Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: The poem is mine and I have the original, so yeah. Enjoy.

Rated MA just to be safe.

Chapter Ten - Your Place or Mine?

Saturday had been fun. The people in town were really nice and he'd had fun wandering around the stores there. He'd spent a lot of time in the local Wal*Mart trying to decide based on the furniture there if he wanted to decorate his room any. He'd finally bought a Nightmare Before Christmas poster and a few little pillows to make his bed more comfortable. They were fuzzy and lots of different colors. He bought himself some frozen yogurt and ate it outside since it was such a nice day. When Iruka picked him up he had him drop him off at Gaara's so he could get some work done with Kaze. They were really making progress. Even Suigetsu had been able to ride him when he'd come over to check out Naruto's new phone. Gaara's dad had been practically overjoyed. He'd gone home and eaten dinner then passed out on the couch downstairs for a bit, only waking up when Iruka and Kakashi tried to sneak quietly past him to their room. Sunday hadn't been all that eventful. Sunday was a family day for Gaara so he stayed home on those days. He didn't have any of his friends' numbers so that was a no go. Kakashi and Iruka were both off and liked to be lazy on that day; it was the one day they didn't do chores. He managed to persuade them to play a game of Phase Ten with him, but they'd called it quits after round five. He had been bored out of his mind and even Suigetsu couldn't come by. So, it was a bit of an understatement to say that he was eager when Monday came. Monday's weren't bad at all. It was the day he got to see his friends.

He'd been up almost an hour earlier than he needed to be that morning and he made breakfast for the other two men. When they woke up and saw the omelets he'd made they were stunned, when they tasted them they were blown away. Iruka had looked at him curiously and Kakashi had made a comment about him switching with Iruka as the cook in this house. That earned Kakashi a smack over the head and Naruto rushed to assure them that he'd learned everything from Iruka. Now he was at school, grabbing his black backpack and making his way to French. He glanced longingly at the beauty that was Kiba's girlfriend then made his way over to Gaara. They practiced what they'd learned last class period and turned in their homework, then learned a few new phrases. Last time they'd learned nationalities, this time they learned weather. He made his way to Spanish and talked to Neji and Lee until he walked in. He sighed and excused himself.

"Hello teme." He tried not to glare at the pale boy. The favor wasn't returned.

"What do you want dobe?" Sasuke growled with a scowl on his face.

"Look, we should get as much of this done as we can so we aren't stuck together all year. Why don't you meet me at the flag pole after shool today?" He tried to keep the snarl out of his voice.

"Sure. Whatever." Sasuke turned his head and ignored him. He was grinding his teeth by the time he got back to his seat. Class was slow because he already knew all of this and he was glad when the bell rang. He ate lunch with his friends and tired not to think about what would happen after school today. English was fun. His teacher liked his poem so much that he read it out loud to the class.

"As loud as a fog horn,

So thick you can cut it,

It wraps around us all.

This creature borne

By none who could fight it,

Beneath it's pressure we fall.

Soft as a pillow,

As light as a feather,

A friend to see you through.

Like a sad weepy willow,

In cold, rainy weather,

Seems to cry as you do.

It holds your hand,

It strangles you,

This friend, this foe we share.

By you it stands,

Quiet and true,

Yet leaves you scared and bare.

No one knows

From where it came,

No explanation is offered from science.

It festers and grows,

We fear its name,

This thing that we call silence."

The title was silence, but it was more dramatic if you didn't know that until afterwards. The whole class applauded and Naruto tried desperately not to blush. Sora just grinned at him. "You never told me you could write like that!"

"Well, I only do it for school usually. I'm not used to other people hearing it. My teachers have never shared before."

"Ebisu is pretty hard to please so for him to do that he must think you're really good."

Naruto felt himself blushing. "Is that good or bad?"

"I'd say it's good."

"Cool. Hey, can I get your number? I just got a phone and I have been filling in my contact list all day." The other boy nodded and gave him his number. He quickly texted him with just his name so that he would know who it was and said, "There. Now you have mine too." The bell rang. "See you Wednesday."

"See you!"

He walked outside to the flagpole and found Gaara and Sasuke having a staring contest. He groaned. This would not be good. He turned to Sasuke who hadn't seemed to notice him and said, "You want to do this at your place or mine?" He very much disliked the idea of the baka being in his house, let alone his room, but he had decided to play things nice so that they could get everything done quickly.

"Yours. I don't let people come to my house." Sasuke smirked at him, finally breaking away from his contest. Naruto clenched his fists and took deep breaths. Jerk.

"Fine. Come on Gaara. Let's go." They all walked in an awkward silence for a bit, but Naruto was determined to ignore the teme so he struck up a conversation with his redheaded friend. Gaara looked smug by the time they reached his house. The rest of the walk was filled with an almost tangible animosity as they ignored each other. They finally reached his house and he saw a hint of admiration flash across Sasuke's face. He unlocked the door and walked inside, grabbing an apricot and leading the other boy upstairs. He sat on the floor and ate his fruit while Sasuke inspected his room.

"You like the Nightmare Before Christmas?" he asked with a snicker.

"So? I like a lot of animated movies, most being Disney, and I'm not ashamed of that." Naruto was perfectly calm. He knew how to deal with teasing.

"My mom used to be obsessed with Disney movies," he murmured and Naruto sat up a little straighter. Had he just said something that wasn't dickish? And about his mother no less? He fought to keep his mouth from hanging open. "Let's get started," he said in his normal grumpy voice and Naruto sighed. So much for thinking he might be human after all. They sat and worked on their Spanish skit for a while. "Why are you so good at this?" the raven demanded angrily after the umteenth time he'd corrected him.

"I've been speaking it since I was young. Chill." Naruto was ready to just call the whole thing off and fail his classes. Sasuke grumbled about stupid blonds who think they know everything and he nearly shouted at him. That was, until he heard the next part. Sasuke obviously didn't think Naruto could make out what he was saying when he muttered under his breath about stupid cute blonds who fuck with his concentration and make him mess up. Naruto would have fallen on his ass had he been standing. He was totally stunned. Just then he heard Iruka's voice.

"Naruto! Are you busy, or can you help me with dinner?"

Sasuke jumped at the sudden unexpected voice and then glanced at Naruto who tried to keep his face devoid of emotion. "We might as well call it quits for now. No need to rush it. We have the general idea, we can work on the specifics later." Naruto nodded and headed downstairs, aware that Sasuke was following him.

"Oh. I didn't know you had company. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, it's alright. He was just leaving."

"Nonsense. He must stay for dinner of course." Naruto held back a groan. Sasuke looked like he was trying to find a polite way to say no.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping out," Naruto said evilly, not containing his smile. Sasuke inconspicuously glared at him.

"Of course I would. Thank you for the invite. How can I help?" He smirked at Naruto, but the blond knew the truth. He didn't want to be here a second longer than necessary and he was hating every minute of this. He thought of the words he'd thought he'd heard a few moments ago and decided that he'd heard wrong. There was simply no other explanation.

Iruka looked please. "Well, I'm making Mexican food tonight. I usually have Naruto do all the slicing, dicing and shredding, but he does hate the shredding with a passion. Would you mind?" He held out a block of cheese to the raven.

"I don't - " Naruto started, but Iruka cut him off.

"Yes you do. You may not have said anything, but I can tell. I'm not blind and I'm certainly not deaf. Some of the cuss words you come up with astound me." Sasuke was downright grinning now.

"Sure. I don't mind." He took the cheese and grabbed the grater that had already been set on top of a glass plate. Naruto growled and started chopping the onions. "Don't you do that under water?" Sasuke asked after a moment.

Naruto looked at him as though he was crazy. "Why would I do that?"

"It helps to mask the smell so your eyes don't water." He rolled his eyes in a clear 'duh'.

"The smell doesn't bother me. I don't like it, but it doesn't make me cry," he scoffed.

"That's why I make you do it," Iruka said.

"Oh." He finished with the onions and moved on to the tomatos, ignoring Sasuke when he murmured something about him being weird. He finished all of his tasks around the same time that Sasuke got done with the cheese and realized he had nothing to do now. Usually he got done just as dinner did. He went downstairs and grabbed a rubix cube, coming back upstairs to sit at the table. He only had two sides done when Kakashi came in and he looked up to greet him and caught Sasuke watching him in fascination. The boy promptly glared and looked away. "Hey Kakashi. How was work?" Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw the two older men kiss. Naruto bit his lip, hoping he wouldn't say anything rude.

"Good Naruto, thanks for asking. How was yours?" He glanced at Sasuke.

"Got some of my Spanish project done."

"That's good. You must be Itachi's brother, Sasuke. He wasn't kidding when he said you two could be twins."

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you Mr. Hatake."

"Just call me Kakashi." The gray-haired man smiled as he took off the scarf that usually covered his face when he was in public. Naruto let out a sigh of relief when Sasuke swallowed his gasp.

"Alright boys. Dinner is served." Iruka grinned and set the beans and hamburger meat on the table among the rest of the stuff. Everyone helped themselves. Naruto loaded his with beans, cheese and tomatos. He made two to start with. Kakashi put an equal amount of beans and meat on his, added cheese, then smothered them in onions. Naruto scrunched his nose. Yuck. Iruka had both meat and beans, though in small quantities to make room for all the onions, peppers, lettuce and tomatos he put on it. He only made one to start with. Sasuke put meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatos on his and folded them into tacos. They said a silent prayer and Naruto watched to see if Sasuke did as well. He was only slightly surprised when the boy bowed his head and closed his eyes. After that they dug in. "Do you need a ride home Sasuke?" Iruka asked after they'd all stuffed themselves full.

"I could call Itachi," he offered.

"No need. I'm sure Naruto will want to say goodbye anyways." Iruka stood up and grabbed his coat. Naruto quickly cleared the table, deciding he'd do the dishes when he got back. He wasn't going to set Iruka straight if Sasuke wasn't, not when he was obviously happy to see someone other than Gaara or Suigetsu here. He probably thought he was making friends. He decided to bring the others over sometime. The car ride was strange and he kept fidgeting. He'd sat in back with Sasuke so that Iruka wouldn't get suspicious and now he was regretting it.

When they pulled up to the house Sasuke had indicated Naruto said, "You should give me your number so you can let me know if you think of anything, or something comes up when we have plans..."

Sasuke looked at him with a funny expression on his face as he leaned over and typed it into his phone. Naruto sent his customary text to Sasuke and heard a soft jingle go off. "I guess... I'll see you tomorrow," Sasuke said, glancing at Iruka who was beaming. "Thank you for the ride Iruka."

"No problem." The brunette turned to smile directly at him.

"Uh, yeah. Tomorrow. Night."

"Night." Sasuke all but ran to his house. It was a once story house, but it looked cozy. It was painted a rich green color which Naruto loved. That was his second favorite color. The drive home was comfortable; he'd switched to the front seat and was staring out the windshield. They had to stop for a moment to let a doe and her two fawns pass and that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He loved animals, especially baby ones. When they got home he went upstairs and texted Gaara.

'Just dropped Sasuke off. That was weird. Iruka was going all gaga on him.'

'Haha. That sounds funny. How was grumpypants taking it?'

'Really well actually. He pretended we were friends and even helped make dinner.'

'That's creepy. Wonder what he's up to?'

'Probably just being nice to his elders.'

'Yeah. Probably. How much did you get accomplished?'

'We have the rough outline for our skit. Only maybe one or two more study sessions before we're done with that one. But we still have the other two. This sucks. And then there's rehearsing of course...'

'Man. I don't envy you. How bad was he?'

'Actually not as bad as I expected. He seemed almost civil for the most part.' Naruto stopped to think about that. Why had he been so normal today? He disliked him more than Naruto reciporocated, right? Stupid cute blonds who fuck with my concentration and make me mess up. Sasuke had really said that. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he'd heard correctly. Was it possible he liked him?

'Don't let your guard down. I'm sure he'll be just as bad at school tomorrow.

'Yeah. I'm sure you're right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Yep. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight.' He plugged his phone in so that it could charge overnight and laid down on his box-bed. What if Sasuke really did like him? Did Naruto like him back? He definitely didn't like him when he was being an asshole, but he really hadn't been all that bad today. It was too early to say. Hell, the boy hadn't even admitted to liking him out loud yet, so it was too early to even be thinking about. He sighed and rolled onto his stomach. Without even changing into his pajamas he fell into a deep sleep.

He was in his house alone. Iruka and Kakashi had gone out to dinner for their anniversary. He was going to go downstairs to play a game when the doorbell rang. He went to see who it was, arching his eyebrow in surprise when he saw the familiar raven.

"Can I help you?" The boy didn't answer him, just stepped closer and pressed his lips to Naruto's. The blond gasped in surprise and then felt Sasuke's tongue against his. He moaned as the other boy stroked the roof of his mouth and pulled the pale one closer. Yes. Everything in his body screamed yes. When Sasuke's hands slid down his back and cupped his ass he undulated his hips against the older male. That caused the raven to groan as well. He pulled him slowly to the couch and laid down on it, bringing Sasuke with him. They were rubbing against each other roughly, moaning and gasping and grunting in pleasure. And then suddenly they were naked and Sasuke was pushing his legs apart, positioning himself just right so that he could - Naruto sat up with a hoarse cry, noticing the sweat that covered his body. Jeez! As if he'd ever want to do that again. No thanks. He groaned when he realized he had an erection and it was throbbing painfully. He willed it away as he thought of other things. But eventually he came back to the dream. Even if he did do that again, he wouldn't do it with Sasuke, right? He remembered how the boy had felt against him in the dream and muttered a curse as his manparts stirred again. Okay, so maybe he would. But still, he would never do that consentually. He didn't see why anyone would. But then again, Iruka and Kakashi do that consentually, so maybe it wasn't all that bad if you did it right? He groaned and face-palmed. Why was he even thinking about this? Even if he was on board, Sasuke would never want to be intimate with him. Would he? Naruto sighed and punched his pillow. This was pointless. With another whispered expletive he forced himself to go back to sleep.