dedicated to: reviee's birthday fic :)
prompt: tea biscuits.
rating: K+
summary: "There's something on the side of your mouth," Sakura said, reaching over to wipe the crumbs of Sasuke's face. "There." He flushed bright red. Poor boy. Bday fic!
tea time
.
Sakura's room was pink. Bright pink.
As a five year old, this was more common than usual. After all, all girls liked pink, and all boys liked blue (although many girls decided to lie and say that their favorite color was pink only to see if Sasuke would become interested and start an ice breaker with them). He saw white lace and frills everywhere, and was nearly blinded by the colors of femininity.
It was so different from his own room, which was blue, and instead of wall designs like stick-on hearts and animal calendars, he had the fake glow-in-the-dark stars stuck up upon the ceiling and posters that covered nearly every inch of the wall, almost erasing all signs of blue.
There were posters of anime, movies, idols that he adored (which six year old boy didn't like sports?), and video games. Coming out into the sun was hard enough. Being in a place where colors were so high in saturation made him want to scream and hide behind his mother's legs.
But, unfortunately, she was having tea with Haruno Sakura's mother and both were laughing about how the other's kids were so cute and when they grew up they would get married and have grandchildren.
Oh, and they also talked about some sex tips. Mikoto, being quite upset with her husband's regular "going-down!" position (also known as missionary, to those who can't get the term), Hana suggested some fun filled nights to spice up the relationship.
Therefore, Sasuke was automatically sent to Sakura's room for both to play together in hopes that her anti-social son could bond and later marry her best friend's daughter. Unfortunately, Mikoto had her hopes way too high up if she thought that they would connect like a magnet.
.
.
.
"Hn."
"Sasuke-kun? Do you remember me? I'm Sakura-chan, from school! We go to daycare together, remember? I wanted to ask you if you wanted to color with me and play blocks, but you wanted to read your Harry Potter book. Was it good?"
"Hn." You're so annoying, of course I remember you.
"You don't talk much here either, right? It's okay. We can still play anyway!" Sasuke watched her skip over to her playtable and pull out her stuffed animals from her bed. She had a collection of many, and Sasuke thought to himself—this is probably the only thing that both of us have in common. Mr. Dino is my homey!
Sakura then held her favorite pink bunny-plushie by the ears, while she grabbed Sasuke's hand, her own sweaty.
"Come on, Sasuke-kun! Let's play dress-up!"
"No," he said, pulling his arm back so that he wouldn't have to engage in "such childish games."
"Please?" Sakura begged. Her eyes shone, and he looked away. Sasuke obviously was too young to know what to do when girls were getting emotional. His dad didn't either. Therefore, an Uchiha didn't comfort. They just watched.
"No."
Way to comfort.
Sakura humphed, but then brightened immediately again. "Let's have a tea party!"
"Hn?" Sasuke said. "Tea parties are for girls," he added, noting that his own mother was attending a tea party in the kitchen.
"Oh, don't be such a party pooper, Sasuke-kun. Just this once! You need more friends anyway. Here, you can meet Bunbun-chan, And then here's Piggy-chan, and, oh—Mister American!" She made them sit down in the circular table where there were fake dining accessories (but real cups!) and iced tea, since five year olds and never to be trusted with hot liquids without a parent attending them.
She pulled out the chair for him, something that the gentleman should have done, but he sat down unwillingly. Then, he folded his arms and closed his eyes, hoping that if he died, he wouldn't have to see bright pink anymore, or Mr. Bunbun. He could go home to his blue room and hold on tight to Mr. Dino while he was learning how to rawr in dino-language.
"Tea for you, Bunbun-chan?" Sakura asked as she poured iced tea skillfully into the cup. "There you go! I hope you like it!"
She then poured the rest for all her other friends, and then, Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun, I hope you like lemon tea! I figured you would because you don't like sweet stuff and lemons are sour and…well, anyway, drink up!" she took her own cup and sipped, raising her pinky like a lady would do. After all, it was proper etiquette.
Sasuke, not wanting to make her upset and finish the meeting as soon as possible, sipped, his lips on the edge of the cup but not parting to let liquid in. Checking his watch (digital, since no kid his age can read circle clocks), he felt that he had at least 20 more minutes before the adult tea party was over.
Then, a plate of pastries was pushed in front of him. He saw Sakura fold her napkin over her lap and for her friends, too. She took one and ate slowly, as if she was savoring each bite. "Mm!" she clamored. "It tastes great! Sasuke-kun, you try one!"
She took a tea biscuit for him and put it into his palm. He took it, not wanting to seem rude (after all, think of what would happen if his mom knew that he was mean to her best friend's daughter), and nibbled it slowly, not liking pastries, even if biscuits weren't that sweet.
After he had nibbled halfway, he put the biscuit down on the fake plate and sat back in the pink chair while he saw Sakura pretending to feed her animals.
Sasuke yawned, feeling tired and wanting to go home to take his afternoon nap. Unfortunately, his mother was still laughing with Sakura's mom, and he couldn't just go down and pull on her skirt, telling her that Sasuke-chan was tired and wanted to go home.
No.
He had to suck it up like a man.
"Sasuke-kun, you got a little something on your face," Sakura said, pointing to the side of his lips. When he didn't respond, she leaned over the table and brushed it off with her thumb.
Sasuke, at this action, flushed bright red. He turned away, his face pink and embarrassed. Sakura laughed, and said, "There, it's all gone! I did it for you, Sasuke-kun. You look so much cuter now!"
"Hn."
Screw being a man. He wanted to go home. Now.
A girl touched him and he had cooties. He would have to go home and take a hot shower (he'd graduated from bubble baths) and scrub himself, hoping that this time Madara didn't go in and ask if he could bathe with Sasuke in order to "help him get cleaner."
Shudder.
.
.
.
"Sasuke-kun!" his mother's familiar voice shouted from downstairs. "It's time to go home!"
Sakura frowned. "Awwh, Sasuke-kun. I wish you could've stayed longer!" but Sasuke didn't respond. He dashed down the stairs, tripping on the last step but holding on to the railway so he didn't crack his head open, and ran into his mother's arms. Mikoto laughed and lifted Sasuke up to her bosom.
"How sweet!" Hana exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Sakura-chan struggles and it's like lifting a dog. I dropped her the last time I carried her!"
Probably why she's so messed up, Sasuke thought.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled while she, too, dashed down the stairs (although not falling, which was an improvement). "I'll see you Monday in Daycare! We can play again next time! Right?"
Mikoto answered for her son. "Of course, Sakura-chan! Sasuke-kun would love to play with you. You guys are so cute together." Mikoto sighed. "See, if I had a daughter like you…"
Hana blushed at this comment and said, "Oh stop schmoozing, Mikoto. Your sons are beautiful."
Sasuke tugged on his mom's shirt sleeve, and she looked to see Sasuke's eyes twinkle with "I want to go home."
"Sakura-chan, bye-bye!" Mikoto said, wrapping up the conversation and leaving. "I'll bring you to Sasuke-kun's room so you guys can play together!" She told Sasuke to wave goodbye to Sakura, which he didn't, but at least he gave her a small nod of understanding. She smiled, waved, and jumped up and down, shouting, "Bye, Sasuke-kun! Bye-bye!"
That was over eleven years ago.
They hadn't seen each other much since.
.
you are sixteen, going on seventeen, fellows will fall in line…
.
Mikoto and Hana still had tea parties often. But now, since he was old enough to stay home by himself, Sasuke would never go and visit Sakura in the years that passed. He would only see her occasionally at school, laughing with her friends while talking about the boys they thought were cute.
Sometimes, he wondered if she ever talked about him. For some reason, her opinion mattered more than everyone else's, than the other girls who only liked him for his looks. He already suspected that Sakura had a crush on him ever since she was five, but he'd still wondered if that crush still existed, or if it had died out.
Occasionally she would give him a small smile or a wave in the hall, saying, "Hi, Sasuke-kun," but most of the time he couldn't say anything back to her because of all the people swarming around Sasuke, either admiring him or clinging onto him.
Sakura was annoying. He knew that ever since she had come into daycare and cried when her mom had left. Now, she still seemed annoying, with her bright pink hair and doll-like face, but it was the cute kind of annoying. As in, "she's so cute that she's annoying me with her cuteness."
Nonetheless, he cared for her and was incredibly infatuated with her. A schoolboy crush, of course.
Since the day that he had left, he had taken a new interest to drinking iced tea, especially lemon. Whenever he was at the cafeteria in school, he would buy lemon iced tea. And when lemon tea wasn't available, he would get hot water, a tea bag, and a fresh lemon—the next best thing.
If he was feeling extra rebellious, he would buy a tea biscuit with it and nibble halfway before throwing the rest out.
The whole thing brought back memories. Sometimes Naruto would tell him that he had a little bit of food on the side of his mouth, and Sasuke wiped it away himself, remembering Sakura's small hand and her soft touch on his lips over a decade ago.
Would her hand still be as soft as they were before?
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out, running up to him with her books in her arm. She would have to hurry up, because soon the crowd of girls would come and swallow her alive.
"Sakura," he said as an act of knowing that she was there. He gave her a small twitch of the mouth (one that tried to be a smile, or even a smirk), and nodded his head towards her.
Sakura looked up at Sasuke, who had grown so many inches since. He could see how her hair fell back in perfect pink tresses, a lock falling in front of her face (which she blew up to get out of the way). Her eyes were so shiny he could see his reflection, and looking even further down into her shirt…he gulped. She had a nice, big valley in between two…er, igloos.
"Sasuke-kun, I was wondering if maybe, after school, we could go to the café down the street. It's a teashop and they have really, really good tea there! My mom says that we need to "connect" more like we did when we were younger, and, I know you're busy, but could you make an exception? For me?" Sakura batted her eyelashes and Sasuke gulped again, feeling that his collar was a little too tight…
"Hn."
"Thank you sooo much, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed. "I promise, I won't take up much of your time. But I really miss having you over and I think that since we're going to be graduating soon and heading different ways, we should make up for the time lost."
"Hn."
Sakura gave him a hug, her arms wrapped around his waist while he stood in shock and surprise. He turned bright red once again, and rotated his head the other way so that she couldn't see his face.
"I'll see you there, Sasuke-kun. I won't be late, I promise!" Sakura said, giggling. She let go of Sasuke and ran to her class. "Bye!" she called, not looking back.
Sasuke was still standing there, frozen.
By now, he really wanted to take off his shirt. The room was getting too hot for everyone's own good.
He thought that maybe, perhaps maybe, she was the cause of it.
.
.
.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, sitting down next to Sasuke, who was being eyecandy for the waitresses and customers there. He sighed, his elbow on a table while his hand supported his face, and he rapped the wood with his knuckles.
While making herself comfortable in her position, many of the women glared at her and made small comments about her figure and her hair. Sakura ignored them, and ordered a lemon iced tea on the menu.
"Two," Sasuke added, looking at the waitress. "I want one, also." The jealous waitress glared at Sakura and wrote down the order. Sakura gave the menu to her. Sasuke then got up from the booth and whispered into the waitress's ear, to which Sakura felt that she would blush at, but instead, nodded.
"Okay," she said, her hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He frowned and put her hand back where it needed to be. On the order.
He sat back down next to Sakura, who pursed her lips. "Isn't this place nice? It's so cozy."
"Yeah."
Sasuke inched closer to Sakura, but she didn't notice because she was observing all the artwork in the room. "This is nice!" or "This is really, really pretty!"
Then, she laid her head down on his shoulder and yawned. "Sasuke-kun, do you ever think about the old times?"
"Old times?" he asked. Once again, he felt warm.
"Remember when we were little and we used to play tea party that one time? I miss those times. We were all so carefree and it was a blast."
"Hn." Sasuke felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks as Sakura made herself more comfortable.
"Mm, Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn?"
"You're a good guy. I bet the girl who gets you would be the center of attention, and women everywhere would have their hearts broken."
Sasuke secretly wanted to shout, "Would you be the one whose heart would break? Or would you just congratulate me?" But instead, he tucked a stray lock of her pink hair away from her face gently, like a lover's touch.
"To be honest, Sasuke-kun, you're probably one of my best friends."
Sasuke was confused by this. "But we've never actually hung out, or anything."
"So?" Sakura took her head off and looked at him. He missed her warmth, but staring into her eyes was just as nice. "You gave me memories. I like to sit back in my bed and think about the time you ate a tea biscuit. Just remembering that makes me laugh."
"Aa."
"You're not a man for words, are you?" Sakura teased, tickling his chin. "No matter."
The waitress, obviously seeing that there was going to be a flirty issue, slammed the iced tea down onto the table (on Sakura's side) and caused some to spill on her pants. She handed the other one, along with a tray of food to Sasuke and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?" Obviously, she was talking to only one person.
"No, thanks."
The waitress left, upset with the reaction she got. Sasuke turned to see Sakura wiping her pants, and he took his own napkin and helped her, one hand on her knee (achingly close to her thigh…) and the other trying to scrub the stain away.
"At least it wasn't hot," Sakura joked, putting her own napkin on the table. "Thanks, Sasuke-kun!"
"Hn."
He was feeling really, really hot. On fire. His hands were on her knee, which was soft and smooth…he wanted to run his fingers over her skin to see which parts were the softest and the creamiest.
Control. Yourself.
She then told him it was okay now, to which he disappointedly stopped. She drank her iced tea, giggling as she sipped, which caused some of her drool to land on the table. Sasuke drank is own, too, but with better etiquette than hers (though he didn't raise his pinky up).
Sasuke brought the tray of food closer to the middle of them, and Sakura stopped drinking to say, "this is like a date, huh?"
Sasuke blushed. "Hn."
Sakura rolled her eyes and punched him playfully. "You are so adorable," she said, smiling widely. She took a pastry from the tray and Sasuke noticed that it was a tea biscuit.
"These are my favorite kinds!" Sakura said while she nibbled them. "They taste so good. But I bet that you don't like them. They're kind of sweet."
He saw Sakura's mouth move, and how her tongue licked her luscious lips afterwards, and then her fingers. Now he felt hot in his…uh, private area. He used his shirt to cover the bulge that was rising.
"Mm!" she exclaimed. "Are you sure you don't want some?"
His eyes noticed the small crumbs on the side of her mouth. He wanted to tell her that there was food, but another part of him that awakened felt like…he wanted to wipe it off himself. She didn't notice that crumbs were making themselves cozy on her skin (he would feel cozy, too), and she ate another one.
After five minutes or so, he said, "Sakura." She looked at it, a biscuit in her mouth. Taking it out and putting it on her napkin, she said, "What?"
Sasuke held his breath as he brought his hand over to wipe the crumbs off. But before he could touch her, she used her napkin to wipe her mouth.
"There's nothing on my mouth, right?"
Sasuke twitched, and grumbled. "No." He brought his hand down. Obviously, he had cheated somebody and now he was getting payback.
"Okay, thanks." She continued to eat, and Sasuke just sat there, drinking iced tea and watching her enjoy her tea biscuits and lemon.
.
.
.
"Sasuke-kun, wasn't that great?" Sakura said, stretching her arms up to the sky and yawning. "I thought it tasted really good. Maybe we could go there again sometime, like a friend-date!"
Can we be more than friends…?
"Hn."
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, putting her arms down. "You didn't like it?"
"No, it was fine," Sasuke mumbled, his cheeks turning pink again. "It's just…well, never mind."
"Okay."
They kept walking, and Sasuke couldn't help but stare at those two red lips that were used for eating, but had their full potential held back. How many boys had kissed those lips? How many touched them?
Was he too late?
"Sakura, do you have a boyfriend?" Sasuke asked, suddenly stopping. She tilted her head. "Well, I mean, I liked some guys before, but I've never actually had a boyfriend."
"Do you like anybody now?"
"Uhm…" she blushed. "I…yeah."
"Do I know him?" Sasuke asked. Now he sounded like an angry father that was overprotective of his innocent virgin daughter.
Sakura fiddled her thumbs and whispered, "Yeah."
"Who is it?"
Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but thought otherwise. "I'm not telling." She ended her sentence with a smirk. "It's a secret!"
Sasuke looked at her, looming over her like a giant. She pursed her lips, unafraid of him, and his hands were on her shoulders.
"I have a secret, too, but I'll tell you if you tell me yours."
Sakura thought for a moment. "How secret is this secret?"
"I'll tell you the girl I like."
Sakura's eyes shone at this. "Really? I want to hear Sasuke-kun's girlfriend! Do I know her? How old is she? Is she pretty?"
Sasuke couldn't help but laugh at her cute behavior. "If you tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine."
The girl thought for a second. She tapped her finger against her cheek and said, "Hmm, that's hard. Okay, but you have to promise that you won't laugh!"
"I promise." Sasuke would probably kill the guy, not laugh.
Sakura flushed, looked down at her feet, and said, "I like Sasuke-kun."
His eyes widened, and he saw that her face was completely hidden by her pink hair. "Really?"
"Yeah."
Sasuke paused and said, "Do you want to hear my secret?" he made Sakura look up at him and she was worried that he would see her eyes fogging up, because there wasn't a big chance that he would return her feelings.
"No, not anymore."
The atmosphere was so much more awkward, and he felt that he was responsible for it. He pulled a tea biscuit that he pocketed from out of his pants and gave it to her. She took it, nibbled, and turned away from him.
"Tea biscuits always make me feel better," she murmured.
He didn't respond. After all, Uchihas don't comfort.
She finished, and gave Sasuke a look of "I wish that you could return my feelings, but this kind of friend relationship is really awkward now."
"I gotta go."
Sasuke saw the crumbs on her lips from the tea biscuit, and said, "Sakura."
Before she could lick them off, or wipe them, he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her, his hands on the side of her face until they went down to wrap around her waist. Her eyes widened, and his closed.
Sasuke's lips parted and she tasted lemon iced tea while he could taste her sweetness of herself, and of the tea biscuits. Soon, she pulled away, and they both found that her arms were around his neck, her feet going from tiptoe to flat on the ground.
"Oh," Sakura said, withdrawing her arms. "Oh." She was embarrassed, flustered, and ashamed, but Sasuke felt the same way.
"Sakura—"
"I got to go."
"The girl I like is you, too, Sakura." He saw that she froze in her tracks and turned around.
"What?"
Sasuke gave a small chuckle and a smirk, feeling his lips still tingle from the spark. "I like you a lot, Miss Tea Party."
"I'm not Sarah Palin," Sakura said, her joking behavior coming back again. "So stop playing a trick on me." It was hurting her.
"I'm not lying."
Sasuke walked closer to her and bent down to her level. "You make me so crazy that sometimes I just want to duct tape your mouth together so I don't get flustered. But you're sweet, and everytime you pass by you remind me of lemon iced tea and tea biscuits, which I don't even like."
"So…I remind you of something you hate."
"No," Sasuke said, groaning. "You don't understand. You, as the tea-girl I've known since we were in daycare, have made me fall head over heels for you, to put it in girl-speak." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "You…you just make me crazy."
Sakura didn't look directly at him. Instead, she made him open his palm and put a small pastry in his sweaty hand.
"Do you want to share the other half?" she asked.
He knew that he got the message through. So he smiled—genuinely smiled—and tucked her hair back again. She grabbed his hand and pulled.
"My room is still the same. Bunbun-chan's gotten old, and he's asked me, 'Where the hell is Sasuke-kun?'"
"I'm right here," he laughed as he ran with her. "I'm with you."
"That's good. Bunbun's getting lonely and is wondering if you have any cute friends."
Sasuke lifted Sakura off her feet and bit one end of the biscuit while he put the other half in her mouth. Smirking, he garbled, "Mr. Dino is looking for a new playmate. I'm sorry that you can't play with him, because you're mine, now."
They began to nibble on the biscuit until their lips touched, and, to be honest, they never actually made it to her bedroom.
Granted, they probably wouldn't have had just a tea party in there, anyway.
VERY slight changes!