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Naruto jiggled the key in the lock, shoulder nudging the apartment door open in the same practiced motion he’d done a thousand evenings before. Fatigue clung to him like an extra layer of clothing—paperwork, back-to-back meetings, three village council disagreements, and at least one crisis involving Kiba and a very offended florist. All Naruto wanted was tea, quiet, and maybe fifteen minutes where no one said the word “Hokage.”
He kicked off his sandals, rubbing at the back of his neck as he stepped inside. The living room was dim but warm, lit by the soft glow of a lamp left on intentionally Sasuke’s subtle way of saying I’m waiting for you, without ever actually saying it. Naruto smiled. Even the idea of Sasuke was enough to loosen the tension in his shoulders.
He barely had time to inhale before a blur of movement swept out of the shadow near the hall.
“Nani—?!”
A hand landed firmly on his chest warm, familiar and pushed him back just hard enough to make him stumble a step until his spine brushed the wall. Naruto’s hands shot up instinctively, palms open, breath catching.
“Oi! Sas—”
But it wasn’t quite Sasuke.
Sharingan eyes flashed up at him, but the hair was slightly off, the chakra signature thinner, sharper. A clone. A Sasuke clone. Before Naruto could process a single reasonable thought, the clone stepped in close, forearm braced lightly near Naruto’s head, pinning him only in the sense that he had no idea what was happening.
“Naruto,” the clone murmured in a low voice, so close Naruto felt it more than heard it.
Then lips pressed to his deep, sure, deliberate.
Naruto’s gasp dissolved instantly beneath the kiss. His hands fluttered in midair, caught somewhere between grabbing the clone’s shoulders, pushing him back, or simply giving in to the warmth that spread through his chest like sudden fire. The clone kissed him with no hesitation, as if built solely for this purpose steady but not rough, firm but entirely controlled. Naruto’s brain short-circuited spectacularly.
He finally managed to pull back a fraction of an inch, breath shaky. “S-Sasuke? What—?”
Footsteps padded softly from deeper in the apartment.
The real Sasuke appeared, hands in pockets, expression cool as ever but with the faintest hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“You’re home late,” he said simply.
Naruto blinked rapidly, as though the extra blinks might correct the entire surreal scene. “You—you sent a clone to— to—”
“To greet you,” Sasuke replied mildly.
“That is not a greeting!” Naruto sputtered.
The clone tilted Naruto’s chin back toward him with a featherlight touch, clearly disagreeing. Naruto felt heat creep up his neck. “Okay, dattebayo, maybe it is a greeting, but you could’ve warned me!”
Sasuke stepped close enough that Naruto could feel the warmth rolling off him, real and steady, so different from the faint chakra hum of the clone. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Naruto opened his mouth to fire back something about “fun” and “nearly giving him a heart attack,” but Sasuke was already leaning in, eyes half-lidded, gaze soft in a way Naruto never quite got used to.
“You look exhausted,” Sasuke murmured.
“Well, yeah,” Naruto managed, his voice wobbling embarrassingly. “Long day…”
The clone’s hand slid to rest on Naruto’s hip not suggestive, just grounding and Sasuke reached out to brush Naruto’s bangs back from his forehead. The double attention made Naruto’s chest feel too small for his heart.
“Then stop thinking,” Sasuke said, thumb sweeping across Naruto’s cheek.
And then Sasuke kissed him.
Unlike the clone’s sudden, consuming kiss, Sasuke’s was slow warm, lingering, almost gentle in comparison. Naruto melted instantly, fingers curling into the fabric of Sasuke’s shirt. The clone didn’t disappear; instead, he leaned in around Naruto’s other side, lips brushing along Naruto’s jaw and then finding the other corner of his mouth, mirroring Sasuke’s movements like a synchronized dance.
Naruto let out a sound that wasn’t quite a sigh, wasn’t quite a laugh somewhere in between. His thoughts dissolved like sugar in hot water. Surprised or not, he couldn’t complain about having twice the affection after an impossibly long day.
“Hold on,” he managed between breaths, “you—both of you—this is—this is cheating!”
Sasuke pulled back half an inch, amused. “With myself?”
“That’s not the point!” Naruto protested, although the protest lost a lot of credibility when the clone kissed the side of his throat very gently, making Naruto shiver.
“Do you want me to dispel him?” Sasuke asked.
Naruto’s eyes flicked between the two identical faces, both watching him carefully waiting for his answer. That, more than anything, sent a wave of warmth through him. There was the grounding truth beneath this strange, overwhelming moment: he wasn’t trapped, wasn’t really pinned. They were waiting. It was all up to him.
He swallowed, cheeks burning. “...No. He can stay. Just don’t— y’know— do anything pervy...” He warned, his hands vaguely, face hot. “Kissing is fine. Kissing is— definitely fine.”
The clone smirked in perfect Sasuke fashion. “Understood.”
Sasuke’s real smirk deepened. “Then stop worrying.”
Naruto barely had time to protest before both sets of lips were on him again—Sasuke kissing him securely, the clone offering feather-soft second kisses along his cheek, temple, jaw. It felt like being wrapped in warmth from two angles, surrounded completely, but nothing inappropriate, nothing that crossed the line Naruto had set. Just affection. Just presence. Just the quiet, wordless language of “I’m here.”
His fingers found Sasuke’s shoulders again, gripping tight as though anchoring himself. The clone’s hand settled between Naruto’s shoulder blades, steady and supportive rather than demanding. Naruto let his head tip slightly against the wall, eyes fluttering closed.
“Why—” he managed, breathless, “why did you even think of this?”
Sasuke pulled back enough to meet his eyes. “You come home every day and try to pretend you’re fine when you’re exhausted. I wanted to… make an impression.”
“An impression?” Naruto choked out a laugh, then gasped softly when the clone kissed the hollow beneath his ear. “I—I think you succeeded, dattebayo.”
Sasuke leaned his forehead against Naruto’s. “Good.”
Naruto felt something unwind inside him something tight and tired he hadn’t even realized had been coiled there. The day’s stress slipped off his shoulders like a discarded cloak.
“Next time,” Naruto murmured, brushing his thumb across Sasuke’s jaw, “maybe warn me before the clone jumps me.”
“No,” both Sasuke and the clone said in perfect unison.
Naruto snorted a laugh so sudden he startled himself. “Of course not.”
The clone kissed his cheek again, then dissolved into a faint sparkle of chakra, leaving only warmth lingering on Naruto’s skin.
Sasuke closed the distance one more time, kissing Naruto softly—less dramatic, less coordinated, more intimate in the quiet way only the real Sasuke could manage. Naruto kissed him back with all the melted warmth still blooming in his chest.
When they finally parted, Sasuke rested a hand lightly on Naruto’s cheek.
“Welcome home,” he said.
Naruto smiled tired, but glowing in a way he hadn’t felt all day. “Yeah. I’m home.”