Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Soup's On	By : OfFansAndFlames Category: Naruto AU/AR > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1793 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters mentioned. I make no money on this fiction.

Chapter List
- 46
- 47
- 48
It was December 27, 5 PM. Sasuke visited Itachi early, because he had good reason to be home early that night. He wanted to be there in case it became necessary, as in just five hours, Suigetsu and Kabuto would leave for that wretched business. For better or for worse, things would change after today. Either Suigetsu and Kabuto would become miraculously rich, or one or both of them would be stuck behind prison bars or worse.
Sasuke was taking Itachi on another one of his walks. Itachi stood without issue. He walked towards the door at a slow and steady pace. Sasuke followed him with the walker, prepared to give it to Itachi at any time he might require it. He opened the door for his older brother as Itachi stood at the threshold, taking a deep breath and composing himself before starting down the hallway.
Itachi had told Sasuke that he was going to make it home by New Year’s, and it seemed like Itachi was pressing himself for this deadline. He’d apparently regarded it as something of a promise. If he’d had to leave his kid brother alone for Christmas, he sure as hell wouldn’t leave him alone for New Year’s too. And the only thing he could do about it was walk.
Sasuke cast Itachi a nod, moving with Itachi as they plodded forward. He didn’t appear to be feeling uncomfortable until about one third of the way to the wall. His pace slowed, but he kept moving, one hand against the wall. At around one half of the way there, he was panting and hunching forward. But he kept going. Two thirds through, his steps started to sway. His right ankle gave way, causing him to stumble over his foot briefly.
“Itachi…”
“I have to make it to the wall,” Itachi pressed, pausing and leaning against a wall, catching his breath in long inhales.
“You’re just tired because it’s late. Save it for the morning.”
“No…” Itachi protested, separating himself from the wall and going a couple more steps.
Sasuke could understand Itachi’s frustration. He really could. He was so damned close to that wall, separated by just a handful of feet now. If he had only been able to go a little bit farther, it would have probably meant getting discharged the next day.
“It’s the morning nurse that makes the call, not me. If you don’t push yourself so damned hard, you just might be able to come home tomorrow.”
Itachi’s brows knitted as he scowled at the cream colored wall, a symbol of his predicament. It wouldn’t be very long, Sasuke realized. His brother would certainly keep his promise. He’d been showing remarkable progress, as usual. Of course, Sasuke was thrilled. He tried to ignore that strengthening queasiness in his gut, realizing that his days playing the married couple with Naruto were so few.
Tantalized by the wall and how damned close he could get to it, Itachi had pushed himself too hard. Sasuke hoped that this wouldn’t come back to bite Itachi in the ass the next morning. Around the time that Sasuke had to leave anyhow, Itachi began to sleep. He’d exhausted himself. Sasuke went home and tried to distract himself from what he knew was currently occurring by watching Fight Club with Naruto into the later hours of the night.
They were both lying down together on the couch, wrapped in a thick red blanket. Ferret slept on Sasuke’s lap, as she seemed magnetically drawn to the teen the past two days. Ferret wouldn’t let Sasuke out of her sight if she could help it, probably terrified of losing her owners and home again. As Sasuke showered this morning, she curled up in a tight ball underneath the warmed porcelain of the shower. Sasuke hated to think of how long Ferret could have been looking for them before getting picked up, probably mulling around that old plot every once in a while.
Sasuke’s phone was on the coffee table, with the ring tone volume turned up on full blast. Sasuke glanced at it for the time, noting that it was about an hour before midnight. Kabuto and Suigetsu had left about an hour ago, if they’d started off on time. Naruto nudged Sasuke with his foot, covered with a white sock.
“Try not to think about it. The watched pot never boils, ya know.”
“Think about what?”
Naruto didn’t buy Sasuke’s feigned ignorance, bringing Sasuke in close and pecking him on the lips. Ferret, disturbed by their motions, glanced up at them curiously. Sasuke kissed back, finding this distracting enough. Besides, if they were really just sneaking in to steal some jewelry, everything would probably go fine. It was more that in the unlikely scenario that something did go wrong, the consequences could be horrific. That, and breaking into a house might be the start of a very slippery slope.
Now it was midnight. Two hours, and still no news? The movie was over. Naruto played with Ferret for a while, dangling keys in front of her for a while before he got clawed. Naruto reached down for one of the cat treats Sasuke had bought on the way home.
“Don’t reward her. She doesn’t get any treats if she claws.”
Naruto, sitting on the ground Indian style, tugged on Sasuke’s pant leg.
“C’mon, she barely even got me! And she’s got like a year of no kitty treats to make up for here. ‘Sides, I kinda relate to her,” Naruto said with a grin.
After all, both of them had been homeless for the past year and had been cruelly deprived of their favorite snacks. They even tilted their heads with what seemed like the same stupid expression when something happened that they didn’t understand.
“If she wants treats, then she won’t claw.”
“See, I get you, Ferret,” Naruto told her, offering her a treat.
Ferret chewed at the treat gratefully, purring between bites. Naruto had to give Ferret treats. After all, how else could he get any attention from her? Her favoritism was obvious, as she was practically glued to Sasuke at all times. Naruto wanted to play too! Sasuke rolled his eyes, picking up his anatomy book and reading ahead for spring semester.
“Really, Sasuke?” Naruto asked with a pair of raised brows.
Sasuke was studying over Christmas break? Did he ever stop? Sasuke ignored him. By the time he finished his chapter on the nervous system, it was one in the morning. He was massively tempted to call Karin. Suigetsu had told Sasuke that he would give him a call when he was finished. Sasuke would leave Suigetsu undisturbed while he was in the middle of business. Just as he was about to yield to temptation, his phone rang.
He held his breath for an instant when he noticed that the call was coming from Karin, not Suigetsu. He hoped that Suigetsu had just gotten lazy. Sasuke sat upwards quickly, Naruto sitting a few feet away from him to give him his privacy. He pressed the green “answer call” button, causing the sound of Karin’s heavy sobbing to blast over the receiver. He shared an apprehensive glance with Naruto.
“Karin…”
“It didn’t…” Karin tried.
He couldn’t even understand what she was saying at first. She was too hysterical to form coherent sentences.
“He…” she started again, choking off.
“I can’t understand anything you’re saying. Count to three,” Sasuke said, his voice deep but calming. There was a three second pause over the line.
“They…they got caught.”
“Fuck…” Sasuke swore, holding his head in his hand.
“The guy came home.”
“Didn’t Kabuto say he was in Europe for a month?”
Ferret mewed and looked up at Sasuke, who issued a couple reassuring pets to reassure Ferret that no, the world was not ending.
“Yeah. Yeah, he did. But it was a fucking two day road trip up to Santa Barbara, and…”
Karin broke down into sobbing again, barely getting out, “For whatever reason, he came home a day early.”
Sasuke was silent as Karin continued to cry, unsure of what to say.
“I don’t know what they’re gonna do with him… They had a gun on them! That’s fucking…armed robbery.”
The gun… He had an idea that would be brought into it, for who knows what reason. Why did Kabuto like to have that thing around? Then again, there was more risk involved in the situation than Suigetsu had become informed of. How much more was still a mystery. Sasuke hadn’t been there, and he’d probably be deprived of specifics for quite a while. Maybe Kabuto would have even used that gun, had the night played out differently.
“Who had the gun on them when they were found?”
“I don’t know.”
Sasuke placed his phone on mute for a second while Karin continued to cry.
“Could you hear?” he asked Naruto.
“Eh… I was trying to give you your privacy, but fuck…” Naruto sighed heavily, shaking his head and pointing up at Sasuke’s phone.“That doesn’t sound good at all.”
“Busted for armed robbery.”
Naruto held his mouth in shock. Before he could get over the statement and speak, Karin’s voice carried loudly over the phone.
“Dammit, Sasuke!”
Sasuke took that as his cue to turn the mute button off.
Karin continued, “I don’t know what the fuck to do with a boyfriend who doesn’t even… Fucking stupidass motherfucker… Dammit!”
Karin sounded almost frantic, as if she were on the brink of a panic attack.
“Breathe.”
“Fuck… Why didn’t I try harder?”
“You did. We all tried. He was set on it.”
Naruto walked away, granting Sasuke his privacy to console his friend. Ferret, who didn’t seem to take the cue, plopped herself down on Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke actually kind of wished Naruto had stayed for once. He had no idea what to tell Karin. Calming weeping females was not exactly his area of expertise. Naruto was Mr. Empathy, not him.
“I should’ve told him I’d break up with him if he did it,” Karin sniffed. “I thought about pulling that but decided not to, because I didn’t want to fucking break up with him!”
Karin began to cry again, triggered by the irony of the situation. If Suigetsu had gone through with it and didn’t get caught, Karin would have either had to admit to bluffing or break up with him. If Suigetsu did get caught, then Karin wouldn’t be seeing him for quite a while anyway. Her only hope would have been that Suigetsu would have been dissuaded by her threat.
“Look, Karin…” Sasuke sighed, feeling quite uncomfortable in this situation. “The best you can do is try to point someone the right way. If they don’t want to listen, they won’t, and there’s jackshit you can do about it. But that’s not your fault.”
Sasuke hated to admit that there was a very recent time when he was almost as hard-headed as Suigetsu. Lectures and admonishments bounced off of him, sometimes even when they came from Itachi himself.
“But why did it have to turn out like this?!”
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“He asked me if I wanted to break up with him.”
“What did you say?” Sasuke asked calmly, his voice starting to settle Karin, who was now only hiccupping softly between responses.
“I told him I wasn’t in a state of mind to make decisions like that.”
Sasuke wouldn’t have expected Karin to say such a mature thing under pressure, especially not when it came to Suigetsu. There was hardly a mature word shared between those two, as any conversation usually descended into juvenile and semi-abusive squabbling. Still, glancing over at his boyfriend cleaning dishes in the kitchen, he couldn’t point too many fingers there.
“Alright.”
“What do you think I should do, Sasuke? Should I break up with him?”
Sasuke sighed. He felt that he was one of the last people who should be answering that for Karin, actually, given her feelings towards him.
“I can’t answer that for you.”
“I suppose,” Karin laughed dryly, “There’s no chance…”
“No,” Sasuke answered firmly, interpreting Karin’s tone. “That’s never going to happen, and even if it were, that shouldn’t influence your decision.”
“Yeah… I know. That was a rotten thing for me to think.”
Sasuke grunted. Considering leaving Suigetsu for him was a rather rotten thing for Karin to think; he wouldn’t deny it. But he wasn’t one to judge people for “rotten thoughts.” He knew he’d had plenty. Besides, he knew Karin was speaking, mostly, out of frustration. She’d really tried to talk Suigetsu out of this, and now the guy’s life would never be the same because he’d disregarded her.
“What do you think they’re gonna do to him?”
Sasuke found her oscillation between anger and concern understandable, considering the situation.
“It’s hard to say without the specifics. Armed robbery’s a felony, but he’s a minor. So we can only hope they send him to juvie.”
“Dammit,” Karin sighed. “Sorry, Sasuke. I’m sorry for crying at you. I just got off the phone with Suigetsu a couple minutes ago. It’s really fresh.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Karin tried to stop crying, succeeded temporarily, and then began crying again.
“Dammit, he’s so fucking stupid! That fucking idiot…”
“I know.”
“Dumbass! Moron! Blockhead! Dipshit motherfucking…”
Sasuke let Karin spew a plethora of other insults at the absent Suigetsu until she lost steam and began to sob. It was a little longer before Karin was able to speak next.
“Thanks, Sasuke…” Karin said softly. “If it weren’t for you, Juugo and I would be just as bad off.”
“It was your decision. Either way, the credit or the fault lies with you. The same goes for him.”
“Yeah...” Karin agreed. “But I can almost guarantee you that if you hadn’t pushed me, my decision would’ve been different. So I’m still gonna thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
Karin took in a deep, shuddering breath.
“I’m… I can’t talk anymore. I can’t do this.”
Sasuke paused, staring at the phone cautiously. Karin wasn’t thinking about doing something stupid, was she?
“You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. I just…” Karin’s voice twisted as she fought back tears. “I’m too upset for the phone. I just need to…”
“Understood.”
“Thanks…” Karin replied, her voice almost choked off again by tears.
“I’ll leave the phone on. Call back if you need me.”
“Thanks…”
And with that, Karin ended the call. Sasuke sighed deeply, until all air had left his lungs, holding his face in his hands for a short second before putting sliding his phone in his pajama pants and walking towards Naruto, tailed closely by Ferret.
He supposed this would be the end of worrying about Kabuto plotting against him and his friends. Kabuto already had a dirty record, and he’d been no doubt pegged as the kingpin for this operation. Especially at the age of twenty-one, Kabuto really was fucked. How many years would it be until he saw the outside world?
And Suigetsu… He had no idea what they’d do with him. It was his first offense, but it was certainly a severe one. He walked up to Naruto, who was doing the dishes in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around Naruto’s waist.
Sasuke wondered if he would’ve ever stopped dealing drugs if Naruto hadn’t been there. He might have even accepted Orochimaru’s offer to sell directly through him. Shit, five hundred dollars wasn’t anything to blink at. Maybe he’d be selling meth and cocaine and who knows what else. Maybe, after that, stealing a few necklaces from a house wouldn’t have seemed like much. He’d just keep making more and more money under Orochimaru until Itachi or the police figured him out. His friends would’ve never tried to talk him out of it.
He’d been in quite the unstable period of his life, so he had trouble saying what decisions he would have made had no one been there to ground him. He’d known it before, but the brutal reality struck him full force that in this low point of his life, he could’ve made decisions that destroyed his future. Maybe, in another six years, he would’ve ended up a lot like Kabuto. The thought nauseated him.
Naruto leaned back, his hands still wet, kissing Sasuke quickly.
“How are you holding up?”
“Fine.”
“You don’t look so fine. Were you close to that guy?”
Sasuke sighed again, shaking his head. They hung out a lot, yes, but there had always been quite the wall separating the two of them. This was certainly more Sasuke’s fault than Suigetsu’s.
“Not really.”
Perhaps this was a lie. Comparing Suigetsu to people like Itachi, Naruto, and even Juugo, the man was kept at a formidable distance. Still, it was difficult to spend so much time with someone and not feel some sort of proximity. The effort he’d put into talking Suigetsu out of this madness was a testament to that fact. Whatever the case, the news didn’t sit well with him. Could Sasuke really say that Suigetsu had it coming after the things he had done, after shadowing that deal with Orochimaru?
“Then…”
“Everything’s changing,” he sighed.
“Yeah?” Naruto asked, knowing that Sasuke probably could benefit from a good talk but would refuse to do so without sufficient prompting.
Aside from Karin and Naruto, every noteworthy person in Sasuke’s life was either incarcerated or hospitalized. Juugo would never be coming back to school again, and it was possible that Suigetsu, who was half through junior year, might not either. The only ones left were him and Karin. Within the past couple weeks, his circle of friends shrank very quickly.
Before the fire, his group had been even broader. Sakura and he had shared nearly a dozen friends between them. They’d distanced themselves when Sasuke’s behavior deteriorated. His anger was not only directed towards authority figures and the deserving, and the final blow seemed to be the rather insensitive way in which he’d broken up with Sakura. They were good people - the sort of folk he should have been hanging out with. He wondered if it was too late to reestablish these ties. Would they even believe that he’d changed?
As if that weren’t bad enough, Naruto’s near future living arrangements were questionable. Sasuke couldn’t imagine that Itachi would take more than a couple days to come home. He’d almost reached the wall just a few hours ago. Itachi would have the morning nurse walk him each morning. As soon as he reached that wall on his morning walk, Dr. Sannin would be called, and he’d be discharged. It could be any day. And then what would happen to Naruto?
“It’s just a lot that’s up in the air right now.”
“But it’s not all bad, right? Your brother’s coming home any day now.”
“I know.”
“Aren’t you excited?” Naruto asked with a grin.
“Of course I’m excited,” Sasuke countered, sounding a bit defensive.
Naruto squinted at Sasuke skeptically until he appeared to have a revelation.
“You’re… You’re worried about losing me, huh?”
Sasuke instinctively let go of Naruto’s waist and distanced himself. He didn’t really mind admitting that, but the fact that Naruto realized this when they were talking about Itachi’s return home was humiliating and a little revealing. It made him feel guilty.
“But I’m still excited about my brother coming home,” Sasuke correctly sharply. “It’s separate.”
“Sasuke, it doesn’t have to be separate.”
“What are you talking about?” Sasuke snapped, beginning to despise the subject matter.
“I know you would only want the best for Itachi. You’d go through hell for the guy. But his return, as great as it is, might end this whole setup we have here. If his return will have good and bad effects, why’s it so bad to have mixed feelings?”
Naruto was smiling at Sasuke lightly, seeking to reassure him. Sasuke grabbed his upper arm with his other hand, letting his arms hang.
“Because it’s not right. My brother’s coming home after a month in the hospital. I should be nothing but happy for him.”
Naruto turned around, drying off his hands and leaning against the kitchen counter as he faced Sasuke. This whole charade, living like they were married, sharing a house together… What teenagers had that sort of romance? Even if they stayed together, nothing like this could last.
Yet they’d known that from the start. When first taking Naruto in, Sasuke guessed that they’d have a week at the most until Itachi found them. They lived in a constant state of readiness, knowing that Naruto might be found at any moment. They accepted it. When Itachi got sick and got fired from his job, things got even more dangerous. Sasuke was almost certain that their ruse was coming to a very immediate end.
Everything changed when Itachi was hospitalized. The house was theirs, and they became accustomed to that, expected it. They didn’t have to live with that anxiety over their shoulders, and now that same anxiety had returned. Their expectations were constantly forced to adjust. Sasuke didn’t want to think about what life would be like with Naruto gone. Itachi would recover, and it would be the same pace for his studious older brother again. Work, school, sleep, repeat, and once again, Sasuke would be the alone in the house, his bed’s solitary occupant.
Sasuke wished he could control his thoughts more adeptly, even if he had full reign over his mouth. For Christ’s sake, his brother had entered the hospital near death a month ago, and finally he was coming home, after shitty hospital food, IVs, surgery, scans, and who knows what else. He was healthy, or at least comparatively so. Why the hell was he moping?
“I’m a little nervous too, to be honest.”
Naruto had every reason to be scared. Moreso than Sasuke, the sophomore believed. He was going to be discovered and probably sent out of his only home. He’d be sent into foster care and have to start over the process that once almost killed him. And it wasn’t his brother that was returning either. At least Sasuke had a place to stay and someone to look after him.
“No one cares about Itachi as much as you do, Sasuke. But if he knew all this stuff that was going on, I don’t think he’d fault you for being a little stressed.”
Sasuke frowned, staring towards the ground and very glad that Itachi didn’t know what was going on. Naruto was probably right. Itachi might have faulted him for many, many things he’d done lately, but this probably wasn’t one of them.
“I fault myself for it.”
Naruto sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. Sasuke having unrealistic expectations of himself wasn’t anything new.
“It’s obvious you genuinely want your brother to come home. Why else would you take him on walks every day?”
Sure, his actions portrayed only good intentions. It was the only way he could hide the fact that his mind was running amuck. He didn’t want to lose Naruto. He didn’t want things to go back to the way they used to be. He didn’t want an empty house. He didn’t want to be alone again. Sasuke was silent, and Naruto reached towards Sasuke’s hand. He clasped it together.
“You’re a wonderful brother, Sasuke. Itachi is a lucky guy.”
He glanced at Naruto hesitantly, as if to ask, “Are you sure about that?” He did, frequently, chide himself for burdening Itachi, causing him trouble, and in general not contributing his fair share. It felt strange to think of Itachi as being the lucky one. If it hadn’t been for him, he’d have already been sent out into the foster care system. Actually, he’d probably be in juvie. He wondered if he could’ve really gotten out of it with just community service hours if not for Itachi’s help.
Still, maybe it wasn’t important to think in terms of who was lucky to have whom. Maybe they were both just lucky to have each other.
“’Sides, who says he’s gonna send me off? I can pay for everything I eat and then some! I can really help you guys out!”
Sasuke frowned and shook his head.
“Naruto, it’s not just a matter of money. I know you can pull your weight.”
Naruto nodded quietly.
“Itachi’s my legal guardian, and he had to struggle even to get me under his custody,” Sasuke added.
“Maybe if we could keep it under wraps… I’ve been missing for a year anyway.”
“At your age, he legally needs to send you to school, even if just to drop out of it, and account for you. Itachi wouldn’t break the law.”
Naruto didn’t want to be a burden. He’d accepted enough from the Uchiha family. If he stayed, it had to be mutually beneficial. He’d pitch in financially, take care of Itachi, and fill in for either brother if a situation should arise. In return, Naruto would be off the streets. He wouldn’t allow himself to cause trouble. He knew they had plenty of troubles as is.
“I’d never ask that of him; it wouldn’t be right,” Naruto sighed, shaking his head. “I wish becoming an emancipated minor weren’t such a pain in the ass.”
They’d both researched this topic somewhat. It was expensive and could take several months. Naruto would, of course, have to come out of hiding before they could even begin.
“Yeah, from what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t seem like a feasible option right now.”
“Isn’t there another way?” he asked timidly.
“I think he’d basically he’d have to get custody of you. But I doubt the courts would allow that, especially with his health as it is. He can hardly even hang on to me.”
“So…” Naruto answered, his head hanging down and one hand grasping his other arm’s forearm tightly, the skin conforming around it. “What you’re basically saying is that you think it’s hopeless.”
Naruto clenched his teeth tightly. Then he smiled. He grinned. It looked so forced that it made Sasuke a little nauseous. He ruffled Sasuke’s hair.
“You’re such a pessimist. Things are gonna work out. You’ll see.”
Sasuke thought he should be the one reassuring Naruto, not the other way around. He could tell Naruto was shoving down all his doubts and fears, because he wanted to be strong for Sasuke. But Sasuke needed no coddling.
“Yeah. Itachi’s practically a lawyer, and most of my info is from Google for Christ’s sake,” Sasuke admitted. “Maybe he can figure something out.”
Sasuke hoped he was right.
“Yeah! I’m sure we’ll make it work.”
They held hands, gripping hard, their faces calm, if not forcibly upbeat. Maybe their words were lies, but their touches more humanely announced the truth. To Naruto, Sasuke seemed so sad.
“I’ve been thinking, Sasuke…”
“Hm?”
“It’s been an awful long time since we last looked up at the stars.”
The first time they stargazed seemed so long ago, though it was only that October. They were just friends back then. They had the perfect distance between them, only drawn a little bit close for comfort occasionally due to the small screen on Sasuke’s phone. Naruto balanced his head on Sasuke’s shoulder, and Sasuke’s gut flew into a gymnastic routine.
Everything was new back then. Every touch was tentative, each stealing brief glances at the other without his knowledge. Presumably, Itachi had been healthy. Sasuke didn’t know about Naruto’s scars, and Naruto didn’t know about Sasuke’s parents. But they still connected all the same as Sasuke spoke of one of his few real interests. In all the recent insanity, the hobby had fallen to the backburner.
“Yeah, it has.”
“C’mon. Let’s see what the Big Fox is up to, eh?”
Naruto’s nickname for Ursa Major was, of course, not forgotten. He beamed at Sasuke, and the left corner of his lips flipped upward slightly.
“Alright. Let me get my glasses. Grab the blanket for us.”
Sasuke already carried the phone near him, and he padded upstairs quickly to grab the glasses waiting in his desk drawer. He kept them in hand as he returned downstairs. It was about two in the morning now, the temperature descending to near freezing point. Naruto took the soft downy comforter that they had been lying with earlier, which was plenty big enough for both of them. Ferret attempted to accompany the two of them outside, but Sasuke granted her a consolatory pat on the head before closing the door in front of her.
The outside air was frigid and still, the quarter moon waning. They two sat down in front of Sasuke’s house, both in their pajamas. The first time they’d done this, their bodies were kept a properly platonic distance apart. Now they huddled together, legs interlocking as they wrapped the thick comforter around then. Sasuke indiscreetly placed his thin, black-rimmed glasses on his face.
“Shit…” said Naruto slowly, glancing at Sasuke in mild bewilderment. “Just a piece of plastic, but it makes you look so different.”
The glasses seemed to grant Sasuke an air of sophistication and intelligence, giving him the appearance of someone years older. Naruto still hadn’t had the chance to get over it, as Sasuke wore them almost exclusively for stargazing.
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Nerd,” Naruto goaded.
“Dumbass.”
“They look sexy on you, Sasu.”
“Naturally,” Sasuke answered.
Of course, Naruto thought, he’d never quite learned to stop complimenting the prick.
Sasuke fetched his cell phone, turning on the familiar app and pointing it towards the sky. Fortunately, it was very clear out.
“Check it out, there’s Draco,” Naruto stated, pointing at the screen, then at the sky. It was right near Ursa Minor. “Know anything about that one?”
Despite how distant Sasuke could be, especially when he first met Naruto, he remembered hearing an uncharacteristic engagement in his voice when he talked about the stars. He wondered what had drawn Sasuke to them so much, but he was content just to share the moment with him. Maybe this would be a good way to improve his mood.
“It’s circumpolar, like Ursa… The Little Fox.”
Naruto rested his hand on his palm, his elbow resting on Sasuke’s knee. Their body posture contrasted so keenly with that first time they had viewed the stars together.
“Circumpolar?”
“It never sets.”
“Ah…” Naruto replied, staring at the constellation for a bit longer. “What’s it supposed to be?”
“A dragon.”
“Yeah…” he squinted, tilting his head a little as his imagination took over. “I can see that one I guess.”
“It also has the Cat’s Eye Nebula in it.”
“Lost me there,” Naruto admitted with a chuckle.
Sasuke tilted the phone again, scanning the sky slowly.
“You were right about that Big Fox,” Naruto noted pensively, referring to the Big Dipper of course. “I can’t even see him anymore.”
“Are you assigning gender to a star constellation?” Sasuke asked dryly.
“So what if I am?”
“I really would not give a shit.”
“Cassiopeia,” Naruto hummed, pointing at the screen. “Whatcha know about that?”
It was a rather fun game for Naruto. He could pick just about any constellation, and Sasuke would always have something or another to say about it.
“The name comes from Greek mythology again. It was named after some vain queen and documented by Ptolemy. It has both Andromeda and Perseus in it.”
Naruto paused, staring at Sasuke closely, who was noting the stars through his thin glasses. He wasn’t bothering to look at the phone. He didn’t appear to need it.
“Why’d ya learn so much about stars, anyway? What got you into it?”
Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, a little bit hesitant.
“My father had a huge telescope, probably worth a grand or so. It’s ash now, obviously, but he’d bring it out for some camping trips and taught us what he knew.”
This was only part of the truth, really. Sasuke actually studied these constellations in advance. The immense scope of the universe truly did fascinate him, along with all the different stars and galaxies that could be found in it. Yet especially, Sasuke wanted to impress his father.
Naruto smiled lightly, leaning against Sasuke.
“That’s a pretty cool history.”
Sasuke nodded, the two lying in content silence for a while until Sasuke spoke up.
“Pisces is still up there,” he informed Naruto, pointing at the constellation’s position in the sky.
Naruto remembered when Sasuke had told him that the Pisces constellation was supposed to resemble two fish with their tails tied together. When Naruto expressed disbelief, Sasuke told him about the Greek myth behind it. Aphrodite and her son, Eros, turned themselves into fish to escape some fire god. They tied their tails together to make sure they didn’t lose each other in the escape.
If only for a moment, Naruto envied Aphrodite and Eros. He wished Sasuke and he could have been tied together, two fish by the tail. Sure, it left something to be desired in terms of mobility, but at least they wouldn’t lose each other. Sasuke was Naruto’s only bond, and he couldn’t describe how lonely the idea of losing Sasuke made him feel.
So he turned to Sasuke, inclining his chin towards him and kissing him slowly and deeply. They both took their time, Sasuke’s hand grabbing Naruto’s underneath the covers. Their cold noses pressed together as they leaned their foreheads against each other lazily. They began to kiss again, Sasuke seeming to sense that Naruto was the one seeking comfort in this exchange. He moved his hand up Naruto’s arms, petting his back and pecking his forehead. His other hand was taken by Naruto’s, their fingers intertwined securely.
“Tell me we’re not gonna lose each other, Sasuke,” Naruto said softly.
“I won’t let anything come between us,” Sasuke answered firmly, cradling Naruto’s face in his hand and looking back at him through his glasses. “We’ve fought too damned hard.”
Naruto nodded wordlessly, leaning into Sasuke. It was cold outside, but their warmth was trapped perfectly inside the comforter. Their hands grasped tightly, as if something could tear them apart at any moment. It was uncertain how Itachi would affect their arrangement, but no matter what, they both believed that the important thing was that they stayed together.
The next morning, Sasuke got a phone call from the hospital. Itachi was coming home today.

Hope everyone's enjoying! I've been wanting to thank everyone who's been commenting, but aff doesn't have an interface for that (unless I just haven't figured it out yet).
So, AlienX, kit, mysticaldragon11, corgigrape, SessyKai, NobodysAingyl, dbc357, Kitty, Katrellepps, Akira, and anyone whom I'm forgetting... Thanks so much for your continued support and your reviews. As a new writer, my confidence can get shaky, so it's always nice seeing that people are actually enjoying what they're reading. It means a lot. :)
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