Author's note: I'm still on time for Naruto's birthday, yes! I also got good news from the vet concerning one of my cats, so that made writing easier. Have this oneshot for our lovely sunshine's birthday!

Warnings: Naruto's pov; canon divergent after the war; slash at the end; minor angst at the start; reference to minor violence; kid Naruto deserved much better, so here; fluffy ending; time skips

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!

Make a Wish

For the longest time Naruto didn't know what a birthday was.

Having grown up, only seeing the occasional ANBU member dropping off some food or the Third Hokage when he came to deliver money, Naruto was completely unaware that something like a birthday existed. He was already five years old by the time he discovered this peculiar event by literally stumbling upon it.

He might be a lot shorter than the mean butcher – or well, even shorter than most kids his age – but he was faster and so it didn't take him long before he lost the furious butcher by ducking into one of the smaller alleys and using that one to run into one of the calmer shopping streets. It was one of the calmer ones because it only had a couple of stores; the other businesses were mostly restaurants.

Slowing down to a leisurely walk, Naruto panted as he wandered through the street, keeping his ears pricked in case the butcher had managed to follow him after all. But no, the street remained devoid of an angry shouting, purple faced man; only people chattering while enjoying lunch in a restaurant could be heard. As he walked down the road, one restaurant in particular caught his attention because it was completely dark inside. This confused him because every time he passed through this street during lunch this restaurant was always open. It was one of the smallest ones, but it always had quite a lot of people enjoying their food inside. Was it closed today?

He paused in front of it, bemused, and was startled when he suddenly spotted a small flame through one of the windows. The small flame seemed to dance before it illuminated a woman's face. She was smiling, saying something before the flame moved down. Now there were eight smaller flames dancing around in a circle. Unable to suppress his curiosity, Naruto shuffled closer to the window in question, pressing his hands against the windowsill.

Oh, the flames were actually lit candles! And the candles were put on – a cake?

Thoroughly confused now, he watched how a young girl leant forwards to the cake, a big grin plastered on her face. The window was slightly ajar and after a couple of seconds Naruto could hear some people singing.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Asami-chan, happy birthday to you!"

The girl, Asami, giggled; the little flames making her eyes shine.

"Go on, sweetheart, blow out the candles and make a wish," the woman encouraged her.

"Okay!" The girl leant forwards and after inhaling deeply, she blew out all the candles at once.

"Did you make a wish, honey?"

"Yes, daddy!"

All of sudden the lights went back on in the restaurant, flooding the room, and Naruto hastily backed away before they could see him. The last time the restaurant owner had caught him lingering outside, he had actually thrown an empty bottle at him. It had hit him pretty hard in the head and he had barely got away just in time before the owner could have thrown something heavier at him. Not eager to have a repeat of that incident, Naruto walked away from the restaurant, continuing his trek to his apartment.

He thought getting close to the window would have explained what had been going on, but he was still as confused as before. What was a birthday? It looked like some kind of party which had made that family happy, but what were they celebrating? What was the cake for? Why were there candles on the cake? And why had they told that girl to make a wish? What did wishes have to do with celebrating a birthday? What was he missing here?

Frustrated by the lack of answers or any explanation really, he stopped just around the corner and debated whether he could ask the Hokage about this when he would see him next. He grimaced almost immediately and scratched the bridge of his nose. He doubted he would get any answer; the old man didn't really seem willing to answer any questions Naruto had. Was it because he was asking stupid questions? How could he know they were stupid, though, when he had nobody to tell him this kind of thing?

Even more frustrated now, he decided not to go to his home just yet but made a detour to Ichiraku's instead. He hadn't eaten breakfast this morning because there was nothing in the fridge anymore. He would have to go to the store today but first he would eat some ramen from Ichiraku's. A few months ago he had overheard one of his neighbours saying one should never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach and since then he always tried to eat a bit before he would go to the store. He had no idea why the elderly woman had given that advise to her son but there had to be some kind of reason for it, no? So even though she hadn't given the advice to him personally, he still followed it.

Ayame, the daughter of Teuchi, was cleaning the counter whilst humming when Naruto arrived at Ichiraku's. She looked up when he scuttled underneath the curtain and beamed at him.

"Hiya, Naruto-kun! You hungry?" she asked sweetly.

"Hm, hm, one bowl, please!" he ordered and scrambled on top of the nearest stool, showing off his froggy wallet. "I got money this week so I can pay again!"

"It's fine, it's fine," she chuckled and started preparing a bowl of ramen for him.

He looked around curiously. "Where's the old man?"

"In the back, dealing with some paperwork before he'll try out new recipes," she answered, adjusting her apron while she waited for the noodles to finish cooking.

"Can I try the new food?" he asked hopefully.

She shot him a grin and winked. "I'm sure if you ask nicely, he'll let you try them out."

Casting another look around him – he was the only customer now; something that seemed to happen a lot when he showed up – he pursed his lips and pondered for a moment whether he should ask Ayame what a birthday was. So far she had been nice to him every time he asked something, but he also didn't want to test how much patience she could muster to bring up for him. On the other hand, who else could he ask?

"Something on your mind?" Ayame questioned curiously and placed a steaming bowl of ramen in front of him.

His mouth started to water at the delicious sight, but he forced himself to focus before he got lost in the amazing goodness. "Do you know what a birthday is?"

She paused for a moment; a complicated look crossing her face for a moment. "You don't know what that is? Where did you hear it?"

"I saw a family having some kind of party in a restaurant nearby," he replied, picking up his chopsticks. "The room was completely dark and I saw them lightening up some candles on a cake. Then I heard them sing something like 'happy birthday to you' and they told the girl to make a wish before blowing out the candles," he chattered and blinked up at her. "What was that about? What's a birthday and why were they having a cake with candles?"

She tapped a finger against her lips before she leant forwards, bracing her elbows on the counter. "You know how you turn a year older every year?"

He nodded. It was something he had only discovered recently when one of the ANBU members – a new one, Naruto suspected because he hadn't seen him before – had asked him how old he was. He hadn't know what to reply; the second ANBU member had answered in his stead, saying he was five years old. From there he had deduced on his own that the 'years' part meant that everybody always turned a year older somehow.

"Well, a birthday is to celebrate the day you were born," Ayame went on. "So every year on the date you were born, you celebrate that fact by eating cake and such. The candles are just there for decoration; how many candles are on the cake depends on how old you become. Making a wish when you blow out the candle is just tradition, I suppose." She shrugged.

"Do wishes come true?" he asked curiously.

She smiled and tapped the tip of his nose, making him cross-eyed for a second. "If you wish really hard, then yeah, sometimes wishes do come true."

Huh. He wondered when his birthday was; that was something the Hokage would answer, right?

When Naruto accidentally ran into the Hokage a couple of days later, he made use of that moment to ask him when his birthday was. The old man looked quite befuddled at his question, but gave him the answer nonetheless before walking away, back to his office.

The tenth of October. That was Naruto's birthday. And it was already in a couple of days!

The gasp he let out at that realisation had several people regarding him suspiciously but he ignored them and instead clasped his hands together, feeling rather light as he returned to his apartment. If his birthday was in a couple of days, that meant he should get a cake and some candles and make a wish then! He had nobody to celebrate it with him, but that was fine; he could celebrate on his own! Then he would have the cake all to himself! And he would make sure to make the best wish ever!

He could only buy a small chocolate cake, because he would get into trouble otherwise for the rest of the month, but that was fine. He hadn't been able to find any small candles in the store either, so he had just cut off a large part from the couple of candles he had in his apartment already and had stuck those on the cake, using a half empty box of matches someone had thrown away to lit them up.

"Oh, it needs to be dark!" he realised just in time and hurried to close the curtains, blanketing his small home in darkness immediately.

He used the light of the candles to guide himself back to the table and anticipation filling him, he plopped back down on the pillow and gazed wide-eyed at the candles. They stood a bit crooked, but he had managed to lit all four of them so this should be okay.

Right, it was time to make a wish before he would blow out the candles!

Squeezing his eyes shut, he silently wished very hard, I want to celebrate my birthday with someone who likes me next year!

Then he opened his eyes again and took a deep breath, feeling proud when he managed to blow out all four candles at once. After removing them, he cut off a part of the cake and started eating it, enjoying the gooey, sweet taste coating his mouth.

Now he just needed to wait and see if his wish would come true next year!

His wish lingered in the back of his mind for the next year, warming him during the nights he felt most alone. It gave him something to look forward to, even when his days didn't go well and people were less than nice to him.

When his seventh birthday arrived, though, his wish didn't come true. Instead he spent his birthday holed up in his bedroom, trying to sleep off the bruises that lingered on him after the heavy beating some older kids had given him earlier today.

He stared at the table where just last year he had made his wish while eating his birthday cake. There was no cake today, no candles to blow out – and nobody to celebrate his birthday with him. His wish hadn't come true. He didn't have anybody who liked him to celebrate it with him. He didn't have anyone who liked him at all.

Swallowing hard, ignoring the way his throat ached, he pulled his blanket all the way over his head and closed his eyes. Guess wishes didn't come true for someone like him.

His following birthdays didn't go that splendid either, but at least he had become better at running away before bullies could get to him. He had already forgotten all about his wish by the time he turned twelve and Iruka joined him at Ichiraku's to treat him to a bowl of ramen.

His seventeenth birthday was spent bleeding out after his right arm had got blown off during the fight, but at least he had his best friend back, lying next to him with a serene smile on his bruised face. The sky above them was a clear blue, the sun shining gently down at them.

If he died today, he wouldn't die alone at least. There was something comforting about that, enough to dull the pain even.

Ironically this might be the best birthday he had ever had.

"You baked the cake yourself?" Naruto asked stunned, staring at the chocolate cake in question.

It looked damn perfect, as if it had come straight out of a store but he knew it hadn't; they didn't live close to any shops and he would have felt it if Sasuke had left their home today. The cake not only had icing but was even covered with strawberries! A couple of thin candles had been stuck in between the strawberries, unlit for now.

"Of course I did," Sasuke replied and rolled his eyes as if he hadn't done something out of the ordinary. "You know any shop nearby that sells cake, dumbass?"

"Hey, it's my birthday! You're supposed to be nice to me!" Naruto pouted and crossed their small kitchen on bare feet. He had been in the progress of getting dressed – having slept for longer than usual – when the scent of chocolate had lured him downstairs.

"I baked you a cake – that not nice enough for you?" Sasuke scoffed and undid his apron with his hand, pulling it off.

Sasuke had been wearing an apron.

The oddly domestic sight turned Naruto a tad stupid for a moment and he only realised he had been staring at the apron when Sasuke scoffed amused.

"Still with me?" he teased before lightning up the candles on the cake.

Naruto recovered quickly. "You look great in an apron," he grinned and stole a kiss when Sasuke turned around to drop the used match in the bin.

"At least I know how to use one," Sasuke snarked before waving at the cake. A tiny smirk danced around his mouth when he said, "Go on then, blow out the candles and make a wish." His dark eyes glittered.

"Shouldn't the room be dark for this?" Naruto wondered, but because it really didn't matter he leant towards the cake and inhaled deeply before blowing out all the candles.

Butterflies fluttered in his stomach when an arm wrapped around his waist and lips found the hollow underneath his ear, kissing it.

"Made your wish?" Sasuke murmured; his thumb stroking Naruto's hipbone through his trousers.

"Nah, not necessary," Naruto replied and smiled, swiping his finger through the upper layer of the cake to steal a taste.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked curiously; the caressing motion of his thumb pausing.

Naruto turned around in his embrace and smiled up at the dark haired man before rising on his tiptoes to kiss Sasuke on his mouth, looping his arms around Sasuke's neck. "Because I only had one wish – and that one came true already."

"Don't think that's how it works," Sasuke said amused before pressing Naruto against the counter to kiss him again.

Perhaps that wasn't how it worked – but it had clearly worked for Naruto. It had been with quite a delay, but here he was now: celebrating his birthday with somebody he liked and who liked him in return. Nothing could get better than this.

"Happy birthday, Naruto," Sasuke murmured; his eyes soft.

The butterflies in Naruto's stomach grew worse and he surged forwards for another kiss, feeling the other man smile against his lips.

Yeah, nothing could get better than this.

The End

AN2: Nothing complicated, but it doesn't always have to be that, am I right? I hope you liked it!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.