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“This is it! Today’s the day!” Usopp repeated.
A lower, slightly more masculine voice, rumbled with agreement, “Today is the day!”
“I tell him!” Usopp insisted.
“You tell him,” the second voice agreed.
“H-He’ll know!” Usopp rasped, his voice sounding less determined and just a little more scared.
“Usopp…” the second voice cautioned, already sensing the downhill spiral.
“And h-h-he’ll… he’ll….”
“Usopp…”
“H-h-h-h-heeeeeee-”
“Usopp….”
“H-h-h-h-h-h-h-heeee… Heeeee wiiillllllll…?”
“Usopp!”
Usopp spun around, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. Usopp was holding the Sogeking mask to his face, and pointing back at himself through the mirror, “Usopp! Where is your bravery? Have you not stood upon the tower of justice and saved the fair princess Robin?”
Usopp lowered the mask, revealing his pouting face, “That’s true Sogeking… I did… but-”
The mask went back up in the mirror, and Sogeking bellowed, “Did you not battle A God who struck you with thunder, and save your loyal retainers, Nami, and Sanji?”
“Well… yes… kind of. I helped…” Usopp muttered.
“There is no kind of about it!” Sogeking bellowed, hands on his hips, and nose titled high, “You are brave! Brave Captain Usopp! You have overcome, and will overcome again! You must simply… act! Confess! The trials you've gone through in battle, can be taken home with you in your heart! Let those triumphs embolden you!”
Usopp threw the Sogeking mask to the ground, and pointed accusingly at the mirror, “But this is Sanji! This is telling him, I love him! This isn’t simple! I could ruin our friendship! He could hate me! He’s a lady’s man, and I’m not a lady! What would he see in me Sogeking? What would I offer? What could I offer? A wimpy, clingy, coward, is in love with him! Give me a break! He’s a prince and I’m… I’m…”
From behind him, Usopp swore he could hear Sogeking ask, “You’re what, Usopp?”
“...A clown,” Usopp answered mournfully. “Clowns don’t get Princes… especially clowns that fought their kings and made everyone sad...” Usopp bit on his lip, sniffing as another wave of fresh guilt washed over him. Enies Lobby wasn’t even a day behind him.
He’d messed up so badly… how could he ever be worthy of Sanji? If Usopp was just himself, if he didn’t have the weight of his betrayal still laying heavy on his back, maybe there’d be a small chance. Maybe… maybe all those smiles, those soft conversations under the stars, the grinning at each other from across the deck, maybe that meant something. But Usopp had turned his back on his friends. He’d let his inner turmoils boil up, and had spewed all that suffering onto his very best friends…
It didn’t matter if he apologized.
He’d hurt them all… Sanji included.
Usopp’s shoulders sagged, his eyes on the floor of his new workshop. He scuffed the ground with a toe, and sighed.
Usopp felt hands curl like claws around his shoulders, and he was spun around. He screamed as he was turned, flailing about as he was pushed back against the mirror, too dizzy to see while in motion. He only quieted, when his terrified eyes registered Sanji’s incredibly red, and incredibly angry face.
As the silence stretched out, Usopp realized with horror, Sogeking had not been the one to ask Usopp: You’re what, Usopp?
Usopp might have sunk to the ground and curled up in a ball on the floor, if Sanji wasn’t keeping him on his feet.
“Who says you’re a Clown, you idiot!” Sanji hissed.
Usopp cringed into his shoulders, “S-Sanji, I-”
“Who says a Prince and Clown can’t work out? Who says a Clown can’t apologize to a King and be welcomed back home, huh? Aren’t you a storyteller? Don’t you like a happy ending? Why would any decent story end where the Clown gets shunned? He worked hard dammit! The Prince would see that the Clown had made up for his mistakes. The Prince would see that the Clown made a mistake, but still want him to come back! Why won’t it work out for them!?” Sanji demanded.
“H-How long have you been in here?” Usopp squealed, his heart beating too fast, and the gears in his head spinning into overdrive.
Sanji sighed, face flushing all shades of red, and eyes still angry, “...I was bringing you a snack. Your door was open.”
“Shit.”
“Usopp…” Sanji started, but then stopped. After a moment of his useless mouth flapping, he sighed, and let Usopp go. He pulled a cigarette from his coat, lit it, and took a drag. After an exhale, in which he politely turned his head so he wouldn’t get smoke in Usopp’s face, he tried again, “Usopp… where’s my confession?”
Usopp blushed, shameful tears pricking his eyes, as his knees started to knock together, “I-I don’t need to confess if I already know the answer!”
Sanji swore, and tossed his still lit cigarette on the ground, Usopp watching it bounce and roll under his work desk with surprise. A cool hand was on his chin, and Sanji leaned over him, his forearm pressed above his head. Usopp had just a moment to look into stormy blue gray eyes, before Sanji was kissing him.
The kiss was possessive, devouring, and desperate. It was not a simple meeting of lips. Sanji, his breath still slightly tinged with nicotine, kissed Usopp with a demanding tongue. Their lips joined, and it was as if the cigarette was lit between them. It was so warm, it burned, and that heat traveled into Usopp’s whole face, down his throat, to his belly, and to his toes.
Usopp swayed forward, off balance by the demanding need of the kiss Sanji had placed upon him. Sanji used Usopp’s unbalance to his advantage, and yanked the sniper into his arms, one hand sliding around the back of Usopp’s sweaty neck, while the other hand pressed into the small of Usopp’s back and pulled.
Usopp’s body was pressed flush against the chef’s, and his hands sought purchase clumsily. At first, he settled one hand in the crook of Sanji’s arm, and then drifted up the lapels of Sanji’s jacket, his thumbs stroking the material of the fabric. Sanji’s tongue stroked Usopp’s tongue, and Usopp’s hands curled higher. Sanji seemed to kiss harder as Usopp’s hands moved, and by the time Usopp’s hands were around Sanji’s neck, Sanji was biting Usopp’s tongue until a surprised whimpering moan slipped past his lips.
At his moan, Sanji echoed it, with a low guttural groan of his own. He sounded pleased, and relieved, like Usopp's pleasured sound did something to him. Usopp whimpered again, and Sanji answered it with a groaning, husky sound that Usopp couldn't attach a label to. That sound sent a full-body shiver down Usopp’s spine, and he felt himself, lifted off the ground until he was on the balls of his feet, Sanji pulling Usopp as if he was trying to bring him in and absorb him.
This kiss broke off with a harsh gasp, Usopp dazed, and Sanji looking flushed and panting hard.
They held each other for a moment, breathing in each other’s space. Sanji’s expression was soft and yearning, and it was all on Usopp. Usopp tightened his arms around Sanji’s shoulders.
“Usopp?” Sanji prompted, voice rough.
“Y-Yes?”
“Give me my confession, so I can answer it.”
End