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As if his cold demeanour had never even been there, Sasuke was warm. Naruto laid on the couch of his small apartment underneath his bed’s comforter. He’d never invested in blankets, had rarely laid on the couch like this. Now he was feeling like shit, and somehow Sasuke was here.
He hadn’t expected that. Still he watched Sasuke move around in his kitchen. Sasuke laid the plastic grocery bag on the kitchen table and took out some tomatoes and eggs from it. Naruto sniffled and pulled the blanket further over his body. Sasuk took a clean bowl from the drying rack and cracked all three eggs on the edge. He did so as if he’d been doing this exact same thing his entire life. The shell cracked into two halves perfectly, and of course Sasuke didn’t spill anything. He made a pile out of all the shells and took out two chopsticks from that same drying rack. Ones that didn’t match; because this was still Naruto’s house and Sasuke knew looking for a matching chopstick set was hopeless. Carefully, he picked up the bowl and started beating the eggs. As he moved his hands skillfully he turned to Naruto. “Have you had ginger tea today?”
“I had juice.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No. I did not have ginger tea. I did have a drink with vitamins.”
Sasuke stopped beating the egg for a second and then sighed dramatically. “Forget it,” he mumbled.
Naruto watched him put the bowl down and, keen on ignoring Naruto, started chopping the tomatoes in eight pieces. He did this slowly. Naruto wondered where Sasuke had learned all of this. Naruto himself had already been proud when he first made his own ramen with actual miso, from a pot, and not from an instant package. Sasuke cooked like he’d always done so.
He lit the stove with a match and placed Naruto’s heaviest pan on top of it. It had been a present. Naruto hadn’t known what kind of meal to use it for. Sasuke, though, scooped pieces of tomato onto it.
“Who taught you how to do all of this?” Naruto asked.
Sasuke took out a stirring spoon and raised an eyebrow at Naruto. “Cutting tomatoes? I kind of put two and two together myself on that one.”
Naruto had to hold back an eye roll. “No, you know, I mean cooking.”
Sasuke lowered the heat on the tomatoes as they started steaming heavily. Naruto couldn’t quite see what was happening but it was already smelling good. Like food, at least. Sasuke took out the instant chicken stock he’d made and poured it all over the tomatoes. The pan started sizzling loudly. Still ignoring Naruto, he poured in some spices. Some salt, at least, and some of other stuff he’d brought with him.
“Or how to, I don’t know, take care of someone who’s sick,” Naruto added.
“Those come down to the same thing.”
Sasuke took the beaten egg and started pouring it into the tomato broth. Little by little he let stripes of egg fall into the boiling soup. Naruto watched it drip as Sasuke kept stirring with his other hand.
Once all of the egg was spinning inside of the pan, Sasuke took out a pack of instant udon. He pulled it open and dropped it into the pan as well. Naruto felt like his chest was burning; Sasuke was making him noodle soup! Not quite ramen but something close enough.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than watching me?”
Naruto sniffled dramatically. “It’s interesting.”
“You’re just bored.”
“I like it. You’re really good at this.”
Sasuke shrugged, cutting up some scallions and then pouring them into the soup. “It’s nothing.” Sasuke got another two bowls from the drying rack. Mismatched bowls, again. They were Naruto’s favourite’s, one had frogs on it and the other was blue with a little fire illustration at the bottom. Sasuke scooped the soup into the bowls, using his chopsticks to make sure both bowls had the same amount of noodles.
His entire house smelled like it.
Naruto doubted his apartment had ever smelled so much like home. Like a home he was allowed to live in. A place where he could take care of himself too.
Almost shyly, Sasuke walked towards the couch. He handed Naruto his bowl and then, when Naruto pulled back his legs, sat down on the couch with him.
“This looks amazing–” Naruto started, before coughing again.
“Calm down.”
“Looks delicious,” he whispered this time.
Naruto blew on the soup and then, while it was definitely still way too hot, took a bit of the udon soup. “Oh fuck, this is so good!” Naruto took another sip from the bowl. “I can’t imagine being able to do something like this. This is great.”
“It’s not that special.”
Naruto took another bite, then said. “It is tough!” Naruto bumped Sasuke’s shoulder. “You’ve been secretly taking cooking classes or something?”
Sasuke snorted, but didn’t answer.
Naruto took another big bite of his soup and then dramatically sighed because of how good it was. His heart was slowly turning warmer and warmer.
“My mum. She taught me how to do this.”
“Hm?” Naruto tried to swallow his whole bite at once to answer, failed.
“My mum used to cook this for me every time I was sick. I never helped her, but I did get to watch her cook. It was my favourite thing about being sick.”
With that said, Sasuke picked up his own bowl and took a small bite.
“I sometimes forget that you had them, that you had moments like that.” For a second he was quiet. He sounded stupid, but he meant it. “I– I can’t imagine something like it, but that must have been the nicest, watching her like that. ”
Sasuke, even though he knew what Naruto meant, nodded at Naruto’s bowl. “You don’t have to imagine, the soup is right here.”
Naruto thought for a second. “Yeah, and I watched you make it. For me.”
Sasuke stared at him, then looked into his bowl of soup. “It’s my first time eating it– since she last made it for me.”
Naruto stared at Sasuke, who was looking at his hands and his half empty soup bowl as if they held the answers to the universe. Or, who was looking at his soup just so that he didn’t have to look at Naruto.
“I don’t have many skills I can use to take care of someone,” Sasuke said. “This was the only thing I could think of.”
Naruto felt like crying.
His head was hurting.
His nose was dripping.
He’d been coughing all day.
And now suddenly Sasuke had made soup just for him; just to make him feel better. It warmed his entire body, all the way to his toes. It made his cheeks warm, and not because of the fever.
“Sasuke,” Naruto mumbled, his bowl already empty. “Thank you for taking care of me with soup. In your mom’s way.”
Sasuke nodded, then nodded again but more nervously. Naruto placed his hand against Sasuke’s, stroking his thumb softly. For a little while Sasuke seemed to be thinking.
Not about what to say, but about his mother.
About growing up in a traditional house with a beautiful kitchen. About training so hard that he became sick from it. Becoming so sick that he had to stay at home and do nothing but hear his mum nag about ginger tea and watch her make tomato egg drop soup.
Then, finally, he said: “It’s the only way I know.”