I do not own Naruto.
Part 2 - 6 months later
That was definitely the biggest issue with Naruto; he was the flashiest shadow Sasuke had ever had, and he always seemed to draw in the oddest of situations and people. He also supposed that he owed that to ever meeting him in the first place, so maybe he was also slightly grateful for that side of him; although, when that situation also involved his brother, things always seemed to go awry.
"Itachi, what the hell is going on?" At the sound of his voice, the mostly-bare blonde in the room froze suddenly and peered hesitantly over his shoulder at him with a sheepish grin. He was standing in the middle of the room, easily observable for Itachi, who was perched comfortably on a tall chair beside an easel in front of the window. A multitude of paints and other various supplies were strewn across the loveseat nearby, being kept closely within reach of the artist. His brother seemed to have on some kind of paint-splattered apron over his flannel pajama pants, having forgone a shirt entirely, and his long dark hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that flowed freely down his back. A few golden streaks on his cheek and forehead shimmered lightly from where he'd absently wiped his hands.
Sunlight streamed in from the tall windows across the room, illuminating the posing blonde and casting admittedly interesting shadows across the wall behind him. The fact it was a positively striking scene didn't make it a less odd one for a casual Friday morning.
"Oh. Hey, Sasuke. You're up." Naruto hunched over a little, attempting to cover some of his exposed body with sparkling hands. Standing on the coffee table in nothing but his underwear and a little body glitter suddenly felt a lot breezier than it had a few minutes ago. "Uh, Itachi said he needed a model for his new painting. Apparently his original person canceled at the last minute."
Sasuke raised a heavy brow in question at his brother. He shot a look at Itachi, communicating wordlessly with their eyes in a way that still gave Naruto the heebie jeebies.
'Canceled? Sure.'
Itachi lifted a single eyebrow. 'He's a better model.'
Sasuke rolled his eyes. 'You just like looking at him more than Deidara.'
In response, he received a nearly imperceptible shrug before Itachi picked his brush back up and motioned with a flick of his wrist for the young man in his underwear to resume his earlier pose. "Art continues."
Naruto did as instructed, only a little more pink in the face this time when he heard Sasuke take a noisy sip from a cup of black coffee directly behind him. He could feel the familiar intense, dark gaze focused directly on his gold-painted back; it made his skin heat up and suddenly his hands felt a little clammy. "Naruto?"
The blonde made a small noise of affirmation, unable to bring himself to look Sasuke in the eye again until he'd at least put pants on.
"Come see me when you're done here, we need to talk about some business.'' After receiving a small grunted noise of approval from Naruto, he turned on his heel in his sock and padded softly back down the hall to his study. The blonde shouted something else after him, but Sasuke had already tuned him out. Work was always hard enough to focus on when Naruto was around anyway, he really didn't need the added effects of him being in a state like the one he'd just walked in on, making things more difficult for certain parts of his anatomy to remain focused. He always tried to keep some semblance of a professional boundary, but everyone that worked closely to him seemed to want to not only cross that boundary but stamp it solidly into the dirt as they danced on its grave. He chose to blame Itachi's influence on his personal staff; he had this nasty habit of convincing them that they didn't really have to listen to him.
'What I'd give for him to just say yes, sir? I am his fucking boss after all.' A small shiver of anticipation that would remain unanswered ran down his spine at the thought of glossed over, crystalline blue eyes and full lips tugged into a pout calling him sir. He shook his head, attempting to toss the thought back into a dark corner of his mind, with a quiet chuckle and took another drink of caffeinated heaven. 'I swear, no goddamn respect. Any of them.'
Sasuke opened the door to his study and stepped inside, pushing the stopper down to prop the door open, before moving to take a seat at one of the comfortable armchairs by the window. The dark leather was warmed from the swath of sunlight streaming inside as the sun rose higher in the early morning sky. He settled slowly into his usual chair and instinctively stretched deeply before drawing his legs up underneath him. The newspaper in his hands crinkled loudly as he unfolded it and, along with his still warm mug in hand, he curled up comfortably to the business section. It was quiet for just a few minutes, before the peace was shattered suddenly.
"I always knew you were a damn house cat," Naruto's laugh came from deep in his chest from the direction of the hall, startling Sasuke badly enough that he was nearly wearing his coffee. He wiped his mouth with the edge of one black sleeve, peering in the direction of the loud blonde with a stiff glare. He was standing in the doorway, hair damp and still shirtless, but thankfully wearing pants now even if they were undone and revealing a peek of orange boxers underneath. A towel was hanging loosely around his neck and Sasuke could still see faint twinkles of remaining glitter on his toned stomach as he shifted to dry his hair a bit more. He leaned over and tapped one ear to clear some water out of it. "I told you I'd only be a second." White towel draped over his head, Naruto looked up through his thick eyelashes with an ear-splitting grin that did odd things to the embarrassed raven's stomach. Face screwed into an impassive expression, he swallowed once thickly.
Sasuke paused for a moment to observe him closely as the blonde's words finally sunk in, eyes narrowing. "A cat?" He asked, a slight twitch appearing at one gleaming, dark eye.
Naruto vaguely gestured to him with a pointed finger as he moved across the room to sit in the opposing chair. "Yeah man, just look at you. You're fluffy and like to sit in patches of sun, you hate most people, and you randomly piss vinegar when anyone talks to you. You're basically just a shitty cat." He began closely examining his nails, teeth still on full shit-eating display as he laughed internally at the train of thought.
A million insults swirled through Sasuke's head, his face stoic as he thumbed through them mentally before taking the final sip of his now cold coffee and pitifully muttering, "I'm not fluffy, idiot."
Naruto's exuberant laugh echoed through the room and out of the open door, floating loudly down the hall. Sasuke pretended he didn't notice the lines that appeared on his handsome, sun-kissed face whenever he shut those bright blue eyes, or the way he always hugged himself as if he couldn't breathe when he laughed like that; the idiot definitely didn't deserve for him to wax poetically about him this morning. A faint pink blush managed to work its way onto pale, smooth skin and Sasuke finally threw a pillow at the loud man when he kept on laughing obnoxiously. It nailed him square in the face, and the blonde pouted, but otherwise settled down with the vandalized cushion now clutched to his chest. Sasuke leaned forward and set his now empty mug down on the small coffee table between them as he spoke.
"Did Sakura get you my schedule for today?" He sat back and perched one ankle on his other knee, arms crossed firmly and a bored expression on his face; much more respectable and absolutely -not catlike- he felt the need to point out to himself. Naruto nodded and pulled his beaten up orange cell phone out of one of the various pockets on the side of his khaki pants. 'I really wish he'd let me buy him a new one.' Sasuke thought with a subtle roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, I got the email a few minutes ago from the office. She said you've got a pretty busy boss day today." He began thumbing through the list on his phone and distractedly prattled off a multitude of horribly boring sounding meetings and a promotional event he'd been booked for that afternoon.
"You two don't need to call demanding days my boss days, idiot. I'm always the boss," Sasuke interrupted him, glaring petulantly.
"Tch, yeah right." Sasuke's eye twitched again and he irately threw another pillow at the once again laughing blonde. Damn him.
…
"I thought you were going to tell him this week."
"I am. The week isn't over yet, Sakura."
"The business week is. Doesn't that count? Just hurry up and tell him, or I will."
"I will fire you." Sasuke seethed at his nosy secretary, teeth clenched tightly .
"Oh, you so won't. You need me." Sakura huffed and tossed a strand of pink hair over her shoulder. She pressed a single manicured nail into his left shoulder pointedly. "Who else would willingly color code your daily schedule, hand deliver speech notes, and remember to include the small print in all of your contracts that says only your presence is being bought and not your positive endorsement? Watching you two flirt pathetically was fun for like, the first three months. Just hurry up and bone the dense dumbass before we all die of old age." She took a few measured steps to plop herself into the available spot on the loveseat beside his brother and smoothed a few new wrinkles out of the fabric of her skirt. It seemed she'd finally said her piece. Her green eyes fixed him with a pointed stare and Sasuke felt his eye twitch once. None of this could be good for his blood pressure.
"If you won't, I will," came a resounding voice from the other corner of the living room, followed swiftly by a smacking sound as the offending voice's owner was hit hard enough to fall from the spinning chair he had previously occupied with a loud cry of -"What the hell, yeah?" The chair squeaked as it continued rotating slowly, mocking him as he groaned from his new spot sprawled out across the rug.
"Thank you, Itachi. And Deidara, I'm going to cut that ponytail off the next time I hear you speak." Sasuke felt as if his face would be permanently stuck in a scowl after this; this always seemed to happen when his brother brought his art friends to their apartment; especially the loud ones. He turned to look accusingly at the small crowd of grown men hulking in the corner playing cards. "Why are they even here?"
"That's so freaking rude! You both suck," Deidara said with a pout, climbing back up into his chair and clutching his long blonde ponytail fearfully. "I was just trying to help motivate you since you can't seem to get the stick out of your own ass, Sasukins." He paused to think. "Or maybe it's that you need help getting a stick in the ass? Itachi, is he the top or the bottom?" Itachi's only response to the inquiry was to look nauseous and stare more intensely at the cards in his hands to avoid making eye contact with his brother. Deidara pouted at being ignored, but continued to dust himself off and gather his scattered hand.
No damn respect. 'In my own house,' Sasuke thought as he slumped down into the leather armchair beside him and rubbed at his aching temples. He was too young to feel this old; he blamed everyone currently in the room for any premature aging he may have.
Somehow, the scowl lines on Sasuke's forehead deepened even further and he felt the tips of his ears burning hot. Idly, he patted down the front of his suit as he looked for something sharp and glared murderously at the mouthy blonde. Was it just in a blonde's nature to be ridiculously and effortlessly annoying? With a terrified squeak, Deidara pushed his chair further behind one of his other companions.
"Uno, bitches!" The largest of the room's unwanted occupants cried out with a sudden flourish from where he sat on the floor. He was rewarded with a collective chorus of groans from the others. He smiled a sharp-toothed grin and stole the rootbeer from in front of the irate redhead beside him.
"You cheated, Kisame," the redhead declared evenly, eyeing the much larger man beside him as he continued drinking the stolen beverage. It only took a single indignant cry of, "Did not!" before the short man took action. In a single fluid motion, he had climbed on top of the blue-haired thief and began attempting to drown him with the remaining liquid in the glass bottle, and then secondly the bottle itself. Sakura wisely chose that moment to scoot a few inches away from the violent scene and focus on the state of her nail polish as the petite man was all but standing on the throat of the gargling giant to pin him down.
"No murder please, Sasori, because the party has arrived!" Every set of eyes in the room collectively turned to where Naruto had entered the foyer, and promptly returned to what they had all previously been occupied with. Kisame flailed once, then grew still as Sasori moved to sit on him in a show of victory, mostly empty bottle of rootbeer held like a trophy in his hand.
"Itachi, it's your turn, un." Deidara said, once again spinning in his chair as he thumbed through his cards. Itachi eyed his friend's hand as he spun for a moment, selected the only yellow card from his own, and set it down on the top of the pile. "Damn, pass man. How are you so good at this?" He absently twirled a strand of long hair and blew a bubble with the gum he'd been smacking.
Sasuke buried his face in his hands, suddenly exhausted. He shouldn't have come home from work today. His obsidian eyes slid between his fingers to check out the grumbling blonde that was upset his grand reveal hadn't gone as expected. His slacks were a charcoal gray with a faint plaid pattern, tailored to a slim fit leg, and they tugged deliciously at his muscular thighs. Tucked into them was a simple white button down shirt with short sleeves that hugged his biceps, the top several buttons still undone; a few blonde hairs peeked out from underneath, and Sasuke could see just the slightest glimpse of toned, tan skin. He was still holding his blazer and a neon orange atrocity of a tie was hanging like a dead snake over his shoulders.
When cerulean eyes met his own obsidian ones, and subsequently lit up with a bright smile, he felt his heart rate pick up and skip a beat. Naruto always looked exceptionally good when he dressed up. Embarrassingly, that just might have been the reason Sasuke had started accepting more event contracts than he ever had in the past; it gave him an excuse to buy his favorite idiot a new suit, and occasionally a tie equally as ugly as any of the previous ones Naruto tended to favor. .
"Sasuke, could you help me real quick?" Naruto shrugged on the suit coat he'd been holding, moved over to where his boss currently sat and tugged lightly at one end of the tie that hung loosely around his neck. "I still can't get the hang of this." With only a slight crack of his knees, he knelt down in front of Sasuke and gave him the best puppy dog eyes he could muster; he knew the other man could never resist them.
Sasuke pressed his lips tightly together as he regarded the blonde on his knees before him; it was a damn good angle for him. He leaned forward just enough and reached out for the ends of the orange tie, convincing himself that his fingers were only shaking from the amount of caffeine he'd had since that morning. "Idiot, you ought to know how to do this by now." After only a moment, he leaned back in his seat to observe the successful Windsor knot and picked a non-existent piece of lint off of his own lap. Naruto casually nudged his knee and chuckled to himself.
"At least I don't still get stuck in it or tangled up at the end of the night, right?" A fit of laughter at the unintended innuendo erupted from Deidara and the near-murder victim that had managed to drag himself back into the card game across the room. They were quickly shushed by a single homicidal look from Itachi, who seemed to be putting his talent of non-verbal communication to great use today; Sasuke decided to pick up some of his favorite dango on the way home next time he went to the office as thanks.
"Dumbass, don't say shit like that," Sasuke said with a steely glare as he fought back the thoughts his imagination really wanted to explore involving Naruto and a tie. He gave the blonde a harsh shove with one of his shoes, pushing him to sprawl across the floor as he attempted to catch himself and failed. Sasuke stood elegantly, adjusted the cuffs of his navy blazer and dusted off his lap. They needed to get going soon or they'd be late. He motioned to Sakura who moved to start gathering up her belongings from where they were strewn across the window seat in the corner of the room.
'I might also lose my last remaining brain cells if I stay in here with these people any longer,' he thought with an internal groan.
Sakura scurried over to join him in the foyer, her heels clacking sharply on the polished floor, and began to routinely read off and run through the usual last-minute checklist for before an event with him. Naruto's fingertips brushed Sasuke's wrist in the faintest whisper of a touch when he moved to hurry past him so he could grab his forgotten cell phone, and Sasuke absently tucked his hands into his pockets, barely remembering to give a nod of affirmation as Sakura continued denoting the things on her list.
His skin tingled warmly where it'd been touched. Sasuke wondered what it would feel like to have him touch him anywhere else; somewhere more sensitive. His memory kindly supplied the recent memory of blue eyes on their knees in front of him and he swallowed, mouth suddenly a little dry and pants edging towards being too tight. His eyes refocused on the head of pink hair beside him as he vaguely noticed Sakura happily packing her tablet up into the bag that was hanging over one of her shoulders, seemingly satisfied they were prepared for his speech.
He didn't even need to be touched by Naruto to feel that intense warmth anymore, and it was starting to get embarrassing. His resolve used to be so much stronger against these mushy thoughts and his desire to touch him; it used to take more than a moderately salacious look from eyes he could sink into, the warmth he radiated when he got a little too close, or the fact that the loft had started to smell like him to get the younger Uchiha riled up. Sometimes, when he felt really poetic, he would think of Naruto as the sun, even if he reminisced back to the day that he'd met the man; he was like that day had been, the sun marred by clouds and shrouded in rain but when given the chance to clear up he'd become so bright it was almost painful. Since that night, after a brief moment of rain, the sunshine had never been covered up again. It had almost become a personal goal of his to keep it that way.
Heavy footsteps announced the sudden arrival of Naruto as he skid to a stop about three feet to his right. He laughed nervously, "Sorry, guys. We can go now." The taller man scooped the keys up from the ring on the wall and opened the door, holding it open for Sakura and following her out, immediately locked in a heated discussion about who would be sitting in the back seat this time. They went to go call the elevator, and Sasuke moved to follow when his brother hurried over to him with a quiet call of his name. Instead, he motioned to Naruto to give him a second and go on ahead. The blonde nodded and hurried over to join Sakura in the waiting elevator.
"What's up, Itachi?" He asked when Itachi had entered the foyer. His brother pushed his shaggy bangs back from his forehead and fixed him with an inquisitive look.
"Are you sure about this?"
Sasuke knew his brother would be concerned; it was a big deal for the younger Uchiha to want to confess to feeling anything other than grudging respect for another person, and while he knew that Itachi liked Naruto much better than any other person Sasuke had shown even a remote interest in previously, he still had a deep-rooted bias for his younger sibling; not to mention a wicked overprotective streak. He'd proven that with his last two failed relationship interventions and also with his previous shadow, Kabuto; the man had been an excellent administrative assistant and was a master in several forms of martial arts so he'd easily met all bodyguard requirements, but his snake fetish and habit of leering a little too intensely at both him and his brother whenever he was around had been a bit too much for either of them. Itachi had had enough when he'd found a boa in their tub with the man in the middle of the night once, and proceeded to throw him out to the curb, dripping wet, and with only the snake on him.
"Hn," he grunted in response, staring down at his shoes to avoid Itachi's satisfied and endeared gaze; the fact he had fallen for the idiot was embarrassing enough, let alone garnering his brother's active support about the situation. Itachi lifted a single hand to his shoulder and a still-flustered Sasuke looked into eyes that so nearly resembled his own, trying to regain his aura of composure. The brief moment was broken when Itachi reached into his pocket and handed him something quickly, before wordlessly turning on his heel to return to where his friends were breaking out a game of Twister and a bottle of vodka. 'I guess that means good luck.'
Sasuke hurried out the door, stopping briefly to lock it, and stepped into the waiting elevator. Only when he'd reached the floor where he would find his car and had stepped out into the parking garage, pieces of the still ongoing argument for shotgun from his two closest employees as they scrambled to push each other out of the front seat echoing loudly as he approached them, did he open his hand and sigh at the single condom pressed against his palm.
'No damn respect.'
He tucked it discreetly behind his wallet in one back pocket anyway and slid into the driver's side seat.
…
"I am never doing that shit again, my face hurts from smiling."
"Bullshit, you always say that, asshole. And your face hurts because you almost never fucking smile, unless you're being paid to."
There was a slam as one car door closed, the passenger huffing in silent agitation as he buckled his seatbelt with a scowl. It was followed quickly by a second, quieter slam, and a grin wearing a hideous orange tie.
The car's dual occupants both absently waved to Sakura as she passed them by with a quick tap to the hood of the vehicle and a single pointed look at Sasuke, her arm wrapped around that of Sasuke's head of security -a somewhat older man he was on fairly pleasant terms with due to their shared love of written word, Kakashi. The pair meandered across the parking lot together, enraptured in whatever conversation they had delved into, and, from what he could see of them as they slowly disappeared, each other's eyes. Sasuke felt a conflicted sick gut feeling at the sight of them, mixed with a surprising, and overwhelming, urge to congratulate her for having made her long-anticipated move on the man; this was shortly followed by the recognition that that gut feeling had been jealousy, and the urge to congratulate her was cut short when he realized that the look she'd thrown him as they'd passed had been as if to mock him; it was as if she'd said, 'Your turn now.'
Sasuke scoffed under his breath and started the car.
The event had gone surprisingly according to plan, aside from the Hyuga representative's exceedingly long-winded and boring speech just after the main presentation; thankfully, he'd only been needed as a guest speaker since his company was just making a 10% buy-in as a favor to support his friend's merger, so he only had to contribute with a quick appearance; he knew it sounded vain, but an appearance from him usually brought in some big donations, no matter the project. He could always throw a few numbers and fancy words around if it meant it would convince some haughty, wealthy socialites to waste some money on worthy business endeavors that sound more interesting than they really were; not to mention things like this tended to easily feed his own pocket, reputation, and his even larger, more selfish need to see Naruto in formal menswear; it was too rare of an occasion as he'd never been able to convince him to wear one regularly to the office.
His mind started drifting to a memory as he pulled the car out of the lot; it was still recent enough to be clear, and foggy enough to remember how inebriated he'd been; two months ago, at Itachi's birthday party, with all of the Akatsuki artist group, two much booze and music that had rattled the windows; Naruto drunkenly deciding to use their coffee table as a stage to strip at only minor prompting from an equally wasted Kisame, and that white tie with the flame pattern getting left behind, alone, around a tan neck as the dark blazer slid slowly down over toned shoulders; Sasuke had only watched and gotten drunk, but he'd wanted to tangle that tie around his fingers, and observe surprise swim through stunned, wide blue eyes, as he pulled those full lips to his own; he'd wanted to be the cause of that flushed skin, and the blonde hair that was pressed to his damp forehead; he'd have given anything to have been that bottle of amber ale when he wrapped those lips around it and chugged, popping the single button on the hem of his slacks and falling to his knees.
Sasuke blinked twice, glancing quickly at the man seated beside him; 'Shit, not again.' He swallowed and tugged a little at the collar of his shirt, loosening his tie the slightest bit with one finger; he suddenly felt a little stuffy, and he must have made a noise, because Naruto sat up a bit straighter and cleared his throat only a little awkwardly, if not contritely.
"You actually looked kind of cool up there, bastard. Like you knew what you were talking about," Naruto murmured with an uncharacteristic shyness, turning his eyes attentively and purposefully to look away from the driver and out at the quickly darkening street outside as the car slowed for a red light; he didn't compliment Sasuke often, but after the man's impressive public performance earlier he felt that it was extremely justified. Peeking from the corner of his eye when Sasuke relaxed slightly into his seat and propped one arm against the window, he watched as his boss attempted to hide a brief smile behind one hand and a quiet noise of affirmation. Naruto's breath fogged a small section of glass beside his face when air momentarily escaped him; was Sasuke smiling and blushing? As he moved to get a closer look, the light changed to green and he lost the advantage of the street post above them when the car started moving again, so he fell back against the door and propped one leg up comfortably. He rubbed his nose a little too forcefully, leaving it tinged pink, and continued in a much quieter voice, "Thanks again for coming with me."
Sasuke stared ahead at the road, but his dark eyes were thoughtful as he spoke, his voice much less morose than usual, "Of course."
The rest of the ride passed in a pleasant silence, except for the occasional mumblings of Naruto along to the radio, as they crossed town into a densely populated and less updated section of the city. The streets were quiet and only dimly lit by the occasional street lamp, the moon now hanging heavily in the dark sky overhead along with just the slightest smattering of stars. Sasuke pulled off in front of a now familiar house, sitting on the very corner of the quiet residential street; inside, several lights were still on.
Naruto tossed his jacket into the back seat and quickly clambered out, Sasuke pausing slightly to sneer at the sight of the expensive fabric sliding to a heap on the floor. Before he could fix it, his door was wrenched open and he was face to face with Naruto as he leaned comfortably over it, hand extended to him. "Hurry up, sir."
He caught the sarcasm, but decided to let it slide; he liked hearing Naruto call him that, no matter the reason. His pride, however, still had him smacking the offered hand aside and brushing quickly past the shunned blonde. Sun-tanned fingers barely let go of their grip on the door before it was slammed shut, and Naruto held his hands up in mock surrender, mirth still dancing contentedly behind playful blue eyes as the pair quickly made their way up the short ramp to the front porch.
A single light buzzed quietly overhead, illuminating the modest space; various types of potted plants covered most of the free space, aside from the area directly in front of the door and a small area just off to the side where there was a well-worn rocking chair. Without bothering to knock, Naruto filtered briefly through the assortment of keys and toys hanging from his still obnoxious keyring before locating the one he needed and letting them in with a loud shout of, "I'm home!"
"Naruto! In here, baby," came a slightly muffled, but still clearly excited voice. Naruto paused only long enough to kick his shoes off in the entryway and beelined his way around the corner on the right into where Sasuke knew the living room to be. He also removed his shoes, taking a second to also straighten up the idiot's beside his own, before following behind him.
The place looked the same as any other time when he'd come to visit; it really was a pleasant little place, seeing as the live in nurse always kept everything spick and span. The floors were all light hardwood and well dusted, and the rooms were all spacious and fairly tall. The walls were a soft cream color, but the majority of the free space was occupied with artwork and a multitude of family photos. The space was illuminated by the soft light of a lamp in one corner and the television as it played some cooking show rerun at a low volume.
He leaned against the door frame of the living room and watched as Naruto knelt down beside his mother -Kushina- where she sat beside a TV in a comfortable-looking recliner, and let her get a good look at him. She tugged gently at the collar of his shirt, smoothing down the front and doing up one more button with a stern look in her eye. He rolled his eyes, but gave her a kiss on the cheek nonetheless, and she smiled softly in approval. It was then she noticed her son hadn't come alone.
Her light eyes warmed when she saw him, and she gestured him over to her also. "You too, young man." He pointed to himself confusedly and she nodded once, so he stepped over to her, hand outstretched in greeting only for her to grab it and drag him down by it to give her a kiss on the other cheek. He obliged her, briefly reminded of his own mother, and feeling his face stain with a mild flush. When he pulled back, she had a self-assured and almost smug look on her face. She patted his shoulder and released him to stand, flustered, beside them. Naruto looked only slightly scandalized, and palmed his face.
"Mom! Leave Sasuke alone, please?" He groaned slightly at the mischievous look that sparkled in her eyes as she grabbed at the Uchiha's hand that was near her shoulder.
"What? You two are always visiting together these days. He's practically like my son now too, it's only fair that he learns the routine, right?" She flicked a loose strand of fiery red hair over her shoulder and
challenged him with her playful gaze. She tugged gently at Sasuke's warm fingers, still clasped amiably in her hands. "Sasuke, dear. Could you please go grab my chair from the bedroom? Tsunade put it up earlier before she stepped out."
"Of course, Mrs. Uzumaki," he acquiesced politely, and headed towards a nearby hallway just off of the living room.
"Kushina, dear. Or mom, if you want!" She called after him, hands cupped around her mouth, and snickered when her son lightly smacked her shoulder and collapsed from his crouch to the floor in exasperation, burying his hot face in his hands. Sucking in a deep breath to reign herself in -this was why she'd had kids in the first place, dammit!- she nudged one of her son's knees. "Have you told him yet?"
Naruto, again, swatted at her and shushed her with a pout. "No, Mom! Not yet, anyways…" he trailed off, rubbing one hand on the back of his neck. She booped his nose, then rested the same finger on her own with a small smile.
"You need to, he wants you to. Call it a mother's intuition." She leaned back into her chair and pressed her finger to her lips, smirking to herself like a fox. At Sasuke's reentry, she smiled, and waved him over hurriedly. He wheeled the chair over and opened it up beside her, offering her a hand wordlessly, lips pulled up in a soft and rare smile. She accepted it graciously and moved over to her mobile seat with practiced ease. "Thank you, dear." Once settled in, she shot off into the house faster than Naruto really thought she should be capable of; he needed to get a bike lock for her or something.
Rolling his eyes again, he awkwardly clapped Sasuke on the shoulder and they followed the noises of rattling pots and pans coming from the kitchen a few rooms over. Kushina wheeled expertly around the open kitchen, setting up a couple of pots on the modified stove, before moving over to the oven. The most delicious smell wafted out when she dropped the door, reaching inside to pull out a whole roasted chicken. Carefully, she stowed it on top of a mobile island and quickly closed and shut off the warmer. Knowingly, Naruto moved to pull three sets of dishes out of one cabinet and Sasuke went to collect cups, a bottle of white wine from the fridge, and began a hunt for the ever elusive bottle opener in the junk drawer.
Kushina felt her eyes prickle at the comfortable familiarity of it all, and blinked back the happy tears. Naruto shooed her into the dining room, so she went ahead and took her place at the head of the table as the boys finished setting up and relocating all of the food, before sitting beside one another in their usual places to her right. When her son launched fully into a tirade bragging about Sasuke's most recent presentation and how badass it had been to get to speak for such a big crowd and open up for the Hyuga corporation and how this much this merger apparently meant for his boss's company, she knew she was the only one to notice the deeply buried look of satisfaction that flitted across the Uchiha's face; he took a bite of green beans to conceal it; but a mother knows.
She leaned on one elbow and asked Naruto to pass her the rolls. Taking one off of the top of the basket, she bit into it thoughtfully.
She surmised that they were both equally stupid; she had honestly expected more from Sasuke after she had met him the first few times, but she did suppose that if Naruto was anything like his father, Minato, had been, then he was so unpredictable sometimes it could be hard to get an accurate reading on what he was thinking. Eyeing the Uchiha carefully, she allowed herself a small smirk. If his situation was anything like hers had been, the boy was just going to have to grab her son by the collar and show him how he felt. A quick glance at Naruto revealed him quietly scraping vegetables around on his plate idly while he listened to Sasuke discuss a proposal he'd been thinking over for Monday, his eyes subtly staring through blonde eyelashes and the corner of his vision at the beautiful man beside him. Kushina honestly wondered how neither of them had noticed yet, did they think they were being subtle?
Deciding on the route of chaos, she happily took another bite of mashed potatoes and fixed the Uchiha with a pointed look. "So, Sasuke. Business is good, but what about a girlfriend? Or boyfriend, maybe? Naruto absolutely refuses to talk about his love life with me." She ripped off another piece of bread and popped it in her mouth, ignoring as Naruto blanched beside her, swiftly draining wine glass in hand, and Sasuke choked on a bite of chicken.
….
Part 3 will be the final part, like, comment, follow for the finale