Happy Update Day my darlings!

I know you've been waiting a while for this one. This chapter was probably rewritten like five times, and I feel so bad for my friend who had to listen to all five different versions as I used them as a soundboard-they are the real MVP here

Not gonna lie real life is kicking my ass, and I feel so drained, it's not just raining inside my head, it's fucking pouring ️? I totally came in here to edit this so I could disassociate. Wish I had a chirpier author's note for you all after being gone for a while *sigh*

Just know that building these stories for you and being able to immerse myself in them always helps. It's something I always look forward to, thank you for loving them as much as I do.

Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback, bookmark, or hit that kudos button, I mean I still wonder if I'm imagining things when I see the 700 +

Rating: M (Explicit): good things come to those who wait.

Disclaimer: They are not mine ok? Any characters portrayed in this fic belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I just use my writing powers to right his wrongs...mainly the fact that he never made Sasuke and Naru Canon.

Falling Hard

Chapter 13: All In

Naruto was staring at one of the tables close to the library exit, a group of at least five girls had sat there and they would take turns gossiping and looking back at him.

"If looks could kill" He looked away from the girls, blushing. He hadn't even realized Itachi had walked up to him.

"Hey Itachi" The buzz around the library increased and he could feel his patience running thin.

"Lively in here today," The raven said leaning on the reception desk.

"Unsure I'll make it through the day without murdering someone" The blonde muttered, looking at his empty Starbucks cup with longing, he needed another coffee.

"What's the gossip?" Itachi asked, The blonde blushed.

"It always gets like this on prep days because you and Sasuke come in"

The raven gave him a little smirk "I was under the impression that the hype was dying down"

Naruto crossed his arms narrowing his eyes at the older raven "If you already know why are you asking"

"Better to hear it from the source," Itachi said unapologetically, which got a small smile from the blonde.

"Ask your brother" Naruto replied.

"Ask me what?" Sasuke said walking up to them, pheromones a little heavier than usual, he'd been slightly triggered by the amount of Alphas sitting about the library when he walked in. Naru was wearing blockers, so he knew they couldn't smell him, but at the same time, if they couldn't smell the blonde, they couldn't smell him on the blonde.

Itachi's eyes fell on his brother's neck, then back on the blonde, who grew red as a tomato under his stare.

"Was that you?" Itachi asked, "feistier than I thought you would be, noted"

There was a small growl from the younger raven "Rude to say that about someone else's boyfriend"

Itachi smirked "Now doesn't it feel good to say that?" Sasuke rolled his eyes like he would give Itachi the satisfaction of agreeing with him.

"Don't you two have prepping to do?" The blonde nudged them away, unable to take the embarrassment "I'm checking the return box" he muttered scurrying off and away from the set of deep black eyes.

Itachi laughed softly making his way towards the study room, looking sideways at his brother who kept looking back to trying spot the blonde.

"You should give him a matching one," Itachi said casually, Sasuke turned to his brother.

"It wasn't really planned" Sasuke replied, slightly upset that he hadn't bit back.

They both dropped down on the chairs and started taking their notes and supplies out "If he's not going to stop wearing the blockers he should at least have a bite" His brother looked him in the eyes "Sas...up to now he had kept to himself, never purposely drawing attention, other alphas hadn't noticed him because he wasn't out there actively looking "

"I know that"

"Then taking a look at that lobby should tell you what's going to happen now that people associate him with you"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Itachi let out a sigh "Sasuke, what's been done is done, you went out there and lived your life the way you wanted to up to now, good for you for not giving a shit, but do you know the type of assumptions that are made about omega's that date alpha's like you?"

Sasuke grit his teeth "Naruto's personality speaks for itself"

"Is it not his personality that drove you to try harder?"

Sasuke let out a sigh and dropped his forehead on the table "See this is why I didn't want to…he deserves so much better than the shit he'll get for dating me"

"Be the alpha he needs then" the older raven said "and make sure you protect your omega, this isn't like what you've been doing, you've never had to do this before but you protect, you set other alphas straight, and you make sure he feels safe—that's your job now" Sasuke raised his head and settled his eyes on his brother.

Itachi didn't need to tell him, instinct itself did, even when he wasn't dating there was a bit of edge to other alphas talking to the people he'd been sleeping with, it was alpha instinct, if you're involved you get possessive. It had been easy to push the instinct down in the past, it had been superficial at best. It was very different with Naruto, it wasn't like the itch he typically felt. The feeling he got when he saw other omegas around the blonde was overwhelming.

It hadn't dawned on him, however, how his reputation could affect the blonde beyond the interactions with the groupies.

Because of him other alpha's would now look at his baby boy and covet…

The mere thought set him on fire.

He stopped checking books back in when loud laughter startled him out of his task—again. He looked up at the table of girls and set the book he'd been inputting on the system down.

This was ridiculous.

He had to be the most corrosive thing to ever happen to a campus library in the history of student employees. First Sasuke brought in his little parade of omegas, then Itachi and Sasuke attracted omegas like moths to a flame when prep started, and now alphas that had never stepped foot in the library were walking about. Omega's that wanted to take a look at him—mostly to judge him—would walk in loud and rowdy and just plain disrespectful.

Two weeks and his relationship status with Sasuke was still the hottest topic in school.

He walked over and stood by the loud table "Excuse me"

The girls stopped turning over to him, some of them still giggling.

"Yeah?" the platinum blonde asked

"I'm going to have to ask you please keep your voices down, I have people working on assignments, and prep class for mock trial is in session"

The girl rolled her eyes "I'm studying," She said pointing at the closed notebook in front of her.

Naruto grit his teeth "I can hear your group talking all the way to the reception desk, if you'd like to stay in the library you're going to have to respect it's a shared space"

"You sure you're not just trying to chase away other omegas so Sasuke's eyes don't stray when class lets out?" the brunette next to the platinum blonde said.

He felt possessiveness curl at the bottom of his stomach "Bold assumption," He said "To think that of all people in the library his eyes would stray to you" He smiled pleased with the girl's outraged expression.

"Watch it, there's one of you and five of us," she snapped back.

"Manicured hands and hair pulling terrifies me" He replied eyes unwavering, the blonde stood "Aren't you a little too confident? You've been dating for all of two weeks, imagine how embarrassing it's going to be for you when he dumps you at the end of the month"

The blonde's eyes darkened, and he took a breath, reminding himself he was on shift. Whether Sasuke had slept with any of them in the past didn't matter now, because he was dating him. Fighting them would only feed the gossip, and further confirm that he was indeed insecure about his status with the raven.

"This is your last warning, If you can't keep it down, I will have to ask you to leave," He said and turned before the girls could give him a response.

"You sure you're not just trying to chase away other omegas so Sasuke's eyes don't stray when class lets out"

As if Sasuke would look.

He tried his hardest to keep a neutral expression on, he didn't want them to know they'd upset him. Prep ran long that day, with midterms coming up, it was no surprise the session ran the whole three hours.

He tried to work on his tasks and once he was done, he moved on to his assignments.

He wished he could just go home with Sasuke already.

Naruto groaned as his body hit the bed, he was exhausted. Going on two months now and people were still unrelenting, he'd had to kick people out of the library repeatedly. Girls would bump against him trying to get him to hit the floor. Alphas would come into the library and ask him questions about their accounts or about where to find certain book sections in the library. He'd clench his jaw as he patiently explained, pretending like he wouldn't notice them trying to smell him. Outside the library, they'd relentlessly bump into him between classes, or pretend to be chivalrous by catching him before he ate shit when the girls tripped him.

He could see how much it bothered Sasuke, the raven had taken to walking him to every single class he could walk him to. He'd gotten a little more aggressive with the trail of lovebites he left on his neck, and he scented him every chance he got. This left him with mixed feelings at first they had been both busy studying and taking exams and he felt like the raven shouldn't need to waste his time walking him around. However, at the same time, Sasuke's reaction helped soothe his omega, it reassured him to know that the raven didn't want any other alphas near him. It reassured him to see that he wasn't the only one bothered...

At this point he was just happy they'd both made it to spring break in one piece.

Sasuke walked out of the shower toweling his hair dry and the blonde blushed, you'd think he'd get used to seeing the raven inside of his apartment like he belonged there. He also allowed himself to fall on the bed, letting out a sigh of relief before he pulled the blonde over, burying his face in his hair and smelling "I'm seriously re-thinking my decisions in life" he groaned, thinking about how he'd have to spend most of spring break prepping for final exams—he hadn't even fully recovered from the nightmare that was midterms.

And not only had he been stupid busy with school, but his alpha kept pacing about like a caged animal every time it spotted lingering eyes on the blonde. The way he'd have to hold himself back from actually fighting off the assholes that thought they could touch his baby boy…

"What? you don't want to be a big fancy lawyer anymore?" Naruto asked with a small laugh

He groaned again "Can't believe I still have two more years to go"

"Hey!" The blonde chastised, climbing over him and pinning him on the bed "I'm barely finishing my bachelor's, you finished yours and got admitted into law school" he leaned down and kissed the raven "You're amazing" he dropped his forehead on Sasuke's "Not that I don't feel a little lonely with all the studying you have to do but…still amazing"

The raven smirked his hands falling on the blonde's hips "Really, is that why you've been more aggressive than usual every time we get downtime?" he whispered against the blonde's lips.

Naruto blushed slightly pouting at the raven, his eyes falling to where his bite had been, it had faded too long ago now… Sasuke sat up, holding the blonde close to him, running his thumb over his lower lip "Baby boy, you just put it right back where it was" he muttered, turned on by the red blush that settled on the tan cheeks and the desire that flowed out of the blonde "I'd like to see my own" He muttered his fingers grazing the blonde's neck "Right here" he said lowly, his fingers digging slightly on his scent gland.

Blue eyes widened, his insides stirring "Sas…you do know usually couples start biting as a sign of…intentions…right?" he said blushing, even superficial bites created less tangible bonds, a couple might bite every once in a while to get a little kinky. But if they started doing it consistently it was probably because they truly believed it would lead to a bondmark.

"Maybe I'd like that" Naruto could feel his heart fluttering the love and affection quickly intertwining with doubt and hesitation. He pulled back, sliding off the raven and sitting on the bed.

"Naru?" Sasuke asked sitting up

"It's just...it took so long for you to…" he stopped, staring at the bedsheets, upset at the burning in his eyes. He didn't want to think about how long it had taken, about how he felt while he waited. He wanted to think about how honest Sasuke's feelings were and acknowledge that he was trying with everything he had.

Sasuke could feel the uncertainty and the hurt and he moved to pull the blonde into a hug "Hey" he squeezed nuzzling the top of his head "Hey, I'm sorry, I know it took me a while to come to terms with how I felt about you...but, it's done Naru, I'm in" he pulled back a bit cupping the blonde's cheeks "I'm all in baby boy, I'm not going anywhere"

Naruto bit his lips willing the tears down, he felt Sasuke's emotions, he knew the honesty and truth of their relationship when they were together. But he was also so worn down by the gossip, by all the voices repeating over and over: him?

"I'm sorry," he said hiccuping a bit and leaning forward so Sasuke could wrap his arms around him burying his face in the raven's neck "I'm sorry, I trust you, I know you are, I do"

"I know it isn't easy Naru" strong arms pulled him close "I need you to stop holding back. I need you to tell me if you're having a hard time don't just keep it to yourself, I need to know if there is anything I can do to make it better" he pulled back so Naruto could look him in the eyes, "You tell me so I can be here for you, so I can hold you and reassure you, that's my job now" Naruto let his forehead fall on the raven's chest, his hand gripping his shirt.

"I don't believe them, I don't want to listen to them, I just—sometimes when it's silent, their words echo, and…" and he wondered if he was really good enough, he wondered if it was real. He wondered if Sasuke would turn into his meant-to-be that never was.

A small part of himself was terrified that Sasuke would be put off as soon as he started acting jealous, or insecure. That if he started asking about the omegas or betas the alpha had been with or if he showed any sign of being upset Sasuke would think the whole thing was—after all—too much trouble.

"You tell me so I can be here for you, so I can hold you and reassure you, that's my job now"

He did feel a little guilty for not giving Sasuke enough credit…he needed to drive home that the Sasuke from the rumors wasn't what he should expect from the man sitting across from him. He did feel so much better just knowing that Sasuke was well aware of how he felt, knowing the raven wanted to be there for him.

"Baby boy…they don't know that you're special, they don't know that I'm the one that needs to be worthy of you" The raven let out a sigh "Maybe they do now…" He ran his thumb over the tan cheek "They gather around you, sneak around looking for opportunities to look at you, talk to you, and baby does it drive me insane…must be karma for letting you see me with others for so long"

"I mean…" the blonde said with a shrug of his shoulders, the tense mood breaking. He gave the raven a look that said: You did walk a whole parade of omegas right in front of my face.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, pushing the blonde back on the bed and climbing over him "Didn't I just apologize?"

"Might need to hear that apology a couple more times" The raven gave him an understanding smile "As many times as you want me to say it—on one condition"

"It's supposed to be atonement—no conditions"

"Humor me," Sasuke said leaning down and kissing him softly "Fine," the blonde muttered against the raven's lips.

"Will you think about it? The marking"

The blonde smiled at him blushing and nodding.

"No," Naruto said easily, the taller blonde glared at him "Naruto you can't just not party or go out ever again "

"Ino I just want to stay home and burrow into my couch, this semester is killing me"

She raised a perfect eyebrow at him, her eyes falling on the trail of lovebites down his neck "I'd say you burrow into something else other than your couch" she smirked as the blonde grew bright red "Ino!"

She laughed before she grew a little more serious "Really Naru, you didn't do anything wrong" He bit his lip, falling back on the couch "Hinata's been saying—"

"Don't mind what Hinata says" Ino said irritated. There was a story doing rounds that Naruto had persistently sought out the raven, even after Hinata had told him she was serious about Sasuke. Ultimately he 'seduced' Sasuke away and Hinata had been left heartbroken and betrayed. The little story had gotten Alphas all curious since apparently, Naruto would do anything Sasuke asked for. As if the stupid alpha dogs hadn't been intrigued before...Ino had made it a point to walk Naru to class if Sasuke wasn't able to.

She grabbed the pale wrist and tugged Hinata to follow her, the girl shook her hand off as Ino walked her into the restroom "Let go!"

"What the hell was that?" Ino asked " You know something is going on between Sasuke and Naru"

"And he knew something was going on between Sasuke and me, but that didn't stop him, why would I have to hold back? He sure didn't"

"Hinata, you know it's different," Ino said warningly

"You know how fucked up that was? For him to get involved with Sasuke even though he knew I liked him? Even though he knew I was fighting for more"

"Fuck Hinata he told you he'd be sleeping with other people and you said yes, you agreed to that"

"Well so did Naruto so why the fuck are you angry at me?"

"Yes, and he saw you kissing Sasuke just now and didn't say a word, he just walked away because he knows that. What's fucked is that Sasuke had already told you he wasn't going to be sleeping with you anymore" Ino said levelly staring Hinata down "But knowing that Sasuke might be close to getting serious with Naruto you still pulled that shit just now. Why don't you tell me what he told you before you kissed him huh?" Hinata stared at the floor, her smell growing sour and her temper rising.

"I think he told you he'd already chosen Naru" Lilac eyes snapped back to icy blue "You know if the roles were reversed and he'd picked you Naruto would have respected that, he would have backed down, that's what a real friend does" Ino added.

"You don't know that"

"I do though, and so do you" Naruto wasn't vengeful, he would have cried his little heart out, but he would have taken a step back and hidden all the sadness from Hinata so she wouldn't be uncomfortable.

"I thought you were talking to Kiba," Ino said eyes growing a little icier "What exactly are you going to tell him when he hears all the gossip? When he sees on video how you leaned up to kiss someone else"

"It's not like we're dating" Hinata muttered, she hadn't even thought…

Ino let out a sigh "You just complicated things for everyone 'Nata, I understand you're hurting, but you really fucked up, if the gossip from this little stunt fucks things up for Naru—" Hinata growled slightly growing defensive.

"Alright enough" she snapped "Maybe I should just tell Sasuke to watch out for you. Are you still hung up on him? Let's see how you feel when Naruto picks Sasuke over you and if you remain just as level-headed as you want me to be"

Ino was quiet for a few seconds, her pheromones grew heavy, Hinata shivered under the icy stare "I hope you know some of the shit you say and do can't be taken back"

They hadn't talked since, but Hinata was doing plenty of talking to other people "I apologized" the blonde said softly, she wouldn't answer his calls, but he'd sent a message, he told her he was sorry he hadn't talked to her earlier, that he understood the need to want to fight for someone. After all, he'd been there with Sasuke too, and just as easily he could have ended up in Hinata's situation. He just wanted to sit with her talk it out and move on...he was quickly blocked after that.

"You shouldn't have, Sasuke told you he made it clear to her he was ready to date you, and she still kissed him"

"Have you talked to her?" he asked biting his lip. They'd all met each other their freshman year, it sucked that just like that their friendship seemed to be over. It hurt to hear what Hinata was saying about him behind his back knowing how private he was about his omega status.

"No," Ino said easily before she grabbed the pillow she'd put on her lap throwing it at the blonde "That's not what we were talking about, though"

"Sasuke likes going out doesn't he?" She asked, trying to get the blonde to stop thinking about their treacherous ex-friend.

"Not that I'm implying he doesn't have plenty of fun with you at home" she smiled mischievously "But maybe he'd like to have fun with you outside the house—you know on the restroom at the club, on some dumb jocks bedroom at a fraternity house, perhaps on the back of the car at the bonfire tomorrow" The blonde burst into laughter, finally breaking away from his lingering thoughts on Hinata.

"Stop!" He smiled softly at her, feeling warm inside at the thought of going out with the raven as an official couple "I do want to go out with him"

"No better way to shut down the haters than showing them exactly how good you're doing" Ino added before she dragged him off to his room to figure out what he should wear.

Ahhh I hope that was worth the wait, I'm so excited for you all to read the next one! I really like my final outline of things and can't wait for all of us to get to the closing on this one.

I'm thinking 15 chapters, so two more to go unless I can wrap things up on the next one but I have a feeling something will make chapter 14 too long and I'll have to move on to 15 *cough*smut*cough*

I'm working on editing the next chapter for Embers if you've been waiting on that ✨update✨

Until the next one darlings

Chio~