"The Drive Home"
by AnnMiuka
Author's Note: So, it seems I've been away quite a while. I was going to post something for Christmas, but my favorite little beta never got back to me on the story, so I just let it go. I'll post it next Christmas... If I can convince her to pick it up again. It's kinda weird. I've been writing some original fiction and a little bit of rambling fanfiction. Maybe I'll post one of those... I did write a lemon a few weeks ago, so I should be posting that one sooner or later. I'm not happy with it, but smut is smut. Ish.
Anyway, without much further ado.
"The Drive Home"
Chapter One
Naruto stood in his office, juggling, talking on a headset with a customer. He had forty-five minutes left before he could conclude his day, and he had a bad feeling his current client was going to talk right through that time. Women, he thought with a respectful disgust, seemed to do nothing but talk, especially when they knew—and they always knew—that you didn't want to. His current client was also pregnant, and babbled about the upcoming baby for twenty minutes before switching abruptly to the baby's room—the reason she was calling in the first place.
So, Naruto juggled.
Occasionally, he had to pause and take a quick note, peeling it from its quickly shrinking pad and sticking it right to his computer. He'd plug them into her file—already open on the screen—whenever she got tired and stopped talking, or her husband came home and distracted her. The client brought up windows, wondering if she should have them replaced with something more insulated against the heat, and the man's azure eyes glanced at the slow drizzle of rain coating the parking lot. Spring, it seemed, was still clinging to its winter roots. He hoped his partner had taken the car to work.
Just thinking about the way Sasuke looked with his jet black hair glistening with rain water made him smile. It still amazed him that even after six years together—with four years of dating before that—he still got a little thrill when thinking about his partner in various degrees of arousing heat. With that thought in mind, he caught the balls and moved back to his desk. Leaning over rather than sitting, Naruto called up his email, making appropriate responses over the phone so that his client didn't catch on that he wasn't paying attention (he'd gotten better at doing that over the years). He sent a quick email to his raven that he hoped would earn him a consolation prize when he got home.
With a grin lighting his ruddy face, he picked up his juggling balls again and smiled his way through the next half-hour of crazy pregnant lady talk.
After twenty minutes without a response, Sasuke decided that his partner had once again forgotten to check for the reply. It bugged him to no end that the man would ask a question—even a semi-rhetorical one—and not wait for the answer.
And the answer was a question.
Frustrated but intrigued, Sasuke checked the time again and wondered if he could justify leaving before six. It was only a twenty-five minute drive home, and Naruto rarely attempted to cook anything other than ramen unless Sasuke was supervising—a self-imposed rule after the last incident involving stir fry and the local fire department. He didn't really need to leave yet, really shouldn't leave for a solid twenty minutes more, but found himself dragging on his coat and locking up his office. His secretary rose, startled by his attire.
"Did you have a dinner meeting? I wasn't made aware of anything." She followed him to the elevator, clicking away on her PDA with a speed that reminded the raven just exactly why he had hired her. He pressed the button to call the elevator.
"No. I'm leaving for the day." He raised his briefcase a little as emphasis. Her sea green eyes went wide.
"Are you not feeling well? I can schedule a doctor appointment for Friday if you want." He stepped into the elevator and turned to face his secretary, a smirk on his lips.
"Good evening, Sakura." He watched her as the doors slid shut, chuckling to himself at leaving her flustered. Naruto would have said he was rude, but the raven would have simply told him to bite him.
The blonde would certainly be doing it tonight.
The drizzle turned into a downpour as Naruto navigated the road home. The biggest problem with being with someone rich and famous was that they had to live away from people. Since Sasuke was an Uchiha, that meant a mansion in the country. And in the middle of a downpour, he was glad he had a sturdy truck for the country road. Usually he only used it for on cite work days, but he was glad he'd chosen it over his motorcycle that morning. As he slowed for the turn off, he worried about Sasuke and his dinky two-door in this storm, assuming that he must have taken the car. At least it wasn't top heavy, he thought optimistically as he made his turn.
Sasuke was very thankful for calling for a driver. He'd never have made it home on the motorcycle he'd taken into the office. As he walked through the lobby, he spotted Neji Hyuuga, another businessman who happened to be both rival and co-tenant of the building. The man was standing in front of a line of windows, his sleeves rolled up and a coffee in hand. His long brown hair was damp and struggling out of its plain hair band. He looked harassed. Sasuke smirked.
"Tough day?" Neji turned to look at the raven.
"TenTen's crawling the walls and I have to find some way to avoid laying-off two dozen people in a failing plant," Neji stated, referring to his wife and head security officer. He took a long drag of his coffee, cringing at the temperature.
"Hn."
"Dinner meeting?" Neji asked, gesturing at his business rival's attire. Neji had a tendency to roam the building when he was frustrated, so knew many of its occupants and their habits. Sasuke rarely left before six unless he had a dinner meeting.
"Hn."
The smirk lighting up Sasuke's face had Neji turning to face the windows again.
"You're getting laid."
"Hn."
"Drive safe. I'd hate to lose my best competitor to a little rain." Lightning flashed a handful of seconds before thunder rattled the panes in front of them.
"Right. Good luck with that plant in—where did you say?" Sasuke asked, walking toward the door.
"Nice try, Uchiha." Neji toasted him with his cold coffee and watched him race through the rain to the waiting car. He hoped everything went okay.