Author's note: First of all, my apologies for taking so long again. I will do my best to have the update schedule be more regular from now on! Second of all, I also apologise if this chapter is slightly off. I've got a lot on my mind currently and if that in any way affects this chapter, my sincerest apologies.

Thanks to the following reviewers: sasunaru1214; KitsuneJen; 666snoopy; Iraheta 127; richon; Kalos; Nellana; fukafukashita; SehunsBae37

Warnings: Angst, courtesy of Sasuke

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

I hope you'll like this chapter!


Chapter 8: Admittance

Like an idiot, Sasuke stood there frozen, heedless of the way other students would occasionally bump into him. Static noise filled his ears, drowning out the crooning woman's voice of the song. Only when someone brushed against his back for the third time did he realise that Naruto was gone.

Shaken out of his stupor, Sasuke hastily wormed his way through the dancing mass, uncaring whether he bumped into people or stepped on someone's foot. Spilling out into the corridor outside, he hastily looked around, but of course couldn't spot any trace of blond hair. Naruto couldn't have gone that far away yet, though, not when Sasuke had been the one to drive them to the dance. With that in mind, he ran to the exit, remembering just in time to get his coat back from the storage room.

The cold wind smacked him ruthlessly in his face when he pushed open the doors, stinging his cheeks and his nose. Laughter drifted over towards him from a small group of students huddling together in the corner, sharing some bottles with each other. He ignored them and marched towards the parking lot, barely able to keep his balance when walking across the more slippery parts of the road.

His hope to find Naruto at the car was promptly dashed when he arrived at the empty parking lot; the roofs of the cars glinting metallically in the moonlight. He walked around a couple of times, but had to concede after the fourth lap around the parking lot. Naruto wasn't here. He couldn't have taken a bus, not at this late hour, but the street was empty as well. He probably had called his mother or his father.

Sasuke's hand dipped to his pocket, ready to grab his phone and call Naruto, but he hesitated, pressing his lips tightly together. What would he even say when – if – Naruto picked up? 'Hey, I know you might feel humiliated right now, but how are you getting home?'

Stupid. So fucking stupid. Would he even want to pick up the phone? Naruto had kissed him and what had he done? Stood there like a goddamn statue. Not even stopping the blond when he ran off, most likely feeling embarrassed. He might have just singlehandedly fucked up their whole friendship and that by doing absolutely nothing!

"Fuck!" He slammed his fist into the wall, the burning pain when his skin scraped across the rough surface barely even registering. His breath escaped in visible clouds as he tried to figure out what he should do.

Go to Naruto's house? Kushina might actually punch him if she found out he'd hurt her son and he wouldn't even blame her for doing that. How would that even look, him showing up like nothing had happened? Would Naruto even want to talk to him?

Could Sasuke look him in the eye after hurting him like this?

He was a coward, he knew, but he didn't dare to talk to Naruto just yet. He should, because Naruto deserved an explanation, but what if Naruto didn't want to see or speak to him again? What if he had fucked up so badly he had lost Naruto entirely?

The thought of losing Naruto's friendship had his lungs squeezing together, making it harder to breathe and he clenched his hands into fists, bringing them to his chest as if he could force his lungs open like that. He hadn't wanted to really think about what exactly he felt for Naruto, scared as he had been to lose his friendship if he dared to act upon it.

Now he might very well have lost Naruto precisely because he didn't do anything.

How could he have been so stupid?

The question haunted him all the way to the car where he slumped behind the steering wheel, rubbing his hands harshly across his face until his cheeks smarted and little lightning bolts streaked across the back of his eyelids. He couldn't go home. Not when Kakashi would instantly be able to guess that something had happened and the last thing he wanted tonight was to hear how badly he had fucked up. He didn't need Kakashi to tell him that, he was more than aware of that.

If he couldn't go home and he couldn't go to Naruto's home …

There was only one place he still had left.


"I had a feeling it had to be you," Temari said lightly when she opened the door, but started frowning when she got a good look at his face. "What happened? You look like shit."

Sasuke felt like it too. He cleared his throat, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets; the sharp edge of his car key digging into the side of his hand. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, Gaara is finishing up in the office, if you want, I can get him?" she suggested and stepped aside to let him through.

"No, it's fine," he muttered, taking off his coat and unlacing his shoes. "I just – want to stay here for a while if you don't mind."

"I don't," she said and raised an eyebrow when she took in his outfit. "Quite a fancy outfit for the evening. What was the occasion?"

A part of him didn't want to reply, already predicting how the rest of the evening would go, but a sudden wave of exhaustion had him sighing and admitting, "I went to the Winter Ball at my school."

She startled, clearly not having expected that answer – or perhaps an answer in general. "You went to the ball? Well, that's a surprise! You didn't mention that last time you were here! Did you go on your own?"

She beckoned him to follow her into the kitchen. She had already exchanged her clothes for a dark green pyjama set; the ends of the trousers drooping over her bare feet. Her blonde hair was pulled into two short ponytails and her face was wiped clean from the makeup she usually wore. At least he wasn't keeping her from going out.

"No," he answered after a pause, taking a seat when she pointed at one of the chairs.

She walked to the counter, taking out two mugs from the cupboard to prepare tea.

"I went with … Naruto," he admitted haltingly.

The mugs ended up on the counter quite noisily and she turned her head quickly, staring wide-eyed at him. "You took Naruto-kun to the ball?" she asked amazed; her eyes gleaming.

"Yes, he wanted to go – and so we went," Sasuke muttered, clasping his hands together in lieu of not knowing what to do with them.

She deflated visibly at the lack of enthusiasm in his voice and turned around to grab the can with tea next. "So why are you still not with him then? Don't tell me your dancing skills are that deplorable that he left you," she joked, but her smile disappeared when she glanced at Sasuke. "What's wrong?"

"I … I fucked up," Sasuke said haltingly; his cheeks turning hot in a way that had nothing to do with the warmth of the kitchen.

"I'm sure it isn't that bad," she said soothingly and put the teakettle on the stove.

"He kissed me and I didn't do anything. He ran away and I went after him too late to catch him," he said flatly. If he could remain this numb, then maybe things wouldn't be that bad. What he didn't feel, couldn't hurt him after all.

"That is …"

For the first time since Sasuke knew Temari, the older woman was floundering, opening her mouth several times to say something only to close it again, staring at the teakettle, in which the water was starting to bubble.

The loud beeping of the teakettle made Temari jump and Sasuke flinch and for the next minute, the blonde woman busied herself with filling the mugs; keeping her gaze fixated on them. She brought them over to the table and sat down, pushing one of the steaming mugs towards Sasuke.

"All right, lay it on me," she said, crossing her arms on the table.

"Nothing much to say," Sasuke said and shrugged. "I already told you: he kissed me, but I didn't react, so he ran away and I – went after him too late."

She rubbed her forehead, mouthing something to herself before she raised her head and studied him. "Do you … mind that he kissed you?" she asked carefully.

"You don't seem that surprised by it," he noticed.

She rolled her shoulders and the corners of her mouth briefly curled up in a wry smile. "Well, I was getting a suspicion that he feels more for you than friendship only." She hesitated then, rubbing her thumb across the ear of her mug before ignoring it, leaving it to the side. "I thought you … felt the same as him actually. Was I wrong?"

Was she wrong? If he was honest – and what else could he be after tonight? – then he had to admit she wasn't. How long had it been since his feelings had shifted, incapsulating more than just friendship alone? When had he started to feel more for Naruto, at which point had his scent become so ingrained in Sasuke's mind that he could easily pick it out even amidst a group of hundred people? When had his presence become necessary for Sasuke to calm down? How long ago was it that he had started to ignore the way his body would start to react to Naruto's presence? How many weeks had it been since he first began ignoring the way his heart would skip a beat whenever Naruto would say his name?

How long ago had he started paying attention to Naruto in ways that friends probably didn't do? He couldn't say, because it had been easier to ignore everything. Ignoring it meant he couldn't be hurt. Ignoring it meant that his friendship with Naruto would stay safe; the first source of steadiness he had since his family had been murdered. Why should he have considered how he felt when that might lead to losing Naruto, when that meant setting himself up for yet another load of pain?

He had kept himself apart for so long because he had sworn to never open himself up again, to never feel that kind of loss ever again. What worth did love have when it led to nothing but heartache and pain? It was easier to remain alone, because then he wouldn't hurt.

But then Naruto had shown up in his life, turning everything he knew upside down. Unlike others, Naruto hadn't let himself be scared off and had shown up again and again until he had become so ingrained in Sasuke's life that he couldn't imagine living without him again.

And that thought, knowing he couldn't, didn't want to miss Naruto, scared him shitless. He had put up so many walls to keep himself safe and Naruto had busted through all of them, wriggling himself into Sasuke's heart and refusing to leave. It had been so easy to cling to their friendship, to find solace in that, and ignoring everything else because nothing was worth losing Naruto, not even his own feelings.

Until tonight.

Tonight showed him he could have what he had denied himself for so long, what he hadn't dared to dream of – and he might have fucked it up entirely, extinguishing the seed before it even had a chance to sprout.

"What's holding you back?" Temari asked gently.

"I don't want to be hurt again," he answered in a small voice, feeling like a kid again. Like the twelve year old who had lost his whole family in just one night, having to live with the knowledge that his older brother had died to protect him.

Like the thirteen year old who had sworn never to let anyone get close again, because nothing was worth the pain of losing someone he loved.

"You think Naruto-kun is going to hurt you?" she questioned neutrally.

"No," he swallowed, "but I'm afraid of how much it will hurt when I lose him."

Love had led to nothing but pain so far for him – why would it be any different now?

"You're not a kid anymore, so I'm not going to lie to you," Temari began bluntly. "As humans, pain is going to be inevitable. Naruto-kun can become sick, he can have an accident, anything can happen. That's just life. Sometimes it's shit, sometimes it's luck. But if the possibility of pain is scaring you off from going further with him …"

She sighed softly and touched his hand; her fingertips small bursts of heat against his skin. "Let me ask you this: do you really think it will hurt less if something happened to Naruto-kun while still just 'staying friends'? Love is love, Sasuke, it doesn't matter whether that is in the sense of friendship or romantic love. I'm not going to push you, but keeping yourself from being truly happy because of the potential of being hurt …"

She pursed her lips and gently tapped the back of his hand. "This goes both ways, you know. I'm certain Naruto-kun is just as scared as you are, but he decided to take the jump anyway." She leant back in her chair, gazing at him with soft eyes. "Life always comes with its fair share of pain, but love makes it worth it in the end. You can try your best to protect yourself and live the rest of your life asking yourself 'what if'? Or you can take a leap of faith and go for it."

"I never took you to be such a romantic," Sasuke muttered, unable to look her in the eye any longer.

"I'm not," she said and shrugged in an almost blasé manner. "I'm just stating it like it is. You're going to get hurt whether you stay friends or become more. As far as I am concerned, things are really simple between the two of you. He kissed you, so he's obviously interested. You're afraid but interested too. One plus one equals two. Nothing complicated about that."

"You think I'm stupid for acting like this," Sasuke stated, but couldn't muster up the energy to feel offended about that.

He was acting stupid after all. Had been ever since Naruto had kissed him and he hadn't reacted.

"I don't think you're stupid," she replied thoughtfully. "I think you've been hurt horribly in the past and you're trying to protect yourself, which is normal. But as your surrogate older sister - "

"When have I ever considered you to be my older sister?"

"I want nothing more than to see you happy," she went on serenely. "And I know that Naruto-kun can make you happy. He already makes you happy right now, so there is no reason to hold back."

"I might have fucked up too badly tonight," Sasuke muttered.

"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't," she said calmly. "You won't know until you talk with him. What's the worst that can happen?"

"That I'll lose him completely," he replied instantly.

After all that was the entire reason why he had never even dared to contemplate his feelings before tonight. He didn't want to lose Naruto as his best friend, not after knowing how it felt like to not be alone anymore. Sure, he had Kakashi, but … That wasn't the same. Kakashi took care of him, yes, but there would always be this sliver of distance between them. That same distance didn't exist between Sasuke and Naruto, however; the other boy had made sure to completely demolish that distance over the past couple of months.

And now he might have lost that closeness after all, just because he'd been an idiot.

"That's a possibility," she agreed, because she had always been blunt like that. "And if that happens, you know our door is always open to you. Whether it's to cry, to mope around or for you to use the dojo to distract yourself, you're always welcome here. But Sasuke."

She waited until he reluctantly looked up at her. "I do believe you have nothing to worry about."

Maybe he didn't. Maybe he had. Both possibilities were terrifying to consider.


Gaara had already texted him by the time Sasuke arrived home.

Gaara 23.54 p.m.

If you ever need something, the door's always open for you

Clearly Temari had spilt the beans already to her younger brother before Sasuke had even arrived home. He wanted to feel pissed about that, but he knew the siblings meant well, so in the end he simply texted back Thanks and left it at that.

Kakashi was still up when Sasuke walked inside the house. The couch in the living room creaked softly and footsteps neared him. Kakashi poked his head around the doorway, looking ready to greet him before he paused, studying Sasuke.

"You want to talk about it?" he offered, uncharacteristically subdued.

Sasuke finished pulling off his shoes and straightened up. "Nope."

"All right," Kakashi acquiesced easily. "Good night."

"Good night." Sasuke wasn't naïve enough to expect Kakashi to not stick his nose into his business at a later moment, but for tonight he would at least have some respite.

Out of pure habit he checked his phone once more when he stepped into his bedroom, but of course the screen remained dark. He hadn't expected Naruto to actually try to call or text him, but habits were hard to ignore.

His stomach twisted in knots, he put his phone onto his nightstand and changed into his pyjamas, dumping the shirt and the trousers on the floor. On autopilot he brushed his teeth and washed his face before flipping off the bathroom light and walking back to his room. The curtains weren't closed properly, letting a thin beam of moonlight into the gap, but he didn't bother closing them completely.

Instead he crawled into bed, curled onto his side and pressed his face into his pillow, where if he concentrated hard enough, he could still pick up the faintest trace of Naruto's scent, from when he had sat down on his bed last week during the rare instances when they studied at Sasuke's place.

His stomach cramped when a poisonous voice in the back of his mind piped up, Maybe that was the last time he'd ever be in here.

Maybe it was. Sasuke had definitely fucked up big time tonight. Or maybe it wasn't, but his mind shied away from that possibility. It seemed too good to be true, Naruto returning his feelings, but the other boy had kissed him tonight. There was no mistaking that, not with the way Naruto had run away afterwards.

Now the only question remained: did he dare to give in?


"Something happened between you and Naruto-kun," Kakashi ascertained two days later.

A part of Sasuke thought he should congratulate the older man for restraining himself for a full two days. He had assumed he would have cracked the morning after the ball already, but Kakashi had remarkably stayed silent until now.

"What makes you think that?" Sasuke asked neutrally and continued washing the plate he had used for lunch.

"Your presence here instead of at his house tipped me off," Kakashi replied dryly. "It's a holiday, I thought you'd be glued to the hip by now."

Sasuke remained silent, placing the plate on the rack and putting the pan into the sudsy water next.

A quiet sigh. "What happened? And don't say nothing happened, not when you have been moping around ever since you got back from the ball."

"I'm not moping around," Sasuke said annoyed.

"Brooding, thinking, whatever. Something has happened obviously. Something that has kept you at home for two days already instead of leaving."

"You always complain I should be home more and now that I am, you're complaining again? Make up your mind," Sasuke said irritated.

"I don't complain that you should be home more – although you know, it would be nice to have more confirmation of your living state than the occasional morning or evening," Kakashi said lightly before turning solemn again. "And I don't mind you being home, but I'm also not blind. I can see something has happened."

"I already talked to Temari," Sasuke tried to fend him off, but of course no dice.

"Fantastic, that means you won't mind repeating yourself to me then."

Sasuke closed his eyes momentarily, resting his gloved hands on the edge of the sink. He had to remind himself that Kakashi meant well, even if he was going about it in an extremely annoying manner.

Deciding that this was just like ripping off a bandage, he clenched his jaw and replied, "Naruto kissed me and I froze. He left before I could hold him back and we haven't talked since. Happy now?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh."

Silence descended over them and Sasuke returned to scrubbing the pan, focusing on a particular stubborn spot near the handle.

"I'm not going to say I told you so," Kakashi started then, breaking the silence.

"How generous of you," Sasuke muttered darkly.

"But as your guardian, I feel it is my duty to tell you that you should talk to Naruto-kun before this drags on for too long."

"Yeah, I know," Sasuke mumbled, scrubbing the pan even harder. The burnt spot really refused to disappear.

"So, what's stopping you?"

This time Sasuke refused to answer.

As it turned out, he didn't even need to say anything.

"You're worried about what will happen if you let him get close in that way?"

That had always been the thing with Kakashi: for all that he could be an annoying jackass with a shitty sense of humour, he also knew how to read people and read them, he could. It was part of what made him so goddamn annoying, because he always knew how to hit that one sore spot.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do - "

"That'd be a first."

"But I highly advise you not to let this chance slip through your fingers. You two are good together, Sasuke, and you'd be even greater if you let him in."

Having said his piece, Kakashi left the kitchen, commenting he would put away the dishes later.

Even greater, huh? But at what cost?


Sasuke lost count of the amount of times he picked up his phone and put it back down again, fear threatening to strangle his vocal chords. Since the evening of the ball he hadn't heard anything from Naruto, not even a single text, but he couldn't exactly blame the other boy. It had been Sasuke who had been unresponsive to begin with, so he couldn't expect Naruto to act as if nothing had happened.

Something would have to happen soon, though, because he was driving himself mad with every day that passed without hearing Naruto's voice or laying his eyes on him. He hadn't fully realised just how used he had become to Naruto's presence until he no longer felt it. He spent the evenings alone in his bed now, clinging onto the fading memory of the Omega's scent, all the while knowing this could have a simple fix.

He would just need to contact Naruto and talk to him.

Easier said than done when he considered the ways it could go wrong. Naruto could have chosen to disregard him completely, ignoring him or worse, treating him like he treated the majority of their classmates: politely but with no interest. They could decide to never mention the ball again and just remain friends – but was that was he really wanted?

What he wanted, was Naruto.

He wanted to see Naruto and talk to him, hear his voice and listen to his laughter. He wanted to lie close to him, close enough that he could feel his body and embrace him when he thought the blond boy was fast asleep. He wanted Naruto to swing his arm around his neck and pull him in close until their scents were so meshed that there was no saying where one began and where the other one ended. He wanted to see those blue eyes lit up when they landed on him, longed to see them sparkle and glitter the way they did whenever Naruto was happy or feeling mischievous.

He wanted Naruto. Did he dare to let himself have him?


He found his answer on Saturday morning, standing in the cold and listening to the ending notes of the doorbell he had just rung. His skin pricked with heat and the icy cold and the rushing of his blood was loud in his ears, his stomach flipping several times when the door opened.

"Did you forget your - " There Naruto stood, dressed in an overly large sweater and worn out sweatpants, his blond hair still mussed from sleep and sticking out in every possible direction while blue eyes widened when they landed on Sasuke.

He was a pure vision, standing in front of Sasuke, even with crumpled clothes – especially with crumpled clothes. Sasuke finally had his answer.

"Can I come in?"

His fear was great – but his desire for Naruto was greater.

And when Naruto beckoned him inside, awkward but willing, a knot inside Sasuke's chest loosened.

Maybe, just maybe he wasn't too late after all.


AN2: And we're finally getting to the fun parts! Only took us eight chapters, no biggie.

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 the next chapter! 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.