Hello! First of all, I'm sorry for the delay, I thought I would have time to write during the winter break but I was wrong. I do a lot of hours at work in between university semesters(and even during) and I couldn't find the time. I don't know when I'll post next, it'll depend on my creativity and my procrastination level at uni.

It's not properly corrected yet, but I wanted to publish it as soon as it was done considering how long it's been. If you see obvious mistakes feel free to tell me, I'll try to review this over the weekend.

By the way, Happy Belated New Year everyone!

Enjoy!

Friday morning found Sasuke sitting at the breakfast table in the middle of the kitchen. He'd been awake since 4 in the morning to finish writing the chapters he had promised to Kakashi. The older man had left a USB key containing the first draft Sasuke had given him before his car accident when he had come to his place the day he had been released from the the hospital, so luckily nothing was lost and he had been able to keep working on his book even if his old computer was completely destroyed somewhere.

He was meeting Kakashi for lunch at noon in Ottawa, so he would have to leave before 10 if he wanted to make it on time. Lost in his thoughts and the sound he made as he munched on his cereal, he didn't hear his brother enter the room until the latter sat right in front of him, his own cereal bowl in hand.

"Sasuke." Itachi said as a greeting.

Sasuke simply nodded and kept on eating his cereal. He was about to take out his phone to occupy himself with something else when Itachi spoke again. "I know you have a meeting for your book today, but would you like to have dinner with me afterward? It's been a while."

Sasuke frowned and swallowed his cereal slowly. He had not really taken notice before but it was true that they had not share a meal since that one time when he had left after Itachi had tried to speak to him about seeing someone. It was a little more than three weeks ago.

They also had not really talked since… Well since Itachi had told him about his cancer. He could feel the guilt rise inside of him because of that. He had completely avoid Itachi, at first consciously because he was mad and hurt about the situation, and then unconsciously because he was too focused on his dating life with Naruto. Sure they had not talk that often before, they were never the type to share after all - at least he wasn't and Itachi accommodated him well enough - but still they had often spend time together, even if it was just sitting next to each other in silence while eating or watching the news.

"I…" He had been about to say yes when he saw a name flashed on his cellphone with a new upcoming text, making him remember that he was suppose to meet Naruto tonight. "I have something tonight, but we can arrange plans for this weekend?"

Itachi smiled softly at him, and Sasuke thought he saw a hint of chagrin in his brother's dark eyes. "I'll be spending the weekend out of town, I have to go see a witness in Quebec for a case. I won't be back until Sunday night."

Sasuke played around in his bowl with his spoon, pushing the remaining cereal against the wall of the bowl. He didn't know what to add. He didn't have a busy schedule himself, sure he planned blocks of time for his writing but he could pretty much push them around as he liked. Itachi was way busier than him and he didn't know when the other man would have free time next week, or if he would have any.

"What about Monday?" Itachi asked after several minutes of silence. "I'm taking the day off."

Sasuke looked at his brother as if he had grown another head. " You are taking a day off."

Itachi tittered and actually blushed a little, seemingly nervous. Sasuke did a double take, surprised at his brother's expression.

"I have a doctor appointment in the morning. And, hm, let's say that I am usually not in the mood to go back to work after those." Itachi admitted, diverging his gaze from Sasuke's.

"Can I…" Sasuke cleared his throat. "Can I come with you? To your doctor appointment, that is."

"If that's what you want. It shouldn't take long. It's only a CT scan to see if the growth of the tumor is still steady."

"It's still -" Sasuke hesitated briefly. "- growing?"

Itachi thought about what had happened the day he had told Sasuke he had cancer. Sasuke had left the house quickly and had crashed his car. The emotions he had felt then tried to overwhelm him again. He was scared of what Sasuke would do if he knew the entirety of his diagnostic. "I'm not sure today is a good time to talk about it."

Sasuke sighed in annoyance. He could understand his brother restrain but he didn't want to stay in the dark any longer. He had let the situation with Itachi drifted from his mind before, now that he was focused on it no way was he letting this go away without further knowledge. "Look, what happened when you told me, it was a one time thing. You can talk to me about it without worrying about what I'll do."

"We both know, Sasuke, that this was not a one time thing." Itachi muttered through clenched teeth.

Sasuke unconsciously adjusted the watch on his wrist sighing. "Yeah… But I've been doing well recently and I want to know. I deserve to know."

Itachi rolled his eyes in answer. "Fine, little brother. Ask away."

"You say that it's still growing?" Sasuke started, a little hesitant despite his desire to know.

"Yes. I told you when you were in the hospital that it wasn't curable."

"I don't remember much about what happened in the hospital before they sent me to the psychiatric ward. I was high on pain med. Can't you do chemo? Or radiation?"

Itachi sighed and slowly extended his right hand to touch Sasuke's arm. The younger man was twirling his spoon in his bowl and the noise was slowly getting on Itachi's nerves. He grabbed the bowl with his other hand and put it further on the table where it was out of Sasuke's reach. The hand resting on Sasuke's arm lingered there briefly to comfort - himself or Sasuke, he was not entirely sure. "I have a couple of years left Sasuke, with or without chemotherapy. I don't want to spend what I have left even sicker than I already am."

"So you're just going to let it consume your brain?!"

"There's not much I can do, is there?"

Sasuke close his eyes tightly and leaned on the back of his chair. "You mentioned -" He inspired deeply. "You spoke about an experimental trial. What about it?"

Itachi put his hand in front of his eyes and shook his head slightly. "It's not conclusive. There's already been four deaths and they started a week ago." He removed his hand and stared into Sasuke's eyes. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. There's nothing to be done."

Sasuke stood up and answered him, his voice shaking a little. "You're right. I shouldn't be driving to Ottawa today, I'll call Kakashi."

Itachi looked as Sasuke exited the room looking defeated. He closed his eyes briefly in sorrow, then picked up their dishes from the table to put them in the sink. He had work to get to.

Sasuke arrived at Naruto's condo the same night feeling… hesitant. He was still a bit down due to his conversation with his brother and was not certain if coming here was such a good idea when he was in such a state. He usually felt amazing in Naruto's presence, like a rush of positive emotions. The man made him feel things he had never felt before and he did not want his bad mood of the day to ruin this usual warm feeling. He didn't want to associate Naruto with anything else than happiness, but maybe that was wrong in a way.

He had thought about cancelling the evening, but the idea had barely brushed his mind that he'd knew he could not do it. Him being miserable and lonely at home would not change the situation with Itachi and going out to see Naruto was probably the only thing that could make him feel a little better. He would have to try not to be too depressed in front of the blonde, he did not want to push him away with his cold attitude.

He sighed softly and tried to put a hint of a smile on his face as he rode the elevator up to the last story of the apartment building. When the elevator doors finally opened, he slowly made his way to the second door on his right, where Naruto's condo was.

He knocked three times sharply and immediately heard the thud of fast approaching steps. It's easy to imagine that Naruto was running towards the door considering the loud noise.

"Hellooo!" Naruto sinsonged as he opened the door. He was wearing an orange apron and was armed with a long wooden spoon. "So, I made tomato parmesan chicken. But with a LOT of tomatoes. Like honestly the ratio tomato, meat, and cheese is definitely not proportional. You probably won't like tomatoes anymore when you get out of here."

And just like that, Sasuke felt a real smile appear on his face. He could not believed that he had thought that it would be possible to feel down in Naruto's presence. "That's impossible."

"That's because you haven't tasted it yet." Naruto laughed nervously. "Sorry, you're not even inside and I'm already trying to shove food down your throat. Please, do come in."

Sasuke entered the apartment just enough so that Naruto could close the door behind him. He was looking at Naruto's bright face when he noticed that the man had large smudge of sauce on his face.

He took a small step toward the blond and extended his hand to wipe it off with his thumb. "You have tomato sauce on your face." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "You don't know that. Maybe I just murdered someone and hid the body in the tub."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you did." Sasuke said before licking his thumb clean. "That's some tasty tomato blood."

Naruto laughed as he looked at Sasuke while he licked his thumb, suddenly feeling like it was hotter than before in the apartment. He had to clear his throat before speaking again. "Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. I can show you around or we can have a drink while we wait."

Sasuke looked around the place. It was an open space apartment and from the entrance he felt like he could see the entirety of Naruto's home. The first thing he had notice coming in - except for Naruto's bright smile - was that the entirety of the wall in front of him was made of floor to ceiling windows. The view on Kingston was probably breathtaking from here.

On the right side of the room, on the wall just above a gas built in fireplace, was probably the biggest TV Sasuke had ever seen. On each side of it were built-in shelves with books, DVDs, and several video games consoles. Just in front of it was a large red sectional couch. It was enormous and could probably easily fit 10 persons. There was also two orange loveseats, one against the wall next to Sasuke and the other across the room against the window wall.

In the center of the room was a large wooden table with a long bench on one side, a chair at each end, and six chairs on the opposite side of the bench. Sasuke's eyes widen a little, wondering if Naruto was in the habit of receiving that many people in his home.

Finally the left side of the room was the kitchen area, there was a kitchen island with 5 stools on one side. There were counters against the left wall, a big fridge, and a six burners stainless stove.**

The floor and countertops where white, Sasuke thought that it was maybe made of porcelain. The rest of the apartment was in warm tones of red and orange, with the table and kitchen cabinet made of light colour wood, probably maple. It was beautiful and Sasuke felt comfortable. It was not what he had imagined from Naruto considering that the guy drove and old beat up Mazda 3. Sasuke felt a bit bad about imagining that Naruto was, let's be honest, a little poor.

"Unless you want to show me your room, I think I've seen it all." Sasuke said with amusement.

Naruto blushed. "I'm not going to throw you in my room just yet, even if I would love to. If you need to use the bathroom, though, you kinda have to cross the bedroom since it's through the walk-in."

"That doesn't sound efficient."

"It's a bit annoying but you get used to it. It's the door near the windows on the right, the other one is just a storage room." The blond said pointing at the doors on each sides of the television. "Come on, I'll give you something to drink."

Sasuke nodded before removing his shoes by the door and following Naruto who was now walking back to the kitchen. He took a seat on one of the stool of the kitchen island and watched as Naruto start rummaging through his fridge. "So I've got a bunch of stuff to drink. Beer, wine, champagne, and a bunch of other stronger liquors. I also have orange juice, water, milk, and coke. You look like a wine guy to me, though."

Sasuke smirked. "I am indeed a wine guy. Do you have any red?"

Naruto closed the door of his fridge and went to stand across Sasuke, on the other side of the kitchen island. "Red, white, rosé, I've got it all, my friend."

"What type of red do you have?"

Naruto blinked slowly. "Ugh… I don't know? I've got a couple of different bottles but my ability at differentiating wine stops at the colour. And even then, if you were to blindfold me, I'm not even sure I could differentiate them."

Sasuke laughed and got up from his stool to join Naruto on the other side of the counter. "Show me what you have."

"Everything's in there." Naruto said pointing at a small wine cooler built in the kitchen island.

Sasuke went to crouch in front of it. He opened the door and was actually surprised by the selection. "Ok, so, Red Wine 101." Sasuke said as he started taking out all of the bottles of red he could see and put them on the counter.

Naruto came to stand next to him, their side brushing as Sasuke organized the 9 bottles he had taken out in smaller groups. "There's a lot of varieties of red wines, but here you've got 4 of the most well known. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz." He pointed at each groups as he named them.

"What's the difference in taste then?"

"That's for Red Wine 102, which is not for today."

Naruto frowned. "Do the other colours have the same varieties?"

"Of course not."

Naruto rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand, a shy smile on his face. "Damn, I'm not sure I'll remember all of this. Just tell me which one's your favorite."

"I usually favor a Shiraz, but since we're eating parmesan chicken, a light Merlot would be better."

Naruto snickered. "You sound like some bald fifty year old dude sniffing his wine to describe it."

Sasuke frowned. "Do I look like a fifty year old man?"

Naruto feigned a thoughtful air. "Well now that we're talking about it…" He stopped talking abruptly, a deep laugh escaping from his throat at the murderous glare Sasuke was giving him.

"Don't worry, honey, I like my men well aged, just like the wine they drink." The blond added, softly patting Sasuke's cheek with his hand.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist as a grin started to appear on his face. "Don't provoke me, young man." He took a step towards him, not releasing his arm.

"I'm sorry, sir, I wouldn't want you to get high blood pressure." Naruto said teasingly, taking a step too, breaking the rest of the distance between them.

They both took a deep breath, realising how close they were. "I wanted to do this since the moment I opened that door." Naruto whispered, his lips brushing against Sasuke's with each words.

"You should have."

Naruto smiled and finally pressed his lips fully against Sasuke's, his free hand going to the back of Sasuke's head where it slowly caressed his hair. God, he had wanted to do that fo a while now, but when he had seen Sasuke's expression as he opened the door something had restrained him. It was only for a brief instant, but Sasuke at seemed… quite sad. It had not last long, but just enough for Naruto to notice it and to decide that he should wait for a signal to make a move. That's one hell of a signal , Naruto thought as Sasuke released his wrist and pushed him against the counter.

Sasuke was kissing him hard, his lips bruising against Naruto's. Extremely intense, as if he was drowning and Naruto was the only source of air to fill his lungs with. Naruto opened his mouth, releasing a moan, as Sasuke started to suck on his bottom lip. Both his arms were around the raven waist as he held him as close as possible.

They separated from each other brusquely when a sharp noise rang through the apartment.

"Shit!" Naruto said, panting. "Food's ready."

Sasuke put his forehead against Naruto's. "Can't it wait 5 more minute?"

Naruto hummed, and slowly let his hands wander against Sasuke's back. "We can always order pizza."

Sasuke chuckled and pressed a chaste kiss on Naruto's bruised lips. "No, let's eat. We can get back to this afterwards."

"I sure as hell hope so." Naruto said before dodging under one of Sasuke's arms to walk to the stove.

"Are you going to drink some with me?" Sasuke asked, focusing back on his choice of wine.

Naruto took out two wine glasses from one of the cupboard next to the stove and handed them to him. "Well, of course. You've made such a thoughtful choice."

Sasuke smiled at him and started to put the other bottles back in the cooler. He opened the bottle he had chosen and started pouring a little in each glasses while Naruto was plating the food.

"Do you need me to set the table?"

"Already done." Naruto said, pointing at a small breakfast table in the corner of the room that Sasuke had not noticed before. He was glad in a way to see it now, he wouldn't have known how to set up the large wooden table that Naruto had in the center of the room. Sitting face to face, one at each ends, would have feel awkward since the table was easily 12 feet long.

Sasuke walked to the small squared table with the glasses and bottle in end. The table was right next to the window wall and Naruto had put a red tablecloth over it. There was an unlit candle right in the middle of it. Sasuke couldn't help but glance at the city's light as he got closer to the transparent wall.

"It looks great right?"

Sasuke turned his head sharply. Naruto was standing only a foot behind him, both their plates in hand. "The view is beautiful, indeed." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto intently.

Naruto smiled, a soft blush on his face. "Please sit, I'll be back in a second." He put the plates on the table and ran to the other side of the room. He dimmed the light a little and came back to the table with a lighter, which he used to lit the candle.

"Cliché." Sasuke said. "I love it."

Naruto gave him a lopsided grin and sat in front of him. "Let's dig in!"

They talked while they ate, Naruto mostly talking about his friends and asking questions about how Sasuke's book was going. The later told him that it was going well and that he had a meeting soon with his publisher, not mentioning that it was supposed to have happened today.

Even when they were done with their food, they just kept talking over the dirty dishes, taking small sip of their drink while the other was speaking.

When the bottle of wine had been empty for a while, Naruto said. "I should probably get started on the dishes."

"I'll help you."

"You're sure? It's getting pretty late for an old man like you." Naruto said as he got up from the table, grabbing his and Sasuke's plates.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"It's not that late." He said before getting his phone from his jeans back pocket, where it had spend the entire night. He almost dropped it in surprise when he noticed that it was well past midnight.

Naruto noticed his surprise and asked what was wrong.

"It's already 10 before one in the morning."

Naruto's eyes grew big. "What?! I thought it was like 11pm. I haven't been up that late since college days."

Sasuke snickered. "Who's old now?"

"I actually think that I am older than you." Naruto said, setting his plates next to the sink and the rest of the dished that had accumulate while he had cooked that day. "I'll do the dished tomorrow, I'll just rinse everything off.

Sasuke walked to Naruto, deposing the wine glasses next to the sink where Naruto was busy rinsing everything off. He enlaced Naruto from the back pressing his chin on his shoulder. "So, how old are you?" Sasuke asked.

"27."

"Oh, no! I don't think the society would approve of this relationship."

Naruto laughed. "Shut up, I know you're not jailbait."

Sasuke laughed soundlessly, then pressed a kiss on Naruto's skin. "I'm 24."

"I should probably go." He added reluctantly against Naruto's neck.

Naruto let go of the plates he was holding and turned the water off, his hand going to join Sasuke's which were resting on his stomach. He leaned against the other man's chest and sang softly. "But baby, it's cold outside."

Sasuke's shoulders shook a little and he pressed his face against the blonde's neck to suppress the sound of his laughter. "You are shameless." He finally said.

Naruto turned in his embrace, sporting a huge grin on his face. "I'm hilarious" He said as he brought his arms around Sasuke's neck.

"If you say so."

Naruto kissed him softly. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door."

Sasuke nodded, releasing Naruto slowly and they started towards the door together.

"You're sure you're ok to drive? You've had a couple of drinks." Naruto asked as he watched Sasuke put on his shoes.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Sasuke answered as he straighten back up.

"If you're sure." Naruto reached for the door, unlocking it then opening it. "Text me when you get home?"

"I will."

They leaned towards each other one more time. "Bye, Sasuke" Naruto said before pressing his lips against Sasuke's once more.

Sasuke smiled through the kiss then pulled back, taking a step backward outside of the apartment. "Goodbye, Naruto."

Naruto simply grinned, and watched as Sasuke finally turned and started walking away. Only shutting the door when he heard the sound of the elevator doors closing on the other side of the hallway.

Naruto was still leaning against the door 10 minutes later when there was a soft knock on it. He turned around trying to control the size of his smile and opened the door. He was not surprised to see that it was Sasuke, considering the time it was.

"Hi again. Did you forget something?"

Sasuke looked coy as he answered. "My car won't start. I called for a cab and they say that it will take at least an hour to get here."

Naruto chuckled softly. "You're telling me that your sixty thousand dollars rental won't start?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, a small smile on his lips. "Yes, I know. I should have rented a prius."

Naruto smiled, glad that his little jab had not offended Sasuke. "I leave at 7 tomorrow."

"Is that a subtle way to tell me that I should wait outside?"

"What? No!" Naruto exclaimed, surprised that Sasuke would think so. "I mean that you can stay here for the night. I can drop you at your place tomorrow when I leave."

Sasuke seemed hesitant. "I… I wouldn't want to impose."

"I can leave you the bed if you're uncomfortable, or swear an oath not to touch you without your consent."

"Will you make an unbreakable vow?" Sasuke asked lifting a brow seriously.

Naruto just laughed not answering the question and moved from the door frame to let Sasuke come in. "We are so watching Harry Potter one of these days." He shook his head. "You should call the cab company, I'll go grab something for you to change into."

When Sasuke got off the phone, Naruto had not come back to the living room so he decided to go looking for him.

He found Naruto in his bathroom, he had left the door completely open so Sasuke didn't feel like he was intruding when he walked in. Naruto was brushing his teeth forcefully at one of the sink and turned to smile at him when he saw him. Sasuke tried not to be troubled by the fact that he found Naruto charming even when he had toothpaste all overs his mouth.

There was a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt between the two sinks and Sasuke guessed that it was for him to change into. They were probably a little too big for him since Naruto was a little more muscular but that was still better than sleeping in his jeans.

Sasuke pointed at the hand that was holding Naruto's toothbrush. "Have any extra?"

Naruto lift his chin up to avoid spilling anything and tried speaking with his mouthful. "S'con' Dra'er."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the display but understood what Naruto had say. "Do you have a lot of nightly visitors?" Sasuke tried to ask casually as he looked inside the second drawer. There was a lot of unopened toothbrushes, at least a dozen, but there was also several other with small protectors and names written on them. They had not talked about being exclusive but in Sasuke hadn't thought that it was necessary.

Naruto quickly spit in his sink and rinsed his toothbrush before walking to Sasuke. The man looked tense and Naruto definitely noted the cold tone in his question. "Sasuke, I'm not seeing anyone other than you." Sasuke's frown diminish a little and Naruto moved in closer, enlacing him from behind.

He rest his chin on Sasuke's shoulder, his arms around the other man's waist, and looked at his eyes in the mirror facing them both. "My friends come over every month and they sometimes spend the night. I haven't had a 'nightly visitor' in the three years I've lived here. Don't worry."

"Ok." Sasuke said softly, feeling dizzy with Naruto's proximity. He finally grabbed one randomly, moving softly not wanting to dislodge Naruto from where he was against him.

Naruto nuzzled his neck with his nose, sending a shiver down his entire body, and pecked him softly on the cheek. "You should leave yours out. For future uses, you know."