Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!
Summary: Sasuke has spent three years trying to figure out how to live on his own. Maybe it's time to try something different. WIP. Future SNS, updates once a month. Canonverse. Rating may change!
A/N: early mornings, early update! here you go!
Day 9 prompt - early mornings!
sunflowers for the skeptical
Chapter 9: counter space
The next few mornings come differently. Rise differently. Sasuke catches Naruto writing something, and Naruto flicks the paper with a soft, sheepish smile.
It's addressed to Konoha.
It leaves without Naruto.
Sasuke finds himself waking earlier. Staying in bed, the way he would as Naruto left—but without the shift of the bed, he doesn't know what causes him to. Maybe it's the light that comes to his eyes. Maybe it's the deep breath he needs to take. Maybe it's the moment.
Maybe it's the moment.
And Naruto wakes earlier than he'd like to admit, but Sasuke isn't going to clue him in to the fact that he knows. Sasuke memorized the way Naruto slept years ago—it's background knowledge in his head. Like the way Naruto's shoulders ready when he's about to make a hand sign. The way he stands before he's about to charge. The way he changes when he's ready to give in. The way his voice changes. The way his voice laughs. The way his voice sighs, when he's truly, truly content.
Sasuke keeps his eyes closed, and listens.
They lay in bed until the sun forces them to rise. Their hunger, their bodies—something. The bottom of Naruto's foot finds Sasuke's ankle. He doesn't lay as easily on Sasuke's chest when the room isn't dark around them, and something in Sasuke understands.
The night is hidden. The night is an accident. There's less room for accidents in the day, but this could be one of them. This could be one of them. This could be one of them, if it weren't for the fact that it happened every morning, every day. Every time they laid side by side.
New habits. Sasuke can feel them forming.
He doesn't want to fight them.
But Sasuke wakes just after the sun, one morning, and his feet are cold. The room is orange. Just a little bit pink. The light has barely started to stream through the curtains, and Sasuke…
The spot beside Sasuke is empty. He doesn't know how he didn't wake when that happened.
The sink in his heart flutters and stops when he hears the movement in the next room. Quick steps he immediately recognizes, familiar weight, familiar movements. Naruto's steps are fast and heavy, like he's bouncing his whole self all at once. He easily could be. He likely is.
Sasuke stretches and sighs and rolls over. He takes solace in the fact that Naruto's side of the bed is still warm. He takes solace in the fact it hasn't been long. He takes a moment, and takes solace.
…
He leaves the bed behind. He abandons the warmth and the sheets for cool air and a clear head—he lets the blanket wrap around his shoulders, though.
It's too early for them to be up like this.
He lets Naruto know.
"What the hell is this about?" he asks, and it makes Naruto laugh. Sasuke is tired and using the wall to help him stand, and Naruto already has three pots on the stove.
"Dunno," Naruto says, as if it's an explanation, "I just couldn't sleep."
Sasuke gives him a look, but Naruto doesn't turn to face him. His smile widens, though.
His cheeky, stupid smile.
"…And this has nothing to do with the fact that the house smells like ramen?"
Naruto laughs. He laughs hard and quick and called out, ducking his head with the rest of his body.
"Damn it, you weren't supposed to wake up!" he insists, and Sasuke—
"Was this meant to be a surprise?" Sasuke asks, because he's never walked into anything less. "Am I meant to be surprised by this?"
"N—well, you—yeah! Technically—yeah!"
"A technicality," Sasuke agrees, and he takes up Naruto's counter space with himself. His blanket. Sasuke gets in his way, and Naruto doesn't say a word.
"Yeah," Naruto says. "It's Teuchi's recipe."
Sasuke blinks.
"That is surprising," he mutters, and Naruto beams with his—
"See?!"
He grabs a knife and three more vegetables, and Sasuke surreptitiously stands higher to pick out what's in the pot. Had Naruto bought everything for this? Did they have everything that was needed here?
"I picked some stuff up when I went back," Naruto answers, seeing Sasuke's gaze. "The last time."
Sasuke frowns. He can't remember when that was.
"Did you," Sasuke asks, and it's rhetorical. It's a question. It's a million questions all at once—everything Sasuke hasn't asked, and everything he doesn't want to.
He's so ready to hear the wrong thing.
"Yeah," Naruto answers simply, but his eyes linger. Sasuke wraps the blanket tighter around his shoulders, and busies himself with smelling the steam. "I'll have to go back again to get more. If this works, anyway."
Naruto grabs a spoon and his cutting board and he's adding something else, now. Sasuke wonders what kind he's trying to make. Sasuke wonders just about everything at once. Sasuke—
"Is that the only reason?" Sasuke asks, and Naruto stills. He turns back, and the light shines pink across his face.
"Nah," he says, scraping some vegetables into the pot. "I gotta visit my friends."
That isn't what Sasuke was asking.
Sasuke pulls his blanket tighter, and that isn't what he was asking—
"I was a better—y'know, aftermath sort of Hokage," Naruto says, and the moron knew all along what Sasuke wanted to know. "Kind of—the person people could look to to fix stuff. To know what to fix."
Naruto laughs a little.
"I guess I'm really good at putting out fires," he says, and he gives Sasuke a look.
"Are you?" Sasuke mutters, and Naruto's grin widens. "I've always found you to be better at igniting them."
"You would," he says, stirring the pot, "wouldn't you?"
Their eyes meet, and Naruto isn't the Hokage anymore. Some part of Sasuke already knew. Some part of Sasuke really needed to.
Naruto's smile tilts to one side, and he goes back to his pot. He's cooking them breakfast. He has nowhere to go.
Sasuke stands beside him, wrapped in the blankets of the bed they share together.
"Are you still needed there?" Sasuke asks, because he has to make sure. Naruto looks up, and his smile falters at the look on Sasuke's face. Maybe it's his eyes. Maybe they've shown too much.
"Yes and no," Naruto says. "I'm still gonna go. But they just have to—call me first. Once in a while. Like every couple of weeks. Yeah?"
He looks back at Sasuke, as if to check. As if to ask. As if Sasuke has a say in what happens to their life together, as if Sasuke has the choice to give this all away.
He doesn't, but he appreciates Naruto thinking he could.
Sasuke inclines his head, and it brings the smile back to Naruto's face.
…
The ramen continues to cook.
"How long is this going to take?" Sasuke asks, and it makes Naruto laugh.
"What, are you impatient or something?" he says, tapping the ball of his foot to the tile of their floor. "You're turning into me."
"I'm really not," Sasuke deadpans without a beat, and whatever is in his voice makes Naruto laugh harder than he has all morning.
"Okay, okay, okay, go away now. Get back in bed."
Sasuke blinks.
"What?" he asks. "Why?"
"'Cause we're having breakfast in bed," Naruto insists, "and it's ramen. I'm living my goddamn dream over here, Sasuke."
He turns to Sasuke with a tease to his smile, but it's the truth that takes Sasuke by the eyes. Takes him by the throat. Something in his chest twists, and Sasuke is suddenly afraid of what he might say, if he were able to speak.
He turns on his heel instead. He feels Naruto's eyes on his back. Feels his smile. Feels the sun. Sasuke breathes in and out, but the clatter of bowls doesn't give him time to rest. Doesn't give him time to consider.
It's the only luxury he doesn't have, he thinks. The ability to think, when Naruto's around.
Naruto brings overfilled bowls and spills on the sheets. Sasuke scoffs and lets him. He's more preoccupied with his own. More preoccupied with where to rest it. How to sit. How to leave one leg straight.
The bottom of Naruto's foot finds Sasuke's bare ankle, and Sasuke feels something in him exhale.
He wonders if Naruto does, too.
A/N: little one today. bye bye!
- Kinomi