This is an incredibly self-indulgent piece that I wrote a few months ago, and I wasn't planning on sharing it because Sanji x Terra isn't necessarily endgame, but without meaning to, this scene became an important moment between them that I keep referencing when I write them in the "future". So, here you have it. Thank you kindly to OriginalDrumy, EmikoBankotsu, and Anniex12 for your reviews! xo

Gardenia

Purity, gentleness. Secret love.

There was no good reason for Sanji to join her on night watch. He would be tired the next morning, and she would tease that his dark eye-bags looked terrible enough to put her off her breakfast. But just because he didn't have good reason, didn't mean that he didn't have a reason—

He couldn't help that Terra looked best by moonlight.

That wasn't to say that Sanji didn't find Terra beautiful in the mornings, when she was sleepy-eyed before breakfast with her pale hair in a tangle, or in the afternoons, when she would bask in the sunlight and tend to her plants. He always thought that dusk always caught her particularly well, with her face turned towards the setting sun and arms outstretched as if to embrace the red sunlight—

But Terra at night—

Sitting alone with him after midnight, she was luminescent. She glowed like the sky need not worry about those pathetic twinkling lights, for she was the North Star waiting to guide sailors home. She was soft. She was quiet.

But best of all, she was his. At night, there were no crew-mates to bother them. No captain to steal her attention— no, at midnight, Sanji shared her only with the moon and stars.

"What's your favourite food to cook?" she asked him, her voice quiet as though worrying it would carry across the waves.

Sanji considered her question, and almost answered with her favourite food. In the sunlight, he probably would have, bold and loud and his body swinging every which way— "anything for you, my flower!"

Here, now, he would blame the way the moon shone off her hair, or the way her eyes sparkled like a sea of stars, or the way she tucked her chin low and leaned towards him like this world was her secret and she was sharing it with only him—

Sanji may be a fool for her, but Terra deserved better than that.

"Spicy seafood pasta," he answered, and took a long drag from his cigarette to ignore how she 'ooh'd in response, eating up his words like it was her favourite dish.

"That makes sense, since that's your favourite food to eat," she said, and Sanji's heart went to space.

"You noticed?"

Terra smiled. "Of course. Don't you know my favourite food?"

"Anything but seafood," Sanji responded automatically, and his cigarette burnt his fingers as she laughed. "You like strawberries."

"I love strawberries," she responded with a firm nod. She looked out towards the sea and leaned into Sanji's side. "But seafood isn't so bad, as long as our chef is the one cooking it for me."

Oh, Sanji thought with his stomach in his feet and his heart in his throat. He could smell the sweetness of her hair from where her head touched his shoulder.

"I've never been very good at cooking," she admitted to him and the sea. "It would be fun to learn sometime, if you would teach me."

"Of course," he eagerly agreed. "If it means spending more time with you."

"You're such a flirt," she dismissed with a laugh, and Sanji felt her head shake against his shoulder. "We already see each other every day, and Merry wasn't exactly built with a crew of this size in mind. Just how much more time do you need?" she asked.

Sanji smirked, and lit up another cigarette. "All of it. I could never get enough of you."

"Oh, is your next line something about my sweet lips being your real favourite food?" Terra pulled away from him, and he took a long drag from his cigarette to not let it show how he missed the warmth.

"Hey, that's pretty good," he acknowledged with a nod. "I'll have to use that next time."

"You're welcome," she said with a snicker. "Feel free to keep the credit— girls don't usually like it when they know you're recycling a pick-up line."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought that you loved recycling."

"Not when it comes to romance," she disagreed. "Love is supposed to be more special than that. Something you share just the two of you. But look who I'm talking to!" Terra nudged him with her elbow, and laughed with good nature. "For you, love is more like a buffet, right?"

Sanji laughed, and he nodded, but he wondered—

Was it?