Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notes: I didn't get a lot of reviews, but the reviews I got meant a lot. Mwah, I less than three you all. Also, I revised the warnings in the first chapter to make more sense. This story also got considerably shorter than it was originally planned to be. That's because…well, I didn't have more to say. That said, I'm not sure just how long it'll actually be. Maybe around six chapters?

My Only Exception

part II

Sasuke stares at Naruto.

Okay, yes, if he were honest with himself (which he isn't ever because Uchiha's just do not do honesty about feelings ever, under any circumstance, especially if the circumstance involves pathetic lovesick staring at an unrequited crush, because fyi, Uchiha's also just do not do unrequited crushes) he always stares at Naruto. But this time he actually has a valid reason for his staring. No, it wouldn't hold up in court, but…oh, fuck it. Sasuke is staring at Naruto, and he's going to keep staring come hell or high water, so just shut up and let him do it.

Naruto is not staring back at Sasuke. He is in fact staring at the menu, scrawled in green and pink and blue and yellow chalk across a massive chalkboard hanging on the wall behind the big wooden counter of the coffee shop. He's focusing awfully hard, considering that the chalk writing is fairly legible and all. Probably, Sasuke thinks somewhat humorlessly, he's trying to figure out what Sasuke'd like.

Stupid challenges and Sasuke will probably hate whatever Naruto gets him because either the idiot will try to find something good for Sasuke which will end in tears or the idiot will try to find something horrible for Sasuke which will end in a fistfight most likely. Either way this is going to end badly, so really Sasuke should just stand up and walk out of this coffee shop right now before this has a chance to go wrong.

He's about to, really he is, reaching for his coat hung on the back of the rickety trendy wooden chair that he's sitting on. But then, of course, Naruto turns around about halfway, a contemplative look on his tanned face. It is the bus stop all over again, and when will Sasuke's heart stop with the acrobatics, it's getting fucking annoying.

A foxy grin steals across Naruto's face. That's really the only way to describe it. It's just foxy, sly as can be. The short of thing that the trickster's in every fairy story book ever have on their face as they plot their nefarious scheme. A slight shiver runs up Sasuke's spine, maybe of foreboding.

Naruto turns again and spits out a couple of orders to the rather dazed looking boy behind the counter, who punches the order into the register lazily. A girl with shiny and overly long (seriously, she should fucking cut it, and no Sasuke's opinion has nothing to do with the appreciative smile that Naruto gives her) blonde hair starts on the orders, whatever they are, as Naruto gives the lazy boy some cash.

Two minutes later, Naruto sits down on the rickety trendy wooden chair across from Sasuke, placing two warm drinks on the table between them. The one he pushes toward Sasuke does not smell entirely of coffee, so Sasuke knows that this whole thing really is doomed before it even started. Nevertheless, he dutifully picks up the warm cup and takes a small sip under Naruto's expectant gaze.

Dark chocolate, raspberry, and coffee. Rich, bittersweet, and so so so so fucking good.

Sasuke's look probably says it all, because Naruto sits back, a smug foxy grin on his lips as he sips his own cup of coffee. He looks like the conquering hero, sure of his own victory and basking in the feeling of it all while daring his recently conquered subjects to say anything about it. Sasuke narrows his eyes slightly, but cannot bring himself to actually say anything mean. It is really, really fucking good coffee, after all.

(The fact that the price of Sasuke's silence is a cup of coffee is rather pathetic, but he doesn't dwell on this.)

"So, why were you at the bookstore?" Naruto asks congenially after a few moments of silence.

"Looking for a book," Sasuke says. He (barely) resists the urge to add 'duh' to the end of that pronouncement.

"Well, duh. It's not like they sell anything else." Naruto is apparently not nearly so refined as Sasuke. Like Sasuke really expected differently. Geeze. "What book were you looking for?" the man-boy continues, his look as assessing as it is curious. It almost puts Sasuke on edge, like he's being judged for whatever answer will come out of his mouth.

So Sasuke wants to say something intelligent, something so very far out of Naruto's league that it'll blow the other male away. Something that will forever engrave Sasuke as brilliant and lofty and other such things in Naruto's brain forever and ever. But he can't lie, not to Naruto, not even if he wanted to. (And he really kind of wants to right now.) "The Other Boleyn Girl," Sasuke mutters finally.

He dares a look up at Naruto's face after he says this. Naruto looks infinitely contemplative. When he catches Sasuke looking, though, the look turns questioning. Blond eyebrows raise, and Sasuke could commit seppuku because his brain instantly translates that little bit of motion into an entire, coherent question. And it is a question that Sasuke should probably answer, instead of staring at Naruto like a dumb struck idiot.

"Karin made me watch the movie," Sasuke begins by way of explanation. Naruto nods very slowly, as if 'Karin' explains everything, which of course it likely doesn't. "It was awful. I thought maybe the book would be better." This is a weak, weak explanation, and Sasuke knows it. Karin, the woman who started this whole mess (not really but he'll blame her anyway) would see through that in a second and start teasing him with absolutely no mercy.

"The book was better than the movie," Naruto says with a shrug, like it's no big deal. "The author stayed closer to historical accuracy instead of being all Desperate Housewives Takes Renaissance Faire." He then takes a swig of his coffee and appears to have dismissed the matter entirely.

A hot flush makes its way over Sasuke's cheeks, and he curses his ancestors for giving him pale skin that shows such things. Naruto could be bright red right now and Sasuke would probably never know due to the dark hue of the other's skin. Sasuke, on the other hand, is always obvious when he blushes because he's just so damn pale.

Sasuke squirms in his seat uncomfortably. With each swallow Naruto takes, his throat moves temptingly. The lines of his neck, sharp defined paths of tendons and muscle, stand out more clearly. Naruto has a wonderful neck, really. Sasuke could (and more shamefully, would) worship that neck in ways nearly pornographic save for the fact they're in a public place, Naruto is supposedly mostly straight, and Sasuke is…well, Sasuke. Sasuke does not molest anyone's neck, much less the neck of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asks. Sasuke's eyes flick back up to Naruto's face and he squirms in his seat some more, embarrassment kicking up a few notches with the fact that he was caught. "You look really uncomfortable."

"Tch," Sasuke mutters as he looks away. He can feel a blush starting up in his pale cheeks, and for the first time since ever he curses the porcelain pale Uchiha skin he was born with, notably the fact that blushes show up on it with the same sort of tenacity that it would show up on a redhead. He reaches up and rubs at one cheek ineffectually, as if he can just rub the blush off, before realizing that the action will probably just draw Naruto's attention to that thrice damned blush, so he stops rubbing and drops his hand into his lap abruptly. "It's nothing," he says, jutting his chin out in a defiant way that dares Naruto say one damn thing.

Naruto shrugs a little and then leans forward. His elbows rest upon the scarred wood of the table and his hands fold into loose fists that he props his chin upon. The strange white scars on his tan cheeks stretch oddly as his chapped lips tilt into a smile that is surprisingly gentle and contained for someone like him. "You sure, Sasuke?"

The blush makes itself known, seemingly more defiant for the fact Sasuke had tried to suppress it. There's something about the way that Naruto says his name that makes Sasuke feel like the world is tilting on it's axis. "Not really," Sasuke says thoughtlessly, too caught up in the fact that he's blushing and Naruto says his name in this beautiful sort of way.

"Oh?"

"Um…" Sasuke's brain catches up with his mouth, but it's a little bit too late. Besides, Sasuke is beginning to realize that he doesn't like lying to Naruto, doesn't like hiding away like some sort of criminal or more like hiding away like an Uchiha. He doesn't like wearing his mask around this boy, because the mask cracks anyway, pottery left out too long in a too strong sun. He thinks too that as Naruto looks at him, surprisingly patient while waiting for Sasuke to say something, that Naruto is the sort of person who sees through masks anyway. More than that, he's the type who doesn't care what's behind that mask, or rather he does care, cares a lot, but in that fierce protective kind of way that is about saving people instead of breaking them.

And what the fuck is in Sasuke's coffee that he's thinking this shit?

"Hey, look, I know this must be kind of awkward for you," Naruto says. "I mean, it's not like we know each other well or anything. I wouldn't say we know each other at all really. And Sakura says I come on really strong. Bu you look lonely and I don't think that I should leave you looking lonely, you know?"

No, in fact, Sasuke does not know. Furthermore, this means that whatever is in his coffee is also likely in Naruto's, because who says that kind of stuff out loud? (At least Sasuke was controlling himself, keeping those words on the inside where no one except him could marvel at the stupidity…)

A dreadfully earnest look comes to Naruto's face and he leans forward further, one strong forearm bumping into his own coffee cup though he apparently doesn't notice. "Look, Sasuke, I know about you, and I've seen you around. You always look so sad, even when you're happy. But when I saw you today, by that bus stop, you gave me this look that was actually almost genuinely happy, and I'm going to do what I can to keep that look around."

"D'you think I should try to call him again?" Karin asks as they leave the diner. She doesn't need to prefix who 'he' is, of course. They've all been running over what the hell is going on with Sasuke for the past half hour. Well, except Juugo. Juugo seems generally okay with the whole mess, which disturbs Karin a bit more that she'd like to admit. If Juugo is thinking things are fine, then they probably are fine, which means that Sasuke…

Suigetsu reaches over and gently wraps his long pale fingers around Karin's wrist, squeezing ever so slightly in mute reassurance. "Yeah, call him. We can go rescue him from the idiot while we're still in town," he says. He looks about as worried as Karin sounds, which is to say, not very. But they both know each other well enough to tell that they're both freaking out on the inside.

Karin is freaking out more because she was really Sasuke's friend before anyone else, the first one to burrow into the cold place that was Sasuke's heart and start warming it up little by little. She considers herself Sasuke's best friend, despite the absolute shit they put each other through. And so she worries because if Sasuke is flirting with Naruto, then he is basically flirting with getting his heart broken. Not to mention, Sasuke is so far out of Naruto's league, the idiot can't even begin to imagine.

"You're right, for once. Sasuke's probably losing brain cells as we speak," Karin says.

Juugo, who had walked out ahead of them, pauses in his ambling gate. He turns about halfway and looks back, his orange eyebrows raised into a questioning expression. "Karin, do you really think that's the best idea?"

"What? Why wouldn't it be?" Karin snaps, immediately going on the offensive as she is prone to doing.

"What if Sasuke is happy?" Juugo asks softly, his tone prodding.

Karin wonders if Juugo knows something she doesn't. The thought disturbs her more than she'd like to admit.

It's still snowing when they amble out of the coffee shop. Sasuke looks down as he tugs on his gloves again to ward off the chill. He can feel Naruto's eyes on his bowed head. It's an unnerving feeling, to have someone so focused on you like that, is what Sasuke decides.

Naruto's words from barely half an hour earlier are still bouncing around in Sasuke's skull. "Actually almost genuinely happy." Does Naruto even realize that Sasuke is horribly head over heels in love with him, that Naruto is the one who really makes him smile all dorky and dopey? Does he realize that sometimes Sasuke just watches him move because it's the most beautiful thing in the whole entire world?

Of course not, but then again there is the finishing part of Naruto's grand speech and that hints that maybe Naruto will stick around. Sasuke's not sure if he can handle that or if it will consume him alive to be around someone so bright all the time. (Consume him or make him blossom.)

Suddenly a hand comes into Sasuke's line of vision. He distantly notes that Naruto's hands are callused heavily and scored with white scars. The fingernails are neatly trimmed but his cuticles are ragged. That hand is a distinct opposite of Sasuke's own pale, unscarred, neatly kept hands. That one hand, the one invading his line of sight, takes a hold of one of Sasuke's gloved hands and tangles their fingers together. Sasuke goes from distant to glaringly aware in a matter of seconds, his heart thudding in his ribcage and his breathing fluttering along like a little bird trying to take flight. His dark eyes stare disbelievingly at the sight before him, the unrelenting hold of two hands.

The heat from Naruto's ungloved hand slowly seeps through Sasuke's glove. It's comforting and he almost wishes that he was not wearing gloves so he could feel the rasp of Naruto's calluses against the more delicate skin of the top of his hand.

Ever so slowly Sasuke looks up, dragging his gaze up and up and up a centimeter at a time until he finally meets the blueblueblueblue gaze of Naruto. There is barely an inch or two of height difference between them, if that, but in this moment Sasuke feels smaller than Naruto by a lot. Because Naruto looks solid and secure in himself while Sasuke feels like if a strong wind were to come along at this very minute he'd probably just fall right over. Damn Naruto for doing this to him, for invading his life and his personal bubble and giving him delicious coffee and for making half promises about saving Sasuke or at least Sasuke's smile.

Sasuke doesn't need saving he promises, he really does, except he'll let Naruto save him because he wants Naruto, he really does, he really really really truly does, more than anything else in the world, more than he even wants to be a proper Uchiha and he's wanted that far longer than he's known of Naruto's existence in this world. But who cares, Naruto's beautiful and he's looking at Sasuke in this moment like maybe Sasuke is beautiful too. That's enough.