This story is now more than a 100 pages long... how the hell did that happen? I used to dream of becoming an author when I was little, but discarded that idea long ago, because I never had the patience to write more than 3 pages! (I was 12, seems like the past 7 years were actually good for something)

This was a difficult chapter to write, since I was interrupted by life about a hundred times, but I hope you like it anyway!

Going shopping with Naruto was a challenge. At some point the young man had changed from being scared to ask for anything, to simply dump whatever he wanted in the basket. Probably because he knew he wouldn't get half of it, if he didn't sneak it in somehow.

It even seemed as if the blonde purposely took more than necessary just to be sure Sasuke wouldn't put all of it back on the shelves. This did of course make their daily shopping for groceries a prolonged affair. At some point Sasuke lost sight of him, but guessed that he'd most likely find him in the aisle with pasta and other dry foods or reading comics near the checkout.

He certainly didn't expect to see his lover throwing himself at some redheaded man in the middle of the supermarket. He felt himself bristle at the sight of something, that obviously belonged to him in the arms of someone else. Who the hell was this person anyway? Was it that Kiba guy Naruto had been talking about? He stalked towards them with long steps, ready to introduce himself as Naruto's special someone the first chance he got.

Naruto got ahead of him because as he saw Sasuke approach, he pulled away from the stranger a send a beaming smile Sasuke's way. The other man, no wait, the other kid, turned around to see who Naruto was pointing at.

"Sasuke! Sasuke this is Gaara! He's Temari's sister and came to visit me at the foster home all the time, because Temari was there all the time, and he lives really close, and they have a pool, but Gaara doesn't like being out in the sun, he's kinda like you that way, and-"

Sasuke clasped his hand over Naruto's mouth. "You're rambling."

"Oh, yeah, I guess. Sorry." Naruto scratched at the back of his head. The redhead was staring blankly at Sasuke and even though he wasn't as tall as either Sasuke or Naruto he had an ominous air around him."Gaara this is Sasuke, he's the guy I'm living with." Naruto introduced him.

Sasuke frowned a little at the introduction. At least he hadn't been referred to as a mere friend. The both reached out to shake hands reluctantly eyeing each other coldly.

"Aww man, Gaara you gotta come see the place I'm staying at, it's sweet! Sasuke's apart is so much nicer than the foster home, and I even have my own room!"

"I liked the foster home…" Gaara muttered and watched Sasuke suspiciously through narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I know, but that's just 'cause you don't like being at home with your siblings." Naruto said and waved off Gaara's comment as if it was nothing. "Maybe you can come over now? It's only seven, so you can stay for a couple of hours, right?"

Sasuke interrupted Naruto's enthusiastic invitation, feeling a little shaken about the prospect of having some stranger visiting his place."Naruto, you have that report to finish, don't you remember?"

"Damn, you're right…" Naruto muttered dejectedly. "You'll have to come over another day then." He said apologetically as if he was cancelling a long planned visit.

"It's fine. I don't have time tonight anyway." Gaara said in his monotone voice.

"Oh well, call when you have time. No wait!" Naruto exclaimed and facepalmed."Of course it won't work if you call the foster home, but I've gotten my own cell phone now, isn't it cool?" He asked as he pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to Gaara.

"It's nice."

"Yeah it really is, here I'll give you my number." Naruto said and pulled out a pen from who knows were. One of the habits that followed with being homeless was wearing clothes with a bunch of pockets to keep all your stuff in, and some things like this stuck even after everything else had changed. He pulled Gaara's arm forward and scribbled his number on the pale skin without asking for permission.

"See you later Gaara" The blonde waved goodbye to the redhead and began pulling Sasuke to the check out. "Gods Sasuke I'm starving, let's hurry home."

Sasuke found no reason to object that proposal.

"So that boy was Gaara, and your other friend's name was Kiba. Anyone else I need to know about?" Sasuke asked over dinner.

Naruto tapped his index finger at his chin as if thinking hard.

"Hmm… There's Sai, but I don't think he'll come visit anytime soon. He was just admitted to the CYM Hospital a couple of months ago. There's also Konohamaru, but I'll visit him and the others at the foster home at the same time. There's also a couple more from school that I talk to, but I don't think they'll come and visit." Naruto's expression suddenly fell as if he realized something.

"Shit, I didn't even ask. Is it okay for me to bring friends over? I mean of course we don't want Iruka to know stuff, but it would also be bad if Temari knew, and Gaara still lives with her and their brother…"

Sasuke's expression softened a little. "Hn. It's your home as much as it's mine now. You should know that it's fine."

"Thanks Sasuke." Naruto leaned over the table with a sweet smile and planted a wet kiss on Sasuke's cheek. With Naruto being so considerate, late or not, he felt that he should be as well. It came quite naturally since he genuinely was concerned about Naruto's well-being, but he had never thought about how caring about Naruto somehow included caring about the blonde's relationships with his friends. He needed to show some interest in Naruto's life to be a good boyfriend didn't he?

"How come your friend is at the hospital?"

"Oh, you mean Sai? Well he's in an out of that place all the time, so I'm sure he'll be fine. They usually send him back when the nurses get enough of him, heh." Naruto answered smiling as if thinking about an inside joke.

"When they get tired of him?" Sasuke asked puzzled. "CYM, isn't that the children and youth-"

"Mental hospital." Naruto finished his sentence. "He's a little strange, all right, but I really don't think it's necessary to send him there all the time. It's mostly because he piss people off. Then they try to fight him, and he always wins the fights, so he's seen as a trouble kid. But it's just because he doesn't know any better and-"

Sasuke zoned out and promised himself not to ask about any of Naruto's friends again. They could take care of themselves just fine. The thought alone of him trying to care even slightly about more than one person at a time should have warned him off.

Naruto's choice of friends was strange to say the least. The dog boy, the loud underling at foster home, the crazy guy and the freaky redhead. Sasuke felt no need to get to know any of these people, Naruto was plenty enough for him.

Naruto told one story after another about his adventures with his friends and all the mischief they had caused in the past, while Sasuke responded with a grunt or a 'Hn' every once in a while. He was more amused by Naruto's antics and excessive body language than the stories as they stood next to each other cleaning up after dinner. Naruto's hands gestured in all directions and Sasuke almost got hit in the head by a dirty plate at one point. It felt like the blonde could go on all night, but Sasuke eventually stopped him by grabbing him around his waist and steering him back to the table where Naruto's homework still lay forgotten and messed up after their earlier activities.

"Time to get back to work."

Naruto sighed "I know… It's just so boring, and I don't understand half of it."

"Stop whining, I told you I'd help you with it."

They both sat down and Naruto tried to sort the papers out and flatten the ones that had been wrinkled in the heat of the moment. Sasuke could see he was trying to concentrate by the tiny crease that appeared between his brows, but every time the blue eyes landed on him, Naruto got off track and seemed to forget what they were talking about.

"Concentrate. I'm not going to repeat myself all the time."

Naruto mumbled something inaudibly and hid his face in the papers.

"What?"

"I said-" Blue eyes gave him a sharp look, but the blush betrayed him."I can't focus, when we're sitting here."

Sasuke frowned confused."Why not?"

"Because… damnit… " Naruto flushed an even brighter red. "Have you forgotten that we were getting it on right here less than a couple of hours ago? And now you're sitting there playing it all cool, but every time I look down, you're perving at me! There's no way I could concentrate!"

"I'm doing what?!" Sasuke exclaimed almost about to laugh.

"You're looking at me like you wanna eat me! It's- it's just so- Gaah I can't! Go over and watch tv or something, you're too distracting!"

Sasuke slowly got up and did as told. He hadn't been aware about looking at Naruto, but now that he was… He'd make sure to show the blonde knew the difference between accidental looks shot his way, and when Sasuke truly gave him all his attention. He turned the tv on, but kept facing the blonde and his eyes practically dressed him off.

Naruto didn't notice at first, but when he did his reaction was immediate. Blue eyes quickly glanced at dark ones, and then Naruto let out a screech. "Sasuke stop it!"

Pale lips turned up in a smirk. It was just too easy to piss him off.

/-/

They had yet to go all the way, but Sasuke knew that it was only a question about time. Currently his hands were travelling down a tanned naked back to explore yet unknown territory. They were standing closely together in the shower hot and sweaty from their run, their blood still pounding in their veins. It had been harder than the times he went for a run alone, because he was more of a long distance runner while Naruto was a sprinter, which meant they had taken turns to adapt to each others' tempo.

But there was nothing like physical activity to get the libido going, and judging on the hard appendage pressed against his stomach he was not the only one affected by it. The feel of smooth wet skin under his hands was exhilarating, and for a moment he let his hand slip in between Naruto lower cheeks to feel the heat there.

The blonde let out a soft gasp at the touch and a small tremor went through him when Sasuke's hand gently slid over the sensitive skin and slipped away again. The motion was repeated teasingly and Naruto squirmed in his arms as if unsure of which way to move anymore. He obviously wanted to continue the rhythmic thrusts bringing them closer, but he also wanted to experience more of this new sensation.

Sasuke was thrilled by the how Naruto seemed to be eager to go further instead of scared away from the action. He let one finger delve down and rub in small circles around his entrance until the blonde bit down on his neck hard, in protest of the teasing. He was just about to continue when a loud noise brought him out of their heated embrace. At first he didn't want to believe his own ears, but then it came again.

It was the doorbell.

You have got to be kidding me! If this is some idiotic salesman or one of those charity groups…

"Shit." Naruto gasped. "It must be Kiba!"

Sasuke decided right then and there that he by principle would dislike all of Naruto's friends, simply because they took away from the time Naruto could be spending with him. In this particular situation this Kiba person had even had the audacity to interrupt his 'happy time' with the blond. This guy was asking for trouble.

Sasuke reluctantly let his boyfriend go when the doorbell kept ringing obnoxiously. Naruto got dressed in record time (though only his lower half) and Sasuke could hear him running through the hallway to get to the door. He leaned against the wall and pouted for a few minutes in disappointment. The loud voice of Naruto's friend effectively killed any arousal he might still have felt, and he quickly finished showering, feeling too hot to really enjoy the warm water.

"Just give me a sec, I need to get my shirt." He could hear Naruto say from outside the door, a moment before the blonde came barging in. "Heheh,sorry about that one. I didn't think it was so late already, thought we'd have more time." Naruto whispered apologetically.

"Hn, 's fine." Sauke grunted and followed him out.

There, on the middle of his nice designer couch, sat what he could only describe as a savage. Naruto might have been dirty and disheveled at times, but his eyes and expression had always had a softness to them. That was not the case with Kiba. His hair was sticking up in all directions, his wide grin clearly showed off a pair of fangs and his eyes were that of a wild predator. The tattoos on his cheeks, his square jaw with stubbles and sturdy body only reinforced this impression.

"Hey man, you must be Sasuke!" Kiba greeted him loudly and hit him on the shoulder instead of shaking hands like a normal person would. "Naruto's blabbering about you all the time, he's such a girl." Kiba snickered at this and was hit in the side by Naruto, for his remark.

"Shut up Kibs!"

"Haha you really can't take a little teasing. Didn't think it would be this kinda guy you'd be into though. Seems a little too straight laced." Kiba said as he gave Sasuke a once over.

Dark eyes scowled back at him. Sasuke was in no mood to be particularly friendly.

Suddenly Kiba's eyes narrowed and his glance flickered from Sasuke to Naruto. "Wait a minute… Were the both of you just in there?" The savage, as Sasuke had dubbed him in his mind, looked a little green underneath the tattoos. " Aaaw man, no, just no I don't wanna be a witness to that, hell naw." Kiba grimaced and tried to cover his eyes.

Sasuke couldn't help the amused snort. So Naruto's little friend knew about them, but wasn't too thrilled about it? Why not make sure it would stay that way, so he wouldn't ever interrupt them on purpose. "Naruto." He said with his most sultry voice. "We can continue were we left off tonight, don't you think?"

"Whaa-? Sasuke don't say that when Kiba's here!"

"Why not? He seems to know already."

"That doesn't mean I want to watch it happen!" Kiba growled and pulled Naruto away from Sasuke. "Come on, let's go to the arcade, otherwise he's just gonna molest you right in front of me, or something freaky."

"No he wouldn't do that-" Naruto said and turned to face Sasuke mid sentence. "You wouldn't do that. Right? Sasuke?"

Sasuke let his eyes answer. They spoke more clearly than any words; 'Why wouldn't I?'

"Uh, kay, Kibs." The blonde chuckled nervously. "The arcade sounds good..."

He watched them with a smirk as Naruto hurriedly tried to push his friend out of the door, to escape before it was too late.

/-/

Sasuke's life was changing. He should have known how it would turn his life upside down to bring Naruto back into it, but he was only starting to get the gist of the extent of it now. He had never thought that being with Naruto, would entail letting so many other people into his life, and he was having some difficulty adjusting to it.

He had been living most of his grown-up life in solitude, and even though he loved Naruto to bits, it still felt weird to have another person sharing his space. It was a pleasant weird, but none the less hard to get used to.

Kiba wasn't the only one visiting anymore. Gaara had come by a few times, and even the crazy guy from the mental hospital had been allowed outside for long enough to stop by. He was more or less forced to take it all in stride, though he would have preferred to have his honeymoon days with the blonde uninterrupted. Never before had he believed himself to be the possessive type, but the thought of keeping Naruto to himself seemed more and more appealing.

Little did he know that that would soon be an impossible feat to accomplish. The redhead was over at their place again and Naruto had been talking the poor boy an ear off for the past three hours. Sasuke couldn't really bring himself to feel sorry for Gaara, but only breathed a sigh of relief when Gaara's phone beeped and the silent boy announced that he would be picked up in a minute by his brother.

But he had been too quick to let his guard down and relax. He realized this, as he opened the door and saw Kankuro staring back at him from the other side.

His colleague raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.

"Sasuke? Didn't know you lived here. I was just going to pick up my brother from a friend's place, but I guess I must have gotten the wrong number." He gave a short laugh, but stopped short when Gaara stepped into view.

Sasuke felt a cold chill down his back. Kankuro wasn't the smartest person he knew, but he could surely put two and two together.

"Eeh? What are you doing here Gaara?"

"I told you this was the address."

"...Yeah, but this is Sasuke's place. Weren't you going to visit Naruto?"

Gaara, who could only be beat in lack of social tact by Sai, pretty much threw Sasuke under the bus with his next words.

"Naruto lives here too. They're lovers." He said it in his most monotone voice as if he hadn't just revealed very personal information about his best friend.

That little bastard!

Kankuro's jaw went slack and his brows furrowed.

"What did you just say?!"

"Naruto lives here."

"N-no the other part. I must have heard it wrong; I thought you just said that they were together-"

"They ar- mmfgh!" Naruto had clamped his hand hard over Gaara's mouth and held him in a chokehold from behind.

It was too late.

The damage had been done, and the matching blushes on Sasuke and Naruto's face would have given them away, no matter what. Sasuke gave a dark glare to the redhead, and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

The hallway filled with a very awkward silence.

"I-I think it's time for you to go home right Gaara?" Naruto said, his voice a pitch too high. "You must be tired. You're saying such weird things hahaha." He laughed nervously trying to disperse the tense air.

Kankuro was staring at Sasuke, and he felt his hackles rise. He had no idea about how Kankuro would react to his and Naruto relationship, but he knew it wouldn't be good. The blonde's friends might accept it as if it was an everyday occurrence, but his brother had already given him a taste of what society thought of such a romance.

He steeled himself for the oncoming insults or signs of disgust in Kankuro's expression. It would only be able to hurt him so much, since he had been aware of his sexuality for so long, but he felt a protective need not to let Naruto get hurt by it as well. Even with everything Naruto had been through he still possessed a certain naivety concerning some things, and Sasuke would do everything to keep it that way.

"There's no need to look like you're going to tear me to pieces, Sasuke." Kankuro said slowly, looking deep in thought. Sasuke couldn't read the tone of his voice for the life of him.

Naruto looked like he was torn between running away and whacking his friend over the head for the careless comment, while Gaara only seemed mildly displeased for being manhandled.

Ever so slowly Kankuro's lips turned up into a mischievous grin. Sasuke felt totally thrown off when the other man began to outright laugh.

"Oh my god, Neji is going to have a field day with this! " Kankuro tried to stop snickering, but could help himself. "And Ino… Oh man this is probably the best gossip she'll get her hands on ever."

Sasuke gaped at him.

He can't be serious. Please tell me that he isn't serious! Why would he tell everyone? This is a private matter! Christ I could get fired if it became common knowledge.

"Kankuro I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't tell-"

"No way man, this is too good to let go." His colleague snickered obnoxiously again and Sasuke frowned. "Come on, you can see the humor in this, right?" He gave Sasuke a hard pat on the back.

"You and Naruto… Who'd have thought such a match was possible. Poor Ino, trying to set you up with all of her friends."

"It was one date…"

Kankuro suddenly turned to look at Naruto. "Damn boy, not only do you have the ability to soften up my brother, you also stole the ice prince's heart? You must really be something." He mused over something for a moment. "So this is the person who got your panties in a twist, huh?"

Sasuke flushed in anger at the crude comment "I did not get anything in a twist-"

"Jeez, you should've seen him Naruto it was so funny! He was acting like a teenage-girl in love this whole time-"

That was the last drop that made the cup run over. Sasuke basically threw Gaara and Kankuro out and slammed the door in their face. He made an angry hissing noise at the door.

Fuck, why do Naruto's friend have to be related to my colleague? This is the worst luck ever!

"See you on Monday!" Kankuro yelled in a singsong voice from the other side of the door. Sasuke muttered a curse under his breath.

/-/

Phew, almost thought I wouldn't make it in time with this one. Being sick really kills all inspiration and energy to write. But I made it (yay!) and wrote half of chapter 16 at the same time.

Sorry no real smexy time in this chap, but the next one...