Sasuke's room was ridiculously tidy, and Naruto wondered how the other boy would react to seeing the state of Naruto's own living space. His room was also big enough that Sasuke could afford to have a queen-sized bed without it taking over the whole room, a luxury few college students could claim. Naruto, for example, was just thankful that he had a twin bed and not a single like a peasant.

Sasuke took a sit on his desk chair as Naruto began to snoop around without shame. First, he looked at the wall hanging above Sasuke's bed. He recognized the painting as "the famous Japanese waves painting" but couldn't recall the painter's name. It looked cool printed on fabric though, and it matched the dark blue comforter. Above Sasuke's bed, and covering almost the entire wall on one side were shelves, most of which were filled with books, with the last few holding a few cameras, both film and digital. The other side of the room was taken up by a work desk, where a few textbooks were stacked, and Sasuke had his MacBook stationed there with a pair of massive black headphones that Naruto recognized from borrowing a friend's same pair once and had been blown away by how good they sounded.

There were, quite conspicuously, no photos anywhere in the room. In fact, other than the painting, Sasuke didn't seem to have anything else that was there for decoration only. Still, the combination of the books, cameras and paintings conveyed a sense of his personality which was pretty consistent with what Naruto had seen of him.

"Are you planning on writing a thesis based on this room?" Sasuke asked him eventually.

"Yeah, right." Naruto snorted, though he supposed he had spent an inordinate amount of time bouncing around and looking at everything "I would love to, of course, but I don't know how I could sell my advisor on the idea, any suggestions?"

Sasuke shrugged "It would be pretty hard to have any suggestions given I don't know what you actually study."

Naruto blinked. Huh. He didn't know what Sasuke studied either. It was funny because it felt like he'd known him for a long time "I'm a political science major."

Sasuke stared at him.

"What?" Naruto said eventually.

Sasuke shook his head "Nothing, that was just unexpected."

"How come?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"You don't strike me as the politician type. That's all. Unless you want to do something else with the degree?"

Naruto smiled at him "Why can't I be a politician?"

He was mostly joking but Sasuke seemed to give it real thought.

"Too honest." He said eventually.

Naruto laughed "Well, maybe that's something we need in our politicians, no?"

"That seems very optimistic, so I'm not surprised you'd say that."

Naruto shook his head, still amused, and not particularly surprised by Sasuke's take on his views. "You speak like you already know me well, we have kind of, just met, you know?" Naruto said, somewhat hypocritically perhaps.

Sasuke gave him a sort of half-smirk "You're an open book."

Naruto just shrugged. Sasuke wasn't wrong, Naruto thought he was a fairly open person, especially compared to Sasuke himself. People could gleam a good part of his personality easily enough. The stuff that people couldn't figure out so easily, like aspects of his history, he wasn't in that big of a hurry to share anyway.

"Maybe that's why we balance each other so well." Naruto told the other boy, who just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do we." He said in an exceptionally dry tone.

Naruto grinned. "Just look at us."

He pointed to Sasuke's all black attire and his own bright orange in contrast.

"Balance" He repeated, nodding his head sagely.

Sasuke sighed.

"What? You don't think so?" Naruto asked him with an easy grin, then he scowled a little "Though I guess Suigetsu couldn't see it."

Sasuke gave him a look Naruto couldn't quite read but didn't comment on the subject further. Naruto thought back to what Suigetsu had said about him not being Sasuke's type before, which was pretty rude of him by the way, even though it echoed what Naruto himself had thought before. He found himself even more curious now as to what Sasuke's type actually was.

"So how come you wanted to stay in tonight?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged "Fridays are typically my heaviest course load days and since I knew I was going to be busy Saturday; I didn't particularly want to go out."

Naruto nodded, and then grinned "Saturday night date night?" He asked, only half joking. He didn't think Sasuke was really seeing someone, if only based on the conversation with his housmate downstairs, but one could never be sure; particularly with someone as private as Sasuke. Maybe he was in a full relationship without his housemates even knowing.

Sasuke shook his head, clearly thinking Naruto was being ridiculous.

"Are you seeing someone Sasuke?" Naruto asked him, his curiosity getting the best of him.

The boy gave him a look "I'm not, are you?"

Huh! A straight answer, for once. Naruto knew there was joke there about straight and not-so straight answers, but he was too happy to have the information to make it. Instead he just shook his head. "No, though I wouldn't mind being in a relationship."

"I can see that about you." Sasuke told him, which made Naruto curious again about how the other boy was perceiving him that made him say that.

"You don't share that sentiment?" Naruto asked him, coking his head.

"Not particularly."

"How come?"

Sasuke gave him a look that let him know he might be pushing his luck with the line of questioning. So, he decided to sidestep a little, "I thought for a moment you were seeing your housemate down there."

He wondered if Sasuke would laugh at him, but he just gave Naruto a neutral look, "And what? He was still charitable enough to leave the house so you could hook up with his boyfriend?"

Naruto shrugged, pushing aside the way that Sasuke's words made him feel a little awkward. Though he wondered if that was Sasuke's intention to warn him off the topic of his love-life. He gazed at the other boy and the hint of a challenge in his eyes made Naruto think he was right on the money. Oh well, tough luck buddy, if anything Naruto found himself more interested by the challenge.

"Well, it could be an open relationship, or It could be one of those situations where you were casually hooking up but then he developed feelings for you and you had to cut it off, but you're still living together so he has to see you date sexy bombshells like myself and pretend to be fine with it." Naruto wiped imaginary tears from the corners of his eyes.

Sasuke just stared at him for a moment like he was genuinely befuddled before he said, "That was another oddly detailed scenario, maybe you missed your calling as a creative writing major?"

Naruto shrugged "I can't help it! It's so hard to get any information out of you that I have to make up my own."

He did notice though that Sasuke hadn't really denied what he'd said, which made Naruto wonder if there really had been something between the two of them at some point. But it was clear that Sasuke wasn't going to tell him, and Naruto knew he was already pushing the boundaries of how much it was acceptable to pry for information.

"So, what's your major, not creative writing?" Though looking around, Sasuke clearly liked to read, so for all Naruto knew, that could still very well be the case.

"Music" Sasuke said.

"Oooh, that makes sense. I would have guessed, but I was thinking maybe photography."

Sasuke shook his head "No, that's just a hobby. I'm not particularly good."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. It hadn't seemed that way too him, and Sasuke didn't seem like the type for false modesty. Maybe a perfectionist then?

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Sasuke asked him when he'd been silent for a while.

"I was just thinking that you're probably one of those guys who is good at literally everything they try but are still like 'I'm not the best in the world yet, so what's even the point.'"

Sasuke stared at him for a second and then looked away. Naruto wondered if he'd made the other boy uncomfortable, but when Sasuke spoke, he just sounded amused "I know I said I wouldn't destroy your fantasies before, but I'm afraid there are a lot of things I'm very bad at Naruto."

"Oh really? Like what?" Naruto asked, feeling seriously dubious and more than a little curious.

"I don't drive." Sasuke said neutrally.

"Seriously? You can't drive?" Naruto had to admit he was actually surprised.

"Oh no I can drive. I have my license. I just don't like it."

Naruto huffed "Passed the test on your first attempt?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Wow, Sasuke, maybe actually try to find something next time?"

Sasuke sighed "I don't know, it's hard Naruto, being so good at everything is a heavy burden."

Naruto nodded solemnly "With great power comes great responsibility."

Sasuke replied, matching his tone "Yeah, that's why I'd join the dark side immediately."

"You would not!" Naruto was immediately incredulous.

Sasuke gave him a look of absolute certainty "Trust me, I absolutely would."

Naruto huffed "Well, then I'd follow you around constantly and try to get you to come back to the light."

Sasuke just shook his head at him, but Naruto was now caught up in this scenario, "Oh but you would probably not give me the time of the day and keep ignoring me to do all this dark-lord stuff, and I'd be constantly annoying you like 'why don't you like me Sasuke? Why don't you come back home with me?'"

Naruto stopped when he saw the way Sasuke was looking at him, and then he realized exactly what he'd said. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, not even sure how he could even go about explaining that one without making things awkward.

"Just to be clear, in this hypothetical scenario, we're very much in love?" Sasuke asked in his driest tone yet, and Naruto was relieved when he found a glint of amusement in Sasuke's eyes. Other than that, the bastard had an amazing poker face.

"No, but we're best friends who knew each other since childhood" Naruto explained, grinning at Sasuke.

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow "Seems like a lot to do for a friend."

"Best friend" Naruto emphasized.

"Well in this scenario, how old are we that we have best friends? Twelve?"

Naruto shook his head "You think you would have joined the dark side at twelve years old?"

Sasuke seemed to give it some thought and then shrugged "If sufficiently motivated."

Naruto just shook his head. "Fine then yes, I'll start following you around when you're twelve."

Sasuke smirked "I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were planning this for the future? Because I hate to tell you, but I'm currently twenty."

"Smartass" Naruto told him "Me too though" Well, almost. "When's your birthday?"

"Why. Planning a surprise party already?"

Naruto groaned "Seriously, why is it so hard to get anything out of you?"

"Wouldn't want you to lose interest." Sasuke replied easily, sending another smirk Naruto's way.

"Huh, as if that's going to happen." Naruto muttered grumpily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, but before he could open his mouth, Naruto cut in "Alright, I heard it this time, and no I'm still not coming on to you." From the look on Sasuke's face, Naruto had gotten what he had been about to say exactly right, and he felt a sense of pride at the accomplishment before he continued, "Not that there would be any point to it anyway since apparently I'm clearly not your type."

Sasuke blinked at him "Did you want to be my type?"

Naruto pouted "I just think it was rude of him to say it like that. He doesn't even know me. Maybe I'm a world class painter or something."

Sasuke seemed like he was once again in the space between confused and amused "What would you being a world-class painter have to do with it?"

"I don't know. I just assumed that's your type." Naruto shrugged, not even sure why he was so interested in this topic, well besides his intense curiosity about Sasuke, which apparently extended to his dating life.

Which, okay, maybe was a little weird. But so, what?

"You're exactly right, In fact, I exclusively date painters." Sasuke told him seriously "Mainly because I just love having them paint my portraits so I can hang them up and stare at them all day."

Naruto grinned "How come I didn't see any in the house?"

"I took them all down before you came. Can't give it all away immediately."

"Aww Sasuke you didn't have to go through all that trouble"

Naruto he finally took a sit on Sasuke's bed, not that the other man had invited him to, so much for his politeness.

Sasuke just gave him a look from across the room.

"So, Naruto, are you?"

"Am I what?" Naruto asked, making himself more comfortable.

"A world-renown painter?"

Naruto let the smile drop from his face and shook his head in sorrow "No…"

"Ah" Sasuke said "I'm afraid it's not going to work out between us, then"

"Hey!" Naruto protested "I have other talents."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow "Like?"

Naruto thought about it "…I'm good with people?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that buddy."

"Buddy." Sasuke repeated with no intonation, and yet managed to convey his disapproval perfectly well. The man was truly multitalented.

"Seriously though, what is your type?" Naruto asked, "Maybe I can set you up with someone."

"Do you know a lot of gay men?" Sasuke asked, though Naruto couldn't tell if he was asking genuinely or making fun of him.

Naruto shrugged and waited.

"I just said I'm not interested in a relationship, didn't I?"

"So? It could be a hook-up."

Not that Naruto really thought he knew anyone to set up with Sasuke. Kiba was very straight. Shikamaru was bi, but Naruto wasn't trying to get killed by his girlfriend. Besides, maybe his temperament was a little too similar to Sasuke's? You needed some balance in a relationship, at least, Naruto thought so.

"I'm going to politely decline that offer."

"Ah man, just tell me. Why do you have to be so mysterious?" Naruto whined.

"I can see this is going to be a recurring issue." Sasuke muttered. "How about you tell me what your type is, Naruto?"

Naruto briefly considered being petty and refusing to answer, but he wasn't quite that childish. Instead, he just shrugged as he thought back to his dating history. It's not like it was a big deal.

"Well, I had one long-term girlfriend my last year of high school. She was very nice, umm kind, pretty, smart too, like much more book smart than me. We were long distance for like 7 months when we started uni before we broke up."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow "That's longer than a lot of people last in that situation. Why did it not work out in the end, if you don't mind me asking?"

Naruto thought back on the relationship "Yeah, the long-distance thing was hard, but I guess it ended because… I don't know, she was naturally very shy and quiet and I'm…not. I kept thinking I'd bring her out of her shell, or she'd ground me, but it didn't quite work out that way. Instead, I always felt like, I don't know, that I was subsuming her personality?"

Sasuke gave him such a thoughtful look that Naruto eventually asked "What?"

Sasuke looked uncharacteristically hesitant for a moment before he said "Nothing, you're just a more complex person than you initially present to others, I think."

Naruto wasn't sure if he was flattered or a little annoyed. "Isn't that the case for everyone?"

Sasuke shrugged "Maybe, but everything is a matter of degrees. So would you say she was your type then?"

Naruto shook his head "No, I don't think so, I think I learnt then that I want someone who stands their ground a bit more, you know? I can be a lot at times."

Sasuke snorted, probably thinking that it was an understatement, and Naruto sent him a glare before continuing "So yeah, after we broke up, I tried playing the field for a while, I guess, but I don't think that's really for me."

Sasuke looked at him curiously "How come?"

Naruto shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure why "I don't know, sex is great, but I guess I always want more."

"More." Sasuke said dryly, like he was unfamiliar with the concept.

"Yes asshole, like intimacy or whatever."

Sasuke gave him another long look, "You really are just…a different breed."

Naruto snorted, but felt like he wanted to lighten the topic a little "That girl in our tutorial was kind of cute though, Maybe I can ask her out?"

Sasuke seemed to think back for a moment "Oh Sakura? Yeah, she can definitely stand her own ground, since that's what you want."

"Do you know her?" Naruto asked curiously, though he had to admit it the curiosity was more about Sasuke than Sakura at this point.

Sasuke shrugged "The arts faculty is small. I'd offer to introduce you, but you already seemed friendly."

"Does that mean you were watching me?" Naruto grinned.

Sasuke snorted "There are only ten people in that class, Naruto. So yes."

"Hmm" Naruto hummed skeptically "I don't know about that; I think you kept watching me because you could sense that that we were going to be great friends."

"Of course, Nothing like a personal attack in the middle of a tutorial discussion to set the grounds for a deep friendship." Sasuke said, and even though he was clearly joking, Naruto felt his smile drop.

"Yeah, that was pretty shitty of me, wasn't it?"

Sasuke frowned "I already told you it was alright."

Naruto knew he could let it go, but for some reason he felt like he wanted to say something more on the subject. Maybe he felt worse about it now that he actually liked Sasuke?

"I know, but I just want you to know I'm not always like that. I just got a little too worked up about it, because well, we talked about families, and there is some stuff about mine that isn't the easiest for me, so I guess, I just lost my cool."

Sasuke looked at him for a long time before he said "I can understand that. It's really fine Naruto."

Naruto wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or disappointed that Sasuke hadn't asked more about the topic. He didn't even know where the urge to suddenly share his entire life story had come from, maybe he was overcompensating for Sasuke's secretiveness by being even more open than usual?

That seemed dangerous.

"So, what would you like to do now Naruto?" Sasuke asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We could play a few video games, or watch a movie? I was thinking of ordering in some pizza."

"Okay that actually sounds amazing." Naruto almost shouted in his excitement.

"That's a lot of enthusiasm for pizza and games." Sasuke observed, before getting up, this time letting Naruto lead them back downstairs.