A Little of You (1/1)
And yet I continue to wonder why my stuff keeps turning out so darn sappy. Really, self.
Really.
Feel better since it's preslash, though. I miss this. And gen.
But mostly since it's PG. Because I really like PG.
***
Characters: Naruto, Sasuke
Rating: PG
Words: 2593
Summary: "That’s how I knew you must’ve been really out of it, because you never use that kind of honorific speech with me."
“Well, not really, I guess. But then I wouldn’t be in this situation. Because I can handle alcohol a lot better than you, so…”
“…why are you putting me through this?”
“You’re saying I should’ve just left you there?”
“…yes.”
“You seriously expected me to leave you by yourself in a bar. Passed out on a table alone. In the middle of the night.”
“Apparently, you’re still hard of hearing.”
Naruto squints, sitting on the floor beside Sasuke lying face down on a borrowed futon, nearly buried by the plush navy comforter striped with lines thin and white. Turned towards Naruto, cheek resting over his arms folded on top of a pillow, Sasuke glares at him, or at least tries to, coming up with a glare that only manages to prove exactly why he never claimed to be a morning person.
“Sasuke, I… you know I’d never leave you like that, right? I don’t mind tak-being there if you need me. You’re my friend. My best friend. I can’t not look out for you.
“Besides,” Naruto adds, combating the sour glare with an even more determined grin of his own. “I know you’d do the same for me.”
A second goes by, followed by two more, leading into three and stretching into another two, but even then, still, there’s only silence.
“Don’t even try to deny it, Sasuke.”
As Naruto’s grin falters, the cranky glare fades along with it when Sasuke blinks, features blank, resolved to simply stare at Naruto. The silence doesn’t go away, though, seemingly becomes more awkward with the lack of movement, the two of them locked in an apparent standoff bordering on sheer stubbornness rather than some kind of uncomfortable.
“No matter how much you like to make fun of me, I know you’re not that mean,” Naruto scowls, nothing less than utter conviction in his words, thoroughly convinced despite the distinct lack of response on Sasuke’s part. “I know you wouldn’t do that to me.”
“How would you know?”
Making a fist, Naruto lets out a frustrated groan, aiming for Sasuke’s face with knuckles that apply a careful pressure steady kneading Sasuke’s cheek. “Stop giving me so much pushback for once, and be grateful already so I can accept your gratitude.”
Sasuke doesn’t draw away from Naruto’s hand against his cheek, eyes narrowed instead, features reading something close to confusion and not quite annoyance, clearly torn between the two. “You’re being too loud.”
Naruto gives a final little nudge, another careful prod against Sasuke’s cheek, before dropping his hand. He sits back with an overstated sigh, letting his arm fall over his lap. “Would it really hurt you to say thank you?”
“Showing gratitude towards someone like you,” Sasuke says, shifting his arms on top of the pillow, legs stretched out underneath the comforter. “Yes.”
“You should only be so lucky to know someone like me.”
“It’s bad enough being seen like this by someone like you.”
Naruto starts, nearly keels over, catching himself mid-flail. “How am I the bad guy in this situation?”
“Because you’re you.”
There’s a tic above Naruto’s right eye. “…you say it like I’m just some untrustworthy looking guy who brought you to some shady looking place against your will.”
“No, you’re just the senseless guy who makes me question the decisions I make whenever I’m around you.”
“What’s with the sudden accusatory look? You’re the one who can’t handle alcohol. I’m the one who carried you all the way back here. At least show a little apprec-”
“You carri-” There’s a weird sounding moan from Sasuke, a faint sort of dying noise, echoing the pained grimace on his face that’s covered as soon as he throws the comforter over his head, burrowing beneath it, unsuccessfully trying to disappear, leaving only visible a few tufts of dark hair.
Naruto blinks, finger scratching behind his ear as he watches Sasuke lying there seemingly lifeless, face made up with an uncertain concern. “…I’m starting to think I’ve been rubbing off on you a little too much.”
“…being around you is too much,” comes Sasuke’s muffled voice.
“I know you slept through most of it, but how do you think you ended up here in the first place? When I told you I’d carry you back, you said it was fine. You were even really nice to me about it. That’s how I knew you must’ve been really out of it, because you never use that kind of honorific speech with me.”
“…shut up, Naruto.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re a very weird, politely violent drunk,” Naruto says, thoughtful, searching in between the folds of the comforter to poke Sasuke’s shoulder. “Kind of freaked Kiba out, I think. How polite you actually were, when you started threatening him with a plastic spoon. Really, though, he shouldn’t have been teasing you like that, but it’s not like he’s the kind of guy who’d hold it against you.”
“This is all your fault.”
“Why is everything always my fault? I didn’t make you get drunk off that one tiny little glass.”
“Because.”
Leaning over, Naruto lifts the comforter from over Sasuke’s head, peeking underneath it, grinning when he encounters an exceptionally grumpy glare. “I don’t know if you’re acting like this because you have a hangover, or embarrassed because you got so drunk-but then you always act this cranky around me, anyway, so I’m not sure if there’s really a difference at this point.”
“…why are you here, Naruto?”
“Because I found you?”
“No, I…why are you still here?”
“Because we’re still in my apartment, and you’re still using my futon,” Naruto says easily. He pushes the comforter further away, letting it fall on Sasuke’s back. “Where else would I be?”
Sasuke breathes out softly, closing his eyes. “…I didn’t ask you to do any of this for me.”
“You really are a picky guy when you want to be, you know that.”
“Being subjected to your constant screeching doesn’t do anything for me, either.”
“I don’t know what you’re worried about. Nobody’s going to treat you any different, so stop letting it bother you so much, all right.”
Eyes opened, Sasuke sighs with a huff, pushing away stray dark strands fallen over his face. “…I didn’t say it bothered me.”
“Well, no, but I kind of noticed you have this thing about not being seen a certain way. When it comes to being able to do things on your own, it’s like, for whatever reason, you have this thing about not allowing other people to help you. Even me sometimes. But you really shouldn’t worry about that sort of thing. There’s nothing wrong with not being perfect.”
“You would know.”
“Okay. See. I’m going to choose to be the bigger person here and be considerate enough to let that one pass, since I know why you’re being so cranky,” Naruto says. “Not that I’m a serious lightweight like you. And not that I’ve ever had a really bad hangover. But even for me, that whiskey was pretty strong.”
“Naruto…”
“With all the grudges you like to hold against me, knowing you’re such a lightweight, yeah, I’m not letting you live this one down. Can’t wait till you find out what Kenji changed your name to on his phone.”
Sasuke makes that pained sort of dying moan again.
Again, Naruto ignores this. “Although Shikamaru did mention a study from way back in ’96 or something, about people from the Chuugoku region being more likely to have a lower tolerance. Which is true for you, I guess, since you are from Yamaguchi.
“That guy, he’s a surprisingly talkative drunk.”
“Why won’t you stop talking and let me die in peace.”
“Oh, yeah,” Naruto says, quick with the snap of his fingers. “That reminds me. Chouji stopped by earlier with food for you. Some type of special homemade miso, I think he said.”
He readjusts the small red towel hanging from around his neck, running a hand through darkened blond hair still a bit damp. “Even though I told him you’d be okay, he was still worried about you, so…”
Sasuke blinks, mouth forming a soft oh of surprise. He glances down at the pillow, brows knit, lips pursed, until he makes an absent reach for Naruto’s wrist, turning it over to read the digital face of Naruto’s black watch.
“I didn’t realise it was already so late.” He releases Naruto’s wrist, not quite holding back a frown. “Remind me to call him later. He really didn’t have to go through so much trouble for my sake.”
“The guy who brought you food, you can tell him thank you. But me,” Naruto says, cut off by his own disbelief, head cocked to the side, “the guy who willingly took care of you, somehow, I’m the worst person in the world.”
“It’s almost ten. You should’ve woken me up earlier.”
“You do know you’re not a morning person, right? No way was I going to risk getting accidentally smacked in the face again.”
“You were too close to me.”
“How was I too-you fell asleep on me, Sasuke. Literally. And it wasn’t like I was going to shove you off or anything, not when I knew you were that tired. Plus, you got drool all over me.”
“I don’t drool.”
“Do too.”
“…I don’t.”
“Face it, Sasuke. I’ve seen you drool. And after the whole drooling thing, I don’t see why you’re so embarrassed about last night. What you said to Kiba, the way you said it to him, it really was pretty funny. You even had Sho spit out a piece of chicken liver on the floor.”
“It’s not a funny name to have,” Sasuke murmurs, starting to nod off, but then he opens his eyes, blinking a few times, forcing himself to stay awake. “But that’s not Kiba’s fault. It’s yours.”
“You’re still holding that against me?”
Sasuke only offers up another glare, still grumpy but a little more subdued.
“Why are you holding me responsible for what Kiba called you?”
“Why would Kiba even think to call me that at all?”
Naruto hides behind a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay, so, before I actually got to know you, because of the whole shaman stick thing, and the two of us not getting along, I might’ve started calling you Himi-look, the point is, you don’t need to worry about it, all right. I already told Kiba not to call you that anymore.
“And he’s not going to,” he adds, not without a little annoyance seeping into his voice. “Whether you can hear it or not.”
“You’re the one who came up with it.”
“I know I did, yeah, but that’s between us, though. That’s different.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? You don’t like being called that. You don’t even let me call you that. So I told Kiba to stop doing it.”
Sasuke shifts his arms on the pillow, curled beneath the comforter, body fully turned towards Naruto. His eyes fall closed, yet once more open slowly, peering at Naruto with a much more notably sleepy gaze.
“I mean, uh-it only makes sense that you don’t like being called that, since it’s something that bothers you, and that’s why Kiba should know better than to call you that, because you don’t like it, which is why I had to tell him not to, so, uh…”
Sasuke continues to stare at him with the same hazy expression, with dark eyes that somehow manage to look a little more bright, and Naruto swallows, fingers restless toying with the stretchy fabric of his grey training shorts.
“…anyway, it won’t seem so bad once you sleep it off, okay. Hopefully, you won’t be so cranky by then, either-here.” Naruto reaches to his right, grabbing a clear plastic bottle, plain save for the wide blue label stretched around the top half. “I got this for you, too. I would’ve given you the Pocari Sweat the first time you woke up, but you went right back to sleep.
“If your headache’s really that bad, though, you should try it. Between this and the aspirin, Kenji said it should help you feel better.”
Sasuke makes a small disagreeable noise, scrunching his nose at the bottle Naruto holds towards him. “Too sweet.”
Naruto snorts. “Or you could drink more water. And maybe eat a banana, since the ones Shikamaru bought still aren’t ripe yet.”
“That’s fine,” Sasuke murmurs, and his eyes again begin to droop, as his breathing starts to level off. “But, Naruto...”
Naruto sets down the bottle of Pocari Sweat, placing it carefully on the floor. “Yeah?”
“…thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being someone like you.”
“I guess that’s the most you’re going to admit, right,” Naruto says, carries the words around an unhurried smile that gives way to a soft laugh. “Someone like me, huh.”
“Someone like you,” Sasuke whispers, “who still tries to look out for me, even though he doesn’t have to.”
For a moment, it’s as if Naruto forgot how to move, caught still in a single instance, cheeks harbouring more than a slight flush. He bites at the corner of his bottom lip, breaking the short stint of immobility, only to look away from the unguarded expression on Sasuke’s face, attention drawn to the neat stack of open blue cubes housing both his spare camera stuff and Sasuke’s extra art supplies.
“I already told you, didn’t I,” he says, pulling at the hem of his shorts covering his leg right up to his knee. “You’re my friend, Sasuke. My best friend. And I mean it. I don’t know how not to look out for you.”
Gaze brought down, he closes his eyes, arm extended taut, fingers curled into his palm, knuckles digging into the plush comforter spilled over onto the floor.
“I know you don’t like people doing things for you, that you don’t want people to think you can’t do things for yourself. But the idea of wanting to be there when you need me, wanting you to be able to rely on someone like me,” he whispers, voice already quiet growing even softer, eyes he’s seemingly unable to open kept tightly closed, “…is it really so bad?
“Because after last night, being with you, I’m starting to think it’s more than just-
“Sasuke?”
One at a time, Naruto begins to open his eyes, fingers unfurled, no longer waits to exhale when he sees Sasuke still wearing the same unguarded look on his face, lying comfortably in the borrowed futon as if it were his own, completely oblivious to the near confession Naruto didn’t quite get a chance to make.
“Falling asleep on me so easily like this, I guess I should be used to it by now.”
Naruto sighs, taking in a breath heavy from his chest. His smile this time takes a little longer to come, not so easy-going, mellowed by the noticeable kind of disappointment too draining to keep, the far less confident kind of smile that always seems to make Sasuke frown.
“But taking care of you, Sasuke, that’s…”
So Naruto tries again, even though Sasuke can’t hear him reaches for the comforter, laying it to cover enough of Sasuke to make sure he won’t get too cold.
And maybe when Sasuke wakes up again, when he gets to see Sasuke smile that way at him again, just maybe…
“…I’m starting to think that’s something I really don’t mind.”
Really.
Feel better since it's preslash, though. I miss this. And gen.
But mostly since it's PG. Because I really like PG.
***
Characters: Naruto, Sasuke
Rating: PG
Words: 2593
Summary: "That’s how I knew you must’ve been really out of it, because you never use that kind of honorific speech with me."
“Well, not really, I guess. But then I wouldn’t be in this situation. Because I can handle alcohol a lot better than you, so…”
“…why are you putting me through this?”
“You’re saying I should’ve just left you there?”
“…yes.”
“You seriously expected me to leave you by yourself in a bar. Passed out on a table alone. In the middle of the night.”
“Apparently, you’re still hard of hearing.”
Naruto squints, sitting on the floor beside Sasuke lying face down on a borrowed futon, nearly buried by the plush navy comforter striped with lines thin and white. Turned towards Naruto, cheek resting over his arms folded on top of a pillow, Sasuke glares at him, or at least tries to, coming up with a glare that only manages to prove exactly why he never claimed to be a morning person.
“Sasuke, I… you know I’d never leave you like that, right? I don’t mind tak-being there if you need me. You’re my friend. My best friend. I can’t not look out for you.
“Besides,” Naruto adds, combating the sour glare with an even more determined grin of his own. “I know you’d do the same for me.”
A second goes by, followed by two more, leading into three and stretching into another two, but even then, still, there’s only silence.
“Don’t even try to deny it, Sasuke.”
As Naruto’s grin falters, the cranky glare fades along with it when Sasuke blinks, features blank, resolved to simply stare at Naruto. The silence doesn’t go away, though, seemingly becomes more awkward with the lack of movement, the two of them locked in an apparent standoff bordering on sheer stubbornness rather than some kind of uncomfortable.
“No matter how much you like to make fun of me, I know you’re not that mean,” Naruto scowls, nothing less than utter conviction in his words, thoroughly convinced despite the distinct lack of response on Sasuke’s part. “I know you wouldn’t do that to me.”
“How would you know?”
Making a fist, Naruto lets out a frustrated groan, aiming for Sasuke’s face with knuckles that apply a careful pressure steady kneading Sasuke’s cheek. “Stop giving me so much pushback for once, and be grateful already so I can accept your gratitude.”
Sasuke doesn’t draw away from Naruto’s hand against his cheek, eyes narrowed instead, features reading something close to confusion and not quite annoyance, clearly torn between the two. “You’re being too loud.”
Naruto gives a final little nudge, another careful prod against Sasuke’s cheek, before dropping his hand. He sits back with an overstated sigh, letting his arm fall over his lap. “Would it really hurt you to say thank you?”
“Showing gratitude towards someone like you,” Sasuke says, shifting his arms on top of the pillow, legs stretched out underneath the comforter. “Yes.”
“You should only be so lucky to know someone like me.”
“It’s bad enough being seen like this by someone like you.”
Naruto starts, nearly keels over, catching himself mid-flail. “How am I the bad guy in this situation?”
“Because you’re you.”
There’s a tic above Naruto’s right eye. “…you say it like I’m just some untrustworthy looking guy who brought you to some shady looking place against your will.”
“No, you’re just the senseless guy who makes me question the decisions I make whenever I’m around you.”
“What’s with the sudden accusatory look? You’re the one who can’t handle alcohol. I’m the one who carried you all the way back here. At least show a little apprec-”
“You carri-” There’s a weird sounding moan from Sasuke, a faint sort of dying noise, echoing the pained grimace on his face that’s covered as soon as he throws the comforter over his head, burrowing beneath it, unsuccessfully trying to disappear, leaving only visible a few tufts of dark hair.
Naruto blinks, finger scratching behind his ear as he watches Sasuke lying there seemingly lifeless, face made up with an uncertain concern. “…I’m starting to think I’ve been rubbing off on you a little too much.”
“…being around you is too much,” comes Sasuke’s muffled voice.
“I know you slept through most of it, but how do you think you ended up here in the first place? When I told you I’d carry you back, you said it was fine. You were even really nice to me about it. That’s how I knew you must’ve been really out of it, because you never use that kind of honorific speech with me.”
“…shut up, Naruto.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re a very weird, politely violent drunk,” Naruto says, thoughtful, searching in between the folds of the comforter to poke Sasuke’s shoulder. “Kind of freaked Kiba out, I think. How polite you actually were, when you started threatening him with a plastic spoon. Really, though, he shouldn’t have been teasing you like that, but it’s not like he’s the kind of guy who’d hold it against you.”
“This is all your fault.”
“Why is everything always my fault? I didn’t make you get drunk off that one tiny little glass.”
“Because.”
Leaning over, Naruto lifts the comforter from over Sasuke’s head, peeking underneath it, grinning when he encounters an exceptionally grumpy glare. “I don’t know if you’re acting like this because you have a hangover, or embarrassed because you got so drunk-but then you always act this cranky around me, anyway, so I’m not sure if there’s really a difference at this point.”
“…why are you here, Naruto?”
“Because I found you?”
“No, I…why are you still here?”
“Because we’re still in my apartment, and you’re still using my futon,” Naruto says easily. He pushes the comforter further away, letting it fall on Sasuke’s back. “Where else would I be?”
Sasuke breathes out softly, closing his eyes. “…I didn’t ask you to do any of this for me.”
“You really are a picky guy when you want to be, you know that.”
“Being subjected to your constant screeching doesn’t do anything for me, either.”
“I don’t know what you’re worried about. Nobody’s going to treat you any different, so stop letting it bother you so much, all right.”
Eyes opened, Sasuke sighs with a huff, pushing away stray dark strands fallen over his face. “…I didn’t say it bothered me.”
“Well, no, but I kind of noticed you have this thing about not being seen a certain way. When it comes to being able to do things on your own, it’s like, for whatever reason, you have this thing about not allowing other people to help you. Even me sometimes. But you really shouldn’t worry about that sort of thing. There’s nothing wrong with not being perfect.”
“You would know.”
“Okay. See. I’m going to choose to be the bigger person here and be considerate enough to let that one pass, since I know why you’re being so cranky,” Naruto says. “Not that I’m a serious lightweight like you. And not that I’ve ever had a really bad hangover. But even for me, that whiskey was pretty strong.”
“Naruto…”
“With all the grudges you like to hold against me, knowing you’re such a lightweight, yeah, I’m not letting you live this one down. Can’t wait till you find out what Kenji changed your name to on his phone.”
Sasuke makes that pained sort of dying moan again.
Again, Naruto ignores this. “Although Shikamaru did mention a study from way back in ’96 or something, about people from the Chuugoku region being more likely to have a lower tolerance. Which is true for you, I guess, since you are from Yamaguchi.
“That guy, he’s a surprisingly talkative drunk.”
“Why won’t you stop talking and let me die in peace.”
“Oh, yeah,” Naruto says, quick with the snap of his fingers. “That reminds me. Chouji stopped by earlier with food for you. Some type of special homemade miso, I think he said.”
He readjusts the small red towel hanging from around his neck, running a hand through darkened blond hair still a bit damp. “Even though I told him you’d be okay, he was still worried about you, so…”
Sasuke blinks, mouth forming a soft oh of surprise. He glances down at the pillow, brows knit, lips pursed, until he makes an absent reach for Naruto’s wrist, turning it over to read the digital face of Naruto’s black watch.
“I didn’t realise it was already so late.” He releases Naruto’s wrist, not quite holding back a frown. “Remind me to call him later. He really didn’t have to go through so much trouble for my sake.”
“The guy who brought you food, you can tell him thank you. But me,” Naruto says, cut off by his own disbelief, head cocked to the side, “the guy who willingly took care of you, somehow, I’m the worst person in the world.”
“It’s almost ten. You should’ve woken me up earlier.”
“You do know you’re not a morning person, right? No way was I going to risk getting accidentally smacked in the face again.”
“You were too close to me.”
“How was I too-you fell asleep on me, Sasuke. Literally. And it wasn’t like I was going to shove you off or anything, not when I knew you were that tired. Plus, you got drool all over me.”
“I don’t drool.”
“Do too.”
“…I don’t.”
“Face it, Sasuke. I’ve seen you drool. And after the whole drooling thing, I don’t see why you’re so embarrassed about last night. What you said to Kiba, the way you said it to him, it really was pretty funny. You even had Sho spit out a piece of chicken liver on the floor.”
“It’s not a funny name to have,” Sasuke murmurs, starting to nod off, but then he opens his eyes, blinking a few times, forcing himself to stay awake. “But that’s not Kiba’s fault. It’s yours.”
“You’re still holding that against me?”
Sasuke only offers up another glare, still grumpy but a little more subdued.
“Why are you holding me responsible for what Kiba called you?”
“Why would Kiba even think to call me that at all?”
Naruto hides behind a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay, so, before I actually got to know you, because of the whole shaman stick thing, and the two of us not getting along, I might’ve started calling you Himi-look, the point is, you don’t need to worry about it, all right. I already told Kiba not to call you that anymore.
“And he’s not going to,” he adds, not without a little annoyance seeping into his voice. “Whether you can hear it or not.”
“You’re the one who came up with it.”
“I know I did, yeah, but that’s between us, though. That’s different.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? You don’t like being called that. You don’t even let me call you that. So I told Kiba to stop doing it.”
Sasuke shifts his arms on the pillow, curled beneath the comforter, body fully turned towards Naruto. His eyes fall closed, yet once more open slowly, peering at Naruto with a much more notably sleepy gaze.
“I mean, uh-it only makes sense that you don’t like being called that, since it’s something that bothers you, and that’s why Kiba should know better than to call you that, because you don’t like it, which is why I had to tell him not to, so, uh…”
Sasuke continues to stare at him with the same hazy expression, with dark eyes that somehow manage to look a little more bright, and Naruto swallows, fingers restless toying with the stretchy fabric of his grey training shorts.
“…anyway, it won’t seem so bad once you sleep it off, okay. Hopefully, you won’t be so cranky by then, either-here.” Naruto reaches to his right, grabbing a clear plastic bottle, plain save for the wide blue label stretched around the top half. “I got this for you, too. I would’ve given you the Pocari Sweat the first time you woke up, but you went right back to sleep.
“If your headache’s really that bad, though, you should try it. Between this and the aspirin, Kenji said it should help you feel better.”
Sasuke makes a small disagreeable noise, scrunching his nose at the bottle Naruto holds towards him. “Too sweet.”
Naruto snorts. “Or you could drink more water. And maybe eat a banana, since the ones Shikamaru bought still aren’t ripe yet.”
“That’s fine,” Sasuke murmurs, and his eyes again begin to droop, as his breathing starts to level off. “But, Naruto...”
Naruto sets down the bottle of Pocari Sweat, placing it carefully on the floor. “Yeah?”
“…thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being someone like you.”
“I guess that’s the most you’re going to admit, right,” Naruto says, carries the words around an unhurried smile that gives way to a soft laugh. “Someone like me, huh.”
“Someone like you,” Sasuke whispers, “who still tries to look out for me, even though he doesn’t have to.”
For a moment, it’s as if Naruto forgot how to move, caught still in a single instance, cheeks harbouring more than a slight flush. He bites at the corner of his bottom lip, breaking the short stint of immobility, only to look away from the unguarded expression on Sasuke’s face, attention drawn to the neat stack of open blue cubes housing both his spare camera stuff and Sasuke’s extra art supplies.
“I already told you, didn’t I,” he says, pulling at the hem of his shorts covering his leg right up to his knee. “You’re my friend, Sasuke. My best friend. And I mean it. I don’t know how not to look out for you.”
Gaze brought down, he closes his eyes, arm extended taut, fingers curled into his palm, knuckles digging into the plush comforter spilled over onto the floor.
“I know you don’t like people doing things for you, that you don’t want people to think you can’t do things for yourself. But the idea of wanting to be there when you need me, wanting you to be able to rely on someone like me,” he whispers, voice already quiet growing even softer, eyes he’s seemingly unable to open kept tightly closed, “…is it really so bad?
“Because after last night, being with you, I’m starting to think it’s more than just-
“Sasuke?”
One at a time, Naruto begins to open his eyes, fingers unfurled, no longer waits to exhale when he sees Sasuke still wearing the same unguarded look on his face, lying comfortably in the borrowed futon as if it were his own, completely oblivious to the near confession Naruto didn’t quite get a chance to make.
“Falling asleep on me so easily like this, I guess I should be used to it by now.”
Naruto sighs, taking in a breath heavy from his chest. His smile this time takes a little longer to come, not so easy-going, mellowed by the noticeable kind of disappointment too draining to keep, the far less confident kind of smile that always seems to make Sasuke frown.
“But taking care of you, Sasuke, that’s…”
So Naruto tries again, even though Sasuke can’t hear him reaches for the comforter, laying it to cover enough of Sasuke to make sure he won’t get too cold.
And maybe when Sasuke wakes up again, when he gets to see Sasuke smile that way at him again, just maybe…
“…I’m starting to think that’s something I really don’t mind.”