If you would ask anyone what it meant to be 21 (nearly 22) everyone would say - university and parties - living wild and experimenting sexually, everyone lived like that. At least to most people's common knowledge. Every Friday night should end on Saturday morning with a huge amount of hickeys all over, quickly picking up your clothes from a stranger's apartment floor and without taking a shower going back home to your roommates laughing that people in the subway must've stayed away from you because "god you stink. Reek of sex and alcohol". And that's okay, after all we all have hormones and our stressful lives that make us need the relief every week. "So no one told you that it was gonna be this way" just like Friends' theme song said. Now everyone's favorite childhood show seemed unbelievably ironic, especially this god-damn song.

When everyone was busy getting drunk and picking a random person from the crowd to be kept company by, there was one person who for sure didn't do this...

- I've seriously had enough dude. I don't want to go.

- You know, I remember when you used to be fun and outgoing, unlike now, you grumpy shit. I mean it man, we should get you back to the way you were before!

- You seriously are annoying, you know that right? - the blonde now was looking at his cat sleeping in legs of his bed curled up and for once quiet. Kiba just kept on bugging and bugging about how the blonde used to be fun and how amazing their parties were and that suddenly he just... just stopped being fun - Kiba. Dude really, stuff happen and you know what so lay it off, for real.

- Man you know, it's not like the end of the world that she left you, you know that. She was being a total bitch, just like her group of friends. I mean look, the length of her pink skirt was basically screaming "hey guys, if you wanna, just look cuz I'm not covering anything up!" - the brunette looked to his right feeling disgusted by memory of Sakura, Naruto's ex and the reason why he wasn't hanging out with anyone anymore. The wound has still been rather fresh, since Kiba thought that it would be a great idea to take Naruto to a party two days after the break up and unexpectedly, they saw Sakura - making out with a long-hair "stud" as everyone referred to their psycho of a senior Deidara-the-chemist. It was better to stay out of the chem lab when he was in just because he always blew something up. Just for fun.

So since that incident, Naruto kept himself locked in his apartment with his cat, which may have been for the better since whenever Naruto was out, the cat went full ballistic and trashed the house. Noodle was a Fox-like creature that was only okay with his owner and basically hated the often coming over Kiba just because the smell of his dogs.

The boys were sitting in Naruto's room full of sketches and notes for upcoming exams, though both of them knew that they will not even look at the papers until one hour before the exam.

- Come on this time we told Gaara to stand at the door and protect the gate from the pink-monster-bitch - Naruto chuckled at the comment first of all because of Sakura's nickname (he still had feelings for her but it didn't change the fact that Kiba was an expert in insults and nicknames, so combined it made his just the double of his usual wit) and second of all because of the thought of Gaara by the door. If the red-haired guy was standing there it was nearly sure that NO ONE out of their group of friends would come to the party, everyone would run away after meeting the cold gaze of Gaara the almighty scarecrow (first the hairstyle, then the creepy atmosphere he was spreading) - I promise you it will be fun! Come on, just this once! We need our DJ back! Parties suck without you! - Kiba grabbed the other boy's hand in a begging manner and nearly cried out which made Naruto chuckle again. If anyone could make him laugh, it was always Kiba. In their group everyone had a role - Kiba was the mood-maker, always, since there was no one more stupid, Naruto was the DJ because his brain had an amazing capacity only for songs, titles and lyrics, Shino was the owner of the biggest flat so he was the one to always host the parties, Shikamaru... well they couldn't force the guy to do anything, so he was always watching over everyone since he was the strongest with alcohol, Lee was the designated driver and Chouji was obviously the food supplier because he was learning how to become a chef. The booze was brought by everyone so the party would be well equipped and so that everything will be fair. But there was one thing that always made the parties complicated - the group of guys was popular. They were always the troublemakers, sure, but they had fun and that was what made them popular - not caring and just doing what suited them - so whenever the news of them hanging out at Shino's spread, soon enough there were people pouring through the doors.

Naruto started to think about all their previous hang outs and parties and realized one thing - even if hanging with Noodle at home meant a clean house he did miss his friends.

- Okay... - Kiba jumped up and started screaming out unnameable sounds causing Noodle to wake up and look at him with a glare full of hatered and pitifulness. The cat knew that the boy was an idiot and he was treating him as one. - but if I won't feel okay I'll just leave. - Naruto eyed Kiba to make sure the other was listening but it was meaningless as the brunette was in the middle of having a fit of scary happiness. It was moments away from him doing his happy dance. Naruto wasn't really sure if going to the party was a good idea, he'd most probably end up going back with memories to Sakura and then to the breakup and... even now his mind went there and it made the blonde furious. He wanted to stop thinking about his ex completely, but it was hard to erase years of feelings. After all they had been together for almost 4 years, and before that Naruto had a 3 years worth of unspoken crush, so in total 7 years seemed nearly impossible to forget. The most pain though was caused by the reason of the breakup, which was none. Sakura just told Naruto that she wants to breakup and "hopes they can remain friends like back in the days", but what the pink haired girl didn't know was that since the moment they first saw each other there were feelings involved. At least for one party so the boy had nothing to go back to. He thought that they will always be together, that she was his destiny and now here he was - stuck in his apartment with his crazy cat and idiot of a friend. But getting drunk with everyone would be nice. Too focused on his overthinking Naruto didn't notice that Kiba was now unintentionally choking him in a headlock of happiness, the sudden lack of oxygen made him try to squeeze out a "dude" so the brunette would come back to his senses but he was relieved as the phone rang. "Saved by the bell" he thought.

- Wassup?... yeah! - Naruto was massaging his neck happy he was now able no breath again - YEAH DUDE! We have him back!

By nine in the evening Naruto was ready to leave giving Noodle a kiss goodbye and stepping out of his door. The way to Shino's wasn't long, there was only one transfer and the whole trip took about twenty minutes so it wasn't this bad really. Wearing nothing special, just a white t-shirt with his favorite orange hoodie and pair of jeans, he went out to catch the nearest train. Being already late meant that his best friend was bombarding him with phone calls to make sure he was actually coming. By the tenth time the phone lit up with Kiba's name and a photo of him with his dog, Naruto was irritated to the point of picking up and telling the brunette how annoying he was but the blonde wasn't stupid enough and knew that it would be better to keep his phone a little bit further from his ear because he might go deaf, not mentioning that basically every person in this cart would be able to hear what Kiba was about to say. One twenty-minutes drive, an annoying conversation and an old lady telling him "it was rude to talk this loudly in the subway" later he arrived at Shino's door. The door was indeed answered by Gaara and he greeted Naruto with a careful glare and a silent nod. The blonde patted him on the shoulder passing him by and taking off his shoes in the hallway. The guys were all in the living room sitting on the sofa and playing Mario cart, the first one to notice the new-comer was not surprisingly Shikamaru sitting and just looking at the match, Kiba and Shino were playing, Chouji was cooking and Neji was doing something on his phone. Although all of them knew each other since first year of middle school, Naruto couldn't help but feel kind of awkward as it was the first time he shot himself out like this. No matter if it was his run-away-from-home-action, when they all argued and didn't speak for the long and painful two hours or when they all went to different high schools (except of Kiba and Naruto, for some magical reason they ended up together), through all this they always had each other's backs and always helped one another so this time it was hard to estimate how to behave exactly.

- Geez, fuck, really! - Kiba shouted throwing his controller on the sofa beside him hinting that he lost the game. - and you guys, just pour him some alcohol, see how stupid he looks? He knows he was being a dipshit so let's just get pissed already! - Kiba grabbed a bottle of tequila pointing it in the air.

- If you want all of us to pass out in the next 30 minutes, then let's start from tequila - Shino took the bottle and put it back down on the table - dumbass. - he punched the dog-lover in the shoulder and gradually everyone started to laugh. Not that the interaction was so funny, but the boys were laughing at the irrational tention that suddenly felt completely unnecessary and idiotic. And so the drinking begin.

The music was loud. It was pounding in Naruto's head and it felt really good. First of all his playlist consisted only of songs he liked, second of all he was again having fun, relaxed and free of all worries. Everyone was laughing at stupid stories Kiba was saying, trying to impress god-knows-who since they all knew that the boy was an utter idiot incapable of hooking up hot twins. Suddenly Gaara stood up and went in the direction of the door.

- Hey, idiot, come here for a sec. - redhead's monotonous voice shot through the room and Kiba like a good dog he was, came to the person calling him. Naruto was wondering what could make Gaara call their most troublesome friend but being already a little drunk made him lose the focus and start laughing again at god even knows what. He was just happy he was with his friends again, nothing else mattered. Well until a few moments later until both boys came back to the room exchanging a weird look and soon from behind their backs two black heads emerged for a corridor.

- An unexpected guest, a hungry traveler came knocking on our floor...

- Floor? - Shino asked obviously amused by how drunk Kiba was mixing up words.

- Door, shithead, door, jesus people can't even get drunk without being judged - as always exaggerating he changed the topic - 'nywas a traveler from distant unknown lands came bearing gifts - Kiba laughed at his own failed attempt on a joke as one of two heads pushed past him shoving him to the side. The boy was pale, average height and his black hair was cut short.

- I see you still do your own haircut - Shino said jokingly. Naruto's eyes were trying to regain focus on the boys face but soon it wasn't needed.

- Go to hell bug-boy. - the raven said and and took few steps foreword - I just heard that my princess was out from her dragon protected tower so I had to come and see on my own. I missed that smile. How is it Naruto? - the boy was now standing right next to the sofa where the blonde was sitting

- Sai? - Naruto asked and couldn't believe his eyes. Sai was also one of the group but he went to another university and since then he wasn't able to hang out with the rest as often as beofre.

- Yes. And I brought someone with me, unfortunately I was made to babysit my cousin. - the other raven head emerged from behind the two boys and now everyone in the room was staring at the unknown face. The party's rule was supposed to be "no newcomers".

Disclaimer:

Hi guys! I'm a newbie here and I just started writing this thingy about something that just came up in my head one day!

Anyways I hope you'll enjoy it~!

Ps. I don't own anything except maybe some ideas, but the characters aren't mine!

Enjoy!

A.k.