A/N: Oh my god, please don't kill me! This took forever and I'm not even gonna divulge the reasons of WHY to you because quite frankly I don't deserve the sympathy (or scorn) but be glad I finally got it out! (I am!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Warnings: Dun Dun Dun!
Chapter 3: I can't do anything right
Naruto
Wednesday came quickly, and with it came an air of drowsiness as Naruto stared blandly at his alarm clock. It had been flashing five o'clock repeatedly since he'd silenced it without turning it off properly two hours ago.
He'd been sleeping on and off since three o' clock, tossing and turning without making any real progress; he blamed the late August air for making it too hot for him to get comfortable. Naruto refused to acknowledge the fact that he may not have gotten any sleep, due to the black leather jacket that hovered on the edge of his periphery.
And was clearly not his.
Naruto groaned as he finally gave up on sleep altogether and sat up; carelessly kicking his sheets off of him. Turning off his alarm properly, Naruto ignored the jacket politely poised on his desk chair, for the towel draped over his bedroom doorknob. He'd think about that later once he was clean and fed.
Sluggishly making his way towards his bathroom and successfully avoiding all obstructions in his path, Naruto pulled back the shower curtain and set the temperature for 'wake-up'.
At the solid age of seventeen, Naruto had been living on his own for four years. Now about to turn eighteen in October, Naruto might actually have to pay the bills for the place once his parents had no legal reason to take care of him; not that they had in the past five years. For as long as he could remember, it had been his step-uncle Iruka doing the job of both his mom and dad, but even with his mom's step brother taking care of him, Naruto was always left with the bulk of it.
Deep down he wanted to be able to rely on someone, but it seemed that with his luck, no one had ever fit such a simple description. No one really knew him, and Naruto found himself preferring it that way. He had his reasons. If that person came into his life right this minute, Naruto wouldn't be able to accept them for what they were because he was used to never getting what he wanted; no matter how much he hoped.
The face of a certain Uchiha came unbidden to Naruto and left him feeling confused and strangely hollow. Shaking the thought away, Naruto did a rush job of brushing his teeth and splashed water onto his face, hopefully ridding him of the thought stream completely. Taking his time with stripping, Naruto actually took the chance admire his physique for the first time since he'd been thirteen looking for chest hairs.
Despite his short stature, Naruto was just as sculpted as the next guy. His tan was completely natural and took over his entire body, but was cut into by the tattoo the blonde had gotten during his more rebellious phase of life. It was of a red fox with nine tails that ran horizontally across the left side of his back. It emphasized the size and definition of his muscles. It wasn't too big but it was another thing that he hadn't thought socially important to tell anyone.
Who would even care?
Pulling off his boxers gave him full view to gloat. His stomach legs and arms were toned and muscled, but still gave way to his lithe build. Naruto let his eyes trail one of the wayward fox tails that ran backwards toward his ass and immediately imagined a pale finger tracing that very same trail. Blinking rapidly Naruto jerkily tossed the towel over the rack and stepped into the shower, cringing at where his thoughts had almost gone.
"I'm not gay..." Well that didn't sound half as true as it had two days ago.
What if you are? A voice inside his head questioned him.
"I-I'm not, so there is no what if. At least I don't think…" Naruto said, flinching at how lame he sounded and making quick work of soaping up his body to keep himself distracted.
Yeah, that was lame, the voice mocked before continuing, but so what? So is Uchiha.
It was at that very moment that Naruto dropped his soap, nearly slipped on it and had to catch his balance before he cracked his skull. Him being gay for Sasuke….. who was also gay?
Now that was a scary thought.
…. But slightly appealing in nature, if he ever did figure out whether or not he was the g-word…
Okay, he really needed to stay out of his own head. Cutting the water off, Naruto stepped out of the shower and into his now warm and misty bathroom. Grabbing the only towel he'd brought, he quickly dried himself off and wrapped it around his waist; not caring if it sagged dangerously low on his hips as he rummaged through his drawers for some form fitting jeans.
He finally just decided on the dark wash denim jeans his parents had shipped to him directly from designer hangers in Paris. Normally he avoided all things designer because they leaked too much of his real life, but he only had himself to blame seeing as he'd failed to do his laundry again as Iruka had instructed.
Praying to god that he could drown out the jeans with a simple t-shirt, Naruto thanked the gods when he found a white one buried deep under the Abercrombie & Fitch dress shirts his mom had bought him for his birthday that he had yet to wear, and gleefully pulled the white tee over his head.
And cursed.
It was tighter than the ones he normally wore. His other shirts left a lot to the imagination and made him look like a dwarf in all his hoodies, but this shirt hugged his every muscle and showed off the pecks that he'd been ogling in the bathroom not ten minutes earlier. Staring at his reflection, Naruto seriously debated all the affects of going ahead and wearing his unfortunate ensemble.
Concluding that drooling girls surely outweighed Sasuke's inescapable habit of picking on him, Naruto forewent his usual gelled hairdo, for just a simple comb out and mussing. Grinning at his final look, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's jacket with as little touching as possible, and made his way to his kitchen for some well deserved grub.
"Lovely Ramen!" Naruto sang as he lunged for a pack of his favorite noodles and set up a pot of water to boil. While waiting, Naruto stared at the jacket which adorned the Uchiha crest on its back and even fell stiff again the back of the kitchen chair like a true Uchiha.
The blond had been seriously considering how he would go about delivering the article of clothing back to its owner with the least amount of contact possible. The reason Sasuke had even given it to him was still a mystery, but as he thought of the gesture, the same smile that had lit his face as the raven had driven off, found its way creeping back along his lips.
Someone's in love, the teasing voice returned and Naruto blushed viciously.
"Who would love a jerk like him!" He yelled into the emptiness of his house, realizing too late how insane he must look talking to himself. Maybe the loneliness was getting to him and it was time he got a roommate. Shaking his head and brushing away the ridiculous thought, Naruto turned when he smelled rather than saw his water finally reach a boil.
With his ramen finished and him slurping away, Naruto looked at the clock for the first time since he'd woken up.
"Shit! I'm gonna be late!" He yelled, accidentally scalding his tongue in the process. Dumping the empty bowl and mentally promising to wash it when he got home from work; Naruto grabbed his bag, keys, reluctantly Sasuke's jacket, and bolted.
Sasuke
Sasuke sat stoically in his desk, seemingly staring out at the large expanse of green around the campus and the city far off into the distance, but his ears were focused on a hushed conversation going on between two of his fangirls about him and someone he'd cut out of his life two days ago.
"Did you hear about Sasuke and Sai?" The girl seemed to be holding back an endless stream of squeals because her voice was tight with excitement. Sasuke guessed the girl she was speaking to was uninformed because fangirl number one went on to explain.
"Let's just say, he's back on the market!" This time she let the squeals flow and fangirl number two was not far behind her.
Sasuke snorted silently to himself, his body barely rising with the action. Those girls didn't have a chance with him. He wouldn't even give them the time of day for a quick blow job. He'd made that mistake with Sai while trying to run away from what he truly wanted and that involved sun-kissed blonde hair and ocean blue eyes…
Clearly his throat loudly, Sasuke shifted a bit in his seat before getting comfortable again. The point was that he'd gone for everything that wasn't that in hopes of quelling his strange obsession, but the truth was as high school had flown by, Sasuke found himself needing any and all type of contact with that person. And as lame as it was, bullying was his closest bet without giving himself away. Though the Uchiha had a sneaking suspicion that-
The first period bell rang loudly, interrupting his train of thought and thankfully, the girls' conversation too. Anko promptly stood and took role without further notice, barely blinking an eye when Naruto burst through the door right as she reached his name.
"P-Present!" Naruto panted as he struggled to dislodge his bag from the doorknob. Students, surprisingly, weren't laughing at his vain attempts while Anko gave him a heated stare. Swallowing slowly, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when his bag magically released itself from mating with the door knob; he could still feel Anko's stare, along with everyone else's, on the back of his neck while he made his way to his seat. He was used to it by now, so thought nothing of it.
Finally seated, Anko went on with the lesson, while Naruto went about his normal routine of pretending to pay attention, still oblivious to everyone's heads swiveling to face him. Huffing, Ino finally deemed the silence too overrated and spoke her mind.
"What the hell gives Naruto?" She snapped, trying to act as unaffected as possible, but the blush on her face and the way her eyes traveled downward, she wasn't doing a very good job. Naruto, still oblivious to the effect he was having on the female and some of the male population, turned to face her with his head tilted to the side.
"What did I do this time Ino?" Naruto raised a questioning eyebrow, but when all Ino did was stutter, Sakura finally stepped in.
"Naruto, she's talking about your…clothes." Like a bubble popping, Naruto's face finally lost its confusion and he looked sheepish.
"I, uh, I forgot to do my laundry…" The last of the sentence trailed off awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. Ino seemed to come back to life as she glared at him.
"Liar! You don't go from a baggy dwarf to a toned, tanned, muscular-"
"We get it Ino!" Sakura said trying to rein in her friend as she practically drooled over Naruto's surprising new look. Snapping out of it once again, Ino finally gave Naruto an appraising look.
"Hmm, not bad. So who is she? Or should I say he?" Ino said, waggling her eyebrows and shooting him a mischievous look. Little did she know, her innocent question had caught the attention of Sasuke and Gaara. Naruto gaped at her and shook his head wildly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ino scoffed at his theatrics, which earned her even more gaping.
"Close your mouth, you're in the company of civilized people." Naruto mouth slowly clamped shut, but he didn't take his eyes off of her. Instead, her opted for looking at anything and everything but her. Problem with that was, his eyes connected directly with Sasuke's, who's own eyes were dancing with something he couldn't even recognize, so in an attempt to break that connection he swiveled his head in the completely opposite direction.
Only to land on turquoise, whose oceans housed curiosity and slight…. reluctance.
Slowly turning back to Ino, whose smirk was even more apparent, Naruto suddenly realized he was very much corned.
In an act of desperation, Naruto clamored to his feet which earned him twice the attention.
"Anko-sensei, can I switch seat-?" The sentence was barely out of his mouth before Ino and Sakura were yanking him back down in his chair. Ino waved Anko away before she decided to put the blonde out and as soon as all was clear she turned to Naruto with narrowed eyes.
"Are you insane?" She hissed, giving him a well earned pinch to the arm, only to have her hand linger on how smooth and hard his bicep felt. She was sure that if she asked him to flex, those muscles would pump up to twice their size-
Suddenly crossing his arms, Naruto shot Ino a weird look before warily sinking back into his chair. He knew he shouldn't have taken a chance on these clothes. He would have bought himself less attention by wearing unwashed clothes that stank.
"Are there any other new additions we should worry about?" Ino inquired, looking him dead in the eye and watching him squirm.
"N-No! This is the last and only new thing." Naruto stammered, putting emphasis on only, knowing Ino was a second away from bringing up the topic of a his love life again. Ino and Sakura wore twin frowns as they finally gave up and turned back towards the front, but Ino's expression left no question that he would get it as soon as she had her chance. Thankfully, Anko assigned enough class work to keep Ino busy; she didn't have a chance to bug him the whole period.
Glaring down at his notebook, Naruto debated actually changing into his gym clothes for the rest of the day, but when he heard a snort come from his right as if the bastard could read his mind, Naruto quickly squashed the idea. Glaring at him and feeling pretty bold, Naruto poked him hard in the bicep.
"Something funny, bastard?" Sasuke's eyes slowly slid towards him from gazing out the window, but instead of stopping at his face they ventured down his neck to his chest and on down. Seconds ticked by like years, until finally Sasuke came back up for air just as slowly and blue eyes met onyx filled with a heat that left Naruto slightly breathless.
"Nothing at all." Swallowing loudly and trying to cover the flush on his face, Naruto realized maybe that hadn't been such a good idea, because now he was getting that feeling again in his stomach. Sasuke smirked and turned back towards the window with a self-satisfied grunt. Folding his arms over his torso in fear that Sasuke might see his stomach doing backflips, Naruto turned away quickly with a huff. Catching a flash of red movement, Naruto looked at Gaara for the second time today but this time he didn't turn away.
Thinking back on the other day, Naruto felt the need to thank him or do… something!
Trying to get his attention was harder than he thought. Gaara's eyes were narrowed as if in deep concentration, but Naruto could tell by his tense facial muscles that he either wasn't getting the subject or he was trying his best not to react.
If the blond didn't know any better, he'd say the red-head was actually…avoiding him. After a fifth failed attempt, short of jabbing his finger into Gaara's arm, Naruto just decided to wait until after class to thank him.
The bell finally rang and Naruto was the first out his seat and packing his things. Keeping an eye on Gaara, whose face, he noticed hadn't lost its tension, Naruto was right about to follow him out when he was blocked by Ino. One look at her told him he wasn't gonna get out of this unless he promised her something.
"At lunch, okay?" Pleased with herself, she nodded, grabbed her things and skipped out the room. Back on his mission, Naruto tried to spot a tuff of red in the crowd leaving the classroom, but right as he got to the door, ready to peek his head out, a warm breath hit his ear causing him to careen to the side and away from the unexpected contact.
"What the hell was that?" Naruto panted, putting a hand to his heart to slow its frightened beating. Sasuke just stood above him with a crooked smirk, waiting for him to calm down.
"Did you plan on keeping it, dobe?" Eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, Naruto nearly tripped over himself when he realized what the Uchiha was talking about.
"As if!" He said quickly, turning to pick up his bag and avoiding Sasuke's gaze. "It's in my locker, asshole. I just figured you wouldn't want rumors spreading if I walked into class wear-carrying it." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his slip, but Naruto just shrugged trying to play it off casually. "Now, if you don't mind…" He tried to move around Sasuke's larger frame but only succeeded in getting firmly pinned against the wall.
Sasuke's face hovered dangerously close to his and Naruto stared up at him in irritation, his blush quelling his intimidation factor.
"Move, Uchiha." Sasuke just smirked wider, and if anything moved closer. "I'm serious, get outta the way!" Naruto said, wincing when the end of it came out as a whine.
"Who're trying to impress?" Sasuke asked mocking his outfit as his eyes roved up and down his body again. "If you wanted my attention, you could've just asked." Naruto wasn't mistaken when he heard the slight edge in Sasuke's voice, but he was too agitated to acknowledge it as anything more.
"Please! The only thing I am to you is a daily punching bag!" Naruto finally shoved his way past Sasuke and left the classroom, knowing that he'd only have time to go straight to his locker then straight to class. Sasuke just followed him, earning the two stares, pointing and whispers.
"Hey, check it out-!"
"Whoever that is, he's hot!"
"No wonder he broke up with Sai-!" That statement made Naruto stop in his murderous trek towards his locker, and turn disbelievingly towards Sasuke. Having a clear view of his face, the whispers got even louder.
"No way! Is that Naruto-?"
"Daamn, he cleans up nice-!" Throughout all this chaos, Naruto's eyes never left Sasuke's bored ones. The Uchiha simply stood with his hands stuffed lazily in his pockets and a bored expression on his face, while Naruto's stunned stare slowly morphed into an enraged glare.
"So that's why." Naruto said quietly, not caring whether or not the Uchiha could hear him. The only reason he hadn't gotten a face plant today, was because Sasuke had dumped one toy and was hoping to land another one in the same day. He didn't know what to call it, but whatever feeling had filled him as the day went on, suddenly left him feeling very empty. Nodding slowly to himself, Naruto turned away from the direction of his locker and silently left Sasuke standing there, knowing not to follow.
"Naruto." Sasuke said softly, in a small attempt to get him to stop.
But Naruto didn't look at him as he passed, if he had, he would've noticed the long crack that ran along the Uchiha's mask for an instant…
…but vanished just as fast.
Gaara
God, the clocks in this school are slow as hell, Gaara thought as he ignored everything the teacher tried to shove in his face in an attempt to please Kabuto's orders. But Gaara wasn't taking this shit, sure he'd stay out of trouble, but Kabuto should know that he wasn't exactly a genius which was why despite the fact his family couldn't afford to send him here, he wouldn't have gotten in anyway because he wasn't smart enough.
He was never good enough for any of that.
Rolling his eyes at where his train of thought led him, Gaara settled back down into his chair and resumed cursing the clock for its slowness.
"Mr. Sabaku, please listen to me. I can't help you if you refuse to take my advice." The teacher begged him uselessly, trying to stress his point with random gestures and snapping the papers in his hands against the desk a few times.
"I don't need a tutor." Gaara snapped, gripping the front of the desk in his hands about to forego waiting on the school bell to ring. The teacher didn't even need to be doing this when he could just be getting ready to start his next class. He now regretted rushing out of first period like an idiot. Why he did that, he had no idea; all he knew was that as soon as he'd watch that prick eye Naruto like some piece of meat-
The bell rang, and not a moment too late. Breathing deeply, Gaara released the abused desk top, and felt more than saw the teacher's impatience grow.
"This talk isn't over, and you will need a tutor if you expect Mr. Kabuto to allow you to graduate." Shit, Gaara thought, resisting the urge to stick his tongue when the teacher left with a triumphant glare over his shoulder. Well now he was gonna have to get a tutor, hopefully one that was a hopeless geek he could easily manipulate to do his homework for him; of his own free will of course.
As student began to fill the second period class, a sense of déjà vu fell over him as he heard the volume of voices pick up.
"Naruto, dude, what's with the sudden change in wardrobe?" Kiba voice reverberated through the room loudly drawing everyone's attention towards the subject. Naruto slapped on a grin and rubbed the back of head, which Gaara was starting to suspect wasn't a habit at all, but a sign of how tense he really was; there was no doubt in Gaara's mind that the grin was fake.
"Eh, I had no clean clothes." He said simply, which earned him a bark of laughter from Kiba, which was quickly silenced by that quiet girl…Hinata right? Shikamaru just grunted and muttered his usual 'troublesome' before plopping down in a desk and laying his head on it.
"Naruto, can I speak to you for a moment?" Gaara's ears perked up when he heard that same teacher's voice beckon Naruto over quietly, but when that same guy turned towards him and pointed, all Gaara could think was, oh hell no.
Trying, but failing to duck in time, Gaara was forced to send an awkward nod their way when Naruto turned towards him, following the teacher's finger. The slight widening of his eyes spoke volumes, as he turned back to the teacher and began to talk in a rush and the teacher's face went through four different expressions all at once.
"What do you mean? I thought you'd be perfect for this." The teacher said, confused as to why Naruto of all people would try to decline.
"I mean, I don't think I'd be the best choice Iruka." Naruto began, trying to avoid the real reason but confused at himself because not ten minutes ago he was desperately looking to thank him. "I just think there might be other students better suited, besides I have to work and-"
"Don't you give me that Naruto Arashi Uzumaki! You and I both know that you don't even need to work," Naruto shushed him quickly, "and there's more than enough room in your schedule to help out a fellow student."
"But him?" Naruto whined and immediately regretted it at the curious stare Iruka gave him. Knowing he didn't want to divulge anymore of what he was really thinking, Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine, but you'll have to buy me twice as much ramen. I'm practically starving myself! They ran out so fast." Iruka just smiled at him and nodded, pushing him towards Gaara eagerly.
The red-head watched him approach slowly with a neutral expression. He wasn't going to say anything unnecessary; he was just going to try his hardest to get out of the torture that Kabuto was unknowingly putting him through. Naruto finally reached him, and his hand went straight up to the back of his head as if on instinct, and Gaara suddenly pictured himself yanking that hand out from behind his head and slamming it on the desk.
"S-So, uh, how's it going?" That was a stupid question, and Naruto knew it, so the moment it came out of his mouth he nearly leapt forward to try and catch it. Gaara however either didn't catch the cliché or choose to ignore it.
"You don't have to tutor me if you don't want to." He said bluntly, cutting straight to the point leaving Naruto gaping at him.
"What? I-I didn't mean that!" He sputtered helplessly for a couple seconds before just shutting up and glaring at the floor. "I…I just didn't think that was exactly what you wanted…" Naruto finally said when the hole he'd made in the floor with his eyes was deep enough. Gaara sighed, wanting to punch himself for making him feel that way. Finally opting to just suck it up, Gaara just shrugged and shot him a lazy crooked smile.
"At the moment, I'm not getting anything I want, but I guess if it's gonna be anyone tutoring me, it might as well be you." Naruto looked up quickly, startling Gaara for a split second, but he didn't know that the blonde was assessing his word choice to see if he was implying that he knew Naruto was smarter than he led on to be. Deeming him safe with an indiscreet nod, Naruto grinned again, making Gaara want to cringe.
Looks like he'll have to get used to the forced fakeness too.
"So, when do you want to do this?" Naruto asked, timidly taking the seat next to Gaara, and when Gaara just nodded in acceptance, he took that as a sign that maybe, just maybe they could have a friendship a bit truer than the ones he's scrounged up thus far.
"Anytime right now, but I gotta tell ya, today's my first day at work so depending on how that goes will determine how 'free' I am." Naruto nodded, curious to know where it was he had applied but not wanting to come off as nosey and invade his life.
"Well I work today also, but I'm usually never busy on the weekends, so would that be okay?" Gaara glanced at him with a look he couldn't recognize before turning away and grabbing a wayward piece of paper and a pen. Silently handing it over, Gaara didn't need to say anything for Naruto to understand what he wanted.
Scribbling something down quickly, Naruto handed it back and waited for him to stuff it back into his bag, "Oh, by the way, I never did say uh, thanks. For the other day…" Naruto trailed off awkwardly.
"Don't mention it." Gaara finally said, noting to himself that Naruto had only written his number, not his address, and turned to glance at him over his shoulder. "Really, don't." Naruto frowned a little at that last statement, but grinned nonetheless, determined to let it blow right over him.
"No problem."
Naruto
The final bell rang and with it carried the sound of hundreds of students milling about either headed for their cars or the buses. Naruto was part of the few that lingered on the school grounds. Even though it was against every fiber of his being, Naruto stood at his locker clutching Sasuke's infamous leather jacket glancing up and down the hall every now and then trying to catch a glimpse of him.
He had refused to even look at the Uchiha since their confrontation earlier despite his failed attempts to catch the blonde's attention. Sasuke had even tried to corner him again, but quickly found that too many people had been paying attention. Naruto grinned at the memory of Kiba roughly bumping into the Uchiha and then casting him a lame 'sorry' before dragging Naruto away.
It seemed his friends were finally beginning to make an effort ever since Gaara took the first stand. It was their own little way of making up for the past, even though they still didn't confront Sasuke directly; not like Gaara did at least.
Damn the social hierarchy.
Blowing a light blonde strand out of his face, Naruto looked down the hallway again with an impatient frown.
"Fucking Uchiha, probably laughing at me right now for making me wait for his too-good ass." Glaring down at the jacket as if it was its fault, Naruto roughly pulled his locker back open and shoved the hunk of leather back inside. Before he could hear the satisfying slam of his locker, a firm pale hand gripped it open.
Not wanting to turn around at all, Naruto took the deepest breath before turning around and coming face to face with smug dark irises.
"Took you long enough," Naruto grumbled, looking away when an all-too-knowing smirk graced the taller male's features, "You're lucky I didn't make the snap decision to burn your shit." Naruto snapped when Sasuke made no move for the jacket or away from him at all. If anything he just got closer. Feeling the heat radiating off of the body in front of him made Naruto's heart speed up against his will.
"Say something, basta-!" Naruto was cut off suddenly by hands gripping his hair tightly and pulling him forward to meet soft warm lips. Before he could even register the sudden gesture, Sasuke was already pulling away, licking his lips for good measure.
"Yeah, I am lucky." Grabbing his jacket out of the frozen blonde's locker, Sasuke folded it neatly across his arm. Bending down towards Naruto's face again, ignoring his attempt to lean away, Sasuke captured his face in his hands and forced him to look directly into his eyes. Naruto finally snapped out of it.
"Let go of me! What the fuck is your problem?" He was flailing his arms and trying to slap the smugness right off Sasuke's face, while the Uchiha stood silently taking all the abuse, "I don't get you! One minute your making me feel like the lowest creature on the planet and the next you're molesting me! I'm so sick of you-!"
He was cut off again by the same pair of lips. The thought: he should've seen that coming crossed his mind, but was silenced by the nature of this second kiss alone.
Sasuke cupped his face gently as he slowly moved his lips against Naruto's slightly chapped ones. This was different than the first, which was rushed and used only to silence the blonde. The second kiss was soft and gentle making Naruto's legs slightly buckle as Sasuke nipped and sucked on his bottom lip. The blonde soon found himself responding to the kiss, knowing that he'd later claim it was hypnosis.
As the kiss continued, Sasuke hands trailed from his face down his sides to his hips while Naruto's arms wound themselves around the Uchiha's neck as the kiss grew more heated. (Think things are going too fast? Hah) One particularly hard suck caused Naruto to moan loudly and the echo that bounced off the walls hit him square in the face.
Pushing Sasuke away from him roughly, Naruto wiped his sleeve across his mouth a couple hundred times before glaring at the raven.
"What possessed you to do that!" Naruto screeched, his face flushing a bright red when Sasuke finally caught his baring and Naruto saw how bruised his lips were from the kiss.
"You aren't just a punching bag to me."
"What!" Sasuke sighed loudly, knowing he wasn't going to get through to the blonde unless it was with a wooden stick.
"I said: you aren't just a punching bag to me." Calm enough to understand what he meant, Naruto resisted the urge to scream and instead opted for glaring in a silent demand for Sasuke to continue. Taking the hint, Sasuke crept as close as the blonde would allow, stepping past his leather jacket that had fallen to the floor when Naruto had pushed him.
"I want you," he said, making Naruto's face match the red Christmas sweater his mother had sent Itachi and ended up in the fire place, "I've always wanted you as more than that. I'm just making it clear to you; now that it's become clear to me." Naruto heart hit his ribcage with such force it knocked the breath right out of him. How was he supposed to respond to that? After all those years of torment? Did Sasuke really think it was gonna be that easy?
"Fuck you." Naruto said harshly, finally turning around to slam his locker closed, the sound of it not as satisfying as he would've liked.
"Give me the time and place and I'll make that happen." Sasuke said smirking, leather jacket in hand. God he would never give up.
"Like you made it happen with Sai?" Naruto said smug when Sasuke's expression turned dark.
"You want to know what really happened?"
"No thanks." Naruto said sharply, turning away from the Uchiha and right as he was about to turn the corner he heard something that almost made him stop; almost.
"Order up, Naruto!" Naruto wiped the sweat off of his eyebrow and turned toward the freshly prepared tray of food.
"Thanks Teuchi!" Delivering the orders in record time despite how crowded the place was on a Wednesday night, Naruto went back to the chefs' counter to wait on the next orders.
"Maa, ojiisan when are you gonna get another chef around the place? We've been getting swamped in here every since Ayame left." The old man who was the owner of Ichiraku restaurant just laughed, still focused on ringing out the new batch of odon noodles.
"Well whatdya expect? My granddaughter was the only other person even half as good at making noodles! She learned-."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, she learned from the best, but seriously, when are you gonna get some help around here?"
"Way ahead of you brat! I've got a kid coming in here for an interview as we speak." Naruto tilted his head at the word 'kid' thinking it was another student like him.
"Is he another student?" Naruto asked curiously, wondering why something about this situation should click but wasn't.
"Yeah, actually goes to your school believe it or not. You can't get any of those other snot nosed kids to work for a living! Order up!" Grabbing slightly hot bowls full of broth he did not want on his hands at any time, Naruto quickly delivered it to table five which was located closer to the front door.
Ichiraku was a small establishment despite the large sum of money they brought in and the huge customer demand. It had started out as a cozy coffee shop before old man Teuchi got a hold of it. The last owner had been going out of business and practically gave it to him.
Setting it up as a small ramen stand soon became insufficient once word got out about his amazing skills as a chef. Naruto grinned sheepishly at the memory of him blabbing his mouth to anyone who would listen when he was younger and had first discovered the stand in its early days of business.
There were only ten tables spread evenly throughout the place; the chairs coming up high and the tables even higher to prevent fatal spills. The setting of the place was completely Asian and starting from closest to the front entrance, pictures of famous chefs making noodles all the way from the Han Dynasty followed the walls all the way towards the back where the kitchen was located and only employees were allowed.
The food was great and the pay was even better; old man Teuchi sure raked it in.
The bell above the front entrance door tinkled softly and Naruto turned away from the couple he'd just served to greet the new comer.
"Welcome to Ichiraku's, where would you like to be seat-WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Naruto yelled in shock pointing at the supposed 'customer' square in the chest, drawing attention from some of the newer customers that weren't yet used to his random outbursts. Gaara glared at the offending finger balefully before glancing at Naruto attire and groaning loudly.
"Please don't tell me you work here." Naruto glared at him and crossed his arms defensively.
"Fine, I won't." Gaara sighed, watching Naruto walk off toward the back where he guessed the kitchen was when he heard 'Order up!' come from in that direction.
"Well I can't back out now." Gaara mumbled to himself, praying to the gods that he didn't actually land the job. It seemed the blonde kept popping up in his life at the most unnecessary times. But, Gaara thought, looking him over as he watched Naruto deliver heavy trays filled with food swiftly and efficiently whilst still managing to mingle with the customers, he's definitely in his element here.
Smiling despite himself, Gaara waited to catch the owner's eye and when Teuchi saw him, Gaara prayed to the gods something entirely different.
An hour later, Teuchi threw an apron at a stunned Gaara and stood with a grin.
"Congrats, you've got the job." A little surprised, Gaara shook the old man's hand slowly and followed him out of his office. As they made their way back into the main restaurant, Teuchi talking about what the training process was going to be like, Gaara caught Naruto's eye from across the room right after the blonde had successfully delivered a meal and was heading back toward the kitchen.
The knowing grin the blonde sent him hit him like a ton of bricks.
This blonde-kid was slowly becoming something more than just annoying, but Gaara's reluctance to get into anything kept him from figuring out exactly what that was.
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