Title: Stuck With You
Genre: General/Fluff
Rating: G
Characters/Relationship: Usopp+Luffy
Summary: Luffy and Usopp get themselves into yet another predicament.
Notes: Written for scribe_protra

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"Is that a palm tree?"

Nami seemed more curious than surprised by the palm tree's presence on the deck, her eyes quickly seeking out Luffy and Usopp, figuring they were behind it.

"Well, we couldn't have a pine tree, so…" Usopp began.

"We're going to deck it in lights! And tinsel! And put presents under it!" Luffy finished, his grin widening. Nami shook her head.

She really should have foreseen this. Ever since they had landed on the summer island in the few days before Christmas, she had a sinking feeling that Luffy would resort to desperate measures to have a holiday tree. At first he just couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that such a warm island as Kooey Kooey wouldn't have a pine tree anywhere on it. Then he asked if they could leave and head out for a winter island. When Nami informed him that the soonest they could head out would be Christmas Eve because of waiting for the log pose to set, Luffy had gotten a crazy gleam in his eyes.

Finding a six foot tall palm tree on the deck the next morning seemed only natural after that.

The rest of the crew seemed bemused by their captain's determination to have a festive tree, no matter if it was a palm, and agreed to go into the town to get supplies for a Christmas party that evening. Luffy and Usopp took it upon themselves to figure out where on Thousand Sunny they had stored their holiday decorations.

And that's when the trouble began…

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After hunting through various storage closets after dinner, Usopp finally found the boxes full of holiday decorations they had kept from their time on Going Merry.

"Luffy! They're down here!" He called out.

Reaching into the box of lights, he tugged the strand out and found the end. Plugging it into the outlet at the base of the wall, he smiled on seeing that the lights still worked. Before he could unplug them, Luffy came barreling into the closet and the door clattered closed in his wake.

"Luffy, the door--"

Before he could reach out and stop it, the door slammed shut and the tell-tale thunk of the wooden bar latching it closed sounded on the other side. Luffy spun around, all wide eyes and energy.

"Did the door just lock?"

Usopp sighed. "Yep. And everyone went back out to finish stocking up before we set sail tonight. There's no use calling out for help for awhile."

The energy seemed to drain out of Luffy then as he sunk to the floor.

"But… I wanted to have the tree decorated by the time they got back. It was going to be a surprise…"

The sniper couldn't help a slight smile at that. Leave it to Luffy to be more concerned about surprising his friends than the fact they were locked in a closet. Sitting down next to him, Usopp placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You could always smash the door down, couldn't you?"

Luffy glanced up, smirking. "Yeah, but I don't want Franky to spend Christmas having to fix it."

"You always think of everyone else at times like this, don't you?"

He grinned. "Of course! It's Christmas."

Deciding not to point out that Luffy did this year round; Usopp settled into a more comfortable position and leaned back against the wall.

"At least I had those lights plugged in so we don't have to sit in the dark."

"Hmm…Usopp?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me a story," he said, leaning back against the wall next to him.

Usopp smiled. "Okay. Let's see…once upon a time there was a crotchety swordsman named Roronoa Scrooge…"

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It had probably been at least an hour when Luffy perked up, swearing he heard the crew coming back on board. Usopp, who had finished his story and was now carving a dreidel out of a block of wood he'd found in the corner, looked up.

"Hey guys! We're stuck down here!" Luffy bellowed. Usopp started shouting as well.

They both paused on hearing a loud creaking noise and before they could react, they felt the ship lurch away from the shore. Being as they were below deck and on the starboard side, this sent them both toppling onto one another as boxes rained down on them.

Usopp was showered in ornaments and Luffy ended up under him in the confusion. As soon as the ship righted itself, Usopp sat up, arms on either side of Luffy's head. The captain just started laughing.

"What?" He asked.

Luffy reached up and tapped the end of Usopp's nose where a single ornament was dangling. Moving his head slightly and watching the bauble twitch, he couldn't help but laugh as well. This dislodged the bauble, sending it falling down onto Luffy's forehead.

"Ow," he murmured, before breaking into another peal of laughter.

Suddenly the whole humor of their predicament hit them, and both were overcome with hysterical laughter. Usopp tumbled forward onto Luffy as they giggled; the two rolling about on the floor in amusement.

Sides aching and mirthful tears in their eyes, Usopp finally paused to catch his breath. Leaning his forehead down against Luffy's he murmured. "It figures this would happen to us."

"Yep!" Luffy agreed, still snickering.

"We have the worst luck ever."

"At least I'm stuck with you," he replied, a hint of seriousness creeping into his tone.

Usopp flopped over onto his side, his arm still loosely around Luffy next to him. "We have the best worst luck then, managing to get stuck together."

The captain chuckled, snuggling into Usopp's side; he tilted his head over, resting his chin on Luffy's head.

"I'm hungry."

Usopp snorted. "I was wondering why you hadn't said that before now."

Luffy grinned. "I had a big dinner."

Thinking back to the many servings of sea king meat he'd seen him consume, Usopp had to resist the urge from quipping that 'big' was putting it mildly. Before he could make a comment on it though, Luffy shivered a little and clutched closer.

"Hey…Usopp, is it getting cold in here?"

The sniper paused a moment, feeling a distinct cool draft entering the closet. Frowning, he looked down at Luffy (who was, as usual, in his sleeveless tank top) and then glanced around for some sort of blanket. Snatching up the Christmas tree skirt laying near them, Usopp draped it over their bodies.

"I guess we're headed towards a winter island after all."

"Aww, but I was starting to like our Christmas palm tree!" Luffy lamented.

"Maybe we can have both," Usopp reasoned. He had to admit, he was rather fond of their palm tree as well.

It was then that a loud banging could be heard coming from the nearby hallway, accompanied by several voices calling out.

"Luffy? Usopp? Where are you?"

The two shared a look and helped each other clamber to their feet.

"In here!"

"We're in here, Sanji!"

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Once the two had gotten into warmer clothes, they stepped out onto the snow covered deck.

"Looks like you got your wish, Luffy," Nami said, looking up at the large snowflakes drifting down. "This system will probably be snowing on us all night."

Luffy cheered, swinging his arms around Usopp's neck. "White Christmas, all right!"

"And the reason we didn't find you sooner is that we were helping Franky with this," Sanji said, indicating a large lamp positioned over the palm tree.

"It's a super high-powered heat lamp, so our Christmas Palm Tree can still be used," the shipwright explained.

Usopp turned to Luffy and the two grinned.

"Thanks, Franky!"

"Woo-hoo! Christmas palm tree!" Luffy cheered, rushing over to grab the boxes of decorations.

After many failed attempts to get the lights strung around the palm tree's trunk, Zoro finally stepped in and managed to sort it out. Luffy and Usopp had to watch from the sidelines as they were both cracking up with laughter at having gotten tangled up together in the tinsel, a situation that Nami and Robin were both still trying to get them out of.

Leaning his head back against Luffy's, Usopp reached down and grabbed his hand amidst the red and green garland.

"We need to stop getting stuck together like this. It's becoming a bad habit."

Luffy's smile widened as he squeezed Usopp's hand in return. "It's not bad. I like being stuck with you."

And as the two laughed, Franky switched on the Christmas lights; an illuminated and decorated holiday palm tree glowing brightly on the other side of the deck.