Title: Word Choice
Theme: #29- Proposal
Claim: SanjixNami
Words: 590
Rating: K
Warnings: AU, more like a prequel to the very first prompt, Bet.
Disclaimer(s): I don't own One Piece.
Nothing had ever weighed so much in his pocket than the small box worth months of hard work and determination, but Sanji gulped and fingered the box through his pants. While it was hard to see it from the outside, he felt extremely self-conscious and suddenly he had to shove his hand in his pocket. No one needed to know what he was up to.
He went to the jewelry store right after work, having the money to buy the ring he'd gone to pick out several times before. The last time he went, he took Usopp to confirm his choice, seeing as how the dark haired man knew Nami better than anyone. He trusted his judgment, and he had to say Usopp's advice was the right way to go.
The walk home to their shared apartment was a little hard and a little terrifying. Sanji didn't want to give Nami the ring yet, he still had to work out the plan, but he knew nothing about how to hide it. He thought he could give himself enough time to come up with an excuse, but Sanji was standing outside the door before he realized what happened. And he knew Nami was home.
Swallowing the bit of fear that threatened to bubble out of his chest, Sanji opened the door and walked inside, walking past Nami sitting on the couch and running into their bedroom. "Welcome home, Sanji-kun!" Nami exclaimed as she heard him come in. She turned to look at him as the bedroom door closed, confused. "Sanji-kun?"
"Just a minute, Nami-san!" Sanji called out, pulling the ring box out of his pocket and shoving it in one of his drawers in their shared dresser. Nami would never look in his sock drawer. "I'm just changing into some more comfortable clothes!"
"Oh, alright," Nami said, turning back to the book she held in her hands. She paid him no mind when he walked back into the room and towards the kitchen. "You have to make dinner tonight."
"I do?" Sanji asked. His heart sped up and his face became red as he realized his choice in words.
"Yeah, I have a paper proposal due tomorrow and I haven't had a chance to work on it properly," Nami explained, motioning to her textbooks despite Sanji being in the other room. The word proposal sent Sanji's heart rate into another speed race and his fingers twitched as he reached for a pan. "I swear, it's like I'm chained or something to it for the next few weeks."
'Ball and chain, that's a negative way to- Argh, that's not what she means!' Sanji thought to himself despite the still increasing pace of his heart. "Ah, N-Nami-swan, maybe you should take a break from it for a while? We can go out and-"
"No can do, Sanji. I can't go back on a prior commitment like this," Nami said, suspecting nothing when Sanji made some sort of choking noise. "But since you mentioned a break, do we have any kind of cake or something to snack on? I'm a little hungry."
Sanji felt his head explode, his mind filled with wedding and marriage ideas that he couldn't handle. His silence confused Nami, made her peer over the couch and stare at the empty kitchen doorway. "Sanji-kun? Are you alright in there?"
"Ah- fine, fine! I'll just… start on dinner now. You just keep working on your p-p-proposal," Sanji sighed, smacking himself in the head and feeling a bit jilted despite Nami's oblivious attention.
