onepieceyaoi100 | (no subject)

Title: Worst fears
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Word Count: 263
Topic: Off topic
Pairing: Sanji/Ace
Warning: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 501!! Don't say you weren't warned!
A/N: A continuation of sorts from Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

"Bastard!" He chokes, crushing the newspaper under his foot.

"Bastard!"

Usopp pokes his head around the galley door cautiously. The cook was leaning against the preparations table with a hand over his eyes.

"Sanji?" Wary, inquisitive, but mostly concerned.

"Get...get Luffy."

"Why-"

"GET LUFFY!" He barks, voice horse as he kneels to pluck up the paper. The sharpshooter shoots off, obviously not wanting to risk the cook losing his temper anymore than he already appears to have.

Usopp finds Luffy, but the captain is already making his way into the kitchen. He stands by the door as the other man walks in and closes it behind him.

He wants to believe he really is the greatest spy in the world, with hearing greater than a bat and senses sharper than even the gods, because he would give anything to know what those hushed whispers are about right now.

It is longer than he expects, almost an hour before Luffy comes out he wants to ask, to know.

Instead he only stands back when Luffy emerges, newspaper clenched in a tense fist, hat pulled low over his eyes as he tells Nami to get them to the next island quickly; they need to find out something.

Usopp looks into the galley as Nami bellows at the others to loose the sails and gather the cola. Sanji is slumped at the table, shoulders jerking slightly.

"Bastard...stupid, stupid man."

And now Usopp is glad he's the most caring man in the whole of the universe, because only one as observant as he realises that sometimes a man needs time to be alone.

So he closes the door and stands guard.