i remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night / i'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're 'bout to cry / i know your favorite songs and you tell me 'bout your dreams / i think i know where you belong / i think i know it's with me

- you belong with me, taylor swift (fearless)

it's saturday evening and the night is quiet save for the music of the wind hitting their wind chime outside. sasuke pads, barefoot, across the bathroom to his bed to settle in for the night. his day is slow and draining, and he's more than glad to just pass out from it all.

but when he finds soft flesh under luxurious satin slips, he can't help but feel invigorated.

sakura, with her eyeglasses perched at the slope of her nose, offers him a look. his hand underneath her night slip squeezes her bare thigh and she smirks.

"sasuke-kun," she warns. "i have to finish this."

he lays down beside her on the bed, his face just high enough to be at level with her shoulder. with a small kiss on her skin he answers, "i know… go on then."

sakura haruno has been a frequent occupant of his bed's left side for a year now. she still has her own apartment across town but sasuke is determined to keep her here for as long as he can. she looks good on his dark sheets anyway, especially when her vibrant pink hair's all splayed out on it when he makes love to her.

she giggles as she looks back to her laptop again, "i know you. please, behave…"

sasuke only nods his head against her but doesn't remove his hand under her sleepwear.

one year and it all seems so fast yet so slow for sasuke. he met her when they were introduced to each other by their respective friends. naruto, his best friend, has been dating this girl online for almost a year when they finally met in person. in caution, his girlfriend brought a friend.

and naruto, being the idiot that he is, thought it's best to bring him as well.

when he and naruto waited at the restaurant, sasuke wanted to leave the blond's sorry ass for approximately six times before the girls arrived. at this point, he was annoyed and bored and wanted to poison naruto. but that was until the greenest eyes he's ever seen looked straight at him.

sasuke didn't bother to ask naruto what his girlfriend looked like, but at first he thought that his best friend snagged this girl with pink hair in the red dress and his mood turned sour even more. the relief in his lungs was apparent when he saw that naruto was approaching the blue-eyed lady, ino, instead of her.

sakura caught his eyes in an instant and it was so unusual for sasuke that he got bothered by it for weeks. he tried to distract himself by studying to the bone and that made him go to a local pub one night to drink. and that's where he met her again, this time with medical books on her booth, as she types furiously on her computer.

who the hell studies in a badly lit restobar with loud and drunk people around? only sakura haruno, apparently. and that was it, really— the start of their unusual friendship born from their best friends' online dating.

they see each other once a week in this bar to keep her company most of the time, but also to keep sasuke sane and insane at the same time. every time they meet, sasuke knows her better— her favorite alcohol, her preferred scented candles, her childhood dreams. and sasuke inevitably opens up too— his worst experience with pranks made by his cousin, his favorite songs during his emo phase, his fears of facing his future as an uchiha.

in hindsight, he should've known.

he should've known he would fall in love with her.

with that memory in mind, he murmurs against her upper arm. "do you remember that night when i drove up to your house after you called me while crying?"

sakura tilts her head towards him, "yeah… why?"

"that was the moment i realized that i had to be with you."

his eyes remain on her face as it turns from her natural pink to her blushing red. "wh-why are you saying this?" she stammers. she's so cute.

sasuke shrugs in return. he continues speaking while his thumb rhythmically go back and forth on the inside of her thigh, "nothing… i just remembered feeling like i always wanted to be with you because i know i'll never make you cry like that."

still blushing, she sighs lovingly before slowly taking off her glasses and shutting her laptop close. after putting it on her bedside table, she lays down on his pillows and looks up at him with stars in her eyes.

she puts a finger on his face and traces it as she whispers, "what are you really trying to say, sasuke-kun?"

she knows him so well. right now, he thinks he doesn't even have to put it into words because he already knows that a part of her already does. he will always try, though.

he will always try for sakura.

that's why he props himself up with his elbows and sweeps her hair on the side before letting her know what he wants—

"move in with me."

she spends her time here more than she does at her apartment anyway. half of his wardrobe is hers, his drawer is full of hair ties that she always keep on losing, his toothbrush is beside hers with her skincare products. his entire apartment smells like her and it's the first time sasuke wanted to stay in bed and do nothing when she is there sleeping like she lives here already.

it's simple math, really. none of them need to study for it— he belongs to her as much as she belongs to him. they belong to be with each other— together.

sakura continues to look up at him but her finger halts on his lips. a few moments pass and she's still quiet and the silence makes him nervous.

he blinks, "b-but i understand if you think it's too soon… i mean it's only been a year and i-"

"thought you'd never ask," she smiles before tugging him down for a passionate kiss.

it takes him a second to process what she said before happiness comes flooding in his system and kisses her back. he cages her in with his other arm since his hand is still under the satin of her slip and he glides it upward to hold her hip and pushes her gently on the soft mattress.

sasuke gets to to this every night when she moves. he won't be able to miss her for too long because she's always gonna be at an arm's reach if he wants to. he can come home to this every day and be welcomed by her every time. just thinking about it makes him happy.

her hands are now buried in his hair as her lips move against his. her tongue licked his lips and he opens them further so he can meet it with his own, groaning as he does it. his free hand tugs down the thin strap of her nightwear with his thumb and immediately replaces it with his mouth, teeth nipping gently from the slope of her shoulder up to her slender neck. she hums in pleasure and he lights up inside with the sensation.

"sasuke-kun…"

hearing his name in that tone never fails to make him go crazy but there's something about the importance of tonight that pushes him to wait before he pounces on her. with his mouth still on her jaw, sasuke replies.

"yes, love?" he answers back affectionately.

along the course of their relationship, sakura's always the one who is more comfortable in taking it onto the next level. she was the first to initiate their first kiss, the first to say i love you, and the first to call him something other than his name. when she first called him 'love', his ears almost fell off because of how red it became. she always makes fun of him every time she remembers it.

but his tongue got used to it, as much as it did his heart. there's so much affection and care under that one word, and what is love to sasuke if not sakura?

"we're gonna be roommates," she says cheekily, her eyes alive and so, so green.

you belong with me, he muses in his head as he gazes upon her beauty. her ability to make his day better with one kiss, to silence his demons with one touch, and to make his future look so much brighter with just one look gets him so excited.

his heart hammering in his chest from too much love, he grins at her— boyish and so completely in love— "yes, we are. it's best to get acquainted with each other, then… don't you think so?"

her beaming smile is her only response before raking her nails down to his already naked torso and wrapping her legs around his hips. she kisses him soundly on his neck, slowly up to his chin, before landing on his lips. sasuke quivers in anticipation.

"better get started then."

a/n: thank fuck a break from angst lmao why does majority of taylor's songs so freaking sad