A.N.: This took too long, but it's finally here. Enjoy!

Beta: Lemonlov3 (cheers to you, dear!)

Second dance

"Sasuke! Sasuke, wait!" Naruto ran out of the dark class room and down the corridor, following his friend. He slipped when he turned right after he exited their Sciences classroom and cursed. Blaming the alcohol he had stole from Kiba. He kept running as he passed through a couple of girls in their fancy dresses, whom started to giggle. Naruto was after all running bare chested and that was always a pleasant vision – and to gossip about. He looked left and right at the end of the corridor and briefly saw Sasuke walking fast to the school's front door, with a cell phone in his hand and he seemed to be talking really fast. "I said wait, bastard!"

Naruto exited the school and saw Sasuke standing by the front gate. He took a big breath and walked to his friend, a hand messing his semi-combed hair. Naruto stopped right next to Sasuke, who then stepped away from him the next second.

"What the fuck happened?" Naruto asked, but he got nothing as an answer. He cursed. "Sasuke, talk to me! What is wrong with you?"

"You! You are what is wrong with me!" Sasuke hissed, undoing his tie knot and shoving the piece of textile inside one of his pockets. The slight blush on the raven's features didn't pass unnoticed by his friend. "I can't believe I actually came to this stupid prom! What a fucking waste of time!"

"What happened, Sasuke?" Naruto almost yelled, grabbing Sasuke's arm and pulling him closer when he tried to step away again. "You were perfectly fine half an hour ago!"

"Get off me, you imbecile!" Sasuke pulled his arm from Naruto's grip and shove the blonde away from him. "Why don't you go back to that classroom and go grab that bitch's arm instead!"

"Sasuke, what-"

"You made me a promise for this fucking prom and you failed me, Naruto!" Sasuke shoved him again and the other teen took a step back, surprised by his friend's words. "You don't get to lie to me! You don't get to keep all your promises to everyone but say 'fuck you' to me!"

"Sasuke, I swear, I-" Naruto tried to talk, but Sasuke was slightly touched by the alcohol Kiba mixed into the punch and there was obviously a lot of things coming out at the moment that a sober Sasuke wouldn't allow.

"Shut up! I don't care anymore!" He yelled, walking away while making a hand signal to a taxi that was approaching. "And don't talk to me again. I don't need your kind of people as my friends!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, but Sasuke was already in the taxi as it drove away. The blonde took his hands to his head and cursed, loudly.

What the fuck had just happened?

x x x

As Sakura got up and ran to say hi to Sasuke, I found myself suddenly appreciating the magnificence of Temari's hair.

"Naruto, are you hiding behind me?" And she dared to ask such blasphemy! "You know Sasuke won't bite you, right?"

"Yeah, but he could spit fire on me." I muttered, still hiding behind her and trying to look at Sasuke between Temari's and Shika's shoulders. "He could be an evil bastard like he has been all his life and-"

"And you're not suppose to be drunk, you know?" Shikamaru said and I pouted. "You were the one saying how you were going to be sober the entire night, so in case Sasuke actually shows up, you could talk to him decently."

"And who the hell shows up to prom at midnight?" I hissed, looking from over one of Temari's shoulder to the other.

"Prince Charming!" She replied and I looked at her confused. What the fuck does Prince Charming have to do with prom? "The one that shows up at midnight."

"You're not funny!" I told her and she laughed. Then she laced her arm around my neck and punched my head softly – or strongly, I don't know, I wasn't feeling much at the time.

"Go talk to him." Temari said and I looked at her like a second head had just grown out of her. "I'm serious, go over there and talk to him like nothing happened."

"Have you ever met Sasuke?" I questioned, getting rid of her arm and leaning against the table next to them. "He would bite my head off if I tried to talk to him like nothing happened."

"What about just trying to talk to him?" Shikamaru suggested, sipping his drink. "Because right now, you're hiding behind a girl."

"It's a damn badass girl, in case you haven't noticed." I commented and got a kiss on the cheek from Temari in return. I could marry this one. I really could. "And what am I suppose to do? Go over there and say 'Sasuke, we need to talk'?"

"It would be better than nothing," and I knew perfectly well that he was right, but my brain was in love with it's drunk'n state too much to allow me to think clearly at the moment. So I looked back at Sasuke – who was trying to ignore the smartphone that Neji was shoving in his face – and sighed.

"He just looks like he didn't see me!" I pouted and Temari hugged me.

"Poor baby Naru-chan, he's being ignored!" I take back what I said about marrying this one.

"Naruto, you're the one that has to decide what to do. We can't do that for you." Shikamaru said, and once again he was right. And then he looked at Sasuke with Neji and chuckled.

"I think you need to tell Neji to stop shoving pictures of Miwa to people's faces, Shikamaru." Temari commented and I noticed how Sasuke was about to hit Neji. "He takes this being a dad thing way more extreme than you do."

"I don't like to bother people with how adorable my kid is. Neji does." Shikamaru smiled and turned to look at us. "He likes doing this very much, he feels super proud of Miwa, specially now that she's calling him dad as well. Let him be happy. It's kinda cute."

"I might be drunk, but I noticed you just called Neji cute!" I pointed a finger at my friend and Temari started to laugh out loud. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Don't pull a Kiba on me, Naruto!" He begged and I grinned. Then, I noticed Sasuke looking at us while Neji was walking in our direction, so I just cursed and walked away discreetly – or maybe I could say that I whined and ran like a scared little puppy, but I definitely prefer the first version.

"Itachi sent a picture!" I heard Neji telling Shikamaru while I was walking to sit down with a drunk Kiba. "He says 'Your daughter stole my husband, my dog and my cat! I can finally work. She should stay over more often.' and look! She's so cute!"

"You two should get married soon, you know?" Temari said, chuckling, and Neji gasped. I was sure Shikamaru was covering his eyes and cursing his life.

"So Temari is also saying those two should get married?" Kiba asked when I sat down next to him, a cocktail in his hand.

"Stop picking on Shikamaru and Neji, Kiba!" I told him, stealing his cocktail and drinking some of it. "Just because you're crazy and got married like an insane madman, doesn't mean everyone is. And what the hell are you drinking?"

"Amaretto Sour," he opened a huge grin.

"Is this one of those things in where you go all girly girl and try to pull it very manly, although everyone knows it's girly?" I asked, looking curiously at him. "Like you wearing girl satin panties because it's more comfy?"

"Man, I told you before! My jewels are delicate! And they like the touch of the satin, it's comfy!" Kiba growled and I sighed. Why was I friends with this kind of guy again? "Are you going after Sasuke or what?"

"You too?" I interrogated, not wanting to discuss that subject again.

"Yes, me too. I spent three months with you dying every day in my bed because Sasuke didn't answer you. And then, I had to hear about it again and again every time we got drunk during the first year of college." Kiba stated and I pouted again. Why did my friends have to be always right, damn it? "Go talk to Sasuke!"

"But he's going to spit fire on me!" Yeah, I was being a child. But the fact was that I was so nervous – and drunk - that I couldn't force myself to just go there and talk to him. What if he ignored me again?

I mean, I couldn't until Kiba said what he did next.

"Damn, Naruto, I didn't know you were such a pussy!" That does it! I growled at Kiba and saw fire in front of me. The mutt grinned and I cursed. Damn Kiba was right, I was being a big ass coward! I suffered too much and agonized too much over Sasuke to give him the satisfaction of not confronting him. I was so going to pull him to a corner and ask "What the fuck happen?!" or I would do it in the middle of the dance floor if it was needed. But I was going to!

"Watch me, Kiba! I'm going to rock this shit up and talk to Sasuke once and for all!" I declared, standing up and heading to Sasuke's direction.

x x x

"I don't get it! I seriously don't get it!" Naruto howled in pain, messing all his hair while he was walking from one side to the other in Kiba's room. "It's been a week since prom and Sasuke still doesn't answer the fucking phone, or any of the texts! And every time I go over, his mom makes an 'I pity you' expression and says he doesn't want to see me! What the fuck did I do wrong?"

"Hey man, don't ask me. I was never able to understand Sasuke." Kiba commented, laying on his bed and reading a comic book. "He was always semi-psycho, so maybe he just went completely psycho."

"But why?!" Naruto interrogated and Kiba looked at him with a cracked eyebrow. It was amusing that Naruto didn't deny the semi-psycho part. "The only thing he said was that I failed on something that I had promised him! But I didn't! I swear I didn't!"

"What did you promise, then?"

"I promised that it was going to be the best night of the year and that we could try to get Kakashi-sensei drunk!" Naruto stated, growling. "And we did it! Kakashi-sensei was all flushed and happy reading his porn and we had so much fun during the entire night! I don't get it!"

"Maybe he was jealous that you were Prom King instead of him?" Kiba suggested and Naruto glared at him.

"Prom King was humiliating and Sasuke was the one who made it happen!" Naruto declared, jumping into Kiba's bed. "He seduced the committee that were counting the votes and made them change the winner! He was the one who was supposed to be Prom King, not me!"

"Maybe he was just constipated on the night and-"

"Kiba!" Naruto growled and Kiba laughed.

"I'm sorry mate, but I really don't see what's happening." He tossed his comic book aside and looked at Naruto, who was laying down on his bed in a very weird position. "Maybe you should ask Neji, they're close. Or talk to Shikamaru, he's the mind reader, so I'm sure he knows what happened."

"Yeah, I think I need their help." Naruto muttered while Kiba got up and took his old game console from the closet. "Maybe I should call Itachi."

"No, man, no! That one is scary and will hunt you down and peel you alive just because you upset his little brother!" Kiba set the console down and threw a controller to Naruto. "Now, forget Sasuke for a moment and come play."

"Give me a minute to call him again and I'll go play." Naruto said, grabbing his cell phone and speed-dialing the raven. Kiba tsk-ed.

x x x

I'm pretty sure Sasuke is a ninja.

That's the only possible answer that I can find for the fact that he was able to disappear every time I walked in his direction. It was fucking ridiculous! It had been an hour since I decided to hunt him down and talk to him and he kept disappearing. I would see him somewhere, start to walk to him, then he would move slightly out of my sight and BAM! Gone! I could almost imagine him doing those sassy ninja movements to hide and escape the enemies.

I sat again at Kiba's table – Karin was half dead all over his left arm – and cursed!

"He's avoiding me!" I stated and Kiba tsk-ed. "I've been trying to talk to him for the past hour, Kiba, and he always disappears in the last moment!

"Sasuke's a ninja! He goes za-za-za and poof, gooooone!" Karin laughed, drunkenly, before going back to sleep on Kiba's arm. Crazy married insane. Lovely!

"You can try to ambush him on his car," Kiba suggested, grabbing his phone and looking at the time. "The night is pretty much over. A couple of more songs and it's done. Shikamaru and Neji already left. And I'm waiting for Chouji to take us home, as soon as he's done hitting on... I'm not sure who, but whatever." He yawned, continuing. "So you should just go ambush Sasuke on his car. It's a safer option than dealing with the ninja bullshit."

"I'm so tired, Kiba... really, so tired." I confessed, burying my face in my hands. "I really wanted Sasuke to just talk to me. Tell me what happened. But this is so not worth it! I don't have to crawl for this."

"Well, you did survive ten years without him." Kiba said, shrugging. "You need to make the call, man. Or you try again or you don't. But I can not tell you what to do."

I sighed, getting up and heading to the bathroom to wash my face. I looked myself in the mirror and took my tie off, unbuttoning the first two buttons of my shirt and messing my hair up a lot more than it already was. I was tipsy and slightly flushed and I certainly was not in the mood to deal with that prick's bullshit. I cursed and returned to the salon, taking a look at it. Ino was dancing with Genma, next to Lee and Hinata who were also enjoying the dance floor. Chouji was chatting with some girl I was almost sure was his Chemistry lab partner, back in high school. Temari was talking – seducing? - the bartender, Kiba and Karin were half dead on a table, Sakura was pretending to be a tree and stalking Sasuke, who was talking to someone he knew from his former archery club.

And he seemed ok. A little bit tired, but if he was taking over his mom's firm, then he wasn't looking as bad as I thought he would. He was well dressed - as always - and looked like he didn't have much to worry about. He looked fine. And that annoyed me very much.

I turned back and headed out of the salon. I was really upset. Sasuke was fine. Fine! I was suffering, almost torturing myself because I knew we needed to talk and he was just fine. I was running up and down the entire night trying to see him, feeling anxious and stressed because he had to show up so we could talk, because it was my only chance to get him back! And the bastard was avoiding me, and he was fine.

"I'm such an idiot!" I hissed, exiting the salon and walking to cross the desert campus towards the taxi station. I took my jacket off, throwing it over my shoulder, my hand still holding the collar. I checked the old watch that was chained to my vest and saw it was almost 1.30 AM. It was too soon to go home, but I certainly didn't want to stay any longer. I saw Sasuke's car parked near the exit and cursed again. "Such a big idiot!"

"Well, I do have to agree on that!" I heard that voice echoing in the night behind me and suddenly my entire world fell apart. My stomach imploded, leaving butterflies on its former place and my heart was racing. I closed my eyes, almost certain that I was hallucinating – which only meant I was way drunker than I thought – and I bit my lower lip. Was my fate that nasty? "You were always some kind of an imbecile, I'm glad you finally admitted it."

"What the fuck do you want, Sasuke?" I managed to ask, still not turning to him. I couldn't. If I did, if I turned to him and looked at him, all my resolve would go to space. I took a deep breath. "You've been ignoring me the entire night, so now you decide to-"

"Save the last dance for me!" He declared and I felt like I was being shot in the heart. My eyes widened and I turned to face him. A twirl of emotions and fragmented memories hitting me hard. Why was that hitting me so hard?

"Wha-" I was sure my face was a mixed of confusion and hurt. That didn't make any sense and, somehow, I felt like I was missing a big piece of the puzzle there.

"Judo club, two weeks before prom, we made a bet." Sasuke said, his hands on his tux's pockets, tie loose and a button of his shirt undone. He was standing a few meters from me and I could hear him perfectly, even though he wasn't speaking louder than he would at a church. "We were sparring and you made some sassy comment on how my fighting skills were getting worse, so we made a bet: If you won, you would take me to prom. And you did win."

"Sasuke, what..." I wasn't sure where he wanted to go with recalling that, but I was so moved and so internally happy that he was finally talking to me that I couldn't dare to finish my question. Hell, I didn't even remember I had a question at all.

"So I punched you in the arm and asked for another round. This time, if I won you would wear a proper tux to prom instead of that orange blasphemy you called a suit. And I won." He recalled and it finally showed up in my brain, the memory of that afternoon, in the judo club. "You wanted a final round before we could go home and this time, I said that, since we were going to prom together, if I won you would save the last dance for me! I won. And you-"

"And I disappeared to a dark classroom with a drunk cheerleader and lost the last dance- Sasuke!" I exclaimed when he turned his back to me and started to walk to his car. "Sasuke, wait!"

"Someone advise me that maybe I should tell you why I decided that I didn't want you anywhere near me anymore, so I did." He said in his super professional tone and kept walking away from me. "Now you know, you so can leave me the fuck alone and I can-"

"Will you listen to me, bastard?" I ran the couple of meters that separated us, my jacket falling on the floor, and I grabbed his arm, pulling him to me, like I had done ten years before. "You were always like that, taking precipitated conclusions and getting mad at me for it! Let me explain!"

"Explain what? Why you were half naked under a cheerleader, in a dark classroom, when you should've been dancing with me?!" He yelled, pulling his arm away and glaring at me. "I went to prom because of you! You had been talking about prom the entire year. How it was going to be amazing and how we're going to have the night of our lives. I didn't want to go to prom, you made me go! You promised me the night of my life, you promised me the last dance, and you fucked it all up!"

"That stupid ass cheerleader puked on me!" I yelled at him, making him step back and look at me like I had a third eye. I felt a raindrop hit my cheek, but I ignored it. "It was almost time for the prom to end and I was a little bit tipsy, but I had a plan! I had an entire plan to pull you to the dance floor and to have the last dance with you! I didn't remember that I had promised you that, you know my brain is stupid, but I had it all planned!" I confessed and Sasuke made a confused and defying expression. Like daring me to keep going. "So I went to the bathroom to make sure the stupid punch wouldn't decided to make me wanna pee in the middle of our dance and ruin it. And I was there when that stupid girl, that I didn't even know, decided to walk in the bathroom and trip on me. I grabbed her, preventing her to fall down and she just puked on me! All over my shirt!"

"What?" Sasuke questioned. And I could tell by his expression that he didn't want to believe in me. The raindrops were getting more regular, but neither of us seemed to be giving them any importance.

"I yelled at her and took my jacket and shirt off. Luckily my pants were ok. I looked at her and she looked like she was about to faint, so I grabbed her and took her to the classroom next to the bathroom. I sat her down there and when I was about to get out to get my t-shirt that was in my locker in the end of the corridor, she pushed me on the table and blabbed something about me being prom king and shit. She climbed on top of me and tried to kiss me and that's when you walked in." I looked at Sasuke's eyes and I saw the shadow of confusion disappearing, but his expression didn't get any softer. I messed my hair and cursed, looking directly at him again. I needed him to understand that, I needed him to... I don't know, just say something. "I didn't leave you for a drunk cheerleader, Sasuke. I didn't remember my promise, but I really wanted that dance with you."

"I..." He hesitated, pressing his lips together and looking away for a moment. Rain was falling upon us by now. Sasuke, turned and started to walk to his car again. "I should go."

"No! Sasuke!" I ran after him again and, again, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to me. "Don't-"

"Why?!" He growled, glaring at me once again, but this time, he didn't pull his arm away. And his skin was burning under my touch and he was so close I could see the drops of rain on his long lashes. "What difference does it make now?! It's been ten years! None of us is the same. Nothing is the same and it won't be again just because-"

"Dance with me!" I grabbed his other arm and pulled him even more to me. We were face to face, eyes locked on each others, closer than we had been since our last spar in judo club, all those years before. Sasuke had an incredible shadow upon his eyes, like he didn't believe in my words or that I was actually asking him that. My grip on him started to loosen before his cold glare. I was near tears at the moment, I was so close to get him back, why was he being so difficult? I swallowed dry and licked my lips, one of my hands coming up to slightly caress his face.

"Let go..." he ordered, but his voice was trembling and weak and he was not stepping back. "Let go, Naruto. You're not-"

"Please..." I begged, on the precise moment a raindrop fell on my eye and rolled down my face. My soul was bare before him, my heart was there, in a silver platter and, somehow, I was mentally begging him not to rip it all apart. "Sasuke..."

I felt him moving and his hand pulling my hand away from his face. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see him walk away from me again. I couldn't handle it. Not a second time and after I had believed, even if for brief moments, that we could go back to what we used to be. I thanked the skies for the sudden rain in the beginning of the summer, since I really didn't want him to see me breaking apart like I was about to. My chest was heavy and my heart was hurting. Ten years I had dreamt of that moment and it was crumbling down right in front of me.

Until I felt him turn his hand on mine and holding it, while his other hand was delicately dropped on top of my shoulder, like he was waiting for me to lead in a valsa. I burst my eyes open and he was avoiding them, a very light tint of red spreading upon his cheeks. I smiled as openly as I could, almost laughing, and I laced his waist with my free arm, swinging us slowly in the rain.

And it felt like paradise, to have Sasuke right there and dancing with me. I couldn't hear anything, not the rain, not the cars that occasionally passed in the street next to the parking lot, not the thunders that ripped the sky. It was just me and Sasuke, dancing, like we should've ten years before, like I had planed, like we were meant to.

"Do you mind if I stick to my plan, even if it's ten years later?" I asked without getting an answer, Sasuke was still not looking at me and I could perfectly see his inner turmoil growing more and more. I chuckled. "I had planned to drag you to the dance floor for the last dance. I knew the committee had requested the band to sing 'Save the last dance for me' as the last song and since it was somehow a hit song at the moment, everyone would be on the dance floor for that last song." I told him, leading the very calm and soft dance we were enjoying. We were completely wet at the moment, but that didn't seem to bother any of us. "In a crowded dance floor, no one would notice us, even if we are two guys dancing together, so I was sure you wouldn't complain about it. I would pull you to the dance floor and hold your hand just like this and swing us around at the rhythm of the song. And then, I would pull you closer, like this," I pulled his body against mine and he turned his head to finally look at me, the uneasiness on his dark irises grew bigger. "And I would lean my forehead on yours."

"Naruto..." he muttered, eyes filled with surprise and fear and confusion and distress and, above all, hope. "Don't do this to me..."

"And I would tell you," I continued, like he hadn't interrupted me at all. We kept dancing softly and the rain kept falling, another thunder scratching the dark sky. "I would tell you how damn much you meant to me. And how all our fights and all our competitions against each other were mere excuses for me to be closer to you." And we're no longer dancing, and the water dripping of my face was no longer just the rain. I had my hands on Sasuke's face and my forehead against his, and I was praying for him not to pull away, because it was hurting so much, but I needed that even more. "And how I couldn't imagine myself without you and how much I needed you in my life!" My eyes were closed and I felt Sasuke's hands holding my wrists carefully. I couldn't look at him on that moment, or I would lose all my courage. "And how much... I was... so... madly..."

"In love with you." He whispered and my eyes flashed open, meeting his.

x x x

Shikamaru threw his phone next to him on his bed. It was so annoying to have Ino yell at him about inviting a girl to prom. Prom was six months away! Why was Ino getting all paranoid so soon? Troublesome! He thought, and was preparing to roll on his side and take a nap when heavy footsteps were heard in his house. Within seconds, Sasuke was bursting inside his room.

"Why the fuck did you have to say that?!" The Uchiha yelled at him and the Nara cracked an eyebrow, not entirely sure what he was talking about. "Everything was perfectly fine until you said that! Who asked you to play psychologist with me? Who asked you to analyze me, you fucker?"

"Is this about our talk, two months ago, about Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, sleepy. Sasuke slammed the door shut behind him.

x x x

My eyes met Sasuke's and I wasn't sure I had heard it right or, even if I had, I understood the meaning correctly. I was shaken with doubt and hope, my heart was racing faster than I ever felt it before and no words were coming out of my mouth. I wanted to ask him to repeat, to explain, to make sure he knew what he was telling me, but my voice was nowhere to be found and my brain couldn't order my body to do something. I was in shock, it was just too much. A second felt like an hour and the tension in between us didn't change. His eyes were fixed on mine, but I couldn't read them. His always cold and stoic expression didn't change and I was starting to believe that I hallucinated his words.

"Say it again..." I pleaded, breaking my frozen state, knowing that I was in a completely different dimension and Sasuke wasn't being merciful with me. I just wanted him to say it again. Just once more so I could be sure I hadn't misunderstood it. "Just one more time..."

Sasuke chuckled, like someone who just found out how insane he is, and let go of his grip on my wrists. The rain felt suddenly freezing upon that skin. He pulled my forearms apart, pushing my hands away from his face. My arms felt heavy next to my body, such was the feeling of sudden apathy. I was expecting nothing and everything. I was in a point where I just wanted something to happen, something to tell me I wasn't dreaming or trapped in an malign spell. I felt Sasuke's hands coming up, his cold fingers brushing the skin on my face before entangling themselves into my hair, pressuring my scalp and pulling my face even closer to his.

He didn't say it out loud. Oh no, he completely destroyed all the remains of my rational thoughts by brushing his lips on mine, mouthing slowly and painfully the words he stole from my voice earlier. My hands came up again, to hold his face, in the moment our lips made full contact and we finally kissed. I was never one to believe in all the butterflies and fireworks bullshit the teenagers adore to dream about, but kissing Sasuke was all that and so much more. It wasn't hot and passionate, it was slow and hurtful, with all the concealed feelings we held back for ten years coming to the surface. I felt dizzy. I wanted that and so much more and I had so many questions and there was so much to talk about. But I couldn't pull away from Sasuke's lips, from this tongue, from his taste, from his grip on my hair and his desperate need to assure me there.

I pushed him against me, feeling my lip being cut by his teeth, but I didn't care. Sasuke was kissing me, devouring me, having me all and completely to himself and I was more than glad to let him. He pulled my hair and bit my lip and hugged me close, scratched my back and breathed into my neck. Ripped me bare, heart and soul. And, in my ear, whispered quietly the dream I dreamt for ten whole years.

x x x

I honestly don't remember how we pulled away from each other, or how we got into Sasuke's car or exactly when we got to Sasuke's apartment is. My brain was fuzzy and hurting, it was too much emotion for the night. I was sitting on Sasuke's apparently new living room while he was in his kitchen preparing tea, and I was trying really hard to be adult and coherent about this entire situation. It was hard, though. Part of me just wanted to storm inside the kitchen, pull Sasuke into my arms again and kiss him senseless, while the other part was internally screaming like a scared five year old.

"The fuck am I doing?" I muttered into my hands, hiding my face on my palms and getting all the butterflies flying around my stomach again for remembering Sasuke's lips on mine.

I took my face from my hands and opened my eyes to a mug of hot tea being held in front of me. I looked up at Sasuke and he was still expressionless. I took the mug and said a quiet thanks. Sasuke sat on the other sofa in front of me.

"I'm sorry for the mess in here, but I'm moving and working and it has been complicated to do all at once." He explain simply, his voice as normal as it ever was, no hint of nervousness on it. He couldn't be that calm while I was about to completely lose it inside. It was just not fair.

"Yeah… I heard from Neji you're taking over Itachi's position." I said in a chitchat that wouldn't get us anywhere, but it was not like I actually knew how to bring up the subject. Or even if I wanted to bring up the subject at all!

"I'm not taking over Itachi's, I'm taking care of the work while my parents have time to heal from the scandal my brother decided to make. But they'll get over it soon and Itachi will have his job back." Sasuke commented simply, sipping his tea and not looking at me. "After all, it was not like they didn't know about Itachi and Shisui, they just didn't want to accept it."

"Your parents knew about Itachi?" I questioned, slightly amused by the out turn of the situation. "And still tried to get him to have very important dinner meetings to get him a girlfriend?"

"My mom was against doing it, but my father always said this thing between Itachi and Shisui was a phase." And Sasuke chuckled. Like he was making fun of his father's sorrow. "I really want to see his face when they finally get that baby they're trying to adopt home. It's going to be hilarious!"

"Your dad was never the best person to deal with, but Itachi sure knows how to piss him off perfectly." I said, sipping my tea and feeling a sudden burst of butterflies in my stomach again. "Sencha and soymilk?"

"You don't have it like that anymore?" He asked casually, looking at the mug in my hands before meeting his eyes with mine. Why did it feel like those ten years never existed in the first place?

"I do…" my voice was hurting and my head was confused with everything. I couldn't really believe all that was happening. It felt like those ten years never happened and, at the same time, it felt like I was missing him for an eternity. And I really wanted to cross the small distance that kept us apart. "You don't like soy milk. How come you have it here?"

I watched as Sasuke slowly looked at his mug and, with something I could have called a glimpse of a smile, he rose his mug a little bit.

"Sencha with cinnamon and soy milk. I kind of got used to it." He sipped his tea again and I watched painfully as my world shattered and my heart skipped a beat. I knew I was trembling and I knew I was holding that mug with too much strength, but the sudden rush of pure happiness mixed with anger that was running through my veins was swiping all the rests of my sanity away. "I guess some of your disgusting ideas are not so disgusting after all."

"You've been drinking one of my disgusting ideas for ten years but you couldn't pick up the damn phone?" I caught myself saying without looking at him. It was impossible for him to be drinking that for all that time without thinking of me at least once! And I was desperate everytime he crossed my mind over this last years, angsting over the idea of not having him around without a decent explanation for it, and Sasuke was just there: ignoring all my existence and drinking my disgusting idea of tea-for-bastards-that-don't-like-sweets. "You could have picked up the phone. Or send a text. Or punch me in the face at Sakura's wedding! Anything was better than utter silence, Sasuke!"

He was looking at me with that weird shadow over his eyes again and I knew he was going over a big, silent turmoil in his head. I knew Sasuke had his reasons, and I probably knew all of them after hearing his part of the story, but… I lost him for too long, because of some stupidity that could have been dealt with within minutes if he had picked up the fucking phone!

"I don't deal good with rejection…" he almost whispered, lips compressing against each other, dark eyes narrowing over an unpleasant memory.

"I didn't reject you!" I declared, putting my mug on the floor and getting up. "I was doing everything to have you, Sasuke. I would never reject you!"

"Being half naked under a bitch in a dark class room isn't exactly the best way to say I love you, you know?" He hissed, looking away and closing his eyes. "I know you were not jumping her. Now I know that! I didn't ten years ago. And I didn't deal well with rejection for a long time!" He cursed and reopened his eyes to fix them in an infinite point. "It was pretty clear to me that you were not interested in anything more than being friends. And it… hurt… so much to see you breaking your promise to me, because of some random bitch you didn't even know…"

"Sasuke…" I knelt down in front of him, sitting on my ankles, realising who that person was and what exactly everything that happened at prom really meant for him. Sasuke was the person that never said a thing about his own feelings, he pretended to be cold and he put that stoic mask on to make everyone believe feelings wasn't something he possessed. But deep inside I knew he was just afraid of voicing his dreams and having them crushed. "You should know I would never hurt you like that…"

"We were fucking brainless teenagers, how the hell would I know that?" He hissed again, his cold stare upon me hiding the whirl of shattered feelings and regret. "We seemed so in sync on those weeks before prom and on that night… everything was perfect as you had promised me. I had the most amazing time and there was no way it felt as friends!" He exclaimed, putting his mug on the floor as well and, leaning his elbows on his knees, glaring at me. "And then… arg! It was stupid! This is stupid! It has been ten fucking years! What are we hoping to change now? It doesn't-"

"I love you." I said, simply, and Sasuke's voice was suddenly gone. "I loved you ten years ago. Apparently I still do. I've been sleeping with and dating every one that was interesting enough and it never lasts because none of them is you." I confessed, not sure why I was saying that, but it felt right at the moment and the desperate expression on Sasuke's face was making me want to go back in time and make sure none of that ridiculous and stupid mess ever happen. "I don't know what happened in your life in these ten years, I don't know if the person you are now is still good for me."

"Naruto, I don't…" he started and I rose on my knees and held his face in between my hands and, for the second time that night, leant my forehead onto his. I heard him sighing and I saw him close his eyes.

"If nothing like this had happened... But it did and we were stupid and childish and idiots and it has been ten years, and a lot have changed. However, I do believe that what we felt from that kiss in the campus is more than enough reason for us to try and see if this works." I told him and silence followed. Silence in which I was, again, questioning every word I said and wondering if he would even consider my suggestion. A decade was a long, long time. Thousands of things happened. We both changed, we both lived different shaping lives and we both were far from being those two silly teens we were on high school. I was putting all my heart and faith in an hypothesis that could be as wrong for Sasuke as it felt as right to me. And the silence was driving my anxiety and nerves crazy.

Then, I heard him chuckle.

Butterflies burst all over my stomach once more because I knew exactly what that chuckle meant. So long since I had heard it last and, at the same time, it felt more nostalgic than the entire reunion. I was feeling like I was in paradise when Sasuke's hands came up to hold my face and his dark eyes opened to fix on mine. I smiled. "Got ya, bastard!" I laughed, pulling him in a damn tight hug. There was something rolling down my eyes, but I didn't quite care at the moment. "I finally got ya!"

"Yeah…" he hugged me back as strong, sliding to the floor and entangling or bodies. "You finally did."

x x x

"I knew it," Shikamaru smirked when he opened the door to his place on the next day's afternoon. It was Miwa's birthday party and we had a very small gathering planned. I frowned over Shika's words and heard Sasuke click his tongue behind me. Of course Shikamaru would look at us and know what happened. Damned mind reader!

"Stop doing that!" Sasuke told him when we entered the place and Shikamaru proudly smiled. "It's annoying!"

"Sasuke is right, you know? You could pretend you didn't read our minds and let me tell you about it over a beer in ten minutes." I stated and Shikamaru shrugged as I walked in.

"I saved you time, aren't we lucky?" He asked with a smirk on his face and I found it slightly odd. Shikamaru was not the kind of person to have fun with his mind reading powers unless he was in a fantastic mood. I narrowed my eyes at him, like I was trying to see through him. "Hey, the mind reader here is me, stop hurting your brain."

"What happened, Nara?" I questioned in a very curious way, following him to the living room where Neji and Shisui were playing with Miwa, Temari was watching all of that with a glass of red wine on her hand and a smirk on her face, and Itachi was standing near the sofa trying to ignore his boyfriend (husband?) being reduced to the mental age of 5, while talking with Sasuke. And apparently, Itachi was also a mind reader as Sasuke was blushing and clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. What's wrong with these people?

"Stop sounding like Temari! Nothing happened, Naruto. It's my daughter's birthday, I'm allowed to be happy, no?" He interrogated in a very neutral tone, entering the kitchen and having me following him. The doorbell rang again and Neji got up to answer it. Shikamaru opened the freezer and took two beers out. "But I'm glad you two kind of fixed your things."

"You knew about Sasuke's feelings, didn't you?" I wasn't sure why I was making that question, it was so clear I didn't even need an answer. "If you knew, what took you so long to convince him to talk to me?"

"Naruto, have you ever tried to talk to Sasuke when he puts something on that thick and empty head of his?" Shikamaru snorted and I had to control myself not to laugh with the veracity of the facts. "I tried my best, I swear I did. But he's a fucking stubborn moron!"

"Hey, that's my fucking stubborn moron you're talking about!" I pouted and Shikamaru rolled his eyes, giving me one of the beers while Neji returned to the living room with Ino, Sakura and Tenten, who ran to go hug Miwa. "Hey, we didn't have much time to get Miwa a present. What did she ask for?"

"She wants to live with Itachi," Shikamaru sighed and I almost spit my beer laughing. He crossed his arms, looking at the little girl running away from Tenten to hug one of Itachi's legs. "Apparently, she's madly in love with Itachi's cat, so she wants to go live with them. Shisui agreed on the moment. I don't think it's normal for people to try to adopt my kid like this."

"You know Shisui was always very dedicated and into his own things." I chuckled and Shikamaru shook his head, taking a sip of his beer.

"The worst part of it is that I know I'll come home to a cat tomorrow, because Neji is completely under the control of the whims of a 4 year old." And I laughed loudly, calling the attention of the ones in the living room to us. Shikamaru was right, Neji loved that girl so much, he would buy her the moon if she asked for it. "It's going to be hard not to spoiler her anymore than Neji already does. But oh well…"

"She is very loved, that's the important part, right?" I watched as the little girl was grabbed by Neji, giggled loudly when he tickled her and started to call for papa. Shikamaru smiled quietly, left the beer bottle on the counter and walked around me to exit the kitchen and go save his little girl. "Oh, Shika?"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at me from over his shoulder. I gave him a smirk.

"You might want to cover the hickey on the back of your neck before any of the girls sees that." I commented and Shikamaru clicked his tongue and glared at me before reaching for his hair tie and without saying a word about it, getting his hair loose to cover the mark, walking out of the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Miwa, papa is here to save you!" He exclaimed and getting a general ow from all the girls. And Shisui. Who was looking at Itachi with the biggest puppy eyes I had ever seen in life. And seeing a Uchiha doing that was scary as hell. Specially considering how damn well it actually works. I need to be careful of Sasuke!

While everyone was focused on the baby and the two dads, Sasuke sneaked into the kitchen and leant his back on the counter by my side. His hand brushed softly against mine and I smiled. That was definitely not the moment to tell everyone we were trying to be together, and I was glad both of us knew that. We needed to stabilize whatever this was in between us, figure out if we could actually work and then, we could break a few hearts (and possible get ourselves in the hospital for that) when we finally decided to tell everyone. Until then, public discretion was advised.

"So…" he looked at me with a smirk. "Neji has a huge bite mark on the junction of his neck and shoulder."

"Shika has a hickey on the back of his neck." I informed and Sasuke raised an eyebrow with his smirk still in place. "We weren't the only ones getting lucky yesterday."

"It looks like prom was actually what prom should have been!" Sasuke chuckled, looking over his shoulder at his brother having his hair braided by Miwa, who already had worked Neji's into two side braids. "Drunkenness and sex and people getting together after sex."

"We got together before sex!" I stated and Sasuke hit his shoulder against mine. I smiled. "But yeah, you're right. Prom was finally the way it should have been."

"And cheers to that!"

End

A.N.: I'll be writing a side fic of this one soon, but it will be focused on Shikamaru and Neji instead of these two idiots. That one has a lemon scene *smirks* You can find it on my profile under "Two to Tango".

Reviews and thoughts are always welcome, let me know what you think of this baby.

Also, if you want to follow me on twitter to know more about what I'm working on and what/when I'll be publishing new things, you can do it by searching for: AhAkira_ I tend to rant about ideas and plots and thoughts on manga there, so feel free to interact or suggest a prompt if you would like.

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Cheers,
Akira