Naruto had a broad athletic figure, he was a few inches smaller than Sasuke but seemed to make up the rest of his height in sheer determination alone. He was observing him now with a fox-like grin, his eyes both combative and a little hungry as he jumped down from the back of the sofa to join Sasuke in the make shift 'wrestling pit'.

"First one on the floor loses." He said cracking his neck from side to side and swinging his shoulders; behind him half the room cheered, and he turned back grinning.

Someone likes attention, Sasuke noted.

"You do a lot of talking." The dark-haired man countered, eyeing Naruto up and down critically with his silvered grey eyes. There was something understated and very sexy about the way Naruto held himself in his old worn jeans and thick well-cut cotton t-shirt that accentuated his toned arms.

"Well someone has to put on a show." Naruto said, his blue eyes dancing with amusement, "Give the people what they want. It'd be pretty boring to just win."

"You're very sure of yourself," Sasuke retorted enjoying this, Naruto was looking at him intently with a lazy half smile.

"Shouldn't I be? Upon my friend's honour Sasuke; it is my task to vanquish you." Naruto replied, the fox-like grin was wider now and Sasuke had the impression that Naruto had both watched far too much Game of thrones and was also trying to lull him into a false sense of security.

It is said by some that a good offense is a good defence but Sasuke disagreed; the best defence was a good offence.

The moved towards each other at the same time, Sasuke lowering his centre of gravity and side-stepping Naruto, whose fingers briefly brushed through his hair as he misjudged Sasuke's position. Sasuke taking advantage of his misstep grabbed him around the middle, his arm circling Naruto's well-muscled torso and pivoting him downwards. He found Naruto was not so easily dislodged however, catching himself on bended knee and grabbing at Sasuke's shoulders. They were surprisingly evenly matched.

Sasuke twisted out of the hold and stepped back to assess the situation watching as Naruto nimbly sprung to his feet again; his blue eyes glittering in his handsome face. Around them Sasuke could dimly hear the crowd cheering them on, along with someone who may have been Ino shout: 'Take your clothes off!' to a general round of applause.

Sasuke's heart danced in his chest, for a second all fears were gone as blood pumped through his ears and the world seemed to narrow to himself and Naruto. It had been a long time since he had felt this way… exhilarated… invigorated even. He was for a second he was less conscious of being himself, concentrating on only this moment in time and allowing himself to enjoy that.

Naruto made for him again and Sasuke moved to outstep him, not anticipating that Naruto would feint; predicting where he would move to. Naruto's strong shoulders collided with his chest as the blond made to put him in a headlock to drag him to the ground. Sasuke twisted his spine away, using his elbows as leverage against Naruto's abdomen and grabbing his wrists to wrench them away from his body. He heard Naruto grunt in his ear, a noise that for some reason went straight through him.

He could see Naruto rotating his wrists; prising them out of Sasuke's grip. Pulling his arms towards himself, Sasuke pushed against Naruto's body as he did so, hoping to use the on-going momentum to shove him over; but no such luck.

Naruto was either surprisingly stubborn or surprisingly powerful, or more likely both.

He found himself letting out a little sound of frustration as Naruto wrenched himself out of his grip, panting slightly with exhilaration.

"Not bad Uchiha." He heard Naruto mutter from somewhere just above his ear and the hairs stood up on the back of Sasuke's neck.

"Not too bad yourself." he muttered back; bending double and reaching for Naruto's forearm meaning to flip Naruto over his shoulder and onto the floor. But no such luck. The blond had braced himself against Sasuke, ending in a deadlock. As Sasuke's mind raced to find a weakness when he heard a shout from the side of the room and a blur of green as Lee returning from his toilet break took it upon himself to throw himself bodily into the middle of the fray.

It was like being hit by a khaki coloured rhinoceros; they all ended up on the floor with no one being able to determine who had hit the floor first and did it even count as Lee had decided to take on two opponents at once.

The crowed laughed and cheered, hauling all three of them to their feet as Sasuke felt drink after drink being pressed into his hands. He was very conscious of Naruto laughing next to him and putting his arm on Sasuke's shoulder in a friendly manner which made the tips of his ears turn a light colour of fuchsia.

He found himself standing next to Naruto throughout the evening or perhaps it was Naruto standing next to him?

The alcohol made it hard to recount accurately.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto was saying in his ear; his nose was pressed against the outer shell in a familiar manner. The room was spinning quite a lot now.

"Shall I take you back to mine? You look like you might need to lie down."

"Oh -shit. No, I'm fine." Sasuke leant back against a wall, willing the ceiling to stop dancing. "I can… I can get an Uber." He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and clicked the on button. The empty battery signal flashed angrily back at him, bugger how long had he been out for?

"Fuck." He muttered, Naruto looked down at his now inoperative phone with bemusement, his sandy blond lashes framing his perfectly blue eyes and a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. The party was winding down with people splitting off into groups to either continue the night out by going to a club or heading off home. Sasuke could dimly hear the words 'Shoreditch' and 'East London' being mentioned; unless he was being coerced by Gaara, Sasuke tended to avoid clubs whenever possible. He often found the music and number of people in a small contained space over stimulating as well as disliking walking on sticky floors.

"You… you wanna go out though." He said, looking up at Naruto and trying not to become enamoured by the blond's features. He had zero intention of stepping near any sort of night establishment in his present (or sober) state.

"I'll… I'll get a night bus."

Naruto reached out and brushed a lock of thick dark hair away from Sasuke's forehead in a strangely caring manner. Sasuke leant his head back, surprised by the contact but not altogether disliking it.

"Put your arm over my shoulder." Naruto said calmly, "We'll walk back to mine and you can charge your phone."

"I don't need to…" Sasuke began taking a step away from the wall and then instantly regretting doing so as the floor seemed to wobble.

Naruto gave Sasuke a look which seemed to say 'stubborn aren't you?' but he said nothing further, waiting patiently for Sasuke to do as he asked. The Uchiha took a deep breath in, willing his cerebellum to magically correct the spinning corners of the room. No such luck. With a sigh he capitulated and put his arm over Naruto's shoulders. Being in such close proximity to the blond he could smell the faint aroma of carbolic soap clinging to his skin, carbolic soap and the salt smell you find at the beach lingering over hot sand. Not altogether unpleasant.

"Enjoy yourself Kiba!" Naruto shouted as they headed out the door and into the cool autumn air.

"It's only a few minutes away, tell me if you feel sick. We'll stop."

"Fuck…I'm not that bad. And anyway, you should have gone with them."

"It's alright, I just didn't really fancy it."

"Oh, because I'm sure this is preferable."

"I just wanted to remain in your scintillating company."

"Hn."

Naruto chuckled, "Well, I figure you can owe me one this way. We'll say I won the fight."

"I knew you were trying to get something out of it."

"Hey, I'm rescuing you from waking up at the night bus depot."

Sasuke didn't argue with that, he leant against the railing as Naruto fished his key out of his pocket and jiggled it in the lock of his front door, stopping to turn on the lights to the hallway.

Sasuke's head was swimming, the alcohol was playing with his senses making things bob in and out of reality disconcertingly.

Naruto seemed to judge his unsteadiness as he led Sasuke upstairs to his bedroom, in the dim light Sasuke was still able to make out the loud décor and untidy state of the room. He found himself on a bed with bright orange sheets and frowned at the boldness of the colour scheme.

"I'll plug your phone in." Naruto was saying somewhere across the room but Sasuke wasn't really paying attention. The clean smell of the linen mixed with the smell of soap was strangely comforting. He felt his eyelids grow unbearably heavy and the sound of the world dimmed around him.

Sasuke was unsure of what woke him up, perhaps some internal mechanism had been set after receiving the text from Madara but he sat up with a jolt, his head throbbing and his eyes protesting at the sudden intrusion of light. He felt awful, his tongue felt almost gritty and his head was swimming in a liquid prison of pain.

For a moment he did not know where he was, buried beneath colourful sheets and a hard mattress with bright orange sheets. For a second he panicked, wondering if he was hallucinating or worse kidnapped before the smell of carbolic soap assailed his senses and the events of the night before went racing through his head.

Madara – fuck.

His phone… where was his phone?

He scrambled out of bed, lunging across the room and grabbing his mobile to read the numbers flashing on the screen as he clicked the on button.

The numbers flashed '06:12 am' and Sasuke felt his stomach drop. Madara like his brother kept early schedules he would most likely be round the house expecting Sasuke to be there at seven. That gave him what? Forty-five minutes to get home? It would take at least fifteen minutes if not longer to get an uber to pick him up from here.

He sprinted out the room in his socks, almost throwing himself down the stairs in his haste to get out of the house. Finding his shoes on the rack and jamming them onto his feet. A few paces away he saw Naruto stir on the sofa, the blond was embedded in a pile of blankets; the tips of his bare feet visible on the sofa arm.

"Sasuke?" He said sleepily sitting up as the Uchiha almost danced into his jacket in his desperation to leave.

He wrenched open the front door and took off down the street at a run, looking for a bus stop. The tubes would just about be running, albeit infrequently as it was both a Saturday and early in the morning. He felt panic course up and down his spine as he looked wildly about for public transport. He turned the corner, no cigar and kept going. He remembered dimly seeing a bus stop last night as he had made his way here, his long legs carrying him with surprising speed to the location. He stopped, his eyes lingering on the bus timetable. A twenty-minute wait.

Fuck.

He was as good as dead. He sat on the red bench feeling his stomach wriggle in agitation like a ball of worms, feeling nausea rise up his oesophagus.

"Sasuke!" The shout came from down the road and the dark-haired man found himself looking up to see Naruto rounding the corner.

"Wait!"

Sasuke didn't say anything; but felt his face acutely flush with colour. He subconsciously ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh…hi." he said in as close to casual tones as he could possibly manage. He gave Naruto this awkward nod and then pretended to be entirely engrossed by the bus stop map, as if he urgently needed directions to somewhere. My God this man must think he had totally lost his marbles.

Were there directions to sanity maybe on this bus map? It was highly unlikely that Naruto could be thinking anything other than Sasuke was acting like a complete lunatic.

What sort of excuse was he going to come up with on questioning? Hi sorry, I had to bolt out of your flat at 6am on a Saturday morning without so much as a goodbye?

There was no excuse, apart from alien mind control chips or lack of prescribed medication and neither of those routes sounded particularly appealing to Sasuke right now. He gave the map one last desperate look, saw no magical solution appear before him, sucked in a breath and turned to face Naruto.

"Hey," Naruto replied, to his credit no part of his expression gave away the fact that Sasuke was acting like someone who had recently escaped from an asylum. In fact, he was bending over slightly with his hands braced on his knees puffing a little.

"You can't half sprint you know? What are you training for the Olympics?"

Obviously, you didn't sprint fast enough to shake him off! The crazy little voice in his head piped up.

The voice that was also telling him it was a good idea to run straight into the road in order to be hit by oncoming traffic, rather than facing the humiliation of this conversation. How was his face this red? Sasuke could feel the heat in his cheeks radiating from his skin as if it were the part of a nuclear fusion reaction. He dug his hands deeply inside his jacket, fingernails digging mercilessly into his palms.

"Uh… I um, sports."

Sasuke had no idea what he'd just said, but he decided to go with it.

What the hell was wrong with him? It was like he had lost control of his executive brain functions; this conversation was rapidly descending into hell. Maybe he should just end it now and fling himself into the path of the nearest oncoming Lime bicycle.

Again, Naruto didn't falter at Sasuke's apparent mental breakdown, he smiled instead flashing those very white teeth and drawing attention to his perfect mouth.

"Do you need to be somewhere? You should have mentioned it last night."

That smile made it very hard to think, Sasuke thought. He felt almost panicked, his hands were sweaty, his heart rate had sky rocketed and his tongue felt uncomfortably numb in his mouth. Sasuke took a deep steadying breath squeezed his eyes shut and said: "I just – I just need to get back."

He looked around hopelessly for the bus to arrive, wishing Naruto would just walk away and never look back. It was absolutely impossible to tell what Naruto was thinking; those eyes were like cornflower marbles sunk into a basin of salt. He was tilting his head slightly to the side as if he were studying Sasuke, exposing a lot of his very alluring neck.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" Naruto asked, his voice was even and kind; Sasuke looked up startled.

"You don't…" he began again looking desperately around for the bus but nothing magically materialised out of thin air.

"Look," Naruto said evenly, "it's my fault you got so drunk with that stupid game. Let me take you back."

Sasuke almost recoiled, half of his head screaming do it, whilst the other was lurching around in panic.

"You didn't make me drink anything." He said, his voice more terse than he meant it to be, he did not know why his first reaction was to refuse. Bubbles of panic rising and coiling inside of him like a snake.

He was surprised by the expression on Naruto's face, a smile again. Why was he smiling?

"It'll be faster, Sasuke and it's no bother."

Sasuke opened his mouth to object but could not find a good reason to do so, he ran his hands anxiously through his hair again, unsure of what to do or say but was saved a reply as Naruto put his hand gently on his shoulder and asked, "Could we go back to the flat? Er, I'm not wearing any shoes."

"Oh - shit!"

Naruto was indeed shoeless Sasuke realized, the kneejerk reaction causing him to glance down at Naruto's naked feet, poking out from beneath denim jeans. He had run after him before stopping to…

Sasuke tried to move his features back into their customary impassive expression and attempted to squash the myriad of emotions that were swirling through his brain into a quantum black box. One of his hands was still tugging at the end of his scarf, the other clenched rigidly at his side.

Some expression flashed through Naruto's face as he looked at Sasuke's hand, but as suddenly as it had arrived it vanished. Naruto ran his tongue across his teeth, his mouth still drawn in a smile and pointed back to his flat; they started to walk and silence stretched a little between them.

Sasuke stole a glance at him from beneath his dark feathery lashes; there was a confidence in Naruto's stride even in his bare feet that Sasuke found maddeningly attractive. He was just so confident, as if he didn't care what other people thought about him, all that golden hair falling about his head, not the ordered hairstyle that Sasuke always felt he had to conform to. That smart and out of your league look that that he applied to himself everyday like armour, because without it he felt vulnerable.

Naruto was very natural, everything about him suggested that that was just how he was, everything on the surface and you could either take it or leave it.

It was a confidence that Sasuke lacked, the ability to just be, he was always hiding something, pulling back so no one could see what was underneath.

Nothing to criticize, nothing that allowed people to get too close. A permanent barrier between himself and the rest of the world, they had no right to see him, they had no right to judge, and they had no right to know.

But Naruto…. it was like Naruto simply didn't care what others thought and Sasuke was unsure of whether it made him feel uneasy or contemptuous.

They walked back over the threshold of the flat, Naruto quietly opening the door so not to disturb anyone else who might be sleeping at this early of an hour. Sasuke could vaguely hear someone snoring loudly upstairs as Naruto bent down to the shoe rack. Sasuke supposed he was going to reach for the Vans he had been wearing last night but instead he produced a pair of leather boots and pulled them quickly onto his feet; then ambling into the living room came back with a very well-worn leather jacket.

He stopped suddenly, looking at Sasuke evaluatingly before running upstairs. Sasuke frowned, hearing the sound of a cupboard opening and then Naruto descended, an orange motorcycle helmet clutched under his arms.

"Here you take this," he said pushing to object into Sasuke's arms who looked at him perplexed. "I think I left my spare with my Godfather last time I saw him."

"I ...what?" Sasuke began, looking down at what appeared to be a much-loved piece of safety equipment decked out in bright garish hues.

When Naruto meant drop off – surely, he had meant a car?

They headed out the front door together, Sasuke still looking at the helmet perplexed as he tucked it under one arm. Naruto closed the front door quietly and turned to give Sasuke a warm grin.

"I like early morning rides," he confessed somewhat conspiratorially as the headed down the road together, "you can actually ride; there's less traffic."

There was a sinking feeling in Sasuke stomach as he said this, a little irrational part of him wondered if it was too late to flag down a bus.

The stopped in front of a large chunky motorcycle with the words 'Ducati' printed on the red body casing.

"What is that?" Sasuke asked, eyeing it suspiciously as Naruto bent down to unchain it, the blond didn't say anything for a moment as he unclasped the heavy-duty chain that was holding the vehicle in place.

"It's a bit old and a hand-me-down," he said in a voice which clearly indicated this piece of clunky machinery was very dear to him. "But it's fun. Can you give me your postcode?"

Sasuke without thinking obliged, giving the motorcycle a wary side eye as he did so. Was he supposed to sit on this thing? Was this some sort of elaborate joke?

"Alright so," Naruto said, picking the helmet out of Sasuke's hands and placing it on the dark man's head. Sasuke had the sensation of his face being squished between foam as he looked out of the open visor.

"I won't be able to hear you unless we are stationary, if there's a problem hit me on the back. Hold onto me if you want, this shouldn't take long." Naruto flicked the visor closed with a lupine like grin and gave Sasuke two thumbs up.

Sasuke blinked as Naruto sat on the motorcycle and started the engine. He could feel the base of his foot grinding against the pavement as he watched Naruto walk it out of the bay and turn it around. He jerked his head indicating for Sasuke to sit behind him with one of his alluring smiles.

Sasuke against his rationality and better judgment complied, unsure of what to do with his hands he gripped either side of Naruto's leather jacket, his knees squeezing the bike as it thrummed underneath them.

"Ready?" Naruto shouted over the engine, he was clearly enjoying himself Sasuke thought ruefully. Scowling through the helmet visor, he reluctantly nodded and Naruto turned his attention to the road his blue eyes dancing in the early morning light.

Naruto felt himself grin, thrumming the engine beneath him as the motorbike rolled forwards, the bike moved smoothly out onto the road. Behind him Sasuke made a muffled noise from behind the helmet, his hands moving up to very firmly clutch onto to Naruto's leather clad sides.

The early start meant the streets were unusually empty as Naruto kicked the motorbike into gear, leaning slightly to the side as they turned a corner his stomach doing the usual acrobatics as he did so. Behind him he could feel Sasuke shift his weight as Naruto leant into the turn, that rigidness that Sasuke seemed to radiate loosening slightly as he had to balance his body with the motion of the bike.

Why had he offered to give Sasuke a lift? The look of panic on the dark-haired man's face had moved something in Naruto and the not so coherent sentences had compounded it further. Sasuke was after all almost a perfect stranger to Naruto… a stranger he had let sleep in his bed – a stranger he had felt compelled to let sleep in his bed. His odd vulnerability whilst drunk mixing with his unusually contained and somewhat defensive attitude intrigued Naruto. Perhaps 'Mr Perfect' was underneath everything, somewhat human. What he had seen of Sasuke he liked, beneath the façade was a competitive streak and sense of daring that he had immediately taken to. And Sasuke for all of his rigidity had trusted him enough to let him walk him back to the flat completely inebriated and had almost instantly fallen asleep under his covers.

Naruto stopped by a red light, he inclined his head a little and said: "You doing alright back there?"

Sasuke made a noise which Naruto took to mean he was alive.

"You might want to hold on." He said above the noise of the bike engine and he felt the tips of Sasuke's fingers dig into his sides very hard.

The light changed and Naruto pulled away kicking the bike into a higher gear, the motorcycle surged forward, eating up the tarmac as they hit the A road, all cobwebs being blown from Naruto's head as the cold air rushed over him, stinging his nose and mouth as their momentum increased.

The aggressive reverberation of the engine was all around them as they sped down the road seeming to electrify the particles in the blond's blood stream. Naruto was careful to keep the ride smooth so not to spook his somewhat rattled passenger, despite his inclination to let the bike kick underneath him. It had been a few weeks since he had gone out for a ride and he was enjoying himself. His mind recounting the last time Jiraya had taken him out for a spin over the summer.

He slowed down as they approached a more suburban area and he felt Sasuke slide forward on his head and bump into his back. As they neared Sasuke's address they slowed down, Naruto finding himself almost annoyed that they had made such good time.

They stopped in front of a large Georgian semi-detached house with a thick evergreen hedge out front. Naruto sat back on the bike and looked up at the attractive architecture appreciatively. Behind him he felt Sasuke hastily dismount; pulling the helmet from his head and handing it to Naruto his expression pale and the sides of his head somewhat sweaty.

Sasuke stumbled as he hit the pavement, his phone clattering from his back pocket and falling to the ground. He did not seem to notice as he turned back to Naruto with a stammered 'thanks' and hurriedly made his way through the garden gate.

The blond hesitated for a moment, shutting down the bike engine and moving to park it. He waited for a few moments for Sasuke to come back for his phone but the dark-haired man did not re-emerge. He dismounted; orange helmet under his arm as he gently picked the mobile up.

He had an inward battle in his head for a second or two before deciding to go after him, pushing the iron gate open and proceeding down a winding path towards the house. There was a burble of conversation ahead of him as Naruto rounded the corner and saw Sasuke standing before a much older man with thick dark hair streaked with grey. There was a striking family resemblance between the two of them; but it was the expression on Sasuke's face that made him pause. As if someone had struck him.

"You are late," the older man was saying, Sasuke was almost wincing as if he was being manhandled. "You know I cannot abide lateness, Sasuke."

Sasuke did not say anything in return, his eyes were screwed up as if he was expecting a physical blow to land at any moment. Naruto felt his heart climb angrily into his mouth as he took in his expression.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Again, the Uchiha had no response but his breathing was rapid as if he expected the conversation to become violent.

"It's my fault he's late." Nartuo interjected, squaring up his shoulders and jutting out his chin.

The older man turned around; his expression surprised and then condescending as he looked the blond up and down.

"And who the fuck are you, his boyfriend?" He snapped, glaring at Naruto, his lips twisted into an unpleasant line. Sasuke was looking at the both of them as if he could not fathom how this had all happened.

Whether or not this comment was supposed to be derogatory Naruto did not care, he narrowed his blue eyes and set his stance as if preparing for a fight.

"So what if I am?" He snapped, ignoring the way Sasuke was looking at him, silver eyes wide. "Who the fuck are you?"