I do not own Naruto, nor do I make any money off of this.
"talking"
'thinking'
ONE-SHOT:
Sasuke believed that his day couldn't get any worse. But of course he had gone and jinxed it. It all started when his car wouldn't start. He turned the key half a dozen times to no prevail. Not wanting to be late, he called for a taxi. The taxi got stuck in traffic and picked Sasuke up a good twenty minutes after his comfortable time. Still, since he always left his house an hour early, he should have been on time. Nope, Fate seemed to have other plans. They got stuck in traffic again, only this time it was because some idiot didn't know how to park and he was blocking all of the cars behind him. Sasuke checked his watch and noticed that he was going to be late if no one moved soon. They finally moved five minutes later when the person trying to park gave up and drove off.
The taxi made it to Sasuke's work on time, but he still had to get to his floor. The elevator arrived slower than normal and Sasuke was tempted to just take the stairs. He was about to do that when the elevator finally arrived. Not caring about anyone else, Sasuke hit the close door button after hitting the button for the second floor from the top.
Once Sasuke was on his floor, he increased his walking speed. He glared at his watch as it was telling him that he was, for the first time, late. Not only that, but he was late to a very important meeting. When he got to the room, he apologized to its occupants. Orochimaru, his boss, berated him right in front of their client, choosing to deduct from Sasuke's pay for the day. The raven didn't argue as he took his seat.
Sasuke wasn't a poor man but he lived on a budget. And now that budget was thrown out the window all because of his stupid car. He grumbled about it as he made his way to his desk. Once there he was reminded about what day it was. He had set an alarm for an hour earlier than normal last year when he realized just how many Valentines he got. He took out his phone, wondering why it hadn't gone off. It turned out that he had set the time to PM instead of AM. He growled as he fixed it for next year. He then started to carefully remove all of the gifts, wishing he could just throw them all away. But his mother's voice had popped in his head telling him to not be so rude.
Sasuke moved quickly, not wanting Orochimaru to dock his pay further if he caught him not already working. Once the gifts were safely in a box under his desk, Sasuke got to work. He ended up working through his first coffee break, hoping to use that time to catch up. He did however take his second coffee break which turned out to be a mistake. He had just gotten his coffee when one of his female coworkers turned the corner so fast that she literally ran into Sasuke. The coffee ended up spilling over just Sasuke as he had been quick enough to move his cup away from the other. She apologized and Sasuke sent her off with a "it's fine." But it wasn't fine. Usually, Sasuke had an extra suit in case something like this happened. However, he had taken that suit to be cleaned since it had collected dust. This meant that Sasuke would have to wear his suit overcoat to hide the coffee stain. The problem was that it made Sasuke really hot. He worked through lunch, praying to the gods that he'd get out early. They listened as Orochimaru gave Sasuke's work an approval meaning that Sasuke could either start working on his next project or he could go home for the rest of the day. Normally, Sasuke would have simply started the next project. With everything that had happened that day so far, Sasuke wasn't going to risk it.
Before getting into the elevator, Sasuke made a phone call to Itachi to tell him about his car situation. His brother told him that a tow truck would pick it up and take a look at it. He offered to pick Sasuke up from work, and seeing as it had started to rain, Sasuke accepted the offer. He got into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. It stopped two floors below to let on a blond man, whom Sasuke had never met before. He nodded a hello at the man who was struggling with a box. That made Sasuke remember his own box of gifts that he had left under his desk. He groaned, catching the blonde's attention.
"Long day?" He asked. Sasuke looked over at the blond. He was about four inches shorter than Sasuke with tanned skin. His eyes were an amazing blue that anyone would be jealous of. If Sasuke had to guess, he'd say the blond was about two years younger than him.
"A terrible one," Sasuke answered. "I left my gifts under my desk."
"That sucks," the blond said.
"I really wish Valentine's Day didn't exist," Sasuke said, knowing he was being a little dramatic.
"I know!" The blond nearly yelled. "You'd think they'd realize that I don't want their gifts. I mean how many times to I have to tell them I'm gay before they get the hint to stop?"
"Three years and counting," Sasuke said. It was his first time telling a complete stranger his sexual preference.
The blond didn't even bat an eyelash. "Maybe we need to walk around with a sign that says: 'Sorry. This hot guy is only into other hot guys.' Maybe then they'd get it." At his words, Sasuke gave him a look. The blond raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What?" Sasuke gave him another look, and the words he said finally registered in the blonde's mind causing him to blush. He lifted the box an inch higher as if he wanted to hide behind it. It took a few more seconds before he tried changing the subject. "Shouldn't you get off now so you don't have to wait too long for the next elevator?"
Sasuke thought about it. If he hit one of the next floor buttons, he could just walk up a few flights to grab his box. It would take less time to get off now, get his box, and wait for the other elevator than to take the trip the rest of the way down, all the way back up, and then down again. There was also the third option that Sasuke was more inclined to do. This time, his mother's voice didn't pop into his head. He shook his head. "No. I'd have to make Aniki wait longer. Besides, I don't want something in the box to break all over his car. With how my day has been going, that's more than likely to happen."
"True. One day shouldn't hurt." The blond put his box down and held out a hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way. I work in PR."
Sasuke shook his hand. "Sasuke Uchiha, Economic Development Specialist. I mostly work in Project Management though. Basically, I make sure a project is able to go through without any issues and to fix any unplanned problems that come up. Orochimaru has to approve all projects, but I'm one of the people that selects which ones make it to him."
"That sounds like a lot of work."
"I could never be a PR."
"Yeah, you're more likely to be a model." Naruto's face reddened again. "I'm sorry. Sometimes my mouth has a mind of its own."
"I'm used to it. Men, women, they all seem attracted to my good looks."
"I think that's your ego talking."
"They must be the same for you." Sasuke didn't know why he was being so forward. But seeing how red Naruto was getting just encouraged him to continue. "Men and women must be throwing themselves at your feet."
Naruto put up his hands in front of himself. "Please stop. I'm not used to being complimented by someone so…" He trailed off.
Sasuke smirked. "By someone so hot?"
Naruto made a strange noise before he looked down and nodded. "Yes." His voice was much softer now, lost in the sudden loudness of the elevator. He looked up at the strange screeching noise. Sasuke had looked up too. Then the elevator shook. The two dropped to the ground as the elevator came to a stop. They looked at the door in confusion.
Sasuke got up and pressed a random floor button but nothing happened. He pressed the emergency call button but still nothing. "You have to be kidding me." He proceeded to press the alarm button. An annoying fire alarm like noise went off for a few seconds before it died. He pressed it again and nothing happened. Pulling out his phone to let Itachi know what happened, Sasuke frowned. His phone had died despite being fully charged when he left the house.
Naruto caught on and pulled out his own phone. His screen was cracked. He obviously had no idea how that had happened. With neither able to use their phones and the buttons not working, there was nothing either of them could do but wait. The next person that called for the elevator should notice its lack of movement. Both sighed as they sat down in an attempt to get comfortable. Sasuke was starting to get really hot so he quickly removed his jacket. Naruto said nothing about the coffee stain. "This sucks."
"Sorry."
Naruto gave him a confused look. "What for?
"For dragging you into this. I seem to have pissed someone off with how bad my day has been going."
"You too?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Well, first my alarm didn't go off since my apartment lost power last night, resetting everything. On top of that, my bus ran late due to traffic. We ended up getting stuck again. A coworker told me that some asswhole didn't know how to parrarelle park. I ended up being twenty minutes late. I skipped breakfast thinking I'd miss the bus. I ended up ordering lunch, only for the wrong order to be sent, twice. I ended up eating the second order only to find out there were mushrooms in it. Luckily my coworker, the one who told me about the asswhole who held up traffic, had an EpiPen. She then drove me to the Emergency Room since she knew it would be faster. She had to go back to work though, so she couldn't stay. I was in and out quicker than we thought, only to get caught in the rain. I had left my wallet and phone behind so I couldn't call a taxi or use the bus. I borrowed an umbrella from a nurse only for it to break halfway here. If it wasn't for the Lost and Found, I'd still be wearing wet clothes." For the first time, Sasuke took in Naruto's choice of apparel and noticed that it didn't suit the blond. The pants were too long and the shirt had a dog's face on it. Overall, it didn't look very professional. "Going commando sounded fun at first, but it really isn't." Again Naruto blushed. "When I got back to the office, I decided that I was done for the day. My coworker pointed out this box to me. It turns out that she got everything together to make it easier on me. And after all of that, this happens."
"I think you win. My car wouldn't start so I took a taxi. It got stuck in an accident on the way to pick me up. I was also behind the asswhole with the parking issue. I was only five minutes late, but I was late for a very important meeting. Orochimaru docked my pay because of it. The gifts covered my desk so I had to remove everything. If it wasn't for the fact I didn't want to disappoint my mother by being rude, I would have just thrown everything out." He pointed at himself. "One of my coworkers walked right into me, spilling my fresh pot of coffee over my suit. I didn't have a clean one since I took my backup to be cleaned. I wore the coat over my suit since I didn't want to give Orochimaru another excuse to dock my pay. I also skipped lunch to finish my current project. It got approved and I chose to go home for the day. You know what happened next."
Naruto nodded. "You said you had a brother? He's picking you up?"
"He has a friend that's going to take a look at my car. He offered to take me home so I wouldn't have to walk in the rain. I wasn't taking another taxi since I didn't want to spend any more money. My budget for the month has suffered enough."
"Orochimaru is a bastard that feeds off his power as an executive. If you're not careful, he'll drive you to quit. He doesn't like competition."
"How do you know that?"
"A friend of mine was in his way. With the help of some false rumors and a fixed time clock, Orochimaru managed to make people think he wasn't a competent employee. He ended up having to quit or be blacklisted." Naruto shook his head. "I helped him get a job at another, smaller company, but I wish I could have done more for him."
"I'll be careful."
"Good." Naruto paused. "So any more siblings?"
"No, just Itachi. You?"
"Sadly I'm a single child. I've always wanted a sibling, but since I grew up without knowing my parents, there was no way I was getting a little brother or sister."
"Did you grow up in an orphanage?"
"I was only in one for five years before I was adopted. My dads are really great."
"My parents died when I was seven. Itachi raised me. His wife, who was only his girlfriend of three months at the time, helped out a lot. She's a saint and the only woman I've ever been attracted to, though it turned out mostly because she was my maternal figure and I wasn't really in love with her. I do love her though and I'm glad Aniki was smart enough to marry her."
"She sounds like Dad. He's very motherly. Papa said that I get my domestic side from him."
"They sound like wonderful people."
"They are. They put up with a lot of my shit when I was younger. I wasn't exactly the best son since I tended to get into a lot of fights. I smartened up when Dad took a knife to his stomach when he defended me during one of my fights. I had never seen Papa so angry when he threw the bastard with the knife into his cruiser. The guy was lucky I was there or Papa would have shot him. He may be a pervert, but he's very protective of his family."
"He'd get along with Itachi since he's the same way." Sasuke looked down at his watch. They'd already been stuck in the elevator for over forty minutes. Knowing Itachi, the man was probably on a warpath, trying to figure out where Sasuke was. Though, if Sasuke had to guess, he'd say that Itachi was watching them from Security as they waited for help to arrive.
A knock grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's attention. They looked towards the door. "Can you two hear me?" A voice said, barely coming through.
Sasuke stood up, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. He wrote: yes we can hear you and he held it up to the camera. The person behind the door must have gotten the message as he next asked if either of them were hurt. Both Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads. "Ok. We are going to get you out soon. Please stay away from the door. Once we get it open, we'll help you get out. The elevator is stuck between two floors. We promise to get you out safely. So please stay calm for the next ten to fifteen minutes. Can you do that for me?" Naruto and Sasuke nodded, each of them holding a thumbs up. They stood against the opposite wall and waited.
During the wait, Sasuke and Naruto had each written their phone number on a folded up piece of paper before exchanging them and carefully storing it in their wallets. Just like the man said, it took them ten minutes to get the door open. Naruto was given his freedom first with Sasuke shortly after him. Both were suddenly hugged, Sasuke by Itachi and Naruto by Iruka. Kakashi and Kurama stood behind their husbands, waiting for their own turn. Once all the hugging and reassurance that both Naruto and Sasuke were ok, the six of them left Sound Corp.
They ended up at a restaurant reserved for six. Sasuke and Naruto sat next to each other. Itachi and Kurama were on Sasuke's left while Iruka and Kakashi were on Naruto's right. Dinner turned out to be a fun affair as the six got to know each other. Itachi and Iruka took turns telling embarrassing stories about Sasuke and Naruto with Kurama and Kakashi sometimes throwing a few things in. Everyone made sure to exchange numbers before dinner came to an end.
Naruto ran after Sasuke as the raven made his way to Itachi's car. "Hey Sasuke," Naruto began. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to… um…"
Sasuke leaned forward and pecked Naruto on the lips. "I'd love to." He smirked as a smile appeared on Naruto's red face. "Text me your address so I can pick you up at eight tomorrow."
"Oh little brother," Itachi called with a smirk on his face. "Are you forgetting something?" He motioned to his car.
"Dammit," Sasuke cursed. He had almost forgotten that he was currently carless.
Naruto laughed. "How about I come to your place tomorrow night and we can order in?"
Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, that sounds good."
"Then I'll see you at eight," Naruto said. He waved as he got into Kakashi's car. He knew that Iruka would be ok with him borrowing his car.
Sasuke watched Naruto, Iruka, and Kakashi leave before he got into Itachi's car. He looked up at the night sky, glad to see that it had cleared up. His mind kept going back to the blonde's beautiful smile. The memory made Sasuke smile. 'Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.'
