Chapter 2: Laughter
Wide eyed, you watched as the two young men reached the table you and your new friends were sitting at. Both looked rather messy and frustrated.
"This is bullshit." Mumbled the one who was half asleep. He's shirt was unbuttoned and his shoelaces untied. He practically flopped down on one of the chairs and let his head fall on the table, hard, making it shake. Poor Chopper had to pick up his plate to avoid his precious pancakes from getting trapped under the green bedhead.
"You are so dead." The other one huffed, staring at Luffy who was stuffing his face. "I thought we had a deal!"
"Buthh I waff hughrrhhyy!" Luffy drooled with a full mouth. Your eyes were now jumping from Luffy to the boy confronting him. But for some reason, eventually your eyes got stuck at the tan one catching his breath. He was not like anyone you had ever seen before. He had a rather silly looking nose that caught your attention, but then you noticed his eyes. They looked upset at the moment, but they were really beautiful and deep with the darkest, longest eyelashes. You squinted your eyes a little, wondering if he was wearing mascara, but it was apparent that he was not. His eyelashes were so dramatic, that it gave him a cartoonish look. It actually looked really cute with his nose complimenting it further.
"That's not an excuse!" He huffed again, leaning against the table with his palms.
"I don't need to be babied like this. You assholes." The green haired man mumbled into the table.
"Way to be grateful, Zoro." Nami mentioned lifting her eyebrow and crossing her arms. You suddenly felt a little awkward and decided to stop staring at everybody. You tried to focus on your drink, taking small sips and acting like you didn't exist.
"If it wasn't for us, no, ME, you'd be late everyday." The tan boy stated, calming down a little bit. He rolled his eyes, and took a seat, leaning all the way back and dropping his head over the back of the chair. His long, curly hair caught your attention. You had an in-describeable urge to poke it and see if your finger would bounce back, it looked just that poofy!
"This morning I had to fight him for my life just to get him up! He almost broke my nose with a fierce punch, but I managed to get him in an arm lock and put a bag over his head before he bit my fingers off!"
"That's not what happened!" Zoro exclaimed, all of a sudden fully awake. "You just dragged me out of bed when I was going to get up on my own just fine!" You could definitely see a vein getting larger on his forehead. Just before the tan boy got to protest, in that half a second of silence, you giggled. You couldn't help it. Seriously, who would say someone tried to bite their fingers off? Everyone at the table turned to look at you due to you giggling. But like you feared, you didn't get off that easy. Just giggling at an inappropriate time? Nope. The universe wasn't satisfied with that at all.
You had just taken a sip of your drink when the giggle hit you. Not much to your surprise, it decided to finds its way out through your nose. Yay. It burned like hell, but you did not care about that. You were so embarrassed, and could feel blood rushing to your cheeks at a critical speed. You wanted to die. Robin looked pretty worried yet amused, asking if you were okay. Nami laughed a little, rubbing your back and repeating 'Oh, _!' between giggles. You barely noticed it. You had your hands in front of your mouth and nose, looking down at your feet wide eyed. You could hear Luffy and Chopper laughing their asses off. Luffy was banging on the table and chopper almost choked on his Pancakes.
Zoro and the other boy looked at you, confused. They just stared. They had not been aware of your existence whatsoever before you had so conveniently embarrassed yourself. You slowly lifted your gaze towards them, still covering your mouth and nose. Nami who had stopped giggling, handed you a napkin. It took you a while to register that and it made her 'ahem' quietly to get your attention. After that you hastily grabbed the napkin and muttered an almost silent thank you. She smiled.
For a while, nobody said a word. Nami and Robin were looking at you with kind eyes assuring that everything was ok, Luffy and Chopper started to finally calm down from their laughter fit and the other two were just staring at you. You wiped you face and avoided the eyes of everybody.
"_, you HAVE to do that again!" Luffy yelled. You gave him a nasty look.
"I didn't do it on purpose..." You muttered, blushing even more.
"Oh, _, these are Zoro and Usopp." Robin said after another moment of silence you would have rather avoided. You shyly gazed at the two and waved your hand a little. Zoro waved you back and Usopp smiled a sweet, friendly smile.
"Hi. Nice to meet ya, _." He said, but you couldn't help but to feel like he was hiding some amusement. Zoro actually laughed a little.
"That's one way to make a first impression!" He said. Nami kicked him under the table, making him grunt slightly. "Ok, chill woman."
You took a deep breath and corrected your posture. It wasn't the first time something embarrassing had happened to you. You took a more confident and relaxed expression and looked at the others. Nobody seemed to think you were a total goof, even though they did look amused. You had to admit that it must've looked funny.
When your eyes moved to Usopp, you noticed he was looking directly at you with a smile. This startled you a bit, but you smiled back, making his mouth curl up just a bit more. You don't know why, but you blushed a bit. You hadn't noticed before how beautiful his lips were. They added to his comically cute look, but those lips were so full and complimented him.
"So, can you dance _?" Luffy exclaimed catching you off guard. You broke your gaze away from Usopp and looked at the straw hat boy. He was bouncing up and down in his seat.
"Actually, I major in Dance and _." You said with a smile. It was like fireworks lit up all around Luffy, and he started to yell, whoo and laugh. Nami clapped her hands together excitedly. You were a little confused, but somehow excited at the same time.
"Can you do hip hop? Tricks? Are you good with a group?" She blasted out. You nodded with a smile. You were liking where this was going. A little flame lit up inside your body as your eyes sparkled. Luffy stood up in his seat and pointed you with an adamant look on his face. You felt like thousands of little butterflies were dancing around you.
"I want to make you our nakama!" He yelled dramatically, and everyone at the table started cheering and clapping. Even Zoro, who looked like he was about to fall asleep again.
"I'm so happy!" Chopper chuckled, swallowing the last bite of his pancakes. Nami hugged you with a squeal. Everyone seemed so excited and it affected you as well. You had no idea why these people were so excited when they hadn't even seen you dance yet. They were all so warm and welcoming and there was a very wonderful family like energy surrounding the group.
"Um... What's this all about?" You asked carefully.
"We actually have a dance group. Well, we're actually more like a family and Luffy is the sticky, disgusting glue who makes us all stick together. And we really needed female member, and we've been looking for one for way too long!" Nami explained. You started to get a worried look on your face, as some of your previous excitement slowly faded away. This sounded awesome, but...
"What makes you think I'm going to be a good addition to your team? You don't even know me, really." You asked shyly. Luffy started laughing his lungs out. Everyone else had wide smiles on thei faces.
"If Nami and Robin say you're awesome, you're awesome! You are not an ass, you say you can dance and we trust you, plus you can do that cool nose trick!" Luffy laughed. You blushed again.
"I did NOT do that on purpose!"
"Yea yea, you have to do that again! Meet us at the Thousand Sunny at six!" He yelled and let out a huge burb. He jumped over the table and started dancing away.
"Wait, at what? Where is that?" You yelled after him, panicking. This was all happening so fast and you were confused. As everyone started getting up. It was time to get to class. You hastily dug your new schedule out of your book bag to see where your first period was. Or what it was, for that matter. Nami grabbed your shoulder.
"Don't worry! I'll meet you at our room quarter to six and take you there, ok? What's your first period?" She asked.
"Umm, it's history." You answered.
"AH! Perfect! I'll take you there, my sweet! Here's your cheesecake, my Mellorine!" Sanji shouted jumping towards you. He handed a neatly wrapped package to each of you ladies. "I took the privilege to cut some for you as well, my beauties."
You were not sure what to think about this guy, but thanked him. You were not going to say no to free cheesecake! Nor someone to show you around, for that matter. You all took your dishes where they were supposed to go, each of you grabbing some of Luffys as well, since he had so generously left his behind for you... Everyone started to leave for their classes. Nami and Robin wished you good luck, wich made you a little more confident.
"See you around." You heard Usopp say before heading up a set of stairs. You turned towards him just in time to see him give you a smile before turning to walk upstairs. Somehow you froze and didn't get to say anything before he was gone. Gosh, you wanted to touch his hair. SO poofy!
"Shall we go, milady?" Sanji asked, bowing and offering you his hand. You panicked slightly, nodding and starting to walk forwards. You really weren't comfortable taking his hand, not at all. You just pretended a if you didn't notice, and he didn't seem to mind.
"Ah, so delicate, so shy.." Sanji purred. You REALLY wanted to get to class at this point.
In the classroom, you had assigned seats so you didn't get to (have to...) sit next to Sanji. He gave you admiring and kinda sweet looks throughout the class. He wasn't terrible, or as perverted as Nami had made you think. He was ok, and you were sure you just needed to get to know him better.
After class, Sanji insisted on showing you the way to your next period, which was math. You didn't have the heart to let him do that though. His next class was just across the hall and yours was three floorsn up, so you insisted he'd stay behind. You were certain you were going to get lost at least once, so you just kindly thanked Sanji as you started to make your way up. He had little hearts dancing around his head as he waved you goodbye, and you swore you heard him whisper 'how cute'. That, you had to admit, made you a little uncomfortable. Creepy...
You only had twenty minutes to make your way to your next class, and so did everyone else. You were being shoved around because you were walking against a crowd and you heard a couple of guys yell 'watch it!' at you. It was clear you where a noobie. You asked for some help from a couple of girls, but they just laughed at you and told you to never talk to them again. This made you realize how lucky you were to get Nami and Robin as your roommates. You could have ended with some terrible bitches like them. You were already starting to panic. You hadn't even found your way to the right staircase to get to the right end of the fifth floor. You bit your lip and rested against the cold wall. You did not wanna get too stressed. You told yourself to look forward to tonight and stay calm. You started walking again, looking at your papers, which made you almost bump to someone since you weren't looking where you were going.
"I'm so sorry!" You gasped, even though you hadn't even collided with them. In front of you, you saw a girl with pastel pink hair curled up in two pigtails. At first you thought that she wasn't wearing her school uniform, but she was. It was just hidden under a mountain of lacy accessories. You weren't sure if you were allowed to do that, but you shrugged it off thinking that she must know better than you. She was wearing a heavy layer of make-up, her lips perfectly reddened and way too much mascara and eyeliner were the cherry on top. For the longest time (or at least it felt like forever) she didn't say anything. She was just silently judging you with her lips twisted unpleasantly.
"Do I know you?" She asked rudely.
"No, I.. I'm new here." You stuttered your voice getting lower. You wanted to stand up for yourself, but couldn't help but to think she was just having a bad day.
"Why would I care about that? Just, get away from my space, ok?" She said irritation in her voice. You opened, your mouth, trying to say something, but couldn't. You were mentally beating yourself up for being so childish and giving a fuck about how this girl was treating you. But you were pretty tired and stressed out, and secretly, you were fighting tears. You felt like a six-year-old, but this girl was just really getting under your skin. She smiled mockingly, waiting for you to get out of her way. She clearly wasn't going anywhere. You avoided her eyes and and started to step aside. Clenching your teeth, you just decided to let it ok.
"Oi, _!"
Even with all the other students rushing by, you could hear footsteps approaching you. Turning around, you saw Usopp running to you in a relaxed manner, smiling. You smiled uncontrollably, being so relieved to see someone who would actually help you, even though the embarrassing incident from this morning did cross your mind. This made you blush lightly, and you could swear he lifted his eyebrow at you ever so slightly, perhaps confused by your reaction to seeing him.
"Hi, Usopp." You said as normally as you could.
As Usopp noticed the other girl, his expression changed to something you couldn't quite explain. It was like he was looking at an old, stinky sock that was somehow mutated and could kill him.
"I see you've met Perona." He said blankly.
"Both of you, just move already! I don't want to talk to you. Ugh." Perona moaned. Her expression had also changed. It wasn't quite as cocky as before and she didn't just stare at Usopp, in a way avoiding him.
"I suggest you get yourself a better attitude." Usopp said. This made your jaw drop a bit. These two didn't seem to get along. Perona opened her mouth in a disgusted manner and passed you with her nose up. She 'accidentally' shoved you in the process, and as you and Usopp both turned to look at her in disbelief, you saw her giving you a really nasty glare.
"OI!" Usopp yelled after her but she didn't give a damn. "Are you alright?"
You looked at Usopp, he looked a little annoyed.
"Yeah, I'm ok." You said, not wanting to show how stressed and lost you actually felt. "She was interesting." You added with a weak and awkward laugh. This made Usopp smile. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned back, looking at you. You had to admit it was one of those smiles that made you relax.
"She can be a quite a 'persona' sometimes." Usopp said pointing his finger at you in a do-you-see-what-I-did-there manner. You just burst out laughing.
"That was the worst joke I've ever heard!" You said straight up while continuing to laugh. He started laughing too.
"That's why it was funny. See, I made you laugh!" He said. "She actually attacked me once with a giant teddy bear. It had claws and everything and she was slamming it against me trying to kill me, I swear. I am pretty sure it weighed like ten tons or something!"
While Usopp was telling his story, his hands moved dramatically and you kept paying attention to his exceptionally expressive face. Uncontrollable giggles left your mouth and you wanted to sit down because standing up was getting hard.
"I fought back, though! I shoved my hand into the bears mouth and got rid of all its stuffing!"
"How brave of you." You managed to gasp out. You tried to stop laughing and shuffled your hear, which you do when you're a little nervous. Why were you nervous? Oh, it must be because you still felt the embarrassment from this morning. Yeah, that HAS to be it. Right?
"You're lucky I wasn't drinking anything this time." You said sounding a little awkward. Shit, maybe he had forgotten all about it and now you reminded him of it. You just wanted to make it a little less embarrassing for yourself, but... Fuuuuck! You felt blood rush to your cheeks and you were begging for Usopp to say something.
He laughed. It wasn't a mocking kind of laugh, but a genuine, friendly one. You felt a little better, even though the flashback of shame was still present.
"Sorry for making you laugh. I didn't notice you." he said, kicking the floor awkwardly. You found it kind of cute how he avoided you with his entire presence all of a sudden. For a moment, neither one of you said anything. He was oh so interested in his shoelaces and you were fiddling with your hair.
"Umm, Usopp?" You said. Saying his name was so much fun and you said it quietly in your mind again. Usoppp. The boy seemed relieved that you had spoken. He smiled again and looked you in the eyes to let you know he was listening.
"I am SO lost." You said. "Would you mind telling me how to get to.. Umm.." You were staring at your papers trying to find the classroom name again. Usopp stepped next to you to look at the paper. Some of his long hair brushed up against your cheek as he bowed down a bit to see the paper better. Even though it was on a loose ponytail, it was all over the place. And. So. Poofy. You smiled a little, making sure he didn't notice.
"We have the same class." He said, sounding cheerful. "I'll show you the way, if you don't mind." He added, not looking you in the eyes when saying the last four words. You couldn't explain why, but you found it very cute how he got so uncoordinated with his words and movements when talking about a subject that could lead to rejection or he felt was somehow his fault. You were quickly figuring this guy out, and you liked that. But as you knew from past experiences, no-one ever shows all their qualities and hidden sides right away. Whatever the case, you liked this guy.
"I would love that!" you exclaimed biting your lower lip a bit. Usopp's expression immediately brightened and he fully straightened his back looking confident once again.
"Great! Now, the teacher for this class is slow and boring like a dead fish, so I'll keep you awake and what not." He said. "Speaking of fish, do I have a story for you!"
"Mm, emphasis on the 'story'?" You teased. He chuckled, not really answering.
"So, when I was five I went fishing in the great seas! I thought I had found an island, but..."
The two of you made it to class, and you honestly couldn't remember when was the last time you laughed this much in public. You didn't even care if some kids stared at you, you were truly enjoying this time with Usopp. He had so many great stories, and he didn't mind your 'bad' sense of humor. At this class, you were allowed to sit wherever you pleased, so you sat next to Usopp, moving your desk just a liiiittle bit too close. Just to hear him better. Absolutely. The two of you decided to sit at the back row, so you could keep talking. According to Usopp, the teacher was just an old fart who couldn't tell a student from a mop.
You were listening to Usopps blabbering with constant giggles, when a sudden grumbling could be heard. He practically hit his head on his desk.
"Luffy owes me so much..." He groaned sounding irritated. You tilted your head all confused.
"What is this thing all about, exactly?" You questioned him. He lowered his voice since the teacher had just walked in.
"Well, Luffy, Sanji, Chopper and I have this schedule on who wakes up Zoro. He has some sort of a sleeping addiction, I guess. Of course I as a good friend have tried everything in my power to help him out of it."
You snickered at another of Usopps cute stories, while digging out you math supplies.
"He just won't get up. And he isn't even grateful that we keep him from getting expelled. I guess his too proud for that. However, it was luffys turn this morning and when I got up, everyone was already gone and I just couldn't leave him lying there, you know." he got a little calmer towards the end of his story. You felt a little something splash in your chest. Usopp could just have decided to leave, since it wasn't any of his business this morning to wake his friend up. Well, it shouldn't be his business at all. Zoro was a grown ass man for crying out loud.
"So, you major in Dance too?" Usopp asked. He seemed to feel a little bad for just talking on and on, but you didn't mind at all. He made your day better by the second.
"Yeah, and _." You answered. "Dancing's just kind of how I... Speak." You replied, afraid you sounded a little silly. "I mean that it's the best way for me to express myself."
Usopp nodded, looking at you with interest. He nodded just a bit, to encourage you to go on. You froze a bit. You could be a little awkward if you had to talk about yourself. You'd much rather have an conversation about something.
"By the way, I never heard what you major in? I mean, dance I bet but is there something else?" Pretty proud of saving yourself from having to blabber on and on about yourself, you mentally congratulated yourself. Besides you wanted to learn more about Usopp.
"I also do art. I like to draw and paint and stuff. I also do some sculpting, and I like to work on all kinds of gadgets as well. I like a lot of stuff." He said calmly, finally digging out his own math things. His book bag was interesting. It had a huge clasp on top and it looked like it could hold three times as much as your bag could. As he was looking for his stuff, you saw a small slingshot lying in his bag.
"What on earth is that and why do you have it?" You said amused, just a little too loud. He put his finger in front of his lips.
"It's my slingshot, and I keep it with me to send notes to my pals if they sit in the opposite side of the room. I have good aim." He whispered. You felt excited.
"That is so coooool~" You squealed quietly. "How good are you?"
"Test me." He dared with a devilish look in his eyes. You answered the stare and started eying the room, trying to come up with something really hard. Almost immediately it caught your eye.
"Do you see that kids back bag?" You said pointing at the front row. Usopp nodded. "It's open. I bet you can't get a paper ball in there." You dared. He looked very amused.
"Well, do you see that tiny side pocket on that bag? I can get it there." He bragged. You lifted your eyebrow, shrugging it off as one of his stories. With a crooked smile, you nodded at him ready to bloat at your victory.
Usopp rolled up a little paper ball, not any bigger than the end of his thumb, and placed it on his slingshot. He aimed, not for more than three seconds, and let go. At first it looked like he was going to completely miss and you prepared to tease him about it, but the little ball slowed down quite drastically due to it being so light, it almost floated in the tiny pocket on the boys bag. With your mouth hanging open, you stared in that direction for a good few seconds, until you turned towards Usopp with a huge urge to fangirl. He looked rather proud.
Suddenly, another grumble.
Then it hit you. You reached into your bag, kind of eyeing the teacher to make sure he wasn't looking your way. You placed a neatly packaged piece of cheesecake in from of the hungry boy.
"Thanks for helping me today." You said.
Usopp looked at you gratefully like a puppy who hadn't seen his owner for days.
And for an unknown reason, you blushed a bit.
Authors notes:
I am so addicted to writing this fic, oh my...
Thanks again for reading~ I want to encourage everyone to leave any suggestions or wishes about any situations, scenarios or characters! I will gladly add them in for you if they don't mess with my plan too much. :3 Again, this is my gift for all you Usopp fangirls. And I want you to enjoy it!
I also want to dedicate this chapter to soniitk (on FF)~ :3 She left me the sweetest, most encouraging feedback ever! I was so happy to continue writing knowing that someone likes this story so much! This is for you, my dear Usopp fangirl. (Sorry I made you squirt stuff out of your nose. xD)
Please do keep spreading the Usopp love! Draw him fanart, write fics, or just go around DeviantART and Tumblr commenting and favoriting art about him! Seeing him being loved makes me so happy. : )
