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As the milling people would shout down the count to the New Year and gather up in pairs, Naruto knows exactly who he’d want to kiss.
Or who he’d have to kiss.
“Ten minutes left. I feel like I’m not ready,” he mutters, giving Sakura a look. “What am I even doing?”
“Being a dumbass, like usual,” Sakura chuckles. It’s a dry one, kind of like how the champagne she’s continuously downing tastes. “Why are you asking me? You’re the one who accepted this absurdity. And on New Year’s Eve, no less.”
All Naruto has for that is a heavy sigh. He stares through the glass table he propped his elbows on, letting all the tittle-tattle around submerge him into a less agitated state. He’s not one for fancy parties in penthouses, but he promised Hinata - even if it’s admittedly stupid, so here he is: at the high-end party her parents are throwing.
At least Sakura seems to be enjoying herself.
“Don’t even tell anyone what you’re planning, honestly.” Sakura keeps looking around, half-distracted. The wryness of her words is still directed solely in Naruto’s direction, though. “You and Hina-san should just do it and move on with your lives.” She can’t help letting out a snort. “What a way to start the New Year.”
“You think it’s really dumb, got it,” he grits out, rubbing small circles into his temple. “No need to remind me every five minutes, ‘kura.”
Somehow, her gaze softens at that. As if he didn’t explicitly proclaim his vexation with her teasing before. Naruto still takes it as a small win, and relaxes at her more mellow tone, “I get that you don’t have anyone right now, but I still can’t help but think that you’re wasting your kiss with this. I mean, a New Year’s kiss is not something to throw away.”
He doesn’t respond right away. Partly, it’s because he’s seeking Hinata among the crowd. Hinata, his best friend, and the one who he’s going to kiss tonight. Because Hinata still suffers from her breakup with her boyfriend. Because she had been locked inside her house, not even wanting to celebrate New Years, not without someone at her side to love, to kiss, and to start the year fresh with.
“I’ll kiss you,” he mumbled earlier that day, as he got the woman out of her room. “We love each other, right? I’ll be your New Year’s kiss. So c’mon, spend it with us, yea?”
Then, it seemed like a simple thing to do for his friend. He didn’t lie. They do love each other, even if it’s not in the way she craves someone loving her right now. Hinata’s eyes had sparkled with guilty gratitude, ready to shed tears, and she did accept after a few more nudges from him. God, he’d been so earnest. So, so ready for it. He didn’t deem it a big deal.
But now, as he stares at all the couples and their genuine fun, their joy, as he hears various people giggling about having a small chance at stealing a kiss from that specific actor who showed up unannounced, he’s not so sure this was the right decision. This night should be about what people truly want. And from the way Hinata is not even to be seen around, from the churn of Naruto’s tummy, he doesn’t really think this is what either of them would want tonight.
But it’s too late, isn’t it? Seven more minutes ‘till the end of the year.
“I can’t back out,” he tells Sakura, but he feels like it’s mostly for himself. The pity in those vibrant, green eyes doesn’t help. He shakes his head, adamant. “I can’t. She’s going to be even more miserable if I don’t do it. It’s just a simple kiss.”
“The first one of the year, but sure. No biggie,” she hums, looking sideways as she takes one more sip.
Naruto glares, “I think you need to go find someone you want to kiss, Sakura.”
A more polite go fuck yourself. They both know it.
“I know who I want to kiss,” she mutters, suddenly looking more sober than she’s been all night. “But so does half of the crowd here. I’m not special. I’m not going to get my hopes up about it.”
He frowns in confusion for a second, but her sullen pout makes something click for him. That, and the swift flush of her powdered cheeks. She only gets like this for one person.
Naruto groans, “You too? For real? Does Uchiha Sasuke have lips of fucking gold?”
She bumps his shoulder with enough force to make him wince. “I get that you don’t think he’s big shit, but him being here? And alone, for that matter? That’s big shit.”
“Or maybe it’s because his family has close ties to Hinata’s, and he’s alone because he has a big stick up his ass,” he scoffs, unbothered by the irritated wrinkle of her nose.
Yet, she can’t even hold anger against him for too long. At this point, after so many of these conversations, Sakura appears mostly done with it. “Alright, this stops now. You don’t even watch his movies, or know him. I don’t get this adversity towards him.”
So no more trying to make him change his mind after a whole year of it. He’s alright with that.
“I just think he’s overrated,” Naruto says, and pushes on despite her eye roll. “What? All the interviews I’ve seen of him made him seem like he thinks he’s so mighty and good. Whatever. There are others better than him. People are just nuts over his good looks and his accent.”
“He has a nice accent,” Sakura agrees, and smiles that infatuated smile that has him almost exasperated. “And yea, good looks. But his movies are blockbusters for a reason, Naruto.”
“Nepotism?” Naruto deadpans.
“Raw talent,” Sakura retorts, lifting an unimpressed eyebrow. “Sure, maybe his connections got him his first role easier than others. But he’s been acting since he was a kid, and his acting has been good. He has range. Be real, not even nepotism can get you as far as he got without a little help from talent.”
“Whatever you say.” He shrugs. This is not the time for their endless debate over a guy who hasn’t even talked to any of them, ever. Sakura’s fangirling over him can continue forever, for all he cares. Though, his tone is softer when he adds, “I guess I hope he chooses you tonight. To kiss.”
Sakura’s little smile is worth it, even if he doesn’t get it. “Well, I hope this thing with Hinata will somehow give you both good luck for the year to come?”
“Good way of thinking about it.” He nods, yet it feels too light to truly hold any truthful agreement. “Maybe I should just take it as a good luck charm, yea.”
“Or,” Sakura pushes the already empty flute of champagne, “you just need to give in and drink a little. Feel good. If Hinata really wants to take you on your offer, she’ll find you when it’s time. Go get me another glass and find one for yourself, c’mon.”
He thinks about refusing it, just for a split of a second, but then he finds himself already taking the flute in his hand and departing from their little table, in search of some more alcohol. After all, she’s right. He doesn’t need to sit on pins and needles until the deed is done. He’s already done that for far too long tonight. That for sure won’t get him any good vibes for this coming year.
He spots a single tray with all the drinks left intact, right atop another small table made of glass, and beelines for it before anyone else decides to make it theirs. Rich people truly love their alcohol, which is just so peculiar to him. His only rich friends are Hinata and Gaara, and both are gentle, tea-over-everything-else kind of people.
Only, it’s not glass he touches as he stretches his arm out, it’s fingers. Another hand, a pale one, right on top of the flute that he wanted to pick up. Naruto whips his head up, some sort of odd horror washing over him as he stares Uchiha Sasuke himself in the eye.
Funny enough, that makes Sasuke squint at him. “You’re looking at me like I killed your dog.”
“Maybe you did,” Naruto blurts, and reins in a huge wince. He doesn’t apologize, though.
Not when Sasuke’s expression shatters under the weight of sudden, surprising amusement. Not when he smoothly asks, “Do I really look that suspicious?”
“Anyone is, until proven otherwise.” He doesn’t know what he’s saying. He’s just doing it. Opening his mouth freely. “Who knows, maybe you break into people’s houses and steal their underwear and special edition Spongebob socks. Maybe you’re just a creep who eats their eggs at three in the morning when you’re invited over, and then you lie that you didn’t. Maybe you’re actually a serial killer who loves pretty little blonds like me, and I’m in extreme danger. How should I know?”
He tugs his lips like he just sucked a lemon, trying not to show the instant regret too easily, even though it pulses through him like a steady thrum. Someone should just bump into him right now, just so that he has an excuse to say that he’s hurt and call an ambulance to get him out of here. Get him from under Sasuke’s stupefied stare.
But Naruto stays right where he is. And so does Sasuke’s shock, even as he opens his mouth and lowly questions, “Do… you know who I am?”
And just like that, Naruto’s eye twitches. All the ridiculous, unexpected nerves he felt in the face of a celebrity puff out of existence. He lifts a wry eyebrow. “I do. And? What? Uchiha Sasuke can’t steal underwear if he wants? Your point?”
“I-” He chokes. Uchiha Sasuke chokes, passing a quick hand over his mouth like he can’t also believe he stumbled over his words. “I don’t know what my point is, actually. Or yours. I’m just…”
Lost. It’s all over his face. His open, otherwise relaxed face as his dark eyes flicker all over Naruto’s facial features. And Naruto -Naruto might look just as confused as him, honestly. Because he didn’t expect the conversation to go like this; admittedly he didn’t expect a conversation at all, but… Uchiha Sasuke talks with him like he’s not on the covers of all the influential magazines and the face of high-end brands all over the world. He’s nothing like the version he shows in interviews, with his chin held high and frigid choice of words. Reticent to the core.
He’s loose, dressed in a silky, black button-up with his collarbones exposed, he’s assessing Naruto like he found a sparkly half-made puzzle, and their fingers are still kind of intertwined over a flute of champagne.
“You’d think actors who play in horror movies are the most suspicious.” And he’s starting again. Naruto’s mouth tingles with impudence, with everything he should have restraint on. “But I heard you have range. Range makes me think of people who know how to work around a weapon. I’d say that’s probably more suspicious than anything a horror movie actor has in their arsenal. Which is mostly screams, I guess. Or, um, they typically just get into trouble and run around-”
“I acted in horror movies before. Two, actually,” Sasuke cuts in faintly. He continues blinking at Naruto like he doesn’t know what else to do. Like he doesn’t know where this is going.
Neither does Naruto, if he’s being honest. He still snarks out, “You’re not helping your case by telling me that.”
The previous amusement comes back at full force when Sasuke’s lips quirk up charmingly. “And what is my case?”
“Convincing me that you’re not after my ass, of course,” Naruto tells him, like it’s obvious. He adds a huff for good measure. “Have you been listening to me for the past two minutes?”
“I have,” Sasuke agrees easily, gaze steady, and Naruto doesn’t know why his heart skipped a beat at that. He wants it to stop that shit. “That’s all I did. Listen to you. Look at you.”
“You’re helping your case even less by telling me that,” Naruto comments, but it’s more of a croak. Alright, it’s certainly a croak. His voice gives out on him just like that, in the face of Sasuke’s puffed-out chuckle. Small, but clearly entertained. “Now I want to stay away from you even more.”
The genuine curiosity on that sharp, sculpted face should be clearly out of lawly bonds. Should demand a hefty fine. “Do you?”
No, he doesn’t. Because Uchiha Sasuke’s lips move like liquid, and his posture is all poised and alluring, his interest like a silver thread in those black eyes. Naruto doesn’t want to move an inch from where he’s rooted, in front of this man and fumbling with his words.
The crowd explodes in shouts all around them.
10!
9!
8!
He should find Hinata. He should step aside, and find-
7!
But he spots several people turning towards them, their wide, untamed eyes trained specifically on Sasuke, and his thoughts stumble and hit the ground until they’re nothing but fleeting dust. His own shoulders tense in tandem with Sasuke’s, hairs on his nape rising like the hackles of a cat.
“Many people want you,” Naruto finds himself murmuring in that second, extremely aware of the swift panic starting to surface in those previously calm eyes that ate him up so informally. “They want you to choose them.”
6!
5!
4!
“Strange,” Sasuke mutters right back, but it lacks the life his whole demeanor had earlier. The puerile delight of a person merely living. “I guess they don’t think I’ll steal their special edition Spongebob socks.”
Naruto closes his eyes tightly, the laugh bursting out of his chest exactly like a firework. Shit. Shit, this man-
He-
3!
Well.
2!
He thought that, as the milling people would shout down the count to the New Year and gathered up in pairs, he’d know exactly who he’d have to kiss.
But Naruto realizes at the last second that he also knows who he wants to kiss.
He leans forward, barely catching the clever, mirthful curve of Sasuke’s lips before a nimble hand glides around his neck and cups his nape, lowering his head even more. His mouth is partly open when that smiling mouth settles on his, and he thinks a flute shatters under them, as do the dozens of fans around them when they catch their beloved celebrity already biting another man’s lower lip.
1! Happy New Year!
Naruto opens his mouth, as if he too should shout it for the skies to echo, and groans softly when Sasuke’s tongue makes contact with his in a dizzying brush. Their kiss is slow, deep, and Naruto is actually ready to collapse on top of the feeble-looking glass table by the time Sasuke’s lips leave his with a slick sound.
He breathes out, quivery, and receives a small, gentle peck for it. The quiver doubles, it goes all the way down his toes.
“I don’t like eggs,” Sasuke comments over his lips, a mere whisper. So casual and so out of place that Naruto’s entire face crumbles under the weight of his awe-ridden amusement. “Just so you know. I’d probably eat your tomatoes, though. Also probably at three in the morning.”
“Probably,” Naruto repeats dumbly, swallowing when he feels fingers scratching softly at his nape. “We should probably make sure that you do. In my house. One of these days.”
“Yea,” Sasuke breathes, and there it is. His simple pleasure for living. The glimmer in his eyes. “In your house. Or in mine. Whatever you want.”
Whatever Naruto wants?
Right now, he wants to tell Sakura sorry for probably - most likely - stealing her man. And find Hinata to also apologize for being so goddamn gay that he caved in no less than five minutes and gave the first man that charmed him his kiss.
But maybe after a few more minutes.