Beat the Heat

It was a bright, sunny day out on the Grand Line. It was, in fact, the eighteenth bright, sunny day on the Grand Line in a row and while most would consider that a good thing, Nami felt her tan was dark enough, the sun was beginning to seem a little too bright, even in the shade, and quite frankly, sitting outside reading and trying to ignore her captain’s enthusiastic shouting about any number of totally mundane things was starting to get old.

All right, she was bored. The weather was gorgeous, not a Marine ship in sight, her maps were pretty well caught up, and things were altogether peaceful and pleasant. While she was hardly the first person on board to leap at the idea of heading off into danger at a moment’s notice, she had to admit that a *little* danger could add some spice to an otherwise bland day. The trouble was finding any on board.

She’d wandered the entire ship, looking for something to spark her interest with no luck before finally heading to the galley to at least get out of the sun for a while. She was pretty sure she felt her hair deflate and her shirt vacuum-seal itself to her body as soon as she stepped in the door– the weather outside was balmy but in the contained room with the fire for the stove going and things simmering on its surface, all it needed were a few old bald guys in towels sitting off to the side to make it an official sauna. The orchestrator looked up from his symphony of organized chaos and smiled apologetically at her.

“Sorry about the heat, Nami-san. I’ll bring you a drink in a minute if you want to go back to your chair.” His hair hung limply in defeat of the humidity, and the black t-shirt and bluejeans he was dressed down in made him look more like a man who’d been caught in the rain than one in the process of making lunch.

She almost went back out to her chair, but the thought of having to spend another boring day out on deck in the perfect weather was actually more unpleasant than spending a bit in the sauna kitchen from hell. Besides, she could hear Luffy yelling something about clouds outside and she just couldn’t take it anymore.

“No thanks, I’m actually looking to get away from it for a while.” She sat down at the table and sighed– no, this wasn’t doing it either, she was just hot and bored now. She was just going to have to face facts, until they hit an island or some more unpleasant weather, she was just going to have to content herself with the regular routine.

“Is something wrong?” A tall glass of blended ice and fruit juices was placed in front of her, the outside of the glass already frosty and beaded with condensation, and she gladly took a pull from the straw before answering him.

“Mmm, this is good, thank you. And no, nothing’s really wrong, I’m just bored. Guess I’m getting a little sunned out.” She took another drink, the cold refreshing her quite a bit.

“Well I’m always happy for the company,” he said, then leaning in to murmur in her ear. “I missed you last night.” She thought for a second he might linger there a little longer, but instead he straightened back up and went back to the stove, as though by saying it out loud he might have alerted the whole world and he needed to act natural now in case anyone might be looking at him funny.

She couldn’t help but smile as she pushed the little core of rapidly melting ice around in circles in her glass, the tiny shards glinting at her like gem flakes. Their little secret for the past several weeks had certainly been fun and exciting; he was an attentive lover, very sweet and tender, loving, and very eager to please, always pulling her in to cuddle afterward for the little while they had before he’d have to pull his clothes back on and sneak back to his bunk. Well, so the first time had been a little awkward and bumpy but they hadn’t figured each other’s habits, likes and dislikes out yet, so it wasn’t unreasonable. Plus he’d showed a marked improvement the second time, and things had been pretty smooth from then on.

The past month had been nice, comfortable, and she had to admit she’d miss the sneaking around when they finally stopped, it had been rather fun. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what they were doing, and had told him as much when he’d asked, she simply didn’t feel that it was any of the others’ business. She liked having a secret and she liked having one with him, though she could tell he wasn’t so thrilled about it. He’d never really say so, but she could tell the poor guy was about to explode from keeping it in all the time, and he’d been moodier and more short-tempered with the others than usual lately. And yes, it was fun to keep secret, but it wasn’t anything she wanted to keep up forever, just until the newness wore off a little more. She was still getting her feet wet, she didn’t need to be shoved into the deep end just yet.

Sighing, most of her ice melted now, she continued stirring the contents of her glass around, thinking about sex and all the baggage that came with it and how damned hot it was in there. Why didn’t he open the door to air the place out a little? He probably thought the way his shirt stuck to him was sexy, hoping she’d lose all control and hump him silly right there in the galley. In reality it just made her want to shove him in the shower and make him do laundry. Still, it had been a while since they’d been able to be together in private and he wasn’t the only one who’d been feeling lonely the past few nights.

A glance at the porthole in the door revealed the coast was clear for her to check out some of what she’d been missing lately as he multitasked the crap out of lunch. He was certainly in his element there, heat or not, and watching him was almost an erotic experience in and of itself– the seamless way he moved from one thing to another, his hands expertly knowing what to do for exactly how long, everything getting the right amount of attention, making sure everything was rising to a simmer at the right speed, bringing the right things to a boil when they needed to be, making sure the right things sizzled, and all the while, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, the memory of feeling those muscles under her fingers lingering in her mind, his flesh not even so much as denting under her touch... Before she knew it, Nami was sucking nothing but air through her straw, her drink long since gone, and she was feeling flushed from more than just the humidity.

“Sanji-kun, when you get a minute, could I get another drink?” Damn him and his stupid shirt, sticking to him like that. She shifted a little on the wooden bench, crossing her legs.

“Of course, Nami-swan!” He sent her a smile, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve as he went to the freezer for more ice. Now it was his butt teasing her in those form-fitting blue jeans of his, his weight shifting as he got the various things he needed, and she realized she was chewing on the end of the straw. Putting it back in the glass, she contemplated the unfairness of her being the one getting hot and bothered and unable to do anything about it, especially when a little sex would be a great way to alleviate her boredom for a half hour. Forty-five minutes. Yeah, she thought as she stared at his ass, that sounded better.

“Here you are, a sweet drink for my sweet Nami-san.” Sanji’s smile shone through the haze of her lust as he placed something cool and creamy in front of her, ice cubes clinking like little champagne glasses being toasted.

“Thank you, Sanji-kun,” she said, favoring him with a slow smile, the sort one might give a man in a nice suit at the end of a smoky bar on a slow night, and wrapped her lips around the straw, sucking the cool liquid into her mouth and making a low noise in approval. “This is so tasty. It’s so hot in here, this really hits the spot.” She favored him with another smile, noting with satisfaction the glazed expression on his face.

“Of course,” he said, trying to shake off the momentary daze, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I’m glad you like it.”

“I always do,” she tossed back, winking as she took another slow pull off the straw and gloating to herself when he visibly swallowed. Take that, sexy butt! Nami-san comes back in the second round! She smothered a snicker as he turned back to his work, noting he was doing that little hitch with his leg that he used when he was turned on and trying to hide it. Teasing him could be fun, too.

“Oh, Sanji-kun, I seem to have dropped my straw, could you get me another one, please?” Her iron poker face saved her from all-out laughing when he turned around to find her sitting with her legs crossed towards him, elbows resting on the edge of the table to make her arms press her breasts together, the corner of a dripping ice cube pressed innocently between her lips. He really was too much fun to torment for his own good.

His mouth worked a few times before any sound managed to escape. “Right away, Nami-san!” He turned and fumbled a straw from their container, obviously trying not to trip over himself as he rushed it over to her. She plucked it delicately from his hands and placed it in her drink, still favoring the ice cube as she thanked him, moving the rapidly diminishing chunk down to dance just under her collar bone. Both seductive and refreshing, nice.

“Aren’t you going to pick up the straw, Sanji-kun?” He wrenched his eyes away from her ice cube to look down at the object lying innocently at her feet as though he had no idea what it was. As he stooped to pick it up, Nami uncrossed her legs in a bit of timing perfected after years of swindling guys in bars, making sure his eyes were exactly where they needed to be to catch the flash of what was under her skirt before she pressed her knees together again. Judging by the way his eyes practically bugged out of his head, it seemed time hadn’t dulled that skill any. “Yes?” she asked, all innocence at his blatant staring. Guys really were too easy.

“N-nothing, I was just...” She watched him struggle with a way to explain what he’d been doing without coming across as a huge jerk. “Uhh...”

She smiled, having far too much fun with this. “If you wanted a better look, you should have just asked.” She shifted so her hands were on the bench behind her and slowly spread her knees apart for him to get a better view, surprised at how much her own heart sped up at the move. Granted, this particular one was new to her as well; her goal in the old days had been to tease and distract, not outright seduce. For his part, Sanji looked like he was witnessing the opening of the gates to a lost city of gold, or whatever his equivalent was, and she heard his breath hitch as he leaned in, caught in the inescapable gravitational pull that all panties possessed over him.

“Oh Nami-san,” his speech was a breathy whisper, “what are you doing to me...?”

She had meant to stop him before he leaned in too far, to snap her legs closed and laugh inwardly at the look of disappointment and thwarted lust on his face, but somehow it just never happened. She watched as his hands came up and pushed the hem of her skirt up, as his face inched closer to her, his eyes half closed as he inhaled the scent of her and she felt her own mouth go dry when he pressed in and nuzzled her gently before she felt the press of his tongue through her panties, damp from more than the humidity by now. She watched her own hands go to the top of his head, his sunny hair threading between her fingers as his tongue slowly raked over the thin material beneath it, watched her legs spread wider in invitation, heard her own gasps, felt her nipples tighten, and it all happened while she was wondering why she was allowing it to go on. They were in the galley in the middle of the afternoon, the door was unlocked and unbarred, any one of the others could come in, or even look through the porthole and see them, this was crazy and stupid and risky and dirty! She heard herself moan out loud before she could stop herself.

“Nnn, don’t stop,” she moaned more quietly as she lay back on the bench, legs sliding over his shoulders to make sure he wouldn’t get any crazy ideas about leaving. She kept an eye on the door, just in case someone did decide to stop by, but the sight of his head disappearing between her legs, his hair sticking up where it met with her skin and his hands resting on her thighs did prove to be somewhat distracting as well. To say nothing of the unspeakable things he was currently doing with his tongue.

“Mmmm, Sanji-kun..... You’re such a bad boy.” Keeping her voice low she grinned down at him, knowing he couldn’t see her, but the muffled noise that came in response and the light lovebite was all the proof she needed that he was paying attention. “Ahn! Nnnn, what am I going to do with you...?”

The noise from Sanji suggested he might have a few ideas on the subject and his face surfaced with a grin of his own on it. “I’m not the one who started this,” he said, sliding her panties down her legs, leaving them dangling from one ankle so they wouldn’t get lost somewhere.

But before he continued with the teasing foreplay, his brain kicked in and he looked over at the door nervously. “Umm, maybe we should wai–!”

The rest was lost as Nami’s mouth sucked any remaining protests from his, her arms replacing her legs around his neck, crushing him to her demandingly. “Be fast,” she breathed when she finally came up for air before bringing him back down for another heated kiss.

Just to be sure he was done being sensible, she wrapped her legs around the portion of his torso she could reach over the edge of the bench and ground against his already damp shirt. That seemed to do the trick, as she felt his hands slide under her and lift her up to the table, her legs sliding down to his waist and both of them trying to suppress little noises of appreciation every time their mouths separated. She wrestled gracelessly with his belt buckle while he shoved her skirt the rest of the way over her hips, their movements increasingly frantic and their kissing less precise and neat, each trying to suck at whatever patch of skin they could get in their mouths. Teeth scraped, tongues twisted and twined until finally enough clothing was shoved out of the way and she bit back a moan as she guided him to her and felt him slide in.

Yes, this was what she wanted, his hot hard body filling her, his breath in her ear, biting back the small moans she knew he wanted to make as he finished adjusting to the feel of her, the small, careful movements as he started out. But he never picked up the same pace they’d set with the foreplay and she realized he was slipping back into their usual style of gentle, tender lovemaking. A month of sporadic sex and he was already stuck in a rut?

She pulled and flexed against him, trying to encourage him to go faster and harder, not wanting slow and sweet this time. She felt wanton and brazen, and wanted to feel hot and sticky, feel their sweat melting together on her flesh; she wanted sex, the raw and uncut lust she knew he felt for her but always toned down for the sake of making sure she felt loved. He gasped in response to her urging, his body needing no more encouragement as it sped its pace, even if she could feel his uncertainty at this.

Encouragingly, she slid her hands down to cup his ass, squeezing as she looked into his eyes, smiling mischievously. His mouth opened, a small grunt coming out as his reflexes thrust him in harder than he’d consciously wanted, and she held his gaze as she opened her mouth to moan quietly, playing up her reaction just a little bit to let him know that was what she wanted. Trying to make him feel sexy, make him feel powerful, masculine, dominant, and let him know that was okay this time, she leaned forward and whispered breathily in his ear as her fingers squeezed him again.

“I want you,” she breathed, pausing slightly to suck on his earlobe and to gasp again as his rhythm faltered slightly under her little assault, “you feel so good. Your cock’s so hard inside me.” She felt his reservations slipping the more she dirty-talked him, though she was careful to avoid the ‘f’ word– he hated it in the context of their lovemaking and the last thing she wanted to do was turn him off. He whimpered into her shoulder, biting it lightly as he thrust into her and she kept up her quiet remarks. The sexier and more powerful she made him feel, the more he responded to her unspoken commands, the farther she could coax him out of his little rut, and the sexier and more powerful it made her feel. Finally, she’d worked him up enough that he did what she’d wanted all along– he took control.

Still keeping the gasps and noises to barely above a whisper, he paused only long enough to lower her back onto the table, bracing himself up with one hand as the other slid up her leg, moving it from his waist to his shoulder, angling his hips to slide deeper, finding the spot that made her back arch off the wood beneath it and her hips buck involuntarily. She felt it building in the pit of her stomach, felt him sliding so easily in to the hilt and back out, easily matching her demanding pace, and she slid her hands back and around to try and pull him in farther, her nails ticking across little chords of denim. He did his best to comply but she could tell he was getting close as well– his breath was getting more labored and his pace was becoming more erratic, but she knew he’d wait for her, he always did. His diligence paid off and she felt her nerves start to tingle, like tiny electric shocks starting in her fingertips and working jaggedly through the rest of her like a preview of the bigger ones to come, and she closed her eyes, ready to ride the waves in as she always did.

Her eyes snapped open when Sanji stopped abruptly and she wondered for a second if he’d come without her. Just when she was about to protest, he pulled her other leg over his shoulder and shifted his weight on top of her so he could drive even deeper. Her breath and every thought was then promptly knocked from her when he started thrusting again, very shallow but fast, faster than she’d have thought possible, too fast for her to keep up with. Her already electrified nerves felt overloaded– he was running over that spot deep inside her so fast, too fast, too fast, she couldn’t handle this, it was too much too much too much. She tried to tell him, ask him, beg him to stop, it felt too good, she couldn’t take it, but nothing would come out of her mouth, not even a whimper. Her neck arched off the table and now it was her turn to pant helplessly in his ear, no exaggeration this time, her hands clawing at him, his pants, his shirt, his hair, his arms, anything and everything. He couldn’t possibly keep this up for long, he had to stop soon, but impossibly he kept going, his teeth gritted, his eyes screwed shut in concentration as he pushed himself past his limits. Her nerves felt like they were on fire, blue, hot, electric fire, and still she felt her climax building, looming up over her like a tidal wave and she was scared of what would happen when it crashed but she still clung to it as it raced toward whatever it was, exhilarated in her fear. She’d never felt like this, ever ever ever and oh god it was too fast, they were racing past every point she’d ever stopped at before, blowing past every safety barrier and powering on toward that scary, frightening, incredible, inevitable something and he wouldn’t stop, oh god oh god oh god...

It was a second before she came back to herself and realized it was over. Sanji hovered over her, his face flushed, sweaty, and worried, the lower half covered with a hand. She realized it was her own hand and slowly removed it, feeling jumpy and twitchy, still electrified as her nerves tried to recover from the overload.

“You okay?” he asked, looking a little overloaded himself. She could feel his arms trembling as they held him up and he looked like he wanted to collapse.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Her own arms reached around his back and pulled him down to rest against her, figuring the guy had at least earned that much. Hell, she needed the cuddling as much as he did this time, she still felt like she was on the verge of either laughing hysterically or crying, and screw it, he wasn’t the only one who’d felt lonely the past few nights.

“I thought I’d try something new, since you’d said you were bored. I didn’t think you’d react like that, though.” His arms went around her in a hug. “You scared me for a minute,” he murmured.

*You scared me,* she wanted to say, but didn’t, figuring that wasn’t something he needed to hear right then. Besides, she knew if she did, he’d never do it again. “I didn’t make any noise, did I?”

She felt him shake his head. “No, you were quiet. I wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t muzzled me, though.” So that’s why her hand had been there. She could hear the sheepish smile in his voice and she reached up to pat the back of his head. No wonder she’d scared him. Hell, her nerves were still shocky and her knees felt like noodles even lying on the table. That had been one hell of a quickie he’d given her.

He pulled back far enough to give her a soft kiss, moving her legs down from his neck as he went to pull out of her, then looked at her in surprise when she wrapped her legs around his waist to stop him.

“Stay a while.” She smiled at him and saw him smile back at her. As soon as the euphoria wore off she was going to feel sticky and disgusting and need a shower, but for right now she wanted him close, not minding all the sweat and other mingling secretions. She was all churned up and wanted something solid to hold onto until she settled again. He gladly obliged her, probably needing the same thing himself, and settled comfortably back into her arms.

Then the door to the kitchen exploded open and their illustrious Captain rolled to a stop a few feet from them, laughing at whatever had propelled him there in the first place. Without looking around to see what, if anything, he might have barged in on, he then got up and ran back out the door shouting to Zoro how Usopp’s new giant slingshot was fun and thankfully slammed the door behind him.

“Get off me!!” Nami shoved Sanji off onto the floor and tried to straighten her hair, shove the breast that had popped out of her shirt back in, yank her skirt down and pull her panties up all at the same time. Sanji just looked at her in shock, both from her actions and the abrupt popping of their private little bubble. “And zip your pants up!! What’s wrong with you??” He looked down at the offending garment as though wondering what it was and did as he was told.

What the HELL had she been thinking?? Sex in the kitchen during the day, with everyone out there, nothing to bar the door with, NOTHING? And why the hell hadn’t he stopped her, he knew better than that! God, he was such an idiot! What if Luffy had looked over and seen them? What if someone else had looked through the door and seen them?? What if someone had come in while they were screwing on the table?? Stupid Sanji, always thinking with his dick before anything else.

“Nami-san,” he stammered, obviously at a loss as to what to say, “I’m sorry, I thought that was what you wanted–“

”Yeah, well you should have thought a little harder!” On wobbly knees, she could still storm out of a room quite effectively.

“Hey, Nami!” Luffy called from down on deck. “Come see Usopp’s new slingshot!”

Before she could tell him where to shove said slingshot, the door to the galley opened and an urgent-looking Sanji emerged.

“Nami-san, wait, please, let’s talk abou–“

”There’s nothing to talk about! Everyone leave me alone!!” She felt their eyes on her as she spun and retreated to the safety of her room and bolted the door closed. They all knew, didn’t they? They’d probably known the whole time and just hadn’t said anything and she was stupid enough to think she’d outsmarted them all. Now whenever they saw the two of them together, they’d smirk or make a comment about sex, even if nothing was even going on, there would be accusations of favoritism, and everything would be a huge mess. The whole dynamic would change, and even if things didn’t fall apart, they’d be different, and she liked things how they were.

Humiliated, exhausted, sticky, scared and confused, she flopped on her bed and tried to shut the world out with her pillow. Sanji came by several times and knocked on her door, asking to talk, but she ignored him until he finally left. Once her mixed up emotions had started to settle, she realized how ludicrously she’d behaved, especially towards Sanji. When they’d started their secret affair, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, and now that was exactly what she was doing. It wasn’t fair to him and it was past time it ended.

A glance at her clock told her she’d been stewing in her humiliation for a few hours now, which meant Sanji was probably a mess. Knowing she should probably take a shower before anything else, she got up and made her way back to the kitchen instead. Sure enough, there was Sanji hunched over the stove preparing dinner. She sighed and pushed the door open, checking the room to see if they were alone.

“I told you, it’ll be ready when it’s ready!” Sanji snapped without turning around.

“I hope it’s not too long,” she said, trying to make her voice more cheerful than she felt, “I missed lunch.”

He whipped around to see her standing there, hopefully not looking as sheepish as she felt. “Nami-san!” Dropping what he was doing, he rushed over to her. “I’m so sorry about this afternoon, I should have been thinking more clearly, I just–“ Her finger on his mouth shushed him.

*Oh Sanji-kun,* she sighed inwardly, *what did I do to you?* “Don’t apologize. It was stupid to have sex in the kitchen, but it was my idea, not yours, all right?” He nodded mutely so she let her finger down. “Listen, I was thinking about everything earlier and I don’t think this is going to work.”

To say he looked stricken at that would have been an understatement; he looked like a man whose world was crumbling under his feet.

She pressed on, wanting to make sure he understood that she’d been the one in the wrong this time. “The sneaking around, the secrets, everything, it’s just not fair to you.”

“No! No no no no, don’t do this, please.” He pulled her in to him and she began to realize they weren’t even on the same page. “I’ll do anything you want, whatever it takes. Please, I just want to be with you.”

Smiling softly at her silly, stupid boyfriend, she returned the embrace. “Then come over tonight.”

There was a pause as he digested this. “Come over? Then...” There was a slight pause as he flipped to the right page before he lifted her off the ground to hug her. Yeah, he was a dork, but he was her dork. Then he set her down and processed the rest of what she’d said. “But... if I come over tonight, Robin-chan...”

“I never said we had to have sex,” she rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder, “I just want to sleep with you.”

Another pause. “All night?”

“All night.”

The smile he gave her then washed away any lingering regret she’d had about this decision and made her knees tingle a little to boot (though she’d never let on, of course). Screw the others, they could think what they liked. To pretend that her relationship was something secret and shameful because she was afraid of things changing, that was truly stupid. Sanji deserved better, she deserved better, and everyone else did as well. They were her nakama, she trusted them with her life, so why not everything else, too? She knew they’d do the same in her place.

And so, with that, Nami found herself in the deep end after all, a little sooner than expected, but Sanji had been there waiting, which helped. He showed up at bedtime and Robin only looked surprised for a moment before she excused herself. Nami wouldn’t have been surprised if Robin had known or at least suspected all along, she had a knack for that sort of thing. Despite her earlier claim that she just wanted to sleep, they wound up having sex again, and in the morning he made her breakfast in bed, which she certainly wasn’t about to protest. He seemed much more like his old self from then on, much to her relief; she’d missed the happier, less-stressed Sanji and felt even more confident that she’d made the right choice. He just wasn’t a secret-keeper.

As for everyone else, they didn’t exactly advertise their couplehood, but they didn’t go out of their way to hide it, either. If anyone noticed the lingering glances, the smiles, the little touches, or the fact that Sanji rarely slept in the guys’ room anymore, no one said anything. For a while, anyway; it was inevitable that they wouldn’t be able to escape without any teasing whatsoever, and Nami always had Sanji to sic on them whenever they piped up. But it was all in fun and they knew when to leave well enough alone, too. All in all, things really hadn’t changed like she’d once feared they would, and thing stayed pretty normal.

But they never had sex on the kitchen table again, a mutually unspoken decision that they both felt was for the best, all things considered.