Chapter 3: Work

It was Sasuke's first day working and Minato's diner. It was a fusion of the classic diners mixed in with more modern elements. It had the bright colors, patterned floors, booth seating, and even a jukebox in the corner. The bar seating had the classic padded barstools, but it was an actual full bar with alcohol rather than just additional seating area. There was a small section of a few old school arcade games like Pac-Man and Pinball that brought a sense of nostalgia and made a little extra money on the side.

Much to Sasuke's dismay, Minato did have them wear uniforms that consisted of light grey pants and pastel colored collar shirts. Minato claimed it gave a more friendly, welcoming vibe. Unfortunately, beggars can't be choosers and it was really the only place that would hire him. His dark hair had gotten somewhat long, making it so he had to pull it back for sanitary reasons. Theo older man had told him to at least try to put on a friendly face, but Sasuke couldn't help that he had what some would call a "resting bitch face." In general he didn't show much emotion, after having learned to hide his feelings over the years it had become natural for him to remain seemingly uncaring.

Minato thought it would be best to use Sasuke as a busboy, meaning minimal interaction with the customers, but also an easy job to ease him in. He quickly found out that was wrong. Sasuke had been cleaning a table, avoiding any sort of interaction with customers when a man walked up to him. "Can I help you?" he asked as he wiped down the table.

"You're that Uchiha kid," the man scoffed, sounding more like an accusation than a simple statement. He was dressed in just jeans and a plain black t-shirt, with messy brown hair and his dark eyes glaring at Sasuke. There was nothing special about the man that would make Sasuke think he's one of the people affected by his father's downfall, though that never stopped people from looking down on him. "You've go some nerve showing your face out in the public."

"Sir, I'm not sure what you mean by that, I'm just working," he told him, trying not to be rude.

The man crossed his arms, "Look, people like you deserve to be locked up, not out among the rest of us. Shouldn't you be in jail like your piece of shit father?"

Before Sasuke could say anything, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Naruto standing there with a fake smile on his face. "Is there something wrong?" the blond asked.

"Yeah, you have this piece of shit working here," the man told him as he aggressively pointed at Sasuke. He was trying to seem tough, but his shorter stature and scrawny appearance made it far less intimidating.

Naruto just smiled at him, having perfected the art of fake niceness after working at his father's diner for so long. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd had to deal with a difficult customer, though it had been more of a regular thing when he was serving rather than cooking. "I'm sorry you feel that way sir, but unless he has done something to provoke you, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he told him calmly.

"Just existing is provoking everyone," the man seethed.

Naruto shook his head, "Sir, I think it's time for you to go."

"What, are you the manager? You can't just kick out a paying customer," he argued.

"I can," Minato stepped in. "I'm the owner and I'm going to need you to leave if you can't respect my employees," he sternly told the man. The man looked as if he wanted to argue more, but instead just stormed out of the diner. Minato sighed, looking at the other two men, "Sasuke, maybe we should have you work in the back with Naruto."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, not surprised that he'd decide to hide him. He supposed that was better than him just firing him. "I know nothing about cooking," Sasuke told him. When he was younger, either a chef or his mother would cook all of the meals. After his mother's death, he survived off of the cheapest things he could find, which certainly didn't involve anything on Minato's menu.

"That's why Naruto here will help you," he smiled. He looked at his son as if he were daring him to protest. The younger blond remained silent, accepting his fate. "No complaints? Good," he signals for the two to go to the back and get to work.

"So," Naruto starts awkwardly. "I guess we'll be working together pretty closely now." There were no customers at that moment, so Sasuke took to cleaning the dishes while Naruto cleaned the prepping station. "So, how did you really meet my dad? He didn't say much about it."

Sasuke shrugged, "He literally just picked up off the street."

"Right, I sometimes forget you were homeless," Naruto isn't sure what else to say as he cleans the same spot over and over. Usually he'd just go out and talk to the other employees when they didn't have anyone in the diner during the slow times, but he couldn't really do that with Sasuke there.

"Lucky you, wish I could forget," Sasuke mumbled as he cleaned a dish a little more aggressively than necessary. They had a dishwasher he was placing them into so he wasn't sure why he was bothering with scrubbing them first, but he really didn't have much else to do.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, feeling bad for bringing it up.

Sasuke sighed, placing the last dish in the dishwasher and closing it before turning to Naruto. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he told him. "The only one at fault is my father," he added bitterly. There were times he hated the man for everything that happened. Other times he hated Itachi, knowing he was to blame for his father's downfall. No matter how much he wanted to deny his brother's involvement in his father's arrest, it was obvious who had tipped off the police and now he was nowhere to be found.

"Right," Naruto responded, leaning on the counter he'd just cleaned. He watched as Sasuke started the dishwasher, wondering what it was that made his father take him in. "I guess my father's just a nice guy so I don't really understand yours," he said.

Sasuke chuckled, "I don't think anyone really understands my father, but do you really think your father took me in because he's just a nice guy?" Sasuke wasn't buying the good guy, hero act, "You and I both know there has to be more a a reason for your father to take someone like me in. You saw how that customer reacted. He has no reason to take a chance on me. I don't know what his reason is, but I'm not buying that he's just a good guy."

Naruto frowned. if he were honest, he was a little suspicious as well. He wanted to believe that he was just helping a guy that was down on his luck, but he'd never taken anyone in before. There were plenty of homeless people out there, so what was different about Sasuke. "It's not an act, he really is a nice guy."

"I have no doubt your father is a nice guy," he told him, not meaning for it to have come off as him accusing Minato to be a bad person. "I'm sure he's a good person, but most people don't just bring a stranger into their home and offer them a job. I'm not complaining, but it's weird," he explained.

"Anyway, so what's your favorite movie?" Naruto changed the subject.

Sasuke didn't bother trying to change the subject back, understanding it was probably something Naruto didn't want to think about. No one wanted to think about their parent having bad intentions. "Ironically enough, The Godfather is probably one of my favorite movies." Naruto looked at him with a blank expression, making Sasuke smirked, "I'm joking."

"Well, can you at least make it obvious you're joking?" he huffed, not sure what to think.

"I don't really have a favorite movie," he told him. "I guess I enjoy Marvel and DC movies," he told him. "Documentaries can be pretty interesting sometimes."

"I love Marvel," Naruto said excitedly. He didn't expect to have much in common with Sasuke, but every time they actually got a chance to talk he learned that they did. "Who is your favorite character?" he asked.

"Black Widow is pretty badass," he replied. He knew most people would probably say Iron Man or Captain America so he wasn't surprised by the look on Naruto's face. "You go something against her?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Please tell me you're not one of those that just think she's hot," Naruto groaned.

Sasuke laughed a little, "If that were the case then my favorite would be Thor, not Black Widow." It wasn't really how he thought he'd tell someone that he's gay, but it wasn't like he was ashamed of it.

"Oh," Naruto wasn't sure what to say. "So, you're gay?" he asked. "Well, at least Chris Hemsworth's version of Thor."

"Just assuming I'm gay, not bi?" he asked.

"I would hope you have good enough taste to think she's hot if you were bi," Naruto told him. "Scarlett Johansson is very attractive," he stated. "Especially in a tight leather outfit kicking men's asses."

"Fair enough," Sasuke admitted. "Yes, I'm gay. Do you have a problem with that?"

"That'd be pretty hypocritical of me since I'm gay as well," he told him. "Who was your gay awakening?" he asked.

"Seriously?" Sasuke asked. The look on Naruto's face told him that he was very serious. "This guy in one of my classes in high school. That was before my father went to jail though, he was a total ass after that, which made him no longer attractive," he told him.

"What'd he look like?" Naruto asked, curious as to what Sasuke's type might be.

Sasuke blushed a little, not wanting to admit that he tended to be attracted to blond haired, blue eyed men. He didn't want Naruto to get the wrong idea. "Does it matter?" he asked.

"I'm just curious as to what type of guy would peak your interest," he shrugged.

"Are you hoping it's you?" Sauke teased, trying to deflect the question.

"Well, is it?" Naruto retorted.

Before Sasuke to answer, the door to the kitchen opened to reveal one of the other employees that was just starting his shift. "Hey guys," he greeted. "It looks like it's slow as fuck out there," he told them.

Sasuke wanted to thank the man for saving him from the conversation, though the look on Naruto's face made him think that it wouldn't be the last time they had this conversation. "It has been pretty slow for a while," he told the man, preferring to talk to the new comer than risk continuing his conversation with Naruto.

"Ugh, the day will go by so slow," the man groaned. "I'm Suigetsu by the way," he introduced himself as he grabbed one of the waist aprons and tied it around himself, filling the pockets with what he'd need as a server. He had short, dyed light grey hair and what Sasuke assumed were purple colored contacts, since he'd never met someone with purple eyes.

"Sasuke," he responded with a tense, small smile. He was a little nervous how the guy would react.

"I know," he smiled back. They heard the bell over the door ring, signaling a new customer, "We should talk later, get to know each other." Suigetsu walked out of the kitchen, greeting the customer.

Sasuke stood there, shocked by the reaction. "What just happened?" he asked, not sure if that was just a figment of his imagination.

Naruto frowned, feeling bad that the other man was so shocked someone was being nice to him. "Suigetsu is a cool guy, doesn't tend to have any prejudices against people," he told him. "When he found out you were working here, he didn't have the reaction you're expecting."

"Oh," Sasuke responded, not sure what else to say.

Naruto bit his tongue before he could ask if Suigetsu was his type. "Yeah, he's a little eccentric," he shrugged. "You'll see him with different color hair and contacts all the time, he likes to experiment, but he's overall a pretty chill guy," he told him. "You should try to make friends with him," he hesitantly suggested. He wasn't sure why he was even the slightest bit hesitant, he knew that Suigetsu wasn't going to judge Sasuke based on his parents.

"Maybe I will," Sasuke responded, not sure what to think. He wasn't used to people being nice to him. When he was younger they had to be nice because his family had a lot of money and power, but now everyone tended to look down on him.

"Trust me, he's a good guy," Naruto encouraged. He had a feeling Sasuke could use some friends. "Give him a shot at least."

"Right," Sasuke sighed as they fell back into silence.

"We should probably get things prepped, we'll have some orders coming in," Naruto suggested. Sasuke just nodded following the other man's lead.

It had been a long day by the time they were ready to close. Naruto had tried his best to train Sasuke, but it was clear the man had no idea what he was doing in the kitchen. "I'll have to give you some off the clock lessons to teach you how to cook if you're ever going to do it by yourself," he teased, though the thought of it sounded more appealing than he'd liked to admit.

The two had eventually started talking during the slow times in their shift when Naruto wasn't trying to show him the proper way to cook things. Sasuke hadn't really done any cooking that day, he just watched and listened to Naruto explain everything. It would be a while before he'd be cooking anything on his own. "Might not be too bad of an idea," Sasuke told him, an unreadable look on his face.

"Finally done," Suigetsu bursts through the kitchen door, shedding his apron. "You guys wanna hang out tonight, get to know each other?" he asked.

"I have plans already," Naruto told him, though it was a lie. He hadn't really planned anything. He and Kiba had talked about meeting up, but there was nothing set in stone. "You and Sasuke should hang out though," he suggested, not sure why there was a bitter feeling as the words left his mouth.

"What you say Sasuke? Let's hang out for a while. "I've got food and booze at my place, we can just chill and get to know each other a bit."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, knowing he was lying and just trying to push him to make a new friend. "I guess," he reluctantly agreed.

"Don't worry, I don't have any roommates so there won't be anyone there to bother you," he assured him, understanding why Sasuke may be reluctant to hang out. He was hoping that they could be friends. He didn't really have a lot of friends. Most of them had moved away when he'd graduated high school a couple years back and he hadn't had the opportunity to make new friends. Naruto had offered, but at that time the blond was still in high school and Suigetsu didn't want to be that weird older guy, even if it was just by two years. He figured it wouldn't hurt to try to be friends with Sasuke.

"Okay," Sasuke nodded. He looked at Naruto, who just gave him a very unsubtle thumbs up. "We can hang out."

"Great, get your stuff, I'm starving," he instructed with a smile. "And you get that look off your face," he told Naruto.

The blond blinked, not realizing he'd been making a face. He hated the way that Suigetsu gave him a knowing smirk. "I'm just a little tired," he lied.

"Sure you are," he laughed, clearly not believing him. "Let's go, Naruto will lock up," Suigetsu told Sasuke.

Naruto sighed as he watched the other two men leave. He thought about texting Kiba, but for some reason decided he was no longer in the mood to do anything. He just wanted to go home and relax, telling himself it was just because he had a long day of attempting to train Sasuke. He was pulled away from his thoughts by his phone vibrating with a text message.

Suigetsu: Don't worry I'm not interested in your man

He stared at the text from Suigetsu for a good two minutes before finally texting him back.

Naruto: He's not my man

Suigetsu's response came almost immediately.

Suigetsu: Yet

Naruto glared at the text. He didn't understand why he was feeling apprehensive about them hanging out when he was the one that suggested it. He and Sasuke had been getting along that day and it wasn't like a person couldn't have more than one friend, so he couldn't explain why he was feeling that way. Naruto shook his head as he shoved his phone back into his pocket, not bothering to respond to Suigetsu. He refused to think that there was any sort of attraction between them, even if he did find himself inadvertently flirting with the other man at times.