A.N: Well, I'm not dead. Yay me!
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Six Hours Earlier.
It took a horrendously large amount of self-restraint for Naruto not to check his watch every five seconds. He felt that would be rude, especially since he knew Sasuke was already sitting beside him getting all suspicious. But really, even if he was going out later, what business was it of his?
Okay, he supposed given their—relationship, it made sense that Sasuke would wonder, but Naruto wasn't going to tell him. Not yet. It was a little too soon for that explosion...
He turned back into their compound, breathing a slow sigh of relief when he didn't find any foreign cars in his driveway, and pulled into it, parking on the asphalt instead of in the garage. Turning off the engine, he opened his door and climbed out, closing it behind himself and watching the raven do the same.
"Come on, I'll walk you home." He grinned at Sasuke, who just snorted at him and started across the street. Naruto jogged slightly to catch up with him, walking alongside him. "Did you have fun?"
"Hn," Sasuke replied, a smirk playing on his lips.
Naruto's grin widened, the blond putting both hands behind his head. "Me too."
They continued up the driveway, Sasuke starting up the porch steps. Naruto didn't bother to climb them.
"We'll have to do it again sometime," the blond said.
"Minus the morning events." The Uchiha stopped on his porch and turned to level him with a glare befitting Satan. It just made Naruto grin more.
"Aw, you said we could at my house." He waggled his eyebrows, and then took a step up to the porch, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss on the other's pale cheek. "See you tomorrow, princess."
"Fuck off, dumbass."
When Sasuke gave him a small push off the porch, he went with it, turning around and sprinting back across the street. He took his own steps in one leap and slammed into his front door, getting it open instantly.
"Hi mom," he called, rushing past the kitchen towards the stairs.
"Hi honey!" she called back.
He took the stairs up to his room two at a time, hurrying down the corridor and past his father's study.
"Hi dad."
"Hey sport."
The blond disappeared into his room and slammed the door, looking around the room wildly. Clothes, clothes... I need clothes... He ran to his closet and yanked it open, pulling shirts off the hangers and digging into the very back of his in-built shelving unit. He found a decently styled shirt and pulled it out, ripping off his current one and yanking the other one on in its place. Then he ran around his room trying to find the jeans he'd worn the other night when he'd taken Sasuke clubbing. He didn't see a sense in making two pairs of jeans smell like smoke.
Finding them, he stripped off the jeans he was wearing, in such a rush he actually fell over backwards. He just kicked them off from the ground and yanked the others on, rolling around on his floor to get them up and do up the fly.
A knock sounded on his door while he was still rolling around, but he called for whoever it was to enter, getting on all fours and trying to find where his wallet had gone since it'd fallen out of his pants when he'd thrown them away.
"Naruto, you sound like an elephant stampede, what the hell are you doing?" Kushina demanded, smirking slightly when she saw her son's butt in the air. She snuck further into the room and gave it a hard smack.
The blond hit his head against the handle of his nightside table. "Ow! Mom!"
"You're so ridiculous." She laughed and bent down, kissing the top of his head. "What's your hurry? Didn't Kiba call you cell phone?"
"No, I told him not to." Naruto lifted his bed covers and checked under his bed. It was a wallet! It couldn't have gone that far!
"He's not going to be here until later."
Instantly, Naruto froze, collapsing to the ground and letting out a whine. He'd been rushing home, made Sasuke suspicious, and caused himself bodily harm only for his asshole of a best friend not to be on time. Really, he shouldn't have been surprised. It was Kiba, after all. Who had a mother as protective as a... well, as a very protective animal.
"You couldn't have mentioned that a bit sooner?"
"Well, you didn't give me much of a chance to." His mother smiled, amused. "So you'll be eating dinner here. I suggest you find out when he's coming by so you're ready for him. God knows the mutt's going to have his damn car."
"He loves that thing. He had to suck up a lot to get it." The blond rolled onto his back and sighed at the ceiling. "But yeah, I should give him a call."
"I'll leave you to that." She started to leave, and then turned back to him. "Oh, are you inviting Sasuke?" He sat up slightly to give her a look. She frowned at him, and then realization struck. "Ah, of course. It's a shame, they'd have gotten along."
"You think so?" Naruto frowned. He was under the impression that they would never get along... Kiba would annoy the shit out of Sasuke more than Naruto did. Kiba annoyed the shit out of Naruto! That was talent!
"I don't think you give Kiba enough credit sometimes, Naruto." She smiled at him, and closed his door.
He just sighed and slammed his head back against the floor, staring up at the ceiling. He debated whether or not to hang out with Sasuke until Kiba got there, but found it would be weird if he went over and was all "oh, false alarm, I can hang with you until, uh, you know, this certain time, cause I have to go do family things."
Right, because that wasn't suspicious at all.
Rolling around in annoyance at Kiba's retardedness ruining his entire life, Naruto fished his phone out of his other jeans pocket—finding his wallet in the process and sighing in annoyance—he flipped it open and speed-dialled Kiba's number.
"Holy shit, dude, I almost fuckin' died, man! My mom caught me at the docks! Do you have any idea how dead my ass'd be if she caught me goin' to fuckin' England?!"
"Well why did you get caught, dumbass? I rushed home because I thought you'd be here waiting for me, and you weren't!"
"Well la-de-fuckin'-dah, fucknut! God, don't be such a drama queen! We're talkin' about my life, here! Momma almost caught me, asshole!"
"You used to be better." Naruto grunted, getting to his feet, and then immediately crouching. He decided it would be better if Sasuke didn't see him in his room. Then maybe he could convince him he'd been home in the living room all night or something. He was already feeling guilty about lying, he didn't want to have to keep doing it, so the less questions the other asked, the better. That, and he was a terrible liar.
"What happened, mutt? Mommy tighten your leash?" He grinned.
"Oh fuck off, you motherfucker. You know she hates it when I ditch on Christmas! It's gonna be hard enough convincing her I was in my room all night while I'm out there with you! But especially now, I'm not gettin' out there until eleven, ten at the earliest."
"Aw, fuck, man, are you serious?" Naruto sighed, crawling to his door and opening it, making his way out into the hall on all four's. He looked up when he encountered legs, his father staring down at him with the most perplexed expression on his face, glasses sliding off his nose and papers in his hand. Then, the older man looked away, shook his head in a "I don't want to know" manner, and disappeared into his study.
"I'm tryin', all right? But now she's suspicious! So we won't be havin' dinner but who the fuck cares? We're goin' clubbing! Isn't that the main purpose of my visit? Don't be such a baby!"
"Hey, you're the one who keeps escaping the madhouse to come see me. If anything, you're the baby who can't handle being with his mother. I've got enough entertainment for me right here." Naruto grinned, sitting on the top step of the stairs, and rubbing his eyes.
"Ah, yes. The elusive boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend." The blond's grin widened. "Yet."
"Is he coming tonight? Tell me he's coming tonight." Kiba sounded so hopeful, Naruto felt sort of bad not having them meet. But he couldn't, he knew he couldn't.
"No, he's not," he said with a wince. Kiba was good at knowing when he was lying. If he asked why, the blond was screwed. Unless the Inuzuka was too worked up about almost being caught, then he might miss it...
"And why the fuck can't he meet the coolest person in your life?!"
Shit! Naruto closed his eyes and rubbed them with his free hand. He could only hope the idiot was too busy worrying about his own ass to tell.
"He's with his family."
There. Short. Easy. He hadn't spoken enough for it to be obvious he was lying.
He hoped.
The silence on the other end wasn't very comforting. He could just see Kiba eying him suspiciously. He didn't want to have to lie to both of them! Just drop it, Kiba! Please just fucking drop it!
"Okay... I'll pretend I believe you cause you only lie to me when it's big."
Well, there went Kiba not noticing.
"Yeah, come in," the brunet suddenly called, and Naruto knew he wasn't talking to him. He smiled slightly, glad for the brief interruption.
"Sir," the blond heard a low, raspy voice in the background, and would have yelled hello except Kiba would remember he was there and probably chew him out about lying again. "I've brought the clothes you requested for this evening with Mr. Uzumaki."
"Oh my fuckin' Christ, Kakuzu! For the last fuckin' time, don't call me sir! Call me Kiba! You've been workin' for my family for like, a century and a half, you don't have to be proper like that with me! I mean, Hidan calls me 'brat' for fuck's sake!"
"You are a brat!" A new voice piped up, Naruto practically rolling on the floor laughing. This conversation happened almost daily, and it never got old.
"That's not my point! Just—get the fuck out, both of you."
"As you wish, sir."
"Stop calling me sir!"
There was an audible door slam on the other end, and Naruto tried to regain his breath, but it was proving difficult, especially since Kiba continued to grumble in French. He tended to do that when he got really agitated, and it always made the blond laugh even harder.
"Ferme la, connard!"
"English, dude," Naruto gasped, still laughing. "I don't speak dumbass."
"Putain, j't'hais! I'll call you when I'm close, fucknut!"
He was still laughing, even after Kiba had hung up.
Naruto stood nervously beside his door at ten-to-eleven that night, glancing up nervously through the small side window at Sasuke's room. The light had been off for hours, and he wondered if maybe he'd gone to bed early or something. Naruto tended to do that sometimes when he was bored. Sleeping was something to do, at least.
He checked the time again and let out a monstrous sigh, getting more and more annoyed with his ruined evening. He couldn't believe how much time he'd spent just... texting Kiba. The brunet always replied with a swear word in French—which meant he was getting really annoyed with Naruto—and then told him to be patient.
Sorry, but Naruto felt six hours was patience e-fucking-nough!
Finally, he felt his phone ringing in his pocket and pulled it out. Flipping it open, he put it to his ear without a word.
"I'm down the street, fucknut."
He hung up and opened his front door. He tried to avoid looking up at Sasuke's window, just so that if the other randomly happened to see him, he wouldn't think Naruto was sneaking. Because he wasn't sneaking. He was just walking to the end of his driveway.
A set of headlights came in his direction, the sound of the other's engine making him wince slightly. Kiba slowed down near the edge of his driveway and Naruto bolted, pulling open the door and jumping in, the brunet speeding up again before he was even fully in the car.
Closing the door, the blond relaxed back into the seat with a sigh, closing his eyes, and then reached to put on his seatbelt. He'd need it the way Kiba drove.
"You are such a fuckin' primadonna, fucknut," the driver informed his friend.
"Whatever." Naruto didn't feel like starting anything with Kiba. Not with both of them annoyed like they were.
He turned to survey his friend, finding him with a half-finished cigarette dangling from between his lips, as per usual. He had another cigarette behind his right ear. Heaven forbid he should finish his current one and not have another accessible right away.
The Inuzuka was dressed similarly to Naruto, wearing jeans and a tight black shirt under his coat. Of course, his clothing looked like it had been worn one too many million times, but Naruto was under the impression he'd bought them that way.
"Kakuzu covering for you?"
"Nah, dumbass is holdin' down the boat for me." Kiba flicked his cigarette out the window, and grabbed the one from behind his ear, putting it between his lips and reaching into his pocket for a match. He pressed the end against his cheek, and then struck it, wincing slightly before bringing the flame to the end of his cigarette. "Sister's got my back this time. I owe her for Christmas."
"You know, you're gonna light your face on fire one day by doing that."
"Sacrifices, man." Kiba turned to grin at him, inhaling on the end of his cigarette and exhaling in the blond's face. Naruto winced.
"You're such an asshole, Kiba."
"I try. And since I missed out on dinner, I'll take you for dessert before we go to the club."
Naruto knew the idiot just wanted something sweet to eat, it had nothing to do with making up for missing dinner. But he didn't mind, he could use something sweet himself, especially since he felt that spending the night with Kiba in this mood meant he'd need sugar to not kill him. They pulled into a small desserts place in the downtown district and got themselves a seat, Kiba flirting with every waitress who passed their table. Naruto just rolled his eyes and severely wished he had opted to spend the night with Sasuke instead. He knew it was unfair though, Kiba could be fun, too. It just depended on what mood the other was in.
"So, now that I've got you here in person," Kiba turned his attention back to Naruto, the blond noting the dark smudges under his eyes. It meant the other hadn't been sleeping well again. "Wanna tell me about the bullshit lie you fed me earlier? About your boytoy?"
"I wasn't lying." Naruto shifted in his seat.
"Uh huh." Kiba stared at him, making it more than obvious he didn't buy a word of what Naruto had just said.
"It's complicated, okay," the blond sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "Even my mom doesn't think it's a good idea. You and him in the same room..." He winced at the mere thought.
He didn't know whether Kiba believed him or not, since the other was just staring at him, but he eventually leaned back in his seat, splaying his legs and crossing his arms.
"Well, I'm gonna meet him eventually if you make it serious, so think about that before it's serious."
"What constitutes as serious to you?" Naruto asked, somewhat concerned.
Kiba didn't answer because their waitress appeared just then, placing two plates down in front of them. The brunet's held a giant piece of chocolate cake, and Naruto's had a large eclair with chocolate and vanilla ice cream on either side of it. The blond couldn't help but chuckle slightly, even though the design looked nothing like a penis, he could shift the eclair to make it look like one.
"Thanks, darlin'." Kiba held out a fifty and winked at her. "Keep the change." He put it in the front of her apron and the girl smiled gratefully before walking away. "You were saying?" He looked back at Naruto, taking a bite of his cake.
"What constitutes as serious?" Naruto repeated, picking up his eclair and licking the ice cream off one side of it.
"Dude!" Kiba threw his fork down.
"What?"
"It's a fuckin' eclair, man. Don't eat it like a dick!" Kiba accused.
"Why?" Naruto grinned, the eclair still near his mouth. "Does that bother you?" He licked at the tip of the pastry.
"Éspèce de... t'es pas drôle, toi!" Kiba shouted at him. A few heads turned and glared slightly, but neither boy seemed to notice.
Naruto, himself, was highly amused by Kiba's reaction. He wasn't entirely sure what the other had just said, but it didn't sound happy. He just chuckled and took a bite out of the end of the eclair, using his finger to lead some stray cream into his mouth. He realized as he was doing so that he'd done the exact same thing almost twelve hours prior, with a different kind of cream.
He must've had a particularly easy-to-read expression on his face, because Kiba went back to eating his cake, and asked, "You haven't fucked him already, have you?"
"Hm?" Naruto looked up at him. "Who?"
"Your boy, fucknut. You haven't fucked him, have you? Cause I auto-meet him when you fuck the guy." He shoved another forkful of cake into his mouth, watching Naruto expectantly.
"No, we haven't gone that far yet." Naruto sighed, stabbing at his ice cream with his spoon and taking another bite of his pastry.
"Well, you've obviously done something," Kiba accused him, gulping down a few sips of his drink and going back to devouring his cake. "Otherwise you wouldn't look so damn nervous."
"Just drop it, okay?" Naruto kicked him under the table. "Eat your damn cake."
"Now that I can do."
Luckily for him, he knew one way to get Kiba to leave him alone was to remind him that he had food. But even without the other hounding him, he couldn't help but think about what he'd said. It was true, if it got to the point where he and Sasuke slept together, he would want Kiba to meet him. He was his best friend. And similarly, he'd want his boyfriend to know his best friend.
He didn't know how he got himself into situations like this. He had to be a masochist because only a masochist would do this to themselves. He half-wanted to tell Kiba to forget it and then go spend Christmas at the Inuzuka's, but that wasn't fair to Sasuke. Especially after Naruto had gone through so much to get the asshole to pay attention to him.
Really, did Sasuke think him working out with his curtains drawn was an accident after he'd noticed that was the bastard's room? Naruto wasn't an idiot, as much as he acted like one sometimes. He got all his dumb genes from Kiba, the fucker was contagious.
"All right, mon p'tit con, let's go."
He looked back at Kiba when the other spoke and stood, then noticed his plate was empty. Naruto shoved the rest of his eclair in his mouth, not really interested in the melting ice cream anyway, and followed the other out the door, chocking slightly on the pastry. It was much harder to handle than a cock, that was for sure. For one thing, a cock didn't randomly have cream explode from the seams, just the tip.
Kiba slid across the hood of his car to get to the driver's side and opened the door. He started the car and was driving away before Naruto had even fully entered. The brunet liked to do that, for whatever reason. Naruto assumed he found it funny when people were running alongside his car.
"So, which club you wanna go to?" Kiba inquired, lighting a new cigarette and flicking the match out the window.
"Whichever. I know how you feel about the gay bars. But similarly, I know how you feel about the straight ones." Naruto grinned at him.
"Yeah, laugh it the fuck up, Chuckles." The brunet growled, and then started cursing in French under his breath.
"It's not my fault the girls flock to the blond guy, mutt."
"And ironically, when we go to the gay bars, I'm the one who gets hit on."
"At least you get free drinks." Naruto shrugged.
"Heh," Kiba laughed. "Yeah, that's awesome." Then he frowned. "But not the point!"
"Hey man, I leave it to you."
The brunet was puffing pretty hard on his cigarette for a few minutes, and it made it easy for Naruto to know what he was thinking. He grinned and looked out the window, waiting for Kiba to realize what he was considering. Naruto always tended to catch on before the other did.
"I fucking hate you, Uzumaki." He changed lanes without signalling and turned towards the same bar Naruto had brought Sasuke to.
If there was anything funnier than watching a straight guy try to dance and have a good time in a gay bar, then whoever thought so had obviously never been to a gay bar with Kiba. Naruto had to stop looking at him after a while because he spent more time doubled over laughing than actually dancing. He could understand, at least, because they'd only been there for ten minutes and Kiba'd already gotten five drink offers.
Still, Naruto wondered why the other was always such a freak about these places, because it wasn't like someone was going to jump on him and start humping him from behi—okay, well there was that one time, but in the guy's defence, he'd been drunk. And for Kiba's ego, he'd broken the guy's nose, so fair was fair.
Looking around, Naruto noticed quite a few people were looking at him, as well, which he didn't like. He wasn't taken, per se, but he wasn't really single anymore, either. So he didn't really want people trying to get with him. Sadly, he only knew one way to dissuade people.
"Hey Kiba—"
"Fuck you, Uzumaki, no!"
Naruto shrugged, a grin forming on his lips, because he knew it wouldn't last long. It never did with Kiba. The guy was so scared of getting hit on that as soon as the next person approached them, he was going to concede defeat and, for once, help Naruto in a similar fashion. The blond could tell a guy in the back corner was debating whether or not to come over.
"Putain! Merde, con, tabarnac! Fine!"
Naruto turned to Kiba with a grin, putting both hands on the other's hips. Kiba was glaring at him so hatefully that the blond was actually worried he would spit his lit cigarette into one of his eyes.
The brunet's arms moved up over his shoulders, Kiba letting out a low growl. "If you get hard against me, I'm cutting your dick off and driving over it with my car."
"Do I ever get hard?" Naruto rolled his eyes and yanked Kiba closer, burying his face in the other's neck.
Now Naruto wasn't a good liar, it was true, but one thing he'd always managed to keep hidden was that, sometimes, he was a little attracted to his friend. Of course, now wasn't such a time since he had someone of interest in his life, but there had been many occasions where both of them had gotten drunk, and Naruto was happy that Kiba was a blackout drunk, because he wasn't sure the other would feel this comfortable with him anymore if he knew some of the things they'd done while under the influence.
Not that Naruto had ever fucked him, he wasn't that much of an asshole, but he'd definitely gone further than a straight guy would've liked, that was for sure.
He rocked his hips against the other's, trying to make him move more fluidly and not be so damn stiff. It was pretty obvious he was straight the way he was moving, but the blond just hoped no one could tell in the dark. All they needed to see was two bodies pressed together, some light touching, a little kissing, and they'd leave them alone.
Tanned hands moved down slightly over Kiba's jean-clad ass, and then back up under his shirt, nails dragging along the other's flesh. He licked the Inuzuka's neck once and then moved his lips up to his ear, biting at it lightly and then moving back down to bite along his jawline. When he reached his lips, one hand came up to pull the cigarette free from them, flicking it towards the ground. Kiba just glared at him when he moved in to bite at his bottom lip, trying to ignore the taste and smell of smoke. That was one thing he'd never liked about kissing Kiba: the taste.
No one wanted to kiss an ashtray.
"No tongue, fucknut."
"Do I ever use tongue?" Naruto rolled his eyes again.
Using his hands on the other's back to pull him closer, he pressed his lips against Kiba's, trying to ignore how stiff he was against him. He pulled away and nipped lightly at his lower lip, then kissed him again.
A flash to their left caused Naruto to bite down harder than he'd meant to and then jerk towards the light, grabbing the shirt of the person who'd just taken the picture. He reared back his fist to punch them but Kiba grabbed his wrist.
"Dude! C'est un mec! Un mec! It's just a guy!"
Naruto let his eyes adjust and saw a really worried—and confused—guy staring back at him with a digital camera in his hand. His boyfriend shoved at Naruto's chest, making him let the guy's shirt go and stumble back a step. Kiba stepped between them.
"Hey, it was a misunderstandin'. It's cool, we're all cool." He held up a fifty, then handed it to the guy. "We're cool, okay."
The guy glared at Naruto, then grabbed the fifty and pulled his boyfriend away. The guy just stared at Naruto, confused, and followed.
"Sorry," the blond mumbled. "I forgot."
"On est pas au Canada, mon ami." Kiba patted his shoulder with a smile.
"English, dude." Naruto rubbed his face, his heart slamming somewhere up in his throat.
He felt bad for scaring and confusing the guy, but generally, when cameras flashed around Kiba, they weren't the good kind. He didn't want the brunet getting in trouble with his mom for being in England, nor did he want any more dumb stories to pop up because of a misunderstanding.
"Calm down, fucknut. We're not in Canada."
"Right." Naruto looked up at him, then reached for his lips with one hand, wincing. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bite down so hard."
"It's cool." Kiba licked at the blood on his lip, Naruto seeing a small cut there from where he'd bitten him. "It'll heal." The Inuzuka pulled him. "Come on, let's get a beer."
"Make that two, and you're buying."
Kiba just snorted and shoved Naruto slightly, making his way to the bar. He slapped it and motioned a beer, raising two fingers. When the bartender turned away, Naruto noticed the brunet looking at him. He turned to stare back.
"What?"
"Did you do that for me, or so your boyfriend wouldn't see you?" Kiba grinned.
Naruto hoped he was joking, because he'd been sticking up for the moron his entire life. Every time a camera went off, he was there. This time was no different. It was instinct, now.
"Even if he did, I'd just tell him the truth about what happened."
"Oh?" Kiba handed money over and took the beers, holding one out to Naruto. The blond took it gratefully. "And what's that?" Kiba took a swig.
"That you're the straightest thing on the planet. You're so straight, Kiba, you make straight look crooked."
The brunet laughed slightly, then cuffed him across the back of the head. "Ferme la. Let's dance."
Naruto knew he'd had a lot to drink the night before. Not as much as when he'd gone out with Sasuke, for sure, but—enough. Enough for his head to hurt a little when he started to gain consciousness again. He heard snoring coming from the floor beside him and frowned, opening his eyes. He rubbed at them sleepily with one hand, his other reaching out and groping around for his alarm clock, turning it.
He leapt out of bed. Right onto Kiba.
"Shit! Kiba! Kiba, get up! It's seven!"
The brunet jerked into a sitting position, turning bleary, confused eyes in the blond's direction. "Quoi?"
"Seven! Sept! Time!"
It took about two seconds for the words to click and then his eyes snapped open. "Ah, merde!"
"Yeah! What you said!"
The two of them tore Naruto's room apart, collecting Kiba's various articles of clothing and his wallet, phone and keys. He held them all in a huge pile in his arms, then ran out Naruto's bedroom door, the blond following behind him.
"Oversleep, boys?" Kushina asked, coming up the stairs, obviously on her way to wake them.
"Hi mom." Kiba kissed her left cheek when he passed.
"Morning mum." Naruto kissed her right one and hurried after his friend.
The brunet was pushing his feet into his shoes, Naruto grabbing his jacket and throwing it onto the pile in his arms. Then, he opened the front door, Kiba rushing outside in nothing but jeans and his shoes. The cold air bit at Naruto's skin—he was wearing only his jeans—and he knew Kiba would've been bitching about the cold if he wasn't so terrified of dying.
"Kiba, keys!" Naruto grabbed them off the hall table and threw them at him.
Turning, the brunet managed to catch them with one hand, opening his passenger side door and throwing his stuff inside. Slamming the door, he slid across the hood of his car, got behind the wheel, and with a roar of his engine, disappeared down the street.
Shaking his head, Naruto laughed and walked back into the house, closing the door. Letting out a sigh, he moved into the kitchen and fell down in his usual seat, groaning slightly and burying his face in his arms.
"Hi," he said to his dad, who was sitting beside him, reading the paper and nursing a coffee. His reply was a light pat to the head. He let out another groan and tried to pass back out, but he knew there was no way. He was up for the day now.
"Did he leave with enough time?"
"I don't know." Naruto got more comfortable. "If not, his mother will kill him."
"Yes, that's rather what I'm afraid of." Minato chuckled. "Did you have fun?"
"Mm. Almost beat up some poor guy taking a picture of his boyfriend."
"You're a good friend, Naruto. I know Kiba appreciates it."
The blond lifted his head to regard his father, but he was hidden behind his newspaper. "You think so?"
"Of course." He lowered it and grinned at Naruto. "Now you just need to decide what you're going to do."
"Going to do?" Naruto was puzzled.
"About Sasuke and Kiba."
He groaned again and buried his face in his arms once more. It was too early in the morning to be having this discussion. Especially since he didn't want to be having it ever. It was true he'd have to address it eventually, but that was only if Sasuke decided to keep him around. For the moment, he wasn't going to worry about it too much.
What Sasuke didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
The doorbell rang and Naruto groaned. He groped around until he grabbed the edge of his father's newspaper, and pulled it from the other's grasp, covering his head with it. Minato just chuckled and got up, Naruto listening to him pad towards the front door. He could hear two people talking in low voices, and then his father reappeared.
"Naruto, it's for you. It's, uh—it's Sasuke. He doesn't look very happy."
He saw... He thought with a sigh. Don't jump to conclusions, maybe he just happened to be awake and came over to say good morning or something.
Grunting, he forced himself to stand, trudging towards the door and handing the newspaper to his dad as he passed. He walked out into the hallway and towards the open front door, flashing Sasuke a grin when he came into view.
"Morning, princess. Miss me so much you needed to come over bright and early?"
The glare he received could have frozen Satan's balls off. Oh yeah... he definitely saw...
"How was your night?"
Naruto couldn't decide if the air outside, or Sasuke's tone was colder. He was betting on Sasuke's tone. It was positively arctic. Now he just had to hope that the Uchiha didn't know him well enough to tell he was lying.
"Okay." He clapped his hands together, pressing them against his lips. "So about last night..."
"Yes, let's discuss last night." Sasuke's voice had lowered in coldness. Naruto resisted the urge to rub his arms. He was getting cold standing there without a shirt, the winter air and Sasuke's icy demeanour slamming into him.
"Okay, I went out. But it was—a kind of thing where I couldn't really... control who came..." Naruto winced, knowing his wording had come out wrong, but unsure of how to really explain his evening with Kiba without—well, telling him about Kiba.
"And what, exactly, does that mean?"
"He was doing a favour for me." Naruto almost jumped out of his skin when his father's hand fell onto his shoulder. "My boss' son is a big party animal, but it's not safe to go out alone around here. I asked if Naruto would go with him, and he agreed." Hunching his shoulder slightly, the blond looked over his shoulder, smiling gratefully at his father. Minato smiled back at him, then looked at Sasuke again. "I guess he didn't want to tell you because he knew you wouldn't be able to tag along, and he didn't want to explain he was doing his old man a favour."
It was like the entire house had warmed up ten degrees. Naruto didn't feel the need to grab a blanket anymore, and he didn't even have to look at Sasuke to know the other had calmed down. He probably even felt a little embarrassed.
He chanced a glance at Sasuke, and sure enough, the raven had tinges of pink on his cheeks, even though his face was entirely devoid of emotion. The Uchiha cleared his throat and crossed his arms, shifting his weight.
"You could've just told me, you know."
"I felt bad," Naruto blurted out, going with the story his father had so kindly provided him with. The older man, himself, had walked away by now. "I would have wanted you to come, and I know you'd have wanted to as well, but I knew you wouldn't be able to. It just seemed easier saying I was just gonna be home all night."
"Oh." Sasuke was avoiding his eye, now. "Um... right..."
"Hey." Naruto smiled and moved forward, hugging Sasuke. He felt the other tense briefly, and then relax, but he didn't hug him back. That made him wince slightly. "Sorry. I should've said something, I just—well, I already explained."
He pulled away, finding it weird to hug someone when they weren't hugging you back. "Hey, how about we hang today? Let's go catch another movie or something?"
"No." Naruto tried to hide how much that one word hurt. "I don't want to see a movie, let's just... My parents are going out later with my brother to go Christmas shopping. Wanna come by and play some video games?"
The blond was shocked for a few seconds, then his face melted into a devious grin. He noticed Sasuke had started blushing again, even though he was scowling.
"You sure you trust me in a house alone with you?"
"Maybe I'm counting on you not behaving yourself." Sasuke smirked.
"Touche, my friend." Naruto licked his lips, eyes roving over the other's body, which he had already been privy to once. "Just say when and I'll be there."
"Keep an eye on my window." The raven smirked, walking backwards down the porch. "Shouldn't be hard. You watch me about as often as I watch you."
"Touche again. You're on a roll today."
Sasuke shook his head and turned around, walking back towards his house. Naruto watched him go as long as his bare arms could stand, and then closed the door, jumping on the spot to warm up.
"Damn, it's cold!" he exclaimed, shaking slightly. He glanced out the side-window. "At least it's not snowing. No driveway shovelling today!"
He turned and skipped towards the stairs so he could shower before he got the signal to come over but paused when he passed the kitchen. His father was sitting at the table again, reading his paper and nursing that same cup of coffee.
Sighing, he walked up behind him and hugged him tightly, feeling bad his father had had to lie for him, especially since he knew the other hated lying as much as he did.
"Thanks dad," he whispered, tightening his hold.
Minato reached up and rubbed one of his arms. "Just don't keep it a secret forever, Naruto. It'll blow up on you eventually. You'll have to tell them."
"I know, just—not yet. I just met Sasuke, and I don't want to ruin a lifetime of friendship with Kiba over something I'm not sure about."
"I think you underestimate them, son. Both of them. They're big boys."
"Yeah, but—just give me more time." He tightened his hold for a second, then released his father. "I'll tell them, just not yet."
He turned and headed up the stairs, hearing his dad give a disappointed sigh.
Naruto took his time in the shower, washing off all the sweat and smoke from the previous night, and laughing every now and then when he recalled things he did with Kiba to make people leave them alone. Because he was going to be driving early in the morning—a few hours after they got home—Kiba didn't drink as much as he usually did, which meant he was mostly sober. And when he was sober, touching Naruto freaked him out.
It was somewhat funny to the blond. Kiba had no problem jumping up on him, and wrapping his arms and legs around him, but he couldn't dance with him. Then again, he knew the reason Kiba did that was because he was psychotic and eccentric, and because they were best friends. Naruto kind of liked that Kiba trusted him enough not to drop him.
He also liked that Kiba trusted him enough to kiss him. Considering how almost hysterically homophobic his best friend was, the fact that he was still best friends with him, and indulged him every now and then was quite a feat, and he had to give his friend some credit.
The blond was just getting out of the shower when he heard his phone ring. He trudged into his room, a towel around his waist and dug through his pants to find it. Flipping it open, he put it against his ear and winced, unsure of whether or not he was going to get his eardrum burst.
"Hello?" he asked tentatively.
"We are so fuckin' lucky, dude," Kiba said breathlessly. Naruto could tell he'd probably bolted from the docks to the house and up into his room. "My mom overslept. She's just wakin' up now. I need to shower or she'll know I was out, but I'm home free."
Naruto heard his friend's voice echoing when he changed rooms, obviously in the bathroom by now.
"That was too close this morning, dude." Naruto started picking his clothes up, throwing them in the hamper and choosing his clothes for later with Sasuke. He glanced up out of habit, but the raven wasn't in his room. Naruto assumed he was eating breakfast or something. "I was sure you wouldn't make it."
"Fuck, me too! Kakuzu was callin' me non-stop but my fuckin' phone was off! By the time I got to the boat, you shoulda heard the guy! He was trippin' all over himself, all 'sir, sir! We must go! We must go!' and all that bullshit." Kiba snorted. "And of course, Hidan fuckin' hits me over the head with a pool stick for being late. As if it's my fault! Broke the stick, too! Now I have to get it replaced before momma notices."
"Well, it technically was your fault," Naruto reminded him, inspecting a shirt, then shrugging and pulling it on. "You shouldn't have overslept and made them both worry they were going to lose their jobs."
"Momma would never fire them. They look out for me, she knows that. She'd just be a little pissed."
"You mean a lot pissed. Your mom only has two moods: pissed off, and psychotic."
"True. It's why she had to marry a French-Canadian. The English ones couldn't handle her." He could hear the grin in his friend's voice, and laughed, shaking his head.
"You are ridiculous, dude." Naruto walked back into his bathroom to grab a second towel, using it to dry his hair and wandering around his room. He couldn't get boxers and pants on while on the phone with Kiba. You never used your shoulder to hold the phone when talking to Kiba. He had random outbursts that made it convenient to be holding a phone, because it could be pulled away from an ear.
"Anyway, I should shower in case she pops in here and smells the smoke. I'll see if I can make it back out before Christmas, but you know how she gets."
"Mm, I do. Try not to get killed, mutt. I'd be sad if you died."
"Fuck you, fucknut. Later."
Naruto hung up when the dial tone buzzed in his ear. He smiled slightly and shook his head, tossing his phone onto his bed and grabbing boxers from his top drawer.
He glanced over at Sasuke's window, and found the other was sitting at his desk now. Their eyes met and the raven smirked. Naruto grinned and, unashamed, let the towel fall from around his waist, making a huge show of pulling on his boxers. He then dug around for a pair of jeans, yanking them on as well. Then, he stared inquiringly at Sasuke, the raven shaking his head.
Naruto could've sworn he saw the other sigh when confirming that his parents were still home. It made him wonder what Mr. Uchiha had planned for them. Turning, he went to grab a book off his shelf, and then pulled his chair up to his window, sitting down in it and putting his feet up on the window ledge.
He made sure to look up every now and then to see if there was any change across the street, but the book was actually fairly entertaining. He was almost halfway through it before the sound of a garage door opening made him look up.
Quickly lowering his feet, he ducked from in front of the window, not wanting Sasuke's family to see him there. He didn't think their first thoughts would be that he was spying on Sasuke, but just in case. The blond was pretty sure Itachi already knew, either way, but why help further along his well of knowledge?
He waited until the car was gone before actually peeking over the edge of the window. Sasuke waved him over, and he grinned, standing up and tossing the book onto his bed, not even thinking to save his page.
Naruto had know Sasuke for six days. He wondered how far they could go before it was deemed inappropriate for knowing someone for six days.
"On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." Naruto ginned, heading for the stairs. He continued to hum the song all the way across the street.
-dances-