Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It had been Sanji’s idea to go clubbing that Saturday.

It rather pained him to admit this, as he would much prefer to blame Usopp for their latest misadventure. Alas, his cruel fate was entirely of his own making. Usopp didn’t even like clubbing, which – yes – did remove further validity from Sanji’s claims.

In his honest defence, he’d had a long week at the restaurant and he needed some alcohol or a massage to relax. He had almost gone the second option, but then mid-afternoon he got a message from an old hook up complaining that no one had seen Sanji in the clubbing scene lately.

Sanji hadn’t replied, not at all interested in the conversation, but the idea stuck to his mind. He had dragged Usopp along in the end since Usopp was always good company, come rain or sunshine.

Usopp was also easily distracted, however, and it wasn’t long before Sanji lost him in the crowd of sweaty men that lined the club wall to wall.

He would be fine, Sanji told himself. Usopp was a big boy and he usually didn’t drink much on nights out. He also had a tendency to make friends everywhere he went, unlike Sanji, who scared most people away with his resting face. Right now, his friend was probably enjoying himself in the middle of the dance floor while Sanji sulked by the bar.

Once upon a time, he had loved clubbing. Enjoyed the freedom that came with having all your senses overwhelmed until the music was all you felt. Loved how the alcohol quieted his anxiety in a time when anxiety was all he seemed to have. He revelled in being wanted, having pairs of eyes and hands on him all night long. 

And then there was the fact that, once upon a time, clubbing was all he had. He’d even worked the bars for extra cash while he figured out his life. Running away from home at the sweet age of fifteen had given him freedom and he would be lying if he said he always used that freedom wisely.

In many ways, Sanji was lucky. He had heard stories from other guys. He knew how bad things could go sometimes, especially for dumb kids like him, who started out young, reckless and feeling like they had the whole world to prove wrong. Sanji had gotten away mostly unscarred, stolen wallets and crappy one night stands aside.

He knew he was even more ridiculously, stupidly lucky to have found friends like the ones he had now, not to mention a decent place to live and an even better place to work at.

He still remembered the last time Zeff had threatened Sanji with bloody murder. Sanji and Usopp had just started living together, but it hadn’t been enough to put a pause to Sanji’s clubbing habits. It took Sanji showing up to work hungover one too many times and Zeff yelling at him about drinking his liver away for Sanji to realize maybe, just maybe, he had a problem.

That had been that. Sanji put a pause to clubbing the next day and hadn’t gone back until now.

Now, when he was definitely regretting his life choices.

The guy who was talking to him was… annoying, to say the least. He was too loud, for starters, which was saying a lot considering the music at LEVEL 5.5 was loud enough to give people ear damage if they stayed the whole night. He kept leaning in close to touch him and whisper in his ear even though Sanji moved away from him each and every time. He also didn’t seem to understand that Sanji could not be less interested, despite Sanji answering in nothing but grunts and shrugs in response to whatever Spandex… or was it Spamday? Spam whatever had to say.

“So, do you come here often?” Spam asked.

Sanji gave him a look that Usopp had once classified as ‘Classic Sanji Disgust’. It involved his one visible eyebrow climbing up while the corners of his mouth moved towards his jaw in a sneer.

Spambot either didn’t notice or didn’t care that his audience wasn’t impressed by his non-existent suaveness and brain-rotting charisma.

Sanji looked around the room, trying to figure out a good exit strategy. In the past, he would have just walked away without saying anything, but this guy had put himself between Sanji and the rest of the club and laid a hand on Sanji’s arm that was already way too much, not to mention his overly firm grip.

He looked like the type who would follow him all night even if Sanji did manage to ditch him, which was the last thing Sanji needed.

And to think he could have gotten a massage instead.

With a sigh, Sanji pulled out his phone after Spand started talking to him about his job as a stockbroker (oh! the thrill!). The easiest way to get out of this mess was if he could get Usopp to come pick him up. Then again, that was easier said than done.

Sanji dragged his eyes from his phone to the hand Spandy didn’t have on his arm, which was currently hovering over the beer Sanji had been nursing all night.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing, beautiful. Just checking if you need a refill,” Spammy said with a creep ass grin that made Sanji physically recoil.

Goddammit, he had let this whole thing get too far because of his stupid fucking hang-ups from the past. This whole was making Sanji feel like a kid again, powerless and weak in the face of someone overbearing. 

“You don’t need to touch my glass to check whether or not I need a refill. You have eyes for that,” Sanji said because he wasn’t five again and he wasn’t putting up with this shit anymore.

“I don’t know what you mean. I was just trying to help you,” said the piece of shit in front of him. Sanji reared back, ready to kick him in the balls when a hand grabbed Span by the shoulder and pulled him away like he was nothing but a pesky fly.

“There you are,” said some guy Sanji had never seen before in his life. “I’ve been looking for you all over, babe. You alright?”

Though his tone was sweet and familiar in a way that irked Sanji, his question was genuine. He was looking at Sanji with concern written all over his face, and he wouldn’t look away for a single moment even while Spandy tried to shove him away.

Sanji smiled and leaned forward for the first time that night. “I’m okay, was wondering where you’d gone off to. What took you so long?”

The guy grinned back and slipped an arm around Sanji’s waist, though his touch was so light Sanji barely felt it. Sanji was now between the bar, two occupied seats and new mystery guy. Spambot was behind his rescuer, yelling something that Sanji couldn’t hear over the music.

“For real though, you alright? I’m pretty sure that guy was about to slip something in your drink.” The guy said, speaking low into Sanji’s ear.

Sanji sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted and done with this whole going out shenanigan.

“That’s what I thought. He’s been a pain in the ass all night.”

“Do you want to get out of here? Or if you want I can stand here and pretend to be your over-protective boyfriend for as long as it takes for him to leave?”

Sanji finally stopped to take a good look at his apparent rescuer. He was quite handsome with a strong jawline and a constellation of freckles decorating his face and running down his neck. He probably had them everywhere, alongside a nice farmboy tan that contrasted sharply with Sanji’s own pale complexion.

He was the type Sanji would normally go a little weak on the knees for, and he would be lying if having him be all over Sanji looking earnest and concerned didn’t spark some interest.

Nevertheless, Sanji was tired. He would have preferred calling it quits for the evening then and there, but since Usopp hadn’t replied to any of his texts yet, Sanji had to make a tough decision. Either play hide and seek in a club full of handsy men or spend some time with the handsome farmboy.

He’d made harder decisions, that much he could say.

“Stay with me? I’ll buy you a drink for your trouble.”

The other man grinned at him. “There are worse ways to spend an evening. At least this way I don’t have to worry about doing anything too embarrassing and my friends getting it on tape for future blackmail material.”

Sanji laughed, his shoulders loosening as he relaxed. “Would they really do that?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“Nah, they’re just shooting the shit. Well, someone did post my bare naked ass on their Instagram once, but they were really drunk when they did it and the caption was ‘the most beautiful moons I’ve ever seen’,” the man said, holding up air quotes. “So I don’t think that counts?”

“It is a pretty flattering compliment,” Sanji said, grinning down at the other man. He was shorter than him by a few inches but still fairly tall, and he seemed to make up for the lack of height in shoulder width. Sanji had never stepped foot inside a gym, but he’d bet this guy was a regular. Sanji wondered if he did a lot of squats. He had to, right? If his friends were clamouring over his ass on social media...

He was about to ask if his voluptuous rescuer happened to have a copy of the photo when he noticed that Spant was still hanging around near them. Apparently Beautiful Ass noticed him looking and glanced over his shoulder.

“Hey, buddy, can’t you see you’re bothering my boyfriend and me? Piss off,” he yelled, not bothering to look at him long enough to check if he was going to reply. He moved a fraction of a step closer to Sanji while still giving him plenty of space to be.

Sanji refused to glance at Spanx for even a second, not taking his eyes off the other man.

“My hero,” he said, making both of them laugh.

“I could take him in a fight. Seems kinda unfair considering he looks like the wind could blow him over, but I would do it if I had to.”

Sanji glanced at his arms. Yup. “Don’t doubt that,” he said. “I’m Sanji, by the way.”

“Ace. Nice to meet you.”

They didn’t shake hands since there wasn’t that much space for them to break apart, but Sanji did feel a light squeeze on his hip before Ace retracted his hand.

“So, what can I get you?” Sanji asked, turning towards the bar to see if he could flag down a bartender. 

“You don’t need to get me anything, for real,” Ace yelled. He sounded earnest, almost painfully so, as if he was adamant that Sanji know this.

“Not even a beer?” He asked.

“You don’t owe me anything.”

Sanji snorted. “I know, but I’d like to get you something. I mean, we are at a club.”

Ace tilted his head to the side as if he was confused and yet also amused by him. “Just because we’re at a club doesn’t mean we have to drink.”

“Really?” Sanji asked, scepticism written all over his face. He couldn’t remember a single night out where he hadn’t gotten at least pleasantly tipsy. His first night out at the sweet age of sixteen started with a litre of beer and ended with two shots of absinthe and him puking his guts out behind a tree. Shit days, those were. 

Ace stared at him for a few seconds before he seemed to come to some sort of decision, nodding to himself.

“Do you want to dance?” He asked, completely ignoring Sanji’s previous statement.

Sanji stared at him, baffled into silence by the quick change of topic. He debated with himself for a moment before he thought fuck it . This was what he’d come here to do in the first place. Unwind. Relax. Enjoy having the music course through him as if it was blood itself. His time hadn’t gone to plan so far, but the night was still young.

“One second,” he said. He pulled out his phone to text Usopp a quick ‘ nvm im good ’ in case his friend bothered to look at his phone for the night before he pocketed it again. He then flagged down a bartender, gave them a rough description of Spandam, and waited for them to confirm security would find him before he turned back to Ace. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Ace led him to the middle of the dance floor, his arm never leaving Sanji’s waist. There were eyes tracking them as they walked, though whether they were staring at him or Ace, Sanji could not tell. He did step close to Ace, however, until they were nearly plastered front to front. He wouldn’t classify himself as possessive, per se, but a childhood of want and hunger had made him reluctant to share even the things that weren’t his in the first place.

The club was playing Eurotrash that evening, mixed in with a couple of hits from the 90s that everyone seemed to love. It was the kind of music that was fun and loud and everyone knew half the lyrics.

At the start, Sanji danced with his arms around Ace’s shoulders, not grabbing or pulling, just being. If Ace was surprised or bothered by this, he sure didn’t show it. His own hands never left Sanji’s hips even as his own started moving in little circles that barely pressed against Sanji.

It was impossible to track how much time they spent dancing together. The atmosphere at the club was hazy and warm, buzzing against their skin. Sanji opened the first three buttons on his shirt for some air, not missing how Ace zero’ed in on the spot before he looked up again. Though he was entirely sober, Sanji felt almost heady underneath all the careful attention.

At some point, Ace let go of him to start doing silly dance moves, a couple of fist pumps and pizza tosses that had Sanji throwing back his head in laughter. 

"Have I impressed you with my dazzling dance moves yet?"

Sanji laughed some more. "I'm not sure if impressed is the right word."

"Just you wait until I sweep you off your feet," Ace promised before he got all up close and personal with Sanji – whoa, he really did have a ton of freckles – and did just that, ignoring the few hundred curses Sanji threw at him. 

"You are a menace to society. Has anyone ever told you that?" Sanji yelled once his head was more than ten inches away from the ground and his feet were on solid footing again.

Ace blinked up at him before he burst into laughter. "My brother told me that literally just this morning. Have you two met?"

Sanji shook his head. "If he’s as mad as you, definitely not. I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before," he confessed, surprising himself with his own honesty.

It wasn’t long before he was joining Ace in doing silly dance moves, pulling out every corny move he could think of, from the robot to the Hannah Montana country classic, loving how Ace matched him move for move. He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever had this much fun in a club. Hell, outside of time spent with Nami and Usopp, he couldn't remember ever having this much fun, period.

He danced and laughed so hard he actually had to clear tears from his eyes a couple of times. Throughout it all, Ace never went too far, pulling them back together whenever it looked like they were about to part in a sea of strangers.

“You having fun?” He was asked at some point, the words shouted right against his ear-shell. Sanji shivered from the close contact and the feeling of Ace pulling so close.

“More than I’ve had in ages. Thank you, for this and for the rescue earlier.”

“I’m glad I could help, babe.”

And if Sanji blushed at the repeated nickname, this time voiced for him and him alone, at least Ace wouldn’t be able to tell underneath the fluorescent club lights.

“Do you do this often on nights out? Find strangers in trouble and save them from their fate?” Sanji asked. He wasn’t sure why he was asking Ace this in particular, he knew it was hardly polite, but he had the feeling Ace didn’t really care for such things.

“No. You’re my first ever club rescue, believe it or not. I usually just dance with my friends and make a fool out of myself, as you’ve now had the pleasure of witnessing.”

“Am I special then?” Sanji asked. It was a stupid question -- a selfish question -- but the urge to press for more wouldn’t leave him.

“You are. You’re also the type who can take care of himself, but I figured if I swooped in I would save you a few busted knuckles,” Ace said, speaking right into Sanji’s ear.

“I only kick people. I’m a chef. Can’t be damaging the goods.”

They were close enough now that if Sanji were to turn his head ever so slightly to the side, they would kiss. Who actually made the move, Sanji wasn’t sure. He only knew one moment he was thinking about kissing Ace, and the next he had a pair of lips pressed against his and a hand finally clenching his ass hard enough to leave an impression.

Sanji’s own hands slipped through Ace’s hair, for once not caring about how sweaty club hair felt. Sanji had never been a big fan of kissing, not with one-night stands anyway, but he enjoyed this one. Ace was unhurried, for starters, pressing and nibbling and touching but never pushing Sanji for more. He seemed to enjoy taking his time and learning what made Sanji squirm into his hands.

Their kiss was lazy and warm and soft. When they parted to breathe, Ace started peppering Sanji’s jaw with small fluttering kisses and Sanji moved his head to give him space. He felt Ace open his mouth to start kissing and nibbling a spot on Sanji’s neck, which would surely leave a mark. Sadly for his future self, Sanji wasn’t able to give a single flying fuck.

His neck had always been one of his weak spots and it would have taken an avalanche to stop himself from clutching Ace tighter, fingernails leaving scratches on skin.

“Christ,” he hissed. He was usually not one for public demonstrations of affection, but he was strongly reconsidering it.

Ace pulled back from his neck with a loud and wet pop noise that made Sanji cringe on the inside. “Nope,” he said. “Just me.”

The next time they kissed there was tongue involved and more downstairs action than Sanji had seen in a while. He was thinking about inviting Ace back to his place when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

He was a little surprised at the time, but he hardly got a chance to wonder at where the hours had gone when he realized what Usopp was texting him.

Usopp !

Usopp: SOS

Usopp: Come quick!! Im by the door

Usopp: Please!!!

“Shit,” Sanji cursed and pushed Ace away with a hand on his chest, putting some space between them. “Shit, shit, shit. I’m sorry, I need to go.”

“Everything okay?” Ace let go of Sanji’s waist and took a step back.

“Maybe. I don’t know. My friend is texting me, I need to leave. I’m sorry, I had a great time,” Sanji said.

Before he knew it, he was racing across the club, shoving people away without giving a single flying fuck. Usopp had never texted him SOS before and Sanji didn’t know what was wrong – LEVEL 5.5 was usually pretty chill on the weekends – but he was still panicking maybe more than a little bit when he finally reached Usopp’s side.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you hurt? Did anyone force themselves on you?”

Usopp turned to him and threw his hands up in the air, shouting at Sanji. “I lost my jacket! I don’t know how it happened. One minute I was dancing next to the stage with the jacket around my waist and the next it was gone.”

Jacket… He lost his jacket? Sanji took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out what the hell Usopp was talking about. 

“You texted me SOS because you lost your jacket?”

“My wallet is in there! Also, it was one of my nicer jackets. Cost me a third of my paycheck and Nami bargaining for twenty minutes.”

“Your wallet is… Right, of course.” Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose and used every inch of strength in him not to kick Usopp in the face.

It was alright. Usopp didn’t go clubbing often. He didn’t know that in a club you always kept your jacket on you or put it in the coat room and you never, ever, parted with your wallet. It was fine. If they were lucky, the jacket would be on the floor somewhere, and then they could just return to what they were doing before: Usopp making friends with half the club and Sanji making out with Ace. No worries.

“I left a really, really amazing guy because of your stupid text. We had a connection. A real connection. I just want you to know that.”

“Aw, you left a guy for me?” Usopp pressed a hand to his own chest. Sanji kicked him in the chin.

“I fucking hate you right now.”

“What?” Usopp asked, doubled down in pain “You didn’t get his number?”

“No, I didn’t get his number! I thought you were in trouble so I came running, idiot. We’ll have to find him later,” Sanji said.

“You know, I’m pretty sure me losing my wallet and my favorite jacket classifies as an emergency. It’s in the Best Friend’s Handbook.”

Sanji turned around and started walking back to the dance floor. “What do you even have in your wallet anyway? Twenty dollars and some old receipts?”

Now that Sanji was present and involved in the Great Jacket Search, Usopp seemed to have relaxed tremendously, and quickly joined him with a lil hop. “Less than that. Probably just five bucks and some candy. My bus pass was in there, though, and I charged that just last week.”

Sanji hummed in response. Neither he nor Usopp had any real money, but he knew how much it sucked losing the little they had anyway. The first time Sanji lost his wallet he spent the whole night crying and woke up covered in snot and feeling like hell ran over him. It was a messy, shitty feeling.

They started searching for Usopp’s jacket by the stage, since that was the last place Usopp remembered having it. The club lights were pretty shit, so the searching process was a mix of rubbing their feet on the floor to see if they hit anything and squinting at club-goers to see if anyone was wearing the jacket.

Usopp also talked to the group he’d been dancing with, a mix of drag queens and some really fashionable guys, who had no memory of the jacket but did join their search, until eventually they found it shoved up against a wall, a little worse for the wear but still intact and with Usopp’s wallet in one of the pockets.

“You’re good?” Sanji asked as Usopp slipped on the damn jacket.

“Yes! Are you gonna find your dream boy now? Can I come with?”

Sanji cringed. “And do what? Challenge him to a dance contest?” The way Usopp’s eyes lighted up told Sanji this was definitely the wrong joke to make to a tipsy Usopp. “Can you forget I said that?”

“He can dance? The guys you usually meet never dance. They just sorta shimmy and grind.” Usopp did a really bad interpretation of a dirty club grind. Sanji kicked him again. “Come on, let me meet him. This is a special night. I found my jacket. You found a guy you actually like and don’t secretly despise and develop a weird hate-sex buddies thing.”

Sanji glared at Usopp though he couldn't, strictly speaking, debate this. His last attempt at a relationship had been pitiful, according to Nami, and excruciating, according to Usopp. Ace was, like, ten times better already and they'd only shared one kiss.

“Alright, alright. But no dance-offs.”

“Dance is very powerful, Sanji. When it wants to flow, no one can control it.”

Sanji briefly, but maybe not briefly enough, contemplated ripping off Usopp’s jacket and tossing it onto the middle of the dancing crowd so it could get stomped on some more. Maybe another night.

They made their way through the club walking close together to make sure neither got lost. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually they got to the spot where Sanji had left Ace and found it… full of other people.

Sanji looked around, pushed some guys out the way and even jumped a few times so see if going high would give him a better view. He took a walk around the area they’d been in, then another bigger walk that stretched all the way to the bar. He even checked the bathrooms, in a final bout of desperation, before he finally accepted his fate.

“He’s not here,” he concluded, voice devoid of any emotion. Shit. Why wasn’t he here? Sanji must have been gone for ten, twenty minutes tops.

“Did you ask him to wait for you?”

“Did I ask him to wait for me? Of course I – didn’t. Shit. No. I totally panicked when I got your text and then I just left him without an explanation. Fuck .”

“Yeah.” Usopp patted Sanji’s shoulder. “That would do it.”

Sanji glared at his supposed best friend. “I will throw you into a shark tank, I swear. This is all your fault!”

Usopp ignored him. “So what now?”

Sanji scratched his head. Tonight had been far more eventful than he’d planned. Now that all the adrenaline and excitement were gone, it seemed his general exhaustion had made a comeback. 

“This sucks. I really liked him,” he said.

Usopp threw an arm over his shoulders. “We can keep looking.”

“No, there’s no point. He probably thought I was trying to ditch him and left after I did. Let’s just go home.”

He and Usopp took a night bus home since they had, in grand total, less than fifteen dollars between them. It was thankfully a quiet ride and when they got back to their apartment, Sanji headed straight into his bedroom, stripping quickly before he threw himself face-first on the bed. 

On a normal night it would take him ages to fall asleep, but it seemed his exhaustion was real enough that this time he was out like a rock within a few minutes. He woke up the next day to memories of freckles, a bright smile, and morning wood. He was about to rub one off against the mattress when a pitiful, whale like noise coming from his side startled him.

Sanji peered over the bed to find Usopp lying on the floor wrapped around a pillow like it was his lifeline. Huh. He must have drank a lot more than Sanji realized, or maybe age was making both of them weak. Sanji himself had a bit of a headache, but was overall no worse for the wear physically.

Emotionally, his memory of last night was catching up to him fast and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

“Why are you in my bedroom?” he asked.

Usopp groaned, but didn’t reply. Sanji contemplated throwing a pillow at him, but didn’t feel like risking Usopp puking in his bedroom and being the one to clean it up.

Besides, he had more important things to do, like check his phone and make sure his stupid past-self hadn’t missed out on a chance with someone actually nice by being a complete fuck and forgetting to get his number.

Alas, life was cruel and bitter and horrible in many, many ways.

“I hate myself,” Sanji groaned, falling back on the bed. “I hate myself and all of humanity. This is so unfair.”

Usopp groaned what could be construed as a sickly, “What?” so Sanji decided to do his good deed of the day and got up to grab some painkillers.

“I didn’t get his number! How could I not get his number? He was so hot, Usopp. He had like rock-solid muscles and he saved my ass and he made me laugh.”

“That’s nice…” Usopp said.

Sanji threw the pill box at his face and left a water bottle by his side before he climbed back in bed.

“If you throw up in my bedroom I’m going to put kale in all your breakfasts from now on,” he said, though even to his own ears he sounded too sad to be threatening. 

Sanji spent the next couple of minutes glaring at his phone as if anger alone could magically make Ace’s number appear. Figures, first night he goes out in weeks and actually meets a nice guy and he totally ruins his chances by not getting his stupid phone number.

Out the corner of his eye, a sad blanket shape crawled out of his bedroom.

There was only one person who could help him now. Sanji took a deep breath and pulled out his inner poet.

Sanji glared at his phone. Fine. Fair. It’s true that he didn’t have the best track record with guys. Life was a journey of growth and learning. Sanji blazed through.

With Nami’s help secured, Sanji’s energy was renewed and he decided a shower and some pancakes were in order.