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[scone]

[ he’s on his way to describing a loquat when he realizes what she’s doing. what’s about to happen. sanji, for all the beats of his lovesick heart, has not been kissed by a grand number of people in a meaningful way. sure, there were the girls passing through the baratie, his inexhaustible attention on every pretty face that floated through their doors, but he hadn’t felt anything real until nami. and then zoro. and now jinx, a perfectly-aimed bullet of electric heat where her hand rests over his heart.

it’s impossible not to kiss her back, not when she’s planted her little blue flower in the tender soil of his heart all that time ago and has been stubbornly growing there ever since. just like zoro sprouted his way in. just like nami became the entire garden blooming all at once. it’s the flaw of his birth that got him thrown out of his home, that he feels everything, and he can’t do anything to stop it. he would never want to, because then he’d miss out on this — on jinx’s warm lips, and the way she stretches up to reach him, and how it feels like an end to something he hadn’t even known he’d been wishing and waiting for.

because she’s nami’s. but she was his first. but jinx doesn’t belong to anyone, and he’s just grateful that she showed up to work.

with both hands around her sweet, heart-shaped face, he breaks the kiss and feels the horrible burn of tears in his eyes. ]

It’s not made up. [ the fruit. this. ] It’s real. It’s all real.

[ he wants to keep his word to nami, don’t tell her, because nami prefers to pull away and disappear when she’s been gouged open with hurt, but he can’t go a moment longer keeping it inside, even as guilt springs bitterly to his mouth. ]

Zoro’s gone. [ he keeps jinx’s face cradled in his hands. ] That’s why your vacation offer’s expired.

[ because i need you here. ]

[smudgy]

[ sanji cradles her face like a precious thing, as though jinx can be hurt anymore, too fast for a punch or blade or bullet. she could lose herself in it, in him, if he weren’t so clearly split. the salty wet of his tears pulls her out of a reverie, expression flashing — uncertain — until his grief spills over. ]

Oh, Sanji.

[ though she keeps his cigarette perched in one delicate hand, the other slides from his cheek to press calloused fingertips at his temple, then card back through his hair. sanji didn’t know it, back then, but he was there for her when she lost silco the second time. he’s been here for her the whole time, as she grieves him even while she has him, as she aches over all the connections she’s never had and finds herself desperate to keep close.

jinx kisses the bridge of his nose, then the swell of his cheek, kitten lick swiping the salt from the bone. ]

—‘m sorry. [ for the pain she knows too well, now searing white hot in his chest. there’s no fighting it. no denying it. she tried. ] I’m not going on vacation.

[ or quitting, or doing anything she threatened while thinking only of herself. sanji and nami fill the whole of her mind now, the problem of their grief one that no invention can solve. nami hadn’t even said anything, she thinks, hurt climbing her ribs, lodging in her throat, but there’s nothing to be done about it. maybe nami doesn’t trust her that way. like can be so far from love, and jinx has left a great deal unsaid herself.

it’s a problem for later, however, when sanji is here, and she can kiss the pained curve of his mouth again, hoping to alleviate even a fraction of his hurt. ]

I’m staying here with you, okay? [ their noses brush as she shakes her head. ] Okay. Can’t get rid of me this time.