AN: Not dead. FTL is coming to those of you who read FTL. Happy Christmas.

Warnings: YAOI! (yes, there will be explicit smut kthx. If you don't wanna read about two boys getting their jollies on, there's a nifty little thing called the back button.) That's about it. And it's a present for SkullyRae so it's NaruSasu, sorry.

Character (c) Kishimoto Masashi.

PS: Sorry for the long-ass year-long silence. I feel bad... Will reply to PMs, but probably not too many of the older reviews, I'm sorry :(

Let It Snow.

If there was one thing Sasuke Uchiha hated more than snow, it was Christmas. Generally, in Canada, both came hand in hand, which meant regardless of whether or not he could tolerate Christmas for the year, he was always going to get that fucking white powder shit! But luckily, his parents usually forced himself and his brother elsewhere in the world wherein he only had to suffer through Christmas, and not the snow.

For some stupid, retarded reason, this year, his parents—instead of going to New Zealand, like they usually did around Christmas—decided it would be nice to go to Europe. So, there Sasuke was, inside their summer home in England, staring out the window at the seventy-five centimetres of snow. He glared hatefully at it, almost blaming it for having ruined his otherwise horrendous Christmas. The snow made it so much worse than it needed to be, and now he was pissed off.

His annoyance was furthered when his older brother, Itachi, decided to come stand beside him, hands shoved deep in his pockets, and an emotionless expression on his face while gazing out at the white powder shit God had so kindly graced them with. It made Sasuke want to grab a fucking flamethrower.

"Don't act as though I'm any happier than you are," the older teen drawled, turning on his heel to walk away.

"Of course you are," Sasuke snapped, annoyed. "I'm miserable, aren't I? That always cheers you up."

"True."

Itachi disappeared from the room, and the younger boy returned to glaring out at the snow. It didn't help that—because they weren't usually there—they didn't have internet or cable yet. The heating, thank God, was working, but virtually nothing else was. If his parents wanted him to hate his life, they were succeeding.

"Who would ever choose to live in this God forsaken place, anyway?" Grumbling under his breath, he stood up and walked across the room, heading for the stairs. He was about to go get his computer to play a few video games, then remembered they had no internet, so he just stopped in the middle of the stairs, growling.

Sitting down, he decided to reflect on the term he'd just completed, knowing full well he'd passed everything but wondering which courses he'd done better in than others. English, of course, he would get an A. His professor thought him a genius—which he was, so that was convenient. He thought maybe Technical Theatre might be his lowest grade. He and the professor didn't see eye-to-eye most of the time. Sasuke liked to think he was far more artistic than the idiotic man who called himself his teacher.

Still, he'd done well so he couldn't be failed, but he knew he would probably only get a B due to the professor's hatred of him. He could live with that. Four A's and a B were pretty good. They weren't Itachi, but hey, his bastard of a brother was perfect. It was hard to compete.

He heard soft footsteps padding down the stairs, and pondered for a few seconds on who it might be, as his entire family was soft-footed. When they'd almost reached him, he concluded it was his mother, then looked up.

It was, indeed, his mother.

"Honey," she sat down beside him on the stairs. "Now, I know you're upset we didn't go to New Zealand this year, and you won't get to see your friends until next year, but your father and I wanted this Christmas to be special. We wanted it to be just us."

He felt kind of guilty when his mother mentioned his so-called "friends" in New Zealand. The Hyuugas were hardly friends, but he had to admit, at least Neji entertained him more often than not. He gave him something to do to keep his mind off the horridness that was Christmas.

"Why did we have to fly out to our summer home, then?" If there was anything Sasuke hated more than Christmas and snow, it was flying. "If you wanted a family Christmas complete with snow, we could've stayed home."

"Oh, you boys." She hit him in the arm slightly, shaking her head. "Both of you, really." Sighing, she said nothing for a few seconds, looking out the same window Sasuke had been minutes before. "I knew if we'd stayed back in Canada, you and Itachi would have been going out constantly with all your friends. I'd hardly ever see you. And you'd complain about spending Christmas inside, with the family, like you always do. I figured if we came here during Christmas, a place where your friends are only present during the summer, maybe you and your brother would appreciate our rare family time a little more." She smiled and reached over, running one hand through his hair.

Sasuke made a face, feeling a little guilty, but not enough to forgive her for dragging him out here.

"Your father and I aren't going to be around forever, you know." She was brushing his hair away from his face. He knew she never liked his long hair—liked Itachi's even less—but she tolerated it because he liked it. "I know you hate travelling, and you hate Christmas, and all that other stuff, but can we please just make the best of this holiday while we can? When you have your own family, you don't have to celebrate if you don't want to, just—for me, just try and make this a good one. Please?"

Sometimes, Sasuke felt his mother knew how much she meant to him, and that he'd do anything for her. It was the only reason he replied with, "Yeah, fine. I'll try."

"Thank you." She kissed his temple just as his father made his way down the stairs, Itachi in tow looking very unhappy.

Well, to other people, they wouldn't be able to tell, but to Sasuke, who'd spent years deciphering his brother's expressions, he could tell that the slight frown meant something highly unpleasant was about to come out of his father's mouth.

"I've been told that if we want to have internet before the weekend, I need to go downtown to get a new router for it. I can't, however, leave the garage currently because between our arrival and now, we have, as you've all undoubtedly noticed, received a rather large amount of snow."

Sasuke's eyes flickered to his brother. Itachi was looking right back at him.

"As it's Christmas, we don't have anyone present to do the usual necessities like clearing a driveway. Since I don't want the internet to begin with, you and Itachi can sort out who's going to clear it so that I can get the car out."

"I don't even know how to shovel a driveway!" Sasuke insisted, glaring at his brother. The other was looking back at him just as heatedly, both of them despising snow.

"It's pretty self-explanatory, Sasuke." His father sounded amused. He hated that! "You pick up the shovel, shovel the snow, and toss it away."

Fugaku turned to head back up the stairs, Mikoto pressing her lips together before standing quickly and following. He knew she was worried Sasuke would explode after she'd just asked him to try and make this Christmas enjoyable for all of them.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Itachi asked, eying his brother threateningly.

Sasuke held out a fist. "Best out of three."

Itachi glared. "Fine."

"Fine," Sasuke echoed.

They both held out fists and on the count of three, made their moves. The first one, Sasuke won. The second, he lost. He took a deep breath on the third time, and ended up losing.

"Fuck!" he exploded angrily, Itachi relaxing slightly, and a smirk teasing the corners of his lips.

"Have fun, little brother." Shoving his hands in his pockets, he went back upstairs.

"Laugh it up, asshole! You'll be doing it next time!" he yelled, and made a huge deal of pulling on his coat and stomping around the house in search of his boots. Yanking them on violently, he laced them up and then slammed the garage door.

He glared accusingly at the car, as if it were its fault he had to shovel the driveway, and then looked around for the shovel. He found a large metal one, but felt it looked more like it could dig holes than actually shovel snow—it wasn't an actual dirt-shovel, but it looked like one—so he chose the smaller plastic one instead, grumbling the whole while and punching the garage opener.

The large door lumbered upwards slowly, exposing him to the cold, harsh air outside, and he glared at the snow covering his driveway. All the others on the block had been cleared, and he wondered if maybe someone came by and did them all, but the Uchihas hadn't paid, so theirs wasn't done.

"Asshole."

Realistically, he was sure it was probably someone inside the household, but one never knew considering everyone who owned a house here was rich. He felt like the poor kid on the block, which was ironic since his family was probably the wealthiest.

He trudged to the end of the garage, stopping just before the snow started, and narrowed his eyes down at it. Well, might as well get this stupid fucking job over with. Then I'll have internet and I can bitch and moan to Shikamaru about how fucking stupid this Christmas is!

Jabbing the edge of the shovel into the snow, he pulled it towards himself, a loud scraping sound meeting his ears as he used the shovel like a broom. He knew full well this wasn't the way to shovel snow, but he'd seen people on TV do it, and it looked like it made it go faster. So, he moved out further into the snow and continued to "sweep" the snow.

He got one line cleared, already feeling hot under his jacket, and sweat sticking his shirt to his back. He felt ridiculous standing out there, shovelling snow like some commoner, and wondered how anyone in their right mind would consent to doing this as a job, even for money! He wouldn't do this for the best fuck in the world, and that was saying something, considering he was currently lacking in that department.

People just didn't fuck you like they used to, he supposed. It was a shame, really.

Getting a second line finished, he stood up and wiped the back of his hand across his brow, feeling sweat forming there, and looked up briefly. He started to go back to work, and then glanced up again, somewhat startled.

There was a guy—probably only a year or two older than him—sitting on the front steps of the house opposite him. He was wearing a light jacket, no gloves, and no hat. It almost looked like he'd just been hanging out inside and decided he wanted to sit outside for a few minutes.

The thing that was getting to Sasuke, was that the fucker was staring at him! Probably laughing at him when he wasn't looking. Dumbass, he thought, annoyed, and went back to his makeshift shovelling. He cleared another row, feeling winded and finding it highly embarrassing considering how athletic he was, and glanced up. The guy was still there.

He continued slowly, clearing another row, and glancing up again. The guy was there, with a cup of something, now.

Oh, great, so it's like a TV program to him or something. Fantastic. 'Look at the poor commoner shovelling his walk, teehee.' He frowned. Did I really just think 'teehee'? This snow is doing weird things to me...

It got to the point where he'd sweep snow for only two or three seconds, and then glance up. The guy was just sitting there! And he was totally staring, because if he was just thinking or relaxing or whatever, he wouldn't have had his damn bright eyes locked on Sasuke. Every time Sasuke was on the left side of the driveway, so were the other's eyes. Whenever he was on the right side, so were his eyes.

Finally, it got unbearable enough that he just threw the shovel down, turned fully towards the other house, and shouted, "What?!"

The teen on the steps didn't seem surprised. It was almost as though he'd been patiently waiting for the Uchiha's explosion. "It's not a broom, you know."

"What?" Sasuke demanded again.

"The shovel you're holding?" The guy pointed towards the shovel with his free hand, the other still holding his cup of—whatever. "It's a shovel. Not a broom. Stop sweeping the snow, it's taking you twice as long as it should be."

"And what do you know about shovelling snow?" Sasuke accused, feeling sure the other was making fun of him, now.

"Uh, a lot, considering I spend Christmas here every year, and every year, I'm the one outside shovelling the driveway." The guy smiled at him, showing off a flash of brilliantly white and perfectly straight teeth before taking a sip of his drink.

The Uchiha felt a flush creeping up the back of his neck, and he hoped that from this distance, the other couldn't see it. He bent down to snatch back up his shovel, wielding it threateningly towards the other teen.

"Well if you're such a damn expert, why don't you come over here and shovel my driveway?"

"And miss out on watching you gripe and moan?" The guy was fucking grinning again. "Not a chance, princess."

"Fuck you, dumbass." Sasuke turned away from the other and went back to his shovel-sweeping. By the time he'd finished another row, and looked up, the other was gone. He'd probably gone back inside.

"Good!" he snapped to no one in particular. "Guy was harassing me anyway!"

By the time half the driveway was cleared, Sasuke was so frustrated he started just banging the shovel against the cleared ground in annoyance. He'd been at it for at least an hour, he was hot, he was tired, and he knew the fucker across the street was laughing his ass off at him, and that wasn't cool!

"Banging that against the ground isn't gonna make things go any faster, you know?"

Sasuke jerked around to find the guy from earlier walking across the street with a shovel over his shoulder. He shrugged, a grin starting up on his tanned face once more.

"I felt bad for you. I've never seen anyone take this long to shovel a driveway."

"I don't need your pity-shovelling!" Sasuke snapped, slamming his shovel into the snow and starting to sweep it again.

"And just an hour ago you asked me to come shovel the walk off for you." The other rolled his eyes and turned around. "But I guess if you don't want help, I've got better things to do."

The Uchiha watched him start to walk away, then cursed internally and licked his lips. "Hey, wait."

Stopping, his neighbour turned to regard him, cocking his head to the side, and grinning again.

"Yes, princess?"

"Stop calling me that," Sasuke snapped. "Or else I won't bother asking for your help."

Rolling his eyes, the other moved back to the end of the driveway and started shovelling the normal way, clearing a row twice as fast as Sasuke was currently doing.

The Uchiha's eyes kept flicking upwards to glance at the other as he worked, but his neighbour kept his gaze on the snow, moving quickly and fluidly to clear off the driveway. The raven went back to looking at what he was doing, too.

"So how come you don't have hired help clear your driveway?" he asked, just to make conversation.

"You're kidding, right?" The other laughed. "I don't have so much as a maid. My parents are pretty well-off, but the only spoiling I've ever gotten in my life was coming here every Christmas. We're not rich or anything, we just own two or three houses around the world that we rent out during the year when we're not there. I always shovel my own walk, and mow my own lawn, and all that fun shit rich kids like you don't get the privilege of doing." He looked up at Sasuke, grinning, and then winked.

"Hn." It was all he could think of to say. He'd always assumed everyone on this block were rich pricks, like him. During the summer they certainly were, and its only redeeming moments were when Shikamaru Nara and his family came down.

"So what's your name, anyway?"

"Wow, were you raised in a barn or something?" His neighbour snorted, shaking his head, having cleared another two rows. Sasuke felt he was showing off. "What kind of a question is that? Aren't rich kids supposed to go to like, rich kid school where they learn about manners?"

Stopping in his shovelling, the raven stood straighter, holding the shovel in one hand and regarding the other teen, who stopped as well. It was clear the "commoner" shovelled a lot because he dug the end of his shovel into the ground and proceeded to lean against it, cocking an eyebrow at Sasuke.

"What, do you want me to speak all high and mighty or something?" the Uchiha demanded, finding this idiot to be annoying, and almost wishing he hadn't come over to help him.

"No, but usually when asking someone else's name, you offer up your own first. How do I know you're not some crazy serial killer or something?"

"You wouldn't make my list of victims," Sasuke replied dryly, then sniffed and looked around. "My name's Sasuke."

"Sasuke..." The other pressed, grinning even more.

"Sasuke Uchiha, not that my last name matters," he snapped, annoyed. "What's yours?"

Rolling his eyes, the other pulled away from his shovel and started working again. "Nice to meet you, Sasuke, my name is Naruto Uzumaki."

"Finally," the raven grunted, going back to his shovelling and finding that there was only about a row and a half left to do.

"Trying to make sure I don't make your Christmas list?" Naruto sneered. "Wouldn't that just break my heart."

"Are you always this annoying?" Sasuke demanded, stopping his work again, breathing hard.

"Sometimes worse."

He said it with such seriousness, the raven almost believed him.

Almost.

"Whatever."

They continued in silence, finally finishing less than two minutes later, Sasuke wiping off his brow. Then, without a word, the blond picked up his shovel, hoisted it over his shoulder, and walked back across the road. Sasuke watched him go, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the slight workout, and waited until the other's front door had closed before mumbling and thank you and going back inside.

By the time his father got home with the new router, and the internet was working, Sasuke couldn't be bothered to spend time playing any games. So, he just lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about the idiot who lived across the street from him.

"I mean, seriously, it's not like I asked for his help, he offered it. He didn't deserve a thank you or anything."

He felt more annoyed at the fact that the blond hadn't said anything before disappearing back into his house. It was weird, and unexpected. He wasn't used to being ignored, no matter how much of an asshole he was. Girls—and guys, most of the time—flocked towards him regularly, and acted like he was God's gift to man.

Though really, he supposed things were different with straight guys—at first, anyway. They didn't tend to like admitting they were attracted to him, it made them feel weird. They usually came around, though, but even then, they were always unnaturally nice to him.

He sat up, biting at his thumbnail, a frown on his face. He couldn't understand what had happened earlier. Why had the other just walked away like that? Clearly he had no taste. Only someone with no taste would walk away like that. He hadn't even tried to ask Sasuke any questions, like where he was from, or where he went to school, or even how old he was!

"That's not normal." Fear started rising in Sasuke's chest. Maybe he was losing his touch?

Despite what people thought, Sasuke was very self-conscious, and very much depended on other people's opinions of him, and having that blond dumbass walk away from him like that made him feel like he was getting ugly or something. It wasn't a feeling Sasuke very much liked, and he had half a mind to go bang on the jerk's door and demand to know what his problem was.

He wouldn't, but he really wanted to.

There was a brief knock at his door before it opened, Sasuke looking up when light flooded into his previously dark room. Itachi cocked an eyebrow at him, then motioned out of the room, his silent way of saying dinner was ready.

Standing up with a grunt, he could feel a few of his muscles protesting the movement. Muscles he didn't even know existed were currently hurting from his snow-sweeping, and he wasn't looking forward to when it would be his turn again.

He sat down at his usual spot at the table, his mother passing him and kissing his temple lovingly before heading back into the kitchen. He sighed, and felt that his mother was the only woman alive who could get away with touching and kissing him as often as she did, and still keep all her limbs.

"You did a good job shovelling today," Fugaku said, beginning to load his plate with spaghetti noodles, Mikoto walking out of the kitchen with the sauce, placing it on the table, and then taking her own seat.

"Thanks," he muttered half-heartedly.

"I noticed the blond kid from across the road came to help with the last little bit." He passed the noodles on to Mikoto, and then grabbed the sauce. "You two talk?"

"Not really. He just made fun of my lack of skill." Sasuke picked up his fork and twirled it between his fingers, watching the light reflect off the silver surface. "Guy was a bit of an idiot."

"Oh, don't be like that," Mikoto insisted, passing the noodles along to Itachi and taking some sauce for herself. "I went over to speak to the Uzumakis after your father left for the store, they're very lovely people. And their son is so smart. You know he's going to McGill University in Montreal?"

Sasuke was lucky he hadn't started eating yet, or he'd have spat his food out. It wasn't the fact that the blond idiot had gotten into the top University in Canada, nor was it that he was in a University ranked number eighteen in the entire world.

No, the thing that had shocked him more than anything was, "He's Canadian?!"

"Of course he is, honey. He didn't tell you?" Mikoto smiled kindly, beginning to cut up her spaghetti. Sasuke was ignoring the nudging he was getting from Itachi to take the noodles.

"No!" He said it so vehemently that Itachi stopped nudging him.

"You'd like him, Sasuke. He's a sweet boy. He's in his final year, twenty-three years old, oh and he's so polite. I've never met such a polite boy in my life."

Trust him to be a mother-charmer! Sasuke glared towards the front door, and then jumped when a noodle hit his arm. Itachi had started serving him, obviously annoyed with holding the noodles and not having the common sense to put them down.

Grunting a thanks, he helped himself to sauce before Itachi could, and then grabbed the Parmesan, scowling at his plate. So the blond was in the best university in Canada—which peeved Sasuke since he'd only gotten into the second best, which was Toronto University—and he was charming, and he was tall, and a year older! And tanned! God, the guy had everything, all that was missing was a stupid lightning bolt and he might as well have been Zeus.

"Um, honey? Isn't that enough cheese?"

Sasuke looked at his mother, then down at his plate and cursed, putting the cheese down. He hadn't noticed he'd been shaking it over his spaghetti all that time, and he had more cheese than he'd ever wanted.

Itachi leaned over and grabbed a spoonful, putting it onto his own spaghetti and the younger Uchiha nodded a thanks.

"Either way, I think you should go over tomorrow and see if maybe he wants to come and play video games with you or something." Mikoto smiled at her son. "He's a wonderful boy."

Yeah, Sasuke thought, stabbing his food. A wonderful pain in the ass.

When Sasuke awoke the next morning, and looked out the window, he just about threw a chair out of it when he saw it was snowing again. That meant the driveway he'd spent hours shovelling the previous day was covered in snow again! And he wasn't going to clear it until the snow stopped falling, because that would just be ridiculous, wouldn't it?

Rolling over, he realized he was worrying for nothing because it was Itachi's turn to shovel the driveway today, so regardless of when it was done, it wasn't him doing it. He sighed in contentment at this revelation, and cracked open his eyes again to check the time. It was relatively late, and he knew his father would bitch at him if he didn't get up soon, so he rolled out of bed, yawned, and then headed for the bathroom. He showered, and then dressed in loose pants and a long-sleeved shirt, making his way slowly downstairs. It had stopped snowing by now, and he smirked when he pushed open the kitchen door.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, honey," Mikoto said, moving towards him and kissing his temple. He winced, but said nothing.

"Morning," Fugaku passed him, holding a book. "Ready to earn your keep again?"

"Earn my keep?" Sasuke frowned, moving to the fridge and pulling out the milk. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your mother needs to go buy groceries for dinner tonight. Means we need the driveway shovelled again."

"Yeah, I know." He pulled out cereal and poured himself a bowl, then added the milk and replaced it in the fridge. "Itachi's turn today."

"Itachi went out."

Sasuke just about took the fridge door off. He turned slowly to regard his father, who looked somewhat amused. His mother looked worried.

"It's his turn!"

"He went out before it started snowing, Sasuke. So, unfortunately for you, it's your turn." His father didn't look very sympathetic. "Sorry, but that's how life goes. Don't take too long this time, we want to eat dinner before eight."

If he'd thought throwing a fit would help, he'd have thrown one, but he knew it wouldn't so he instead just stomped towards the table and sat down, jabbing spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth and cursing colourfully—in his head, of course. His father would never tolerate such language.

He took his sweet ass time eating breakfast, practically scooping one cereal up at a time, but he found after about an hour that his father was going to come back downstairs and chew him out so, sighing heavily, he walked into the kitchen and put his bowl in the sink, then turned to grab his jacket just as Fugaku came down the stairs.

Wincing, Sasuke knew he was going to get it when his father looked out the front window and then continued on towards the kitchen, slapping his son on the shoulder as he passed him.

"Good work. I guess yesterday taught you how to shovel more quickly."

Blinking, Sasuke ran to the window and looked out, seeing his driveway completely clear of snow, which it hadn't been an hour before. His eyes travelled upwards and he saw Naruto in the process of shovelling his own driveway. Narrowing his eyes, the gears started turning in his head. There's no way... Why would he? After not saying a word? Had to be someone else. Maybe God took pity on me and heated up the driveway. Maybe it was Itachi.

He knew he was right in thinking it was the blond across the street, but the question was why?! And that was exactly what he was going to figure out, which was why he grabbed his coat, pushed his feet into his boots, and left the house without even bothering to lace them up.

Storming down the driveway, he looked both ways before crossing the street, even though he knew cars here were few and far between, considering they were in a compound. He reached the base of the other driveway, picked up a snowball, and threw it at the back of Naruto's head.

"Whoa! Ha! Ha! That's cold!" The blond jumped on the spot, brushing at the back of his neck, trying to get rid of the snow. Sasuke just glared at him. "Good morning, princess. Sleep well?"

"I thought I told you I didn't want your pity-shovelling!" Sasuke hissed angrily, glancing worriedly over his shoulder. His father would go ballistic if he found out it hadn't been Sasuke to clear their driveway, especially since Naruto had done theirs before his own. Clearly the kid was a snow-lover.

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice," the blond muttered, returning to his shovelling. "You're welcome, Sasuke, that I cleared your walk when I noticed your brother leave the house three hours ago."

"I never asked you to, so why should I thank you?" Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, finding this guy to be highly annoying. And he went to McGill? God, he was so angry!

"Are you always like this?" Naruto asked, pausing in his shovelling to regard the other.

"Like what?"

"This. Like you've got a broom handle shoved up your ass. Or," Naruto grinned, "a shovel."

Sasuke bristled but tried not to show how royally pissed off he was, if only because he could hear his garage door opening, and he didn't want his mother to see him beating the crap out of this moronic idiot!

"Hello, Naruto!" Sasuke turned to half-glare at his mother when she waved from the garage. He turned back to regard the blond who beamed and waved back jovially.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Uchiha. Enjoying the weather?"

"Oh, it's lovely. So nice and crisp. I'm happy to see you and Sasuke getting along."

Sasuke snorted, but his mother was too far away to hear. He heard Naruto give a low chuckle, as well.

"It's hard to resist my charm, ma'am."

"Sasuke, why don't you be a dear and help Naruto clear his walk?" Mrs. Uchiha motioned the shovel in the garage. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it." She waved at them both before getting in her car, Naruto smirking at Sasuke.

"Yeah, why don't you be a dear, Sasuke?"

"Fuck you."

"After you," Naruto snorted, and went back to work shovelling.

Sasuke gave him an annoyed look, then turned on his heel, making as if he was going back to the garage to grab the shovel, but once his mother pulled out and was gone, he just turned around to fake-smile at Naruto, who was watching him, and jabbed on the garage door opener, giving the blond a small wave as the door lumbered shut.

He returned into the warmth of the house, hanging his coat back up and taking the stairs two at a time. Walking into his room, he moved to the window to look out across the street, kind of hating that his room looked out over the road. It meant he'd have to stare at the blond more often when he looked out of it.

Though currently, he decided it would be a good idea, as he could watch how the other shovelled snow and learn how to do it more quickly in the future. Especially since he wasn't expecting any more pity-shovelling from Goldie Locks.

Standing at the window—and feeling utterly ridiculous while doing so—he shifted his stance to match Naruto's, and pretended to be holding a shovel, moving his arms and hips in the same fashion as the blond. He was certain that he wouldn't be going quite as fast with snow present on a shovel, but he got the basic idea.

Just as he was about to turn away from the window, since Naruto was done, the front door of the other's house opened and a redheaded woman walked out. Sasuke watched, wondering what the blond's mother must be like, and found that she seemed to be pretty similar to his own mother, based on what he could see. He kept his eyes on them as the two exchanged a few words, and then cocked an eyebrow when the blond leaned forward to accept a kiss to the cheek from his mother. She smiled, patted his cheek lovingly, and then started down the driveway, turning when she reached the road.

Frowning, he saw Naruto duck into the house just as the blond's fucking twin exited, patting him on the shoulder and shutting the door. This man was older, and were it not for the loving way he and Naruto's mother were looking at one another, he would have sworn that it was the blond's brother. They were virtually identical.

"Wow. Well, same can be said for dad, Itachi and I, I guess..."

Sasuke found himself talking to himself a lot lately... He blamed it on the snow. Everything was the snow's fault. Global warming was the snow's fault.

He turned away again, scoffing, and grabbed a random book from his bag, falling onto his bed and beginning to read it. He got about a paragraph in before standing up and moving over to the window again, scowling out at the other's driveway. He didn't know what had compelled him to stand again, but now that he had, he was annoyed, and turned to step away again when movement in the top window of Naruto's house caught his attention.

Turning back, he squinted slightly against the glare off the snow, and focussed in on Naruto wandering around in his room. The thing that caught his interest, however, was the blond's state of undress.

"Was... not expecting that..."

He felt he should have, considering how quickly Naruto seemed to be able to shovel snow, but he hadn't expected quite that level of toneness. The blond's biceps were bulging, and his pectorals looked so firm he would have bet anything that a hammer wouldn't have been able to put a dent in them. And he wasn't even going to touch his thoughts on the blond's abs, because if he did, he would probably have to clean up drool.

Naruto appeared to be looking for something around his room, and ducked out of sight for a second, straightening again, apparently having found whatever it was. Then, he disappeared into another room and Sasuke could breathe again.

His first thought was with regard to how insanely toned and attractive Naruto was—when his mouth was shut, anyway—but his second...

How the fuck is that dumbass so tanned?! He scowled angrily. He'd tried to get a tan his entire life, and ended up beet red, or as pale as he was now. Then again, the blond's mother had fairly dark skin, and his father as well, so he could only assume it was genetic. But—those muscles.

"Damn, he's probably good in bed."

"Who is?"

The raven jerked to the side slightly, not having heard his brother enter and finding it highly disconcerting that the other had been standing right beside him. He rounded on him angrily, narrowing his eyes, but they then shifted towards what he was holding.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I bought a box of them, they're in the freezer." Itachi took a bite out of the end of his popsicle. "Who's probably good in bed?"

"No one." Sasuke turned back to glare out the window, but he could still feel Itachi standing behind him slightly to the right. When the other took a bite of his popsicle again, he just stood there and listened to him chew. "Can I help you?"

"Probably not," Itachi said, bored. "I just have nothing better to do than aggravate you, little brother."

"You're shovelling the driveway next time it snows."

"No I'm not, you are. I have to do the dishes, you have to shovel the driveway."

"I'll do the damn dishes, I'm not shovelling that driveway a third time."

He heard a small sound akin to a laugh behind him and turned to glare at Itachi, the other cocking an eyebrow at him, then turning to leave the room. "Shovelling it a third time, Sasuke, would mean you'd have shovelled it a second."

Itachi disappeared around the corner, missing the shocked look on Sasuke's face, which quickly turned into one of annoyance. How did his brother know everything? The bastard was probably hiding out somewhere until the driveway was shovelled so he didn't have to do it. He wouldn't put it past him.

"Whatever."

Sasuke hesitated, looking out his window again, and then decided Naruto wasn't coming back, so he left the room to go grab himself a popsicle. When he returned with it, he stared at his computer sitting peacefully on his desk, and then moved it to the edge, climbing onto the wooden surface, and leaning back against the window ledge, looking out across the street and sucking on his frozen treat absentmindedly.

The blond had been in that other room for a long time, and it took him a few more minutes to realize he was probably taking a shower. And then he felt stupid for not having realized it before. Obviously, he'd worked up a sweat and was going to clean himself off, it was what any sensible person would do!

Sure enough, when Naruto emerged ten minutes later, he had a towel around his neck, and his hair was damp and hanging limply about his face, unlike how it had been the previous two times Sasuke had seen him. He was wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans, and seemed to be looking for something—again.

A few seconds later, he had a cordless phone against his ear, Sasuke frowning and wondering who he was talking to, and what they were talking about. He barely even noticed his popsicle was melting, he was too focussed on the blond. Why is he laughing like that? Who the hell is he talking to?

Wait a second, why do I even care?

It was true, why the fuck did he care?! The kid was annoying, and frustrating, and... so gorgeous. God, when he wasn't talking, he was nice to look at. Sasuke would've been happy to just stay where he was and stare all day at the other teen. Though, he had to admit, he preferred him without his shirt on, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

The house phone rang shrilly out in the corridor, causing his muscles to tense in shock. He turned to look towards his door, then at his hand, realizing the popsicle was melting down his arm.

"Shit."

Climbing off his desk, he rushed to the bathroom and dropped the remainder of it into the sink, turning on the water and washing his arm off, a brief knock at the ajar bathroom door sounding behind him. He turned his head, Itachi standing in the doorway and holding the phone out to him.

"It's Bambi."

"Thanks." Drying off his hands, he grabbed the phone and moved back into his room, watching Itachi exit. "Hey, Shikamaru." He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, getting back onto his desk and leaning against the window ledge once more. "What's up?"

"Uchiha, this whole Christmas thing is troublesome."

"I know it is, why do you think I hate it so much?" The raven glanced back out the window due to habit, and his eyes immediately shifted to the movement on the second floor once more. Naruto was still on the phone, as well, though his conversation appeared to be far more enjoyable than Sasuke's.

"My mother wants me to wear a suit, Sasuke. A suit. Do you have any idea how annoying that is? For Christmas. A suit."

"I'm shovelling snow, I don't pity you."

There was a long pause from the other end.

"Wait, yourself?"

"Do I stutter? Yeah, myself," Sasuke grumbled, playing with the edge of his shirt. "And I have the most annoying idiot across the street from me." He glanced up when he said this, and saw the blond wearing his jacket, looking around once more. Apparently, he lost things a lot.

"Wow. I'm surprised you're not complaining more. This character, he attractive, at least?"

His friend knew him far too well.

"When his mouth isn't open he is. Has nice muscles and his abs... I don't wanna talk about it."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto's window again, but the blond wasn't there anymore. Looking out down the street, he saw nothing, and could only assume the other was in his house somewhere. That, or the other had left and Sasuke hadn't noticed yet. Not that it was a big deal or anything.

"So are you going to talk to him?"

"No."

"Stop being that way, you're stuck out there without me for two more weeks. At least try and make friendly so you have stories to tell me when you get home, jackass."

"Whatever. Listening to me is 'troublesome' isn't it?" He snorted, looking out the window again. The blond was coming out the front door now. He jogged down the driveway and turned to make his way towards the front of the compound. "Besides, he's two-faced. Guy's a complete charmer to my mother and a dumbass with me."

"You're not exactly the nicest person in the world, Uchiha."

"You put up with me."

"Only cause it's more troublesome not to."

"Hn."

Sasuke didn't want to admit it was true, so he chose not to say anything. There was a moment of silence after that, something which Sasuke always found odd. Shikamaru called him a lot, but neither of them really enjoyed speaking so it was kind of redundant.

"I better go. My mom looks annoyed."

"Right. Have fun."

"Merry Chris—wait, nevermind. Enjoy."

Snorting, Sasuke just gave him a noncommital grunt and hung up, looking back out the window at nothing, his eye candy gone for the night.

Oh well. He wasn't that attractive anyway...

"Sasuke, honey, can you get the door, please?"

Sighing, annoyed, the raven sat up from his lying down position on the living room couch, making sure to mark his place in the book he was reading, and heading obediently towards the door. He opened it, and cocked an eyebrow, looking out at the sight at greeted him.

"What do you want?" He'd been raised better than that, but he really had no patience anymore.

"My parents invited you over for dinner," Naruto said with a brilliant smile overtaking his features.

"No thanks."

Sasuke started to slam the door in the other's face, but the blond's hand shot out and forced it to remain open.

"Look, you don't like me, I get it. I don't know why, but I get it. But this isn't me asking you to dinner, it's my parents. Have some manners and take the invitation."

Sasuke stared at him for a long while, then clenched his jaw, hearing his mother padding down the stairs behind him. If she overheard him, she wouldn't be upset, but she would certainly be disappointed with him. Letting out an explosive sigh, and glaring hatefully at the dumbass in front of him, he said, "Fine." and closed the door in the other's face.

"Uh, see you at seven then," Naruto called through the door. "Bastard."

He was pretty sure he wasn't meant to hear the last word, but as he did, he threw the door open angrily, Naruto halfway down his driveway, and snarled after him.

"I'll have you know, my parents were married many years before I was conceived, so I'm not a bastard, you dumbass!"

"Whatever, asshole!" Naruto called over his shoulder, kicking a pile of snow on the side of the driveway and then crossing the street to his own house.

He slammed the door again and turned around, his mother standing virtually right behind him, a puzzled expression on her face. She raised both hands and walked away, silently telling him she wasn't getting involved in whatever it was that had just gone on, and he was grateful. He wasn't all that eager to have to explain why he was yelling out the door that his parents were married when he came into the world.

"I'm going to dinner across the street," he informed her, heading for the stairs to shower. Then, he paused. "Unless that's inconvenient for you..."

"Oh, no, I think it's wonderful you're going." Mikoto smiled pleasantly, picking up his book and reading the back. "I think you'll enjoy Christmas a little bit more if you have someone to go out with at New Year's."

His hopes were snuffed out as quickly as they'd appeared and he continued sulkily up the stairs, disappearing into his room so he could take a shower. Just when he was about to go into his bathroom, he paused and took a few steps back, looking out his window.

Naruto was back in his room, the blond standing in front of what looked like a punching bag. He was still wearing a shirt, but the wife-beater made his bulging muscles very visible, and with each hit to the bag, they seemed to bulge even more.

Sasuke found himself unable to look away, his eyes glued on the blond as he punched the bag again and again, working up quite a sweat. After what seemed like seconds but had to have been almost half an hour, Naruto turned away from the bag. The Uchiha assumed he was done with his workout, but quite the opposite.

The blond pulled his wife-beater up over his head, tossing it to the side, and then turned around. Sasuke ducked instinctively, but slowly raised himself up again so he could look out the window, moving closer to it.

Naruto was doing pull-ups. There was a bar going along the top of his doorframe, and the idiot was actually doing pull-ups. Were Sasuke not so distracted by his amazing muscles, he might have said the kid was crazy for working out so much, but as it was, his brain was just recording the sight before him so it could loop over and over again later when he tried to sleep.

He was so focussed on his chest that he didn't even notice the other had stopped doing pull-ups, and only flicked his eyes upwards to the other's face when Naruto let go of the bar.

Onyx locked with Sapphire blue and Sasuke ducked again, feeling like an idiot, and half-embarrassed he'd been caught staring.

Dinner was certainly going to be interesting, now...