{sasuke}

Sasuke knew he was closely observing every stretch and every shift in Naruto's back, especially his butt, as they walked the short distance to wherever it was they were going; he couldn't help it, it was a great sight, he had no regrets.

He took a moment to thank whatever holy entity ensured Naruto having bought those wonderful jeans that molded just so. He could see the way the slightly faded parts seemed to be in all the right places, giving more dimension for him to enjoy thoroughly. He momentarily entertained the fantasy of seeing the fabric rumple and he gets to peel them off.

The urge to touch was so strong that his hands tightened on Kurama's leash as the two of them trailed slightly behind Naruto who led the way. Restraint was never one of Sasuke's qualities, but for Naruto, he could wait. He could wait a year if he had to. He could wait for ten. He didn't want to, but he could. It wasn't his wish in any way for Naruto feel anything less than appreciated and dinner was a great place to start.

Naruto, on his part, had not stopped raving about the place they were headed to since they left.

"Ichi Raku crafts its own beer. And, Sasuke, get this, it specializes in noodles. Just noodles." His pitch got high with disbelieving excitement. "All kinds, German, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, you name it they have it. Egg noodles, pad thai, rice vermicelli, udon, spaghetti. Every. Thing."

Sasuke liked the fact that Naruto had chosen a place he definitely liked. So, the date wasn't about impressing Sasuke, but instead, sharing parts of himself and introducing Sasuke to his own tastes and likes. It was Naruto caring about what he thought, wanting his opinion on this place he clearly liked very much, as opposed to taking him to some place fancy and trying to impress him.

He got them a table and a few treats for Kurama even before Sasuke was in the door. Kurama had been patient as a saint the whole time, whereas it was Naruto who was bouncing off the walls. Sasuke wondered faintly if he'd see a tail sprout from his back and start wagging.

Kurama was content to simply nibble on his food before going off to socialize, much to Sasuke's surprise. Naruto didn't seem bothered that his dog was going about on his own, probably because the place wasn't too crowded as it was a Wednesday night.

As Naruto walked across the big room to their table Sasuke became acutely aware of how the more attentive gazes latched onto his date.

What an acutely strange talent he had. No one was safe when Naruto was in the room. Sasuke could only describe it as having a gaping void open up in front of you and you could only hope to fill the vacuum until you were pressed up against the tan-skinned cause of it.

A table to the far end grabbed his attention, when a game of Jenga came to an abrupt end, the small tower of blocks toppled over when the person whose turn it was caught sight of something. The other players looked at the loser wondering what the issue was, and then they redirected their sight on whatever he was looking at - who just so happened to be Naruto, having beat Sasuke to their table and pulling out a chair for him with a teasing grin.

It was terrifying in an unusually mundane way. Here he was, in an extremely awkward social situation, being observed as the date of the very attractive, model guy who just walked in. People were probably comparing his extremely ordinary and slightly tired look and comparing him to Mr. All Smiles.

And yet there was still no other place he'd rather be than in front of that grin, causing it. Sasuke, who'd spent most of his time perfecting the art of blending into the background found himself craving attention. Just from Naruto, but he still wanted that attention. The idea of ever losing it stole his breath away, in a bad way.

He'd been hoping to be nondescript enough to not attract unwanted attention. Too late for that now. Sasuke, a long-time member of the wallflower community, had hoped at least to be missed by being overshadowed by Naruto's sunny and loud disposition, but instead, their contrast made them even more so a spectacle, it seemed.

The light from Naruto highlighted Sasuke and the darkness shrouding Sasuke like a cape added depth to Naruto's nuances.

So there were more people looking and that put Sasuke on edge. Even though they were just checking Naruto out - and why shouldn't they? The jacket he was wearing ended just above his hips, the shirt wasn't very long either so all eyes zoned in on that broad horizon of the shoulders and, subsequently, that heavenly butt.

Maybe it was just Sasuke because he himself wanted to see if he could get Naruto to bend over and attempt to balance a glass of water on that perfect ass.

Holy shit, this is going to be a long night.

~

Naruto looked around and waved to a waiter who promptly appeared with the menus. Anyone else would have had to sit and wave and call out for a few minutes but clearly, even the waiter's eyes had been glued to Naruto.

"I generally can't stand beer, but, this place does a nice Apple Cider. I assume you want something vile and bitter, though... Don't worry, babe, I got you. One Apple Cider and one Belgian Dubbel, please."

The waiter nodded and was gone in a second.

"Hold on, I don't want a double."

"Shh, relax, that's just its name."

"How did you figure I'd want something bitter?" Sasuke asked as he observed the way Naruto's shirt stretched across his arms and shoulders when the blond leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile playing on his lips.

"I asked." Was the simple reply.

"Whom?" Sasuke asked, half-distracted by how the lighting, in general, was dull but the light above their table made for a singularly bright spotlight for golden hair. Shadows deepened and clear blue eyes cut through them. To Sasuke's great surprise Naruto's attention hadn't wavered from him even for a second, even more surprisingly the man was enjoying himself.

That kind of unconscious joy on his face made Sasuke want to keep it there forever.

"Shisui, Itachi, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo. Oh, and Kakashi. Just to cover all the basis." Naruto shrugged. "I figured an audience vote was valid because you're bad at volunteering that kind of info."

And so, suddenly, there was a menu in his hands, had the waiter left it? Sasuke wouldn't be able to tell if you paid him. If the other people in the room had a hard time looking away from Naruto, they had no idea what it was like being the one with all the blue-eyed focus on him. He was magnetized, unable to drift further than an allocated orbit.

"I also gleaned that you have a love-hate-love relationship with tomatoes. This place does spaghetti. Do you want some sun dried tomatoes in Arrabiata, or, do you want to try some Miso Ramen with me?"

Naruto punctuated the question with a smile. Sasuke felt like smiling back. Sasuke felt a new rip in his walls and he paid no mind to them. All these feelings layering upon each other endlessly and the walls could tumble down around him at break-neck speed and he wouldn't mind.

At this rate, Naruto could rip his heart out and Sasuke would let him, just so that he'd get to watch Naruto perform the task itself because it would be a sight to behold. Sasuke took a big, slow gulp of water, wondered if choosing Miso Ramen would get him bonus points.

"We can order two different things and share both too," Naruto suggested with a smaller smile there for some reason. "Or we could both try something new. I wonder what is this Mee Goreng?" Naruto was pulling off this one-sided conversation flawlessly.

Sasuke wondered if Naruto practiced one-sided conversations to be so good at them. He also pondered if being more experimental and outgoing would get him bonus points.

"Nee, Sam-chan, if you don't like noodles we can totally go somewhere else. I don't mind at all." Naruto peered at him over the menu, were those blue eyes always that big and open? Or had they been pried so for the added benefit of watching Sasuke struggle to combat their effects?

Naruto, do you know what you do to me? "I will eat anything you feed me, Naruto," Sasuke admitted. Poison or ambrosia, it's your pick.

"I'm not fussy, it's a bad idea to be fussy about food when it comes to survival."

Naruto studied his face for a bit then nodded. Sasuke watched the minute changes in Naruto's face as he read him and Sasuke had the urge to...smile. "Okay, yes, I agree. But... now we have the luxury to be picky, Sasu-chan."

Sasuke's blood rushed and hear pumped and cheeks pulled at the corners of his lips. He felt like smiling. Rather than hide, he wanted to expose himself to Naruto. Share with the man who he really was and learn, in return, about him.

The feelings bubbling in him choked him up a bit. And it was just the first date. Would he get used to it as time went on? Or would he simply get more emotional as the time went by?

~

Sasuke's eyes graphed every inch of exposed personality to a permanent recorder in the back of his mind. So as to forever have them within reaching distance to constantly remind him why fighting to stay alive had been the best course of action all those years ago.

Even the way Naruto ate, simply the way his lips parted for chopsticks was hell on Sasuke's tightly wound restraint. Had Naruto made it his life's goal to cut rips at the only seal holding Sasuke back from jumping him? Because he needed the feel of the man. Needed the feel of his skin, to hear and feel the reaction when he did.

The only seconds of relief came when the waiter would disturb them and tear Sasuke's laser focus away from Naruto long enough to get a breath, before he was gone and Sasuke was blissfully drowning in Naruto again.

Lost, lost in Naruto, so completely, contently lost. Sasuke was so lost that he spilled half of his second drink, right onto Naruto's shirt.

For a long, distended moment where time warped - and so did distance so he could save the image of Naruto in a soaked shirt for the benefit of all involved - he came to believe he was having a nightmare. He'd never been clumsy. He was very particular about his movements, he was self-possessed enough to know where every limb was at every moment.

How the drink had spilled was beyond him. He was surprised enough that it took him five minutes to apologize. Five minutes Naruto had thankfully spent laughing at Sasuke's utter embarrassment.

"Kick me if I'm wrong, Sasuke, but are you nervous?" he asked with a joyous glint in his eyes, his grin teasing again.

Sasuke found himself agreeing with the tempted devil within him that suggested this very grin could probably save him on his deathbed or deal out the final blow.

When no reply was forthcoming Naruto buckled down and looked him in the eyes for a long, deep-diving second. "You generally are very quiet but you're even quieter today. You're generally very aware but you seem lost in yourself a bit. What's on your mind?"

"You," Sasuke said.

"Me?" Naruto's slight frown was gone in an instant. "Do tell."

"Okay, it is my thinking that if you choose to simply touch me, I am confident I'll explode into flames."

Two blue eyes looked like gems the size of the Pink Panther each. "That doesn't sound good."

"Maybe, maybe not, but dear God, I want it." Sasuke tried not to rasp when he spoke but his throat was dry again. He took another swallow of water.

Naruto gulped, his face showcasing that the comment had not fallen on deaf ears. "Are you... hitting on me?"

"I'm just being honest; if you feel hit on, then that's just a happy coincidence." Sasuke shrugged. His skin tingled, his hair was standing on end with excitement.

Naruto laughed. "You sneaky bastard. And I was starting to really worry!"

"Hmm, where did you get those pants?"

"Just a store near my house, why?"

"I want to peel them off you so much:"

Naruto flushed a beautiful pink and played with his glass to buy some time before replying. "Well, I'm going to have to peel the shirt off anyway."

Sasuke flushed this time. Did he go there too soon, what else could he have said? A plethora of better options, he'd bet. Was he ruining the night? He didn't want to ruin it. He'd never felt his heartbeat in his throat in a good way. "I'm really sorry...I don't--"

"No, no, I just meant... It'd be a damn shame to peel the shirt off but leave the pants on..." Naruto's voice sounded like sin as his tone got all rough and soft while saying anything remotely suggestive.

Sasuke felt the light bulb blink on in the back of his mind then promptly short-circuit. He couldn't believe his ears, was this just flirting or was it a promise? Because, good god, he might die if it was just talk.

Not that he was just after sex. Just that he's never wanted someone enough to want sex with them at all. Was the intensity with which he wanted the man before him even normal?

Sasuke had to stop Naruto from ordering a third round of drinks. "I want every moment to be crystal clear." he remarked, and that had been that.

The food was good. No, it was great. Sasuke was impressed even though that wasn't the sole reason they were here. Sasuke didn't think he was likely to visit the place by himself though. It was more of a restaurant to visit for special occasions. Or maybe it was because of the fact that his first visit was a special occasion, and now he'd never see it outside that emotional context.