being a ninja. You were just trying to hide from Nami."

"So you've been playing at ninjas to hide from me?" Nami questioned from the doorway causing both of them to jump, knocking over Zoro's swords. "Zoro, you can get up that crow's nest right now before your interest grows exponentially."

Zoro grabbed up his swords, resigned to his fate of spending another night up in the crow's nest.

"I'm sending you to hell one day," he all but growled as he strode past Nami.

"I know and I'm looking forward to it," she replied with a smile that only Luffy could see.

"Well g'night Nami," Luffy announced as he leapt up and hurried out the storeroom after Zoro.

Zoro had been quick in getting up to the crow's nest. By the time Luffy was out on deck there was no sign of him climbing up the mast. He wasted no time in stretching his arms and catapulting himself up to join the swordsman.

For once Luffy managed to make something of a graceful landing. Or at least as graceful as he could ever manage, his limbs slightly tangled but not with someone else's.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoro asked as Luffy untangled himself and crouched down next to him. "You don't have to be up here, you could be sleeping in a hammock or on the couch."

"I want to be here instead," Luffy said.

"Idiot."

Most people would have been insulted, Luffy knew that. But he never minded when his crew called him an idiot, especially if it was Zoro calling him an idiot. It had almost become like a term of endearment to him, because he knew, despite anything they may call him, they would all follow him to the end of the Grand Line. So he couldn't help the grin that spread over his face.

With his eyes closed he had no way to see what was coming. But he felt it, a strong, calloused hand at the back of his neck and a pair of lips against his own. Before he could respond Zoro was pulling away, looking almost like he expected Luffy to send him crashing to the deck.

"That's not fair," Luffy complained as he resisted the urge to smile at the look of confusion on Zoro's face. It clearly wasn't the reaction the swordsman had expected. "You ruined all my hard work in trying to figure out the right time to kiss you."

"You really are an idiot," Zoro stated. "Any time would have been fine."

With that said he leant in again to place another kiss against Luffy's lips.

--

Robin had heard the entire exchange between Luffy and Zoro as she was making her way back to her room with two mugs of hot chocolate. She couldn't help smiling to herself, happy that the two of them had finally heeded her advice.

Back in the room, she handed Nami the mug of steaming liquid and took a seat on the bed.

"It would seem Swordsman-san has finally acted on my advice," Robin stated as she fingered the spine of a book.

"Finally," Nami said, exasperation evident in her voice. "I swear if those two had taken any longer I was going to force them together myself."

Robin let out a small chuckle. Nami really could be the most impatient person at times. And a part of her loved her for it.

--

Sanji was snuggled to his side; the fire casting light onto him that danced across his lithe form in time to the fire's flickering. Ace didn't think he'd ever seen Sanji looking more beautiful. But he didn't dare tell the cook that. He knew that to Sanji, women were things of beauty; gods only knew if he'd think Ace was insulting all women by calling him beautiful.

It was best not to risk it even though he may not get another chance for a very long time. Tonight was probably going to be their last night alone together and whilst Ace didn't want it to end they both had things they had to do.

So tonight was his last chance to make up for his failure the previous night. He didn't know how far it would be safe to take things with Sanji but he knew the cook would tell him if he was uncomfortable and he wouldn't step past any boundaries the blond set. But by gods he was going to take it as far as he would be allowed.

He tilted Sanji's head gently and pressed his lips against the cook's, tasting the multitude of spices and tobacco that made up his unique taste. Sanji didn't protest, on the contrary he leaned into the kiss, pressing his body closer to Ace's.

Ace took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue slip out to run across Sanji's bottom lip; asking permission to taste more of the cook's intoxicating flavour. Sanji complied, opening his mouth a little and using his tongue to draw Ace into him.

To have the cook respond to him so willingly was more than Ace had expected. He had thought there would have been a little resistance but Sanji was putting up none. It fuelled Ace to push further.

Not breaking their kiss Ace lay Sanji down on the sand and straddled the cook. His fingers moved to the tie. This would be the real test. If Sanji protested now Ace knew he would have to respect the others wishes and just curl up next to him for the night. But again no resistance came as his fingers worked at the knot and slipped the tie from round his neck.

There was still no protest as his fingers moved down to unbutton the blond's shirt.

--

His flesh burnt wherever Ace's fingers or lips touched. Even after they had moved on to another part of his body his flesh still seared from the contact. Despite his mind being hazed Sanji knew this was nothing to do with the mera mera fruit.

The pleasant burning began to fade as Ace lay next to him, holding him gently and placing soft kisses to his brow. All he could do was lie there, almost as exhausted as he would have been after an intense fight, with his arms draped over Ace's waist as he slowly drifted to sleep.

So this is the first step in my attempt to finish this fic within the year. Surprisingly the next chapter is almost ready too so hopefully the wait for that won't be too long. The other chapters will take longer to get done cos of three 2000-2500 word essays and one 1000 word critique, only one of which I've actually done. I'm hoping that I'll get some time between finishing the essays and starting the exams to get another chapter done but since I don't have my exam timetable yet I don't know if I'll have enough time.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review.

I will write the next chapter…but will I really write the next chapter.