Notes: Hey guys, so here's the fifth chapter. It's unbeta-d and would be one thousand times better if Zoey had looked at it, but she's a busy gal. It would be lovely if you could drop a comment after reading. I wanna hear from you to see what you like and what you don't. Also, second semester is about to start for me, so I have no clue when the next chapter's coming out.

October was heralded by a bitingly cold wind that nipped at raw red noses and swept up piles of leaves into a fiery whirlwind. Around campus, large, colorful scarves covered up the majority of people's faces and bulky coats filled in all the gaps on the walkway. What had been a mass of slowly strolling people before turned into a clump of awkward tortoises, their heads peeking out from their warm insolated shells just enough so that they could see where they were going.

Despite the bone-chilling cold, Sakura liked this weather; it allowed her to wear wool sweaters and gloves and super cute leg warmers that went great with her boots. And when at home, this weather was literally the best. She could just curl up on the couch with a big blanket, a cup of tea, and a stack of homework. That was the ideal way to spend a weekend night. Well, she could always do without the homework.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, Sakura rested her cheek on her open palm. Work was so boring when it was this cold out. Cursed with the worst winter job, she worked at a small ice cream place, and needless to say, they weren't very busy as it got colder. Eyeing the room with a deadpan expression, she swatted her bangs out of her face and wracked her brain for any mundane task that she could do.

As she decided that she mind as well clean the sundae bar for the fifth time that day, she heard the light tinkle of the bell, signaling someone's arrival. Twirling around and pulling her face into the required smile, she happily greeted the customers, but her face soon fell back into its bored look once she saw who it was.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked her roommates, one pink eyebrow rising at the sight of Naruto in shorts. "You know it's freezing outside, right?"

"What?" Naruto bounded up towards the counter, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "It's a little chilly at worst. I'm not putting these shorts away until it snows."

"Even then, I'm sure you'll still find some way to wear them," Sasuke's muffled reply sounded from behind his scarf. Hair messily covering his flushed—oh god, so cute—face, he looked super disgruntled and not amused with his current situation.

"Still not a fan of the cold weather, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura teasingly asked, leaning over the counter to get a better look at the two boys. "And you, Naruto, it's like you don't even feel the wind."

"I'm just not a sissy baby like wittle Sasuke," the blond yanked at the other man's scarf. "Do you wanna go home to mommy so she can make you some soup?"

Jerking his head away from the obnoxious man, the Uchiha settled for a glare and a sharp jab to his roommate's shoulder. "Are you getting ice cream or not, damn it? Let's go home already."

"Of course I'm getting ice cream! There's never not a good time for ice cream, right, Sakura-chan?"

"I dunno…" she replied, lips tilting in an amused smile. "I would say that today's not exactly ideal for it."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Naruto ignored the girl and peered up at the menu. "Alright, so I think I want cookies and cream. Is it good?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and snorted, "Well, yeah. But you'd probably like it even if it wasn't."

Blue eyes narrowed suspiciously and lips poked out in a pout. "And what is that supposed to mean, huh?"

"It means you'd eat dirt if it was given to you."

"You know what, Sasuke? No one asked you, and if you keep being a grumpy bastard over there, I'll force-feed you ice cream. So shut your stupid face."

Before the moody male could utter a retort, Sakura cut him off with a steely glare. "Oh, no. I will not have you two fighting in here while I'm working." Crossing her arms in a clearly no-nonsense gesture, she added, "Naruto, I'm gonna grab your ice cream and then you're both gonna go home and leave me in peace."

Equipping her loud roommate with his desired waffle cone, she ushered the two out of the shop with a wave of her hand, promising that she would make soup when she got home. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke's lips turn up in a satisfied smirk. Despite the cold whipping in through the open door, she suddenly felt strangely warm.

.

.

.

Pulling herself up three flights of steps, Sakura grumpily pushed her bangs out of her face and shoved her hand into her bag in search for her elusive keys. Hoisting her heavy backpack firmly back onto her shoulders, she quickly unlocked the door and made her way into the suspiciously quiet apartment.

"Hey, are you guys home?"

Sparing a quick glance at the puke-green couch, she determined that no one was curled up under the thick quilt thrown over the cushions. Continuing her search, she peeked her head down the hallway in search for the glow of lights underneath the door, but was met with darkness. Making her way into the kitchen, she saw a bowl of soup on the counter along with a note.

The note was definitely Naruto's; Sakura could recognize that messy scrawl from a mile away. It read that he had gone to the library to study with Hinata and Sasuke had the night shift tonight. Awesome, she actually got a peaceful night to do homework. Tasting a spoonful of the soup, she determined that it was most certainly made by Sasuke. If Naruto had attempted to make anything other than ramen, she would have smelled the burnt remains by now.

Grabbing her bowl of soup, Sakura made her way back into the living room and plopped down on the booger throne. That's what Naruto called the couch and the name just kind of fit. Sliding her heavy bag towards her, she grabbed her math book and cracked it open. Why did math have to be so complicated? What with the letters and functions and graphs of parabolas. Man, Sakura hated math more than any other subject. Give her a corpse to examine and she'd do it in a heartbeat— no pun intended—, but hand over a stack of math problems and she'd really rather just die.

Sakura could feel her eyes getting heavier as she blankly stared at the paper splotched with weird squiggly lines and confusing rules. The functions and letters blended together into a jumbled mess of equations until she was knocked out on the couch, head awkwardly lolling around in a semi-circle. In the next moment, she was being shaken awake and her head quickly whipped back up. Clutching her sore neck with a groan, she peered through bleary eyes at Sasuke who was kneeling in front of the couch. She found herself staring at the parts of his face that were lit up by the lamp on the little table. Starting with his temple and down towards his cheekbone, her eyes stopped at the corner of his mouth. The sudden urge to lean forward and press her own lips to his rose up like a flame.

Shaking her head and retreating as far back into the couch as possible, Sakura rubbed at her eyes as she said, "Whaddya doin' here, Sasuke-kun?"

As he watched the tired girl in front of him, Sasuke's lips quirked upwards into an amused smirk.

"Well, you see, I kind of live here, so…" His eyebrows raised as his smirk grew. "And besides, this couch doesn't only belong to you."

Sakura narrowed her eyes into a glare as she pouted. "I think you're makin' fun o'me. I'm too tired for this. Get outta my face, doofus." She reached out her hand to shove his face away, but he grabbed a hold of it in midair.

"Alright, get up. Go sleep in your own room."

"I don't wanna. I'm so tired and the couch is r'here."

In a moment of freak strength—or maybe Sasuke was just as tired as his roommate, Sakura pulled him down onto the cushion next to her and laid her head down on his shoulder. Letting out a deep sigh, she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck and twined her arm with his.

"Sakura, really. You should go sleep in your own room."

The girl just groaned and leaned more on him so that she was practically lying down.

"Seriously…" Sasuke let out a sigh. "This isn't cool. Get up. Naruto's gonna come in here and fall down from laughing."

"Do you like it here?"

Halting his attempt at prying her arm off of him, he looked down at the pink crown of her head; his eyebrows cinching in confusion.

"I mean it seems like you're likin' it here, but w'you, I can never know for sure. I jus' want you to be happy, Sasuke-kun. And truth be told, I can't really tell when you're actually happy."

"Sakura, you're tired. You need to go to sleep, so let's go." Ignoring her protests, he helped her on her feet and guided her down the hallway. Opening the glittery door to her room, he flicked on the light before allowing her to enter. All he needed was for a disgruntled Sakura blaming him for a bruise she got from colliding with her desk.

Watching her stumble to her bed, he waited until she was safely under the covers to turn off the lights. He stopped his retreat when he heard her mutter goodnight. Staying still for a moment, Sasuke let out a deep hum.

"I am pretty happy here, you know."

In the morning, Sakura woke up with her work clothes still on, cologne causing it to smell strangely familiar. Peering down at her hideous uniform, she couldn't recall exactly what had happened the night before. All she remembered was Sasuke's highlighted lips and her burning desire to kiss them.