Body Heat

15 | deeper I dive

{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.