A/N: Another AU, image-based one-shot, and poking more fun at Neji. Pairing is intended but light, intentionally. Please enjoy.
Warnings: None.
Pairing: Sasuke x Naruto, light.
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The snow was falling again.
Night was settling over the city, announcing its arrival through the streetlights that came up one by one along the sidewalk, setting the damp concrete to shimmer under the brush of new and faded snow. Still darkness could not seem to properly sink its claws into the city—headlights and skyscraper windows stood in solidarity against the encroaching dusk, and the thick clouds that made up the sky had caught the last of twilight and held it tight, glowing indigo above the black high-rises. The snow itself had slowed the evening's pulse but not stopped it; the sidewalks were less crowded than they usually were, especially this time of year, but the shuffle of pedestrians in their long coats and scarves still kept time to the music beckoning from open storefronts, a disjointed undertone to one voice moving between two bundled figures.
"Man, am I glad to be out of there."
Sasuke tucked his hands into the pockets of his thick blue jacket and glanced to his left, searching his companion's face against the backdrop of wide display windows, and shook his head.
"Neji's going to be angry that you left him behind."
Under the warmth of his knit yellow hat, Naruto wrinkled his nose, stomping his feet mindlessly through the footprint drifts of snow. "It's his own fault for taking so long," Naruto said, pulling at the light scarf wrapped around his neck. "Shikamaru was right. He shops like a girl."
Sasuke kept his smirk largely to himself, turning his eyes back to the sidewalk and the snowflakes casting down across his shoulders. "Probably wouldn't appreciate that, either."
"I mean, how many coats does a person really need?" Naruto asked, the momentary laugh that chased his breath into the air lessening the question's impact. "Hey, how many coats do you think he has, anyway? I can't even keep track of all the different ones he wears."
Sasuke paid no attention at all to Neji's wardrobe. He didn't say it; Naruto's eyes had turned to catch his, and the game was bright within them, bright enough that it was worth the effort to play along. "One for every mood?" he suggested, listening to their matched footsteps as the echoes led the way down the clearing sidewalk.
Naruto laughed. "Aw, come on, Sasuke. He's only got one mood."
"The mood he's going to be in when we meet up later," Sasuke reminded him, a line of steam following his words into the sweet December air. Naruto shrugged.
"Hey, it's not like we left him alone."
Sasuke had a feeling the companion they'd left Neji was not going to improve his mood. He didn't say that either. Naruto's eyes had lifted to the clouds as the silence settled in between them, and Sasuke let his do the same, tracing the descent of a thousand little flakes of white from the low and darkening sky. Naruto stuck his tongue out to catch one and Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he left the silence unbothered. He was concerned that whatever he said might get in the way of the expression on Naruto's face—one of openness and simple pleasure, as the soft wind brought a scattered flush into his cheeks.
Naruto swung his hands back and forth as he walked, and then he smiled, the turn of his lips doing more than the streetlights to keep his eyes bright. "I've never been in this part of the city before. Have you, Sasuke?" Sasuke shook his head. Naruto tugged on the fabric of his deep purple coat. "We should look for an ice cream shop. I thought I saw one when we were driving in."
Sasuke paused in his steps, lifting one pale hand to catch the season in his palm. "It's snowing."
"So?" Naruto turned to face Sasuke but kept walking, his movement and his sparkling eyes pulling his companion back into motion as well. "What's wrong with that?"
"Who eats ice cream when it's snowing?" Sasuke asked.
"I do. Lots of people do. Any time's a good time for ice cream." Naruto locked his arms behind his head, the wind ruffling the yellow hair his hat had pressed to his forehead, and an afterthought lit his face. "Besides, when it's cold out, your ice cream doesn't melt. So you can get like three scoops and still not get an ice cream headache, 'cause you have all the time in the world."
Sasuke shook his head. "Three?"
Naruto shrugged. "Or four. We'll see what flavors they have."
Sasuke's scarf, a present from his brother's fiancé, had strayed over his shoulder, and he pushed it back with one blind hand, keeping his eyes on Naruto's face. "You'll get cold," he said.
Naruto laughed, throwing his hands out to the side as he turned back to face the sidewalk. "No way. I never get cold."
Sasuke shook his head again, but he didn't argue. Naruto never did, after all.
The night was folding in around them, growing colder as the darkness took over, and Sasuke returned his hands to his pockets, wondering why he hadn't brought gloves. Naruto's hands stayed steady at his side. Ahead of them the sidewalk narrowed to accommodate the river and a bridge built across it, and Naruto sped up a little, headlight beams crisscrossing his legs as he ran to the edge of the railing. Sasuke jogged after him, watching his footing on the brittle cement. Naruto leaned over the railing as far as he could go, so far that Sasuke's hand trailed out of his pocket in the urge to grab the back of his collar—then Naruto pulled back with a grin on his face, tugging at the sturdy stone arch of the barrier.
"Whoa. Look at this thing. I bet I could walk all the way across on it."
"Don't," Sasuke said, his voice losing a little more of its warmth as his breath rushed away in steam. But Naruto had already slung one foot onto the top of the first stone pillar and pushed himself up using Sasuke's shoulder as a balance point, his fingers digging into the jacket's blue shoulder as he gaped around at the city.
"Awesome!"
"Naruto. Get down," Sasuke ordered, his pulse a little uncomfortable in his ears as he moved forward to brace a hand against Naruto's side. Naruto grinned down at him, the glow of the city lights chasing the shadows from his face.
"Relax, Sasuke. I'll be careful."
Sasuke tightened his fingers into the thick of Naruto's coat. "I didn't tell you to be careful. I told you to get down," he said, drawing a laugh from the young man above him.
"You're no fun." Naruto turned to look down the length of the bridge, his eyes thick with the reflection of the drifting snow. "It's not that far at all. I can do this no problem—I'm like a ninja." Sasuke scoffed, and Naruto laughed again, letting go of his companion's shoulder as he adjusted his footing on the snow-dusted railing. "Kind of hard to walk when you're holding on like that, though."
Sasuke started and pulled back the arm that had slipped around Naruto's waist, startled by the unnoticed proximity, and Naruto took advantage of his hesitation to move a few steps along the railing, his body framed in silhouette against the city lights on the opposite side of the river. Sasuke followed in his shadow. Then Naruto tipped a little and his arms shot out to his sides—and in an instant Sasuke had caught up to him again, holding Naruto's outstretched hand in one of his.
Naruto looked down at him, blue eyes considering. Then he smiled and his fingers wound between Sasuke's, that small motion sending a current of warmth all the way down Sasuke's arm.
"Yeah, okay." Naruto smiled through the snow, squeezing his companion's hand. "I guess that works."
Sasuke didn't answer. He was busy watching the streetlights fill up Naruto's laughing eyes, and then watching the slow progression of one foot in front of the other as Naruto began to walk again, kicking little piles of snow off of the toes of his boots. After a few steps Sasuke was sure enough of the balance between them that his gaze returned to Naruto's face, and his attention to the hands stretched out between them, a bridge of their own under the gentle brush of the gathering storm. The sidewalk ahead of him was becoming harder to distinguish, dark without the streetlamps and then too bright as headlights lit up all the snowflakes into a solid wall of white—but he could see Naruto, and Naruto was smiling, and his hand was only getting warmer.
When they reached the center of the bridge, Naruto stopped walking, and Sasuke stopped with him, looking up at the bright blue eyes that were looking out over the river and the falling snow, the curtain coming down on another winter night in the city. The horizon was alive with lights in yellow and green and red, framing the bodies of the black skyscrapers against the sky, and those lights were in Naruto, too, inherent in his smile as he turned back to Sasuke and the darkness between them disappeared.
"Cool view, huh, Sasuke?"
Sasuke smiled back. Then he tugged a little on the hand that was bound to his, and to his surprise Naruto did as he was asked, jumping down from the railing to land at Sasuke's side. Sasuke blinked and Naruto grinned—and then he set off for the far side of the bridge, joined hands swinging between them as the snow came down and erased their footsteps, making them not a progression but a passing moment under the hollow sky.
"Jeez. No wonder you don't want ice cream," Naruto said, glancing up at Sasuke with a widening smile. "Your hands are like ice cubes."
Sasuke shook his head. "Not anymore."