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: You guys are so great! I hope you like this chapter as much as you've liked the other ones!
Enter Naruto
Chapter 16: Stubborn Assholes
"Let's head back to my place tomorrow," Sasuke said, a few days later, as Naruto pulled his shirt over his head.
"Sure," Naruto looked a little surprised, "any reason why?"
"Itachi is coming. In the evening, I think." Sasuke frowned at his phone.
"Oh," understanding dawned across Naruto's face, "are you sure you want me—"
"Yes. And stay, this time."
Naruto's cheeks flushed, but it only made his smile all the brighter.
"Itachi," Sasuke greeted. It sounded like a sigh—his brother looked just as uneasy as he felt. Today was going to be unpleasant, he knew. It was a good idea, in theory, but there was a reason he hadn't wanted to deal with all of this…
"Hey Itachi! Can I get your coat?"
And then there was Naruto, who seemed more excited than anything else. What an idiot.
Sasuke snorted.
"Sure." To his credit, if Itachi was confused, he didn't show it. He handed Naruto his black trench coat—very stylish, very pretentious—and removed his shoes.
"Have you eaten?" Naruto called behind him as they all moved into the apartment.
"Ah—yes. Thank you."
"Okay!" Naruto smiled, and then promptly started digging through the fridge.
"You've already eaten, too, usuratonkachi." Sasuke eyed him.
"Teme," Naruto answered without missing a beat, "I never stop eating."
Itachi's eyes flickered between them and his lips seemed to move a little, but he quickly shook himself.
"Sasuke. You wanted to talk?"
"...Yes."
There was a pause. Naruto shuffled over to the other side of the counter, shoving some food into a bowl.
Itachi looked at Sasuke expectantly. Sasuke crossed his arms and looked at the wall.
"Do you want to stay in the family business?"
Naruto's finger paused right before the 'enter' button on the microwave, and he straightened up. He obviously hadn't expected Sasuke to be that blunt.
Neither, apparently, had Itachi.
"Pardon?" Itachi's eyebrows were raised.
Sasuke shifted a little.
"I mean—my…situation aside, would you still be working there?"
"…You are asking if the only reason I keep in touch with our parents is to financially support you?"
"I am asking if that's what you want to be doing or not."
Itachi made a face.
"It's a moot point, Sasuke. This is the way things are."
"No—that's," Sasuke exhaled, not quite managing to hide his frustration, "I just want a clear answer."
"I can't give you one. It's complicated."
Sasuke glared at him. Itachi didn't budge.
Naruto quietly shuffled past the couch—his food could wait, for the moment—and sat on Sasuke's desk.
"Okay," Naruto said, unfazed when both heads swiveled to face him, "you guys are meeting with your mom in a bit. It'll be pretty soon. What if your dad is there?"
"He won't be," Itachi said immediately. "I was assured that would be the case."
"Okay," Naruto said again, "but I don't think it's that crazy to say that your mom might talk to your dad, no?" He paused for a moment. "What if he says that you aren't supposed to support Sasuke anymore, Itachi? He can still kind of track your money, right?"
Itachi grimaced.
"I mean, that could happen, right?"
"Yes," Itachi said quietly, "yes, it could."
Naruto didn't reply. Sasuke just sagged against the heater.
"I'm not sure what I would do, in that case. Threaten to leave the company, I suppose." Itachi rubbed at his chin. "It would be highly inconvenient for me to leave. It might not cripple the company—although, I suppose I could start making movements to put me in a position that would cripple the company if I left…"
"Yeah, do that," Naruto said. "That sounds good."
"Is that all?" Itachi asked. Naruto looked over at Sasuke.
There was a pause, where Sasuke avoided eye-contact with either of them—and then gave a quick, firm nod.
"I just wanted to make sure we were prepared," Sasuke said.
Itachi nodded and stood. Naruto's eyes flickered between the two of them. Sasuke still didn't look up.
"I'll be in touch."
Sasuke nodded, and Itachi moved out of the room. Naruto frowned at Sasuke.
The front door opened to signal Itachi leaving.
…What a bunch of stubborn assholes.
Naruto ran to the door.
He caught Itachi just as he was getting into his car. Itachi looked up in surprise—
"He feels guilty," Naruto said, jogging up to him. "You know that, right? You have to know that."
"...Sasuke?"
"Yes, Sasuke, of course, Sasuke." Naruto gave Itachi a look. "You're paying for his apartment and his food and his school, and you get mad at him every time he tries to start paying you back—"
"I—"
"—so he can't get a job, he can't pay you back, and he feels guilty, and useless, and like he's using you."
Itachi stared at him.
"That's not—none of that is true."
"I know that—you know that, and I think he knows it on some level, too, but it doesn't stop him from feeling it," Naruto said, "and you being nice about it and pretending it's not problem isn't making it better. It's making it worse—you get that?"
"But it's not—it shouldn't be—" Itachi looked—well, this was definitely the most emotion he had seen out of the guy so far, "any other child, in our situation—with our wealth—would be being supported by their parents right now. They funded my entire education, and they should be doing the same for him. It's what should be happening," Itachi took a step forward, and Naruto could see the anger in his eyes, now, "so I'm making it happen. It's what's right—"
"I'm not arguing with that," Naruto put his hands up in acquiescence, "I agree with you. And I don't think he should feel bad—I'm telling you he does. And you know that. And you know he's convinced you'd be outta there in a heartbeat if it wasn't for him. He thinks he's forcing you to stay there—and considering what he thought—what he thinks—of everything, he feels pretty shitty about it. So just—just go back in there, and talk to him, okay? You guys need to actually talk."
"The decision was mine to make—he didn't force anything." Itachi paused, looking pained. "I don't want to leave the family. I—" his eyes focused back on Naruto, as if remembering who he was speaking to, "I don't believe making him feel guiltier will help the situation."
"You're not telling him anything he doesn't already know." Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke's not dumb—he can tell that you're lying to him and he hates it. You go up there and tell the truth, and you'll see. It's all he wants."
Itachi stared at him.
"Just—go back, Itachi. Please."
"I…alright."
Naruto, like he had promised Sasuke, went back into the apartment when Itachi did, although he thought it might be better to leave the two of them alone.
Then again, maybe they needed someone to make sure they were actually communicating—the stoic bastards.
But apparently Itachi had gotten the hint. Naruto had gone back to his food in the kitchen, and hadn't interrupted them once as Itachi quietly confronted Sasuke. He hadn't needed to. Turns out things weren't as bad as Sasuke thought—or, at least, Itachi didn't think they were. But Sasuke was right about one thing—Itachi was steadfastly avoiding confronting their parents for fear of losing Sasuke's financial support.
Itachi left after that—but not before he gave Sasuke a quiet, awkward hug that Sasuke looked too surprised by to completely reciprocate. Sasuke stared at the door for a long moment after it closed, before he turned his gaze onto Naruto.
"You talked to him." It wasn't a question.
"Well, you weren't going to." He gave Sasuke a look. Sasuke frowned at him, stuffing his hands into the pocket of Naruto's hoodie. Well, it was really Sasuke's hoodie, at this point, with the way the guy kept stealing it—
"What did you tell him?"
Naruto's mouth twitched to the side. "Nothing he shouldn't have already known…I dunno. Maybe he needed to hear it from someone else."
"…Hm."
Naruto turned to face him fully. "Do you feel better about everything now, though?"
Sasuke sighed, smiling a little. He seemed to see Naruto's silent 'I told you so' for what it was.
"…Yes. I do."
Naruto gave him a brilliant smile, and a kiss.
"Good," he wrapped his arms around Sasuke and pulled him close, "I'm really glad."
"…You sap."
"Hey!"
Eysenck…Eysenck…Naruto tapped the back of his pen against his mouth. He knew he knew the name. He definitely did something to do with personality psych, but it wasn't the Big 5 factors…was it? Naruto didn't think so…
He grimaced and circled 'c'. He really needed to review the names of some of these psychologists. This week had flown by and he'd tried to find the time for it all, but there was just so much to memorize—
Slam!
Naruto jerked in such surprise that his pen flew out of his hand. He looked up just in time to see Sasuke, laptop now shut, with his head in his hands.
Well, shit.
Naruto shoved the practice exam to the side and shut the timer off his phone, quietly padding over to his boyfriend's hunched over form. Sasuke shifted his body away from him—Naruto managed to see a flash of a fierce scowl.
"What's up?" He kept his voice quiet, and himself away from Sasuke, just a bit—he leaned back against the radiator.
Sasuke blew air out of his nose, and Naruto saw his fingers flex again, scratching at his scalp as if debating pulling his own hair out—
"Hey, Sas—"
"I hate it." His voice came out as a mutter, and Naruto strained to hear it.
"What?"
"I," Sasuke threw himself back in the chair and slapped his hand on the desk, "hate it!"
"You—"
"I have been sitting here for five fucking hours," Sasuke wasn't looking at Naruto, "five hours, and I haven't written a single fucking page."
"What do you mean? I hear you typing—"
"It's all shit, Naruto. I've deleted everything I've fucking written today—"
Naruto grabbed his hands before he dug them into his head again.
"Sasuke—I've read your writing, remember? I love it."
"No," Sasuke still wouldn't look at him, "you've read what's done. You've read what I've edited a million times and what I'm actually happy with—this—this is—"
He tore his hands from Naruto's to gesture helplessly at his computer.
"And I—fuck—I don't have time for this—"
With a frustrated sigh, he threw his laptop back open and glared at the screen.
Naruto frowned, considering his options. Sasuke was obviously stressing out—and he had been working for way too long at this point…maybe this was a bad idea, but—
He reached over Sasuke's head to snatch the laptop, snapping it shut and sliding it under his arm.
Sasuke spun around, looking furious.
Naruto met his gaze head on.
"Give me my fucking laptop, Naruto."
"No."
Naruto barely managed to dodge as Sasuke's hand lashed out to grab it.
"Naruto—"
"You're not—"
"Give me my laptop—"
"I won't—"
"I swear to god if you—"
"Sasuke—"
Sasuke launched himself out of the chair, his fingers grazing the laptop as Naruto stumbled backwards. The blonde regained his balance just in time to toss the laptop onto the bed, turning back and blocking the bed with his body.
"Bring it on, teme."
He was, however, wholly unprepared for Sasuke to immediately do so—it took Naruto a moment of panicked flailing before he realized that Sasuke had tackled them both onto the bed, but he didn't have time to feel the relief as Sasuke crawled over him, reaching out a hand to grab his laptop—Naruto slapped it away, using the momentum to attempt to switch their positions—
It was easier said than done.
Sasuke was slim, but incredibly nimble—he squirmed from Naruto's grasp each time Naruto managed to catch him—Naruto only managed to push him onto his side by catching him by surprise and then he found himself locked him place, Sasuke pushing him back with equal force—
He would have to get crafty.
All at once, Naruto stopped resisting, and let Sasuke unwillingly fling himself on top of him. Naruto followed the movement just enough to grab Sasuke's laptop—which he would have been laying on top of, had Naruto managed to fully pin him down—and shove it underneath the pillows, against the wall.
(It was a bit safer for what he was about to attempt.)
Sasuke lashed out to grab his laptop, and Naruto took his chance—
He tickled him.
Sasuke's body flung itself away from the hand with such intensity, he might've bruised Naruto's thigh.
"I'll kill you—" Sasuke gasped out.
"You're ticklish," Naruto laughed, wiggling his fingers again—Sasuke struggled somewhere between glaring daggers at Naruto and being completely unable to to stop the laughter—
"Naruto—" Sasuke struggled underneath him—
"You gonna listen to me now?" Naruto responded, pausing to give Sasuke a chance to get his breath back.
Sasuke only glared up at him.
Naruto let out a breath and shook his head, leaning down to brush some of Sasuke's hair out of his eyes.
"You're stressing out. It's not gonna do you any good to work through that—it won't be up to your standards, and then you'll stress out more, and it's just gonna be a vicious cycle."
He pulled back to search Sasuke's eyes; he looked a bit less angry now, at least.
"You didn't have to steal my laptop."
"Mm," Naruto grinned a little, "it worked though. And I got to hear you laugh. I love it when you laugh."
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"You're an idiot."
"Yep," he leaned closer, "you're dating an idiot."
Naruto met Sasuke's smirk with his own smile, softly laughing against his lips. Sasuke's anger was entirely gone by the time he pulled away—
"I'm only in it for the sex."
Naruto gave a short, loud laugh—Sasuke had said it so casually—
"You're doing a terrible job of it then." Naruto grinned, wiggling his hips a little.
"Am I?"
"Yup." Naruto leaned down again.
The kiss lasted much longer, this time.
"Did you want to have sex?" Naruto asked a few minutes later, seemingly out of the blue. Sasuke's head snapped to stare at him, positive he had misheard.
"I—what?"
"You said you were only in this for the sex."
"Naruto," Sasuke said seriously, "I was kidding."
Naruto rolled his eyes.
"I know that," Naruto said, "but the point still stands."
"What point?"
"Well, we're gonna have sex at some point, no?"
"We—ah..." Sasuke's face grew so hot, it felt like it was going to melt right off. Not that he hadn't thought about it before, but…
Naruto's grin softened, and he seemed to take pity on Sasuke.
"Hey, you mentioned it, and now I'm curious." He rested his chin on his knee, tilting his head to the side a little. "I just wanna know how you feel about it—in general."
"I—it's not that I'm not interested," Sasuke quickly clarified. "It's just…new. For me."
"Makes sense." Naruto threw him a smile. "I'm glad you're interested."
Sasuke snorted and looked away.
There was another pause. Sasuke tapped his pen against his armrest.
"Is it new for you?" He asked. Naruto certainly seemed more…comfortable, sexually, than Sasuke. Experienced, maybe? It was more a confidence to…initiate something. Sasuke hadn't quite found that same confidence yet—but maybe it was more a product of Naruto's personality than that of actual experience…
"Ah," Naruto's smile faded a little, "I'm not a virgin, if that's what you're asking."
Sasuke let out a breath, quietly. It wasn't a surprise. In all honestly, Naruto's confidence in the bedroom was—nice. Comforting. He imagined it would be even better during sex. Still, Sasuke felt himself get rather…possessive. The thought of someone else touching Naruto…
"Fair enough," he said simply.
They continued to work in silence after that.
A/N: This chapter's all about communication, haha. And as soon as I apologize for all the smut, I have a chapter without any! Whoops.
Let me know what you all thought! I really love how much time and attention you've all been giving this. It means the world!
See you tomorrow,
- Kinomi
