The sun is too bright, it hurts

Chapter 6

15 years old.

July.

Sasuke looks at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. He is behind the bar in his kitchen, gesturing with his arms as he always does, helping to cut vegetables for food. He has just returned from his summer camp and he is taller than before, almost as tall as Sasuke is. His eyes are still a beautiful cerulean tone, but his skin is more tanned than before. It must be the sun. It's not like Sasuke is complaining anyway, he doesn't look bad. He wears a black inner shirt, which suits his tanned skin, and Sasuke can see the way his shoulder muscles stretch. God, his shoulders are broad. And his arms... has he always been like that? No. Sasuke would have noticed before, right?

He continues gesturing, moving his arms and twirling the knife in the air between his fingers. He is laughing at something, smiling bright and cheerful.

"... and then I thought I was going to lose, but Gaara is stronger than I thought, so at the last minute he made this movement of swush and paw and bow and whoops", he waves his arms in the air, and the knife he holds in his hand slips between his fingers and falls to the ground. His eyes move to where it is like he's saying stupid to himself and he stretches to pick it up. Sasuke can see the fabric of his shirt contract against the muscles of his back, and a thin line of skin kissed by the sun makes its way into Sasuke's eyes when the shirt slides a little up, "I'll wash it, I promise, Sasuke, seriously, I'm sorry, I..." he babbles, but Sasuke doesn't pay attention, he's too focused on Naruto's skin. He has the urge to stretch his arm and touch it. How will it feel under his fingers? Is his skin soft or scratchy to the touch? Is it hot or cold? Surely cold, Naruto always have cold. He wears a sweater and sweatshirts in the summer, and when he was eleven and twelve he couldn't stop wearing that ridiculous orange jacket with a thick collar and baggy pants. It probably doesn't fit him anymore, he has grown about six inches since that time. But maybe his skin is hot too. The times he hugged Sasuke he felt warm, right? "... and we win!" Naruto ends, smiling, when he finally gets up.

Sasuke nods, even if he doesn't know what he's nodding at, because Naruto looks at him as if he's waiting for an answer.

"Are you okay?" He asks, frowning. "You seem a bit distracted since I arrived."

Sasuke nods again. "Yes, I'm fine."

Naruto smiles and continues talking as he goes and places the knife in the sink and looks for a clean one in the drawer. He keeps talking and talking while he goes back to his place and keeps cutting the vegetables and Sasuke cannot stop looking and Naruto must have noticed that Sasuke is not working, because a moment later he stops. His lips have stopped moving, so he's not talking anymore. Sasuke goes into a little panic, did he ask anything? What is he supposed to answer? Why was he not paying attention?

Naruto scratches the back of his neck, and the long strands of glowing hair that grew in the course of two months fall on his forehead. Sasuke's fingers itch with the desire to remove them and see his eyes well. It's not because he wants to touch his forehead or his face or his hair, of course not.

He smiles, awkwardly, and tilts his head a little to one side. "Sasuke, teme, you're looking at me a lot, it's kind of weird."

Sasuke blinks. Shit. Of course Naruto noticed, anyone could notice that Sasuke has been watching him since he arrived. Shit, shit, shit. "Oh." Shit, shit, shit. "I— I'm sorry, it's— you look a little different, that's all."

Naruto smiles. "Is it because I'm taller? Hey, look, I almost reached you."

Naruto takes a step forward, a long one, and cuts the distance between them. Sasuke's heart flutters on his chest, like a flower with petals in the wind, like a butterfly flapping its wings. Naruto is so close that Sasuke can see the three soft freckles on his cheekbones. He can distinguish each one of his golden eyelashes shining against his eyelids. He can see the way the iris is darker on the edge. The shape of his lips, cracked, that make Sasuke's mouth become very dry. And heck, they are moving, so Naruto is talking.