Part IV
Monday arrived rather too quickly for Kiba's liking. He got up and wandered out to the kitchen, opening the front door to let Akamaru out.
He was slightly on edge already, knowing Sasuke would be coming back and would expect an answer to the question he had asked Kiba two days ago. Kiba still didn't know what that answer would be so he pushed the issue from his mind and began making breakfast for himself and Koji. He took his coffee pot from the cupboard and set it on the stove to start brewing. He next set some bacon to frying in a pan and then cracked several eggs into a bowl to stir for scrambled eggs.
Koji awoke from his slumber a short while later. He sat up, yawned, and stretched his arms above his head. Akamaru, who had returned from the outside, walked over to him and licked his knee, prompting Koji to reach down and pet the dog's head. He sat watching Kiba in the kitchen for a few moments.
"I feel like you should be wearing and apron." Koji called out to him. "You're always so domestic."
Kiba looked over, momentarily startled because he hadn't noticed Koji had woken up yet. He chuckled to himself at the image of wearing an apron.
"Don't buy me any gifts," Kiba said, joking, imaging Koji buying him a frilly pink apron. "But, I hope you're hungry this morning."
"Whatever you are making is going to make me that way soon," Koji answered.
"Good," Kiba said. "Otherwise Akamaru would be getting a feast this morning."
A short while later, Koji joined Kiba at the dining table, where Kiba had placed two plates heaped with eggs, bacon, and toast. He then sat down with Koji and realized he had no appetite.
"Eat," Koji urged him when he noticed Kiba had barely taken a bite and he was halfway through his own breakfast. "You're thinking about Sasuke, aren't you?"
"Of course," Kiba answered. "And of course you know exactly what I'm thinking of."
"Well, please try to eat. You made this nice breakfast for us, so you should enjoy it too. Don't think so much about what will happen later. Just be light, keep it light."
"Hmmm, light?" Kiba asked. "I'll try."
He then took a few bites of his eggs, which made him realize how hungry he really was, but his nervousness had made him ignore the urge to eat. He then proceeded to gobble up the rest of the food.
"See, you really were hungry afterall," Koji laughed.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kiba replied. "I was just pre-occupied."
"What are you going to tell Sasuke when he comes here?"
"I'm not sure," Kiba said wistfully. "Any advice?"
"I should say 'You need to decide on your own what's best for you,'" Koji began, "but, to be honest, I think you should just go for it. See what comes of it; if it works, cool, if it doesn't work out, at least you tried."
"Hmmmm," I was leaning toward a 'no' answer, but I don't know now… Maybe I like Sasuke more than I felt I should considering everything that's happened."
"I think so too, so give it a chance. Be open to what opportunities the universe brings you."
"You're so sensible," Kiba said. "I'm usually more irrational."
"Just be, Kiba," Koji said. "You have to learn to just be."
"Don't be so mystical all the time," Kiba joked.
"Whatever you decide, let me know how it goes, ok?"
"I will," Kiba said. "Will you come back later? Go back and get some clothes for tomorrow, will you?"
"Sure, I'll do that," Koji said.
xXxXx
After Koji had left, Kiba began pacing around the apartment while Akamaru watched him lazily from where he was laying in front of the fireplace.
An hour or so later, his phone indicated he had received a text message. Glancing at it on the countertop, Kiba felt the familiar knot begin in his stomach. He knew the text was from Sasuke before he even looked at it.
hey is it ok if i come see you in a little bit? i'm about to head out from my brother's, kind of a long drive ahead of me to get back to school.
Kiba replied a moment later
yeah, that's cool
About forty-five minutes later, Sasuke was knocking on Kiba's door, so Kiba suspected that he had already been on his way when he sent the text message earlier. He came inside and hugged Kiba and then they both sat down on the sofa and Akamaru wandered over to greet the Raven.
"Oh, lazybones managed to get up and see the guest?" Kiba commented.
"Hey," Sasuke said, petting the dog's head and then turning to Kiba. "How was your long weekend? Did your friend stay over?"
"Yeah, he did, it was fun," Kiba answered. "We didn't really do too much, mostly studied and did reading for the classes we have together."
"And ate egg rolls at Chen Lee's?" Sasauke said, smirking.
"Well, of course!" Kiba said, finally laughing a little.
"Cool," the Raven answered. "I'd have been shocked if you had said 'no.'"
Kiba chuckled.
"I guess I'm just going to ask again," Sasuke began. "Kiba, I want you to be my boyfriend, will you give me a chance?"
Kiba's shoulders slumped a little and he turned to Sasuke, who grasped his hand. Kiba smiled shyly and lifted his eyes to meet the Raven't dark eyes gazing back at him.
"Sure," he said softly. "We can try…"
Sasuke immediately had his arms around Kiba, pulling him close and burying his head in the shaggy brown hair. Kiba smiled and put his arms around Sasuke.
"Thank you," Sasuke murmured as he maneuvered around so that the two were now laying length-wise on the couch. He rested his head on Kiba's chest and Kiba ran his fingers through the black hair, glancing over to Akamaru, who had turned to lay facing away from them.
The relief that Sasuke felt at Kiba's answer was overwhelming. He had been pre-occupied and on edge the entire weekend. Secretly, he had been sure Kiba would deny his request, and he had tried to prepare himself for that over the past few days.
Kiba turned his head downward to watch the Raven, who seemed so peaceful. He smiled again, liking the feeling of someone being so close to him, they way he used to feel with Naruto. A moment later, Sasuke moved up more so the two were lying on their sides facing each other. Sasuke reached out, pulled Kiba toward him and kissed him, lightly at first, then more insistently.
At first, Kiba felt a chill from feeling the Raven's lips for the first time since July upon his own, but then he relaxed and kissed Sasuke back. He felt safe and warm suddenly, but still at little at unease. After a couple minutes he stopped.
"I don't want to go back to school now," Sasuke said.
"You can't drop out…" Kiba said, then laughed. "I can't have ruined you that quickly."
"No, not at all. I just want to be with you."
"How long will it take you to get back to your school?"
"It's about five hours from here."
"I see," Kiba said. "It's almost 11:00, so can you stay for lunch? I don't want you to wait to long and have to drive at night all that way."
"Yeah, if I would like that. I'd say maybe kick me out around 2:00 then it won't be too late when I get back."
"Ok, well let's make the most of the next three hours," Kiba said sitting up. "What would you like for lunch?"
"Anything's cool with me, do you want Chen Lee's?"
"I can skip it today, we actually had dinner there last night," Kiba said.
"All right," Sasuke replied. "Are there any good burger places around?"
"Hmmmmmm," Kiba thought a moment. "There's a place over on the other side of town that's supposed to be pretty good. At least I've heard people say it is. I haven't actually been there before."
"Let's try it then," the Raven answered, standing up and pulling Kiba up with him, but then wrapping his arms around him and kissing him again. "Unless you want to stay here…"
"Oh…umm," Kiba stammered.
"No, it's ok," Sasuke said, hugging Kiba again. "I don't want to pressure you or anything, I know this is all new, and sudden also."
"Yeah," Kiba said, relieved.
"Well, let's get going then," Sasuke said, lifting Kiba's hand to his lips and kissing it.
Kiba let Akamaru out before they left, then secured the door after letting him back in. The two then went back down the outside staircase. They day was unusually nice for that time of year, sunny and in the low 70s. As Sasuke walked down the stairs in front of him, Kiba noticed he was wearing the shirt that Kiba had picked out when they had gone shopping together. He was also wearing baggy cargo pants and black sneakers. Sasuke walked directly to the passenger-side door of Kiba's car and waited for him to unlock it.
I suppose I ought to drive Kiba thought to himself. He's going to be driving all day later…blah.
They got into the car and drove across town mostly in silence. Inside the small diner, they took a seat at a table by the window and looked at the short menu. There were several different types of hamburgers listed and not much else. Sasuke ordered a black & bleu burger and onion rings and Kiba ended up getting an 'All-American' bacon cheeseburger with French fries.
"What classed do you have this semester?" Sasuke asked, sipping on his soda.
"I have a world literature class, Romantic poetry, Russian drama, a creative writing class, and a history class on China."
"Huh," the Raven mused. "All those books. I bet you'll do great in the writing class though since you've read so much. Do you do anything writing now?"
"No, not really," Kiba admitted. "Only a few feeble attempts, but maybe this class will help me."
"Cool, I'm sure you'll do good."
"Thanks. What about you? What are you taking?"
"I have all major classes, engineering classes," Sasuke said with a sigh. "I really enjoy them, but they're just so intense!"
"That would be hard," Kiba sympathized as their food was brought to them and placed upon the table. "When do you graduate?"
"I could potentially be done after this year, but everyone tells me that the final course is so crazy that if you can, you should take is alone…basically you're out in the field half the time and then doing technical papers the rest of the time. My friend Gaara will have it next semester."
"Oh Gaara is taking the same major as you?" Kiba asked. "I guess I really should thank him for helping out that time…you know, my ex is his brother."
"That's right," Sasuke said. "Fuck, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."
"No, it's fine," Kiba replied. "I liked Gaara. He was always nice to me."
"He said the same about you," Sasuke said. "How's your lunch? Aren't these insanely huge burgers? We probably could have split one and been fine."
"They are massive," Kiba said. "I can't believe how big they are. I'll never eat all this at once. It is absolutely delicious though. How's yours? Is it black and bleu enough?"
"Yes, it is really good," the Raven answered.
"Good, I'm glad we decided to come here. I guess it's good to know a place where you can get half a cow on a roll if you ever want one."
Sasuke laughed and nearly choked on the onion ring he had been eating.
"Eat one of these, they're freshly made," he said, handing an onion ring to Kiba, who took it and bit into it.
"Wow, that is good," he said.
"So," Sasuke said. "What days do you have classes? Do you happen to be free Mondays and Fridays?"
"Ummm, I have classes five days a week this semester, unfortunately. I couldn't schedule what I wanted any other way. I only have classes until 11:00 on Friday though."
"Huh," the Raven thought a moment. "I'm free on Friday, but I'll likely have homework to get done. I don't want to only see you occasionally, so I'll come to you on weekends but I want you to also come to me sometimes."
"Oh, that makes sense," Kiba said, slightly annoyed. "We'll have to work something out. I'm going to have a lot of writing to do this semester and I can't even guess how much reading. We'll see though."
Once they had finished eating, they returned to Kiba's apartment, where Sasuke again pulled Kiba down to lay with him on the couch.
"This feels so nice," he mused. "I just like being with you…I love you Kiba."
Kiba snuggled up to Sasuke and kissed him. They lay together snuggling and kissing off-and-on until it was time for Sasuke to depart. Kiba had to tear himself away and pull Sasuke up.
At the door, Sasuke kissed Kiba again, and said goodbye.
"Text me when you get back, so I know you made it," Kiba said.
"I will. I wish I could stay, fucking classes screw up everything."
After Sasuke had driven off, Kiba sent a text to Koji:
zomg! come over right now! :P
A moment later the reply came.
I'm on my way
ok, Dick Tracy! ;)
Koji arrived about twenty minutes later and Kiba nearly yanked him into the apartment.
"How did it go?!" Koji asked.
"I guess I have a new boyfriend," Kiba revealed. "Whether for good or for bad, I said yes to him."
"Oh wow, that's great!" Koji said, then noticing Kiba lacked much enthusiasm, he add "It is, isn't it?"
"I don't know yet," said Kiba, slumping down out of the arm chair onto the floor and rolling over to Akamaru to cling to him. "I just don't know yet."
"Maybe you just need to get used to the idea?"
"Maybe. It felt so strange. Like I was being unfaithful…"
"That's just in your mind." Koji said. "You felt that because you are uncertain of yourself, uncertain of being hurt again. I see that now."
"Gah, as usual you tell me what I'm thinking as if it were written upon my forehead."
"Sorry," Koji said with a chuckle. "I don't mean to, I can just see it somehow."
"No, it's ok. I'm getting used to it. I am scared."
"It's ok to be, you know. Everyone has those feelings sometimes."
"I can't believe I just told you that," Kiba said, astonished at himself. "Akamaru used to be my only confessor."
"I hope I'm helping. I'm glad we're friends now, Kibie."
"Me too," Kiba said, then added "Except when you call me that!"
"What do you want to do the rest of the day? It's back to classes tomorrow, you know."
"I don't want to do anything," Kiba said. "I feel so lazy."
"All right, we'll just lay around then, but maybe I'll persuade you to play cards later?"
"Possibly," Kiba said, hugging Akamaru. "Oh, Akamaru, what have I gone and done now?"
Akamaru turned and licked his master's face in response, but Kiba was unsure if it was encouragement or disdain.
I'll just trust that everything is going to work out all right he thought to himself.