Soup's On

 

At Naruto's request, Sasuke ordered him a chocolate dipped ice cream cone, while Sasuke bought himself some lemon Italian ice. Naruto waited for Sasuke at the small bench. It was just big enough to fit the two of them, and Naruto extended his leg to save Sasuke a seat. He joined Naruto, a few inches between them as they enjoyed their treats, Clover lying down on Naruto's feet. They looked rather odd in contrast to his baggy blue jeans, simple dollar flip flop thongs peaking out.

Sasuke's ice was still hard, presenting somewhat of a challenge as it offered resistance against his cheap plastic spoon. Why they gave him two spoons was beyond Sasuke. He wondered if it had something to do with the shoddy utensils breaking.

Naruto ravenously chomped into his eye cream, chocolate shell crumbling down his chin as he used to tongue to quickly warm up his sensitive teeth. He used one of the napkins that Sasuke had brought back to the bench and dabbed his face clean.

"Oh sweeet baby Jesus, this is good. Sasuke, man... I think I just might be in love with you for leading me into this spiritual experience. You're a fuckin' divine messenger, bright lights of glory and horses and chariots and shit."

Sasuke chiseled at the lemon ice, only now getting his spoon about one third full.

"If I was sent by God, I must really be making a mess of things for him."

Naruto shook his head, swinging his legs playfully as Clover switched over to Sasuke's feet.

"You're a good guy, Sasuke. I can tell. Why else do you think I'm always pestering you?"

Sasuke grunted. He seriously had his doubts about that statement. He hadn't exactly been behaving lately. His friends sold and used drugs and were into stealing, vandalism, and random acts of violence. Sasuke seemed to always be getting into fights these days, and he'd shoplifted his first time not even 24 hours ago. He was risking his future and bringing hardship on his brother, who had sacrificed so much for him. Yet he continued to make these poor decisions, even though they raised questions in his mind about the strength of his character.

Sasuke held his spoon in his mouth as the tart ice dissolved. It was good. It wasn't obnoxiously sweet, but it also wasn't bitter or too sour. He allowed this to distract himself from the din of his thoughts.

"How's your ice, Sasuke?"

Naruto was staring at the small bowl so longingly that he might as well have licked his lips.

"Find out for yourself."

Naruto beamed as Sasuke gave him his spare spoon, genuinely appreciating the gesture. Naruto stabbed at the ice, taking it into his mouth. He looked surprised.

"This is really good! But I still like mine better."

Returning the spoon to Sasuke, he took another lick of his cone.

"Wanna try?"

Sasuke leaned towards Naruto but paused for a moment. He wasn't the type to eat after someone, let alone someone like Naruto. But he was quickly coming to think of Naruto in terms of Naruto rather than in terms of "someone like Naruto." Naruto wasn't just some vagrant. He was quickly on the way to becoming Sasuke's friend.

Their thighs now touched as Sasuke leaned over Naruto's torso, his head directly in front of his chest. His tongue flattened against the cold vanilla in a long stroke. Naruto could smell Sasuke's shampoo, which was just slightly musky. The blond hurriedly sent his eyes back upward, ashamed of the thoughts that Sasuke put through his head. But was it really his fault when Sasuke was doing something so implicitly sexual? It wasn't that he had an attraction to Sasuke in particular, but Sasuke was a pretty good-looking guy.

Sasuke licked his lips slowly, which Naruto tried to ignore.

"Not bad, but I like mine better."

Naruto playfully bumped his shoulder against Sasuke's.

"Good, because I would fight you to the death over this ice cream cone."

Leaning back against the bench, Sasuke rested his ankle over his thigh, above his knee.

"I don't think that would end very well for you."

"Not if I used my ninja skills on you."

Sasuke raised a brow.

"Which entail what exactly?"

"Hah! You think I'd tell you that? Can't have you stealin' my mojo, man."

"Whatever that is."

The two shared a comfortable silence, watching the dogs in the large green expanse ahead of them run, catching frisbees, racing each other, sniffing the trees... A few grade school girls chased each other, falling into the grass and laughing. A son ran away from his mother, who had loudly and angrily counted to ten and was now threatening his television privileges.

It was then that Sasuke and Naruto saw a short-haired Dachshund leaping straight into the air and snapping its teeth. Naruto counted a dozen back to back jumps until he commented.

"'M'sorry, but what the hell is that dog doing?"

Sasuke's ice becoming comfortably slushy now, he took a large spoonful.

"No idea. Probably dropped as a puppy."

Naruto laughed, finishing up the last of his ice cream cone.

"Iiiiit's Mongopup!"

The Uchiha shook his head, apparently full of disapproval.

"Wow, that's really offensive. My grandfather was a mongoloid... Well, I guess he was my uncle too."

Naruto paused before he answered, appearing very confused as his mouth hung agape.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. ...I guess."

Sasuke chuckled, his mouth just barely open. He hadn't expected Naruto to actually believe such a bullshit story, but it seemed that he had underestimated the extent of his gullibility. Then again, thanks to his ordinarily serious demeanor, Sasuke had always been excellent at fooling people.

"I'm just fucking with you."

Naruto laughed along with Sasuke.

"You're such a dick, you know that?"

Sasuke's laughter had quelled, but there was still a smile on his face.

"So gullible..."

Naruto turned to Sasuke, grinning at him warmly.

"You know, I like you when you're like this."

Sasuke arched a brow.

"You mean when I'm insulting you?"

"No, smartass. When you're smiling, laughing... You look like you finally got around to taking that gargantuan stick out of your ass."

Sasuke scoffed, leaning his head to his right to stretch out a knot in his neck.

"A stick in my ass? Because I'm not a spazzoid like you?"

The Dachshund's owner threw a tennis ball out for him to fetch. Caught up in its enthusiasm, the dog charged off and stumbled over its stumpy front legs, doing a rather demented somersault. Naruto tsk'd.

"Poor little weiner dog. Its legs are just too short."

Sasuke shrugged.

"This is what you get when humanity disregards natural selection: Dachshunds, hairless cats, and the Kardashians."

Naruto chuckled, and Sasuke finally finished his lemon ice. Naruto's ice cream cone had been long gone.

"I've got to take a piss. Wait up for me."

Clover zipped off after Sasuke stood, careening into the Dachshund. Sasuke didn't take long, but when he returned, a portly cop with a buzzcut and a forest green uniform was talking to Naruto, standing a couple feet in front of him with his spiral notebook out. Naruto was shifting from foot to foot, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with that dopey grin on his face. Sasuke walked up several feet behind the cop, standing close enough to overhear their conversation and involve himself if necessary. What the hell did Naruto get himself into now...

"Where's your ice cream then?"

Naruto seemed to be exerting some serious effort to keep attitude out of his voice when he responded, "I finished it."

"Where are your parents right now?"

Naruto's eyes darted dramatically, and his right arm grasped his tank top tightly, fumbling with the fabric.

"They're over there..."

Naruto pointed to a jungle gym that held just one or two grade schoolers.

"I mean they're over there!"

This time he'd pointed to a barren hill. The cop cleared his throat, crossing his arms and shifting to his other foot. Naruto was thoroughly flustered.

"Where do you live?"

Naruto's face looked nothing short of terrified. This was his cue. God, how did Naruto even last this long on his own? He was absolutely clueless. Sasuke approached Naruto from the side, changing his angle so that the cop wouldn't realize he'd been standing behind him all this time.

"I see you've met my brother. Can we help you with anything?"

The policeman cocked his head skeptically, taking in Sasuke's well-kempt appearance and then looking back at Naruto. Fortunately, the shock on Naruto's face had disappeared by then.

"You're tellin' me you two are brothers?"

Perhaps not the most believable alibi. Sasuke snickered.

"Half-brothers. I hope he didn't give you trouble. He flusters around authority figures and isn't too bright. Not from my end of the genepool."

The man seemed to find that amusing, laughing obnoxiously.

"You're funny, boy. Alright kids, stay out of trouble."

He licked his lip, pointing at Naruto with a fat index finger.

"And you, get some new clothes, will ya?"

The cop graciously waddled off. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was frustrated that someone would speak to Naruto this way. That cop was treating Naruto like he committed some sort of crime. Wasn't life hard enough for someone like Naruto without some asshole cop giving him a hard time?

"God, what a dick," he fumed.

His eyes widened as he felt an impact from his side, his entire body tensing up. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's body, hugging him tightly.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto spoke into Sasuke's chest.

"Thank you. I didn't want to leave the park. I like it here."

Sasuke's body relaxed, and his lips upturned. It seemed that it had been a long time since he had done something that he really felt good about.

"I couldn't just let you get evicted, could I? Now let go of me."

"Evicted?"

Naruto scrunched his lips up and squinted his left eye, releasing Sasuke.

He snorted, "I guess that's one way to put it, bro."

Sasuke let out a grunt, grabbing his pick and bag again.

"Don't start with this."

If anything, that appeared to provoke Naruto, who grinned slyly.

"Look at us! We're around the same age. We could be twins."

Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Are you blind?"

Naruto shook his head enthusiastically, his cowlick bouncing as he did so.

"No, you couldn't be much older than me! How old are you?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment, wondering how he could possibly be so unwitting. Their builds and complexions opposed each other, and there was no way the two of them could hail from the same gene pool. He decided to give Naruto a proper response regardless.

"Fifteen."

Naruto threw up his arms.

"Me too! But not for much longer. I turn sixteen on October 10. That's a Monday, right?"

"No, it's Tuesday. You doing anything for it?"

Naruto shot Sasuke back the same look the raven had given him just seconds ago.

"Sasuke, what would I do?"

The younger of the two clenched his teeth. He'd never given a damn about birthdays. It was just another day. The whole concept was a result of a human convention based on an arbitrary astronomical event. But other people seemed to care about them, and even Sasuke was a little eager for his sixteenth birthday. To spend the day in some random park completely alone, begging for food... That just seemed depressing.

"You could always go somewhere with me."

Sasuke looked off, apparently now finding a random tree worthy of intense analysis. Naruto was silent. When he turned back to Naruto, he was wearing that same wide-toothed grin he wore when Sasuke paid for his ice cream.

"Get that look off your face. It's creeping me out."

Naruto closed his mouth, doing his best to keep his smile modest.

"I'm sorry, it's just... It's not often that anyone would go out of their way to see me."

Sasuke paused, his mouth slightly ajar. The statement made him feel a little uncomfortable, but at the same time, it made him glad that he'd offered. It seemed to mean far more to Naruto than he had expected. Sasuke inwardly groaned. The guy was like a puppy.

"Like I said earlier, I suppose you're not altogether intolerable."