Woot woot! I'm back my lovelies! ;D Did you miss me? *-* I'm sure you did, as you always do with my god awful long updates As always, thank you for reviewing, following, and adding me to your favorites ;) And hello to all my old and loyal readers who have patiently waited for this, and hello to all the new readers! Enjoy chapter 10!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
~Life Swap~
"So, tagging along to the amusement park with the Uchiha's. Sounds like fun."
"Mhmm. So much fun."
"Don't you sound so utterly enthused. What's got sunshine all down?"
At the nickname, Naruto shot a glare over at the man, but all he got in return was an eye smile. Kakashi was here for another one of his interviews, and as usual Naruto wasn't necessarily in the mood for it. It's not that he hated doing them, he just found it a little tedious to sit down for fifteen minutes or more and being questioned or talking to the man.
Plus he had other stuff on his mind.
"Nothing's got me down. And don't call me sunshine you creep."
A low chuckle tumbled past Kakashi's lips. Naruto never failed to amuse him even for the smallest of things, such as insults. "I'm here for you to talk about whatever's troubling you, all you have to do is open up. I'm quite an excellent listener when I choose to be."
Naruto rolled his eyes, a rebuttal at the tip of his tongue about "opening up" during a live interview. Instead he sighed, having resigned himself to just go along as Kakashi's puppet. It may not seem like it, but Naruto was sure the man did a lot of things behind the screens, or caught enough footage to use. In a sense, having these interviews was a little redundant in his opinion.
"Really it's nothing. I'm just a little worried with how things will play out tomorrow. Sasuke's so uptight and I seriously can't see him loosening up at all, and at an amusement park no less. Honestly I can see such a place being the bastard's personal hell. Fun and children and junk food crawling all over the place? I'm kind of wondering just how long he'll be able to last in that environment..."
Kakashi nodded as he was writing something down in a little notebook. Naruto always wondered what exactly he wrote in there...it couldn't be what he was saying right? What was the point of doing that?
"So you're worried about Sasuke? That's surprising. From the very moment you met him you seemed to hate his guts and went out of your way to avoid him in his house as well. When did all of that start to change?"
"Wai-what? N-No! I'm not worried about that stupid bastard! I'm more worried about Konohamaru! It's his chance to bond with his dad and all and I just think Sasuke's gonna screw it all up." And that was all! Naruto really only cared for Konohamaru's well-being in all of this.
Even if Sasuke came to him in faith and it was really at his request that Naruto accepted and was worrying up a storm like a mother hen.
'Thank you.'
The smile he remembered Sasuke giving him flashed through his mind then, and suddenly Naruto felt a heat spark a little bit under his skin.
"Really now?" Kakashi's visible eye carefully watched the blond. One of the reasons Kakashi found this young man to be so entertaining was because he was literally an open book, and probably didn't even realize it. "I dare say you've grown fond of him too if you're willing to go along with them."
"It's for Konohamaru's sake! Geez, don't twist up the meaning of what I say!"
Kakashi nodded while jotting down something quickly into his notebook. "Moving on a little bit then. Have you experienced any kind of homesickness? It's been almost two weeks since you've left New York."
A sense of melancholy washed over him. Naruto so far had been doing a good job of keeping home, among other things, at the very back of his mind. "Not really I guess. I try not to think about it since you know, I can't have any contact with anyone from home and all. It's in the rules," he muttered bitterly. A sour look etched its way onto his face as Naruto gazed at the ground, the rug design suddenly snatching his attention.
"I see..." A tiny stab of guilt panged in his chest. He knew how hard this could be, being away from home and your significant other...especially when the relationship was straining. Suddenly Kakashi had an idea.
"How about I arrange for you to have a call with Sai? I think it's only right that you do since Sasuke and Sakura had a call. Even if it was for a special occasion, I think you deserve to as well."
Naruto looked up in shock at Kakashi, not really believing his ears for a moment. "Really? You mean it? Oh damn, when?!"
"Settle down now," Kakashi chuckled, "I have to speak with the company executives first to gain permission before I can even start to make arrangements for it. But I believe I'll be able to get permission easily enough for you." After all, Naruto was a fan favorite amongst their audience, so this should be easy enough to settle.
"This is probably the single nicest thing you've done for me so far! Thank you!"
Kakashi's eye twitched slightly, "You make it sound like I never do anything nice-"
"Cause you don't."
The hard stare sent his way suddenly had Naruto back tracking. "Well I mean...if it weren't for you I wouldn't be able to be here experiencing this incredible opportunity on Life Swap! How lucky am I that you purposefully picked me out of probably hundreds of other candidates."
"Your sarcasm was blatantly obvious."
"That's as good as praise you're gonna get, I got nothing else."
Kakashi sighed, but smiled nonetheless at Naruto. "Well I believe we're done for today. I'll drop by in again soon. Good luck tomorrow."
For once at the end of these interviews, Naruto actually felt content and happy instead of agitated and stressed. After following Kakashi to the door and waving goodbye, he went up to his room to get ready for bed. He was gonna need all the sleep he could get to be prepared for tomorrow.
"Konohamaru, did you brush your teeth?"
"Yes!"
"Is your bed made?"
"Yes, yes!"
"You have everything you need?"
"Yes dad!"
Sasuke hid a smile, then grunted and waved Konohamaru off. "Alright, go grab something to eat while I go wake the idiot."
"Okay!" Konohamaru dashed off in a frenzy towards the kitchen, and for the first time in a while, Sasuke felt his heart butter up in affection for the boy. It had been so long since Konohamaru has been this excited, and even acting so happy and childish around him. It was nice.
A certain blond would have to be thanked for this. That is if the idiot actually intended to wake up and haul ass to get ready. They were going to be leaving in less than an hour. Sasuke knocked on the door to Naruto's room and waited for a few moments before knocking again. No answer. With an irritated sigh, Sasuke let himself in to kick the blond out of bed.
Sure enough, Naruto was in a deep slumber, all sprawled out on his bed and lightly snoring. Sasuke walked up to the edge of Naruto's bed and was about to knock him upside the head, but paused. He stared at Naruto's face much like he had the other night on his anniversary. Sasuke had never noticed before until he saw Naruto's flushed face.
Those whisker like marks on his cheeks intrigued him. They were so faint so it was hard to actually see them, but once Sasuke did, he could practically see them clearly all the time. He wondered if they were birth marks. And because he now noticed this, he sometimes couldn't help but catch himself staring at the idiot's face.
Like right now.
Sasuke's hand reached out, it's initial purpose to shake Naruto awake, but instead softly tracing one of the whiskers, absentmindedly noting the contrast in their skin tones; Naruto's being so much more tan compared to his paler complexion. He wondered what nationality Naruto actually was.
His hand flinched back a little when Naruto stirred, but didn't wake. He nuzzled his face more into his pillow and moaned. Sasuke's own heart actually jumped a little, and he took a step back. Naruto squirmed around a little and moaned again, but this time it actually sounded like he said something.
Peaked with curiosity, Sasuke listened closely and narrowed his eyes at what he heard.
"Mmm...Sai..."
That name...he was sure he heard it right. That was Naruto's husband. He only knew because Itachi happened to call him the night before to tell him a little tidbit of news that he at first didn't care about, but for whatever reason, kind of did now.
Like with him and Sakura, Naruto was getting the opportunity to call and talk to his husband. At first when Itachi told him this he responded with indifference. So what if Kakashi was doing this for Naruto? He had no idea why, he didn't think it was their anniversary too. Maybe it was one of their birthdays or something? Whatever the reason, it didn't concern him in the slightest.
But Itachi always had his reasons when he told his "foolish" little brother information, when normally he kept him in the dark. It still bothered him too that Itachi seemed to know a lot more about Naruto than he did himself.
"More..."
Sasuke snapped out of his musings and frowned down at the still sleeping idiot who was dreaming. Possibly a lewd dream about his husband. And that seemed to suddenly piss him off.
"Oi! Get up!" Sasuke kicked the side of the mattress hard and felt satisfied when Naruto jolted awake and nearly fell out of bed.
"Wha-wha- the heck?!" Disoriented and bleary eyed, Naruto's eyes fluttered rapidly as he looked all around him until he finally noticed another person in his room. "S-Sasuke? Wha-" Naruto sat up a bit and rubbed one eye with his hand and looked at the clock in the room, then yawned loudly. "The heck's going on?"
Sasuke's eye twitched. "Did you forget what today is?"
Confused eyes stared at him dumbly, and Sasuke refused to let his mind admire the iridescent shades of blue in those irises.
"Today? Uh...today is..." Another yawn escaped him as his mind sluggishly tried to find the answer to that question. He did know that today was a big day for something, but Naruto couldn't seem to figure out what it was. All he could remember was that it did have something to do with Konohamaru-
"OH! Oh fuck! What time is it!"
"It's 8:30 now. You got about a half hour to get your ass moving and be downstairs ready."
"Shit, shit, shit!" Naruto threw himself out of bed, nearly colliding into Sasuke, but the Uchiha quickly moved out of the way.
Drawers were yanked opened and clothes thrown onto the floor. Naruto sometimes would inspect a shirt, but then toss it aside. "Hey, Sasuke, you think this shirt looks good?"
For a moment Sasuke stared at the blond and reluctantly thought that the teal alfani warren shirt actually did look nice on him, but instead of saying that he scoffed and walked out of the room. "Just wear whatever and be ready."
Sasuke left the blond to get ready and went to the kitchen to check on Konohamaru. His son was just finishing his little caprisun juice pack and making that annoying crackling sound when he continued to suck on the straw.
"All set?"
Konohamaru threw his juice pack away and nodded. "Yep, and I got Naruto a caprisun too and some fruit snacks!"
Sasuke resisted the urge to smirk and instead just nodded. "That's very thoughtful of you."
"Yeah. Is Naruto ready yet?"
"He's...almost ready." Sasuke glanced at the clock and hoped Naruto would hurry the hell up.
Konohamaru looked at the clock too and tried not to fidget. It was easy to see that the boy was trying very hard to behave and wait patiently, but because of that they both fell into an awkward silence. It was this very reason Sasuke asked for Naruto to tag along. He didn't know what to say to his son. What to bring up or to ask or talk about. He didn't think asking how school was going was a good topic to choose.
"So uh...Oh! Hey dad!"
Thankful Konohamaru broke the silence and had something he wanted to talk about, Sasuke gave him all of his attention, "Yes?"
"Uh...did you know? Know that Naruto was married to another guy?"
A part of him wasn't surprised the choice of topic involved the blond, but the specific choice about Naruto is what did catch him a little off guard. "Yes. How'd you know?" Did even his own son know more about Naruto than he did himself?
"Oh I found out when Naruto took me to Udon's birthday party. Udon's mom was surprised to see him and then didn't seem all that happy that Naruto was married to a guy. But I think it's cool! I didn't know you could do that!"
This conversation worried him slightly. All the possible questions Konohamaru could ask about this. Or to find out if he had an interest in a boy in his class maybe, or possibly in his own friend Udon. It honestly wouldn't bother him personally. No, what would bother him was the kind of treatment Konohamaru would get from people, even Sakura herself.
"Yeah...well," Sasuke cleared his throat, not exactly sure what to say or even how to say what he probably should say, but Konohamaru kept going.
"And, and, since Naruto is so cool, I was wondering if the guy he's married to is cool too. Have you met him?"
So that's what it was about. Mentally Sasuke sagged in relief, but also felt a tad bit annoyed at the same time because again, he didn't know much about Naruto let alone his husband. "No I haven't. Life Swap has some rules, and I am not permitted to have any contact with Naruto's husband, just like Naruto can't with your mother. At the end of the month I'll meet him though." After the winner was announced, they'd have a reunion and Sasuke would meet Sai face to face and even see some scenes that happened between Sai and Sakura. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it.
"Oh...so that means I can't have any contact either? Will I get to meet him at the end of the month too?"
"No, and most likely. You're probably one of the biggest parts of this show, so you'll be included too." An idea suddenly struck Sasuke, and this opportunity couldn't have presented itself any better. "You know, the ride to the amusement park will be a bit long. Why don't you ask Naruto questions about his husband and even himself?"
As if right on cue Naruto walked into the kitchen wearing that shirt and dark green swim trunks, looking refreshed after a quick shower. And really quick, it didn't look like the blond dried himself off that well at all, his hair was still wet and dripping onto his shirt.
Sasuke looked away before he noticed any other unnecessary details.
"Okay! I'm all set and ready to go!"
"Took you long enough slow poke!" Konohamaru spat his tongue out at him.
"Hey! We got about ten minutes to spare, so I think I was a pretty good Speedy Gonzales getting ready." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and childishly spat his tongue out too in retaliation.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and realized he was going to be the only real adult on this little trip. "Knock it off already. Konohamaru give Naruto the caprisun you saved for him and let's get to the car."
"Oh? You saved that for little old me? How sweet," Naruto cooed and got on his knees in front of Konohamaru in an attempt to hug him, but the brat moved out of the way in time. With an embarrassed flush on his cheeks Konohamaru tossed the fruit snacks and juice to Naruto and ran out the door to the car.
"W-Whoa!" Naruto juggled the snacks in his hands till he had an actual grip on them. "Geez, what's his problem. I was just gonna give the little runt a hug."
"Hn." Sasuke did have to admit, he never saw his son react like that, especially when the boy liked Naruto so much. He picked up his and his son's backpacks and walked out the door. "Hey Sasuke wait up! Aren't you going to bring your swim trunks too? I don't see you wearing any."
Sasuke turned around to regard Naruto with an arched eyebrow. "Why would I need swim trunks?"
"Um duh, to go on the water rides. Unless you plan on just getting completely soaked in your clothes."
"I'm not going on any water rides." And hopefully not many rides to begin with.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha and sighed. "Come on Sasuke. This is your outing with Konohamaru. I know I'm tagging along, but I can't make you guys bond. You gotta try a little harder than just this."
Sasuke scowled and glanced at the car and was glad Konohamaru was already buckled in with the door closed, patiently waiting. He looked back to Naruto and grunted, and feeling a bit mortified at how his face was heating up. "I don't have any. I can't remember the last time I've gone swimming and I never saw the need to have one." If his son wasn't in the car and in within sight of them, Sasuke would have punched that amused grin off the blond's face. It pissed him off and made his stomach twist unpleasantly.
"Seriously Sasuke? You don't own one pair at all? And you got a damn swimming pool too?"
"I've never used it. Sakura and Konohamaru use it." Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek, hating how he had to say something to defend himself for not owning a stupid pair of swim trunks.
Naruto barely restrained a full blown guffaw, "Well lucky for you, I actually own a spare of trunks I have in my bag! I'd be happy to let you borrow it."
"Borrow it?" Sasuke scowled in disgust. "Why would I wear a pair of trunks you've already worn? That's unsanitary."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's okay, I've never worn them. I actually just bought them the other day for myself in preparation for this trip, but decided to wear my old pair instead."
"Who the hell buys a pair of swim trunks when they already have one."
"Someone who was right in thinking a certain Uchiha didn't even own a pair."
There was that sly little grin again. The knots in his stomach tightened a little more. "Alright smart ass." Sasuke grimaced as he walked over to the idiot. "Give me the stupid swim trunks."
"How about a please? I was thoughtfully thinking of you when I bought them."
Sasuke's eye twitched. "You said you bought them for yourself."
"I sort of did, but then thought you'd probably need them more than I would."
"You didn't have to do that..." Sasuke knew he was losing this argument, but there wasn't much he could do but relent at this point. It was only worse that he was pleased Naruto had thought about him for something like this because in truth he never did anticipate needing swim trunks.
Naruto reached into his backpack and pulled out the pair of swim trunks that was a deep midnight blue. Yep...the idiot even picked a color Sasuke liked, whether the blond knew that or not.
"Nope, but I did so anyway. You're welcome bastard."
"Thanks..." Sasuke took the swim trunks and glared at the pavement at his feet. "Here, take my bag and wait with Konohamaru while I change real quick."
"Sure thing," Naruto smiled and took his bag, then walked past him. Sasuke suddenly caught a whiff of Naruto's scent and grit his teeth at how nice he smelled. Just what the hell was up with him? Staring at the idiots face constantly, admiring his eyes, feeling weird around him, and now even enjoying the idiots own smell?!
Sasuke stomped his way inside his house and to one of his bathrooms to change quickly. Then he marched himself outside to the mini limo with Naruto and Konohamaru already buckled in and laughing about whatever. Sasuke slid into the seat across from them and gave the chauffer the signal to go.
It hadn't even been five minutes into the ride that Konohamaru turned the tables for them and turned Sasuke's moody demeanor into something remotely close to sadistic glee.
"So Naruto, I've always wanted to ask you something!"
"Sure squirt, what's up?" Naruto stretched his legs out and rested his arm on top of the seat over the boy's head.
"What's your husband like?"
Naruto had a pretty lax expression on his face as he patiently allowed Konoharmaru to ask him whatever was on his mind. His content expression nearly changed to a confused, and troubled frown. The smile Naruto tried hard to keep up was practically hurting with the amount of effort it took to seem unfazed.
"Uh...I...why'd you want to know?" Naruto's eyes darted around randomly, trying to collect his thoughts and recover from the shock of suddenly being asked this. His gaze landed on the Uchiha across from him, and if he ever before had the need to punch his pretty face in, it was tripled just now.
"Well I asked dad about it, but he said I should ask you instead. I wanted to know if he ..." Konohamaru blushed and looked down at his hands in his lap, "...is as awesome as you are."
Oh for the love of-
Sometimes it was his own downfall at how much his heart could melt at the sweetest things kids say. It nearly wiped out the anger that was boiling under the surface due to a certain raven haired Uchiha.
"W-Well he uh..." What could he say? Aside from Kakashi and Itachi, no one else really knew much about Sai. He was actually trying to keep it that way, but he couldn't just blow the kid off and not tell him anything. Plus Sai was still a sensitive topic to even bring up. Yeah, he was happy he was finally going to be able to call Sai by the end of today, but it still left him feeling anxious just thinking about it.
"I wouldn't say he's as awesome as I am, cause really, there is clearly no one as awesome as me out there. No one comes close!" Naruto laughed and was glad Konohamaru didn't notice how strained it sounded to his own ears.
"Then what's he like?"
The brat's innocent and seemingly harmless little inquiries were going to kill him. "He's uh," Naruto swallowed and put on the brightest smile he could muster, "he's a great guy despite not being as awesome as me. He's an amazing artist and also really good with computers. He majored in art with computer engineering as a minor when we went to college. Right now though he works in a car garage and likes to tinker with mechanical stuff."
"Really now? Interesting. What's his name?"
Naruto nearly bristled at the sound of Sasuke's voice. He had been trying very hard to ignore the bastard staring at him with growing interest. It wasn't fair. It was so cheating to use his own son to get information out of him. What pissed him off more was that he knew Sasuke did have knowledge of his husband's name. This must have just been his way of rubbing it in. Asshole.
"His name is Sai." Naruto tried to not growl. He shot a quick glare at the man across from him.
"Sai? That's a cool name! Do you have a picture of him?"
A flush started to creep up from his neck as Naruto nodded and took out his phone. "Yeah one sec." Quickly he skimmed through the tons of pictures on his phone, looking for a decent one he could show. "Here," Naruto held his phone out to Konohamaru and threw his gaze skyward, feeling awkward as hell.
Konohamaru stared at the picture, and squinted at it quizzically. Then he looked up and stared at his father. "Wow, he kinda looks like you dad."
Sasuke raised his eyebrows in mild surprise and reached to take Naruto's phone. He didn't miss the nasty glare from the blond as he took the phone and looked at the picture. It surprised him more that this guy indeed look a little bit like him. For some reason, Sasuke felt a little weird about it, and his stomach got a little knotted. He quickly handed it back to the blond.
"I'm more good looking." He smirked and felt it widen when Naruto snatched it rudely out of his hand.
"Please, as if. Sai's way more handsome than you!"
"But he looks so much like dad! If you think Sai is handsome, then you probably think my dad is handsome too riiiight?"
Oh fuck this little piece of shit right here. Why was he being attacked like this?! Naruto's face got even more red from embarrassment. Yeah, deep down he actually thought Sasuke was way too hot for his own good and shamefully did think he was a little bit better looking than his own husband. But he'd never admit that out loud. The asshole didn't need an ego booster like that!
"I don't know, I never thought about it. I guess he's okay looking. You on the other hand," Naruto grabbed the boy next to him and put him into a head lock and roughly messed up his hair, "are a damn cute little kid. Just wait till you grow up a bit more, you'll probably be making the girls swoon just at the sight of you! I bet you'll be a little heart stopper!" He was sure Sasuke was a heart breaker when he was younger, so with his father's genes, Konohamaru was probably gonna be one too.
"OW! Let go! Quit it!" The brat struggled within Naruto's grasp and tried punching him a few times, but his hits barely hurt the blond. Naruto laughed and pinched the kid's cheeks, then finally let go. Konohamaru's face was cherry red from the rough treatment and probably a bit from embarrassment. Served the brat right for putting him through that torment.
"Alright, so anymore questions you might have?" Naruto really hoped he didn't though.
Konohamaru pouted as he rubbed his sore head, but still shyly looked up at Naruto. "Am I gonna get to meet him?"
Naruto wasn't sure why but, just the thought of Konohamaru meeting Sai bothered him deeply. He didn't want the brat to meet him, because he didn't want him to see what Sai was really like. Kids were way more observant than some people gave them credit for.
"Y-Yeah...at least I think so at the end of the month. You'll see him them." Naruto tried to sound casual about it, but when he briefly locked eyes with Sasuke, he knew the Uchiha saw through his facade. He swallowed hard and turned his gaze to the window.
Thankfully Konohamaru didn't ask any more questions, he seemed to be more lost in his own little world. Naruto used that time to relax while completely ignoring the feel of the older Uchiha's eyes on him. Naruto didn't have to look to know Sasuke was staring at him, but he refused to meet his gaze. For once he didn't feel like challenging the Uchiha.
As bratty as Konohamaru was, seeing him this excitable and happy was hilarious. Mainly because, watching Sasuke completely out of his element was far more entertaining than he originally thought.
"Dad! Dad! Can we go on the Zipper next?!"
Said father warily gazed up at the next ride his little runt wanted to go on and could already feel the bile in the back of his throat just by looking at the monstrosity. How was this construction even safe? The screams from the passengers already in it and watching the idiots inside being whipped up and down didn't help the queasiness in his stomach in the slightest.
"Oh man, I remember going on this ride when I was younger. Damn, I puked my guts out afterwards!" Sasuke glared at the blonde next to him as the idiot laughed at his messed up memories as a child. How was any of this considered fun? Puking was disgusting no matter how you looked at it.
Sasuke's stomach took another plunge then flopped uncomfortably when he caught the wicked smirk directed at him. Ohhhh Naruto was enjoying his misery too much. But why did it make his freaking skin tingle whenever he caught the idiot sending him one of those damn smirks, brought upon his own torment? And what made it worse was that Sasuke was so close to begging the idiot to go on the ride with his son instead.
He had two options. Go on this ride and then possibly make an extreme embarrassment of himself by unloading whatever little he ate today, or turn to Naruto and beg him to go on instead.
"Yes! We're going to be next soon!"
Konohamaru's little cheer is what decided it for him.
"Naruto..." He didn't mean to moan pitifully as he said the idiot's name, but there was no way he was going to be able to survive on that death trap. But it seemed to get the blonde's desired attention. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, wondering why it looked like the blonde shivered. Was he cold? That was impossible, it was ninety degrees today.
"Yeah?" Naruto swallowed hard, and looked over at the Uchiha. Instantly he knew what Sasuke was going to ask just by the sickly look on his face. Feeling sympathetic he decided to show the bastard some mercy. "Hey Konohamaru, let me get on this ride with you. I haven't been on it in years!"
"What about dad though?" Konohamaru looked up as his father a little disappointed.
"Damn, how about 'What about Naruto?' ya little brat? Sasuke's been on the last three rides with you, how about you show me a little love and attention huh?"
At that Konohamaru grinned sheepishly, then latched onto his arm. "Kay, we'll go on this one together. Just don't puke on me!"
Naruto laughed and playfully pushed the brat to the side as he stepped up to take his seat. "Please, if anything, don't puke on me." Konohamaru scrambled in next to him and patiently let the ride attendant buckle and strap him in securely.
Once Sasuke saw the two get strapped in safely, he walked over to the nearest bench that was next to a little water sprinkler for people passing by. It was a quick and nice solution to cooling off for a few moments. Sasuke took a seat a little bit away from it so he wouldn't just be getting wet, and heaved a tired sigh. If he had his way, Sasuke was never coming back to this hell on Earth. There were way too many people, the lines were ungodly long, and the rides made him feel sick. Honestly, Sasuke was surprised he actually survived three of them. And one had been something horrific called the Goliath. That one...nearly did him in. It was why he knew he wouldn't be able to stomach any more rides. But the Batman ride he liked a lot. Even if it did leave him feeling a bit dizzy, it wasn't all that bad.
The irritating sounds of screaming pulled Sasuke's attention to the ride his son and the idiot were on. He looked up trying to find the...he assumed it was a damn cage, that they were in. He spotted them after it plunged down, only a few feet from actually smashing into the Earth, hesitating for a few moments, then whipping them back up into the sky. Through the screams of terror and adrenaline rush, Sasuke thought he could actually hear Naruto laughing his ass off. He couldn't hear his son's screams though, it was completely blended in with the cacophony of shrieks from the other passengers.
Thank the Lord that Naruto went on that instead of him. Which surprised him a little actually. From the underhanded way he tried to pry a little info from Naruto by using Konohamaru, he thought that the blonde would want him to suffer as much as possible. There was a small pang of guilt on how he went about it, but at the same time, Sasuke was glad that he did. He finally got a little insight into Naruto's life and this Sai fellow.
Sai.
There was something that left Sasuke feeling a bit unsettled. It really was uncanny how much he and Naruto's husband looked so much alike. It was eerie. However, on the flip side, even though it made him feel a bit weird, Sasuke was oddly pleased a little bit. Not that he understood why that it did, only that it did. It was a bit frustrating.
The sound of retching ripped Sasuke out of his musings. The sound instantly made him feel sick to his stomach and was about to get as far away from the disgusting noise as possible until his eyes landed on the source.
"Konohamaru?!" Immediately, Sasuke was by his puking son's side, inwardly freaking out over seeing him in such a state. "What happened! Let me get you some water!"
"Geez Sasuke, relax. And I got a bottle of water right here." Naruto pulled one out of his pack and handed it to the now dry heaving child.
Sasuke felt his face heat up in anger. "Relax? Konohamaru is puking in a trashcan in public! The poor kid looks awful!"
Naruto just waved a hand dismissingly at the Uchiha, which seemed to only rile him up more. "Trust me, he's fine. This is usually what happens for first timers on the Zipper. Honestly I'm surprised he hasn't puked his guts out sooner. The brat's a champ!"
Sasuke could only glare at him. How could he trust the idiot with his child? His poor son was suffering the very fate Sasuke avoided. When it seemed like Konohamaru was finished up-chucking his breakfast, Sasuke kneeled in front of him and rubbed his hand soothingly on the boy's back. "You okay?" He asked in concern.
All he got was a shaky nod and slowly took small sips of the water. Ugh, if it weren't for the smell of bile and the fear of his son puking on him, Sasuke actually would have pulled him into a comforting hug. "We can leave now if you want. I don't want you exerting yourself on these rides."
Immediately, Konohamaru pulled a bit away from him and starting shaking his head furiously. "N-No way! I'm having way too much fun! I don't wanna leave yet. Naruto, tell him I'm alright. I still want to go on more rides!"
Naruto folded his arms and grinned smugly. "See? Told ya he was a champ." At the incredulous look directed at him, Naruto sighed. "How about we take a little break then? Find a nice shady tree and relax for a bit."
"Awww do we have too?" Konohamaru whined.
"Unless you want to be hurling in a trashcan after every single ride-"
"Let's go find a spot to rest." Sasuke finalized the decision and grabbed his son's hand and started weaving his way through the throngs of people. It took nearly fifteen minutes of walking around, but eventually they found a nice spot under a large tree.
Naruto pulled out a couple more water bottles and handed one to Sasuke, who took it wordlessly. Konohamaru just flopped onto his stomach and started pulling out blades of grass and tossing it to the side. "I'm already bored."
"Konohamaru stop ripping out the grass."
The kid heaved another long sigh, and Naruto glanced sympathetically at him for a moment until he noticed a bunch of kids out on the field. "Hey brat, why don't you go play Frisbee with those kids over there?"
That seemed to peek his interest. "Ohh, can I dad?" Konohamaru looked up at him hopefully.
Sasuke wanted to say no, but the hopeful look did him in. "...Sure. Just stay on the field within my sight."
"Yes!" Konohamaru cheered and scrambled to his feet, then started running towards the group of kids. Naruto smiled once he saw the brat get placed on a team and start playing. After watching the game for a few minutes, Naruto laid his head back against the tree he was leaning back on and looked over at his companion.
"So, never really took you for the mother hen type despite knowing how much you care about Konohamaru." He grinned at the glare he received.
"Perhaps if you were to ever raise children you'd understand where I'm coming from."
Naruto's grin faded and looked away with a somber look. "It's not that I don't understand..." He sighed, then smiled ruefully. "I've always wanted a kid ya know. Even though I work a shit ton at my job, with long ass hours sometimes and double shifts, I still volunteer at a children's center just to be around them. Help them out, play with them, being like a big brother to them..."
Sasuke stared at the blonde and was surprised by the wistful expression upon his face. "Why don't you just adopt a child then."
"I wish it were that simple..." Naruto's voice held a tint of bitterness. "Back in my state, even though gay marriage is legalized, there are still some places that won't allow a gay couple to adopt a child." Naruto bit his lip in contemplation for a few moments. "Well...that's not the only reason..."
Naruto glanced at the Uchiha and felt a little uncomfortable at the hard stare drilling into him, patiently waiting for him to continue. The intrigued gaze unnerved him a bit, but at the same time made Naruto feel kind of thrilled. He supposed the only reason for feeling a bit thrilled by this was the fact that Sasuke looked so interested in learning more about him, no matter what it was.
Suddenly a light bulb lit up above his head and Naruto mentally smirked like the chesire cat. "You know, I've been sharing an awful lot about my personal self today. Some of it unwillingly." If Naruto hadn't been carefully assessing the Uchiha, he would have missed that tiny, guilty grimace. "I think before I continue on, you should probably do a little sharing too. It's only fair don't you think?"
Sasuke made a grunt of displeasure, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. It kinda felt like he was led right into this little trap, and he blindly walked into it without even saying anything. Sasuke broke his gaze away from those gleaming blues and grumbled. "What do you want to know?"
Naruto couldn't help it, he barely was able to stifle a laugh. "Damn, you don't have to make it seem like some a business deal you're about to regret making!" His lips quirked up, feeling a little smug and maybe a tiny bit giddy. "You don't have to fess up anything right now. We can save our bonding for later over some drinks maybe?" Naruto sent him a suggestive look.
The invitation was well played. At first Sasuke was reluctant to share anything personal, mainly because he thought that he didn't want to share it with Naruto of all people. But it just dawned on him that the proposal of just sitting down and spending time with the blonde was actually quite appealing and didn't bother him at all. No, now that he could clearly evaluate himself in this moment, the real reason he was reluctant to share anything was because he was still on camera.
Sharing anything with Naruto now would expose himself completely. And just as he came upon this realization, Sasuke felt immensely guilty. This entire time Sasuke refused to interact with Naruto because he didn't want anything of his personal life to be displayed for practically all of the country to see. He never once thought that Naruto might feel the same.
And earlier he had literally backed Naruto into a corner to spill some stuff the blonde would have rather kept to himself.
Sasuke always knew he could be an asshole, but it never bothered him until now.
"Yeah. I owe you one anyway. You know...for earlier."
Naruto blinked in surprise, then nodded with pleased smirk. "Yeah, you do owe me don't ya? Such a good sport you're being right now. While you're still feeling remorseful, how 'bout drinks be on you?" His smirk widened mischievously.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Don't push it."
"Fine. But I look forward to it." Naruto sent the Uchiha a playful wink and was amused by the withering look casted at him.
For the next twenty minutes the two of them relaxed in a comfortable silence, actually enjoying one another's presence as they watched Konohamaru play.
"Oh man! Oh man! I still can't get your face outta my head when you went on that ride!" Naruto sat across from Sasuke wrapped up in a big towel as he laughed his ass off. Konohamaru sat next to him also wrapped up in a towel and in a fit of giggles. Sasuke could only scowl at the two of them as he tried to unsuccessfully fix his now damp hair. At least it wasn't drenched anymore.
Currently they were on their way back home, and should be arriving in the neighborhood shortly. And Naruto was still laughing his ass off at Sasuke.
"I fail to see how exactly my expression of horror is giving you this much mirth."
"What's wrong Sasuke? Was that water ride a little too intense for you?"
"Shut up. I just didn't expect to be launched into the air and then free falling into the pool."
"I will say though, you made a pretty impressive splash. It was huuuuge!" Another round of laughter bubbled inside of Naruto and he did absolutely nothing to contain it.
To Sasuke, nothing was more annoying than the idiot's laughter at this moment. And he completely blamed Naruto for his predicament. If the blonde hadn't bought and pushed for him to bring swim trunks, then Sasuke would have never had to go on any water rides. He didn't enjoy getting wet. Hell, he didn't even use his own pool for goodness sakes!
"You really were kinda funny dad. I think the water park was my favorite."
Sasuke melted a little on the inside at seeing his son's smile. It astonished him really. Almost two weeks ago, his son barely interacted him. He was always too skittish whenever he entered the room, always soft spoken too. Compared to now, Sasuke could hardly believe what a lively and energetic kid Konohamaru actually was. What thrilled him more was that now he was a little closer to him and hopefully could talk to him a bit easier now too.
"Hn. The...Batman ride was my favorite."
"Hmm, I'm a little surprised since that ride had a cork screw type of design. My favorite though was definitely the Goliath!" Naruto grinned at the pissed off, nauseas look on the Uchiha's face.
"I'm insulted you're treating me like some delicate flower that can't handle a few rides. But that particular one was a death trap. There's no need to go up at a ninety-degree angle only to be dropped and then repeat the process."
Naruto put his hands up, "Okay, okay. I apologize for thinking too lightly on your behalf. You actually handled a lot of those rides way better than I initially thought you would. And you didn't even puke!"
Sasuke could only scoff and turn his attention over to his son who looked like he was just about ready to fall asleep. "I'm glad Konohamaru was fine after he had though."
"That's cause this kid's a champ! Right Konohamaru? You still had a blast today even after hurling into a trash can right?"
Konohamaru nodded tiredly, but still managed to smile big. "Yeah! I had so much fun! Can we com back again sometime dad?"
As much as Sasuke would rather not ever come back again, he suppose he could endure the torture once more when the time came. "Maybe again when school's out for summer vacation."
The way Konohamaru's eyes lit up made the hell he went through today worth it. It was even a little bit cute and endearing watching him trying his hardest to stay awake. Naruto took notice of this and wrapped an arm around the kid's shoulders. "Get some rest brat. We'll be home soon, but until then get some sleep."
"But I'm not-" a loud yawn cut him off, "tired...".
"Suuuure you're not." Naruto poked him in the cheek and grinned. Konohamaru grumbled in protest, but gave in and leaned his head against Naruto's shoulder and let himself slip into a light doze.
"Awww. Ain't he cute Sasuke?" Naruto looked up to smirk at the Uchiha, but felt his heart literally stop for a second. Dear God...why did his heart rate have to go into overdrive every time the bastard made one of those tender smiles? An annoying little voice in the back of his head was telling him to just burn that into his memory since these moments were so rare, but instead he mentally smacked that thought out of the way.
Naruto swallowed hard and tried to look away. It was bad enough that he was being affected by this in such a way, but what made it worse was the tinge of jealousy and sadness his heart felt that it wasn't even directed at him. May that day never come, because there was no way for Naruto to know how he'd react to that.
But something just as bad happened anyway.
"Yeah." Sasuke turned his gaze over to the blonde and offered a small, albeit a little awkward, smile. "Thanks for today. I think this is the first time I've actually managed to bond with him naturally."
"It's nothing really..." Naruto tore his eyes away and settled with staring out the window. It wasn't what he just saw previously, but all the same...Sasuke gave him a smile. He had no idea why it was making him feel warm and tingly on the inside. Sure he knew he was attracted to Sasuke pretty badly, but there was no way he was in love with him or anything.
The only solution his mind could come up with was that his heart was missing Sai dearly, and he yearned for love and affection badly. It's not like he left on a good note with him, and hadn't even spoken to him yet either...Yeah. That had to be it. Once Naruto could speak with Sai, then his heart and emotions should settle down a bit.
After about fifteen minutes of awkward silence, (Naruto kept his eyes glued to the window the entire time), he sighed in relief when they pulled up the driveway to Sasuke's home. Naruto gathered Konohamaru into his arms and picked him up and stepped out of the car, thanking the driver for opening the door for him.
"I'll just bring the brat up to his room and put him to bed." Naruto didn't even glance at the Uchiha and almost bolted up the stairs at a brisk pace, completely unaware of the scrutinizing gaze staring at him.
Carefully Naruto held the boy in his arms and pulled the covers to his bed back, and gently placed him on it. He tucked him in nice and snug and smiled fondly down at the child. "You're one lucky kid Konohamaru. It may not seem like it right away to you, but you got a really amazing dad that loves you dearly. Just like your crazy uncle," he whispered.
He stared a moment longer, then quietly left the room. Half way to his own room, Naruto happened to run into Sasuke and inwardly cursed. Why did he all of a sudden feel so weird around the Uchiha now?
"So uh...Konohamaru's in bed now. Out like a light too." Naruto rubbed his left arm and stepped around the Uchiha to get past him. "I guess I'll um..turn in too," he chuckled nervously.
Sasuke only raised an eyebrow and frowned. "It's only eight-thirty, you're going to bed now?"
Shit...he didn't realize it was still so early. "Uh...I could read for a bit I suppose?"
"Idiot...did you forget?"
Naruto blinked. "Forget what?"
"I owe you a drink." Sasuke said flatly.
"Oh!" Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait uh, you actually wanna go out for drinks right now?" This really surprised him and actually made his heart skip a beat.
"No. We're not going out for that. I got my own stash of wine for whenever the occasion presents itself." Sasuke smirked. "I even have the Red Merlot wine you like, and a few other brands you could try if you want."
"S-Sure. Yeah, that sounds good. I'd rather stay in then go out honestly."
"Good. Go take a shower first. I was about to do the same." Sasuke turned away and started walking down the hall. "Meet me in my bedroom when you're ready."
"Kay see you-what?" Thankfully, Sasuke had already rounded a corner down the hall and hadn't heard him. But just in case if Sasuke had, Naruto bolted to his room before he'd come back.
"Oh shit. Shit this isn't good." Naruto took in a deep breath then let it out a little too harshly. He brought a hand up to his face and sighed. "The bastard is going to kill me. There's no way he knows the implications of what he's doing. You don't just...offer a gay man drinks in your own fucking bedroom of all places!" At that Naruto literally slapped himself. "Oh my god, get a hold of yourself. This shouldn't even bother you! You're married for fucks sake!"
Naruto clenched his hand into a fist with vigor. "Kay. I can do this. It's just drinks. It's not like I'll get drunk, it's only wine." With his confidence slowly coming back, Naruto took another deep breath and let it out evenly this time.
Thirty minutes later, Naruto found himself in front of Sasuke's bedroom door. The jitters were threatening to come back, but Naruto swallowed and kept his composure and knocked on the door. Shortly after the door opened to reveal a freshly showered Sasuke with his hair still clinging to his face. He wore nothing but grey sweatpants and a regular black t-shirt.
Something about how laid back Sasuke was being and presenting himself made something in Naruto's lower gut clench uncomfortably. Beforehand, it had taken him awhile to decide if he should wear regular clothes, or the clothes he slept in. Which would be more appropriate? In the end he decided on the clothes he slept in. A white t-shirt and an old pair of gym shorts. Naruto figured he'd feel better if he was in comfortable clothes. He wasn't sure if that was the right decision just yet though.
"I'm surprised you actually waited for me to answer the door instead of barging in."
Naruto grinned, feeling the tension in his shoulders relax a little. "Since I wasn't told to get lost from the other side, I figured you actually would let me in." He tilted his head with a glint in his eye. "Though if you did, I probably would still barge in regardless. You don't promise a man a drink and then just snatch it away."
"Of course," Sasuke opened the door wider and stepped aside to let him. "So I have a little bit of bad news."
Naruto followed him and raised an eyebrow. "What, someone raid your stash and you got nothing left?"
"Close." Sasuke made an irritated frown. "I actually don't have any Merlot wine like I promised. All I have is a couple bottles of Champagne, a bottle of Beringer, Gallo, and Barefoot. The closest I have to Merlot is Sutter Home."
Naruto just stared at the Uchiha for a few moments with a twisted expression. "Not gonna lie but, what weird ass names! I mean...who names their brand of wine Barefoot? The only one I recognize is Champagne."
"Barefoot is the top selling wine brand in the world."
"Never heard of it."
Sasuke scoffed. "Of course. You're only a novice to wine brands after all."
"Doesn't bother me. Wine always seemed to be a little bit too pretentious for a guy like me, I'll never be at your or Itachi's level."
The smirk on the Uchiha's face didn't go unnoticed by him, but Naruto chose to ignore the tingle in his chest. He watched the man walk over to a medium sized wine rack atop a nice looking bureau.
"So what would you prefer?" Sasuke brought out each brand of wine he listed earlier and laid them out on the top of his bureau.
Naruto eyed each bottle, and sized up the Barefoot brand. "I think I'll stick to what I know and go with the Champagne." He watched Sasuke grab a couple of wine glasses and thought the Uchiha was going to pour him a glass. Instead he was handed the glass and the entire bottle. Naruto looked down at the bottle in surprise and felt his mouth hang open a little.
"Uh...Are you seriously giving me the entire bottle Sasuke?"
"Yeah." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and then grabbed a whole bottle of Gallo for himself. "What? Don't tell me you can't finish off that whole bottle yourself."
"N-No it's just-well for one I've never actually drank a whole bottle of wine by myself before! And I didn't expect you to just give it to me is all..."
"Promising you a drink and just giving you one glass? That's not very hospitable. You don't have to drink the whole thing though." Sasuke walked past him to a pair of glass panel doors and opened them. "Let's go out onto the balcony."
Naruto wordlessly followed Sasuke out onto the balcony. It was pretty wide, stretching at least fifteen or more feet in from one end to the other. A pair of lounge chairs were in the far corner with a little modern outdoor table with a mesh hole design. Sasuke took a seat and immediately relaxed. Naruto took the seat next to him and nearly groaned at how freaking comfy this damn chair was.
From seemingly out of nowhere, Sasuke pulled out a corkscrew and opened his bottle, then handed it to him. Naruto took and opened his own bottle and poured his glass half way. He took a sip and was pleased by the smooth liquid trickling down his throat. The atmosphere between the two of them was pleasant. It dawned on Naruto that this was the first time that he was spending time alone with Sasuke on such good terms. The anniversary didn't count, they were forced into that. This was all mainly on Sasuke's own accord, which was still a little surprising. The bastard was being so civil...Naruto tilted his head to the side a little to look at the raven's profile. He still couldn't seem to get over how attractive the man was.
"So, uh..." Naruto cleared his throat a little and took another sip of his wine, "I'm sure you didn't just want to sit out here in silence right? Not that I really mind, just uh, I kinda feel like there's some imminent topic waiting to be addressed. Ya know...the elephant in the room?"
Sasuke sent a slightly amused look his way, but then stared down into his glass and swirled the liquid around slowly. "I can't put an exact label on said 'topic', however, I thought it'd be nice to just...try to get to know you better. And vice versa if you want. There may be some things I may refuse to give an answer to, and feel free to do the same if the conversation crosses any lines."
"Seriously?" Naruto stared at the Uchiha in astonishment. This was the last thing he'd expect from this guy. After all the shit he had to put up with because of him, and suddenly he was having a change of heart? The urge to pinch himself was too much to resist.
"Yes, seriously. I may have wrongly misjudged you, and I just wanted to at least give you a chance." Sasuke finally lifted his head and locked eyes with him.
Naruto swallowed hard, and felt nervous with the genuine honesty and...something else shining in those dark eyes. A feeling of dread made itself known though and Naruto looked away dejectedly. "But...you realize by doing this, it greatly increases my chances of winning right? We may be off camera now so no one can see this kind of development, but the change between us won't go unnoticed by Kakashi."
Sasuke actually sneered and waved a hand dismissively. "You honestly think I care? It wasn't my choice to enter this shitty excuse for TV entertainment. And since I indirectly forced you to talk about some personal stuff in an inconsiderate, underhanded way, I could start this off by telling you why I'm even in this mess to begin with."
This abrupt turn in the conversation thrilled, yet utterly confused him to no end. Sasuke didn't care if he were to win? Wouldn't the guy want his wife to be the victor by the time this was all over? Suddenly Naruto wasn't sure if he was ready for this right now. Call it stupid, but he felt like this was moving a little bit too fast. Or maybe it was just him? It was only like a couple days ago that they were at each other's throats and now here they were. Yet despite what a bastard Naruto still thought Sasuke was, there was just something more there that he couldn't put his finger on. Naruto's throat went a little dry and he had to take a long swig of his wine to help anchor himself. His mind was sinking down into this pit that was too deep for him to even try to pick apart and analyze.
His long pause of hesitation caught the Uchiha's attention and Naruto could feel that dark gaze assessing him. If he said yes and allowed Sasuke to tell him the circumstances around why he was in Life Swap, then would he have to share why he was in it too? In a sense, if Sasuke was willing to do it, then it was only fair that he did too right?
As if picking up on the trail of his thoughts, Sasuke spoke, "You don't have to divulge why you're in this too if you don't want to. I wasn't offering to share my personal predicament in this just to get you to spill yours." Naruto warily lifted his eyes to look at the Uchiha. "Privacy is one of the most important things to me. But, for whatever hellish reason, I find that I don't mind telling you."
Naruto thought about it for a moment longer, then nodded his head. "Alright. Shoot." Naruto grinned nervously. "So what kinda dirt you hidin'?"
For a moment, Sasuke's lips quirked up a bit in amusement, but it was pulled down into a deepening frown. "My wife Sakura got into a car accident almost a month ago. It wasn't too bad, neither driver was hurt, but the damage she caused to the other car was terrible."
"That she caused?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yeah." Sasuke took a sip from his glass and sighed heavily. "I don't understand what the hell was going through her head at the time. She was texting while driving, and was going down the wrong side of the road."
The glass in Naruto's hand nearly slipped from his slackened grip at how shocked he was. "Are you being fucking serious? Was she drunk or something?"
"No," Sasuke stared into his now empty glass, but didn't make a move to refill it just yet. "I don't know what was wrong with her that night. But the cost to repair the other car plus the insurance going up was a bit too much for her to financially handle. I make more than enough money to cover all kinds of expenses and to live comfortably, but I wasn't going to cover her that time. I wanted her to handle it herself for once. That's all I wanted...
Sometimes I feel like Sakura is just some teenager I'm raising alongside Konohamaru. Which is ridiculous on so many levels. But maybe in some ways I allowed for it to come to that point. Giving her a damn allowance, letting her do whatever the fuck she wanted, getting away with stupid shit-" Sasuke suddenly slammed the wine glass on the mesh table between them.
The sound startled Naruto a bit, but that was nothing compared to his astonishment to hearing and watching Sasuke cave into this bottled anger that had been simmering all this time. It cast a new light on Sasuke for Naruto, and his infuriating bastard-like ways from the beginning made a whole lot more sense.
"Sorry..." Sasuke turned his head away so Naruto couldn't see his appalled expression. He couldn't believe he just blew up like that and spilled more than he originally planned to . He's never done this before. It was deeply unsettling to him that he was able to bring down some of his walls to this idiot.
"Hey...Hey." Naruto leaned forward to try and catch the raven's eye. "It's okay Sasuke. Everyone needs to vent about this kind of shit. Seems like you don't make a habit to vent either." He cracked a grin to try and dispute some of the tension. "Problems like this with your spouse is normal for any couple. I get that you wouldn't want anyone to know that you were having issues. I know where you're coming from in this."
Sasuke still didn't look at him, so Naruto leaned back in his chair and waited for a response, unsure if he'd even get one or not. A few minutes passed until Sasuke finally uttered a word. "You're a lot different than how I first perceived you to be."
"Oh?" Now feeling a lot less awkward, Naruto finished his wine. "And what was your first impression of me?"
"Some loud, clumsy, smart ass idiot."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched at being called clumsy and an idiot. The stair incident was not his fault. Though the soccer ball incident was another story he'd rather not get into. "Really? That was it?"
Finally the raven turned his head to actually look him in the eye and got himself comfortable. "I won't lie. I was more shocked at the fact that it was a man and not a woman on my doorstep. But your insufferable nature outweighed that."
"Me? Insufferable? Please. If anyone in this house was insufferable it'd be you."
"I suppose that was also your first impression of me then?" Sasuke smirked, looking pleased.
"No actually..." Naruto averted his eyes and scowled, annoyed with himself for the blush he could feel creeping up on his face. At least it was too dark to be noticeable. "My very first thought of you when I saw you was uh..." he felt a little hotter suddenly, "I guess the best way to describe it is 'perfect'. Everything about you seemed to be flawless. I remember that I had tried to find like, I don't know, just a hair out of place or something? Just anything to shatter the perfect image you were portraying." Despite his embarrassment, Naruto looked at the Uchiha with a sly grin, "but moments later you shattered it all on your own anyway. That's when I dubbed you 'the bastard' in my head."
Sasuke was just swallowing the last of his wine when he snorted. "Didn't know I was given such a title in your head. I'm honored."
Naruto felt his mouth drop a little and he stared at the Uchiha with vexation. "You sound like you actually like being called a bastard."
"I never claimed that I wasn't. I'm fully aware of what an asshole I can be and it doesn't bother me in the slightest."
"So are you just a prick to everybody you meet?!"
"Of course."
Naruto burst out laughing. Damn! It wasn't a shock to Naruto that Sasuke was an ass to everybody, it was just shocking to hear him admit that he knew it and did it on purpose! "And here I almost thought I was getting special treatment from you!"
"Only Konohamaru get's some special treatment every now and then." Sasuke said, but then looked at him with a thoughtful expression for a moment. "Though I suppose this one occasion between us could be considered the same. Don't get used to it though."
Naruto was wiping the tears that clung to the sides of his eyes. His heart skipped a beat at those words. He looked over at Sasuke just as the Uchiha refilled his glass. His lips felt dry. "Why'd you suddenly decide to do this then. You really didn't have to."
"No, but I wanted to. It was what you said earlier that made the decision for me."
"What'd I say earlier?" Naruto asked in confusion. He tried to recall what he could have said, but was coming up with a blank.
"When you said you were 'unwillingly' sharing a lot of personal information."
"Oh yeah." Naruto sent him a glare. "You know if you really wanted to get to know me better, you could have done this a lot sooner. It would have probably saved me a lot of stress and agony the past couple of weeks too."
Sasuke could only shrug half-heartedly and turned to look up at the night sky. "I know. I just didn't want to..."
"What, your stubborn pride was preventing you or something?" Naruto teased, but the tense look on the Uchiha's face eradicated the playful moment.
"I need to ask," Sasuke looked over and locked gazes with the blonde, "why do you care about Konohamaru so much? I remember what you've told me before about loving kids in general, but I just don't get it."
A little smile tugged at Naruto's lips as he thought of the brat. "He kind of reminds me of when I was his age actually. I was a menace. Drove my Uncle up a wall constantly, daily even, with my antics. In fact, I was worse than Konohamaru back then."
"Oh really? Worse how?" Sasuke asked, intrigued.
"Well I have a shit load of stories." Suddenly a laugh exploded from him as one particular memory came to mind. "Okay so, I think I was maybe eleven or twelve at the time, and my Uncle and I were going to visit a friend of his. I forget why, but I was banished to the back seat when I usually sat up front with him. I think he was pissed at me for something else I did prior, but anyway, I absolutely fucking hate being in the back seat. I like being up front and in control of the radio, plus I was bored as hell.
We were driving on the highway and I liked to stare at other drivers when they were either next to us or behind us. One driver suddenly looked me right in the eye as he was driving behind us and for the hell of it, I started making 'HELP ME' gestures!"
Sasuke almost choked on his wine, and sent the blonde a 'wtf' look. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"I don't know, I was a stupid kid. I wanted to see what would happen, and that driver actually fell for it! I could see it on the guys face. At first he looked confused, but then became horrified and looked so concerned and he followed us for nearly twenty something minutes. I kid you not. My Uncle wasn't even aware! And I kept up the act the entire time!" Another cackle of laughter burst from him as he relived the memory.
Sasuke was completely slack-jawed at this point. "What happened? That driver must have taken down his license plate if he was following you for that long."
"Oh I think he did. At one point I remember him being on his phone so he might have been trying to call the police, but at that time we had gotten off the highway and lost him."
"You're more of an idiot than I thought." Sasuke sneered at him.
"Hey! I was back then, but I've matured. Besides, at least I didn't do something stupid like that in front of a cop car."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, but then his eyes widened in realization. "Thank the Lord Konohamaru isn't like that."
"Yeah I suppose you're pretty lucky. I used to get into so many fights at school too! Teachers hated me, I always got sent to the principal's office for a variety of reasons. Oh, I also graffiti the walls in the girls locker room too."
"What the hell was wrong with you?" Sasuke stared at him with what looked like a cross between annoyance and interest.
Naruto simply shrugged. "Not too sure honestly. Back then I did a lot of shit on the spot with no justifiable reasons. I just did it for the hell of it. After awhile my Uncle had just about had it with me, so he threw me into behavioral counseling, and I had to see them once a week for over a year. My counselor had said I was going through some kind of phase, I don't remember what he had called it. All I really do remember is that when the counseling thing wasn't really working much with my behavior my Uncle took me out of it, and shortly after I started to realize I swung the other way."
At that, Naruto snapped his mouth shut, shocked that he shared that bit of information. This was a sign that he was at least a little bit tipsy by now. He glared at the wine. Then he quickly glanced at his companion and felt his face grow hot at how he was being stared at with such curiosity.
"How did you know? Did you date girls and just find them unappealing?"
Naruto looked away feeling embarrassed at the turn the conversation suddenly took, but it was his own fault for digging himself into that hole. "Well...yeah. I did date a few girls. Had sex with one of them when I was around fourteen or fifteen. And it just felt okay. The sex didn't seem as astounding as other people made it out to be. But I chalked it up to it just being my first awkward time, so I did it a few more times, and with a couple of other girls."
Now Naruto felt like he couldn't even look in the Uchiha's direction for what he was about to say next. "Then one day I just couldn't 'get up' to perform for it. I think I was sixteen, and I just couldn't get aroused to have sex with my girlfriend. And then it felt like my whole world was tripped up. I already didn't really find girls to be all that attractive to begin with, I kind of just went along with the normal standard that everyone expects."
"Normal standard?" Sasuke inquired.
"You know...being heterosexual. Everyone just assumes that you are, until proven otherwise, unless they're pretty good with picking up the signs that you're not."
An understanding look shined in Sasuke's dark eyes, causing a lump to form in Naruto's throat.
"How did your Uncle take it?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Oh he went bat shit crazy - wait not like that! It's not like he beat my ass for coming outta' the closet! He was mad cause after all the sex ed he gave me, he had to start from scratch on gay sex! God that was horrible. He did all this research and tried to teach me with pictures and diagrams, ugh. I'd never want to relive that."
An amused snort caught Naruto's attention and he was surprised to see Sasuke's face twisted from trying not to laugh. It occurred to him that he had never heard Sasuke genuinely laugh, and he suddenly craved to hear it. But that smile though. Every time Naruto saw it, it did weird things to his insides.
"I've always heard tragic stories about kids who come out with this kind of stuff to their parents. Your Uncle sounds like a very caring man."
"Yeah." A fond smile tugged at his lips. "I don't know what I'd do without him." His fond smile turned into a sly one. "Actually, I'm sure I would have been fine learning about gay sex on the internet too."
"Seriously? I can just imagine all the misconceptions you would have gotten from doing that." An uncomfortable look appeared on the Uchiha's face that caught Naruto's attention. He wondered if this topic was getting to be too much for him to handle, but was shocked a moment later.
"If you don't mind my asking, but what role do you uh...take?"
Naruto's eyebrows nearly disappeared under his bangs at the question and he nearly choked on his drink. "What role do I take? Why the sudden curiosity?" He had thought Sasuke was gonna try to change the subject, not this. What would possess the normally stoic Uchiha to ask him a personal thing like that? Unless this was the wine talking. Maybe this was what Sasuke was like when he was a bit more loose from drinking.
Sasuke scowled, feeling mortified he had even asked such a thing. Wasn't that considered rude to ask a gay person that? Originally Sasuke had only been thinking about it, feeling unsettled with just how curious he was on the matter, and gave voice to the question in his mind without really thinking it through. He wanted to dismiss it and say forget about, but-
"Honestly I forget you're even gay sometimes because you're nowhere at all as flamboyant or stereotypical as I would expect, nor do you give off the vibe that shouts 'I enjoy fucking men over women'. You just seem like the normal guy with a bright attitude and easy-going personality, that if I had met you under a different circumstance, I probably would never be able to tell that you were gay."
The response was not what Naruto had expected. He had interacted with straight people before with the burning curiosity of gay relationships too, and their questions were usually the same. Though sometimes they were waaaaay more offensive like 'who's the twink and who's the leather daddy?' to which Naruto would walk out before he let his temper get the best of him. All of their reasons for their curiosity was just the same. They were just curious as to how gay relationships worked out. Sasuke's reason though actually surprised him at how different it was.
"So..." Naruto struggled to piece this together in his muddled mind, "You probably see me as more masculine than you would expect in a gay guy, so you were wondering what role I played because of that right? Like, in straight people's terms, who's the guy and who's the girl?" He asked with a teasing smirk.
Sasuke shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling a bit humiliated at the moment, but he brought it upon himself. So he might as well finished what he started instead of backing out of it like he really wanted to. "Yes...I think. I don't know..."
Naruto almost laughed at how unsure and uncomfortable the Uchiha was. "Let's get one thing straight first. Who tops and who bottoms does not define the relationship at all. It's actually normal for couples to switch positions all the time. However, some gay people do have a preference to what they enjoy most out of it. As for me," Naruto leered at Sasuke, "I enjoy being on the bottom. Sometimes I'll top if I'm in a particular mood for it, but for the most part, to answer your question, my role," he made quotation signs with his hands, "is bottom."
It was too dark to tell, but Naruto swore he saw Sasuke's face turn red.
"What, nothing to say? Was it not what you were expecting?"
It was hard for Sasuke to really voice what he thought or felt about it. In fact he wasn't sure what it was that he felt, just some kind of churning of emotion inside of him that he had never in his life had felt before. The closest he could come to describing it was that it was almost similar to when he was feeling nervous or anxious about something.
"It's not that. I can't explain it, but I guess I feel...happy."
"Huh?" What the hell was Sasuke suddenly on? "Sasuke...are you some kind of light weight? I know we've both finished our bottles of wine, but come on. I think I'm just a bit tipsy at the most, but are you actually drunk or something?"
"No, I'm just a bit tipsy myself." He leaned his forehead against the back of his hand and chuckled.
"Are you sure you're just a bit tipsy?" Naruto was unconvinced, but his head was reeling and face his face got hot from hearing that deep throaty chuckle. Holy damn...
"Give me your bottle. I'll get us both another one." Sasuke got up and Naruto handed over his bottle while giving the Uchiha a skeptical look. Naruto was sure...Sasuke had to be a light weight if he was already this loose from just wine.
An impish little grin stretched over his face. What if Sasuke was the kind of drunk that talked a shit ton and you could ask them anything and get hilarious answers from? Naruto would have to test his little theory then.
When Sasuke came back, he handed Naruto a different bottle. This time it was the bottle with the weird ass name Barefoot. He didn't comment and pour some into his glass anyway. When Sasuke settled himself into his chair, they continued talking. Naruto had no idea for how long they spent chatting; it felt like hours. But Naruto enjoyed every single second of it.
The first thing Naruto registered was that his head was pounding. His head immediately nuzzled into his soft pillow and he groaned. He wanted water but felt way too lazy to actually get up and get it. It was then something seemed a bit off. Naruto's nose twitched. Why did his pillow smell different? He breathed in the smell and decided he liked it. It was a mix between musk and sandalwood. The scent was comforting, and almost helped with his pounding head. Without realizing it, Naruto had taken another deep, long inhale of it until his brain was finally starting to function properly.
Why did his pillow smell like musk and sandalwood? That wasn't what he smelled like, or even what Sai smelled like either.
His eyes popped open in alarm. The room was a little dark still, but there was some light from the moon shining in from the open balcony-
Naruto shot up, instantly grabbing his head as it throbbed in pain, most likely from being hung over. "Shit..."
"You should lay back down before you fall out of the bed."
Naruto stiffened, his throat going dry, and heart pounding in his ears in tempo with the pounding in his head. "S-Sasuke?" He looked over to his right, and sure enough there was the bastard laying next to him. His beautiful dark eyes were barely open, but they blinked, heavy with sleep up at him.
"I left water on the night stand next to you. Drink it."
Swallowing hard, Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from Sasuke. Why did the moon have to be full and bright and shining directly into the room on them right now? It would have been so much easier if it was dark and impairing Naruto's vision.
The asshole's dark hair was a mess all over his pillow, but the moon gave it a blue-ish tint. Looking silky and inviting, and his skin. It was pale, but gorgeous. This creamy white, smooth and appearing soft. Not a blemish to be seen. And this one hair that was on Sasuke's face was so close to touching his lips. Naruto so badly wanted to move it to the side, and run his thumb across those lips. He wanted to-
Naruto sucked in a harsh breath and finally turned away and moved to get out of the bed, not caring how wobbly and dizzy he felt. A hand grasping his wrist stopped him, but it sent an electric thrill through him.
"I said lay down. You'll hit the floor if you try to get up."
"N-No, it's okay. I'm sorry, I-"
"What the hell are you apologizing for?"
Behind him, Naruto felt the bed shift and knew Sasuke sat up. He heard him hiss, probably also from a pounding headache as well.
"For crashing in your bed. I don't remember dragging myself in here, you must have been pissed that I just welcomed myself to it instead of dragging my drunk ass off to my own bed and-"
"Idiot. Shut up already. You passed out in your chair out on the balcony. I was pretty hung up myself so there was no way I'd drag you all the way to your room. So I dumped you onto my bed."
A lump got caught up in his throat. Naruto didn't know what to say. His heart was giving him palpitations, and he knew his face was up in flames. Even his own breathing was getting ragged. "You didn't have to do that. You could have left me on the floor with a blanket or something..."
Finally, Sasuke let go of his wrist. And thank god for that, Naruto had been hyper aware of the heat coming from the bastard's hand. "That'd be rude. Maybe I would have done something like that when you first got here, but whatever. You can stay here until it's a reasonable hour in the morning. Go back to sleep, it's four-thirty right now."
The bed shifted again and Naruto chanced a glance over his shoulder, and was glad to see Sasuke laid down with his back facing him. Before he got stuck with staring and admiring the strong back muscles he could see in the Uchiha's t-shirt, Naruto looked away and grabbed the glass of water on the night stand, drinking it all in one go.
He placed the empty glass on the night stand and stared at it. He should leave. The right thing to do was leave right now. What Sasuke did was incredible considerate and nice of him, but the asshole didn't seem to be aware of the implications of what he had done. Against his better judgment, Naruto laid back down too and got comfortable.
It was fine...Sasuke was all the way on his side of the bed, and Naruto was safely on his own side. The bed itself was fairly big, so their positions were safe. A wave of fatigue washed over him, and his tired eyes drifted shut. He nuzzled his face into the pillow and inhaled deeply, the scent lulling him into a peaceful slumber.
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TBC...
A/N: I know it's been over 2 years since I've last updated. I can't apologize enough for that, but I can thank you guys profusely for sticking around with me. I haven't been completely MIA this whole time. I've mostly been lurking in the background, reading all of your reviews and PMs when you guys sent them. I tried hard to write this when I could, but I did hit a wall half way through with this chapter, and in my writing in general.
I won't get into what's been completely been keeping me from writing, but again, thank you guys so much. It really does mean a lot to know I still have readers who have stuck with Life Swap, and my other fics too this whole time! I'll start on the next chapter soon
P.S. To all my Come on Closer readers, I'm working on the next chapter to that too, so it'll be out soon ;)