Crossover // Apeiron Academy: Part II // three of a kind
Fandoms: Naruto/Fruits Basket
Focus: Sasuke/Naruto/Kyou
Prompt: poker
Genres: friendship, humour, romance, introspection, UST
Rating: K+
Wordcount: 1331
Summary: Friday nights at six, without fail.
Notes: Part two of Apeiron Academy. Warning: those slashes up there aren't kidding. Homoeroticism abounds, though in a very mild and non-explicit form.
three of a kind
The blackboard eraser hit the wall beside him with a dusty thunk. "You're late," growled Kyou, baring his unnaturally sharp canines.
Sasuke favoured him with a cool look. "I am never late. The meeting starts when I get here. That's always been the rule."
"Yeah, well, the rule sucks," growled Kyou heatedly, flipping the pack of cards through his hands with a sharp snap. "If you tell us to be here by six, you should freakin' well be here by six too."
"Yeah!" agreed Naruto enthusiastically, punching the air.
Sasuke glared at him. "Shut up, Naruto."
"Screw you, Sasuke," replied Naruto amiably, then shut up.
At a deliberately leisurely pace, Sasuke moved across the room and took his place at the table. As a mark of self-confidence-- arrogance, as Naruto often pointed out and just as often got punched in the face for-- he wore only his usual number of clothes. One shirt. One pair of shorts. Two wristbands, two shoes, one sock on each foot, and one pair of underwear. One headband identifying him as a member of the martial arts club. Nothing else.
Kyou, as usual, was bundled up like an Eskimo in February. Naruto fell somewhere in between, torn between the prospect of future humiliation and present humiliation.
Kyou snapped the deck between his fingers once again. "Well then. Now that everyone's here, shall we finally get this show on the road?"
"Yeah!" said Naruto, grinning and bouncing in his seat.
With swift, practiced movements, Kyou dealt the cards in the space of a few seconds. After picking his own up, he made his usual grimace and began rearranging them, as though putting them in a different order made them less of a crap hand.
A glimpse at his own hand told Sasuke that he would probably win this round, as usual. His luck was somehow unquestionably higher than the others. He didn't even believe in it, but he always won at this game and didn't really have a better explanation as to why.
Besides, he was much more interested in an explanation as to why they had started this bizarre tradition in the first place. They were all male, had at that point been ostensibly straight-- not so much anymore, though no one mentioned that-- and definitely had plenty of better things to do on a Friday night than play strip poker with a couple of friendly rivals. Nevertheless, every Friday evening at six found the three of them here in the literature club room, in various states of dress and often half-intoxicated. They had amassed a respectable store of liquor in the inexplicable mini-fridge-- why would the literature club need a mini-fridge?-- and the night always ended in something nobody could quite remember the morning after.
They were an odd mix, to be sure.
Sasuke was a law student, but by choice, not talent alone. He was, quite simply, one of those people who was good at everything. He had chosen law for a very personal reason-- his older brother, who had graduated with honours several years ago, had as his first case prosecuted their own parents for fraud and conspiracy against the government. They had died in jail, and Sasuke had never forgiven him for it. He was in law in the hopes of taking his brother on in a high-profile case and beating his traitorous ass into the ground.
Naruto was there on a football scholarship, but had shown an uncanny talent for all sports, martial arts especially. The karate club had gotten to him first, but he had equal aptitude for anything that involved moving his body. His intellect was hardly first class, but he had an innate cleverness which Sasuke had learned the hard way never to underestimate. An incident in middle school involving a closet, some rope, and a girl Naruto liked who liked Sasuke had taught him this lesson very quickly. They had been friends since then for many years despite their mutual antagonization.
Kyou was a newer addition to the friendship, having only met Naruto and Sasuke after coming to the Academy. He was generally unimpressed with both of them, but seemed to feel an inexplicable need to follow them all over campus. He was a zoology major and tended to like animals better than people, but apparently even someone as lonerish as him needed social contact sometimes. He'd chosen them for it, possibly because they were the polar opposite of clingy and usually kicked him out long before he got tired of hanging out with them. Personally, Sasuke believed that he was starved for affection but had learned from childhood that asking for it would only result in disgust and ostracization. Psychology was not his favourite course, but as he was good at everything, he couldn't help picking some of it up, and Kyou was practically a textbook case.
Despite being such an unlikely group, none of them had ever missed a Friday night poker meeting in two years.
"Full house," declared Sasuke, badly veiling the tone of triumph in his voice.
Kyou swore and threw his cards at the table, nearly catching one in the eye as it bounced on its corner and flew back up into the air.
Naruto made a disappointed face so exaggerated it resembled a caricature. "How come you always win, Sasuke? Do you cheat?"
"I don't cheat, Naruto. You're just terrible at this game. You're terrible at everything. Why are you so surprised?"
"I am not!" bellowed Naruto, throwing his cards down in favour of standing and leaning over the table to get into Sasuke's face.
Sasuke sneered. "Of course you are, dead last. You are a disgrace to this university, I've said it over and over again. I don't know why you stay."
"Don't be a dick, Sasuke," muttered Kyou under his breath, but as usual, neither of them listened to him.
Naruto's face instantly turned gratifyingly purple. "I stay for you, you bastard, you know that!"
Turning quite red himself, Kyou conjured a racking cough from nowhere and gathered the cards up, performing a habitual snap just to break the tense silence. "We lost, Naruto. Pay up," he said, removing his scarf with obvious relief. The room was already quite warm. Sweat beaded his forehead.
Naruto hesitated a moment, then sat down and removed his top shirt. "Whatever. You're a jerk, I don't know why I bother."
"We both know why you bother," corrected Sasuke smugly.
His friend had no answer for that, choosing instead to frown dramatically over the new set of cards he was dealt. It wasn't that he couldn't say it, or even that he wouldn't. It was because Kyou was there.
He had somehow become the mediator in their bizarre love/hate relationship, and was probably the only reason they hadn't killed each other yet. It was amusing because Kyou was hardly the mediator type-- he was just as hot-headed as Naruto, and just as arrogant as Sasuke, but he'd realized at some point way back when that if he didn't keep the peace between them he'd be forced to find companionship somewhere else... which was by the far the more unpleasant outcome. Most of the time he ended up yelling at both of them, and both of them ended up yelling at him, until somehow they all found themselves in a comically frantic wrestling match on the floor. Kyou was a biter, and with those sharp teeth he was no force to be taken lightly. Both Sasuke and Naruto had scars all over their arms from pissing him off. They were more careful and diplomatic nowadays.
Sasuke won the next round, and Kyou the round after that. Then Sasuke again, then Naruto for once causing Sasuke to lose his headband, then Sasuke almost constantly with brief interludes of Kyou until Naruto was completely naked. This was not an unusual outcome, nor an unwelcome one. As a sports major who spent most of his time working out, Naruto became progressively more pleasant to look at the less he was wearing.
Even Kyou was not immune: though he still pretended to unshakeable straightness, Sasuke had caught him many times surreptitiously ogling Naruto out the corners of his eyes. Sasuke was not threatened. Naruto had been his right from the beginning-- probably from the first day, though Naruto would never admit it even on pain of extra homework. Kyou could ogle all he liked. Sasuke liked him, and Naruto was mostly oblivious anyway.
After three more rounds, the remainder of the chips landed in front of Sasuke. He smirked triumphantly as Kyou, blushing ferociously and muttering under his breath, removed the rest of his half-dozen layers of clothing. Sasuke had only lost his headband and one sock.
There were, he reflected, worse ways to spend a Friday night.
XxxxxxX
A/N: I think I'm having the most fun here aligning their canon histories with a 'real world' scenario. *grin*
Fabulous illustration once again by the fabulous moko-moko.♥
Focus: Sasuke/Naruto/Kyou
Prompt: poker
Genres: friendship, humour, romance, introspection, UST
Rating: K+
Wordcount: 1331
Summary: Friday nights at six, without fail.
Notes: Part two of Apeiron Academy. Warning: those slashes up there aren't kidding. Homoeroticism abounds, though in a very mild and non-explicit form.
three of a kind
The blackboard eraser hit the wall beside him with a dusty thunk. "You're late," growled Kyou, baring his unnaturally sharp canines.
Sasuke favoured him with a cool look. "I am never late. The meeting starts when I get here. That's always been the rule."
"Yeah, well, the rule sucks," growled Kyou heatedly, flipping the pack of cards through his hands with a sharp snap. "If you tell us to be here by six, you should freakin' well be here by six too."
"Yeah!" agreed Naruto enthusiastically, punching the air.
Sasuke glared at him. "Shut up, Naruto."
"Screw you, Sasuke," replied Naruto amiably, then shut up.
At a deliberately leisurely pace, Sasuke moved across the room and took his place at the table. As a mark of self-confidence-- arrogance, as Naruto often pointed out and just as often got punched in the face for-- he wore only his usual number of clothes. One shirt. One pair of shorts. Two wristbands, two shoes, one sock on each foot, and one pair of underwear. One headband identifying him as a member of the martial arts club. Nothing else.
Kyou, as usual, was bundled up like an Eskimo in February. Naruto fell somewhere in between, torn between the prospect of future humiliation and present humiliation.
Kyou snapped the deck between his fingers once again. "Well then. Now that everyone's here, shall we finally get this show on the road?"
"Yeah!" said Naruto, grinning and bouncing in his seat.
With swift, practiced movements, Kyou dealt the cards in the space of a few seconds. After picking his own up, he made his usual grimace and began rearranging them, as though putting them in a different order made them less of a crap hand.
A glimpse at his own hand told Sasuke that he would probably win this round, as usual. His luck was somehow unquestionably higher than the others. He didn't even believe in it, but he always won at this game and didn't really have a better explanation as to why.
Besides, he was much more interested in an explanation as to why they had started this bizarre tradition in the first place. They were all male, had at that point been ostensibly straight-- not so much anymore, though no one mentioned that-- and definitely had plenty of better things to do on a Friday night than play strip poker with a couple of friendly rivals. Nevertheless, every Friday evening at six found the three of them here in the literature club room, in various states of dress and often half-intoxicated. They had amassed a respectable store of liquor in the inexplicable mini-fridge-- why would the literature club need a mini-fridge?-- and the night always ended in something nobody could quite remember the morning after.
They were an odd mix, to be sure.
Sasuke was a law student, but by choice, not talent alone. He was, quite simply, one of those people who was good at everything. He had chosen law for a very personal reason-- his older brother, who had graduated with honours several years ago, had as his first case prosecuted their own parents for fraud and conspiracy against the government. They had died in jail, and Sasuke had never forgiven him for it. He was in law in the hopes of taking his brother on in a high-profile case and beating his traitorous ass into the ground.
Naruto was there on a football scholarship, but had shown an uncanny talent for all sports, martial arts especially. The karate club had gotten to him first, but he had equal aptitude for anything that involved moving his body. His intellect was hardly first class, but he had an innate cleverness which Sasuke had learned the hard way never to underestimate. An incident in middle school involving a closet, some rope, and a girl Naruto liked who liked Sasuke had taught him this lesson very quickly. They had been friends since then for many years despite their mutual antagonization.
Kyou was a newer addition to the friendship, having only met Naruto and Sasuke after coming to the Academy. He was generally unimpressed with both of them, but seemed to feel an inexplicable need to follow them all over campus. He was a zoology major and tended to like animals better than people, but apparently even someone as lonerish as him needed social contact sometimes. He'd chosen them for it, possibly because they were the polar opposite of clingy and usually kicked him out long before he got tired of hanging out with them. Personally, Sasuke believed that he was starved for affection but had learned from childhood that asking for it would only result in disgust and ostracization. Psychology was not his favourite course, but as he was good at everything, he couldn't help picking some of it up, and Kyou was practically a textbook case.
Despite being such an unlikely group, none of them had ever missed a Friday night poker meeting in two years.
"Full house," declared Sasuke, badly veiling the tone of triumph in his voice.
Kyou swore and threw his cards at the table, nearly catching one in the eye as it bounced on its corner and flew back up into the air.
Naruto made a disappointed face so exaggerated it resembled a caricature. "How come you always win, Sasuke? Do you cheat?"
"I don't cheat, Naruto. You're just terrible at this game. You're terrible at everything. Why are you so surprised?"
"I am not!" bellowed Naruto, throwing his cards down in favour of standing and leaning over the table to get into Sasuke's face.
Sasuke sneered. "Of course you are, dead last. You are a disgrace to this university, I've said it over and over again. I don't know why you stay."
"Don't be a dick, Sasuke," muttered Kyou under his breath, but as usual, neither of them listened to him.
Naruto's face instantly turned gratifyingly purple. "I stay for you, you bastard, you know that!"
Turning quite red himself, Kyou conjured a racking cough from nowhere and gathered the cards up, performing a habitual snap just to break the tense silence. "We lost, Naruto. Pay up," he said, removing his scarf with obvious relief. The room was already quite warm. Sweat beaded his forehead.
Naruto hesitated a moment, then sat down and removed his top shirt. "Whatever. You're a jerk, I don't know why I bother."
"We both know why you bother," corrected Sasuke smugly.
His friend had no answer for that, choosing instead to frown dramatically over the new set of cards he was dealt. It wasn't that he couldn't say it, or even that he wouldn't. It was because Kyou was there.
He had somehow become the mediator in their bizarre love/hate relationship, and was probably the only reason they hadn't killed each other yet. It was amusing because Kyou was hardly the mediator type-- he was just as hot-headed as Naruto, and just as arrogant as Sasuke, but he'd realized at some point way back when that if he didn't keep the peace between them he'd be forced to find companionship somewhere else... which was by the far the more unpleasant outcome. Most of the time he ended up yelling at both of them, and both of them ended up yelling at him, until somehow they all found themselves in a comically frantic wrestling match on the floor. Kyou was a biter, and with those sharp teeth he was no force to be taken lightly. Both Sasuke and Naruto had scars all over their arms from pissing him off. They were more careful and diplomatic nowadays.
Sasuke won the next round, and Kyou the round after that. Then Sasuke again, then Naruto for once causing Sasuke to lose his headband, then Sasuke almost constantly with brief interludes of Kyou until Naruto was completely naked. This was not an unusual outcome, nor an unwelcome one. As a sports major who spent most of his time working out, Naruto became progressively more pleasant to look at the less he was wearing.
Even Kyou was not immune: though he still pretended to unshakeable straightness, Sasuke had caught him many times surreptitiously ogling Naruto out the corners of his eyes. Sasuke was not threatened. Naruto had been his right from the beginning-- probably from the first day, though Naruto would never admit it even on pain of extra homework. Kyou could ogle all he liked. Sasuke liked him, and Naruto was mostly oblivious anyway.
After three more rounds, the remainder of the chips landed in front of Sasuke. He smirked triumphantly as Kyou, blushing ferociously and muttering under his breath, removed the rest of his half-dozen layers of clothing. Sasuke had only lost his headband and one sock.
There were, he reflected, worse ways to spend a Friday night.
XxxxxxX
A/N: I think I'm having the most fun here aligning their canon histories with a 'real world' scenario. *grin*
Fabulous illustration once again by the fabulous moko-moko.♥