This is in response to a request on tumblr for an age-gap fic with an older Naruto; and I instantly wanted to write about a Naruto who was actually more mature and more emotionally developed than Sasuke.

At the beginning of this fic, Naruto is 32 and Sasuke is 17. This is a pretty controversial age difference, so I just wanted to point out that this fic takes place over several years: nothing's going to happen between these two any time soon. Sasuke does have a crush on Naruto right from the beginning, but it takes Naruto quite a while to become interested in Sasuke in that way.

Sasuke had taken to walking around the neighbourhood after school. Not walking to a specific place, just- walking. It was better than going back home to an empty apartment. At first, he didn't even look around him while he was walking- he just zoned out, and moved. Somehow, the movement created this blank space in his brain where he could just not think about anything. It was…a relief.

But gradually, he started to notice just how familiar his surroundings were. He and Itachi had moved back to where they'd lived when they were younger. Sasuke didn't think he'd remembered any of it, but every now and then, he'd see a tree, or a street corner, and he'd realise that he knew this place.

And then one day he looked up, and found himself outside of his old kindergarten, and the sense of recognition, of familiarity, was so strong that he froze, and just stood there stunned at the strength of feeling washing over him. …Naruto-sensei, he thought to himself. Yes, that was his name…of course, there's no way he'd still work here. That had been more than 10 years ago.

It was strange; Sasuke didn't have many memories of his first years of school, but he remembered this kindergarten, and Naruto-sensei. The memories stood out in his mind like sparkling-bright stars in a sea of dark sky.

It was about 4 p.m., and there were still children playing outside of the kindergarten. Sasuke didn't want to seem like a creep, but he wanted to see inside through the fence. Just for a moment, to see how things had changed. …but, what if someone saw him? A lone teenage boy, hanging outside a childcare centre? No, he should go…

"Ah, Yuki-chan, don't cry!" came a voice, and Sasuke froze again, and turned back around. No, he thought, it can't be! "There, there, let me see…"

Sasuke's body moved of its own accord, and before he knew it he was right up against the fence, gripping the railings hard, his eyes wide. He couldn't believe it! It was Naruto-sensei, standing there surrounded by tiny children, with a sobbing little girl in his arms. His smile, thought Sasuke, oh, it's exactly the same! He hasn't changed at all!

Sasuke felt his pulse start to race. He'd spent two years at this centre, and his little chibi-self had been obsessed with Naruto-sensei. What child wouldn't be? He was so…he was so happy, all the time, and he always wanted to play, wanted to read to you, or tell you jokes, or look at your drawings. And for Sasuke, that kind of attention…

I should leave, he told himself sternly. It's not like he'd remember me-

"Sasuke-chan?" came the voice again, as he turned away. "Is it you?"

Sasuke turned back around, and found Naruto-sensei and half a dozen tiny human beings staring at him through the fence.

The blonde's smile became even brighter. "It is you, isn't it?! I'd know your face anywhere!"

Sasuke felt his cheeks start to redden and he struggled to control himself. Keep it together, you loser!

"Uh, hi," he said, stepping back to the fence. "… hi, Naruto-sensei," he went on, and saying his name out loud somehow tugged at something deep inside him. His efforts to control the heat in his cheeks failed; he was properly blushing now.

"Who is it, sensei?" asked the little girl in the blonde's arms.

"Ah! This is Sasuke-chan, he's a very important person!" Naruto-sensei explained to the children, who all accepted his word and nodded. "Oh, well, I suppose it's Sasuke-kun now, isn't it! I thought you moved away?" he said, directing his attention back to Sasuke.

"We…we moved back," Sasuke said, trying to keep his tone light. "Me and my brother."

"Itachi-chan!" Naruto said with a happy sigh. "Oh…that brings back memories!"

Yeah, well, it brings back memories for me, too, Sasuke thought, his blush fading. He'd been so jealous, whenever Itachi tagged along to pick Sasuke up from kindergarten, and his beloved sensei would be so overjoyed to see him…wasn't it enough that everyone fawned over Itachi at home? His own parents…

…no, stop it, he said to himself. Don't go there.

"I have to go," he said to the teacher and children. "Bye." He turned abruptly and rushed down the street, and didn't look back. Stopping here had been a mistake; if he was going to keep walking around, he would need to find somewhere without memories.

And yet for some reason, he found himself in the exact same place the very next day, and the next, and the next, until somehow…

"It's a good thing you came along when you did, Sasuke-chan," Naruto-sensei said to him, "we've been so overworked! A part-timer is just what we needed…"

He held out his hands, and Sasuke handed him another sheet. Naruto turned to throw the sheet over the clothing line, stretching up on his toes to spread it out. He hadn't even gotten taller; Sasuke was only a little bit shorter than him now.

Sasuke blushed, and realised he was staring again. He couldn't help it; when Naruto-sensei reached his arms up like that, his shirt rode up, and Sasuke could see-

No, no, stop it! he told himself.

"I'm sorry if I'm not much help," he said instead. "I don't even know how to use the washing machine…"

"You'll learn!" Naruto said to him. "I'm sure of it. You've already been a big help, Sasuke-chan. And the kids are so interested in you!"

Well, yes, they did seem to be curious. Sasuke was trying to not be his usual self around them. He didn't want to scare them, after all, with his usual frowns and glares. If he wanted to keep this after-school job, he needed to fit in.

"I suppose I should stop calling you that," the blonde said, reaching out for the last sheet. "I can't help it, though. You're still just as cute and sweet as you were back then!"

Sasuke turned his head away, letting his hair fall over his face so that his red cheeks were hidden. Why couldn't he stop that?! "It's okay, sensei," he murmured. "You can call me whatever you want."

"Well, you can drop the sensei! Just Naruto is fine, okay?" Naruto-sensei…no, Naruto said to him.

"Re-really?" Sasuke stammered. "Um, that seems a bit- well, okay, I'll try," he said.

Naruto nodded, and took the basket from him. "Come on, then. If you don't mind, we have some paperwork we really need sorted in the office. And you can get away from all this noise for a while!"

Sasuke blinked. Was it so obvious, how all the children and toys and chaos were getting to him? He'd always been so good at hiding his feelings. What was it about this guy…?

"Okay," he said. "And, um…you can just call me Sasuke."

He shouldn't be doing this to himself. After all, that first day when he'd stopped outside the kindergarten and seen him…he'd had the worst nightmares that night, the worst he'd had in ages. And he couldn't even bring himself to go to school the next day, he'd just took a sleeping pill and slept the day away.

And yet when he'd woken in the afternoon, he'd gotten dressed and put some shoes on, and walked down the street, and before he even knew what he was doing…

Well, that had been two weeks ago. And now here he was every day after school, at the very place that had set off such strong feelings in him.

"I don't know why I keep doing this to myself," Naruto-sensei groaned, "every year it's the same thing!"

They were sitting at a table together in the office, and the blonde had switched his usual radiant smile for a confused, puzzled frown, as he sorted through piles of receipts and invoices with a helpless expression on his face.

"I already sorted through these ones, Naruto-sen- ah, Naruto," Sasuke said, pointing to a neatly-organised pile of expense-claim forms. "They're ready to go."

"Oh, it's hopeless!" Naruto said. "We're just a tiny little kindergarten, why is there so much paperwork!"

Naruto wasn't the only teacher at the centre, and he spent so much of his time with the children, reading to them, wiping their snotty noses, putting band-aids on their scuffed knees, that Sasuke had been legitimately surprised to learn that he actually owned this place. He was the boss. But looking at him sitting there, shaking his head and sulking over this 'stupid tax stuff', Sasuke thought that no-one had ever looked less like a boss than Naruto-sensei.

"Why did you buy this place?" he blurted out, before he could stop himself. "I- I mean, it seems like a lot of work…?"

Naruto grinned at that, looking sheepish. "Mm, well, you know…they were gonna close it, and…well, here we are!"

Yes, here they were. And it the centre had been sold, then maybe Naruto-sensei wouldn't have been here for Sasuke to find, when he wondered past one day…so, even though this guy was hopeless when it came to numbers and money, maybe it was just as well.

"It's not so difficult," Sasuke said, trying to make his voice sound comforting. It wasn't easy- people at school called him a robot. "See? I'm sorting the receipts into categories, and then I'll add up the tax, okay?"

"It's impossible," Naruto moaned. "The other teachers say I'm meant to be able to claim all this stuff, and then we won't pay so much tax…we really need that…"

"I'll figure it out," Sasuke found himself saying, even though he didn't know the first thing about what kinds of expenses a childcare centre could claim. "And then I'm sure we can get this done by the deadline, okay?"

"Sasuke…!" Naruto said to him, smiling again, his eyes shining. "I always knew you'd turn out to be some kind of genius with this stuff! You were the first one to count to one hundred…"

Sasuke blushed and hid his face again. He wished Naruto would stop saying things like that. He wasn't stupid; he knew how much of an age-gap there was between them. But to be constantly reminded that Naruto had known him so well as a child… He sighed. Naruto had probably put band-aids on his scuffed knees, too, and wiped his snooty nose.

Really, Sasuke was no different than any of the other kids here, in Naruto's eyes. So Sasuke should just shut this down right now, whatever these feelings were, swirling around in his stomach and pounding in his chest. It couldn't lead anywhere good.

Sasuke spent the rest of the night and all the next day at school researching the tax rules and regulations for small businesses, in the childcare category. He even asked his math teacher about it, and she'd been very surprised to hear Sasuke say anything. Yeah, well, whatever. He didn't care what people at school thought about him.

He downloaded some tax software to his laptop and took it to the centre with him, and then after he'd done his usual chores (the laundry, cleaning the dishes from lunch, re-stocking the soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms) and read a few dozen stories to the pathetically whining bunch of chibis, he shut himself up in the office and started tackling the massive piles of paperwork.

Sasuke was determined to get the best possible tax return for Naruto. The other teachers had told him about it; the centre wasn't doing so well, financially, even though the kids and families loved it here. They might have to shut down, if things didn't improve.

Well, Sasuke wasn't going to let that happen! Naruto was fifteen years older than him, and Sasuke was just a high-school student. Without this part-time job, what other excuse would he have, for spending time with him?

"Sasuke, you're amazing!" Naruto said to him with those shining eyes of his, when Sasuke gave him a progress report that evening. "How do you know how to do all this stuff?!"

Sasuke shrugged. "I guess I like it," he lied. "Math, and tax and things. I was thinking of studying to be an accountant, after high school…" A complete lie. Sasuke wasn't thinking about doing anything after high school. Sleeping some more, maybe.

"Oh, I bet you'd be great at it!" Naruto gushed. "You just seem to get it. I can't believe how much you've done in just a few days!"

Sasuke tried to supress the giddy feelings that Naruto's words brought out. After all, if he'd told this idiot blond that he wanted to be a dolphin trainer, he'd probably get the same response. Naruto was just that kind of person, and he was this way with everyone. Sasuke was nothing special to him.

"It wasn't so hard," he mumbled, reaching out for another stack of receipts. He'd have this done in no time; and then he was going to look into government grants and other ways to bring more money into the centre.

Naruto yawned, and leaned back on his chair. "Man, those kids really tire me out sometimes! I need some coffee…oh! Look at the time!"

Sasuke glanced over to him, and bit back a smile at seeing the panicked look on his face. "How can you not know what the time is?" he teased.

"No wonder I'm so hungry…" Naruto pouted. "And shouldn't you be getting home soon? It's past dinner time…"

Sasuke tensed. "Uh, it's okay," he said. "I was just going to pick something up on the way home." Itachi was working late that night, so it would just be him. He'd rather stay here, where it was bright and warm.

Naruto stared at him, suddenly not pouting, or frowning, or smiling; he just had a blank expression on his face. "You don't need to go home? It's past 7…"

Sasuke shook his head. Please, let's not talk about this, he thought. "It's alright…"

"Is everything okay, Sasuke?" Naruto went on, oblivious to Sasuke's silence plea. "Are things okay, at home?"

Sasuke frowned, and looked down at the table. "Um…" he said. "Well, I…I probably should have told you, but actually, it's just me and Itachi. Um…my parents…"

…shit, he thought, feeling his eyes start to prick. Don't you dare cry in front of Naruto! It's not like it was a big deal, people died all the time, and he'd never even seen his parents all that much anyway, they were always travelling for work.

Naruto sighed, softly. "Yes, I know," he said. "I heard about that. I'm sorry, Sasuke…"

Sasuke whipped around and stared over at him, eyes wide. "You knew?" he exclaimed. "How?!"

Naruto flushed red, and ran a hand through his scruffy hair. "Uh, well, truthfully…it was on the news, the crash, and I recognized the names, so… I'm sorry, I didn't know how to bring it up…"

Sasuke was floored. Naruto had known, this whole time? "But," he said, confused. "You don't…you didn't act like you knew!" Everyone treated him differently, once they knew, and they almost always knew. A lot of people had died on that plane, but his parents were pretty well-known, and Sasuke couldn't escape his last name, even when they'd moved towns.

"Sasuke," Naruto began, his voice soft and gentle. "I know what it's like, when people act like you're…different. I wouldn't do that to you."

Well, that did it. Sasuke was mortified, but he felt his eyes welling up, and the tears start to pool and run down his cheeks. He pushed his chair back and it scrapped loudly on the linoleum, the sound echoing harshly through the silent room.

Sasuke stood and made to leave the room. Naruto couldn't see him like this, he just couldn't, he had to leave-

"Sasuke, wait, I'm sorry!" Naruto called out, pushing up from the table as well and following after him. "I didn't mean to upset you!

"It's okay," he said back, reaching the door. "I-"

"No, please!" Naruto said, grabbing his hand and stopping him from leaving. "You're upset, you can't leave like this!"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said, trying desperately to stop crying, this was so embarrassing, and Naruto-sensei was actually touching him-

"You're not fine," Naruto said, and to Sasuke's great shock, the blonde pulled him closer, and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke, I shouldn't have said anything…"

Sasuke froze as he was enveloped in warmth; he didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to do- so he just stood there stiffly, with Naruto holding him, and with tears running down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them now.

"There, good, it's okay," Naruto said to him, his voice warm and comforting, and Sasuke closed his eyes and let it wash over him. "It's okay to be sad about it, Sasuke, I promise."

Sasuke made a little noise, and suddenly he found himself hugging him back, wrapping his own arms around Naruto's shoulders and gripping him tight, holding on to him as the tears kept flowing. "I'm not," he got out, horrified at just how tremble-y his own voice was. "I'm fine…"

"Mm, I'm sure you're doing just fine, aren't you? But every now and then, you need to let yourself feel." Naruto was rubbing soothing circles into his back, and gradually, Sasuke felt himself start to relax, letting out a breath and leaning further into him.

So Sasuke cried, resting his head on Naruto's chest, with the blonde murmuring comforting words into his ear and holding him closer. He cried, thinking about how lonely he'd been, about how useless he'd been with Itachi, who was broken by their parent's death, but Sasuke couldn't do anything for either of them. Everything just seemed so dark and bleak, and he didn't know how to make it better.

Sasuke avoided the centre for the next few days- he was just so embarrassed. He couldn't believe he'd let himself cry in front of someone, especially someone he…well. Anyway. As it turned out, without anywhere to go after school, things were even worse; and besides, there was still so much that needed to be done.

So he went back, letting himself in through the front gate, and instantly he found himself surrounded by screaming children.

"Sasuke-sensei, Sasuke-sensei!" they all cried, dancing around and jumping up and down. "You're back!"

He was bewildered, and a little freaked out with them all around him, tugging at his clothes and hands, demanding that he read, that he come and play dress-ups, that he sing- honestly, who did these kids think he was?!

"Ah, Sasuke-kun!" said Shizune, one of the other teachers, peering around the corner to see what all the commotion was about. "Thank goodness! There's so much washing to be done- are you feeling better? Naruto said you were sick!"

"Do you need a tissue, Sasuke-sensei?" one of the kids said, pulling something gross-looking out of her pocket.

"Hey, guys!" came Naruto's voice, as he rushed out to rescue Sasuke from the horde. "Let's give Sasuke-sensei some room!" He chased them all away and herded Sasuke inside. "Sorry, they just all really missed you!"

"Why?" he asked, confused, as he followed Naruto into the office. "They don't even see me that much…"

"Ah well," Naruto said to that, grinning at him. "You've been here for almost three weeks now, and they like having someone younger than their teachers around! Like a big brother."

"…oh," Sasuke said, not sure how he felt about that. "Um, I'm really sorry I…"

"No no, it's okay," Naruto said, waving his hands. "You weren't feeling well! Ah, but, if you're feeling up to it, I could really use your help…" He turned, and pointed at an overflowing pile of paper stacked on the table.

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, how did this guy manage to run a business like this? "I'll get right on it," he said.

"Oh, and I told everyone you had a cold so… Ayame left you some soup, and the parents have been bringing you oranges."

Sasuke blinked. "Really?" he said. "But-"

"They like you, Sasuke, and we all appreciate your help!" Naruto interrupted, beaming at him. "You wouldn't believe how happy the staff have been to be getting their pay on time!"

Sasuke did roll his eyes that time. It was lucky this was a childcare business, and that Naruto was so good with kids. They all adored him, and so did the families; everyone wanted to be here. So maybe even if he was lousy with money and tax, it was okay. …maybe Sasuke really could be useful here.

He sat down and pulled the stack of papers towards him. "Okay, leave this with me," he said to a jubilant Naruto. "I'll have it done in no time."

"Thank you, Sasuke!" Naruto said to him, his eyes shining, and his expression so bright and happy that Sasuke melted on the inside, feeling all warm and content for the first time in days.

Yes, this was good; he didn't know what it was that had brought him back to this place, but maybe it was just where he needed to be.