It had been a long, tiring week, but Naruto had passed his induction assignment, and in no small part thanks to Sasuke's help. Since Sasuke had reached out and helped him that one time, Naruto felt like the barrier between them had been broken ever so slightly. He knew Sasuke would be a tough nut to crack, but Naruto liked a challenge. He hummed, walking through the hall, stirring his cup of noodles, watching them soften and swell as they absorbed the water.
He stopped dead as he heard shouting coming from Sasuke's room. Naruto supposed he was on the phone again, but the shouting was louder and obviously more heated. Naruto hesitated as he stood parallel to Sasuke's door. He carefully set his cup down on the small wooden table in the hallway. His hand wavered awkwardly before the door, wondering if to knock or not. Sasuke probably wouldn't answer anyway. The hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood up. Something felt wrong.
Pushing aside his doubt, Naruto pushed open the door. He almost didn't know what to do with himself when the door simply pushed open. It was very rare Sasuke left his door unlocked.
"You murdered our family, you fucker! What else did you expect?" Sasuke snarled.
Naruto didn't know if he'd made a noise, but Sasuke's eyes were on him. He threw his phone against the wall and Naruto jumped. The pieces of metal and plastic scattered everywhere and the phone was obviously beyond repair. Naruto closed his open mouth and swallowed nervously. Sasuke was really angry. He stood deadly still, cursing his own curiosity, wishing he had just gone into his room, ignored the shouting, and eaten his noodles in blissful ignorance. Sasuke stalked across the room with impressive speed, grabbing Naruto by the collar and pulling him into the room.
"You tell no one what you heard!" he hissed, pressing Naruto into the wall.
"Ow, fuck! Fine, Sasuke!" Naruto muttered.
His shoulder throbbed where Sasuke had shoved him to the wall. From this view, he could see the small dent in the wall Sasuke's phone had made. He hoped this wouldn't come out of his share of the security deposit; he didn't have money to burn just because Sasuke couldn't hold his temper.
"You tell no one!"
Naruto could have sworn Sasuke's eyes flashed red for a second.
"I said I wouldn't!" Naruto said honestly.
Sasuke's grip finally lessened. Naruto swallowed again. Sasuke looked lost, but at least his initial anger seemed to have deflated somewhat. He'd never seen Sasuke so ruffled before and it was almost pleasing to see at least he was human on the inside. At least something had the power to shake Sasuke from his usual stoic nature. Yet Naruto had the sick, sinking feeling he had overheard something extremely private and personal. Naruto knew that thought alone would be burning Sasuke from the inside out. He had been desperate for Sasuke to share something about himself, something other than the shallow, superficial layer he portrayed to everyone else, but this seemed too far.
"If you need help with anything I'm here." Naruto offered awkwardly. He was thinking desperately of his abandoned noodles in the hallway.
He didn't make eye contact, but Naruto knew without looking Sasuke's eyes had narrowed dangerously.
"Just shut up and get out." Sasuke said, though his voice held much less venom than before. He just sounded exasperated and tired.
Naruto decided to heed Sasuke's words and slunk from the room. Sasuke sighed heavily, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He pushed the remnants of his broken phone with his foot, vowing that he wouldn't lose his temper like that again, especially not when he had an audience across the hall. Sasuke swallowed nervously as he assessed the situation. He didn't know how much of the phone conversation Naruto had heard. He also couldn't trust Naruto on his word that he wouldn't tell anyone what he had overheard. The blonde didn't strike Sasuke as the type to engage in idle gossip, but he did have a seemingly incessant lust for conversation. If Naruto so much as breathed a whisper of this to any of his equally loud-mouthed friends it would spread through the halls like wildfire. Sasuke ground his teeth angrily. The thought of having his private business made public was infuriating, especially since he made such an effort to internalise most of his unnecessary emotions and keep his business his own.
A soft knock on the door made Sasuke jump from his thoughts. He jumped into action, quickly scraping together his broken phone pieces from the floor and stashing them neatly in his desk drawer.
"What?"
Sasuke watched incredulously as blonde hair appeared at his door again. Sasuke groaned and rubbed his eyes. Naruto emerged further, placing a cup down on Sasuke's desk. Sasuke eyed the object warily. It was bright orange and chipped in several places; obviously one of Naruto's mugs.
"I made you a drink. It'll make you feel better." Naruto explained.
He might not know exactly what kind of trouble Sasuke had gotten himself in, but it sounded serious. He knew Sasuke wouldn't be the kind of person to take him up on an offer of talking through his problems, so this was as close as he could get to breaking through to Sasuke. Letting him know he wasn't going through it alone and even though they were tearing each other's throats out most of the time, he did at least have one person in the world he could turn to. Naruto had caught Sasuke around the campus from time to time and had never seen him walking with anyone. He was always alone, earphones in, listening to music and shutting the world out. Naruto also had never seen Sasuke leave the dorm other than for classes and no friends of Sasuke's had ever come to call for him. This led Naruto to the only sad conclusion; Sasuke hadn't made any friends.
It was unsurprising. He was cold, rude, and arrogant. But Naruto knew what it was like to feel isolated and alone. He knew how it felt when no one would give you the time of day. Naruto felt warmed when he thought of all the friends he had made so far and the year had only just begun. It was only fair Sasuke had at least one friend too.
"It's hot chocolate." He offered.
Iruka had shown him how to make the best hot chocolate. Iruka had made them all the time, topped with cream and marshmellows. Other than sitting at the ramen stand enjoying some miso pork ramen, it was one of his fondest childhood memories. Naruto wondered if Sasuke had the same kind of memories with his family. His eyes scanned the room and he didn't see any photographs. To his surprise, Sasuke stood and took the cup. Sasuke took a drink. It was warm and comforting and surprisingly a little bitter. Sasuke made a begrudging noise of acknowledgment. Naruto couldn't help but smile as he saw Sasuke's scowl fade. The power of the hot chocolate was unbeatable!
"Good right?" he said with a wink.
Sasuke pointedly ignored the wink.
"You really won't tell anyone what you heard?" Sasuke reiterated.
He loathed how weak he sounded to his own ears, almost like he was begging for confirmation from Naruto that he could keep his damn mouth shut.
"I won't, I swear." He said.
He didn't need a reminder of how private a person Sasuke was. He knew people knowing private business was probably a horrifying thought to his roommate.
"Why?" he asked.
Naruto cocked his head to the side.
"What do you mean, why?"
Sasuke had to wonder what Naruto would want in return for his silence. Then again, Sasuke still had no way of knowing how much he had heard and what he had managed to piece together of the situation. Naruto's willingness to keep to his word made Sasuke feel uneasy.
"I mean, what do you want from me?" Sasuke asked.
"You think I'd only keep my mouth shut to get something from you?" he asked slowly.
Sasuke could hear the surprise in Naruto's voice and wondered if he were really that naïve.
"Well?" Sasuke pressed.
Either Naruto was young and naïve, or deviously calculating. If he had taken a moment to look into Sasuke's history, he wouldn't find much, but Sasuke knew even from a simple google search Naruto could deduce one or two things. One of those was Sasuke substantial wealth. Naruto's computer was old and his clothes worn. He lived off cup ramen and all of his textbooks were second hand. Naruto was a typical student. A typical student that could use an injection of cash that could come with blackmailing his wealthy roommate.
But Naruto looked disappointed, not expectant.
"If you'd taken a moment to get to know me, you'd know how ridiculous you sound." Naruto said. He shrugged, and the disappointment disappeared from his face.
Sasuke took a moment, calculating the situation.
"I wouldn't blackmail anyone for anything, Sasuke, that's not my style." Naruto said.
"That so, I find it hard to believe you're really this naive." Sasuke admitted aloud.
"Alright then, now you mention it, there is something I want from you!" Naruto said, turning to face Sasuke directly, their eyes locked.
Sasuke huffed haughtily, the sound righteous and knowing.
"I want to be your friend." Naruto said.
The smug expression slid from Sasuke's face. He blinked.
"I'm sorry, what are we, five years old?" He said with a scowl, his voice patronising.
Naruto's naked innocence and willingness to express himself so openly was, for some reason, unbelievably infuriating to Sasuke. At a young age, his father had taught him the importance of forethought. To think everything through first, before speaking. Never to appear foolish. To do so would disrespect the family name and tarnish the reputation they had worked so hard to build.
His brother had been the epitome of nonchalance; his face had never given away a single emotion. Yet, when he had been alone with Itachi, his older brother had dropped the façade immediately. It seemed his actions were only for their fathers benefit and Itachi could bring up those walls again at a moments notice. It was impressive and one of the things Sasuke had always admired about his brother and, as a small child, one of the behaviours he tried to emulate.
Sasuke suppressed a shudder at the memory of his brother and tried to bring himself back to the current situation. He took another sip of the drink made by Naruto.
"Perhaps we can make friendship bracelets, and I'll braid your hair." He said mockingly.
Pleasingly, this got a reaction from Naruto, who pinked slightly and looked away.
"Would it be the worst thing, to be my friend?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke could sense the poorly hidden vulnerability. He ignored it.
"You're annoying." He supplied.
"That's not a reason!" Naruto spluttered, indignant.
"You wear orange." Sasuke supplied. That in itself were reason enough not to form a friendship. It had also been the basis of Sasuke's instant dislike to Naruto. No person worthy of his precious attention would willingly wear orange.
Naruto grasped his brightly coloured shirt in mock offense.
"I look great in orange!"
"It's annoying to look at. You're annoying."
"Ah!" Naruto shouted. "You can't use the same excuse twice!" he pointed his finger in Sasuke's face obnoxiously.
Sasuke batted his hand away, realising he was losing the will to continue this childish argument. He was also surprised Naruto had been able to engage him in something so juvenile.
"Maybe you could just start being less of an ass? How about that?" Naruto teased.
"Perhaps." Sasuke mused.
It took a moment for Naruto to realise Sasuke was being, or at least an attempt, to be funny. He cracked a grin.
"Alright then!" he said, with renewed excitement. "There's a party going on tomorrow night and I think you should come!"
Sasuke's immediate reaction was to refuse, but then he remembered how easily Naruto had agreed to not mention his outburst to anyone. He supposed he should express a little gratitude and take Naruto up on his offer. He could tell Naruto seemed extremely enthusiastic about them both attending this party. He was probably trying to find something for them to bond over to try and push forward this unlikely and slightly annoying friendship.
"Fine." He said.
Naruto jumped up, excited.
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "It's going to be great! I better text Kiba and let him know you're coming, he'll be so surprised!"
Sasuke groaned at the mention of Naruto's equally loud and over-the-top companion. He let his head fall into his hands as Naruto bounced off across the hall to spread the 'good' news. Sasuke knew he had a reputation for being somewhat of a hermit, and it seemed the entire block of flats had taken it upon themselves to ensure he was integrated into the rest of the friendship group. If Sasuke had just been shy, he might have been thankful for their efforts. Yet Sasuke wasn't shy. He was introverted by choice and necessity and he would prefer it to stay that way.
Yet, somehow, on Friday night, he had signed himself up for a party. He groaned again. What on earth had he agreed to?