Boruto didn't know if it was the weed or it was Yori, but sitting there on the uncomfortable concrete overhang, Boruto felt as if nothing could touch him. He felt complete in a way that he had never felt before in his life. The blond wondered if this was how most people felt on the regular, at peace with themselves and their place in the universe. It was a nice experience; he wondered how he could make it happen more often.

They were now lying down on the harsh feeling concrete, legs dangling between cold metal bars, weightless to the ground. The buildings might have been too close to each other to have seen much of anything around them, but when they faced upwards, they could see every star.

Shoulders, arms, thighs— they were touching in the most simple, most innocent way and it felt like neither had ever been alone in their entire lives because all they felt was this moment, with its heavy weight and its completeness.

What was left of the joint was dying on the floor next to the brunette, embers burning out, one single trail of smoke still coming from the thing. Boruto would always associate the smell of weed with the calming presence of his honey.

Yori turned over to look at the blond beside him and Boruto dragged his eyes away from the stars after the brown eyed man kept staring at him.

"Why are you looking at me?" Boruto laughed and brushed a strand of his hair out of his face.

Yori smiled at him and turned on his side so his entire body was facing his sunshine. "I've always had a problem with staring at the sun."

Boruto groaned, his face blushing brightly and easily seen even in the darkness surrounding them. He scrubbed his face in his hands and groaned louder. "I HATE you."

Yori smiled widely, the scar on his upper lip stretching. "No you don't. No you don't."

Boruto reached out and touched the small scar on Yori's lip. It was intimate in the oddest way. "Do you ever wish that your scars never happened? That we never had permanent reminders of our past mistakes?"

Yori closed his eyes, eyelashes lightly kissing, and leaned into Boruto's touch. He lightly kissed the fingertips on his lips and Boruto let him. "How else would we learn, Sunshine? Scars won't let us forget our mistakes."

Boruto grinned at the man next to him, turning to lie on his side like Yori was, both facing each other. He traced the thin lips of his older man and then he pulled them away, fingertips tingling like they had fallen asleep. "What was the thing you learned from the scar on your lip?"

Yori laughed a deep and strong thing that made the young blond tingle all over. Yori didn't laugh enough for his liking.

"I learned that my brothers' are little bitches and I should never trust them." Boruto laughed and Yori joined in with him. When they eventually ran out of laughter, they just stared into each other's eyes, not needing to speak, only needing to be around the other.

After minutes of silence, Yori spoke.

"How ya feeling, Sunshine?"

Boruto did not say anything in response, just leaned forward and kissed the brunette. When the older man reached a hand up to grip the soft jaw of the younger man, Boruto wished he would grip hard enough to leave bruises. Boruto wanted any physical reminder of Yori on his skin.

Eventually the night sky became too dark and the cold set in, creeping into their bones. Their clothes were too thin to protect their bodies from the chill of their cement bed, so they eventually migrated back into the room.

Yori immediately dropped his pants and crawled into the bed, unashamed of his near nudity.

Boruto was much different. He grew up in a predominantly female household (as his father was hardly ever around for longer than breakfast), so he was used to covering himself and those around him being covered. Being on a genin team was a shock, having to sleep and change near other people on overnight missions. Especially where Sarada was concerned.

A brilliantly red blush adorned his face and the young blond twisted his hands together nervously, looking everywhere around the impersonal hotel room than at Yori's nude form.

"You were trying to have sex with me less than two hours ago and now you are acting all virginal and blushing and not looking at me in my underwear," Yori was calling him out on his crap.

Boruto was determined to prove him wrong so he forced himself to stare at the exposed image of his Yori in front of him. Boruto's mouth went dry when he was met with the sight of so much free skin in front of him, Yori naked everywhere except for the purple y fronts he was wearing. His pale skin glowed in the dim light of the inn room. His legs were spread open at the knee, ankles crossed with dark sparse hair all over his legs. Boruto noted that his chest also had sparse dark hair over it, stomach protruding a little bit (Boruto was so used to the trim, athletic figures of his fellow shinobi that it came as a shock that Yori wasn't ripped; he liked it), small tattoo on his hip whispering to the curious part of Boruto.

"What's your tattoo of?"

Yori urgently grabbed the comforter that was next to him and covered himself up to his collar bone with it. "Goodnight," he said, and immediately fell down onto the bed on his back and tucked the edges of the thick down blanket underneath him.

Boruto's Older Sibling senses were tingling and he immediately had to satiate his curiosity. Boruto had to crawl onto the bed and on top of the prone body of the brunette. He straddled the other man as he tried to rip the blankets off of him. Yori was holding on tight, but eventually Boruto ripped them from his hands, having the upper hand in position. He had to scoot down from his position on Yori's stomach to his upper thighs to be far down enough to reveal the tattoo that decorated the brunettes protruding hip.

What was revealed to him surprised him.

It was a thin, black lined tattoo of a rabbit.

"You've got to be kidding me," Boruto said, then started laughing hard, his entire body vibrating.

Yori pushed him off of him and Boruto fell into a messy pile on the bed next to him. Boruto kept laughing and Yori eventually joined in. Eventually they were lying next to each other, trying their hardest to catch their breath after laughing, chests heaving.

"Why a rabbit?" Boruto asks, his voice loud in the silence of the room and all those around their little room of heaven.

"Why not a rabbit?" Yori retorts softly, reaching down to trace the lines of the permanent ink etched into the dermis layer of his skin. "I like rabbits."

"No deep meaning?" Boruto asks as he shucks off his jacket and shirt, throwing them off the side of the bed he is laying on. His black track pants eventually followed, leaving him sitting on the top of the comforter in pink boxer briefs. All of a sudden nudity meant nothing to him. What's showing your body to someone you've already shown parts of your soul to?

"Some things don't have deep meanings, remember? Sometimes things are how they are simply because they are," Yori said as he reached forward and traced a finger across an old scar that adorned Boruto's rip cage then traced the newer one that adorned his chest. The one on the young man's tanned chest was newly healed, pink skin portraying its novelty.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yori's rough voice asked as he repeatedly outlined the pinking scar on the chest of his younger lover.

He didn't, he really didn't. He wanted to die being the only person that knew his reasons behind that scar. He wanted it to follow him to the grave and then for forever, wherever he ended up. He never wanted his mother to know and be sad and he never wanted his father to place another thing upon his shoulders and weigh him down like Atlas. He needed this to weigh him down and condemn him to a life of solitude. His scars were his alone, not something anyone else needed to bear.

The words tumbled out of his mouth without his permission.

"Earlier, when me and dad were fighting… We had been arguing about this and that… And then he brought up the last mission I had gone on out of Konoha. You see, right now I'm on light duty after recently being taken off medical leave. It had been a mission to the Village Hidden in the Sand, some stupid mission to drop off an important scroll to Uncle Gaara. My team and I got ambushed on the way back by some missing nin— which you would think there would be less of them during a time of peace but nope— and I was fighting this woman who had face tattoos and she was slashing a kunai at my chest and… and I could've moved. I could have. I could have jumped out of the way, ducked, something. I had the time. But in that moment I froze. And I had a thought I don't want to admit. To you, to anyone. I thought 'Why?'. Why keep going on, why keep living? My life has been on standby for years. I haven't done anything with my life, I haven't started a family, hadn't done anything with my career — hell, I'm only a chunin. My baby sister is already a jonin. I haven't even tried going for the jonin xam. My friends, my family, they're all moving on with their lives and I'm just in a stand still. So I thought fuck it, ya know? Why? I've had these thoughts before, dark ones that burn in the dead of night. Thoughts that tell me how worthless I am and how I mean nothing and how I should just quit it all. I never listened before. But I listened in that moment. It was liberating, in a way, to finally say that it was enough. Yori, I was so tired. So tired.

"Konohamaru— my sensei— got to me afterward and he was putting pressure on my chest so I didn't bleed out and die. He was cursing and when we made eye contact, I swore he knew. He had to have known, in a way. He had to. He's not that dumb. My teammate Sarada healed up what she could. Her mother is the best medic nin around, but Sarada never really got the hang of it that easily, she only really knew a bit more than the basics. I was the medic nin of our team, but I was the one down. I remember the teary black eyes of my teammate and even with her sadness, I was ready. I was so ready.

"They got me back to Konoha in time. Mitsuki carried me on his back, running ahead of the team to get me to the hospital in time. Sarada's mom performed the surgery and it went smoothly, she just had to sew me up a bit, replace some blood . I just remember the face of my parents and my sister when I woke up and… God, Yori, that fucked me up. I realized in that hospital room that I could never leave them. I just couldn't. I was stupid.

"I think Sarada told my dad that I could have moved out of the way of the kunai because he's been treating me a lot differently, like he's scared to let me out of his sight but at the same time just being near him drives him inside because I won't talk to him. It's hurting him; he's so used to knowing everything and fixing everything. But there are some things he can't fix. I have to do this."

Boruto took a deep breath of air. His hands were shaking, having spilled his darkest secret to the person that could make or break him. Yori reached for his hand and he knew that Yori wouldn't push him away, wouldn't hold anything against him. Maybe, in his own way, he even understood.

Yori drew Boruto to him, placing the blonds' head underneath his chin, clutching the Uzumaki close to him. Boruto laid his head on the brunette's collar bone and let the older guy pull him on top of him. Warm skin was touching warm skin and Boruto felt like he could finally let some walls down and not be judged, like the whole village had judged him his entire life.

"Sometimes you need others there with you as you fix yourself," Yori whispered into the soft yellow strands of hair. "Sometimes knowing someone's there for you makes the world of difference."

Boruto said nothing and just snuggled farther into the neck of his lover.

"You need to talk to your dad, Sunshine," Yori said and he hugged him closer when Boruto started to struggle at the mention of actually speaking to his father. "He needs to know. It will do you and him a world of difference. Stop acting like a child and speak to the man. He's your father, he loves you."

The words from Yuri's mouth didn't make him as mad as when his father spoke them because he finally could admit that his Yori and his father were both right— Boruto needed to speak to his father. Needed to fix the stab wound between them and get his job back, needed to get himself back, and needed to fix the relationship between father and son. Talking to his father would help him fix himself.

"I will tell him," Boruto whispered confidentially into the harsh bones of his lover's body. "But not right now."

Yori leaned down and kissed the young man's head. "Whenever you are ready is when it needs to come out."

"Hey, kid, get the fuck up." Boruto woke up to a gruff voice commanding him and a plush pillow hit him on the stomach.

"Fuck off," Boruto grumbled and turned to lay on his front. He snuggled farther into the pillows and brought the comforter up to his face. It smelled like smoke and fabric softener.

Yori started shaking him. "Sunshine, you are the reason I only got four hours of sleep, so I'm making sure I pay you back." Boruto kicked back at the brunette and landed the hit on his stomach. An 'oof!' escaped the brown eyed man and Boruto snickered.

"If you don't get up in five seconds I will throw water on you," Yori promised. Boruto automatically shot up from his spot on the bed and tried to step off onto the ground but his legs were tangled in the blankets and he instead fell to the ground. His father always threw water on him to wake him up. He wasn't sure if it was just because he was difficult to wake up or if the internal prankster of his father couldn't pass the opportunity.

Boruto looked up at the man in front of him. He watched as Yori efficiently tied his polka dotted tie, crinkling the purple button up shirt underneath. "Damn, what an image to wake up to."

Yori rolled his eyes and leaned down to lace a kiss on top of Boruto's blond hair that was big and knotted from sleep. Boruto hummed in contentment when he felt the warm kiss of his partner.

"I have to wear a tie today because of some special mother fucker is coming in to listen to me beg for funding, so enjoy it while it lasts," Yori complained. Boruto giggled and grabbed onto the tie and used it to lightly pull the brunette forward and placed a kiss on his lips. Yori kissed him back and when he pulled away he said, "Ew, morning breath." Boruto swatted at him and Yori laughed as he grabbed on to the flying hand and kissed its knuckles softly.

Yori walked away from the form of his partner and rummaged through the side table next to the head of the bed. Boruto kept on sitting on the ground by the side of the bed and snuggled deeper into the comforter that smelled like both Yori and him and something entirely new.

A hard plastic item flew and hit Boruto on the head and he grumbled in outrage. "There's a spare toothbrush in the bathroom because my daughter wanted to make sure I had packed enough for some reason? Who needs two toothbrushes? I don't understand the mind of children." Boruto hummed to let Yori knew he was listening to him and noticed the item that had been thrown at him next to his feet. He reached a tan hand out to grab it and noted that it was a key card.

"Yori, you dropped a key card," Boruto said in a soft, sleep filled voice. He still hadn't woken up that much.

Yori laughed at his Sunshine. "Sunshine, you are not a morning person are you? I threw that key card at you for a reason, silly. It's yours to use as you will. If you need a sanctuary and I'm not here, feel free to use it. Or if you would like to spend the night. Or if you had a nightmare in the middle of the night and need comforting. Or you just need a nap in the middle of the day. Ya know, the usual." Boruto felt light inside that someone would look out for him as much as Yori had. He was amazed that he hadn't driven Yori insane already. It made him feel happy inside knowing that Yori wanted to be around him as much as he wanted to be around the brunette.

"Thanks, Bunny, it means a lot to me," Boruto smiled up at the man that stood in front of him. Yori smirked down at the blond before leaning down and planting a kiss atop his head.

"Bunny, huh?" Boruto hummed in response.

"I've gotta go to work now, Sunshine," Yori said as he leaned down farther to kiss Boruto on his mouth, ignoring the morning breath again. Boruto reached up to grab at Yori's face, enjoying the stubble that scratched his hands that were calloused from years of training.

"Scratchy… I like it." With one more parting kiss, Yori ghosted from his room. When Yori's presence disappeared from his hotel room, Boruto was left with a cold sense of aching, as if he had a phantom limb. The room once again became just an impersonal inn room; the warmth that Yuri brought was missing. Boruto wondered if other people could feel the same warmth he always felt from merely being in Yuri's presence. He wondered if it was because he loved the brunette.

As he got up to brush his teeth, finding the extra toothbrush lying on the counter still in its wrapper, the pink hilt made for him, he wondered why he wasn't terrified of being in love with Yori. Days before, he had freaked out at the mere idea of being in love and now, here he was, using an extra toothbrush of the man he loved inside the room he was staying in, acting like it was an everyday occurrence.

Maybe it was because Yori knew all the dark parts of Boruto and he hadn't run away, hadn't belittled him, and hadn't made him feel bad about himself. Yori was Yori; he was strong and he listened and he believed. He had been more scared of the concept of love than being in love with Yori in particular. Maybe that's why it was easy; he wasn't just in love with anyone— he was in love with Yori.

Boruto's shoulder length hair was messy and Yori didn't have a hairbrush lying around, probably not used to combing his short brown hair. The blond just threw his hair up in a messy bun and decided just to head home. He lazily put on his day old track suit and thanked the lord he wouldn't have to wear it for long; it smelled lightly of sweat and the smoke of weed.

Boruto headed out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind him. He rushed home so no one would see him not looking perfect (Boruto was like his parents' friend Ino like that, always wanting to look perfect no matter what. Naruto didn't understand), using chakra to climb to the top of a building and then running across them all to get home unseen by others.

When he finally got onto the block he lived on, he made sure to drop to the ground and walk home. His mother didn't like it when he travelled by rooftop even though his father tended to do it.

When he used his key to unlock the front door, he took of his shoes by the door, throwing the black sandals down haphazardly. He noted that the clock on the wall in front of him was at 8:02. Boruto hummed happily; he might have made it on time to get some of his mother's breakfast. His stomach grumbled in agreement.

He walked down the hardwood hallway to the kitchen to look for something edible that was already made (because he had not inherited his mothers cooking skills). When he entered the kitchen he was disappointed to notice his mother hadn't left out any food for him, so he turned to raid the fridge.

"Why is the only thing we have in here soy milk? Who drinks soy milk in this family?" Boruto muttered to himself as he angrily scrounged around to find anything in the fridge. 'Must be grocery day,' Boruto thought to himself as he closed the stainless steel door of the refrigerator.

"Boruto!" The angry voice of his father called out to him from the living room. The young blond man groaned; he hated to be yelled at on an empty stomach.

He knew the best course of action was to go to his father before his father got tired of waiting for him and confronted him. Boruto walked through the archway from the kitchen to the living room, where he was greeted with the sight of an angry and tired father pacing around the far edge of the room.

When his father finally noticed his entrance into the room, the whiskered man pointed at him, accusingly. "Where were you last night?" He demanded.

'I was trying to get dick-ed down by my man and smoked some weed,' Boruto thought, then shook his head. He could NOT tell his father that.

"Out," was all the chunin said.

That seemed to anger his father more.

"Out? You were out? You basically told me that you wanted to die last night and you decided it was a good course of action to stay out all night? Your mother and I were worried sick!" Boruto felt guilty for worrying his parents; it looked like he couldn't do anything right.

"Where's mom now?" He asked, wringing his hands together. He stared at the small scars on those hands, watching as they stretched whenever he moved them.

"She's in bed. She knew that you would come back home on your own time, but she stayed up with me all night anyway, worrying silently. I wanted to go out and look for you but she convinced me that you needed to come home by yourself." Boruto was glad they didn't go looking for him, as he didn't know how he would have explained why he was smoking weed with a half naked man in his hotel room. Other than the obvious explanation that he was gay, of course, but he didn't think his parents were quite ready for that yet.

"I'm sorry dad," Boruto said softly to his hands. His father plopped himself down on the light colored couch and placed his hands on his face, elbows on his knees.

"I was so worried," The heavy voice of his father ground out. "I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to you."

A heavy silence came over them.

"Where were you?" Naruto asked, finally looking at his son in the eyes.

Not looking away from the eyes of his father, the eyes he had inherinted, he said, "I was at Shikadai's." Naruto nodded and the silence continued on. Boruto could hear the loud screeching chirps of the small birds outside. Boruto started ripping the hard skin from around his finger nails off, revealing the pink new skin underneath. Naruto just watched his son and his harmful behavior, saying nothing. It was his sons' turn to speak. Hinata was right when she said she couldn't force anything from him, the young Uzumaki had to be willing with his information.

After a moment, Boruto started talking. Starting spilling his soul again to another man that meant so much to him. If Yori could take it, then his father could take it, too. After all, he was his father, he had to love all his faults and stand by him. Yori didn't have to. Yori did anyway.

Halfway through his explanation, his father started crying, gripping onto the soft fabric of his black track pants. It startled Boruto; it had been years since he had seen his father cry, and that was for a happy reason. Seeing his father so sad he was crying was a shock to him. It hurt that he made that happen.

When he finished talking, his father clutched onto him and pulled him onto his lap like he was a small child all over again. He didn't fit as well as he did when he was a small boy, but he wasn't going to let that bother him.

"I'm so sorry," Naruto said, voice catching on his sobs.

"It's not your fault, Dad," Boruto said, tears in his eyes that he refused to let fall. His voice was heavy with emotion begging to be let free. "It's my fault; I'm a freak. There's something wrong with me."

Naruto clutched his son tighter to his chest. "No, don't say that. You won't be able to go on missions for a while, but you're gonna get help, I promise. A lot of ninja experience depression; it's common in our line of work. Some people are just born with it. Some people get it after years of traumatic missions. Don't worry; your mother and I will get you to talk to someone. It'll all be better." Boruto wasn't sure if he believed his father, but he wanted to. He wanted to get better. He didn't want to keep fighting his thoughts, who were his own enemy. He was so tired.

He was tired of fighting with his father. He wasn't around much, but he was always around when it really mattered. On a normal day, that didn't really mean much, but right now, lying in his father's arms, it felt like enough.

It was nice to not be at war with the old man for once in his life.

His father sniffed. "Why do you smell weird?"

Shit.

When Naruto went to his office, hours later in the evening of the day, he ran into Shikamaru. His advisor was piling stacks of paper onto his already over flowing desk. One would imagine in the modern era, they would go paper less, but nope.

The blond gripped his friend's shoulder tightly before pulling him in for a hug. Shikamaru's eyes went wide and he lightly hit his friend on the back in a confused man hug.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm so glad that Boruto has such good friends like Shikadai."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and pulled away from the blond, going back to the paperwork. Naruto started grabbing the most important paperwork from the pile and sat down to do them. Nothing else really mattered.

"I didn't know that Shikadai and Boruto had hung out recently."

Naruto froze, ink dripping from the quill he was using to sign the documents, dropping on the yellow parchment paper like tears.

"Boruto told me that he spent the night with Shikadai last night."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Unless Boruto was suddenly invisible, he wasn't at our house last night."

Naruto gripped the quill hard to enough to make it snap. It looked like his son was still lying to him, even after his confession.

Okay, this chapter did NOT follow the outline I had written out for shit, but I think it's what I needed. It's not as long as the last couple, but it's not the shortest chapter yet.

I hope y'all like it!

Also, I make scene spacing on the Microsoft Word document, but when I upload it to FF, it doesn't load right? I'm not just pretending scene spacing isn't a thing, I swear I do it. Any tips anyone?