A/N: Another christmas fic that is quite depressing. This time, though, it's for my sister (who will probably never read this, but that's beside the point) as a gift for christmas. I'm just too lazy to spend more money on presents...
Anyways, this is a spin-off of Recyclables. Although it can stand on its own as a fic, it would help to know the background of the plot. This ties in with just about everything I had planned for Recyclables, but the information is not needed to understand the story.
I came up with this idea on a walk, during which I also got rid of some writer's block on another story. I don't think that it's finished- in fact, methinks I'm going to be editing this many times over the next while. It's set to For All That I Am by the ATeens (yes, I still listen to dried-up pop bands from the nineties and yes, this is one disclaimer) and I think it works pretty well. Outside of more editing, of course.
And, because I don't want to ramble, and I honestly can't think of anything else to say, I'll shut up and put the disclaimer for Naruto, stating that I don't own any of the characters.
Sasuke looked up as Naruto opened the door to their house. It was well past three in the morning. The rumpled state of Naruto's clothing, added to the slight sway in his step, told the Uchiha that his boyfriend had gone out drinking with his friends without telling him. Again.
He stood with his arms folded, next to the bed. The bed itself hadn't been touched since the night before, evidence to the fact that Sasuke had stayed up waiting all night for the blonde. He waited for Naruto to notice him, tapping his fingers against his arms.
Naruto looked up finally. He smiled and waved. "Hey, I didn't know you'd be waiting." He walked over to give the brunette a kiss, and was pushed away. He looked confused, blinking dumbly. "What's wrong?"
Sasuke decided that things had gone on long enough. He needed to have a talk with Naruto. He was tired of never knowing when he would return, and it was time Naruto knew it as well. "Why didn't you tell me that you would be gone late again?"
Naruto shrugged, trying to move past Sasuke. He was blocked each time. "Look, I forgot to tell you. Sorry." Naruto sounded as if it were a last-minute addition to his speech. Sasuke kept moving into his path. "Will you let me by already?"
"No. It would've taken two seconds to send a message." Sasuke's cold eyes met Naruto's.
The blonde's temper, so easily boiled when he had been drinking, was heating up quickly. "I said I was sorry. Now will you let it go?"
"I won't." Sasuke blocked his path again. "You always do this." He cut his lover off before he was interrupted. "I'm sick and tired of it, Naruto. You act like you don't care if I spend the entire night worrying over whether something happened to you or not!"
Naruto stiffened. "Now that isn't fair. You know I care. It just slipped my mind." His temper nearly broke when Sasuke didn't let him pass again.
"You sure don't act like you care. If telling me where you're going is too much trouble, why are you even living here still?"
Naruto threw up his hands. "Why? Maybe because I want to. Maybe we agreed to it? This whole arrangement?" He fixed Sasuke with a heated glare. "How about the fact that you've never once said that you love me without my first saying it?"
Sasuke's arms dropped to fist at his sides. "What do you expect, a gushing confession? I say it when I think that it'll have the most effect. " He turned the tables on his boyfriend. "And what about you? You don't tell me you love me that much, either."
"At this point, I'm not sure I can say it. Don't forget, other than you never saying those three words, I also have to put up with all of those fans of yours that haven't given up on you."
"What am I supposed to do about it? I can't do anything--"
"You won't do anything!" Tempers were unleashed and both began screaming at each other. "I have to hold myself back, smile without a care in the world, while my boyfriend lets the entire village hang off of him! How the hell am I supposed to deal with that, when you told me that you wouldn't encourage them?"
"I'm not encouraging them! It's not like I can do anything to them to discourage them more than I already do. At least I make a point to tell you when I'm going to be a late."
"So now it's my fault if I forget? I've had to give up so much," he was interrupted by Sasuke claiming he gave up as much as, if not more than, Naruto did, "and you've been able to live life as you had before we moved in with each other!"
Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but Naruto wasn't finished. He punched Sasuke in the face, catching the brunette off guard. The Uchiha flew back and hit the wall. Silence blanketed the room instantly, causing the two ninja's ears to start ringing.
Naruto spoke up a moment later. "I gave up my dreams for you. I gave up everything I've ever wanted so that I can stay with you. I was already considered a freak by the village before this- dating a guy just confirmed my status with the entire village. To them, I'm the worst thing they can come up with, but I don't care." Naruto didn't realise that he had tears in his eyes at this point. His voice softened slightly. "I can handle everything because you're always there for me. I can take everything with a smile, because I know that you'll always be waiting for me, here, when I get back home."
His voice hardened. "But there are times when you act like I'm nothing more than a toy that you haven't gotten bored with yet. And that's when I regret my life."
Naruto turned around and walked from the house, ignoring Sasuke's protests. He had had enough, and knew he needed to leave before he did something he would regret. He left Sasuke alone, slamming the door behind him.
Sasuke's temper was dying down, and now that he could think rationally, he knew that Naruto was right. He didn't compromise as much as he should have been, and Naruto was bending over backwards to make everything work. He didn't do as much as he could to preserve their tenuous relationship when he should have been doing as much as he possible to hold onto the person he cared most about.
Sasuke knew how much he needed Naruto. Even Sakura saw how much he cared for the loud blonde, and had made a point to comment on it many times. Apparently, everyone but Naruto saw how much Sasuke loved him.
The brunette stood and sat on the bed. He knew that Naruto would come back eventually, after he had finished walking off his anger. He would wait. When he did come back, Sasuke would apologize. He would take back everything, tell the blonde how much he needed him. He would close the rift that had opened between them, and he would make sure that Naruto never doubted again how much Sasuke loved him.
Sasuke waited all night. Naruto never returned.
Last night, I came home too late
And you were there waiting.
I know it's easy to call,
I guess I wasn't thinking of you.
It's not that I don't care,
You should know me better by now.
I am sorry if I made you lonely and sad.
I am sorry I made you feel bad.
What I'm trying to say?
I'm not always that way.
So, love me for all that I am.
I know I often forget
To say that I love you.
And yes, I truly regret
The times I might have hurt you that way.
It's not that I don't care,
You should know me better by now.
I am sorry if I made you lonely and sad.
I am sorry I made you feel bad.
What I'm trying to say?
I'm not always that way.
So, love me for all that I am.
True, I may defend the things I do,
Though I know deep down I've done wrong.
But when the heat comes down it's you
That keeps me going on.
I am sorry if I made you lonely and sad.
I am sorry I made you feel bad.
What I'm trying to say?
I'm not always that way.
So, love me for all that I am.