frat boys and she-devils
chapter 4: maturity? what maturity?
Before she even opened her eyes, Sakura knew that she was going to have a bad day. Her throat was dry, her head was aching and her stomach was gurgling in protest at her very existence. Also, there were voices. Bleary-eyed, she ever so slowly pushed her face off the pillow just enough to be able to turn and see what appeared to be Naruto tied up in fairy lights and Sasuke commenting on the impracticality of one of her thongs. Sakura had already accepted that she was going to go mad living here, but she didn't think it would happen this quickly.
Trying to silence whatever alcohol-induced hallucination she was currently experiencing, she buried her face back into the pillow. It wasn't until the bed dipped next to her that she remembered she hadn't locked her bedroom door last night. Groaning loudly, she turned to face the cool stare of the Uchiha sat next to her. They sat in silence for several seconds, easily ignoring Naruto's pleas for help in the background through years of practice, until finally Sasuke cleared his throat.
"Get up, you have a house viewing in an hour."
Still half-asleep, Sakura propped herself up to sit against the headboard and shook her head in an attempt to comprehend what was happening. Finding no explanation, she turned back to him with a "huh?".
Sasuke rolled his eyes and brandished his phone in her face. "You said we could come today, remember? So here we are, ready to move you. You're not staying here with my brother and the freaks he associates himself with."
Sakura merely cast a pointed look at the blonde who was rolling around her floor, legs and arms tangled with wires and a pitiful expression on his face.
"Uh-huh, he's the one with the weird friends," she drawled, her brain finally clear enough to grasp the situation. "You know I'm not actually moving right? Did you seriously think you'd rock up here and kick me out?"
The blank stare she got in return was a clear answer. Rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, she ignored both her idiotic boys and left the room. A shower was definitely needed before she could even try and deal with them.
Hair that smells of tequila is never the recipe for a productive day.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just a fever dream, and when she left the bathroom 20 minutes later, she could distinctly hear Naruto fighting with Hidan downstairs. The smashing noise probably wasn't a good sign.
Clean and dressed, she decided she felt just about human enough to face the abundance of male idiots and so descended the stairs, only mildly scared at what would greet her. Luckily, the scene wasn't too bad. Well, Hidan and Naruto were lent over the table yelling in each others faces, Deidara was happily provoking them, and Sasori was twirling a knife in Sasuke's direction in a distinctly threatening way.
Her brother really didn't like Sasuke.
She did the only sane thing, and completely ignored the situation in favour of coffee-making. Kisame side-eyed her as he prodded at the eggs in his pan, and gave her an amused grin when she caught his eye over the rim of her mug.
"How we feeling this morning, princess? Looking a little rough there."
Having not consumed enough caffeine to function yet, it took Sakura a few seconds to try think up a comeback. Fortunately, she was saved from her brain fart when Itachi entered the kitchen, grabbed Sasuke's arm and then promptly dragged the younger boy from the room. The strange encounter was enough to make Hidan and Naruto momentarily forget their argument, and Sakura quickly grabbed at the chance to save her head from the intense yelling.
"Naruto, think you could help me set up my desk then pretty please?", she questioned, throwing in a bat of her eyelashes for good measure. If there was one thing that Naruto was weak to, it was her needing him for something, no matter how small the problem. With one last sour look at Hidan, he turned to her with his signature grin and straightened quickly.
"Sure thing, Sakura-chan!"
Grinning back, she followed him from the room with only a split-second glance at the blonde artist currently staring vacantly at the table top. They were halfway to her room when Naruto suddenly stopped and spun to face her.
"Wait, you're not actually staying here, are you? Sakura-chan, there are too many guys here!"
Pushing past the wide-eyed boy, she rolled her eyes and mentally prepared herself for the argument that was about to take place.
She was too hungover for this shit.
As expected, eventually Naruto accepted that she was staying put. Not to say that he liked it, but the combination of the lack of Sasuke's influence and his almost innate inability to upset the pinkette meant that he gave in reluctantly. Now he was sat on her floor surrounded by bits of wood and screws, attempting to figure out which way round the shelves on her desk went. Sasuke had been taken away hours ago, and wasn't replying to Sakura's texts, but she assumed that if either of the brothers had snapped and murdered the other, she'd probably have heard about it by now.
Tobi had wandered in half an hour ago, and was happily sat alphabetising her books and whistling along to the music from her phone. It was a companionable atmosphere, and Sakura was in a much better mood than she had woken up in. Although she wasn't sure how long that would last if she couldn't find a way to stop the shelf by her bed from looking cluttered. With another huff, Sakura backed up and fixed it with a critical eye. She definitely needed more coffee. But the good shit, not the instant that she had in her cupboard. Instantly brightening at the thought of consuming liquid heaven, she slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her keys.
"Right, I need a caffeine fix, and Starbucks is calling my name. Either of you want anything?"
The way both boys looked up at her and shouted hot chocolate in unison was utterly endearing, and Sakura giggled lightly as she left her room. As she emerged on to the porch, a black car pulled up next to her convertible and Sasuke instantly jumped out with a hard look. Spying her walking towards him, he turned and hopped into her passenger seat, while Itachi headed towards the house.
As they passed, Itachi raised his eyebrows at her questioning look, and she decided it was probably best if she didn't pry. So, instead, she started her car, opened up her spotify playlist entitled 'Sasuke the punk-bitch' and chucked the phone into said boys lap. After several seconds, his tightly crossed arms loosened and he started scrolling through the song selection.
With a small smile, Sakura turned her attention to the road as she reversed out of the drive and simply turned up the volume on her stereo as Sasuke began to relax back into his seat.
He would talk when he was ready.
There were several scenarios she thought she might see when her and Sasuke stepped back into her room 30 minutes later, but a pillow fort was definitely not one of them.
The reaction was easily summed up by Sasuke's mutter of "the fuck?".
Tobi and Naruto both popped their heads out between the blankets that coated an entire half of her room, and she honestly had no idea how a fort that big was even standing. Honestly, it was some rather impressive engineering work. With a shrug, she simply grabbed her longest set of fairy lights and crawled inside to join the boys. Sasuke stood and stared in mild disgust at the trio as the two builders eagerly accepted their drinks and Sakura draped the lights around the perimeter of the make-shift tent.
"Sakura-chan, you need to hear Tobi's story about the pelican and the sandwich!" Naruto stated, bouncing excitedly where he sat as he slurped loudly from his cup. This statement was enough to warrant curiosity from Sasuke, and the boy reluctantly crawled in to sit on her left, sipping silently and fiddling with his phone distractedly.
The next few hours were spent like this, with Tobi only disappearing shortly to grab a tray of cookies from the kitchen and Sasuke only looking slightly mortified when Kisame walked past and laughed loudly at the sight they made.
She waved happily until her childhood friends had disappeared down the road, and let out a nostalgic sigh as she turned back into the house. Everyone appeared to be in their rooms, and so Sakura decided to follow suit and attempt to dismantle the creation that was threatening to consume her bed.
Before that, she headed to upstairs bathroom after spying the steam pouring out of the one she shared. But as she stepped to head back down to her room, she noticed the ladder that was pulled down in the landing that she was certain she had never even noticed before. Curious, she approached the wooden steps and pulled herself up to poke her head through the trapdoor.
The attic she was met with had her jaw dropping. The room wasn't the dusty affair you would have expected in a student house. Sure, in the back corner was a pile of junk that included rusty bikes and what appeared to be a fraternity statue of a shark, but the rest of the room was made into some sort of den. A large metal table sat in the centre of the room, covered in art supplies and splattered with paint. Paintings and sculptures dotted the rest of the room, and a sofa sat facing the large window that looked out over the garden.
There sat Deidara, a sketch pad propped on his knee and a coffee raised to his lips. He was watching her as she took in the room, and he smirked when she turned to finally face him.
"Welcome to the studio."
Taking that to mean she was allowed up here, Sakura took the seat next to him and rested her feet on the window-sill, still glancing around at the art that filled the room.
"This is so cool. Do you share this with Sasori?" she questioned, spying a wooden carving of a snake against the far wall.
He made a noise of agreement, staring critically at the sketch in his lap.
"It's good," she offered quietly, trying not to disturb the only peaceful place in the house.
Without looking at her, he replied "It's ok, but I know I can do better. Been sort of distracted recently."
Raising her gaze from the sketch to his face, she smiled softly as she took in how peaceful he looked when alone with his work. It was this side of Deidara, the side that she was positive only she saw, that really attracted her to him. Though his arms were a major factor too.
Sensing her stare, his blue eyes locked on to hers and his expression pulled into a softer version of his usual smirk. "You should feel honoured, no one else is allowed up here."
Laughing lightly, she leaned back into the sofa and stared out of the window at the rain that started to patter quickly against the glass.
"I must be pretty special then." she replied after a moment, swallowing at the anxious feeling she always got whenever she had these sort of moments with him.
Huffing a laugh, Deidara resumed his sketching, his thigh pressing against hers gently.
"Something like that."
A/N - So I know I went a bit MIA there but I was moving house, sorry! This, as you can probably tell, is pretty much all set-up, but don't worry important stuff happens soon!
