A/N: I have brought you the third installment in the "Therapy" series. I had another story to post here, but I lost it. So...you get Therapy 3, which came to me last night and was written in, pretty much, twenty minutes.
Don't you love that you get my un-beta'd stories? XD
One-Shot #83
Therapy III
She opened the door for, what seemed like, the tenth time that hour. The young assistant glanced up over her computer screen to shrug again before returning back to work.
The therapist had been waiting for nearly an hour now on her most spontaneous couple, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why they were late. It wasn't like them, usually they were early for their sessions, which she figured was because of Sasuke's punctual attitude. And, besides that, they were her last clients of the day and she wanted the hell out of there. She did have a life outside of that office, damn it.
A good twenty minutes later, all of which the doctor spent pacing around her room in frustration and cursing her policy of giving a full hour for a patient to show up to their sessions because "she understands that things happen," the elevator bell finally sounded and two young men came stumbling out of the doors.
"Sorry, doc!" Naruto nearly screamed down the hallway, which wasn't long enough to require a yell of that magnitude. "We…um…got lost…"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Unless it's relevant to why we are here, I'm sure she doesn't care." He pulled his boyfriend into the office and nearly pushed him in the chair before seating himself.
"It's alright, boys." She gritted out, forcefully. She really wanted to berate them for making her wait, but figured it would be in poor bedside manner to do so. "Let's just start so we can get this…get through this, alright?"
Both boys nodded, waiting patiently.
"So, last week we talked a little about communication and pet names, correct?" Again, the boys nodded. They were being oddly quiet. "Did you two work on that at all?"
"Kinda…" Naruto said, trailing off. When his quick glance caught the confused look in the therapist's eyes, he elaborated. "I mean, we did do the whole pet names thing…and we do talk more now…kinda."
"Good, good. At least it's a start. These problems aren't meant to be fixed overnight, they have to be learned and practiced. Can you let me in on your chosen pet names?"
Sasuke's face reddened slightly before turning his head away. "Not one that I'll allow him to call me."
"Uke 'suke?" Naruto chimed in, causing Sasuke to punch him, hard, in the shoulder. "Dammit, quit hitting me!"
"Shove it, Whiskers."
"In all fairness, Naruto, names like the one you gave to Sasuke isn't one that can be shared in mixed company." She said, making a note on her tablet. "It would be a courtesy to think of one not so…intimate."
"Hey!" Sasuke grunted out. "I'm not the uke in this relationship!"
"Not all the time, at least." Naruto snickered, earning a brain-duster in the process.
"Boys…focus." She said, snapping her fingers. "Naruto, you need to think of another nickname."
"Ice Queen?" Naruto offered. "Because that one isn't demeaning and fits him quite well."
"No." Both the therapist and Sasuke said together.
"Naruto," She started, trying to convey this in a way Naruto would pick up easily. "You need to think of a name that describes Sasuke as a person. Either a physical trait or a personality quirk. It should be something that means a lot to you. For starters, why are you so attracted to Sasuke, even before you two started dating?"
"He's…interesting. I just wanted to find out what made him tick at first, I guess."
"Good. So he was a mystery. Build off of that." Naruto nodded and seemed to be in deep thought, so she turned her attention to Sasuke. "How has the communication work been going?"
"It's…getting better, I guess. He's still an idiot, though. Never fully listens to me, just hears what he wants to hear."
She nodded and made some notes. Glancing at Naruto, she saw he was still in deep thought, concentrating very hard on picking the perfect nickname. "He's a sweet kid, Sasuke. I can see why you fell for him."
"Yeah." Sasuke nodded in agreement. "He's a loveable idiot, that's for sure." He paused to play with the ring placed on his middle finger. "He's so damn spontaneous. He's the entire opposite of me, and I guess that's why I took to him so well, and why I fought it so damn hard."
"True." She agreed. "But, the saying holds so true to you two, opposites attract." The therapist smiled, and so did Sasuke for a brief second. "Did he buy you that ring you keep playing with?"
"For my birthday one year. Said it reminded him of me." Sasuke snorted. "I've had it since before I left for that private school, and I don't think I've ever taken it off. Doubt the damn thing will come off anymore. But that's Naruto, he attaches to you like a leech and you can't get him off, no matter what. And then he has these moments, like he's a genius trapped in a four-year-old's body. Says the most brilliant things in the stupidest ways…"
"I got it!" Naruto suddenly shouted, standing straight up and smiling broadly. "You're like this big puzzle I have to figure out. Like a huge ball of emotional candy I have to peel the wrapper off of. You have all these layers and I just have to dig through them off until I get the real you. You…you're like…you're like an onion!"
The therapist couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. The look on Sasuke's face, incredulous, mixed with Naruto's pure pride at his new-found simile was too much. She was still curled in a ball, laughing and crying, when Sasuke practically chased Naruto out the door, only to kiss him nearly to death in the elevator.
"…a genius trapped in a four-year-old's body."
She couldn't have said it better herself.
So...what nickname do you think Naruto could give to Sasuke? I have a few picked out, but I want to hear your take on it, too.
