Warmth - finally. Sasori Akasuna sighed happily, glad to be dry and warm at last. The weather outside was far from pleasant. What had inspired him to attempt a walk home in it he'd probably never know. He'd been in a bit of a rush to get home from class, he supposed. Sure, art theory class was always fun, but the regular teacher had been absent that day, and the entire class had been in chaos, the sub having been completely incapable of keeping the students in control.
He glanced around, trying to figure out where he was. It was an office or waiting room of some sort, with a desk in the corner and several cushy-looking arm chairs scattered about.
"Welcome, welcome! I assume you're here to try out our new type of sleep therapy!"
He lifted his gaze from the floor, to see who had spoken. A blue-haired woman sitting at the desk rose and hurried over to him. She smiled, handing him a small stack of papers and a pen. "Just fill those out and we'll get started right away! Unless you have an appointment, then I'll just need -"
"Er, sorry, what?" Sasori frowned slightly, confused. He'd only ducked inside the place to get out of the rain and wind. Sleep therapy? What in the hell was that?
The woman smiled again. "Oh, you don't know about our new, revolutionary process? Well, let me teach you!" She took the papers back from him and directed him into a small side room.
The room was dark, the only light coming from a large screen built into the far wall. A person lay on a table in front of it, sleeping peacefully. The screen displayed a scene fitting their expression. A calm ocean spread for miles, and the person could be seen sailing on a tiny white sailboat, perfectly at ease.
The woman pushed a button and the screen went blank. She took hold of your arm and pulled the man out of the room, back into the light. "That was a sample of what we offer. We put our patients into a deep level of REM sleep, and then monitor and alter your dreams into something better than you might dream naturally. Something like that." She pointed towards the room you'd just been in. "With it, we can lower stress and anxiety levels."
Hmm. He had been under a lot of extra stress lately, with class and what not... "How much does it cost? It sounds like something only the rich could afford," he said with a slight laugh.
She simply smiled again. "Oh, no. We offer the first session free." She glanced at her clipboard. "We actually have an opening today. Right now. Would you like to try now?"
He puzzled over it for a second, then nodded. What harm could it do? His classes were over for the day anyway. "Alright. Where am I heading?" The woman pointed down the hallway then gave him a little push in that direction. He nodded and walked down to the end of the hall.
He pushed open the door at the end, looking for the doctor or something. Finding no one, he simply took a seat on the table, identical to the one you'd seen in the other room. Actually, the whole room was identical.
Sasori sat there quietly for a few minutes, listening to the paper on the table crinkle beneath his idle fidgeting, until at last someone entered the room. From the shadowy figure, he could tell it was a man. Anything other than that he couldn't make out.
"Please, lay down. We will assist you to sleep." His voice was deep and comforting; the kind of person who could tell you to jump off a bridge and you would listen. Sasori followed his instructions, doing his best to get comfortable on the hard metal table. The doctor leaned over him, and placed a mask over his nose and mouth. He could faintly hear a low hissing noise and slowly everything faded to black.
He blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the light and wipe the sleep from his eyes. The light before him was very bright, but only directly before him. At the edges of his vision, it was dim. He sat up, trying to clear up what was going on. His head was pounding, but it didn't heart per say, but it felt like it should have been. It reminded him vaguely of a hangover.
He rubbed his eyes, sitting up with a groan. It took a moment for the area before him, and almost gasped when he did. It was perfect, something out of his dreams. The room he was in was small, with dark wood floors, deeply scratched and damaged. The walls were an almost matching wood, with pictures and photos papering them. A table was set up against the back wall, wood chips and wood shavings covering it and the floor below it. Chunks of wood and, he could tell even from where he sat, it was high quality stuff.
But the thing that captured his interest most about the desk was not how it looked, but who sat there. A delicate, thin, albeit androgynous, figure sat there, slouched over the desk, long blonde hair spilling over and covering the face.
Sasori sat and stared in awe for a few moments, then cleared his throat as loudly as he could manage, hoping to get their attention. He succeeded, and the blonde lifted their head and turned towards him.
"Oh, um. Hi." The voice was definitely male, but regardless, the face was gorgeous. His blonde hair fell over one bright, blue eye and his features were delicate, very feminine at first glance but with masculine hints also evident. "Um, who're you?"
"I'm Sasori. I'm uh, not really sure where or why I'm here." His gaze shifted between the floor and the boy's face several times as he tried to decide where he felt more comfortable looking.
"Ok... Well, I suppose if you're here, you can stay if you'd like. I'm Deidara by the way." He smiled, and glanced back at the table behind him. "Oh! Sasori-kun, do you like art?"
The redhead smiled hesitantly. "Well, yeah, I consider myself a bit of an artist."
"Ooo, me too! What do you do?" Deidara was grinning wildly now, art obviously being something he was passionate about.
"It might seem odd, but I make puppets. I draw too, but mostly puppets."
"Huh, that's kinda cool. I do clay sculptures, real cool, they're a real bang." He winked on the last word, leaving Sasori to wonder just what he meant by that.
Regardless of any double meaning, the two had found common ground, something they could both talk about and share their thoughts. They shared opposite views on certain things, seeing that art was most definitely eternal, but conversation flowed comfortably between the two, and Sasori felt himself growing very attached to this pretty blonde.
Surprisingly, as time passed on, they both fell silent. Sasori turned and stared at Deidara, who stared back with a faint smile. He hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward, taking the blonde's face in his hands, and locked lips with the other artist. As he leaned forwards into the kiss, he felt everything go black and the world around him go blank.