There is nothing sweeter than the laugh of a baby. Unless it's 3 in the morning and you don't have babies. Sasuke jerked off the bed, if Naruto left the TV on again he will kill him.

They were roommates for almost two years now. The thing wasn't easy at first: Sasuke was a little bit of a control freak and Naruto was so chill about everything that the little apartment almost turned in a crime scene a couple of times but as college students they didn't have many options so they settled in and tried to be civil one around the other. It worked pretty well and, after some weeks, their personalities melted and they got better and better. They could be called easily best friends.

Now, Sasuke was walking down the hall to the living room. He expected some things: a TV on, Naruto sleeping on the couch with his mouth open and drooling all over the pillow, a bag of chips pouring its contents on the carpet and a glass of coke right in the left corner of the coffee table. The thing he found was something he didn't expect.

Effectively the TV was on, there was a glass of coke on the corner of the table BUT Naruto wasn't asleep and there wasn't a bag of chips around, instead: a baby.

The little thing was on the couch, resting on top a soft pink baby blanket, it was moving its little arms and legs and squealing with delight at the silly faces Naruto was doing. Naruto used to sneak in little animals, hoping a) Sasuke wouldn't notice or b) he let him keep them. He had brought toads, hamsters, puppies, and kittens. Now, he had brought a baby and Sasuke wasn't having any of it.

“What on Earth are you doing? And, where the fuck did you get that baby?” He almost screamed. That was too much.

“First of all”, Naruto said without looking away from the baby “don't swear near the baby” he turned around and meet Sasuke's eyes “and second, I found him at our doorstep. He had this note attached to him”.

Sasuke reached out to the paper being held by the blonde. It was a paper napkin, the calligraphy was really nice. The words on it? Not so much.

Dear Kagame.

This is the last day of my life, as we talked all those months ago. I tried to reach out for you but you were… oh god. This is my last resort, the baby is yours off course and while my relationship with you made me happy, this baby brought me too much pain.

Please take care of Menma; I can't stand the sight of him or the weight of the world.

With love

Suzuya.

“Oh my God”, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sight. “Okay. Who is this guy? Who is this woman? And, honestly, why leaving a fucking baby at an ex-lover door is a good idea for her?” he sat on one of the chairs in the living room. His face looking considerably paler and marked with worry.

“I don't know” Naruto was still playing with the baby's feet “I'm concerned about that woman. What if she killed herself?”

The baby let out a tiny bleep bloop and laughed. Such innocence.

Sasuke had the same concern if that woman decided to leave the child and the note... He sighed and looked again at the blonde who was tickling the little thing.

“Since when do we have a baby?” he said. Naruto looked at him and smiled fondly.

“Like ten minutes ago”

Sasuke felt a pang behind his eyes. Holy migraine.

“And, I know this concept is really wild for you but, have you considered going and look for the child’s mother instead of just let him in?” Sasuke’s voice went higher and higher. The baby shifted uncomfortably

“Oh, about that” Naruto scratched the back of his head. A nervous gesture. “I opened the door ten minutes ago, but I think the baby was there for far longer. I was sound asleep and I heard him crying so I took him in”

“Ok, listen” sometimes being the brain in the “relationship” was so exhausting “You’ll call Iruka later and he will figure what to do with the child”

Iruka, being a social worker and almost Naruto’s father was the solution to all their problems, the thing was that Naruto wasn`t looking much relieved to have an instant solution. His face had an expression Sasuke saw often: Determination. Sasuke hoped it was his imagination.

“Eh, Sasuke?” the blonde look at him with those big blue eyes “what if we found out what happened to the guy first? I mean, if we can find out the whereabouts of the baby’s father maybe… he doesn’t have to be an orphan and live alone … you know. Like me.”

So that's what it was all about. Sasuke knew Naruto’s past and all the pain that being an orphan caused him in the past but, he was eager to help and ease some of his loneliness, more when it showed like that with slow words and quiet voice. But right now? He wasn`t ready to assume another life on his hands. He was almost finishing his career and the student loans were consuming him, a baby was expensive and the searching for an absent parent could be more than they could chew. Maybe he thought all of that out loud because Naruto hugged the baby like if he were going to take him from his arms.

“Naruto, look”

“NO NO, don’t do that, Sasuke. I know what you are thinking but… I don’t know, man, maybe…”

Sasuke had hard work ahead: Naruto’s face got so sad he felt his heart skip a beat. Looking someone so bright as Naruto going that blue was doing awful things to him. That and the totally unwanted crush he had been feeding for the last year was making his task as the level head really difficult. He was fighting a battle that was already lost.

“Alright,” He said and Naruto’s face got brighter and brighter. How he liked that. “we can ask door to door, if that makes you happy”

And there it is. The brightest, dumbest, prettiest grin ever.

Obviously, after the third floor, Sasuke was regretting his poor life choices. On a ten stories building, four apartments per floor, a lot of doors to knock and a squealing baby on their arms his good mood was cracking on the edges. Naruto, on the other hand, was beaming with happiness. Being able to talk that much must be making him the happiest man on earth, or that was Sasuke thought while climbing the emergency stairs to the next floor because “how are we going to use the elevator for one floor, Sasuke?” damn him.

The baby included some supplies: four diapers, one towel, a baby bottle, half can of baby formula and baby powder. At least they weren’t helpless. It was nice to knock on someone’s door with a clean baby, even when it was 4 am and they looked like shit.

At the Sixth floor, Sasuke was livid. More than 20 negatives, even one of the girls from the fourth floor insinuated to Naruto. Damn her. If the next person doesn`t give him what he was looking for he could scream. The baby was sound asleep.

So He Knocked. His landlord opened.

“Oh, Mr. Miyagi,” he said politely “I totally forgot you live here”

“Sasuke, dear. Is everything alright?”

“Sort of. By chance do you know someone called Kagame?”

“Oh well yeah” his face got darker “ he… lived on the apartment next to yours… don’t you remember him?”

Shame painted their cheeks on a pretty pink color. No, not even a distant memory.

“Oh well, that’s okay, the guy was a nightmare and you are always out and about, that apartment is mine too, you see. The guy was an addict and five months he passed away on a rehab clinic. Why?”

Sasuke was struck like by thunder. Unable to move, unable to speak, the thing sounds so tragic and unbelievable. It was unreal the fact that they were coexisting with someone like that and never, NEVER, learn his name, or… the fact that he was dead five months ago. The boy was an orphan and when Sasuke turned to face Naruto he saw it. Naruto was devastated.

They give thanks to Mr. Miyagi and went up the stairs – damn them – to their apartment. Once the door was closed Naruto unraveled and cried so loud the baby woke up. Now Sasuke had two babies crying to calm.

He shushed them and took the tiny baby on his arms, he still smelled like baby. He calmed first than Naruto who kept hiccupping till early morning. That was the first of many sleepless nights. Luckily it was Saturday morning and none of them had to work or take classes, they had an entire weekend to decide what to do. They were young but not heartless.

“We can call Iruka later” Sasuke offered while feeding the baby “he will know what to do”

Naruto smiled weakly. That was a good plan after all.

Iruka picked the phone at midday.

“What do you mean someone let a baby on your doorstep?”

“That’s exactly what happened. We checked out for the guy on the letter and Mr. Miyagi told us the guy is dead, maybe the mother too.” Naruto sank on the coach. The baby falling asleep in his arms.

With the entire sleeplessness, one might assume that they would be exhausted but, the truth was they were alert and sharp in the edges more than tired. Sasuke was ordering lunch while realizing that, the number of diapers shrunk and there was one left. They would have to go shopping for the baby; maybe the formula was almost gone too.

“Well, that’s really unfortunate; please confirm the names of the “parents”. I’ll make some research and then we can take a course of action”

“Ok, dad, thank you”

“Be patient, Naru, the baby will be safe. Try your best meanwhile we work here”

“Yeah, Sasuke and I will try hard to make the baby comfortable while you do the dirty work”

“Sasuke AND you, huh?”

“Cut it out, dad. Also, send my regards to Kakashi”. Naruto let out a snigger.

“You, brat!”

Before Iruka could yell more at him he hanged and turned to face the other man who was looking at his phone absently.

“I’ll send him the names of the parents… he might find some family information”

Naruto hated that. Sasuke's face showed uncertainty, pure and crude. Sasuke was the “brain” on the relationship, sometimes he had those beautiful lapsus but they were scarce and usually cute so watching how Sasuke’s brain was stuck wasn’t that good. He tried to smile, after all, he was the sunshine one, the happy one, and it was his role.

“Hey, it’s fine,” he said, Sasuke’s eyes fixed on him “we can take care of him for a few days”

“Naruto, we are on the verge of the bankrupt”

“You can ask your par-“

“NO” Sasuke sighed and looked at the baby, fortunately still asleep “I can’t just go and ask my parents money for a fucking baby. I haven’t even asked them for my tuition, I’m not going to lower myself that much. We can manage”

We can manage, Sasuke said, and Naruto's heart melted.

It happened so naturally. One afternoon, after watching “Devil Wears Prada”, Naruto realized he was in love. Sasuke was joking about buying half the wardrobe of the movie and how much he wanted to be like Miranda – Spoiler alert: he was like Miranda, no effort needed – and Naruto sat there, listening like a stupid and watching gleefully how Sasuke’s eyes got bright and happy. Then they played PES and the world become yellow for a couple of hours.

So it was fairly logical to melt when Sasuke says things like that, more important if it was about a baby, a baby that, easily could be theirs. A man can dream.

“Ok, let’s assume Iruka found a family for a baby – what is extremely unlikely because we don’t have any last names but just imagine, in how much time you think he could do that?” There he was. Sasuke’s brain joined the voice chat. “We need to buy supplies for him, some clothes and Diapers, for the love of god if that baby shits a lot”

“Huh, no idea. But we can ask Mr. Miyagi for the last name of the guy? Like… it’s the landlord, right? He has to know”

Naruto’s brain joined the voice chat as well.

“Yeah, do that. I’ll go and buy some diapers, maybe some onesies. The food is coming so we better hurry”

There were, at least, five diapers trademarks in, at least, four different sizes. The risk was calculated, but Sasuke wasn’t very good at math, not at the moment. He had to aboard a woman with a baby on a cart.

He went almost running at her, she was his salvation! She had all the answers! Oh, a waterfall of baby knowledge! Why was she going away of him? Please lady, don’t run. Please. He caught a glimpse of himself on one of the refrigerator doors of the marked and he understood why: to say he was disheveled was an understatement, he hasn’t slept, nor shaved, nor brushed his hair, he looked almost frantic and obviously, as Jake Peralta once said  “men are horrible and the world is a nightmare”. He felt really sorry for her and ashamed. Maybe he could lie there and die, but another opportunity appeared.

It was an old lady, maybe a grandma, no babies but she was, he hoped, a fountain of knowledge. He approached her more gently.

“ma’am. Good afternoon”

“Oh, how polite” if she was shocked about Sasuke’s appearance she didn’t show it “how are you?”

“Good, Thank you.” oh sweet sweet lie “by chance you know something about diapers or baby formula?”

“First parent?” she almost pitied him. Almost.

“Yes” oh sweet sweet lie 2.0. “Can you help me?”

“Of course, dear. Tell me, how old is the baby?”

“Six months. But he’s little for his age” vague but okay.

The old woman, bless her, helped him with the diapers, some baby towels, onesies, and sacred baby formula. Also, she gave him a lollipop because “being a parent is hard” and another for “his wife” because “she needs three shots of vodka but I just have one lollipop so...” He walked happily to their apartment.

One might think that after the scene at 3 am Sasuke was used to see Naruto with a baby. He wasn’t. When he opened the door he was welcomed with a naked baby (only with his diaper) playing in a pillow fort with an almost-naked Naruto. Both were laughing.

He melted.

“The food came like 20 ago; I was worried for you,” Naruto said looking Sasuke’s bags suspiciously “did you bought the entire store?”

“Just the essentials” he shrugged and the baby did a little “Agoo”. Naruto mimicked it.

And he melted again.

Naruto felt almost blessed. After recollecting the Intel – yeah, that sounded really neat – and delivering it to Iruka, he told him to be patient and wait till Monday for an answer, maybe a parent, a grandma or an aunt; to do the paperwork and finally to give away the baby to his rightful family. He made a pillow fort, stripped the baby to make him more comfortable in the implacable heat of that afternoon and took off his shirt – to even the conditions – and played with him. Little Memna was so quiet and smiley, so cute and chubby, he looked so healthy that it was almost unbelievable that his mom was so disturbed and his father an addict. Life is hard but this baby didn’t even know about it.

The food arrived and he let go some of his poor salary with the delivery guy. He hoped Sasuke was nearby now. He didn`t expect Sasuke to come with the entire shop under the arm, the fantasy of Menma being their baby replayed in his head and his heart went wild.

The food were a quiet affair, Naruto’s pulse weren’t steady enough to feed Sasuke while he feed the baby so they switched. Naruto felt almost blessed: an almost sleeping baby on his lap, suckling his baby bottle; a hot guy spooning some Chinese; a sunny afternoon. It was wonderful.

“You know what?” he said, taking Sasuke’s hand “we can do this. We will take care of this sweet angel together.”

“Yeah, we will,” Sasuke said and smiled.

They had a wild weekend ahead.