theblackredlife

(VARNING GAY BERÄTTELSE PÅ ENGELSKA)

First day.
Naruto sighed loudly.
Did every first have to be maddening?
First days, first schools, first kiss...well, he hadn't gotten down to the first kiss yet.
He figured he was doing pretty well, this being his first day of college and all. He looked about him and noticed students rushing forward to their assigned hostels.
Frowning, he looked down at his card for what seemed to be the millionth time.
Hayden Hall.
He was sure he'd been to every hostel...hell, he'd even been to the girls' hostels and there was no
Hayden Hall anywhere.
He sighed.
Maybe he hadn't been accepted at all, maybe someone was playing a cruel trick on him, maybe he was being punked... No, even Ashton wouldn't go this far...
This seemed very Harry Potter-y... Yeah, his dorm was probably magically invisible...
Before he could test his Potter theory by purposefully running into the nearest wall-
"Looking miserable on your first day Naruto?"
Naruto looked up to see his friend from high school, Haruno Sakura.
As was true to her tomboy nature, she was wearing khaki shorts, canvas and a 'no Fear' t-shirt.
"Sakura!"
She hugged him and laughed, "So, you made it here too, huh?"
"You sound surprised."
She smiled, "That's because I am...you haven't changed abit. Except that...you know, you're not in a school uniform."
Naruto smiled, looking down at himself. He was in jeans, a blue t-shirt and sneakers. Completely casual.
Maybe if he'd put alittle effort into his clothes, he'd have found his dorm.
"...anyway," Sakura was saying, "I'm already settled in."
"Lucky you." He mumbled.
"What's your hostel name?"
Naruto sighed, "Hayden Hall."
He waited for her to laugh or stare blankly at him and ask him to maybe try the next university but she tugged at his arm, "Come on."
They walked for ten minutes, away from the other hostels altogether.
"Uh...Sakura? Are you sure you know where you're going? Maybe we should have gone
back to ask..."
Sakura shook her head, "You should have thought of that earlier."
Naruto frowned.
So...she was going to lead him to a secluded area and murder him just cause he didn't stop to ask for directions? She had always seemed kinda crazy...
Then he saw it...Completely separate from the rest of the hostels...on the otherside of campus...he could make out the words on the large hostel, Hayden Hall.
"Why is it so far away?"
"Did you notice the beautiful gray hostel that no one was going into?"
Naruto nodded.
"Well, everyone currently in Hayden Hall is supposed to be taken there. It was
built to replace Hayden Hall. I think it's called Spence House or something."
Naruto nodded again, seeing that Hayden hall actually looked pretty good.
"What'll they do with Hayden Hall once we move?"
"They haven't decided yet. I heard all about it on the tour I got when I came here about two months ago with my parents."
Naruto felt stupid. He wouldn't have been so lost if he'd taken the tour too.
He saw a large group of students headed to the hall and smiled.
Sakura punched his arm and said, "I'll see you around. I'm heading back now."
Naruto thanked her and walked faster, joining the group of students all with large cases and most, his seniors he assumed, using trolleys to move their luggage.
The boys were chattering away about the distance of the hall, complaining humorously saying that one day they'd push the building to where all the others were and
say aliens did it.
Naruto smiled. They seemed like a lively bunch of likeable guys.
One guy came up from behind him and said quietly, "Hi, I'm Gaara. You're a first year too, aren't you?"
Naruto was amazed he didn't blush. The guy was hot. He had dark brown hair and bored green eyes.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
Gaara looked at his giant case, "None of us freshmen were warned about the great Hayden trek. We're easily recognised by a lack of trolleys, strained expressions-"
"SHIT!"
"-and the occassional swear shouted when you trip while dragging your bag."
Naruto laughed, "You want to major in psychology?"
Gaara smiled, "Heck no. My mum's a psychologist but I'm more interested in how non-human things work..."
"Engineering?"
Gaara nodded, "Yeah. I can't take biology when it seems so pointless."
They'd finally reached the building and, checking the cards they'd been handed, went upstairs.
Gaara's room was second from the flight of stairs.
Naruto's was just after his.
They glanced at each other as they knocked on the doors, as if silently wishing each other luck.
Someone shouted for Gaara to enter while Naruto continued to wait. After twenty seconds, he tried the door and, finding it open, proceeded to let himself in.
The room was dark green for some reason. The curtains were a light coloured green, filtering green light into the room. It took a few seconds for Naruto's eyes to
adjust to all the green.
"Please be quiet. I'll be with you in a minute."
Naruto spotted who he assumed to be his roommate, a large guy in a lab coat
standing at the corner of the room, looking at what appeared to be goldfish in a bowl and taking notes.
Naruto suddenly wished Sakura was there to protect him.
The guy in the lab coat sighed and turned to Naruto, "Hello, I'm Chouji."
Naruto smiled politely, "Naruto."
Chouji nodded, "You'll take the bed over there."
Naruto noticed the empty bed and carefully placed his bags on it.
"I'll have to run some ground rules by you..."
There was a knock on the door and Gaara came in saying, "Hey Naruto, wanna go check out the recreational facilities?"
Naruto nodded eagerly and was closing the door as Chouji was saying, "I'll have
the rules printed for you to read when you get back."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he and Gaara went down the stairs.
"I thought you'd want to get settled in..."
Gaara frowned, "Not just yet...my roommate had a visitor."
"Visitor?"
"He was with a girl...in bed..."
Naruto chuckled, "Welcome to College."
Gaara smiled lightly, "Yeah well, you looked like you were gonna die from gratitude when I opened your door..."
Naruto cleared his throat, managing not to blush, he said playfully, "You're lucky I didn't. My roommate's a nut."
"Sex in the afternoon nut?"
"He's a new breed altogether. From the worst thirty seconds of my life, all the while praying I'd live to see tomorrow, I figured he's a chem major."
There was a guy at the notice board, stapling some notice to the barren board.
He was wearing a black t-shirt that wasn't tight but let you see that there was a definite possibility that he worked out. He also wore a leather wristband, dark-blue
jeans and black sneakers.
The stopped to read the notice the guy had stuck up; it was an ad about the recently re-opened skate park on campus.
Gaara made no comment while Naruto managed to say, "Way cool. Where can we find it?" he asked the guy.
When the guy turned to him, Naruto found himself staring while the guy gave them instructions. He had dark eyes and darker messy hair that still managed to look
pretty cool on him.
"...got it?"
Naruto frowned as Gaara came to his rescue.
"Yeah, I got it thanks."
Gaara stared at Naruto and smirked, "Is something wrong?"
Naruto blushed furiously, "N-no."
Gaara nodded, disbelieving, as they walked out just in time to see the guy take off for the main hostels on a golf cart.
Naruto and Gaara looked at the empty skate park.
"Dude," was all Gaara could say and Naruto completely agreed.
The skate park was huge.
"I'm moving my stuff here," Gaara said. "Then both me and my roomie will be happy."
Naruto was too busy gazing lovingly at the park.
"I take it you're skaters?"
They turned and came face to face with another blonde blue-eyed boy.
He smiled at them, "Hey, I'm Deidara. Student Body President."
"So this-" Gaara pointed at the park. "Is all your fault?"
Deidara looked amused as he nodded.
"Dude, you're my hero."
Naruto and Deidara laughed.
"Well, be sure to hurry to Ferret Hall."
"Ferret Hall?" They snickered.
"Yeah, speeches, orientation, boring but necessary freshman thingies..."
"Freshman thingies?" Naruto chuckled. "Are you sure you're the student body president?"
Deidara shrugged, "Well, it's not like a real president so I decided when I was running again to try be mellow about the whole thing..."
"Why?"
"Well, during my first term, power went to my head for awhile and when I demanded that the girls bathrooms all be painted pink, my friends kidnapped me, tied me up
and had an intervention."
"Seriously?" Gaara asked, wishing he had friends like that.
Deidara nodded, "I was making a stand over pink bathrooms...I'd obviously lost my mind."
"Obviously," Naruto agreed.
"Naruto!" Gaara reprimanded.
Naruto chuckled, "So...did you ever find your mind after that?"
Gaara expected the guy to help Naruto become an astronomer- and see stars during the day...
...but Deidara was laughing.
"You guys are alright." With a final grin, he walked away.
Gaara was staring at Naruto.
"Are you trying to get killed your first day?"
Naruto smiled, "Come on, the guy's pretty cool. Now if it was..." he looked around
and pointed. "That guy over there, I'd have kept my mouth shut and handed him all my money before he could ask."
Said guy, tall and thug-looking, turned in their direction.
"Run, he looks hungry."
They hurried toward Ferret Hall.
Ferret Hall was, unlike all the other buildings, an actual hall serving the purposes of large gatherings of students.
The hall was almost full with students, of all intakes, filling up the chairs. Naruto and Gaara sat at the back and watched the proceedings, unattached.
There were a lot of speeches.
The only time they paid attention was when Deidara went up, dressed casually in a white t-shirt and jeans and said, "Welcome. I'm student body president, Deidara.
Have a good year."
The students all cheered. That was how a speech was supposed to be, short and to the point.
After Deidara, the guy from the notice board went up.
They nearly went deaf with all the screaming girls yelling, "Sasuke!"
He nodded politely, looking for all the world like he didn't care about all the attention.
Naruto stared at him.
The guy was hot...that had been established earlier. But he hadn't expected so many people to be aware of that.
"I'm Sasuke."
Duh, Naruto thought with a smile.
"I'm student rep for the Arts clubs. This includes music and dance. Enquiries are to be handed in at the department, not to me personally."
With that he walked off the stage and took the side exit.
He seemed like a cold, uncaringindividual...unattainable. Maybe that's what was so attractive about him.
Naruto didn't pay much attention after that and was actually glad when they were released.
"Hey Naruto!"
Naruto and Gaara turned.
Sakura pushed her way through the crowd to them.
She smiled at Gaara, "Hi, I'm Sakura."
He smiled, "Gaara."
"Do you guys wanna come to Lays?"
"What the heck is Lays?"
"A restaurant on campus...well...restaurant wouldn't be the right word."
"Why?"
They found out when they got there.
The place was huge with different sections.
There was an arcade, a restaurant, a fast food place, a laser tag area, a movie theatre...
Naruto couldn't take it all in.
"Which part is Lays? The restaurant?"
"Nope, the whole building."
"And they expect me to go to classes?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"Scratch that, they expect me to leave?" Gaara asked.
"It's like a mall."
"It is a mall."
Sakura rolled her eyes at them.
Suddenly, they heard squealing. They turned and saw six girls surrounding Sasuke, who was trying to get into the building.
"Presenting our resident badboy...Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura stated dryly.
"I take it you don't like him?" Naruto asked.
Sakura sighed, "He just seems like an arrogant, stuck up-"
"Person?"
"I was going for prick but okay," Sakura grinned.
Gaara had to smile.
Naruto had to agree. Sasuke seemed every bit the badboy but-
"But he gave us directions to the skate park earlier and he didn't seem so bad then."
Sakura snorted, "Yeah, he gave you directions? Wow. Maybe next he'll provide us all with world peace."
Sasuke had managed to walk into the building and was headed straight for them.
"Hi...you're the guys from earlier right?"
Sakura and Gaara stared at him.
Naruto frowned. What the hell were they acting like that for?
"Yeah," he said.
Sasuke nodded. "Skaters?"
Naruto shrugged, "We...dabble."
"Dabble? In skating?" Sasuke laughed. "Cute."
As he walked away, they continued to stare then Naruto glared at his friends.
"What the hell was that?"
Sakura turned away. Gaara just blinked.
"Oh no, Sakura, are you blushing?"
She hid her face, "No."
"You hypocrite! What happened tohim being an 'arrogant, stuck up prick'?"
"He still is...but he's a hot arrogant, stuck up prick."
Sasuke was all that...and it wouldn't do any good to dwell on that fact.
Naruto couldn't handle someone like that again...
He smiled to himself. What was he thinking? It wasn't like Sasuke had taken any special notice of him.
Naruto failed to notice the attention he was calling to himself. The hot freshman with the blonde hair and soulful blue eyes, eyes even more captivating than
Deidara's...was deigned the cream of the crop and the fact that he was hanging out with other good looking people didn't hurt.
Sasuke looked at the blonde out of the corner of his eye.
The boy was laughing at his friends and ducking as they both tried to punch him.
He seemed very childlike.
Sasuke found himself smiling.
It had been a while since anyone had caught his attention.
When they finally left Lays, the sun was long gone.
Sakura said goodbye to them and walked toward Jayne Hall.
The two boys realised the worst part of the day had come...actually sleeping in their rooms.
While Gaara worried if his roommate was really sex crazed, Naruto worried if his roommate was really an evil scientist determined to use him as a test subject and rule
the world with his super powered goldfish...
Naruto groaned.
He didn't want to die a research-induced death.
As they said their goodbyes, somberly hoping that they would see each other again- and not in the netherworlds, they cautiously entered their rooms.
It was alittle after nine and though the lights were on, the room still appeared green.
Naruto sighed, he really didn't like green.
His roommate wasn't in. He hurriedly packed his things into his closet and made his bed.
He hung up his jacket and sighing, tried to think non-green colours.
As soon as he did this, the door opened and a skinny guy in a full green...what the hell...was that a leotard? A green leotard?
What. The. Hell.
It took all he had not to ask the guy if he needed help to find his pot of gold, or directions to the veggie convention (where tomatoes were in fact, not welcome).
"Naruto right? Chouji's roommate?"
Naruto nodded.
"I'm Lee."
Naruto nodded gain.
"I'm Chouji's lab partner. I'm here to pick up the fish."
It was then that Naruto noticed the bucket in his hand.
He let the guy take the fish and changed for bed.
He was determined to not be awake when his roommate made an appearance.
Sasuke groaned and pulled the blonde's body closer to his, pressing himself against the other.
He ran his hands over the lithe body as his mouth claimed the blonde's and then rained kisses down his neck, teasing the sensitive skin with his tongue.
The blonde moaned and writhed against him.
"Hey!"
Sasuke woke with a start and waited as his eyes adjusted to the light in his room. He looked at the figure sitting on his bed.
He smiled. "Is something wrong?"
Deidara shook his head, "I used the spare key."
Sasuke nodded, running his hand through his dark hair. What did using the spare key have to do with anything?
Deidara looked at him...a look full of longing.
Sasuke smirked. "Is there a reason you used my emergency key to come into my room?"
Deidara shrugged then said, "You were moaning in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?"
"You mean who?" Sasuke chuckled and pulled Deidara to him in a hard, passionate kiss.
"I was dreaming about a blue eyed blonde," he said against Deidara's lips.
Deidara smiled and got up.
With classes starting the next day, it really wouldn't do to have any hanky-panky. (1)
Sasuke sighed as Deidara left the room.
Liar.
But he didn't lie...not technically...
It wasn't like he'd asked Deidara to assume he meant him...
Naruto woke up and looked across the room at his roommate's bed. It was empty.
He was about to celebrate when the door opened and the mad scientist walked in.
"Good morning," he said to Naruto.
He was in a bathrobe and Naruto was hoping that nothing terrible happened- like a strong gale suddenly coming up and naturally throwing the robe open or a secret
organization of spies suddenly battling it out in their room and accidentally throwing the robe open or a genie escaping from the bedside lamp and magically throwing
the robe open...
Naruto just really seemed to have the best interests of the robe at heart...
"Morning," Naruto replied.
"I left the printed set of rules on your terminal," his chubby roommate said.
Naruto nodded as he spotted the sheet of paper.
"Anyway, here's your set of keys to the bath and shower."
Naruto took them and thanked him, getting up out of bed.
As his roommate walked over to his closet, Naruto hoped he'd take the initiative and walk into the closet; they were like mini-walk in closets...
When Chouji took his clothes from his closet and walked out, Naruto hurriedly grabbed his soap and bath towel and escaped before he was scarred for life.
When he got back, Chouji was gone but had taken the liberty to put Naruto's courses, time table and map of the school highlighting all his lecture theatres.
The guy isn't so bad after all.
Naruto made his way through the many hallways and toward his first class. He'd left the room early, hoping to get to class on time by accounting for the time he
figured he'd be lost.
Someone bumped into him and he dropped his notebook and map that he'd been holding in his hand.
He bent down to pick up the map and someone picked up the notebook and was flipping through it, looking at the sheets of music Naruto had written.
He looked up and found himself staring at the campus Adonis.
Naruto somehow managed not to blush and took in a deep breath, preparing himself for the taunting he was sure would come. No one else had seen the music he'd
composed or the lyrics he'd written.
Sasuke handed him the book and said, "You planning on majoring in music?"
Naruto shook his head, "No, I'm not that good."
"Bull," he pulled out a piece of paper with directions to the music theatre and
handed it to Naruto. "Be there at four in the afternoon. All your classes should be done by then."
It was a statement. Naruto nodded.
"Later."
Sasuke disappeared into the crowd and Naruto made it to his first lecture on time.
Naruto leaned back against his chair just wishing the two hours
would vanish somehow or someone would realise that the lecturer was a talking hazard and wasn't fit to educate anyone.
Wasn't college supposed to be more interesting than high school?
It was like between the boring classes and other students, the only difference between high school and college was that the
boring classes were longer in college and the other students didn't fall asleep as easily as they did in high school.
Naruto was jotting down the points Yamato, their Physics lecturer, was giving.
He, Gaara and Sakura were all in the school of Natural Sciences in different lecture groups.
Naruto really had no idea why he even had to take physics. He liked it but it had nothing to do with what he wanted to study.
Unfortunately for him, the school of N.S didn't exactly care and decided to put every student with a particular science in mind
in that main branch and for a whole year, they would take only four courses; Math, Chemistry, Physics and Biology.
Naruto wanted to study microbiology but there he was, seated in a class taking down notes on the Doppler Effect.
Yamato had only taken the time to say his name, what he'd take them in and tell them that if they did anything stupid to disrupt his class, he'd halve their final assessment.
This worked very well and had them all behaving like adults and listening attentively, albeit fearfully.
When the two hours were up, the class escaped.
Naruto hurried to his next class and, using the map Chouji had provided, got to math on time.
Naruto groaned when he read how long the math lecture would be.
Three hours?
It was no wonder Lays had been erected. Someone must have realised the daily torture the students went through.
The lecturer, Iruka, breezed through the whole thing, taking questions during the last twenty minutes.
Naruto looked down at the notes he'd taken down.
What the hell?
When had math abandoned numbers for letters? His book now contained many equations with x, y, z and
something about pie in it and the only number present was the Lecturer's office for any queries they might have had.
Naruto smiled. Iruka seemed pretty cool and after the three hours Naruto walked out the lecture hall, proud because he had actually understood everything.
He looked at the time and swore.
Sasuke had said he should go to the art theatre by four. He had fifteen minutes.
He thought about skipping the whole thing. It wasn't like he wanted more stuff on his plate. For goodness' sake, it was his first day!
He was about to head back to his room when an image of an angry, or worse, disappointed Sasuke came to mind.
Damn it.
He took out the paper Sasuke had handed him and made his way to the art theatre.
"So, is this him then?"
Naruto looked at the white haired man standing before him.
He'd arrived at exactly four.
The art theatre was larger than all the other lecture halls I'd been in and was filled with a mess of different things.
A piano, surrounded by other instruments stood on a raised platform.
Naruto looked around him.
The handsome white haired lecturer, Kakashi, who, for some reason, was
wearing a bandana covering most of his face, looked up at Sasuke who had come down from his seat when Naruto came in.
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah Kakashi. Naruto, hand me the notebook."
Naruto put down his backpack and pulled out the notebook Sasuke had looked at that morning.
Naruto handed it to Sasuke who handed it to Kakashi and Naruto wondered why he hadn't just handed it to Kakashi himself.
Kakashi flipped through it, pausing at intervals and nodding his head.
When he got to the end, Naruto blushed. No one had ever seen any of his sketches.
There was a detailed sketch of a woman with bright eyes and long dark hair, titled 'Hinata'.
"This is really good. Did you do this?"
Naruto nodded, getting redder.
Kakashi chuckled, "Girlfriend?"
Naruto shook his head, "No! She's my bestfriend."
Kakashi and Sasuke laughed, "Sure she is."
Naruto swore under his breath. He had taken that photo of Hinata and sketched it.
Hinata had been accepted at another college along with her older brother, Neji and her boyfriend, Kiba.
Naruto smiled just thinking of his three friends. He and Hinata had always been close and Kiba had often been miffed about that.
There was also the fact that, to protect Hinata, Neji and Naruto had actually signed a treaty that
included a 'spy clause' that went into effect whenever Kiba and Hinata were together alone and Kiba tried to kiss her.
Hinata found it amusing while Kiba was planning ways to kill them and make it seem like an accident.
"You seem to be really good at composing music and your lyrics are not too fluffy. You could be my son."
Naruto chuckled.
"But though those are on a level of their own, I want you to try your hand seriously at art. Have you ever studied art or music?"
"Music in Junior high."
"And you're this good? Excellent. Looks like you learn fast."
Naruto blushed.
"Okay," Kakashi handed Naruto the book back. "You'll work on your art in Sasuke's class with...let's see...Sai... but for your music, you'll work with Sasuke."
Naruto nodded, "Er...but I kinda have my own classes and I don't know your timetable..."
"Oh...right, of course." Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "Be here everyday at four. I expect all first year classes are done by then."
Naruto nodded.
"Excellent. Here's your first assignment."
Naruto took the slip of paper and frowned, "But...I don't know anything about sculpting."
"You aren't doing much, just helping Sai out. Besides, I want
you to hand in a personal assignment on Photography. Topic of your choice. Have a scrapbook made by Monday next week."
Naruto nodded and after taking the large sketch pad Kakashi handed him, he walked up the steps, following Sasuke.
Sasuke pointed at a pale boy with short dark hair and said, "That's Sai."
Naruto nodded and walked over to the boy.
"Sai?"
"Who's asking?" The boy asked rudely, looking up from his own giant sketch pad.
Naruto saw what Sai was adding detail to and blushed deeply.
"I'm Naruto. I'll be your partner for the sculpting assignment."
Sai smirked, "Oh look, they sent a kid to do a man's job..."
Noticing Naruto blushing and looking away from his drawing of two people doing that...no, not that...but that...yes, exactly.
Naruto was pointedly looking at the floor.
"Hey, have you even had sex before?"
Naruto choked on the air he'd been trying to breathe, his eyes watering.
Sai laughed, "No, not a kid...even worse...they sent a virgin!"
Naruto was now blushing furiously but sat down beside Sai without another word.
"Lay off him, Sai." Sasuke said, bored.
Sai smirked but turned away from Naruto and got back to his sketchbook.
Naruto smiled gratefully at Sasuke. Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement and went back to his own work.
Naruto turned to his own sketchbook and opened it to a new sheet.
"Hey, time to go. I have to lock up."
Naruto looked up from his sketch and stared at Sasuke.
The lights were on and everyone one else had already left.
Had he been that engulfed in...he looked down at his drawing of Sakura and Gaara.
It didn't look too bad.
He looked up again, realizing Sasuke was waiting.
"Oh, sorry."
He packed away everything except the pad. That wouldn't fit in his bag.
Naruto waited outside as Sasuke locked up. Sasuke turned to him.
"Did you do that from memory? Those are your friends right?"
Naruto figured he was talking about the sketch and nodded, "Yeah...it's not really good but-"
"You really need to stop putting yourself down. It's annoying."
Naruto stuttered an apology and Sasuke chuckled.
"Were you still sketching as well or did I keep you?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke smiled briefly, "Well, like you, I seem to forget where I am and what's going on when I'm working on something."
Naruto blushed, "Sorry."
Sasuke was just slightly taller than him and Naruto smiled to himself at why that even mattered.
They left the maze of hallways and entered the main hall.
Naruto suddenly felt dizzy and leaned against the wall.
Sasuke was at his side in a minute, helping him stand.
"Idiot. Have you eaten anything all day?"
Naruto shook his head but it hurt so he decided to try talking, "No, I forgot."
Sasuke groaned and took Naruto around the hall to a golf cart.
He helped Naruto in and made his way toward Lays.
There, he told Naruto to stay put in the cart and went in.
Minutes later, Naruto was hurriedly chowing down on ramen and slurping a milkshake.
When he realised Sasuke was watching him, he swallowed loudly and blushed.
"Aren't you eating?"
Sasuke gave him an amused look, "Nope, I'm good."
Naruto ate slower, not wanting to embarrass himself.
"Um...why do you have a golf cart?"
Sasuke shrugged, "Well, my fan club bought me one when someone leaked the info that I wanted one to move around school."
"You have a fan club?"
"You sound surprised. What, I'm not good enough to have a fan club?"
Naruto shook his head, "No that's not what I meant. I just didn't think-"
He glared. Sasuke was laughing.
Naruto frowned and turned away, finishing his ramen.
When he was done eating, he said, "That person who leaked the info that you wanted a golf cart... it was you, wasn't it?"
Sasuke chuckled, "You're a bright kid."
He drove the golf cart toward Hayden Hall.
When they got there, Naruto thanked him profusely.
Sasuke nodded, "Remember to eat. Many first years get caught up in everything so try carry snacks or something."
Naruto nodded, feeling like a child being reprimanded.
He hurried up the stairs and paused just before he opened his door.
Was that maniacal laughter he'd heard?
He looked through the key hole and saw...a lot of green. He swore.
He opened the door and saw his roommate laughing indeed in a maniacal way...but with evil undertones.
Naruto looked at the goldfish that were back in the room, half expecting them to jump out in ninja outfits and attack him.
Chouji hadn't noticed him or even stopped laughing yet.
Naruto put his bag and sketch pad down and coughed.
Chouji stopped, mid-laugh and said, "Lozenges are on my work desk."
With that, he continued his previous activity; laughing and scaring Naruto.
Naruto slowly evacuated himself from the area and carried his bag and laptop.
He walked up to Gaara's room and knocked.
"Come in!"
Naruto walked in and blushed a deep red.
There was a girl in the room moving around in cargo pants and a bra. She smiled at Naruto.
"Hi, you're... Gaara's friend right?"
Naruto nodded and turned to Gaara who was equally red.
Gaara's roommate came out of the closet in his boxers and a t-shirt.
"Hey, I'm Shikamaru." The boy said, grinning at Naruto.
The girl smiled, "Oh yeah, introductions. I'm Temari."
Naruto nodded, looking away. "Naruto."
The couple laughed.
"A virgin, huh?"
Naruto turned a previously unknown shade of red and scowled.
Was virgin written on his forehead or something?
Well...at least it didn't say never been kissed.
"Oh um..." Gaara stood, grabbing his own bag and laptop like he'd been waiting for a reason to leave. "Guess we'll be leaving now."
They left the room and Naruto turned to Gaara.
"Did they call you a virgin?"
Gaara chuckled, "No, why?"
Naruto frowned, "Nothing. Never mind."
They'd been walking for awhile when they finally realised that though they had managed to escape, they had no idea where they were going.
They heard the sound of a small motor and turned.
They spotted Sasuke on his golf cart, headed their way.
"Where are you two going?" he asked.
Gaara sighed, "It doesn't matter."
Sasuke chuckled, "Get in."
They gladly got on, Naruto sitting by Sasuke and they headed toward the main hostels.
They approached Nate hall, not even daring to ask where Sasuke was taking them, afraid he might decide to take them back to their psycho roomies.
Sasuke got out and left his golf cart in front of the building.
"Uh...aren't you gonna park that somewhere?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke shook his head, "There's no need."
They shrugged and followed him.
They went up the flight of stairs, walked to the end of the hallway and followed Sasuke into his room.
"Whoa."
Sasuke's room was massive.
He looked at them questioningly.
"Something wrong?"
Gaara shook his head while Naruto said, "This is a big ass room."
Gaara and Sasuke stared at him.
Naruto blushed, "Pardon my French."
"So...what's in the bags?" Sasuke asked, offering them the free bed opposite his large one.
They sat on the bed.
"Laptops, books, everything else we deemed necessary for survival..." Naruto said.
"Quick escape?"
They nodded.
"Strange roommates?"
Naruto snorted, "Gaara has it easy. I have a mad scientist who's even got the evil laugh down."
Gaara rolled his eyes, "Please, I've seen your roommate, he's harmless. Until I know whether or not my roomie is bi, I'm safer out of range."
This sparked off an argument between the two boys over whose roommate was the scarier prospect."
"Why don't you just switch rooms?" Sasuke asked.
"HELL NO!" They shouted together.
"So I guess that means you can handle your roommates."
"Yeah... till they kill us," Gaara said.
Sasuke smiled, heading over to his fridge and tossing them sodas.
"Why are you complaining? From what I've heard, you have the perfect opportunity to see a good-looking, half-naked girl practically everyday and you're upset about that?"
Gaara sighed, "Half-naked girl, good. Half-naked girl with half-naked guy who isn't me, bad."
Naruto chuckled, "I'm sure he's only half-naked for now."
Gaara scowled, "Thanks mate, I needed that visual."
"Anytime."
Sasuke leaned against the wall and asked, "So...will you two run away every night?"
"Can we?" Naruto asked, hopefully.
Sasuke smiled, amused. "Yeah, you can...for a whole year."
"Great...now all we have to do is figure out where to go each night for the rest of the year," Naruto said thoughtfully.
"I was being sarcastic," Sasuke said
"And I was ignoring that fact," Naruto retorted.
Sasuke shook his head.
"Come on you cowards. Let's go."
"Are you going to talk to our roommates for us?" Gaara asked.
"Do you want me to?"
"No, that would be embarrassing," Gaara said, sighing.
Sasuke nodded and they went back downstairs.
"Hey, where's your roommate?" Naruto asked as they neared Hayden hall in the golf cart.
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't have one."
"Lucky you," Naruto mumbled.
The next few weeks went by smoothly.
Naruto learned how to develop photographic film and had handed in his first
photography assignment, which he'd titled 'ordinary' which was of groups of people and friends on campus caught on camera.
Kakashi had loved it, saying people usually tried to impress him with Nature photos or didn't care enough and took pictures of anything that moved in front of their camera.
Naruto enjoyed the sessions he spent in the art hall. He and Sasuke were always the last to
leave and Sai had asked him to do a few sketches and hand them in to see what was worth a sculpting idea.
So far, Kakashi hadn't given him a music assignment and he wondered what it was exactly, that Sasuke did in music
...did he compose music, write lyrics or play an instrument or something? Or maybe he was a conductor? Naruto had chuckled at that thought.
Naruto, Gaara and Sakura made sure they met each other on the large campus lawn for lunch.
Naruto and Gaara still carried everything they thought they might need just in case their roommates made it impossible to stay the night.
These necessities that got carried everywhere were their: laptops, cell phones, books and wallets.
Sakura tried to point out that maybe they should carry something even more important, like soap and a toothbrush.
They'd scoffed at her girliness.
It was Saturday and Naruto and Gaara were on their way back to Hayden hall from the library.
As they approached, they saw a large group of people standing outside the building and two large white vans.
They ran to the building to see what was going on but found that they were cordoned off.
Men in bio-hazard suits came to the two students who were asking why they couldn't go to their rooms.
"Don't worry son," the first man in a white biohazard suit said to them. "Unless your room was 14,
all your stuff has been removed and can be claimed right now at the administration. We labeled everything
so they should be easy to find...though we did throw out everyone's toothbrushes...besides, some of those really needed replacing..."
"What happened to room 14?" Naruto asked, an image of Chouji blowing himself up coming to mind.
"We're not too sure...someone was doing crazy experiments on goldfish."
"Is he alright?"
"Is he your roommate?'
Naruto nodded.
"Oh, he's alright. We're going to have to take him away just in case though. We detected very minimal radiation from your room...Just how much time did you spend in there?"
Naruto snorted, "I barely live there."
The man nodded, "Excellent but-" he pulled out a long, stick-like thing and waved it all around Naruto.
Finding nothing, he said, "You're free to go."
Naruto frowned, "Our stuff's at the admin?"
The man laughed, "Not yours...everyone else's."
"Why not mine?"
"Well son, radiation can be very dangerous and we're assuming your stuff spent a lot of time in your radioactive room."
Naruto groaned and followed Gaara to the admin.
"Why don't I get a room?"
The secretary smiled apologetically. "I'm very sorry but because of the incident, Spence hall has been opened early but is still being painted
and all the rooms have already been assigned. It was assumed that you'd have been quarantined."
"And now that that assumption has been disproved, what now?"
"Well, I can't do much, this being Saturday and all but I suggest you stay with a friend for awhile, just until a room is free in Spence."
Great.
Gaara smiled at Naruto. "Dude, you can come stay here for awhile. I mean, thanks to your crazy roommate, I have my own room. It's the least I could do."
Naruto laughed at Gaara's attempt to cheer him up.
He'd helped Gaara move all his things into his new room.
While Gaara set up the Xbox, play station and PC, Naruto took a walk outside.
Naruto knew he wouldn't mind moving in with Gaara, but there was only one bed in his room and that would be pretty uncomfortable at night,
unless they were prepared to sleep in shifts.
"Do you miss Hayden that much already?"
Naruto turned and found himself facing Sasuke on his trademark mode of transport.
Naruto smiled politely, "Nope."
"What happened?"
Naruto sighed, "My roommate was trying out some experiment."
Sasuke chuckled, "The chem. fanatic?"
"The term used is 'geek'."
Sasuke laughed and Naruto turned away.
"So...what's happening?" Sasuke asked, amused at Naruto's discomfort.
"I dunno. They tell me he made something toxic and the whole hostel has been cordoned off. Apparently it's a lucky thing it was so separate from the rest of the school."
Sasuke smiled, "Is your roommate okay?"
Naruto grinned, "Yeah. He was wearing protective clothing or something. He's been taken away...Quarantined. Between you and me though,
I think they're going to put him in some top-secret, top-class scientist organization. They say he's a genius, who knew."
"What happened to your sketches?"
"I had those with me as well as my books and laptop, fortunately. But since I haven't mentioned this little bit of info to the professors,
they're still extending the due dates to all Hayden Hall students' work and assignments."
Sasuke smiled to himself at Naruto's child-like tendencies.
"So where are you staying?"
"With the Admin concentrating on keeping us toxin-free, everyone else took their stuff and evacuated to the new hostel, Spence house. But they aren't
done painting the rest of the rooms and with them all being single rooms, I was the only one left. But Gaara has said I can stay with him till I get a
room assigned to me." Naruto sighed, "They didn't even let me get my stuff from the hall..."
"Well, it is hazardous."
Naruto pouted, "It's still my stuff."
"Can't your parents bring you new stuff?"
Naruto smiled. "Yeah, they said they'd be here by nine tonight."
Sasuke nodded then said, "If you don't mind, you could stay with me until you get assigned a new room."
Naruto stared, "Seriously?"
Sasuke shrugged, "If you want to. I mean, I do have a whole room to myself and it's not like I need both beds."
Naruto hugged him, thrilled. "Dude...Thank you!"
Sasuke was too shocked to move and just watched as Naruto happily mentioned something about not having to make a sleep timetable and hurried away.
As Sasuke watched him leave, he found himself smiling.
Naruto and Gaara were dragging Naruto's large cases up the stairs.
Gaara seemed to stop every three steps and ask if maybe Naruto's mom had overpacked.
Maybe?
Naruto wondered if his mom had just emptied his closet into his bags.
He was actually dreading opening his cases when they finally got to Sasuke's room; afraid he'd get sucked into Narnia...or Narnia would escape from his suitcase...
They finally made it to the top of the stairs and sat on the cases, taking a well-deserved break.
"Could you two move?"
They looked up and found themselves staring at a guy with red hair a shade brighter than Gaara's.
He was frowning down at them impatiently.
"You're in the way."
They apologised and the guy walked down the stairs and out the building.
Naruto and Gaara dragged the cases all the way up to Sasuke's room and knocked.
There was no answer so Naruto tried the door. It was open.
Sasuke had given him a key just in case he wouldn't be in.
The walked in sluggishly and collapsed on the free bed.
"I see you made it," Sasuke said, coming out from his bathroom.
Naruto and Gaara simply panted in reply.
"Are you gonna unpack now?" Sasuke asked.
Gaara looked stricken and stood, "You're a good friend Naruto but here's where I draw the line. I'll see you tomorrow."
Sasuke looked amused. "What's his problem?" he asked when Gaara had left.
"Giant luggage," Naruto said dryly, leaning up on his elbows.
Sasuke smiled, "Your mom packed?"
Naruto nodded, "My mom packed."
Sasuke chuckled, "I banned my mom from ever packing for me. Even got her to sign a contract."
Naruto smiled, "Please make me a copy."
Sasuke went over to his fridge, "It'll cost you."
Naruto groaned, laying back down on the bed, "I'll do anything!"
Sasuke's gaze went over Naruto...
Anything?
"Anything?"
Naruto spread his arms, "Yes anything! I'll even wash your golf cart!"
Sasuke chuckled to himself...wondering what Naruto would think if he knew exactly what kind of anything Sasuke had had in mind.
"We couldn't even take a break at the top of the stairs. Some guy with a baseball butt stuck up his ass told us we were in the way!"
"Well," Sasuke threw him an amused glance. "You probably were."
"That's besides the point Sasuke-"
Sasuke wondered why his body reacted like that. As soon as Naruto said his name, he zoned out and thought
of a million other more enjoyable ways that Naruto could say his name...
He shook his head, trying to calm himself.
There was no need to scare the boy by jumping him the moment he'd entered the room.
Sasuke turned away, heading to his desk.
When he did get Naruto, he'd be sure the boy was practically begging for it...not exhausted from doing manual labour or possibly scared out of his mind.
Naruto got up grudgingly and opened his case.
"You gotta be kidding me," he scowled.
Sasuke turned back to him questioningly.
Naruto was holding up an old worn blanket with smiley faces imprinted on it...
Sasuke laughed, "Your mom brought you your blanky?"
Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke then turned his glare back to the offending piece of cloth.
What was his mom thinking? Bringing Smiley to him...in college!
He had stopped carrying the thing around when he was seven...give or take eleven...why had she seen the need to pack it?
He sighed. It still smelled like lavender and was really soft. He was tempted to bury his face in it but was also aware of Sasuke's amused gaze boring into him.
He put it aside, ready to start a pile of stuff he knew he'd have to send back.
Sasuke offered to help and Naruto knew it was just so he'd see anything possibly incriminating so he declined politely.
Sasuke was beside himself when Naruto opened his third, smaller case and found it stocked with all his old stuffed animals.
If a person could die from embarrassment...Naruto figured he was undead.
If his parents had wanted to get rid of all his stuff, they should have at least waited till he moved out of the house...or got married...or just burnt it all...
Not this...this was humiliating...
Naruto felt his face heating up and noticed that Sasuke was suddenly standing by him.
"Tell anyone and I'll make sure you die a horrific, explosive golf cart accident."
Sasuke smirked at the threat and whispered, "I won't tell...for a fee."
Naruto realised how close they were standing and took a step back, wondering why his ear was tingling from Sasuke's breath on it.
"What fee?" he asked, resigning himself to a possibility of golf-cart-washing-and-polishing for a whole year.
Sasuke smiled softly, "I'll let you know in due time."
Naruto looked forlornly at Sasuke, "Dude, you're evil."
Sasuke nodded, walking out the door. "Yes, I am."
Naruto, taking the opportunity of Sasuke's unexpected exit, hurried to pack
everything in his closet and set aside a suitcase for all the stuff he felt it would be socially incorrect to keep.
The door swung open and Naruto turned, finding a confused looking Deidara staring at him.
Naruto smiled uneasily, hiding his blanky behind him, "Hi."
Deidara looked just as uneasy as Naruto. "Hi."
"Are you looking for Sasuke?"
"Uh...yeah I...what are you doing here?"
Naruto blushed, still trying to hide Smiley the blanket, from Deidara, "I'm moving in."
"Okay...why?"
"Well," Naruto started, wondering why Deidara cared. "It all started with my roommate..."
Naruto went on to explain everything that had happened from the radiation his roommate had exposed their
dorm to; to him being homeless and almost having to share a bed with Gaara to Sasuke's offer and him finally being there... He elaborated all this to Deidara in excruciating
detail...seeing the need to include what he had for lunch and what Gaara had laughed at earlier that day and how he was thinking about going to Lays for a late supper...
Deidara, being a greater man than most, suffered through all that and then at the end, came to this one sentenced conclusion, "So,
you had to evacuate the old dorm but had no new room assigned and had to move in with Sasuke who offered his free bed?"
Naruto nodded, quickly stuffing smiley into the case while Deidara stood there occupied with his own thoughts.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he stashed the evidence way, way at the back of the huge, closet on his side of the room.
Sasuke suddenly rushed into the room, "Grab a camera! You gotta-"
Sasuke grinned, "Hey Deidara."
Deidara looked slightly miffed, "Hey. I just met your new roommate...er..."
"Naruto," Naruto provided absentmindedly, hanging up his coats in his closet.
"Yeah...Naruto...the skater dude. I didn't know you got a roommate. Last time I checked, you loved your privacy."
Sasuke could see the accusing look in Deidara's eyes and Naruto, who couldn't, said, "It was nice of him to offer. I really had nowhere else to go."
Deidara looked mollified at that, realising how silly he was being when Naruto had needed a room.
But he wondered if Sasuke would have given him the same offer had the same thing happened to him.
"Please don't go blow up your dorm to prove a point," Sasuke said dryly. "I have room for only one refugee at a time."
Deidara smiled slyly, "One could share your bed."
Sasuke chuckled, "Not one who snores."
Deidara blushed as Naruto came out of the closet (not that way) and grinned, "You snore? I've been trying for years."
They stared at him.
"You want to snore?"
Naruto nodded, "It would be a pretty cool way to breathe while you're asleep."
"How do you know you don't?"
"Video taped myself for a whole month...nothing." He sounded really unhappy about his inability to make irritating noises in his sleep.
Deidara was beginning to think that maybe being jealous of Naruto was pointless...
maybe he should be glad the strange boy was going to live with Sasuke for awhile. At least that meant
he could be sure that no one else with any impure plans would do anything funny...not with the innocent kid there.
Deidara smiled, "You're a virgin."
Naruto flopped onto his bed. Deidara hadn't even asked. He'd said it like it was so obviously
factual! The way someone would say "the sky is blue", "hot water burns" or "Sasuke is hot"... It wasn't fair!
Does everyone know I'm a virgin? Is it written on my forehead? Do I smell like a virgin? What do virgins smell like anyway? Maybe I should start using cologne...
Deidara and Sasuke were laughing.
It took Naruto a moment to realise he'd said that out loud.
He turned red and buried his head in ...before realising that he was hiding behind his old teddy bear.
He sighed as they laughed harder.
"Ground...Do me a favour and open up. I need to hide."
Sasuke stopped laughing long enough to sit by Naruto and put his arm around him, "Look...we aren't laughing at you; we're laughing with you."
Naruto glared. "But I'm not laughing."
"Then we're laughing for you."
Naruto smiled slightly at that.
"Come on, cheer up,"Deidara said. "I'll treat you to dinner. You're the highlight of my day."
Sasuke got up and Naruto stared.
"Well?"
"You're serious?"
Deidara nodded, "Come on."
Naruto followed them out and then Sasuke said, "Snap! I almost forgot!"
"What?"Deidara asked.
Sasuke just chuckled to himself, "I'd been coming to get my camera..."
"Why?"
Sasuke shook his head, "Nothing. Never mind."
"Then why'd you bring it up, stupid?"
Sasuke yawned, "To torture you."
Deidara glared daggers at the Uchiha, "Fine."
Naruto watched the two closely. They seemed pretty close...almost like him and Gaara.
They got to Lays on the golf cart; Deidara had sat up front with Sasuke.
They headed straight for the all ramen joint, Ichiraku's.
Naruto ate heartily, like the ramen was going to go on strike and march away from him.
After staring at the boy and his rapidly diminishing ramen, Sasuke and Deidara started on their own bowls while Naruto was on his third.
When Naruto looked up over his sixth bowl, he noticed Sasuke and Deidara seemed to be having a quiet argument.
"I don't see why I can't switch with him so he can have his own room."
"Because you're the president and that's the president's room."
"You don't want me to share a room with you, is that it?"
Sasuke sighed, "Deidara, we've talked about this. We are not sharing a room."
"Why not?"
They turned to Naruto, who was looking at them questioningly.
"Yeah," Deidara smiled softly at Sasuke. "Why not?"
"Because...want more ramen Naruto?"
As Naruto nodded and hurried to get himself another bowl, Deidara smiled, "That was a dirty trick."
Sasuke shrugged, "Yeah well, you were trying to get to him, too."
"You really wanna stay with him?"
Sasuke smiled lightly as Naruto collected his last bowl.
"He's... interesting."
Deidara nodded. In all the time he had known Sasuke, the boys' smiles and laughs had been
pretty rare...well, they were as rare as his smirks were common...and Sasuke did smirk a lot...but here,
this freshman had arrived and in just a few minutes of being his roommate had made him laugh, smile, chuckle...
Deidara felt a small pang of jealousy for Naruto but couldn't help smiling too as Naruto ploughed into the ramen.
The boy sure did love his ramen.
When Naruto woke up, he had trouble adjusting his eyes to the peach coloured room, wondering for awhile where exactly he was.
No green.
He smiled and sat up.
So far, so good.
Sasuke was at his computer, typing something.
Naruto looked at his alarm clock.
6:00
Wait? 6:00? Why am I awake?
Naruto groaned. Going back to sleep would be pointless.
Naruto got out of bed.
"Morning Sasuke."
Sasuke mumbled something.
Naruto spread his bed and got out his towel, fully prepared to go take a shower.
"Where are you going?"Sasuke asked, coffee in hand, when Naruto opened the door.
"I'm going to take a shower."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and nodded at a door.
"Bathroom's through there."
Naruto nodded, "Oh. Right."
He'd forgotten Sasuke's room happened to be self-contained.
As Naruto took a shower, Sasuke made himself more coffee. It was his morning ritual and after two mugs, he'd be good to go.
He'd taken his shower at five.
He remembered looking over at the peacefully sleeping Naruto and smiled softly.
Naruto came out of the bathroom dripping, with just a towel around his waist.
Sasuke said a silent 'Thankyou' to Chouji. He'd be sure to send the mad hatter some pork rinds or something...
Sasuke stared as Naruto took another towel and started drying himself, oblivious to Sasuke's impressed gaze.
Who knew the guy such a lean body?
Naruto went into his closet to dress and Sasuke turned back to his work, cursing the darn large closets that allowed students to go in and dress, away from prying eyes...
Sasuke finished his coffee and made Naruto and himself a bowl of cereal.
"Guess what's for breakfast?" Sasuke asked as Naruto neared the mini-Kitchen area.
"Ramen?"
"Yes!"
"Really?"
"No, eat your cereal."
Naruto made a face at Sasuke and sat down opposite him.
"What were you doing on your PC?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Typing up an assignment."
"Need help? I'm pretty fast."
Sasuke shook his head, "No. I've got it covered."
Naruto nodded, moving to the sink to rinse out their dishes.
"You don't have to do that,"Sasuke stated.
"Think of it as rent."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, "No way...is rent...doing dishes..."
Naruto shrugged, "But it makes sense to me."
Sasuke shook his head, "It would cost you much more than just that."
"Why do I get the feeling you're preparing some inhuman chore for me?"
"Because you're probably right...or you're paranoid."
Naruto nodded, thinking the latter was right.
"You did offer to share the room so technically, I'm your guest."
Sasuke smiled, "Uh huh, keep telling yourself that."
Naruto left for the library at seven, leaving Sasuke to his assignment.
After lunch, for the rest of the day, Naruto was free so he agreed to meet Sakura and Gaara at the skate park.
"You skate?"Gaara asked Sakura.
She nodded, "Yup...and I tried out for the soccer team!"
"Can you even play soccer?"Gaara asked, teasing.
Sakura grinned mischievously, "I dunno Gaara, can someone who can kick ass, kick a ball?"
"If she wants to?"
"Good answer."
The three of them grabbed their skateboards and walked into the skate park where there were only a handful of people- which was perfect.
Sakura was pretty good, managing to keep up to both Naruto and Gaara as they did
tricks and avoided falling flat on their faces.
After an hour an a half of shredding, they decided to leave and, after showers of course, head for Lays.
As they were leaving-
"Hey!"
They turned.
The guy jogged up to them. He had shocking red hair.
It was the guy Naruto and Gaara had 'met' the previous night.
"Hi," he smiled politely.
They smiled weakly back. "Hi."
"You guys looked pretty good back there. Would you mind joining the Zaydens?"
"That whatnow?" Gaara asked.
"Zaydens," he chuckled. "The skateboarding team on campus."
"Why is there a skateboarding team?" Sakura asked, removing her helmet, staring at the cute redhead.
He gave her an amused glance, "Because there are interuniversity skateboarding competitions."
"Oh."
"Look, here," he handed Sakura his cell. "Put your number in there if you're interested and I'll call you with the details."
Sakura nodded and put in their three numbers.
"I'm Sasori, by the way."
"I'm Sakura, this is Naruto and Gaara."
He nodded at them and said he hoped to see them all soon.
They waved and left.
"He was hitting on you," Naruto said.
"Why would you say that?" Sakura asked, blushing slightly.
"He asked you to join his team...even though you're obviously not that good," Gaara laughed,
then ducked as Sakura tried to punch him.
Naruto laughed, "Well, there's also the fact that he was kinda rude to Gaara and me just last night."
"For the millionth time Naruto; he was right! You were blocking the way!" Sakura sighed.
"Not even dating yet and you're already taking his side over ours," Gaara said, shaking his head.
Another missed punch from Sakura.
Naruto smiled as he headed for his own room...
"WHAT?"
The other people in the reception turned to stare at Naruto.
Gaara tried to somehow vanish into the floor even as Naruto glared at the secretary.
"Why not?"
"The board decided that even though the rooms are open, the building will officially be opened next month. As you already have a room, we assumed you'd be alright."
"We as in the board?"
"No...me." The secretary said in a small voice.
"Argh! Why?"
The secretary looked close to tears. "Well, I thought-"
Naruto softened, "It's alright. You were right."
She brightened. "Really?"
"Yeah, thanks."
He and Gaara walked away, an amused expression on Gaara's face.
Naruto's expression was one of contained anger.
"Why're you so mad?" Gaara asked. "Don't you like living with Sasuke?"
Naruto sighed, "I do...I just don't want to overstay my welcome. He said I could stay till I
got my room sorted out. I'm pretty sure he didn't think I'd be there this long."
"It's only been five days."
"He might hate me already!"
"Dramatic much?"
Naruto bit his lip, unsure. "I'll have to ask him if I can stay alittle longer."
"Alittle?"
"A month! What am I thinking? He'll never let me stay a month!"
Gaara tugged Naruto's arm, "Come on, we gotta meet Sakura at Lays."
Naruto followed mumbling something about probably being homeless and how he'd have to live in the
streets and become a bum... Gaara politely rolled his eyes at his overreacting friend and led the way.
They got to Lays and spotted Sakura at Ichiraku's Ramen.
Naruto visibly perked up.
Ramen does that.
Gaara smiled at Naruto and they both gaped when they noticed Sakura was sitting with two guys.
They got closer and Naruto frowned.
Sakura was sitting between Sai and Sasori and they all seemed to be having a pretty amusing conversation.
Resigned, Naruto and Gaara walked up to the table and greeted Sakura and the two boys.
"Hey," Sasori said, giving them a lazy smile.
Sai nodded at them, looking intently at Naruto, making the blond blush.
"Well...take a seat," Sai said, looking at the two boys who were still standing.
Naruto and Gaara quickly sat, like they'd been ordered to and Sakura threw them a pained glance, holding back her laughter.
Naruto sat by Sai and Gaara by Sasori.
"So..." Sai leaned back, staring at Naruto. "Sakura says that you are a virgin."
"Hey!" Naruto glared at Sakura. "How would you know?"
Sakura grinned, "Cause you just confirmed it."
Naruto groaned and let his head hit the table.
"Let's order," Gaara said, chuckling.
Head still on the table, Naruto groaned, "Ramen please...lots and lots of ramen."
They laughed at Naruto's discomfort and ordered.
Naruto looked up at Sai forlornly, "Do I really look like a virgin? Honestly?"
Sai smiled, which was a first and actually made him look pretty good and said, "Does it bother you?"
Naruto looked thoughtful for a minute. "No, not really."
Sai chuckled, "You look innocent...and...it's very...intriguing."
Naruto bit his lip thoughtfully, suddenly feeling very warm under Sai's penetrating gaze.
He squirmed in his seat to Sai's carefully hidden pleasure. He and Naruto were civil in class and Naruto gave him help when he asked for it, which was rare.
Sai had begun to find the younger boy's attitude quite interesting. He was cheerful and pleasant
most of the time and Sai sound himself enjoying the blonde's company more than he liked to admit.
Sai also found himself envying the time Sasuke and Naruto spent together...and wished he could delay himself after class to spend more time with the smiling blond.
Naruto was happily unaware of the attention he actually drew to himself.
Sai was hard pressed to decide whether Naruto was naive or just ignoring his admirers.
Gaara, Sakura and Sasori were talking about the Zaydens. Sasori had called Sakura and had arranged to
have her on the team...if she wanted. Naruto and Gaara had apparently already been accepted and once their shirt sizes were known,
They'd officially be members...which included a celebration at the arcade for the whole team.
Sai smiled at Naruto as their food arrived. The others were still all caught up in whatever topic they'd switched to.
"So...do you have a girlfriend?"
Naruto nearly choked on his ramen. "No."
"Boyfriend?"
This time he did choke on his ramen...sputtering as he said, "No."
Gaara, Sakura and Sasori didn't even turn.
Naruto frowned at them.
He could have died.
Sai smiled, "I take it you're single?"
Naruto nodded.
"Why? Spurned or unrequited love?"
Naruto shrugged, "None. It's a corny reason actually..."
"Haven't met the right person?" Sai asked, amused.
Naruto smiled shyly, "Yeah."
"You're straight?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sai and nodded, "Uh...yeah."
"You've never been with a guy?"
"I guess that's what straight means."
Sai chuckled. So Naruto wasn't a quiet little mouse.
Sai leaned back in his chair, "You don't seem so stiff necked."
Naruto smiled warmly, "I'm not. If I was interested in guys, I just think I'd have noticed by now."
Sai nodded. So...why haven't you noticed it yet.
Naruto's phone rang; playing Three Doors Down's 'Let me be myself'.
"Hello...? Hinata, hey! ...Yeah, I'm awesome...hehe, how's Kiba? ...Tch. Bastard... Sakura's excellent...of course...who Gaara?...Yeah...oh, okay cool...Later."
"Well that was quick," Sakura laughed. "How's Hinata?"
Naruto's eyes lit up, "She's having the time of her life...studying."
Sai felt a small pang of jealousy.
"Who's Hinata?" Gaara asked.
"My best friend," Naruto smiled. "We grew up together."
Sai wondered why he felt slight ease at that.
Naruto chattered away as they had their lunch.
Naruto eagerly went to the art theater that day.
He found that he enjoyed himself immensely whenever he was there.
Sasuke smiled at him when he entered the room.
Everyone was busy and Sai looked up, motioning to Naruto.
Naruto took his usual seat by Sai and went to work.
He was doing a sketch of Gaara and Sakura, with the skate park in the background.
As always, he got caught up.
"Hey."
Naruto looked up. Everyone was gone...though he vaguely remembered Sai saying goodbye.
He smiled at Sasuke and they left together.
"Dinner at Lays or back at the room?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto smiled uneasily, "Room."
They got in the golf cart and went back to their hostel.
Naruto helped Sasuke chop up the vegetables as they started making dinner.
Sasuke smiled to himself at how well they seemed to work together...and live together.
Sasuke set the pasta, sauce, veggies and chicken on the table and as they sat down together and ate, Naruto looked up at him.
"Um...Sasuke?"
Sasuke passed Naruto a soda, "Yeah?"
"I went to the admin today...to speak to the secretary about my new room..."
Sasuke kept his expression blank. Naruto was moving out already? Naruto wanted
to move out? He'd gone to the secretary to see about a room...?
"They said my room wouldn't be ready yet...not for a month..."
Sasuke felt relieved and kinda upset that Naruto had wanted to leave in the first place. He even sounded tense and unhappy. Was living with him that bad?
"I know you said I could only stay for a short while but I'd really like to stay here with you...unless you want me to go, then I could find another-"
Sasuke was laughing.
"What?" Naruto asked, confused.
"That's why you're so uptight?"
Naruto nodded, looking away.
"Of course you can stay."
"I don't want to impose."
"No, Naruto, I want you to stay."
"You do?" Naruto asked, his eyes lighting up.
Sasuke smiled warmly at Naruto, "Yeah. You're a pretty cool roomie."
Naruto grinned and jumped off his stool to pull Sasuke into a hug, burying his face in the crook of Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke, surprised, hugged the blond to him, holding him close.
Naruto figured he should pull away but...it just felt so...comfortable...and...
"You smell really good."
Sasuke chuckled lightly and Naruto jumped back, blushing.
"Sorry."
"No, it was a compliment after all."
Naruto finished his food and cleared up with Sasuke.
He took a bath and got into bed, reading a thriller Sakura had lent him.
Sasuke took a shower and came into the room shirtless and in his pajama bottoms.
Naruto couldn't help staring.
He swallowed and turned over, concentrating on his book.
Eventually, he turned back and put out his bedside lamp.
Sasuke was still awake.
Naruto yawned. "Night Sasuke."
"Night Naruto."
When Naruto was finally asleep, Sasuke walked up to his bed and smiled down at the blonde.
Sasuke smiled softly to himself and brushed hair away from Naruto's eyes with his fingers.
Naruto sighed and smiled in his sleep.
Sasuke bit his lip and groaned.
He walked back to his bed and put out the light before he did something stupid.
He hoped there'd be a way he could make Naruto stay longer...a month seemed like
such a short time.
Naruto was ecstatic.
Kakashi had told him that he was done helping Sai but that wasn't why he was happy. He'd move on to poetry for a whole month then...music!
And Sai had actually thanked him! Sai!
It was truly a strange and wonderful day...
"So...I just hand in the poems every week?"
Kakashi nodded, "Yup."
"No topic necessary?"
"On emotion actually."
Naruto nodded and sat down, wondering what he'd write about.
"Still sitting with me?"
Naruto looked up. He hadn't realised he'd taken his old seat by Sai.
"Oh. I'll just move then-"
"No," Sai smiled, putting a hand on Naruto's, earning an unpleasant glance from Sasuke.
"Oh...okay," Naruto grinned, sitting back down.
"So...poetry huh?"
Naruto nodded and pulled out a notepad and a pen.
He put his pen to the paper and stilled.
Emotion...
So...what was he feeling?
"Sometimes music helps," Sasuke said.
Naruto looked up to find Sasuke smiling down at him.
"Music?"
Sasuke nodded and gave Naruto his iPod.
"Depending on how the music makes you feel, you can write almost any kind of poem."
Naruto thought this over and figured it made sense.
Sasuke sat by him and waited.
He and Sai shared a glance when after about three minutes, Naruto started writing.
It's not long ago that I was broken,
That my aching heart decided it had been healed one too many times
And now was defeated to the hurt
It' not long ago that I went through this pain
That my body hated me and my brain spat at me in disgust
And yet continued to think of you
It's not long ago that I wanted to cry
Until my eyes bled
Until my feeling disappeared
It's not long ago that I wanted to protect you
When you had no need of me
It's not that long ago that I forgot these emotions
And resigned myself to another world
It's not long ago that I reentered my world
And, living on borrowed time,
Forgot that I once cared about you
And so, this too shall pass
No, it's not that long ago
That I fell in love
Naruto read through it, not entirely sure that it was okay. But with all the scratched out words, he decided he'd need a new notepad pretty soon.
"Whoa."
Naruto looked up sharply.
Sai, Sasuke and Kakashi were standing behind him reading his poem.
He blushed.
"That's-"
"I'm still not sure about it. I can do better." Naruto said hurriedly.
"No... no. It's good," Kakashi smiled. "Besides, no one can really judge a poem.
Depending on how the poet feels, if it's true to you and can be felt by others, I think you've achieved the desired effect."
Naruto was at his desk, studying.
Sasuke smiled. He was actually impressed with how Naruto was managing his time and balancing everything...school, friends, assignments...
Naruto would listen to Beethoven when studying and it seemed to work really well for him.
It was almost one in the morning.
Sasuke had stayed up to studying as well, not wanting to tempt Naruto with sleep by falling asleep himself.
Naruto yawned and put his books away.
"You done?"
Naruto smiled sleepily, not knowing what it was doing to Sasuke, and nodded.
"When I read the same sentence twice and it moved, I figured it was about time to rest."
Sasuke nodded, amused.
"Night then."
"Night."
Sasuke got ready for bed.
"Sasuke?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
Sasuke chuckled, "No."
"How come?"
"I have a boyfriend."
Naruto sat up, all sleep gone.
"Really?"
Sasuke nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "Um...yeah."
"Who? I mean, I don't mean to pry but I've never seen anyone here. I haven't seen you with-"
The door sprung open and they turned.
"Hey," Deidara smiled at them. "Am I interrupting something?"
Naruto shook his head, recovering nicely from the shock.
"Just came for a quick goodnight kiss."
Naruto's eyes widened as Deidara walked up to Sasuke, grabbed him and deep throated him.
Naruto turned over, blushing furiously.
"You can turn around now," Deidara said, chuckling behind Naruto and walking out as abruptly as he'd come in.
Naruto turned around and faced Sasuke.
"Does he come get kisses when I'm asleep?"
Sasuke laughed, "Nope, this was the first time. It's usually only when you're not here."
Naruto nodded slowly and lay back down, facing away from Sasuke, trying to breath normally just in case Sasuke was still looking.
Sasuke put out his light and Naruto smiled in the dark.
Sasuke was into guys...
Why the heck did he care anyway?
Naruto wanted to laugh out loud.
So...Deidara and Sasuke were together...and he thought it was kinda cute (in his head he'd used hot but he was trying to ignore that).
But at least he'd figured something out.
He wasn't completely straight.
Naruto looked over his latest poem with satisfaction and nodded to himself.
It had been two weeks since he'd started living with Sasuke.
He, Gaara and Sakura studied every afternoon together in the library and he found himself enjoying school...actually enjoying it...
Weird.
Naruto looked up from his note pad and found Sai staring at him.
It was the third time he'd caught the dark haired boy staring.
"Is there something on my face?"
"Apart from the usual features, no."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, "Uh huh. Sure."
Sai smiled, "Can I ask you something?"
"If it's anything to do with my virginity, shut it."
Sai looked amused at that and said, "No. That's not it..."
"Okay then, shoot."
"Would you consider dating a guy?"
Naruto stared.
Where the hell was that from?
"Uh...would I have to?"
Sai chuckled, "Yes."
Naruto looked confused, "Why?"
"Go on a date with me this Saturday."
Naruto gaped. It was a statement, not a question. How the hell do you answer a statement?
"Uh...why?"
"To prove you're straight."
"I don't remember saying I wanted to prove I was straight."
"So you're not?"
Naruto groaned in frustration.
"Okay, fine, sure, whatever."
"Your enthusiasm is truly encouraging."
Naruto smiled apologetically, "Sorry...I just..."
"What?"
"Is this for a bet or something? Were you dared to do it?"
Sai shook his head, "No, I'm just curious about your preferences."
"And simply asking me about my preferences didn't work out for you?"
"No."
Naruto nodded slowly, "Okay then."
"I'll let you know the details on Friday night."
Naruto shrugged, "Sure."
Sai nodded, satisfied before getting back to his work.
Naruto shook his head, amused. So Sai was taking him out on a date for research purposes...
Well, free food was always welcome.
He looked around and noticed everyone else was still there...so he was done pretty early.
He got up and walked down to Kakashi and handed in his poem before leaving.
He waved at Sasuke, who just nodded back and smiled at Sai, who actually smiled back.
Naruto ran out and saw the sun was just setting.
He went over to Gaara's room to play video games before studying.
The next day, Tuesday, Naruto, Sakura and Gaara stared at the notice board.
"You gotta be kiddin me... already?" Naruto groaned.
No one seemed thrilled with the notice.
"What's up?" Sasori asked, coming up behind the freshmen.
"Pre-midsemester assessment tests," Sakura stated.
"Really? Already?"
"That's what I said," Naruto grumbled.
"When are they?"
"Two weeks," Naruto answered.
Gaara seemed incapable of speech.
"Gaara? You okay?" Sakura asked worriedly.
Gaara blinked, "What is Physics? I can't remember!"
"Calm down dude, tests are in two weeks. We've been studying. Relax."
Gaara frowned, "No! There is no time! We're doomed!"
Naruto smiled at Sakura, "I'm usually the overstressed drama queen."
Gaara made a face at Naruto, "This is serious! We can't fail!"
"You won't," Sasori said. "You guys seem pretty smart."
Gaara took in a deep breath and held onto Naruto.
"Besides," Sasori grinned, walking away. "They wouldn't ask 'What is Physics?'"
Gaara's grip on Naruto's arm tightened.
Naruto patted Gaara's head, like he was a trembling puppy and Sakura bit back a giggle as they made their way to the library.
Their classes had all been cut to end by noon so the first years could study through their
afternoons. Club activities and extracurricular events and training were to be held on weekends.
The three friends spent the whole afternoon in the library before heading to the open study hall to polish up on all their info with cue cards.
Gaara aced all the questions while Naruto and Sakura messed up on a couple of questions each.
"You pansy...acting very stupid when you're actually-"
"Brilliant?"
"I was gonna say 'not that stupid' but whatever floats your boat," Naruto chuckled.
Gaara glared at the blond.
"So..." Sakura interrupted their highly valued ramblings. "We meet everyday in the library for four hours and head to study hall to go through what we've studied."
They nodded.
"Well, we'll definitely be ready in two weeks," she smiled, walking toward Lays.
"Where are you going?" Gaara asked.
"Lays, duh. I feel like a milkshake."
"Are you linking up with Sasori...?"
Sakura nodded, blushing.
"Like on a date?" Gaara asked, smiling cutely.
Sakura nodded then groaned when Gaara said, "Excellent. I'm coming too."
"Which part of 'date' do you not comprehend?"
"The part where he tries something funny and no one's there to protect you."
Sakura snorted, "You just want me to buy you a milkshake."
Gaara laughed, "Well, if you're offering...Who am I to pass up a free milkshake?"
"Promise to leave if I buy you one milkshake?"
"Add a slice of chocolate cake and you got yourself a deal."
Sakura rolled her eyes at him and said, "Fine. Naruto, are you coming to freeload too?"
Naruto shook his head, "Not today. I'll have to go leave my assignment with Kakashi."
"Is he still in? It's kinda late."
Naruto nodded, "He said he'd be there late today."
Sakura and Gaara nodded and left him. He made his way to the art theatre and stopped at the door.
Someone was playing the piano beautifully.
Naruto wondered if he should go in...he'd never found anyone playing of the instruments there before.
He figured the music students all had there classes early in the day.
He sighed and walked in.
Kakashi smiled at him from underneath his scarf. It was gray today, matching his black pants and gray shirt.
Naruto walked toward Kakashi while the music played.
He turned...and stared.
"Sasuke...?"
Kakashi chuckled, "I couldn't believe it the first time either."
Naruto blushed, "He's pretty good."
They were the only three in the room. Everyone else was back in their rooms or at Lays.
Kakashi nodded, "So...young man...what are you going to do for your assessment?"
Naruto stared, "Um...study for my tests?"
Kakashi laughed, "I meant here, in art."
Naruto's mouth hung open, "I have to..."
Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Of course. I registered it as an official course for you."
Naruto nodded slowly, "So...what do I have to do?"
"Well, there are many options. You could do a sculpture, oil painting, book of sonnets or compose or write your own piece of music."
"All that?"
"Well, yes...but I suggest you take the music option. What instrument can you play?"
"The guitar and the piano, though I'm not as good as Sasuke."
Sasuke seemed unaware of their presence in the room.
"Alright then. Here's what we'll do. I'll bring up your music portion now so you can hand in whatever you and Sasuke produce."
"Me...and Sasuke? Is that allowed? I mean-"
"Yes, it's allowed. But only for music. If you wanted to hand in something else, it would have to be a solo project."
Naruto nodded and turned back to stare at Sasuke.
He's really gifted.
"So are you," Kakashi smiled. "Well, I'm off...where's your poem?"
Naruto handed him the poem he'd written, blushing when he realized he'd thought
out loud.
Kakashi nodded approvingly then put it in a folder and walked out.
Naruto sat in one of the seats up front and listened to his roommate.
He smiled when he noticed Sasuke still hadn't looked up.
Naruto sighed; it was just like he was with sketching and drawing...Sasuke found
his solace and escape in music.
Naruto grinned.
It suited him.
The music was soft and slow...as if whispering a sad love story...leaving you wondering what would happen in the end...
It was the kind of melody that flowed over you and made you cry and made your siblings look at you funny.
Sasuke stopped playing, the last note ringing through the empty hall.
Naruto smiled and clapped.
Sasuke turned, looking down at Naruto from the high platform.
His cheeks were tinged with pink and he stood and took a mock bow.
Sasuke came down and Naruto joined him.
"Leaving already?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto grinned, "Yup, long day. Need food and rest. Kakashi told me I have an arts project to hand in as well...a music project-"
"With me." Sasuke nodded, grabbing his backpack which was on the platform floor. "Yeah, Kakashi told me."
Naruto mumbled something about arrogant-know-it-all lecturers always assuming students would do as they said...
Sasuke gave him a questioning look.
"Assessment?"
Naruto nodded, "I was alot calmer than Gaara though...he went nuts."
Sasuke smiled as he locked the doors behind them, "I'm shocked."
"About me being calm or about Gaara going nuts?"
"Both... but mostly about you being calm."
Naruto stuck out his tongue at Sasuke as they made their way to their room.
"Order out?"
Naruto nodded.
Lays had a food delivery service as well.
"Pizza?"
"Yeah."
Sasuke called Lays and placed his order, watching Naruto lie down on the bed, covering his eyes.
Sasuke put his bag down and looked at Naruto, who was struggling to stay awake.
"You can take a nap; I'll wake you up when the pizza gets here."
Naruto mumbled thanks and fell asleep.
His bag dropped to the floor and he didn't notice.
"Hey Sasu-"
Sasuke looked up at Deidara, who'd just entered their room.
He picked up a book that had fallen off Naruto's bed. He put a finger to his lips and pointed at Naruto.
Deidara nodded and stared at the book.
Sasuke was about to put the book back on the bed when he noticed a colorful page.
Curious, he looked down at it.
It was a colored drawing of Lays, with a few students walking about...and Sasuke
could make out him and Deidara, Gaara and Sakura and Sasori and Sai.
Naruto wasn't in the picture.
Sasuke took note of that, frowning, and turned the page.
There was a poem...
I want
There were so many people, so many faces
There were so many laughs in so many places
But I was never there, it was never fair
I wanted so badly for you to care...
There were so many lights, so many stars
There were so many smiles, hiding the scars
But I never saw, each hidden flaw
I wanted so badly for you to know...
There were so many words, so many lies
They were lost in translation, those many cries
But I could not fear, each fallen tear
I wanted so badly for you to hear...
There you were together but still so alone
There I was trying so hard to condone
Wanting to hold you, wanting to be
Wanting to know why you're not here with me...
Sasuke stared at the poem and looked down at Naruto's sleeping form.
Deidara had finished reading it and motioned for Sasuke to put it back on Naruto's bed.
He nodded and placed it under Naruto's pillow, careful not to wake the sleeping blonde.
Deidara frowned when he caught a soft look on Sasuke's face as he looked down at Naruto.
Frustrated, Deidara latched himself onto Sasuke and kissed him. Sasuke, shocked at first,
smiled against Deidara's lips and closed his eyes even as he let Deidara move them toward his bed.
Refusing to be pushed onto the bed, Sasuke wrapped his arms tightly around Deidara's wait
and kissed him, making him moan and running his tongue along his lips and into his mouth.
Deidara sighed and pressed closer to Sasuke-
"Food..."
Sasuke broke off the kiss and they both turned to stare at Naruto, who'd mumbled in his sleep.
Deidara chuckled, severely tempted to ruffle Naruto's hair, only slightly upset that Naruto was the reason Sasuke had let him go.
"We really shouldn't do this here," Sasuke said running a hand through his hair.
Deidara grinned, "He's a big boy. I think he can handle it."
Sasuke gave Deidara a cold look and turned away.
"Hey, I was kidding."
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah well-"
"Delivery!"
Saved by the delivery man.
Sasuke opened the door, paid the man and took the four large boxes of Pizza.
He set the boxes on the kitchen counter and raised an eyebrow at Deidara.
Deidara smiled, "Yes, I will have some."
Sasuke nodded as Deidara went to their small kitchen area.
Sasuke went to Naruto's bed and leaned down over the sleeping boy, shaking his shoulder gently.
"No...Sleep..."
Sasuke smiled warmly at that, "Wake up. The pizza's here."
Naruto opened his eyes sleepily and blinked up at Sasuke. Sasuke noted that Naruto looked...
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah?"
"I smell pizza."
Deidara laughed, "Yeah, we just finished it."
"WHAT?" Naruto asked; now fully awake as he sat up, barely missing a collision of heads as Sasuke sprung back.
"He's just teasing."
Naruto threw Deidara a look that said 'How dare you joke about food!'
Deidara and Sasuke chuckled.
Naruto and Sasuke joined Deidara and they sat down to their supper of pizza and soda.
"You two enjoy laughing at me," Naruto accused.
Sasuke, amused, said, "Well...yeah."
"And you're so cute, sucking your thumb while you sleep," Deidara teased.
"I do not...!" Naruto scowled, then- "Do I really?"
Sasuke chuckled, "No, relax."
Naruto sighed and picked up a large, stringy hot slice of pizza.
"So..."
They looked at him.
"...did you two do anything interesting while I was asleep?"
Deidara choked on his soda while Sasuke stared.
"What?"
"You're dating aren't you?" Naruto asked, not letting them answer even as Deidara shot a meaningful look at Sasuke. "Well, I guess that means you do couple-ly things-"
"Couple-ly?" Sasuke smirked.
"-and need your privacy to do them...wait...did you two kiss while I was asleep?"
"Um..."
"Don't 'um' me Sasuke!"
"Well..."
Naruto sighed like an irate parent, "Well...I guess that's okay...but if you even think about doing anything more...just ask me to leave."
Deidara and Sasuke were almost out of breath from laughing so hard at that.
"Anything more?" Deidara gasped.
Naruto looked at him dangerously, daring him to make a 'virgin' comment.
"You are such a cute little virgin!"
Naruto glared but it didn't quite have the right effect as he blushed as well.
When their laughter subsided, they quickly sobered as they noticed Naruto had taken advantage of
their gasping and inability to eat to polish off two whole pizzas and was halfway through the third.
Naruto grinned cheekily at them and went to the bathroom.
He took a quick shower to get ready for bed and walked out, towel around his waist...and stared.
Deidara had moved from his seat to stand by Sasuke.
Sasuke's hand was under Deidara's chin, kissing him leisurely.
Naruto had seen people kiss before...heck, he'd watched enough movies and read enough Google search results to understand the basics of making out but...
Deidara was leaning into Sasuke, his knees looking pretty wobbly and releasing soft moans and...
Did he just purr?
Naruto blushed when he saw Deidara's hand reach for Sasuke's belt.
"Ahem..."
They broke apart and smiled guiltily at Naruto as he hurried into his closet.
Deidara chuckled lightly, his eyes on Naruto's closet door.
"Did you know his body looked like that underneath all those clothes?"
Sasuke smirked, "Yeah."
Naruto changed into his pajamas and walked out of his closet to find them staring.
"What?"
"Nothing," Deidara grinned, stretching. "Well, I gotta go. Thanks for dinner."
He reached the door and looked at Naruto who was reading a book before bed.
"Hey..."
Naruto looked up.
"Have you had your first kiss yet?"
Naruto blushed furiously and sputtered as Deidara chuckled and walked out, mumbling something about kids in college and their innocence.
"You really haven't?" Sasuke asked, smiling at Naruto from his bed.
Naruto looked away, "It's no big deal."
Sasuke shrugged at that.
"Sasuke?"
"Mmm?"
"How does it feel?" Naruto asked, blushing.
"How does what feel?"
"Kissing..."
Naruto made sure not to look at the raven, keeping his glance firmly on the surprisingly interesting ceiling. He was sure Sasuke would laugh at him for being such a geek.
He felt a movement on his bed and he turned to face Sasuke, sitting on his bed, looking at him intently.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused.
Sasuke smiled and leaned over the blonde.
Naruto's eyes widened.
What the hell was Sasuke doing?
Naruto pressed himself further into his pillows, trying to put some distance between him and Sasuke.
Sasuke was looking at his lips like a man in a dessert would look at a bottle of cold, mineral water served by beautiful nymphos...
Sasuke looked back into Naruto's baby blue eyes and gave him a lust-filled look.
Naruto found his breathing greatly labored.
Sasuke was too close for comfort.
Naruto absently licked his dry lips and noted Sasuke's glance at his lips again. "S-Sasuke..."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and only lowered his head even more so that their lips were barely touching but barely apart...
Naruto had a strong urge to wrap his arms around the raven and allow himself to be kissed senseless...
Sasuke was hot, willing and obviously must have found him alittle attractive...
It would be so easy to just move forward...just kiss him...
Sasuke blew softly on Naruto's lips and Naruto closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying to remember to breathe.
Sasuke's kisses were obviously addictive. It just seemed that way...with how Naruto was presently acting...with how Deidara had acted...
Naruto put a hand against Sasuke's chest and pushed him away.
Sasuke looked surprised...shocked...someone had just pushed him away. Him!
Naruto looked unsurely at Sasuke then at the floor.
He figured Sasuke would chase him away now.
"I'll just go..."
"What? Go where?"
Naruto shrugged, "I'm sorry."
Sasuke was now truly bewildered. "For what?"
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who had pulled back when he'd pushed him and shivered. "I didn't-"
Sasuke chuckled, "I am so confused. What are you on about?"
Naruto looked away, "I-I'll leave now..."
"Do you want to go?" Sasuke asked worriedly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's my fault. You're with Deidara. I shouldn't-"
"Sheesh man, relax." Sasuke sighed. "Me and Deidara aren't exactly exclusive."
Naruto looked confused at that.
"It means we can date other people."
Now Naruto was really confused.
"Besides, you didn't do anything. I'm the one who came onto you...and just in case you didn't notice, nothing happened."
Naruto nodded slowly, "So...why did you-"
He stopped, blushing. What exactly does Sasuke want?
Sasuke smiled down at him, "Your first kiss, that's all."
Naruto frowned. I should really stop thinking out loud.
"Yes, you should."
Naruto bit his lip, "Right. So...you...want to give me my first kiss...?"
Sasuke nodded slowly, that lustful look coming back into his eyes.
"But...Deidara...?"
Sasuke shrugged, "He knows I'm not looking for something serious."
Naruto gaped then said, "So...you just want a kiss...that's it?"
Sasuke nodded, missing the slightly disappointed look on Naruto's face that he quickly hid.
Naruto sat up against his pillows, looking into Sasuke's eyes; the butterflies that were suddenly in his stomach were doing belly flops.
Sasuke moved forward again and rested his forehead on Naruto's, with one hand resting on the other side of Naruto's waist.
Sasuke's free hand came up to Naruto's face and he ran his thumb along Naruto's cheek, making the boy sigh and close his eyes.
Naruto shivered when Sasuke's thumb brushed his lips.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, who was already trembling and flushed and they hadn't even done anything...
He groaned and tilted his head, closing his eyes and pressing his lips onto Naruto's.
Naruto melted into him as Sasuke moved his lips against his.
Sasuke ran his hand through Naruto's hair and slid his tongue over Naruto's lower lip.
Naruto gasped, surprised and Sasuke slid his tongue into his mouth.
Naruto moaned as the raven's tongue licked his own.
Tentatively, Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck, drawing him closer and shyly touching his own tongue to Sasuke's, kissing him back.
The kiss was gentle, slow and exploring.
When Naruto sucked on Sasuke's tongue, the raven moaned and Naruto found himself smiling against his mouth.
Sasuke abruptly pulled back and gave Naruto a brief kiss before sitting further away, letting Naruto's hands drop back onto the bed.
Naruto was blushing furiously.
Sasuke ran his hands through his hair, taking in a deep breath.
"Um..." Naruto started. "Does it always feel like that?"
Sasuke smiled at him and answered truthfully, "No, not always."
With that, Sasuke walked to the bathroom.
As he carefully took off his jeans, he frowned to himself.
He'd felt different when he'd kissed Naruto...like he wasn't in control...
He wasn't used to that.
Sasuke looked down at his boxers and swore.
One little kiss and he was already-
"Damn it."
He took a quick cold shower and wore his pajama bottoms before going back into the room.
He kept his eyes away from Naruto, worried that if he looked at the blonde, he'd lose all restraint and take him right there.
Naruto smiled to himself, lying back down on his bed as Sasuke put out his bedside lamp.
He wasn't under any illusion that anything more than his first kiss had just happened.
Sure, it was amazing but then again, what did he know? It was his first kiss after all.
He figured things would go back to normal. After all, Sasuke had said he just wanted to give Naruto a kiss...that was all...
He hadn't sworn undying love or a white wedding...just a kiss. No need to be alarmed.
He wouldn't ask for more... Sasuke wasn't offering more...
Naruto wasn't even sure he wanted anything more with Sasuke. He was pretty sure he wasn't mature enough to handle an inexclusive relationship.
Berating himself, he rolled his eyes. No one had said anything about a relationship.
Sasuke wasn't one to have one person and Naruto was positive he wasn't one to share.
Naruto put a finger to his lips and smiled.
His first kiss...
And it had been with a guy.
He was definitely not as straight as he thought.
Thanks Sasuke.