"It should be purple and gold, true regal color." Gaara suggested. He pulled up room combinations of the colors on his phone and began showing them to Naruto as they walked out of the art class. Naruto shrugged and puckered his face at the idea. Gaara sighed seeing his idea wasn't going anywhere. "You can add black and silver."

"I'm still thinking about yellow and red." He said and scratched the stubble that had come in overnight. He felt like he was truly a version of his father today as he was in sweatpants and a dirty tee-shirt. He had been tempted to go and find his dad and take a picture with him, just so he could have the resemblance forever. Naruto quickly snapped back to the conversation. "It should be more bright, is really what I'm leaning on, and not too... prissy."

"What if we did pale gold and and slightly purplish pink, fuse the colors." Gaara quickly began typing into the small keyboard and stopped when Naruto groaned.

"I'd prefer something more... basic. Solid easy colors. They need to learn the basics for anything else." Naruto muttered and shifted his backpack over to the other side. "If not red and yellow, what colors do you think would work? Not weird colors you picked up from your sister either."

Gaara stopped and looked around for a minute. He put one hand on his hip and the other underneath his hat scratching. He stopped and crossed his arms. "Alright. Green and blue, grass and sky?"

"That works for me." Naruto said a little relieved that he had gotten Gaara off the strange color palette. Naruto saw an arm swing around his shoulder and felt someone kiss his neck. Naruto grabbed his hand and smiled. "Hey Sasuke."

Sasuke raised his head, glared at Gaara for a second then turned back to Naruto smiling. He kissed his neck again and leaned on him trying to show possession. "Are you busy?"

Gaara grimace and took a step back from the display. He tried to ignore Sasuke hanging all over his roommate. "We'll argue about colors tonight. I'll get Temari to bring some paint samples too."

"Alright." Naruto said and held a hand up as a goodbye. Gaara didn't even notice as he walked away so fast. Naruto sighed and realized what Sasuke had just done. "Nope, not busy at all since you scared him away."

"Want to go to lunch, there's this new Mexican place?" Sasuke asked letting go of him and moving around to his front. "Suigetsu's been going on and on about it for a month now and I wanted to try it out. It's just on the other side of the theater."

"Sure." Naruto smiled and offered his hand out to Sasuke. Sasuke took it and began dragging him away towards the campus courtyard. "Now, what kind of Mexican are we talking about? I don't eat that stuff Gaara eats with like the tongues and intestines."

"I'm talking tacos. Only tacos." Sasuke said happily. He raised his spare hand up and brushed his bangs out of the way so he could see Naruto better. "It's a food truck and it makes it easier on them, but Lobster said they were the best he's had in a while and apparently Karin's gotten hooked on them too."

"I can do tacos. I can do a lot of tacos." Naruto smiled and got Sasuke to smile back at him. "If I knew you were going to ask me out to lunch I would have shaved and actually dressed myself."

"You look fine." Sasuke pulled the blonde's hand up to his mouth and kissed his fingers. Sasuke sighed and tried to think of things to talk about besides tacos and what he wanted to do to Naruto. "So, what are you picking out paint colors for?"

"This weeks art class is design based. We all have to make up a mock nursery diorama in a shoebox." Naruto said excitedly. He ripped his hand away from Sasuke and pulled out his phone to start going through photos. Most of them were him and Gaara and little tiny furniture. Sasuke's face twitched in agitation and he looked away. "We even have to make little furniture. I made the crib out of balsa wood and stained it. It's like two inches tall."

"Cool." The Uchiha muttered flatly and tried to ignore the phone that was being held up to his face.

Naruto sighed, looked at the image he made of the little crib with a small black bird on one end. It had taken Naruto five tries to burn it in properly and make it look good. He closed the image out and shoved his smart phone away. "Don't say things you don't mean. What's with the sudden grumpiness?"

"Just my normal hate speech against Gaara." Sasuke growled and looked over to his boyfriend. Naruto's eyes rolled angrily then focused ahead. Naruto brushed him off when Sasuke's hand tried to grab his shoulder; he moved faster and tried to distance himself and take a quick breather. Sasuke kept pace easily. "Don't get mad at me for it. You're always with him."

"He's my roommate, Sasuke." Naruto said and stopped. Sasuke stopped as well and leaned on a wall next to him and pulled out a cigarette. The Uchiha lit the stick and started muttering rapidly in French about how everything was always stress. While he was complaining, Naruto looked around and saw that they we're almost into the courtyard. The large stone circle was filled with college students that could overhear easily. Naruto knew any small thing involving Sasuke would get around. "We shouldn't argue in public."

"I know that... I just." Sasuke flung his arm down away from his mouth and looked over at Naruto for a second and saw the hurt expression. Sasuke turned quickly, grabbed both sides of his face and held their foreheads together. "I'm sorry. I'm just...It's just..."

"Mr. Jealous. If it were up to you all my friends would be girls." Naruto said softly. He looked up at his, his watery blue eyes calm. He smirked and playfully butted their heads. "Come on Jealousy, let's get some tacos."

Sasuke smiled weakly, a little amazed at Naruto's capacity to simply forgive things. He smiled and took Naruto's hand as he began to walk away. "You know, I take you for granted too much."

"You do, and you should apologise with a plethora of tacos." Naruto said without a thought. Sasuke looked at him and repeated the word. Naruto just smiled and scratched his hair. "I've been using that word calendar you got me."

"Cute." Sasuke dragged him through the crowd, trying to make their appearance in public quick. A few people stopped and stared, one muttered something about them being gay and a few more about how 'that's the guy who's uncle kidnapped and killed people.' Sasuke just pulled Naruto along; he was pretty oblivious thinking about tacos.

Sasuke lead him past the theater and the crowds thinned dramatically. They crossed the street together and parted hands by a bunch of small orange collapsible tables with red folding chairs. Sasuke kissed Naruto on the cheek and put his cigarette back in his mouth. "I'll go order a bunch of everything and be back."

"Alright." Naruto said and began looking around. He saw a book over someone's face and a familiar looking purple jacket. He walked over and tapped Hinata on the shoulder. She quickly slammed the book shut and shoved it away. "Hey Hinata. Finally got your cast off? So that's why you weren't in class."

"Yea, it still hurts and I have to be careful, but it's such a relief to be able to walk on my own." She said trying to hide the red in her cheeks. Naruto was about to ask what she was reading but decided to drop it. Hinata held out her hand to offer Naruto one of the other's chairs at the table. He sat down and she composed herself then cleared up the mess of wrappers in front of her into a neat little pile. "Are you trying out the new taco stand?"

"Yea, Sasuke's getting us food." Naruto said and pointed up to his boyfriend. Sasuke was standing in line texting rapidly.

"It's good, you'll like it here. They're pretty nice people, too. The food's..." She was cut off by a sharp whistle. They both turned and saw Neji standing on the sidewalk next to his car. "I have to go, Neji's here to pick me up. We're going to do water therapy to help my hobble."

"See you." Naruto said and waved at Neji. Neji simply nodded in return and helped his cousin get in the passenger seat before disappearing around the other side of the car. Naruto turned and stared at Sasuke. He had made it to the front of the line, paid, and was waiting for the food. Sasuke looked over at the him, smiled, and jerked his head as the food was set out beside him on the ledge of the food truck. He thanked the short woman behind the counter and took the basket.

Sasuke walked over and sat in the chair directly next to Naruto's right. He set the basket down and took a taco out of it showing it off. "Was Hinata limping?"

"She just got her cast off from her skiing accident." Naruto explained and took the taco from Sasuke. He took a large bite, felt the heat on his tongue and quickly handed it back. "What is that?"

"I believe this is the one with Habaneros on it." Sasuke said and starting digging through the hard shell. He confirmed what it was by pulling out a slice of orange pepper. He shoved it back in and decided to try it. Sasuke bit into it, felt the heat and looked over at Naruto who was scraping his tongue with what little finger nails he had. Sasuke calmly swallowed the small bite and set the taco aside realizing how much hotter they were then Jalapenos. He grunted and pulled out a metal water bottle and handed it to Naruto. "Sorry. I just got the sampler. The rest should be Habanero free."

"Good." Naruto ripped the cap off the water bottle and downed it as fast as he could. He muttered something about needing milk and handed the bottle back to Sasuke. Sasuke put up away and grabbed a different taco to try. Naruto sniffled and grabbed the taco with the most sour cream to eat. He suddenly looked at Sasuke while taking a big a bite as he could and his eyes went wide. Naruto nearly swallowed it whole and excitedly turned to Sasuke with a giant grin on his face. "So, I've so been implanting ideas in Shizune's head. I think it's working."

"Really? What's she thinking?" Sasuke asked and casually swiped a little of the sour cream off Naruto's face and stuck it in his mouth.

"Don't know. I've just talked about how Itachi's a travel agent and specializes in the caribbean and how he's been so alone since everyone avoids him because of Madara. And then you know, how's he's been like such a father to you and he would make a great dad but no one wants to be with an Uchiha." Naruto took another huge bite, chewed it thoroughly and swallowed so he could keep talking. "I even told her about his favorite tea, she started drinking it."

"Really been caking it on, haven't you? I'm impressed." Sasuke said. He took a small nibble and watch as Naruto tore through another one. "I ask him about once or twice a day if he asked her out yet. I take the more straightforward approach with him. He picks up on subtleties."

"Yea. I got a lot of 'But he's such a pleasant person' out of her." Naruto said dramatically and tossed the end of the taco in his mouth. He grabbed another..

"There's hope." Sasuke smiled. Naruto smiled and closed his eyes for just long enough that Sasuke could move the taco basket away using his swiftness. Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"Yep." The blonde scooted closer in his chair and grabbed Sasuke's hand. "I'm excited. They'd be cute together."

"So, the mansion is really close to the college." Sasuke blurted out. Naruto wasn't expecting the change in conversation and looked at him questioningly. Sasuke set down his food and turned to his boyfriend while squeezing his hand. "After first semester we can move there."

"Really?" Naruto looked at Sasuke half interested.

"Yea. Usually you have to wait until your second year to move off campus, but you can get permission from Jiraiya and he has enough pull to get you off campus. Plus, it's technically in the close enough range that if we wanted we could make it your legal home and you wouldn't even have to bother with Jiraiya." Sasuke leaned his head on Naruto and nuzzled him for a second. He sat back up and looked at the blonde remembering what his ragged hair looked like in the morning sunlight. "I miss waking up to you every day."

"I really like living on campus though, and since Gaara's in half my classes, I don't have to remember when to get up." Naruto said quietly and looked away knowing Sasuke would be pouting at him. The Uchiha put a hand on his leg and made a small sad noise. Naruto quickly grabbed his hand set it aside. "Plus, you're a really bad distraction. Very, very distracting. Neither of us would ever get anything accomplished because we'd be in the bedroom all the time distracting. Remember senior year when we tried that? That was like six months ago."

"Fine." Sasuke said caving to him on the idea He put his hand back down on Naruto's leg and traced it up the inside of his thigh.. "At least I get to be distracting to you on the weekends."

"Sasuke, public!" Naruto whispered quickly and grabbed his hand once again and moved it to somewhere more appropriate. He searched his mind for something he could get Sasuke to talk about. Naruto finished his taco and started to search through the last three for another he might like. "Uh... So, did you catch up on your work?"

"Yea, it was fairly easy, there was just a ton of it." He said and shifted a little away taking the hint. He took another bite of his taco and rolled a thought around in his head. "What are you doing Friday?"

"Working, remember? I have a job, somewhat." Naruto said dropping the taco back in the basket and looking at Sasuke like he was crazed. "I've been doing it for a while. Remember?"

"Oh, right. I forgot, sorry." Sasuke said and hung his head. 'I should have remembered that. Dammit. Now I look like an asshole.' He quickly tried to recover and smiled over at Naruto. "So how's that going?"

"Good. I'm babysitting for that same couple again on Sunday." Naruto excitedly sat up. Sasuke relaxed a bit seeing Naruto get joyful about it. He was hoping it was enough to excuse his faux pas; it seemed to work as Naruto just `keep going on. "That lady works for the state. She offered to get me a scholarship through wherever she works. She even talked to me about going into social work and said she could get me an internship too."

"You don't really need the scholarship. We have the money to pay for college."

"YOU have the money and are not paying for MY college." Naruto pointing at each of them respectively. He adjusted a bit bothered in his seat and took a bite of his taco after muttering: "I'm paying for my college. It's my debt."

"With what, forty bucks a week in tips?" Sasuke huffed at him. "You're never going to catch up at that rate."

"I know, I have to get a real job." Disappointment rang through his words. Naruto looked down at the table and groaned quietly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Sasuke suddenly felt worse then when he had forgotten Naruto had a job. "Why not just let me pay?"

"Because, it's not teaching me anything to have you pay." Naruto said defensively. He looked at the taco in the basket. He felt too upset to eat. "It's something I want to do for myself, to say I put myself through college, no support."

"Why?" Sasuke asked as though Naruto just said something completely stupid. He set his taco down and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He tapped the box and one came shooting out. He grabbed it and stuck it in his mouth. "Why would you purposefully make yourself suffer? I'll end up help paying it anyway."

"No, you won't. This is on me." Naruto said upset. "I don't think you understand what it would mean for me to pay off my own loans."

"You're so stubborn." Sasuke casually lit up the cigarette and took a drag. While Naruto kept getting angrier and angrier about the situation, Sasuke remained collected and just crossed his arms staring at Naruto not understanding his point of view. "Most people would love a rich boyfriend who could pay for their college, and anything else they want. You never let me buy you anything but food."

"I don't want your money, Sasuke." Naruto stated slowly. He took a deep breath and counted to five in his head. He realized the conversation was going to get worse and stood up. "I'm going to get going."

"Please don't." Sasuke moaned. He grabbed his cigarette out of his mouth and glared up at Naruto, his face tired. "Every time we start disagreeing you just leave."

"I just... I don't want to argue with you. We've been arguing so much lately." Naruto said and pushed the chair back in. "We're not good at just talking."

"I'm stressed, you're stressed." Sasuke struggled for words to say to Naruto to make him stay but they didn't come. He ended up tossing his hands in his lap and loathing himself. "Lunch next week?"

"Sure." Naruto turned and began walking away towards the theater district. "Bye."

"I love you." Sasuke lurched out and grabbed Naruto's hand gently. He looked up at his beloved with a pained expression. "I mean it."

Uzumaki looked at Sasuke fondly. The red in his eyes seemed to have dulled. Naruto smiled a little and squeezed Sasuke's hand before letting it go. "I love you, too."

Sasuke watched as he walked away and habitually put the cigarette in his mouth. He sighed and turned around to stop a hand from grabbing the tacos in the basket. He looked up at Suigetsu who grinned with his pointed teeth showing through. "Are you going to eat that?"

"It's very... I dunno... nature like." Anko said sitting cross-legged in the middle of her large desk. She held the diorama up to her face and looked at it. The details were amazing. The drawers in the dressers worked; inside were little folded barbie clothes donated by Temari and Sakura from their old dolls. The walls were a perfect sky blue with birds painted on and clouds up higher along the walls. The chandelier dangled from a small gold chain. Then there was the crib and the rocking chair, both of which Naruto carefully burned the black birds into. Anko loved everything, but one small detail. "Uzumaki, did you put turf in here as carpeting?"

"Today's turf is soft and comfortable. It's short and easily kept. For small children, turf can be a great if they don't have a backyard." Naruto recited very matter-of-factly. Anko's face cringed and suddenly both he and Gaara knew they had made the wrong choice. Naruto looked at her directly, his eyes growing in size with a liquid sheen covering them. His lip began to quiver and he whispered softly: "And I like it."

"That's an... unusual choice." Anko handed the display to him and sighed while looking down. She took a minute to think with her eyes closed and opened them to see he was still as pathetic looking as a minute ago. 'I can't destroy him like this...' She sighed again and picked up her grade book. "It works nicely for a nursery for some avid outdoor people. In design, it is very cohesive. The modeling is excellent. Next time, make the floors wood and do a mat if you're going to do something out on a limb like artificial turf. I'll give it an A."

Naruto held the diorama up like a trophy with a stupid grin on his face and walked back to his seat with Gaara in tow. The red head scratched his head, shook it and sat down in disbelief. "Nice pouty face. I thought she was going to flunk us for a second."

"Once when she was my sub, she said she didn't understand my story and I did that and she gave me a hundred and ten percent." Naruto whispered in response. They watched as two girls walked up confident that they too would get an A.

Gaara shook his head again and looked at his best friend. "You emotionally blackmailed her? I didn't think you had that in you. Bravo!"

"Thanks." Naruto said with a giant grin on his face. He then stopped and turned stoic. "That was sarcastic."

"Sorry." Gaara turned his head away for a second and then turned in his chair completely to face Naruto. Gaara crossed his legs and set his hands in his lap and looked over concerned at the blond. "Are you okay? You've been testy lately. It's not like you."

"Yea. Sasuke's been weird lately and it's just putting me off balance." Naruto confessed. He turned towards Gaara and scratched the back of his neck trying to come up with words to say. "I don't know what's been up with him. One minute he's fine and the next minute... He forgot I had a job."

"EVERYTHING IS GREY! Have you been reading that damn book? Why the Hell is there a blender in the nursery?! FAIL!" Anko yelled. She stood up on her desk and grabbed the diorama. In a sudden fit of rage she tore the shoebox straight in half. One of the girls immediately began crying. "How dare you present such garbage! The furniture in here is just toothpicks! This is art not camp!"

"Wow." Gaara said quietly. Without thinking Naruto grabbed their diorama and held it tightly to his chest. They watched as one of the girls apologized and the crying on ran out of the room. Gaara gulped and looked at Naruto. "Well, I'm going to cherish this A now. We need a display case."

"Or that bigger room." Naruto bit his lips and turned away from the scene at the front of the room. "I think you might be right. You talk to Sasori and I'll talk to Jiraiya. One of them has bound to be able to get us a bigger room, even if it's a foot more."

"Something." Gaara agreed. "Otherwise, we won't be able to fit a coffee maker eventually." Gaara suddenly realized what he had said and turned to Naruto. "We really need a bigger room, like now."

The entire class went quiet when they heard two quick sharp claps echoing throughout the room. Anko jumped down from the desk and crushed in one of the shoeboxes from earlier with her heel. "Some design choices were very questionable! Like deciding that half the room is dinosaurs and the other half is about cheese. THAT FAILED!" She screamed, her fists shaking at her sides. She took a second and recovered from the sudden burst of anger and gave everyone a pleasant smile. "Overall, good job! I only had to destroy three of them! DISMISSED!"

"I'm so glad you weren't destroyed. I like your design." Gaara said as he patted the top of the box like it was a child. He slid out of his chair and waited for Naruto to collect his things so they could leave. "It would be cool to actually see a room like that."

"Maybe we can do our new room in it." Naruto said hopefully. He slung his backpack around his shoulders and turned the diorama towards him, just in case something would fall out.

"Assuming we can get it." Gaara reminded him. He watched as the students filed out and they were the last ones left. "I don't know if they have bigger rooms in the freshmen dorms."

"Something's got to come through." Naruto waved him after as he walked towards the door. Anko held it open for them and said 'bye' softly to each of them and shut the door after they left. Naruto stopped and tried to see for a second in the sun while Gaara simply pulled some cheap sunglasses out and put them on his face. After a second Naruto could make out buildings, plants and students and started walking the half of campus back to their dorm. "I don't think we can paint, but we can make giant posters and put them up. And we don't really need a chandelier."

"No turf, please. Never liked the feel of it." Gaara suddenly felt a hateful gaze upon him and turned to the right to see two bright red eyes staring at him. He stopped and tapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Brooding and dark is across the way glaring."

"I promised him I go out for lunch." Naruto sighed and looked at Gaara with the same pouty face. It was enough to make Gaara grumble an apology for calling Sasuke that. Naruto thanked him and passed off their diorama. He turned towards Sasuke and saw him leaning against a wall in his normal pure black outfit and smiled. "I'll see you back at the dorms later."

"Right. If you come back depressed again him and I are having words." Gaara said flatly. He glared at Naruto with a stern protecting face, which cause Naruto to worry that Gaara would instigate something he couldn't finish. Naruto took a deep breath in, raised a finger to correct him and saw Gaara crack a smile. "I'm joking, I know I don't have a chance to kick his ass."

"You almost gave me a heartattack. Don't joke about that. He would." Naruto said lowering his hand down. He took a couple deep breaths to calm down and saluted. "See ya."

Gaara put the shoebox under his arm and saluted as well. The men departed each other's company with Naruto taking the short route to Sasuke, through the grass and over a small hedge. "Hey."

"Hey." Sasuke grinned and handed a brown paper bag full of groceries to his lover. Naruto looked at the bag and then at the two bags Sasuke had.

"Um..." The blond juggled the bag a bit in his arm and saw a stalk of celery almost fly out. He stopped and shoved it back in. "What's with the bags?"

"Well, you don't have any afternoon classes and I don't have any afternoon classes so I figured we could cook together and have dinner at home, play in the pool, etcetera." Sasuke said playfully strolling around him. He stopped when he reached the other side and smiled. "What do you think, babe?"

"That sounds great, actually." Naruto said a little surprised by Sasuke's mood. Naruto caught Sasuke's infectious smile and soon the two were happily talking about everything and anything under the sun as they walked towards the closest parking lot.