Do you guys have any idea how cool you are? Thank you so much for the reviews!!
Chapter Six: WishesIt wasn't like Iruka had never dated before. In fact, he was very popular among the ladies and the men. But for some reason all possible knowledge he gained from those dates just flew out the window with Kakashi.
Iruka wanted so badly to be charming and witty when around him, like he had been with his other beau. However, whoever made the comment "If you wish it, it will be" for the first time had no clue what they were talking about. And it would really help his situation if that person popped out of nowhere and told Iruka what the hell to do! So far tonight he'd wished for:
1 - A quieter son.
2 - A waffle iron.
3 - A giant gaping whole in the Earth.
4 - A teddy bear.
5 - And Fireworks.
Did any of those come true?
No, they did not. But wait, what would you know about his wishes? Lets back up and explain.
When Kakashi and Sasuke first came over, everything was fine. Just the usual first-date-after-that-whopper-of-a-kiss-jitters. Then, Naruto for some unknown reason that would surely get his ass grounded were it anyone but Iruka, shouted very loudly and surely to anyone that could hear (meaning everyone from their house to Australia) very mean-person-like that Kakashi shouldn't go to far because Iruka bruised like a peach.
Hence the quieter son wish.
A little while later, they were still in the car, though Iruka had no idea where they were going. Anyway, their conversation died down and someone - he was pretty sure it was Kakashi - started fumbling with the radio. Iruka was looking out the window watching the scenery and suddenly craved waffles.
He made this longing known to Kakashi who let out a single bark-like laugh and said he was sorry but didn't have a waffle iron on him. This, in itself, was depressing but then to put an even bigger damper on his mood, a commercial for Albert's Waffle House came on the radio. Iruka groaned and moped for his lack of waffles. Then Kakashi laughed at him and called him... cute.
Hence the waffle iron wish.
Iruka finally found out where Kakashi was taking him. The carnival. It was a random carnival that appeared out of thin air but funnel cakes and balloons by any other name, yeah? Now, this carnival had something that every good carnival must - a Fun House.
And, because of his inner desire to be suave and cool, Iruka failed to mention to Kakashi that he was terrified of Fun Houses. The clowns and mirrors and skeletons falling from the ceilings (which he wasn't totally convinced were fake, have you seen what the midget bear wrestler was capable of?). Anyway, so he didn't tell Kakashi and of course, the first place they go is the Fun House. And Iruka practically shit his pants.
So it was completely logical - due to the look on his face and the arm guiding him out of the Fun House - that the bearded lady come up to them and start talking as if Iruka was three! Then she turns to Kakashi and says it was so kind of him to donate his time to "people like that".
To sum it all up, the freaking bearded lady thought Iruka was retarded! And for the second time that night Kakashi laughed at him.
Hence the giant gaping hole in the Earth wish.
After their run in with the not-so-bearded-anymore-lady (guess what Iruka has as a souvenir) Kakashi decided to cheer his date up with some games. Everyone likes prizes, right?
The first one up was the baseball game. They had to knock over the three bottles with a baseball.
Well sadly Iruka was so distraught by this time that instead of hitting the milk bottles, he hit the guy in charge of the booth in a not-so-pleasant part of his anatomy. Then, realizing what he'd done only after the guy shouted, Iruka had to drag Kakashi away because he was staring in admiration.
"Nice shot." Kakashi exclaimed, following the other mortified man away from the games. Usually when someone throws the ball they can get a toy.
And Iruka had never wanted something to hug more in his life!
Hence the teddy bear wish.
The final wish was a lot nicer than the other wishes had been. It was a wonderful ending compared to what the rest of his night had been like. When Iruka pulled Kakashi away from the games, he somehow took them to the Ferris wheel.
So, Kakashi figured Iruka wanted to get on and pulled his date to the line where they waited and Iruka didn't notice because he was horribly put down by all the awful events that had made up his first date with Kakashi.
But once they were seated and moving his world started to come into focus and he looked around in surprise.
"What are we doing on here?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're the one that dragged me to the line, remember?" Iruka blushed and made an 'o' with his face. Kakashi chuckled and for some reason the other man took it as an I'm-never-taking-this-loser-out-on-a-date-again chuckle so he started to apologize immediately.
"I'm really sorry that this day turned out so horribly I'm not normally such a loser but for some reason I just turn out that way when I'm around you and I'm really, really sorry."
Kakashi blinked.
Then blinked again.
Then realized what Iruka had just said.
Then started to laugh.
They were at the top of the Ferris wheel now.
Then Kakashi pulled Iruka's head towards him and kissed the top of it.
He pulled Iruka into a hug and they stayed there for a while. A very long time actually, longer than any normal Ferris wheel ride would have lasted.
"We're sorry to ruin your evenings ladies and gents but the ride is stuck. You may be there for a while."
But looking out over the carnival, at all the lights and sounds and smells, Iruka couldn't help but think that being forced to stay at the top of the world with Kakashi wasn't such a bad thing. There was only one thing that could have possibly made it better.
Hence the fireworks wish.
Now, as you may or may not know when the parents go out the kids party. Sometimes. That wasn't exactly the case for Naruto and Sasuke, but it was close enough.
For as any cheesy romance novel would say, "Their hearts partied as long as they were together" or something of that mushy sort. And this was mostly true.
Or would be if Naruto's heart was beating. But it wasn't. He was too terrified to be thinking about his life! That wasn't as important as disappearing and not watching the horrifying scene before him.
There...was...so...much...blood! The killer had just hooked a guy to a fish line and wa-
"AAH!" Naruto screamed and pushed further into Sasuke's side. This was too much for him, but his boyfriend seemed to be loving it.
In fact, he was loving it a little too much, Naruto would need to have a talk with him about that.
"You know for a dude you're pretty easily frightened."
"Easily frightened? Are you freaking kidding me? Did you see what he did with the needles?"
"Hn, yeah. That was the best part." Naruto groaned and shook his head against the others shoulder. Sasuke chuckled and turned off the T.V with the remote. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and hugged him tight. "I won't let the monsters get you."
Naruto pushed them over so they were lying down on the couch and he curled up on top of Sasuke. They stayed like that for a while, both in their own thoughts.
-
What if this is going to fast? One thought. He'd only just met the other boy and this was a little soon for them to trust each other. It might scare his boyfriend away.
And what if he wanted to do something... like that? And obviously Naruto would refuse which might make Sasuke leave.
And what if Naruto didn't want to refuse? He really, really liked Sasuke and... well it's not like anything horrible could happen if they did it, right? It would only bring them closer to each other.
Not everyone would treat him as the bullies he grew up with. His friends and Iruka were proof of that. Plus, Sasuke seemed to really like him back!
Not everyone would refuse to look at him as a person.
Not everyone would be after Naruto just for some horrible reason.
This is what he had to keep telling himself. After all, it wouldn't be the first time those people did it to him.
Naruto was fourteen, a freshmen just entering high school...
"Hey! Watch out!" Someone pushed him out of the way of a skateboarder and into the grass in front of the school.
"Thanks." He smiled as the upperclassman realized their position and got off of Naruto.
"No problem. I'm Cyrus, what's your name?" Naruto blushed and took the offered hand.
"I'm Naruto." They smiled at each other.
After that Cyrus and Naruto had more than one encounter. And eventually Cyrus asked Naruto to go to a party at a friend's house.
Obviously, being new to the high school and everything, Naruto immediately agreed and that Friday night he ended up in the worst predicament of his life.
Some of the jocks on the football team got totally smashed and told the blonde of Cyrus's true intentions. He was going to "nail" Naruto for a thousand bucks because of some war Naruto's birth father had gotten into with the team's dads.
And Naruto ran, ignoring the mocking laughter following him through the streets. Ignoring Cyrus's cry of pain at loosing the money, he ran all the way to Shikamaru's house where he knew his friends were having a sleep over that night.
Shikamaru sighed and hugged the younger boy.
Lee declared a sour pummeling for the entire football team.
Kiba made some joke about Naruto's ass being worth $1,000.
All in all they cheered Naruto up.
The first time, at least.
But the second time, it didn't work so well...
What do they say, though? The third time is the charm.
But that second time was Naruto's first "official" case of teenage depression, so said the shrinks. They say it is completely normal for people to be so cruel.
And as he looked down at the sleeping face of his boyfriend, before joining the other in dreamland, he silently wished for a sweeter ending.
After all, he was a firm believer in happy endings.
-
Before officially leaving reality Sasuke felt something wet on his face. He blinked his eyes open and touched it, then hugged Naruto tighter.
Sasuke was crying.
The last time he'd cried had been when he first met Kakashi and was scared of all people. But Kakashi was able to calm him down and make everything better. What else are dads for?
The only thing that was bothering him was that he couldn't figure out why he was crying. There wasn't anything that scared him anymore. And nothing that he really had been thinking about, except...
He once again hugged Naruto and rolled over so the other boy was against the back of the couch. Then Sasuke buried his face in the blonde locks and let a few more tears fall, but hiding them from the world. Hiding them from everyone but Naruto.
That's why he was crying after all, because of his "boyfriend". But what did he mean when he called Naruto his boyfriend?
Technically the definition was significant other or something. And Sasuke realized that somewhere along the line, in the two weeks he'd known Naruto, he did actually think of him like that.
This was not very fortunate for the brunette, now was it?
No! What the hell was he thinking? Naruto was... he was...
Beautiful.
Sasuke realized as he looked down at the sleeping boy that it would be difficult to say the least to leave Naruto once the bet was over.
The other bets hadn't been like this at all. They were quick and easy and beneficial. They made his life seem just a little better than it had the month before every time. But all that he'd gotten from Naruto were headaches and weakness.
Look at him, he was crying! He's Sasuke-fucking-Uchiha. He didn't cry, no matter what! Apparently, the exception was when he was contemplating his relationship with Naruto.
Okay, time to do what always made life seem a little simpler. Make a list.
On the one hand, Sasuke had the bet. Those jerks that he made it with wouldn't willingly let him forget it and he was sure that they'd find a way to tell Naruto about it. This would be a reason to continue with the bet.
On the other hand, Sasuke had Naruto. The hyperactive, do-do brained, hilarious, gorgeous, knucklehead that brought him confusion and weird speaking inner voices. Did that sound like a reason to stop the bet?
Well, it really shouldn't but for some reason it did sound like that to Sasuke.
Next item on the list was the money. A thousand dollars was more than he'd gotten on the other bets, and it could definitely move Kakashi and himself far enough away that he was sure he could forget Naruto. Not to mention buy some impressive gadgets.
But was Naruto only worth a thousand bucks?
Ugh, stupid question. Next item on the list is...
Kakashi. His guardian who had been there for him since Sasuke was only five. And Kakashi had stuck by and even helped him with some of the bets before. But this time, he'd dropped out. He didn't want anything to do with this particular case because of someone he said he might actually like not just for a quick screw.
Could he be so selfish as to ruin the first positive relationship it seemed Kakashi had ever been in? And didn't Kakashi say something about them being able to pay off the thousand dollars?
Whatever, so far this list was not helping. It was only giving him a bigger migraine.
The final item on the list was Sasuke's own pride. What would everyone say about him if he dropped out of a scheme for love? He was an Uchiha! He had quite the rep on the streets and going soft wasn't on his agenda for anytime soon.
All right, so far he had two reasons for continuing and two reasons for stopping.
Damn! Lists usually helped him.
Maybe it had something to with the way Naruto smelled tonight. Or how warm the other boy was. What ever happened was putting Sasuke to sleep...
He had one last thought before he drifted off though. He wished that he'd never met Naruto. That he'd fallen in love with someone less complicated.
The next week was Spring Break for the high school. The time when everyone goes off on cruises or to Florida for a week and comes back with a tan and looking fantastic.
Well, almost everyone anyway. Unfortunately for Naruto and Iruka this week ment volunteering at the local day care because the parents dropped their kids off to go and have parties and stuff.
"Are you ready, teach?" Naruto asked as they walked through the glass door into Barney's Play Place and immediately heard the familiar screams of fifty toddlers running around the play area.
"As I'll ever be." Iruka muttered. Almost like they could smell them or something the eyes of the little ones in the room all turned to the pair in the doorway as soon as the doors shut. Three little ones in particular shouted Naruto's name and ran over to greet him.
"Hey! Team Konohomaru! What's going on?" So Naruto went off with them, leaving all the rest of the kids to Iruka.
Luckily, since they were the only two on duty that week (I told you everyone goes off during Spring Break) they could invite people to come help. That's why Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, Neji, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi all came in with snacks and sleeping bags and the like.
"Need some help?" Kakashi asked, looking at all the eyes still focused on the new arrivals. He also vaguely noticed the parents sneaking out the back while all the eyes were turned.
Then Naruto dropped a paint can while playing with his three buddies. And like a rocket they were off. Screaming, jumping, throwing solid objects, throwing the babies, running, running into walls, running into the volunteers (whether they were willingly volunteering or not), running into each other, running into the play slide, etc. All in all, it was utter chaos.
"Nope." Iruka smiled and pulled out a bright pink whistle with flowers all over it. (He totally borrowed it from the usual caretaker it wasn't his, I swear) and a shrill scream quieted all the little kids. "Now, everyone listen because I'm only going to say this once! You all know who I am right?"
"Iruka!!" A little girl with green hair and eyes came up and hugged his leg.
"Hello Lotus." He patted her on the head and looked back up at all the other children. "Does anyone not know my name?" They shook their heads. "Good."
He pointed to each of his guests and said their names out loud. Then the chaos continued and being completely unfazed by it apparently, Iruka took everyone back to the kitchen and told them to put everything away wherever it was meant to go.
"But Iruka, shouldn't we be at least a little concerned with what the kids are doing?" Kakashi asked, slipping his sleeping bag into the slot designated.
"Naruto can handle them while we get organized. Now, here is what your jobs are going to be."
He assigned Ino, Sakura, and Hinata to anyone age one or younger. Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee and Kiba were in charge of Arts and Crafts (and they needed four people for obvious reasons). Sasuke was going to help Naruto with the outdoors stuff. And Kakashi and Iruka would handle whatever else was left.
They walked out of the kitchens together to see even more paint and chibi footballs flying with Naruto completely oblivious to them all, still hanging with Team Konohomaru.
"This should be interesting." Ino said. They nodded and headed off to their jobs.
Interesting is an understatement.
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!! I'm sorry! I should have updated last week but I was really busy with a HUGE english project and then I got grounded this week! Bleh! But I'm going to try and update TWO chapters tonight because I really like this daycare thing and it's mega important to the story. Ciao!