No particular beginning or ending, just a short, sweet little snippet. A snapshot, if I may be so cliched, of the realization of their romance. Dumb pun, I know.
Naruto and Sasuke here, in the not-quite-beginning are simply friends who like each other secretly, but both aren't really willing to admit it yet.
The inspiration for this drabble came from several lines in the song "Photobooth" by Death Cab for Cutie, most notably//All the slander and double speak, were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean / Anything but the blatant proof, of your lips touching mine in the photobooth.//
Warning: He's a boy, and he's… a boy. What more can I say?
Disclaimer: I so do not own this. I can't even draw stick figures.
-hotan-
"Photobooth!" Naruto yelled as he dragged Sasuke across the carnival to a small, shady kiosk with the expected ridiculously long queue. The Uchiha scowled, hating how he had let himself be dragged into this - this silly mingling of people and freaks, with overpriced food and dangerous rides. Who had carnivals during winter anyway? Granted, there wasn't any snow, but the wind still pierced through clothing like an arrow through paper.
He blamed Naruto, but he knew it was his own fault for letting the blond crumble his usually inflexible will.
He eyed the fidgeting said blond, wondering how anyone can simply wear a beige coat over a t-shirt in winter. And he didn't even wear boots! His scuffed and worn (but his most comfortable, Naruto insisted) sneakers kicked at the littered ground, tapping to an unknown beat.
"Those are for couples." He said in monotone, and true enough, a boy and a girl stumbled out of the stall, drunk on giddiness and blushing madly. The girl smoothed her wrinkled top and smeared on more cheap lip gloss. The boy wiped shiny pink smudges off his lips and neck as he waited for the photos to develop, averting his eyes from knowing smirks and mocking jeers.
"Aww, come on Sasuke! There's two guys there as well!" Naruto whined, and Sasuke wondered if he should inform the blond that those two were far from platonic. He often wondered skeptically whether the moron was actually nineteen.
"Taking sticker photos are for girls." He replied, hating to have his picture taken, even if he was super-model photogenic.
"Nah, that's those flowery and pinky ones, where you get to draw on yourself. These ones are manly!" Naruto cried, oblivious (or simply immune) to Sasuke's dark glower.
Naruto stepped in line anyway, and wheedled and begged Sasuke until the mulish boy finally cracked and agreed. The energetic blond dived into the booth, dragging a barely resisting Sasuke in with him. The raven huffed, hating how his clothes were messed up. He adjusted his black trenchcoat (costed a fortune too) and his dark navy scarf, until he saw, out of his peripheral vision, the blond smiling cheekily.
"What?" He snapped, brushing his wind-tousled (and Naruto-ruffled) hair back into its usual style with his gloved hands.
"Who's the girl now?" Naruto teased, barely containing a chuckle.
Snap! Flash, click, whirrr...
And that's how the first picture was of Naruto clutching his stomach, laughing wildly, as Sasuke attempted to strangle him, his face red with fury(?).
"Honestly, I let you haul me to this inane carnival and you drag me around, demanding food, rides, and more food. And now you're mocking me." Sasuke turned his face away and sniffed in a haughty manner. As he expected, Naruto sobered. The raven fought to keep a twitch off his lips.
"Maa, maa, Sasuke-teme, I thought you were having fun too!" Naruto poked at his back, requesting a truce.
Sasuke relented, and he tried not to think of it as an icecube melting, when he felt a blush warm his usually cold cheeks.
"I am." He finally admitted, one corner of his mouth turning into a curve.
Snap! Flash, click, whirrr...
The second picture of Naruto hugging (latched onto, more like) the back of a very surprised (and pleased, but the proud boy would never confess) Sasuke was surprisingly clear. The camera captured the flush on his face and Naruto's grin with smugness, since it'd had but a moment to snap the memorable event.
'I'll get you.' Sasuke promised the camera darkly with a barely audible growl. The lens batted its shutters coyly. Naruto blinked. Did that camera just...?
"Hey Sasuke, do you think we should do silly faces?" Naruto asked slyly, thinking he'd make a fortune off the picture if he sold it to fangirls. Not that he would, but it's still an entertaining thought!
"Why? You've already got one." Sasuke said in deadpan, waiting for Naruto to catch on.
The blond did.
"Why you -!" Naruto shouted, launching himself at Sasuke. They scuffled and yelled insults, making the other patrons outside wonder just what the hell was going on. One of the far-from-platonic men leaned down to his partner.
"Rough love, un!" He sniggered.
The red head besides him rolled his eyes. "Not everyone is like us, Deidara." The blond shrieked with laughter.
"Oh my god! Sasori-danna cracked a joke, un!"
The few remaining couples backed away.
Naruto had just managed to poke Sasuke in the eye when the booth's automated chime signaled the beginning of another photo. Naruto whipped around and lost his balance, almost falling out of the stall before one of Sasuke's arms (the other hand was nursing his sore eye) looped around his waist and hauled him back in.
Startled, Naruto shrieked and grabbed at something to help himself with, and look! A blue rope! Giving it a fierce tug, Naruto found himself, or more importantly, his lips, meeting with that of Sasuke's.
Snap! Flash, click, whirrr...
Both men turned in synchronized horror towards the display screen, which proudly showed the last picture it took.
Sasuke was grimacing in pain from his eye, but it looked more like it was because Naruto was kissing him. Naruto was clutching the 'blue rope' which turned out to be Sasuke's scarf. Both men had - no other word for it - SHOCK written in their eyes. Both eyebrows were in danger of flying off their foreheads.
"OH MY GOD!" Naruto screamed, and flung himself to the front of the tiny booth and beat the thick, graffitied plexiglass with his fists. But, like he said, this wasn't a girly sticker photo booth, so he couldn't delete the picture. This was a manly booth, and men took whatever life had to throw at him without fear. Even if it was a moment immortalizing both of them in a very un-manly situation.
"ARGH!" Naruto continued screeching, "First kiss and the bastard's scowling!"
From behind him, Sasuke put his fingers to his lips and couldn't stop a rebellious smile from gracing his lips. Morphing the innocent display of emotion into a thoroughly corrupted smirk, he reached out a hand and pulled an extremely disgruntled Naruto back into his seat.
"Behave, usuratonkachi." He intoned, and Naruto spluttered at the insult.
"Don't call me that!" The blond said hotly, blushing despite himself. Well, he couldn't help it, it's not like Sasuke gives out nicknames (however insulting) to just anyone!
The (still) grumbling Naruto muttered under his breath, too absorbed in his narration of how he was going to rain fire and brimstone on the kiosk to notice the chime for the next photo.
Sasuke noticed, however, and giving himself a rare treat of indulging his impulses, he turned to the blond.
"Hey Naruto."
Naruto turned from his dark monologuing to look at the Uchiha. All anger and indignance was forgotten when he saw Sasuke's ultra-rare smile, and he instantly smiled in return. Sasuke took half a moment to admire Naruto's sunny, cheerful smile, his stunning, sparkling cerulean eyes and his butter yellow hair, which Sasuke knew for a fact was gorgeously silky, and all of those other cliched phrases.
"Think sharp, dobe." Sasuke muttered before he swooped down and claimed Naruto's lips again.
Snap! Flash, click, whirrr...
And the last picture, to the camera's glee, was of the two bickering teens finally doing something about the electric tension between them.
Sasuke had his hands on Naruto's arms, holding the slightly smaller boy in place. Their lips were molded against each other, closed, but somehow that much sweeter. Sasuke's eyes were shut, while Naruto's were half-open, his lips still in the faint arc of a smile.
The stall whirred into life as it began to process and print the pictures.
In real time, Sasuke pulled away, and his breath misted in the cold air. He felt none of the biting chill however, as a healthy blush kept him warm enough. Naruto was in an equally dazed (and pleased, but both would never admit to that) state, his thoughts running around in organized chaos.
Sasuke felt warm and soft, which was a remarkable contrast to his icy attitude and steely glares. Naruto could honestly say that he hadn't even expected the super-ultra rare smile from Sasuke today, much less two kisses, however unintentional the first one may have been. Naruto had been amazed that Sasuke had agreed to go to the carnival at all, and was glad that he'd convinced (actually, he'd pleaded with puppy dog eyes until Sasuke caved like an igloo in a heatwave) the socialpath to come.
Naruto tasted slightly like the cotton candy he had wolfed down earlier, and Sasuke remembered how he had snickered at the blond as the sticky mess clung to his sunny hair. When they'd washed it off with water, the blond had retaliated by shaking his hair and splattering Sasuke with the droplets. The raven wasn't as angry as he could have been that his trenchcoat got wet. He'd denied the nagging feeling then...
The machine cranked to a stop, and two, instead of one, strip of glossy paper fell out. Naruto picked them up, ecstatic at their luck that the printer had a malfunction and printed two copies of their four framed escapades. Sasuke however, eyed the camera suspiciously, and the lens winked at him.
Thoroughly creeped out, Sasuke all but shoved Naruto through the curtain, and the two walked out of the carnival, each with their own photos, but both with a blush and a claimed hand.
-owari-
If anyone didn't get the last part, it meant that they were holding each other's hands. And I just COULD NOT resist putting in my second favorite Naruto Yaoi pairing in there, Sasori and Deidara! XD
I'm getting a plot bunny under my bed that wants a quasi-sequel to this, of Sasori and Deidei in the photobooth too, but that remains to be seen.
Reviews are fully appreciated and much loved.