A/N: Finally. This chapter has been finished. I'm so sorry it took two weeks! I've been out traveling and studying for finals (not really an excuse since I only have one, this term), but here. I've poured my heart into this chapter. As always, thank you all for your kind reviews. I'd also like to take some time to address some questions that came up in the reviews:

1. Yes, this story is heavily inspired by Call My By Your Name. I'm so glad it's been noticed! If you haven't done so yet, watch the movie and read the book. Stunningly beautiful. Filled my heart and broke it to pieces. However, I foresee a different ending to this story.

2. I know that Hinata hasn't really held a present role in any of my stories, and no, I don't hate her. In Summer Rain, I had a different plan for her character, but it didn't end up playing out, so she just wasn't really there. Here, I've placed her in the city (mentioned last chapter), so she won't be making an appearance anytime soon (but might in the future!). I personally have a few issues with Kishimoto's character arc for her, though I will not drag it into this right now. Also! Ino is written here because I needed someone bright and bubbly and loud. Someone not like Sasuke, so he'd be jealous somewhat, and she fit!

Warnings: romping ensues.

Part 3: This

He tasted like gold. Not that Sasuke had ever tasted gold, but this is what he imagined it would taste like. Sweet and salty and nothing at all. Soft as the tongue and lips he pulled into his mouth.

"Sasuke? Is everything okay?" Sakura's clear voice cut through his haze of heat and lust like a iced blade. "We're getting worried out here."

He pulled his mouth from Naruto's in a flurry and stared at him, eyes wide. He tried to ignore the wetness around Naruto's swollen lips as he wracked his mind for an acceptable answer. Sakura's footsteps were getting closer. If she saw the way he was straddling Naruto's lap, he'd kill himself.

"I'm fine," he bit out. His voice came out hoarser than he had anticipated, and he cleared his throat. The footsteps stopped. Naruto's lips curled into a smirk before latching onto his throat and sucking. He clawed at his broad shoulders. "Just a—cut!"

Fuck.

"Wait, where are you?" He could picture Sakura standing at the entrance of the kitchen, pink hair flying around her head like a halo as she looked for him. No, if she saw the way he was straddling Naruto's lap with his head falling back against that mouth, he'd kill Naruto first. Then he'd kill himself.

"Here!" He shoved Naruto from him with some effort and stood up, flashing his brightest smile. She turned to appraise him. "I was looking for the firstaid kit."

Sakura opened the cabinet she was standing next to, eyeing him oddly. The peach juice in her hand sloshed dangerously in its glass. "It's right here. It's always been right here."

"Oh. Cool." Naruto ran his tongue up his calf. Sasuke kneed him in the jaw.

"Here, need help?" She started to pull the firstaid kit from the cabinet.

He was already hopping past the counter and out the door. "I already got it!" He grabbed the glass of peach juice from her hand as he passed her.

"What—"

"Thanks!"

"Wait, have you seen Naruto?"

He was already running to the pool. Neji and Ino stood in the glistening water, watching him curiously. All he had to do was jump in. Then the water would envelope him and it would all go away. "Nope!"

Ino stared at him as he made it to the edge of the water. She opened her mouth to say something, but only screams escaped her lips when he flopped into the pool. He held his glass above the water as his head dove under.

"You good?" She asked when he surfaced, wiping water out of her eyes and throwing it in his face in retaliation.

He nodded. "Uh huh, fine. I just put some ointment on the cut."

Her eyebrows creased and she poked at his neck. "You might want to get some ice on that."

"On what?" He covered his neck with a hand.

"It's bruised."

"Oh. Good idea." His cheeks reddened. "I'll, uh, go do that now."

Naruto, I'm going to fucking kill you.

It wasn't until Sasuke had shut the front door to the shrinking figures of Sakura, Ino, and Neji that he realized he and Naruto were alone. Completely and utterly alone. He turned on him.

"You! Gave me! A hickey!" He pointed to the bandage that he had haphazardly stuck on his neck. "In the middle of the day! With Sakura in the room!"

Naruto smiled. "But you liked it."

"Ino saw, and I'm sure Neji saw too."

"So?"

"Naruto!"

Naruto held up his hands, smirk growing. Sasuke shook his head. "I'm going for a shower." He stalked up to his room, flung open the shutters to his window, and perched on the windowsill. The cool air swung around him in slow breaths. He needed to shower, but he wanted to play. The wooden floorboards creaked as he stepped back down the stairs. Naruto, already seated comfortably in the plush couch, looked up from the book he was reading and raised an eyebrow. He kept his mouth shut as he watched Sasuke sit on the piano bench and raise his fingers to the keys.

The first note rang as clear as a bell through the quiet singing of the crickets and the hushed humming of the breeze. Sasuke paused on it, pressing his thumb and forefinger into that major third as if his life depended on it, feeling the tone resonate deep within the piano. He played it again, then shook his head and started over with a new note, a single key. The rest of the song flew out of his fingertips. He hadn't played this song in months, but muscle memory was a fascinating thing.

"I've never heard you play Bach before," Naruto commented when he finished, keeping his eyes on his book.

"You haven't heard me do a lot things before," said Sasuke. He spun around on the piano bench so he was facing Naruto. Sensing his movement, Naruto looked up at him. The intensely blue gaze used to make him uneasy, but in this moment, Sasuke felt soothed. As if Naruto looked at him and didn't see anything he wanted to change. He smiled, "So, did you like it?"

"I did." His smile was returned, and Naruto heaved himself off the couch and closed the distance between them. He pressed Sasuke's back into the piano, a few notes ringing somberly into their shared breaths, and kissed him full on the mouth.

It's not like Sasuke had never kissed anyone in his life—but living in the quiet countryside, underneath the roof of strict parents didn't exactly grant him much freedom when it came to experimenting. But he found that he liked kissing Naruto. It made his heart skip and his body heat up in a way he'd never felt before. All those days spent longing for him in silence, and now he had him at his lips.

He pulled away to find that sweat was beginning to bead in his hair. "I'm going to shower. Now," he whispered, chancing one last peck on the lips before he slipped away. He knew that Naruto knew better than to follow him to the shower—or did he? The boy was from the city, after all. They were crazy.

No. Naruto wouldn't. He was respectful, like that. Steady, like that. Perhaps he knew Sasuke wasn't comfortable enough, just yet. In his room, Sasuke stripped and flung his clothes to the corner. He'd pick them up later.

The bathroom tiles were clammy and cold against his feet, and he unknowingly shivered. He stared at himself in the mirror and peeled off the bandage on his neck. A small, oval bruise graced his white neck. He didn't bruise that easily, but when he did, it would sit on his skin like black ink on paper.

Damn it, Naruto.

The water fell over his shoulders in a warm embrace. He rinsed himself, then remembered once more that his parents weren't going to be home tonight. Then realized what that meant. He'd read enough books and seen enough movies to know. He looked down.

Should I shave? Clean it up?

He shook his head.

What am I doing?

The shower shut off with a turn of the handle and he ran a towel over himself. He decided he would stay in his own room tonight. Naruto liked him, too. There was no need to rush it.

But—fuck—I'd do anything for him.

With a huff, he fell into bed.

He didn't realize he had drifted off until he awoke to squeaking. The sound was coming from his window. He squinted at it, trying to make out the shapes in the moonlight. A shadow fell upon his room, large and black and leering.

He screeched, scrambling back in surprise and falling off his bed. Laughter filled the darkness, throaty and familiar. "Shit, sorry! Are you okay?"

He sat up and peeked at Naruto over his bed, rubbing the shoulder he had landed on. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Sneaking over," Naruto bit out, face lighting up with glee.

"Our rooms are connected through the bathroom," Sasuke said, incredulous.

"I know."

"My parents aren't even home."

"I know."

"What."

"I said I know." Naruto was smiling.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

"Naruto!"

"Okay, sorry, sorry. Can I sleep here?"

"What?"

"You sure you didn't perforate an eardrum in that fall?" his shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold in his laugh.

"Naruto!" Sasuke stared at him. Naruto stared back, face bright with mirth, until he relented. "Fine. Get in."

Naruto planted himself in Sasuke's bed, burying his face in his pillow and sighing. Sasuke's cheeks reddened when he suddenly remembered what he had done to Naruto's pillow. "Oh, Sasuke, your bed is so nice."

"We have the same beds."

"Oh." A pause, then, "But this one smells like you."

Blue eyes peered up at him. He was grateful for the darkness when his body began to feel like it had been tossed into flames. He slowly crawled back into the bed. Naruto greeted him with a kiss on the shoulder.

"Oh, wait," Naruto said, pressing a finger to the hickey on Sasuke's neck. "That's actually really dark."

"I know."

"Oops. I'll try not to do it again," he leaned forward and kissed it. Sasuke jerked. It tickled. Naruto snickered, his breath low, and added, "In places you can see."

He couldn't sleep. His back was clammy, pressed against his sheets and he breathed, kicking his blanket lower down his legs. He liked to lay splayed out on his bed, but he couldn't do that with the body next to his. The shadows of the trees swayed on his ceiling, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto laying on his stomach, head cradled in his arms, watching him.

"Sasuke," he murmured. Sasuke hummed at him. When the moonlight hit the blue of his eyes, they turned into the sea, full with shifting tides and curling waves. "I want to get to know you. Tell me about yourself."

"About myself?" He frowned.

"Yeah."

He turned to face Naruto. "I don't want to bore you."

Naruto didn't smile. The blue of his eyes shifted in the darkness. "Stop that."

"What?"

"Putting yourself down," Naruto reached over to flick a dark strand of hair from Sasuke's face. "Why do you do that?"

"I don't know," he whispered, then shook his head. He did know. "So you don't have to do it for me."

For a moment, Naruto looked genuinely hurt. "Why would I put you down?"

"Because everyone does." Sasuke slapped away the hand by his face. He turned away from Naruto to face the wall. He wasn't in the mood to discuss this. "Parents, teachers, relatives. I'll never be as good as Itachi."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I don't have siblings, so maybe I can't understand. But you can't keep comparing yourself to other people."

Silence.

"Everyone is different. How can you fairly put them together and decide which one is better? No life is worth more than another. And Sasuke, you're one of the most amazing people I've ever met."

More silence.

"You've practically perfected Debussy," he tried. "And you can recite all the enzymes of metabolism in your sleep. Which kind of annoys me but that's pretty fucking amazing."

Sasuke felt his face grow warm. Naruto rested a finger on his collarbone, tracing its indentation until he reached his shoulder, and ran his hand down Sasuke's arm. He linked his index finger with Sasuke's pinky. "You look like a man carved from marble. Well, maybe except for this." He leaned forward to kiss the purple bruise on Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke watched him, this golden boy who had only entered his life two weeks ago. Naruto. His presence was like the act of swimming. Once learned, it would never be forgotten. And who would ever forget him? Naruto was like the sun in his very flesh, so bright that shadows ceased to exist. Then, there was the eyes. A glimpse of the ocean. He hoped he would never forget how to swim in the waves of his blue eyes.

Perhaps he had all the intention in the world. Perhaps he had none of it. But in the steady embrace of Naruto's reassuring gaze, he leaned forward.

Naruto tasted of honey, like the color of his hair, the color of his skin. He had probably taken a spoonful of it before heading upstairs. The city people had weird snacking habits. Not that it mattered now. Sasuke latched onto that sweet mouth of his as if he were biting into the first ripe peach of summer. Naruto pressed into him, and Sasuke gripped his shoulders and pulled him closer. He wasn't sure what to do at first, so he took his time, pulling the collar of his damp shirt aside to kiss his neck. He lapped at the junction between his collarbone and his shoulder. The light of the moon caught the curve of Naruto's neck as he arched into Sasuke and Sasuke smiled. He knew Naruto in laughter, head tipped to the sky and shoulders trembling like an earthquake as his chest rumbled in glee. In concentration with a textbook pulled to his face, lips curving around the consonants and vowels of the human anatomy. Sounding out each rise and dip of man. Now he would know him in pleasure. He would memorize the way his brows came together, the way his mouth fell open in a gasp. Would engrave in his mind the way his muscles rippled underneath his golden skin with each movement.

Their breaths quickened, as if they had just swum multiple laps around the pool. Or like that time earlier in the day, when Naruto had announced a game to see who could hold their breath underwater for the longest time. Sasuke had dipped his head under, encased by the coolness of the water, counting the ripples of blurred sunlight before his lungs screeched and he came bursting through the surface. His head had thudded with his pulse and he had gulped for the air that rushed into him. Ino had clapped him on the back. He'd won.

He had laughed in surprise and his cut lip had stung.

"What a cliché." Naruto was chuckling now, his face bright in the darkness. He rolled over so that Sasuke was pressed between him and the mattress. "The parents are out, the kids are—you know." He emphasized his point with a thrust of his hips. Sasuke, with fingers suddenly wrapping around Naruto's well-formed shoulders, inhaled sharply and bit his tongue, though not hard enough to draw blood.

"Can we not talk about my parents right now," Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto laughed again, his breath hot and searing against Sasuke's jaw. The heat spread through him like the branches of peach trees and he turned into it. Opened his mouth into Naruto's and drank the sweet of his throat like nectar.

It was a need that pierced them both, hot as sun and cool as rain. Naruto sat up, shoulders rising and falling like ocean waves, and pulled his shirt over his head. Sasuke pushed himself up and followed suit. His skin was damp with the beginnings of sweat, and his clothes almost clung to him. He tore it all off, then turned to face Naruto. For the first time, he felt confident about the way his body looked. Or perhaps it was the shroud of night that made him puff out his chest. Pale as it was, tainted with the peeling leftovers of sunburn.

He will take me as I am.

Naruto did. He cupped Sasuke's cheek in his hand and brought their lips together once more. The momentum of their kiss had them both falling back into the mattress. Sasuke wasn't sure where to put his hands, only knew that he had wanted this for far too long. He ran one through Naruto's hair, letting the strands slide through his fingers. With his other, he traced down the lines of Naruto's well-developed shoulder, his strong back, his insistent hips. He grew bold and reached forward and closed his fingers over his length. Squeezed.

"Sasuke—" Naruto gasped, breaking their kiss. His eyes, like sapphires set on fire, held Sasuke's gaze as if they were the only two beings in the world. The edge of Sasuke's lip curled up in a smirk. He moved his hand, only slightly upward, because he didn't know how Naruto liked it. Twisted his wrist, then down again. He ran his thumb over the slit, and Naruto's breath fell from him in curses. "Fuck, Sasuke, the friction—oh, fuck—is going to—kill me."

He understood. "Hold on."

He didn't know how he did it, but he managed to pull himself away from Naruto and into the bathroom. The coolness of the air was shocking, away from Naruto's heat. Itachi had a secret stash in the corner of one of the cabinets. He didn't know that Sasuke had found it a few months ago. It had been an accident—he'd been looking for an old bottle of hair oil. One he had loved, then forgotten, then remembered. He'd looked through Itachi's things, thinking he had stolen it.

The stash was as Itachi had left it. Sasuke grabbed a bottle of lube, and after some thought, a handful of condoms. He jogged back into the room, suddenly conscious of the sound of his feet slapping against the floor. Naruto was tangled in his sheets, the moon making his sweat-dampened skin shine silver. The golden boy, now white as silver. It was almost odd.

Naruto eyed the items in his hand with a raised eyebrow. "Have you—?"

"No," Sasuke said. He knew his face was red with embarrassment. Naruto held out his arms and he fell into his warm chest. He loved the way his skin felt against Naruto's. "But I want to, with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Sasuke."

"I'm sure. I've been sure," he pressed.

Then Naruto traced his collarbone with his tongue, and conversation ceased. He unknowingly let go of everything in his grasp in favor of holding on to Naruto's shoulders. Naruto's tongue was relentless. It ran over every crevice of his body, exposing and finding parts of him that he had not even known existed. Small indents and dimples not labeled in his anatomy textbooks. Sasuke gasped, then groaned, then grew hoarse as word after word ran off his tongue. Curses, Naruto's name, word upon word upon word like a prayer. Naruto feasted on him like a god on ambrosia.

Sasuke heard the clicking of plastic before he felt the finger prodding inside him. It felt slick. He nodded, breathless, over and over again, face contorted at the new feeling of Naruto feeling his insides. "I'm okay," he said when Naruto had asked. "No, it doesn't hurt."

"Relax."

He tried. One finger became two, twisting and almost, scooping. It stung. His breath whistled through his clenched teeth and Naruto paused. Sasuke could feel the bulge of the muscles in his arm as he gripped it. He tilted his head up and was granted a kiss. The hand moved once more.

It came all at once. The fingers had turned, pushed lower, and something exploded behind his eyes. He bit down in pleasured shock.

"Ow!" Naruto withdrew, holding his other hand to his lip and bringing it up again. It wasn't bleeding.

"Sorry—ah—" He drawled, keened, pushing the back of his head into the pillow. The fingers had touched him there, again. Naruto was smirking at him now. The fingers withdrew, then came back, pressing and flicking and Sasuke forgot how to breathe. His back curved off the mattress, legs kicking into the tangle of sheets. "Naruto!"

Then it stopped. He felt empty, but was momentarily grateful for the moment to catch his breath. To the side, he heard the sound of Naruto ripping open the condom packet. Another moment to breathe, another click of a plastic cap, before Naruto held his thighs open, kissed his forehead and his lips. "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

Naruto pushed into him, slowly, slowly. Sasuke held his breath and cupped his face, though not gently. It hurt. "Kiss me. Kiss me now."

Then Naruto was inside him and kissing him and holding him and Sasuke had never felt closer to any other person in the world. He dug his heels into Naruto's thighs and was gifted with a deep groan. Naruto pulled away and pressed his mouth to his ear. His hand massaged the muscle of Sasuke's thigh. "You okay?"

"I feel like I just shit fire."

Naruto laughed, a light sound that came out strained before he pulled out, then pushed back in. Sasuke willed himself to relax with the movement. He angled Naruto's head to him and tugged him in for another kiss.

At some point, the pain disappeared and Naruto pushed his hand into the junction under his knee and pulled his leg up and out and pushed in and it was as if all the stars burst and Sasuke almost screamed. Naruto drank his sounds like a parched man.

"Fuck, fuck—Naruto," he was panting, falling back and forth along the movement of their bodies. Naruto curled a hand around Sasuke's length and jerked his wrist. Sasuke cried out. "Naruto."

"I'm here, I'm here."

They were breathing the same air, breathing into one another. The tension and want and need built inside Sasuke like a glass with wine. Up and up and up until it brimmed, then tipped—

"Naruto!"

He threw his head back, torso curved in the heat of the night that was theirs, and Naruto caught him, held him as he thrust forward and came with Sasuke's name on his lips.

Later, Sasuke pressed himself to Naruto, so tightly that nothing else may have come between them, and smiled. He was given a moment to breathe, two moments perhaps, before Naruto, face bright as a full moon in night, ran his fingers through his black hair and pulled their mouths to one another once more.

The warm air wrapped around them like a silk cloak, and Sasuke relished in its scent, of Naruto and of himself. He was deathly sore and strangely awake despite the few hours of sleep he had gotten the night before. Naruto was passionate, relentless. And most of all, fair. He'd let Sasuke do as he wanted, however he wanted, and Sasuke had pressed himself into Naruto and watched blue eyes roll in pleasure. When they weren't indulging in physical pleasures, they talked, whispered. In murmurs, Sasuke spoke about himself. Slowly, at first, before the words came tumbling out. He lay himself bare for Naruto. His insecurities, his fears, his wishes. In return, Naruto shared his own story and Sasuke learned that Naruto, too, had his own flaws, however like the sun he may seem.

Sasuke had never known a night as long and short as this one.

They were a mess of legs and sheets, lying on their stomachs, horizontal on the bed. Heads pressed together as if in conspiracy, to watch the dawning of the world through the peek of open window. Naruto traced an idle finger over the expanse of Sasuke's back. Around the many, many purple bruises he had left with his mouth. Sasuke had been okay with it. He had left his own mark on the inner junction of Naruto's thigh, had heard him moan and felt him writhe against the mattress as he did it. It was high up on his leg, enough so that no one would know of its presence but the two of them. Sasuke liked that.

The sky blushed at first light, glimpsing at them shyly. Naruto, boy of the city, had never seen a pure sunrise before. Sasuke had insisted. His view was best from his window, he'd said. Naruto had shaken his head. Who even wakes up this early?

He turned his head to Sasuke now, his crystal eyes catching the barest of the sun's glimmer, and pressed his nose into his cheek. Sasuke laughed breathily, "No, no, you have to watch."

Naruto feigned a groan of annoyance and tapped his lips to Sasuke's cheek in a kiss that was light as the breeze, quick as the river. Sasuke intertwined their fingers, pulling his gaze from the sunrise to glimpse at gold against silver. Naruto's hands were strong, his fingers long and slender. The hands of a pianist, of a future surgeon. Weaving music and life with his touch.

After the first, hesitant ray of sun, the rest was quick. The earth awoke in a blinding wash of birdsong and warmth, and the flushed pinkness of the sky gave way to blue and wisps of white.

With bright light, however, came awareness. Sasuke let Naruto's hand drop from his and sat up, suddenly frighteningly cognizant of the previous night's activities. He wondered if Naruto felt the same way. Away with the faded darkness went any remaining secrets, and the mess of sheets, the crumpled pillows, the crusted stains on the covers, all sat in the blunt and unrestrained reality of daylight.

He had never given up so much of himself before. The sounds he had made, the words he had said, the parts of his body that had been grasped and kneaded. He knew he had pleaded at some point last night. The last, quiet sliver of pride he held to himself had been given away. He wasn't sure if there was anything left. Naruto had seen his heart laid bare and eaten him raw.

What have I done to myself?

He tore his gaze from the bed and found Naruto watching him, face clouded with uncertainty as he read his expression. He knew that Naruto understood what he was thinking. He didn't know what he would do about it. Sasuke let him speak first, the words coming out haltingly. "Do you—regret it?"

"I—" he whispered, then paused and swallowed a breath. When he spoke again, his voice was stronger. "I'm afraid I've given too much of myself, and now there is nothing left."

"Sasuke." Naruto looked at him, and Sasuke let himself be swallowed into his eyes of sky. Hands reached for him, grabbed his own and pulled him in so that he could rest his forehead against another. A warm palm cupped the back of his neck. "You are here, Sasuke, in this," he kissed him then, then ran a finger over this brow. "And this." Over his temple. "And this." Over the line of his jaw. "And this." The line of his collarbone. "And this." His shoulder, his arm, his hand, his fingers. His chest, his stomach, his hips, his thighs, his calves. The arches of his feet, the curves of his toes. This, and this, and this.

"It's okay to be afraid. It's okay to not be a hundred percent, all the time," Naruto said.

Sasuke closed his eyes against the way Naruto held him. Soft enough that he could escape the embrace of his own free will, but firm enough that he felt needed, felt real and whole. Then, as he watched the rays of sun wash his room with light, he smiled and said, "I do not regret it."