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moor
Prompt: Fake Dating
Rating: T, maybe M later
Squicks: Misunderstandings, loss of family, misunderstood intimacy
Squicks: Misunderstandings, loss of family, misunderstood intimacy
A/N: Age Chart
Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine || Part Ten || Part Eleven || Part Twelve || Part Thirteen ||
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Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine || Part Ten || Part Eleven || Part Twelve || Part Thirteen ||
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Tobirama balked as he stepped into his home from the elevator.
“Hey! You’re home!”
“Who are you?” asked Tobirama evenly, his cool eyes piercing the apron-wrapped stranger who greeted him.
“Oh, I’m Sakura’s friend, Naruto. She asked me to house-sit for you until you got back. I hope you like cookies, I just put a whole bunch in the oven!”
Staring perplexedly at the cheerfully humming blond, Tobirama paused before pulling out his phone.
“Oh, there’s something for you in your music room!” called Naruto from the kitchen.
Setting down his various luggage, Tobirama hesitantly approached the conservatory.
“What is it this time?” asked Sakura as their limo inched forward through the hoards of reporters at their home airport.
“Kakashi thinks it’s your cover of that mystery song,” read Tsunade from her phone. She glowered at Ino. “What did you do?”
“It wasn’t me!” snapped Ino, crossing her arms. She bit her lip. “There was a security guard who was paying Sakura more attention, though… I thought she was just angling for her autograph. How much got out?”
“Kakashi said just the last few lines,” said Tsunade.
Sakura casually checked her phone but there were no new messages.
#
“You and Sakura, huh?” remarked Naruto, chewing a chocolate chip cookie. Still wearing his apron, he joined Tobirama on his couch while they shared tea and—surprisingly chewy, delicious—cookies.
Tobirama coughed as his swallow of tea went down the wrong pipe. “Did she say that?”
“Her Inner-self has been a whole lot more active since you two started your… thing…” said Naruto, his tone erring into caution. Like he was afraid he was about to get in big trouble.
“What thing?”
“Nothing,” said Naruto, stuffing seven cookies in his mouth. “More tea?” The blond escaped to the kitchen.
#
Tobirama chewed his cookie slowly. Not just because it was good, which it was, and he would maybe ask Naruto for the recipe, later. But because he kept turning matters over in his head.
How… how could he thank her. For rescuing him from the paps at the mall. For finding him after the break-in. For tracking down and returning his guitars. For getting him a house-sitter who made incredible cookies…
His neck warmed, remembering he had, in a way, given her a key to his place. But that was… different.
Flowers didn’t seem like enough.
Maybe… words?
#
Grabbing the notebook and pens he always carried with him, ever since Sakura gave them to him in the hospital, Tobirama flipped pages until he found a blank one. There were so few left. He’d composed Send You’s greatest hits in its cherished pages. His tongue tied behind his lips, the blood in him tingling, like it had so long ago. There was so much he wanted to say but his desire and fear battled inside him. Could he? Should he?
… Dare he?
Yes.
His eyes bright, Tobirama began writing.
Half-forgotten, Naruto quietly set more cookies within Tobirama’s reach.
#
“This, this is uh, Tobirama’s phone. He’s busy right now, can I take a message?”
Hashirama stared at his mobile, brow furrowed.
“Who’s this?”
“I’m Naruto! How are you doing?”
Wrinkling his nose, Hashirama shook his head. “Good… could you please pass me to my brother?”
“He’s busy and asked not to be disturbed. He’s writing.”
Oh, well, that explained it. Hashirama sighed.
“OK. Thank you, Naruto. Does he need anything? He forgets himself sometimes when it comes to his music.”
“No, Sakura gave me a list and I stocked his fridge. Thanks, though! Bye!”
“She did? What?” mumbled Hashirama.
#
“You can text him first,” pointed out Ino, painting Sakura’s nails.
“Naruto will call if he needs anything.”
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“He is an awesome house-sitter. He even printed up all your plant-notes last time and laminated them so he would keep them in tip-top shape. I just hope he didn’t bake those cookies. I’ll never get him back from Tobirama if he started stress-baking…”
“And the guitars?”
“Naruto said they arrived and he polished each one to better-than-new condition. Knowing him, he did.”
“So are you going to relax?”
Sakura tensed. “I’m relaxed.”
“Hmmm…”
#
“More cookies!” shouted Tobirama from his recording studio, four days later.
His steps slow and even in the face of the red-eyed demon, Naruto shakily offered a plate. “M-maybe we should try some fruit slices? Or water? How about a nice egg sandwi—”
“Cookies,” seethed Tobirama. But he stole the bowl of grapes and the sandwich from Naruto’s hands. “And water.”
“Coming right up!”
Diving back into his music, Tobirama annotated his previous annotation and experimented with mixing the second and third tracks while—
From the doorway, Naruto watched Tobirama’s graceful, precise movements.
“You got this,” smiled Naruto.
#
N: He’s eating and drinking; he even took a nap for a few hours, yesterday.
H: Thank you, I appreciate the updates. Oh, your better half asked when you were escaping.
N: LOL, I’ll call him again tonight. He’s a little territorial. Sorry.
H: It was adorable when Madara brought it up. I think Sasuke is sulking.
N: Don’t tell Sasuke Madara said that. (I wanna be there to see Sasuke’s face, LOL)
H: Hahaha noted! How’s Sakura btw?
Naruto glanced at Ino’s texts and grinned.
N: She’s being stubborn. But she wouldn’t have called me if she didn’t care.
#
Stop being awkward, Sakura coached herself. Neither of you needs to be in trouble for you to reach out to the other. You can be friends without drama.
Still. Would he think she overstepped, resetting his home security and setting him up with a housekeeper-slash-Tobi-keeper?
Nibbling the inside of her cheek, she stared at the empty text message she’d been trying to write for the last…
She groaned.
DAYS.
DAYS OF BEING A COWARD.
Why couldn’t he just call her first?
Groaning, Sakura banged her head on the wall.
“Stop it. You’ll ruin your makeup,” chastised Tsunade.
#
“She’ll find her way,” said Madara. The lines carved in his face were deeper than a decade ago, the bags beneath his eyes more obvious, yet his handsome features turned faces wherever he travelled. Being the highly recognizable, lead singer for You Cheat, he had seen the globe thrice over. His hand dragged through his wild hair and his features softened. “She’s tough.”
“She has to be, to keep Tobi in line,” agreed Hashirama, amusement lighting his warm brown eyes.
Madara smirked. That was Sakura.
“The kids are okay,” said Hashirama, sitting opposite Madara in the latter’s living room.
“Ah.”
#
TBC
AN: Please check out this GORGEOUS fanart for "The Lost Ones" by lateroofnights !!!!
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Date: 2023-07-12 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 02:52 am (UTC)Thank you for reading