Dear gods I never write chapters this long
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Swirling, writhing, colors, stomach turning.
The sky was an unnatural shade of blue and the birds' song borderline a scream.
Makino and Shanks wouldn't notice their existence no matter the tone or volume at which they spoke.
They walked toward a familiar blond, his arms wide open, they ran and fell right through him.
Y/n's eyes shot open, pain filling their entire back from jolting awake.
"Shhh, don't move around so much, you'll open the stitches." Sanji's hushed voice retrieved their reeling mind back into reality.
They were in their bedroom, sprawled across Sanji, safe and sound. Everything was fine.
"Are you alright? You seemed stressed in your sleep, so I woke you up." He said, searching their eyes for something.
"Yeah, just a nightmare." Y/n sighed resting their head back onto his stomach. "When did we get here?"
"You don't remember? So you weren't fully there when you insisted we nap together and I quote "like two snuggly bugs in a dirty old rug"? Whatever that means." He tiredly laughed.
"Pfft haha, ow, haha." Of course they had said something like that.
- - -
Water dripped from the bathroom sink's facet as they leaned against it's basin. The back of their shirt pinned up, a pained grunt escaped them as he slowly removed the bandages.
"Sorry, I'm being as gentle as I can." Sanji whispered, pausing to give them a moment.
"I know, It's alright. You can keep going." Y/n said in a hushed breathless tone.
"Alright." And so he continued.
The cool water cleansing their marred back felt both unpleasantly intense and somehow soothing.
He stared at scrapes, bruises, and stitches as he cleaned. If only he'd been able to do something. If he hadn't just stood there and watched helplessly, they wouldn't be suffering like this.
He grabbed their softest towel and dabbed them dry.
"This part is going to hurt the most. Let me know if you need a break. Are you ready?" Sanji said comfortingly as though he wasn't filled with dread as he picked up the cream.
They took a breathe before answering "Ready."
He'd just finished cleaning up the supplies and noticed Y/n had been quietly watching him the whole time.
"Are you alright?" He asked gently placing a hand on their uninjured shoulder.
"I think so... Yeah." Y/n answered tiredly.
As he began to pull his hand away theirs reached up and held it there.
"Don't go anywhere ok? I'd miss you." They mumbled looking away from him.
It took him a minute to process what they meant, but he understood.
"Never." He smiled.
- - -
The sound of pencils scrawling across paper and the teacher droning on and on filled his ears.
School was more boring than he remembered it being. Was it always like this before he met them?
The desk beside him was vacant. No one to pass him silly notes. No one to tell him a weird story as to why they were late. No one to lend him their jacket if it got too cold in the room.
