Author's Note; Hopefully this conveyed the sense of darkness and morbidity that I intended. Concept comes from both "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt and the song Paths of Desire by October Project. Additionally, inspiration comes from Sasu and Naru, (c) Koi Cosplay.

By night, he dreams of Sasuke.

In his dreams, they are alone, and they are naked. Sasuke's hands are dry where his fingertips brush across Naruto's skin, and his mouth is warm, and they are pressed together in the darkness. The place is unimportant, nonspecific— the walls are dark and hung with fabrics, but Naruto's field of vision is wide enough to encompass Sasuke and Sasuke alone, the porcelain-pale skin of his throat and the sharp lines of his collarbones. In his dreams, Naruto leaves sharp red bites down Sasuke's chest, prompting soft half-choked sounds and bitten-back moans; in his dreams, Sasuke's fingers tangle in his hair, nails across his scalp, and Naruto loves it.

By day, he is the fly who dreams of the spider. Naruto is helplessly, hopelessly entangled in Sasuke's web— a sticky silk trap of lies and deceit and desire and betrayal. They are connected, inexorably, undeniably connected, a thread between them pulled taut by wanting (Naruto's) and hatred (Sasuke's). By day, Naruto is drawn to Sasuke, caught in him like an insect in a spider's trap, following the twisted lonely road to Sasuke's side. By day, he is a pawn.

By night, though.

In his dreams, Sasuke kisses him and it's slow and quiet and warm, lips moving in a silent litany of pleas even as tongues and teeth duel. Naruto's fingers traverse the terrain of Sasuke's spine, map the geography of his vertebrae, and Sasuke's learn the contours of Naruto's muscles, the lines of his tendons. In his dreams, they memorize each other with fingers and mouths, silent save for breathing and muted moans. Sasuke's hands find the sensitive places on Naruto's body— the dips between his ribs, the place just behind his jaw, the ridge of his hipbone. In his dreams, Sasuke coaxes him to pleasure with a flurry of soft touches, and Naruto loves it.

By day, Naruto pushes himself to near-breaking, training until he can't anymore. His body is a war machine, taut and toned and lean; four years ago, he would have boasted, paraded himself, put on a show of the childlike bravado that was his trademark in those years. Now, though— now, he understands his body to be the tool he needs, with a singular goal in mind: Bring Sasuke back. By day, Naruto is a craftsman, molding his musculature, honing his jutsu until he drops unconscious, exhausted; by day, he travels the paths of hardship and self-denial.

But by night.

In his dreams, their bodies are furnaces, sweat-slick and warm. Sasuke presses into Naruto's body and it's perfect, the hushed intake of breath, the sound of fingers gripping skin; Naruto's fingers tangle in Sasuke's hair and he arches his back, wanting, and Sasuke gives. In his dream, Sasuke gives, to him and for him and of him until there's nothing left to take, until they fly apart into a million tiny shattered melted glittering broken pieces and, breathing each other's oxygen, they collapse. In his dreams, Sasuke is ihis/i and his alone.

By day, Naruto is the fly who dreams of the spider, kept connected by some deep, dark need for understanding. He is blind, crossing bridges in aimless search for something he know can only hurt him; he is empty, yearning, hunting for answers. By day, Sasuke is an enemy, a traitor, a former friend, but by night— by night he is home, alive, fierce and bright and burning hot like a star, like desire, like wanting. In Naruto's dreams, they are friends again, lovers; in his dreams, they are beautiful.

And by day, Naruto knows— it will only ever be a dream.

***

I have traveled the paths of desire
Gathering flowers and carrying fire
Raising a grave to the reasons behind me
Looking for strength as you live to remind me
I'm drawn to you
I'm caught in you
I am the fly who dreams of the spider
The path to the web becomes deeper and wider
I dream of the silk that is tangled inside you
And know that I want to be somewhere beside you