Four floors to each garden apartment and three apartments on each floor.
And not a single one had a washer and dryer unit of their own.
This annoyed Sasuke to no end but with utilities included and a laundromat around the corner that provided a laundry drop off service at a reasonable price, he would never have to visit the laundry center in the basement of the apartment.
At least that was usually the case.
Sasuke hated going down to the laundry center. He had a difficult enough time dealing with roommates he wasn’t sure how to handle run ins with strangers in a secluded area.
The apartment he shared was a drive from their school but it was cheaper and in a quieter neighborhood than the apartments on campus. Mostly families lived in the garden apartment units which was perfect considering both his father and Kiba’s mother made it a point that they were going to school to get an education not to party.
Shino didn’t have that same issue with his parents but he was Shino and no one expected him to be the one always missing at some random girl’s apartment every other weekend or so.
Unfortunately for Sasuke he was behind on a lot of his housework because of work and school. Really behind.
He was down to his last pair of gray sweatpants and an old hoodie. He had clean socks left but unfortunately no more boxer briefs. He knew his mother would be scandalized by the state of his laundry hamper.
Sasuke couldn’t wait for his clothes to be taken to the laundry service. He had to wash at least one load of laundry so that he would have clothes to wear while his laundry was being taken care of.
Because of the fact that it was mostly families in the apartment, Sasuke was sure that doing a load of laundry in the middle of the night would assure he would be completely alone.
At least that’s what he thought.
Walking down the hall to the laundry center it wasn’t until he reached the door that he could hear a dryer running and smell fabric softener in the air.
At one in the morning?
He ignored the fact that he was also attempting to do his laundry at one in the morning and grumbled inwardly. He considered that whoever was inside was probably trying to avoid running into their neighbors as well and wouldn’t bother with small talk.
Propping his basket on his hip, Sasuke pushed open the door to the laundry center with the intention to avoid eye contact and just stare ahead at the washing machines.
Entering the room he almost dropped his basket and let the dirty laundry and box of detergent tumblr to the floor.
The machines weren’t that tall but for someone as petite as his neighbor they still were an issue. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her bottom clad in a pair of simple cotton shorts as she leaned into the machine to try and snatch the last remaining articles of clothes from the bottom.
She hopped away from the machine and Sasuke was sure that any jiggling that was going on was just over exaggerated in his mind ever since he had zeroed in on her bottom.
Sasuke stood in the doorway feeling slightly awkward. He wasn’t sure what he expected his neighbor to look like but she definitely wasn’t what he pictured.
Turning to face him, she awkwardly pressed her wet clothes to her chest and gaped at him.
“The machines are free,” she muttered and shuffled over to the dryers and tossed her last bits of clothes in before shutting the door.
Sasuke snapped into action and hastily loaded his laundry and detergent into the wash and slid his laundry card into the machine to turn it on.
The original plan was to stay in the laundry center until his clothes were done. Sasuke didn’t feel like trekking up and down the stairs to his apartment in the third floor so he was going to stay put and play around with his phone like he had planned and hopefully his neighbor would leave and wouldn’t come back until her clothes were done drying.
He tried not to think about how the only things he was wearing was the gray sweats and the old police academy hoodie he stole from his brother-in-law Shisui.
Sakura wanted to crawl into the dryer and hide until her neighbor decided to leave. She was sure she could fit inside comfortably.
She settled for sitting on top of the dryer and hiding behind her assigned reading and ignoring the heaviness of her breasts as she was now hyper aware of them and her lack of a bra now that a man was in the same room as her.
And he wasn’t just any man. He just had to be the same neighbor she had been harboring a crush for ever since she saw him and his roommates unloading their moving truck from the safety of her balcony.
Her eyes were always drawn to him when she saw him at the 24/7 gym attached to the leasing office and swimming pool. Her heart always skipped a beat when she saw him heading to the apartment after parking his car.
And he doesn’t even know I exist.
Sakura’s nose wrinkled as her face pinched up in self loathing. Here she was, embarrassed that she was practically tits out with her attractive neighbor in a secluded area, and still bemoaning the fact that he wouldn’t even look her way.
Peering over the top of her book, Sakura snuck a glance at him and then shoved her nose back into her book.
Holy shit!
She didn’t mean to look at it. She really didn’t. Her eyes just happened to land on an unfortunate location when she let them drift over the pages of her book.
She couldn’t stop what her roomie Karin had said that earned a smack on the arm from her girlfriend.
“Girls have sundresses and yoga pants and guys have gray sweatpants. Everything is out there for you to see.”
Well everything really was all out there for her to see and she had no idea what she was supposed to do about that.
“There’s a lot you can do with that,” a voice that sounded suspiciously like Karin wheedled into her mind.
With her face heating up, she slid her assigned reading up to block her face and whatever view she had of her neighbor.
Not like he can tell what’s up with me. He’s just messing with his phone.
He knew that ass.
It belonged to the jogger that shared the gym space with him in the early hours of the morning or late at night. Her hair was the familiar shade of pale pink that trailed behind her, swinging as she ran with her back to him from his seat at the horizontal chest press machine.
It had become a familiar sight on Monday and Wednesday mornings and then on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
A familiar enough sight to recognize a set of missing lines that stretched across her bottom against the material of her shorts.
But her underwear or lack of underwear wasn’t his business.
Sasuke shifted his body and then changed his mind from leaning against the washer and decided that sitting on top of it would be more comfortable. The movement made him uncomfortably aware that his dick was brushing the soft inner lining of his sweatpants directly but there was no way he was going to stand the entire time.
Peeking from his peripheral, he saw his neighbor fidget from her seat on top of one of the dryers. She was reading a book he had to read in a lit course in a previous semester.
It was the first time he actually got a decent look at her face and she had a face to match her tight body that had him looking back down at his game on his phone. He was busy trying to kill off humanity with a disease he created in the game but he kept losing focus whenever there was a slight creak of metal and his neighbor was shifting in her seat.
She had crossed her legs this time and his eyes were drawn to the artificial light reflecting off of her smooth shin. He followed the shine past her knees and up to her thighs. Soft thighs. His eyes traced the hem of her shorts before they snapped back to his cell phone.
The washer completed it’s cycle before the dryers were finished which left Sasuke awkwardly waiting around until his neighbor was done using them.
It really made no sense for the dryers to have to run fifteen minutes longer than the washers.
Sasuke fidgeted on his perch, aware of a set of eyes on him. Occasionally it would feel like he was being watched and his neighbor would look back at her book before his eyes could actually meet hers.
Out of all of the buildings that made up the cluster of garden apartments he would have never thought that the jogger would live in the same apartment building he did.
What a funny coincidence…
He sighed inwardly and went back to his phone. Sasuke had no idea how Shino did it. His roommate barely spoke to him or Kiba, how did he talk to girls let alone get them to bring him home?
Forty-five minutes alone in the room and the two of them hadn’t said a single word to each other after she had told him that the machines were free.
His neighbor uncrossed her legs, drawing his attention back to her creamy skin. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with the fact that he was there. She had come down barely clothed in tiny shorts and a camisole and had probably expected to be alone.
Soon enough the dryer buzzed and she hopped off of the dryer. Sasuke tried to keep his head down to avoid staring at anymore bouncing parts of her anatomy would do. It didn’t help that she had bend down to unload the dryer which left him free to look at her backside.
Sasuke kept his eyes on his phone, attempting to be as respectful as possible.
“Machines are free.”
Looking up from his phone, Sasuke saw his neighbor standing with her basket at her hip. She avoided eye contact with him before awkwardly waving goodbye and exiting the laundry center as quickly as possible.
Well that couldn’t have been weirder.
He was wrong, of course.
For some reason after that meeting he saw his neighbor more often.
He would be out on his balcony taking a drag when she would be climbing out of her car or walking up from the path everyone cut through the thin line of trees to the convenience store.
He couldn’t see her that clearly sometimes, especially at night but she was so expressive even when it came to how she held herself.
On Wednesday afternoons she would be dragging her feet, too tired almost to make it up the steps to make it inside of their building. Her overloaded backpack would be slung over one of her shoulders and he could hear her groan from where he stood, hanging over the railing so no ash would fall on Shiro or Akamaru’s outdoor water bowl or the bee watering station that Shino had set up.
It was even more awkward when he attempted to go jogging with Shiro. He would end up carrying his Shiba Inu back to the apartment and on the way his neighbor would be out jogging in one of her usual small outfits.
She worked out a lot.
Sasuke would have just walked on by without acknowledging her presence if Shiro hadn’t decided to yelp excitedly as she approached.
“Cut it out,” Sasuke scolded his dog.
“So cute!”
Sasuke froze as his neighbor slowed down to a stop and proceeded to pet his dog. It had been two weeks since they had been this close to each other and it was only thanks to his attention slut son that it was even happening.
“What’s his name?”
“Shiro.”
“Cute. See you around Shiro and…?”
His neighbor’s eyes drifted to his face and she looked up at him expectantly.
“Sasuke.”
She beamed and scratched Shiro behind his ear one last time.
“Sakura,” she replied before slipping her earbuds back on and taking off down the sidewalk again.
He gave Shiro an extra treat when they got back to the apartment.
The next time she saw Sasuke was at the gym.
He was a constant presence on the machines and she usually didn’t see him until after she finished her run. There was a routine that never broke.
Until today.
He was at her treadmill. Her treadmill. Sure there were two other treadmills she could use but that was her treadmill. She used it every Monday and Wednesday morning and then every Tuesday and Thursday night.
Her neighbor━Sasuke━probably didn’t realize that she used the gym at the same hours he did. She was the first one in the gym and he came after she did but until the moment where she saw him with his dog—not even the laundry room run in━she was sure he never truly noticed her.
The treadmills faced away from the entrance of the gym so her eyes landed on his back. His shoulder blades stretched the fabric of his muscle tank as he pumped his arms. Sakura’s eyes trailed downward and watched the way the tight muscles of his body flexed with every movement he made.
Oh sweet lord…
Sakura shook her head and moved her bag and bottle of water to the cubbies available for storage. It was just a normal day━night. A normal night where she would get her run in and then go home for a hot shower before she hit the books.
But she was panting and he was panting as they ran in tandem. The sound of their breaths puffing in sync clouded her mind.
It was easy enough to slip into a daydream of a different situation that would leave them panting.
Sasuke was tall and strong. His muscular arms from the edge of her peripheral were a reminder of that. He could probably lift her and press her against the cubbies without breaking a sweat.
Heat was pooling in her lower stomach and downward as she thought about how they were always alone in the gym no matter what time they both came in. If only the management hadn’t set up security cameras then they could…
There was a loud click when the door unlocked as another resident used their key card to gain access to the 24/7 gym.
Slamming down on the cool down button, Sakura braced herself against the handlebars of the treadmill. She barely slowed down when she hopped off the machine and grabbed her things.
That shower was going to have to be cold.
Sasuke rolled his eyes when the next group of soccer moms walked past him giggling and whispering to themselves.
It wasn’t as if men couldn’t take yoga classes.
Kiba had convinced him and Shino to take the yoga class provided by the apartment management in his attempt to hook up with the brunette one building over that was always covered in cat hair.
It took him taking care of all the kitchen and bathroom cleaning duties for the next month but he still managed to rope the two of them into attending yoga.
“He ditched us,” Sasuke said flatly as they watched Kiba lay his complimentary yoga mat right next to a willowy brunette near the front of the room.
“I expected him to.”
Shino yanked the hood of his cotton t-shirt so it was secure over his head and smoothed out the lines of his harem pants as he kneeled on his mat.
“You just wanted to take the class didn’t you?”
“Acting as if I didn’t got me out of toilet cleaning duties.”
“Brilliant.”
Sasuke looked at the door and back at Kiba. It wasn’t as if Sasuke needed the class. His sister-in-law was a yoga instructor and he had been forced into lessons alongside his older brother and brother-in-law for most of his teen life.
“This is a good spot.”
Sasuke looked away from Kiba’s awkward attempts at flirting and noticed a bossy looking redhead setting down three sets of mats in front of his and Shino’s mats.
“Karin, you should probably ask if they’re reserving the spot in front of them first.”
A brunette with her hair secured in twin buns eyed Sasuke and Shino apologetically. Though it didn’t stop her from sitting down on her mat in front of Shino and patting the mat in front of Sasuke.
“Karin does what she wants,” a familiar voice grumbled.
“Don’t I know it.”
Sasuke’s breathing halted as Sakura kneeled on the mat in front of him and waved back at him politely. She turned to face the front, her racer-back tank top cut in a way that allowed her shoulder blades to be shown to advantage. His eyes followed the curve of her back down to her pert bottom that was sitting on her small feet.
A cough turned his attention to the redhead that was still looking in his direction. She mouthed the word “pervert” at him with a smirk before she turned to face the front, latching herself to the arm of the brunette she came in with.
Sasuke kept from scoffing out loud but movement from the figure in front of him caught his eye again.
Sakura stretched her arms above her head, straightening her back in the process. Sasuke’s eyes trailed over the contours of her lean muscles and then settled on her nape, where strands of pink hair fell against her creamy skin from the bun on top of her head.
This is going to be a really long hour…
“You wouldn’t quit staring,” Shino accused him as they walked down the hill from the leasing office to their garden apartment.
Sasuke refused to respond to him. The hour for the class had ticked by slowly and his focus kept drifting to the petite woman in front of him instead of the instructor up front. Kiba had secured a real date with the cat hair neighbor and he just suffered another day of not actually having a conversation with Sakura.
“Are you going to actually talk to her some day or are you hoping that your awkward body language is enough to communicate whatever it is that you want from her?”
Sasuke preferred it much better when Shino didn’t try to have conversations.
Sakura had had enough.
She scooped up her laundry basket and grabbed the detergent and fabric softener from the storage closet.
If Karin and Tenten were going to be fucking so loudly that she couldn’t sleep she was going to do something productive with her time.
Sakura had made it a bad habit to only get to her laundry by the time she had almost no clean clothing left in her closet. She ended up living mostly off of her gym attire when she was lounging at home or needed to run an errand because of it.
School and work took a lot out of her and if she didn’t workout to destress she could probably get more chores done but working out helped her relax so she could sleep.
It also kept her out of the apartment when Karin and Tenten were being just a little inconsiderate with their volume.
Walking down the corridor, Sakura could hear the machines running. She already made her way down from the fourth floor and she wasn’t going to turn back. She would just see if a machine was free or wait until her neighbor was done.
At least she had her phone to pass the time.
Opening the door Sakura would have bolted if Sasuke wasn’t already looking at her due to the creaking of the door. Of course he would be the one doing his laundry at this time of the night. He was the only one of their neighbors she had ever run into in the middle of the night trying to do his laundry as well.
“I just unloaded the machines a moment ago. I’m almost done.”
His voice was just loud enough to hear over the noise of the dryer. It looked like he had finished up washing all of his laundry but was waiting for loads to dry as he folded the ones that just finished.
Sakura dumped her laundry and the pods for detergent and fabric softener into the washers. She inserted her card and tried to relax her body. She didn’t want Sasuke to know that she was jittery in his presence.
She wanted him to think she was someone he could talk to.
And maybe…do much more afterward. At least have the potential for much more.
Setting her phone aside on the washer, Sakura edged closer to the dryers. They knew each other’s names, it shouldn’t be that strange to try to get some small talk in.
“Is that really how you fold your clothes?” Sakura giggled.
The piles of laundry were a little messy but the shape of the folds were oddly elongated.
“Is there a specific way you’re supposed to fold them?”
“Here.”
Sakura pulled one of his shirts from the pile of warm clothes. She held it out in front of her and took it by the shoulders and folded back the sleeves. She laid it across one of the dryer tops and folded the shirt in half so that it was neat and square the way it would have been on a shelf at a store.
“It’s just,” Sakura fumbled for a word, “neater.”
Sasuke stared at the shirt and didn’t respond. Sakura’s smile crumbled, sure that he was irritated by her interference. Sakura was about to apologize for being rude when he nudged her with his elbow.
“If you’re so good at folding why don’t you do my laundry then?”
“If you want help you should just ask,” Sakura giggled and nudged him back.
Between the two of them the laundry was folded and placed in his basket quickly. Sasuke was working on his last set of jeans when Sakura noticed something black under his t-shirt sleeve, shifting with muscles as he moved.
She knew he had a few tattoos due to the muscle tanks he wore but she never paid them any attention, preferring to watch the way his tendons moved under his skin and the flexing and bulging of his arm muscles.
Curious, her fingers slid his sleeve up so she could see what his tattoo was. She barely brushed against his skin, revealing the talons of a bird of prey, when Sasuke froze midway through folding.
Sakura snatched her hand back and mumbled out an apology. Whatever moment they were having she probably ruined it.
Sasuke tossed the jeans aside and tried to still his heart.
The touch was innocent. It was obviously out of curiosity for the tattoo on his upper left arm. Her fingers barely touched him and yet they caused a tingling sensation to crawl up his arm and down his back.
He glanced at Sakura from his peripheral. She had withdrawn her hand and was edging away from him.
Well that wouldn’t do. Not now that she was showing an interest in touching him.
Sasuke returned the favor and barely skimmed his fingers on her upper arm. Sakura shivered but her head snapped right back to him. He cocked his head to the side and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. Sakura’s mouth parted open in confusion and he took the opportunity to repeat the action, only more purposeful this time.
Sakura didn’t flinch this time but she quivered under his touch. Sasuke trailed his fingers up her shoulder and brushed them along her neck before cupping her face. He waited for something, either words or a change in body language, that told him to back off.
Sakura’s hand gripped his wrist loosely but she rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand. Keeping her eyes downcast, Sakura bit her lower lip and used her other hand to slide under Sasuke’s shirt.
Sasuke jumped under her touch, his abdominal muscles clenching under her gentle fingers.
He always imagined how smooth her skin would be and how soft she would feel but never imagined what it would be like if she touched him.
He kind of wanted her to touch him more.
As smoothly as he possibly could without saying anything, he gripped her by the waist and lifted her onto the dryer. With his palms flat on the dryer top he leaned in so his lips were a hairbreadth away from hers.
Sakura still hadn’t said anything yet and Sasuke needed her to respond somehow, whether it be verbal or physical.
He wanted her but she needed to want him just as much.
He smelled of mint. Sakura could practically taste it with how close he was, breathing onto her mouth.
Why isn’t he kissing me?
Sakura frowned but slid her hands up his chest and cupped his neck. Their noses slid against each other and gently, she closed the gap. She pressed her mouth to his, parting her lips to have his move against hers.
Sakura pulled him closer as his tongue stroked behind her teeth and rolled against hers. Sasuke gripped her hips and nestled himself between her parted legs.
It was a little odd that they were making out after not having talked much. But when Sasuke rolled his hips against hers, Sakura didn’t really care if their bodies kept doing the talking for them.
One of Sasuke’s hands kept his grip firm on her hip, continuing to hold her in place as he rocked against her. He flattened the other one on her stomach under her shirt and trailed it up until he cupped a bare breast. Sakura gasped when he thumbed her nipple at the same moment he thrust particularly hard against her.
Not wanting to just be receiving, Sakura broke free from Sasuke’s kisses to press her own along his jaw and down his neck. She flattened her tongue at the base of his throat licked up the side, feeling the groan he emitted vibrating in the back of his throat.
Sasuke kissed her fiercely, open mouthed without tongue so he could pull back, sucking her lower lip into his own mouth and released it with a gentle tug between his teeth. He rested his forehead against hers, letting Sakura catch her breath only for him to roll his hips against hers in a lazy rhythm that her hips subconsciously tried to match.
The buzzer for the washing machine went off but Sakura couldn’t find it in herself to care as she crossed her ankles against Sasuke’s lower back trying to push him closer than he already was.
Moaning softly, Sasuke nudged Sakura’s chin up with his nose and trailed hot kisses down the line of her throat. He bunched up her t-shirt under her armpits, leaving her breasts bare. He cradled the back of her head with one hand as he lowered her down, pressing more kisses down her sternum before sucking on the underside of her right breast.
He looked her directly in the eye before flattening his tongue against her nipple and giving it a sure lick. He encased her nipple in his mouth and groaned as he tugged on it with his lips before releasing it to give the same treatment to her other breast.
Sasuke pressed more open mouth kisses down her toned stomach, sucking at the flesh by her belly button and caressing the underside of her thighs. He trailed more kisses along her waistband and tugged on it.
“Fuck,” Sakura moaned softly. If he was planning on doing what she thought he was going to do she might just die.
The buzzer of the dryer echoed in the chamber of the laundry center and Sasuke reluctantly pulled away from her. He turned her away so he could pull out his laundry and toss it into his basket and then got up and switched her laundry to the dryer. He then started the dryers using his own laundry card.
Sakura bit her lip to hold in her laughter. He was so impatient.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her and yanked on her shorts.
“Off. Now.”
Sakura lifted her bottom as he pulled them off along with her boy shorts, her slippers falling to the floor in the process. He kissed her navel and then scraped his teeth against her hip bone. The action caused Sakura to shiver in the warm laundry room.
Never dropping his gaze from her face, Sasuke pressed a kiss, licking the underside of her knee before placing her leg on his shoulder. He mirrored the action with her other leg and then pressed slow chaste kisses to her inner thighs, looking her right in the eye between each kiss.
Palming her bottom in his hands, Sasuke gave her center one hard lick before tracing a circle around her clit, never directly stimulating it.
Sakura let out a whine in the back of her throat and Sasuke just chuckled against her nether lips. He pressed an open mouth kiss to her core and groaned low in his throat. Sakura’s breath caught in her throat.
He’s trying to kill me!
Sakura weaved her fingers through Sasuke’s already messy hair and tried to lead him to where she wanted him. But it seemed that Sasuke had a different plan.
He pulled away from her to kiss up her thigh again. As he nipped and sucked at the flesh there, he stroked her nether lips with his index and middle finger, spreading them as he lazily massaged her.
It wasn’t until Sakura rolled her hips in desperation and whined low in her throat that Sasuke slipped his middle finger inside her. He supported her with one arm, sliding her off of the dryer so that she was standing and kneeled in front of her and pumped his finger at a slow, leisurely pace. Sakura shot him a glare before he slipped his ring finger in as well and picked up the pace. He curled his fingers and rubbed her clit with his thumb.
When he felt her clenching around his fingers he stopped the circular motions with his thumb.
“Really?” Sakura hissed. She was starting to wonder what she got herself into.
Sasuke smirked at her before he took her clit between his teeth and tugged it before drawing it between his lips and suckling it.
Sakura’s legs began to tremble and Sasuke removed his fingers so that he could hold her up as she reached her climax. He continued to lap at her, over stimulating her into another orgasm. When it seemed he was going to try getting her to a third she yanked on his hair.
“Sadist,” she hissed at him when he kissed her knee with a sly grin.
“Ah,” he agreed, caressing her legs. He kissed her thigh one more time before standing up to his full height.
Sakura eyed the bulge under Sasuke’s baggy shorts. She pressed her palm against it and Sasuke’s jaw clenched. Sakura withdrew her hand and grabbed her shorts and panties. She shimmied into them and scratched the back of her neck, playing with the strands of hair that fell out of her messy bun.
“We should, uh…”
Sakura swallowed hard. That had been a lot more intense than she had imagined it would be like.
And in the laundry room? Really?
“We should?” Sasuke stroked her side, looming over her from behind. He trapped her body between him and the dryer.
“Maybe take this somewhere else…?”
“Your clothes still have like another ten minutes.”
Sakura opened the doors to the machines and pulled her clothes out and tossed them into her basket. Sasuke’s eyebrow quirked up at her as she settled the basket on her hip.
“What? It’s only ten minutes. They’re dry enough.”
Sakura secured the basket on her hip and headed towards the door. She pulled it open and turned back to look at him.
“Well? Are you coming?”
“Am I?”
Sakura’s jaw dropped at the double entendre.
“Don’t be crude,” she scoffed but then smiled at him slyly. “Or you just might not be.”
Sasuke snatched his basket off the ground and followed her out.
And to think he used to hate going to the laundry center.
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