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catflorist · 4 years ago

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SasuSaku Month 2020, Day 13: Miso Soup Summary: Sakura didn’t know what gave her the urge to tease him so much. But she didn’t want to stop. And besides, he started it. When Sakura gets locked out of her college dorm, she meets a boy named Sasuke who gives her miso soup. College AU Fluff. Rating: T

A Meal and a Pen

For the fourth time that hour, Ino reminded her that a boy was coming over.

“Again, I promise I won’t be here,” Sakura said.

Someone knocked at the door. Ino leapt up from the kitchen table. “Thanks, Sakura. Now get lost.”

From her seat in the kitchen, Sakura heard Ino greet Shikamaru, a fellow first-year student. Their footsteps faded down the twisted hallway to the suite’s common room. Sakura gathered her things and dropped them by the door. Before she could reach for her shoes, another knock sounded.

Sakura opened the door and stepped into the hallway in time to catch their RA disappearing around the corner. She bent to pick up a crumpled flyer at her doorstep.

The door swung shut behind her and locked with the sweetest click.

Sakura tried the handle. Ino and Sakura never locked their door—a bad habit—but now the handle refused to budge under her urgent hand.

“Ino?” she called, knocking at the door. But it seemed Ino had already retreated to the bedroom.

Sakura inspected the flyer. It read: AUTOMATIC LOCKS INSTALLED! KEEP KEYS ON HAND AT ALL TIMES.

It’s okay, she reminded herself. I can borrow a spare key. The flyer wisely listed the location of a lock-out and access services desk, only a five-minute walk away.

Sakura took one step and recognized a bigger issue. She stared down at her socked feet, pink to match her hair.

“Fu—” she started.

“Locked out?” a bored voice interrupted.

Twirling around, Sakura met eyes with a familiar dark-haired boy. He held a large container of soup in one hand and a bowl in the other. Despite speaking to her first, his face radiated disinterest—as if she had interrupted his soup-making with her misfortune. The way he held the container was somehow arrogant. Sakura thought about it and decided something about the tension of his wrist achieved this effect. She couldn’t place where she had seen him before, and this bothered her, because he was cute: deep, black eyes under serious brows, full lips arranged in a way she had trouble ignoring.

“I’m not locked out,” Sakura insisted. “Well, I’m a little locked out. My roommate’s home. But she—you know....” She grimaced, scratching the back of her calf with her socked foot, suddenly shy. She met the boy’s pointed gaze and wondered if he was going to make her elaborate. Surely, he knew what she meant.

The boy waited, watching her discomfort with rising amusement.

“…She is indisposed,” Sakura continued, “and I’m going to have to wait for her to let me in. I’m Sakura, by the way.”

“I know,” the boy said. At Sakura’s wide eyes, he scrambled to add, “I mean, you’re in my biology class. And I live on this floor.”

“Oh,” Sakura said, fighting her grin as she watched the boy’s cool exterior falter.

She definitely recognized him now. They had passed each other in the stairwell countless times. She had spotted his dark hair disappearing into a single down the hall. Once he had held the door for her in the lecture hall and did not respond to her word of thanks.

“I’m going to heat up my soup,” he muttered, with an expression like he had tasted sour milk.

“Right,” Sakura said. “Of course.” But he didn’t walk away yet.

He cast a glum look at Sakura, then down the hallway. “If you’re waiting in the lounge…I have enough for two. Since you can’t go anywhere else.” He gestured to her lack of shoes with his bowl.

Sakura hadn’t yet considered her next steps. Lacking shoes, keys, a phone, and money, her options were limited. She blinked. “Oh! I guess I have to wait somewhere. That would be really nice.” The boy straightened at these words. “Thank you, uh….?” Sakura trailed off. He hadn’t introduced himself.

“Sasuke.”

“Thanks, Sasuke,” she said. Why was his name familiar?

He said, “I’ll get a bowl for you.”

-x-

In the communal lounge, Sasuke set down two bowls and poured Sakura’s soup first, fishing in the container to dredge up the right proportions of tofu and seaweed.

“Thank you,” she said, waiting for him to sit. He gestured for her to go ahead.

Sakura took a tentative sip. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it was not this.

“Did you make this?” she asked gravely.

Sasuke nodded. “I made it last night.” He sat and pulled his own bowl closer.

Sakura took another long sip. “Really?”

“Yes,” he confirmed again, over the sound of a loud slurp.

“It tastes just like my mom’s cooking,” Sakura announced, with a flourish of her spoon. “Now I’m almost glad I got sexiled and locked out.” Sakura blushed then, remembering that she had only just formally met Sasuke, and as they had exchanged very few words, maybe it was not wise to allude to such carnal activities. But he was so quiet, and Sakura felt the need to fill the silence. And his stern eyes were a little disarming.

Sasuke asked, “Does this happen a lot?”

“It’s never happened before,” Sakura said. “Apparently, my door locks automatically now. And it’s safe to say that I’m not handling it very well.”

“I’ll plan to make more soup for next time,” Sasuke said, straight-faced, so Sakura didn’t catch the tease at first.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. “I agree. Just to be safe.”

The corners of Sasuke’s lips twitched into a smile. Sakura tucked her legs under herself on the chair. They finished their miso soup in a satisfied silence.

“I skip biology a lot,” Sasuke admitted in answer to a question she hasn’t asked.

Sakura was wondering about that. “Then I won’t bring up the midterm next week.”

Sasuke grimaced.

“We could study together,” Sakura suggested. “If you like. After all, I have nowhere to be.”

Sasuke considered this offer. He left and came back with his textbook. Sakura led him through the unit covered on the midterm, talking through each concept. Sasuke nodded along but didn’t ask any questions. He just listened to her. Sakura tried not to blush at his focused attention.

Eventually, Sasuke shut the textbook. “What are you doing in this class?”

Sakura blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re smart,” he said bluntly. “You’re clearly ahead of the other first-years. You should be in upper-level classes already.”

“Oh. Well, I am,” Sakura explained. “Last semester, I completed upper-level classes. And I’m taking more now. But the department changed its mind about me skipping this particular bio pre-requisite.”

Sasuke nodded smugly, his suspicions of her intelligence confirmed.

Sakura asked, “What are you studying?”

He shrugged, bored by the question. “I’m not a great student.” Then his mouth quirked. “I bet you’ve never even skipped class.”

Sakura smiled at his mocking tone. “I’m not interested in wasting my tuition money.”

“Teacher’s pet.”

“What a shame,” Sakura sighed. “I made this big biology study guide…” Sasuke perked up. “…which I might have considered sharing, were it not for this blatant disrespect.”

“I don’t want your color-coded study guide,” he assured her.

Sakura turned up her nose. “You can’t just assume things about people, Sasuke.”

He smirked. “How many highlighters do you own? Thirty?”

“I own a diverse set of stationary, for the record. I actually believe in spare highlighter usage…but colorful pens, for that matter—”

Sasuke’s smirk deepened.

Sakura changed course. “You’re just jealous, because you probably take awful notes.” She looked him over. “In fact, I bet your handwriting is terrible.”

Sakura didn’t know what gave her the urge to tease him so much. But she didn’t want to stop. And besides, he started it.

“Tch.” Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“I knew it.”

“Fine, let’s see,” Sasuke challenged, pulling out a pen from his pocket. He turned over Sakura’s forearm and smoothed over the future canvas with his fingertips. “What should I write?”

With his light touch on her pulse, Sakura could not concentrate. “Hmm?”

Chair legs scraped the ground, and Sasuke was sitting next to her. He grasped the inner crook of her elbow with his right hand and with his left scratched out a phrase on her skin. Sakura could not help but notice the pleasant way his long lashes curled above the arch of his cheekbones.

Sasuke stopped writing. His head tilted, and he looked at her. And then—at her lips. Sakura’s breath caught.

A familiar sound from the hallway snapped Sakura out of her reverie.

“That’s Ino,” she gasped, shooting out of her chair. Every other part of her screamed in dismay at the interruption. “I need to catch her.” Sakura ran into the hallway just as closing elevator doors muffled the sound of Ino’s laughter.

“Stairs,” Sasuke called. Sakura pivoted and flew down the stairwell, Sasuke’s footsteps close behind her. In between the third and second floors, the combination of Sakura’s speed and her pink socks on the smooth steps transmuted traction into ice. Sakura slipped backwards with a yelp, smashing her elbow against the railing.

Something interrupted her fall. With stunning reflexes, Sasuke had managed to grab her shoulders before she risked cracking her head on the steps.

“Ow,” Sakura cried, rubbing her elbow. She let out a curse.

“You don’t look like a person who curses,” Sasuke commented, releasing her. Without consulting each other, they both dropped to sit on the steps, the chase forgotten.

“What did I say about assumptions?” Sakura chided, leaning against the railing. “Okay—new plan. Maybe the desk attendant can help us?” She paused, realizing she had presumed Sasuke’s involvement. Though he had run after her on the steps. “Or—I can do that—and you can go back to your soup, or whatever else you do.”

Massaging her elbow, Sakura twisted her arm around, and for the first time, saw what Sasuke had scrawled on her skin. His name: Uchiha Sasuke. And then: his number.

Sakura’s mouth slackened in surprise. Sasuke crossed his arms.

Sakura traced the scrawl on her arm with a flutter in her stomach. “You do have terrible handwriting.”

She smiled at Sasuke.

-x-

The desk attendant did not help.

“I’ll need your ID to loan you a key,” he drawled.

“I don’t have my ID,” Sakura said.

“If you don’t have your ID, you’ll need to take this process to the lock-out and access services desk across campus.”

“I don’t have shoes,” Sakura said kindly.

“I don’t make the rules.”

“Well, thanks for your help,” Sakura said. She made a move towards the stairs.

“I’ll need to see your ID if you plan on re-entering the building,” the attendant said.

“I haven’t left the building,” Sakura reminded him.

“Again, not my policy.”

“I’m happy to follow your policy,” Sakura said kindly. “But I’ll need to go upstairs, and borrow my friend’s shoes, so I can re-enter the place I pay to live.”

The attendant leaned back in his swivel chair and closed his eyes, trapping them firmly in bureaucratic purgatory.

Sakura gave Sasuke a look.

Without a sound, Sasuke pulled out the pen from his pocket and put a finger to his lips. Sakura frowned. Then Sasuke lobbed the pen in a graceful arc. It collided hard enough against the glass entrance of the building that the resulting clang disrupted the desk attendant.

Sakura gaped. It was masterful.

“HEY!” the desk attendant called, scurrying to the entrance.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke’s hand. They half-sprinted, half-stumbled up all five flights of stairs, collapsing on the top step. Sakura clutched her stomach, giddy with suppressed laughter, and Sasuke fought back a grin, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“You were amazing,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Sasuke told her, “I was wrong about you. You’re not just a teacher’s pet.”

“What am I, then?” Sakura asked, still panting.

He considered. “You’re dangerous.”

Sakura did not know who reached out for whom. One moment, they sat breathless next to each other in the empty stairwell. The next, their lips were meeting in a hungry, open-mouthed kiss, Sakura’s fingers already laced through Sasuke’s hair, Sasuke’s arms encircling her waist. Enjoying this unforeseen turn to her day, Sakura’s teeth pulled on his lower lip. A small, strangled noise escaped Sasuke’s throat. He moved as if to tug her into his lap. A thrill shot through Sakura’s whole body. She let his hands guide her—

“Sakura? Sasuke?” a voice sounded.

They shot apart. A column of orange towered over them.

“Huh.” Naruto beamed at them. “I didn’t know you two have met.”

-x-

The three of them convened together in Sasuke’s small single. Sasuke perched in his desk chair while Sakura sat cross-legged on his bed next to Naruto.

It turns out, Naruto and Sasuke were old childhood friends, still bound at the hip and attending the same college. Meanwhile, Sakura and Naruto had grown close throughout the semester. She tutored him in chemistry, and he dragged her out to get ramen and drinks. Seeing them together, Sakura connected the dots and remembered the countless times Naruto had mentioned his childhood friend to her over the past few months:

“I think you’d get along well with this old friend of mine.”

“I tried to convince my friend Sasuke to get ramen with us tonight but he’s too busy brooding.”

“I’m stressed for midterms. I wish I could live like Sasuke who has never studied a day in his life. Bastard.”

Now, Naruto could not stop laughing. He laughed throughout Sakura’s retelling of the past few hours. He laughed when he saw the handwriting on Sakura’s forearm. He laughed harder at Sasuke’s dangerous scowl and bent over at the sight of his pink ears.

Wiping a tear, he said, “I’ve never seen you go after a girl like this.”

Sasuke grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

“I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen you try so hard for anything in your life.”

“Shut up, dobe.”

Sakura watched the exchange, both horrified and flattered.

Naruto turned to her. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right, kissing my idiot friend?”

Sakura struggled to think of something to say that would both entertain Naruto and ensure that Sasuke would kiss her again.

Eventually she shrugged. “He gave me soup and sacrificed his pen. What else could I do?”

Sasuke stopped drumming his fingers on his knee. He was pleased.

“Hopeless,” Naruto said. But he was smiling.

The three friends talked. The room grew dark, and Sasuke turned on the weak lamp at his bedside. They talked more, until Sakura was blinking hard to stay awake.

Naruto sprang out of Sasuke’s bed, stretching so wide that his body occupied half the square footage of Sasuke’s room. “I need to go home,” he yawned. “Farewell, lovebirds.”

“Bye, Naruto,” Sakura called.

Sasuke made a derisive noise, concluding his goodbye.

As the door swung closed, Sakura said, “I should go, too. Wait.” She laughed. “I’m still locked out.”

“Maybe your roommate’s back now,” Sasuke said. Neither of them moved.

“Help me up,” Sakura said. She reached for Sasuke. He stood and clasped both her hands, pulling her onto her feet. Sakura let the momentum swing her body much closer to him than necessary. He did not move away.

“Thank you for helping me today,” she muttered into the sudden quiet.

Sasuke said, gaze lowered, “I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while.” She remembered the tone of his voice when he first spoke to her that evening—bored, uncaring. This must not be the easiest thing for him to admit.

Sakura shifted her weight onto her toes. This small movement was all she needed to close the gap between them. She pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his mouth.

“I’m glad you did,” she said. Sasuke’s hands on hers tightened.

“Let me walk you home,” he said.

The walk down the hallway was short. Sakura knocked on her own door, and Ino opened it.

“Sakura! I was wondering where you were.”

“Thank goodness you’re here, Ino,” Sakura laughed.

“You left your phone and keys—oh.” Ino noticed the gloomy figure behind Sakura and smiled wide.

“I locked myself out. I’m a mess tonight,” Sakura sighed. “But Sasuke-kun here helped me out.”

“How nice,” Ino said, still smiling.

To Sasuke, Sakura said, “We’ll talk later?” She tapped her arm with a small smile. Ino’s eyes tracked the movement.

Sasuke nodded at her, then nodded at Ino, and left without any particular fanfare.

Inside their own suite, Ino flipped over Sakura’s arm.

“Hah!” she cried.

“It’s been a long night,” Sakura said. She could not stop smiling.

She owed Sasuke a meal and a pen.

. Note: this was a lot of fun to write, and pretty different from what I've explored so far--dialogue heavy and (hopefully) humorous. please let me know what you think of this writing style and tone! is more college au something you're interested in seeing? If you want to read more sasusaku from me, please check out the rest of my SasuSaku Month 2020 series, and also The Garden, a post-canon blank period fic which I'm very proud of (on my AO3). thank you for reading!!!

#ssm20 #ssm20d13 #sasusaku #sasusaku fanfiction #sasusaku fanfic #my ss #my ssm20 #my fic #catflorist #nothing better than making out in a stairwell #reblog if you agree #ss #ss fic

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