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"This is your fault," Sasuke spat out from between gritted teeth, shivering violently from where he was sitting with his back to a tree trunk. "This is all your fault."
"How is it my fault?!" Naruto retorted, rubbing his arms in a futile strategy to keep warm. "You were the one who got us kicked out of the tent in the first place!"
"Because you were being a loser and an idiot!"
"You started the fight!"
Sasuke sighed, moonlight carving out his features with its harsh, cold light. "Let's just pretend that what we just did wasn't as stupid as it is."
Naruto glared at him with darkened blue eyes. "All I'm saying is that you're the one with the fire jutsus, and we're literally surrounded by trees and branches."
"That would attract enemies, you complete dunce," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.
"At this rate, we're going to fucking freeze to death. What else do you suggest?"
Sasuke stared at the ground, his mind buzzing with thought. Actually, they could just...sleep together. Share body heat. Come as close to cuddling as they would ever for the rest of their lives. It was with a heavy heart that Sasuke pondered the possible consequences of actually voicing the suggestion, and he prayed that Naruto wouldn't notice his blushing cheeks or the rapid, loud thudding of his heart like a fish out of water.
It was hard, being in love with your heterosexual best friend.
Still, it was worth a try. Plus, Sasuke was fucking cold.
"We could share body heat."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, man," Naruto replied, almost interrupting but not quite. "Us, cuddling? Yeah, right. We'd fucking kill each other."
"It's only going to get colder from here on out."
"Come on, Sasuke!" Naruto practically pleaded. "Really? Us? Two nineteen year old nemeses who are already constantly at each others' throats, with our arms wrapped around each other? You're out of your mind."
Sasuke rolled his head back on his shoulders. "Nemeses, huh? Who was the one prattling on about being best friends just last summer? Besides, this is a matter of survival, and I'm not freezing to death over some petty, immature argument about sharing body heat with you."
Naruto said nothing for some time, and Sasuke was beginning to think he'd fallen asleep, when Naruto climbed to his feet and carefully began unzipping the entrance to the tent.
"Kakashi's gonna rip your head off if you go in there, dobe," Sasuke called quietly.
Naruto reemerged with a sleeping bag in his arms. "Heh, didn't even get caught."
Sasuke raised a thin eyebrow as Naruto unzipped it and laid it out on the ground. "There's only one of them. Are you really going to bail on me?"
Naruto didn't look at him when he responded with, "I thought you were the one who brought up the whole 'sharing body heat' thing." It might have been his imagination, but Sasuke thought Naruto's voice sounded a bit thick. "So, how are we going to do this?"
Sasuke bit back a smile. "I was thinking something like spooning. Naturally, I'd be big spoon."
Naruto glared at him through eyes that were slits. "Are you trying to make fun of me for my height again? There's a fucking two inch difference, man."
"No, I would just feel extremely uncomfortable and a bit claustrophobic if it were switched around. Besides, you would strangle me. I've seen what you do to your pillow when you sleep."
Naruto sighed. "Tch, whatever." He climbed into the sleeping bag, getting comfortable before he gestured for Sasuke to get in after him.
The material was cool and had little resistance, which Sasuke appreciated, since it meant that it wouldn't stick to him if they got sweaty. He zipped the bag up after positioning himself, which made it considerably more cramped, but Sasuke wasn't willing to lose any body heat they could conjure, seeing as the night was already notably colder. He twisted back around to face Naruto's back, and was suddenly struck by a wave of embarrassment.
"So, uh... How exactly do I do this?"
"No fucking clue," Naruto mumbled. "Do something with your arms. They're digging into my back."
Sasuke's cheeks heated, but he already felt warmer at the prospect of getting to do something like this with Naruto. "Lift your head up." As Naruto complied, he slid an arm underneath Naruto's head, and then carefully wrapped his other arm around Naruto's torso. He couldn't help but notice that Naruto's shirt was riding up a bit, and he could feel the other's incredibly soft, tanned skin under his arm.
Naruto snorted. "You're shit at this."
"Hn," Sasuke murmured as he shifted closer to Naruto, nuzzling the nape of Naruto's neck before sliding his nose up and burying it in his golden hair. Which, incidentally, smelled like green apples.
After around five or ten minutes, when sleep was finally claiming Sasuke, Naruto groaned loudly. "Fuck this, my front's way too cold for this shit." Sasuke's arm was wrenched away from Naruto while he violently turned around to face Sasuke, entangling their legs together and snuggling as close to him as he possibly could before pulling Sasuke's arm back around him.
Sasuke smirked, chuckling lowly. "Better?"
"No," Naruto growled, hugging Sasuke's torso tightly with one arm and pressing the entire length of his body to Sasuke's.
Sasuke tucked the top of Naruto's fluffy head underneath his chin, secretly loving the way Naruto's warm breath exhaled against his neck and collarbone. "How about now?"
"...Tolerable. I guess. Maybe." Naruto's words were becoming gradually more fuzzy and unclear. Sasuke assumed that he was getting sleepy. Cute.
After gathering up his wits, he pressed a soft kiss to Naruto's temple. He was pretty sure Naruto was asleep by then, so it surprised him when Naruto mumbled one last sentence out.
"Much better."
Overcome with a sudden rush of affection for the teenager in his arms, Sasuke tightened his hold around Naruto and savored the moment for as long as he could before he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, when Sasuke woke up, Naruto was sprawled over his chest, practically on top of him. His face was so close to Sasuke's that he could feel Naruto's breath blowing over his chin. The sun wasn't up yet, meaning that he still had a few more hours with Naruto until they'd have to get up and gather themselves and pretend that nothing had ever occurred between the two of them.
The thought pained Sasuke, and he'd be damned if he let this slip through his fingers so easily. He carefully maneuvered his arm out from where it was pinned underneath Naruto's chest and placed it gently around Naruto's shoulders, his thumb stroking a patch of skin lightly so he wouldn't wake him. He brought his other hand up to gently trace Naruto's jaw, then down the bridge of his nose, and then over his lips, as if memorizing every single contour with his fingers. While he was running the backs of his fingernails over Naruto's whisker-like scars, utterly fascinated by the raised, darkened skin, Naruto twitched involuntarily, sighing. Sasuke froze when Naruto's mouth opened to form words.
"...'Suke..." he whispered with that morning rasp to his voice, before it deteriorated to unintelligible noises and incoherent words. Sasuke's heart clenched, and even though he might have been imagining it, he thought he could feel physical pain to his chest at the thought of being so close to what he couldn't have. It shouldn't have been possible, Sasuke thought absentmindedly as he ran his fingers through Naruto's silky hair, for someone to look as sinfully attractive while simultaneously adorable when they were asleep in such an uncomfortable-seeming position. He paused as Naruto shifted to move further up his body, before continuing his stroking.
He was just noticing how Naruto's eyelashes were dark brown, a stark contrast to his light hair, when one of the blue eyes slid open, peering blearily and unfocused at him. "S'suke?" Naruto murmured in a voice still roped in by sleep, muffled by the fabric of Sasuke's shirt bunching up around his mouth.
Sasuke couldn't help it. He swore he tried not to.
He sat up a bit and grabbed Naruto's chin with both fingers, pulling him close and then pressing a soft, lingering kiss on Naruto's soft, reddish lips. The eye was still looking at him, still bleary, but the pupil had dilated in what Sasuke could only estimate was shock.
They stayed like that for another second containing an eternity, and Sasuke was feelings his limbs freeze up at the sudden fear that he might have just ruined his friendship with the person he considered his other half, but then-
Naruto's lips curled up into a lazy, lopsided grin, and though his exquisitely blue eye slipped shut again, his smile didn't fade away.
That same titanic rush of affection overwhelmed Sasuke again, and as he tightened his arms around the body on top of him, it was all he could do to refrain from bursting with joy.