The blinds weren't properly drawn, so Naruto woke earlier than he would've liked, blinking against the offending rays of light before bringing up a hand to shield his eyes from it as he looked over at Sasuke's nightstand and the alarm clock that stood there. 11:00 am. Which for most people were late, but when you hadn't crawled into bed until seven it was way too early. The party had dragged on, which maybe wasn't too weird considering they were all night owls by trade. And just when he thought the last guest had left and he could go asleep they'd found Kiba snoring away on the balcony, huddled up underneath his hoodie, which was doing a lousy job at keeping him warm considering it was October.

Sasuke had delegated waking and sending Kiba home to Naruto, leaving to wash the blood stains off the kitchen table himself.

With Kiba shoved into a cab Naruto had finally been able to collapse on the bed and fall asleep, but of course the sun would wake him a mere three hours later. He smothered a yawn and stretched his back, wincing at the crack his spine made as he considering getting up to shut the blinds or just turning around and go back to sleep facing the other way.

Rubbing his eyes he looked around, surprised to not be waking with arms wrapped around him. Sasuke was a cuddler, even if he wouldn't acknowledge it, and most of the time Naruto woke with both Sasuke's arms and legs wrapped around him tightly. It was a very nice thing to wake up to, and now he felt all weird not having an elbow shoved in his ribs.

Sasuke was still in bed, but he was lying a full two feet away from Naruto, perched all the way on the other side of the mattress, his back towards him. The sheets had slipped off him at some point to pool around his waist, and there was a slight shiver in his shoulders. Naruto recognised the suppressed moan that came next. Sasuke was caught in a nightmare. It had happened all too frequently since that night in the Uchiha manor, and Naruto hated it, hated seeing Sasuke suffer. Thankfully he had found a remedy that usual did the trick.

Naruto slipped a tan hand around Sasuke's waist, pulling him back towards his chest. Sasuke was cool against him, his skin soft and his hip bone a sharp edge against Naruto's fingers. Sasuke murmured sleepily as Naruto stroked gently across his skin, dancing against his abs, playing with the trail of hair leading down from his bellybutton and across sensitive sides that had Sasuke flinch slightly.

It was never a good idea to wake Sasuke too suddenly when he was caught in a nightmare, it made him lash out, made him on edge for the rest of the day. The clue was to gently pull him away from the dark place the nightmares put him in, ease him back awake.

Sasuke relaxed against him, and Naruto could feel the nightmare slipping away as the tenseness seeped out of Sasuke's shoulders and his breathing seemed to even out. Naruto loved the fact that his touch seemed to comfort Sasuke, that it grounded him when he was lost in the dark memories that haunted him. He ghosted a kiss against a pale shoulder and felt the stirring that marked Sasuke starting to wake.

"Morning, baby," Naruto muttered, knowing that half-awake was probably the only time Sasuke wouldn't castrate him for calling him that.

Naruto's fingers traced up Sasuke's middle, teasing against hard muscle and bone. Sasuke was starting to squirm, still not quite awake, but getting there. Naruto kissed his neck, right across one of the dark marks he had left on him a few days ago. Then another kiss, right where neck met shoulder. The feel of skin was different there, changing from the smoothness of unblemished skin to the puckered roughness of scar tissue. Naruto hesitated a moment, then kissed it gently before pulling back, letting his eyes drop to the spot, even if he knew what he was going to see there. A roughly circular scar, a marking Naruto himself had left there some months ago. Not the only scar marring Sasuke's pale skin by far, but one that made something twist painfully in Naruto's gut as he remembered just how it had happened.

Sasuke had tried to leave him, tried to shut him out of the crap that was going on, and desperate to show Sasuke that he needed to stay with him, that Naruto wasn't going to let him go Naruto had topped Sasuke for the first time, which had been great in the sense that it was pretty spectacular sex, but he'd been so raw with emotions that the beast had pushed through, and before he knew it he'd sunk his fangs into Sasuke's neck, biting deep, forever marking him as his.

He didn't regret the sex, it had been mind-blowing, and Sasuke had desperately needed to let go of his control for once, but he did regret not being able to control himself better. It was testament to how the beast was always there, pushing at the walls, trying to get free. It had tried to claim Sasuke then, whether to mark or something worse Naruto didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He was never going to let the beast harm anyone ever again. It was always there, a presence in his gut, but he had it under control, he pushed it back whenever it prodded at its limits. He had to, he didn't want to know what would happen if he couldn't control it.

"Naruto…" he heard Sasuke mutter, and looked away from the scar to meet Sasuke's slightly slanted eyes as he peered at Naruto over his shoulder. His eyes were still slightly unfocused from sleep, his hair was in disarray, and it made him look completely gorgeous. Naruto would almost call him cute, if that wouldn't lead to his ass tossed out of the apartment faster than he could finish saying the word.

"Morning," Naruto said again, kissing Sasuke's cheek, trying to ignore the morose state he had gotten himself into, focusing on Sasuke instead. Getting Sasuke past his trauma was his number one priority, he could fix himself later, when Sasuke was better.

"You are thinking too hard. It doesn't suit you," Sasuke muttered, his hand lifting and resting against Naruto's where it was still absentmindedly stroking Sasuke's chest. Their fingers intertwined, pressing together right above Sasuke's heart.

Naruto chuckled slightly. "You better make me stop thinking then." It was easier to focus on Sasuke than deal with the thoughts that tended to creep up when he couldn't distract himself. It was more important to make sure that Sasuke was cheered up. Besides, with Sasuke lying next to him it was easy to lose himself in him, focus on the feel of a warm body against his, the smell of him in his nose, the way he looked with his eyes still squinting from sleep.

He could feel his cock stir with interest, spurred on by basically being pressed against the crack of Sasuke's ass. He tilted his hips forward, rubbing that growing hardness against soft flesh, distracting himself.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered close for a moment before locking on Naruto's again. Rather than the lust Naruto had hoped to see there was sternness in them. Shit.

"First you tell me what you were thinking about," Sasuke said, making it quite obvious that Naruto was not about to get out of answering, no matter how much he teased him.

"It's nothing, Sasuke," he tried. Sasuke didn't look very impressed with his attempt to let the case rest.

Naruto sighed, realising that Sasuke wasn't going to let it be. "It's just…" Naruto hesitated, but the look Sasuke gave him made him go on. "Your scar," he finished. He tried to pull his hand away, wanting some space between them, but Sasuke held on, fingers tightening around his, holding him right there. His eyes did dart down towards his shoulder where he could probably just make out the top ridge of scar tissue, not even asking which scar Naruto was talking about. He didn't need to.

"What about it?"

"I… hate that you have to have it," Naruto continued, struggling with finding the right words. "It just reminds me that I'm weak."

Sasuke twisted in his arms, going up on an elbow so his face was higher than Naruto, putting him firmly in charge of the situation. Naruto might be a shifter, but Sasuke knew how to claim alpha dog position over him. "You are a lot of things, Naruto, but weak is not one of them. Dumbass sure, reckless yeah, but not weak."

"I couldn't control my beast and it ended up hurting you, and now you have to carry that ugly mark for the rest of your life." Naruto felt his voice rise as he grew agitated.

Sasuke's hand moved towards his neck, and Naruto saw pale fingers brush against raised skin, tracing the pattern of ragged mounds marking each of Naruto's fangs.

"I have a lot of scars, Naruto, and this least of all would I ever consider ugly," Sasuke said. "It's a reminder that you are here for me, are here to pull me out of my own head when I lose myself in the darkness." His voice was calm and steady.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke quieted him with a hand pressed lightly to his mouth. "I'll wear it with pride, and I do not want you talking down on yourself like that. You are strong, and you can overcome the beast. I am here for you, just like you was there for me. If that means I have another scar to show for it I don't mind. I'm not scared of you."

Naruto felt tears well in his eyes, and blinked hard to clear them. Hearing Sasuke, who rarely spoke of feelings at all, state what he felt meant the world to him, and was exactly what he needed to soothe the angry voice in his head that told him he wasn't good enough, that he was just a monster, someone people feared.

"Thank you," Naruto muttered, his lips tracing soft kisses against the fingers still pressed lightly against his mouth.

Sasuke shifted closer to Naruto, pressing their chests together as his thumb traced against Naruto's bottom lip. Naruto wrapped his lips around it, sucking it into his mouth, tongue lapping at the soft pad, feeling the slight roughness of calluses.

"You gave me exactly what I needed back then," Sasuke said, and when Naruto peered up at him he saw Sasuke's eyes on where lips were wrapped around his thumb. Lust was flaring in his eyes, and Naruto felt heat rush through him. Sasuke never failed to turn him on with just a look, and now was no exception. The self-doubt and pain was pushed back as something else made its way to the forefront of his mind, and all he knew what that he wanted Sasuke. The fear that the beast was still inside, waiting to hurt someone he loved, was still there, but Sasuke didn't seem to care, and that made it easier to stop worrying and let himself go.

Slowly Sasuke manoeuvred them so Naruto was lying on his back, Sasuke atop him, his slim hips tucked in-between Naruto's thighs, their cocks pressed against each other. Sasuke dipped in, and pressed his lips against Naruto's, a hard demanding kiss that had Naruto groan with need.

Sasuke's hips shifted, and the brush of a hard dick against his equally interested one seemed to wash away the last trace of doubt as he lost himself in sensation, leaving him craving for more. Sasuke's body was addictive, and he wanted it. Wanted it inside him, around him, against him. Anything as long as he could be with Sasuke.

"Naruto, get the lube," Sasuke said, voice ragged with want as he pulled away from the kiss for a moment. Naruto moaned at the implications of those words and quickly shoved his hands underneath the pillow, trying to locate the bottle he was sure they'd left there the last time they had sex. It took some fumbling, but soon his fingers closed around it, and he could pull it out triumphantly.

"Good, now coat my fingers," Sasuke ordered, and Naruto's eyes widened. The tone of voice Sasuke was using was doing crazy things to his libido, which was weird, because under any other circumstance Naruto would love to argue back when Sasuke got all bossy. There was just something about how there was no hesitation in Sasuke's voice, no opening for discussions that made him want to just flop back and let Sasuke do whatever he wanted to with him.

Naruto almost whimpered when he flicked open the lid of the lube and drizzled a generous amount onto Sasuke's now outstretched fingers. He tossed the bottle away and was vaguely aware that it bounced against the mattress and rolled against the headboard, almost tipping off the bed altogether, but right now he couldn't care less as he made sure to spread the cool gel around Sasuke's middlemost three fingers, coating them thoroughly. He knew where those fingers were going soon, and he felt as if he couldn't wait another moment. He needed Sasuke inside him, wanted to feel full and taken.

Sasuke pulled away from Naruto enough to lean back on his knees, looking down on him, dark eyes peering out from messy bangs, lips reddened by too rough kisses. He looked stunning. All lean muscles and pale skin, and an aura of control that made Naruto relax and lose himself in the moment. The world was narrowing in on only the man in front of him, and the pleasures he was no doubt about to experience from those talented fingers and that delicious mouth and that silky hardness standing proud and dripping from a neat thatch of dark curls.

Holy fuck, Naruto was so horny he thought he could come just like this, Sasuke not even touching him.

"Lift your hips and place a pillow underneath your ass." Another order, no questions asked, no need for Naruto to think or worry, and he quickly complied. He needed this now, needed to stop thinking, needed a situation where he was allowed not to focus on keeping control and just feel. The beast was a dormant though deep in his gut, completely uninterested in what was happening. Not enough blood and violence for it to stir.

The pillow tilted his hips up, and when he allowed his legs to spread wider he knew the position put everything on display. Judging by the way Sasuke's eyes darkened with lust this was exactly what he had wanted.

"Good," he simply said, and then his fingers were tracing a wet line across balls and perineum to his entrance, and Naruto's hips bucked up at the sudden touch. Sasuke didn't say anything, just placed his free hand on one thigh, gently pinning Naruto down as a finger slowly traced puckered skin, pressing against it but not breaching.

"Tell me what you want, Naruto," Sasuke said, his voice dark and erotic. Still that one finger teased him, a promise of what was to come.

"I want you inside of me," Naruto said, sounding almost breathless with want.

"Like this?" A single digit slid inside him, agonizingly slow. Naruto's flesh parted around it, sucking him in eagerly as if had been waiting for this.

Naruto's eyes fluttered close. "More, Sasuke."

He heard a chuckle above him. "More what?"

"More of you! I want your dick inside me!" Naruto was quickly losing his patience. The sole finger was just a tease. Brushing close to, but not against, his prostate, going too slow, just egging him on. It was driving him mad with lust, and all he wanted and could think about right now was for Sasuke to just fuck him already. Sasuke was too far away, he wanted his body pressed against his and his cock sinking into him, spreading him open, just on the verge of painful. He wanted to feel it, wanted Sasuke to brand him as his.

Another finger joined the first, slowly stretching Naruto. Fuck, Naruto didn't need this slow, thorough prep, he needed more, needed Sasuke now.

"Sasuke, just fuck me already, please!" he half-yelled on a broken moan as Sasuke curled his fingers, just brushing against that spot that had his hips twitch in pure want.

Sasuke pulled his fingers out, and for a moment Naruto was sure he was going to get what he wanted, but then the fingers was joined by a third. The pace was still slow, too slow, but he could feel a hint of a stretch now as Sasuke spread his fingers, and then his fingers pressed against his prostrate properly and Naruto's hips shot up as Sasuke kept teasing against the spot, not letting up. Naruto's eyes flew open, as did his mouth. His cock was hard and leaking, a small trail of shiny fluid smeared on his abdomen.

"Dammit, Sasuke," he groaned. He needed Sasuke to get a move on, couldn't stand another moment of teasing. He was this fucking close to just calling it off and changing their positions, fucking Sasuke as hard as he wanted to be fucked.

"Say please."

Naruto looked towards Sasuke, saw a very pleased-looking smirk on his face, and however frustrated he was he didn't even care right then, because for once Sasuke didn't look like he was thinking about anything bad at all. He'd had this haunted look that never seemed to completely vanish ever since he had killed the demon masquerading as his brother, as if he wasn't able to get past it, but right now all he saw was Sasuke, turned-on and very much enjoying torturing Naruto, and it made it worth it. Naruto would willingly never come again for the rest of his life if it meant seeing Sasuke like this every day.

Judging by the hungry look Sasuke was directing at him though, and how hard his cock was, precum beading on the tip, the head flushed a deep red, Naruto knew Sasuke was just as eager to fuck Naruto as Naruto was to feel that hard cock inside.

"Please, Sasuke, please just fuck me already," Naruto groaned out, his back arching towards Sasuke. "I need you so bad, please, please."

Fingers vanished, lube was generously spread along his length, and then, a mere seconds after that last please had left Naruto's mouth Sasuke was sinking into the heat of Naruto's body, spreading him wide, filling him completely.

Naruto's hand flew up to clutch at Sasuke's shoulders, nails digging into flesh, leaving half-moon shaped indents in the skin. Sasuke was hot and hard inside him, everything Naruto craved for, everything he needed.

Fully seated inside Sasuke stopped, leaning in and kissing Naruto hard. "You are so tight around me," he growled into the kiss, sucking a bottom lip into his mouth, biting down and then soothing the hurt with his tongue.

Then he finally started moving, and Naruto would applaud if he wasn't too preoccupied clinging to Sasuke. A slow shift of hips was followed by a snap pushing him fully inside again, and Naruto wrapped his legs tightly around Sasuke's hips, wanting him closer. Another retreat followed by a hard push buried him deep in Naruto before the pace quickened, short hard trusts angled to brush against or press directly into Naruto's prostate on every stroke. Naruto was overloading on pleasure, his whole world centred solely on Sasuke and what his body was doing to Naruto. A hard dick in his ass, a body slick with sweat against his skin, the scent of musk in his nose and the sweet sound of Sasuke's quiet moans and grunts in his ears. Everything else faded away until it was just the two of them, desperately merging, shutting all the pain and shit of the world outside as they lost themselves for a blissed moment.

Every maddening tilt of Sasuke's hips has his midriff brush against Naruto's aching cock, and Naruto wanted to come, needed to come, growing more desperate by the moment, but the touch wasn't firm enough, just another tease to drive him mad with lust.

"Sasuke! I need… need to…" Words were hard to form, his brain turning to mush every time Sasuke pressed deep inside of him.

"Touch yourself," Sasuke ordered, bracing himself on his hands so his upper body lifted enough from Naruto's crotch to allow a hand to slide between them, fisting around a straining cock. His other hand curled around the headboard, giving him the leverage to push back into Sasuke's thrusts.

"Look at me as you come," Sasuke said, and Naruto locked his gaze with Sasuke, desperate to do whatever Sasuke wanted, while his hand worked his length in sync with the hard cock filling him. Three strokes and his balls were tightening. Four and his thighs started shaking. Five and he came undone. His body locked up as warm cum covered his hand and abdomen. His eyes wanted to close, but he forced himself to keep eye contact with Sasuke, and watching those dark eyes narrow in pure lust as Naruto came was the hottest thing he'd seen in a while. They grew glassy in pure want, and then widened again as Sasuke came too, buried deep inside him, filling him with his cum.

"Hah!" Sasuke breathed, his whole body tense as he rode through his orgasm, hips thrusting shallowly. Then he collapsed onto Naruto, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Naruto wrapped shaky arms around him and held him close, burying his face against Sasuke's shoulder, kissing it softly, trying to calm himself. His heart was racing in his chest, thumping a wild tattoo, and he could feel a matching heartbeat from Sasuke.

Sasuke shifted slightly, his softening dick sliding out of Naruto along with a dribble of cum. Naruto winced, but ignored it, not wanting to move just now. He wanted to soak up in the afterglow, wanted to stay in this little bubble where Sasuke wasn't haunted by his past and Naruto wasn't tormented by an inner beast. This was perfection, Sasuke in his arms, nothing else but the two of them mattering in the slightest.

When their breaths calmed down alongside with their heartbeats Sasuke finally rolled off him. Naruto felt a sharp spike of fear that Sasuke would pull away from him, but he didn't, he just pulled Naruto close, tucking him against his chest so he could rest his head on top of Naruto's head. It was still early in the day, so sleep was starting to tug at Naruto, making his eyelids heavy, beckoning him to fall back into its sweet embrace.

Naruto relaxed against Sasuke. His boyfriend might be both slimmer and shorter than him, although not by much, but curled up against him, strong arms wrapped around him, Naruto felt completely safe and at ease, as if there wasn't a thing in the world that could harm them.

"I love you, Sasuke," Naruto muttered sleepily against Sasuke's chest as he drifted off for a few more hours of sleep before the day started.


Sasuke would've said it back if it wasn't for the way Naruto's breath evened out the moment he'd sleepily whispered the words against him, but for now he was content with just holding Naruto close, burying his face in the mess of blond spikes.

He felt disgusting, sweaty and sticky with the remains of lube and cum, but right now he didn't really care. He'd take care of it when Naruto woke later. It wouldn't be the only thing they'd have to clean today, his apartment was still a mess.

He knew that the thought of sticky floors and broken glasses and chips pulverized into carpets should annoy him, but it was hard to really care when he knew how much it had meant to Naruto to have a proper birthday party. Unlike him Naruto longed for the feeling of being surrounded by people who liked him, thrived on the attention where Sasuke would be perfectly content just sitting alone with Naruto, no one else around.

Sasuke kissed the top of Naruto's head, and Naruto sighed, warm breath fanning over Sasuke's chest before he pressed even closer, his hand splaying out against Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke frowned as his gaze flicked down to the tan hand, and without waking Naruto he reached down, picking away something lodged under one fingernail. It was a shard of sorts, hard to the touch. He peered at it for a moment until he realised that the shard was a wooden splinter. Why would Naruto have a splinter lodged under his…?

Sasuke tilted his head back, and the why was quickly explained. There were thick gouges ripped deep into the wooden headboard of his bed, parallel lines where the dark stained wood had to give way to the pale wood beneath.

He lifted a hand to the marks, finger tips gliding over them, before he curled his nails against the wood, testing it. He could barely mark the wood at all with his blunt nails. Which meant that Naruto's nails hadn't been blunt when he had made them, but sharp, the claws Sasuke had seen a couple of times, and judging by the way Naruto had so easily fallen asleep, seemingly not worried at all told Sasuke that he probably wasn't even aware of having done it. He'd probably lost control for a moment when things got too intense.

Sasuke pulled his hand away from the starch reminder of just what Naruto was.

He hesitated for a moment and then stretched over the side of the bed, getting his hands on his sweater which had been thrown there earlier as they fell into bed. He threw the sweater over the wound in the headboard, making sure Naruto wouldn't see it first thing when he woke up. Naruto already struggled with this enough as it was, he didn't want him to worry unnecessarily. They'd find a way to control the beast, Sasuke knew they would, somehow, and he didn't want this to be the thing Naruto remembered from his birthday.

Removing a few more splinters from Naruto's nails and tossing them to the floor Sasuke finally relaxed back against the mattress, tightening his hold around Naruto and yawning. "It's going to be fine," he muttered against Naruto's forehead, not sure if he was reassuring Naruto or himself.


A/N: Have some smut with a side of angst. I'm hoping people still are enjoying this fic? If there's things you don't want to see/desperately want to see please tell me so, any kinds of feedback is very much appreciated.