Category: Romantic Fluff
Characters: Sanji, Nami
Hello, all! This will be my first submission for SanNami Week, for the Day One prompt "Eye Contact." I hope you all enjoy it! :3
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Thousand Sunny had meandered into an intense summer climate; all it took for Sanji to arrive at that conclusion was the thick layer of sweat that glistened on his skin, which made the thin sheet draped over his body and the blonde strands of his hair plaster uncomfortably over him. As he sat up in bed, sleepy eyes half-registering the shimmering haze of heat bubbling by the one porthole in the men's bedroom, he peeled the blanket off him like he was a reptile shedding its skin. Yuck, he thought in discomfort as he swiped the back of his hand across his forehead in an attempt to keep the beaded sweat droplets from rolling into his eyes; it was a useless act, as he just pushed the sweat on his hand onto his feverish skin and made it roll down anyway.
He blinked repeatedly as the salty solution stung his eyes and blindly staggering out of his bunk, landing lightly on the wooden floor. It had swelled with the sheer level of moisture burdening the sauna-like room and thus creaked loudly as Sanji strolled across the room to retrieve some appropriate garments. Likewise he peeled his pajamas off his body and tossed them aside; they landed with a wet slap against the plastic dirty clothes hamper they all shared. It was just too damn hot to wear much of anything, so Sanji settled with a pair of baggy shorts that allowed plenty of air movement and a loose muscle tee with some flip-flops and a pair of shades. He went to splash a little cold water on his face from their shared sink only to find in annoyance that it was lukewarm. Is the sea boiling outside or something? He thought with a grimace before exiting the bedroom to begin his morning ritual of preparing breakfast.
The sea wasn't boiling, but it sure as hell felt like the air was. Sanji's mouth hung open in a dog-like pant as he thrummed at the neck of his shirt, wobbling the fabric in an effort to fan his burning skin. The only respite to be had was the intermittent sweeping salt breeze rolling in across the sloshing waves, but even then, it was only temporary- a few seconds of relief at most.
He kicked the kitchen door open and all but ran to the freezer, flinging the machine's door open and embracing the chill air with a loud, unabashed "Ahhhhh…" Thankfully, the freezer seemed to be immune to the heat wave. He basked in the welcome cold for a minute or so before rolling up his metaphorical sleeves to set to work. A cold breakfast was a must, as eating any kind of hot food would undoubtedly result in many upset stomachs, so Sanji decided that some nice, cold smoothies would be ideal for the situation. He plucked some bananas and some of Nami's tangerines from their respective baskets and peeled off their skins, then chopped up the bananas and separated the orange slices before throwing them in his blender with a cup or so of ice and a scoop of vanilla yogurt for some body. Just as he plopped the top onto the blender and set to get it whirring, he heard Luffy's deranged whines echoing from the bowels of the ship. So he's awake, he smirked before turning on the machine. The whizzing blades and crunching of the large ice blocks provided ample noise to drown his captain out.
It took only ten minutes or so for Sanji to prepare enough smoothies for the entire crew. He piled them onto a silver service tray and waltzed out of the kitchen to find them all in various states of melting across the deck of the ship. Luffy was collapsed on his belly sweating buckets and fanning himself with a hand, groaning.
"Sanjiiiiiiii… It's hoooooooot," he moaned as he unenergetically rolled onto his back. His red vest was practically glued to him, and his jean shorts were an entire shade darker thanks to the sheer amount of sweat pouring off him. Sanji decided not to argue with him about the fact that it was absolutely idiotic to wear jeans in a heat wave.
"Here. This should help," he sighed as he strode over to hand him one of the glasses. Luffy sat up with much effort and took it in both hands, sipping at the straw. It was almost instantaneous, how his energy went from zero to one hundred and fifty.
"Hehe! Thaaaaanks! Yo, guys, we should make like a swimming pool or something!" he began babbling with his characteristic laugh to Franky and Usopp, who only let out unenthused groans in response. Sanji walked over to them to deliver the drinks and almost recoiled from the heat rolling off of Franky's machine parts; he certainly didn't envy the cyborg, that was for sure. Usopp's curly mass of thick black hair certainly didn't help, either; it was piled up on top of his head in a massive bun, but nonetheless was threaded with moisture beads like dew upon blades of grass on a spring morning.
"Here, guys, drink up. We could get dehydrated in this heat," the cook said while handing them smoothies. They grumbled something in response and collapsed against each other while drinking them gratefully, but only for a few seconds, because the sizzling steel of the shipwright's parts burned Usopp's arm something fierce. At his startled yowl, Chopper came tottering over to inspect his burn. The poor furry reindeer was probably the worst of the lot of them, being covered in thick fur from head to toe. His little pink tongue lolled out of his mouth as he dutifully but tiredly applied some anti-burn salve to Usopp's arm. "Here ya go, Chopper," Sanji mused as he set one down next to him. Chopper took the glass in his brown hooves and held it momentarily to his forehead.
"Ahhhh… That's nice…" he sighed as he approached nirvana. He then brought it down to his mouth so her could partake in the fruit concoction. "Mmmm! It's yummy, Sanji!" The rest of the crew clustered in the corner chorused in agreement.
Sanji delivered the remainder of the smoothies and found that he was one short; Nami wasn't on the main deck. There was really only one other place that she could be; Sanji hopped lightly up the stairs leading to where her grove of tangerine trees was thriving under the blazing sun. He walked around the corner to find her sprawled out on her belly on a beach towel, the clasp of her bikini top unhooked to provide an even tan. She was wearing only a matching bikini bottom that hugged her shapely bottom. Sanji's face instantly began to burn bright red and he hastily snapped his face away lest he be caught staring. It wasn't like it was unwelcome; he and Nami had been together for some time, actually. Still, it hadn't been that long, and so he was still bashful when it came to physical aspects of the relationship. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before clearing his throat. "Nami-swan, I brought you a smoothie."
"Oh, thank you!" She was lying perpendicular to his position, allowing her to turn her head to smile gratefully at him. Sanji immediately felt the blush returning to his face as soon as her eyes met his, staring intently even through the darkened glasses. Stiff as an unoiled robot, he closed the short distance between them to crouch down and hand her the smoothie; she pushed herself up on her elbows, her loose bikini top only just protecting her modesty, and Sanji's eyes rolled up to the heavens lest his gaze be dragged down to a more sinful plane. "Yum! Making good use of my tangerines, I see," the navigator mused as she happily gulped down the fruit blend. Sanji bashfully mumbled something along the lines of a gratuitous remark as he rubbed the back of his neck. He felt like the temperature had notched up ten degrees. The things she does to me, he thought in mild delight. He was about to get up and go about his business, but Nami's hand struck out to grab the hem of his muscle tee. "Sanji~? Why don't you stay here and tan with me?" Her crooning voice was the epitome of innocence, but the demure smile and fluttering eyelashes belied Nami's flirtatious intentions. Sanji swallowed nervously and his mouth suddenly grew dry, so he momentarily busied himself with sucking down a large swig of his smoothie. There wasn't even a mental debate in his head, because like hell he was going to pass up the chance to be close to his mind-blowingly gorgeous girlfriend!
"Of course," he smiled charmingly at her once his brain remembered how to work properly. He pushed the empty serving tray aside and set the smoothie down to pull the tee over his head. He caught a glimpse through the thin fabric of Nami's chestnut eyes greedily drinking in his chiseled abs even more than she had been relishing the smoothie, and a blush painted his cheeks. The things she did to him, indeed. He threw the shirt aside and stretched out on his back beside her. Nami instantly scooched across the towel such that her side pressed against his; though it was blistering outside and skin-on-skin contact just made it worse, the electric tingles that blossomed across his body were a drug potent enough for him to not say a damn thing about it. She cocked her head to the side and lazily raise her hand and begin tracing random patterns into his abdominal muscles. Sanji's startled eye locked onto her glittering, cunning chestnut ones that refused to let go.
Of the many remarkable beauties that Nami had, like her vibrant flood of tangerine locks or her curvaceous body that almost begged to be touched and lavished, Nami's eyes were just as equally riveting. Sanji frequently found that they dominated his attention more than anything else. Round and inviting, they were, with irises the color of melted chocolate and coffee grounds and shining copper… Sanji could never help being drawn into them. Her finger trailed a burning path all across his abdomen with reckless abandon, all while her electrifying eyes held him prisoner.
"What are you thinking, Sanji?" she asked suddenly, innocently, but with all the wile of a coy vixen. Sanji was utterly incapable of complex thought at this point, and so he just openly admitted what was on his mind.
"I was just thinking about how gorgeous your eyes are." He wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it probably hadn't been that, given the shy haze of pink that graced her cheeks. She reached around to re-clasp her bikini top, then draped her upper body across his chest so her head was resting just at the junction of his neck to his torso. Sanji could just lift his head up and kiss her if he wanted to. With a life of its own, his hand dove into her tresses of orange hair to follow them from root to end, over and over again in rhythmic fashion. Nami resumed painting an abstract, invisible landscape across his pectorals. "What are you thinking?" Now that was the question.
"Me? Oh, nothing much- just how devilishly handsome you are," she responded simply while resting her cheek against the arm that was draped over his body. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk. Perhaps it was the sheer confidence that the fiery woman was exuding right now, but Sanji found himself a willing participant in her flirty banter. His fingers fell down from her sunset hair to skip lightly across the lightly flushed skin of her shoulder blades. She really was more beautiful than any creature on earth. Before he and Nami were together, he flung his affections on anyone willing to listen because he just simply craved being wanted, but now, he couldn't imagine even looking at another woman in that light. He didn't even flirt with Robin anymore (though he was a gentleman and still treated her nice, but all three of them knew the difference). Lying there together, simply enjoying each other's company and relishing the heated interaction on an already blistering day, Sanji knew then and there that he loved her.
Neither of them had said that to each other yet. Sanji knew that it was not a phrase to be tossed around lightly in a real relationship. He had been waiting for the right moment. Nami had finally ceased the eye contact to drift her eyes shut, lightly snoozing and lulled by the gradual rise and fall of his chest. Was now the right time? Sanji didn't know much about these things. He could talk a good game but when it came to the actual logistics, he was clueless. Yet, as he simply watched her beautiful form relax on his body and soak up the sun's rays, he couldn't imagine a better time. His fingertips feathered across her rosy cheek, and one of her eyes fluttered open in answer. "Mhmm? What are you thinking about now?" she asked with a voice thick with sun-drunk weariness.
Sanji had a thousand answers for that question- how her fiery hair blazed with all the fury of the sun's light to shine like a holy fire, how her goddess-like body hugged the contours of his rugged form in a manner that seemed like they were made to fit together, how his fingers could never get enough of the feeling of her velvet-smooth skin responding to his light caresses, how those magnetic brown eyes contained all the world and more for him. He had a thousand answers, but he only voiced one, one that contained all the other nine hundred and ninety-nine unspoken.
"I'm thinking about how much I love you." Nami's other eye popped open and she raised her head to gape down at him, lips slightly parted. They then curled in a warm smile.
"I love you too, Sanji." This time, Sanji took advantage of the proximity of her face and leaned up to capture her lips with his own. Their mouths melted together like margarine, smooth and fluid. Nami responded eagerly to his repeated kisses, her fingers finally stilling to rest of the area where his heart fluttered with every movement of their mouths. He tilted his head to the side in a greedy plea to have more of her and deepen the kiss, and the readily complied; as his tongue slipped into her mouth to tangle with her own, the sweet tang of tangerines mixed with the subtle hints of banana bloomed across his tongue, coupled with the overwhelmingly saccharine taste of his beloved Nami. It might as well have been alcohol because he was drunk instantaneously, and it might has well have been a drug because Sanji was instantly addicted. A low moan rumbled in her throat as he kissed her with all the hunger of a starved man; Sanji felt it tremble through his entire being like thunder across a stormy sky and never had he felt more alive.
Sanji's head thumped back against the deck of the ship as they broke apart, panting lightly and sweat shining on both their faces. With a contented purr, Nami swathed herself across his body once more, this time keeping her trailing ministrations concentrated at his heart.
"You know, I'll get an awful tan like this," he remarked jokingly while sweeping a strand of her hair from her face.
"Too bad. I'm much too comfortable." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he chuckled lowly in response. An uneven tan was definitely a worthy price for this moment. Bathed in the summer sun's golden light, the two lazed away the hot afternoon, their eyes never leaving the other's for a moment…