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: AW YOU GUYS! DON'T WORRY IT'LL BE OKAY
Enter Naruto
Chapter 10: Moody
Naruto swallowed, looking down at his phone again. For the thousandth time, he debated sending a message—sending something—anything…but nothing seemed good enough.
And he knew better than to expect Sasuke to talk to him.
He had been so…stupid. So stupid—so selfish, even, in his hungover, sleep-deprived state—of course it would make Sasuke uncomfortable. Of course it would—especially so close to Naruto revealing his sexuality—although, he guessed, Sasuke had already known…
But this had to stop.
He couldn't keep…chasing after Sasuke like this—Sasuke, who was obviously not interested—and expect it not to harm their friendship.
He leaned back against the wall, looking around his room.
He just needed to…to take some time away from Sasuke. To get over him properly—to move past these stupid fucking feelings—
His eyes flickered to the yoga mat—still behind the couch, from the last time they used it—to the pillow on the floor, where he had sat as an excuse to be closer to Sasuke—to the piece of cloth scrunched up on the table; he kept forgetting to give Sasuke his scarf back—
He swallowed, closing his eyes as the pain flooded his chest.
If he was going to get over Sasuke, he needed to get the hell out of here.
He didn't hear from Naruto for the rest of the week. He thought about texting him—almost every other minute, he thought about it—but he didn't know how to start. He knew he should apologize. He had never been good with apologies—not real ones, at any rate—and he had no idea how to explain himself without revealing far more than he was comfortable with. He flipped the phone over in his hands.
And Naruto hadn't spoken to him first: that was scarier. Exams aside, Naruto was the type of person who always texted back right away—usually multiple times—and if he hadn't heard from you in a few hours, you could safely expect a call. At least, that's what Sasuke had grown used to.
And now, with this silence, Sasuke couldn't help but feel…
Lonely. He felt lonely.
It wasn't a new feeling, but it wasn't one he had felt since he had befriended Naruto. He hadn't even been fully aware of it—not until Naruto was gone, and the feeling was back again.
He sighed.
It was no one's fault but his own.
"Sasuke," Kakashi called, just as they were packing up. "Do you have a moment?"
"Sure." He firmly ignored the panic that flushed through him, only slowly packing his things instead as he waited for the rest of the class to leave.
"So," Kakashi began, after it was just the two of them, "I've been speaking to Naruto quite a bit recently."
"Oh?" Sasuke forced his voice to remain neutral.
"Yes," Kakashi rubbed his chin, "and I've been told that something very good is coming my way. I want to be honest with you, Sasuke."
"…Alright…?" Sasuke officially had no idea what was going on.
"If what Naruto says is true, and you deliver a polished enough work—together, with the rest of your portfolio, I will put you in touch with a few editors I know, and we can go from there," he paused, as if assessing Sasuke's reaction, "but, this offer is contingent on you having a manuscript that both you and I fully believe is ready to be assessed for publishing. Understand?"
"I—yes—" Sasuke's eyes were wide—he couldn't believe what he was being offered—
"Good. Ideally, aim for having your work finished by the end of the course—that means you have to have something to give me before the winter break, understood?" He shuffled some papers on his desk, waited for Sasuke's nod, and then cleared his throat. "Now, on a separate note, would you happen to have any idea as to why Naruto decided to bus home on Saturday and take the car with me each morning this week?"
Sasuke's stomach sank to the floor.
"Hmm," Kakashi said to Sasuke's silence. "Well, I don't know what happened, at any rate, but I do know that Naruto considers you to be one of his best friends. Which is a fairly difficult position to attain, given the amount of people vying for it."
Sasuke didn't meet Kakashi's eye. He felt like a complete asshole. He'd pushed Naruto out of his apartment and ignored him for all of this week, and all the blonde had done was convince Kakashi that he was worth taking seriously.
"Where is he now?"
"Waiting in the library for me to finish for the evening." Kakashi shuffled some papers on his desk. "I'll still be here for a few hours, I think."
Sasuke left without another word. He thought he heard Kakashi chuckle as the door closed.
After walking up and down the rows in every study section he could find, he finally found Naruto up on the third floor, face squashed against his laptop keyboard, sound asleep. He snorted.
Well, there was a coffee shop on this floor.
Naruto awoke just as Sasuke placed the coffee beside his face. Had he not been so nervous, he would have enjoyed the way Naruto blinked the sleep from his eyes much more. As it was…
The blonde stared at the coffee for several moments before it finally seemed to register. He rubbed the back of his neck as his face flushed, sitting up fully to face—
"Sasuke?" The makings of the sheepish grin on Naruto's face faded as quickly as they had come. Sasuke swallowed.
"I got extra sprinkles. And whipped cream." In spite of putting the coffee on his desk, Sasuke stood a few paces away, ready to run at a moment's notice. His eyes flickered to the floor and then back up again, and he shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting. "Sorry."
Naruto blinked at him, expression unchanging. It felt like hours to Sasuke—who was completely unused to seeing Naruto without at least a hint of a smile...the only thing other than seriousness in those eyes was the surprise—and that only served to make Sasuke feel worse.
Naruto obviously hadn't expected to see him—and likely hadn't wanted to see him. Sasuke couldn't blame him.
Sasuke closed his eyes and turned away.
"Wait—h-hang on, Sasuke," Naruto's voice rang out—panicked, now, and Sasuke turned around just in time to see the blonde frantically shoving his things into his messenger bag. Sasuke sucked in a breath as Naruto ran to him, papers spilling out of his bag just as steadily as the coffee spilled over onto his hand—
"Wait," he said again, grabbing at his bag as another folder threatened to fall out, "um—I'm—I'm about to go home, I think, but did you want to—?"
"Dinner?" Sasuke interrupted him, feeling his heart swell up in—hope? Delight? He didn't know what it was, but he did know that Naruto's smile had him feeling lighter than he had all week.
"Yeah."
"I—oh, I should let Kakashi know where I am," Naruto muttered to himself, and then paused. He blinked up at Sasuke. "Where are we going?"
Shit. He had no idea.
"…Ramen?" It came out as a question, and Sasuke flinched. He hated sounding unsure.
Naruto flipped his coffee cup to his other hand and looked over at Sasuke—Sasuke only caught sight of that smile widening for a moment before he had to look away—
"We don't have to go for ramen." Naruto sounded amused.
Sasuke shrugged, keeping his eyes firmly on the concrete. "It's whatever you want."
"Huh," Naruto eyed him, "so you did say ramen because you know it's my favourite."
…Damn it.
"How do you know that, exactly?"
"…Kakashi," Sasuke admitted, begrudgingly.
"Hm," Naruto stopped in place, and something in the tone of his voice made Sasuke pause, too, "and has he told you anything else interesting?"
Oh. Well there was no point in lying if he could just ask his father about it.
"He said that you thought my work was...good enough to be published." Sasuke felt himself flush just saying the words—
But Naruto wasn't smiling. He only nodded.
"Yeah," he turned to face Sasuke fully, "I do think that. Is that the reason you're here, Sasuke?"
"What?"
"Because I didn't just say that to get you to stop ignoring me. And if the only reason you're talking to me is because I can talk to Kakashi—"
"Is that what you think I'm doing?" Sasuke stared at him, stepping a few paces away.
Naruto frowned.
"Not really."
Sasuke crossed his arms.
"But you kicked me out of your apartment and haven't said a word since—and I know you just came from class." Naruto's eyes were serious, again, and it brought that awful, wrenching feeling in his gut back in full force—it made it so hard to focus on digging the words out of his throat—
Naruto sighed.
"I'm just—" the blonde started, "I'm still sorry about that, by the way—the bed thing, I mean. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. That's why I didn't text you or anything…"
Sasuke stared at him.
"You ignored me because you didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable?"
"I wasn't ignoring you! I was just…avoiding…you." Naruto's voice faltered. "You—you didn't seem to want to talk to me," he frowned down at the sidewalk, pausing to clear his throat, "not then, anyways, and I didn't know when you would—"
"I did want to," Sasuke cut him off, and Naruto's eyes snapped up to his— "I—"
Sasuke gestured awkwardly at the coffee Naruto still held, looking away. He was just so bad at things like this. He never knew what to say—
"Oh," Naruto smiled down at the cup, now empty, as he tapped it against his thigh, "yeah. Sorry. I should give you more credit."
Sasuke let out a breath, "I…" he cleared his throat, "haven't given you much reason to. Give me more credit, I mean—so…sorry. I'm not…" Used to this? Good with this sort of thing? He didn't know how to continue.
Naruto seemed to understand. "You're not mad at me?"
"No."
"But I made you uncomfortable?"
Well, technically, yes—but not for the reasons that Naruto thought. Sasuke didn't answer.
"I cuddle in my sleep, Sasuke. You should see my pillows when I wake up."
"I'm not…uncomfortable about that. It was fine. I didn't care. I was just…"
Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Moody?"
Sasuke's eyes snapped to up to Naruto's playful, hesitant grin. He took the olive branch as what it was, and rolled his eyes.
"Usuratonkachi."
"Teme!"
"Ah," Naruto leaned back, rubbing his stomach, "this is the life."
"I have no idea how you managed to eat all that." Sasuke stared at the empty bowls. Naruto gave him a tired grin.
"Today wasn't even a good day. I can do more than that."
"You are terrifying."
"I use my powers for good."
Sasuke snorted.
Naruto's phone buzzed.
"Oh! Kakashi's on his way. Let's call the waiter."
Sasuke shrugged. "You can go meet him. I can get this."
Naruto blinked at him. "Don't be stupid, Sasuke, I'm not gonna just leave you with the bill." His eyes flickered down to the phone and then back to Sasuke a couple times.
Sasuke waited as Naruto shifted his body to sit up straighter.
"Did you…do you want to see my house?"
His house? As in…
"Well, my parents' house," Naruto laughed, "s'not really my house anymore, I guess. I'm heading back there with Kakashi today. You could come if—y'know—if you wanted."
Sasuke's heart jumped into his throat—it was all he could do to nod.
A/N: Did I make it up to you? I know it's a shorter one today, but the next two days are gonna be great :) I hope you're excited!
See you tomorrow,
- Kinomi
