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When Naruto wakes up, the side of the bed is cold. There’s some lingering warmth, yes, but fading rapidly and he doesn’t know why but it kinda makes him want to burst into tears.
It’s fine, it has to be. He convinces himself it’s fine, because it’s not like he can just walk into the Tower and tell Shikamaru that he simply doesn’t feel like being Hokage today.
He gets ready for the day as he usually does, though he catches no glances of Sasuke until the very last moment. Sasuke, who probably woke up in the middle of the night as he often does these days and went stayed in Yoshio’s room long enough to call hiding until Naruto left for the day. He’s done that often enough as well for Naruto not to be truly surprised anymore, only hurt.
He finds Sasuke in the kitchen, mashing with a fork some strawberries in a small bowl. Part of Yoshio’s breakfast, Naruto supposes, since Yoshio was given the all-clear recently to start eating solids.
It’s not the action itself that brings Naruto to halt, it’s everything else.
The smell that hits him before the sight itself, the scent of rain about to fall, which only intensified during his pregnancy and still clings strongly to him, despite the sour notes it has when he’s particularly upset.
Barefooted, he stands in nothing but a loose shirt that Naruto is sure must have belonged to him at some point, though it probably doesn’t smell like him anymore at all, if the faded and frankly illegible print give anything away—either way, what matters is that it’s not long enough to fully cover his ass, round and firm yet soft at the same time and overall perfect and currently clad in simple black panties.
As though to be the cherry on top, it looks like sleep still clings to him. Spiky Ink-black hair aiming in every direction, perhaps even more so than usual, and his features are still soft, as if the weight of the day hasn't dawned on him yet.
And Gods, Naruto aches.
Something in his chest aches so hard that he feels sick with it, that it feels like he’s choking on thin air.
He’s not really hungry anymore, hasn’t been hungry in the mornings for a while now, the thought of eating so early kind of makes him nauseous, so there’s no need to stay and yet—
He pauses, square hat in hand while the others linger on the way to their apartment there, to stare at Sasuke.
To look at what he’s missing in the eye.
The silence is so that Naruto is startled when Sasuke speaks.
“Stay,” he whispers, gaze fixed on the bowl, slowly smashing the strawberries that have already turned into a completely smooth mush.
And yeah, maybe this is why he wanted to cry earlier.
He has to stop the automatic refusal from leaving his tongue when he catches Sasuke inhaling again.
His voice comes out even weaker than before, as though he’s not the only one wanting to burst into tears.
His scent sours.
“Just for today.”
“Shikamaru will kill me,” Naruto rasps, helpless against the instinct to argue.
Sasuke finally stops smashing and closes his eyes. “He can handle himself for a day. For the twelve hours you’d be gone.”
“Who’d watch over Yoshio?”
He has to ask that too, since he knows that Sasuke wouldn’t be able to enjoy himself if he has to fuzz over Yoshio every few hours.
“Anyone, they all like to.”
“Sasuke…”
Opening his eyes, Sasuke shakes his head and sniffles, taking a deep breath and leaving the fork in the sink for later.
“Whatever, it’s fine,” he chokes out as he picks up the bowl and goes around Naruto and towards the hall. Because he won’t beg, Naruto knows, it’s beneath Sasuke’s level and it might be the one promise Naruto hasn’t broken so far, that he’d never force Sasuke to say please. “You can go, forget I asked.”
The sour scent lingers in the kitchen.
From the hallway, he hears Yoshio waking up and immediately starting to cry, no doubt picking up on Sasuke’s mood.
Clutching the Hokage hat so hard it might rip, Naruto forces his feet to move towards the door but he cannot bring himself to open it. He can’t. He simply can’t, not when he can hear Sasuke hushing Yoshio with trembling words, which means he’s probably crying too. Naruto can picture it perfectly, he saw it happen once and it’s been burned into his eyelids ever so since—Sasuke carefully bouncing Yoshio against his chest, their baby red in the face as he clutches at Sasuke’s shirt, all the while Sasuke switches between whispering sweet nothings into Yoshio’s ear and biting his lip until it's white when a sob dares to rise up his throat and break out of him.
As Naruto leans his forehead against the door, his face scrunched up and a tear finally manages to escape his eye and it’s the absurdity of the situation that makes him throw the hat on the couch and shuck off the robe as though it had burned him.
Why is this happening? How did they get here? They were so happy after the war—so, so happy. How come they managed to reach a point in which they’re holding back tears in opposite rooms when the sun hasn’t even fully risen and are willing to do nothing about it? When did they grow so complacent? When did they—How—Why—
Holding his breath, he quietly enters Yoshio’s room and ignores the way Sasuke, back turned to him, freezes. He pushes onwards, as with any battle, and gently wraps his arms over Sasuke’s shoulders, careful not to smother a still crying Yoshio. He ignores the tears on Sasuke’s face as well as he presses his lips against his temple.
“I can stay,” he whispers into Sasuke’s hair, impossibly soft despite its violent shape. “I can stay for today.”
The scent is slow to change, as are Yoshio’s little sobs, but they do eventually. Yoshio settles down enough to realize he’s hungry and Sasuke’s scent goes back to being the thunderstorm Naruto fell in love with.
Later, someone will have to make a bag for Yoshio and do the dishes neither of them did last night and stop the other from turning the day into a whole cleaning ordeal. Later, they might even dress up and go out to eat, somewhere nice that it’s not the typical ramen, however nice it may be. Later, they might spar if they’re not too tired or take a nap if they are and perhaps even sneak in some long-forgotten lust to remember they even desired each other before everything somehow began turning sideways.
For now, Naruto sits with Yoshio on his lap as Sasuke carefully feeds their baby tiny spoonfuls of mashed strawberries.