Beginning's End -- Chapter 2
Title: Beginning's End
Series: Naruto
Pairing: NaruSasuNaru
Author: Kit
Rating: Hard M
Genre: Romance (Grad Student AU)
Wordcount: 5480
Summary: His sun would rise and set in those blue eyes, but Uchiha Sasuke would always admire him secretly. His best friend was straight and madly in love with his soon-to-be fiancee. But a little trouble in paradise and one coy look could spark the end of their friendship -- but the beginning of a love neither anticipated -- assuming the two don't self destruct in the process.
Warnings: Adult themes; Drug and alcohol use; Promiscuity; Non-detailed sex scenes (m/m, possibly m/f and m/m/f) not enough for NC-17, but very explicit moments.
Beginning's End Chapter One
“And in this model, a one billion Euro increase at G at C1 = 0.9 yields an additional income of ten billion Euros.”
Sasuke’s voice reverberated in the small stuffy classroom as he squeaked out an equation on the dry erase board. He was melting. It may have been snowing outside, but why on earth they cranked up the radiators to max power in the classrooms was beyond Sasuke’s genius mind. They could have held a luau in here. No wonder the environment was doomed.
“Tatsuki, I admire your tonsils, but if you’re bored taking this class, imagine how boring it is to teach it.” He quipped to a student in the middle of the room.
The class chuckled as the boy snapped his mouth shut, blushing and giving the class a sunny smile.
“As I was saying, a decrease of T to the same extent only equals an increase of nine billion Euros. What does this mean?”
He turned to face the class.
“The conservatives are wrong?” The boy with the bright smile answered.
The class laughed again.
Sasuke fought both the urges to roll his eyes and to smirk. This kid always reminded him of someone…
“Assuming optimal market conditions, yes, the conservatives are wrong. That is a big assumption, by the way.” He noted. “In the real economy there are complicating factors. If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have a job.”
The class was still tittering behind him. Sasuke glanced at the clock above his head. Class was almost done. Thank heaven.
“Furthermore, the increase in government expenditure, G, affects aggregate income whereas decreased taxes only affects disposable income and household consumption.”
Sasuke put the cap back on his marker and tossed it into his bag.
“Saving annihilates a part 1 - C1. Remember that, it will be on your midterm.”
There was a flurry of activity as the class scribbled down the equations on the whiteboard.
“We’re done for today. Do the homework that’s indicated in your syllabus, and we’ll begin to talk about financial markets next week.”
Sasuke retrieved his USB key from the classroom computer and logged out of his user. As the class filed noisily out of the room, he caught a shock of blond hair waiting for him in the hallway. It actually took effort to keep his lips pinched into a frown.
“Professor Uchiha?”
Sasuke raised his head.
“It’s the second quarter, Tatsuki. Isn’t it a little late to start showing respect?”
He quirked one eyebrow as the kid on the other side of the desk rubbed his hand through his hair. A personality trait that was annoyingly familiar.
“Yeah, probably.” He grinned. “I just want to start this quarter out on the right foot. I was wondering if I could swing by your office hours on Monday.”
Sasuke gave him a reassuring nod, slinging his leather messenger bag over his shoulder.
“I will be there. See you Monday?”
“Sure thing, Professor!”
Tatsuki gave him a mock salute before disappearing down the hall.
“Professor?”
It wasn’t fair that one word from that idiot’s baritone voice could send his heart skittering into overdrive.
Naruto was grinning from the doorway, his eyebrows arched in amusement. Sasuke just shrugged.
“I wish I could get my students to call me ‘Professor.’” He muttered absently.
Sasuke snorted.
“You must be a good teacher, though. My TA never made the class laugh in a stupid Intro to Macro class.”
As Naruto poked the class schedule hanging next to the door for emphasis, Sasuke felt a small blush settling over his cheeks. Luckily, his flatmate was still looking at the schedule. He inhaled deeply and pushed past the other man.
“So are you ready to hit the pool?”
Naruto skipped to keep up with him.
“I brought your stuff!” He sang.
Sasuke worked out every evening after classes, and his roommate often tagged along. He suspected that Naruto only pushed swimming because it was the one and only thing in which he was clearly better than Sasuke. He’d been a swimmer in undergrad, and the idiot still liked to show off.
“Yeah, fine. We can swim today.”
The Uchiha liked to mix up his workouts anyway. It had absolutely nothing to do with the university swim team Speedo Naruto still liked to wear.
Well, while he was on the topic: “Did you bring your green panties?”
“They are not panties, and they make me go faster, asshole.” Naruto defended.
Sasuke hummed doubtfully.
“We’ll see who’s humming when I’m swimming laps around you!”
Sasuke just ignored him and pushed through the door into the chilled winter’s air.
Swimmers, Sasuke decided, were sadists. Masochists. Whatever. And Sasuke had a fairly personal understanding of the definition of sadomasochism. Everyone knows that swimming works all of the body’s muscles, but what Sasuke discovered that evening was that real swimmers know how to isolate each muscle and torture it individually.
He clutched his abs in the water and took a deep breath.
No wonder that idiot had such a nice body. Jesus Christ. Swimming was excruciating!
“Race me! Race me! Sasuke-kun, pleeeease?”
The Uchiha glared at his roommate.
“Fuck off.”
“Oh, come on! Are you scared you’re going to lose?” He challenged, slinging the water off of his bangs.
Dear gods, Naruto was beautiful with water clinging to his hair like that, blue eyes reflecting the ripples of the water. Sasuke scowled and looked away.
“I have no desire to humiliate myself so that you can impress that blonde lifeguard over there.”
“Oh, you’re no fun!” The idiot pouted, lifting himself from the water. “I’m going to go play on the diving boards. You wanna come?” He asked hopefully.
“You go ahead.”
“Watch me, OK?”
The Uchiha only shrugged.
Naruto stuck out his tongue and skipped like a child to the deep end.
Sasuke wondered, not for the first time, how he had the stamina to play around after nearly two hours of hard swimming. He gave his stomach an experimental poke, wondering whom he could convince to give him an ab massage. It almost hurt to breathe.
He pushed off the wall, doing a gentle cool down backstroke almost lazily across the pool. He didn’t particularly want to see Naruto flirting with that lifeguard.
He let the water wash over his goggles, staring at the ripples in the ceiling. Still, today hadn’t been a total loss… Naruto had practically humped him underwater. That was certainly a first.
Out of habit, Sasuke pursed his lips to hide his smirk.
His decision to work on core muscle strength, which in retrospect may have been a mistake, prompted Naruto to declare the day a butterfly day and grab an armful of pool equipment. Apparently, the butterfly’s kick, in addition to being horribly painful, had some sort of hip rhythm, and Sasuke, apparently, sucked some serious balls at it. After about fifteen minutes of nearly drowning himself in the shallow end, Naruto decided to take things into his own hands.
“It’s like this, Sasuke.” The other boy huffed, tearing his goggles off.
He felt Naruto’s body radiating heat as he stood behind him, despite the chill of the pool.
“Just put your hands like this.”
He slid his hands up Sasuke’s arms, capturing his wrists and putting them in a diving position above his head.
Sasuke inhaled sharply, thankful for the wash of cold water against his lower body. Not that it would help for long.
“The butterfly uses a two part dolphin kick.” He explained. “It has a big kick and a little kick. The big one you can use to pop your head out of the water when you need to breathe. At the end of the big kick, your back will arch, like so…”
Naruto ran one hand down Sasuke’s spine and he shivered involuntarily. Each of his vertebrae rolled, responding individually to the touch.
“Perfect.” He hummed into the crown of his skull.
Was it just Sasuke’s imagination, or had his flatmate’s voice dropped about half an octave?
“It’s really a full body kick, so it starts from the top of your spine and works its way down.”
Naruto fitted his body behind Sasuke’s and it was all he could do not to go completely rigid.
“Relax, asshole. I’m just going to help you feel the rhythm.”
So maybe his attempt not to stiffen like a corpse was a failure. Sasuke really wanted to say something, but he was afraid his voice would come out in a squeak.
“It’s like this: one, two, one two…”
And the idiot was literally humping him. Seriously, Naruto, what the fuck? Beneath the water, he had one hand on his chest and another on his belly, fingers splayed, trapping them together.
So Sasuke gave up, closed his eyes and decided to enjoy it - whilst trying not to pop a boner. It was a lot like dancing actually, except his hips shifted to the natural rhythm of the water rather than to whatever crap music the DJ decided to put on that night.
“Perfect!” Naruto beamed, squeezing him from behind and spinning him in circles.
Sasuke pushed away from him abruptly, turning away to hide his half-staff little friend.
“Thanks, idiot. Now in the future, could you please refrain from humping me in public? I think you gave that lifeguard an aneurism.”
Naruto had sputtered and gave the pretty blonde lifeguard an embarrassed little wave. Maybe it hadn’t helped his case with Naruto much, but at least embarrassing the idiot had soothed his ego a little bit.
Sasuke snorted under water at the memory. The bubbles rose to the surface, briefly obscuring his vision. He was just about to push off the wall when he felt something snake around his waist and pull him deeper underwater. On impulse, he gasped, and he emerged from the water coughing and choking and glaring metaphysical daggers at whoever had pulled him under.
The vision that met him was incredibly pale. He wore a purple swimming cap, purple goggles, and a teeny-weeny purple Speedo that put Naruto’s to shame. There was only one man alive who was so obsessed with purple.
“Suigetsu?” Sasuke asked incredulously, pulling his goggles down to float around his chin.
“Hey pretty boy! I didn’t know you liked to swim.”
“I don’t.” Sasuke muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I love to swim.”
Suigetsu demonstrated this love by doing a little flip under water.
“I could probably swim in the Olympics, but I’d never pass a drug screen.”
Sasuke snorted and pulled himself out of the pool to sit with his feet in the water.
“Sasuke!” Karin squeaked happily, depositing herself on his lap.
She was wearing a strange, long-sleeved swimsuit that Sasuke suspected was actually a leotard.
“You go to school here?” Sasuke asked, his eyes lingering on the university logo that had been painting on the bottom of the pool.
“Yeah, Sui is getting his bachelors in social work and I’m in med school.”
Sasuke’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline.
“You’re in medical school?”
“Oh come on pretty boy,” Karin punched him in the bicep, “intelligence and a healthy appreciation for the human phallus are not mutually exclusive.”
She leaned closer to whisper in his ear.
“You should know.” She drawled.
Suigetsu arched gracefully out of the water, wiggling as close to Sasuke as physically possible.
“So what brings you here?” He asked, nudging him in the ribs. “If you’re so anti-swimming.
Sasuke glared out of the corner of his eyes.
“My roommate likes to come.” He muttered.
“So, that is sunshine?” Karin asked, her amber eyes glued to the diving board. “Jesus, Sasuke, no wonder you’re so fixated on him.”
“I am not fixated!”
Naruto chose that moment to do an impressive back flip.
“Want to bring him home, love?” Sui asked his girlfriend, following the blond’s strong strokes to the edge of the pool.
“You are not taking him home!”
“So not fixated.” Suigetsu quipped.
“He has a girlfriend, for gods sake!” Sasuke defended, sounding significantly bitterer than he intended.
“I always suspected you’d be possessive of someone you really loved.” Karin noted.
“I’m not possessive! And I don’t…”
“Everyone wants to be loved, Sasuke.” Suigetsu interrupted, still following the blond swimmer with his eyes. “And if fucked up people, like me and Karin, found love…”
Karin reached across Sasuke’s lap and gave her boyfriend a loud smooch on his cheek.
“Just tell him someday.” Karin ordered.
“What are you…”
Sasuke didn’t even know why he was protesting anymore.
“Tell him how you feel, preferably before he marries some pretty bitch.” She gave Sasuke a pointed look. “You’ll feel better, even if it doesn’t go well.”
“And just fucking him doesn’t count.” Suigetsu noted.
“What part of ‘girlfriend’ did you misunderstand” Sasuke responded bitterly.
“I have a girlfriend, and I have sex with men.” Suigetsu defended, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“I’m pretty sure he’d be traumatised.”
“Only a real moron would be traumatised by a love confession from you, beautiful.” Karin pushed the lump of wet hair away from Sasuke’s forehead.
Sasuke didn’t mention that Naruto was a pretty big moron.
“But now, onto more important topics,” she chirped, “are you coming to the club this Saturday? Everyone’s all abuzz about you and Juugo!”
Sasuke didn’t notice the bright blue eyes watching him from across the pool. A beautiful young woman was sitting on Sasuke in an entirely inappropriate way, and Sasuke didn’t push her away. On the contrary, he looked comfortable with her.
Tall, ginger and athletic… Naruto hummed appreciatively. Sasuke did well. She did have an impressive figure, even with that weird ass bathing suit.
Naruto did a flip off the diving board, plunging deep into the water.
It stung to see Sasuke so comfortable with someone, but perhaps it was the boy sitting next to them that really broke Naruto’s heart.
He’d seen this boy before, admired him actually. He’d never seen such an impressive swimmer up close. He was fair skinned with blond hair so pale it was almost silver.
Naruto swam to the edge of the pool. He could feel the gaze of Sasuke and his friends boring into him as he climbed the ladder to the board. He gave them a hesitant peek over his shoulder as he stood with only his toes on the edge of the board. They’d gone back to talking in their own little world, Sasuke swatting at the boy, who was trying to pinch his cheeks.
The scene was so familiar it actually hurt. Except instead of those two, it would have been Sakura trying to seduce Sasuke, and himself poking Sasuke in the side. Sometime before he and Sakura started dating - sometime before everything changed.
It seemed there was a gulf between him and Sasuke, and for the first time he felt its weight. He’d put so much emotional effort into trying to sustain his relationship with Sakura, somewhere along the way he had just let Sasuke slip away silently into the night.
Naruto let himself fall into the water one last time. He swam to the edge of the pool, poking his head out just as Sasuke leaned forward to kiss the girl, but pulled away when she responded. She slapped him, and the boy beside them burst out into obnoxious laughter.
No, Naruto was wrong. The three of them had never been so close.
Naruto closed his eyes, allowing the scene to burn in his stomach. He wanted to be sick. Having completely lost the playful mood for diving, Naruto put on his happiest face and prepared to meet Sasuke’s new most important people.
But Sasuke beat him to it. He pushed the pretty girl into the other guys lap and met him halfway to the diving boards.”
“See you Saturday!” The girl chirped.
Sasuke waved behind him without looking.
“Let’s go moron. I’m cold.”
Sasuke pulled Naruto toward the locker room by his wrist.
“Who are they?” Naruto asked, trying to be cheerful.
“You won’t like them.”
Naruto looked over his shoulder. They waved happily. The boy gave him a bright snaggletoothed grin. He waved hesitantly and, with a heavy heart, let Sasuke pull him toward the showers.
Naruto stood silently in the hallway, leaning casually against the wall, his eyebrows pinched together in concentration. It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons that he spent holed up in his flat with his favourite flatmate. But about that flatmate in question...
Sasuke was different. He sat with his legs folded beneath him as he poured through article after article with his highlighter and note cards. Working on his thesis no doubt. While this dedication to his studies was nothing new, his posture was different - relaxed - and the worry lines between his eyes were slowly fading.
Naruto had been noticing the subtle changes in Sasuke's behaviour for some time, but he was just beginning to realise that it probably had nothing to do with his influence, and everything to do with those two friends they'd run into at the pool.
None of his own friends, save Sakura, really much cared for his stuffy Uchiha, and Naruto had always felt that he had a precious and well-kept secret. Uchiha Sasuke, despite his prickly exterior, was a damn good friend - fiercely loyal and dependable. Selfish as it was, he didn't want to share him with anyone else. Sasuke was special. Their friendship was special.
After about the fiftieth time Sasuke swept his silky black bangs away from his face, just to have them immediately fall back into his eyes, he let out an annoyed huff. He plucked the bright pink hair clip Sakura had left on the coffee table the day before, inspected it suspiciously, then clipped his hair away from his eyes.
Naruto couldn't capture the snort of laughter that sneaked through his nose.
Sasuke peered over his shoulder and threw Naruto an easy smile.
Did he smile for his other friends?
“Manly. I'm aware.”
“I don't know, S'uke, pink is a good colour on you.”
“If you're into cyber-punk.” Sasuke muttered.
Naruto crossed the room and plopped himself onto the coffee table, effectively obscuring most of the articles thereon.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“Jesus. You're worse than your cat.”
There was indeed a cat occupying a good fifty percent of the coffee table, but it wasn't the normal fat, fluffy blue tabby that claimed Sasuke as her own. This cat was far fatter and fluffier and distinctly orange. He lay on his back, his white paws outstretched in order to occupy as much, or slightly more, space as was physically possible. Incidentally, a twenty-pound cat can command a good deal of space.
“Oh, leave Kyu-Kyu alone.” Naruto pouted.
Naruto had to admit, that when they had found these two pocket-sized fuzz balls mewing helplessly in the gutter, he had not expected them to grow into two massive Maine Coons, with hair sticking out from literally every direction. Sasuke vacuumed nearly every day.
Naruto pulled the clip out of Sasuke's hair, watching his black locks cascade across his forehead.
“Emo haircut.” Naruto commented. “Sexy but annoying?”
He grinned and reclipped those errant bangs, turning the clip sideways so it looked like a bubblegum coloured bow atop a mass of dark silk.
Sasuke felt his head and rolled his eyes.
“Thanks.” He muttered sarcastically.
Naruto didn't reply. He sat idly fiddling with his flatmate's hair. It was beautiful, actually - and so soft - and cooperative. He'd always been a bit envious of that bit. He did everything he could in the morning to control the chaos of his own blond mop. He chewed on his lip.
“What's wrong, idiot?”
Sasuke was studying him carefully.
“You're thinking, and that's rarely a good thing.”
Naruto gave Sasuke's hair a playful yank.
“Oh I don't know...”
Naruto paused. Well disclosure was usually the best policy, right?
“It's about these new friends of yours.”
Sasuke said nothing.
“I'm kind of... well... jealous.”
Sasuke startled.
“You're jealous?” He sounded incredulous.
“I mean I'm happy you have good people in your life, but I can't help it. I know it's not fair, but I'm used to being the most important person in your life, and it's hard to lose you.”
The Uchiha remained silent.
“Maybe Sakura's right. Maybe I am super controlling...”
Sasuke snorted. “Dumbass. You aren't controlling and you aren't losing me.”
The Uchiha rested one pale hand on his flatmate's knee.
Naruto gave him a little snort and a lopsided grin. Sasuke wasn't known to be terribly comfortable displaying affection. He pulled his thorny roommate into a hug - or more like pulled his head into a hug, pink clip and all, as he was seated above him. He threaded his fingers through his hair, and felt Sasuke deflate beside him.
“One more question...”
He felt more than heard Sasuke's 'hmm.'
“Why are you hiding your friends from us?”
Sasuke pulled out of the hug to look his friend in the eye.
“I'm not hiding them.”
“Why won't you let me meet them?”
“I don't think you'll like them.” Sasuke replied, his tone growing defensive.
“Well, they seem nice.”
“They are nice, they just…” Sasuke sighed heavily. “They have a different moral code from your average people, and I don't think you'll like it.”
“What? They're like vigilante serial killers or something?”
“Υοu watch too much TV, idiot.”
Naruto worried on his lip, continuing to run his fingernails along Sasuke's scalp.
Sasuke sighed loudly.
“Karin is a recovering junkie with a history of self harm. Suigetsu has more drugs in his system at any given moment than the police evidence locker. They're good people, Naruto, but they don't belong to your world.”
Naruto remained silent for a moment as Sasuke appeared to study him intently.
“I get it.” The blond replied, his voice a soft grumble in the silent room. “So they have self-destructive personalities.”
“I'm not looking for your psychoanalyst bullshit, Naruto.” His flatmate bit with a chill to his voice.
“Oh, hear me out, asshole.” Naruto glared with all the intensity of a grumpy kitten. “I understand why you're attracted to people like that. It's not like it's a bad thing. Jeez.”
Sasuke tilted his head. In fact, he always tilted his head when he was confused, and Naruto thought it was one of his more adorable habits. Of course, considering the fact that many of Sasuke's habits involved using Naruto as a punching bag, the competition for 'most adorable' wasn't terribly steep.
“Look, there's a reason why they do things like recovery in groups.” Naruto continued. “There's a part of you, like a hidden darkness, that you think normal people can't understand - that I can't touch.”
Sasuke blinked. He looked surprised.
“These friends of yours, Karin and Suigetsu, they understand that part of you. And you've built a separate dark self that you express for them.”
Naruto tightened his grip in Sasuke's hair.
“I respect that.” He continued. “And I respect that you want to keep these worlds distinct - to keep your darkness away from your real life. But be careful.”
He ran his finger down a pale cheek.
Sasuke's breathing was faster than normal, rising and falling in his chest instead of his gut.
Naruto chuckled softly and pulled away. It seemed Sasuke had filled his human contact quota for the day.
“If something goes wrong,” Naruto breathed. “You three can pull each other down. I don't think I could watch you lose yourself again. And…”
Naruto paused for dramatic effect.
“Just because I agree to respect your space, doesn't mean I'll stop wanting to meet the people you care about.”
Sasuke nodded.
“Besides, asshole, adulthood is about integrating your different selves. Everyone has to do it at some point.”
Naruto gave him a little punch on his bicep and pulled him in for one final squeeze. He frowned when he felt Sasuke's nearly imperceptible wince.
“Sorry, Uchiha. I can stop talking about my feelings so you can return to your manly pinkness.”
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but the front door opened and a pink head popped inside.
The change in the room was palpable. Sasuke's eyes immediately hardened, like someone had slammed a window shut, while Sakura threw him a look that reeked disgustingly of jealousy. Naruto's stomach sank. Sakura's jealousy of his best friend's affection burnt him.
Sasuke gave her an ugly glare before pulling out the hair clip and gathering his papers.
“You don't have to go, Sasuke.” Sakura brightened, trying to mask her faux pas. “I'm just stopping by for a couple of hours before work. We haven't seen each other much this week.”
She nodded toward Naruto and gave him a wet smack on the lips. Naruto remained distracted, his eyes fixed on Sasuke's retreating form.
It was Sakura - this distance he'd been feeling. She had changed everything in their friendship. The girl he had loved all his life had driven a wedge between him and his best friend, and Naruto had spent four years pretending not to notice. The guilt slipped thick down his throat, and he didn't, for the life of him, know what to do.
Naruto gave his girlfriend a playful kiss on the nose and told her to wait. He followed Sasuke to his room.
“S'uke...”
A pair of blank black eyes regarded him.
“I'll just go get groceries. What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“Ra...”
“Besides ramen.” Sasuke interrupted.
“Anything easy.” Naruto replied. “I'm happy to cook?”
Sasuke gave him a doubtful look.
“OK, OK, I can't cook. But I can make delicious cake!”
Sasuke said nothing as he straightened his papers on his desk.
“What about that red sauce with the ham and stuff?” Naruto asked after a moment of silence.
“Amatriciana? Do you eat anything besides carbs?”
Sasuke was being snippy with him. God, wasn't communication supposed to go both ways?
“No... Sasuke, listen I...”
“I'll be back in two hours.”
“Damnit Sasuke!”
Naruto jerked his chin toward him. His flatmate's eyes widened. He froze.
“This is exactly what I was talking about. You're running away from me. I know you hate Sakura, but help me out here. What the hell am I supposed to do? Can't I keep you both?”
Sasuke's rigid posture relaxed and he diverted his eyes.
“I don't hate her.”
“What should I do?”
Naruto watched the colours of different responses flashing across his eyes.
Sasuke eventually shook his head.
“I don't know.” He breathed heavily. “Spend the next two hours fucking your girlfriend, while I get the hell out of here.”
“Sasuke...” Naruto pleaded.
“It's what I'd do. You said things have been going better. Enjoy it. I just don't particularly want to listen. Sakura is actually really loud, and you're not so quiet yourself.”
Naruto could feel his cheeks flaming as he turned about one hundred shades of purple.
“Whatever. I like to show my appreciation. You probably just grunt and curse and go 'hn.'”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was smirking. At least he wasn't pissy any more.
“I really wish we got along like we used to.” Naruto bit the inside of his cheek. “We used to hang out all the time… the three of us.”
His flatmate shook his head.
“She treats you like crap, idiot. It’s hard to watch.”
Naruto squeezed his roommate around the middle, muffling something in his shoulder that sounded suspiciously like ‘Jesus Christ, you’re snuggly today.’ Naruto figured he was always snuggly, just Sasuke had usually punched him by now.
Sasuke pulled away, stuffing his wallet in the back pocket oh his jeans. He slipped out of the apartment without making further eye contact. As the click of the door echoed in the empty hallway, he settled heavily against the wall. Naruto’s new dedication to patch the little rift in their friendship was excruciating. The touch - Naruto’s hands and his emotional closeness smouldered in his gut, whisping smoke even in his fingertips. There was a reason he’d let the idiot slide slowly away in the first place.
The Uchiha sighed, digging in his coat pocket for his mobile phone. He smirked triumphantly when he found the number he was looking for.
“Juugo.”
His voice had already adopted a lusty husk.
“I have two hours…”
And when he returned home later than he had anticipated with mussed hair and a bleeding lip, Sakura was just leaving. Naruto thought he’d gotten mugged, but Sakura watched him stagger to the bathroom with watery green eyes. As the scalding water washed over his sensitive skin he thought maybe he should try to break those to up. She’d deserve it anyway.
Author's Note: I'll say again that I'll never hold chapters hostage for reviews, but they do encourage me to update faster. :) I'm pretty sure I'll continue this anyway, as it's taken root in my head, but if you're interested in my story please let me know. I'll love you. I also said in the last chapter that, as it's been a really long time since I've undertaken a large project, I'm feeling rather insecure. I want to improve as an author, so please, criticize me. I promise I take criticism very well! See you in chapter 3?
Beginning's End Chapter Three
Comments and criticism welcome! :)
Series: Naruto
Pairing: NaruSasuNaru
Author: Kit
Rating: Hard M
Genre: Romance (Grad Student AU)
Wordcount: 5480
Summary: His sun would rise and set in those blue eyes, but Uchiha Sasuke would always admire him secretly. His best friend was straight and madly in love with his soon-to-be fiancee. But a little trouble in paradise and one coy look could spark the end of their friendship -- but the beginning of a love neither anticipated -- assuming the two don't self destruct in the process.
Warnings: Adult themes; Drug and alcohol use; Promiscuity; Non-detailed sex scenes (m/m, possibly m/f and m/m/f) not enough for NC-17, but very explicit moments.
Beginning's End Chapter One
“And in this model, a one billion Euro increase at G at C1 = 0.9 yields an additional income of ten billion Euros.”
Sasuke’s voice reverberated in the small stuffy classroom as he squeaked out an equation on the dry erase board. He was melting. It may have been snowing outside, but why on earth they cranked up the radiators to max power in the classrooms was beyond Sasuke’s genius mind. They could have held a luau in here. No wonder the environment was doomed.
“Tatsuki, I admire your tonsils, but if you’re bored taking this class, imagine how boring it is to teach it.” He quipped to a student in the middle of the room.
The class chuckled as the boy snapped his mouth shut, blushing and giving the class a sunny smile.
“As I was saying, a decrease of T to the same extent only equals an increase of nine billion Euros. What does this mean?”
He turned to face the class.
“The conservatives are wrong?” The boy with the bright smile answered.
The class laughed again.
Sasuke fought both the urges to roll his eyes and to smirk. This kid always reminded him of someone…
“Assuming optimal market conditions, yes, the conservatives are wrong. That is a big assumption, by the way.” He noted. “In the real economy there are complicating factors. If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have a job.”
The class was still tittering behind him. Sasuke glanced at the clock above his head. Class was almost done. Thank heaven.
“Furthermore, the increase in government expenditure, G, affects aggregate income whereas decreased taxes only affects disposable income and household consumption.”
Sasuke put the cap back on his marker and tossed it into his bag.
“Saving annihilates a part 1 - C1. Remember that, it will be on your midterm.”
There was a flurry of activity as the class scribbled down the equations on the whiteboard.
“We’re done for today. Do the homework that’s indicated in your syllabus, and we’ll begin to talk about financial markets next week.”
Sasuke retrieved his USB key from the classroom computer and logged out of his user. As the class filed noisily out of the room, he caught a shock of blond hair waiting for him in the hallway. It actually took effort to keep his lips pinched into a frown.
“Professor Uchiha?”
Sasuke raised his head.
“It’s the second quarter, Tatsuki. Isn’t it a little late to start showing respect?”
He quirked one eyebrow as the kid on the other side of the desk rubbed his hand through his hair. A personality trait that was annoyingly familiar.
“Yeah, probably.” He grinned. “I just want to start this quarter out on the right foot. I was wondering if I could swing by your office hours on Monday.”
Sasuke gave him a reassuring nod, slinging his leather messenger bag over his shoulder.
“I will be there. See you Monday?”
“Sure thing, Professor!”
Tatsuki gave him a mock salute before disappearing down the hall.
“Professor?”
It wasn’t fair that one word from that idiot’s baritone voice could send his heart skittering into overdrive.
Naruto was grinning from the doorway, his eyebrows arched in amusement. Sasuke just shrugged.
“I wish I could get my students to call me ‘Professor.’” He muttered absently.
Sasuke snorted.
“You must be a good teacher, though. My TA never made the class laugh in a stupid Intro to Macro class.”
As Naruto poked the class schedule hanging next to the door for emphasis, Sasuke felt a small blush settling over his cheeks. Luckily, his flatmate was still looking at the schedule. He inhaled deeply and pushed past the other man.
“So are you ready to hit the pool?”
Naruto skipped to keep up with him.
“I brought your stuff!” He sang.
Sasuke worked out every evening after classes, and his roommate often tagged along. He suspected that Naruto only pushed swimming because it was the one and only thing in which he was clearly better than Sasuke. He’d been a swimmer in undergrad, and the idiot still liked to show off.
“Yeah, fine. We can swim today.”
The Uchiha liked to mix up his workouts anyway. It had absolutely nothing to do with the university swim team Speedo Naruto still liked to wear.
Well, while he was on the topic: “Did you bring your green panties?”
“They are not panties, and they make me go faster, asshole.” Naruto defended.
Sasuke hummed doubtfully.
“We’ll see who’s humming when I’m swimming laps around you!”
Sasuke just ignored him and pushed through the door into the chilled winter’s air.
Swimmers, Sasuke decided, were sadists. Masochists. Whatever. And Sasuke had a fairly personal understanding of the definition of sadomasochism. Everyone knows that swimming works all of the body’s muscles, but what Sasuke discovered that evening was that real swimmers know how to isolate each muscle and torture it individually.
He clutched his abs in the water and took a deep breath.
No wonder that idiot had such a nice body. Jesus Christ. Swimming was excruciating!
“Race me! Race me! Sasuke-kun, pleeeease?”
The Uchiha glared at his roommate.
“Fuck off.”
“Oh, come on! Are you scared you’re going to lose?” He challenged, slinging the water off of his bangs.
Dear gods, Naruto was beautiful with water clinging to his hair like that, blue eyes reflecting the ripples of the water. Sasuke scowled and looked away.
“I have no desire to humiliate myself so that you can impress that blonde lifeguard over there.”
“Oh, you’re no fun!” The idiot pouted, lifting himself from the water. “I’m going to go play on the diving boards. You wanna come?” He asked hopefully.
“You go ahead.”
“Watch me, OK?”
The Uchiha only shrugged.
Naruto stuck out his tongue and skipped like a child to the deep end.
Sasuke wondered, not for the first time, how he had the stamina to play around after nearly two hours of hard swimming. He gave his stomach an experimental poke, wondering whom he could convince to give him an ab massage. It almost hurt to breathe.
He pushed off the wall, doing a gentle cool down backstroke almost lazily across the pool. He didn’t particularly want to see Naruto flirting with that lifeguard.
He let the water wash over his goggles, staring at the ripples in the ceiling. Still, today hadn’t been a total loss… Naruto had practically humped him underwater. That was certainly a first.
Out of habit, Sasuke pursed his lips to hide his smirk.
His decision to work on core muscle strength, which in retrospect may have been a mistake, prompted Naruto to declare the day a butterfly day and grab an armful of pool equipment. Apparently, the butterfly’s kick, in addition to being horribly painful, had some sort of hip rhythm, and Sasuke, apparently, sucked some serious balls at it. After about fifteen minutes of nearly drowning himself in the shallow end, Naruto decided to take things into his own hands.
“It’s like this, Sasuke.” The other boy huffed, tearing his goggles off.
He felt Naruto’s body radiating heat as he stood behind him, despite the chill of the pool.
“Just put your hands like this.”
He slid his hands up Sasuke’s arms, capturing his wrists and putting them in a diving position above his head.
Sasuke inhaled sharply, thankful for the wash of cold water against his lower body. Not that it would help for long.
“The butterfly uses a two part dolphin kick.” He explained. “It has a big kick and a little kick. The big one you can use to pop your head out of the water when you need to breathe. At the end of the big kick, your back will arch, like so…”
Naruto ran one hand down Sasuke’s spine and he shivered involuntarily. Each of his vertebrae rolled, responding individually to the touch.
“Perfect.” He hummed into the crown of his skull.
Was it just Sasuke’s imagination, or had his flatmate’s voice dropped about half an octave?
“It’s really a full body kick, so it starts from the top of your spine and works its way down.”
Naruto fitted his body behind Sasuke’s and it was all he could do not to go completely rigid.
“Relax, asshole. I’m just going to help you feel the rhythm.”
So maybe his attempt not to stiffen like a corpse was a failure. Sasuke really wanted to say something, but he was afraid his voice would come out in a squeak.
“It’s like this: one, two, one two…”
And the idiot was literally humping him. Seriously, Naruto, what the fuck? Beneath the water, he had one hand on his chest and another on his belly, fingers splayed, trapping them together.
So Sasuke gave up, closed his eyes and decided to enjoy it - whilst trying not to pop a boner. It was a lot like dancing actually, except his hips shifted to the natural rhythm of the water rather than to whatever crap music the DJ decided to put on that night.
“Perfect!” Naruto beamed, squeezing him from behind and spinning him in circles.
Sasuke pushed away from him abruptly, turning away to hide his half-staff little friend.
“Thanks, idiot. Now in the future, could you please refrain from humping me in public? I think you gave that lifeguard an aneurism.”
Naruto had sputtered and gave the pretty blonde lifeguard an embarrassed little wave. Maybe it hadn’t helped his case with Naruto much, but at least embarrassing the idiot had soothed his ego a little bit.
Sasuke snorted under water at the memory. The bubbles rose to the surface, briefly obscuring his vision. He was just about to push off the wall when he felt something snake around his waist and pull him deeper underwater. On impulse, he gasped, and he emerged from the water coughing and choking and glaring metaphysical daggers at whoever had pulled him under.
The vision that met him was incredibly pale. He wore a purple swimming cap, purple goggles, and a teeny-weeny purple Speedo that put Naruto’s to shame. There was only one man alive who was so obsessed with purple.
“Suigetsu?” Sasuke asked incredulously, pulling his goggles down to float around his chin.
“Hey pretty boy! I didn’t know you liked to swim.”
“I don’t.” Sasuke muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I love to swim.”
Suigetsu demonstrated this love by doing a little flip under water.
“I could probably swim in the Olympics, but I’d never pass a drug screen.”
Sasuke snorted and pulled himself out of the pool to sit with his feet in the water.
“Sasuke!” Karin squeaked happily, depositing herself on his lap.
She was wearing a strange, long-sleeved swimsuit that Sasuke suspected was actually a leotard.
“You go to school here?” Sasuke asked, his eyes lingering on the university logo that had been painting on the bottom of the pool.
“Yeah, Sui is getting his bachelors in social work and I’m in med school.”
Sasuke’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline.
“You’re in medical school?”
“Oh come on pretty boy,” Karin punched him in the bicep, “intelligence and a healthy appreciation for the human phallus are not mutually exclusive.”
She leaned closer to whisper in his ear.
“You should know.” She drawled.
Suigetsu arched gracefully out of the water, wiggling as close to Sasuke as physically possible.
“So what brings you here?” He asked, nudging him in the ribs. “If you’re so anti-swimming.
Sasuke glared out of the corner of his eyes.
“My roommate likes to come.” He muttered.
“So, that is sunshine?” Karin asked, her amber eyes glued to the diving board. “Jesus, Sasuke, no wonder you’re so fixated on him.”
“I am not fixated!”
Naruto chose that moment to do an impressive back flip.
“Want to bring him home, love?” Sui asked his girlfriend, following the blond’s strong strokes to the edge of the pool.
“You are not taking him home!”
“So not fixated.” Suigetsu quipped.
“He has a girlfriend, for gods sake!” Sasuke defended, sounding significantly bitterer than he intended.
“I always suspected you’d be possessive of someone you really loved.” Karin noted.
“I’m not possessive! And I don’t…”
“Everyone wants to be loved, Sasuke.” Suigetsu interrupted, still following the blond swimmer with his eyes. “And if fucked up people, like me and Karin, found love…”
Karin reached across Sasuke’s lap and gave her boyfriend a loud smooch on his cheek.
“Just tell him someday.” Karin ordered.
“What are you…”
Sasuke didn’t even know why he was protesting anymore.
“Tell him how you feel, preferably before he marries some pretty bitch.” She gave Sasuke a pointed look. “You’ll feel better, even if it doesn’t go well.”
“And just fucking him doesn’t count.” Suigetsu noted.
“What part of ‘girlfriend’ did you misunderstand” Sasuke responded bitterly.
“I have a girlfriend, and I have sex with men.” Suigetsu defended, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“I’m pretty sure he’d be traumatised.”
“Only a real moron would be traumatised by a love confession from you, beautiful.” Karin pushed the lump of wet hair away from Sasuke’s forehead.
Sasuke didn’t mention that Naruto was a pretty big moron.
“But now, onto more important topics,” she chirped, “are you coming to the club this Saturday? Everyone’s all abuzz about you and Juugo!”
Sasuke didn’t notice the bright blue eyes watching him from across the pool. A beautiful young woman was sitting on Sasuke in an entirely inappropriate way, and Sasuke didn’t push her away. On the contrary, he looked comfortable with her.
Tall, ginger and athletic… Naruto hummed appreciatively. Sasuke did well. She did have an impressive figure, even with that weird ass bathing suit.
Naruto did a flip off the diving board, plunging deep into the water.
It stung to see Sasuke so comfortable with someone, but perhaps it was the boy sitting next to them that really broke Naruto’s heart.
He’d seen this boy before, admired him actually. He’d never seen such an impressive swimmer up close. He was fair skinned with blond hair so pale it was almost silver.
Naruto swam to the edge of the pool. He could feel the gaze of Sasuke and his friends boring into him as he climbed the ladder to the board. He gave them a hesitant peek over his shoulder as he stood with only his toes on the edge of the board. They’d gone back to talking in their own little world, Sasuke swatting at the boy, who was trying to pinch his cheeks.
The scene was so familiar it actually hurt. Except instead of those two, it would have been Sakura trying to seduce Sasuke, and himself poking Sasuke in the side. Sometime before he and Sakura started dating - sometime before everything changed.
It seemed there was a gulf between him and Sasuke, and for the first time he felt its weight. He’d put so much emotional effort into trying to sustain his relationship with Sakura, somewhere along the way he had just let Sasuke slip away silently into the night.
Naruto let himself fall into the water one last time. He swam to the edge of the pool, poking his head out just as Sasuke leaned forward to kiss the girl, but pulled away when she responded. She slapped him, and the boy beside them burst out into obnoxious laughter.
No, Naruto was wrong. The three of them had never been so close.
Naruto closed his eyes, allowing the scene to burn in his stomach. He wanted to be sick. Having completely lost the playful mood for diving, Naruto put on his happiest face and prepared to meet Sasuke’s new most important people.
But Sasuke beat him to it. He pushed the pretty girl into the other guys lap and met him halfway to the diving boards.”
“See you Saturday!” The girl chirped.
Sasuke waved behind him without looking.
“Let’s go moron. I’m cold.”
Sasuke pulled Naruto toward the locker room by his wrist.
“Who are they?” Naruto asked, trying to be cheerful.
“You won’t like them.”
Naruto looked over his shoulder. They waved happily. The boy gave him a bright snaggletoothed grin. He waved hesitantly and, with a heavy heart, let Sasuke pull him toward the showers.
Naruto stood silently in the hallway, leaning casually against the wall, his eyebrows pinched together in concentration. It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons that he spent holed up in his flat with his favourite flatmate. But about that flatmate in question...
Sasuke was different. He sat with his legs folded beneath him as he poured through article after article with his highlighter and note cards. Working on his thesis no doubt. While this dedication to his studies was nothing new, his posture was different - relaxed - and the worry lines between his eyes were slowly fading.
Naruto had been noticing the subtle changes in Sasuke's behaviour for some time, but he was just beginning to realise that it probably had nothing to do with his influence, and everything to do with those two friends they'd run into at the pool.
None of his own friends, save Sakura, really much cared for his stuffy Uchiha, and Naruto had always felt that he had a precious and well-kept secret. Uchiha Sasuke, despite his prickly exterior, was a damn good friend - fiercely loyal and dependable. Selfish as it was, he didn't want to share him with anyone else. Sasuke was special. Their friendship was special.
After about the fiftieth time Sasuke swept his silky black bangs away from his face, just to have them immediately fall back into his eyes, he let out an annoyed huff. He plucked the bright pink hair clip Sakura had left on the coffee table the day before, inspected it suspiciously, then clipped his hair away from his eyes.
Naruto couldn't capture the snort of laughter that sneaked through his nose.
Sasuke peered over his shoulder and threw Naruto an easy smile.
Did he smile for his other friends?
“Manly. I'm aware.”
“I don't know, S'uke, pink is a good colour on you.”
“If you're into cyber-punk.” Sasuke muttered.
Naruto crossed the room and plopped himself onto the coffee table, effectively obscuring most of the articles thereon.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“Jesus. You're worse than your cat.”
There was indeed a cat occupying a good fifty percent of the coffee table, but it wasn't the normal fat, fluffy blue tabby that claimed Sasuke as her own. This cat was far fatter and fluffier and distinctly orange. He lay on his back, his white paws outstretched in order to occupy as much, or slightly more, space as was physically possible. Incidentally, a twenty-pound cat can command a good deal of space.
“Oh, leave Kyu-Kyu alone.” Naruto pouted.
Naruto had to admit, that when they had found these two pocket-sized fuzz balls mewing helplessly in the gutter, he had not expected them to grow into two massive Maine Coons, with hair sticking out from literally every direction. Sasuke vacuumed nearly every day.
Naruto pulled the clip out of Sasuke's hair, watching his black locks cascade across his forehead.
“Emo haircut.” Naruto commented. “Sexy but annoying?”
He grinned and reclipped those errant bangs, turning the clip sideways so it looked like a bubblegum coloured bow atop a mass of dark silk.
Sasuke felt his head and rolled his eyes.
“Thanks.” He muttered sarcastically.
Naruto didn't reply. He sat idly fiddling with his flatmate's hair. It was beautiful, actually - and so soft - and cooperative. He'd always been a bit envious of that bit. He did everything he could in the morning to control the chaos of his own blond mop. He chewed on his lip.
“What's wrong, idiot?”
Sasuke was studying him carefully.
“You're thinking, and that's rarely a good thing.”
Naruto gave Sasuke's hair a playful yank.
“Oh I don't know...”
Naruto paused. Well disclosure was usually the best policy, right?
“It's about these new friends of yours.”
Sasuke said nothing.
“I'm kind of... well... jealous.”
Sasuke startled.
“You're jealous?” He sounded incredulous.
“I mean I'm happy you have good people in your life, but I can't help it. I know it's not fair, but I'm used to being the most important person in your life, and it's hard to lose you.”
The Uchiha remained silent.
“Maybe Sakura's right. Maybe I am super controlling...”
Sasuke snorted. “Dumbass. You aren't controlling and you aren't losing me.”
The Uchiha rested one pale hand on his flatmate's knee.
Naruto gave him a little snort and a lopsided grin. Sasuke wasn't known to be terribly comfortable displaying affection. He pulled his thorny roommate into a hug - or more like pulled his head into a hug, pink clip and all, as he was seated above him. He threaded his fingers through his hair, and felt Sasuke deflate beside him.
“One more question...”
He felt more than heard Sasuke's 'hmm.'
“Why are you hiding your friends from us?”
Sasuke pulled out of the hug to look his friend in the eye.
“I'm not hiding them.”
“Why won't you let me meet them?”
“I don't think you'll like them.” Sasuke replied, his tone growing defensive.
“Well, they seem nice.”
“They are nice, they just…” Sasuke sighed heavily. “They have a different moral code from your average people, and I don't think you'll like it.”
“What? They're like vigilante serial killers or something?”
“Υοu watch too much TV, idiot.”
Naruto worried on his lip, continuing to run his fingernails along Sasuke's scalp.
Sasuke sighed loudly.
“Karin is a recovering junkie with a history of self harm. Suigetsu has more drugs in his system at any given moment than the police evidence locker. They're good people, Naruto, but they don't belong to your world.”
Naruto remained silent for a moment as Sasuke appeared to study him intently.
“I get it.” The blond replied, his voice a soft grumble in the silent room. “So they have self-destructive personalities.”
“I'm not looking for your psychoanalyst bullshit, Naruto.” His flatmate bit with a chill to his voice.
“Oh, hear me out, asshole.” Naruto glared with all the intensity of a grumpy kitten. “I understand why you're attracted to people like that. It's not like it's a bad thing. Jeez.”
Sasuke tilted his head. In fact, he always tilted his head when he was confused, and Naruto thought it was one of his more adorable habits. Of course, considering the fact that many of Sasuke's habits involved using Naruto as a punching bag, the competition for 'most adorable' wasn't terribly steep.
“Look, there's a reason why they do things like recovery in groups.” Naruto continued. “There's a part of you, like a hidden darkness, that you think normal people can't understand - that I can't touch.”
Sasuke blinked. He looked surprised.
“These friends of yours, Karin and Suigetsu, they understand that part of you. And you've built a separate dark self that you express for them.”
Naruto tightened his grip in Sasuke's hair.
“I respect that.” He continued. “And I respect that you want to keep these worlds distinct - to keep your darkness away from your real life. But be careful.”
He ran his finger down a pale cheek.
Sasuke's breathing was faster than normal, rising and falling in his chest instead of his gut.
Naruto chuckled softly and pulled away. It seemed Sasuke had filled his human contact quota for the day.
“If something goes wrong,” Naruto breathed. “You three can pull each other down. I don't think I could watch you lose yourself again. And…”
Naruto paused for dramatic effect.
“Just because I agree to respect your space, doesn't mean I'll stop wanting to meet the people you care about.”
Sasuke nodded.
“Besides, asshole, adulthood is about integrating your different selves. Everyone has to do it at some point.”
Naruto gave him a little punch on his bicep and pulled him in for one final squeeze. He frowned when he felt Sasuke's nearly imperceptible wince.
“Sorry, Uchiha. I can stop talking about my feelings so you can return to your manly pinkness.”
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but the front door opened and a pink head popped inside.
The change in the room was palpable. Sasuke's eyes immediately hardened, like someone had slammed a window shut, while Sakura threw him a look that reeked disgustingly of jealousy. Naruto's stomach sank. Sakura's jealousy of his best friend's affection burnt him.
Sasuke gave her an ugly glare before pulling out the hair clip and gathering his papers.
“You don't have to go, Sasuke.” Sakura brightened, trying to mask her faux pas. “I'm just stopping by for a couple of hours before work. We haven't seen each other much this week.”
She nodded toward Naruto and gave him a wet smack on the lips. Naruto remained distracted, his eyes fixed on Sasuke's retreating form.
It was Sakura - this distance he'd been feeling. She had changed everything in their friendship. The girl he had loved all his life had driven a wedge between him and his best friend, and Naruto had spent four years pretending not to notice. The guilt slipped thick down his throat, and he didn't, for the life of him, know what to do.
Naruto gave his girlfriend a playful kiss on the nose and told her to wait. He followed Sasuke to his room.
“S'uke...”
A pair of blank black eyes regarded him.
“I'll just go get groceries. What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“Ra...”
“Besides ramen.” Sasuke interrupted.
“Anything easy.” Naruto replied. “I'm happy to cook?”
Sasuke gave him a doubtful look.
“OK, OK, I can't cook. But I can make delicious cake!”
Sasuke said nothing as he straightened his papers on his desk.
“What about that red sauce with the ham and stuff?” Naruto asked after a moment of silence.
“Amatriciana? Do you eat anything besides carbs?”
Sasuke was being snippy with him. God, wasn't communication supposed to go both ways?
“No... Sasuke, listen I...”
“I'll be back in two hours.”
“Damnit Sasuke!”
Naruto jerked his chin toward him. His flatmate's eyes widened. He froze.
“This is exactly what I was talking about. You're running away from me. I know you hate Sakura, but help me out here. What the hell am I supposed to do? Can't I keep you both?”
Sasuke's rigid posture relaxed and he diverted his eyes.
“I don't hate her.”
“What should I do?”
Naruto watched the colours of different responses flashing across his eyes.
Sasuke eventually shook his head.
“I don't know.” He breathed heavily. “Spend the next two hours fucking your girlfriend, while I get the hell out of here.”
“Sasuke...” Naruto pleaded.
“It's what I'd do. You said things have been going better. Enjoy it. I just don't particularly want to listen. Sakura is actually really loud, and you're not so quiet yourself.”
Naruto could feel his cheeks flaming as he turned about one hundred shades of purple.
“Whatever. I like to show my appreciation. You probably just grunt and curse and go 'hn.'”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was smirking. At least he wasn't pissy any more.
“I really wish we got along like we used to.” Naruto bit the inside of his cheek. “We used to hang out all the time… the three of us.”
His flatmate shook his head.
“She treats you like crap, idiot. It’s hard to watch.”
Naruto squeezed his roommate around the middle, muffling something in his shoulder that sounded suspiciously like ‘Jesus Christ, you’re snuggly today.’ Naruto figured he was always snuggly, just Sasuke had usually punched him by now.
Sasuke pulled away, stuffing his wallet in the back pocket oh his jeans. He slipped out of the apartment without making further eye contact. As the click of the door echoed in the empty hallway, he settled heavily against the wall. Naruto’s new dedication to patch the little rift in their friendship was excruciating. The touch - Naruto’s hands and his emotional closeness smouldered in his gut, whisping smoke even in his fingertips. There was a reason he’d let the idiot slide slowly away in the first place.
The Uchiha sighed, digging in his coat pocket for his mobile phone. He smirked triumphantly when he found the number he was looking for.
“Juugo.”
His voice had already adopted a lusty husk.
“I have two hours…”
And when he returned home later than he had anticipated with mussed hair and a bleeding lip, Sakura was just leaving. Naruto thought he’d gotten mugged, but Sakura watched him stagger to the bathroom with watery green eyes. As the scalding water washed over his sensitive skin he thought maybe he should try to break those to up. She’d deserve it anyway.
Author's Note: I'll say again that I'll never hold chapters hostage for reviews, but they do encourage me to update faster. :) I'm pretty sure I'll continue this anyway, as it's taken root in my head, but if you're interested in my story please let me know. I'll love you. I also said in the last chapter that, as it's been a really long time since I've undertaken a large project, I'm feeling rather insecure. I want to improve as an author, so please, criticize me. I promise I take criticism very well! See you in chapter 3?
Beginning's End Chapter Three
Comments and criticism welcome! :)