{sasuke}

He'd wanted to hash out everything then and there but Naruto had seemingly shut down. His gaze was glazed over and vacant, his expressions either lazy or blank. Naruto had stopped processing. Or he had started processing fifteen years of bitter thoughts about Sasuke and promptly gone into overdrive and burnt out.

Sasuke hoped it was the latter. Whichever it was Sasuke had had no clue how to go further other than ask awkward questions with obvious answers and make unnecessary comments.

"How many roommates do you have?"

"Just the one."

"Where is she?"

"Volunteering."

"Nice dog."

"Kurama is mostly friendly."

"Are you--"

"Sorry, I'm really tired. I'm just gonna go to bed. You can take Sakura's room if you'd like. She won't be home until noon." Offering him Sakura's room for the night.

Sasuke remembered his immediate relief at the fact that the two had separate bedrooms. He hadn't realised how much the question of their relationship had been niggling at him. Knowing that Naruto was not in any kind of romantic relationship with the pink-haired woman had put him to momentary ease.

Sasuke had refused to stay, though. For starters, he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing Naruto was in the very next room. He also still had plenty of work to do. And lastly, and most importantly, Itachi would be a nuisance if he found out what Sasuke had been up to.

Naruto's unusually subdued and unresponsive behaviour had him concerned but he figured, more so hoped, all the man needed was some space and time to think.Though, he knew they would still have to sit down and talk things out. It was clear to him that Naruto hadn't ever forgotten him, simply avoided him because he thought...

Goddamnit, he thought I'd used him.

Sasuke stopped writing his notes and grabbed at his head. Letting his forehead touch the desk.

It hadn't even been a conscious decision on his part to hug Naruto and hold onto him for hours after apologising. It hadn't even been a complete thought. It had just transpired between them on its own. An instinctual reaction.

Sasuke felt heat burn under the skin of his face. But the blond man had let him. And if there was one thing he could say about last night that wasn't pointing towards something worrying then it was that the boy seemed to welcome his touch. And that was enough to hold on to, for now.

When he's set out to pursue Naruto as a romantic interest it hadn't occurred to him that he'd have to fight fifteen years of misconceptions birthed in the mind of a five-year-old. Ideas that had probably only gotten stronger and more mangled with time.

Sasuke couldn't believe that he'd been sitting around, thinking of the blond as a symbol of hope, hoping to have finally found someone that didn't know what he'd done and hence would allow him the opportunity to get close. Sasuke had been pretty pleased to find that the blond didn't know who he was. He had hoped to make a better impression on the man once he got the chance. Except that his chance at a first impression had come and gone fifteen years ago and the outcome was that Naruto was very unimpressed.

Damnit! I fucked up before I had anything to fuck up. He smacked his head against the desk a few times, hoping to rid himself of the turmoil he was entirely unfamiliar with. I fucked up school, family, friends. And now this one thread of hope that I fucked up before I even knew there was something to fuck up. The realisation sent him flying up from his seat. He left the study, a frown marring his features.

Day drinking is okay because it's a weekend, he decided. Pouring himself some coconut rum spraying it up with some sprite and sipping at it.

He had thought he'd found a blessing in Naruto. He was amusing, light, bright, lively. Everything Sasuke came to realise he needed in his life. The time he'd locked himself in the study for a week was spent less on studying and more on blond actors.

It was as though a locked door in his heart had suddenly sprung open at the realisation that what he wanted from the world existed. And was within reach. That the drink he had been thirsting for forever had been created and set in front of him in a bottomless cup.

He couldn't imagine where he could possibly go from the point they were at. If there was one thing he was afraid of it was that Naruto might start avoiding him rather than talk it out with him. He hoped fervently that that wouldn't happen.

The ringing of an old-fashioned bell incorporated into a security system rang through the empty house. Sasuke took towards the door slowly.

Blue eyes clear and alive met his own when the door opened.

"Hey..." Eyes dropped to the empty drink glass still in his hand, ice sitting at the bottom of it. "Drinking already?"

"Just about pour one. Join me?"

Naruto hesitated and Sasuke held his breath. Naruto was a creature of instinct, he wouldn't hesitate had almost anyone else asked. He'd have a clear yes or a no immediately. "Um, yeah, okay."

Still wrestling with the surprise appearance, Sasuke let him in and got to pouring a couple of drinks. Sasuke clinked their glasses softly after handing Naruto's drink to him.

"What are we celebrating?"

"I'll tell you later. First you. What brought you here?"

"You."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Me?"

"Last night."

Sasuke had assumed that Naruto wouldn't want to talk about it. He's expected some scooting around the topic. But clearly, that was not the case. Naruto was taking the lead in this encounter. "What about last night?"

"You came to my apartment. You broke in. Obviously not for money. What were you looking for?"

Sasuke looked away. They'd been so busy immersed in the past the last time they'd met... That they hadn't even dealt with the present reason for Sasuke to have broken into Naruto's apartment.

"The door was left op--"

"Bullshit."

Sasuke regarded Naruto carefully, the younger man wasn't thrown off by Sasuke's answer, neither was he hesitant anymore. He wasn't even a little unsure of the reason he was standing there.

Naruto's fists were clenched slightly.

Angry? No. He's tensed... Not for violence. More like... determination.

It looked to Sasuke that the blond was ready for an mission of sorts. He was expecting resistance. Sasuke was surprised yet again that Naruto could tell he'd go with trying to bullshit his way out of the situation. And Naruto had readied himself for it.

Again, where did his excellent perception come from? Was Naruto reading him? Or was he reacting on instinct?

"I wanted to know more about you," Sasuke admitted after taking another sip.

"I have a profile online." Naruto simply held his drink in his hand. Eyes following Sasuke's every move. Being the one receiving that kind of

"Not those things."

"Then what?"

Sasuke pursed his lips together and finished his drink.

"Oi, prince of darkness." Naruto snapped his fingers in front of Sasuke "I'm talking to you. Earth to-- Don't even think about coming up with a new lie while I watch you, you bastard!"

Sasuke frowned. "What are you, psychic?"

"What are you? Psycho?" Naruto mocked his tone with a silly face.

He could honestly listen to the blunt banter all day. Sasuke felt a rush at how well the blond was able to understand certain things by reading the slightest variations in Sasuke's expression.

The fact that he'd drawn a gun at him was also rather thrilling to Sasuke although in a different way. And to make things better he could still remember the feel of the man while they clung to each other for at least an hour. Despite having spent very little time with this man... Each minute with him made his blood race, his mind spin and he loved it.

Sasuke pushed down at the flutter. This man was too much. He made it impossible for Sasuke to think straight and stick to any kind of plan while dealing with him. It was all on instinct. A power play that required speed as well and Naruto was unafraid to take him on, even with something as simple as making eye contact from across the room or encountering each other in the men's room was a silent moment overflowing with unsaid things.

An idea popped in his mind like a Christmas cracker when pulled.

It wouldn't be crazy to think that Sasuke wasn't the only one affected by the tension between them. Hoping to test the idea Sasuke shifted from leaning on the bar to standing straight, legs apart in a more aggressive stance. Naruto immediately moved, tensing and moving his weight to the balls of his feet, reading the change in atmosphere fluently. Sasuke was starting to understand how truly sensitive Naruto was. Especially to him.

If Naruto was sensitive to him... that could surely be used in Sasuke's favour. Sasuke took a few slow steps towards Naruto. A small smile forcing it's way to his lips on it's on. Naruto's surprised eyes dropped to his lips.

"I want to know more intimate things about you. Like... Are you the little spoon or the big spoon?" Sasuke pushed away from the bar to the blond man. "Do you top or bottom? Do you like coffee or tea in the evenings? Would you prefer ice-skating or surfing? Boxers or briefs? Cats or dogs?" Each question brought him physically and mentally closer to his goal. His tone dropped, even though there was no reason to whisper, Sasuke wanted the words to convey the intensity of the extreme curiosity he held towards the blond man standing only inches away. "What did you dream of last night? Do you like to spend weekends in bed or outdoors? What do you see yourself dedicating your life to?"

~

{Naruto}

A distant alert siren had started going off in Naruto's head when Sasuke offered him a drink. He'd ignored it in favour of forging ahead and getting down to business.

But then Sasuke had taken up this ridiculous endeavour to tease him, by slowly backing him against a sofa and whispering simple get-to-know-your-date questions in a suggestive tone and so the siren had turned into a fire alarm.

First, he'd basically tongue-fucked his belly button the other night when they'd done body shots... and now this!

Not ready for the kind of information and admission he was staring in the mouth, Naruto simply gaped at the dark-haired creature of temptation in front of him. A colour slowly climbing his neck with a flush of some intense emotion.

"I am so very attracted to you, Na-ru-to," Sasuke said simply, raising a hand to tug slightly, playfully at his hair. The action made Naruto's stomach kick up a flippity-floppity fuss. "And I want to know more about you."

When Naruto didn't reply Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed.

"You must know how attractive you are... Naturally, I was attracted." Sasuke sighed. He making it sound like him being attracted to Naruto was a natural law of physics or chemistry. The subtext was screaming 'you were made in the specific way that would intrigue me so I can't help it' at Naruto and it was making his world spin faster.

"Will you say something already?"

"Um...Okay."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. That's it."

"Don't you have anything else to say?" Sasuke's eye seemed to spasm.

Naruto would have been amused at the reaction if the situation were anything other than an impromptu confession of being liked by this intense person who... admittedly wasn't the absolute heartless, kidnapping, criminal d-bag Naruto had assumed he was. He crossed his arms between them in a last line of defence. "Not to you, you fucking weirdo."

Sasuke looked only mildly troubled by Naruto's reaction. "I guess you've got a point."

"Hell yeah, I do." Naruto's voice sounded rough to his own ears. "You have an allergy to asking or something?"

"Asking would have blatantly suggested that I was interested."

"Well yeah, no shit. Because you are."

Sasuke sighed maybe realising there was no escaping Naruto's cut and dry method of dealing with issues. Clearly, Sasuke was used to playing the long game. Waiting things out. Having the last laugh.

Naruto felt a bit satisfied that he was forcing the highly neurotic man to go through the motions of his slash and burn method. They were the contrast of killing someone with poison while having an air-tight alibi and killing someone by shooting an arrow through their eye.

Naruto was all about confronting the real issue behind the mask.

"Yes, I am." Sasuke relented. "Now, let me take you out."

Naruto looked at him for a long time. "What makes you think I'll say yes?"

"Honestly?"

"Honest is always a good way to go..." Naruto prompted, his folded arms loosening.

"I'm not sure you will considering you think of me as the person who walked you into hell when you were five..." Sasuke's hand came up again and tugged at another blond lock. "I'm just hoping really hard you'll give me a chance."

Naruto's first sure thought was that Sasuke did not seem like he was doing this to toy with him. His second thought was waking up that morning wanting to know how Sasuke had made it out of the kidnappers he'd fallen in with when he was ten. And his third, as his eyes dropped to the slow smirk on those lips was an embarrassing fantasy of those hot lips and tongue on his skin for other reasons than a body shot.

Naruto's eyes dropped to his arms as he contemplated the rather surprisingly earnest request. Naruto couldn't deny his own attraction now that he wasn't looking at Sasuke with fuck-you-for-ruining-my-life goggles and realised the boy himself had no real control over the conditions of their first meeting.

If truth be told, he was starting to understand why Sasuke had implied that it felt natural for to be attracted to Naruto.

Now, Naruto had never turned his back on any opportunity to enjoy himself. He'd realised very young that life had the possibility to be shortened in a heartbeat. He'd rather live with regrets than what-ifs, or even worse yet, not live at all.

The same funda extended to his love or sex life.

He looked at the drink still in his hand and then slowly looked up at Sasuke who was so rigid it made Naruto feel bad for keeping him waiting for so long, the poor guy's back and shoulders must be... Naruto shrugged it off. After what he did to me a sore back is nothing.

Naruto threw back the drink in his hand then conceded. "Fine."

He pushed a finger to Sasuke's lips when they started growing into a smirk Naruto was getting familiar with. "Not so soon, buddy-boy. I'll make you a deal. If you can drink me under the table you get to take me out."

Sasuke's eyes flashed with a mix of emotions, relief, excitement, challenge.

"But, if I win..." Naruto grinned. "I take you out."

Sasuke's face set seemed to shift, eyes narrowed, lips curled. He looked like he was ready for a game of chess. "I've already had two drinks, so technically..." He plucked the empty glass out of Naruto's hand with an aggravating smirk. "I'm winning."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Hold on a second, that's not fair!"

"By the way, congratulations on a great pilot episode..." Sasuke headed to the bar to fix both of them new drinks. "My brother tells me the testing went well. Looks like a green light for season one."

Naruto's ears rang. A great pilot episode... A green light for season one.

Naruto was up to the bar in an instant, vibrating like an electric shaver left in a bucket. "You better not be lying, baby Uchiha!"

Sasuke handed Naruto the new drink. "To Rasengan."

"To me kicking your ass at a drinking contest and Rasengan." Naruto felt a rush in his ears when he heard the chuckles from Sasuke. Antagonising banter never made him feel so happy before.