CHAPTER 7: The New Dynamic

3 DAYS LATER~

Sasuke was lying on his bed, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of a certain blond early in the morning.

Every night, he had gone to bed thinking of a new strategy for avoiding Naruto the next day, but to no avail. Sasuke had already formed a bond with him, which was strengthening at an alarming rate. He hadn't yet spilled the most intimate secrets about himself, but Naruto had definitely become his first friend. But he would never admit it out loud.

However, Sasuke wasn't particularly optimistic about this. Why? Because reality had slapped him in the face as he realized that he was 100% attracted to that dobe. The time they spent together had worked its magic, at least on Sasuke.

'Today's Saturday... meaning I won't be seeing him tomorrow. Good. I really do need a break...'

He, as usual, walked to school. However, he was inside his classroom, staring out the window half an hour earlier than his original schedule.

Probably because he could see the field from where he sat, or rather the man with blue eyes and whiskered cheeks running about, preparing for the day ahead.

The bell rang, and Sasuke realized that he had successfully spent the last hour staring at Naruto from his seat.

'How embarrassing... tch.'

*TIME SKIP* AT LUNCH BREAK ON THE ROOF TOP~

As usual, Naruto was fiddling with his bag of 'Ichiraku Ramen' while waiting for Sasuke. The tempting aroma of miso ramen was mercilessly invading his senses, but he didn't want to start his meal before Sasuke arrived. He was getting used to this new dynamic between them.

To his relief, he soon heard the doorknob twist, and soft footsteps approached him as the raven, with his bento in his hands, came into view.

"Yo! You got any new trick up your sleeve to annoy me today, teme?"

Naruto greeted as Sasuke took a seat beside him.

"Hn."

Sasuke replied coldly as they both began eating in each other's company after an enthusiastic "Itadakimasu!" from Naruto.

Sasuke's master plan for annoying Naruto today was to secretly steal one of the many boxes of Naruto's ramen. He knew Naruto was obsessed with that thing, to say the least. The plan was risky, but it was worth a try.

"Dobe, eating ramen every day is not good."

"Says the one who wouldn't dare try this heavenly food, hmph."

"And why would I want to try that thing?"

"Like I said, because it's heavenly!"

Naruto was cheerfully pitching his ramen, while Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He scoffed as their not-so-heated argument continued.

"No thanks, it's greasy."

"Well, your food is boring."

"It's healthy."

"Then mine's tasty."

"I wonder how you got those buffed up muscles after eating all this... *sigh*"

"Ramen is healthy, ok! Wait... what did you- Ay~ Sasuke, have you been eyeing my muscles?"

Sasuke's cheeks turned as red as a tomato. All he could manage to do was say a measly "Shut up!" and look away.

Naruto heartily laughed at his reaction for a while and decided to change the topic as he wanted the raven to stay.

They talked about the new songs and upcoming albums, as they found they had a similar taste in music from one of their earlier conversations. Naruto did most of the chatting, while Sasuke hummed at a few instances as he listened to the blonde's opinions intently. He would also voice his thoughts whenever he thought it was necessary.

Sasuke just felt that free with him. He spoke less, but when he did, he was honest.

However, today, he had been dying to ask Naruto something, but it was completely off the current topic. Unable to keep it to himself, Sasuke coughed slightly to grab Naruto's attention, who was still going on about a new song he heard last night.

"You wanna ask something?"

Naruto asked, giving the raven his undivided attention as he faced him, finishing his third serving of ramen.

"Umm, well, yes."

Sasuke was unsure of himself. He wasn't exactly a people person, so he was scared of making things awkward.

"So, what happened to your knuckles?"

Naruto was stunned. He hadn't expected him to notice them. His knuckles were scarred pretty badly, but the injuries were months old. They would've gone unnoticed by Sasuke too if he hadn't been staring at Naruto's huge ha- oh, well.

"Eh? Oh, so, before here, I might have been an underground boxer, hehe."

Naruto gave his usual sheepish chuckle while rubbing the back of his head.

"Hn. So why leave? You could've earned a lot more there."

"Well, you see, it doesn't seem right for the Hokage's son to be involved in underground stuff. It's not good for the overall image."

Sasuke almost spat out the onigiri he was munching on but choked on it and began coughing violently.

"Sasuke! Are you ok?!"

Naruto patted his back and handed him some water. After settling down, they continued.

"You are Namikaze Minato's son?"

'Of course he is. I did notice the similarities but dismissed the possibility because of his surname... Why change the surname?'

Sasuke wondered simultaneously, as Naruto hummed in response with a wide grin. Naruto had always felt proud to be his father's son, but he wasn't always able to boast about it.

"Why?"

Sasuke wanted to know.

"Why what?"

"Why are you Uzumaki and not Namikaze?"

The question was out in the open. Naruto was happy that Sasuke was curious about him, but he contemplated telling him the reason for a while. However, just like Sasuke, Naruto felt he could share anything with him, and so he did.

"As you know, my father is the Hokage, which means he has as many enemies as friends. When I was young, I used Namikaze as my last name. But there was a time when I was kidnapped by the opposition party when they found out that I was the Hokage's kid. They asked otōsan to step down from his position in exchange for my life. Ridiculous, isn't it? Anyways, so otōsan was furious, dattebayo! I still don't know how he managed to find me within an hour. I am pretty sure I was locked up in some sort of basement. They had tied my hands with ropes. Even if they didn't, there wasn't much I could do at that time. So, yeah, in short, he changed my surname to Uzumaki to prevent such things."

Naruto told Sasuke, almost proud of having survived the ordeal.

"Being a Hokage can be really difficult..."

Sasuke spoke softly. He wasn't sure how to react. He didn't know if the topic was sensitive for the dobe, but even if it was, Naruto wasn't showing it.

"Yeah, so after that, I learned boxing just in case and actually found it interesting. As I grew up, I wanted to earn money through my skills, so I participated in championships in underground boxing clubs. Of course, I didn't tell Mom or Dad about it. It wasn't until recently that I was caught. And you know what happened after that."

Naruto concluded with a shrug as Sasuke nodded, taking in the information.

"It must have been difficult for you too."

Sasuke finally spoke.

In actuality, what Naruto had shared with him was only the tiniest bit of his life. He wanted to tell Sasuke everything, share all his pains, insecurities, and other things about his past, his traumas, his friends, his lover, his mistake...

'Sai... I miss you,'

Naruto's thoughts wandered off to a faraway place, and he didn't realize what Sasuke was doing. Sasuke hadn't forgotten about his plan. And so, he very skillfully slipped the fifth bowl of ramen from the blond's bag. He opened the lid and took advantage of the zoned-out Naruto to chug down the noodles.

He took a mouthful of it in the first bite. He was prepared for the bad taste of it but realized it was actually good, not that he was going to tell Naruto any of that.

After silently finishing half of it, Sasuke looked back at Naruto, who still hadn't realized that his ramen had been stolen. Sasuke observed Naruto's blue eyes, which stared at the sky, glistening with unshed tears.

'What is this? Loneliness? Oi dobe, dont make such a face...'

Sasuke did not want to see such a sad expression on Naruto's face, and so he purposely slurped the noodles loudly, successfully distracting Naruto. Naruto certainly wasn't prepared for what he saw next.

Before his eyes was a paused Sasuke with ramen noodles hanging from his mouth. He was staring at the blond with a devilish smile. Naruto found it almost cute before he realized that Sasuke had a bento in his hands last time, which meant it was HIS RAMEN!!

"TEME!! THAT'S MY RAMEN!! GIVE IT BACK YOU ANNOYING LITTLE SHIT!!"

Naruto stretched out his hands to snatch his food back, but Sasuke managed to avoid it easily. He looked Naruto in the eye and slurped the hanging noodles in his mouth. He smirked and continued chewing.

'Haha! He is annoyed. I win.'

Naruto was annoyed, super annoyed because his RAMEN was just stolen and eaten away, and still, he found the thief cute.

'What's wrong with me?... No! Get a hold of yourself, Naruto. You need to teach him a lesson.'

With that, he launched himself at the ravenette with full force, not caring about spilling the leftover soup on them as Sasuke had already finished the noodles while Naruto was planning his attack.

Sasuke, not expecting such a move, threw the bowl in his hands away before it spilled all over them. Naruto took a chance and tickled Sasuke near his waist and armpits as he sat on top of him. Sasuke let out an embarrassingly loud giggle.

Their limbs tangled around each other as they played and tickled each other. At that moment, they were the source of their laughter, the happiness they felt, and nobody had the right to burst their bubble. They were safe and protected around each other.

"Sto- aahaha - stop it! D- Dobe! Haha"

"Teme, don't mess with my ramen!! I won't let this slide. By the way, did you like it?"

"Haha- stop- I won't tell you! Aahaha- stop!!"

After a while, seeing that Sasuke was unable to breathe due to the overstimulation, Naruto finally stopped and slumped over him as they both continued panting. They stared at each other and maintained eye contact. Naruto then smiled his signature grin, feeling successful in his revenge.

However, unknown to him, the raven under him was no longer feeling as competitive.

*THUMP*

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat as he stared into those azure eyes he had come love, hovering on top of him. He was a blushing mess. The lewdness of the position they were in was getting to him. And, Naruto's heavy breathing definitely wasn't helping his situation either.

'What the hell is even happening?'

Naruto's muscular body covering Sasuke's and straddling his thighs was the last thing Sasuke imagined would happen when he stole that ramen box.

"D-Dobe, get off. You're heavy..."

"O-oh, I'm sorry,"

Naruto stood up, and to his despair, the bell rang for the next lesson. They caught their breath for a bit before he helped Sasuke up, as his ankle wasn't completely healed.

"Ne, Sasuke,"

Naruto spoke in his low, raspy voice as they were descending down the stairs.

"Hn?"

"See you on Monday!"

Naruto beamed, but Sasuke could see right through it. He knew that Naruto was insecure about their bond. They hadn't named the relationship they had yet, and honestly, Naruto was scared that Sasuke might not have liked his company.

However, this was far from the truth. Seeing the blond so openly worried somehow made Sasuke feel happy. He felt treasured, and he wanted to make sure that Naruto knew how much Sasuke treasured their bond as well (but, of course, in an indirect way).

"Hn, if you don't eat ramen for lunch."

Which was impossible, but Naruto felt relieved as those words were spoken. He smiled brighter at Sasuke, who gave him his own small, genuine smile.

They parted at the end of the stairs, going their separate ways back to their not-so-smooth lives.

A/N: Heywwoo~ So this was yet another chapter, and I am planning to keep them this long. Anyways, what do you think about their new dynamic? 🤧Anyway, I hope you liked this one too! See you next week!Author sound out ~ ✌🏻