Chapter Text
"Naruto—what is this?"
Naruto blinked up at him—Sasuke was holding up a…piece of paper? Oh—a card—oh—
"…It's Lee's birthday in a couple days," the invitation literally had that written on it, "and we're invited. He always does these big fancy invitations—the party isn't actually anything big, though, I promise. It's just us."
Sasuke blinked down at the page.
"Lee is…the one with the eyebrows?"
Naruto barked out a laugh.
"Oh my god," he shook his head, "you are such an asshole!"
"Am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong—but—"
"I could have also said bowl cut," he muttered, raising an eyebrow at Naruto. "Is that better?"
"No!" Even as he said it—he couldn't stop the laugh. "You ass!"
Sasuke only shrugged, looking amused. His smile faded a little as he looked back down at the invitation.
"Why did Lee…send me an invitation?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"If he—I mean," Sasuke shifted, "didn't he send you one?"
Naruto had a moment of clarity.
"Sasuke," he said seriously, "my friends aren't just hanging out with you 'cause you're with me. They're your friends too, now."
Sasuke looked at him as if he was insane.
"I'm serious!"
Sasuke looked away, shaking his head.
"I know Ino likes you, for one thing." He moved closer. "She said she can be her bitchiest self around you—her words, not mine."
Sasuke stared at him. Naruto grinned.
"And Kiba thinks you're a genius—why do you think he keeps making you recommend him stuff? I'm pretty sure he's convinced you're secretly a movie critic."
Sasuke looked away again—he was turning the invitation over in his hands, Naruto noticed—
"Shikamaru said he likes how quiet you are. Well, no—he said something like you aren't troublesome, and that it makes me less troublesome—I think he meant that you're a good influence on me or something?"
Naruto laughed, nudging Sasuke.
"And—"
Sasuke gave him a soft kiss.
"Okay," he said quietly, barely pulling away.
"Okay? You believe me?"
Sasuke's eyes flickered down.
"A little."
Naruto grinned in victory.
"I'll take it." He pressed his lips against Sasuke's again, relishing in how good it felt to kiss him…
"So are you coming with me to Lee's birthday?"
Sasuke rested his forehead against Naruto's.
"…Yeah. I'll come."
It was about as loud as Sasuke had expected.
Naruto threw him a grin—half amused, half apologetic—as Ino pulled him towards yet another conversation. What the girl thought he could add to it, Sasuke wasn't sure, but Ino certainly seemed convinced there was something—
He felt a soft pressure at his side as Naruto moved to stand next to him. He was a few drinks in—just numb enough to slip an arm around Naruto's waist, uncaring of the people around them. Naruto certainly seemed to be in a similar state, from the way he moved forward to capture Sasuke's lips—
"Oh my god, keep it in your pants, guys!" Ino laughed as they immediately broke apart. "It's like every time I look over there—"
Sasuke's face flushed, but Naruto only grinned.
"It's not my fault!" He leaned against Sasuke's side. "If you were dating him, you'd be like this too—"
Sasuke's face flushed further as Ino laughed again.
"Usuratonkachi," he muttered—more to himself than anyone else—
"You are so fucking smitten." Ino tilted her head to eye Naruto.
It was the blonde's turn for his face to flush.
"'m gonna go get another drink," he muttered—fighting a smile in spite of his blush. Sasuke felt the warmth flood his body at the sight, even as Naruto left his side.
"Honestly," Ino's voice broke him out of his thoughts—he turned just as she shook her head, smiling, "I've never seen him like this. It's like he can't even contain himself."
Sasuke stared after the way Naruto had went.
"Excuse me..."
Naruto nearly dropped his cup as he felt Sasuke press up behind him.
"Teme!" He laughed, topping off his drink. "You scared me."
"Mm." He felt Sasuke's lips press on his neck, softly moving against his skin…Naruto let his head roll to the side, smiling.
"You're drunk," he teased, resisting the urge to close his eyes—Sasuke arms had wrapped around him—his shirt was starting to ride up—
"Mm," Sasuke hummed again, "so are you."
Sasuke shifted back—just enough to let Naruto turn around to capture his lips. He would never be over this, honestly—the fact that he could just—he could just kiss Sasuke—whenever he wanted—and that Sasuke wanted him too—
He didn't realize how heated the kiss had gotten until his lungs began to protest—Sasuke had pressed up against him in a way that nearly had Naruto sitting on the counter, Sasuke between his legs—fuck, that was a hot thought—
Sasuke pulled away.
"What are you thinking?"
Naruto opened his eyes to find Sasuke's scanning him—crap, he didn't know what had tipped Sasuke off but obviously something had—
He flushed, ducking his head.
"I—um," he bit his lip, eyes darting back to Sasuke for barely a moment, "I—"
Sasuke pressed closer to him.
"Hm?" He prompted, nuzzling in behind Naruto's ear. Naruto felt the chills from Sasuke's breath—his tongue darted out against his lips as Sasuke gave his hips a tight squeeze—
"...Um. So," he let out a nervous breath as Sasuke pulled back, "what I told you about—before. When I wasn't really comfortable, in—in my first relationship?"
Sasuke slowly scanned him, and Naruto waited for his nod before he continued.
"It was when I, uh, bottomed," he ducked his head, "and I don't think either of us were ready for it, 'cause it just—hurt. We didn't—y'know, prepare properly or anything, and it wasn't—um, anyway. Basically—it didn't feel good. And I've never—I never really understood the, uh, appeal, after that. I never really wanted to try again," he bit his lip as he looked back down at the way Sasuke still stood between his legs, "'til now."
There was a moment's pause. Had that been too far? Naruto couldn't really tell—he felt like he maybe should be embarrassed, but he was also drunk enough not to care as much as he probably should...
"That's what you were thinking?" Sasuke's voice was low, and Naruto felt it echo through him—he knew exactly how Sasuke's voice could change when they moved to the bedroom—
"Yeah," he breathed, tongue darting out against his lips—
Sasuke gripped his thighs—hands running up them until Naruto really was sitting on the counter—
"Like this?" His voice was barely a whisper—Naruto looked up just as Sasuke's hands pulled his hips forward until Sasuke was pressing up against him—god, he could feel Sasuke pressing up against him—
"F-fuck," he swallowed, desperately fighting the erection, "Sasuke—"
"Hm?" Sasuke smirk completely spoiled his nonchalant act.
Naruto let out a laugh—full of breath, just to relieve some of the tension—
"You fucking tease," he breathed, Sasuke an inch from his lips. "You're trying to get me to want to leave, aren't you?"
Sasuke snorted—Naruto saw him try to fight the smile, but he could still see it—fuck, he loved that smile—
"'Cause if you are," Naruto sat up a little, resting his arms around Sasuke's shoulders, "it's really working. If we weren't in the kitchen right now…hey," he looked past Sasuke, eyeing the entrance, "think that door locks?"
He laughed as Sasuke did the same, pulling back to give his face a small shove.
"Usuratonkachi."
"Teme." His smile softened. Every time they had a moment—every time Naruto had a second to catch his own thoughts—tonight, he felt like he was nearly suffocating in his own affection. It was like the alcohol was picking up on everything he felt for Sasuke and magnifying it tenfold. God, Sasuke was just so—
"We should get back," Sasuke said quietly, "before people start looking for us."
Naruto grinned.
"I'm sure they're smart enough to figure it out," he said—dutifully slipping off the counter nonetheless.
He grabbed his drink—passing Sasuke's to him, too—
"Naruto," Sasuke's voice was soft—serious—Naruto turned to face him fully, "I'd…like to try, too."
Naruto blinked.
Sasuke's face was flushed—his eyes darted away from Naruto's—
"Just so you know."
Naruto firmly—sternly—informed himself that it was still not the time (nor the place) to tell Sasuke he loved him. It was too early—probably—and they were both drunk—and in Lee's house—
He buried his face in Sasuke's neck.
"Are you—"
"Sasuke," he breathed quietly, squeezing him closer, "I really, really like you."
He could nearly hear Sasuke's smile as it came.
"...Moron."
Sasuke wasn't entirely sure what it was that awoke him.
He had certainly been tired enough—and he knew Naruto was, too—he had that exam tomorrow and they had yet to get enough sleep to recover from Lee's party—
The blankets shifted.
Sasuke cracked open an eye—even in the darkness, he could see Naruto's form, sitting up, hunched over—
"—ruto?" He sucked in a breath, pushing himself up. "You okay?"
He still felt heavy with sleep, but Naruto seemed—
"Oh, shit, I didn't wake you, did I?"
Naruto's voice was barely there—just a soft whisper—but there was no trace of sleep in it.
Sasuke frowned. "How long have you been awake?"
Naruto pulled back a little, shrugging and looking away.
Sasuke's scowl deepened—he grabbed at the side table until he found his phone—
"…It's past three," he muttered, turning back to Naruto. "Have you slept at all?"
The blonde ran a hand through his hair, rubbing his eyes on the way.
"Not really."
Sasuke tilted his head, scanning him for a moment longer. It wasn't as if the blonde was trying to lie to him and say nothing was wrong—and something very definitely was—but if Naruto didn't want to talk about it yet…
He gently slid out of the bed, padding over to the kitchen. After the first time Naruto had gone grocery shopping with him (and had just happened to leave the spices behind), the blonde had started just leaving all of his groceries with Sasuke. He claimed he was too lazy to carry everything back to his house, and that Sasuke would know how to use everything way better than he would, but—well, he had practically moved in here with Sasuke at this point, so it really couldn't come as much of a surprise that he had filled his cupboards, too—especially with things that Sasuke would have never bought, himself.
Like hot chocolate.
Sasuke poured a cup of milk, stuck it in the microwave, and waited.
It was a couple of minutes before he stuck the cup underneath Naruto's nose, who looked entirely lost in his own thoughts—
Naruto blinked at him.
"What…?"
"It's what you said." Sasuke pushed it at him. "You said you needed something warm on a cold night. And then you bought this. Here."
"It—the—hot chocolate?"
"No, poison. Just—it's hot—okay?"
Sasuke's cheeks flushed a little—and, really, the cup was starting to burn his hand—so he was very thankful when the idiot finally took it from him.
Naruto gave a soft laugh.
"Thanks, Sasuke." He smiled at him—he looked much brighter than he had before Sasuke had left, but it was still a far cry from usual.
Sasuke sat beside him, pulling his legs up onto the bed.
There was a pause.
"…It's nothing serious," Naruto said quietly, shaking his head. "I'm just—tired, I think, and it's making everything spiral in my head. Or something."
Naruto shrugged. Sasuke frowned at him.
"It's not, y'know," he shrugged again, "important."
Sasuke stayed silent—but his eyes didn't leave Naruto.
It took a moment before Naruto seemed to finally relent, giving him a doubtful look.
"You really wanna hear this? Me being all gloomy and dramatic?"
Sasuke gave a soft snort, rolling his eyes a little.
"I would appreciate not being the gloomy and dramatic one in this relationship for once, yes."
Naruto's surprised laugh rang out in the night, and Sasuke felt the victory flood through his body. He moved closer, letting Naruto's body lean against his.
"Do your worst, usuratonkachi."
Naruto laughed again, nudging Sasuke's shoulder with his head a little.
"Alright," he hugged the mug closer to himself, "well—I think—I think the real reason I'm like this is 'cause of exams."
"Groundbreaking."
Naruto snorted.
"I know. But like—I got some of my marks today—and—"
Naruto shook his head. Sasuke frowned.
"I thought you were okay with your marks."
"I—am." Naruto's head tilted, just for a moment, matching the way his lips twisted to the side. "They are okay. But that's—that's it—you know? They're okay. They're always just—okay. I worked my ass off, Sasuke. I always do. And it's never—I feel like—even at my best, I'm never…and even—it's not even like I'm not interested in this," he let out a harsh breath, "this shit is what I'm passionate about—you know? It's what I want to go into—it's what I want to do—and even that, I can't be good at—it's always just—I'm always just—"
He cut himself off, as if swallowing his words, looking away from Sasuke.
Sasuke took it as his cue to start talking.
"First of all," Sasuke lifted a knee to rest his cheek on it, staring at Naruto, "you're not at your best. You're stressed and tired and I told you to complain to the office about having those exams on the same day—"
"If it didn't happen to me, they'd do it to someone else—at least I—"
Sasuke leaned forwards and kissed him to shut him up. There was no winning that argument with Naruto, he knew.
"Ugh," he said pulling back as his tongue darted over his lips, "I don't know how you can drink that."
"Wh—'cause it's good!"
"You're drinking sand."
"I am not!"
Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes. How Naruto didn't taste the powder, he didn't know, but Sasuke definitely could—
"…You're distracting me," Naruto accused, squinting at him. "I—"
"You're not at your best," Sasuke cut him off, glancing over at his wall, "and—to be honest—I don't think anything you've done is what you're passionate about, either."
"No—that's not true, Sasuke, it—"
Sasuke looked back at him.
"People. Naruto—you're good at—dealing with people." Sasuke looked away again. "Teaching your—your yoga and meditation and doing your interviews...that's what you're passionate about. Putting everything into practice—that's what you're passionate about. And there's no exam you've written—no grade you've been assigned—that has captured that."
He paused, taking in the way Naruto didn't reply.
"You're okay on paper. But," he swallowed, "you're—in person, you're—" Sasuke felt his face burn, yet again, and he looked as far away from Naruto as he could as he forced the words out, "…perfect. And that's a far better skill to have, in my opinion."
He could feel Naruto's eyes burning into him—he could see how wide they were even from the corner of his eye—
"Fucking hell, Sasuke," Naruto breathed, hand squeezing Sasuke's so tight it nearly hurt, "I—fuck—"
Sasuke turned, just as Naruto let go of him and ducked his head—was he—
"Are you—crying?"
"Shut up," Naruto rubbed his shirt on his face, his hot chocolate splashing threateningly close to Sasuke's sheets, "you—I'm—I'm already weird enough right now, without you being all—fucking—"
Sasuke snorted again, reaching over to pull Naruto close to him.
"You need sleep," he muttered. "Drink your hot chocolate before it spills everywhere."
Naruto gave a small, wet laugh—but obeyed.
"What else, then?" Sasuke tightened his grip around Naruto. "Or is that as hard as you can hit?"
Naruto snorted into the mug.
"Oh, I can hit harder, asshole," he sat up a little more, "but I told you I'm being dumb right now. S'not really justified."
"Let me be the judge of that."
Naruto let out a soft breath, leaning into him.
"Ugh, just—I'm just spiraling. Whenever I'm like this I start thinking about...stupid stuff—that'll just make me feel worse, y'know? Like—right now—it's my birth parents and how I don't even know their names or what they look like or anything—and—and that just makes me feel worse because why should I care? I have the best parents in the world—I really do—and I just—that should be enough for me—"
"Wanting to know about your birth parents doesn't mean you take Kakashi and Iruka for granted," he pointed out.
"It—kinda does, though—"
"No, it doesn't."
"I didn't even take Iruka's name," Naruto said, staring down at his hands, "when he adopted me. Did you know that? It was Umino, before he married Kakashi—and I kept Uzumaki. I chose to do that."
Sasuke squeezed him softly, his head tilting a little. He...genuinely hadn't thought about that until this point.
"I think—I thought—it—it's stupid." Naruto shook his head. "I had this idea that keeping my last name would help me find my birth parents—as if someone could, like, track me down through that or something. As if somebody would be looking in the first place." He gave a small, unhappy laugh. "It was stupid—it is stupid—I shouldn't want—"
"It's not stupid." Sasuke cut him off. "Why shouldn't you want to know about your birth parents? They're still part of who you are. I would be surprised if you didn't."
"But they're—I have no memory of them. Not even a little bit—I was in the foster system all my life, until Iruka. So they're not—"
"So what? Didn't they create you?"
"Create—" Naruto tilted his head, as if acknowledging the thought, "I mean, I guess—"
"So they're a part of you." Sasuke shrugged, unfazed. "I want to know about them, too."
"...Yeah?" Naruto's head fell to rest against his shoulder—his hot chocolate was finished, now, Sasuke noticed. "Even though—y'know…what if they suck? What if they were—bad people, or something?"
"It's possible," Sasuke said quietly. "…If you'd like, we could compare childhoods and see who would have had it worse."
"Oh my god, Sasuke," Naruto sat up, slapping at Sasuke's thigh as he shook his head, "that's—you—"
Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'm being the depressing one, okay? Jeez—stealing my thunder," Naruto muttered, but his touch became far softer—and much more affectionate—as he leaned back against Sasuke again—
"…And what if they weren't? What if they were—good people?"
Sasuke let his head fall, resting his cheek on the top of Naruto's head.
"Then that would make sense."
Naruto let out a breath—and Sasuke could hear the way it shuddered so clearly that he knew the blonde was on the verge of tears yet again. He barely needed to shift until Naruto turned, pressing his face against Sasuke's neck—Sasuke, slowly, let his arms wrap around him, unsure of what else he could do—
"Sorry." Naruto sniffed, pulling back.
"Mm," Sasuke eyed him—Naruto looked teary-eyed, but not sad, necessarily, "come on."
He took the mug from Naruto, shuffling back to put it on his bedside table. Naruto didn't seem quite ready to sleep yet, but Sasuke definitely was, so…
He leaned down, opening the small cabinet in the stand of the table.
"What's that?"
Naruto peered over him, having apparently followed him to the edge of the bed—
"Something to bludgeon you with," Sasuke muttered. "Move over."
Naruto laughed, but dutifully moved back to let Sasuke roll back onto the bed properly—
Sasuke flicked the switch at the bottom.
"It's—"
"A battery-operated candle, yes," Sasuke said softly. "It was on the side of the road—when students were moving out, the summer after…before my first year."
Naruto shuffled under the covers, leaning in against Sasuke to watch the candle flicker between them.
"Kiba calls that the season of betrayal."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. Naruto only gave a lazy, tired grin.
"'Cause he always grabs stuff that ends up breaking like right away. Or—once, he dragged a couch halfway to our house before he realized it smelled like piss." He snorted, shifting in place. "Sakura calls it Christmas in May. We still go hunting for stuff sometimes," he muttered. Maybe he was falling asleep, after all. "You did too?"
"I only picked this up." Sasuke shrugged a little. "I don't know. I look at it sometimes—when I can't sleep."
"Mm," Naruto nuzzled in closer, "s'peaceful, isn't it?"
Sasuke felt a soft smile spread across his face. Peaceful…was definitely a good way to put how he felt right now.
He let his eyes close, but not before reaching up, running his hand through Naruto's hair—
"Wake me up if you spiral again," he muttered, eyes getting heavier by the second.
He felt Naruto pull in closer, throwing an arm over Sasuke's chest, like he always tended to—
"I will." His words were soft—barely more than a sigh. "—ve you…"
"One more time, usuratonkachi," he mumbled, not opening his eyes, "to me, instead of my neck."
Naruto gave a small laugh.
"Um, I...said thanks. Thank you."
"Mm."
It was the last thing Sasuke remembered.