damned_institute | Day 37: Breakfast

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Day 37: Breakfast

[for Sylar, I believe]

At the sound of the intercom, Wally jerked awake and blinked around at the room. He’d fallen asleep. He should have been up and keeping an eye open for ZEX, but he’d fallen asleep waiting on his bed.

“Idiot,” he groaned, ruffling his hair and sighing in annoyance. “Way to help a guy out, hotshot.” Hopefully ZEX hadn’t dropped by and thought he’d left or something, or wouldn’t be too mad at him for just forgetting about it like that. If he was lucky, he’d be able to catch up with the other patient at some point and explain what had happened.

Rolling himself a little awkwardly out of the bed, Wally took the opportunity to stretch his injured leg and test how well it was holding up. It was feeling a bit better, not so much that he could abandon his crutch or that it didn’t pull painfully if he wasn’t careful, but better. Tony had apparently made it through the night in one piece as well, which was a relief. He really didn’t feel comfortable about the thought of his roommate wandering about on his own with an injured arm. Not when Wally himself could relax and fall asleep in the apparent safety of their room.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to let himself forget that one in a hurry.

It was at that moment that the door swung open to admit one of the nurses. She seemed surprised to find him awake and ready to go already, but smiled warmly. “Hungry, are we Mr. West? Well in that case, let’s get you to the cafeteria. The staff have provided some delicious French Toast as well as a range of other foods I’m sure you’ll like. Now will you be needing a hand with your leg, dear?”

“No thanks, I can handle it,” Wally replied, smiling back. After all, it probably wasn’t the nurses’ fault that this place was so messed up, so it wasn’t like picking fights with them would do anything. With a cheery wave goodbye, Wally slowly made his way to the cafeteria, keeping a tight grip on his crutch all the while. Obtaining a plate of food was only slightly less difficult than it had been yesterday – he didn’t have the painkillers to work around this time – but he managed well enough, coming away from the buffet with a tray containing a plate piled high with slices of French Toast and slathered in maple syrup, butter, and sugar, as well as a glass of juice. Not quite as good as some coffee would be right now, but the sugar would hopefully make up for it. And, with how few people were here at the moment, he could afford to take more food than might have been considered ‘normal’ – he’d have most of it gone by the time anyone came to keep him company, then he could just worry about how many extra serves would be allowed before he aroused suspicion.

Feeling pretty happy with how things were looking so far, Wally hummed faintly to himself as he dug in to his breakfast.

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Naruto had to resist the urge to grin when Jiraiya brought up how he'd want to die. It was typical of him, but instead he made a face at him, to keep his usual front of 'You're an old man and a pervert!'.

"That's gross, Ero-sennin!" He said, pushing his plate away from him in emphasis. It was, somehow, reassuring to hear that Jiraiya had no plans on dying anytime soon. Naruto had never even worried about it, but it soothed him nonetheless (as if he hadn't realised it was a possibility but had still known).

"Good, 'cause either way I've still got training to do!"

Jiraiya actually laughed--yes, laughed--as Naruto pushed away his plate. They were both feeling obviously feeling better now. Naruto seemed like he'd bounce back up as usual, although Jiraiya knew he would need to talk to him some more.

At the mention of training, Jiraiya frowned a little in thought, leaning back and crossing his arms, "Training opportunities are limited, with our chakra sealed..."

He tried hard to think over what Naruto still needed training in that didn't require chakra. Naruto was good with taijutsu; he fought well in hand-to-hand combat. With their chakra sealed, practicing ninjutsu would be impossible. Naruto was horrible with illusions, and again, their chakra was sealed, so there was no point in going over genjutsu. Summoning was also out of the question.

There were, however, things that Naruto still needed practice with. Knots, picking locks, traps. But that would require Jiraiya to get the right equipment. It wouldn't be something that could immediately be practiced. Then, all at once, it occurred to him what Naruto needed to practice, more than anything of those other things.

Jiraiya smirked. "I know one thing we can practice immediately. Even during the daytime, perhaps. It's something you'll need as Hokage, and even as a Chuunin and Jounin."

"Really?! What is it?!" Naruto asked, excited.

He'd not forgotten the talk they just had, or the still swirling emotions he felt, but was feeling a little better, and pushed the rest aside for now. He wanted to find Sasuke, later, to ask him if he'd known anything. He wasn't sure why it seemed important to him that he talk to Sasuke about this -- it just felt like something he had to do, maybe because he still considered the other boy his best friend. He was aware he might be told to shut up or that Sasuke wouldn't care at all, but it didn't matter.

Focusing back on Jiraiya, he tried to think of what he could train for here. Anything chakra related was out of the question, and he didn't think he needed that much more training in taijutsu -- just practice.

"C'mon, tell me! What is it?!" Naruto paused, something suddenly dawning on him. "It's not perverted, is it?!"

Jiraiya laughed again as Naruto asked if it was perverted and at Naruto's excitement. He had missed Naruto's excitement at the idea of learning anything new. From what Jiraiya had heard about Naruto's academy years, it had been the exact opposite back then. Maybe they just didn't know how to inspire the brat, or maybe the teachers simply hadn't shown enough interest to get Naruto going.

"It's not something perverted," Jiraiya stated with a grin, and then he paused for dramatic effect (although, truthfully, he did it to annoy Naruto and make him squirm). "Although I don't think you'll like it much, either."

Once again, Jiraiya paused, looking distinctly amused, "Kanji."

Naruto's eyes widened and he suddenly wished he'd never brought up the subject of training. Kanji had always been dauntingly difficult in his eyes, and he'd never managed to learn more than the very, very basic ones. He knew enough to read while struggling once in a while, and that seemed enough to him.

"No," He whined, trying to look a pitiful as possible. "I don't need Kanji to be Hokage!"

"Yes, you do," Jiraiya's replied in his 'I'm the teacher, don't argue with me' voice. "Official documents contain large amounts of Kanji--you won't be able to read them, and people will think you're an idiot if you use Hiragana instead of Kanji, when Kanji would be more appropriate. People might get you to sign documents that they know you can't read, and that can put Konoha in danger. What would happen to the village if you signed a treaty that had unfavorable terms because you couldn't read it and didn't want to admit to it?"

Naruto wasn't getting out of this, now that Jiraiya had thought of it. One of the reasons why he had made Naruto read the manuscripts of his newest novels was to improve is reading comprehension, but Naruto was no where near the reading level that a Hokage would need.

"Dates, days of the week, and numbers aren't enough, Naruto," Jiraiya stated firmly. "You need to know everything else, too."

Naruto dropped his head against the table heavily, groaning. This would be a pain in the ass. He'd have kanji running around in his head all day and would get horrible headaches and would be haunted with them at night -- but he sighed and lifted himself off of the table again, pouting slightly.

He couldn't deny Jiraiya was right. Putting the village in danger because he didn't know how to read probably wasn't something he'd want to do.

"Fine," he grudginly accepted. "Only doing it for Konoha."

"Good," Jiraiya stated with a grin, and he started eating his food. "But you shouldn't injure your head when you're going to need it."

He then appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Sasuke already knows his Kanji, probably."

It would seem irrelevant to anyone unfamiliar with Naruto, but Jiraiya knew the impact those words would have.

Naruto perked up immediately, grinning. If Sasuke knew his...Naruto would too.

"Heh! I bet I'll catch up with him in one day!" He boasted, now wanting to start training now. He couldn't let Sasuke beat him in something else, again.

Speaking of Sasuke...Flashes of last night came to him, and he remembered that moment in the kitchen when Aidou had -- he wasn't sure what he'd been doing. But it involved latching into Sasuke's neck with his mouth, and as far as Naruto knew that was a rather intimate gesture.

"Oh, hey, Ero-sennin..." Naruto started, frowning a bit. Apparently there was something else Sasuke was beating him at, but he wasn't sure if it was something he wanted to compete over. "I think Sasuke got a hickey last night!"

Naruto actually only knew the meaning of the word because of the one book of Jiraiya's he'd managed to read. As boring as it had been, he'd retained some information.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes when Naruto boasted about how quick he'd learn all his Kanji, but he replied with a teasing voice anyways. "A week, maybe."

It'd be longer than that, and Jiraiya knew that. But it was amusing to watch Naruto seem so excited about something so simple. It wasn't hard to motivate the boy, at least. Teaching Naruto could have been far, far fworse.

Then, Naruto dropped a bombshell that made Jiraiya's mouth drop open. "EH?! Seriously? From who??"

"Aidou!" Naruto said, making a face. "We were in the middle of a mission and then when I turned around Aidou had his mouth on his neck. And Sasuke was all -- " Naruto paused, lowering his voice some and trying to imitate Sasuke's usual tone. "'Stay away, don't interfere!' It was weird."

But what was weirder was the urge he'd had to punch Aidou straight in the face and make him stay away from Sasuke forever.

Jiraiya blinked once, twice, three times as his brain processed that information. "Aidou....?"

He sighed, then shook his head. "Seems like Sasuke finally admitted to himself that he's gay."

Naruto eyes went as wide as saucers and he stood up quickly, nearly shrieking.

"WHAT? YOU KNEW?!"

A nurse glared at him and he sat down sheepishly, lowering his voice.

"Could he really...?"

"I suspected as much," Jiraiya stated, completely ignoring the fact that Naruto had stood up and nearly shouted that in his face. "He didn't seem the type to be interested in women. Either he'd be completely repressed and never want anyone, or he'd be gay."

Jiraiya paused for a moment between bites, holding his fork halfway up to his mouth. "I suppose there's a chance that he could end up bi. But, really. It's impossible for him to ever be just interested in girls."

Naruto could only stare at Jiraiya as he spoke, frozen on the spot and his eyes wide.

Was he actually...discussing his best friend's sexuality with his teac -- no, his godfather? And why the hell did Jiraiya seem so knowledgeable in what Sasuke would like or not like?

"Wh -- Why would -- Isn't he -- " Naruto stammered, and then decided to just shut up before his head blew up.

"You can tell just by looking at him, really--he's far too pretty and wears his hair completely differently than most men," Jiraiya replied, shrugging a little. "And by the way he acts. He's too melodramatic to be a straight man, and the rest of the time, he acts far too removed from his emotions. Straight men don't need to hide that much."

He took another bite, chewing it thoughtfully. "Most boys wouldn't have gotten so angry if their rival seemed to be stronger than them--he got pissed and petty, when most would've just taken it as a push to get stronger. It was almost like watching a cat fight when he challenged you on the roof."

Jiraiya had seen part of it, anyways, and it had been enough. Really, it was just obvious to him. Sasuke acted more like a woman than some women did.

"But that boy is so repressed that he wouldn't recognize his own sexuality if it dropped an entire gay bar on top of him," Jiraiya nodded, as if that was an absolute truth. "So, no, I'm not surprised."

Naruto laughed when as he listened, just so surprised at how much sense it was making.

"Oh, oh! And he wears really gay clothes! When I saw him again he was wearing this shirt that showed his chest and a purple bow thing that I think was holding a black skirt like other thing!"

It really shouldn't be making that much sense. But Sasuke was pre -- good looking, and looked a little girly, and something different about him then most guys did.

Naruto thought for a second, things clicking together. What if one of the reasons Sasuke had left was that he'd been afraid of what people would say?

"Maybe he does know, though..." He added, but it seemed weirder even.

He chuckled again, knowing the only way to know was to ask Sasuke himself. Now he definitely had to find him later during the day.

It was only unamusing in the sense that Naruto wasn't sure what Sakura would think of it. He hoped she wouldn't be upset.

Jiraiya laughed at Naruto's description of Sasuke's clothes. Definitely gay. Had to be. Skirt, bow, open shirt. Yeah, completely gay.

He was snickering openly by the end of it. "Okay, maybe he has some clue."

And then, a horribly amusing thought occurred to Jiraiya. "With that outfit, and his arm around your shoulder that time..."

He tilted his head back, putting down his fork to cross his arms again, looking distinctly amused. "And he let you see what Aidou was doing to him."

Jiraiya grinned wider. "Well, I guess it makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

So what if he was saying all of this purely to horrify Naruto? It was funny. Really damn funny. And the boy needed to be teased, anyways. Wasn't that a sacred godfatherly duty, or something like that?

"Explains why he was so obsessed with beating you," Jiraiya nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "He was worried about not being dominant enough."

There was no way that Naruto was stupid enough to not realize that Jiraiya was completely bullshitting him. Because he was, and it was obvious. He even made sure to have the right tone of voice to hint to that....

Naruto gaped as Jiraiya's words sunk in.

That was impossible. Just not right. Sasuke hated him, he wasn't -- He brought both of his hands to his hair, tugging at it with eyes wide.

"You think he likes me?!" Naruto shrieked, loudly enough for a nurse that was walking by to stop and ask if there was a problem, syringe in hand.

Jiraiya blinked at Naruto rapidly and then slowly brought a hand up to his face, letting his head drop into it. He let out a sigh, and didn't answer for a minute or so. How could he have forgotten that Naruto was Naruto.

"I was teasing," Jiraiya stated at long last, dropping his hand from his face--and then he grinned a bit. "We hope, anyways. Never know with Sasuke...."

Maybe he should roll with this. Yes, he should. It would be a laugh.

"He didn't lean on anyone else, did he? Although, by the sounds of it, it could have been more like a hug..." Jiraiya appeared thoughtful, again trying not to laugh. "You both have always been rather focused on each other, too. It's quite possible that he could have misinterpreted your interest in him along the way...."

If Naruto was actually going to believe him, Jiraiya was going to have fun with it. Served Naruto right.

"But you have nothing to worry about," Jiraiya stated, grinning wider. "It's not like he's kissed you before or anything."

There was a desperate, sort of high whimper when Jiraiya brought up kissing. Naruto quickly covered his mouth with his hands hoping the old man hadn't heard that and wouldn't inquire about it.

There was no way he'd tell him about that after what they'd just talked about. If Jiraiya was convinced Sasuke liked him Naruto would be teased about it forever, he knew.

And besides. It just -- wasn't possible.

Right?

There was only one thing that high-pitched whimper could mean.

Jiraiya's jaw slowly dropped open. "... You've... You've...."

He swallowed, then stared at Naruto. "He kissed you?"

There was no way he was going to let Naruto get out of talking about this. He wanted to know--he needed to know more now! Just because he was a straight man didn't mean he could ignore something as hilarious--he refused to call it "juicy"--as this!

Naruto's face flushed bright red and he flailed, shrieking again.

"It was an accident! Someone pushed me and I...landed...on his lips..." He said, before dropping his head hard against the table and groaning, mortified. He could feel his ears going redder, and he wished he could hide under the table and wait for it all to go away.

"Oh," Jiraiya stated, still dumbstruck, and then he began to snicker. "I see. It was an accident."

He gave Naruto a pat on the back, grinning a bit. "The telling part is if he punched you. He did, right? Any straight man would've punched your lights out, even if it wasn't your fault."

Jiraiya wasn't serious about this, after all.

"It..." Naruto started, voice squeaking, so he cleared his throat and mumbled instead. "It happened here, too, remember? On the bus..."

He flushed further afterwards, realising that he'd not been punched either of those times.

And that was a bad sign, right? Or a good one?

He wasn't sure.

"He...didn't punch me either times."

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