So I asked for ideas last time and it makes me laugh that everyone on and archive of our own suggested dirty things only. Lol. You guys are great!
Also, this chapter starts just after midnight on day 11. So we see them sitting up in the early hours of day 11 and then in the morning of day 11 as well. A little different from how I've done things before but it was needed. Hope that makes sense to everyone!
Down by the lake was a campfire pit and with a word to the staff, that evening they had a roaring fire. It was just the two of them, the weather being a little warm for a fire, but neither of them minded that no one else came down and Naruto wanted the campfire experience despite the heat. The night sky was bright with stars and a half moon, the lake reflected the light like a thousand jewels to Sasuke's eyes. The woods on the shore looked foreign and strange in the dark, something in their depths called to him. He wanted to wander there, quietly exploring, learning all the secretes that they kept.
The blonde next to him was entranced by the fire, watching every snap of the wood with delight. He tossed in every flammable thing within reach, twigs, grass, facial tissues and lint from his pockets, even a handful of sand. His eyes were focused on the fire, the way the flames rose and fell, the smoke rising up and being carried away by a puff of wind, the shadows painted across the landscape. Something in that fire must call to him.
Two different types of people, Sasuke thought. The big question was did their different personalities mean they would always be at odds as he feared, or would they match together somehow like complementing opposites as Naruto hoped? Sadly, there was no way to know beforehand and only time would tell.
"Oh here, I brought these." Naruto held up a bag of food.
"Of course you did." Sasuke teased fondly.
Naruto began roasting marshmallows happily. Sasuke picked pineapple spears, the fire made them sweeter but not too sweet for him.
Naruto gave him a critical look as Sasuke bit into his treat, "Is that good? Really?"
"Yes. You should try it."
"Let me have a bite then." Naruto opened his mouth like a baby bird, waiting for Sasuke to feed him.
"Nice try." He passed Naruto his roasting spear and let Naruto nibble a piece on his own.
Naruto took a careful bite and made a face, "Nope. I'll stick with these." He passed back Sasuke's spear and put four marshmallows on his own.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you to eat your fruits and vegetables?"
"I didn't have a mother." Naruto said in an offhanded way.
It was a revelation to Sasuke, they hadn't talked much about their childhoods. Before he could formulate a reply, Naruto continued.
"Well, had a mother at one point of course. But both my parents died when I was little. I ended up practically raising myself."
"Sorry." He thought guiltily of his own mother, she hadn't been present much in his life but a least she had been there.
Naruto waved off his apology, "It's fine. There isn't any way you could have known. Furthermore, it isn't something that bothers me anymore."
Maybe this is what Naruto had meant when he said he knew something about loneliness? Though the kinds of loneliness were different, they did have common ground.
"Being an orphan and stuff really wasn't so bad all by itself," Naruto continued, "but I was kind of ostracized in my hometown. For a long time I thought that there wasn't anyone who would care if I lived or died."
"But that changed?"
"Yeah. I finally had a teacher in school who helped. Then I started making friends and I learned that the bitterness could become less."
"I'm impressed."
"Really?" Naruto looked pleased.
"Yes." Sasuke gave him a smile, "That can't have been easy."
Naruto beamed at the compliment, "No it really wasn't easy. I was pretty wild back then. Actually, I have a criminal record, mostly expunged by now though." Like most adults looking back on their youth, Naruto spoke of his past as something he thought of fondly of and apologetic toward.
"A criminal record?"
Naruto nodded, looking embarrassed, "Public vandalism, destruction of public property. Things like that mostly. I even had a little street gang of kids who followed me around and helped make trouble."
Sasuke was surprised; who would have thought sunny Naruto had a past like that? "I have a record too actually." He admitted before he could stop himself.
"Really?" Naruto looked curious and pleased, "What for?"
"Naughtier stuff than vandalism." Sasuke smiled secretively.
Naruto laughed, "Who would have thought, huh? Both of us having something in common like that?"
"I was thinking the same thing." Sasuke was still somewhat in awe over this revelation.
Naruto caught all of his marshmallows on fire, and then ate them, burnt parts and all.
"Are you really not going to tell me?" Naruto asked, mouth full of food, "If you don't want to, you don't have to, but I am interested."
"Well…" Sasuke paused. His past was a subject he didn't share with most people. For a variety of reasons, one of them being that he didn't have many people in his life for long periods of time. There was no point in telling the whole story to someone that he was only going to see a handful of times, so he usually didn't say anything. He liked keeping people at an arm's length. It was safe that way, if you didn't share yourself completely with someone then someone can't completely hurt you. Not telling anything about himself was a way of protecting himself against an inevitable break up.
Tonight however, maybe it was the late hour or something in the air, or perhaps that Naruto had so easily confessed to something in his past, Sasuke felt that he could share at least a little something, "Well just the gist of it, okay?"
Naruto inched forward in excitement, "That's okay."
"It started when I met this middle aged guy…"
Before he knew it, he began telling the whole story, sparing the worst of the details but sharing more than he had ever intended. What was the reason he felt so open? The twinkling sky? The warm fire? The shadows all around them? Something outside of himself must be to blame, because he'd never felt this open toward someone before.
During the course of storytelling, he had moved so he and Naruto were sitting on the sand, with Sasuke between Naruto's legs, leaning back on him. Naruto listed with great patience and only the occasional comment.
"Sounds like your brother rescued you." Naruto said as Sasuke concluded his story.
Sasuke pinched Naruto's knee, "He didn't rescue me. I already wanted out of the group but I couldn't find a way. He just sort of… eased the way for me to leave."
Naruto chuckled but let Sasuke's nitpicking go, "I would have liked if I had a brother though. I'm kind of jealous of you."
"Brothers aren't always a good thing. For me and my brother, it's like he is the person I care most about in the world but also my biggest enemy."
"Enemy is kind of harsh isn't it?"
"Siblings are just kind of like that. Sometimes they are the only person who cares that you ran away and sometimes you find out you've been used as a stalking horse in their ten year unrequited love romance." He thought of Kakashi and Itachi hooking up.
"Wait, what was that?" Naruto clearly wanted to hear more about the love triangle but Sasuke wasn't going to share that information tonight.
"Never mind. Just things are strange between siblings." Sasuke sighed, he wasn't explaining this well, "I don't mean to put all the blame on him. I was a difficult kid I know, and even worse as a teenager."
"So it was probably for the best we didn't meet sooner?"
Sasuke laughed, "Oh yeah. I think at best we could have been frenemies."
Naruto wrapped his arms around him and held him close. "I like this better." Naruto whispered, kissing Sasuke's ear.
"Me too, surprisingly."
"Did you have to add the 'surprisingly'?"
Sasuke laughed again, "Oh yeah. This is nothing short of surprising."
Naruto nibbled Sasuke's neck in gentle affection.
"Let's go in." Sasuke said before Naruto could say anything, the atmosphere was too perfect, if it could get Sasuke to confess to his past, Naruto might be tempted to say something he shouldn't.
Inside, they curled up in bed together, the pleasant atmosphere from outside didn't fade and in the dark they told each other secret stories.
"So then they dressed me up in a girl's school uniform and stuck me outside on watch." Sasuke laughed softly as he recounted the tale.
Naruto laughed at the image, "I bet that worked."
"Perfectly, I had the security guard so distracted that he didn't even notice the alarm." Sasuke smiled.
Naruto kissed the side of Sasuke's neck. "That's pretty fucked up though."
Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, it was. But it's easier to remember some of the funny times."
Naruto wrapped himself in Sasuke's arms, head on Sasuke's chest, "I have to admit I'd probably fall for it too, seeing you in that outfit."
"Damn right you would." Sasuke purred and began to groom the fur on Naruto's ears.
The blonde was silent for a while, enjoying the attention he was getting, then he spoke in a soft voice, "I still can't believe you're here with me."
"Really? You practically ordered me to come with you."
Naruto chuckled, "I didn't think it would work though. You really should take better care of yourself. What if I'd been some kind of sick creep?"
Normally, that kind of comment would have pissed him off; in fact, he was probably over sensitive when it came to remarks like that. Sasuke didn't like people telling him stuff like that, it sounded too judgmental. If he wanted to sell his body in a bet he could, and his ability to assess someone's personality was his own business. However, this time he accepted Naruto's words for what they were and didn't get his back up.
"Well since you got everything you wanted, you shouldn't complain." He joked.
"I don't know if I've got 'everything' I want yet." He gave Sasuke a half smile, "But I do know I've never been happier."
Sasuke blushed, Naruto was really fucking cute sometimes.
Naruto sighed sleepily, buried his face in Sasuke's neck, and fell asleep instantly. Sasuke was stuck by how intimate the moment was, and by the fact he didn't want to run away in the slightest. Naruto really was winning him over. There weren't any violins, shooting starts, ringing bells or flashing fireworks like all the old clichés, but it was still happening anyway. Sasuke slipped into sleep with that thought in his mind and a smile on his lips.
The morning light was streaming in through the window, promising a golden day. Sasuke happily let those sunbeams fall all over him while he kept sleeping, still wrapped up around his fox.
Unfortunately, said fox's phone began ringing. With an annoyed twitch of his ears Sasuke gave Naruto a little nudge, hoping he'd wake up enough to hear the vibrating phone on the nightstand. Naruto mumbled something and kept on sleeping.
The phone stopped and Sasuke was prepared to let the matter go when it started up again. He tried to will it into silence and when that didn't work he gave Naruto another nudge. When he didn't show any signs of rousing, Sasuke gave his thigh, which was somehow between Sasuke's legs, a light smack.
Naruto sat up sleepily, "Is that my phone?" He muttered, disoriented upon awakening.
It took a few moments to disentangle themselves from each other, but they managed and Naruto took his phone to the living area. Very quickly, Sasuke heard Naruto's raised voice and he suspected this wasn't the kind of call that would be done quickly. No more morning cuddling, he thought sulkily. Reluctantly, Sasuke got up and got the coffee pot started.
Sasuke trembled a little as he remembered the night before, he'd said and thought some pretty outrageous things. And stranger still, he didn't have any regrets. Oh there was still a warning voice inside that was quite outraged with the way things were transpiring, but overall, he was well… quite happy.
He had already had two cups of coffee before Naruto reappeared looking frustrated and angry. Silently, Sasuke offered him a cup of coffee that Naruto accepted with a disgruntled, almost strangulated sigh.
"Everything is going to hell at work. Those emails I've been ignoring were apparently very important."
"What happened?"
"This big account is falling apart blah blah blah. The short answer is, they want me back on the next plane or my job is in danger."
Sasuke didn't need more than a moment to process, "Well we shouldn't waste much time. We need to start packing and call the airline to change our tickets."
Naruto shook his head, "Not yours, you can stay the last few days."
"No reason to do that. I'll just go back with you." Sasuke was already making a mental checklist of things to do so they could leave quickly.
Naruto looked positively dejected, "I am really sorry."
Sasuke ruffled his hair, "It's fine."
Before noon, they were packed and on the road back to the airport. Naruto had switched to full business mode and spent the car ride on his phone, leaving Sasuke to ruminate. It seemed unfair that the day looked so sunny and golden perfect. Rain would have felt more appropriate and Sasuke could have attributed the sadness he felt to the weather. He could already feel it between them, a wall of his own making. As soon as they were heading back to the real world Sasuke couldn't resist putting up his defenses. Normally they might hold hands or sing along to music together, but Sasuke kept his hands on the wheel now. Naruto was too busy with his business to notice the change.
It was hard for Sasuke, as much as he wanted to keep feeling the way he'd felt just six hours ago, his brain was already shifting back to his normal attitudes. Actually, it was ironic, all this time he'd worried about Naruto's feelings changing but here he was, already trying to build back up his walls.
Yesterday he would have taken comfort in Naruto's smile or arms, but right now Naruto was busy with important work. Sasuke had his private battle with himself and tried not to let it show.
At the airport, Naruto stuffed his phone away to get through security. Before he picked it up again he pulled Sasuke aside.
"I am really very sorry about this. This vacation was more than I could have ever hoped for and I was already trying to think of ways for it to go on forever."
Sasuke smiled, "Thank you." After all, Naruto had treated him to this fantastic trip, "Thank you for bringing me along. I had a very good time." He knew it sounded cold and insipid but his mind was completely blank on what else to say. Last night he had said a lot of things, nothing more needed to be said at this point. Later, when he'd reconciled his own thoughts and emotions, he would talk with Naruto.
Naruto's eyes scanned his face, looking deep into his eyes as if he was looking for something past those words. Sasuke felt nervous under that direct gaze, he wasn't sure what Naruto could read in his eyes. He didn't want Naruto to notice that he was feeling uneasy about their relationship as they moved from the dream vacation back to their daily lives. After a few moments, Naruto's face clouded in sadness, Sasuke assumed it was about the trip being over or the danger about his job. He hoped he wasn't the cause of Naruto's trouble just now, the fox had enough on his plate without worrying about how Sasuke felt about the trip.
Determined to at least show Naruto how much he'd enjoyed himself, Sasuke pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips met easily, despite the fact that their second kiss had been in this very airport only ten days prior. Sasuke happily kissed him when he felt something different in Naruto this time. Sasuke had had his share of one-night stands and breakups; he knew the goodbye kiss when he felt it. This was definitely a goodbye kiss.
Naruto pulled away, brushing his thumb across Sasuke's lips. Sasuke looked at him confused; surely, he'd misinterpreted something? However, Naruto didn't explain anything, he just smiled fondly and turned away. When Sasuke fell into step next to him, he saw that Naruto looked distracted; Sasuke had often noticed that Naruto gave his entire attention to a single problem and right now, he was completely focused on work.
They sat next to each other on the plane and Sasuke finally got his attention when he had to switch his phone off.
"You have a lot to do right now. We can always talk later right?" Sasuke asked him. He wanted to make sure that Naruto knew this wasn't over just because they had to go back.
Naruto gave him his usual smile, "Of course." He looked better now, but there was still some stress around his eyes.
Sasuke appraised him for a minute, he looked the same as always, leaving Sasuke to decide that the kiss didn't have any hidden meaning. Happy with that conclusion he curled up in his seat for a catnap.
They disembarked and Naruto was back on his phone. At baggage claim, Naruto finally hung up long enough to grab his bag from the carousel.
"I'm going to be busy for a while. I probably have to go out of town to handle this."
"Good luck."
Naruto was even more distracted than he had been before the flight. "I'll call you later." Then he was gone.
Even on the plane Naruto had stopped being as clingy as he'd been during the trip, and just now he didn't even try for a kiss. Must be because of work, Sasuke reminded himself. Anyway, it was a relief, Sasuke wasn't sure right now how he would feel about Naruto holding him. Shaking off his strange feelings, he went home to enjoy the rest of his vacation.
Thanks to everyone who wrote a review last time. I can't stress enough how much they help keep me going.
Animallover66666 – So I tried drafting your idea out and Sasuke was pretty much "OH HELL NO!". lol. Maybe for the last chapter.