Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Hyuuga Swap ❯ Distractions ( Chapter 6 )

The Hyuuga Swap

(Chapter 6)

Neji x Naruto

 ______________

Of all the worst possible scenarios... this one ranked top shelf.

"I'm sorry?" Naruto asked Hinata. "You what?"

Naruto pretended very hard that she would not repeat what he thought he'd heard the first time.

"I said, I have to go meet a classmate to work on a project?" She looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, but I completely forgot about it and there is no other time we can do it... Could you just stay here for a bit until I get back?"

Naruto glanced about the Hyuuga abode cagily. Everything looked so perfect. Orderly. Everything in its place. The dynamic opposite to Naruto's current state of mind. "And do what?" The sleek black couches begged to be lain upon. Naruto felt his heart start to pulse faster in anticipation. He wasn't looking at the room's other occupant, but his mind conjured a fair replica of the stoic beauty, and a blush-raising scenario. He swallowed hard as his body quickened. Not good.

"You can hang out with Neji," she offered. "I won't be gone too terribly long."

Badness, Naruto thought. Hinata, you don't know what you're doing....

"I wasn't planning on being here," Neji chimed in testily.

Alright, and Neji comes in for the save...

Hinata frowned at him, hands on her hips. "You told me earlier that you'd be here all day."

"My plans changed," Neji said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Naruto looked at the dark haired boy. He sounded surly, but he looked antsy. Light eyes met his, and flicked away.

"Well, it's not like I have all the time in the world either," Naruto said waspishly. He couldn't help feeling miffed. Even if Neji was just trying to get them out a bad situation, he was a convincing actor, and called to mind Naruto's doubts that the boy even wanted him around.

Though, Neji was being more practical. It was best if they spent as little time together as possible. Especially if that time had them being alone. Naruto felt his eyes being drawn to the Hyuuga boy's lean form, admiring the way his artfully faded jeans and tight cut, maroon, silk-screened T-shirt clung to his graceful frame. In wavy white lines over the left side of his chest, there was a sketchy drawing of a cartoonized skull wearing a crown. Some of the lines trailed down and seemed to form a word, but Naruto couldn't quite make out what it was.

e... t...

n...

He squinted.

...ies?

Was that even english?

He wondered if it would look more legible if the shirt was inside out and on the floor. But then again, shirt on floor equaled half naked Neji, and he doubted he would give the shirt a second thought in that situation. Was it odd that the thought of seeing the dark haired boy even half-stripped was so enrapturing? They'd already been physical... but had not bared any skin to each other. Fumbling hands, frantic desire. That had been the shape of it.

Naruto bit his lip as his rebellious brain supplied a vivid memory of Neji's hand wrapped around him, holding him in the palm of his hand as they on the floor. Shaking with need - and the strain of holding back against temptation, but knowing they were losing.

Neji's whispered words against his throat, just under his ear, as they lost control of it together... it had felt so moving... safe... like he was being wrapped in a warm blanket and the warmest arms imaginable - gently restrained as his body arched upward. Protected as his soul was laid bare.

The thrill of that moment chased down Naruto's skin.

To feel that again...

An embellished visual of shirtless Neji pressing him against a wall popped into his mind, the other boy's mouth roaming hotly over his skin.

Yes. The here and now - the possibility of future tense. To see that reserved veneer fall away from the proud lines of his noble face... to see his eyes fill with heat, transforming them... 

Oh, no.

There lay the path to madness.

He couldn't keep having thoughts like that if they were trying to be nothing more than friends!

There goes distracting myself.

He took his eyes off Neji since apparently he couldn't trust himself to keep his thoughts clean.

Yes, being alone with him would be bad.


"Naruto, did you hear what I just said?" Hinata asked him.

Naruto jumped, and whipped his gaze up from the floor to meet hers. "What?" He realized he had no recollection of what had happened in the last five minutes or what expressions may have crossed his face therein. Had he given himself away??

Hinata was looking at he and Neji with a concerned expression.

Suspicious.

Concerned.

The look wavered a bit on the two. Naruto tried to look attentive.

"You're both acting weird," she ventured sternly. "I don't know if you had a fight or something, but it's been like this for over a week now, and if you keep avoiding each other nothing will get resolved."

"Everything's fine," Naruto said, shaking his head.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Neji replied at the same time, a slight scowl on his face.

Wow. He really was a good actor. Disdain could literally drip from his words if he wanted it to.
 
"Everything's fine??" Hinata turned turned to Naruto, disbelief touching her features, and a hardness in her voice. "You're being distant." She looked at Neji. "And you're being avoidant. How is that fine?"  

"Well... er - " Naruto felt reasonably cowed. He'd never seen her quite like this before...

Neji frowned. His right eyebrow turned in slightly. So, he was surprised too...

Hinata was stepping towards the door.

Neji rallied fast. "Lack of planning on your part - " he began.

"No arguments," she snapped, shocking them, ferocity in her pale violet gaze. She turned away quickly and started out the door as they stood there open-mouthed. Her back was ramrod straight. "You're both... very important to me..." she said quietly, an odd quality to her voice. "I just... I just want you to work things out."

"Video game?" Neji asked tiredly after she left. That had to be the weirdest Hinata has ever acted... Truth be told, he was a bit concerned. Almost as concerned as he was about his sudden elation and dread over being alone with Naruto.

"Sure," Naruto said, equally deflated.

If there was any chance of avoiding a repeat of the last time they'd been together, that speech would do it; avoiding rooms with beds was another.

Neji turned on the xbox and put in the fighter game they'd played previously. He picked up the controller and sat down, thinking heavily. Had Hinata made up the thing about having a school project to work on? She never forgot things like that... she was too conscientious. But then why -

"No one-on-one teaching like last time, though," Naruto said loftily, breaking into his thoughts.

The blonde flopped onto the couch, controller in hand.

Neji looked up with a start. Why was he bringing that up? Weren't they trying to get their minds off of each other and kissing? "Why not?" He said with a bit of an edge. "You seemed to respond favorably to that."

Naruto's cheeks flushed lightly. "Ha! That's what you think. You were just trying to distract me because you're afraid to lose! Well, it won't work on me again."

Neji blinked. ...work on you again...?

He's challenging me, Neji realized with surprise. Oh god, why is he challenging me?

Blue eyes were locked to his defiantly, just asking for him to try something. He had to ignore it. Had to.

Resist the pull...

Resist, dammit!

But he couldn't look away and he was moving closer, his resolve forming hairline cracks as he leaned towards the blonde. "You don't know what you're getting into."

Naruto leaned back, partially reclined against the arm of the couch. His pink lips parted slightly, an obvious invitation.

His eyes were dark blue, thin rings around swallowing black.

Those lips were soft under his. And agonizing, in the immediate response their touch dredged up out of him.

Naruto's hand slipped into his hair, fingers twining delicately through the silken strands, brushing languidly across his scalp, making his eyes close. Pulling him down, until their bodies were flush.

He was going to burn alive.

Heaven help him, he was going to hell. And he wasn't going to regret it until he'd arrived.

His whole body was thrumming. He could feel Naruto responding. The pressure against his hip, evidence that the blonde wanted him just as badly.

In only moments, they were rapidly being overwhelmed.

Neji's hips moved of their own accord, dragging a gasp from his throat and a ragged moan from Naruto as sensation rippled harshly through them at the contact.

This had to stop. Had to stop now.

Immediately.

Naruto's mouth on his grew insistent. Sucking him deeper into the warm haze and electric desire that made it so hard to think. Kissing him like it was an art form.

Think, Neji. Remember where you are.

Get control over yourself.

But he couldn't conjure the guilt he should be feeling. Couldn't seem to focus on anything but the body beneath his, and what were those intriguing half-uttered sounds that were making his stomach clench so distractingly?

Naruto's fingernails were digging into the flesh of his shoulders, his body flexing like a bowstring.

"Neji..." he moaned.

Desire curled around the tiny flame of Neji's resistance and smothered it.

So he was exceedingly surprised when he suddenly discovered he'd found his voice - it started saying unnecessary things like, "This has to stop."

What? No, we are so past that point! Neji thought at himself. His mouth sure found an inconvenient time to sprout a mind of its own.

"Why?" Naruto said against his lips.

Why indeed?

"I don't want to get caught up in you," his mouth replied.

Ok, valid point. I was going to stay clear of Naruto until he decided if he was staying with Hinata or not...

"Meaning what?" Naruto asked him. "I could take that several different ways... a few of which aren't very flattering."

Neji looked up, surprise filtering into his voice. "Are you... asking me for reassurance?"

Those big blue eyes widened.

It was ironic, really. If Naruto only knew him a little better he'd have known that being in these situations, under these circumstances... It was actually a clear admission of how he felt. But Naruto wouldn't know about his strict morality, sense of loyalty (in this case, to his cousin), or his nearly four years of avoiding romantic or physical relationships since people had an unerring way of failing him.

It was like waving a giant green flag to get Naruto's attention, and the poor boy was colorblind.

"N-No! I was just asking what you meant!" the blonde said defensively, suddenly very interested in inspecting a picture on the far wall. It would have been more convincing had Neji not been able to feel his body tense.

"You're lying," Neji observed.

"Says who?!!"

"Shhh. I can just tell."

"Yeah? You think you know me that well?" Naruto's eyes were aggressive, matching the shift in his tone, but there was something in his gaze... watchful, doubtful, hopeful...

Neji was quiet a moment. "Yes, I think I do."

"Then what am I thinking right now?"

He was thinking several things, most likely. Neji picked the one he was sure about. "You're wishing I never started talking, and that I would stop as soon as possible."

Naruto squinted at him, a laugh lurking in the corner of his mouth. "Very close... but how did you know?"

"Because I'm thinking the same thing."

"You know what else I'm thinking?" the laugh expired before truly living. He was serious again.

"No. What?"

"That I don't get this thing we seem to have - and I say we, because I think you feel it too..." Naruto sighed. "And if we don't get off this couch, things might happen that we'll both regret."

The first part of that resonated with Neji's mind, but his mouth chose to focus on the latter part. "Did you regret it? When we -?" Yes, they really did need to get off this couch so he could start thinking clearly again. What a conversation to have while they were laying like this, half aroused out of their minds.

"I -" Naruto struggled a moment. "...no. But, you seemed to..."

"It's not that I regret it, because I don't. It's just - " that you're still dating my cousin. "Complicated."

"Complicated..." Naruto repeated, his eyes dulling in hue. "I see..."

No, you don't, Neji wanted to say to him. I can see that you don't. Why can't you realize we can't go anywhere with this while you are still with her? It seems like such a simple thing - but I can't be the one to suggest you break it off. It has to be your decision, and if you don't feel strongly enough to come to that yourself...

Neji dragged himself up off of the couch. He felt frustrated, saddened and ultimately... mad at himself. How did he let things get to this point?

Naruto watched him as he stood up, and paced a few steps.

His blue eyes were closed off now - unreadable. As if a thin layer of ice had frosted their deep pools. A barrier. Like glass to press up against when all you really wanted was to get through. Neji hadn't really seen them look like this before. For the most part, Naruto had always left himself wide open. He just hadn't realized it until Naruto retreated into himself.

"I should go."

Those three dull, heavy words hit Neji like stones dropped in a pond. Once delivered, their disturbance was marked for many long minutes, affecting in wider and wider circles.

Go? And what then? That would leave them with nothing resolved, nothing mended and everything infinitely more difficult...

"What about Hinata?"

"What about her?" Naruto snapped. "Does the entire world have to revolve around her now?"

There was fire in those eyes again, but it was a cold light. Banked and harsh. "You tell me. You're the one who's dating her."

Naruto stood abruptly, his face looking even more distant, angry.  "Sasuke was right." 

Sasuke? Who the hell is Sasuke?!

When Naruto made to brush past him to the front door, Neji caught his arm. "Who's Sasuke?" he asked, feeling jealousy welling up. Did he have someone else to compete with other than his cousin?  Oh, this just kept getting better and better.

Naruto looked startled, and pulled back against his grip. "Just a friend."

Neji looked at him critically. There was an unvoiced 'but' hanging in the air.

"...and my roommate."

Better and better.

"Well, really he's my best friend... since like forever, but it's nothing more than that."

Was that disclaimer due to guilt, or because he himself was projecting that accusation at Naruto? It was so hard to tell.

"What was he right about?"

"..."

No response? Neji wondered what this Sasuke could possibly have said that would apply to him and Naruto. Perhaps something to warn Naruto off, so the blonde would still be free for him to try something later? Biding his time till he could make a move and not endanger the friendship? Whether or not that was the case was pure speculation on his part. More important was the fact that Naruto must have talked to this 'friend' about him. And what did that mean?

They stood there like that for several long moments, Neji with his hand still gripping Naruto's arm, Naruto looking indecisive, both lost in thought.

"If you leave, is that were you were going - to where Sasuke is?" Neji asked evenly.

"Well, he does live with me, so..."

"I'm sorry. That's none of my business." Neji released him. "Do what you want."

Naruto did not look relieved about being let go. The look of indecision actually intensified as he stood there, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. "I think your cousin- I mean, Hinata- is right. We should talk about this..."

"What is there to talk about?"  Neji started walking away from him.

"Well, obviously there is something, if Hinata was even noticing." Naruto followed him. The tall boy stayed silent, as they walked down the hall to his room.

This room... Naruto thought, immersed in familiarity as he stepped inside. He'd only seen it once, but the whole of it was burned into his memory. The soothing color of the warm brown walls, the cool tones of the nearly monochromatic pictures, the crispness of their black frames. The vaguely Asian-and-Tech feel that flavored the room's pristine aesthetic.

Neji looked at home here. He matched the environment so well, he seemed like just one more piece of it. One piece to this secluded little world between four walls, distanced so from everything else... like it was a different universe. What would it be like to be included in it?

And could there even be space for him? A little Naruto-shaped cut-out?  Or was it like a well-oiled clock - self-sufficient and running smoothly, to which he would be nothing more than a monkey-wrench in the gears if added into the works? It was something to think about.

"You're still here?" Neji asked over his shoulder. He'd moved about the room, conjuring music from the monstrous sound system and an assortment of papers, pens and brushes from thin air, which he now laid before him on the floor. It looked like he was going to paint or at least lay the lines for one of his pictures.

"Mmhm." Naruto sat on the bed, without asking if that was ok, and watched him. He could have been put off by the dismissing tone, but wasn't - he was still encouraged by the jealousy Neji had shown just a few minutes prior. What he wasn't sure of was how deep that jealousy went - was it an indication of real feelings? Or was it akin to the possessiveness one could feel over an object due to its usefulness? He thought the former, but did not rule out the latter. He just didn't know Neji well enough yet.

"I thought you were leaving?" Neji lay down a swath of startling blue with his brush. Once more. Again. The color bled and blurred into a pleasing variation of tone with pricklings of pigment here and there. When it dried a little, he used a needle-like tool to lift the gossamer rubber masks that had been painted on earlier, revealing the pure white of the birdlike forms in the sea of sky.

"Mn." It was like magic, watching his hands work. Enthralling. Hypnotizing... "Have you ever dated someone your cousin had dated first?" Naruto wondered aloud.

The hands stopped, and Naruto realized what he'd just said. He busily tried to figure out a way to backtrack from that, but Neji spoke first.

"No. But then I've never dated guys before."

That was an ambivalent statement... Naruto chewed on his lip as Neji resumed work on his painting. Well, he was the one who suggested they had something to talk about, wasn't he? So he should just go ahead and say what he was thinking. It was just hard to dance around this subject. To say the right things to glean information without exposing yourself... "Have you ever thought about it?" Naruto asked in what he hoped was a casual way. "Dating guys, I mean."

"Have you?" Neji tossed back at him, seemingly absorbed in what he was doing, easily shifting Naruto back into the hot-seat.

Damn. "Maybe, once."

He couldn't see Neji's face from this angle, couldn't gauge his reaction, and the other boy had been silent thus far. Naruto added, "It didn't occur to me until Sasuke suggested it..."

There. That got Neji's attention.

Though... maybe a little too much direct attention. His pale eyes were piercing, and Naruto felt a little hot around the collar.

"So why not take Sasuke up on his offer?"

"No, no. It wasn't himself he was talking about it was - " Naruto cut himself off in the nick of time. "Um. Someone else." Was it his imagination, or was Neji trying to lure him into admitting something first?

"Did you mention to him that you're in a relationship already? Or does he just not concern himself with such trivialities?"

Naruto felt a surge of anger at that. "It isn't trivial, and yes he knew."  He flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, thrusting his hands under his head. "He said I should end things with whoever I felt less strongly about."

"Sound advice."

"Yeah. But not so easy to carry out."

"Why not? Surely you can tell who you like more?"

"Neji," Naruto switched tracks, "if I weren't dating your cousin... do you think we'd still talk?"

---

Neji felt his blood turn ice cold. So, this 'someone' Naruto wanted to be with wasn't Hinata or even himself? He regarded the other boy solemnly, trying to tap down the feeling of panic that was determined to rear its ugly head. Messy spiked blonde hair clashed endearingly with his bedspread, and Naruto's shirt had ridden up, exposing a strip of tanned, toned midsection and an enticingly dipped navel.

If Naruto didn't want either of them - then when he made his decision, he'd be gone? Just like that? This haphazard boy that had wrecked the calm solitude and equilibrium he'd so carefully crafted over the years... This blue-eyed ray of sunshine...

If he was going to disappear just like that...

"Neji??" Naruto half sat up, startled to see him so close.

Then what did it matter? All of this holding back to not hurt Hinata was a joke.

He leaned over Naruto, caging him in his shadow. Naruto's eyes were adorably wide, and his cheeks flushed with color.

"N-Nej - mmph - "

Neji felt the half-uttered protest die in Naruto's mouth followed by a gut-wrenching whimper. His body sank back down on the bed, as if melting under Neji's. The desire they'd raised before on the couch flared back to life. It was the most powerful thing Neji had ever felt. So frantic and uncontrollable. Overriding the parts of his brain that screamed at him to abstain - to not get involved any further. That screamed at him to stop removing Naruto's shirt. Then, to stop removing his own.

But he couldn't listen. He couldn't bear to.

Naruto's hand on the bare skin of his back... tracing down his sides... reaching for him...

It was going to happen. They'd put off this urge, narrowly, so many times now.

How could there be someone else? How, when it was like this between them? It was unthinkable. Untenable.

How, when Naruto was moaning from his touch, and biting his lip so sexily, trying to stay quiet?

How deeply did he feel about this boy he barely knew? How much stronger the emotion was than 'like'. If it weren't so ridiculously cliché, he'd have to say that for him, it was almost love at first sight. Naruto had immediately gotten under his skin... so thoroughly.

And never had he so badly wanted someone like this. He needed to feel slim, naked hips in his hands like he needed air to breathe.

His hand ghosted the front of Naruto's jeans, feeling his need, making him cry out.

"I want you so badly that my head is spinning," he said against Naruto's neck. The blonde shuddered under his lips. "Please tell me this is ok," he said, as he started to undo the button of the boy's jeans.

Naruto nodded hazily, and helped him lose the rest of their clothes. "I think I've wanted to... ever since I first met you," the blonde panted, wincing as he was stretched with slicked fingers for the first time.

"Who is the 'someone' you mentioned earlier then?" Neji angled his fingers and brushed against a sensitive spot, making Naruto cry out again before he could answer.

Naruto's breathing was ragged. "It was -ah!"  he gasped. "You. It was always... you."

Neji withdrew his fingers. "Me?" he asked, puzzled. Naruto nodded, focusing on getting air in his lungs rather than talking. Neji stroked a hand over the blonde's length before wrapping his hand around it in a sliding warm embrace. Naruto seemed almost at his limit. He was making small cries in the back of his throat and thrashing his head from side to side.

Neji used more of his own saliva as a lubricant - a shame that he had nothing better at the moment - and eased forward into the tight heat of Naruto's body, whispering distractions in his ear and sketching them with his fingertips on sensitive skin. When he was fully enmeshed, he gave Naruto a few motionless moments in which to breathe.

"You look like a rag doll," Neji teased softly. "Exhausted already?"

"Huh," Naruto snorted weakly. It wasn't wildly uncomfortable, but it bordered on painful. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought."

Neji smiled. "That's good." So, Naruto did take his teasing for what it was - a roundabout way of asking if he was ok. Even now their thoughts were so in tune, it was as if their brains were linked.

He traced his fingers along Naruto's heated flesh, bringing his arousal back full force before he began to move. Drifting, trailing touches. Then skirting away up canted hips and across the flat span of golden skin between them. Then back down the pale gold of his inner thigh. All the while, his pulse was beating in his head, beating through his entire body, and Naruto's as well. Their bodies throbbed, hot flesh against hot flesh. He was dizzy with it, aching from the inside out, his whole being centered on the desire to bring their trembling bodies to completion - waiting until Naruto let him know they could continue. His hand ghosted a cuff around Naruto's length, squeezing a broken moan from perfect lips. He was the picture of innocence and sex - a cherubic face framed by tousled blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, usually brimming with sincerity, that just now were drowning in pleasure.

"Ne-ji," Naruto panted. "I'm fine - please... just move. Please."

Naruto's husky, pleading voice sent fire racing down his spine to pool in his stomach. He did as asked, thrusting in and out in a careful pace that had Naruto going crazy. He felt nails dig into his shoulders, and Naruto's hips rose to meet his, desperate to feel more. He took pity on the boy, and sped things up, his eyes closing as he felt Naruto's eager body all around him. Pressing in on him like a vice, testing his ability to last.

With Naruto meeting him head on, so desperately, his rhythm fast fell apart. Release was so tantalizingly close, honed to a razor's edge, but he didn't want it to end. He wanted this feeling of euphoria to last forever. He wanted those eyes, midnight blue with lust, to be on him forever, no matter what.

Naruto's body started to tense up, his grip tightening on Neji's shoulders, nails digging deep and trailing down as his body began to shake and arch upwards.

Naruto was tightening around him, smooth walls pumping him as they clenched and unclenched, heightening his pleasure until it was too much. "Naruto," he gasped as orgasm slammed into him and exploded.


The only sound for several long minutes was their ragged breathing and the forgotten sound of music slowly filtering back into their consciousness.

Neji tucked a lethargic arm around Naruto and rolled them over so he could be on his back and get his infernally long hair out of the way. Naruto sprawled bonelessly half on top of him, beautiful eyes shut, and a sleepy cast to his face.  He reminded Neji of a giant golden cat, all long limbs, laziness, and self-satisfaction. He brushed some wayward blonde locks out of his eyes and was greeted with a precious smile.

Neji felt like the sun had just shone on his heart, warm and safe and constant. It was something he'd never experienced before, and he wondered how long he'd be able to bask in this glow. How long the whirlwind named Naruto would be present in his life.

"You said something earlier..." Neji said softly. "About the person you talked about with Sasuke..." Naruto had said it was him, but then given the circumstances of his confession... Well, it never hurt to be sure.

"Mmmhmm."

Neji poked Naruto in the side as he seemed to have drifted off. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Naruto mumbled.

Dammit, Naruto wasn't cooperating. He'd have to get more specific. "Was it really me?"

Naruto raised his head and gave him a dubious look. "You think I would've done all this if it wasn't you?"

Neji shrugged.

Naruto's face flushed. "I sincerely hope you're just looking for some ego stroking, and don't really think I'm that easy." 

"Ego stroking?" Neji replied with a slant to his raised brow.

"Well - yeah. I don't know... you're just so good-looking, I didn't know if you do this a lot or -"

"Ok, so how am I supposed to know if you're easy or not? Or if you'd slept with Hinata or anyone else?"

They stared at each other.

"For the record," Naruto said. "I didn't. And you were my first."

"Well, you were my first too."

Naruto squinted at him. "That can't be right. I meant my first anything. Not just the first guy I'd been with."

Neji looked surprised.  "Oh," returned eloquently. "That's... are you saying no one ever tried to get with you? Or that you just turned them away?"

Naruto laughed humorlessly. "As if anyone is beating down my door. No, there was no one that showed an interest in me as soon as my mouth opened and they got to know me a little. Hinata was the only person I've been in a relationship with."

"Maybe they felt intimidated."

"By what?" Naruto was perplexed. "My scary blonde hair and creepy blue eyes?"

The corner of Neji's mouth twitched up in amusement. "Well, they are uncommon. But that wasn't what I meant."

"What then?"

Neji regarded him thoughtfully. "It's hard to explain... but it's like... you seem so open and honest, and hardly anyone is really like that anymore, so they wonder what you are hiding. And maybe on some level, they also sense that you are holding back, and there is only so close they will ever get to you. So then there is also fear of the unknown."

Naruto frowned as he pondered that. "Makes sense, I suppose... but I was rather hoping they were just thrown into fear of my terribly sexy self."

Naruto grinned as Neji burst out laughing.

"I took you seriously for a second there," Neji said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Gets 'em every time." Naruto winked.

"You have a point though. I think people would feel intimidated by your looks as well."

"Pffft," Naruto snorted.

"I'm serious. It was the first thing I noticed about you."

"When?"

"The night I met you. Out on the doorstep. I couldn't get over your crazy blonde hair and your blue eyes."

Naruto cocked his head. "If I remember correctly, you were a complete asshole that day."

Neji smiled sweetly.

"And like, most days I came over. You were set on tormenting me."

"Yet you still tried your damnedest to get to know me."

"Yeah - I think I'm a bit touched in the head. But seriously, why were you like that?"

"I was pushing you away. I've been avoiding getting close to people for a while now."

"How long is a while?"

"... Four years."

Naruto whistled. "Damn. Why stop now?"

"You were persistent."

"Is that all?"

Neji reached a hand behind Naruto's head, running his fingers through soft messy hair, and brought their lips close. "And sexy," he said against them, drawing Naruto into a slow, passionate kiss. He could feel the stirrings of desire like a fluttering in his stomach even though, by all rights, he should have exhausted that feeling.

"Gah," Naruto said breathlessly as their legs intertwined, "If I'm sexy, what does that make you?"

"Helpless?" Neji suggested as he nuzzled Naruto's neck.

Naruto started to laugh when he heard the front door open and close.

In unison, they stopped, and looked at the bedroom door.

"That isn't locked, is it?" Naruto asked, knowing it wasn't.

"... No," Neji said after giving it some thought.

"You know, I think I just came up with the worst possible way for Hinata to find out about this, and the chances of it happening just jumped to 75%."

A soft knock rapped on the door.

"95%," Naruto corrected himself with panic in his hushed voice.

"Are you not telling her about this?"

"Well, I don't know that she needs to know about this, but I was going to break things off with her... I just don't know how to do it without hurting her feelings too badly. Given the circumstances... well, you see why I dragged my feet on this?"

Actually, Neji could. It wasn't that Naruto had been indecisive about who he wanted to be with - it was that he was concerned about letting Hinata down as easily as possible. It showed a level of caring that most people lacked, and made Neji think even more highly of Naruto.

Again came the knocking. "Neji? Naruto? Are you in there? I saw the xbox was on..."

They scrambled off the bed as quickly and noiselessly as they could.

"We're here, hang on a second, Hinata," Naruto said. He grabbed his shirt off the floor and cleaned himself up with it.

Neji face-palmed and Naruto realized what he'd done. He'd rendered his only shirt unwearable. Fuck. 

Neji tossed the box of tissues he'd been holding out to Naruto aside, and started looking for something he could borrow.

"I was just trying on some old stuff of Neji's that he doesn't want anymore," Naruto called out to her, explaining his new shirt in advance while warning her not to come in. He found a scented candle to light as Neji threw several shirts and a pair of pants at his feet to aide his alibi.

"Ok then, I'll be in my room when you're decent."

Naruto jammed each shirt over his head in turn, making sure they all fit reasonably, leaving the last one on along with the pants, which were actually long-style cargo shorts he realized as he pulled them on over his boxers. He piled the other shirts over the clothes he'd worn earlier into a neat bundle, effectively camouflaging them.

When he looked up, Neji, now fully dressed, was staring at him.

"I guess now would not be the time to tell you how good those clothes look on you?" Neji asked.

Naruto glanced down to see what he'd ended up in.  It was a black, slightly form-fitting T-shirt with a swatch of brown and white outlined leaves flowing up the left side and across his chest, a skater label nestled within. The cargos were a bleached, off-white khaki and hung low on his hips.

"Probably not, but thanks anyway," he said as Neji went to his desk and scribbled something on a small piece of paper.

Neji came over to him, slipping his arms around his waist and kissing him, sliding the note into his back pocket.  "My number," he said simply. "Don't lose it."

"What if I do?" Naruto said with a sly smile.

"I don't know, I guess I'd have to raid Hinata's phone for it," he murmured. "So do try to hang on to it, ok?"

Hinata. "Neji... I'm not looking forward to this..." Naruto said, his mind already on the task at hand, his stomach tying in knots over delivering his first breakup line. "How bad is this going to be? I mean... I cheated on her... What am I even supposed to say? I'm not a great liar, but if I tell her the blunt truth..."

"Naruto," Neji shook his shoulders a little to get his attention.  "Do what you have to do. I trust you to make it as easy on her as you can."

Naruto nodded, defeated. It felt like a lead weight had settled in his gut, while his throat tightened. Neji made it sound so simple, but it wasn't. He wanted to stay friends with Hinata, he wanted to not upset her, and he didn't want to put a strain on her relationship with Neji - especially since they lived together and saw each other every day. And he wanted her not to hate him. But how could he expect that from her? Right now he was hating himself for not setting things right sooner. How much easier this would have been to do a mere few hours ago. Or a week ago. Before he and Neji had gotten so involved. But then - he'd been naive. He hadn't even seen the signs of what had been brewing between them. He'd been blind to the fact that he never wanted Hinata in the way he wanted Neji.

________________________

TBC