Under Starry Skies

Zoro jumped and pulled his head up so quickly Sanji’s lip was crushed against his front tooth. In the darkness, the green-haired boy’s eyes stared in fear, as round and white as the moon overhead. Beneath the two of them, sparks shot from Nami’s pupils as she stared at first one, then the other, wordless with anger. Sanji reached up to touch his mouth and began to explain.

“Nami! Ha ha! You’re awake… we…”

His stuttering excuse, so different from his normal quick comebacks, was cut short by an open hand smashed across his face. Sanji’s head rolled back, the words slapped right out of his mouth.

“What did you—who do you think you—how—“ Nami was almost incoherent as she sloppily slapped Sanji senseless. Zoro hurriedly grabbed her wrists and held her in place as she squirmed and writhed, realizing that any apology at this moment would go unheard. She turned to him, at that second looking more like a furious, wet cat than Zoro had ever seen her look before. “Let go of me, you brute! Pervert!!” She kicked out, but connected with nothing but air. Zoro could tell from her skewed aim that she was, very probably, still hammered. It took very little effort to keep her arms pinned; he guessed that under less… festive… circumstances, she would be a bit more than a handful.

Sanji was rubbing his face, which now bore the definite mark of a handprint. He seemed anything but angry.

“I am…” Nami growled, “…in no uncertain terms…” struggling to free herself, “…going to tear you…” twisting her wrists furiously in Zoro’s unshakable grasp, “…a new…”

Without warning, Sanji leaned in and planted his mouth over hers.

This guy takes the cake, Zoro thought. Sanji was definitely full of surprises. Nami’s knitted brows, drawn together in anger, slowly relaxed into an almost questioning expression as Sanji’s mouth moved deeply against hers. Eyes closed, with one hand on either side of her head, Sanji kissed the struggle right out of the redhead. As he pressed against her, the tension left her body bit by bit until Zoro could feel the slack in her arms. He understood the feeling. Sanji had a persuasive way about him, no doubt.

How can this be happening? Nami thought. They took advantage of me… how COULD they?...but this…both of them… this is incredible!... All those times Sanji had performed some menial task for her and then looked expectantly into her eyes with that puppy-dog neediness—every now and then the thought had crossed her mind to give him just a little something back. How could she have ignored his serpentine body, after all those fights (that high kick?!?); those parties where he was impossible to tear off the dance floor? She had known that, given a chance, he would make an excellent lover… but given these close quarters on the ship, and how compromised her position would be if she ever was caught with him, she never dared. Yet here he was, kissing her without a moment’s regard to the consequences! And not just him, but the swordsman , no less! How could this be happening? It was surreal… Her anger was suddenly overwhelmed with relief and excitement. This was a chance, a chance to try something new. Why shouldn’t she just, for once, go with the flow and forget what could happen tomorrow?

Somehow, when someone is kissing you like tomorrow will never come, it’s easy to forget that it ever will.

Nami pulled her head back, tossed her hair out of her eyes with a flick of the neck, and leaned back in to hungrily grab another kiss. Sanji moaned, deep in his throat, and cradled her delicate face in his hands. Zoro, sitting so close as to almost be in Nami’s lap, watched them with an almost autistic look of concentration, forgetting his own physical presence in the company of such a compelling couple. It wasn’t until he felt Nami’s arms pulling up against his own restraining hands that he realized he was still pinning her down, in essence holding her for Sanji to do what he liked. How could he take part in this? He was just as guilty as Sanji at this point, if not more so… still, the image of Nami’s rage-filled eyes flashed into his memory, and he tightened his grip on the narrow wrists just in case she… well, just in case.

Sanji was amazed. He had underestimated himself. To not only achieve his loftiest goal since joining the crew – making out with miss Nami-San herself – but to get that silly green-haired jock to loosen up and have a bit of fun for the first time in probably his entire life, and all in the same thirty minutes…? Tonight was certainly one for his private memoirs. He arched his body into a more stable position over the panting girl on the deck boards and drew his tongue across the velvet skin of her earlobe. He felt her gasp and shudder, suddenly wondering why she didn’t just reach up and grab him. He leaned back and saw Zoro, still holding her in place and watching the two of them in utter rapture. Once again, the swordsman’s mouth hung open just a little.

Sanji couldn’t resist. He’d been fighting his own love/hate relationship with the other boy since the first time Zoro had sauntered into the floating restaurant Baratie. Something about the smirk on his face made Sanji want to wipe it right off. All that bravado! And yet Zoro obviously deserved the ego, because no matter how confident Sanji was in his own steel-toed fighting style, he’d never, ever want to go head-to-head with the three swords. The determination in Zoro’s eyes, imagining the swordfight that would award him the title of the Invincible Swordsman, was the same Luffy had when dreamily staring out at the sea, waxing poetic about his dream to become Kaizoku-Ou, the Pirate King. Having seen both men fighting to the best of their game, he now shared their belief that these titles would someday be won. And though they argued like little kids, Sanji would fight next to Zoro until his last breath. In a way, he almost looked forward to their ritual of taunting and baiting one another day and night. Sanji had never had a brother, or even anyone his own age on the restaurant-ship to joke around with. The fights and casual insults may have been merely annoyances to Zoro, but to Sanji, they were something special.

And catching quick glimpses of Zoro in the shower through the bathroom-door porthole every now and then were also special, in their own way.

Sanji covered Zoro’s lips with his own, suddenly flooded with affection. He was on a roll, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to waste any more chances on this beautiful eve.

Zoro was snapped out of his trance. Nineteen years’ worth of hormones had suddenly burst through the dam of control and he was being washed away. He pressed his tongue into Sanji’s hot mouth, losing his mind in the softness and warmth and darkness of the kiss. Their teeth clicked together as their mouths widened, hungrily gulping at the flow of passion between their smooth, flushed cheeks. Zoro’s long eyelashes fluttered at the hanging curtain of blond hair covering Sanji’s left eye. The rush from the pit of his stomach; the radiating waves of escalating temperature from his rock-hard cock; the complete lack of awareness of any and all surroundings—these elements were overwhelming, and finally Zoro had to slowly disconnect his mouth from Sanji’s just to pull back and, well, breathe. It was only then he heard the faintest sound rising from below him, the small, staccato sound of---

Sobbing?

Simultaneously, both boys looked down at the girl beneath them, suddenly realizing the concrete mechanics of their position of power. Her face was hidden under her long bangs, her expression unreadable, but her chest was hiccupping in sobs. Sanji’s composure broke as he shared a frightened glance with Zoro, who had dropped Nami’s wrists like hot potatoes. “Nami-san…” he ventured, easing his weight off her hips. “Nami, we didn’t mean…”

Nami slowly raised her head. Instead of tears, she wore a smirk.

She was laughing!

“Never in a million years would I have guessed the full extent of your seductive prowess, Sanji-kun!” Nami laughed, surprisingly without a trace of malice. “Who would have guessed? Roronoah, taking a walk on the wild side!”

Somehow, Zoro managed to turn even redder.

Sanji’s face relaxed out of its anxious cast and spread into a smile, a real one. Its innocence shone for just a few seconds before the eyebrow lowered and new, less honorable purposes set the features into an intense grin. He turned to look at the embarrassed, speechless boy next to him, as always at the ready with a light taunt:

“So how is that wild side treating you, haramaki?”

Zoro looked back and forth between the two faces of his shipmates. He suddenly realized that all this time, when he became filled with anger at their jibes, he had never noticed the true affection that lay underneath the words. They didn’t hate him! Sure, they just couldn’t help but yank his chain every now and then, but it wasn’t out of real enmity. The look on Nami’s face at this very moment was something rare, something Zoro wasn’t sure he had ever seen – perhaps once, right as they set sail from Kokoyashi – she was engaged, excited, happy. She was, and he had never noticed this before, beautiful.

As if reading his mind, Nami leaned up at the same exact moment Zoro bent down, and their lips connected. Any hesitancy Zoro might have had before this was gone. It was now Sanji’s turn to lean back and regard these two young, beautiful people sharing their first acknowledgement of affection. It was quite a sight; Sanji watched it with utter appreciation.

Nami knew Zoro had never kissed a girl before; it was obvious in his own expressions of surprise and tenderness at her softness, her smallness. It made her feel almost protective in a way; this was a first for him, and her part was to make it special. Of course, the addition of a svelte, lanky blond boy into the mix really couldn’t help but make the occasion memorable; in fact, this was the single most exciting situation Nami had ever found herself enmeshed in. It was a first for her too, caught between the weighty, warm, needful bodies of two very different, and differently appealing, young men. When she had opened her eyes to see the two of them locked in a tongue battle right over her, she had been able to do nothing but stare in amazement at the vision, straight out of a very private daydream. Of course, that was right before she noticed where their hands had landed…

Nami brought her attention back around to the moment at hand. As she and Zoro kissed, Sanji had somehow wound his way around both their bodies and was simultaneously stroking Nami’s thighs and nibbling Zoro’s nipples lightly through his thin, oatmeal-colored shirt. Was he ambidextrous? No, just naturally gifted… she ran her hand down Sanji’s hair and into the back of his conspicuously-patterned shirt, sliding it between his defined shoulder blades and feeling the muscles underneath bunch and retract as he, in turn, smoothed up and down her legs. The dark spaces of air between the three seemed wasteful; any hand touching wood or cloth instead of skin was surely a loss. Three separate minds dropped out of the picture, replaced by eyelids, breaths, clavicles, and so much fabric, so damn much clothing in the fucking way…

At once, Sanji and Nami said together, breathlessly,

“Let’s go below.”

Zoro was panting too hard to answer.