"For fuck's sake Naruto, get your ass out of the bathroom." Kiba yelled "I'm pissing myself out here."

Naruto groaned, looking at the mess he'd made in the mirror for a final time. There was nothing to be done now. He turned the lock and waited for Kiba to slam the door open.

Kiba stared at him.

"I was trying something new!"

"Uh." Kiba said, his voice shaking from restraint "Yeah, looks good man."

"Just get it over with." Naruto said with sigh.

Kiba immediately let out a howl "Jesus Naruto did you fall headfirst into the hair gel?"

Naruto groaned, desperately running his hand through his hair, and immediately grimacing at the sticky residue.

"What's with the ruckus?" Shikamaru said, then stopped dead in the hallway as he spotted Naruto.

"Did you put your finger in the outlet?" He said after a moment. "We should have child proofed the apartment."

"What do I do?" Naruto moaned.

"Shaving it off might be your best bet right now." Kiba said and Naruto smacked him on the neck as hard as he could

"Take another shower." Shikamaru looked at his watch "You'll have time to fix it before Sasuke comes."

"I have other guests!" Naruto protested weakly. "It's not just about him."

"Yeah well, haven't seen you pour a whole bottle of product on your head for any of the other guests before." Shikamaru said disappearing into his room.

Naruto let out a growl and slammed the door on a still chuckling Kiba.

"Naruto! I still need to pee."

"Use the kitchen sink, see if I care." Naruto yelled out, already taking his clothes off to hop in the shower.

Having settled for doing his hair like usual this time, Naruto looked at himself in his bedroom mirror. His wardrobe did not exactly support dressing up in any capacity, but he'd tried his best. He was wearing a long-sleeved blue knit with a nice pair of designer jeans that Jiraiya had gotten him with a wink and a few comments about not underestimating the power of his ass in attracting the fairer sex. Given everything, that felt quite ironic right now.

"You're wearing your first date outfit?" Kiba appeared in front of the bedroom door with a grin.

"I don't have a first date outfit." Naruto mumbled.

"Shika" Kiba yelled. "What does Naruto wear when he is trying to seduce some unsuspecting victim?"

"Leave me alone." Shikamaru called out from his own room.

"It's important." Kiba yelled back.

"The blue sweater." Shikamaru yelled.

"I hate you." Naruto told Kiba.

Kiba grinned wider "You love me. Since when are you so shy anyway? So, what if you're trying to seduce Sasuke?"

"Jesus Christ" Naruto moaned.

"I'm honestly proud of you."

Naruto sighed, then taking one last look in the mirror, he ran a hand through his hair "Thanks."

"Huh!" Kiba said, much too enthusiastically "You admit it."

Naruto groaned.

Kiba took it as invitation to step inside and take a seat on Naruto's bed. "It's the perfect time for seduction too."

Despite himself, Naruto found himself asking "You think so?"

Kiba gave him a wolfish grin "Oh 100%, The autumn chill in the air. Free flowing alcohol. The last opportunity to really let loose before mid-semester hell rolls in…"

Was Naruto crazy or was Kiba actually making sense?

He hadn't been thinking about seducing Sasuke. Well, not really. Had he been a little overeager about the idea of having a few drinks with him tonight? Perhaps. And had he put a little too much thought into what to wear and how to style his hair? Well, you didn't turn twenty every day.

"It can't be that hard to seduce a dude anyway, right?" Kiba said thoughtfully, distracting Naruto.

Depends on the dude apparently, Naruto thought but decided not to say that aloud.

"Since when are you so interested in my dating life?" He asked instead.

"Since you started having one."

"I've dated before!" Naruto protested.

"Oh right." Kiba rolled his eyes "This is totally the same as you setting an alarm for like 5 minutes pre-date so you wouldn't forget to leave." Kibra raised his hand in the air before Naruto could say anything "And yes, I know about the ADHD, and I also know that right now we have at least an hour before people start showing up and you're already dressed and ready to go, and by people, I mean Sasuke."

Damn old friends who knew you too well.

So what if Naruto was a little too excited about tonight? It was his birthday, and also, he hadn't seen Sasuke since Wednesday, which was like two full days. Maybe it didn't sound like a lot, but it had gone by very very slowly.

"You'll never believe who I ran into today." Kiba said, apparently feeling like he'd made his point well enough already and ready to move on to a new topic "Neji!"

Naruto nodded distractedly, still half-thinking about how little he and Sasuke had texted in the past two days.

"I told him he could come tonight. But then I thought I should have asked you first"

Naruto resisted the urge to look in the mirror one last time because he knew Kiba would not let him live it down, instead he tried to focus on the conversation at hand. "No man that's totally cool. It'll be good to see him."

He'd hung out with Neji a lot more while he was in high school and dating his cousin, but even though they both went to the same university now, he hadn't seen the man much since the break-up.

"I thought you'd say that." Kiba chuckled "I mean, I still think he looks eerily like your ex, but you're hardly hung up on her right now"

Naruto huffed, but well, it's not like Kiba didn't have a point there.

"Can I come?" Suigetsu said from the dining room, his voice loud enough to carry upstairs.

"No." Sauske said from his own room, putting on his favorite black bomber jacket and making sure to hold Naruto's gift so it was hidden underneath the folds of the jacket before walking downstairs.

Suigetsu and Karin, sitting on the opposite sides of the coach, watched him with twin expressions of too-much interest. Almost immediately, Suigetsu whistled.

"Fucking hell Sasuke. Give the poor man a chance."

"I don't know what you mean." Sasuke said coolly.

Suigetsu snorted "Sure you don't."

Karin leaned over and smacked him on the chest "Do you have to be so annoying?"

"What did I do?" Suigetsu snapped back.

"You're making Sasuke self-conscious."

Sasuke sighed. He didn't think he looked so different from usual, except maybe his pants and shirt fit him slightly better than what he wore out and about. The two of them were only being particularly annoying because Sasuke had made the mistake of mentioning whose birthday he was going to.

"Forget about him" Karin told Sasuke, turning her back on Suigetsu pointedly "I can come and have your back" She offered solemnly, though the effect was slightly spoiled by the predatory grin on her face.

"How about you both stay home instead." Sasuke said, "Given I'm the only one invited."

Karin pouted "Oh come on, you know Naruto would be fine with me coming along."

"He did seem like the more the merrier type." Suigetsu added with an impish grin and Sasuke knew him well enough to catch where he was heading with that line of thought. Sasuke sent him a warning look, but Suigetsu simply grinned wider.

"A little overprotective aren't you, Sasuke? I haven't even made the threesome joke yet."

"There is nothing to protect" Sasuke responded flatly. Naruto's bright blue eyes flashed in his mind for an unwelcome moment before he forced the image aside.

"Other than your heart." Suigetsu quipped.

"And his heart." Karin added "He seemed like the sensitive type, and Sasuke looks ridiculously delectable."

Suigetsu nodded seriously and turned to Sasuke again "So should we expect you back tonight or…?"

Having had enough, Sasuke took a glance at the clock and started heading toward the door. He hadn't wanted to show up early but considering he was walking there, it was a good enough time to leave, especially if it stopped him from murdering his flatmates.

"That wasn't an answer." Suigetsu yelled at his back.

"Give Naruto a kiss for me!" Karin added just as loudly.

Sasuke slammed the door behind him.