A/N: Hey fellas, just shouting for the people in the back, because for some reason people don't read pairings, then like to get angry because (Horrified squeal) boys! will! be! kissing!

Summary: We've got a whole platter of stuff here / fluff / denial / a panic attack or two / Naruto going beast mode / Sasuke being an asshole / Canon divergence / Canon-typical violence / cuddles / angst / heartbreak / happy-endings

D/C: I don't own Naruto, and I probably never will!

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I will be writing a total of 10 chapters, feel free to leave comments and tidbits for what you think! Onward, to the story!

His balance wasn't the only thing knocked off-kilter as Naruto's head fell forward, feeling the whole world submit to its gravitational pull downward.

Bare bones clacked against Sasuke's with a painful snap. The click of teeth sounds like the haunting echo of a key unlocking, and he feels exposed like never before. Pearly whites exposed to the intrusion as they are abruptly knocked upon, like the rap of fists to the vulnerability beneath his flesh.

Raw, completely unlike knuckles to his skin, where he's learned to protect, where his walls are built high and the sting doesn't hurt anymore.

Lips chewn by biting tameless remarks slide treacherously over the perfectly poised pink of classroom dried skin. Like a stone thrown to strike the surface of tranquil water, the disturbance is fast, instant in its impact, and departs as abruptly as its barrelled entrance.

The kiss is brief, and Naruto clambers away like a thief scared to be caught taking something that wasn't his. Unaware he'd been mercilessly spun at the unwavering calm of Sasuke's resolve until he'd already flung himself away to access the damage.

It was an accident, but Naruto is about to be sick with the spinning sensation winding his stomach into an elaborate coiled mess. He tries to form words, but his tongue sits useless, heavy in his mouth, perhaps nailed there by the stunning shock of its own close encounter.

He expects the stoic Uchiha to look like Naruto feels, disgusted and horrified. But somehow he doesn't —just a distorted reflection of the expression messily scrawled across Naruto's own features. Mostly just surprise. Sasuke's hand lying against the table twitches, as if it were physically resisting the urge to check if the warmth from Naruto's lips still lingered there.

Naruto can't tell if he's even breathing under the electrical hum of white shock. When the screech of female vocal chords pop the bubble of building panic contained within him, his legs scramble under him.

A forceful instinct slams him in the back and bites his heels. He runs with the sound of his furious heartbeat in his ears.

-Thump, thump, thump-thump thumpthump-

Naruto is determined to pretend it didn't happen.

[He's good at pretending things don't happen the way they do.]

Halfway down the hall of the academy, he collides with Iruka-sensei, and the immediate hiss of his own name as classroom papers drift the ground around them is enough to pull him from the event.

He's made to pick up the papers and carry them back to the classroom. He tells himself the thunder in his chest is just the sound of his heavy steps against hardwood floors.

He doesn't notice Iruka's concerned gaze staring down at him from behind. He forgot to laugh. "—Haha, sorry Iruka-sensei!" He forgot to complain at being made to carry a stack of papers back, "—Mou, but sensei—" too busy being thankful for the distraction.

The classroom door slides open effortlessly. His eyes are open, but he's not looking .

He refuses to meet anyone's face, and heads straight for the back of the classroom.

It's not unusual for Naruto to zone out in class; the teaching environment provides little stimulation for him and it drains Naruto of energy and enthusiasm quickly. Under the table, he's peeled away all the paint and sealer- can feel the splinters painfully lodged under his fingernails, but it doesn't bother him much.

The bell rings, and Choji takes it upon himself to wedge his elbow into Naruto's side to pull him out from his dazed stupor. He waits until almost everyone is gone before he walks down the steps of the classroom. Counting them as he goes. A black smudge in the corner of his vision catches his eye, and he dares to briefly pause and look up.

Regret shudders in his chest when dark intense pools of the Uchiha's sights catch him, threaten to drown him. His eyes squint judgingly, as if trying to narrow the windows to his soul. He swallows shallowly, and falls back on practiced disgust of his bottom lip jutting out in an unimpressed pout.

This is the part when Sasuke is meant to scowl. Carve deep lines into his pale forehead and slide his bottom jaw ever-so-slightly to the side.

But he doesn't, just stands there looking at him, studying him as if he were a specimen under a microscope. And if anything, he would think the bloody bastard stayed back just to bore his cold, dead eyes into Naruto's turbulent whirlpools. Waited for him to pass just to throw him off, flex his upright posture over Naruto's hunched shoulders and show how much better he was. How undeterred he was by the whole kerfuffle.

'To hell with that,' Naruto thinks bluntly. He stubbornly squares his back so straight he can feel the ache down to his toes, breathes deeply into the fire in his body and lets the heat expand his chest outward.

"What the hell are you looking at, Bastard?!"

The jerk has the gall to smirk at him in non-verbal reply, and Naruto finds himself wishing he knocked that smug look right off his pretty-boy face when he had the chance.