Chapter Text
Something is going on with Dr. Haruno and Dr. Uzumaki, Sasuke can sense it.
He always spots the two of them hanging out together more often than not though their field of medical expertise are not even remotely related. Dr. Haruno is a neurosurgeon resident, sharing the same field as him and yet she's always with Naruto who works in the OB-GYN department.
"Who are you texting?" Sasuke asks Naruto, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Sakura-chan," the dobe answers without looking up.
Sakura-chan, huh? Sasuke scrunches his brows together, feeling irritation bubble up in his chest as he stares at Naruto laughing at something Sakura must've sent. He scowls, remembering how she greeted him earlier.
"Good morning, Dr. Uchiha," in a very formal tone accompanied by an awkward smile.
These days, Sasuke finds himself more and more hostile towards his best friend, which isn't totally out of character for him. In their several years of friendship, there isn't a day that Sasuke wasn't at all irritated at Naruto but whenever Naruto ever so slightly mentions the new pink haired resident, Sasuke always feels a strong urge to clock him in the jaw and throw his phone out the window.
What's more irritating is that Dr. Haruno seems to dislike him so much. Sasuke understands that he's been rude and demanding to her when she first got here but he already apologized to her and he thinks they're even getting along well in the past few months. They greet each other respectfully, he nods at her to acknowledge her presence and she smiles at him in return, they even stay up late together either working on something individually or discussing a particularly hard medical case.
But still, there's a huge difference with the way she treats Naruto to how she acts when he's around. They've known each other for months now, worked together more often than not and yet he's still Dr. Uchiha, while she's already on a first name basis with Naruto whom she's only known for a few weeks.
Not only that but it seems like she cannot stand his presence outside of work. She's always stiff and uncomfortable whenever he chooses to sit beside her during lunch in the cafeteria, excuses herself when he puts himself between her and Naruto whenever he catches them hanging out alone together, and she panics when riding the elevator alone with him.
Snap!
Sasuke comes back to his senses and immediately glares at Naruto who is now laughing at what is probably an ugly picture of him on his phone.
"Delete that right now, dobe," Sasuke grits his teeth.
He was about to lunge at Naruto but the idiot is quick to get on his feet and rush to the door. "Bye! I'm gonna sell this to your fan girls and make a fortune!"
Sasuke only rests elbows on the table and massages his temples.
Finally finishing typing his document, Kiba laughs and turns his swivel chair to face Sasuke. "I bet those two are dating."
"Who's dating?" Sasuke and Kiba both look at Shikamaru as he enters their office, taking off his white coat and heading to the sink near the door to wash his hands.
"Dr. Haruno and Dr. Uzumaki."
"Oh, the new resident." Shikamaru takes the seat in front of Sasuke as he scrolls through his phone. "Yeah, I heard the nurses gossiping about them. Says those two are always together by the garden."
"Naruto, that lucky bastard. Dr. Haruno is a pretty nice catch—ack! What the heck!" Kiba is suddenly interrupted in his speech when Sasuke slams his fists on the table, causing his colleagues to stare at him in bewilderment.
"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asks as Sasuke gets up from his seat and stalks to the door.
"Buying coffee," Sasuke grumbles as he slams the door and unconsciously makes his way to the garden.
—
"Come closer," Naruto says, smiling knowingly at Sakura.
Sakura smiles back at him, feeling her beat faster and complies to his request. She closes the distance between them and places her hand over Naruto's. The scene would've been perfect if a love song instantaneously plays in the background.
"Ugh. Seriously? I basically had to sell my soul to the devil just to get Ino to assist you in your surgeries and this is what you give me?" Sakura complains and lets go of Naruto's hand that's holding the phone.
Naruto frowns, looking down at the picture of Sasuke in his phone, not only is the image blurry but Sasuke's face is also covered by plants. "Hey! You don't know how hard it is to get a picture of him! That bastard has a talent of avoiding cameras. You'd never see a decent picture of him, ever since we were young he always avoided getting his picture taken. He's like bigfoot or something."
Sakura glares at him and shoves him away from her. "Stop insulting Dr. Uchiha!"
Naruto rubs his shoulder and grumbles under his breath about pink haired residents and their super strengths. "Why do you like him so much anyway?"
Suddenly, Sakura's expression changed from being irritated to being dreamy as she looks up at the skies and clutches her hand to her chest. "He's so-"
"Handsome, yeah everyone knows." Naruto cuts her off and sips on his milk tea, deciding that he's actually not interested as to why anyone would even like his grouchy best friend.
"-Gentle," Sakura finishes off, lost in her own daydream and not paying attention to Naruto anymore.
Naruto immediately sputters his drink. "Gentle?!" He remembers all the interns who cried to him after being scolded and told off by Sasuke.
Sakura smiles. "I once panicked while we were performing a surgery almost made a mistake and instead of being annoyed at me, he helped calmed me down and guided me. And you should see how he is with kids and the patients' worried love ones."
Never in his life had Naruto imagined that the words 'Sasuke' and 'gentle' and 'kids' could be stringed in a single sentence. Naruto doesn't even dare think about how Sasuke interacts with children, it seems like something out of a horror movie.
"Are we- are we talking about the same Sasuke Uchiha here? Sasuke Uchiha, the man I've known since diapers, the infamous Ice King in this hospital?"
Sakura nods vigorously. "Yeah, what's up with that? Aside from our rough start, I have never once witnessed him being anything but sweet and thoughtful-"
"Sweet? Thoughtful? Are you sure the one you're interacting to is the real Sasuke?" Naruto remembers how he got drunk out of his mind once and how Sasuke just left him passed out by the foyer of their apartment. He even clanged the pots and pans in the morning to wake him up.
"He gives me coffee every morning. He even knows how I like my coffee after I hang out with him by the coffee shop that one time. Dr. Uchiha is so kind."
"Kind?" Naruto's eyes almost bulges out of their sockets at her outrageous words. He swears he doesn't know anyone who's stingier than that bastard, owe him even just a dime and Sasuke never forgets. Naruto never even borrowed anything from Sasuke anymore after Sasuke sent him a list of all the ramen he paid for throughout their college years the moment Naruto received his first pay.
"Yes. I like him so much my heart bursts every time I see him and I can't even eat properly whenever he's near," Sakura continues, looking lovestruck.
"If you like him so much then just tell him!"
"What! No! I can't!"
"Hey, maybe he likes you too, you know. Based on what you said, I have never once witnessed him treating anyone the same way he treats you. Besides what's the worst thing that could happen?"
"He could hear me!" Sakura panics.
Naruto laughs at her. "You can't tell him but you can tell me?"
"Well yeah. I'm scared that he'd laugh at me and think I'm delusional for even wanting to be with him, you know. We just established a nice professional environment between us and I don't want to mess that up," Sakura says, looking at down at her feet and playing with her hands.
Naruto pats her on the shoulders to comfort her. "Hey, I don't think—"
"Naruto, your resident is looking for you. Says there's an emergency with your patient."
Both Naruto and Sakura look up at Sasuke who entered the garden, looking like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Sakura immediately stands up straight and bows to Sasuke as she greets him formally. "Good afternoon, Dr. Uchiha," she says then immediately goes back inside the hospital, the tips of her ears going red.
Naruto, on the other hand, narrows his eyes at Sasuke. He knows there's no emergency or else his pager would've gone off.
"Are you dating her?" Sasuke asks straightforwardly, his face unreadable.
Naruto scoffs, amused at the sudden turn of events. He raises a brow at Sasuke. "Since when did my love life start being your business?"
Sasuke scowls. "It's not but Dr. Haruno is."
Naruto's jaw drops at the same time Sasuke's face turn red, both shocked at what the latter has just said.
Sasuke gives his fiercest glare at Naruto who's now smiling teasingly at him. He fakes a cough and puts his hands in his pocket. "She's under my wing and I'd be doing a terrible job looking out for her if I let her get together with a moron like you."
"Of course."
"Shut the fuck up."
Naruto raises both his arms and starts laughing. "I did not even say anything."
Sasuke, however, remains standing in front of Naruto and continues to glare at him. Naruto could only imagine how many scenarios of him getting beaten up is running through Sasuke's mind right now so he decides to pacify his poor friend. "Relax, bastard. We're not dating. Sakura-chan and I are just friends."
Sasuke's face seems to relax and decides to sit next to Naruto and takes a sip from his forgotten milk tea. "Hn."
"What do you think of Sakura?" Naruto asks, now serious.
Sasuke is silent for a moment, looking straight ahead and continuing to sip on Naruto's drink. Then- "She's dexterous."
Naruto's brows scrunches together in confusion. "What?"
"She's dexterous, an advantage as a surgeon. She's focused and reliable. She's good at assessments and handling patients. She's smart and honest. She will be a great doctor. Maybe even better than I am."
Naruto could only stare at Sasuke in disbelief. This may be the first time he said more than three sentences in a row and it's about a woman of all things. He even used the word dexterous to describe Sakura, it's basically a love confession.
He smiles to himself, Sasuke can be clueless when it comes to things like dating and liking someone but he knows that Sasuke and Sakura will be good together and deserve each other. So all he can do is wait and watch in the sidelines as his friends' love story unfold.