"Shisui asked if we would visit them soon," Sasuke said to his mother, playing with a loose thread on his blanket.
"Ah," Mikoto tilted her head at the thought. "Wouldn't it be nice to see your cousins and uncles again? It's been a couple of years."
"He asked if we would drive."
"Of course not," she said simply, holding her hand out to him. "Let me cut those strings off. You'll get carsick if we take a trip that long."
Sasuke handed her the blanket, giving her a doubtful glance. "I don't get carsick."
"Then your father will," Mikoto replied, patting his cheek a couple of times. "We'll fly." She stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, where Sasuke listened to her open and close a few drawers.
"Anyway," she called from the other room. "Did you enjoy yourself at Naruto's? Did they treat you well?"
Sasuke tugged at the hem of his shirt. "Yes."
"Naruto's mother such an interesting person," his mother continued. She entered the living room again and draped the gray blanket over Sasuke's lap, taking a seat next to him. "And his father's very funny. They make a unique family."
Sasuke recalled the first moment he'd stepped into Naruto's house, the welcomed and comfortable atmosphere that it had held. He remembered Kushina's bright hair as she pushed it over her shoulder and Minato's charismatic smile. It had all felt like the most stereotypical definition of a home, one built of red brick next to houses that matched it and its small green lawn and single oak tree.
He also remembered an ounce of the anger he'd felt last night in the few moments when he'd thought Naruto had been homophobic. Sasuke remembered the revolt he'd felt another human being, the feeling crawling inside his chest each time Naruto had gotten remotely close to him.
More strikingly, he considered the short amount of time in which Naruto's body had been pressed into his, and the single time that their lips had stuck together in their kiss. An unidentifiable heat had rushed through Sasuke during the whole ordeal, and frankly, it was something Sasuke hadn't felt before but wouldn't be against feeling again.
Sasuke was startled of just how much he wouldn't mind kissing Naruto again.
"They do," Sasuke said absentmindedly, listening to a few lines of the criminal documentary on TV.
Mikoto waited for a few moments in silence before sighing lightly and putting a hand to his forehead. "You're out of it," she said quietly.
Sasuke regarded her from the corner of his eye, expression deftly concerned. "Tired."
"No," she mused, her eyes darting all over his face. "Growing up." Mikoto cupped his cheek in her hand and kissed the other. "It was just yesterday that you were running all over the house in your diaper."
"I hope you don't mean that literally," Itachi interjected, stepping in front of the television. He was still in his pajamas. "If so, I must have missed more than I thought I did."
"No," Sasuke grumbled.
Mikoto laughed softly. "It seems like you're feeling better."
"I sensed that Sasuke came home," he said, stepping away from the television. Itachi lowered himself into the armchair next to him. "I had to come and ask him how his rendezvous was."
"It was fine," Sasuke repeated, barely managing to keep his voice from straying to the dry side. "Very amusing."
"I could tell," Mikoto put in. "You looked at my picture at one in the morning."
The corner of Sasuke's lip curled up at the memory. "Itachi doesn't seem very sick."
"But he is," she gave Itachi a pointed look.
"I am not," Itachi retorted. He turned his gaze onto Sasuke. "You're a little critter, are you aware?"
"I love you both dearly," Mikoto started, standing up and stretching for a moment. "But I think I've had enough of you."
"It's only four," his brother protested, resting his chin in his palm. "Did you enjoy more of your time when we were crawling around?"
"Those times are unforgettable," she smiled affectionately and leant against the back of the recliner. "But these are, too."
"I recall holding Sasuke as he cried himself hoarse for no reason," Itachi sighed.
Mikoto pursed her lips. "Both of you did that…" she pressed her fingers together and glanced down at Itachi. "In fact, having Sasuke was like having you a second time. The only difference was that you had acid reflux and Sasuke had a problem with peas."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I also remember Itachi purposely feeding me peas."
"How could you remember that?" she asked. "You were only three."
"You ate everything," Itachi pointed out. "I think if I had given you glue on a plate, you would have eaten it without complaint."
He narrowed his eyes. "Haven't you done that once?"
Mikoto pushed herself away from the recliner and sighed loudly. "Enough," she said. She grabbed Itachi's ponytail from its root at the crown of his head and pulled it loose. "Go lay down. Sasuke, finish up what homework you have left before your father gets on you for it. I'll start dinner."
Sasuke gave his brother another challenging glance, one that said: We'll finish this later. Itachi regarded him down his nose as he stood and calmly adjusted his T-shirt. He shuffled back to his room, shutting the door behind him.
"Do you want chicken?" his mother called.
"Yes," Sasuke answered back.
He grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and shut the television off, having grown annoyed with the news channel playing. Sasuke made a short trip to his room to grab a book for assigned reading and returned to the couch with it. He'd sit there and read while listening to the occasional clang of pot and pan in the kitchen while his mother cooked, he planned.
After a few minutes of reading, a dull pain grew behind Sasuke's eyes. He rubbed at them and set the book on the table, deciding to take a small break from it. Perhaps it was from staring at Naruto's TV so much, yesterday, he thought. He mourned the brain cells he'd lost during their game session.
Sasuke stared at the carpet as the mild pain came in pulses, bringing a finger to press against his temple. He laid down on the couch and covered himself with the fleece blanket, hoping he hadn't caught anything from Itachi. His brother tended to catch a cold around this time of year before his lungs weakened.
Sasuke decided that it wasn't a half bad idea to close his eyes to rest them. It was most definitely not a headache. Rubbing them caused them to burn, and keeping them open felt much too forced. He relaxed.
Unintentionally but inevitably, Sasuke fell asleep.
He woke up when he felt a sharp pressure against his forehead. Itachi.
"Stop it," he grumbled, pushing his brother's hand away.
"Dinner is served," Itachi offered. "You've only been asleep for three hours."
"Three?" Sasuke snapped, sitting up and glancing around the room for a clock. The blanket pooled around his hips as he read the time. Three and a half, to be precise.
"I didn't want to wake you up earlier," he continued. "You seemed tired."
"I didn't want to sleep through the whole afternoon."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have laid down," Itachi said. "Are you so riled up because you procrastinated doing your school assignments?"
"No," he muttered. Sasuke threw the blanket off of himself and stood, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
Itachi blinked. "Yes?"
"Nothing."
Sasuke made his way into the dining room, where his parents were already seated and waiting for them. He quickly sat down in his usual spot and waited for Itachi to return.
After he'd eaten dinner and answered his father's few questions about Naruto and school, Sasuke went into his room. He started on some math homework before he realized that he may or may not have forgotten to contact his cousin.
Sasuke unplugged his phone from its charger and checked his couple of texts from Naruto, but none from Shisui. He snorted as he read the texts from Naruto. They were about help on this and that, and a couple of jabs at him for being old fashioned.
Shut up he typed quickly, pressing send and watching to see how quickly Naruto would reply. He took his phone back over to his desk and put it in a place that he could see while he was doing his homework.
A few minutes later, Naruto replied. No!!!! I have free will, the text said. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Why did u take so long to reply? Quickly followed. Sasuke noticed that Naruto had first texted him shortly after he'd left his house.
He pursed his lips. Working, he replied.
Sasuke waited a few moments for the other to reply. When he didn't reply immediately like he had been earlier, Sasuke returned to his homework, slowly moving through word problems and checking his work each time he advanced. When he made an accidental miscalculation due to the slip of his finger, he took the chance to glance back at his phone, staring at it for a few moments to see if it would light up with a message from Naruto.
When it didn't, he cleared his calculator and started from the beginning again. Sasuke tapped his pencil against his paper when a wave of inattentiveness washed over him. He rubbed the smudged led from the side of his palm and erased any stray marks he could've made instead of doing work. Sasuke glanced back at his phone again, giving it a few moments for its screen to light up,
Ya right, said Naruto. He grabbed his phone and bit Naruto's ear off as much as he could through a text.
After replying, he set his phone down again, waiting for Naruto's response. It came quickly enough, a small string of messages on his screen as Naruto argued with him.
After a few moments of staring at the screen, a new message popped up.
It's really weird talking to u in texts can we facetime?
Sasuke tilted his head as he typed his reply. No.
Whatever, Naruto replied.
A few seconds passed before his phone rang with an incoming video call. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto's contact name before pressing the decline button. He didn't even bother to send Naruto a text.
Irritated, he glanced back at his phone when it rang again. It was Naruto, again, so Sasuke ignored it again. Naruto sent him a couple of texts complaining about how uptight he was and tried again.
Sasuke relented. He tapped the answer button and made sure Naruto knew just how much he didn't approve of his harassment.
Naruto's face came into view, a goofy grin on his lips. From what Sasuke could see, he was lying on his bed, his feet swinging happily behind him. "Sasuke!"
"Naruto," he said warningly. He propped the phone against the wall. "Do you have any idea how annoying you are?"
"You tell me pretty much every day," the other said thoughtfully.
Sasuke glared.
"Kyuubi says hi," Naruto offered, fixing the angle of the camera so that Sasuke could see a few tufts of orange hair.
"Tell him that I hope he gets run over."
"Hey!" Naruto whined, scowling. "Don't talk like that to my cat! He never did anything to you!"
Sasuke sighed. "I have freedom of speech. What do you want?"
"Is it a crime to wanna talk to my friend?" asked Naruto. He had his face propped up in both of his palms.
"You want my chemistry homework."
"Do not," he said sincerely. "In fact, I think you're worth a lot more than chemistry homework. Chemistry homework and a bowl of ramen, maybe."
Sasuke snorted. "I'm so honored."
"You should be," Naruto retorted. "But really. Is our studying thing still on?"
He rubbed the back of his neck and shoulders. "Sure. Except for Tuesday."
"Tuesday? Why?"
"It doesn't affect you," he replied.
"Oh," Naruto said simply. He crossed his arms and rested his cheek on top of the back of one of his hands. "Well. If it's that personal."
At the slightly put out expression on Naruto's face, Sasuke placed his pencil onto the table and sighed. "Itachi leaves on that day."
Naruto frowned, but something in his eyes lit up. "Shame he can't be here longer. Are you guys close?"
He paused and studied Naruto's calm expression. "You could say that."
"That's cool," he said softly. "I wish I had a sibling sometimes. Someone I could've played with when I was younger."
"You don't count Karin?"
"Not really," Naruto mumbled. "I only met her a couple of years ago. She's a third cousin twice removed or somethin' like that. Any other family that I have lives too far away."
"Ah…" Sasuke leant back in his chair.
"Like my uncle who's not even my uncle Jiraiya," the other continued, giving him a small grin. "Lives in a hut in the middle of nowhere. My grandma lives a few minutes away from here, but she's kinda too much to handle… and then my surrogate granny moves around a lot."
"Wonderful," said Sasuke. The conversation reminded him of his great-great uncle Madara, who was over a hundred years old, and whom nobody in his family dared to question when he would pass on into the next world. The man was hostile and senile and everything in between. Itachi said he'd peeked into his medical records once, and according to them, the elder (unfortunately) had a few years still left in him.
Sasuke let him chatter on for long after that, giving his occasional grunt of approval. Naruto asked him about anything ranging from his knowledge about law to his opinion on the stray cats that hung around his neighborhood.
He leant back from his homework and grabbed his phone, taking advantage of the lull in their conversation to check the time. Sasuke sighed. "It's getting late. I'm going to bed."
"No," Naruto whined. "Stay up with me."
"Why would I?" he asked, moving away from his desk and towards the pile of pajamas in the corner of his room. "It's been a couple of hours."
"How could we have a conversation like this at school," he mumbled. "Everyone's gonna be all over the place and it's like a dam's cracking open. We go straight to studying all week. I just want a little more fun time."
Sasuke placed the phone on the nightstand and changed shirts. "It'll all be over soon enough."
"Yeah…" Naruto agreed. "But it's still really stressful. I remember in kindergarden I was stressing out over a spelling test and they were only stuff like 'person' and 'book'. Sometimes I wanna go back to that."
"It's too late," he sighed, grabbing his phone and falling onto his bed with it. "But I personally think that you belong back in kindergarden if it helps any."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and let out a frustrated groan. "Asshole. Every time I try to relate to you, you have to say something like that."
Sasuke shrugged. "You left yourself open."
Knowing Naruto couldn't see, he bit his lip. The other was right. Sasuke was caught in between tugging Naruto closer and shoving him away each time he did so. It was a confusing game of hot and cold, goodbye and hello. Sometimes, it was sickening.
It was sickening because Sasuke had grown so used to the odd feeling of having a bond with someone outside of his family. It—that feeling—every time he concentrated on it, it was… chaotic. More and more often he thought of his attraction to Naruto. More and more often did the other invade his thoughts, and more and more of Sasuke's time he spent on simply trying to sort it out. It was captivating and terrifying at the same time. Sometimes, Naruto shook him right to the core, and others, he made some comment that Sasuke could only describe as warm.
It was dangerous, and Naruto was sending mixed signals. It was confusing, and Sasuke had never been in… something like this before. It was aggravating, and at the same time, it was absolutely enthralling. It was a convex and complex of feelings that Sasuke couldn't even dream of ignoring.
Against all of his beliefs and carefully built boundaries… Sasuke was attached.
"Hey," Naruto snapped him away from his trail of thought. "You look really serious."
He cleared his throat. "Do I usually look like a bundle of happiness?"
Naruto considered that for a moment. "Actually, no," he said, putting a couple of fingers to his chin. He stood and walked through his now familiar room to Sasuke, turning off the light. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he listened to the sound of Naruto jumping back onto his bed and yanking his covers over him.
"Can I hang up now?"
"No," Naruto grumbled, settling into his sheets.
Not knowing what else to do, Sasuke did the same. He pulled his sheets over his chest and set his phone by his pillow, turning onto his side so that it would feel like talking to Naruto in person.
"I hope that if I ever get arrested," Naruto murmured, "You know, for bein' falsely convicted or something, not an actual crime. I'd never kill someone."
"Okay."
"That you'd be a lawyer by then and you'd defend me," he continued, ignoring Sasuke. "Or something like that, if you wouldn't mind. If we ever lost contact in the future and I get framed as some crook, I hope you'd see me on TV and come to bust me out of jail."
Sasuke sighed. "I wouldn't pay your bail and I certainly wouldn't work for free. You're a hassle enough as it is."
Naruto sniggered quietly. "I'd pay you back, of course. And if you got me out, I don't ever think I'd be able to thank you enough."
"Just how much have you thought of this?" Sasuke asked, letting out an exasperated sound even though he felt a bit sympathetic towards the other.
"I dunno," he replied. "It's late. I say weird things sometimes even when it's not."
"I think I've noticed," Sasuke grumbled, fixing his pillow. "Do you even think before you speak?"
"'Course I do," Naruto said matter-of-factly. "It just comes out wrong sometimes. Mistakes. Humans make 'em. And I learn from them."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and stayed silent, listening to the occasional sound of Naruto's breathing. "I really doubt that," he murmured.
"Shut up," Naruto told him.
After a few moments, he grabbed his phone, ready to hang up even if Naruto protested him doing so. "I want to go to sleep."
When Naruto didn't reply, he leant over his phone and struggled to make out anything on the dark screen. "Naruto?"
Nothing but slow, nearly inaudible breathing answered him back. Sasuke listened for a couple of more minutes. He pressed the end call button and set his phone on his nightstand, turning to settle back into his sheets once again. It was late, and he'd surely regret staying up just so, but not the cause as to why.
He thought about their odd friendship for a while, something that his mind could busy itself with as he attempted to sleep. Sasuke truly hadn't expected it to get this far—he didn't have any, if a little, friend qualities in him. He'd thought Naruto, playful and energetic, would get bored with him after a couple of days. But Naruto really had stayed around to jab at him and banter with him and, surprisingly, encourage him. Sasuke's attitude towards school had brightened up slightly. He found a reward in simply attending, and whenever he made a higher grade than the other, he'd use it to poke a bit of fun with Naruto.
Maybe odd didn't describe it, he thought. They were purely opposites, like day and night and sun and moon and water and fire. Sasuke thought that friendships couldn't work unless the participators had many things in common, but… to his surprise, he and Naruto had much more things in common than he ever would have expected. Whether they would be subtle and petty things, they weren't stark differences like the rest of themselves were.
It was surprising how far along their relationship had come along, even though it had been rocky at some times. Naruto was blunt and knuckle-headed just like he was. He was dedicated and willing just as Sasuke was, and in some instances, maybe even more. It was safe to say that Naruto balanced him out—he was much more emotional than Sasuke could ever imagine to be, and startlingly accurate at reading others' emotions, Sasuke included.
To himself, he was wild waves of unsorted thoughts and wonders. To Sasuke, Naruto (despite his exuberant personality) was calm, gentle winds. Sasuke knew in the same way that he knew he would eventually die and that he knew he needed oxygen to keep himself going—he needed someone to balance him out, like a half of the same circle or a solution to an equation. Without it, too many things couldn't ever be possible.
But of course, Naruto broke through the norms and reached above his expectations. It was ridiculous most of the time, but others, it was downright admirable.
Sasuke's eyelids grew a bit heavier as he felt the beginnings of fatigue to wash over him, knowing Naruto was really in for it the next day.
"Naruto…" he mumbled to himself.
They were kissing again, and this time Sasuke held him with a grip tight enough and a force strong enough against the wall that Naruto couldn't possibly move away from him. Sasuke pressed his lips with a bruising pressure against Naruto's, breathing in the small sigh he'd let out.
He didn't mind the moisture that formed on his chin when Naruto's lip dragged against his or the occasional nip on his tongue. It was frantic, longing because they only had a short amount of time before Naruto's parents came home. Naruto was irresistible, he thought, holding back a groan when Naruto grinded his thigh against his crotch, further inciting the arousal he found there.
Sasuke broke the kiss, biting his lip as he searched Naruto's eyes. The other's lip quirked as he moved his thigh again, causing a small moan to escape Sasuke and his eyes to flutter shut. Naruto's breath was hot against his neck as Sasuke pressed his forehead into the wall, his fingers bunching in Naruto's shirt as he used a bit more pressure to grind against Sasuke.
"Naruto…" he breathed, pressing his lips together to suppress any small sounds that could slip out of his mouth.
Naruto flipped their positions, pressing him into the wall and gripping his shoulders so that he wouldn't move. They started kissing again, rough and uncaring to the amount of lips that caught on teeth. Sasuke shuddered as Naruto sucked on his bottom lip languidly and tugged.
He sucked in a breath when Naruto dropped down onto his knees, blue eyes hazy and staring at him intensely.
"What?" Naruto asked, voice husky and lips swollen. "Scared?"
Sasuke's jaw tensed, as well as his stomach when Naruto bared his teeth and pulled his zipper down with them. Even though Naruto had challenged him, Sasuke plainly and simply trusted him.
He groaned as Naruto's tongue ran a pattern over his hardness through his briefs, leaving a damp trail in its wake. Sasuke's fingers tangled in blonde hair when Naruto mouthed him and sucked him through the thin fabric, too, his tan fingers hooking themselves into his belt loops. Naruto nosed the waistband of his underwear down, nuzzling his pelvis and attaching his mouth onto the sensitive skin around Sasuke's cock.
Sasuke woke with a start and gasped, sitting straight up in bed. There was a hot and sticky sweat all along his neck, back, and chest, accompanied by an undeniable arousal in his boxers. Sasuke dragged in a heavy breath as his face flushed and glanced towards his electronic clock.
Six thirty in the morning, just a bit before the time that Sasuke usually woke up and got ready for school. It was enough time for him to war with himself over finishing himself off or take a cold shower.
In the end, Sasuke creaked his door open and glanced down both sides of the hallway to make sure his parents weren't awake before padding into the bathroom.
His shower was ice cold and shameful.
Sasuke made it a point to avoid Naruto the whole day, to save himself from any of the sudden pangs of arousal. His clipped replies to Sakura's chatter became even shorter, but she didn't relent. Sasuke knew better than to completely and outrightly disrespect her, though—he'd learned better long, long ago.
When school ended that day, Sasuke's eyes burning with his lack of sleep and early rising, he jabbed his finger into the rumpled shirt covering Naruto's chest before he even stepped into the library.
"This is your fault."
Naruto regarded him blearily, his hair mussed much more than usual. "You agreed. You shouldn't have agreed."
"It was your idea," he hissed.
"At least we talked?" Naruto gave him an innocent look. It gave Sasuke pause—it was such a stark contrast from the clouded and lustful sneer the other had given him in his dream. "It was a good talk…" he continued.
Sasuke swallowed roughly, shaking the memory away. He couldn't afford to flush in front of the other. "If we're doing that again, we go to bed at seven. Understood?"
"But-"
"Understood?"
Naruto sighed forlornly. "Fine. Even though literally nobody goes to bed at that time, fine."
"Fine," Sasuke mumbled. They trudged to their usual spot in the library, to the seats where the majority of the student body didn't even dare to look at. A light had died in that corner, though it was still substantial enough to read. He shrugged off his blazer, leaving him in the school's button-down shirt, and laid it over the back of his chair.
Naruto threw himself into his chair, splaying his arms across the table and overturning a cup of pencils. "I can't function anymore."
Sasuke growled in agreement.
When Sasuke came home the next day, a suitcase rested outside of Itachi's bedroom door and his parents sat anxiously in the living room. He frowned as he thought of the house without Itachi's presence and decided to forgo his usual burrow into his room.
He headed down the opposite side of the hallway and nudged the door to Itachi's room so that it creaked as it opened. Itachi didn't even glance up from his laptop.
"Welcome," he deadpanned. "Go ahead and come in."
But Sasuke had already made his way deeper into Itachi's room, moving to his windows. He turned the shutters down and tucked the curtains over them, blocking out the leftover light from the sun.
"And make yourself at home…" Itachi raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you were mother for a split second."
Sasuke laid down and made himself comfortable on Itachi's made bed, pressing himself into the dark sheets. He pushed at the pillow under his head. "Why?"
"Because you practically have her face, that's why." Sasuke watched as Itachi pushed himself across the room in his rolling office chair. He rolled over to the side of his bed and gave Sasuke a curious glance, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Like she had our noses when we were little?"
His brother chuckled and slowly raised a hand to ruffle his hair, giving his head a few good rubs before finally backing off. "How sentimental of you. Try not to miss me so much."
"I see you enough," Sasuke grumbled, smoothing his hair down. He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Too much."
"I'll make sure to visit you as much as I can," he continued. "Don't forget that I have Kisame keeping a tab of your name online. What else wouldn't mother want to hear come out of my mouth…" Itachi sighed and put a finger to his chin, pretending to think. It was something Itachi would often do when they were younger.
Sasuke scowled. "That's enough."
"It's not," he retorted. "Should I have to remind you what the definition of safe sex is? You-"
Sasuke rolled off of Itachi's bed and stood in front of his brother, glaring down at him. "It's time for you to leave now."
Itachi paused and glanced down at his watch. "Even though you're right, I feel like there's too many things I'm forgetting to tell you."
"Things you don't need to tell me," he said evenly. Sasuke also knew that Itachi was stalling just to get on his nerves.
"I'll let you off easily this time," said Itachi. "But next time, you'll hear it all."
"I doubt mom would be happy to hear about that."
"About what? Your adolescent sex life?" he sniffed. "Because you're right once again. She wouldn't."
Sasuke sighed heavily. "You realize you're the one getting the shorter end of the stick."
"You're the baby of the family," Itachi held his hand up in a gesture of reason. "It's my duty to protect the majority of your virtue and for mom to pretend that you'll never lose it. Don't forget that you're an angel to her."
Sasuke rolled the thought around in his head. Mentally, he shrugged. He gave Itachi a look that was half curiosity and half irritation. "Are you ready to go yet?"
"Why must you rush me?" he asked, standing up from his chair with a grunt. Itachi pushed it under his desk neatly and, after he was done, turned to Sasuke. "Do you have any parting gifts for me?"
Sasuke opened the door for his brother. "Maybe mom has some leftovers."
"Very cold," Itachi complained, tucking his laptop under his arm and glancing around the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He grabbed his jacket from where it was hung over the chair. "Are you ready?"
"You're the one that's leaving."
"You look like you're going to be sick," Itachi countered, batting Sasuke's hand away from the door. "I hope you're eating enough. You're still growing."
"Itachi?" their mother called from the living room.
"And she calls," Sasuke muttered under his breath, opening the door a bit further. He left Itachi's room and ventured down the hallway, glancing behind him to make sure that his brother was following.
"You're running a bit late," Fugaku pointed out, expression stern. "At this point, it may be too dark for you to drive by the time you get into New Jersey."
"There's not much traffic," Itachi said. "It shouldn't be a problem."
Mikoto sighed loudly through her nose, raising her hand to run it over Itachi's long hair. "If you say so. Why don't you let us help you with your luggage?"
"I only have one," he protested, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
She smiled sadly, working her fingers through a knot in his ponytail. Itachi was the one who hugged her first, leaning down so that she could set her chin on his shoulder. Mikoto rubbed and patted his back. "Come visit soon," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. She pushed him back slightly so that she could peck him on the forehead. "Be safe."
Itachi nodded and parted from her, sending her a solemn glance before turning to their father.
Fugaku regarded his eldest son with steady eyes, full of pride and something Sasuke couldn't recognize. There was a tense pause in which he tried to guess if they would hug or simply part ways—his father hadn't been an affectionate man at all, and most of their childhood comfort came from Mikoto. But Fugaku was a father nonetheless, one who was present through their childhood and in the family photos. He worked hard to put food on the table and his sons in school—even though Sasuke would butt heads with him more often than not, it would have been ignorant and selfish of him to not be thankful.
Both of Sasuke's guesses were defied when Fugaku raised his hand to firmly shake Itachi's, his lips thinned into a tight, heady line. "Do well, my son," he said lowly. "Make us proud."
"Of course," Itachi nodded.
His brother let go of Fugaku's hand and turned to give Sasuke a gaze full of warm affection. It made Sasuke relieved to see that their father's stern and blunt demeanor hadn't had an influence on the development of Itachi's personality and his way of expressing emotions.
"Little brother," he murmured, running a hand through Sasuke's hair yet again. "Remember what I said." Itachi pulled him in for a hug and pressed his hand in between his shoulder blades, rubbing softly there. Sasuke remembered it as a technique to calm him down when he was younger. It was comforting and upsetting at the same time.
Sasuke gave him a light, single squeeze back, feeling his father's heavy gaze on him. Itachi let him go and leaned down to pick up his suitcase.
Sasuke followed him to the front door, standing with his mother as Itachi shrugged his coat on.
"Drive safely," Mikoto said, pursing her lips as she watched her son step out of the door. "Take a break if you need one."
"Bye, mother," Itachi called, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. "Sasuke. I'll see you during winter break."
He leant against the wall. "Bye," he said quietly.
Itachi pulled the door shut between them, and any hint of the outside world was no longer audible or visible to Sasuke. He could barely make out the thrum of Itachi's engine as he stepped into his car, his figure blurry from the morphed glass window of the door.
Mikoto patted him on the shoulder as she passed by him. Sasuke took a few moments to let himself delve into his own thoughts. After a couple of minutes, he leant off of the wall and glanced into the living room again, his eyes catching a frame on a shelf.
His sight focused on their third annual family photo, in which Sasuke was around the age of eight. As if the photo wasn't already awkward enough with his father's single hand resting on a teenaged Itachi's shoulder, his front tooth was missing and there was an unidentifiable stain on his shirt.
Sasuke studied it for a few more moments before looking at the next ones, arranged chronologically so that it was obvious how much he and Itachi grew every year. It was nothing new to Sasuke—his parents had placed those photos in plain sight even in their old house. What would never get old to Sasuke, though, was the startling progression of Itachi's maturity through the photos. Each year, Sasuke's tooth was missing or his hair was cut unevenly or he'd accidentally blinked in the final shot. But for Itachi, every year the bags under his eyes became larger and his ponytail. He'd always possessed the look of superior wisdom in his eyes. It was a refreshing break from the intense stare his father used in each photo.
Of course, Sasuke's mother managed to balance out the entire family. Whereas his father had incredible difficulty handling and identifying his emotions (which Sasuke inherited) and his brother helplessly and relentlessly dropped his dry jokes, Mikoto added degrees of warmth into the photos. Her gaze was always affectionate and both of her hands were always on Sasuke's shoulders, even though he'd grown much taller than her. She always smiled outright, something Sasuke found comfort in.
Sasuke sighed and headed down the hall, going back into his room.
Sasuke entered the library, a bit late for his after-school session with Naruto because he'd been making up a test the last period. He rounded the corners of tables and weaved through rows and rows of bookshelves before he glanced over to their infamous corner.
He paused for a moment instead of immediately heading over to Naruto, setting his hand on the bookshelf. Naruto looked like he'd already started working by himself, tapping at his (Sasuke's) calculator and jotting a few things onto his spiral. Sasuke tucked his hands into his pockets and stepped out of the row, approaching Naruto.
Sasuke cleared his throat once he faced Naruto's back. "I had to-"
He stepped back as Naruto shoved at him, quickly setting a hand on the back of Naruto's chair to balance himself. He had buried his face in Sasuke's stomach, and he distantly hoped that his shirt at least smelled clean.
Sasuke frowned down at the mop of blond hair brushing against his ribs. He took his hand from the chair and used it to attempt to shove Naruto away—though it didn't work, of course. Naruto sighed loudly and Sasuke shivered as the breath traveled into the space of his shirt left open by the distance between the buttons.
He pushed helplessly at Naruto's head. "What are you doing?"
"Givin' you a half hug," Naruto mumbled, his lips moving against his shirt. "More like a fourth of a hug 'cause I'm not even holding you."
Sasuke's hand paused in pushing his head away. "Why?"
"'Cause," the other replied.
A disbelieving brow crawled its way up Sasuke's forehead. "…Okay. Let me go."
"No," Naruto wrapped a loose arm around the back of Sasuke's leg, keeping him in place. "You gotta stay here."
"If you'd let me go, I would," he pushed Naruto's head away again and grimaced when he pinched the back of his knee. "Knock it off."
"I can't," said Naruto. "You're warm."
"That's nice to know."
"That you're not cold?"
"Sure."
Naruto shifted his head so that his chin was resting on Sasuke's stomach. He peered up innocently at him. "Sometimes I can't even tell when you're being sarcastic or not."
Feeling oddly compelled to do so, Sasuke set his hand on top of his head, petting Naruto's hair. It was thick and soft in between his fingers. "Is that a compliment?"
"You're a good actor," he said quietly. Naruto sighed contently as he ran his fingers over his scalp, occasionally tugging at a piece of bright blond hair.
"I must be clever."
"Now you're just fishing for attention," Naruto retorted, a small grin coming onto his face. "Even though you get a lot of it. Cocky."
"First of all," Sasuke started, giving a particularly harsh hug to a section of Naruto's hair. He tilted his head, knowing that he had a sharp and smug glint in his eye. "Your attention doesn't count because you're annoying. Second, you don't even know what I look like naked.
Naruto's grin shifted from a lighthearted one to a suggestive smirk. "Will I ever get to?"
Sasuke regarded him for a moment, looking dangerously close to affectionate. He smoothed down Naruto's hair from where he'd run his hand through it. "No," he said simply, the corner of his lip tilting up. At the sight of Naruto's dejected expression, he pushed his head away from his abdomen and sat down.
Naruto rested his cheek on his hand. "You're cruel sometimes."
"I think the word you're looking for is realistic," he replied. "Now. Get to work or else I'll stop studying with you."
"No," Naruto dragged out, attempting to slump onto his shoulder. Sasuke shoved him away and willed the shiver that had run over his whole body away.
And, a few moments later, Naruto had oddly complied. Sasuke looked up from his paper with an arched brow as the other chewed on the tip of his (Sasuke's) mechanical pencil.
"When are you going to give that back to me?" he asked.
Naruto snapped out of whatever daze that he'd been in and eyed Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. "Sometime."
"Sometime?" Sasuke echoed. "I won't ever see that pencil again, will I?"
Naruto smiled, eyes bright. "Probably not."
He rolled his eyes lightly and turned back to his workbook, checking over his answers. The only sounds in the library were the heater and the light scratching of Naruto's pencil against his paper. After a couple of minutes, Sasuke leant back in his chair.
"Your writing is ugly."
Naruto barely spared him a glance. "I know."
He narrowed his eyes. "I want my pencil back."
Naruto shifted in his chair and Sasuke felt his skin prickle with irritation. "Soon."
Sasuke glared at the other and glanced down at his work again. He pushed himself through a couple of all-too-easy grammar questions and pinched the sheet of paper between his thumb and forefinger. When Naruto didn't start humming some inane tune or even tap his heel against the floor, he scowled at his paper.
As irritating as it was to admit, it just wasn't loud enough. In an attempt to focus on his work, Sasuke turned a page and read through a couple of long passages, his thoughts mostly going to the boy sitting next to him and ways that he could bother him.
After a few moments, Sasuke's eyes widened by a bare fraction. Is this what it was like to be… Naruto? To have the constant desire to bother the other?
Sasuke turned his pencil over in his hands. It couldn't have been, so he turned to Naruto and gruffly asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Naruto looked up again, startled. "Huh?"
"Why are you so quiet? Did you finally go on medications?"
Naruto's jaw dropped. "Sasuke! What the hell is your problem?"
"I asked you first-"
"You're worse than an old person," Naruto snapped, dropping his pencil and placing his hands on his knees. "How come you can be weird and I can't?"
Sasuke stared blankly at him.
"There's this thing called stress," he hissed. "and there's also this thing called etiquette. You're really dumb."
He blinked. "It's not that big of a deal-"
"For you, it isn't," Naruto scowled at him. "I'm the one with a normal brain. I'm the one that has to work for all of this shit because it just doesn't fucking come to me-"
"Is that what you think of me?" Sasuke said lowly, his eyes narrowing. Because Naruto put both his temperament and patience on a ridiculously short fuse, he continued. "That I sit on my ass and listen to lecture and it's just imprinted in my brain? I work, too, Naruto. Shut the fuck up."
Naruto said nothing as he considered Sasuke with a seething gaze. "I-"
"Or is it that you're jealous," he sneered. "You're just talking to me for your own benefit. I practically did all of your homework last week-"
"You're over exaggerating and you know it-"
"Nice," Sasuke interrupted. "Fuck you," he said calmly, rising from his seat and moving to turn away.
Naruto grabbed his wrist and held it tightly. Sasuke clenched the fist of the arm he was holding and tensed his jaw, eyeing the empty library. A few moments of tense and charged silence followed his last words.
"Is it really that hard of a concept for you to grasp?" Naruto asked quietly. "You know, I'm just trying to get closer to you. You're making it a lot harder than it needs to be." His grip on Sasuke's wrist let up slightly, allowing blood to rush back into his hand.
Sasuke eyed him warily and attempted to yank his wrist away from Naruto's grip but, like earlier, the other refused to budge. "Let me go."
"No," he said adamantly. "You jump to conclusions and you put up walls. You need to stop doing that."
"I don't need to stop doing anything," he snapped.
Naruto squeezed his wrist, his face softening. "Sit down?"
Reluctantly, he complied, but only because there wasn't anywhere else for him to go. Naruto offered him a sheepish and small smile, releasing his wrist and raising that same hand to scratch the back of his neck. "You know, people who've only known each other for a little over a week don't fight this much."
Sasuke kept his face set into an apathetic expression. "You're the one that started it."
"I know," Naruto said quietly, shrugging. "I didn't mean any of it. I'm just… angry. Stressed."
"All because of Saturday?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "It's… hard to explain. I'm scared I'll fuck up like I did on my algebra test and ruin any chance I'll have at a decent life. You…" Naruto paused, looking as if he were trying to sort out his thoughts. "You don't even seem like you're scared. At all."
"It's just a test," he said simply.
When Naruto said nothing and just stared at him, Sasuke guessed that he'd killed the conversation again. He glanced down at the wrist Naruto had grabbed, which now had red marks from where Naruto had gripped him so strongly. Without looking at the other, he returned to his work.
Naruto did the same.
Later that night, after Sasuke and his mother had eaten dinner and she'd set a plate in the microwave for his father, Mikoto touched him on the shoulder in thanks for helping her clean up.
Sasuke took the dripping plate she offered him and set it on the counter, wrapping a towel around it.
"How was your day?" she asked him over the quiet clanks of dishes in the sink.
He wiped away the droplets of water that had fallen on his arm. "It was fine."
"And Naruto? Is he up to his usual antics? You always have something to say about him."
Sasuke's lips thinned. "Yes."
Mikoto chuckled softly. "He must be excited for the SAT."
"He says he's stressed," he said quietly, drying a bowl that she handed him.
Mikoto wiped her hands on her apron. "He'll do good," she said confidently. "So will you."
Sasuke took a moment to appreciate her faith in him. She'd always been that way—from his earliest memories of his father's light disappointment in him to their solitary home life. He hoped that he'd be able to work close to his family when he was older.
The thought of his parents dying crossed his mind and he paused in drying off the utensils they'd used. What would life truly be like without his parents? Sasuke thought about only being able to see them in old photos. It was strange to say in the least. Even though his father wasn't an affectionate man at all, his actions spoke louder than his words, and he would certainly miss his company. But because Sasuke was so close to his mother and brother… it made the backs of his eyes sting. Mikoto had always encouraged and spoiled him from the very start. When he was little, she'd played long hours with him while Fugaku worked and Itachi was in school. She had taught him how to cook and make a relative use of himself, taught him manners and how to hang up his clothes properly.
Sasuke loved them too much to let them go. He would have never pegged himself as the type of person to want to stay so close to his family. However, it was hard not to, when he'd had the opportunity to have them throughout his whole life. Sasuke acknowledged that he was privileged, lucky that his parents hadn't gone through divorced or walked out on him.
"Sasuke?" Mikoto asked, nudging him lightly. "Did you hear me?"
Sasuke blinked and glanced towards her. "Yes."
"Good. Tell him that we can do whatever he wants to afterwards. I'll leave you alone for a couple of hours, so make sure to gather up the takeout menus."
Sasuke did his best to fill in the question he'd missed. "On Saturday night?"
"Of course," she replied and slung the towel that had been on her shoulder over the faucet of the sink, wringing her hands out. "I'll let you two sleep in on Sunday for your hard work."
"Okay," he said, drying his hands on the towel he'd been using. "I'll ask him."
Mikoto switched spots with him so that she could begin sorting out through the dried dishes. "Good. Go to bed early, Sasuke. You need to stay well rested."
Sasuke nodded. "I will. There's not anything else I can-"
"It's fine," she gave him a small smile. "You've helped enough."
"… All right," he said quietly, backing away from the kitchen. "Good night."
"Sleep well," Mikoto called back.
Sasuke padded down the hallway in the dark, nearly stubbing his toe on the way. He ran his hand over his doorway before flicking his light on and entering his room, yawning and heading for his dresser to change.
On the way over, Sasuke grabbed his phone to check for any messages. A couple from Naruto and Itachi appeared on his screen, but he could save those for later. He changed into his pajamas quickly and walked across the hall to his bathroom, where he washed his face and brushed his teeth.
Sasuke came back into his room and read Naruto's messages aloud to himself.
are we doing this video chat tonight??
Sasuike!! you can't be asleep already
I'm not, Sasuke typed, the corner of his lip tilting up. He set one knee on his bed for balance. But I'm going to be soon.
Just a few seconds later, an incoming call flashed on the screen. After a few moments of irritation that he'd actually been excited for a split second, Sasuke answered it.
"What do you want?" he deadpanned.
"'Sas?" Naruto asked. "Why's the screen dark? Are you naked?"
Sasuke blanched and removed his thumb from where it had been over the camera. "What is it with you and me being naked?"
"Just a question," he shrugged. Naruto lifted his hand to scratch behind his ear. "Don't take it personally."
"Me, take it personally," Sasuke mused, lowering himself onto his bed. "You're the one that takes everything personally."
Naruto scrunched his nose up and gave him a disapproving grunt. "I think I'm more gullible…"
"You're both," he said.
The other sighed. "Whatever. Say hi to Kyuubi."
"I'm not going to say hello to him every single time I see him," Sasuke grumbled. Unfortunately, a ball of red fur appeared onscreen, followed by the sound of loud purring.
"Kyuubi says he still loves you even if you're an asshole sometimes," Naruto said quietly, falling back onto his bed. He rested his cheek on his arm, voice slightly muffled.
He sniffed. "Cats can't talk, and if they could, Kyuubi would most likely sue you for your thorough harassment."
"If he hated me that much, he wouldn't be purring. He only scratches me every once in a while," Naruto said, hiking up the bottom of his shirt to show Sasuke a faint scratch there.
Sasuke only got a brief glimpse of tanned, smooth skin, but it was burned in his mind long after Naruto had pulled his shirt down.
"I'm already tired of you," he muttered. "Just to let you know, my mom is making me invite you over on Saturday. She feels bad for you."
"Sure she does," Naruto said cheekily, a wide grin blooming on his face. Even through the screen, Sasuke could see the mirth in his eyes. "'Cause she enjoys my company."
"You could tell yourself that."
"All right," he clipped. "You're extra cranky today. Is there some sort of rash I should know about? Maybe you have hemorrhoids?"
Sasuke rolled onto his stomach and pressed a hand over his face, though his stomach shook with the effort not to laugh. "No. The reason I'm extra 'cranky' is because you've been extremely annoying today."
"Says the one who picked a fight," mumbled Naruto. "You've just got a short fuse, you know. It's really easy to get you all riled up."
"As it is to you," Sasuke replied. "Though you lack a common sense and, in general, a conscience. Maybe I should be worried."
"You're right," he sighed. "I can't have any common sense to be talkin' to you. It's one of the worst decisions I've ever made, right?"
Sasuke glared and stayed silent, glancing away from the camera. In his personal opinion… he wasn't terribly hostile. Sure, he could be horrendous at times, but it was Naruto's fault.
"Hey," Naruto called. "I didn't hurt your feelings, did I? Come on. I thought you were good with this whole sarcasm thing."
"I doubt that you even know the definition of sarcasm," he said. "If you can't tell when I'm using it, that's on you."
"Well, this one's on you, too," Naruto chirped. "I'm not a mean person. I mean, I kill bugs sometimes, but that's 'cause they're not supposed to be where they are sometimes. No big deal."
Sasuke grinded his teeth together slightly. "How far off of the topic have you strayed?"
"There doesn't have to be a topic," he retorted. "That's how conversation works, I guess. It goes on and on and then it branches off into a bunch of little other conversations. Like a vine."
Sasuke didn't reply. He twirled a loose end on the sleeve of his shirt around his finger for a while, taking the opportunity to bathe in Naruto's company. Oddly enough, it almost felt as if he hadn't seen Naruto in months. But whenever they did this, their late night talks on video chat, Sasuke felt like they were different people sometimes. It was disheartening to think that he'd only met Naruto by a narrow chance—and had he hadn't moved, his chances would have been right next to none.
"What're you thinking about?" Naruto asked quietly, giving him a contemplative look.
Sasuke ran a hand through the hair at the back of his head. "Nothing. Go to sleep now."
"But Sa-"
Sasuke hung up, smirking to himself as Naruto's disappointed face stuck to his screen for a few seconds. He rolled his phone in his hand for a few seconds before leaning down and sliding the device under his bed, ensuring that Naruto wouldn't bother him for the rest of the night.
"Your eyes are really dark," Naruto murmured.
Sasuke glanced up from his soup, unsure that he'd heard the other over the clamor of the restaurant. "My eyes?"
"Yeah," he said. "Lemme take a picture." Naruto pulled out his phone.
Sasuke studied him, resting his cheek on his hand. "Just my eyes?"
"Just your eyes," Naruto agreed.
Sasuke held still for a few seconds before he smirked at the look of frustration on Naruto's face. "What's taking you so long?"
"Lighting's weird, your eyes are narrow, and I keep missin' the damn button," he mumbled. "Don't blink, 'Sas."
Sasuke did just so, holding still for just a few seconds more. "Do you have it?"
"Yeah," said Naruto. "Now I'm puttin' it away 'cause we look obnoxious now."
"You mean specifically you?" Sasuke accused. "The waitress asked you if you wanted a kids meal."
The other turned an interesting shade of pink. "Then who'd she think that you were? My dad?"
He pinched his nose. "Why do I even try…" Sasuke muttered to himself.
"How come you always get angry at me when you're the one who starts these kinds of things?"
"Technically, you provoke them. It's inevitable."
"How can I provoke them when I'm just being good?" Naruto asked, scowling at him.
Sasuke stared at him. "You do."
"Bah," Naruto scoffed. "You're just searchin' for something to blame on me, Sasuke."
He glanced up from his food and raised an eyebrow, neatly setting his spoon on top of his napkin. Naruto had shrugged off his school blazer, leaving him in his white oxford short with the sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened around his collar. Sasuke's eyes lingered on the exposed skin of his neck and some of his chest. "You say my name too much."
"No…" Naruto said, his eyes boring into Sasuke's.
Sasuke considered the fact that they were sitting at a small table meant for two people. His face hovered invitingly close to Naruto's, enough that if he leant forward, their noses would touch. His thoughts took a turn to the two times they'd kissed—how Sasuke hadn't minded the urgent sloppiness they took on sometimes. They also dove into the dream he'd had a few nights ago, but Sasuke was smart enough to know that thinking of that dream at the table was not a good idea.
Whether it be subconsciously or on purpose, Sasuke had leant forward slightly. Naruto's eyes were half lidded, the startling blue of them sadly hidden from his view. Some sort of—electricity, Sasuke thought—bounded off of the both of them, keeping his desire to kiss Naruto at bay yet incite it even further.
Sasuke cast his eyes to Naruto's empty plate but didn't move, only partially breaking the roiling tension between them. Naruto's hand fell dangerously close to his own and the other sighed so that Sasuke could feel it on his own lips.
"Public," he whispered, leaning back when Naruto tipped his head forward. It was excruciating to do so, but it snapped him out of the drowsy state that Naruto had put him into.
"Later?" Naruto used his pinky finger to tap against Sasuke's wrist. The action dragged his eyes back to Naruto's face, which he'd deemed safe enough for the moment.
Sasuke stayed silent, hoping that his eyes didn't betray his flat expression like Naruto's did—want, smugness, and the slightest hint of uncertainty. He leant away and rested his chin on his hand again.
"Behave yourself," he told Naruto.
"Hey," Naruto grunted. "It takes two to… tango. Not that we're tangoing. But… you know what I mean."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I hope that, in the future, you can work on your English skills."
"It is my first language," said Naruto, the previous mood immediately dissipating with his response. "But what do you expect from me? It's not like I'm automatically gonna sprout out poetry."
He shrugged. "Whatever. Are you done yet?"
Naruto glanced down at his plate. "Sure. It's gettin' kinda dark, too."
Sasuke stood and stretched as Naruto tossed a tip onto the table, letting an elderly couple pass by before heading to the entrance of Panera.
With the time came a lower temperature, and the breeze burnt Sasuke's cheeks and ears. Naruto hissed when he stepped outside and hurried to shrug his blazer back on, muttering to himself about how he should have brought a scarf with him.
They waited for traffic to clear up before crossing the street with the rest of the crowd waiting, all scuffling to get back into the heat of their cars or apartments. A man with an arm around his girlfriend bumped into Sasuke and quickly apologized, to which he nodded to.
"I'm still really damn scared for tomorrow," Naruto muttered, his teeth chattering. He stuck his hands into his pockets. "What do you think they'll do if I cry all over my test?"
"Kick you out," Sasuke replied, earning a chuckle from his friend. "Don't be such a scaredy cat."
"Me? A scaredy cat?" Naruto scoffed, giving him a light shove. "Just a little test anxiety. I may or may not faint in the testing room. We'll see."
He pursed his lips. "I hope you don't use this as an excuse to get special treatment from my mom."
"Why would I do that?" he demanded. "Your mom already likes me enough. Plus, you're kinda right, it's not that big of a deal. It just decides the path of my life and career. No biggie."
Sasuke's eyebrow arched. "Was that sarcasm I heard?"
Naruto laughed and bumped his shoulder into his again. "You betcha, Uchiha!"