Fic post, part 3 of 3
Jun. 22nd, 2008 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesConclusion of the L/N/U thing. Again, constructive criticism would be totally great.
I’m stealing from better writers more obviously in this part – see the Author’s Notes at the end for further info on this.
Title: Erratic Equilibrium, Part Two
Rating: PG-13 for strong language, innuendo, sexual situations
Setting: Post Thriller Bark
Pairing: Luffy/Nami/Usopp
Disclaimer and summary at the Intro
And here’s Part One
*
“Ah, there you are.” Back in her study, Nami looked up briefly and nodded at the two boys before turning back towards her charts. She would never admit to this to anyone, but she had actually tried out three different outfits after coming back from her bath, before finally settling on the most casual and workmanlike of them – faded blue jeans shorts and a simple sleeveless top with only one button left open at the top. No frills, nothing dazzling and fancy, just plain everyday hard-working Nami.
She looked back up at Luffy and Usopp, giving them a closer scrutiny. They didn’t really seem any different from usual, from what she could see. Usopp looked nervous and a bit guilty, but not anymore than when he’d helped pilfering cookies or had an experiment or prank destroy something moderately expensive. Though he did seem a bit more well-scrubbed than usual, she noticed. As for Luffy, he looked entirely like normal, with nothing even faintly remarkable about his expressions or the way he moved.
“So what did you wanna talk about?” he was saying now, hands in pockets.
Nami put her chart away to the side and leaned back in her chair, legs crossed.
“All right,” she began. “I would like to talk to you about something. Consider our little crew, if you will.” She waved her pencil around in the air in a magisterial way. “Despite the fact that it’s made up mostly by idiots and we tend to get on each other’s nerves and quarrel a lot, still we manage to look out for each other and work together most of the time. Of course, we’re all pretty amazing, and you have me for navigator. But one thing you might not have considered” – her tone made it clear she was positive they had not – “is that we’re a pretty young group of people, and more than half of us are teenagers. You know what that means? Hormones, that’s what.”
“Er... what are you trying to say here?” said Usopp, frowning at her.
“Yeah, what?” said Luffy, picking his nose with a similar frown.
Nami raised an admonishing finger. “Hold on, I’m getting to it,” she said. “So. I doubt you’ve been aware of this, but it is my conviction that one of the things that have helped make this team work reasonably well is the fact that up until now, nobody here has been getting any. Not to my knowledge anyway, and I figure I’d know otherwise.”
She paused for a few seconds, just to let that hang there, then finished “…And now the two of you had to go and spoil all that.”
Usopp went extremely pale, then flushed bright scarlet. “Wh-what?” he managed. “I – I – I – I really don’t know what you’re talking about! Stop making such crazy allegations, woman –”
Nami gave him a flat look. “Give it up. Robin saw you guys down on gun deck before.”
“Aaaaarrggh!” Usopp clenched his hands into fists and beat the air in frustration. “I can’t believe we’re found out already!!” he wailed. “Robin is such a sneak!”
“You guys really suck at being discreet,” said Nami. “But see, this kind of thing is something we smarter crew members – I’m talking about Robin and myself here, of course – need to keep track of. There could be trouble, you know. People might get jealous.”
Luffy blinked. “What, just because we had sex?” Then he pointed at Nami with a righteous expression: “We never had it before, you know! This was totally the first time!”
Usopp smacked him. “Shaddup! She doesn’t have to know that!”
“Once is bad enough!” snapped Nami, crossing her arms. “As I said, it could mean trouble. It’s also self-indulgent as hell.”
“Really?” said Luffy, frowning. “Hey, you never said anything like this when I’ve kissed you!”
Usopp started. “What? Wait a minute – you’ve been kissing Nami? For free?? Ow!”
Nami frowned right back at Luffy and tap-tapped her pencil against her desk again. “I did too!” she protested. “That’s why it always stopped with just kissing. I can’t help it if you won’t remember things properly. ”
“You’ve never said anything to me about kissing Nami!” exclaimed Usopp.
“Huh? Well, I didn’t say anything to her about kissing you, either. So it evens out.” Luffy nodded several times, satisfied with his reasoning.
“LUFFY!” yelled Usopp, not satisfied at all.
Luffy turned back to Nami: “I thought you said it was because you didn’t want to get pregnant!”
“Well, I don’t, of course,” Nami began, but now Usopp was poking Luffy in the forehead repeatedly and glaring at him.
“You’re supposed to tell people about things like that!” he scolded.
“But it was a secret!”
“Well, maybe I would have liked to kiss Nami, too, ever thought of that?” grumbled Usopp, looking sulky.
“Anyway,” Nami picked up where she’d stopped, “yeah, that’s one reason too, but it’s just part of it.” Then she added with a thoughtful look, “Though actually, Robin got me some stuff you can use so there’s no risk of getting pregnant. I got some more at Water 7 too. Just in case.” She drummed her fingers calculatingly on the back of her chair.
Usopp first looked puzzled, then slowly turned an even deeper scarlet. “Wh-what?” he quaked.
Nami sighed theatrically and looked up toward the ceiling. “Well...” she said languidly, “now that you guys have already gone and upset the balance...”
“Wait a minute! Are you – are you saying –”
“Huh?” said Luffy, mildly curious. “Whatcha talking about?”
Usopp opened his mouth to say something, then caught Nami’s eye and nervously backed away, closer to the door.
Nami coughed. “Ahem. Don’t jump to conclusions now – this is all hypothetical. I’m just trying to make you guys think for once.” She gave them a sharp look. “As an example – let’s just say something like that were to occur.”
“Like what?” said Luffy. Usopp leaned over and whispered in his ear. Luffy’s eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear. “Well, that would be just great! Wouldn’t it?!”
“But,” said Nami, “what do you think would happen once Sanji found out? He wouldn’t be very happy with you two, would he?”
Both boys got a frozen look about them, as this sunk in.
“Ah – ah – ah... THAT WOULDN’T BE GOOD!” shouted Luffy, sweating and wild-eyed.
Usopp began to run around the room in panic: “AAAAHHH! He’d try to kill us for sure!”
“HE WOULD! HE WOULD!” Luffy agreed, and started running as well.
“Yep, that’s pretty much it,” stated Nami calmly. “With some mutilation as a side dish.”
“He’d totally dismember us!” yelled Usopp. “He’d turn us into purée!”
Nami nodded. “Uh-huh. And he’d start feed you nothing but vegetables, too. No meat! No fish!”
“NOOOOOOO!” cried Luffy, in the throes of dark despair.
“Gaah!!” wailed Usopp, but then he stopped to draw breath. “Wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “We’re getting worked up over nothing! We haven’t actually slept with Nami, so we’re safe!” Immensely relieved, he started to wipe sweat from his face.
“Ah, yeah. Right,” said Luffy, also wiping sweat away. Then his face lit up, “Whew, that was a close one! Ahahaha!”
There was a loud snap as Nami broke her pencil in half. She got up and took a step towards Usopp, glaring at him.
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for you, Long-nose?” she said dangerously. Honestly, after all the trouble she’d gone to– !
“What? No – I just – Huh?!”
She grabbed him by his overall straps, still looking angry as hell.
“Then stop acting like it,” she growled. And kissed him.
Usopp wailed, “What kind of crazy – Mmf. Mmmmff.”
Luffy just stared at them for about fifteen long seconds, then when they broke off he jumped over to them, eyes shining.
“Wow, that was really good, Nami!” he exclaimed. “You got it right the very first time, turning so that the nose feels good instead of getting in the way! I didn’t get that until the third time!”
“Hey, you– !” Usopp growled at him; while normally proud of his nose, he evidently didn’t appreciate hearing it discussed like this. Nami preened a bit, figuring she was worth it. Usopp’s face set in a determined “I’ll-show-you” expression as he started to kiss her back more intently. Pretty soon Luffy joined in and there were a few busy minutes, full of hasty fumbling and tentative gropes, shoving and elbowing and low mutters of protests and excuses, lips and fingers going every which way and a general shortness of breath and sweatiness all over, the pace increasing with an urgency as if they might not want to give themselves the chance to stop and think things over.
But after a while Usopp did manage to pull himself back slightly from the others’ arms. “W-wait a minute!” he managed to splutter. “Wait just a goddamn minute here, young Nami! Do you WANT Sanji to chop us up with a meat cleaver, or whatever he’ll use?”
“No, we’re just kissing...” mumbled Luffy, “...so it’s okay...”
Usopp glanced at him. “Is that really something you should say with your fingers all tangled up in someone’s bra strap?” he muttered.
“No, I don’t want that!” said Nami, addressing Usopp. “But I’m making a point here! –Luffy, if you break that I’m taking the money for a new bra directly from your food budget. With interest.”
“What – wait – what do you mean a point, what kind of –” Usopp flailed around a bit, but didn’t try very hard to break out completely from Luffy’s rubber arms and Nami’s strong grip. “I mean, a point about what?” he gave up, right as Nami was gently removing his bandanna and Luffy was tugging at his sash.
Nami kissed him again. Taking strength and giving strength all at the same time; wanting to make sure the two of them would always be there. She could be the glue if she had to be, as long as she would not be left out.
She had a sudden sense of herself as a tree, young and fast-growing and yet with a great stubborn strength in its limbs; her roots and twigs and branches all reaching out, turning and twining like vines around each of the others.
Tying them all closer and starting with these two: she’d reached to pick them up and it felt like she had the sun and the moon in her hands. Except, except both of them were burning.
“Balance,” she mumbled softly. She took a deep breath, and plunged in.
*
Since they were all very inexperienced, it probably wasn’t hours later when everyone felt satisfied and sleepy and exhausted and it really felt like over for now, thank you, even Nami agreed – but it sure felt like hours. Luffy fell asleep for a little while and Usopp was feeling rather drowsy himself and none of them really felt like getting up and moving for a good while longer.
It was nice just to lie there on the floor and stare at the ceiling and not talk and not really think much. But it wasn’t like you could do that all day.
“...So does this mean we have to seduce Sanji now, too?” muttered Usopp finally, right after Luffy had started to move his arms a bit and make waking-up sounds. Usopp was still looking up at the ceiling and his tone that was only annoyed by half; the other half still felt a bit dreamy and detached.
“Well, I’m not doing it all by myself, y'know!” mumbled Nami from where she was lying close to him, her head still resting on Luffy’s stomach. She kept making little circles in Usopp’s hair and drumming on his shoulder from time to time. “He’d be impossible after that!”
“Goddamnit, I am never going to get any work done...” Usopp sighed. Only now did he realise that he’d had one hand lying on Nami’s right thigh for quite some time now. He removed it carefully even though she obviously didn’t seem to mind. Maybe she just hadn’t noticed either.
“Mhm...” mumbled Nami sleepily.
“Mhmm...” the just-about-conscious Luffy agreed, one hand still resting on Usopp’s stomach. Usopp thought about removing it, but then he started stretching Luffy’s fingers instead, which was always fun.
“...what kind of work?” asked Nami after a minute or two of silence, while idly trailing her fingers up and down Luffy’s other arm, making him laugh now and then.
“Um... oh, right, I was going to practise combination attacks with Franky sometime today... or was that tomorrow?”
Luffy perked up. “Hey, that sounds like fun...”
Nami sniggered. “That sounds kinda dirty, actually...”
Usopp gawked at her. “Don’t – don’t say things like that!” He clamped his hands over his eyes. “Now I’m going to imagine... aaargh!! Stop doing that, stupid imagination!” Looking up at the ceiling beseechingly, he wailed, “Why, why, why is our navigator such a pure-blooded devil?”
Nami only laughed heartily and stretched where she lay. “Probably because our sniper is way too fun and easy to get going,” she said happily. She rolled over towards Usopp and lifted up her head to look at him, her chin resting in one palm. “Anyway,” she continued, “I didn’t say it’s something we have to do this very minute.”
Usopp glared up at her, not mollified. “Well, I don’t want to give him the time to start planning how to best chop us up with a carving-knife!”
“You know,” Luffy said in a sleepily thoughtful way, “Sanji wouldn’t really do that. He’d just kick us to death, instead.”
“Oh, so that’s BETTER?” Usopp twisted around a bit and reached over to whack Luffy on the shoulder. “This is all your fault, you know!”
“Huh? What did I do?” said Luffy, surprised.
“You started it! You started kissing me and then... you know... things suddenly went further than before...” He blushed furiously.
“No that was you!” protested Luffy. “I was just kissing like normal!” He frowned, looking a bit puzzled. “...Uh, I think?”
“It must have been you,” grumbled Usopp. “Why would I be so crazy?”
“Well even if it was, you didn’t try to stop me!”
“Neither did you with me, and you’re the captain!”
“So what? That’s no excuse!”
Usopp stuck out his tongue at him. “Yes it is! It’s an excellent excuse!”
Nami hit them both on the head, not very gently. “Stop it, you guys. You know, I’ve been thinking – how much have you two been kissing all this time, anyway?”
Luffy shrugged. “A bit? Dunno, I haven’t been counting.”
“Ah-ha!” Usopp pointed at Nami excitedly. “So you didn’t know either! Not so all-knowing as all that, after all!”
The navigator reddened. “Don’t be a jerk,” she snapped, then sniffed loudly. “Anyway, I had my suspicions... But it seems so odd that you haven’t been caught till now. I mean,” she continued in an explanatory tone, “with both of you being such morons.”
“Thanks for that...” muttered Usopp. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed his head with a shocked expression. “...AAAAHHH...” he groaned. “I just had a horrible thought.”
“What??” said the other two right away, alert and concerned.
Usopp swallowed. “What if,” he said in a hollow tone, “what if the others have actually known all this time, about all three of us, and just never bothered to tell us?”
Nami blanched. “That IS a horrible thought.”
Luffy blinked, looking confused. “What? That’s great, isn’t it? Then they WON’T be angry or jealous or anything like Nami said, and Sanji won’t try to kill us!” His face screwed up in thought. “Hey, should we still seduce him?”
“I didn’t say it was true!” exclaimed Usopp. “It was just a horrible thought!” He calmed down, then cast Nami a suspicious look. “Anyway, what about you two?”
She smiled sweetly at him, putting one hand on her hip. “All detailed in my secret diary,” she purred. “A hundred thousand berries and you’ll get to read... some of it.”
Usopp looked away at the sight of her, face reddening again. “Sanji might not even want to, y’know,” he muttered. “Not with guys involved, I mean.”
“Fair enough,” said Nami, shrugging. “But if he turns us down, he can’t complain about feeling left out.”
“Like he’d ever turn you down,” muttered Usopp. “But even if he wants to – it stops with him, right? I mean, we can’t really... not with the whole crew... I mean, we can’t, can we?”
“I dunno,” said Luffy, who’d picked up Usopp’s goggles from the floor next to him and was playing with them now. “Could be cool to try,” he observed. “But I don’t think Zoro’s gonna want to join in. It’s not his style.”
“Well, not when it comes to you it’s not,” said Nami slowly. “I think you’re too important to him. But you never know – he might still want to with someone else.”
“Huh. You think so?” Usopp blew away a curl of hair that was obscuring his eyes. “Zoro’s weird, then.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, like you’re not? Face it, all of you guys are weird. And Robin is at least half-weird.” She leaned back on the floor and Luffy’s stomach with a smug expression. “I’m the only normal one here, really.”
Usopp rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Sure. Not hardly.”
“Zoro is Zoro,” said Luffy decisively as he put his hat back on his head, “and Usopp is Usopp, and Nami is trying to sleep with everyone now–”
“Hey, I’m not!” yelled Nami. “Will you get what I’m saying, already?! It’s about balance, dammit!”
“–and I’m getting hungry,” Luffy finished, jumping to his feet. “Let’s go see what’s for dinner, okay?!”
“Hey, don’t go without clothes, dumbass,” Usopp pointed out, getting up as well and pulling at Luffy’s arm, as if that would help. “What have I gotten myself into?” he muttered.
And yet there was a part of him that felt like he hadn’t gotten into anything new, that he – mind, body and heart – was still right where he’d been yesterday and the day before and so on; that he was where he would always be as long as he kept sailing the seas, which felt pretty much like the same as forever.
“That’s my line,” said Nami, also getting to her feet and scouting around for her clothes, but when Usopp turned to look at her she was grinning widely. “And don’t you go within twenty feet of the kitchen before taking a shower,” she told Luffy, putting panties and shorts back on. “I’ll be nice and let you boys go first for once.”
She did up the buttons on her shirt and patted her captain on the shoulder, then stood back and put her hands in her pockets. She looked utterly relaxed and content, like a cat taking a nap in its favourite sunlit spot. Her hair was all ruffled and dishevelled – she probably figured it was no use trying to make it look right since she was going to wash it anyway. When her eyes were shining like that, thought Usopp, looking away as he put his overall back on, you almost felt like you could forgive her all her devilish ways if you could only manage to make a decent drawing of her.
“Whatever!” said Luffy, having impatiently put vest and trousers and sandals back on. “Okay, then! Here we go!” And he opened the door and was off, running towards the bathroom at high speed.
Nami looked out through the door after him, another wide grin on her face. “This is so stupid, isn’t it,” she remarked, sounding like she was only thinking out loud to herself. She shook her head and started to giggle. “I mean, really stupid. But who knows?” She shrugged and smiled to Usopp again. “It might actually work.”
And as he didn’t quite feel brave enough to say, ‘You were just completely making up all that stuff about balance, weren’t you?’ – and he rather doubted he’d ever be that brave – Usopp simply nodded and smiled back at his crewmate, before turning to leave as well.
She reached out and held him back for a moment or two on the doorstep, leaning over to give him a quick peck on the nose. Then she shoved him out onto the sunlit deck and stepped back into her study.
Five steps on and he turned to look back, and he didn’t know if they’d both been infected with some strange Luffyesque virus in the head or what, but for some silly reason both of them felt compelled to wave.
-the end-
Author’s Notes: Er, the likeness of Nami to glue, in a positive way, was totally stolen from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sasori_katana’s most splendid Zorocentric shortfic It Isn’t Love.
Much of the rest of this part was heavily influenced by the fic Five’s Bad Company by Guardian 1, which is a very cool OT5 fic (Luffy/Zoro/Nami/Usopp/Sanji). I have a strong feeling I’m ripping it off quite a bit here. Of course, both these fics are much to be recommended.
I’m stealing from better writers more obviously in this part – see the Author’s Notes at the end for further info on this.
Title: Erratic Equilibrium, Part Two
Rating: PG-13 for strong language, innuendo, sexual situations
Setting: Post Thriller Bark
Pairing: Luffy/Nami/Usopp
Disclaimer and summary at the Intro
And here’s Part One
*
“Ah, there you are.” Back in her study, Nami looked up briefly and nodded at the two boys before turning back towards her charts. She would never admit to this to anyone, but she had actually tried out three different outfits after coming back from her bath, before finally settling on the most casual and workmanlike of them – faded blue jeans shorts and a simple sleeveless top with only one button left open at the top. No frills, nothing dazzling and fancy, just plain everyday hard-working Nami.
She looked back up at Luffy and Usopp, giving them a closer scrutiny. They didn’t really seem any different from usual, from what she could see. Usopp looked nervous and a bit guilty, but not anymore than when he’d helped pilfering cookies or had an experiment or prank destroy something moderately expensive. Though he did seem a bit more well-scrubbed than usual, she noticed. As for Luffy, he looked entirely like normal, with nothing even faintly remarkable about his expressions or the way he moved.
“So what did you wanna talk about?” he was saying now, hands in pockets.
Nami put her chart away to the side and leaned back in her chair, legs crossed.
“All right,” she began. “I would like to talk to you about something. Consider our little crew, if you will.” She waved her pencil around in the air in a magisterial way. “Despite the fact that it’s made up mostly by idiots and we tend to get on each other’s nerves and quarrel a lot, still we manage to look out for each other and work together most of the time. Of course, we’re all pretty amazing, and you have me for navigator. But one thing you might not have considered” – her tone made it clear she was positive they had not – “is that we’re a pretty young group of people, and more than half of us are teenagers. You know what that means? Hormones, that’s what.”
“Er... what are you trying to say here?” said Usopp, frowning at her.
“Yeah, what?” said Luffy, picking his nose with a similar frown.
Nami raised an admonishing finger. “Hold on, I’m getting to it,” she said. “So. I doubt you’ve been aware of this, but it is my conviction that one of the things that have helped make this team work reasonably well is the fact that up until now, nobody here has been getting any. Not to my knowledge anyway, and I figure I’d know otherwise.”
She paused for a few seconds, just to let that hang there, then finished “…And now the two of you had to go and spoil all that.”
Usopp went extremely pale, then flushed bright scarlet. “Wh-what?” he managed. “I – I – I – I really don’t know what you’re talking about! Stop making such crazy allegations, woman –”
Nami gave him a flat look. “Give it up. Robin saw you guys down on gun deck before.”
“Aaaaarrggh!” Usopp clenched his hands into fists and beat the air in frustration. “I can’t believe we’re found out already!!” he wailed. “Robin is such a sneak!”
“You guys really suck at being discreet,” said Nami. “But see, this kind of thing is something we smarter crew members – I’m talking about Robin and myself here, of course – need to keep track of. There could be trouble, you know. People might get jealous.”
Luffy blinked. “What, just because we had sex?” Then he pointed at Nami with a righteous expression: “We never had it before, you know! This was totally the first time!”
Usopp smacked him. “Shaddup! She doesn’t have to know that!”
“Once is bad enough!” snapped Nami, crossing her arms. “As I said, it could mean trouble. It’s also self-indulgent as hell.”
“Really?” said Luffy, frowning. “Hey, you never said anything like this when I’ve kissed you!”
Usopp started. “What? Wait a minute – you’ve been kissing Nami? For free?? Ow!”
Nami frowned right back at Luffy and tap-tapped her pencil against her desk again. “I did too!” she protested. “That’s why it always stopped with just kissing. I can’t help it if you won’t remember things properly. ”
“You’ve never said anything to me about kissing Nami!” exclaimed Usopp.
“Huh? Well, I didn’t say anything to her about kissing you, either. So it evens out.” Luffy nodded several times, satisfied with his reasoning.
“LUFFY!” yelled Usopp, not satisfied at all.
Luffy turned back to Nami: “I thought you said it was because you didn’t want to get pregnant!”
“Well, I don’t, of course,” Nami began, but now Usopp was poking Luffy in the forehead repeatedly and glaring at him.
“You’re supposed to tell people about things like that!” he scolded.
“But it was a secret!”
“Well, maybe I would have liked to kiss Nami, too, ever thought of that?” grumbled Usopp, looking sulky.
“Anyway,” Nami picked up where she’d stopped, “yeah, that’s one reason too, but it’s just part of it.” Then she added with a thoughtful look, “Though actually, Robin got me some stuff you can use so there’s no risk of getting pregnant. I got some more at Water 7 too. Just in case.” She drummed her fingers calculatingly on the back of her chair.
Usopp first looked puzzled, then slowly turned an even deeper scarlet. “Wh-what?” he quaked.
Nami sighed theatrically and looked up toward the ceiling. “Well...” she said languidly, “now that you guys have already gone and upset the balance...”
“Wait a minute! Are you – are you saying –”
“Huh?” said Luffy, mildly curious. “Whatcha talking about?”
Usopp opened his mouth to say something, then caught Nami’s eye and nervously backed away, closer to the door.
Nami coughed. “Ahem. Don’t jump to conclusions now – this is all hypothetical. I’m just trying to make you guys think for once.” She gave them a sharp look. “As an example – let’s just say something like that were to occur.”
“Like what?” said Luffy. Usopp leaned over and whispered in his ear. Luffy’s eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear. “Well, that would be just great! Wouldn’t it?!”
“But,” said Nami, “what do you think would happen once Sanji found out? He wouldn’t be very happy with you two, would he?”
Both boys got a frozen look about them, as this sunk in.
“Ah – ah – ah... THAT WOULDN’T BE GOOD!” shouted Luffy, sweating and wild-eyed.
Usopp began to run around the room in panic: “AAAAHHH! He’d try to kill us for sure!”
“HE WOULD! HE WOULD!” Luffy agreed, and started running as well.
“Yep, that’s pretty much it,” stated Nami calmly. “With some mutilation as a side dish.”
“He’d totally dismember us!” yelled Usopp. “He’d turn us into purée!”
Nami nodded. “Uh-huh. And he’d start feed you nothing but vegetables, too. No meat! No fish!”
“NOOOOOOO!” cried Luffy, in the throes of dark despair.
“Gaah!!” wailed Usopp, but then he stopped to draw breath. “Wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “We’re getting worked up over nothing! We haven’t actually slept with Nami, so we’re safe!” Immensely relieved, he started to wipe sweat from his face.
“Ah, yeah. Right,” said Luffy, also wiping sweat away. Then his face lit up, “Whew, that was a close one! Ahahaha!”
There was a loud snap as Nami broke her pencil in half. She got up and took a step towards Usopp, glaring at him.
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for you, Long-nose?” she said dangerously. Honestly, after all the trouble she’d gone to– !
“What? No – I just – Huh?!”
She grabbed him by his overall straps, still looking angry as hell.
“Then stop acting like it,” she growled. And kissed him.
Usopp wailed, “What kind of crazy – Mmf. Mmmmff.”
Luffy just stared at them for about fifteen long seconds, then when they broke off he jumped over to them, eyes shining.
“Wow, that was really good, Nami!” he exclaimed. “You got it right the very first time, turning so that the nose feels good instead of getting in the way! I didn’t get that until the third time!”
“Hey, you– !” Usopp growled at him; while normally proud of his nose, he evidently didn’t appreciate hearing it discussed like this. Nami preened a bit, figuring she was worth it. Usopp’s face set in a determined “I’ll-show-you” expression as he started to kiss her back more intently. Pretty soon Luffy joined in and there were a few busy minutes, full of hasty fumbling and tentative gropes, shoving and elbowing and low mutters of protests and excuses, lips and fingers going every which way and a general shortness of breath and sweatiness all over, the pace increasing with an urgency as if they might not want to give themselves the chance to stop and think things over.
But after a while Usopp did manage to pull himself back slightly from the others’ arms. “W-wait a minute!” he managed to splutter. “Wait just a goddamn minute here, young Nami! Do you WANT Sanji to chop us up with a meat cleaver, or whatever he’ll use?”
“No, we’re just kissing...” mumbled Luffy, “...so it’s okay...”
Usopp glanced at him. “Is that really something you should say with your fingers all tangled up in someone’s bra strap?” he muttered.
“No, I don’t want that!” said Nami, addressing Usopp. “But I’m making a point here! –Luffy, if you break that I’m taking the money for a new bra directly from your food budget. With interest.”
“What – wait – what do you mean a point, what kind of –” Usopp flailed around a bit, but didn’t try very hard to break out completely from Luffy’s rubber arms and Nami’s strong grip. “I mean, a point about what?” he gave up, right as Nami was gently removing his bandanna and Luffy was tugging at his sash.
Nami kissed him again. Taking strength and giving strength all at the same time; wanting to make sure the two of them would always be there. She could be the glue if she had to be, as long as she would not be left out.
She had a sudden sense of herself as a tree, young and fast-growing and yet with a great stubborn strength in its limbs; her roots and twigs and branches all reaching out, turning and twining like vines around each of the others.
Tying them all closer and starting with these two: she’d reached to pick them up and it felt like she had the sun and the moon in her hands. Except, except both of them were burning.
“Balance,” she mumbled softly. She took a deep breath, and plunged in.
*
Since they were all very inexperienced, it probably wasn’t hours later when everyone felt satisfied and sleepy and exhausted and it really felt like over for now, thank you, even Nami agreed – but it sure felt like hours. Luffy fell asleep for a little while and Usopp was feeling rather drowsy himself and none of them really felt like getting up and moving for a good while longer.
It was nice just to lie there on the floor and stare at the ceiling and not talk and not really think much. But it wasn’t like you could do that all day.
“...So does this mean we have to seduce Sanji now, too?” muttered Usopp finally, right after Luffy had started to move his arms a bit and make waking-up sounds. Usopp was still looking up at the ceiling and his tone that was only annoyed by half; the other half still felt a bit dreamy and detached.
“Well, I’m not doing it all by myself, y'know!” mumbled Nami from where she was lying close to him, her head still resting on Luffy’s stomach. She kept making little circles in Usopp’s hair and drumming on his shoulder from time to time. “He’d be impossible after that!”
“Goddamnit, I am never going to get any work done...” Usopp sighed. Only now did he realise that he’d had one hand lying on Nami’s right thigh for quite some time now. He removed it carefully even though she obviously didn’t seem to mind. Maybe she just hadn’t noticed either.
“Mhm...” mumbled Nami sleepily.
“Mhmm...” the just-about-conscious Luffy agreed, one hand still resting on Usopp’s stomach. Usopp thought about removing it, but then he started stretching Luffy’s fingers instead, which was always fun.
“...what kind of work?” asked Nami after a minute or two of silence, while idly trailing her fingers up and down Luffy’s other arm, making him laugh now and then.
“Um... oh, right, I was going to practise combination attacks with Franky sometime today... or was that tomorrow?”
Luffy perked up. “Hey, that sounds like fun...”
Nami sniggered. “That sounds kinda dirty, actually...”
Usopp gawked at her. “Don’t – don’t say things like that!” He clamped his hands over his eyes. “Now I’m going to imagine... aaargh!! Stop doing that, stupid imagination!” Looking up at the ceiling beseechingly, he wailed, “Why, why, why is our navigator such a pure-blooded devil?”
Nami only laughed heartily and stretched where she lay. “Probably because our sniper is way too fun and easy to get going,” she said happily. She rolled over towards Usopp and lifted up her head to look at him, her chin resting in one palm. “Anyway,” she continued, “I didn’t say it’s something we have to do this very minute.”
Usopp glared up at her, not mollified. “Well, I don’t want to give him the time to start planning how to best chop us up with a carving-knife!”
“You know,” Luffy said in a sleepily thoughtful way, “Sanji wouldn’t really do that. He’d just kick us to death, instead.”
“Oh, so that’s BETTER?” Usopp twisted around a bit and reached over to whack Luffy on the shoulder. “This is all your fault, you know!”
“Huh? What did I do?” said Luffy, surprised.
“You started it! You started kissing me and then... you know... things suddenly went further than before...” He blushed furiously.
“No that was you!” protested Luffy. “I was just kissing like normal!” He frowned, looking a bit puzzled. “...Uh, I think?”
“It must have been you,” grumbled Usopp. “Why would I be so crazy?”
“Well even if it was, you didn’t try to stop me!”
“Neither did you with me, and you’re the captain!”
“So what? That’s no excuse!”
Usopp stuck out his tongue at him. “Yes it is! It’s an excellent excuse!”
Nami hit them both on the head, not very gently. “Stop it, you guys. You know, I’ve been thinking – how much have you two been kissing all this time, anyway?”
Luffy shrugged. “A bit? Dunno, I haven’t been counting.”
“Ah-ha!” Usopp pointed at Nami excitedly. “So you didn’t know either! Not so all-knowing as all that, after all!”
The navigator reddened. “Don’t be a jerk,” she snapped, then sniffed loudly. “Anyway, I had my suspicions... But it seems so odd that you haven’t been caught till now. I mean,” she continued in an explanatory tone, “with both of you being such morons.”
“Thanks for that...” muttered Usopp. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed his head with a shocked expression. “...AAAAHHH...” he groaned. “I just had a horrible thought.”
“What??” said the other two right away, alert and concerned.
Usopp swallowed. “What if,” he said in a hollow tone, “what if the others have actually known all this time, about all three of us, and just never bothered to tell us?”
Nami blanched. “That IS a horrible thought.”
Luffy blinked, looking confused. “What? That’s great, isn’t it? Then they WON’T be angry or jealous or anything like Nami said, and Sanji won’t try to kill us!” His face screwed up in thought. “Hey, should we still seduce him?”
“I didn’t say it was true!” exclaimed Usopp. “It was just a horrible thought!” He calmed down, then cast Nami a suspicious look. “Anyway, what about you two?”
She smiled sweetly at him, putting one hand on her hip. “All detailed in my secret diary,” she purred. “A hundred thousand berries and you’ll get to read... some of it.”
Usopp looked away at the sight of her, face reddening again. “Sanji might not even want to, y’know,” he muttered. “Not with guys involved, I mean.”
“Fair enough,” said Nami, shrugging. “But if he turns us down, he can’t complain about feeling left out.”
“Like he’d ever turn you down,” muttered Usopp. “But even if he wants to – it stops with him, right? I mean, we can’t really... not with the whole crew... I mean, we can’t, can we?”
“I dunno,” said Luffy, who’d picked up Usopp’s goggles from the floor next to him and was playing with them now. “Could be cool to try,” he observed. “But I don’t think Zoro’s gonna want to join in. It’s not his style.”
“Well, not when it comes to you it’s not,” said Nami slowly. “I think you’re too important to him. But you never know – he might still want to with someone else.”
“Huh. You think so?” Usopp blew away a curl of hair that was obscuring his eyes. “Zoro’s weird, then.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, like you’re not? Face it, all of you guys are weird. And Robin is at least half-weird.” She leaned back on the floor and Luffy’s stomach with a smug expression. “I’m the only normal one here, really.”
Usopp rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Sure. Not hardly.”
“Zoro is Zoro,” said Luffy decisively as he put his hat back on his head, “and Usopp is Usopp, and Nami is trying to sleep with everyone now–”
“Hey, I’m not!” yelled Nami. “Will you get what I’m saying, already?! It’s about balance, dammit!”
“–and I’m getting hungry,” Luffy finished, jumping to his feet. “Let’s go see what’s for dinner, okay?!”
“Hey, don’t go without clothes, dumbass,” Usopp pointed out, getting up as well and pulling at Luffy’s arm, as if that would help. “What have I gotten myself into?” he muttered.
And yet there was a part of him that felt like he hadn’t gotten into anything new, that he – mind, body and heart – was still right where he’d been yesterday and the day before and so on; that he was where he would always be as long as he kept sailing the seas, which felt pretty much like the same as forever.
“That’s my line,” said Nami, also getting to her feet and scouting around for her clothes, but when Usopp turned to look at her she was grinning widely. “And don’t you go within twenty feet of the kitchen before taking a shower,” she told Luffy, putting panties and shorts back on. “I’ll be nice and let you boys go first for once.”
She did up the buttons on her shirt and patted her captain on the shoulder, then stood back and put her hands in her pockets. She looked utterly relaxed and content, like a cat taking a nap in its favourite sunlit spot. Her hair was all ruffled and dishevelled – she probably figured it was no use trying to make it look right since she was going to wash it anyway. When her eyes were shining like that, thought Usopp, looking away as he put his overall back on, you almost felt like you could forgive her all her devilish ways if you could only manage to make a decent drawing of her.
“Whatever!” said Luffy, having impatiently put vest and trousers and sandals back on. “Okay, then! Here we go!” And he opened the door and was off, running towards the bathroom at high speed.
Nami looked out through the door after him, another wide grin on her face. “This is so stupid, isn’t it,” she remarked, sounding like she was only thinking out loud to herself. She shook her head and started to giggle. “I mean, really stupid. But who knows?” She shrugged and smiled to Usopp again. “It might actually work.”
And as he didn’t quite feel brave enough to say, ‘You were just completely making up all that stuff about balance, weren’t you?’ – and he rather doubted he’d ever be that brave – Usopp simply nodded and smiled back at his crewmate, before turning to leave as well.
She reached out and held him back for a moment or two on the doorstep, leaning over to give him a quick peck on the nose. Then she shoved him out onto the sunlit deck and stepped back into her study.
Five steps on and he turned to look back, and he didn’t know if they’d both been infected with some strange Luffyesque virus in the head or what, but for some silly reason both of them felt compelled to wave.
-the end-
Author’s Notes: Er, the likeness of Nami to glue, in a positive way, was totally stolen from
sasori_katana’s most splendid Zorocentric shortfic It Isn’t Love.Much of the rest of this part was heavily influenced by the fic Five’s Bad Company by Guardian 1, which is a very cool OT5 fic (Luffy/Zoro/Nami/Usopp/Sanji). I have a strong feeling I’m ripping it off quite a bit here. Of course, both these fics are much to be recommended.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 08:17 pm (UTC)You went and bunnied me again! :D Ahaahaha you rule.
Hmmmm, the ending felt nice and snuggly. Like laying outside on a warm day and sunbathing.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 08:42 pm (UTC)Oh, what do you mean by 'bunnied'? Like giving plotbunnies, or something else? I know I added that part later...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 09:09 pm (UTC)I've actually also been having this idea in my head of Sanji and Usopp both thinking of suns when it comes to Nami and Luffy, respectively. And before that, another fic idea wherein Usopp thinks of Nami and Luffy suns and Zoro to the moon (seemingly more cold and detached, but protective, like the moon protects the earth from meteors and stuff). Heh, I'm repetitive. Maybe we should found the Sun-And-Moon-Metaphors Club. XD
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 10:32 pm (UTC)Well it is an easy metaphor to think up.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 09:15 pm (UTC)Argh sorry for this stupid mistake! Should be "Usopp likens Nami and Luffy to suns and Zoro to the moon"