The Things We Do For Love

The Things We Do For Love
Author: Sanshain

Rated for some swearing. Drabble-ish. Just something to ease me in to writing for the fandom again.

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The first time it happened, Naruto nearly rasenganed his teammate and Sasuke hadn’t even known. Naruto had thought they were being attacked, and it was probably a good thing Sasuke was asleep because he was sure his manly yell was more of a girly shriek. In any case, he let his rasengan dissipate and shoved Sasuke back to his side of their tent, and his teammate still didn’t wake. Naruto thought that was a little alarming. Sasuke was a ninja after all and being such a heavy sleeper in the shinobi’s line of work was pretty much on par with potential suicide…or murder-suicide considering the threat to teammates as well. As such, Naruto thought it prudent to make sure Sasuke got plenty of sleep during missions, because certainly the last thing he needed was Uchiha to fall asleep if he needed to keep watch. Then, apparently, Naruto’s first sign of knowing they were in danger would be an enemy’s kunai in his neck while Sasuke snoozed blissfully unawares. He might have found the newfound fault endearingly human and kind of amusing if it wasn’t so damn worrying and hazardous. Though Uchiha’s death sleep was a second-hand discovery of learning that his teammate was some sort of affectionate cuddle machine in his sleep. Naruto had woken up when an arm squeezed his waist, and predictably yelled. After nearly killing Sasuke, he had discovered it was only Sasuke, making himself cosy against Naruto. Naruto also wondered over the distance his teammate had migrated to wind up so close anyway, staring at the sizable three foot space that separated their bed rolls as well the obstacles in that space…including their backpacks, strewn clothes they hadn’t bothered to pack away and the occasional shuriken or kunai that hadn’t been stored properly.

So the first time Sasuke sleep-cuddled him was a little out of the ordinary, but only memorable due to the fact that Naruto was floored that his teammate didn’t wake from his yell, churning chakra and not particularly gentle shove.

The second time it happened was during a short stop over at Wave Country to visit Inari a few weeks later. They were sleeping on tatami mats in Tsunami’s living room when Naruto again woke immediately from a weight pressed in to his side. The pair had shared a couple of drinks with Tazuna in a sort of celebratory farewell so Naruto’s reaction was much more subdued this time round, plied as he was with a reasonable amount of alcohol. Thus, he blearily pushed Sasuke back to his own mat and returned to sleep almost immediately, wondering why this problem hadn’t cropped up in their genin days. Not really remembering the occurrence the next day, Naruto was not yet aware of a problem.

The third time Sasuke breached his sleep space was also the moment Naruto discovered why it hadn’t been an issue when they were younger. They were at Sakura’s, crashing in her lounge after a small get-together for her birthday. Naruto woke when a hand smacked him in the face before settling to rest on his neck. Sasuke’s fingers were freezing, and Naruto realised that Uchiha himself was shivering slightly. Not that Naruto felt much sympathy because if the guy just stayed in his own bed, there wouldn’t be a problem. But, while rolling Sasuke back to his own space, he realised his teammate was too tall for the sleeping bag he’d had ever since Naruto had known him. Obviously he didn’t bother to zip it up around him anymore because his chest and shoulders wouldn’t be covered. So Naruto made a mental note to buy the stupid bastard a new goddamn sleeping bag so he could zip up and stay put, and perhaps a foghorn to wake Sasuke in emergencies…and sometimes just for shits and giggles.

The real problems emerged when Sasuke began boarding with Naruto after his house was destroyed during a short skirmish on the village. When Sasuke needed a place to stay, Naruto hadn’t even hesitated in offering to share his place. But when he woke to Sasuke spooning him, he began to harbour some second thoughts over the situation. Firstly, and this was probably the most concerning, Uchiha’s temporary bed was the futon in the lounge room. Not a big deal, perhaps, until one considered the kitchen, hallway and door that separated Naruto’s bedroom from Naruto’s lounge room. His teammate was immediately pushed out of bed which, surprisingly, did have the effect of waking Sasuke. Staring down at the confused teen sprawled on his bedroom floor, Naruto wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject.

“Go back to bed,” he eventually settled on.

Sasuke mumbled something sleepily and headed back to his futon, but after that Naruto started locking his bedroom door.

Still, it wasn’t a firmly ingrained habit, and so a couple of nights later he forgot. This had the not particularly unexpected outcome of waking to find Sasuke climbing over him to squish in to the free space between Naruto and the wall.

“What the fuck,” said Naruto, since it was clear that his teammate was, in fact, very much awake, “are you doing?”

“Hm,” said Sasuke, and seemed to think that was the end of the conversation.

He stole some of the bedsheets and pulled them up to his chin, cramming himself against Naruto’s side. Naruto’s single bed was perhaps a tad on the small side in terms of accommodating two built shinobi, but this seemed to do little in deterring Sasuke. When his teammate made no signs of leaving or being persuaded to get the fuck out, Naruto hmphed and got comfortable in his much tinier space, not minding Sasuke’s presence quite as much as he imagined he would.

Sasuke sighed with relief when Naruto finally relented. He was fairly certain his life had been in danger several times over the past few months, but the wear-em-down-til-they-eventually-cave approach he’d seen Lee successfully use on Sakura seemed to have merit. Now Sasuke hoped it wouldn’t take nearly as long to get Naruto coming to bed naked.