Author's note: Man, this story is a lot of fun to write...Make sure you review!
Enjoy.
Uchiha Sasuke doesn't get flustered. He doesn't fume, fuss, or get anxious, but he can, and will, grow annoyed when someone is late for an appointment and silently acknowledge this to himself.
So if it looked like he was currently pacing back and forth, glancing at his watch and muttering under his breath, you must be losing your marbles.
"It's almost two already, damn him," he mumbled while enjoying a quick, pointless walk to the end of the aisle of books before suddenly deciding to go back. "Where the hell is he?"
The sound of the library door made him pause and glance in its direction. Spotting a shock of blonde hair, Sasuke swiftly strode forward, sat at the table in front of him and buried his nose in the book waiting for him. He ignored the sound of footsteps as they approached him.
"Sasuke! There you are." Smiling sheepishly, Naruto set his bag in the chair next to Sasuke and leaned against the table. "Sorry I'm so late. You wouldn't believe what happened—"
"Then spare me." Sasuke didn't even glance up from his book, and from his tone, Naruto might as well have been a piece of gum on his shoe. "Make yourself useful and get a book."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto replied, moving to browse the books available to him. "I don't know why I bother apologizing to you. I'd stand better chances convincing the Grim Reaper that he's a ballerina than breaking through the brick wall that is Sasuke the Pissy."
Sasuke looked up at that, his eyes cold enough to give Satan a chill. "You are two hours late, Uzumaki."
"I know it, and I'm sorry." Snagging a book, Naruto settled down next to Sasuke. "I honestly lost track of time."
Satan would have started sneezing. "How do you lose track of two hours?"
Naruto glanced at him, apparently torn between telling Sasuke and keeping quiet. After a long moment, the blonde simply smiled charmingly.
"I dunno. They have a tendency to slip through your fingers." He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers to demonstrate. "Seriously. I think I'll need a net or something to hang on to those tricky hours."
Sasuke gave him a flat glare, but a part of him was intrigued. What isn't he telling me? Reluctantly, he decided not to ask.
"Maybe I'll just solder a watch to your arm instead," he stated, privately enjoying the wince that accompanied his statement as he stood and moved to the book rack.
"I think we should do a report on Christopher Columbus," Sasuke added absentmindedly, running a finger over the bindings of several books. When Naruto snorted, the pale boy glanced back at him.
"Columbus was an ass. If we're going to do an explorer, at least do Marco Polo or something. If nothing else, he's got a game named after him." Naruto started rifling through the pages of the book he'd found. Lifting an eyebrow, Sasuke turned around and leaned back against the books.
"You know about Columbus?"
"Yeah," Naruto replied softly, his attention on whatever he was reading. "He comes over here, not in three small ships, but with the full support of Spain, starts mucking around, and even starts the slave trade in the Americas." Shaking his head, he turned the page. "I'm not going to write a glowing report on how fantastic he was."
Sasuke blinked in surprise. "Huh."
Naruto glanced up. "'Huh' what?"
"I never pegged you for someone who'd know something like that."
Eyebrows furrowing, Naruto stood. "I'm not as oblivious as people think I am, Sasuke. I know how to pay attention." Clearly irritated with the mild surprise on Sasuke's face, he turned and glanced back at the book he was reading. "I don't think this has anything useful in it," he mumbled under his breath.
Eyes scanning the history books behind Sasuke, Naruto grunted. "That one should have something on Marco Polo..."
Stepping up, he glared at Sasuke. "Are you going to move or not?"
Sasuke blinked at him. Huh. It's been a while since he was actually mad at me. For some odd reason, that amused him. Folding his arms, he smirked at Naruto.
"I'm sure you don't need it. Can't you just write a report on him from memory?"
Naruto scowled. "No, I can't. Now will you move already?"
"And here I thought you were an Obliviousness-Free Zone."
"Move it, Uchiha." Naruto's scowl grew when Sasuke simply stretched his arms out and settled more comfortably against the bookshelf. "Honestly, of all the times to grow a sense of humor," he muttered.
Sasuke stifled a small laugh at the grumpy look on Naruto's face. Is this how he feels when he teases me? No wonder he does it so often. Allowing a smug smile to cross his face, Sasuke gave Naruto a challenging look.
"Well, you pride yourself on being taller than me. I'm sure you can reach the book with me standing here."
Muttering under his breath, Naruto stepped forward. "Fine, dammit." He reached up to grab the book on the top shelf, but his hand was shy of reaching it. Swearing under his breath, Naruto stepped closer.
And closer.
The smirk fell off Sasuke's face as he was suddenly presented with a very close up view of Naruto's chest. The blonde's muscles rippled under his dark blue shirt as he strained upwards, and Sasuke's mouth went dry as Naruto unconsciously tiptoed a bit closer. Swallowing hard, Sasuke fought the urge to squirm.
...Damn, he smells good...
A scent vaguely like honey and cinnamon wafted into Sasuke's nose as the boy pressed himself back into the books. Naruto was nearly sandwiching him against the wall, precious few centimeters separating them. Turning his face away, Sasuke had to fight the insane urge to grab fistfuls of Naruto's shirt, bury his face in the taller boy's chest, and inhale deeply.
Dammit, what's WRONG with me? He's just a guy! Sasuke swallowed hard again and closed his eyes as Naruto slid a leg between Sasuke's for leverage. Jesus...
Trying to control his breathing, Sasuke glanced up at Naruto. The blonde's face was skewed, tongue peeking out from behind his lips and tilting upward as Naruto focused on reaching his prize. Sasuke's heart started pounding as he placed his suddenly sweaty palms flat against the books. Every bone in his body was screaming for him to pull Naruto closer, to run his hand down the other boy's chest, grab his head and pull him down for a furious kiss, anything!
...Good lord, I'm attracted to him. I'm actually attracted to Uzumaki Naruto.
Struggling with this revelation, Sasuke barely heard Naruto mutter, "Oh, to hell with it." He started to glance up at him when Sasuke abruptly found himself flattened against the wall, Naruto's entire length pressing against him. Embarrassingly enough, a small squeak slipped free of Sasuke's lips as his rapidly frying brain registered the feel of Naruto's hard, toned body pressing against his.
Sasuke swallowed hard, his face pressed against Naruto's ear and jaw. Just think good thoughts. Think pure thoughts. Find a Zen moment. As Naruto shifted against him, Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and thought desperately, What's the sound of one hand clapping? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound?
Is he going to get off me before I embarrass myself?
Before Sasuke's panic could break the surface, Naruto uttered a triumphant sound and pulled the book free, stepping back. He waved the book mockingly in front of Sasuke.
"Hah! What do you think of that, Uchiha?"
Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, but he only managed a soft, strangled sound before shoving Naruto out of his way and moving to the table. He immediately started gathering his things, throwing his notes haphazardly into his bookbag and tucking the various history books he'd collected under his arm.
Naruto blinked at the sudden, frenzied motions. "Where are you going?"
"I do have other engagements, Naruto," Sasuke bit out coldly. Straightening, he stormed towards the front desk. "Next time, I suggest you arrive on time."
He left, ignoring the bewildered look on Naruto's face. There's no way I can sit next to him now, now that I know I'm...now that I know I want him. A flush appearing on his cheeks, he bowed his head as he checked out his books and let his bangs shield him from view. God, how am I going to face him again?
Accepting the books, Sasuke strode for the exit.
"Sasuke-teme, wait just a damn minute!"
No, no, no, not dealing with you now, no, no, no.
Sasuke had just managed to place a hand on the door when Naruto's large hand wrapped firmly about his upper arm. Dammit!
"Where the hell are you running off to? I know I was late, but we still have work to do—"
"I'll start researching online tonight and dig up some sources," Sasuke cut in. "Unlike you, I've been here for quite some time already, and I'm going home." Let go of me. Just let go!
Naruto hesitated, but he finally released Sasuke's arm. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke."
The slimmer boy simply grunted in reply, throwing open the door and stalking away from him.
I REALLY need to stay away from him until I figure this out.
It wasn't until Sasuke was halfway home that he realized that he'd forgotten his wallet at the library.
"Dammit!"
The gods were smiling on Neji today.
The pale boy had decided to visit the library on a whim, not really planning to do any research, when he'd come across none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The blonde was sitting by himself, alternately chewing on his lip or his pencil as he scribbled notes from a book.
And Uchiha was nowhere in sight.
Allowing himself a small smile, Neji made his way over to Naruto's side and glanced down at the book he was reading. Naruto didn't even seem to notice his presence, focused as he was on his work. After indulging himself by drinking in the boy's sight for a few moments, Neji chose to announce his presence.
"I've never seen you so studious before."
"Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus," Naruto replied easily.
Neji lifted a brow. He knew I was here? "Are you making any progress?"
Naruto paused for a moment, then placed his pencil down and leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah, I've been getting some good information down." Stretching his arms over his head, Naruto tipped his head back and smiled at an upside-down Neji. "So, what brings you 'round these parts?"
Neji's small smile grew. "Just wandering about." When Naruto nodded and sat up, Neji hesitated. Should I ask him now? The proud boy slipped his hands into his pockets. I guess this is as good a time as any. The Uchiha is absent for once.
Clearing his throat softly, Neji ventured a few words. "Are you busy this weekend, Naruto?"
Interested, Naruto turned to face him, resting an arm on the back of the chair. "Not particularly, no. Why?"
"I have an extra ticket for a Yellowcard concert, and I thought that you might—"
"YELLOWCARD? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Leaping to his feet, Naruto grabbed both of the surprised Hyuuga's shoulders. "You have tickets to Yellowcard?"
"Yes..." Neji replied slowly, watching as Naruto's eyes brightened with joy. "I take it you want to go?"
"HELL YES!" Grinning like a maniac, Naruto tightened his grip on Neji's shoulders. "I tried for weeks to get tickets to that concert! You're officially the coolest guy ever!"
Attempting to suppress a smile and failing somewhat, Neji chuckled lightly. "I'll drop by and pick you up on Saturday at 6, alright?"
Naruto's grin threatened to crack his head in half. "Neji, I just realized something. I love you with all my heart and soul!" With that, he threw his arms about the pale Hyuuga and squeezed with all of his might.
Blushing lightly, Neji allowed Naruto to hug him. If I'd known it was THIS easy to gain his affection, I'd have done this MONTHS ago...
His gaze flickered to the left as a movement caught his eye.
Uchiha Sasuke stood about five feet away, his features frozen. Neji blinked at him, then allowed a self-satisfied smile to cross his face. The smile remained as Naruto finally released him and stepped back, cheering happily.
"I'll see you on Saturday, then." Casting a sly look at Sasuke, Neji added, "We could go out to dinner beforehand. My treat."
"Seriously? I get Yellowcard and free food?" Naruto laughed, whacking Neji on the shoulder. "Where have you been all my life?"
Behind his back, Sasuke was loudly grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.
Smiling, Neji began to walk away. "It's a date, then." He took personal enjoyment from the look of barely suppressed fury that crossed Sasuke's face. Humming lightly to himself, Neji let himself out of the library.
Yes, the gods were definitely smiling on him today. He'd managed to easily get dinner and a concert with Naruto while thoroughly pissing off the Uchiha.
No wonder his horoscope had five stars today.
"Catch ya later, Neji!" Turning, Naruto waved cheerfully at the departing Hyuuga, then paused as he spotted a quietly furious Sasuke. "Hey, when'd you get back?"
"Sometime around your declaration of undying love," Sasuke spat out. One part of him was accusing him of giving away too much about his emotions, but the rest of him didn't care. Stalking forward, Sasuke swiped his AWOL wallet off a chair, turned, and stormed away again.
"Have fun on Saturday," he called out sarcastically. Damn him. Damn him! And damn Neji to hell!
On the heels of his anger, Sasuke heard Naruto mumble, "What the hell's gotten into him today?"
Sasuke allowed his hair to cast shadows over his face.
Just...damn you, Naruto.
Damn you for making me feel this way.
About three hours later, Naruto lay sprawled on his bed, gazing at the ceiling. I wonder what got into him today? What did I do that pissed him off so much? Frowning, the blonde recounted the day's events. He wasn't sure why Sasuke had stormed off the first time, though he supposed that could be attributed to his being late—Sasuke could be surprisingly anal about stuff like that—but that didn't excuse his being pissed off the second time around.
Honestly, Naruto couldn't fathom what the problem was. All Sasuke'd walked in on was Naruto making plans with—
"Oh, for God's sake. Neji!" Naruto slapped himself on the forehead, earning himself an odd look from Kiba, who was lounging on his own bed with a book on dogs in his hands.
"'Neji' what?"
Naruto shook his head. "I just figured out why Sasuke's pissed at me." Those two hate each other's guts. No wonder Sasuke had a cow.
Kiba snorted, returning his attention to his book. "Since when does Sasuke need an excuse to be mad at you? It's his life."
"True." Naruto chuckled lightly. "Not that I don't encourage it every step of the way."
"Why do you provoke him, anyway? You'll end up with his fist down your throat at some point if you keep it up."
"Been there, done that," Naruto replied. Making a decision, he stood up and grinned. "Besides, it's so much fun to ruffle his feathers."
Kiba made a small noise of acknowledgement in his throat as he watched Naruto pull out some clothes and toss on a jacket.
"Where are you off to?"
"I'm gonna go work out."
"Again?" Kiba frowned. "You're already huge. Why the hell would you need to work out?"
Grinning, Naruto turned, lifted an arm and made a muscle. "Hey, keeping this beautiful, gorgeous body," he paused to plant a smacking kiss on his bicep, "takes a lot of hard, loving care."
Snorting, Kiba rolled his eyes. "Just go, Narcissus."
"Hey, I love myself. I'm just not in love with myself."
Naruto laughed and leaped out the door just as a pillow flew after him. Tossing it back, he slung his workout clothes over his shoulder and headed off to the gym.
Maybe there I'll figure out what to do about Prince Uchiha.
"If you're sexy and you know it, clap your hands!" Naruto sang from his position on the floor, lifting his legs and lower body slowly into the air before relaxing. "If you're sexy and you know it, clap your hands! If you're sexy and you know it, and you really wanna show it, if you're sexy and you know it—"
"Alright, Uzumaki, that's enough!"
"Hey, don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful!" Naruto called back, enjoying the round of laughter and groans that accompanied his remark. A grin on his face, he did another ten repetitions before lowering his legs and rocking up onto his feet. Nothing pleased Naruto more than working out—well, aside from ramen. The sensation of pushing his body to the limit, working up a good sweat, and hurting the next day in places he didn't know he had thrilled him.
And hell, it was a great way to burn off sexual frustration. Even as gorgeous as he was, Naruto still didn't—and to be honest, didn't want to—score very often. What better way to blow off some steam than knocking the stuffing out of a punching bag?
Of course, now that he didn't use Sasuke as said punching bag, Naruto had to settle for using the gym's.
As he picked up a dumbbell and started work on his triceps, Naruto puzzled yet again on why he'd stopped fighting with Sasuke. He wasn't really sure, but it had suddenly seemed...wrong. He was tired of picking fights with someone he was only pretending to hate, and he was sick of the I-hate-you-so-I'll-do-everything-I-can-to-make-you-miserable relationship they'd had.
So, he'd changed it.
Naruto had to admit, being friends with Sasuke instead of enemies made him a hell of a lot happier than he'd be any other way. Hanging out with the prick (and flirting with him, he'd admit it. Sasuke's face was always so priceless!) was the highlight of his day...and the fact that Sasuke was gorgeous helped that along. Personally, Naruto preferred girls, but hey, a babe is a babe, right? Snorting, Naruto switched arms and wondered what Sasuke would say if Naruto ever told him that.
A soft rustle beside him made Naruto glance up. Gaara stared impassively down at him, dressed in a red shirt and black shorts. Naruto grinned at him.
"Yo, Gaara. Still a Slim Jim, I see."
Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly. "Naruto. Still an atrocious sense of style, I see."
Naruto's grin widened. "Hey, I don't care what you say. I look good in orange."
Before turning away, Gaara ran his eyes quickly down Naruto's body. Clad in an orange muscle shirt and blue gym shorts, Naruto should have looked awful by all rights, but he somehow managed to pull the look off. Gaara shook his head softly, moving to sit on a bench across from the blonde and picking up a dumbbell himself. One of the ways of Uzumaki Naruto, I suppose...
After a few minutes of companionable silence, Naruto spoke up. "So, what's new? You haven't been coming by the gym very often lately."
Gaara made a soft noise in his throat as a response, but when Naruto frowned at him and started tapping his foot, Gaara rolled his eyes.
"I had a lot of tests and projects over the last two weeks," he finally replied. Naruto brightened instantly.
"See? It's not so hard to give people a direct answer." Naruto grinned as Gaara simply gave him a flat look. "You don't have to become a motor-mouth like me to carry on a decent conversation."
Gaara stared at him. "You seem to be in a good mood today," he commented at length.
"Of course I'm in a good mood! I'm going to a Yellowcard concert with Neji on Saturday!"
Gaara froze, his dumbbell halfway up. "With Neji?"
"Yup! Bet you didn't know the guy wasn't a complete stiff, didja?" Naruto smirked, shifting his grip on the dumbbell to work his biceps.
Gaara hesitated. "You're going to a concert...that's it?"
"Well, dinner beforehand." Naruto took in the frown that appeared on Gaara's face. "Why? What's wrong with that?"
"...Are you sure this is a...casual meeting?"
Naruto snorted. "Of course it is! What else would it be?"
Gaara gazed at him for a long moment. "It could be a date."
Complete silence filled the air between them before Naruto burst out in laughter. Slapping his leg, Naruto tipped his head back as he cracked up.
"Neji? Asking me on a date? You've gotta be kidding me!"
Gaara's frown grew at Naruto's reaction. "Why wouldn't he?"
Slowly regaining control of himself, Naruto swiped at his eyes. "Because Neji's a bud of mine, nothing like that! Besides, if any of the girls he's ever gone out with heard you say that..." He continued to chuckle.
Gaara looked away. Neji's relationships with girls were never serious. They always broke up with him because they never did anything together. I don't think that's strong evidence in Neji's favor. His frown grew. He made a move on Naruto...this soon?
Naruto took in the look on Gaara's face, his smile slowly dissipating. "Gaara? What's the matter?"
After a moment, the other boy shook his head, set the dumbbell on the ground, and stood.
"I have to leave," he stated simply. His pale blue eyes stared solemnly at Naruto for a long moment.
Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "What?"
"...Since I have been unable to come in recently..." Gaara frowned slightly before smoothing his features. "Will you train with me?"
"A barbell buddy?" Naruto grinned. "Sure thing! I'll make sure to drag your sorry ass in here and abuse you."
Gaara blinked at that but said nothing, turning with a curt nod and walking out of the gym. Pausing in the hallway, he touched his nose gently and glanced at his fingers.
Yup. Nosebleed.
Author's note: Warning, the rating on this fanfic will go up (if only because of foul mouthes...I only get away with so many curse words in pg-13), so you may want to put me on alert if you want the later chapters.