To the Place Where We'll Always Meet (1/1)
Between Game of Thrones, Oz, Spartacus, and then Megumi dying after I get a dislocated knee, life is teetering dangerously close into adulthood right now.
Yet again back to this sort of Naruto/Sasuke/Itachi quasi-triangle I love. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something about EM. Just like how it told me this is apparently the counter scene I never knew I always wanted to write. If I actually wrote this, I mean.
Like always, I really, really didn’t mean for this one to happen, but it’s very difficult for me not to become easily distracted; the passing of time for me is like not wanting to sit still staring through empty space. That’s why I’m so absent-minded. I think.
tbh, I was sitting on this for a while because I couldn't find a song to wrap it up, and oh--oh, then this severely underrated 80s sounding masterpiece of a diamond in the rough came up on my iDevice, and I was like yeah, 1979 Kenny Loggins song reference. Of course, the fic turned out even more so incredibly, embarrassingly sappy, but I suppose I was in the mood for cutesy old married couple-esque stuff, which is sort of my thing, anyway, and I've been getting my SG-1 on lately (Jack and Daniel are so the epitome of this), so, um...that's my excuse.
But there's something oddly appealing about a Naruto who can sometimes come across as both easy-going and obnoxiously overconfident while still being just a tad bit insecure. And then Sasuke trying to be reassuring without exactly being outright reassuring, which is just all kinds of messed up fail from my end.
Although maybe this was really just an excuse to have Itachi mess with Naruto's head.
***
Characters: Naruto/Sasuke
Rating: PG-15
Words: 7076
Summary: "...your brother intimidates me."
“You couldn’t have told me he was coming? Or at least given me some kind of warning before I got home?”
“And what kind of warning was I supposed to give? He was supposed to be in New York.” Hands turned out, gripping the edge by his palms, Sasuke hops onto the counter, legs dangling over the side, scooting back until his feet are a good distance from touching the floor. “I didn’t even know he was coming.”
“Some kind of hint before you hung up on me would’ve been nice. Instead of worrying me for no reason, actually telling me he was here would’ve been great, too. Or was that something you conveniently overlooked-because, you know. Springing Itachi on me like that? Not cool, Sasuke.”
With a snort, Sasuke begins to dig through the large, white paper bag placed on the counter, removing the rest of the groceries Naruto brought back. Next to the sink he sets down a bottle of jasmine tea and four foam cups of instant ramen, each lined up to make a neat little row, placing on top of one cup two packs of Lotte Black Black gum and a small bag of candy already opened.
“If you hadn’t turned your phone off on me,” Naruto says, “you could’ve sent me a message. I think I’ve known you long enough to deserve a little more consideration.”
“Allowing you to live with me is consideration enough.”
“But really, it wasn’t exactly the impressionable kind of first impression I’d planned on making with your family. Especially with your brother. I felt like an idiot just standing there like that.”
“And you look like an idiot standing there now-not helping me put this stuff away.” Reaching behind him to open the cabinet door adjacent to his right, Sasuke places a small jar of red miso paste inside. “I don’t see a difference.”
The hard candy in his mouth is pushed to one side with a click of his tongue, and Naruto gives Sasuke a dry look, left cheek slightly protruding.
“Funny.” With the back of his teeth, he bites down on the tart candy, breaking it into jagged little pieces that quickly become smaller and smaller.
“Stop overreacting.”
Taking the small package of sweet bean cakes all but shoved into his hand, Naruto extends his arm to reach above Sasuke’s head and places the package into the open cabinet. “Hey, cut me some slack here, all right. I come home, see you on the couch real cosy with this guy who almost looks just like you-except not-then he’s smiling at me like he caught me in the act of doing something very, very wrong, which wasn’t fair at all, since he already knew my name when I didn’t know even who he was until he suddenly introduces himself as your older brother-and of course, you’re no help.
“Hiding behind him and putting me on the spot like that. Not that I would’ve expected anything different from you, and yeah, I get that you were really embarrassed about the whole thing, with the way your face started to get seriously red because he kept calling you his little brother, treating you like you were still a little ki-”
“You finished yet?” Sasuke says, wearing one of those almost dull, really bland expressions with this tiny little tinge of resigned annoyance easy enough for Naruto to pick up on then promptly disregard.
“Finished what? Talking about my feelings?”
“Talking in general.”
“Oh, I didn’t even mention his X-ray vision, did I? Because I swear it felt like he instantly knew about all the embarrassing things I ever did in life. Like when I was four, and the time I accidentally broke this really old vase when our neighbours were babysitting me, but then I blamed it on their evil, possessed black cat from hell, cause it really was that damn cat’s fault for following me everywhere and trying to chew off my ankle, which meant I had to tell my parents I couldn’t be held responsible for supernatural forces outside my control. Obviously.”
“I’m sure they believed you.”
“Just like I can’t believe you let me carry on and on like that in front of Itachi.” Naruto pauses, placing a bag of brown rice inside the cabinet, next to the generous package of dry natto, between a two meal case of spicy curry udon and the snack-sized bags of okra chips Sasuke likes to eat too much. “Wait a minute-take that back.” He closes the door. “I can.”
“I can’t let you do anything you don’t want to do, Naruto.”
“Don’t think I’m going to fall for that with you,” Naruto says, eyes stern following an accusatory finger pointed at the tip of Sasuke’s nose. "You make me do a lot of things I don’t even realise I’m doing until I’ve already done them. But hanging me out to dry in front of your brother...”
Pushing down Naruto’s hand, Sasuke tilts his head, wearing this small little amused smile not even the least apologetic. “I already said I wasn’t expecting him, didn’t I? I was in the middle of working on the assignment Kakashi’s forcing me to do. Seeing my brother really did take me by surprise.”
“Took you by surprise?” Naruto huffs, reaching for another piece of candy he unwraps and pops into his mouth. “What about me?”
“What about you?”
“...I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate your show of concern during my obvious time of need.”
“You call this a time of need?” Sasuke reveals another little smile, handing Naruto a box of Corn Frosty.
“I’m really not a big fan of this assembly line formation. Making me do all the work, especially since I’m the one who was forced to go to the store. Shouldn’t you be doing this?"
“Your milk. Your cereal.” Paper bag held over his lap, Sasuke folds it flat, laying the bottom section over then setting the bag to the side. “Your problem.”
“Mr. I-only -like-sweet-things-when-nobody’s-looking, you act like I didn’t catch you eating the last of my Waffle Corn Frosty,” Naruto mutters, leaning down to put the cereal inside the bottom cabinet to the right of Sasuke’s leg. “But seriously,” he says, standing upright, both hands placed near the counter’s edge on either side of Sasuke, “back to your brother.”
“Pretend I’m listening.”
“Your brother, Sasuke.”
“You said that already.”
“Because I had a very strong feeling it was something that needed to be said again.”
“And?”
“Well...” Taking his time to inhale, closing his mouth, Naruto slowly releases the air through his nose. “It’s not that I don’t like your brother, but did you notice that he seemed really...”
Both hands reaching for the wide collar of Naruto’s t-shirt, Sasuke watches him for a moment or two, eyes made soft by a slight teasing gleam much more comforting and far less overwhelming than the kind of subtle scrutiny Itachi was subjecting Naruto to earlier. “Nice.”
“Yeah, that, too. If that’s what you want to call it, sure. Why not?”
“My brother’s supposed to be something other than nice?” Sasuke says, grip light on Naruto’s shirt beckoning him just a bit closer, pulling on the material in his hands with a short series of alternating tugs.
“...there’s never any way to win with you, is there?” Naruto narrows his eyes, rightfully suspicious of the tiny little barely there smile that still hasn’t left Sasuke’s face. “I bet you said things about me, didn’t you? Very mean and bad untrue things that made him stare at me like that for so long.”
Smile overturned by an almost frown, Sasuke raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see the way he was staring at me.”
“Since when does making occasional eye contact during a conversation constitute as staring?”
“You did say very mean and bad untrue things about me, didn’t you?”
“Why would I say anything bad about you?”
“Answering my question with another question doesn’t really answer my question.”
With a single look, Sasuke conveys the long-suffering impression of rolling his eyes without actually rolling his eyes, releasing his grip on Naruto’s collar and lowering his arms that fall crossed over his lap. “It’s all in your head.”
Some of it probably is, Naruto can admit. But not that much. Well, at least he doesn’t think it’s that much. “I’m telling you. The way he was staring at me, how closely he was paying attention to me, your brother was being really nice. Too nice, in fact.”
“That’s what you got out of his so-called staring. He was being too nice.”
“Forget about the staring.” Naruto gives a few quick shakes of his head, leaning forward then pushing up from the counter with his hands to stand up straight. “It’s not just about the staring.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Your brother kept smiling at me, Sasuke,” Naruto hisses. “Smiling. With one of the most threatening, non-threatening smiles ever. Interrogating me about my hobbies, what I’m studying, why I’m interested in photography. Talking about the photos on the wall then actually having the nerve to compliment me after I told him I took them. And now I’m going to have dreams about the whole thing. Nightmares.”
“Dreams about my brother smiling at you?”
“Please don’t put it that way. It sounds creepy when you put it that way.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, it means he likes you?”
“Likes me? Ch. No, Sasuke-no. You don’t smile at people like that. And the way your brother was smiling at me, seriously, there was just this vibe he had, right. This certain...okay, I don’t know exactly what to call it, but that doesn’t not prove my point. Which is, whatever Itachi was up to, I felt it.”
“He wanted to get to know you.”
“Yeah, right. That’s probably what he set out to make me to think.”
“Mm-hm.”
“I don’t know if he was yanking my chain or what, but it sort of felt like I was secretly getting the third degree for stealing your favourite toy ten years ago. Like I was being put on trial, only, it was more like he was waiting for me to incriminate myself for something I didn’t even do. Not that I’m saying I’m guilty of doing anything, because I didn’t even know you ten years ago, but a guy who looks that harmless shouldn’t radiate such strong killing intent, you know. It’s just not natural.”
Sasuke makes this soft noise a cross between a sigh and a hum, partially resigned, maybe that much more placating, fingers giving a playful tug to stray strands of blond hair he pushes away from Naruto’s eyes. “I will never claim to understand how the hell you even manage to come up with half the crap you say.”
“It’s not crap if it’s true. And this is true. Because those looks you like to give me sometimes, I can see where you get it from now. But appearing so nice at first, the kind of smile Itachi was giving me, that was wrongful deceit.”
“All this from a smile, Naruto?”
“I did not feel like it was a happy smile. It was more like a suspicious smile. Or an unpromising smile. Or a borderline-I-know-how-to-hide-dead-bodies kind of-”
Leaning forward, Sasuke raises an arm around Naruto’s neck, letting it fall over Naruto’s shoulder, hand relaxed against Naruto’s back. The corner of his mouth starts to twitch, lips pressed together tight in a too obvious attempt not to laugh as he reaches with his other hand to pat Naruto on the head. “Getting so worked up over something like that,” he says, letting his forehead fall against Naruto’s, fingers tangled within coarse strands of blond hair, “you’re going to hurt yourself at this rate.”
“You’re starting to get a little too comfortable with this,” Naruto says, eyebrows pinched and nose scrunched in slight annoyance. “Don’t think this artificial height suddenly gives you some kind of advantage. You don’t need to let that kind of power trip go to your head.”
“There’s nothing artificial about the fact I’m taller than you.”
“Jerk.” With a grunt, Naruto lowers his head, dropping it against Sasuke’s chest, arms reaching around Sasuke’s waist pulling Sasuke towards him, nearer and nearer to the edge of the counter as he worms himself comfortable between Sasuke’s legs. “I’m glad you find the way your brother makes me feel so funny.”
Hands making a quick reach for the arms around him, Sasuke braces himself, the pads of his fingers digging into Naruto’s skin. “N-Naruto, what’re you-let go. Let go. You’re going to make us both-”
“You know I wouldn’t let you fall.”
Sasuke tenses at the words. After a few seconds, no more than two or three, he begins to relax. Slowly, his fingers loosen their grip and his arms around Naruto’s shoulders return Naruto’s hold. “I know you’re only this talkative when you’re nervous, but it can’t just be about my brother smiling at you.”
Naruto gives an unintelligible grumble further muffled by Sasuke’s shirt.
Pulling him closer, Sasuke breathes out softly, hand stroking the hair along Naruto’s nape. “But even if Itachi coming here was unexpected, you normally don’t act like this. So why do you suddenly feel the need to make a big deal out of meeting him, Naruto?”
It’s less of a request and more of a demand, but Naruto answers, anyway, without question, giving into the gentle fingers massaging his scalp. Deep, he breathes in. Heavy, he breathes out.
“...your brother intimidates me.”
There’s a slight pause at first, an extremely brief lapse of silence, Sasuke’s hand stilling before his quiet snort turns into a disbelieving chuckle short-lived that vibrates from deep within his chest. “He what?”
“That’s right. Laugh it up, you bastard.” Fingers pressing into Sasuke’s sides in warning, Naruto lets out a near growl, holding him still when Sasuke starts to squirm. “I’m not saying it again.”
“Naruto, d-don’t-don’t do that. You know I don’t like being-”
“Then don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you. I just didn’t realise the Great Uzumaki Naruto could actually be intimidated.”
“Shut up, Sasuke. You don’t get to use my words against me at a time like this.”
“Since when did I need your permission?”
“Sasuke...”
Still holding Naruto, fingers of one hand again running through blond hair, Sasuke makes a small, vague noise. “My brother’s a nice person. You said it yourself. I don’t see what’s so intimidating about him.”
“That’s because he’s your brother,” Naruto mumbles. “But for me, he just...he just is, okay.”
“How, though? You’re the guy who thinks the word stranger is synonymous with being another potential number in your phone’s contact list.”
“You do realise you’re my permanent roommate, right?” One hand running along Sasuke’s side, fingers marking a path following down Sasuke’s hip, Naruto gives him a firm squeeze. “Why aren’t you trying to be more accommodating in this situation? You’re supposed to be making me feel better.”
“Feel better about what?”
“You really could learn to do without the sarcasm, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.” Sasuke shifts a little, resting his chin on top of Naruto’s head. “Tell me.”
It takes a while to inhale, seemingly forever trapped in this one instance a meaningless effort to keep time still, but it isn’t long before Naruto lets out the breath he’s been holding. “...well, uh, see, the thing is, I don’t think Itachi’s intimidating because he’s not a nice guy. Because he is. Really. A hell of a lot nicer than I think I should be able to expect someone related to you to be.”
“It’s more like it’s because he’s your brother that he’s intimidating. Since he’s someone important to you. And I know how much he means to you, which makes it even more important that he sees me in a good light. He’s a really big part of your life, so I really want to him to accept me, because I hope one day he’ll consider me an important part of your life, too.”
“Naruto, you...” Laying his head down, cheek pressed against Naruto’s hair, Sasuke sighs, fingers making a reach for the back of Naruto’s shirt sleeve gripped tight in one hand. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
Naruto gives a half-hearted shrug, staring at flecks of ink and paint splattered across Sasuke’s blue shirt. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, sometimes, this really good thing I have with you, I kind of feel like we rushed into it, because even though we’ve known each other for a while, being with you like this, some things still feel too new, but then at the same time, I get this sort of stupid kind of scary feeling that it wouldn’t be enough even if we knew each other all our lives, and it’s just-I don’t know.”
With a near quiet scoff he almost doesn’t hear, Naruto closes his eyes, sagging against Sasuke just a little, giving him another squeeze, tighter, unyielding. “I never know what I’m trying to say, do I? Not that any of this matters after the fact, but...
“When the three of us were talking, even if it was mostly Itachi asking questions trying to get to know me better-when you talk about him, it’s easy to see that he means a lot to you, but when I saw the way you kept looking at him, like he was the only person in the room with you, you just looked so...so...so happy.
“So maybe I kind of started to wonder if there might not be enough room for me in there, too, and then I started to wonder if I’ll ever be able to make you that happy. Not in the same way, though, because it’s not like I’m trying to compete with Itachi, since he’s your brother, and I’m definitely not trying to be your brother, but-”
“Naruto.”
“...yeah?”
“Remind me what I ever saw in a loser like you.”
“Says the one who’s always so mean to me,” Naruto mutters, at the mishmash of paint and ink staining an expanse of faded blue peeking with one eye open, finger poking Sasuke in the side. “Am I ever anything else to you?”
“A hopeless idiot.”
“Who’s really the hopeless idiot here? Me or the guy who fell for me?”
“Still you. For not giving me a choice.”
Ducking from underneath Sasuke’s head, Naruto lifts his gaze, exposing a wide grin teetering on something dangerously close to being called cocky. “Couldn’t resist me, could you?”
“Itachi once told me I shouldn’t be so emotionally standoffish when it came to people I didn’t know,” Sasuke says, sitting up and pulling his arms from around Naruto’s shoulders. “Falling for a brash idiot like you, though, I don’t think that’s what he had in mind.”
“Ha! I knew it-I just knew it. You did tell him untrue things about me.”
“Hard to avoid mentioning the invasive guy who broke the shinai he gave me.”
“He knows about the shaman stick incident?” There’s this tiny little squeak slash mangled sounding gurgle Naruto really didn’t mean to let come out. “Were you intentionally trying to make me seem like a bad person? Is that the real reason why he kept staring at me?”
“Maybe.”
Taking a step back, Naruto sighs, pulling at the hem of a bright yellow shirt covering dark wash jeans, crossing his arms and letting the majority of his weight settle on his left foot. “After all this time, you’re never going to let me forget that one, are you?”
“The day we first met, you don’t think it’s important enough to remember?”
“You know that wasn’t what I trying to-ugh, you grudge-holding asshole, why do you always keep doing these things to me?”
Making a grab for Naruto’s hand, pulling Naruto’s arm away from his chest, Sasuke smiles with a soft laugh, their fingers entwined he raises to hold against his cheek. “I’ve said all I could about you to my brother.”
Naruto gives him a wary look. “...I’m almost afraid to ask what he thought about me the first time you said anything. Knowing you, though, I don’t think I even want to know what you said.”
“Mm, I told him about all the stupid things you say.”
“Just because you get embarrassed over some of the things I say about you doesn’t make them stupid.”
“So many of the stupid faces you make.”
“Don’t even try it. You know you live for my faces.”
His other hand cradling the back of Naruto’s head, fingers clutching blond hair, Sasuke lures him closer, lowering his mouth to place over Naruto’s.
Not exactly sweet, it’s short, barely even counts as a kiss with how long it doesn’t last, slightly more than just a peck, but there’s something affectionate about it, the same kind of understated affection behind Sasuke’s usual teasing, and the corners of Naruto’s mouth rise to form this ridiculously dopey grin he can’t help but show off.
“...have I ever told you how much I really like when you do that?”
“Do what?”
Leaning forward, Naruto squeezes Sasuke’s hand, knuckles brushing against Sasuke’s cheek. “Prove just how irresistible I am to you.”
This time Sasuke does give into the urge to roll his eyes, dropping his arms and letting go of Naruto’s hand that just as soon catches his wrist. “My standards are lower than what they used to be.”
“Then I must have blown your mind considering you can’t seem to get enough of me, especially with the way you went at me last-”
“This coming from the same guy who claims my brother intimidates him.”
“Which he still does. Somehow, I’m having a really hard time imagining there being a lot of people who aren’t intimidated by him. But it’ll make me feel a whole lot better if you tell me how much you like me.”
“I’ve already said enough. I’m not saying anything else to you.”
“Come on, Sasuke. You know you want to, so just say it.” Naruto continues to move closer, pressing a smile against the corner of Sasuke’s mouth, thumb rubbing along the inside of Sasuke’s wrist. “Tell me how much you like me.”
“Tell me why I still bother to put up with you, first.”
“The same reason even now you still won’t push me away.”
Sasuke falters, but whatever was going to come out, he holds in. “...you’re always so...so Naruto.”
“Meaning what?”
It takes a second or two for Sasuke to say anything, but before he does, he raises his hand to hold the side of Naruto’s face, fingers moving almost unbearably slow trailing along Naruto’s sideburn, following the curve of his jaw, and then retracing their path back up to further ruffle strands of hair already sticking up every which way. “Meaning this.”
Naruto blinks. His head draws back a little, eyes narrowed in confusion. “My hair?”
“I like it this way.”
“What-messy? It’s always messy.”
“It is.” Hesitant, maybe even a little reluctant, Sasuke lets his hand fall away from Naruto’s hair. “But I don’t want you to change it.”
“It’s never what I like with you, is it?” Naruto snorts, thumb a gentle pressure pressing into Sasuke’s skin. “You’re lucky I don’t want to change it, either.”
“I know. That’s why I like it. That’s why I...” Trailing off, turning away from Naruto, Sasuke glances to the open doorway leading to the sitting room.
Naruto frowns. “...Sasuke?”
Lowering his gaze to the fingers curled around his wrist, Sasuke raises his head to meet Naruto’s eyes, a careful sort of uneven smile tugging at thin lips. “Itachi really does like you.”
“He does?”
Nodding, Sasuke makes this soft little hum.
“How do you know? Not that I don’t believe you. Still,” Naruto says, letting go of Sasuke’s arm. “I mean, I used to think you were hard to read, but with Itachi, in all seriousness, I really couldn’t tell with him. Is your whole family like that?”
“Not that I know of. I think Itachi’s somewhat more biased.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that.”
“Depending on his mood, I guess he can be a little intense sometimes, too.”
“A little intense?”
“Only a little.”
“You’re mocking me again, aren’t you?”
“Most of the time, he doesn’t even raise his voice. And it’s rare when he does.”
“That’s not doing a lot to improve my lack of warm and fuzzies right now,” Naruto says. “Then again, at least he isn’t one of those overprotective sibling types. Because I might be in that role soon, so I would know. The whole time he was here, I just kept waiting for him to give me the talk. You know, the one where if I hurt you, I don’t get to see the light of day anymore.”
“Stop being so melodramatic. My brother wouldn’t threaten you, Naruto. Especially over something like this. He’s not a violent person. More like a self-proclaimed pacifist.”
“Unlike you, you mean.”
“If you want to put it that way, then yeah.” With the heel of his palm, Sasuke gives Naruto a not so tender loving shove on the shoulder, conveniently deaf to the admittedly overstated cry of pain immediately dissolving into laughter as Naruto stumbles a few steps back. “Unlike me.”
“Oh, now you tell me. Should have known. With how mean you are to me, it’s a wonder you guys are even related.”
“Considering the fact I grew up with Itachi, how often I’ve been told I take after him, it’s a wonder you even thought he could be intimidating.”
Naruto just gives him this blank stare, this sort of off-kilter deadpan look, because that was just uncalled for.
“Anyway, being able to see through my brother’s distorted sense of humour aside, as far as liking you goes,” Sasuke says, on the high and mighty side of amused, offering a knowing smile so very far from being subtle, “he told me.”
“I wish he told me this,” Naruto mutters.
“He did. In not so many words, maybe. But he thinks knowing you has been good for me.”
A sudden shot of warmth rushing to his cheeks, Naruto tries to laugh it off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Psssht. Of course knowing me’s been good for you. I’m the best for you-the only one for you. ”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Naruto says, wry. “It’s funny, though. I never worry about you meeting my family. When that time comes, I already know they’ll go crazy over you-who wouldn’t, right? But the day when I finally get to meet the rest of yours, I think I might actually be ready for that one now, especially your parents. Because after meeting Itachi, honestly, I don’t think it can get any worse.”
“Naruto, you don’t have to-”
“No, it’s not about that anymore. I’m over it. All I’m saying is, the unnecessary added element of surprise makes meeting your brother qualify as a very stressful experience for me.”
“Tell me this doesn’t have anything to do with you wanting Itachi’s approval.”
Naruto squints. “Is this another one of those trick questions?”
“Naruto.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Seriously, it doesn’t have a lot to do with whether or not he approves. Not all of it. I just think it’s nice he does. That’s it. And if he likes me, too? Well, don’t expect me to say no to that.”
“I won’t. As long as you don’t make this about needing my brother’s approval, that’s fine, because his opinion shouldn’t affect you to that kind of extent. He knows I’m too old for that. We’re both too old for that. And it’s not his place. He doesn’t have the final say in what I do.”
“But knowing Itachi likes me,” Naruto says, reaching to straighten the thick handle of the broad paintbrush tucked behind Sasuke’s ear, “it still means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“Not in the way you’re assuming.” With a sigh, Sasuke raises his legs from over the edge and folds them on top of the counter. Yet even though he’s sitting right there, right in front of Naruto, he gets this real distant look in his eyes, this funny little thoughtful gaze that seems to take him too far away. “When I was younger, my brother was the first person I looked up to. I always thought he was just so...
“He was so smart. Honest. And strong. And funny. Confident. Compassionate. Modest. So many things I wasn’t sure I could ever be.”
“...you make him sound too good to be true,” Naruto says softly. “A little too perfect.”
“Maybe I used to think he was. Maybe in some aspects he still is, because he’s my older brother. I doubt that part of me who still admires him will ever change. But no. No, he’s not perfect. Far from it. He’ll be the first one to tell you that. It’s just the kind of person my brother’s always been. He’s just...Itachi.”
“Still. You’re practically gushing over him. I don’t know how I think that should make me feel.”
Out comes another sigh, this hushed hum, an already quiet sound that somehow seems that much softer. “At one point, my entire world seemed to revolve around the smiles he’d give me,” Sasuke says. “My mom used to call me his little shadow because I’d always try to go wherever he went. But my brother meant everything to me. I wanted nothing more than to be just like him. And I did anything I could to spend time with him.
“Eventually, somewhere along the line, he became someone I wanted to surpass. Then I did everything to convince myself I was going to be better than him one day.
“Looking back, it’s actually...” Sasuke laughs a little, challenging Naruto’s open show of concern with this bad attempt at a smile that just comes out strained. “It all seems so stupid now, but I guess that’s just how stupid I was back then.
“For the longest time, he’d always tell me I shouldn’t try to be more like him, that to be a better person I only had to be myself, but there was a turning point when I was eleven, that summer he decided to move out on his own. The childish part of me refused to listen to him anymore, because I didn’t think there was anything he could say that would actually make a difference. After growing up constantly being compared to Itachi, it was hard not to see him as a hypocrite when the rest of our family didn’t seem to have a problem reminding me how different I was from my brother.
“Wanting to be better than him was never enough, though. Whatever I accomplished wasn’t even remotely on the same level as anything Itachi did. But before I began my last year in high school, even after he left for New York, despite him no longer being in Japan, I realised I just couldn’t stay in Yamaguchi. It’s one of the reasons I left. At home, I knew nothing I did could ever bring me close enough to compare to my brother.”
“Sasuke...”
“But coming to Tama, being on my own for the first time, I’m starting to learn it’s okay to be myself. And now that I’m beginning this part of my life with you, I...”
A hand over his forehead, Sasuke looks down at his lap, running his fingers through dark hair he pushes away from his face, lips pursed to try to cover up this almost tentative smile that doesn’t quite disappear.
It’s a nervous tell Naruto’s learned to pick up on, this rare habit Sasuke has whenever he gets insanely shy about admitting something, too shy to even resort to the usual violence that pretty much ends up with Naruto on the receiving end of some kind of not so harmful bodily harm-but it’s this part of Sasuke he knows he gets to keep all to himself, this part of Sasuke he doesn’t have to be selfish about not wanting anyone else to see, and when Sasuke looks back at him with that soft expression in his eyes, with that quiet certainty meant only for him, it’s in that one smile Naruto swears he manages to catch a glimpse of the rest of his life.
“...so seeing Itachi again for the first time in years, and then having the opportunity to introduce you to him, yeah, in that sense, it really does mean a lot to me.”
It actually sounds...sweet, he wants to say, nearly does say, but then changes his mind and doesn’t, because outside of sex, Sasuke still gets uncomfortable way too easily over those sappy kinds of relationship type things Naruto’s known to throw around on occasion, and even calling him cute every once in a while is threatening to push the envelope.
Instead, what comes out is this:
“That you’re openly acknowledging the fact you willingly associate with me, I feel like I’m in one of those Korean dramas you like so much, in the middle of some kind of special long-awaited confession that only happens during the end of the episode.”
“Do you always have to be such a dork?” Sasuke says, digging in the small bag beside him for a piece of Naruto’s candy he unwraps and puts in his mouth, sucking on the candy as sour as the glower on his face. “I should have kicked you out the day we moved here.”
“You almost did.”
“Still don’t know why I didn’t.”
“Because you’ve been waiting a lifetime for this one moment to get the chance to introduce me to your brother.”
“You’re exaggerating again. Don’t make yourself seem so important.”
“But it’s true,” Naruto says, the teasing grin that starts to stretch across his face growing wider by the second. He leans closer, two fingers tapping out an imaginary drum solo on Sasuke’s calf exposed by the hem of black sweatpants rolled up to his knee. “And going by what you said earlier, Itachi seems to think you’ve been waiting for me all this time, too.”
“When’d I say anything about-” Sasuke lets out a frustrated scowl, closing his eyes he immediately reopens with a less than convincing glare that somehow still has the power to remind Naruto a little too much of Itachi’s very persuasive smile.
Which is his only warning before he’s on the receiving end of another hard shove on the shoulder.
“Ease up a little, would you.”
“Get away from me.”
“I bet this is one of those blind hero-worshipping cases, isn’t it,” Naruto says, arm reaching to Sasuke’s left for the moderate-sized electric kettle that doesn’t work as fast as it should sitting on the next counter over. He opens the lid while heading towards the sink, holding the kettle under the faucet then turning on the water with a nudge from his forearm. “Still seeing Itachi as your childhood idol after all this time, I’m starting to think you have some sort of complex.”
“I never stopped thinking you need to learn to stop talking.”
“You get so touchy about your brother, you know that.” Grin light, grip on the white handle tight, Naruto turns the water off and takes the kettle from the sink. He sets it down on the empty counter spaces closest to the fridge, plugging the cord into the wall and flipping the light grey switch to turn the kettle on. “Are you two still really that close?”
“I’m not a little kid following him around anymore, but...we’ve always been close. Although it may not be like it used to be, I don’t think our relationship has changed that much. It’s just been a while.”
“Is he staying in Narita long?” Opening a drawer, Naruto pulls out two pairs of disposable chopsticks, two of one too many they’ve managed to collect in the span of the three months since they moved in together.
“For the rest of the week. He’s only here on business, and then he’s heading back out Saturday, to Singapore.”
Closing the drawer, carefully, Naruto sets the chopsticks on the counter. “...oh.”
“It’s fine. At least he’s closer now. He’s been trying to relocate near Yamaguchi, but who knows how long that’ll take. When he first left for America, he wasn’t even sure how long he’d have to stay.”
“In the end, you still got to keep in touch, though, right?”
“He was always busy with his responsibilities. I had my own. Cram school, entrance exams, and then moving out. Because of the time difference and his hectic schedule, we kept up as much as we could. But to have him come back to Japan now-I didn’t even think I’d be able to see him again this soon. It’s more than I expected.”
“You said it’s been over two years. How’s that soon?” Naruto reaches for two Big Cup Noodle soups from on top of the fridge, grabbing one with each hand.
“Considering he started on his own, branching out overseas with a brand new company and succeeding in one of the most competitive global markets, more or less, I think that’s relatively soon.”
“As if going to the same school as you doesn’t make me look bad enough. Now you have to bring someone like your brother into the picture.” Naruto snorts, turning around to face Sasuke. “I guess this means I’m doing lunch.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
“You wouldn’t,” Naruto says. “Plan on sharing with me?”
The side of his face resting against his hand, elbow propped up on his knee, sceptical, Sasuke looks between the foam cups in Naruto’s hand, reading them with extreme prejudice. “Bacon Potato Mayonnaise and Chicken Rush?”
“It tastes pretty good when you put them together.” And it does. One of the few combinations that actually did when he and Kiba used to go out buying a bunch of random flavours and mixing them to see what turned out best.
Sasuke scrunches his nose. “Keep deluding yourself.”
“As much as you steal my clothes you keep saying I should get rid of, or help yourself to my food you claim you don’t like while I’m eating it, you’re only picky when you want to be.” Naruto laughs at the very highly uninspired expression on Sasuke’s face. “We still have some leftover coconut curry chicken from last night, though. Some of those meat and egg sandwiches from Minimart, too, if you want them before they go bad. A few pieces of that mayo shrimp cheese pizza. And then some stuff that might have been potato salad at one time. I think. Or pork. Or some other kind of food.”
“...we really need to start eating better than this.”
“Yeah, we really should,” Naruto agrees, nodding with a faint hum, because he knows for a fact Sasuke used to eat a lot better than this. “So. Bacon Potato Mayonnaise or Chicken Rush?”
There’s a small twitch to Sasuke’s lips, a slight curve that settles into a smile. He sits up a little, unfolding his legs and letting them hang over the counter his hands grip by the edge. “What kind of choice is that?”
“Unless you feel like cooking...”
“I don’t feel like cooking.”
“But I thought you liked cooking.”
“Not when I’m still in the middle of a painting I haven’t even started working on. Why don’t you cook?”
“I would, but let’s face it,” Naruto says, emptying his hands of the Cup Noodles he places on the counter, “while your cooking might poison us, there’s an even better chance mine probably will kill.”
There’s a long pause, a seemingly substantially long pause that comes right before the slight roar of boiling water, broken into by the audible click of the kettle’s tab popping up, and cut off short by the high-pitched melody signifying the end of the boiling process.
Which a straight-faced Sasuke interrupts by throwing a piece of hard candy at Naruto’s face that nearly takes out his eye.
“Hey! What was that for? I said my cooking was worse than yours, didn’t I?”
“You always eat what I cook.”
“Yeah, and I’m willing to take a chance on my life each time because that’s how much I really like you.”
Reaching for one of the small foam cups stacked neatly by his side, Sasuke picks it up and reads the label, turning over the cup in his hand. “You bought this for me.”
“Thought you might like it.”
Sasuke extends his arm towards Naruto, motioning the packaged organic tofu and miso ramen in his hand. “Here.”
“...is it safe to come near you?”
“Do you think it’d be safer for you not to?”
“All right, all right. Jeeze,” Naruto says, two then three steps forward, taking the small foam cup, “what is with you today.” He taps the inside of Sasuke’s leg, hand sliding up, palm resting over Sasuke’s knee, but he’s caught off guard when Sasuke reaches for his face, both hands drawing him in for another kiss, this time not so sweet, Sasuke all but swallowing him whole, trying to devour his soul, and really, he can think of much worse ways to go.
It’s too soon when Sasuke pulls away, so Naruto dives back in, mouth covering Sasuke’s murmur of surprise to kiss him again. And again. His fingers curl around Sasuke’s shirt, keeping him within reach until Sasuke starts to laugh, soft, hands still holding Naruto’s face close but making sure he’s just far enough away.
“Naruto.”
Naruto blinks, once, twice, getting a grip on the cup of noodles he almost drops. “Huh?”
“...thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being you.”
“For being me? I thought I was just a hopeless idiot too irresistible to resist.”
“You are. At least the idiot part, but...”
“Not like you know how to resist me, anyway.” Naruto indulges in a shameless grin.
Biting on his lip, Sasuke gives this little smile back. “Let me ask you something.”
“What?”
“...how do you feel about weddings?”
Yet again back to this sort of Naruto/Sasuke/Itachi quasi-triangle I love. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something about EM. Just like how it told me this is apparently the counter scene I never knew I always wanted to write. If I actually wrote this, I mean.
Like always, I really, really didn’t mean for this one to happen, but it’s very difficult for me not to become easily distracted; the passing of time for me is like not wanting to sit still staring through empty space. That’s why I’m so absent-minded. I think.
tbh, I was sitting on this for a while because I couldn't find a song to wrap it up, and oh--oh, then this severely underrated 80s sounding masterpiece of a diamond in the rough came up on my iDevice, and I was like yeah, 1979 Kenny Loggins song reference. Of course, the fic turned out even more so incredibly, embarrassingly sappy, but I suppose I was in the mood for cutesy old married couple-esque stuff, which is sort of my thing, anyway, and I've been getting my SG-1 on lately (Jack and Daniel are so the epitome of this), so, um...that's my excuse.
But there's something oddly appealing about a Naruto who can sometimes come across as both easy-going and obnoxiously overconfident while still being just a tad bit insecure. And then Sasuke trying to be reassuring without exactly being outright reassuring, which is just all kinds of messed up fail from my end.
Although maybe this was really just an excuse to have Itachi mess with Naruto's head.
***
Characters: Naruto/Sasuke
Rating: PG-15
Words: 7076
Summary: "...your brother intimidates me."
“You couldn’t have told me he was coming? Or at least given me some kind of warning before I got home?”
“And what kind of warning was I supposed to give? He was supposed to be in New York.” Hands turned out, gripping the edge by his palms, Sasuke hops onto the counter, legs dangling over the side, scooting back until his feet are a good distance from touching the floor. “I didn’t even know he was coming.”
“Some kind of hint before you hung up on me would’ve been nice. Instead of worrying me for no reason, actually telling me he was here would’ve been great, too. Or was that something you conveniently overlooked-because, you know. Springing Itachi on me like that? Not cool, Sasuke.”
With a snort, Sasuke begins to dig through the large, white paper bag placed on the counter, removing the rest of the groceries Naruto brought back. Next to the sink he sets down a bottle of jasmine tea and four foam cups of instant ramen, each lined up to make a neat little row, placing on top of one cup two packs of Lotte Black Black gum and a small bag of candy already opened.
“If you hadn’t turned your phone off on me,” Naruto says, “you could’ve sent me a message. I think I’ve known you long enough to deserve a little more consideration.”
“Allowing you to live with me is consideration enough.”
“But really, it wasn’t exactly the impressionable kind of first impression I’d planned on making with your family. Especially with your brother. I felt like an idiot just standing there like that.”
“And you look like an idiot standing there now-not helping me put this stuff away.” Reaching behind him to open the cabinet door adjacent to his right, Sasuke places a small jar of red miso paste inside. “I don’t see a difference.”
The hard candy in his mouth is pushed to one side with a click of his tongue, and Naruto gives Sasuke a dry look, left cheek slightly protruding.
“Funny.” With the back of his teeth, he bites down on the tart candy, breaking it into jagged little pieces that quickly become smaller and smaller.
“Stop overreacting.”
Taking the small package of sweet bean cakes all but shoved into his hand, Naruto extends his arm to reach above Sasuke’s head and places the package into the open cabinet. “Hey, cut me some slack here, all right. I come home, see you on the couch real cosy with this guy who almost looks just like you-except not-then he’s smiling at me like he caught me in the act of doing something very, very wrong, which wasn’t fair at all, since he already knew my name when I didn’t know even who he was until he suddenly introduces himself as your older brother-and of course, you’re no help.
“Hiding behind him and putting me on the spot like that. Not that I would’ve expected anything different from you, and yeah, I get that you were really embarrassed about the whole thing, with the way your face started to get seriously red because he kept calling you his little brother, treating you like you were still a little ki-”
“You finished yet?” Sasuke says, wearing one of those almost dull, really bland expressions with this tiny little tinge of resigned annoyance easy enough for Naruto to pick up on then promptly disregard.
“Finished what? Talking about my feelings?”
“Talking in general.”
“Oh, I didn’t even mention his X-ray vision, did I? Because I swear it felt like he instantly knew about all the embarrassing things I ever did in life. Like when I was four, and the time I accidentally broke this really old vase when our neighbours were babysitting me, but then I blamed it on their evil, possessed black cat from hell, cause it really was that damn cat’s fault for following me everywhere and trying to chew off my ankle, which meant I had to tell my parents I couldn’t be held responsible for supernatural forces outside my control. Obviously.”
“I’m sure they believed you.”
“Just like I can’t believe you let me carry on and on like that in front of Itachi.” Naruto pauses, placing a bag of brown rice inside the cabinet, next to the generous package of dry natto, between a two meal case of spicy curry udon and the snack-sized bags of okra chips Sasuke likes to eat too much. “Wait a minute-take that back.” He closes the door. “I can.”
“I can’t let you do anything you don’t want to do, Naruto.”
“Don’t think I’m going to fall for that with you,” Naruto says, eyes stern following an accusatory finger pointed at the tip of Sasuke’s nose. "You make me do a lot of things I don’t even realise I’m doing until I’ve already done them. But hanging me out to dry in front of your brother...”
Pushing down Naruto’s hand, Sasuke tilts his head, wearing this small little amused smile not even the least apologetic. “I already said I wasn’t expecting him, didn’t I? I was in the middle of working on the assignment Kakashi’s forcing me to do. Seeing my brother really did take me by surprise.”
“Took you by surprise?” Naruto huffs, reaching for another piece of candy he unwraps and pops into his mouth. “What about me?”
“What about you?”
“...I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate your show of concern during my obvious time of need.”
“You call this a time of need?” Sasuke reveals another little smile, handing Naruto a box of Corn Frosty.
“I’m really not a big fan of this assembly line formation. Making me do all the work, especially since I’m the one who was forced to go to the store. Shouldn’t you be doing this?"
“Your milk. Your cereal.” Paper bag held over his lap, Sasuke folds it flat, laying the bottom section over then setting the bag to the side. “Your problem.”
“Mr. I-only -like-sweet-things-when-nobody’s-looking, you act like I didn’t catch you eating the last of my Waffle Corn Frosty,” Naruto mutters, leaning down to put the cereal inside the bottom cabinet to the right of Sasuke’s leg. “But seriously,” he says, standing upright, both hands placed near the counter’s edge on either side of Sasuke, “back to your brother.”
“Pretend I’m listening.”
“Your brother, Sasuke.”
“You said that already.”
“Because I had a very strong feeling it was something that needed to be said again.”
“And?”
“Well...” Taking his time to inhale, closing his mouth, Naruto slowly releases the air through his nose. “It’s not that I don’t like your brother, but did you notice that he seemed really...”
Both hands reaching for the wide collar of Naruto’s t-shirt, Sasuke watches him for a moment or two, eyes made soft by a slight teasing gleam much more comforting and far less overwhelming than the kind of subtle scrutiny Itachi was subjecting Naruto to earlier. “Nice.”
“Yeah, that, too. If that’s what you want to call it, sure. Why not?”
“My brother’s supposed to be something other than nice?” Sasuke says, grip light on Naruto’s shirt beckoning him just a bit closer, pulling on the material in his hands with a short series of alternating tugs.
“...there’s never any way to win with you, is there?” Naruto narrows his eyes, rightfully suspicious of the tiny little barely there smile that still hasn’t left Sasuke’s face. “I bet you said things about me, didn’t you? Very mean and bad untrue things that made him stare at me like that for so long.”
Smile overturned by an almost frown, Sasuke raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see the way he was staring at me.”
“Since when does making occasional eye contact during a conversation constitute as staring?”
“You did say very mean and bad untrue things about me, didn’t you?”
“Why would I say anything bad about you?”
“Answering my question with another question doesn’t really answer my question.”
With a single look, Sasuke conveys the long-suffering impression of rolling his eyes without actually rolling his eyes, releasing his grip on Naruto’s collar and lowering his arms that fall crossed over his lap. “It’s all in your head.”
Some of it probably is, Naruto can admit. But not that much. Well, at least he doesn’t think it’s that much. “I’m telling you. The way he was staring at me, how closely he was paying attention to me, your brother was being really nice. Too nice, in fact.”
“That’s what you got out of his so-called staring. He was being too nice.”
“Forget about the staring.” Naruto gives a few quick shakes of his head, leaning forward then pushing up from the counter with his hands to stand up straight. “It’s not just about the staring.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Your brother kept smiling at me, Sasuke,” Naruto hisses. “Smiling. With one of the most threatening, non-threatening smiles ever. Interrogating me about my hobbies, what I’m studying, why I’m interested in photography. Talking about the photos on the wall then actually having the nerve to compliment me after I told him I took them. And now I’m going to have dreams about the whole thing. Nightmares.”
“Dreams about my brother smiling at you?”
“Please don’t put it that way. It sounds creepy when you put it that way.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, it means he likes you?”
“Likes me? Ch. No, Sasuke-no. You don’t smile at people like that. And the way your brother was smiling at me, seriously, there was just this vibe he had, right. This certain...okay, I don’t know exactly what to call it, but that doesn’t not prove my point. Which is, whatever Itachi was up to, I felt it.”
“He wanted to get to know you.”
“Yeah, right. That’s probably what he set out to make me to think.”
“Mm-hm.”
“I don’t know if he was yanking my chain or what, but it sort of felt like I was secretly getting the third degree for stealing your favourite toy ten years ago. Like I was being put on trial, only, it was more like he was waiting for me to incriminate myself for something I didn’t even do. Not that I’m saying I’m guilty of doing anything, because I didn’t even know you ten years ago, but a guy who looks that harmless shouldn’t radiate such strong killing intent, you know. It’s just not natural.”
Sasuke makes this soft noise a cross between a sigh and a hum, partially resigned, maybe that much more placating, fingers giving a playful tug to stray strands of blond hair he pushes away from Naruto’s eyes. “I will never claim to understand how the hell you even manage to come up with half the crap you say.”
“It’s not crap if it’s true. And this is true. Because those looks you like to give me sometimes, I can see where you get it from now. But appearing so nice at first, the kind of smile Itachi was giving me, that was wrongful deceit.”
“All this from a smile, Naruto?”
“I did not feel like it was a happy smile. It was more like a suspicious smile. Or an unpromising smile. Or a borderline-I-know-how-to-hide-dead-bodies kind of-”
Leaning forward, Sasuke raises an arm around Naruto’s neck, letting it fall over Naruto’s shoulder, hand relaxed against Naruto’s back. The corner of his mouth starts to twitch, lips pressed together tight in a too obvious attempt not to laugh as he reaches with his other hand to pat Naruto on the head. “Getting so worked up over something like that,” he says, letting his forehead fall against Naruto’s, fingers tangled within coarse strands of blond hair, “you’re going to hurt yourself at this rate.”
“You’re starting to get a little too comfortable with this,” Naruto says, eyebrows pinched and nose scrunched in slight annoyance. “Don’t think this artificial height suddenly gives you some kind of advantage. You don’t need to let that kind of power trip go to your head.”
“There’s nothing artificial about the fact I’m taller than you.”
“Jerk.” With a grunt, Naruto lowers his head, dropping it against Sasuke’s chest, arms reaching around Sasuke’s waist pulling Sasuke towards him, nearer and nearer to the edge of the counter as he worms himself comfortable between Sasuke’s legs. “I’m glad you find the way your brother makes me feel so funny.”
Hands making a quick reach for the arms around him, Sasuke braces himself, the pads of his fingers digging into Naruto’s skin. “N-Naruto, what’re you-let go. Let go. You’re going to make us both-”
“You know I wouldn’t let you fall.”
Sasuke tenses at the words. After a few seconds, no more than two or three, he begins to relax. Slowly, his fingers loosen their grip and his arms around Naruto’s shoulders return Naruto’s hold. “I know you’re only this talkative when you’re nervous, but it can’t just be about my brother smiling at you.”
Naruto gives an unintelligible grumble further muffled by Sasuke’s shirt.
Pulling him closer, Sasuke breathes out softly, hand stroking the hair along Naruto’s nape. “But even if Itachi coming here was unexpected, you normally don’t act like this. So why do you suddenly feel the need to make a big deal out of meeting him, Naruto?”
It’s less of a request and more of a demand, but Naruto answers, anyway, without question, giving into the gentle fingers massaging his scalp. Deep, he breathes in. Heavy, he breathes out.
“...your brother intimidates me.”
There’s a slight pause at first, an extremely brief lapse of silence, Sasuke’s hand stilling before his quiet snort turns into a disbelieving chuckle short-lived that vibrates from deep within his chest. “He what?”
“That’s right. Laugh it up, you bastard.” Fingers pressing into Sasuke’s sides in warning, Naruto lets out a near growl, holding him still when Sasuke starts to squirm. “I’m not saying it again.”
“Naruto, d-don’t-don’t do that. You know I don’t like being-”
“Then don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you. I just didn’t realise the Great Uzumaki Naruto could actually be intimidated.”
“Shut up, Sasuke. You don’t get to use my words against me at a time like this.”
“Since when did I need your permission?”
“Sasuke...”
Still holding Naruto, fingers of one hand again running through blond hair, Sasuke makes a small, vague noise. “My brother’s a nice person. You said it yourself. I don’t see what’s so intimidating about him.”
“That’s because he’s your brother,” Naruto mumbles. “But for me, he just...he just is, okay.”
“How, though? You’re the guy who thinks the word stranger is synonymous with being another potential number in your phone’s contact list.”
“You do realise you’re my permanent roommate, right?” One hand running along Sasuke’s side, fingers marking a path following down Sasuke’s hip, Naruto gives him a firm squeeze. “Why aren’t you trying to be more accommodating in this situation? You’re supposed to be making me feel better.”
“Feel better about what?”
“You really could learn to do without the sarcasm, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.” Sasuke shifts a little, resting his chin on top of Naruto’s head. “Tell me.”
It takes a while to inhale, seemingly forever trapped in this one instance a meaningless effort to keep time still, but it isn’t long before Naruto lets out the breath he’s been holding. “...well, uh, see, the thing is, I don’t think Itachi’s intimidating because he’s not a nice guy. Because he is. Really. A hell of a lot nicer than I think I should be able to expect someone related to you to be.”
“It’s more like it’s because he’s your brother that he’s intimidating. Since he’s someone important to you. And I know how much he means to you, which makes it even more important that he sees me in a good light. He’s a really big part of your life, so I really want to him to accept me, because I hope one day he’ll consider me an important part of your life, too.”
“Naruto, you...” Laying his head down, cheek pressed against Naruto’s hair, Sasuke sighs, fingers making a reach for the back of Naruto’s shirt sleeve gripped tight in one hand. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
Naruto gives a half-hearted shrug, staring at flecks of ink and paint splattered across Sasuke’s blue shirt. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, sometimes, this really good thing I have with you, I kind of feel like we rushed into it, because even though we’ve known each other for a while, being with you like this, some things still feel too new, but then at the same time, I get this sort of stupid kind of scary feeling that it wouldn’t be enough even if we knew each other all our lives, and it’s just-I don’t know.”
With a near quiet scoff he almost doesn’t hear, Naruto closes his eyes, sagging against Sasuke just a little, giving him another squeeze, tighter, unyielding. “I never know what I’m trying to say, do I? Not that any of this matters after the fact, but...
“When the three of us were talking, even if it was mostly Itachi asking questions trying to get to know me better-when you talk about him, it’s easy to see that he means a lot to you, but when I saw the way you kept looking at him, like he was the only person in the room with you, you just looked so...so...so happy.
“So maybe I kind of started to wonder if there might not be enough room for me in there, too, and then I started to wonder if I’ll ever be able to make you that happy. Not in the same way, though, because it’s not like I’m trying to compete with Itachi, since he’s your brother, and I’m definitely not trying to be your brother, but-”
“Naruto.”
“...yeah?”
“Remind me what I ever saw in a loser like you.”
“Says the one who’s always so mean to me,” Naruto mutters, at the mishmash of paint and ink staining an expanse of faded blue peeking with one eye open, finger poking Sasuke in the side. “Am I ever anything else to you?”
“A hopeless idiot.”
“Who’s really the hopeless idiot here? Me or the guy who fell for me?”
“Still you. For not giving me a choice.”
Ducking from underneath Sasuke’s head, Naruto lifts his gaze, exposing a wide grin teetering on something dangerously close to being called cocky. “Couldn’t resist me, could you?”
“Itachi once told me I shouldn’t be so emotionally standoffish when it came to people I didn’t know,” Sasuke says, sitting up and pulling his arms from around Naruto’s shoulders. “Falling for a brash idiot like you, though, I don’t think that’s what he had in mind.”
“Ha! I knew it-I just knew it. You did tell him untrue things about me.”
“Hard to avoid mentioning the invasive guy who broke the shinai he gave me.”
“He knows about the shaman stick incident?” There’s this tiny little squeak slash mangled sounding gurgle Naruto really didn’t mean to let come out. “Were you intentionally trying to make me seem like a bad person? Is that the real reason why he kept staring at me?”
“Maybe.”
Taking a step back, Naruto sighs, pulling at the hem of a bright yellow shirt covering dark wash jeans, crossing his arms and letting the majority of his weight settle on his left foot. “After all this time, you’re never going to let me forget that one, are you?”
“The day we first met, you don’t think it’s important enough to remember?”
“You know that wasn’t what I trying to-ugh, you grudge-holding asshole, why do you always keep doing these things to me?”
Making a grab for Naruto’s hand, pulling Naruto’s arm away from his chest, Sasuke smiles with a soft laugh, their fingers entwined he raises to hold against his cheek. “I’ve said all I could about you to my brother.”
Naruto gives him a wary look. “...I’m almost afraid to ask what he thought about me the first time you said anything. Knowing you, though, I don’t think I even want to know what you said.”
“Mm, I told him about all the stupid things you say.”
“Just because you get embarrassed over some of the things I say about you doesn’t make them stupid.”
“So many of the stupid faces you make.”
“Don’t even try it. You know you live for my faces.”
His other hand cradling the back of Naruto’s head, fingers clutching blond hair, Sasuke lures him closer, lowering his mouth to place over Naruto’s.
Not exactly sweet, it’s short, barely even counts as a kiss with how long it doesn’t last, slightly more than just a peck, but there’s something affectionate about it, the same kind of understated affection behind Sasuke’s usual teasing, and the corners of Naruto’s mouth rise to form this ridiculously dopey grin he can’t help but show off.
“...have I ever told you how much I really like when you do that?”
“Do what?”
Leaning forward, Naruto squeezes Sasuke’s hand, knuckles brushing against Sasuke’s cheek. “Prove just how irresistible I am to you.”
This time Sasuke does give into the urge to roll his eyes, dropping his arms and letting go of Naruto’s hand that just as soon catches his wrist. “My standards are lower than what they used to be.”
“Then I must have blown your mind considering you can’t seem to get enough of me, especially with the way you went at me last-”
“This coming from the same guy who claims my brother intimidates him.”
“Which he still does. Somehow, I’m having a really hard time imagining there being a lot of people who aren’t intimidated by him. But it’ll make me feel a whole lot better if you tell me how much you like me.”
“I’ve already said enough. I’m not saying anything else to you.”
“Come on, Sasuke. You know you want to, so just say it.” Naruto continues to move closer, pressing a smile against the corner of Sasuke’s mouth, thumb rubbing along the inside of Sasuke’s wrist. “Tell me how much you like me.”
“Tell me why I still bother to put up with you, first.”
“The same reason even now you still won’t push me away.”
Sasuke falters, but whatever was going to come out, he holds in. “...you’re always so...so Naruto.”
“Meaning what?”
It takes a second or two for Sasuke to say anything, but before he does, he raises his hand to hold the side of Naruto’s face, fingers moving almost unbearably slow trailing along Naruto’s sideburn, following the curve of his jaw, and then retracing their path back up to further ruffle strands of hair already sticking up every which way. “Meaning this.”
Naruto blinks. His head draws back a little, eyes narrowed in confusion. “My hair?”
“I like it this way.”
“What-messy? It’s always messy.”
“It is.” Hesitant, maybe even a little reluctant, Sasuke lets his hand fall away from Naruto’s hair. “But I don’t want you to change it.”
“It’s never what I like with you, is it?” Naruto snorts, thumb a gentle pressure pressing into Sasuke’s skin. “You’re lucky I don’t want to change it, either.”
“I know. That’s why I like it. That’s why I...” Trailing off, turning away from Naruto, Sasuke glances to the open doorway leading to the sitting room.
Naruto frowns. “...Sasuke?”
Lowering his gaze to the fingers curled around his wrist, Sasuke raises his head to meet Naruto’s eyes, a careful sort of uneven smile tugging at thin lips. “Itachi really does like you.”
“He does?”
Nodding, Sasuke makes this soft little hum.
“How do you know? Not that I don’t believe you. Still,” Naruto says, letting go of Sasuke’s arm. “I mean, I used to think you were hard to read, but with Itachi, in all seriousness, I really couldn’t tell with him. Is your whole family like that?”
“Not that I know of. I think Itachi’s somewhat more biased.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that.”
“Depending on his mood, I guess he can be a little intense sometimes, too.”
“A little intense?”
“Only a little.”
“You’re mocking me again, aren’t you?”
“Most of the time, he doesn’t even raise his voice. And it’s rare when he does.”
“That’s not doing a lot to improve my lack of warm and fuzzies right now,” Naruto says. “Then again, at least he isn’t one of those overprotective sibling types. Because I might be in that role soon, so I would know. The whole time he was here, I just kept waiting for him to give me the talk. You know, the one where if I hurt you, I don’t get to see the light of day anymore.”
“Stop being so melodramatic. My brother wouldn’t threaten you, Naruto. Especially over something like this. He’s not a violent person. More like a self-proclaimed pacifist.”
“Unlike you, you mean.”
“If you want to put it that way, then yeah.” With the heel of his palm, Sasuke gives Naruto a not so tender loving shove on the shoulder, conveniently deaf to the admittedly overstated cry of pain immediately dissolving into laughter as Naruto stumbles a few steps back. “Unlike me.”
“Oh, now you tell me. Should have known. With how mean you are to me, it’s a wonder you guys are even related.”
“Considering the fact I grew up with Itachi, how often I’ve been told I take after him, it’s a wonder you even thought he could be intimidating.”
Naruto just gives him this blank stare, this sort of off-kilter deadpan look, because that was just uncalled for.
“Anyway, being able to see through my brother’s distorted sense of humour aside, as far as liking you goes,” Sasuke says, on the high and mighty side of amused, offering a knowing smile so very far from being subtle, “he told me.”
“I wish he told me this,” Naruto mutters.
“He did. In not so many words, maybe. But he thinks knowing you has been good for me.”
A sudden shot of warmth rushing to his cheeks, Naruto tries to laugh it off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Psssht. Of course knowing me’s been good for you. I’m the best for you-the only one for you. ”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Naruto says, wry. “It’s funny, though. I never worry about you meeting my family. When that time comes, I already know they’ll go crazy over you-who wouldn’t, right? But the day when I finally get to meet the rest of yours, I think I might actually be ready for that one now, especially your parents. Because after meeting Itachi, honestly, I don’t think it can get any worse.”
“Naruto, you don’t have to-”
“No, it’s not about that anymore. I’m over it. All I’m saying is, the unnecessary added element of surprise makes meeting your brother qualify as a very stressful experience for me.”
“Tell me this doesn’t have anything to do with you wanting Itachi’s approval.”
Naruto squints. “Is this another one of those trick questions?”
“Naruto.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Seriously, it doesn’t have a lot to do with whether or not he approves. Not all of it. I just think it’s nice he does. That’s it. And if he likes me, too? Well, don’t expect me to say no to that.”
“I won’t. As long as you don’t make this about needing my brother’s approval, that’s fine, because his opinion shouldn’t affect you to that kind of extent. He knows I’m too old for that. We’re both too old for that. And it’s not his place. He doesn’t have the final say in what I do.”
“But knowing Itachi likes me,” Naruto says, reaching to straighten the thick handle of the broad paintbrush tucked behind Sasuke’s ear, “it still means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“Not in the way you’re assuming.” With a sigh, Sasuke raises his legs from over the edge and folds them on top of the counter. Yet even though he’s sitting right there, right in front of Naruto, he gets this real distant look in his eyes, this funny little thoughtful gaze that seems to take him too far away. “When I was younger, my brother was the first person I looked up to. I always thought he was just so...
“He was so smart. Honest. And strong. And funny. Confident. Compassionate. Modest. So many things I wasn’t sure I could ever be.”
“...you make him sound too good to be true,” Naruto says softly. “A little too perfect.”
“Maybe I used to think he was. Maybe in some aspects he still is, because he’s my older brother. I doubt that part of me who still admires him will ever change. But no. No, he’s not perfect. Far from it. He’ll be the first one to tell you that. It’s just the kind of person my brother’s always been. He’s just...Itachi.”
“Still. You’re practically gushing over him. I don’t know how I think that should make me feel.”
Out comes another sigh, this hushed hum, an already quiet sound that somehow seems that much softer. “At one point, my entire world seemed to revolve around the smiles he’d give me,” Sasuke says. “My mom used to call me his little shadow because I’d always try to go wherever he went. But my brother meant everything to me. I wanted nothing more than to be just like him. And I did anything I could to spend time with him.
“Eventually, somewhere along the line, he became someone I wanted to surpass. Then I did everything to convince myself I was going to be better than him one day.
“Looking back, it’s actually...” Sasuke laughs a little, challenging Naruto’s open show of concern with this bad attempt at a smile that just comes out strained. “It all seems so stupid now, but I guess that’s just how stupid I was back then.
“For the longest time, he’d always tell me I shouldn’t try to be more like him, that to be a better person I only had to be myself, but there was a turning point when I was eleven, that summer he decided to move out on his own. The childish part of me refused to listen to him anymore, because I didn’t think there was anything he could say that would actually make a difference. After growing up constantly being compared to Itachi, it was hard not to see him as a hypocrite when the rest of our family didn’t seem to have a problem reminding me how different I was from my brother.
“Wanting to be better than him was never enough, though. Whatever I accomplished wasn’t even remotely on the same level as anything Itachi did. But before I began my last year in high school, even after he left for New York, despite him no longer being in Japan, I realised I just couldn’t stay in Yamaguchi. It’s one of the reasons I left. At home, I knew nothing I did could ever bring me close enough to compare to my brother.”
“Sasuke...”
“But coming to Tama, being on my own for the first time, I’m starting to learn it’s okay to be myself. And now that I’m beginning this part of my life with you, I...”
A hand over his forehead, Sasuke looks down at his lap, running his fingers through dark hair he pushes away from his face, lips pursed to try to cover up this almost tentative smile that doesn’t quite disappear.
It’s a nervous tell Naruto’s learned to pick up on, this rare habit Sasuke has whenever he gets insanely shy about admitting something, too shy to even resort to the usual violence that pretty much ends up with Naruto on the receiving end of some kind of not so harmful bodily harm-but it’s this part of Sasuke he knows he gets to keep all to himself, this part of Sasuke he doesn’t have to be selfish about not wanting anyone else to see, and when Sasuke looks back at him with that soft expression in his eyes, with that quiet certainty meant only for him, it’s in that one smile Naruto swears he manages to catch a glimpse of the rest of his life.
“...so seeing Itachi again for the first time in years, and then having the opportunity to introduce you to him, yeah, in that sense, it really does mean a lot to me.”
It actually sounds...sweet, he wants to say, nearly does say, but then changes his mind and doesn’t, because outside of sex, Sasuke still gets uncomfortable way too easily over those sappy kinds of relationship type things Naruto’s known to throw around on occasion, and even calling him cute every once in a while is threatening to push the envelope.
Instead, what comes out is this:
“That you’re openly acknowledging the fact you willingly associate with me, I feel like I’m in one of those Korean dramas you like so much, in the middle of some kind of special long-awaited confession that only happens during the end of the episode.”
“Do you always have to be such a dork?” Sasuke says, digging in the small bag beside him for a piece of Naruto’s candy he unwraps and puts in his mouth, sucking on the candy as sour as the glower on his face. “I should have kicked you out the day we moved here.”
“You almost did.”
“Still don’t know why I didn’t.”
“Because you’ve been waiting a lifetime for this one moment to get the chance to introduce me to your brother.”
“You’re exaggerating again. Don’t make yourself seem so important.”
“But it’s true,” Naruto says, the teasing grin that starts to stretch across his face growing wider by the second. He leans closer, two fingers tapping out an imaginary drum solo on Sasuke’s calf exposed by the hem of black sweatpants rolled up to his knee. “And going by what you said earlier, Itachi seems to think you’ve been waiting for me all this time, too.”
“When’d I say anything about-” Sasuke lets out a frustrated scowl, closing his eyes he immediately reopens with a less than convincing glare that somehow still has the power to remind Naruto a little too much of Itachi’s very persuasive smile.
Which is his only warning before he’s on the receiving end of another hard shove on the shoulder.
“Ease up a little, would you.”
“Get away from me.”
“I bet this is one of those blind hero-worshipping cases, isn’t it,” Naruto says, arm reaching to Sasuke’s left for the moderate-sized electric kettle that doesn’t work as fast as it should sitting on the next counter over. He opens the lid while heading towards the sink, holding the kettle under the faucet then turning on the water with a nudge from his forearm. “Still seeing Itachi as your childhood idol after all this time, I’m starting to think you have some sort of complex.”
“I never stopped thinking you need to learn to stop talking.”
“You get so touchy about your brother, you know that.” Grin light, grip on the white handle tight, Naruto turns the water off and takes the kettle from the sink. He sets it down on the empty counter spaces closest to the fridge, plugging the cord into the wall and flipping the light grey switch to turn the kettle on. “Are you two still really that close?”
“I’m not a little kid following him around anymore, but...we’ve always been close. Although it may not be like it used to be, I don’t think our relationship has changed that much. It’s just been a while.”
“Is he staying in Narita long?” Opening a drawer, Naruto pulls out two pairs of disposable chopsticks, two of one too many they’ve managed to collect in the span of the three months since they moved in together.
“For the rest of the week. He’s only here on business, and then he’s heading back out Saturday, to Singapore.”
Closing the drawer, carefully, Naruto sets the chopsticks on the counter. “...oh.”
“It’s fine. At least he’s closer now. He’s been trying to relocate near Yamaguchi, but who knows how long that’ll take. When he first left for America, he wasn’t even sure how long he’d have to stay.”
“In the end, you still got to keep in touch, though, right?”
“He was always busy with his responsibilities. I had my own. Cram school, entrance exams, and then moving out. Because of the time difference and his hectic schedule, we kept up as much as we could. But to have him come back to Japan now-I didn’t even think I’d be able to see him again this soon. It’s more than I expected.”
“You said it’s been over two years. How’s that soon?” Naruto reaches for two Big Cup Noodle soups from on top of the fridge, grabbing one with each hand.
“Considering he started on his own, branching out overseas with a brand new company and succeeding in one of the most competitive global markets, more or less, I think that’s relatively soon.”
“As if going to the same school as you doesn’t make me look bad enough. Now you have to bring someone like your brother into the picture.” Naruto snorts, turning around to face Sasuke. “I guess this means I’m doing lunch.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
“You wouldn’t,” Naruto says. “Plan on sharing with me?”
The side of his face resting against his hand, elbow propped up on his knee, sceptical, Sasuke looks between the foam cups in Naruto’s hand, reading them with extreme prejudice. “Bacon Potato Mayonnaise and Chicken Rush?”
“It tastes pretty good when you put them together.” And it does. One of the few combinations that actually did when he and Kiba used to go out buying a bunch of random flavours and mixing them to see what turned out best.
Sasuke scrunches his nose. “Keep deluding yourself.”
“As much as you steal my clothes you keep saying I should get rid of, or help yourself to my food you claim you don’t like while I’m eating it, you’re only picky when you want to be.” Naruto laughs at the very highly uninspired expression on Sasuke’s face. “We still have some leftover coconut curry chicken from last night, though. Some of those meat and egg sandwiches from Minimart, too, if you want them before they go bad. A few pieces of that mayo shrimp cheese pizza. And then some stuff that might have been potato salad at one time. I think. Or pork. Or some other kind of food.”
“...we really need to start eating better than this.”
“Yeah, we really should,” Naruto agrees, nodding with a faint hum, because he knows for a fact Sasuke used to eat a lot better than this. “So. Bacon Potato Mayonnaise or Chicken Rush?”
There’s a small twitch to Sasuke’s lips, a slight curve that settles into a smile. He sits up a little, unfolding his legs and letting them hang over the counter his hands grip by the edge. “What kind of choice is that?”
“Unless you feel like cooking...”
“I don’t feel like cooking.”
“But I thought you liked cooking.”
“Not when I’m still in the middle of a painting I haven’t even started working on. Why don’t you cook?”
“I would, but let’s face it,” Naruto says, emptying his hands of the Cup Noodles he places on the counter, “while your cooking might poison us, there’s an even better chance mine probably will kill.”
There’s a long pause, a seemingly substantially long pause that comes right before the slight roar of boiling water, broken into by the audible click of the kettle’s tab popping up, and cut off short by the high-pitched melody signifying the end of the boiling process.
Which a straight-faced Sasuke interrupts by throwing a piece of hard candy at Naruto’s face that nearly takes out his eye.
“Hey! What was that for? I said my cooking was worse than yours, didn’t I?”
“You always eat what I cook.”
“Yeah, and I’m willing to take a chance on my life each time because that’s how much I really like you.”
Reaching for one of the small foam cups stacked neatly by his side, Sasuke picks it up and reads the label, turning over the cup in his hand. “You bought this for me.”
“Thought you might like it.”
Sasuke extends his arm towards Naruto, motioning the packaged organic tofu and miso ramen in his hand. “Here.”
“...is it safe to come near you?”
“Do you think it’d be safer for you not to?”
“All right, all right. Jeeze,” Naruto says, two then three steps forward, taking the small foam cup, “what is with you today.” He taps the inside of Sasuke’s leg, hand sliding up, palm resting over Sasuke’s knee, but he’s caught off guard when Sasuke reaches for his face, both hands drawing him in for another kiss, this time not so sweet, Sasuke all but swallowing him whole, trying to devour his soul, and really, he can think of much worse ways to go.
It’s too soon when Sasuke pulls away, so Naruto dives back in, mouth covering Sasuke’s murmur of surprise to kiss him again. And again. His fingers curl around Sasuke’s shirt, keeping him within reach until Sasuke starts to laugh, soft, hands still holding Naruto’s face close but making sure he’s just far enough away.
“Naruto.”
Naruto blinks, once, twice, getting a grip on the cup of noodles he almost drops. “Huh?”
“...thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being you.”
“For being me? I thought I was just a hopeless idiot too irresistible to resist.”
“You are. At least the idiot part, but...”
“Not like you know how to resist me, anyway.” Naruto indulges in a shameless grin.
Biting on his lip, Sasuke gives this little smile back. “Let me ask you something.”
“What?”
“...how do you feel about weddings?”