GO:
His Aniki entered the house a quarter after four in the afternoon, and Sasuke stared at him like he was on fire.
"Uh, you're home early…" he said, his words coming out confused.
With his laptop bag still hanging off his right shoulder and keys in his hand, Itachi pouted.
"Otouto."
And whined.
"I came home before dinner time just like I promised I would, and that's what you say?"
Sasuke eyed Itachi carefully, unsure if the man was going to crack a smile and dovetail off his remark with a teasing punchline. However, when none came and, Lord Almighty, his Aniki was serious for once, he muttered an apology.
"Welcome home, Aniki," he said.
The pout dropped easily in favor of a smile. "I'm home, Otouto."
Sasuke went back to pouring himself a glass of water before he opened the fridge to set the pitcher back. "What do you want for dinner?" he called, assuming the man was setting his things down, but when he turned around and the cold air disappeared behind him with the closing of the fridge door, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he almost rammed face first into Itachi, who had ninja-ed himself across the room. Shoes on and everything.
"Jesus. You scared me, Aniki," he muttered, staring up at the man blocking his path. "What? Did you want a glass of water, too?"
"Otouto."
"Yeah? What's up?"
Itachi was staring at him with his weird laser beam eyes. "You didn't call me today," he stated.
Sasuke's eyebrow curved expertly. "Was I supposed to call you today?"
Itachi gave him a pointed look.
The boy rolled his eyes. "You said to give you a call if I wasn't feeling well. I felt fine."
"You should have called anyway."
Wow. His Aniki was such a child.
"Why? So we can listen to the static together in silence?"
Itachi waved him off as if he said something cute. "To tell me about your current state of well-being, of course."
"So you wanted me to call you for no reason whatsoever," Sasuke repeated slowly, disbelief filling his words.
"Don't look at me like that, Sasuke," Itachi frowned, two fingers coming out to flick the boy's forehead. Sasuke flinched and grumbled. "You were hurt. I only wanted to make it better," Itachi continued, eyes growing somber. "Let me make it better."
Sasuke's gaze sobered up fast, and he internally winced at the damage he had caused with this entire fiasco. "I'm really feeling okay, Aniki. School was good, too."
A part of him felt touched that Itachi wanted to be there for him, to be his rock. Sasuke bit his lip. Despite how ridiculous he was with his words, this sweet side of him was one of the reasons Sasuke's heart dived off into the deep end in the first place. He spewed curses underneath his breath.
His Aniki sported an unreadable look like he was attempting to look into his soul and discern the leftover damage.
"…Is there something else that's bothering you?" Sasuke asked, hesitant, yet indulgent. Itachi looked like he was holding himself back from speaking his mind, and that, in itself, was an odd occurrence.
Itachi had yet to remove himself from blocking Sasuke's direct path. Although his body language did not scream hostile or angry in any sense, the teenager still received the same vibes as two nights ago, when his Aniki had caged him against the wall. However, it was hard to tell what the man was currently feeling because he stood there looking so utterly nonchalant, which seemed wrong because that obviously was not the case.
Honestly, Sasuke was at a loss. He didn't understand why Itachi kept harping on the subject when all Sasuke wanted to do was have him forget about it. It would make both of their lives much easier and fluid that way. But his Aniki had to remind him of it at every turn. Why would he be so fixated on something like that?
…Then again, he supposed he wasn't the one who found out that his brother woke up one morning with an indecent body littered with bite marks and hickies. If the state of said body wasn't enough, Itachi had to be the one to slather Sasuke's hole up with salve because it'd been so swollen that he gave himself away when he sat, walked, and basically did everything funny.
Okay, so maybe it was understandable why his Aniki was acting so oddly. If the situation was reversed, Sasuke was sure he'd go nuts like Itachi did, too. Actually, he was kidding; he'd react much, much worse.
"Did anything happen at school today?"
Sasuke blinked, returning from his thoughts, and cocked his head.
Happen? What did he mean 'happen'? It was just another day at- Oh.
Shit.
His Aniki was staring at him expectantly, no doubt for an answer that would appease him and put his mind to ease. Sasuke wanted to give him an answer that would do just that, but he paled and blanked instead, mouth going dry.
"N-nothing happened today, Aniki. I stayed away like we agreed."
Guilt crushed Sasuke's entire being, weighing him down just like the story of Sisyphus, who was punished by Zeus to carry a gigantic boulder up a hill for eternity only for it to come crashing back down each time before it reached the top. Sasuke was this Sisyphus person, and the only difference was that the boulder represented his increasingly long list of sins.
It must have been the phrasing of his words, the quiver in his voice, his minimal eye contact, or something, because Itachi's gaze immediately narrowed venomously, the pressure so tremendous that Sasuke felt himself unable to move a single muscle.
Sasuke forgot how to breathe. He really did, and the pain blooming in his chest from the lack of oxygen was extremely evident, but he could hardly risk breathing and setting off a predator. Or at least that was what it had felt like.
Then, as if digging up their past, a sense of deja vu surfaced the moment Itachi's eyes abandoned Sasuke's and slowly trailed down to his neck, which was covered with another turtleneck.
"A-Aniki-"
Sasuke tried, words heaved from his diaphragm in one go, but he flinched when it was overridden by Itachi's command.
"Take it off."
Inaudible. Those three little words.
Sasuke saw Itachi's lips move, but couldn't hear his words. However, that wasn't the off-putting part. The eerie part was that his Aniki knew he couldn't hear him, but expected him to know exactly what he had said anyway.
He shivered involuntarily.
Why'd he have to go through this a second time? It was embarrassing and he had absolutely no answers, much less right answers, for a peeved Itachi.
There was never a right answer when his Aniki was like this.
Yet again, he found himself staring at the floor with his shirt at his feet.
Itachi was dead silent.
Sasuke knew exactly how it looked. And it was not a pretty sight…. Well, his body was the fucking Museum of Modern Art if you asked him.
Blotches of dark, medium, and light hues littered his torso, arms, and neck like a speckled canvas. The number of bite marks, which had been so deep that they left indentations and even scabbed some regions of his pale skin, that stood out amongst the blotches was impressive, having the ability to draw Itachi's gaze to them without any beckoning. Fresh bruises in the shape of handprints peeked out from the waistband of his jeans, teasing his Aniki's imagination.
Subconsciously, Itachi's hand reached out with every intention to run his fingertips along Sasuke's hip, but it stopped midway and fell back to his side.
"Why do you look like that?" The whisper of the interrogatory words made Sasuke wince and freeze.
Itachi's blood boiled to a newfound level. His Aniki's silence was comparable to a man who just found out his wife had been cheating on him with his best friend.
"Itachi-"
"WHY do you look like that?"
His Aniki had a tendency to interrupt him when he was livid. Sasuke expected that, but it didn't make the dread in his chest any less severe.
"Those weren't there yesterday. They couldn't have been." Itachi's chest began heaving up and down, syncing with his rapid breathing. "I- You didn't let anyone in your bedroom last night. I know," Itachi hissed like he was absolutely sure of it.
"W-what do you mean?"
His Aniki shot him a pointed look. "Did you really think I wouldn't guard your door all fucking night after the last incident, Sasuke?" he sarcastically responded, disdain dripping from every word.
Over the thumpity-thump of his heartbeat, Sasuke wore an incredulous look on his face. His Aniki ignored it as rage clouded his features the more his eyes roamed up and down his torso. "Y-you… stood outside my door all night?" the boy whispered, guilt and a foreign feeling clogging his throat.
"Of course I did," his Aniki hissed, looking at him like he was stupid.
"But why?" the boy breathed. "You weren't going to do something bad if someone did come, were you?"
"Bad?" Itachi remarked. "Is protecting my precious Otouto a bad thing to do? Is getting rid of scum considered 'bad'? Can it really be 'bad' if I kick intruders out of our house? How could it be bad if I'm just watching over you? There wouldn't even be someone coming anyway, especially not in the middle of the fucking night, because we already discussed that. Right, Sasuke?"
Sasuke nodded his head vehemently, but Itachi only narrowed his eyes suspiciously on him, hands shooting out to cage his body against the kitchen counter.
Fuck. His Aniki was scary when he was like this.
"I already told you you're not allowed to see anyone, Sasuke. Aniki already told you," Itachi said. His tone was low, but his words were sharp, a force beyond reckoning with. "I also told you to break up with him, but he must have touched you at school because that was the only time I let you out of my sight. Is that what happened? Did it happen at school? There's no place else. You said you stayed far away from him today. Did you lie to me?"
No matter how often Itachi pulled Sasuke's leg, joked about ridiculous things, and spoiled Sasuke rotten, never let it be forgotten that his Aniki was an irascible man.
"No! Aniki, I didn't!" Sasuke grew indignant as his lies came back to attack him.
"Then how do you explain the way your body looks right now?" Itachi nearly screamed. "Why do you look like you've been raped again?!" The last word escaped in a strangled manner, reduced by both volume and pitch. Itachi broke down. "W-why are there so many new marks?" he croaked. "Who's doing this to you? Why won't you tell me what's going on?"
Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut.
Because I love you.
It was hard to convince himself otherwise in the moment, but this was better than what damage could be done if the truth was revealed.
"Why… w-why can't I s-see anyone?" he whispered, unable to look Itachi in the eye.
The cabinet behind them shuddered as Itachi slammed his foot into it. It was followed by a string of profanity-laced expressions before Sasuke found his shoulders seized in Itachi's grip. The sudden move jolted him into flight or fight mode as he was forced upright. His eyes snapped open, meeting heated, wild ones.
And then his Aniki began laughing. It was one of those laughs that started off quiet with shoulders shaking and head bowed. However, it grew with each passing second, becoming louder and more obnoxious until what you had was no longer a bout of laughter, but a cacophonous screech of madness.
"Why can't you see anyone?" Itachi repeated as if he was utterly flabbergasted about being asked such a thing. As if he expected Sasuke to already know why. "Why can't you see anyone? Because you have me," he growled. "Isn't Aniki enough? Are you doing this because I've been busier lately? Have I neglected your needs, Otouto? Why are you being like this, watashi no kokoro? Tell me."
Something about the way Itachi asked that question made Sasuke's heart shatter. Sasuke swallowed hard, unable to tear his gaze away from the man's.
"Is that it?" Itachi prompted as if he finally found himself an answer he could latch onto. His words came out faster as if his brain was high on drugs. "I'll take the semester off, so I can spend more time with you. I don't need to write my thesis. It's just another degree. We have funds to last a long time. We can go somewhere else or take a trip to the cabin and stay there for a while. I won't be busy anymore and I can be with-"
"You're scaring me, Aniki." Sasuke managed to get a word in. His whimper caused Itachi to pause in the middle of his obnoxiously booming rant, and the boy watched as another emotion weaseled its way into Itachi's unhinged, searching gaze.
Itachi's eyes flickered down his trembling arms to his hands, which had somehow managed to clasp themselves directly over the marks on Sasuke's hips. They, too, shook, indicative of his mental state.
"Fuck."
Sasuke was released and his Aniki began backing away a couple of steps as if he was horrified by his own behavior.
Immediate cold replaced his Aniki's heated touch and Sasuke's body sagged slightly against the edge of the counter when he was given space to breathe. He scrambled to pick up his shirt and tugged it back over his body, hiding the evidence as if it hadn't been thoroughly burned into the man's vision already.
"I- Shit. I didn't mean to do that, Otouto." Itachi pushed the words out hurriedly as he began pacing back and forth. Just like the other night, his hands were back in his hair, a tick for when he was antsy and frustrated.
"It's okay," Sasuke mumbled. Surprisingly, the one thing that bothered him the least about the exchange was his Aniki's rough hold.
Besides, it was his fault after all. Like the boy who cried wolf, he had to deal with the repercussions of his lies.
His Aniki's arms were suddenly around him, tugging him face first into his wide chest. Sasuke stumbled slightly and was immediately overwhelmed by the man's masculine scent. He found himself cocooned in Itachi's tender embrace. It was like the man was trying to make up for his blunder, but what he didn't know was that Sasuke didn't care how Itachi held him as long as he continued to do so. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around his Aniki's waist and pressed his cheek against his pec.
"I just don't like people doing that to your body. I hate it. My baby. Aniki will give you all the love you need, Otouto, so don't go looking for it elsewhere. Just come to me, okay?"
You already give me all the love I need, Aniki. I'm just greedy and want more.
Sasuke nodded his head anyway. He was exhausted. This entire thing was exhausting.
"It hurts Aniki to see you so…" Itachi trailed off with a growl, unwilling to attach another word to it. "You're my treasure. I will protect you."
If only Itachi said that to him in a different context. But beggars couldn't be choosers.
The boy nodded his head again, nuzzling closer to the man. "You promised you wouldn't yell at me again," Sasuke mumbled underneath his breath.
"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm just so mad."
"At me?"
Itachi's voice sounded alarmed when he responded. "No. Never at you, Otouto." His Aniki tightened his hold slightly and one hand began stroking his lower back soothingly.
"It won't happen again," Sasuke whispered, a resolute kind of look setting in his gaze.
"Okay."
Sasuke closed his eyes. He'd have to take preventative measures: create some sort of barrier like keep his shirt on, distract the man, replace his habit with another one, anything. Hell, if all else failed and he wasn't able to prevent his sleepwalking, muscular Aniki from leaving behind evidence, then he'd use makeup and cover up his entire body.
"Please don't do stupid things like guard my door for an entire night again," Sasuke pleaded, pushing away from Itachi's chest to look up at the man.
The muscles underneath his hands twitched and his Aniki looked at him in a way that told Sasuke he was deescalating.
"Then sleep in my room, Otouto."
There was that demand again, but there was less heat attached to it. In fact, it sounded like Itachi was offering his simple solution with an eye roll, if not a pout. Actually, no. Correction: it was a whine.
"Otouto." Itachi tugged on Sasuke's hand. "Sleep in my bed."
Definitely a whine.
How childish.
How fucking cute.
Sasuke tried to hide the smile that broke out onto his face, which caused him to huff a bout of laughter.
"I like sleeping in my own bed, too, Aniki," he said, shaking his head.
Plus, you won't be able to explain why his bed is a disgusting mess in the morning, another part of his mental faculties crooned.
Sasuke bit his lip and ignored the voice.
"Then, I'll sleep with you in your bed."
Sasuke arched his brow. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
A sudden grin bloomed on his Aniki's face. "Aren't you so lucky? You get to be in my surreal presence all night long."
Sasuke nearly snorted. Among other things.
"Fine. But only one night and after that, you have to sleep in your own bed," Sasuke said.
Itachi's eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas morning, and Sasuke was half dreading his decision.
It wasn't like he was hoping to get railed tonig- Okay, so yeah, maybe he was, but that wasn't the point. He had to expect that history would repeat itself so he could be well-prepared for it.
Also, it probably wasn't a good thing if people were to sleepwalk so often. What if his Aniki got himself into trouble while he was sleepwalking? Or worse. What if he put himself in danger and didn't have the reflexes to fight back?
It was hard to tell the frequency of his sleepwalking episodes because they had just begun, at least the ones he was aware of, and Sasuke didn't know much about the phenomena to speculate too much without doing proper research. However, he recalled learning in his psychology class last year that sleepwalking was sometimes a manifestation of a person's elevated stress levels.
Itachi was trying to finish his thesis for his Masters and he'd been overworking and eating poorly for weeks now. It wouldn't have been completely illogical to suspect life stressors as a contributing factor to his sleepwalking. It was just that sleepwalking individuals rarely engaged in scandalous behavior… right?
"Why don't you go shower and Aniki will make dinner tonight?" Itachi's voice cut through Sasuke's rising concerns.
"What? Can I even trust you to cook dinner without charring the walls?"
"You jest, my dear Otouto," Itachi waved off. "I'll make you something. You go and relax. But shower first."
Sasuke looked at the man weird. "But I always shower right before bed."
"Otouto. Shower. Now."
The annoyance slipped from Sasuke's face when he was addressed without a lick of humor. A quick glance at Itachi and he could already see the anger from earlier brewing in them.
"Do I need to get in there with you?"
Sasuke was already moving across the kitchen, mid-panic. His Aniki would do it, too. The man had, in his waking state, shoved his ointment-slicked fingers deep into him without any hesitation. A shower was nothing to him.
"I'm going! I'm going!" he nearly shrieked. "Don't even think about it, Aniki!"
"Use lots of soap, Sasuke."
There he was reverting back to the same old Itachi again. Despite his command, the man wore an indulging, coaxing smile and ushered him along.
Things seemed to cool down after that, and at the end of the night, Sasuke found himself lying down in his own bed while staring at his Aniki, who opted to use his bathroom to get ready for bed. If his humming was anything to go by, Itachi seemed to be in a much better mood.
Itachi had left the bathroom door ajar, which allowed the glowing light to filter into Sasuke's dark room, and Sasuke couldn't help but be mesmerized. With something so ordinary and mundane as getting ready for bed, his Aniki somehow made it into a spectacle, a brilliant feast for the eyes. Of course, the reason he was staring had to do with the large expanse of skin that his eyes were currently privy to.
Light bounced off of his Aniki's rippling muscles, dipping into the sinewy lines of his naked upper body. His lower half was clad in a simple pair of black boxer briefs that held tight against his skin. With each graceful movement and even from a distance, Sasuke could see the fabric stretch over a permanent, soft bulge between his Aniki's powerful thighs.
Images of Itachi's engorged member sliding between his thighs and disappearing inside of him flashed in Sasuke's mind, and he found himself blushing so hard that heat radiated off of him.
His Aniki was even more radiant in the light.
Sasuke hoped that Itachi was going to put on more clothes than that though. Unlike Itachi's half-naked state, Sasuke tried to put on as much clothes as possible. He found himself in a long-sleeved baby blue shirt and gray sweatpants. He even wore a pair of briefs underneath them for an additional layer of protection. His choice of clothing was the complete opposite of his typical bedroom attire, and he hoped that, if the man noticed, he wouldn't comment on it.
The room went dark and Sasuke felt the vacant side of his bed dip under his Aniki's weight. Immediately, he turned his back on the man while he tried to quell his erratic heartbeat. Seconds later when the man settled in, his scent wafted into the boy's nostrils like Christmas morning. Sasuke found himself attempting to breathe in as much of it as possible while simultaneously forcing himself not to breathe it in at all, but he gave up when Itachi shuffled closer to him, plastered his torso against his back, and tucked him against his chest with an arm around his waist.
"A-Aniki," Sasuke squeaked as he tried to wiggle away.
"Mhmm. Yes, Otouto?" the man answered, completely unperturbed, as if it was normal to cuddle him with barely any clothing on.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, squirming even more.
"I'm spoiling you with my love," came Itachi's amused voice. "I'm not letting go, so stop trying to get away." As if to emphasize his point, his arm tightened around Sasuke's waist and a heavy, ridiculously toned leg tangled itself between the boy's.
At the sudden action, another squeak was drawn out from Sasuke and he panicked. "You're going to crush me!"
But his Aniki snorted. "Just think of me as your weighted blanket."
"Aniki!"
Instead of a rebuttal this time, a mildly wet kiss was placed on his cheek. "Oyasumi, watashi no kokoro."
Sasuke's jaw dropped open and he stared helplessly in front of him. With another few jerks of his body, he settled down when he realized the man was serious and would not budge for the remainder of the night.
The boy grunted and huffed. "You're such a child," he said. "You only respond when you feel like it and you rip into me like hell when you think I've done something wrong, but when I say one thing that I don't like, you ignore me."
Another placating kiss was bestowed upon Sasuke, but this one made him freeze because it was placed just below his ear. In an intimate spot. A sensitive spot.
The boy had to suppress a shudder when Itachi's breath ghosted over his skin. "I would never ignore you. You're my number one priority, Otouto."
Sasuke's face scrunched up in the dark. "Then let go."
He heard some shuffling behind him and, instead of being released, he was pressed tightly against his Aniki's naked chest.
"Are you refusing my touch again?"
The words were small, quiet, but Sasuke wasn't so sure if they were voiced by a gloomy or angry Itachi. Something stirred in the pit of his stomach.
"I can't fall asleep like this."
"You used to fall asleep so easily in my arms. Ever since you were a baby. So don't lie to me. If you don't want me to touch you, then just say it."
Okay, yeah, his Aniki was definitely upset. Sasuke detected frustration and a hint of anger in his words.
"It's… it's not that," he mumbled. "It's just too warm like this."
"Then you should take off that ridiculous heatstroke of a shirt you're wearing."
Okay, so the man did notice the ridiculous attire he was wearing to bed.
Sasuke bit his lip and remained quiet.
"Should I take it off for you?"
Sasuke jerked involuntarily in the man's arms and his eyes widened comically. "No!" he shrieked, incredulous, feeling stupid when chuckles vibrated off of his Aniki's chest.
"Then be a good boy and let Aniki put you to bed," Itachi hummed, arm moving up and down to stroke Sasuke's tummy just like he did when they were younger.
"I'm not five anymore," Sasuke whined.
"Maybe you should be. That way you can run into my arms like you used to."
There was something that didn't quite sit right with Sasuke. Maybe it was the wistful tone Itachi uttered those words in or a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the days when things were honest and platonic.
"You used to cry to Kaa-san when I left in the mornings for the academy. You were inconsolable. The only way you'd make it through the day was because Kaa-san promised she'd let you call me during my lunch time. At one point, you even stole and hid my shoes, because you refused to allow me to leave. What happened to those days?"
"Well, I grew up," Sasuke grumbled, a faint pink dusting his cheeks. Those stories were just embarrassing. "Besides, it's not reasonable to cry like a baby just because you're gone for a few hours."
Itachi hmphed, and if the boy didn't know any better, he would think that his Aniki disagreed with his last comment.
"It's very reasonable."
Oh. Well then….
Sasuke huffed. "You mean to say that you'd prefer it if I cry hysterically when you leave to attend classes and become an unbelievably needy person who clings onto you like superglue and demands your attention at all times?"
"In a perfect world, your attention will always be on me."
What the hell did Itachi just say to him?
Sasuke had a difficult time taking in those words. As if he wasn't irrevocably smitten with him already. As if Itachi hadn't treated Sasuke like a gem his entire life and made the boy feel special. As if he didn't ignore his own morals in order to seek physical affection from a sleepwalking man, who clearly did not expressively give him permission to defile his body.
And there his Aniki completely oblivious, spouting fucking nonsense like it didn't give the boy never-ending hope that their relationship dynamics could change.
Blasphemous.
Sasuke barked out laughter. He couldn't reel it in anymore than he had, and it came out harsh and sarcastic. "Stop kidding around, Itachi."
He was angry. Angry at himself for holding onto hope. Angry at Itachi for treating him so well growing up. Angry that Itachi's misconstrued words and actions led to binding Sasuke's heart to him in a way that he'd never be able to detangle.
Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, he tried to prevent tears from springing from his eyes. Would it have been better if he could wish away his taboo love for the man? If he'd just forgotten about his Aniki altogether?
Would that save him from his obsessive needs, or would he just feel hollow inside afterward?
The strokes along his belly ceased, and Sasuke realized that his tears had reached the pillow cushioning his cheek.
"Are you crying, Otouto?" Itachi's alarmed voice suddenly said. "What's wrong? Are you in pain? Are you hurt?"
His Aniki's limbs untangled from his and he attempted to roll him around, but Sasuke refused to budge, curling deeper into a fetal position.
"I'm fine," he whispered. "Nothing's wrong."
"Liar," Itachi hissed, body springing up from bed. His long tresses tickled Sasuke's upturned cheek as he hovered over him in the dark. "Something is wrong. You've been acting strange for days now, and you wouldn't be crying if everything was okay."
In what universe was falling madly in love with his own flesh and blood "okay"?
The tears dribbled down Sasuke's cheeks at an alarming rate, and the boy tried to siphon it off by squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Of course, he should have known that wouldn't work, but he also did it to avoid the intense gaze zeroed in on his half visible features.
Upon seeing Sasuke so shaken, Itachi's voice took a turn in the next second. It became gentle and soft, coaxing and sweet. "Watashi no kokoro, let Aniki help you. Please. I can't stand it when you're sad. You're my entire world, and it breaks my heart to see you in pain."
"Then, just stop it," Sasuke whispered harshly, voice rising like a crescendo as he spoke hoarsely through his sobs. "Stop treating me so nicely. Stop saying things like that to me. I hate it," Sasuke bawled.
Itachi's eyes hardened. "You know I can't do that. Why would I treat you any way other than I do now? Why are you saying things like that?"
"Because it makes it so hard for me," Sasuke whimpered. "I can't take it. I just can't."
"Otouto, I don't know what you mean. Have I treated you in any other way other than what you deserve? How could that possibly make it hard on you?"
Sasuke tried to breathe through his emotions, but it was near impossible when his Aniki was so ignorant about how his own behavior torched a fire through Sasuke's entire life.
He could no longer do anything without his Aniki floating to the forefront of his brain. He craved more and more of his affections with every breathing second, and sometimes, his withdrawals were so bad that his anxiety would skyrocket and hit inhuman numbers. He could no longer function like a normal human being, and it was all because of his Aniki, who treated him like fucking gold, and only because Sasuke happened to be born in the same family as him.
If he was anyone else, Itachi wouldn't even give him the brotherly affection and attention he was giving him right now. And that's all it was: platonic.
Sasuke fisted the sheets covering his midriff and clenched his jaw. God, he was a fucking wreck.
Was unrequited love supposed to be this painful?
"Otouto, tell Aniki what I can do to make it better. I'll give you anything you need."
And there Itachi went, still trying to be Sasuke's savior. He could almost laugh at the irony.
"Tell me you love me," the boy found himself uttering as if hearing such a thing didn't dig himself a deeper grave.
"You know I do, Otouto. I love you so, so much. More than anything in the universe."
Sasuke's eyes fluttered open and he was able to pinpoint Itachi's silhouette, which allowed him the luxury to realize that his facial features weren't put on display.
In front of the love of his life and the man who haunted his dreams, his eyes remained tortured and defeated. However, the dark became his companion in the night, engulfing him in its shadows to hide the guilt of his sins.