Chapter Text
Itachi Uchiha was probably the best neighbour Naruto ever had in his 26 years of life.
He was kind, never turning Naruto away on the many occasions that the blond had shown up in search of ingredients he had forgotten to buy or toilet paper he had run out of. No, Itachi would simply open the door, a smile on his face, a friendly “Naruto!” falling from his lips, and then would disappear into his apartment to fetch whatever item Naruto was searching for that day.
Naruto felt guilty, sometimes, at the amount of times he found himself bouncing on his heels on Itachi’s doormat — but only sometimes. He could tell from the way the older man’s eyes crinkled, the way he shook his head with a small, amused breath — that Itachi genuinely didn’t mind, welcomed it even. There was an air of brotherly fondness there, in the way Itachi leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed against his chest — as if he was experienced with being the one someone came to in crisis and took pride in it.
When they first met, the day Naruto moved in next door, his friends helping, music blaring, beer in hand - he introduced himself, glanced around at the group in quiet amusement, and told Naruto to let him know if he ever needs anything — he’s happy to help.
And boy, did Naruto need his help.
Between his classes, his part-time job, his mandatory co-op hours, and his raging ADHD, Naruto was lucky if he remembered to put on a clean shirt in the morning. Sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes the shirt was stained with sauce, or sweat, or other unmentionable things, and he didn’t realize until it was much too late to turn around and change.
So, Naruto found himself in front of Itachi’s door yet again. He ran out of eggs, and he needed eggs to start his day, because he needed protein to take his ADHD meds with, and if he didn’t have protein with his meds, he’d just end up feeling weird all day and then succumb to a black hole during the comedown.
The black hole was a soul-sucking, angry monster, and it was best to avoid it before things got scary.
He knocked, two quick raps against the door, and waited.
The air was warm, summer setting in - a slight breeze picking up some of the fallen leaves from Itachi’s plants that were hanging on the railing of the front balcony, and Naruto closed his eyes for a moment to take a deep inhale of the sweet, morning scent.
The door unlocked, opened, and Naruto was greeted by a face that was almost, but not quite, Itachi. He blinked, slightly surprised. He’d never seen anyone else at Itachi’s, much less anyone who looked like, well- that.
“..ltachi?” Naruto asked dumbly, because of course it wasn’t.
The man who peered out from the crack in the door was younger, prettier, and had a scowl on his face that Naruto didn’t even think Itachi was capable of recreating.
Black eyes blinked at him, unimpressed, and the door opened a little wider.
The sun shone in, illuminating the other man’s pale skin, lighting up one dark eye, and making his black hair seem to reflect an almost deep blue shine.
“...Are you stupid?” The raven asked after a long enough pause in which Naruto could have absolutely corrected himself. The blond’s jaw fell open at the question, at the near sincerity with which it was asked to him, a spike of annoyance flaring in his stomach.
“Uh-“ Naruto floundered, just for a moment, before he grinned and laughed sheepishly.
“I mean — is he... here?” He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets, trying to peer around the other man to get a glimpse into the apartment, but the raven shifted and blocked his view.
The man let out a breath, as if already exhausted by this entire interaction, and Naruto couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at him. Seriously, what was his problem? Is this really how he greeted people at the door?
He couldn’t possibly be related to Itachi with that attitude — not his sweet, kind, soft Itachi.
“You must be the idiot next door he’s always talking about.” He said, and Naruto felt pride at the fact that Itachi spoke about him when he wasn’t around- because sometimes even he himself forgot that he existed- but another pang of annoyance at that casually included ‘idiot’ part.
“He’s resting because he had his surgery yesterday.” The man continued, looking at Naruto expectantly. That explained why Naruto hadn’t gotten a text back about the eggs, at least.
“Surgery?” Naruto asked, his attempt to look around the other man, who was still subtly trying to block his view, pausing.
“Yeah, for his eyes?” He replied, leaning against the doorframe, looking at Naruto as if he should know what the hell he’s talking about. “And Shisui isn’t here, so.”
“Shisui?” Naruto repeated, blinking. The name sounded clumsy on his tongue, giving away that it was the first time he had ever spoken it.
The man raised a brow, his look of expectation turning to skepticism, clearly put off by Naruto’s lack of knowledge of Itachi’s personal life.
“...His husband?”
“His husband?” Naruto cursed himself internally for the game of echo they were apparently playing.
“...Yes?” He blinked at him again, and Naruto saw a flicker of something he recognized: a calculation being made, sizing him up to see if he had a problem with that, if he was to be trusted.
“Oh, not — not like that!”
Naruto’s hands ripped out of his pockets to wave frantically in front of him.
God, the last thing he was, was judgmental about that kind of stuff. He’s bisexual, for God’s sake, not that this guy knew that — but still! Naruto Uzumaki was not a bigot.
“I just didn’t know he was married.” Naruto grinned, doing his best to seem genuine as he scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit from when he was a kid.
All this time, Naruto had never seen anyone else with Itachi, though to be fair, Naruto was rarely home and was usually in his own little world even when he was. He faintly recalled seeing a brown-haired man coming up and down the stairs a few times, but really didn’t pay much attention to it - lots of people lived here.
The other man sized him up, his face unchanging, the flicker of distrust still behind his pretty, dark eyes.
“Well, he is.” He drawled matter-of-factly, eyes narrowing, a hint of protectiveness in the way he straightened up as he said it, and Naruto couldn’t help but laugh nervously again.
He was not trying to...whatever this man thought he was trying to do with Itachi. Sure, he may have thought about it briefly when they first met. Itachi was nice, okay? But there had always been a lack of interest, nothing to give him any hint that it was even a possibility, and he was pretty sure Itachi viewed him as a kid — and now Naruto knew why.
“Sasuke?” A familiar voice called out from inside the apartment, and the man, who was presumably Sasuke, looked over his shoulder toward it.
“Is that Naruto? I thought I heard his voice.” Itachi continued from inside, the sound of the couch creaking, and then something falling a short distance to the floor, a remote, likely.
“Hey, Itachi!” Naruto called out, and he heard the faint sound of Itachi’s laugh, could imagine him shaking his head with that fond look on his face.
“Get him whatever he’s here for, Sasuke.” Itachi said, and Sasuke let out a quiet huff of annoyance before looking back to the blond at the door.
“And be nice, darling brother.” Itachi called out again, the ‘darling brother’ dripping with a sweet, passive-aggressiveness that made Naruto snort.
Naruto could see the twitch in Sasuke’s eye.
“Eggs,” he said, holding up two fingers.
Sasuke sighed, turned back inside, and disappeared for a moment — Naruto could hear the fridge being opened, rummaging, and then Sasuke returned with two eggs in his hand, holding them out to Naruto silently.
The blond cupped his hands out, and Sasuke let the eggs drop into his palms. The look of annoyance on the other man’s face was enough to brighten Naruto’s spirits. It’ll probably get him through the day, to be honest. If there was one thing Naruto loved, it was annoying prissy people like this one with his charm and positive attitude.
“Thanks, Sasuke.” He said, his eyes squinting happily as he took in the way the raven stiffened at being called his name so casually, and the way he looked like he wanted to squish Naruto like a bug.
“And thanks, Itachi!” Naruto called out, maybe a little too loudly (he had always had trouble controlling his volume) before he turned away and headed back towards his own door.
He glanced over his shoulder to where Sasuke was still standing in the doorway, watching him.
“See ya around, I guess?” Naruto said with a nod, fumbling with the eggs as he tried to free up a hand to turn his doorknob.
“Hopefully not.” Sasuke scoffed with a roll of his eyes, then Itachi’s door closed, the lock clicking back into place.
___________
Naruto didn’t find himself in front of Itachi's apartment again for another day.
His life consumed by endless assignments he’d procrastinated and his job at the shelter.
He was greeted once again by the annoyed gaze and displeased sigh of the youngest Uchiha, and forced a wide grin onto his face.
“Hey, Sasuke,” he said, casual, cool- like they were already friends. He knew he could win him over, and if not, he’d just take pleasure in being overly-familiar for the sake of it, anyway.
“What do you need now?” Sasuke sighed, his eyes lingering on the small bouquet in Naruto’s hand, making no move to invite the blond inside.
“Nothing, just came to see Itachi. Brought some flowers because I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do when someone is recovering from surgery? I don’t really know, but I’ve seen it in movies so-“
Sasuke moved aside abruptly, creating space for Naruto to enter the apartment, and reached out to all but rip the flowers out of Naruto’s hand before closing the door behind him.
“Hey, wait! I-“
“He’s in the living room.” Sasuke interrupted, waving a hand down the entryway hall, then he turned towards the kitchen without another glance.
Naruto just stood there for a moment looking down at his now empty hand before kicking off his shoes and heading into the living room, Itachis rude ass brother forgotten about the moment he saw the older Uchiha laying on the couch.
Itachi smiled towards him, both eyes bandaged, gauze wrapped around his head to keep the cotton patches in place.
“Naruto,” he greeted, that pleasant, almost melodic tone like music to Narutos ears.
“Shit, ‘tachi.” Naruto breathed out, crossing the room to sit in the armchair next to the couch, his wide blue eyes raking over the older mans face.
“They got you lookin’ like a mummy, huh?” he rasped, a rough laugh slipping out as the armchair creaked from his weight settling into it. Naruto wasn’t particularly big, but he was definitely bulkier than the two dark haired brothers- more solid, firm.
“Do they?” Itachi asked, the warm smile on his lips twitching, his voice soft and amused.
“Hell yeah! Or like those nurses from Silent Hill, all wrapped up and stuff.” Naruto exclaimed, moving his hands around his head to mimic the bandages, even though Itachi couldn’t see the movement.
“I do not believe it is quite that dramatic.” Itachi chuckled, his hand lifting, fingers gently gliding along the gauze above his nose.
“Okay, okay- not that bad,” Naruto replied with a laugh, leaning back comfortably in the armchair. “But still, you look badass.”
“Thank you, Naruto.” Itachi’s smile widened just a fraction.
Naruto beamed at that smile, clasping his hands over his stomach as he stretched his legs out, looking like a child who had just made their favourite teacher proud.
“So how long are you out for?” he asked, knocking his toes together, glancing around the meticulously clean living room. His own apartment was a disaster, especially compared to Itachi’s. He had left-over food on counters, clothes strewn all over the place, half dead house plants that were originally meant to liven the place up. Naruto ran out of clean silverware constantly- something he bet never happened here.
Sasuke returned, the flowers now in a red glass vase. The sound of his feet padding along the carpet captured Itachi's attention, and he shifted his head toward his brother.
“He’s supposed to be resting for at least 4 weeks.” Sasuke answered, placing the vase down on the coffee table with a soft thud, then fanning out and arranging the flowers a little nicer, so the bouquet looked full and even, a careful touch, brows slightly furrowed in concentration as he took in the angles of the arrangement.
The sweet, fresh scent of them- a mix of light red, pink, and white carnations- floated pleasantly through the air.
“Yes, well, we’ll see,” Itachi said, taking a subtle inhale of the scent as his hands smoothed the wrinkles out of the navy blanket on top of him.
“No. Not ‘we’ll see’, Nii-san.” Sasuke turned, a hand on his hip as he glared towards his brother. “I took a month off work; I’ll be here, and you’ll be resting.”
Itachi just hummed to himself, as if any further argument with his younger brother was too pointless and silly to continue.
Naruto watched the two Uchihas with an amused smile. For someone who seemed so annoyed and prissy towards him, Sasuke seemed very protective and concerned about Itachi. It was surprising, given their first encounter.
It was…kind of endearing.
And that little hand-on-the-hip stance was cute.
Itachi turned his head back towards Naruto, and the blond saw Sasuke glance at him too, as if just remembering he was there. The raven dropped the hand on his hip, crossed his arms instead and looked away.
“You brought me flowers, Naruto?” Itachi asked, the question warm but with a teasing tilt to it, and Naruto felt his cheeks get flush.
“I mean, yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to do!” Naruto huffed out, gesturing to the flowers, once again forgetting that Itachi couldn’t see him.
“They’re carnations!…I think.” He provided, and he could see Sasuke subtly roll his eyes.
“Pink and white and, like, reddish pink.” Naruto continued, trying to be helpful with the description, because he was pretty sure that they’d be dead before Itachi would get a chance to see them.
Itachi’s smile grew, and Naruto suspected his brows would be raised if he could see under the bandages.
“Interesting,” he said, that teasing tilt back. It made Naruto a little defensive, as if he were being made fun of, and he sank further into the armchair, chin angled in towards his chest, his eyes shifting between both brothers.
“What? What is?”
“Just fitting colours, did someone pick it out for you?” Itachi asked.
“No. Picked ‘em out all on my own!” He exclaimed, his tone proud like a child who just tied their own shoelaces, and he flushed a little more at the realization of how he must sound. Like he craved validation from Itachi, like Itachi was someone he looked up to.
Naruto could feel Sasukes gaze on him, those black eyes narrowing- and that too, made Naruto feel anxious. Like his desperation to be liked was palpable, like Sasuke could sense it and would make fun of him for it.
Not that he couldn’t handle it- Naruto spent years of his life getting made fun of for various things. The way he dressed, in outdated, too-big, second-hand clothes. The way he smelled during puberty, when showering at a new foster home was too intimidating. The way he spoke, when a majority of his catchphrases came from cartoons he liked to watch, and the fact he even had ‘catchphrases’. The way he couldn’t sit still, couldn’t focus, couldn’t stop talking. So maybe that desire to be liked being sniffed out and ridiculed- as if he shouldn’t care, was too old to care- was a bit of a trigger, but whatever. Nothing he couldn’t handle.
“What’s the meaning of the flowers, Sasuke?” Itachi asked encouragingly, as if quizzing a brother who was much older now than he was in Itachi’s mind.
“Pink means gratitude, white means luck, that light red means admiration.” Sasuke replied easily, almost uninterested, but the way his eyes flickered to Itachi gave away his desire for approval from his brother. Another thing that Naruto noticed and couldn’t help but think was kind of…cute.
Itachi nodded, then chuckled softly.
“Well, thank you, Naruto. And you’re welcome.” He said, and if Naruto could see his eyes, he’s sure they’d be sparkling with amusement.