They walked in silence for a while, and Sasuke looked up to examine the dark sky above them as they turned the corner to Naruto's flat. The night air was cooling on his skin, the chill of the October air clinging to his clothes and touching his skin with cold, needle-like fingers.
"I'm sorry," he said abruptly, feeling guilt writhe up and down his spine as he looked at Naruto, who was reaching into his pocket to pull out his keys.
Naruto looked around, surprised. "Why are you apologising?" he asked curiously, that easy-go-lucky smile on his face again.
"It was your birthday party, your event…" Sasuke's voice trailed off for a minute, and he frowned. "Look, you didn't need to do this."
Naruto shrugged, wiggling the key into the lock and pushing his shoulder against the door to force it open.
"It'll be fine," he said, looking unconcerned as the frame gave and the wood swung on its hinges. "Maybe they'll think I got lucky again."
A little jolt of hot electricity ran through Sasuke's abdomen at the flippancy of the remark. He found himself frowning as he followed Naruto into the flat, taking his shoes off by the rack in the hallway.
"Happens a lot, does it?" he asked more acridly than he had meant to, the vowels bouncing nastily off his tongue. Naruto stopped with his hand on the hallway door, looking at Sasuke with a blank expression.
"What?" His countenance was particularly clueless.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he put down his jacket and ran a hand through his hair. It was a silly thing to be annoyed at; of course, Naruto had had sex before. What had he been assuming? That the blond had lived with a chastity belt until he had met him? That didn't prevent the off-handedness of the comment from stinging somewhat. Never mind the fact that they had just run into Sasuke's ex, which Naruto had handled without so much as blinking. But the glibness with which the sentence had been uttered continued to vex Sasuke's sensibilities.
"Do they lose you often at supermarkets and just assume you're in someone else's pants if you're out of sight for more than five minutes?"
Naruto's eyes flicked almost lazily up and down Sasuke's figure as he said this, turning to walk into the kitchen without commenting further.
Sasuke, feeling incensed at his reaction, followed him in, the tips of his ears beginning to feel a little hot. He persisted.
"Is it a common problem? Oh well, he's probably fucking, leave him to it."
There was a small and very annoying smile at the corner of Naruto's lips as he pulled open the fridge and pulled out two slightly frosted bottles of beer. He handed one to Sasuke, a look of great amusement in his blue eyes as he pushed the glass between his fingers.
"You know me," he said with an air of false politeness. "I get lost a lot."
Sasuke took the beer and popped the top off his bottle, using the side of the kitchen counter as leverage, raising it to his mouth and allowing the alcohol to slip down his throat.
"Got stuck in the produce aisle again, huh?"
"Oh yeah," Naruto said easily, taking a long sip of the beer and, without missing a beat, "I got distracted by the new imports of courgettes and pomegranates."
There was something about his unconcerned coolness that both made Sasuke want to tip the rest of his beverage over him and kiss him at the same time. He contained himself, however, and took another gulp, his other hand drumming a rhythm on the kitchen countertop.
"Alright, Mr Fifty Questions," Naruto said easily, sitting back to front on one of the kitchen chairs again and looking intently at Sasuke with his endlessly blue eyes. "Less about my sex life and more about yours: who exactly was it that we ran into?"
Sasuke gave Naruto an imperious look from where he was standing and hesitated, the bottle still raised to his mouth.
"I went out with him a few years ago," he said after a moment's hesitation, unsure of how much information it would be prudent to provide at this specific juncture.
"Had a few one-night stands after we broke up. It wasn't hugely significant. He just was into some things that I was not particularly…" his voice trailed off for a moment, "…cogent with."
Naruto looked at him very seriously from over the back of his chair. The annoying grin had left his face, and his mouth was a smooth, handsome line, his stubborn jaw accentuated in the kitchen downlights.
"That doesn't sound particularly alright," he said after a moment's pause. "He's a lot older than the both of us."
Being quizzed on his past relationships, or any relationship for that matter, was not something that Sasuke was used to indulging other people in. Itachi had tried several times to engage him in conversations about dating, only to be met with a metaphorical and sometimes literal brick wall.
Relationships were inherently private for Sasuke, and he detested having to impart any information on them, a stance which Sakura kept warning him would ultimately lead to disaster. But she would say that, of course; her whole profession relied on people divulging their innermost thoughts.
"Well, I thought he was attractive when I met him," Sasuke said offhandedly, downing the rest of the bottle and placing it noisily on the countertop. His dark eyes met Naruto's, and he thought the blond was looking at him as if he was offering a challenge.
"Why are we talking about my past relationships anyway? I thought it was your birthday?"
"Oh, so that means I have to divulge, do I?" Naruto asked. There again was that very self-satisfied smile winching itself across the blond's mouth as if he knew he had just pressed a few of Sasuke's buttons.
"Why, are you afraid to?" Sasuke shot back. They were staring intently at each other now, a slight prickle of electricity charging the air between them.
Naruto half-closed his eyes and regarded Sasuke, his mouth slightly curved in an annoying yet handsome smile.
"Alright," he said after a moment, getting up and reaching for Kiba's bottle of tequila, which was set in its usual place on top of the kitchen fridge. He pushed a small glass towards Sasuke and filled one for himself with a shot of the dark liquid.
"What is this for?" Sasuke asked dubiously, regarding the liquor and remembering exactly how it tasted last time.
"It's my birthday, and I say we play a game. Answer the question or take a drink. Loser taps out."
Sasuke eyed Naruto venomously. Another man might have been quailed by the look, but the expression seemed to goad Naruto on as he sat back on his chair, arms over the top and balancing on his knees.
"What's the matter, Sasuke?" the blond asked innocently, yet the rest of his manner was far from innocent, picking up the glass and turning it between his fingers. "Afraid I might best you?"
It was no good. Naruto was goading Sasuke, and the Uchiha had no option but to fall for it, hook, line, and sinker.
"Fine, idiot," Sasuke snapped, picking up the glass and glowering at Naruto in a way which made the blond smile.
"I'll be generous; you can go first," the blond said graciously.
Sasuke wasn't about to ignore a boon when it was handed to him, regardless of whether it was his birthday or not.
"Are both men and women on your substantial dating repertoire?"
"More women than men, but I've never 'dated' dated a man before."
He slid the glass from one hand to the other on the countertop as if contemplating before shooting a question back at Sasuke.
"Why did you think he was attractive?"
"I don't see what that has to do with anything—" Sasuke began, but Naruto interrupted him.
"Drink, answer, or lose," the blond reminded him curtly, a slightly wicked smile playing on his mouth.
"He is handsome," Sasuke said coldly, glaring back into Naruto's blue, blue eyes and feeling his stomach uncomfortably squirm around inside of him. "But he's also a huge dickhead who apparently doesn't understand the definition of consent."
Naruto moved his head slightly to rest it on his folded arms, but he said nothing in response to this.
"Fine," Sasuke said somewhat dramatically, as if he had just walked into an Olympic stadium. "Who was your last relationship with?"
Naruto made an expression as if he thought this question was coming. "Tenten. I don't know if you've met her. She does a lot of martial arts—she's pretty cool. We went out for a couple of months before things just fizzled out."
"Oh," Sasuke said in a way which was not altogether flattering towards Naruto.
"Such the tone of surprise," the blond said, grinning like a fox, apparently not taking umbrage at Sasuke's tone.
"Well, she's…"
"Competent?" Naruto interjected. "Attractive? Smart? Self-assured? Capable? Or are you wondering why she lowered herself to go out with me?"
Sasuke didn't say anything for a moment, looking down at the floor before looking back up at Naruto through his long eyelashes.
"I thought she liked Neji," he said after a pause.
"Which would explain the brevity of our relationship somewhat," Naruto said. He was still looking thoroughly amused by this all. "I doubt I make a very good Neji substitute."
Naruto took a voluntary sip of the tequila and visibly winced at the taste.
"You've asked about fifty questions just now, so it's only fair I get to ask at least two."
Sasuke opened his mouth and then shut it again, laying his hands palm down on the kitchen countertop as if to brace himself.
"Why didn't you correct your uncle that time when he asked if I was your boyfriend?"
He was caught out by the question and stuttered. Naruto's blue eyes were locked on his own as if tracking each feature of his face carefully.
Refusing to back out of the conversation or admit defeat by taking a shot, he said quickly, "It was the easiest thing to go with at the time."
Naruto gave a little snort, his blue eyes registering something, but before Sasuke could make out what it was, it was gone.
"If I were feeling spiteful, I'd call bullshit and make you drink that glass," the blond said, eyeing Sasuke almost lazily up and down.
"And if I were feeling vindictive, I'd say you were more than a little upset to be second best to Neji."
"Oh, touché, he has teeth," Naruto said with something of a wicked grin. He downed the tequila with only a slight wrinkling of his nose and placed the glass back on the table, his eyes never deviating from Sasuke's.
"Why not tell your brother the truth then? You wouldn't want to be seen with a second-best loser like me?"
Sasuke tapped his fingers aggressively on the countertop and flicked the side of the glass with his finger. He didn't have a good answer to this one. His own rationale at the time was 'this will be over quickly,' but of course then Naruto had come around to dinner and Itachi had liked him. Liked him so much, in fact, he had been asked again to bring him out to a celebratory internship dinner which he didn't even want.
"I'm not… he would…" Sasuke began and then, hating himself, knocked back the shot and grimaced.
An undeniable look of triumph passed over the blond's face at this.
Clearing his throat, he lobbed another question at Naruto. "Why continue the act then?" Sasuke asked, his own dark eyes a deep shade of slate grey boring into Naruto's as if with enough concentration he could somehow read his mind.
For the first time, Naruto looked slightly wrong-footed. He looked at Sasuke with knitted eyebrows, poured himself another shot, and tilted his head back.
There was a brief silence as the blond and the dark-haired man stared at each other across the kitchen countertop. Sasuke tilted his head to the side.
"What was that about?" he asked suspiciously, his dark eyes now intensely fixed on Naruto's face.
"Oh no," the blond replied easily, recovering from his earlier falter as if the incident had never happened. "It's my turn now to ask the questions."
He drummed his fingers on the side of the glass and poured himself and Sasuke another shot. A slight frown had descended down his forehead as he did this, looking back at the Uchiha's face contemplatively. It would be stupid to deny, he thought to himself for a brief second, that he wasn't very, very, very attracted to Naruto. There was something undeniably magnetic between the two of them; the atmosphere in the kitchen seemed to dance with an invisible charge, an energy which filled all of Sasuke's body from his toes to the top of his scalp.
"What happened on that phone call you took earlier?"
The question took him by surprise. Sasuke paused, his hand gripping the side of the glass, trying to decide if a lie or an omission would be easier.
"I've been offered an internship," he said curtly, as if that would explain the entire situation without further critique.
Naruto looked at him, and Sasuke implicitly knew he didn't believe a word of what had just left his mouth. But any state of affairs that included Madara was not going to be further elucidated by Sasuke, not without undue pressure like a knife edge.
"Bullshit," Naruto said softly, his blue eyes that slightly darker shade of indigo again.
"Excuse me?" Sasuke said coolly, both his hands gripping onto the side of the kitchen countertop. "I answered your question."
Naruto cocked his head to the side and raised the glass to his mouth, again voluntarily drinking down a sip of the burning amber liquid.
"Yeah, and I call bullshit. That's not the rules of the game. Do you actually expect me to believe that?"
Sasuke's voice was low as he opened his mouth to respond. "What exactly do you want me to say?"
Naruto raised his eyebrows cockily at the dark-haired youth, his wide, generous mouth turned up slightly at one side. Sasuke could see the definition of his broad shoulders beneath the white and orange T-shirt he was wearing. Vaguely, he wondered what they would feel like under his hands.
"Er, the truth?"
There was a stretch of silence which Naruto waited patiently through. For a moment Sasuke considered grabbing his jacket and leaving the flat, but he had to admit to himself he was reluctant to leave the blond's company. What was it about Naruto that made him want to stay?
"The internship is with my uncle's company."
The blond looked at him for a moment, then his hand moved across the countertop, and he placed his fingers and palm very firmly over the top of Sasuke's glass, his countenance suddenly serious.
"Don't take it," he said, his expression unusually dark and serious as he stared back into Sasuke's dark grey eyes.
"It's not that simple," the Uchiha responded, noting the places where Naruto's fingers were brushing against his own on the glass felt like they were on fire.
"Sure it is," the blond said, everything about Naruto's gaze now was extremely intense—the stubborn jaw, the dark scars across his cheeks, the way his blond, choppy hair fell into his blue eyes. Sasuke felt his heart skip a few beats. "Just say no."
"I can't," Sasuke began, but then thought that sounded stupid. He withdrew his hand from the glass and instantly missed the almost frenetic heat that was coming from Naruto's flesh. "People just don't say 'no' to Madara."
"You can," Naruto said emphatically, getting up from his odd position on the chair. "No one has a gun to your head, Sasuke."
For a moment, time seemed to still for the dark-haired man; a distant memory flickered across his mind's eye—a phone call with his father's voice on the line, a pleading child's voice. His own. Then… nothing.
As if on autopilot, Sasuke pushed away from the kitchen counter, moving round the island to get to the door and the hallway. Adrenaline coursed through him, and a sudden need to be outside shook his entire body.
"Hey!" he heard the blond say behind him as he almost ran to grab his jacket.
"Hey, Sasuke! What's wrong?"
Sasuke completely ignored Naruto, reaching for his jacket and turning to find his shoes. There was suddenly a warm, strong hand on his elbow, pulling him with a gentle firmness backwards and the soothing words: "Hey, talk to me. What's going on?"
This was unfortunately the exact wrong thing to have done.
There was a small explosion of anger inside of Sasuke's chest at the touch, anger and the need to protect himself. He spun round, grabbing Naruto's T-shirt by the collar, yanking him forwards, and then pushing him away abruptly to push him off balance.
He heard a muttered cry of "What the fuck, Sasuke?" but did not register much else. Naruto stumbled, regained his balance, and then made a cognitive decision to go at Sasuke again. Sasuke was not sure where the combativeness inside him had come from; a sudden explosion of anger, anxiety, and fear had erupted inside of him, and all he could do was fight against the blond who was threatening some sort of disruption to the barely calm waters of his mind—waters that concealed a storm beneath the surface.
He felt himself grabbed from behind, and they both fell over, grabbing at each other. Sasuke's fist connected with the top of Naruto's skull as the blond pinned his legs down beneath him; his shoulders connecting with the floor despite the twisting of his back. They fought like that for Sasuke didn't know how long. At parts, he almost got the upper hand until Naruto dragged him back down to the floor again, apparently not caring how many times Sasuke tried to punch or kick him.
There was a sharp metallic taste of blood in his mouth as he eventually let his head rest back against the wooden floor, conscious of the weight of Naruto on top of him.
His breathing slowed.
For a while, neither of them said anything. Sasuke just stared straight up at the ceiling as the world gradually fell back into place again like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
"Are you alright?" Naruto asked after a further few minutes of silence, his blue eyes that deep colour of indigo again in the dim hallway light.
A hot swoop of something lurched through Sasuke's stomach at the question, grabbing Naruto's collar and yanking him down towards him. The blond did not stop him at any point, offering no resistance to Sasuke's force.
"Do that again, and I'll fucking kill you," Sasuke hissed, glaring straight back into those impossibly blue eyes and generous mouth.
Naruto didn't answer. He just stared back at Sasuke with eyes that seemed, this time, unable to conceal the depths of their hunger, his breath coming out in short, almost strained pants, the blond's chest contracting and rising rhythmically against Sasuke's own.
They stayed for what seemed an endless moment, with lips just millimetres apart. Sasuke had a sudden awareness of every fraction, atom, and molecule of Naruto suddenly. The warmth from the blond's body surged into his own like a furnace. He felt lightheaded, drunk almost on the air between them. His skull and sides ached from their impromptu scuffle, and yet the pain of it felt almost erotic as spasms of intense desire settled in Sasuke's abdomen.
Without really thinking through what he was doing, he raised his head up, his hands moving to either side of Naruto's face, and kissed him.
It was as if Naruto had been waiting for him to do this; there was no coyness about the blond's mouth as it covered his own, open and wet as he caressed Sasuke's lips with his own and moved to prop himself up on his elbows. The kiss was impassioned, almost lurid with want and need, finesse be damned as Sasuke felt a growl make its way up his throat, which seemed to encourage Naruto to lean in deeper to the embrace.
There was an earnestness, almost a desperation, to the way their mouths were connected. Sasuke found his hands entwined in Naruto's hair, desperate to bring the blond closer as he felt a hand at the back of his neck, hot fingers digging deliciously into the base of his skull. For a moment he lost himself and gasped. Naruto broke away for a second, his eyes dark with want and the unmistakable look of lust.
Sasuke felt as if he was slowly burning, the ashes and flames licking up his body from the places where he and Naruto were touching, consuming him. Head-spinning desire worked inside of him like a furnace. It made it hard to think, hard to be defensive, hard to be logical.
"Sasuke?"
It was a perilous, husky, haunting note as Naruto slid one hand up Sasuke's ribcage, rubbing the skin in circles on his side, fingers trailing down to his abdomen. The heat between them was incredible; Sasuke could almost feel his blood vessels dilating, sending blood skittering throughout his entire body. He turned his face to meet Naruto's lips, wanting physical contact as desire and trepidation ebbed through him like a mountain river.
Almost unaware of himself, he surged forwards, trying to claim Naruto's lips with his own, wanting to plunder and be ravaged. He wanted anything—rough and fast, feeling like he would snap if the blond's presence left his body.
Sasuke forgot about everything then. Everything and anything except Naruto, and how good it felt. How good everything felt, running and entwining his fingers in Naruto's hair, lips against his own lips, sometimes open, sometimes closed, sometimes in between, letting Sasuke decide whether he wanted to lick, bite, or kiss.
He arched up against Naruto and heard the blond hiss, his arm moving to the small of Sasuke's back and pulling him towards his own body, grinding him harder against his pelvis. The hot, high zing of desire rushed through Sasuke like a surge of electricity, a desperate, vulnerable part of him wanting to feel Naruto, all of Naruto, inside himself. Caution be damned.
He felt his own hands wander down to the waistband of Naruto's jeans, hooking his thumb beneath the fabric, the tips of his fingers sliding lower beneath the blond's taut and muscled abdomen.
It was then Naruto pulled his head back, slowly, as if each movement cost him. Sasuke knew they were both hard, both utterly aroused. He felt drunk and helpless on the blond's kisses, lightheaded, euphoric, and unbelievably aroused. For a moment, there was a strange knowing in his head that he would let Naruto do pretty much anything he wanted to him, as long as it meant their bodies stayed together, as long as his lips did not leave his mouth.
"Sasuke," Naruto said with some effort, blinking with determination as if bringing his cognitive faculties back online again.
It was the emphasis on his name, the way he'd run the two parts into each other so that they sounded like a moan; it was the way he said it quietly, harshly, and smoothly at the same time. Sasuke had never heard his name like that before—something less than a short bark, almost sensual. It made goosebumps erupt over Sasuke's skin, and he shivered, his long lashes fluttering over his eyes.
Whatever Naruto was going to say next, they were disturbed by the sound of voices by the front door, making their way up the steps. The blond's head jerked up with a look of recognition in his eyes as Kiba's jolly tones permeated through the hallway.
He moved back, the heat, tension, and heaviness withdrawing immediately from Sasuke's body as he stretched out a hand to help the dark-haired man up. The key scraped in the front door, and Sasuke hastily readjusted his shirt and saw Naruto run his fingers through his blond hair, turning quickly to pull the front door open, his eyes fleetingly meeting with Sasuke's before his fingers reached the handle.
Kiba, Temari, Lee, Choji, Shikamaru, Gaara, Kankuro, Ino, and Sai all stood in various positions on the steps to the flat, laughing and holding carrier bags of more drinks.
"The bar closed," Kiba said happily, shouldering his way past Naruto and confidently making his way to the kitchen. "So, I invited people over to ours for more drinks."
"That's… that's great." Naruto said with a half-convincing smile, and Sasuke hastily picked up his jacket from where it had haphazardly ended up halfway up the stairs.
"We were just playing a drinking game. Does anyone else want to join in?"