Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: COMPLETE (new chapter up everyday - total of 35 chapters!). Sasuke's a writer whose been writing the same words for years. He's tired, he's annoyed, and his money situation is...pretty messed up, even by student standards. Enter Naruto. Modern AU (College/University), Sasunaru/Narusasu. Posted for Sasuke's birthday!

A/N: Chapter 5! Already! Now that I'm busy again the days are just flying by, haha. I hope you guys like this chapter!


Enter Naruto

Chapter 5: The First Thing

"It's this way." Sasuke rolled his eyes, grabbing the back of Naruto's jacket as he turned the wrong way again

Naruto laughed. "Sorry, sorry—!"

"How much have you had to drink, exactly?"

"Not that much!" Naruto gave him a charming smile. "I'm not really paying attention though."

"I can tell. Are you going to be okay walking back to your place alone?"

"I'll be fine!"

Sasuke eyed him doubtfully, but didn't comment. Naruto tripped on the sidewalk again—Sasuke caught him by the arm, and held him until he was stable.

"Fine, huh?"

"…Shut up."


Fifteen minutes and a few blocks later, Sasuke was fishing for his keys and Naruto was leaning on his railing.

"Come in before you fall asleep on my stairs." Sasuke held the door open.

Naruto slid past him with a lazy grin, stumbling forwards until he could fall onto the couch as if he lived there.

Sasuke eyed him.

"You're going to pass out on my couch, aren't you?"

Naruto was sitting up in a heartbeat.

"No," he rubbed his eyes, "not if you don't want me to."

Sasuke shrugged.

"I'm—I'm not that tired, anyways." Naruto shook himself, and Sasuke could distinctly see the way he was flexing his fingers, as if to keep himself awake—

"Naruto," Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I don't mind."

Naruto looked obviously relieved—and a little sheepish. But the grin was back in full force (if a little lopsided), and Sasuke felt that warm feeling twist in his chest again—

"'Kay." Naruto slouched back down. "Thanks, Sasuke. Do you wanna watch a movie or somethin'?"

"Are you going to fall asleep during it?"

"Probably."

"Hn." Sasuke dug through his closet for the extra blanket he had stashed away for the winter, throwing it at the couch.

He stifled a smirk as Naruto caught it with his face.

"Oof—"

"Do you want water?" Sasuke called.

"Uh—oh—yeah, thanks!"

Naruto was firmly burrowed into the blanket when Sasuke returned, glass of water in one hand and laptop in the other. Naruto made a small noise as he came, shuffling himself free of the cocoon he'd made for himself—

"Pick whatever you want," he muttered, already turning back. Naruto wasn't the only one who was tired—and stumbling. Sasuke just hid it a lot better.

He poured himself his own glass of water (and splashed some water on his face, while he was at it), and turned back to Naruto—

Naruto, who was staring, eyes reflecting the light of Sasuke's laptop, with a rapidly growing smile. Sasuke immediately felt the panic flood him—

"Naruto?"

"Uh!" Naruto looked up with wide eyes. "I—uh—"

Sasuke nearly sprinted to the damn thing—his stomach twisting and turning over and turning over again—what had Naruto seen? Had he been writing when he closed his laptop? Shit!

The guilt on Naruto's face did very little to stifle the smile.

"Sorry," he pushed the laptop away from himself—towards Sasuke, "I wasn't supposed to read that—I didn't mean to, it was just—there—and, I, uh—"

Sasuke gave him his fiercest glare, snapping his laptop shut. That was private—that was—

Naruto reached up and grabbed his sleeve.

"Don't be mad."

Sasuke looked at him and felt the anger drain out of his body. Damn those eyes.

"Is it," Naruto swallowed, sitting up onto his knees, "I mean, that was me, right? Was that me?"

Sasuke turned away as his face burned—he was already considering which lie to use—

"Actually, don't—you don't have to answer that," the blanket fell further off of Naruto as he sat up straighter, "just—um, could you tell me—is that why you didn't want me to read your writing anymore?"

Sasuke stared at him.

"Was that why?"

The lie died in Sasuke's throat.

"...Yes."

The look on Naruto's face grew so immediately bright, Sasuke felt like he was trying to stare at the sun

"Really? That's the only reason?"

Sasuke nodded, eyebrows furrowed as he remembered the look that had flashed across Naruto's face—

"Wh—yes, that's the only reason. What did you think?"

"Oh," Naruto gave a laugh that sounded something like a sigh of relief, "I—I thought you didn't want me to read your stuff anymore after you had, um, actually met...me."

Sasuke blinked. Naruto ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh," Sasuke whispered, watching Naruto as the next words were already forming in his throat, "...did you want to read it that badly?"

"Yeah," Naruto's voice was breathy—tired—he was already relaxing back into his bundle of blankets, "'course. I always look forward to your writing."

It was so nonchalant—so offhand, as if Naruto was already falling half-asleep as he said the words—

"Sorry, though." Naruto's tired eyes peeked up at him. "I shouldn't've read stuff you didn't want me to. I didn't mean to—it was just there—"

"It's alright." The words left Sasuke almost automatically. "It's my fault for leaving it open."

"Mm," Naruto shook his head, "I'm dumb and curious and your stuff is too good. You gotta start writing worse so I won't wanna read it."

He grinned at Sasuke, who rolled his eyes in response. But the tension had lessened, and Sasuke felt a bit better—just enough to join Naruto on the couch.

"Drink your water," he muttered, opening up his laptop and quickly skimming what Naruto had read. Nothing incriminating—but very obviously a description of him. He let out a breath as the relief flooded through him.

"What do you want to watch?"


Ten minutes in, Naruto was already very clearly struggling. He had insisted that they share the blanket—in spite of Sasuke's protests that he was fine—and therefore was slowly sinking into the couch, closer and closer towards Sasuke…

"Can I ask you something?" Naruto's voice was soft—slow—dancing on the edge of sleep as he had been for the past half hour—

"Hm?" Sasuke turned towards him.

"What kind of person am I in your writing?"

Sasuke swallowed, feeling his face flush.

"…You're an idiot," he answered finally.

Naruto let out a laugh. "Okay, okay. Can I ask why I'm in it?"

Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I—just…" Naruto rubbed his eyes. "I'm curious. Why me?"

The blonde looked up at him, expression oddly serious. The dim light from his window were giving him a hazy glow that did things—strong things—to Sasuke's heart—

Sasuke wrenched his gaze away from Naruto and back to the laptop screen.

"You're…interesting. I don't know."

"Interesting?"

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and immediately regretted it. He was leaning at just the right angle for Sasuke to be able to see down his shirt—the loose one, which draped unevenly across his shoulders—he wrenched his eyes from Naruto's collarbone, up to his face, where the lights from the street were reflecting off of his cheeks…

"How did you get those markings?" His voice was barely above a whisper—just loud enough to be heard over the movie that they were both now fully ignoring—

Naruto looked startled, and he sat a little straighter. Sasuke mourned the loss of the view.

"You don't have to answer," Sasuke offered, seeing Naruto's discomfort.

Naruto scratched at his chin, spending a little longer than necessary holding his hands near his cheeks.

"Naruto?"

Blue eyes snapped back to his, and a small smile spread across Naruto's face.

"If I have to answer that, you have to give me a better one about your writing."

Sasuke snorted, turning away as his face flushed. Could he even give Naruto a good answer? It was something he hadn't given much thought—well, no, that wasn't exactly right. It was more that it was something he…avoided thinking about. He didn't want to question it—it was just…nice. Something about Naruto…

"I," Sasuke began, "I don't really…"

"You don't know?"

Sasuke looked at him. "I—no. I'm just…drawn to you. You're—" he let out a puff of air and ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "I don't know how to describe it."

He did have some ideas, although he wasn't quite ready to accept them. Or admit them to Naruto—especially admit them to Naruto. The leap from 'Naruto was interesting' to 'Sasuke was interested' was growing smaller by the day, and it was one thing to know someone was attractive (and Sasuke was well aware he found men attractive) but whatever this was—this feeling where Sasuke's voice stuck in his throat and his heart fluttered in his chest and his eyes had a mind of their own—

This was...something else entirely.

"You're doing a pretty good job." Naruto had an easy smile on his face—his eyes filled with something—something like affection—Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat at the thought. "I feel kinda drawn to you too."

Sasuke's throat swelled shut.

"Um," Naruto's smile faltered and he scratched his cheek again, "they're tattoos, actually. Well—they kinda are. They scarred and blew out 'cause it was way too deep and stuff, and now they've faded and stretched 'cause it happened so long ago. Like, um...I think when I was...ten? Maybe before that. I dunno. Anyways, it was—one of the older kids thought it would be funny, I guess. Back at one of the foster homes, I mean. I have no clue how he got the ink or anything, but he got in loads of trouble after that." Naruto gave a quiet snort. "I think that's why he left. Maybe they kicked him out; I don't really remember."

Sasuke stared at him. "An older—they—what?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, eyes darting to Sasuke's for barely a moment.

"Um, yeah. It's not like I was the only one, though; he got to Gaara—have I told you about Gaara?"

Sasuke didn't remember the name. He shook his head, mind still racing—

"Oh—he's my foster brother. Or one of them, anyways, but he's the one I talk to the most. He's cool. Kinda quiet—you'd like him, I think. He's a lot quieter than me—"

Naruto threw him a teasing grin. Sasuke flicked his shoulder in response.

"Anyways," Naruto looked away again, his smile faltering, "his is all…red. And on his forehead. And it looks a lot better than mine because he didn't struggle or anything—well, I mean, I think that's why his wasn't as fucked up. He didn't tell anyone, at least—he just had this great big thing on his forehead one day."

Naruto let his arm fall from where he had gestured at his forehead, giving a small sigh.

"I can't be too mad, though—I was way too much of a brat to not fight back, and that's what made the guy get caught—Iruka caught him, actually—so I'd like to think I saved some other kids from getting their faces all messed up, but…I dunno."

He looked away—Sasuke found himself leaning just to get a glimpse of his eyes—

"I've never liked them. They're huge and…obvious and—I keep trying to get rid of them but it sucks 'cause they're not really scars but they're not really tattoos, so nothing that's supposed to work actually does...I dunno. I've made them fade a lot but it's still like…it's the first thing people see about me, you know? It's not like it's a good—"

Sasuke cut him off.

"That's not true."

Naruto's head snapped back to him.

"Huh?"

"It's not—" Sasuke swallowed, the nerves bubbling up, under his skin, "I mean—I noticed them, but they weren't the first thing."

Naruto blinked.

"What was the first thing?" His voice was small—hesitant—and it was that thought that gave Sasuke the strength to answer—

"Your eyes." His eyes were bright—and his smile was brighter—and between the two of them, Sasuke found it a miracle he had even been able to see the markings at all—

The smile that broke Naruto's face was slow, shy, and just a little bit disbelieving. Sasuke's heart twisted so violently at the sight that he thought it might burst right out of his chest—

He looked away.

"And then it was how loud you were."

Sasuke's stifled a smile at Naruto's laugh—but it broke free as soon as the blonde punched his arm.

"Asshole!"

"Am I wrong? I could hear you through my headphones."

"Oh c'mon, I'm not that bad!"

"I didn't say it was bad," Sasuke shrugged, "I just said it was loud."

There was a pause. Sasuke realized that Naruto had come to very nearly rest against him, now—their arms were awfully close, and if Naruto leaned just slightly, his head would be resting on Sasuke's shoulder—

"So Iruka found you?" Sasuke attempted to focus on anything other than the way his heart was beating—

"Yeah," Naruto let out a breath, "he was with the school, but he spent a lot of extra time helping out everywhere—like with the system." Naruto smiled a little. "He adopted me pretty soon after that. Oh, maybe I was older than ten…'cause he was dating Kakashi, so that would be…hm." Naruto frowned in thought, furrowing his eyebrows. "They weren't married yet, though…"

"When did they get married?"

Naruto's thoughtful look changed into a grin in record time.

"After they adopted me. I'm pretty sure Kakashi was pushing for it 'cause he wanted to wait to propose until after." He laughed. Sasuke eyed him, amused.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. He made me help him the whole time, once he finally actually did it." Naruto's face brightened completely, and he pulled his legs up under him to sit up straighter. "We had to trick Iruka—he had no idea. It was their anniversary, but Kakashi had been lying to him for weeks about it—he said he had a conference to go to for work. We made a fake ticket and everything—like a fake hotel confirmation, emails—everything about it. It was so funny. And he was so serious and sad and then the second Iruka walked out of the room he would not stop giggling—you've seen Kakashi giggle, right? It's ridiculous. And I loved it, 'cause it was like I was playing a prank—with Kakashi on Iruka, which was—" He let out a laugh, shaking his head. "Anyway, they had this place that they would always go—it was actually where they met, so I pretended I was really craving it that day. Kakashi was hiding—like, in the back, 'cause the staff were all in on it, too. They said they had new tables back there—we had a waiter run back to warn him when we came in, and he was already like—doing the kneeling thing when we walked in. We decorated the place like crazy, too," Naruto gave a delighted laugh, "but oh man, Iruka's face when he walked through the door! It was great. Super cheesy. Iruka bawled. Kakashi cried too—he held it in better, though."

"I bet you were right there with Iruka," Sasuke smirked. Naruto gave him a mock offended look.

"Jerk," Naruto leaned over to swat at him. Sasuke dodged it with ease, but was very conscious of the way Naruto didn't move back to where he had been sitting—

"You were, weren't you?"

"Well—okay, yeah, honestly. As soon as Kakashi broke, that was it for me."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile.


"Sasuke?" Naruto's shoulder was pressed firmly against his, now. "How do you afford your place?"

Sasuke inhaled, immediately stiffening—

"If you don't mind me asking. You can tell me to fuck off if you want." Naruto's body shifted, as if he was nudging Sasuke. "Do you work?"

"I don't." He answered simply. "My brother pays for everything." Everything.

"Oh yeah," Naruto breathed in a little, "what was his name again?"

Sasuke sighed. "Itachi."

"What's he like?"

"He's…" Sasuke drummed his fingers along the cloth of the couch, "intense. We fight a lot. I never really know what he's thinking."

"Is he all about the jerk vibe, too?" Naruto threw him a sleepy grin.

"Moron." Sasuke went to shove the side of his head, but ended up more running his hand through Naruto's hair. He brought his arm back to himself, thinking.

"We've gotten along better recently, though. Since the whole...university situation."

"S'nice of him to support you," Naruto offered.

"Yeah. But he still has access to my parents. They don't know where their money is going."

"You don't think so?"

"I think they'd make him stop if they did."

"…That's awful." Naruto looked at him with large, sad eyes.

Sasuke shrugged.

There was a pause.

"Sasuke?" Naruto started—quietly, hesitantly. "I'm really glad I ran into you at the café."

Sasuke looked at him, startled.

Naruto smiled a little and ducked his head. "I'm just sayin'."

The fire from Sasuke's cheeks slowly spread to the rest of his body. Naruto was just so…blunt. His stomach turned over and his chest twisted and his heart started to pound its way out of his ribs again—

Naruto shifted and Sasuke knew he had taken too long to answer, trapped between the lump in his throat and the insane urge to squeeze Naruto's hand—he settled for gripping the hem of Naruto's shirt as the blonde shifted—as if to nervously move away—

The dim lights were the only thing that saved Sasuke's pride, because he was sure that his blush was anything but subtle when the blonde looked back at him.

His eyes flickered to Naruto's, but he still couldn't find his voice.

Naruto seemed to understand—at least, he relaxed back until he was nearly leaning against Sasuke again. Sasuke surreptitiously shifted so that their shoulders were touching—if Naruto noticed, he didn't seem to mind.


A/N: A little more serious? A little more intimate? Did I answer some of your questions in this chapter? Let me know!

Happy Friday! :D

See you tomorrow,

- Kinomi