Mass x Acceleration

By Dixxy Mouri

ChapterTwenty-Six: First Time Pillow Talk

Un

Nami loved where they were – snuggled together under the covers of their bed, naked and a little sweaty in each other's embrace. She could feel her hair sticking to the sides of her face and the back of her neck, and it felt good. Fuck all of the stories about sex being painful and humiliating and embarrassing – she really didn't have anything to compare him to, but as far as she cared? Sanji was AMAZING in bed.

Speaking of her recently acquired lover, Sanji was holding her close, breathing deeply and softly. He was quiet, content to keep one hand on the small of her back and the other on her shoulder blade. He kissed her somewhere (forehead, eyes, cheek, neck, etc.) every so often but for the most part was still, his eyes closed but she could tell he was still awake.

The silence was finally broken when she felt Sanji shuffle around to lie on his side, sliding his hand between them to grab hers. "So. . . can we agree that next time we fall in love with each other we say something right away?" Sanji asked with a smirk. Nami grinned back and laughed when he pulled her closer, kissing her neck and trailing more down her collarbone. She sighed and giggled, happy when he shifted to meet her eyes and grabbed her hand under the covers again.

"I don't want there to be a next time," Nami said softly. "We're here now. Let's stay here."

"I'm not going anywhere," Sanji promised, bringing her hand to his mouth. He kissed her knuckles, releasing her hand so he could pull her closer. Nami closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying the quiet moment. She held him tight, afraid it wasn't real, afraid it was all a cruel dream and that at any moment she was going to wake up and things were going to be exactly the way they had been for the past few weeks.

But dreams weren't cruel enough to create what they had. The warm glow and aroma of the candles Sanji had lit for her were really there. The cool breeze from the open bedroom window brushing across her bare shoulders was really there. Nami could still just barely feel the tingles coursing through her body, the last lingering remnants of the love they'd made.

Things had gone a bit faster than she expected. Once they'd broken through the ice separating them, things had started to accelerate. One moment they were kissing on the couch. The next they were half naked in their bedroom, losing themselves with every caress and breath. It wasn't until they were as close as two people could be that everything began to decelerate, Sanji taking things slowly to savor their first time together and letting Nami enjoy her first time with anyone.

"I'm still trying to convince myself this is happening," she said.

Sanji rubbed her shoulder. "Yeah, we did go a little fast. Kind of. We've known each other for, well, almost two years now so it's not like this just . . . happened or anything," he said. He sat up a little. "Well, kind of. I, ah, don't think we were on the same page for . . . the vast majority of the time we've known each other, have we?"

Nami laughed. "Nope. Guess not." She sighed. "I don't know if it would have made a difference back then, but I was so used to being unavailable it never occurred to me to even try before." She rolled onto her side. "I really couldn't. I wasn't stupid, I know how men used to look at me, and you know I used that to my advantage – to my village's advantage – but even if some attractive guy looked my way or asked me out on a date . . . what could I do? I was a career criminal, and if Arlong found out I had a boyfriend, what do you think he would have done?"

Sanji lowered his eyes. "It wouldn't have ended well for that guy."

"He'd have been killed, or Arlong would have used him as another pawn in his game. I couldn't do that to someone," she said. "Even if it wasn't a serious thing and it was just a guy I was hanging out with, I don't know what I would do if he'd gotten hurt or worse, all because of me. And maybe even after Arlong was gone I still felt that need to keep people out to keep them safe."

"Well, it's not like I was a catch back then," Sanji said somberly.

Nami thought about it. He wasn't exactly wrong, but she was pretty sure this wasn't a good time to agree with him. True, everything that had transpired after the party had probably given him a much-needed boost in self-confidence – not just that they'd had sex, but everything surrounding the way they'd gone about it. "You're not a bad guy," she settled on. "You're loyal, you care about your friends, you stick to your guns. You have a lot of good qualities and you need to focus on those more, especially after the month and a half you've had." She reached over to touch his shoulder. "No one here is perfect. What matters is that we love and respect each other despite not being perfect human beings."

Sanji seemed to accept this, at least for the moment, and allowed himself to relax a little. "You know, every other time I've been with a woman, we've never really talked after. Not anything meaningful, at least." He shifted a little on the mattress. "It was all very 'wham, bam, thank you, ma'am' back then. I always wanted more than that, but I could never find it. Now that I have it . . ." He smiled.

"A real relationship, huh?" asked Nami.

"It feels that way."

Nami nodded. "Even though we kind of skipped the 'dating' part?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sanji.

"Well, we never had a first date or anything like that, and we're already living together," said Nami. "We never had that experience of meeting somewhere or one of us picking the other up or anything. I'm not saying I regret the direction we're headed in right now, but it feels like we skipped a big part of this whole 'relationship' dance."

Sanji shrugged. "Give me one reason we can't go out on a date tomorrow."

"Are you asking me out now?" she asked playfully.

"Okay, sure, I'm asking you out on a date," he said. Sanji nudged her foot under the covers. "Dinner. Dancing. Stupid cheesy couple things. Whatever you want to do. I love you and I want to spend time with you." He reached over to play with her hair a little, lowering his eyes and smirking. "Unless you'd rather stay in, of course, because I know a number of very interesting ways to pass the time here, too."

Nami laughed as he leaned in to kiss her neck. "Oh really? Care to show me?"

Sanji growled seductively. "Gladly."

Deux

"We should probably get this cleaned up," said Nami, picking at the cheese and cracker platter on the coffee table. The crackers were fine, but the cheese was starting to darken and get a little oily from sitting out. She took a bite and shrugged – they tasted fine, but she suspected they'd be having it as part of their morning meal. "Most of it's still good."

Sanji nodded, having already begun work on that project in the kitchen. They'd wandered back in the living area of the apartment, Sanji wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and Nami wearing his shirt from the party. "They did a good job though. Jimmy went a little crazy for the mini quiche though, and I'm pretty sure that he didn't even know was a quiche was until tonight." He stared at the empty platter in bewilderment. "Guess I'll need to make a big one for him sometime."

"You make good quiche," said Nami. "I'm not sure I'd ever had it before meeting you."

"Yeah, it's a big favorite of Luffy's, too," said Sanji. He laughed. "He still loves his meat but he never turns down a good quiche, especially broccoli. It's the only way I've gotten him to eat it." He sighed. "He would have had a blast tonight." Nami nodded from her spot on the couch. All of the Straw Hats would have had a good time at the party.

They exchanged a somber look – for all of the things that were finally going well, the absence of the other Straw Hats was still hanging over them. They missed them all terribly. "It's only a matter of time," Nami said. "Yasopp's going to find them and bring them here. Even if we can't leave right away, we're going to see them again."

"Yeah," Sanji said, looking away and rubbing his arm.

It wasn't something they talked about a lot, but seeing as they didn't know how long it would take Yasopp to find Luffy and the others, there was a chance that he'd find them "too soon". If they weren't in stable enough health to leave the island when the Straw Hats made landfall, then that meeting would be little more than a visit with some discussion about when they could come back to them. It was a double edged sword – Sanji and Nami wanted to see the others soon, but the sooner they came, they more likely it was they'd be forced to watch the Thousand Sunny leave Apple Island without them, and that was going to be a tough pill to swallow.

"We would have needed a bigger place to have the party," said Nami, trying to change the subject. "It would have doubled the number of people here easily. I don't think we could have handled that kind of volume, even if we opened up the spare room." She crossed her legs. "You know, since I think the whole sleeping apart thing just became a non-issue . . . you don't think Mr. Davis is going to make us give this apartment up, do you?"
Sanji shook his head. "He knows enough about our situation that he won't take our sunrises away. We're paying for it, anyways, so it's none of his business." He grinned at her. "But if you're really worried about it, we can get a second bed and alternate where we have sex so we're equally utilizing both rooms."

Nami threw a throw pillow towards the kitchen. Sanji howled with laughter. "Pig!"

"And I learned if I squeeze your sides hard enough, you're the squealer."

Nami stood and put her hands on her hips. "Really," she said, taking wide strides towards him.

Sanji turned to face her, his arms crossed. "Really."

"Come out here and say that."

Sanji fell into her trap, meeting her halfway between the couch and the kitchen. "Really."

Nami smiled and launched herself at him, pinning her boyfriend to the ground. Sanji was surprised by the move, and soon found himself at the mercy of his girlfriend's searching fingers. "You must have one, and I will find it," she said. Sanji tried to argue with her, but her fingers dug into his armpits and he was trapped by his own laughter.

"Nami-san!"

"Fair's fair!"

Nami leaned forward to kiss him again, and Sanji wrapped his arms around her waist.

Trois

"Is three times in one night excessive?" Nami asked.

Sanji shrugged. "It probably depends on the couple."

Nami seemed satisfied with the answer. After having sex on their living room floor, they'd quickly rushed the rest of the perishables into the refrigerator before jumping back into bed, Sanji's shirt and pants forgotten by the couch. "Okay. I wasn't sure. Still new to this."

Sanji twisted around (Nami whined at him, as the action made her lose her position) and kissed her. He lowered his eyes. "Everything we do here on the island and everything we do from here on out is our decision. No one is forcing us to do anything anymore." He pulled her close, then pulled his hand away.

Right. That. Sanji had felt the bumpy, rough skin from the numbers on the back of her neck, and he felt his stomach churn. This was a woman he'd made love to three times over the last two hours – a woman who'd just lost her virginity to him. But somehow, this bit of scar tissue was more intimate and private than all of the other places he'd explored on her body. The sex had been fun – Sanji was confident she'd enjoyed it. This, however, was a source of painful memories for both of them.

Nami closed her eyes. "It's okay, Sanji-kun – you can touch it."

"What?"

Nami brushed her fingertips near the outer edges of the number on the back of his neck. "I get it," she said. "I get what you're trying to do. But it's okay – you can touch the numbers." She was looking at him with such sincerity, such love, such honesty, and yet it still took all of his strength to brush his fingertips against them. They'd dulled over time, but they were still bumpier and drier than the rest of the skin on the back of her neck, much like the ones on the back of his.

Sanji was surprised to see her sigh with relief.

"Nami-san?"

"Those are a part of me now, too," she said. "May I . . .?"

Sanji slowly nodded, allowing her to caress his own scars. It sent a strange current up his spine, but he got it. Accepting each other meant accepting everything about each other, both the good and the bad. The numbers burned into their necks would never go away, and it might be uncomfortable for someone else to touch them, but he felt oddly safe as Nami's fingers brushed against them. He was positive it wouldn't be okay for anyone else to touch him there ever again, but her? It was fine.

This was the height of their intimacy that evening. Not the kissing, not the sex, but this – the lowering of their barriers and exposing each other to something real, some painful, and being okay with sharing that with the other. Sanji had been right when he told Braeburn that he'd never made love before, but this was something entirely different.

They fell asleep with each other's hands on the backs of their neck.

Author's Notes

And that concludes this story arc. Next arc takes place during the island's harvest festival, but the focus is going to be elsewhere - it's finally time for Ria and Braeburn's back stories. Hope you guys enjoy :)

Tumblr promo (again): dixxymouri and summerotaku

Additional Tumblr promo: Possible fun game! So since I want to have a use for my "dixxyfics" Tumblr beyond just posting chapters for this fic, one shots, and other things I haven't gotten on Tumblr yet, I'm going to turn it into an ask blog for the characters in this fanfic universe. This is HIGHLY experimental but a good chance for me to look at the characters in ways I hadn't considered before and hopefully an additional source of entertainment for you guys. I'll probably push this for a few chapters until I figure out whether or not it's going to take off.

Here are some ground rules:

Rule #1 – Most of the time only one or two characters will be available (and the characters available will be posted both on Tumblr and in each chapter update). I'll let you guys know who is available each chapter. For this chapter (and likely the new few) it will be Sanji and Nami.

Rule #2 – Generally speaking, ask whatever you want of the characters, but please avoid the following: obvious spoilers, things that doesn't exist in the One Piece world, and mature content (for now let's keep it PG-13, with exceptions for Rule #4). I reserve the right to ignore questions that break this rule.

Rule #3 – You may ask up to three questions per ask and divide those up amongst the characters as you wish (for example you could ask Sanji Question 1, Nami Question 2, and both of them Question 3). Bear in mind characters may answer questions they weren't asked anyways.

Rule #4 – There may be opportunities for TMI Tuesdays – those will be announced on Tumblr only. For those not in the know, "TMI Tuesday" stands for "Too Much Information Tuesday", which is a chance to ask more mature questions. I'm still on the fence about this one.

Rule #5 – All questions for the characters must be fielded through Tumblr.

Rule #6: It's possible you might ask a question that's already sitting in the inbox – if that happens I'll let you know and give you a chance to ask something else.

Rule #7: You don't talk about Fight Club.

Rule #8: You don't talk about Fight Club.

Rule #9: You have the wedding and the reception to seal the deal – no overtime.

Rule #10: Double tap.

Rule #11: Don't cross the streams.

Rule #12: Don't expose your Mogwai to direct sunlight, don't get it wet, and DO NOT FEED IT AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Officially this won't start until this chapter shows up on Tumblr (which will be June 29, 2013) but you're welcome to submit questions before then if you'd like . . . I just won't start answering until after that point.

-Dixxy (with apologies to the films Fight Club, Wedding Crashers, Zombieland, Ghostbusters, and Gremlins).