@bleuwalk , continued.
this wasn’t the first time he noticed it. he’d picked up on it back on punk hazard; when sanji had lit a cigarette while unwittingly standing within the far edge of his operating room. it had been nothing more than a fleeting information dump of muscles, sinuses & emotions that had culled itself the second sanji stepped out of his influence & all he was able to read was an oddity in the man’s lumbrical muscles. at the time, law had paid it no mind — he had no connection to these people & frankly, he hadn’t cared.
& now, as he sits here ; attention more so on the man serving them than that of the food itself, he finds himself observing. tracking the fluidity of sanji’s body. it was minute; practically unnoticeable to the untrained eye & truth be told, law presumes that the symptoms could easily pass as something as simple as nicotine withdrawals. which fell in line with sanji’s habits well enough but —
the second cup of coffee is accepted, though left largely untouched. merrily simmering away just aft of his elbow as he finds himself giving in & taking that beforgotten hand into both of his. it’s a lapse of judgment. perhaps he’s truly gotten comfortable on this ship with these people. to allow himself the indulgence he’d typically only have with his own crew.
no matter, what’s done is done & law easily shifts into work mode. turning sanji's hand over so that the palm faces him. & without any preamble, he’s pressing the flats of his thumbs into the joint of the man’s wrist & dragging them upward. applying enough pressure to physically map out its structure at first & then repeating the action with a lighter touch to sooth the integrity of the other’s muscles. thoroughly massaging at the places where his own skilled hands have discerned the main underlying factors. digging in & working through the cords of sinew only to pull back & pass over them more delicately.
he’s careful in his touch, keeping sanji's appendage steady as he traces through the man’s palm. kneading in with intent only to lessen the pressure & smooth it out across the cusp of interossei muscles. it’s all for naught; however, as he suspects that he’s hit a rather sensitive spot & when sanji pulls back, law lets him go freely.
“your opponens pollicis and adductor pollicis are hypertensive. it’s nothing serious, some light massaging should relieve the tension in the muscles, i would advise on having it done sooner rather than later less the issue persists.” he leans back in his chair then. reclaiming his previously forgotten coffee & savoring the flavor even if he had let it chill during his ministrations. “i could continue to fix it now if you’re willing, blackleg-ya.” he won't apologize for the intrusion of personal space, it wasn’t in his nature. “or you could ask one of your shipmates to assist you. tony-ya seems quite capable.”