I do not own Naruto, what lies herein is a complete work of fiction written by a very bored fan. Overhead warning: M for language, violence, and adult themes
Part 1-
Naruto barely managed to scrape his way underneath the flimsy canopy strewn overhead before the sky above him cracked and broke in a violent downpour. Light flashed across the dark storm clouds, now barely perceptible against the evening falling behind them. A bitter, cold wind blew in with the rain and he shivered. He knew he should have put on a jacket before he left this morning.
He shook his head of now almost disastrously tousled blonde tresses in a vain attempt to dry himself off. Taking a few steps further under the makeshift shelter, Naruto took just a split second to continue dusting himself off and hoped he didn't smell like a wet dog now. He also pointedly ignored the fact he was tracking mud onto the thin red carpet as he trudged along, grumbling the entire way under his frosted breath about shitty, confusing parking lots and greedy, dumb business people.
Within just a few steps, he reached the automatic sliding doors of the building and stepped onto the smooth, polished tile floors of a bustling lobby. Small crowds of people crossed and weaved around each other expertly, not a single employee missing a beat in all of the organized chaos on the main floor. Briefly, he wondered what so many people could possibly still be doing in an office like this at nearly midnight on a Friday.
After only a moment's pause, his cerulean eyes managed to pick out a large and low-sitting desk built into the wall across the expansive room; a small line of people were queued out on the far end, many of them tapping away furiously at cell phones as they waited. Clutching the large and nearly empty, red bag at his hip a little tighter to keep it from banging into him as he walked, he beelined his way across the intricately tiled insignia that decorated the center of the room; the apex of a three-story vaulted ceiling above drew his eye momentarily as he hurried through the throngs of loitering suits. In his defense, he had managed to make eye contact with and scuttle up towards an eerily smiling concierge at the help desk and he'd only stepped on a couple of toes and bumped one shoulder in the process. It might have just been him, but the desk lady seemed more than just a little bit annoyed by his flustered presence.
Without ever skipping a beat, the redhead behind the desk managed to intensify her smile by just one more teeny notch as he approached her. "Hello, sir! What can I do for you today?" She blinked, but otherwise only waited for him to catch his breath from his short jog before he could answer.
"Sorry," he cleared his throat with a small cough, "Rain kind of came out of nowhere." If he hadn't been staring nearly as intensely in return, he'd have missed when her perfect smile twitched for the slightest of seconds before returning to her face just as convincingly as before. Years of customer service let him know she'd just rolled her eyes at him internally. In response, he flashed her an award winning smile and leaned in to settle onto the desk with his hip; a single drop of rain fell from a still-damp blonde curl atop his head and onto the gleamingly polished surface.
If she was irritated by him invading her space, she did a really good job of concealing it. One slender finger pushed the glasses that rested on her nose up and repeated, "What can I do for you today, sir?" Her critical eyes roved quickly over him.
'Oh yeah,' he briefly thought and began digging through the satchel tucked safely under his arm. "Karin?" She nodded once. He pulled out a small grocery bag and briefly checked the itemized tag before passing it over to the stiff woman's outstretched and expecting hands. He quickly typed a note into his phone and had her sign the line with her finger, forced to awkwardly wait as she inspected each item in the bag first. She inconspicuously wiped her hands against the side of the pristine pencil skirt she wore after handing his phone back to him, apparently satisfied that everything she'd ordered was actually there. Naruto bit back a scoff -as if he would bother stealing from a $14 doordash order from 7/11- and only offered her a silent two-fingered salute over his shoulder as he retreated to safety from her attitude at the entrance. She immediately pulled a soda out of the plastic bag and took a sip as she moved to wipe down the front of the desk quickly.
Eyes from several sets of disapproving gazes bore into his back from the business people that stalled in his wake. He tugged nervously once at his damp collar and tried to ignore that his sneakers squeaked on the pristine floor. Until he had crossed the threshold back out into the still drizzling night outside, the tall blonde held his breath subconsciously. He couldn't stand uppity, suit-wearing people like that; they had no right to look at him like he was trash that blew in with the storm. The doors swooshed shut behind him with a hiss and a sense of finality and he was grateful to be out of the cold corporate world and back into the cold real world once again. With a small sigh and another round of irritated grumbling, he tugged the collar of his shirt over his head the best he could and started off into the night.
Once he was quickly striding across the parking lot to his car, ears still burning in anger from the interaction with the stuck-up lady at the front desk and because he was now thoroughly soaked, he finally allowed himself to release the air trapped in his chest in an annoyed shout and quickly sucked in a second, much deeper breath. His thumb furiously clicked the unlock button on the key and sprinted to where he'd been forced to park at the far end of the lot. He ripped the door open and dove inside in a near mad dash to get the heater running as quickly as he could, and he let out a loud whoop when the engine actually started on the first try for once. "Finally," he breathed against his hands, loosening his grip on the steering wheel, "something works out right tonight."
Turning the dial to blast warm air on him, he wrapped long, tan arms around himself and shivered from the cold that was rapidly forming goosebumps on his exposed skin.
The exhausted blonde settled more comfortably into the seat of his car and completed the delivery order in the app on his phone. He opened up the tab to end his work trip for the night when he glanced at the time that glowed green across his dash. Naruto reached a hand up to press tiredly at the bags slowly forming under his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Head pressed back into the headrest, he peeked nervously at his tip log for the night. With a heavy sigh, he reactivated his driving log and moved to shift gears.
It proved only slightly difficult to navigate his way back towards the main exit from the compound parking lot, and if anyone had asked he would have said he'd had no issues at all. There were so many storage buildings, garages, and smaller parking lots that he passed that he swore were completely identical and unmarked intentionally to cause confusion. Frustrated, he pulled off to the side of yet another identical warehouse and slammed heavily on the brakes. His lights illuminated just a few feet ahead of him where the paved road suddenly ended and turned into a massive puddle of mud just beyond. The rain had slowed, but still fell steadily in the light of the headlights. Distantly, he could see cars on the highway that he'd wasted 20 minutes trying to find the entrance to.
The only thing Naruto could hear was the sound of his own blood pounding through the tight vein on his forehead. Azure eyes squeezed tightly closed and he leaned forward to press his forehead firmly against the steering wheel. He felt tears prick at his eyelashes and blinked to try and clear them as he attempted to calm down. Today had really, really sucked.
He hiccuped and rubbed at his itchy eyes, blindly feeling around the console for the watered-down remnants of a Sprite he had from his fast food dinner a few hours before. When he went to lift the cup, the bottom fell out and he stared, unblinking, as the sticky liquid poured quickly all over the interior of his front seat and dripped to the floor steadily. Now-bottomless cup remains in hand, he calmly opened up the drivers side door, numb to the cold that loomed outside, and took five steps out into the empty parking lot.
When he exhaled, he could see his breath cloud in front of him with a puff of steam. Behind him, exhaust continued to billow into the freezing air and the hum of the engine was loud now that the thunder had died down. The rain was beginning to clear up, only barely drizzling down onto his head. One particular and shockingly cold drop landed on his neck and slid perfectly down his spine, breaking his trance with a shiver; Naruto felt something deep within him snap. Instantly, he threw the trash in his hand as furiously as he could at the building a few feet in front of him. The already soaked cardboard smacked loudly against the nearby brick wall and landed pitifully in a puddle.
A guttural scream ripped from him in frustration and he felt himself finally start crying. "Fuck this shit!" His voice went hoarse as he yelled once again and began stomping on the dissolving remains of his cup. "Thirteenth fucking reason, I swear to fuck!"
He was breathing heavily through his nose and was soaked through to the bone by the time he managed to sit back down in his car and started to back out yet again. He needed a drink.
...
Sasuke rolled his charcoal eyes as the man seated beside him at the bar bumped into his left shoulder yet again. The whisky in his glass nearly spilled over the rim and the raven-haired man barely managed to steady himself before it wound up in his lap. Side-eyeing the bulky blonde seated beside him, he did his best to lean slightly farther to the right. When he noticed that the man was sniffling like he wanted to start crying, he attempted to scoot just an inch further away.
"'Keep, another double please," the blonde mumbled into his folded arms, face down on the bartop. Somehow the bartender had heard him over the loud music and raucous noise coming from the crowds surrounding the pool tables across the smoky room. Another clear glass of neat liquor was set down between them within a second.
Sasuke swirled the ice in his glass, doing his best to not be noticed by anyone but the alcohol supplier in the room. He could feel eyes piercing through the black suit coat he was hiding himself behind from various women in various states of sobriety that seemed to be stalking the bar like animals; he tossed back the rest of what was in his cup and pushed it forward for a refill. The man beside him bumped him again, this time slightly more intentionally.
A single dark eyebrow raised in question as Sasuke turned to regard the stranger with thinly-veiled disinterest. He perused him briefly as the blonde man moved to sit up so he could drink his most recent order; his hair was not only blonde, but a bleached color that was either very well-maintained or natural, and it fell across his forehead attractively in messy waves. Eyes bluer than the sky were curtained and partially obscured by his fluffy bangs, helping to conceal the fact that they were currently glazed over and rimmed by heavy circles. His skin was tanned and smooth, marred only by tattoos that streaked across his cheeks; although Sasuke could see several others that disappeared down the length of his neck under the collar of his t-shirt and reappeared further down his bare arms. He seemed almost unrealistically fit under his plain white shirt and jeans.
The grumbling man had succeeded in sitting up again and was attempting to wrap his fingers around the glass on the bar, managing it on his third attempt. Liquor now in hand, he propped his other elbow up to rest his chin on it and caught Sasuke's eyes. The raven felt his skin prickle and the hair on his neck stand up.
With only a slight twitch, he coolly asked, "What?" Sasuke waved at the bartender in an attempt to get their attention, but he wilted slightly when he was overlooked and ignored. He turned back to his unasked-for company, surprised when he saw those piercing blue eyes still focused intensely on him. With a bit more force this time, he again asked, "What?"
The obnoxious blonde snorted into his glass as he downed the entire thing, noisily setting it back down on the bar. "You," he pointed an unsteady finger just a little too close to Sasuke's nose to be comfortable, "Look like an asshole." He snickered again at himself and Sasuke caught a glimpse of straight, white teeth and a dimple before the blonde turned away to motion again to the bartender.
"The fuck is your problem?" Sasuke could feel a vein pulsing in his neck and settled into a comfortable glare. It deepened when the man beside him was quickly brought a refill and his glass remained forgotten on the mat at the other edge of the bar. He moved to wave again, but the brunette bartender had already moved on; he grunted in irritation. Why was he even still here?
"Yeah, man. But I think it's the monkey suit, it's fucking up your pretty face," the man continued loudly, unperturbed by the rude response he'd gotten. Sasuke only grunted again in response, but the blonde didn't seem too put off by the lack of conversation. "You sure you're not a lady, you're like really pretty dude. Oh yeah, my name is Naruto by the way."
Sasuke watched Naruto's pathetic attempt to grab the double shot of vodka in front of him, but there seemed to be three of them suddenly and he was having difficulty figuring out which one was his. Without hesitation, pale and slender fingers plucked the glass from his tentative grip and blue eyes watched as the stranger beside him threw back the cheap booze. He laughed boisterously when the stern man's nose crinkled up in disgust instantly as he fought to not gag.
"I'd say to consider that payment for wasting my time talking to you, but I think that was more of a punishment," Sasuke mumbled with a slight cough. "Is this well vodka?" He slid the now empty glass back in front of Naruto who was still snickering at his expense.
"Mhm, the day called for booze but the wallet cried for help so this is where I ended up." He swished around the condensation that dripped down to the bottom of the cup.
A quick glance around told Sasuke that a few women looked as if they were getting bolder as the night went on and he quickly calculated that he had better odds of survival staying where he was despite the drunken company. When he returned his attention to Naruto, somehow the blonde had already gotten his hands on more vodka.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He intensely eyeballed the irritating blonde beside him and once again stole the drink from him. "You're drunk enough to piss into the wind, knock it off before you puke on me." He again tossed it back, much more prepared for the disgusting burn this time, and steeled his expression with only a slight wince to betray him.
"The fuck, suit? If you knew the day I had you would be handing over the bottle yourself." Naruto's eyes shrank into a glare, the impact only slightly lessened by the fact he was blushing brightly from the alcohol. Sasuke noticed a smattering of freckles that crossed the tan man's nose and cheeks, highlighted by the specific shade of pink that he slowly seemed to be turning. Naruto's larger hand snatched the empty cup back and gazed longingly into it.
"If you're saying that in an attempt to get me to ask you about your day, fat chance idiot." A smirk tugged at Sasuke's lips and he angled himself slightly more towards the handsome blonde beside him. "Because I'm pretty sure I still don't care." The two men stared each other down; one gaze dark except for the slightest spark of amusement buried deeply within and the other as bright as the sky over the ocean, sparkling with the effects of a little too much cheap drink.
"I stand corrected, you are most definitely an asshole. No doubt about it." Naruto's lower lip jutted out in a petulant pout. At that, Sasuke cracked a small smile; he wasn't wrong after all, and he was starting to recognize the heady effects of the two drinks that he'd stolen. He grunted in an attempt to hide his mirth and finally caught the attention of the bartender.
"You know, I'm getting a sense you don't like me very much, Naruto. How about you use that as an excuse to stop talking to me?" The smirk morphed into a frown when he realized that the bartender had set down the check in front of him rather than another round. The petite woman weaved her arms across her chest and eyeballed the two men, glancing between them before motioning she was cutting them off. Without checking the total, Sasuke plopped a gold card down onto the cheque and the provocatively dressed brunette scurried off quickly with it. He glanced back at the man slowly folding in on himself on the stool to his right and sighed heavily as he felt his resolve crumble slightly. "Fine, you win. Are you okay?"
Naruto sniffled, a multitude of emotions scrambling across his face before he lifted the edge of his shirt to scrub furiously at his red cheeks. He only shook his head once and moved to place his hot forehead against the cool, smooth surface of the bar. Almost imperceptibly, he mumbled. "No."
Sasuke glanced at his watch and around the room quickly; they'd be closing soon. He overestimated a tip and signed the check without bothering to tally the total. It was by pure chance he noticed that somehow, he'd ended up covering the blubbering idiot's tab too. He doubted he would hear a thank you. He stood and brushed off the seat of his nicely pressed slacks and picked his cell phone back up off the bar to tuck into his pocket. Naruto was busy drawing circles with his finger in the condensation remaining on a long-forgotten glass of water that still sat full in front of him.
Feeling a small pit of guilt lingering in his stomach, Sasuke turned to leave but only managed two steps before he sighed at himself and turned back around. He laced one graceful hand under the arm of the hulking stranger and another around his waist in an attempt to help him stand. By the grace of whatever force was out there, Naruto decided he was ready to get up and made a solid attempt to help. Sasuke assumed that despite being piss-drunk, the man had a naturally strong physique that was helping him remain gracelessly on his feet for the moment.
Despite the obvious differences in width, Sasuke was grateful that Naruto wasn't actually much taller than himself; maybe an inch or two at most. Now successfully standing, the blonde stretched until he heard a loud pop over the sound of the music that was erupting from several speakers that lined the walls. Sasuke eyed him warily when he teetered just a little.
"Did you drive here?" The blonde nodded, an odd look on his face. Instinctively, Sasuke took a single step backward. "Do you have someone you can call?" This time, a single shake of blonde hair was his only response.
'It looks soft.' Sasuke blinked and shook his head a little, convinced that thought was intrusive and unintentionally caused by shitty vodka. He sighed again, wondering why his night had turned out like this. He couldn't just leave the guy, even if he was annoying. "Come on then, let's go find your car."
Together they worked their way out into the now still and quiet night, the booming bass of bad club music and the smell of smoke dwindling once they had reached the parking lot outside. Naruto was stumbling along a few steps behind Sasuke, staring straight up at the stars overhead. Once they'd managed to get to the middle of the parked cars, the raven-haired man turned to him expectantly. The other man was splashing one foot gently in a puddle.
"Which one is yours?" He gestured one arm covered by a tailored sleeve around vaguely. Naruto flashed him another one of those mischievous smiles that revealed a slight dimple in one cheek and shrugged.
"I dunno. It's got a busted cup of Sprite in it though if that helps." Sasuke felt a headache coming on; what was this guy, twelve? Naruto hiccuped and moved to try and sit down on the muddy asphalt. A firm grip on his forearm stopped him halfway.
"If you do that, I'm leaving you there," Sasuke said sternly, tightening his hold on Naruto's arm. Begrudgingly, the much more solid man stood back up while grumbling under his breath. Assured he wouldn't try again, Sasuke held a hand out to the blonde exasperatedly. "Keys?" Still pouting, Naruto dug around in his pockets until he found his overly cluttered keyring and placed it heavily into the outstretched hand before him. Sasuke ignored how the brush of his rough fingers on his own, much paler skin made his stomach do a small flip. He located a key fob and started pressing the lock button. Just a few rows down, a single set of headlights shot on and he heard a telltale beep. Pulling Naruto along by his wrist like a dog on a leash, the two men made their way across the parking lot towards the beaten up red Camry a few vehicles down.
A quick glance inside told him that Naruto hadn't been joking about the exploded soda. Otherwise, the interior was fairly neat; much tidier than he'd honestly been expecting. A red delivery bag was thrown haphazardly into the back seat along with a balled up bag of McDonalds and a few loose fries on the floor. He could see a bag of what appeared to be laundry on the passenger floorboards and possibly a small pillow. A massive bang made the dark-haired man nearly jump out of his skin. Beside him, Naruto had fallen face-up onto the hood of his car and decidedly closed his eyes.
"Hey dumbass, at least sleep in the backseat. It's cold as shit out here." Heart still racing a little, Sasuke pulled the front of his own jacket a little tighter around himself.
"NahI'mdriving." Hazy blue eyes reopened to glare upside down at the pale man looming over him. He frowned deeply when Sasuke shook his head.
"Like hell. You'll kill somebody, probably yourself." The blonde began to slide off the hood, pushing himself back onto his own feet. Sasuke put Naruto's keys behind his back and took a deep breath, his mind whirring to figure out what to do next. Maybe he should call an Uber?
"So what? I thought you didn't-" he hiccupped, "care. 'Member?" He lunged forward slightly in a half-hearted attempt to snatch the keys back. Sasuke easily sidestepped him.
"I said I didn't care about your life story, not that I thought you should kill yourself trying to drive home." His head was starting to pound harder now; as he stared into the crystalline eyes of the obviously upset man in front of him, he really started to question why he was even doing all of this. He'd just wanted a drink after a long day of financial board meetings. He took another step back when Naruto lunged again, a little less sloppily this time. An idea formed in Sasuke's slightly foggy mind and he began to slowly move backward one step at a time while he subtly pulled his own keys out of his pocket. Naruto trudged after him, occasionally making an attempt to grab the ramen bowl keychain that dangled from Sasuke's grip. "Besides, even if I don't care about you I'm sure someone does."
Sasuke slowed as he approached his car parked beneath a lonely street lamp towards the back corner of the parking lot. Naruto shuffled up a few steps behind him and distractedly stretched with a loud yawn; apparently he'd forgotten about his keys already. His expression darkened when he finally noticed that the two of them weren't alone anymore; the quiet scuffle of a footstep giving the intruders away before he could see them.
A lone voice spoke lowly from just a few feet away, "This your car, Princess? We were wondering who would be parking a BMW at this shithole of a bar. You look the type." A man with a bat leaned against the polished black hood of Sasuke's vehicle, acting like he owned it. His hair was extremely long and thin, and when he smiled Sasuke could see a few gold teeth peeking out from between his lips. The man tapped the metal bat against his shoes once before he shrugged himself into a standing position and took a step towards them. Dark eyes picked out the shadows of at least two more men lingering nearby, just outside of the small circle of light. "I bet you got some expensive shit on you, dontcha Princess?"
Inwardly, Sasuke bristled; that was twice in one night someone had called him girly. Maybe he needed a damn haircut. His palms were sweating despite the chill in the air and his heartbeat thundered in his ear. His drunken companion momentarily forgotten, he tried to clear his mind so he could think.
"I don't want trouble." He breathed slowly out through his nose, focused on keeping his composure even as two of other men began to close in. 'Fuck me.' Sasuke glanced around quickly and moved to take a step back when a heavy arm suddenly appeared around his shoulder, followed by the intense smell of liquor. He turned his head slightly, fighting back a blush when he realized he had forgotten entirely about Naruto and partially at the sudden nausea he felt at how close the tan blonde's face suddenly was to his own.
"I do," Naruto said with a brilliant smile. With a slight shove, he moved Sasuke behind him and started cracking his knuckles. "I've been looking for an excuse all day, asshole." He settled into a waiting pose, only slightly off balance.
Without a warning, one of the men on the right darted towards them with a knife in his hand. His steps echoed in the otherwise empty lot as he rushed forward with a mirthful cry. Without hesitation, Naruto batted the outstretched blade out of his opponent's grip, sending it flying across the pavement into the dark. A look of confusion was replaced by a look of terror as the much smaller man felt a tug on the arm still held in Naruto's tight grip and he was suddenly airborn. Sasuke watched enthralled as the bald man that had run at them was launched about ten feet away and came to a skidding stop on the ground with a groan. The blonde stumbled a few steps, clearly dizzy, but reoriented himself quickly enough to engage another man in a quickfire fistfight.
Sasuke, awestruck by what was suddenly going on around him, barely had time to duck when, enraged, the original thug with a bat took a poorly-timed swing at him. Sasuke felt the skin of his knees and palms sting as he hit the asphalt, but his assailant didn't get a second chance before he took a heavy-weighted fist to one eye socket and was immediately out cold on the ground. Looking up, he realized he'd miscalculated the number of assailants when two additional guys stepped out from behind a van a few spaces down and rushed over towards them. He caught the still-hazy gaze of Naruto as he allowed him to help him up and saw a spark of something he hadn't seen all night flash brightly through the blonde's eyes. 'Is he having fun?'
Suddenly less afraid and more bewildered, he watched as Naruto picked up the forgotten bat and stalked over to the remaining guys. While only moments ago they'd been angry and roaring to go, they didn't seem quite so sure anymore. Sasuke didn't think three on one seemed particularly fair, but Naruto seemed like he'd been waiting for it.
A man wearing a black bandana on his head reached him first, but Naruto dropped at the last second, managing to trip the poor fool and make him land face first on the pavement. Immediately pushing back to his feet for the second opponent, the blonde spun around and caught the shorter man off guard with a roundhouse kick to the gut that sent him flying back into the remaining man. Wisely, he clambered out from underneath his groaning friend and turned to scramble off. Naruto chucked the bat at him, managing to only miss by a few inches. The frightened squawk emitted by the terrified man satiated him, despite the fact he'd missed.
At his feet, the man he'd made eat gravel was beginning to rouse and attempted to heave himself up off the ground. Naruto pushed a single black converse into his side uncomfortably.
"Had enough, fucker? Or did you feel like losing a couple more teeth?" He showed his pearly whites in a glorious smile down at the man now fumbling on his knees, broken sunglasses still perched pitifully on his bulbous nose despite them missing one lens now. He only shook his head and hurried with his remaining buddy to pull his unconscious boss over to where their friend had been launched. If nothing else, at least the guy had smarter friends than himself.
Naruto dusted off his jeans and looked over his shoulder at a thoroughly ruffled and confused Sasuke. The blonde man wandered over to the raven, oblivious to the befuddled expression that was plastered on his face, and clapped him heavily on the shoulder with a now bloody hand. "You good, man? That was crazy." Sasuke just nodded silently once. The past five minutes had felt like hours.
He swallowed, collecting his composure back into the usual impression of indifference the best he could. "Yeah. I'm uh-" He fiddled with his keys, annoyed at himself for stuttering, "I'm good." He looked at the hand still sitting on his shoulder, briefly pondering if it was a tooth mark that seemed to be bleeding so heavily. "How's your hand?"
"S'Okay, feels better after hitting that one guy." Another hiccup slipped out from between his pink lips and Sasuke caught himself staring at them before the blonde could notice.
The air seemed thick with how close Naruto was; the warmth of his breath causing goosebumps to break out across the paler man's neck. He could feel his own apprehension in the air when Naruto moved his other hand to settle on Sasuke's opposite shoulder and ensnare the slightly shorter man within the cage of his arms. After the whirlwind of emotion that Sasuke had been surprised with since he'd arrived at the bar two hours ago, he was most surprised by how not pissed off he was when Naruto chose that exact moment to hurl up half a bottle of well vodka and what was likely once a cheeseburger all down the front of his suit jacket.
After a few seconds and a single spluttering cough, Sasuke heard the sick man mumble, "Ya know, I think I forgot to pay my tab," before continuing to empty the contents of his stomach onto the very expensive Oxfords in front of him. Sasuke pinched his nose and reached a hand up to place it on the messy blonde hair in front of him, ignoring his absent thought that it really was as soft as it had looked.
"Did you still need someone to talk to about your shitty day?" He sighed out exasperatedly and unlocked his car. "I think I can commiserate now."
...
"Hey listen, dude. Again, I'm really sorry." Naruto tucked his head down between his knees as far as his seatbelt would let him; at his feet was a now uncrumpled McDonald's bag in case of an encore performance. He scrubbed roughly at his face with both hands.
"Apologize again and I'll actually say you owe me," Sasuke said in an even voice, only the slightest tilt upward of his lips betraying him. He looked at himself briefly in the rearview mirror when they stopped at a red light and tugged at his new shirt collar. "You do promise this was all clean, right?"
"Absolutely yes, dude I swear. I just did laundry today." Blue eyes peeked at him upside down from between tan fingers and Naruto nodded before sitting up slowly. He leaned the chair back a bit and stretched himself out fully with a groan. Crossing a finger over his chest, he leaned back in the seat again and closed his eyes. It was quiet, but only for a second. "By the way, where are we going?" He pressed his nose to the cool, tinted glass of the window.
"I was going to try and drop you off somewhere, but your driver's license has an out of town address listed so I gave up on that and you completely. Now I'm trying to find food because I'm hungry." Sasuke muttered as he finally moved to turn off the main road at the sight of a neon restaurant sign. Watching from the corner of his eye, he saw as Naruto attempted to figure out the stereo. After a moment, he gave up with a disgruntled sound and leaned back into his seat to stare relaxedly out the window. Sasuke cleared his throat and realized he'd been staring again when he pulled into a short line of cars waiting to order. "You're too trusting when you're drunk."
"Well I figure if you were just tryna kidnap someone, you'd have found an easier target by now. And you don't exactly seem nice enough to do this out of the kindness of your heart, and judging by how fancy all of your shit is, I sort of feel like I need to stick around to find out exactly how much I'm gonna owe you for all of this." He mumbled something under his breath that Sasuke missed, but when he asked Naruto simply shook his head. "It's not anything new for me to owe somebody money, but I am grateful you didn't leave me passed out in a parking lot. So, thanks." He rubbed at his nose and turned again to look out the window.
"Hn." Sasuke schooled his expression into careful neutrality as he ordered and paid, his mind racing for what felt like the infinite time that night. This was definitely one of the most interesting nights of his life so far, but as he plucked a fry out of one of the paper bags on the console and pulled out onto the street in the direction of his apartment, he contemplated if the blonde truly owed him anything. He did kind of save his life, didn't he? Sasuke doubted those guys from before would have killed him, but at the very least he came out of the incident mostly unscathed which is more than he could claim for his own brawling abilities; Sasuke Uchiha valued being a man of words more than a man of action. He rarely found himself in situations he needed to physically fight someone; maybe he would talk to his brother about self-defense lessons tomorrow.
"You never told me your name," the blonde mumbled around a mouthful of fried potatoes. Apparently his stomach was feeling better.
"Sasuke," he replied.
"You're all right, Sasuke. Anyone ever tell you that?" Sasuke only grunted again in response, but Naruto was undeterred. "Just kidding. You're actually a little insufferable. And you suck at conversation."
"Wrong, idiot. I am too good at conversation, and that's why I'm choosing not to engage in one with you."
He swore he could audibly hear how intensely Naruto rolled his eyes. The blonde absently took a sip of water from his straw and swallowed. "Bullshit," he mumbled with a smirk.
"If you're sobering up, maybe you could explain to me what the hell happened back there?" Sasuke said just as he began pulling up to a rather large parking structure. They paused at the gate as he waved a pass at a small red scanner, a slight beep signaling the gate in front of them to start rising. It was only a second before he started driving up the ramps to go higher in the complex.
Naruto felt his heart start beating a little faster the higher up they went. Maybe he was actually getting kidnapped after all. With a quick glance to the man sitting beside him, he supposed it could be worse.
"I uh, I don't normally fight like that when I drink. I promise. I just-" he paused to scratch at the back of his head and took a deep breath. When he released it, it felt as if the dam had broken when he began again, "I had a real shit day. Actually, it's been a really shitty past few months in general. I was living over in Suna for a while with a buddy of mine after college and stuff, but then he got a job overseas for a bit so I had to come back home. And home was going great but then there was an accident with my folks man, and now he's gone and I let her down. I fucked up. I fucked up bad." Sasuke pulled into a reserved spot on the top floor of the garage and parked the car. He turned to look Naruto in the eye, remaining silent as he went off on what seemed to be a much-needed outburst. A watery, oceanic blue gaze held his own and the blonde man sniffled and continued, "I couldn't keep it, and my dad he worked his whole life for this right; it was his baby! And I fucked it up because it was just so goddamn expensive and I couldn't keep it and the house, and I couldn't let mom down because she needed me, but I couldn't cover all of the hours and the expenses and I- and I…" He faltered, words caught in his throat. The silence was palpable and hung over them like a thick fog until Naruto managed to rub his eyes and clear his throat.
"I said you could talk about your shitty day, but I'm pretty sure I already told you I don't care about your life story," Sasuke said, but there was no malice in his quiet voice. He held out a single fry to the mess of a man beside him. The blonde leaned slightly forward and plucked it wordlessly from the slender fingers with his teeth and started chewing with a sniffle. Sasuke's eyes widened in response and he bit his smile back into just a slight twitch of his lips. He rolled his eyes and continued, "But if you want to come inside with me, I can maybe pretend to listen until you sober up enough to go home."
Still sniffling to himself, Naruto followed Sasuke inside a connected gangway that went directly from the parking garage to a fairly tall skyscraper next door. Immediately inside, the two men stepped into an elevator that had a polished tile floor and mirrored ceiling. Naruto adjusted the bags of food in his arms and shivered slightly as Sasuke pressed a floor button and the doors in front of them closed. He dried his face the best he could on his shoulder and started taking deep breaths to calm himself back down.
Sasuke leaned against the back wall and peered at his distracted company discreetly while he attempted to clean himself up a bit. The man really did seem to possess both fantastic combat skills and simultaneously no survival skills. Or maybe -he thought- the guy just didn't have much going for him right now and didn't really care what happened to him. His outburst had been a little surprising, but not completely unexpected. Sasuke didn't know many people that were that messy in public without a reason; it seemed Naruto may have had a fairly good reason.
The doors opened with a pleasant ding on the second floor from the top and the two men stepped out into a small, private foyer. Naruto stuffed a few more fries into his mouth while Sasuke unlocked the single door and stepped inside to hold the door. The normally loud blonde followed him inside and swallowed, momentarily at a loss for words as he took a few slow steps. Instead, he chose to let out a low whistle.
"Damn, fancy place Princess."
Sasuke shut the door behind them and moved quickly around Naruto who was loitering in the entryway to look at a large painting of a lake on the wall. "Absolutely do not call me that, or you're walking home." He tossed his keys onto a small table sitting beside a large sectional, clicked on a small table lamp to illuminate the room and disappeared down a dark hall with his laundry bag of soiled clothes.
The still nervous blonde stepped out further into what he assumed was the main living area of the space. Most everything was a neutral tone, both couches were black and the tables all white and silver. Small accents of a really nice warm wood made the room feel just a little less cold. He wandered past the sitting area to a corner of bookshelves that seemed to not have a single empty place among them.. He perused the spines idly, not recognizing a single one, before stepping over to peer out over the Konoha skyline outside. The windows rose floor to ceiling, allowing for an absolutely stunning view of the lights from downtown that never seemed to shut off for the night.
"Don't jump." Naruto's heart leapt into his throat; he hadn't heard the bastard come back in here. Sasuke padded softly over to the smaller of the two couches in the room and gestured for his guest to come join him. The blonde mentally acknowledged that he'd changed into a plain black shirt and basketball shorts, forgoing shoes entirely.
Naruto ambled over and gracelessly plopped himself down on the matching couch, leaning back into the soft black cushions. He adjusted so he was sitting on top of his legs more comfortably and plucked up a nearby pillow to hug tightly.
Sasuke smirked slightly and propped his chin up on his hand, elbow resting on the arm of the sofa. He crossed his legs and rested his other hand on top of his knees. "So, how exactly did you fuck up?"
Naruto avoided looking at him. This was clearly still a touchy subject.
"So, I lost my father about six months ago. He got hit by a distracted driver, some kid texting or something. My mom was with him, and she got pretty messed up and all." He breathed shakily, but held his composure and continued after a second. "We were always close even though I hadn't visited home in a while; he owned a martial arts studio here in town, I grew up in there. But… after he died, I suddenly had to take over and it was just too much. I lost the place about 6 weeks ago and my mom took it really hard. I tried, I really really tried but with the funeral costs and her medical bills for the live-in nurse and all, plus the mortgage… I ended up selling. I'm not sure she is ever going to forgive me." His gaze was fixated outside on the distant skyline. Sasuke could see the multitude of twinkling lights reflecting in a sparkle on his glazed over eyes. For some reason, the normally stoic man felt like hugging the other man.
Instead, he cleared his throat to regain Naruto's attention. The blonde snapped out of it and turned back to the intimidating man beside him. Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine at the intensity of the obsidian gaze fixated on him. "What about today, then?"
"Oh, yeah." He had asked that earlier, hadn't he. 'Damn it Naruto, get yourself together dumbass.' The blonde shook his head a little and sighed, dropping his chin onto the pillow in his arms. The large man looked positively ridiculous all curled up like that, Sasuke thought, even as his subconscious fought to use the word cute. "This morning I got into another fight with my shitty landlord over the goddamn fence again, and then I lost my part-time job at the grocery store because I was late again due to the goddamn landlord argument about my fence, and then I've been trying to figure out this Doordash shit which for whatever fucking reason I thought was a good idea at the time, but I just ended up driving aimlessly around a bunch of different apartments and this obnoxious ass fucking business office with really rude ass employees for shit all tips. I got rained on, my Sprite pissed itself all over my car, and I got into a drunken fistfight in a parking lot." He picked at the dried blood on his knuckles absently and trailed off. It seemed this was a habit of his. "And now I'm at some random dude's really nice house complaining about everything that's ever happened in my life and I really don't know what I'm doing anymore." At that, he collapsed back onto the couch and spread out his legs, one flopping over the edge to touch the floor.
Sasuke stood, and Naruto noticed that the man moved very elegantly as he walked toward the kitchen; he was like a big cat. When the raven didn't show any signs of returning any time soon, the now thoroughly drained blonde dragged himself over to a bar stool near where Sasuke puttered around the kitchen. Naruto suspected he was making tea. Only after the kettle had whistled and he had set two warm mugs in front of them did he speak again.
"I agree, that is a pretty shitty day." Naruto gave him a small smile and took a gulp of the hot drink, burning his tongue in the process. Sasuke blew gently onto the steam wafting from his cup and took a small sip. He paused for just another moment and held the cup between his hands to warm them. "What kind of martial arts do you know?"
A single tan finger drew aimless patterns on the smooth granite surface of the kitchen bar as he thought, momentarily thrown off by the change in conversation. He listed a few traditional practices off, including a few Sasuke was wholly unfamiliar with among several more modern methods of fighting and training. He allowed his dark eyes to quickly scan the physique of the man in front of him again; it made a lot more sense now.
"I was never good at school, but tell me to hit something and I can do it in just about any way you want me to." At that, he looked sheepish for the first time that evening.
Sasuke decided to poke the bear a little; so far he'd proven to have fairly amusing reactions. "So you'll insult a stranger and throw up on their shoes, but failing a few spelling tests over a decade ago is where you draw the line on what's embarrassing?" He couldn't bite the smirk back any more. It almost slipped into a smile as he watched that pink tinge from before returning to Naruto's cheeks.
"Shut up, asshole."
"What's going on in our kitchen at 4am, Sasuke?"
With an only slightly unmanly 'eep,' Naruto gripped the edge of the island a little tighter and peeked over his shoulder. Another man that looked strikingly similar to Sasuke stood across the room, rubbing tired eyes and yawning as he approached them. Their eyes were nearly identical, the other man appearing slightly older and his hair a good deal longer than Sasuke's. He had on a plain white t-shirt and dark plaid boxers.
"Itachi." Sasuke took another sip of his tea and acknowledged the other man with a slight nod. "Job interview." Naruto's eyes widened in response and he opened his mouth to answer, but the other man -Itachi, apparently- yawned again, much louder this time and moved to stand so he could put his hand on top of Sasuke's unruly dark hair.
"Job interview? What position?"
Identical dark eyes met, and Naruto felt a subtle shiver go down his spine at what appeared to be a silent conversation that occurred over the course of about 5 seconds. Sasuke brushed Itachi's hand off of his head and motioned to shoo him along.
"Ignore my brother, he's an overbearing asshole." Itachi flipped him off over his shoulder before moving to get a glass of water. "But if you absolutely must know,I need a new shadow. There was another incident tonight."
The older brother took a sip of his water and stopped beside them again just so he could poke his brother's forehead. Sasuke rubbed at the spot irritatedly, only serving to make the slight redness worse. Naruto snickered at his suffering, the sound dying quickly when Itachi turned that intense look onto him.
The older man reached out suddenly and grabbed him by the chin, turning his nervous face side to side to inspect it. Naruto briefly noticed that the nails on his hand were painted a purple so deep they were almost black. After a second, the hand released him and the blonde rubbed uncertainly at his cheek.
"He's pretty, I like this one better than the weird snake guy." With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared back into the hallway across the room, his footsteps nearly silent. A moment later, they heard a door shut quietly.
Naruto could only look at him, his head cocked slightly to the side in obvious confusion. "Uhhh…"
"Forget him, he's unimportant," he mumbled apathetically with a slight wave. Sasuke finished the last bit of his tea and set the mug down gently on the island, running his fingers across the smooth surface absently. He noticed when Naruto's eyes followed the slow drag of his tongue across his lips and subconsciously bit his bottom lip in response. Blue eyes flashed up to his own, seemingly embarrassed for being caught staring.
The blush returned to his tan cheeks and he sputtered a little bit when he went to hurriedly chug the rest of his tea. "So, this is a job interview?"
The look Sasuke gave him was absolutely sinful, and immediately he felt like rethinking his decision to get in the elegant and mysterious looking man's car earlier that night. The velvet of Sasuke's voice made a shot of electricity race down his spine, and he suddenly felt a little hot around the collar but he wasn't exactly sure why.
"That depends. How badly do you want to pay me back?"
...
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