-x-
No Parking On The Battleground
his best stage whisper
-x-
Luffy hears it on his way to the bathroom, and as soon as he realizes what it is, he forgets everything his bladder has been telling him for the past ten minutes and he cups his hands around his ears. It's kind of muffled, but there's no mistaking it, and Luffy grins as he casts around the empty storage room - well, it's not empty. There are crates and boxes, but it's mostly food he's not supposed to eat and some treasure, and the second refrigerator is in the corner, but that's not the source of the noise. Luffy turns on the spot, looking up at the rudder line and the swaying ceiling light.
It's when he glances down at the floorboards that he realizes, obviously, where it's coming from. Usopp finds him several minutes later, lying flat against the floor with his head turned to the side, grinning like an idiot. Nothing particularly strange, there, but the cannoneer is curious. He kneels beside Luffy, leaning down on his hands and knees and tilting his head to one side so he can look at him properly, arching an eyebrow.
"What're you doing?" he asks, whispering because Luffy holds up a single finger and crams the digit against his own face, hissing between his teeth.
"Nami's singin'."
"What?" The word bursts out of him in disbelief, louder than Usopp intends, and he cringes, bowing his head and muttering, Sorry, sorry, when Luffy grimaces at him, his eyes wide. Usopp lays down, pressing his ear against the floor to mimic his captain, and he listens. When he hears it, too, drifting up lightly through the boards, he grins and chuckles. "You're right!"
"I know," Luffy says under his breath, beside himself with glee, "I told you: all pirates sing!"
He turns his head so his other ear is against the floor and Usopp leans up on his elbows to look over his shoulder, using his best stage whisper, "Chopper!" The tiny reindeer comes running at the summons, his ears twitching, and he looks at the two of them curiously.
"What're you guys doing?"
"Nami's singing," Usopp tells him, pointing at the floor.
"I know, I can hear it," Chopper says, smiling, and Luffy raises his head in apparent disappointment.
"Man, I bet you can hear it really good, too, without even layin' on the floor," he says, frowning, "You're so awesome!"
"Sh-shut up!"
Luffy grabs Chopper by the face and yanks him to the floor before he can start shouting insults and alert the navigator - she'll yell at them if they're caught eavesdropping, no doubt about that, and yelling and singing are sort of the same thing, but if he had to pick one to listen to, it would obviously be her singing. It doesn't come with pinching or pulling on his face, and it's a lot easier on the ears. Luffy tells Usopp with hushed, bewildered wonder, "She sounds awesome. Why won't she sing with us?"
"You're one to judge," the cannoneer says, amused, his face pressed against the floor, "You're completely tone deaf."
"She sings all the time when she's alone in her room," Chopper murmurs helpfully, lying between his friends with his eyes closed, happy to be included.
"We should start singin' in her room, then!"
"Luffy, he said alone in her room."
"Well, we'll hide somewhere, like behind that bar or under her bed or somethin', and then we'll jump out and start singin' whenever she does! She'll be glad we noticed - you sing when you're happy and stuff, right?"
Naturally, this plan is a lot better in theory than it is in execution.
-x-
(A/n) Word-a-day prompt was MUSIC
-BobTAC