A/N: Last update for tonight, because I'm getting ready to head off to bed. I hope you all enjoy it, and that you'll be kind enough to drop a review!
Dinner goes by quickly and no one questions Usopp as to why he wasn't on the top deck while they were gone. Either they don't care or they just haven't thought of it, too caught up in talking about the sights in the town and the goods that they brought back. Luffy spends most of the time excitedly telling Usopp about the man he met, with a large mustache and a pet monkey. And, oh, Usopp smiles and nods at all the right spots, acting for all the world like nothing's wrong.
Sometimes, he forgets just how good of an actor he can be.
It's not something that he's had to do often since joining up with Luffy, after all. Mostly, he says what's on his mind. But this...This is different. This isn't something that he can just talk about, like it doesn't make him weak and less then everybody else.
Weaker, Usopp corrects himself, nodding when Luffy asks him something. Eating the food in front of him almost mechanically. Despite the fact that Sanji cooked it and he knows that it isn't, the food tastes dry in his mouth and it scratches his throat on the way down.
When the plates are being gathered, Usopp's the first one out of his seat. He doesn't volunteer to help Sanji with the dishes, like he does most nights, just starts inching his way towards the door.
"Where are you going, Usopp?" asks Nami, looking over at him as the chef swoops in and collects her empty plate.
"M-me? I'm just - I'm really tired! Yeah, exhausted. So I'm just going to go to bed early, I think. Make sure I'm awake enough for tomorrow." answers Usopp, and the lie comes to him so easily.
He knows that, even though he is exhausted, he will not be able to get to sleep early. There will be no rest for him tonight. There never is, not when he gets like this. When he can still hear his heart pounding away; still taste salt in his mouth and feel invisible pains cloaking him; still remember what it's like to be so utterly and completely alone.
No, tonight he will not get rest. But he leaves the galley as soon as he can all the same, afraid that someone will notice that he's acting off.
And that won't do, because they can't know just how worthless he really is.