thank you so much to all of those commented. ;-; it's half of the reason why I decided on a sequel. took forever, but here we go.

all beta credit goes to my beloved, "Vivian" on ao3.

oOo

Two weeks later, it's their fourth time.

Out by the park. Same place, racy with the risk of an early sunset still marked in the October sky.

They kiss and bite, grind till they're both gasping, half hard. And when at last Sasuke bucks in and reaches down beneath him, fingers undoing button and clasp, Naruto shifts and pulls away from him completely.

"I'm…actually feeling kind of sick," he mutters faintly.

He skids from under Sasuke's weight, sidestepping away from the tree that kept him. It takes Sasuke a moment to fully understand it, too turned on by the chase.

"And really, it's kind of cold out here. Don't you think?"

Sasuke's eyebrow raises.

"It was cold the last time. You never cared."

"Not this cold."

"Okay?"

Naruto fidgets. He turns the other way, a weird look in his eye. Annoyed, distracted. Sasuke doesn't feel like playing therapist. He's strung, a fuck away from coming. But most of all, he's itched for this all weekend, counted the hours since first class.

"Bathroom, then," he says.

"I dunno," Naruto musters. "Maybe we could just…sit down, talk for a while?"

It's not a suggestion, just a slap to the face. Sasuke's lip slants on its own. He shrugs, hand coming to a stop on his hip.

"Don't really feel like talking."

For a moment, Naruto looks like he's about to blab some other thing. But then he closes his mouth and swallows it, nods only once before reaching down and swinging on his backpack and jacket.

"Okay." It's distant. "Bye, then. I guess."

He scratches the back of his head and waves before leaving. Looks back three times. It's awkward. And stupid.

Just like this whole thing had been from the start.

oOo

He texts his brother an hour after, lying on the grass of the park.

No response, but Sasuke knows Itachi's read it, checkmark blunt beneath the text box.

He snuffs out his cigarette, swallows the last of its fumes. It burns.

He tosses it, waits. Staring up, blank, at nothing.

oOo

Itachi there, by the gate. Jet black sheen of his car gleaming in the offshoot of the streetlamp. Sasuke scoffs. He stands and begins the trek towards it.

He gets in the passenger's seat, slams the door shut beside him. Radio on, shitty music on near-mute volume, no point to it. He rolls his eyes and clicks on his seatbelt, loafing back onto the headrest.

Silence.

"What."

"You were supposed to be on campus." His voice is deep, detached and sounding almost dead, like every sound Itachi ever makes.

"Well, I wasn't."

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Sasuke sucks in air.

"Bored, walked here. Happy?"

A beat, then Itachi takes the e-brake off of neutral. He backs up, gyring the car with the hilt of his palm onto the asphalt of the road. Sasuke changes the station and turns it up. Riff of Deftones starts to play in the backdrop.

"Give it to me," Itachi orders out of nowhere.

"Give you what?"

Itachi takes one hand away from the steering wheel, extending it towards Sasuke.

"Now."

Miffed, Sasuke bucks up and takes out whatever's left of the Kents. He stares at the box for a moment. He predicts, three or four cigarettes are left inside it. Doesn't matter. Gas station's just down the block. He gives them up, flinging the box at Itachi's chest.

"Mother wouldn't want this."

They're entering the freeway by the time Itachi strips the box and crumples in what's left of cigarettes, mashing till they're all paper-dust and brownish crumbs inside his fist. He slides down the window, opens his hand, and lets the wind do the rest. Tobacco bits mix with the drizzle, tinged in the air to stain some other person's windshield.

Itachi shifts in his seat. He leans forward to turn down the music. His hands on the steering wheel tighten, his shoulders constrict. All off-beam and shit, the same way he gets whenever he brings up their mother.

Sasuke twists in his seat and looks the other way, staring out into the pother of the highway.

oOo

Some hours, and Sasuke's splayed out on the livingroom sofa.

More than big enough to fit his height, but the apartment itself (since day one) had always felt like the very real beginnings of entombment. Cramped, intrusive, itch of discomfort creeping through his skin. Like eyes inside the walls, slap of rain too loud upon the roofing.

A few feet behind him, the kitchen. One ancient stove, table, sink, and two wooden chairs, one of which Itachi sits, line of open textbooks laid out in front of him. Constant tapping of his pencil. Sharpen, scribble, silence, erase.

"Ever heard of lead pencils," Sasuke says. "Maybe pens?" He flips again through the channels. Nothing's good. Even the cable plan they have is shit. He tosses the remote. It hits his leg. "I'm hungry," he states.

He stands when his brother doesn't answer, ditching the tv set. He goes straight to the fridge, shoving it open. He rummages it. Nothing but leftovers. One egg, milk, pack of cherry cokes. He grabs a can and tears the pull tab, quaffing it down.

"It'll rot your teeth," Itachi tells him.

Sasuke ignores him. Itachi stands up, going directly to the stove. His hair's untied, the languor underneath his eyes more obvious than before. How he juggles work hours and graduate school, Sasuke doesn't care enough to know.

"I'll make dinner," Itachi says.

"Just ate."

"Sit down."

Sasuke doesn't sit. Just glares and flings the empty can into the trash bin.

"Fucking dump," he says. "With all that money from Fugaku's bequest you'd think we'd be in a fucking mansion by now."

Itachi doesn't answer him. Doesn't even flinch. Instead, he heats up the stove and takes out pans, pouring olive oil into one of them.

"Your day," Itachi mentions. "How was it?"

It's not an interest, but insouciance. A pat on his head, a roll of the eyes. All Sasuke sees is red.

"You're fixing on it like it's all yours. Like you're handing me scraps, like I couldn't just sue you for it and get the hell out of this—" Sasuke gestures at the flat, the clutter yet utter emptiness within all four walls. "This sty."

Itachi slams down the box of vermicelli, forearms straining—out, in—from within the cotton of his long-sleeve. From where he is, Sasuke can see Itachi's jawline clenching, eyelids closing slowly, as if he were desperately pretending none of it was said.

Sasuke dares closer.

"Don't just stand there. Do something."

Itachi turns towards him. Taller, but not like before. Still, his eyes weigh Sasuke down, blackish, trenchant, and so much like Mikoto's. As always, Sasuke feels all verve within him start to wilt, peeling by the second. Shell for shell, immured between nothing and his brother's presence.

A shiver licks through Sasuke's spine. Feathers—soft—some unearthed awe he thought he'd capped, covered up in mud. It's real again. His heartbeat quickens, too much color pooling towards his face. He steps back, swallows. Remembers, remembers.

"Nothing stops you" Itachi says.

There is no physical contact between them, yet it feels so much like there is. Like Itachi's fingers have grazed Sasuke's forehead again, like their thighs have touched beneath the table, pretending that they hadn't, like it's the lonely night before the plane wreck and they've slept, tangled limbs on top the blankets, on their parents' bed.

"Fuck you."

It's half a hiss, half the truth, and it's all Sasuke can muster before storming to his room.

oOo

It's night. Sasuke's room is pitch dark.

It's more routine now than intrusiveness, lying there beneath the blankets, wide awake.

He hears Itachi do whatever in the kitchen. Then he listens, step for step, to the scuffing noise Itachi makes upon the carpet whilst he goes to lock himself back into his room.

Not to sleep, Sasuke knows. But to lie there, too. Either jerking off or trying to.

A minute more and Sasuke reaches for his phone. He stares at it a moment. One text from Karin, none from the idiot. He grazes the fake ID he's got him in and swipes into the two-day talkfest they'd had all throughout the weekend. Something warm flitters in his stomach. Like guilt...or embarrassment.

He turns down the brightness and sinks deeper into the covers. He swallows, thumbing to the top in order to re-read it.

hey saskay what are you doing? :D

It's sasuke. nothing. on some game.

o cool! which one? Im waitin for my grandma 2 get out of this nail place. soooo boring

Warframe. and yeah. that does sound boring.

nice! co-op?

Yeah.

ps4 huh?

Duh.

LUCKY. brb a sec, she's comin back

Sasuke rolls his eyes. He scrolls down some more, a few minutes before they'd gone to bed that night.

Your grandparents asleep?

ya can hear em snoring all the way from here

In your room?

ya r u?

Yeah.

Two minutes later, so what r u doin?

Thinking about Friday and how much i want to fuck you atm.

perv…..

Come over.

they'll kill me

I'll go. leave your window open.

your crazy!

Call me, then. we'll fuck on the phone.

um. thats kinda weird?

So, tomorrow?

ya(:

Can't wait.

And that's it.

Sasuke glares at it. Not a peep since then. He's tempted, fingers dragging towards the touchscreen.

He muddles in some words, misspelled and sounding pretty desperate. Then he flusters, backspaces everything.

And anyway, it's always been Naruto who's texted first.

Sometimes more than twice a row, begging for attention. Sasuke this, Sasuke that. Memories come flooding back. Soft, gentle, tight. Their first time. The look on his face as he'd slid in and filled him. He feels it swelling up his cock. The sheer memory of having him. To himself, just himself. Of having him, and having him and having him—

Sasuke snaps out of it, realizes his hand's slithered down between his thighs. He takes it away. His cock jounces back, too hard and too wet against his abdomen. He curses through teeth, sits up, looks instead at Karin's message.

Hey, mister heart eyes. Spliffy before class? I'll be out back.

The response comes naturally,

Roll a spare one.

He locks the phone and flings it back onto the nightstand. Then he stands, undresses, fucking his own fist until he's coming down his arm.

oOo

6am and Sasuke's dressed in whatever he's found hanging clean in the middle of his closet.

Then he's sitting again, half-unconscious, slipping on Docs before thumbing through his phone. Karin's message there. He wipes his eyes and reads it.

Morning, dick. I'm there in about 10 minutes. x

He scoffs (tries to) and shuffles to the bathroom. He puts on some playlist, loud enough to share in Manson with the neighbors. He brushes his teeth, does up his hair. Then he stands there a bit, suspended mid-sleep before smacking himself on the cheek. It wakes him. He turns off the light, the music, and heads for Itachi's bedroom door.

"Ready," he says, and kicks it.

A second later, Itachi's shooting out, fully dressed and with all his books in tow.

oOo

Sasuke arrives before Karin.

Everything damp, full of mist and still too freezing. It's worth it. No one's here. Not until at least another fifteen minutes.

"Man," calls Karin from somewhere in the distance. "You look vicious."

She walks his way, clearer now that she's away from the fog, arms crossed and with a mess of scarves hanging from her neck.

"Did you bring it?"

She goes through her bag, nails sleekly painted, and hands him the blunt. He snags it, slipping it to the corner of his lip. She takes one out for herself, rolled too neat with pinkish paper. Her glossy lipstick stains it. She hunches in, back against the wall, shaking and muttering something about gas prices while searching for a light.

He goes to stand beside her, shoulder to shoulder, and looks out towards the field. It's habit between them. Ever since they were both a couple of pudgy-faced freshmen eating alone during lunch, still lining up for snack stands and breakfast.

She swings her hair to the side, bringing the flame of the lighter to the tail of her blunt. The gust of her hair makes the air smell like candy shampoo and it lets Sasuke remember the one time he begged his brother to let her come over. Braces at the time, her own Barbie sleeping bag, flashlights they'd snuck from the kitchen in order to stay up and snicker about it all through the night.

Whatever.

He leans towards her. She kindles his blunt.

"Kinda nice," she hums, sucking up a lungful of smoke. "Stupid birds all confused." She gestures at the gulls waddling across the football field, exhaling some of the fume through the side of her mouth. "Like it's Frisco or something."

She leans her head on his shoulder. And a few moments later, it's not so cold anymore.

oOo

Thirty minutes before first class and the gulls open wing, soaring away by the pack. Signs of sun, like clouded watercolors leached across the tired sky. Ball courts crowding up, too many people now on campus.

Sasuke unzips his jacket. His head feels hot, but the kind of hot that feels nice. And really, this high's better than the last one. He forgets and then he remembers, too amused by Karin's pornish puns. His body feels light, like he could walk forward and instead glide up, like he can listen to the unfamiliar sounds of his laugh, like he could reach out his arm, curl in his fingers, and watch them just—

"Man, you sound like a nut. Your left one."

Apparently, he laughs at that, too.

"Hey look." Karin points forward. "Kinda cute, don't you think? With the hair."

Sasuke stops laughing. It's Naruto. Shoulder-to-shoulder, grinning and sharing in a box of sour drops with some red-headed gremlin.

Sasuke frowns. His arms cross on their own. Karin notices. She nudges his shoulder.

"To think he'd rebound you already," she winks. "Kid's got game."

"Like I care," he says.

"I mean, you'd think he'd wanna share those drops with you." She slips a strip of gum to her mouth. Chuckles, "Or I dunno, notice you. After all that dicking between you."

"I'm leaving."

"Okay, okay," she laughs. "Sheesh. Just hand me my bag."

He bends down and hands it to her. She hauls it over her shoulder, digs deep for her phone and uses the screen to repaint her lips. Naruto's still out there in the distance, squawking about videogames and ramen, kid beside him sneaking glances like he's got a boner jizzing through his jeans.

It's an ugly knot that starts to stick to the pith of Sasuke's stomach. Like he could punch a brick and never feel it, like there's an ache between his gums, his teeth drawn back and pressing—

The bell rings.

Karin reaches over and dusts some ash from off his collar, spraying him all over with her Flowerbomb perfume. She stands in front of him, single finger on her chin, and pouts.

"There's no way Hatake won't call you out."

Sasuke shrugs one shoulder. "Let him."

He shoves from the wall, and for the first time in months, leaves for class without her.

oOo

Sasuke walks inside. He's late. The door slugs shut, and the entire class stops in turning pages just to gawk at him.

Hatake caps the whiteboard marker he'd been graphing subsets with. He turns, back against the board, patient in allowing Sasuke to figure out an empty seat.

Sasuke shuffles over to the back, nearly trips. He snorts a laugh, slithers out a desk, slams off his bag, and lets himself fall onto the chair. Time spreads, time stops. His eyelids feel heavy. He leans his head against the wall, blinks, and realizes he is starving.

"Sasuke."

"What."

Some girls giggle from up front.

"In my class, we sit up."

Sasuke sits up.

"Take out your textbook."

Sasuke takes out his textbook.

"Page 98."

Page 98.

Kakashi smiles. "Great. Now, you may go to the office."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. At least, he thinks he does. He stands, scuffles to the front, and goes in the direction of the office.

oOo

Unfortunately, no expulsion.

Rather, Hiruzen rambles on an hour (self-worth and probity), before handing him over to Itachi who now swings open the door to his car till the hinge of it nearly shatters loose.

"Get in."

Sasuke gets in. Itachi follows suit, revving the car alive with a rigid twist of the keys.

They don't talk. Air thick, windows shut, so quiet the cold air starts to feel hot. Sasuke stares forward. Itachi sits up, shifting his arm back and forth on the wheel, mouth a tight line. Red light, green light. He steps on the pedal.

"This is the last time," he says.

Sasuke huffs. "Okay?"

Silence.

"Never asked you to skulk out of class to come get me."

Nothing.

Sasuke laughs. "Should've just left me." He raises his tone by a notch. "Should've gotten a grip on your ugly friend's hard-on and laid off my case, gotten a hobby or somethi—"

Itachi skids off the road, half up a neighborhood sidewalk. The wheels make a horrible sound. Two dudes with their fat orange dogs down the block step back and stare at the noise.

"This is the last time."

It's a snarl, full of teeth, sharp enough to lift the little hairs on Sasuke's skin. The world compresses. He's five again. He's got a pink doll in his hand, toy phone in the other. He's watching his father from behind the crinkled hem of Saturday's newspaper. He's putting the doll to his cheek, toy phone to his ear, then he's watching his father slam the newspaper down, scowling at him. He's watching his mother's long fingers caress through Itachi's black hair. He's watching her bend down and press a long kiss to his lip. He's touching his own lip (he wants it kissed, too); still looking down, still too afraid and always too soft and too open.

Itachi backs the car up. The tires jolt off of the sidewalk. He leans forward, cranks the radio on.

"I'll make breakfast."

Sasuke says nothing.

oOo

Dusk.

Sasuke's at the dinner table and Itachi's laying out plates. Eggs, salad, hash, two mugs of buttermilk coffee. He puts down some silverware, then he sits down. The chair creaks beneath him. It's quiet now. They must look ridiculous, perched around a too-tiny table, their legs drawn taut in an active attempt at not touching.

Sasuke eyes up the food. It's steaming. The eggs are perfect and the salad glisters wet with ranch and red garnish. He picks up his fork, serves himself by the clumpful, and starts eating. Itachi just sits there.

"It's good," says Sasuke. He swallows, sips on the coffee.

Itachi brings his hands to the table and wraps them around his own mug. He doesn't say anything. Sasuke slumps back, mealing a mouthful before slinging his fork to the side. He taps on the table.

"I've left the laundry drying downstairs," mutters Itachi. It's effete. He looks only at the steam of his coffee. He raises the mug to his lips, drinks, places it down again. His lip glistens, glazed wet with cream. A strand of hair unhooks from his ear. It slips down his shoulder, long enough now to rival their mother's.

Sasuke looks away.

"Twenty more minutes," Itachi goes on. "Dryer on the farthest right, separate baskets."

Itachi stands up. He leaves the mug on the table, as well as the rest of his food.

"I'll be out."

He slides in his chair. Then he turns on his heel and disappears into the hallway.

"Bet you can't wait," Sasuke calls after him. "Maybe this time he'll even admit that he's married."

Nothing.

Sasuke sits there a moment, tense with contention. Then he picks up his fork, leans over his plate, and forces himself not to look when his brother leaves the apartment.

oOo

He's on Thief for a while. Then he shuts off the console, decides that he's bored.

He lies in bed, on top of the covers, slapping his phone on his chest for no reason. He counts the dots on the ceiling. No sounds. The window is open, the lights are all off. He doesn't feel tired. Time passes. His phone never vibrates. His thoughts drift and always they come up with Naruto. He thinks of sitting beside him, thinks of going out somewhere together, hearing him talk, watching him talk, kissing and fucking. Then Sasuke thinks of the coon-looking imp Naruto'd been with all morning.

Sasuke doesn't think twice. And in the black of the dark, he swipes and inspects through his phone. No text from him since Sunday, no calls. He finds and goes through Naruto's Instagram, and sees that he's posted just a few minutes earlier. Thrice.

Sasuke sits up, a bone-tightening sting like a blow to his gut—

His phone vibrates. His heart skips a beat. He unlocks it without even seeing.

I heard about what happened. ):

He lets out a breath. Just Karin. He stands, pacing with his fingers all over the screen.

Yeah. it's bullshit.

Her response takes a minute.

Did you finally get your ass beat?

Very funny.

What are you doing?

Nothing. you?

Waiting on my girl(:

He rolls his eyes. She sends him another.

Jfc just call him already.

His fingers hover over the keys. He starts to respond, but before he can send it,

I've gotta go hon. Good luck. xx

He backspaces, feels stupid. He sits again, staring at the screen. The silence of the room stopples his ears. Exactly three conversation threads stare back at him.

Karin, Naruto, Itachi.

oOo

An hour till midnight. Sasuke takes a deep breath. He swallows, stands by the cool air of the half-open window, and dials the number. He puts it on speaker. It rings. His face goes hot in an instant, dread like bugs in his skin.

Once, twice. He caves. Curses, cuts off the call and regrets it.

Seconds later, a text.

hey! you called?

He stares at it and his heart goes crazy. Gall twists his stomach. His brows knit. He glares. He's not even blitzed yet the whole world feels stretched out before him, dependant on just this one moment. As if he were standing on the cusp of some cliff, stone of it breaking. He taps on the screen.

It was an accident.

He doesn't have to wait long.

o… well wats up?

Nothing.

same

Sasuke's eye twitches. He shoves off the wall and tosses the phone on the bed. Then,

im calling you back!

The ringtone starts to blare. Sasuke lets it play.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

Quiet.

Naruto clears his throat. "Um. What's up?"

"You already asked that."

He laughs. "Oh yeah. I did." Adds, "Anyway...I'm just—"

"Who's your friend?"

Pause. "Friend?"

"Yeah. Friend."

"Kiba? Oh! You mean Gaara?"

Sasuke doesn't say anything.

"Uh, well. He's in my gym class. He's into all sorts of cool stuff like—"

"I don't care."

The line goes stiff.

"Will you be there tomorrow?"

They both know what he means. He hears Naruto start to fiddle with something.

"There's a dance," Sasuke mentions. "Six till nine. Meet me at four and we'll have five hours."

Naruto stutters. "I'll...have to ask my grandparents first."

"Then ask."

"Okay, yeah. Hold on a sec."

He hears Naruto scamper out of his room, yelling out his grandfather's name. Sasuke waits with his back against the wall. His foot taps the carpet.

Steps, door being closed, then,

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

"They said I can go."

Sasuke tries to fight the thrill from his voice. He clears his throat. It doesn't work.

"Four, then?"

"Yeah, four." There's a grin in Naruto's tone.

Silence, static.

"Uh. I should go to bed. Brother might get home."

Naruto trips to agree. Still, neither of them hang up the phone.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

This quiet, he can hear Naruto's breathing. He thinks, Naruto can hear his breathing, too.

"Goodnight..." It's a whisper.

The call drops a second after.

oOo

Last class passes quickly.

Sasuke rounds the school and hops the fence. It's a fifteen minute walk to the park. He's there in ten.

He stops at the willow. The sky is clear, powder-grey with notes of sun. Leaves litter upon the grass, hills of them beneath the tallest pines.

He zips his hoodie, staring out into the distance of the grove.

No sign of him.

Time sheds. Twenty minutes, thirty. The sunlight dims. Birds withdraw, burrowing to nest within the trees. The sky cracks. It starts to drizzle.

Finally, Sasuke lets himself look at the lockscreen of his phone. 4:50.

His brow furrows, sour taste like an open bruise inside his mouth. He pockets his phone, spits out his gum, and makes the walk back to campus.

oOo

He cuts through the staff parking lot. All the gates are open because of the dance. He goes through the one that leads to the sports field. A large group of girls there, huddled for selfies, made-up and dressed up. One of them winds a finger into a loop of her hair and greets him by name, another blows him a kiss. They laugh. He doesn't stop walking.

He's at the back of the schoolrooms by the time he slows down. To his right, the football field in all of its size, abandoned if not for two people.

He stops. A cold drop of rain slips from his hair to his face. His arms start to feel heavy. Naruto there, sat in the middle of the field, cross-legged and facing the boy from before, not a foot from another. Both of them nervous, both of them twiddling glances like gradeschoolers do, plucking out strands of wet grass as they talk back and forth. Naruto giggles. And when Naruto giggles, Gaara does, too.

Sasuke's vision distorts. Rawness carves through his gut, abrading his throat.

He swallows, blinks. Both things are difficult.

Colors heighten, colors flatten. He licks his lips, shakes his head. Then he looks away, walks away, and realizes he is laughing.

oOo

He's at the quad when it really starts to pour, heavy enough to ruin his two-bit plan of trailing a trip to nowhere.

Couples ditch the benches and go to crowd the nearby halls, milling around the entrance of the gym. Finally, the doors are opened. Music starts to blast. Sasuke glares. More than eighty people beetling out from all crevices of campus, yapping and shouting. He gets out of the rain, unzips and peels off his jacket. That's when he sees it. Not too far to his left, the very last few from the long line of students, a small group of freshmen girls clustered close to another. One in particular, Sasuke thinks he recognizes. Four inch heels, bright pink hair, vintage dress and cardigan. One of them chides her by name. Sakura.

"I can't believe you told him no!" the girl shrieks. The others nod their heads in agreement. "He was so sweet about it, too."

"Do you still have the note that he passed you?"

"His eyes, though!"

"I bet he's beaten up about it." says another. "It looked like he really wanted you to let him take you."

"Oh come on you guys," Sakura says. She rubs her arm, gnawing on her lip. "Naruto's like an inch shorter than me and...I dunno, he could be my nephew or something."

"Ugh, don't say that!"

"Guys," one of them hisses. They all huddle in. "Look."

Sasuke doesn't have to check to know that they're pointing at him.

Sakura sneaks glances his way, pretending to seem like she isn't. The line moves up. The girls are next. Something ugly starts to coil at the corner of Sasuke's lip. He shoves from the wall and approaches.

"Hey," he says.

It's clear who it's for. The rest of the girls take a step back, bunching up behind Sakura. A few of them chuckle, pushing her forward. He can smell her perfume. He looks at her, looms over her. His shadow darkens her dress.

"Hi," she peeps.

Her hands fiddle, her ears are beet red.

"Sakura, right?"

She nods, unable to look him in the eye.

"Do you want to come inside with me?"

Her gaze rises up to meet his. Her arms fold, fingers struggling to hook a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I…" She swallows. He lets his eyes flicker towards her chest, making certain that she'll notice. She swallows again. "I'd love to, Sasuke."

He should be surprised, hearing his name. He isn't. He turns on his heel, facing the ticket handlers sat at the other side of the table.

"Single or couple?"

He unrolls a bill and pays for the latter.

oOo

They go in.

Her friends bicker around her amid the ground-pounding chaos of whatever deejay Hiruzen'd hired. He can't hear them, doesn't care to. He just stands there, flanked by a swarm of half-baked high schoolers.

At one point, the group of girls huff out and leave, disappearing into the smoke and lights of the dancefloor. Sakura stays at his side, quiet while clutching her arm until finally he shoves through a crowd to get to some of the empty chairs set against the opposite wall. He sits. She sits down, too, scooting closer to him so that their hips nearly touch.

Aversion knots in his gut. He can see nothing but her constantly glancing at him from the crook of his eye, can see nothing but a wide open field, the empty grove he'd stared at for more than an hour, expecting the same stupid jacket he'd memorized the smell and the feeling of to emerge at any moment, the pathetic flutter in his stomach he'd held all the while thinking that it would, thinking that somehow Naruto would waltz along and perhaps walk a little quicker just to be together that much faster, to react to the sight of him, because Sasuke, he would be reacting to the sight of Naruto, too—

"Sasuke?"

He doesn't look at her.

"Would you…" She clears her throat. "Want to maybe dance with—"

He stands.

"I need some air."

She stands, as well, as if he'd bid her to.

"I'll go with you."

He doesn't tell her not to, just throws his jacket over his shoulder and walks out.

oOo

The rain has stopped, leaving the concrete wet with mud and draggled water. The downspouts drip, overflooded. Worms squirm on the floor, tearing apart against the gravel.

They're at the back of the school, by the janitor's closet. It's the blue hour and the sky has closed in against the blackish dusk, half and half, mouthing on it like the firth of an ocean.

Sasuke stares up at it, and the more he does, the more he feels as if he were watching the eyes of someone familiar, and hates himself for it.

He digs in his backpockets, last ditch attempt at chancing up a smoke. He finds one, just one, crumpled badly at the filter.

He smooths it out. He feels Sakura watching him, back against the wall, heeled foot tracing nervous circles on the floor.

"Do you have another?" It's determined, though it wouldn't take a genius to realize she does not mean it.

"No."

He puts the cigarette to his lips. No lighter.

"I'm sorry," she says right after. "I don't know, if I did or said something stupid to upset you."

He shrugs one shoulder.

She looks away from him, hair unwinding from her ear. "Do you want me to leave?"

He scoffs, quiet enough for only him to hear. "Do you?"

She shakes her head.

Silence.

A bunch of guys walk by, looking stoned out their minds. Sasuke approaches one of them and asks for a lighter. The guy has one. He whips it out, kindling his cigarette.

"Get some, g," one of the other guys say. He fucks the side of his mouth with his tongue, pointing out at Sakura. Another agrees.

Sasuke stands there a moment, puffing smoke through his nose till they all hop the fence and leave.

oOo

He finishes the cigarette and flicks what's left into a puddle. No sign of anyone. The sky has gone dark. The air is cold.

Sasuke thumbs a look through his phone. No message, no apology, nothing. He thrusts it back into his pocket.

"You know Naruto?"

Sakura answers quickly. "Yeah, I know him."

"He likes you," he says. "Do you like him?"

She doesn't hesitate. "Of course I don't like him." She adds, "He's so clingy and obnoxious."

Sasuke doesn't think when he does it. He shoves off the wall, stands in front of her and presses her against the brick with his body. She tenses and heats up against him. He cups her breast in his hand, kneading firmly. She murmurs his name, face blooded red, and does not stop him the moment he glides the same hand down and under the skirts of her dress.

She mewls in his ear. Then she swans her arms around his neck, breathing loud in his hair. He allows it. And with two fingers he hooks aside her underwear and sinks knuckle-deep, out, in, until she clenches in and pulsates.

oOo

He moves from her, two steps back.

Then he makes an excuse, leaving her there with the rest of the silence.

oOo

Next day, during passing period, Sasuke spots Sakura trudging towards him from the opposite side of the hallway.

She's surrounded again by the same group of girls (few of them now who are glaring at him). They bustle her forward. She hides half her face with the rim of her textbook the more she comes closer, peeking at him as if he were to suddenly reach out and twirl her for all to stand back and see.

The hall's pretty jam-packed, so he spares her only one glance and keeps walking. Some steps behind her he sees only vaguely that Naruto's there, side-by-side again with Sasuke's very own kindergoth stand-in. Kohl around the eyes, probably a twink, sticking to Naruto's side as if the fate of mankind depended on it.

A sour taste laves Sasuke's mouth. They're nearer now. Sakura waves at him, Sasuke ignores it. He passes her by, inches apart, and a moment after passes Naruto by, as well. He shoves against Naruto's shoulder, hard enough for him to nearly trip and really feel it, before walking directly into fifth period.

oOo

It stops to sting less when he does not mull on it.

It's after school. The sky is grey. He's in the quad with Karin, needing to wash his hands and take a piss.

"Staying?" she asks him.

She tosses her purse over to the opposite shoulder, frowning at it. He doesn't blame her. Thing looks like it's got weights.

He shrugs, snapping gum between his teeth. She gives him an irritated squint.

"When are you gonna start, I dunno, using words? Did your dick fall off? Did something happen?"

"No," he tells her.

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, flipping her hair to the side while she's at it.

"Want me to give you a ride? Might storm."

"It's fine."

She sighs and readjusts her glasses.

"Okay," she folds. "Just...call me if you need anything."

They look at each other for a moment. Like this, it's easy to forget how much shorter she is. She reaches out a second after, drags him down with an arm hooked around his neck, and hugs him. It's forceful, decisive. Just like she is. She lets go, winds her purple kilim scarf about her and starts to walk the other way.

"Karin."

She looks back at him.

"Drive safe."

She grins. Then she flips him off and sashays to where her car is.

oOo

He goes to the bathroom. Finishes, and soaps his hands in the sink. The mirror in front of him, too close and too clean.

He draws down the faucet, stares at his face. His hand goes up to it. The distinct line of his jaw, his lips, the bone of his cheek.

A single finger down the length of his hair. It parts, soft. Then, the door batters open.

Sasuke doesn't have to turn around to know who it is.

"I know what you did," is the first thing Naruto says. His tone is sharper than Sasuke's heard it, grit through teeth and spat with outrage.

Sasuke looks down into the sink, the sud built up against the drain. The door slams shut, the worn out buzzing of the ceiling light above them. Still, Sasuke doesn't say a thing. He hears Naruto stomp closer from behind him.

"She really liked you," Naruto continues. "You hurt her, you made her feel like trash in front of everyone—" He holds back, deeper details he might know more of. "You led her on—"

Sasuke pivots on his heel to front him.

"Did she talk to you for the first time just to tell you that? Or did you eavesdrop on something that is obviously none of your business?"

Naruto stiffens. Pink in the face, his fists bunched up and shaking. Sasuke wants to laugh.

"Lighten up," he gibes. "Maybe next time she'll even consider you a person."

He makes to leave, but stops as Naruto starts to speak up from behind him.

"I can't…" It's faint at first, then it's poignant. "I can't believe I had feelings for an asshole like you."

A sudden shock, pressure in his chest. Sasuke's neck goes rigid, veins within his wrists distend. He turns around. Naruto there, looking straight at him, unafraid and a lot surer than before.

Sasuke wants to say something, evince for something, tries to think of something. His throat gelates; nothing spills.

"I don't want anything to do with you anymore. I should've never—"

Now, Sasuke throttles forward. No thought, just whim, some untellable urgency alighting in his bones, as if his body had deceived him, conducted on its own. He shoves Naruto against the wall, pinning him there, his forearm dug against his neck and pressing.

"Shut up," Sasuke snarls. "Just shut up—"

Naruto does not back down. He squirms against him, all clenched teeth and roiled brows.

"Let go, bastard," he grits, "let go or I'll—"

"Or you'll what?" Sasuke spits. "You'll whimper and scream?" He laughs. "Or has it always been titular? So that you can run back the next time Gaara doesn't feel like bending over?"

Pain at his cheek. Sasuke stumbles back, single rill of blood reddening his fingertips.

"Don't talk about him like that!"

It's shrill, uneven. Sasuke's eyes raise up to look at him. No fairer than before. Standing there, shoulders heaving up and down, red at the ears, at the cheeks, his mouth, the blue of his eyes gone ten times bluer. Just...maddening.

Sasuke sneers, whipping blood to the floor with a flit of his wrist.

"You did, didn't you."

Half of Naruto's face softens, the other half frosts. Then his gaze starts to drop, the rage of him subsiding. Like guilt, like searching for a half-truth carved into the tile, but no less guilt.

There's nothing left to say. Sasuke wipes his mouth and begins to walk away.

Naruto grasps him backwards by the shoulder.

"Sasuke," he says.

It's tender. Sasuke feels it in his chest, lick of flame above cold water, this utter need to consume the soothing sound of it.

Naruto's hand slides then to his wrist. Ghosting, touching, fingers pressing gently near the veins. Sasuke turns enough to look at it. Their skin, so close. Different, yet the same.

oOo

Sasuke clasps him by the arm and reels him in. Naruto freezes up, fish-eyed and infuriating.

"Fucking dimwit," Sasuke says, so low it's almost secret. "Moron, fucking…"

He can't finish. He leans in, catching Naruto by the lips.

It's hectic, sloppy, and as desperate as it'd been the first time that they'd kissed. Naruto doesn't squick from him, doesn't wrench from him, nor does he try to slow him down. Sasuke walks him backward, his tongue sliding in, tracing teeth, the silkish inner-lining of his cheek. It's sweet, like nothing and the taste of him exactly. Sasuke breathes, then swallows, paused only by Naruto's back having met with the wall of one of the empty stalls. Sasuke pulls away, leaving smaller, quicker nips behind before reaching back enough to shut the flimsy door and lock the both of them inside.

He strides right back, hands quick to snag Naruto by the hips, shoving him in so that the outline of their cocks may press together firmly. They're kissing again, seconds, minutes, except this time Naruto touches him, too, fingers skimming lightly at the base of Sasuke's spine, toying into the fabric of his shirt.

The sensation is voltaic, so fierce that Sasuke's own cock hardens in an instant. He pulls away, out of breath and staring.

"Naruto…"

He thinks he can hear his voice crack when he says it. Naruto looks at him, doe-eyed, wheat-haired, pretty—

Sasuke sinks down to his knees.

oOo

No belt. Sasuke undoes his jeans, yanking down. Naruto's cock jounces free, an inch from his nose. It's wet at the head, heavy.

Sasuke licks his lip, leaning in, gazing up to drink the sight of being seen.

"Sa...Sasuke," Naruto starts, back infixed into the wall, "what—"

"Are you embarrassed?" Sasuke asks. He grips him by the base of his cock, tonguing catlike on the frenulum.

"W-what?" It's more a squeak. He brightens all the more, knuckles hovering just above his chin. He clears his throat, "Of course I'm not embar—" Sasuke mouths on him again. "Just...s-some—ah—someone could walk in and—"

"What, hear?"

Sasuke licks on him again, hilt to head and loudly. Naruto shuts his eyes, groans, then opens them, pretending to want to look the other away. Sasuke spreads his own legs, unbuckling his belt. He stuffs down his hand, grasps himself, tugging his cock against his abdomen ere rubbing on the bulge. He sinks his head in, sat upon his flanks, flattening his tongue so that he may fuck his mouth with more.

Naruto stiffens up against him. Sasuke nestles closer, cheek against his thigh. He purrs, suckling his cock into the spasm of his pharynx.

"Fuck, Sasuke—"

Sasuke swallows, glut with drool. Whatever Naruto had in mind, burbles out and dwindles.

It's method thereon. Sasuke takes him to the hilt, fucking himself, down, slow, again, before blinking clear his vision. He looks up, urging Naruto to watch him watching him. Naruto does, flush-faced. Sasuke brings up his left, fondling Naruto's balls before gulping on his heft.

Naruto hunches over him—clenched fist, noisy—and to Sasuke's amusement, losing it enough to piston his hip without thinking, forcing Sasuke to retch and to choke on him messily.

Sasuke glides his mouth off, heaving for air. Spit slicks his chin. There's tears in his eyelids. He allows them to shed.

Naruto's eyes go wide, but before he can squawk for amends, Sasuke grasps him by the cock. He opens his mouth, slapping the cockhead several times on his tongue. Pre-come oozes, drop for drop.

"Sa-Sasuke...fuck, your mouth...so wet, I'll never last—"

"Don't last."

"Does it…" Naruto stammers. He swallows, "does it hurt you when it—?"

"No," Sasuke lies.

It's impatience, but permission for the both of them enough. Naruto's hand looms over Sasuke's head at first, tentative, shy, but then it closes in, fingers clenching into the shorter strands of Sasuke's nape. He tugs by the root, twisting. Sasuke shivers, thrill a second heartbeat in his prick.

He slackens his mouth, allowing Naruto to guide him. And guide him he does. He shoves inside, prying Sasuke's throat apart. Once, twice. Sasuke shuts his eyes. Tears there, amassing from the sting of it. Except this time, Naruto does not stop.

Sasuke's body clenches. Cock too full, balls untouched. He lets it happen, goads to happen, swallows greedily whenever he catches breath enough to gasp. He yanks his jeans, his cock juts free. He rolls his palm on it, coating himself in fluid before fucking up into his fist.

Finally, Naruto hitches, hushered curses starred into his breathing. Some dude opens the door to the restroom right that moment. Some steps in. Silence; then the guy hurries out and leaves.

Sasuke's kept in place throughout it. The door falls shut. Immediately, the cock in him starts to fatten, then twitch, then the sudden, viscid weight of semen pouring down his throat, gagging him entirely.

Naruto groans, unhanding Sasuke's hair. Sasuke caroms off of him, falling back onto his ass, coughing up in sticky drops what his stomach did not take.

He starts to stand, swallowing and swallowing until the chafe obtunds. Naruto is on him in an instant.

"Sasuke," he rasps, "Are you—"

Sasuke gets to his feet, refusing Naruto's hand.

"Idiot," he hums. "I could drink on you all night."

He rams Naruto forward by the shirt, pressing his own back against the wall, and stamps their mouths together.

It's not long until Naruto's hands start to wander. Down beneath Sasuke's shirt, palming the outthrust of his abs, ghosting the trimmed thatch of hairs lying just an inch beneath that. Sasuke tugs him closer, urging Naruto to taste himself, too. He does, his face glowing hot, the frantic smacking of their tongues resounding in the bathroom.

Naruto pulls away a moment, breath warm on Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke swallows in each huff, staring. Their eyes meet, day and night. Naruto's free hand fists him by the prick, rousing his erection.

"Shit," Sasuke breathes.

Naruto starts to pump him. Slow, steady. Sasuke's neck flags, his balls contracting. He hunches in, nestling his face into the crook of Naruto's shoulder. He suckles on the skin, groaning softly. Naruto doesn't let up. His thumb presses into the slit of Sasuke's cock, dipping gently. Then his palm dandles directly on the vein, down and up, again, milking the initials of a violent orgasm. Stars fog half of Sasuke's vision, his eyes needing to roll back, no air, his lungs so raw with want—

"Fuck, Naruto," he hushers, "it feels so good..."

Hitch of breath, like fuel to fire. Naruto jerks him faster, tighter. Sasuke hears himself begin to mewl.

"It's too bad," he murmurs, half stammers, "I love your ass—hng—how you feel inside, right after you come—"

A moment more, and his cock fattens fully. The world stops spinning. Subtle burst of light, electric, then ropes of come pour into Naruto's palm, down his wrist, blot of it pooling to the tiled floor beneath them. All Sasuke sees is white, forcible sensation, his body set alight with each flutter of fulfilment.

In time, Sasuke's vision starts to focus. Naruto doesn't pull away. He stays there, both hands clutching Sasuke's waist.

He's shorter, yes. But he's also that much staggering. It doesn't matter, only thing that matters...like this, the two of them. It matters...this stupid thing from the beginning. All the things between it, suspended into the little spaces of his name.

"Naruto…"

It's muffled, told into the fabric of Naruto's black and orange jacket. Sasuke grabs on it, fingers squeezing on the cotton.

oOo

Dusk. Demilune, black sky and even whiter stars.

They're laid out on the grass, their arms a hair's breadth from touching. The willow above them sheds leaves, stirred loose by fall's breeze, and Naruto giggles dumbly when one lands on Sasuke's cheek.

Sasuke leaves it there, gaze fixed above. Naruto reaches out, plucks it from his face, grazing his nose with it before placing it to rest on Sasuke's forehead.

Crickets chirr inside the tall grass.

"So," Naruto starts. "What's...your brother like?"

Sasuke blinks. He turns. Now it's Naruto who's busy with the sky.

Sasuke looks down a moment, the way his ankle rests against his thigh, Naruto's legs splayed out beside him. His gaze wanders. In the night, Naruto's hair looks almost flaxen.

"I dunno." Sasuke shrugs. "Quiet?"

Naruto nods importantly. "Kinda like you, huh?"

"My mom," mentions Sasuke. "She was quiet, too."

Naruto turns his neck to look at him.

"Was...?"

Sasuke shrugs one shoulder.

"Well, my mom…" Naruto starts, so faint it's almost furtive. "She wasn't quiet. But my dad was. At least, that's what my grandma tells me." He smiles. "I think our moms would've… I dunno, gotten along, right?"

"Maybe."

Wind, cars dashing by across the distant road. Sasuke feels his heartbeat choking near his throat, the quiet tapping of his fingers.

"Hey, Sasuke?" It's dozy.

"What."

Nothing.

Sasuke sneaks a careful glance from the corner of his eye.

Parted mouth and snoring. Out cold.

"Hn. Loser."

He looks back to the sky. Then looks again at Naruto. Really looks at Naruto...

Sasuke doesn't look away. And realizes, he wouldn't want to.

oOo

leave me a line. it's the fuel to the fire.