Chapter Text
Naruto just about melted into his seat. It was nearing the end of May, a wave of heat and humidity striking harder and faster than anyone ever expected and here he was—stuck rotting in a swampy lecture hall. He spared a glance to his left, peeling his forehead from where it stuck mercilessly to the desk to peek at Sakura. She looked nearly as worse for wear as he felt, sweat trickling dangerously down her neck and staining the collar of her shirt a deeper red. Where Naruto was slumped over with his head to the table and his eyes wandering anywhere but on the professor, Sakura was completely locked in. He expected nothing less, she was the smartest person he knew. Still, Naruto was morbidly bored and stupidly hot.
When he tired of trying to psychically will Sakura to glance back at him, he found himself fiddling with his notebook instead. First, it was an actual attempt at taking notes, then it was poorly drawn doodles of frogs all along the margins, until finally, the entire page was consumed by a giant toad with a pipe and a katana. He thought it looked pretty cool, but now there was no room left for notes. Sakura swatted his notebook away and deftly flipped him off when he tried to show her. Tough crowd. He pouted and went back to note-taking on the next page.
Approximately thirty seconds passed before Naruto had folded up the new page and was using it to fan himself. He tried to follow along with the lesson but only found himself sinking lower into his chair; the air was helping with his concentration at least, but not by much. Sakura spared him a glance when she heard the paper crinkle and snorted disapprovingly.
Naruto barely caught her eye, “Sorry, did you want some?” He began fanning her vigorously like a peasant with a banana-leaf, grinning impishly. A beat later, Sakura snatched up the paper and crumpled it tightly within her fist. Naruto’s smile immediately wilted.
“Could you be quiet for two minutes?” She hissed out of the corner of her mouth, eyes never leaving the professor.
“But I’m bored…”
“That’s got nothing to do with me.”
“Sakura…” A crumpled ball of paper was thrown at his head. Naruto felt like the heat was going to swallow him whole.
“…Did you take your medication today?”
He thought back on it, trying to retrace his morning and found that he couldn’t actually remember. He supposed that probably wasn’t a good sign.
“Heh.”
“Naruto—”
Eventually, their teacher rapped up his incessant ramblings and dismissed the class, Naruto never gladder to leave a room in his life. He felt nothing, however, but immediate regret as soon as they set foot outside.
“Oh fuck, it’s so much worse.”
“The sun’ll do that,” Sakura supplied helpfully from his side. They were headed the same way—Sakura to her dorm and Naruto to the house he rented out with three other guys—now walking together in hopes of seeking some working air conditioning. As the two strode across campus, a thought tickled Naruto’s mind.
“So,” he tested, “are you hungry?”
Sakura didn’t miss a beat. “I’m not going on a date with you, Naruto.”
“No, not like that!” Although he certainly wouldn’t mind —and it wasn’t like he hadn’t already asked her out a hundred times. “Let’s just grab something from the convenience store! I could really go for a popsicle right now.” There was a 7-Eleven right off campus that they often frequented, not more than a five minute walk from where they were now.
Sakura brought her hand to her chin while she thought about it, clutching her textbooks across her chest with the other. She chewed on her lip and furrowed her brow in the way Naruto thought was cute and he already found himself smiling.
“Well, alright…”
“Yes!”
“But it’s not a date.”
“Whatever you have to keep telling yourself— Ow!” Sakura was amazing but she sure had a mean right-hook. Naruto was still rubbing out the pain in his arm by the time they’d strolled up to the store.
Dozens of other disheveled students milled in and out of the crowded store which stood with its doors propped open, cool air-conditioning blasting out to the street and beckoning them nearer like a divine oasis. At this point, Naruto’s shirt was pretty much soaked all the way through with sweat and the promise of chilly refuge and a snack prickled his senses.
“Ho~ly shit! I can feel the fans from out here, come on Sakura, let’s go!” Life was good. Whoever invented AC and big industrial sized fans deserved a big fat kiss on the lips. He flew through the doors, Sakura trailing after him and shaking her head in amusement.
Naruto decided right then and there that 7-Eleven had never been more perfect. It was white and cold and shining and brilliant. He heaved a contented sigh as soon as they passed over the threshold, finding relief in the way his sweat went from sticky to cooling. He heard Sakura exhale happily beside him. As his eyes adjusted to the buzzing fluorescents, their miserable walk finally caught up to his legs, rendering them lead-heavy. But he found that he didn’t really mind when there were icy waves of air conditioning washing over his skin.
After the two had finished reveling in their moment of bliss in front of the doorway, Sakura suddenly perked up, apparently something along the shelves had piqued her interest.
“Snacks on you?” she posed.
“I thought this wasn’t a date.” Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.
Sakura grumbled. “Gah, fine, I’m going to go look over there.”
“‘Kay, I’m getting a drink.”
And then they were off. It was a comfortable rhythm. The two would usually reconvene when the other finished picking out their wares or when they needed help choosing between a few options. (On most occasions, it was Naruto with his terrible indecision that drove Sakura up the wall.) Today was no different, and when Naruto found himself wandering off to the soft-drink station, he was immediately struck by those familiar conflicted feelings. The infinite selection of sodas and slurpee flavors hit him like a colorful barrage—there were entirely too many options for just one person to choose. Not to mention the drinks in the refrigerated sections and the promise of ice cream and popsicles waiting for him in the freezer aisle. Naruto still felt a little off-kilter from baking in the sun on the way here, and he idled where he stood, eyes squinted deep in concentration. Decisions, decisions. If he got a soda, he still really wanted that popsicle, but that was way too much sugar—Sakura would get on his ass about it—but he definitely wanted a drink, but on the other hand, a slurpee was kind of the perfect marriage of a soft drink and a cold treat, but also every time he got one the machines were all thin and runny—
Goddamnit, he was just going to get a Gatorade. Steadfast in his decision, Naruto marched over to the aisle with the refrigerated drinks, only getting distracted twice on the way and stopping once to grab a bag of chips. When he rounded on the section with the sports and energy drinks he stopped dead in his tracks.
There was already someone shopping behind the door, and there was only one light blue Gatorade left. He watched as the other man’s hand hesitated in front of it. If Naruto didn’t get that blue Gatorade, he’d have to get a different flavor…or worse: a Powerade.
“Nooo…”
Shit, did he say that out loud?
Intense black eyes locked on Naruto while he flinched—caught. The stranger pulled his selection from the fridge, the door shutting much louder than Naruto felt like it should’ve and eyes never straying away from his.
“Heh.” Naruto scratched at the back of his head while the other man kept burning holes in it with his glare. Why was this guy so scary? He couldn’t be much older than Naruto, nor did he look much taller, but he still had such a suffocating aura… Naruto gulped and tried for a casual smile. Regardless, he was confident he could sweet talk his way out of this situation and maybe even convince the guy to give up his Gatorade if he was lucky; he’d talked his way out of worse.
The crackle of a can opening stole Naruto away from his reverie. He’d been too distracted to notice that the guy hadn’t even taken the Gatorade and was instead cracking open a Red Bull.
“Wha—aren’t you gonna pay for that, man?”
The stranger made no way of response, simply lifting the can to his lips and taking a long, drawn-out swig. Naruto was already flabbergasted and the guy still hadn’t even spoken a word to him. Just who the hell did he think he was?
“They can still scan it if it’s empty,” the man said coolly. His voice was jarring. His hair was as ink black as his eyes and somehow still looked perfect despite it being as drenched as his white t-shirt. Somehow this guy was making being gross and sweaty look cool and inexplicably, it made something in Naruto boil.
“You—”
And by now Naruto knew he was being fucked with, because before the man lifted the drink back up to his mouth, he thought he saw the hint of a smile flash across his lips. The stranger chugged his drink significantly longer this time and Naruto found he didn’t know where to look. He watched as the other man’s Adam's apple bobbed along his pale neck and suddenly felt as if the world was collapsing around him. He didn’t know why he was still standing there, having completely forgotten about the Gatorade by now, and yet his feet remained glued to the floor.
When the black-haired stranger had tipped back the last of his drink, he crumpled the can in his hand and met Naruto with a steely gaze. He raised one eyebrow at him and stared a beat longer before sauntering off. Their shoulders brushed as he walked by.
Just what the hell was that? Naruto had no idea what the fuck just happened but somehow he felt like he’d just let that guy give him the slip. It was deeply unsettling. He felt strangely violated.
“…Who was that?” he wondered under his breath, finally shaking his legs free and pulling open the door to the fridge that had been occupied just moments ago. As Naruto plucked the last Glacier Freeze from the shelf, he found that he didn’t really want it all that much anymore, all of his thirst drying up on his tongue. He spared a glance at the Red Bulls and swallowed. What a strange guy…
Naruto walked like a robot all the way back to Sakura. His body on autopilot and his mind drifting elsewhere. She must’ve been right, he probably had forgotten to take his ADHD meds; it was the only thing that could explain this bizarre sensation taking root in his body. When he finally found his friend, she was standing with another girl. He hadn’t meant to startle her.
“Naruto! You snuck up on me.” Sakura placed a hand on her chest and blushed. Weird. “Um, this is Ino, we just ran into each other,” she gestured toward the blonde woman by her side, “from my calculus class, remember?” Ino turned around to look at him, hands on her hips. “Ino, this is Naruto. Naruto, this is Ino, haha.” Sakura laughed awkwardly to herself while Ino’s expression soured to something sordid. What did Naruto do this time? They hadn’t even met before as far as he knew…had they? Naruto ran the name ‘Ino’ through his head a few times as he took her in. He thought he remembered Sakura mentioning a pretty blonde girl in her calculus class before—it had to be her—but that was it. Ino continued to glare at him from behind her hair stormily. It was parted in a smooth side bang, very 2009 but somehow she pulled it off well. He bit the bullet and extended his hand.
“Hi, I’m Naruto Uzumaki!”
She looked down at his outstretched hand but kept both of hers fixed defiantly on her hips. “I know who you are,” she said flatly, her tone biting. Naruto’s smile began to falter.
“Ino!” Sakura chided, stomping on her foot. Ino swore and fixed Sakura with a withering glare. Sakura glared right back. Naruto was utterly confused. Ino finally relented with a sigh, some of the hostile energy suddenly deflating from her body. But she saved enough of it to school Naruto with one last fearsome expression.
“Quit asking Sakura to date you, she’s never gonna say yes!”
For the second time since he’d walked into the convenience store, Naruto felt completely caught in his tracks. “Uh,” he held his hands up in mock surrender, tripping and falling over his words before turning back to Sakura. He’d been hitting on her for years to no avail, but he’d never been called out on it so blatantly. “You told her?” he whisper-shouted even though Ino could obviously still hear him. For the first time, he felt mortified by his own actions. Sakura’s mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish, but it wasn’t her who answered him.
“Of course she told me, I’m her girl—” Sakura stomped on her foot again, effectively shutting her up. Now, by no means was Naruto the sharpest tool in the shed, but he wasn’t dumb. The blond boy squinted between the two girls, eyes scanning the unnecessary touches Sakura placed on Ino’s arm, recalling the way she’d blushed when Naruto interrupted them, Ino’s anger at Naruto’s persistence at courting Sakura—
“Ohh…” Sakura and Ino both stopped their fussing to turn to him, each of them looking on with bated breaths. Naruto fixed them with a lopsided grin to show he meant no harm. Slowly, Ino’s expression turned smug and Sakura’s bashful. He felt silly for not realizing it sooner.
“Sorry, Naruto. I was going to tell you…” Sakura scratched at her cheek. She couldn’t meet his eyes yet but a steady smile was already spreading across her face. Naruto wished she hadn’t been so nervous to tell him.
“‘S okay, Sakura.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “I don’t mind that you have another best friend.”
“…”
“What?”
Naruto once again felt like he was missing something. “…That’s what you were gonna say, right?” He addressed Ino directly. “That you’re Sakura’s girlfriend? That’s what girls call their best friends…their girlfriends…” Realization was slowly dawning on him. Ino looked pissed. Her eyebrow twitched. Maybe he was stupid.
“Oh my god, you guys are together?! Like together- together? Like you’re girlfriends? What?!”
“Fucking straight boys,” Ino bit out under her breath.
“Yes, Naruto,” Sakura hissed, “now can we please not do this in the trail mix aisle?” There were in fact a few curious eyes on them.
Naruto was practically pulling out his hair as they relocated their group. Sakura’s sexuality didn’t bother him by any means, he’d just never expected to be so blindsided by it. All this time he thought he might actually still have a chance with her, but instead he’d been relentlessly hitting on a lesbian. He felt like a freak. And it hurt a little bit, to feel that familiar sting of rejection but knowing now that it would always be the same answer.
“It all makes so much sense,” he started after a brief moment of silence. “That’s why you were always turning me down…you’re not even into guys…” He was still grappling with this newfound information. Sakura seemed nervous.
“Actually, I’m bi,” she admitted. “Just not into you like that.”
“Holy shit.”
“…Yeah.”
“Sorry for assuming? I’m—I’m happy for you by the way.”
“It’s ok, Naruto. And thanks.”
“And you were right, Sakura.”
“Hm?” Sakura turned to him, her eyes a silent question. The three of them had resorted to aimlessly traversing the 7-Eleven, not yet wanting to face the harshness of the heat-wave outside. Perhaps they could loiter there until the sun went down.
“Ino is pretty,” Naruto told her with a careful smile. Sakura colored a violent red and punched him in the rib cage this time. Hard. He doubled over with a wheeze but couldn’t keep the smile from his face.
Ino took her girlfriend’s hand in her own and preened happily as their fingers interlaced in the 7-Eleven. They walked on, and just because Sakura came out to her best friend that was hopelessly in love with her, the world still didn’t end.
Naruto’s almost did, however, when Sakura recognized another one of her classmates.
“Sasuke, over here!” She was waving at the backside of a tall, dark haired man as their group finally made their way up to the cash register. At first, ‘Sasuke’ had no reaction other than an almost imperceptible flinch of his shoulders. But he still hadn’t looked over at them—almost as if he was intentionally ignoring Sakura, who continued calling out to him anyway. As they drew nearer Naruto couldn’t help the strange feeling that twinged in his gut—and hey wasn’t that—?
The man—Sasuke—turned around. Naruto blanched. That guy!
He was still clutching the crumpled up Red Bull in his hand, idling in the impossibly long line. Naruto thought he might puke.
“Him? You know that guy?” He demanded from Sakura.
“Sakura,” Sasuke addressed her, completely ignoring Naruto. Oh, this guy was gonna get it.
“Hey asshole! What’s your problem with me?!” Naruto was pointing and shouting at him now, properly riled up. He didn’t know what it was about the guy, but something with his vibe felt off, and it had Naruto’s fists itching to start flying. Preferably into his stupid face.
Sasuke’s cold gaze found Naruto’s. The bastard barely even turned his head to look at him, like he wasn’t worth the effort.
“…Do I know you?”
“You—!” Naruto felt like he’d been caught with his pants down. He knew for sure now that he hated Sasuke’s guts.
Green eyes darted between the two men: one cold and indifferent, the other a bristling porcupine.
“Wait, have you two met before?”
“No.”
“Yes!”
Sasuke simply scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning his back on the rest of them. Sakura let out an exasperated groan and rolled her eyes before taking her place in line behind him, the conversation apparently over. She had to pinch Naruto’s ear and drag him behind her so as not to let him start swinging at the other man.
Sakura leaned over to the ear she had just tugged on to whisper to Naruto.
“You and I are talking about this,” he opened his mouth to start babbling, “later.” She smacked his ear again for good measure. Naruto clutched it offendedly while cursing obscenities at Sasuke in his head. He glared daggers at his backside all the way up until Sasuke paid for his literal trash and left. The latter never turning around again. It felt like a small victory but also somehow a loss. Just another contradiction when it came to this strange man that was tearing Naruto’s head up in ribbons.
When they finally left the store and returned to the suffocating orange street, stained bleeding reds by the hot sunset, Naruto found that he hadn’t even bought the right Gatorade. It was red. Fuck.
“So, what was that about?” Sakura and Naruto were lounging around in his room, the former of which had said farewell to her girlfriend when Ino proclaimed that she had to get to work before she was late. The two shared a quick kiss that had made Naruto blush and look away before Ino had taken off and left them to their own devices. Sakura’s roommate was usually too shy for visitors and Naruto had his own room at his house anyway, so heading there had worked out in their favor. Neither of the friends had planned on hanging out for longer than their impromptu 7-Eleven excursion, but there were obviously things left unsaid between them and Naruto found himself unable to leave it alone, wanting to pick at the unspoken secrets like a sore. Clearly Sakura felt the same, as she had made no attempts to leave just yet.
She was sprawled out across his bed, picking at the corner of his quilt where it was fraying, while Naruto sat backwards at his desk chair, slumped across the back of it with his chin buried in the crook of his elbow.
“What was ‘what’ about? That Sasuke guy’s a jerk.” Naruto wouldn’t admit it but he was clearly pouting. He spun around on the chair to grab some more chips off his desk.
“Yeah, but Sasuke’s just kinda…like that…” Sakura leaned her feet up on the wall, splayed out on her back.
“Well, he’s still a jerk… How do you know him?” Naruto couldn’t help but feel a little curious. He watched as Sakura began to toss one of his many frog plushies up over her head, catching it with practiced ease.
“He’s in my calculus class with Ino.”
“What, is everybody in your calculus class? And by the way,” Naruto sat up straight all of a sudden, jabbing a finger at her, “we are not just going to gloss over the fact that you have a girlfriend.”
“Wha—” Sakura shot up from his bed, her green eyes round like saucers. “But I thought you were fine with it.”
“Of course I’m fine with it—I’m not a homophobic dick—but I don’t know anything about her. We’ve been friends since highschool and I didn’t even know you were into women until today.” He stuffed some more chips into his mouth if only to do something with his hands. “How long have you been dating her?”
Sakura visibly paled. “Umm…two months…?”
“What? And you didn't tell me?”
“Naruto, I promise I was going to—”
“But you didn’t, and you didn’t even mean for me to find out today—!”
Sakura’s voice pitched as she finally broke and shouted at him. “Because I was scared!” Shit, he hadn’t meant to push her this far. Her eyes were glossed over with unshed tears. “Because I was scared, Naruto.” She spoke softly now, face downcast. “Scared of what you would think, scared of hurting you, scared of something like this happening—I didn’t want you to make such a big deal of it.” Her bottom lip wobbled. Naruto’s heart panged.
He wanted to kick himself.
“Sakura, hey.” Naruto’s chair creaked as he stood up, padding softly over to the bed like one would approach a wounded animal, careful not to spook her. “I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal to me, I promise.” He trailed off, unsure of where to put his hands. He shoved them in his pockets.
“I guess I'm just kind of hurt that you felt like you couldn’t tell me.” Naruto admitted, lowering himself down onto the bed when Sakura made no moves to stop him. His leg bounced while he tried to put his feelings into words. “You know I love you,” he immediately cringed, “not like that—well a little like that—but I’ll get over it.” He cracked a smile when Sakura pushed him lightly. “And we tell eachother everything—well I guess I tell you everything,” she shoved him again, “and I want you to know that you can tell me anything too, I guess.” He scratched his cheek before wringing his hands, uncharacteristically abashed. Naruto was used to being the one on the receiving end of being comforted by Sakura, and he was suddenly made acutely aware of this. The realization made him feel like an even shittier friend.
Sakura, of course, was completely unaware of Naruto’s internal monologue. She flopped back against his covers with a gargantuan sigh; Naruto soon to follow, lying parallel to her a few inches away. Sakura turned to peer at his profile, a single tear escaping to roll down her cheek. Naruto caught it with his thumb. She smacked his hand away before sighing again, scrubbing profusely at her face.
“Ughh, I hate that I don’t hate you.” She was smiling, even with her hands clasped across her face and more and more tears spilling out from underneath them. Naruto was smiling too, but his chest was aching for her. Even though it felt stupidly selfish, the dull pain of heartbreak was still there and his eyes were wet themselves.
“…Is that your way of saying ‘I love you, too’?”
“Shut up.” She socked a pillow over his face, smothering Naruto’s thousand watt grin.
“What, too soon?”
“Oh my god.”
“…I can’t believe I didn’t notice you were seeing someone...”
“You don’t notice a lot of things.”
“Hey, rude!”
“I can’t help that I speak the truth.”
“I hate you, Sakura.”
“That’s not what you said a minute ago~”
And then, even though it was a Friday night and there was probably something better to be doing like going out or getting drunk at somebody else’s place, and even though Sakura was still a bit upset at him and Naruto was a bit of an asshole, they stayed in and watched cartoons.
Sakura told him about Ino—about how they met when Sakura dropped her pencil during lecture hall and then bumped her head on the desk while trying to pick it up. Ino had called her a forehead and Sakura called her a pig and then after a few weeks of sitting next to each other everyday for no apparent reason other than the fact that they might like each other's company, Sakura realized she wasn’t a pig after all and was actually really cute and asked for her number. Naruto told her that wasn’t romantic at all and then Sakura called him a dumbass. And when they put on Regular Show Sakura told him he was Rigby and Naruto told her she was Muscle Man and she just about beat the shit out of him. And even though the AC in his apartment wasn’t nearly as good as the 7-Eleven’s, and even though the tower fan in the corner was loud and Naruto’s old TV was small and ridiculously old and they fell asleep lying across his bed in the wrong direction, just for tonight, things would be ok.
In the morning, when Sakura asked him what was for breakfast and Naruto told her instant ramen she punched him again and left. And that was ok too.