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"Sasukeeeeeee." Naruto whined, making Sasuke's eyelid twitch in response.
"Shut up," was what Sasuke replied, but he still dutifully returned his hand to Naruto's hair, resuming the stroking he had been doing seconds before he’d wanted to take a screenshot and needed to use both his hands for a matter of two fucking seconds.
Naruto’s only reaction was to laugh at Sasuke's retort and cozy up harder into his lap.
"Stop moving around," Sasuke grumbled.
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because,” said Sasuke through clenched teeth, “It’s annoying.”
Naruto considered lazily for a moment. "That’s fair, but what if I still don't want to?"
"Then you can just—"
"Guys, uh," Kiba suddenly said, a bit awkwardly. "I'm still here."
The two boys stopped what they were doing and slowly turned to look at him, then back at each other in total silence. They didn’t need to say anything to tell Kiba that they’d forgotten he was there. Their stupid, mildly surprised faces were enough, and Kiba rolled his eyes, severely unimpressed.
Naruto got up from his half-lying position on the couch, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He, at leats, had the decency to look sheepish. Unfortunately, the same couple very much not be said for the stoic one sitting expressionlessly behind him. "Yeah, uh, sorry man," was what Naruto finally came up with.
"It's fine," said Kiba, as he contradictorily put back all his gaming equipment into his backpack.
"Hey," Naruto was flabbergasted, "We haven't even gotten to play yet!"
"And we never will," Kiba sighed. He shot Sasuke an annoyed look. Sasuke smirked at him. Kiba packed his stuff faster.
Naruto, who didn't notice the exchange at all, just scratched his head, confused. "Why not?"
"Why don't you ask your Sasuke over there?" Kiba said, then promptly walked out, slamming the door loudly behind him.
Naruto turned to Sasuke. "What was that about?"
"Who knows?" Sasuke replied, looking bored as ever. "Still want me to braid your hair?"
"Yeah!" Naruto broke into a wide grin. "If you can manage it, that is."
Naruto woke up the next day to an anonymously gifted brand new gaming console.
“Wonder who it’s from?!” he said with wonder.
Sasuke only shrugged.
**********************************************
"You fucking bastard, it fucking hurts!"
"You're such a baby."
“THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT BABIES?! Be gentler, asshole!”
“You’re the one who asked for this, so why are you also the one complaining?”
"Maybe because you’re trying to kill me!?" Naruto groaned in pain. "Who braids hair like they're trying to rip your scalp off?" Naruto shut his eyes tightly, “It’s over, I’m finally dead.”
Sasuke didn’t even twitch a single eyelash, "No pain no gain, dobe."
"Oh yeah?" Naruto suddenly abandoned his own fake death and turned his head around. He was already sitting on the ground between Sasuke's smooth-looking thighs and this new angle allowed him to promptly bite one at the line where his friend’s shorts ended. The skin was indeed smooth in his mouth as well.
"Naruto!"
"No pain no gain," Naruto quoted back at him, grinning a grin that quickly faded as Sasuke removed his hands from his hair and made to get up. "Wait no, Sasuke don't stop! Look I'll kiss it to make it better."
That seemed to calm Sasuke down, and he sat back down, raising a brow in skepticism. "Go ahead then."
Naruto rolled his eyes at how easily his friend was able to be coaxed by this, "Who's the baby now?" he said, but conceded, and mouthed a kiss above the bite spot. Then he licked it again for good measure.
Sasuke sucked in a breath, "Na-"
"Look, Naruto, I can always come back another time if you're busy." Choji suddenly spoke up, from the other couch in the room. He had the distinct tone of a man at the end of his patience.
Both Naruto and Sasuke paused mid-action and looked at him, then at each other, one sitting on a chair, looking down, the other in-between his legs on the floor, looking up at him.
"Shit, sorry man.” Naruto broke out of the eye-contact first, and said distractedly, “Let's get- Um… Let’s start… what?"
Choji sighed and shook his head firmly, getting up. "It's fine, Naruto. Obviously you're... occupied. We can do our very fucking important project some other time." Then, he murmured something under his breath that sounded like, “Kiba was fucking right.”
"Wait, Choji."
But Choji had already walked out of the door, shutting it rather noisily behind himself.
"What was that about?" Naruto turned to Sasuke, perplexed.
"Who knows?" Sasuke shrugged. "What's your project topic anyway?"
*****************************************
"Um, is Naruto-kun here? H-he was supposed to help me with something." Hinata stammered out, looking down at her hands. She had mentally readied herself all morning to talk to Naruto but was completely unprepared for Sasuke's icy glare.
"No."
His tone was icy too.
"Oh. Um. I-"
"I'll leave him a message." Sasuke was saying, even as he was making to close the door without taking any message, when a soft groan sounded behind him.
Hinata's eyes widened, her head tilting to look around. Sasuke drew the door closer to himself.
"Sas?" The voice was unmistakeably Naruto’s, deeper and a little hoarse from sleep.
Two tan arms came up from behind him to encircle his waist and lock together in the front. "Who you talkin' to."
"No one. Go back to bed."
"Are you coming?"
Hinata looked on, eyes wide as saucers and face rapidly turning a bright, bright red.
"Um.. I-I, um.."
Naruto raised his head immediately to look over Sasuke's shoulder. "Hinata!" he blinked, life gradually returning to his eyes, "What are you— oh shit we had that thing today didn't we? Move, Sasuke. Sorry I totally forgot, Choji bailed on the project and I was up all night with Sas—"
Hinata squeaked suddenly, turning impossibly redder. "It's okay! It's okay Naruto-kun, I- I'll come back later."
"Oh... um." Naruto said, a bit confused. "Okay."
"Go back to sleep,” said Sasuke, and Naruto acquiesced, heading for his room.
Sasuke turned to look at Hinata. He closed the door.
***************************************
"You eat like a fucking child."
A scoff. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure everyone on earth eats with their mouth."
"Some of them actually know where their mouths are."
Naruto frowned, not quite following, but then he shrugged and went back to scarfing down his spaghetti and meatballs. Sasuke rolled his eyes, grabbing a napkin and forcefully grasping Naruto's chin to wipe off the sauce on his... everywhere.
Naruto grinned brightly. Sasuke’s movement stilled, like he was frozen.
"Gotcha!" Naruto suddenly said, and immediately smeared sauce all over Sasuke’s nose with his thumb. "That's what you get for being a snobby, plant-eating bastard."
"You realise Spaghetti is made from plants..." Sasuke said, regaining motion and making to wipe his own face, but Naruto stilled his wrist with a shake of his head.
"Allow me," he said gently, all too pleased to return the favour. Then, "Really? No way. Do they grow on like trees or?"
"Are you an i— you know what? Nevermind, don't answer that."
Naruto rolled his eyes and finally wiped the sauce off. "Must you always be an asshole? Can’t you be a little nicer to the guy that’s currently helping you wipe food off your face?"
"You're the one that—"
The sound of a throat clearing made them look across the table, to where Itachi was sitting, a single eyebrow raised up almost to his hairline.
"Fascinating," he said simply, treating both men to his spectacularly expressionless face.
"Itachi!" Naruto jolted, dropping the napkin. "You scared me."
Itachi just raised his glass to his lips and sipped lightly at the red. "Forgot I was here?"
The tips of Sasuke's ears turned warm.
"Nii-san, stop bullying him."
"Oh?" Itachi smiled and took one last sip before placing down his glass, done with the meal. "I see."
Naruto looked at Sasuke, confused, mouthing "See what?" Sasuke shook his head.
"If you will excuse me," said the older Uchiha, getting up from his seat, "I'll be leaving now, thank you for for the meal."
Naruto made to get up, but Itachi shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No need to see me off," his eyes slid to Sasuke, "I'm sure you'll be missed terribly."
Naruto looked between them both, utterly confused. "Uh, I'm sure we'll miss you too..?"
Itachi smiled again, and headed for the door.
"And here I was thinking he couldn't get any weirder." Naruto said, as soon as the door clicked shut. "Did you do anything to him?"
Sasuke scowled, turning on his seat to face Naruto. "And what exactly could I have done?"
"Nothing," said Naruto. A chill ran down his spine when he remembered just how many times Itachi had smiled at him that night alone. Then, putting it quickly at the back of his mind, he pouted, touching his new braids sullenly, "He didn't say he liked my hair. Probably because I said you did it. Is spaghetti really a plant?"
Sasuke sighed.
*****************************************
"Hey, Sasuke! Look at this one. Look." Naruto held up a single yellow flower, petals majestically unfurled, "It looks like me!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, and resumed his browsing. He knew what he was here for, a bouquet of white roses, the same as he always got, but today he felt he'd also get something for their apartment too.
He was reading the card beside a bunch of pretty blue flowers that matched Naruto's eyes when he felt a pair of strong hands suddenly grip his waist. He gasped as he found himself being swiftly spun around, and looked up to see Naruto's stupid grinning face, too close and too bright.
"What?" Sasuke asked, his heart beating wildly. Why was Naruto so close? What was he trying to do?
Naruto grinned and stuck out his pink tongue, bringing up one of his hands so Sasuke could see what he was holding. It was a small blue flower, more blue than the ones he'd just been looking at, and Naruto stuck it behind Sasuke's ear, patted his head down and then finally, finally moved away to admire his work and let Sasuke breathe.
Naruto's face scrunched up, but he was smiling, pleased with himself. Sasuke was mildly shocked and he was sure the tips of his ears would be bright red. "You're so pretty," Naruto told him, casually, "Like a girl. Nooo don't remove it! Sasuke!" He laughed, "I was joking, you're pretty like a boy. A boy!"
Sasuke was struggling not to smile himself, so he simply said, "hn," and turned his back to Naruto, pretending to keep looking through the selection of flowers in case there were any expressions on his face he couldn't control. He never seemed to have much control around that idiot, he thought.
"Mhmh," Ino cleared her throat loudly, and Sasuke heard the crashing sound of something heavy breaking. He spun around to see Naruto standing over a smashed flowerpot, the flowers and dirt all over the floor next to his shoes. Ino's eyes narrowed, "You're paying for that."
Naruto smiled guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, ok. Sorry, you just surprised me."
"I have literally been here the entire time," she said tonelessly.
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, then back at her, and her expression that had once been calm suddenly turned furious when she saw them do it.
"Oh for fuck's sake," she came out around the counter, Sasuke's neatly trimmed and newly bound bouquet in her hand. She thrust it at him. "Choji was right about you two, I swear it. You can leave now, I'm done, I’m done!"
"But what about the–" Naruto tried to protest, but Ino was already pushing him bodily out the door of the small flower shop.
"I'll clean it myself, just go. Don’t come again for another two months."
"But–"
"Go!"
And then Sasuke and Naruto found themselves outside, the door to the quaint flower shop closing with a loud bang that rattled the flower arrangements above it, and the small brown sign that said “Open! :)” in a deceptively cheerful tone.
Naruto scratched his head. "It was just a flower pot."
Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe she had a date to get to."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I'd also be mad and anxious if I had a date with Sakura." He shivered.
Sasuke said nothing as they made their way to where his mother's grave lay, beside his father's. He placed the flowers on it, and then stood there, leaning against Naruto with one of Naruto's arms thrown over his shoulder to hold him close.
He touched the flower behind his ear as he silently asked his mother for her blessing.
*****************************************
"You brought Sasuke!?" Kiba shrieked, as soon as he and everyone else had gotten Naruto far enough from the ticket stand, where Sasuke was buying all their tickets.
"Well I couldn't just leave him at home alone, he—"
"Isn't your cat!"
"Well—"
"Naruto can bring his boyfriend if he likes." Choji said with much boredom, munching on popcorn. The project Sasuke had done for them had gotten an A+, so he was feeling pretty favourable.
"Thank you, Choji." Naruto nodded, then, "Wait, Sasuke's not my boyfriend."
Everyone collectively sighed.
"Naruto," Sakura said, touching his arm sympathetically like she was trying to gently break a bit of bad news to him, "I'm sorry but it's so obvious. If you were trying to hide it you should have done a much better job."
"A much, much better one," added Ino, serious. "For all of our sakes."
"Wh- hide what!?" Naruto spluttered, drawing back. "We weren't hiding anything, I'm not dating Sasuke!" He looked around at his friend’s faces, "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Naruto.." Sakura said slowly, a pitying tone in her voice. "You really aren't?"
"No." He replied, confused as all hell. "Why would you— everyone think that, that I—" He looked back to make sure Sasuke wasn't approaching.
"Naruto he bought you a Ps4," Kiba said, eyes narrowed. "It wasn't your birthday, or Christmas. And even fucking if!"
"What? Who said he did? I told you it was an anonymous gift."
Kiba slapped his own forehead, and a marvellous red mark immediately bloomed on the spot. Hinata quickly grabbed his hand, concerned.
"He braids your hair," Choji offered with a shrug.
"Exhibit 2," said Ino, tugging off Naruto’s beanie to reveal his new golden cornrows.
"Hey!"
"A-and you sleep together..." Hinata supplied softly, her face turning redder with every word.
"WHAT!?" Sakura shrieked, accidentally jostling a passing couple in her excitement and spilling their popcorn everywhere. "Oops, sorry," she quickly apologised, and offered them her own.
"No problem," the girl said, and began to walk faster, dragging along by the arm her startled boyfriend.
"As I was saying," Sakura continued, once the couple was gone, "WHAT!?"
Naruto groaned.
"I-it's true." Hinata fiddled with her hand. "I went t-to Naruto-kun's apartment to see him and... and he came up and hugged Sas-sasuke from behind and... and said...and said…"
"Said what, Hinata?" Kiba prompted, gently.
"Come back to bed." Hinata
finished with a whisper, and promptly turned beet red.
"For real?"
"What the heck, Naruto?"
"Aw, come on, I’m eating here."
"I don't believe this."
"This can't be real."
Naruto groaned again and dragged a palm down his face. "Can you guys stop." He looked at Kiba. "Come on, we used to share a bed all the time."
Kiba's eyes narrowed. "Naruto..." he said slowly, enunciating every word. "We were three." The 'Are you fucking kidding me??' hung in the air, almost as audible as if it had been said out loud. Naruto threw his hands up, exasperated. He was starting to get annoyed at this whole situation.
And everyone was still looking at him like that. "Will you guys just drop it?" Sasuke was done buying the tickets and was making his way over to them.
He looked at them warily, suspicious of their quiet, but said nothing and handed the tickets over to Naruto to distribute.
"Let's go." Kiba said to everyone after a while, and they all headed to the theater. “Thanks, Sasuke.”
Everyone murmured their thanks, politely acting like they weren’t just heatedly gossiping about him less than two minutes ago.
Naruto usually held on to Sasuke in the dark passages before you got to the actual theater door, since Sasuke's eyesight seemed so much better than everyone else's, but today he didn't. He was too uncomfortable with everything everyone had been saying. Sasuke was his best friend, not his boyfriend, and for Kami's sake two young adults could live together in harmony without needing to involve romance in it.
Sasuke stayed close to him, like Naruto knew he would, but he didn't take the offered invitation and actually drew back when Sasuke tried to grab his hand.
He tripped twice on his own feet before they made it to the door.
He and Sasuke usually sat side by side at these things, every single time, Naruto realised, like some sort of emotionally super attached couple. So he let Kiba go before him after Sasuke had sat down, and then he let Hinata go too so that they were both between him and Sasuke.
The movie was a comedy, something about a woman that got stranded somewhere after a wild night out and had to make it back in time for her morning job as a newscaster, and it was clearly funny judging by the audience's reaction, but Naruto couldn't take in a single thing. Kiba and Hinata looked like a couple proper, they were holding hands and blushing, and Naruto remembered with a slight shock that he always held Sasuke's hand during movies. It wasn't anything special, he just liked the feel of Sasuke’s hand in his, the way it fitted into his own hand. Sasuke's hands were soft, good-looking and always warm, and when their fingers intertwined Naruto always felt warmer, especially in the cold and dark of the cinema.
That was all totally normal behaviour, Naruto thought, so why did he suddenly feel self-conscious about it? He wasn’t even willing to let his mind stray too close to the memories of how he’d kiss all over the back of Sasuke’s hand, and in-between his fingers during the more boring parts of the movies they’d seen. That was him showing affection, nothing more. Nothing at all more.
Over an hour later, the movie ended and Naruto was deeply entrenched in his own thoughts, not having heard a single sentence from the movie.
Ino leaned over to whisper to him as the credits rolled, "Can you stop frowning so hard? Looks like you're trying to kill the characters with your laser vision or something. It's freaking me out. Do you have laser vision??"
Naruto hadn't realised he'd been frowning, or that the movie was over, even. “No,” he said sullenly.
When they got out, Choji suggested they go get food, but Naruto begged off. He felt like he needed air, to be alone, and think very hard about something. But he didn't know what that thing was. He just felt a little sick.
Of course, Sasuke followed him. Which made fucking sense, because they lived together, and none of the others were actually Sasuke's friends. Naruto hadn't accounted for that though, and cursed his own dumbness in his mind a hundred times. Truthfully, it was Sasuke he'd wanted to get away from the most.
After they had walked in silence for a few minutes, Sasuke took off his glove and offered his hand to Naruto. Seeing that there was no way to reject this offer without appearing covertly hostile, Naruto took his hand in his ungloved one and shoved both of them in his pockets, letting their fingers intertwine.
They always did this, when it was cold out and it was just them two. Naruto would loudly complain about the weather, even if it was just slightly chilly and he was in short-sleeves, he'd still say it was freezing, and then insist that Sasuke give him his hand for warmth. Sasuke always obliged, rolling his eyes as if it was tiresome, but he'd have a smile on his lips to show that he was amused anyway.
And that's what it was, Naruto thought, amusing. Funny. It's not like he just wanted to hold Sasuke's hand or anything... it just made him feel warm and happy. But now it made him nervous and sweaty, and Sasuke had even offered first, which he rarely ever did before. Naruto was going to clock Choji so hard when next he saw him. He'd gone and made everything weird.
"Naruto," Sasuke's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Naruto realised he'd been clutching his friend’s hand very tightly. He released it with a wince and an apologetic look. Sasuke frowned. "Are you going to tell me what's going on in that empty head of yours? I was enjoying the peace for a bit but it's gotten really unnerving so just spit it out." He looked very pissed, like he was trying and failing to be nice, and it was too funny, and so very Sasuke, that Naruto couldn't help but smile.
Why was he so skittish anyway? The answer obviously wasn't running away from Sasuke. The answer was talking to Sasuke. He didn't know why he was acting so weird about it even, Sasuke would probably just scoff meanly and say, "Like I would ever be interested in a dumbass like you," or something along those lines that was equally grounding.
"Haha," Naruto said. He tried for casual when he said, "Did you know that everyone thinks we're a couple?" He missed it by a mile.
Sasuke's face went carefully blank. "Oh?"
"Yeah," Naruto went on, unsure. He'd expected Sasuke to joke about it. "Isn't that… isn’t that crazy?"
"Is that why you've been acting dumber than usual?" Sasuke was clearly trying to keep his voice as flat as his expression. “All night?”
Naruto pouted. "I was just a little shocked, 'sall. It was taking me a while to process." He tried to ruffle Sasuke's hair with his other hand, but Sasuke pulled away. Naruto was confused. "What?"
"You mean," said Sasuke levelly, "that the reason you've been avoiding me this entire evening is because your friends told you they think we're 'a couple'?"
"I mean, it was a little weird, so… I just, I don't know it was… I just thought we could use a little space, because—" As soon as he'd said the words, he knew they were the wrong ones to say. Wordlessly, Sasuke untangled his hand from Naruto's and began to walk away.
Naruto chased after him, shocked. He grabbed his arm, "Sasuke! Where are you going? Wh– are you mad?!" He had never been so confused in his life, and boy was he often confused when it came to Sasuke.
Sasuke shook out of his grip. "I thought you wanted space."
"That was before—"
"Maybe I’m the one who wants it now."
Naruto frowned, wildly searching Sasuke's face for any tells with his eyes, because he didn't understand why Sasuke was acting like he was. But Sasuke's face was very blank, save for the small spark of anger in his eyes, which was a huge tell in and of itself because his face only did that when he was trying to hide other emotions, too strong for him to express moderately. Shame, disappointment, hurt.
They were in the middle of the street, and the sky was steadily getting darker. It would soon be night, and the streetlights were on, and Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other.
"Tell me what you're thinking, Sasuke," Naruto pleaded. "What's going on?"
Sasuke looked away, and when he looked back his expression was bitter and sad. Naruto felt panicked. What had he done this time? He'd never seen that expression on Sasuke's face before. "Do you really hate it that much," asked Sasuke, all of a sudden, "if people think we're together?"
Naruto's heart thumped in surprise, and his eyes widened in shock. His first instinct was to back away, to shout "What?!" at Sasuke, but something was nagging at the back of his mind that that would be the wrongest move he could ever make in his life. He knew he was on thin ice, so he forced himself to calm down, to use his brain for once and think logically about the situation. Sasuke was looking up at him, silently daring him to answer with his sharp, dark eyes, and Naruto, like emerging from the dull quietness of underwater, suddenly heard what he was trying to say. His mind began to race.
He remembered Sasuke saying, "Move in with me," in a detached tone, the day they'd graduated from high-school and Naruto said he didn't know where he'd go from there, remembered how he'd hugged Sasuke then, and how Sasuke didn't push him off even though Naruto would have bet his frog purse and everything in it that he would have. He remembered when Hinata had asked him, hopefully, what his type was one day and he'd shrugged and said, "I don't know, someone who loves me. Someone I love. Someone it’s easy to be with,” while thinking all the while how wonderful it would be if they could be exactly like Sasuke with not even a centimetre difference. Then, he remembered Sasuke, braiding his hair, remembered placing a kiss along his inner thigh and how his lips had tingled with the urge to do more so he'd licked it. He remembered Sasuke, staying up all night with him, doing Naruto's project while Naruto dozed off or fetched him coffee at intervals. He remembered the warmth he felt when he'd put a flower in Sasuke's hair and Sasuke had worn it all the way home, and how Sasuke had pressed that flower and kept it as a bookmark afterwards. He remembered Sasuke, in his arms, shaking after another nightmare as Naruto pressed kisses to his forehead, and Naruto crying against Sasuke's chest after one of his own, and how they'd both figured out the nightmares were less frequent if they slept together, so they had begun to. Even now when they were older and didn't have them separately anymore, they still slept together sometimes, simply for the comfort. He remembered the words always at the tip of his tongue, burning at the back of his throat to be said. Words he never said because he didn't want to make things weird between them.
His answer had long since been decided for him, it seemed, without him ever knowing.
"No," he told Sasuke finally, "It wouldn't be."
Sasuke's lips pressed together, twitching. Naruto smiled shakily. It all made sense now. It all made so much sense. So. Much. Sense. SO MUCH SENSE!!
He wanted to scale the tallest building in sight and stand on the roof. He wanted to shout down at everyone, “Everything makes sense now!”
So this was it. This was it. All this time, this was what it had been.
"Do it," he laughed, inching closer, his heart thumping wildly behind his chest, "Kiss me."
This bravery was a nee thing, but he wasn’t scared to be brave. He knew it, surely as the smile blooming on Sasuke’s face, that Sasuke was going to kiss him. And that Naruto would finally feel everything in the world come together in all the places it had never quite fit before.
"Idiot," Sasuke said, and then his lips were on Naruto's, smooth and firm. Naruto's eyes closed of their own accord as he put his arms around Sasuke, drawing him close, closer, as close as he could get without literally imbibing him into his very being, as he licked into Sasuke's mouth, head spinning and thinking, This is it this is it this is it. Sure enough, the world finally came together with almost an audible click. This was what had been missing all this time, why he hadn't gone on any dates since he'd moved in with Sasuke, why he had no interest in going on them. He couldn't believe he'd been so bli—
"Naruto!" A voice broke him out of his thoughts, and the feel of Sasuke's lips, and Naruto turned around to see his entire group of friends giving him matching disdainful looks.
"Honestly, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, "I can't believe you! We thought we'd offended you or something and came looking to apologise and this is what we find! You ditched us to make out with Sasuke IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WALKWAY in front of EVERYBODY!"
Random people threw them thoroughly disapproving looks as they walked past, and Naruto released Sasuke, blushing as he suddenly realised where they were. This was the effect Sasuke had on him— to make him forget anything and anyone else.
"He should be an actor," Choji commented, "I almost believed him."
Naruto stared at them, speechless. "No, seriously, It's not what you—"
"Naruto! How stupid do you think we are?" Ino cut him off.
"I've had enough," said Sakura. "Get them!"
Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand, laughing and backing away slowly. "Race you home," he whispered quickly. "Winner gets a kiss."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but smiled. "You're on, dobe."
And it was supposed to be a race, but they ran hand-in-hand.