Somehow I had written the entire first chapter half a year ago and then forgotten completely about it... Well, now that I found it again, I have no choice but to finish! It's planned to be 4 chapters long. Also, posting this on ao3 as well. It's a lot easier to read there, for those of you thinking about switching websites. Plus I can reply to guest reviews :)

All titles are taken from songs, this chapter is With every heartbeat by Robyn.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Naruto.

The icon is a drawing made by the wonderful Jasu, and she gave me permission to use it :)

I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter one: With every heartbeat

xxx

"And it hurts with every heartbeat"

xxx

"Hey Mikoto! Yeah, he's in the living room, paying bills or something. Yup, we got it yesterday! I was thinking I'll call Shisui later and tell him we're coming. Seriously?! Yeah ok, I know I shouldn't sound happy, but you know I never liked that cat! I swear it was out to get me!"

Sasuke frowned at Naruto's cheerful voice drifting into the living room from the adjacent kitchen. It wasn't surprising to hear him being all friendly with his mother, but Sasuke had felt a sneaking suspicion the past few days that all wasn't as it should.

Or rather, he was starting to realize that things had been more not normal between them than they usually were. Naruto chatting with his mother like they were in-laws who actually liked each other being just one of those things, even though Naruto had always been on good terms with her. And what was that about calling Shisui? Sasuke had no idea what they were talking about.

"Oh by the way, that recipe was great! Thanks! I mean, I kind of burnt it a little, heh, but it was still good!"

Wait a minute – was Naruto talking about the vegetable soup he'd made a couple of days ago?!

"Yeah, of course he liked it, who do you think I am! Aah no, Mikoto you're making me all embarrassed now!"

Naruto's laughter was softer than his usual loud cackle, as if he really was embarrassed. Shaking his head and trying to ignore the vaguely disturbing fact that the blond moron was laughing like that with his mother of all people, Sasuke returned focus to his computer screen. As Naruto had guessed he was paying bills, or more specifically, going through the purchases they'd made from their shared account. Ever since he'd moved in with Naruto about a year ago, reasons being that his tiny room in a student apartment was not only annoying to live in, but also his flat-mates were just complete imbeciles, they'd used the account for food and rent and so on. It was easier, Naruto had said, than keeping track of who paid what and how much and then pay each other back.

Secretly, Sasuke was incredibly thankful that Naruto had offered him to live in his apartment. He'd been this close to murdering everyone on his entire floor, which would have been a little inconvenient for his plans to finish his studies. His best friend, on the other hand, had given up on studying after high school but was doing perfectly fine as a store clerk and part time gardener apprentice. Learning by doing was more his parole anyway, even if he still had grand plans that he would set in motion. One of these days.

Sasuke snorted, running a hand smoothly through his hair and stretching his stiff back a little. As a realistic person, Sasuke had never taken Naruto's plans too seriously. Still, he didn't have that same itch the blond seemed to have for adventure, so maybe he shouldn't look down on him for dreaming. Though, lately, Naruto had talked less of taking over the world and more about…

"Mhm, sounds good. I'll get to know my summer schedule sometime next week, so I'll know by then when we can go. I asked for June off since Sasuke's free too, can you even believe the job he managed to snatch?! I swear Kakashi has a thing for him… Pfft that'd be something alright!"

Frowning, Sasuke felt a nervous coil in his stomach. Naruto was a regular visitor at their summer house, had been ever since they were twelve and had become friends. There was just something he couldn't quite put his finger on… Rubbing his cheek he glared at the faintly glowing screen on top of the coffee table, scanning through the past month's purchases. They'd bought a new toaster, the old one finally giving in seeing as it was a hand-me-down from one of Naruto's cousins. He was sure they'd spent at least an hour bickering over what model to choose, Naruto wanting an orange one (why they even sold orange toasters was beyond Sasuke's comprehension) and Sasuke refusing to budge.

They'd settled for a normal, in Naruto's opinion extremely boring, silver model. For some reason, he gave in pretty quickly when Sasuke said he would accept the junk Naruto already had but refused to add to the mess in their apartment unless Naruto planned on kicking him out in the future. You'd think Naruto wouldn't take too well to his choice of words.

"Oi, Sasuke! It's your mom."

Naruto's head peeked around the corner, and Sasuke caught the phone when it was thrown at him.

"Don't throw expensive things, idiot," he muttered before placing the phone by his ear, Naruto sticking his tongue out before returning into the kitchen. "Hello, mother," he greeted Mikoto politely.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, and he could easily hear the gentle smile in her voice. "Naruto told me you've been looking tired lately, you're not overworking yourself, are you?"

Sending a glare through the wall, Sasuke spent ten minutes trying to convince his mother he was perfectly fine, just suffering from a little exam stress at the end of the semester. Sometimes he thought his obnoxious friend got some sort of sadistic pleasure from causing his mother to nag at him out of concern for his health. He'd pointed it out to his brother once, the smart reply being that he was just the kind of person people like to fuss over. Un-fucking-believable.

"You never told me we're invited to Shisui's birthday party," he commented offhandedly when he entered the kitchen after the call had ended.

Naruto, who was squatting in front of the oven and staring intently at something inside, shrugged and tipped his head backwards to look up at him as he stopped right behind him.

"I forgot, besides you've been busy."

"Hn," was all Sasuke could think of saying, staring down into deep blue eyes.

It was strange, but lately he'd found that Naruto looked at him a lot. Or maybe he'd always done that and Sasuke hadn't noticed until now.

"Itachi said he wants some kind of book, I don't know I told him to just tell you instead."

"When did you talk to Itachi?" Sasuke frowned, but Naruto simply flashed him a smile before standing up and grabbing an oven mitt.

"We had lunch yesterday," he said distractedly after a small pause, maneuvering the chicken out of the oven and spreading a mouthwatering scent throughout the room.

Since when did Naruto get so good at cooking anyway?! He could remember when he first got the place, proudly proclaiming he'd only use his new kitchen to cook ramen. He couldn't believe it was almost three years ago. Jeez, they'd thought they were so grown-up right after high school…

"You know," Naruto grinned, leaning against the counter and raising a teasing eyebrow at him, "For someone so smart you sure have trouble paying attention to what goes on around you."

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke blew some air out of his nose and promptly ignored his friend, deciding to set the table instead. He could feel Naruto's gaze following him, his grin most likely widening on Sasuke's expense. When the blond wanted to, he could be so incredibly annoying. He knew all too well how to push Sasuke's buttons, and sometimes he honestly wondered how they'd managed to stay friends for ten years already. He must have Alzheimer's specifically when it came to the irritating things Naruto did.

"Aww is Sasu-chan pouting now?"

Sasuke's fingers clenched around the plate he currently held, two imaginary holes burned through Naruto's mocking face. There must have been something amusing about his annoyance, because Naruto's mouth twitched, and he bit his lower lip in vain to stop the smile threatening to ruin his teasing. If anything, it made Sasuke's nerves boil even worse. The fact that it wasn't necessarily a negative kind of boiling startled him, surprise flicking over his features so quick he wasn't even sure he'd felt it. He wet his lips nervously, palms turning sweaty against the plate.

"Ah shit, the sauce!" Naruto exclaimed, turning around, making an exaggerated fuss as he lifted the pot off the stove.

Since when were things so strange?

xxx

"Sasuke! Have you seen my keys?" Naruto shouted from the hallway, causing Sasuke to sigh and abandon buttoning his shirt in favor of leaning out of the bedroom to shout back.

"Didn't you use your leather jacket last night?"

"Yeah but I still can't find them!"

Sasuke found the stressed blond rummaging through pockets, muttering to himself. Glancing around the area his eyes fell on a set of keys lying innocently on the floor next to a set of drawers.

"These what you're looking for?" he asked, dangling them in front of his face.

"Yes!" Naruto groaned, grabbing them and stuffing them into a pocket in his bright green sports jacket. "Ok, I'm leaving now!" he added, but paused for a moment, giving Sasuke the weird feeling he'd been about to hug him.

Instead, Naruto bit his lip in contemplation as he stared at the half-open shirt he wore.

"I don't really think it's fashion to wear your shirt like that," he commented, sounding a little too serious for Sasuke to take it like the joke it was probably meant to be.

"I would have buttoned it properly if someone hadn't lost their keys," Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes when Naruto pouted at him.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto sighed, hoisting his messenger bag higher onto his shoulder and reaching behind him for the door handle. "Remember to buy that book for Shisui on your way home!"

"Right," Sasuke said, pinching the bridge of his nose because really, Naruto had been reminding him over and over this morning.

You forget something once…

"Okay."

Naruto paused, once again giving him that contemplative look. When Sasuke raised an eyebrow he straightened up, giving him a big grin and a salute before disappearing through the door with a "See you tonight, bastard!"

Sasuke stared after him for a few moments, before remembering that he was in a bit of a hurry as well. He was supposed to meet up with some friends before his lecture, just to relax a little from all the studying. It was one of the last before the exam, and checking through his bag to make sure he had all the necessary materials he noticed the yellow post-it stuck to his computer bag. Remember your lunch box! the note said in Naruto's chicken scrawl, and he let out a noise that sounded like a mixture of a groan and a sigh. Sure, Sasuke tended to become a little forgetful before exams because he concentrated too much on studying, but really!

Arriving at the table where Juugo and Suigetsu sat, the first thing he did was complain about the note and Naruto fussing over him.

"But it made you remember your lunch, did it not?" Juugo questioned in his quiet voice, calmly sipping on his coffee.

"At least he only does it sometimes," Suigetsu pointed out, munching on a sandwich. "Now Karin, she nags like you wouldn't believe! I'm seriously happy we don't live together."

"Well he's been acting all weird," Sasuke said, continuing his little rant. "He's been so, so…" he searched for a good word to use, but couldn't think of any. "It's probably just because we've been spending too much time together lately."

Suigetsu gave him a look, sandwich halfway into his mouth.

"Now that I think about it, it's been a while since he did stuff without me."

Sasuke leaned his chin in one hand, playing with the small button on the sleeve of his shirt. Naruto was a party person, Sasuke was not. That much was simple. But somehow, Naruto had dragged him to a lot of things lately, be it a birthday dinner or a friend's friend's art exhibition. And if Sasuke wasn't able to go, like now that he was busy studying, Naruto more often than not opted to keep him company. As long as he was fairly quiet Sasuke didn't mind, but it was almost suspicious.

"Isn't that the point, though?" Suigetsu asked, having finished chewing his piece of food. "You live together, so wouldn't it be weird if he was always away doing other things without you? I mean, I'd be worried if Karin did that."

Sasuke stared at Suigetsu, wondering what the hell anything Karin might do was ever relevant.

"Hey, you didn't do anything, did you?" Suigetsu eyed him suspiciously, waving his sandwich at him. "I mean, that girl in your project group obviously had a thing for you. Maybe he just wants to make sure you won't get into trouble."

Sasuke was insulted. Suigetsu must have noticed, because he raised his hands to placate him, widening his eyes innocently.

"I'm just saying, no need to be upset."

"I can take care of myself just fine," Sasuke spat, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "That moron's been overstepping his boundaries for some time now, seriously since when does he have lunch with Itachi without even telling me! Or inviting me."

Suigetsu shrugged, providing no help, and Juugo was no better.

"You can always kick him in his sleep for revenge," Suigetsu suggested, grinning and winking at him. "Or, you know, make him sleep on the couch or something."

Sasuke heaved a long-suffering sigh, letting his eyes sweep over the café instead. He'd rather not think about things like him and Naruto sleeping in the same bed. The blond had claimed that there was no way he'd be giving up his amazing bed to buy two smaller ones, and so Sasuke had the choice of sucking it up and sharing or sleeping on the floor. He hadn't really thought about the fact that Naruto's apartment only had one bedroom when he agreed. At first, he'd been a little put off at the thought of sharing a room, considering he had barely been able to share an apartment previously. But Naruto was Naruto, and he didn't take a no. After a while, it had struck Sasuke that this way, Naruto wouldn't be able to bring any lovers over. He hadn't heard of any, not really, but he was sure it must have happened before at least occasionally, considering Naruto's social skills and the fact that he wasn't that bad to look at. But all he did since he moved in was force Sasuke to watch crappy movies with him and play video games, besides forcing him to socialize.

"Just forget it," he muttered, giving up fishing for advice.

He supposed he shouldn't have expected any, since he himself wasn't even sure just what it was that bothered him. Except he wasn't really bothered, it was more like… More like the way they lived right now was a little too comfortable, a little too natural. And he swore that sometime during the middle of the night, when he'd half woken up for some reason, he'd felt Naruto lying just next to him, breath tickling his neck and fingers curled around the back of his t-shirt…

xxx

"Welcome home, Mr. Probably-aced-the-test!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he stepped through the door, even though Naruto couldn't see him. He got good grades, but really, sometimes Naruto's complete certainty in his ability to get them was a little over the top.

"Don't say that, I can think of at least three things I got wrong."

Naruto scowled at him from his position on the couch, stretching an arm out to point a finger at him.

"Genius people like you have no right to complain about tiny things," he said, voice accusing, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes for a second time. "Besides, I already bought drinks to celebrate!"

Sasuke went over to the couch, leaning on his elbows over its back. He was tired, and in no mood to celebrate. Still, Naruto at least hadn't suggested they went out to party, like he sometimes did.

"I'm not sure alcohol will help my headache," he said, trying to figure out what show Naruto was watching, feeling blue eyes watch him in concern.

"Come here," he demanded, tugging at his sleeve, harder when Sasuke didn't immediately comply.

"What?" he sighed, surprised when he was pushed down on the floor so that he sat with his back towards the couch, Naruto's legs on either side of him.

"You're just tense, probably," his friend said, grabbing his shoulders and starting to knead them. "And if I un-tense you, you'll be perfectly good to go!"

"'Un-tense' is not a word, idiot," Sasuke groaned, leaning his head forwards and trying not to think of how warm Naruto's hands felt on his skin, especially when they snuck inside his shirt to get a better grip.

"Take off your shirt," Naruto said after a few minutes, and without thinking much of it he did as told.

Naruto's hands felt smooth on his back, and when he started pressuring a little harder Sasuke folded his legs in front of himself and hugged them for support. He could vaguely recall doing something like this in gym class once or twice, for teambuilding or whatever. He couldn't remember Naruto being so confident about it however, almost caressing his neck as he searched for tense spots. Aah he could fall asleep like this, and unable to help himself he released a small pleasured noise when those skilled hands slid up and down his back while thumbs rubbed delicious circles over his muscles.

Tan hands paused before continuing, this time a little more hesitant.

"Feel better?" Naruto asked, voice lower than usual, but Sasuke didn't pay any attention to it.

"Hmm," he answered, not wanting Naruto to stop but a little embarrassed to admit it.

"I'll… go get the drinks."

Sasuke raised his head when Naruto's warmth left him, only realizing now that his legs had been touching his sides. Naruto had already disappeared into the kitchen, not giving any further explanation as to why he suddenly needed to get those drinks. In Sasuke's opinion, they'd been just fine like that. But maybe that was a selfish thought. Standing up he stretched languidly, turning around to find that Naruto was back, albeit frozen in the doorway, eyes a little glazed.

"Did you get the drinks?" Sasuke asked, feeling a little self-conscious for some reason without his shirt.

Which was silly, considering he'd been all but stark naked in front of Naruto before. Actually, he probably had been naked in front of him quite a few times.

"Ah, yeah," Naruto replied, shaking his head a few times and scratching his neck a little, avoiding Sasuke's eyes.

He went over to sit on the couch again, Sasuke sitting down beside him and fishing up his shirt to put it on again.

"Beer or cider?" Naruto asked, putting a few cans of each onto the table from the plastic bag he'd carried them in.

"Either's fine," Sasuke shrugged, grabbing one of the cans without bothering to see what he'd picked.

It was a beer, he realized as he drank from it, eyes drifting to the TV screen to, once again, try to figure out what Naruto was watching.

"I was just going through the channels, here," the blond explained, handing him the remote control.

Sasuke started searching for something to watch, wondering why he did since they'd most likely end up on Netflix anyway. Glancing at Naruto he found him relaxing into the cushions, one arm resting over the back of the couch and the other hand, the one furthest away from Sasuke, loosely holding a cider. He wasn't good at reading the mood, but even he could sense that Naruto was acting a little awkward. Usually the other man would have strong opinions on the channels he flipped through, but right now he seemed distracted.

"You okay?" he muttered after a few minutes, settling for some kind of history documentary.

Slowly blinking, Naruto turned to him with a confused look.

"Yeah?" he asked, eyes flicking back to the TV as he took a large gulp of his drink.

"You're not being as loud and annoying as usual," Sasuke pointed out, wondering why he pressed the issue.

Neither of them were the kind of people who liked to talk about personal matters, preferring to deal with them on their own. Naruto took notice of his frown, sending him a faint smile.

"Sorry, I'm a little distracted. But let's forget about that, and drink to your honor!"

Naruto raised his can, grinning brightly, and Sasuke shrugged off the strange feeling he'd gotten earlier.

A couple of empty cans later the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed, Naruto commenting and laughing at whatever they watched just like usual. Sasuke wasn't a fan of drinking, and Naruto had enough party spirit to not need much in order to have fun and let loose, which meant that usually they'd stop at two or so drinks each. At least when they were having a night in alone. Because of that, Sasuke kind of wondered what he was doing with an almost empty fourth can after less than two hours, already having made one trip to the bathroom. His body felt much too warm, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol in his system or the fact that Naruto's arm was carelessly slung across his shoulders, squeezing him tight now and then.

"Look bastard, it's your favorite show!" Naruto joked, grinning too wide right in his face, so that he almost couldn't see the old rerun of a Victoria's secret show.

He pursed his lips, smacking Naruto's chest.

"Yeah," he drawled, voice heavily lidded with sarcasm, "It's my dream to go watch one for real. Or maybe I'll wear one of the outfits myself, even."

Naruto's laughter exploded in his ear, forehead pressed against the side of his head. Thankfully he wasn't holding anything with liquid in it, or he would have most likely spilled it all over Sasuke's lap.

"Man, I'd like to see that," he gasped, fingers clenching around Sasuke's bicep almost painfully tight.

Then he sighed, forehead falling down to rest in the crook of Sasuke's neck, breath hot against his skin.

"Really, that'd be great…" he mumbled, free hand falling down on Sasuke's thigh. He flexed it a few times, both of them staring at it. "I don't think I should drink anymore," he said, voice stronger and palm now flat over the curve of Sasuke's thigh.

"You're the one who wanted to drink, moron," Sasuke retorted, wondering why he was so acutely aware of Naruto's hand touching him. "So don't blame me in the morning."

"Hm," Naruto said, running his palm slowly down Sasuke's leg towards his knee, Sasuke watching in morbid fascination. "I really couldn't blame you."

Sasuke furrowed his brows, about to ask what he meant when Naruto snuggled his face into his neck, pressing closer to him.

"Or maybe I should blame you for everything…"

Sasuke felt something squeeze inside his chest, finding it hard to swallow all of a sudden. He had no idea what Naruto meant, but the way he said it… There was something about the sleepy, raspy voice Naruto used that struck a chord inside him. There was a hint of amusement to the statement, as if there was a hidden joke somewhere that Sasuke was clueless about.

"What could I possibly be blamed for?" he asked, voice low, nerves tingling as he felt a smile slowly form against his skin, meaning Naruto's mouth was touching it.

"Oh, this and that," Naruto dismissed his question with, the fingers previously hugging his shoulder wandering upwards, sneaking underneath fabric to draw patterns on his skin.

Sasuke had to clear his throat before talking again.

"Like what?" he insisted, moved by that same morbid curiosity that kept his eyes trained on the tan hand that, at the moment, seemed perfectly content in its place above his knee.

Naruto was silent, for so long that Sasuke contemplated asking again. Just as he felt Naruto lift his face a little to answer, low music mixed with vibrations could be heard over the noise of the TV. He glanced at his phone, about to reach for it when nails dug into his shoulder.

"Don't answer," Naruto whispered, and Sasuke's heart slammed against his ribs.

"It's probably Itachi."

He hesitated, but placed his can on the table and leaned into Naruto's touch again.

"Don't care," his best friend mumbled, sighing into his neck. "I'm really tired," he added after a few seconds, when Sasuke's phone had stopped ringing.

"It's still early."

"Fuck that, I can sleep whenever I want."

"I guess, but-" Sasuke was cut off when his phone went off again, and Naruto made a frustrated noise before almost throwing himself across Sasuke's lap, curling into a ball and rubbing his cheek against the fabric of the dark-haired male's jeans.

"Just answer the damn phone," he whined, reaching out to grab it and handing it to Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at him in fascination before the vibration in his hand brought him back to reality. He'd experienced a drunk and clingy Naruto before, but not exactly like this. The expression he showed was serious, solemn even, as he picked at a loose thread sticking out from a seam in Sasuke's pants.

"Hello," he said into the phone, still caught by the almost imperceptible frown on the tan face below him.

"How was your test?" his brother's deep voice asked him, and Sasuke tried to form a good answer as he absentmindedly let his fingertips brush over Naruto's visible cheek.

"According to the idiot I aced it as always," he ended up saying, leaning his head back against the couch when Naruto let out an annoyed snort. "But I think I passed at least."

"Are you drunk?" Itachi asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"How did you know?" Sasuke frowned, thinking he didn't feel drunk enough for it to be heard over the phone.

His fingers were still brushing Naruto's face, he realized, but did nothing to stop them.

"Can I talk to Naruto? Unless he already passed out or something, that is."

"Okay… You two talk a lot behind my back," he accused, Itachi only chuckling at him and demanding to talk to the blond.

"What," Naruto grunted, rolling onto his back so he could talk properly, grabbing Sasuke's hand when it fell off his face and putting it back. "What?!" he repeated, screeching this time and clenching Sasuke's wrist painfully. "That is NOT what I'm doing and you can shut up now! Go to hell you nosy weasel!"

Sasuke's eyes were wide in shock as Naruto ended the call with an almost violent press of his thumb, blue eyes glaring daggers at the innocent device.

"Did you just call Itachi a nosy weasel?" he asked, feeling an uncharacteristic grin threaten to show teeth. "I always knew your big mouth would get you killed one day, but I wasn't expecting this."

Naruto stared up at him, a jumble of emotions passing over his features before they settled into an exasperated grimace.

"I give up," he groaned, hiding his face behind both arms. "Fuck, I'm going to kill Itachi in such a painful way he'll wish he'd never been born. Fuuuuck…"

"You're not making any sense," Sasuke felt the need to tell him, utterly confused by Naruto's mood swings.

Peeking between his fingers, Naruto's deadpan look only served to confuse him further.

"I'm going to bed," he said, eyes boring into Sasuke's as if daring him to disagree. "Getting drunk was a bad idea."

"It was your idea-"

"I know that!" Naruto had sat up by now, running a hand through his unruly hair, the dejected expression on his face making him seem much older than he was, and definitely older than he acted most of the time. "Let's just… Let's just forget about this."

He got up, glancing at Sasuke with a pleading look in his eyes, before heading towards the bathroom, leaving Sasuke to wonder just what was going on, and why his body suddenly felt so cold. It didn't feel warm again until he got underneath the covers next to Naruto, the blond either asleep already or pretending to be. Sasuke was starting to get used to being confused, turning to rest on his side so he could watch Naruto's profile. His head was turned towards Sasuke, face relaxed and one hand half closed next to it. There were few moments when Sasuke wished he could read thoughts, but right now he really wanted to understand what was going on in his best friend's brain. Lately he'd been so off and on, one moment all bright smiles and happy laughter and the other serious and almost morose.

When had it even started? The first time he'd gotten this weird feeling that something wasn't entirely right… But what did Naruto even have to feel down about? Kiba had been teasing him a few months back about being eternally single, saying that his bad luck was affecting Sasuke as well, or the other way around possibly. Sasuke had never cared that others saw him as a lost case when it came to dating, but Naruto… Naruto was always happy and cheerful, and ready to share his emotions with the world. Maybe Kiba's words kind of got to him, and he somehow ended up thinking that he'd never find anyone to share his life with.

Scanning Naruto's features in the semi-darkness, Sasuke wondered what Naruto would be like in a relationship. Probably awkward. After all, it seemed as if about 80% of the things he said made women yell at him. Even Sasuke knew better than to ask a girl why she'd gone to the restroom twice in as many hours, but then again Naruto had grown up with his godfather Jiraiya, the insufferable pervert with zero understanding of women.

Could that be it? Naruto had never been in a relationship as far as he knew, and he used to talk a lot about girls when they were kids. Hell, he even had a crush on Sakura, which in Sasuke's opinion was a rather brave thing considering her strong character. He was pretty sure who would have called the shots if that relationship had ever happened.

Frowning, he tried to think of what kind of person Naruto would be happy dating. It felt strange to think about it at all, since Sasuke never really considered such things on a personal level. Naruto wasn't a difficult person, he supposed, unlike himself. He could be friends with anyone, he was good at putting others first, and charming when he wanted to. It was strange that he'd never dated. Even more strange was the fact that the few people Sasuke knew of that had expressed a romantic interest in him had been given the cold shoulder. And so, Sasuke was back to confusion. Nothing made sense. In his thoughts, though his body was tired and told him to sleep, he spent hours of that night tossing and turning the possible reasons and solutions to Naruto's behavior. Was he lonely? Was he feeling stressed about his future? About the fact that most of their friends were slowly but certainly finding their purpose in life, and the person to share it with?

Frustrated when nothing good came out of his usually helpful brain, Sasuke eventually managed to fall asleep from exhaustion, clinging to the reassurance that at least, no matter what else sucked in Naruto's life he'd never be completely alone because Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to get into a relationship anytime soon.

He didn't notice Naruto waking up, fingers reaching out to gently smooth out the wrinkle between his brows, didn't notice his quiet sigh as he fell asleep again, foreheads almost, but not quite, touching. Even so, he slept a lot better afterwards.