"And he has this really cute laugh that kind of reminds me of a giddy toddler." Naruto gushed as he ran a brush through his hair. "He really is all-round incredibly adorable when I think about it."
Sasuke pulled on his socks, so happy that Naruto wasn't pining anymore, that he was showing that bright smile of his more and more often, with deepening sincerity. He wasn't happy though, that Naruto was once again, getting into another relationship. He slid on his sneakers.
"Mhm. Really?" he agreed, sitting down and waiting for Naruto to be finished. There was only one good thing that was going to come out of this triple date was that he ha gotten Neji to go with Gaara. 'Yes, progress!'
He didn't want to think of himself as an evil best friend, only wanting for Naruto what his stupid emotions told him was best, but he was beginning to feel that way. So far, this kid had been nothing but sweet to Naruto, the best Sasuke had ever seen, but for the life of himself Sasuke just couldn't grow to like him. There was something huge blocking his path, as there had always been, of him liking Naruto's boyfriends, and he had no idea what it was.
"Are you ready?" Naruto said, running the brush one last time through his hair, which still looked as unruly as it had looked before. Sasuke was happy for that; he liked Naruto's messy hair. He found himself nodding, wanting to get this whole thing over with.
Naruto grasped his hand and pulled him down the stairs, out to the car. Sasuke pointedly sat in the passenger seat, wanting Naruto to drive, trying to get the point that he didn't want to go anywhere across. Naruto didn't seem to notice as he started up the car.
"So, I know that the whose 'scary movie thing' would've been perfect for me to have an excuse to cling to Riku, or more likely have him cling to me but I decided that it didn't really matter and I could cling to him with whatever was showing." Naruto babbled, clutching the wheel in anticipation.
Sasuke sat back, listening silently and looking out the window in confusion as Naruto stopped at a place that definitely was not the movie theater.
"This isn't the theater." Sasuke said intelligently, staring at the house through his tinted window, the light blue house that he instantly disliked.
"No…this is your girlfriend's home. And we've come to pick her up." Naruto said slowly, so as to not baffle the already confused Sasuke any more.
"Why…"Sasuke wined as he saw the pink-haired girl come down the walk.
"Because she's your girlfriend. You want to spend time with her…" Naruto said. "Plus I think, seeing as this is me and Riku's first date, the more people to come along, the better, so it won't be too awkward for either of us."
Naruto picked at the spotless dashboard as Sakura greeted him cheerfully when she entered the backseat. "Hn." He said, when Naruto glared at him with arched eyebrows, in a way that told him 'be nice Sasuke…', until he had to acknowledge the girl's presence.
Naruto nodded with satisfaction, and started the car back up, this time heading to Sasuke's place of soon to be torture.
He was in the theatre now, Sakura on one side of him and Gaara on the other. Gaara had no interest in the screen and was instead avidly biting his nails as he thought of something to say to the cool looking Neji beside him. Naruto and Riku were beside Neji, and Sasuke struggled to see what the two boys' were doing.
"What should I say?" Gaara asked, looking over at Neji who was picking at his nails.
"Drink from his soda." Sasuke said.
Gaara looked at him in confusion. "Just do it." Sasuke said. "It will be sure to start some sort of conversation between you two."
Gaara picked up the cold container in Neji's cup holder and took a tentiave sip from it.
Neji looked at him and smiled briefly. "Kinky." He said, white teeth showing up in the dark theater. "Should I be drinking from yours too?"
"Th-this is yours?" Gaara said, trying to sound innocent. "Oops." He put it back, only to see Neji pick it up immediately and take a long unnecessary drink from it. Gaara couldn't look away as he saw Neji's tongue flick out in his strange way of drinking things. Neji paused to brush bangs out of his eye, then looked at Gaara.
"You taste like vanilla." He said, pointedly licking the straw. Gaara blushed crimson, ready to faint, not noticing the way Naruto glared at Riku, who was all the way on the other side of the row.
He couldn't wait till the movie was over, the movie whose name escaped him because he couldn't even think properly. He could hear Naruto whispering to Riku in the dark, and for some reason it made him seethe. Sakura was annoyingly stroking circles on his arm and Gaara and Neji were talking, which Sasuke was glad for.
He liked Riku as a person. The small boy hadn't done anything to annoy him, or hurt Naruto, but he couldn't help not liking him. What troubled him was why.
The movie finished, but Sasuke's turmoil wasn't yet over. He was then dragged to a restaurant, semi-casual, where he had to sit with Sakura by his side again, though this time he had Naruto on his other side and Gaara across from him around the table.
He watched as Neji downed drink after drink with ease, used to heavy alcohol, and then watched, with some amusement, as Gaara did the same.
Naruto hadn't touched his drink, and Sasuke was pretty sure he could take it away and Naruto wouldn't notice, way too immersed in the art of staring into Riku's eyes. Heck, he could pick the drink up and throw it at Naruto's head and he probably still wouldn't notice.
It was too hard to get into the conversation, the two were talking too quickly, and for some strange reason Sakura was trying to talk to him. Apparently that was what she was supposed to be doing as his date. Go figure.
Eventually Naruto and Riku got up and went off outside into the parking lot. He watched Naruto reach into the car and pull out something that he couldn't see in the milky blue sky. He handed it gently to Riku, and by now Sasuke could see his own misty breath against the glass window he was so avidly staring through.
Riku took it, smiling, and then tip-toed to kiss Naruto. Sasuke wanted to, but he couldn't take his eyes away. It was too captivating…in an entirely bad way. Naruto kissed him back, and they just stood there kissing in the middle of the restaurant parking lot. Sasuke kicked at the table's legs. Gaara was drinking glass after glass of alcohol-infused drinks, and Sakura's voice was becoming even more loud and annoying.
Sasuke needed to get rid of the jealous anger boiling slowly in his chest. If Conrad had never dumped Naruto, if he had never hurt him, then Naruto wouldn't be a pining for love wreck, and he wouldn't be pathetic jealous bundle. So he'd found someone to pin it all on, someone he'd have no problem taking it out all on. Conrad.
He hadn't explained to Naruto where he was going or where he was taking the car, not that he needed to, seeing that Naruto was way too busy discovering the lips of his virginal boyfriend to care.
It was the first time that Sasuke was thankful for dropping Naruto off at that bastard's house, because at least now he knew where it was. Feeling only slightly self-conscious, he knocked on the apartment door.
"Who is it?" Conrad's voice yelled over the blare of hard-core metal rock music.
"Uhh…Pizza." Sasuke said, crossing his fingers.
There was a pause and the music was turned down before Conrad opened the door.
Sasuke stepped in before the blank-looking blond could close the door back on him.
"Where's the pizza?" Conrad asked, looking around.
Sasuke glared at Conrad. "Don't you remember me?" He said darkly.
"Can't say I do." Conrad rubbed the back of head. "Please don't tell me I used to date you and you caught me cheating. Com'n get over it, there's just too much of me to share."
"How many people do you cheat on?" Sasuke said in disbelief.
"I dunno, pretty much everyone." Conrad shrugged, rubbing his calf with his other foot. He looked slightly drunk.
"Everyone." Sasuke repeated, watching as the pathetic excuse for a human nodded.
He couldn't help himself. He punched that boy, that sorry excuse for a human standing in front of him. Then he did it again. And again. And again.
Somewhere along the line Conrad began to fight back, or trying to. But Sasuke didn't care. He just kept going till he was fully satisfied that Conrad wouldn't cheat on another boy for a long long time.
"Wh-why did you do that?" Conrad asked, blood running freely from his nose as Sasuke straddled his waist.
"Because…" Sasuke stuttered, still shocked that he'd beat up the boy.
He didn't even know why. Why had Naruto been bothering him so much? Why had the thought of Naruto being with someone else bothered him so much?!
'Why would Naruto make me feel so emotional about him?'
And right there, straddling the pervert with the bleeding nose, Sasuke realized why. His cheeks became red as he finally stopped denying what had been obvious all along. And as he stopped denying, the urge to tell Naruto his wonderful new discovery began bubbling in his stomach, excitement and anxiety filling him.
Sasuke didn't care if Naruto felt the same, because with all the years of wondering who the right person for his heartbeat could be, he'd never thought of himself as a candidate, and know that he knew that he was the one, the right one, he wasn't even going to let Naruto have a say in any further decisions.
All Sasuke had ever wanted for Naruto was what was best. And now he'd come to the understanding that he was best. So it was time to hand himself over.
When he got home Naruto was waiting for him in the living room. "Where did you run off to?" He said, blue eyes filled with worry and anger. "You just left your girl friend in the middle of your date, not to mention the fact that you took the car!!"
Sasuke understood that Naruto had a reason to be mad at him; he understood that he was supposed to feel very bad at the moment as well. But he was distracted at the way Naruto's eyes flashed when he was upset…
"Sasuke! Are you listening to me!!?" Naruto stood to his full height.
"I dumped Sakura." Sasuke said monotonously. "Well I didn't really dump her. I just sort of let her go."
"When?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"On the way here. I didn't call her; I went to her house, like a gentleman." Sasuke said, hopeful it would score some points with Naruto, who had a certain fascination with gentlemanliness.
Naruto's lip twitched slightly as he saw Sasuke's eyes pleading with him.
"You shouldn't have left though." He said grumpily. "Gaara got drunk and Neji had to take him home. You missed it Sasuke!! Gaara kissed Neji right when they were about to leave, right there in front of everyone."
Sasuke's eyes widened. "What did Neji do?"
"He just smiled and accepted it, then walked all the more quickly to the car. I'm pretty sure their relationship won't stay the same from now on." Naruto said blissfully. "At last."
Sasuke's heart was beating hard against his chest. 'Just say it.' He told himself. 'Naruto, I…I…' He couldn't even say it in his head. He clenched his fists, loosing his nerve and his confidence. He couldn't come out with it, even though he finally knew it. The words wouldn't come.
So he didn't say it that night. He talked about his plans to get Kakashi and Iruka together and tentively asked Naruto how the night had gone with Riku. Naruto would never understand why Sasuke's eyes had lit up when he heard that Naruto and Riku wouldn't be going out anymore.
"He's soo cute, but that's just it. He's too cute, and he needs me more than I need him." Naruto sighed. "I need someone who can protect and defend me…you know, someone like you." He affectionately stroked his hand across Sasuke's cheek.
Sasuke closed his eyes, caressing the warmth. "There wasn't any chemistry too." Naruto admitted. "We promised we'd remain friends though."
It was as if someone had dropped the perfect moment to tell Naruto something deep and meaningful into Sasuke's lap. But Sasuke couldn't say anything. He just needed that last push…
