Three months. It took no less than three months for the agonizing divorce process to be over and done with, and for Naruto's life to go back to normal. Or at least, somewhat normal.
The entire experience had been bittersweet for the blonde café worker. It had become apparent just how miserable Sakura had been throughout their marriage, at least if the men she started seeing during the process were anything to go by. As much as the man didn't want to sign the divorce papers and go to court, he didn't want his wife of four years to be unhappy. He never did.
"Sir?" He heard a sweet voice call. Naruto's eyes flickered over to the woman waiting at the counter for him to take her order, and he visibly flinched.
"Uh yeah, right. Sorry about that, you said two Frappuccino's?" he clarified, pressing the appropriate buttons on the computer for their new to-go ordering station. The café had been open for five months now, and in the morning's they were over capacity. It only made sense to add a way for them to come in, get what they wanted, then leave.
"Yes, that's right." The red head said, a bit too sweetly for the blonde's liking. He scratched his ring finger with his left thumb out of habit, still not used to the piece of jewelry missing from it's spot.
He didn't like how common knowledge his divorce had become. Deidara had blabbed his mouth to almost every good looking customer, both male and female, and now there was a certain band of regulars that came for the sole purpose of grabbing his attention.
In any other circumstance, he'd probably find it more than a little flattering. Right now though, he just wanted some peace.
"Two pumpkin spice frappes with extra whipped cream." Sasori's quiet voice came from behind him as he moved around Naruto to give the ginger her order. The blonde usually hated Sasori's way of 'showing efficiency', but he was more than welcome to let him take the spotlight. His head just wasn't in it that chilly November morning.
He sighed and walked to the back of the store, untying his apron. For three months, His job had been his rock. He found himself working overtime a lot, so much so that he told Itachi to stop paying him for it altogether. It was an escape from the reality of what was going on outside of the coffee infused walls.
He didn't know what he'd do without his coworkers. Sasori's blunt nature, Deidara's jabs about one hot person or another.
A smile tugged on his lips for the first time that day. It was far from a perfect job, but it was perfect for him. Kisame's useless advice, Pein and Konan's odd but affectionate natures. They were things he couldn't see himself living without anymore.
His smile turned into a frown of confusion, eyebrows furrowing as he rested his head on the concrete wall in the back of the room. Across from him was a large wooden door with frosted glass, a name glowering at him almost like a beacon. Uchiha.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, kicking off of the wall as he headed out the backdoor to the parking lot for some air. No, he could live without the café and the employees if he really had to. They were nice, and the work was fun, but he wouldn't be heartbroken if for some reason He could never go back.
He couldn't say the same about Sasuke and Itachi.
They became a constant in his life, even outside of work. Maybe it was unethical to have more than business relationships with his boss and manager, but he couldn't see them as any less than friends anymore. They had been there for him through some of his lowest points in those three months, whether he wanted them here or not.
Sasuke, the arrogant bastard who always knew how to push all his buttons, both good and bad. Itachi, the opposite in so many ways, who always knew where to be and what to say at the right time.
No, he couldn't live without them. Not anymore.
"Dude, how could you blow off a hot ginger, yeah!? She totally had the googly eyes for you!" Deidara yelled into the parking lot, making Naruto jump and whirl around in shock.
'Quit sneakin' up on me, Dei! And for the last time, I don't wanna date anyone right now!" He huffed, shivering a little as his mind caught up to the cold surrounding his body. The long haired blonde 'tsk'ed and threw a long, black sweater over his shivering coworkers shoulders.
"Listen Naru, You're like a brother to me, yeah? Same hair, same eyes- that's what the lookers go for! You should feel privileged and take advantage of the fact that all the ladies want you, yeah?" Deidara said in an attempt to rally his coworker. Even if it was supposed to be endearing, Naruto felt more like he was being stabbed by the comment.
"Sure, privileged enough that my wife decided to leave me." He muttered, finding an old cigarette butt on the ground to roll with his foot. No doubt it belonged to Sasuke at some point.
"Gee, you really are thick headed, yeah? From what I heard she's a total bitch anyway. You don't need that."
"Don't call her that, she's not a bitch!" Naruto said defensively. Even if he was legally single, he couldn't say he was entirely over her, and she'd always have a soft spot in his heart. The sassy coworker rolled his visible eye and put an arm around Naruto.
"Look, all I'm saying is that your single now! The world is your oyster once more, and you should take advantage of it, yeah? You've been working nonstop. You should have fun and live a little yeah."
Naruto snorted. "Why don't 'cha go bug Itachi? He works way more than I do, ya know."
"'Tachi's always been a super secretive person, yeah. He's probably got like five girlfriends we don't even know about." Deidara offered. For some reason, the idea that his boss could be a player irritated him. The short haired blonde shook his head.
"Nah, Itachi's not like that. He's way too good of a person to do somethin' like that." He said, defending the eldest Uchiha.
"…That we know of, yeah. You're right though, he could bat for the other team like Sasuke, if you get my drift yeah?" Deidara grinned eyebrows waggling as he looked down at the cigarette butt under Naruto's foot.
"Speaking of, when are you gonna take up Sasuke's offer, yeah?" Naruto's cheeks heated up at what his coworker was implying, and immediately it was like the cigarette was once again on fire. He moved his foot quickly and ducked himself out of Deidara's arm.
There was always THAT hanging on his mind. That being the fact that Sasuke had taken every decent opportunity to ask him on a date, and Naruto had always managed to find some way or another to direct the conversation somewhere else.
"H-he's not being serious. Besides, he's our manager, a-and I'm not…" Naruto trailed off. He couldn't exactly say that he didn't swing that way, nor could he say he wasn't all that interested, either.
It was more a fact of he didn't know what to think or feel.
"Denile isn't just a river in Egypt, yeah Naru!" Deidara criticized. Thankfully for the blonde, his coworker finally took his leave and left him to think.
Should he take Sasuke up on his offer? He scrunched up his nose at the idea. He didn't think it would be unpleasant, but something about it just felt off. He wouldn't feel right agreeing, when he didn't know if he really felt anything or not. It wouldn't be right by his friend.
There was also the little problem of…
"Deidara harassing you again?" A silky voice called. This time Naruto didn't jump, used to Itachi appearing when he was distressed. Where the sassy blonde coworker was loud and annoying to even his standards, Itachi always managed to instill a calming feeling, like a warm blanket being wrapped tightly around him.
"Ah, yeah. It's all good though, I got a lot on my mind anyway." He said, sitting on a concrete bumper and outstretched his legs. The Uchiha joined him seconds later, letting out a quiet sigh.
"Today's the day you're divorce ran through, isn't it?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Naruto nodded silently, looking down to his hands.
"It's weird. Like… a bad dream I haven't woken up from yet. But… I'm not gonna wake up, either." He explained, knowing that his boss would just listen. Naruto shivered a little from the cold, before turning to give Itachi his attention with a small smile.
"It's not all bad though. And sometimes I can forget that all this crap's been happenin'. It's just… sooner or later, I can't keep myself busy enough, and I remember all over again." He says, his smile sad. Itachi ruffled his blonde locks in an all-too familiar fashion.
"It'll get easier as time passes, Naruto. This just means that Sakura wasn't meant to be in your life anymore, and there are greater things waiting for you." Itachi said calmly. Naruto nodded, his cheeks tinged pink as he licked his lips.
"Itachi… When Sasuke- when he asks… does his thing, is he being serious?" He dared himself to ask, shifting uncomfortably in the silence that seemed to drag on after. After too long passed, Itachi leaned forward and swiped a piece of the blonde's silky locks to the side.
"Sasuke has always been sincere in his intentions. I don't know how deep the feelings he has for you run, but they are there." He says cautiously. Naruto had to stop himself from leaning into the touch.
"…I don't wanna hurt 'im. But I dunno anything, really. And with all this that just happened…"
"I don't believe Sasuke would expect you to really commit to more after you just went through a divorce. He just wants what all of us want; to see you happy and have fun." The elder Uchiha reasons, moving to stand back up and offered Naruto a hand.
Naruto took it and nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah, you're right."
"I know." He said with a hint of cheekiness, though his warm smile told otherwise.
"You're breaks been over for ten minutes already, Naruto. You don't have any more time to worry about such things, alright?" He said. Naruto blinked and pulled out his phone from his pocket, panicking a bit.
"Shit, I'm so sorry! I didn't even bother to check my phone!" Naruto cried, haphazardly tying the apron back around his waist as he bolted beck behind the counter. Itachi watched him take off with a small chuckle, a glint of something indescribable in his eye as he followed back inside.
"I'm telling you no, Kiba! I don't wanna go to the bar to 'pick up chicks'!" Naruto yelled into the phone hours later, exasperated. He didn't know how, but it had become public knowledge that as of midnight he was a single man, and he didn't appreciate it one bit.
"Come on man, we haven't done anything together in fucking years! Sai said there's been a lot of freshie chicks popping in during the week, too!" Naruto rolled his eyes as he crawled into the front seat of the car that was now solely his own.
He was still scratching his head on how Hidan, who had been day drunk and swearing like a sailor, managed to win the case. He had gotten possession of the car, expensive art furniture, and a bonus three hundred a month in alimony that the silver haired man must've thrown in without his knowledge.
"Yeah, but can't we just go to have a good time? I really don't feel up to lookin' around." He asked, exasperated. He was getting extremely tired of people telling him that he needed to go on dates and look at potential partners to have fun.
He was just fine being a single man for a day, thank you very much!
"We can chill and have a good time, while looking at chicks! Look man, even as just a wingman? Please bud? Shikamaru's taken now and Shino's too busy with his… ettamology or some shit-"
"Entomology." Naruto corrected, putting his friend on speaker and tossed his phone in the cup holder so he could drive home safely.
"That. You're missing the point! I'm all alone here!" He said with a slight whine. Naruto hit his head against the back of his seat in annoyance. His friend could pass up for a puppy, with all the annoyance and none of the cuteness.
"Fine, I'll go with ya. But I'm gonna drink too so you better find your own damn way home!" He said, shuttering at the memories of a wasted Kiba throwing up in the backseat of his car habitually after every bar visit. Gaara would be picking him up, and he knew for a fact the redhead wouldn't take the man home.
"Deal! See you at six!" The blonde heard before a familiar tone of the call ending. Naruto sighed as he pulled into the driveway of his current home.
He noted with both relief and a hint of horror that Gaara was home from work early. He wasn't looking forward to asking his friend for yet another drunk ride home. The blue eyed café worker was no alcoholic, but he had made it a point to go out alone once a week to calm his nerves during the past three months.
His liver practically screamed in rebellion.
"I'm home!" He called, dropping his bag full of work clothes by the front door as he toed off his shoes. To his surprise, Neji was over as well, with a similar-looking woman standing next to him.
"Hinata!" He exclaimed, a wide smile breaking out on his face. He hadn't seen the bluenette often, but he always enjoyed the rare times where Hinata did come to visit.
"N-naruto, good afternoon." She said in her shy voice, her cheeks tinged pink. Ignoring the glare that Neji directed at the blonde, Naruto gave his cousin a warm hug that was happily returned.
"What brings you here? You guys goin' somewhere tonight?" He asked, turning his attention to Gaara. The red head nodded in confirmation, handing over a paper ad for the bar their friend group usually frequented.
"It's ladies' night, and Hinata wanted to go." He explained, realization suddenly dawning in his head. So that's why Kiba had been so adamant about going out that night.
"Aren't those usually a girl's only type of thing?" He asked. Neji rolled his eyes at Naruto's childish comment, but before he could scold the blonde his boyfriend spoke up.
"Usually they are. But the paper specifies that every lady can bring two friends of any gender." He explains as Naruto set the ad back down on the countertop. Vaguely, he wondered which woman had fallen victim to Kiba's ploy to get them in the bar for ladies' night.
"Heh, guess we'll be going together then! Kiba just called me on my way home asking if I'd join him." He said. Unsurprisingly, he was met by two disgusted gazes, and one slightly clueless one.
"W-well we'd be happy to have you with us!" The Hyuga heiress stuttered happily. The small gesture pulled another smile out of Naruto as his miserable night had turned into something he might actually enjoy.
"Yes, a real treat. Excuse me." Neji said sarcastically, stepping around Naruto stiffly to walk outside. The blonde blinked, but shrugged off the man's behavior. It wasn't unlike Neji to come off as miffed even if he wasn't, and with everything going on he didn't need one more thing to overthink.
"S-sorry about that N-naruto. I don't k-know why he's upset all of a sudden." Hinata said, frowning as Gaara left to go after his boyfriend. The blonde just shrugged and grinned, beckoning for the woman to follow him to the couch to sit on.
"It's all good. I'm used to Neji's weird mood swings."
The next little bit was spent with the two of them chatting comfortably, the T.V. turned on mostly for background noise while Naruto asked her about work and school. As expected the shy woman was short with her answers, but she did her best to keep the conversation going.
It wasn't hard, since Naruto loved to talk.
"N-neji mentioned that you're working a-at a café now?" She asked him as she smoothed out the little black dress she was wearing. Naruto checked the clock and stood up with a stretch, not realizing that two hours had already flown by.
"Uh yeah, I do. The Amaterasu is a nice little place." He said. He blinked at the shock that washed over her face, but she whatever it was that was on her mind, she decided not to vocalize.
"H-how do you like it?" She added, staying on the couch. The blonde shrugged and left towards his room, leaving the door open so he could call out to her while he ransacked his closet for something decent to wear.
"It's pretty cool, actually. The customers are nice and coworkers are pretty chill." He explained, throwing off his orange long-sleeved to replace with a nicer royal blue, regular t-shirt. Images of Sasuke and Itachi flitted through his mind, and he visibly waved them away.
"My manager's kinda an ass though, but we get along ok. He was actually at school this mornin' so I didn't get to see 'em." He said before shutting the door to change into a pair of black jeans.
He was quick to come back out, plopping next to the bluenette on the couch with a thoughtful look on his face.
"My boss is pretty nice too. Itachi never really cares if I take longer breaks or stay overtime as long as I get the job done right. Or, you know, abandon Deidara and Sasori." He turned to her, his blue orbs meeting her lilac ones. He couldn't help but notice that she was attractive, though he didn't really think he was attracted to her.
"Hey, you never did tell me about where you work. I think Neji said it was an ice cream shop?" He asked. Hinata blushed, looking down to break eye contact and nodded.
"W-well, I-"
"Alright, let's get going. At this rate we'll be waiting in a long line just to get in." A hoarse voice called from the door.
Gaara was standing with his arms crossed, changed into a red shirt that he probably stole from Neji at some point while they were gone. Naruto hadn't even realized that he'd been left alone with Hinata the whole time until that moment.
"No thank you!" Naruto said, hopping back up to his feet. He offered out his hand to Hinata, thinking about the same gesture Itachi gave to him only hours before. It made goosebumps tingle down the back of his spine as he suppressed a shudder.
"Neji's still in the car." The red head said, turning so that Hinata didn't get a good look at his face. The blonde was no genius, but he snickered as he realized his hair was even more disheveled than the usual. If they looked hard enough, they could probably see bruises on his pale neck, as well.
Well, we don't wanna keep the ice princess waiting, now do we?" Naruto said, earning a glare from his best friend and a giggle from the lady of the night. Being the gentleman that he was, the blonde escorted her out to the still-running car and opened her door. It wasn't long after that that Gaara was speeding down the road with the group in tow.
"What'd I tell ya? This place is lit tonight!" The dog enthusiast called to Naruto over the loud, thumping music. Naruto was already beginning to sweat from all the people in the club that night, as he warily watched Kiba hand his ex-wife's best friend a fifty for getting them in.
"Sure is…" Naruto said, not really trying to mask his unenthusiasm.
He was grateful for the fact that Neji had a brain and had called ahead. Sai had reserved seats for them at the bar, and Naruto was more than happy to use their connections to his advantage as he flitted through the crowd of people.
What he hadn't been counting on, was a red headed woman screeching at the pale bartender at the top of her lungs. Nor did he count on the fact that one of the people she brought with her, was none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself.
"What do you mean 'reserved seats', this is a fucking bar, not a Broadway theatre!" The woman shrieked loudly, making even Naruto wince. He suddenly felt really bad for the raven-haired male, who already looked less than pleased about being brought in the first place.
"Hey, Sai, It's ok! She can sit there if she wants." Naruto said, grinning sheepishly as Sasuke looked over at him, his eyes wide in shock.
"Please take a seat, miss." Sai offered, Karen taking the spot with a huff as if she owned it. Naruto knew that he probably just sacrificed his seat permanently for the night, but he didn't mind standing and suffering through the night with Sasuke.
Not that he thought it was possible to suffer when the raven was around, anyway.
"What are you doing here, dobe?" The cool voice asked with irritation, arms folded in front of a black button up half sleeve. Sasuke scowled when he noticed Gaara and Neji sit at the 'reserved' seating section.
"Neji's cousin is in from out of town, and she wanted to come for ladies' night. I just kinda tagged along for it." He explained, though his explanation didn't seem to sooth his friend's nerves any.
"She already has two people with her." He said bluntly, waving absently over to Gaara. Naruto swallowed, feeling like he was being stared down. If looks could kill, he'd probably be a floor mat already.
"So who else did you come with?" Sasuke asked flatly, looking around at the wave of bodies that rocked on the dancefloor. It was hard to see, and Naruto had to squint for a bit, before pointing over at Kiba.
"There. Kiba wanted a wingman and payed one of… my ex-wife's friends to let us in." He said, grateful that Ino had long since left to the far opposite side of the room. On the off chance that Sakura showed up, there was a very small chance that he would actually see her.
Sasuke seemed to calm down a little, shaking his head as he tapped at the bar to get Sai's attention.
"Bring us a round of shots, on me." He ordered, pulling a little silver card out of his wallet. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but didn't get the chance to as Sai wordlessly took the card and prepared their shots.
"We could split the bill. I've got cash on me." Naruto offered quickly, but Sasuke only shook his head.
"Let my old man pay for the expensive drinks. He causes enough stress to validate it." The raven said with dry amusement, plucking one of the whiskey shots off of the round tray and downed it in one go.
For a moment, Naruto hesitated. He didn't want to get Sasuke in trouble, especially with his father. But as soon as those challenging, onyx colored eyes met his while he downed his third shot, the blonde finally gave in.
"Why the fuck does it have to burn so bad going down?" Naruto asked, his face scrunched up as he felt the warm liquid at the back of his throat. He was never a fan of the heavy stuff, but he'd be damned if he didn't prove he could hold his own to Sasuke.
"Quit whining, dobe. It's not that bad." Sasuke said, smirking as he watched Naruto quickly catch up to the amount of shots he'd already downed.
"Speak for yourself, bastard." The blonde man grimaced, feeling the warmth of the buzz start to spread through his body. Soon enough, the two of them had cleared the tray, and the lights had dimmed in the bar. As the song changed.
"Let's dance." Sasuke wasn't asking, and for some reason Naruto's tongue was glued to the top of his mouth. He let himself be dragged into the pool of warm bodies bouncing and grinding, head swimming as he noticed how cool the pale hand was on his skin in comparison.
"I-I never agreed, you know.." Naruto said as a futile attempt to protest. Sasuke led them to a relatively large clearing and turned, smirking to his dance partner.
"You haven't protested, either. Unless you're wasted already?" He mocked teasingly, putting his arms over the blonde's shoulders casually.
"Please, I'm no lightweight." The blonde scoffed, though his confidence dropped when Sasuke started dancing with him. What was he doing? He'd been so careful about avoiding the man's advances, yet here he was, caught in the Venus flytrap of his arms.
This was bad.
"Sasuke… we-" a finger to his lips cut him off, and his blue orbs met Sasuke's once more.
"Just let go and have some fun with me. Stop overthinking, idiot." He said, the finger on pink supple lips running up Naruto's head to rake down silky blonde locks. Said blonde visibly shivered, leaning in more subcontiously as they swayed to the music.
He was grateful that Sasuke didn't speak, their strange dance, both slow and fast was anything but uncomfortable. He shocked himself thinking that he wanted to do more with Sasuke, get closer and have a little naughty fun.
Dangerous indeed.
"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered, leaning in so that the blonde could hear him even over the music. Naruto was almost too afraid to ask what was happening, why he felt soft skin against his ear, and why the fuck it felt so good.
"S-Sasuke…" He said back, voice shaky as he gripped the man's pale bicep. His mind, which had been constantly telling him no, no, no for months completely shut off, and his body was hissing yes, just go for it-
"Naruto?" The blonde registered a different voice, one that definitely belonged to Kiba. With an astonished yelp, he practically shoved Sasuke away from him. What the hell was he doing!?
"Uh, yeah?" He asked, finally locating the dog enthusiast in the crowd of people. He didn't notice how Sasuke glared daggers at his friend for interrupting the moment, nor did he notice as said dance partner slipped out of the crowd.
"Your cute friend is lookin' for ya. What's her name? Hinata?" Naruto blinked, then blinked again. Right, Hinata was a person, a girl.
"I'll be right there!" He said, surprise turning to sadness when he realized that Sasuke had already left the dance floor. He sighed and followed Kiba out of the crowd, hoping that he didn't ask what had just happened between him and Sasuke. He didn't have an answer for it, anyway.
We wiped sweat from his forehead that he hadn't even noticed was there, taking a seat next to Hinata- He guessed that the red head decided to go out and dance.
"Go get her tiger!" Kiba said not-so-subtly to the blonde, who was suddenly reminded about why he was taken to the bar in the first place. Hinata blushed hard, playing with her dress while staring at her lap.
"H-he's very b-blunt, isn't he?" She asked once Kiba was way out of earshot. Naruto nodded in irritation.
"He can be a real ass, but Kiba's a good guy. Has anyone asked you to dance?" He asked her, inwardly cursing himself for being such a gentleman. He wanted her to have a good time, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel… What was this feeling? Guilt?
Why would he feel guilty about dancing with Hinata? It wasn't like he was a married man anymore. As if thinking it wasn't enough though, he saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye.
Sakura was here. And she brought friends with her.
The blonde gritted his teeth. He REALLY didn't want to be there, but if she could have fun, then he'd be damned if he didn't have fun, as well.
"Ah, n-no. No one's a-asked me." She stuttered out. Grateful for the music switching to more of a slow song, Naruto put on his brightest grin and slid off his seat, helping Hinata get to her feet.
"Let's go have some fun then!" Perhaps it was the alcohol making him feel the whirlwind of both guilt and anger, but it was also making him bold. He led the bluenette out to the dance floor and put a hand on her waist gently.
When he was with Sasuke, he felt so insecure about the whole thing. With Hinata, he was confident, rocking with her. His head was clear, and even if he was more than a tad uncomfortable, that was how it was supposed to be. This was right.
…Right?
"You feel really nice." Hinata said, a smile and blush on her face as she leaned in more to Naruto. Her head was on his chest, and there was a slight pang of guilt and pain where long hair was laying, but he chose to ignore it.
"Yeah, I like dancing with you." He said, wondering if that was a lie or not. He found his eyes roaming around the room, his foggy mind more focused on his ex-wife- and the dance he shared only moments before with Sasuke.
The guilt only seemed to get stronger.
"Y-you seem kind of distracted." Hinata said, looking up at Naruto. The blonde whipped his head and looked back down to Hinata and gave her a smile.
"Ehh, sorry. I think I had a few too many drinks. That, and uh… I think my ex-wife is here. Sorry." He told her. It was no secret that Naruto didn't really want to get the divorce in the first place, and Hinata's eyes softened when Naruto spoke about her being there.
"D-do you want Neji to t-take us home? I've had a l-lot of fun just dancing here with you." She offered, which in all honesty the blonde was grateful for. His head was starting to hurt, and he wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.
"Yeah. I'm really sorry we didn't get a chance to dance and chat more." He said apologetically. He looked up to where his best friend and his boyfriend were sitting, and headed over to them.
Unsurprisingly, the loud red headed woman from earlier had returned, and was currently not-so-subtly hitting on Sasuke with a ferocity. It made him feel even worse about what had happened earlier, and he wanted to apologize. It didn't seem like he'd be able to anytime soon though, as Hinata took them to stand behind the two boyfriends.
"U-uhm Naruto… Do you want to… I-I mean, I-if y-you'd like… Come get ice cream? A-and maybe w-we could explore the city sometime?" She asked him out of the blue. For a shy little thing, she was putting on a very brave face, and Naruto was almost shocked that SHE was asking HIM on a date.
One look from Neji told him he'd be dead if he refused.
"Uhh yeah, sounds like fun! We could do that this Friday if you wanted." He offered. He felt like he was suddenly being shoved in a little box, not being able to turn her down when her cousin was not even two feet away. He glanced over at Sasuke, who had been trying to get him to go out with him for far too long, and his heart sank.
It just made more sense for him to go on a date with Hinata. She was a pretty woman, he didn't work with her, and as far as he knew he was straight. So why did he feel like he had done something very wrong?
"Sounds like you two will have a lot of fun. I know you need to go back to the University Hinata, so we'll See you two later. Be safe walking up." Gaara said, steeping in as he leaned in and Gave Neji a soft kiss. The blonde was glad that his best friend was taking control of the situation, removing him quickly from the bar.
"What did I just do Gaara?" He asked, slumping in the passenger's seat of the man's red vehicle. Gaara said nothing for a long time, rolling the windows down to let the cool air glide of their hot skin as he drove home.
"I think you know what you're doing, Naruto. It's more a matter of whether or not you want to do it." Jade eyes glanced over at his friend, his brow furrowed.
"You didn't have to agree just because Neji was there. If you don't want to take her out you don't have to."
Naruto raked a hand through his hair, sighing loudly as he rolled the window down the rest of the way, letting the cold penetrate down to the bones.
"I don't mind going with her, I'm just… Sasuke and I danced, and Sakura was there, and I just feel so guilty, Gaara. I feel like I'm being unfaithful." His friend pursed his lips, taking it slow down the hills that surrounded the University campus.
"You aren't being unfaithful to anyone, Naruto. Sakura wanted this divorce, and as much as you still love her, it's time to move on." He turned his head briefly once they were stopped at a red light.
"Take Hinata on that date. But stop looking at it like you will have to commit to something right from the get-go. Just have fun and be yourself." He said. Naruto sat there, defeated. He had heard that enough times that day, that it might as well have been embedded in his skull.
"Yeah, yeah… I know. I'll go out with her." He said, turning his attention outside. The streets were dark, but he found a sense of comfort from the old, large buildings passing outside.
Thoughts of his and Sasuke's dance passed through his mind. He couldn't deny that he had really, truly enjoyed himself when they were dancing. The more he thought about it, and saw how hurt the man had been when they had stopped, the more his heart hurt.
He didn't want to hurt one of his closest friends in that way. As much as he enjoyed himself, he couldn't be sure that he actually felt a physical attraction to him. He liked breasts and curves, both of which Hinata had, and she had an alright personality. It was just the safe way to go, and he wouldn't hurt Sasuke in the long run.
So why did he feel so guilty, when Sasuke wouldn't speak to him at all the next day?
A/N: So uhh… Where to start?
First and foremost, I'm really sorry that this took so long to come out. I made the mistake of starting a second story, when I knew for a fact I wasn't ready to take on that workload. If that wasn't enough, there was a long period of time where I didn't know where I wanted to take this story.
This is actually the second time I wrote this chapter. I spent four weeks writing a totally different version, and I decided at the last minute that I just wasn't happy with how it was turning out. The more I worked on it, the more I hated it, so I scrapped it and wrote this. All in all, this chapter took two days to write. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with it, and the direction this story is going to go from this point forward.
For the entire month of November, I will be working solely on this story for Nanowrimo. That means that I will -hopefully- have a chapter every Wednesday again for the foreseeable future, and I will probably even get ahead, which means I'll have time to finish BPAH and maybe start something else by January. Again, Sorry that it's been so long!
Special thanks to my best friend, Zeshiki, for spending literal hours with me brainstorming about what to do with this story. Without her, this wouldn't have ever become a thing. Second special thanks to Holly_Grenade, who encouraged me not to rush through this, and in doing so probably made this chapter come out a lot sooner than it would have if I had burnt myself out. See you all this Wednesday!
