AN: WOOHOO DADDY IS BETTER THAN EVER!
So let me just say that we made up. And you may think that it's too good to be true, but this is why I believe in miracles. We're close friends again AND we're even closer than ever. He's pretty chill about it now and thinks that it's nice to have someone care about him outside his family that much. I'd love to be pessimistic, but no. I'm optimistic about my chances. Most of the people in my class ship us. By the end of the year, I expect to win his affections. Lose my virginity? HELL TO THE YES PLEASE.
Replying:
The Sorrowful Deity: Yes, kinda like that. But it's rare. My first crush was a female and my second and current crush is said male who temporarily broke my heart. Woop woop. Is there a difference? Of course. Since my current crush and I are as manly as we can get (He's a pretty well-built Karate brown belt and I'm a basketball freak. And I swear to god, it just so happens that there is a bit of correlation between my crush and I to Menma and Naruto, respectively), we're pretty much cool with disgusting manly shit. Meanwhile, I had to be cautious around my female crush and act gentlemanly. And yeah, don't be that toxic man. I have the high honor to be considered his possession and friend.
Bomahe: Thanks for wishing me luck, man. This shit is pretty hard to deal with.
97: Thanks for understanding.
Kigen Dawn: WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT COCK-CLOCKING?
Now, onwards to the fic!
Perhaps it was Sasuke's fault.
Not only was his phone ringing—but it was also vibrating right under Naruto's spine. A bit of a startle and Naruto instincts told him to sit up. He followed said instincts, but was stopped by familiar external force, pushing against his lips. And God—did he like it. Without any hesitation, he cherished the feeling and dragged whoever the hell owned those smooth lips to his body.
Naruto's first assumption was that it was his brother, finally giving him a chance. To his delight, he did not dare open his eyes.
"Something smells good." He disconnected himself and put his forehead against the other. "Are you cooking something?"
Sasuke was red off the charts. He pushed the sleepyhead down and punched Naruto's left cheek. It was strong enough to leave Naruto uncomfortable for three days. Naruto groaned from the pain. Sasuke almost chuckled. He snatched his phone and rejected the call. It was from Kiba, who would most likely ask for the homework answers.
"Wake up, you idiot. It's Sasuke. I'm cooking you food."
"Wha—"
"Your brother brought you here."
Sasuke found it unbelievable that he received such a passionate kiss from someone like Naruto. By the looks of it, Naruto didn't look like someone who could kiss. He stood corrected. He tried sighing it away, but to no avail.
"Wait . . . Did I . . ."
Naruto was momentarily disturbed. He swore to everything holy that he had just made out seconds before he was brought back to reality. The sting and spice were still on his lush lips. Moisture was dripping from the roof of his mouth. He glared at Sasuke, hoping to deny his thoughts.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked.
Butterflies swirled in the stomachs of both boys. The first to make a move would obviously lose. But—screw it all—might as well ask Sasuke for confirmation.
"Kinda an awkward question, but . . . did I—uh . . . do some kissy . . . things before I woke up?"
Sasuke grunted. He was thankful Naruto asked first. He was about to preemptively confirm that he did kiss Naruto to diffuse things before Naruto would get perplexed. Either that, or Naruto would call out for sexual assault for the second time under a trimester. Sasuke wouldn't want the latter to happen.
He lied, "No—but you did look rather desperate for affection in your sleep." At least a half-lie was enough.
"Oh! Sorry about that." Naruto smiled brightly. Easy to get back his composure as it is to lose it. That trait was something prominent in Naruto. Sasuke found it attractive.
Sasuke quietly returned to work, with a pair of azure eyes watching his back. While he was finishing the final touches to his work of culinary art, he couldn't forget how tasty Naruto was. It felt like a soft feather, tickling him gently, with the combined force of a pile of bricks pulling him down. Soft and hard at the same time. It was his drug. Addicted at first try.
He will never tell Naruto what had happened. Not the kiss. Never. A kiss like that is too sweet to degrade into Naruto's assumed sexual harassment.
And God, Sasuke fucking loved Naruto that it strained his heart strings.
He plopped the musubi on a plate and served it to a standing Naruto, who was about to help him finish the dishes. It seemed he just stood there for no reason. They both sat on the bed, feeling the cotton sink.
"I guess," Naruto said as he examined the food, "I'd consider having someone else cook me food." Naruto reminisced the last few weeks since the schoolyear started. He bit his cheek. "I've gotten kinda used to cooking food for me and Menma, at times when it would be a waste of supplies and money to go buy ramen, that I forgot what it feels to lay back and have someone else cook for me."
Menma didn't really receive Kushina's gift of culinary skills. When he tried cooking, he'd alert the fire alarm a few seconds after he had turned the stove on. Thank God his twin watched his mother intently before she passed away.
Sasuke witnessed Naruto inhale his cooking, one by one. The spark in Naruto's eyes made Sasuke's heart sigh in delight. He silently thanked Menma for the opportunity of satisfying Naruto. He lied his back down on the bedpost and listened to his songs from his phone with only his left earphone placed, the smell of fried spam still wafting around the room.
While Naruto kept on eating, he kept on stealing glances on the resting boy. While he had a hunch that Sasuke was feeling—probably not happy, but tranquil, Sasuke still looked bitter with his steely expression. It was most likely an unintentional trait. He poked one of the musubis on Sasuke's lips, which made Sasuke open one of his eyes slightly.
"I don't want it; it's yours."
Naruto rolled his eyes. Even through his words, he sounded bitter.
"You cooked it," Naruto insisted. "The number one rule of cooks is that the cook should be the first to taste what he had created. It's not too late to unbreak that rule."
Naruto puffed his cheeks as Sasuke just resigned some more. He sat at Sasuke's left and picked the free earphone. Sasuke didn't even object.
"What are you even listening to?"
Sasuke nonchalantly shrugged.
Then you look back at me and suddenly I'm
Helpless!
Oh, look at those eyes!
Helpless!
Down for the count, and I'm drownin' in 'em.
Naruto stared at Sasuke, while the song played on. Apparently, Sasuke's cheeks were growing hints of roses, but Naruto. He smiled with a fox's slyness and scooted closer to Sasuke. The Uchiha did his best to ignore everything that Naruto was doing, but his uneven breath and pounding chest were the opposite of his external intentions, but parallel to his internal intentions.
"I bet you want someone to be helpless over you."
Damn, was it that hard for Naruto to figure it out? For a few seconds, he had analyzed Sasuke's actions. Quite similar to the basis of his actions to Menma. Love. Lust. Because who the hell would thrust their groin against another while inside a vent? Probably someone head-over-heels over another person. Naruto sniffed Sasuke's pajama collar. Smelled like almonds.
"What are you talking about?"
Sasuke was looking away. He was sure he was exposed. Tingling sensations spread across his body as Naruto slung an arm around him.
"You know what I'm talking about. I don't have a PhD about love, but I know desire when I see it."
Naruto disliked the silence Sasuke radiated after. He pouted. How dare he ignore a great find like that? He felt the thumping of Sasuke's heart on Sasuke's neck. Duh, he was really in love with Naruto. The blond made a decision.
"You know . . . I kinda really need a break from my brother. He's been putting me under a lot emotional stress lately and . . . I wanna forget about it, just for a little while. For now, I don't really want any advances with you."
Sasuke's hair drooped.
"But I do think you could court me. Who knows? Maybe . . . I'll eventually love you, along the way." Naruto flashed a quick smile at Sasuke, until the Uchiha faced him. Sasuke really did have cold eyes. Naruto's were definitely livelier.
"What did your brother even do?"
"Me."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Sasuke shook his head dismissively. He needed to check his hearing soon enough. He wanted to focus on breaking Naruto's interest in his interest on taking Naruto's interest all for himself. He can't show any sign of passion for Naruto while the younger one was interrogating him.
"Yeah . . . I don't like you, Naruto—so . . . Whatever you're thinking, might as well put it in the memory shredder."
Curious eyes sparkled toward Sasuke's direction. It took tons of willpower to not return the stare. He coughed and tried to wear that frigid expression that the Uchiha had trademarked over the course of decades and centuries.
"Sasuke, come on . . . You—"
"Good night, Naruto." Sasuke walked to the switch and placed his finger on the stick, yet to shut it off. "You can either take the sofa or get lost and go find another guy to take you in their room."
Naruto hadn't realized that he was poking Sasuke's desire. A few more presses could make Sasuke force Naruto to stay on the bed and let his emotions win over the stalemate against his own hesitations.
"You can't keep that soulless look forever, Sasuke."
That was true.
"While you can sometimes be cold over lots of other people, I know you are still human inside."
Hell no. The amount of desire he had for Naruto was inhumane.
"So, yes, I can pretty much deduce that you love me, teme."
Damn it. Sasuke was cornered.
Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke cut him off. "Just go to sleep, dobe. You're—" Sasuke lost his voice over his realization and the weak summons of late-night drizzling. He shut the lights off and slid under his blanket, with Naruto still staring at Sasuke.
"Can you get off my bed? Take the sofa . . . or the floor. I don't care."
Naruto wanted to protest, but it seemed that he really can't do anything about it, knowing that Sasuke always made sure everything went Sasuke's way. He obliged and curled into a ball to keep himself warm.
The thought of Sasuke liking the other pestered both of them as silence crept across the room, with both of the boys unable to get a wink of sleep with all of their unorganized thoughts. Sasuke was full of regret for letting his mouth shoot off. Naruto was even more bothered.
He called me "dobe." Just like in the letter.
I called him "dobe." Idiot.
There was nothing much for Naruto to say, except: "Goodnight, Sasuke."
Sasuke clicked his tongue. He gripped the fabric of his blanket. "I beg to differ, Naruto."
Kiba was out with Hinata to help her capture some photographs for the annual school photography folio when a cold rain poured across the school. They headed to Dormitory 3-A, which was the dorm where the Namikaze brothers were in—also Kiba himself and Sasuke. His curses and her censorships escaped their throats on their way there. Hinata grumbled. Both of them were soaked. Fortunately, her camera wasn't as dripping as Hinata was.
"Your dorm, need I say it . . . uh . . . really doesn't have scenery that is up to par with stuff I could make excellent pictures out of, considering that it lacks flowers around your area."
"But," Kiba asked, "Isn't photography about extracting the best qualities of an object that one might consider not worthy of their time?"
Hinata paused for a second while she was brushing some parts of her camera. She smiled. Kiba was catching on to the stuff she taught him about photography. "Right. And for that—" She tiptoed a bit to reach Kiba's lips, only for the boy to grab her waist and lift her in the air, performing one of the longest kisses they've gotten themselves into.
The heat bubbled inside Kiba's stomach. A comforting heat—as he may describe it. He wanted that humidity of kissing to be always present—exclusively with Hinata. His lips brushed against Hinata's forehead as she disconnected the kiss, chuckling.
"What are you laughing about?"
"Oh—teehee—it's nothing. Kissing is just more fun that I thought," Hinata said as she was put down. The touch of Kiba's arms around her left fireworks all over the areas he had touched. She straightened her back.
"Damn right it is."
Kiba remembered his call about an hour ago. Damn that Sasuke. He probably could suggest a few destinations in mind where there was plenty of photography material. He sighed.
"Well—for payback—I think we could take a sneak-peek on Sasuke with that special branded Hyuga lens you have. What's it called again?"
Hinata clamped his mouth shut. "Don't go announcing it, Kiba. The Byakugan isn't even released yet to the public." Kiba nodded. It took only a few moments for Hinata to return to her cautious self. "Plus, isn't it invasion of privacy if we go look at his private room without any form of consent?"
"Eh, it's not like I'll tell it to anyone. I bet it's gonna be uninteresting anyway."
"Right . . . " mumbled Hinata. She followed Kiba to Room 120. She fixed the special lens on her camera and crouched. Said lens was developed by the Hyuga Company. It was a lens that had a built-in unique X-Ray that could see past through approximately six inches of a surface. It hasn't been released yet due to the law of privacy. The Hyuga was still going through due process to legalize and release the lens to the public. But for then—
She fixed the camera on the room. Clicking sounds were produced from the activation of the lens. It took some time for the camera to focus—about enough time to have Hinata to get her legs straining. Knowing how the view finder wasn't able to see through, she looked through the LCD display.
And even if it was in a black-and-white display, Hinata knew what she saw. Nails pricked her skin and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Even so, a small smile crept up to her face. Just a thin one, without exposure of her teeth.
Her finger placed pressure on the shutter release.
"Lemme see."
Kiba switched to the gallery. The photo that flashed made him gulp his astonishment down. Eventually, he just chuckled. The photo may not be clear, but it was clear enough for him to see what was happening inside.
It showed Sasuke massaging Naruto's golden hair while he was fast asleep.
"I think . . ." Hinata muttered, "Uhm . . . yes—I've observed Sasuke taking an interest in Naruto from afar for a while now." She switched the view of the screen so she can have a three-by-three view of her captured photos. "I uh . . . have proof."
Kiba raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
She showed him the first photo. It showed Menma handing Naruto a glass of water in the cafeteria, with that unmistakable smile pasted on Naruto's face. Behind Naruto sat Sasuke, with their backs facing each other. Sasuke was stealing a quick glance on Naruto while Ino was showing herself off to the Uchiha.
The second photo revealed a sleeping Menma leaning against a studying Naruto under a cherry blossom tree, with drool dripping on Naruto's pants, in a light hot summer day with green bursting from the ground. In the background, Sasuke was under the comfort of another tree, with his eyes on the twins, and his left hand on a drawing pad.
The third photo, which Hinata thought was the most Kiba could see, was showing Menma planting a small, quick kiss on Naruto's whiskers, with Naruto looking uncomfortably to the other side, on the P.E. field. Sasuke was staring at them with distaste from his eyes, while drinking from his water bottle.
Hinata turned the camera off. The Hyuga lens still demanded lots of energy, even after tweaks and fixes. Kiba said, "So you were basically stalking a stalker?" There was a discoloration in his eyes.
"Well . . . in a way. I've stocked a few more photos, but I think you've seen enough."
Kiba's expression reminded her of the same expression Sasuke had in every photo she received. Envy. With that same lack of energy and flare of negativity, she was sure both of them were jealous. Hinata rolled her eyes and touched Kiba's cheek with her lips.
"Why do you have to get so jealous that quickly? I just . . . noticed. I can't help but capture those moments."
Both of the stood up and Kiba exhaled heavily. He kept a crooked smile. He brushed a lock of purple hair aside. He bubbled, "Sometimes, I forget you're Hinata Hyuga. I don't think Hinata Hyuga would ever betray my faith in her."
"Right you are."
Honestly, Kiba felt horrible for himself. If he had lost his faith in Hinata for just a minute or two, that would directly mean he was the toxic side of the two. Hinata was one of the most pure-of-heart people he had ever encountered. How could he ever let his trust faze like that? He hissed Hinata by the eyebrow.
"Sorry I kinda doubted you, babe. I was just . . . eh—forget it." So as to not get any further in to mind-piercing details, he changed the topic. He patted the camera. "What do you think we should do to that photo?"
In response, Hinata shrugged. "Future use, maybe?" She was as clueless as Kiba was about what they should do.
"You mean blackmail?"
"Wha—Kiba!" She folded her arms. As she tried walking away, she was swept from her feet, with Kiba's nose rubbing on hers. That damn smug smirk. Hinata wanted to kiss those lips.
"I was kidding, Hinata. You're so sensitive."
"Isn't that why you wanted me in the first place?"
Tomatoes and a bit of steam. Hinata hit Kiba again. Kiba rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's wait till the rain's gone."
"Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT!"
Menma threw himself to the wall, with remarkable force. For a whole hour, he still cannot sleep. Even with Naruto gone.
He had made a promise when he was a child that he will always be a strong boy—that he will die without shedding a single tear. Perhaps, a few scratches while biking were still acceptable, because he was still a weak child. But there he was, crying a river in the cold night, where one soul was shattered.
Kurama mumbled, "You've messed your bed up."
"I know—goddamnit!" His forehead hurt against the cream wall. He could hear his blood racing across his body. He gulped. "I'm so scared, Kurama."
"Hm. Scared of what?"
There was silence in the room, for probably a few seconds. Those seconds felt like hours. Menma fell to his knees and leaned his body on the wall.
"I don't want to lose another member of my family. Naruto's all I have."
Kurama didn't want to make a joke, but he had to. "Ouch. I don't want to feel left out, kid."
"Whatever."
He felt a soft paw on his bare right foot. "Nose." Menma held his head back to see a pool of red on his pajama shirt. He had been so filled to the brim that he failed to notice such a miniscule thing. His mouth tasted bitter. He grunted as he stood up and walked to the bathroom. He unbuttoned his pajama and threw it at the sink.
He admired his figure in front of the mirror. Ever since ignoring Naruto, somehow, he had been able to focus on the gym. A slow progress, but he saw himself getting a bit more fit than before. Still well-toned, but . . . harder. He clogged his left nostril and rinsed his hands. The sight of blood swirling down the drain was somehow satisfying, seeing the whirlpool that the Uzumaki family had inherited. He looked back again at the mirror. He smiled a weak smile.
"No wonder Naruto wants to level up more than the casual brotherly affection."
"Well, no. The brat isn't like that. He likes the heart."
"A lot of people like the heart, Kurama; but it would be a false statement if I declare that people didn't want the body also. But hey, I'm just building my pride here. Might as well build it if Naruto hates me."
"Then," Kurama scoffed, "let me break it. If Naruto went for the brains, he might as well have entered politics and made disowning brothers legal. Hell, he wouldn't even have found romantic interest in you, much less platonic. And he would stop at nothing to get that law legal. You, of all people, should know that."
Menma sighed. He spit a dark red marble of phlegm. Disgusting. He discarded the tissue stuffed in his nose and replaced it with a new one.
"But," Kurama continued, "as I said, Naruto chases hearts. So there must be a shit ton of good inside of you. Utilize that good to—"
"Forgive him. Yeah, I know." He cradled Kurama into his arms and settled him down on his bed. He opened the freezer, the precipitate embracing his bare chest. He grabbed an ice cream container and a spoon. He shuffled back to his bed and fished for the television remote under his pillow. The TV flashed to life. A Star Wars movie marathon was playing. God, he hated Star Wars at the bottom of his heart, but he couldn't help but watch. There was nothing to do anyway.
He opened the container to find Naruto's side untouched, while Menma's side was almost gone. The container had the two-in-one feature. As always, Naruto had orange while Menma had strawberry. Seeing that orange made Menma bite his lip in guilt.
"I'm pretty sure foxes are not able to eat ice cream," Kurama said. "And I don't think Naruto would eat his share any sooner."
"Yeah—yeah, that's what I'm doing Kurama." He raised his spoon. "This is for you, bro."