Laundry Room
by Diana-san

Sakura sighed as she inserted another quarter into the washing machine. She couldn't believe she was stuck in the laundry room on a Saturday night. She barely had half a load in her basket and yet here she was. Because her roommate, Ino, couldn't bother to go to her boyfriend's apartment and instead was up in their shared bedroom doing god who knows what.

Sakura did know what though. She heard the sounds and saw the sock on the door. Quickly, she had grabbed her load of dirty laundry from the hamper and ran out of that apartment room as fast as she could. Now she was stuck watching reruns of some soap opera on the television in the laundry room. She sighed as she tried to find the remote. Someone always seem to misplace the remote control and the channel never changes until the cleaning lady magically finds it again.

She noticed that there was one other guy in the laundry room with her. She had noticed him around usually in her building but it was the first time she had seen him up close. They had been in the laundry room together for the past five minutes and he had placed his quarters in and made no effort to leave. It was strange because most people would return to their room and let the machine run its course. Maybe he was afraid people would steal his underwear.

Sasuke silently watched his machine do its cycle as he tapped his foot impatiently as he glanced up at the clock overhead. It had only been five minutes but he could tell that it was going to be a long night. He hated the nights when Naruto had his girlfriend over. He hated the fact that he chose to share a room instead of getting his own single.

He was hoping to just chill in the laundry room for the next two hours but it seemed that he was not going to be alone tonight. The girl in the laundry room hadn't budge from her spot on the small couch seated in front of the television and he could see that she was eyeing him from time to time.

He sighed as he made an effort to walk over. He didn't want to stand the whole time and if she was going to sit there, he better sit down before she decides to lie down on the entire couch or something.

"You're doing laundry too?" she asked him. Of course he was. Why else would he be down here? "On a Saturday night, I mean…" the girl quickly added in.

"Yeah," he said in response as he sat down. "Do you have the remote?" he asked her.

"No," she admitted. "I think it's lost again."

Sasuke sighed. Typical. There should be a tracker on that damn remote control. "Why aren't you watching television up in your apartment?" he asked.

"Uh…" she hesitated. "My roommate has a guest over."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "They're having sex in your bedroom?"

She stared at him as if surprised that he could say something so bluntly but she slowly nodded. "Yeah," she responded in a disgruntled sigh.

He laughed. "Same here. Can you believe these people?"

"So rude," she quipped. She smiled shyly at him as she tucked a strand of hair behind her hair. "My name is Sakura," she introduced herself as she stuck a hand out.

Sasuke glanced at her hand but took it as he gave his name. "Sasuke."

The two of them sat there for awhile as they watch the television screen change from a soap opera to a Spanish-dubbed program. They both frowned as they stared at the screen and realized that four years in high school of Spanish classes did not help whatsoever.

"What is he saying?" Sasuke asked her as she shrugged in response.

After five more minutes of the show, Sasuke leaned back against the couch and began to stare intensely at her. Sakura noticed and couldn't help but feel awkward as she continued to look straight ahead at the television. Only after a moment did she finally turn to speak.

"What?" she asked him.

"Your roommate is a girl?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Why isn't she at her boyfriend's place instead of him over at yours? Isn't that usually the norm?"

Sakura sighed. "It's because she knows I never bring anyone over so she just assumes that it would be okay for him to come over to our place since he has his own roommate who uses the room to bring girls over."

"You're being a pushover."

Sakura hated that word. But it was true. She was a pushover. She allowed Ino to take over the room each weekend night for her nightly adventures and never had she once said anything about it. She supposed she could have spoken up but Ino would ask her what she needed the room for and honestly, the only thing Sakura could come up with was she wanted to marathon all the seasons of Game of Thrones on her laptop.

Of course, Ino would just tell her to watch in the living room. But how could anyone pay attention to a show when next door is making loud moaning noises and banging against the walls?

"So I am," she admitted glumly. "What do I do? It's been three weeks. I can't really say anything now. I don't want to ruin our relationship over a matter like this."

Sasuke sighed. "Why don't you bring a guy over then? Show her that you want to use the room too."

Sakura arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah, cause I'm just going to go out and find a random guy to pretend to have sex with me."

"I don't think a random guy would want to pretend, but yeah."

Sakura blushed but looked away. "It's impossible. I just want to watch Game of Thrones," she said. "Not hook up with a guy."

"Ugh. That reminds me that I'm behind two episodes. Stupid Naruto," Sasuke groaned as he slunk back into his seat. Suddenly, he sat upright.

"Heey…" he started. "I have an idea."

She didn't like the sound of this.

"Why don't we pretend to hook up and take back your room?" he suggested.

She really didn't like the sound of this.

"Are you crazy? She's not going to believe it!" Sakura shouted.

"Here me out! We can just make it look convincing enough. I mean, having me physically with you is already good enough."

"You give yourself too much credit," Sakura said in response.

"It'll work," he promised. "Trust me."

"I can't believe we're doing this. Why can't we just go back to the laundry room right now and watch our Spanish show?" Sakura panicked as she walked down the hallway to her apartment.

"Because we don't speak Spanish and I want to watch my show," Sasuke told her.

They came to the front of her door as Sakura took a deep breath. "This is crazy," she muttered.

"Open the door. Quietly," he ordered.

Sakura griped underneath her breath as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. The living room was dark but it was not silent as she could hear sounds coming from her bedroom.

"Now what?" she hissed.

Sasuke stripped off his shirt to reveal his naked chest.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura yelped in panic as she waved her hands frantically to cover her eyes.

"Shhh," he said as he dropped the shirt on the ground. "We have to make it believable, remember?"

"Why can't you be clothed and still be believable?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm going to carry you now."

"WHAT?!" Sakura whispered loudly.

"Just put your hands around my neck and wrap your legs around my waist," he snapped.

"Don't boss me!" Sakura snapped back at him.

"I'm sorry. Please?" he pleaded.

Sakura frowned but she did as told as her face came close to his. She almost coughed as she realized how this may look to anyone who might walk in right now. He was right. It was almost believable to her as well.

"Kiss me or something," he said.

"Are you nuts?" she gaped at him.

"Just fake kiss me. And make some noise. Like they are doing inside your room."

She could not do this. It was too weird. He was practically a stranger to her but now they're in a compromising position and he wants her to make loud sex noises? No thanks.

They heard a door opened as a female's voice rang out. "Sakura? Is that you?" came Ino's voice.

Sakura's eyes widened at the sound and quickly, she moved to plant her lips on Sasuke's lips. She missed slightly and her lips landed somewhere on the edge of his lips and then grazed his cheek. He grunted at her rookie mistake but covered it up as he lifted her up more in his arms so that his lips touched the corner of her neck.

The sudden contact of his lips to her neck surprised her and caused her to let out a small gasp.

The lights turned on and Sakura turned her head around to see Ino and her boyfriend, Sai, standing in front of the bedroom with shocked expressions. Ino was still fully clothed while Sai was shirtless.

"H-hi… Ino," Sakura weakly greeted her roommate.

"Sai, go put your shirt back on," Ino ordered.

"But why?" Sai asked.

"Just do it!" Ino yelled at him. Ino ran to Sakura. "Oh my gosh! Why didn't you tell me you had afriend?" Ino smiled widely as she waved Sai out of the bedroom as he came running out while buttoning up his shirt.

"Sai and I were just going to go over to his place tonight," Ino winked at Sakura. Ino turned to glance Sasuke up and down before giving a seemingly approval nod. She reached into the front of her tank top as she pulled out a shiny plastic package. Slipping it into Sasuke's back pocket, Ino whispered to him, "Take care of my girl, okay?"

With that said, Ino and Sai disappeared as they left the apartment. Sakura gaped at the closed door. "It worked?" she breathed out.

Sasuke lowered her back on the ground as he laughed out loud. He took out the thing that Ino had stuck in his back pocket. "She gave me a condom," he remarked.

Sakura blushed as she snatched that from his hands. "You won't be needing that!"

"You don't know that," he teased.

"C'mon. My laptop is my room," she muttered in embarrassment as she marched to her room.

Sasuke picked up his shirt from the ground as he placed it back on. "You really have all the seasons on your laptop?" he asked.

Sakura smiled. "Yes, you think I would lie about that?"

"Who knows if you use that to bait and seduce men into your bedroom?" Sasuke teased.

Somehow, that Saturday night ended up with the two of them staying up all night watching the last two episodes that Sasuke missed and then a night full of talking as they shared their life stories.

Sakura could never have imagined that a night of doing laundry would lead to this. It was the first time she had spent an entire night with a guy. Even if it was just in her room talking and nothing more. But the wonderful thing was that when she fell asleep and woke up the next day, he was still there sleeping beside her. They had somehow fallen asleep on her bed with the laptop still on.

He opened his eyes as she shuffled in her position. When their eyes met, she could feel a blush creep up underneath her cheeks as she realized how awkward it might be to wake up next to each other. He didn't seem to mind because he smiled at her and said good morning.

"Morning," she replied softly, feeling shyer than she did last night. Maybe because she knew that mornings was when the magic from last night has faded and reality has set in.

"Morning," he repeated softly back to her. His hand had reached out to twirl a strand of her pink hair in his hand. Perhaps at that moment, it was when he realized how much he wanted to continue from their half-kiss last night. He gently kissed her on the forehead as if testing to see if she was okay with it. When she didn't move away from it, he lifted her chin up so that she was looking directly at him.

Sasuke leaned in to kiss her on the lips, aiming directly where she had missed last night. Her hands came up to grip the fabric of his shirt on his shoulders as she returned the kiss.

When he pulled away, he looked at her coyly. "You still have that condom?" he teased.

She swatted at him with a look of horror but eventually laughed it off. "Maybe when the season finale airs," she teased him back.

He looked at her in shock. "That's almost eight episodes!"

"That's eight weeks we can spend together."

"Doing laundry together and watching Spanish-dubbed shows that we don't understand?" he asked.

She kissed on the lips again. "And more of this."

"So is your roommate going to give you the place for next week?" he asked.

Sakura smiled. "Of course. I'm no pushover."