Author's note: Quite the long title for what is essentially just some silly Valentine's Day fic, but hey, there you have it. It's still Valentine's Day here for a little bit, so I'm still on time! What better gift for you all than a little bit of a Not for Sakura fans fic? :)

This idea is based on a real Valentine's Day party that was thrown in my country for a couple of years.

Warnings: Dual pov, Sakura's and Naruto's; alternate universe; slash; Valentine's Day fic; NOT FOR SAKURA FANS; it's a mild one this fic, but still, not for her fans; some fluff; smidgen of angst; implied mature content

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I hope you'll enjoy this fic :)

The Power of Science – and Okay, Attraction Too

"Why are we excited?" Sakura asked curiously when she entered the breakroom where for once people were talking excitedly instead of cursing out a client or another colleague.

"The company's planning a Valentine's Day party," Hinata answered with a gentle smile, cradling a steaming mug between her hands. Her light purple nail polish glittered faintly in the light when she lifted the mug to drink.

"Not just any party, though," Ino interrupted; her blue eyes shining. "Supposedly you can find your soulmate through this party!"

"How would that even work?" Sakura demanded confused.

"You fill in a questionnaire, anonymously, and then a program will apparently link you to the person who seems like the best fit for you," Ino explained. "At the party you'll have to wear a mask which will light up the second you look at the one who supposedly is your best match and theirs will light up too then."

"Would a program really be able to work out something like that?" Sakura was sceptical, but at the same time couldn't help but be intrigued as well. It sounded like a technological way of matchmaking; it might be a fun way to spend the evening.

Ino shrugged. "Don't know. Shikamaru's team has been working on it these past couple of months as some sort of side-gig apparently, a fun thing for Valentine's Day."

"Are you going to fill in the questionnaire?" Sakura asked, going to the counter to fix herself a quick cup of coffee. She was going to need it for the upcoming call with one of her clients.

Her friend grinned, sweeping her long blonde hair back over her shoulder. "Sure, why not? I think it'd be a lot of fun, if only to find out who the program sees as the best fit for me," she chortled.

Casting a furtive glance around them, Sakura lowered her voice and inquired, cheeks heating up, "You think the higher-ups are going to join as well?"

She clearly wasn't that subtle about who she really meant when asking about the higher-ups, judging by Ino's knowing smirk. Sakura merely shrugged, offering her a cheeky smile. When the higher-ups consisted out of people who could have walked straight out of a model magazine, could anyone blame her for being curious?

Ino leant against the counter and crossed her arms loosely underneath her breasts. "I think Karin mentioned they were going to join as well, yeah. Although you can imagine Sasuke-kun wasn't very impressed," she snorted.

Sakura covered up a giggle. Yeah, no, she could very well imagine that Sasuke wouldn't really be up for something like this. The younger brother of the CEO, Sasuke was considered the heartthrob of the company for a very good reason. With his black blue hair, his intense black eyes and cheekbones that could cut like a knife – not to mention his very fine physique, courtesy of the hours he spent at the gym after work – he was every girl's dream and many female employees had tried asking him out over the years. They had always received a very resounding no – very rarely did Sasuke give them the mercy of offering a polite rejection – but that didn't mean the women had given up hope of one day being able to call themselves Mrs. Uchiha.

Sakura being amongst them.

She couldn't help it, okay! How could anyone look at Sasuke and not immediately fall for him? The guy was like a god walking amongst mere men! On top of that he could be quite charismatic when he wanted to be, he was incredibly intelligent and very talented. Every woman wanted to be with him and every guy wanted to be him.

If Sasuke was going to attend the party and fill in the questionnaire, then really, Sakura didn't have much of a choice but to do the same as well, right? Who knew, maybe she would end up being the lucky one and get matched to Sasuke? She didn't dare to hope too much for that, but well, it was certainly a possibility, no?

Sakura's optimistic mood instantly soured at the sound of a very obnoxious, very loud voice. "Did I miss a birthday or something? Why are you all so giddy all of a sudden?"

Naruto walked further into the breakroom, as always dressed in an orange shirt and dark slacks; the shirt an eyesore for anyone with even the slightest hint of taste. How he hadn't got kicked out yet because of his abysmal clothing style, Sakura didn't understand. Nor did she understand how he had managed to get hired at the Amaterasu Company in the first place when his marks had never been that impressive to start with. Perhaps there was some truth to the rumour that he'd only got the job because some of his friends worked here.

"Ah, Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata stuttered, reddening promptly.

Yet another thing Sakura couldn't comprehend: how Hinata could possibly nurture a crush on Naruto when there were men like Itachi and Sasuke walking around. She would include Neji in that list too, but well, he was Hinata's cousin, so ew, no.

"The-there is g-going to be a – a – a Val-Valentine's D-Day party," Hinata squeaked, clutching her mug so tightly it was a wonder it hadn't shattered yet.

"A party?" Naruto hummed inquisitorially before his attention was snatched by the announcement in the middle of the cork board; the pink colour of the paper standing out amidst the more sober white notes and reminders.

After reading the explanation, he crossed his arms behind his head and grinned. "Mah, that sounds like a really cool party. Better than the stuffy ones they've organised so far."

"I doubt there's anyone at the company who'll share your interest in ramen and frogs," Sakura said derisively, ignoring Hinata's reproachful frown. Please, as if she was a fan of frogs or ramen. Who even was interested in such a weird combination? Only kids would be and it was clear Naruto had never outgrown his childish habits.

Naruto's eyebrows knitted together and he started to turn towards her, but was interrupted by Gaara, who leisurely walked past the three women, remarking casually, "Considering you share your obsession with Uchiha with about ninety percent of the female workers at this place, I'd say you're even more shit out of luck at getting any sort of match, Haruno."

"Excuse me?" Sakura spluttered angrily.

He lifted an eyebrow, throwing her a derisive look. "Indeed, excuse you. That's the best thing you've said in all the time you've been working here. Now move, you're blocking the counter."

Catching Naruto snickering, Sakura said snidely, "You can fill in as many questionnaires as you want, there's no way you'll ever get matched to anyone here."

"At least we know for certain he won't be matched with you," Gaara piped up bored. "Sometimes mercy does exist. It's truly the small things in life that can make one happy."

"Come on, no sense in starting a fight," Ino urged and pulled her away, allowing Sakura just enough time to snatch her mug with her.

"Can you believe that arsehole?" Sakura hissed, marching out of the room, forcing her friend to hurry to keep up with her stride. "God, he's such a dick!"

"Well, Gaara has always been, you know, like that," Ino said vaguely, waving her hand around. "He and Naruto are best friends, you know that."

"Not my fault the idiot can't handle hearing the truth," Sakura snorted harshly. "Not very impressive, is he, if his best friend always has to jump to his defence."

Ino clucked her tongue. "Just forget about them. What do you say about filling in that questionnaire, hm? I've still got a bit of time before my meeting starts."

"Let's go do it," Sakura agreed instantly.

The client could wait an extra couple of minutes, no big deal. Kind of payback for all the previous times he made her wait!

She was only popping into the office, because there was still light creeping out from underneath the door and she'd forgotten to drop off her questionnaire in the box. Really, she might as well give it directly to the receiver in that case, no?

Shikamaru wasn't present when Sakura entered the IT office, but Suigetsu still was, looking up from his computer when she halted in front of his desk. He eyed her curiously, chewing his gum in that obnoxious way he always did. How Shikamaru could handle that smacking sound the entire day, she didn't get it.

"What's up?" he asked.

She held up her questionnaire, sealed in an envelope as instructed. "Forgot to drop it off in the box upstairs, figured I might as well give it to you directly. You're the one dealing with them, right?"

"And Shikamaru," he confirmed, accepting the envelope before dropping it carelessly into a box next to his desk, where a whole pile of envelopes had already collected.

Was the entire company going to attend this party?

"How does that work, though?" she questioned casually, shifting her purse from her left to her right arm. "I mean, we had to keep the questionnaire anonymous, but how does that work with the data?"

He rolled his shoulders, briefly rubbing over his forehead. "Simple, we just pour the data straight into the program and let it do its magic," he drawled. "It has to be anonymous, because what else would be the point in letting the program match you?"

"That's a lot of extra work, though," she remarked, eyeing the large pile in the box. "Wouldn't it have been easier to have the questionnaire be sent through online?"

"Given that we don't know how many people are going to do this, we didn't want to risk overloading the system by having it crash if too many people sent in their questionnaires," he explained, leaning back in his chair, which creaked in warning. "If the bosses are going to do this again next year, we might handle it differently, though, fuck if I know. I'm just getting paid to do this shit, I don't care which way as long as it gets done on time."

"You need any help with putting in the data?" she offered. "Seems like it would be a lot of work for just the two of you otherwise."

He narrowed his eyes, becoming suspicious for some reason. "Why suddenly so helpful, Haruno? You already got in your after hour drink upstairs or something?"

"What?" she scoffed. "Of course not! I'm just offering my help, what's wrong with that?"

"Uhuh, and it's not just because you're hoping to figure out which questionnaire belongs to the boss based on his handwriting?" he asked unimpressed, smirking when she couldn't help but redden at the accusation. He threw finger guns at her. "Gotcha! Got to work on that subtlety, sweetheart, you're doing a shit job with it at the moment."

"I'm just offering my assistance, you're the one making up this ridiculous accusation!" she said stiffly.

"Well, don't worry about good old me getting overworked, Karin is going to help us out once all the questionnaires have been handed in."

"Is she actually going to help with the paperwork or help you out in another way?" she asked scathingly.

That didn't even faze him. All it did was make him grin roguishly. "Wouldn't you like to know? Now, off you go."

She scoffed before striding out of the room, making a beeline for the exit. Whatever, see if she ever offered her assistance again!

The plastic casing of the mask felt rather uncomfortable around his eyes, but at least it didn't cover his entire face. Naruto comforted himself with that thought as he wriggled his way through the groups clustered around the large ballroom. He had never realised just how many single people worked at the company! The ballroom – the largest the city had to offer – was absolutely jampacked with Amaterasu employees; all of them dressed their best and each wearing a mask that ended right on top of their nose bridge. Sometimes a mask would light up and then excited chattering could be heard as two people realised they had been matched with each other.

Personally Naruto didn't really believe a computer program could act as a match maker, let alone based on a questionnaire, but at the very least the food would be nice and the drinks aplenty, so there was always that. A part of him was curious whether he would even get a match and who it would be, but he squashed that part as soon as it reared its head. As bitchy as Sakura could be at times, she was right that there weren't many people Naruto had a connection with – be that at the company or outside of it. To a lot of people he was unfortunately just a bit too much to deal with, leaving him usually on his own to do his work until he sought out either Gaara or Shikamaru.

The only having ramen and frogs as hobbies bit was bullshit, of course, but well, he didn't carry that much hope to have his mask lit up either. Ah well, it was a fun idea nonetheless and there was booze. Booze was always nice. Just like the food, even if there was no ramen. You couldn't have it all, he supposed, when working at a prestigious company like Amaterasu.

On his way to the tables displaying the food, he passed Sakura, who stood out thanks to her cotton pink hair and her equally pink dress. He barely covered a snort on time as she sneered at him before turning demonstratively away from him. She made fun of his love for orange, but really, she was equally obsessive with her different shades of pink, so what was the difference?

"You make orange work. Can't say the same for her." Gaara's dry comment resurfaced for a moment, making him snicker quietly as he slipped between another two groups. She really did always choose a shade that clashed with her hair.

Finally arriving at the table, impressed by the various dishes displayed on silver plates – was that actually silver or just a similar looking colour? – Naruto started to look around, trying to decide which food he wanted to try out first. As he looked around, he idly turned his head to the right –

And froze when his mask promptly lit up, a blaring red colour surrounding his eyes as his gaze locked onto dark eyes; the other one's mask promptly lightening up a bright red as well.

The two men stood frozen for a moment before the other one approached him; the corners of his mouth tilted up in a faint smirk.

"Well, hello there, seems like the program really isn't that crappy at all," Sasuke drawled, removing his mask which was still shining a vivacious red.

"The hell, you bastard?" Naruto squeaked, ripping his own mask off. "I thought you didn't do things like this?"

Sasuke shrugged, unbothered by the way they were starting to attract some stares; people's gazes locking onto their glowing masks in shock. "That son of a bitch insisted I would join, so here I am."

"You actually did what your brother asked you?" Naruto questioned sceptically.

"You think he gave me a choice?" Sasuke shot back, scowling. "That fucker threatened to fill in the questionnaire in my name if I didn't do it myself."

"Ah, that would do it," Naruto said understandingly. He licked his lips then, aware of the way black eyes followed the movement of his tongue. "So, didn't expect us to match."

"You didn't? I did," Sasuke said casually and if Naruto had had something in his mouth, he would probably have choked on it. As it was, he was still nearly sent in a coughing fit at Sasuke's blatant casualness. "You know we wouldn't have needed this stupid mask if you hadn't been so insistent on being an idiot."

Naruto glowered at him, smacking his arm. "Hey bastard! Excuse me if I didn't want to be accused of having only got this job because I slept with one of the bosses!"

"It's been two years," Sasuke pointed out, raising an eyebrow. Naruto looked away, pouting. "Plenty of time to give up that lame excuse."

"I thought you'd want maybe one of those pretty women you meet during those conferences," Naruto muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Why the fuck would I want that?" Sasuke asked scornfully. "If I wanted one of them, I would already have one hanging off my arm by now."

"Do at least try to pretend to not be that arrogant," Naruto said exasperatedly. "The rest of us still want to have some face and pretend we're playing in the same league as you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes so forcefully Naruto worried for a second that they would fall out of their sockets. "What's this league bullshit? As far as I'm concerned, we're playing on the same goddamn field here, in the same team even. Now," he waved around his glowing mask, "science has spoken now, you have no more excuses to hide behind. How about we finally go on that date I've been wanting to take you on since we were twenty?"

"How the hell do you manage to say such things with such a straight face?" Naruto demanded, his cheeks heating up.

"That's simple: because I'm not straight," Sasuke answered with a completely straightlaced face as if he hadn't just made one of the most horrendous jokes Naruto had ever heard.

"Oh my god, are you drunk already?" Naruto exclaimed, leaning in closer to peer into his eyes so he could try to deduce whether or not Sasuke was actually drunk.

"God, I wish," Sasuke sighed. "Would have made hanging around with Itachi and his paramour a hell of a lot more bearable."

"Wait, his paramour?" Naruto asked distractedly, but Sasuke simply grunted and slipped his fingers around his wrist like a warm shackle.

"Naruto, date?" he asked pointedly, but this time there was no denying the way the tips of his ears reddened subtly.

Naruto grinned, feeling himself drawn closer to Sasuke in spite of the stares they were definitely being subjected to by now. "Even if I say I want ramen?"

"I've resigned myself a long time ago to the fact that if I want to be with you, that means having to eat ramen," Sasuke said dryly.

"Obviously the way you're willing to suffer for me is worthy of an award," Naruto grinned even wider.

He could feel himself blush from the roots of his hair to the tips of his toes when Sasuke pulled him in closer and whispered in his ear, "You mind if I cash in that reward later tonight?"

They didn't stay long at the party. The second they managed to fight their way out of the crowd, ignoring the dismayed and disappointed cries of many women as they realised they had lost their chance completely, Naruto and Sasuke rushed to Sasuke's car. They only made one stop to order ramen at Naruto's preferred ramen stand, before they ended up at Sasuke's place, which was still as meticulously clean as Naruto remembered it being.

That was until Sasuke got a bit too impatient, dumped their order on the counter and proceeded to nearly tear Naruto's clothes off of him. Only Naruto's quick interference prevented him from having to walk out of here tomorrow in shredded clothes.

"What, not even going to dine me first?" he taunted, but the taunt lost its edge thanks to the breathless tone his voice had already acquired and he couldn't help but keen quietly, biting down on the side of his hand when Sasuke's teeth clamped down around the junction between his neck and shoulder, delivering a delicious sting that set his nerves on fire.

"I've been basically dining you these past two years already," Sasuke grumbled, pressing him further into the wall. He kicked Naruto's legs apart, making himself home between them. "I'm shocked nobody ever mentioned anything about the food deliveries on your desk."

"Not much to mention if they don't pay attention to you," Naruto mumbled, craning his head to the side to give Sasuke more space. He was going to sport some really obvious hickies tomorrow, but well, that was a problem for the future Naruto.

"Their loss," Sasuke muttered, before he slicked up his fingers with lube that he'd got from god knew where and then his finger was breaching Naruto, making his eyes roll back from the odd, but very wanted sensation.

"Tell me honestly," Naruto said, figuring he would get out the question now when he still had some working braincells left, "did the program really match us together or did it have some help from you?"

The smirk Sasuke sent him had heat pooling quicker in Naruto's belly than Sasuke's deep kisses had already managed. "What?" Sasuke breathed out, slipping a second finger inside Naruto, curling them inwards; his smirk widening when that made the blond man gasp and clutch his shoulders. "You don't believe in the power of science?"

Naruto's laughter was swallowed up by a pair of eager lips and when Sasuke sank fully inside of him, filling him up completely, no more thoughts about masks or computer programs acting as matchmaker intruded his mind. There was only Sasuke and the unspoken promise of finally being together.

If Naruto had some fun incorporating masks for their future Valentine's Days, well, that was simply between the two of them. Science truly could be rather amazing at times.

The End

AN2: Basically, Naruto and Sasuke have been friends for years, they started growing feelings for each other after Sasuke had started working at his family's company and Naruto being our silly boy was worried people would think he'd only got hired because of Sasuke if they did go out immediately. Sasuke clearly did not share that same worry and is finally happy that the stupid company event gave him a chance to really go out with Naruto for real this time.

Yes, Sakura was very disappointed and horribly embarrassed at the fact she had lost Sasuke to "the company loser". Sucks to suck (except she doesn't get to do that either)

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.