The only fantasies that really matter [Semiclosed]

[supremeweek]

Characters: Franky, Jim Hawkins (Message me if you want in)
Location: Shop room
Time: Backdated to not long after the Nexus
Content: A man's got to know when to move on.
Format: Prose.
Warnings: Sads.

Comments

MEANWHILE, IN THE KITCHEN [Strawhat Thread]

[supremeweek]

Now, Franky was, under most circumstances, a firm advocate of throwing plans to the wind and flying by the seat of his speedo. But when one has no particular destination in mind while setting off into the world, food was admittedly something that would be worth preparing.

It was with this in mind that Franky strutted into the kitchen, and without pause or check to see if there was a chef lurking somewhere to smack him, he beelined for the pantry and began taking handfuls of food. There was some small thumping and clinking about as he dropped his finds into a large bag; it seemed he'd already taken his stock of cola, as well.

SORRY I have been trying to get used to daylight hours again. Yikes.

[love_hurricane]

Whilst Sanji would have been entirely in support of the original priotization of food supplies in the event of a voyage, without any context the event of walking in on the large robotic man raiding his kitchen was not something the cook was going to be very opened minded about.

"And what, may I ask, do you reckon you're up to?"

A rather distemperate foot had clamped down over the opening of the bag to prevent the miscreant shovelling more ransacked food into it, the other tapping in accompaniment to the severely crossed arms and even crosser expression glowering down at the blue haired mechanic. To say that Sanji looked pissed off was a gross understatement; evidently, crimes involving food supplies were not taken lightly in this kitchen.

"You know, you just have to ask if you want me to shell out the vittles... so there'd better be a damn good reason why you're acting like some painfully incompetent sneak thief."

Recalibrating your sleep can be tough! I get it.

[supremeweek]

The sudden interruption to Franky's recruitment of food in the army for his stomach got Sanji a small frown--really, a smaller frown than it might have been otherwise, more upset than annoyed. Mostly, he was hoping he would get out of this without having to bicker it out with the chef, really. He hadn't really been sure how he was supposed to break it to the one-eyed git.

"What're you gettin' so fussy about? A guy's gotta eat, and it ain't like you're short on supplies, huh?" He gave the bag a tug. "C'mon, don't be stingy. You should be glad I'm keepin' myself all up on nutrition and whatever." Beef jerky was full of nutrients, after all.

[love_hurricane]

Sanji's foot held firm to the extent that the floorboard gave pitiful squeak of protest. Similarly, the frown that Franky was receiving was less murderous than it would have been for most others of the same gender and offense. There was something suspicious about the whole affair, and Sanji was giving his companion a grade A case of stink-eye to let him know.

"You're up to something."

Looming took a back seat, as the cook crouched down to get a good look at Franky's face, metal-riveted nose and all.

"You're not the type to sneak around. This is downright weird for you, and that's saying something- come on, out with it."

[supremeweek]

Franky maintained the gaze for a stretch of a few long seconds, trying to remain firm in his resolve. But the simple fact as that, it was hard to look straight at Sanji when the guy was obviously showing more concern than usual. The cyborg glanced away, rubbing at his neck. Resolve was easy. Not feeling guilty was another matter.

"Ahhh, you're makin' it sound like I've got some big plot, man, lighten up." He gave a sigh. "Augh, there's no way to make this super..."

Finally, rolling his shoulders, he gave the cook a weary look. "Long an' short of it, Blondie: I'm out. Done dicking around."

[love_hurricane]

There was a moment where Sanji's face took a moment to start laughing and then stop before he began, realizing that the guy wasn't really the sort to joke about that sort of thing. He blinked to process the information.

"Seriously? You're... you're leaving? Like, right now?"

Pressing down on the sack was forgotten, the chef balancing on the balls of his feet while his hands expressed his disbelief and complete and total lack of affection for the cyborg.

"But- what about the kids? What about the crew? What... what about Luffy?" The ceiling earned a particularly exasperated gesture; "You seriously think he's just gonna let you up an' leave like this?!"

[supremeweek]

"Luffy doesn't have to let me if he doesn't know 'til I'm gone," Franky snapped, and stood to his full height. "An' I'm not leavin' the crew, all right? I promised the guy I'd build him a ship. And I sure as shit can't do that, just... sittin' around here, making sure kids don't saw their damn limbs off. Heck, I can't get anything done, how I been lazing around here."

He shook his head and waved a hand. "When Luffy's ready to set sail, I'll have the ship ready for him. I'll figure out a way to let you know where I am."

With a particular tug, he pulled the bag the rest of the way out from Sanji's foot. "Be ready to go by tomorrow," he mumbled. "Should've been done sooner." Maybe he'd been stalling, he realized. At least one of the crew wold know, know.

[cosimrubber]

Whether it was fate, whether it was destiny, whether it was Luffy's uncanny knack of being able to track down the unlucky chef whenever his various appetite willed him to do so which was pretty much always anyway, the fact was that the very same item of discussion chose that moment to burst through the doors in a spectacular piece of ironic timing in having missed the entire conversation.

"HEY SANJI!"

Just what his companion was doing crouched on the floor didn't matter, but it meant that he made an even better landing place than usual, as the rubber-limbed creature landed on Sanji's shoulders mimicking his stance. It looked like they were playing leap frog but hadn't quite got the hang of it.

"Oh! Hey Franky! Were you hungry too?"

[love_hurricane]

About to snatch the bag back and give Franky a real piece of his mind in this very serious discussion about serious matters, Sanji felt a wave of deja-vu come over him. Or, well, a large bundle of it that landed on his shoulders. Fortunately his years at sea prevented the complete schadenfreude course of him toppling over to the floor face-first.

He didn't look annoyed at the intrusion, however, as he simply craned his neck back to look up at the familiar face poised above his head.

"Oh, hello Luffy, we were just talking about you... weren't we, Franky?"

Somehow standing up with the impetuous student still perched on his shoulders, the chef gave the carpenter an expectant nod.

"Well? Go on."

[supremeweek]

Oh it just goddamn figured that the spastic elastic wonder would show up right about then, didn't it. Franky's lip curled in what may have appeared to been distaste, but really mostly discomfort.

He gave the moody chef another halfhearted glare as the man stood up and issued the challenge. "Dammit, cook, why you gotta make a mess outta everything..." It was all very clearly Sanji's fault. But he couldn't very well lie to the kid's face now. Damn, how was telling a dopey teen some news harder than anything else Franky had done? He had to man up about it.

"Yeah," he finally grunted. "I'm settin' off, kid. Figured I should get a head start on your ship, or somethin'." Or something. Seriously, why was he being such a wimp about this?

[cosimrubber]

Luffy did a singularly unusual thing during the exchange between his two crew mates, as he was completely silent throughout the whole thing. When Franky had finished saying his succinct piece, the straw-hatted boy paused in what seemed to be, impossibly, thought.

"Ah."

He tilted his head to the side, looking uncommonly like a monkey on his blue-striped perch, as his eyes roved to the bag full of food, back to Franky, up to the ceiling, then back to Franky.

He nodded decisively, swapping position to sit with his legs hanging over Sanji's shoulders, arms resting on the blond mop of hair as if he was sat on a chair backwards.

"Okay. Where're we gonna build it?"

[love_hurricane]

Part of seeing Franky look so uncomfortable about confessing the matter was gratifying, but a larger part of it (which Sanji refused to acknowledge because it was just stupid) was unremittingly awkward. Why did it feel like that? Surely, the kid would give Franky an ear full and pull that kicked-puppy-expression shit and the big goof would change his mind and stay. Not that he wanted him to, really, I mean, well, maybe a little, but it wasn't for any dumb reason like being friends or anything... the big lunk could do what he wanted. It was just... you know, captains orders had to be followed. Yeah.

Which was precisely why Sanji almost fell over and unseat his unpredictable charge.

"Wha-wait, what? What?!He looked between the two, one directly overhead and the other nearly directly. "You can't be... Luffy, you're joking right?" He laughed unconvincingly; "Come on, get serious. Hang on- that's it, isn't it, you two are in this together

[supremeweek]

Franky was well ready to expect a thorough scolding for his, and he had steeled himself, preparing to hold his ground on the matter. The way that Luffy seemed to be thinking over the news, though, wasn't quite the outburst he'd been preparing for, and then came the pitch.

There was only one word that could describe the look on Franky's face: dumbfounded.

"Beh--wha?" While Luffy's blond steed was switching over into denial mode, the cyborg only managed to gawk in complete bafflement.

Finally, he managed to straighten up, in an attempt to regain his composure. "Oi, Strawhat, I ain't talkin' 'bout some school trip, here," he warned, fully ignoring Sanji's prattle. "I'm straight up heading out. Don't even know where I'll set up."

[cosimrubber]

"I know."

The words were said bluntly with a hint of reassuring cheerfulness, as the rubber boy relieved Sanji of the task of looking up all for the entire conversation, hopping off his head in a strange sort of forwards roll.

Brushing down his jacket he nodded under the brim of his hat, "-an it's okay, Sanji. You can catch up. What with you'n Tiana just finally getting to be happy and all." He beamed up at the cook in his familiar ear-to-ear manner, but there was a sincerity to his eyes that was hard to describe. Like he knew what was happening, and what he was doing.

"Anyways, I was getting bored, an' I reckon I'm much more strong now, and Franky's gotta have a captain if he's setting out to sea. You can't do that without a captain you know."

[love_hurricane]

This was all happening so fast.

The chef gawped un-intelligently down at the confident soon to be ex-student, trying to process what was going on. Yet somehow, it all made sense. It didn't feel like this was as spontaneous a decision as it surely was; it felt like Luffy really did know what he was doing, that this was the right thing for them to do.

Sanji's brain put the brakes on, as his sense of logic came screaming around the corner; "Whoa whoa whoa. Hold it; that's all well and good but, you can't just up and leave?! Franky! What about the class? And the staff? Luffy, what about Robin? And Chopper, and, and... well, everyone!"

That "everyone" had sounded a lot more like "me."

[supremeweek]

Luffy was still going with this... this crazy idea, that he was planning on going with him, just taking off and... and going. The big man's brow furrowed as he tried to reconcile all this mentally; the kid had to be joking, and yet one look at Luffy's face, bright and happy as it was, told just how serious he was.

Franky's mouth screwed up, and he suddenly pulled the kid into a hug. "Dammit, you moron, I freakin' love you! Y-you don't even know...!" The relief was overwhelming, as well as overflowing. "Y-yer de besd goddamn captain a guy could ask fo', ya know tha'?" He didn't even bother to deny the tears, this time around. He just loved this stupid kid.

Through the rush of excitement, Sanji's protests barely even processed. But he did manage to hear the pleading to think of the crew. Having the captain on his side was a blessing, but... it still might've hurt a little to think of leaving the others.