[Author's Note]
Sorry about that intermission guys. But at least this chapter has about 50% more words! Some of the middle bits were co-written by PsychoPyro, who helped with Deidara's dialogue./p
I love you guys! Enjoy!
Society and Its Discontents
Chapter Two
"Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock." —Sigmund Freud
The two didn't really talk much as they drove to the restaurant. Sasori just drove while the blonde took various positions in his seat, occasionally glancing over at the teen's fascination with the hinges on door's ash tray. He repeatedly opened and closed it, resulting in a frequent 'click' sound. It was beginning to drive him mad.
"Please stop that." he said after a while. Deidara turned around, the lid of the tray snapping down as his finger left it.
"What was that, Danna?"
Sasori grit his teeth, pulling into a parking space. It didn't much matter now.
"Nevermind. We're here."
He opened the door and slung his leg out, lethargically rising to his feet. He circled around the car, attempting to help Deidara up. The blonde looked at his hand in contempt.
"I can get up myself, you know."
Sasori's eyes narrowed and his hand didn't move. He shifted his body to block the teen from getting up on his own.
"Really?" he said snidely. "I forgot I cared." A sarcastic grin spread over his face, and Deidara glared in response.
"I'm not a girl, Danna."
"No, but you're my date, and I'm going to help you out of this car. So just let me do it, and maybe we can get dinner before they close."
"That wouldn't be an issue if someone hadn't been late."
The blonde smirked up at the doctor from his seat, looking rather smug. Sasori was done with the delay, however, and snatched the teen's wrist, dragging him to the restaurant door.
The two men walked through the door, Deidara stumbling a bit as Sasori straightened his tie, still holding the teen's wrist with one hand. The door swung shut behind them, and a small, distinctly feminine voice called from the greeter's podium.
"Hello, sir," she started, directing her attention to Sasori. Deidara was swearing at an arbitrary insect that had landed on his pants. "Welcome to Red Dawn. How many?"
The doctor turned to look at the girl. She was petite and looked to be of Asian descent. Her hair was a somewhat light blue color, and her eyelids were painted to match. A complex origami flower rested in her hair, which was pinned in an up-do.
"Two."
She immediately picked up menus and silverware in the specified amount. She held up a single finger, and hurriedly walked behind a wall. Brief muttering was heard, and she returned with a young man in a formal waiter's uniform. Sasori absentmindedly wondered how he could see —shoulder-length red hair covered both eyes, shadowing more than half of his face.
"Okay," the girl said. "I'll be your server tonight. Follow me."
As the two men followed their server to the table, Deidara managed to snatch his wrist free from Sasori's grip. The red head gave no qualms to this action as the blonde huffed and straightened himself out.
The waitress stopped at a two person table, and the doctor took his seat on the far side. Taking the only other available seat, Deidara sat down. He turned to his left to give his drink order, only to find that the blue-haired girl had disappeared. His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned.
"Relax." Sasori muttered, arranging the table in the way he pleased. "She's just getting water and bread."
Deidara slumped in his seat, and the older man laced his fingers together, propping his chin on them.
"So, how are you?" he asked.
The blonde scowled at his Danna's first choice of conversation. How was he? Hungry as fuck! Duh. He decided to get back at the redhead for earlier by teasing him a little.
"Well," he began, smiling a bit too sweetly. "I'm starving for one. I could've eaten already if someone had not made us late, hn. What happened to not making people wait, hm?"
The devious shot at the redhead didn't go unnoticed.
Sasori glared at the teen, his brown eyes peering through his lashes. He began to mutter something about car keys and eggs, but he stopped himself, instead opting for the more usual, "Don't try me, brat."
A plate of hot bread was placed on the table as he uttered the last word, and the waitress took the wine glasses from the table, filling them with ice water and setting them back down.
"Good evening," she said warmly, looking from the doctor to the blonde. "My name is Konan, and I will be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?"
"I'll take Dr. Pepper, please." Deidara said, lightly shivering from the unintentional allure that he found in the glare aimed at him.
She turned to the other man, who requested a virgin strawberry daiquiri, giving her a charming false smile as she scribbled on her notepad. She left to get their drinks, and Sasori returned his gaze to the blonde, who had somehow managed to consume half a loaf of bread in the last thirty seconds. His expression turned to disbelief, and he just stared.
Oblivious, the teen spent several more seconds chewing on a piece of bread before he noticed the scrutinizing gaze aimed his way. He paused for a moment upon noticing the look, eyes widening innocently while a sheepish smile crossed his face.
"What?" he shrugged, swallowing. "I told you I was hungry!"
Sasori groaned, letting his forehead hit the table. Several minutes passed in near silence, only broken by noisy bread-eating and the chatting of other customers.
"Dr. Pepper and a strawberry daiquiri..."
He opened his eyes to look at his frozen drink, but hesitated to move his head from the table. After a moment, he forced himself up, meeting the eye of the waitress.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked.
"Uh, sure..." he said, absently looking through his menu. "I'll have...um...a salad and some of whatever this is." He pointed at a picture of chocolate volcano cake.
"Dressing?"
"I don't care."
She made note of this and turned to Deidara, who wrinkled his nose at the thought of a salad.
"I'll have a burger and fries, yeah. Please." His words hardly made him pause in his quest to eat all of the bread.
"Um, sir..." she said, biting the cap of her pen. "We don't serve that here."
Sasori sighed heavily. "Just give him a steak."
"How done?"
"Medium. He'll take what he gets. He's already inhaling this bread."
Konan looked down at the bread plate, the back to the redhead.
"Okay. I'll put that in...and get more bread..."
She hurriedly picked up their menus, heading back to put in their order.
After she walked away, Deidara slumped in his seat, arms crossed.
"What the hell kind of restaurant doesn't serve burgers and fries, hn!?" he huffed. Sasori took a sip of his daiquiri.
"The nice kind." he answered dryly. "Now shut up and eat your bread."
Deidara glared at the basket of bread, only one piece remaining, as if it were the source of his brooding.
"But Danna," he whined, his face making it evident that he was trying to bug the other man, "The restaurant would be nicer if they served burgers."
Sasori didn't respond. He just sat laxly, observing the other diners. He had learned a long time ago that he shouldn't even bother with things like this.
A moment passed, and the doctor shifted a bit.
"So then, the masked kid earlier. That your roommate?"
The blonde was relaxed in his seat, nibbling on the end of the bread loaf. He gave a small nod, then jolted.
"Oh! I almost forgot!"
The teen fumbled around, patting his pockets. With a slight 'ah ha!' he pulled out the small box that Tobi had brought him earlier, handing it to the older man.
"What's this?"
Deidara smiled. "Present."
The redhead took the box, pulling the string that tied it together. The sides of the box unfolded around the contents, revealing a somewhat abstract sculpture of a scorpion.
"Do you like it, hn?"
Sasori stared at it for a moment, intrigued. After a minute or so, he smiled.
"Thank you, Dei." he said quietly, nodding. "I love it."
Deidara grinned.
"And I love you, Danna."
The words caught the doctor off guard. He could only look at the blonde with a blank expression before a true smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. His senses amplified, and he was simultaneously aware of everything and nothing. He could hear others talking, a man in the corner coughing...but none of it mattered. Nothing but the boy in front of him.
"I love you too," he whispered, his words reflected in his eyes. "I'll be right back."
Sasori stood up and laid his napkin on his seat, then proceeded towards the restroom. On his way, a girl with short black hair ran her shoulder into him as she walked past.
"Excuse me," he said, trying to be polite. "I'm sorry—"
The girl spun around, her brown eyes livid.
"You're sick," she spat, gritting her teeth in disgust. "A sick fuck! I hope you suffer for this."
She stared at him furiously for moment before storming off, leaving the doctor to wonder what he'd done.
[Author's Note]
The title is what it is for a reason, you know.
10 points to anyone who can figure out who the unnamed characters in this chapter are [red haired boy (1 point), angry girl (9 points). If you can guess the coughing man's identity, you get (15) bonus points.]
Notable songs:
[The Killers — When You Were Young]
[Macklemore — Same Love]
[Naruto OST — Senya]
Review or you won't get the citrus I intend to write next chapter.
