Naruto called for the third time, and still no answer.
But they'd just been texting? Was Sasuke so scared of phone calls? That couldn't be right. Sasuke wasn't scared of anything.
Well other than commitment.
Hahaha, Naruto thought to himself. Isn't it great that I can joke about it now? It's not like that made me feel like throwing up. Not at all.
It was an hour later when he finally got a text from Sasuke.
Can't talk now.
Naruto stared at it, as if the words might reveal something else if he looked hard enough.
No problem.
He sent back, and then told himself, as strictly as he could, to be cool. Stop it Naruto. Chill out. Don't…
Is everything okay?
His fingers seemed to have a mind of their own. Whatever, sue him. Besides, there was a bad feeling in his stomach, and he always trusted his stomach. Other than when it wanted to put pizza in a blender at 4 am and drink it just because.
In the absence of a message from Sasuke, he watched the minutes pass by on his phone. Five minutes, ten, fifteen.
It was 37 minutes late when his phone buzzed.
Fine.
Fine?
Fine?
What the fuck Sasuke. .fuck.
Naruto threw his phone across the room (lightly, on the carpet, he wasn't made of money).
What the hell had just happened? One moment Naruto had high on the feeling of having Sasuke be the one to text him first, and they had been joking about drugs as usual, and the next minute this? Sasuke had never acted like this before.
Naruto's anger half melted into concern. Was Sasuke actually fine?
Well, there was no way for Naruto to know, was there? It's not like he could get up and drive to Sasuke's house. That would be crazy. He had some self-respect, please, and also boundaries and all of that.
He bounced off the bed and picking his phone on the way, decided to go and find one of his roommates to stick to. That would not only distract him, maybe, but it would also have the benefit of keeping him away from his car keys.
Just in case.
Sasuke didn't send him anything else for the rest of Sunday.
On Monday, Naruto ghost-walked to his morning shift in the gym and used every bit of his self-restraint not to walk to the other side of campus during his break, where he happened to know Sasuke's Monday class was located.
He really wished Ino was there to share the shift with him. Then again, was he ready to put all of this whole pathetic mess out there for the world to see?
Yes, yes, he was. If only it would distract him from vacillating between the constant anger and worry.
Sasuke was fine. He reassured himself. He was just an asshole, apparently.
But what if he wasn't fine? What if something was wrong?
The only thing that kept Naruto going was the knowledge that the next day was Tuesday. He'd already decided, if Sasuke wasn't there in their tutorial tomorrow, Naruto would be driving to his house, self-respect and boundaries be damned.
The next morning. Naruto was the first person in the class. Arriving a full fifteen minutes before the first class of the day and watching students tickle in in various stages of sleepiness was an experience he might have enjoyed under other circumstances. But with every person who came in who wasn't Sasuke, his body went tenser and tenser, until he was squeezing his phone in his hand hard enough to warp the plastic case.
Sakura came in and seeming to sense his mood, sat down next to him as usual. but didn't make conversation. Bless her.
Two more students came in.
That was it. Naruto looked over the class. Everyone was there but Sasuke.
It was 9:05.
Naruto debated leaving before Kakashi came. He could be on Sasuke's door in 10 minutes. It was stupid, of course. He should just wait it and go after the class. But…
Just as he was reaching for his backpack, unsure if he was going to pick it up to leave or just hold it in his lap if for emotional support, Kakashi and Sasuke walked in together.
Naruto let out a breath loud enough that he saw Sakura gave him a look in his peripheral vision, but Nauto was much too concerned with trying to read Kakashi's lips to mind.
Kakashi and Sasuke had definitely been in the middle of talking before they'd walked in. Naruto could only see Sasuke's back, but he seemed to be quietly continuing the conversation, not caring about the change in setting. However, Kakashi just shook his head and pointed his chin to Sasuke's usual seat until Sasuke turned to it. Finally, his gaze met Naruto's.
Sasuke didn't look away from Naruto, but he also didn't smile. There was nothing that Naruto could read on his face. He looked pale. Well, paler than usual, dark circles standing out under his eyes, but other than that, he looked to be his usual self: Spiky hair, sharp jawline and cutting eyes.
How could you blame a man for sitting over there, all torn up and bleeding?
Naruto took his tenth deep breath and tried to concentrate on the class. Sasuke was clearly in no danger sitting right there, and it's not like he would run away after the tutorial. Naruto would chase him down even if he did. So regardless, they'd be talking soon. There was no need for Naruto to be so on edge.
Listen, he admonished himself, this isn't a rom-com, you're going to have a paper to write, and a midsem to take. Your life doesn't revolve around a friend, no matter how good-looking. No matter that you kissed. Friends kiss all the time, apparently.
What was the question they were discussing?
He looked over at Sakura's notebook, where she'd neatly written the heading on top: What is art for?
Sending her a quiet thank you in his mind, Naruto attempted to follow the conversation.
The red-haired boy who often sat around Sasuke was talking "…an attempt to fill the void. Otherwise, it's just a lonely existence out there, and that would be hard to face."
"You don't agree?" Kakashi asked the blond boy next to him who was radiating enough disapproval to shrivel a whole kindergarten's worth of self-esteem.
"No, true art is meant to be explosive, to change minds, shift perspectives, nothing so gentle as filling a void of loneliness"
Naruto frowned, trying to follow their logic. He wasn't one for thinking in such abstract terms. When he thought about art, he simply thought of anything that moved him.
Uninvited, he recalled the studio in the attic, music notes floating through the air, and the light framing a beautiful face. Lost in the memory, Naruto absently heard Kakashi asking someone else the same question.
Sasuke's voice snapped him out of his thoughts "Nothing"
"Nothing?" Kakashi repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Art isn't for anything." Sasuke said, detached as he ever was "It has no practical use."
"What do you mean?" It took Naruto a moment to register he'd been the one to ask.
He ignored Kakashi's deliberately loud sigh.
"I mean." Sasuke said, and if he was surprised by Naruto's interruption, he showed no sign of it "That you could make an argument that art is completely pointless, and we're just wasting our time."
"How could you say that?" Naruto could recognize, in a distant sort of way, that he was taking this too seriously again, but he still couldn't help himself.
"Easily." Sasuke said.
"You're telling me you don't feel anything?" Naruto said "For any work of art? You expect me to believe that?"
"No" Sasuke said, as unruffled as ever "But is feeling something of any practical use?"
Naruto spluttered, practically feeling steam come out of his ears, he forced his voice to stay calm "Why do you do it then? If it's all so meaningless to you?" Sasuke seemed about to say something, but Naruto didn't give him the chance "How could you not care Sasuke?"
What were they even arguing about? The way Naruto's heart was thumping in his chest didn't speak well for this being a simple tutorial discussion.
As if hearing something of this in his voice, Sasuke seemed to pause. Then, he slowly turned to face Naruto, locking eyes with him with the same unreadable expression he'd worn before.
"I didn't say I didn't care." He said after a moment.
"Didn't you?" Naruto asked, still fuming, but refusing to drop his gaze "It sure seemed that way to me"
"I just think we must be realistic" Sasuke said.
"Of course, you do." Naruto said, "What a fucking surprise."
"Naruto, Sasuke." Kakashi said, much calmer than one what might assume given the way the discussion had gone "How about you keep this lover's spat for after the class?"
Naruto felt his face heat up immediately. He murmured an apology and looked down before he could even glimpse Sasuke's reaction.
Great job keeping your cool, Naruto, great job.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sakura asked after the class was finished.
"Yeah, why?" Naruto said as he shoved his laptop and empty notebook into his backpack.
"Well," Sakura gave a pointed look to his abused belongings.
Naruto sighed, but before he could come up with something to say, another voice cut in.
"Sorry to interrupt. Sakura, do you mind if I grab Naruto?"
Naruto blinked and turned back to check, as if he couldn't recognize Sasuke's voice in his sleep.
Sakura glanced between the two of them for a moment, and that's all it took for realization to come into her eyes. Naruto practically saw it happen in real time and could do nothing but look at his hands and sigh. Was he so obvious? Might as well walk around with a giant 'Uchiha Sasuke fan club' sign on his back for everyone to see.
"Actually, I do mind." Sakura said, making Naruto's head snap back up to see her giving Sasuke a challenging look, though the smile on her face undercut the message a little "What if I don't want you to grab him? He is great company, you know."
Naruto fought valiantly to stop himself from looking over at Sasuke to see his reaction to that, and of course, he failed. As a compromise with himself, he settled for a secret side-ways glance. And for what? Sasuke looked as neutral as ever, gazing straight at Sakura. Then unexpectedly, his eyes flitted over to Naruto's, catching him looking back.
Well, fuck, there went the secret. Naruto hurriedly looked down at his bag at the same moment Sasuke looked back to Sakura.
"Please." He told the girl dryly.
Sakura's face split into a grin "Of course Sasuke, anything you want."
Naruto blinked and threw her a wounded look "That's all it took? Really?"
"Can you blame me?" Sakura stage whispered to him "No, you can't. You already told me once that no-one could blame me for…"
Naruto cleared his throat and cut in "Never mind that. I'll see you next week."
"You better." Sakura grinned at him, then added to Sasuke "People are bound to notice if he goes missing."
"Yes" Sasuke said in a surprisingly quiet voice "His presence is unmissable; I've come to realize"
Naruto, the fool that he was, almost smiled, before remembering that he was mad at Sasuke.
"Very loud, very disturbing." Sasuke added in his normal voice.
"Asshole!" Naruto protested.
"Oh, so you're talking to me now?" Sasuke said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I wasn't not talking to you." Naruto mumbled. "I'm not a child."
Sakura shook her head, and Naruto had a distinct feeling she was washing her hands off them.
"He's all yours Sasuke." She said, already picking up her bag and waving at both of them goodbye.
"Hope you have a good alibi" She called to Sasuke behind her back.
"I'm always prepared." Sasuke said, though she was already gone.
"Boy Scout much?" Naruto muttered to him, as the two of them stood there facing one another. Naruto's emotions which had stayed high since their little discussion crested over and settled down for no reason at all, not taking into account his desire to hold on to the anger at all.
"Where did you think I realized I was gay?" Sasuke said suddenly.
"What?" Naruto blinked, "You're not serious. Are you? You're not. Are you?"
"Coffee?" Sasuke asked, and for some reason, Naruto's heart decided to give a lurch in response.
I missed you.
I kept thinking about kissing you the entire weekend.
Fuck you. You prick. You've ruined my life.
"Yeah" Naruto said softly "Yeah, let's get coffee."