Chapter 5

Posted on September 21st, 2021

Gaara wakes up from a rustling sound. He looks around to find Naruto putting his clothes on in a hurry. The redhead raises himself on his forearms and squints in the daylight.

"Naru… what's with all the noise?"

Naruto jumps startled at the voice. He looks at the other man apologetically, standing in front of the dresser, pulling a cotton top down and brushing his teeth at the same time.

"Sorry. I forgot I needed to drop off the play scenarios at the college before heading to the medical students and I didn't set my alarm for early enough."

He looks frazzled and Gaara glances at his phone to look at the time. It's early but not early enough for Naruto to be able to make that whole trip and be at the college of medicine on time.

"I'll drop them off before I head for the airport. Don't worry about that."

"No, I'll do it mysel-"

"No. Naru. I'll do it. Relax." Gaara gets up and follows the blond into the bathroom to brush his own teeth.

"Are you sure? They have to be there by 9."

"Mhm," Gaara lets out, washing his face. "Plenty of time." He dries his face with a towel. Gaara is completely naked and completely comfortable in the other man's company. Naruto is just slightly taller than Gaara and the redhead leans in to kiss him gently, their lips linger. He withdraws and cups his face, pushes messy golden hair to the side.

"I'll take care of it, so you don't have to rush now. You have a few extra minutes." He leans in for another kiss and backs the blond into the bed. Gaara crawls up to him and kisses down his body until he parts the strong legs. Gaara has always been excellent with his tongue and Naruto spends the early morning fisting the sheets, legs shaking and screaming as Gaara works the big erection with his mouth and throat until Naruto cums all over his tongue.

Gaara is pouring hot chocolate in a to-go cup for Naruto when he comes out to join him in the kitchen. The redhead puts a bunch of whipped cream on top and Naruto accepts the cup happily. The blond stuffs a few more things in his backpack and leaves a stack of folders on the counter, instructing Gaara again that they need to be at the proper place by nine. Then he goes to hug him and Gaara returns the embrace genuinely.

"I'm going to miss you so much man," Naruto says genuinely and withdrawals to squeeze Gaara/ should. Gaara holds onto the blond's forearm, returning the affection.

"It's just for less than a month. I'll finish the shoot and then I'll have a few weeks off unless something comes up. I'll see you at that play we have together when I come back."

"I know, I'm so excited for you. This is huge! I'm so proud of you! You are my best friend and I've seen you grow so much. Starring in a big screen movie now!" Naruto bumps Gaara's shoulder in a playful manner.

Gaara smiles a genuine smile. "You'll be a way bigger star than me. Just focus on your schooling and take care of yourself when I'm away. Don't get in too much trouble. I know what your diet consists of when I'm not here to nudge you to eat better. I even asked Deidara to watch over how much ramen you eat."

Naruto pushes him away and crosses his arms, offended.

"There is nothing wrong with ramen, dattebayo!" He keeps the sulking expression for a little bit before laughing and sighing. "Seriously, Mr. Big Shot. Be safe and we'll catch up when you get back."

Sasuke wakes up and the memories of the lewd act he committed last night rush to him. He's embarrassed at his unadulterated reaction. He didn't understand why he felt such a pull for the physical all of a sudden. It was one thing to have the hots for someone and a different thing to jerk off to their picture on social media at midnight. Sasuke felt somehow that was below him and he wanted to get his composure back.

Along the way, Sasuke has acknowledged that he was very attracted to the blond. He tried to make his peace with it. Instead of trying to fight it anymore, he now decided that he just needed to get the blond out of his system and go back to being focused and calm and collected as usual. This man was distracting him way too much and he couldn't afford to be distracted. Maybe if Sasuke just did the deed with him, he would be able to get back to normal. Uchihas dealt with distractions quickly and efficiently.

Naruto had clearly shown some interest in him. Why else bother to go on teasing matches with him? Sasuke hadn't heard him speak to any of the other students like that. He had overheard him speak to the other students in a cheerful and fun way. And that first day, thr blond had admitted he thought Sasuke had good looks.

Then there was the problem of the exchange with the red-haired man Sauske had witnessed yesterday. The exchange the young Uchiha had observed, coupled with the guy's social media where there were pictures of Naruto over years, led Sasuke to believe that they had some type of relationship that was different than the relationship between Naruto and the other actors. There was nothing that Sauske had found or seen that concretely indicated they were in an exclusive relationship though. Maybe Sasuke had read too much into the exchange he observed and they were actually just close friends? Relatives?… But that one actor had asked Naruto if he was with Gaara on the first day… Sasuke needed to find a way to know for sure. If he was single, that definitely made getting him out of his system more plausible. If he wasn't, Sasuke may end up with a bad case of blue balls and seek release somewhere else, although the thought alone repulsed him.

Sasuke walks in only to see Naruto and some of the other actors walking in from the other end of the hallway. The raven notices the blond is holding a cup again, a different one today, and he frowns when he concludes it must be hot chocolate again and where the beverage must have come from. As they walk in, their eyes linger on each other - there's a silent challenge in his eyes again, like he's provoking Sasuke and testing him. The blond can't possibly be looking at the other students that way, could he? Was Sauske losing his mind? Surely, he didn't look at Suigetsu or any of the others like that, there was no way…

Speaking of Suigetsu, suddenly an arm wraps around Sasuke's shoulders and someone leans on him. Sasuke frowns and pushes Suigetsu off of him, scolding him for invading his personal space like that. Suigetsu laughs it off with his one sharp tooth out and continues to chat Sasuke up. Karin and Juugo come and greet Sasuke and Sasuke finds out again that he gets over his annoyance of them pretty fast which is a big surprise. Somehow, they're engaging but at the same time don't overwhelm Sasuke. Suigetsu keeps most of the conversation going and Sasuke doesn't feel that they take anything away from him or depend on him.

He feels eyes on him. With the corner of his eye he sees Naruto, observing him interacting with the group. There's surprise in the blue eyes and when he realizes that Sasuke is looking back at him, he smiles and waves at him. Sasuke can swear that he sees something akin to pride? relief? in his blue eyes.

Sasuke notices that a pink-haired girl has approached his group – wait, since when does he think of them as his group? – and introduces herself as Sakura. Sasuke fights the instant urge to walk away and be on his own but instead he politely introduces himself too. Fortunately, Suigetsu swoops in and engages her in a conversation about school. Sasuke adds in here and there.

His eyes drift to where Naruto is again. He was undoubtedly attracted to the blond the before but now he can't look at her the same after seeing those photos and especially after jerking off to them. Sasuke had acknowledged his physical attractiveness before and the sparks between them, but now that he had painted his bedsheets with cum looking at his tattoo and exposed skin, Sasuke didn't think he could get within 15 feet of him without getting a hard-on and his mind conjuring all the lewd and perverted things he wanted to do to him, especially to his mouth. It was a problem he had to find a way to control and fast because Naruto was now walking toward him.

"Hey, Teme," he greets and Sasuke is happy he's done with the damn hot chocolate. The blond stops a couple of feet in front of him and his hands go to tuck in the back pockets of his jeans. This position accentuates his sculpted figure and Sasuke tries really hard to not look down and see if his top is lifting to show off his tattoo. That tattoo – Sasuke wanted to lick all over his flat belly and tattooed skin, smear his cum all over it in a primal sign of possession… Sasuke shuffles on his feet, stilling his mind and summoning his Uchiha self-control.

"Hn. Dobe."

"That's cute." Naruto grins at the nickname. "Anyway, I wanted to see if you're okay? You seemed pretty distracted yesterday, I thought maybe you got an A- and were going into an existential crisis. But you seem better now… and you're making friends?" He glances over to the small group sitting behind Sasuke and when he looks back at him, there is a genuine smile on his face. The blond had wrapped his question in a playful tone, but the undertone was clear to Sasuke – he had noticed him being off today and was genuinely pleased that he looked better today. Sasuke blinks at him and just when he thought he couldn't possibly be more attracted to the blond, his attraction to him skyrockets again. He really, really needed to get him out of his system.

Sasuke fights the urge to correct him - they're not his friends - but he sees that the blond eels some genuine emotions at seeing him socialize. It was one of the things he pointed out to him the first day in a not-so-gentle way… and one of the things Itachi had been pointing out for years in a gentler way – that Sasuke needed to socialize more. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if he was more accepting of Suigetsu because Naruto had pointed him out to Sasuke as someone worthy of his attention that first day.

"Hn. I'm okay."

"Cool. How's your brother?"

Suddenly, Sauske feels annoyed at that, remembering how Itachi was all over the blond when he visited. He frowns. Naruto sees this and puts his hands up.

"Okay, Okay, jeez. Chill, I won't ask you about him and trigger your big brother issues." Sasuke wants to tell him that he got it all wrong and it's not brotherly jealousy that made him frown. It was Itachi flirting Naruto up. But he can't say that.

Maybe now that they're talking, he can change the subject to asking him if he's single and possibly asking him out. Sasuke opens his mouth, intent on asking him more about his sphere of practice and maybe finding out in a roundabout way if he is involved with her fellow actor, but Tsunade starts speaking then to start the day. Naruto waves at him again, see you later, teme!, and goes back to her group of actors. Sasuke feels awkward – an emotion unknown to the Uchiha. He looks to the side to see Suigetsu shaking his hand as if to gesture that he'd been burned, undoubtedly having heard the tense exchange.

The day passes quicker today, too quickly even. Sasuke hasn't had a solid chance to talk to Naruto alone yet. He feels annoyed at being a slave to such trivial things now and getting distracted. Undoubtedly, he was acing his scenarios, but was failing in effectively approaching Naruto. The blond was always in the company of someone and Sasuke was too prideful to pull him away and create a situation that didn't happen organically. No Uchiha wanted to appear as needy or desperate or hung-up on someone.

At lunch break, Naruto goes off somewhere and doesn't return until almost the end of the day. Sasuke doesn't get a chance to have a scenario with him because, once again, he had drawn a lower number at the beginning and had to go through all the other scenarios before reaching number seven. Sasuke hopes that he'll be back on time by the time it's time for him to have his scenario with him, but when he walks in the booth, there's another actor waiting for him there.

Naruto returns almost at the end of the day and gives Tsunade something, clearly having been instructed by Tsunade to go run an errand instead of staying here. Why would she need Naruto to run her errands? Why not Shizune? Sasuke finds himself annoyed with the Director - clearly, she's the reason he hadn't had a chance to talk to the blond.

A few minutes after he'd come back, Naruto goes out again and Sasuke is prepared to not see him anymore today. They finish up the day and Tsunade instructs them that tomorrow they will have a beginner's simulation into ACLS and code management with the simulation mannequins and that would count only for a small part of their grade since it's fairly new material. Sasuke's classmates rush home to go over ACLS protocols. Sasuke goes out, very annoyed with the lack of good outcome today. He is almost at his car when he realizes he had forgotten his phone. Sasuke curses his lately scrambled mind, undoubtedly plagued by the blond and his bad luck at talking to him today.

When he goes back in, Tsunade and Shizune and a couple of TAs are left there, visibly preparing the room for tomorrow. Sasuke hears Tsunade giving instructions on wheeling the mannequins out of storage so they could test them and set them up for tomorrow. He grabs his phone and is almost at the door when he hears it – Shizune mentions that she'll go to the east wing since "Naruto is already retrieving the two mannequins from the west wing". Sasuke grips the strap of his backpack tighter and without even knowing it, he is in front of the storage closet in the west wing.

The hallways are empty since it's late in the evening. The heavy door reveals that it's dark inside the storage facility save for a small dim light. Sasuke hears rustling. He walks in to find Naruto with his back turned to him, on his knees. He's reaching under the stretcher the mannequin is on, cursing under his breath, probably trying to find the right cords for the device to be fully functional.

"Dobe." Sasuke makes his presence known in a soft voice and Naruto jumps, almost hitting his head on the stretcher. He turns around and curses Sasuke right off, calling him a teme several more times than needed and waving his arms around in frustration.

"Don't just walk in behind someone like that teme!"

"I'm sorry," Sasuke finds himself genuinely saying and Naruto blinks at him. All frustration is gone from his face and a familiar smirk forms, followed by a gleam in the blue eyes.

"Look at that. I didn't think you were capable of saying something like that. But then again, I thought you were an arrogant douche that would stay antisocial forever, but you were making friends today. You surprise me, Sasuke." Sasuke can tell that he means that. The Uchiha understands that this is a moment where Naruto's opinion of Sasuke is changing, just like Sasuke had changed his opinion of Suigetsu the other day. The realization elevates him in a way.

"I heard you were in here trying to get the mannequins to the hall. I can help."

Naruto's eyebrows raise. "You're full of surprises today, aren't you?"

Naruto steps closer to him then, looking at him with those bright blue eyes. The air around them shifts. Their position reminds Sasuke of the other day when he had stood before him and taken off his doctor's coat. The lighting is obscure, but Naruto's eyes are still somehow shining so brightly. He is so close to Sasuke now and the blond's cheekbones stand out defined by his smirk.

"Why are you really here, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice is low and husky and he raises his chin to look at Sasuke better. Sasuke steps closer to him, drawn in by the radiant warmth of his body. It's as if the blond's pulling him in, making him gravitate toward him. Sasuke holds the other man's gaze for a long time, watching the blue eyes darken more, and he's sure that his own eyes are pitch black now with the thought of exactly what he wants to do to him.

Naruto's eyes are burning.

"You didn't really come here to help me log those things around. You came to surprise me more today? Show me you're better than I thought you were?" Everything about him – his tone, his gaze, his body language, is a challenge directed at Sasuke.

Sasuke can't possibly hold back any longer. He dives in and draws his lips to his. Before they even make contact, Naruto is already responding and drawing him in too. Sasuke is gripping the tan jaw with strong hands and Naruto is clutching tightly at his scrubs. Sasuke grabs his lower back and draws his warm body to him and Naruto presses against him as if on command. Sasuke can feel his warmth and texture and shape against him, and his jaw almost goes slack. Naruto licks his bottom lip and when Sasuke opens his mouth, his tongue darts inside to rub against his. Sasuke is immediately drunk off the blond's taste. The raven groans at the experience of tasting him and Naruto swallows the sound readily.

As with everything, Uchiha Sasuke is a fast learner and soon seizes control of the situation. He'd let the blond have enough fun by leading the kiss. Before Naruto could say anything about it, Sasuke grabs his hips and lifts him up on the stretcher, his body readily fitting between the blond's open and inviting legs. He withdraws slightly to look down into blue eyes for moment. In them he sees raw unadulterated lust, undoubtedly mirrored in his own eyes.

Sasuke's strong hand grips the back of Naruto's head and he draws his mouth to his, taking complete control of the kiss before Naruto even has a chance to oppose. Sasuke feels the need to dominate. Naruto does decide to be defiant though and bites his lip. On instinct, Sasuke pulls the hair he is fisting at the back of the blond's neck slightly and the moan he lets out at the action catches Sasuke off guard. That moan is like electricity and it shoots right down to Sasuke's dick. The wanton reaction pleases something in the Uchiha and gives him a sense of power. He tugs on his hair again, harder this time, and grips his jaw to keep his mouth open. Sasuke looks at his face – lips wet and puckered from kissing, eyes cloudy and hazy with heavy lashes covering them but still shining in the dark, still challenging him.

Naruto apparently does not appreciate the pause. The blond digs his nails into the strong biceps and hooks a leg around Sasuke's hips to draw him in closer. They both hiss feeling their warm sexes make contact through their clothes, "fuuuuck, Sasuke…", and they look down. Sasuke is so obviously tenting his scrub pants, it's obscene, and Naruto's jeans are so obviously straining against his erection. Naruto fists the front of the blue scrubs and draws Sasuke closer again to press and rub against him. Sasuke thrusts against the responding hardness, making Naruto's head loll back and eyes roll back into his head.

Sasuke seizes this opportunity to lap and bite at the tan neck, his hands moving down his sides. The Uchiha grips his waist to draw him in closer and thrusts against him. The sounds and groans they're both letting out at the contact in the dark storage facility are entirely inappropriate for the elite institution they're in. Whatever Sasuke thought this would be like, it is a million times better, and the tight string of control he had wound up his whole life is very seriously threatening to snap.

But Sasuke does still have some control left and has complete clarity now where he wants this to go. He wants to take the blond, fuck him, do everything that his dirty mind conjured to his hot and responsive body. Sasuke stills his thrusting hips and withdraws from Naruto enough to look at his face again. Naruto's eyes are clouded and dark and he is breathing heavily.

"Come to my place. Ditch this and let's go. Now." Sasuke goes in for another kiss, sure of the outcome, when Naruto averts his head and instead Sasuke laps at his neck. The blond whimpers and grips his shoulders, trying to clear his hazy mind, despite the pleasurable assault to his sensitive neck.

"No." Sasuke doesn't hear him at first or doesn't want to hear him until he shoves at his shoulders harder. "Sasuke. No."

Sasuke takes in a deep controlled breath to steady his breathing and pay control to the situation. Naruto's saying… no? No? After he had spread his legs and accepted his thrusting hips, he was suddenly rejecting him?

Sasuke does a double-take and doesn't like the way the blue eyes are now clearing of that cloudiness and how the blond softly pushes against him to get off of the stretcher. An Uchiha never begs for an explanation or reason but Sasuke finds himself confused by the outcome and his hazy, lustful mind isn't helping his assessment skills. He is almost over his pride (surely because his mind is so clouded with lust) and is about to ask why when there are steps from around the corner and voices. Several voices. Tsunade and Shizune and a TA are coming over, most likely to help retrieve the mannequins since Naruto had taken a long time.

Before Sasuke knows it, Naruto is out the door right before the others come in. Tsunade is asking him something but Sasuke can't listen right now. Later on, when he sits in his car, Sasuke touches his lips. Kissing him had been… more pleasurable than he'd ever thought. Was it kissing him only that felt like that or would kissing anyone else be the same?

Sasuke has an uneasy sleep that night. The encounter had left him high and dry and yet again he Sasuke finds himself up late at night, shamefully thrusting in his hands, this time to the very lucid feeling of how the other man had felt against him, how he had tasted on his tongue and how hard his erection had been against Sasuke's own. Black hair sticking against his sweaty forehead, Sasuke yet again finds himself moaning into the pillow as his body spasms and breath hitches, the orgasm shaking his body.

The next day is Friday and the last day of their simulations (for this part of their studies at least). Sasuke has willed his mind to not even think about yesterday, but his wounded Uchiha pride keeps rearing its head. It was unbelievable that Naruto had rejected him, with no reason given at all. The way the blond had reacted to his advances, the way his body had responded… clearly showed interest and attraction to him. And again, despite his Uchiha pride, Sasuke finds himself wanting, needing to know why.

Sasuke walks in only to find Naruto missing and instead, there is a new woman there. She is short and has dark hair and a bored expression. By the way the other actors are interacting around her, Sasuke can tell they know her. She seems familiar and Sasuke recognizes her from the group pictures of the Akatsuki.

Sasuke wants to ask Tsunade if Naruto is coming today but that would give him away and he is too proud to appear needy. He is considering asking one of the other actors in a roundabout way. But then the man with the slicked back pale-colored hair – Hidan? - begins on the topic. Sasuke pretends he is busying himself with something close to them with his back turned to them but is listening in.

"Aaaah, maaaannnnn, I wish Naru-chan was here. It's not the same without his plump ass around here."

"Dude." A shorter blond guy with a ponytail shushes the first man, scoffing. "Gaara would literally kill you if he heard you, un." He scolds.

Hidan waves a hand in a dismissive manner. "I don't give a flying fuck. That redheaded bastard can't keep a hottie like that only to himself. He needs to share him."

"He does, just not with your perverted ass." The blond man looks around and adds in a quieter voice, "I think he used to have a thing with Konan." From the quiet tone, Sasuke can infer that Konan is the new woman actress that was there today.

But Hidan is not listening anymore as he spots Karin and follows her with his eyes, forgetting the conversation. He smirks, going out after her. Deidara rolls his eyes. He'd go out after him in a second to do damage control.

Sasuke again is confused by the information he receives. Is Naruto really with the red-headed guy… even if he had so passionately kissed Sasuke yesterday? Is that why he didn't want to go back to Sasuke's place – because it was a mistake, and he was actually in a relationship with the redhead? Did Naruto… regret what they did? Something about that possibility offsets Sasuke in a way he can't explain.

As time passes, Sasuke keeps glancing at the door at every sound before he realizes that Naruto is not coming today for good. He feels disappointed and then worried that something might have happened. He realizes that he doesn't have any of the blond's contact information, save for his social media. But he wouldn't contact him on social media, that's too cringy. That would make Sasuke look needy and desperate. If Sasuke had just asked for his phone number… or if he had asked him out yesterday instead of losing control like he did… Something about the blond just made Sasuke disoriented and drunk off a feeling he'd never felt before. Sasuke feels stupid over this newly discovered vulnerability - he had a reputation to upkeep. He grits his teeth and gets through the day. He glances at Konan several times with an unfamiliar feeling gripping at his chest, similar to when he had watched the blond together with Gaara.

Sasuke tries to make sense of what Naruto's relationship status seems to be, based on the information he had gathered over the last week but found himself unsure again. There was nothing concrete pointing one way or another. Whatever it was, two things were clear. One, Naruto had some sort of history with the redheaded man and two: he was undeniably attracted to Sasuke. Even if Sasuke would be labeled as a mistake. The way the blond had responded to him, the way he had provoked him, were undeniable proof of his responding attraction even by Sasuke's lacking emotional intelligence. The Uchiha pride willed Sasuke to let this go for now but something inside him, deeper, told him this couldn't possibly be over.