Part 6: My Visitor
Deep down, Sasuke knew that Itachi wasn't all rainbows and unicorns. His brother was gorgeous, quick-witted, intelligent, capable, wealthy, and completely out of everyone's league. His mere presence garnered a lot of admiration and infatuation, but also a lot of hate and envy. People despised what they couldn't have or couldn't be. That was human nature.
Being Itachi's Otouto, Sasuke grew up in the inner circle his entire life and was privy to a lot of insider knowledge… except for Itachi's personality.
He had suspected for years now that Itachi wasn't completely Itachi when he was playing the role of Sasuke's Aniki. Time and time again, he would catch his Aniki on the phone, speaking to a stranger in public, or interacting with a friend Sasuke brought home, and those occasions were the rare instances that Itachi slipped up.
They weren't big slip ups; merely small happenstances, but those added up over time, creating a profile of the man in Sasuke's mind.
He'd seen a lot of those expressions when his brother revealed a different side of himself that was dissimilar to the day-to-day Aniki he knew too well. It was always the cold glares and hostile stances that brushed off people as if they were lesser than bugs on a windshield, equivalent to the belligerent kind of behavior you would see from a high school delinquent. His Aniki never gave anyone the time of day, and if he did, it was always with a curt and nonchalant demeanor.
The number of instances he could recount added up the more he thought about it.
When Sasuke was 12 and Itachi was 17, his Aniki had flat out told a girl who had followed Sasuke from school to their neighborhood street that "the day my Otouto looks your way is the day pigs fly."
You could imagine the surprise that colored Sasuke's face as he hid behind Itachi who had come out onto the street to greet him. It had been such a profound choice of words, a mix between hysterically funny and nonchalantly tragic, that Sasuke didn't know whether to laugh or gasp. The girl obviously ran away in tears.
When Sasuke was 14 and Itachi was 19, his Aniki had, without a smidgen of mercy, beat the living shit out of a man on the subway platform in front of hundreds of people. Sasuke remembered feeling unbelievably embarrassed of being felt up by a person of the same sex, and he had taken a step back into the crowd to hide his shame.
Sasuke remembered watching Itachi kick the stranger on the ground like he was a sack of potatoes, while he spewed an impressive vocabulary of profanity that he had never once heard of in his life. His virgin ears were enlightened that day.
And recently, almost nine months ago, when someone suggested he apply to some universities abroad to gather some experience and broaden his horizon, Sasuke kid you not: Itachi flipped out and threatened to sew that counselor's mouth shut with a needle the size of an epidural.
Of course, Itachi thought that he had hidden these words from him since he was asked to wait in the car for him as his Aniki spoke alone with the man behind the desk, but what he didn't know was that Sasuke hung around outside to eavesdrop on their conversation.
To keep the story short, Itachi's word choice was very colorful.
Truly, his Aniki was easily the scariest person Sasuke knew. The mere thought of any of those words directed at him made him flinch.
But Sasuke was completely okay with that because Itachi never did anything other than tease and protect him. And, of course, Itachi never turned those expressions on him. In fact, Sasuke had a feeling that his Aniki tried to hide that side of him from Sasuke.
Over time, he realized that, all of the things that he observed about his Aniki that the boy repeatedly brushed off as irrelevant to him, had swerved back around to smack right into his face.
Because ever since he woke up in that bed the next morning and tried to crawl out to make it to class, it was like Itachi had become someone who was slowly fading from Sasuke's reality of how he should act and should be.
That man had been on a whole new level of intense and demanding to the brink of coming across as forceful. And it was absolutely terrifying for him, having not lost his virginity more than twelve hours ago to a very gentle Aniki.
But that morning after wasn't nonconsensual.
Sasuke bit his lip. His Aniki wouldn't do such a thing to him. He refused to label it as such.
He had been overwhelmed. That's what that was.
And all he wanted was some space and time to sort through what exactly happened and the repercussions of his actions.
Yet, his Aniki had been so persistent after, chasing him down with phone calls and texts and voicemails that, everytime his phone vibrated, his anxiety skyrocketed and he could barely remember to breathe. He had always been terrible with confrontations, especially when it came to emotions because he refused to hurt his Aniki's feelings.
To add fuel to fire, the messages had been over-the-top, so un-Itachi like, that Sasuke would have believed anyone if they had told him someone had stolen the man's phone and sent those texts instead.
So when the present Itachi had said to him, "You're so cruel, Otouto," he almost couldn't bear the onslaught of emotions that crashed into his core from the months he grappled with these foreign feelings.
Tears welled in his eyes.
"But you were being scary," he whispered fiercely, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he blamed the man for his hasty actions and irrational mindset.
Perhaps, the Aniki that he met that morning wasn't out of the norm, but rather the real one. It was hard to know and impossible to tell. He just didn't know anymore.
He saw his Aniki's brows furrow at the accusation. "Scary?" Itachi reiterated slowly as if processing a foreign term. "How was I being scary?"
"That afternoon… you were angry and yelling when you saw my phone, and you wouldn't let me go," Sasuke whispered, tucking his chin low to avoid the heavy stare directed at him.
Itachi was so close to him that he could hear his breathing.
"Why would I want to let you go? Did you think I was going to hurt you, huh, Otouto?" Itachi replied too calmly for it to be a good thing.
Sasuke didn't know if that was a rhetorical question, but he had shown some hesitation upon thinking of a response, and it showed.
Cold fury bled into his Aniki's gaze before the man sat back on his heels on the carpet. Itachi seemed ticked off by his hesitation or lack of answer, and Sasuke swallowed hard.
"I know you'd never hurt me," he finally said. "But it was so much at once and I just couldn't handle it. I just needed some time." He swallowed hard. His throat was so dry he nearly choked.
"Away from me, you mean," Itachi replied coldly. "Did you want to leave me that badly?" A laugh filtered through the man's lips, short and hardly warm. Sasuke flinched at that. "What am I saying? Of course you did. So much that you were willing to abandon me and move across the world."
"You're my Aniki," Sasuke whimpered. "We weren't supposed to sleep together. It's too complicated like this."
A loud thump caused his shoulders to jump, and the boy's head shot up while his body simultaneously shrunk back. His Aniki had pounded his fists into the carpet without mercy.
"Then why did you say yes?!" Itachi demanded through gritted teeth. "Was it out of pity?"
"Of course not!" Sasuke hollered. "No amount of pity would make me do anything I didn't want to."
Itachi's silence made Sasuke shudder. Like he said, the man could be scary.
"Why did you do it?" Sasuke asked, flipping the question.
"Isn't it obvious?" Itachi growled, launching forward to grasp Sasuke's face in his palms to maintain eye contact. "Because I love you, Otouto."
Sasuke nearly flinched. "You don't love me," he mumbled. "You love the idea of me. And once you're done with me, you'll throw me away, too, like all the other people you've slept with." He lowered his gaze. This was depressing.
"How dare you, Sasuke," Itachi growled. "Look at me! Is that what you think of me?"
The man jerked his hands away, making a quick gesture to tear off his t-shirt. The sudden sound of flesh-to-flesh contact echoed in the living room, the vibrations of Itachi's palm against his chest. "Does this look like I'm joking to you?!"
Sasuke's midnight orbs roamed the expanse of the muscle chest, only to land on the upper left quadrant. When he deciphered what his face had settled on, his eyes went wide. "Why is that on your chest?" he asked vehemently. Unknowingly, he rocked forward slightly on his knees in the man's direction.
Itachi's gaze on him remained unwavering. "Why shouldn't it be on my chest?" he rebutted.
"You're crazy," Sasuke whispered, shaking his head in disbelief, although traces of awe undercut his tone. "That's permanent, you know."
"Just like you are on my life."
His Aniki wasn't letting this go. Sasuke's heart thudded in his chest. Bathump. Bathump. Bathump.
Settled dead center above his Aniki's beating heart were the words engraved in black ink:
Sasuke: my love,
my life, my heart.
Two little lines of scripture large enough that the lines wouldn't blur together over time. Large enough that Sasuke could see it clearly from where he sat. Large enough that, anyone who caught the man half-naked, would see it.
"This is how sure I am, Otouto."
"You're crazy." The words unknowingly slipped out of his mouth again in a whisper.
"I love you, Otouto. And I'm not going anywhere. I don't want anyone else. I'm already yours, and you've already become mine forever. You can't get rid of me."
Sasuke held up a hand to stop Itachi. His mind blurred the words that his Aniki was vomiting as he couldn't quite process why he was saying such things when it was only months ago that they treated each other like brothers. Brothers who hadn't seen each other naked.
It was only months ago that Itachi was living his usual nightlife once a week and didn't treat Sasuke so oddly. Months ago when Itachi was just his typical Aniki who made jokes and yanked his hair just to tease him. Months ago when they were comfortable in each other's presence, when they had skinship without fussing over every little detail or touch. Could they not go back to those days?
Sasuke sighed in exhaustion. "I just can't do this right now." He needed to lay down and sleep for a good twelve hours and then maybe eat a bunch of snacks in bed while he watched a comedic film. And then, when he was done, maybe he'd be able to do something about his dear Aniki, whose eyes remained rooted on his face the entire time.
He could tell Itachi was far from happy upon hearing his words, but he didn't push it, which Sasuke thanked the gods for.
Sasuke heaved a loud sigh, pushing out all the anxiety from his chest cavity. "Can we please act like things are normal for just one day?"
He met Itachi's eyes, and a silent shiver raced down his spine. There was something animalistic and dangerous lurking behind those obsidian eyes, combined with a yearning that he wasn't used to seeing. It disappeared as quickly as Sasuke caught sight of it.
"One day," Itachi grunted. "Then, you tell me why you ran away from me."
Sasuke considered the terms before he nodded in acquiescence.
"Promise me," Itachi growled.
Sasuke flinched at the tone, but he refused to overthink it. His Aniki was always big on promises, and Sasuke did, after all, break his promise.
"I promise."
"If you try to run from me again, I'll chain you to the bed."
Ahh, there it was. He couldn't even take it to heart anymore or brush it off as a joke.
"As if you haven't done that before."
He couldn't help it. The words came out as if they were their own entity. The mere idea of captivity made him want to hurl from hyperventilation.
Itachi didn't respond to him that time, and Sasuke exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
The boy skimmed his fingers through his spikes and pushed himself off the carpet. "So did you rent a hotel nearby?" he asked casually, changing the subject, as he sauntered over to the kitchen to close all the cabinets he had opened previously.
"No, Otouto."
Sasuke heaved himself up the kitchen counter and settled down on top of it. "Are you going to head back home then now that you know where I am?"
"I sold the house."
"What?!" Sasuke shrieked, eyes widened considerably.
Itachi shrugged and made himself comfortable on the couch.
"Why did you sell our house?" he asked, nostalgia filling his chest. All his childhood memories were engraved in that place.
Itachi eyed him as if he was dense. And Sasuke nearly laughed. This was what he meant by returning to "normal."
"Because you live here," the man replied nonchalantly.
Sasuke gulped. "You're not saying you're going to live here with me… are you?"
"Of course I am. You are my home, Otouto."
Fuck. Sasuke's heart hammered loudly in his chest in a way that he tried not to pay attention to.
"Pfft. You're being ridiculous, Aniki. I only have one bed here and no guest rooms."
"I don't see what the problem is."
Wow. Was his Aniki always like this? Stubborn and beyond reason? Another sigh. There was no use arguing with the man. He'd leave it be for now.
"Otouto?"
"Hmm?"
"I have missed you dearly," Itachi said, looking straight into Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke spluttered, his guard dropping to allow a blush to creep up his cheeks. "You sap," he muttered although there was no heat to those words.
H.J.
Itachi trailed casually behind Sasuke at the grocery store.
After their reunion, his Otouto was thoughtful to consider Itachi's needs since, in his haste, he hadn't bothered to pack any essentials when he flew across the world. All he brought was his laptop, phone, and traveling documents.
He could tell that Sasuke was uncomfortable with Itachi hovering right behind him if the constant sideways glances were anything to go by, but it was best to keep curious eyes away from his Otouto. He knew for a fact his beautiful boy had absolutely no idea that he always stole everyone's attention, making him a beacon in the dark. It was always the case in Japan, and apparently it was no different in the States.
It was a frightening thought that anyone could approach his Otouto… and it was incredibly annoying. He shot glares at every single individual who looked Sasuke's way. Male or female, sparks of interest or curiosity, intents to approach or gazing from afar: it didn't matter the predicament. He'd get rid of them all.
"Toothbrush, comb, razors, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, body wash… hey, Aniki, do you still use the Shikai shower gel brand?"
Itachi turned away from one of the workers whose eyes were solely focused on Sasuke, but not before he side-stepped and hid his Otouto's body from the stranger's view with his large frame.
The basket in his hand weighed a little heavier now since his Otouto continued to toss in things he deemed necessary for Itachi's stay. He looked down just in time to see Sasuke toss in a tube of sunscreen.
Sasuke was concerned for his skin. How precious.
"Hmm?" he muttered. The scowl on his Otouto's face was too cute to focus on anything else.
The boy straightened from his crouched position and huffed a sigh. "I asked if you still used this brand of shower gel." He shoved the bottle in his hand underneath Itachi's gaze with the label facing upward.
A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth. "You remember what kind of shower gel I use?" he asked.
"Only an idiot would forget."
His Otouto tried to play it off, but Itachi could see the faint dust of pink on his cheeks. He was beyond moved.
He leaned down and kissed the pinkish hue without a second thought. He couldn't help himself, and the way Sasuke spluttered was worth it.
The boy tossed the bottle into the basket and stomped down the aisle with his hands shoved into his pockets.
Fucking adorable.
God, he had missed his Otouto terribly in the months the boy had disappeared. Sometimes, he could hardly breathe when he thought about the hole in his chest when Sasuke had ran away. That feeling was vicious and unrelenting. He absolutely loathed it and never wanted to feel that way again.
The man rounded the corner of the aisle and turned in the direction he had seen his Otouto march off to. There were only two aisles remaining in that direction so Sasuke had to be in one of those two… except he wasn't.
Tsk. Somewhere inside, a vein popped, and Itachi gritted his teeth to hide it while his eyes roamed the aisles frantically despite knowing at first glance that they were already empty.
Where could he be? He couldn't have disappeared without a trace that quickly. Had he run away again? No way. His Otouto had been acting fine the last half hour. No way would he have abandoned Itachi again after being reunited. No way. No way.
Fuck. Where was he?
He must have looked like a mad man, scouring through every aisle while breathing heavily from hyperventilation, but he didn't care. Where did he go goddammit?
He rounded another aisle that led to the dairy section of the store and stopped dead in his tracks. There, standing in front of the refrigeration, was his sweet Otouto rummaging through an opened carton of eggs, checking for cracks.
Itachi didn't know what happened, but his heart was pounding violently in his chest when his chest slammed into Sasuke's back from behind. The boy yelped on impact, scrambling to hold onto the carton, as Itachi dropped the basket at their feet and wrapped his thick arms around his Otouto's lean waist, smashing their bodies tightly together in a locked embrace.
"Aniki!" Sasuke shrieked in surprise, eyes darting back to see Itachi's hunched over form. "You scared me! What are you doing? Hey, are you listening to me? Let go– huh?"
Itachi's body was shivering against his Otouto's, and the boy must have paused because he noticed. "I thought you left me again," he mumbled pitifully atop the boy's head of hair.
Maybe his words reached his Otouto because Sasuke stopped struggling against his chest. "Sorry. I forgot I needed to buy eggs earlier."
Itachi hugged his Otouto closer to his body. "Let's go home, Otouto," he muttered. His words came across almost pleadingly.
He held onto Sasuke's hand and pulled him along, but not before Sasuke hastily grabbed onto the basket. "Wait! We came all this way. Let's checkout first, okay?"
Itachi paused. Then, he nodded, refusing to let go of Sasuke's hand until they were at the checkout line and the boy was unloading all the items from the basket. He hovered behind his Otouto, but otherwise allowed the boy to do his thing.
"Back so soon?"
Instantly, Itachi noticed that the male cashier behind the counter was eyeing his Otouto with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face. It was the same worker from earlier that was glancing their way when Sasuke was picking out the shampoo.
The deadened expression Itachi struck the man with caused his eyebrows to shoot up and palms to splay before his body easily as if this was the first time he was aware of Itachi's presence.
Of course, it was his first time noticing him. The man had been drooling over Sasuke the entire fucking time. Itachi wanted to smash the man's face in. Maybe a matching pair of swollen eyes will remind him not to look in Sasuke's direction.
It was then that Sasuke glanced back at him, probably saw his narrowed eyes, and sighed. "Aniki, stop it."
Itachi stared at his Otouto for a split second before he grunted. "Fine," he muttered.
His Otouto turned back to the man behind the counter. "Sorry about that," he said, switching over to English. When Sasuke spoke to Itachi and vice versa, they always spoke Japanese, but when he communicated with anyone else, he switched over to English. The boy was fluent in it after all.
The man must have thought Itachi was a foreigner and didn't understand a lick of English because he laughed sheepishly and said, "It's cool. Your boyfriend must really like you, huh?"
Boyfriend, huh? Itachi must admit it had a nice ring to it. At least, the dimwit got one thing right. He noticed that Sasuke froze in the midst of retrieving his wallet at the man's choice of words, but he didn't dwell on it especially if his Otouto didn't refute it.
Instead, Itachi swiped his card to complete the payment and picked up the bag of items. "Let's go home, Otouto," he urged, flattening a firm palm along the small of Sasuke's back to guide the boy out.
They made their way past the cashier, but not before Itachi stopped dead in his tracks to stare down the measly man behind the counter. In fluent English, he said, "Also, I don't just like him. I love him. More than anyone ever could. You have no chance, so don't even fucking try."
"Aniki, you're too much," Sasuke muttered when they stepped outside, rubbing his temple with his thumb and index fingers.
Itachi responded with a chaste kiss to the boy's soft cheek. "Aishiteru, Otouto," he replied with a smirk.
"Guh," the boy groaned in exasperation, as if he was indicating that Itachi was wearing him down. "Too much," he repeated.
Itachi's only response was to reach over and yank on one of his bangs.
H.J.
Maybe there was something twisted about Sasuke, too, he thought begrudgingly that night as he sat cross-legged on a single seated couch. Directly adjacent to him, his Aniki lay on another couch without a care in the world, arms folded on his tummy and head turned sideways toward the TV.
The fact that each time his Aniki was triggered led to major outbursts came to mind. Sasuke shifted and tucked his chin on his knees and wrapped his arms around his shins. The aforementioned twisted part of his personality came with the realization that, when these outbursts occurred, Sasuke was the only one that his Aniki listened to. Such a thing inflated his ego. It grew big and it grew wildly as if content with the reality.
His Aniki listened to him even when he was enraged at others. Just like he had backed off on the cashier at the store when Sasuke had told him to stop and ceased his pursuit of Naruto when he latched into his hand, when it came to his requests, his Aniki listened to him.
Thank fuck for that, too, because who knows how many lawsuits would they have had to settle in order to avoid prison if he hadn't.
But Sasuke reigned in his ego, noting that, unfortunately, those outbursts only occurred because of him. He was the catalyst that brought forth an Aniki that he didn't recognize, and that bothered him greatly. In addition, and this was his current hypothesis given the events that transpired, there were limits to when Itachi would listen to his wishes, and that stopped as soon as they entered the bedroom.
Beyond the bedroom doors, there lay a man who had an unquenchable sex drive, a man who was unyielding and controlling. A man who could not be reigned in or reasoned with.
Sasuke blushed. Honestly, though, what did he expect from his Aniki? The man was a walking attraction. Of course it wouldn't be any different behind closed doors. Sasuke experienced that first hand.
His eyes darted over to Itachi, who looked oh-so-casual and comfortable on his couch. As if his Aniki could sense it, his eyes flickered over and met his gaze, and Sasuke's eyes widened slightly in surprise from being caught staring.
He noticed the smirk that graced Itachi's lips and bit his lip, but didn't look away. No point in hiding if he was already caught.
"What are you thinking about over there while looking at me like that?"
The low baritone of his Aniki's voice made him shiver. It was light, yet teasing and inviting.
"Like what?" he found himself saying.
"Like you want me."
Sasuke's shoulders tensed. Immediate guilt filtered through his brain, and his body ceased all functions.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he breathed out, watching as his Aniki shifted in his spot.
Of course his Aniki didn't give two shits about the social order of things, namely ethics, morals, and all that crushingly important stuff. Sasuke envied that. But one of the two of them had to be the responsible one, and he had a hard time being okay with the choices that they've made up until now… no matter how enlightening and wonderful they were.
Normal, he chanted in his head. Normal. He was the one who proposed it, yet he found himself slacking by imaging his Aniki in the bedroom.
The two of them hanging out like this on a Saturday night was normal prior to that night, except now there was something abnormal about it. Like being in the same room with an ex-lover or something along those lines.
Sasuke bet if he said that aloud his Aniki would flip, so he kept it to himself. He was vaguely starting to identify and uncover things that rubbed this new version of Itachi the wrong way, but all of this was still very, very new, and he'd prefer if he didn't set off any landmines.
"How could you just lay there without a care in the world?" he bit out, unable to handle the emotions swimming in his brain.
So much for normal.
His Aniki sat up and his feet hit the ground without a sound, body turned in Sasuke's direction. When he spoke, his voice was low and calm. "I'm comfortable with myself, Otouto. That's why. Are you comfortable with who you are?"
Sasuke cringed. Talk about a loaded question.
"Of course not! Do you know what we did?"
Itachi's gaze narrowed on him. "I was right then. You're not only ashamed of me, but you regret what we did."
Sasuke chewed on the inner sides of his cheeks, a nasty habit brought on by his anxiety.
"Was that why you ran from me?"
Sasuke's body tensed and his grip on his shins tightened. "No. Maybe. I don't know," he muttered, repositioning himself so his feet were on the floor and hands were in his lap. He stared down hard at his fingers as if there was something interesting clasped to them.
He refused to look at the man who stood up and approached him. His Aniki crouched down at his feet, gazing up at him. For some reason, he could tell that it was the gentle Aniki.
"Tell me, baby," Itachi coaxed, cupping Sasuke's neck and brushing his thumb along the column almost tenderly as if to calm him down.
Sasuke shivered at the touch, but did not reject it. He had missed it more than he would like to admit.
"Do you want some help? Should I guess?" Itachi asked.
The man was so close that Sasuke could smell him. Hints of vanilla from his shower gel and something earthier and sweet wafted into his nose.
"Was it the bruises?" Sasuke kept his gaze in his lap, unable to meet his Aniki's gaze. He was proud of the bruises. God, saying it his mind but being unable to say it aloud was the worst.
"Did you like the bruises?" His fingers twitched and for some reason, he could hear the smile in Itachi's voice when he asked the next question.
"Was it the hickies? I left a lot, didn't I?" His tone was soft, gentle, continuously reminding Sasuke of the Aniki he knew so well.
"Was it the pain? You were a virgin, and Aniki was your first, so it must have hurt a lot," Itachi murmured as he continued to stroke Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke's gaze remained unwavering as if he was trying to stare a hole through his hands. He could feel the intensity of Itachi's calculating gaze drilling into his skull, but he silently thanked his Aniki for not forcing him to look at him.
"Was it what I did the day after?" There was a slight lilt in his Aniki's voice as if he had an inkling of what was to come.
Subconsciously, Sasuke turned his head to the side and his palms twitched again in his lap. He bit onto his lower lip this time, unable to reign in all of his feelings.
"Okay, so it was the day after. Was it because I kept you in bed with me that day?"
He didn't know why, but hearing his Aniki recount the events one at a time made him want to cry. His lower lip quivered. This was bad. As soon as that happened, his body would betray him. The boy bit down on his lip harder to try to stop it, but it only made it worse.
"Was it because I was being mean that afternoon?" Itachi asked. His tone was gentle and coaxing like he was caring for a newborn kitten.
A teardrop splashed against Sasuke's lap, creating a circular stain on his grey sweats.
"Oh, baby, don't cry," Itachi cooed. Warm hands came up to lift his face, simultaneously swiping away his tears. As soon as Sasuke saw his Aniki's furrowed brows and concerned expression, he bawled. He was picked up from his spot in an instant and wrapped inside his Aniki's arms, cocooned tightly as if he was being swaddled.
"Y-You w-wouldn't stop y-yelling at me!" He cried into Itachi's chest. "I- I didn't do anything wrong, but y-you didn't s-stop y-yelling. I don't understand w-why you w-were being so mean to me. I-I… I thought you said you loved me. Y-you liar!"
It came pouring out like a river, Itachi's words serving as the currents that swept out his emotions. Things that his mind had been fixated on for months spewed out without restraint.
"Shhh, Otouto. It's okay," Itachi murmured as he stroked the back of the boy's head. "I'm sorry I was yelling. I got jealous. I do love you. I love you more than anything in the world."
"M-My body h-hurt and I-I told you to s-stop, but you k-kept going. Y-You don't love me. You just w-wanted my b-body. And you were taking your a-anger out on me. That's n-not okay, Aniki! That's not okay!"
"You're right, baby. It's not okay. I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I want to cherish you."
Sasuke clung to the front of Itachi's shirt and dug his wet, snotty face into it. His Aniki deserved that.
"I'm your Otouto. You're supposed to be nice to me!" He continued, tears finally ceasing to flow as anger overtook his senses. "But you were being an asshole. I'm not one of your one-night stands you get to treat however you want, Aniki." Sasuke swiped away the remnants of his tears angrily as he sniffed. "I'm your Otouto. You have to be nice to me!"
Sasuke pushed himself away from Itachi's chest, but the man did not release his hold on his waist. He didn't care, however, as he tipped his head up to glare at Itachi.
"Why are you smiling?!" he yelled, shooting daggers at the man who was eyeing him in a suspiciously fond manner. "I'm angry at you, you fucking asshole. Did you hear anything I said? Aniki!"
"I want to kiss you right now," Itachi responded.
Sasuke was at a loss for words. He could feel a blush creep up his face, but he shoved it down using sheer willpower. Instead, his glare hardened and he shoved his palms against his Aniki's chest, severing their connection.
Sasuke took a step back, furious eyes rooted on Itachi. "I'm mad at you," he hissed. "You're not even taking this seriously, are you?"
Itachi took a step in Sasuke's direction, and reflexively Sasuke began scooting back, but each time he did so, his Aniki mirrored his movements. Before he knew it, his back was pressed against the wall and his Aniki had caged him in with his arms and body.
"Otouto," Itachi murmured as he gazed down at Sasuke, "I am taking this very seriously. I love you. You mean the absolute world to me. You are not a one-night stand. I didn't sleep with you because I had nothing better to do. I slept with you because I love you. Do you hear me?"
Sasuke swallowed hard and his glare faltered as he stared into his Aniki's serious expression.
"Aniki never intended to be mean to you. You are my precious Otouto. I want to give you the world. But I hate seeing other people try to get close to you. I want to protect you, even if you see me as overbearing. I am sorry that I am a jealous and overprotective person. All I want is for you to love me."
Sasuke shrunk underneath those words. When was the last time his Aniki was so forthright with him?
"I was miserable without you. All those months you were gone felt like a recurring nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. Every time you ignored my texts and calls, I felt like my heart was being stabbed by a knife. I hate being ignored by you. I hate feeling like, if I take my eyes off of you, you'll end up running away again. I don't think I can handle it if it happened again. Aniki is new to this, too, you know. You're my first love."
"Aniki…" Sasuke was speechless. In fact, his anger was replaced by a timidness that he had never experienced before, one that came from such an elaborate confession.
"Forgive me, Otouto," Itachi pleaded. His fingertips brushed against the boy's cheek fondly. "Will you give Aniki a kiss if you forgive me? If you don't, that tells me that you still hate me."
Wow. Even in times like this, his Aniki was such a flirt. Of course he'd never been the target of his Aniki's flirting so he didn't catch on until now. And what was up with those two options? It was like his Aniki's brain only thought about situations from both extremes. This was dangerous territory.
His gaze narrowed suspiciously at Itachi as if to say, 'I know what you're trying to do.'
In return, he received an absolutely pitiful expression that had him floored. It was like Itachi had sprouted puppy ears and a tail tucked between his legs, although the thing that gave him away was the mild amusement swimming deep within his pitch black eyes.
"Aniki," Sasuke sighed in resignation, "don't let anyone ever tell you you're just a pretty face."
Sasuke felt rather than saw the shift in his Aniki's shoulders as if the man was silently holding in a cacophonous bout of laughter. The boy let it go this time and pressed himself up on his tippy toes to press a kiss to his Aniki's soft lips.
When he pulled back, Itachi had coiled his arms around his waist, using the wall behind Sasuke's head to keep him in place as he dove in for a deeper kiss.
Sasuke's eyes flew open momentarily before they slid shut, and he, too, wrapped his arms around his Aniki's neck. A small moan escaped his lips when he felt Itachi's tongue lap against the seam of his lips, the tingling feeling giving him a mental high that he had not experienced in months.
The boy opened his mouth and met his Aniki's tongue with his own, swirling them around as if they were dancing with each other. He felt a warm hand press against the back of his neck as if Itachi was trying to delve deeper into their kiss.
Another moan broke free before Sasuke eased away from the kiss and rested his palms against his Aniki's chest. Underneath his fingertips, he felt the thumpity thump of the man's racing heartbeat.
"I've missed your kisses," Itachi murmured against his lips, pressing a light peck there before he nuzzled Sasuke's cheek.
A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine at the seductive voice, and the boy did his best to suppress it. His face felt hot and his breath came out in light pants as his Aniki moved from nuzzling him to placing little kisses all over his neck. "I've missed you. I've missed your smell and your taste."
"A-Aniki…"
"Don't worry, Otouto. I won't go further than this," the man responded. "I just want to feel you in my arms since it's been so long." With a final kiss to Sasuke's cheek, the man pulled back entirely, releasing his hold on Sasuke.
"You're such a weirdo," the boy muttered.
Itachi smiled. "I'll do better, Otouto, so don't leave me again, okay?"
Sasuke eyed the man warily as if skeptical. "How are you going to do better?" he asked slowly, afraid to hear the answer.
H.J.
Honestly, Itachi did not see anything wrong with his behavior. He was a bit overprotective of Sasuke, because his Otouto was often taken advantage of for his kindness and had a hard time saying no.
His Otouto was also a beauty, which meant that he often received a lot of unwanted attention, most of which he did not even notice because he didn't realize that he was the epitome of a walking wet dream. Sasuke didn't pay much attention to the people in his surroundings, and that worried Itachi greatly.
"Will you tell me, Otouto?" he asked. "I'd like to know what I can do to make you feel more comfortable with me."
Just don't tell me to leave you alone.
Sasuke's brows furrowed in serious thought, and the sole image was abso-fucking-lutely precious. Itachi cut off a grin that began emerging on his face. Couldn't let the boy think he wasn't taking this seriously now, could he?
"If something is bothering you, talk to me about it instead of yelling at me," his Otouto began, counting off the things with his fingers. "You have to be nice to me. And don't be mean to my friends–hey, don't make that face!"
Itachi's obsidian eyes brimmed brightly with amusement, but he didn't add his two cents. "What else, baby?"
"Don't text and call me fifty times a day." His Otouto made a face. "I have classes, and that's too many times."
No yelling. Be nice. Don't diss any of Sasuke's friends. Don't call and text too much.
Itachi mulled over the four things in his head and found himself nodding begrudgingly.
"Am I still allowed to touch you, Otouto?" he asked.
The hesitancy floating in his Otouto's gaze made Itachi sad. It felt akin to a pressure added to his chest that made it hard for him to breath. A shortness of breath of sorts.
"What's considered touching?"
"Hugs and kisses. And cuddling."
He deliberately left out sex. It was evident his Otouto wasn't ready to discuss that.
"...Okay."
The suffocating feeling dissipated from his chest, and his shoulders visibly relaxed. To be honest, his whole being perked up, causing his Otouto to look at him strangely.
"Then, let's go to bed, shall we?" he said, tugging on Sasuke's hand.
A genuine look of surprise coated his Otouto's face, and he yelped as he was dragged upstairs. "Hey, wait a minute! Don't tell me you plan on sleeping with me from now on?" Sasuke groaned.
"Precisely."
The man flashed a grin at the boy.
"What?" Sasuke asked with a wary look.
"I get to cuddle you," he responded, giddy.
His Otouto blinked once, twice, and thrice as if he couldn't possibly understand what was so great about it. Finally, he resigned with a sigh, but Itachi could see the small, endearing smile he tried to hide behind it.
"You're so weird, Aniki, being happy over something like that," Sasuke mumbled.
"Some things are worth being happy over, my love."