Chapter 4: Feelings

You watched a he danced, his steps echoing in the empty hall, under the tall ceiling. He had his eyes closed and his headphones on. He wasn't dancing to a certain choreography, but trying out some moves and testing his limits. His steps were light and happiness shone from his face, but he was also surrounded by a certain kind of calmness. He was really, really good. His headphones protected him from any possible distractions, not that there were any. The entire hallway was his, without another soul. Or at least it was a while ago. Now you were here. Smiling, you tightened your grip of your book bag and stepped forward, feeling your heart skip a beat. He hadn't noticed you yet, and this made you giggle. Still, nothing. He was in his own world, which you understood. The feeling of being (or at least thinking you were) completely alone and dancing like it was all that there was in the world. He had the first button of his shirt undone, and it was just hanging on him as always. You had noticed he never tucked it in his pants. Well, neither did anyone else, really. But you paid close attention to everything that he was and did. Not that you really meant to, it just kind of... happened.

You watched him for a few moments longer. He was mouthing the lyrics to whatever song he was listening to, and all his attention was sinking into his movements. Soon after, you couldn't resist anymore. You snuck up to him, and grabbed his headphones pulling them off of his ears.

"Boo." You said teasingly.

Usopp yelped, just a little high, and had the most hilarious expression on his face. You had no idea he was this jumpy! He stared at you for a second before blinking rapidly a couple of times. You still had your hands on his headphones, and therefore around his neck.

"Shit." Usopp managed to babble out. "You surprised me." He continued.

"Don't you mean scared you?" You giggled. Usopp blushed a bit, and you couldn't help but to find it way too cute. Damn.

"Startled, tops." He argued, giving you a smug smile. You were suddenly painfully aware of where your hands were, and you let go of his headphones. Your hand brushed his skin just a bit on the way down. It felt amazingly warm against your icy cold fingers. The huge building tended to get really cold. You bit the inside of your cheek to stop the words 'Fuck, you're hot' from escaping your lips. You wouldn't want to let Usopp... get the wrong idea. Yeah.

You took a step backwards, holding the strap of your book bag tight again.

"What are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?" Usopp asked with a laugh. One of his hands had wondered into his hair, pushing it back a bit.

"Why are you dancing in a hallway?" You challenged him back with a question. "How can you possibly expect for someone to not sneak up on you? It's an opportunity way too precious to pass!" You laughed,.

"Well, no-one usually comes here before class. It's so isolated that everyone comes here at the last minute. Or at least they did until now." He said, giving you a playfully judging look. You bit your lip.

"Well, I have a free period, so I decided to find my way to my next class in time." You told him. It had taken you a good while to get here, The hallway had only one door, leading to the music class room.

"Well, I have a free period too. I always use it to dance in this hall. Like I said, it's always empty and I have music next anyway. I assume you do too since you're here."

"I'm sorry for." You apologized with a small smile.

"I'm not." He replied, leaning back a bit with his hands in his pockets. He looked directly at you, making you want to giggle.

The two of you sat down on the floor next to the class door. You weren't sure if you were imagining, but he sat just a little closer to you than he had to.

"Wait, you have music too?" You asked. He nodded.

"Yep. Everyone has to take at least one course of music, whether they major in it or not." He told you. "Wait till you meet the teacher, he has something wrong with him, I swear! At first I thought he was possessed by a demon or something, and I used to come to class with garlic around my neck and a cross in my hand."

You laughed like every other time he told you something that you weren't sure was completely true or not. He was the only one to have this effect on you. You could not tell if he was trying to make you laugh or not, but he seemed to enjoy it when you did. It made him move his hands more rapidly and his face light up.

"Calm down, you're going to run out of breath." He chuckled.

"I already did trying to find my way here." You managed to say while giggling. "I am so lost in this place. Everything is so confusing, nothing makes sense and I swear the rooms change places sometimes. The map I got is complete bullshit." You rolled your eyes, cringing a bit. Usopp got a sneaky grin on his lips. He looked at you for a while, making you question what was going to happen next. He grabbed your phone that was clearly visible in the side pocket of your book bag. Your mouth opened wide.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?!" You exclaimed in a playful manner. He got up and started walking away.

"Oh cool, no pass code!" He mentioned. You rushed up as well.

"What are you doing?" You repeated, trying to get your phone back. It wasn't much use though, as he was taller than you, holding the phone far out of your reach.

"Aww, look at the little thing~" He teased, while doing something with your precious phone. You were a little worried in a way.

"Usopp! I swear!" You huffed, and jumped up trying to reach your little baby. You were now practically hanging on to Usopp, trying to get high enough.

"Just a second more!" He laughed continuing to do whatever he was doing. You really wanted your phone back now. And you sure were going to get it!

Dropping yourself from hanging onto Usopp, you took a step back and clomped him with all your mass. He probably could have stayed up otherwise, but you caught him off guard. You both fell down on the hard concrete floor, and in your head you were begging for him to not have gotten hurt too bad. Just a little bit was enough, with him taking your phone and all. To your surprise, he started laughing.

"What are you laughing at! Give me that!" You hissed a little annoyed, grabbing your phone. On the screen was a new contact called 'Usopp King of Awesome'.

"I just wanted to give you my number so you can call me if you get lost!" He laughed. "I had no idea you could be that strong!"

You did not want to admit it, but you were blushing like crazy. The heat was building up in your cheeks as you looked at the floor tiles instead of Usopp.

"You could have said so..." You mumbled. You were so red, oh gosh, what should you do?

"Ahem."

Both of you turned towards the sound. It was Robin, standing casually a few feet away from you. How long had she been there? It was at that moment you became painfully aware of the fact you were on top of Usopp.

SHIIIIT!

You got up and took a few steps away from Usopp. He took his sweet time with getting up though.

"Is this a bad time? I just wanted to go to class but..." She said cunningly.

"Usopp was just giving me his number." You told hastily.

"That sure is an interesting way to do that." Robin noted, leaning on the wall. You didn't have time to protest, because a loud group of students rushed in all at once. Usopp finally bothered to pick his ass up.

"Prepare for an one of a kind experience." He said in perfect timing with the opening door.

"YOHOHOHOHO! Come on in, my dear students!"

The man speaking was abnormally tall and skinny. He was wearing a top hat, jacket and red pants with flowers on them. Wow. Okay.

Clearly out of habit, everyone formed a line. You were a little puzzled, but went with it. Robin, Usopp and you were the first three in line.

"Robin, beautiful as always. How are you today?" The tall man asked.

"I am fine, thank you for asking." She replied and they shook hands. After that, Robin stepped in to the classroom.

What? Was he going to do that with everybody?

"Oh! A new face! Yohohoho! What might your name be?" The tall man grabbed your hand. His fingers were really bony and long, making you want to shiver a little. But something about him amused you as well. In a good way.

"My name is _, sir." You replied with a pretty smile.

"Yohohoho! A beautiful name for a beautiful lady! Welcome! My name is Brook and I always look forward to meeting new faces!" He said. His voice was kind of high. It made you think that he could probably sing really well. You smiled at him before sitting next to Robin on one of the long benches. Soon after, Usopp followed.

Brook greeted everybody, and it took a good while. You found it sweet in a way. He was taking interest in his students. He closed the door after the last student, and stepped in from of the class, laying his top hat on his piano. He seemed like a true gentleman.

Suddenly, a burp.

Never mind.

"Ah, my wonderful students, please do stand up! Lets open our voices a bit!"

Everybody stood up, and Usopp gave you a look.

"Prepare for this." He chuckled.

"After me, you know how! YOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

Everyone burst out in that weird 'yohoho' laugh but you just kind of froze. What on earth?

"Oh, don't be shy!" Brook said looking straight at you. This made everyone else look at you as well, and you wanted to just disappear. You were fine being looked at on stage, but this was way out of your comfort zone.

"Come on, lets all show _ how!" He hollered. Oh crap. No no no. This was NOT cool.

Everyone burst in another huge 'yohohoho' and you just wanted to die. You glanced at Usopp, and he nodded at you. You took a deep breath and begged for this to be over soon. You joined in at the next 'yohohoho' and in after a few sets, it turned into actual laughter. Usopp started laughing as well, and Brook seemed rather happy.

The rest of the class wasn't as bad as you had thought it would be. Brook was really laid back and you got to chat with Robin and Usopp a lot. It was Friday, which meant that all classes were over by lunch. Once you started to head towards the cafeteria to have lunch, Robin had to leave. She said she had to take care of some stuff before tonights party.

"What's with the background?" Usopp asked all of a sudden.

"Huh?" You were a bit confused.

"You know, on your phone." He explained.

"It's just my favorite animal. Why?"

"No reason." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"Usopp! _!" You heard Namis voice call you. She was running close behind you. And with her was a very down looking Luffy. He was dragging his feet and was not drooling after the delicious smell of lunch. Usopp turned a little pale.

"Luffy isn't excited to eat?" He said while some kind of horror started to fill his eyes. You on the other hand stared at Nami, who hopped to you and Usopp and pulled you both in a tight hug. She squealed and bounced around you. You noticed how close you were to Usopp in that tight hug. Nami was squeezing you even harder, thus so, Usopps hair brushed your cheek. Closing your eyes in shame, you moved your head towards him, just an inch. Yes! His hair was just as poofy as you thought! Now you wanted to handle it even more. You blushed at your own silly thoughts. Calm down, it's just hair...

"Luffy is failing math and biology!" She laughed out loud. "This is the best thing ever!"

After she let the two of you go, you exchanged confused glances.

"Umm... What?" Usopp questioned her.

"She had to go to Shanks' office!" She squealed. Usopps face turned a bit brighter. You on the other hand had no idea what was so great about Luffy failing.

"Are you okay, Luffy?" You asked the boy who had just reached you. He had an indescribably big frown on his mouth.

"I have to do extra stuufff... I don't wannaaaa!" He moaned. You fluffed his hair a bit.

"I'll help you, don't worry." You comforted him. "Why are you so happy about this?" You asked Nami and Usopp with a serious look on your face.

"Well, Shanks and Luffy go way back, actually." Nami explained. "So, he's known to, how would I put this, favor us a little bit." She winked. You still weren't following her. "In this years big Halloween event, there's going to be a talent competition, and..." She paused for dramatic effect, making Usopps eyes widen with excitement. "A talent agent!" She finally squealed.

Now you got why she was so excited. Who knows where this could get you. You had picked up a lot of clues about Namis dedication to make their little group really shine out there. She was constantly talking about their future and how they would be able to do this for a living someday.

"YOOOOOOSH!" Usopp hollered grabbing both you and Nami.

"We have to start putting together a new choreography. It has to show the best points of each and every one of us. Our technique, how we work together... It will blow their mind away!" Nami was already full on planning a new choreography in her head. During the past few days, you had learned that she was the one behind their amazing choreographies. Without Nami, the group would be like a ship at sea without a navigator.

"You do realize Law and his group are going to try to beat us, right?" Usopp stated. Nami winked at him.

"But we have an advantage. We know." She replied.

"Umm... Who's Law?" You couldn't help yourself, you just had to ask.

"He's the leader of our biggest rival dance group, they call themselves the Heart Breakers." Nami answered. You chuckled at this.

"What kind of a name is that?" You asked.

"Well, they're all guys..." Nami said. As you both shared the same sense of humor, you started laughing uncontrollably.

"What the actual fuck?" You asked with tears in your eyes.

"They're actually really cool, don't worry." Nami giggled out. "But yeah, that's hilarious."

"We've actually worked with them before. They're pretty cool, but we're better." Usopp said humorously.

Okay, so it is very likely you have already seen this Law or some of his 'Heart Breaker boys' around. You were really curious about the possible competition, especially if the Straw Hats had 'frenemy' relationship with them. This was turning out to be quite exciting.

Nami was already running to Zoro, squealing like fangirl excited to share the news.

"Luffy, would you like some meatballs?" Usopp asked his friend, trying to cheer him up. This brought some life into the boy who was completely depressed a second ago, as he rushed to the meatballs. You gave Usopp a sweet look.

"PAAARTYYYYYYY!" Luffy hollered, jumping on a couch with Chopper. It was only one of the many big, super soft looking couches with huge pillows. The two boys jumped from one couch to another, doing flips and tricks, trying their best to impress one another. They were super excited, since this wasn't only a party to welcome their new Nakama, but a celebration of the great advantage they had in the competition knowing that a talent agent would be present.

The upstairs of Thousand Sunny was breathtaking. It had lounging space, tasteful décor, and a huge aquarium on one wall. How did these guys get to practice here again?

Sanji was waving at you eagerly from behind a counter that suspiciously resembled a bar. It had the stools and everything. Were the teachers here aware of what was upstairs of the Thousand Sunny? Did Franky get a permission to build all this? No matter what, it was gorgeous.

You had not packed a lot of clothes with you to begin with, but it was still harder for you to choose your outfit for tonight than you had thought. Everyone was laid back, and your nakama. You didn't have anyone to impress, right? Well, you had decided to wear _, and you had to say, you were quite pleased with the way it complimented your looks. Nami was like a model in her sparkly top and jean shorts as she eagerly showed you around.

"It's so amazing!" You gasped. "How come you get to practice here?"

"Well, like I said, Luffy and Shanks go way back. He doesn't really spoil or favor him in an unfair manner, but when he gave our group this room to use it was a mess. Thank god for Franky and Usopp." She giggled. One word in there made you alert.

"Usopp?" You replied.

"He can do a thing or two." Nami said winking. "He remodeled the floor of our previous dance studio after Luffy managed to... wreck it." She told you. "He and Franky put this place together." She motioned at the gorgeous room. You were impressed. If Usopp could do all these things, why did he feel the need to lie?

Oi! _!" Luffy yelled from one of the couches, catching your attention. "Isn't Brook awesome?"

Surprised by this question, you gave him a puzzled look.

"Luffy wants Brook to be our musician." Nami told you.

"Okay..." You said humored. "Why?"

"Cool music!" Luffy replied while jumping really, really high. Chopper was desperately trying to keep up.

"For the last time, you can't really dance to it." Nami mumbled rolling her eyes. Luffy made a raspberry at Nami, stretching his face like rubber afterwards. She just ignored him.

"Who makes the decisions around here!" Luffy challenged her, accidentally jumping a little too far and landing on the floor with a loud crack.

"Are you allright?!" You panicked, rushing to him. That sounded really bad. He must have broken a bone.

"Yeah. Why?" Luffy said, jumping up without a scratch. You just stared at him as he made his way towards Sanji to beg for snacks.

"He never gets injured." Chopper told you, jumping off the couch. You just couldn't get over his adorableness! He was short for his age, and a little chubby, but it sure didn't stop him for rocking on the dance floor. It still amazed you.

You looked around you. Zoro was snoozing in the corner, so the only ones missing were Usopp and Robin.

Sanji, who was pushing Luffy away from the tray he was carrying, came to greet you and Nami. He had an admiring look on his face as he told you how absolutely wonderful you both looked. You didn't know why, but all this attention he was giving you did make you somewhat uncomfortable.

You all sat down for a while, and soon after Robin arrived, receiving the same treatment from Sanji as Nami and you had. Everyone was having a good time, you were all just lounging on the sofas and chatting. You felt really happy. First of all, it had been a really busy first week with you having to catch up to others and learn your way around in this new school. But the most of all, you felt like everyone accepted you and they truly enjoyed your company. You heard funny stories about everyone, your favorite being Zoro's unbelievably bad sense of direction. This subject seemed to hurt his pride as he blushed a bit, trying to deny some of it.

After everyone was done laughing at Choppers happy dances which you were very familiar with, Luffy spoke up.

"I think it's time for us to start the tradition!" He laughed, letting out a burb for drinking his alcohol too fast. You raised an eyebrow.

"It's this thing that we've done with everybody so far. It's literally a crossover of spin the bottle and truth or dare. You spin the bottle, the person it points to chooses which one they prefer. Then, the spinner asks them to do or tell anything in the world." Robin summed it up. You smiled. You loved these kinds of things. It was all in good fun, and you had a few amazing dares up your sleeve that you were itching to use. Your temporary joy faded soon enough. You remembered once again that Usopp wasn't here. You were letting it bother you more than you wanted. But you just wanted to know why. Why wasn't he here?

"We can't start yet, Usopp isn't here." Zoro blurted out. You silently thanked him. "Someone call the bastard." He continued.

"How dare he be late from this marvelous event!" Sanji gasped, and kept mumbling something about keeping ladies waiting. You weren't offended, you just wanted for him to be here. You really liked hi- …s company. Yup.

You watched intently as Sanji held the phone to his ear. Everyone was quiet for a while, and soon after Sanji lowered the phone.

"How dare he keep our ladies waiting." He growled.

"Oi!"

Usopp was running up the stairs, panting lightly. You turned towards him and could not fight the joy that must have been very visible from your face. Your heart fluttered as you held your breath for just a second. Damn. He looked hot.

He had his hair on a tight ponytail, making the ends look like one, big poofy ball. He was wearing yellow baggy pants that really complimented his tan skin, and a loose white tanktop that displayed his beautiful, muscular dancers body. Fuck this shit. You were so sick and tired of denying this from yourself. Fine. He was hot. Super hot. And you also found his cartoonish face very cute, and his dark eyes and long lashes beautiful, surrounded by that curly hair. He had the sexiest smile on his lips, and you just wanted to die.

You were scolding yourself. Having a crush on someone for their physical appearance made you uncomfortable in a way. Sure, there was nothing wrong with eye candy, but admitting to yourself that you had a crush on someone simply because they made your ovaries explode made you think a little low about yourself.

But you didn't like Usopp only for his looks. He was kind, funny, silly and just loveable. You tried to calm yourself down. It's a crush, it'll pass. You had only known the guy for five days, so you couldn't say you really knew him. He might not be your type at all. You suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. You couldn't let anyone know.

"How dare you be late for _-Chans party!" Sanji yelled at Usopp, who looked a bit awkward at the moment. He touched his beard a little bit.

"I'm really sorry." He said a little ashamed.

"It's okay." You rushed in to say before Sanji got the chance to protest further. He gave Usopp a very nasty look and motioned with his fingers that he was watching him. You giggled. Usopp gave you the cutest smile that made you want to squeal as he sat down on on the sofa right across you. You were facing him directly, which made you stare at your hands quite intently.

Nami gave you an empty bottle, nodding towards the table.

"You go first, naturally." She told you with a wink.

Authors Notes:

Okay, so I had a major fever today, so all I did was write this story and sip hot cocoa. :'3 I have no idea if this turned out okay or absolutely awful, because I am a bit out of it atm. XD I'm sorry it's a bit short, but I was only putting a base for the next chapter. :)

I have big plans for the next chapter, but feel free to leave suggestions for dares etc. ;P

I got and awesome request from Soniitk and I'm already working it in the story and it's gonna be soooo good! Thank you, hun. :3

Keep loving Usopp! o3o