They were, uncharacteristically, unusually, mind-bogglingly, silent.

Naruto was very aware of it as they walked side by side to the coffee cart. Yet somehow, he couldn't think of what to say. No, the real issue was, he didn't trust what might come out of his mouth should he open it. So instead, he tried to review the facts.

Fact number one: Naruto Uzumuaki and Sasuke Uchiha were friends.

This was true, even if Sasuke texted him Fine after 37 minutes and then essentially told him to be realistic under the guise of a class discussion.

Fact number two: They'd kissed.

Yup, that was also a fact. Undeniable. No questions asked. It happened. He was there.

Fact number three: Sasuke didn't want anything more than friendship and if for some reason, and the reason being that Naruto was a fool, they become friends who hook up, Naruto was going to fall irrecoverably in love with him, and then Sasuke would cut him out of his life because, see above, he didn't want anything more than friendship, and then Naruto would not see him again unless he ran into him into a party thrown by some random person in a few years where Sasuke would have his arms around some other hotter smarter more artistic better dressed and probably taller man than Naruto, and Naruto wouldn't even know who this man was, or if Sasuke was dating him, or anything about Sasuke's life at all.

"You look like you're going to be ill." Sasuke observed. "I'm scared to ask what you're thinking."

"Shut up." Naruto snapped "You've ruined my life."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow "Can you elaborate?"

"No." Naruto said, petulant, then asked immediately "What happened to you this weekend?"

Sasuke went quiet, and Naruto wondered if maybe he would not get any response at all.

"Itachi."

Oh fuck. Just like that Naruto knew, he just knew, that Sasuke had found about the little conversation he'd had with Itachi before he'd had a chance to tell him.

Naruto couldn't help but remember Sasuke's reaction that one time when he had so much as glanced at his phone. He'd considered that a breach of his privacy. Well, this time, Naruto had done a whole lot more than that. No wonder Sasuke had ghosted him the whole weekend. That was probably the least of it.

Things were not looking good for Naruto's romantic or frankly, survival prospects.

He stopped walking.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT." Naruto burst out, causing a few of the students walking by to give them weird looks.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke asked, stopping as well, and turning to face him.

Naruto was too busy low-key panicking to pay any mind to him. It was only low-key though, because he was cool like that.

"If you'd only picked up your phone when I called, I would have told you that I talked to him myself, and you wouldn't have heard it from him, but you didn't pick up, so I don't think it's fair of you to hold it against me, you know? Actually, scratch that, I don't think, I know. It's not fair Sasuke, it's not!"

Sasuke stared at him.

Naruto forced his mouth closed, but he couldn't regret anything he'd said. Maybe the word vomit had been a little extreme, but at least he didn't speak a single lie. Not that Mr cynical with trust issues Uchiha was going to believe him.

No, apparently, he was just going to continue staring at him like he was a lunatic.

"Do you have anything to say?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked away.

Was that it? Was he just going to walk away and not even bother responding?

Naruto had a flashback of chasing after Sasuke after their first tutorial. Would he give chase now too if Sasuke walked away? Probably. Chasing after Sasuke seemed to come to him like some long-buried instinct.

"Okay." Sasuke said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Okay?" Naruto repeated, confused.

"Okay" Sasuke said.

Naruto blinked "What?"

"You heard me." Sasuke said, then resumed walking.

"You're not mad at me?" Naruto asked, rushing to catch up.

Sasuke looked away.

"I knew it!" Naruto said, "You are mad at me!"

Sasuke flinched at the volume "Don't you think you sound a little too excited about that?"

"I'm not excited!" Naruto said, sounding decidedly excited even to his own ears, then he faltered "So you are then? Mad?"

Sasuke sighed "Look Naruto…"

"Wow." Naruto said, trying to cover his rising panic "Nothing good ever starts with that."

Sasuke didn't answer as they reached the coffee cart and joined the line together. After a moment, Naruto added "If you're breaking up with me, you don't need to buy me coffee first. In fact, I'd prefer you wouldn't."

The girl who was in front of them in line looked back and sent Naruto a sympathetic glance.

"Please. I insist." Sasuke said, as dry as Mars, so dry that no intelligent life could survive in his vicinity.

Naruto was distracted the girl. Her gaze landed on Sasuke as he spoke, and Naruto saw her give him a subtle once-over before shaking her head to herself. Naruto could practically hear her thoughts "Why are the hot ones always the assholes?"

Silence.

"Thanks" Sasuke said "I don't think you'd called me hot before."

"What? No that wasn't…" Naruto tried to explain, "I didn't say that, well, I did say it technically, but I was just saying what I thought she was thinking." He whispered, pointing his head at the girl.

Sasuke simply looked at him.

"Never mind." Naruto sighed.

He watched as Sasuke ordered for both of them, getting Naruto's order perfectly correct, of course, and tried to use the brief respite to get his thoughts in order. Not that he'd managed to do that in his entire life, but sure, the one minute and thirty seconds now would do the trick.

"Breaking up with me where we had our first date…" Naruto reminisced as they moved aside to wait for their coffee "Is that brutal or thoughtful?"

"Naruto." Sasuke sighed "You were mad at me too, remember?"

Naruto blinked.

Right. Because Sasuke had been kind of an asshole to him. How had Naruto forgotten that and hyper-fixated on whether Sasuke was mad at him instead?

He took a breath.

"Well, we kissed once and then you ghosted me for a weekend, which is, objectively, kind of an asshole move right?" Naruto asked the sky, and then continued before it, or god-forbid, Sasuke, had a chance to respond "But it was a friendly kiss and all that, so it's not like you owned me anything" Naruto said "No, but the problem was, okay, so first, I thought that you were freaking out and cutting me out of your life, which sucked, but then I thought you'd ended up in the hospital again, which was so much worse, because if you were planning on ghosting me, then why text me first only to disappear like that, you know? So, something terrible must have happened. Except you said you were fine. So maybe you were fine? But you totally would text fine from a hospital, so I don't know. I couldn't rule it out conclusively." Naruto took a breath "but now I know Itachi told you I talked to him, and you were mad at me for invading your privacy, so like, I'm glad you're not in the hospital, and I guess now if you want to stop being friends or whatever, it's not because we kissed, but because I talked to your brother, which honestly, might be worse? No, okay, it's not worse, but it's not that much better, but at least I'll know why, which is something. I guess."

Sasuke blinked. Opened his mouth, then closed it again. Meanwhile, Naruto let out a breath, feeling significantly better than before. He felt so light that he could go run through a field somewhere. He'd said what he needed to say. At this point, he didn't even care about Sauske's reaction. Not at all.

Except he was watching Sasuke like a hawk, for some reason.

And he needed that diligence because otherwise he would have missed the ghost of a smile that appeared on Sasuke's face for the briefest moment "You're just…" Sasuke said, looking for that moment, almost fond, before the smile was chased out by some other more complicated emotion.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, because otherwise he might continue riding on the high of his speech and Sasuke's smile and do something crazy, like confess his undying love for example.

Just an example. Nothing to see here folks.

Sauske shook his head "An idiot. You're an idiot." Sasuke said, except he sounded sad instead of teasing. "You should never waste that much time thinking about something I've done."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue, when the barista, sounding exasperated, called their order in a way that made it clear it was not the first time.

They both moved on instinct, Sasuke picking up both cups while Naruto apologized to the guy and they moved together to their usual standing tables around the quad. Sasuke sat the coffees carefully down, and they stood across the table, facing one another.

For a moment they both gazed down at the cups, and the sound of rushing students all around them reminded Naruto that they weren't in their own little private world. Funny how that worked, usually Naruto could only achieve this level of laser-focus through medication.

After a few moments of silence, Sasuke sighed "I'm not like you Naruto. I don't say exactly what I feel, I get angry over unreasonable things, or I get caught up with my own problems and don't respond to texts. It would be wiser for you not to get…you know it's better if you don't care so much about what I do."

Naruto heard the unspoken part of the sentence loud and clear. It would be better if you don't care so much about me.

It was a little too late for that. Wasn't it?

Naruto was tired of trying to be cool, no matter how brief and unsuccessful the attempts had been. Being cool didn't suit him. Might as well continue with the brutal honesty now that he was already onboard the train.

He took a steadying breath.

"If that's what it means to be wise, I'd rather be a fool instead." The sentence hung between them for a moment, two, three. Then Naruto laughed, trying to lighten his words "That would come easier to me anyway."

Sasuke stared. Naruto took some pride in the fact that he seemed unable to say anything at all in response. He laughed again, scratching behind his head "Besides, you just said you were being unreasonable, and I need to hold that over your head forever. So, it's not like I can keep my distance."

And that was the only way to not care about Sasuke, wasn't it? The implication laid unspoken between them. He knew Sasuke was too smart not to read between the lines.

When Sasuke still didn't say anything, Naruto, for a lack of anything else to do, took a few gulps of his rapidly cooling mocha.

As he set the cup down, he glimpsed the time on his phone, previous thoughts fleeing his head. "Shit Sasuke! Do you know what time it is? You need to run."

That finally seemed to snap Sasuke out of his reverie, except instead of jumping into action as Naruto expected, he took a sip of his own coffee "I have today off."

Naruto frowned "Since when do you have off days? Are they firing you?"

"No." Sasuke said, taking another sip.

No way, that cup had to be empty by now, and Sasuke was acting suspicious. Naruto sent him a questioning look.

"I decided to take today off, that's all." Sasuke said, then looked casually towards the lawn, as if suddenly fascinated by the minutiae of student life happening all around them. "In case the conversation needed more time."

It took Naruto's brain a moment to catch up. Sasuke had taken a day off, to talk to him.

"You didn't need to do that!" Naruto said, fighting the rogue smile trying to make an appearance on his face "Don't you like, need the money?" He immediately recalled this was exactly the kind of private information that he only knew curtesy of the conversation with Itachi, and tried to backpedal "Um I mean…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes "Don't even bother." He sighed "Besides, that might not be as much of a concern anymore."

Naruto smiled. He wanted to ask, of course, but he didn't need to. He already knew what mattered. The conversation had gone well, or at least well enough that Sasuke would not have to work himself to exhaustion anymore. That was enough for him. The rest, Sasuke could tell him in his own time, if he wanted to.

Sasuke looked over at him, gazing briefly at his smile, and then back up so their eyes met. Something seemed to pass between them, and Naruto thought that Sasuke knew exactly what he was thinking, and Naruto knew suddenly, that they were going to be okay.

"So, this isn't a break-up." Naruto said, when he couldn't take it anymore.

Sasuke sighed, finally breaking eye contact "Why are you like this?"

"Because you love it." Naruto said, and moving a little around the small table, elbowed him in the side. He didn't bother moving all the way back, and they stood beside each other, both looking out at the lawn for a bit.

"I was mad." Sasuke said "When Itachi first told me, I was furious, even though he told me how it all came to be, and it sounded like he accosted you. I'm sorry, about him. He had no right."

Naruto shrugged it off "I don't care."

"I know" Sasuke said, "Do you ever care about something that impacts only yourself?"

Sasuke's gaze was a little too direct, and out of a lack of anything else to do, Naruto laughed "What are you talking about? I'm no saint."

"I should hope not." Sasuke muttered.

"Right." Naruto said without thinking "Can't go around having all those indecent thoughts about a saint."

"Indeed" Sasuke said, his voice suddenly quieter than before.

Naruto could feel himself going hot from his ears all the way down to his chest. He must have gone red, because Sasuke's gaze seemed to follow the path of the heat from his face to his neckline.

"Stop." Naruto said, taken aback by the seriousness with which the word came out.

Sasuke's eyes snapped to his.

"I can't…" Naruto said, paused, tried again "I don't think…I'm not cool Sasuke."

Sasuke raised an eye "Your music taste isn't that bad."

"Not that asshole." Naruto huffed "and I have great taste. I like how you sound, don't I?"

Sasuke smirked "Can't confuse liking the musician with liking the music."

Naruto snorted, he supposed he did have all the makings of a groupie, but no need to hand Sasuke jokes he hadn't thought of yet.

Instead, he tried to be serious, for once. It had become abundantly clear to him that he had to. Sasuke might think he was selfless as a saint, but he did have some self-protective instincts. He was as surprised to discover them as anyone.

"I mean, I'm not a cool person like you are. I'm not nonchalant. I care. You even said it yourself."

"I know that Naruto." Sasuke said matching his seriousness as effortlessly as he did his jokes. Naruto felt a pang in his chest at that, he'd always said that's what he wanted, someone who could laugh with him and be serious with him in equal measures. He supposed he should have specified that he also wanted someone who wanted him back. The universe had a dark sense of humor after all.

"I know I started this whole" Naruto pointed a hand between them "you know flirting a little thing."

"A little?" Sasuke asked, as dry as ever, with that damned distracting smirk.

Naruto chose to ignore it, he had to get it out while he had the courage "but I'm too affected by things, I wish I wasn't sometimes, you know? That I could be unaffected and aloof like you can be, but I am, and the truth is, Sasuke." Naruto let out a breath "You're too easy to fall for."

Sasuke's eyes went a little wide at that, but he didn't say anything else, seeming to sense Naruto had more to say.

"So, I'm not going to not care about you, like you said, and I don't want to keep my distance, but I think, maybe we should stop the…" he pointed between them again "for my sake. I shouldn't have started it to begin with, I just didn't expect…"

You. You fucking bastard. How could I have expected you.

"…to be here." Naruto finished.

The truth was Sasuke had had no idea what he wanted to tell Naruto when he saw him. After he'd ushered Itachi out of the house on Sunday, he had been seething with rage. His anger at Itachi melding with whatever he felt about Naruto's role in the discussion, until he had trouble telling them apart. He'd almost called Naruto then, ready to snarl at him all the responses that came so easily to him.

You had no right.

I'm not something for you to fix up.

Mind your own business, for once.

Except his phone was still in the kitchen, and right as he'd gone to pick it up, he happened to glimpse a bottle of apple juice sitting on the corner counter.

I happen to like your brain. His brain, uninvited conjured an image of Naruto, in a different kitchen, his blue eyes looking at him expectantly over a spread of groceries. Naruto handing him a painkiller and a glass of apple juice. It's not a big deal.

Sasuke picked up the phone, but he couldn't quite bring himself to press dial.

Well, this was new.

People called Sasuke talented all the time, in music and in photography, in school and in the dojo, but Sasuke knew his real talent was in cutting people out of his life once they got a little too close for comfort. That had always come easy to him.

Except, now, instead of calling Naruto and pushing him away once and for all, he found himself texting him.

Can't talk now.

He was ready to shove the phone back in his pocket, but the response was immediate. Of course, it was.

Is everything okay?

Sasuke stared at the words. Something unclenching in his throat.

He cares about you Sasuke. Itachi had said. If you can trust anything I say, trust that.

Fine. Sasuke sent back eventually, any desire to call and shout at the other man having already disappeared, leaving him cold, wrung out, and a little afraid.

By Monday, Sasuke had managed to organize his disparate thoughts on Naruto in two neat categories. One category was, broadly, the Cut-off-all-contact category, and it covered a wide range of thoughts. It included the remnants of his anger over Naruto talking with Itachi, and his anger at his own anger because he thought he was being unreasonable, which then turned into him thinking that they weren't even dating, and this was already so much trouble. He was most at peace on his own. Better cut it off.

Other thoughts under this category included helpful reminders like the fact that Sasuke had no experience in relationships, and very little experience caring about anyone but himself. Meanwhile, Naruto cared for everyone but himself. They would be a disaster, and Sasuke had to cut it off now, if not for the sake of his own pride, then at least for the sake of Naruto's well-being. Better end it when they at least didn't hate each other. A traitorous part of Sasuke helpfully added that he would not be able take being hated by Naruto.

Which was just stupid. He'd gone through much worse things in life.

The second category of thoughts was harder to label, as they were not so much thoughts as simply a collection random images of Naruto popping into his mind throughout the day. Naruto unnecessarily helping him off the hospital bed when he was injured. Naruto sleeping peacefully through a blasting alarm. Naruto shouting Happy Weekend before he ran down the stairs of his studio.

There were no accompanying words in this category. Sasuke's brain came up with no arguments for trying something more with Naruto; all of his arguments were for why he shouldn't give them a chance.

And still, by the time he was calling in sick for work on Tuesday, he still had not decided what he wanted to tell Naruto the next day. It seemed like the images of him alone were enough to hold up the silent part of the debate: Cut him off versus Naruto getting pissed off over losing to him in video games. Naruto's eyes widening as he tucked the hair behind his ear. Naruto's heart rate speeding up under his palm before he leaned in for a kiss.

Tuesday rolled around and Sasuke still did not know what he planned to do (just like Kakashi claimed he had not known of Itachi's deceptions, but that was an issue for another day).

As soon as his eyes landed on Naruto's, who was already staring at him with wide, searching eyes, his brain went into overdrive.

It's a terrible idea. You'll fail, and he'll hate you. There will be nothing but pain and inconvenience if you choose this.

The other part of his brain was silent. There was no need for it to conjure images. Naruto was right there, as persuasive as any argument that existed.

Sasuke oscillated, even as they walked together and fell into the familiar rhythm of conversation.

Naruto expected his anger. He even kept mentioning a break-up, joking, but also not. How well he knew Sasuke, terrified him.

I should end it. Sasuke thought, even as he watched the blush travel across Naruto's face.

"Stop" Naruto said.

"You're too easy to fall for." He said,

and then Naruto ended it.

Sasuke realized then that of course, they could just be friends. It didn't have to be cut off all ties, or fall desperately in love.

Funny how Sasuke had never really considered it.

Then again, was it funny? Or was Naruto just fooling himself?

To Sasuke, it felt like somehow, they had gone past a breaking point. He tried to imagine what just being friends with Naruto would look like and he came up blank.

Which was funny, because when he thought about, maybe, trying to date Naruto, it looked a lot like them being friends. He could see it so clearly.

They would still argue in the tutorial, and outside of it, but Naruto would not be able stop himself from smiling at a particularly dry comment from Sasuke and Sasuke would not be able to stop himself from feeling fond over Naruto's determination to see the bright side, so the argument would fizzle out into snark and unwilling laughter.

They would get competitive over video games and when playing pool and darts, in the gym and the dojo, and whoever lost would pout and be petty but also probably a little more in love than before. Naruto would cajole Sasuke into singing for him, and stare at him with admiring eyes when he did, and Sasuke would stand to the side in parties and look at Naruto's ease with people with the same gaze. They would order in too much pizza, and spent too much time around each other's insane roommates, and fall sleep in each other's too-small beds.

Images flashed in his mind one after another, and then, finally, the silent part of his brain chimed in with a single cocky thought. Argue against that, why don't you?

And all the carefully constructed arguments Sasuke's brain had come up with before seemed to fall apart.

Naruto tried to stop the feeling of loss from showing on his face. He'd done the right thing. Would he miss the easy flirtations and unexpected intimacy? Of course, but at least like this, maybe they could stay friends.

Sasuke was quiet, seeming to think about his words for a few moments. Naruto waited.

"You say I'm easy to fall for." Sasuke said suddenly, "Let's say that's true, but I wouldn't be easy to date, you realize?"

Naruto rolled his eyes "As if that's ever been on the table."

Sasuke frowned "So you wouldn't…?"

"Me?!" Naruto said, "You've been perfectly clear from the beginning that you don't want a relationship."

"That's true." Sasuke said, and if Naruto had been holding on to any hope somewhere inside that he would get his rom-com ending after all, it was extinguished.

"I've never been in a relationship, not even close, never even considered it" Sasuke said, "You know I don't believe in love."

Wow, this was just turning cruel now.

"Wonderful." Naruto said, "We've come full circle to our very first conversation."

"That we have." Sasuke said, and then unexpectedly, he smiled.

Naruto almost groaned. Because that wasn't flirting, and yet here Naruto was, wanting desperately to take back everything he'd just said and beg Sasuke to give them a chance instead; Exactly the kinds of thoughts he was trying to avoid by putting a stop to the banter.

But it's not like he could forbid Sasuke from smiling.

He wouldn't even if he could. He liked it too much.

And there lied his problem.

He liked everything about Sasuke too much, and he certainly couldn't forbid Sasuke from being Sasuke.

Was there really any saving him? How had this happened? Why hadn't he been more careful from the beginning?

Because he thought he was straight, right.

"I'm not…the image you have of me in your mind." Sasuke said, breaking Naruto out of his spiral.

"We've been here before." Naruto said, "You think it's inaccurate. That I put you up on a pedestal. I disagree."

"Not that." Sasuke looked at him, his face surprisingly open "I'm not, unaffected, the way you seem to think of me."

Naruto carefully stopped himself from thinking anything at all. Forced himself to wait for the rest.

"I liked kissing you." Sasuke said, not breaking eye contact for a second "I like flirting with you." Sasuke's eyes softened just a little "I like being around you Naruto. More than I could have expected."

Naruto felt all the blood rush to his head, he just stood there, mouth gaping open, waiting for the follow-up joke. Because Naruto was going to murder Sasuke if he said all of that and then followed it up with a but.

Except Sasuke looked dead serious.

"What… what does that mean?"

Sasuke finally broke his gaze to look slightly over his shoulder. "I might be terrible at this, and I don't like being bad at things."

"What is this?" Naruto asked.

"If we were to try dating." Sasuke clarified.

He seemed like he wanted to say more, but Naruto's grin was already taking over his face in a flood of joy. His body understood what was happening before his brain caught up.

"You'd want to?" Naruto asked, because he was brave, but even he wasn't brave enough to let the hope get away from him just yet, not until Sasuke spelled it out.

Sasuke paused "I would. I'm selfish Naruto, so I want to try."

"Dating me would be selfish?" Naruto laughed. There was too much joy in him to contain. He wasn't sure when he'd be able to stop grinning.

"Incredibly so." Sasuke said, and then pointing accusingly at Naruto's face, he added in a slightly annoyed voice "Can you put that away? I can't look at you directly without risking blindness."

Naruto's smile only widened "Better get used to it bastard"

"On second thought…" Sasuke said, but Naruto knew him too well to mistake the glint in his eyes.

Sasuke looked happy.

"TOO LATE" Naruto yelled, and wrapped him in a hug so tight, he almost expected to hear the other man groan. Except Sasuke was all muscle in his arms, with a strength to match his own, and as he wrapped his own arms around Naruto, he only let out a relieved sigh.

It was an hour later, Naruto having skipped the rest of his classes without a second thought, and both of them lying sprawled on the lawn, when in between one kiss and the next, he thought to ask Sasuke "How come you don't taste bitter? I hate Americanos"

"You didn't notice?" Sasuke smirked, turning his long-emptied coffee cup to face Naruto where there was a very carefully scrawled 'Mocha'

Naruto was speechless for a moment before looking back at Sasuke's self-satisfied face.

"You planned that far ahead?"

"Actually." Sasuke said, tugging on Naruto's shirt slightly, as if to ease any sting his words might have "I was undecided on what to tell you until the moment when I said it."

Naruto raised both eyebrows and pointed to the damning word on his cup "How do you explain this then?"

Sasuke looked at it as well.

"A change in my palate?"

Naruto snorted "You sure you want to die on that hill buddy? You know how sweet I can make things for you from now on?"

Sasuke smiled, but Naruto, oblivious to what he'd said, started listing things on his fingers "Pancakes for breakfast, drenched in maple syrup, with Nutella on the side, waffles for lunch…"

"Fine" Sasuke let go of his shirt and held up his hands in mock surrender.

"It was all a part of your masterplan." Naruto pointed again to the mocha, already craving the taste of it on Sasuke's lips again, and he grinned "From the very first tutorial, you set out to seduce innocent little me. I never even stood a chance."

Sasuke reached over and carefully tucked Naruto's hair behind his ear "I warned you I would join the dark side in a blink."

Naruto grabbed his hand. He examined it carefully for a moment, as if it was the most fascinating thing he'd seen, then just as carefully he laced his fingers through Sasuke's, pretending the simple act didn't send a thrill through him.

Except when he looked back up at Sasuke, the bastard looked even more self-satisfied than before. He knew. How was Naruto ever going to hide anything from him?

"That's fine." Naruto said, attempting to distract him "I told you I would always bring you back." Naruto grinned, then in his most innocent voice, he added "Because you're my friend"

Sasuke frowned, and Naruto tried to hold in his laughter. Served the bastard right for everything he'd put him through.

"Friend, is it?" Sasuke said, then he leaned forward and took a hold of Naruto's chin with his free hand, grasping Naruto's fingers in the other "Well then, come over here, and I'll show you a few exclusive benefits of being my closest fri…"

Naruto was already kissing him before he could say the 'end'.