This here is a prompt for xCastielsGirlx! I hope you enjoy this CG! ^_^ (I'll bet it's not quite what you imagined it would be, but ya know...the idea bunny just ravaged me out of nowhere and I had to write it out this way! XD)
I hope you all find this amusing and enjoyable to read! (Next update will either be second last chapter of RS2 or the first chapter of ADB! *squeals* SO EXCITING!)
Warnings: Fluff, light yaoi hints, SI... :/ yerp!
Disclaimer: The only person I own in this story is the neighbour... :3 I'm sure you can guess who it is!
The room was dark with only a sliver of silver light shining through a crack in the curtains. Posters hidden in shadows adorned the walls and a shelf held many unidentifiable objects in the dark. A bed was pushed up against the wall with a dark wood side table next to it. Upon this side table were only three objects. One was a picture frame, the image of two boys standing side by side illuminated in the moonlight. Beside the picture sat an ordinary box of tissues and next to that was a mobile phone.
Light snores could be heard from the bed as the covers shifted slightly.
The phone on the side table suddenly lit up, the screen showing a clear 2:37 am before it began to vibrate. The buzz against the wood went on for a second before a tune joined into the racket.
'Apple bottom jeans-jeans- boots with the fur-with the fur!-'
There was an unhappy grunt from the bed before a pale hand slid out from the covers and started to slap around the side table. Upon locating the phone, the fingers closed around the device and dragged it back under the covers. A small click was heard before a sleep-marred voice answered through a yawn.
"N'llo?" the barely comprehensible word was muffled from the covers.
A few seconds passed before the voice answered spoke again.
" 'Ello?" there was some shifting and the covers tented momentarily. " F'cking message..." the voice grumbled and another click was heard before a few taps.
Suddenly the person sat upright, the covers sliding off to reveal messy black hair and onyx eyes narrowed at brightly lit screen of the phone.
"... 'Why is the rum gone?'" the young adult read aloud, an eyebrow arching high. He reached up, rubbing a hand over his face, trying to wipe away some of the sleep so he could focus. With another glance at the strange message, he sighed.
"Naruto..." he whispered the name as if it answered everything. "The hell is the idiot smoking now?" he groaned before falling back onto his bed. It wasn't unusual for his friend to send through odd and random messages on occasion. With a sleepy sigh, the man rolled over onto his side and curled up slightly.
Silence took over for a few minutes before the man huffed lightly and turned over, grabbing the covers and pulling them up. He closed his eyes, his brows furrowing stubbornly.
Another few minutes passed before he growled and lay on his back, once more frowning with his eyes closed as he tried to will himself back to sleep.
After three more attempts and a few more positions, the man let out a frustrated groan and sat upright.
"Shit," he hissed, scratching at his hair. He hung his head, his hand covering his face for a moment before he swung his entire head back with a loud moan. "Damn you, intuition!" he snapped to the night air before he threw the covers off of himself and climbed out of bed.
He quickly pulled on a T-shirt over his vest and a pair of track pants over his boxers before grabbing his wallet and his phone. Just before exiting his room he grabbed his car keys. In the brief illumination of moonlight, a tag on the keychain lit up exposing a bright 'Uchiha Sasuke' written upon it.
The man, Sasuke, hurried to his car. His pride and joy, a sleek Chevy Impala was gleaming in the moonlight as he climbed behind the wheel and started her up.
Pulling away, he spun the wheel and turned around, driving down the road with greater speed than legally allowed on the narrow city road. The street lights were out-after all no one really went out at near 3:00 am- and he cursed when his lights flickered several times before staying on. They were still rather dim and he groaned.
"Great, another thing to fix," he sighed. His poor car had been through a lot since he owned it; all courtesy of his dumbass friends who loved it so and insisted on 'borrowing' it without his permission.
He turned down another street, thinking about the strange message Naruto had sent him. They had been friends since kindergarten, in which Sasuke refused to give up a toy and Naruto had bitten his arm in response. The fight that followed had left a scar on many of the teachers there, especially when one teacher accidentally twisted Naruto's arm. When the boy had screamed out, Sasuke had taken the defensive and landed a solid kick to the teacher's crotch. Since that day, the two were practically joined at the hip. They still fought- teachers and students alike cowered in absolute terror when they fought- but they never stayed angry for more than two days at most. And if anyone ever messed with the other, they'd be flayed alive courtesy of the friend.
That odd relationship had lasted throughout their middle and high school years, only worsening or improving. They still fought like animals, with more experienced punches and kicks thrown into the mix now, but like always the anger never lasted. And they had grown to know each other better than anyone else.
Naruto knew Sasuke too well in the Uchiha's opinion. Sometimes he wouldn't even know he was feeling like shit until Naruto gave him a hug and said 'It's okay Sasuke'. And likewise Sasuke could tell when Naruto was lying, when he was upset, when he was dangerously angry...everything. He had even come to have a sort of intuition about his friend. More than once he'd gotten the strange feeling and rushed over to Naruto's only to find that the boy was indeed in some kind of emotional or physical distress.
Of course he'll never forget the time he felt he needed to take a jack over to Naruto's only to arrive and discover that his friend was trapped under his car after it rolled forward a bit while he was working under it. The jack, of course, was exactly what saved Naruto that day.
Since then, Sasuke trusted his intuition to tell him when his friend was in need of help.
And now here he was, experiencing that strange feeling again. This time there were no urges to take an object that may have involved heavy lifting, and Sasuke was grateful for that. However he felt that there was going to be a lot of hugging involved and plenty of tears and tissues. He only hoped that Naruto wasn't going to announce he had cancer and only had a week to live.
He finally reached his friend's apartment building and swiftly pulled up into his usual parking space. The tenants had learned to leave it free for him 24/7; the last one who dared park in his space had developed a phobia of parking spaces and now walked everywhere.
He slid out of the car, shivering slightly at the cool night air as he closed his door and hurried towards the stairs.
He climbed his way up to the third floor and jogged down the hall. The door just before Naruto's opened up, and he saw his friend's long time neighbour peek out. She was a young woman with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a sunset orange T-shirt and white pyjama bottoms, and she held a bookmark in one hand. Upon his approach she turned to face him, her lips quirking downwards in slightly-unhappy frown.
"Oh, you showed up," she said in a bland voice. Sasuke sighed; for some reason, the girl had never seemed to like him. Not that he was fond of her. In truth, the few times he ever spoke to her, he mirrored her dislike for him with equal intensity. However, there was no time to get into an argument with her now.
"Does it sound deadly?" he asked. The walls in the apartment building were rather thin and so if ever there was a crisis, they could usually hear Naruto screaming up a storm. The woman shook her head slowly.
"Not really. It sounded like he was sobbing...and maybe some singing too," she reported, scratching her chest unabashedly and sneering in response to Sasuke's disgusted face. "Just make him happy again. I can't write with the noise he's making," she grumbled before retreating back into her home and closing the door. Sasuke mocked her silently once she was gone as he made his way over to Naruto's door.
" 'Just make him happy' she says. 'Tch, I know she likes him, stupid cow," he growled to himself as he knocked on the door a few times.
There was no answer, and so with a glance to the door beside him, he pushed on the door handle. The door slid open and he frowned, quickly walking in and closing it behind him.
From the small living room, he could hear some music playing. It was soft and sad, the lyrics talking about loneliness. Concerned now, for Naruto never listened to those kinds of songs, Sasuke quickly walked through to the living room. There he saw a very pitiful sight.
Naruto was seated on his couch, a blanket wrapped around his legs. His blond hair was messy and matted to his face, which was wet with tears and sweat. His blue eyes were red and puffy and the tip of his nose was following in their lead. He had his head resting in his hand, sniffling and hiccupping on occasion. What looked to be the contents on an entire liquor store were surrounding the blond's feet, and Sasuke's nose wrinkled at the smell of beer in the air. He took a cautious step forward.
One thing he knew about Naruto was that he was a very schizophrenic drunk. One moment he would be giggling happily with a drink in hand and the next he would be smashing said drink over the head of some poor bastard who happened to have glanced at him in 'a funny way' according to Naruto's defence statement. Not wanting to have the coffee table hurled at his person, Sasuke made sure to approach his obviously upset friend with the same kind of gentle aura as he would a frightened animal.
Really, he could make a show for National Geographic titled 'The Drunk-Naruto: A Wild and Unpredictable Beast of the College Regions'. The amount of risks and almost-death experiences he would experience during the filming would be high enough to make the show a hit with the first episode.
He slowly knelt down beside the blond, who had yet to acknowledge-and maybe even notice- his presence.
"Hey," he said softly. Naruto sniffed dramatically and turned his droopy eyes to Sasuke.
"...Wha' you doin' here?" he slurred, a few more tears leaking out. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow and offered a rare-to other people- smile.
"I came to offer some rum," he replied. Naruto sucked in a shaky breath, biting on his lip as it quivered terribly before he let out a loud sob. Sasuke didn't have a moment to blink before Naruto was wrapping his arms around the raven's neck and squishing him against his face as he wailed.
"SASUKEE!"
Sasuke coughed out some lint from the couch, trying to manoeuvre his head so that he wasn't licking the material. It was rather difficult, what with Naruto mashing his face into the fabric.
He stayed still, letting his drunken friend continue to force his face to caress the couch before finally Naruto pulled away with a dramatic sob, burying his face in his hands while Sasuke straightened up and discreetly pulled the air back into his lungs.
The raven then slid onto the couch next to his distraught friend. He was genuinely concerned about Naruto. He hadn't seen him nearly as devastated as this since he the day he was informed his godfather had cancer. That had been a horrific day in which not only had Naruto punched the messenger doctor in the face-and subsequently through the dry-wall- but he had also gotten shit-faced drunk and thrown himself off a bridge-into a duck pond that was less than three feet under the bridge and as deep as a kids blow-up swimming pool- but either way it was always disheartening to watch one's best friend throw themselves off a bridge.
With a frown at Naruto's continued crying, Sasuke wrapped his arm around the broad tan shoulders and pulled the boy to his chest, allowing him to sob into his shirt.
"What's the matter, Naruto?" he asked gently, stroking his fingers through blond locks in an attempt to calm the man down.
Naruto hiccupped again, his shoulders twitching before he turned around to face Sasuke with a miserable look.
"...Kyuubi ran away!" he whined with the last word trailing into another high pitched sob. Sasuke blinked as he finally realized why his friend was so unhappy.
Kyuubi was Naruto's pet Labrador, and had a bad habit of escaping and going on long adventures around the neighbourhood. The dog was, in Sasuke's personal opinion, a devil in flea-coated fur suit. Kyuubi's temper was terrible and the dog snapped at almost everyone who dared to approach him. He was a magnificent dog for sure, with a red coat and a slender body, but his personality made Sasuke-a known asshole- look like a regular Happy Joe Doormat.
And on top of that, it seemed that Kyuubi disliked Sasuke as well. The dog growled at him, chewed his shoes, peed on said shoes once the first process was done, crapped on his doormat, scratched his car door and, Sasuke's favourite occasion,... had once dragged Sasuke's laundry bag down the street and 'dropped' it into an overturned trashcan on garbage day.
Oh the memories.
Sasuke realized that moment that Naruto's neighbour would probably love that dog. He shuddered to think of what they could plot against him if they ever got into contact.
A sob brought him out of his thoughts and back to the situation at hand. He rubbed Naruto's arm comfortingly.
"I'm sure he'll come back. He's probably just on another Dog-Road-Trip or something!" he assured but yelped when Naruto slapped his cheek.
"HE RAN AWAY!" Naruto bawled. "He's been gone f'r over a week now!" he slurred unhappily, whimpering as his hand fell limply onto his stomach. Sasuke worked his jaw, pleased that it wasn't dislocated. He contemplated how he could cheer his friend up, but in his current inebriated state, Naruto wasn't likely to cheer up for anything but...
"Hey, how about some Ramen?" Sasuke asked and like a charm Naruto bounced up with a look of watery hope.
"R'lly?" he slurred, his nose running. Sasuke nodded and then let out a yelp when Naruto placed a sloppy and disgustingly wet kiss on his cheek. "You're the best S'uke!"
Cringing and wiping at the lake of drool on his cheek, Sasuke gave a pained grin and slid off the couch and into the kitchen. He went over to Naruto's 'Ramen Cupboard' where he kept his stash and pulled it open.
His heart sank.
Naruto was all out of ramen. Oh dear, this was bad.
"Uhm...I..." he tried to come up with an excuse. Now that he had suggested ramen, Naruto wouldn't be happy until he had the steaming food in front of him. And if Sasuke suddenly said there was no ramen, the chances were very high of him getting very pissed off.
The mental image of coffee tables and empty beer bottles smashing into his head was frightening.
He struggled to think of a solution when suddenly a thought occurred to him.
He groaned loudly, unable to believe that he was actually considering it.
"S'uke! Rameeen?" Naruto cried, sniffling as he fumbled around on the couch and knocked over several empty bottles.
Gulping, Sasuke quickly walked towards the front door.
"I'm just going to go fetch some secret ramen ingredients!" he shouted, hoping that Naruto wouldn't be able to catch his obvious lie in his drunken state.
"N'kay! Hurry back!"
Thank God for small mercies.
Steeling himself for the worst, Sasuke exited the apartment and walked to the door right next to Naruto's. With a resigned sigh, he knocked heavily on the wood. A minute passed before the door was pulled open, and he blinked at seeing the blonde looking quite ready to bite his hand off.
"I was in the middle of a very important plot twist...Make. It. Quick!" she growled. Sasuke frowned.
"Do you have any ramen to spare?" he asked and internally cringed at how dumb the question must have sounded. And judging by the look he received, he wasn't wrong in guessing that.
"...You're here to borrow...ramen?" the blonde repeated slowly, eyebrows furrowing as she stared at him. Sasuke nodded impatiently. "...Were you dropped down a flight of stairs when you were a baby?" she asked.
Sasuke growled, tempted to slam her own door into her face, but decided against it. It wouldn't help his cause anyway. "Look, Naruto wants ramen and he's all out. I need to get it for him fast, or else we're all going to suffer for it!" he snapped, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. The woman huffed, rolling her eyes before she motioned for him to wait and retreated back into her home.
Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, bouncing on the balls of his heels as he waited. Finally the door swung open again, revealing the blonde carrying two packets of chicken ramen. She held them out, looking grumpy as ever. He offered a thankful sigh and took them, ready to turn and go back to his friend. Before he could take a step however a hand was thrust into his face.
"That'll be ten bucks."
He gaped at the smirking girl. "What? You're going to charge me?" he asked incredulously. She nodded.
"I'm not getting those packets back, so yeah, I want compensation," she reasoned and Sasuke growled.
"That's so stupid!" he hissed, despite seeing the obvious logic behind her request. Grudgingly, Sasuke pulled out his wallet and fumbled to get the requested amount while the woman glared at him.
"Stupid?" she repeated before scoffing. "Please. You're brain is about the size of my penis," she said and Sasuke looked at her oddly.
"You don't even have a penis!" he replied as he handed over the cash and she smirked.
"My point exactly!" she retorted and closed the door before Sasuke could throw a punch to her face.
Cursing the woman under his breath, Sasuke quickly went back into Naruto's apartment. He hurried past the blond on the couch, who was singing 'All By Myself' rather loudly and out of tune, and went into the kitchen to quickly prepare the ramen and hopefully cheer his grieving friend up enough to reason with him.
"AAAALL BY MYYY SEEELF!" Naruto sang loudly before he broke out into fresh sobs. "I'M SO ALONE!" he cried, and Sasuke rolled his eyes as he prepared the food.
Finally the ramen was ready, and Sasuke hurried to pour it into two bowls for them. He walked into the living room and saw Naruto staring at a picture in his wallet and sniffling. Sasuke set the bowl down and sat next to his friend.
"Here we are," he said, moving the food over to Naruto who took the chopsticks with a hiccup of thanks. While Naruto began to eat, Sasuke picked up the wallet and peered at the picture. It was of him and Naruto at the park along with Kyuubi. In the picture, Kyuubi had his teeth clamped firmly on Sasuke's pant leg and was tugging fiercely, his ears pulled back and his fur on end. Sasuke was on one leg, on hand gripping his pant line to prevent them from being torn off and the other hand was grabbing Naruto by the collar while he obviously yelled at the dog. The blond was grinning like a maniac, his right hand helping Sasuke keep upright and the other was waving to the camera happily.
Sasuke smiled. He remembered that day. It was a huge picnic that Naruto had dragged him to, and he'd actually enjoyed himself. Of course, Kyuubi ended up giving him endless grief but the overall day was fun. Naruto had had a blast, the sound of his laughter dominating all other noise at the park.
Sasuke had found the entire trip to be worthwhile.
Naruto fell against him, a single string of noodle hanging from his mouth. He looked a lot calmer, but there were still tears in his eyes.
"D'you think Kyuu will ever come home?" he mumbled sadly, and Sasuke wrapped an arm around him, rubbing his shoulder kindly.
"Sure he will. He's probably just out there terrorizing the local strays into doing his evil-doggy bidding and then he'll gallop home and force you to feed him, piss on my shoes and go to sleep like he always does," he assured and Naruto chuckled slightly.
"You're the best, Sasu..." he mumbled, turning his head up. Sasuke smirked at seeing the remnant of food and without much though, he leaned over and picked it with his teeth. With one end in his mouth, he stared at Naruto with wide eyes as the action caught up with him.
Huge blue eyes stared into dark onyx and for a moment they stayed still. Then, Naruto sucked on the noodle, making it jerk in Sasuke's mouth. The raven snorted, and Naruto made a groaning laugh before they were both snickering around the food. With their close proximity their eyes went squint, and that only served to increase their humour. And then, Sasuke moved forward a bit until their lips were pressed together. Naruto squeaked in surprise, and Sasuke took that opportunity to yank the noodle out of the blond's mouth and slurp it into his own.
They leant back, staring at each other with blushes on their faces. Then Sasuke swallowed, his Adams apple bobbing with the action, and Naruto let out a keening laugh before they both broke into hysterics. Naruto doubled over, his mouth open wide as he laughed while Sasuke pressed a hand over his eyes, his teeth serving as a barrier to the noises of his amusement.
When they calmed down, they resumed their eating, their shoulders bumping and their cheeks redder than before. Once the ramen was finished, they sat back and turned on the T.V. Sasuke no longer felt tired, and it seemed Naruto was still far to active to be ready to fall asleep just yet. The ramen had greatly helped him sober up, and he was no longer bawling. The odd sniff or soft whimper would escape him on occasion, but Sasuke was quick to stroke his hair and murmur a reassurance whenever that happened.
They continued to watch T.V for hours, sometimes focused on the screen and sometimes focused on each other. Sasuke knew he probably should have found it disturbing and odd that he enjoyed giving his best friend a kiss every now and then, but he decided that it was Naruto...nothing could be considered abnormal with the guy because he defied all laws of logic and common sense.
As it turned out, they obviously were more tired than they registered, because Sasuke found himself jolting awake at the fierce knocking on the door. He snorted, un-sticking his face from the side of the couch as the knocking continued. Naruto was fast asleep and snoring on the other side of the couch, his legs sprawled over the edge. Sasuke pushed himself up, accidentally taking the blanket with him and Naruto moaned unhappily in his sleep. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Sasuke tossed the blankets back onto the blond, smiling when Naruto made a content snuffle and cuddled under the blanket like a child.
He was pulled away from the sight by a knock that threatened to break the door off its hinges, and he hurried to answer.
Yanking it open, Sasuke only had a minute to see an angry pair of hazel eyes before he felt something clamp on his leg. He looked down and saw none other than Kyuubi glaring up at him, growling around his pant leg.
"He's been sitting outside this door for hours, doing nothing but whining, scratching, barking and making a shitload of noise!" the blonde woman snapped and Sasuke saw the tired bags under her eyes. He smirked internally. Good boy Kyuubi.
"Ah, well we were asleep," he said and held back a cackle at the furious look sent his way.
"Oh really? That's lovely. I wanted to give that a try too last night, but no-" she drawled the word, her eyes sliding to the side before shooting back to him, "Dipshit Dog over here kept me up the whole time because you dweebs weren't letting him in!" she finished and harshly poked Sasuke in the chest, making him stumble. He growled, and it was mimicked by Kyuubi who tugged on his leg harshly. He steadied himself on the doorframe before he completely toppled over and glared out at the woman.
"Well sorry we don't have super hearing! Besides, if this Dipshit Dog didn't run off every two weeks, this wouldn't have happened!" he said, turning his glare to Kyuubi. "Naruto was very worried about you, you flea-bag!" he scolded. At the sound of his master's name, Kyuubi's ears perked up and he whined around Sasuke's leg.
The blonde scoffed and shook her head. "Whatever. Just keep it down while I catch up on some sleep," she said before roughly shoving her fist under his chin, kneading her knuckles into his flesh, "Or else!" she threatened and pulled her fist away, knocking his jaw. He rubbed it, grumbling curses at her as she disappeared back into her apartment before he looked down at the dog.
"C'mon Mongrel, Naruto will be happy to see you," he muttered and practically dragged Kyuubi into the house via the grip on his pants. "If these tear, I'm going to shave you and dump you in yellow paint," he threatened and Kyuubi snorted, his ears flattening.
They went into the living room and Kyuubi let go of Sasuke's leg as soon as he heard Naruto's snoring. The dog ambled over to the blond and proceeded to lick his cheek. Naruto groaned, turning away from the tongue.
"Noo, not in the mood S'uke," he whined in his sleep and Sasuke almost flinched when Kyuubi seemed to glare at him accusingly. As it was, he raised his hands in an 'It wasn't me' gesture.
Kyuubi huffed and leant over, firmly nipping at Naruto's arm. He yelped and sat upright, gripping his attacked limb and turning to glare at whatever bit him. His glare switched to an ecstatic grin and he threw his arms around the Labrador's neck. "KYUUBI!"
Sasuke smiled, crossing his arms as he watched boy and dog reunite with much licking, hugging and a few painful looking scratches...all courtesy of Naruto.
"I'm so glad you're back!" Naruto mumbled into the dog's fur and Kyuubi just whined in response. Sasuke walked over, ignoring the grumble from the dog and sat down, wrapping his own arm around Naruto's shoulder.
"See, told you he'd be back," he said smugly and Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head.
"Yeah...say Sasuke?" he said, smiling and leaning against the raven's side. Sasuke grunted in reply, letting his fingers stroke through Naruto's hair.
"Hn?"
"How did you know I was sad?" he asked, blue eyes staring at the raven curiously. Sasuke smirked, placing a kiss on the tan forehead.
"Intuition," he replied vaguely, laughing at Naruto's puzzled face. His laugh turned into a scream when Kyuubi lunged forward and chomped at his crotch. "KYUUBI!"
Rofl Sasuke loses! XD
I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot! ^_^ SEE YOU ALL NEXT TIME!
(Reviews make Agent Duck-Butt come faster :D)