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Sasuke could feel Naruto climbing onto the bed, a weird enthusiasm accompanying him. Sasuke, who had been laying on it with his eyes closed and his arms folded behind his back, didn't bother to wonder why Naruto was trying to disturb his peace.
"Hey, dobe," he said.
Sasuke ignored him, pretending to sleep.
"I know you're awake, stupid. Wake up."
The mattress squeaked slightly as Naruto moved around on it, clearly seeking to tower over him. Sasuke remained still, trying not to let himself be disturbed. Naruto was the only one who, even after years of building up calluses to his behavior, could still irk him to oblivion.
"Hey, dumbass."
It amused Sasuke how Naruto sometimes still acted like a twelve-year-old. Tossing childish names around with enough impact to cause trouble, and not enough to cause long-lasting damage. Sasuke wasn't content with his family, and Naruto didn't have one.
Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to give his face a slap. Not the gentle kind, but the forceful kind that left your ears ringing and a cherry imprint in your face. The kind that provoked you into rumbling with your assailant if it angered you enough. The two of them had gotten into unserious rumbles before over dumb things such as that, and with a relaxed demeanor Sasuke found himself ready to initiate another fight if the moment called for it.
But instead, he felt Naruto sit on his chest. Pointy knees pressed against his armpits. Reflexively, he opened his eyes.
As expected, Naruto was sitting on top of him. Straddling him with a dumb grin and beaming eyes.
Sasuke groaned. "What?"
"I knew you were awake, stupid."
"Call me stupid one more time, and I'll knock you asleep."
"You can try! Anywho, looky here."
Naruto picked up his pouch of alcohol markers and held it up. Sasuke blinked. He had seen Naruto digging into that pouch before, working on art pieces in a sketchpad or on a canvas. In passing, Sasuke had amused himself with getting under his skin, telling him that his works looked like shit smeared for everyone to see. He'd do it to see Naruto's face turn red and the steam come out of his ears, before telling him that he'd support him no matter what.
"Alcohol markers?" Sasuke asked.
"Yup."
"You gonna make an art piece or something?"
"Yeah, on your arms."
Sasuke blinked, and then remembered the tattoos on his arms.
"No."
"Please? I've wanted to do this for so long!"
"Get off me, dobe."
Naruto somberly got off of his chest, and Sasuke sat himself up in the bed.
"Come on, it'd be fun. It's - it'd be like a coloring book. I can say my boyfriend's a coloring book."
Sasuke smirked. "I'm a coloring book now?"
"Yeah!"
Sasuke looked at his arms, remarking the dragon tattoo that sleeved his left arm, bathed in lotus flowers and a black mist. Its fangs gnarled menacingly, possessing a face of viciousness that Sasuke had found himself admiring for years. His guardian beast, if anything.
"I like the angle, the look. I just wonder why you never got color done on them?"
"Wasn't offered," Sasuke replied. It was true, given that the scratcher who had offered to use him as a canvas only had black ink available. Sasuke thought black suited him more, given that it'd match his hair and eyes if it didn't have variation in color.
The marker would come off eventually, though. He knew from Naruto's hobby as a self-proclaimed artist that alcohol marker was hard to wash, but not impossible to remove. It'd clean up eventually, even if it had to be scrubbed to oblivion. And plus, maybe Naruto's interpretation would be interesting.
"Sure," he replied. "Impress me."
Naruto cheered and quickly zipped open the pouch, revealing a wide array of colors that threatened to make a monochromatic-favoring Sasuke's head spin. To him, they were just colors in a puch; but to Naruto, they were the key to the universe. The visual art of poetry, how you told a story and captured a moment.
"What colors do you want?" he asked.
"Uh, you can choose. Just don't make me look stupid."
"I'm gonna make you look like you tie your shoes with your tongue."
"Do that, and I'll smack the shit out of you."
Naruto laughed and began picking cool shades of blue. To Sasuke, they all looked the same, but he knew that at best, he needed to have faith that they were worlds' different to Naruto.
"I'm gonna go in with a light base..." Naruto mumbled.
"What's that mean?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto blinked. "Sorry, I'm talkin' to myself."
Sasuke snorted and leaned back, looking out the window.
He wondered if there was a color like the night sky. Not a black, but a vivid blue with hints of violet and romance. He felt the tip of the first alcohol marker brush against his skin. Moist as it was, it felt a lot more gentle than the feeling of a tattoo needle digging into the dermis layer of his skin. Maybe this won't be so bad, he thought to himself.
-
"Donzo!" Naruto exclaimed.
The feeling of alcohol tips had been somewhat satisfying to Sasuke. After minutes of watching Naruto work diligently, coloring and scribbling and cursing to himself, switching between shade after shade to the point of neurosis, he was intrigued to see what the final product was.
Naruto, whose fingers were covered in swatches of color, took a small mirror and held it up against his arm. Sasuke looked at the reflection.
"Oh," he said, the surprise emerging from his mouth quicker than he expected.
Naruto's coloring hadn't just been the "light base" that Naruto muttered under his breath, but more finely detailed. Each scale had vivid shading, reflecting a gradient lighting that brought it to life. The hues and shades came together in a fine composition: its fangs, eyes, and furs were a golden yellow wisped with orange, resembling flames of victory. Their boldness contrasted with the pale pinks of the lotuses, reminding him that peace and chaos aligned is a life well lived. The black fog had been touched with a coat of dark blue, a hue similar to the night sky.
Naruto's hands had brought it to life, invigorated its form. Sasuke didn't know what to say.
"It doesn't look stupid, right?" Naruto asked, the overconfidence brimming.
Sasuke could only shake his head.
Naruto chuckled. "He's in shock, left without words, because I brought color into his life."
Sasuke grinned, running his fingers over the dried color.
"Get it?" Naruto continued, a smug look on his face. "That means that your life's colorless. Not a color in you."
"Shut up," Sasuke ribbed, looking up.
"Make me."
The bastard's cheeky grin prompted Sasuke to jump towards him, tackling him to the ground. Naruto descended into mad giggles, fighting him back. An armlock here, an indulgent grab there. Whenever they linked up on nights like these, this always seemed to happen. A minute, unserious thing would happen, and suddenly they'd be on each other, playing grab-ass. Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle thinking about how he could provoke the jinchūriki into fights like these and not end with his place torn into pieces.
And he found his answer when Naruto, wrangled on top of him, mashed his lips onto his. Absorbing himself into a sweet embrace.
Naruto was annoying, bothersome, even hard to deal with. But he meant well, especially in times like these. And he wouldn't have traded it for the world, even if it meant keeping his eyes closed for just a little bit longer.
Naruto broke the kiss, locking his eyes on Sasuke's. They looked like little windows to a vast, vibrant ocean beyond the leaves.
"I did a good job, right?" Naruto asked, eager for validation.
Sasuke grinned, sarcasm on his mind. "Yeah, it's alright."
Naruto snorted. "God, you're weird."
"Damn straight."
Naruto chuckled and kissed him again.
-
The colors hadn't faded when Sasuke awoke the next morning. Having taken his shirt off, he saw the ink extend up his arm and end at his shoulder.
Naruto hadn't colored the whole thing, only the parts visible to him from under Sasuke's shirt, but he found himself not caring. The colors were still evocative of a warm memory, soon to vanish when the colors would fade and return pallid.
He looked over at Naruto, who was fast asleep on the other side of the bed. Tucked under the covers, his mouth was wide open with snoring, a dribble of spit spilling down the side of his face. His fingers were still caked in color, though they'd come off much easier.
Sasuke figured that, when the tattoo's colors washed off, he'd just have Naruto color them again if he was up for it. And seeing the passion that the dobe had for art, he figured that it could happen again. An easy pouch, a wide array of colors, and a fair-haired boy eager to have a coloring book for a boyfriend.