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Chapter Text

He knew he wasn’t so little anymore. Still a kid but old enough, Naruto wouldn’t hold Obito’s hand no matter how much he wanted to right now. No matter how much Obito had told him he would always love him and see him as a baby, loving him by merely being Naruto, just because of the blood running in his veins. It was Obito’s late Sensei’s blood—Naruto’s father, a man that Naruto never met.

And Naruto wouldn’t cry either, not if he needed to focus all his attention on the old lady they were following through a large corridor in the main building of the Uchiha estates. It was late and they had already passed through the servant's quarters some minutes ago, the old lady not showing them the big room because apparently Naruto wouldn’t sleep there. Oddly, she had said that there was already another bed settled for him in another place inside the main building.

She had finished mentioning all Young Master’s dislikes, which were a lot. Now she was saying many other instructions that Naruto would need to write down as soon as possible to not forget them. His stay there depended on it, and Naruto needed this job, live there. 

Or maybe he would write them in the morning he was feeling tired now. 

Among those instructions were the following: Naruto would make sure to walk tall but keep his blond head down in the presence of anyone else, especially if he sees members of the main family. He needed to make sure to do the tasks he was asked for as soon as they were asked. He would make sure to accompany Young Master Sasuke wherever the other boy wanted or needed to be, but Naruto would never look up directly into Young Master Sasuke’s eyes or reply to him back unless it was stated otherwise. It was better to keep silent. Not impertinent smiles. Not standing too close to the important Uchiha boy. And never (‘And hear me and hear me well, young boy’), never disturb him while he was in his bedroom. Never wake him up unless it was utterly necessary. 

“You will always be close to him, but never enter his room without permission.” Naruto nodded, despite the older woman never seeing it, still walking in front of them. Then he realized that he needed to speak up to properly answer her. “Boy?”

“Oh! Yes, ma'am.”

“However, every day someone will come and make you rise up two hours before Young Master, just in case you are needed. But, again, do not enter his bedroom without the presence of another clan member or maidservant..." Then she sighed as if this task was so annoying for her. “Well, this is at least for a while, until we are sure we won’t catch you pilfering. And if so, then you will be expelled that same day.”

At the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw how Obito’s hand tightened in a fist, and he wanted so much to hold that hand and whisper a soft, ‘Can we go home?’

But the thing was, Naruto was an orphan; since he was born, he didn’t actually have a home. He was young but he understood it, especially with his thin and short frame already stating he would bloom into an Omega someday. And the former students of his father weren’t his true family, and in the correct way of making things, a boy without a family name but with connections could start to work for a noble family for a living. And so, Naruto swallowed around the lump in his throat, the ‘Can we go home?’ being buried as deep as he could.

The old woman continued, “But I'm sure you wouldn't dare to become a thief, right, young boy?”

“Y-yes! Yes, ma'am.”

His stuttering evidently made the old woman turn her head around, a mildly dissatisfied expression on her face but she didn’t look at Naruto; she was just glancing at Obito. When she averted her serious eyes, keeping walking forward, Obito brushed Naruto’s blond head.

“It’s okay,” the young man murmured, giving a reassuring smile to the boy.

Then they stopped before they reached the annex in which the youngest Uchiha heir’s bedroom was furnished—the bedroom that no one of them could enter.

The old lady turned around on her feet, facing them but never glancing down at Naruto. Perhaps it was just a ‘difference between their heights issue’ but it was starting to feel like a terrible change compared with his life beside Obito and Kakashi-Sensei, and Naruto wondered if as long as he resided in this house no one would ever look at him.

It sounded like such a sad life, and he had to swallow once again the words about to spill out from him to ask Obito to get him back home. (This big place was his ‘home’ now.)

The old lady, looking at an empty spot between Obito and Naruto, kept saying, “The Young Master’s routine is mostly simple, and as previously stated, your duty here is to give him company. It may sound like an easy job, but in such a family as the Uchiha, you must know what's expected from a boy like you, am I correct? Do not disappoint.”

Naruto bowed. “Yes, ma'am.”

She hummed briefly before addressing Obito. “We’re done here, Uchiha-san. Pleased for your company,” the old lady said, and they all knew it was the final of the tour, at least for the Beta man.

Obito had promised Naruto that they would keep seeing each other, that he would visit despite his own distaste for the clan he was born into, and that all this would be just something temporary.

For now, though, Obito needed to get back to the south-facing main hall and then to the large courtyard garden, exiting the estates and then he would finally leave Naruto all alone.

“I’ll visit soon, Naru-chan. Alright?” Obito promised him again, ruffling through blond hair with affection despite the narrowed eyes of the old maidservant. And when Obito turned around on his heels, Naruto regretted not having held his hand, at least for a brief moment. 

.

Naruto looked at her with confusion. They had just turned into a dark, small corridor enclosed with wooden shutters to prevent the bad weather, then they arrived at an even smaller corner in which, inside, the old lady slid a shoji closet with arranged tatami bedding mats.  

So, he definitely wasn’t sleeping in the servant’s quarters.

“Will I sleep in here, ma'am?”

“Young Master Sasuke’s bedroom is behind this door.” She ignored him as she showed him a little frame where another sliding door could be opened. “Do not open it, and do not peek in,” she continued with a serious warning.

Naruto was already tired of saying what he was about to reply, but he said it once again anyway: “Yes, ma'am.”

And that was all—the old lady leaving him so he could put down his so few belongings. Then he went into the small closet, flopping down on the mats, ignoring his natural proclivity to take a peek behind the sliding room.

He needed to sleep. Prepare for the next day and look a little refreshed when he finally meets the Young Master.

That could have been the idea, but then Young Master screamed some time later when Naruto’s mind was about to forget everything and fall into sleep. It was like the anguished sound from having a bad dream, forcing Naruto to jolt out of his bedding mats with limbs tangled in the sheet before he shook his body to get free of it, his poor balance almost sending him crashing to the floor. Yet, his feet could lead him to the large shoji, not thinking about the old lady’s warning or that they all thought he might be a little thief or that no one had instructed him what to do if Young Master was screaming at night. Regardless of all that, he quickly opened the sliding door until he could put his feet into the bedroom. He finally fell on the floor with a soft thump because of his hurry, and even so, this only prompted him to rush and comfort the other restless boy. 

A small body was frantic on his own tatami mats—full of soft material, made with beautiful textures and even a pompous pillow under silky black hairs—and if it weren’t for the hour and for his little brain malfunctioning due to the sudden surprise, Naruto would have looked for some kind of medicine to calm the other boy down, or just thought of a way to inform another servant about this. Or maybe the boy’s mother had already heard him too, and she would arrive soon, then Naruto would be kicked out from there. However, as his mind refused to acknowledge all those things, Naruto only got into the mats to give his company (the thing that was his most important job), hugging the other boy with an arm over his waist, spooning him from behind and half-humming a lullaby as he felt the other boy going still. 

Good, right? Naruto was gently doing his best to offer his help.

It seemed to work too quickly when suddenly everything was calm and Naruto's eyelids couldn't fight off sleep anymore.

In his dreams, this made him happy, fast melting in the soft warmth and the new soothing silence of the other boy, even if he was just another person from the house who also hadn’t looked at Naruto yet. (And probably would never do.)

Overall, it didn’t feel so bad. It wasn’t a lonely first night.

.

Usually, what Sasuke always saw first thing in the morning right after opening his eyes was the high ceiling of his bedroom. This morning, though, he was still keeping his eyes closed—shutting them down hard as soon as he was dragged out of unconsciousness by his internal biological clock. A little wrinkle was firmly between his eyebrows and he was too aware of the warmth behind him. 

It wasn’t like he was trapped there. No arms were holding him in place, and neither was a weight pressing him down, but Sasuke couldn’t even open his eyes.

He had done something really stupid last night, but what the other boy did after that was stupider, and now Sasuke was trapped—not really, as previously stated—in his own bed, not knowing what to do rather than trying to not move, not even one centimeter.

Last night, Sasuke had shouted out purposefully; that was the stupidest thing he had ever come up with, like ever. Though it hadn’t been a scream at the top of his lungs, it was enough to draw the attention of the boy his parents had allowed to work as Sasuke’s ‘childhood playmate’. Sasuke, clearly, wasn’t excited about it. Why would they force him to share his time with a strange boy? He wasn’t a baby. He had never heard that they imposed it on Itachi when his older brother was alive, and Sasuke liked his time alone and his simple routine without strange and impertinent people around him. 

So, what had Sasuke tried to do? Since his mother didn’t take his words seriously and his father didn’t even give him a glance when he wanted to speak to him about it, Sasuke had decided to scare off the boy, or at least make him feel uncomfortable. Make him realize that Sasuke wasn’t a soft boy. That he would never be his friend.

It hadn’t been a prank. Sasuke knew about the rules they told the boy—how he wasn’t supposed to enter Sasuke’s bedroom. So it was to stress the other boy, force him to put a stop to his sleep and make his first night not a pleasant one. Maybe the new boy was still so little that he would believe in monsters behind the shoji panels, right there where the screams came. That could have been great.

Rather, what Sasuke gained from all that was being held during all his night by someone he hadn't even met yet, leaving him shell-shocked. As soon as the other stranger boy made his own place beside him, Sasuke had stiffened, immediately closing his mouth, eyes wide open and body becoming quiet like the statues hidden in places around the gardens as soon as he heard the boy humming a song. A song for pups.

It took Sasuke about an hour before finally succumbing to the warmth of the other boy and sleeping, not quite sure how to kick out the other boy from his bedroom or figure out what else to do.

Now, in the morning, if there was something that Sasuke wanted to do, it was telling the boy he was stupid.

Tell him that Sasuke didn’t need him. That he was strange and impertinent.

However, by this being Sasuke’s error, then he shouldn’t be such an impolite and cowardly boy, nor would Sasuke scream so some servant came to kick the other out. 

So, slowly, Sasuke opened his eyes, the light of the new day filtering inside the room.

Just turn around, he thought. 

Wake up the boy and inform him that he must leave. 

He was Sasuke’s childhood companion after all, someone who would obey him. Someone forever inferior.

But then, when he was about to move his body and take a look at his companion, Sasuke felt being pulled by small hands like his, and then, as bright as the day outside, golden hair appeared above him, just like the prettiest eyes he had ever seen.

The other boy was hovering over him. This admittedly caught him off guard.

Sasuke blinked, not sure how to express how offended he was because he actually wasn’t sure what was happening. Or what he was really feeling. Or how was the correct manner to react.

“Oh! Uh…” the other boy started, an expression of curiosity plastered on his blue eyes. Sasuke had never seen someone with that color in their eyes. “Um, it seems you had a bad dream last night!” With a smile, the boy chirped. “Uchiha-sama, pleased to meet you. My name is Naruto Uzumaki!”

Sasuke couldn’t reply. 

He didn’t receive that kind of smile so often. And maybe—just maybe—it didn’t feel like a lonely morning.

Chapter Text

In the years that came after their first unofficial meeting, Naruto kept following Sasuke like a lost puppy, but it wasn’t something unforeseen. It was even part of his job after all, and in Naruto’s opinion, he had done an amazing job trying to get little Sasuke to warm up to his presence despite all the warnings from the old lady servant or the too calm and apathetic nature that Sasuke offered him.

However, they had abandoned all childish games, but with the passing of time they eventually formed a routine, spending time in the rooms they were allowed to stay in the main house, sometimes just talking—or Naruto just talking about nothing and everything at once, still in awe with every single new thing he learned from the house despite the years living there, giggling at the tatami creaking under their weights, gasping when Sasuke told him about some old story about a ghost or yōkai. Then Naruto peering above Sasuke’s shoulder when the teen was studying and they were also alone, asking a lot of questions as if it was the best plan to kill time or sharing with Sasuke facts about the nice servants that treat him more like someone with a heart rather than ordinary furniture.

Other times they were in the garden space, and Naruto was happier when he reminded Sasuke about the old days when his dark-haired Master allowed him to chase behind rabbits, reminding Sasuke how he had always chastised Naruto into not making such noises because he had always preferred to keep the attention on them minimal. He still did.

Naruto could also remind him how Sasuke at first didn’t treat him all that nice; he had always been testing Naruto in so many ways, as if waiting to have an excuse to get rid of him. He even had said some hurtful things, and if Naruto didn’t punch him back then, it was only because doing so could maybe have cost him a burn to his palm by some adult—to learn the lesson, whatever it was.

It wasn’t like that now, though. Naruto, just like the other people living in that estate, knew that behind that serious expression of Sasuke resided a fondness for his childhood companion, so no one from the staff would dare to physically hurt the close servant of their young Master. 

Naruto had kept close to his heart a proof of it: a small paper with his name on it. 

‘So you really know how to read?’ Sasuke had asked him back then, when they were smaller, with thin limbs and shorter heights, weeks after they were properly introduced and when he was able to be alone with Sasuke in his bedroom without the need for permission or the presence of someone else, adult eyes no longer believing that they would catch the little blond servant pilfering.

The day before that one, Naruto had tried to convince his young master that he knew how to read and write a little, but only in Hiragana because that was what Rin—an Omega not in power but a close friend of Kakashi and Obito—taught him, telling him that it was easier to learn and use and also because the idea that someone like her used ‘inferior writing’ than Kanji didn’t offend or irk any Alpha. She had also explained to him, along with Kakashi and Obito, basic math—although he couldn’t remember one thing about it. Then, when questioned by Sasuke why a poor kid knew all that learning, Naruto answered him that it had been only possible because Kakashi and Obito had known Naruto since he was a very little pup, and they had worried about his future, thinking he could serve the main Uchiha household. To serve Sasuke.

Sasuke had walked to a lower table in the room, graceful movements despite his small appearance, sitting down on the floor and taking a scroll from a pile on the furniture. There was also a brush, and with it Sasuke had written something on the thin paper, taking his time. When he was pleased with his work, he extended his hand to offer it to Naruto, and the little blond had bowed before approaching him.

‘Young Master?’

‘It’s your name. Can you read it?’

Indeed, it had been Naruto’s name in Kanji. He could discern. For kids like he had been back then, it wasn’t usual to know, but Naruto nodded. Rin had taught him—just a few words like his name. 

“I could only nod at that moment. Do you remember, Sasuke-sama?” Naruto asked now, walking at Sasuke’s side near the central pond. It was the beginning of spring, so there were many species of flora blooming, many azaleas already filling the sight with yellow and purple colors. “I was taken aback by the beautiful calligraphy from you, Sasuke-sama. Such an aesthetically pleasing form.”

“Stop flattering me.”

“Why?” Naruto continued all brightly. “It must have taken you hours and hours and days, then weeks and months of practice. You strived, didn’t you? As did your brother.”

Sasuke frowned out of habit and halted at a stone path. He didn’t look displeased though, and Naruto already knew that it meant they were about to return to where they came and get back inside the main building. Lately, Sasuke didn't want snooping eyes, so this afternoon they wouldn't reach the teahouse either, it seemed.

So, as predicted, Sasuke was the first one to turn around, but Naruto almost hit his face into the other’s body when Sasuke suddenly turned again, the small but notable difference in their heights obliging him to lift his blue gaze to meet the dark ones of the young noble.

Sasuke didn’t speak immediately, leaving a lingering silence to form between them, one that dragged on for what felt like forever.

Then, softly, “I think I’ll have a bad dream tonight,” Sasuke affirmed, and Naruto immediately realized how he had mentioned Sasuke’s late brother so easily, not thinking at all. He felt guilty, still a touching matter, so he opened his mouth ready to apologize, fighting against his need to reach one of the other’s hands and hold it as a treasure. But any word died on his throat. “So sleep by my side.”

Naruto’s face reddened instantly at such bluntness, feeling heat rising in his cheeks, but when Sasuke turned around once again, Naruto didn’t stop following him.

.

.

The next day, in the afternoon, Sasuke’s shoulder dropped a bit when he heard his name.

“Ma∼ Here you are, little Sasuke-sama. Have you taken good care of Naru-chan? It would be a disgrace to find that you didn’t, and then I would find myself in the imperative need to take him apart from you.”

“Stop bothering the kid, Kakashi.”

“I’m not a kid,” Sasuke said under his breath but loud enough to be heard, not bothering to bow in front of the older men, both taking place around a tea table.

“Ha! Heard that? One would believe that—”

“Bakashi. Whatever you have in mind, we’re not here for that.”

“Ah. Right.”

Sasuke had found himself in their presence after he slid a shoji door by chance, entering the room near the studio of his father. They surely were waiting to be attended by the older Uchiha, likely to know about the clan’s attentiveness and whatnot towards Naruto despite the small scolding from Obito to Kakashi. It wasn’t something they did so regularly, coming here, but it was an act that pleased and irritated Sasuke at once. He appreciated that Naruto didn’t grow up as an unhappy child despite his orphan status, but then something else pinpricked within him, calling for his attention with every single joke from Kakashi about 'taking Naruto away from him.' It hadn't been the first time, and the mere thought nagged in the back of Sasuke's mind, half compelling him to go to check on Naruto and be sure that the blond boy was still at his side. That he forever would.

Sasuke didn’t leave the room, though. 

“Naruto is just fine,” Sasuke said, meeting Kakashi’s visible eye. “You can leave.”

“I see. But don’t be so greedy about him, will you?”

“Bakashi.” Obito sighed, one hand brushing over the Alpha’s knuckles on the small table. Not at all another scolding but rather as if he knew something that Sasuke was totally ignorant of, a small gesture that only both men could understand. Kakashi’s shoulders slightly dropped, his posture more relaxed than one second before now that Sasuke cast an eye over it.

Obito continued, a small smile being offered to Sasuke. “Do not listen to him. We’re here to officially inform your father that I and Kakashi have a bonding claim to each other now. We are mates, and as we are obliged to notify someone as important as the clan leader, we look for support as well. I hope you’re aware that we appreciate you, Sasuke-kun, and that we hope the sentiment is reciprocated, even yet.”

Sasuke slightly frowned at the news. He knew both men weren’t just friends; too many speculations were always chasing the renowned samurai and the young Uchiha’s lives. Even so, both men weren’t… what one would expect from such a union. Kakashi was an Alpha but Obito was no Omega.

The only Omega in this room was Sasuke, healthy at fourteen and despite the fact that his presentation was taking its time to happen sometime in the near future. It was slow, but he was aware of his body, of the shapes it was shifting into and the painful changes, doctors saying his true nature was delayed by the shock of losing a family member such as an older brother. Then, for the first time, he thought about a similar future like these two men but with Naruto. Naruto and some unknown Alpha and their sharp teeth bury a claim into the soft skin of the blond.

Naruto was an Omega, after all. He presented last year, last spring. It happened one night when a fever started and he was taken to another room, somewhere in the servant's quarters away from Sasuke’s reach.

Naruto had told him about it, days after that and curled at the side of Sasuke’s own bed, telling him about old ladies chanting and bitter remedies. He refused to tell him some other things, though.

‘You’ll eventually know, I guess. You’re too pretty to be a meanie Alpha like your uncles.’

Back to the present, Sasuke only remained in silence for a short pause, offering a small nod before he congratulated his cousin and his now Alpha mate, his dark eyes casting down to the floor before he finally left the room.

.

‘You’re too pretty to be a meanie Alpha…’

At the time it had made Sasuke blush, some kind of pride radiating outwards from deep within his chest, letting Naruto’s words fall on him like a warm blanket. A welcome praise. However, right now, didn’t those words sound as if Naruto quite liked the idea of Sasuke becoming an Omega rather than the other equivalent? And if so, what could be wrong with that?

Or maybe because Naruto had said it as an obligatory camaraderie? As superficial sweet talking?

Sasuke wasn’t aware of where his feet led him, passing the teahouse, stepping beyond some flowers and trees, and with every single step, there was a new thought forming before the last one ended. He felt as if he were sneaking out, searching for quiet and solitude in the small forest; somehow the news had placed a weight inside him, but it wasn’t aversion towards their compromise but rather reflection on the same. It meant Sasuke’s future wasn’t written in stone, that if some people claim others out of love, then his future could be the same.

Or maybe Obito had committed an act of defiance; no punishment for him in the near future because any would be to no avail with the loner upper-class samurai Kakashi at his side.

Sasuke sat under the branches and leaves of a tree, Naruto’s face and his smile coming to mind but such memories were not alone. An unknown silhouette put itself beside the teen blond, unrecognizable, something from some future that Sasuke would not have access to, just as it happened on the night of Naruto’s presentation, pieces of life that Sasuke didn’t know. One day some Alpha would court Naruto, someone not even from Sasuke’s own clan, and the young Omega wouldn’t refuse; he couldn’t perform any act of rebellion, after all. His close relationship with Sasuke was not even a guarantee of always living there in the Uchiha estates, and Sasuke even knew about how Naruto had received warnings regularly, reminders to never drop the honorific on his Young Master’s name or reminders to never forget about his low rank in society. So perhaps, on that spring night, the old ladies told Naruto about how lucky he would be if an Alpha never took their eyes off of him.

Sasuke softly grunted, and perhaps an hour had passed in solitude, stubbornly remaining in his spot despite the fact that he was neglecting his duties and study, a few servants probably calling his name by now around the property… But trust Naruto to always find him. Sasuke heard him until he looked up at the smile pulling at Naruto’s lips, approaching him with his natural comforting scent. Honey and citrus smell like a sun-filled, relaxed day or a warm summer festival. 

“Found you!” Naruto said, taking a seat next to Sasuke, tilting his blond head until his whole face obstructed Sasuke’s vision. The older boy blinked, recognizing something soft pulling him into the unknown, something that drew him in ways he couldn’t understand. Something new that came over him.

Naruto moved his lips, saying something, but all Sasuke felt was heat rising in his cheeks and his heart speeding up, forcing him to quickly look somewhere else, the words not registering in his mind.

Naruto was as beautiful as scary. His childhood company, no—

His dear friend made him feel so many emotions, making him so special, and that was why he was scary.

“Sasuke-sama?”

He hoped for some contact, fighting the tingle on his fingertips all because they wanted to touch Naruto.

Naruto gave it to him so easily though, cupping Sasuke’s face with one hand, something so gentle in his touch as blue eyes looked at him with concern.

Sasuke couldn’t ignore the heat on his cheeks but he didn’t pull back from the burn. On the contrary, he felt like falling into the soft hand. He liked the feeling. He loved it, so before another question formed between them, disrupting the air between them, Sasuke’s fingers moved on their own and quickly grasped the other boy’s chin, pulling him into a kiss. Their first ever.

Sweet. Tender. The gesture was feather-light and shy, noses bumping together as lips felt warm and soft, and as Sasuke’s heart swelled as much as it infused with a tremor, frightening him, he knew that their future started to rewrite.

So, when the soft press of lips ended and their foreheads rested on each other, Sasuke knew that days would bleed into weeks and months and years and Naruto would always pull so easily at his heartstrings, and nothing would change that.

Chapter Text

They feel soft on the bedding material in Sasuke’s high-ceilinged bedroom, with timid rays of sun barely filling across the room while the dark-haired teen refused to open his eyes.

Being known as a too-stubborn young Omega among the servants had allowed for mornings like this, to not be bothered nor to have someone else waking him up. They all believed that Sasuke was too angry upon waking up, too difficult about getting out of bed, and even rude towards them. 

He hadn’t been like that for so long, though. Now, prying one eye open, he looked at the other Omega sleeping soundly on his chest, and it was a warm vision. Maybe he didn’t deserve someone as sweet as Naruto, but Sasuke could pretend he did, feeling safe in the blond’s comforting scent of honey and citrus, tantalizing yet calming.

With their bodies tangled, Sasuke felt foolish as Naruto scrunched his nose, slowly coming down from his dreams, lying in Sasuke’s arms, nuzzling now at his neck. They were sixteen and Naruto was still real, always tugging at Sasuke’s heartstrings.

Many times now they had kissed slowly and languidly, not soft pecks but learning about how lips can meet others again and again, licking into the other’s mouth and tasting more of what they could offer as the skin of their cheeks flushed red. It wasn’t normal, per se. If any of the household staff knew, then the news would be brought to someone else, shocked at how such young Omegas had pushed the edge of what was acceptable, so they had never said the words in their hearts out loud. Even so, Sasuke had kept thinking about those kisses at the start and end of his heats, thinking about them during those times when he was never to be allowed to be near another person—his heats were like sacred occasions, for no one to see and for him to suffer in a room with silky sheets and delicate pillows, dutifully registered on medical records so one day, when his clan felt compelled enough to act on it, they could offer a virginal Omega to the highest bidder.

But Sasuke always imagined both of them free of obligations and expectations while holding tightly around Naruto’s waist.

Unconsciously, Sasuke now extended his arms and pressed more firmly until his hold tightened, tugging at Naruto from his sleep with impatient fingers drawing him closer, filling his lungs with more of Naruto’s scent. 

One second after the blond’s eyes opened slowly and met his, a smile already gracing his lips—genuine and sweet.

“Mornin’,” Naruto mumbled, still a clear sleepy intonation in his voice as he tried to blink the sleep away, then yawned. “You feel so warm.”

Sasuke closed his eyes, realizing how he couldn't stop the flow of emotions even at those simple words—some of those emotions reminding him that time waits for no one. This could break down some day in front of his eyes, never seeing the blue gems of Naruto  again.

“I’m hungry,” Sasuke now said, although it wasn’t true, but it was better than pronouncing how he would give Naruto everything or promising him dreams that maybe were just illusions. 

“No, you don’t,” replied the blond Omega and trust him to pick up on something no matter if Sasuke bluntly lied. He just knew Sasuke too well. “But I can bring you whatever food you order me,” Naruto continued anyway, cupping Sasuke’s face, almost pulling him into a kiss.

Sasuke, on his end, brushed the other’s hair, forcing himself to think if someday this could shift into normalcy, mundane even, irrelevant in the eyes of someone else—his father, mother, and everyone in that clan. But there was no point messing with it, not for now, so Sasuke only hummed, and then he moved closer to press a short kiss to Naruto’s forehead, basking in the little paradise he had. “Good morning, Naruto.”

Today felt like it would be a nice spring day, and hopefully every morning would feel like that.

.

It was a few years later when their secret kisses shifted into something else, when an opportunity raised itself in front of their eyes to take.

Naruto reached a hand to press against Sasuke’s back, the slightly older Omega sitting down inside the wooden bathtub—a new luxury for the Uchiha place.

“Water feels nice, Sasuke?”

In moments like this, Naruto had dropped the honorifics as a way to address Sasuke, and when he got a hum as a reply, Naruto only smiled now as he placed kisses along the planes of his lover’s shoulders. 

Doing things like this felt like what heaven could be, and Naruto took his time with every touch on Sasuke’s skin and hair, fingernails softly scratching his scalp and fingers scrubbing and smoothing their way down on his back. He could do this forever, giving his most attention to Sasuke while almost whispering untold words as if Sasuke were his personal god—trying to actually make him feel like a deity. Loved.

Naruto shifted around, kneeling beside the tub as he looked at Sasuke, propping an arm on the wood side and resting his chin on it, their heads almost on the same level. His other hand went into the warm water, absently moving it and making soft waves, simply enjoying serving the other Omega, just another tranquil day in the household, perhaps fooling themselves that they could stay this way forever.

But then something felt different, immediately gaining Naruto’s attention. A new scent greeted his nose, a slight change that was growing in a way Naruto didn’t recognize but to which his blond mind didn’t give him an alarm. His blue eyes gazed at Sasuke, getting closer to instinctively take more of this new variation of Sasuke’s scent. It was from him, wasn’t it? Burning and dark wood and mint, more perceptible at each second, and Naruto only realized his touch on the other’s stomach when another hand gripped his wrist.

Naruto let out a quivering breath, struggling with the unfamiliar change, the vulnerability of his own scent gland pulsing as if that were a natural reaction. Then his fingers tinged with the need to knead, press and rub more. Exploring more of what they had allowed themselves under silk sheets and hidden corners. Naruto’s mind was filling with something else—the primal needs he shouldn’t feel, something obscene with that feral part of his nature. For once, Naruto didn’t try to fill the quiet they had fallen into with words.

(In the back of his head, in the rational part of him, he knew what was happening—Sasuke was about to enter into pre-heat, in a different day, a different opportunity.)

“Naruto,” Sasuke said slowly, tilting his head up and releasing Naruto’s wrist, cupping his head instead.

The blond Omega didn’t respond, not verbally. After their noses bumped together, he found himself kissing Sasuke, dazzled and moving until he squeezed himself into the wooden bathtub, disregarding if he should unknot the light fabric of his kimono first, soaking his clothes as he kept kissing the boy he had fallen in love with.

“Naruto, please—” Sasuke pulled his head back a little bit, his breathing increasing as his right hand reached up to Naruto’s hair, claiming something that both of them couldn’t stop. Something that had been getting harder to hold back. “Kiss more of me.”

“Yeah?” Naruto immediately replied, just above a whisper; his heart hammered hard in his chest.

“More.”

“Yes. Yes. I’m going to kiss all of you,” Naruto declared, and so he didn’t stop kissing Sasuke, the pale skin now while his tongue felt heavy with unsaid words, trailing burning kisses down his throat, between his shoulders and feeling things he had felt before but never taken in.

Naruto continued, settling himself better on him, both of his hands holding Sasuke’s face while his kisses moved downwards, feeling the other Omega slightly squirm. It was unheard of—an Omega indulging another like this—but Naruto took one of the other’s nipples into his mouth, rolling the peaked bud with his tongue with a bit of hesitation, unsure if he could do it right. He tried looking up at Sasuke’s expression, and he found him moaning low, a hand over his mouth. Sasuke was beyond beautiful and it encouraged him as he sucked with his tongue around that small piece of rosy skin.

Then, without loving Sasuke like this, one of Naruto’s hands moved closer to Sasuke’s mouth, sliding his thumb around it, tracing under soft skin until the lips there were parted. He still didn't know where all this came from—these turbulent and bold actions—but love was anything but predictable. He felt more of Sasuke’s breaths and the wet sensation under the pad of his thumb as it hooked behind teeth, accepting Naruto so easily, as always.

It coaxed a louder moan out from Sasuke, and Naruto could only wonder how the boiling blood inside Sasuke’s body must feel now, his whole body humming with anticipation, all of this evidenced in his scent intensifying with every touch.

Sasuke grabbed a fistful of blond hair harder, tugging on it but not forcing Naruto’s head to move back. They probably looked like a mess, still inside the water and still taking everything they could. Another moan left Sasuke in a sharp exhale, the thumb inside Sasuke’s mouth being bit down on to prevent more noises, and then, for a short moment, Naruto was finally pulled back, the hand behind his blond head forcing him to release the other Omega’s nipple.

“Sasuke?”

There wasn’t regret in Sasuke’s dark eyes when their gazes met, and their next few movements happened in a blur. The dark-haired Omega sat on the edge of the tub, legs spreading as Naruto shifted with him and his forehead pressed into his thigh, quivering hands sliding up the pale skin, breathing deep to take more of the overwhelming smell coming from between those legs. 

They both were born with delicate and sensitive lips nestled beneath their cocks, but this was the first time that Sasuke was exposing the soft pink slit, pushing Naruto’s own nerves on fire as his blue gaze watched the pink entrance, reminding him of a flower. Naruto also noticed the hard flesh in front of him, bigger than his own, curving upwards, looking achingly hard with a fat red head, angry for Naruto to do something. 

Naruto moved away from Sasuke’s leg, not waiting for orders or any kind of words, his thumb parting the tender slit, the folds already wet while he placed his mouth on the Omega’s cock, licking a short line before wrapping his lips around the head to instinctively suck. 

This was something so unheard of—Omegas were just to be fucked by Alphas, to be put in mating postures as if their pleasure didn’t matter. There shouldn’t be delicate touches or waves of pleasure travelling through his veins because of love.

“F-feels so good—Ah, Naruto…” Sasuke mewled between soft moans, even if they truly had no idea what they were doing, but they just fit together. His hand tried not to grip the hair of Naruto too tight as his chest heaved from the newfound sensations, struggling not to squirm or pull more of Naruto’s hair to press his cock further inside his mouth. Naruto looked up again, seeing how Sasuke had placed the back of his hand to cover his mouth while the finger inside the wetness of Sasuke explored more, stimulating him from the inside as well. “Naruto, I’m…”

So many said that their seed was useless, something that was broadly known, too clear and worthless, but when Sasuke’s cock twitched and the fluid spurted from it, coating the inside of Naruto’s mouth in his pheromones, Naruto’s mind conjured incessantly, Mine, mine, mine.  

He wouldn’t mind eating only Sasuke’s pleasure for the rest of his life.

.

It became an addiction but Sasuke wasn’t surprised.

After that time in the bath, with their secret still safe, only for them, Sasuke had secluded himself alone, as it was required for him when his heat fully started—no one to see, everyone believing that he was ignorant of what the intimate part of another person looked like with blood filling it.

He knew that Omegas desired a knot to inflate inside of them—maybe Naruto did, sometimes with his mind clouded by his own incandescent scent, never telling Sasuke, never daring to say loudly such a shameful desire, but on Sasuke’s end, during his heats, he had reached a hand between his legs, grabbing his pulsing cock to give it a few strokes, thinking about placing himself between Naruto’s legs, lining himself up with the blond Omega’s virginal lips, already slick and sweet for Sasuke.

So Sasuke did that as soon as he could and Naruto let him in the middle of the night, without prying eyes making sure if Naruto was in his small bed or if the young noble Omega stopped having his fever, no longer in the Heat Room always prepared for him. On Sasuke’s bed, he had licked a line from Naruto’s pretty hole to the base of his cock, retreating only to suck more, feeling the legs of Naruto shaking, pressing his hands over his mouth so his moans wouldn’t spill freely from him. Naruto tasted sweet down there, and it was enough to send waves of pleasure through Sasuke’s body, experimentally using more of his tongue to swallow that gush of honey drooling from between Naruto’s legs.

That night Sasuke had felt proud—the same sensation when he had demonstrated to be naturally stronger than some other Alphas or Betas of his proud clan. 

‘Sasuke,’ Naruto had said like a prayer over and over, so softly, quietly.

‘I feel like I have missed it,’ Sasuke had murmured against those wet folds, holding the other’s hips to keep him in place, his motions once again relentless as he savored that precious part of Naruto.

‘Ngh, there. Sasuke—’ Naruto had mumbled against the palm of his hand, his scent flaring up and dangerously getting someone else’s attention, the smell rich with arousal. His own hard flesh had lay against his flat stomach, leaking from the small slit on the tip, while his pussy spread wider against Sasuke’s mouth.

Sasuke’s instincts shouldn’t have driven him to encourage Naruto to start rolling his hips against his tongue at a hasty pace, gripping under the rounded flesh of Naruto’s ass and wishing for the blond Omega to ride his face, to come like this only for him. 

It was unheard of, but after Naruto had finally come in a mess under the touches of another Omega, his chest tried to catch his breath while his body still shivered from the intensity of his orgasm, and it was as real as the fact that the day after would still be spring or that they would still watch together the flower of the gardens. But it hadn’t stopped there, and Sasuke had shifted his body over him, briefly kissing him, silently asking for permission as their foreheads pressed against each other, eyes closed as they joined for the first time, trying not to rush as his hips moved with a might of their own. Sasuke had felt in Naruto the pain mixing with pleasure the moment he was inside him, his bulbous head breaching a tight cunt, sliding deeper and deeper. 

He didn't have words to describe the feeling of it.

It was also the first time for Sasuke to tell him that he loved him and for Naruto to say the same words, and since then it had become an addiction, one that would never decrease, like today, their arms already entangled as Sasuke loved the feel of his seed spilling inside of Naruto, basking in the afterglow of their last lovemaking while thinking that this was where he was meant to be, slumping forward onto Naruto’s chest.

There was a distinct rush through his veins despite Naruto’s logical mortification, some kind of thrill that shot through Sasuke from head to toe for claiming Naruto despite the lack of a knot and behind the backs of everyone. Their mingled scents could be hidden under the use of herbs, and the superficial autonomy and self-sufficiency that Sasuke had gained over the years could fool them enough; a long month had already passed in their favor, and any guilt inside of him couldn’t compare with how good Naruto’s body felt.

Now, still inside of the sweet hole, they rolled over on his bed carefully until Naruto was on him, the blond Omega giggling and watching Sasuke with glints in his blue eyes, like a playful moment as if inside him were the base of a cock inflated, as if their bodies were glued for long minutes more. But then Sasuke’s cock finally pulled out from him, but there was nothing like a whine or protest on Naruto’s end. He only rubbed his nose against Sasuke’s jaw like pups do with their pack Alpha leader, an affectionate gesture, too intimate with their skin naked and their sweat.

“Love you,” Naruto now shared in the quietness of the night, and there was no doubt how much it had also become something so hard to escape for him as Naruto started to grind his hips against Sasuke’s. There was no doubt about how their actions had engulfed them both completely while Naruto pulled himself up on his knees between the other Omega, his own cock twitching with renewed arousal and wanting to also learn how to put his weight on the back of Sasuke’s thighs.

.

Naruto wanted to worship him and to let him use his body as much as he wanted—caressing him, keeping the discovery of each corner of his body, shifting their stances and supporting each other while Sasuke groaned, teeth nipping Naruto’s scent gland and completely gone to the influence of unusual desires.  

Sasuke was behind him, and Naruto fumbled for his hand, entangling their fingers together tightly, both chasing another completion of their pleasure as more noises pulled free from their chests.

It was Naruto’s heat, the start of it—the first they were sharing together, finally. His body had moved in the same way that Omegas would have done with an Alpha in the room, presenting themselves, feeling feverish as their asses were high in the air. Naruto had done that, putting himself into position to breed, spreading his legs wide so that his stomach was almost touching the silky material of Sasuke’s bed, blue eyes unfocused and hazy while quivering and clammy hands exposed his plush and wet insides, parting the tender folds open, waiting for a mating press to push down into them.

Now Sasuke was praising him, going deeper inside him, the Omega’s hole gushing even more sweet slick as Naruto was reaching his high with each thrust made by Sasuke. They had learned together, trying to make what felt right, even if it was allowing Sasuke to pull him back by the hips as if Naruto were one of those poor and indecent residents from a brothel in the city.

But he was making Sasuke feel good. 

He was feeling loved, gifting Sasuke a heat so many days before it was expected, with no servant putting their focus on him.

And Naruto might have whined when the nerves solely made to be rubbed against a knot didn’t feel any hard flesh stretching them out, and maybe his mind softly complained when his orgasm wasn’t followed by a torrent of strong Alpha seed—no need for his hole to tighten in an attempt to keep as much of cum inside as possible—but Naruto wouldn’t change any of his time with Sasuke.

However, when the morning came and they had to be separated, limbs being pulled in a firm grip while the soft murmurs of an older maidservant dismayed by her findings reached Naruto’s ears—how dared a low-rank boy have his fever on their Young Master’s bed all night, sneaking into the same place that had been forbidden to him from day one; there was no need for a noble Omega to be this considerate to a poor boy—Naruto found himself once again curled up but without Sasuke at his side, this time alone, somewhere in the servant's quarters, not even with the company of old ladies chanting nor with their bitter remedies for the rest of his heat. 

Even so, the warm emotion enveloping his heart kept growing, and it felt like they were true soulmates. Or maybe it was one tragic lovers' story.

Chapter Text

Their love felt terrifying.

Sasuke felt it in the way his fingertips tingled, wanting to touch Naruto's. He felt it in the way he kept thinking that the blond Omega was just made for him. In the way that he simply knew that he would never feel pleased with the body of someone else. So many memories accompanied him at night, memories about how he maneuvered Naruto onto that same bed, caging him in with his body while pressing flush against him.

His night sharing Naruto’s first day of a new heat was a precious memory. His smell, his moans and heady breaths, and the arch of his back that invited Sasuke while he could picture his face, little tears gathered in his blue eyes and flushed cheeks. There was love when Naruto clenched around Sasuke’s cock every time the dark-haired Omega thrusted back into that sweet inside.

But weeks had passed, and Naruto didn’t come back from the servant's quarters.

Not the blond to blame.

Of course, after that following morning when a servant found Naruto on their Master’s bed in such an improper manner from said servant’s perspective, there had been rumors from the household staff that quickly reached Fugaku. 

Three, four, almost five days later, Sasuke had even asked for an audience with his father—the man who kept his own distance, rejecting any attempt from his only son to talk to him. Of course, it would have looked unjustifiable to keep said indifference towards the young Uchiha, and so, eventually, the clan’s head had heard his son. Sasuke had kept his head looking down, his voice, usually prideful, now lower than any other day, rough-edged but calm, even. 

Give him back to me.

Or he would commit something unpredictable.

He knew that servants only followed instructions, and if Naruto was doing any duty away from Sasuke’s care, and if no servant had taken their eyes from the blond Omega, watchful eyes upon him, it had been ordered. Lately Sasuke had been thinking about how things could have gone differently if his older brother were still alive. Itachi had always been indulgent to Sasuke’s childish desires—or at least he had made his best efforts in that matter despite the many responsibilities on his shoulders. He wouldn’t have taken away Naruto from him. Itachi had always seen right through him, but he wouldn’t have looked at him as though his feelings were wrong, as much trouble as it may have been.

And love still felt terrifying in the way that Sasuke now clenched his fists until his nails bit into the skin of his palms, sharp stings deep just to keep himself from saying something impulsive, not letting the emotions sear straight through his arms and chest and bones despite his fake composure, not showing the ugliest parts of himself in front of his father.

"I have known for a while. You have affection for him," his father said, his voice sounding unpleasant, but Sasuke kept his eyes looking down, careful of how many breaths he was taking. Head lower, familiar submission for the one who makes the rules there. He heard his father standing up, walking towards the sliding door of the room, just halting his steps at Sasuke’s side to place a hand on his back, almost softheartedly if it weren’t for the bluntness in the words that followed. “But enough of that useless fondness. You both are no longer kids.” 

Then another long week passed before Naruto was sent to him again.

A silent warning. Things would never be done in the way that Sasuke desired the most.

.

For a few days things changed. Naruto had changed.

He was still kind, gentle and attentive to Sasuke as always. Soft and sincere smiles only reserved for Sasuke every new day, and yet, with him, he got back the honorifics as a way to address Sasuke even during the limited time in which they were alone, and kisses stopped landing on the blond Omega’s lips, the expression on his face trying to stay polite when he slightly flinched at Sasuke’s attempts to stay close, diverting his blue gaze. An apologetic expression, even. Almost foreign. His blond head now did something they weren’t used to, keeping down in the presence of Sasuke and any other familiar or old servant that also accompanied the young Uchiha. Now, often, Obito visited them—some agreement made between the clan’s head and the unmarried Uchiha, intended to pacify any crude treatment for what Naruto had done. For having been found in the noble Omega's bed, exceeding what had so generously been offered to him for years. 

With hearts hurting by the weight of unsaid words, Sasuke knew that Naruto had received more warnings, reminders of never forgetting about his low rank in society. Maybe he had heard murmurs about some Uchiha clan’s political statements and the unyielding future that lay ahead when Sasuke’s father would finally decide to negotiate a political marriage for him.

Maybe Naruto had heard how wrong it was to try to defy biology, giving way to insecurities and being unable to express freely anything about it to Sasuke. They had reached adulthood, and no Omega of their ages should share the bed with someone who wasn’t their mate, bonded under sacred union and family approval.

Sasuke tried to calm himself down, giving it time, aware of his own expression so Naruto wouldn’t watch the storm brewing behind his dark eyes. He stayed silent and observant when the blond Omega rambled on, seemingly animated to say aloud whatever crossed his mind—the flowers still in the gardens, the flavor of their teas, Sasuke’s approaching birthday date, the recopilations of haikus that Obito brought to them—an anxious babble that was both endearing and alarming. And so, eventually, after a bad dream, after opening his eyes and not seeing the blond at his side, his feet led him to the shoji that so distinctly separated them now, opening the sliding door until he could put his feet into Naruto’s small enclosed room, moving to get inside the arranged tatami bedding mats. 

“Sasuke…?”  A groggy voice reached Sasuke’s ears, half a beat too late. In the dark, with the moonlight barely creeping inside the cramped space, he still could watch Naruto moving slowly to prop himself up on his arms, blinking as one of Sasuke’s arms pushed him down, caging him then, fingertips tingling with more need than the days before, wanting to touch Naruto again and again. 

“You said I was yours,” Sasuke said, a rasp tinging his words. He had dreamed about losing not just Naruto, but a version of himself. The one he liked the most, side by side. 

Naruto repeated his name, the sleepy intonation shifting into something more conscious, and Sasuke could imagine his mind racing with hundreds upon hundreds of thoughts, maybe unsure for a few seconds of what to do, but then a hand reached Sasuke’s forearm, the other being placed behind his pale nape, at first touching like he wasn’t sure he was allowed, but then the fingers squeezed there while the wrist brushed softly above the dark-haired Omega’s gland, forcing Sasuke to relax a little bit. 

“You are, just like I am yours, Sasuke,” Naruto replied, quietly. “I’m still here.”

Sasuke leaned in, his mouth searching to press an open-mouthed kiss right over the blond’s scent gland, content when a whimper came out from Naruto, his neck tilting in a gesture of submission. Sasuke closed his eyes, already feeling his arousal increasing while licking at that part of Naruto’s nature, knowing too well how sensitive it was. He managed to unknot the light piece of robe from Naruto, so easily removed, revealing his skin only for Sasuke’s presence. 

Then their mouths crashed against the other. It was quite hard, feeling the shape of teeth, tongues chasing the familiar taste, not caring about the mess or their noses bumping, hands now moving not gently while Naruto’s legs were already spread for Sasuke to take his place between them.

They didn't break away from the kiss; both were starving. It was a collision of emotions while their hearts pounded hard. It wasn’t soft. It felt merciless, as though they didn’t have all the time in the world.

Sasuke could feel the desperation in Naruto when his hand slid down from his nape to grip into the fabric of his softer robe, feeling so real under him, legs opening more and lifting to latch onto him, clinging to Sasuke’s body as if he could melt inside him.  

Sasuke swore softly, damning anything that might get in the way between them. 

Nothing had ever felt more right than being with the blond Omega. Nothing would ever feel better than this, like the urge to fill him full of his seed, to swallow him whole, to completely consume him.

“God. You feel just right. So perfect.”

“Y-you… You’re everything,” Naruto replied before giving a quiet moan, conscious of not attracting attention, and yet tugging at Sasuke and letting him press his weight down into him, their cocks brushing together before Sasuke eased his hips upward, too aware of his own slickness but delighted by Naruto’s, the honey liquid gushing out the blond’s entrance, the smell invading their noses and stating how much fertile he was. “Missed you. So much.”

Sasuke’s hand moved to Naruto’s inner thighs, folding his legs up to his chest and unable to control his torrid lust, groaning when he finally pushed his hips forward, the tip of his cock breaching the tight pussy. Naruto let him take control. Let him claim him again in this way, not by a bite that wouldn’t take but by letting him mark his inside until it burned, letting him thrust into him over and over even if his motions were fueled by frustration, fear, and so much thirst. Sasuke’s head reached down again, biting close at Naruto’s scent gland, pinning him even if Naruto started to squirm, starting to feel so much relief with their bodies once again joined. 

Sasuke dug his teeth hard and deep into Naruto’s skin, and even if he lacked the sharpness of an Alpha, it was enough to break the skin and taste blood, making Sasuke feel drunk with the need for more. It obliged the blond Omega to lift one palm over his lips and nose, trying to make as little noise as possible, his choked gasps being muffled against his palm while being used for the pleasure of another.

And it felt so good for both of them .

Sasuke could hardly imagine that another’s touch and body could feel this good against him, and he knew that not anyone else would respond to his touches so easily on instinct alone.

Sasuke pulled back, the slightest motion only to hiss over the other’s skin, “You don’t get to disappear. Not ever again.”

At his words, almost like an accusation, Naruto’s walls clenched around him, more wetness dripping out. “Sasuke—” Naruto said, quitting his hand over his mouth, grasping at the material under him, the sensations of his elastic hole and the inviting scent of his nature sending a shiver down Sasuke’s spine. He had said that name like a prayer, like an implore for Sasuke to keep to his words, tears in his eyes for a new promise, one that would bond them to die together.

And Sasuke wanted the same.  

“You’re mine,” he promised, whispering earnestly. He would find a way. He refused to have regrets. He pushed his hips back, pulling his cock out to the tip, nearly all the way out, then slammed it all in at once, angling just right, hearing the soft groan under him. It wasn’t a cold night; perspiration drenched Sasuke’s face, making his eyes sting, a salty drop landing on Naruto’s forehead, also sweaty. The new thrusts were more relentless, forcing Naruto to jerk beneath his lover. But Sasuke didn’t stop; he didn’t let go. He just continued, keeping the blond Omega in place under his weight, and for a moment he wished for someone to come in to see who was the one acting so improper, taking a hole so hot, so tight, and welcoming despite being an Omega. “You’re not leaving my side again.”

Naruto nodded, only able to make a sound of appreciation, head tilting back and getting lost in the sensation of his impending orgasm, his mouth barely moving like a sealing vow, a promise of following Sasuke whenever he went, and Sasuke put his hands on him, tightening possessively into his sides, like reclaiming something that would always be his, like he couldn’t bear to let go.

Naruto was made for him.

He was his. Always.

“Look at me,” Sasuke growled, and blue eyes obeyed him, his body snapping tight as he came hard, his mouth opening around a silent scream, shaking, breathing caught in his throat as his translucent cum shot between them, and more slick made their join more slippery. Sasuke, lacking a knot in his anatomy that could inflate and avoid slipping out of Naruto’s body, forced himself to steady, raising up on his knees and over the other, making a concentrated effort while panting as the length of his erection was pressed firmly inside Naruto. “Don’t disappear. Not ever… I would never allow it.”

Like this, Sasuke spilled into his lover’s womb, cumming so hard that his vision went white, marking Naruto from the inside as his own.

Naruto let out a content sigh, his arms enveloping Sasuke, basking in the aftermath of their climax for several minutes, neither of them saying a word. Then, although Sasuke always liked to keep their bodies pressed flush together, this time he ignored how easily he could slip free from Naruto’s inside, leaning in to rest their foreheads together in the new calm between the beats of their hearts.

“I’m yours.”

Sasuke couldn’t agree more, already shifting their position, letting Naruto to take the lead for a second round. Remedying all kinds of contact they missed during the weeks they were away from each other.

.

Sasuke told him the plan while walking near the teahouse, Naruto holding an umbrella to protect both of them from the sun, hands not touching while avoiding watching behind him to see the person following their steps, this time a new servant that has been instructed to stick to them, a rule that would persist until some immovable excuse was made to drive Sasuke’s clinginess towards his childhood friend to a stop.

The new servant was barely a teen, a girl, and had been told about all those instructions that were also told to Naruto the first day in the Uchiha estates: to make sure to walk tall but keep her head down in the presence of anyone else, especially around the main family. To make sure to do the tasks she was asked for as soon as they were asked. To make sure to accompany the young Omega Uchiha wherever he was outside his bedroom—to ignore the blond Omega at his side. To just watch them and inform her superiors of anything.

Clearly, and to Naruto and Sasuke’s advantage, she didn’t understand the importance of that last instruction. She would give everything to also have another Omega as her friend—especially someone from a high clan. 

She was also easily distracted, the garden being now Naruto and Sasuke’s place while her eyes followed the motion of the rabbits escaping around the bushes instead of landing on the bodies ahead of her.

One day they would flee the Uchiha estates, running away from the place they called home and their duties. They would follow a path into the woods and cross the river. They would run away from a terrible future separating them.

Naruto wanted to grow beside the other Omega, to be twenty-five in a place they could call home only for them. It was easy to fantasize about it, to believe they could write their own future. He wanted to be thirty, still attending Sasuke, having his own garden, harvesting vegetables and bringing them to dinner, small talk between them, perhaps even saying words in another language. They might not chase after a little pup; no child would bumble while making their first slow steps, but Naruto would sacrifice any role of becoming a mother to the opportunity to reach fifty and sixty and so many more years and wake up to the sight of Sasuke sleeping close to him, smiling at the sunlights around his lover’s hair.

He had told all this to Sasuke, wanting to never hide something from him.

Sasuke’s woodsy scent slightly spread out differently, not being discernible to the young nose of the Omega girl, now various steps behind them.

Naruto glanced at the handsome edge of Sasuke’s jaw, more delicate than his own, sculpted as if an artist had devoted all his knowledge to it. The blond Omega smiled, sensing that slight change in Sasuke’s scent, softly telling him, “Don’t be concerned about that.” Then he dared to brush his pinkie to Sasuke’s, a gesture only to them. For the others’ sights they had to keep a proper distance always.

“I know what I am taking away from you,” Sasuke replied, barely over a whisper, his eyes watching the wood path they were walking over now, looking thoughtful. “I know you want a family of your own. I know that I am asking you to never chase behind that dream, even if, maybe one day, with the right Alpha, someone who—”

Naruto almost halted his steps, cutting Sasuke off. “Aren’t you my family? Because you are. Why would I desire a live with an Alpha? Away from you?” Naruto asked with a frown on his expression, knowing that although he had been loved and cared for as a kid, even if there were people he would miss dearly, Sasuke would always be his one and only. He had made his choice since the first time that Sasuke made his risky proposition. 

“I… I mean, you just said it yourself, Naruto… Wouldn’t you love to have pups someday?” Sasuke’s face was now flushing, but luckily for them, anyone might think it was from the sun. Naruto couldn’t help but find it endearing, his mind imagining how Sasuke’s pretty eyes and dark hair would make for beautiful children, finding himself fascinated by the thought alone. 

“Would you let me put a pup in you if we could?” It took seconds for Naruto’s mind to register what he had just asked, his steps involuntarily stopping, feeling a blush high on his cheeks while time stood still, seeing Sasuke moving two, three steps ahead of him. But then he had to quickly shift his blue gaze away from Sasuke before the dark-haired Omega turned around. Those kinds of things shouldn’t be asked—they’re even too risky for being heard by someone else.

Also, Sasuke couldn’t get pregnant by a poor orphan like Naruto, someone without a proper family name, not even if the blond’s nature would magically transform into an Alpha. It sounded like a forbidden sacrilege.

He heard Sasuke sighing, and only then did Naruto stare up at him.

“Of course I would…”

Unexpectedly, Naruto’s vision blurred slightly as his eyes filled with little tears, and at the same time a cheerful smile was placed on his lips, ignoring the lump in his throat. Hearing that, even though not at all plausible, felt better than a confession. 

Naruto knew that any attempt to run away would be dangerous, but it had never felt as imperative as now.

“You… You will never be alone,” Naruto promised him, his voice only reaching Sasuke’s ears, an affirmation that he would follow Sasuke even into the dark. What else could he do? How could he reject the flowing love he felt inside his chest, overflowing in every breath he addressed toward Sasuke? “I’m going to keep loving you more and more, and I’ll be with you no matter what. Would you let me that too?”

“Yes,” Sasuke replied softly, his mouth barely moving, their words only shared for them. “So I'll hold you to that promise of always loving me.”

Away from the Uchiha estates, they would have a chance to stay together as lovers.

.

.

There were fireflies outside Naruto’s new designated room. Sasuke watched him kneeling on the floor while he himself was standing a little away from the blond, his figure still in the corridor without sliding the screen door all along, knowing that the blond Omega was pondering between walking out and sitting on the engawa to appreciate the bright bugs’ dancing or remaining inside. Then he watched how Naruto shook his head, as though putting any daring idea aside: he was heavy under his yukata, belly rounded with Sasuke’s pup, and he already had earned many forewarnings and advice to avoid any trouble. However, Sasuke smiled softly, his lips gracing that kind of expression that only seeing Naruto being safe brought to his face, also finding it funny that if Naruto wanted to go out so late this night, he would have to practically walk on eggshells for no one to hear him: no one wanted him wounded or falling ill; maidservants were now always taking care of his basic necessities—under the supervision of Sasuke’s mother herself—because they all wanted to prevent as much danger as possible for the future heir and their mother.

It was kind of ironic, thinking back on it.

Months ago, when they had fled from this same place and after Sasuke had claimed him in unfitting circumstances in an abandoned cabin—despite the fact that the dark-haired young man was also an Omega—they were brought back to the Uchiha’s estate; they had been received with sharp gazes, especially from some elder Alphas from the noble clan that saw both their attempt to run away and the fresh mated mark on Naruto’s neck as great lacks of respect toward them.

How dare both of you!

How could an orphan boy taint Fugaku’s son?

They were more shocked about the fact that Naruto wasn't born in a clan rather than the very unique union between two Omegas.

It had been outrageous to their eyes. They had expected an extremely delicate courtship from a suitable, rich Alpha for Sasuke and not the chaotic decision from the dark-haired Omega to take another Omega boy, even leaving the estate and thinking to live on their own away from the capital, across the river. 

Unacceptable. Nature, after all, dictated that Omegas needed to remain at the side of a strong Alpha.

Among the chaos, however, Sasuke’s father maintained his composure, the hold of his wife on his hand firm to calm the older Alpha, soothing him, as if helping him to stay serene in the moment and take a better look at the blond boy they had also watched growing up. His smell had changed, after all. It was warm like a summer day, sweeter, and content for life. A new one.

And it was something they wouldn’t dare to change.

A better acceptance of the Omegas’ mating bond came weeks later, only when doctors and a skilled midwife assured a successful pregnancy in the blond Omega. Yet, perhaps for the previous arguments, there was an issue still unapproachable for many clan members: a marriage arrangement between them.

Some of them said that if those were the scandalous sexual preferences of the Young Master, then he could get their permission to breed another noble and more suitable Omega and just keep Naruto as his concubine. The first pup would become a bastard, but the clan would take care of him... just not for the main branch. The pup might be loved, but he wouldn’t obtain their last name.

It was just elder Alphas wanting to punish Sasuke, too strict about pregnancy dynamics and societal orders, old men too stubborn about losing the opportunity of political alliances that a ‘better’ marriage could achieve for their clan, but Sasuke had refused their resolution outright, saying he wouldn’t marry anyone other than Naruto, trying to arrange a legal union between them, all this despite the brief moments of weakness from Naruto during some nights, telling Sasuke that perhaps that scenario was better than the one they had originally fled from, wasn’t it? Their lives now were already better than Sasuke being taken to live with an elite Alpha whom he would despise the rest of his life, leaving Naruto behind. What the old men proposed was kinder, wasn’t it? They would still love each other.

Sasuke had only silenced him with a kiss each time.

Now, while he slid the white screen completely, Naruto turned around, blue eyes watching warmly the figure of his lover, a smile immediately being placed on Naruto’s lips.

“Welcome back, Young Master!” Naruto chirped but then he blushed, realizing what he had just called Sasuke. He wasn’t Sasuke’s servant anymore; he hadn’t addressed him like that, not even in front of others now, but Sasuke didn’t chastise him. The blond were probably thinking about their past, when they sat side by side watching the fireflies some nights when all the rest of the states slept calmly.

So Sasuke ignored it this time—something more important was on his mind right now.

“I’m back,” he said while stepping forward. “Can’t sleep?”

Naruto only hummed, slightly shifting to make place to his side so Sasuke could sit down with him, but the dark-haired Omega reached out his hand instead, silently asking Naruto to take it.

With care, Sasuke pulled him up, turning Naruto around so his back was against Sasuke’s firm chest, pale hands sliding down reverently to the swell of the blond’s belly. The slight difference between their heights allowed Sasuke to rub his nose softly against his lover's scent gland in his neck; the smell of a pleased Omega greeted his nose.

"My perfect mate,” Sasuke said softly, tilting his head even more, his mouth seeking the marked skin, leaving a kiss there and then some more. They seemed lost in the moment, enjoying each other's scent as everything else was put on hold, their embrace filled with all kinds of love they had felt towards the other. Then, almost reluctantly, Sasuke pulled apart to put a coat on Naruto and helped him to wear house shoes, smiling when Naruto tilted his head to one side with perplexity, wondering why Sasuke hadn’t already chastised him for not being in bed yet, but then Sasuke simply grabbed Naruto’s hand and led him until they reached the engawa. 

Outside, the fireflies kept illuminating their own paths, pretty points of light floating as magic lanterns, but Sasuke only had eyes for his mate, his soft smile—a rarity for the last days with all the intricate meetings he had been having, with even external high-ranking figures such as Hatake Kakashi speaking in favor of the young Omega—telling Naruto that he had something nice to say.

“What is it?”

“Are you happy?”

Naruto quickly took Sasuke’s hands in his, adoration clear in his blue eyes, rushing to say, “Like never before.”

“Good. Then I can finally fulfill my duty with you.” He leaned in to place a kiss on the corner of Naruto’s lips, then pressed their foreheads together, eyes closing, feeling slightly shy about what he was about to say. “I, Uchiha Sasuke of the Uchiha clan of Konoha, ask you, Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha, to be my lawfully wedded spouse.”

He felt how Naruto lightly trembled, catching that Sasuke’s word could only mean that they were free for an official wedding ceremony despite Naruto's social rank and all other obstacles.

Sasuke didn’t have to open his eyes to know that Naruto broke out into a wide smile, not while the blond guided his hands down toward the belly full with their pup and all the butterflies of happiness. 

“I, Uzumaki Naruto, the Omega that has loved you since the first day, accept your proposal.”

This was their happiest night so far. 

There had always been something pulling one towards the other, affirming that both of them were soulmates. Would always be.