Almost Sucks

Almost Sucks
by Mashiro

Naruto fandom, series, no spoilers
AU, BOYS LOVE: Naruto x Sasuke, Kakashi x Iruka, Lee x Gaara

first version: September 18th 2006, Monday
second version: October 21st 2008, Tuesday

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DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the rights to the Naruto series or characters and I make no money writing this. I’m just a fan. This is fan fiction.

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41: Stroll across the ceiling

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It felt strange, being back home again; the house was so quiet compared to Sachiko-baachan’s. There was the TV making muffled noises downstairs, but Sasuke’s room was quiet. It was strange. Outside it had been much quieter there, no cars and no civilization, but inside it had been friendly and alive; warm. Even when there hadn’t been any noise that house hadn’t felt quiet. It didn’t make sense, but at the same time it did. As if the sounds stayed when they should have gone.

Sasuke was lying on his back in his own bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the mumbling TV. His teeth were brushed and the clothes he would wear to school tomorrow were folded and placed beside the bed. It was late, well after midnight, and he should be sleeping. He was tired, but something kept him awake; sleep wouldn’t come.

It could be that he had slept through most of the car ride home, or it could be that he was anxious about the upcoming visit. Sasuke didn’t feel any anxiety at the moment, not even when he thought about it, but he supposed he had to be concerned. He would call Tsunade tomorrow, as she needed to know what he had planned to make the necessary arrangements. Sasuke had decided that Tuesday was a good day. There were few classes in school and the ones they had were not overly important to attend. It was also fairly early in the week and Sasuke wanted the whole thing over with. He would have to talk to Naruto as well, about whether he wanted to try to convince Iruka to let him take the day off or just skip.

Sasuke sighed and rolled over to the side, facing the wall. He wondered what Naruto would say. He would have to tell the blond if things were to make sense. Some sense. It wasn’t that Sasuke didn’t want him to know; he did, in a way, it was just that... It was a serious thing to share; it could make a difference. Sasuke didn’t really think it would; it didn’t seem like Naruto’s style to let something, anything, change his mind, but... It wasn’t the kind of thing you heard and then just forgot about. It didn’t have to be big consequences, the little ones could be just as changing. What if it changed the way Naruto looked at him? Sasuke knew the pitying looks and hated them.

He must have finally fallen asleep because Sasuke heard no steps before the soft knock on the door. The sudden sound made him flinch.

“Yeah?”

“Are you awake, Sasuke?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke sighed, annoyed; as if he had to ask when Sasuke had already answered. When the door opened, the room was illuminated by the light in the hallway. The light was blocked again when Kakashi came in and closed the door. Sasuke turned over on his back again.

“Can I come in?” Kakashi asked.

“You are in,” Sasuke muttered and the man smiled. He made his way over to the bed and lay down beside Sasuke, scooting the boy over. He smelled like Kakashi and it felt comforting, but Sasuke had to frown anyway.

“I said you could come in, not take up the bed.”

“Details,” Kakashi said and waved a hand in the air. Sasuke sighed. They lay there for a moment, in silence. A car drove by on the street outside and by some physics law the lights from it took a stroll across the ceiling.

“What do you want?”

“Just to be social. Family quality time, you know?”

“Sounds like you’ve been watching too many family therapy shows with Iruka. Shouldn’t you worry about my grades getting fucked up by lack of sleep?”

“Nah, you can handle it.”

Sasuke snorted.

“So be social,” he muttered. He knew what this was about, even though he had asked. Kakashi was worried, about the visit. He always talked to Sasuke like this before the visits.

“You’ll bring Naruto this time, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“I think it’s good that you want him to be a part of that part of your life. That kid has a good influence on you.”

A smile pulled at the corner of Sasuke’s lips at that and he steered the subject away from the real topic. Their talks before the visits were never very focused on the visit, just touched it softly before fluttering away again.

“I heard about your plans for two weeks from now,” he said. “You’re such a hypocrite. How long ago was it that you said I was too young for things like that and that you didn’t want people to take advantage of me? A month?”

“Five months,” Kakashi muttered. “And that was concerning old geezer pedophiles. Do you remember Iruka adopting anyone like that? Now, let me think… hmmm… I don’t think he did!”

“You’re saying it’s okay for people to molest me just as long as they’re in my age group?”

“I’m saying there’s a difference between being molested and wanting to be molested.”

At that Sasuke had to squeeze his eyes shut and laugh. He was too tired to stop himself. It was like they hadn’t talked in months; not talked like this anyway. Kakashi kept going.

“We both know you could beat up Naruto in your sleep. That kid’s not a threat to you, he’s a good thing. I don’t see anything wrong in helping you two lovebirds out a little. You’re hormonal teenagers, it’s not like I could stop you. Better to stay on your good side. Do you need any more condoms?”

“You’re so embarrassing,” Sasuke shook his head.

“By the way, didn’t you do that already? Beat up Naruto in your sleep? Iruka told me about that sleepover and that you kicked him in the nuts.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Sasuke said and snorted in amusement. “But yeah. Though it was more of a knee than a kick.”

“What did he do?”

“None of your business.”

“Stingy. I could tell you what Iruka and I…”

“No!” Sasuke interrupted and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to know.”

Kakashi chuckled and softly pushed at the side of Sasuke’s head with his knuckles. Sasuke snorted. They were silent for a moment and it felt nice. They used to have carefree talks like this when times were good; silly talks about serious things. They did shout at each other about serious things, sometimes, but they also talked like this to balance it up. They were more friends than foster parent and foster child. Maybe that was why Kakashi had given Sasuke so much freedom, still gave him so much freedom. It was the best thing maybe, best kind of relationship for them. Sasuke really couldn’t imagine anything else. There were sudden bouts of parental attempts, but nothing like what Naruto got from Iruka. Sasuke didn’t know if he could have accepted an Iruka-raising, really, he was happy with the arrangement that he had with Kakashi. He liked his freedom; he liked knowing that Kakashi trusted him and treated him like an equal, not as a child that needed to be raised.

Still, Sasuke had worried about himself sometimes. When he had woken up in places he didn’t remember how he got to, on some stranger’s sofa surrounded by other passed out drunks or in some corner on the floor, head threatening to explode, stomach in an uproar and memory somewhere between very fuzzy and nonexistent; looking like serious crap. Sasuke had worried at those times. He had seriously worried and wondered how the hell Kakashi could let him keep this up; how the hell he himself could let this keep happening. ‘Fucking get a grip, Uchiha!’ he would yell at himself in his head. ‘You can’t keep this up.’ Sasuke had desperately wished at those times, for someone to just pull him out of it. Not for long, because he believed in sorting out your own messes, but for a minute.

“Have I thanked you?” he asked, eyes still fixed on the ceiling high above their heads.

“For what?”

“For this,” Sasuke said softly. “All of this. I miss my friends in the city, and some of the other things as well but… It was just so chaotic back there, I couldn’t think. I didn’t want to think. It felt like I was just stumbling forward with my eyes closed, not caring where I ended up, as long as I didn’t have to stay where I was.”

Sasuke yawned. He was relaxed, he was in bed and it was late. Sleep was starting to crawl over him. He didn’t want to make this more serious than it had to be.

“So I’m grateful,” he said. “Thank you.”

“You’re a good guy, Sasuke,” Kakashi said. “I know and I always knew that. Even in those really bad times, I always knew you were a good guy. I guess that’s why I wanted to give you the chance to work things out yourself.”

“I know. I’m grateful for that too.”

“I probably wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t for Iruka,” Kakashi said. “I don’t want to make you feel like you owe him, I just want you to know.”

“Shikamaru told me he was in on it too,” Sasuke said.

“Yeah, I talked to him. You know I talk to him.”

“I know. You two always gang up on me.”

“Well, we’re looking out for you. We’re allowed to gang up.”

Sasuke yawned again and shook his head to clear the fog that was starting to build. His head was starting to hurt a little too, from talking and thinking and staying up so late. But this was nice.

“He told me you were really worried about me.”

“Of course I was. I was worried you’d end up killing yourself, one way or another.”

“I was worried about that too,” Sasuke said in a low voice. “That I’d end up killing myself.”

The bed moved as Kakashi shifted onto his side and when Sasuke turned his head their eyes met. The man didn’t look upset or worried, or maybe a little, in his eyes, but most of him was smiling softly. He reached out a hand and let his fingers move through Sasuke’s bangs. Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned back toward the ceiling again.

“But you didn’t,” Kakashi said and Sasuke heard the smile even though he didn’t see it. “And that’s what matters.”

Sasuke snorted in soft amusement.

“What did I do to deserve a bunch of overdramatic, mushy idiots for company?” he asked as he struggled against the smile that wanted to claim his lips and the sleep that wanted to claim his consciousness.

“Maybe it’s your fault,” Kakashi said. “Have you thought about that? Maybe we used to be all cool and manly until you came and made us mushy and overdramatic.”

“Yeah, right,” Sasuke mumbled. His eyelids were getting heavy now, falling down and blocking his sight. The mental image of Naruto being cool and manly was absurd; as well as, Sasuke had to admit it, pretty hot. He supposed that was the last thing he thought about before he finally fell asleep.

-

Sasuke’s bed wasn’t made to be shared. It wasn’t an overly small bed, nothing like Konohamaru’s, but it was still a single bed for one person. That was why Sasuke had woken up with his head stuffed in Kakashi’s armpit. The bed just wasn’t made for two. Who had given the bastard permission to spend the night in Sasuke’s bed anyway? Sasuke sure hadn’t. When Sasuke had asked Kakashi why the hell he hadn’t slept in his own bed, the man had just smiled and said Sasuke had looked lonely. He had also said that Sasuke had been clinging to him so hard that he couldn’t get away. Stupid bastard liar. Sasuke did not cling to people in his sleep.

With such a nightmare awakening Sasuke felt he was definitely entitled to being a bit frustrated that morning. Not that he could share his reasons with Naruto; Sasuke didn’t feel it was a very good subject of conversation when they were waiting for the bus with the rest of the students from the neighborhood. ‘Oh, by the way, when I woke up today I had a very close encounter with my foster dad’s armpit, so forgive me if I’m not giggling as much as I usually do.’ No. So Naruto didn’t know that Sasuke was entitled to being frustrated . But even if he didn’t, one would think that maybe the blond knew that it was perfectly normal to be frustrated now and then and just leave Sasuke alone to cool off, but noo. Apparently Sasuke didn’t call him a retard for nothing.

“Come on,” Naruto almost whined, his voice unusually grating on the nerves. “Why are you so pissed off?”

“I’m not pissed off,” Sasuke hissed. Because he wasn’t pissed off, he was frustrated.

“You liar,” Naruto muttered and shifted where he stood, kicked at the ground with his toes. Sasuke couldn’t help noticing. He knew he should be more civil. It wasn’t Naruto’s fault that he was frustrated and the sight of the blond had made Sasuke feel better. He didn’t want to snap at him; especially not today, especially not this week. But he was frustrated and just couldn’t help it. Stupid Kakashi.

“If you don’t behave I’ll kiss you,” Naruto suddenly whispered a playful threat in Sasuke’s ear. He had grabbed a hold of Sasuke’s neck and was leaning in close. His breath danced over Sasuke’s ear and neck and made Sasuke shiver, forced him to swallow, almost forced him to close his eyes. When Sasuke turned to look, Naruto didn’t seem angry. He seemed happy to be there; a bit annoyed and a bit hungry, as if the mere mentioning of kissing made him want to kiss, but happy to be there. He seemed to have already gotten over Sasuke’s mood.

Maybe it was because Sasuke was nervous about the visit; maybe he was more than a little frustrated. Part of him wanted so bad to give Naruto that small hint of a smile those blue eyes were searching for, hoping for; that amused ‘whatever, stupid’ smile. But Sasuke wasn’t ready for that. Sasuke glared. It wasn’t a playful or amused glare, but a fierce, angry one that changed the expression in Naruto’s eyes.

“Don’t you dare,” Sasuke hissed slowly.

Naruto looked more than surprised and Sasuke didn’t blame him. Just hours ago they’d been fine, more than fine. Sasuke didn’t think he’d been this angry around Naruto, at Naruto, since they got together. The surprise was replaced by hurt and Sasuke wanted to say sorry. He knew it had just been a joke, Naruto hadn’t been seriously threatening to kiss Sasuke; he had just wanted to lighten the mood and make Sasuke smile, even if it was just a little. The hurt turned to narrowed eyes and Sasuke noticed that Naruto’s fists clenched.

“Oh, yeah?” Naruto raised a brow. He hesitated for a moment and seemed to consider things in his head, then he moved in for that kiss he had threatened with.

It wasn’t just because of the crowd around them that Sasuke punched him; he would have punched him even if they’d been alone, though the effect was stronger now. Some bystanders gasped, some screamed, some shouted and everyone backed off. Naruto stumbled to the ground and held a hand over his cheek where the punch had fallen. The look on his face, shock, disbelief and even more hurt, twisted Sasuke’s guts with regret.

The crowd had formed an oval shape of space around them. No one said anything and everyone stared. ‘How long has it been since Sasuke and Naruto beat each other up?’ they had to be thinking. ‘They are friends now, aren’t they?’

Sasuke found anger in Naruto’s eyes; anger and sadness and shock and confusion. ‘What did I do?’ ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘What are you doing?’ Sasuke wanted to know those same things. ‘What am I doing?’ Then the bus came and stopped and Sasuke snarled and turned away. The crowd moved to give him room as he walked and Naruto shouted his name, but Sasuke didn’t stop.

‘I’m so fucked up,’ he thought; but he couldn’t stop.

-

For the first time since Sasuke had come to this place, he rode the bus alone. He had hoped that Naruto would be stubborn and take the seat beside him, but the blond had walked by without even a glance in Sasuke’s direction and taken a seat further down. Usually things like that pissed Sasuke off even more, but this time it only made him sad. Apparently that punch had made the rest of the crowd wary, even the girls, so no one else took that empty seat beside him. Until, of course, the crowd of old women, the Grannies, Naruto’s worst nightmare, got on. One particularly large granny sat down next to Sasuke and within minutes she was asleep. When the bus stopped at the school Sasuke had to climb over the seat in front of his to get out, because the old hag just wouldn’t wake up. It was outrageous. Even more outrageous was the fact that Naruto didn’t stop to laugh at him.

In history their teacher sorted everyone into pairs and told them they were doing a short project where they would be given a historic event to make a story out of and at the end of next week’s Monday class they would go visit a lower grade class and share it. Sasuke got paired up with Sakura and Naruto with one of Sasuke’s fan girls. The blond seemed excited about the assignment, but the girl kept sighing and rolling her eyes at pretty much everything he said or came up with. Sasuke heard her say that Naruto was stupid and that it was best if he just listened while she made up the plans. Sasuke had a burning urge to go over there and punch her in the face too, for talking like that to his boyfriend. It burned almost as strongly as the desire to wipe the bruise off Naruto’s face.

When first class was over Sasuke got called to the school counselor’s office. On his way there he saw Naruto talk to the school nurse, fake smiling and gesturing and saying ‘it’s okay! I’m fine!’ The image stayed with Sasuke and tore at his heart and blocked out most of what the school counselor said; but she was an idiot anyway.

Sasuke skipped lunch that day for the first time since Naruto started to make him go to the canteen. He had planned to go. He had planned to go to Naruto, make up and then go together with him. But Naruto was nowhere to be found when lunchtime arrived. Despite his stomach’s protests and the November cold Sasuke went to his smoking table behind the school and smoked.

Usually when days started out bad and got worse and worse as they went on, Sasuke got more and more frustrated as a result. Like that first day in school, he would get angrier and angrier until he ended up a complete wreck when he came home and had to sleep it off. This day however, he didn’t get angrier. Instead, as the day got worse Sasuke became more remorseful and sad, wishing he hadn’t thrown that punch, wishing he wasn’t such a fucked up person.

He knew it was just because of the visit. He was always like this before and after, reacted differently or more strongly or in some cases not at all; actually this today was nothing compared to how it had been. The visits disrupted him, he knew that. He should have warned Naruto. This had almost nothing to do with Naruto.

If they were still fighting tomorrow, Sasuke would have to call Shikamaru, as he wasn’t allowed to go on the visits alone yet. Between second and third class, Sasuke had called Tsunade and asked her to make the arrangements. Part of him had wanted to reschedule, decide on another date because of the fight and because going without Naruto felt very wrong. But Sasuke had known that this was not something he could reschedule. If he could he would always and it was important that he went. Not even if he got physically ill did he cancel those visits. Tsunade had dragged him there once with a near lethal fever and a cough from hell. Still, Sasuke really wanted Naruto to come.

“Hey, bad boy,” a familiar, icy voice said suddenly, no footsteps preceding it as always, and Sasuke flinched and lost his thoughts. Gaara stood beside him with a small paper bag in one hand.

“What do you want?” Sasuke said.

“Back to violence again, huh?” The redhead’s lips curled to a small, icy smile. “What did he do? Grope you in public? Make an indecent proposal? Did he touch you someplace...?”

“I was having a bad morning,” Sasuke interrupted. “But I shouldn’t have hit him.”

“He doesn’t want to talk about it,” Gaara continued musingly. “When I pressured him he said it was his fault; that he had provoked you. I’m just curious, what did he do?”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Sasuke said and he found his throat was thicker than it should be. Damn those pre-visit nerves, making him so emotional. It was like he was on some medication. He was so messed up.

“I’m just fucked up.”

Gaara pulled at Sasuke’s sleeve to sit them both down on the bench by the table and for minutes they just sat there. Sasuke struggled against stupid tears that shouldn’t be there and embarrassment and anger towards himself and regret, and Gaara just waited.

“Naruto wants to make up,” the redhead said eventually. “He’s just stubborn, proud and confused.”

He got off the bench and stretched.

“You have some groveling to do, I’m afraid; if you want him back under your clothes.”

Then he turned and handed Sasuke the bag he’d been holding.

“Have some apples,” he said.

Sasuke hesitated a second before taking the bag. Groveling? He couldn’t tell if Gaara was being sincere or if he was overreacting.

“Thanks.”

Gaara turned then and walked away, raising a hand in a ‘see you’ and reminding Sasuke of Shikamaru so much that he had to wipe his eyes with a sleeve.

-

Naruto was in the corridor when Sasuke found him, talking to a guy Sasuke only knew by name. He pretended that he hadn’t seen Sasuke but Sasuke saw the signs in shifting feet and fiddling fingers and fading smile.

“Naruto,” Sasuke said and the corridor grew quieter. The students around turned to look their way, curious of course, as students tended to be. The whole school had been buzzing about the incident this morning, about Sasuke punching Naruto in the face again and the friends not talking since.

The blond looked even less cheerful and glared at Sasuke without really turning. The guy that only had a name looked as well.

“What do you want?” Naruto muttered.

“I want to talk,” Sasuke said and hid his hands in his pockets.

“Maybe I don’t wanna talk to you.”

“You can just listen.”

Naruto sniffed and looked away, looked back again.

“Fine! So talk.”

“Not here, stu…” Sasuke stopped himself before he could finish, remembering that annoying, rude girl and her stupid-comments. “Not here. Please.”

He also remembered Gaara’s groveling comment. The others around them weren’t familiar enough with Sasuke to notice the difference, but Naruto was. His angry stubbornness was disrupted by surprise when Sasuke avoided the s-word and added politeness. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and sniffed again.

“Fine, whatever,” he grumbled and came closer. Sasuke turned and walked and Naruto followed.

The students were decent enough not to follow, most of them at least; but even when they reached the most remote corridors and no one was in sight, Sasuke still felt uncomfortable to talk.

“So how far do you wanna go, Sasuke-bastard?” Naruto muttered. “We’re gonna be late for class.”

Sasuke sighed as well, frustrated again. Yeah, it was his fault and he probably deserved it, but couldn’t the blond maybe not rub it in as much? Then Sasuke saw the door. He had to frown and consider for a moment; maybe that was overdoing it a bit? But, coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t, he grabbed a hold of Naruto’s wrist and, ignoring the yelp and slight struggle from the blond, dragged him into the girl’s bathroom. He locked the door behind them before flicking on the light. At first Naruto just stared in surprise, then he made a tired but at the same time amused sound and fell back against the door.

“You’re so weird, Sasuke,” he sighed. There was a hint of a smile in his eyes, wasn’t there? The bruise looked even worse close up. Sasuke had been haunted by it all day.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke said. “I shouldn’t have hit you.”

“That’s right!” Naruto said. “You shouldn’t have hit me.”

He sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest again.

“It hurt,” he continued. “And it wasn’t my face.”

“I know. I’m just… I had a bad... morning.”

“I had a bad morning too,” Naruto said. “I woke up and you weren’t there. It was weird to wake up and not have you there. I missed you.”

Sasuke sighed, considered, then sighed again.

“I woke up in Kakashi’s armpit.”

Naruto looked like he was starting to suspect that this day was actually a dream and that he would wake up soon.

“Huh?”

“We talked last night,” Sasuke said and looked away and hoped he wasn’t blushing. He hoped Naruto’s growing suspicions were right and this was just a dream. “I fell asleep and he was being a stupid asshole and didn’t leave.”

Naruto still looked like he didn’t quite believe what he was hearing, not too hard to understand maybe.

“It was a bad way to wake up!” Sasuke threw out with his arms and wished they could just get off the subject.

Finally Naruto snickered and a real, honest smile spread across his face.

“In his armpit?” he raised a brow. “Eww.”

Then, before the moment left them, Naruto came over, threw his arms around Sasuke and hugged him hard. Sasuke’s entire being seemed to sigh with relief as he could wrap his arms around Naruto’s neck. He closed his eyes and felt the smell of him calm his nerves. Everything was going to be fine.

“And I was nervous,” Sasuke gave his other reason. “About tomorrow.”

“We’re going tomorrow? To the city?” Naruto asked and the use of ‘we’ had Sasuke’s throat grow thicker again.

“Yeah,” he said and hid his face in the skin under Naruto’s ear. “If you want to.”

“I want to,” Naruto said. “Sorry for trying to kiss you.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

They stood there for what felt like a long time. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, but they stayed still. Sasuke could hear and feel Naruto’s heart beat against his chest as time passed outside the bubble that was them. Again he felt safe. It was unreasonable.

“Though,” Naruto’s voice vibrated against Sasuke and he could hear the grin. “You owe me now, don’t you?”

Sasuke felt a swirl dance through his stomach as he recognized the teasing playfulness in Naruto’s voice. He knew that voice. But this was school!

“Why?” Sasuke asked as in ‘what will you make me do if I say yes?’

Naruto snorted a giggle.

“You do, don’t you?” he said. A hand slipped under Sasuke’s shirt and traced softly over his skin, up his side. A soft pair of moist lips pressed against the place where his neck turned to shoulder. Sasuke closed his eyes and the mental image from last night of a cool and manly Naruto teased him. Maybe not so absurd, but definitely still hot. Very inappropriate here though. Not that it mattered to Naruto.

“Yeah,” Sasuke murmured. “I owe you.”

Naruto made an amused humming sound of approval and then his hands wandered. One moved to Sasuke’s lower back outside the clothes and pulled them closer together; the other trailed over Sasuke’s skin, from his side to his front and then without any warning dropped into his pants. Sasuke’s hips jerked and he had to choke down a yelp and pull his arms harder around Naruto’s neck.

“What are you doing?” he breathed; his eyes squeezed shut and his knees were very happy that the hand on his back was there to help hold him up. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation or awkwardness in Naruto’s hand as it first trailed around, then wrapped around Sasuke. Either he had forgotten where they were or he didn’t care; or maybe it was a blurred combination of the two, as in Sasuke’s case. Sasuke couldn’t remember if he really locked the door, and wondered what the school counselor would say if he hadn’t and one of the teachers walked in. What would happen to his reputation if he hadn’t and someone else walked in?

“You feel good,” Naruto breathed against Sasuke’s neck, though that made no sense.

“So do you,” Sasuke said before whining a pant, not able to control his voice as the fingers stumbled upon a particularly sensitive spot and pressed just right. Then the touch softened some, but Naruto spoke before Sasuke could complain.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s move over here.”

He walked Sasuke backwards until Sasuke’s back pressed against the wall. The hand that had been steadying him before moved forward and started to fumble with opening Sasuke’s pants.

“You don’t need to...” Sasuke breathed.

“Don’t wanna get them dirty,” Naruto muttered, concentrated on his task that didn’t seem so easy with just one hand. Sasuke slipped a hand down to help him and being two made things easier. But when Sasuke’s pants and underwear had fallen to the floor and his hand wandered to Naruto for returning favors, Naruto stopped him.

“Ah, just you, okay?” he smiled softly as Sasuke frowned. “You owe me, remember?”

“But you...”

“I like making you feel good,” Naruto explained before Sasuke could finish and his cheeks gained some color, as if that was embarrassing. Sasuke looked at him, surprised, for a moment, then his eyes softened and he smiled and kissed him. When Naruto’s tongue entered Sasuke’s mouth the hand started moving again and Sasuke had to moan. Naruto kept going until the end.

When they walked into biology together fifteen minutes late the teacher and many of their classmates were smiling as if they knew exactly what had happened. The friends had made up and all was well again. As if they knew. It was embarrassing, but the reason for their lateness was completely worth it.

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