Fine Lines

Fine Lines Ch. 12
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Naruto awoke the next morning still snuggled against Itachi and he smiled. The nightmare from a few hours ago was long forgotten and he felt much better, except for the fact that he had to go to school soon. If it were up to him, he’d rather stay right there in bed with Itachi the whole day.

Leaning up slightly, he pressed a kiss against the raven’s lips, his favorite thing to do first thing in the morning.

Itachi was only partially asleep, never really knocking out completely that night. He opened his eyes fully when his lover kissed him and he wrapped his arms around the boy and snuggled into him. "You didn't do any homework last night." He said. His voice muffled in the blankets.

“Oh...right,” Naruto mumbled. His expression turned to one of panic once the words hit and he sat up, turning wide eyes on Itachi. “What am I supposed to do? I’m gonna fail now and you... you worked so hard to even get me this deal...”
Itachi groaned at not wanting to get up, but sat up nonetheless.” If you'd like, you can stay here today and I'll figure something out. Since I'm your tutor technically you probably would have called me to let me know if you were sick, right?" He sat looking around the dark room, the curtains still being shut and he turned up the brightness of the lights a bit. He really hoped he wasn't coming down with anything from being in the cold last night, but he felt like crap basically.

“Yeah, I’d rather stay here.” The thought of going to school and having to tell the teacher’s that he hadn’t finished his homework... it was daunting. He offered Itachi a small smile but noticed that he didn’t exactly look well. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, moving closer. “You look sick or something...”

Itachi shook his head. "I'm ok... “He smiled as he got out of bed, feeling a bit shaky and walked naked across the room to first pull on his boxers and then open the curtains a bit so some light came in.

He turned to Naruto and smiled again. "Go on back to sleep baby, just remember to do your homework sometime today. I may come by at lunch to see how you’re doing."

“Okay,” Naruto murmured, lying down in the large bed again. This time, he stretched out across it and pulled the blankets up around his shoulders, eyes closing as he began to drift off again. “Love you,” he whispered.

The raven just shook his head, moving over to kiss the soft cheek of his lover. He headed into the bathroom for another quick shower before getting dressed in some casual clothing; not feeling up to wearing nice slacks and a button down shirt, and made his way downstairs.

Sasuke was nowhere to be seen and Itachi figured he was either not up yet, or had already left, either way it didn't really concern him at the moment.

The long haired man grabbed a quick breakfast consisting of a pop tart, his mortal enemy but he would not go a day without breakfast and grabbed his bag before heading out the door, cursing himself on the way to his car for forgetting cold meds, he knew he'd need them. Not to be bothered with going back inside, Itachi just figured he'd deal with it and got in the car and drove to school. Today was going to be a hard one, he could already tell.

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Naruto slept for awhile longer. The bed was mighty empty without Itachi in it and it made him lonely. After a few moments he pulled himself from it and then was at a loss for what to do. He figured he should do the homework that he’d failed to even start the day before so after a quick trip to the washroom, he went to find his bag and brought it back to Itachi’s room to start working on it. He could have done it in the living room or something but he felt more comfortable in the raven’s room.

Meanwhile at school, lunch finally came for Itachi and he hurried to lock his classroom and heading out to his car to 'pick up lunch'. He had spent the majority of the morning before he started to teach to tell all of Naruto’s teachers that he had called to say he had the flu. Itachi wasn't one to lie, but he would for his lover, especially when Naruto's danger of not graduating was marginally his fault, at least with concerning the night before.

The raven drove quickly but under the speed limit and thought about Naruto's teachers. They were alright, not really one to socialize with the other staff but there was one in particular that didn't seem right with him. He went by Orochimaru and he just had this look about him... Itachi couldn't quite explain it but he just didn't like the man for some odd reason.

Odd though, the other teacher never did anything to warrant dislike, but Itachi had weird feelings about people sometimes. He shook his head as he pulled into his driveway and got out just as Sasuke was leaving the house. The long haired raven raised an eyebrow at the boy but Sasuke said nothing to him but shrugged and kept walking.

Itachi sighed, planning to talk to the kid when he got home and entered the house. He figured Naruto would be upstairs since he had no idea why Naruto would really want to be away from where he was comfortable and headed in that direction.

Upon entering the room, he was greeted with a sight that made him smile. Naruto was diligently working away on his homework in nothing but boxers. It was just too cute.

"Get a lot done?" he asked as he made his way further into the bedroom and sitting on the bed next to his lover.

Naruto looked up as Itachi came in the room and grinned. “Yeah, I got more than half of it done.” Putting his pen down on top of his books, he stretched out. His body was aching from sitting for so long and he could definitely use a break. Itachi had come at the perfect time.

The raven smiled and decided to lie down for a moment; he was pretty tired from just half the day and pulled the blonde down with him. "Are you hungry?" he asked, sounding a bit sleepy.

“A bit,” Naruto admitted. He’d thought about going down to the kitchen to find something to eat but he’d been much too into the homework. He wanted to finish it so he wouldn’t have to worry. Although, then he would still have today’s homework to finish...

It was a never ending cycle and honestly, the blond didn’t know how he would make it through the rest of the year. At least he had Itachi. The thought made him smile and he moved close to the raven.

Itachi pulled Naruto down with him onto the bed and snuggled close to the blonde. "I wish we could just lay here for a minute, but I don’t have much time before I have to leave." He ran his fingers through blonde locks as he sat up again. "I'm not in a very teaching type of mood today."

The blond studied Itachi for a moment, thinking he was looking rather sickly. He sounded tired, too. “You didn’t have to come all the way back here just to see me...” He moved off the bed then, stretching once more. His feet had been falling asleep from sitting for so long and the tingling sensation was getting annoying.

Itachi sat up as well and glanced at the blonde before standing up. "I wanted to see you." He took a deep breath and looked at his lover. "Let's go find something to eat." he said as he grabbed the blonde's hand and made for the door.

Holding the hand tightly in his own, he followed Itachi down the hallway and then stairs, into the kitchen. Now that he was thinking about food, he found he was famished and his stomach growled loudly as if to accentuate the thought.

After lunch Itachi didn't feel much better. He knew he was running a small fever but he couldn’t skip the rest of the day, unlike kids, he didn't have a way to get out of being there. So with a heavy sigh he wrapped his arms around Naruto and kissed the top of his head. "I have to go... Do you want to stay again tonight; or would you rather go home?"

“Stay. But I don’t have any clothes or anything... I can’t walk around almost naked all day.” He looked up at Itachi from the place in his arms and frowned. He really did look sickly. “Unless you want me to go home... You don’t look good...”

Itachi looked at Naruto and then rested his head on the blonde's shoulder. "I'd like it if you stayed with me... It would make me feel better." He said a bit pathetically. "If you want, after school I can drive you to your apartment and you can get some clothes."

“That works,” Naruto smiled. “I guess I’ll finish my homework while you’re gone.” A sigh left him at the thought; he was already sick of it but he would do it for Itachi. Anything to make him happy, make him proud.

The feeling he got from that was more than enough to keep him motivated. Placing a kiss against the raven’s cheek, he reluctantly pulled away from the strong arms as he knew Itachi had to leave him now.

The raven couldn't help but smile at his lover. "I'll bring you more homework." he smirked as he left, just a tad bit happier.

The rest of the school day went by without incident and Itachi was able to collect the homework from Naruto's teachers and headed back home as soon as the bell had rung, he wanted so badly to see his baby and just sit and cuddle. Whatever he had come down with had progressively made him feel worse throughout the day and he knew he just needed some rest.

After finishing his homework, Naruto had lounged around on the bed watching the large TV, not bothering to put his dirty clothes back on. After all, he was in the safety of Itachi’s bedroom and nobody else was home.

His eyes kept straying to the clock, watching the minutes and hours slowly tick by. Eventually it became the time that school let out and he waited as patiently as possible for Itachi to come back.

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Itachi turned off his car once he arrived home and got out; noticing Sasuke's car wasn't there yet. He sighed and made his way inside the house and immediately up the stairs to his lover.

Opening the door, he heard the TV as he entered and smiled at his lover lounging on the bed. "Hey." he said, sounding extremely tired. He sat down on the bed and brought Naruto into his arms. "Find anything interesting?" he asked, referring to the TV.

“Hey,” Naruto greeted, smiling. “Not really. Daytime TV sucks.” Shrugging, he scooted closer to lay his head on Itachi’s shoulder. The tension in the raven’s body was obvious, his breathing was also heavier than normal and his normally pale skin was flushed. “Not feeling any better?” he asked quietly.

Itachi just smiled. "I'll be ok. Did you want to go get some clothes from your apartment now or do you want to go later?" It was true he was avoiding the fact that he was sick, but he never liked people knowing about that kind of thing, it made him feel all the more helpless.

“I’d rather go now if that’s okay.” Naruto decided not to ask about it anymore, even though it made him kind of sad. After all they’d been through, Itachi wasn’t going to let on that he was sick? Just last night he’d seen the man cry, and he figured that was more personal than admitting to being ill... Nonetheless, he pulled himself from the raven’s arms to go in search of his clothes.

Itachi sighed, knowing Naruto was confused. It wasn't as though he didn't want Naruto to know, he was sure the blonde knew; he just didn't like anyone feeling sorry for him. Then again, it might be nice to have Naruto fussing over him, but in the end it would still just make him feel like he couldn't do anything.

He got up and waited for the blonde to get back into his clothes from the previous day. "I love you." he said as a way to buffer the awkward air that seemed to be about them now.

Naruto looked up at Itachi, stopping in the midst of pulling up his jeans and flashed him a bright smile. “Love you too,” he murmured before slipping his pants up and fastening them. Once he found his socks, he was ready to go.

Itachi went to his closet and pulled out a warmer jacket since it was starting to get a bit colder with it being later in the day. Plus, his fever had most likely gone up a bit since he was now slightly shivering.

It didn't take long for them to reach the blonde's apartment and Itachi let Naruto go up by himself while he waited for him in the car, it was heated after all and he was freezing.

Once in the safety of his apartment, Naruto rooted around for a small bag he could use to transport his clothes in. Going to the pile in his room, he pulled out a few shirts, pairs of pants as well as socks and underwear before shoving them into the bag.

He didn’t worry about wrinkling them, as they hadn’t been folded in the first place - laundry was not his strongest suit. When he thought he had everything, he locked up his apartment and went back to Itachi.

The older man pulled out of the apartment’s parking lot once Naruto got back in the car. He thought about what they were going to do for dinner and realized he really didn't feel up to cooking that night. "Do you want to pick up something for dinner to take home? I don't think I feel up to cooking."

“Sure, sounds good.” Busying himself with the passenger window, he watched the scenery flash by in the darkening sky as he settled into the warmth of the seat. He warily noted that if he stayed with Itachi he would more than likely end up sick as well but it didn’t bother him. He wasn’t going to give up spending as much time with the older raven as possible, even if he did get sick.

"What would you like? I'm not too picky right now so whatever you want is fine." He glanced at the blonde quickly, noting how much he loved the boy and how cute he was.

Naruto thought for a few minutes, not really knowing what he was in the mood for. He was silent for awhile, just staring out the window until a fast food restaurant further down the street caught his eye. It seemed as good as anything so he gestured to it. “What about there?”

Itachi looked at where Naruto pointed and pulled into the parking lot. It wasn't a drive thru, thank god; Itachi hated any restaurant that had a drive-thru, the food tended to be so unhealthy. The place Naruto picked looked like a small deli. At least Itachi hoped that's what it was. He told Naruto to stay in the car as he went into the place to grab one of their single page menus before sliding back in the car.

"Just let me know what you want and I'll go order." he said as he looked over his own menu. It was still a bit risky to be seen with the blonde out in public, even if he had permission to see the boy outside of school.

A lot of things on the menu actually looked quite good and the blond was having a hard time making up his mind. Eventually, when he felt himself getting annoyed, he just pointed out one of the choices that he’d been laboring over.

Itachi nodded and got out of the car once more to make their orders. The place was pretty fast and it took the raven no time at all to get their meals.

He slid back in the car and gave Naruto the bag of food to hold on his lap so he could drive. The car ride was silent and Itachi pulled into the driveway of his home just as the sun was starting to set.

Sasuke's car was now in the driveway and Itachi was glad he had ordered something for the younger raven as well, knowing that Sasuke couldn’t cook worth a damn.

He shot the blonde a quick smile before getting out of the car and waited for Naruto to do the same before punching in the lock code to the front doors and finally entered it once again.

Following Itachi into the kitchen, he watched as the older raven unpacked the food from the bag and his stomach grumbled; he couldn’t wait to dig in. Since starting a relationship with Itachi, he had been eating a lot more than he normally did and he was left feeling much better, stronger even; it was a good feeling. He happily followed him to the table so they could eat.

The raven gave Naruto his sandwich, unwrapped and on a plate along with his bag of potato chips. He looked in the fridge and pulled out two bottles of green tea and handing one to Naruto before taking his seat at the table with his own sandwich. "I've actually heard great things about this place." he said offhandedly before taking a small bite, still not feeling too hungry.

Naruto pulled his legs up, sitting cross legged on the chair, the position making him rather scrunched in the seat. It was comfortable though and he was content as he took a rather large bite, a happy ‘Mmm’ leaving him as he chewed and swallowed. “It’s so good,” he grinned between mouthfuls. It didn’t escape him that Itachi wasn’t really eating.

Itachi nodded and took another small bite. If the blonde hadn't have been there Itachi wouldn’t be eating at all. He'd be lying in bed feeling sorry for himself and probably having Sasuke fuss over him every other minute. But that was not the case, and he was glad that his lover was with him, it kept him distracted.

He vaguely noticed Sasuke walk into the kitchen and saw the boy pause at seeing Naruto there yet again. "There's a sandwich for you on the counter." he said quietly as he took a sip of his tea
Sasuke just nodded and grabbed the bag before heading back out and most likely up to his room.

Itachi sighed after finishing almost half of his sandwich and put the food down. "I'm not too hungry; I'll eat a bit later." He smiled and got up to put the sandwich in the refrigerator before sitting back down across from Naruto.

Naruto sat quietly as he ate, just enjoying the delicious food and the good company. It didn’t take him very long to finish, having already eaten more than half by the time Itachi had given up on his own supper. He took a long swig of the green tea afterwards, gulping half of it down greedily and letting out a satisfied sound afterwards.

He realized too late that he should have eaten slower, to draw out the time before he had to start working on homework again.

The older man stood up and took Naruto's plate before putting it in the sink. "Where would you like to do homework tonight? Sasuke will most likely be in his room for the rest of the night so you can go pretty much anywhere you want."

Naruto’s first instinct was to say Itachi’s room but he’d spent the entire day there. “Um... living room?” The thought of lying down on the floor to do his homework was an enticing one. Either that or snuggling with Itachi while doing it.

The older man smiled and nodded before heading in that direction after putting a kettle filled with water on the stove to boil. Hot tea sounded so good at that moment.

He sat on the couch, legs outstretched across it and he gave a sigh of comfort as he sank down into the soft cushions. He had the blonde sit with him in between his legs once Naruto had retrieved his homework and placed the afghan that had been on the back of the couch around them so they would be nice and warm.

Naruto settled down against Itachi and began his homework. From the look of things, it was going to take a long while to finish. The warmth from both Itachi and the afghan was comforting and he found it rather easy to concentrate on the task, at least much easier than normal. It seemed as though having the older raven with him while he worked kept him motivated.

Itachi couldn't help but drift off to sleep, being so comfortable and warm. Plus, he was still feeling pretty bad and knew that rest would probably be the best thing for him.

The soft, even breathing coming from Itachi was relaxing and Naruto couldn’t help but smile as he continued to work. He tried his best not to move around, not wanting to disturb the obviously sick raven.

It took him a long while to complete the homework and by the time he was finished, he was terribly exhausted. Gently setting the books on the floor beside the couch, he closed his stinging eyes for a moment and before he knew it, he’d fallen asleep as well.

It was a few more hours before Itachi woke up a bit disoriented. He looked down and saw Naruto fast asleep against him and he smiled gently. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost 10pm. He gently shook the blonde to rouse him and leaned down to kiss the boy's cheek.

Naruto awoke slowly, blue eyes gradually blinking open. He looked around for a moment, not knowing where he was but then looked back at Itachi, a sleepy smile stretching his lips. “I finished,” he said as he yawned.

Itachi chuckled and brought the boy closer. "That's good baby." he said quietly. "You want to go upstairs? I feel like cuddling in bed with you."

“Yeah.” Naruto moved off of Itachi so that he could get up from the couch and then pulled himself up and followed the sickly raven upstairs to his room, bringing the bag with him. Once there, he changed into a pair of pajamas he’d brought and jumped into bed, waiting for his lover to join him.

Itachi slowly removed his clothing and dressed in a pair of cotton pants and a sweatshirt. He put some socks on before climbing into bed beside his lover and grabbed the TV remote and switching on the large flat-screen. He handed the remote to the blonde and snuggled into the warm comfortable bed. "You pick." was all he said. TV while lying in bed always seemed to be a comfort to Itachi, and now that he had Naruto, it would be even nicer to just relax.

Taking the remote in hand, Naruto idly flicked through the channels, not really caring what they watched. He found some comedy show that looked rather promising and lay down so he could snuggle against Itachi as he watched the show with mild interest.

Itachi idly remembered that he was making tea earlier and couldn't remember if he had actually made it or not. He hadn't heard the whistling of the kettle, something he would have heard in his sleep, hence why he forgot about it. He mentally groaned at the thought of getting up again but he had to make sure everything was ok in the kitchen.

He had a suspicion that Sasuke had turned it off for him but still... Sitting up a bit, he scooted to the side of the bed and reluctantly got off of the comfy mattress. "I have to check something in the kitchen real quick. I'll be back in a minute." with that he made his way downstairs. He figured if the kettle had been turned off he'd just make some more and stay there until it was done.

Nodding, Naruto stayed where he was. Even after the nap, he was still pretty tired. It seemed as though homework didn’t agree with him, which served him just fine because he didn’t agree with it. Nonetheless, he settled into the bed, turning over on his side so he was facing away from the door and laid his head down on Itachi’s pillow.

Once in the kitchen, Itachi noticed that the stove was indeed off and the raven had to remember to thank Sasuke later for it. He turned the stove back on and sat at the table to wait for the water to boil once more.

He pulled out his sandwich from earlier and ate a few more bites, knowing his body needed nourishment and put it back when he was done.

He heard the whistle of the kettle and turned the stove off before making his tea with a bag of green tea infused with lemon and put a bit of honey in it before taking the mug back upstairs to his room.

He smiled once he opened the door at seeing his lover most likely asleep in the bed and set his mug on the side table before crawling back into bed, leaning against the headboard.

He watched TV for a bit while he drank his tea, idly stroking blonde locks every once a while until he couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Finally turning off the TV he settled down and wrapped his arms around hsi love and dimmed the lights like the night before finally drifting off to sleep, hoping he'd feel better in the morning.

TBC
Foreshadowing perhaps? You never know! Stay tuned for more!