Give me the Words

I've been away on vacation for quite a while, but hey, now I'm back! Thanks a lot to the people who reviewed, I really appreciate it! ^__^

Shi


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Summary: Let's play a game. It's called 'Pretend'.

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I wonder if he has any idea just how adorable he looks when he's pouting like that, Minato thinks with a smile.

He's leaning in the doorway, watching his son whirl around the kitchen, trying to create cookies that aren't salty instead of sweet, horribly spicy, or burnt to a crisp. Needless to say, so far he hasn't been especially successful, as is shown by all the failed attempts littering the kitchen counter.

The teen hasn't noticed yet that Minato is home and the older blond takes the time to simply observe. He has been so busy lately, he hasn't been able to spend a lot of time with Naruto. And now, letting his gaze wander over the familiar lines of his son's face, noting all the little changes the last few months have brought, he can't help but feel that he's missing out on something important.

The older blond winces as a bag of flour slips through Naruto's fingers and sends up a rather spectacular dust cloud as it hits the floor, making the teen yelp in distress.

Minato is torn between grimacing and laughing, watching his son sneeze and curse, but before he can decide to do one thing or the other, the flour settles down and he freezes in place.

The powder is dusted all over the young blond's face, tinting the sun-tanned skin an ethereal white and hiding the whisker-like scars as if they'd never been there in the first place. It's caught in his lashes, clinging to the bangs falling into startingly blue eyes, the stark contrast almost making them seem to glow, and all of a sudden, there's a stranger standing in Minato's kitchen.

The older one's chest feels oddly tight as he takes in the sight before him, the whole scene striking him as strangely beautiful, yes, almost enticing; but also as just a little bit unsettling. For a moment the figure in front of him is like a porcelain doll. Perfect, cold, and dead.

Nonetheless, he is exceedingly aware of his own racing heart, of the utter fascination that is making his head spin, and the tight, hot feeling in his stomach that he doesn't particularly care to think about.

Then the teen is cursing again and starts to dust himself down, and Minato feels like he's been splashed with cold water. This is Naruto. His son. What the hell is he thinking ? Clearly, his mind must be playing tricks on him.

He takes another look, and the feelings are still there. He swallows heavily.

It's the flour, he tells himself. I'm not--I wouldn't have felt that normally. It must be the flour.

And before he quite knows what he's doing, he's striding across the room, not noticing the way Naruto's gaze locks onto him the second he notices him, or the sheepish smile that crawls over the young (fartooperfect) face. Thoughts are whirling through his mind at a rapid pace, but when he meets his son's gaze his eyes are so blank that the teen takes an uncertain half-step back, his smile vanishing.

Minato is deaf to how the other's breath hitches when he leans down until their noses are almost touching, and though he's fixing the younger blond with an intense stare, he's blind to the way the other's pupils dilate, sky blue eyes becoming heavy with some unnamed emotion and words dying as they try to spill over suddenly mute lips. He takes a deep breath, absently noting how the flour tickles in his nose and the scent of sugar and cake batter seems overwhelmingly strong this close to his son, and then softly blows on the teen's face, revealing familiar features beneath the white mask of perfection.

When he stops, there's still some of the dust caught in the younger one's lashes, but now it's Naruto staring back at him in bewilderment, not this other person who made his chest tight and his stomach--nothing(it never happened, so it can't be anything). He smiles in relief and ruffles his son's hair, sending up another flour cloud and making the teen pout sulkily.

"Had a little accident, huh?"

"Aw, shut up."

This is the way it's supposed to be.

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Yes, I know that Minato's thoughts about flour seem silly. I wanted it to be like that.