Category: Romantic Fluff
Characters: Sanji, Nami
Greetings again, all! This here story is for the SanNami Week Day Four prompt, "Fantasy." Enjoy, my lovelies!
"Yeesh. What a storm," Nami commented as she peered out of the porthole of her and Robin's shared bedroom window at the frothing, writhing sea-green waves slapping relentlessly against the ship's broad hull. The Thousand Sunny was currently docked at port, so there was no need to scurry around in the pounding rain in an attempt to escape it; however, the ship still suffered under the onslaught of nature's wrath, slowly but powerfully rocking from side to side as the wind and rain and waves disrupted its balance. The wooden structure creaked and groaned in protest. After watching the swirling sea for a minute or so, Nami peeled herself away from the small, circular window to scurry over to her bed. She leaped under the covers with an excited squeal, eager to resume her riveting fantasy romance novel. "Rainy days are the best reading days!" she grinned to her roommate, who was leaned up against her headboard also engrossed of a novel of some form.
"Oh, yes," Robin agreed without even lifting her dark eyes from the inked pages. "What are you reading this time?" As she turned the page, it made a light fluttery sound. Nami, eager to gush about her latest thrift-store find, set the open book down on her bed to save the page before putting her cheeks in her hands and lifting her legs over her back, feet hooked together at the ankles.
"Oh, it's simply wonderful, Robin! It's a story about a long-lost prince who has been turned into a dragon who rescues his previous fiancé from a marriage to a cunning, evil prince looking to steal her land's resources! He can only be human for two hours a day, at noon and midnight, and she has no idea who he is! She falls in love with him all over again, and it's simply so romantic!" she sighed dreamily. "The prince is so dreamy, too…" This elicited a chuckle from the black-haired woman, and Nami glanced over to see her also setting down her book to glance over at her with sparkling, amused eyes. She was sure that Robin was not nearly interested in the book, but loved to see Nami so animated about something and wanted to devote her attention to it one hundred percent.
"I see. What's happening in the book right now?"
"The evil prince has captured the dragon prince, and the princess and his unicorn friend are conspiring his rescue! It's not often you get such a willful, well-written, strong female character. I really relate to her," Nami swooned as she hugged the volume to her chest adoringly.
"Is that because you have a prince of your own?" Nami's mouth fell open at the sheer audacity of Robin's question. She looked at the archaeologist to find her sporting a cunning, shit-eating grin below eyes absolutely gleaming with mischief. Huffing, Nami grabbed her bookmark and shoved it into the space between the pages; this was going to take a while to sort out! She slammed it down on her bedside table before looking back to Robin with her arms haughtily crossed.
"What the hell are you going on about?!"
"Oh, come now, Nami," she said in a placating tone as she lounged further back into her pillows, turning on her side with one arm slung over her side, almost as she were trying to seduce her. "I've noticed it ever since the Whole Cake Island incident." Nami gulped as a confusing plethora of feelings bubbled up in her chest all at once, like she was experiencing that day after that awful, harrowing, miserable experience was finally over. Her chestnut eyes began shifting around to random objects in the room because she couldn't meet Robin's piercing stare- the lamp, the wardrobe, the door, the fluffy rug.
"I have no idea what you mean," she countered with much less surety than she would prefer. She had found a particularly interested spot on the ceiling, where the swirling patterns of wood very much resembled a dog's face. Her eyes traced little ears, beady eyes, a snout with a little button nose-
"Nami, you are so painfully in love with Sanji that it's ridiculous." Nami let out a noise that was some blend of a sputter, a choke, and a scream. Her hands flew to cover her face as it blazed a deep burgundy red, pushing her skin to the limits of its blushing capability. Her eyes, wider than the full moon covered by the storm clouds outside, finally shot down to Robin's face to see her pompously smirking at her little victory. "Come on; you know you can't deny it." Nami's mouth tried to form words, but her brain was too fried to allow it. Her? In love with Sanji, the biggest flirt of all time? It was preposterous, ridiculous, absurd- and yet…
Her heart undoubtedly fluttered at the mere mention of his name.
"I- I don't…" she feebly attempted to deny, her gaze dropping to her lap. Her hand crept up to twist into the fabric of her shirt over her heart, as if that would stop the rampant rhythm it had hurtled into. Suddenly, she could see him before her waking eyes, grinning so wide his eyes crinkled up as he presented her with whatever random gift he had found for her today… A soft, warm smile blossomed on her face like a rose opening up to the sun. Sanji… Why was it that the thought alone of his generous little gestures sent joy bubbling up in her body? That the image of his beautiful smile sent her heart singing like a solo in a choir, and she suddenly had a painful longing to see him, touch him, kiss him… "Oh my God, I'm in love with Sanji!" she cried. The room rang with a resound slap as her hands collided with her already stinging red cheeks.
"About time you realized it." While Nami was in the thrall of her upending revelation, Robin had picked up her book and resumed reading with a blank expression, as if she hadn't been wearing the visage of a cunning witch a minute ago. "What are you going to do now?" The inquiry stirred something wild within Nami, a roiling sloshing mass not unlike the raging storm outside- not of water, but of need.
"Oh my God, I have to tell him."
"Now?" Robin blurted, having not expected such an answer. Nami ignored her. Her brain was focused on one thing and one thing only right now, the handsome, sweet, chivalrous cook. She made a leaping bound from the bed to race to the door, wrestling incoherently with the doorknob. "Nami? Nami, it's pouring outside!" Robin's objecting voice rapidly faded as she took off like a bat flying out of the fires of Hell down the halls of the ship's bowels.
Nami wasn't exactly sure why she had to tell him this instant. It wasn't like there were any pressing circumstances; he wasn't going anywhere. However, something primal in Nami had overtaken her good sense. In her current state, she couldn't even articulate that fact. It was like a dam had burst in her soul, releasing a tsunami of impossibly overwhelming feeling that completely flooded her being from head to toe. Perhaps the Whole Cake Island incident had bothered her more than she had truly realized; deep down, she really was afraid that he would go away again. In her panicked, overwhelmed mind, it really was now or never.
Nami burst through the door leading to the deck of the ship and was almost immediately crushed between it and the frame as the howling wind angrily threw it back in her face. Her entire body rocked as it crashed against her bare arms, which she had instinctively thrown up to protect herself. Groaning, she pushed with all her might against the sturdy wooden door to squeeze through the slight gap the structure afforded her effort. It slammed shut behind her with a tremendous crash, but Nami barely heard it over the sudden boom of thunder that rolled over head as a splendorous display of lightning cascaded through the canvas of gray in a blinding white branching streak. Nami was already drenched from head to toe from the sheer volume of water descending in buckets from the sky. Chest heaving from her feverish sprint, she hastily pushed the strands of soaked tangerine hair from her eyes and ran across the deck towards the kitchen. The grass lawn that decorated the main deck had become saturated with water such that large, deep puddles were spilled all across its surface; the rainwater splashed up against Nami's calves as she splashed through them. Another thunderous roar sounded overhead as the flustered navigator all but crashed against the door, jiggling the doorknob in an attempt to get it open. Her wet hands slid uselessly across the shiny metal surface, so she resorted to literally yelling Sanji's name.
"What the hell? Nami? Is that you?" she heard his voice bleed through the metal, and she almost melted on the spot. The door opened and he stared at her in bewilderment. "Nami? What's wrong?" he cried and grabbed her by the arm to pull her inside, slamming the door behind her so the relentless wind wouldn't throw more pounding rain at her back. He grabbed a dishtowel from the nearby counter and began dabbing at her face, fussing all the while. "What's the matter? Is something happening? You're all out of breath and your face is flushed-" Nami's hand snapped up to grab his wrist as he tousled the dishtowel into her limp, dripping waves of hair. "Nami?" he blinked, the confusion clear on his face.
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong, Sanji. I just… I really needed to see you." His eyes went as wide as dinner saucers and his face didn't seem to know whether to drain of color or flush pink. Nami jumped as he suddenly slapped himself hard in the face, leaving as burning red handprint. "S-Sanji?"
"Sorry," he groaned as he leaned over to clutch the edge of the counter with both hands. "You said that so suddenly, I figured I just had to be in a dream or something." Nami stared at him for a minute, then began giggling lightly, raising her hand to her mouth. He lifted his head to blink at her. The handprint had faded to a light pink and become overtaken by the blush painting his cheeks. "Nami…?"
"I had to tell you, that…" her expression softened as the love bubbling up inside her spilled over into her eyes. Sanji swallowed thickly and straightened up to his full height as she approached him, his back hitting the counter and his hands behind him on the counter in a white-knuckled grip. She tilted her head up slightly as her chestnut eyes bored into him, desperately trying to convey the engulfing amount of emotion she was drowning in. "I love you." She didn't think is eyes could grow any wider, but it did, his pupils shrinking into a sea of white. For a moment, the only sound was the drumming of the rain and Sanji's deep, shaky breaths. She waited patiently for him to process what she had just uttered, but honestly, she was shocked. She figured he would instantly leap at her to claim her in a hot, passionate, desperate kiss… She blinked as a wry, forlorn, deeply pained smile twisted onto his lips with a dry, cold laugh.
"This is a pretty cruel dream," he whispered. As her eyebrows narrowed in befuddlement, one of his hands very shakily rose to tenderly caress her cheek with feather-light strokes of his fingertips. Nami's heart split in two at the absolutely heartbreaking look on his face; she had never seen so much agony swimming in his eyes before, nor such a gut-wrenching, miserable smile on his face. His fingers threaded into her damp hair, rubbing a strand between his forefinger and thumb. "How many times have I fantasized about this moment?" he breathed as his face ghosted over hers, his face contorting to further pain as he so desperately wanted to kiss her. "So many times… But you can't be real, Nami-swan. She would never say that to me. She doesn't love me…"
Nami's hand flew up to catch the sides of his face, and her heart wrenched at the way his leaned into her touch, as if he were starved of it.
"Sanji. It's really me," she whispered sincerely and firmly. "This isn't a dream. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it… But I love you, truly, wholly, completely." Nami had no idea why she buried those feelings deep inside of her- perhaps some deep, quiet part of her greatly feared the idea of losing anyone, and so when she had begun to develop such emotions, she had shoved them deep into the recesses of her mind, to be forgotten… Instead, they had aged and fermented like fine wine, growing an impeccable body and soul that now filled her veins with rich bursting flavor of unbridled love. Sanji's eyes widened again as it searched her face, seeing only truth.
Not even a millisecond passed before his lips slammed into hers with such force that she was shoved back and she gasped. Locked into a feverish, hot, open-mouthed kiss, all the starch in Nami's knees instantly melted, making them wobble and fail. Sanji's hands securely grabbed her hips as she sunk down slightly, and he used it as an opportunity to bend her back into a sharp arch as his face positively smothered her own. Engrossed in the moment, her hands jumped into his hair, fingers threaded through the bright yellow strands and nails scratching against his scalp to elicit a low groan from him. With a grunt, his hands leaped from her hips to the backs of her thighs to make her jump up and lock her legs around her hips; at the same time, his tongue dove into her mouth to swirl frantically with her own, making Nami's mind muddled and unfocused and purely drunk on the hysterical sensations that were popping through her nerves like a thousand fireworks. Her mind couldn't process the sheer amount of stimulation happening everywhere at once as his hands roamed everywhere they possibly could, so her mind just shut into a white fog. He turned her around to prop her on the counter, flushing her body with his. Nami had no recollection of it but apparently she had unbuttoned his suit jacket and the button-up beneath it too, and he had shrugged it to the floor so her hands could freely travel across his chiseled muscles. Likewise, he had grabbed Nami's shirt and wrenched it over her head, leaving burning trails with his fingers over her back and stomach and collarbone. He soon abandoned her lips to carve a path of sloppy, deep kisses down her neck and over her collarbone and shoulder before finishing at the soft mounds of flesh spilling out of her bra. It was there that the blistering fire of lusty fever finally settled down into an intense smolder of embers, and he looked up at her with dark eyes glittering with amusement and barely contained passion.
"Sanji," she begged with a low, keening whine as he gently pressed his lips right where her heart was beating like the drumming rain against the window behind her. He planted light little kisses back up to her lips before claiming them like a man securing his greatest treasure, soft and meaningful, unlike the hungry kiss before.
"You're the most beautiful creature to grace this earth, you know that?" he murmured softly against her lips. His hands rubbed slow, deliberate circles into the skin of her waist and hips. "I feel like I'm in a fantasy… Because surely you're an angel or a princess who I am far undeserving of," he sighed with another slow, deep claim of her mouth.
"Stop saying stuff like that. To me, you're a prince, a king, even," she scolded lightly as she pulled back from his embrace, but only just to flash him a saccharine smile. He purred in contentment and gratitude before burying his face into the crook of her neck, peppering kisses across her jugular. She tilted her head back to allow him free access, closing her eyes as she savored the sensation of his lips painting patterns into her skin.
"You meant it?" he asked abruptly, lips fluttering over her skin. She nodded firmly, hugging him tight to her body.
"Uh-huh. You're as much my fantasy as I am yours, Sanji…" She felt him smile against her neck as he resumed his tender loving ministrations. Needless to say, Nami and Sanji made the most of the rainy day to shower all the compressed and pent-up love on one another…