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Naruto sighs, brushing his fingers across his thighs, smearing dirt on the blue denim. “Come on, come of the bushes,” Naruto encourages, waving his arms around a bit to catch the attention of the little kitten touched behind his lettuce plants. “You’re not supposed to be eating the garden,” he explains. The meow he gets back is one of defiance as the little guy pushes his way back into the plants, nearly hidden from Naruto’s view.
“Where are you going?” Naruto asks, knees dragging along the dirt path as he crawls into the garden, eyes squinting in order to catch even the smallest hint of black. There’s another meow, this was further away than he would have expected. This kitten was going to be the death of him.
Before he knows it, he’s bumping his head against the fence along the back of his garden, a wince leaving his lips. The kitten is nowhere to be found, but Naruto has a sinking feeling the hole that goes under the fence might be a bit of a problem.
Naruto makes his way back out, careful not to step on any of his little plants. He pulls a weed or two along the way, figuring her might as well since he’s already climbed into the bushes.
“Come on, Ramen,” he mutters, making his way out of his yard and to the sidewalk out front. “This isn’t funny anymore.” The little kitten has been escaping the yard any chance she can get. She usually doesn’t wander far, but Naruto’s getting sick of following her around the neighborhood. He didn’t even want the cat to begin with and now the little guy won’t even stay put.
“Where did you go?” he asks, like the cat is going to answer him back somehow. This was not how he wanted to spend his day. He had been hoping to just spend a few hours in the garden in order to get his mind off his recent breakup before wallowing in another carton of ice cream. He didn’t want to spend ages looking for the only thing that remind him of his breakup.
“Is this your cat?”
Naruto stops, turning to find his neighbor – his damn good looking neighbor – holding his little kitten to his chest. Naruto doesn’t know his neighbor too well, tends to admire him from afar, but the other isn’t usually home to do that. Actually, it’s unusual to even see him at home in general. He would seem to be a workaholic.
“Sorry, yeah, that’s my little guy,” Naruto answers. The other nods, patting the kitten behind the ears and getting a little purr in response. The cat looks comfortable in his arms, curling up happily.
“He seems to like tomato bushes. I found him swatting at them,” the other explains, holding the little guy out for Naruto to take.
“Shit! I’m sorry about that.” Naruto takes the kitten back, frowning when he wiggles and tries to escape his grasp. It seems to like his neighbor better then him. “Did he ruin any? I have a few that are almost rip that I can give you.”
The other shakes his head, “It’s fine. They were rip so I can just pick them up off the ground. He didn’t dent them or anything.”
Naruto sighs, fingers running over the kitten’s head in an attempt to sooth him. It doesn’t seem to be working. “That’s good,” Naruto comments, “Thanks for returning the little guy. I’ll see you around.”
The other looks like he wants to say something, but Naruto’s gone before he can get another word out.
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The raindrop that falls on Naruto’s head has a sigh leaving his lips, glancing up to see the dark clouds rolling in quickly. Naruto works for a few more minutes, fiddling with some of the dirt in order to burry some new seeds.
The rain becomes unbearable when it soaks through his shirt, the sky’s opening up as it pours on Naruto’s head. He tucks the shovel in his pocket, wiping his hands on his jeans as he makes his way back to his house. The kitten is still scratching at the door, but Naruto doesn’t let him out as he pushes his way inside. He hasn’t let the little guy out since he ran into the neighbor’s yard.
He ends up just taking a shower and shoving his legs into a pair of sweatpants after being out in the rain. The clothes go right into the wash, wet and dirty from a few hours of work outside and a rain storm.
The only problem is that his fridge is empty and there is no way he is going out in this weather like he had planned. He feels a bit guilty, but decides to just order himself a pizza. Hopefully the rain will let up enough for the delivery person to run to his door and back to the car without getting to wet.
It doesn’t let up.
He feels guilty when the guy runs up to the door, hoodie pulled over his face in hopes of blocking the rain drops from his eyes. Naruto gives him a small smile, taking the pizza and giving the guy a ten-dollar tip for his troubles.
The only problem is that he opens the box and finds vegetables on his pizza. What the hell?
When he looks at the box, he’s not surprised to find his neighbor’s address written across the label – his name is Sasuke – and a frown pulls down his lips. The whole idea of the pizza order was so he didn’t have to go out in the rain again. There was no way he was eating this crap though. Who gets vegetables on their pizza? That’s what the tomato sauce was for.
Naruto tugs his raincoat over his shoulders and stuffs his feet into his rain boots. With a quick “I’ll be back” throw over his shoulder to the kitten, he tugs the door open and trudges down his path and to his neighbor’s house.
The other is opening the door when Naruto gets there, raincoat pulled over his own shoulders and a pizza in hand. Naruto is sure that is his meat lovers pizza with every meat you can dream of on it. His mouth is watering just thinking about it.
“I’m assuming that’s my pizza,” Sasuke asks, pointing to the box in Naruto’s hand.
“And that would be mine,” Naruto says, a small smile tugging up his lips. There is a small one on Sasuke’s as they exchange boxes, both opening the top a smidge in order to catch a whiff of the pizza they originally got. “I don’t know how you can get all veggies on your pizza.” Naruto comments, getting a good sniff of the bacon that liters the top of his pizza.
“I don’t know how you can get all that crap on the top,” Sasuke says right back.
“It’s a sin getting veggies on your pizza.”
“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” Sasuke says, a teasing ton to his voice. Naruto hasn’t enjoyed this kind of banter in a while.
“It’s not supposed to be healthy. That’s what the tomato sauce is for,” Naruto replies, a laugh leaving his lips as the other man chuckles.
“The point of pizza is to be able to put anything you like on it.”
“Not if it’s healthy!”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Sasuke comments and Naruto can only chuckle. This was turning out to be a better night than he had expected.
“If you say so.” Sasuke doesn’t seem to have anything to say about that, and Naruto decides he doesn’t want this conversation to end. It’s the most he’s talked to someone in ages. “I’m Naruto, by the way.”
With a shake of his hand, the other introduces himself. “Sasuke.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you properly,” Naruto smiles. The other nods and Naruto is sad to admit it doesn’t seem the conversation is going to go on any further as the pizza is getting cold.
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Naruto’s a bit out of it on the day of his anniversary. It’s been nearly three weeks since he broke up with his ex, but he still stuffs his face with chocolate when the day rolls by. He ends up in front of the TV, watching their favorite movie with tears in his eyes. It’s sad and pathetic and he doesn’t really care.
Or at least he doesn’t until the doorbell rings.
He isn’t exactly expecting anyone, but Sakura knows what day it is and mentioned dropping by later in the day with some alcohol. Maybe she got out of work early?
With a frown, he tugs the blanket tighter around his shoulders, ice cream carton touch into the nock of his arm.
He doesn’t expect Sasuke to be on the other side of the door holding his kitten.
It’s a while before anyone talks, Naruto staring at the other with his mouth hanging open and Sasuke obviously waiting for Naruto to make the first move. Eventually Sasuke decides he needs to step up, stepping a bit closer to Naruto and holding the kitten out. “She was scratching at my door,” he explains.
Naruto shakes himself out of it, bumping the tub of ice cream on the little table by the door and taking the cat from Sasuke’s arms. “Sorry. I don’t know how she got out,” he mumbles.
They stand there in silence for a moment, each seeming to wait for the other to make to first move again. Sasuke seems to be taking the lead today. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Naruto is basically waisted when Sakura arrives with the booze.
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It’s a few days after the incident when Naruto finally gets up the courage to knock on Sasuke’s door. He’s been getting a little further each day, but decided today was the day. He had to get the embarrassment over with.
He almost runs away when he knocks on the door, rocking from heel to toe as he waits patiently for the other to answer. He waits a few seconds before he turns around, giving up on waiting all too soon. It’s barely enough time for Sasuke to even unlock the door.
“Naruto?” Sasuke asks, catching the other’s attention. Naruto pauses, leg freezing in the air as he turns to look at the other. Shit. He was really hoping Sasuke wouldn’t answer.
“Oh, hey Sasuke,” he answers. He isn’t exactly sure what to say after that. He takes his time walking back up Sasuke’s front path and up the stairs. “I just-I wanted to apologize.” He doesn’t even know why he’s apologizing. It isn’t like he knowns Sasuke – or has a chance with him for that matter.
“For?” Sasuke asks, obviously confused. “Did your cat get into my garden again?”
“No!” Naruto jumps, shaking his head. “No, she didn’t.” That would have sucked if she had. Naruto doesn’t exactly want to give away his tomatoes. He put his blood, sweat and tears into those and he likes to make tomato sauce out of them.
“Why are you apologizing then?”
“I just- the other day was a bad day for me. I just got out of a relationship of two years and, uh, that was our anniversary. I wasn’t really in a good place when you dropped by. I must have looked like a mess.”
“That’s an understatement,” Sasuke comments, arms crossed over his chest. Naruto frowns at the other, noting the lack of sympathy. The asshole didn’t even seem thankful Naruto was apologizing.
“Look, asshole, I wasn’t in a good place and just thought I would drop by and say sorry for the whole thing.”
He doesn’t let him reply as he stomps away, not even sure why he’s so mad.
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The next time he sees Sasuke, the other is walking up his front steps as Naruto is on his way out. Naruto doesn’t even know why he would be here. He knows for a fact his kitten is curled up on his couch, taking a nice long nap as Naruto steps out to do some grocery shopping.
“Ramen hasn’t been out in ages,” Naruto defends, not even bothering to ask what’s up. Naruto isn’t sure why he’s still so annoyed about the whole interaction from before.
“Ramen?”
“My cat.”
“You named your cat ramen?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
Sasuke looks like he is about to reply, but thinks better of it. Instead he says, “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Why are you here?”
“I came to ask you out,” Sasuke replies, straight to the point. Naruto freezes for a moment, trying to process the words. Did he just hear Sasuke right? What the hell?
“Are you serious?”
Sasuke shrugs, acting like he’s not even fazed by this whole situation. “Look, I’ve been thinking about asking you out for a while but I was never sure if you were single.”
“And my wrapped up in a blanket, eating chocolate ice cream just made you want to ask me out even more.”
Sasuke doesn’t answer, just raises an eyebrow at him, like he doesn’t need to explain himself. “It isn’t like you’re like that all the time.”
“What if I am?”
“What if you’re not?”
What the hell was happening?
“I just…what is happening right now?”
“I’m asking you on a date.”
Naruto sigh, closing his eyes for a second to get his bearings. This whole situation was new to him. It wasn’t often he was asked out even before his relationship. It was usually him doing the asking.
“Are you serious?”
Sasuke simply nods.
Naruto takes a deep breath. “Why the hell not.”
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow around 7.”
He’s gone before Naruto can even argue about the time.