Chapter Two

"That went well."

Naruto "Naru" Uzumaki stared at the doorway his friend had

stormed out of moments before, confused and concerned. No one would ever call

him the sharpest crayon in the box, but he couldn't figure out exactly what had

gone wrong. One minute he and Sasuke had been talking, and the next his friend

was glaring at him with those icy gray eyes as if he'd kicked a puppy or something.

Frowning, he picked up his phone and dialed Sasuke's number. To his

annoyance, there was no answer. He left a voice mail anyway, not that he thought

Sasuke would be listening to his message anytime soon. Sasuke didn't get mad

often, but when he did he was serious about it.

Remembering the look on his friend's face, a combination of anger,

confusion, and maybe even a bit of hurt, Naru started to feel guilty. The idea of

pretending to be gay in order to get rid of this girl who was determined to be Mrs.

Uzumaki had seemed like a good one at first, but Sasuke's reaction made him

wonder if it was a stupid idea after all. He hadn't expected Sasuke to get upset.

He'd thought they'd laugh about the whole thing and then get rid of his overly

persistent would-be girlfriend.

The more he thought about what he'd said, the worse he felt. He was a jerk.

A total jerk. Sasuke had stuck by him since seventh grade, no matter what stupid

crap he'd gotten them into, and this was how he repaid him? No wonder everyone

thought he was a screw-up.

An apology was in order, at the very least. Maybe even groveling. Sighing, he

went looking for his jacket. If Sasuke wouldn't answer his phone, he'd have to go

and talk to him in person.

By the time he arrived at Sasuke's, Naru still wasn.t sure what he was going

to say. All he knew was he needed to make things right. He'd stopped at a

convenience store on the way and picked up some of his friend.s favorite candy, so

at least he was ready to suck up.

Pasting on his best sorry-I-screwed-up grin, which he had considerable

practice at, Naru knocked on the door. After a couple of minutes, the door

opened partially and Sasuke peered out.

"What do you want, Naru?" His expression was shuttered.

"I came to apologize. I brought a peace offering." He held up the box of

gummi bears.

For a long, nerve-wracking moment, Naru thought Sasuke would shut the

door on him. Then his friend's mouth twitched slightly. "You brought me Care

Bear gummi bears?"

He waggled his eyebrows. "Of course. Care Bears make everything better."

Sasuke laughed and opened the door the rest of the way. "You're crazy. I

guess you can come in."

He went in and sat on the sofa. Sasuke joined him after a couple of minutes,

carrying a bottle of water. Rather than sitting on the other end of the sofa as he

normally would, though, Sasuke sat in the armchair. Naru frowned. Clearly his

old friend wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

Leaning forward, Sasuke held out a hand, face serious. "Make with the

gummi bears."

That surprised a laugh out of him. He quickly handed the box over, and

while Sasuke tore it open and dug out a few gummi bears, he thought about what

to say. He.d never had much of a way with words. Stalling seemed like a good idea,

at least until his friend eyed him expectantly. He sighed. "I've been thinking about

what I asked you earlier. You're right, I was totally out of line. I'm sorry."

Letting out a sigh of his own, Sasuke leaned back in his chair. "I may have

overreacted a little. I just couldn't believe what you were asking me to do. Did you

even think about what would happen if your family found out?"

Puzzled, he frowned. "How would they find out?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe because you work for your dad? You wanted this

girl to know, and pretty soon everyone would know."

He still didn't get why Sasuke was upset. His dad was a pretty open-minded

kind of guy, and Sasuke's parents already knew their son was gay. What was the

big deal? "So what?"

Giving him an irritated look, Sasuke ground out, "It would all be a huge lie,

that's what!"

The light bulb went on, and he felt like an idiot. Of course everyone would

be pissed when they found out he was faking everything. "Oh, yeah. I see what you

mean now." He slapped himself on the forehead. "I'm such a dumbass. Tell me

again why you put up with me?"

Popping a few small, colorful candies into his mouth, Sasuke smiled at him.

"I'm in it for the gummi bears."

Naru laughed, relieved. Apology accepted.

Too bad that wouldn't save him from a certain overly-persistent woman.

Tyrranus: I hope you like it so far!