Finding it Out

Hello,

I'm really tired... it's like half past one in the morning here... bleh.

Anyway, thanks to all who's been reviewing. Oh, and if I die, I'll totally go to whatever Shaman I can find to be resurrected which I will be (I say and look dead serious)

Have fun.

--

Sasuke had been standing in front of the mirror for three hours. He had showered twice, because after the first one, he’d used too much hair-gel so he had to take another. His mother had asked him in a concerned voice what he was up to, but he’d just brushed her off.

“Are you going somewhere?” she’d asked when he’d opened his closet in search for the perfect outfit.

“Yes,” he’d answered annoyed, wishing her and her prying eyes away, but of course that wouldn’t happen. His mother had instead got a certain gleam in her eyes and asked in a way too cheery tone to be coincidental: “Where to?”

Sasuke had, in a desperate attempt at making her leave told her the truth – that he was going on a date. An unwise decision he noted as his dear mother’s gasp echoed throughout the room. He’d cringed as she’d, with teary eyes and a roaring exclaim of delight, run up and hugged him. “I knew you’d make it!” she’d yelled a little too loud in between sniffles and trying to wipe away the tears of joy streaming down her cheek.

“You’re growing up so fast” she’d said after calming down somewhat. She gently stroked his dark, shiny locks. Then she’d thought better of it and grabbed his head. There had been no moment for Sasuke to react, before his nose and cheeks had been covered in saliva and red lipstick. “My beautiful son is in love” she sobbed out and hugged him again.

Sasuke had almost died. Not only because of the death-squeeze he’d received from his mother, but also from the sheer embarrassment of having a mother that cried of joy and kissed your face at least ten times when you merely announced that you were going on a date. He was too old for that. He’d also hoped to god that Naruto would never meet her. That would for sure be the end of their future relationship. Relationship… Sasuke had sighed dreamily before getting his wits together and pointing an angry finger at the door. “Leave” he’d drawled in a superior tone. His exuberant mother had left him then, telling him how proud she was and wished him good luck.

And that’s where he was now. Sitting on his bed without a shirt trying to figure out which one would make the best impression on Naruto. In his hands were a white shirt and a black shirt. He hated them both, but at the same time, he wanted to look good. A shirt would be the ultimate option, really.

Or would it? They were strict yet casual. But would Naruto appreciate that? Maybe he should just go with a tee-shirt instead. Would Naruto embrace casualness? He looked over onto his enormous pile of clothes lying beside him. On the top lay a pink tee-shirt he’d gotten from his colourblind grandmother last Christmas. He picked it up and looked at it.

It was really a horrible creation. How could she have mistaken it for green? Not that Sasuke was particularly fond of green either, but still. He had had to wear the god-awful thing the whole time his grandmother had been at their house. He’d been tainted, and not only because of nightmares but because his father had gotten a camera that same Christmas. Now, pictures of Sasuke wearing that nightmare of creation adorned many walls of their house. He’d learned how to ignore them, sure; image they didn’t exist, but sometimes, a guest would make a comment such as: “I had no idea Sasuke liked pink” or “Is that Sasuke? In pink? Was he on drugs?” followed by laughing. Okay, so maybe only his mentally ill uncle had asked if he were on drugs, but it had hurt none the less.

A disgusted snort escaped his lips. He hated pink. He would never wear that colour ever again. He was a man; a real man. Real men didn’t wear pink… Right?

His phone rang then. He picked it up from his nightstand and looked at the display. Oh my god!

“Hello!” he answered in a too loud and cheery tone he realised too late and cringed at his own voice. A rustle that sounded like leaves blowing in the wind met his ear.

“Where are you?” Naruto asked in an irritated tone. Sasuke, however, being who he was, delighted at the tone and almost sighed dreamily again. But that wouldn’t be too manly, would it? Naruto probably didn’t like… what would that be called? Half-man? Wasn’t that like a dwarf? A no-man?

Sasuke shook his head and forgot he ever thought that in the first place.

“Home…” he began and was about to ask why Naruto had called, but faltered. He snapped his head to the right to look at the clock on his wall. Oh shit. It was half past seven. Sasuke was supposed to have been at the bridge going over the pond in the park at seven, meeting Naruto. “Oh…” he corrected himself and stared blankly at the wall in front of him, “I mean—“

“What the hell?!” Naruto exclaimed exasperatedly, clearly surprised and annoyed at Sasuke's lack of conception of time. “Here I’m nice and give you a free date and what do you do? You forget the fucking thing! You know what? Screw you, I’m going home!”

Sasuke reacted fast. “Wait! I’ll be there in, like, five minutes!” he exclaimed in a desperate tone, hopping up from the bed and picking up a pair of socks from the floor, trying to put them on with one hand, “Don’t go! Five minutes, I swear!”

Naruto was silent for a while before sighing. “I’m too nice” he muttered grimly, “Alright, but if you’re not here in five minutes I’m going.”

“Thank you!” Sasuke managed to get out before Naruto hung up. He breathed out in relief and threw on the shirt he held in his hands. He grabbed his newly purchased perfume on the way. He ran through the house and practically jumped into his shoes, threw on his jacket and flew out the door and out towards the setting sun.

He ran through the driveway, over the street, through their neighbour’s garden and onto the road again. His legs carried him across yet another gardens and over another fence. He ran through the sandy playground and through the thin streak of trees separating it from the soccer field. He jumped over the low fence and ran across the field in record time. He squeezed himself in between a hole in the much higher fence on the other side and out into the street again. It couldn’t have gone more than four minutes.

He could see the park now; just a few meters away. He ran along the gravelled path and skidded to a halt when he finally reached the small bridge over the pond.

Panting heavily and generally just whacked, he leaned forwards and put his hands on his thighs. He blearily looked around. “Naruto?” he wheezed out in between harsh breaths. No one answered.

He looked around again. Nothing to his left, nothing to his right. He had been on time, hadn’t he?

When nothing could be seen or heard, he spat on the ground. “Shit!” he cursed and moved over to lean against the railing. Still panting, he looked upwards at the sky. “Damn it!” He slammed his fist against the railing. He had been so fast. Like, totally less than five minutes! That was the fastest he’d ever run in his whole life. He demanded the well earned fruits of his labour. He would not accept failure.

“Hey”

Sasuke whipped his head in the direction of the sound. “Naruto?” was his first reaction. He squinted a bit. He needed his damn glasses. Plus, it was dark. Who?

Then he saw him.

“Just in time; I was about to leave” Naruto said. He stood there, on the other side of the bridge, hands in his pockets and posture slightly hunched. And Sasuke felt relieved; so fucking relieved.

“Well, lucky me” he said and smirked at the blonde, feeling relatively impressed by his own speed and stamina.

Naruto shook his head. “How could you forget?” he asked in a slightly amused tone. Sasuke made a face and shrugged. “I didn’t really forget. I suppose I’m just a time optimist” he offered and laughed sheepishly.

“Whatever” Naruto said and sighed, “So, now that you’re here, where do you wanna go? Or have you already made plans?” he asked in a mischievous tone, as if trying to lighten the suddenly damp mood a bit. Sasuke laughed awkwardly again and began scratching the back of his neck in a nervous manner. The fact that he hadn’t planned anything but instead wanting to blow Naruto’s mind away by being totally random and just improvise, didn’t seem as prosperous as it once had. But if he didn’t come up with something quickly, Naruto might think he wasn’t serious. That would be bad.

“I…” Sasuke began and raided his memory in search of things he might think Naruto would enjoy. “I was thinking…”

His stomach made a funny sound then. Naruto raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Sasuke coughed, trying his best to conceal the groan his stomach made due to lack of nourishment, but failed miserably. “Food?” he asked in as casual tone as he could and tactfully dragged a hand over his stomach in a not-at-all obvious manner.

“Food it is” Naruto confirmed with a nod.

--

They made their way in awkward silence to the closest place to indulge in food, which just happened to be quite a fancy place, much to Sasuke’s delight. This will be awesome, he concluded as they entered restaurant. It was expensive and had an aura of formality to it; the perfect place to impress someone at, in other words. He glanced sideways at Naruto. The blonde seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, but that was probably only due to the fact that he was so amazed at the cleanliness and warm atmosphere the restaurant offered, Sasuke thought and smiled in a superior way. He felt much at home in places such as these and took his time in savouring in the rich decorations and what appeared to be forged million-dollar paintings hanging on the walls.

A waiter greeted them and took their jackets and Sasuke couldn’t help but notice the amused face of his companion. He didn’t say anything though and they were shown to a table at the corner of the restaurant; at Sasuke's demand, of course. No one was going to ruin this evening. Everything would be perfect.

The two “love-birds” sat down at the small table and the waiter took out his notepad, awaiting their orders. Or, he would have, had not what appeared to be a malfunction in the kitchen brought his attention elsewhere.

“Luigi?” he exclaimed upon hearing an animalistic roar from the kitchen and quickly took off in that direction. The rest of the diners seemed somewhat perturbed by the sudden display of anger, but soon went about their own business.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly as Sasuke. Sasuke shrugged noncommittal and instead took a quick look at his surroundings. He would be back sooner or later. Naruto too seemed to forget about the incident rather quickly as a snickering soon was heard from him.

Sasuke turned to Naruto and gave him a curious face. “What?” he asked and inclined his head slightly to the right. Naruto just smiled and brought a hand to cover his mouth, as if to prevent himself from bursting out laughing.

“What is it?” Sasuke asked again, getting more and more aggravated at the annoying behaviour of the blonde. “Is it about the cook? Or do I have something on my face?” He brought a hand to his face in order to make sure there weren’t any traces left from the face mask he’d indulged himself in earlier that day. Not that he’d ever admit to anyone he used female beauty products on a regular basis or anything; because he only did it on special occasions, such as this. And that was acceptable. He was still a man.

“Your… your shirt…” Naruto wheezed out in between fits of giggle, “It’s pink!”

Sasuke felt the horrifying cold shivers run down his spine and immediately placed a hand on his chest. A gasp escaped his lips upon him feeling the unmistakable 100 % cotton fabric clutching onto his frame. He slowly turned his gaze downwards and confirmed Naruto’s observation. His colourblind grandmother’s Christmas-gift adorned his upper body in a hideous fashion. The XS-size of the shirt made it cling to his body in a—what he now noted to be—highly uncomfortable way and the V-shaped neck… Oh my god the V-shaped neck! Sasuke screamed mentally. He could only stare at the poor excuse for a shirt as the laughter of one Uzumaki Naruto filled the whole dining room, making heads turn in their direction.

Sasuke couldn’t think of anything more appealing than to fall straight through the earth while simultaneously being forgotten by anyone who’d ever seen him. Not even his really expensive Plumeria Bali Whirl flower perfume would help him now!

…Or maybe it would.

Sasuke quickly adapted to the new situation by coughing loudly and announcing his need to use the bathroom. Naruto probably didn’t notice since he was in the middle of… well, something involving looking up at the ceiling and laugh madly. Sasuke ignored him and hastily stood up and walked away, feeling eyes trail after him on his way to the bathroom.

In his left pocket, barely visible to anyone looking at it was a small bottle of perfume. Sasuke had not been too happy paying the ridiculously high price required to possess the bottle considering its humble size, but the fact that it was so small had at the same time enabled him to fit it just perfectly in the pockets of his black jeans.

He silently congratulated himself on cunningly placing the small bottle in his jeans before running outside. Sometimes, it seemed he was not as unfortunate as it otherwise appeared.

He tried to remember what the web-page had said about applying perfume; something about walking into a cloud of it?

He walked into the humongous restroom and looked around. Good, he thought; no one was there. He walked to the middle of the room and thought happy thoughts. He felt a bit like Harry Potter using the floo-powder for the first time, but for some reason, that thought didn’t bother him as much as it maybe should have.

Sasuke decided to try his perfume anyhow, and sprayed a few times in front of him. The haze the perfume created was rather thick for something so seemingly innocent, but Sasuke decided instead to go for it, and walked straight into the haze. The strong scent, however, made him start coughing and tasted horrible in his mouth. Nonetheless was he not deterred by this but quickly turned to the mirror above the basins instead to observe his achievement. Not that he could see the perfume, but he could basically see his aura shining in a whole new way – A refreshing change to his old dreary self.

He put the bottle back into his pocket and straightened his shirt. And now that he took a good long look at it, he began realising that maybe he could actually wear the colour after all. Because, as Sasuke concluded, it takes a real man to wear pink… or a gay, and since he apparently was both (if recent emotions was anything to go by) was the colour in fact perfect for him! Yes, black pants and a too small pink tee-shirt. Sasuke was satisfied with the result.

And so, after giving himself the thumbs up and a victorious smirk, Sasuke—as casually as he humanly could—strolled out from the restroom in an air of confidence. He made his way through the dining room, making quite a few persons cough for some unexplainable reason, and sat down at his and Naruto’s table, looking at the blonde boy as if expecting some sort of comment on his appearance, which he of course in face was.

Naruto, for his part, looked at Sasuke in an amusing way before averting his gaze, still appearing to be unable to hold his laugher in due to the pink creation the dark-haired boy was adorning. Sasuke just smiled back and leaned forwards slightly,

“It takes a real man to wear pink” he stated in a superior tone, anxiously awaiting the blonde’s reply.

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke again. He let his gaze travel across the shirt in a criticising way before letting his elbows rest on the table. He placed his face on his entwines fingers and licked his dry lips.

“Really?” he asked in a challenging way, “Is that why you chose a pink shirt? To try and impress me with your manliness?” he asked, accentuating the last word.

“Why yes, of course” Sasuke said in a low tone, trying his best to sound as seductive as the perfume he’d used had made him. And speaking of perfume, Naruto suddenly scrunched his nose up and sniffed the air. “What is that smell?” he asked, frowning. He tried to see if anyone was sitting at a table close to them, but when he saw no one near enough to smell that strongly, he turned back to Sasuke. “Is that—“ he began, but was interrupted by the waiter, finally getting to their table.

“I’m so sorry,” he began, clearly indicating his inability to attend to customers quickly enough, “The chef was having some trouble with the… boiler.” He looked grim. “Anyway, what do the two gentlemen wish to order?” he asked and wiped away the grimness for a smile.

Sasuke grabbed the menu lying on the table and quickly looked it through. He just wanted the man to leave so they could speak alone. Naruto had been about to comment on his perfume. How could that insolent man just ruin it like this? He ran his eyes along the row of food and settled for the first thing that seemed appealing.

They were going to eat like kings, and that required a three course meal. “For starters we’ll have some… risotto” he declared proudly, not even bothering to look over at what Naruto was doing, “and for main course we’ll have the lobster.” Yes, Sasuke felt like eating lobster. He hadn’t had sea-food in ages. “And for dessert we’ll have the strawberry parfaits.” Strawberries, Sasuke pondered, that was sensual food, right? He handed the menu back to the waiter and smiled, inclining with his eyes for him to leave. The waiter, however, didn’t seem to get the hint as he turned to Naruto. “And you?” he inquired kindly. Sasuke waved his hand in the air before him. “He’ll have the same” he said and smiled again. Naruto seemed about to protest, but Sasuke just gave him a menacing look and turned back to the waiter.

“Alright… Drinks?” the man asked, looking a bit confused at the aura of dominance Sasuke was projecting. Sasuke sighed impatiently. “Your…” he moved his hand in a circular motion before him, pondering, “your best wine” Sasuke said and yet again inclined with his eyes for him to leave. The man bowed slightly and scurried off to deliver the order.

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto with a smile, when he noted the bitter expression on the blonde’s face and the smile quickly disintegrated into nothingness.

“What the hell?” Naruto hissed at him, apart from the last time not trying to draw too much attention to them. “I can order myself you know!”

Sasuke just shrugged. “He was annoying; I wanted him to leave.”

“Well, what if I told you I was allergic to lobster!” Naruto gave Sasuke a foul sneer and crossed his arms over his chest. Sasuke pursed his lips and stared at Naruto for a while. Well, allergic? That wouldn’t have been too good, he reckoned and opened his mouth. “Eh… Whoops?” because really, what else could he say? Allergic, really? Who the hell as allergic to lobster anyway?

Naruto harrumphed. “Lucky you I’m not then”

“What?” Sasuke asked, feeling utterly confused, “Why did you say so then?”

“Because” Naruto raised his index finger in the air, “It’s the principle that matters. It’s rude to order for someone you don’t even know. What if I hadn’t liked it?”

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. “How can you not? It’s the most expensive lobster around here! Everyone likes it.” Damn, Naruto was a demanding person.

This only made the blonde boy puff his cheeks out, and in an insulted tone correct Sasuke, “And that’s another reason! How much does that lobster cost? Do you honestly think I’ll be able to afford that? Unlike you” he sneered at Sasuke, “I’m not made of money!”

Sasuke gave him an empty look. “So?” he asked and blinked confusedly. What was the problem?

Naruto sighed exasperatedly and looked at Sasuke as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So? I. Can’t. Afford. Lobster!” he said, accentuating every word by lightly hammering his fist against the table.

Sasuke laughed quietly at his friend’s antics. Where had he gotten that idea from? “Of course not; that’s why I’m paying!”

“You—you’re paying?”

Sasuke nodded and for some reason wiggled his eyebrows. Naruto didn’t seem to take notice to this, fortunately. Sasuke quite enjoyed surprising Naruto he realised. It had a certain charm to it. The blonde blinked a few times and leaned forwards, as if he wanted to study Sasuke at a close proximity. He smiled slightly. “You’re paying?”

Sasuke smirked victoriously and brought his hand up to brush some hair behind his ear. He wanted to look as seductive as he possibly could, now that Naruto finally seemed to have caught onto his obvious irresistibleness.

But the whole moment was ruined when the waiter came back again, holding a bottle of wine in his hand. He put it down on the table and looked excitedly at Sasuke, whipping out a corkscrew from his pocket. Sasuke silently fumed as the man jovially asked “Is everything to your satisfaction?” Sasuke nodded in a strained way. Stupid person ruining all my plans for a romantic dinner, he thought while forcing himself to smile politely. Naruto grinned without apparent force at the man, “Of course.”

Sasuke felt irritated that Naruto was so friendly with the man and glared at him briefly.

The man opened the bottle of wine and poured some into their glasses. He put the bottle down again and clasped his hands while biting his lip, staring excitedly at Sasuke and Naruto. “Yes…” Sasuke began and looked at the weird waiter. When the man didn’t move, he coughed lightly. “You may leave” he said, sounding just as aristocratic as he felt. The man opened his mouth and was just about to say something, but apparently changed his mind and smiled briefly before turning around to leave. What a strange person, Sasuke thought and shook his head. Then he mentally patted himself on the back for making the weirdo go away and looked at Naruto. The blonde looked a bit… annoyed, but Sasuke just shrugged it off as him sharing Sasuke’s exasperation with the waiter. He sighed dreamily. Nothing quite captured a moment as unanimous hatred.

“You’re paying” Naruto repeated and looked smug while taking a swig of his wine glass. Its content washed down his throat and it was as if his mouth went `katsching´ while literally sucking the money from Sasuke’s pocket. It stung a bit, but Sasuke sucked it up, being the `real man´ he’d earlier proclaimed himself as. And besides, as long as Naruto was happy, he was happy. Whether he chose to drink wine like a normal person or if he chose to drink it like one would drink beer at a football game. “Of course” Sasuke confirmed and patched up his damaged self-restrain. He would not let it crumble. Because if that would be the case, then he was sure that he’d either strangle or kiss the idiot.

But it seemed as if maybe he wouldn’t have to make the choice himself, because after putting his glass down, Naruto took a deep breath. He belched loudly, as if to just provoke his table-mate. Sasuke cringed, but smiled nonetheless. Perfect, he reminded himself, this has to be perfect.

Then Naruto froze. He sniffed the air again. He turned to look at him making small, small butterflies hatch in Sasuke’s stomach. That gaze was so… so… And slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto leaned forwards, keeping a steady gaze on Sasuke. “What is that?” the blonde asked in a deep tone and frowned.

“What?” Sasuke asked breathlessly, staring straight into Naruto’s blue eyes. What was he doing? Was he going to? Was he really—

“Is that...” Naruto asked and leaned forwards a little bit more.

Sasuke figured he should do something and decided to nod vigorously. Why, he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter because as Naruto gave him a curious look, Sasuke bit his lower lip and unconsciously leaned forwards as well. Is this it? He thought absently and licked his lips again. He realised he was fiddling with the table-cloth and released it suddenly. Naruto inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. He smiled again.

“Are you wearing perfume?” he asked in curious tone.

Sasuke didn’t want to say anything since he wasn’t sure if his voice would carry him there, and he didn’t want to ruin the moment by saying something stupid, so he nodded again. Naruto raised an eyebrow, all the while smiling at the dark-haired boy sitting across from him. “Is that so?”

He took another deep breath as if to really get a good smell at the perfume. “But it smells so… sweet” he said and frowned in a playful way. Then he gasped in a mocking way and looked at Sasuke with pouting lips. His gleaming eyes indicated nothing but mock surprise. “Is that…” he begun, widening his eyes appropriately.

Sasuke frowned and felt a bit self-conscious. What had he done wrong now?

“Is that… girl perfume?” Naruto whispered out the last two words and stared at Sasuke with wide eyes. Sasuke pursed his lips and hastily leaned backwards, feeling utterly affronted. Idiot he thought bitterly. How did he know? Didn’t all perfumes smell the same?

“What are you inquiring about?” he asked suspiciously, subconsciously trying to confuse Naruto with questions, but failing of course.

“That you are wearing girl-perfume!” Naruto exclaimed as loudly as he could without drawing the attention of the other guests. Sasuke’s nostrils flared in fury and he was just about to say something witty, crushing Naruto’s plans of making him embarrassed, when yet again the waiter came back, this time holding two plates with risotto in his hands.

“Appetizers” he drawled in a superior tone, obviously trying to make Sasuke feel intimidated by him. Maybe he’d hurt the man’s ego earlier, Sasuke pondered. He gave the man a quick glare before dismissing him. The man stared indignantly at Sasuke only to hastily turn around and briskly walk away again. “Weirdo” Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto gave Sasuke a knowing smirk. “Girl-perfume” he said slowly and snickered quietly. Sasuke cursed himself for being so naïve. How could he have thought girl-perfume and guy-perfume would be the same thing? Now he’d yet again made a fool of himself in the company of Naruto. Did the world really hate him that much? What had he done to deserve such poor social skills?

He grumbled out his sorrow in between shoving spoons of risotto in his mouth not at all caring about whether he looked well-mannered. He glared at the crazy expensive wine, standing there, looking smugly at him. He sure as hell hoped it would be worth its hefty dent in his wallet, or else….

“Or else” he muttered, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Huh?” Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke with a piece of rice clinging onto his left cheek. Sasuke felt his upper lip twitch in a disgusted way. Why did everything have to be shit? And had the boy been taught no manners?

But then he realized it was of no use to be furious; with anyone at all in fact. He had to be more appealing to Naruto. He turned his chin upwards and thought of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Weren’t they a bit alike? Maybe not, but perhaps Sasuke could aspire to be like him. Naruto would like that. So with newly gained confidence, Sasuke looked at Naruto in a bored way “You have a…” he pointed lazily at Naruto’s cheek.

“A what?” Naruto asked, wiping wildly at his cheek. Unfortunately the wrong one, Sasuke noted much to his displeasure. The idiot was apparently too incompetent to even remove simple food from his own cheek. He definitely needed someone to look after him.

Sasuke agilely stretched over the table and with his left thumb, wiped the rice from Naruto’s cheek. He looked disgustedly at his own, now soiled, hand and discreetly wiped it off on the table-cloth.

He felt utterly pleased with himself for acting so casual despite feeling so angry. He smiled to himself and thought about things probably only love-sick girls would think about, but honestly, he couldn’t care less.

He never noticed Naruto’s empty stare and finger tracing lightly on his own cheek.

--

I'm dying to hear what you think. Really.