The Weakened Crutch

Note: Magic Bus Hospital is property of Project Weiss and is not a real medical facility in Boston. I also have no affiliation with Friendly’s.
This fic, because I didn’t say before, is formally dedicated to my dear Yaoi-chan.
Thanks to all my reviewers.
For pairings and disclaimers, see Chapter One

Chapter Two

Morning dawned stark and bright and Naruto opened his eyes to find himself alone in his boyfriend’s massive bed. While the house was huge, Sasuke had a routine that he stuck to religiously, so Naruto knows he hasn’t gone too far.
Squinting at the clock, Naruto can tell that Sasuke has been up for at least two hours and had let Naruto sleep in. Which was considerate of him, to say the least.
He heard the shower running in the back ground, which meant Sasuke was done his morning weight training downstairs and had come back upstairs to clean up and relax. As good as hot water is for one’s sore muscles, Naruto thinks he can do the shower one better and gets out of bed.
Sex with Sasuke had never been anything short of mind-blowing, which made up one hell of a good reason to be in a relationship with him, as far as Naruto was concerned. It didn’t hurt that Sasuke was nothing less than the perfect boyfriend—apart from, perhaps, his great love of privacy and personal space, but they had been together long enough for Naruto to be used to that and did not let it bother him, and Sasuke was opening up to him more now than he used to.
Their relationship was growing, it seemed. It was no longer about a quick lay here and there, but a relationship that actually mattered. Naruto felt he could trust his boyfriend with pretty much anything.
Although he did frequently have to turn down Sasuke’s frequent offers of money so Naruto could get a better place. Naruto wanted nothing more than to do it himself, for Sasuke to know that he didn’t need to rely on him. He was working toward a new place and a new car, and once he got out of med-school, a whole new life for him and Sasuke, together.
Naruto didn’t bother looking for his pants upon getting up. He scratched himself idly for a minute before he realized that Sasuke was not going to be staying in the shower forever (he was going to have to do something about that, he was).
The bathroom door was unlocked, even. That would save Naruto some time in trying to pick it. The door swung open, and as quietly as he could Naruto snuck in and shut it behind him. Through the shower curtain, Naruto could make out the outline of Sasuke’s body; the length of his arms as he reached up to wash out his hair, the muscular curve of his ass and thighs which was practically pornography in and of itself. Naruto shivered despite himself.
Naruto brushed the sheer white curtain aside to find Sasuke standing there waiting for him. With a smirk and a glint in his eye, Sasuke pushed the blond up against the slick tiles and bared his teeth in a predatory smile.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to get out of bed.”
Naruto laughed. “You wore me out more than usual last night. I’ve been leaving you alone too long, I guess, all those pent up frustrations of yours. If I ever leave you that long again I think I’ll wind up comatose afterwards.”
“I think,” Sasuke said biting down on Naruto’s collar bone. “You just need more practice.”
“Hmm…that may be. I don’t suppose you’d like to take me under your tutelage, oh great Tantric Master?”
“I’ll consider it when you learn to use that mouth of yours for something better than talking,” Sasuke growled at him, his erection digging into Naruto’s hip.
“Yes, Master.”

“You don’t have the day off, do you?” Sasuke asked slipping into his pants. Naruto was sitting on the end of the bed, pulling his socks on—the orange ones that Sasuke had bought him randomly a couple weeks back. He shook his head, brushing wet blond spikes out of his face.
“Nope, I’ve got a half-day. I hafta get in to the hospital by two.”
“You wanna get lunch then? Seeing as I was planning on monopolizing you today, and that’s obviously impossible now. Unless I call Dr. Tsunade and give her a donation in exchange for firing you.”
Naruto spluttered. “Don’t you dare! I need that job, Sasuke. I’m serious. We’ll go to lunch. Where do you wanna go?”
“You don’t need that job, Naruto.” Sasuke told him, oxford shirt half-buttoned and sleeves hanging over his hands as he knelt on the bed and hugged Naruto from behind. “You could just let me take care of you, you know.”
“I don’t want you to feel responsible for me, okay? So, what do you want for lunch?”
“Fuck it,” Sasuke said, obviously quite decided. “Let’s go to a pub.”
“Sasuke,” Naruto laughed. “You know I can’t go drinking before work. How about we go out to Friendly’s and have a fuckin’ sundae?”
“That works for me,” Sasuke said, standing up and straightening his pant legs. “Are you ready to go?”
“I am.” Naruto said frankly, although he had to try hard not to grin pretentiously. “You, however, are not. Do up your shirt, you dirty skank.”
Naruto ran laughing from the room as Sasuke whipped him in the ass with a rolled up towel.

Naruto loved family restaurants. There was something about the bright colors, warm atmosphere and open rooms that just made him feel welcome, as if he belonged.
He had never come to places like this as a kid. With so many children, his parents could hardly afford to feed them all, let alone take them out. And their house had been a dump, nothing welcoming about it. There had always been paintings of Jesus on the walls, and Mary’s Sacred Heart, the image of it still held some lurid terror for Naruto, as it always had for him as a child.
He smiled as the hostess lead them to a small, cushioned booth by the front windows. She put down their menus with a beaming smile for the two handsome men.
“Your waitress will be right with you.”
When she had gone Naruto and Sasuke turned their attention to their menus. Naruto couldn’t stop beaming. He loved eating out; he rarely had the chance to do so.
“They have milkshakes,” Sasuke told him. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
“Hmm…Strawberry banana, definitely.”
When the waitress came they ordered two strawberry banana milkshakes and two massive cheeseburger dinners.
“So how are you enjoying working at the hospital so far?” Sasuke asks setting down his burger for a sip of his milkshake.
“Oh! I love it. It’s really great seeing people get better and I love the kids, they’re all so brave, you know? And there’s this one guy I eat lunch with everyday. Well, he’s comatose, you know, but I think he can still hear, so it’s good he has someone to talk to, I guess. And the doctor I work under, he’s young, but really well-respected. He got his doctorate at 23 years old, I think. The man’s a genius, I’m telling you. Old lady Tsunade—the dean of medicine, you know her—she says he doesn’t really like people, but he seems okay to me, you know? He’s not mean or anything. I think he’s just used to being around stupid people. I get to cover his clinic hours, ‘cause he doesn’t like doing it. I don’t mind dealing with the little things like that, you know?”
Sasuke smiled to hear his boyfriend blather on as their food got cold. He reached over and swiped one of Naruto’s fries, but the blond didn’t notice. Sasuke loved seeing Naruto happy; he lit up the whole room when he smiled. There was no one else like him in the world and there never would be as far as Sasuke was concerned.
Of course, Naruto could never know about Sasuke’s indiscretions. He could not know about those other men and women he slept with. The blond man sitting across from him just wouldn’t understand his reasoning, wouldn’t believe that Sasuke loved him if he knew. But Sasuke did love him and he would never let him go.

Naruto pulled himself out of the car, lab coat over his arm and reading glasses slipping down his nose. He turned around and swooped back through the passenger door for a goodbye kiss to his driver.
“Bye, Sasuke,” he said, extracting himself from the car once more. “Thanks for lunch. And the ride.”
Sasuke put his arm over the passenger seat headrest and smiled at him. “Have a good shift,” he called through the open passenger-side window. Naruto waved him off smiling blissfully to himself.

“Good afternoon, Uzumaki-san,” greeted the head nurse as Naruto passed through the walk-in clinic. He flashed a grin and waved, for some reason unable to remember her name.
He found himself staring at an imposing wooden door for the second time in two days. Coming and going from Sabaku-sensei’s office was always nerve-wracking, because Sabaku-sensei himself was a very nerve-wracking man, although he was rarely ever in his office.
Naruto pushed open the door and flicked on the lights, not surprised to find that nobody was at home. There were no case files on the desk, and nothing it looking like Sabaku-sensei had left for Naruto to do. So, he grabbed a newspaper ad flipped through it, looking for the cross word.
Naruto was stuck on a five letter word for uninspired when there was a knock on the door. He got up to answer, but it opened without his help. A tall man stood leaning around the door, looking a bit annoyed.
“Sabaku not here then?” he asked, sounding more annoyed than he looked.
“Sorry, Hyuuga-sensei, he’s not.”
Hyuuga shrugged. “He’s probably watching television in the delivery ward. No doubt hiding from you and whatever sort of work Tsunade has for him.”
“And hiding from you as well, it seems.” Naruto replied with a gentle smile.
“Rather seems that way.” He grabbed the newspaper out of Naruto’s hands. “Uninspired, five letters. Bored. Anyway, there’s a girl in the clinic looking for him.”
“Who is she?” Naruto asked in a combination of curiosity and delight. “A patient?”
Hyuuga laughed. “A play-mate for you, I think. She claims to be his new intern.”