Chapter Text
♡
It was pretty tiring, going through the same cycle every day. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, serve dishes and clean up, leave work, go home, eat, go to bed. It repeated every day, well, except for sundays when the restaurant was closed and all the people working there got a day off from work because of it.
Sundays were Sanji's favourite. He had time to cook for himself, it was the one thing he loved. Cooking had been a passion since he was a small child, it made his sick mother happy, and seeing her happy made him happy, so that's exactly what he did, cooked for her, and continued even after she was gone. He knew that's what she would've wanted him to do
Today, however, was a Saturday. Sanji was currently getting ready to leave work, taking off his uniform and setting it in his cabinet. He checke the time, it was exactly seven o'clock. He had took a couple extra hours so he could afford some more expensive ingredients for a recipe he stumbled across a few days ago, and got really excited to try, since it was something he hadn't ever tried before.
He walked out of the dressing room, told a couple of his co-workers that he was leaving now and left the building. Sanji didn't have a car, he could get everywhere by walking since he lived in the middle of a semi-big city. He wasn't really rich, but he wasn't poor either, just a bit above avarage.
As he was walking down the streets with the dim light of the sunset lighting his way, he noticed a new sign hung on a flowershop's door which he always walked by. He hadn't really paid attention to it before, a city like that fit a lot of florists and flowershops in it.
"Huh, 50% off? That's quite the sale" He thought out loud. And exactly as the sign said, everything was 50% off. Maybe the florist finally realised that they had no chance against the top flowershops? He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up as he saw no one around and stood there for a moment, just admiring the view of the sunset falling over the old streets of the city, the only pretty part of the city as many would say.
Sanji stood there for a good while before deciding it was time to go home and sleep, he would get groceries the next morning. He took a last look at the flowershop, and saw a flicker of someone with long, dark and curly hair tied walking deeper into the shop, and for some reason he stared at the store for longer than intended before walking back home.
He lived in an apartment, a nice apartment. It had been renovated right before he moved in. It worked, yet it was not exactly what he wanted. He has always been a hopeless romantic, just seeing a girl he found attractive made him think about a future together, but he had never had a girlfriend
He took the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it into his specific trash meant for cigarettes. Sanji walked into his kitchen and made himself a quick Sandwich, it was good even if he said it himself. He was a great cook, even in his own opinion
While eating his sandwich, his mind wandered away to the curly hair he spotted in the flowershop window. It probably belonged to a beautiful lady who kept, or at least helped around the shop. He was pretty sure he caught a glimpse of the lady's dark skin, and big, brown and positive looking eyes.
Sanji snapped back into reality. Why was he thinking about a flowershop employee whose face he hadn't even fully seen yet so much? It's not like she even saw him, and she could have a husband or a boyfriend, she could even have kids. Was that person even a she? How embarrassing would it be if he was thinking this much about a man. He was NOT gay, he loved women. He has had crushes on so many women, never even one man. It would just be embarrassing for him.
He slowly got up from his seat and decided he was too tired for a shower, he had taken an extra long shift after all. He had cleaned his bedroom the day before, so it was pretty easy for him to find his nightwear. It was nothing too flashy, just a comfortable, a little big white shirt and light blue pajama pants. He only washed his face quickly in the bathroom sink, and stared at his face in the mirror for maybe a minute
He saw a man who was doing alright with money, no health problems, nothing extremely bad at the moment. He should be happy. However, he also saw a man who didn't have the guts to go after his dream. He saw a man who was extremely lonely, even when his friend Luffy lived just a minute away, he wanted someone to live with, someone to love endlessly. Someone to praise, someone to cheer up, someone who needed him too.
Sanji walked out of the bathroom and set himself down on his bed in a laying position, with his hands on his pillow under his head. The bed had space for two, yet only one to use all that space. It was so lonely for him there, sometimes he just wished that finding love would be easier than it truly appears to be.
Slowly, his thoughts drifted into a dream about a lovely woman with dark, curly hair, dark skin and a very positive expression, yet there was no full face. Only the eyes as the rest kept changing form, only they stayed the same, and gosh, were they addictive to look at. A concept as simple as human eyes could be so beautiful, and so uplifting for a hopeless romantic, or pehaps anyone.
The dream felt so real, so real that Sanji smiled in his sleep, believing he was finally experiencing love, real love. But dreams don't last long, they often feel like shorter than they are. The clock hits nine in the morning, and being the man he is, Sanji had an alarm ringing. On any other day he would wake up at seven, however, it was a sunday which he had off, so he could sleep a little longer.
He was a bit disappointed when he realized that it was all a dream, none of it was real as he raised to sit on the side of his bed. It takes him some time to get off the bed and go take a shower, but when he does, he's fast with waking up. He's ready with his shower in about twenty minutes, and he puts on what he calls casual clothes. Tossing his phone, wallet and home keys to a sewed bag he would later use for groceries, his mind goes to the flowershop again
Maybe, just maybe, he could take a peek inside once he passes it again
☆
He wasn't really lonely, he had three friends and a nice boss, but his life wasn't the best. He didn't have a house, most of the time he slept by the seashore, under a tree with the calming sounds of water hitting the shore helping him sleep. He could afford food with the money he got from his job as a flowershop employee, but really not anything else.
During events like thunderstorms or extreme cold he asked his friends to sleep over at their house, and of course they let him. They had offered Usopp that he could live at their place, but he always lied, said things like "No, I do have a house, the heating system's just broken at the moment!" Or "I just wanted to spend time with you, I am NOT homeless" even though they knew he was. Truly? He was just scared of being a burden on his friends.
He always had a passion for creating. Things drawing, and especially building his inventions. But he also has a habit of lying. It used to bring him comfort about some day having his father come back, about his mother recovering, about having the future he wished for. It used to cheer up his mother, hearing his "stories" about defeating monsters and being a mighty captain. Although It brought smiles to people's faces when he was a child, it wasn't really appreciated when he grew up to be teen and a young adult, not anymore after his mother died.
He had an old alarm clock he fixed that woke him up every day at eight so he could brush his teeth and eat something before running to the flowershop to do his job. It was the only job he could get, since he couldn't go to a good school, nor does he have money or experience on almost anything, so he settled for it, and tries his best to take everything as positively as he can.
He took a piece of bread after brushing his teeth and ate it while staring at the sea, as amazing as always before. Then he doodled something in his notebook, put his stuff back in his bag which he then hid in a bush nearby so no one would steal anything, and started walking towards the flowershop.
No one was staring anymore like they once used to. Despite him being a bit disheveled, everyone seemed to know he was poor, and his positivity annoyed them. He was way too positive for a guy who slept under a tree and washed his clothes in the ocean. Well, it does sound a little sad, but he could get a shower instead of the ocean from time to time at his ftiends house anyways. He didn't care for what those people thought anymore, they didn't know him and his life
He arrived at the flowershop after a painfully long walk through the busiest part of the city, and the florist greeted him with a smile as he arrived a little early. He smiled back. "Hey boss!" He waves as he says it. The florist was holding a broom, his name was Laurence. People didn't really know him, nor did they appreciate him for some reason. He didn't have much money, and couldn't pay Usopp a lot for that exact reason, his business was failing too.
"Hello, Usopp. Would you like to check our tulips for starters? I already went through the petunias and roses. I was just about to go prepare some of our newly grown flowers for sale" He say with the biggest smile on his face. That kind of a smile that makes a person immediately seem kind
"I would, boss" Usopp says as he walks into the store. He wasn't a florist, but he was able to recognise which flowers were dead or about to die. In his opinion, it was even pretty easy to recognise, which, it should be. He looked through the tulips carefully, he didn't want to damage ones that could be saved.
As he was doing his work, he saw Laurence talking on the phone, and he seemed off, pretty much upset. Usopp got a little worried, since his boss was usually always happy and cheerful, he was that kind of a person to stay positive however things turned out to be and happen. He still decided not to bother him while he was on the phone, he would probably tell him about bigger issues anyways.
As a few hours went by, there had only been threw customers throughout the whole time, and Laurence decided it was time to have a talk with Usopp, so he sat him down to the two chairs he had in the backroom. And he wasn't smiling this time. "Usopp, I need to talk to you about something. It's important"
Usopp seemed really worried now, the air felt thicker. He knew this day would come, but it felt so sad. He nodded as a sign for Laurence to continue speaking. Laurence sighed "I have been thinking about this for a while, and I think it would be better if I closed this shop forever, since I don't have the money to keep it up. I'm sorry that I have to do this" He said while looking Usopp deep into his eyes sympathetically. He knew this would affect Usopp's life deeply, but he had no choice
Usopp stared at him, it felt way too real for it to be a deam, so he knew it would be this time. "Are you sure? Like, completely ready to close? And when Exactly are you planning on closing?" He said quickly even if he tried to take it all calmly. It still was a lot to take in for him, since it was basically over half of his current life
"Usopp, I am sure, and I have been thinking about closing in two to three days. I have it all settled out, and I believe you can find a new way of life too, you future isn't wasted yet. You're still young, my boy" Laurence said and truly believed it, he had a sad smile on his face too. A sad but genuine smile
Usopp shed out a tear, then another, and suddenly he was crying quite hard. Laurence hugged him. Usopp immediately clung onto him tightly, maybe even a bit uncomfortably as he did, but Laurence didn't seem to really mind it at all.
He was really used to crying, at one point he was ashamed of being so emotional, but now when he was with certain people he trusted, he could show his emotions properly without being ashamed of anything. They hugged for good five minutes before pulling apart. It was getting close to seven, and they'd start cleaning about now
They would close at 7:30, but they liked to start cleaning early, so that they could take they could talk for the rest of the night and in winter watch the sunset. The sunset would show since it was early spring, and it was beautiful every time.
While Usopp was cleaning the fallen leaves off the floor, he saw a man standing outside the shop, smoking a cigarette. He wasn't quite fond of people smoking outside their shop full of flowers, or smoking at all. Buuuuut he wasn't in the mood to yell at anyone either, so he just looked at the man for a moment.
He was actually quite pretty with his blond hair and skinny but still strong looking figure. And now that the sunset hit him in a perfect angle, Usopp thought it might have made that man look even more attractive than he truly is. Well, it MUST have, he has never seen anyone look like that. He always knew he might have had a little side that liked men, however he has found women attractive more often.
He stared at the man for a while before Laurence called him to sweep the rest of the floor. "Coming boss!" He shouted quickly as he started to walk fast towards where his boss was. As he sweeped the floor, he couldn't really think positively. Everything was going down for him, and he wasn't being himself
As his shift came to it's end, he said goodbye to Laurence and started walking down the quiet, slowly darkening streets of the city. It was beautiful, but also made him more sad. All it really did was remind him of the end of it all, that everything would always come to an end, no matter how hard you tried to protect it.
His mind kept wandering off, which he found weird, since he usually was able to keep his positive mindset no matter what. It was only now when he really thought that people might think he's maybe a bit too positive for their liking, and he walked down the same streets as them every single day he lived, and had done that now for several years
However, there was one thought bothering Usopp's mind that did not seem to be as negative as everything else; That pretty good looking, hell, even beautiful blond man he had seen behind the flower shop's window that day. As he reached his beach, tree and ocean, be decided to use yet one page of his notebook again. He grabbed his bag from the bush and started searching it for the notebook.
As Usopp opened his notebook, which had his pencil as a bookmark, he thought of every single thing that he noticed about that man. He was good at drawing, as he could even admit himself. He spent a good hour trying to make the man look perfectly the same as he saw him. The lines slowly started to give his memory credit and his drawing was finally complete, and he admired it for a couple minutes. All this made him forget about his worries and problems as he set the notebook aside.
He stared at the calming ocean in which the sun looked like was drowning into, making the sky behind it a beautiful mix of peach pink, warm yellow and hot orange.
Maybe he'll walk by the flowershop again tomorrow