Soo, finally chapter three. I'm trying to study like a good student but it's not going so well... Still doesn't leave me much time to write though. At least I can somehow hold conversations in Finnish now!

Ohhh and I got myself a tumblr account! I'm childishly excited about this! If you have some spare time you don't know what to do with, go to my profile and stalk me:DDD Especially if you've got some nice Naruto pics so I can follow you and get my daily dose of smexiness!

Now then, let's see how this story is progressing!


Chapter 3: No sugarcoating please

'

"Aah, that was great!" Naruto exclaimed as they finally left the building, Sasuke dying for some hand lotion to soothe the burning in his palms.

He settled for scowling at the blond, there were so many things he'd like to say that he for once didn't know where to start. Naruto stretched his arms over his head, then, as they came down, not so inconspicuously slid one of them down Sasuke's back and wrapped it around his waist.

It resembled the way an awkward teenager might do with his first girlfriend so embarrassingly much that it took Sasuke a full minute before he noticed that instead of shrugging it off he pondered how the hell Naruto could be considered a sex-genius if he couldn't even do something as simple as this.

But then again, he supposed it was different to touch someone casually compared to just having sex.

When the hand connected to the arm tried to become a little more familiar with his butt though he grabbed it by the wrist, firmly lifting it off and almost groaning at the innocent grin Naruto sent him. He felt sorry for whoever was going to have the pleasure of educating this hopeless case. Right now he was only after a free meal.

After all, being a student wasn't easy and he'd recently had to buy a new laptop after his previous one broke.

"Here we are!" Naruto said, a proud note to his voice, making a sweeping gesture with one arm at what looked like a normal restaurant. "I present to you: Heaven on earth!"

Sasuke took in the sight of the low building with skeptical eyes. Above the entrance was written Ichiraku ramen and he sighed. Figures the guy couldn't eat normal food.

Fifteen minutes later and Naruto was already happily slurping down his second bowl, Sasuke barely through half of his first. He gave the partially hidden tan face a disgusted look, cringing at the thought of eating that way in front of any of his dates. This guy lacked manners in so many ways that he was tempted to beat some sense into him physically, doubting that such a weak thing as words would register. He agreed to a second bowl though, more from the fact that he felt the blond owed him than from any real appreciation of the food.

Naruto seemed very happy that he did though, naively congratulating Sasuke on having understood the wonders of ramen.

Once they were done eating, Sasuke reluctantly impressed by the seemingly bottomless pit Naruto called a stomach, he caught Naruto staring at him silently. Sasuke stared back, strangely not bored yet. Annoyed, yes, but not bored. And by dating standards that was pretty well done, he had to give him that. But then again, it's difficult to be bored when you're busy marveling over someone's poor behavior.

"So how'd I do?" Naruto asked, for the second time that day looking faintly nervous.

Sasuke smirked.

"Not bad" he answered, purring evilly on the inside in anticipation when blue eyes instantly brightened. "You did a great job impersonating a horny sexist with such poor manners a toddler would be ashamed to see it."

Naruto's face instantly fell, a worried look overtaking his features.

"You're kidding right?" he said, chuckling and fiddling with the chopsticks left in his now empty bowl.

Sasuke would have felt pity if he wasn't enjoying making his 'date' squirm so much. He had a feeling the blond had a conversation like this a long time coming.

"If anything I was sugarcoating" he replied instead, his smirk widening when Naruto instantly frowned and crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child about to object to going to bed this early.

"Well you're not exactly prince charming either" was the indignant retort, and Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Like I'd waste my charm on you" he said, raising an eyebrow at the questioning look he got.

"Hypocrite" Naruto said, a little bit smug, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"At least I'm aware of when I'm being an asshole" he bit back, Naruto's jab hitting closer to home than he would have liked.

Naruto opened his mouth to talk back to him, then hesitated before shutting it again and leaning back in his seat, giving Sasuke a contemplative look.

"I really gave you that bad an impression?" he asked, surprising Sasuke with the calm question.

He shrugged, averting his eyes to roam the interior of the restaurant, again feeling that strange curiosity when he met that serious look and not liking it one bit. It was a cozy place, busy now at dinner time. If it wasn't for the fact that they only served ramen it would have made a decent spot.

"Tell me" Naruto suddenly demanded, forcing him to meet his gaze again.

They stared at each other for another few seconds, Naruto determined and Sasuke blank. Then the raven sighed, propping his chin up in his palm and tapping a finger against his cheek.

"More than a bad impression, it's like you have no idea what you're doing at all" he finally said, finger stilling against his cheek as he raised his eyebrows. "It's like you don't even want to be on a date."

"What do you mean?" Naruto's confusion was obvious, teeth gnawing on his bottom lip.

Sasuke found it strangely fascinating to suddenly have the blond's full attention.

"Let's see" he started, straightening up and holding his hand up to count things off as he said them. "You didn't ask what I wanted to do; you didn't pay attention to me unless it was checking me out or involved physical contact; you seem to be convinced that all you have to do is flash that smile and I'll be begging you to take me home. You annoyed me; made me feel uncomfortable and left out while you talked to your friends; and you seem perfectly fine with just talking about yourself and your own interests and not even once bothering to ask about mine."

Naruto had seeped up the information silently, his eyes widening a little as Sasuke ticked off all his flaws with his fingers. When Sasuke finished he looked a little deflated, combing a hand through his unruly hair with a troubled look on his face as he stared hard down at the table cloth.

"I guess I forgot about all of that" he mumbled, glancing up briefly before groaning and rubbing his face with a hand. "But I don't know, I don't have any trouble making friends…?"

Their eyes met again, Sasuke pondering over all the things he'd heard about Naruto before today. It was true that wherever the Uzumaki went he was always surrounded by people, and if he wasn't there people talked about him.

"You're used to dealing with lots of people at once. On a date, you need to make the other person feel special, that they have your full attention. A date is not a means of transportation to the bedroom; it's something you do because you're interested in getting to know the other person."

Naruto nodded, but Sasuke continued before he could interrupt.

"I'm not saying you have to change your whole behavior, even if you could try to show some restraint; you just need to think of why you're on the date."

Naruto had winced at the words 'restraint' and 'why', apparently not having thought about it at all. Now he pouted, going back to playing with his chopsticks. Sasuke watched him for a while, and for some weird reason the silence between them wasn't uncomfortable.

"I've never brought someone with me to go climbing."

The admittance startled Sasuke, and he raised a questioning eyebrow at the now fidgeting blond.

"I mean, I just thought that…" Naruto switched to tug at one of the strings hanging from his orange sweater, seemingly a little annoyed with himself. "That when you go on a date it should be somewhere special, and that place is really special to me so…"

"And the restaurant?"

"My favorite" Naruto answered, grinning and relaxing a bit. "It's great isn't it? I could eat here every day."

Sasuke stared at him long and hard.

"And if the date went badly? If you bring lots of dates to your favorite place, and none of them are the person you want to settle down with?"

Naruto gave him a blank stare. Apparently he hadn't thought of this.

"Umm…" was the intelligent answer he got, and Sasuke shook his head.

"You know what, it's getting late and I have some studying to do. Why don't you think it all over, maybe check the internet for some basic advice?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, standing up as well when Sasuke got up. Instead of paying it seemed that he had a tab there, being the number one customer and friends with the old man running the place.

"Okay, I'll totally do some studying! And then tomorrow you can start teaching me for real!"

Sasuke froze. He couldn't recall agreeing to the ridiculous notion of being Naruto's teacher. But when he looked up and was met with a too wide grin showing off white teeth contrasting nicely to the tan on Naruto's face, blue irises hidden underneath eyelids as his eyes closed to emphasize the smile, something strange happened. It caught Sasuke completely off-guard, and suddenly he couldn't think of any good reasons to say no.

It's not like he had a busy schedule this week.

"Whatever" he sighed, glaring half-heartedly when Naruto's orange-clad shoulder bumped happily into his own.

It wasn't exactly rocket science why Naruto was so popular. Take away the whole dating-failure and the guy had a way about him that just drew you in, effortless warmth surrounding him that made you overlook his disregard for personal space.

But the fact remained that the guy's attention was all over the place. Getting him to focus on only one thing… It would probably be easier to just try and find him the love of his life.

And Sasuke knew that that wasn't exactly something you found just because you wanted to.


Fufufu what could Sasuke possibly have felt that caught him so off-guard?:3 Now I'm gonna go procrastinate a little more... X)