Goofball (LuffyxReader)

 A light sigh passed through your plump lips as you continued to poke at the ash and embers of your dying fire with a damp stick you’d picked up from the border of the clearing you and your friends had found.

 When you had first arrived on this seemingly deserted, densely forested island you had been incredibly excited. See, you loved camping, and thought that this beautiful island would give you the perfect opportunity to do so. When the rest of the Strawhat’s had agreed to do it, you had been completely ecstatic. However, all of that excitement had gone by now, washed away by the rain that had fallen for all three days you had waited here, waiting for the log pose to set. Everything would be fine if it was just light sprinkling, but you had received nothing short of torrential downpours, with the occasional ‘clear’ period of simple heavy rain.

 It was one of those periods at the moment, rain beating a steady pattern against the tarp that had been hung above your head. For a while, you had been able to enjoy that, thinking of the sound as beautiful. You had been able to keep yourself and your friends entertained by playing various board and card games, and telling stories. Even though everyone else was trying to keep optimistic, and encouraging you to do the same, you were beginning to feel rather disheartened. Despite your friends insistence that they were having fun anyways, you did feel a little bad that your first camping trip together was getting rained out. Aside from that, you had been looking so forward to this for a while…

 With another sigh you let your poker stick rest against the stones that had been placed around your fire pit, watching as the coals desperately struggled against the rain, a fight that resulted in angry smoke that wafted through the air, curling and gripping at the damp air in a struggle to survive before it disappeared completely.  The more you thought about your circumstance, the more depressed you got, no matter how hard you tried to be happy.

~

Luffy hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of you for the past little while. He too was seeking shelter under the tarp that had been set up above the chairs, standing a little ways behind where you sat. Everyone else was seeking shelter under the tents, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper in the dining tent, and Nami and Robin likely reading in the girls’ tent.

 Though Luffy would usually have been huddled in the dining tent as well, pestering Sanji about lunch, he could tell you were upset, and wasn’t going to leave until he thought of a way to cheer you up. At first, Luffy had been unable to understand you, and could never tell how you were feeling, because you weren’t very expressive. However, he’d managed to catch onto some of the subtle clues you did give lately. Right now, he could tell how upset you were by your slumping posture, and the lack of vigor in your actions.

 Finally, and idea came to him. It was silly, but it might just work. With one last glance at the back of your head he walked out from under the safety and shelter of the tarp above your heads, and into the pouring rain.

 “Hey! [Name], this really isn’t too bad! Look!” Figuring this was just another attempt of one of your friends to cheer you up, you felt appreciative, but had low hopes as you let your [e/c]-eyed gaze flicker up from the embers of the fire to your captain.

 What you saw when you looked up surprised you a little. Luffy stood there, letting the rain soak him. His head was tilted up, and he used his hands to pull his lower out rather far, to a point that would have been completely impossible where he not made of rubber. He stood like that for a few moments before putting it back to normal. When he turned to look at you again, his cheeks were puffed out wide in a way that reminded you of a chipmunk.

 “See? At least we have plenty of drinking water! We can have fun in the rain, too!” Luffy mumbled almost unintelligibly through his pursed lips, some of the water he had stored in his mouth dribbling down his chin.

 Your eyebrows furrowed a little. You couldn’t say that you exactly understood what your captain had done, but somehow, it had cheered you up a little. Perhaps it was so silly and odd that you couldn’t help but lighten up at least a little. Shaking your head, you masked the smile that threatened to twitch onto your lips. Somehow, that boy always managed to make you smile, no matter what situation you were in.

 “Luffy, you’re such a goofball.” Rather than replying, Luffy just laughed through a wide, toothy smile, and flashed you a peace sign. He could tell that he had managed to cheer you up, and that made him happy.

 Even later that night, as Luffy laid in the ship’s infirmary with a fever and excessively active nose decimating the ship’s Kleenex supply, he couldn’t bring himself to regret his actions. He had made you happy, and that was what mattered, because your happiness was important to him, and your smile was one of the things he loved the most in the whole world.