Well, it's 4:30 am and I'm updating. Didn't take as long as you thought huh? Well, I certainly hope not. Hopefully this will put some of your questions at ease (not saying which ones will and which ones won't though, you'll have to read to find out).

So, I hope you enjoy and in case I don't update beforehand... Merry Christmas to everyone and thank you so much for reading my fanfiction ^.^ I'm very happy and grateful to all of you, especially the ones who've been reading since the beginning. So... MERRY CHRISTMAS! (or whatever you want to translate that into for your own politically-correct happiness).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Concrete Angel

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Chapter Thirty Four:

Naruto's eyed widen but the rest of his expression blanked as he heard both an apology and his first name uttered from the Inuzuka's mouth. Someone other than Sasuke had called him by his first name... and there was no hatred in his voice. Kiba sounded... ashamed? Of what he'd done to him perhaps? How was this even possible? No one had ever apologized to him for what they made him feel or for how they treated him. It was... unreal and to be completely honest, unexpected.

Naruto had never imagined that someone, especially Kiba Inuzuka, would ever feel sorry for what they'd done to him. Never had it passed through his mind that someone would treat him like a person, or realize that they could be wrong about him.

He had no clue how to respond, or if he was even supposed to. Was he just supposed to forgive him? Tell him that, "It's all right, I forgive you for pushing me around and making me feel like shit." Naruto just didn't know if he could forgive him, just like that. But... he'd called him by his first name. That was like a special card that changed everything. It was as though saying his actual name meant that he was truly sorry and officially regarded him as a human. However, as Naruto glanced up to look at the brunet, he could see the doubt and insecurity in his evidently in his eyes.

The blonde let out a soft sigh, then turned his head to look up at his boyfriend with confused and hurt eyes. He was silently telling him that he didn't know what to do and that he was sorry he couldn't accept his friend right now.

Sasuke looked back into his eyes, his own turning very sad and concerned before he nodded in understanding. His eyes softened and a comforting smile tugged at the serious line his lips had been frozen in.

Again Naruto lowered his eyes to his lap. He felt bad, not being able to forgive Kiba when he was clearly so important in Sasuke's life. But he just couldn't do it. There were so many memories flashing before his eyes from all the times Kiba had pushed him down, bumped him into a locker, surrounded him with his other jock friends and yelled at him, calling him worthless and a monster, among other horrible things. Every single time, Naruto felt like crying, he felt like crawling into a ball and becoming the worthless thing he was presumed to be. It became more pain piled above everything Emi did to him, and it was commonly Kiba who was involved in the bullying. Naruto understood why he was like that, how he was raised, but that didn't make everything better, and it certainly didn't make him hurt any less.

"Kiba, I know it's hard to accept. I know you can't suddenly change a lifetime perception within an instant. But I need you to try. Just as you Naruto," Sasuke turned his head back to his boyfriend, who gently lifted his head in confusion, "Kiba's my best friend. I know it's hard to forgive him and it will take time for you to see him as a nice guy after what he's done to you," Kiba visibly winced at this, despite trying to mask it, "but eventually I want you two to get along."

Kiba was staring at both of them, obviously unsure of what Sasuke meant by this. He didn't know what Sasuke was getting at, or why them getting along was so important and he even leaned forward a little when Sasuke opened his mouth to continue speaking.

"Kiba... I need you to get along with Naruto and accept him because... because I can't have my best friend hating my boyfriend."

----

Four sets of eyes widened, two mouths dropped, one significantly lower than the one nearest the raven, and two gasps could be heard.

One was more in slight shock, finding it strange to hear it being said aloud but it was relieved as well. Relieved that it was now in the open, but terrified for what reactions these words could cause.

The other sounded more like someone had just splashed freezing cold water in his face. It sounded like he had just been slapped hard across the face. His reality had just been shaken up, twice. The words had to be replayed several times in his mind before they could be registered and made sense of. Boyfriend... that means gay. Boyfriend... that means Naruto. Boyfriend... that means... Sasuke is gay with Naruto!

Kiba blinked, his mind in a frenzy. "Sa-Sasuke? You can't... you're not..." He sounded so suspicious, so mistrustful of himself. "But you're not... you would have-- Why didn't you fucking tell me!" Suddenly, Kiba's voice took on a level of anger, and he sounded as though he'd been betrayed when he rose swiftly from his seat, pointing accusingly at Sasuke. "I'm your best friend Sasuke! How could you keep something like this from me? I deserve to know if you're a fa--"

Kiba cut himself off, suddenly aware of the word he was about to use. He didn't even notice the rising daggers in Sasuke's eyes before he calmed himself. "I deserve to know if you're gay, or straight, or whatever the hell sexual orientation you happen to be."

"Which is why I'm telling you," Sasuke stated simply, the daggers retracting back into him to be used at another time. He stayed in his seat, more composed than any of the three boys. Naruto was merely too much in wide-eyed-shock to react externally.

"How long have you... known you were gay?" Kiba inquired with a tone suggesting that Sasuke had withheld information from him for a while.

The truth was, Sasuke had kept this from him for a while, a long while. Sasuke had known for at least a few years that he wasn't at all attracted to girls, but he was never about to admit to himself, let alone anyone else, that it could only mean he was attracted to guys. However, the moment he laid eyes on Naruto, as corny as that may sound, he knew instantly that he was gay and wanted nothing more than to have the blonde in his arms. Which he finally did... after stressful and painful circumstances that is.

Even though Sasuke felt guilty for keeping something like this from his best friend for so long, he refused to show it in the present circumstances. He kept his eyes fixed on Kiba's. "It's complicated."

"No, Sasuke! It is not fucking complicated! You either know or you don't and you never fucking told me when you were!"

"Kiba!" Sasuke's eyes narrowed and stood to face him, surprised at how angry Kiba was becoming at this. "I couldn't just tell you! I was confused and for a while I denied it." Sasuke was hoping that would serve to halt Kiba's anger but it seemed to fuel it even more.

"Couldn't tell me?" He yelled loudly into his face, taking a threatening step closer. "Why the fuck don't you trust me! I'm your best friend and you don't fucking trust me enough to tell me you're fucking gay?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Kiba?" Sasuke hollered back just as fiercely, "Where the hell is that coming from? I've told you the most private shit about me! You think that I don't trust you because I didn't tell you I was gay, yet I told you that?"

Kiba opened his mouth, instinctively ready to yell back, but his voice got caught in his throat when what Sasuke yelled registered in his mind and he bit his lower lip. His fists clenched at his side for a moment as he tried to think of what to say next, he knew he had no right to yell after that but he was angry and still felt betrayed even if he knew he was trusted with Sasuke's deepest darkest secret.

"Okay, fine!" Kiba snapped in a loud voice of resignation, "So you do trust me. But that doesn't take away from the fact that it took you so damn long to tell! And after you hook up with someone like... well, with Naruto! Why couldn't you have discussed something with me? Why did Naruto have to find out first?!"

"Because I wasn't sure until I met Naruto!" Sasuke yelled back with just as much volume the Inuzuka had. Ony Sasuke's words seemed to freeze everything.

Kiba's anger subsided and his head jolted back in surprise. Even Sasuke was taken aback by his own words, astonished that he'd said that aloud with such an aggressive tone. It was true but he never wanted it to come to the surface like that.

Naruto, however, was the most bewildered out of the three of them. He was glued to the love seat, staring up at Sasuke as though he had just transformed into an unidentifiable creature. Sasuke didn't see Naruto's facial expression. He didn't see how utterly flabbergasted he was because he was staring at Kiba, breathing rapidly, trying to deny that he'd said that out loud.

Kiba's gaze shifted between the raven and the blonde. He obviously did not know what to make of this and it was strange that now that he was looking at the two of them... they seemed somewhat different. Old memories were forming in his mind now that it wasn't clouded over with feelings of betrayal. Whenever Sasuke got mad or glared daggers at him because he'd said something about Naruto, the times when Kiba would catch him trying to kill Gaara with his eyes when he walked by with Naruto clinging to him, the times Sasuke would just disappear and not tell him where he was going or what he was doing... Everything made sense now.

He sighed audibly, drawing the attention of the new couple to see him shaking his head and running his hands threw his hair. "I'm sorry Sasuke... I can't deal with this right now. This is too much. I don't know what you want me to say or do, but I just can't."

Sasuke offered his own sigh before nodding his head. He wanted to say that he was sorry for throwing all of this at him at once, but he couldn't. He didn't think of any other way all of this could get put out into the open without them hating each other or never accepting anything.

"I... I'll see you later or something, maybe." Kiba dismissed Sasuke quickly, averting his eyes as he quickly made his way past Sasuke and the seated blonde.

Both boys never moved from their positions as they listened to the brunet's footsteps leading to the door, which creaked when it opened, quickly shutting afterwards.

Silence stretched between the two boys as the echoes of Kiba's feet against the pavement made their way into back to the house. Once there was absolute silence, Sasuke let out a long, shaky breath as the tension eased slightly, though neither of the boys relaxed.

Sasuke's sigh was not only thankful for the loss of tension, but disappointed. His best friend had just walked out on him. Sure he couldn't blame him, he'd thrown a massive ammount of shocking information at him, not in the most gentlest of forms, all at once. It was only natural that the Inuzuka needed to get away from them so he could process this information on his own. Kiba wasn't the brightest skittle in the bag but anyone would need time to understand, and hopefully accept, things such as these.

A chill crawled up the raven's spine as he hung his head, shaking it. He could feel Naruto's eyes drilling into his back and it was unnerving. He'd almost forgotten his boyfriend had been present for this rather audible argument with his best friend.

Sasuke didn't want to turn around and see what expression he would be faced with. After having had to silently witness that lovely display, Sasuke had no idea what Naruto was going to say to him. With another renouncing sigh, Sasuke raked his hand the front of his hair as he turned around to face the blonde, scratching the back of his head once his hand reached there.

But he was surprised to see Naruto's eyes were shocked in a good way. Instead of looking upset, Naruto seemed to be astonished as though someone stunned him with good news. Which meant that he was paying more attention to the last words that Sasuke had spoken. Which meant...

"Sasuke..." Naruto's vocal cords froze after they spit out his name and his mouth was suspended in time.

Sasuke didn't speak, but he eyed the blonde questioningly, waiting patiently for his boyfriend to regain power over his ability to speak.

"I... I mean, did you... did you mean... that?" Naruto's stuttering was getting worse and a blush crept onto his cheeks with each word he struggled with.

He was silent, tilting his head as he took in Naruto's broken question. He really didn't need any time at all to think about this, it was obvious what the answer was, but still he didn't speak. He wanted to gauge Naruto's reaction.

"....Say... something." Naruto pleaded with both his eyes and voice. "Please! Sasuke I-"

"You what?" Sasuke said suddenly and in a very serious tone. "What would you do if it was true?"

Naruto was dismayed, never did he expect Sasuke to bluntly ask him this. He thought that Sasuke would... well he didn't want to seem arrogant but he believed Sasuke would behave as he normally did and would reassure him with a soft, kind smile. Instead, he was confronted with a serious face and a question that was turned against him.

"I... well... I would..." His heart was racing. He knew what he wanted to say, he knew that what Sasuke had said overwhelmed him with happiness, but he just didn't know if he could voice his feelings like this. "I... I'd be... well, I'd be happy if it were true... because that would mean, well, I mean, would it mean that I was your first- ugh... your first-" Naruto cursed himself, the last word refusing to leave his tongue and form a word, "you're first love?"

Sasuke couldn't prolong this any further. As much as he enjoyed to tease his adorable lover, he just couldn't keep this up after that fractured confession, if you could call it a confession. A smile spread across his lips and he moved forward to kneel in front of him so they were talking at the same level, almost.

"Yes, Naruto. It's true I didn't admit that I was gay until I first saw you. I fell in love with you from the start and you're the first person I've ever cared this much for."

Naruto's eyes literally lit up and a relieved smile tugged at his mouth. "I... felt- er, feel the same way."

The raven's eyes smiled at Naruto's words and he leaned up, kissing the blonde gingerly on his forehead. Naruto giggled sweetly as Sasuke's lips travelled to his eyelids, which he promptly closed at the approaching lips. Sasuke's smile transformed into a smirk as he moved down to each of the blonde's cheeks, then traced his chin, getting one kiss in on his neck before returning upwards to hover just inches above Naruto's own lips. Just one last teasing effort before he would close his lips over Naruto's in a passionate, sensual kiss.

Naruto sighed at the contact, pushing into the kiss and allowing Sasuke to deepen it. It felt strange, being on separate levels.

"Mmm," Naruto purred as Sasuke started to lift himself up off the floor, shoving Naruto back into the couch so he could crawl up into his lap.

The blonde gasped when Sasuke sat himself on his lap with his legs on either side of him. He brought his left arm around Sasuke's back, pulling him closer onto him. There was something about space, distance between their bodies that Naruto didn't seem to be very found of and it was like a never-ending challenge to enclose it.

----

The pot on the stove boiled as Sasuke stirred the water and noodles within it with a wooden spoon. Cooking spaghetti would be much easier than preparing something actually decent to eat.

His mind kept drifting back to Kiba and their earlier discussion. It was only two hours ago, but it seemed like ages... but that was probably because he and Naruto picked right back up where they're left off and now it was nearly six and Naruto was taking another nap.

It was probably good though, for him to sleep after using up so much of his energy. But Sasuke was going to have to wake him in another twently minutes so he could take yet another pill.

He sighed as he removed the spoon from the water and moved to drain the spaghetti. It seemed like this day would never end. All that happened within less than 24 hours was going to get to him. First that damn phone ringing while they were in the kitchen, then his unwelcomed memories in the closet of his bedroom followed by him telling Naruto about what really happened in his past; sleeping only to wake up and flirt with Naruto to be interrupted Kiba on the phone to return and get a boyfriend; upstairs activities with Naruto followed with Kiba's long discussion and coming out of the closet to his best friend, only to end with that final endeavor on the couch... And the day still wasn't finished! It was only early evening. If Sasuke hadn't had any relief these past hours, he might be prone to thinking that this six hour schedule would kill him.