Boruto hesitates after the doorbell rings. After all this is not his house. And then the doorbell rings again and Sasuke still does not leave his office. So he abandons his half finished homework and walks his way to the front door and twists the knob until it pulls open.

His father would be disappointed with him opening the door just like that.

There's a man looking down at him and Boruto takes a step back. He looks like Sasuke. Only different. Older, broader-shouldered and much more scarier. And he stars talking to Boruto.

"Sausuke?" The voice is strong and steady, but it conveyed a trace of something more laying underneath as he spoke the name of his father's friend. As if it meant something more than just a name.

"He's in the office," Boruto begins, "you should wait here till I go and call him. At the door."

He's wise enough not to let this man inside until Sasuke gives his permission, but he's excused from the task as soon as he hears steps and then a gasp from behind him. A tiny one -yet still a gasp. Boruto steps back then and glances at Sasuke as he stares wide eyed at the stranger in the doorway. The tall man stares right back and Boruto feels invisible, even more than at home.

Sasuke's lips stay parted for a while before he speaks.

"What are you doing here?"

Something softened into the stranger's cold black eyes as he looks at Sasuke.

"I came to see you."

Even Boruto can feel the tension between the two. Only the tv is playing in the background as they eyed each-other and just when it became too much Boruto is sent to his bedroom here, with or without homework. Sasuke's tone left no room for argument for the first time since Boruto could remember. And still no one looks at him.

He does at told and waits, straining his ears for whatever bits of conversation he could grasp, yet without luck. Not that Boruto really expected to hear them from the other end of the house. So he moves. The living room is empty and quiet, just as Sasuke's office and his brows furrowed in confusion. Where were they? When his father came to visit he and Sasuke were always in the office or in the living room, maybe the garden yet only in the summer. But it was winter now and being outside was not an option.

And then he catches the most quiet sound coming from what Boruto well knew to be Sasuke's own bedroom. The door to it was always closed so imagine his surprise when he found it slightly ajar and voices were coming out of there. At ten years old Boruto knew he shouldn't -nice people did not do this- but he was so very curious of this mystery man. Of what his businisses with Sasuke were. So he edged closer with his back against the corner and looked inside.

The light was still on and he inhaled sharply at the sight that meet his eyes. Mystery man had his strong hands over Sasuke's wrists as they stood almost face to face and Boruto never realized Sasuke could be so tiny. They were arguing. Boruto knew it from watching his parents. But his father had never clutched his mother quite like that. Not when she was as furious as Sasuke was right now. And that was intriguing and bone-gripping in itself. Sasuke was never angry. Never. Boruto knew no one as calm and composed as Sasuke who always dealt with things being cold and emotionless. Even that one time when Boruto had broken the crimson vase from the living room. He had been mortified but Sasuke had not even informed his parents about it. So it was safe to say Boruto liked Sasuke, explaining the plain discomfort and outrage he felt at the sight of that man hurting him.

"-and what Itachi," Sasuke was spitting, almost shouting, "do you think everything will be fine? Just like that?" He struggled into this Itachi's grip but he was not let go. "Think you'll just come back like this and I'll forgive it all?"

"Yes."

Both Boruto and Sasuke were speechless staring at the man named Itachi who had eyes only for Sasuke. And then mystery man who now had a name pulled him straight into his arms. Sasuke was struggling in a feebly attempt to push himself away but Itachi's force was clearly superior and….Boruto was scared. Should he burst inside the room and try to save Sasuke? But if Sasuke could not free himself, Boruto stood no chance against Itachi. Should he call his father then? Yes, he would know what to do.

Boruto had his hand inside his pocket, closing around his phone, when Sasuke started crying. And he was not trashing around anyone. Boruto was not able to see his face from where it was hidden in the crock of Itachi's neck. But he watched other things. The way his smaller hands were gripping the older man's coat or the way Itachi's strong arms tightened around his middle and it seemed to push Sasuke deeper into his own body. They were embracing, he knew as much. But Sasuke's whimpers still reached his ears and that confused him.

Should Boruto call his father or not?

"Hush little brother, hush," whispered Itachi as he pressed a kiss to the younger's forehead. "I'm here."

Itachi is Sasuke's brother.

Boruto feels foolish then, yet still a little afraid. No one had ever mentioned a brother, not even once. But now… he remembers the show they had at school about the importance of family a few years ago. Sasuke had came with his parents and his little sister to see him. Boruto had felt so proud to catch Sasuke's eyes in the crowd. The busy heir to the Uchiha estate had been there for him. And then, somewhere past the middle of the show, two colleagues of his were displaying a rather brotherly conversation and even now he remembers the way Sasuke had got up and left, his father following him with worried eyes.

Now Boruto knew why.

And he would have runned back to his room then -the brothers obviously needed to talk- but what Itachi did next petrified him, unable to move an inch from his secured spot. Itachi had titled Sasuke's head up by his chin and simply kissed each corner of his wet and quivering mouth. Boruto was unable to fathom why. And then something even more confusing. Their lips were against each other, their hands clawing at each-other clothes and when Itachi picked Sasuke up and then moved him into his lap when the elder made it to the bed, Boruto understood what was really happening.

What people did in the privacy of their bedroom was not a surprise but what made his blood cold and his stomach turn into an unpleasant way was those three words Itachi had whispered not long before. Little brother. But brothers did no such thing to each other. Sure, he loved Himawari even if she was annoying most of the time, but Boruto could not imagine himself holding her as Itachi did to Sasuke. Sinking his lips onto her neck the way Itachi did now. Or hear her sound so desperate as Sasuke's whimpers and half-formed sentences did.

Boruto was glad his dinner had been light otherwise he would have thrown up right there and then.

"Not here," Sasuke calls in a weak voice and his hair is all ruined from where Itachi had been gripping at it. "Boruto is in the house and-"

Itachi's hand sneaking inside his pants silenced him.

"Then do try to be quiet, love."

There's no bringing them apart after and with a sour taste in his mouth Boruto turns his back on them and almost ran to his room.

Here he hears nothing but his imagination does it all for him. Sleep came and went and the following morning when Itachi joined them on breakfast after a brief introduction as Sasuke's brother Boruto struggled to look them both in the eye. Or to not shrink away from Sasuke's touch onto his shoulder as the black-haired man left him on the porch of his house as usual.

"A strange man came at Sasuke's house last night," Boruto speaks and only then did his father's eyes left the paperwork.

He hoped his face did not betray anything, but having his father's complete attention for once was kind of nice. Even if it was about Sasuke and not himself. So he abandons his book to meet the blue gaze of his father.

"His older brother," he explains.

For the first time in his life Boruto watched his dad tun white as as sheet. And then his hand went for the phone, mouth already open in what would soon prove to be a dismissal for him. So Boruto is already up from the couch, carrying his book with him.

"I would not bother if I were you," he snickered. "They got along just fine."

It feels like satisfaction as he slams the door behind him.

The next time he spent his evening at Sasuke's house, Itachi offers to teach him how to play chess. "As a way of saying thank you," the older man elaborates as he arranges the pieces onto the board and Boruto's polite smile vanishes.

"For nothing," he calls back.

Sasuke sat between them as they played. He laughed when Itachi let Boruto win after the first month of practice.