A/N: Special thanks to Mkayemolina and Guest for leaving a review in the previous chapter!

This is one of those chapters I had to rewrite a couple of times but I'm really happy with this last version I ended up with. I hope you guys like it too!

Inside Sasuke's room was the polar opposite of Naruto's. It wasn't like anything about Sasuke suggested he was a sloppy type, with dirty napkins all over his floor and laundry piled up in a corner. But the distinction between his own room and Sasuke's was enormous. There was not a thing out of place: the closet door was shut, and the mirror attached to it had no visible fingerprints or dust on it. There were no curtains, just blinds, and they were evenly drawn. The bed was made, the carpets were clean. It was like Sasuke was allergic to disarray. Naruto understood it was a preference of lifestyle, and that's why rather than how uncluttered it was, the lack of character in the room was what resulted in quite a disappointment.

It was mostly because Naruto believed in learning brand new things about people by seeing their belongings. He liked having his possessions scattered all around in his room for that reason – maybe he went a little over the top, but anyone would be able to say that he was the one who resided there. It reflected his personality. Sasuke, on the contrary, had so very few objects visible out in the open. Having seen Deidara's room, who was also an artist, Naruto had anticipated seeing at least a few brushes laying around. Accidental paints on the desk that weren't cleaned on time. Or maybe some posters of his favorite bands hung up on the wall. But it was a plain and average teenager's room, to a point that it was dull.

"You don't seem much happy," Sasuke analyzed his lack of speech and the discontented glances he kept throwing around.

Naruto spared him a look, but didn't object. He walked around for a bit, though there wasn't much to hold sight of. "Are you sure this isn't the guest room?"

"Pretty sure."

"Guess I expected to see a bit more. It's not very personalized, is it?"

"My mother's sense of decoration must have rubbed off on me."

A desk was adjacent to the wall with the window, and held some coconut-scented candles and ornaments along with a laptop, but nothing more. There were surely things in its drawers is what Naruto thought, and he couldn't help but wonder what sorts of things Sasuke owned. Maybe he had a penny collection or hung onto the cartons of his cigarettes. Naruto stroked a shelf of the bookcase near the door with his fingertips, eyeing the titles of books and magazines. Nothing he was especially fond of. There were some world classics, books about art, and scientific magazines. Much to his dismay, no comic books. "It's pristine. My room's a mess."

"I had a hunch that it is."

Soon there was nothing else to pay attention to, and though it was a blessing for the short attention span of his, Naruto was left yearning for more. This was like a stranger's room. Nothing about it felt familiar, or told him a story about Sasuke. He wished there were crayon stains on the wall from when Sasuke was a kid, or glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. It appeared that all evidence of the past was long gone.

He ended his little tour by whipping around and plopping down onto the bed, hands gliding over the cold duvet cover. "Why don't you put some of your art stuff up on the wall? It would make the room look more lively."

Sasuke at last left the spot from where he had shut the door and watched with a hand still on the doorknob. "It's not a bad idea. But I don't know how I'd feel staring at my artwork every time I opened my eyes."

"Something else then. This room lacks spirit."

Instead of the bed, Sasuke chose to sit in his desk chair, turning it around so he could face Naruto. Their eyes locked for a moment, which resulted in Naruto averting them in favor of studying the patterns on the pillows. Just like downstairs, an awkward aura was settling in between them.

It appeared that he wasn't the only one getting affected by it. "I don't mind it the way it is."

"Yeah. It's fine. If you like it, then it's perfect." He was still desperately searching for a hint of Sasuke around the room. "I just feel a little alienated is all. But what matters most is the memories I make here, yeah? I felt kind of shy when I first sat in your living room as well. But now that it was my second time there it felt much warmer. Am I making any sense?"

"The way your brain works is peculiar," Sasuke laughed as he crossed his legs, hands interlocking on his knee. That way he resembled a therapist - he just lacked a fancy blazer and thick-rimmed glasses.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm just saying what I'm feeling."

Sasuke opened the first drawer and grabbed for a pen, distractedly spinning it in his hand. Naruto wouldn't have known it was a nervous habit in disguise if he didn't do similar things himself. He stared at Sasuke, willing him to take the initiative about what needed to be talked about, but there was no reaction. "Wow, okay. Are we going to talk about it or not?"

It might be his imagination, but he thought he saw a tremor in Sasuke's hands. "We should." He uncapped the pen and touched the tip to the back of his hand, releasing a satisfied hum upon seeing it still worked. He was only diverting his anxiety. Naruto could read it so openly.

"I'm not mad. Or upset. I don't know what you're thinkin' at all, but I thought you should know."

Leaning back, Sasuke put the pen down. He took a moment like he tried to figure out what to do with his hands instead, then he positioned them on the arms of the chair. "I should apologize for causing this. Just when everything was back to normal, I spoiled it. I made talking to me uncomfortable for you."

It wasn't untrue, but the reason why Naruto felt uncomfortable was possibly different from what Sasuke thought. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around why you tried to kiss me. Spur of the moment thing?"

"No." Head bowed, Sasuke was massaging his temples and forehead now. "I've thought and prepared what I wanted to say to get through this. But I can't remember a word of it."

Naruto brought his legs up, crossing them. "You don't have to diagram perfect sentences, Sasuke. I'll understand either way."

Sasuke's mouth was a straight line before he spoke. "I… have feelings for you."

"For me?" Truthfully, he had known that was a possibility. But in his mind, that was a long shot. Why would a guy like Sasuke like a guy like Naruto? "Are you sure?"

Sharply, Sasuke glared at Naruto. "I know what I feel."

"That's not what I meant. Fuck, sorry." He gently rubbed his left wrist. "Should I leave?"

"If that's what you want. But I'd rather you stay."

"Me too."

What were Sasuke's feelings like, he wondered. If they were similar to the way Naruto used to feel about Sakura, it was really flattering. But it still didn't help him understand; he was all over the place while Sasuke had his shit together. Sasuke was the popular guy. All he had to do to get what he wanted was to say the word. There were girls who would wait in line just to touch him (he could imagine their disappointed faces if they'd found out about his sexual orientation). He was Sasuke Uchiha, the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha, the popular, smart kid. But here he was, telling Naruto he had feelings for him. It felt too unreal that he went ahead and pinched himself to see if it was a dream, but it only earned him a confused stare and didn't help with the situation at all.

"I didn't think you'd actually say that," he dimly admitted with a tilted head. "I don't know how to react. It's the first time someone's telling me they like me."

Sasuke twisted his nose. "There's no way that's possible."

"I'm not joking. I've received two or three love letters from girls I didn't know. But never a direct confession. And much less from a guy."

"Is it bothering you?"

"Not in the slightest. I'm just puzzled, Sasuke. What do I do now?"

"Are you asking me?"

He swallowed. "Just thought maybe you'd know. Do you want to go out with me?" It wasn't an invitation, only a question.

Sasuke didn't seem overjoyed. "There's no point in answering such a question. I'm keeping my expectations on the realistic side, so you don't need to worry about anything. I just thought you should know because I got carried away there, but it won't happen again."

Naruto rested his chin in his palm. So it wouldn't happen again. Was he a terrible person for kind of… wanting it to? It wasn't a rush of blood to the head: he wanted to be subjected to the anticipation, the thrill of having Sasuke so near. If he had a brief chance at understanding what that was, he would take it. But that would be incredibly selfish of him. Sasuke's feelings were not something for him to experiment on. It wasn't a trial and error type of situation. But he had to somehow discover what made Sasuke unique from his other friends that he could only feel this way with him.

He felt a little loopy from having so many thoughts running in his head. "Would I be asking for too much if I said I wanted to know what you feel about me?"

"Yes," Sasuke hissed. Not only displeased, but he was starting to get angry. "Why're you asking, hm? Because you want a – a pat on the back? It's not like I can control what I feel."

"That's not what this is about!" Naruto's pitch was getting higher as well.

"Then what? One would think you never had feelings for a person in your life."

Naruto was ready to fight back, but instead, he hugged his knees tightly to find some sort of solace. "I've thought about my feelings for Sakura, through and through. And… I'm not sure I feel what I think I feel. At least what I used to think. But realizing this also had me feelin' sort of empty. Isolated. Honestly, I've started to feel like I don't know what love is anymore."

Sasuke's brows were still too furrowed for Naruto's liking, but he seemed to have cooled down. "Is that really you talking, Mister Master-of-feelings ?"

"I'm only seventeen, dammit," Naruto defensively said. "My wisdom has a limit."

"A really low one at that."

"You're no guru either."

"At least I possess the self-awareness to tell if I like someone or not."

Naruto only rolled his eyes, burying his nose into the crook of his arm.

"Are you cold?"

Either Sasuke was exceptionally attentive, or Naruto was too dumb to realize he had started to rock back and forth, with arms rubbing himself. "Yeah. A bit."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Well," Naruto spoke into his sleeve, "we had more important matters to talk about."

He watched with hazy eyes as Sasuke got up to his closet. When the door opened, Naruto could see everything was organized neatly, just as he'd thought. Among the hung clothing, Sasuke fumbled a bit. What he eventually pulled out was a bright red, zip-up hoodie that Naruto had never seen on Sasuke before. He seemed hesitant at first with his choice, but handed it over to Naruto after a slight pause. "Try this on."

Naruto couldn't help but breathe in as he threw it on over his sweater. "It smells like you."

Sasuke gave it a look. "I wore it only once. A gift from my uncle, but red's not my color. Apparently teenagers in Japan like lively colors."

"It does smell like you though." Naruto felt awkward saying it twice out loud. It wasn't his fault he was sensitive toward smells, but he didn't have to vocalize it so often, probably.

"Must be the laundry detergent." He assessed it on Naruto. "It's a good look on you. Feeling better?"

The inner surface of the hoodie was made out of thick, wool-like material, and it was definitely helping. "Yeah. I don't know why I'm cold."

But he did. He recognized the sensation that grew within whenever he was under heavy emotional distress. It messed with his body temperature, so much that it made him wear a coat on humid summer nights and still tremble. He remembered feeling it when he was waiting after Minato was hospitalized, and on nights he came back from school when he was younger, ostracized, and mocked. It was just his body's way of dealing with anxiety.

They both settled back on the bed. Naruto felt more at ease and less like an intruder now that Sasuke was sitting there with him. Would it be considered rude, he didn't know, but he gently let himself fall onto the mattress. His eyelids closed on their account, disturbed by the ceiling light falling directly onto them.

He felt the weight of Sasuke shifting. "I catch myself wanting to spend more time with you."

"You do?"

"I'm answering your question, and you'll hear these coming out of my mouth only this once so listen."

Cracking an eye open for a second, Naruto faintly smiled. "I'm all ears."

"I thought you were only a loud-mouthed idiot at first. I saw you around all the time with your friends, talking unreasonably loud. It ticked me off. When you invited me to join you and Sai in Japanese, I wasn't sure why you did it, but it made me feel… content, for some reason. Sai knew me and he didn't say a word."

"Don't worry, I'm training him on that." Naruto's voice came out like a cat's murmur from the warmth enveloping him. Then there was Sasuke's scent, and his voice. He was starting to unwind and fill with a sense of unfamiliar tranquility.

"Then all of a sudden you were making conversation with me. I don't know why I wasn't expecting that. You make friends with anyone and everyone at the end of the day."

"You're not just anyone ."

Sasuke sharply breathed out. "Back then I was. And it didn't stop you. I thought you would eventually go away, so I put on an uncaring face. But you only kept coming back."

"I did, didn't I?"

"Why did you?"

He rolled onto his side and went back to enfolding his knees, blinking a few times. Sasuke was slightly hunched backward with hands supporting him on either side. Naruto could see the black ink he'd smeared earlier in contrast with the pale skin of Sasuke's hand. There was an impulse within to trace a finger over, but his rational mind decided against it.

"I don't know why," he breathed out. "Do I need to have an excuse? I wanted to talk to you. Whenever I saw you there, I wanted to say hi. Ask how your day was."

There was a long pause. Longer than what was considered normal.

Naruto tilted his head to look up. "Well?"

Sasuke wasn't returning the gaze. His eyes were seeing straight ahead, but Naruto wasn't sure they were looking. He didn't think he was being blatantly ignored; it was more like Sasuke was scrambling to find something within himself. Weighing up Naruto's words and what they stood for.

"I shouldn't have let things come this far. I thought I could suppress my feelings but I only ended up hurting you with my lack of foresight."

"It's okay, Sasuke—"

Sasuke cut him off. "It's not okay. I'll do it again. Not in the same way, maybe." He threw his head back. "It's not fair." His voice came out velvety. Earnest. Not directed particularly toward anyone, like he was doing a midnight prayer away from other creatures. But the clear grievance tucked in somewhere was making Naruto's blood boil.

His tone was getting scratchier. "It's not for you to decide alone, y'know. You don't have to shoulder everything on your own. I have thick skin, I can take it. We've had conflicts before and they all turned out just fine."

"It's not the same."

"So what? We'll figure it out. You're sharp as heck, you'll find a way."

"I doubt that."

Embarrassingly, his eyes were welling up. It took a considerable effort to keep his voice from quivering. "You're just going to deny me, then? Act like we were never acquainted – is that what you're sayin'?" He dreadfully hoped for Sasuke to interfere with a word of denial, but it did not happen. "I don't understand you at all."

Sasuke was breathing shallowly, but it was still audible to Naruto's ears. Unexpectedly, he plopped down against the bed on his back. "It hurts. You talk to your friends with a huge smile on your face. You talk to my friends like you know them for years. You talk to Itachi like he's your brother. And I feel like an insignificant face in the crowd."

"It's funny you say that, 'cause the same goes for me. Like you've said, all I am is just a loud-mouthed idiot. I'm not witty like you. I'm not particularly talented in anything. No matter how you look at it I'm ordinary as hell. But you're the type of guy who'd get anything he wanted."

"Is that what you think of me?"

Naruto dried up his dampened eyes with the sleeve of Sasuke's hoodie. "That, and more. You're kind, though you did seem like an asshole at first. But I've got you figured out now. You're just a little grouchy, but you've got a good heart."

Sasuke scoffed. "Be still my heart."

"I'm not done yet." Unbeknownst to the other, he watched Sasuke's hair, dark and spiky. He wondered what brand of shampoo and hair products Sasuke used. Some tresses fell onto his forehead, covering the smooth skin. His eyebrows were often knitted – when he was thinking, when he was worked up. They had a really nice shape. Naruto always admired the shape of Sasuke's eyes, and the eyelashes quivered ever so slightly whenever Sasuke blinked; they were especially long, at least compared to his own, though his lashes were blond and unnoticeable so he wouldn't know. His cheeks were unmarred, and his chin was also clean, most likely freshly shaven. His observations felt foreign because he didn't recall ever noting so many specifics about Kiba's face.

"Are you going to carry on?"

There it was again, the beating of his heart. He didn't need a mirror to know how red his cheeks were. He propped himself up with a hand on the bed, on his knees. His attention drawn, Sasuke's eyes suspiciously followed Naruto as the blond placed his other hand across the bed, now hovering right over Sasuke.

"It doesn't make sense," he grumbled. "I don't get it at all."

" Naruto ." Sasuke sounded alarmed, but he didn't make a move.

He drew his face close to Sasuke's and there it was again: mind going foggy against his consent, and all he thought about was the desire to get closer, if he could think at all. He wanted to run a hand through Sasuke's hair and trace his skin. "You closed up on me like this."

Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke.

All of a sudden, Sasuke's hand tightly closed around the wrist aligned with his head. "And you pushed me away." It was a mumble, but Naruto couldn't hear it any louder.

" I did ." Their foreheads touched. "Why am I regretting it now then?"

He understood Sasuke wouldn't make a move. Not after being rejected like that. Now that he had come this far, Naruto knew there was no going back. Ever so slowly, he leaned down until he could remove the gap between their lips. Tentative and experimental it was as he pressed his lips against Sasuke's with everything he had. Willing his sentiments to be conveyed through the kiss, even though he was clumsy at putting them into words.

It was nothing like he had ever experienced before. Sasuke's lips were soft beneath his own, and under his own body, he felt Sasuke's heart beating. Fast. It only tickled him further, touching a secret string in his heart that had never been touched before. It was troubling him, charming him, egging him to do more and more as something kindled all the way through his entire body and blended into Sasuke's. He wasn't the only one feeling it, he knew from the way Sasuke returned the kiss with equal passion.

When he pulled back, he was certain Sasuke could hear his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. It sounded so loud to his own ears. He was very nearly convinced that discarding words completely and kissing until there was nothing more to be said was a good idea. "…I never imagined I'd have my first kiss with a male."

Sasuke's eyes were darting back and forth between his eyes and lips. "That was your first time?"

"Yeah."

Sasuke reached up with his idle hand, clamping it over Naruto's cheek. Unlike Naruto's own cold, sweaty hands, it was warm and comforting. Tears pooled in Naruto's eyes once more, yet he shut them tight, refusing to let the drops spill. It was unclear to him why he felt so sentimental. So weak.

"What did you mean by it?"

The question caught Naruto off guard. So Sasuke expected a proper explanation – it made total sense. He deserved one. But Naruto wasn't set for it.

One second later, the hand on his face was vulgarly pushing him away. As Naruto lost his balance and fell down on his butt, luckily on the bed, it was hard not to catch sight of the grimace on Sasuke's face. "Why'd you do that for?!"

"You're hopeless."

"And you're a jerk, did you know that?" He was only trying to figure out what was going on, for fuck's sake. Why was Sasuke being so prissy about a kiss, Naruto could not make sense of. Especially since he was the one who'd instigated the whole thing in the first place.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

By then Sasuke should have picked up that Naruto wasn't the one to give up without a fight. Making sure he had a good balance this time, he tackled Sasuke before he had a chance to get up and put on the bravest face he could muster.

Sasuke was giving him a stern look, but didn't make a physical attempt just yet. "Naruto. Get off me."

"No."

"I mean it. Get off."

Instead of doing that, Naruto drew in for a second time. If he had to admit, it wasn't a wholly clean-handed action this time, but he intended no harm either. It was more of a challenge; an unknown impulse taking over him to see how Sasuke would fight back, or if he would at all.

God, he wanted him to. "Make me."

Wrestling was not Naruto's forte, and he wished he'd done more research on how to properly grapple as Sasuke's sturdy clench landed over his shoulders and successfully reversed their positions. Compared to Konohamaru, Sasuke was much thornier of a rival. Nonetheless, Naruto had strong arms, and he was resilient.

He tried to throw a punch, but Sasuke dodged it. On top of it, he shifted the stance of his hands to Naruto's wrists to prevent any further attacks, and he took it a step further by securing Naruto's upper body on the ground with his legs on both sides, straddling him.

Well, his legs were still free, and headbutting was always an option.

"Whatever it is you're thinking, don't. I took self-defense classes. You don't stand a chance."

Naruto struggled out of Sasuke's grip, but Sasuke was holding him down. "Let go, then."

"So you attack me again? I don't think so."

"Bullshit. You're enjoying this, aren't you. You didn't throw a single punch."

"I'm not the one who's hysterically assaulting someone here." He was staring down at Naruto. "What is wrong with you?"

He tried changing the position of his legs to see if he could kick, but it was a futile fight. His attempt at headbutting was also cut off. Under Sasuke's piercing gaze, he lied there, hopelessly out of breath and fuming with the desire to knock some sense into Sasuke. "You want me out of your life? Fine. But I'm not going down without a fight. Let go of me so I can charge properly once more."

"You think I want to kick you out? You think it's easy for me?" The energy radiating from Sasuke was turning into something threatening as his grip on Naruto's wrists tightened. "I'm doing this for your sake. I will beat you without any hesitation if you keep leading me on like that."

"Leading you on—what?" Naruto cried, struggling to break free still. "You're the one who got me all confused! Now I'm the one guilty one here? Fuck you." He managed to get one of his hands liberated, but rather than throwing a punch with it, he tried to push Sasuke off.

"Confused, my ass," Sasuke snarled dramatically. "It's so straightforward that even a moron like you should be able to grasp: you either like someone or you don't. There's no in-between. Unless you have the inclination to kiss everyone who shows interest."

" How dare you ," he hissed. "You don't have a fucking clue about what I've been going through. You were suffering? Great. I was suffering, too. I lost my fucking head trying to understand why having you so close to me got me more excited than any other thing. I beat up my friend for nothing, just because having that one moment with you made me question myself beyond anything. But go on, accuse me of leading you on!"

He was so exasperated he wanted to bawl his eyes out. Then he wanted to punch the life out of Sasuke before holding him tight and talking to him about stupid things that were of no importance before they kissed some more.

Sasuke was off of him a moment later. He levered himself up and to his feet, then extended a hand forward to Naruto, pulling him up when Naruto warily took it. "I shouldn't have said that."

Naruto adjusted the sweatshirt he had on, which was muddled from all the rolling around they had done on the bed. He gnawed on his lower lip before speaking. "I'd never do something deliberately to harm you. I need you to have faith in that."

"I know," Sasuke replied, looking Naruto dead in the eye. "I trust you."

He wasn't just saying it. He meant it, Naruto could tell.

"You look like a depressed puppy."

It made Naruto want to smile, but he couldn't find the bravery within himself. He looked away as he wiped his eyes again. "It's not like you're the only person who's permitted to look miserable."

Instead of countering, Sasuke took a step toward Naruto, then pulled him into a cautious, yet absurdly gentle embrace. "This is what friends do, right?"

Naruto was stunned. He wasted no time wrapping his own arms around Sasuke, but his squeeze was much stronger. "You learn faster than Sai."

"That's good to hear. But get snot on my shirt and I'll kill you."

He only hugged tighter, burying his nose in Sasuke's shoulder. "Mhm."

When they pulled back, he wasn't feeling so gloomy anymore. Sasuke looked reasonably okay as well, the perpetually wrinkled section of the skin between his brows that Naruto sometimes wanted to poke at was not looking as bad now.

"Are we good now?" He asked. "I need some time to think about… all that. But I don't want things to be awkward between us."

Sasuke dipped his head low, letting out a quiet breath as he smiled indistinctly. "I understand." With that, he gestured to Naruto in the direction of the door. "We should head downstairs. Itachi must be lonely."

Naruto let out a burst of small, hearty laughter as he followed Sasuke out. "Yeah. He must be bored out of his mind without his little brother to tease."

There was no one in the living room when they made it there. The kitchen door was open without a sign of Itachi, but the mystery was solved soon as the man hurried down the stairs in his outdoor attire.

"Is it him again?" asked Sasuke. He sounded like he had an idea about where his brother was heading to.

Itachi nodded as he yanked his ponytail out of the dark black coat he had on. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm just going to check on them."

Completely left out, Naruto scratched at his hair. "Something wrong?"

"Should I tell him?" It was Sasuke.

Itachi briefly looked at Naruto. He knew that look – he'd seen it on Itachi hundreds of times before when the man was concentrating. He was being sized up, for sure. "Can you keep a secret, Naruto?"

"He can." It was Sasuke.

That made Naruto want to shriek like a little girl, so much that he had to bury his fingernails into his palms to stop himself from doing it. Itachi seemed to deem Sasuke's judgement enough, though he did toss him an amused look. "Alright. Naruto, thank you for coming. It's a pleasure having you over."

"Nah, thanks for having me. Heh, I might drop by every now and then now that I've found out about your secret cooking abilities," he joked.

"No objections on my part."

Sasuke had his arms folded. "Next time, I'm doing the cooking."

"Please do!"

Itachi was smiling with his eyes as he looked at the two boys. "You two behave while I'm gone."

Not to be left behind, Naruto was following Sasuke as he walked Itachi out to the house-to-garage door. "Let me know if there's something I can do."

After they heard Itachi's car pull away from the garage, it was only Naruto and Sasuke in the house. "Well," Sasuke took a deep breath. "Want a beer?"

"Sure."

They walked over to the kitchen, and Naruto flopped into a chair as Sasuke grabbed two cans from the refrigerator. "What's up with Itachi? What's goin' on?"

"It's Kakashi," Sasuke said, placing the beer on the table. "I wish we'd put them in the freezer first. I like my drinks extra cold."

"You'll get a sore throat if you do that. We're in December." He opened the cans while Sasuke took a seat. "What's wrong with Kakashi?" His smile died all of a sudden. "Is he ill?"

"No, no. It's not him." Sasuke started toying with the ring pull. "He has a friend who's terminally ill. I don't know the details much, but he's been like that for years."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah. Kakashi's always busy with his care, taking him to the hospital. Did you know that he's apparently a mathematical genius or something, and he's been invited to take part in so many projects? But he's had to reject them all because he couldn't move from here. He couldn't leave his friend."

Naruto was stupefied. "That's some serious dedication."

"Tell me about it. And Itachi's loyal to Kakashi. He was Itachi's teacher as well, back when Itachi was in high school."

"I didn't know that!"

"Yeah," Sasuke chuckled. "They get along just fine. I'm not happy Itachi has to substitute a lot for the guy when he's busy himself, but it's not like he ever listens. We all have different priorities, I guess."

He took a few sips from his beer. "They're all lucky. Kakashi's friend, because he has Kakashi. Kakashi, because he has Itachi. And Itachi, because he has you."

"Me?" Sasuke raised a brow.

Naruto said vigorously, "Yup."

"It's not the same. Kakashi could've had a whole different life if he'd chosen to leave. I'm amazed by how much people can sacrifice for each other."

"But he didn't. And I'm glad he didn't. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone so dear to your heart that you'd sacrifice everything for them?"

Sasuke didn't sound as into the idea. "I don't know. Sounds like a hassle."

"Well, it's not like you'd decide to feel the urge to help them." He hummed a few random notes as he mused. "I'd like that. Loving someone enough to sacrifice your life for them without giving it a second thought. If I have something remotely similar to that one day, I'd be the happiest man on earth."

For a while, Sasuke drank in silence. "I guess it wouldn't be half bad."

"Not in the slightest. I think it would make everything less vapid." He hiccuped. "So, Kakashi, huh. I thought he's just a lazy bum, I never knew there was a whole different story behind that."

"Oh, but he is one. Only one with a charitable soul."

Naruto doubled over as he laughed, spilling some beer as he did so. Sasuke got him a napkin to wipe his mouth with. "Thanks. Jesus, I don't know why I laughed so hard at that."

"It's a better sight than you pouting," he remarked.

"You won't say that when I spill beer all over the floor. Oh, will I get to meet your dad?" He asked. "Do you know when he's comin' home?"

Sasuke checked the time from the clock on the wall. "Not for at least another two hours."

"I should head back before that. It's a bummer."

"It's fine. You won't miss much." Sasuke snatched their beers as he walked away from his chair. "Come on. We can watch Crazy Rich Asians if you're so eager to see old, Asian men."

Naruto flicked off the light switch behind Sasuke as they left the kitchen. "I think I'll skip it."

-TBC-