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naruto flops onto the bed. “phew. it’s been a long week, hasn’t it?”
“it’s still wednesday, moron.” sasuke snickers from the other side of the room.
“who cares!” naruto whines. “also, what’s the deal with this bed? aren’t we both sleeping here?”
“sakura gets her own room because she’s a girl,”sasuke turns to face naruto. “and we got this one because of like, jounin budget cuts or something.”
“that’s not fair!” naruto sits bolt upright. “how come kakashi-sensei gets his own room too? how come i have to room with
you
?!”
“would you rather room with kakashi-sensei instead?” sasuke asks calmly.
naruto quiets down pretty quick after that. he sits in (what looks like) deep thought and doesn’t even notice sasuke leaving for the bathroom. when sasuke comes back to their shared bed, naruto starts talking before he can tell him to shut up.
“do you think sensei actually couldn’t get any other room?”
“hm?” sasuke says, lying down to face the blond. his hair is still a little damp, naruto takes notice of that.
“obviously it's not budget cuts, sasuke. he buys a new copy of icha-icha paradise every other day-”
“so what? those are cheap.” sasuke turns away from him to fumble for something in his drawer.
“shh! what i’m saying is, maybe it’s some bonding exercise? to make us get along?”
sasuke sighs, and though naruto can’t see his face he knows he’s rolling his eyes. “do you manage to get dumber every time i speak to you?”
naruto huffs. “don’t be so mean! you know he’s pulled things like this before!”
sasuke turns to lay on his back, now with a book in hand. “i’m still gonna be mean about it.”
naruto squints at the book. “you read ?”
“yeah?”
“i’ve never seen you bring a book to a mission before!”
“this is pretty low-stakes, and we’re staying a day or two, so i decided to bring something light to skim through.”
naruto squints at the book again. doesn’t look like light reading to him. “what is that? does...does-to-”
“dostoyevski.” sasuke cuts him off, indigated, “fyodor dostoyevski.”
“sounds creepy. what is that, polish?”
“russian.” sasuke opens the book, pulling the blanket over himself and snatching it away from naruto. “if you piss me off while im reading i’ll throw this book at you so hard you’ll know it by heart in the morning.” naruto almost jumps. “yeesh, sasuke, you’re always so mean to me!” he whines, trying to pull the blanket back to himself.”
“shut up.”
naruto deflates and turns away from sasuke.
he survives a total of seven minutes before he has to break the silence. “sasuke-”
“what.”
“i’m bored!”
“entertain yourself.”
“not with you ruining the mood!” he sits up to face sasuke. “you’re reading that book so fast you’re practically eating it. and you look so mean when you read!”
“are you gonna cry about it?”
“if you don’t talk to me, maybe i am!” naruto flops facedown into his pillow, at which sasuke makes an irritated noise. “what’s so important about fyodor dusty-nevski that got you so damn quiet!”
“it’s dostoyevski-”
“
boring.”
naruto drawls, purposefully dragging out his words. “let’s, uhh...let’s play truth or dare or something!”
sasuke snorts. “truth or dare? what are you, ten?” but to naruto’s delight, he turns his gaze from the book to him. naruto does a small victory dance in his mind. “okay, you first.”
“dare.”
“put your book away.”
“really?”
naruto grins. “wow, rejecting the first dare i give you? you’re no fun, sasuke.”
the words work exactly how he expects them to. sasuke scowls and slips a bookmark between the pages, putting the book away on his nightstand. “real smart, moron.” he shifts to face naruto fully. “truth or dare?”
“hmm,” naruto pretends to think. “truth.”
“are you only playing this game to piss me off?”
“absolutely,” naruto beams. “but also because it’s very fun to see you in the process of getting pissed off.”
“tch.” sasuke rolls his eyes. though there’s a small smile playing on his lips. “truth as well.”
naruto sits up with his legs crossed. “oh-kay, now that you’re actually playing, i haven’t thought of any questions…” he muses to himself. “aha! do you like anyone?” he leers at sasuke.
the other just stares at him, deadpan. ‘yes, i’ve been hopelessly in love with hinata from the other team for months, and i haven’t told you because i thought you’d laugh at me.” he says in a perfectly monotone voice.
naruto’s jaw drops. “hinata?! of all people? i know she’s sweet and all but wow, sasuke, i didn’t know she was your type-”
“i’m kidding , moron, oh my god,” sasuke groans. “i barely remembered her name, i was just humoring you.”
“oh.” naruto stops through his rant. “yeah, makes sense. you’ve seen her, like, once.”
“exactly.” sasuke sits to mirror him, legs crossed. “truth or dare?”
“dare! and don’t say go to sleep!”
“lick the wall.”
“what the hell?!”
they go back and forth for what seems like hours, making each other do ridiculous dares and spill secrets that should’ve never seen the light of day. naruto makes sasuke do a plank for two rounds. (“this is easy.” sasuke says through gritted teeth, though his arms are shaking.) sasuke finds out naruto’s pupils dilate like a cat. (“it’s just from kurama’s chakra!” naruto wails while sasuke laughs.) sasuke, apparently, would swap lives with shikamaru for a day. (“he does nothing but complain, it’s probably easy for him.”) sasuke also unwillingly lets naruto bite him, (“tear my damn flesh off for good measure! where’d you get teeth like that?!”) and naruto sets his own hair on fire twice. naruto dares sasuke to turn into kakashi and do a cartwheel, at which he fails miserably. (“the forehead protector gets in the way!” sasuke hollers, face buried in the carpet. “i couldn’t see where i was going!”) and naruto spends the two rounds after that sulking with vivid blue hair.
“jesus,” sasuke flops on the bed, tired from all the ridiculous dares naruto made him do. “one last dare, give me something boring.”
“uhh..” naruto looks out of the window, inspiration striking him. “eat a leaf off the tree!”
“i said boring, not plain dumb,” sasuke sighs and puts a hand out towards naruto, “hand me one.”
naruto grins and plucks a leaf off a nearby branch, handing it to sasuke. “my turn. truth.” he watches as sasuke chews on the leaf whole, a disgusted expression on his face.
“hmm. who was your first kiss?” sasuke cringes at his own question. “no, no, nevermind, that’s not a question-”
“what do you mean?” naruto cocks his head to the side. sasuke makes the face he does when he really wants to avoid a subject. “well,” he mutters. “because well- the first day in the academy-”
“oh!” only then does naruto realize what he means. “oh. um, uh, yeah, ask something else.”
sasuke doesn’t say anything while he thinks. naruto kind of feels like falling through the ground right now.
sasuke gasps when an idea comes to his mind. “okay, kiss, marry, kill,” he pauses, evil smirk on his face. oh no, naruto thinks. “ino, sakura and hinata.”
naruto groans. “oh, come on! ” he flops face first into his pillow. “that’s such a bad choice!” he flips back to face the ceiling, an exaggerated pout on his face. sasuke just laughs at his misery. “get to choosing. i won’t tell ino you decided to kill her.” he snorts.
“shut up!” naruto groans again. “okay...kiss sakura,” he puts one finger down. “marry hinata, because she seems nice, and because sakura would kill me and ino would just laugh,” he puts another finger down.
“and kill ino?” sasuke finishes for him, still smug
naruto rolls his eyes. “yeah, i guess.” he perks up again. “okay! your turn now, sasuke! i’m gonna give you a real bad one, no matter what you pick!”
sasuke snorts. “sure. truth.” he turns his back to naruto while he thinks of the question, turning the lamp on his nightstand off.
“oo, here’s one!” naruto lies down, turning off his own lamp too. “if you had to save me or sakura from uh...falling off a cliff, who would you save?”
“wow, what a great question,” sasuke drawls sarcastically. “sakura’s annoying. she would probably lecture me about the morality of saving only one of you even though she’s hanging off a cliff.”
naruto laughs. he’s right, though, he thinks to himself. sakura would take the chance to talk sasuke’s ear off any day, no matter the situation. “speaking of sakura-chan, you were so mean to her earlier!” naruto giggles at the memory of sakura’s indigated face. “are you sure you even like girls at all?”
there’s a pause. naruto realizes he might’ve messed up and made it awkward again.
“no.”
“huh?”
sasuke turns to face the ceiling, arms outstretched on either side of him. “no, i don’t think so.” he sighs again. “girls are just so….boring.”
it occurs to naruto that sasuke’s being honest with him. it also occurs that this is probably the first time he’s doing this.
“what do you mean?”
“i mean…” sasuke’s brows furrow. “i don’t see any girls as…potential girlfriends? the word girlfriend at all just…doesn’t sit right with me.” he shifts in discomfort. “i can’t imagine myself dating a girl. or doing any of the…‘boyfriend stuff’ with a girl.” he mimics quotation marks with his fingers.
naruto hopes he doesn’t look as shocked as he feels. is sasuke coming out to him? over truth or dare? “like kissing a girl? can you imagine that?”
“god no,” sasuke’s uncomfortable expression deepens. “like, all of the girls in the academy, that would be all over me, i didn’t wanna kiss any of them. i didn’t even look at any of them. they were all just annoying.”
“i mean-“ naruto hesitates. “if i were you, and i had a mob of sasuke-freaks after me constantly, i don’t think i’d be too pleased either.”
sasuke laughs. “no, it’s more like- if you had a bunch of girls already in love with you, you’d pick one and date her, right? since she already likes you.”
“err…probably?”
“yeah, i never felt like that at all. but on a larger scale. when i meet a girl, or a woman, i don’t see her as a romantic interest. maybe an opponent. a friend at most.”
“is sakura like that?”
“what do you mean?” sasuke turns to face naruto. naruto’s heart skips a beat.
“she was like… really obsessed with you at one point, and you used to be really mean to her, like, more than usual, but now you’re…fine? when she’s not trying to flirt with you.”
“oh,” sasuke turns back to the ceiling. “i guess? she is my teammate, and she’s a capable fighter, so i respect her for that, and she’s my friend. but as a romantic interest? hell no. never ever.” sasuke cringes in disgust. “every time i have to think of kissing her or being her boyfriend i feel like i’m gonna retch.”
naruto giggles. “you’re right, that would be weird.” he says. “if two of my teammates were dating and i had to deal with all that tension i’d go back to being a genin.”
sasuke laughs. “well, count this as me sparing you.”
“so you can’t imagine doing anything romantic with a girl,” naruto muses.
“mhm.”
“can you imagine yourself kissing a boy though?” naruto blurts out, unthinking.
sasuke pauses for a second that feels like a million years. then he says, “do you remember gaara? from the sand village?”
naruto’s chest tightens in what he really hopes isn’t jealousy. “yeah?”
“yeah. he was...nice.” naruto snorts at how much he really wasn’t, at which sasuke shoots him a dirty look. “he was the only one i knew at the time who was actual competition, and he talked to me like we were equals. not the way girls would practically sob to talk to me. it was nice. and sometimes i’d...think of kissing him about it.” sasuke’s tone is blunt, he’s obviously trying to not put much emotion into his words. naruto thinks he’s going to turn to dust before morning.
“but gaara of all people?”
“i didn’t really have many options, did i?” sasuke snaps, though there’s no heat in it. “i wasn’t gonna go kiss lee.”
“lee is also nice!”
“lee’s boyfriend is also very nice!” sasuke snorts. “i’m not gonna compete with hyuuga neji for a kiss, naruto. i’ve got some dignity.”
“fine, point taken,” naruto whines. “but really, gaara? the only…boykisser you could find in the whole five nations is gaara of the sand village?”
“is he even a boykisser? where’d you get that word anyway.”
“i made it up just now.” naruto grins. “you don't kiss girls and you kiss boys. therefore, boykisser.”
sasuke snorts. “that’s fair. i’m not sure he even is a boykisser. he’s just pretty.”
naruto hums in agreement. “he is pretty.”
“well…yeah. only boykisser in town.” sasuke turns to face naruto. “you’re not gonna tell anyone, are you?”
“should i?”
“no.”
“then i won’t.” naruto shakes his head. “i’ll protect your boykissing with my life, sasuke.” at which sasuke laughs. it stirs up a feeling in naruto he isn’t sure how to react to.
“have
you
ever imagined kissing a boy?” sasuke mumbles, sleepy.
yes,
naruto wants to say.
yes, the one lying in front of me right now still managing to look pretty even though he’s half-asleep,
but all that comes out is “no.”
“a girl then?”
“i guess.” naruto lies through his teeth.
sasuke hums.
“if it’s any hope, i’m sure there are boykissers out there.” naruto says, quieter. “kakashi’s a boykisser, and look where that got him.”
“kakashi’s a boykisser?”
“haven’t you seen him and iruka-sensei?” naruto groans. “they’re so in love. it’s sickening.” he turns back to face sasuke, who’s gone quiet. “i’m sure you’ll find yourself a nice boyfriend at some point. you are uchiha sasuke, after all.”
sasuke laughs quietly. “yeah. i will.”
yeah, you will , naruto thinks. hopefully you’ll find him closer than you expect. and maybe you’ll piss off a whole new generation of kids with how sickeningly in love you are—
“have you actually had a proper crush on someone? like feelings and all?” naruto asks. he hopes he’s not treading on dangerous territory, because if sasuke shuts him down there’s no saying he’ll even open up again.
“i-“ sasuke stops. then he decides to take a risk. “there was this one boy.”
“oh?”
“yeah.”
“tell me about it.” naruto thinks he’s made a horrible mistake.
“he was nice. and pretty. and really loud.” sasuke sighs. “but he had really pretty eyes and a smile that made me feel…weird. and i didn’t know why i liked him at first.”
naruto’s breath refuses to leave his throat. “but?”
“but he always saw the best in me, and didn’t forget about me even when i left. so i had a crush on him for real long.” sasuke’s looking into his eyes like he’s trying to tell him something without actually saying it. “and i thought he liked me, too. but he didn’t. so i let go of it.” he looks away, breaking naruto out of his trance. “we’re just friends now. me and him.”
“oh.” naruto finally finds the strength to say something. “he sounds nice.”
sasuke smiles, bittersweet. “he is.”
“you should’ve kissed him about it.” naruto suggests against his own will. you should kiss me about it instead , the voice in his head screams. i’m as good as any boy. i’m better, since i want to kiss you about it as much as you do.
sasuke laughs cynically again. “i don’t think i could.”
“why not?”
“he’d hate me for it.”
“i wouldn’t hate you.” please kiss me.
“it’s different.” sasuke sighs. “i can’t- i can’t risk our friendship like that.”
naruto stays quiet. “i think you should give it a go. just in case.” he almost whispers.
sasuke turns back to him, and there’s that look again. the one that means something really important, but naruto can’t figure out what it is, until sasuke’s eyes snap down to his mouth for a split second and oh. oh. it all makes sense now. and sasuke knows that he knows it makes sense. because all he says is- “i think i should.” before he’s kissing naruto.
it’s almost the way he thought it would be. it’s not exactly like naruto’s idea of a good kiss, he’d expected more on-a-rooftop-watching-the-sunset-movie-ending-credits, but it was sasuke and sasuke was kissing him- actually kissing him, not bumping into him or falling over- but actually kissing him of his own accord, and naruto thinks that’s all it takes to categorise this as a good kiss. sasuke tastes like the weird mint toothpaste he uses.
it’s only a second before sasuke pulls back, eyes wide like a deer in headlights. this is it, he thinks. this is where naruto kills me for what i just did and the uchiha bloodline fucking ends, before naruto grins and pulls him into another kiss by the collar. when they break apart again, naruto’s face is growing increasingly red.
“so, maybe i was lying about not wanting to kiss anyone,” he chuckles nervously. sasuke wants to kiss him again.
“so maybe i was lying about not having much of a choice in boykissers.” sasuke replies. naruto just laughs.
“well now you’ve got me!” he practically beams at sasuke.
sasuke thinks they’ll both be alright.
a room over, kakashi scribbles a letter to iruka. if we come back from this mission with sasuke and naruto holding hands, you owe me dinner.