Hey, everyone! I'm coming out of hiding because a nice reader went through the trouble to send me an extremely nice message about my other story, The Trials. My girlfriend and I have been just roleplaying our own gay characters and coming down off of the high of writing such a long fan fiction.

The title is inspired by the song "Layla" by Eric Clapton. It doesn't really have much to do with this fic, but it did help me figure out what I was going to write! "Like a fool/I fell in love with you/ you turned my whole world upside down."

But, since I promised, I figure that I can write a funny Sasuke POV plot bunny. Here I go!* prepares cyber popcorn again*

Like A Fool

His tanned chest muscles glisten in the light, sweat dripping from the exertion of his task. With every movement, every push, his breath grows shorter and shorter. I find my own breath matching his, though he's doing most of the work for me. Finally, it cracks, and he and I both gasp as the sensation crashes down on us.

"Ow, fuck! I thought you guys said it couldn't possibly drop on our feet!"

Naruto yelps and lifts the sawed wooden beam off of our feet. I take the two-person saw and lean it against what will be the fourth house out of the one-hundred I have to help build as punishment for leaving the village. That's not the only punishment I was given, but so far, I feel like it's the worst.

"Tazuna said it wouldn't fall if you didn't do it too fast, dobe. You were sawing like your life depended on it."

I grab our towels and toss one over to the idiot. My breath still hasn't evened out, and it's starting to annoy me. Though it isn't a very hot day, in my opinion, my face feels like it's fire. I have kept my shirt on, but the dobe had decided it was too hot within the first hour of working and had stripped from the waist up. That doesn't really have anything to do with my current state, so I don't know why I'm mentioning it. It's just a fact of the moment.

"Well, you said you would agree to come to Ichiraku with me, so I wanted to get this over with before it closes. Come on, you've already done your required share for the day! Let's go!"

Without warning, he wraps a hand around my bare wrist. At the same moment, I feel a strange convulsion low in my stomach. My eyes widen in embarrassment as the combination of shock and my short breath wreaks havoc on me.

I start hiccuping, and dobe starts laughing.

"Shut up -hic-!"

Hiccuping is, without a doubt, the least dignified noise a person can make. This is the third time I've been overcome with the stupid condition, and I haven't figured out a single way to stop them once they start. Even worse is that each time it's happened, the dobe's been around to witness it.

"Again, teme? Maybe you need to get yourself checked out by Tsunade some time. It can't possibly be normal for you to be hiccuping like a drunk all the time!"

There wasn't an ounce of concern in his voice. Of course not, he's too busy laughing at how foolish I look trying to stifle the obscene noises.

"Just put your damn -hic- jacket on and we'll get out of -hic- here!"

Giggling like a hyena the whole damn way, dobe drags me to the ramen joint he worships.

As if it's a part of my punishment, I often embarrass myself around him like this. Seeing as Naruto is my live-in guard until my punishment's over, I get all the chances in the world to make a fool out of myself in front of him.

When I wake up after having horrible dreams, he's always there beside my bed to bear witness to my panic attacks.

When I'm hungry, no matter when it is, he always has food and tea set out for me. Real food, even, not cup ramen. Am I so incompetent that I can't feed myself?

When I'm fulfilling my construction duties, he's always there, often shirtless, making everyone's job easier but mine.

When I'm too sore to wash my back, he's always there to scrub it and tell me some pointless story about one of the other ninja in our age group.

Everything he does is just so damn embarrassing, I can't stand it.

He didn't start out like this. Right after he brought me back, things were tense for a little while. It was during the time that my punishment was being decided. But still, he was right there by my side, yelling at the elders and the Hokage on my behalf. In those days, Naruto was difficult to approach, even for Sakura. I refused to look at him at all until my punishment was lowered from life in prison to my current punishment.

If I wasn't going to see him again, why should I try to mend anything? That's what I had thought.

In the end, I didn't have to do a thing. He volunteered to be my guard, and took me to his newly built apartment. Once there, he had cooked us dinner. The only indicator that he was affected by my return was the long, lingering hug he gave me before leaving me to sleep in the room that was originally the training room.

Since then, there hasn't been a moment that I haven't felt like a fool around him.

"Hey Sasuke, aren't you gonna eat your ramen?"

I can't respond to him. I've been holding my breath so long, I feel like I'm about to pass out. Just to be sure I don't look like an idiot, I let my breath out and try to relax away my hiccups. I think it's starting to. . .

"So, is that working for ya?"

"I think s-!"

Another infuriating sound comes out of my throat and shakes my whole body. I nearly fall out of the stool I'm perched on, and I would have, had I not fallen into dobe. He was there, ready to catch me and help me regain my composure, as usual.

"For fuck's sake!"

I can't help myself from growling out in frustration. But with my little outburst, I feel a change in the pressure in my throat. I deadpan, realizing that swearing just cured my hiccups. Naruto noticed immediately once he saw the change in my expression.

"So, next time you get like that, I just need to make you scream out? Sounds easy enough."

The bastard had a little grin and the odd glint in his eyes that he gets every time I embarrass myself around him. I glare back and refuse to say anything. To make good on my refusal to answer him, I break my chopsticks apart and start eating my ramen. I wish the idiot would just stop looking at me, but when my gaze drifts back over to him, he still has that weird look on his face. I demand to know why the hell he's acting strange all the time.

"First you tell me to eat, and now you're looking at me as if I'm doing something weird. What's your issue?"

"I just have one, but I don't think there's anything I can do about it."

Well, this is new. I put my chopsticks down without looking away from my weird guard. Usually, I wouldn't care much about Naruto's personal affairs and opinions, but since I'm being involved by him looking at me, I'm impelled to ask questions.

"Something about me?"

His grin widens, but he quickly turns his smile towards his fifth bowl of ramen. He lets out a single laugh, one that's lower in pitch that the usual ones I hear from him.

"Beats me, Sasuke. I'll get back to you later when I figure something out."

Damn it, he laughed at me. Again! What did I do this time?

It would be months before I get any sort of answer. By now, I've finished all of the construction, and I only have to serve a couple more guard shifts before my next hearing. They'll be determining if I shall resume my status as a Konoha shinobi. I wasn't planning on becoming one, but Naruto insisted that it would be good for me to get out and use my strength to help others. That's exactly what one would expect to hear from the next-in-line Hokage.

No matter what they determine, I won't require a live-in guard anymore. Naruto hasn't been slacking when it comes to his usual duties, but he seems to be putting extra effort into things he does around the house. He's stocked the fridge with things that I eat, he cleans the apartment regularly, and he's started ironing things. It's all really weird to watch; he always has his brow furrowed whenever he does anything that can only be described as "out of character."

Finally, I get up the nerve to approach him about it. It took me sitting on the couch and drumming my fingers for a while, wondering why I even care, to acquire said nerve. Once I made the assumption that being away for so long has affected my ability to suppress my natural curiosity, I decide to tactfully question the dobe.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Fantastic approach, Uchiha. It makes all the sense in the world to start out a conversation with something like that.

"Um, ironing? Something wrong?"

Whatever, dobe! You can look at me like I'm wearing bright yellow all you want, but you're the one who's being weird!

"You."

Is that really all I can manage to say? Maybe I need to start paying more attention to Naruto's social skills, seeing as mine have decided to jump off a cliff.

"Sorry, I guess? What the hell did I do?"

"Naruto," I sigh and try again, "In a few days, I'm clear to go live by myself."

His expression does something I've never seen it do before. It falls, but then instantly turns stony. Slowly, as if it's a sleeping bear, Naruto turns off the iron.

"I can help you find a place, I guess. Reconstruction has been working really well, so you have plenty apartments to choose from."

Words start spilling from my mouth before I can think to stop them. Naruto's tone had, for lack of a better explanation, pulled at something inside of me. Out of my element, I formed this entirely random thought.

"There are people who need a place to stay way more than I do. Civilians, people who lost everything when the village was destroyed; why should I take for myself something that one of the families can use? That's why I wanted to ask if you would permit me to stay here with you."

Dobe would be less surprised looking had I gotten on my knees and tearfully thanked him for everything he's done for me. This was the first time that I was too embarrassed to eat dinner with him.

I don't only make a fool out of myself in the shame trap that Naruto calls his apartment. Things are much worse in public; much, much worse, and so I can barely stand to leave to go do my assignments. On this particular day, it was to help create a garden from scratch in order to boost food supplies.

I should've expected that something horrible was going to happen when I saw that, for once, there was a kunoichi on our "gardening squad." That ridiculous name was dobe's idea, not mine. The girl, who I'd never seen before and assumed to be younger, could not take her eyes off me.

It never ceases to amaze me how these girls manage to find me attractive despite knowing what I've done. What would I have to do to get them to believe that I'm not their ideal lover? Normal people would have a hard time even trusting me, and yet these girls still want a relationship?

Needless to say, gardening with a pair of eyes on me at all times is not relaxing. My only respite is when Naruto puts himself between me and that girl's wandering eyes. If I had thought that he was doing it on purpose, I might have thanked him.

"Ya know, I've gotten a lot better at gardening, but I still can't tell which plants are weeds and which are herbs!"

Since we're just turning the earth, there is no reason to be talking about weeds. In true dobe fashion, he does it anyway.

"I wouldn't be concerned, usuratonkachi. That only means that you can never be a medical ninja."

"No offense to Sakura or the old hag, but that doesn't bother me at all."

Out of reflex and old habit, I roll my eyes and he grins. Taking advantage of our distraction, the kunoichi approaches me.

"Good afternoon, Uchiha-san. Nice weather, ne?"

Oh, Uchiha-san, am I? I was dreading the common "Sasuke-kun!" Too bad for her, I don't give points for originality, especially since she's twittering away about the weather. Instead of allowing me to snub the girl, Naruto started talking to her.

"It could be cooler. In fact, I'm burning up!"

As usual, Naruto can't do a single assignment on a relatively warm day without stripping off his jacket. The girl is plainly distracted by his tan skin, his chiseled muscles, his broad shoulders, his...

As I was saying, she's distracted. However, she seems determined to keep my attention.

"Well, Uchiha-san, don't you think it's a perfect day for . . .say . . .drinking some iced tea outside; perhaps with some good company?"

She sidles up close and reaches for my arm. I gasp when I felt the dobe's chest suddenly inches away from my back and his arm reaching around me to block her. I flick my eyes back only to see Naruto glaring at the girl.

"I think he's with plenty good company already. Now, how about we focus on our work so we can get done with this before nightfall?"

The flirtatious kunoichi obviously doesn't know how to deal with this situation, but I don't know anybody who would. Naruto is known as the kindest, most helpful shinobi in this village, so who would expect dobe to tell them to, essentially, fuck off?

Knowing that saying anything else would lead to an even worse lash, she backs away slowly with her hands up. She plasters on a fake smile and laughs at the tense atmosphere.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-san. I didn't know you two were...well, I guess there's some plants to, uh, plant. Right? Okay, uh, bye!"

Even when she skitters off, Naruto doesn't move from behind me. Usually, I'd just push away and go back to my work, but this encounter made a question surface in my mind. I turn and raise an eyebrow to make my curiosity clear.

"Dobe, I have no idea why these girls still chase me after all I've done. Why aren't they after you, the hero of the village? Surely, one of them must have approached you?"

Naruto's eyes couldn't focus on my face, for some reason, so he also awkwardly laughs just as the girl had. While scratching the back of his head, he made his lame reply.

"Yeah, a couple did."

"Who?" I shoot back right away. I'm being unrelentless, I realize this, but I've been trained as a shinobi to recognize when something's being hidden from me. Dobe has a secret, and there's nothing more curious than that anomaly. Naruto being vicious towards a girl? Naruto keeping a secret? Naruto rejecting confessors? It's uncomfortable to not know the answers about someone who is usually an open book.

"Uh, Hyuuga Hinata and, well, Sakura-chan. And a few others that I didn't even know."

The Hyuuga? Sakura? From what I know of these girls, Naruto wouldn't ever reject either of them. The Hyuuga girl is too nice, and didn't he have a crush on Sakura for years?

"What stopped you?"

"Well..." His eyes keep wandering, back and forth, looking for a way out. When he can't find one, he sighs and finally meets my eyes. "I had other interests. It was before the war, ya know?"

"Then what about now? Are they not interested anymore?"

"I still have other, uh, interests. I mean . . . ya know, Sasuke, maybe we should talk?"

"Other interests? I'm assuming you mean becoming the Hokage. That makes some sense."

Talk? If we're going to end up talking about him becoming the Hokage and what'll come of me, then I think that we should wait until my punishment's over to have that conversation.

He lets out breath that he must've been holding in for a while, and he strains to laugh some more.

"Right, okay! Me, becoming Hokage, exactly what I was, ya know, gonna say. Totally. Anyway! Let's get to work, right?"

He rushes away and grabs a hoe, and that was that. For once, I think I embarrassed him more than he did me. How I did that, I don't know; I just think something is still off about him . . .

Just when I think that I may be able to avoid shame for just a little while, dobe takes that hope and smashes it back in my face. He and I had just finished our final meeting with Tsunade, and I was officially a Konoha shinobi again. Oddly enough, though, I wasn't given a rank. I'm not a genin, but I can't be any of the other ranks without testing. When I asked for her to explain, she just shook her head and directed her attention towards Naruto, who nodded and changed the subject to team organizations.

Afterwards, however, is when dobe pulled the dumbest idea out of his mind. He suggested inviting Sakura and Kakashi over to celebrate. He even tried convincing me to come out with the entire Konoha 11 group, but I flat-out refused. After shooting down his idea to invite Yamato and Sai, he conceded to just having a dinner at home with the rest of the original Team Seven.

Now, I'm helping Naruto put away the food that he and I bought at the market. We've been living together for nearly a year now. I'm not sure how exactly you would describe what I'm feeling as he and I chat about what we're going to cook later. I imagine my mother standing in the kitchen, tending to dinner.

Domestic. I think that's the word. Have I really been domesticated?

"I really need to get out more."

I didn't notice I said that out loud until Naruto responded by placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You're right. I'll push Tsunade into giving you a mission out of the village, okay? You'd be with me, of course, but. . . do you really think that's a bad thing?"

His grip on my shoulder tightens, but not painfully.

"I want to see us in action. Most people consider us to be the strongest duo in the world now. We're going to end up vaporizing all these other petty enemies."

Both of us calm down when he gives his familiar grin. He lets go of me and attempts to "cook," but I take over before he ruins half our dinner. Eventually, we manage to finish and Sakura arrives alone.

"Hey, guys! Is Kakashi-sensei here yet?"

She puts down a bag she brought along with her and proceeds to strangle Naruto with a hug. I think I should just turn around and check the tea while they're so busy with each other . . . but I can't pull my eyes away from his hands on her back.

"Ha, what do you think? Hell, I'm half-expecting him to not show up at all, Sakura-chan. But, we made food for him anyway and left him a place. Anyway, we might as well dig in while it's good, right?"

All of us know that Kakashi's old habits die hard, or they are immortal, so we don't hesitate to serve the food. Dobe couldn't decide what he wanted to make, so it was a strange, disjointed potluck of a dinner. The sauteed-eel-sharing-a-plate-with-cornbread sort of dinner. Sakura and Naruto both were attacked the deviled eggs he forced me to make, but I was content with the eel.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't make many eggs, so actual words are able to be spoken too soon. If she would've kept her mouth shut, I wouldn't of ended up in this position.

"So, Sasuke, how did Naruto persuade you to stay in this apartment?"

Sakura cleaned her fingers off with a napkin as she addressed me casually. Once again, it wasn't always like this. It took half a year of her watching me help out at the hospital as part of my punishment before she finally started to trust me again. A few months later, she was talking to me as if we were friends this whole time. I admit, I don't speak to her in the same manner, but she recognizes my respect for her. Something tells me that's all she wanted anyway.

What I can't respect is Naruto's blabbing mouth!

"Psh, Sakura-chan, he was he one who gave some sob story about needy families!"

"Dobe! It wasn't a -hic!-"

Damn it all! I had been in the middle of sipping my tea when the idiot decided to reveal my reason for being here as some pitiful excuse that I can't explain myself! And he knew about it, too, probably the moment I blurted it out!

And now, as if Fate wanted to kick me while I'm down, I get the hiccups again. I default into holding my breath, and I blame my flaming face on that. Sakura and Naruto both giggle at me as I glare away from them.

"It wasn't what, Sasuke?"

"It wasn't," I held in my breath again for a moment to suppress another sound, "a sob story. It's simple."

I desperately want to explain myself, make my reasons for being here seem logical, but I can't speak to save my life.

"Well, here's another simple question,"

I'm not liking her way of leading into whatever she's about to say. She has her face resting on a hand, and her laughing eyes squinted towards me, prepared to catch my reaction.

"Do you like staying here with Naruto?"

Before I can glare at her properly, Naruto nervously laughs.

"Let's stop teasing him, alright? He's living here, and he can leave whenever he feels like it and stay for however long he wants. He doesn't really have to like it, ya know?"

Naruto keeps fidgeting, so I start clearing up the dishes. He jumps at the opportunity to help. Sakura stays seated and just watches us in that same suspicious way. I let Naruto's words sink into me as we clean up. They don't feel quite right, to be honest, and now it's more than just hiccups that are wanting to force themselves out.

"I do."

My throat clears up spontaneously once I say those two words, so I turn to face Sakura in anticipation of her reaction. It wasn't much of one, she just raised an eyebrow.

"You do? You like it here?"

"Compared to the places I've stayed and the people I've stayed with, this is an obvious improvement. Naruto may not be the easiest person to live with sometimes, but he does his fair share of work around here. So, if I'm making a comparison with where I used to be, life with the dobe seems a lot . . . brighter."

Realizing that what I just said caused Naruto and Sakura's blatantly happy expressions, I looked away and corrected myself.

"I mean, it's tolerable."

Sakura stands up from the table and walks over to me silently. She waits until I make eye-contact before she smiles and hugs me.

"Tolerable, huh? Well, thanks for dinner!"

She lets go of me and hugs Naruto again. She leaves the bag on the table, stating off-hand that it's a bunch of medical herbs and salves that we'll find useful. Her departure would've seemed normal, but instead she and Naruto had an obvious, non-verbal conversation with their eyes. About what? About what I said? I nearly start hiccuping again, but I calm myself down.

Even though I have about two seconds to stay calm before Naruto steps into my personal space.

"Sasuke, I'm honestly glad you feel that way. Really."

Whose voice is this? Naruto never uses this smooth voice around me, it's more unnerving than his slow approach. He also won't stop looking at me with his odd, enigmatic look. Stop it, dobe, before I start hiccuping again.

"I just wish I could tell you how I feel. I could, ya know, but every time I try, I always start to wonder."

He wants to tell me how he feels, but I can't imagine why I would need to know. He was the one who tried to get me back all these years, and he made his feelings very clear all of those times I saw him. He thinks of me as a brother, I'm his friend, this and that and camaraderie. So, why would he ever feel like he needs to-

Kiss me?

This can't be-

No, that's definitely his-

Oh shit, that's the door!

As the late-as-usual Kakashi enters our apartment, Naruto flies across the room from me, and my hiccups return with a vengeance. I can't breathe well enough to stop myself, so I flee into my room for the rest of the night. I heard Naruto entertaining Kakashi as if nothing had happened, but I couldn't keep my mind off of what had happened.

Regardless, this was my worst hiccup attack yet.

"Just once, please, Sasuke? Go out with me."

"Dobe, seriously, what if somebody thinks I've been manipulating you?"

"Bullshit, they saw you do all that damn work!"

"I should be serving life in prison by now, you idiot. Not only would they think I manipulated you so that my sentence was lowered, they would wonder why you helped me with all of my work!"

"Sasuke . . ."

From behind me, he rests his head on my shoulder and wraps his arms around my waist. I never know where to put my hands when he does this, and as it's only been a week since he kissed me, I still haven't learned how to behave.

Yeah, behave, as in be a proper boyfriend. It still hasn't sunken in fully. To be honest, I'm grasping at straws to find a way to seem less eager to be with him. Lately, I've taken to bringing up all of the things that could go wrong. This idiot always has some sort of counter, as if nothing bad ever happens to him. Since I know the opposite is true, he just comes off as stubborn, too.

He also has the bothersome habit of exploring my body every time I'm trying to give another reason why he shouldn't do such things. Right now, for example.

"Heh, your hipbones work like handles. You've always been kinda skinny, teme."

His hands pushes up my shirt inch by inch before disappearing underneath. Rough from training, his fingers heavily trace my abdominal muscles. He gropes lower until he has a firm hold on my hipbones. I shudder under his touch.

I have to focus on breathing properly. As I've learned from previous times he's done this, one stray touch can trigger an "attack," as we've begun to call my hiccuping episodes. At least I've gotten to the point that I can make them relatively noiseless, but I can't stop the convulsions.

"We don't have anything to worry about, Sasuke. Come on, we can go on one date. Tonight. Please?"

Every word of his causes me to shiver as his warm breath strokes my neck and his lips graze my obscenely sensitive skin. Maybe a date won't be so bad if it means getting out of the house and his dangerous clutches.

"Fine, okay, we'll go out. But only for an hour. We need to limit how many people see us."

"Sounds good to me. Because, ya know,"

His fingers clench and pull my hips back to meet his. That is, I think- oh, somebody help me. His sucking on my neck doesn't distract me whatsoever from what's firmly, quite firmly, pushing against me. The sensation lasts only a blink, as he just wanted to make a quick interjection before whispering something else.

"I want you all to myself."

I want you . . . I want you . . . He echoes loud and clear throughout my body.

"I can tell, dobe. So! Gimme a minute. Alright?"

I peel his hands off of me and scurry into my room. No, I do not scurry. I . . . rush, in an effort to make sure he doesn't see just the effect he has on me. Once the door is shut tightly and I know he's not trying to follow me, I glare down at my own issue.

This isn't the first time he's had this effect on me. It's made my dreams and consequent morning routine more complicated and messy than I would ever want it to be. It's only been a week, but I've been shamefully aroused since our first kiss. Speaking of which, he hasn't kissed me on the lips since that time, but I suspect he'll try that tonight.

I wish I could hide from him so he'll never know what he does to me.

It's bad enough that he makes me hiccup daily.

Even though I fight tooth and nail against such a tacky choice for our first date, he brings me to Ichiraku. I argue that we go there all the time, but dobe insists on going for precisely that reason.

"If he sees us out all the time, he probably won't even be able to tell we're on a date. Plus, you only wanted to be out for an hour. That's just enough time to eat some ramen!"

I scoff at his over-excitement at the prospect of eating his favorite food for the hundredth time this week.

"I'd probably be insulted if I asked you whether or not you think of ramen more than me, you usuratonkachi."

He smirks at me and grasps my hand tightly as we walk down an empty road to Ichiraku. It's nearly closing time, so we could walk anywhere and it would be relatively empty.

"Don't they say that men think about sex, like, every seven seconds or something?"

What is he talking about sex for? The choice was between ramen or- Oh, damn it.

"Oh, don't blush so damn much, teme. As if you didn't know! I liked you for so damn long, and you never noticed. Don't you think that I've fantasized about us by now?"

I try scolding him, but all that comes out is some pitiful choking noise.

"Ya know, if old man Teuchi sees you blushing so bad, he might start suspecting something."

He's trying his best to hold back laughter, I can see it in the idiot's eyes. Fine, I'll get through this with dignity!

"Right."

I close my eyes and think of eating natto, and that gets me back to normal. It also got me in the mood for any food that wasn't sticky and horrible smelling. Ramen will have to do.

For the hour, we go through our normal routine of ordering ramen, chatting with the owner, and eating. But whenever Teuchi wasn't watching, Naruto would squeeze my thigh, or whisper something erotic into my ear and nearly cause me to hiccup and choke on the noodles.

If anything was clear by the time we were done, it was that Naruto wasn't thinking of just kissing me again when we get back home.

"Mmm, you taste like ramen,"

The dobe says so eloquently after retracting his tongue from inside my mouth. Yes, he had wanted to kiss me once we got just inside the door, go figure. What I hadn't expected was that he would press me against the door and attack me with his "golden" tongue, the same one that has changed so many people's hearts. At the moment, it's not my heart he's after.

"Well, what do we have here?"

He chuckles and kneels in front of me, unabashedly nuzzling his face between my legs. Shocked but annoyingly turned on, I moan in the back of my throat. When he kisses my erection through my pants, my knees buckle and I fumble to grab the doorknob and keep myself upright.

Like the opportunist he is, he releases the closures on my pants and tugs everything down. My only warning of what came next was Naruto's extremely random comment.

"Ah~, your cock is pale, too . . . it's even pretty."

It was the worst time for him to get my attention; while I'm staring down at him, baffled by his comment, he takes me into his mouth and experimentally sucks and licks. I can't tear my eyes away from the sight, so sounds start rising in my throat. Hiccups! Now?

"Aahhn, Naruto!"

No, that's not a hiccup at all. A moan is worse and a thousand times more embarrassing.

"Good, Sasuke. Make all the sounds you can, okay?"

"W-why should- Ah!- why should I?"

He answers back quickly,

"So I know when you're about to come,"

And then he engulfs me again. His swirling tongue runs over the slit of my . . . what did he say . . . my cock. My head flies back as my thoughts turn as erotic as his ministrations. A number of moans and growls are pulled from both of us, but it's not long before mine turn into yelps and shrieks.

Before I can finally experience release while I'm awake, he holds the base of my cock tightly.

"Sasuke? How far are we going?"

Pissed that he took my orgasm away from me, I grasp and scratch at his restricting hand while glaring at him. I come to my senses as I see the lust in his blue eyes. What he means to ask is if we're going to have sex- tonight, already, right after our first date.

It sounds so cheap, so. . . desperate!

But I desperately want him . . .

I don't even know how it works! What if it goes wrong?

Nevermind. I don't think I give a shit anymore.

"Hn."

"Well?"

He releases his grip on me and pulls himself up from the ground.

"We have a lot of issues, don't you think?"

He blinks at my sudden question, but he recovers and shrugs.

"That's for certain. So?"

I mull over in my mind just how I want to word this so I don't come off as too lewd.

"I don't feel like adding sexual frustration our list of problems."

Once it clicks with him that I'm not turning him down, his swollen lips break into a grin.

"In that case, tell me what you want, teme."

The jerk is trying to get me to say it? Way to hit me when I'm already down, dobe.

"I want you to shut up and get to your bedroom, already."

In order to make sure he'll follow my commands (not because I can't stop wanting to kiss him or anything, alright?), I pull him into what I can only describe as a passionate kiss. My hands go to work on his clothing, ripping away his jacket and shirt and unbuttoning his pants as I push him towards his room. We hit a few walls and corners, but it isn't long before he's ripping blankets off his bed and tossing me onto it.

Somehow, he got all of my clothes off on the way here. He's left me on the bed while he searches his room for something. Shouldn't I be covering up? When I glance down at my naked limbs and my twitching cock, any desire to be modest is overwhelmed by all my other desires.

Mainly by the desire I have for what's standing proudly between Naruto's legs.

Distracted by Naruto's very interesting member, It takes me a second to notice the bottle he has in his hands.

"What's that?"

I ask, still breathless from the trip over here.

"Lube."

He answers while ruffling his own hair as usual, though the act is much more endearing and attention-grabbing when he's stripped bare.

"Where did you get it?"

"Uh . . . ya see . . ."

"Tell me."

"Fine, but don't get mad. Sakura guessed a while ago about my feelings for you and, well . . . she slipped a bottle of lube into that bag of medical supplies she gave us."

What. You're fucking kidding me. Sakura not only knows and condones of us being together, but she fucking expected it so much that she gave him lube? Is that what she thinks of my character!

"Hey,"

He appears suddenly above me and between my legs, his face hovering right over mine. He lowers his voice and strokes the side of my face while I send a glare towards the Sakura in my mind. He breaks my train of thought by grinding our hips together.

"You can be mad at her later. I can't stop long enough for you to have some hissy fit."

"I'm not having-"

"Oi! I'm trying to be nice about this, teme! It's not easy getting fucked in the ass, that much I've gathered. So if you don't relax, this is gonna hurt like a bitch, okay?"

That was way too much information at once. I'm overloading trying to process what in the world he just spat out. I knew men had sex somehow, but for some reason I never assumed it was by going in there.

Ugh. This damn dobe's lucky I'm overly hygienic.

Especially since that's where he's shoving his lube-covered fingers. He's gentle, sure, but that almost makes it worse.

"Oi, that feels weird, dobe . . ."

"Just wait a second, I think . . ."

"What am I- ngh!- waiting for?"

He doesn't answer me, he just adds a second finger and starts pressing inside of me. Just when I start thinking that this is the worst and most embarrassing feeling ever, he brushes against something.

"Ah! Aaahn~!"

As he keeps hitting it, my uncontrollable screams get louder and higher. I'm so close to the edge, if he just keeps going I'll-!

"You're prepared, I think, so . . . Sasuke!"

He whines my name because I just wrapped my legs around him and pressed his hips close to what I assume is about to be my entrance. Judging by how my cock is dripping onto my stomach, it's now or never. With another moan, Naruto pushes his lubed cock into me too quickly for me to react.

"Sorry, I, oh fuck . . ."

I know it should hurt and I should be mad that he wasn't careful, he's even apologizing for that, but the burning sensation isn't wholly unpleasant. I'm oddly pleased by the fact that I can take something like this without any issue. It's a nice change from being out of my element with his normal intimate gestures.

"I'm fine, dobe. You can move."

I encourage him by rolling my hips once, acclimating to being full and having lube making us glide together. It helps to look up at him and just take in his familiar features. Naruto's messy blond hair, his emotional blue eyes, his unique whisker marks; I reach my shaky hands up to stroke his face and kiss him deeply. He pulls his hips back and plunges into me again. We're in tandem without trying, like always, but this feels so much better.

He's making it obvious now, but how could I not have noticed it before? All the things he was doing for me, the sidelong looks, the uncharacteristically cryptic things he said to me; I should have been able to read into it all and figure out that he had these feelings for me. Actually, I wish I would've figured out my own feelings first.

He started out as an annoying idiot, but someone who shared my pain. We became friends, pretended to be bitter rivals even when we worked together perfectly. He was the one who I couldn't destroy and couldn't break away from. He never stopped chasing after me. He is someone that I could never hate no matter how hard I tried, and I did try.

And now I love him. The revelation itself makes me have something of an out-of-body experience. I just can't believe this is me, with Naruto, lying on his bed, making love and enjoying every second of it. When we climax together, shuddering and wet, we call out to each other and collapse together.

This whole act should top my list of times when Naruto has embarrassed me. But it's not. While we lay here, refusing to let go of each other, I feel like being with him is the least shameful thing in the world.

Something tells me that I won't be having one of my "attacks" ever again.

A/N: Man! It took me waaaay too long to write this, and I sincerely apologize. I hope it's up to standards for the person who requested it and for all my other readers. I know I don't post often or update, but I'm sure I can manage one shots more often now that I'm out of my post-multichapter-fic hiatus.

But now, I'm going on a trip to Italy and Greece XP Here's some cyberpopcorn for all of you, I hope I come home to lots of reviews XP