Let me Inspire you
Chapter One
AU
I do not own Naruto, or anything related to the franchise.
Naruto turned in his bed to find an empty space next to him. The sheets were still made up nicely and shown no signs of being slept in. He sighed deeply before getting up and heading for the shower. Not letting the water warm up, he splashed it cold over himself for less than a minute before quickly shaking his hair dry and pulling on clothes. To Naruto's dismay the kitchen was also empty which suddenly made him lose his appetite for breakfast. Instead he slowly made a cup of coffee, making sure it had only a splash of milk and no sugar, and carried it into the study. Just as he expected Sasuke was sat completely upright at his desk, staring intently at a blank laptop screen. He did not move as Naruto crept closer to him and placed the coffee on the desk.
"You will start to look like shit if you don't get your beauty sleep." Naruto said, pushing the coffee along the desk until it was directly in front of the keyboard. "Seriously, you need it." he added when he received no reply.
"Thanks for the concern." Sasuke said wryly still without removing his eyes from the screen.
"But you haven't come to bed for days." Naruto stressed, running his fingers through a mop of blonde hair, "Maybe more than that. Have you been getting some sleep in the study? Please tell me you have."
"A little."
"A little? Drink the damn coffee, I made that specially!"
To his relief Sasuke took a tiny sip from the mug before putting it back down, the volume looking barely changed.
"Sasuke? Want something to eat?"
"No.""Want a fresh change of clothes?"
"No."
"Want a-"
"No Naruto, No!"
"Teme!" Naruto yelled, pointing his finger fiercely at him, "Is that really how you treat your boyfriend who is just trying to care for you? Maybe I shouldn't ever bother then!"
Sasuke sighed and stood up, finally turning to face Naruto. His eyes looked extremely tired, and there were dark circles underneath that stood out on his pale skin.
"Come here, dobe." he demanded and Naruto complied. As soon as he was close enough he ran his thumb gently over the marks on his cheek before claiming his lips in a quick kiss. "Thank you."
"You already look like shit." Naruto shook his head in disbelief and Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Can I go back to my writing now?"
"Go on then, workaholic-bastard." Naruto said as Sasuke returned to sit in front of the blank screen, "and don't forget to drink the coffee."
As if to humour Naruto he took a long sip from the mug before cradling it in his hands which caused the blonde to nod appreciatively.
"Sasuke, its Monday." he reminded.
"Congratulations." Sasuke replied narrowing his eyes at the laptop.
"Ha ha. This is the day you give me the next chapter of our manga to illustrate and bring to life." Naruto said patiently, "Y'know so I can get it ready for the weekly jump magazine on Fridays."
"Usually." Sasuke said running his fingers through his raven hair.
"Usually? Meaning what teme?"
"I have put our manga on hiatus." He said calmly and Naruto's eyes widened.
"WHAT?" he exclaimed rushing over to Sasuke and turning him to face him, "Why the hell have you done that?"
"Because look, idiot." Sasuke growled pointing at his laptop screen. Naruto peered over his shoulder.
"…It's blank."
"Well don't you have sharp eyes."
"Writer's block?" Naruto asked gently, ignoring his comments. Sasuke did not answer which Naruto took as a yes. "Haven't you gotten any pre written chapters you can give me?"
"You had the last one last week." Sasuke said annoyed.
"Last week…that means you have not written anything in weeks!"
"Apparently so."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto asked trying not to lose his temper, "I could have helped you!"
"Help me how?" Sasuke scoffed "You're an artist not an author."
"I could help with coming up with ideas!"
"Like what dobe?"
"Like…I don't know."
"See my point?"
"You just put me on the spot!" Naruto whined making Sasuke roll his eyes.
"Its not the point anyway. I am supposed to write for our manga and I have not. I am supposed to get us more money by writing short stories which again I have not. I am supposed to be able to provide for you but-"
"You don't need to provide for me, I'm not your wife!" Naruto exclaimed cutting Sasuke off, "I work too don't forget."
"You better, we have plenty of bills to pay." Sasuke sighed, "Can I see what your working on right now?"
"W-what?" Naruto stuttered, trying to hold back the other as he stood up and began to walk in the direction of his studio, "You can't! Its private in there!"
"Since when?" Sasuke asked raising his eyebrow as he pushed open the door of the studio.
The first thing Sasuke noticed when he looked into Naruto's studio was the unusual cleanliness. The multicolour splashes of paint that usually covered the room were missing, and all of the brushes were lined up neatly on the shelf. In the centre was a blinding white canvas, completely blank.
"Naruto…" Sasuke said testily scanning his eyes quickly around the room for any signs of another painting.
"Well maybe I have artists block." Naruto cringed waiting for the explosion to come.
"Dobe! How could you!" Sasuke yelled, slamming the studio door shut, "You have done NOTHING!"
"Your one to talk!" Naruto fumed, "And it was just five minutes ago when you were saying you were the provider!"
"You disagreed with me!"
"Well you did nothing first bastard!"
"I turned down a job in the Uchiha corporation so I could-"
"so you could spend more time with me, I know!" Naruto finished gritting his teeth, "But it didn't work did it?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well it didn't! You spend all your time in the study and I spend mine in the studio. We would probably see each other more if you were away all day!"
"Are you suggesting you don't want me around Naruto?" Sasuke said coolly, using a dark tone of voice that Naruto rarely heard.
"No, no, of course I don't mean that!" he replied shaking his blonde mop furiously, "I just mean-"
"Just shut up dobe. Your stupidity is giving me a headache."
"My what?"
"You heard me." Sasuke said rolling his eyes and retreated back into the study, slamming the door behind him. Naruto stood in shock for a moment staring at where his boyfriend once stood before furiously grabbing his keys and phone from the side, shoving his feet into his trainers and stormed out of the front door.
"Oh, Naruto." Sakura soothed as she handed him a freshly heated pot of instant ramen which he graciously accepted, "your lucky I do not work on a Monday."
"Mm," Naruto managed to say through mouthfuls of ramen, "sorry for bothering you again like this."
"It's okay. You can't help having a short temper." she said settling down next to him on the sofa with a drink in her hands.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"Okay okay!" Sakura said quickly, "but I'm worried. This is at least the tenth argument this month and we are barely half way though October!"
"I know…I know…"
"And don't forget what happened on your birthday last we-"
"Please don't remind me…"
"I know you will be angry with this, but please hear me out," Sakura started, clearly working out in her head how to phrase her next words, "you need to think if this is what you really want…what is best for you."
Naruto frowned, placing the empty pot of Ramen on the fluffy carpet.
"What are you getting at?" he asked screwing his face up in confusion and Sakura looked away sadly.
"You and Sasuke…your clearly not working."
"Yes we are!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly making Sakura cringe, "We have been together for years now! Plus he was my best friend before that, we work perfectly."
"Not right now Naruto, you have never argued so much before." Sakura whispered, "don't be offended but when was the last time you two…you know, had sex?"
Naruto raised his eyebrows slightly before sighing deeply, shaking his head.
"He has not even been sleeping in the same bed as me, never mind anything else."
"what? But you two were always…" she trailed off, flushed red with embarrassment.
"He barely even kisses me anymore," Naruto continued clenching his fingers into a fist, "and every time we talk it ends in us yelling our faces off."
"See, its not working." Sakura reasoned, "Tell me what this argument is about?"
Naruto explained what happened while Sakura made the occasional supportive sound, groaning when he had finished.
"It seems like your both to blame here," she said, "and I think I know what the problem is." she finished hurriedly before she could be interrupted.
"the problem is he is turning back into a cold bastard?" Naruto suggested mock seriously and Sakura groaned.
"No, Naruto. Believe it or not but Sasuke is a romance writer isn't he? And what is your relationship currently lacking?"
"Oh I see!" Naruto exclaimed, cottoning on, "we have just been arguing, there has been no romance or lovey things at all." he sighed. "not that Sasuke was that romantic towards me before anyway, he is different when he is writing." he added.
"But it wasn't like this, you were both happy weren't you? You need to get that back."
"Get it back?"
"Yeah. Work on fixing your relationship, growing closer to each other again and putting the love and romance back in. Then I am betting you will both find your inspiration."
"Wow thanks Sakura, you are amazing!" Naruto grinned hugging her tightly, "Do you have any suggestions of where we could start?"
"Hmm, well-"
Sakura was cut off by a loud buzzing coming from Naruto's pocket. Realising it was his phone, he quickly pulled it out and saw 'one new message' scrawled across the screen. He didn't need to open it to find out who it was from.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked gently.
"Mm," Naruto said shaking his head sadly, "Just says 'Come home Naruto.' Look."
He turned the phone over to show Sakura and she shrugged.
"Looks like you should then," she said, "he wouldn't text if he didn't mean it, and now."
"But it doesn't look good," he said a trace of worry in his voice, "it doesn't seem like an apology or anything. The text doesn't even have any kisses on!"
"When was the last time his texts had kisses on?"
"…Point taken."
"Naruto, just go see what he wants." Sakura said squeezing his hand, "I will always be here if you need me."
When Naruto returned back to the house he shared with Sasuke he immediately felt something was wrong. The Uchiha was sitting upright at the kitchen table seemingly waiting for him, a serious expression on his face. He looked up as the blonde entered the room, his eyes holding no emotion as he gestured towards the seat opposite his.
"Naruto, we need to talk."
Well, this was originally going to be a oneshot but when I realised how long it was getting I thought, right. This has to be a multi chapter fic. I have not forgotten about my other one though, I will update both each weekend, the day after each other. I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did please review :D