The Ardor of Every Day

11.

Naruto was slowly falling asleep beside Sasuke. He was trying to keep himself awake. To try and distract himself from Naruto beside him, Sasuke focused all his attention on his laptop screen. Naruto couldn't stop his eyes from closing due to the sleepiness. His mind finally gave in and he fell asleep with his head leaning on the wall behind him. Sasuke took this as a sign to wind up and go to bed after the ongoing episode finished. He suddenly felt Naruto's head drop on his shoulder. Naruto's bright hair brushed the side of his jaw. His hair smelled like coconut shampoo. Sasuke didn't know what to do. He didn't want to wake Naruto up. He contained his panic and tried to finish the rest of the episode without moving too much. After the episode ended, he turned off his laptop and slowly put it beside him on the nightstand. He slowly moved his shoulder away from Naruto's head, but he supported the back of his head with his hand and laid him down on the bed. All of Sasuke's movements were extremely quiet and cautious. He got up from the bed and put the blanket over Naruto and tucked his body in. Naruto looked so soft and serene while sleeping. His hair was everywhere, his mouth just a tad open making the white of his teeth visible, and his face free from all thoughts and worries. Sasuke wished he could sleep like that. His room had some warmth from two bodies and the candles being there. He wondered where he should sleep. In any of the other rooms, he would freeze while sleeping, and he didn't want to take the candles away since Naruto was uncomfortable in the dark. He brought the blankets from the other two rooms and an extra one to his room along with a pillow. He laid down one of them on the floor beside his bed and kept the other two for tucking himself in. He lied down and cozied himself up under the blankets. He still wasn't sleepy so he decided to be on the phone for a while. While looking through his photos he started weeping again. A tear slid down the bridge of his nose, making its way through the other eyelid and then soaking in the blanket. More tears followed this action. He tried to cry in silence but he couldn't stop himself from making small sniffles. Sasuke had his back to the bed and half his head under the blanket to make the area surrounding him soundproof.

Naruto had woken up after Sasuke tucked him in. He silently observed Sasuke's actions and kept his head buried in the pillow to not attract any attention. He felt bad for making Sasuke sleep on the floor. The bed was too small for two people to sleep apart anyway. He could barely hear it, but he knew that Sasuke was crying again. His heart hurt for him. He had no clue what made Sasuke sad but he was definitely going through it. All Naruto wanted to do was help him in some way, but how could he without having an explanation. He closed his eyes again to try and get some sleep.

The next morning was bright and sunny. The storm had long withered away. Sasuke woke up around 8 am. He only got about four hours of sleep. His vivid dreams and thoughts kept him up most of the night. He first put out the candles and put them back in their place. After, he put all the blankets back and finished up in the washroom. He didn't know when to wake Naruto up. He thought he should at least make breakfast for Naruto to thank him for the meal yesterday. He wanted to keep it simple since he didn't know how to make anything fancy anyway. He filled the kettle up for some hot water needed for the tea. He decided to scramble some eggs along with toast and to cut up some fruit. Sasuke didn't like to eat in the morning so he only made a limited amount of food. After he set the table, he went upstairs with some courage to wake Naruto up. He bent down near the bed and gently tapped on Naruto's shoulder. He was in the same position as he went to bed last night. Sasuke patted a couple more times but he got no response. Sasuke went closer to him. His head just inches away from Naruto's face. He observed how his eyelashes were slightly darker than his bright head of hair. And how he had some tiny freckles spread around his nose and cheeks from spending so much time in the sun. He looked beautiful, even after a whole night of sleep. He breathed heavily as his nostrils and mouth were still under the blanket, and the heat from his body never went away. Sasuke gently swivelled his hand on Naruto's head, which led Naruto to slowly open his eyes. His vision gathered itself to finally see Sasuke looking at him. Sasuke took his hand away, backed up a little and sat down crossing his legs.