Darlings,
Ok so here we are! No more surprises this time around, this is our third and final installment to the Gateway series. I am aware I could maybe have added a chapter or two more to After and called it a day, but there were still a couple of things we needed to wrap around, not to mention some things we hadn't tapped into...and I'll stop myself now because-no spoilers! I hope I'm not reaching and that you will all continue to enjoy ?
Thank you for all the Kudos, bookmarks, and comments submitted on After-gosh! 115 Kudos? 185 comments? I mean even if half of those are my responses that's almost 100 all belonging to you my amazing dedicated readers ヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ノ Also many thanks to the small but steady follower base that has been building on FF! I just wish it was as easy to reply to your comments as it is on AO3, know that I read every single one and they do keep me accountable for keeping you updated in a timely manner because I know someone is waiting!
Rating: M (Explicit) This is the third installment so...I doubt I have to go over the rating again.
Disclaimer: They are not mine ok? Any characters portrayed in this fic belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I just use my writing powers to right his wrongs...mainly the fact that he never made Sasuke and Naru Canon.
Gateway Exposed
Chapter 1: After
Sasuke could barely open his eyes the next day, he was so exhausted. The bell barely registered at first and he very much decided to ignore it. But whoever was downstairs refused to budge and kept repeatedly pushing the call button.
The blonde stirred next to him, turning and pulling the pillow over his head "No, why " He mumbled, Sasuke's phone rang with a notification and the raven finally gave up and sat up grabbing the phone.
Let me up
Sasuke got off the bed and stopped for a second to grab his shirt off the floor because Naruto would be murderous if he allowed Haku up while half dressed. He opened up the lock app on his phone and greenlit the elevator to let Haku up to the penthouse.
The door to the elevator opened, and Haku barreled in "Seriously Sasuke, what were you thinking?"
"About?" Sasuke played dumb, already knowing exactly what Haku was referring to. The brunette threw a folder on the table, opened it, and scattered its contents across the dining table before he crossed his arms.
"You just kissed him after he'd spent the whole night as Gaara's guest, then fled the party? Who do you think you are? Bruce Wayne?!"
The raven was unimpressed by Haku's outburst as his eyes fell on the table.
There they were, pictures of Sasuke grabbing Naruto by the hand and pulling him away from the redhead, pictures of Sasuke kissing Naruto, pictures of Naruto arriving with Gaara, dancing with Gaara…but then leaving with Sasuke.
"TMZ is having a field day" Haku muttered irritated, he knew he'd been probing the raven continuously the night prior, but he didn't really think Sasuke would snap the way he did. He looked down at the articles
Trouble in Paradise for Our Favorite Couple?
Featuring pictures of Haku and Sasuke entering the gala, then Sasuke helping Naruto into his car.
"Haku, social media could have a field day with what I had for breakfast" The raven muttered "That's not why you're upset though, or am I wrong?" Sasuke asked.
Haku opened his mouth but whatever answer he had for the raven died on his lips as Naruto made his way out into the hall pulling a t-shirt over his head, Haku's eyes trailed the scattered love bites from his neck to his hip bone.
"It's 8 AM on a Sunday, what exactly is your problem?" Naruto muttered as he walked over to the duo and his eyes instantly fell on the printed articles on the table. His face growing red…there were articles out already?
"What were you thinking of showing up with Gaara last night?" Haku asked Naruto.
"And what makes you think you get to question me like that?" The blonde replied as his eyes fell on Haku then traveled over to the table.
The brunette pointed at a picture of Gaara leaning down by Naruto's ear, which was next to a picture of Gaara walking in with Naruto his hand on Naruto's waist. "What do you think this is being interpreted as?" The brunette asked, not backing down.
"Like pictures of you and Sasuke don't get misinterpreted 100% of the time" The blonde rebutted.
"But in this situation, you're either cheating on Sasuke with Gaara or you two were having an affair behind our backs, are you ready for that? Had that crossed your mind at all?" The brunette asked.
"Gaara and I were there as friends, and he will say just as much if asked" Naruto answered
"They don't care, not to mention the ones with the event pass that saw why Sasuke stepped in, in the first place, what was that by the way, with your boyfriend right there?" Haku said scathingly, that one did hit home, the blonde looked down embarrassed. He hadn't planned on that…that hadn't been his intention…he'd fucked up and he knew that, but he wasn't about to say that out loud in front of Haku.
"That's enough," Sasuke said as he flipped the picture in question "And you? Since when do you lose your cool like that?" Haku said as he stared at Sasuke while simmering. Most articles were already assuming Sasuke had dumped Haku for Naruto. And while he knew it wasn't necessarily a lie, it also hurt to see the fact sprawled over every other media page.
"It's already done Haku, you can change your tone and sit down so we can figure out how to address it, or you can take your leave," he said as he started flipping through the articles, Naruto's name wasn't printed...yet. The brunette took a deep breath and plopped down next to the raven.
Naruto's eyes steeled for a bit before he turned around giving up on the idea that they could just go back to bed now "I'll make coffee" 10 minutes later all three men were sitting around the dining table.
"My name isn't on any of them," Naruto said at last
"It won't take them long to figure it out," Sasuke replied.
"How do you want to address it? You could just let it play out" Haku let out, but Sasuke looked up at Naruto's blue eyes, he'd already just let things play out for too long and he couldn't do that to Naruto anymore.
"No, they will eventually figure out who Naruto is and when they do, I want them to know we are dating before they start printing anything else" Haku bit his inner cheek as he heard the raven, an official confirmation that he was dating Naruto, still? After yesterday?
Naruto on the other hand felt butterflies permanently settle on his stomach as he reached out and grabbed Sasuke's hand, ignoring Haku's glare.
"And you and I? As far as the world is concerned you just introduced me to your mom" A smile almost slipped from him as he saw Naruto's reaction to that comment. Naruto would be the villain in this story, no matter how they played it.
"The difference here is that I'm acknowledging there is a relationship between Naruto and I, their articles about us are all based on assumptions and no direct confirmations"
"Except that one picture where you two are kissing" The phrase scalded Naruto's mouth on its way out.
"And when they bring that up, I will say that was a long time ago, and before you and I were dating" Haku scoffed "Like they'll believe that"
Haku, stood walking over by the living area as he fought with all his being to suppress all of the emotions that were clawing over to the surface at seeing Sasuke stand by Naruto. At hearing Sasuke say that their relationship had been technically nothing.
He turned back around, and his eyes landed on Naruto's "I hope you're ready for this"
"I am," Naruto said back defiantly, his hand still gripping Sasuke's.
The next day Naruto fidgeted next to the raven, as he drove him to the practice to drop him off, Sasuke would pick Haku up and they would address the fundraiser event on their way into the office.
Sasuke's hand reached out to grab Naruto's "What is it?" He asked.
"I feel like I pushed you into this" He murmured softly, and Sasuke interlaced their fingers "You didn't…" The raven pulled into the practice parking lot before he turned to Naruto "I want them all to know it's me you're with" The raven muttered. He still seethed every time he saw a picture of Gaara and Naruto together.
Naruto felt the heat spread to his face at the words and he leaned over, placing a kiss on the raven's lips "And the whole world gets to know it's me you're with" he murmured, wishing they could go right back home and stay in all day long.
The blonde sat back and opened the door to the car to make his way outside before he gave into temptation and climbed over Sasuke because he was very tempted to do so.
The raven smirked at Naruto's expression, then his eyes fell on the turtleneck the blonde was wearing under his scrubs "Pity you covered them" He said, and Naruto rolled his eyes at him "You left so many "
"It was a message, and you can cover it all you want, but he'll know exactly why you're wearing it"
"You don't need to mark me; I am perfectly capable of clearing things with him through a regular conversation" The raven scoffed, Naruto could try conversing with the redhead all he wanted, now he'd made sure Gaara would be too busy looking at the proof that Naruto was taken.
"I'm picking you up after work," Sasuke said simply, but what he really meant was: Don't you dare leave with the redhead.
Naruto nodded and kissed the raven goodbye as he closed the car door and walked over to open the practice. He placed a 'be right back' sign on the front as he made his way over to the break room to get himself a coffee. He was always the first one in, and it should be at least 20 minutes before anybody started showing anyhow.
He was pouring creamer on his coffee and reaching for the sugar "Good morning, Cinderella" he almost dropped the sugar as he turned, blushing at the Cinderella reference "You startled me"
The redhead leaned against the entrance to the breakroom scanning the blonde, and as Sasuke predicted his eyes instantly fell on the turtleneck he was wearing under his top.
Naruto bit his lip, he'd sent Gaara a message to apologize but the redhead hadn't replied "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"Be dragged off the event by the most eligible bachelor?" Gaara finished with a small smile
"I—"
"I know you told me you were dating someone, but Sasuke Uchiha?" He shook his head in disbelief "I would have never guessed" thought Gaara figured if there was anyone that could land an Uchiha, it would be the blonde. The hardest part would be getting them both in the same place at the right time because Naruto and Sasuke came from completely different circles, so he wondered how that had happened in the first place.
Naruto put the cup down "I'm really sorry you got dragged into it all"
Gaara laughed "All the more publicity for me, we're probably about to get a wave of clients just from those articles" he walked in and leaned against the cabinets next to the blonde.
"I'm a little more concerned as to why you didn't say anything at the fundraiser when we saw him"
"I wasn't sure what to do, I didn't know we were going to the same event, and we had just fought…I just, he wanted to keep us private, and I wasn't sure approaching him would be the right thing to do..." Naruto trailed off, that wasn't Gaara's business.
He clasped his mouth shut and rubbed the back of his neck "I see us as friends Gaara, but judging by what happened I don't think you feel the same, I shouldn't have called, and I shouldn't have gone, I'm sorry"
"We are friends," Gaara said
"You were going to kiss me," The blonde countered.
"I know…" The redhead murmured as he took a step away from the cabinets and fully turned to the blonde "But I did that because you deserved better, you deserved better than to be ignored by the person you're supposed to be dating, and you know what? After I realized who it was, I have even less regret, he paraded Haku all night long, while ignoring you, I wish I would have gotten to kiss you right in front of him, it would have served him right"
Naruto's mouth propped open at a loss for words for a few seconds.
"It wasn't like that, there is more to it than what you saw, he was actually looking out for me" For his stupidly frail mental state…that was really the only reason Sasuke had waited so long…out of respect for Naruto's privacy and Naruto had attacked him for it…
Gaara shook his head "But was it really for you? He didn't need to give the media a name to tell them he was in a serious relationship with someone, and they should stop printing articles depicting a relationship with his assistant"
The blonde clenched his jaw as the redhead continued "You've set boundaries between us, you've told me time after time you're dating someone, where are his boundaries?"
"Stop," Naruto said looking hurt "I know we've gotten close these last few months, but Gaara, Sasuke is my boyfriend, I'm living with him, and maybe you don't understand why we've done things the way we have, because I've kept a lot of that to myself…but you need to be able to respect my relationship because I don't want to have to…" He trailed off
The redhead took a breath, guilt settling in as he saw Naruto's expression, it wasn't that he was necessarily angry, frustrated a bit maybe, but Naruto had never been his, and he'd never given him false hope either. It wouldn't be worth it to lose his friendship over a crush if he was being honest "I'm sorry…no, I do get it…but…we are friends, and I've seen you walk out of this office time and time again trying to figure out what to do with yourself while you wait for him…or looking at your phone with this sad look on your face as you scroll through your feed…I just worry…but so do Tsunade and Shizune…so does everyone else…I just believe someone should tell you that, as people who care for you, we should be able to be straight up about those things" he said as his shoulders slumped a bit and he walked out of the breakroom leaving Naruto in a puddle of conflict, guilt, and frustration.
He and Gaara had gotten very close over the last months, and the things he'd told him made sense, they were things Naruto himself had wondered about. But at the same time, he needed to make sure Gaara understood, that he needed to respect his relationship with Sasuke. He could be honest yes, but there was also a line between the act of honesty and the act of undermining. Sasuke wasn't perfect, and he'd made mistakes and it had taken him a little too long to figure out where Naruto was coming from, but it was also Naruto's choice to stay, and Naruto's mistake not to set his foot down and say things the way they were meant to be said instead of tip-toeing or dropping the subject for the sake of keeping the peace.
He reached for his coffee and walked back to the reception, he brought the cup up to his lips and took a sip grimacing. The coffee was lukewarm now, and he'd never actually put the sugar in.
He rushed back and made himself another cup and was making his way back running into Jiraya who smiled at him knowingly and ruffled his hair on the way to his office. Once he made it back out to the reception area, he saw Tsunade standing in place looking at one of the TVs they had littered about.
"Hey kid" Naruto rolled his eyes at her "Not a kid," He said
She pointed at the one set to the TV set to TMZ "I don't think I'll get used to that any time soon"
Naruto's eyes centered on the TV and widened, he grabbed the remote and unmuted the TV as he stood by Tsunade, and the audio cut through the empty reception.
"Sasuke arrived with his personal assistant and long suspected boyfriend, then stole the blonde from another guest who was also in attendance, kissed him, then left in a rush. We're all so confused, are Sasuke and Haku no longer dating? Who is this new item?"
Naruto blushed probably from head to toe, as they littered pictures on the back screen showing exactly the succession of events.
"Wait…Wait Johnny I hear we have a live feed, Kelly are you there?"
The feed changed from the studio to the outside of Sasuke's office building
"Hi Karen, yes, I'm here, Sasuke just arrived at the building with Haku in tow and it looks like they will be addressing the press today"
The cameraman moved the take from Kelly and zoomed in through the other crowd of reporters gathering so he could center the camera on Sasuke and Haku. Naruto's breath hitched a little.
"Sasuke, did you and Haku break up?"
"Who was that at the fundraiser event this past weekend?"
"Sasuke!"
"Haku!"
Everyone was asking the same two questions, just with different phrasing…Sasuke raised his hand and quite impressively the crowd grew quiet.
"The person you see me walking out on the pictures is my boyfriend"
Another barrage of questions
"How long have you two been dating?"
"We haven't seen you two before"
"But what about Haku?"
"Who is he?"
"Why was he there with someone else?"
Haku cut in "Sasuke and I are not romantically involved; he has been dating someone else for the past months"
"But you two have been photographed kissing!"
"That picture was taken a year ago, and out of respect to my current partner I won't answer any more questions on that subject" Sasuke cut in
"What's his name?"
"Who is he?"
Sasuke smiled at the camera and Naruto could already imagine women and men melting at that smile "You won't be getting his name today, but I did want to put the rumors between myself and Haku to rest"
"But Sasuke!"
"Haku! How do you feel about this?"
Sasuke and Haku both turned and the security from the building moved forward to stop the reporters from following.
"What a surprise to have this be addressed by Sasuke and Haku themselves! But do we believe it? After they have both been in the limelight for so long could it be that Sasuke was dating someone else all along? Especially, someone, we've never even seen before? Back to you Karen!"
Tsunade reached for the remote and turned the TV off as she turned over to Naruto "I know we all made a lot of jokes about him when we didn't know who he was…but are you ok with this? We can try and keep the TVs to different channels, but the moment Gaara's clients start trailing in they'll recognize you"
"You mean because most of his clients are on a healthy diet of drama channels" Naruto murmured, and Tsunade smiled softly at him.
"We talked about it yesterday, it's ok, I wanted this, I mean I didn't want it to happen the way it did, but…"
"Well, I will say it was about damn time, I was starting to have my doubts about all the secrecy because you're a good damn catch for him to be hiding you" Naruto smiled at Tsunade as the door opened and yet another blonde came barreling in.
"Is it that I need glasses all of a sudden or have multiple articles talking about you and a certain business tycoon been hitting my feed since yesterday?" She said as she walked over to the desk
"Good morning to you too Temari," Naruto said as she scrolled through her phone "Well yeah, I mean I know it has to be you because Gaara is in the picture too but still"
Temari was now the youngest member of their team, and Tsunade had been a little hesitant when Naruto moved her forward as a candidate, but when Tsuande interviewed her, she answered all the interview questions beautifully.
Kakashi walked in next followed by Shizune, his eyes instantly finding Naruto's blue ones as he wiggled his eyebrows "If it isn't the talk of the town!"
The blonde audibly groaned "Are you all going to be like this all day long?"
Sasuke looked up at the brunette sitting across from him "Are you ok?"
"I don't know, am I? I'm trying to quantify the number of people that think I just got cheated on" He answered drily.
"Does it matter, you know that's not what happened"
Something finally snapped inside of Haku as he looked up at the raven "Isn't it? I think it's about time we have a conversation we should have had months ago. You keep insisting our relationship was only physical, but I wasn't having sex with anyone else, and neither were you until he showed up and I really do hate how you like to act like we didn't fuck on your desk the day you left for that cruise"
Sasuke's life before Naruto was mostly work, and Haku was a big part of it, they both worked together seamlessly…Naruto had been right…if he hadn't mixed business and pleasure he wouldn't be in this mess. Haku would have been deflated by the knowledge that Sasuke was dating someone but would have hopefully moved on.
The brunette was beautiful, stunning to look at really, and talented, he wasn't lacking in anything, maybe Sasuke had wanted to like him. Maybe he thought something would spark if they got involved…and there was fondness…appreciation…pleasure…but that was it…it was nothing compared to the wildfire that he'd felt that first night Naruto had come banging on his door.
"You're right, it should have been a conversation, and transferring shouldn't have been an option"
Haku's eyes filled with tears "We've been working together for three years, I'm not just your assistant you know that "
Sasuke let a breath out as he stood and walked over to the brunette looking him in the eye "I know, Haku you're my friend, you're my best friend" Haku froze for a second before he threw his arms around Sasuke pulling him in for a hug.
"That's not enough for me" He whispered as he gripped Sasuke tighter "There's more, I know there is, I felt it" Naruto wasn't right for Sasuke…he…he wasn't…he couldn't be.
Sasuke grabbed the brunette's hands and slid them off of him "You forget yourself when Naruto is involved Haku, friend or not you step out of bounds, the way you speak to him, the way you speak to me, as I said earlier transferring shouldn't have been an option and that's why you'll be working with Itachi from now on"
"You can't transfer me now, after making that announcement, they'll attack him" for once there wasn't malice behind the comment, it was more like panic, he didn't really think Sasuke would transfer him.
"Haku I've made a mess of things trying to hold on to both of you, I was selfish, and I hurt you both and that's not happening anymore, you should pack up your desk"
The brunette grabbed his personal phone and walked over to one of the conference rooms that was rarely ever used as he scrolled through his contacts.
He thought about it for a second before he dialed waiting for the other party to answer
"Well, I was not expecting a call from you"
"I have something for you," Haku said
"On the record?"
"Off the record" He heard a soft scoff, "What would I have to gain from it if I can't publish it"
"Location of a certain blonde that's trending" There was silence on the other end of the phone.
Naruto thought he was ready? Fine. They'd find out soon enough if he really was or wasn't.
Ok, so it's not like I particularly enjoy leaving you hanging like this...but this whole day takes a whooping amount of 20 pages for the obvious reason that it's such an important time for our two lovers, where both of them are making decisions that will impact their relationship...so yeah next chapter we still dealing with 'day after madness' followed by a bit of the day after the day after lol Ok, now I'm just writing nonsense.
But~ I understand leaving you hanging until next Sunday would be mean so I'll update on Wednesday as a peace offering ;)
