Story summary: Naruto meets a perfect stranger who turns out to be a bastard and keeps meeting him over and over again. And why does it seem that elevators conspired against humanity? Umm..maybe just against him, but still! Modern AU. SasuNaru, KibaNeji, slight KakaIru
Chapter summary: Naruto admits that he wasn't really at his best behaviour and tries to befriend the stranger. What will this lead to?
DAMN ELEVATOR
Floor 2. Best intentions.
Naruto growled and fisted both of his hands, glaring at the slightly taller man before him. Just when the stranger was ready to say something back, the sound of an arriving elevator caught their attention. The blond went right in and without a second thought pressed two buttons: one of the fifteenth floor, and then the close doors one. The other man barely had a chance to get in, but once inside, he calmly pushed the button of his floor.
A pregnant silence hung over the poor elevator…
It is necessary to mention that most of the time, Naruto was a calm and mature person. It was very rare for him to loose his temper, and only because of something he truly disliked. Like elevators – he simply hated them all and nothing could stop him from mentioning it. Towards people... Well, let's just say that he tried his very best to have a good relationship with everyone around him. For some reason, most likely because of the eyes, he wanted this particular man around him...as a friend. He also could not deny that it was certainly his fault that everything turned out the way it did. Not that he would ever admit it out loud.
The blond cleared his throat awkwardly and decided to try and start the conversation over. Facing the stranger with his usual cheerful smile, he broke the silence:
"Please excuse me for my behaviour just now. I am Naruto Uzumaki from Paradise Architectures. It is very nice to meet you"
"Hn" was it even a response?! The man didn't even spare a glance towards Naruto. Sighing, he tried again:
"We are pretty late today, aren't we?" A little small talk won't hurt, right?
"I am never late, dobe" urgh! This man is impossible! Naruto felt his blood boil at the insult.
"D-don't call me that, teme!" He mentally slapped himself on the forehead. He was still trying to make friends with this guy, right? The brunette suddenly turned and took a step towards him.
"Or what? You stare a hole through me?" Naruto instantly felt his insides tighten at the close proximity to the stranger. He pointed the index finger at the other man partially to get the next point across and partially to somehow draw a line between them. However he immediately regretted it seeing just how much his hand trembled. Why was he so nervous?
"Listen, let's make this clear" he said making the other one rise his elegant eyebrow. – "I wasn't staring at you!"
"oh, really?" Why was he being so difficult?
"Yes!" Uzumaki swallowed nervously but continued "I was thinking about.. about.. stars! Yes, I was thinking about stars!" well.. it wasn't a complete lie, right? So it should be fine… indeed, Naruto was thinking about stars, but the ones that were inside those beautifully black orbs that were piercing him right now with anger.
"Whatever." The man said with irritation and turned away to face the door.
The blond sighed again and lowered his head in defeat, silently waiting for his floor. And the elevator today was moving even slower than ever… When the door finally opened, Naruto walked out with a quiet sigh. He was desperately trying to forget the attraction he felt the moment he saw those eyes – bottomless beautiful mysteriously black eyes… He was pretty damn sure that he would not be able to concentrate on work today! And all of this was because of a…
"Sai, is Naruto at his desk yet? I need him in my office now, that brat!" A huge man with gorgeously long white hair was pacing around his office. It was a very busy time for the business as it seems that the whole city decided to complete renovations before Christmas. Thus, he needed all staff working around the clock to complete designs. Annoyingly, that brat was late for work almost every day! He should have fired him long time ago! If only he was not so darn talented...
"Please don't worry, Jiraya-sama" the other man in the room smiled. "It is past 9:30 already, Naruto-kun should be here shortly. It is late even for him"
"Why does he do this to me?" The older man asked impatiently looking at the clock.
"Well, you know, he is most likely late because of some…"
"…DAMN ELEVATOR!..." they heard a shout from just outside the office followed by a slammed door.
"Well, guess he's here. Shall I go get him?"
"Please.."
Uzumaki stomped through the office towards his desk ignoring surprised glances from the colleagues. He threw his bag under in frustration and collapsed on a chair. For the whole morning, everything was going so horribly wrong. First, there was the elevator at his building, then the bus that just could not wait two seconds, then the perfect stranger in the elevator. Urgh! He hopelessly wanted to befriend him, but the teme was just being so devastatingly impossible! How can a man have such perfect, beautiful features and such... imperfect and so not beautiful personality? What was he supposed to do now?
...Forget. Yes, that's right. The pearl-white skin, raven hair, black eyes, stars and bastards! Forgetting everything seemed like a fantastic idea.
Excitingly, Naruto opened a laptop and prepared to finally start his work day. There were several very interesting renovation projects he was working on and he could not wait to finish them. He had a tendency to get completely absorbed in the design process so, by lunch time, things should go back to normal.
"O-ooh, Naruto-kuuun! You've finally joined us!" Sai, his boss's secretary, suddenly appeared next to him. "so which elevator was it today?"
"Please, not today Sai…" Naruto groaned lifting his right palm up to stop the colleague from continuing.
It was a usual morning routine between them: Uzumaki would be late, Sai would make fun of him and his obsession with elevators, they piss each other of, fight, their boss would shout at them and then they would continue the rest of the day in peace and harmony.
"Alright, just for today... You do not seem to be your usual self this morning"
"Thanks"
"Jiraya-sama wants an update on the bedroom design of that violent woman he is so infatuated with, Ms. Tsunade. They have a meeting later today"
"I swear, he should just do it himself! He keeps rejecting all of my designs for that woman" Naruto was sure that Jiraya delayed everything on purpose. However, this project has been dragging on for too long and why she was still a client, was a mystery. "He should ask her on a date or something and stop rejecting my awesome designs!"
This was great, with his coworker's help, Naruto's plan to forget the events from before was working well. Soon, there will be no more pearl-white skin, black eyes, stars and bastards to remember!
"Before you go to his office and explain this to him, there is one more project for you" Sai put a folder on the desk and the blond looked at it with interest. "the client is looking to redecorate a spacious open concept condo. Minimalistic and classy." He was always excited when a new project came in. "They want some pearl-white accents.." Naruto winced at the word, remembering the skin colour of a certain someone "...with lots of black.."
"Seriously?!" He groaned.. The image of long black coat and raven hair were now back on his mind.
"Um, yes. But not too creepy. Oh and also, they were wondering if they can somehow incorporate stars in the design"
"Of course!" Perhaps his plan was not so well thought through.. Though, it was just one project and there were other designers "can't someone else do it?" He looked at his colleague with pleading eyes but instantly froze.
Sai noticed as an expression on his co-worker's face changed to that of a surprise. Naruto was staring at him with eyes huge like it was the first time they saw each other. – "Wha.. Why are you looking at me like that?" It was very strange and Sai maybe for the first time in his life felt so uncomfortable and unsure...
Naruto, on the other hand was looking at Sai in disbelief. His colleague had raven coloured possibly silky hair, very fair skin, finely wrought features, small mouth, but most importantly..
"Sai.. your eyes are black.." he mumbled not believing in his own words. Sai very much resembled the person he met not so long ago and had a better haircut. But what was different? What was it that caught Naruto's attention in the other person and made him want to know more?
"Well, thank you for noticing Naruto-kun, but I am well aware of this.." Sai responded but Naruto wasn't listening.. What was it that Sai didn't have? With almost the same looks, he was quite... average, not so attractive. From a designer perspective. Uzumaki couldn't understand. The only thing he knew was that Sai being here would remind him of that perfect person with the imperfect personality… and he won't be able to concentrate on work, and he didn't like it! He didn't want to think about it anymore!
"I don't like your eyes.." Naruto mumbled and taking his bag went towards the exit. Sai was left speechless, not understanding a thing!
Quietly opening the door to his boss's, Naruto said:
"I'm taking a day off, Jiraya-sensei" and not waiting for a response left the office by stairs. He did not want to have anything to deal with elevators again...
He didn't hear shouts "BRAT, DAMN IT!" and threats "I'll fire you! YOU HEAR!" from his boss and Sai's pleading "please, calm down Jiraya-sama.. you have to worry about your health…"
- "BRAA-A-AT! DAMN I-I-IT!"
