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Locker Room Therapy -- two random sequelish scenes.
Locker Room Therapy is the NaruSasu/SasuNaru schoolfic AU thing where Kyuubi and Minato are twins. The ficlets are kinda pointless, but the scenes were floating around in my head and I needed to make sure my keyboard wasn't getting rusty, so...
Might write more at some point. I still have some ideas I want to poke at.
Warning, the voice is a bit weird, as it's still present tense and tends to sneak toward stream-of-consciousness when I don't pay attention.
1.Principal Tsunade
"My office, young men," Principal Tsunade says as they're sneaking back in the main building.
They're late even for the class that comes after math. Naruto sneaks a glance at Sasuke, meeting his eyes briefly. Oops.
They don't bother talking as they follow her up the stairs. Anything they can say would be incriminating in some way or other.
"Sit," she says once the office door is closed. They sit. "Now I'm curious to know why you skipped two classes. I'm sure it was a good reason," she adds, sarcastic.
Naruto feels himself redden. He doesn't think telling her 'we were exchanging handjobs and therapy' is gonna get them very far. He hems and haws, scratching his neck.
Tsunade glances at the scars on his cheeks and tears her eyes away; her expression is unchanged, but for a second Naruto feels like curling up on himself anyway.
Sasuke moves his chair, and in the process he kicks his ankle. Ow. Ass. It's a distraction though. Naruto grins, trying to look disarming. "Um. I didn't know it was two classes, I mean, I thought it was just the one..."
Tsunade lifts her hand to stop him and stares at Sasuke. "Mister Uchiha?"
Sasuke's chin is up, his tone all cold and cultured, his face like a stone wall so smooth you know there's no way you're gonna climb it and see what's behind. "Nothing very interesting, ma'am."
Naruto winces a little. It's not like he wants to tell her anything either, but that's totally guaranteed to piss her off. For a second she looks really irritated -- and then her eyes zero in on Naruto's neck and she goes from irritated to coldly murderous.
"So he gained those brand new bruises in a totally uninteresting way, then?"
Huh?
Sasuke's eyes stay on hers, not even glancing Naruto's way. "... I suppose so. I wouldn't know."
Naruto bites his lip really hard to keep from blurting out 'You bastard, you gave me hickeys!' Bastard, bastard, bastard! He stares at the floor to hide his embarrassment, bristling. It's the last time he's letting him --
"... This is beyond the pale, Uchiha," Principal Tsunade says.
Naruto's head jerks up at her soft, dangerous tone. What?
"Go wait in the corridor. I'll have your parents pick you up. You're suspended for a week."
Naruto kinda assumed that she thinks they were fighting -- kind of right and yet completely wrong, but that's okay because he so doesn't want her to know what they really were doing. But no, it's worse than that. She thinks Sasuke was bullying him. He shoots to his feet.
"Hey!"
But Sasuke walks out without a word. Naruto stares at his back, eyes wide with shock.
"Naruto, sit down."
And she seems so tired and patient, and she's never that patient with him. Naruto plants his hands on Tsunade's desk and stares at her, anger growing. "I gave as good as I got! So if you give him a week then you give me a week too -- what the hell?!"
"You have the benefit of attenuating circumstances that he does not."
Naruto stares at her. So... He gets a pass on fighting, because he's ... Distraught? Emotional?
"Shit, no."
Tsunade scowls. "Language, Mister Uzumaki."
"Language, what the hell! You're not gonna punish just him for a fight we both had! What am I, some poor little cripple? I don't need to be coddled!"
Then there's more screams and he thinks at some point he must have gestured too wildly because her paper towers fly off the desk and spread all over the room.
Then he ends up in the corridor with Sasuke, waiting for his own parents. Eheh. Whatthefuckever.
They've been ordered to stay totally silent. Sasuke just shrugs and swings his leg, and Naruto thinks that if they'd been allowed to sit close enough for it to look natural, he would totally nudge Naruto's leg with his.
For a second it makes Naruto a little giddy, and he grins. Sasuke sneaks him a look like he has zero clue what's making him happy. For that matter, Naruto isn't very sure either. Hello, emo-gay-bastard rival here, it's kinda weird to get giggly at the thought he might have wanted to play footsie. Oh, if that's the kind of mood he gets in for a handjob, he doesn't want to know how ridiculous he'd get if a mouth was involved.
He tries not to think about that too har -- too much. Because it would be embarrassing to explain it to dad.
His dad.
"Oh shit."
He jumps on his feet; the secretary gives him a reproving frown. "Mister Uzumaki, what on Earth...?"
It's not her he turns to and explains, though; it's Sasuke, who's sitting there watching him with his eyebrow quirked up funny. "Dad's coming -- I gotta--"
"They sell hair dye at the corner store," Sasuke answers before he can finish, like it makes so much sense he doesn't know why Naruto even bothers trying to say it. It makes a grin bloom on Naruto's face, one he can't stop and he isn't even sure why.
"Tell them I'll be right back!" he yells as he takes off running down the corridor. He thinks Shizune is yelling something at him, but his feet make too much noise to make out the words. At least that's his story and he'll stick to it.
He heard Sasuke's "Like hell I will, tell them yourself" just fine, but he knows the bastard will make sure his parents know not to worry anyway.
For an asshole, Sasuke is kind of alright, really.
2.Kushina&Minato
Purple really isn't Namikaze Minato's color. Like, at all. It makes Naruto snicker, and his father roll his eyes and sigh in long-suffering tolerance.
His mom keeps playing with the purple strands and making comments about barrettes and sparkly hair gel.
They're still a little bemused, Naruto thinks -- they know their son pretty well, yeah, but after being called out in the middle of the afternoon for a so-called fight they didn't expect to find him enthusiastic about anything. More like sullen. (Or halfway to a panic attack. Like fuck. He's never having another panic attack ever again, and not only because Sasuke would sneer at him. Just because.. shit, he's just not going to. He's got a plan now.)
"Na-ru-to has two mom-mies," Kushina hums as she gathers a clump of hair to the side of her husband's head.
Naruto predictably cracks up. Minato sighs again, though the corner of his lip quirks up in a little smile.
"I'm glad to see you two in such high spirits," he says, and it's that way he has of being kind of sarcastic and yet completely sincere. He's nice, Naruto's dad, always has been. ... Also the purple hair really doesn't look intimidating anyway. It's really more lavender.
They're sitting at the kitchen table, a cozy round thing that lets their legs bump together. Naruto grins. He feels safe here. He hasn't felt very safe for the last week or so.
"So... Fight?"
Naruto lets out a loud put-upon sigh, though he knew he'd have to explain himself eventually. His parents would cut him a lot of slack if he needed it, but they also know when not to let him off the hook. It's annoying sometimes -- like, say, when he just doesn't feel like doing stuff he knows he should -- but he likes it too.
"Well, er." He rubs the back of his neck and chuckles. "Kinda."
His mother smiles back, happiness matching his own. "Something good happen?"
There's relief in her eyes too and for a minute he feels kind of choked up. Oh, mom. He never meant to worry her so bad. Reason two for not giving into the crazy psycho's fear tactics ever again.
Reason three is his pride. Reason one is no one hurts his mom like that and gets away with it.
"... Naruto?"
He realizes his fists are clenched and his chin up, and he shakes his head with an embarrassed chuckle. "Sorry, distracted. I mean -- yeah, something, I mean at the time it was kind of not pleasant but now I'm --" happy.
Not only happy. But determined too. That's almost better.
All because of Sasuke.
He gets up so fast his chair screeches on the floor. His parents give him alarmed looks; he waves a hand quickly. "No, no, it's okay, I just -- phone call, I'll be right back!" and for the second time today he races off pretending he can't hear being called back.
He's already in his bedroom when he realizes he doesn't have the phone number he needs, so he calls Sakura.
A second time when she doesn't answer the first. Then a third. Gah, quick, quick, he's dying here!
"Naruto, I'm in class!" she growl-whispers. "I swear I'll erase my number from your phone if you ever--"
Then she stops right in the middle of her usual threats, and her voice goes all soft with concern, which makes Naruto wince.
"Do you need...?"
"I'm fine, I just -- Sasuke's phone number!" he bursts out.
He can just about hear Sakura blinking at the other end of the call. "...Sasuke's?"
She knows they don't get along, of course, everyone does. Naruto growls, waving his hand in a hurry-up gesture she can't see. His parents aren't gonna wait three years and he needs to have that conversation now! "Yes, yes, come on, if anyone does you've got to have it!"
Sakura mutters something unflattering; Naruto dances with impatience on his bed as she answers some kind of question from the teacher, innocent as you please.
She gives it eventually, pretending like she has to look it up when they both know she knows it by heart. Naruto flings a "thank you" her way and hangs up, and dials again.
"Who is this?"
Sasuke's voice isn't exactly friendly, but neutral at least. Huh. Doesn't sound unpleasant... Gah. Naruto has more pressing concerns at the moment.
"Did we have sex?"
There's over ten seconds of silence from the other side, and then Sasuke gives sigh number twenty-three; 'Naruto Is A Dumbass Again And I Am Not Even Surprised'. "...It was just a handjob."
Naruto relaxes a little, flopping on his bed with his back slumped against the wall and his heels dangling off the side. "My mom says if we both orgasm it still counts and counting on penetration to define sex is, uh, what was it again -- phallocentric and misogynistic--"
"Since when are you a lesbian?"
"... Asshole."
Sasuke sighs again; this time a vaguely pained 'Oh God The Dumbassery Is Contaminating Me'. "Alright, whatever. Sex is orgasm plus an orifice of our choice. Okay? Okay. Sixty-nine is sex. Leg-humping isn't. I'm sorry to say you're still a virgin."
"... I don't know whether to say phew or aw crud."
"Goodbye, Naruto," Sasuke says pointedly, and hangs up on him.
Naruto pulls himself out of his bed and goes back to the kitchen, where his parents are still waiting with baffled looks on their faces. It's the badly hidden worry that gets him, though. He doesn't know what they're thinking he was thinking, but it's got to be so bad.
So really it just comes out.
"I think I've got a boyfriend."
His father gives a slow, slow blink, and then a slightly faster one. His mother says "Oh."
Then she says "Oh" again but with a completely different tone this time, and then she starts to smile in a slightly devious way. "Oh, really."
Naruto starts to blush. "I guess. It's -- really kind of weird. I didn't, I mean he just -- and then --"
"Is it that Uchiha boy?" she asks. "Yes, I rather thought so."
"Ah." His father shakes his head, bemused, like he has to pull his brain back on track. "Don't be silly, hon, they're ene...mies... Naruto?
Naruto is pointing accusingly at his mother. "How did you know?! I DIDNT KNOW!"
Kushina smirks her smug vixen smirk. "It's the hidden power of Vagina."
Naruto flinches. "Gah! Mom!"
Her eyes dance with restrained laughter. "I guess you wouldn't know. Especially now..."
"Mooooom!" Naruto whimpers, slumping on his chair.
Minato flushes and scratches his jaw as a not-that-distracting distraction. "I... did not expect that. Not that it's a problem at all!" he hurries to assure him." But I ... assumed you liked girls?"
Naruto flushes and then they match, except for the silly hair. "I still do. But -- I dunno. He's not so bad." He pauses, realizes what he just said. "No, wait, he's a total asshole! I mean it. And he's prissy and he's always better at everything and he makes it look so EASY and he always has to be sarcastic and argue and push all the time and argh!"
Minato looks more and more confused. Kushina leans on her elbows and smirks wider.
"But... Well."
Naruto stares at a pattern in the table, gathering his thought.
"I think... He pushes me because... He wants me to meet his expectations." Quietly, slowly figuring it out, wording it out loud. "Because he's sure I can. And that... I like that. Exceeding his expectations."
He thinks, when he had his little moment of epiphany -- that he wasn't broken, that he wasn't owned, that he wasn't going to give up -- Sasuke was proud. He shouldn't even care what Sasuke thinks of him, but he does, and he never wants to give up that kind of glow.
"... Also it's really fun to fight him." He grins. Oh, is it ever fun. He thinks it's going to get even more fun pretty soon. Groping used to be Sasuke's exclusive weapon.
Also kind of fucked up, if he tried to explain it, and he wants his parents to at least be able to imagine that his boyfriend treats him with all the thoughtfulness and niceties Naruto would probably barf at if he got them from Uchiha Sasuke. He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. "So, that's why. Tsunade thought we were fighting, but he was just -- talking to me. About last week." It barely hurts this time to mention it. There's still a rocky bump in the road, but it's not a chasm anymore. Not right now anyway -- maybe he'll backslide later, but he'll come back out again. "And he said some things, and I said some things, and okay, we kind of shoved each other around and I might have punched him in the face a bit, but -- I needed to hear it."
His parents mull over it for a couple of minutes.
"If he helped you, then... We're grateful." His mom must see he's getting twitchy; she doesn't try to ask what they talked, exactly. She just smiles, happy because he's happy. It makes him happier -- makes him forget the embarrassment and the simmering rage he's trying not to think about at the moment.
"It would be nice to have the occasion to express it in person," his father says almost innocently, and Naruto can see it coming and he only has two words for it -- "ahahaha" and "NO".
"Look at the time!" he exclaims with too much enthusiasm. "Man, I'll never finish my homework on time if I don't start now."
He's out of the kitchen before he's even done talking, and this time when he reaches his bedroom he turns up the music so he can have plausible deniability if they call again. Then he flops back on his bed and gives the ceiling a look of confused bedazzlement.
Shit. A boyfriend. How messed up is that. The word doesn't even seem to fit properly, but it's the only one he can use that his parents would get. Rival, foil, measuring stick -- they were all special, all important... but now he thinks he can add 'one who has my back' to the pile, and it's even more important than 'giver-of-mutual-orgasms.'
'Giver-of-mutual-orgasms' ain't half-bad as far as titles go. He imagines Sasuke's face at hearing it, and he laughs. Oh yeah. That works.
Might write more at some point. I still have some ideas I want to poke at.
Warning, the voice is a bit weird, as it's still present tense and tends to sneak toward stream-of-consciousness when I don't pay attention.
1.Principal Tsunade
"My office, young men," Principal Tsunade says as they're sneaking back in the main building.
They're late even for the class that comes after math. Naruto sneaks a glance at Sasuke, meeting his eyes briefly. Oops.
They don't bother talking as they follow her up the stairs. Anything they can say would be incriminating in some way or other.
"Sit," she says once the office door is closed. They sit. "Now I'm curious to know why you skipped two classes. I'm sure it was a good reason," she adds, sarcastic.
Naruto feels himself redden. He doesn't think telling her 'we were exchanging handjobs and therapy' is gonna get them very far. He hems and haws, scratching his neck.
Tsunade glances at the scars on his cheeks and tears her eyes away; her expression is unchanged, but for a second Naruto feels like curling up on himself anyway.
Sasuke moves his chair, and in the process he kicks his ankle. Ow. Ass. It's a distraction though. Naruto grins, trying to look disarming. "Um. I didn't know it was two classes, I mean, I thought it was just the one..."
Tsunade lifts her hand to stop him and stares at Sasuke. "Mister Uchiha?"
Sasuke's chin is up, his tone all cold and cultured, his face like a stone wall so smooth you know there's no way you're gonna climb it and see what's behind. "Nothing very interesting, ma'am."
Naruto winces a little. It's not like he wants to tell her anything either, but that's totally guaranteed to piss her off. For a second she looks really irritated -- and then her eyes zero in on Naruto's neck and she goes from irritated to coldly murderous.
"So he gained those brand new bruises in a totally uninteresting way, then?"
Huh?
Sasuke's eyes stay on hers, not even glancing Naruto's way. "... I suppose so. I wouldn't know."
Naruto bites his lip really hard to keep from blurting out 'You bastard, you gave me hickeys!' Bastard, bastard, bastard! He stares at the floor to hide his embarrassment, bristling. It's the last time he's letting him --
"... This is beyond the pale, Uchiha," Principal Tsunade says.
Naruto's head jerks up at her soft, dangerous tone. What?
"Go wait in the corridor. I'll have your parents pick you up. You're suspended for a week."
Naruto kinda assumed that she thinks they were fighting -- kind of right and yet completely wrong, but that's okay because he so doesn't want her to know what they really were doing. But no, it's worse than that. She thinks Sasuke was bullying him. He shoots to his feet.
"Hey!"
But Sasuke walks out without a word. Naruto stares at his back, eyes wide with shock.
"Naruto, sit down."
And she seems so tired and patient, and she's never that patient with him. Naruto plants his hands on Tsunade's desk and stares at her, anger growing. "I gave as good as I got! So if you give him a week then you give me a week too -- what the hell?!"
"You have the benefit of attenuating circumstances that he does not."
Naruto stares at her. So... He gets a pass on fighting, because he's ... Distraught? Emotional?
"Shit, no."
Tsunade scowls. "Language, Mister Uzumaki."
"Language, what the hell! You're not gonna punish just him for a fight we both had! What am I, some poor little cripple? I don't need to be coddled!"
Then there's more screams and he thinks at some point he must have gestured too wildly because her paper towers fly off the desk and spread all over the room.
Then he ends up in the corridor with Sasuke, waiting for his own parents. Eheh. Whatthefuckever.
They've been ordered to stay totally silent. Sasuke just shrugs and swings his leg, and Naruto thinks that if they'd been allowed to sit close enough for it to look natural, he would totally nudge Naruto's leg with his.
For a second it makes Naruto a little giddy, and he grins. Sasuke sneaks him a look like he has zero clue what's making him happy. For that matter, Naruto isn't very sure either. Hello, emo-gay-bastard rival here, it's kinda weird to get giggly at the thought he might have wanted to play footsie. Oh, if that's the kind of mood he gets in for a handjob, he doesn't want to know how ridiculous he'd get if a mouth was involved.
He tries not to think about that too har -- too much. Because it would be embarrassing to explain it to dad.
His dad.
"Oh shit."
He jumps on his feet; the secretary gives him a reproving frown. "Mister Uzumaki, what on Earth...?"
It's not her he turns to and explains, though; it's Sasuke, who's sitting there watching him with his eyebrow quirked up funny. "Dad's coming -- I gotta--"
"They sell hair dye at the corner store," Sasuke answers before he can finish, like it makes so much sense he doesn't know why Naruto even bothers trying to say it. It makes a grin bloom on Naruto's face, one he can't stop and he isn't even sure why.
"Tell them I'll be right back!" he yells as he takes off running down the corridor. He thinks Shizune is yelling something at him, but his feet make too much noise to make out the words. At least that's his story and he'll stick to it.
He heard Sasuke's "Like hell I will, tell them yourself" just fine, but he knows the bastard will make sure his parents know not to worry anyway.
For an asshole, Sasuke is kind of alright, really.
2.Kushina&Minato
Purple really isn't Namikaze Minato's color. Like, at all. It makes Naruto snicker, and his father roll his eyes and sigh in long-suffering tolerance.
His mom keeps playing with the purple strands and making comments about barrettes and sparkly hair gel.
They're still a little bemused, Naruto thinks -- they know their son pretty well, yeah, but after being called out in the middle of the afternoon for a so-called fight they didn't expect to find him enthusiastic about anything. More like sullen. (Or halfway to a panic attack. Like fuck. He's never having another panic attack ever again, and not only because Sasuke would sneer at him. Just because.. shit, he's just not going to. He's got a plan now.)
"Na-ru-to has two mom-mies," Kushina hums as she gathers a clump of hair to the side of her husband's head.
Naruto predictably cracks up. Minato sighs again, though the corner of his lip quirks up in a little smile.
"I'm glad to see you two in such high spirits," he says, and it's that way he has of being kind of sarcastic and yet completely sincere. He's nice, Naruto's dad, always has been. ... Also the purple hair really doesn't look intimidating anyway. It's really more lavender.
They're sitting at the kitchen table, a cozy round thing that lets their legs bump together. Naruto grins. He feels safe here. He hasn't felt very safe for the last week or so.
"So... Fight?"
Naruto lets out a loud put-upon sigh, though he knew he'd have to explain himself eventually. His parents would cut him a lot of slack if he needed it, but they also know when not to let him off the hook. It's annoying sometimes -- like, say, when he just doesn't feel like doing stuff he knows he should -- but he likes it too.
"Well, er." He rubs the back of his neck and chuckles. "Kinda."
His mother smiles back, happiness matching his own. "Something good happen?"
There's relief in her eyes too and for a minute he feels kind of choked up. Oh, mom. He never meant to worry her so bad. Reason two for not giving into the crazy psycho's fear tactics ever again.
Reason three is his pride. Reason one is no one hurts his mom like that and gets away with it.
"... Naruto?"
He realizes his fists are clenched and his chin up, and he shakes his head with an embarrassed chuckle. "Sorry, distracted. I mean -- yeah, something, I mean at the time it was kind of not pleasant but now I'm --" happy.
Not only happy. But determined too. That's almost better.
All because of Sasuke.
He gets up so fast his chair screeches on the floor. His parents give him alarmed looks; he waves a hand quickly. "No, no, it's okay, I just -- phone call, I'll be right back!" and for the second time today he races off pretending he can't hear being called back.
He's already in his bedroom when he realizes he doesn't have the phone number he needs, so he calls Sakura.
A second time when she doesn't answer the first. Then a third. Gah, quick, quick, he's dying here!
"Naruto, I'm in class!" she growl-whispers. "I swear I'll erase my number from your phone if you ever--"
Then she stops right in the middle of her usual threats, and her voice goes all soft with concern, which makes Naruto wince.
"Do you need...?"
"I'm fine, I just -- Sasuke's phone number!" he bursts out.
He can just about hear Sakura blinking at the other end of the call. "...Sasuke's?"
She knows they don't get along, of course, everyone does. Naruto growls, waving his hand in a hurry-up gesture she can't see. His parents aren't gonna wait three years and he needs to have that conversation now! "Yes, yes, come on, if anyone does you've got to have it!"
Sakura mutters something unflattering; Naruto dances with impatience on his bed as she answers some kind of question from the teacher, innocent as you please.
She gives it eventually, pretending like she has to look it up when they both know she knows it by heart. Naruto flings a "thank you" her way and hangs up, and dials again.
"Who is this?"
Sasuke's voice isn't exactly friendly, but neutral at least. Huh. Doesn't sound unpleasant... Gah. Naruto has more pressing concerns at the moment.
"Did we have sex?"
There's over ten seconds of silence from the other side, and then Sasuke gives sigh number twenty-three; 'Naruto Is A Dumbass Again And I Am Not Even Surprised'. "...It was just a handjob."
Naruto relaxes a little, flopping on his bed with his back slumped against the wall and his heels dangling off the side. "My mom says if we both orgasm it still counts and counting on penetration to define sex is, uh, what was it again -- phallocentric and misogynistic--"
"Since when are you a lesbian?"
"... Asshole."
Sasuke sighs again; this time a vaguely pained 'Oh God The Dumbassery Is Contaminating Me'. "Alright, whatever. Sex is orgasm plus an orifice of our choice. Okay? Okay. Sixty-nine is sex. Leg-humping isn't. I'm sorry to say you're still a virgin."
"... I don't know whether to say phew or aw crud."
"Goodbye, Naruto," Sasuke says pointedly, and hangs up on him.
Naruto pulls himself out of his bed and goes back to the kitchen, where his parents are still waiting with baffled looks on their faces. It's the badly hidden worry that gets him, though. He doesn't know what they're thinking he was thinking, but it's got to be so bad.
So really it just comes out.
"I think I've got a boyfriend."
His father gives a slow, slow blink, and then a slightly faster one. His mother says "Oh."
Then she says "Oh" again but with a completely different tone this time, and then she starts to smile in a slightly devious way. "Oh, really."
Naruto starts to blush. "I guess. It's -- really kind of weird. I didn't, I mean he just -- and then --"
"Is it that Uchiha boy?" she asks. "Yes, I rather thought so."
"Ah." His father shakes his head, bemused, like he has to pull his brain back on track. "Don't be silly, hon, they're ene...mies... Naruto?
Naruto is pointing accusingly at his mother. "How did you know?! I DIDNT KNOW!"
Kushina smirks her smug vixen smirk. "It's the hidden power of Vagina."
Naruto flinches. "Gah! Mom!"
Her eyes dance with restrained laughter. "I guess you wouldn't know. Especially now..."
"Mooooom!" Naruto whimpers, slumping on his chair.
Minato flushes and scratches his jaw as a not-that-distracting distraction. "I... did not expect that. Not that it's a problem at all!" he hurries to assure him." But I ... assumed you liked girls?"
Naruto flushes and then they match, except for the silly hair. "I still do. But -- I dunno. He's not so bad." He pauses, realizes what he just said. "No, wait, he's a total asshole! I mean it. And he's prissy and he's always better at everything and he makes it look so EASY and he always has to be sarcastic and argue and push all the time and argh!"
Minato looks more and more confused. Kushina leans on her elbows and smirks wider.
"But... Well."
Naruto stares at a pattern in the table, gathering his thought.
"I think... He pushes me because... He wants me to meet his expectations." Quietly, slowly figuring it out, wording it out loud. "Because he's sure I can. And that... I like that. Exceeding his expectations."
He thinks, when he had his little moment of epiphany -- that he wasn't broken, that he wasn't owned, that he wasn't going to give up -- Sasuke was proud. He shouldn't even care what Sasuke thinks of him, but he does, and he never wants to give up that kind of glow.
"... Also it's really fun to fight him." He grins. Oh, is it ever fun. He thinks it's going to get even more fun pretty soon. Groping used to be Sasuke's exclusive weapon.
Also kind of fucked up, if he tried to explain it, and he wants his parents to at least be able to imagine that his boyfriend treats him with all the thoughtfulness and niceties Naruto would probably barf at if he got them from Uchiha Sasuke. He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. "So, that's why. Tsunade thought we were fighting, but he was just -- talking to me. About last week." It barely hurts this time to mention it. There's still a rocky bump in the road, but it's not a chasm anymore. Not right now anyway -- maybe he'll backslide later, but he'll come back out again. "And he said some things, and I said some things, and okay, we kind of shoved each other around and I might have punched him in the face a bit, but -- I needed to hear it."
His parents mull over it for a couple of minutes.
"If he helped you, then... We're grateful." His mom must see he's getting twitchy; she doesn't try to ask what they talked, exactly. She just smiles, happy because he's happy. It makes him happier -- makes him forget the embarrassment and the simmering rage he's trying not to think about at the moment.
"It would be nice to have the occasion to express it in person," his father says almost innocently, and Naruto can see it coming and he only has two words for it -- "ahahaha" and "NO".
"Look at the time!" he exclaims with too much enthusiasm. "Man, I'll never finish my homework on time if I don't start now."
He's out of the kitchen before he's even done talking, and this time when he reaches his bedroom he turns up the music so he can have plausible deniability if they call again. Then he flops back on his bed and gives the ceiling a look of confused bedazzlement.
Shit. A boyfriend. How messed up is that. The word doesn't even seem to fit properly, but it's the only one he can use that his parents would get. Rival, foil, measuring stick -- they were all special, all important... but now he thinks he can add 'one who has my back' to the pile, and it's even more important than 'giver-of-mutual-orgasms.'
'Giver-of-mutual-orgasms' ain't half-bad as far as titles go. He imagines Sasuke's face at hearing it, and he laughs. Oh yeah. That works.
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I wish I had something clever to say but really, I just loved reading it xD
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Thank you, lovely. ♥
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I'm so glad you came back to this verse. These are brilliant. \(^o^)/ I especially enjoy the second one; Naruto's parents are wonderful, and the whole scene feels honest. I like the dialog, and Naruto's train of thought. And Kushina's 'hidden power of Vagina' is amazing ("How did you know? I DIDN'T KNOW!"). I also love the little details, like Sasuke's distinct sighs and Naruto's titles for Sasuke. This is touching, and funny, and truly well-done.
Man, I would love to see more ^_^
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The second one was loads better, yeah. I almost didn't write the first but it was a scene I had in my head so hey, might as well get it out... It's good these are low pressure ficlets, not like the original fic, otherwise i'd probably cut it out. >_>;;;
Naruto doesn't even realize how much he's CATALOGUED all of Sasuke's nonverbal communication cues that baffle most people, it's rather amazing. He can even tell the difference between various kinds of shrugs at a glance and he doesn't know that's a bit more attuned than most people are. XDDD
I like the way Naruto deals with his parents. It's made him a rather different boy in some ways as well. socute. ;.; Sasuke as well, since he still has his parents and brother, but they get to be subtly disappointed he's gay. (at least he reads them that way...)
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I've wanted Minato and Kushina stuff for a LONG TIME and coupled with this? and Sasuke saying "Sorry to say you're still a virgin" and Kushina's "It's the power of the Vagina."
asjflsk THANK YOU ♥♥♥
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I ... kinda love how i'm imagining Naruto's parents interacting with each other and with him. And now i'm starting to feel VERY tempted to write something with Kushina VS Sasuke. it would be kinda epic. *__* but, letting it develop for now and i'm not sure i'll write it... i'd like to, though.
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Just.. *_____*
ARE BIRTHDAYS MOTIVATION? NO? Okay XD
*plays with your hair*
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birthday? o.o
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..Plus hardly anyone's been in the writing mood or a Naruto mood. So it's like.. extra special that this even happened when I was wanting it. You're just that good X3
*paw, purr, love*
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Unngh. I love you, Asuka. Just know that you've killed me with this mini-verse in a totally spectacular fashion.
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And i'm getting more bunnies just answering people here! XD;;;; oh god.
Yay spectacular death! ... uh, wait. D:
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I do hope you write something else in this universe, though... Sakura could be very interesting, or more SasuNaru, or whateverhappenedtoItachi...
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Kushina smirks her smug vixen smirk. "It's the hidden power of Vagina.""
It's way late where I am. Thanks to this line, I had to bite my fist to keep from waking the house.
I am now bleeding blood of laughter >_>
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*loves on you* :3
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I loved seeing Minato and Kushina... and Tsunade's misplaced protectiveness. <3
And SASUKE YOU SO HOT. *_*
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Oh, Naruto.. this is just so him. SO him. Glad to see a revisit to this AU. Also enjoyed seeing Minato and Kushina - really wish there was more about/with them in the canon, but this is a good alternative. <3
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Minato and Kushina choke me with cute. I think i'll have to write more about them if only to get the sap out of my head. XD
thank you for the comment ^^
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Also, I love how Naruto has Sasuke's sighs both named and numbered.
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I think I'm in love with Kushina (and I'm a girl!). She seems like one of those awesome moms, loving with moments of crack silliness. She's probably also the types that doesn't mind embarrassing/teasing her family, for their own good of course.
*Like "The Talk"*
'Say it with me -- Vagina.'
...
'Get out from under the bed Naruto.'
And Naruto numbering the different types of Sasuke reactions ~___~' So cute and so dense.
Reading through these comments, I hope those bunnies take root. Sorry
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internet stalkerLivejournal newbie here... I read Teamwork and sequels on FF.net, followed links to here to find updates, and didn't quite feel articulate enough to leave comments before. But, reading the ficlet with Minato and Kushina - wow. A fanfic where characters have interesting, complex, sympathetic parents. A high school AU where the manga's Naruto-is-shunned-because-of-Kyuubi thing has a scary, fascinating, incredibly well-thought-out equivalent.So, yeah, thankyou very much for building up your PWP scene into this.
Also: I <3 Naruto's description of Minato: "it's that way he has of being kind of sarcastic and yet completely sincere". I can picture it, and, d'aww :3
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I'm glad you like the Minato and Kushina bit, I think so far it's my favorite scene of all (even the original. XD;; ) so it's always yay when people share that opinion. They're such awesome parents, it makes me all emo for manga!Naruto. I should write them more scenes. >__> Hmmm. *ponderyponder*
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But, heh, that's quite alright, your writing is awesome and deserving of random happy comments. Soyeah I'll probably drop by and go ":D!" at you at random intervals! And maybe be pedantic over grammar, because the thing I go and write essays about over term time is English Literature, and my nit-picking essay-checking mode gets stuck in 'on' over that time ^^
:D I'm glad you like them! They sound fun to write, and although Sasuke and Naruto's snarking is really entertaining to read, I've gotta say the two parents are probably my favouritest thing in the AU. They are just _awesome parents_; it's obvious they're worried about Naruto and trying their very best and that they're not letting that stop them be fun and cheerful and generally amazing. Also, the 'hidden power of the vagina' line won me over, and that snippet of Naruto telling Sasuke what his mom told him about misogynistic phallocentricism... I can just imagine her training her brash brat of a kid out of the dominant patriarchal ideology. With sarcasm, and embarrassing frankness about sex.
*covertly laying out a trail of lettuce for the plot-bunnies...*
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And of course, I love the last lines.
~Sara
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