Work Text:
Honey Tell Me How Your Love Runs True
The gravel crunches under the nearly-bald tires of Sasuke’s SUV as he slowly backs down Naruto’s winding driveway tucked back into the hollar, twisting around ancient trees that have seen many millennia and would absolutely ruin any plans of sneaking Naruto out of his family’s cabin if he were to smack into one.
Although, Sasuke’s pretty sure Minato is onto them. He has a tendency to stay up late reading about his latest hyperfixation, which recently has been wildlife identification and tracking (but not trapping). Still, Sasuke would rather not hit one of the massive, mature hemlocks and tulip poplars that line the twisting driveway. Plus, there is always the sliver of a chance that they are actually getting away with their mischief.
Sasuke finally crawls up to the cabin, catching Naruto slipping out of his first-story window. He physically cringes along with Naruto when the window screeches as he tries to discreetly close it, in a shallow attempt to keep the summer skeeters from wandering in.
Frantically scurrying like a squirrel crossing I-40 at rush hour, Naruto makes his way over to Sasuke’s passenger seat, slipping in quietly and pulling him in for a long, deep kiss.
“I missed you,” his blue eyes sparkle in the pitch-black night.
“I literally saw you not a couple of hours ago, ya doofus,” Sasuke says, suppressing a smile and moving to put his old Rav4 into drive. It’s a hand-me-down from Itachi, who really put it through the ringer when he was a teenager, taking on trails both suitable and unsuitable for motor vehicles in order to go hiking and do geeky nature stuff. Somehow, the SUV didn’t completely fall apart, which resulted in Sasuke getting it when Itachi upgraded to his government-issue NPS truck. All of this is to say that, despite Sasuke’s best efforts to stay quiet and discreet as he navigates the driveway (this time going forwards), the poor little car rattles and clatters with every small bump or especially large piece of gravel.
“Geez, Sas, go any slower?” Naruto teases, leaning across the console to get all up in Sasuke’s space.
“Shut up. Care to have a smoother driveway?”
Naruto gives him a quick peck on the cheek, “Ya know I can’t do nothin’ about the driveway. If you went faster, it might be a smidge louder, but we’ll be gone quicker.”
“Naruto, just quit back-seat driving.”
“Technically I’m passenger-seat driving.”
“That’s even worse,” Sasuke scoffs, his small smile betraying him. Thankfully, the pitch-black curtain of nightfall disguises the softness that always falls across Sasuke’s face around Naruto.
They drive off the driveway and onto the roughly-paved road in near silence, the only soundtrack coming from the robust summer wildlife of Appalachia. The chorus of cicadas and katydids and the occasional owl flows in through the open windows. They also draw in the warm summer air, thick with humidity and the mysteries that flow through the ancient mountains, ruffling up Naruto’s messy, blonde bedhead. If he didn’t have to drive, Sasuke would happily sit there and watch the way the wind makes the golden strands fly about wildly, reach out and run his hand through them. Naruto would no doubt lean into the touch, he always does.
Speaking of his boyfriend, Naruto rests his head on his hand, facing away, watching as the dark forests speed past and Sasuke expertly navigates the switchbacks and cattywampus corners of the backroads. He knows these roads better than the back of his own hand, every dip and slightly-to-tight corner, he knows it all.
They mostly remain silent for a majority of the drive, Naruto’s hand reaching over to rest on Sasuke’s thigh at some point. Sasuke loves the warmth, the familiarity of Naruto’s touch. It’s softer and more comforting than being wrapped up in his mother’s homemade quilt that is currently on his bed, abandoned for the embrace of his lover on this late summer night.
He finally takes a seemingly random right turn that most of the mountain tourists would never even notice is there, to follow what is barely a road up to the Konoha water tower. Itachi showed Sasuke this little spot when he turned sixteen and was gifted the ‘well-loved’ (dilapidated) Rav4. He has a hankerin’ Itachi used to also come up here with that childhood friend of his that he is too private to talk about, probably to do the same thing Sasuke and Naruto are going to do.
Being basically an adult but living at home in the summers between college semesters leaves little space for privacy. They aren’t even wanting to ‘sin’ too egregiously. The things they didn’t actually get lectured about because both Sasuke and Naruto hated going to their local church’s youth group and opted to make out behind the building instead until their parents came and picked them up, clothes roughed-up and lips swollen. It was so obvious what they were really doing, but if their parents were bothered they never really showed it. Then again, Mikoto would never make a scene in public, so somehow they managed to get off scot-free.
“How long do you think this water tower’s even been around?” Naruto asks, breaking the comfortable silence with the soft rasp of his voice. Sasuke loves his voice. Especially when he sings pretty love songs written just for Sasuke.
“Probably since the thirties, I reckon,” Sasuke responds, situating the car into what can only loosely be described as a clearing and cutting the ignition.
“Why? That’s pretty old.”
“That’s when the TVA came about and did all this stuff.” Naruto nods, following Sasuke’s lead and hopping out of the car and into the deep, dark night. The stars are bright and clear above them, Sasuke’s eyes immediately start tracing out different constellations Itachi showed him when they would sit out on their roof as kids.
“Hmm, I see. My mama works for the TVA,” Naruto remarks, branches and brush cracking as they make their way through the thicket surrounding the base of the water tower.
“I know that, ya dobe. Plus, everyone works for the fuckin' TVA,” Sasuke says, a small laugh escaping as he begins to climb the ladder up to the water tower. Naruto follows suit, making their way up to the small platform circling the old, steel water tower with ‘KONOHA’ in deep blue chipping paint on the side.
They settle on the edge, feet hanging over the expanded metal platform and looking over the expanse of Konoha’s valley. Hokage Mountain looms in the west, shadowing over the town, making everything look so small in comparison.
“Do ya think Mothman'll get us?” Naruto suddenly asks, scooching more into Sasuke’s side. Sasuke lets out an uncontained laugh into the quiet night.
“I seriously doubt it,” he says between bouts of laughter, taking Naruto’s hand in his own, giving it a comforting squeeze. Despite Naruto’s love of local cryptids, they also absolutely terrify him.
“What about Bigfoot?”
“Have you ever seen a Bigfoot?”
“Not the multi-dimensional ones, no. But I know they’re out there!” Sasuke raises an eyebrow at his spooked lover.
“Really now?”
“Yeah! My mama told me all about them. We left a gift out one night, and in the morning it was gone!”
“Uh huh…” Sasuke says, still unconvinced. “What kinda gift?”
“An apple from the orchard.” Sasuke narrows his eyes at Naruto. “I—I know what you’re thinkin’! ‘Oh it’s probably just a raccoon,’ but it wasn’t! I swear! There was a geode left in its place. It left a gift.”
Sasuke knows he looks less convinced, but still leans in to kiss Naruto deeply nonetheless. And they continue to kiss, all soft touches and silent promises and proclamations of love. What else is there to do on the water tower in a sleepy mountain town at midnight, after all?
“I wrote a song about you,” Naruto says softly against Sasuke’s lips.
“Yeah?” Sasuke says, moving to leave small kisses along Naruto’s jaw.
“Yeah… want me to sing a little bit of it for ya?”
“Of course.” Sasuke loves when Naruto sings for him. Naruto is so talented, his voice so lovely. The songs he writes rival the beauty of the surrounding landscape easily. It always fills Sasuke with a distinct warmth to know that they are written about him .
He moves to rest his head on Naruto’s shoulder, occasionally leaving a small kiss at the juncture of his neck and shoulder as Naruto softly sings into the quiet night.
“ Hold me close my dear,
Sing your whisperin’ song,
Softly in my ear,
And I will sing along”
Sasuke finds himself closing his eyes, just taking in everything.
“Honey, tell me how your love runs true,
And how I can always count on you,
Be there when the bullets fly
I’d run across the river just to hold you tonight.”
The gentle breeze, Naruto’s slight swaying as his feet kick below them, the honest rasp of his voice, the energy of the forest surrounding them. It’s all right here, all right now. He can’t imagine life without Naruto by his side. And if the lyrics Naruto is lilting into the valley are any indication, he feels a similar way.