A Night for Fireworks

Authors' Note: This is a collaboration between myself and celestia193. It's also a YAOI story. That means there will be a male x male romantic pairing. If any of that bothers you, you might want to turn back now. To those that celebrate it, Happy Fourth of July and to those who don't, we hope you enjoy this story.

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or make any profit off of our fanfics.

Chapter 1

Naruto grins at his best friend and antisocial bastard extraordinaire. "Itachi is magic." How else could one explain the fact that somehow Sasuke Uchiha was going to a Fourth of July celebration at the beach.

The beach where his poor friend would likely be 'stalked' by admirers due to his attire. Well, more frankly, his lack of attire. Then again, his older brother had the same problem. The only difference was everyone actually knew that Itachi was more interested in swimming trunks than bikinis.

Which only made Naruto's crush even worse. In theory, he had a chance. Still, that was his best friend's brother and Itachi was just out of his league. Oh well. He wasn't about to pass up the chance to enjoy the view and some hot dogs. The fireworks were always pretty too. So all in all, Naruto was looking forward to the festivities.

Sasuke rolls his eyes and cuffs his best friend over the head. "He isn't magic, he's annoying." Very annoying, and he'd threatened to put Sasuke's baby photos online if he refused to come to the party. Of course, it hadn't really been that hard a decision. After all, it was always amusing to watch Naruto pine not so secretly for his big brother. "Now hurry up and finish packing. It only took me five minutes to get ready." And most of that had involved hunting down sunscreen for the evening.

"Well that's because you're prissy and have OCD." Naruto grumbles as he grabs his stuff. "I swear you're like a doomsday prepper or something. Alright, let's get going!"

"Finally." Sasuke rolls his eyes. "And I am not OCD, I just keep a bag packed in case my brother makes a threat to get me to go out to the beach with him." When you lived as close to the ocean as he did, despite his sensitivity to the sun, there was no getting around the regular summer beach trips. Even if he would prefer to live like a vampire and never see the light of day, as his idiot best friend put it.

Naruto was pretty sure that was still OCD, but whatever. "Sure. Sure. Come on Captain Fangtastic, let's get going." He grins as he locks up the house and traipses down the driveway behind Sasuke.

Sasuke grumbles at the ridiculous nickname, one of many that Naruto had given him over the years. "Yeah, then we can meet up with my brother and you can tease a different vampire for a change."

"You're more fun to tease, but sure." Naruto smiles. "I hear the fireworks are going to be epic this year."

"Yeah, Itachi arranged for a big private display over Montauk." Though why Itachi was going so far this year, Sasuke wasn't entirely sure. But he was sure as hell going to find out. He opens the door to his new Prius and slides into the driver's seat. "So come on, it's going to be a long drive." Their parents were already out there setting up, but Sasuke had drug his heels, and Naruto took forever to pack.

Naruto nods eagerly as he gets into the passenger's seat and Sasuke hits the gas. It was going to be awesome. Of course, that was a given since Itachi was planning it. That man never did anything halfway.

The two pull up to a private stretch of beach and Sasuke parks the silver car in a half-hidden parking lot filled with half a dozen other vehicles. Itachi had gone all out this year after taking over from their mother's fanatic planning. As expected, the planning got done in less than half the time and with a fraction of the fanfare.

Sasuke slams his door shut and grabs his bag from the back seat. "Come on, Loser, everyone's waiting." And already, he could smell the meat cooking on the grills they'd brought out. A couple of Itachi's friends had brought the food, and it was definitely enough to feed an army by the smell of it.

"Pft. Eat my dust!" He pauses for a moment and decides to elaborate. "I mean, sand!" Naruto laughs as he darts over to the others.

Right, like Sasuke was going to lose that challenge. "Yeah right, Dobe!" He bolts after Naruto, skidding smoothly down the sandy slope after Naruto and breaking into a run across the beach.

Faster and faster, he races. Naruto wasn't even paying attention to where he was going. Which ended up being pretty embarrassing because he ends up running straight smack into a sex god. Wait. He meant Itachi. Never mind. There really wasn't a difference.

Said 'sex god' stumbles back half a step, catching the teenager in his arms. He chuckles deeply, dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "And hello to you too, Naruto." Itachi notes that Sasuke was smirking as he saunters past the two of them and across their invisible finish line.

"Hey, Itachi." Naruto feels his cheeks burn a bit. "Um…nice seeing you again. Damn that sneaky bastard, he won."

Itachi chuckles a little louder and waits a moment before releasing Naruto from his grasp. "Yes, Sasuke can be rather sneaky when he wants to be. But it's very nice to see you again as well, Naruto."

"Yeah." He beams at him before searching for something to talk about. "So um how's university and stuff?!"

"It's going very well. If all goes well, I will be finishing my graduate degree next spring." Itachi's classes were difficult at times, and his law research even more so, but he enjoyed the challenged posed by his subjects. "And you? You must be quite relieved to have finally departed the 'hell' known as high school."

Naruto grins at that from ear to ear. "Yeah. Believe it!" He poses dramatically. "I'm gonna enter the police academy."

"Really, now?" And why did that not surprise Itachi? "I can certainly see the appeal." After all, who would complain about a carefully used pair of handcuffs? The thought brings a smile to his lips. "Does that mean we will be seeing each other in the courtroom when I've become a prosecutor?"

"Maybe a bit." He smiles at Itachi and nods. "Though I'm glad you're not going to be tearing into me. You're kinda scary when you get mad."

"I see, that's certainly good to know." And it could be something rather useful for taking apart the defense if he sensed that they were truly guilty. But Itachi would leave such unpleasant thoughts for later. For now, it seemed that the grill beckoned him once more. At least it did if they didn't want Deidara to turn everything to charcoal. "Naruto, why don't you go and spend some time in the water? I'm sure that you and Sasuke have some more competing to do with each other."

"Nah. I can kick his ass any day." He smiles at Itachi. "This is your party. So it'd be kinda sucky of me to ignore you."

"Well, I certainly won't turn down the company." Itachi returns the smile as he nudges Deidara away from the grills. "Go on, Deidara, I'm sure that Sasori is waiting for you." To continue their latest argument, as usual.

"Oh right!" Deidara smirks, knowing where this was going. "Yeah!" So he darts off.

Itachi rolls his eyes at his rather explosively happy friend. The man was never unhappy if it involved explosions or fire. Hence, today was his favorite holiday. "So, Naruto, what would you like? Hamburger? Cheeseburger? Smokie? Sausage?"

"Well, they all sound pretty good." He smiles at Itachi. "I think I'll start with sausage though."

The older man nearly chokes, but merely smirks instead. "Very well, one sausage bun coming right up." He picks up a perfectly grilled mildly spicy pork sausage and slides it slowly into a softened and steamed bun. He hands it to Naruto, smirk still firmly in place. "I hope that you enjoy it."

If it was anyone else, Naruto would probably have accused them of having their mind in the gutter. "Thanks. I guess you're really into the whole cooking thing." This was Itachi though. Itachi Uchiha did not make dirty jokes about sausages.

"Yes, I am, though try not to choke on it, it is rather large." If Itachi had to watch Naruto eat the damn thing, the least Naruto could do was entertain him in the meantime.

Naruto laughs and shakes his head. "I'm pretty sure that I can handle it." He smiles as he begins eating it. "Gotta say, you might wanna give up the whole lawyer thing and just become a cook instead. This is pretty good."

"Who says that I can't do both?" Itachi's smirk widens. "Taking apart whatever criminals the police bring me, and then going home to cook for my lover…that sounds like a rather nice eventuality."

"Y-Yeah. I guess that's true." God help him, he wasn't blushing, was he?

Perhaps that was a little too much, but Itachi couldn't help enjoying the reaction it elicited from the blushing blond. "Be sure to enjoy the water while you're here, we've invited everyone to stay for a few days at the beach house."

"I will." Naruto smiles at him. "Definitely will. this place is amazing."

"Thank you." Itachi smiles warmly "I do hope that you enjoy spending this coming weekend with us." He certainly would.

The blond bobs his head up and down in nothing short of an ecstatic way. "Yeah. I'm sure it's going to be great." He pauses for a moment as a concerned frown appears on his face. "Though we really shouldn't let Deidara near the fireworks."

Itachi chuckles wanly. "Unfortunately, he and Kisame are in charge of them." Hopefully, Kisame would keep things remotely under control. After all, Deidara was their pyromaniac, but Kisame could dump a bucket of cold water on just about anyone.

"We are so screwed." Naruto shakes his head.

"Hn." No, they weren't. Itachi grunts softly as he returns his attention to the grill, flipping a couple of burgers and setting the smokies and sausages aside to prevent them from burning. No one had gotten screwed just yet.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. And if Sasuke was going to have any peace going forward, he was going to have to call in desperate measures. Otherwise he would NEVEr go to Kisame over something like this.

Trying to avoid the curious gaze of family and friends, Sasuke sneaks away from the deck of the beach house and away from his brother's line of sight to find the patch of beach where Kisame and Deidara had set up the fireworks. As expected, Deidara had been pulled away by Sasori, leaving Kisame all alone to tend the fireworks. That was probably safer for everybody.

"Hey, Fish-Face." Sasuke crosses his arms as he approaches the giant and inexplicably blue man sitting next to the water. "You got a minute?" Or ten, or thirty. Sasuke wasn't sure how long it would take to plot his own little version of world domination.

"Fish-Face?" He snorts at the less than original nickname. "You can do better than that brat and I've probably got an hour since Ginger drug off Blondie. What do you want?"

"Fine, Blubber-Butt, then." Sasuke had a million of them, the reflex trained into him by long years of name-calling with Naruto. He seats himself behind the fireworks, but not too close, just in case Kisame got any funny ideas. "Naruto has a crush on Itachi, obviously. And Itachi keeps throwing Naruto these looks like he's starving and wants to eat Naruto, but can't." And it was driving Sasuke up the wall.

"Blubber-Butt?" He glared at Sasuke as if the kid had a death wish. "Are you calling me fat? Whatever, Brat. You're right about those two." He glances toward their direction and sighs. "Well, now that Blondie graduated high school, maybe Itachi will go for it. Personally, I think they're just gunshy about it because they're not sure how you would react to them sucking face."

And Sasuke wished that they would just get it over with and stop dancing around like a couple of shy middle school students feeling awkward at their first dance. "If it will keep Itachi from lavishing me with all of his 'love', I am more than willing to get him to suck face with my best friend."

Alright. Well, they were on the same page then. "So what are you thinking?" Obviously, Sasuke wanted to enlist his help and despite his less than stellar trash talk, Kisame didn't have a problem with that.

"There's no way that Itachi will make a move in front of me." Kisame was right when he said that Sasuke was the biggest obstacle to them sucking face. "So, short of just shoving them at each other, we need them to be together for the fireworks without me getting dragged into the middle of it. Or where I get the hell out of there and Itachi can't complain." Because he was the only buffer either of them had, so if Sasuke disappeared from sight for a bit, or at least from within twenty feet of them, maybe that buffer would disappear.

"You won't like it, but if you grab someone and make it look like you've got the hots for them and wander off with them..." Kisame lets Sasuke fill in the blanks.

Sasuke shudders at the thought of wandering off with anyone here. But if it would get Itachi off his ass… "Who would you suggest?"

"Deidara would probably go along with it." Kisame shrugs as it was perfectly logical. "You can explain it later and he'd get a kick out of it as long as you don't confess your undying love or some shit like that."

The raven suppresses the urge to groan. Deidara had to be the most hyperactive, most annoying person on the planet. Even Naruto wasn't that bad. "Alright, I'll chase Deidara a little." But if Kisame started taking pictures for blackmail, then Sasuke was going to plaster pictures from their New Year's party all over the internet. "What's he most likely to respond to?"

"Deidara's easy to make happy. Just express interest in his fireworks and compliment his looks." He nods. "If all else fails you can talk about hair care products."

"Yeah, I suppose there's that." Sasuke shivers at the thought of hitting on Deidara. But at least he was only a couple of years older than him, not the whole five years that separated Itachi and Naruto. "You think you can get Itachi to stick around Naruto after I disappear?"

"I don't think that will be hard." He winks at Sasuke obviously enjoying him squirming. "You just turn on the charm enough to run off with Deidara."

Right, turn on the charm. "I'll give it a shot." And Sasuke seriously hoped that this wasn't going to blow up in his face.

Sasuke leaps back and dodges a wave of water as his best friend grins at him. When Naruto had pried himself away from Itachi and tugged Sasuke into the water to go swimming, the raven had ultimately known that things were eventually going to devolve to this level. It was Naruto, what else could you possibly expect from him? At least he obeyed the wait an hour after eating before you get in the water rule.

He splashes Naruto back by driving his foot through the water and kicking up a giant salty spray over the blond's head. "Don't pick a fight you can't win, Dobe!"

"Good thing that's not what I did." Naruto grins at him from ear to ear as he gets drenched in water before retaliating in a similar fashion. "I picked a water fight with you and just like always, I'll kick your ass at it."

No, no he wasn't going to kick Sasuke's ass. The raven lunges forward through the spray and dunks Naruto under the water. "Is that right, Idiot!?"

"Yeah!" Naruto tries his best to get up from the dreaded Duckbutt Dunk of Doom! "It is!" Flailing all the while while struggling to get to the surface.

"Sasuke! Naruto! It's time for the fireworks!" Naruto's red-headed firebrand of a mother waves to them from the deck of the beach house. "You two can try to drown each other tomorrow!" Not that Kushina expected either of them to actually drown each other. They were both too stubborn for that.

Reluctantly, Sasuke removes his hands from Naruto's shoulders and lets him up, backing away carefully. "Saved by your Mom, Dobe."

"Pft." Naruto rolls his eyes as he gets up. "Keep dreaming, Bastard. You know my mom saved your emo ass." He bounds back through the water and onto the sandy beach. After all, he loved fireworks as much as the next guy.

Sasuke follows close behind, keeping his eyes out for his partners in crime. Kisame would have filled Deidara in by now, wouldn't he? "I'm not emo, Naruto." He didn't act it, and he didn't even dress it. It was closest to punk, maybe a hint of goth, but definitely NOT emo.

"Sure. Sure." Naruto gives him a look like, you know you are. "Whatever." He looks around excitedly. "Hey, Itachi do you need any help?"

The elder Uchiha brother looks down across the sand from where he's closing up the grill. He smirks slightly and shakes his head. "No, but I believe that you might."

The younger brother frowns and glances at Naruto, only to see a jellyfish hanging off the side of Naruto's hair. "Uh…Naruto? Don't…move…"

"What? Why?" Naruto blinks and that's when he notices the jellyfish. "Damn it! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Sasuke backs up as Naruto starts jumping about. The last thing he wanted was to get the jellyfish on himself. "No way, Dobe, you're on your own." A loud bang echoes down the beach, and Sasuke sees a smoke signal rising into the sky. "Actually, you know what? Itachi, you take Naruto, I'll go stop Deidara from setting the beach on fire."

The elder brother raises a quizzical eyebrow as Sasuke darts off down the beach. Sasuke and Deidara fought all the time, everyone knew that. They couldn't get within thirty feet of each other without glaring. …Something was going on.

Something that seemed to include abandoning his best friend to Itachi's mercy. And that of one rather stubborn, but harmless-looking jellyfish. "Naruto, calm down…it's alright. It's not the type to sting."

"Sasuke, don't leave me!" Naruto tries his best not to flail and piss off the jellyfish, but it was too late. His best friend had abandoned him. Damn Emo Duckbutt Hair! "Itachi, get this thing off me!" He shoots his best puppy eyes on the elder Uchiha brother. Naruto didn't even know how Itachi could tell one jellyfish type from another, but this was Itachi. He was probably right. He knew everything else, so why wouldn't he know about jellyfish aggression levels?

"Goodness…" Itachi shakes his head and approaches Naruto slowly, cupping his hand as he raises it to the golden blond hair. He slowly tilts Naruto's head to the side and nods slowly. "This one is hanging on rather tightly, so it would be best to remove it in the water. It will relax there." He takes Naruto by the hand and steps towards the large expanse of green-blue water.

Naruto wasn't so sure about that, but he just lets Itachi take the lead. "Okay." He just really wanted the jellyfish off of him.

He wasn't dressed specifically for going into the water, but Itachi's shorts and t-shirt would do well enough. His clothes soak right through as he leads Naruto into nearly shoulder-deep water. "Now…let's see…" He carefully tilts Naruto's head to the side, letting the water touch the jellyfish. "Now, if we merely let it fall out…" He places his hand around the smooth, gelatinous form of the creature and slides it from Naruto's golden locks and back into the water. "There you are." Itachi releases the little creature and watches as it swims slowly away.

"Thanks. You're a lifesaver." Naruto sighs in relief as he watches the jellyfish wander off. Itachi wasn't just hot, he was also a jellyfish whisperer apparently.

Itachi chuckles and guides Naruto back to shore. "It was merely something that I learned when I was your age and taking biology." Then he looks down at the both of them critically. "It would be best to get changed." No sense in getting wet sand stuck everywhere. "Come, we have towels and everyone's clothes over on the deck."

"Yeah." He nods at him. "Sounds good. Dry clothes would be nice, especially if Deidara is really in charge of fireworks."

True, that man's explosions would get sand EVERYWHERE. "Speaking of Deidara…" Itachi casts his eyes over towards the older blond and his foolish little brother as he and Naruto hop onto the deck. Sasuke and Deidara were sitting in the sand by the fireworks, chatting rather determinedly and quite animatedly. "It seems that he's acquired a new fan." To say it was a surprise would be an understatement.

Naruto didn't know what to make of that either. "Well, I guess they say opposites attract." That one was a stretch though. Sure, Itachi was his opposite in a lot of ways, but Deidara and Sasuke might as well have been from different planets.

Itachi picks up a couple of towels and hands an orange one to Naruto, then runs his own dark towel through his half-soaked hair. "I wouldn't say that they're complete opposites." Itachi knew them both far too well to believe that. "They're both incredibly stubborn, prideful, and quite enjoy fucking with people." Deidara was simply louder in that respect.

"Well, that's true." Naruto hadn't looked at it that way before. "Still, gotta say I didn't see that one coming." He takes the towel and begins drying off.

"Neither did I." And Itachi prided himself on predicting the outcome of every eventuality. "Would you like to go and retrieve him before the fireworks start?"

"Nah." It was weird, but Naruto wouldn't interfere. "I mean if he likes him, getting in the middle of that would just ensure Sasuke will be a monk forever."

If Sasuke ever became a monk, Itachi would make sure to tease him to no end. "Very well, then how about we find a place on the beach to watch from before it gets to dark to see where we are stepping?"

"Sure!" Naruto beams at Itachi. Like he was going to say no to spending more time with him.

Itachi returns the smile and hands Naruto a large red and blue beach blanket. "Then choose us a spot and I'll join you once I've changed." He could just change right there, but he would rather not give his brother or friends or parents any ammunition to use against him.

Naruto fidgets as he waits for Itachi. He should be back pretty soon. It was still so freaking embarrassing that the heartthrob had to rescue him from a jellyfish. Sasuke was never going to let him live that down and it definitely didn't scream seductive to be rescued from a marine creature.

"I come bearing gifts." Itachi walks down the beach towards the blanket Naruto had set out, dressed in a fresh, dark, high-collared t-shirt and equally dark loose pants. He smile as he holds up a bowl filled with snacks. Normally, he wouldn't indulge in anything unhealthy, but he knew that Naruto enjoyed his junk food, and indulging the blond half a dozen times a year was fine. Though he'd certainly busted Naruto's balls for it when it wasn't a holiday.

"Whoa." He grins at Itachi. "I'd ask what the occasion was, but I guess it makes sense being the Fourth of July and all." He pats the blanket next to him.

The elder man chuckles and takes a seat next to the teenager. He places the bowl down carefully in Naruto's lap and shoots the young man a wicked smirk. "Be sure to eat that all tonight, I'll be back to nagging you in the morning."

"Yeah. I'm sure you will, but it's totally worth it." Naruto's grin widens as he begins chowing down.

And it most certainly was worth it to see Naruto smiling at him. Itachi turns to watch the sky, noting that it was growing steadily darker. Soon, it would be dark enough to start setting off the fireworks. "You're finally out of high school and you have your whole life ahead of you. How does it feel to be considered an adult?" Well, almost, the blond's birthday wasn't for another few months yet.

"A lot better now that a jellyfish isn't trying to rip my face off." Naruto laughs between bites of his food. "Don't know about the rest of it yet though. Still, a little early." He liked the view though. A lot.

True, but Itachi could…probe, at the very least. "And the things that were off-limits that are slowly becoming available to you?"

"Not sure what you mean?" He tilts his head. "You mean like voting? Can't drink for a couple more years."

How innocent. But perhaps… "Drinking is not all that it is cracked up to be, but the freedom that comes with age is quite convenient. In a few months, no one will be able to dictate who you can and cannot see."

"Oh you mean like dating." Naruto smiles. "Well, they weren't really dictating now...I mean, that'd only be an issue if there was someone older who was interested in me."

"Have you never entertained the thought of dating someone older than you?" Itachi was planning a gentle but still firm probing. To…test the waters, as it were. "I know it was a common fantasy when I was your age to be able to hook up with one of the teachers."

"Well yeah, I mean everyone has." He'd more than entertained it. Naruto had basically married the thought, but that didn't mean it was going to happen.

Itachi frowns slightly. "Is there someone closer to your own age, then? I know that you and Sasuke made us wonder there for a few years. But you may have to compete with Deidara for him, if that is the case."

"Nah. Nothing like that..." Naruto shakes his head. "Sasuke's too prissy for me and I love him like a brother." He glances towards Deidara. "Plus if they're a thing, I am NOT getting in the middle of it."

"Oh?" Itachi raises an eyebrow. "Have you adopted the both of us as brothers, then?"

"No, no." Naruto shakes his head quickly. "Not that you're not an awesome brother, but I don't think of you that way...the brotherly way, I mean."

While resisting the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, Itachi shifts a little closer to the young blond. "Then…how do you think of me, Naruto?"

"I think you're g-great." He could only pray he wasn't actually blushing.

Itachi smiles warmly as the first of the fireworks goes off, bathing the blushing blond in red and blue and white hues. He brushes his lips tentatively against Naruto's. "And I think that you are most attractive when you blush."

Did Itachi call him attractive? "T-Thanks." Wait. Was he actually kissing him?! Maybe this was all just some kind of dream or maybe Naruto was about to get slapped, but he kisses back. He really, really kisses back with all his kissing might.

Smirking into the kiss, Itachi winds his fingers into Naruto's hair and tilts his head back slightly, taking the opportunity to kiss Naruto deeply. He glides his tongue along Naruto's and wraps them two soft, wet muscles together. Thank goodness that Sasuke was off traipsing around with Deidara, or Naruto might have pushed him away by now.

Naruto finds himself moaning into the kiss as fireworks go off inside his mind and in real life. Was this actually happening or just an awesome figment of his imagination?

After prolonging the kiss for longer than was reasonable, Itachi draws back and strokes Naruto's cheek. "I did hope that you looked at me in a non-brotherly way, because I certainly don't see you in that light." Not since they were both very young. It had long since morphed into something quite different.

"Really?" He tilts his head. "You don't think that Sasuke would mind right? I kinda figured you just saw me as your kid brother's friend."

Itachi doubted it, what with Sasuke's latest distraction keeping him busy. "Unlikely. At first, but no…not for a few years now." It had started when Naruto was fourteen, when puberty had done its magnificent work and begun transforming him into the handsome young man Itachi saw today. "The little boy I knew grew up right before my eyes. And I was drawn to the light and life and excitement you exude."

"Wow. That's really romantic." He smiles as he kisses him again.

"I do aim to please." Itachi chuckles softly and kisses Naruto once more, then looks to the sky where a series of fireworks begin to go off. "Look." Tonight was a night for grand gestures, after all. And high in the sky above their heads, a series of fireworks explode, molding together to form a vibrant orange and red heart.

Naruto blinks as he looks up and then grins. "You totally planned this." Knowing that there was only one thing that the blond could do, he tackle hugs the hottie.

Itachi chuckles as his back hits the blanket-covered sand with a soft thump. His arms circle around Naruto, holding the younger man to his chest. "Happy Fourth of July, Naruto." Then he smirks and shifts Naruto over him to nibble on the blond's ear. "Also, you should look forward to your eighteenth birthday. I'm planning a surprise."

"C-Can't wait." Naruto shivers as he feels his ear nibbled on and smiles. "I'm sure that that we'll manage to find a way to make fireworks in October somehow."

"Yes, My Love, we will certainly manage many fireworks." Of that, Itachi would make sure. And on many, many occasions after that and apparently the same could be said for his foolish little brother who was now making out with a pyromaniac of a bubbly blond.

Tonight was the night for fireworks.