Chapter Text
"Hey, bastard," Naruto softly chides in the silence of their living room. "Don't go falling asleep on me."
"'m not," Sasuke slurs on the verge of sleep as Naruto presses his fingers on the darkened area under his friend's eyes towards his temples where Sasuke has been circling with his fingers with a pained expression since getting home — hours after he was supposed to.
It took Naruto long minutes of convincing his best friend to accept a massage. In fact, there was a brief wrestling match involved, but the dark-haired boy, drained as he was, gave up in seconds to Naruto's manhandling.
The blond tried not to let his imagination get the better of him as he removed Sasuke's tie and unbuttoned the first buttons of his shirt. Once he had settled his friend's head on his lap, he could all but feel Sasuke's body sinking into the cushions — into him — as at least some of the tension of the day melted away.
Now, most of their furniture is either thrift store-bought or IKEA, when they feel like splurging, but the sofa is definitely the best thing in their cramped two-bedroom apartment — a hand me down, alright, but from Sasuke's well off brother, which means top quality — and the absolute only 'charity' Sasuke is willing to accept.
"Keep talking to me," Naruto says, running his thumbs from the bridge of Sasuke's nose to above his eyebrows with just the ideal amount of pressure, as indicated by Sasuke's light sighs. "How was your day?"
"Shitty," he murmurs.
Naruto lets his fingers card through Sasuke's hair, pulling at it just a bit, making Sasuke nearly whimper. His hair smells like coconuts and, if it wasn't weird and wouldn't reveal his long-time feelings regarding his roommate and best friend, Naruto would like to bury his face in it.
"Orochimaru still exploiting your free labor under the guise of internship?" Naruto smiles, working the tension on the other boy's jaw by smoothing hands on soft cheeks, slightly parting those red lips Naruto wants nothing more than to kiss.
It can be overwhelming sometimes, how much Naruto loves him.
Sometimes they would be on the sofa on a Friday night, television humming softly in the background, neither of them paying it any attention, and Sasuke would be telling him something about work, or about physics, or whatever Sasuke was into, those days, and Naruto would have to sit on his hands in order to control the urge to eliminate the inches that kept them apart. In those moments Naruto wonders how it would feel to reach for him and caress his face.
He likes to think Sasuke would lean into the touch, but was also pretty positive that if he made to touch his friend as he wished, Sasuke would recoil. And so firm in this belief Naruto was, that he gets surprised by the soft moan that leaves Sasuke's mouth when he pulls at the hair on the nape of his neck with a little more force.
The fact that Sasuke doesn't even blush in his usual allergic reaction to vulnerability tells Naruto how out of it he is.
Naruto can't help but preen at it; the satisfaction of seeing a softer side of Sasuke his and his alone.
"Remind me why I thought an unpaid internship would be a good idea," Sasuke sighs, adjusting himself in Naruto's lap, coming impossibly closer and the blond could cry.
He just hopes Sasuke can't feel his heart trying to jump out of his chest.
"Something about experience, and network, and big company in the field, and looking good in your resumé, blah blah blah," Naruto whispers with some amusement, trying to keep the reverence out of his voice.
Sasuke's lower lip juts out infinitesimally and Naruto's heart grows about three sizes at the Uchiha essentially pouting.
"Why didn't you stop me?" Sasuke opens his eyes slightly, licking his lips when their eyes meet and Naruto's words catch in his throat at the unexpected eye contact.
Because sure, Sasuke is, for lack of a more suited word, beautiful — Naruto might be biased, but the term doesn't even begin to do him justice — in a classical, aristocratic, golden ratio sort of way, all straight nose and high cheekbones and strong jaw. But his eyes? They're breathtaking; intense and dark and glinting even in low light and absolutely fucking beautiful like the night sky. Staring into them is indeed like staring into space, in the way that it fills you with the same sense of wonder, with the same desire to know its mysteries; in the way that makes you feel small like you're nothing compared to it, but also in the way that inspires you to be more.
"Uhh, in all fairness," Naruto stutters after processing the question. "I did say it sounded like slavery with extra steps."
Sasuke groans softly. "You did. You are so wise." Naruto has to arch an eyebrow at that because in day-to-day life Sasuke sings a different tune. "And caring. And loving." Sasuke sighs and Naruto should stop him because things are sure to get weird between them if Sasuke continues. Because his friend doesn't do vulnerability.
Once he accidentally said he loved Naruto and that he was his best friend and then proceeded to avoid him for days afterwards. That's how bad it is. So Naruto should stop him. It is the right thing to do, like a sober friend reigning in a drunk one. He should, but it feels too nice to hear that Sasuke values him.
Naruto knows he does, he truly knows it. In his every little action, Sasuke shows he cares but hearing it is something Naruto thought his friend was saving for his deathbed. If so.
"Your hands," Sasuke whispers breathily. "So strong. Feel so good."
Spurred on by mumbled praise, Naruto dares to allow his hands to slip further into Sasuke's half-buttoned shirt and squeeze both of his biceps a few times before slowly moving up his shoulders and neck again as the litany continues, interrupted only by soft moans. "—and you're so beautiful, Naruto. So, so beautiful. Never seen..." He sighs when Naruto rubs circles in his neck. "—like you. Never touched me like this. No one." In between incoherent praise, Naruto notices there are confessions that he can half understand if he strains his ears, and he is living for those.
"Last time someone touched me was... Weeks ago. T'was you," he smiles. "'member? You hugged me, when I got the internship. 'fore that, it was you, too. Don't remember the last time someone held me that wasn't you. Love your arms. So strong. Warm. Best hugs. Kept me sane." He sighs, moving up on Naruto's lap and rubbing his face on pajama-clad thighs, breath tickling the sliver of skin above the waistband, where all his moving has lifted the hem of Naruto's shirt.
Naruto gulps, scared that Sasuke will move any more and notice his interest.
So much Sasuke has said over the years they knew each other about respecting personal space when Naruto was all over him, that Naruto never imagined it was on some level appreciated. Had he known, he would have hugged him more, done more than the occasional touch on his lower back when he was on the way, more than the light punches in the arm — contact is contact, and Naruto frequently feels touch starved, despite teaching a contact sport.
Today is for them both to have their fill.
He starts massaging Sasuke's back under his shirt, now that he has moved sideways. The muscles on Sasuke's back are firm, defined by years of swimming, and Naruto uses the heels of his hands to apply more pressure.
Sasuke groans and continues with the praise Naruto didn't know he needed. "'re so strong. Muscle strong, obviously. I guess teaching martial arts for a living does that to anyone. But," his breath hitches when Naruto rubs circles on a crick on his shoulder blades. "Soul strong, too. The only thing that kept me together through these years. You. My only support. Even when things are hard for you, you carry the both of us, no complaints." Naruto's hands never stop the motions, but they are starting to tremble. He applies more pressure on Sasuke's skin. "'m so lucky to have you in my life. So, so lucky. Dunno what I did to deserve you. How you put up with me I'll never know."
Naruto has to remove one hand from under Sasuke's shirt to wipe at the tear that escapes. He sniffles as quietly as he can in hopes that Sasuke won't notice, but the boy in his lap frowns and shifts face up again, slowly opening his eyes. "Don't cry," he whispers, reaching to Naruto's cheeks — like Naruto has wanted to do to him so many times before — and wiping away another tear that has just fallen. "You're so beautiful." He traces Naruto's cheekbones. "Face beautiful. And soul beautiful." Naruto sniffles and tries to smile, Sasuke's fingers still caressing his cheek.
Naruto closes his eyes and leans into the touch. "Thank you for telling me this."
Sasuke closes his eyes again, settling one more time against Naruto's lap. "'s if you didn't know."
Naruto doesn't, but he also doesn't say it.
More confidently this time, Naruto slides his hands under Sasuke's shirt, massaging mostly smooth chest, only some fine hairs in between pecs.
"Feels so good," Sasuke sighs, drifting off on Naruto's lap. "Don't... Don't stop. God, I love your hands. I love all of you."
This time, his hands stop.
"You love... All of me?" He whispers.
Sasuke frowns a little, as if the idea of Naruto doubting him is absurd. "Of course I do," he says, and then, with a soft sight and eyes still closed, he stops Naruto's world. "I love you. You know I do."
It comes off as a quiet mumble before Sasuke drifts off into dreamland, unknowingly leaving a gaping Naruto in his wake. The hands entangled in his hair finally still and Naruto looks down at the boy on his lap, caressing his face no longer with the pretext of a massage, but for the sheer satisfaction and warmth the simple act brings.
"I love you too, bastard," he whispers back with a sniffle, cheeks hurting from the grin that almost doesn't fit in his face. "I love you too."