Once again it's taken me ages to update this... I'm really sorry! Anyway things are turning more serious from this point...
Chapter twenty-eight: Going downhill
'
Naruto thinned his lips, crossing out yet another option on the page. It was already close to the end of February, and barely three weeks until the application time for university opened. So far it wasn't looking good.
It would also help if he could just think of something he'd like to do! He couldn't help feeling a nagging voice in the back of his mind that he couldn't just pick something at random and settle for it. The past weeks had been both great and awful; great because every day he and Sasuke got a little closer, a little more in love, but awful because he was starting to feel the effects of dating a 'public' man. He'd accompanied Sasuke to a few formal events; charity, the inauguration of a new museum, things like that.
He didn't really mind the attention they got, after all he enjoyed the spotlight quite a lot more than his boyfriend, what he did mind was the negative comments that people who should mind their own business made. It wasn't strange that there was jealousy towards him, Sasuke was a sought after man after all, but the fact that most jabs directed towards him revolved around his education or rather lack thereof bothered him.
Both his friends and Itachi were great at cheering him up (he didn't want to worry Sasuke) but at this point he wasn't so sure it was enough to be told that things would be better in the future. He wanted them to be better now! He knew that he was being impatient and stupid, but he was sick of all his procrastination. It was time to shape up and do something with his life, all those grand dreams he used to have, he needed to wake them up again. Right now his biggest wish was to be able to stand proudly at Sasuke's side, that people would look at them and say 'Wow, they are so perfect for each other'. That he would be someone that Sasuke could introduce without having to carefully dodge certain subjects.
Certainly not someone working as an assistant at a publishing company for porn. Even if he did kind of enjoy his job.
He heard Sasuke enter at the front door, the now natural 'I'm home' falling contentedly from his lips.
"You're still at the computer?" the raven asked as he entered the living room, sitting down beside Naruto on the couch and pecking his cheek.
"Well, this isn't the sort of thing I can do half-assed. How was shopping?"
Sasuke shrugged, his eyes darting back and forth as he read on the screen.
"Found you a nice spring jacket."
"It's still freezing outside Sasuke."
Sasuke ignored him, instead peeking over his arm to skim over the notebook on his lap.
"Why did you cross out everything with science?"
"Because" Naruto said with a frustrated look, "I suck at it and I don't even have the subjects from high school that I need. What you should ask is why I crossed out teaching."
"And why is that?"
Naruto threw his head back against the back of the couch with a groan, one hand rubbing his cheek.
"I don't know! It just didn't seem like a good option."
"You shouldn't worry so much about it, you'll figure it out eventually."
Naruto closed his eyes for a second, then turned his head to look at his calm reassured boyfriend. If he didn't know better he'd think that Sasuke was perfect and nothing ever faced him. There were some things he wasn't able to relate to though.
"Well, even if teaching was a good option I'm not even sure I'd get in." When Sasuke raised an eyebrow he sighed, reluctantly leaning forwards to click on another tab. "Look" he simply said, motioning for Sasuke to read on the screen.
Sasuke glanced at it, then leaned forwards as well to see better.
"Are these…?"
"My amazing grades yes" Naruto filled in for him, glaring at the electronic sheet where some pretty depressing letters were written after every subject he'd taken.
Naruto could just feel his confidence sinking lower and lower as Sasuke took in the entirety of it all, scrolling down as he read.
"Don't bother" he said when he saw Sasuke carefully schooling his expression to not show his negative surprise. "I told you it was bad."
"Yes but…"
"…but my bad and your bad aren't the same. Well, I'm not completely doomed, but I think the harsh reality is that it's pretty bad."
Sasuke was quiet for a minute, thinking with his elbows on his knees and chin resting on his folded hands.
"Well, you could always apply for retaking these subjects and get better grades" he said finally, glancing at Naruto's sullen expression.
"There's no way I'm retaking stupid stuff like geography and math, and besides I'd have to pretty much redo all of high school."
"Then I guess you'll just have to try and go for something you're good at."
"But I'm not good at anything!"
Sasuke met Naruto's exasperated look with a stern one.
"You're good at lots of stuff Naruto. Maybe you just can't find them in the theoretical area. There's nothing wrong with studying something practical."
"Yes there is" Naruto pouted, giving Sasuke an angry look when the raven smacked him over the head.
"Oh grow up Naruto. I'll go make dinner, have fun sulking."
And with that Sasuke stood up and walked towards the kitchen, leaving a frustrated blond behind him. Naruto groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Growing up. If only it were that easy.
~Line breaker~
A week later Naruto was walking towards the bus stop after work, he'd convinced Sasuke not to come pick him up all the time. At least his driving lessons weren't catastrophic so that seemed to placate Sasuke's overly car friendly mind. When his phone vibrated he was fairly sure that it was his boyfriend asking if he shouldn't pick him up on the way after all, but to his surprise it was his cousin.
"What is it this time?" he asked, not bothering to act nice since he was currently in a bad mood after listening to Kakashi perving around all day.
"God you are so annoying sometimes Naruto! What's wrong with a nice 'hello'?"
"You only call when you want something so just skip the pleasantries, I know you."
Karin snorted in displeasure at the other end of the line, probably rolling her eyes as well.
"Well if that's how you want it, then fine I need another favor."
"You mean you want Yukio to come stay with me for a while."
"No I want you to rob a bank for me" she said sarcastically.
Naruto merely sighed, scratching his chin and looking contemplatively up at the grey sky.
"Work again?" he asked, already on the verge of giving up.
"Something like that yes."
"On second thought, don't tell me."
"Great, I'll come over with him tomorrow!"
"Wait tomorrow? And just how long are we talking about here?"
"What, what's wrong with tomorrow? And just a few weeks."
"A few- dammit Karin I'm not your personal babysitter! I love that kid but this isn't really a good time. Besides I'm going on my first business trip on Monday, do you really want to leave him alone with Sasuke for four nights?"
"I thought you said he likes Yukio."
"Yes but like and take care of are two completely different things!" he hissed, reaching the bus stop but stopping before he got within hearing range of the others waiting there already.
"I'm sure things will work out fine. Besides, Yukio likes Sasuke so I think he'll be alright."
"You always think so much" he muttered, kicking at a small piece of frozen snow on the ground.
"Hey, what's with the attitude, did something happen?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
"Tch. Well, I'll be over tomorrow with him, bye" she said and hung up.
Naruto cursed silently to himself for the entire two minutes it took for the bus to arrive, no longer so eager to get home anymore.
~Line breaker~
"You want me to what?!" Sasuke asked, eyes widened in surprise after listening to Naruto's words.
"I'm sorry babe, I can't say no to the trip and Karin wouldn't take no for an answer."
"That cousin of yours has some serious issues."
"Well I think you can handle it, it might be a bit of a hassle with having to take him to school and back home when you're alone but I swear I'll make it up to you!"
Sasuke sighed, leaning against the counter and looking at the much too worried look on Naruto's face.
"It's not that, it's the fact that you want me to take care of a child by myself for five days Naruto. What if he starts crying or something?"
"Well then you comfort him."
Sasuke just kept looking at him as if wondering if he seriously thought it was that easy. Finally showing a small smile Naruto walked over to him, hooking a few fingers through the hoops on his jeans and pulling him close enough for their noses to bump.
"You'll do fine, I promise. And you can call me anytime you need to."
"Hn."
Giving Sasuke a chaste kiss Naruto instead snuck his arms around his back, embracing him and burying his nose in his neck.
"I'm so lucky to have you" he whispered, smiling more when Sasuke sighed and returned the hug.
"Fine, but if he ends up killing me then don't say I didn't warn you."
~Line breaker~
Naruto watched the stewardess explaining where the emergency exits were in the plane without really listening. His mind was still with Sasuke and Yukio, leaving them behind as he went through security in the company of Kakashi. At least he wasn't the only one that would suffer without their other half for a few days.
Yukio had seemed to find the airport amazing, his eyes filled with wonder as he pointed at practically everything and asked what it was. Sasuke had been wearing a more apprehensive look, the crease between his eyebrows getting more pronounced as they got closer to saying goodbye. He'd told Sasuke there was no need for him to accompany him, but he'd insisted on driving him as well as Kakashi that morning, afterwards dropping Yukio off at school. They'd had a nice weekend, playing in the snow that hadn't shown any indications of disappearing anytime soon and generally just having fun together.
It was strange how complete it made Naruto feel, and how incomplete he'd felt the moment he left them behind. There hadn't been a day since he and Sasuke first met almost half a year ago that they'd been separated, and it certainly felt strange now that he was facing five days without his company.
On the other hand, it might help him to figure some things out without any distractions.
He glanced over to Kakashi in the seat next to him, his nose buried in one of those pervy books and a blank look on his face. He wondered what it felt like to have a fiancé that you've known since you were a kid. The fact that he and Obito were still so happy and, well, playful together made him believe that it was possible for him and Sasuke to reach that stage as well. That stage where you know each other so well it almost gets boring, except it doesn't because you love each other so much that even boredom is a great way to spend time together.
He spent the whole two-hour flight occupied with thoughts of Sasuke, wondering how he'd cope with Yukio. He was sure that he'd do great, but he couldn't help worrying just a little. They were most likely going to call each other several times a day, but even that thought couldn't help him get rid of that uneasy feeling in his stomach. Shaking his head after they'd landed he tried to relax and focus on the work he had ahead of him. It was going to be a nice post in his meager CV after all.
~Line breaker~
As they walked back through the airport after dropping Naruto and Kakashi off Sasuke held Yukio's hand, guiding him gently past all the people he almost walked into due to his admiration of the place.
"Woow, airports are sooo cool!"
Sasuke pulled at his hand, narrowly escaping a crash with a large man swinging his suitcase with no care whatsoever. A few moments later he simply gave up, reaching down and picking the kid up instead.
"Waah I can see so much from here!" Yukio exclaimed, gripping Sasuke's shoulder with his small hands and turning this way and that, giving Sasuke quite some trouble with holding him up. "Look! There are kids there, do you think they're saying bye to someone too?"
Sasuke turned his head to look at the kids, surrounding their mother and father with quite a few bags.
"Maybe they're also going on the plane" he answered.
Yukio hung backwards, holding onto Sasuke's coat and almost giving him a heart attack when he thought the kid was going to fall.
"I wanna go too!" he said, pouting cutely and blasting through all Sasuke's defenses with his large puppy eyes.
"Well, I'm sure you can go someday" Sasuke said, trying to make Yukio lean back against his shoulder again instead of hanging off him like a monkey, fighting the urge to just go grab some tickets for the next plane and going somewhere so he could try flying.
"I wish someday was today" Yukio complained, sulking for a few seconds before spotting something else that caught his interest.
At least the kid was easily entertained.
When they'd finally reached Yukio's school Sasuke felt quite out of place walking from the parking lot up towards it, Yukio chattering at his side and telling him anecdotes about things he'd done at places they passed. Apparently there was a dragon mountain just behind a low building, and the princess castle was over by the playground. Sasuke listened with half an ear as he let himself be led to the right door, entering it and finding himself surrounded by parents and Yukio's classmates.
No one really paid attention to him at first, and he'd just made it over to Yukio's personal coat hanger and shoe shelf when someone greeted him.
"Oh, you must be Sasuke!" the person said behind him, and turning around Sasuke was met with a friendly-looking man with brown hair up in a ponytail and a faint scar across his nose. "Nice to meet you, I'm Umino Iruka, Yukio's teacher. Karin and Naruto told me you'd be the one in charge this week."
Sasuke nodded and shook the man's hand, Yukio rushing over to the teacher and excitedly pulling at his sleeve.
"It's going to be just me and Uncle Sasu for five whole days! Because we said bye to Uncle Naru at the airport today and it was so cool!"
Iruka chuckled and ruffled his hair, telling him to hurry up and get inside the classroom. Yukio nodded and ran away, then came back and hugged Sasuke goodbye before rushing off again.
"He's such a nice kid" Iruka commented, and Sasuke nodded again. "So you're Naruto's boyfriend huh" he added as an afterthought, scrutinizing Sasuke.
"Yes" Sasuke answered, not sure of what else to say.
"Well it's nice that he's found someone to be happy with, I never liked that Kiba kid. I used to be Naruto's teacher when he was a kid, such a trouble maker" he continued, chuckling at some memories. "Yukio's a lot calmer, but he has his tendencies. Mainly when it comes to justice, he's really taking all those hero stories he's read to heart."
"He got quite upset yesterday when he saw a man throwing a wrapper next to the trash can instead of inside it, but he was too shy to confront him so Naruto did it in his stead" Sasuke said with a small quirk of his lips.
"Well, Naruto is great with him. It's a shame there's no dad, he's the kinda kid who deserves to be loved more than anything." He glanced at Sasuke, almost with a warning glint in his eyes. "Just like Naruto."
Sasuke put his hands in his pockets, raising an eyebrow at the other man and straightening up.
"You don't have to worry about that."
Iruka smiled, scratching his nose a little embarrassed.
"Well have a nice day Sasuke, see you later. I better head inside before those kids pull any pranks on me."
And with a last smile he went into the classroom, exchanging a few words with a mother on his way. As Sasuke left, he was almost jealous of Yukio. He'd get to spend a whole day learning easy stuff and playing around, while he himself had boring meetings and a nosy secretary who showed surprising inventiveness when it came to thinking of ways to make Sasuke talk about his private life. Not that she ever succeeded, but still. If she put that much effort into her work instead…
~Line breaker~
That night Sasuke sat on the couch with his computer, catching up on some work since he would be taking shorter days this week. The TV was on but mute; Yukio had gone to bed just half an hour ago. Spending time alone with him had been much easier than he'd imagined, and once again he found himself liking the kid a lot. It was weird without Naruto though, they'd talked earlier but it wasn't the same, and he caught himself unconsciously listening for sounds by the door. Now that he didn't have enough distractions his thoughts went more often than not in directions of the blond.
He was a little worried about his boyfriend. Even if he tried to hide it it was obvious that Naruto was feeling low right now, probably over-thinking the whole education thing. Sasuke didn't care what Naruto did for a living, as long as he enjoyed it. Which is why he didn't like it when Naruto took it so hard that other people regarded him as less than themselves. He didn't know what to do about it though, other than tell him that he is fine the way he is.
The sound of a door creaking open and small footsteps heading over to him broke him out of his musings, and he turned his head to see a sleepy Yukio walking towards him, carrying both pillow and the brand new dragon plushie they'd bought for him yesterday.
"I can't sleep" he mumbled, and Sasuke moved his computer from his lap so that Yukio could climb onto it.
The little child snuggled into his chest, hugging pillow and dragon close.
"Why not?" Sasuke asked, carefully putting his arms around him and wishing Naruto could see them now.
He was getting pretty good at this he thought.
Yukio was quiet for a while, fiddling with his plushie. The he looked up at Sasuke, a serious expression on his face.
"Some boys in my class say that dragon hunters aren't real."
Sasuke froze, staring back into the worried dark eyes. He was pretty sure this was one of those things he wasn't cut out to deal with.
"Are they?" Yukio pressed on, his expression showing that he'd been thinking about this for quite some time.
Sasuke opened his mouth helplessly, at a loss of what to say. Of course they weren't real, but he didn't exactly want to break the kid's heart.
"They're just being mean" he settled for, trying to evade answering.
Yukio looked down, then leaned his head against Sasuke's chest again and rubbed his face against it.
"I don't like it when they're mean" he mumbled.
Sasuke felt something painfully tug at his heart, and he pulled the boy closer to him, comfortingly brushing his thumb back and forth over his arm.
"There are, unfortunately, a lot of mean people in the world. Just ignore them, they're only acting that way because they're insecure."
"But they have dads" Yukio answered. "Why don't I have one?"
"Naruto and I don't have dads either."
"But" Yukio started, sniffling a little. "But I don't know what my dad's name is."
By now he was clinging desperately to his pillow, his face pressed into Sasuke's chest as his shoulders started trembling lightly.
Strangely enough Sasuke didn't panic like he'd thought he would if something like crying happened. Instead he rubbed soothing circles on Yukio's back, rocking lightly back and forth and whispering comforting nonsense. After a few minutes the kid calmed down, rubbing at his eyes to dry his tears.
"Why won't he come and see me?" he asked quietly, lips still trembling faintly.
"Shouldn't you ask your mother that?" Sasuke said gently, helping to dry off the tear stains from his cheeks.
Yukio looked at his lap dejectedly, then sighed.
"Mom only gets mad when I ask" he mumbled.
"Maybe" Sasuke started slowly, feeling sort of like he wanted to cry as well, "Maybe she doesn't know either."
They were silent for a few minutes, just hugging, Sasuke staring at the TV screen where the news anchor seemed to be talking about some political happening judging by the pictures behind her. He thought of his own dad, that at least he knew who he was. Even if there were few good moments between them he was still his dad, and after the funeral he'd locked himself inside his room and cried for hours. It hurt to think that Yukio was this sad, that maybe he would never get to see his father or even find out who he is.
"Do you think my dad is a bad person?"
Sasuke looked down, but Yukio wasn't looking up at him. So he took a hold of the kid underneath his armpits and lifted him up so they were face to face, Yukio looking surprised by suddenly finding himself in a standing position.
"It doesn't matter if your dad is a good person or a bad person, because he's still your dad. And I'm sure he loves you more than anything."
Sasuke smiled a shaky smile, getting a tiny one in response.
"Let's go put you back to bed, it's really late and you have school tomorrow."
Yukio nodded, still seeming to think Sasuke's words over. He was quiet as Sasuke carried him back to his room, but when he was put down he gripped Sasuke's shirt harder.
"Can you stay until I fall asleep?" he whispered, and was relieved when he got a nod as an answer.
Sasuke lay down beside Yukio, complying when his arm was put to use as a replacement for the pillow. He kissed the top of his forehead, whispering a goodnight and smiling when he got a yawning response. He lay silent, listening as the child's breathing evened out, so lost in thought and old memories that before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep as well.
~Line breaker~
It was the third day of the book fair and Naruto had come up with so many different ways to murder Kakashi that it probably deserved a place in the Guinness book of world records. The asshole was shamelessly using his relationship with Sasuke as a way to lure in costumers! An insane amount of fangirls and even some fanboys had been pestering him since the moment it started, and an hour ago he'd gotten so sick of the constantly asked 'Who's top and who's bottom?' that he'd literally screamed at the top of his lungs that they switched damn it! This wasn't doing any good for his plans to not embarrass Sasuke in public. What the hell was he thinking anyway, going to a fair with Kakashi the Giant Pervert and come out with his sanity intact?
Only the fact that homicide would make Sasuke mad at him kept him from slaughtering all their customers.
Annoyed with himself that he had such trouble keeping his temper he chanted 'Sasuke loves me' over and over in his head, tuning out all the infuriating questions and politely answering that he was only there doing his job, not to give interviews about his and Sasuke's private life. It certainly didn't help that Kakashi more often than not left him alone, wandering off to look at the so called competition. The guy was probably in heaven, and every time he came back he dumped bags of books with Naruto.
Finally able to breathe for a moment since most of the crazy people were listening to some sort of lecture on the role of yaoi in modern society or whatever he slumped down on the chair in their booth, wishing he could just go home already.
"So the rumors were true, this really is your current job huh?" a voice suddenly said, and Naruto froze.
He knew that voice. He hated that voice.
"I know I always said you would never become something respectable, but I was thinking more along the lines of a hobo rather than working in the porn industry. But then again, if you marry rich there's nothing to worry about when you have low intelligence."
Naruto opened his eyes, confirming that yes, the insulting person was his old high school teacher Ebisu. Gritting his teeth he glared daggers at the man that had made sure to not only fail Naruto in all the classes he could, but also talk down to him every chance he got.
"We can't all be closet perverts" he hissed. "I'm surprised you haven't gotten arrested yet for being a pedophile."
Ebisu pushed his round sunglasses higher onto his nose, giving Naruto a haughty look.
"But if you don't leave now I'll fucking call security and have them haul your ugly ass out of here faster than you can say 'I'd tap that'" he continued, his knuckles clenching so hard that his nails dug painfully into his skin.
This was just fucking great. As if it wasn't enough that he already felt like a failure on his own, his goddamn old teacher had to come and remind him of all the shit he tried so hard to forget.
"Always such a rude mouth Naruto. But perhaps your boyfriend is into sluts."
Rage boiling up within him Naruto stood and walked forwards, climbing over the counter.
"That is fucking it Ebisu! I'm going to kill you!"
"What's going on here?"
Naruto was stopped by an arm belonging to Kakashi restraining him, but kept glaring with pure hatred at the now slightly fearful-looking man standing a few steps away. Ebisu didn't answer, he just gave them both a condescending look and turned on his heels and left. Naruto was about to yell after him but Kakashi put a hand over his mouth, dragging him back inside the booth again and pushing him down into the chair.
"Explain" he said, and Naruto felt like all those times he'd been caught by Iruka doing pranks.
"He's just an ass, nothing to explain" he muttered, but Kakashi didn't look convinced.
"Really? Just tell me what's wrong."
"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's fucking wrong Kakashi! You just leave me here like a lamb in a pack of wolves or something!"
"Don't lie to me, there's more to this than the simple fact that I've been using you to boost sales."
"So you admit it!"
Naruto glared defiantly at Kakashi, but wavered at the rare look of no-bullshit-accepted the gray-haired man was sporting, and after a few seconds he looked to the side, crossing his arms.
Kakashi sighed and hit Naruto lightly over the head with the book he was currently reading.
"Why don't you go back to the hotel room and rest a bit? And I don't want to see your face until you've sorted your shit out."
Naruto turned his head and gaped at Kakashi.
"But if it takes longer than until tomorrow I'm cutting it out of your paycheck."
"Gah, asshole" Naruto mumbled, but stood up and picked up his coat. "Thanks" he added quietly, and then left after Kakashi had waved at him dismissively.
So, Yukio is back, and Naruto has some stuff to sort out... I hope this chapter wasn't too depressing...
