"I live next door and I heard screaming so I came over thinking someone was getting murdered and now we're both trying to get the spider out of your apartment" au


"I'll see you later Ino," Hinata called out tiredly as she left her friend's apartment. Now she remembered why she rarely went out clubbing with her friends, particularly the vivacious blonde. Hinata's head was spinning from the little alcohol she drank and the feet throbbing in her heels was telling her what a bad idea walking home at midnight was.

Biting the bullet, Hinata hailed a taxi down to take back to her own apartment. She would normally just walk- she did pack her extra strong pepper spray in her clutch for a reason- since everything was so darn expensive in Sydney but she was too tired and nauseous to even consider stumbling down the empty streets.

She vaguely congratulated herself on choosing to spend a year abroad so far from Japan since she was pretty sure Neji would have her head for walking home late at night by herself.

After some awkward, uncoordinated fumbling with her clutch when it came time to pay the taxi driver, Hinata kicked her ridiculously high heels off the moment her feet touched the cheap carpet of her apartment complex. She couldn't keep her head straight as she dragged herself up two floors to her apartment, dumped everything in her arms on the floor and stripped her dress to replace with an oversized nightshirt and boxers. She attempted to rub her makeup off and ditched the effort halfway to down a glass of water.

She fell into bed exhausted. She dropped off into blissful unconsciousness to the thought that if Kiba burst into her apartment to get early morning all-you-can-eat Saturday pancakes again, she wasn't going to feel guilty drop kicking him off her balcony.

xXx

A high pitched scream tore Hinata violently from her sleep and for one disorienting moment she thought Kiba really had come into her apartment to wake her up early. She realized it was coming from one of the apartments next to her and rolled out of bed before stumbling to yank her door open. The scream was still sounding out from the apartment to her left and she swiftly knocked on their door.

"Sasuke?! Can you help-" The door flew open abruptly and a masculine voice completely different from the high- pitched scream that was apparent just a moment ago halted. Hinata blinked, her tired mind not processing what was wrong but taking in the sight of a very attractive, shirtless guy her age. His gold-coloured hair and startlingly blue eyes completely stunned her and she helplessly realized she was ogling. It was so rare she could appreciate a guy without feeling incredibly self-conscious and embarrassed that it took her longer than she wanted to admit to stop her eyes from lingering over his toned abs and frog-patterned boxers.

"I-I, um, heard screaming?" She belatedly explained herself. Her hangover and lack of proper sleep was the only thing keeping a raging blush from swallowing her face. As it was, Hinata couldn't even meet his eyes after she checked him out so thoroughly and focused on a spot over his shoulder. Her flustered mind completely missed the wide eyed stare and flushed cheeks her neighbour sported.

A movement in the room drew her attention and a shriek of alarm escaped her as an enormous furry grey tarantula the size of her freaking head she swore to God skittered across the ceiling to stop directly above them. It dropped down and without thinking she shoved her neighbour backwards, the sudden motion catching him by surprise as he tumbled to the ground. His hand caught onto her arm as he flailed in vain trying to stabilize himself and he unceremoniously pulled her down on top of him. Hinata felt his warm, smooth chest contract beneath her as the air was knocked from his lungs but she wasted no time in apologizing and promptly rolled both of them out of range.

"Oh god, I thought you were getting murdered or something but this is worse," Hinata gasped as she hurriedly propped herself up, her eyes scanning frantically for the spider. A groan responded her and she tore her gaze from the ceiling to the stunned blonde that she was... Straddling?

"Oh gosh, I-I'm really sorry, I just thought- are you ok? I'm sorry-" Cheeks positively flaming, she jumped up away from him like she'd been shocked. She kept her eyes to his head, the back of which he was rubbing in pain. She did not want to consider his half naked form just lying on the ground in front of her like an offering (she'd definitely been spending too much time with Ino). That was a combustion just waiting to happen.

"Where is it? Is it gone?" Was the dazed reply and Hinata snapped her eyes back to his door where she last saw the spider, thankful for the distraction. Any embarrassment she felt was quickly replaced by horror and panic.

"Do... Do you... Um..." Her shaky voice prompted him to follow her eyeline. His blue eyes grew to the size of saucers.

The huge spider was there, in the corner... Hovering over an egg sac the size of which made Hinata want to vomit.

Simultaneously, they both screamed.

xXx

"You can't crash here idiot. Sakura just moved in and we literally have no space. Do you know how many times I tripped just walking from the bathroom to the kitchen?" Sasuke glared at his idiot best friend, rubbing the bridge of his nose trying to ward off the inevitable headache.

"They need to fumigate my place man. I can't crash at Shikamaru's place, it's way too far!" Naruto argued. "You should've seen the size of that freaking thing, I want to shit my pants just thinking about it-"

"Idiot," Sasuke snarled, shoving the blonde away from the door. "Look, the only place you could possibly even lie down is the kitchen table and there's no way in hell-"

"Um, I'm sorry," a quiet, almost timid voice interrupted them. Sasuke sighed, already done with the morning while Naruto turned his head so fast his neck cricked. Hinata stood there, a bag of laundry held in her hands. She had obviously just come up from the laundry room in the basement and overheard them arguing in her way to her floor. "If- if you need a place for a bit, you're welcome to my apartment. I feel pretty bad about... Well, almost giving you a concussion."

"Nah, I have a thick skull," Naruto chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. He noticed how her eyes scanned his body, before a blush stained her cheeks and she averted her gaze. He grinned, a blush growing on his cheeks to match. She was way too cute. He thought the same the first time he saw her during move-in week and always wished he could strike up a conversation with her but it seemed their schedules never coincided enough for them to run into each other. He was stunned speechless when she had appeared in his doorway earlier this morning.

He inwardly winced, wishing that they met under better circumstances... Then he remembered how she felt tucked perfectly against his chest and her flustered apologies and felt instantly better. Plus it seemed she liked what she saw, he thought smugly, remembering how her eyes had lingered and traced his torso, her gaze as intimate as touch.

"There, you have a place," Sasuke said, his tone more subdued in consideration of Hinata's presence.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked Hinata. "I don't want you to feel obligated or go out of your way- well I mean, you kind of are I guess by offering which is super nice of you, by the way, I just don't want to be an inconvenience."

"No, it's fine," Hinata responded with a kind smile. "It's just a few days right? I wouldn't want you to have to worry about finding a place to stay with exams coming up."

"Well I mean, if you don't mind then-"

"Is that Naruto I hear?" A female voice sounded from inside the apartment and a pink-haired woman appeared shortly beside Sasuke. "Hey Naruto! Your mooching days are over because if you're here to raid the fridge again... Oh hey!" She caught herself, her green eyes widening in recognition and mischief at the sight of Hinata. "Isn't this the girl you couldn't stop talking about-?"

"OKAY!" Naruto coughed loudly over Sakura. He turned to Hinata. "If it's not too much trouble I'll take you up on your offer. Sakura, please shut up."

"Rich, coming from you," Sakura snorted in laughter, evidently not offended.

"It's ok," Hinata repeated, her pearl coloured eyes betraying her confusion at their banter. The kind smile didn't diminish though. "I'll leave the door unlocked whenever you're ready to come up."

"Oh I'll come up now with you," Naruto hastily swiped a lumpy duffel bag off the floor and walked over to Hinata. He didn't miss the growing smirk on Sakura's face nor the shaking of Sasuke's head and subtly moved to block them from Hinata's view. To her credit, she appeared to either ignore them or, bless her heart, didn't see.

As the pair walked up the stairs to their floor, Hinata snuck nervous looks at the blonde beside her. What was she thinking? He went from stranger to roommate in less than a day which spun her mind considering how long it took for her to open up to people. He was super attractive too. Ino was going to have a field day when she found out about this.

Naruto was just praying he wouldn't screw this up. Guess he'll have to remember to lower the toilet seat and not walk around nude after his showers.

Hinata unlocked her door and waved Naruto in. She looked around her place- thank goodness she was a naturally tidy person- and decided to give him the run down of her place though it wasn't laid out much differently than his apartment. She went through the rooms with him and patted herself for getting a pull-out couch.

"Hey, you like The Gutsy Ninja?" Naruto exclaimed as he perused her stuffed bookshelf and movie collection. "And look, you have The Lion King and Toy Story- man, you're such a cool person!" An alarmingly vibrant blush suffused Hinata's cheeks. "And you have a bunch of plant books too- you like to garden? Me too! Love plants even though I'm not around enough to take care of them very well." He straightened up and turned to face Hinata, chuckling at her red face. "You're going to be super fun to room with... Ah, I never got your name!"

"Oh!" Hinata kicked herself for her lack of manners though when first introductions happened during a spider attack, she supposed it was understandable. "I'm Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga." She held out her hand.

Naruto clasped it warmly, a contagious grin. "And I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Pleased as punch to officially meet you!"

Hinata laughed at his cheesiness. Any tension she felt previously dissipated at his natural good cheer and she couldn't help but think that this could be the start of something wonderful.

Little did she know, the exact same thought was running through Naruto's mind as his grin widened at her laugh.

xXx

"Ha hah!" Sakura grinned in triumph as she heard Hinata's laughter echoing faintly in the stairwell. "I am so good at this! Naruto's going to thank me one day."

Sasuke grunted, a thundercloud hanging over his head.

"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss Sasuke. That spider wasn't so big."

"Next time, you can deal with it."


AN: I'm an avid tumblr creeper and have hoarded a bunch of AU prompts with the intention of writing a series of unrelated NaruHina drabbles with them. There's just something about AUs and NaruHina that I'm a huge fan of! If you have a suggestion yourself, feel free to leave it in a review or PM me!