Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Prompt #1: Soulmates (-)

Warnings: Fairy Tales, merpeople, Naruto being a hopeless romantic. This is set in the same universe as “Aquamarine”, you can check that one on my profile.

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Naruto felt the skin on his lower arm start thrumming mildly, and immediately knew this was the precise moment his life would change forever.

He stopped moving forwards and looked around, anxiously. He could hear his heartbeats pounding in his ears. But there was no one to be seen. 

He looked at his mark and yes, the gentle heat under his skin was definitely present. And that could mean only one thing. His soulmate was somewhere near. So, he’d just have to find them, no biggie!

“Hello! Is anyone there?!” he called out and started inspecting his surroundings. Some animals got startled and hurried away, but there was overall no response. That didn’t deter him, though. He kept looking, following his gut instinct and the feeling on his skin, until he got closer and closer to the shore.

He didn’t recognize this beach. It was probably the first time he came here, but he loved to travel and get to know new places. That was the main reason he was here, alone, in the middle of nowhere. The ocean was just so enormous that it made no sense to not explore it.

His senses guided him until he was almost on land, and then there was light. Naruto had to cover his eyes by the sudden brightness, atypical considering the time. The sun was already down, but there was light over the surface. There was also this weird sound… Wait, that was someone’s voice!

Curious but wary, Naruto swam up and peeked from the distance. He could distinguish the silhouette of a human walking in the opposite direction to where he was. The mark on his arm burned, and he just knew .

Soulmates were sacred to merpeople. Every single merfolk waited for the one made only for them. It was custom, it was tradition. Nobody mated before meeting their fated one, and once they finally found them, the bond lasted a lifetime.

Naruto’s parents were soulmates, and every single other couple he’d met were too. So he had awaited the day he would finally find his one, his only. And that day had finally come, except for one single, small detail he hadn’t really considered before.

He had always thought his mate would be a mer, just like him. He’d never heard of interspecies soulmates, and yet here he was, totally smitten with the human he hadn’t even met yet. But he could feel it in his bones, this human was his soulmate.

He had picked up the land token the human had left on the sand the day before, and was attentively inspecting it. It was clearly not made to be underwater, because the material was weakening so fast, but there were also strange symbols engraved on it, but Naruto knew nothing of human language.

Wait, he knew nothing about human language! How was he supposed to talk to his mate, then?

He could feel his presence through the mark, the human was near. So, he decided to follow him around without approaching him.

Now in the daylight, he could see his features more clearly than last night. His skin was pale, and his hair, black. As expected, he had two legs, and no other visible appendix, but Naruto didn’t really know much about human anatomy. He watched him pace back and forth, marching on the beach, and suddenly this weird thought plagued his mind.

Was he perhaps looking for something? The item Naruto had dared to retrieve from the beach?

Or could he actually be looking for someone?

That must’ve been it! The human had to feel his soulmate was near, so he was looking for Naruto!

But could Naruto approach him? How would his soulmate react when he saw him and realized Naruto wasn’t human?

Well, he thought, there was only one way to find out.

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Prompt #2: Stay with me (SN)

Warnings: Very mild omegaverse, Military AU, angst, inspired by one of my other stories “Noches de lluvia, días de sol”.

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Sitting silently on the bed, Naruto watched his husband pack whatever belongings he was allowed to take with him.

A pair of underwear, socks, shirts and pants. Other essentials too, like his toothbrush, a comb, a bar of soap… Most things he would need would be handed out at the base, he’d been told, so there was no use in taking more than necessary.

Naruto’s eyes followed him wherever he went. He was afraid that if he looked away, the alpha would suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke. There was a knot in his throat, stopping him from speaking. The only sounds his ears caught were rain and thunder.

He saw Sasuke take a notebook and put something in between the pages before tucking it into his bag. Then, he sighed and put the bag away. Naruto didn’t acknowledge him when he retreated to the bed, sitting down on his own side of the bed, black eyes searching his mate’s blue ones.

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” he asked, as if there was nothing happening. As if his biggest worries were actually that, picking something to eat later.

Naruto made a nonsensical sound.

“I can make some ramen for us.”

Ramen. Naruto’s favorite. And still, not enough to lift his mood up.

The wind crashed against the window violently, but it didn’t startle either of them. The thunderstorm would pass soon. What they were living right now, the heaviness of their hearts, wouldn’t be as brief.

“Naruto…”

“I should be packing, too.” Naruto suddenly spoke up.

Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh. This was a conversation they already had many times, and it wasn’t like it would change anything.

“I should be going with you,” he continued, closing his hands into fists. The impotence of the situation was something that would chase him all his life.

“No, you shouldn’t.”

“I’m not weak, you asshole! I could perfectly-!”

“I know you’re not weak! You know this has nothing to do with that. Goddammit, Naruto, this is my last day home. I don’t want to spend it arguing with you.”

Just for once, Sasuke thought, just for once, I’m glad being an omega forces you to not do something.

Naruto’s lip trembled, and he had to fight back the tears that wanted to escape from his eyes.

“And I also don’t want my last memory of you to be seeing you cry,” Sasuke murmured, stretching out his arm to dry his tears.

“I’m sorry,” Naruto said, but he couldn’t restrain his tears anymore.

He didn’t want Sasuke to see him like this, either. He wanted to be strong, he wanted to be able to do something. Anything.

But he couldn’t. There was nothing he could do besides praying for his mate to come back home safe and sound. He had to. 

Stay, Naruto’s mind begged, as he allowed himself to get lost in his alpha’s warm embrace.

Don’t leave. You belong here, with me.

Sasuke's arms tightened around him. This, this was his home. He couldn’t lose it, couldn’t lose him.

Please, don’t go. Stay with me.

“C’mon, let’s go make some dinner.”

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Prompt #3: Blank period (-)

Warnings: Pining, pre-relationship. Also, Sasuke is only mentioned here.

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Naruto left the Hokage Tower pouting, visibly dejected, hands in his pockets.

He kicked a random rock, hitting a plastic bottle that laid in the middle of the road.

A sigh, then another kick.

Then a voice calling out for him.

“Hey, Naruto!”

“Huh?” blinking confusedly, Naruto turned around to find Team 8, Kiba, Shino and Hinata, waving at him.

“Hey! We’re gonna grab some lunch, wanna come with us?” Kiba asked him.

“Huh… Sure!” he decided and strolled towards them, grinning excitedly. “You’re paying, right?”

“Oi-”

“I’ll treat you, Naruto-kun,” Hinata kindly offered.

“Sweet!” the blond beamed.

“Hey, don’t take advantage of Hinata, you doofus.”

“Wha-! She offered!”

They bickered all the way to Ichiraku, where everybody sat down and ordered a steamy bowl of ramen each.

“Mmm… This is so good!” Naruto said, after taking his first mouthful of noodles.

“You say that everytime,” Kiba complained and grabbed his chopsticks to start eating too.

“It’s the truth.”

Hinata giggled at the two of them and Shino just kept silent.

They chatted for a while and spent part of the afternoon together, until Naruto decided it was time to go home.

“Thanks for letting me join you today, guys,” Naruto said, intertwining his hands behind his head. “And thanks for inviting me, Hinata.”

“Nah, we had fun,” Kiba reassured him. “Besides, we saw you leaving the Hokage Tower all gloomy and that, so we wanted to distract you for a bit.”

“Oh,” was all Naruto could say, suddenly remembering why had been so blue just a while ago.

“Is everything okay, Naruto-kun?” Hinata asked worriedly after watching him suddenly deflate.

“It’s nothing, just…” he sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “You guys remember the report we got about that one village?”

“The one with the shinobi net of human trafficking?” Kiba asked, blinking interestedly.

“That one, yeah. Well, Sasuke was the one who discovered the net, right?”

“Huh, yeah, we heard.”

“So, I was supposed to be sent on a mission to dismantle the net, but Kakashi-sensei just told me Sasuke already took care of it on his own,” he informed them, shoulders dropping.

The three team members watched him, bemused. Like Naruto’s words shouldn’t match his reaction.

After a couple seconds in awkward silence, Hinata finally said: “Isn’t that something good?”

“Yeah, right? Dude took care of it, so now you won’t have to bother going on that mission,” Kiba agreed, not understanding what the issue was.

“But that means now I won’t get to meet him anytime soon!” he whined, pouting again.

“... Oh.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Kiba asked out of pure curiosity.

“... The day he left.”

“You haven’t seen each other in two years?!” he squeaked.

“Weren’t you two dating?” Shino spoke for the first time since they met up.

“W-What? No, we’re not!” Naruto denied hotly.

“Hm… I could’ve sworn you two met up every once in a while. Not even when you go out on missions?”

“Wait, so Sasuke and you are not together?” Kiba interrupted.

“How and why would you even get to that conclusion? Does everybody think we’re dating?” Naruto started panicking.

“Well…”

“Ugh, I can’t believe you guys!” he said and then stormed out of the shop, leaving the group alone.

The three of them just watched him leave and sighed.

“How did we get to that conclusion? He’s been obsessed with that guy since we were kids!” Kiba complained.

“Even if they’re not actually dating, Naruto’s definitely a goner.”

Kiba snorted. “Understandment of the year.”

Hinata clasped her hands together. “So… Who wants dessert?”

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Prompt #4: I’m happiest when I’m with you (-)

Warnings: This is set in the same timeline as yesterday’s prompt. Just Sasuke getting a bit angsty.

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For a long time, Sasuke hadn’t had a place to call home.

He’d been on the road most of his life, since he left Konoha for the first time. That time, though, he had been too busy focusing on… other things to actually pay attention to his surroundings.

Now, at almost twenty, he had finally let himself enjoy what the world had to offer. Sure, his main purpose for being away from the village was atonement, but he had come to appreciate the little things life had to offer. From the bees buzzing from flower to flower, to the way the sunlight reflected in the clouds and made them shine.

He’d been granted a new opportunity, and he wouldn’t waste it, not this time. He didn’t owe the village anything, but he believed in Naruto’s dream and vision for the future. Sasuke had been wrong. He couldn’t blame what happened to his family on every single person in the village. The citizens were innocent, for the most part, and the new generation deserved a chance too. So he would help Naruto so things like the Uchiha Massacre never repeated again.

He couldn’t make himself live there, though. Not anymore. He had embraced his new life and accepted his role outside the village. He would be Naruto’s support from a distance, taking care or whatever threatened to end the peace they so hardly fought for.

This was his life now, and he was content with it. Not happy, but content. He didn’t aim to be happy, didn’t think he deserved it. But he had made his peace with it. This was more than he thought he’d ever have.

And yet…

Of course you deserve to be happy, Sasuke! Everyone does, you’re no exception.

He could even hear him in his head, that idiot. He hadn’t seen Naruto in years and yet it was like he was right here, by his side… Telling him he deserved everything when he didn’t.

And Sasuke couldn’t help but long for him, sometimes. His one and only friend, the person who’d saved him over and over again. The one reason he was still alive.

You deserve to be happy.

But what did happiness even mean? He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, the meaning of that word.

Because for Sasuke, happiness came in the form of spiky blond hair and bright blue eyes, and he had been denying himself of it for so long, making himself believe he could live his entire life just being content .

So, when he found the shinobi net of human trafficking in that godforsaken village, and Kakashi told him he would send Naruto to help, he decided to take matters into his own hands and finished the mission by himself.

Not even a week later, he’d gotten a letter from Naruto, asking him if he was alright, how the situation in that village (in which he wasn’t currently anymore) was, and telling him he was kind of disappointed at not being able to meet him on this mission.

“I was really looking forward to meeting you after all these years. I heard from Kakashi-sensei that you took care of the net on your own. I guess they weren’t a match for you at all, huh? …”

And he kept going, telling Sasuke how he was doing, narrating silly things that happened in his life and what the others of his generation were up to, which Sasuke honestly didn’t care much about. He felt his heart aching with longing, again, wishing he could hear all that blabbering directly from the blond’s mouth.

And then he read that line.

“Hey, Sasuke. I don’t really know where you’ll be when this gets to you, but do you wanna meet up? I’d be really happy to see you.”

I’d be really happy to see you.

Would he, really?

He thought about it for a long time, until one day he finally sent his response.

Naruto’s smile when they reunited a couple of weeks later had been worth it all. He seemed genuinely happy to see him, even after two years being almost no contact.

And Sasuke was too. He let himself be happy, just for a little while, just as long as he could be by Naruto’s side.

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Prompt #5: Sunset / sunrise (-)

Warnings: Fantasy tropes.

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Sasuke had been following that stupid fox around. The creature was ridiculously sneaky, so it always managed to escape from his grasp every time they came across each other, which wasn’t really very often.

It wasn’t fair!

Sasuke was an Uchiha, and Uchihas were the finest of all hunters. His father’s hall was decorated with all sorts of trophies. From deer heads to dissected wolves. Sasuke hadn’t ever seen a wolf around here, but his father had managed to hunt one. And he, as the youngest son of the main family, still hadn’t been able to catch that one idiotic fox.

The animal was beautiful. Red fur, but it almost seemed to glow golden under the sunlight. It was bigger than a regular fox, too. It would make the perfect gift, dissected in all his glory for everyone to gawk upon. Foxes were rare, and one of the few animals his older brother still hadn’t caught. So he had to get his hands on one first, he had to make his father proud.

He took his bow and, with practiced precision, positioned an arrow in the direction the fox was running. Then he shot.

There was a yeek, a grunt, and then the fox kept going.

Shit, he’d missed. Again.

Hurrying forwards, he started noticing it was slowly getting darker and darker. That would make it difficult to find his prey, but he couldn’t just let him go! If he gave up now, who knows when he’d encounter the fox again, if he ever did.

So he kept going. 

He didn’t let anything deter him from achieving his goal. He would get that fox, it’d be his.

The sky turned a variety of pinks and oranges, signaling the sun was finally setting. And it was just then Sasuke noticed this was a part of the forest he’d never been to before. Wherever he looked, there were only unfamiliar trees, a strange aura clinging to them.

He started feeling uneasy.

And then he saw it, the fox, looking straight into his eyes from around some bushes.

“So there you are…”

He took out another arrow, and for a second, he wondered why the fox wasn’t running away anymore. And it was in that moment, the exact instant the last ray of sunshine disappeared from the sky, when he dropped his assets. Because in front of him, there was no fox, but a boy around his age, watching him with wary eyes.

“What are you?” the boy said, and the moonlight reflecting over him let Sasuke identify the color of his hair, which appeared to be blond, and his bright blue eyes. He was dressed in a simple yukata, but he couldn’t quite see its color.

“Wha- What am I? I think that’s my line,” Sasuke frowned, but the blond didn’t back down.

“Don’t mess with me!” the blond warned him. “I thought you were human, but you had no trouble getting past the barrier. So spill! What are you?”

“Barrier? What barrier? And what the hell are you? You were just a fox a few seconds ago!”

Suddenly, he had the other boy’s face just right in front of his, and that made him take a step backwards instinctively. Blue eyes searched into his, and they almost seemed red for a second, until the blond stepped away.

“You’re not lying,” he uttered to himself, in wonder.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow in question, starting to lose his patience.

“You got into the barrier without even realizing.”

“What barrier? What are you talking about?”

“The magic barrier. You’re in the enchanted part of the forest. No human is supposed to be here. Ever.”

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke scoffed.

“Magic isn’t real.”

The boy didn’t say anything, just sighed and started walking away.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Sasuke went after him, but not before picking up his stuff from the ground.

“I don’t befriend those who try to kill me, thank you very much.”

“I don’t want to be your friend.”

The boy turned around to lock eyes with him for a couple of seconds, and then resumed his steps.

“Perfect, then. Bye.”

“Oi! Tell me how to get out of here,” Sasuke demanded.

Then, the blond turned around again with a mischievous grin.

“You can’t. The portal closed at sunset. You’re trapped here, so enjoy your stay!”

Sasuke padded closer to grab him by the arm.

“What the fuck does that mean? Show me the way back!”

“Are you deaf? The portal is closed, it won’t open again until next spring, on the first sunrise. So get comfortable and try to not die, I guess. I don’t care.”

That couldn’t be true. He couldn’t be trapped in the middle of nowhere with a… a… what was this guy again? A fox shifter or something? Was that a thing?

And not only that. The uneasiness hadn’t faded. It was like there were thousands of eyes watching them, but the boy didn’t seem to be affected by it.

This was… This was something he wasn’t prepared for. An enchanted forest? What kind of bullshit was that? And this didn’t feel like the friendly kind of enchanted forest, with cute fairies and talking animals, like children’s tales. No, this place was dangerous. He couldn’t stay here.

“There must be a way out,” he insisted, and tensed when the blond looked at him with pitiful eyes.

“If you stay close to me, they won’t harm you,” was all the fox said before resuming his trip to wherever he was going.

“Who?” Sasuke started following him again.

“The spirits,” was the only answer he got. “Stay close and you’ll be fine.”

Sasuke eyed him carefully.

“So you’re helping me now?”

The blond shrugged. “You’ll die otherwise. I don’t want to live with that guilt.”

The hunter clenched his teeth, but decided against replying.

“The name’s Naruto, by the way,” the blond spoke after a while.

“... Sasuke.”

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Prompt #6: There was only one bed (-)

Warnings: Continuation of yesterday’s prompt. Fantasy tropes.

Dedicated to AngelSelene, magma and RecitedPlay.

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“Why do you hate me so much, anyway?” the blond suddenly asked, hands behind his head as he looked into the starry sky.

Sasuke eyed him from the corner of his eyes, following his steps in the darkness, noticing just how human Naruto looked, even if he wasn’t.

“I don’t…” he sighed, and started fidgeting with the only arrow he had left. “I don’t hate you.”

Naruto then turned to look at him, and his expression screamed ‘bullshit’.

And yeah, well, Sasuke guessed he had valid reasons to believe he hated him, but it wasn’t really something personal or anything. He didn’t even know Naruto was a demon, in the first place. He had just been chasing a prey, as he always did.

“It’s not like I knew you were… whatever the hell you are, and not just simply a fox,” he reminded him nonchalantly.

Naruto snorted.

“You still seemed pretty adamant on killing me, though.” he commented, but there wasn’t really any bitterness in his voice. That told Sasuke Naruto was cautious, but not really scared of him.

“Nothing personal,” the hunter replied.

“So you just go out hunting animals for fun?” Naruto arched an eyebrow.

“Not for fun,” he responded defensively. “I come from a family of respectable hunters, I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do.”

“There’s nothing respectable in killing other living creatures.”

“They’re just animals.”

And only then, Sasuke realized his mistake.

“Not all of them are,” Naruto replied, like it was obvious. “And even if they were, animals still deserve to live in peace and not be hunted like trophies.”

“They kill each other too,” Sasuke protested.

“Out of necessity in most cases,” Naruto said, then shrugged. “I guess you’re just one of those humans.”

“One of which humans?”

Ignoring his question, Naruto kept talking, this time to himself. “I wonder how you managed to cross the barrier, though.”

“Again, what’re you talking about?”

“Oh, we’re here,” Naruto stopped on his feet just in front of an enormous tree. It looked thicker than most trees here, but Sasuke still didn’t know exactly where they supposedly had arrived. At least not until he saw, with wide eyes, how Naruto just went through it and disappeared completely, like the tree had swallowed him.

“O-Oi!” Sasuke called him, but his only reply was the crickets singing in the dark.

He looked around frantically, trying to find Naruto, and started to panic when he felt observed. But then, half of Naruto’s body just peeked from the tree. “Hey! You coming or what?”

“Coming where?”

Naruto just rolled his eyes and disappeared again.

Dubiously, Sasuke padded closer to the tree until it was at an arm's reach, and stretched his hand to touch it, only to realize it went past through it. Inhaling deeply, he pushed through and crossed some kind of portal that took him to the interior of what seemed to be a living room.

“Took you long enough,” Naruto said, and just plopped himself down on an armchair.

“What is this place?” Sasuke asked, dumbfounded.

“Welcome to my den. Or, well, I guess it’s not really a den if you think about it, but I still like to call it that.”

“You’ve got a fucking house inside a tree?” Sasuke said incredulously.

“Neat, huh?” Naruto seemed to be pretty proud of his home, though. “Well, get comfy and don’t break anything.”

The place wasn’t big, really. Just the living room (merged with the kitchen, actually), one bedroom and one bathroom. Enough for one person – er, fox? – to live in.

“There’s only one bed,” Sasuke uttered dumbly when he entered the bedroom.

“Well, duh. I live alone here.”

“So where am I gonna sleep?”

“What, too much of a scaredy cat to share with me?” Naruto teased and Sasuke just glared at him. “We either share or you sleep on the floor, I’m not giving up my bed for you.”

“Fair,” was all Sasuke had to say about the matter, turning around to get back to the living room, where he left his assets aside and laid on the floor.

“Really? Okay, then,” Naruto just blinked at him and then shrugged. “Don’t come crawling to the bed when you’re freezing later into the night.”

“I won’t,” Sasuke assured him.

A couple of hours later, Sasuke did not, in fact, crawl back to the bed when the cold started getting into his skin, no. He stood up and walked, mind you.

The mattress was soft and comfortable, so he just got under the sheets, not caring if he woke Naruto up or not, nor that he was sharing a bed with a man. He’d slept in worse places before anyway.

It didn’t take long for Sasuke to fall asleep. He didn’t notice the arm that snaked around him a while later, nor the nose intently sniffing the nape of his neck.

“I guess you’re mine now,” a voice murmured into the dark.

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Prompt #7: Living together and by my side (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Naruto, Omega Sasuke, mentions of courting rituals, Modern AU.

I’m not quite sure if this meets today’s prompts (cuz this time I chose the two of them), but I hope you enjoy it.

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Naruto had always been quite messy since he was a child, so when he’d called Iruka and asked to come over to help him out with something, his old teacher wasn’t expecting to find his apartment so… so… clean and organized.

His chin almost dropped to the floor at seeing how neat everything was.

“... Should I worry about this?” Iruka asked offhandedly, but kind of baffled at the same time.

“Don’t be mean, sensei,” Naruto pouted. “What do you think?”

“Well… I’m impressed. Everything’s clean and tidy, completely the opposite as it usually is.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad,” the blond made a face.

“If you say so… Why is your smell so strong here, anyway?”

“It’s my room,” Naruto said as if it was obvious.

“I know, but it stinks way more than usual. You should open a window to clear it up.”

“No, it’s fine like this,” Naruto refuted, but his cheeks tinted a light pink that made Iruka wonder.

He inspected the blond intently for a couple of seconds, then his eyes drifted to the bedroom, all well put together, and there was also the heavy alpha scent lingering in the air… Iruka connected the dots almost instantly.

“You’re making a den.”

“Huh?”

“Your room’s spotless, there’s nothing out of place, everything reeks of you, and you’re asking my opinion on it. You’re making a den,” the older one said matter-of-factly.

The blond alpha felt all his blood rushing to his cheeks.

The same way omegas created their own nests for a variety of reasons, alphas often made dens. Or, at least, that was the name they still called it from centuries ago, when their ancestors used to live in the wild. Now, a den was simply a room. However, since alphas were generally very territorial, it was an extremely private place. Only family or really close people were allowed to enter a den.

And now Naruto seemed to be obsessed with his being decently tidy enough, and he’d even added some details so it would look more interesting, and that only meant he was going to present his den to his intended mate. And it didn’t take a genius to guess who was in the blond’s mind in this case, considering there was only one person Naruto had his eyes set on.

“Don’t say it like that, sounds weird, y’know.”

“You’re thinking of asking Sasuke to come and check it out?”

The blond scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed, earning a fond smile from his old teacher.

When an alpha presented a den to a prospective mate, which was usually an omega, but also applied to betas and even other alphas in a few cases, it was a clear signal that the alpha wanted to officially court the other person. If said person expressed they liked it, they were accepting the courting. If not, then it was a clear rejection.

“You think he’ll like it?” Naruto asked dubiously, which only made Iruka grow even fonder for him.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, trust me.”

Naruto spent the rest of the day finishing inspecting his room thoroughly. He wanted it to be perfect, there could be nothing out of place. If he messed this up, he wouldn’t ever forgive himself.

He thought about buying a couple more decorative cushions, or maybe blankets. Yeah, blankets would be good. Sasuke would surely like it more if there was enough stuff to make a nest, right? But maybe he was thinking too far ahead, he didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. Sasuke would probably never speak to him again if he implied something he didn’t mean to.

The blond sighed, deciding to take a break. He padded out of his room and into the living room, plopping down on the sofa. He eyed the wall clock, marking three o’clock in the afternoon. He’d invited Sasuke over for dinner, so they would meet in an Italian restaurant at five, because eating Italian food was romantic, right? It was obviously a date, even if they hadn’t used that word before.

Sasuke and him had known each other since high school. They couldn’t stand each other at the beginning. They were like water and oil, always arguing about something and even throwing punches at each other from time to time. Slowly but surely, and against anyone's wildest guess, they became friends. Naruto didn’t take long to realize his thoughts were drawn to Sasuke the majority of the time, and soon he was using every excuse to spend time with him and be by his side. Soon enough, he was yearning for more than what the raven was offering him at the moment.

By the time Naruto had finally realized, he was completely and irrevocably in love with Sasuke. He didn’t know if Sasuke felt the same, though, so after some months debating with himself about what to do, he decided to start acting on his feelings slowly. Just baby steps. He began doing things like sending him a good morning and good night text every day, or bringing him his favorite coffee to the college campus every morning, or waiting for him after class ended… Then, he started asking him to hang out more often. Naruto never referred to their meetings as dates, but always insisted to pay and for them to do more stuff together. After the third time, though, Sasuke started demanding him to stop, insisting it made no sense for Naruto to pay every single time when they had always split costs whenever they went out. This triggered a lot of discussions and arguing between them, but at the end, Naruto ended up being the most stubborn one.

He wondered if Sasuke had already taken notice of whatever the blond was trying to do. And well, if he hadn’t yet, today there would be no doubt about it. Once Naruto presented him his den, that would be it. Sasuke would have to know Naruto wanted them to stop being just friends and become… something more.

Naruto just hoped it didn’t end in an utter disaster.

“So? What’cha think?”

Naruto was staring at Sasuke, trying to hide the little anxious tic of his leg, as the omega’s eyes roamed over his bedroom. Naruto hoped he was doing a good job of appearing calm because, in reality, he was dying of nerves.

“I honestly thought your room would be even more disastrous than the mess of a locker you had in high school.”

Naruto’s face went blank. That wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

He kept silent, waiting for the omega to say something else. There was a knot in his throat and the Uchiha was still saying nothing. If Sasuke told him he liked the room, then he would be given Naruto his permission to court him and become a couple and, hopefully, have a mating bond one day.

Naruto tried with all his might to control the incessant beating of his heart against his ribs, but the nerves he was feeling might actually kill him. And then, he saw Sasuke shrugging.

“It’s not bad,” the raven said, his gaze still inspecting the room.

Naruto’s heart almost stopped altogether. It’s not bad, he’d said. What the hell did that mean? Did he like it? Or didn’t he? Should Naruto rearrange something?

“So… You like it?” Naruto dared to ask.

“I guess I do.”

Naruto almost beamed at that.

Sasuke wasn’t directly looking at him, but averted his gaze, pretending to keep studying Naruto’s room, in a kind of bashful way – Sasuke was shy! – and his cheeks pinked almost unnoticeable.

“But you’re thinking too far ahead, dumbass. We aren’t even dating yet.”

“Huh?” Naruto blinked confused.

Well, yeah. Wasn’t that exactly the point? They weren’t dating yet, and that’s why Naruto made a den! So they would start officially dating.

“I’m saying I appreciate it, but I’m not… moving in with you just yet.”

“Wha- No! I’m not asking you to move in with me!” Naruto denied hotly, cheeks burning red.

“Then you just… Cleaned your room to make a point or something?” Sasuke asked, arching an eyebrow. And he now seemed even more confused than Naruto was.

“No, I-! Argh!” now the alpha was starting to get a bit frustrated. “I just wanted you to go out with me? Officially? Like a couple?”

Sasuke’s eyes went wide and he looked surprised for a second, and then he smacked his hand on his forehead with a defeated groan.

“You absolute idiot! That’s not what dens are for!”

“Wait, they’re not?”

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his eyes. He loved Naruto, he really did, but how could one person be so ridiculously clueless .

“C’mon, let’s watch a movie or something,” the omega proposed. He wasn’t mentally prepared to have this conversation right now. Let him drown in his own humiliation, before his brother or anyone else got to hear about this.

Naruto didn’t complain, but followed him to the living room and waited for Sasuke to pick a movie. He didn’t quite understand what just happened. Were they dating now or not?

They didn’t really speak to each other for a couple of hours, enraptured as they were with the movie, but when it ended and it was time for Sasuke to leave, he leaned in to kiss Naruto on the cheek before saying: “Thanks for tonight. Next time, I’ll take you out on a date.”

When Naruto finally got time to react to the surprise of the sudden kiss and opened his mouth to say something, Sasuke was already walking away, waving with one hand.

“I’m paying!” was all Naruto managed to shout.

“Like hell you are!”

“Wait, so presenting a den is actually a direct proposal to mate and live together?!” Naruto screamed scandalized.

Iruka just took a sip of his coffee, sighing internally.

“Why did nobody tell me that before? Why didn’t you warn me, Iruka-sensei?”

“I honestly thought you and Sasuke had already been dating for years, it just made sense to me for you to propose,” the older one said, wondering how this had escaped his knowledge. Naruto and Sasuke were always together, they went out a lot, and Naruto had been so in love with him since forever that them being boyfriends was the only logical conclusion.

“Oh, man. I totally made a fool of myself there,” the blond whined.

It was okay, though, Iruka thought. As long as they were together, it would be all okay.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #8: Are we fighting or flirting? (SN)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Sasuke, Omega Naruto, mentions of mating cycles.

Inspired by Mrs. Uchiha. You can either consider it part of the same universe if you want, or think of it as a separate story.

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Naruto had known Sasuke for quite some time now.

They met at twelve years old, when they entered the same high school, and their relationship was pretty rocky, to say the least.

Sasuke usually kept to himself, and he was also very popular, for some reason Naruto couldn’t begin to understand, but was all arrogant and nothing more than a jerk, in Naruto’s opinion. He’d been so tired of his “I’m better than all of you” attitude that he looked for every little reason to crash with him. And so, they were always at each other’s throats, even throwing punches at one another when they were younger.

Now, at sixteen, Naruto still thought the guy was an asshole, but a more tolerable one. He’d come to realize Sasuke wasn’t really that arrogant, he just didn’t care about other people much and was somehow excellent at everything he did without really trying. That annoyed him, but it wasn’t really Sasuke’s fault.

They didn’t get along by any means, but their fighting turned into harmless bickering in most cases, and he knew Sasuke provoked him just because Naruto getting mad was amusing to him for some reason.

They weren’t friends, not really. They weren’t enemies either, though. Naruto used to refer to them as rivals, but he wasn’t sure that word really applied to them anymore. They used to compete a lot, but now they were still in each other’s orbit in a different way. Naruto didn’t expect anything from him, if he had to be honest. He didn’t think Sasuke actually cared, not until that incident happened.

He’d gotten his heat at school and, while this usually wasn’t a big deal, that time things had escalated in a way Naruto wasn’t comfortable with. He came across a group of other students, ones he hadn’t seen before, and they were all alphas. They started talking bullshit about his secondary gender, and Naruto would’ve beaten their asses if it wasn’t for the high fever he got. His head pounded, he felt dizzy, and it didn’t take a genius to realize this wasn’t just a heat, but some kind of illness too.

People said many things about heats, but truth be told, it was just a period of time when Naruto felt grouchy, sweaty and sticky, not all that horny business people always talked about. The overall feeling was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like he lost his mind during heat. He just had to take care of always taking his scent suppressors so he wouldn’t reek of pheromones all the time. So, because of this, heats weren’t really a reason for him to miss school. It had never been a problem before, anyway.

Except for that one ungodly time. The alphas had tried to get handsy, and then Sasuke came walking down the hall, seemingly out of nowhere, found out what was happening, and scared those guys away. Naruto had been wary afterwards, especially when the Uchiha had basically ordered him to go with him so Sasuke could take him home. He’d even stayed until his parents arrived, quietly doing his homework on the lunch table while Naruto glared at him from the sofa.

“Why did you help me?” he’d asked Sasuke. He was honestly disturbed by the situation, and couldn’t actually think of a reason for Sasuke to do so much for him. Helping him get rid of those guys was okay, he’d give Sasuke that. The guy was an asswipe, true, but he wasn’t a bad person. Taking him home and staying with him afterwards, on the other hand…

“Would you rather I didn’t?” the raven had retorted, but didn’t really offer an explanation.

They hadn’t really spoken much that time, and Sasuke hadn’t seemed affected by the fact Naruto was in heat. He just went down on his schoolwork diligently, as he always did.

So now, Naruto didn’t know where they stood. Sure, they weren’t friends, but he didn’t feel like they were not friends. He started approaching him more, and surprisingly, Sasuke didn’t tell him to fuck off as often as he used to.

“Stop fidgeting, you’re not letting me concentrate,” Sasuke grumped from the other side of the desk when Naruto’s leg movements started making the wood shake.

They were working on a pair project together. And yes, that was also a thing now, working together voluntarily and not because the teachers forced them to.

“I’m bored and I don’t wanna work, this project is not due until the next two weeks anyway.”

“An idiot would say that.”

“Wha- Don’t call me an idiot, jerk!”

“A lazy idiot, on top of that. Ouch!” Naruto had just kicked him in the shin. “That hurts, stupid!”

“Stop calling me an idiot, then!”

“Ahem,” they both looked up to find the librarian's angry glare directed straight at them, and it was no mystery why they got kicked out of the library.

“See what you do?” Naruto complained, carrying his bag on one hand, letting it graze the floor, not caring about getting it dirty.

“You’re the one who started it.”

“Just because you keep being a jerk! You keep annoying me every time, and you enjoy it!”

“I was literally trying to work on our project, how is that being a jerk?” Sasuke asked annoyed, not looking at him.

“Well, you keep calling me mean names,” Naruto said, as that explained everything.

“You do, too. You don’t see me whine about it,” Sasuke retorted, and then added a soft “you’re so stupid.”

“Oi!” Naruto frowned and pouted a bit.

Sasuke kept doing that. He’d call him names, but with that tone. It didn’t have any of that old bitterness in it anymore, like it had a couple of years ago. Now it sounded almost fond, for some reason.

It took Naruto a while to finally get it, with a little push from some of his friends of course, who kept claiming they fought like an old married couple.

So one day, he just went for it.

“Say, Sasuke,” he started, walking leisurely next to the raven alpha. “Whenever we argue… Are we actually fighting or flirting?”

Sasuke stopped in his tracks by the sudden question.

“Where did that idea come from?” he asked, bemused.

“Well, people are always saying we argue like an old married couple,” the blond shrugged.

“Tsk, stop listening to people,” was all he said before he resumed walking. Neither of them spoke for a while, until Sasuke decided so, out of the blue. “Would you hate it if we were?”

“Huh? Were what?” Naruto had already gotten distracted by another thought.

“Flirting.”

That made his eyes open wide. And it was exactly at that moment that the blond omega realized that…

“No, no I wouldn’t.”

Chapter Text

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Prompt #9: Touches (-)

Warnings: Just a bit of fluff.

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Naruto wasn’t a stranger to other people’s touches. In fact, he was a very touchy-feely person. 

You’d often find him clinging to some of his friends’ necks, or leaning into people’s spaces, or throwing friendly punches and slaps on the back. He liked when his friends reciprocated, and enjoyed that important part of human interaction.

He’d grab people’s arms before crossing the street, and even let his girl friends take his hand to drag him to the mall or stuff. He liked feeling he belonged through simple, platonic touches.

Sasuke was the opposite. He’d tolerate people getting close to him only if they were very good friends or family, and honestly, not many people fell into either of those categories. He wouldn’t outright try to touch others on purpose, but would allow those close to him to maybe grab his shoulder or pat his back, not making a move to push them away but also clearly not particularly enjoying it.

That never made Naruto wonder, though. He’d never noticed how Sasuke let him hug his shoulders, or lean into him when sitting together, or just simply not reject his touch in general. He’d never noticed how so subtly Sasuke would reach out to him, lean into him too, and almost imperceptibly smile whenever Naruto was clinging to him like a leach.

There were still so many things left unsaid, things that Sasuke wasn’t ready to address, and Naruto wasn’t ready to realize yet. And that was okay. They had all the time in the world. There was no rush, they could take it step by step, as long as they were by each other’s side.

For the time being, Sasuke was content with showing Naruto his affection through subtle touches. Brushing his unruly bright hair out of his face when it was messier than usual, running a hand up and down his back if he accidentally got something in his throat, or just simply cleaning the corner of his mouth with a napkin after he finished eating.

Naruto was a touchy-feely person, and Sasuke wasn’t. They made it work.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #10: Birthday (-)

Warnings: Nothing, really.

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Birthdays weren’t a big deal.

No, really. Or so Naruto thought. Long gone were the days when he yearned to be acknowledged and have many friends to celebrate it. He didn’t need that anymore. He felt loved everyday, so having special attention on his birthday was something he didn’t give much thought about anymore, if he had to be honest.

Now, surrounded by friends and people he cherished, he felt happy, content with his life. He knew he’d always had someone to go to if he needed it. Besides, there was no day he spent alone anymore, not since he had moved in with his boyfriend a couple of months ago.

He stirred on the bed, turning around knowing Sasuke wasn’t there due to his early morning shift. He got up at five in the morning, and always took care of not waking Naruto up accidentally, and left for work around six. Naruto, on the other hand, woke up at eight to start working at eight thirty. Since he worked from home, he just got out of bed, grabbed something to eat and got to work. He usually showered until his midday break, and then he had lunch and got back to work. Sasuke usually arrived home around four, and depending on what he had to do that day, Naruto would be already finished or still working when his boyfriend came home.

That was fine, they could spend part of the afternoon and all evening together, most days. And they were both grown up adults, so they just had to make it work that way. Naruto was fine with it, and Sasuke too. The bright side of it all was that they both had weekends off, so there was always time to do things together.

So that October 10th morning was supposed to be like any other Tuesday. Naruto woke up, his lover already gone, and went to the bathroom first and then directly to the kitchen. He didn’t pay too much attention to his surroundings. He wasn’t a person yet until he had his first cup of coffee.

He put the kettle on the stove, because they still hadn’t saved up enough to get a coffee maker, and then proceeded to look for his favorite orange cup. When he found it turned around, the cup almost fell out of his grasp at the sight on the kitchen table.

There, a pretty sunflower was placed in the middle of the board, and right next to it, a note.

Dumbfounded, Naruto grabbed the white paper card and read its content, written in neat cursive.

Happy birthday.

That was all it said, those two simple words, but they still made Naruto automatically smile at reading them. He took the sunflower closer to his face with his free hand to give it a sniff. Of course, the flower didn’t really have a noticeable scent. Sunflowers were known for their appearance, not fragrance. That didn’t stop him from sighing with a dumb smile on his face, though.

So, what? Sure, he didn’t need any extra attention on his birthday. But that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it anyway.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #11: Under the stars (-)

Warnings: Continuation of days 5 and 6. Fantasy tropes.

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It had been one month since Sasuke arrived here.

He still didn’t quite understand it himself, but when Naruto told him there was no way back until spring, he’d told the truth. No matter how many different paths he took, or how many times he tried, he just couldn’t find his way back home.

Naruto followed him around, a ‘ told you so’ glance every time he failed in his quest. Sometimes he tailed behind him in his fox form, sometimes in human form, but he never left him alone.

“I’m just keeping you safe. Wouldn’t want to end as demon grub, would you?” he’d said when Sasuke had asked why he never left him alone.

It escaped his comprehension, really, why Naruto was helping him. Sasuke had done nothing but tried to kill him since they met. Granted, he had thought he was a regular fox back then, but still. Naruto never really answered his question, only redirected them at him.

The aura of the forest wasn’t too friendly, but not fully hostile either. Most spirits here, according to Naruto, were pretty gentle and liked to keep to themselves, but there was one thing they had to take into account… Sasuke was a human, and the creatures of the forest didn’t like humans. It was nothing personal, Naruto had reassured him, it was just how it was, and some of those creatures were in reality just wary and cautious at Sasuke being able to cross the barrier. But even if they weren’t naturally evil, Naruto still warned Sasuke against going out on his own.

So here he was, sitting on the grass under a starry sky next to the one damned fox he couldn’t manage to kill.

He’d left his archery asset in Naruto’s home. There weren’t any arrows left anyway, and it’s not like making more would help in his situation. If he got attacked by a demon, a simple arrow would do nothing against it, really.

Besides, as long as Naruto was with him, nothing would happen to him. Or at least that’s what he hoped. He didn’t know if Naruto had any ulterior motives for helping him. Doing it out of the kindness of his soul just didn’t make sense to him. Could he trust Naruto to keep him safe and then help him return home? Sasuke didn’t know the answer.

Trying to clear his thoughts, he looked up to the sky. The stars were beautiful, and he swore they looked different here than at home. They seemed to shine with light colors, like pink, yellow, blue… Almost imperceptible to the eyes, but still there. It was undoubtedly beautiful.

“The stars are so pretty here…” he murmured, mostly to himself, but catching Naruto’s attention. “I don’t think they’ve ever looked like this back home.”

“Hm… Makes sense, it’s not really the same sky. Here everything is surrounded by some kind of magic,” was Naruto’s laconic answer. “But yeah, I’ve never seen something more beautiful.”

Sasuke tilted his head to look at him, and realized Naruto wasn’t really looking at the sky like he was, but at him. It made him feel a bit uneasy, thinking Naruto’s words might not really be expressing what they seemed.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #12: High School AU (-)

Warnings: Just two awkward idiots in love, and fluff.

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The bell rang, announcing the class was over and they had around five minutes to get to the next one.

Sighing, Naruto grabbed his stuff and placed everything back inside his bag before picking it up, ready to get out of the classroom, when a hand on his shoulder halted him.

“Hey, Naruto. Shikamaru and I are going to the mall, wanna come with us?” Kiba asked, clinging off his shoulder.

“Just the two of you?” Naruto blinked, a bit confused. They usually hang out with the whole group.

“I need to find a present for my cousin’s birthday,” Shikamaru replied, shrugging.

“And I want to see if I can find some new headphones,” Kiba added, grinning. “The others don’t wanna come if we’re just going shopping. ”

“Well, duh,” the blond. “I think this time I’ll pass, guys,” he turned on his heels to walk away, not really wanting to spend his afternoon following Shikamaru and Kiba around from store to store when he wasn’t looking for anything himself.

“Wha-! But don’t you have to get Sasuke a gift?” Kiba hurried to speak before Naruto could leave the classroom.

“A gift? Why? His birthday was like two months ago. If anything, I should be the one getting a gift, considering my birthday was this Tuesday.”

“Yeah, but, isn’t it about to be three months since you guys are dating?”

Naruto scratched his neck distractedly, confused by the conversation. “I guess so. What of it?”

“It’s your three month anniversary! You have to get him something!” the Inuzuka insisted.

Truth be told, this was all just a way to convince Naruto to tag along with them. No one else had wanted to join Kiba and Shikamaru on their trip to the mall. Kiba needed at least one more person to go with them so he wouldn’t need to force Shikamaru’s lazy ass to hold a conversation. And who better than Naruto for this?

“Wait, that’s a thing?” Naruto started panicking now. “I don’t even remember the exact day we started… y’know. Do you think he does?”

“Probably,” Shikamaru chimed in.

“Argh!” the blond ran his hands through his hair in frustration. What was he supposed to do now? Did he really have to get Sasuke a gift after the three month mark? Did Sasuke even know about any of this?

But, wait, what if he did, and he was just assuming Naruto knew, and then he’d get him something and Naruto would be empty handed and then Sasuke would hate him even more than when they were kids and he’d break up with him and then Naruto would be alone again and heartbroken knowing he couldn’t even hold a relationship for more than a couple of months and…

“Oi, Naruto! You still here?” Kiba started to wave his hand in front of the blond’s eyes.

“We have to go shopping! You guys need to help me find the perfect gift for Sasuke!”

“Of course, man!” Kiba reassured him.

Yep, they’d won in the end.

“What’s the matter with you? Stop fidgeting and just tell me why you wanted us to meet here of all places,” Sasuke spoke impatiently, eyeing his surroundings.

It was nothing personal, really, but he saw no reason to meet in the school’s detention room when it was empty and most people had already left the building. And, especially, when neither of them had gotten detention.

“I’m nervous, alright!” Naruto whined and the grip he had on his bag tightened.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at that answer, tilting his head to the side, a tad confused at the sudden outburst.

“What’s going on in your head today?” he asked, hands in his pockets, his annoyed toned smoothing a bit at seeing how Naruto was genuinely anxious.

Taking a big breath, Naruto took a bag out of his backpack and handed it to him.

“Here!”

Even more puzzled, Sasuke looked down at the bag and then up Naruto’s face again. Without saying anything, he took what the blond was offering and took a look inside.

“What’s this?” he just wasn’t understanding anything. There, inside the bag, was one of those popular E ink tablets that people used for reading. They were supposed to be gentler to the eyes, and mimicked a book’s experience.

“Happy three month anniversary!” Naruto exclaimed cheerfully.

“Our what?”

“Y’know, our three month anniversary? Since we’ve been officially together for three months-ish, I had to do something special.”

“So you bought me… a tablet?”

“For reading! You always got your nose stuck in some kind of book, so I thought you’d like it? It was on sale, too. Like 40 bucks or so. Well, 60 actually, but Shikamaru took pity on me and gave me 20 more so I could buy it,” Naruto was starting to ramble, and Sasuke could do nothing but stare at him incredulously.

“You… do know the word anniversary refers to years and not months, right?”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind. Naruto, you really didn’t have to get me anything. I was actually thinking of getting one of these, so thank you,” Sasuke smiled sincerely, deciding to just ignore whatever was spiraling inside Naruto’s head for him to do something like this. At his words, the blond was almost glowing, elated that his boyfriend of three months liked his gift. “Why the detention room, though?”

“Oh, here we shared our first kiss, so I thought it was fitting.”

That made Sasuke’s thought come to a halt.

First kiss? Which kiss? They hadn’t even gotten over some simple hand-holding…

And then it all came back to him.

“Naruto, our faces crashed into each other because some dumbass pushed you! That was not a kiss!”

“I mean- not an intentional one, duh! But still.”

Sasuke had to contain the urge to smack his own forehead. This idiot. But he was his idiot.

And now, he had to find a way to compensate Naruto for a gift he hadn’t even thought he’d get.

“Hey, let’s go get some Ichiraku ramen.”

“Wait- Seriously?” if Naruto hadn’t been glowing before, he surely was now.

Sasuke nodded.

“My treat.”

They left school hand in hand, Sasuke’s new tablet safely secured inside his school bag.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #13: Love bites (NS)

Warnings: Mild omegaverse, vague mentions of Mpreg, Alpha Naruto and Omega Sasuke.

This is based on my story “Dear Boss”, so feel free to check that one out!

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A gasp.

A shush.

A silent shriek.

“Oh my God…”

The sound of steps fading away in the hallway.

“Did you guys see it too?”

“Surely that’s not really what it seems.”

“Yeah, we’ve never seen him with… that.”

“You think he knows?”

“Maybe he hasn’t noticed yet…”

“Noticed what?”

All three murmuring voices came to a halt, the three people they belonged to jumping harshly. When they looked at the entrance, there he was.

Uchiha Sasuke, their one jerk of a boss. Always too proper, always too strict, always dressed so neat, not one single strand of hair out of place. Except for today, it seemed. The difference wasn’t too obvious, but it was there nonetheless. A bluish mark decorating his skin just under his ear, barely covered by come strands of dark hair.

It was scandalous, to say the least.

“Huh, a typo in the last report!” Ino hurriedly said. “We were hoping to correct it before you could read it…”

Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

“I already did,” the man replied in a monotonous tone.

“Oh, well… I guess we were too late, then?”

There was a minute of silence and tension, then a sigh.

“I don’t care what you’re actually doing, just stop whatever it is and go back to work.”

“Yes, sir.”

Then, Uchiha disappeared again, heading to his own office.

“Shit, that was close!” Kiba said, allowing himself to breathe again.

“It was,” Sakura sighed in relief too. “But there was definitely a bruise there, right?”

“I don’t know which is more unbelievable, that we caught him off guard, or that we know the one who made that mark.”

“So bothersome…” Shikamaru finally spoke for the first time since the topic had arisen.

But it really was unbelievable. After reuniting with their old high school friend by chance and discovering he now owned a restaurant not so far from the company, making regular visits had become a habit to the group. Naruto had been elated to see them again, and more often than not treated them to a drink or a dessert.

After catching up with their lives and finding out Naruto was about to become a father, the most unexpected turn of events happened. Naruto’s spouse, the omega he’d met when he’d been studying abroad in Japan, was actually their boss. And they were having a child together.

Now, about a year later, after Uchiha had come back from his paternity leave, the situation was pretty awkward. After that fateful day they arrived at Naruto’s restaurants and Uchiha was there, belly swollen with child and Naruto introducing him as his mate, it was like they now didn’t know how to address each other.

Evidently, Uchiha didn’t really care that they were Naruto’s friends or anything, he was pretty much treating them the same way, so to speak, no special nor cautious treatment, but it was obvious he wasn’t comfortable sharing his personal life with them, which was inevitable with Naruto being a common factor between them.

So, for someone as reserved as him, how was it possible that he’d come to work with a love bite on his skin of all things? And being unaware of it, on top?

“I still can’t believe someone like him is with Naruto, of all people…” Kiba uttered under his breath.

“Well, you know what they say… Opposites attract, and all that,” Ino shrugged. “I guess that marks explains why Uchiha didn’t actually scold us today. He’s in a good mood,” she smirked knowingly.

Shikamaru groaned.

“What a drag…”

Chapter Text

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Prompt #14: Marriage (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, medieval-ish setting, gender inequality, feminization.

This drabble was inspired by last year’s SNStober prompt #26 Royalty AU. You can find it in Spanish in my profile.

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Sasuke stood there, in front of his new proclaimed husband.

All of his life, he had been prepared for this exact moment. All his upbringing and education had only one purpose: turning him into the perfect wife . His only duty as an omega was serving his country by making strong alliances through marriage.

So he knew this day was coming inevitably, he had known he was being married off to the crown prince of Wind Country for a while, but knowing didn’t make him feel better. He felt nauseous, trapped. He’d been chained to his family before, and now that he wasn’t, he’d become a prisoner of other people instead.

Mother and father said he should be proud. Thanks to him, Fire Country, ruled by the Uchihas, and Wind Country, ruled by the Uzumakis, were allies, stronger together. Sasuke didn’t care about all that, though.

Now, in front of the altar, dressed like the most beautiful china doll, face hidden by a silk veil, he could do nothing but wonder what would be of him after this. Yes, he hated living with his family, being treated as nothing more than an ornament, but at least he already knew that life. He didn’t know anything about the Uzumakis, their traditions, their roles.

It couldn’t be much worse, right? It just couldn’t. Or at least he hoped so.

He didn’t know anything about his husband either. Except for his name, of course. They had never met before today, he couldn’t even see him properly with this thing covering his entire face.

His parents said he was a good man, worthy of his position, but they said the same thing about everyone they were interested in.

So Sasuke would have to be strong and learn to live with this man, warm his bed and bear his children, like a good omega would.

His breath hitched when his veil was lifted delicately, uncovering his face to the world. Like a pair of magnets, his eyes were immediately drawn to meet the bluest orbs he had ever seen.

His own expression was reflected in his husband's face, his eyes focused on him, looking just as captivated with him as Sasuke himself felt. But as quick as it started, it ended.

His husband took his hand and Sasuke had no choice but to follow. There were people clapping, music being played, food being served, but everything seemed so dull in his eyes. From the corner of his eye, he could see his parents pleasantly talking with the King and Queen of Wind Country, now also known as Sasuke’s in-laws.

They had been friends for a long time, and so they had agreed since the very beginning that they would unify their kingdoms someday. Naturally, a marriage was the first and most logical option, so when Itachi was born, he was the one chosen to fulfill this task. But then, some years later, Queen Mikoto gave birth to Sasuke, who was an omega, and when Queen Kushina had given birth to her first and only son a couple of months later, the heir of Wind Country was revealed to be an alpha. Since Itachi was an alpha too, they couldn’t promise them to each other.

And that’s how Sasuke ended up being the one engaged to his now husband from the moment he started breathing. Funny enough, never had they met before today, even though they knew they were going to marry each other since they could remember.

Sasuke looked discreetly to the side, catching a glimpse of his husband sitting next to him, watching the guests with a distant look on his face, and wondered what kind of person he was. Would they be able to stand each other? Or become at least some kind of friends?

Well, they’d have to. They didn’t have many options on the table, really. Sasuke just hoped they could get along well enough. And if they couldn’t, he prayed not to find out the hard way.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #15: Rockstar/Idol AU (-)

Warnings: Angst, past relationship, hopeful ending.

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Everywhere he went, he saw him.

In magazine covers, in newspaper articles, in advertisements, in random TV shows… His face could be found in any place, every place.

Same eyes, same features, same hair… All those characteristics Sasuke used to know were still there, and he wished time had done his job and made him forget. Or, well, not forget. He didn’t want to forget, not when Naruto had given him so much, once upon a time. What he did want, however, was to move on.

Naruto and Sasuke had grown up together all the way from elementary school until they graduated from high school. They’d been rivals, friends, and even dated for a couple of years up until Jiraiya, Naruto’s godfather and legal tutor had decided to move across the world and taken Naruto with him.

It had been hard to say goodbye. They were young, and in love, so they optimistically thought long distance would work for them. And it did, until it didn’t. But that was another story, one not really worth telling.

Naruto had always been interested in music. Back in high school, he learned to play the guitar, and the harmonica. He’d written a couple of songs, ones that he’d only shown Sasuke and others that he’d kept to himself. So when Sasuke started watching him appear on the news, some years after they had separated, he’d been surprised, but not so much at the same time.

Naruto had always been talented, it just made sense for him to make a career out of what he loved the most: music.

He’d thought of calling him tons of times, but always decided against it. It had been too long, Naruto had probably moved on already and remembered him as nothing more than a high school crush. Even though they had been best friends first.

What would Sasuke say, if he was brave enough to press the call button? Would Naruto even answer? Did his number still work, or had he changed it already?

There were no answers to those questions, there would probably never be.

So now, he was everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. Sasuke could see his face in any place, could hear people talk about him, he’d even heard some rumors, like with every rising new star. He’d heard Naruto had dated a bit, but no relationship lasted long. There were also rumors about him being a fuckboy, but that just didn’t fit his personality. Well, at least not Naruto’s 16 year-old personality. It’s not like Sasuke really knew him anymore.

Naruto left seven years ago, their relationship had ended a couple of months later, and Sasuke still couldn’t just let it go. Sasuke shouldn’t miss him anymore, he should have found someone else, but… He couldn’t.

Maybe he’d have to live with it. Maybe Naruto had been it for him and he hadn’t realized it on time. Maybe, just maybe, they should have tried harder.

That was his way of thinking until that fateful day he entered his usual convenience store and heard Naruto’s voice. The TV was showing his latest interview about his newest album.

“Everybody’s talking about your newest album! All your new songs are spectacular, but the one the public is asking the most about is I think I’ll be Loving You Forever. It’s not common for you to write love songs. Could it be that there was a special someone on your mind when you wrote that song?” Sasuke heard the reporter’s voice and his eyes were drawn to the screen immediately, his heart aching when the camera man pointed at Naruto’s direction this time.

Naruto laughed animatedly, looking comfortable on camera. “You guys think too much into things sometimes.”

“It’s just, after the release of First Love, your first love song, ironically, a couple of years ago, your fans have been theorizing who you could be possibly talking about. You’ve never been in an official relationship, at least not publicly, so people talk.”

“Well, yeah. There used to be someone, many years ago. Not anymore, though.”

“Many years ago?” the reporter asked, surprised. “And you’re still writing songs about this person? Could it be that this country’s favorite bachelor has actually been in love with someone for years?”

Naruto scratched his neck, showing the camera a sheepish grin. “It was all a long time ago, they’ve probably moved on already.”

“Haven’t you tried to contact them?”

“No, not really. I’ve thought of it many times, though. I wonder if they’re okay, or if they think of me sometimes…” Naruto’s voice was soft, and it seemed like he wore his heart on his sleeve, and Sasuke couldn’t stop boring his eyes into the ones projected by the screen.

“Do you think they’re watching you right now?”

“Huh… I don-”

“If they were, what message would you send them? Right here, right now.”

Naruto seemed out of words for a minute, and then he looked straight at the camera with a sparkle of determination in his eyes.

“Hey, bastard. I dunno if you’re watching this, but… I just wanna let you know you’re still my most precious person. It doesn’t matter how many years go by, you’ll always be my one and only.”

Chapter Text

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Prompt #16: Eclipse, where the sun and moon are together (-)

Warnings: :P

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“I can believe the eclipse was today and we missed it because of this stupid rain,” Naruto said for the seventh time that day.

Sasuke sighed, and kept on reading.

Yeah, there was a solar eclipse today, but with the storm currently falling over their house, it would have been impossible to be able to see it.

Sasuke personally didn’t care much. Internet pictures looked way better than what his own eyes could see, anyway. Naruto, on the other hand, had been looking forward to it since it had been announced months ago. He’d bought the protective glasses too, for both of them. Even a camera protector, so he could take pictures of it. But now all that excitement had died out and nothing but disappointment was left.

So now, Sasuke had a book on his hand and a whining boyfriend on his bed, and absolutely no patience to deal with him. But he did have some empathy, mind you. So he silently stood up and stepped closer to the bed, gently sitting on the mattress, the dip on it not perturbing Naruto’s theatrical moment.

“I’d been looking forward to it for so long…” Naruto’s muffled voice complained against the pillow.

“I know…” Sasuke gingerly patted his head.

“Why do all my dreams get ruined like this?”

“Now you’re just being dramatic.”

The blond huffed, raising his eyes to bore them into Sasuke’s.

“You’re supposed to be making me feel better,” he pouted.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“You’re just being mean.”

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke let his hand rest on Naruto’s head. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“See! You’re a meanie!”

Sasuke pinched his nose and Naruto bursted out laughing.

Yeah, Naruto really wanted to see the eclipse, but spending the morning with Sasuke brought him more comfort than he needed. As long as they were together, he could handle the disappointment of missing the eclipse.

“Cuddle me?” Naruto asked, making grabby hands at Sasuke, who just looked utterly done for a second before giving in and getting under the covers with him.

Happy, Naruto climbed over him and snaked his arms around his boyfriend, hiding his face in the crook of his neck and letting out a content sigh.

“Y’know, if you were the moon and I was the sun, being like this, me over you, would make an eclipse.”

“That’s not how it– Nevermind.”

Chapter Text

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Prompt #17: Cuddling (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Naruto, Omega Sasuke, mentions of mating cycles and sex, but nothing explicit.

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When Sasuke had told Naruto he was okay with sharing a heat with him, the blond panicked.

They had been officially together for one year, even though they had been friends for way longer, but they had never shared their mating cycles with each other.

Naruto had always spent his rut alone, usually eating lots of snacks and swearing for every little thing that annoyed him. He got very short tempered during those times, and a bit horny too, but not as much as people would think. It was mostly uncomfortable and frustrating, especially since he didn’t have a mate to share it with.

Now that Sasuke and him were together, Naruto knew it was just a matter of time until they brought up the topic to each other, but he surely wasn’t expecting Sasuke to pop the question in the middle of their lunch date, and with such nonchalant manners.

Naruto had stuttered a bit, asking him where the topic came from, and the omega had just shrugged and repeated the question, to which Naruto just spit out a quick yes . And that was it.

So now, Naruto was in front of the door that would lead him into Sasuke’s apartment, not quite brave enough to knock on it yet.

This was… this was a great step, wasn’t it? Sharing a heat or a rut was very intimate, and while Naruto felt elated that Sasuke wanted to share his heat with him, he was equally terrified.

What if he messed up? What if he wasn’t what Sasuke needed? What if Sasuke decided he never wanted to share something like this with him ever again?

Just when his mind was starting to wander off again, the door opened.

“Whoa!” Naruto took a step backwards with a startled shout.

“You’ve been standing there for like ten minutes,” Sasuke said, matter-of-factly, an eyebrow raised.

“He, he. Sorry?”

He stepped into the apartment, toeing his shoes out, and went straight to the sofa in the living room. Sasuke shut the door close and followed him, noticing his tension right away.

“Naruto, if you’re not comfortable with-”

“No! It’s not that! It’s just, I don’t really know what I'm doing or what I’m supposed to do?” the scent filled with pheromones tasted heavy on his tongue, but it was nice… to have Sasuke like this for him, even though the omega didn’t really look affected, if he had to be honest.

“You don’t have to do anything,” the raven said and sat down next to him. “I didn’t tell you to come to have some crazy pheromone induced sex,” he said, rolling his eyes at the mere idea of it. Then he kept explaining himself, seeing how Naruto now looked like a lost puppy. “I just wanted to share this part of me with you,” he admitted, his cheeks turning a faint pink. “I’m not really in the mood for sex during my heat, I mostly just feel the need to nest and get a bit moody.”

“You? Moody? Ouch!”

“Shut up, idiot. I thought, if we’re actually doing this in the long run, then I wanted you to know this part of me too.”

“Sasuke…” Naruto’s eyes were glowing with emotion, and he couldn’t refrain himself from wrapping his arms around his boyfriend in a tight hug.

Sasuke, who would usually push him away at the sudden display of affection, hid his face in the alpha’s neck, discreetly breathing in his scent and relaxing in his arms.

Yes, Sasuke’s heat scent was strong and alluring, but having Sasuke melting in his embrace made Naruto want nothing more in life than this. Just them, like this. It was perfect.

They spent Sasuke’s heat just cuddling in his nest. It was so amusing how soft and cuddly Sasuke was like this. And Naruto felt privileged, because he was the only one who could see this side of him. He felt special, like he somehow earned this by doing some great deed in his past life or something, especially after Sasuke later confessed that Naruto’s presence and scent had been the comfort he’d needed but missed his past heats.

The omega had spent his time mostly sleeping, scenting him from time to time, and while they did have sex once or twice during those days, Sasuke had never been so clingy and affectionate during it before. It made Naruto’s inner alpha purr contently, knowing his omega trusted him like this.

If they could spend all of Sasuke’s heats like this, just pressed against each other in his comfy nest, Naruto would die a happy man.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #18: I’ll take care of you (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, arranged marriage, feminization, some mentions of drug use and forced bonding, but nothing explicit. So maybe this chapter’s rating is higher than the others, but I still think T is suitable for it.

This is a continuation of day 14, so I hope you enjoy it.

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Sasuke woke up that morning feeling a bit numb and groggy.

His eyelids felt heavy, and there was not one bit of energy in him to get up, but as soon he noticed how unfamiliar the room looked, his eyes opened wide and alert.

He searched the room, from every chair to every corner, and sighed in relief when he realized he was alone. Then, he took notice of the state of his body. He was naked under very expensive and soft fabrics, but the second part wasn’t something new. His muscles were sore, his head pounded, and the feeling of dread and resignation was all he could recognize within the turmoil of emotions and thoughts running through his head.

So it had really happened. He had been married off to the heir of the Uzumaki Kingdom, rulers of Wind Country. Uchiha Sasuke had ceased to exist, giving place to Uzumaki Sasuke.

Even though he had known he had been betrothed basically all his life, it didn’t make the pang of misery in his heart diminish. Sasuke hadn’t even met Uzumaki Naruto before yesterday, for some reason he couldn’t begin to understand, and yet here he was, in what he supposed was his bed, the alpha’s mating bite still fresh on his skin and said alpha nowhere to be found.

The fact that he could barely recall anything that happened last night was an indicator that his mother’s antics did their trick. She’d offered him a cup of tea last night, “just to calm your nerves, sweetheart,” she’d said, but Sasuke was no child, no idiot. He drank it all anyway, because with or without the tea, the marriage was going to be consummated that night, and if there was any way to make it more bearable or at least a bit less painful, he’d take it.

It turns out whatever concoction his mother gave him, it had worked well enough for him not to remember more than some blurry images about his and his husband’s… mating night.

He sighed, his hand reaching to touch the edges of the bite. It stung, but the pain would go away eventually, leaving a permanent scar behind. Now, his omega side was bound for life to his husband’s alpha. He would only react to his scent and his commands, which could both be a curse or a blessing in disguise.

At least, now that he was married, he wouldn’t be obliged to follow his parents' wishes. From now on, he would only respond to the Uzumaki family, or more specifically, his husband, and the King and Queen. Now he’d have to wait and see if this change was for better or for worse.

A couple of minutes later, two servants knocked on the door and entered the room, introducing themselves as Sasuke’s new personal maids. They helped him get cleaned and dressed, did his hair and put some almost unnoticeable makeup on him. The dress was more casual, way simpler than his wedding one, but still showed his status to anyone who’d just take a glimpse at him.

Then both maids bowed, telling him he could call them anytime and also informing him that soon enough someone would come to let him know about breakfast, and then left him alone in the room again.

Sasuke looked at himself in the mirror, still hating what he saw in it like everytime. No matter how many years went by, he could never recognize himself in the mirror, like his reflection was a stranger that had nothing to do with him.

Before he could start drowning in his thoughts, though, there was a knock on the door. This time, contrary to when the maids had come in, the person outside waited until he pronounced a soft but firm “come in”.

To his immense surprise, the person that entered the room this time was Prince Naruto, his husband.

Sasuke almost stumbled to get up, but managed to do so elegantly before offering a deep bow as a greeting.

“Your highness.”

There was a choked sound and then the alpha cleared his throat.

“You don’t need to do that. Please, raise your head up.”

Sasuke did as he was told and straightened himself back up, but kept his eyes on the floor, in submission. He wasn’t going to risk it. If he somehow managed to offend his husband so shortly after they spoke their vows, it would be all so hard to fix later.

“And you don’t need to call me by my title, at least not when it’s just the two of us. You can just call me Naruto, and if it’s okay with you, then I’ll also call you by your name.”

“Your highness may call me however he prefers.”

“Naruto. My name’s Naruto,” the blond insisted.

“I couldn’t possibly call your highness by his first name.”

Sasuke heard a defeated sigh, and resisted the urge to look up into his husband’s eyes to see his expression.

“Alright, then. We’ll work on that.”

Sasuke’s heart started racing when his husband’s steps got closer and soon enough there was a cup of steamy tea in his eyesight being offered to him.

“Here, I came to deliver this to you,” he waited for Sasuke to take the cup before continuing. “And to apologize.”

That last part took Sasuke by surprise.

“Apologize?” the omega couldn’t help but ask.

“For last night.”

Unable to hide his shock, black eyes involuntarily looked up and bored into sky blue eyes, and it was then he noticed that they were both practically the same height. Realizing what he just did, he quickly returned his gaze to the floor, an apology leaving his lips.

“No, you don’t need to apologize! You don’t have to bow to me, or look down when we’re speaking, either,” letting out an exasperated sigh, the blond recomposed himself. “I want to apologize for how last night turned out. I think our parents plotted so our marriage was consumed on the first night, even though I had told them I wouldn’t force you to lay with me. So I’m sorry. I know we don’t know each other and that you have no reason to trust me… We were both forced into this marriage, but I promise to be a good husband and friend, if you’re okay with it. If you let me, I’ll take care of you, starting with this,” he gestured at the cup, now in Sasuke’s hand. “It’s a special tea that’ll prevent you from getting pregnant. I thought you deserved at least that choice, so drink it only if you want to. And if you do, I promise no one will know about it. It’s just between you and me.”

Sasuke was left speechless. His husband, the prince, was nothing like he thought he’d be. From his casual way of speaking, to what his words implied.

He was giving him the choice of preventing a pregnancy? Was that even allowed? Probably not, due to his comment about secrecy. Things weren’t supposed to be like this. Alphas would expect children from the very beginning, especially if they were royalty. They needed to continue the line, have heirs. So everyone expected omegas to conceive on the first night, ideally. And now this man was telling him it was his choice, and even had the bother of offering a tool to get it done?

Seeing as Sasuke didn’t say anything, the alpha took a second to inspect his features. When their eyes met again, his cheeks pinked lightly and he offered him a shy grin.

“I’ll let you be, then,” he said, a bit awkward. “Oh, and I’ll show you your room after breakfast, too.”

His room? Weren’t they sharing this one?

He was about to ask, or say something, anything, but the alpha had already disappeared through the doors.

Sasuke’s gaze went down to the cup, staring at it for a while.

If you let me, I’ll take care of you.

Could he genuinely trust those words? He didn’t really have an answer for that.

When he finally made an action of his own choice for the first time in his life, it felt thrilling and terrifying at the same time. With trembling hands, he drank the whole cup of tea in one gulp.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #19: Red string of fate (-)

Warnings: A bit of angst, pre-relationship, one-sided feelings, hopeful ending.

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In a world where everyone was born with a red string tied to their pinkie, one would think finding your other half would be easy.

The string was supposed to lead to you the person you were destined to be with, someone who would complete you and love you. Someone made for you. The only problem was, nobody could see the strings, so it had become a myth of sorts, a tale to tell children.

Except that, well, Naruto could see them. On every person he came across on the street, every man and woman in the bus, in the store, in the supermarket, at school… They all had a red string attached to them. Sometimes, he’d find couples whose strings were connected, sometimes it was the other way around.

Fated people who found each other were supposed to be happy, supposed to live their fullest from the moment they met.

Not everybody was so lucky, though. Some people’s threads were full of knots, and Naruto had yet to find out what that meant. Other’s strings were cut off, and he’d come to discover that that meant the person that used to be on the other side of the thread had died. On a few occasions, he’d encounter people whose string had turned black, but again, it’s not like he knew how fate worked.

What Naruto did know, on the other hand, was that he’d been born without a soulmate. There was no red string around his pinkie finger, no direction to follow, no person to find.

He couldn’t understand why he’d been cursed to watch everyone find their soulmate when he didn’t have one, and he didn’t understand why he was the only one who could see those damn strings. It all made no sense to him.

The worst part of it all, was that he’d managed to be stupid enough to fall in love with his best friend, who did have a glistening red string tied to him. And, to top it all, he knew the person that string led to, too.

The three of them had known each other since elementary school. They hadn’t always been friends, but now they often hung out together. Naruto knew Sakura had feelings for Sasuke, and that, of course, made sense. It was natural for her to develop feelings for her soulmate, even though she didn’t know he was. Sasuke, on the other hand, had never shown too much interest in her. Like, sure, they were friends, and Naruto could tell Sasuke cared for her, but after Sakura had gathered enough courage to finally confess one day, he had downright rejected her without a second thought, and that… that didn’t make sense at all. They were soulmates, they were meant to be together, and yet Sasuke didn’t seem to be interested in her that way.

When Naruto had asked him about it, once they were alone, the raven had just said something along the lines of: “I like Sakura, she’s a good friend. But I don’t see her that way.”

“Bu-But why?!” Naruto had insisted, still incredulous at the situation that had arisen. He had been resigned to only be Sasuke’s friend because he knew Sakura and him were meant for each other, and here Sasuke was, telling him that he didn’t like Sakura in a romantic way?

“Because I just don’t?” Sasuke had replied, a tad exasperated at the question. “Do I have to have a reason not to like someone that way?”

“Well…”

“I can’t force myself to love her the way she wants me to, and that’s just how it is.”

Naruto spent a lot of time thinking about that conversation.

Sure, people used to say nobody could control one’s heart and who it chose to love, but Naruto knew for a fact that soulmates existed, that people’s hearts were designed to love that one specific person, so why was Sasuke different?

Months went by, turning into years, and Sakura’s feelings for Sasuke didn’t fade. Naruto thought Sasuke would learn to love her too, during that time, but when Sakura came back to him saying Sasuke had rejected her once again, she looked sad, resigned, and surprisingly, there was a spark of acceptance in her eyes.

“He told me he’s already been in love with someone else for years, and that he couldn’t force himself to forget those feelings,” the pink haired woman told him. She was sad, Naruto could see it clearly, but there was also a smile on her face. A genuine one. “I guess I understand what he means, because it’s the same for me.”

Naruto wanted to offer some kind of comfort. He didn’t know what to say, though. Especially when he noticed it. With wide eyes, he saw the thread that connected Sakura to Sasuke slowly but surely turn black. It didn’t fade, nor did it vanish, but just turned dark and stopped glowing.

What… What did that mean?

It couldn’t be rejection, since Sasuke had already rejected Sakura before. And the bond, though evidently affected, was still there, wasn’t it?

Sakura said goodbye and took off, probably just wanting some alone time for herself, something Naruto could respect. So, instead of following her, he went out to look for Sasuke, and found him leaning against a tree in the school’s backyard.

“Hey, bastard, what’s got you all moody?” he asked, seeing as Sasuke was just staring at nothing, hands in his pockets.

“Sakura confessed to me… again,” Sasuke said, eyes lost in the distance.

“Yeah, I know,” Naruto murmured softly, noticing the weird tone in Sasuke’s voice. “I just saw her in the hallway. But why do you look so down now?”

Sasuke took a deep breath. “There’s a constant pressure in my chest. It’s… uncomfortable, but strangely liberating at the same time.”

“Liberating?” Naruto repeated, and his eyes looked down at Sasuke’s hand, where the darkened string was.

Could it be that Sasuke felt his soulbond was actually constricting him, somehow? Was it really that easy to just… choose who you wanted, and not who fate tied you with?

He looked at his own hand, absent from any thread, and thought, maybe people do have a choice. Eyes rising back to Sasuke’s face, Naruto couldn’t help but think that perhaps, just perhaps, he could make his own choice, too.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #20: Adult Sasunaru (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Naruto, Omega Sasuke, post Mpreg.

This scene is set years after the events in “Our bond”.

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“Dad, I’m going out!”

Naruto heard the shout from his bedroom and didn’t even bother to open his eyes. “Take care!” was his groggy response, before hiding his face in his pillow.

It was Sunday, alright? He had all the right to sleep in as much as he wanted. Well, maybe not like that, he had to be in the office before nine, but it was still early, so there was no way he was getting up right now.

His son, on the other hand, seemed to have all the energy in the world. He woke up at six everyday, and usually went out with his friends on weekends. Like today.

Naruto couldn’t begin to comprehend it, but then he remembered he used to wake up even earlier to train when he was still a child and wondered where all that energy and enthusiasm had gone. Now he hardly ever wanted to leave his bed. Or maybe he just worked too much, being the Hokage wasn’t as simple as he’d once imagined many years ago.

Ah… He was getting old, wasn’t he?

Oh, well. Nothing could really be done about it.

He stayed in bed, on the verge of dozing off, when he suddenly heard a foreign noise. He frowned, but was still reluctant to get up. Then, the door of the bedroom opened wide and Naruto finally woke up from the startle. He was about to complain to whoever had dared to ruin his sleep when his eyes locked onto mismatched ones.

“Sasuke! You’re back!” Naruto quickly jumped off the bed and went to embrace his mate in a tight hug, burying his nose in the crook of the omega’s neck.

“I’m home,” was the soft reply he got.

Sasuke had been gone for several months now. He took on missions outside the village practically all the time, but they usually lasted from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, but not this long. Naruto knew he couldn’t chain Sasuke to the village, but he always made sure he knew he had a home to return to. He wasn’t afraid of Sasuke leaving for good, he knew in his heart he would always come back to him, to them.

Still, that didn’t mean Naruto didn’t miss him everytime he was away. And Ryuu, too. Especially him. He was the one who missed Sasuke the most, probably. When he was little, he’d sometimes asked if Sasuke didn’t stay because he didn’t like him. That kid had always yearned for every bit of attention he could get from the omega. Even as a baby, Naruto was sure he liked Sasuke more than him. So when Sasuke was away, he knew their son was hurting, and there was nothing he could do but reassure him that the omega would always come back to them, no matter how long it had been.

“You were gone for a while…” Naruto pouted when they separated, earning a flick to his forehead. “Oi!”

“I got held up by some… circumstances,” Sasuke’s answer was very vague, which made Naruto pout more.

“What circumstances?”

“We can talk about that later. I’ve got to report to the Hokage first, anyway.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out.

“Just tell me?”

“Hn… I’m going to take a shower,” he ignored Naruto’s request and went straight to the bathroom.

Rather than being annoyed, Naruto grinned mischievously and went after him.

He was late to the office that day.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #21: Healing together (-)

Warnings: Modern AU, established relationship, angst, car accidents, hospitals and description of injuries.

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Naruto looked at the ceiling, his eyes trying to get accustomed to the bright white light.

Where- Where was he?

He could barely remember what he’d been doing before suddenly waking up here, in such a plain room. The smell of disinfectant and something else itched his nose, and everything was too blurry to identify.

“Naruto!” oh, that voice was familiar. Focusing harder, Naruto managed to meet eyes with shiny emerald ones, and pink pretty hair.

“Sa-kura?” his throat hurt, his voice scratchy.

“Don’t try to move too fast, you’re hurt,” she gently scolded him, helping Naruto sit up a bit by raising the back of the bed.

Naruto’s confused eyes looked at her, her neat white medical gown, and that’s when he realized he was actually in the hospital. And, by the looks of it, he was lucky to be in the one Sakura worked in.

“What… happened?” he inquired, a little bit more aware now.

Sakura sighed, a very deep long breath release that Naruto could notice her exhaustion just by hearing it.

“You were in a car accident. You’ve got no fractures, just some bruises and a concussion. But you’ve got some serious third degree burns in your right arm, so don’t try to touch it, and try not to use it as much as you can for now,” the medic informed him.

“Really? I don’t really feel any pain…” Naruto’s voice was barely a scratchy whisper, so unlike his normal boisterous one.

“We’ve got you on painkillers. Also, the burns damaged the nerves in your arm, so even if you don’t feel any pain, please be aware that it’s in pretty bad condition and you need to take care of it, alright?”

Naruto nodded, but noticed how his old childhood friend still looked uneasy. She was trying to put on a calm facade for him, but Naruto knew her all too well.

“Sakura?”

“Naruto, I…” she took a deep breath, like she was trying to compose herself. “I have something I need to tell you.”

Naruto couldn’t begin to comprehend when exactly had everything gone wrong.

Sasuke and he woke up that day like they did everyday. They had breakfast together, took turns to take a shower, got ready for work and then left together.

Naruto worked just a couple of blocks from Sasuke’s company, so they always left home together. Depending on the day, either Naruto or Sasuke would finish work earlier or later than usual, and in those cases they went back home separately.

This time, though, Naruto had finished work just around 20 minutes earlier than Sasuke so he just decided to wait for him until he finished so he could pick him up instead of having to take the bus. Sasuke arrived when he’d said he would, and during their trip home Naruto listened to him complain about some of his coworkers. Sasuke had been very pent up, since the one doing most of the talking was usually Naruto and not the other way around.

They were supposed to have arrived home safe and sound, as usual. They were supposed to have made dinner together, and gone out the next day like they had agreed they would. It wasn’t everyday they both got to enjoy their weekend doing simple couple stuff.

Yeah, that’s what should have happened.

Instead, Naruto was laying on a hospital bed, not able to move one bit yet due to the meds, wondering if his husband would make it out of surgery.

When he’d woken up, he hadn’t even remembered Sasuke and him were together when shit had hit the fan. But after Sakura told him Sasuke was currently in the operating room as they spoke, all the memories came crashing into his brain. He remembered the car out of control that was suddenly driving in their direction. He remembered Sasuke trying but failing to avoid it. It had all been too fast. Then everything went dark, and next thing he knew, he was awake, living a nightmare.

Sakura didn’t have the heart to hide the current situation with him. Or maybe she was legally forced to tell him anyway? It’s not like Naruto knew shit about hospitals or doctor’s codes or anything, really.

She’d informed him the other car involved in the accident had hit Sasuke’s side, the drivers side, causing a fire, and thus it had been practically a miracle for him to still have been alive when the paramedics arrived at the scene.

Sasuke had been in terrible shape when Sakura heard they were in the hospital. A broken leg, some cracked ribs, a skull fracture… and all that without counting the endless amount of bruises covering his body. And that wasn’t all, no. Sasuke’s left arm had been so severely damaged the probability of it having to be amputated were high, even when the doctors were doing their best to save it. And then there was the internal damage too…

Why was this happening to them? Why now?

From what he’d heard before, the other driver had nothing but a few broken bones and that was it, so why was Sasuke in such a critical state?

Sakura had said he’d already been two hours into surgery, but how much longer could it take?

At least he wasn’t alone. He was grateful Sakura had left work aside to be with him right now. There was nothing she could do for Sasuke right now, anyway. The surgery was out of her expertise area, so the best she could do was stay by Naruto’s side and keep him updated.

It wasn’t until many hours later Naruto was informed Sasuke’s surgery was over, and that he’d managed to survive. He was being kept in the ICU, though, so nobody could see him yet.

It wasn’t until several days later the doctors determined Sasuke was stable enough to be moved to his own room, and it was until then Naruto was allowed to see him.

Watching his husband lay in a hospital bed, skin sickly pale, lips dry and cracked, all patched up and connected to many types of machines Naruto didn’t even know what they were for was… a first. He stepped near the bed, his eyes never leaving Sasuke’s face for a second. He could hear Sakura’s voice telling him she’d be outside if he needed her.

This sight, the sight of his most precious person laying seemingly so lifeless on a bed, got to him. It made his heart clench and his eyes burn. Then his gaze dropped a little lower, to the empty space Sasuke’s left arm used to be, and he choked down a sob.

How would he be able to tell Sasuke what happened when he woke up? How could he tell him he’d lost an arm? His life wouldn’t be the same anymore, and Naruto feared the moment Sasuke had to realize that.

He sat down in the chair next to the bed, and gently grabbed Sasuke’s right hand with his left, hot tears running down his cheeks.

He didn’t know exactly why he was crying. Was it relief at Sasuke being alive? Or was it dread at the future he was now forced to face? Maybe both.

“Hey, bastard…” he talked to him, unsure if his husband was able to hear him. “It’ll be alright. I’m here, and we’ll learn to heal together.”

Life wouldn’t be easy from now on, no. But they still had each other, and that made it all worth it.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #22: Making out (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Naruto, Omega Sasuke, post Mpreg.

This scene follows day 20 :) Also, Sasuke gets called “mom” here, just in case this isn’t your cup of tea.

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“I’m home!” Ryuu announced, even though he knew nobody would respond. It was barely past two in the afternoon, so his dad must still be at work.

When he was crouching to take his shoes off, he noticed another person’s scent in his home, one he recognized immediately. Thinking he might be imagining things, but hopeful nonetheless, he hurried into the living room, where he found a black haired man sitting on the couch, a scroll in hand and a cup of tea in the coffee table in front of him.

Ryuu’s face instantly brightened.

“Mom, you’re back!”

Sasuke lifted his gaze and put the scroll aside, giving room to his son to embrace him. Ryuu gladly took the invitation and ran over to him.

“Welcome home,” he murmured against his son’s hair, as dark as his own, and those words made the arms around his neck tighten.

“You took too long. I really missed you, y’know,” even though Ryuu’s appearance was mostly Sasuke, he still got bits of Naruto in his mannerisms.

“I did, too.”

And yeah, he had. He’d missed his child dearly, even though sometimes he thought Ryuu would be better off in Naruto’s care only. Sasuke still had a past that haunted him, and he didn’t want his son to suffer the repercussions of it.

When he’d brought that topic up to Naruto, the alpha insisted he was being silly and while he understood where his worries came from, he assured Sasuke that not having him in his life would be more harmful to their son than handling what his heritage represented.

Sasuke had agreed, but still tried to make his son not grow too attached to him, and that’s why he left on missions so often. Well, that, and staying for so long in this godforsaken village still made him feel like he couldn’t breathe. This was his home, but only because his family was here. If it wasn’t for Naruto, he wouldn’t have returned to this village at all.

But now, cradling his child against him, he felt at peace. He wanted his son to grow up in a better world, so he’d keep working hard to help Naruto achieve all his goals, aiding him from a distance.

Ryuu slowly loosened his grip and Sasuke took the chance to take a better look at him. It had been almost a year this time, and his precious son had grown so much. He was about to turn twelve soon, and then he’d be all grown up before Sasuke would be able to realize it.

Sasuke leaned down to rub their cheeks together, scenting his pup gingerly, who eagerly allowed it and returned the gesture. The kid’s body relaxed, letting Sasuke support his weight until he fell asleep. He let Ryuu nap on his lap and ran his hand through soft black hair. His kid was exhausted, and Sasuke wondered what he’d been up to all day. He should ask Naruto about it, or maybe he should let his own son update him about his life.

In the meantime, he’d let him sleep for a while.

“Ryuu was exhausted today when he came home,” he told Naruto later that day, when they were getting ready to go to bed.

They’d had dinner together for the first time in a long time, but now that the day was over, their son hadn’t protested when Naruto told him to go to bed.

“Yeah, I noticed. I wonder what he’s up to,” he mused aloud, joining Sasuke under the covers and rubbing his cheek against his shoulder like a cat seeking affection. “I missed this,” he sighed contently, leaving a fleeting kiss right over Sasuke’s collarbone. “Missed you.”

Sasuke hummed, fingers intertwining with blond strands of hair. Naruto breathed in his omega’s scent, letting it fill his lungs, and Sasuke craned his neck to give him more room to scent him as much as he wanted.

Taking the chance, Naruto started creating a trail of kisses up his throat to his chin. Just tender, loving caresses he’d been deprived of for months. When he leant back a bit to catch Sasuke’s gaze, he noticed the raven had his eyes closed. Craning his face with both hands, Naruto stroked his cheeks with his thumbs, and it was then, when eyelids opened a bit, letting him take a look at beautiful mismatched eyes, that he joined their mouths together.

Sasuke’s lips were a bit dry, but so soft. They moved alongside his own, giving as much as they were taking. Naruto’s world reduced to Sasuke. His scent, his touch, his warmth, his taste… Mouths molding together, recognizing each other again, finding home in this kiss.

The blond detached their mouths so they could regain some air, and then went in for another kiss. He pushed Sasuke down so his back laid fully against the mattress and climbed over him, seeking access to his mouth with his tongue, which Sasuke gladly granted, allowing his mouth to be devoured by his alpha.

They kept on kissing for a while until Sasuke firmly but gently pressed his hand to Naruto’s chest to push him away.

“Don’t get overexcited, dumbass.”

Naruto groaned a complaint and went down for another kiss, but Sasuke turned his face so the blond’s lips met his cheek.

“I mean it, Naruto. Let’s get some sleep.”

The blond sighed and pressed his lips to the hollow behind his ear. “Fine,” he said, crawling down Sasuke’s body to lay beside him, keeping him close. The omega didn’t protest.

They slept peacefully, content in each other’s arms.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #23: I’m in love with an idiot (-)

Warnings: High school AU, silly stuff.

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Tray of food in hand, Naruto walked to his usual table, humming a made up song and distractingly drumming his fingers against the platter.

“Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late, Kakashi-sensei made me erase the chalkboard… again,” he complained, sitting next to Kiba, smashing his hand away when he tried to grab his banana, which was the only edible thing of today’s meal. “What’cha guys talking about?”

“Shikamaru had chemistry today,” Kiba informed him, and took a bite of an apple he had gotten from his sister earlier that day.

“... So what?”

“I got stuck with Sasuke as my lab partner,” Shikamaru said from his seat in front of Naruto.

“Huh, bet you guys are gonna have the best grades of your class,” Naruto commented offhandedly, and started digging on his food, if you could even call the school cafeteria’s food that.

“It’s a drag,” Shikamaru said with an utterly done look on his face.

Naruto didn’t say anything, mouth full with his lunch, but did send a questioning glance in his direction. Kiba snorted at his confused expression.

“You know how that guy has half the school fawning over him, so now Shikamaru has to deal with that too, starting next lab class.”

Now it was Naruto’s time to snort, amused by the situation. It had always been like that. Sasuke, for some reason Naruto couldn’t begin to understand, had always a group of dedicated fangirls following him around. Naruto used to be jealous of the attention he got, until he realized it wasn’t Sasuke he was jealous of, exactly.

“Guess you’ll have to deal with that from now on, then,” Naruto said, grabbing his juice box and pinching it with the straw, having to apply a bit of force because the box refused to yield. “But, if it makes you feel better, Sasuke hates it too.”

Shikamaru let out a defeated sigh.

Kiba started to play with his fork, no food left in his tray. “You know? I never understood that guy,” he suddenly said.

Shikamaru, Naruto and even Chouji, who was there too but had been munching on some chips during the whole conversation, turned their eyes to him.

“He’s got the attention of so many girls , and yet he doesn’t pay attention to any of them? And, on top of that, he’s always being a jerk to everybody. I don’t get why the girls like him, only an idiot would fall for a guy like him.”

“Hey, it’s my boyfriend you’re talking about there, y’know!” Naruto instantly confronted him, which made Kiba lean back, taken aback by the information.

“Your WHAT now?!”

Both Chouji and Kiba were looking at Naruto with rounded eyes, and Chouji had even stopped eating. Shikamaru, on the other hand, only seemed bored.

“Well, yeah! Don’t talk shit about my boyfriend, you mutt!”

“YOUR WHAT?” Kiba repeated, incredulously. “What do you mean ‘your boyfriend’? You barely tolerate that guy!”

“Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke have been together for over a year now,” Shikamaru calmly intervened.

“They have what?! But you’re always fighting with him and complaining about him with the rest of us,” Kiba exclaimed, still baffled at the revelation of Naruto and his old elementary school rival actually being a thing.

“Well, duh. He’s a massive dickhead, but I’m the only one allowed to talk shit about him. And I also don’t appreciate you calling me an idiot, thank you very much.”

Oh, yeah , Kiba though, I did say only an idiot would fall for him.

“Figures, a jerk like Sasuke would fall in love with an idiot like you,” the Inuzuka uttered under his breath, and yelped when Naruto punched his arm.

“And how did you know they were dating, Shika?” Chouji finally spoke, asking Shikamaru a question.

Said boy just shrugged. “Seemed pretty obvious their fighting was just their way of flirting. They’ve always been weird.”

“Oi, I resent that!” Naruto pouted.

“But how could we not know? Like, if it were a week or so, I’d get it, but a whole year?” Kiba insisted, to which Naruto just blinked at him.

“So you seriously didn’t know?”

“HOW was I supposed to know?”

“Uh… I dunno. I never really thought about it, to be honest. I thought everyone already knew. I guess Sasuke just doesn’t like PDA too much, so for most people we still act like we’ve always done,” Naruto dismissed the importance of the topic by waving a hand in the air. Then, he looked up and caught the eye of the very boy they were talking about. “Hey, Sasuke! Come here!”

At hearing his name and Naruto gesturing to him to come closer, Sasuke walked up to them but didn’t sit down.

“What?” he asked flatly.

 “Did you know Kiba here didn’t know we were together?” Naruto snickered, completely amused by his friend’s obliviousness.

Raising an eyebrow at Naruto’s words, he just said: “Figures, an idiot like him wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Hey, fuck you! How are we supposed to know if nobody says anything?” Kiba argued back.

“Didn’t know we had to make an announcement.”

Getting riled up by his works, Kiba turned to look at Naruto.

“If you really like this guy, you’re actually the biggest idiot ever.”

“Guess that only means I’m in love with an idiot, then,” Sasuke replied before Naruto could open his mouth, smirking smugly. “I’m leaving.”

“Calm down, Kiba, man.”

“Your boyfriend’s a jerk,” he still couldn’t believe they were both dating , and that Sasuke of all people had said he was in love in such a nonchalant manner.

Naruto laughed again. “Yeah, he is a jerk, but he’s my jerk.”

Chapter Text

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Prompt #24: At the hot springs (-)

Warnings: Blank period setting, pre-relationship.

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Sasuke let out a slow breath, enjoying how the hot water relaxed all his tensed muscles, eyelids closing so he could concentrate on feeling .

After traveling alone for so long, he had overexerted himself. Every single muscle in his body ached, and even though he liked the freedom being outside of the village granted him, it also exhausted him.

This was the first time in a long time when he was actually alone, or more like, physically alone. Before, even though Sasuke tried to push everyone away, there was always someone near him, close to him. He’d been alone mentally and emotionally to an extent, but never physically.

First his classmates and teachers at the Academy, then Team 7, then Orochimaru and Kabuto, then Team Taka, and then… Team 7 again. He could still smell the metallic scent of his and Naruto’s blood mixed together, or envision Sakura’s tears after she’d found them, or Kakashi’s subtle smile under his mask.

After some time recovering from his injuries and, of course, waiting for a trial, he left the village again, revenge and power not being the reasons for it this time. So he was alone now, but never really felt alone anymore. He knew he had a home to come back to, and the most important part, he learnt home wasn’t a place, but a person.

Opening his eyes, Sasuke looked over the hot springs. He was lucky enough to come across a natural hidden one, instead of going to a public spring, full of people. Here, camouflaged in the middle of a forest, was a perfect place to let go of the world for a moment and let himself relax a bit. He let the warm water slowly redden his skin, and sat with his back against a rock.

In moments like these, when time seemed to stop and give him a break, his mind always started wandering back to his home. To him.

He’d thought of asking Naruto to come with him, but that idea was immediately discarded when he was reminded that Naruto’s life was in the village. He had to stay there, and train to become the Hokage who would actually change the world. So Sasuke couldn’t be selfish about this, he wanted Naruto to accomplish all his dreams and goals, and he wanted to help him make the world a better place, so there would be no more people like them, who’d suffered because of a rotten system.

He was about to stand to get out of the waters, when he sensed a familiar chakra somewhere nearby. But it couldn’t possibly be, he couldn’t be that far away from the village, and even if he was, how could he find Sasuke so easily?

He didn’t have to wait long, because soon a figure appeared from between the bushes, looking a bit disheveled. He probably hurried to this place once he felt Sasuke’s chakra.

“Sasuke!” Naruto exclaimed happily, if a bit breathless too. “I thought I felt your chakra nearby!”

Sasuke examined him up and down and quickly realized something.

“It’s been so long since we saw each other. Geez, look at you, not having enough time to reply to my letters but having more than enough time to enjoy yourself at the hot springs. And there I was, worrying about you,” Naruto crossed his arms, pouting at him, and Sasuke just arched an eyebrow, not being bothered in the slightest at being naked in Naruto’s presence. It’s not like the other one could see anything under the water anyway.

“Hn,” was all he offered as a response. “Where’s the original?”

Naruto blinked, and showed him a sheepish smile. He should have imagined Sasuke would realize he was just a clone as soon as he saw him.

“In the village. I was just sent to deliver a message to a small town near here,” the clone explained.

“You were sent out just to deliver a message?”

“Well, I might be just a clone, but I’m still the fastest out there,” he spoke proudly. “Besides, it was no biggie. Aaaaand I thought a bit of extra cash wouldn’t hurt.”

Well, if Naruto could send out clones to fulfill some lower rank missions, that meant being the hero of the village didn’t make enough to pay the bills. Figures.

“And you? What are you doing here?”

“I found this spring and thought it would be a good place to be away from prying eyes.”

“Hum… yeah, I guess it’s pretty well hidden. It seems kind of a hard place to find,” Naruto contemplated, and then sat down on the dirt, not caring about getting dirty. He was just a clone anyway, he’d just disappear at any time now.

Naruto started talking about life in the village, asking him some questions from time to time, and Sasuke just let him. He allowed himself to have this, a bit of Naruto, after so long, even if it wasn’t the original one, it was still him.

He didn’t complain when Naruto joined him in the water a couple of minutes later, or that he spent hours just talking about everything and nothing. And when the clone finally disappeared in a puff of smoke, Sasuke left the spring too, an imperceptible smile on his face.

He didn’t know what Naruto would do once all his clone’s memories came back to him, but just in case, he thought it was better to leave.

He wondered if Naruto would send him another letter soon.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #25: Years changed but our love stayed the same (-)

Warnings: Past relationship, pining, a bit of angst.

This is a day 15 followup, and I think the topic fits perfectly with this universe.

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Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking about that interview. It had only been a couple of days, but his mind was still stuck on Naruto’s baby blue eyes looking directly at the camera– directly at him through the camera.

His hands itched to grab his phone and call him, but what was he supposed to say to him after so long? It had been over seven years already, they weren’t kids anymore. Naruto had a brilliant career ahead of him, and Sasuke was stuck in his monotonic office job. Even if they still had feelings for each other, their worlds were too different. It wouldn’t work out, no matter how hard they tried… Would it?

He grabbed his phone and immediately searched for Naruto’s old number, hoping it still worked. He dialed in, then waited.

We’re sorry. The number you’re trying to reach is no longer in service.

He dropped the phone onto the mattress and let out a shaky breath. So that was it, then. The number didn’t work anymore, there was no way for him to contact Naruto directly. Sasuke didn’t even have any social media accounts, besides a couple of messenger apps. And even if he did, Naruto probably gots tons of messages every day, so his would just get lost in the bunch of texts from hundreds if not thousands of fans. And if Naruto was a celebrity now, he probably had other people manage all his social media accounts. They would probably think he was just trying to trick them or something. It all made no sense. Why try? The outcome would be the same.

… you’re still my most precious person. It doesn’t matter how many years go by, you’ll always be my one and only.

No. He had… He had to try something else. There must be a way to get to Naruto, and Sasuke just had to find out what it was.

“Sasuke, are you sure you want to do this?” Itachi asked once again. He hadn’t ever hesitated to voice his concerns whenever his little brother was involved. Usually, he was just being overprotective, but this time, he was really worried about the outcomes of this sudden determination Sasuke had.

“I am,” Sasuke reassured him, hoping to fool Itachi with a nonchalant attitude so he would stop nagging him. He wasn’t sure, alright? But he knew that, if he didn’t do this, he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Probably.

“If you say so… But please, contact me if something happens, I don’t care if you wake me up in the middle of the night,” he wisely decided not to prod more, nor mention the amount of money Sasuke had spent on this. It’s not that they were poor or anything, but they weren’t rich either, so spending this much would definitely take a toll on his brother’s finances.

“I will.”

Naruto hadn’t expected anything to change after that interview when he openly talked about Sasuke for the first time.

He knew Sasuke had no way to contact him, he knew. His old phone had broken after they lost contact and Naruto just got a new one with a new number. He cursed at himself for having such a bad memory that he couldn’t even remember Sasuke’s phone number, because he’d suddenly lost all the chances he had to contact him.

His ex boyfriend had no social media accounts, no public information, so tracking him on his own was just impossible.

During his most desperate times, he’d thought of hiring a detective or something, just so he could find a way to get in touch with Sasuke, but everytime he reached the same conclusion. It had been too long, Sasuke had probably moved on already, so who was Naruto to just get back into his life so out of the blue?

Besides, now he had a life away from his hometown. Naruto wasn’t about to just abandon it all just to go back to him, even if the thought had crossed his mind once or twice. Sasuke wouldn’t be waiting for him, so why take the risk? Or it could be the other way around, Sasuke had a life without him, he couldn’t just quit and come with Naruto to where he was. It was just so complicated. Or at least that’s what he’d thought.

Years passed by, and Naruto should have gotten over Sasuke already. He’d even tried dating, but it never worked out. So he just gave up and accepted the fact that Sasuke was the only one for him. That’s when he wrote one of his most recent songs: “I’ll be Loving You Forever.” With Sasuke in his mind, lyrics seemed to flow out of him effortlessly. That was one thing that hadn’t changed through the years.

He was his one, his only. Naruto had to learn to live with that, live with the fact that Sasuke and him had drifted apart and that was it.

Or so he thought, until he went to South Korea for his next concert. This time, they were doing a Meet and Greet before the event, nothing Naruto hadn't had experience with before. Except that he wasn’t counting on encountering a pair of familiar black eyes there, ones he thought he’d never see again.

Maybe it wasn’t too late yet.

Chapter Text

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Prompt #26: Vampire AU (-)

Warnings: Character death, reincarnation, a lot of angst, Vampire Sasuke.

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Human life was short, ephemeral compared to all recorded history, and insignificant alongside the universe.

Humans were aware time was precious, and that’s why they took advantage of every minute, every second. If they got stuck, they lost their notion of everything else, and that was something they couldn’t afford. Life was too short to waste it like that.

Sasuke remembered those feelings, the human feelings he used to have before being forcefully bereaved of his humanity. His life hadn’t been perfect, but whose life was? He had a loving mother, a strict father that loved him in his own way, an older brother he always admired… He went to school, he graduated, he got into university, he fell in love…

A sigh left his lips, the wind gently swinging his hair.

If he closed his eyes, he could still see his face. Naruto’s face. The way he’d smile at him when they met before the school bell rang, a cup of steamy coffee in his hand. The idiot knew Sasuke loved that coffee and waited for him every morning with his favorite drink in hand, and in exchange Sasuke would treat him to his favorite ramen restaurant every once in a while.

So yes, he had a good life, even if it was shorter than he’d hoped. Now all those moments had turned into distant memories, ones that he’d treasure for eternity, but could never revive.

Years passed by fast, yet so painfully slow at the same time. He’d gone from being surrounded by people he loved to being alone. Everything he knew, everyone he’d loved, was nothing but part of a past that sometimes he felt was not his.

No matter how many years went by, he still couldn’t figure out why his life turned out like this, why fate had been so cruel. The actual responsible for his situation was gone, Sasuke hadn’t even been able to see his face that time, and finding him after so long was impossible. The only thing he had left was himself, and those vague images of a life that didn’t belong to him anymore.

The only constant in his life was time’s incessant march, and two baby blue eyes that seemed to always be able to find him over and over again, against all distance, against all odds.

The first time he’d come across with that shiny golden hair and those deep blue eyes again, Sasuke thought he was finally going crazy.

It wasn’t possible. Naruto had died decades ago. He’d had a relatively long life, and he’d been forced to say goodbye due to a long debilitating disease. Naruto never knew what had happened to him back then. Sasuke once heard the blond had looked for him for years before his case was archived by the police when no indication of Sasuke’s whereabouts were ever found. He saw Naruto suffer his absence, but was relieved at seeing he went on with his life.

Naruto had a good life. He got married, had two kids, got divorced, and spent the rest of his life working, but never left those important to him aside. During his last moments, when he was hospitalized just waiting for the inevitable, gray hair and wrinkled skin, Sasuke went to visit him.

He waited for Naruto to be alone in the room and got in without anybody noticing. He took his time contemplating him, his mind wandering to what could have been but never was. Sasuke still loved him, but Naruto had long ago stopped thinking of him. It was natural. The blond was human, he couldn’t spend the few years he’d live stuck in the past and throw his future away.

Sasuke wasn’t like him anymore. Time wasn’t a factor for him, his heart would spend all eternity yearning what it had lost.

He padded closer to the bed, stretching a hand to caress those former blond strands one more time. Then, he realized a pair of cobalt eyes were looking straight at him, behind a curtain of exhaustion.

“Sasuke…” his voice was scratchy, dry, and Sasuke couldn’t help but take a step back when he realized Naruto had just recognized him. “You finally came back for me…”

His whole body trembled when a weak hand stretched in his direction, and his chest clenched painfully before carefully taking it between his own.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice barely audible, feeling Naruto’s dry skin against his palms.

Naruto smiled. Age hadn’t diminished the intensity of those eyes nor the expressivity of his smile.

“It’s okay…” he said, coughing a bit for the exertion. “We’ll be together now.”

If Sasuke had still been human, there would be tears running down his face.

Naruto had never forgotten him, he’d always kept him in his heart. Now, as an old man on the verge of death, he seemed to honestly think Sasuke’s spirit had come to pick him up, to take him with him.

“You should rest,” Sasuke said, gently putting Naruto’s hand back on the bed and leaning in to kiss his forehead.

“I’ll find you again, in our next life,” Naruto promised. “I never stopped looking for you, and I never will…”

Sasuke silently watched as his former lover closed his eyes, smile never weavering, chest rising and falling until the motion finally stopped.

Then, he stroked gray locks of hair again.

I hope you’re okay, wherever you are now, he thought, clenching his teeth before leaving the hospital room, knowing he was also leaving behind the person he had loved the most, the only one for him. I promise I’ll never forget you, Naruto.

And he never did, the same way he never thought Naruto could ever keep his promise. But now, many decades later, he was right in front of him, baby blue orbs eyeing him curiously.

“Have we met before?” the boy, who couldn’t be older than sixteen, asked him. “You seem oddly familiar…”

Sasuke never believed in reincarnation before, but there was no way to deny it was Naruto in front of him. Wearing different clothes, having a different hairstyle, living a different life, but it was still him.

But what could Sasuke do, now? There was no way he could act on his deepest desires. Naruto deserved a normal life, and Sasuke was no more than a stranger to him now.

“No, sorry. You must be mistaken,” he’d replied, and kept walking away in the darkness. As he went on, silhouette barely illuminated by the moonlight, he could feel the blond’s attentive gaze on him.

Sasuke didn’t look back. But one thing he was now sure of was that Naruto was right, he always kept his promises. He’d found him again. Now it was Sasuke’s turn to do something for him and let him go.

The stars glowed sadly that night.

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Prompt #27: Crossover (-)

Warnings: Mentions of genocide, implicit war, and that pretty much sums it up.

Avatar: The Last Airbender universe. Set before and during the Air Nomad genocide.

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When Itachi had told him to look for Naruto and take him away, Sasuke hadn’t known exactly what he meant or what to expect. But he trusted his brother, and he could tell something really bad was about to happen, so he didn’t disobey him.

“Don’t ask questions, and don’t tell anyone,” his big brother had said. “Pack only the essentials and go find Naruto. I know about your feelings for each other, and I care for him too, so there will be no time to lose.”

“Itachi, what are you talking about?” Sasuke had started to become desperate, not understanding where this conversation was coming from.

“I told you not to ask questions. Just listen to me, Sasuke,” the older one scolded him and grabbed his little brother by the shoulders. “Run away. Find Naruto and run away with him. Never come back to the Fire Nation, and never let anyone find out Naruto’s an airbender.”

“Wha- Wait a second, you’re not making any sense!”

“Do as I say! You don’t have time. Find a place to hide and don’t let them find him, don’t let them find either of you.”

“Who? Don’t let who find him? Itach-”

“I have to go.”

And that’d been it.

Having a bad feeling about the whole situation, Sasuke did as he was told.

Naruto and him had been friends for many years. They met by chance while Sasuke was traveling with his family around the Earth Kingdom. Sasuke had found him playing tricks and pranks on innocent people with his airbending abilities, so he’d confronted him.

They weren’t exactly friends at the beginning, but soon enough they started to warm up to one another and, after Sasuke returned to his homeland, they kept in touch. Sometimes, Naruto visited him in the Fire Nation, and those were the times they actually got to know each other better until a certain feeling started to bloom between them.

From his family, only Itachi knew he had an Air Nomad friend, and he quite liked Naruto too. And now that he was telling him to run away, Sasuke didn’t know what to think, and yet he decided to trust his brother.

Naruto met him in the spot they had agreed, one small island in the southern part of the Fire Nation, mounted in his Sky Bison, Kurama. It took him a while to get there, since he lived in the Northern Air Temple, so Sasuke had already been waiting for him for a couple of days.

“Flameo, Sasuke!” the blond greeted him, jumping off his loyal companion and landing gracefully on the grass. “I came as fast as I could. What’s that so urgent you wanted me to come as soon as possible? And what’s with those clothes?” he asked curiously, tilting his head to the side at the sight of him dressed in baggy brown clothes, not like the ones he usually wore.

Sasuke didn’t waste time to explain.

“C’mon, we have to go. Get that fleabag to start moving again,” he ordered, blatantly ignoring Naruto to start climbing the bison’s back.

“Oi, you bastard!”

“Let’s go! I’ll explain later.”

He could tell Naruto wasn’t happy, but they took off anyway.

Sasuke told him what Itachi had said, and the blond was even more puzzled than Sasuke himself was. However, if Itachi had told them to run, to hide, he must have had a reason.

They flew east, reaching Kyoshi Island, and decided to rest there for a couple of days while they figured out what to do next, and what the supposed threat was, until one day it happened.

“What’s that?” Naruto asked, looking at the red colored sky.

Sasuke's eyes opened wide. “That’s the Great Comet.”

“The Great what?”

“The Great Comet. It passes close to the Earth every one thousand years. People say it can give us firebenders the power of one hundred suns.”

“Huh? Sounds cool!”

The comet was a beautiful sight, and even though he could feel the power run through his veins, Sasuke decided not to test the strength the comet was giving him.

At that moment, neither of them knew the real significance the comet would have in the near future, nor the irreparable damages the Fire Nation would cause using its power.

Soon, Sasuke realized what Itachi really meant when he told him they had to hide. All the Air Temples had been destroyed in hopes of finding and killing the new Avatar, who was meant to be born as an Air Nomad after Avatar Roku’s passing. The few airbenders that managed to escape or avoid the attack were now being hunted down, which meant Naruto was in danger too.

Sasuke promised to himself that would never happen. He would protect his most precious person, even if that meant going against his own country and becoming a traitor.

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Prompt #28: Flowers (-)

Warnings: Fantasy trope, fox demon Naruto, hunter Sasuke.

This is a follow up to days 5, 6 and 11.

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Two months after he got stuck here, Sasuke started to become used to his new routine.

He’d already accepted he would have to be in this place for a while, and honestly, it hadn’t been so bad so far as he originally thought. Having a fox demon as a roommate wasn’t so bad either. Naruto was a bit annoying sometimes, but he’d kept Sasuke alive and safe, for some reason Sasuke still couldn’t manage to grasp.

He’d also started hunting for both of them. Every day, he’d come home with a new prey. Sasuke had insisted he was a hunter, and he could catch his own food, but Naruto had remarked in a quite snarky manner “you can’t even tell apart a demon from a regular animal, and remember we’re not in your world. Wouldn’t wanna eat something that’s actually not edible, would you?”

Sasuke had been kind of offended, but… Who was he kidding? Naruto was right. It was safer to just let him bring the food, so Sasuke wasn’t going to argue more about it.

But then it wasn’t just the food. Naruto started bringing him clothes too. Every now and then he’d leave home and come back with a yukata, or some other kind of clothing. He’d even made some space in his closet to accommodate Sasuke’s stuff.

Of course, Sasuke wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but… This was making him uneasy. It seemed like Naruto was liking having him here much more than he let through, or like he was just assuming Sasuke would keep living here for a while.

When Sasuke had asked him about it, Naruto had brushed it off, and kept avoiding or deviating the questions about why in the world he was helping the guy who’d tried to kill him before. It just made no sense. There were also those lingering stares. He’d caught Naruto’s gaze fixated on him from time to time, and the fox demon didn’t bother to pretend he wasn’t.

All of that got Sasuke thinking, until one day he got his answer.

Naruto had come back home in his fox form after his daily patrol, one Sasuke had decided not to go because he wasn’t in the mood for walking, with a bunch of flowers in his mouth. They were kind of disarranged, but so beautiful and of many different colors, and Naruto dropped them directly onto Sasuke’s lap.

“What’s this?” the human had immediately asked, looking at some species of flowers he’d never seen before.

Naruto shifted back to his human form, fully clothed thanks to his magic abilities Sasuke discovered not too long ago he also possessed.

“Flowers. For you,” he seemed happy, looking at him like a puppy expecting to be praised.

“... Why?”

“Why what?” Naruto blinked, seemingly not getting the point.

“Why are you giving me flowers?” Sasuke repeated himself, this time firmer.

“You don’t like them?”

“You keep avoiding my questions,” Sasuke was beginning to get frustrated.

“Geez, if you don’t like them just say so. I’ll get you something else next time.”

“No- Stop evading the topic! Why are you bringing me flowers? And clothes, and food. Why are you letting me stay here instead of just letting me on my own?” Sasuke questioned him, growing more furious by the minute.

He was tired of excuses, of pretextes. He was tired of Naruto ignoring his questions and never actually answering. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

Naruto's eyes bored into his, his face expressionless for a moment, and Sasuke was almost intimidated at the intensity of those blue eyes, red slowly bleeding into them.

“I want to keep you,” he replied simply.

“You- What? So that’s what I’m to you? Some kind of pet?” this time, Sasuke stood up on his feet, willing to fight him if necessary.

Naruto scoffed and raised to his own height too. “No, duh. You’re mine, so I’m keeping you. That’s why I’m letting you stay here and sleep on my bed, that’s why I bring you gifts, cuz you’re mine.”

Sasuke looked at him incredulously. That was the last straw, he couldn’t stay here. This guy was nuts and somehow he now thought Sasuke was some kind of pet or whatever, and he wasn’t about to allow that.

“You’re mad,” Sasuke said, still in disbelief. “If you think you’re gonna keep me here like some kind of trophy or something, forget it! I’m leaving. Now,” he moved past him, not caring what he was leaving behind. He wasn’t about to spend one more second in this place, he needed to get back to his family.

“Wha- You can’t! You have everything you need here. What else do you want? I’ll give it to you!” Naruto tried to grab him by the arm to prevent him from storming out of his house, but Sasuke was fast enough to keep himself free.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sasuke spat out. “You think you can buy me being here?”

The human was about to finally go through the magic entrance, but in the blink of an eye, a furious fox demon stood right in front of him, blocking the exit.

Sasuke had to take a step back at what he was seeing. Naruto’s eyes glowed scarlet, and the marks on his cheeks were more pronounced, an orangish aura coming out of him.

“You’re not leaving! You won’t last a day out there, you idiot. You’ll stay here where I can keep you safe,” the demon declared, elongated pupils fixed on him, detecting his every move.

Sasuke's breath stuck in his chest. He felt trapped, now. This wasn’t fun anymore.

“What do you even want from me?” he asked in a low voice, realizing there was no way he could win Naruto in a fight, not when the fox was so powerful.

Looking at his lost expression, Naruto seemed to calm down a bit. His eyes turned blue again, and the aura around him disappeared.

“Look, Sasuke. I’m not gonna force you to stay here with me forever if you don’t want to, but I’ll show you how good of a mate I can be so you won’t ever wanna leave!”

“How good of a what now?”

“I’ll keep feeding you, and I can get you whatever you want, you just name it. You’ll never be in need again! I can learn to cook human food too, if you get tired of eating the same thing all the time. I’ll help you learn whatever you need to know to live here in the forest, so you won’t ever have to worry if I’m not around!” Naruto started babbling, his mood much lighter than before.

“Wait, you’re actually telling me you want me to be your… ‘mate’?”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you! You’re mine, I’m sure I can make you happy. You’ll be my only one, I’ll live only for you. You just have to let me show you, alright?”

In just what kind of mess had Sasuke just fallen into?

Chapter Text

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Prompt #29: I know your heart and you, mine (-)

Warnings: Break-up, kinda, and mentions long distance relationships.

This is a prelude to days 15 and 25.

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“I’m leaving,” those words, though pretty much unwavering, were filled with many kinds of emotions.

Sasuke just blinked, unaware of the actual meaning behind them.

“Okay, where are you going? You spending the whole summer there?” the raven had asked, arching an eyebrow so elegantly it was unfair.

Naruto let out a shaking breath, trying to compose himself. This was even harder than he’d thought it’d be. And for the first time in his life, Sasuke seemed genuinely oblivious.

“No, Sas- You don’t get it,” the blond shook his head and then plopped down on the bench. They were currently in the park just across from Naruto’s house, about to graduate from high school. They had agreed to go to the same city, although different universities, so they could share an apartment and start living together. And now all of those plans were about to be thrown out of the window.

“Naruto?” this time, Sasuke’s voice sounded stiff, concern coloring it lightly.

He sat down next to him, but the blond wasn’t feeling brave enough to look into those two beautiful onyx eyes.

“Jiraiya got a job proposal in America,” he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “We’re moving after I graduate.”

“You’re moving… to America?”

Naruto lifted his eyes to look at his boyfriend, but Sasuke wasn’t looking at him anymore. His gaze was fixated on the grass, hand intertwined on his lap.

“I tried to convince him to let me stay here, but since I’m still a minor, he can’t leave me on my own…”

Sasuke was very quiet, but in such an unusual way Naruto started fearing what his reaction would be.

They had been together since they were fourteen, and now, at seventeen, they were always attached by the hip. Feeling hadn’t weavered through the years, they had only become stronger, and Naruto didn’t know how he’d be able to leave all that behind.

“We’re graduating in two months,” Sasuke suddenly spoke, voice low.

“Yeah, we are,” Naruto said.

And then, Sasuke sighed, a very deep defeated breath escaping his mouth.

“So, are we breaking up then?”

The question was so direct it felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. It made Naruto go pale, stomach filled with dread and panic at the upcoming conversation.

“Wha- No! I… Do you wanna break up with me?” he asked in a small voice, clearly distressed.

“Of course not, you idiot.”

Naruto breathed in and let it out, immensely relieved.

“Then why are you even bringing that up?” he spat out, upset at the situation as a whole.

This time, Sasuke did look at him, an unreadable gleam in his eyes.

“You’re moving away half across the world, Naruto. How would that work out for us?”

Naruto didn’t immediately reply to that.

Yes, it would be difficult. Long distance relationships were doomed to fail, people said, but that wasn’t always the case. They loved each other, and distance wouldn’t change that, right? They could make it work until they were old enough to make their own decisions about their lives, or until they finished college and could move together. This didn’t have to be the end.

“We know each other’s hearts, don’t we, Sasuke?” Naruto spoke, taking one of his boyfriends hands between his. “I know your heart and you, mine. That won’t change. As long as we still care for each other, we’ll make it work.”

Looking at Sasuke’s eyes was like looking into the deepest part of a starless night. It was almost impossible to look away, and Naruto could spend the rest of his life staring at them. But this time, the sad look reflected in those orbs made his stomach churn.

“You think so?”

“I know so. Just trust me on this, alright? I’ll find a way to come visit you, or maybe you could visit me there, too. We’ll be okay, I promise.”

And it was okay, at least for a while, until Sasuke noticed it had been weeks since the last time they spoke. Then weeks turned into months without texting or video calling. They were both busy with their lives, and time kept moving forwards.

It wasn’t working anymore, and they were too young or too stupid to try harder. But those feelings, they never wavered. Once they finally realized that, it was too late. They weren’t brave enough to be the one who reached out first, thinking the other had already moved one.

Sasuke finished college and started working soon after that, and Naruto’s passion and dedication to music made him grow to become one of the most famous stars of the moment. But maybe it was meant to be that way, maybe they needed that time to grow up on their own. Fate would bring them together again, one day.

Their hearts hadn’t changed, after all.

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Prompt #30: Tenderness (NS)

Warnings: Omegaverse, Alpha Naruto, Omega Sasuke, implied Mpreg.

This prompt makes reference to day #7.

This is also a contribution to the Where The Sun Meets The Moon discord server’s weekly prompt.

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The second time Naruto prepared a den, he was actually aware of the full meaning of it.

After doing some pretty informative research, he was finally ready. He was going to ask Sasuke to move in with him, and become his mate.

They had been officially together now for two years. That was enough time, right? He’d been too eager to wait that he had barely been able to reach the two year mark. While he and Sasuke had only been dating for two years, they had something going on between them for way long before they became a proper couple.

So, for their second anniversary, Naruto cleaned his whole apartment up to its most hidden corner, put everything away, looked for even the smallest trace of stains in his rug, his curtains, his everything. He paid special attention to his room. He tidied up the bed, bought new blankets just for the occasion, and managed for it to look soft and cozy and perfect. He made sure his scent has ingrained in every piece of fabric there was, and he even added some cushions and extra pillows.

His bed was big enough for two, and he thought it was good enough for nesting too, but that was up to Sasuke to decide.

He replaced a couple of things that needed replacement anyway, and did his best to ease his own instincts by making the perfect den. He just hoped Sasuke liked it too, and if he didn’t… Well, Naruto hadn’t really thought of that possibility yet, but he wouldn’t let it deter him.

So the day finally came. Naruto took Sasuke out for dinner, and as usual, they started arguing about the blond’s obsession of always paying for Sasuke instead of letting him pay for their meals every once in a while, at least.

And after spending the whole afternoon together, they went to Naruto’s apartment. Sasuke spent the night there every once in a while, but not too often, so it shouldn’t raise any suspicions, right? He just hoped the omega hadn’t picked on how nervous he actually was.

When they arrived, the same scenario of two years ago repeated. Naruto took Sasuke to his room, cheeks red, heart hopeful.

Sasuke looked around the room with curious eyes, inspecting it carefully, before they turned back to Naruto.

“You sure this time you actually know what you’re asking for, here?” the raven asked, one eyebrow raised.

Naruto made a choking sound and tried to hide his embarrassment by pretending to be offended. “I’m not that clueless anymore, y’know! Of course I know what I’m doing!”

“Just checking,” Sasuke shrugged, lips quirked upwards in a small smirk.

Then, he proceeded to walk towards the bed to prod at the mattress with meticulous hands. And this action made Naruto grow more agitated by the minute.

When he finally seemed satisfied, Sasuke stepped closer to Naruto again.

“So, whatcha think? You like it?” the blond couldn’t refrain himself from asking.

Sasuke hummed, like he was thinking it over. “There’s still something missing.”

“Wha- Something missing? What is it? What’s wrong with it?”

Sasuke threw a thoughtful glance at the room and then gestured to the bed.

Naruto didn’t even let him speak before rushing to the bed and inspecting it himself, trying to find what was wrong with it.

“What’s wrong with the bed? Should I get new blankets? Is it the pillows? Tell me how I can fix this!” Naruto asked frantically, trying to rearrange the bed sheets so they would look… better? different?

He heard Sasuke chuckle at his display, and soon the omega was right by his side again.

“You can’t. There’s nothing for you to fix,” Sasuke told him in a soft tone, clearly finding his little panic attack endearing.

“Huh? But you said…”

“There’s something missing, yes,” grabbing him by the shoulders, the raven made Naruto plop down on the mattress and then pushed him till his back met the bed. The blond blinked at him, confused at the sudden motion. “Mm… There.”

“Huh?”

“Now it’s perfect.”

Naruto looked at him like a lost puppy.

“I don’t get it,” he honestly admitted.

Sasuke snorted and leant down to join their lips together. Naruto didn’t complain and kissed him back eagerly, settling his hands on his boyfriend’s hips.

“You,” Sasuke told him, voice sweet like honey. “You were what was missing. I can’t build a nest here without my alpha in it, can I?”

Naruto’s eyes brightened up.

“Yeah? You mean it?”

Sasuke did, and soon enough he moved in with Naruto and now the blond had the privilege of sleeping in the fluffiest, comfiest and most perfect nest he’d ever laid his gaze upon.

Now, about a year later, they were both enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in their nest, warmed by each other’s presence. Naruto had a silly smile on his face, as he rubbed his cheek just over the place Sasuke’s mating bite was, fingers tracing the delicate curve of his belly.

Sasuke just sighed contentedly, eyes closed, silently finding comfort in his alpha’s loving touches.

Yeah, life was good.

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Prompt #31: Halloween (-)

Warnings: Fantasy AU, Kitsune Naruto.

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“Ta-dah!” Naruto grinned brightly at him, arms spread to show off his costume. “Whatcha think?”

Sasuke’s eyebrow twitched as he looked at Naruto’s form up and down.

“... What are you doing in… that?” he inquired, ignoring Naruto’s offended call.

“It’s my Halloween costume, duh! I’m a kitsune.”

“Naruto, you’re way too old to go trick-or-treating, don’t you think?” Sasuke remarked, sitting nonchalantly on the couch with a cup of steamy tea in his hands. The weather was chilly, and Sasuke’s always been sensitive to the cold, so pressing his palms against the warm mug felt really good right now.

Naruto scoffed at his words and crossed his arms. “Nobody’s too old to go trick-or-treating, that’s what Konohamaru said.”

Sasuke eyed the fake and cheap ears and tail of his costume, and snarkily snorted before taking a sip of his tea. Naruto made an offended noise and then he was looking into the eyes of what seemed to be a ten-year-old boy. The ears and tail were still on, but his hair was colored red this time, instead of his natural blond.

“What about now, mister I-ruin-holidays-for-everybody-for-fun?”

“I don’t ruin them for everybody, just for you. You should feel special,” Sasuke said, giving an unimpressed stare at Naruto’s new form. “Why disguise yourself as a kitsune when you’re already one, though?”

“Wouldn’t want people asking me again how I got my costume to look so real, y’know,” Naruto shrugged and transformed back to his original age.

Or, well, if you could call it that way. Naruto was hundreds if not thousands of years old, and he could decide which appearance to use, but Sasuke called it his original form when he looked like he was in his twenties. Truth be told, Sasuke had no idea how old Naruto was, and Naruto himself had once confessed he had lost count many centuries ago, so knowing his actual age was a moot point.

Naruto was a kitsune, a mythical creature that turned out to not be so mythical. He was pretty much immortal, and could change appearances as much as he wanted, even though he had a true form which didn’t look much more human than he was.

He’d taken a liking to Sasuke after he helped him out when he fell into a hunter’s trap in his animal form, which looked like a regular fox. Since then, the kitsune had never left his side, and now Sasuke was so used to his presence that he didn’t even care anymore.

Over the time he’d spent with Sasuke, Naruto had become interested in human culture, and for some reason Sasuke couldn’t begin to comprehend, his new fixation had become Halloween.

“Halloween is for kids,” Sasuke had told him once, but the blond paid him no mind and was determined to go trick-or-treating, even if he had to disguise himself as a child wearing a silly costume, apparently.

“You’re no fun,” Naruto told him, costume gone to reveal his true appearance. Furry ears peeked from between golden locks, and nine fox tails swinged lazily behind him. There were also the whisker marks on his cheeks, which resembled claw marks. “I want you to come with me, c’mon. Let’s go have fun together!”

“Naruto, I haven’t gone trick-or-treating for like ten years now, and I’m not about to start again just because you wanna play human.”

Naruto’s ears fell flat against his skull, and he looked at Sasuke with the biggest puppy eyes (or foxy eyes?) he’d ever seen.

“Pleaaaase, Sasuke,” the fox begged.

The raven tried to maintain his posture, but felt himself growing weaker by the second until he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Fine! But I’m not putting a costume on.”

Naruto let out a victorious “yes!” and pecked Sasuke’s cheek as a thank you.

Oh, yeah, that was also a thing now. Naruto knew no boundaries, and he seemed to like Sasuke way too much to ignore the true meaning behind his behavior. Still, Sasuke let him do as he pleased, even reddening a bit when he was showered by even the tiniest bit of affection.

“I’ll get you to change your mind anyway, you’ll see.”

“You can go ahead and try.”