OOC: Log! Lucci & Usopp: in which they talk of many things. Possibly there are (naked?) drawings.

[warriorothesea]

Who: Lucci and Usopp
What: HANGING OUT. \o/ Lucci keeps Usopp company after the big Marine battle.
Where: the Infirmary
When: A day or two after Christmas.
Rating: PG

Lucci passed by the infirmary several times, waiting until he could hear Zoro's snores from within before he entered. He had no desire to talk to the swordsman or even be near him at a time like this, especially not in front of Usopp, whom he'd actually come to see in the first place. Luckily, Zoro slept like the dead. "Are you accepting visitors?" Lucci asked from the doorway, keeping his voice down perhaps uneccessarily.

Usopp hadn't heard him enter the room, had in fact been half-drowsing where he was propped up against his pillows, so the soft voice startled him a bit. He gave a small wince at the way his suddenly-tensed muscles jolted his gunshot wounds, especially the one in his chest, but quickly tried to school his expression into a unconcerned, pleasant one. His bed had him facing away from the door, so he couldn't see him, but of course he knew it was Lucci. "Yeah, come in," he replied, absently noting the sound of Zoro's snoring coming steadily from behind the room partition curtain. That was probably best; he didn't think either of them were quite ready to talk to each other yet, which would just make things awkward if Zoro had been awake.

Lucci closed the door behind him - out of habit, more than anything - and grabbed the chair Chopper used at his desk, turning it around and pulling it out into the room so he could sit near Usopp's bed and further away from Zoro's. One day, he would get used to the fact that he could step on Zoro while he napped on the deck and not wake the man up, but for now, he was...apprehensive. If only slightly. He doubted Zoro would actually make trouble in front of company, if at all. "How are you feeling?" he asked, putting Zoro out of his mind (although the snoring made that a difficult feat). "I hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, no," Usopp flapped his right hand dismissively. "I wasn't sleeping." It was mostly true; he hadn't been completely asleep, at least. He carefully repositioned himself so he could face out toward Lucci without having to turn his head too much and gave him a smile. "I'm okay," he said, though that was a bit further from the truth. He ached, he still felt weak with blood loss, and the slightest movement sent him throbbing, despite the pain medication Chopper had given him. He was also bored. He'd had plenty of people in to visit him plenty of times, and sometimes Zoro was awake and they'd talk, but that was only some of the time. Usopp was used to being able to entertain himself or at least occupy his hands and mind with some project when he had nothing better to do, so being confined to bed like this sucked, plain and simple. "Thanks for visiting! What's up? How're you? Anything exciting going on?"

Snorting lightly at the barrage of questions, Lucci tried to lean back against the chair in such a way that didn't press uncomfortably on any of his worse bruises. After a moment, he realized this was impossible and settled for a position that was only moderately irritating. "I wouldn't say anything exciting is going on," Lucci said. "Everyone's sort of limping around and trying to clean up the mess on deck a bit in between sitting around and complaining. Standard post-fight sort of thing." He shrugged his good shoulder carefully. "I've mostly been trying to help and avoiding Chopper's efforts to make me sit still and convalesce. You?"

Usopp shrugged a little with his right shoulder. He'd been getting good with the one-shouldered shrug in the past few days. "I don't have a choice. He says I'm healing good, though, so maybe in a few days, I'll be out of here... Anyway, you should try to take it easy too. It's not that bad, just...when it's all you can do, it gets pretty boring." He laughed a bit. "Chopper needs to do that too, though. I bet once we're all feeling better again, he's gonna collapse for a week."

"Mm. He works too hard." They all did, in their own ways. "I thought he was going to have a panic attack all day on Christmas when people kept...getting up and moving around and doing things." Lucci tucked part of his hair behind his ear to get it out of his face; he couldn't really pull it back with one hand and he felt ridiculous wearing his hat when shirts that had lots of buttons and couldn't fit over a cast were out of the question. He realized that he'd been sort of combing his hair back with his fingers for several seconds and sighed in exasperation. "...I feel like a mess," he muttered.

Usopp quickly gave him a once-over. Lucci had some bruising on both arms, some of it a really impressive purple color by now, but mostly it was just strange seeing him in a t-shirt, even if it was a plain and sort of expensive-looking one. If t-shirts could be sophisticated, this one was. "You look fine. Well, not fine, but not bad. Definitely better than me, at least. ...how's your arm? I mean, does it hurt much, still?"

"By my standards, I'm a mess," Lucci sighed. "And yes, it still hurts. But it's better than it was on the first day. Also, apparently the mere fact that I can't scratch an itch underneath the cast is causing the entire affected area to itch like mad." He cracked his neck to one side; it still felt a little stiff. "What about you? Any better?"

"Oh yeah, the itching, that's always the worst," Usopp said with a sage nod. He felt like he was kind of an authority on this subject, at least. "Hm. I guess so. It actually...kind of hurts more now than it did at first. But it's a different kind of pain,and Chopper says it's healing okay, so..." Another one-shouldered shrug and a pause, and then, "...have you ever been shot?"

"About a million different times," Lucci said. "I've only had a bullet actually penetrate on three occasions: once was just a bad graze on my side," he pointed to a spot on his right side under his ribcage, "the second was imbedded in my right shoulder - not very deep, but I had to hike eighteen miles back to base, and it was rather unpleasant, and the third went into my left thigh and almost out the other side. If it had been about a quarter centimeter to the right, it would have hit my femoral artery and I would have bled out within moments." He paused, recalling the situation, and glanced from the patched up places on Usopp's chest and shoulder to his face. "...The moral of which being 'Try not to get shot again'."

"...right. I definitely wasn't planning on it." Usopp sighed. "I know I was super lucky. ...Zoro said they probably targeted me because they noticed I was trying to take out all the guys with guns right away. It was hard though, there was so much going on, and people everywhere." He scrubbed his right hand over his face. "Anyway. It's over now and we didn't come out so bad, so..."

Lucci tilted his head to one side, remembering back to the fight; what he'd seen then was a stark contrast to the version of Usopp sitting all bandaged up in the infirmary bed in front of him. "...I saw you. Here and there - everything was a mess at the time, of course. But I did see. You were..." Lucci searched for words for a moment and then stopped, realizing that whatever he'd been about to say, whatever he could say, was strangely inadequate. "You really do sell yourself short, you know. If you could have seen what I saw...well, maybe you'd have a little more confidence in yourself. That's all."

Usopp was a little taken aback and unsure of how to respond to that. It was one thing for people to play along when he'd been bragging about his many amazing qualities and accomplishments, but Lucci was being, well, earnest, or at least it seemed like he was, and Usopp wasn't sure how to react. "...thanks," he finally said after a long pause.

Lucci had almost been expecting Usopp to protest. Or maybe start into one of his little bouts of bravado. He hadn't really been expecting a simple thank you, though. He suddenly felt awkward, not knowing what to say to that, and after a moment, he looked down at his arm, as though he had any reason to. "You're welcome." A pause, and then he glanced back up. "You're doing remarkably well about this. It's odd to see you sort of take it all in stride after having witnessed you act as though you were bleeding to death from a paper cut."

"...hey, those things hurt!" Usopp sighed heavily. "Anyway, it's...I dunno. I almost died, Lucci. For real. But it was...I didn't have a lot of time to think about it when it was all happening, you know? I knew it was bad, but I guess I didn't notice how bad until later. Everyone else, though, too...we all got pretty beat up."

"Yes, we did." Lucci found himself focusing on Usopp's wounds and bandages again, realizing more fully now just how uncomfortable it made him - not to see the effects of the battle, but to see Usopp like this. He frowned. "...It's a strange experience, isn't it? Near death. It sort of...makes you realize what you could have lost."

"Y-yeah. I guess that's it. I dunno; I've definitely been hurt before, really hurt, but this time was just..." Usopp lifted his right hand an pointed at the bandage on his chest. "A couple of centimeters, and that would have been it." His brow furrowed for a moment, and then he shook his head, as if that would drive of these somber thoughts as well. He wasn't in the mood to be thinking about things like that, and he didn't think Lucci came here to hear them, either. "Anyway," he continued, voice artificially bright to match the smile he plastered on his face, "should we play some cards or something?"

"Okay," Lucci said, because if Usopp wanted to change the subject, Lucci wasn't going to stop him. Maybe it wouldn't be best to be morbid right now. "Do you have any here?"

Usopp nodded, trying to think where they'd be. "George left them here, I'm pretty sure... Do you see them on the table, or maybe on Chopper's desk?" He wasn't able to turn too far to the side to check himself.

Lucci got up and looked on the table, then Chopper's desk, moving a few things around until he noticed the box of cards sitting on the corner of the desk. He picked them up and sat back down. "Found them," he said, managing to get the box open with his thumb. Not quite sure how to get them out, he paused, then held them out for Usopp. "What do you want to play?"

Usopp gave it a half-second's thought as he reached out to take the pack with his right hand. "Maybe just some poker?" He paused for a moment, looking at Lucci's arm in the cast, and his own left arm, which he could barely move for the pain in his shoulder. Shuffling might be a problem... "Uh. On second thought, maybe cards aren't such a good idea," he said, feeling a little sheepish. This hadn't been a problem with George, who had the full use of both her arms and could shuffle and deal for both of them, but they had two good arms between the two of them. "Sorry. I didn't think about that."

After taking a moment to consider the logistics of the situation, Lucci chuckled a little. "...Right. Maybe not." This was sort of pathetic, but Lucci didn't know what to do about it. Lucci didn't like being injured. There was nothing to do. "...Is there anything else to do?"

Usopp reached over and dropped the cards on the edge of the small table at his bedside. "Just talking, I guess. Nothing wrong with that, though." He grinned. "But hey, look, we're hanging out! Pretty soon you'll be a pro!"

Lucci smirked a little. "Do I get a gold star if I do it right?"

"Maybe!" Usopp laughed. "Or maybe you get more glitter. Gold glitter."

"Oh, yes, clearly I need more glitter." Lucci looked down at his cast, adorned with signatures, a few pictures, and an excessively charismatic depiction of Usopp's name in glitter, complete with a shooting star. "I'm almost going to feel bad about throwing it away, at this rate."

"Well. You could keep it. Like a...souvenir." Usopp leaned over a little further to try and get a better view of Lucci's cast. "Who else signed it now? Any new ones?" The conversation felt almost artificially light to him now. Not that he didn't care about Lucci's cast; there was just another subject completely, something heavier, looming behind them both, and he was trying hard not to acknowledge it right now.

"I could," Lucci acknowledged. He scooted his chair closer to the bed and lifted his arm, carefully pulling the sling back so that Usopp could see the rest of the signatures. ...Of course, as soon as he did, he remembered George's signature and the heart she'd drawn just far enough away that someone else could have done it. Maybe Usopp wouldn't notice. He pointed to the new drawing Michiko had contributed. "Michiko drew a picture of me. At least, I'm nearly positive it's meant to be me."

Usopp squinted, looking from the drawing, to Lucci, to the drawing again. He managed to keep a straight face for nearly three seconds before he burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, that's definitely you, hahah--ow." He winced as the laughter jarred him and sent a bolt of pain through his upper body. Usopp took a careful breath, calming himself as well as trying to focus on something that wasn't how much he hurt right this moment, though he still chuckled softly even afterward.

Lucci instinctively shifted forward a little, wanting to do...something, he wasn't sure what. It was still unnerving to see Usopp so damaged. "Are you all right?" he said uselessly. Of course he wasn't all right, but Lucci didn't know what else to say. He sighed, leaning back again. "Should I get Chopper?"

Usopp leaned back into his pillow a little, closing his eyes, and raised his right hand, flapping it vaguely in Lucci's direction. "I guess I...probably shouldn't laugh too hard," he said, gritting his teeth as another smaller wave of pain shot through his chest. The sharpest pain was already subsiding, so he stayed still and let it pass. How annoying, he couldn't even laugh without practically killing himself. Of course, this wasn't the first time he'd made the mistake of doing it. "Nah, don't bother Chopper," he finally replied, cracking open one eye. There wasn't much the doctor could do right now except give him more medicine to dull the pain, and he'd just given him a dose not too long ago, so it probably was too soon anyway. Usopp would just have to remember to stay more still.

Tilting his head to the side, Lucci surveyed Usopp's various bandages again. "I wish there were something I could do," he said quietly. He looked away, glancing at Zoro - it was easy to almost forget he was there after getting used to the snoring - and then out the window. "Well. What's another thing to do when hanging out, then?"

"Well..." Usopp opened both eyes fully, taking another careful breath before continuing. "What did you do today? I mean, I know you're hurt too, but at least you can get around okay. There must be some...news or something you can tell me about. Give me a Lucci-perspective on it!" He smiled at Lucci and gave him a thumbs-up with his right hand, intending it to be encouraging. "I kind of feel like we really understand each other better, lately. ...or maybe that's just me. We still have stuff to work on, I guess, but..." He trailed off, realizing he was starting to ramble. "Anyway, let's just talk about things, and I'm sure we'll figure something out!"

Lucci paused and then snorted in amusement, smiling a little. "Well...I wish I could think of anything interesting to talk about, but not much has happened. Although I did set my tie rack up," he added, remembering. "And I put Hattori's next to it. I think it's his favorite present; he keeps making it spin around and watching it."

That made Usopp grin and lean forward just a bit. "Yeah? I figured he should get one too, if you had one." He paused, a question occurring to him. "How many ties of his own does he even have, anyway? I know you have a lot, but--was there enough room on yours, by the way?" Usopp continued to smile as he shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable on the pillow behind him that had slipped down a bit. "Anyway, I'm glad he likes it!"

"Six," Lucci said. Then, "No, seven - I got him a new one for Christmas. And yes, there was enough room for all of mine." There was an awkward pause - Lucci was no good at this hanging out, clearly. "I put my new scarf on it too." That was a weak contribution, but at least it was something.

Usopp laughed a little again, careful this time, but it was more a surprised laugh of incredulity. "Hattori owns more ties than I do." That reminded him that Hattori was also older than him--than most of them, really--and he shook his head slightly before focusing on that last. "The scarf from George, right? I helped her pick it out! Kinda. You like it, right? She was worried...I dunno. She thought it was lame to get you a scarf, maybe because that's what you told her to get..." Usopp trailed off, feeling like maybe this would be heading into dangerous territory, and looked down at his hands.

Lucci opened his mouth to speak, but the words died in his throat. He had no idea what to say about George without making things awkward. But on the other hand, he was sick and tired of avoiding the subject. "...She told me. That you helped her, I mean. And that she was worried I wouldn't like it. But yes, I do: I asked her for one because I wanted one, and it's very nice, not to mention warm. I needed a good scarf. Most of my clothes aren't the best for weather this cold."

"Yeah. She was worried about what to get everybody, mostly. Uh." Usopp felt ashamed for even asking, but he supposed if anyone would know, it would be Lucci, since he was probably closest to George after himself. He examined his fingernails as he spoke, pointedly not looking up. "D-do you know if she had a hard time figuring out what to give me, too?" He still wasn't even sure which answer would be best.

"...I don't think so. She didn't say so." That was sort of...well, Lucci wasn't sure how he felt about it. But it was something. He was pointedly not looking at Usopp, either. "That's good, though. Right? It means she knows you."

Usopp was trying to look at it that way, but it was hard to keep doubts from creeping in. George had told him she was so worried about what to get Lucci because she wanted it to be something really good, because she--because they were such good friends. Maybe--okay, probably--if she knew what present to get him, it was a good thing, and meant she knew him better and didn't have to worry about it. But...what if it meant she just...didn't care as much, or something like that? "Mm." He nodded slowly. "...oh, and thanks again for your present," Usopp said. He meant it; he'd been sort of proud, actually, when he opened the gift from Lucci. But right now he was saying it more by way of changing the subject.

For several seconds, Lucci just looked at Usopp, trying to read his expression. He nodded, still silent, and when he spoke, he said something he hadn't entirely meant to: "She cares about you. I know she does." Immediately, Lucci looked down and wished that he could keep his damn mouth shut. But he went on regardless. "Look, Usopp...do you want to talk about this? I'm sick of having it hovering over us and I don't know what to do about it."

"I--" Usopp paused, and made several false starts at continuing, before eventually shutting his mouth. Finally he sighed heavily, at a complete loss. "...is that allowed?"

Lucci didn't know how to respond to that. "Is it allowed? What does that-- ...of course it's allowed."

Usopp finally looked up, uncertainty plainly etched in his face. "Well...okay, that maybe that didn't quite come out right, but--" He gave a helpless half-shrug of his right shoulder, raising his hands a little. "We're--aren't we technically rivals? Or...no, that's not right either. Just--you know."

Lucci blinked. Rivals? ...Well, technically, but he'd never thought of it that way. "...I don't think there's a rulebook," Lucci said hesitantly. "Perhaps there should be. But I think we can talk about it, yes. And maybe we should, because...you're my friend and I don't want that to...stop." Lucci hated trying to have these kinds of conversations.

Usopp sighed again, resigned, and looked back down at his hands, clasping them carefully on his lap."If she picks you, you mean. Right?" He felt a little numb, and his own voice sounded distant to his ears.

"No matter what happens," Lucci corrected. "...If she picks you, I'll-- well. It would be...hard." Understatement of the year. "I want this to work out well, but I don't think it can at this point." He sighed. "I never realized things would be this complicated."

There was a question on his mind, one that had been on his mind since George left for the sub--no, actually since even before then: since she'd told him she thought she might love Lucci too. Usopp didn't really hear Lucci's words, too preoccupied with the way the question suddenly demanded all his attention, demanded to be asked. He didn't exactly want to, but he realized with a detached sense of mild horror that he was going to ask it anyway. "D-do you think she will pick you? Honestly. If you had to guess right now...who would you think she'd--?"

Oh. Out of all of Usopp's possible responses, he had to pick that one. What was Lucci supposed to say? He couldn't lie, but if he told the truth...what was the truth? If he had to guess right now, at this very minutes, would she pick him over Usopp? He thought back to the conversation they'd had after the fight, when she'd asked him, in so many words, what she could expect from their relationship if she picked him. "...It's hard to say," Lucci said honestly. "I...I think that..." He looked away. "I think it might be me. But I also think...it might not."

The numb feeling grew, perhaps in a preemptive bid to stave off a more extreme reaction. "...what is that supposed to mean, exactly?" Usopp's voice still sounded quite distant to him, as if he were in two places at once, one observing this conversation from somewhere far away.

Lucci looked away. "...I really don't know, Usopp. She said...we talked, and she...I think she wants something she feels I can't give her. But I don't know if that means she's unwilling to find out."

"...oh." Usopp was still looking at his hands. He didn't know what else to say. Actually, no; that wasn't quite true. He gave up trying to stop himself, because it seemed a lost cause, and--well. He didn't know. Maybe it was a kind of masochism. But right now, once these questions popped into his head, he literally seemed unable to leave them unasked. "I-is it something I can't give her either?"

Lucci was fixed on staring out the window now. He smiled ruefully. "No, that seems to be an advantage you have over me." He didn't want to elaborate, but...well. "...She said that to her, a relationship includes some understanding of exclusivity, and her definition of that differs from mine."

"...oh," Usopp said again. He'd already known that, but to hear Lucci state it outright... He felt a faint glimmer of hope that perhaps the situation wasn't impossible, and then promptly felt a little awful. It wasn't as if he wanted Lucci to get hurt either, but...well, if one of them had to, Usopp had to admit he'd rather it was Lucci. Of course, he was sure Lucci felt the same way. Everything was so tangled, but it felt like even though the two of them had been friends for quite a while now, they'd also made some kind of enormous strides forward recently--however that worked. Usopp sighed, wondering if that would still hold true once George made her choice. He wanted it to, but...in a way, it seemed impossible.

It felt like hours before Lucci could make himself say what came next, although he figured it was only a minute or so, really. "...Usopp." He couldn't make himself look up from the window. "Will you make me a promise?"

Something about Lucci's tone caused Usopp to finally look up, though he saw the other man hadn't been looking at him, either. "I...can try. But it depends." He swallowed. "What kind of promise?"

That's what I thought," Lucci muttered. Then, louder, "It's just...well, you don't have to promise. But I was going to ask you to promise that we can still be friends...at some point, at least."

"I want to be. I don't want--" Usopp dropped his gaze again, feeling like a heel that he couldn't just give Lucci his word and be done with it. The problem was, he really didn't know. Even though he often felt like he'd already resigned himself to the fact that he was going to lose her to Lucci, there was still a part of him that couldn't give up completely, clinging tenaciously to the small hope he had that George would come back to him. He gotten over his earlier anger at Lucci, but if his last bit of hope was extinguished, who could say how he'd feel about him then? He began to speak, carefully. "We still are now, right? So maybe...probably it'll...be okay. I mean, I already-- When I found out that she-- I kind of felt like you...stole something from me. Not that George belongs to me or anything, but...you get what I mean?"

Lucci nodded. "I understand." He was quiet for a moment, then looked back at Usopp. "...I'm still sorry for that. I'm sorry for a lot of things."

Usopp could see in his peripheral vision that Lucci had finally turned back to him, but he didn't think he could meet the other man's gaze, at least not right now. "I know. I know you're sorry. ...I am too. I'm sorry I can't...promise. I want to. Really." He toyed with the thumbnail of his left hand, concentrating his eyes on it as if it were an important task.

"...I know. It's all right." It wasn't, really; it was the opposite of all right, and Lucci was genuinely surprised by just how much it hurt to hear that. That they might never recover from this. He'd known, but to hear Usopp say it... "Then there is one thing you have to promise me," he said abruptly.

Now Usopp actually did look up. "...yeah?"

"Whatever happens, you have to promise, and I will too, that we can't take it out on George."

"I wouldn't--" he cut himself off with a heavy sigh. It was true that throughout everything so far, he'd never been angry with her--despite a few people, Sanji included, seeming to think he should be. It wasn't her fault if he wasn't good enough, after all. ...then again, it wasn't exactly Lucci's, either. He raised his right hand in a weak shrug. "You don't have to worry about that. I love her. That's--I don't think that's gonna change, no matter what."

Lucci sighed. "You know, Usopp, that's probably absolutely true. But the other thing you have to realize is that you're young and relatively acquainted with the workings of human relationships and you have a lot of time and opportunity in your life to find someone else you might love just as much. You're...sort of lucky that way, I suppose." He looked away again. "I'm just saying that...perhaps it would benefit both of us to realize that this isn't necessarily the end of the world."

Usopp scowled a little. "I'm not sure if you're trying to be comforting or what, but telling me--look, s-say George decides to stay with me. Do you think you're...gonna move on and fall in love with somebody else and then it'll just be...okay?" He wasn't sure what he was feeling right now. Frustration, probably. Sanji had told him much the same thing: that he was young and that he could find someone else, and he didn't see how that was supposed to help at all. On the contrary, it made him feel condescended to, as if others thought what he felt for George wasn't real enough, or strong enough; as if she could be replaced so easily in his heart.

"No," Lucci said. "Probably not. That's not really how things work for me, I think. I think that if she decides to stay with you, eventually I learn to be okay with that and go back to being friends and just...live the way I was living before I fell in love with her. And I'm sure I'll still love her, but maybe I'll be able to accept it after awhile." He shrugged his good shoulder. "And really, that could be how things end up for you too. Maybe you'll never fall in love again; maybe you'll end up committing to a life of celibacy and taking up with a monastery, I don't know, but the point is that there are other options besides wallowing in self-pity for the rest of your life. I was just trying to point that out."

"...it's not like I think it's the end of the world. But it sucks, you know? And it's gonna suck no matter what, so that makes it suck more." Usopp leaned back into the pillow, raising his chin a bit to look up at the ceiling. "I'm not wallowing in--I'm just. Waiting. That's all we can do, right? Wait."

"...Yes," Lucci said, after a long moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to sound patronizing."

Usopp wasn't so sure he believed that, but he let it slide. He wasn't in the mood to pick a fight, and especially not with Lucci. They were kind of in the same boat, after all. Sort of. He flapped his hand dismissively as if to say, "it's nothing." For all that he was only eighteen, he felt, well, old right now. It could be that his injuries had something to do with that, or the situation that had been wearing down on him for weeks now. Both, probably.

"Maybe talking about this was a bad idea," Lucci muttered. "I just...felt like we needed to clear the air. I didn't mean to make things worse."

Usopp sighed. "You didn't make things worse. It's...probably good that we can talk about this, or try to, at least. It's just hard, because of...what it is. I don't really know what to say, you know? I mean...hm." Usopp closed his eyes as he spoke. "You and me, even though we talk kind of a lot now, we don't really talk about...stuff like this. So it would be sort of nice, if it wasn't such an awkward subject because of...circumstances. Right? I mean, it probably means we're closer or our friendship is stronger or something, right?" Abruptly, he began to feel self-conscious. "...or maybe not. I just. I like being your friend. So it kind of makes me happy." Usopp cracked an eye surreptitiously to see Lucci's reaction to that.

Lucci didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, better, because he felt pretty much the same way, and on the other hand, worse, because it only reminded him that it probably wasn't going to last much longer. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling an encroaching headache. "I know. I'm glad we can talk about things like this, even if it is...bad timing."

Lucci seemed more pained than anything else, and Usopp's heart sank a little. "...I want us to still be friends," he repeated simply. Maybe he couldn't promise that they always would be, but that was the truth. "I'm sorry I can't--can you promise?"

Lucci thought about that. He felt that he could before, but if Usopp couldn't... Still, he knew that none of this was Usopp's fault. If things ended badly for him, would he feel the same way? "...Yes," he said, after a long pause. "Yes, I promise. Maybe not...at first. Maybe I wouldn't really want to be around you. Or her. But after that, yes."

Usopp thought about that for a long moment, bringing his right hand up to his forehead. On the one hand, he was pretty sure that no matter what, he'd want to try to remain friends, but he just didn't know if he could promise that they would. Then again, if...like Lucci said, maybe after time, even assuming things went badly... He finally sat up a tiny bit (even that small action was slightly painful; he did it too quickly), opening his eyes, and thrusting out his right hand to Lucci. "No, okay: I promise too. Even if it's hard at first, it'll be fine if we both try, right?"

Honestly, Lucci hadn't been expecting that. He started to say something, then stopped and smiled a bit and stuck out his hand in response. "Right." He took Usopp's hand and shook it, trying to make sure that he didn't jar any of the million injuries Usopp was sporting.

When Lucci took his hand, Usopp let out a relieved breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "Right." He broke out into a grin, wholly genuine, as he let Lucci carefully shake his hand. "...I bet it'll be easier than we both think it will." Usopp was actually more than a little surprised at how much better this made him feel. Of course it didn't fix everything, nothing with George was resolved yet, he was still in several varying levels of physical agony, but...at least his stomach didn't feel tied up in knots anymore.

"I bet you're right," said Lucci, who wasn't particularly confident of that, but it did make him feel better to say it. He let go of Usopp's hand and sat back a bit, surveying the damage again. "How are you feeling?"

"I've definitely been better," Usopp replied with another half-shrug. "...then again, I've possibly been worse. Maybe. Different kind of pain, at least." He placed his hand back on his lap, next to the other one, though he felt restless. It was a little hard to keep so still for so long. "Oh!" A thought occurred to him, and he decided to just ask. "Say...can I draw you? My sketchbook's right over there, and I have those pencils you gave me. I should break 'em in! ...besides, I haven't tried drawing you before. We can still talk while I do it."

"Oh?" Lucci was a little taken aback by the request - he knew that Usopp drew his crewmates sometimes, but it hadn't occurred to him that Usopp might ever actually ask him. "All right," he said, getting up to grab the sketchbook and pencils. He put them down on the bed next to Usopp and sat back down. "You haven't tried drawing Zoro yet?" he asked, tilting his head toward the sleeping swordsman with a smirk.

Usopp rolled his eyes a bit. "Oh please, I can draw a sleeping Zoro with my eyes closed. He's practically a still life most days, whether he's hurt or not." Usopp carefully bent his knees, forming a slight prop to rest the sketchbook on, and opened it to a fresh sheet. Then he opened the tin of pencils Lucci had given him for Christmas and squinted appraisingly, rubbing his thumb against the lead of a few of them before selecting the one he deemed best for the task, and sticking another behind his ear for easier access. "Move your chair down that way a little, okay? So I can see you better." He pulled his pencil sharpener, managing to awkwardly hold it in place with his left hand while turning the pencil with his right: just a few twists, to give the lead a fine point.

Lucci scooted his chair over as instructed, watching Usopp's preparations; it was always interesting to see him do things like this. There was sort of a mode he seemed to go into when he knew what he was doing: he was in control of the situation and not half as painfully self-conscious as usual. It was an interesting contrast from the way he usually was, which looked to Lucci like a cross between acting apologetic for even existing and trying to make up for it with a whole lot of bravado. "It figures that the first time you draw me, I have a broken arm and I'm dressed like a slob," he remarked.

Usopp flicked his eyes from Lucci to the paper to Lucci again, lightly roughing in an outline of his face. "I'll draw you in a tuxedo then, how about that?" he said, smirking a little, though his face quickly returned to the look of focused concentration he normally wore while drawing. "Oh, and you don't have to stay perfectly still or anything, just try not to turn your head too far to the side, okay?" He continued, satisfied with the basic layout of Lucci's face, and started working on drawing his eyes in more detail. Usopp usually started with eyes. They set the tone for the entire drawing.

"All right," Lucci said, finding a slightly more comfortable position to sit in so he didn't have to shift around too much. "...Don't actually draw me in a tuxedo," he said after a pause. "I'm not a fan of bowties."

"I was joking, joking!" Usopp didn't lift his pencil from the paper, continuing to sketch. "Bowties really aren't cool, anyway. Does anyone look good in them?"

Lucci thought about that for a moment. "...No one I've ever personally seen," he said eventually. "Some people who look all right in them, but none who wouldn't look better without one." He shrugged slightly - he was starting to get the hang of that. "Whomever decided that there was only one acceptable option for men's formalwear needs to be taken out back and shot."

"Cravats," Usopp said simply. "I kind of like cravats, if you have to be fancy." A small voice in the back of his mind cautioned him that starting on the subject of fashion with Lucci was probably not a good idea right now--if there was one thing Lucci was especially stubborn and narrow-minded about, that was it--but he was concentrating on the sketch now anyway, and if Lucci felt the need to go off on some kind of lecture, he'd be easy enough to just tune out. Maybe it wouldn't even come to that.

"Cravats and giant hats with feathers on," Lucci said. "And capes. You would probably have been the height of fashion about two hundred years ago." He smirked. "...Have you drawn everyone else on the crew yet?"

"...well, you did say classics never go out of style..." Usopp erased a few guiding lines as he worked his way outward from Lucci's eyes, starting to rough in his eyebrows and the line of his nose. He carefully flicked away a few bits of eraser lint. "Uh...yeah, pretty much. Not Michiko or Hana yet, I guess. They count, right?"

"Even classics only go so far. And I'm pretty sure they count. They're staying, aren't they?" He watched Usopp work for a moment. "...I hope they're staying, at any rate. Michiko is insane, but she's grown on me."

"Yeah, I think so. I mean...Michiko fought with us, that's--I think she's definitely nakama now. And I guess Hana too, by default." He took a moment to study Lucci's mouth. It looked different than usual, not in its normal neutral expression, which wasn't exactly a frown, but was definitely more down-turned, and it wasn't that smirk he seemed to wear a lot either. It couldn't be called a smile by any stretch of the imagination, but it did seem to have vague leanings in that direction. Lucci looked content, at least, and maybe even a little happy. Somehow he hadn't noticed until now, while studying the details of his face to draw him. "Michiko's pretty cool. Oh, and Hana, she's helping take care of Sniper and Striker while I'm stuck in here."

It was obvious that he had to, but it was still strange to have Usopp actually, really look at him. He tended not to look at Lucci very often when they were talking. Or maybe that was just lately? "I've only really talked to Hana once. She doesn't like me, I think. Sanji is of the impression that I should never have children. Or interact with them."

Usopp continued to draw, eyes moving steadily from Lucci's face to the page and back again. "It's a little hard to tell with her, I think. When she helped me with the pigeons she didn't really talk a lot. She asked me to tell her some stories, though. So I did. ...oh, and she told me I should stop being a pirate. Anyway, I wasn't really sure if she even liked me, but Michiko said she does. I guess she's just kinda...shy, maybe?"

"I don't think she's shy. She just..." Lucci considered it for a moment. He'd never put much thought into Hana before. "She seems to be very clear on the way things ought to be. I don't think she's shy so much as...minimalist. You don't have to use many words to make a simple point."

"Hm. Yeah, maybe," Usopp agreed. "I don't see her very much, at least. She came with Michiko to visit me in here once, but that's it. Oh, did she already sign your cast too? Maybe that would be a good, uh, icebreaker for you guys. She liked the pigeons, too; I bet she'd like to meet Hattori."

"I don't see her much either. I asked her if she wanted to meet him; she never answered." He shrugged. "Generally I would prefer to be on good speaking terms with a new crewmate, for convenience's sake if nothing else, but she's barely around, so it doesn't matter. I'm not exactly fond of children, anyway."

Usopp finished off Lucci's face and switched pencils to the one behind his ear. It had a softer lead, and would work well for Lucci's hair, though he took a moment to darken the eyebrows and beard before starting on that. "Kids are usually pretty cool, I think. I mean...yeah, some are kinda bratty sometimes, but mostly..." He trailed off, thinking for a moment about the friends he'd left behind at Syrup Village: Ninjin, Tamanegi, and Piiman. Maybe the next time he saw them, they wouldn't be kids anymore.

"They're ignorant, undersocialized little narcissists," Lucci said flatly. "They can be interesting, though. And they're generally at least tolerable once they're able to communicate their needs by methods other than wordless shrieking." He wondered idly how the drawing was coming along. "Do you think you might want to have children someday?"

Usopp rolled his eyes a little, continuing to sketch. He was probably almost done, he decided, beginning to detail the hair. "Uh..." Usopp gave a small shrug of his right shoulder again. "I dunno. That's not something I really thought about before. I mean...I'm too young for that stuff right now anyway, and we still haven't found One Piece, and..." He shrugged again. "I guess you don't though, huh?"

Lucci tilted his head a bit. "I take it you've been asked that a lot?" He glanced out the window again. "I suppose I should know better than that. And no, I don't. First of all, I don't live the kind of life that would make it feasible, and second of all, I don't like most people, let alone most children, and third...can you imagine me with a baby?" He paused. "I don't think I can remember the last time I even saw a baby."

"Hm? Well, no, not a lot, but I think George was kind of worrying about it. But, honestly, it's just...I dunno, maybe if was older I'd be thinking about that more, but right now, I can't imagine ever being a dad." Usopp paused in his drawing for a moment, studying Lucci. "Well. Striker and Sniper, and the other ones, when they were little. They kind of count, right? Actually, the way you are with Hattori in general, it's kind of... I think you could take care of a baby, if you wanted to." Usopp dropped his eyes quickly back to the page, sketching in shoulders and a torso, lightly outlining a suit more like Lucci normally wore than the t-shirt he was in now.

Lucci thought about that for a moment. "...I don't know. It takes them so much longer to grow up. I'd lose patience. And human children don't..." He shook his head. "When they get old enough to begin to understand the world, they don't see you as an authority anymore. Unless you beat them, but I've been told that's improper parenting. Anyway, I think that if I had a child, it wouldn't like me very much. Hattori always likes me."

Usopp frowned a little. "...Yeah, don't beat them. Well, not that it matters anyway, since you probably won't ever have kids." He lightly shaded in the suit and tie and went back to start adding in some light crosshatched shadows and other small details. Finally, using the edge of this thumb, he lightly smeared some of the darker areas, blending the shadows to look more natural and soft. He paused for a moment, scrutinizing between the page and Lucci. "Okay," he finally said. "I think I'm done."

"Oh? That was fast." Not that Lucci had any real experience with the artistic process, but he'd assumed it would take longer than it had. He started to get up from his seat and then stopped. "Can I see it?"

Usopp hesitated for a moment, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "It's just a sketch," he cautioned, hoping Lucci wouldn't be expecting too much. He lifted the sketchbook from his knees and started to hand it over.

Lucci got up to reach for it so Usopp wouldn't have to stretch too far. If just laughing made him hurt, Lucci didn't want to know what would happen if he leaned over. He took the sketchbook and held it up to look at it. "Ah, you did draw me in a suit," he remarked, smirking slightly. ...It was strange, looking at a drawing of himself - no one had ever drawn him before that he knew of. And certainly not this well. It was also strange to think of himself looking...somewhat content. Was that really what he looked like? "This is good," Lucci said finally.

Usopp quietly let out a relieved sigh, leaning back into his pillow and closing his eyes. "Thanks," he said simply. "I told you I wouldn't really draw you in a tux. But you were worried about your t-shirt, so... You really like it?"

"Of course I do. You're a good artist. And it certainly looks like me, I think." Lucci paused to look at the drawing a bit more. It occurred to him that he hadn't really seen more than a few of Usopp's sketches; without thinking, he set the sketchbook down on his knee and flipped back a few pages. "Do you have anything else in here?"

It took Usopp a moment to register what he was hearing, and a moment more to realize why it wasn't a good thing that Lucci was flipping back through his sketchbook. "Wai--!" He started to sit bolt upright, holding out a hand as if he could reach and grab the sketchbook back before it was too late, but just the act of sitting up so fast sent a jolt of pain through him that stopped him mid-action. He winced, finally opening his eyes after the first flare of sharp pain subsided, hoping that he'd see that Lucci hadn't found those drawings yet.

Lucci looked up in the act of flipping back another page, startled. "What? Don't - are you all right? Don't move so suddenly; you'll hurt yourself." Lucci knew he shouldn't have looked at the sketchbook again, but that reaction had been like telling someone on a suspension bridge not to look down. He looked. And looked. And opened his mouth, and shut it again, and then finally realized that he was well and truly staring and snapped the sketchbook shut so fast he almost ripped the pages. "...Ah," he said awkwardly.

...damn it. Not only had he found them, Lucci was staring. Usopp felt himself blushing furiously, and hoped Lucci would just assume he was flushed from the pain of his injuries. "I...she asked me to," he said weakly.

"...Oh," said Lucci, because there was no other acceptable response to drawings of George naked. Wordlessly, he reached over and set the sketchbook down on Usopp's bed. "Sorry. ...I should have asked." He glanced at Zoro, still dead asleep, as though afraid that this of all moments would be the time he'd decide to wake up.

"...maybe I should take those out of there. I just. No one usually looks through it, so I didn't--" Usopp's tongue felt large and awkward in his mouth as he tried to talk, taking up the sketchbook and holding it protectively to his chest. His face felt ridiculously hot.

"Right, well. No, I - I just wasn't thinking. Most people are less...ah. Thoughtless," Lucci said weakly. He was still staring at Zoro, who was still asleep.

"No, it's...okay, I just kinda forgot, and--" Usopp noticed the way Lucci was pointedly looking away. "Uhm. It's just a drawing, right? And it was...artistic. I mean, it was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be perverted or anything! So..." He wasn't really sure where he was going with this. Was he trying to reassure himself, or Lucci? Maybe both.

Lucci rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it. "Usopp, I am the last person who is going to care that you've drawn your girlfriend naked, let alone what your motivations were at the time. Do you think it matters to me whether you're a pervert? Most of us are, depending on how you define it." He gestured to the ship outside. "...It was just...awkward, that's all." He looked away again.

Usopp opened his mouth to protest that he wasn't a pervert at all, but stopped himself, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. Besides, the situation definitely was awkward. He felt that easy rapport that had been building between them shattering and falling to pieces, and he didn't know what to do about it. "Y-yeah, awkward," he agreed lamely.

Lucci had no idea what to do or say now to break the heavy silence. "...Let's just forget that happened," he said after a long, tense moment.

"Okay!" Usopp agreed quickly and emphatically. "Fine by me!" Then he was quiet for a moment more, not sure how to proceed from there. "Um, the drawing of you though, it looked okay?" He wondered if he should have just steered away from talk of drawings altogether, but it was the first thing that leapt into his mind.

Lucci nodded, maybe a little too emphatically. "It looks good." He paused. "Did I really look like that? I mean--" He sighed. Words had stopped coming easily to him, apparently. "I'm sure I did. It's just...strange, I think. I looked practically happy." That sounded a little pathetic when he said it out loud.

Usopp nodded slowly, remembering what he'd noticed while studying Lucci's face for the drawing. "You did. I didn't notice at first either, but you seemed kinda...maybe not quite happy, but...content, maybe?" He dropped the sketchbook to his lap again and flipped it open to the drawing he'd just done of Lucci. Seeing it again like this, with a little bit of time and distance from when he was drawing it, he was able to view it as a complete, finished piece. Lucci's expression was a little surprising, but even more surprising in how familiar it seemed. Maybe he didn't look like this often, but he never used to wear an expression like this at all. Usopp put his right hand down to gently grip the top corner, taking care not to smudge the soft graphite lines. "Do you want this? You can have it if you want," he said, making as if to tear it from the sketchbook. Part of him was loathe to part with it, because it was a pretty good drawing, if he did say so himself, but a greater part of him thought that Lucci should have it. And besides, he could always draw Lucci again sometime, so his sketchbook wouldn't be empty of his image forever.

It hadn't occurred to Lucci that Usopp might want to give it to him. "...All right," he said. "I can put it...on my locker, maybe. Or..." There was limited wall space near his bunk. "Probably on my locker. Or in it. I'll figure something out." It would seem strange to have a picture of himself, but the fact that Usopp had drawn it made it seem more like...a gift.

Usopp grinned, happy and maybe even a little relieved that Lucci was accepting it. "Okay!" He tore the page out with a quick but practised movement, and held it out to Lucci. "Oh, but be careful not to smudge it. Some of it's pretty soft lead, so it'll smear until-- Actually, I have some fixative in my Factory, you can spray that on it and it'll keep it from getting smudged. Okay?"

"Okay," said Lucci, who didn't even know there was fixative for pencil drawings. He took the drawing and glanced over it again before setting it down on his lap. "Do you like the pencils, then?"

Usopp nodded, a little too eagerly, and had to slow down before he ended up stupidly hurting his shoulder again. "They're great! Thanks again!"

Lucci shrugged. "Well, they look like they work, at least," he remarked. He looked up. "Are you feeling any better now?"

That was a tough question to answer. The few times he'd moved too quickly or too carelessly had left his shoulder and chest lightly throbbing, and he suspected the pain medication Chopper had given him was starting to wear off, so Usopp might possibly be in more pain than he had been earlier. On the other hand, though, he was distracted, so he didn't notice it as much, and moreover, he felt somewhat reassured by Lucci's company. The subject of George was still unresolved, but there was probably nothing either of them could do about that right now. At least...Usopp felt relieved not that he had made that promise with Lucci, and tried to ignore a small persistent voice that insisted it might be hopeless anyway. "Yeah," he said, nodding carefully with a smile. "I am."

Lucci smiled back, just a little. "Good." He was really tired of seeing Usopp hurt. "Ah, thank you for this, by the way," he said, pointing to the sketch.

"No problem." Usopp lay back against the pillows a bit more. "You don't mind if I draw you again some time, right?"

"Not at all," Lucci said. "I'm pretty good at sitting still."

That made Usopp chuckle, softly. "Okay, good. I'll definitely try it again then." He suddenly yawned, stifling it behind his right hand, then started to gather his art supplies and set them neatly aside, flicking a few stray bits of eraser lint from his bedsheets. "Next time maybe Hattori should be in it, too."

"Good idea." Noting the yawn, Lucci glanced at the door. "Are you tired? Maybe I should go so you can sleep."

Usopp shook his head, but honestly now that Lucci had pointed it out, he did feel kind of tired. He supposed it was just from being so hurt, and healing. Even without Chopper sedating him, he had been sleeping a lot these past few days. Still, he stubbornly denied it. "Nah, I'm fine. I...maybe I'll just lay down more, so I'm a little more comfortable." He looked up to Lucci, needed a little help with the crank that controlled how far up the bed tilted. "Uh, could you..?"

It took a second for Lucci to realize what Usopp was asking. "Oh, yes," he said, and got up to wind the crank back down to regular bed level. "Is that better?"

"Yeah, thanks," he murmured. Despite his earlier denial, Usopp's eyes were already starting to drift closed, staying that way for longer and longer stretches of time. He didn't want to just pass out on Lucci, but it was getting harder to focus as he began to doze. He had a moment where he felt it was absurd that he could have crashed so quickly, but then he didn't even have time to feel annoyed at himself before he was starting to doze again.

Lucci stood by for a moment, marveling at how quickly Usopp had dropped off. But he knew that feeling - being so injured and in need of rest that it was all one could do to stay awake most of the time. Lucci was just a bit better at ignoring it, after years of practice, than Usopp evidently was. He snorted a little, shaking his head as he picked his sketch up from the chair. "I'll let you sleep, all right?" He pushed the chair back toward Chopper's desk and headed for the door, looking back once on his way out. "Goodnight, Usopp."

Usopp dimly heard the goodbye and muttered something that might have been, " 'Night, Lucci," if one knew what to listen for.

Lucci shut the door quietly behind him and held the drawing up again, wondering where he could put it. He headed for the men's cabin to look for a good place.