Sasuke thought that he had gotten lucky when he picked up his stuff at a desk near the hospital exit. He had been released after the required 72 hours and had only be "strongly recommended" to go see a psychologist on his own. He could probably handle staring in the eyes of some dude once a week. Maybe even talk just a little. He had told Itachi he'd try after all.
As much as Sasuke wanted to leave the hospital as fast as possible, the man handing him his personal belonging had only given him his wallet, watch, and sweatpant , saying that his clothes had been too soaked in blood to be salvaged - he had not been really hurt, just a small cut on his brow and a slight concussion, but head injuries tend to bleed a lot - and that his phone had not been recovered. Given that he didn't mention any laptop, Sasuke guessed that it had probable flew out of the window after the impact. "Luckily I decided to wrap my car into a tree after the meeting with Kakashi," Sasuke thought. He could just give a call to Kakashi and he would send him the file he had saved, nothing was lost.
Now, he just needed to find a phone and call a cab. He needed someone to drive him to the store to buy a new phone and a new laptop and he didn't feel like seeing Itachi just yet. The awkward silence could wait a couple more hours.
The phones were pretty easy to find. There were three right by the door, the only problem was that it was not the type of phone that accepted credit card and Sasuke had no cash on him. He even tried asking politely a lady nearby if he could use her cellphone but she gave him a dirty look.
Sasuke sighed and got out. No way was he going to ask someone for change. He'd just walk there and maybe he would see a cab on his way. In any case, it was only a fifteen minutes walk there, not that exhausting.
On his way there, Sasuke thought about Naruto. Well not really about Naruto but mostly about how he was going to contact him now that he had lost his phone number. He recalled dropping the cup with his number on it in his office trash can a couple weeks ago. He didn't empty it often but he was pretty sure that he had done it Tuesday night. And sure, he was game to go search their house trash to find it, but the trash usually got collected on Wednesday and Itachi never forgot about that. So searching the trash would be useless. He could probably google Naruto. Even if he didn't know his last name, how many Naruto could there really be in Kingston? Not many, he was certain.
He could always take the chance that Naruto would not think that he was avoiding him on purpose. But he wanted to go on that date and even him would have drop it if he had received three days of silence radio.
"Alright, so google it will be," Sasuke thought as he finally made his way inside the store.
Naruto almost crashed his car as he saw what he thoughts was Sasuke going inside an electronic store. "I'm sorry god of parking places. Please keep me protected." He thought as he hurriedly parked his car in the spot for disabled right in front of the door.
Once inside, he realized that it was kind of creepy to run around looking to see if it was really Sasuke that he had saw coming in. He needed a reason to be here. He'd just pick up something cheap on the shelves and make his way to the register slowly looking to see if Sasuke was somewhere around.
Naruto nodded to himself and as he sharply turned in the first row, he solidly bumped into someone. Naruto made a little squeal - a very manly one - as they collided and didn't have time to do anything as the other man fell on the ground.
"Shit, I'm really sorry! I wasn't looking and…" Naruto didn't have time to finish his sentence that the other man was up and leaving giving him a dirty look.
"Well, that was awkward." Naruto said as he heard someone chuckling behind him. He turned around and there was Sasuke. He was leaning against the shelf nearby, a bag in hand, only wearing a white shirt and grey sweatpant that seemed pretty dirty - wait were those blood droplets?
"You're bloody." Naruto said looking at Sasuke's crotch.
Sasuke briefly looked down. "Hi yourself."
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Naruto slapped himself mentally. He was so stupid sometimes, it's not like he was really surprised to see Sasuke here. He had followed him inside like a stalker after all.
"Buying a new phone and computer." Sasuke answered, and noticing Naruto still eying his pants he explained himself. "I didn't murder anyone by the way. I was in a car accident this week and I just got out of the hospital, this is my blood."
Naruto's eyes grew bigger. "I think I'd rather you'd kill someone than hurt yourself." He breathed.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and almost choked on the sweetness of the words. "Well no one died. Except maybe my phone, car, and computer." And also his dignity because he hadn't taken a shower since Wednesday night and Naruto could probably smell the stink on him from where he was standing.
Sasuke took his new phone from his back pocket and gave him to Naruto who looked at him with interrogation. "I don't have your number anymore."
"Oh, sure!" Naruto said as he distractedly type his informations.
"So what were you doing here?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto almost dropped the phone while handing it back. He hurriedly looked on his right and picked up the first thing he saw. "I needed this. We can leave now."
Sasuke snickered as Naruto passed by him and walked toward the door. "You should probably pay for it first."
Naruto backpedaled and quickly went to the counter before rejoining Sasuke by the door. They both went outside and Sasuke walked straight to Naruto's car where he could see a parking ticket.
"That was a pricey USB key." Sasuke said as he picked the paper between the wiper and the windshield to hand it to Naruto.
"But I said I was sorry." Naruto whispered low enough that Sasuke couldn't hear him.
"What was that?" Sasuke asked.
"Nothing. Hm… Do you need a ride home?"
"I was going to call a cab…" Sasuke started, but seeing the expectant look on Naruto's face he changed his mind. "Sure, thanks."
The ride there was pretty quiet except for Sasuke giving indications but it was comfortable.
Naruto spoke for the first time when he parked his car in front of Sasuke's house. "I guess I'll see you in…" Naruto looked at the time on the dashboard, it was 5pm. "...2 hours?"
"Yes, don't be late. You can't lie about getting lost anymore." Sasuke said as he got out of the car.
"There's no way I'm gonna lose even a second off of this date." Naruto answered smiling.
Sasuke smiled too, closed the door, and started walking away from the car. Naruto lost his smile the second Sasuke's back was to him. Sasuke had had a car accident. He had gotten hurt, his car was wreck, and…
"Fuck!" Naruto cursed as he backed out of Sasuke's driveway.
He had plan to bring them to the racetrack that one of his friend owned. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Sasuke's car was such a beautiful beast, he had thought the man might enjoy a night of racing without any speed limit - come on, nobody drove a Mercedes-AMG GT R just for the sake of it. This definitely wasn't going to happen tonight. He needed a change of scenario and fast.
"I need to call Sakura." Naruto said aloud. He pushed the little pressure compartment on the ceiling to take his sunglasses and a set of keys tumbled out at the same time. It gave him an idea.
The first thing Sasuke noticed when he entered his house was that it smelled good, intensely good. The second thing was the noise coming from the kitchen which indicated that Itachi wasn't alone. Surprising, strange even.
He removed his shoes by the door and slowly walked toward the kitchen - he had to pass through if he wanted to go to his bedroom downstairs. Itachi was standing in front of the stove and two persons were sitting at the breakfast table watching him. Wait, was that Kakashi and… Suigetsu?
"What the hell is happening here?" Sasuke asked.
Suigetsu was the only one to be startled. "Sass', my man! I'm so glad to see you!" He stood up from his chair and tried to go in for a hug but Sasuke pushed him away.
"Is this supposed to be an intervention?" Sasuke asked with loath in his voice.
"We're the Suicide Squad and we're here to…" Suigetsu started but Itachi cut him off.
"We're just having dinner."
"You guys can have dinner all you want but I'm going out."
Itachi frowned. "Sasuke, can we talk?"
Sasuke didn't answer at first, but then he crossed the kitchen to go outside on the terrace. Itachi handed his wooden spoon to Kakashi and followed him.
"Look, you don't have to leave. I can kick them out." Itachi said.
"Why did you invite them in the first place Itachi? Suigetsu I could understand, but Kakashi?"
"I didn't invite any of them. Suigetsu got here at ass o'clock saying that he's been texting and calling you for days without any answer. As for Kakashi, he got here 15 minutes ago saying that he had something to give you and he ended up inviting himself for dinner. I'm making tuna by the way and a tomato salad. I know you like that"
"A tomato salad?" Sasuke asked incredulously.
"Cherry tomatoes, Beefsteak tomatoes, Evergreen tomatoes.." Sasuke stopped listening as Itachi kept listing a few other type of tomatoes that he had never heard about. Was Itachi blabbering? He did look kind of nervous.
"Itachi…" Sasuke started, but Itachi kept talking about how he went to the public market to get his favorite food and Sasuke felt as if he had fell in a new dimension.
"Oh god, Itachi, shut up!"
Itachi stopped talking and Sasuke kind of felt bad about it. "Look, I'm sorry. This look… great? Awesome even, but I'm going out. I'm not running away from you, I have a date."
"You have a date?"
"Yes. I really need to go get ready right now."
Sasuke was about to go back inside. "Keep me some of that "salad", I'll eat it tomorrow." He said standing on the threshold.
"A date?" Itachi said in response, not making a move to go back inside as Sasuke closed the door.
Sasuke crossed the kitchen without looking at anyone and made his way downstair. He only had an hour left to get ready before Naruto got here. He was pretty sure that Naruto wouldn't mind waiting a little for him, but with Suigetsu nearby it would end up being catastrophic.
When Sasuke got out of the bathroom 20 minutes later, Kakashi was waiting for him sitting on his bed. They stared at each other in silence before Kakashi talked.
"I feel responsible."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not your kid, Kakashi. Nothing I do is your fault, or even your concern."
Sasuke could see how worried Kakashi looked and it didn't sit well with him. Kakashi wasn't supposed to care about him, he was just his boss. "Do you run to all your author's houses when they do something shitty? I heard Kabuto had an overdose two weeks ago, I'm pretty sure he didn't found you sitting on his bed when he came home from the hospital. Am I right?"
That was true, and it made Kakashi more uncomfortable than he should be. "You know what they say; 'you never forget your first.'"
This sounded dirty coming from Kakashi, but Sasuke knew that he was trying to cover himself with a dose of humour.
"Thanks for the concern. Now, please get out before I throw something at you."
Kakashi stood up and started to leave. However just before opening the door he added. "Were you going to throw your towel? If so I think I'm gonna stay for awhile."
Sasuke threw a book right at his face and missed.
That's it y'all. The date is going to happen in two weeks! Hope you enjoyed