Naruto: What Would Jesus Do? (SasuNaru, Some ShikaChouji, SakuIno, GaaNejiGaa)
Title: What Would Jesus Do?
Rating: M / NC-17
Genre: Drama, Romance, Angst, AU, with a dash of Humour
Pairings: SasuNaru / NaruSasu, some ShikaChouji, SakuIno, GaaNejiGaa(?)
Summary: After coming out of the closet, Naruto’s parents decide to send him to a conversion therapy camp. But things get even more complicated once he finds himself obsessing over a misanthropic chain-smoker from an unusual family. Now it's up to him to discover himself, his sexuality, and where his convictions really lie.
A/N: There will be some sexual content in this chapter, so be warned (even though it's pretty tame). I know it may seem a bit too soon for the smut but I’m hoping my reasoning for it will make sense. If not, then shut up, you’re getting smut, so be happy.
Naruto cursed mentally as he avoided another low tree branch and struggled to stay on the crowded dirt path, his short attention span crying out in agony. Just how far into the woods was their cabin, anyway?! It felt like he had been walking through trees for hours!
Well, it had only been about twenty minutes, and he had somehow wandered off the path and gotten lost in some shrubbery for about fifteen of those minutes… but still!
Naruto’s mental ranting was cut off, though, as the person in front of him suddenly came to a stop, causing him to bump into them lightly. He opened his mouth to utter an apology, only to find that something was keeping it from opening all the way.
Oh, right, the duct tape. At least he understood now why they said it was a safety precaution for making sure everyone stuck to Safekeeping. Naruto would’ve broken the rules within the first five minutes without it. He still felt sorry for all the kids that were mouth breathers though; to them it must’ve felt like someone had put tape over their mouth and nose. He just hoped no one had died of suffocation yet.
Making a slight sound of frustration (he’d never get used to this silence thing!), he glanced around to see what the hold up was. They’d reached what looked like a log cabin with an engraved number seven hovering above the screen door.
Cabin seven. This was it. Home sweet home, Naruto thought sarcastically as he stepped out from behind the boy to get a better look at it. More kids began to join them in standing in front of the wooden cabin while others weaved and made their way around the group.
An odd looking man was leaning languidly against the wall next to the cabin’s door with his legs crossed casually at the ankles and one hand in the pocket of his loose black slacks. Even though the man only appeared to be in his early thirties, he had hair greyer than Naruto’s grandmother’s that stuck up in a way that made it look like it hadn't been properly washed and combed in months. Only one forth of the man's face was visible at the moment, with an eye patch over one eye and the rest of his face covered by the Bible he had his nose buried in.
Or, at least it looked like it was a Bible. There was something that appeared to be the corner of an orange, hardback book cover sticking out from underneath the black, leathery cover, though. Huh, weird.
“Yo,” the man pulled his hand out of his pocket and raised it in greeting as the group belonging to cabin seven gathered around, his nose still buried in the ‘Bible’ even though his still pupil made it obvious he wasn’t reading anything. He listened to the crunch of shoes against the dirt and pebbled path die down before beginning with introductions.
“I’m Kakashi Hatake, your cabin supervisor. Don’t call me Mr. Hatake, though. I may have the gray hair but I’m not that old yet.” He looked up at them, his good eye curving upwards in what Naruto assumed was a smile. He shoved the hand he had been waving with back into the pocket of his baggy pants and snapped his book shut with the other.
Shoving it into his back pocket, he pushed off the wall and walked closer to them; the sharp features of his lower face now visible. Even though he was smiling at them, a sad, nostalgic look showed in his grey eye as he scanned the crowd.
The corners of his mouth drooped slightly as he looked over all of the confused and crestfallen expressions on the kids’ faces. He sighed. Every year it was the same. He always felt like he was talking at them instead of to them when they were taped up like this.
When they were unable to question him or what was happening to them.
“Right then. Bathrooms are in that building over there,” he lazily gestured towards a small wooden building about a quarter of a mile or so across from their cabin. “Only one person to a shower at a time and all showers are to be kept under ten minutes since hot water is limited,” he explained mechanically, as if he was reading everything off of a set of cue cards.
“If you have to use the bathroom or need to go to the clinic in the middle of the night, wake me before leaving. I sleep right next to the door in the only single cot so it shouldn’t be hard to find me. Wake up time is at six and bedtime is at nine, but if you want to stay up for an extra hour or so; reading something or listening to music that isn’t secular, I’m willing to turn a blind eye to it,” he smiled at them, noticing how a few of the teens visibly relaxed at the bad pun.
He scratched his head in thought, mussing his already wild hair, “Hmm, I think that’s about it. And don’t try anything funny, I sleep with one eye open.” He winked, causing Naruto to cock an eyebrow.
Wait, this guy only had one eye! So, did that mean he slept with his eyes open? Did he even have a second eye under that eye patch? Naruto was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to rip off his Life Saver and ask the man if something happened to his eye or if it was just an empty socket under the patch.
“Everyone go inside and find your stuff, it should be sitting next to the bunk you’ll be sleeping in. No fighting over top and bottom bunks; it won’t matter how high off the ground you are when you’re unconscious, just grab a bed. After you get situated we’ll all go down to the bathroom together to get ready for bed.”
He held the door open and stepped aside, motioning for the boys to enter. They all began piling in and searching for their belongings while Kakashi waited by the door, once again flipping through his ‘Bible’.
Naruto immediately spotted his blindingly bright suitcase on the bunk in the back corner of the room and darted towards it. As he walked up beside the bottom bunk, he couldn’t help but stare down at the black weekender bag(1) sitting next to his suitcase. It had the same strange white and red fan symbol on it that the zipper to Sasuke’s sleeveless shirt had… oh no.
Naruto desperately hoped that it was just some new fashion trend that he wasn’t up to date on.
A figure walked up beside him and extended a familiar pale arm, grabbing the bag. Shit. He groaned mentally. He didn’t know why he thought lady luck would be on his side; after all, the real girls usually avoided him like the plague, it was only natural a made-up woman would have the same reaction.
He gulped nervously and tossed his bag on the top bed to claim it. Watching Sasuke’s facial expressions as carefully as he could out of the corner of his eye, he waited for any signs of disapproval. Sasuke remained aloof though, as he slowly unzipped his over-stuffed bag and began rummaging around in it for supplies so he could begin his usual nightly routine.
Naruto let out a long breath through his nose that he didn’t know he’d been holding before nearly slapping his palm to his forehead in realization. It was pointless to throw his suitcase up on the top since he had yet to get his nighttime stuff out of it. Besides, it would probably just be stored under the bottom bunk anyway for space.
Oh well, at least he called dibs. Even though he still didn’t know how he was going to be able to sleep soundly, knowing that the new object of his soon-to-be-wet dreams was sleeping only a few feet below him. He groaned internally, hoping that he was wrong and not wanting to have to suffer the embarrassment of discussing those kinds of dreams with his strange, gray-haired cabin leader.
Something told him it was going to be a long night.
*****
Sasuke lay out on top of the sheets of his bed, staring up at the wood that supported the mattress of the bunk above him. Although he had shed his Life Saver the second the lights had flicked off, using the darkness to his advantage as he stuck it to the bedpost for safekeeping, he hadn’t bothered changing for bed and was still wearing the same modest, wrinkled clothing that the camp’s staff had jammed him into earlier.
It wasn’t that he found the outfit particularly comfortable. Actually, the pants were about two sizes too big for his slim frame and twisted awkwardly around his hips every time he shifted or rolled over on the mattress, occasionally causing the pant’s cold, hard metal button to dig painfully into his sharp hip bone, and the shirt was made of an unusual cotton blend that felt stiff against his sensitive skin.
He just didn’t have the energy to dig through his bag for nightwear that the camp deemed suitable.
It was a different kind of exhaustion than he was used to, though. While he usually beat the hell out of his body, pushing it to its limits and beyond until he collapsed, this time he was mentally wiped out.
Yet, even though it was hours after lights-out and only the slow, rhythmic breathing of his fellow cabin mates along with the occasional owl hoot sounded throughout the room, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes shut.
His head was pulsing, as if everything he had been thinking for the past twenty-four hours was ruthlessly trying to burst out through his temples.
Usually Sasuke liked the quiet, liked being able to think and examine everything that was happening around him, sorting through it all to try to guess what new plan his father had in store for him and his life. His father had always been pretty straightforward in what he expected from his youngest son.
He expected him to be just like his brother- Itachi.
Sasuke’s blood boiled as his thoughts circled around the reason why he had been shipped off to this damn camp. Itachi, the only person he had allowed himself to trust after what happened to his mother, had backstabbed him just for shits and giggles without even batting an eyelash.
Even though he had been emotionally stale for years, his chest ached when he recalled Itachi’s betrayal.
A silent, bitter laugh rose in his throat, joining the lump there as he thought of how his father-a man who always spoke of pride and doing things yourself-had sent him away to be ‘de-gayed’ once the man realized not everything was going according to plan in his supposedly perfect family, expecting someone else to do the dirty work for him. It was laughable, really. His family wasn’t even religious!
Especially since the only gods the Uchiha’s worshipped were themselves.
He felt his chest rise and fall as he breathed deeply, his clenched jaw doing nothing to help his already aching head as he tried to relax his stiff body. There were two things Sasuke usually did to relieve frustration: fight and fuck… or sometimes both. Combined. But as he surveyed the still room, he realized that neither of those would be an option.
Sighing, he grabbed the pseudo smashed package of cigarettes and cheap gas station issued lighter he hid under his mattress earlier when he put his suitcase under the bed, and sat up, pausing as he thought out his next move.
He couldn’t just waltz outside and light up like he usually would; somehow he didn’t think that would sit to well with their cabin supervisor. He could always say he was just going to use the restroom he supposed, but he was still unsure if Kakashi would want to follow him, or worse… make him use the buddy system.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he glanced beside him to find the ladder that led up to the top bunk staring back on him. Well, there was a window up there…
Pocketing the pack and lighter, he stood, his mind made up, and began to make his way up the ladder.
*****
Naruto lay sprawled out on top of his bed, his fingers interlaced behind his head on the limp feather pillow as he stared up at the cobwebs on the wooden ceiling. He was wide-awake still, unable to sleep a wink.
There were so many overwhelming thoughts over-crowding his brain that he wasn’t sure if there was enough room in his head to hold them all. Hell, he half-expected them to begin pouring out of his ears at any second. He couldn’t help it though; it seemed like every time he tried to squash a thought, two more would enter his mind in its place. The damn things were like cockroaches!
“Now you go somewhere and pray, and you start doing some repenting!” The woman’s shrill voice replayed on a loop in his mind, meshing with the other thoughts there. Repenting? She made it sound like he was beating little brittle old ladies to death, and stealing food and coats from the homeless rather than feeling for another human being. But, was he really doing something that terrible? (What was he doing, anyway?)
And if it was… did that make him terrible, too?
A loud creak sounded from the bedside ladder, pulling Naruto from his musings. The ladder creaked and groaned in protest from the weight of the body climbing up it as it lifted up off the bed momentarily, only to be pushed back into place with a light clank as the dark figure reached the top.
Naruto squinted his eyes for a second, trying see who it was in the darkness before snapping them open so wide he swore he could almost feel his eye balls popping out of his head as recognition finally set in.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and tried to open his mouth to ask what the hell Sasuke thought he was doing, only to have his lips part slightly before the skin around his mouth was tugged on painfully, his mouth only releasing a few angry, muffled noises.
Stupid bastard, doing something stupid and making me forget about the stupid tape AGAIN, he mentally cursed at Sasuke as the strong, nasty taste of glue entered his mouth from him trying to speak while still wearing the duct tape. Ugh, it was like licking a hundred envelopes in a row!!
The mattress dipped as Sasuke crawled on the bed, slowly reaching towards the blond. Naruto felt like a bunch of butterflies had been released inside of his ribcage as the pale hand neared his scarred cheek, icy fingertips delicately brushing against the soft, tan skin. Then, without warning, Sasuke grabbed the tape and yanked it off of his mouth in one fluid motion.
“OW!! WHAT THE FUCK SAS-“ Sasuke slapped a hand over Naruto’s red, irritated mouth to silence him. The Uchiha slowly looked around the room, making sure no one heard the outburst. Letting out a small sigh of relief when no one stirred, he turned his angry glare back on the noisy blond.
“Quiet, idiot! Do you want to wake up the entire Northern Hemisphere?!” Sasuke hissed in a low voice before removing his hand.
“Oww,” Naruto whined as he touched his cool fingers to his stinging face, “you could’ve at least warned me, bastard. Aw man, I was growing a mustache too!” He pouted as he stroked his smoother, and now slightly sticky, upper lip.
“Moron…” Sasuke grumbled, moving towards the small window near the end of the bed and messing with the rusted locks until they broke. “You’d just end up having to shave it off. Besides,” Sasuke smirked at him while sliding open the window, “I doubt you’re able to grow anything but peach fuzz.”
“Ha! Yeah right! You’re just jealous because I’m a hundred times more manly and rugged than you and your mustache-less self will ever be!!” Naruto huffed in a whisper, glaring at Sasuke as the raven merely shook his head and mumbled something under his breath as he fished out the lighter and crumpled cigarette pack from his pocket.
“Didn’t you make a hole for that?” Naruto asked with a slight snicker, motioning to the new cigarette Sasuke placed between his lips, remembering the hole the boy made in his Life Saver.
The pale boy grunted in response as he flicked on the lighter and lit his cigarette, quickly pocketing the pack and lighter once again afterwards. The taste of tobacco overlapped the clean, mint flavour of his newly brushed teeth as he took a nice long inhale, his face relaxing slightly as the nicotine began its calming effect.
Naruto sat up, leaning back on his elbows and shifting his legs over to the side of the bed to give Sasuke some more room, as the boy remained crouched in front of the small window. “Did they say anything to you?”
“About what?” Sasuke arched a delicate eyebrow, looking at Naruto from the corner of his eyes.
“Gee, I don’t know, maybe about having a big gaping hole in the middle of your duct tape?” The blond elaborated, giving Sasuke a ‘duh’ look.
“Told them I had a stuffy nose,” Sasuke answered simply, turning to gaze once again to the moonlit woods and taking another deep inhale from his sin stick.
Naruto grinned, “Good one.” It was a pretty good excuse. The camp probably couldn’t do anything if the kids with allergies or stuffy noses didn’t want to wear tape over their mouths. Especially since it most likely constituted as child abuse… or something.
Sasuke slightly shrugged his broad shoulders in response, releasing all the smoke from his lungs. Naruto’s heart skipped a beat as he drank up the sight in front of him. The boy’s once inky black hair had a blue tint to it in the limited light, making it seem even more glossy and unreal. The moonlight highlighted his body in all the right places, giving it a beautiful pearl colouring that made his sharp features seem even more like they were etched from marble.
Naruto was suddenly thankful for the darkness as a small blush spread across his cheeks.
Feeling eyes on him, Sasuke turned his gaze back on the blond observing him. The butterflies fluttering around in Naruto’s chest became violent as Sasuke exhaled another smooth stream of smoke, bringing a whole new meaning to the expression ‘smoky eyes’. Naruto wasn’t sure if it was because of him or the cigarette, but Sasuke looked more relaxed since they’d been talking, more… comfortable.
It was almost like the time when Naruto first found the raven in the alley, muscles tensed and glaring at air…
Naruto gulped as he remembered what he wanted to ask. “Hey, Sasuke…” he whispered weakly.
“Hn?” Sasuke grunted in response, taking a long drag from his cigarette.
“Before, in the alley, why did you kiss me?” Naruto asked, sounding much more cool and collected than he felt.
“…I needed to prove something,” the boy finally answered in a soft voice after a moment of silence.
Naruto stared at him, confusion suddenly replacing the nervousness from before. “Huh?”
The raven sighed, stalling for a moment by snuffing out his half-smoked cigarette on the windowsill as he thought about how to explain it. “When someone tells you can’t do something, what’s the first thing you want to do?”
“Punch them in the face?”
“Besides that!” Sasuke snapped in the quietest voice he could muster, suddenly understanding where those dumb blond jokes originated from.
“Prove them wrong?” Naruto tried again slowly, equally as confused as before.
“Exactly. So when your parents told you that you couldn’t be gay… that homosexuals don’t exist… what’s the first thing you wanted to do?”
Naruto looked at him in disbelief. “You grabbed me and started humping me like a dog in heat because you wanted to prove you could be gay? Well congratulations, you did it, because that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Shut up!” Sasuke hissed, his meaning getting lost somewhere in translation as he quietly slammed the window shut and crawled back towards the ladder in frustration. “You just don’t get it…” he muttered under his breath, thinking that Naruto couldn’t hear him.
“Wait!” Naruto grabbed the boy’s wrist before he could put his foot down on the first step of the ladder. The blond opened his mouth to say something, but was only able to make a strangled noise in the back of his throat when he saw the familiar look in Sasuke’s eyes. His breath hitched.
They looked so regretful, so betrayed, so… hurt.
It was a look that Naruto wanted so desperately to erase.
So, going with the first idea that popped into his head, he threw all doubt and common sense out the window as he yanked Sasuke down by the front of his shirt in an attempted kiss. He missed, ending up kissing the corner of Sasuke’s mouth and shifting his lips gracelessly so they meshed together in a cigarette laced kiss.
Naruto wasn’t completely sure what Sasuke was trying to say, but he knew from that look that he needed the same thing that Naruto did. Reassurance that he wasn’t alone, that there was someone here with him going through the exact same thing he was. Someone that understood what it felt like, and someone who was just there, that would acknowledge his existence as something other than a mistake. Someone that he could touch and cling to whenever he just felt like going numb.
Someone to let him know that there wasn’t something wrong with him.
Sasuke tensed up and after a few seconds awkwardly kissed back, the unexpected action suddenly making him seem timid and inexperienced. Naruto continued to pull him down until Sasuke was partially laying on him; his head turned at an uncomfortable angle to keep their lips connected.
Sasuke took the hint and climbed on top of Naruto, the weight of his body pushing Naruto’s into the old mattress. Tan fingers found purchase in dark hair and Naruto slipped his tongue into Sasuke’s mouth in a moment of hormone-induced boldness.
Sasuke jerked slightly in surprise as the wet muscle wiggled between his lips. He opened his mouth wider for the probing tongue, sliding his own against it as it revisited the cavern of his mouth. Once he took charge of the kiss he relaxed some, twirling the skilled muscle around Naruto’s as they locked in battle.
Naruto suddenly broke the kiss and began to suck lightly and sloppily on his neck. Sasuke shivered as the blond blew on the now damp spot of his heated skin, his breath coming out in soft pants.
“Na-Naruto, what the hell are you doing?” He brought himself to whisper as Naruto latched onto another part of his neck.
“You wanted to prove you could be gay… so… be gay,” the blond murmured against his skin.
“Idiot, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant-“ Sasuke got cut off as a pair of lips once again smashed into his own. He groaned in pain as their mouths collided harshly against each other. Was Naruto trying to head butt him or kiss him?!
The Uchiha wound one of his hands into blond hair and pulled his head back slightly, correcting the pressure until they were actually kissing instead of just having their faces slammed together. He coaxed Naruto’s mouth open with his tongue, rolling and twirling it experimentally over the other’s, smirking slightly to himself.
Well, it looked like he would be able to work off some of his frustration after all.
He lowered his body down more, biting back a moan as it brought them chest against chest, crotch-in-need against crotch-in-need. Naruto spread his legs to make more room for Sasuke and gasped, arching his back at the added weight and heat, consequently brushing his clothed erection against Sasuke’s.
They both sucked in a breath at the contact, breaking the kiss and trying not to make any noises. Naruto grinned slyly to himself before rocking their hips together again experimentally, trying to get Sasuke to suck in another breath. He could feel goose bumps prickling at his skin as a shudder of pleasure danced down his spine.
He looked up at Sasuke’s flushed face just as the raven bit down on the side of his plump, kiss-bruised lip to stifle another moan. Naruto’s jaw dropped open. Was he drooling? That was probably the sexiest thing he had ever seen before in his whole goddamn life.
Suddenly, he felt what little self-control he had left snap. Grabbing the back of the Uchiha’s head, he dragged Sasuke back down into a fierce kiss. The raven grunted quietly as their tongues resumed their previous tango, and he felt Naruto run the hand that wasn’t tangled in his hair down his slightly sweaty shirt until it rested on his butt.
Sasuke smirked internally. What the hell happened to the blushing, stuttering boy he made-out with back in the alley?! He wasn’t sure what brought on the change, but one thing was for sure-he liked it. He liked it a lot.
Naruto squeezed slightly, causing Sasuke to make a surprised choking sound at the unexpected butt-grab. The blond began rolling his hips against Sasuke’s, and the stoic boy ironically found himself having a hard time remaining quiet as his body buzzed with pleasure at the motion.
Naruto’s movements grew more frantic, making it look more like he was trying to buck the taller boy off of him instead of grind against him, his actions now running on hormones and instinct alone. Sasuke grabbed tan hips, his fingers digging into the blond hard enough to leave bruises as he tried to control and meet Naruto’s erratic thrusts at the same time.
His baggy pants were sliding off his hips from the force of their thrusts, but that was the last thing on his mind as his body cried out for more friction. They had stopped kissing, their lips just barely touching as they panted into each other’s mouth, their breathing becoming more ragged with every move of their hips.
Naruto could feel his shirt sticking to his sweaty chest and blond hair matting to his forehead as the heat coiling in his belly spread through his veins. He suddenly found himself wishing that there weren’t clothes between them, his shirt acting like an oven to his already too hot body.
He moved his hand to fist the back of Sasuke’s also sweaty shirt as they quickened the pace. The sensation of his silky boxers rubbing against his throbbing arousal was driving him crazy. He was close. So close.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he should warn Sasuke that he wouldn’t last much longer, but all coherent thought and speech patterns were brought to a screeching halt when Sasuke suddenly bit down on his shoulder, muffling his cries of pleasure as the body above him tensed.
Well, that pretty much answered his question.
He shot his hand up to his mouth, biting into the back of it to silence his own cries as he came. Thrusting a few more times, he rode out his orgasm, barely registering the new weight as Sasuke gracelessly collapsed on his chest.
He removed his hand from his mouth as his vision came back to him, his chest still heaving as he tried to calm his racing heart. His body hummed with satisfaction, his head still spinning. Even though it was still far too hot and Sasuke was crushing him, he couldn’t bring himself to push the boy off him.
So he just lay there, trying to ignore the uncomfortable wet and sticky feeling in his pants as he continued to gasp for air. Sasuke rolled off of him, into the wooden railing on the side of the bed. The two lay side-by-side; occasionally glancing around the room to make sure everyone was still sleeping as an awkward silence fell upon them.
Naruto knew he should probably say something, but his brain and tongue were still getting reacquainted with each other as he came down from his high. He took another gulp of air as he listened to Sasuke’s breathing begin to steady. What did people usually say after something like this, anyway?
He sure as hell didn’t know; so he turned his head, looked at Sasuke, and said the first thing that came to his mind.
“So… wanna cuddle?”
His Life Saver was suddenly slapped back over his mouth and a creak sounded from the ladder, signaling that someone was climbing down it. Guess not… Naruto turned his head again, going back to staring at the ceiling and counting cobwebs when something landed on his face.
Something else plopped down with it and he sat up, only to see a clean pair of his sweatpants and boxers slide off his face and into his lap. The butterflies in his chest fluttered as he stared down at the articles of clothing. Did that mean that Sasuke got them out for him? He looked down over the side of his bed and found Sasuke pulling on a new pair of pants.
“Throw your dirty clothes down here,” Sasuke whispered, looking away. Was he blushing?! “It’s not good to sleep in wet clothes,” he mumbled so quietly Naruto almost didn’t hear him.
The blond grinned and nodded his head, jumping out of his sticky clothes and sliding on the fresh pair of boxers and pants. He tossed them over the side of the bed to Sasuke who caught them and shoved them under the bed before ducking out of view and onto his bed.
Naruto peeled off the tape slowly and stuck it on the wood next to him. He slipped under the covers and fluffed his pillow, situating himself until he got more comfortable.
“G’night Sasuke,” he whispered, smiling to himself as he heard the other grunt softly in response.
Naruto didn’t know what they were now. Friends, acquaintances, friends with benefits, it didn’t matter. All he knew was that the weight of Sasuke’s body was better than the other weight that he had felt pressing down on his chest all day.
Besides, he always had more time to figure it out later. Right now just that fact that someone was there with him was all that really mattered.
Sighing contentedly to himself, he snuggled further into the blankets, his exhausted body begging for the rest. But as both the boys fell into a slumber, neither of them noticed the eyes twinkling in amusement, watching them from the darkness.
Chapter: [ 1], [ 2], [3], [ 4], [ 5], [ 6], [ 7]
Rating: M / NC-17
Genre: Drama, Romance, Angst, AU, with a dash of Humour
Pairings: SasuNaru / NaruSasu, some ShikaChouji, SakuIno, GaaNejiGaa(?)
Summary: After coming out of the closet, Naruto’s parents decide to send him to a conversion therapy camp. But things get even more complicated once he finds himself obsessing over a misanthropic chain-smoker from an unusual family. Now it's up to him to discover himself, his sexuality, and where his convictions really lie.
A/N: There will be some sexual content in this chapter, so be warned (even though it's pretty tame). I know it may seem a bit too soon for the smut but I’m hoping my reasoning for it will make sense. If not, then shut up, you’re getting smut, so be happy.
Naruto cursed mentally as he avoided another low tree branch and struggled to stay on the crowded dirt path, his short attention span crying out in agony. Just how far into the woods was their cabin, anyway?! It felt like he had been walking through trees for hours!
Well, it had only been about twenty minutes, and he had somehow wandered off the path and gotten lost in some shrubbery for about fifteen of those minutes… but still!
Naruto’s mental ranting was cut off, though, as the person in front of him suddenly came to a stop, causing him to bump into them lightly. He opened his mouth to utter an apology, only to find that something was keeping it from opening all the way.
Oh, right, the duct tape. At least he understood now why they said it was a safety precaution for making sure everyone stuck to Safekeeping. Naruto would’ve broken the rules within the first five minutes without it. He still felt sorry for all the kids that were mouth breathers though; to them it must’ve felt like someone had put tape over their mouth and nose. He just hoped no one had died of suffocation yet.
Making a slight sound of frustration (he’d never get used to this silence thing!), he glanced around to see what the hold up was. They’d reached what looked like a log cabin with an engraved number seven hovering above the screen door.
Cabin seven. This was it. Home sweet home, Naruto thought sarcastically as he stepped out from behind the boy to get a better look at it. More kids began to join them in standing in front of the wooden cabin while others weaved and made their way around the group.
An odd looking man was leaning languidly against the wall next to the cabin’s door with his legs crossed casually at the ankles and one hand in the pocket of his loose black slacks. Even though the man only appeared to be in his early thirties, he had hair greyer than Naruto’s grandmother’s that stuck up in a way that made it look like it hadn't been properly washed and combed in months. Only one forth of the man's face was visible at the moment, with an eye patch over one eye and the rest of his face covered by the Bible he had his nose buried in.
Or, at least it looked like it was a Bible. There was something that appeared to be the corner of an orange, hardback book cover sticking out from underneath the black, leathery cover, though. Huh, weird.
“Yo,” the man pulled his hand out of his pocket and raised it in greeting as the group belonging to cabin seven gathered around, his nose still buried in the ‘Bible’ even though his still pupil made it obvious he wasn’t reading anything. He listened to the crunch of shoes against the dirt and pebbled path die down before beginning with introductions.
“I’m Kakashi Hatake, your cabin supervisor. Don’t call me Mr. Hatake, though. I may have the gray hair but I’m not that old yet.” He looked up at them, his good eye curving upwards in what Naruto assumed was a smile. He shoved the hand he had been waving with back into the pocket of his baggy pants and snapped his book shut with the other.
Shoving it into his back pocket, he pushed off the wall and walked closer to them; the sharp features of his lower face now visible. Even though he was smiling at them, a sad, nostalgic look showed in his grey eye as he scanned the crowd.
The corners of his mouth drooped slightly as he looked over all of the confused and crestfallen expressions on the kids’ faces. He sighed. Every year it was the same. He always felt like he was talking at them instead of to them when they were taped up like this.
When they were unable to question him or what was happening to them.
“Right then. Bathrooms are in that building over there,” he lazily gestured towards a small wooden building about a quarter of a mile or so across from their cabin. “Only one person to a shower at a time and all showers are to be kept under ten minutes since hot water is limited,” he explained mechanically, as if he was reading everything off of a set of cue cards.
“If you have to use the bathroom or need to go to the clinic in the middle of the night, wake me before leaving. I sleep right next to the door in the only single cot so it shouldn’t be hard to find me. Wake up time is at six and bedtime is at nine, but if you want to stay up for an extra hour or so; reading something or listening to music that isn’t secular, I’m willing to turn a blind eye to it,” he smiled at them, noticing how a few of the teens visibly relaxed at the bad pun.
He scratched his head in thought, mussing his already wild hair, “Hmm, I think that’s about it. And don’t try anything funny, I sleep with one eye open.” He winked, causing Naruto to cock an eyebrow.
Wait, this guy only had one eye! So, did that mean he slept with his eyes open? Did he even have a second eye under that eye patch? Naruto was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to rip off his Life Saver and ask the man if something happened to his eye or if it was just an empty socket under the patch.
“Everyone go inside and find your stuff, it should be sitting next to the bunk you’ll be sleeping in. No fighting over top and bottom bunks; it won’t matter how high off the ground you are when you’re unconscious, just grab a bed. After you get situated we’ll all go down to the bathroom together to get ready for bed.”
He held the door open and stepped aside, motioning for the boys to enter. They all began piling in and searching for their belongings while Kakashi waited by the door, once again flipping through his ‘Bible’.
Naruto immediately spotted his blindingly bright suitcase on the bunk in the back corner of the room and darted towards it. As he walked up beside the bottom bunk, he couldn’t help but stare down at the black weekender bag(1) sitting next to his suitcase. It had the same strange white and red fan symbol on it that the zipper to Sasuke’s sleeveless shirt had… oh no.
Naruto desperately hoped that it was just some new fashion trend that he wasn’t up to date on.
A figure walked up beside him and extended a familiar pale arm, grabbing the bag. Shit. He groaned mentally. He didn’t know why he thought lady luck would be on his side; after all, the real girls usually avoided him like the plague, it was only natural a made-up woman would have the same reaction.
He gulped nervously and tossed his bag on the top bed to claim it. Watching Sasuke’s facial expressions as carefully as he could out of the corner of his eye, he waited for any signs of disapproval. Sasuke remained aloof though, as he slowly unzipped his over-stuffed bag and began rummaging around in it for supplies so he could begin his usual nightly routine.
Naruto let out a long breath through his nose that he didn’t know he’d been holding before nearly slapping his palm to his forehead in realization. It was pointless to throw his suitcase up on the top since he had yet to get his nighttime stuff out of it. Besides, it would probably just be stored under the bottom bunk anyway for space.
Oh well, at least he called dibs. Even though he still didn’t know how he was going to be able to sleep soundly, knowing that the new object of his soon-to-be-wet dreams was sleeping only a few feet below him. He groaned internally, hoping that he was wrong and not wanting to have to suffer the embarrassment of discussing those kinds of dreams with his strange, gray-haired cabin leader.
Something told him it was going to be a long night.
*****
Sasuke lay out on top of the sheets of his bed, staring up at the wood that supported the mattress of the bunk above him. Although he had shed his Life Saver the second the lights had flicked off, using the darkness to his advantage as he stuck it to the bedpost for safekeeping, he hadn’t bothered changing for bed and was still wearing the same modest, wrinkled clothing that the camp’s staff had jammed him into earlier.
It wasn’t that he found the outfit particularly comfortable. Actually, the pants were about two sizes too big for his slim frame and twisted awkwardly around his hips every time he shifted or rolled over on the mattress, occasionally causing the pant’s cold, hard metal button to dig painfully into his sharp hip bone, and the shirt was made of an unusual cotton blend that felt stiff against his sensitive skin.
He just didn’t have the energy to dig through his bag for nightwear that the camp deemed suitable.
It was a different kind of exhaustion than he was used to, though. While he usually beat the hell out of his body, pushing it to its limits and beyond until he collapsed, this time he was mentally wiped out.
Yet, even though it was hours after lights-out and only the slow, rhythmic breathing of his fellow cabin mates along with the occasional owl hoot sounded throughout the room, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes shut.
His head was pulsing, as if everything he had been thinking for the past twenty-four hours was ruthlessly trying to burst out through his temples.
Usually Sasuke liked the quiet, liked being able to think and examine everything that was happening around him, sorting through it all to try to guess what new plan his father had in store for him and his life. His father had always been pretty straightforward in what he expected from his youngest son.
He expected him to be just like his brother- Itachi.
Sasuke’s blood boiled as his thoughts circled around the reason why he had been shipped off to this damn camp. Itachi, the only person he had allowed himself to trust after what happened to his mother, had backstabbed him just for shits and giggles without even batting an eyelash.
Even though he had been emotionally stale for years, his chest ached when he recalled Itachi’s betrayal.
A silent, bitter laugh rose in his throat, joining the lump there as he thought of how his father-a man who always spoke of pride and doing things yourself-had sent him away to be ‘de-gayed’ once the man realized not everything was going according to plan in his supposedly perfect family, expecting someone else to do the dirty work for him. It was laughable, really. His family wasn’t even religious!
Especially since the only gods the Uchiha’s worshipped were themselves.
He felt his chest rise and fall as he breathed deeply, his clenched jaw doing nothing to help his already aching head as he tried to relax his stiff body. There were two things Sasuke usually did to relieve frustration: fight and fuck… or sometimes both. Combined. But as he surveyed the still room, he realized that neither of those would be an option.
Sighing, he grabbed the pseudo smashed package of cigarettes and cheap gas station issued lighter he hid under his mattress earlier when he put his suitcase under the bed, and sat up, pausing as he thought out his next move.
He couldn’t just waltz outside and light up like he usually would; somehow he didn’t think that would sit to well with their cabin supervisor. He could always say he was just going to use the restroom he supposed, but he was still unsure if Kakashi would want to follow him, or worse… make him use the buddy system.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he glanced beside him to find the ladder that led up to the top bunk staring back on him. Well, there was a window up there…
Pocketing the pack and lighter, he stood, his mind made up, and began to make his way up the ladder.
*****
Naruto lay sprawled out on top of his bed, his fingers interlaced behind his head on the limp feather pillow as he stared up at the cobwebs on the wooden ceiling. He was wide-awake still, unable to sleep a wink.
There were so many overwhelming thoughts over-crowding his brain that he wasn’t sure if there was enough room in his head to hold them all. Hell, he half-expected them to begin pouring out of his ears at any second. He couldn’t help it though; it seemed like every time he tried to squash a thought, two more would enter his mind in its place. The damn things were like cockroaches!
“Now you go somewhere and pray, and you start doing some repenting!” The woman’s shrill voice replayed on a loop in his mind, meshing with the other thoughts there. Repenting? She made it sound like he was beating little brittle old ladies to death, and stealing food and coats from the homeless rather than feeling for another human being. But, was he really doing something that terrible? (What was he doing, anyway?)
And if it was… did that make him terrible, too?
A loud creak sounded from the bedside ladder, pulling Naruto from his musings. The ladder creaked and groaned in protest from the weight of the body climbing up it as it lifted up off the bed momentarily, only to be pushed back into place with a light clank as the dark figure reached the top.
Naruto squinted his eyes for a second, trying see who it was in the darkness before snapping them open so wide he swore he could almost feel his eye balls popping out of his head as recognition finally set in.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and tried to open his mouth to ask what the hell Sasuke thought he was doing, only to have his lips part slightly before the skin around his mouth was tugged on painfully, his mouth only releasing a few angry, muffled noises.
Stupid bastard, doing something stupid and making me forget about the stupid tape AGAIN, he mentally cursed at Sasuke as the strong, nasty taste of glue entered his mouth from him trying to speak while still wearing the duct tape. Ugh, it was like licking a hundred envelopes in a row!!
The mattress dipped as Sasuke crawled on the bed, slowly reaching towards the blond. Naruto felt like a bunch of butterflies had been released inside of his ribcage as the pale hand neared his scarred cheek, icy fingertips delicately brushing against the soft, tan skin. Then, without warning, Sasuke grabbed the tape and yanked it off of his mouth in one fluid motion.
“OW!! WHAT THE FUCK SAS-“ Sasuke slapped a hand over Naruto’s red, irritated mouth to silence him. The Uchiha slowly looked around the room, making sure no one heard the outburst. Letting out a small sigh of relief when no one stirred, he turned his angry glare back on the noisy blond.
“Quiet, idiot! Do you want to wake up the entire Northern Hemisphere?!” Sasuke hissed in a low voice before removing his hand.
“Oww,” Naruto whined as he touched his cool fingers to his stinging face, “you could’ve at least warned me, bastard. Aw man, I was growing a mustache too!” He pouted as he stroked his smoother, and now slightly sticky, upper lip.
“Moron…” Sasuke grumbled, moving towards the small window near the end of the bed and messing with the rusted locks until they broke. “You’d just end up having to shave it off. Besides,” Sasuke smirked at him while sliding open the window, “I doubt you’re able to grow anything but peach fuzz.”
“Ha! Yeah right! You’re just jealous because I’m a hundred times more manly and rugged than you and your mustache-less self will ever be!!” Naruto huffed in a whisper, glaring at Sasuke as the raven merely shook his head and mumbled something under his breath as he fished out the lighter and crumpled cigarette pack from his pocket.
“Didn’t you make a hole for that?” Naruto asked with a slight snicker, motioning to the new cigarette Sasuke placed between his lips, remembering the hole the boy made in his Life Saver.
The pale boy grunted in response as he flicked on the lighter and lit his cigarette, quickly pocketing the pack and lighter once again afterwards. The taste of tobacco overlapped the clean, mint flavour of his newly brushed teeth as he took a nice long inhale, his face relaxing slightly as the nicotine began its calming effect.
Naruto sat up, leaning back on his elbows and shifting his legs over to the side of the bed to give Sasuke some more room, as the boy remained crouched in front of the small window. “Did they say anything to you?”
“About what?” Sasuke arched a delicate eyebrow, looking at Naruto from the corner of his eyes.
“Gee, I don’t know, maybe about having a big gaping hole in the middle of your duct tape?” The blond elaborated, giving Sasuke a ‘duh’ look.
“Told them I had a stuffy nose,” Sasuke answered simply, turning to gaze once again to the moonlit woods and taking another deep inhale from his sin stick.
Naruto grinned, “Good one.” It was a pretty good excuse. The camp probably couldn’t do anything if the kids with allergies or stuffy noses didn’t want to wear tape over their mouths. Especially since it most likely constituted as child abuse… or something.
Sasuke slightly shrugged his broad shoulders in response, releasing all the smoke from his lungs. Naruto’s heart skipped a beat as he drank up the sight in front of him. The boy’s once inky black hair had a blue tint to it in the limited light, making it seem even more glossy and unreal. The moonlight highlighted his body in all the right places, giving it a beautiful pearl colouring that made his sharp features seem even more like they were etched from marble.
Naruto was suddenly thankful for the darkness as a small blush spread across his cheeks.
Feeling eyes on him, Sasuke turned his gaze back on the blond observing him. The butterflies fluttering around in Naruto’s chest became violent as Sasuke exhaled another smooth stream of smoke, bringing a whole new meaning to the expression ‘smoky eyes’. Naruto wasn’t sure if it was because of him or the cigarette, but Sasuke looked more relaxed since they’d been talking, more… comfortable.
It was almost like the time when Naruto first found the raven in the alley, muscles tensed and glaring at air…
Naruto gulped as he remembered what he wanted to ask. “Hey, Sasuke…” he whispered weakly.
“Hn?” Sasuke grunted in response, taking a long drag from his cigarette.
“Before, in the alley, why did you kiss me?” Naruto asked, sounding much more cool and collected than he felt.
“…I needed to prove something,” the boy finally answered in a soft voice after a moment of silence.
Naruto stared at him, confusion suddenly replacing the nervousness from before. “Huh?”
The raven sighed, stalling for a moment by snuffing out his half-smoked cigarette on the windowsill as he thought about how to explain it. “When someone tells you can’t do something, what’s the first thing you want to do?”
“Punch them in the face?”
“Besides that!” Sasuke snapped in the quietest voice he could muster, suddenly understanding where those dumb blond jokes originated from.
“Prove them wrong?” Naruto tried again slowly, equally as confused as before.
“Exactly. So when your parents told you that you couldn’t be gay… that homosexuals don’t exist… what’s the first thing you wanted to do?”
Naruto looked at him in disbelief. “You grabbed me and started humping me like a dog in heat because you wanted to prove you could be gay? Well congratulations, you did it, because that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Shut up!” Sasuke hissed, his meaning getting lost somewhere in translation as he quietly slammed the window shut and crawled back towards the ladder in frustration. “You just don’t get it…” he muttered under his breath, thinking that Naruto couldn’t hear him.
“Wait!” Naruto grabbed the boy’s wrist before he could put his foot down on the first step of the ladder. The blond opened his mouth to say something, but was only able to make a strangled noise in the back of his throat when he saw the familiar look in Sasuke’s eyes. His breath hitched.
They looked so regretful, so betrayed, so… hurt.
It was a look that Naruto wanted so desperately to erase.
So, going with the first idea that popped into his head, he threw all doubt and common sense out the window as he yanked Sasuke down by the front of his shirt in an attempted kiss. He missed, ending up kissing the corner of Sasuke’s mouth and shifting his lips gracelessly so they meshed together in a cigarette laced kiss.
Naruto wasn’t completely sure what Sasuke was trying to say, but he knew from that look that he needed the same thing that Naruto did. Reassurance that he wasn’t alone, that there was someone here with him going through the exact same thing he was. Someone that understood what it felt like, and someone who was just there, that would acknowledge his existence as something other than a mistake. Someone that he could touch and cling to whenever he just felt like going numb.
Someone to let him know that there wasn’t something wrong with him.
Sasuke tensed up and after a few seconds awkwardly kissed back, the unexpected action suddenly making him seem timid and inexperienced. Naruto continued to pull him down until Sasuke was partially laying on him; his head turned at an uncomfortable angle to keep their lips connected.
Sasuke took the hint and climbed on top of Naruto, the weight of his body pushing Naruto’s into the old mattress. Tan fingers found purchase in dark hair and Naruto slipped his tongue into Sasuke’s mouth in a moment of hormone-induced boldness.
Sasuke jerked slightly in surprise as the wet muscle wiggled between his lips. He opened his mouth wider for the probing tongue, sliding his own against it as it revisited the cavern of his mouth. Once he took charge of the kiss he relaxed some, twirling the skilled muscle around Naruto’s as they locked in battle.
Naruto suddenly broke the kiss and began to suck lightly and sloppily on his neck. Sasuke shivered as the blond blew on the now damp spot of his heated skin, his breath coming out in soft pants.
“Na-Naruto, what the hell are you doing?” He brought himself to whisper as Naruto latched onto another part of his neck.
“You wanted to prove you could be gay… so… be gay,” the blond murmured against his skin.
“Idiot, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant-“ Sasuke got cut off as a pair of lips once again smashed into his own. He groaned in pain as their mouths collided harshly against each other. Was Naruto trying to head butt him or kiss him?!
The Uchiha wound one of his hands into blond hair and pulled his head back slightly, correcting the pressure until they were actually kissing instead of just having their faces slammed together. He coaxed Naruto’s mouth open with his tongue, rolling and twirling it experimentally over the other’s, smirking slightly to himself.
Well, it looked like he would be able to work off some of his frustration after all.
He lowered his body down more, biting back a moan as it brought them chest against chest, crotch-in-need against crotch-in-need. Naruto spread his legs to make more room for Sasuke and gasped, arching his back at the added weight and heat, consequently brushing his clothed erection against Sasuke’s.
They both sucked in a breath at the contact, breaking the kiss and trying not to make any noises. Naruto grinned slyly to himself before rocking their hips together again experimentally, trying to get Sasuke to suck in another breath. He could feel goose bumps prickling at his skin as a shudder of pleasure danced down his spine.
He looked up at Sasuke’s flushed face just as the raven bit down on the side of his plump, kiss-bruised lip to stifle another moan. Naruto’s jaw dropped open. Was he drooling? That was probably the sexiest thing he had ever seen before in his whole goddamn life.
Suddenly, he felt what little self-control he had left snap. Grabbing the back of the Uchiha’s head, he dragged Sasuke back down into a fierce kiss. The raven grunted quietly as their tongues resumed their previous tango, and he felt Naruto run the hand that wasn’t tangled in his hair down his slightly sweaty shirt until it rested on his butt.
Sasuke smirked internally. What the hell happened to the blushing, stuttering boy he made-out with back in the alley?! He wasn’t sure what brought on the change, but one thing was for sure-he liked it. He liked it a lot.
Naruto squeezed slightly, causing Sasuke to make a surprised choking sound at the unexpected butt-grab. The blond began rolling his hips against Sasuke’s, and the stoic boy ironically found himself having a hard time remaining quiet as his body buzzed with pleasure at the motion.
Naruto’s movements grew more frantic, making it look more like he was trying to buck the taller boy off of him instead of grind against him, his actions now running on hormones and instinct alone. Sasuke grabbed tan hips, his fingers digging into the blond hard enough to leave bruises as he tried to control and meet Naruto’s erratic thrusts at the same time.
His baggy pants were sliding off his hips from the force of their thrusts, but that was the last thing on his mind as his body cried out for more friction. They had stopped kissing, their lips just barely touching as they panted into each other’s mouth, their breathing becoming more ragged with every move of their hips.
Naruto could feel his shirt sticking to his sweaty chest and blond hair matting to his forehead as the heat coiling in his belly spread through his veins. He suddenly found himself wishing that there weren’t clothes between them, his shirt acting like an oven to his already too hot body.
He moved his hand to fist the back of Sasuke’s also sweaty shirt as they quickened the pace. The sensation of his silky boxers rubbing against his throbbing arousal was driving him crazy. He was close. So close.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he should warn Sasuke that he wouldn’t last much longer, but all coherent thought and speech patterns were brought to a screeching halt when Sasuke suddenly bit down on his shoulder, muffling his cries of pleasure as the body above him tensed.
Well, that pretty much answered his question.
He shot his hand up to his mouth, biting into the back of it to silence his own cries as he came. Thrusting a few more times, he rode out his orgasm, barely registering the new weight as Sasuke gracelessly collapsed on his chest.
He removed his hand from his mouth as his vision came back to him, his chest still heaving as he tried to calm his racing heart. His body hummed with satisfaction, his head still spinning. Even though it was still far too hot and Sasuke was crushing him, he couldn’t bring himself to push the boy off him.
So he just lay there, trying to ignore the uncomfortable wet and sticky feeling in his pants as he continued to gasp for air. Sasuke rolled off of him, into the wooden railing on the side of the bed. The two lay side-by-side; occasionally glancing around the room to make sure everyone was still sleeping as an awkward silence fell upon them.
Naruto knew he should probably say something, but his brain and tongue were still getting reacquainted with each other as he came down from his high. He took another gulp of air as he listened to Sasuke’s breathing begin to steady. What did people usually say after something like this, anyway?
He sure as hell didn’t know; so he turned his head, looked at Sasuke, and said the first thing that came to his mind.
“So… wanna cuddle?”
His Life Saver was suddenly slapped back over his mouth and a creak sounded from the ladder, signaling that someone was climbing down it. Guess not… Naruto turned his head again, going back to staring at the ceiling and counting cobwebs when something landed on his face.
Something else plopped down with it and he sat up, only to see a clean pair of his sweatpants and boxers slide off his face and into his lap. The butterflies in his chest fluttered as he stared down at the articles of clothing. Did that mean that Sasuke got them out for him? He looked down over the side of his bed and found Sasuke pulling on a new pair of pants.
“Throw your dirty clothes down here,” Sasuke whispered, looking away. Was he blushing?! “It’s not good to sleep in wet clothes,” he mumbled so quietly Naruto almost didn’t hear him.
The blond grinned and nodded his head, jumping out of his sticky clothes and sliding on the fresh pair of boxers and pants. He tossed them over the side of the bed to Sasuke who caught them and shoved them under the bed before ducking out of view and onto his bed.
Naruto peeled off the tape slowly and stuck it on the wood next to him. He slipped under the covers and fluffed his pillow, situating himself until he got more comfortable.
“G’night Sasuke,” he whispered, smiling to himself as he heard the other grunt softly in response.
Naruto didn’t know what they were now. Friends, acquaintances, friends with benefits, it didn’t matter. All he knew was that the weight of Sasuke’s body was better than the other weight that he had felt pressing down on his chest all day.
Besides, he always had more time to figure it out later. Right now just that fact that someone was there with him was all that really mattered.
Sighing contentedly to himself, he snuggled further into the blankets, his exhausted body begging for the rest. But as both the boys fell into a slumber, neither of them noticed the eyes twinkling in amusement, watching them from the darkness.
Chapter: [ 1], [ 2], [3], [ 4], [ 5], [ 6], [ 7]