Author's note: While I got some semi-bad news at the vet, I also got the good news that I passed all the classes for my university degrees and will graduate so to celebrate that fact and to distract myself from the semi-bad news, please have this NOT FOR SAKURA FANS! oneshot! Seriously, this is NOT FOR SAKURA FANS! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Warnings: Dual pov, Sakura's and Sasuke's; alternate universe; slash; implied mature content; cheating; NOT FOR SAKURA FANS!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like this! This is an idea one of my friends and I discussed a while ago LOL

And They Were Roommates

How cliché was it to ogle the gardener?

Very cliché, but for once Sakura couldn't find it in her to care about that. Not when she could spend her time admiring the sight of the pretty blond man tending diligently to the garden. Mowing the grass, tending to the flowers, preparing old flowerbeds for new arrivals, pruning branches … The gardener they had hired, Uzumaki Naruto, was a pro at all of it. Even the large size of the garden, which intimidated so many other people, hadn't deterred him at all from accepting the job even if that meant doing most of the work on his own now that his colleague had fallen ill.

Sakura hadn't originally been that keen on having a stranger working on their garden, but it wasn't as if she had the time to do it all by herself either. After checking several gardening companies, they had eventually settled on a local one, deeming the pictures of previously finished gardens posted on the website good enough to take a risk on this gardener. Even after barely one week Naruto was proving he had an amazing green thumb. The grass had never looked so green this late in the summer and was perfectly trimmed, not a blade of grass out of place. The lavender in the southern corner were carefully tended to every day while Naruto sketched out plans to introduce more flowers and plants in the rest of the garden, working around the pool they had let built a year ago.

His gardening skills were truly amazing, but Sakura wasn't ashamed to admit that his physique was even better to look at. He wasn't overly buff, but he was still fairly muscled with a well-defined stomach; his muscles free to be ogled at whenever he took off his shirt and walked around in a tank top and shorts. He was a bit shorter than Sakura, something she normally didn't go for, but he had a pretty face and a nice smile to match and the kind of flirtatious personality that very few people could pull off naturally.

In short, Sakura was sold on both his gardening skills and his looks and if Ino could currently see her not so respectfully staring, no doubt she would be getting an earful of her best friend. Ino would undoubtedly mercilessly point out that there was no reason for Sakura to be staring so much when she already had a boyfriend, a man every girl would die for to have as their own.

Look, Sakura wasn't stupid, okay? She knew she had hit the jackpot when she had started going out with Uchiha Sasuke, the heartthrob of their town. Handsome beyond comparison, extremely smart, hailing from an extremely affluent family and in possession of an innate skill that turned everything to gold that he touched, Sasuke was perfect. Every girl wanted to be with him, every man wanted to be him; he was that type of guy.

So when Sakura had ended up being the one who could call Sasuke her boyfriend? She had gone through the roof. She wasn't benevolent enough to not feel smug whenever she caught those jealous looks and she absolutely revelled in being the one who Sasuke came home to in their beautiful house. How many girls could say they were together with a god?

Except the god was reticent to the point of being standoffish and cool sometimes – a lot of the time – and her dreams of glitter and glamour were quickly smashed to smithereens when it became clear that Sasuke wasn't interested in showing her off at his company events. Every once in a while he would deem it necessary to start complaining about the amount of stuff she occasionally splurged on, but what did he expect her to do? Just stand around all day like a statue? She had considered going to work fulltime as opposed to the halftime schedule she had now, but if she did that, there was no saying when she and Sasuke would see each other with how hectic his own schedule was.

Truth be told, while the start of their relationship had been a dream, the flames of their love had petered out over the last year until barely an ember remained. The sobering realisation that she actually didn't know Sasuke that very well in spite of having been together for three years hadn't really helped either. What did she know about Sasuke that she hadn't known before they got together?

How much of a workaholic he was – or more exactly, how bad he truly was, she acknowledged with a quiet snort, crossing her legs. The standoffish behaviour that had made him appear cool and mysterious at the start now irked her and while she had once loved how well he listened, now she was left wondering why he could never talk in depth with her.

She would be better off leaving him, but that would mean admitting that she hadn't been able to capture his attention and love for that long in the end; she wasn't exactly willing to throw in the towel just yet. Not when the life she currently led was quite nice, not having to worry about money a single day. If that meant dealing with a boyfriend who was growing more standoffish with each month, so be it. It wasn't anything she hadn't become used to and in the meantime she found other ways to enjoy herself.

Like getting to know the gardener better.

She rose up and adjusted her short, light green dress, smiling. This dress was one of her new favourites because it hugged her body so well and allowed her to show a teasing glimpse of her cleavage without becoming too bold – yet. Good things come to those who wait after all.

Right as she was about to go downstairs and into the garden to offer Naruto some iced tea, her phone buzzed with an incoming text. She checked the screen quickly, raising an eyebrow when she read who the sender was.

Sasuke-kun 02.16 p.m.

On my way home.

She reread the message twice, thinking she had misread it the first time. No, that was really Sasuke stating he was coming home a lot sooner than usual. What had brought this on? Lately not even a spicy pic of hers could convince him to stop working an hour earlier.

Me 02.17 p.m.

Okay missed you so much! ~ U r early?

At least five to six hours too early actually. He had never even come home this early on either his or her birthday, so this was beyond extraordinary.

Sasuke-kun 02.18 p.m.

Air-conditioning broke down.

Ah yes, that would do it. Although, she furrowed her eyebrows and tapped the corner of her phone against her lip, hadn't Sasuke insisted on continuing to work the last time the air-conditioning had broken down? Perhaps he had finally realised how inane his insistence back then had been? She had no doubt he would immediately start up his laptop and return to working the minute he set foot inside the house, though. She had made that mistake before, thinking they could have a fun afternoon together, but alas, Sasuke was truly one hell of a boring workaholic.

No matter, she could still get to know the gardener in the meantime.

"You really are great with your hands," Sakura smiled, holding out a glass with iced tea; the ice cubes gently tinkling against the glass.

Condensation had already started to form, but Naruto's grip around it was firm when he accepted the glass. He grinned, his blue eyes sparkling. "I'd hope so, considering I make a living with it," he said cheerfully.

"That doesn't always mean anything," she refuted, leaning against the edge of the table, making sure to stretch out her slender legs. She had already got a nice tan in the past couple of weeks and decided that it was high time she tried on one of her new bikinis tomorrow.

"We compared a lot of gardening companies and yours really stood out," she continued, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.

She had kept her pink hair short for a long time until Ino had encouraged her to let it grow out again; one of the best advices her friend had given her judging by the way Naruto's eyes lingered at the lock for a moment.

"Thank you, I'm glad you think so," he said and flushed slightly.

That only piqued her interest even further, because it had been a long time since she got Sasuke to react in any way, let alone in such a receptive manner. Had she ever even managed to make Sasuke blush? She didn't think so.

"You do work long hours, though," she observed, pleased when after the first sip he started drinking from the glass more enthusiastically. Her grandmother's iced tea never failed; thank you, baa-chan! "You're not missed at home?"

"Nah, don't got anyone special waiting," he replied and shrugged, absently wiping the back of his hand across his forehead.

Would it be too obvious if she offered him to use the shower? Yeah probably. Best wait a bit longer with that. Especially now that she had got confirmation that he was single. Booyah!

"Now that's a surprise! I thought for sure someone like you would have already someone! I mean with your looks and skills, it's a miracle nobody has snatched you up yet," she giggled.

His flush deepened; the light pink contrasting nicely with the bright blue colour of his eyes. "No, guess not everybody is interested in a gardener," he smiled ruefully.

"Their loss," she reassured him. "Why don't you take a break and cool off inside for a bit?" She braced her hands behind her, coincidentally pushing out her chest a bit.

"I'm not getting paid to lounge around in your home, though," he pointed out, slightly amused, but his eyes did flicker down for just a couple of seconds.

"Breaks are important, especially with these temperatures," she declared. "I wouldn't want you to overwork yourself."

"Isn't the iced tea a break?" he grinned crookedly, raising his half-finished glass.

"Is the tough gardener afraid of the inside of a home?" she teased.

"Nah, don't want your man to get the wrong idea, though," he hummed.

Her heart leaped a bit and her mouth was quicker than her brain this time. "Don't worry, we're roommates."

The lie fell smoothly from her lips, but really was it that much of a lie? It had been a while since she and Sasuke had last gone on a date and the kisses they shared on an irregular basis were perfunctory at best. They might as well be mere roommates for all the interest they exhibited towards each other.

She would be worried Sasuke would hear about her little lie, but that would require him to actually speak to Naruto and fat chance of that happening. Even Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, could count himself lucky if Sasuke talked to him once a week.

Naruto appeared a bit taken aback, his plush lips parting slightly, but before he could say something, the door of the kitchen swung open.

"Sakura, I'm back," Sasuke announced, remaining in the doorway as he started loosening his tie.

"Ah, okaeri, Sasuke-kun!" she welcomed him, flashing him a smile. "No traffic?"

"No, I guess that's one benefit of returning home earlier," he answered and to her surprise he walked over to them. He addressed Naruto next. "It looks like you're making a lot of progress already."

"Hm, it's going quite well," Naruto agreed and placed the glass on the table. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about: the future flowerbeds. I made some sketches if you're interested?"

"Sure, can you show them?" Sasuke asked, surprising Sakura even further.

She had expected him to retreat back into the house and work on his computer, but instead he bent over the table, leaving his tie half-loosened as Naruto started spreading out papers. Huh, he must be actually interested in their garden project then.

"I'll prepare some more iced tea," she promised and walked back to the kitchen, swaying her hips.

The appraising look she could feel at her back made her stifle a grin. It looked like she was going to get to know Naruto a lot better in the next upcoming days.

To Sakura's utter shock – and for the first time even some dismay – Sasuke didn't leave for work the next morning.

"You're working from home?" she asked stumped as Sasuke started booting up his laptop in the little home office he had set up around a year ago but which had been left unused for weeks now.

"Obviously, why else would I get ready here?" he replied dryly and retrieved thick files from the bag she hadn't even known he had taken with him from work yesterday.

"You usually don't work from home during the day, though," she pointed out.

"They don't know when the air-conditioning will be fixed so until then I'll be doing most of my work here," he answered absentmindedly. "I'll still need to visit some clients, of course, but for now I'll be working from home until that crap gets fixed."

"Oh, erm, all right, I'll see you at lunch then?"

At his barely perceptible nod she backed out of the room and continued to the room she had claimed as her own where she kept the clothes and makeup she couldn't stuff in the wardrobe in their bedroom. She had ordered a comfortable white chaise longue even to relax on after her shift.

With Sasuke at home she couldn't do anything too obvious as both their rooms looked out at the garden, but that didn't mean she had to give up on attracting Naruto's attention completely. There were after all quite a lot of ways one could still tease from a distance as she knew from experience. Even getting ready for her shift could provide an opportunity to pull someone's attention.

Biting down a mischievous grin, she waited until Naruto – he even started working early! – looked in the general direction of her window before she nonchalantly stripped off her nightgown, turning just so that Naruto would catch a glimpse of her side profile. A frontal view would be too obvious after all and she loved this part of the chase. A little bit of teasing never hurt anyone, even when it had to end in the regular hospital tenue.

When she glanced out of her window, she grinned when Naruto hastily turned around, as if he hadn't been peeking just now. Starting her shift was going to be a lot more doable now that she could think of the many ways in which she could gain Naruto's attention!

The air-conditioning at Sasuke's work had apparently gone straight to hell, because one week later Sasuke was still working from home, unwilling to challenge the stifling heat at his company. That didn't mean Sakura actually saw him a lot more, though. For basically the whole day – she presumed at least, as she still had her own shifts that pulled her out of the house – he remained holed up inside his study, barely even coming out for lunch!

Hell, Naruto had even taken up his lunch to his home office a few days ago when Sakura had been running late for her shift! That was how bad Sasuke truly was! Although having their gardener bring him his lunch must have made Sasuke realise just how rude he was being, because after that he actually showed up for lunch each day, taking care of the dishes afterwards while Sakura started her afternoon shift and Naruto returned to working his magic on the garden.

And hopefully working his magic on her soon too. They were getting to that point, though, she was making sure of it. She talked to him whenever she was certain Sasuke was too absorbed in his work and Naruto appeared quite receptive to her charms, which only increased her giddiness. If Ino wouldn't be such a nag about it, Sakura would definitely be bragging to her that she had not only managed to score the hottest boyfriend, but also got the attention of the cute gardener to boot! How was that for a giant self-esteem boost?

The whole secretive back-and-forth was needling at her, however, and while she had tried to be patient, clearly the time had arrived to be blunt and firm! Because Naruto didn't seem to be ready to make a move any time soon and her patience could only stretch for so long!

So deciding to take matters in her own hands, Sakura wrote a little note and secretly put it into Naruto's bag in which he stored his drinks and lunch before setting off to work, anticipation simmering in her lower belly. There was no way he could possibly misunderstand that note!

Meet me in my room when I come back home.

Naruto wasn't in her room when Sakura arrived home. He had to have recognised the sound of her car, because when she peeked outside into the garden, she didn't spot him anywhere. His bag and faded orange T-shirt were still present, though, proving that he hadn't left early. It also couldn't be that he didn't know where her room was because she had shown him around briefly back when he had brought Sasuke his lunch and she had flirted with him multiple times from inside the room.

So if his stuff was still here, but he wasn't in her room, where was he then? Had he stepped outside for a bit? Something that had come up but which he had thought he could handle quickly?

Pursing her lips, she walked over to Sasuke's study and knocked on the door, ready to call out to him. The door surprisingly gave way under her knocking and she peered inside, growing bemused when she saw that the room was empty. Right, didn't Sasuke have a meeting with a client this afternoon? But his laptop was still open and his phone was on the desk, so that meant he had to be home. He wouldn't leave without his phone after all. If he wasn't in his study, though, where on earth was he? She hadn't seen him downstairs and he clearly wasn't in the garden either.

"You two playing hide and seek?" she muttered, amusing herself for a brief moment with the mental image of Sasuke counting down while Naruto rushed around to find a hiding spot.

Shaking her head, she decided to go back downstairs to look for Sasuke and ask him where Naruto was, but the sound of the bed creaking in their bedroom made her pause. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned her head and listened closely. That was definitely the sound of the bed creaking, what the hell? Was Sasuke taking a nap? Was that was he really did when she wasn't home? If so, what bullshit! He could take a nap but couldn't even watch a movie with her?

Pouting, she marched over to their bedroom and threw open the door, ready to call out Sasuke for slacking.

Her mouth dropped open instead when she looked at the bed.

The bed in which Sasuke, chest bare and looking more relaxed than Sakura had ever seen him before, lounged like a king with Naruto cuddled up against his chest.

Naruto who was most definitely completely naked judging by his bare chest and equally bare leg resting above the sheets, tangling the fabric between his legs.

He had one arm slung across Sasuke's chest and was passed out, looking fucked out with his blond hair in disarray and multiple love bites adorning his collarbone and thigh; his mouth still a very obvious reddened colour.

What the fuck?!

"What the fuck?" Sakura voiced her thought aloud. There was static noise in her ears and the discreet pinch she gave herself did absolute jack shit except for leaving that spot smarting and her remaining in the sick reality where her goddamn boyfriend had cheated on her with the gardener!

"Surely you don't need me to explain what happened?" Sasuke answered laconically as if it was completely normal that she had caught him in bed with someone else!

Shock was instantly washed away by fury and she clenched her hands into fists. Glaring, she spat out, "How fucking dare you - !"

"No, how dare you?" he spoke calmly, enunciating every word, but his dark eyes were hard when he stared her down. "You think you have the right to accuse me of anything?"

Did he really just …

Disbelief and rage warred with each other. "I'm not the one who got caught in bed with the gardener!" she hissed furiously.

"Why would that bother you? We're just roommates, no?" he mocked, smirking when she reared back as if she had been slapped. "What? You thought I wouldn't know about that?"

How had he … When had this even …

"You think I had no idea that you were trying to flirt with him?" he asked critically. "Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you thought that, considering you also had no clue he wasn't receptive to you."

"Not receptive to me?" she laughed incredulously, uncaring that it startled Naruto into waking up. "He reacted just fine to me!"

"Is that why he's with me now and not with you?" Sasuke smirked. "Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but he was actually wondering why you were acting so weirdly."

"Who's acting weird?" Naruto muttered dazedly and raised his head. The sleep in his eyes instantly cleared up when he spotted Sakura seething in the doorway. "Oh."

"Oh!" she sneered. "Are you kidding me? You fucked my boyfriend and that's all you have to say?!"

Naruto frowned and sat up, running his fingers through his hair. "You said you two were roommates, though," he said befuddled.

If Sakura wasn't so pissed off right now, she would find humour in the irony of having her words get thrown back into her face like that. Yes, she had told him she and Sasuke were nothing but roommates. Who the hell could have expected that to come back to bite her in the arse, though?!

"We aren't just roommates!" she bit out, stamping her foot.

"Then why were you acting so weirdly around me?" Naruto questioned mystified. "I thought you were playing wingwoman for Sasuke!"

That set off Sasuke and he buried his face into Naruto's neck as he laughed, gripping the blond man's waist tightly; his shoulders shaking with the force of his laughter.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Sakura demanded shrilly.

A wingwoman?! How the hell had Naruto construed her flirting as her playing Sasuke's wingwoman?!

"I'm so confused now," Naruto said baffled. "Are you two roommates or not?"

Sasuke sobered up, but he still had a satisfied smirk plastered on his face when he lifted his head up and looked at her. "No, we aren't roommates anymore either."

"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously. "Are you kicking me out?!"

"Of course I am, what else does it sound like?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why act so shocked, I thought this was what you wanted? You're bored with me and I'm more than bored with you. I also have no intention of letting you bring your paramours into my house."

She reddened; her nails digging into her palms. "You're really going to accuse me of bringing paramours into the house when you just fucked him?" she snorted harshly.

"Next time you fuck someone on the side while you are in a relationship, do make sure that they don't work in the same field as your partner," Sasuke informed her finely, making her stomach drop. "They might actually meet each other after all. My tip for the future, now fuck off before I personally kick you out."

She could barely swallow back a scream of pure rage when she stormed out of the room. How had everything gone to shit so fast?!

"So did you fuck me as some form of revenge or?" Naruto questioned, tilting his head to the left and wincing when something shattered to pieces in the other room.

"No." Sasuke swiftly pushed him onto his back and pulled the sheets away, slipping between Naruto's slender legs. "I fucked you because I want you. Her coming home right now was just a nice bonus that ended in me getting rid of her."

"You could have broken up sooner with her if you weren't interested in her any longer," Naruto remarked, but he easily raised his legs, caging Sasuke between his thighs.

Sasuke's right hand ghosted right above the faint imprint his fingers had left earlier around Naruto's hip. "I thought I had made it very clear that I was no longer interested in her, but it is remarkable how selectively deaf she can be when she wants to be," he answered.

"So what happens now?" Naruto's eyes turned half-lidded when Sasuke pushed against his loosened entrance, still slick with lube.

"I was thinking," Sasuke mused aloud as he smoothly slipped inside Naruto, muscles eagerly drawing him deeper inside until Naruto gasped and moaned, "that we can extend our break a little bit longer and tonight, I'll take you out for dinner. How about that?"

"Well, we have been saving up our breaks for the past week," Naruto hummed, looping his arms around Sasuke's shoulders and arching his back when Sasuke started thrusting; his strokes long and deep. "Would be a total waste to cut our break short now. And you did say I had to try out that new restaurant …"

Sasuke smirked. "Glad you agree," he said and captured Naruto's lips in a deep kiss, one of the several they had shared already and would hopefully share more of in the next days, weeks, months …

He would deal with Sakura later; now he had a gardener to attend to.

The End

AN2: For the ones thinking Sakura might be OOC: you've got to admit she changed her tune about Sasuke quickly when she thought he was irredeemable. Also I just really wanted to write this plot, so there!

More updates this weekend!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.