old. new. borrowed. blue.
That god-awful scarf hangs across Naruto's worn satchel sat against the corner of Sasuke's room, right where Naruto threw it after carefully unravelling the knot tied loosely around Sasuke's neck with a cheeky grin in no way displaced by the flush across the bridge of Naruto's nose.
The scarf's stuck in Sasuke's peripheral, an assault of wide, horizontal stripes in intermittent hues dutiful to Naruto's hair.
It clashes with Sasuke's, all too bright against dark strands trapped beneath warm fabric he's taken a habit to wearing if only because Naruto ruined Sasuke's plain, dark blue scarf that made it easier to blend in with the white backdrop of Osaka this time of year.
"It suits you," Naruto said that day outside Sasuke's door. Features soft and breath cold on Sasuke's face, he held Sasuke's hands between his, rubbed his thumbs against Sasuke's wrists he once called too thin until he realised how well his fingers fit around them.
Instead of apologising for ruining the scarf, he gave Sasuke his, one of a few but suspiciously lacking the frays expected from Naruto's constant chewing on the ends.
Yet there's something about seeing Sasuke wearing the scarf that tends to make Naruto more excitable than usual, something so fundamentally and horrendously corny underlying the fact Naruto didn't hesitate to give up something of his simply because Sasuke needed it. Just like so many of the other things Naruto does—has been doing—that somehow encroaches the increasingly sparse gap between how long they've known each other and the continuously accumulating time that makes up their relationship that still feels all too obscure.
It's the kind of corny that reminds Sasuke of the inanely pleased look on Naruto's face whenever they walk to school every once in a while without their friends, or when they share packs of instant ramen during weekend study sessions at Naruto's place that creep into early mornings spent together asleep in a mess of tangled limbs and Naruto's drool sliding down Sasuke's chin.
And it's the same kind of inanely pleased look that sometimes inspires Naruto to revel in this sort of stupid, self-satisfied grin that may not have anything to do with the scarf at all.
"I want to come inside you again," is the whisper blown across his earlobe, and Sasuke rolls his eyes because the words are corny, so very corny, and he refuses to admit even to himself it was Naruto's idea of wanting to find the quickest way to warm up that resulted in him pulling at Naruto's tie and Naruto's fingers undoing the silver buckle of his belt.
"Isn't once enough?"
Naruto shakes his head against Sasuke's neck, murmurs a never with you Sasuke pretends not to hear. That stupid grin he feels at risk of being permanently plastered on his skin takes precedence over those three too straightforward words that leave Sasuke maybe the tiniest bit timorous for one or two seconds—longer, probably, even though he won't let himself believe anything more than four—Naruto's stupid, stupid grin that doesn't just go away and Sasuke clenches his jaw at the fact it won't do anything but stay as Naruto starts to pull out, stops and starts and stops again not even halfway inside him.
The hand reaching behind Sasuke's back nudges him to lift his hips. Naruto shifts some more, moves them both further up the bed with his other hand sliding fingers along the inside of Sasuke's wrist.
"You're going to be the one on your back if you don't just put it in."
"Always so pushy."
"Hurry up before I change my mind about letting you do it again."
"But I like that about you anyway.
At first it seems thoughtless. To say that kind of thing aloud with such an easygoing nature, tossed around like an exchange of good morning or good night. It reminds Sasuke of the predictability he associates with passing by the park where they first met on their way to school, stepping into white slippers and absently watching Naruto's daily skirmish out of his scuffed blue and red sneakers before impatience demands he drag Naruto to Class 3-C because he won't let Naruto's inability to put on slippers while hopping on one foot make them late.
And yet, the way Naruto said it, with that ridiculous, absolute certainty—but then Naruto's gaze sways to the pillow nearly fallen off the bed, transfixed like he's trying to make himself disappear, and Sasuke almost frowns because if they're doing something like this, he'd rather Naruto look at him instead.
The realisation almost makes him blush, too, but Sasuke manages not to since he tries not be the type of person who easily does. Having a childhood with someone like Itachi necessitated learning how to curb those telltale signs of embarrassment that he hasn't really outgrown considering Itachi has yet to stop doing those kinds of things he knows still embarrasses him.
Although simply willing away any outward loss of composure didn't always work before, Naruto starting to move again is enough for the attempt to work now.
He looks down at Sasuke, stops and waits a few moments with the corner of his mouth half-raised.
...hey is another murmur, this time his voice a little more hoarse, his eyes a little too bright.
Sasuke doesn't hide a slight wince as Naruto continues to push in, uses it to distract himself from the imaginary lump in his throat at the tingle caused by the fingers leaving light touches on his skin, because Naruto's a sappy idiot whose ego doesn't need boosting.
"As long as I'm your sappy idiot."
Sasuke agrees with a low hum tinged with a feigned reluctance he finds hard to keep. "Unless you have someone else in mind."
Naruto's response is a playful growl, but the grip on Sasuke's wrist suddenly tightens before Naruto decides to let go. "Bastard."
Raising his chin, Sasuke snorts, rubs his calf against Naruto's side.
There's a grunt from Naruto. His breath comes out forced, shoulders rigid. He tries to keep a straight face despite Sasuke poking him where he's ticklish. Except he can't. Because he actually giggles. And it escalates into some strange combination of groaning and giggling that makes Sasuke grit his teeth.
"What's so funny?"
"You," Naruto says, both corners of his mouth upturned when Sasuke's glare urges him to elaborate. He leans down, stares into dark eyes.
"What about me?"
"You have this thing about making the most unsexiest noises when we're having sex. Really, I don't mind them because it's you making them—that's why I like them, but then your face gets this really scrunched and pinched expression that's not erotic at all."
"S-shut..." Sasuke squeezes his eyes shut when Naruto begins to pull his cock out, keeps Naruto from going too far with the heel of his foot digging into Naruto's back. "Shut up."
"Remember that time when we tried to do it in the—"
A hand quickly covers Naruto's mouth, but Sasuke scowls at the muffled words he can still make out, so when Naruto tries to plaster another one of those grins against Sasuke's skin, the hand over Naruto's mouth moves to his nose.
Naruto only continues to laugh, even after Sasuke releases the two fingers tweaking his nose. He lets the sound settle into a rumble, low, almost like a purr that resonates in Sasuke's chest.
"Stop trying to ruin the mood."
"Who's trying to ruin anything?" Hand tracing alongside Sasuke's thigh, Naruto moves forward, easing in his cock just a little bit more. "I'm still in the mood—aren't you?"
Sasuke throws his head back, moans and reaches with fingers curled into his palm pressing against Naruto's shoulder.
"Knowing what it feels like just to be with you," Naruto whispers, "that's the kind of mood this is, isn't it? And being in this kind of mood, I want to keep it for a long time because I like that feeling, because it...it makes me really happy, you know."
Sasuke peers up with eyes a little too wide, and in this instance, he does frown. "Saying something embarrassing like that at a time like this—what's wrong with you?"
"I-I'm—I didn't say it to mean I'm proposing to you or anything like that. I just—"
"Who said anything about proposing?"
"I know we're still in high school and entrance exams for college don't start until next year, even if it's too early to be thinking about this kind of—"
Reaching between them, with his thumb, Sasuke rubs the head of Naruto's cock that slipped out. He guides it back in slowly, pulls away, raising his hips to meet Naruto's sharp thrust.
"...don't m-make me d-do that," Naruto hisses, inhales and shudders. "I'm trying to be serious about this."
Sasuke smirks, starts to rock against Naruto's cock when Naruto stops moving. "...I thought you were trying to come inside me again."
"Sasuke, you..."
Naruto groans, breath snagged at the end of Sasuke's name he says one more time. His body moves with a jerk. He presses Sasuke into the bed, stills, then rests his head on Sasuke's shoulder.
When the cock still inside him finally starts to soften, Sasuke lets himself breathe, relaxing under Naruto's weight despite not really being hard to begin with.
The aftermath makes the already sticky sheets feel even stickier, stickier than the feel of Naruto's damp hair attached to his cheek. They probably should have used a condom. Definitely should have when hindsight makes not being able to find any seem more of a hindrance than it did at the time.
While Sasuke's parents are away, there's no telling if Itachi will be making one of those impromptu visits home. He doesn't want a repeat of the last time they almost got caught, squirming beneath his brother's attentiveness and silent reproach to their dishevelled states they tried to cover up, yet Naruto makes himself comfortable on top of him, and it's not uncomfortable for Sasuke to lie here, pointedly ignoring the bright scarf lingering in his vision.
He can almost hear the TV Naruto forgot to turn off from across the hall. The voices don't quite penetrate the closed door, a faraway drone quickly fading into the quiet of the room easy to bask in, easy to let himself fall asleep in.
Naruto turns his head into Sasuke's neck. He sighs against Sasuke's skin, breath too hot considering the warm air already circulating the house. Sasuke grunts but doesn't say anything until the gathered material of the sheets pushing against his back starts to make him itch.
"...I can't believe you just tried to propose to me."
"It's not like—" Naruto adjusts himself over Sasuke. "It's not like that, but I still mean it. Wanting to follow through with that kind of decision, to be with you in that way, I'm sure of it."
Sasuke presses his lips together, bottom tucked underneath the top, but he allows Naruto to keep them like this because the arm around his waist insists Naruto doesn't intend on pulling out anytime soon.
"...I thought about asking your brother about it once." The sheets beneath Sasuke rustle when Naruto wiggles a little more. He inches himself as much as he can inside Sasuke, tries to get closer than they already were. "That is, going to him about how to approach you. Since you two have always been so close."
"You were going to go to Itachi for advice. About making such a careless declaration to me."
"I wouldn't describe it with those words," Naruto says wryly, "but something like that. I guess."
"You guess?"
"I guess, yeah. But going to Itachi for that sort of thing, though, I'd probably have better luck with Sakura. Or my dad maybe. My mom not so much."
Naruto lifts his head. He offers Sasuke a half-hearted attempt at an unfamiliar smile that begins to falter as soon as it shows.
"Then again," he says, "it doesn't matter anymore because we're here like this anyway. Even if I didn't want to tell you this way, I still don't want to go back on what I said. So I'll take this chance if it means you knowing how much I want to be with you like this—if it means admitting I don't want to go through what happened last year because I—I can't lose you like that again."
"...guys don't..." The syllables stretch uncomfortably long on Sasuke's tongue, leave his mouth too dry. "Guys don't do this kind of thing with each other."
"I know, but I—I like you, Sasuke," Naruto whispers, breathes through stammered words Sasuke wonders if he'll ever be ready to say because he's still trying to figure out what they mean.
Gaze lowered, Naruto bites down on his lip. His shoulders tense, almost shaking. "I really do, and I..."
Sasuke swallows and reaches to push away the hair that shadows blue eyes. "...what about my scarf?"
Raising his head, Naruto blinks at Sasuke. "...huh?"
"You still owe me a scarf." The frown makes another appearance on Sasuke's face yet, like its predecessor, lacks any real irritation "If you're willing to stand by saying something so careless, you're willing to buy me a new scarf."
"Sasuke..."
"And then maybe...maybe then I'll tell you what I think about you declaring senseless things like that."
"Does that mean you're—wait a minute—what's this about a new scarf? I already replaced the one I messed up, didn't I?"
"You gave me one of yours."
Naruto stares at Sasuke. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It wasn't new."
"You're serious."
"The one you ruined, I'd just bought that the week before."
"I can't believe yo—you're actually being serious about this, aren't you."
"It's your fault I don't have my scarf anymore. I'm not paying for a new one when the one I had was fine until I let you borrow it."
"You want a new one?" Naruto slips his arm from around Sasuke's waist and glowers, doesn't waste time pulling out of him and scooting towards the edge of the bed. "Well, buy your own damn scarf then."
Sasuke flinches as he sits up, rubbing his lower back with a grimace.
"You have money, don't you? You've been using the one I gave you all month, and suddenly it's not good enough for you, is that it?"
"Naru—"
"But you know what I didn't tell you—that scarf over there," Naruto says, pointing behind him to the corner of the room where the scarf was laid over his satchel, "it was new when I gave it to you. I know it looks like the other ones I have, but I went out and bought it that day since I felt bad about messing up yours because I knew how much you liked it. So...so I wanted to give you something nice, something to make up for what I did, and then it turned into wanting to give you something that would make you think of me when you wore it, and I—"
Sasuke scowls, reaches to grab both sides of Naruto's face and brings their foreheads together.
"Naruto, y-you freakishly obtuse idiot, I...I like your scarf! I like your hideous, ostentatious, too-bright-for-words scarf bombarded with regurgitated yellow hues that always makes me stand out wherever I go even though I don't think it suits me no matter how many times you keep saying it does since you're the one who gave it to me. That's why I'm always wearing it, because I really like it, okay, so shut the hell up and stop whining because you're not going to hear me say it again."
"...oh."
Chest heaving, Sasuke licks his lips. He drops his hands, a little more hesitant to move them than he wants to admit, but it doesn't detract from the expectant glare he turns on Naruto. "You better come up with something more than oh."
"I, uh, I meant oh as in, um," Naruto says, "...I knew that?"
There's a long pause between them, made seemingly longer by the fact Naruto has the gall to face him with such a sheepish look.
Before Sasuke has the opportunity to say anything about it, however, slowly but surely, that stupid, self-satisfied grin comes back, and Naruto presses it against the corner of Sasuke's mouth that begins to turn down.
"Naruto, are you—are you hard again?"
"...maybe?" Naruto chuckles, scratching the back of his neck. "Hearing you confess those kinds of things to me, you don't do that a lot, so getting excited down there, it's not something that can be helped. Because knowing how you—"
A hand placed behind the back of Naruto's head smashes their mouths together, and Sasuke indulges in his own little stupid grin when Naruto melts into the hurried kiss.
Gradually, Naruto pulls away but wraps his arm around Sasuke. Almost too tight, he squeezes with fingers pressing into Sasuke's side, grips tighter when his lips meet Sasuke's again to draw out a kiss that's languid, so deliberately slow.
Just like this is his murmur this time, really soft and really low, and Sasuke closes his eyes, sighs and leans his head against Naruto's shoulder.