Hey guys!
I'm so incredibly sorry for the slow update (especially after how I said I'd 'update soon' the last chapter. I really am a hypocrite, aren't I?). This chapter was so, ridiculously hard to write that I'd been stuck on it for around two months without any progress.
Well, at any rate, it's done now! I hope the long-er-ness can make up for the wait (and maybe the contents too? 8D).
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.
"Gaara!" Naruto whined, tugging harshly on the redhead's arm. "You have to help me! Sai won't say anything useful, so you're the only one I have!"
Gaara threw a quick look at the raven, who sat cross-legged and facing the wall; a small, thoughtful frown on his face. He turned around with the mention of his name.
"Naruto-kun, I'm really not trying to– "
"Tell me the truth, Gaara." Naruto continued, ignoring the complaints from the sulking raven. "I need to know!"
The redhead sighed, and made a move to get up off the bed. The blond quickly dragged him back down, leeching himself tightly on to the other boy's body.
"I'm not letting go until you tell me!" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Which colour should I wear? Red, blue, orange, white, or black?"
"I don't care." Gaara stared unblinkingly at the blond, whom was starting to grate on his nerves. He had just finished moving into the house yesterday (which proved to be quite a strain both physically, and mentally what with Naruto's non-stop babbling) and had been looking forward to some alone time in his new room. His fantasy was effectively crushed when the blond barged into his room, and threatened to shit on the carpets if Gaara didn't 'come to his room and help him, right now!'
"Which colour?"
Gaara closed his eyes, forcing himself to stay calm. A double homicide the first day in his new house… Something in the back of his mind purred in pleasure before he reluctantly decided against the idea. It simply wouldn't do.
Remembering what his previous few psychiatrists had told him to do when overwhelmed with the sudden urge to kill: he took a deep breath, and began a silent mantra in his head.
Hurting others won't solve my problems. Peace. Love. Respect.
"Let go."
"C'mon, I only need two seconds!"
Killing others won't… Killing? He paused. No. No, no. Calm, Gaara, calm.
"Whoa, Gaara, there's a huge-ass vein popping out on your forehead! Is Sai starting to annoy you too?"
Gaara felt a crucial need to stop the blond from saying anymore, for his own well being.
"The red." Naruto's face lit up, an excited grin spread across his features.
"Really, you sure? The red? 'Cause I thought it kind of clashed with my eyes a bit, you know. Are you really putting your heart into this?" Gaara quickly twisted his hands around the bed poles (in an effort to keep them from twisting around something else). "I feel like you're just saying it to shut me up."
"Orange."
"But you just said red!"
"They're all pretty ugly."
The blond's jaw dropped, and his hold slackened as he digested what exactly Gaara was going at. Taking advantage of the boy's indignant state, the redhead wrenched himself out of Naruto's grip, and had just managed to push himself up when he was viciously pulled back down onto the bed by the collar of his shirt.
"What do you mean, 'they're all pretty ugly'?! Look, all I wanted you to do was help me decide on a colour for this stupid date so he'll li- so I can win the bet!" Naruto reddened as he quickly covered up the unintentional slip.
"Naruto, maybe you should just let Gaara-sempai go, you're overrea –"
"Shut up, Sai!"
"According to 'Understanding the Young Adolescent Heart—"
"I don't care about your stupid book!"
The vein on Gaara's head pulsed dangerously, turning a puce-like colour.
"Let. Me. Go."
"No! Just listen to me first!"
"I need to go piss." Gaara hissed out, his mint-green eyes flashing. Naruto quickly relinquished his hold and watched with wide, fearful eyes as the redhead made his way towards the door, paused, threw a glare at Sai that clearly read 'fix this' before slamming the door shut. A rather awkward silence ensued.
"Ugh, this sucks." Naruto grumbled, flipping himself on his back. It was ridiculous; how dare Gaara act like Naruto was the one getting all worked up over this when he, so obviously, was not! Like hell he gave a damn about the date, he wasn't even the one who raised the invitation in the first place; it was the stupid duck-butt for God's sake! He just accepted because he wanted to win the bet, not because of any other reasons…
Well, that is to say, he would be lying if he said he didn't feel the small pangs of emotion that streaked across his chest every time he imagined the Uchiha finding out about this. He had convinced himself it was fear, but he couldn't deny that there was something else there too; something that felt more acrid than fear; something that made his heart clench every time he thought too much about it.
Shaking his head violently from side to side, he tried to dispel these thoughts from his mind. It was guilt, that's what it was. Besides, none of that mattered if he won! Good Lord, a year's supply of ramen and a date with Sakura-chan, think of all the possibilities!
Romantic, candlelit dinners in which the appetizer, main course, and dessert consisted of ramen, taking erotic baths with Sakura-chan in ramen, making love with ramen—with Sakura in the ramen…
He would not lose this bet, why; he couldn't lose! Smiling to himself absentmindedly, he began dreaming of various scenarios in which the words 'Sakura-chan' and 'ramen' were used together in the same sentence (occasionally omitting out the 'Sakura-chan').
"Naruto," Sai started, breaking into the blond's train of thought. "You win."
Naruto slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, a dreamy expression on his face.
"Ein?"
"The bet, you win." Naruto sat there; grinning stupidly for a while before realization of what Sai had said slowly sank in.
"Whu- I mean, what? What are you talking about?"
"I said, 'you win the bet', Naruto-kun." Sai repeated, a strangely triumphant expression on his face for someone who just conceded defeat. "So now you don't have to go on the date with Sasuke anymore."
Naruto's brain whirled at this information, the gears working overdrive as he tried to process what this meant.
1) Free ramen; for a year
2) A date with an attractive, incredibly well endowed female
3) No more little hallway 'rendezvous' or need for dates with Sasuke (he ignored the small pang in his heart)
4) No possibilities of half-naked-penis-dangling dates with Sai
It was almost too-good-to-be-true, this dream-like circumstance he was entrusted with. He almost, almost didn't know what to make of it.
Sai watched silently as his best friend's eyes widened and narrowed in succession, a frown marring his pretty features while he formulated some sort of a conclusion. An accusatory finger was jabbed in Sai's direction.
"Pahah! You almost got me there, Sai (I won't lie), but it's going to take more than a few flimsy words to fool the great Uzumaki Naruto! You just want me to believe that I'm the winner, while secretly making me out to be the 'loser', because I was unable to go through with the conditions of this bet!" Naruto unleashed a gloating laugh, passing off the incredulous expression on Sai's face as good acting. "Well, well, well. Who's the stupid one now?"
While the raven could not deny the fact that he most likely would've looked for some loophole to make Naruto go out with him afterwards, it surprised him that the blond was able to figure this out. He'd expected the idiot to be so excited with the victory that he held no other suspicions (Sai had no problems acknowledging the fact that he was ready to manipulate his friend's innocence at the first chance). It was almost like the blond was trying to look for a way out of this.
Passing a glance over the stubborn expression on the boy's face, Sai knew it would be hopeless to try to argue some sense into him. He contemplated whether it would be worth it to just repeatedly smack the top of the blond's head with a heavy (preferably hardcover and 600 paged or more) medical dictionary of some sort, purely for stress-releasing purposes of course.
"There's no way you're going to trick me into going on some kind of perverted, half-naked date with you, baka!" Naruto grinned cockily, pleased with his own brilliance.
Sai, however, was not smiling. Did this mean that the prospect of going on a date with him was worse than being with the Uchiha?
"Now c'mon Sai, stop moping around thinking of ways to make me lose when you know it's over. Just suck it up and help me man, this is important! Red, blue, orange, white, or black?" The blond proceeded by diving into the large heaps of clothes that was his wardrobe; a few stray shirts were thrown across the room before he resurfaced, looking curiously at Sai when he realized that the other boy hadn't followed.
"You okay?"
Sai didn't reply, choosing instead to stare hard into Naruto's eyes.
"Do dislike being around me?"
And before Sai could fathom what exactly had happened, he found himself tackled on to the floor, a slight weight on his stomach as Naruto straddled him from above. Unable to speak (Sai had entered into something of a state of shock) he simply stared, mesmerized, into the blond's eyes, watching as Naruto's face neared his own. The blond was close enough that Sai could count the long, feminine eyelashes that extended from his eyes; almost lick the whisker marks that were on his cheek…
Bonk.
…
'Bonk'?
Sai stared into the to azure eyes in confusion, only to realize that, no, Naruto-kun was not coming in to ask Sai to teach him how exactly two men would have pleasure together (in which Sai would've happily obliged with a few physical demonstrations), but had simply pressed their foreheads together. Despite this, Sai couldn't help it as his heart thumped loudly against his chest, his face beginning to heat up at their proximity.
They stayed in the intimate position for a few more seconds before Naruto broke the moment.
"Well," The blond began, pushing himself off a slightly disappointed Sai. "You definitely don't have a fever, though your face is really red... Anyways, don't ask me stupid stuff like that; of course I like hanging with you! You're my best friend!"
The raven felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted off his chest, which, in turn, made him wonder of the exact extent of his feelings towards the blond. But it would be hopeless to think on it too much. It was enough for now, being friends. It was enough.
Naruto's phone lit up, and began to vibrate on his nightstand. Jumping up and onto his bed, he quickly slid it open.
"Hey, Uzumaki-san here!" There was an amused snort from the other end of the line.
"I'm coming in ten minutes, dobe."
"Who– What?" Naruto stared at his phone, a bewildered expression on his face; the bastard had hanged up already. Blushing furiously, he spun around; crazed eyes locking on to the sole boy in the room.
"Sai, help me!"
---
Having finally gotten dressed (with some reluctant assistance from Sai), Naruto sat fidgeting nervously on the living room couch. Sneaking a quick glance at his watch – Sasuke was late, the bastard – he decided he would go get something to drink (you know, calm the nervous, not that he was particularly nervous, of course). As he stood up and let out an exaggerated yawn, he saw a black Mercedes enter his driveway out of the corner of his eyes. Sasuke was here.
Suddenly beginning to panic, Naruto wondered if this was a good idea after all, and if he should just abandon the plan altogether. Worst comes to worst, he'll buy the ramen himself (he's been doing it for the past 16 years anyways), and besides, Sakura-chan's chest wasn't that big.
"… you have to go on a date with me, half-naked."
An unbidden image of him and Sai, hand in hand, skipping through a field of daisies flashed in his mind, 'Naruto junior' flapping out and about in the wind.
His confidence quickly returned (screaming). Taking in a huge breath, he ran a hand through his hair, and hastily smoothed down the front of his shirt before preparing himself in front of the door. Backing out now was not an option.
Muttering a quick prayer under his breath – I want to stay a virgin – Naruto pulled the door open, and felt his heart skip a beat at the sight standing in front of him.
Sasuke was dressed in a plum coloured button-up with a slim, white silk tie hanging loosely around his neck. A pair of slightly baggy grey skinny jeans and black Nike Airforce© completed the outfit. Naruto's tongue darted out to swipe away a dribble of drool that formed at the corners of his mouth, the only coherent thoughts in his mind being 'Hamana-hamana-hamana".
The Uchiha let out a satisfied smirk. So the blond liked what he saw, huh?
Leaning in so that his face was only inches from Naruto's (who's eyes were looking rather unfocused), he blew on the latter's lips.
Jerking violently away from the Uchiha as though he'd been shocked, Naruto had a scandalized expression on his face.
"What—what are you, don't, don't do things like, you—!" He sputtered indignantly, his face turning into the shade of tomato-red it was customarily in when he was with the perverted (molesting, stupid, cocky, etc.) raven.
"You're blushing like crazy, dumbass." Sasuke's face was beginning to resemble that of the Cheshire cat's as Naruto's blush darkened a shade. "Do you like me that much?"
However, the blond was saved from answering when one of the bedroom doors behind him was suddenly thrust opened, and Gaara stepped out.
The three stood in silence, the smirk slowly slipping off the Uchiha's face. Gaara, on the other hand, was feeling increasingly amused. A mischievous grin flashed across his face.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you two gays… go knock yourself out.
"Hello," Gaara began, focusing solely on the raven. "I'm guessing you're Sasuke?"
Sasuke replied with a curt nod.
"And you are…?" Gaara smiled. He had a feeling that the Uchiha knew exactly who he was, and that the question he had meant to ask was, 'why the hell are you here?'.
"I'm Gaara." He replied, savouring his words. "I live with Naruto." Gaara thought he saw the raven tense up.
Feeling a sudden burst of inspiration (and perhaps a touch of sadism), Gaara strode over to the blond and wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist, leaning his head on the poor, confused boy's shoulders. Sasuke twitched.
The Uchiha glared menacingly at the redhead, and though he wasn't quite sure why he was feeling so incredibly annoyed, he knew that he definitely wanted the other boy's arms off his blond. Taking two rapid steps forward, he reached out and grabbed one of Naruto's arms, pulling the boy towards himself. Gaara held on tight.
Naruto was at a complete loss to what was happening right now. Gaara hugged him, which was really weird, because Gaara wasn't really one for touching, and so it'd always been Naruto who initiated any type of intimate gesture between them. But he didn't have too much time to ponder the subject as his right arm (the one which Sasuke was still gripping on to tightly) began to sting.
"Sasuke…" He was ignored. "Ow. Hey, it's starting to hurt! Ouch, Gaara!" The redhead crushed him harder against his chest.
"Guys, I can't breath." There was no response. "Oi, guys?"
"I- kch- LET GO OF ME DAMN IT!" The blond shouted, wrenching himself away from their vice-like grip. He rubbed his arm where the Uchiha had been holding on to; it was red. "What's wrong with you two? Don't pull on people like that!"
Neither of the two boys said anything for a while, and, beginning to feel slightly anxious, Naruto decided to make a quick escape.
"Well, I guess we should probably go now," The blond quickly opened his arms for a goodbye hug from the redhead, only to find himself being dragged towards the door by Sasuke. "Ah, wait… Never mind, bye Gaara! Ja!" The door slammed shut behind him.
Gaara remained standing where he was, wondering why the hell he just did what he did. Deciding to blame it on the lack of sleep, he turned around and made his way upstairs to tell Sai to go back to his own stupid house.
---
Naruto snuck a peek at the boy sitting across from him, who had yet to say anything since they got into the car.
"Sasuke — "
"Why's he there?"
"Who, Gaara?" He took the sharp jerk of the head from the raven to mean a 'yes'. "Well, we've been friends forever, so when he told me he moved here 'cause his siblings went to America for college, I asked him to move in with us."
Sasuke loosened his grip slightly on the steering wheel. Friends forever, huh?
"What, are you jealous or something?" When the Uchiha didn't say anything in reply to this, Naruto quickly changed the subject. "So, uh, where are we going anyways?"
"You'll see."
"Wha- hey! Tell me! I don't want you to take me to some empty parking lot and like, rape me or something." Naruto joked, blanching when her realized that Sasuke remained expressionless. "H-hello?"
"I bought lube."
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"
---
What felt like hours later (which was around fifteen minutes in reality), Sasuke pulled the car to a stop and Naruto jerked awake, a trail of slobber splatting onto the perfectly cleaned windshield.
"We der yeh (we there yet)?" He mumbled, using one hand to rub his still groggy eyes, the other stretched sideways in a one-armed yawn. The raven chuckled before replying.
"Yes." Immediately perking up at the response, Naruto promptly smashed his head onto the ceiling of the car in an attempt to stand up (having momentarily forgotten he was in the Mercedes), and came down swearing profusely.
"God damn this shit!" He growled, one hand gently nursing the bruise on his head. "C'mon, let's go then!"
He pulled (non-too-gently) on the car door, and gave it a violent shove. It didn't budge. Figuring that he'd forgotten to unlock it or something, he played around with a few random knobs before admitting defeat.
"What the hell is wrong with your car?" The blond grumbled, the nervousness and excitement coupled with the newly formed bruise on his head not helping his already on-edge temper. "Why won't it—"
Naruto shut up as a dark figure loomed over him, and he felt cold hands beside his own. Sasuke was leaning over him.
The anger dissipated as he realized what was about to happen.
Sasuke was going to touch him. Here! In the middle of the parking lot, where… okay, there was surprisingly little amount of people. But that wasn't the point; he couldn't do this, not now! He wasn't even ready, or gay! Well, at least there was lube— no, NO! Where the hell did that come from? He didn't want this, he didn't!
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his hands out in front of him. It was now or never…
"I'm sorry but I can't have sex with you in a parking lot!" The Uchiha paused, and emitted a sound that was somewhere in between an amused snort and a laugh.
"I was going to take off the child-safety latch that you hit earlier when you were sleeping, dumbass." Sasuke leaned in a little bit closer to the blond. "What, were you hoping I'd do something else?"
It was as though he'd just seen a ghost. Mumbling incoherently under his breath, Naruto pushed the smirking raven off him and quickly exited the car, slamming the door in the smug Uchiha's face.
"I fucking hate you, you asswipe!"
---
Naruto was irritated.
He had snuffed in impatience when the waiter had told them that all the tables were full, ignored the compliments of the girl who checked their coats, and as they were finally settled down to a table, he sat and glowered at the plates. It was unbelievable; the way the stupid self-satisfied jerk looked so comfortable in his stupid chair, with that stupid smirk, and his stupid good looks that turned the gazes of anyone who walked by.
He glared at the waitress as she came with their menus, causing her to stumble in fright and sneered as she scrambled away in embarrassment, without even naming the specials.
"And here I thought you were a ladies man." Naruto scowled at him, but remained otherwise silent. "Still embarrassed about that little slip earlier?"
Deciding to take the abuse no longer, Naruto shot forward to the edge of his seat and was about to give the raven a piece of his mind when he felt their knees brush against each other. Letting out a few choice words, he quickly pushed his chair backwards with a loud screech, earning a few offended glares from the other customers.
"Idiot." Naruto snapped his head up with a crack.
"Bastard!"
"Retard."
"Asshole!"
"Wh-wh-what would you like to order?"
"I'll have the Truffle Risotto." Sasuke replied, not missing a beat.
"Contro Filetto Scalini for me. Thank you… er, Hinata, is it?" Naruto squinted at the name tag, and flashed a quick smile at the girl.
"Y-your welcome!" The waitress squeaked before running off towards the kitchens, glad to be out of the tense atmosphere.
The two did not speak while they waited for their food, and as the waitress came up with their respective dishes, Naruto quickly dug in.
A few minutes later, having finished most of his steak, the blond was beginning to see things in a better light (good food always calmed him down), and decided to strike up a conversation with his partner.
"So, Sasuke." He worked his knife through another piece of the steak. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
The raven quirked an eyebrow at this, he had assumed they were both quite effectively grown up already, but he replied anyways.
"A lawyer." Naruto's fork froze halfway to his mouth, and he began to snicker loudly. Sasuke frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing…" He had to put his fork down; he was starting to shake with barely contained giggles. "It's just… I can see you as a lawyer."
Sasuke gave him a questioning look.
"No, it's just kind of funny. Figures you'd go for a profession where you get paid for arguing with other people." The Uchiha smirked, waiting for the blond to chew through the rest of his steak.
"How about you, dobe?" Naruto thrust his chest out, having obviously been waiting to be asked the question, a serious expression on his face.
"The president." Sasuke choked on his drink. "What? You don't think I can do it? I can do it, you know! I mean, sure my marks may be hovering around the low 60s range, but that doesn't mean anything!"
"Well…" The raven paused. "You'd certainly make an interesting president."
Naruto grinned at this. "I sure as hell would!"
The two stared at each other in a curious, albeit not uncomfortable, silence before Naruto broke it.
"You know, you're a pretty decent guy Sasuke." The raven arched a brow. "You're actually not as bad as I thought."
"Is that a line to try to get me in bed with you?" A thigh pushed in between Naruto's legs.
"Augh! Screw you, I take it back! Don't touch me you perverted asshole!"
---
Sai paced to and fro in Naruto's room, occasionally taking a peek out the window followed by a sharp glance at the watch.
10:45
He growled softly. It was already dark out side, where the hell were they? Was Naruto enjoying himself? Did the Uchiha bastard touch him again? Did Naruto touch the bastard?
He pressed a hand against his temple. The massive amount of unanswered questions in his head wasn't helping his anxiety. Perhaps the blond had fallen for Sasuke, like some kind of love-struck fangirl? Sai almost laughed aloud at the thought. Now that was just ridiculous.
But why were they still not back yet? Maybe they had an argument in the restaurant, and were currently fighting it out now. Maybe Naruto realized that he hated the bastard so much he decided to leave him in the middle of their date, and the angry Uchiha had then dumped his best friend at some random bus stop, thousands of miles away, and the poor blond was now trudging alone down an empty path, dozens of malicious eyes peeking out at his sleek, tanned body from the darkness…
Sai grabbed his jacket from the bed. He was going to go out and look for them, right now. Anything was better than staying here alone with his thoughts, not having any idea of what was happening.
However, before he could make his way out of the room, the sound of car tires against gravel approached slowly, and he backtracked his way towards the windows.
---
Naruto stood with his back to the door, feeling suddenly shy as he prepared to say good-bye to the Uchiha. My God, he really was turning into a girl.
Summoning up his courage, he bought his head up to stare into the raven's eyes, only to find that the object of his scrutiny was staring somewhere else. At one of the upper-left windows that led to his room…
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Naruto inquired, and before he received a proper answer, he found himself pressed against the door, a pair of soft lips worked expertly against his own.
His hands pushed weakly against Sasuke's chest, moaning softly as the raven ran a hand through his hair, and felt a wet tongue prod urgently against his own lips.
The last coherent thought that flashed through his mind being 'Fuck it', he opened his mouth and shivered in pleasure as their tongues met and fought for dominance. He grabbed a fistful of the raven's shirt and attempted to pull their bodies closer together.
Sasuke used his right hand to pull Naruto's head back for better entrance, earning another moan from the blond. He entwined their legs together, and gave an experimental roll of the hips.
The response he'd earned was immediate, Naruto whimpered loudly and his hips jerked forward automatically, seeking more of the delicious friction. Yet Sasuke knew that if he didn't stop now, he'd end up taking the blond on the porch. It took all his self-control to push himself away from the other boy.
Looking upwards in surprise, Naruto received a quick, chaste kiss before hearing the words "I'll save the rest for our second date, dobe…" and he found himself standing alone, panting slightly as he watched the Mercedes pull out of his driveway.
Well I'll be damned.
Ho, ho, hohohoho! I hope that was a satisfactory chapter (hopefully to your liking). I know the, er, more intimate scene at the end was a little bit rushed (I'm not so great at them, as you can probably tell), so any constructive criticism is appreciated.
A beta reader would be appreciated too.
Thanks for reading! I'll try to... well, there are exams coming up soon, so it'll be a little while before the next chapter comes out (I will not lie this time!), but I shall try my best.
Tata!