Boruto looked away from Sasuke's stare. "Hey, Uncle Sasuke?" Frowning, Sasuke kept a wary gaze on the blonde. "I'm not your uncle." Ignoring the raven's deadpan, Boruto continued. "Have you ever heard of time travel?"
... What? All at once, everything clicked into place. Boruto showing up out of nowhere, with no memories, Boruto calling Naruto his father, the fidgety glances at Naruto when he thought noone was looking. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Yet... Sasuke couldn't bring himself to believe it.
"You- are you?" He barely managed to choke out. The younger blonde did nothing but grin sheepishly. "It was pointless trying to hide it from you. I know you probably already had a bunch of suspicions about me."
Yes, but nothing concerning time travel. Sasuke wanted to say. Instead, he looked to the stars, taking a deep breath. "Well. That's that." Boruto nodded, letting out a dry laugh. "Yea, that's that."
But if Boruto came back from the future... "Why are you here?" He turned to the boy who was apparently Naruto's son. "Did something happen? Is the world at war again? Is Naruto dead? Why would you go through the lengths of..."
The couple fell silent. The faint chirping of crickets could be heard ringing through the sound of the night. "Noone was in danger. Everyone was happy, for the most part. I just... I was being selfish." Sasuke let a grim gaze sneak onto his face. "Go on."
"I- I just wanted a perfect family. But dad was always gone, and mom could barely take care of us by herself, and I can see the way she looks at the picture of him on the nightstand. Like some sort of sad longing, as if she's lost him. And in a way, I guess she has."
Stray tears slowly slid down Boruto's cheek. Ignoring them, the boy continued, voice cracking. "Himawari, that's my sister by the way, she cries herself to sleep at night. Dad and I get into screaming fits and I miss him so much but he's never home, and I just got tired of it and so I flipped."
He took a shaky breath, concluding, "And then Kurama, he showed me another way out, where I could change something, where I could make a difference. And I took it. I took the chance and now I'm regretting it because what if I screw up? What if I erase my friends out of existence, what if I erase myself out of existence?"
"Oh kami." Outright sobbing now, Boruto made a futile attempt at wiping at his tears. "I'm so sorry Sasuke. I just, I can't-... Maybe I wasn't the best person for this job."
The boy looked to his left, not sure what he would see. Sasuke's face was unreadable, like always, but this time there was a tint of softness to his gaze.
"What'll happen? When you go back? You can't stay in the past forever, right?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'll probably still exist. As long as either mom or dad decide to have a kid, Kurama says I'll be born. My name might change, and I might look different, but I'll still exist."
The raven nodded. "Ok."
"...Just ok?"
Sasuke gave him a blank stare. "What did you expect me to say?"
"I dunno, that I am crazy? That I'm a spoiled brat? Maybe beat me up some more?" The other boy frowned. "Why would I call you a spoiled brat?" The blonde swung his legs around, eyes glued to the floor. "Future you called me one."
That eased a short, breathy laugh from the Uchiha. "Well if I said it you probably deserved it." Boruto snorted. "I really did, didn't I?"
A comfortable silence settled between them. Sasuke seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, eyes hesitantly flickering between the blonde next to him and the branch they were on.
"You can ask you know. I don't mind." Ashamed at getting caught, the raven turned away. Faintly blushing, he asked in a quiet voice, "Did he love her?" Boruto nodded. "Yeah. Of course he did."
"...Oh."
"But I don't think he'll ever love anyone the same way he does you." Sasuke's head shot up, and a rosy blush coated his cheeks. "Oh." Chuckling, Boruto glanced at him. "You know, I used to wish you were my father."
"I dunno why, you just seemed really cool. I looked up to you a lot. But you were rarely in the village. Always leaving to be on missions. It drove dad crazy."
When Boruto looked at him, he averted his gaze. The Uchiha felt a warm feeling pooling in his chest. "You, looked up to me?"
"Yea."
"Oh." Silence fell between them once more, before being interrupted by the younger. "You know, you should take a chance on dad. I don't really know what's holding you back, but I don't think you wanna wait until he gets taken away by someone else again."
"Yea, thanks. I'm going to, uh, yea." Boruto nodded, "Alright. I still have a couple of hours left on my shift. Thanks for, ya know, believing me."
Sasuke hopped down from the branch, neatly landing on his feet. "It's nothing." He looked up at the younger, a small frown on his face.
"I'm not even sure I understand what's going on. But..." He threw a soft smile up at Boruto. "But I'm glad you told me. And I'll try to help the best I can."
With that, Sasuke headed back towards his tent, Boruto watching his retreating figure in awe. "Sasuke-san really is so cool." He murmured to himself.
~°~
Sasuke quietly stepped inside the tent, carefully zipping it up behind him. He turned around, fully prepared to go to sleep and put this day behind him.
As softly as he could, he stepped over Naruto's sleeping form and headed over to his own sleeping bag, still neatly folded on the ground.
Before he could fully set up his bed, a groggy whisper interrupted his thoughts. "Hey Sasuke. Where were you?" Startled, the raven nearly jumped out of his skin. "Don't worry about it dobe. Go back to sleep."
He heard a light rustling of the sheets, and then silence. "What did you talk to Boruto about?" Naruto's voice was closer now, having sat up moments before. With a tired sigh, the Uchiha turned around to look at him, taking in his features.
"None of your business. Go back to sleep." Frowning, the blonde finally gave in. "Fine. I'll drop it." But he didnt move an inch. The longer the two sat in silence, staring at each other, the louder Boruto's words rang inside his head.
'You know, you should take a chance...'
'What's holding you back?'
What was holding him back? Sighing, Sasuke ignored the tiny voice in his head, turning around and shuffling into his sleeping bag. He'll think about it tomorrow.
"..."
"Screw it." The raven threw his covers to the side, stomping over to Naruto. With a relieved sigh, he grabbed his face, bringing their lips together. Naruto grunted, shocked at Sasuke's actions.
Before the Uchiha could pull back though, the blonde relaxed into the kiss, returning it with just as much eagerness.
Smiling, Sasuke lightly nipped at Naruto's bottom lip before pulling back. Naruto was blinking around in a daze. The raven gave him a light peck, searching the ocean eyes for any sign of rejection.
Having snapped out of his daze, the blonde gaped at Sasuke. "You-... Does this mean you'll be mine?" His eyes widened for a split second before relaxing into his usual stoic expression.
Without answering, he promptly got up and returned to his own sleeping bag, pulling the covers over him as if nothing had happened. "Oi, bastard! At least answer me!"
Three seconds later, Sasuke felt familiar arms snake around his waist. A grinning voice spoke into his ear. "You know I'm never going to let you go now right?" Sasuke failed to keep the smile off his face as he murmured a light, "Hn."
Ok, so first of all, FREAKING FINALLY AM I RIGHT??? Looks like Boruto finally managed to push these two stubborn idiots together. And second of all. Im pretty sure that ninja dont set up a whole campsite when on a mission, but for this particular stop they will because
1. I like to give our boys a lil pRivAcy
2. Im the author and I have never gone camping before so I wrote it in because why not?