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“I thought by now you’d be tired of seeing me.”
The doctor jokes as he tugs the curtain across, shielding them from the prying eyes of the ER, and condemning the blonde to those dark eyes alone. The gaze burns his skin like salt to a wound.
Naruto takes a deep breath. He tries to sit up but a hand presses into the hard of his chest, gently coaxing him back into the pillows. He can tell he’s smiling behind the mask, eyes crinkling just a hint. He’s in his dark blue scrubs and white coat, and hair spilling out of a surgical cap.
Blue eyes follow his steps as Sasuke crosses the space to wash his hands and shred himself of his coat.
“I..” he swallows, “it was an accident. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Sasuke’s eyes were gentle from the shaded area by the sink, reflecting off the top light above the bed. Naruto wanted to turn the lights on to see him fully, to see his color under the fluorescents, not caring how much the extra light would hurt his sensitive eyes.
“I would never think that you would hurt yourself this badly on purpose.”
Normally Naruto would make some flirty, anxious remark about how he was just aching to see him (because he’s a doctor, get it?) but his nerves are humming from the painkillers and the antiseptic smell of the building has been making him nauseous.
All he’s wanted since today, for weeks and months, was to see this man in front of him again. He just didn’t anticipate that it would be like this. A part of him was hoping he wouldn’t be on call tonight, hoping he wouldn’t be caught like this. The other part, a quiet part, was just waiting for him to pull that curtain aside and step into his life again.
Sasuke rolls the stool to the bedside and maneuvers the table of tools in front of him. The blonde sees the needles and gets uneasy, which Sasuke doesn’t miss. He’s closer than before, coming under the light to look at his face, cold gloved hands brushing over his jaw and scent filling his lungs with warmth. Naruto wonders what shampoo he uses.
He gulps, “the—the nurse isn’t stitching me?”
He gently turns the blonde’s head to get a better profile of the cut, eyes studying and so focused Naruto’s afraid that if he moves—
“The nurses are very busy,” he murmurs. But Naruto isn’t fool enough to not know that Sasuke is even busier. His heart throbs at the notion of Sasuke dropping everything to come see him, to be the one to tend his wounds.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” the blonde attempts to laugh. Sasuke’s face is practically hovering above him now, eyes holding contact and vision being filled with him, him, and only him. The haze of light bleeds around him, giving the effect that he’s glowing. Naruto knows now that the medicine has kicked in and maybe that’s why he’s trembling and aching all over whenever this man is near.
Maybe that’s why his heart is galloping up his throat and why he finds himself parched .
Sasuke suddenly looks up, eyes flaring. “Are you in pain?”
“What?” Naruto mumbles in response, missing the sudden loss of warmth.
“Your heart.”
How did he not notice the monitor beeping erratically behind him? Heat blossoms up his neck and face, his embarrassment showing as the doctor mutes the machine and sits back down. Dark eyes level on him, thick brows furrowed under the fringe of hair. He wishes he could reach up and brush those strands from his face, but his arm throbs under the blanket, wrist burning where Sasuke touches.
“It doesn’t hurt…much,” he mumbles, tearing his eyes away.
The man sighs and stares for a long moment, but Naruto doesn’t want to look back yet. He doesn’t want to see the worry swirling in those irises. His ears are burning.
And then Sasuke picks up something from the tray and Naruto jumps upright.
“Wait—”
“Naruto lay back—”
Naruto starts kicking the blankets off and Sasuke drops the needle back on the table and reaches for him and Naruto doesn’t know what’s coming over him or why his heart is racing like it is, but he’s suddenly holding on to this man’s arms like he’s never held anything before.
“It’s okay,” breath whispers over his skin, “it’s just a small needle, it’s okay.”
“I’m sorry, I’m usually not like this.”
Sasuke inhales, “I know. You’re nervous.”
Nervous that you’re here, seeing me like this .
He just can’t seem to think straight. If it was any other doctor...
There’s a palm cupping the nape of his neck, fingers in the ends of his hair. Naruto can feel the heat creeping back up his neck as he lays back down, lip worried between his teeth.
He doesn’t feel it when the needle pierces his skin, or when Sasuke stitches his temple. He becomes entranced by the proximity, by the curve of his throat, the length of his lashes, the ash of his eyes... all of it. Most of all, those lips. Parted slightly in concentration, shallow breaths dance over his cheek. More often than he’ll admit, he finds his eyes tugged in their direction.
He’s spent hours and days and weeks and months, just wondering what those lips would feel like if they were pressed to his own.
“You smell minty.” He says without thinking but to hell with it. Sasuke, surprised, stops his movements to slowly pull the mask back over his nose, but Naruto isn’t having it. He reaches up to tug it back down, pleased to find a lovely smile adorning the doctor’s face.
“Sorry.”
Naruto smiles. “For what?”
The black-haired male rolls backward to drop his tools and snap off his gloves. “I, uh, gargled some mouthwash on my way over here.”
Naruto smiles wider. “Do you do that for all of your patients?”
He’s in front of him again, eyes tender and shining in a way that just makes him ache.
“I didn’t want to misfortune you with my mask breath in your face for an hour.”
“That’s never stopped you before,” the blonde snorts.
“It’s different from before” knuckles brush over the curve of his cheek, tracing burns in their wake. Naruto ignites under the gaze.
“How different?” There’s something raw and hopeful in his voice, something delicate and bruised beating against his pulse. He wants him.
“How different?” Sasuke reiterates. “I wonder how different.”
And there was something there at the tip of his tongue, something that he’s kept silent in fear of it being the wrong thing. But it yells loud against his beating heart and threatens to sprout up his throat and sweeten his tongue with their sound.
He wants him.
He wants him.
The moment of lingering lasts no longer than a few seconds, it being broken by a prominent, sudden beeping coming from Sasuke’s hip. The pager flashes offensively and unwelcome. The doctor silences its sound before rolling backward to pick up the phone, mumbling something under his breath, perhaps an apology. Naruto swallows his words down again and feels the time he has alone with the doctor thin to an end.
But it hurts.
“I’ll be right there.”
He feels the burn well its way up his throat, having swallowed it down too many times.
Sasuke is half way through putting the phone up when he sees the emotions in the blonde’s expression, and sees them begin to spill.
It’s lodged in his throat now, refusing to go down further.
“Naruto?”
“I guess… this is goodbye” Naruto looks away, fiddling his hands in his lap and not wanting the man to see the tremble of his lip.
He blames the medicine, honestly, for making him vulnerable in the first place. He blames the medicine for the ache in his chest, the burning behind his eyes. He blames the medicine for the lag in his movements, for the stretch of time he takes him to register Sasuke moving across the floor and taking his face between each of his palms. Because Naruto gasps, seeing him suddenly so close to him, the scent of him washing over all at once.
And then there’s lips, a sweetness pressing against his forehead. Sasuke kisses him gently and carefully, not pulling away completely.
“Why are you crying?”
Naruto gapes, tilting his head to come eye-to-eye with the doctor. Half-lidded and shining, the man adorns a soft smile. Dark eyes cloud his vision, dark lashes, and thick brows.
“I’m not.” Sasuke kissed him.
“Okay,” he wipes the tears off the corners of his eyes, “you’re not crying.”
“I’m really not.” He sniffles. Sasuke kissed him. On his face.
“Okay.”
And there it is again, but this time bolder. Sprouting sweet and blooming from his chest, unable to be contained. Naruto takes in a slow, deep breath through his nose and wills himself to be brave.
“Doctor Uchiha, page the patient desk” comes the intercom from outside, jerking the doctor upright in his position. He turns for the phone again “Doctor Uchiha, please page–”
“I love you.”
And it sounds so loud, in his head he swears he shouts it. But it couldn’t have been more than a whisper, words uttered into his breath. The man catches it, incredulous in expression, eyes wide. But it takes no more than a moment for the shock to pass, the doctor softening in demeanor, finds his way back to the bedside and Naruto can barely speak.
His cheeks warm steadily, heart thundering. “I-I said that, I really just–” The blonde stammers “love you–I do, you’re…”
A hand is gentle as it comes to press against the nape of his neck, pulling Naruto in and oh, those lips again. His eyes flutter shut as Sasuke fills in the space, the scent of him washing over his senses once again. Warm and tender, Sasuke kisses him fully.
Naruto resists the need to wrap his arms around his neck and pull him into the bed, to tangle himself up in his warmth completely. Instead, he fists the fabric of Sasuke’s scrubs in his palms, holding on tight.
He tilts his chin up, gasping when Sasuke presses him back into the pillows. Their lips move together in a slow rhythm, both starting to tremble in the building heat. Just slightly Naruto pulls back to catch his breath, light headed and lips pulsing sweetly.
Sasuke whispers: “I love you too.”
.
.
.