Day 13: Heat Waves
"You know, guys, the point of strip poker is to take off your clothes," Naruto complained.
"Don't play if you can't afford to lose, idiot."
Naruto scowled down at his bare chest and legs, then looked over at his friends. He was down to his boxers and one sock, while Sasuke was only missing one shoe and Sakura, who'd started with the least number of items, was still fully dressed. He scowled harder.
"You guys have to be cheating."
"Just because you failed math in high school doesn't mean we all did," Sakura said as she languidly shuffled the deck. The three childhood friends were sitting on the floor of her college dorm as the mercury broke into the triple digits and the college AC system was out. Sakura at least had a fan that wafted the humidity back and forth; they could pretend it helped. It must have been the heat that had baked their brains, because Sakura and Sasuke had agreed when Naruto had suggested strip poker.
Just before she dealt the next hand, though, Naruto's phone rang. When he saw the caller-id, he snatched it up in a hurry. "Hinata-chan! You're done? No, no, no, I can leave now. I'll come meet you! Sasuke and Sakura won't mind. Okay see you soon bye love you." he was pulling on his shorts and socks even with the phone jammed between his shoulder and his ear. Before Sasuke or Sakura could stop him, he hopped out of Sakura's dorm, one arm through his shirt and socks and running shoes in hand.
"Coward," Sasuke snorted.
"Hinata-chan is his first girlfriend," Sakura only smiled, "Kind of a miracle he managed to ask anyone out."
"Hn," Sasuke refused to touch the implication there. He had yet to ask anyone out. Except… He watched Sakura start dealing the cards. "Still playing?"
"What else do you want to do in the middle of a heatwave?" Sakura shrugged, not meeting his eyes.
"Alright," He picked up the five cards dealt to him. There's full house potential here. "Check."
"I'll raise my right shoe," Sakura announced.
Sasuke eyed her, still wearing her running shoes, socks, tank top, and short shorts. "Fine. I'll call." However, after he discarded one of his cards, his full house never manifested, and he was only left with two pairs.
"Straight," Sakura showed her hand with a grin, "Take it off, Sasuke-kun."
"Fine," Sasuke grumbled. He'd assumed that they would trade bits and pieces but after five hands in a row, he had lost both his shoes and his earring, while Sakura had yet to lose anything. He scowled and held his hand out, "Let me deal."
With a smile, Sakura handed over the deck. After the next hand, Sasuke lost his shirt.
"You aren't cheating are you?" Sasuke eyed her suspiciously.
"Don't play if you can't afford to lose," Sakura smiled sweetly at him, "C'mon Uchiha, you're not chicken, are you?"
"Of course not, but you haven't lost anything yet. And I know we had the same mark in Tsunade-sensei's math class senior year."
"Yes but you see, Sasuke-kun," Sakura leaned forward as if she was letting him in on a secret. He could feel her breath against the sensitive curve of his ear. "I spend a lot of time staring at you."
The tension crackled in the air, the feelings that they'd left unsaid for years nearly tangible in the space between them. Sasuke felt his words stick in his throat as he tried to say something, anything, but Sakura only smiled and picked up the deck from his limp fingers.
"One more hand?"
During the next round, Sasuke lost his shorts.
In the college cafeteria the next day, Naruto sidled up next to Sasuke and muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "So asshole, who won?" When Sasuke just glanced at him, Naruto added, eyebrows gesticulating wildly, "You know. The poker game."
Naruto fully expected Sasuke to hit him or tell him it was none of his business, but instead, he smirked. To Naruto's disbelieving face, he replied, easily and entirely sincerely, "I did, of course."
AN: *shakes fist at past LScore* Why didn't you make this a smutty collection?! Oh well.