Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter Forty-Three: Honesty
"Naruto!" Said blonde jumped and swore when his paintbrush swiped his canvas. He grabbed the diaper he kept in his back pocket and rubbed at the mistake furiously. His hands were shaking from his lack of sleep and frustration at not having finished the painting yet. He glared at the faint smudge left and set his paintbrush down to see what the hell the teme was telling at him for.
"What the fuck is so important that you have to shout across the apartment?" Naruto growled as he stomped into the living room to see Sasuke on the bed with his laptop.
"What the hell crawled up your ass and died?" Sasuke glared right back at the angry scowl.
"You made me jump and mess up my painting." Naruto pouted and flopped down beside the Uchiha.
Sasuke frowned slightly, his anger gone. "I'm pretty sure I don't have a direct connection to your muscles, dobe."
Blue-grey eyes gave him a cold look. Naruto knew it was Sasuke's way of apologizing, and once a black eyebrow arched in question, the frustration melted from the tan body.
"What did you need?"
The Uchiha snapped back to his laptop and Naruto memorized the way the faint blue light from the screen fell across the pale face.
"I'm thinking that it'd be better to get married in the states—especially since there's more states allowing it now. Apparently it's been in the news."
Naruto wiggled into a comfortable slouch. "Why do you think that?" Psh, as if they knew anything about current events. They didn't have a television and neither of them read the stupid things on their homepages.
The raven glanced at him quickly. Naruto tensed slightly. "Well, Canadian marriages aren't recognized in the states and…if we…ever wanted a divorce…" Glance. "We'd have to live in Canada for a year before we could file one." Onyx eyes surveyed the blonde's reaction carefully. Hm, Naruto must be really tired to not react at all. "And if we get married here, we can hope that eventually we'll be married in all the states."
"Hm…" Naruto yawned slightly and nuzzled the raven's shoulder. "Whatever you want, gorgeous, just let me know, 'kay?"
Sasuke watched silently as the blonde dozed off against the head board, two feet away from him. He reached forward and traced one of the slightly raised scars on the warm cheeks. The raven smiled contently when the blonde nuzzled into his palm with a small unconscious purr.
His smile sagged when he noticed the dark circles under Naruto's eyes. He knew that the blonde hadn't been sleeping much—in fact, he hadn't seen the dobe in bed all week.
Although his work load had decreased significantly in the past couple weeks, Naruto had used the extra energy to get ready for his next show, which was due the same month Sasuke had planned to get married in. Naruto was rushing—without Sasuke's permission—so that he would be done early and could help Sasuke as much as he could.
Dark eyes flitted to the corner of the computer screen. 2:30 A.M. The dobe had been painting for practically eight hours straight. Sasuke sighed and turned off the laptop.
He stripped the blonde down to his boxers and tucked him under the covers against the wall, following shortly after. He wrapped himself around the blonde's warmth, yawned, and promptly passed out.
:break:
Naruto blinked slowly into the waking world. Something smelled…really good…
The blonde snapped up into a sitting position and stared at the kitchen. RAAMEN!!!
He smiled when he saw his teme's back to him, facing the stove and stirring something. He slid out of the bed and snuck up on his fiancé. He grabbed the raven around his waist and hoisted him a couple inches in the air, earning a shocked yelp.
"Put me down, Naruto!" Sasuke kicked the dobe in the shin and gritted his teeth in pain. His lungs filled again in a rush when the blonde set him down. He gingerly pressed against his rib cage and hissed. Was the moron trying to kill him? "What are you all excited for?" The raven bit out, glaring at the man now pouring the raamen into a bowl.
Naruto turned with a thousand-watt smile. Sasuke twitched slightly. "I saw my two favorite things in the world first thing in the morning—of course I'm excited!"
Dark grey eyes narrowed in on the noodles passing through the blonde's mouth. "I better be first on that list, dobe."
The blue eyes were wide and amused when they glanced at the sulking Uchiha. Naruto slurped the last of his noodles loudly and grinned. "Is the little Uchiha jealous of some noodles?" Sasuke scowled and rounded the counter to sit on one of the stools.
"Here, your mail, dipshit." The raven growled, tossing the envelopes forward.
"Hey, now, no need for ugly names." The blonde grinned and hopped onto the counter. He fisted the raven's black shirt and yanked the surprised man forward for a kiss. Sasuke melted against the countertop and shifted closer to pull the blonde man towards himself. Naruto smiled into the kiss and caressed the soft ivory cheeks as his lips danced with the raven's. He loved it when they had small closed-mouth make out sessions. It always reminded him of their first date and how beautifully wanton his lover had looked panting, lip-ravished, against the wall. God, how he wished he had a magical invisible camera to capture his favorite pictures of the raven.
The first time he saw the bastard smile, the first time his eyes had closed from laughing too hard, that time he had pretended to not be crying from that movie they watched in Junior year, his pouts from when he'd tried to seduce Naruto into seme-ing, his scowls when Fuuko had tried to rip his hair out, the tears and glowing when Naruto proposed, the glossy look in his eyes and the tiny frown when he was thinking too much about something, the wide-eyed incredulous look he'd had when they had almost dry humped in the snow that first year…
Stupid Gaara, Naruto was definitely kicking his ass next time he saw him.
Sasuke's eyes were half mast and dazed when the blonde finally let him go. Naruto chuckled and kissed the bastard's nose. The raven snapped out of his daze immediately and tried to scowl. The blonde was very satisfied knowing that the Uchiha could rarely muster up the bastard-ness to glare at him these days. One step closer to making him all rainbows and sunshine.
Onyx eyes narrowed slightly when the blonde giggled. Whatever the idiot was thinking, he was sure he deserved a good ass-kicking for it. What right did that dobe have making a make-out session out of mail-opening anyway?! Stupid, distracting…ugh. Sasuke growled slightly and went to shifting through the junk mail. Naruto was flinging his own mail around from his position on the counter.
"Hey, teme."
"Hn."
"…"
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow when he met the stern blue gaze. What the—"'fuck?" Sasuke muttered.
"Later, bastard, I promise." Naruto's gaze turned into a gentle smile that immediately wiped away Sasuke's unpleasant attitude. "I was just thinking: when we get our first piece of mail addressed to us as husbands, I'm going to frame it." The blonde nodded and grinned. "In a huge frame, and angled very slightly on one corner so that people will have to stare at it to figure out what the fuck is wrong with it."
The raven chuckled softly. "Have I told you you're insane?"
Naruto's lips pursed slightly in contemplation. "No, I don't think you've said that one yet."
"Hn." Sasuke smiled slightly and went back to sorting the mail. Wait—the raven's head snapped back up and Naruto tilted his head at the soft, slightly confused expression on the pale face. "Naruto?"
"Yeah?" The blonde scooted closer on the countertop, propped up his arms and rested his chin in his palms.
"Who's going to take whose name?" Sasuke asked softly.
The blue-grey eyes widened slightly. "I figured I'd take yours, y'know." The blonde grinned. "I thought I wouldn't make you try to break your weird habit of your Uchiha comments. God knows how pissy you'd be if you had to do that. 'Uchiha this', "Uchiha that'." Dark eyes narrowed at the blonde. "And just imagine how pissed off your dad would be if I—the anti-Uchiha!—became an Uchiha." Sasuke smirked at that thought. "I'd love to see his face after that one. And every time Fuuko has to do a family tree for school, there'll be all this dark hair, pale skin and –BAM!—fucking Aryan smack next to her nii-chans!" Naruto cackled evilly. "An Aryan Uchiha—what more could I ask for?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Figured the blonde was just plotting against his father. Though, he couldn't really blame him…nearly attacking him that time they'd walked in just after they'd gotten together and calling him a fucking 'harlot'. God, Sasuke hated his father sometimes…most times.
"And besides all that," The raven's attention snapped back at the soft voice. "I don't really have a family attached to my name, you know? The Uzumaki name would die with us anyway, so I figure I can just be a random addition to a big family instead of dragging you away from said family into a lonely two-person unit for a family." Sasuke frowned at the far away look in the blonde's eyes. But before he could say anything, the dobe grinned again and Sasuke relaxed. He knew the difference between the real and fake grins. "And if NOTHING else, I figure you're a fucking possessive bastard who would get a kick out of his spouse having his name."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I'm amazed. You actually managed to come up with good reasons with that half-a-peanut brain of yours."
"Hey, bastard, don't forget you're marrying this half-a-peanut brain!" The blonde jumped off the countertop and stuck half his mail in the recycles bin by the blender.
The raven smirked more. "Good thing I'm not marrying you for your brains, huh?" He half-murmured.
"Stop being a jackass, you fucking bastard."
Sasuke laughed.
"And get your cute ass over here!" Naruto called from the blonde's 'art' computer, also known as Susan, in the space on the other side of the kitchen wall. "Talking about your father made me remember that we need to look into that sperm bank thing!"
The raven groaned and trudged to the blonde. He settled sideways on the warm lap and leaned back against the blonde's chest and watched the dobe try to look up sperm banks in their area.
"So do we just go in, pump something out and leave?" Sasuke sneered at the screen for a bank that apparently was two streets away.
"I dunno, let's find out." The blonde clicked the convenient "Become a Donor" tab and the raven stared at the pretty red plastic of the computer screen case. "Holy shit."
Sasuke looked up in question and glared at Naruto's badly hidden grin. "What?"
"Gorgeous, I'm sorry to tell you this, but it looks like you'll be too short to even apply."
The Uchiha leapt off the dobe's lap and scanned the screen while his fiancé almost fell off his chair from his laughter. Fuck. Sure enough, the minimum height requirement was 5' 8". He was 5' 5". He turned to glare at the blonde who was wiping his eyes, random weak chuckles erupting from him.
"I told you you're short." The blonde grinned.
"Shut the fuck up, I'm not short for my race." Sasuke snarled.
"Hm, that's true." Naruto admitted, his thinking face taking over the grin. "So Itachi and your dad are actually pretty tall for being Japanese."
"And Kisame is a fucking giant." Sasuke agreed with a clenched jaw. "Besides, you barely make this requirement!"
"Psh, I'm totally over it by half an inch." Naruto chuckled and rolled closer to the screen, knocking the raven's knees out and setting him back on his lap. Sasuke scowled at being manhandled so. "However…" Sasuke looked up at the blonde's face in surprise. The blue eyes were a little dulled and looking past the computer. "I wouldn't be able to provide my mom's family's medical history. She was a German citizen who lived in Japan for almost a year and a half, getting her medical records, and those of my grandfathers, would be hell, if not impossible…"
Sasuke sighed and glanced back at the webpage. "I guess we're not doing it, then."
"Hopefully your dad will understand that we can't."
The raven's head spun around to stare at his fiancé. "Are you fucking insane? We're not telling my dad!"
Golden eyebrows furrowed in a confused frown. "What do you mean, not telling him? We have to tell him, Sasuke."
"No, we don't." The Uchiha replied, getting off the blonde's lap, going back to the kitchen. "If we tell him, all hell will break loose."
The blonde rounded the counter and they were at their original positions. "If we don't tell him, we're lying to him. We made a promise, the least we owe him is telling him if we can't carry out our promise." Naruto insisted, his blue eyes serious and determined.
Sasuke sighed. If there was one thing that could really get on Sasuke's nerves about Naruto, it was how stubbornly wholesome he was. "We don't owe my father jack shit, Naruto. He's the one who's being an asshole about this in the first place, I for one am not going to submit and then admit defeat because I'm fucking short and you're practically an orphan!" Naruto's stance hardened. "You don't know what a dick my father is, Naruto. He'll hold this over us, and probably try to stop it, no matter what we or my mother say. He's too fucking stubborn to give in when he's wrong." Sasuke stared hard into Naruto's angry eyes. "We're not telling him."
"Then I'll tell him." The blonde tilted his chin up in defiance, his eyes sparkling. "I'm not lying to him, and I won't let you keep him from finding out. I'm not going to go behind his back in any way with this Sasuke. I will not let lies spoil our union!" Naruto shouted. "I'm not going to go behind his back! If he doesn't like it, tough shit! If he hates me and doesn't let us into the main house, then so be it but lies will only make the situation that much worse. Nothing good ever comes of lying, Sasuke." The blonde sneered viciously. "I would have thought that you understood how I felt about honesty by now, teme."
Sasuke glared at the dobe. "Naruto," he hissed, his seriousness matching the blonde's, "you don't understand—"
"No, Sasuke, you don't understand." Naruto interrupted and walked past the upset raven to their bedside table. "You don't understand how serious I am about this." Sasuke watched him pocket his keys and wallet. "We're upset, and I don't want to argue with you, gorgeous. I'll spend the night at Itachi's tonight and talk to him about this. If I change my mind, I'll call you. If you start seeing things my way, you should do the same." Naruto put on his shoes and opened the door. Sasuke looked at him helplessly. "If not, I'm calling your father tomorrow evening and informing him." His voice was heavy and firm with seriousness and promise. "I love you, Sasuke. I don't want you to be upset with me when I tell your father, so please think about this as much as I will. I'll see you tomorrow." And with a soft 'click', he was gone.
Wide onyx eyes stared at the door for a long, blank moment. Naruto had…left… They had had their fair share of spats over the years, but never had one of them just—left!
Sasuke turned back to stare at the mail in from of him. He understood that honesty was important. He got that Naruto wanted to do everything properly with their marriage. But didn't Naruto understand that Sasuke had always kept things from his father? Why did Naruto think they still hadn't told his parents where they lived? Because then his father would know and make offhand remarks about the neighborhood—always, always negative. He'd been keeping things from his father since middle school! If he hadn't, he was sure he would have been even more of an angry and bitter person than he had gone to college as. Even Naruto might not have been able to change him if that had happened.
And if his father found out about his—no, when he found out—he would make snide remarks about how Sasuke took after his mom, along with other rude, hurtful things that Sasuke couldn't even think of. And his father would have a field day knowing that Naruto's parents were who they were, especially if anyone in his family was an illegal alien…But Naruto was a citizen, at least…But still, there was no way his father would agree to letting him marry a man with absolutely no tradition before him. His father's purpose for living was tradition…
But then again, hadn't his father already announced his disapproval? And didn't Sasuke not give a flying fuck?
So then the question was would his father even consider accepting Naruto if—when—he was informed?
Sasuke let his head fall onto the counter. His head hurt and his eyes were too watery for his comfort. The apartment was far too quiet without his dobe walking and breathing inside it. How did Naruto expect him to be able to sleep tonight without the stupid blonde fucker next to him?
He fucking hated his father.
Tsuzuku
Sorry it's short and sorry for the horrible updating habits I've gotten in the past few months. It's hard to write when I know the ending but can't figure out how to get there, it's very distracting. *laughs* my girlfriend stopped by and I was telling her how I haven't worked on it at all in the past week even though all day everyday it was open on my desktop—I just never typed on it, and she opened it for me and was like "There, work on it." She's so awesome, I love her so much *swoon*
But yeah, I'm not TRYING to be horrible with my updating and everything…it just kinda happens *chibi tears*
