Heyoo! Request here!
Sanji had Nightmares at night?? Zoro then being alerted and trying to calm down the cook. (While also forcing him to go back to sleep XD.)
Anyways that’s all.
Hope you get the idea :]!
(I’m not a good story explainer when it comes to request TvT)
Thanks for the request! Hope you enjoy :) -----------------------------------
Zoro stares at the underside of the top bunk, just visible from the low light creeping through a crack in the door of the boy’s room. He can see the mattress shaking above him, can hear the wood creaking over the noise of Luffy’s and Franky’s snoring. Sanji is twisting and turning, one of his hands flying over the edge of the bunk to hit harshly off the frame of the bed.
His breaths are coming out in laboured wheezes as he seems to pant, like he’s running from something in whatever nightmare has taken hold of him. Zoro lies still, not usually one to wake up in the middle of the night but Sanji’s distress had upset his haki, forcing Zoro awake as though danger was looming nearby. Now, he can’t get back to sleep, his body stiff as he waits for Sanji’s panic to pass.
The cook should settle down soon, right? They all have nightmares like this on the ship. It’s not uncommon for someone to wake with a shout, with their arms outstretched, re-living something terrible. Chopper gets them a lot, climbing into Zoro’s bed with teary eyes and snuggling deep beneath his covers. He finds comfort being near the Swordsman, and honestly Zoro enjoyed feeling one of his crewmates being so close to him, one less person to worry about as he slept.
The cook waking him up is unusual. Not because he doesn’t have nightmares, Zoro knows he does. He can see on his night watches when Sanji is below in the galley, lights on in the middle of the night as he battles with whatever is bothering him. But it’s unusual for him to not immediately wake up and slink off to the kitchen.
Sanji hated being caught off guard by the crew, hated them seeing him as weak. He’s the first to comfort them, to make someone’s favourite snack or offer them tea in the galley as solace from the rest of the rowdy ship. Even with Zoro, who he’s pretty sure he hates, he’ll appear with a bottle of sake and a plate of rice balls when he thinks the Swordsman needs a pick me up. It’s infuriating, and they never speak about it, but it reminds Zoro that the Cook does care about the crew to an admirable extent, even Zoro.
Which makes it even more frustrating that he prickles up whenever someone tries to return the favour. It’s like Sanji is always clutching a dead man’s switch for his temper, waiting for someone to piss him off enough that he can let go and explode. Often, it’s Zoro setting him off.
That’s what makes this so difficult. Lying there in the dark while one of his Nakama is struggling and having no idea how he’s meant to help. If it was Luffy he’d tug his arm and let the boneless man flop onto the bed beside him. If it was Usopp he’d pinch his nose until the sniper awoke with a start, more afraid of Zoro than whatever was bothering him in his sleep. Even with Franky, Zoro knew to make up a problem with the ship so the shipwright would run off to check on it and promptly forget about whatever had him tossing in his sleep.
Sanji yelps in his sleep, his hand disappearing from where it was dangling as the mattress shifts again. If Zoro was to guess, he’s curled in on himself, the mattress dipping on one side only.
Zoro climbs silently out of the bottom bunk, able to see Sanji now as he stands at eye level with the top bunk. The blonde’s face is almost completely covered by his bangs but Zoro can still see half of his left eye, can see how it’s scrunched up tightly as though he’s trying to close them in his sleep, trying to block out whatever image his mind has conjured. He’s drawn his knees up, his arms hidden behind them as he’s folded them against his chest and under his chin, almost as if he’s protecting them.
Zoro’s heart clenches to think of Sanji dreaming of something happening to his treasure, knowing he’d be screaming bloody murder in his sleep if he dreamt of anything happening to his swords. His hand is rising to brush the other’s bangs back before he even knows what he’s doing, his fingers caressing over the other’s furrowed brow and raking gently through his hair until he’s cupping one side of Sanji’s face.
The other man tenses, stilling in his withering and Zoro freezes himself, waiting for Sanji to open his eyes and swing a kick at his head. He’s not prepared for the soft sigh that leaves the Cook, the blonde turning his head towards the palm of Zoro’s hand. He can feel the deep inhale the cook makes, his cheeks warming as Sanji lets out a low-
“Zoro?”
His eyes flutter open, the one not covered by his fringe staring at him in the dark. Sanji blinks slowly, his eyes flicking to the light source at the door and then back to Zoro as he tries to wake up enough to know what’s going on.
“What are you doing?” He whispers, his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the out of sync snores still echoing in the room.
“You woke me up.” Zoro means to say it as an accusation but having to whisper makes everything sound soft...and maybe he is being soft with the cook, just this once.
“Sorry.”
The cook pulls away from Zoro’s hand as though he’s been burned, his eye flicking away from Zoro embarrassed. Shit. He half sits up in the bed, his hand twisting in the sheets as he clenches them.
“I’ll go to the galley.” He decides, turning from Zoro to hop down to the opposite side of the bunk. His shoulders are hunched up to his ears, his arms trembling as they hold his body upright.
“Don’t be stupid.” Zoro grumbles, reaching across the bed to tug on the back of Sanji’s night shirt. “It’s too early to start on breakfast, idiot-cook.”
“I’ll just wake more people up.” Sanji mutters, refusing to turn but slumps back, no longer poised to leap.
Zoro bites the inside of his cheek, uncertainty hanging heavily between them as Zoro wracks his brain for the best response. Overthinking stupid stuff like this is not his strong point and he decides after a moment of silence that it’s pointless for him to try do so.
He catches the side of the frame of the upper bunk and hoists himself up, throwing his legs onto the bed and lying down behind the Cook.
“I’ll wake you up if you start being loud again.” Zoro crosses his arms over his chest, amused by the jump in Sanji’s shoulders as he feels the bed dip, his head turning slowly to glance warily at his crewmate.
“What are you doing?”
“I just told you-”
“You- you don’t need to sleep in my bed to do that.” Sanij stutters. Zoro can’t be sure in the dark, but he’s certain the Ero-Cook must be blushing right now, if the wiggle in his body is anything to go by.
“I’ll do what I want.” Zoro retorts with a quiet snort, closing his eyes.
Sanji doesn’t move at first. Zoro wonders if he’s made a mistake. If Sanji will storm off to the kitchen in a rage and leave Zoro in his bed.
He has to stop himself from jumping in surprise when he feels Sanji shift and lie down beside him. They’re both lying on their backs, their shoulders pushed uncomfortably against one another’s as they barely fit in the small frame of the single bunk.
The cook is breathing in uneven bursts, clearly overthinking the arrangement and any noise he’s making. Zoro tries to ignore it, hoping that the cook will just drift off to a dreamless sleep soon but after several minutes it starts to grate on him.
“Will you just relax?” He whispers, turning to stare at the completely rigid man.
Sanji just sneers at him, twisting his head enough to glare at Zoro. He quickly looks away though as soon as the Cook seems to realise just how close their heads are when they turn to each other.
He doesn’t argue back though, doesn’t lose his temper or flip himself off the bed. Zoro takes this as a win and decides if the Cook is going to be this insufferable about the situation, Zoro is just going to have to push his luck.
He lets out a frustrated grunt and turns on his side, his arm reaches out over Sanji’s narrow waist, as he easily grabs hold of his furthest hip, drawing the Cook against him. Sanji gasps, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from yelling and waking up his sleeping crewmates. The last thing he wants is for anyone to see what has just happened.
“Calm down Curley, I’m just getting comfortable.” Zoro mutters, his lips so close to Sanji’s ear that he can’t help but shiver as he feels the heat of Zoro’s breath.
“If you’re so uncomfortable then go back to your own bed.” Zoro didn’t think it was possible, but Sanji is even more tense now, his hands curled into fists by his side. He can’t seem to lie still, his tense muscles quivering from the strain. Zoro lets out a frustrated sigh.
“Do you always have to be this difficult?”
That halts Sanji’s weak attempts at wiggling away from him. The Cook freezes, his breath hitching as he falls silent. Zoro glances at his face, trying to see his expression in the grey light of the shadowed corner of the room, but all he can see is Sanji’s bangs and his chin trembling. If Zoro didn’t know him, he might think the Cook is finally relaxing but he can tell what Zoro just said has upset him.
“Curley?”
Sanji doesn’t answer him, doesn’t even react when Zoro tightens his forearm to lightly squeeze him. Zoro waits patiently, wondering if Sanji will ignore him until he falls asleep. He’s not prepared for Sanji to shift his weight, twisting his body until he lands on his side, his face pressing against Zoro’s chest. Zoro’s arm slides forward, landing on the small of Sanji’s back.
“Sorry.” Zoro barely hears him; only certain he spoke because he can feel Sanji mouthing the word against his bare chest.
Now it’s Zoro’s turn to freeze, not expecting Sanji to break through his own stubborn walls this easily. Slowly, he relaxes, the tension draining from his body as he melts into the mattress, his head resting high on the pillow, his chin tickled by Sanji’s hair.
“Stop saying that.” Zoro mumbles, his tone void of any actual anger or frustration. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Shit-Cook.”
Sanji seems to choke on a laugh, the barest hints of a sob blending with the noise.
“Since when are you so nice?”
Zoro blinks in response, taken aback by the comment.
“I’m nice.” Zoro growls, feeling his cheeks warm. “You’re always just pissing me off.”
Sanij doesn’t have an answer for that, but Zoro can feel him laughing under his breath, can feel his lips curling against his skin.
They lie in comfortable silence this time. Zoro waits to hear Sanji’s breathing slow, to feel the other doze off. Despite relaxing though, Sanji stays awake. His body might have settled but Zoro can feel the cogs turning in his head, the buzz of his thoughts keeping him from slipping away.
“Cook, you're thinking too loud.” Zoro complains, cutting the other off as he opens his mouth “And don’t say sorry again.”
Sanji stops as his mouth forms the word and instead lets out an angry puff of air.
“Normal people can’t just empty their heads like you, Marimo.”
Zoro rolls his eyes, hoping Sanji can sense his exasperated reaction.
“Just go to sleep, Mosshead. I’ll be fine.”
Zoro frowns at that. The whole point of him being up in this bunk is to help Sanji get to sleep.
“You’re not even trying.” Zoro grumbles, not looking forward to how cranky the Cook will be tomorrow if he doesn’t get more sleep.
Sanji stays silent. Zoro can feel him shifting his arms, so his hands rest curled between their chests. It can’t be comfortable sleeping on one of his arms and having his other crammed between them, but Sanji lies like that unmoving for what feels like hours. Eventually he replies.
“I don’t want to go back to sleep.”
Zoro lets out a low hum of acknowledgement.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Cook-”
“No.”
Zoro wishes he could bang his head off something, but he’s pretty sure he’ll wake someone up if he chooses the headboard behind him.
“I’m not going to judge you or bring it up again.” Zoro argues, wondering if Sanji really thought so lowly of him that he would do either of those things.
“I know that Shit-head.”
“Then why are you being so stubborn?”
“It’s none of your damn business why I don’t want to sleep.”
“It is when you’re going to be extra annoying tomorrow.”
“Fuck you.” Sanji tries to wiggle away, pushing off Zoro’s chest with his hands. “I’m going to the galley.”
“Not a chance.” Zoro tightens his arm on the blonde, making Sanji’s attempts a futile effort.
“Let go.”
“Ooh, you’re so scary.” Zoro can’t help the grin stretching across his face at the indignant sound Sanji makes from Zoro’s mocking.
The smile doesn’t last long though, not when Sanji draws one of his legs up, lightly kneeing Zoro in the groin.
“What the hell Cook?” Zoro wheezes, it wasn’t hard enough to make him shout, to alert anyone else in the room. But fuck, his balls were throbbing.
Sanji uses his flinch to duck out from under Zoro’s arm, leaning to grab the edge of the bed to pull himself away.
Zoro lets out a snarl before he follows the cook, lifting himself so he can wrap both arms around Sanji’s chest, drawing him back down against the mattress. He flings a leg over Sanji’s hip, rolling the Cook onto his stomach so he can pin his torso and hips to the bed. Hopefully keeping him from kicking out at him again.
It’s not a position that Zoro would usually win in, not with how sharply Sanji can swing his legs around to get out of it. But doing so would be loud, and from the way Sanji is panting and is unmoving beneath him, tells Zoro all he needs to know. Winning is not worth waking the crew up.
“I win, Ero-Cook. Now tell me.” Zoro is speaking directly into Sanji’s ear, his lips ghosting the shell of his ear as he speaks quiet enough that not even someone on the bottom bunk would have been able to hear them.
Sanji shudders, clenching his eyes shut at the sensation, as the pit in his stomach seems to fill with a foreign warmth. He sighs into his pillow, the fight leaving his tired body.
“I- I keep having the same dream- or nightmare, I guess.” Sanji is mumbling the words, if Zoro wasn’t pressed up against him, he’d probably miss them. Even now he can hear the static between them as he strains his ears to make out every word.
“It always ends the same...I have to give up my hands.”
“For what?” Sanji flinches as Zoro’s words tickle the edge of his ear.
“It changes every time...sometimes it’s the crew, the All Blue...” Sometimes it’s you, Sanji thinks, but doesn’t have the courage to say.
Zoro thinks hard, trying to imagine what would make him feel better if he had dreams like that. Then again, Sanji isn’t him.
“No one’s taking your hands, Curley.” Zoro whispers calmly, his tone leaving no room for an argument. Zoro would never let that happen, thus it won’t.
Sanji doesn’t have the words to respond to Zoro’s confidence. The Swordsman can’t know that, can’t promise that. Not in their line of work. Still, the sentiment makes Sanji feel better, as strange as that is to acknowledge.
“Okay.”
Zoro smiles into Sanji’s hair. He could get used to winning fights with the Cook.
“Zoro, I can’t breathe.”
The use of his name is surprising, but it does spur Zoro to move quicker than he might have with one of the Cook’s stupid nicknames.
He drags his leg off Sanji, falling beside him and drawing his arms back as he does. He ends up pushing one of his arms under Sanji’s neck, the other curling around his waist as he presses his body against Sanji’s back.
It’s the most comfortable way to share the bed, but Zoro still prepares himself for another argument. For Sanji to get flustered and embarrassed about being the small spoon.
But he surprises Zoro again, leaning back against his chest and resting his head on Zoro’s bicep. He doesn’t speak again, just lays there mimicking Zoro’s breathing, matching the rise and fall of the chest behind him until he drifts off.
Zoro doesn’t fall asleep. At first, he thinks he’s too riled up from their brief spat of wrestling but that’s never affected him before.
Zoro can always fall asleep when he wants to.
Sanji is a quiet sleeper when he’s not dreaming. Zoro would think he’d stopped breathing if he couldn’t feel the little puffs of air against his arm. His hair is annoying, falling across Zoro’s face and making him want to sneeze or brush it all to the side. He’s cold too, nothing like Chopper who’s like a little hot water bottle in bed. Also, Zoro’s arm is probably going to go dead from where the Cook is lying on it.
No wonder Zoro can’t sleep.
That’s what he tells himself as he lies there awake for the rest of the night.
Until Sanji stirs and lies there awake with him, unaware the Swordsman heart is thumping in his chest.
The Cook slides out of the bunk to start on breakfast and Zoro waits until the door closes, until he can sense Sanji moving across the deck and towards the galley.
He rolls onto his stomach, burying his head into Sanji’s pillow when he’s certain he’s not returning to the room. It smells of all the fancy products the idiot puts in his hair mixed with the reek of cigarettes.
It’s disgusting.
Zoro’s late for breakfast.
He never slept a wink.