"So, what do you want to do today?" Naruto asked once he'd managed to forcibly sit Sasuke down while he cleared the table and washed the dishes.

"Go home?"

"Ah" Naruto blinked. That made sense "Tired of me already?"

"Is that what you heard?" Sasuke said, "Though I suppose we have spent an inordinate amount of time together for one weekend."

"Yeah and now, I'm attached." Naruto said as he took his sit in front of Sasuke on the kitchen table.

"I guess you really weren't kidding about one night stands not being your thing."

"I did try to warn you."

"You did, I still couldn't resist your charms."

"And here we thought you were the charming one."

"Did we think that?"

"I did."

"…So, we're back to flirting?"

"Umm" Naruto scratched behind his head, but he couldn't hide how much he was enjoying the interaction. His grin probably spoke for itself. "No?" He said eventually.

"Right." Sasuke replied smirking "Just making sure we're on the same page."

"Well communication is very important."

"That explains why you're giving me the 'let's define the relationship' look"

"You read me so well." Naruto said, a little distracted. He knew Sasuke was kidding, but did that still mean he'd gotten that look enough times to recognize it?

Naruto took a deep breath, leaned forward, and cupped his hands underneath his chin "So Sasuke, what are we?"

Sasuke leaned back into his chair and smirked "Enemies?"

"I thought we solved the whole dark side issue!"

"Did we? Last I remember I thought we were in love, and you thought we were childhood friends, doesn't seem solved to me."

"Fine, If I said we were in love, you'd come back?"

"…I'm pretty sure you'd wore me down eventually anyway."

"What? Now you're shy?"

Sasuke sighed. "This entire conversation has gone off-rail."

"No it hasn't, and you know what, I've given it some thought, and I think you were right. We totally were in love."

"I'm so glad to hear it." Sasuke said dryly.

"Yes! I'm glad we resolved it too." Naruto said, and then admitted to himself that maybe Sasuke had made a good point and they had gone slightly off-rail, because he had no idea what they had even been talking about.

"Has Shikamaru left already?" Sasuke asked suddenly, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"What? Is my company not enough for you?" Naruto said without thinking, but Sasuke gave him such a befuddled look in response that he found himself laughing.

"With that kind of jealousy, I guess an open relationship is completely off the table?" Sasuke asked after a moment.

Naruto snorted "As if there was any doubt about that. You think I'd share you with anyone?"

He looked up to see Sasuke giving him an intense look, but before Naruto could read what it was, Sasuke had ready replaced it by a long-suffering expression "You want us to be…exclusive friends."

"Umm, no, I wouldn't want you to completely cut ties with your other friends, even if they are imaginary." Sasuke rolled his eyes at that, but Naruto continued "But I want to be your closest friend."

"I see, and what about what I want?"

Naruto smiled at him good-naturedly "What do you want Sasuke? Ask and you shall receive."

"You don't think that's dangerous?" Sasuke asked, and his tone had lost a little bit of its playfulness in favor of something else altogether.

Naruto felt his own heart rate pick up in response "I guess we'll find out if you ask."

Sasuke gave him a long look, and the tension in the air did nothing to calm Naruto's heart. It felt like he was holding his breath for something, but he wasn't sure for what.

"…I want to go home." Sasuke said suddenly, an easy smirk back on his face.

Naruto blinked at him, feeling his stomach drop for no particular reason.

"Right." He said, swallowing, and tried to recover "I guess you were right; it was dangerous." But his tone came out odd, not teasing like he'd wanted, but something else entirely unexpected and much too revealing.

Naruto got up suddenly, looking somewhere above Sasuke's shoulder "I'll drive you."

"Naruto." Sasuke called hesitantly.

"What?" Naruto snapped, his eyes shooting to the other boy.

Sasuke looked conflicted, he seemed like he wanted to say something else but changed his mind "It's very close, I could walk even."

"Yeah, well, you still have a concussion, and I don't fully trust you not to get yourself another one."

He half-expected Sasuke to put up more of an argument, but instead, after a moment he said "Alright."

Then looking up at Naruto, he added in a surprisingly gentle tone "Thank you."

"It's fine." Naruto mumbled, wondering at why exactly he felt a little…angry at Sasuke right now. "I'll go change in the bathroom. You can have the room." He said and left the kitchen without waiting for his response.

Sasuke was right in that it was only a 10-minute drive to his place, but there was a surprising amount of traffic for a Sunday morning, and Naruto had to stop himself from honking his frustration at people who didn't actually deserve it.

"Naruto." Sasuke called him "Are you upset with me?"

Naruto squeezed the wheel in surprise. Damn, Sasuke really was direct. He glanced at the other boy who was watching him very intently. He immediately looked back to the road.

"Um no. Well, yeah, maybe."

"Those are the three options." Sasuke said dryly.

Naruto sighed "No I know. Sorry. I'm not upset with you. I'm just…upset."

"And it has nothing to do with me."

Naruto opened and closed his mouth "It's nothing you've done."

"Interesting paraphrasing there."

"I am a university student. It's what we do."

"Really? I've just been handing in Wikipedia excerpts for most of my assignments."

"Maybe you really have been getting by on your looks." Naruto mused.

"It's highly probable."

Naruto snorted "Yeah right. Let me guess, you're top of the class, university medalist, all high distinctions?"

"I see we're back to the part where you make up things about me."

"That wasn't even me making things up, it was an educated guess."

Sasuke snorted, but didn't say anything else, which Naruto pretty much took as a confirmation.

Here he was; this very good looking guy, smart, talented, funny, and not interested in bragging about any of it, and here was Naruto, being upset about having been…rejected? Sasuke could probably have anyone he wanted.

And what exactly had Naruto expected anyway? What had he wanted Sasuke to ask him in the kitchen? He didn't even know.

"We're here" Sasuke said suddenly, and Naruto cursed as he made a sharp turn into his street.

He found a perfect parking spot right in front of Sasuke's house, and then turned off the car. For a moment, they both just sat there.

"Ask me for something." Sasuke told him out of nowhere.

Naruto turned to him, the confusion snapping him a little out of the unpleasant direction his thoughts had taken "What?"

Sasuke gave him a half-smile "I still owe you a favor. So, ask me for something."

"You said you'll come to my birthday thing next weekend."

"And I also said that didn't count as a favor."

Naruto sighed. He had a feeling Sasuke was doing this to cheer him up, which he appreciated, he really did, but it wasn't quite enough to change his mood right now. Still, Naruto didn't want to turn down his efforts. He looked out the window, hoping for some inspiration, when he saw Sasuke's house.

"What's the third floor of your house for?" He asked suddenly, remembering when he'd noticed how all their rooms were on the second floor.

Sasuke blinked, clearly surprised by the question "Umm, it's just the attic, so we use it as a studio space."

Naruto was immediately intrigued "Like a music studio? Do the rest of them play too?"

"It's mainly my stuff to be honest."

Naruto grinned "I know what I want Sasuke."

Sasuke gave him a cautious look "Yes?"

"I want you to play me something, preferably in your studio."

Sasuke gave him a resigned look "Really? You could ask for anything and that's what you want?"

"Would you have done it without the favor?"

"…Probably not."

Naruto grinned "Exactly."

"Let's get this over with." Sasuke grunted as he unbuckled his seat belt. Naruto sat there for a second, smiling at nothing in particular, before he followed suit.

Sasuke seemed to pause and take a deep breathe at the doorstep, but before Naruto could ask about it, he was pushing the door open.

"Sasuke!" A high-pitched woman's voice called almost immediately "You're back! Where have you been? I was so worried."

Sasuke sighed, glanced at Naruto briefly and then stepped inside. "I texted."

Curiously Naruto pushed the door wider open until he could see Sasuke standing in front of a red-haired girl with wire-rimmed glasses. "You texted 'not home tonight', what is that? For all we knew you could have been…"

The girl seemed to see Naruto for the first time and stopped her rant abruptly "Who is this?" She asked, and Naruto couldn't quite tell if she sounded suspicious or excited, but there was just a lot of energy.

"This is Naruto." Sasuke said, gesturing for Naruto to come inside, and then closing the door behind him.

"This is the straight boy you're dating?" The girl asked incredulously and Naruto who was leaning over to take off his shoes almost lost his balance.

Sasuke sighed, and then started heading towards the staircase, leaving both the girl and Naruto to stare after him.

That bastard.

Naruto finally succeeded in taking off his shoes only to be faced with a very intense looking girl blocking his way.

Naruto tried a polite smile "Umm, it's Karin, isn't it?"

She immediately smiled back "So Sasuke's talked about me? Well of course he has, I'm a very important person in his life you know. What did he tell you?"

Naruto thought back to the three times Sasuke had mentioned her, one of them in his sleep, and then glanced at Sasuke's back which was still in view. Naruto grinned and raising his voice "He said you're a great housemate and an even better friend."

Sasuke paused immediately, then slowly turned back, glaring at Naruto from across the hall. Naruto simply smiled back.

Karin, meanwhile, seemed to have frozen for a moment before she positively beamed at Naruto. "Did he?"

"I did not" Sasuke called back from where he'd paused at the foot of the stairs.

Karin and Naruto exchanged smiles.

"You're not too bad." Karin told him. "But are you really dating Sasuke?"

"We're not dating." Sasuke called back again, though Naruto and Karin had already started walking towards him.

Karin gave Naruto a sympathetic look and sighed "Sasuke doesn't really do dating. Trust me, I've tried."

Naruto blinked, and then looked from the girl to Sasuke and back. Did she not know…?

"I know he's gay" Karin pouted "But you know, a girl can dream. Besides, everyone's at least a little bi, right?"

Naruto, for whatever reason, glanced at Sasuke at that little comment, who was looking back at him with a curious look. "…um, no? I don't think so?"

Karin raised his eyebrows and looked between him and Sasuke "…Right." She said, "Well Suigetsu might be an annoying idiot, but I see what he meant."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked her.

Sasuke sighed "Naruto, what did I tell you about not engaging with them?"

"Come on Sasuke! Don't be like that. You know how much we love you…"

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the clear discomfort on Sasuke's face. It did really seem like his housemates cared about him in their own way, and despite all of Naruto's jokes about him not having friends, it made him happy to see it, mostly.

There was a little part of him that felt a little…envious. How long had the three of them known each other for?

It felt wrong to him somehow that he hadn't known Sasuke for longer. It really did feel like he and Sasuke should have been childhood friends. Maybe in another life?

"Naruto, let's go. Karin, don't bother us, please."

Naruto threw the girl an apologetic look as he started following Sasuke upstairs. She didn't seem too upset about it though as she called after Naruto "Think about that answer a bit more Naruto. Think about it!"