Naruto

Dinner with Ino's parents is as uneventful as it always was. Except tonight they decided to stay home instead of their usual restaurant of choice.

"Thought I'd try something new and whip something up myself tonight." Ino's enthusiastic, but delusional, mother chirped as she dug into her sad excuse of a meal.

Meatloaf is what she had called it, but I'm pretty sure meatloaf isn't supposed to look like chunky fruitcake. Seriously, she could've just ordered take out, I didn't care. I'm not someone they had to impress, I ate microwavable ramen out of styrofoam cups.

Her dad gives me another disappointed look, like his daughter could do so much better, and while I don't doubt it, it still makes me feel like shit.I just wished he could save it for when I wasn't there, even my mom had the decency to wait until Ino was gone to talk shit about her.

"Enjoying your meal?" He asked, daring me to deny her. I'm not a liar, I just sometimes like to spare people's feelings.

I bit my cheek and smiled through chewing, "Loving it, actually."

"Aw! Have some more!" She jumps out of her seat to hand me another slice before I can decline.

I look down at my plate with a grimace. Seriously, was she trying to kill me?

"You on a diet too?" Her dad asked, hitting two birds with one stone. Ino rolled her eyes and picked at her food pointedly.

I took another bite because her dad was staring me down, and then felt something pop in my mouth. Instead of spitting that shit out, I responsibly bit my tongue, and hummed out of pleasure.

Her mom's face lit up.

I should consider being an actor.

I look over to my right and to see Ino throwing her fork at her plate disgustingly.

"Ino, honey, finish your dinner." Her mother urged, eyeing her eating habits wearily.

"You call this dinner?" She sneered and I had to bite the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't laugh.

Ah, there was my girlfiend the unapologetically blunt straight up brutally honest girl i was in love with. I wondered where she was all dinner.

She and her mom were in some staring match until Ino got up, I guess she lost. "We'll be in my room."

They exchanged sighs before resuming their meals. Seriously did these people even have taste buds?

I gave them a tight lipped smile and wait for the nod from her father before I follow her up the stairs.

"Open door, Ino." Her mom called from downstairs before Ino slammed her door shut.

"God ,she's such a loser, I'm sorry my mother is incapable of cooking."

"Hey, that's okay," I said "It wasn't that bad."

I was lying my ass off and she knew it. I didn't even know why I bother anymore.

"Think I'd be a better mother to our kids?" She says into my ear, her hand working its way down my fly.

I hate when she says stuff like that. Literally nothing turns me off more than baby talk.

"Maybe," I replied, putting my hands over hers, trying to halt them. I didn't have to, her hands froze when I'd answered.

"What?"

I knew she was about to make a mess out of this.

"Nothing." I insisted, smiling at her growing frown.

"What did you mean by 'Maybe'?"

"I don't know." I wish she'd let it go already.

She crossed her arms. "You obviously do, you said it."

"Ino, who cares? Just let it go."

"I will when you tell me what you meant."

"How is that letting it go?"

"How is it not?"

I resist the urge to push her off of me and sigh.

"I just meant that you might be a better mother. I have no way of knowing if you'd actually be a better mother, because you aren't one yet. That's all." I explained it so well, and just when I think she's about to bite and let it go, she scowls.

"'That's all'?" She repeats, "Do you honestly believe I'd raise our children as badly as she did me?"

"Hey, you came out alright." I shrug, lying again.

"You honestly think I'd be as bad as she is? If not worse?" She asks, walking around her bedroom, throwing stuff around.

"I didn't say that."

"You said, and I quote, 'I have no way of knowing if you'd actually be a better mother,'"

"Right, because you aren't one yet." I fill in, reminding her of my reasoning. There's no way she can spin this back at me, no putting words in my mouth this time.

She's pacing around the room, taking all this in. Working on a retort that won't work.

"Well then," She says finally, "I think it's about time I was."

Something rasped out of my throat that was between a gasp and a laugh. One: She was crazy. Two: It was one thing to talk about the future, that I could handle. But trying to rush it and make it all happen right now? During high school?

She looking at me expectantly, same look as her daddy, daring me to deny her.

"You can't be serious." Is the only reply I can manage.

"Why not?" She asks, getting closer. "Don't you love me?"

"Well," I sputter and I know I've lost already, "Yeah, but only you. I don't want to love a baby too."

"What?" She snaps.

I should've worded that differently. "That came out wrong," I say, trying to console her. It's too late though, she's already throwing shoes and kicking me out.

I needed to calm her down before her dad came upstairs for me.

"Ino, chill." I say, barely missing a red heel from hitting me square in the eye.

She's not listening, she just keeps throwing more things. A stick of deodorant, a hairbrush, a bottle of lotion, and a glass vial of perfume. I caught them all and juggled them momentarily, she liked it when I fooled around like that.

She wasn't amused. I could tell by the roll of condoms she'd taken advantage of throwing at my face while my hands were full.

"Guess we don't need these anymore, huh? You don't love or want to have sex with me anymore."

That wasn't true, I loved having sex with her. I set the items down gently on her bed, kicking the condoms under the bed in case her parents came in, while she goes on with her rant. I wasn't listening, all I could think about was how I was going to somehow manage getting her to let me back in, without all this baby bullshit. In the end, I came up with nothing.

"Do you understand me?" She asked once she was done.

I stayed quiet because I really couldn't remember what she was even talking about. She knows this.

"Get out."

"Ino, c'mon," I start, only to be tugged back by a hand on my shoulder. It was her dad's death grip on me. I was so glad I thought of kicking those condoms.

"Time to go home, son." He says, leading out the room and down the stairs.

Ino doesn't say a word. She's usually screaming out the same song she's been singing at me when I try to leave. Not this time. I'm worried by the time I'm outside on her porch alone.

I don't really know what just happened, but I'm pretty sure I just got dumped.

I end up in Sasuke's room for the first time in my entire life. I knew where he lived but he never let me inside his house when we were younger.

The walls are blue, unsurprisingly, with framed comic posters and a neat calendar. He's got Spiderman sheets and a stuffed jellyfish on his bed.

I was about to call him out on the boyish room before I realized he was probably still a kid before he left, probably didn't have time to revamp it.

"Thanks for letting me in," I say, because I'd only just realized how awkward I was being while looking around the room quietly.

"No problem." He says and while his socks slide on the hardwood floor, urging me to get situated. It was actually really nice of him to let me drop by, all unexpectedly, I appreciate him not asking any questions.

The room smells clean, and it's really hard to believe it was his when we hated each other. The fucking kid with a Charmander piggy bank hated my guts.

"You wanna listen to music?" He asks when I'm silent again.

"Sure." I shrug and take a seat on the floor because his bed is only a twin.

I don't even know what I was expecting to be playing from Sasuke's stereo, but it definitely wasn't Queen. He nods his head to the beginning notes of I want to break free.

He takes a look back at me and laughs. Sasuke is a fucking weirdo.

"You remember," he says through snickers, "that girl we were talking about? The one from third grade?"

"The weird one?" I reply, trying to follow him.

"She's cool." He insists, warning me. "Well yeah, her, Hinata, she was here a couple nights ago, right where you're sitting." I perk a brow at that. This very spot on the floor and not the bed?

"Really?"

"Yeah." He frowns suddenly and jumps on his bed, "I don't know what the problem with my bed is. You can sit on it, you know."

"Yeah," I say, remaining in place. "Did anything happen?"

He hummed, "Kinda, not really."

I don't know what he means by kinda or not really. I don't know what he considers action or his threshold. I barely know this guy.

"So... no?" I scratch my head.

"Nope, I mean, not if you count second base as something."

I do, actually. What the fuck is wrong with him? "Nice." I nod. He snorts at my thumbs up and returns a middle finger. He thinks it's hilarious and it is kinda funny because this is so weird.

"Asshole." I laugh back. I just got dumped, I'm kinda at a loss of friends.

"Anyways," he clears his throat. "I think I got a date for homecoming."

Homecoming. Shit. "Cool."

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know if she likes dances or stuff like that. But it's better than going alone, right?"

"Right." I agree. If Ino kept this up, I might not go at all. His eyebrows quirk and before he can ask, I change the subject another girl. "Wonder Woman, huh?"

His eyes follow mine to the framed poster of Diana Prince. "Hell yeah, she's my hero."

"I like Supergirl more." I say, because I do.

He shrugs. "Hawkgirl's my second choice."

I shake my head, "Black Canary, dude."

"Zatanna."

"Starfire."

"You would."

"She's hot." Is all I can say for myself. I can't remember the last time I talked about these women, I can't believe I still know all their names. I missed arguing over superheroes with friends. Even friends with bad taste like Sasuke.

I've missed him.

He's smiling back at his posters and shaking his head. I can't help but wonder why we couldn't have done this all those years ago. This bonding feels belated.

"Why did you leave?" The words tear their way out of my throat in a rasp. I close my mouth when he looks back at me, face dark. I wouldn't be surprised if he reach under his pillow and pulled a gun or knife out.

"What's it to you?" He returns and it hurts just as much. I get it, I shouldn't have opened my big mouth. Shame burns in my throat, I try to swallow it. I was literally this close to being friends, and I blew it with four dumb words.

I stand and dust myself off, no need to get kicked out twice in the same night. I know my way out.

"Where're you going?"

"I thought一"

"Whatever, I'm over it." He says, beckoning me to join him on his small bed. I stand still for a little, trying to understand what exactly he wants from me. It doesn't take long to realize it's the same thing I want: companionship.

I take a seat and stare at him, he gets back into his groove and smiles.

Sasuke is a terrible singer, but I can't help but appreciate his efforts.

I can't get used to living without, living without, living without you, by my side.

kill me