i should try to kill my ego

"Yeah he's dreamy..." she says again, curling her arms around her knees where she sits, a soft smile on her face. It's that smile that sits in her head, the confidence of it, the way she feels like she's the only person in the room when he looks at her because he doesn't look away. It certainly makes her feel special.

She's drawn from her thoughts when she hears Hai's change in tone, looking across to see her furrowed brow and pout. With the words that follow, she can feel the undercurrent of worry that he's feeling, shaking her head when the second tease comes. "No way. We can manage being on separate crews I think. And I wouldn't want to put Sorrel out of a job!" She laughs after uncurling her arms and sliding closer to Hai, nudging against her gently. "I'm going nowhere. If i'm going to draw a map of the world, I need to be on the King of the Pirates' ship. And that's Luffy, even if he drives us mad some days with his impulses." Another nudge follows, smile settling into something reassuring as she pushes against him softly, making sure it is known she has no intentions of going anywhere.

the nudges make her giggle a bit, though, nudging back to reassure the navigator in turn.

"glad to hear it. i think luffy would probably just pick you up and carry you back to us, anyway. oh no, i'd hate to see him and jackdaw get into a tug of war over you." he makes a sour face before laughing at the mental image. "if they tore you in two i'd never forgive them!"

ears turn as pink as her hair when the tables turn, hai burying her face in hands for a moment, as if attempting to hide in the heels of her palms. still, she's clearly grinning behind the hands.

"oh come on, why do we have to talk about me?" he laughs, but he lets his hands fall away, cheeks still pink, leaning his head on nami's shoulder instead.

"well, if i had to call someone dreamy, it'd be zoro. have you seen him working out shirtless? or brook, sure he's old...and a skeleton, but he has such a lovely voice, who can't appreciate that?" they're suitably dreamy, right? there's certainly no need to mention a particular blond cook who is definitely the most dreamy on the crew.

" i'd never call that place home, seashell ", she murmurs somewhat gruffly, although there's no anger in it for hai; with ease, she slips her hand into hai's for him to grab, already starting to swim off at a slow enough pace back to her own place, pointedly far away from the sapphaire family's domain. " the cafe might have a little too crowded for my tastes, so my home it is. " if lila could, she'd steal hai away and let it be her home too; she'd considered it a number of times, but also given the situation with hai's younger brother, lila didn't feel right leaving him, either … and there was no telling just what hai's father would pull if lila attempted such a stunt.

silence falls as they swim, hai content to just enjoy a moment of peace. at home, her loud, domineering father's voice so often invades the space, leaving silence a rare commodity. silence can be golden to hai.

when they arrive at lila's place, hai settles, arms wrapping around his chest once he's no longer being held, still somewhat turning in on himself, confidence clearly shaken. still, he feels so much safer now. then lila turns back, and for a second hai can't help but marvel at how they look like twins, arms crossed together like that, and it makes him giggle, feeling lighter still. the sound, however, gives way to a gasp,

"really? you can do that? it's so short- and i'd love a wig-"

" i'm afraid i don't know what you mean. " even while laid up in bed, his injuries haven't stopped him from lighting up a cigarette, ( or more accurately, having someone else light it for him, ) taking a slow drag from it as best he can with the broken arm; poor chopper's doing his best, saying something about how he should stop moving his arm while it's in a cast and stop smoking while he's in his care, but really—sanji feels he might just go insane if he didn't have something to take off some of the edge he's been feeling since coming here. ever since the crew's separation two years ago, @seapphaire was perhaps at the forefront of his thoughts more often than anything else—and, now that they were reunited again, after learning the whole truth about his family, how could sanji not try and do something about it?

" you didn't need to do anything. you were just you. " in another situation, he might be attempting to spin around, hearts in his eyes, singing about how he was the one who didn't deserve hai—and while he still felt like doing that too, it wasn't just his physical state that kept him from doing so. no, when it came to hai, sanji couldn't help but treat them different; she'd known him longer than anyone else on the crew, but more than that, there was just a way she disarmed him : like an arrow straight to the heart, she pierced whatever defenses he had and made all his showy attempts of love and affection crumble, leaving nothing more than raw emotion. a heavy sigh escapes, smoke slipping out, as he finally relinquishes his cigarette to chopper, letting him take it to stamp it out in his frustration; lips curl up in a slight smirk, gaze flicking back towards hai once more.

instead, while she did find a pirate, this not the reunion with sanji she'd been hoping for.

now that chopper has finished working his doctor magic, hai perches on the side of sanjis recovery bed, tail flicking idly as he tries to look as stern and admonishing as he possibly can. shame he's failing pretty badly, but it's not his fault he hasn't seen sanji in a long time. the smile is too hard to hide.

she helps sanji light up the cig, taking a chance to light one up for herself too (finding chances to smoke while in fish-man island are rare), giving chopper a sheepish smile as he complains, mouthing 'sorry' between puffs. eyes move back to sanji after, though, chest tight while he explains. it's something hai is still struggling to learn- that she can deserve good things without having to earn them, that hai is worth more than how useful she is. the straw hats have been fantastic teachers in that regard, but none more so than sanji.

"i could argue, but i feel bad doing so after you got your ass kicked. seriously, what were you thinking?" he's laughing, the sound the brightest it's been in two years, the joy of being reunited with his crew, with sanji, evident. and it's not that hai thinks sanji can't handle himself, but one human against twenty or so thugs isn't exactly a fair fight, no matter how strong sanji has gotten. not at the moment, anyway.

chopper wins and she butts out the cigarette too, leaning down after, holding his face as she smiles sweetly. she revels in the feeling of his skin under her finger tips, the time apart might as well having been an eternity.