Used to the awkward quiet of his usual classes, Naruto was pleasantly surprised when he heard chatter coming out the tutorial room. He even double checked the room number to make sure he had the right one before walking in. Despite studying in this uni for three years, he'd never even been to this building before, so he was pretty proud of the fact that he'd managed to make it here in time.

The tutorial room was small, with maybe 10-12 students inside. Naruto was a little surprised, though he supposed it could be a nice change. What was stranger to him was the way all the students seemed to look at him when he came inside. It wasn't unfriendly or anything, they just seemed surprised.

Naruto, feeling a little awkward, scratched the back of his head. But to hell with it. He wasn't a shy person by nature. "Um hello." He said to everyone at once.

Looking around, his eyes landed on some guy who was sitting at the back of the room. Maybe it was the unusual hairstyle that grabbed his attention. The dude had long black strands framing his face and short spikes in the back. Naruto had never seen anything like it, but weirdly enough, he thought it looked pretty good.

Catching his look, the dude raised an eyebrow at him. If Naruto was being honest, he looked a little unfriendly, but maybe Naruto had been staring a little?

"Hello." A girl sitting closest to the door called to him, grabbing his attention, "Hey, are you lost by any chance?"

Naruto blinked at her "Um, I don't think so? I checked the room number and everything."

She looked confused "Okay well, this is Philosophy of the arts?"

Naruto grinned "Yes, that's right."

"Okay then." The girl still looked a little skeptical but gave him a friendly enough smile. She had the perquisite undergrad-student dyed pink hair with striking green eyes. She was really quite pretty.

"I'm Naruto" Naruto smiled at her.

"Sakura" she told him and moved her stuff so he could take a seat on the table next to her.

"So why did everyone seem surprised when I walked in?"

At this point, everyone had mostly gotten back to their own conversations. Naruto was once again surprised but the level of chatter in the class, he was more used to being the only who who started conversations in the awkward silence of tutorials, particularly in the first few weeks of the semester.

"Oh, were we being that weird?" Sakura smiled "It's just that the arts faculty here is really small, so all the students mostly know one another, we're not used to new faces, particularly in a course like this one?"

"What about this course?" Naruto asked, "It was open as an elective?"

"Umm, to be honest, it's compulsory for all higher-level fine arts and music students but depending on who you ask, it's known for either being either very challenging, or very dry."

Naruto sighed. "Really?" That was just his luck, wasn't it?

Sakura gave her a sympathetic look "And well, not to be piling on, but the professor is a bit…eccentric."

About 30 minutes later, Naruto was starting to understand Sakura's point. The professor had been 25 minutes late to the class but started taking the roll without a single apology. He looked youngish, though his hair was completely silver, and he was wearing, of all things, a surgical mask. A germaphobe maybe?

The man seemed to recognize all the students as he read the roll and checked most of them off before they called out.

At one point, he paused and smirked "Ah, Sasuke, how nice of you to have graced us with your presence."

Naruto, surprised by the comment looked up from where he'd started doodling in his notebook.

"Given I was here on time, that comment seems hypocritical. Don't you think?"

Sakura groaned quietly besides Naruto. Naruto felt his own eyebrows shoot up. That was either very rude or very bold, maybe both. Of course, it was the unfriendly looking boy he'd noticed before who had spoken.

Sasuke? Naruto looked at him again. He was quite a good-looking guy, though so far his personality wasn't looking particularly pleasant.

"What's going on here?" Naruto whispered to her.

"Those two have a weird love-hate relationship. You get used to do it." She whispered back.

That seemed highly inappropriate to Naruto, and just as he was about to say so, he was interrupted.

"And who do we have over there? Are you corrupting my star student?"

Naruto's neck made a snapping sound from the speed with which he looked up. The professor's voice was suddenly very close to his head.

How the hell had the man moved to Naruto's desk without making a sound?

"Ah sorry… "Naruto said, a little embarrassed, though for god's sake it had only been roll call. "I'm Naruto? I'm taking this as an elective?"

"You don't seem sure about either of those things." The professor told him skeptically.

"No, No, it's definitely true." Naruto said, laughing nervously.

"Okay, and why are you taking this particular course as an elective Naruto?" The professor asked him. Why did this suddenly feel like an interrogation? The arts faculty was shaping up to be a weird place.

"Umm, I don't know. I guess Art and Philosophy both sounded…cool?"

Someone snorted from back of the class and Naruto, even without looking, had a guess to who he had been.

What was that dude's problem anyway?

"Cool? How flattering." The professor looked amused "Well, it's good to have some fresh blood in the mix."

Even though the words were normal enough, Naruto had a feeling the professor had deliberately chosen to say them in the creepiest tone possible. Thankfully though, with that, he finally moved away from Naruto's desk. Naruto sent Sakura a glance and the girl just shrugged in response, like 'I told you so'.

"Wow, so we have a class of cowards here?" The professor, Kakashi as he seemed to simply be called by the students, said this when his question was met by no answers. Naruto tried not to squirm in his chair as the silence dragged on.

"How about you new guy? I know you must have one or two thoughts in that blond head of yours?"

Naruto looked at him "Um, should you really be talking to a student like that?"

The professor looked like he was smiling behind the mask "How about you answer, and I'll try to be nicer in the future."

Naruto sighed "I don't really know. Love, I guess."

Someone snorted.

The professor turned to the back of the class "I take it you disagree Sasuke?"

"You could say that" The boy said dryly.

"How about you give us your answer then?" Naruto snapped at the other boy, getting very quickly tired of his attitude.

"Yeah, tell us, Sasuke, what do you think ultimately drives all art?" Kakashi asked the other boy.

The boy didn't even glance at Naruto. Sounding bored, he said "If I had to say, pain."

Jesus, who was this guy?

"Seriously? That's a little dramatic, don't you think?" Naruto asked.

Finally, the boy deigned to turn to him, "Love itself is a concept created by art, it's a reflection of the artist's pain in realizing they, like every other human, are ultimately alone. Art isn't about love because art can't be about what is only created through art itself." He gave Naruto a cold look.

Naruto stared back at him, taken aback by the level of argument he wanted to engage in. Naruto could get pretty heated in class discussions himself, but he'd mostly found other students to be more concerned with coming across as chill and laid back than to risk having a full-on argument at a 9 am tutorial. So as much of an asshole as the boy seemed to be, Naruto felt a flash of grudging respect at his clear lack of fucks given about that.

"You're claiming love is completely made-up by artists? That's extremely cynical."

"Better to be cynical than delusional."

Naruto couldn't believe this guy was for real. He felt himself getting much more worked up about the argument that was probably wise or warranted.

"So you don't believe in romantic love, fine, you're probably into the whole 't's all hormones argument', but are you telling me you don't believe in any kind of love? How about a family's love, say a parent loving their child unconditionally?"

For the first time, the boy's face showed a hint of emotion beyond cold neutrality or boredom. A flash of rage seems to go through his expression at Naruto's words, which Naruto found weirdly satisfying. So, the dude was actually human.

"Familial 'love' as you put it is just as limited as any other type of love. The idea of unconditional love is nothing but idle wish fulfillment."

"Well, what kind of messed up life have you had?"

As soon as the words were out of Naruto's mouth, he went cold all over. It didn't help that the class went deadly quiet.

The other boy, for his part, looked the least fazed out of everyone, Naruto included. He simply narrowed his eyes. Naruto meanwhile was already opening his mouth to apologize.

"Alright. I suppose that inappropriately personal argument was still slightly better than the silence." Kakashi said "But how about we give the other students a chance to contribute now, particularly if they don't want to fail the class for non-participation."

There were a few groans which thankfully broke into the silence. Still Naruto felt like he wanted to his head against the wall. He knew he had a tendency to let his mouth get away from him, but he hadn't lost his cool so spectacularly since high school.

"So, what do we think? Is love the root of all art or is it pain?" Kakashi asked as the other students finally begun to chime in, but Naruto barely heard any of it for the rest of the tutorial.

"Hey" Naruto called after the other boy, "Hey, Hey, could you just stop for a moment please?"

For a few moments it looked like the boy would just outright ignore him and leave, but eventually he paused and turned back to Naruto who had struggled to catch up to him since the tutorial's five minutes prior.

"What?" He snapped, seeing Naruto the same cold glance as before. Though at least this time, Naruto supposed he had earned it a little bit.

"Look." Naruto ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he'd never been able to break. "It's Sasuke, right?"

The boy simply raised an eyebrow "Did you want something?"

Jesus, okay.

"I just wanted to apologize. What I said in the tutorial was so out of line."

The boy just stood there and gave him a long, unreadable look. Naruto started shifting his weight from one leg to another, feeling quite awkward. Eventually, just as Naruto was wondering if the other boy was going to say anything at all, he said "Alright."

"Alright?" Naruto repeated. What did that mean? "Um, okay?"

The boy seemed about to turn away again

"Wait sorry," Naruto called before he could leave. The boy shot him a look. Why was he so impatient anyway? "I'm confused, so you accept my apology?"

The boy blinked at him "Seriously?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused.

"Naruto, is it? Yes, it's fine, I wasn't going to go cry about it, if that's what you're concerned about" The boy said so dryly that despite his general discomfort with the situation, Naruto found himself almost smiling.

"Are you sure? Because I think I have some tissues in my backpack."

The boy snorted and started walking away. Naruto, for some reason, found himself keeping pace.

"Why are you in such a hurry anyway? Do you have another class?"

The boy, Sasuke, gave him a sideways glance, "Coffee." he said simply.

"Ah that makes sense, I'm more of an energy drinks guy myself but I know what you coffee addicts are like. Did you not have your caffeine fix before class? Is that why you were such an asshole?"

"Wasn't this an apology?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

Naruto grinned, "Well, sure I was an asshole at the end, but that doesn't negate the fact that you were an asshole all throughout. In fact, maybe you should apologize too."

"I will take that under consideration."

Huh, Naruto did find himself smiling this time. The dude was actually pretty funny, in the sarcastic asshole way.

"Yes, you should, apologies help lighten the soul you know. Then you won't have to walk around looking constipated all the time."

"You would certainly know, so I have to trust in your expertise."

Naruto was surprised to find he actually had to speed up a little to match the guy's steps, Usually everyone was complaining that Naruto moved too fast.

"What does that mean?"

"Only that I imagine you often have reason to apologize to others."

Naruto wanted to be insulted. But well, the man had a point. Not that Naruto would admit it.

"And you? Let me guess 'apologies are just a social construct that are designed to remove the responsibility of any wrongdoings from our shoulders'"

Sasuke shot him a half amused, half annoyed look "That didn't sound even remotely like me. Was that even a real accent?"

Naruto shrugged "What is your accent anyway? I've never heard anything like it."

Sasuke looked a bit surprised by the question "We moved around a lot when I was young, so it's a mix of different things."

"Oh really?" Naruto's interest was immediately piqued, "What, were you like army brat? That's cool though. What places did you live in?"

Sasuke suddenly stopped without warning "Naruto, do you want something?"

Naruto who had walked a few steps further before realizing he was now alone, turned to look at him "Umm no?"

"Is there a reason you're following me right now?"

Naruto huffed "Well excuse me, I was just interested, that's all. You don't seem so bad now that we're out of the tutorial"

Sasuke raised both eyebrows at him "Are you gay by any chance?" He asked, his tone curious.

Naruto found himself sputtering. "What? Why would you ask that?"

"Is that insulting to you?" Sasuke asked, raising his eyebrows even further.

"Jesus, no of course not. What do you take me for? I was just surprised."

Sasuke continued to look at him questioningly, apparently completely immune to the awkwardness, and clearly still waiting for an answer.

"Uh, So yeah, no?" Naruto felt his face heat up a little form the sheer weirdness of the moment.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched "You sound unsure."

"No, I mean, I'm not gay. Why?" Naruto managed to say finally.

"Okay" Sasuke said simply, and started walking again, "I just wasn't sure if you were coming on to me."

Naruto found himself sputtering again even as he fell into step next to the other boy, "What? Are you kidding me? Just because I asked a few questions? It's called showing an interest asshole." The other boy shot him a look.

"Friendly interest. Jesus. Do you have any friends?"

Sasuke snorted. Naruto felt a flash of pride at having amused the other boy, he didn't seem like he would easily give anyone a reaction, though Naruto supposed he'd been much more willing to entertain him so far than Naruto would have guessed from how he had behaved in the tutorial.

"Yes, but they don't often follow me around in this manner." Sasuke said.

"Well, you're the one who's in such a hurry to get your fix that you can't stand still and talk for even a minute." Naruto pouted a little.

"Could you remind me of why we need to talk at all?" Sasuke asked, not looking softened by Naruto's pouting in the slightest.

Damn, that look usually worked on girls, but he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that it wasn't the same with dudes, not that he'd really even tried it before. It was an odd thought from the start.

"Come on, Sasuke, you're having a good time with me, I can tell."

Sasuke sighed "I would have suggested making an optometrist appointment if I didn't think that was too big of a word for you."

Naruto shook his head "You're such a cold bastard, but I wonder if it's how you show affection."

Sasuke looked genuinely nonplussed for a second before he said, "What are you, an amateur psychologist?"

Naruto snorted "Huh, no, though believe it or not, I did consider it for a moment there."

"Before you realized you liked to talk too much for that to work out?"

"Hey" Naruto protested and for good measure smacked the other boy on the shoulder. Sasuke gave his hand the kind of look Naruto reserved only for flying cockroaches, "I'll have you know I'm a great listener."

"Sure" Sasuke said neutrally.

"You don't believe me?"

"I didn't say anything"

"You didn't have to. I can tell. You don't think I can tell?" Naruto wanted to smack the other boy again and barely stopped himself. Two hits in a row during his first conversation with someone seemed like a lot, even to him.

"No, given you gave up on your dream career as a psychologist, I don't believe you can."

Naruto sighed and was about to respond when he realized they'd already arrived at the coffee cart.

Sasuke, seeming to spot that there was surprisingly no line, walked even more quickly, and Naruto had to focus on catching up. The other man was barely a centimeter to two taller, but it seemed like caffeine was quite a motivator. By the time Naruto caught up, he had already ordered.

"What did you want?" Sasuke asked him, and Naruto found both him and the barista looking at him expectantly. Naruto hadn't thought about getting anything and found his brain short circuiting for a moment. He had a free hour though, and it occurred to him that if he got a coffee too, it would make it that much harder for Sasuke to get rid of him.

"Uh, A small Mocha?"

Sasuke shook his head at him in clear disappointment, which Naruto ignored.

The barista repeated their orders back, and as Naruto was reaching behind himself to take his wallet out of his backpack, Sasuke had already tapped his card on the reader.

As they walked to the other side of the cart to wait for their drinks, Naruto said "Thanks, I'll transfer you the money."

Sasuke just shook his head "It's fine Naruto, it was like 3 dollars."

Naruto stared at him for a second "Alright, but only because that means I can get the next one."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him "Are you sure you're not coming onto me? Maybe you're bi?"

Naruto groaned "What's with you whipping that out at the most random moments? You're not actually one of those toxic super macho dudes, are you?" Naruto made a gorilla/gym bro gesture with his arms, just to really get the point across.

Sasuke threw him another look of pure disgust "No, but I actually am gay."

Naruto blinked.

Sasuke raised one eyebrow at him.

"Right, cool," Naruto shrugged, "Um, thanks for telling me, I guess?"

Sasuke's eyebrow shot even higher "Sure."

He turned towards the cart, though Naruto hadn't heard their names being called, and picked up the two cups, handing Naruto the smaller one.

"Thanks." Naruto felt inexplicably off-balance by Sasuke seeming, well, like a nice person. A normal person, at least.

"No problem" Sasuke said distractedly. He immediately took a big gulp from his own cup before even attempting to walk towards one of the tables.

Naruto watched him, both amused and concerned by the fact that the man didn't flinch "Wasn't that just a straight up Americano?"

Sasuke licked his lips as if he'd just had a chocolate milkshake or something.

"Yes, and?"

Naruto shook his head "To each their own, I guess."

"We don't all have a 12-year-old's pallet."

Naruto snorted "You were having mochas at 12? We should take a moment of silence for your stunted growth."

"I'm taller than you idiot." Sasuke said, as he finally started making making his way to one of the empty tables scattered around the uni lawn.

"Barely!" Naruto said, following behind.

It was a nice day; the sun finally having come out after a few straight days of rain. Naruto supposed that the weather had something to do with his bright mood. It definitely didn't have anything to do with his extremely rude companion.

He was distracted again by the look on Sasuke's face as he drank. He couldn't help it given the other boy almost looked like he was in ecstasy "Should I leave you alone with that coffee?"

Sasuke barely spared him a look "I've lost any hope that you would."

"It would be rude of me to leave after you so kindly bought me a drink" Naruto grinned at him as he started on his own coffee. It was pretty good, but that's what sugar, milk and chocolate syrup were for.

"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure it was a good idea to let you consume any caffeine."

Naruto snorted "Huh, yeah, I'm not gonna lie, you might come to regret that decision."

"I'll add it to my long list of regrets."

Naruto watched the other boy's profile for a while as he seemed to continue his love affair with his drink. Like Naruto had noticed before, Sasuke was quite a good-looking guy. He had one of those sharp jawlines that you often saw on models and actors, and the contrast between his vampire-pale skin and black eyes made him look striking. Naruto was willing to bet girls went crazy over him. Guys too, he supposed.

"Can I help you?" Sasuke asked him suddenly.

"You're quite a good-looking guy." Naruto told him easily.

Sasuke blinked "Excuse me?" He said after a moment.

"What? As if you didn't know. I wonder if that's why you can get away with acting like such an asshole at times."

"You don't really have a filter, do you Naruto?" Sasuke asked him after a moment's pause.

Naruto snorted "No, not really. But you seem pretty direct yourself."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow "And what, during our lengthy acquaintance, has given you that impression?"

Naruto laughed, because really, who talked like that in real life? Maybe it was all the moving around as a child thing? Naruto was still so curious about the other boy's background, though he didn't seem like the type to share personal information easily.

"It was probably when you asked me if I was gay out of nowhere." Naruto told him eventually.

Sasuke shook his head "I tell you this as my good deed for the day Naruto, but there are probably a large number of people you talk to each day who assume you're flirting with them."

Naruto just snorted "Nah, it's called being nice, you're just confused because your social skills were stunted from all the coffee you had as a child."

Sasuke shook his head again, this time to himself "Well, I tried." He muttered.

"Maybe you're insisting on this because you actually wanted me to be flirting with you, huh Sasuke?" Naruto told him grinning, though a part of him immediately questioned if he was taking it a bit far.

"Oh absolutely." Sasuke replied, not missing a beat. "Before you shattered all my dreams, I was already thinking about how I was going to ravish you later"

Naruto was stunned into silence, and to his chagrin, he could very clearly feel the heat of the blush that was spreading across his cheeks.

Sasuke straight-up laughed in his face.

"Fine, I deserved that, I guess." Naruto muttered, looking away from Sasuke as he busied himself by taking another sip of coffee.

"You certainly did." Sasuke told him easily.

"Who says ravish anyway?" Naruto muttered again, still feeling a little embarrassed. It wasn't like him to get flustered so easily. Damn this arrogant bastard.

When Sasuke didn't respond, Naruto looked up to see him checking the time on his phone.

Sasuke caught his glance "I have to head out soon."

"Oh" Naruto said, "Another class?"

"Work" Sasuke said, finishing the rest of his coffee in another huge gulp like it was water. There was something seriously wrong with this man. "And I'm already running late."

"…alright." Naruto said, "I'll see you in class next week, I guess."

Sasuke gave him a look "You sound disappointed."

Naruto paused, shifting around a little "I was going to ask for your number to be honest, but I thought you'd make fun of me again."

Sasuke immediately snorted "Does anyone our age even ask for numbers?"

Naruto rolled his eyes "You just strike me as the type of guy who doesn't have social media."

"Sorry to disappoint. Give me your phone."

Naruto grinned and immediately unlocked his phone before handing it over. Sasuke glanced at him before taking it "You're a pretty trusting dude."

"What, like you're gonna go through my nudes while I'm standing right here?"

"You keep nudes in your photo gallery?"

"Don't you?" Naruto asked, grinning.

Sasuke just shook his head before he opened Instagram and searched for his handle. He handed the phone back with his profile open.

Naruto raised his eyebrows at him before sending him a follow request "You could have just sent the request yourself; you realize?"

Sasuke shrugged "It seems impolite."

"This is where you draw the line?" Naruto asked, a little amused and a little disbelieving.

"I'm leaving now Naruto, please don't follow me."

Naruto was about to respond when the other boy sent him a warning look and started walking away.

Naruto watched him as he quickly disappeared between the rush of students. Then looked down at his phone where the request was pending.

He wondered briefly if the other boy would mess with him by not approving it. He seemed just sadistic enough to do something like that, but at least, Naruto reassured himself, he'd be able to hunt him down in the tutorial next week if he did so.

He just hoped he didn't have to wait that long.