Sweet Tooth

It made me happy to get so many nice comments on the first chapter of "Sweet Tooth" that I decided to continue and make a second chapter. I hope you like this chapter and would like me to continue. This contains part of the date along with a unpleasant surprise, but then again when are possible rivals not unpleasant? Also thanks to Lady Chimera for editing this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto that honor is held by Masashi Kishimoto.

Sweet Tooth-Chapter 2 by KitsuneFun

The time between when he had met Naruto till the time of the date seemed to pass quickly and Gaara soon found himself waiting in front of the Starlight Theater for Naruto while listening to his I-pod and generally ignoring the odd looks from his fellow students at the small uncharacteristic grin on his face as they quickly walked past him with their own dates, in favor of ignoring him, thinking the redhead had possibly lost his mind and might suddenly turn psycho on them.

It was weird enough trying to explain to his freaked out sister why he had a lingering smile on his face that had seemed to still linger even after he had walked out of ‘Candy Land’ surprisingly without candy… but he hadn’t care what anyone thought at the moment because he had a date with the Gummy-man, he could feel his heart begin to thump louder in his chest in excitement over the prospect.

He didn’t seem to notice the person who suddenly stood in front of him since his mind was preoccupied by the sudden perverted images of the Gummy-man completely covered in pixie stick powder and offering himself to the redhead, “Here…” A tan hand suddenly thrust a white bag showing the name “Candy Land” under Gaara’s nose. The redhead look at the bag in shock before hesitantly taking it, he was surprised to suddenly see Naruto standing there and handing him the bag, he never believed that the blond would get him anything since no one in the past had ever tried getting him anything before.

Curious despite himself, Gaara slowly opened the bag and peered inside. Resting at the bottom was his favorite candy: Blue Tutti-Frutti Gummy Bears. His jade-green eyes widened in shock, and he looked quickly up at Naruto who had suddenly turned away blushing.

“Jiraiya mentioned that was your favorite, so I thought I would get them for you…” the blond smiled while rubbing at his cheek absentmindedly.

“Thank you…” Gaara managed to say almost in a whisper as he ducked his head and started to blush a bright red.

Naruto thought it was really cute, and he fidgeted a bit on his feet trying to figure out what to say. He looked up at the names of the movies on the billboard in front of the movie theater thoughtfully, “Do you know what you’d like to see?”

The redhead’s head snapped up at the question, and he watched Naruto’s profile a moment in awe. He could feel his mouth salivate a bit, and he gulped before answering the blond’s question, “Not really. I don’t go to the movies often…”

“Really!?” the blond’s brow rose in surprise at the confession, “I go at least once a week. You can’t beat the acoustics in a theater, and there’s nothing like theater popcorn. You can’t beat the popcorn...” images of the buttery goodness came to mind making Naruto inwardly salivate.

The truth was that Gaara didn’t have enough money from his allowance to go to the theater and had only managed to scrap together enough from his candy funds to take Naruto out on a date, but he didn’t want to tell the blond that, “I guess I’m not comfortable with the crowds…” It was a good excuse since Gaara really didn’t like hanging around others and didn’t care if they were too scared that they would get beaten up by him to give him the time of day.

“Wow…” the blond fidgeted a bit more on his feet and ran a hand through the back of his hair in thought, “I had no idea….” His face suddenly lit up in happiness making Gaara freeze in fascination over what the blonde could possibly be thinking. Naruto sat down on his haunches as he faced the redhead; “You know we could always watch a movie at my place. The popcorn’s not as good though.”

“I accept!” Gaara yelled eagerly, jumping to his feet and almost knocking Naruto over in the process who stood up a second later to join him.

“O-k…” Naruto gave a hesitant grin over the eagerness of his date, “Didn’t think you would go for that. My roommate’s probably out working, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” He gestured with his hand for Gaara to follow him towards his car, which was surprisingly nice for someone on a store clerk’s salary. It was a vintage ‘57 Mustang painted a lemon yellow with bright orange lines on the outside making it appear like the sun…a sunny car. It actually made Gaara smile since it seemed to resemble Naruto’s personality to a tee.

“Nice car…” the redhead managed to say while the blond opened the door for him, saying it was tricky, before Gaara sat down on the surprisingly soft black leather interior.

Naruto blushed a bit at the compliment, “Yeah… It took a lot of time and patience for me to restore my Sunny Jim, but it was worth it in the end.” Naruto sat down in the driver’s seat and caressed the top of the dashboard lovingly, “It also helped that I had friends who didn’t mind helping me with restoring it for free in exchange for some beer.”

‘It must be good to have friends like that,’ Gaara thought, wondering what his life would have been like if he had someone to talk to that actually gave a shit, “You’re lucky…” he ended up muttering, which made Naruto stare at him oddly.

‘He’s just like me...,’ was Naruto’s lone thought as he remembered how his life had been when he had started highschool. It hadn’t always been great considering that people there had made fun of him for being shorter than the rest of the boys. Some even said he resembled a girl and treated him horribly because of that fact even though he was wealthy. It was one of the reasons he learned at a young age that wealth couldn’t buy you happiness; it’s what you do by yourself that make you important in someone else’s eyes.

Despite all the harassment that Naruto had received in school, he had still managed to acquire a close collection of friends whom were precious to him. “Yeah…” he managed to say as he turned on the engine and shifted it into gear to leave, “But you’re not alone now… are you?”

Green eyes turned to regard him suspiciously at the comment. Why did the blond care? It wasn’t the first time the redhead had tried to reach out towards someone in order to make a friend, even though in Naruto’s case he wanted more than friendship, but it was the first time someone looked past how the redhead looked and acted and liked him for who he was. “Thank you,” he managed to say, though his throat felt tight with suppressed emotion.

Naruto turned his head to look at the redhead out of the corner of his eye as he drove. Noticing the small smile that lifted the corners of Gaara’s mouth, he wondered briefly if the redhead even knew he was doing it and decided to test it, “You know... you’re even cuter when you smile.”

Apparently, he was right, and Gaara’s eyes widened in surprise before he turned to look at Naruto in open-mouthed shock. It made Naruto laugh a bit as he reached his right hand over and helped the redhead to close his mouth, “Don’t let it go to your head too much though. Nothing worse than a narcissistic Goth…”

Gaara snorted in response and crossed his arms across his chest as he leaned back in his seat and stared out at the landscape as it passed by.

It didn’t take them long to reach Naruto’s apartment complex that was located near Konoha Technical University. It was a simple three story white–washed building that looked like it had been made in the late twenties with its dated light fixtures and intricate metal gates. “Wow…” Gaara managed to say as Naruto opened the metal door with his key, letting them inside, “It’s really old…”

Naruto laughed, “Yeah. Doesn’t even have an elevator either, so we have sort of a hike ahead of us getting to the 3rd floor.” The redhead’s eyes followed the direction of the stairs as they lead towards the top and gulped making the blond laugh again. “I know. Forced exercise. But it’s worth it. Come on.”

They managed to climb the three and a half flights of stairs in a few minutes. It would have been shorter, considering the blond often ran up them to the top, because Gaara wasn’t used to the unusual exercise, he quickly became tired and almost passed out when they finally reached the top.

‘I guess that’s what I get for being out of shape,’ he thought while collapsing against the wall next to Naruto’s apartment door. If he hadn’t had the reputation he had at school, people would have realized by now how weak he really was when it came to endurance. He felt a rough-yet-gentle hand touch his forehead, making him look up into baby blue eyes that were looking down at him in concern.

“You ok?”

Gaara managed to nod though he found himself hypnotized and unable to look away, “Yeah.”

Naruto seemed to pause as he stared down into Gaara’s eyes feeling stuck. Normally, he gave into his bouts of temptation, but he felt, having known the redhead a bit more, that maybe Gaara wasn’t ready for anything sexually aggressive yet…let alone a kiss. He coughed, trying to dispel the mood as he stood up and opened the door, “Good… I’ll get you something to drink.” He walked inside and headed towards the kitchen before Gaara could say anything in response.

The redhead watched him go in confusion, wondering if maybe he had done something wrong. He had never had a date before and had refused to ask his sibilings knowing they would take it as a joke, bever believing that Gaara might be serious. The redhead shook his head in wonder over why he even cared, but, ever since meeting Naruto, he had ended up doing a lot of things he normally didn’t do. Gaara soon headed towards where he assumed the livingroom was while he waited for Naruto to get back and froze in surprise at the young man who was lounging on the couch watching a documentary on the samurai culture.

The boy was taller than Naruto and had midnight black hair with long bangs in front and spiked up in the back resembling a duck’s butt. The sight would have made a normal teenager laugh. Gaara just managed to cut the laugh off, making it sound like a muffled snort.

“Who are you?” the raven had turned at the snort to glare over the couch over at Gaara.

“Is that you, teme?” the blond’s loud voice yelled from the direction of the kitchen making both boys turn towards the noise in partial surprise, in favor of ignoring each other, as Naruto came running in with the drinks. He quickly placed them down on the side table next to the couch and jumped the raven haired boy, “I thought you were working, bastard.”

Gaara clenched his fists in anger over the display of affection and tried to hold himself back from hitting the brunette that had started smirking in his direction, Naruto was too busy hugging the bastard to notice the look, “Mr. Sennin said there was plenty of help and that I should go home and study.” He answered the blond, watching as the boy leaned back in his seat in appreciation.

Naruto who was oblivious over the look grinned, “That’s so great, Sasuke. Ah, before I forget,” he gestured towards the redhead, “that’s Gaara.” He turned and flashed Gaara a smile before quickly grabbing the raven’s head into a headlock while rubbing at the top of the boy’s head, “And this piece of shit is Sasuke.”

Sasuke pushed the blond off with a scowl, ignoring the comment in favor of eyeing the redhead slowly from top to bottom and back again. Gaara was wearing a dark green shirt that said “Toxic” in black over a long-sleeved, black fishnet shirt with black cargo’s over warn-in Converse covered with skulls. Overall, Sasuke was unimpressed with the image the redhead presented.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, admiring the blue hoodie that he wore over a white t-shirt, finding he liked how it brought out the other boy’s eyes. With the top the blond wore faded, worn-in jeans with his black and orange skater shoes. The raven’s dark eyes watched in fascination as the shirt rode up, flashing a bit of skin due to the pants hanging low on the blond’s hips. He liked the look. “So why are you here? I thought you had a date, or did you ditch her in order to baby-sit?”

Sasuke didn’t need to look at the redhead to know the younger boy must be fuming over over the reference that he might be a little too young for Naruto, but he still glanced out of the corner of his eye at Gaara and noticed to his amusement that the redhead was indeed glaring in his direction, ‘Score 1 for team Sasuke…’ he thought giving the boy a superior looking smirk.

“Hey, teme,” he felt a hard smack on his arm and looked over at Naruto who looked surprisingly angry over the comment, “be nice! He’s my date, not someone I’m babysitting.”

Sasuke snorted, “Could have fooled me…” He turned back to the program, ignoring the shocked look that overtook the blond’s face. It was true that it was a low comment, but he didn’t like sharing Naruto with anyone. It was too bad the blond refused to see him as anything other than a friend, but Sasuke wasn’t one to give up, especially not to someone like Gaara despite not knowing the redhead much.

Naruto looked over apologetically at Gaara who was shaking in his anger over what Sasuke had said, “I’m sorry. Normally he’s not this much of an ass. Did you maybe want to call off the movie and do something else?”

“No,” Gaara managed to grit out between his clenched teeth. He wasn’t about to let the raven-haired bastard win, despite the fact he dressed a lot nicer than Gaara with his long-sleeved, buttoned up white shirt and black slacks. He was just someone that the redhead was going to have to teach why he was called the Monster of Shuzaku High... that he was not someone to mess with when he became angry.

Memories of the only time he had almost killed a boy came to mind and the redhead quickly forced his mind away from that thought as he faced Naruto, ‘He doesn’t need to know about my past yet.’ It was still too early in their relationship and Gaara was still trying to make a good impression, it wouldn’t help the situation if the blond became afraid of him like everyone else at his school.

“I guess if it’s ok with you…” Naruto was concerned over why his roommate was acting more of a bastard than usual since he normally remained indifferent to the blond’s other friends, he dismissed the idea thinking it might have to do with the late shifts the other boy had while working on his residency at the hospital, “I just got the dvd for ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ with Johnny Depp… heard it was a good movie.”

That of course was an understatement for Gaara, who do to his candy obsession, was practically obsessed with the movie since he had first viewed it and had tended to replay the one scene where Willy introduced the kids and their guardians to his ‘Candy Room’ where everything was made entirely of candy and therefore edible, over and over… it was like an orgasmic dream come true for the redhead. The only thing that would have made that scene better in his mind was if it had been Naruto who ended up getting covered by the chocolate instead of the obese kid and ended up needing Gaara to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He didn’t seem to notice when Sasuke’s eyes narrowed suspiciously in his direction over his sudden glazed look.

“So… I take that as a yes,” Naruto stated laughing a bit over Gaara’s delirious expression, ‘he really seemed to love his candy’ he thought, “Come sit here on the couch,” the blond stated while patted the seat next to him, “While I go start the movie… and you,” he gave Sasuke a look that practically said if he didn’t start to behave himself, the blond might kill him, “go make us some popcorn.”

“Fine… just don’t start the movie without me idiot,” Sasuke knew better than to argue since Naruto tended to hold grudges when he didn’t get his way. It seemed odd to the raven as he started walking towards the kitchen and started the air-popping machine, that the thing Naruto seemed to like was this short unattractive (in Sasuke’s opinion) redhead, ‘Why don’t you like me?’ he wondered since he was considered the most attractive male at his college.

Naruto rolled his eyes over the comment, “Whatever Teme…” he put in the dvd and pushed play before sitting down next to Gaara to enjoy the movie.

During the start of the movie, Naruto had taken to leaning against the back of the couch with his left arm hanging over the back inadvertently leaning against Gaara as he did so, making the redhead freeze in shock at the surprising warmth that came from the other male’s body.

With the blond’s closeness came the ‘butter cream-like fragrance that seemed to come from Naruto’s body and Gaara started to lean into the smell as the dvd played, to Sasuke’s displeasure as he reentered the room with a large bowl of salted and buttered popcorn. He was almost tempted to throw the redhead out of the apartment then and there, but knew he would never hear the end of it from the blond so he chose to wait in favor of the appropriate moment when he could finally show Gaara that he was out of Naruto’s league and that Sasuke was the only one (in his mind) who truly deserved the blond.