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Two days after the events of Whole Cake Island, Luffy holds his hand out to Sanji and says, "ne, Sanji. Come take a bath with me?"
In the middle of cleaning up after dinner, Sanji hesitates- but Luffy's gaze is even and patient, relaxed in a way that speaks of trust. It only takes Sanji a moment to give in, but then he's drying his hands and putting his own in Luffy's, letting his captain pull him along.
As Luffy tugs him out of the kitchen, Sanji struggles to breathe around the guilt that sits in his stomach, heavy and sour. There are a thousand things he wished he had done differently, if only he had stopped and thought about them, but he's caught in his captain's gravity as always and so says nothing as he's pulled along.
It's not until the bathroom door swings shut and Luffy has dropped his hand that the silence between them is broken.
"I-"
"Sanji-"
They stop. Sanji swallows, resisting the urge to shuffle his feet or pull out his smokes, looking into those calm, dark eyes.
"Sorry," he mutters. "Go ahead?"
Abruptly, Luffy grins. He reaches out and lightly pokes Sanji's nose. "Sanji is thinking too hard," he says. "Don't think I haven't noticed, cause I have! I told you already, didn't I? Everything's okay now."
"Right." Sanji averts his eyes as Luffy strips, reaching for his own buttons to do the same. "Sorry, captain." He reaches over to start the water for the bath, digging out the communal soap from the cupboard as Luffy reaches past him to hang his hat on the hook by the door.
Bath time with devil fruit users is a rotating duty. Sometimes all the guys on the ship wash up and cram into the bath together, fighting with elbows and words over who gets to sit where in the massive tub, but other times bath time is just pairs having a quiet soak at the end of a long day.
(Nami has forbidden Zoro and Sanji from bathing together without at least two other people, lest they get into another incident with their fighting. Sanji still winces thinking about just how many zeroes were added to his debt when they put a hole in the tub and it wasn't usable for a week.)
Back on the Merry, it might not have been as much of an issue- but the bath on the Thousand Sunny is more than ten times the size of the shallow wash basin that served as a bathtub on their old ship.
So yeah. Someone has to watch over Luffy and the others when they're in the bath, lest they grow too weak and their heads go under and they drown. It's never been this awkward before, though.
Luffy is easily tossing his clothing aside as Sanji carefully folds his own and stacks it neatly. Maybe before Whole Cake he would chide Luffy for being messy and lazy, kick his ass a little and then clean up after him with a grumble- but the swaying of the ship feels a little too much like the tremors of an earthquake threatening to tear apart the ground he's standing on, so Sanji keeps his words to himself.
Luffy plops down in front of the showers and starts scrubbing down, humming to himself. "Sanji, get my back?" He asks.
"Sure, captain," Sanji murmurs, folding his legs under him so he can pick up the soap and start washing Luffy's back. Luffy can absolutely reach his own back and he knows that Sanji knows- and Sanji knows that Luffy knows that he knows, so really, he doesn't need to be doing this, but there's some part of his mind that's still shaking and waiting for the beating that isn't coming despite the fact that Sanji knows it's not happening, he's not with his birth family anymore and never will be again-
"San -ji." Luffy tips backwards into Sanji's arms, tilting his head back and frowning up at Sanji. Shampoo smears across Sanji's chest. "You're still doing it! I told you-"
"I can't exactly turn it off," Sanji snaps, a flicker of irritation and self-hatred sparking like a flame- and then it's snuffed immediately as he cringes, ever so slightly.
Luffy catches it, because of course he does, and his arms reach up and back to wind around Sanji's neck. "Okay. What does Sanji need fixed?"
"I- what?" Sanji looks down at Luffy, baffled.
"When people think too much, isn't it 'cause they've got a problem they can't solve? So they keep thinking and thinking, trying to fix it even though sometimes what they need to do is super simple but they've overlooked it cause they're convinced the problem is so much bigger than it is. Like Viv, when she kept us going everywhere but the place we needed to go 'cause she kept thinking it was what she had to do instead of what she should do. So what does Sanji need fixed?" Luffy says, matter-of-fact. Calm and simple, like he's not taking Sanji's brain in both hands and shredding his thoughts apart.
"I don't know," Sanji admits, after a moment. "I just can't- I can't stop. There's so much, Luffy- so much I need to make up for and deal with. I don't think anyone can help me with this, because it's all in my head."
God, Sanji wants a smoke. He'll get one after they're done washing up and he can dry his hands.
"Hmm. That's dumb."
"Yeah, it is. I should be able to-"
"There has to be something." Luffy sits back up, crossing his arms with a contemplative frown. "Sanji, you shouldn't have to deal with it by yourself."
Sanji stares at Luffy's back, at the scars that have collected there over the years, and blinks quickly a few times. After a moment, he finds his voice and says hoarsely, "being here helps. Being with you… helps."
Immediately, Sanji wants to take it back. It's too much, too honest- but Luffy just plants his hands on the floor and turns around, their knees bumping as they sit face-to-face now. Those hands raise up to cradle Sanji's head- the hands that break down kingdoms brick by brick- and they are so impossibly gentle that Sanji feels his eyes water.
"I'll be here as long as Sanji needs me," Luffy tells him seriously, "and until I don't need Sanji anymore." His eyes are dark and even, the same kind of look in his eyes as when someone hurts his crew, the same eyes Luffy gave to Sanji's brothers, the same eyes Luffy uses when making promises.
Luffy always keeps his promises.
A grin slides onto Luffy's face. "So I'll be here forever, since I won't stop needing Sanji! I told you, didn't I? You're my cook, I don't ever want another."
Sanji's breath hitches. He can't help himself, pulled in by his captain's gravity. It's an inevitability, with the way Luffy looks at him- serious and calm and with nothing but forgiveness.
You shouldn't forgive me.
You shouldn't need me.
You shouldn't want me.
The kiss is hard, clinging, desperate. Something deep inside Sanji's chest is wrenching, hard and jagged, and he can't do anything but melt into his captain and hold him.
When they separate again, Luffy laughs. "Stupid," he teases. "Do you understand now?"
"Aye, captain," Sanji manages, voice cracking. He has to blink the tears from his eyes, swallowing around the lump in his throat.
"Good." Luffy drags Sanji under the spray of water to rise off, then tugs him toward the bath. Heat is radiating from the places where their skin touch, damp and sticking, and Sanji lets himself be pulled into the waiting bath.
Luffy sinks into the water, his head resting on the lip of the bath as his body goes limp- but his grip on Sanji stays strong, tugging the blond over on top of him. Sanji yelps in alarm, catching himself on the edge and preventing his weight from dropping completely onto Luffy, kneeling over his captain.
Then he yelps for a different reason, because Luffy's hands are on his ass. A new kind of heat races up into his chest as Luffy grins, his eyes running along Sanji's body like he's a particularly juicy piece of meat. The look sears into Sanji's chest, carving a space between his ribs for it to nestle and burn like fire.
"Sanji is mine," Luffy declares. His fingers knead lightly against Sanji's skin, making him shiver- because Sanji's never allowed himself to want… this. Luffy. Intimacy.
Like a dam breaking, Sanji lowers himself to kiss Luffy again. Luffy tilts his head up into the touch of their mouths together, humming his enjoyment as Sanji finally lets himself touch, fingers trailing down Luffy's chest.
"Luffy," Sanji whispers. "Can I…?"
"I told you to stop being stupid, Sanji," Luffy tells him, as easy as breathing. "Of course you can."
The sound of his own heart is loud in Sanji's ears as his hands explore across Luffy’s skin, feeling out the rubber-smooth surface. There’s almost no hair on Luffy’s skin at all, standing in stark contrast to the hair that generously sprouts across Sanji's own body.
Luffy giggles softly, squirming, as Sanji's fingers run across his sides.
"Sorry," Sanji murmurs. "Ticklish?"
"Mmmhm." Luffy's head rolls to the side, his gaze fond and warm as he says, "S'nice, though. Being touched with Sanji's treasure."
Sanji blinks through the sudden blur in his vision, heart skipping a beat. "Captain," he chokes out, at a loss for words.
"Don't stop."
The words are an order- but it's not one Sanji would ever even think to disobey. He presses his face into Luffy's neck, the water rippling under his chin, and draws in a shaky breath.
"Luffy," he whispers. "I- I want-"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Sanji's mine, so anything Sanji wants to do is okay."
Sanji's hands find Luffy's hips, his lips pressed to damp skin. "Okay."
"Good."
Luffy's arms wind around Sanji's shoulders as Luffy kisses him again- and Sanji finally, finally lets himself want- lets himself really want. He wants to hold Luffy down and press kisses to his skin until Luffy is squirming, he wants to curl around Luffy after a long battle and breathe in his exertion, he wants to find out what kind of noises Luffy would make if he used his hands, lips, teeth, tongue-
A pleased moan falls from Luffy's mouth and it strikes through Sanji like lightning. It's not just enough to touch Luffy- Sanji wants to have him.
"Luffy," Sanji whispers fervently against his mouth. "Have you ever-?"
"I know what sex is, stupid," Luffy tells him with a laugh. "Now are you going to do anything or do I need to take over?"
"No- no, I'll…" Sanji forces himself to pull away, sit up, and assess- and finally look down and see his captain's soft dick. "...uh."
"Hm?" Luffy also looks down, then lets out a laugh. "Oh, right! I forgot!" He raises a hand to his mouth, biting his thumb, and Sanji gets to see the bizarre sight of Luffy going from completely soft to completely erect in moments. "Tadah!"
It's so absurd that Sanji can't help himself, turning away and bursting into wheezing, astonished laughter. Luffy looks so goddamn proud of himself, blowing up his dick like a goddamn balloon. "You- you have to-?" Sanji wheezes. "Every time?"
"Yup." Luffy grabs his dick and pulls- it stretches out in his hand comically and Sanji chokes on another hysterical bubble of laughter. "It's usually too much effort," he complains, letting it go and it snaps back into place like one of his punches. "Doesn't feel good enough to bother, either."
"I- I see." Sanji wipes the tears from his eyes- the tension is shattered and he finds himself grinning, heart light with affection for his stupid captain. "Well, let's see what we can do about that, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Luffy grins back as Sanji adjusts his position straddling him. Sanji gets to see the way Luffy's expression transforms from relaxed joy into something a little surprised, something a little flushed, as Sanji's thigh presses against his dick.
"I should've realized you couldn't be normal about something like this," Sanji muses to himself, but his words are fond. He grinds his thigh lightly against Luffy, drinking in the way Luffy lets out a little gasp-sigh as the friction registers.
"Sanji," Luffy squirms under him, pinned against the bath wall by Sanji's legs caging him in. "Keep going!" His hands clutch at Sanji's shoulders- and on complete impulse, Sanji grabs Luffy's wrists and pins them against the bath edge.
Luffy's breath hitches, a shudder running through his skin.
"I'm not going anywhere, captain," Sanji tells him, rocking his thigh again, and again, and again. "You said it yourself- I'm yours."
"Mine," Luffy echoes, twitching and squirming under Sanji's ministrations. "My chef, my Sanji."
"Yours." Sanji will say it as many times as he has to, until it's carved into the very core of his own soul. He belongs to Luffy.
"San- mmh…" Sanji silences his captain with a hard kiss, licking his way into Luffy's mouth with a burning hunger. He rocks his thigh harder, swallows Luffy's moans as his captain gasps and starts to pant, eventually breaking the kiss to whine, "not enough, Sanji."
"More?" Sanji asks. Luffy nods quickly.
"More."
"Okay. Let me think-"
"Fuck me."
Sanji chokes, face going red. Luffy stares up at him patiently.
"Uh- I mean- if- are you sure? I don't want to- it'll hurt if you're not-"
At that, Luffy gives him a cheeky grin. "Sanji. Do you really think you can hurt me?" He tilts his head so he can grab one cheek and pull it to the side, letting it snap back into place, and Sanji feels really fucking stupid.
His captain is rubber.
"...okay."
It feels like some kind of dream, shifting to kneel between Luffy's thighs. Luffy is completely relaxed, most of his energy drained by the water, and because of his devil fruit he's stupidly flexible.
"Sanji really is hairy everywhere, huh? Shishishi."
"Yeah. Not all of us are hairless freaks of nature like you and the mosshead, you know." Sanji hikes Luffy up, getting the other man braced on his thighs and legs around his hips. He bites his lip, hesitating- they don't even have lube, there's no way this can really be that good for Luffy, right?
Luffy runs a hand over Sanji's jaw, the hairs prickling against his skin. "I like Sanji's hair," he says. "It feels funny. And nice."
"I'm glad," Sanji murmurs.
"Sanji is stalling, yeah?"
"...yeah." It's so easy for his captain to read him. Luffy's hand gently brushes Sanji's bangs aside, making Sanji flinch- but when he looks into Luffy's patient gaze, there's nothing but affection.
"It's okay," Luffy says. "I want you to fuck me, Sanji. So do it."
The words shudder their way down Sanji's spine and settle somewhere in his belly. "Okay," he rasps.
He guides Luffy down onto his cock. There's a moment where there's nothing but resistance and Sanji panics, thinking oh no, this was a bad idea- and then Luffy's body gives and the slide is easy, so easy, Luffy just slipping down to take Sanji to the hilt in one drop.
"Oh!" Luffy gasps, eyes wide.
"Fuck-" Sanji chokes, his stomach muscles clenching- because Luffy is squeezing around him like a goddamn vacuum. Sweat breaks out across his body as he fights to not burst immediately, fingers pressing into Luffy's skin hard enough to cause indentations.
"Sanji."
Luffy's fingers sink into his hair, pulling his head up to look into his eyes.
"Fuck me."
Sanji lets out a soft whine, going up onto his knees and thrusting his hips forward. Luffy clings to him, water falling from their bodies to land back in the bath. Luffy's teeth are at his neck, his fingers on his back, and Sanji grips his captain tight, rocking back and forth like the ocean tides.
"So good for me, Sanji," Luffy moans, biting Sanji's shoulder. "Mine, Sanji is mine."
"Yours, captain-" Sanji chokes out, clinging to his composure with every bit of his strength. Fucking Luffy feels insanely good, wet and tight and slick and with each thrust, Luffy makes another one of those pleased gasps in his ear that make his scalp tingle and his thrusts faster, until the bathwater is splashing over the sides and the wet smack of their skin together fills the air.
"Sanji, Sanji- Sanji, Sanji, Sanji," Luffy chants, voice rising in pitch and volume. Surely everyone will hear them, a thought that makes Sanji's face go red- but his captain gave him an order.
"Luffy-" he chokes out, not knowing how much longer he can last when every squeeze of Luffy's body makes him feel like his entire dick is being wrung out.
"More- m- ah- AH!" Luffy lets out a surprised shout, clenching in a vice grip as heat splatters against Sanji's stomach, squeezing around Sanji everywhere he can- neck, waist, cock- and Sanji cums so hard his vision goes white, ears ringing with the sound of Luffy's voice.
When the world fills back in, he's shaking, Luffy still in his lap, panting roughly. His soul feels turned inside-out, the filth of his family finally scraped away to leave him raw and clean.
Luffy lets out a pleased sigh, nuzzling against Sanji's temple. "Does Sanji get it now?" He asks, dragging his nose along sweaty skin and damp hair. "I can't be pirate king without you."
"...I get it. I'm sorry."
"Just don't do it again."
"Never. Never. I'm sorry. I'm yours."
"Good." Luffy presses a kiss to Sanji's cheek, starting to wiggle. "Turn over," he says, "I wanna nap."
"Here? Now?"
"Mmmh. I'm sleepy now."
Sanji stretches out on his back in the bath to let Luffy sprawl across his chest, keeping enough of him above-water so that Luffy won't drown as he falls asleep. His fingers still itch for a smoke, but the tightness in his chest has eased and he can breathe again, one hand slowly running over Luffy's damp hair.
Yeah. He gets it now.