TW: Blood, off screen violence/mild violence

"I can't believe it's technically the eighth of December already..." Naruto mumbled, looking closely at his calendar with his eyes narrowed - as if he didn't quite believe it. They had finished watching Twelfth Night about half an hour ago, and it was now one o'clock in the morning and they were in Naruto's bedroom; Sasuke was lying on his side facing Naruto, with his head at the foot of the bed, and Naruto was a short distance from him on the other side of the room - currently scrutinising his calendar and the passing of time.

"Well, it is." Sasuke answered, simply.

"Can't believe it's only two more sleeps to opening night!" Naruto said, a bit louder now, as he turned back to Sasuke with a grin and sat down on his desk chair with a loud thump. Sasuke huffed through his nose, a sound that seemed like a sort of half-laugh.

"Only you would describe it like that."

"Heheh... So, are you nervous?" He asked, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees, and placing his chin in his hands. Sasuke shifted slightly at how much closer Naruto had gotten - this bedroom was way too small.

"Not really? I don't know, I've never done this bit before..." Sasuke admitted, frowning as he realised he was the odd one out; this would be his first production where he was on stage, and his palms started to sweat at the thought. "Maybe a little bit..." He reluctantly admitted, avoiding making eye contact with Naruto.

"That's understandable, though, you're playing the lead character... And hey, even I still get nervous, if it helps." Naruto smiled softly, in a way he probably thought was reassuring. Sasuke relaxed, but still felt a bit on edge; why wasn't Naruto backing off?

"You? Really?" He asked, not quite believing that statement. "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm serious, it never goes away-" He started to say with a nod, cutting himself off when he noticed Sasuke's slightly horrified expression. "Ah, that sounded bad! But it's not like stage fright - opening night nerves are a good thing, I promise." Naruto smiled again, giving Sasuke a look that seemed to say 'trust me'. Sasuke finally smiled back.

"Okay, just opening night nerves, then."

"Definitely! I remember the first show I was in..." Naruto smiled wistfully, his eyes glazing over slightly as he lost himself in a memory. "It was a bit like Harry Potter - three young kids with special powers who were barely qualified, going on a mission to a mysterious land... and it felt very Wild West - with highway bandits and bad guys and mobsters, the true meaning of companionship and devotion running at it's core... Heh, I was maybe twelve? I played the main character; one of the three kids. It was a school production, and it actually kick started my love for acting." He grinned, looking back at Sasuke. "It was a generic school production, most schools did it - you might have too."

"Nah," Sasuke shook his head. "I never got involved with the school productions, I just opened and closed the curtains." Sasuke said with a small laugh, remembering the time he had tripped over them when he was eight and ran off stage in tears, because he knew Itachi was watching and hadn't wanted to mess anything up. He told Naruto of this specific memory, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Awww no, poor baby Sasuke!" Naruto almost cooed, a small laugh escaping his lips. "That actually kinda makes me feel sad..."

"But I remember it, vaguely... It does sound familiar." He admitted, ignoring Naruto's comments and turning away from him to lie on his back.

"I think it was called The Land of Waves."

"Yeah, something like that." Sasuke said, with an awkward half shrug from where he was lying. "We should get some sleep." He said, after a long, drawn out silence. Naruto agreed, and they silently got ready for bed, taking it in turns to use the bathroom and brush their teeth. Naruto put the spare sheets on the inflatable bed (that he had put out earlier) for Sasuke, who only complained a little bit about it before settling down under the covers ('Hm, I suppose it's kinda comfy...').

"Goodnight." Naruto smiled down at Sasuke, lying on his side and perched above him on his own bed.

"Night..." Sasuke drawled with a yawn, looked up at Naruto, and their tired eyes met.

"Goodnight..." Naruto breathed, quieter this time as his smile got smaller, his face looking a bit more serious. Sasuke swallowed, nervously. This was definitely a moment, he noted, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. It would be so easy to give in again, to lean up and kiss him. When it looked like Naruto was starting to do just that, he turn away so his back faced the bright, tanned man, and willed the heat away from his face - wished his heart would stop racing so he could sleep.

Naruto silently watched him, his arm still bent beneath him with his head resting on his palm. He sighed quietly, and watched patiently as Sasuke's breathing slowed in to a more even rhythm, indicating that he had fallen asleep. He knew Sasuke had felt it too, just moments earlier - that magnetic pull that always seemed to exist between them, especially during moments like that. He could see the recognition in Sasuke's eyes, the quiet acknowledgement of something... but then he'd turned away and gone to sleep, as if it was just that simple.

Naruto thought back to Orochimaru's words, and wondered if all of it really was true. In any case, what he had felt for Sakura - this with Sasuke was in a completely different league all together; he could feel the connection between him and Sasuke ran deep - past lives or not - even though they had only known each other for a short time. He hoped Sasuke felt it too, somehow. On that thought, he rolled on to his back, and gradually drifted off in to a restless sleep.

"Mornin'..." Naruto mumbled through a yawn, blinking sleepily and looking down slightly towards Sasuke, who appeared to be writing an email on his phone. Whatever it was, clearly it could wait, because upon noticing that Naruto was awake he locked the phone and placed it down on his lap.

"Finally." Sasuke said, turning to face Naruto with a smirk - earning a sleepy frown and pout from the other man. "Good morning."

"Man, I had a funny dream..." He said, already feeling it slipping away. "Kakashi was there, Sakura was there, something to do with perverted books and electricity or something..." He frowned, and Sasuke sighed - it was too early for Naruto's incoherent rambling. "Ah, can't really remember!" He said with an air of finality, swinging his feet over the side of the bed. Sasuke's eyes grew wide in shock.

"You... Put some clothes on." He said, quickly turning his face to hide the colour that was creeping on to his cheeks without permission. Naruto scratched his head for a moment, looking quite confused, until he looked down and noticed he was sat there in just his boxers.

"Heh, not a pretty sight? Sorry..." He half joked, half apologised as he hopped over the inflatable bed and crossed the short distance to his tiny closet, opening it and pulling out an orange hoodie and a pair of light blue denim jeans.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer..." Sasuke mumbled, slowly turning his head to look over his shoulder undetected, checking to see if Naruto was dressed yet. He realised there was no need to be discreet, as Naruto was facing away from him and wasn't exactly being discreet himself.

Sasuke turned his head all the way, to see the other man properly. His eyes carefully traced the toned, strong muscles of his upper back, flexing tantalisingly beneath sun-kissed skin as Naruto slipped on his orange hoodie. Naruto then bent down to pick up his jeans, placing each foot in each leg hole and Sasuke's face burned, his eyes involuntarily drawn to the tight, unfairly perfect round glutes that were barely covered by the thin grey fabric of his boxers. He wondered if the idiot doing this on purpose - tricking him in to staring at his annoyingly perfect ass - and frowned as he quickly turned away, petrified he might be caught in such an embarrassing display of... Whatever this was. He busied himself with finishing the email that he had been writing earlier, willing the blush away from his face.

"So, whatcha wanna do today?" Naruto asked, when they were both dressed and ready for the day. Sasuke frowned, he was just about ready to take his backpack out to his car - it was now suspended half way from the floor to his shoulder - and they hadn't even discussed spending the day (or at least the morning) together. He frowned when he remembered Naruto said he wasn't at work the next day - today... He supposed he should have known by now to see underneath the underneath, where Naruto's concerned. Sasuke slowly lowered his bag back down on to the floor, and sighed in resignation. It was no use arguing, and he supposed a day spent in Naruto's company wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"Did you have anything specific in mind?" Sasuke asked, expecting the obvious answer; yes.

"Actually, no, I wanted to see what you wanted to do..." Naruto almost mumbled, seeming uncharacteristically nervous, and Sasuke almost failed to hide his surprise - almost. He bit his lip, feeling like this was as good as Naruto asking him out on a date. How dare he put him in this position, he thought. Of course he would have to set him straight, tell him straight up it wasn't a date. But then, saying so would acknowledge the fact that it could be one, he should just-

"I dunno, Konoha Park?" Sasuke suggested in spite of himself, cursing inwardly.

"Good idea!" Naruto grinned, his nerves now completely gone as if they'd never even been there. He usually avoided going to the park, but perhaps with company things would play out differently. Maybe with Sasuke, he could feel confident enough to go to his other 'no-go zones' again.

"And so I said to Captain - uh, Yamato - I said, that's how you break wind! Haha, get it! Wind!" Naruto laughed at his own crude joke, and Sasuke smiled as well in spite of himself - it was an awful joke, but Naruto's smile was contagious. "Isn't he brilliant?" Naruto asked.

"Hm? Who?" Sasuke asked, distractedly.

"Yamato!"

"Oh, yeah?" Sasuke said, feeling a bit uncomfortable - they didn't talk about their shared therapist, it was just an unspoken agreement between them... Until now, apparently. Sasuke cleared his throat, feeling awkward and exposed again. "Yeah he's, um, great."

"Mmm, yeah..." Naruto said, sensing Sasuke's discomfort on the topic and turning the focus on to himself, instead. "I remember one of my first few sessions with him, I turned the place upside down - literally!" He said, smiling as if he was proud of it - but Sasuke could tell something was hiding beneath that smile - again.

"You what?" Sasuke asked, frowning at the bluntness of the words that passed his lips. They both stopped at a bench, and Naruto threw away his empty popsicle wrapper before they both sat down - he had bought a double popsicle earlier from the ice cream truck at the park's entrance, and had offered to share it with Sasuke; an offer that had been politely declined ("I don't like really sweet things, but thanks").

"Yeah..." Naruto grimaced, wishing he hadn't brought it up and cursing his quick, unfiltered mouth.

"What happened?"

"It was, um, my anger; Kyuubi, I call it - you know, because of that old mythical fox creature? It used to get really bad, so it helps to think about it that way. Anyway, I used to be really bad at controlling it until Yamato came along - but it was rough at first! He ... He said something that triggered a particularly painful memory-" Naruto cut himself off, wincing at the mere thought of it. "And I just lost it. I barely remember any of it, honestly, but when I came back to my senses there were papers everywhere, his cabinet had been knocked over and some of his certificates had been torn off the walls, Yamato's hair was all messed up and even his shirt was ripped, I-" Naruto paused, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, that's probably a lot to take in." Naruto apologised. "I don't think I've even told Sakura that story."

"No, that's fine." Sasuke reassured him, quietly. Inside Sasuke felt like he was glowing - knowing he knew this about Naruto, when his best friend didn't even know. He decided not to question that feeling. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? What for?"

"Whatever you had to go through." Sasuke said, resisting the urge to place a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. It didn't take long for him to give in.

"Mmm... Thanks..." Naruto hummed and leaned ever so slightly in to the touch, closing his eyes and smiling genuinely for the first time since this morning. Sasuke's hand lingered a beat longer, before he slowly brought it back to his lap and they remained in a comfortable silence for a while, each looking around at the beautiful park. "My parents are dead - you probably guessed that by now... It happened when I was about three..." Naruto said quietly, and Sasuke had to lean in closer to make sure he heard what he was saying.

"Yeah, I guessed..." Sasuke almost whispered back with a slow and careful nod, not wanting to talk too loud about such a sensitive topic. It was partially true - the fact that he had guessed it: He knew from Naruto himself that he had been a foster kid, but that didn't exactly mean his parent's had passed on, just incapable of caring for him. However, he had also heard the whispers in the theatre; he was an orphan. Upon hearing that Sasuke had, until recently, assumed Naruto's parents had died when he was a teenager - not a child. So he hadn't guessed it so much as put together pieces of a puzzle.

When he'd found out (again, from theatre gossip) that Naruto was a lot younger than he initially thought when he lost his parents, Sasuke had taken it upon himself to pay for the repairs for Naruto's car; here he was with all this money and nothing to do with it, and there was Naruto, very similar to himself and yet worlds apart, down on his luck but still smiling through it all. He felt he had no choice. He still intended for Naruto to never know of his anonymous gesture, going as far as shredding and burning the receipts from the transaction.

"I don't know how it happened or really who they are, I don't even remember them..." Naruto admitted, swallowing hard and looking guilty. "But-" Naruto began, and had started to take a deep breath to continue his sentence when a group of three slightly older men appeared before them. Sasuke blinked, wondering when they had appeared and how he hadn't even noticed.

"I thought we had told you to stay out of here, demon."

"I- I..." Naruto stammered, while the three men looked around - no witnesses. The bigger of the three grabbed Naruto by the collar, and began to drag him to a quieter part of the park.

"Guess we'll have to show him again that we weren't just messing around, last time."

"Hey!" Sasuke shouted as he stood up, surprising himself with the volume and venom in his voice. He had no idea what was going on, but all he was focused on was getting Naruto - and himself - out of there.

One of them turned to face him menacingly, puffing out his chest and squaring up his shoulders - refusing to let Sasuke pass. Sasuke watched as the other two dragged Naruto away by his arms, and desperately fought against his aggressor. Sasuke, realising it was futile with his much smaller frame, stopped trying to get past him and raised his hands in defeat. The other man scoffed, and started to turn away and join the others when Sasuke took his chance, taking the other off-guard by using his momentum to forcefully spin him back around and punch him in the face.

Sasuke watched, triumphantly, as the other man cradled his face in his hands. For good measure, Sasuke jammed his knee upwards between his legs and hit him in the groin, before pulling out his phone and following the way the other two had gone with Naruto, dialing 911 as he ran. When he finally found them, he concealed himself behind a bush just out of sight and earshot. As he spoke to the operator, he watched helpless as Naruto was unevenly matched.

"Can you at least tell me why?" Naruto asked, his voice raspy due to the hand tightly holding him against a tree by his neck.

"You're the Namikaze-Uzumaki kid. We spit on your name." The taller one behind him spat out, venom laced in to his voice. "But, I don't see why we can't explain it to you, not that it or you really matter." He sneered, unable to continue. The man pinning Naruto against the tree rolled his eyes, but continued for him.

"You're the kid of two traitors." He said, eyes hardening and hand tightening around his throat. "Namikaze-" He said with a sneer, then spit on the ground. "Left us to be with his Uzumaki whore. And you're the result." In that moment, two things happened at once: At the very moment Naruto noticed a symbol on both men's jackets (a sickeningly familiar symbol of a red and white fan), Sasuke was also running towards them, accompanied by a police officer.

"Shit." they both muttered, and the police woman with her blonde hair tied up in four ponytails ran after them, calling for backup on her radio.

"Kankuro, I'm going to need you here now - West Konoha Park, heading towards the lake from the direction of the Plaza. I'm tailing two Senchi's as we speak."

Sasuke and Naruto watched her disappear, then looked at each other before nodding and running in the opposite direction - away from the others and the man Sasuke had brought to his knees. Once they finally left the park, they stopped to catch their breath. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, and winced; the beginnings of a bruise were already starting to appear on Naruto's left eye, and there was a trail of partially dried blood from his swollen nose to his chin.

"Shit, Naruto... You're a mess..." Sasuke said quietly, and Naruto's eyes widened as he pulled out his phone, opened his front camera, and inspected himself.

"Shit..." He muttered, looking closer. "What's Tsunade going to say?" He asked, looking worried.

"I'm sorry... What?" Sasuke asked, directing his glare at Naruto. "You just got beat up, and you're worried about what Tsunade will think! Are you actually that much of a fucking idiot?!" Sasuke raised his voice on the last question, drawing attention and worried glances from passers by.

"I..." Naruto started, not sure what to say. Everything had all happened so fast.

"Never mind, let's go back and get you cleaned up..." Sasuke said, trying to calm them both down. Naruto quietly nodded, suddenly feeling overwhelmed as everything started to sink in.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." Sasuke said quietly, as they sat in Naruto's bathroom about half an hour later - Naruto sitting on the edge of the closed toilet seat, as Sasuke knelt on the cold tiled floor in front of him with a damp cloth, dabbing gently at Naruto's bloodied and bruised face. The air in the room was thick, like something was happening that neither of them could fully comprehend; the only thing that they could both grasp was the feeling that a centuries old weight was lifting from their shoulders.

"What for?" Naruto asked, softly.

"I suggested going there, I feel like it was my fault..." Sasuke reluctantly admitted. Naruto's eyes softened, and he placed his hand over Sasuke's on his cheek. The black haired man's cheeks became dusted with pink, and his eyes darted away.

"It wasn't your fault, if anything it was mine - I knew I should have stayed away from that place, but I didn't tell you... I put you in danger too..." Naruto said, sadness laced in his voice. Sasuke looked back at him, but didn't say anything - instead, his hand gently wriggled out from underneath Naruto's and continued it's previous work. Naruto smiled at him. "Thanks for coming to help."

"A-anytime, Naruto..." Sasuke answered, frowning at the nervous hesitation in his voice. He distracted himself by focusing completely on cleaning his companion's face, and Naruto hissed and winced occasionally as Sasuke brushed over the more sensitive spots.

"Can I..." Naruto started to ask after a few more minutes of silent work on Sasuke's part, but then stopped. Sasuke stopped too, and looked up at him again. He knew what he was going to ask, and Naruto knew that he knew, so didn't elaborate further.

"It'll hurt you." Sasuke explained, finding no other reason for them both to not give in to the moment.

"I don't care." Naruto said, and it was all Sasuke needed to hear to give him the green light to lean forward, and gently connect their lips. It was nothing like the first time; a lot more intentional than incidental or accidental, with the addition of the lingering metallic taste of Naruto's blood. It wasn't next to a breathtaking view, and was neither rushed nor heated under the cover of darkness, either. They both now sat next to a toilet, of all things, illuminated and exposed by the obnoxiously bright bathroom light. It was just as imperfect as it was perfect.

The light flickered. Neither of them noticed.

Their lips softly and briefly danced together, both of them aware of the fragility of the situation (and not just because of Naruto's injuries), before pulling away. Naruto hummed happily at the quiet, somewhat wet sound that floated up to his ears as their lips parted.

"Why do you keep denying this, Sasuke?"

"I... I..." Sasuke tried to speak, momentarily lost for words. He had told Naruto he didn't want to get involved with feelings, and the headache that came with them, but Naruto had clearly seen through all of that. Of course he had.

"Be honest with me." Naruto prompted, eyes becoming more serious.

"I just, I just feel like..." Sasuke sighed, and looked Naruto in his eyes, searching for the strength he needed to open up a little. "You're too good for someone like me."

"... Is that how you really feel?"

"Yeah... I-it's like you're the sun, and I'm just... Just..." Sasuke tried to explain - tried to open up - about how he felt like he was too dark, too bitter and twisted for someone as bright and happy and wonderful as Naruto. How he, in contrast, had for a long time been cast in darkness like the moon - until the sun's rays reflected off his cold surface and lit him up. He was finding it difficult to get the right words out for something so deep and profound like that - he'd never been a deep or poetic person, and he'd not been this open with someone for a long time, longer than he could even remember - it felt wrong, he felt like he was being cut open, and everything inside him was threatening to spill out at any second.

"I understand." Naruto said softly when it was clear that Sasuke was struggling to continue, and Sasuke silently thanked him. He felt as though Naruto could see all of this, anyway, without him having to say anything. "If it takes you time, that's okay." Naruto smiled, and Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow - he'd thought Naruto would want to go forward at full speed. "Whatever this is, or could be, I think it will have been worth waiting for." He said, reaching forward and placing his hand on Sasuke's cheek, rubbing his thumb back and forth. Sasuke inwardly frowned at Naruto's strange use of words, but didn't question him on it, and instead finished tending to Naruto's wounds in a much more comfortable silence than before.

"Alright. Sit." Kurenai ordered, practically throwing Naruto down on to the hair and makeup chair backstage. Sasuke watched, in full Romeo costume, as Kurenai fussed over Naruto and tutted to herself about immature men. Despite her attitude, Naruto found she was surprisingly gentle on his face, softly tapping the makeup brush over the bruises she was expertly concealing, and he barely felt any pain on his still-fresh injuries from the day before.

They had about fifteen minutes before the curtains opened, and when Naruto and Sasuke had shown up thirty minutes ago with Naruto looking the way he did, Tsunade could have punched a hole in the wall. Naruto was now in his old fashioned Nurse's outfit (with a modern twist), and sat there quite comically with the wig cap that Lee bought him sat on top of his head - it was quite a picture, and Sasuke wished he hadn't left his phone down in the dressing room so he could actually take a picture of this.

"Ten minute cue for curtains." Sasuke heard the stage manager - Asuma - mutter in to his headset to the rest of the backstage crew. Sasuke was a little relieved he wasn't working as stage manager for this particular production; with such a large cast and elaborate costumes, it seemed like it would be a headache for even a skilled and paid professional. If he liked the guy, he would probably have felt bad for him.

Just as Naruto finally hopped off the hair and makeup chair (and Kurenai immediately hurried over to Asuma), the wig now securely in place and bruises suitably hidden, Tsunade entered the backstage area, followed by Sakura - who still huffed and appeared generally put off in Sasuke's presence.

"Alright, you three, I just want to give you a last minute pep talk - you've been great throughout these rehearsals, I know you'll be amazing! No pressure, but I'll be sitting on the front row - Naruto! If you don't hear me laughing, try harder." She added, with a laugh and a grin directed at her current favourite cast member. Sasuke rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. "Now then! Everyone get to where they're supposed to be, and break a leg!" She said with finality, before going off to join the audience, Sasuke guessed.

Sakura smiled at Naruto, before leaving for the green room - her first scene wouldn't be for a while - leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone.

"Well... I've got to go to the other side of the stage..." Sasuke said, but didn't make a move. He swallowed, hard.

"Don't worry Sasuke, my first scene isn't for a while yet either, I'll-" Naruto was cut off then by the sound of the curtains opening, and the first scene starting. "Come on." Naruto said, grabbing Sasuke's hand (Asuma and Kurenai too distracted by the play and each other to notice) and laughing at the absurdity of the Nurse and Romeo holding hands as he led the way to the other side of the stage - to get there, they had to go through the green room underneath the stage (where Naruto let go of his hand because everyone else was sat in there). Once they reached the stage left entrance, Sasuke noticed the other actors on stage were only about ten lines away from his cue line.

"Here..." Naruto whispered, looking around and then lacing his fingers in to Sasuke's hair at the back of his head, pulling him closer for a quick kiss. He stopped, and loosened his grip when their faces were inches from each other - he didn't want to force Sasuke to do anything, so he let Sasuke make the next move. Sasuke smiled nervously, and kissed him quickly.

"Break a leg!" Naruto grinned, poked his nose, and hurried back downstairs. Sasuke watched him leave, feeling himself fill up with a confidence that wasn't there before, then stepped out on stage to an audience for the very first time.

AN: Alrighty, another chapter I really enjoyed writing! So, the show finally begins (in more ways than one?!)... It's running until the 20th December! Get your fictional tickets! Haha. Thanks so much to everyone who has been commenting so far, it's really motivating me to continue - 4000 or so words every week isn't the easiest, and some chapters are a few days later than the Monday/Tuesday updates I aim for, but hearing that people like what I'm doing is enough 3 so, thanks! Another Sasuke interlude in the next chapter ;)