Requested by SketchMyD over on dA.
Red
Usopp had never liked the colour red. Red was the colour of blood, and pain, and his mother's cheeks against her pale skin when she was feverish and dying.
And then Usopp met a pirate captain with black hair and white teeth and a red shirt that he seemed to change even less often than Usopp changed his overalls. Red suddenly became the colour of strength, and heroes, and someone who was for more amazing than Usopp could ever hope to be.
Usopp decided then that he liked the colour red.
…
Usopp sat on the deck of the Thousand Sunny, running his fingers through the soft grass. He stared up at the stars, at the constellations winking down at him, and pulled Sogeking's cape tighter around his shoulders. It wasn't his watch, but he hadn't been able to sleep very well since leaving Water 7. Sunny just still didn't feel like home.
Usopp screamed when a dark shape suddenly flung itself down from the crow's nest and right into the sniper's lap.
"L-Luffy," he stuttered, trying to slow his frantically beating heart as he stared down at his captain's grinning face.
"Is it your watch next?" Luffy asked, trying to wiggle under the cape next to Usopp.
"No. I think it's Sanji's," Usopp answered, shifting slightly to make room for Luffy.
Luffy pulled the red cape up to his chin, settling down in Usopp's lap, back pressed firmly against the sniper's stomach.
"I like red," he said, suddenly, fingering the edge of the cape. "It's the colour of heroes!"
Usopp froze.
"Like Red Hair Shanks… and Sogeking."
And then Luffy turned his head, stretchy neck craning around until his lips were pressed firmly but messily against Usopp's.
Usopp didn't move, wanted to shout that, No, no, no, he wasn't a hero, and tried to remind himself that Luffy didn't know who Sogeking really was. He decided that maybe he was the damsel in distress, and Luffy was still the hero, so maybe it was okay to kiss him back.
He melted into Luffy's kiss, enjoying every messy, slobbery moment of it. He was smiling when Luffy pulled away.
"Usopp's a hero, too," Luffy said, white teeth shinning as he grinned in the starlight. "Your cheeks are red!"
