Hey I managed to get this one out in a relatively reasonable amount of time.
Unfortunately, to reiterate from my tumblr, there is a bit of bad news to go along with this update! And that is, well, up until now the chapters I've been updating with were all pre-written (or being written as chapters were updating). And well... I've run out of those! So expect updates to happen much more irregularly and unpredictably. I thank you for you patience though and I hope you guys stick with me to the end, whenever that might be!
Day 9, Wednesday
Sanji was restless that night.
Franky's troubling words combined with some nasty dreams that left him jumping into wakefulness made sleep impossible. By the time he had given up altogether and rolled out of bed it was 6 A.M. and he was in a terrible mood. And while he could have spent the time doing some neglected work for his three online classes or start breakfast for the two idiots who would be stalking the halls within the hour whining for food, he just had to blow off some steam. So, he found himself changing into his A-shirt and sweats and walking the six blocks to the gym so he could kick the shit out of a punching bag.
It was around the time when he had moved on to the floor mats and was tossing round house kicks through the air that Luffy flopped down on the sidelines to watch, chomping loudly on an apple (he must of brought several along for one of them to have survived the trek here). The core was long ago tossed before Sanji finally quit, snatching up his water bottle and falling down beside the other on the wooden floor. He leant back against the wall and stretched his legs out until his toes touched the nearest mat.
"How'd you know I was here?" He inquired once he'd downed a third mouthful of water.
The younger shrugged, adjusting his hat. "Where else would you be?"
He crossed his legs at the ankles, feeling the nice ache that pulsed through the muscles. It had been awhile since he had found time to come down here. "Considering the constant shitty state of our food supply, I could have gone to the store."
"Not when you're mad. That's when you want to beat stuff up." Luffy replied easily, looking towards him and even though he didn't say anything more, the way he turned his lips down in concern asked the question for him. You okay?
He sighed, turning the spiky plastic part always left on the neck of the bottle once the cap was twisted off, mumbling, "Yeah well I'm shit out of luck since I can't really beat myself up." His friend tilted his head curiously at that, just waiting. Sanji rotated his wrist, watching the water slosh around inside. "Yesterday I did something pretty stupid and Usopp probably got into a fight with his boyfriend as a result. It wasn't like me. Shit, I don't even know what possessed me to do it! Vivi-chan already warned me to back off if I couldn't handle my feelings for the guy and I thought I could but maybe this is a sign I'm in way over my head. But no matter how reasonable I make the argument, when I think about backing off every part of me just shouts 'No'."
"But that's not your fault. Usopp's a dangling piece of meat. You can't help but want to eat him."
…What?!
Wondering if his friend even realized the sexual context of that entire statement, Sanji just speechlessly flapped his mouth, a sudden heat coming onto his face. Luckily, Luffy was willing to elaborate. "It'd be like if you made an entire ham but then said I could only have a small piece of it because the rest has to go to someone else. But even if it's the right thing to do, it'd be hard to listen to you because I'd want the whole thing."
"Okay," He nodded, starting to understand what his friend meant. "Then what would you do?"
"Hmmm…" The dark-haired male crossed his arms, eyes shutting as he thought hard. "Well… I'd try to steal it." Had he been less worn out he would have kicked the other; although, had he really been expecting anything else?
Which was probably why he was a little shocked when Luffy continued, "But, I wouldn't eat it, no matter how hungry I was because if you told me not to, then there has to be someone who's even MORE hungry than me! So, I'd feel all crummy and give it back and say I was sorry. And you'd probably forgive me, because no one got really hurt and you know I don't always think before I act."
Sanji snorted. "More like never. You'd do it again too."
"Yeah I would." He agreed with a wide grin. "But you're better at learning stuff then I am."
He chuckled, twisting back on the bottle cap before getting to his feet. "Come on, if we head back now I'll still have time to make breakfast."
"Yosh! I want ham!" Luffy declared as he jumped to his feet.
"No chance in hell you shitty vacuum!"
Sanji sent a text to Usopp just a few minutes before class started. 'Hey, let's have lunch again, same place as the other day.'
His heart jumped a bit when his phone went off only a few moments later and he eagerly read the reply.
'I can't.'
It wasn't exactly what he was hoping for.
'Are you sure?' He wrote back. 'Because I need to talk to you.'
'About what?'
He paused at that, fingers drumming along the plastic back of his cell. Just as he was mulling over every possible answer that wouldn't corner him into spilling his heart out into dozens of 150-character limited texts and possibly some disjointed emoticons, the mobile buzzed again.
'Actually, just promise me dessert and I'll come.'
The tension in his shoulders eased. 'Deal. See you then.'
By the time class had ended and half the cheese was already shredded for the chicken quesadillas, he was still mulling over the words he wanted to say. "'I was going to tell you sooner but' – no, shit. That sounds retarded." His voice died out the instant he heard the click of the door being pulled open, peering across the room to see Usopp come in.
He nearly scraped his fingers off when the jolt that rushed through him caused him to drop the cheese mid-grate. "Oi! What the hell happened to you?"
Brown eyes peered at him over his long-nose that was currently twice the size it normally was and wrapped tightly in a white bandage. His smile was a bit crooked due to a small, cherry-shaped bruise that filled the space between his left nostril and upper lip. "I guess there's no use hiding it from you anymore Sanji. The truth is I live a double life, protecting the innocent from evil, righting all the wrongs done to our fellow citizens. That's right, I'm-" He spread his legs in a power stance, placed one hand on his hip and pointed his finger up towards the ceiling. "Sogeking the Great!"
"Wha-?" Sanji stared at the ridiculous pose before him, unsure how to respond to that.
"Not even a chuckle? Damn, I got to work on my material." Usopp said, laughing humbly as he crossed the room, dropping his messenger bag on the floor and plopping down in the stool across from him. "Guess I have to amaze you with The Tales of Clumsy Usopp instead." He sarcastically jibed, waving the flat of his hand through the air as if brandishing the title to a movie that was sure to tank at the box office. This close, Sanji could spot some scrapes running vertically across his forehead. They weren't deep but still looked pretty tender and fresh. "The truth is I fell."
"You fell?" He repeated.
"Mmmhmm. It was dumb." The chemist major grumbled, resting his chin in his hand and letting his eyes wander. He reached out and pressed his fingers across the flat edge of the spatula Sanji had set behind the pan, amusing himself by making the handle springboard up as he continued, "Yesterday, on the way home, I was so busy arguing with Kuro on the phone I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings and ended up tripping over this like giant bump in the sidewalk. It was like three inches off ground level! How has no one fixed that, really?"
Usopp was so busy glaring at the kitchen utensil as if it could explain the failures of their city street services that he missed the shameful look that crossed Sanji's face as his guilt increased one-hundredfold. "Shit. I knew I should have gone with you."
That evoked a surprised bark of laughter. "And if you had been? Were you gonna swoop in and catch me?"
Yes! "No." Sanji stared down at his reflection in the handle of the metal grater, mentally shaking away delirious visions of romantically dipping Usopp in the middle of the street and, after having saved him from certain doom, the other would start spouting declarations of love for him. He really had to stop thinking like that. "But it was my fault."
The spatula clattered as the younger let it fall from its upraised position. "What, are you in charge of sidewalk repair or something?"
"Of course not but I…" He breathed out slowly, craving a cigarette as his nerves peaked. But, determined to do this, he sucked it up and finally met his friend's eyes. "I knew your phone was going off yesterday. I should have told you sooner." When the other just continued to stare uncomprehendingly, he added, "If I had, you and Kuro never would have fought. I…I'm sorry."
Usopp blinked once. Twice.
And then his shoulders shook as he laughed at him.
"O-Oi! What's so funny?! I'm being serious shithead, I'm really sorry!"
"For what?" He replied, shaking his head and still sniggering. "Sanji, he was already angry with me. I'm the one who forgot we had a date planned. I mean yeah, I guess he was a little ticked I didn't answer right away, but it was mostly about that and that was totally my fault. You had nothing to do with it. Well… I mean, I guess you kinda did, since you had invited me out and all, but it's not like you knew about any of the other stuff. I was the one who said yes without thinking, so don't worry about it."
"Oh…" Sanji said, feeling a little stupid now.
The dark-haired male averted his eyes, running a finger along the length of his nose, frowning gloomily. "And because our fighting unintentionally caused this, Kuro forgave me instantly. He'll do anything to take care of me, so he can't ever stay mad for long when I'm hurt."
He moved the cheese over the grater again, asking, "It's not broken is it?"
"Nah, this is all cartilage here. It's just swollen. I've done it a million times." He crossed his arms on the counter. "Heh, Mom would always tell me I had a 'nose' for danger. I practically had it wrapped up twenty four-seven when I was a kid because I was really adventurous. I loved climbing trees and chasing reptiles and whatnot. But I tell ya, sure ain't easy running after lizards through bushes when you've got this big ol' honker getting in the way all the time!"
Sanji chuckled, buttering the tortilla before tossing it in the pan to fry, layering the ingredients on top. "Kaya and I loved playing behind the bushes. At our old house, we had these hedges in the backyard that grew a few feet from the fence and no one could see us back there so it was our secret 'pretend' spot. I liked being the heroic prince and she was the kind princess. Sometimes we'd bring out her dolls and pretend they were our entire town, ravaged by a terrible sickness. So we'd have to go on this epic quest fighting dragons and goblins to find the one plant that would cure our people. It was always the same one too." He grinned wickedly. "Did I mention mushrooms grew back there?"
Usopp's face twisted in disgust. "Don't mention those evil things while you're cooking! The good food might spoil!"
He snickered but quickly obliged, talking instead about how Nami-san used to make fake maps and they would all look for treasure like pirates.
"-And Luffy's standing over this sink full of broken plates and dad storms over, his face completely red, and screams, 'How many of those plates have you broken you eggplant?!' And Luffy just looks down at this mess and says 'Oh! I forgot to count!'"
"Oh no!" Usopp applauded, practically howling with laughter. "Your dad must have been furious!"
"Let's just say, even with that prosthetic leg of his he managed to dish out quite a wallop."
The younger student polished off the last of the cinnamon apple crisp, saying once he had swallowed, "It sounded like there was never a dull moment with you guys."
"Ha, almost never." Sanji agreed, glancing at the clock. "It's almost time for your class."
"Already?" The other sighed. "Damn, I have a test too. I'm so gonna fail."
"Didn't study?"
Usopp shrugged. "Well… I was going to but I decided to come here instead." Oddly, he chuckled over that as he stacked their plates together. "Been a long time since I ditched schoolwork to just mess around. Anyways hey! Can I do the dishes this time?"
"Uh…" He shrugged. "Sure if you want."
"Awesome!" The student hopped out of the chair, walking towards the washing station practically whistling as he rinsed them down and loaded them up. Sanji was pretty sure he'd never seen anyone so happy to do such a menial task before.
"Hey… Usopp?" He asked just as he was pulling down the bar.
"Yeah?"
"What's your messenger?"
"Messenger…?" Usopp brows pinched in confusion for a moment. "Oh! You mean for online? It's Sogekingu one hundred."
"Sog… uh."
He smiled and crossed the room. "I'll write it down." He fetched his brown bag off the floor, pulling out the first notebook he could find and flipping through it. Sanji guessed it was his calculus notebook since he could see equations covering the pages, along with many little doodles in between. He only got a real good look of one that took up nearly a whole page; it seemed to be a double-tailed Siberian tiger with saber-tooth canines.
That page was soon turned over and Usopp tore off the corner edge of a blank sheet; then, after a moment, ripped it in half and slid one side towards him. "Yours too." He explained as he found a pencil, quickly writing his down before handing it to him and Sanji did likewise.
"I'm not really on too much unless I'm doing research for school." Usopp warned, closing Sanji's name in between his notes like a bookmark. "But hey it's probably better than my phone, right?" He glanced at the clock and hopped off the chair. "I better get going but I'll see you around. And thanks for lunch, it was delicious!"
"Yeah, sure. Anytime." He said casually enough.
And as Usopp departed, Sanji was left to put away the dishware and wonder if the emotion speeding up his heart and warming his entire body every time he thought of their next meeting was just simple happiness or something more.
