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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"W-What? Why would he do that?!" Naruto asked, his voice a little higher than usual.

This conversation was just plain weird, and he wasn't sure he liked what it was implying.

Even if, deep down, he felt an odd satisfaction at the possibility, but he wasn't aware that that's what it was, instead thinking he was just glad to know another side of Sasuke.

He was learning more here than he'd ever had back in their world.

Jiraiya shrugged innocently, "Beats me. You'll have to ask him. But he'll probably try to punch you."

He went back to eating, figuring that Naruto needed a break before his brain imploded. At least Jiraiya knew he'd have something to amuse himself with for the next couple of days. It would keep him sane.

"Tell me how it goes," Jiraiya snickered, taking a drink.

Naruto's head heavily fell right back to the table as he groaned again. He knew Jiraiya found the situation amusing, and he'd think of a way to get him back for that. Later.

For now, he had to find Sasuke and hope he'd get answers, hopefully avoiding a broken nose.

"Ugh, you're having way too much fun, Ero-sennin."

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about dying of boredom," Jiraiya stated with a snicker, then shoved Naruto's tray towards him. "You should eat, kid."

He looked thoughtful again for a moment. "You know, now that you know I'm your godfather, I can do horrible things to you. Like make you eat your vegetables."

"Yup, definitely way too much fun," Jiraiya confirmed with a firm nod before he started to eat his food once again.

Naruto sat up quickly, glaring at Jiraiya.

"You wouldn't," he said, before taking a bite of what was left of his breakfast. "No way I'm eating vegetables, old man!"

Kakashi had tried, but Naruto had barely taken a bite of anything his teacher had brought him. His fridge was only there for the milk he drank with his ramen in the morning, and most of the time it expired before he finished it.

It was a litte pathetic, but it was all Naruto knew.

"And you wonder why you're shorter than Sasuke," Jiraiya smirked after taking another drink. "You need vegetables to grow strong and tall. It's like training--you might not like training at the time, but you like the results. Why do you think I made you eat different things when we were training?"

He sounded distinctly amused, probably because he was. "With some of that stuff, you were eating vegetables and didn't even know it. And they didn't taste that bad, did they?"

Jiraiya figured he should probably tell Naruto about Sakura, but he had to finish teasing first. After this, then.

"Hey! I'm not that much shorter!" Naruto objected quickly, scowling. "S'not like I can eat ramen here, anyways," Naruto continued, a little dejectedly as he poked at the food in his plate. Nope, definitely not ramen.

"I didn't know what they were, of course they didn't taste bad!" Naruto sighed, taking a drink from his glass. He should have expected for Jiraiya to have tricked him into eating things he didn't normally, but he'd whined enough back then whenever the man had refused to let him have his ramen.

Jiraiya continued to be amused, "You're acting like I poisoned you."

He sat back, finished with his breakfast. Naruto was happier now, and Jiraiya was glad for that. It was much more "normal".

After a moment, a thought occurred to Jiraiya, and his smile grew a bit softer, "If I recall, your mother loved ramen, too. She craved it even more when she was pregnant with you. I remember Minato complaining about it to me."

Naruto finished his own plate, taking a last drink before he turned toward Jiraiya, curious at the mention of his parents. It didn't bring forth any anger, so he was happy at that, and happier still to now be able to learn random facts about the two people who'd brought him to life.

"Really? I guess I took it from her, then!" Naruto said with a chuckle and a grin.

"Tsunade thinks you take a lot after her, actually," Jiraiya stated with a grin. "Or, at least your mouth does. And probably your personality, too. A real tomboy when she was young."

"Although being pregnant with you calmed her down a lot," Jiraiya chuckled. "Minato was worried that all of her energy was being siphoned into the kid. You were loud even as a newborn, so I guess he was right."

It was easier now, to take about it; even still, Jiraiya's grin weakened as he continued, his voice a bit quieter. "You were luckily asleep the time I got to hold you. ... And then you woke up a few minutes later just to barf on me."

Jiraiya realized he was rambling, and looked embarrassed. Wow, he really was getting old.

Naruto laughed, amused. Throwing up on Jiraiya as a baby...so he'd known what kind of man Jiraiya was even back then.

"I guess I was bothered by how much of a pervert you are!"

Although, now, Naruto would never think that lowly of him. Sure, the man was a pervert, but so was Kakashi-sensei in his own way. Jiraiya was his godfather, and he was one of the strongest shinobi Naruto knew.

Jiraiya snickered, "I hadn't even written my first perverted novel back then!"

It was good to see Naruto happy again. The boy's mood was infectious, for better or for worse. He was one of the reasons why Jiraiya could put his life on the line--he was someone that Jiraiya had to protect for as long as possible.

Speaking of protecting, he remembered what had happened last night. And whom he had met. Jiraiya's face grew serious.

"... I met Sakura here last night," Jiraiya stated, not sure if he was happy or not about that fact. "It's seems that she came in with the new patients."

Naruto stiffened, turning to Jiraiya, mouth set and brow furrowed.

"What?! She's -- " He paused, needing to gather his thoughts a little before speaking (for once).

So Sakura was here too? He wasn't if he was happy about that; he didn't like the idea of her being here, when it was far from safe. He would probably get punched, as she was perfectly capable of defending herself, but his first reaction was definitely worry and fear of what could happen to her.

He glanced around the room but didn't see her, his eyes narrowing as they passed over Itachi, who was sitting alone. Another swept of the room showed Aidou and Sasuke talking together and Naruto's glare intensified, directed at Aidou's back. He was sitting too close. This was breakfast, what was with these two, always on each other at the must inappropriate times?

Naruto would have slapped himself out of it if he'd been alone, but instead he shook his head and spoke softly.

"Is she okay?"

Jiraiya watched Naruto search for Sakura, and would have started searching himself, but he saw Naruto's glare focus and intensify on Aidou's back. He couldn't help but smile softly. Was Naruto actually jealous? Even if Naruto didn't realize it himself, Jiraiya at least knew that he was being possessive of Sasuke. Interesting...

This would give him a lot of material for his next book! Mind you, he'd have to make the boys into lesbians within the book, but the general plot could still work out. And obviously older, too, because he didn't want to get in trouble. These uniforms wouldn't do, either--they'd have to be in dresses, probably short ones....

Naruto speaking up once again broke Jiraiya out of his miniature plotting session, and he found himself looking down at him again. The boy was back to being quiet, looking worried.

"She seemed fine to me," Jiraiya reassured Naruto, turning his chair to look at his student--no, godson--better. "She's in denial about some of the stuff I told her, perhaps, but that's normal for anyone who's new here. I made sure she knew about Sasuke."

"You told her? How'd she -- she got upset, didn't she?" Naruto asked, worried and brow furrowed. There was a helplessness that came with the knowledge that their teammate had become blind, and that neither of them had been there to stop it.

He knew Sakura cared even more than he did about Sasuke, in a really different way, so it must've been a blow to her also.

Jiraiya smiled weakly. "She threatened to go without me if I wouldn't help find you two immediately."

"She didn't know whether to be mad or upset about hearing Sasuke was blind," Jiraiya continued after a moment, sighing and shaking his head. "But either way, she'll probably want to accompany you to the basement during nightshift. She seemed pretty determined."

"Shit," Naruto breathed, discontent with the fact that Sakura would be trapped here, too. At the same time it comforted him some, because it was Sakura, and her presence always made him a little happier.

He just didn't want anything to happen to her, and the burns on his side tingled at the thought, reminding him that this was nothing, and he could have been much more badly wounded.

"I'll have to try and find her later," he said, taking a last drink from his glass.

"She's strong, Naruto," Jiraiya reassured him, knowing what was worrying Naruto. "Tsunade taught her."

"And you can find her later, she doesn't find you first..." Jiraiya grinned a little.

He then thought of an idea that made him grin wider. "You'd better hope that Aidou doesn't give Sasuke another hickey while she's there. She's a lot more likely to kill Aidou than you are. ... ... Hmm. Probably shouldn't tell her that Sasuke's probably gay, either."

"I know," Naruto said, sighing and picking at the food on his plate. "I'll be there if she needs it though!" He added with a grin, that died off quickly when Jiraiya brought up that subject again.

"He'd better not! She'd punch them both," Naruto said, glaring at the two sitting a couple of tables away. They were still talking in hushed tones and Naruto wanted to walk to that table and sit down with them to interrupt, and loudly boast about how he was Sasuke's best friend forever.

"...Should ask him about it first before saying anything," he added in a mumble, knowing that if Sakura got upset and it turned out it wasn't true, he'd be the one in trouble.

"You probably should," Jiraiya agreed, a bit surprised that Naruto had been that thoughtful--there was still hope for the boy learning how to be subtle yet.

He ruffled Naruto's hair. "She would punch them both, though. Sasuke would find out just how much stronger she's gotten the hard way."

The look on Sasuke's face would be hilarious, though.

Obviously, he'd have to write all four of them as lesbians in his book, and they'd have to be older... but, oh man, this was good inspiration. It was a perfect situation. He liked it!

If Naruto could read minds, he'd probably have screeched at Jiraiya and hit him already. Thankfully, he couldn't, so he just laughed at the idea of Sasuke finding out how strong Sakura's punch had gotten the hard way.

"Man, that'd be funny! I almost want it to happen now!" He grinned, eyes still on Sasuke's table, but much more amused this time. The bastard deserved it.

"You and me both," Jiraiya snickered. "She'd probably break his jaw, though...."

He shrugged, as if it didn't worry him too much. Which it didn't, really. Sasuke probably would deserve it.

"He'd deserve it!" Naruto said, reading Jiraiya's mind. He'd get a good laugh out of it, of course, depending on just how hurt Sasuke was.

He didn't want him hurt that badly. At least not right now.

"Read my mind," Jiraiya snickered. "And--"

He stopped, blinking as he noticed that the shift was almost over. He looked around, then reached over to ruffle Naruto's hair hard. If he remembered, Naruto and him would be going to different sections. It was time for a shower, and damn, did Jiraiya ever want one.

"Shift's ending," Jiraiya sighed, glancing to Naruto and pushing the photograph towards Naruto. "Make sure to take this with you."

Naruto glanced at the picture, smile faltering some but taking it and keeping it tightly in his hand.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, giving Jiraiya a small smile. "I'll talk to you later sometime today."

Day 37: Breakfast

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