I look over my shoulder again. I thought I heard that idiot's voice again. Where the Hell did he wander off too? Is the Marimo's sense of direction contagious? It's like one moment he was walking behind us and the next he's gone. I start back to the shopping district to see if he just got distracted by something he saw in a store display. That sounds like Usopp, doesn't it? Shit, why'd he disappear in the middle of our date of all things?

I walk down the paved streets, shoulders hunched, glancing from store front to store front looking for any hint of those buoyant black curls, that tanned flesh, or any other sign of him. Even in a crowd like this, I'm positive that I could find him. The metropolis that spans most of this island is huge, and there's so many people...and beautiful ladies !

"Excuse me, my lovely mademoiselles, but have you possibly seen a dark haired guy wearing a pageboy cap and goggles?"

"Uh," the pretty one closest to me starts as she steps away.

"No, we haven't. Sorry," her equally charming friend next to her says quickly and the two of them hurry past. Awe, such visions of beauty.

I sigh. Where'd Usopp disappear to?

"Sanji-kun?" and my ears ring with the voice of my ever immaculate tangerine scented canary.

"Nami-swan! Is that you?!" I smile as I turn to greet her.

Nami-san stands there like the goddess she is with the sophisticated and stunning Robin-chan standing beside her. Oh, and Chopper's there too in Walking-point. From the look of the bags their each carrying, it seems the three of them are out shopping. Nami tosses her hair over her shoulder and stares at me strangely.

"Sanji-kun, where's Usopp?" and my joy at being reunited with them is dashed. I sigh yet again, my shoulders sagging.

"Yeah, I'm wondering about that myself," I say dejectedly.

"Weren't you guys on a date just now—," and I rush to her side begging that she stop what words are about to escape her luscious lips.

"YES!—I mean, yes, yes we were. But he seems to have wandered off and I can't find him."

Nami cocks her head, her elegant brows knitting. "That doesn't sound right. He seemed really excited about it yesterday. What happened?"

I blink, and wonder yet again why Usopp always seems to confide in Nami-san as I start into a brief recap of what's happened since Usopp and I disembarked the Sunny this morning.

"Sanji-kun," Nami-san mutters my name as she rubs at her temple. Robin-chan sighs, shaking her lovely head from side to side slowly. Even Chopper's looking at me with a disappointed look on his muzzle.

"What?" I ask curiously.

With that Nami-swan beats me over the head with her gorgeous fist. "You're an idiot!" she screams, some of the people on the street stopping to stare.

"Wha-.." I start, sitting up and rubbing my head. "What did I do, Nami-san?" I say guiltily.

"Sanji, do you have any idea what you look like when you talk to girls?" Chopper asks me.

I quickly envision the elegant interaction between myself and a woman, one with no particular face, and ask "What do you mean?"

Chopper shakes his head, causing some of the bags hanging from his antlers to rustle. "There's no helping him... I feel sorry for Usopp."

I cock me head as Nami-san steps over me and gives me one of her rapturous glares. "Me too, Chopper. Sanji-kun, you say that you ran into a group of girls during your date and you decided to help carry their stuff?"

"Ye-yeah. Isn't that what a gentleman is supposed to do?" I ask staring up at her from the ground.

"You and your stupid chivalry. It makes me want to hit you again," Nami-san says with her teeth clenched shut and her fists shaking at her sides.

I'm confused. I still don't understand what has the three of them so upset. I don't understand what this has to do with Usopp's disappearance. Shouldn't we go looking for him?

"Sanji-kun," Nami-san says kneeling in front of me and putting a hand on my shoulder. Her gorgeous features look calmer and more sympathetic now. "When you're around other woman, you turn into a douchebag... I'm sorry, but someone had to tell you," she says platonically.

"Wha...what?" I slowly stutter. What kind of vocabulary has just been used by my innocent Nami-swan. Who could use such language around a lady?

"You're an A-class Jerk," Chopper adds.

"What do you mean?" I ask feeling cornered all of a sudden.

"Usopp-kun has a lot of patience, Sanji-san, but you seemed to have worn him down today," Robin-chan says turning toward the direction of the docks, her eyes close briefly, and she sighs disheartenedly when she opens them again. "Usopp-kun is already back on Sunny Go."

"What!? Why?" I say hopping to my feet, ready to make a mad dash back to the ship.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Nami-san asks, crossing her arms under her voluptuous bosom, her bags hanging from her elbows. I tear my eyes away, I can't be thinking about that right now. Usopp—

"Yes, I've been listening. You three think that Usopp leaving and going back to the ship is my fault. I still don't understand how, but I should go apologize anyway, right?!" I say as I turn to leave the shopping district, but I feel, rather than see, graceful fingers grab one of my ankles and face meets sidewalk.

"Not so fast, Sanji-kun," Nami says, towering over me. The view is marvelous, but I have to keep my head about me. "You're not allowed to see Usopp again until you understand what you did wrong completely," and at the dark smile on her face I feel a cold chill run through me.

I toss the screwdriver and gadget I'm working on back down on the workbench. I can't focus on it anyway. My head hurts, but I don't want to lie down. Argh, I'm such a stupid.

I've been trying to keep myself occupied, because I didn't want to think about it, but now that I'm sitting here, cradling my head between my fingers, I've got nothing better to do then think about the whole thing, causing my chest to feel tight again.

He was the one that asked me out. It was his idea. He'd convinced me that since it was such a big city, we could practically turn invisible and it would be easy to just act like a normal couple in public. He got me all worked up. I spent a lot of time trying to pick out an outfit too and everything. I didn't know what he wanted to do, but I thought it would be fun to actually hold his hand in public. Th-that maybe we could get away with it.

And he looked so cool, dressed all casual too. We walked to the shopping district from the docks. I was curious what he had planned for us; this's kinda like my first real date. Like going shopping or something? We were talking and he was saying something, looking over at a food stall. I reached out to grab his hand and then he pulled away at the last minute, changing directions. I tried like a dozen more times, but I missed or he'd move away or someone would bump into me and I'd lose my gall, Did that guy look at us funny?

That's when we met them. There were these three girls, one of them bumped into me actually and she dropped her bag of groceries. It was my fault, I'd been too busy trying to grab Sanji's hand again, and I wasn't watching where I was going. I got down and tried to help her get it all together before anyone stepped on it. Yeah, I ended up getting my hand stepped on by someone's heel instead.

My hand pulsed now to remind me it still smarted.

Sanji got down to help and the two other girls with her—her sisters actually; Heh, identical triplets of all things—helped too and we managed to save all of it. I tried to apologize—apologize and it would be over I thought—but then before my eyes, Sanji started noodling. I sighed, 'cause yeah, that's just the way he is, right? He asked them if they needed help and they actually took him up on it quickly, which sucked eggs. We ended up helping them shop for a while and I watched as they flirted with him. Sanji's an idiot. He can't help but flirt back. I'm pretty sure he does it without realizing it. It's his nature. He was in his natural habitat. It wasn't like I was ignored; at least one of the sisters was talking to me at any given time, but... This was my date. I tried to get Sanji's attention—you know, to hint that maybe it was time to move on—but he was oblivious.

My chest started hurting... A lot. I looked down at my hand and then through the girls at his side, catching a glimpse of his. One of the sisters was hanging on his arm and I sighed shakily. I was mad, but I couldn't keep it up. Sanji was asked if he could help them take their things back to their house and he told them he couldn't turn down a girl's request. I was having a hard time keeping it together at this point and decided it would be better to leave. I couldn't reach out to grab his hand. I couldn't say that I wanted to leave. I didn't have the courage to tell them that he and I had something we were doing and he was too busy. I flinched at the thought of Sanji possibly getting mad at me for stepping in like that. I-I still didn't have the confidence that Sanji wouldn't push me away at any given moment, no matter how many times he says that won't happen and that he loves me.

I sniff and then I sit up with a start. No. No crying you stupid eyeballs. If I keep this crybaby shit up, I don't know how I'm ever going to become a Great Warrior of the Sea. Luckily my eyes weren't quite watering yet. I picked up the screwdriver and the slightly bashed gadget and started working on it as best I could. I can't get too stingy. I have to be patient with Sanji. I like him, so it's just something I have to deal with. Heh, I think with a bitter taste in the back of my throat, maybe if there's still time we can do something tomorrow before the log pose resets.

That stupid moss-head is sitting on the lawn deck lifting his shitty weights went I get back. He dares to cock an eyebrow as if to ask what the fuck I'm doing back here, but I don't have the time to deal with him. I hurry to the men's quarters, but it's deserted. That means he's probably in his workshop below deck. I head to the stern of the ship, feeling Zoro's eye on me the whole time. Fucking bastard, get something better to look at.

"Hey Usopp," I call down and I hear the metal tings of screws, bolts, and washers hitting the floor. I go down the stairs and find him on his hands and knees collecting the pieces off the floor that have rolled under the workbench.

"Uh, hey Sanji," he says, his voice a higher octave than normal. I feel guilt weigh on my shoulders and heart, but I walk over to him and get down on the floor to help collect the pieces. We don't say anything, but when I glance over, I see his castaway eyes held wide, like he's trying not to blink and he's biting his lower lip. My body feels heavier and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get up off the floor. The pictures in my back pocket feel like their gnawing at me.

After a little talk with Nami-san, she bought a camera and we walked around town for an hour and every time Robin-chan or Chopper pointed one out, Nami-san sent me to talk with the young lady or girl, all the while taking pictures. After a while I was tired. It was like over stimulant and the whole time the thought that we were screwing around while Usopp was here waiting probably upset, kept bugging me. When Nami-san seemed satisfied, we stopped at a restaurant for a late lunch and she laid a long line of photos in front of me.

"This is what you look like when you're swooning over girls. All. The. TIME."

I almost couldn't recognize myself in the pictures. This didn't look right. It.. It.. I looked like some kind of classless weirdo. But, wait.

"This is what I looked like earlier?" I asked, picking up one particularly bad photo of me groveling. I was doing this while I was with him? I couldn't believe it.

"Yes," Nami-san said, finally sounding appeased. "Now imagine if you were in Usopp's shoes watching him swoon over another pretty face. Do you finally get it?"

I looked at the photos still on the table and then up at Nami-san who was smiling smugly. Robin-chan smiled at me sadly and sipped at her coffee. Chopper looked over the table at me in Brain-point with sad eyes. "You' got to be nicer to Usopp, Sanji," he said with his own smile. I felt kind of foolish being lectured by someone so much younger than me about how to treat my lover... But with all this evidence laid out in front me I didn't really have any right to speak.

After that Nami-san stood up and told me that they were going to get back to shopping, not forgetting to remind me that I owed her for the camera and film as well as she expected me to pay for lunch. Who am I to turn down a woman?

I look back at Usopp. It's no wonder he lacks such confidence in me.

"Usopp," I ask, putting my hand over his. He looks down at our hands and then up at me. He smiles at me, like he's holding it all together and that's the final straw on Eyelash's back. "Usopp, I want you to hit me."

His expression changes to something that looks disturbed. He pulls his hand out from under mine and sits back on his heels. "You want me to what?"

"I want you to hit me. Hit me as hard as you c—" and giving me exactly what I asked for, Usopp sends me sprawling backwards. I sit up, rubbing my jaw and I feel like he might have knocked one or two of my teeth loose. Shit! I didn't think he could hit that hard.

I look up at him, smiling, about to compliment his right hook, but then stop when I see the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes.

"You're an Asshole, you know that?" he says and then sniffs.

I nod. "Yeah, I know. Nami-san showed me... Usopp, I'm sor—"

"Why'd you ask me to do something like that? Ow, shit!" he says cradling his hand. It looks a bit more swollen then it should be.

"Hey, what happened?" I ask sitting up and coming over to him.

"It's fine," he says, using the back of his other arm to wipe away the tears that had yet to start falling. "I just got stepped on earlier when we were helping those girls get their groceries."

I stop, because I feel like an idiot for not noticing that he'd gotten hurt back then. Why is it that I can't do this right? He keeps doing everything right and being the perfect patient lover, and I keep screwing it up. I don't deserve the way he tolerates me and he doesn't deserve the way I am.

I take his hand that he's cradling and I put it to my cheek, his eyes watching me as I rub it against his knuckles. He's blushing, but he doesn't pull it away. "I'm sorry, Usopp," I say.

Usopp is biting his lips and shaking his head. "I-I should have said something."

"No, you shouldn't have had to. We shouldn't have even been in that situation. I shouldn't have offered to help them. I royally fucked up and I will do anything to make it up to you." Usopp started to laugh. "What are you laughing about," I asked feeling a little put out.

"I'm happy you said something like that," his laughter started to damper off. "Hey Sanji?"

"Yeah?" I asked eagerly.

"Does this mean I have your permission to yell at you if you started noodling again?"

Noodling. That was a good word for what I did earlier. But I feel like I've heard that term before, I pondered. "Yes," I said nuzzling his hand that I'm still holding.

"And you won't kick me for it?" he asks skeptically.

I pause and open my eyes to look at him. "We'll see, I guess," and I smile as he groans half-heartedly.

Author's Note:

Good evening readers, because it is evening when I am posting this. This is the fourth drabble and I hope that you at least appreciate it… I like it for the fact that A) I got Usopp in a pageboy cap-even if it was never technically seen-bleh! B) I got to play Usopp again very well, and C) I got to write about a Sanji that doesn't know he noodles. It's been something that I've wanted to write for a very long time. It's the idea of self denial that I've held about Sanji since the first time I saw him swoon, asking my friend-"Do you think he knows he's doing that?" I find myself feeling that the ending is lacking-also I notice a trend with a lot of my drabbles come about… I might write a short sequel to this drabble, just so I feel better… It will be short though… If I write it fast enough I can post it next Thurs/Friday… anyway…

Review Response time!

SniperingSardine: Welcome back! The thing with Chopper is… He's my third favorite character! Behind Zoro (who's a bad ass and I love his lines-God I want to draw you, Zoro) and Usopp (Duh!), oh, and you mentioned Brook? He comes in a close fourth for me! I love Brook!... But back to the Chopper thing, I also have this song called "Friends" that was sung by Chopper and Usopp's Senyu and I loved it! It's what really makes me love playing off their friendship-Which I will do as you kind of see here and will see in my sequel I'm writing-Oops! I let that slip! It's always a blast to read your Reviews. Thanks as always!

shinaiko-san: Hey! Thanks for review again! If it is not too rude of me to ask, what is your first language? I'm just curious… Hi! I'm glad that you like my consistency… I was cutting it close with this one… I just had my beta finish reading the final product… I'm actually starting the idea process for the Superhero AU… It's all up in the air right now, making a rather nasty looking brain storm if you ask me… I would actually love to add Chopper-man… But I'm not sure where I could find anything on it… do you know where it mentions him-in the manga or in the anime? it would help me, I swear!

Thanks for all your review everyone! And to all you other readers, please review as well! I love hearing from you people and I would love some more drabbles idea or even full length fic ideas too. I love writing and want to write what makes you guys happy!