Sasuke didn't move, but he did fold his arms over his chest, one eyebrow arching upward as his mouth tightened at the corner. His dark eyes flicked from Naruto's face to the spot where had Sai stood in the distance, then back again, a muscle working in his jaw.
Naruto took that as his chance. "There is nothing going on between me and that bastard!" The words tumbled out too fast, too desperate. Sasuke's shoulders lowered a fraction of an inch, the tension in his forehead smoothing momentarily before his face settled back into careful neutrality. "He asked me on a date."
Sasuke's jaw locked, a muscle flickering beneath the skin. His fingers dug into his own forearms until the knuckles turned white, nails leaving half-moon impressions in the fabric of his expensive shirt. "But I said no! I swear!" Naruto added quickly. One dark eyebrow arched upward, Sasuke's head tilting slightly to the side.
Naruto's fingers ghosted over his own lips. "Then he just—" The words died as Sasuke's jaw locked, a vein pulsing at his temple. Those dark eyes snapped toward the garage entrance, hunting, before returning to Naruto's face with such intensity that Naruto took an involuntary half-step backward. Sasuke's knuckles had gone bloodless against the car door, his breathing shallow and measured through flared nostrils.
Naruto watched Sasuke's eyelids flutter closed, his chest rising with three measured breaths—in through the nose, out through barely-parted lips—the same ritual Naruto had witnessed a hundred times in high school whenever he'd pushed Sasuke too far. The slight twitch at the corner of his left eye, the deliberate unclenching of his jaw—these were the tells only Naruto could read, the quiet battle of a man forcing volcanic anger back into dormancy.
Finally Sasuke's eyes snapped open, no longer volcanic but glacial. He straightened his spine and smoothed his tie with one precise motion, transforming from the hunched figure of moments ago into something sleek and untouchable. When he leaned back against his car, it wasn't retreat but reclamation—a predator settling into its territory. One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that never reached his eyes. "So?" he said, the single syllable hanging between them like a gauntlet thrown.
Naruto's head tilted, his blue eyes glinting with uncertainty. "So what?" he murmured. He was unsure of the meaning behind Sasuke's nonchalant statement.
Sasuke's lips twitched into a mysterious smirk as he detached himself from the moonlit car, launched himself towards Naruto. As if on cue, Naruto instinctively stepped back, his palms started sweating, a mix of nervousness and raw desire coursing through his veins. Every step Sasuke took forward felt like a declaration of intent that had Naruto backpedaling until he tripped upon the unforgiving curb.
Sasuke reacted with lightning speed, his hand reaching out to seize Naruto's wrist in an electrifying grip. In one fluid motion, he spun them around, pushing Naruto against the car with a thud that echoed in the silent night. Sasuke loomed over him impossibly close. The heat radiating from his hand on Naruto's wrist felt like a searing brand, sending shockwaves down to his spine.
Naruto's lungs seized, the oxygen trapped somewhere between his chest and throat as Sasuke's midnight gaze bore into him with an intensity that made his knees weaken. When Sasuke's eyes dropped to his lips—God, his lips—something molten and desperate unfurled in Naruto's stomach, a hunger he'd spent years trying to starve. Sasuke's arm came up beside Naruto's head, not just trapping him against the car but claiming him, the gesture possessive in a way that made Naruto's heart thunder against his ribs like it was trying to escape.
Sasuke leaned closer, his voice dropping to a ragged whisper that brushed hot against Naruto's ear. "I said," each word like velvet dragging across Naruto's skin, "why did you explain it to me?"
Naruto's heart slammed against his ribs, his breath catching painfully in his throat. The truth burned behind his eyes, threatening to spill out in ways he couldn't control. Sasuke wanted to know why he'd chased after him, desperate to explain something that shouldn't matter between mere business associates. The question hung between them, dangerous and electric. "I—I don't—" Naruto's voice cracked, betraying him as heat flooded his face. How could he admit that his body had moved on its own, pulled by something deeper than thought or reason?
Sasuke's "You?" ghosted across the shell of Naruto's ear, each exhale sending shivers down his spine. Naruto's eyes fluttered closed against his will, his head tilting slightly to expose more of his neck. The parking garage spun away as his senses narrowed to the heat of Sasuke's body, the faint scratch of expensive wool against his palms. His lips parted, voice emerging as little more than a breathless whisper: "I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."
Sasuke's "Why not?" emerged as a command rather than a question, his voice dropping to a possessive growl that vibrated against Naruto's pulse point. His lips—not just his breath—grazed the sensitive skin below Naruto's ear, teeth barely scraping the tender flesh as he inhaled Naruto's scent like a predator savoring its prey. Naruto's body betrayed him instantly, a violent shudder racing from his neck to his thighs as his fingers unconsciously dug into Sasuke's shoulders.
Naruto's mouth opened, closed, opened again, his throat working silently as words failed him. His pulse hammered in his ears, drowning out rational thought. Sasuke's proximity made his skin prickle with electricity, his body leaning forward even as his mind screamed to pull away. The memory of teenage heartbreak warred with the heat pooling low in his stomach. His fingers trembled against Sasuke's shoulders, caught between pushing him away and pulling him closer—trapped in the same limbo as his heart.
Sasuke's eyes flickered with something unreadable before he stepped back, the absence of his heat like a physical wound that tore through Naruto's chest. The night air rushed between them, cruel and biting where Sasuke's warmth had been seconds before. Naruto's body betrayed him with a violent shiver, his arms instinctively wrapping around himself in a futile attempt to recapture what he'd lost.
Sasuke paced three rigid steps away, his shoulders rising and falling with each carefully measured breath. His fists clenched, unclenched, clenched again at his sides. He stopped abruptly, staring at the concrete as though it held the answer to some impossible equation. When he looked up, his eyes burned with barely contained restraint, jaw working silently as he visibly fought against himself. "I shouldn't," he whispered, more to himself than to Naruto. Then something snapped behind those dark eyes. In two swift strides, he crossed the distance between them, seized Naruto by the waist, and kissed him like a drowning man finally breaking the surface.
Naruto's eyes fluttered closed, his mind short-circuiting as his fingers tangled in Sasuke's silken hair, dragging him closer with desperate need. The kiss ignited every nerve ending in his body, making his knees buckle and his spine arch. When Sasuke's hot tongue traced the seam of his lips, Naruto couldn't stop the broken moan that escaped him. Sasuke seized the opportunity, claiming Naruto's mouth with a possessive growl that vibrated through both their bodies, his tongue exploring and conquering until Naruto was trembling and breathless against the car.
Sasuke's hardness pressed against his hip, and suddenly the fog in Naruto's mind cleared. This wasn't just a kiss—this was careening toward something he wasn't ready for. Not here, not now, not with everything still unresolved between them. His hands, which had been pulling Sasuke closer seconds before, flattened against the other man's chest and pushed firmly, breaking the magnetic pull between their bodies.
Sasuke stepped back, chest still heaving. His hair—always so perfect—stuck out at odd angles where Naruto's fingers had been. For several heartbeats, they just breathed, the sound echoing in the concrete garage. Naruto's pulse gradually slowed, his thoughts clearing like morning fog burning away. He pushed himself off the car on unsteady legs, putting deliberate distance between them. This was Sasuke—the same Sasuke who had shattered him once before. No matter what his body wanted, his mind couldn't afford to forget that simple fact.
Sasuke's eyes flickered with hurt as he watched Naruto put distance between them, his jaw tightening before he smoothed his expression into that perfect corporate mask. He turned away, shoulders rigid with unspoken words. Naruto's fingers twitched at his sides, wanting to reach out but curling into fists instead. When Sasuke paused at the car door, the moment stretched between them like a thread pulled taut, vibrating with possibility. He looked back over his shoulder, moonlight catching on the sharp angle of his cheekbone, and for a heartbeat, Naruto saw the seventeen-year-old boy he'd once loved beneath the polished exterior. Their eyes locked, a decade of regret passing between them in silence. Then Sasuke's gaze shuttered. "Don't be late tomorrow," he said, voice carefully neutral despite the muscle jumping in his jaw. The car door closed with quiet finality.