Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!
Summary: A second series of ficlet requests - details are on my tumblr. All SNS, both modern AU and canonverse. I'll give a summary and any warnings in the first note above each ficlet!
A/N: Another one that ran off with me! This makes eight, and it was a prompt that was right up my alley. Super fun to write - I hope you all enjoy it! If you'd like to place a ficlet request, please read through the details linked on ao3.
This ficlet was requested by soupbrothel, who wanted some pining Sasuke and oblivious Naruto as roommates - bonus if Naruto is unintentionally flirting with Sasuke.
Ficlet summary: Modern AU, Roommate AU, Pining!Sasuke and Oblivious!Naruto. Sasuke's POV - in which Naruto and Sasuke just drove all the way back to their place after Ino and Sakura's wedding.
Ficlet Series 2
8 - Off Limits (Pining!Sasuke & Oblivious!Naruto)
"Shit," Naruto laughed, falling past Sasuke. "Sorry, sorry, I'm so—"
"You're still asleep," Sasuke muttered, slamming the door shut with his back, breathing heavy— "Get to the bed before you wake up properly."
"Too late," Naruto said, hopping up and down, "I'm way too cold. Guh I'm so cold!"
"Get under a blanket already."
"But—the bags are still in—"
"I'll get them," Sasuke said, kicking the suitcases back just enough to be able to open the door again. "Go warm up."
The gust of wind sent him stumbling back as he opened the door again, but he pushed through it—the sooner he drove into the snowstorm, the sooner he'd be out of it—
"—'re the best!" he heard Naruto call after him, but he was already running. It was a hell of a storm, now—they'd been lucky to only catch the start of it in their drive. Any sooner and Sasuke might've had to pull off the side of the road, which wouldn't've been the best considering how deserted it had all been—
Sasuke kicked the door shut and ran up the stairs, lanyard in his teeth, bags swinging off his shoulders, clattering against the stairwell—he heaved the door open and frantically shoved his closed, locking it with a freezing, chattering breath—
"Ah! Here, here, here, lemmie—" Naruto slid into the room, already in his sweats and fuzzy socks, taking the bags from Sasuke's shoulders and wiping the snow from his hair— "Watch the pot, the heat's on—"
Sasuke glanced over at their kettle, blinking—
"Tea?" he asked, hopeful—
"On it's way. Get outta here, go get changed, I'll get tea."
Sasuke let out a grateful breath and smiled as Naruto took one look at his face and laughed, ducking past him to find anything more...reasonable to change into. But Sasuke's clothes left something to be desired—jeans and dress pants, pajamas that were made for heavy blankets and not cold nights, shirts that were cut for their appearance as opposed to comfort—
None of his clothes were...well, maybe reasonable wasn't the right word. Indulgent.
That sounded about right.
Sasuke pulled Naruto's hoodie over his head and told himself it was for the warmth that he hugged it close. He'd left it in Sasuke's room anyway. It wouldn't even be the first time he'd worn it. And, if Naruto said anything—
"Hey!" Naruto said, pointing at him.
"You borrowed my clothes this whole weekend," Sasuke said, unfazed.
"Okay, but that's 'cause your clothes are nice and if I showed up at Sakura's wedding in sweatpants she would've kicked me out."
"She would have joined you and you know it," Sasuke pointed out, leaning against the small half-wall of their kitchen. "Ino would have kicked you out."
"Ino would've kicked my ass," he said, and Sasuke ducked his head to hide his smile. "Oh man, you're so soaked."
Sasuke looked up just as Naruto reached past him, tucking some hair back behind his ear. Sasuke didn't mind much when it stuck to his face, but Naruto was always doing things like this—no sense of boundaries. No sense of personal space. It wasn't any wonder why half of Sakura's relatives had stumbled when trying to decipher what the two of them were to each other, with his proximity to Sasuke. His known bisexuality. This is Sasuke! He's Naruto's…?
…
…?
Yeah. Sasuke felt about the same. Best friend were the words quick to leave Naruto's mouth, but Sasuke was stuck in awkward silence and hopeful question marks. He didn't want to consider the thoughts as they came—he'd quite happily ignore them completely—but it became a bit difficult when Naruto did things...like this.
"Jeez," Naruto laughed, pulling his hand back, "hang on, here you go—"
He tucked back around to grab Sasuke's tea—green, with a mint tea bag added, the way he always tended to make it—and Sasuke gratefully held it in his hands. Almost hot enough to burn, but his hands were still chilled to the bone, so...
Naruto put his hands over Sasuke's.
Sasuke stared.
"Fucking hell you're cold," Naruto said, pulling them back, "get outta here. C'mon—"
"Where am I going?" he asked, letting Naruto shove him anyway—
"My bedroom's the warmest room in the house," Naruto said—which was true, his terrariums needed the warmth and the humidity— "Get—no, get under the blankets, c'mon—"
Naruto snatched the cup out of Sasuke's hands and Sasuke laughed as he was thrown back into Naruto's bed. It was softer than his—with pillows that were more fluff than firm, and a duvet that perfectly matched the hoodie Sasuke wore—
Orange and warm.
So, so warm.
"Ugh," Naruto groaned, stretching up just far enough for his shirt to show his midriff. "I'm not tired at all. You?"
With this heart rate? No chance.
"You've made me caffeinated tea," Sasuke pointed out, and Naruto threw him a lopsided grin.
"Good, 'cause I made me some too," he said, bounding out of the room. Sasuke snorted and wiped his hair back—still a bit damp. Maybe if he put the hood up, he wouldn't get Naruto's pillows all wet…
"Incoming!"
Sasuke yelped as Naruto jumped onto the bed, laughing like the menace that he was.
"You—" he breathed out, "you aren't even close to tired, are you?"
"You let me sleep for the whole drive!" Naruto accused, sitting up onto his knees. "I was supposed to drive at least half."
"There's no getting you awake when you're asleep," Sasuke lied, grabbing his cup. "You're going to spill tea all over your bed."
"I was always gonna do that," Naruto said, sliding onto the table so he could snatch the other pillow to put in his lap. "Thanks for letting me sleep. You didn't have to do that, y'know."
...Sasuke took a sip of his tea.
"You drank more than I did," he muttered, finding something else to distract him. The plants, the water—Naruto's frogs were hiding, at the moment, but Sasuke could still entertain the excuse of searching for them—
Naruto laughed, and Sasuke turned back.
"Yeah, maybe," he said, with his cheeks flushed red from the cold, "but at least half of those wine bottles were you."
"Bottle," Sasuke said, "singular. Maybe."
"No, no, no, I saw you with a white and a red at least! You can't fool me, Uchiha—"
"I can fool you."
"You're dreamin', not for a second. Look at me and try to fool me. Come on."
Naruto stuck his face in his, and Sasuke thought he was doing a rather good job of that already. He must have been, with Naruto's happy obliviousness to the way Sasuke's head wanted to lean. How heavy gravity suddenly felt, how lopsided, sliding the same way Naruto's smile tended to tilt—how heavy his eyes felt, if he could just close them, if he could just be closer, feel some breath on his lips, feel something else, too—
But Naruto sat there and smiled, and Sasuke sat there and ached.
"What would you like me to say?"
Naruto shrugged.
"I dunno. Try to lie to me," he said. "Bet you can't!"
"Your reasoning is flawed," Sasuke pointed out. "You know far too much about me for me to be able to lie to you without you already knowing the real answer."
"Wha—no! I definitely don't know ev—tell me what you thought about, uh, like Sakura's dad."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think I thought of him?"
"Uh," Naruto said, hugging his pillow tighter. "He was too loud?"
"See? I told you."
"No!" Naruto laughed, rocking back. "Okay, uh—c'mon, there's definitely something I don't know!"
"Very little."
"But something! Try me. Now I wanna know, Sasuke, you know me, I'm not gonna let this go—"
"Oh, I'm well aware," Sasuke muttered, huddling further into Naruto's bed. The one very obvious secret was blaring a siren so loud in his mind that he couldn't seem to come up with anything else—and it was unacceptable. He'd never say that one out loud, and so—so—
Anything. He just had to say anything else.
"I...like your frogs."
"Truth," Naruto laughed, "I knew that one!"
"I know you did. I hate coffee."
"Lie, c'mon, I've bought you coffee a million times."
"I enjoy loud music."
"Aw, fuck off, lie. Gimmie something harder!"
"I—enjoyed the wedding."
"Me too," Naruto laughed, throwing the pillow back into its place so he could flop down beside Sasuke, resting on his elbows. "It was fun. I like seeing you drunk, you never dance when you're not. Truth, by the way."
"I—you—what?"
"What? We were all dancing. You'd never dance if you were sober, be real."
"No, not—why would you like that?"
Naruto laughed and rolled onto his side.
"Okay, yeah," he said, resting his head on his arm, "one for you. Why would I?"
Naruto's eyes were blue and teasing and bright, and Sasuke looked at them with the deepest sigh.
"Because you like when I open up," he muttered, despondent. Naruto only beamed in reply, and Sasuke stared at it like the hopeless idiot that he was. Everything about this was torture. Laying in Naruto's bed, in Naruto's clothes, with Naruto himself beside him, smiling at him like Sasuke was the person that could make him the happiest in the world—if only.
If only.
"There you go," he said, rolling back to look up at the ceiling. "Truth. And you're a good dancer anyway, I'm the one whose a sloppy mess up there—"
"You're not so bad."
Naruto turned back to him.
"No?"
"No," Sasuke told him, "you looked...fine last night."
It was an understatement, and the flushed smile that spread across Naruto's face told Sasuke he knew exactly that. He was so used to Naruto in cozy sweaters and baggy pants that seeing anything that was fitted to him—pressed to his waist, belt on his hips, even the undone tie around his neck—
"Thanks," Naruto let out a flattered, happy laugh, "you weren't so bad yourself."
"I looked the same as usual," Sasuke pointed out—
"Your usual is pretty damn good," Naruto said, and Sasuke's head snapped to look at him. "Don't act like I don't know—everybody and their mom was flirting with you last night, c'mon. Why d'you think I kept giving you all those ins? I know everybody thinks you're gay when they see you with me, that's why I go around shouting best friend—"
"Ins?" Sasuke deadpanned. "With who, Sakura's father?"
"No!" Naruto laughed. "Oh my god, I don't know, anybody—you had plenty of chicks hitting on you last night."
...Ah.
Sasuke's lips twitched.
Really? Of all the things? Sasuke supposed he'd never said it out loud, but with Naruto he tended to never need to—he'd just assumed this was one of those things that Naruto had figured out somewhere in their years of knowing each other—
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"What?" he said, full of suspicion. "Why're you smiling like that?"
Damn it. He couldn't fight the smile.
"...I found something you don't know."
Naruto sat up a little more.
"What d'you—what d'you mean?"
"Naruto," Sasuke said, and it sounded like a sigh, "I am gay."
Naruto blinked.
"...Truth," he said, staring, as if waiting for Sasuke's face to tell him something else— "Oh. Oh—wh—you—I—"
Sasuke laughed, massaging the bridge of his nose.
"I thought you knew," he said, "moron."
"I didn—" Naruto slapped his hands on his pillow, "how was I supposed to know if you never told me?!"
"You know everything else without me telling you," Sasuke pointed out.
"Okay," Naruto said, "you secretly liking my frogs even though you complain about them all the time is a little different then you being into dudes, Sasuke, I've walked in on you feeding frogs and I've never walked in on you—uh—"
Sasuke laughed again.
"You're such an idiot."
"You're such an asshole!" Naruto exclaimed, and then he went quiet. Sasuke took a moment to try to scan him, which was pretty difficult considering Naruto's apparent determination to sit there with his head stuffed into the pillow—
"You alright over there?"
"I'm...processing," came Naruto's muffled voice.
"Processing," Sasuke repeated.
Naruto peeked up.
"I tried to set you up with all the wrong people," he mumbled, and Sasuke let out a soft snort.
"Well, you're not wrong," Sasuke told him. "I don't know why you were trying to set me up with anyone at all."
"'Cause you're great," Naruto sighed, tossing the pillow back into its place to flop over it, "and anybody'd be lucky to date you."
He rolled a little bit, but kept his face pretty stuffed into the pillow.
"S'not fair for me to steal you all to myself, y'know."
Sasuke swallowed.
"...You can steal me," he said quietly, studying the wall. He still felt Naruto shift to look at him better—
"Yeah?" he said, voice a little less muffled.
Sasuke shifted.
"I went there with you, didn't I?"
Naruto laughed.
"Yeah, everybody thought you were my date. As if you couldn't do way better than me."
Sasuke jerked back—
"Way better than my closest friend?" he said, incredulous. "Why would I want to?"
Naruto rolled all the way over, and Sasuke realized what he'd just—shit—
"You—" he added quickly, "you're always quick to put yourself down. Idiot."
Naruto let out a small, nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I—yeah, s'a bad, um, habit of mine."
He shifted and went quiet, and Sasuke stared at the wall and kept his mouth shut. He'd done quite enough tonight. He was clearly more tired than he'd given himself credit for, with his sudden loose tongue and honest mouth—
"...Sasuke?" Naruto said, and Sasuke breathed in.
"Mm?" he asked, not looking back.
"Can you do me a favour?"
Sasuke swallowed.
"Most likely," he answered carefully, as if the answer was really anything other than yes. Always, yes.
"I, um," Naruto said, small and awkward and hesitant, "this is stupid, okay, but just—just bear with me. I need you to tell me you're off limits, okay?"
Sasuke looked back.
"What?"
"'Cause you—you being straight was a really, um, convenient—barrier for me, y'know, I'm bad with boundaries and everything, so—just—just humour me, okay? Just—"
"I'm not off limits."
Naruto jerked his head to the side.
Sasuke barely dared to breathe.
"What? Sas—you're—you aren't lying. Are you? No, you're—Sas—"
Naruto sat up and grabbed him by his own hoodie, staring Sasuke in his terrified face—
"You're not lying," he breathed.
"I—you—you're not interested," Sasuke protested, weak and hoping—
"Of course I'm inter—Sasuke!" Naruto grabbed him and shook him and— "This wasn't supposed to be an option, of course I'd—fucking hell!"
Naruto hugged him, and Sasuke—Sasuke—breathed. Sasuke breathed and breathed and breathed again, and as his hands shook free just far enough for Naruto to pull back—
He didn't pull back far enough.
His eyes were bright and shining. His smile was lopsided, tilting the same way as his head, Sasuke felt his eyes fall down and stick, stay glued to the way Naruto's tongue darted out against his lips—
"Um," Naruto said, "if you—are you okay if I—"
"Yes."
Sasuke felt the shaky smile on his lips, his heart hammering in his chest, the hope pulsed so vividly in his veins it was as if it was his own blood—Naruto's smile widened and softened, and he pulled at the hoodie ever so gently as he leaned in—
Sasuke's eyes fluttered closed, and Naruto kissed him.
A/N: And that's eight! Another one that went way longer than I aimed for it to, but I felt like this prompt needed that sort of development. I hope you liked it!
As of now, I have one last ficlet request to write after this one, and then I'll be all caught up. I'm still taking them for this month, though, so if you'd like to request anything, please read through the post I have linked on the AO3 version of this ficlet series and let me know if you're up for it. If not, I'll see you soon anyways! Thank you all for the awesome requests so far, I'm so glad to have been able to do this.
See you soon,
- Kinomi