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Chapter Text

The experiment was doomed from the beginning.

Naruto knew this and yet his big head still got in the way and ended up agreeing to Sasuke’s plea because Sasuke is finally asking for my help with something .

It was no secret that Naruto still vied for the smallest bit of attention from his teammate. Even now, having grown from the two bickering 12-year olds who were constantly at each other's throats into well-established, independent chūnin , Naruto still found himself seeking out and chasing after his stoic comrade. Whether it be showing off his latest and greatest transformation technique that usually resulted in Sasuke clocking him over the head, or begging Sasuke to help him cast a genjutsu on his landlord so that she would conveniently forget that Naruto was late on rent for the fourth time, there was little to nothing Naruto wouldn’t do if it meant having the other man’s attention on him.

For Naruto, the reason behind this unshakeable habit was no mystery.

As the both of them grew older, the rivalrous feelings that Naruto once harbored as a lonely and frustrated preteen towards his teammate gradually started to change into something he couldn’t quite wrap his head around at first, but recognized it immediately for what it was; attraction.

Of course, after years of training together, mission-after-mission, and countless battles that had been fought and won together, it was inevitable that Naruto would begin to harbor affection for the other, platonic or otherwise. When Sasuke left to seek revenge on his brother, Naruto felt like half of his soul had withered away and died. But when Sasuke came back after being betrayed by Orochimaru (go figure), Naruto never felt more alive. The fact that Naruto was the only one who never gave up on Sasuke after he left the village for three years, chased him down relentlessly at every opportunity, had helped Sasuke realize that he was never truly alone and the two of them were able to mend their relationship. Naruto would’ve forgiven Sasuke no matter what he did, but he had to watch Sasuke struggle with the choices he made for years after. After seeing just how many obstacles Sasuke had to overcome in his life, Naruto couldn’t help but feel pride for his best friend. And judging by the modest half-hidden smiles and the fondness in the other’s eyes when Naruto would catch Sasuke watching another bout of his boisterous antics, he could tell that the feeling was mutual.

But therein lied another problem. Now Naruto was battling with his own age-appropriate hormones causing inappropriate feelings towards his closest friend. It was becoming increasingly harder for Naruto to not spiral in his own worries about one day crossing a line that could ultimately end their friendship. His own mind had been supplying Naruto with commentary more frequently lately, each thought more traitorous than the last. While Sasuke had been laying out the details of this experiment (six shadow clones…controlled environment…) Naruto couldn’t stop staring at the other man’s lips as they formed every word, or wondering at the flawlessness of his skin, or drowning in the deep sea of black that was his eyes or—

“Did you hear a single word that I said?”

Sasuke’s ire was jarring, like a liferaft being chucked directly at Naruto’s stupid head.

“Uh…yeah, totally. Something about Kakashi-sensei?” It was a shot in the dark, but he could have sworn that he heard their teacher’s name at some point.

Sasuke’s mouth twitched irritably, “It’s common courtesy to pay attention when someone is talking to you, idiot.”

Naruto nodded apologetically while thinking about how it was possible for one to look even prettier when they’re annoyed.

“As I was saying, I want you to participate in an experiment with me using the multiple shadow clone technique.”

The plan was simple in theory: Naruto and Sasuke would summon and maintain six shadow clones—three of Sasuke’s and three of Naruto’s in cohabitation in an apartment located elsewhere in the city—while the real bodies would go about their daily lives, doing missions as normal. The goal was to see how long Sasuke could maintain the flow of chakra needed to sustain three separate clones, with Naruto present as the control element for the experiment.

“No way.” 

Sasuke blinked, taken aback, “Why not?”

Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest and huffed, “The multiple shadow clone technique is my signature move! I’m not going to share the secret to the one thing that I can beat you at”

Sasuke sighed and made a few quick hand signs before two shadow clones poofed into existence beside him on the sofa, “I hate to break it to you, but Kakashi already taught me how to perform it.”

Naruto squawked in betrayal.

“Come on,” Sasuke pleaded, “You and I both know I could never outlast your chakra reserves. I need your help…”

Naruto was rightfully hesitant at first. Who knew what sort of shenanigans six clones would get up to while trapped in a one-bedroom apartment for an undetermined amount of time? Naruto’s clones were notoriously mischievous. Then again, Sasuke almost never asks for anything. After some convincing and a well-timed plea (I need your help…), he agreed and the experiment began. 

Approximately one hour later, the first of Naruto and Sasuke’s shadow clones popped after a frankly juvenile argument, appropriately dubbed by the other clones, while the real bodies were out getting some food and drink at a local pub and everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Sasuke quipped something along the lines of Naruto being too quick to start petty arguments, to which Naruto quipped right back that Sasuke is too quick to resort to violence which resulted in a dramatic showdown of chidori vs. rasengan that ended in a poof of smoke. Naruto thanks the heavens that the apartment is still standing.

“This is why we could never be roommates,” Sasuke exhaled after taking a healthy swig from his pint of cheap beer.

Naruto gave the idea some thought and decided that Sasuke was wrong. They had a special way of communicating to each other that spoke volumes about their friendship. It was the kind of banter that keeps a good camaraderie alive and the both of them on their toes. While others might hear insults being hurled back and forth, Naruto hears affection that only someone close to Sasuke would be able to recognize because Sasuke doesn’t participate in pointless back-and-forth with anyone except one blonde ninja. If they were roommates, Naruto would make Sasuke see their friendship for what it really was.

Naruto sipped quietly from his glass, “I think we’d be great roommates.”

Sasuke gave him an incredulous look with beer foam fizzing on his upper lip. If they were roommates, Naruto would lick it off for him.

“If you’re that desperate for someone to come home to, go find yourself a girl.”

With that flat remark, Sasuke popped the last cherry tomato into his mouth and turned his attention towards the menu. Naruto was only half-listening as he watched the other list off some more snacks to order. Every time his eyes kept getting drawn to the perfect shape of Sasuke’s lips and straight, white teeth.

But he can’t ever know…

When the next shadow clone popped, it was Sasuke’s. They were in the middle of a debriefing session that morning before they headed out for their daily missions. Sasuke froze as 12 hours of memories came rushing into his mind in flashes like an old reel of film.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke from across the table after taking notice of his sudden silence. Sasuke appeared to be staring at nothing in particular, but his eyes were flicking back and forth like he was seeing something Naruto couldn’t.

Naruto cleared his throat to get the other’s attention which snapped Sasuke out of his trance. Wide, dark eyes moved slowly until they met Naruto’s questioning stare, “Your clone popped my clone.”

“Another fight?”

Sasuke averted his gaze and covered his mouth with his hand as if contemplating something. He looked everywhere except at Naruto. The tips of his ears were gradually turning red.

“No…” Sasuke exhaled slowly, “my clone had a glitch so they made the decision to pop it.”

Naruto nodded carefully, unsure as to why something like that would call for his strange change in behavior. Sasuke suddenly refused to meet Naruto’s gaze, and the redness from his ears was making its way across his face. The possibility of chakra exhaustion ran through Naruto’s mind, but it was still too early in the experiment for the other man to be experiencing that already, wasn’t it? Naruto’s chakra supply was enormous but Sasuke had great stamina as well. He didn’t look exhausted quite yet, just…flushed and a little jumpy. Maybe processing the influx of information from his clone left him feeling a little unsteady. Was that common? Naruto didn’t know.

“Glitches usually happen when the flow of chakra becomes unstable,” Naruto began when it became clear that Sasuke wasn’t going to speak again. “They can materialize as abnormalities in the clone or cause the host body to experience fatigue.”

Maybe Sasuke was being moody because his clone popped first. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and leaned back with a smirk as he taunted Sasuke a little, wanting to clear the heavy air a bit, “Feelin’ a li’l tired, Sasuke?”

Sasuke barely reacted to the taunt, humming offhandedly and Naruto huffed at the rejection.

“I guess I’ll disperse one of mine too, then—“

That got a reaction. Sasuke visibly tensed and his eyes met Naruto’s with a little too much desperation, “No, it’s better if you don’t.”

Naruto thought that was a weird thing to say, “The control and study groups have to be even, right? Otherwise we won’t be able to compare the results properly.”

Naruto raised his hands and formed the sign for dispelling the clone. Sasuke leaned forward suddenly as if to stop him.

“Release!”

“Wait, Naru—“

Oh.

Memories from Naruto’s second clone rushed in like a tidal wave. Last night, Sasuke’s clones had made a home-cooked meal for everyone—it needed more salt, but Naruto felt so warm and fuzzy inside when Sasuke’s clone smiled back at him for complimenting his cooking. The fight broke out that dispelled the first pair of clones and later the remaining clones were talking about identity and whether clones have free will. Naruto’s second clone said it always made a point to pull one over on the real body, which led into a debate over who would be the most surprised if the clones did something really unpredictable (like kiss…). Naruto couldn’t tell whether the heavy beating he was hearing was a recollection of his clone’s racing pulse or his own heart.

Naruto cursed his clone for its lowered inhibitions.

“Why don’t you try it and see?”

Naruto felt the full body shiver that resonated through his own clone at Sasuke’s words. Longing and desire filled him as he stared at Sasuke's clone long into the night after it had fallen asleep on the futon positioned at the head of his own, until he couldn’t take it anymore. He moved, suspending himself over Sasuke’s frame, leaned down until he could press his lips against the sleeping clone’s and waited. They were pliant at first, but soon those perfect lips began to move, allowing entrance to Naruto’s prodding tongue and welcoming it with his own.

Naruto gasped as the room felt back into place around him, eyes darting back and forth, wild and confused. Sasuke was staring at him with an arm half-extended in an abandoned effort to stop him from…this. The embarrassment written all over his friend’s face was as prominent as the blush that gave it away. Naruto felt his face getting hot as he broke out in a sweat. 

What the fuck…?!

“Uh…” The awkwardness was back. Naruto gave a weak laugh, “What were we talkin’ about again?”

Sasuke was back to avoiding Naruto’s gaze and cleared his throat. Sirens in Naruto’s head were blaring in alarm. What do I say now? Should we talk about it? No, that would make things worse. But wouldn’t it be worse to ignore it? Most importantly, what the hell are those damn clones doing over there?!

The two men decided to ignore what transpired between their two clones for the sake of completing their debriefing. It wasn’t brought up again until they were walking towards the tower exit together when Naruto noticed that Sasuke’s footsteps seemed a little heavier than usual.

“I guess I am starting to feel fatigued.” Sasuke sighed and rolled his neck a bit. “My control must’ve been slipping after all.”

Naruto shrugged and replied easily, “Everybody struggles a little at first. You get the hang of it eventually.”

“It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet,” Sasuke grumbled next to him.

Naruto eyed him from head to toe, assessing the other man’s physical state. The color in his face was a little off and he wasn’t standing quite as tall. The reason for that was up for debate, but it definitely had something to do with this little experiment they had going on. “Are you gonna be all right during your mission?”

“Yeah, I should be fine,” Sasuke sighs and shrugs too. “It’s only a D-rank mission. Besides, I want to see how long I can sustain my clone.”

Of course, he would try to play it cool. Sasuke was never one to admit weakness to anyone. But Naruto could tell that maintaining just a single clone now was beginning to take its toll. Naruto watched their feet shuffle along and thought about the heady feeling of his clone hovering over Sasuke’s, cradling the other’s head and running fingers through shiny black locks as they pressed their lips together over and over—

“Speaking of which,” Sasuke’s voice snapped Naruto out of his reverie. “What was that about this morning? That kis-”

Naruto panicked and interrupted Sasuke with an overly loud laugh as he floundered for an excuse for his clone’s behavior. “Oh, that? It must’ve just tripped over the futon or somethin’ and fell, ya know…”

Sasuke responded with a flat look. “And your tongue just happened to land in my mouth?”

“It wasn’t MY tongue!” Naruto attempted to salvage the conversation by arguing over semantics.

“Whatever. It caught me off-guard, that’s all. It’s not like I…” Sasuke hesitated before abandoning the rest of his thought completely with a huff.

Naruto perked up at Sasuke’s sudden apprehension. “...What?”

“It’s nothing. Never mind,” Sasuke waved him off with a flick of his wrist. “Both of our clones must’ve had a glitch or something. Why else would they…you know…”

Their conversation came to a stop and they continued their walk in silence. Naruto kept stealing quick glances in an effort to gauge the other’s mood, but Sasuke stared decidedly forward.

Sasuke’s clone experienced a glitch. Judging by the way it was beginning to fall apart at the seams the next morning, steady chakra flow was the issue. But Naruto’s clone wasn’t falling apart. To Sasuke, it was a strange mishap, a mistake. But Naruto’s clone knew exactly what it was doing. Years upon years of longing and repressed urges, pent up and waiting for the right moment to unleash itself on the object of his desire. The opportunity presented itself and Naruto’s clone with absolutely nothing to lose did exactly what Naruto probably would’ve done if the real Sasuke looked at him like that too.

Still Naruto had no idea why the other clone had accepted Naruto’s advance like it did. Was that a glitch too? Shadow clones were essentially extensions of the host’s body, mind, and soul, so one would be inclined to believe that the emotions, desires, and reactions that occur in a clone would be genuine to that of its host. But Sasuke’s clone had been unstable, so it was hard to say whether it’s reaction was genuine. Naruto’s stomach started to hurt after thinking about the possibility. He tried to swallow down the feeling of regret bubbling up from his stomach as he parted ways with Sasuke to begin their missions.

Have I made a huge mistake?

The sun was beginning to set as Naruto lazily made his way back to the tower to report after completing the day’s mission. It wasn’t too difficult, just a basic escort mission from Konoha to a rendezvous point on the outskirts of Fire Country. He whistled with his hands in his pockets and peered up at the pale yellows, oranges and reds painted across the sky. Long shadows were spilling down from the sides of buildings and houses, so he didn’t notice the tall dark figure leaning heavily against the tower until he was nearly in front of the entrance.

“Sasuke?” Naruto quickened his step as soon as he recognized the other man until he was at his side.

He moved to place Sasuke’s arm around his shoulders and wound his arm around Sasuke’s back to keep him upright as Naruto pulled him up from the wall. Sasuke’s head rolled towards Naruto but he didn’t respond with anything more than a few shallow puffs of breath.

He’s running low on chakra , Naruto took a small step towards the entrance, Sasuke took a small step as well. “Let’s get you inside so you can lie down.”

Course, black hair tickled the bottom of his chin as Sasuke nodded his head in agreement. Naruto’s heart felt like it was being squeezed.

With Naruto’s help, Sasuke managed to flop down on one of the long narrow couches in the waiting room. Kakashi arrived soon after Naruto sent out a signal and Sasuke couldn't be bothered enough to open his eyes at the arrival of their teacher.

“He’s been like this ever since I found him outside the tower on my way back from my mission,” Naruto explained briefly.

Kakashi leaned down and peered at Sasuke’s limp form. After a quick once over, he righted himself again and shoved his hands in his pockets with a shrug, “Doesn’t look like he’s going to make it until tomorrow. I’d put an end to this experiment of yours early if I were you.”

Naruto blinked down at Sasuke before returning to his teacher, “He said he wants to see how long he can last.”

Kakashi slid one eye over to Naruto and spoke seriously, “If he’s this exhausted now, consider how his body will react when it has to absorb all of the information from his final clone. In his state, there’s a chance that the sheer amount could send his mind and body into shock.”

Naruto took a quick breath through his nose and clenched his fist. Just as quickly as he came, Kakashi spun on his heel and made to leave with a nonchalant wave of his hand, “Well, the choice is up to you. Take it easy, boys.”

Naruto waved his teacher off before crouching down at Sasuke’s side and spoke softly, “Did ya hear that, Sasuke? I think we’d better call it quits.”

Naruto went to undo the knot securing the hitai-ate at the back of Sasuke’s head. Sasuke made a small noise in agreement as it slipped off. His forehead was damp with sweat. Naruto set the metal protector aside and gently brushed away a few wayward strands of hair hanging in Sasuke’s face. Sasuke sighed at the touch and Naruto pulled his hand away quickly feeling embarrassed.

Naruto flopped down on the opposite couch with a great, heavy sigh and asked himself why he had agreed to this experiment in the first place. They’re both just suffering at this point, although for different reasons. Forcing himself to suppress his feelings for his friend was difficult enough. Now he was having to deal with these flashbacks, kissing Sasuke and Sasuke kissing him back. It was like the best and worst possible outcome. It was everything Naruto wanted, but it wasn’t real. Although, the clones managed to make more headway in Sasuke and his relationship in a matter of hours than Naruto could in years. They certainly had guts—Naruto would give them that—to be able to cross that daunting line between friendship and…something more. It wasn’t fair! He wondered vaguely if the two remaining clones would do it again. 

Gah! What am I thinking?! He quickly shut down that line of thought. What kind of terrible friend was he? 

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

Naruto planned on taking his feelings for Sasuke with him to the grave. His secret was nearly found out thanks to a certain clone of his. But Sasuke seemed to have brushed the entire incident off as a “mistake”. A glitch, they had called it. Naruto hated having to reduce his feelings for the other to nothing more than an error. Naruto’s clone hadn’t kissed Sasuke’s due to some malfunction. He did it because… Naruto dropped his head into his hands and groaned pitifully to himself.

I regret everything.

Sasuke peered up at Naruto from across the narrow space between their two couches. Naruto’s frustration was nearly palpable, he had always been loud, even when lost in thought. 

Sasuke took a slow breath in before calling out to get the other’s attention. Naruto’s eyes were on him in an instant and it made that same breath catch in his throat.

“I wanted to ask you…about that kiss,” Sasuke could barely keep his eyes open. “Do you really think what happened…was all due to a mishap with our clones?”

Naruto gulped. He felt like he had been caught red-handed, frozen. Sasuke continued, “Can glitches affect the mentality of clones in the same way they affect their physical state?”

Naruto was stunned. What was he supposed to tell him? 

Sasuke pressed on, “If not, then we can’t deny that their actions were an expression of our own subconscious, can we?”

Naruto’s mind was reeling. It was impossible. He couldn’t let himself believe that there was even the slightest chance that Sasuke could possibly want…

“If I told you to try and kiss me…right now…would you?” Sasuke implored, staring at Naruto with a need to know something, ready to judge his response. 

This is a trap, Naruto's mind screamed.

A faint smile had graced Sasuke’s exhausted face at some point. Was Sasuke simply teasing him again? He had to hand it to the other man for having the energy to push his buttons in his current state. Naruto remained silent and studied the way Sasuke’s face remained still, determined to wait for an answer, dark eyes unwavering from his own.

But he couldn’t do it. Not like this. He couldn’t bring himself to admit how nearly every day for the past few months he had been dreaming about kissing Sasuke the exact same way his clone had. How he had wished that he had the same amount of courage as his clone did to take that step. Because if he did, he’d risk losing his most cherished friendship. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.

Eventually Naruto let out a tired sigh. “My clone tripped, that’s all there is to it,” The words burned in his throat as they left his mouth. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do something like that to you.”

Naruto could tell Sasuke didn’t buy it, his gaze steady as he watched Naruto straighten up and prepare to release his clone to put an end to the experiment. 

The lie hung in the air between them as Sasuke slowly lifted his hands and prepared the sign for releasing his clone as well.

Naruto breathed deep as his mind zeroed in on the steady stream of chakra extending outward in the direction of the apartment where the last remaining clones were located, preparing to sever it.

My biggest regret is not having the courage in me to tell you.

Nothing could’ve prepared Sasuke and Naruto for the onslaught of memories recollecting the goings-on that had occurred during the past 24 hours of the experiment.

In the beginning, the flashbacks were familiar, yet different. The point of view had changed from the second pair of clones to the third. The discussion about the experiment at the round table, the fight that exploded the first two clones, dinner, more banter as the clones got ready for sleep. Then the kiss happened, but this time they were watching it from the sidelines instead of experiencing it firsthand and that left Naruto’s clone hyperventilating into his blanket.

The next morning, Sasuke’s second clone began to glitch and the two of them watched as it was dispersed by Naruto’s second clone before that one poofed away into nonexistence as well.

The remaining memories of the last two clones were enough to nearly send Naruto into shock. Sasuke’s remaining clone had eyed Naruto’s before he invited him into the tub and Naruto couldn’t blame his clone for not refusing the naked object of his affections. He couldn’t comprehend the images of him and his best friend, smiling at each other from across the tub in one moment, arms wrapped around each other like lovers, kissing, breathing in each other the next. Naruto wanted it to stop, it was almost too much to take, but the relentless stream of memories continued. Rutting against one another against the bathroom tile wall, Sasuke looking back at him with confusion and desperation reflecting in fragile eyes, a pale expanse of back stretched out long before him and inky strands fanned across white sheets, dark eyes peering back at him from underneath wet lashes. Hearing Sasuke’s moans left him feeling ruined, but hearing Naruto’s own confession left him devastated.

Naruto made a horrible gasping noise when the fog of memories cleared and he was finally brought back to the present. His chest heaved as he gripped the seat of the couch until it squeaked in protest. He felt ice-cold and burning-hot all over. His head pounded. Worst of all, his dick was aching. He had just witnessed himself fucking his best friend, his heart’s desire but it was all wrong, and this wasn’t ever supposed to happen and the secret that Naruto swore to hold onto for as long as he lived was now out. Naruto didn’t want to think about how royally pissed Sasuke was going to be.

Sasuke wasn’t faring much better. He was silent on the other couch, staring unseeingly at the ceiling, white-knuckle grip on the back of the sofa, gasping for air after the onslaught of images from his own clone. Naruto watched him slowly come back to himself, piecing bits and pieces back together. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Sasuke immediately averted his gaze.

As Sasuke slowly sat up, Naruto noticed the way his body was shaking. Naruto was shaking a little as well. Sasuke had his head bowed low, hair obscuring his face, but Naruto couldn’t tear his eyes away from the other. It made Naruto wonder if he would ever see those deep-sea pools for eyes again after this. Something inside told him that he wouldn’t. Naruto whispered the other’s name like a plea for mercy.

A long minute passed before Sasuke finally responded.

“I’m going home.” Sasuke stood up and moved towards the door.

Naruto’s heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. He was gripped with the urge to do something, say something, anything to mend the situation but everything felt wrong. As Sasuke glided past him, Naruto felt frozen in place, heart pounding so heavily, he was ready to rip it out and throw it away because fuck, dying would be better than whatever this feeling was. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Sasuke was…he was going to hate Naruto after this. How could he not? 

The door swung open with a creak and Sasuke’s footsteps came to a halt. The clock on the wall ticked away like a terrible countdown. The silence in the room stretched Naruto nearly to the point of snapping before Sasuke finally decided to speak again.

“We’ll talk later.” 

And the door closed behind him.

Chapter Text

Everything is wet, slippery. From the way Sasuke slots his mouth against Naruto’s own to the steamy bathroom wall he’s being pressed up against. It’s making it difficult to keep his head. One wrong move and everything will come crashing down, his feet slipping out from under him. 

Sasuke tilts his head and dips his tongue inside, touching Naruto’s own tentatively. Naruto still doesn’t know what to do with his hands. Sasuke pulls back after a few mind-blowing seconds. “Well?”

He’s panting lightly, face and chest red from the heat of the bath. Maybe from the kissing too. He’s expectant, confident, as always, but the tug of his brow betrays something else. Something more akin to insecurity. It tugs on something within his chest, so Naruto skims his hand up Sasuke’s arm, slides his hand into his hair and pulls their lips together again.

A soft moan echoes off the tiles and Sasuke pulls their bodies closer. Close enough where there’s not an inch of skin that’s not in contact with the other, and every inch feels electric.

Rutting against each other with nothing in the way, Naruto’s heart feels like it’s about to explode. It hardly seems real. He feels like he’s burning up. Sasuke moves to touch Naruto, to hold them together, and suddenly it’s all too much at once. He pushes Sasuke away to allow his mind to catch up with his body and just barely catches the torment that flashes across the other’s face.

“Am I malfunctioning, too? Everything feels so…like I can’t stop,” Sasuke’s eyes are wild and restless. “I can’t stop this…feeling…or desire—whatever this is—”

Confusion and longing. Naruto is speechless as Sasuke struggles for words. He wants to say something. Should say something.

“Sorry, I just…” The warmth they shared starts to fade as Sasuke pulls away, dejected, and Naruto realizes that’s the last thing he wants to happen.

“Let’s keep going.”

The sun shone through Naruto’s window, glaring and bright. He shielded his eyes with a hand before opening them, and that same familiar feeling began to sink like a stone in his stomach. He felt empty inside, not because he had yet to fix breakfast, but because of one unfortunate event.

Nearly a week had passed since the end of the experiment and Naruto still hadn’t heard from Sasuke.

Naruto had left the following morning fully expecting to run into the other man at some point during the next day or two. But Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. No sign of him at the mission desk. Not at the infirmary, or the pharmacy. Not even his favorite vegetable stand where he always bought tomatoes.

Eventually, Naruto caught on. Sasuke was avoiding him.

The shock of this realization left Naruto in utter despair. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a dream—no, nightmare. It was unthinkable that he could fuck up this badly, with Sasuke of all people. Rejection wasn’t anything new, but this kind of rejection wasn’t something he was prepared to handle from his dark and moody friend. If there really was a god, then he was supposed to wake up that next morning and discover that the past 24 hours had all been part of some strange fever dream. He would laugh it off, prepare for the day and see Sasuke at the tower and they both would be fine—everything would be fine , and Naruto would continue to pine silently while basking in their comfortable camaraderie. 

Unfortunately , Naruto thought to himself after five days of radio silence from Sasuke, maybe there is no god after all.

“We’ll talk later…” he had said.

Yeah, right. Knowing how skittish Sasuke was when it came to relationships and feelings, Naruto shouldn’t be so surprised that the other was now avoiding him at all costs. He just wished that they could talk about it at least once. Allow Naruto to explain himself and see if they could salvage some fragment of the friendship they used to have before their experiment went up in flames.

Besides, Naruto wanted answers to a few questions of his own.

The past five nights were riddled with dreams fed by the memories of his clone. While initially, he was too flabbergasted to comprehend much of the recollections, after a few days and nights of reliving the event over in his head, he could now recall everything that was said and done in fine detail and examine the interaction with a more critical eye.

First of all, their clones had been fucking like it was their last day on earth—which, technically, he supposed it was. It was no wonder Sasuke had nearly collapsed from exhaustion. They were at it from that morning until night. Naruto was left with enough material to feed his fantasies for a lifetime. The fact of the matter was that Sasuke had to have felt something was there if they were going to have sex. Which they did, multiple times. They had chemistry. If the lightning that had zapped through his veins at every fevered whimper and moan Naruto managed to coax from Sasuke was anything to go by, yeah, he supposed that he could call it that.

Secondly—not to sound childish or petty—but Sasuke started it. 

Exhibit one: the first kiss. Sure, Naruto had suggested it—tauntingly, not expecting to be taken seriously. But Sasuke had taken it seriously. And then he taunted Naruto right back. And when either of them start challenging the other, neither of them are going to be the one to back down first.

Exhibit two: the bath. Sasuke had boldly invited Naruto to share the tub together, claiming it as some kind of way to commemorate their final hours together, a celebration in honor of being the last two clones standing or something. Naruto didn’t really get it, but humored him anyway. But then he offered an open invitation for Naruto to kiss him again. For research , he had said.

If Naruto had been a better man, he likely would have politely declined. But at the time, he was not a better man. He was a clone with absolutely nothing to lose.

It had been the spark that ignited the fire. Sasuke moaned like he couldn’t help himself. He gave in to Naruto’s ministrations like he was desperate for it. It was too sudden, Naruto still had enough sense left in him to try and slow things down, but when he did, Sasuke looked like he couldn’t decide whether to cry or punch him. Confused, warring within himself, scared of whatever this was—hunger, desire— taking over him. Naruto felt his heart break when he looked into those stormy eyes, expressive like he’d never seen them before. At that moment, Naruto was prepared to give the man whatever he wanted, consequences be damned.

That was a memory that left Naruto especially curious. Over and over again, he revisited it, trying to unravel the tangle of emotion that played so freely over the other’s face. Whether Sasuke knew it or not, he had been curious about the event unfolding between them. And he didn’t want to stop. That much was certain.

His clone, that is… Naruto knocked his fist against his forehead.

Naruto had to stop thinking of the person in his memory as the real Sasuke. This was a violation in every sense of the word. All the enthusiastic approval in the world didn’t mean anything if it wasn’t the real deal. Which it wasn’t. They’d both been subjected to something that neither of them had consented to and probably would’ve stopped had they been themselves in the real world and not six clones locked up in a tiny apartment. Right?

Naruto’s head hurt. All this speculation got him nowhere. Embarrassment be damned, he wanted to see Sasuke so they could talk like the man had promised. They were adults, after all. They could have a mature conversation about this, right? 

And besides, all the thoughts and dreams of Sasuke never measured up to the real thing. Naruto really missed him.

Sasuke’s apartment was a quick jaunt across town, less if he used the rooftops, but today Naruto took his time walking so he could imagine all the potential worst-case scenarios waiting for him.

He supposed the absolute worst thing that could happen would be Sasuke killing him on sight. After all, a chidori through the heart would make sure Naruto didn’t accidentally kiss and tell. That would really suck and would solve nothing, but Sasuke didn’t seem like the type to care about consequences while his pride was hurting. It was also possible that Sasuke wouldn’t want anything to do with him anymore. Naruto was sure that would hurt more than dying. In that case, Naruto would have to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. Sasuke could be cold at times, but was he cold enough to sever one of the only bonds he had over an experimental lay between clones?

Naruto found himself in front of Sasuke’s door before he was ready. It was quiet inside. Was he out on a mission? Naruto hadn’t really thought about that. A few days was plenty of time to recover. He closed his eyes and tried to sense the other’s presence through the door. A steady thrumming of chakra was coming from inside. So he was home after all.

Suddenly, Naruto picked up on a reactive spike of chakra in response to his intrusion and felt incredibly exposed. Of course, Sasuke had felt that. Now the man knows that he’s loitering outside his door like a creep. The state of his empty hands brought attention to the fact that maybe Naruto should have brought something, a gift of some kind. That would’ve been the polite thing to do. All he had to offer now was cold, palm sweat.

Time was running out. Naruto could hear footsteps approaching the other side of the door and he still didn’t have a clue what to say. Maybe he could play it cool. Yeah, act normal. Don’t make it a big deal. After all it was just a silly mishap–

The door swung open and Sasuke stood on the other side of the threshold with a carefully constructed look of nonchalance, and a bit of mild annoyance. Moisture clung to his hair and skin. A towel hung around his neck. He must’ve just gotten out of the shower. Naruto can’t help but stare at the small drop of water careening across the pale collarbone in front of him.

Steam rises from the tub. Drops of moisture cling wetly to the ends of dark strands before falling onto a pale collarbone and careening down across Sasuke’s bare chest. 

“You saw it too, didn’t you?”

“Saw what?”

“Last night. The kiss.”

Naruto meets his dark gaze and Sasuke smiles from across the tub, small and secretive.

“I wonder what would happen if you tried that on me.”

“Let’s find out.”

“Naruto.”

Naruto blinked away the memory and realized he had been standing slack-jawed in front of an increasingly irate Sasuke for an embarrassingly long period of time.

“Did you need something? Or is loitering outside people’s doors a new hobby of yours?”

Naruto shook himself out of his stupor and glowered at the other. Rude, as always. Sasuke obviously wasn’t struggling with normalcy around Naruto. The jerk. Then again, staring isn’t exactly good manners either.

Naruto huffed out a sigh, “Actually, yeah—I mean, no!” 

Sasuke smirked like an asshole. Naruto felt hot in the face.

“I’m not loitering. I came here to talk to you,” he clarified in a rush.

Any semblance of humor was gone in an instant. The switch was jarring. Sasuke stared blankly ahead and Naruto was left feeling like a door had been slammed in his face.

“About what?” As if he didn’t know.

“You know what,” Naruto took a step forward, placing himself halfway through the threshold in case Sasuke did in fact try to slam the actual door in his face. “You said we’d talk.”

A tiny dusting of pink rose to Sasuke’s cheeks as he averted his eyes, “There’s no need. You can just forget about it…”

“Forget about it?!” Naruto realized in the back of his mind that he was beginning to make a bit of a scene, but simply “forgetting about it” was absurd. The memories had been relentlessly plaguing Naruto throughout the night into the following day for nearly a week. If he had the choice, he wouldn’t choose to forget, per se, but at the very least a bit of clarification about a few things would be nice.

Sasuke raised his head in panic at the loud outburst, eyes frantically scoping out the vicinity for anyone potentially close enough to hear. 

Naruto continued, “Can you forget about it?!” 

“Shut up, you idiot! I have neighbors, you know!” Sasuke managed to whisper and growl at the same time, before grabbing the front of Naruto’s shirt and dragging him inside, swiftly shutting the door behind him.

“Lock the door,” Naruto heard him grumble as he turned and started towards the small kitchenette without another word.

Now that Naruto had made it inside, he felt stuck—he didn’t exactly expect to get this far, although he hoped he would. He watched Sasuke fill a kettle with water and place it on the stove to boil before quickly setting to the task of spooning tea leaves into a small teapot. It was strange, Sasuke had made him tea before during visits in the past, but the silence felt heavier this time, the clinking of stoneware cups harsh to his ears.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke was feeling a whole lot more awkward about this than himself. Sasuke never really spoke about his experiences with intimacy, always tending to shy away from the subject when others would bring it up. As Naruto turned to lock the door, he felt a slight pang of guilt. Maybe they should move on and pretend it never happened after all, if the situation made him so uncomfortable. They could laugh it off, without speaking another word about it and try to resume life as it was before they knew what connection on such an intimate level with each other felt like.

“Ah!”

The bed creaks rhythmically with each thrust. Sasuke presses his face into the sheets trying to muffle the noises being punched from his chest. Naruto pants harshly and watches something wet fall from his face and splash onto the pale expanse of back beneath him. His eyes burn with something hot, and when he tries to blink away the blurry something, salty water seeps from the corners and more droplets fall.

“This is all your fault, you know…!”

Sasuke carefully turns his head and peers up at Naruto, watching him turn into a blubbering mess as he continues to pound him into the mattress.

It’s embarrassing as it is frustrating, so Naruto takes his frustration out by grabbing Sasuke’s hips and pulling him back on a hard thrust. Sasuke chokes on a groan.

“You weren’t supposed to know. You weren’t ever going to know,” Naruto continues, quickening his pace, gut clenching with the promise of release, “but now, after we’ve done this, how am I supposed to–!"

Naruto grits his teeth against the feeling, sparks flashing behind his eyelids, “You feel so good…and warm…I…!”

He shoves Sasuke’s hips down into the bed and watches white, hot stripes of cum paint sticky lines across his back. Naruto breaks down, sniffling and sobbing, gently pressing his forehead in between Sasuke’s shoulder blades.

“I love you…” Naruto imagines how pitiful he must sound.  He can hear the other panting below him, slowly catching his breath.

Sasuke lets out a long huff that ends in a soft laugh. The sound makes Naruto’s pounding heart squeeze.

“God, you’re embarrassing,” he hears the other mumble, so quiet in comparison to their harsh breathing that he wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been close enough.

“I already knew, so what’re you crying for?”

When Naruto snapped out of his reverie, he found himself sitting at the small table in Sasuke’s kitchen. Steam rose from the teacup Sasuke had placed in front of him at some point. Neither of them had spoken yet.

Across the table, Sasuke was sitting sideways in his chair, looking down at the floor in a poor attempt to hide how uncomfortable he felt, Naruto assumed, one hand lightly wrapped around his own teacup but making no move to drink it. Naruto couldn't see his face. He guessed Sasuke preferred it that way.

"I—"

"You—"

Fuck. This was unbearable. They both hastily took a small sip from their tea.

Eventually, Sasuke sighed and spoke up, “You said you wanted to talk.”

“No, that’s what you said.” Naruto crossed his arms before doing his best impression of Sasuke’s voice, “ We’ll talk later.”

Judging by the withering glare sent his way from across the table, his impression wasn’t very good.

“It’s been almost a week! So, let’s talk.”

Sasuke sighed again and pinched the crease between his brows, bracing for the impending headache. “Do we really have to?”

“Yes!” Naruto leaned over the table, emphatically, nearly knocking over his teacup.

More silence followed as they eyed each other up. As eager as Naruto was to get the conversation out of the way, he found himself struggling to broach the subject. Where to even begin? He supposed he could start with the easiest question first.

“Are you okay?”

The question must’ve caught Sasuke off guard because he turned to Naruto with a surprised look in his eye and hesitated.

“No, I mean, like—are you feeling better now?” Naruto corrected himself.

“Oh, yeah.” Sasuke turned his gaze down to his hands. “I recovered pretty quickly after that. It wasn’t a big deal.”

Naruto thought about Sasuke walking home alone that evening and felt guilty, “I should’ve made sure you made it back okay.”

“Why would you do that?”

Why wouldn’t he? Why didn’t he? Sasuke was his best friend and he was very clearly suffering from chakra exhaustion at that time. A good friend would’ve walked the other home. Or checked in later, something other than nothing. But he had been too wrapped up in his own head to do anything else. Hell, a good friend wouldn’t have let things come to this. Would’ve had the foresight to call it quits or at least be honest about his own feelings sooner so they weren’t left with this absolute mess to untangle. Naruto felt like the worst friend ever.

He lowered his eyes to the table and let his head fall forward, “I’m sorry.”

For what though? The word was too loaded. Sorry for not checking on you? Not walking you home? Not stopping this sooner? Not saying something sooner?

Naruto felt ‘sorry’ for everything because it threatened to destroy what they had built between them. But in the very back of his mind, strangely enough, he felt sorry for nothing because maybe, just maybe, this was their chance to rebuild their relationship into something more.

Sasuke paused and stared, confused. He opened his mouth to speak, but then hesitated, appearing to think better of it.

“There’s nothing to apologize about,” he decided eventually.

Naruto lifted his head just in time to catch Sasuke’s eyes before they were quickly averted and he continued, “It’s not your fault.”

He had to ask to make sure. “So, you’re not mad?”

Sasuke shook his head.

The relief Naruto felt was like a tidal wave, crashing into him, making him sag back against his chair with a rush of breath, “Oh, thank god! I had expected you to slam the door in my face, y’know? That, or your fist so when the door didn’t come–”

A grunt that sounded suspiciously like a laugh made Naruto pause his rambling.

Sasuke quickly schooled his face into something of passivity before he continued, “I’m not mad…but…”

“But…” Naruto pressed.

Sasuke furrowed his brow like he was thinking hard about something before turning an accusing eye on the other.

“When we– they …” he quickly corrected himself, but it was hardly important to anyone at this point. “When I asked you about the kiss…why’d you try to play it off like it was nothing?”

The great thing about Sasuke, Naruto supposed, was that when you finally got him to talk, he always got straight to the point.

For the first time in a long time, Naruto actually paused to think about his response. And for the first time ever, he considered actually being honest with Sasuke for once. He wasn’t going to mess this up anymore. He was going to start off on the right foot.

“I love you.”

Sasuke nearly spit out his tea.

Naruto jumped in his chair as Sasuke was overcome with a sudden coughing fit. This wasn’t supposed to be a shock to anyone anymore. Hadn’t he gotten the message via his own clones? What was the big deal? Hadn’t he already known?

Naruto leaned over, “Are you okay?”

Sasuke rounded on him with an incredulous look on his flushed face, “That’s what you’re going with?!”

“I wasn’t finished,” he said, defensively crossing his arms.

When Sasuke finally pulled himself back together, Naruto continued, “As I was saying, before you interrupted me,” —Sasuke shot him an accusatory glare, “I had no reason to think you knew, or think you would even give me a chance. After hiding my feelings from you for the sake of our friendship for so long, I panicked. I didn’t know how you were going to react.”

While Sasuke turned that over in his mind, Naruto was hastily trying to figure out which question he wanted to ask in turn.

“Were you really avoiding me?”

Sasuke remained silent, boldly meeting Naruto’s intense gaze, leaving Naruto in suspense, before he confessed the truth, “Yes.”

Naruto’s heart sank as he realized that while Sasuke claimed he wasn’t mad, it didn’t necessarily mean that he still wanted to continue with their friendship as it was. 

“My body had fully recovered by the next day,” Sasuke admitted, eyes cast downward a bit shamefully. “But, I needed more time to…process things.”

That made sense, Naruto thought. It took him a couple days to properly digest everything as well, without becoming so overcome with guilt it made him nauseous.

Sasuke turned back to Naruto with another question of his own, “If you really feel that way, why did you lie and say you wouldn’t kiss me if I asked you to?”

Naruto shook his head, “I didn’t lie. I wouldn’t kiss you if I thought you were making fun of me.”

Sasuke scoffed, “Your clone obviously didn’t have the same reservations.”

Naruto bristled at the jab. His fist pounded the table before he could think better of it, “It’s different. They may be clones but they’re only a part of me. They can’t see the whole picture.”

Sasuke hummed to himself as Naruto settled down and huffed in his chair. He was laying his heart out on the table and Sasuke was looking at it like some kind of joke. 

“What about you, then?” It was Naruto’s turn to start asking the hard-hitting questions. “We kissed once and that should’ve been the end of it. Why did you ask me to get in the tub?”

Once again, Sasuke took his sweet time before answering, “Part of me was curious. I wanted to know how far you would go.”

“How far I would go? Stop acting like you were passive during all this,” This aloof act of his was beginning to grate on Naruto’s nerves. The fact that Naruto was trying to be truthful about his feelings and Sasuke was hardly giving him any real answers was infuriating.

The chair squeaked against the floorboards as Naruto stood up and marched himself right in front of Sasuke. He slammed his hand on Sasuke’s side of the table and leaned down, placing himself fully in Sasuke’s space. Sasuke glared at the intrusion of his space and Naruto leaned into it even more. His heart was beating hard and fast. For a split second, Sasuke’s mask of indifference slipped, and Naruto witnessed a familiar sliver of uncertainty and something else flash behind his dark and stormy eyes.

“You wanted to take it further, Sasuke.” Naruto spoke quietly, close and rumbling. “Why?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him, “It’s my turn to ask a question.”

“You haven’t answered a single one of mine yet.” If he didn’t push, then Sasuke would inevitably shove everything under the rug and Naruto would be back to square one. Fuck that.

“I couldn’t stop…”

He was going to prove something once and for all. Naruto gathered all the courage and faith he had in Sasuke to not murder him, and in one quick move slid his free hand into Sasuke’s dark tresses and yanked him forward into a bruising kiss.

Sasuke’s eyes grew wide and he grunted in surprise. Naruto felt him pulling on his wrist, reflexively trying to pull away, so he wrapped his other hand around the back of Sasuke’s neck and held him there, preventing his escape. He felt more than heard Sasuke’s sharp inhale and used it as an opportunity to glide his tongue across Sasuke’s and suck his bottom lip between his teeth to bite on lightly.

Sasuke shuddered at the treatment and barely managed to hold back the sound trying to break free from his throat.

Just before Naruto began losing brain cells from the lack of oxygen, he pulled himself back, panting and waiting.

Sasuke’s eyes were wild, like he’d been jumped by an enemy, except it was just Naruto. He was panting, struggling to catch his breath, and Naruto couldn’t help but think the tomato-red blush growing across his face and down his neck was as cute as it was enticing.

“Well?” Naruto spoke after a minute, gravely and low, expectant.

For a minute, Sasuke’s face twitched like he was about to go on a rampage. But then he kicked the back of Naruto’s knees with a twist of his leg that sent them both to the floor. As Naruto attempted to right himself again, Sasuke straddled his waist, wrapped his first in his shirt and tugged him upright until they were nose to nose. Naruto braced himself for a beating, but when it never came, he carefully peaked an eye open to see Sasuke’s smirking down at him.

“You’re such an idiot.” And Sasuke pressed himself close and sealed their lips together once more.

With Sasuke’s warmth pressed all along Naruto’s front, he couldn’t stop the weak sound of relief that escaped him then. He wrapped an arm around Sasuke’s waist and pulled his weight down on top of him further, relishing in their close proximity. He even managed to coax a small breathy hum of approval from above him before the hand on his chest began pushing him away lightly.

Naruto couldn’t wipe the dopey grin off his face if his life depended on it. He was flabbergasted, delightfully so. Sasuke flashed his barely-there smile at him before headbutting him and insulting him one last time, but there was little bite to it. This should’ve happened ages ago. His clones had the right idea. Now that he had Sasuke above him, in his arms, he had no idea why it had taken them this long to get here.

With both arms wrapped around the other in a bear hug, he buried his face into Sasuke’s chest and snickered to himself, “I think our clones have an easier time being honest than we do.”

“Maybe we should let them take over from here then.”

“Fuck that.”