Next chappie is the epilogue ayyyeee.

This turned out long and the last part turned out great, one of my best performances yet imho.

Reviews are extremely appreciated c:

Enjoooy

Chapter 12 - Aftermath

Deidara and Sasori did not talk much on their way back to the schoolhouse. While nobody knew what was going through Sasori's mind, Deidara was pondering over the possible punishments they could be given for this. He wondered whether he should have blamed Sasori for whatever they were going to get - the redhead seemed to be expecting him to - but truthfully he did not really find it in him to do so. It had been him that had refused to run away, although he would have made it back on time, if he had.

Then again, how could anyone have expected him to run and leave Sasori like that? Despite knowing that in the end it had still been Sasori that had saved both of their asses, Deidara would have liked to think that he had not been completely useless, either - he had gotten the redhead free and won him at least a second, which, in a fight as Deidara had learnt, was a massive amount of time.

With thoughts like that the blond followed his rank-mate back to the school gate.

The sun had already risen and a new guard was on duty. He did not say anything to the two students, but he must have notified Tsunade, because she was there standing by the dormitory doors by the time the duo reached it.

She greeted them with a dull look, like she was used to stunts like that.

"Returning on your own so early saves both of you a week, so that makes one for both of you," she said matter-of-factly, as though she was reading it off a manual, or had just repeated it so many times in the past that the lines came out robotic. "Go to the nurse to get your wounds treated and then meet me in the library."

With that said she turned around and left for other business.

"Library?" Deidara parroted with a tone of surprise. "What're we gonna do there?"

Sasori headed towards the eastern building where the nurse's office was located and the blond followed him.

"She's probably gonna take us down to the basement."

"And there?" Deidara pried.

"Alone time," Sasori said.

"Huh?" Deidara lifted an eyebrow and cast the redhead a questioning look, but it did not look like the latter was willing to elaborate on the matter.

They walked to the building and, ignoring the elevator which was 9 times out of 10 out of order, started climbing the stairs.

"Who were they, anyway?" Deidara asked. "What did they want from you?"

"Hn?"

"The gang." Deidara rolled his eyes. Sasori was acting as though he had already forgotten, while walking to the nurse's office for that exact reason.

"Trouble" came Sasori's terse response.

"No shit," Deidara muttered. "I was asking about the reason they wanted to beat you to a pulp."

On the second floor Sasori came to a sudden stop and turned around so fast Deidara nearly marched into him. His face was void of emotion, but the emphasis he put on his words was enough to give away the annoyance.

"Listen, I get that you've some fantasies of your own, but we're not in an anonymous group together," he said. Deidara found the reference amusing when his mind pulled up an image of Sasori in a help group of any sort - glaring at everyone and making them feel way worse than before joining. He had to hold himself back from smiling.

"Now I'll tell you this once," Sasori continued, "what's past is in the past. Mine is not pretty and might cause some damage in the future, but I'm not gonna discuss it. You just need to accept it while being around me or fuck off."

From the look Sasori was giving him, Deidara could tell he was expecting him to back down and take back his words from before - that he did not want a Prince Charming, and was willing to give himself up to the redhead despite the messed up nature of the latter. But for some reason Deidara found the redhead's harshness comforting. Maybe it was because harshness was what he really needed to finally be able to put his own past behind himself and forget about it. He was not going to achieve it with gentleness and being babied - his mother had already tried. Perhaps someone who had already been down that path was what the doctor ordered, namely Sasori.

Deidara just shrugged and brushed it off, saying, "It's fine. I was just prying. Let's go."

Sasori raised an eyebrow as if wondering whether the blond really meant it, before just turning to go.

The nurse did not inquire about the source of the injuries. Deidara's guess was that either they were too common given the folks residing in this school, or she had a personal policy that labelled everything not stated in her job description as unnecessary.

After getting patched up, the two headed to the library where they found Tsunade already waiting. The greeting was wordless and the woman guided them in silence through rows of tall and dusty bookshelves to a small door wedged between them Deidara would not have noticed had Tsunade not opened it. It led to a narrow spiral staircase that took them so far down that Deidara was sure they were underground by the time they reached the bottom.

There was another door that opened to an old-looking hallway, which Deidara could not help linking to one of the many hospitals he had seen in horror movies. The white paint was flaking on the walls and the plain doors looked like old ward doors, barely hanging on the hinges and ready to fall off with the first light gust of wind.

"You go here," Tsunade said, opening the first door on the left and motioning towards Sasori. The redheaded teenager walked in without a word and closed the door behind him. Tsunade fished out a ring of keys from her pocket and locked the door after him.

Deidara's eyes widened as it finally began to dawn upon him what was going on and the pieces started to form one whole of a puzzle.

"So, what, we'll just be locked away here for a week like in prison?" he asked the principal as he followed her farther down the hallway.

Tsunade cast him a look over her shoulder. "This is a first for you," she recalled. "Would've been idiotic to think there's be a single S-rank that would skip this."

Deidara frowned as he was not sure whether the woman was talking to him or rather to herself. "I don't mean to sound rude, but that didn't really tell me anything."

He heard the woman sigh and they came to a stop before another door, which Tsunade opened.

"Look, kid," she said, "this is where you'll be spending your following week."

Deidara glanced inside the room. It looked exactly like the mental ward he had seen in Shutter Island - a windowless plain-walled room, empty apart from the one-person bed against the opposite wall. There was a ventilation hole in the right wall below the ceiling and a light bulb, with the switch inside the room, thankfully, hanging from the ceiling. Deidara could feel claustrophobia creeping in under his skin just from thinking about a whole week locked away in that room.

"Food is served once a day at 8 o'clock, up to you how you divide it throughout the day. Bathroom breaks are every 6 hours, so try not to drink too much."

"This really is like a prison," Deidara muttered as he reluctantly stepped in.

"Prisons have outdoor hours, you don't," Tsunade corrected him.

"What're we supposed to do here for the entire week?"

"Think about why you should never get caught doing something stupid again."

Deidara found the wording of the sentence peculiar and glanced at the woman with a raised eyebrow. It was as though she was not even encouraging good behaviour, but the skill of deception to not get caught for bad one.

"Although," Tsunade added from the half-way closed door, "statistics show that everyone that's been here once, will return at some point."

She closed the door. Deidara could hear the key turning in the key hole and the departing footsteps. With a blank expression he plopped down on the bed. It creaked beneath him and the feel of the mattress did not show promise of a good night's sleep. Sasori's earlier words ran through his head and Deidara finally understood why the redhead would not take any promises from him before carrying out the punishment. In a situation like that it was hard not to search for someone to blame and Deidara now had exactly 168 hours to decide whether the person he wanted to blame was the redhead or he himself.

-x-

Deidara lost track of time by the first evening. Without a clock the only things to tell time with were the 6 hour-interval visits from a guard or a teacher when Deidara was let out to go to the bathroom. The blond marked down each visit by carving a thin line into the wooden leg of the bed with his nail.

The highlight of the second day was when he found his own toothbrush and toothpaste waiting for him in the bathroom.

Deidara never saw Sasori during any of his bathroom breaks. In his bad hours Deidara was sure it was more of a good thing that they were being kept apart, otherwise it was like he would not have been able to hold himself back from literally biting the redhead's head off. Had Deidara had any knowledge of the punishment, he would have made sure they had started coming back to school at least two hours before they had.

In his good hours Deidara knew that it would not have mattered. There were still a million things that could have gone wrong that would have prevented them from reaching the schoolhouse on time. And even without knowing the precise details of the punishment, Deidara had still known that whatever punishment would be in store for those who were late, could not have been pretty.

The fact that he had not been given even a pencil and some paper was driving the blond nuts. The only way to avoid going completely mad that he could think of was singing, even if he was not much of a singer. By the second bathroom break on the third day, Deidara was positive there was not a single song left in his memory that he had not sung or at least hummed the melody of. By the fourth day, he had lost his voice. His throat felt like someone had rubbed it with sandpaper. He devoured the entire bottle of water brought to him and took the bottle with him to the bathroom to fill it with tap water.

There was no mirror or a scale, but Deidara was sure he must have lost at least 5 pounds. The food he received every morning was similar to what they usually ate for lunch in the canteen, only there was more water and bread. He usually ate all the warm food as soon as he received it and saved everything else for later.

Terrorized by his boredom, Deidara set up a workout schedule for himself. Keeping in mind that he needed to keep it moderate due to the limited amount of food and water he was given, he started out small, gradually increasing the number of repetitions of the push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

There were only so many hours he could kill with sleep and workouts, and most of his time was spent sitting and staring at the wall. Those were the hours Deidara loathed the most - he could not force his mind to go blank and without anything to occupy his mind, he was forced to do the one thing he wanted to avoid the most - think.

He had no choice but to think and so he thought, about everything. Everything about everything. What his life had been like a year ago - attending a peaceful private school in a peaceful neighbourhood living in a peaceful home alone with his mother. His relationship had not been perfect with his mother, but it had been good enough with both its good and bad days. Things had been going uphill, too, after he finally broke up with his douche of a boyfriend and made friends with Tobi - an edgy teenager from a close-by public school. Despite his constant mood swings, the boy had known how to have fun and brought some diversity into Deidara's otherwise rather dull daily life.

It was when Tobi's parents divorced that the top of the hill had been reached and life took another turn - this time downwards. Thinking back now, Deidara still could not help cursing himself for not taking notice of the changes in Tobi's behaviour earlier. But the truth was that it had been extremely hard to distinguish any irregularities in the boy's behaviour due to his naturally eccentric nature. Tobi had always been one to reach out for the extremes and perhaps that was why Deidara had chosen to ignore the extra packs of cigarettes in his friend's pockets and the fresh-looking cuts on his wrists.

He'd ignored them until the very end.

It had been the birthday of one of Deidara's classmates. Thinking it might cheer the other up a notch, Deidara had invited Tobi along. It was a beach party with a bonfire, food, drinks. the sea - everything.

Deidara had by now come to the conclusion that it had been Tobi's own choice, but he still could not help seeing the murderer in himself. Just how could he have let his friend, whom he knew to be going through a rough time, go swimming alone? Why had he not gone searching for him sooner? Why had he gone alone once he did?

It had been a long series of mistakes that had led to the present day and Deidara knew that no matter what conclusions he now drew from them, they would not change the past. So perhaps it was the wisest to do what Sasori had told him to and just let the past stay in the past, and let it go?

Not that sitting alone in a room for an entire week would have made it the slightest bit easy.

At times Deidara wondered whether he would have preferred Hidan's ritual - which he had assumed back then to be a form of punishment - to the week of imprisonment. At the very least it would have been a serious dilemma if it had been even a second longer than a week. One week of solitude he could handle, Deidara kept telling himself.

By the end of the sixth day he found it hard to sit still. He kept constantly walking around in the handkerchief-sized room and singing lowly with his still hoarse voice. The anticipation was eating him up from the inside with less than 24 hours to go before his release. Eventually he resolved on working out until the exhaustion was great enough to put him to sleep.

It was Tsunade that came to collect the blond. Deidara's legs were wobbly and jelly-like as he followed the woman out. On their way to the stairs he glanced at Sasori's door. It was closed and he did not dare to ask whether the redhead had been released already.

Walking up the stairs felt like a dream. The wait for the moment had just been so long and now that he was finally out, he was not sure whether he had returned to the same place he had left behind. Stepping outside, Deidara could hardly recognize the place - all the colours and shapes seemed different; the entire campus looked lighter in shade. He took a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air he had not gotten to taste for days. Perhaps the week-long solitude had not been all bad after all.

Not that he would have wanted to repeat it, of course.

"You've a week to take the tests you've missed so I recommend you schedule the times with your teachers as soon as possible" were Tsunade's last words to Deidara before she departed.

Deidara headed to his dorm room. Before anything else happened, he was going to take a shower and change his clothes. Then raid the canteen. His teachers and schoolwork could wait until afterwards.

-x-

Sasori was seated on his bed with the reading lamp on, casting light on his Biology textbook, when there was a knock on the door. He could hear Itachi, who was seated the closest to the door, stand up and open it.

A moment later, he said, "For you, Sasori."

Sasori looked up with an arched eyebrow. Visits for him to their room were so uncommon they could have been compared to endangered species. It was always either for Pein or Itachi, although the latter was not much more sociable than Sasori. Sasori just seemed to have a way of avoiding people so that they did not bother him.

He closed the textbook and got off the bed. It was the first flash of blond hair that told him exactly who was waiting for him outside.

Sasori stepped out into the hallway and closed the door after himself before looking up to meet the set of blue eyes that had already become so familiar to him.

One quick examining look told him that the damage done by the punishment should have been minimal on Deidara. He looked well with no visible signs of exhaustion or illness. A subtle smile was present on his lips and Sasori would have liked to take that as a sign of friendliness, though from past experiences he knew that in actuality one could never know with the blond.

Sasori proceeded with caution.

"Should I find myself a padlock to put on my wardrobe?" he asked.

The corner of Deidara's lips twitched upwards as he leisurely took a step forwards. "I'm here on other business," he said and reached out, pressing his hand against the back of Sasori's head and connecting their mouths. Sasori closed his eyes and felt the blond moving his lips on his, and slowly started moving his in synchrony. The kiss was tender and sensual, Sasori's hand looped around the other's slender figure to pull him closer.

"A knock on my door will do," Deidara murmured against his mouth before pulling away. With a wink he left and Sasori could not help his gaze from crawling down to his moving hips, which Deidara had made sure to add an extra swing as he walked away.

-x-

The electronic clock on the nightstand showed 1AM when Sasori was still awake lying in his bed. With his hands folded beneath his head he could hear the quiet snores of his roommates. The sounds did not bother him; if anything, he was used to them as it was rather common for him to be unable to fall asleep.

He knew that if he remained still in his bed long enough, eventually sleep would succumb and take over, but a part of him did not feel like remaining still at all. Though it had not been his first time, the week spent locked away had been a long one and left him deprived in more ways than one.

He couldn't help but wonder whether the blond was still awake and if it would be worth getting up to check on him. An average person should have been asleep at that hour, but given Deidara's tendencies to swing to the extremes, Sasori wouldn't have put it past him to be doing yoga alone in his room.

The thought brought a brief smile onto the redhead's face and he closed his eyes.

Perhaps it would have still been better to just wait for the sleep to come. It was a school night and he had two makeup tests scheduled after classes, meaning it would be a long and tedious day and he needed his sleep. Besides it was more than likely that Deidara was asleep already.

Sasori let out a slow breath and turned onto his side.

A goodnight it was.

Seconds ticked by with him lying still, each adding to the impatience caused by the lack of sleep. It was on a remarkably loud snore from Pein that Sasori's eyes flew open and he sat up.

Fuck it, he thought, swinging his feet off the bed and grabbing his jeans off the back of his chair.

If the brat was not up, he soon would be.

The lights in the hallway lit up as Sasori left the room and set off the motion detector. He had not bothered tying the laces on his shoes and they were flipping around as he made his way towards Deidara's room. It was quiet and chilly in the hallway, the hairs on his half-covered arms bristling with the cold.

Sasori knocked hard on the door and shoved his hands back into his pockets then. Impatiently he was chewing on his lower lip as he waited for an answer.

Come on, brat, he thought, you said one knock would do.

After a few seconds Sasori knocked again, longer this time. He was about to try the handle when it was pushed downwards and the door swung open. In the doorway was a half-naked Deidara, wearing only his PJ bottoms, squinting at the bright light.

"Insomnia?" he guessed.

"Took you long enough," Sasori grunted and forced his way in.

Deidara took a step back and the smirk on his face went from fully-lighted to barely visible in the moonlight as the door was pushed shut. "Took the words right out of my mouth," he replied and responded eagerly as he was pulled close against the redhead's body and their lips smashed together. He looped his arms around the redhead and, with a quick hop, his legs around the other's waist. Sasori's hands travelled down to grab his ass for support and devoured hungrily Deidara's lips, sliding his tongue in the moment they parted.

Sasori moved a few steps towards the bed and plopped down on it. Deidara rearranged his position so that he was straddling Sasori while propped on his knees; he shifted his weight more onto them and rose up slightly so that Sasori needed to cock his head back for their lips to stay connected. His hands started skilfully unbuttoning the redhead's shirt and ran over the bare chest, groping the upper torso sensually.

Sasori bit down on his lower lip, eliciting a moan from the blond as his hands slithered beneath the PJ bottoms. He ran his lips down Deidara's neck and bit on a spot there, sucking on it until it turned red.

"Don't bite anywhere visible," Deidara whined, "I don't want to wear a scarf the whole week."

"Thought it was you who wanted commitment?" Sasori murmured, abandoning the neck and looking the blond in the eye. "This is me signing the agreement."

Deidara's eyes widened and a jolt of excitement went through his stomach, but before he could say anything, Sasori's lips were already on his and his response got lost in the kiss. He could feel the redhead's fingers moving downwards and finding his entrance, teasing it tenderly. He let out a small moan and didn't complain anymore when Sasori's mouth moved down his throat to his collarbones and bit down there,

"We're gonna need lube," Sasori said, removing his hand from the blond's pants.

"Upper drawer in the nightstand, Danna," Deidara whispered, his voice slightly shaking from the anticipation. He rested his head on the redhead's shoulder, pecking his neck softly.

Sasori raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Danna?" he repeated.

Deidara chortled. "Has a nice ring to it, don't it?"

Sasori rolled his eyes and reached out for the drawer, pulling it open and retrieving the tube. "Just don't get too mushy on me, brat."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Sasori squeezed some lube onto his palm and spread it out on his fingers. Deidara lowered his pants and straightened up on his knees, feeling the fingers sliding into him.

"Ahh" he let out a low moan with his nails digging into the redhead's back. Sasori was scissoring the fingers inside of him and thrusting them back and forth.

"D-Danna-ahh," Deidara cried out with his back arching. He could feel Sasori's lips on his shoulders and chest, soon finding one of the nipples to nibble on.

"Mm, you sound even better than I remembered," Sasori said, running his tongue over the nipple. "Makes me want to finger fuck you until you cum."

A light blush tinted Deidara's cheeks as he could not help moving his hips together with Sasori's fingers and rocking himself on top of them. "Sh-should've taken my pants off beforehand," he said, his words quickly melting into another "nnngghh ahhh".

"You can clean them later," Sasori dismissed the matter easily. He removed his mouth from the blond's chest and gave him a lustful look, watching contently Deidara pleasuring himself on his fingers and listening to his breathy moans that were directing his blood flow straight to the lower regions.

He moved closer to Deidara's ear. "Won't you touch yourself for Danna, hm?" His tongue came out to taste the younger male and with his free hand he found Deidara's and held it tightly.

"Come now, I'll show you," he purred, guiding the other's hand down to his erect member.

"D-danna-ahh," Deidara moaned loudly as his own hand was guided to grip his member and start pumping it. The pleasure was driving him crazy with Sasori's full control over his body; the redhead's lips were smothering his neck while his fingers were still thrusting and scissoring inside of him. The tension was building up inside him and his hand on his member was moving faster and rougher of his own accord. He was panting in synchrony with the thrusts until he could not hold it in anymore and he came all over both of their hands with a loud cry.

"S-SASORI AH-!"

Deidara's body went limp and he leaned on the redhead with his head on his shoulder.

Sasori removed his fingers from inside of him and gave a low chuckle at the worn-out moan the younger male emitted.

"Don't tell me you're tired already?" he teased, covering the blond's shoulder with soft kisses. "Why, we're just getting started."

"It's your fault for coming here so late," Deidara growled half-heartedly, burying his face in the other's neck. "I was half asleep already when you knocked."

"You're gonna need more stamina than this if you wanna keep up with me," Sasori purred and moved his mouth to the blond's cheek in a tender fashion laced with a sense of mockery that Deidara caught and understood.

He gave the redhead a glare and raised his head. "I've more stamina than a full-time whore," he countered, indignant at having his physical ability questioned.

Sasori held his gaze with an unmistakable challenge in his eyes as he moved so close their lips were only half an inch apart. "Show me," he breathed, licking Deidara's upper lip.

Deidara's hands moved to undo the belt on his jeans and unzipped the pants, grabbing the hard length and giving it a tight squeeze.

Sasori hummed with approval.

"You're such a maniac," Deidara muttered as he started to pump him.

"Perfect compatibility with a slut, don't you think?" Sasori gave a sly smirk.

Deidara knew he was being dared to take offence to that. He removed his hand from the other's cock and climbed off his lap, pulled off his stained PJ bottoms and tossed them on the floor.

Sasori monitored with mild curiosity as the blond lay down on the bed and opened up his legs widely, letting his hands run over his thighs in an inviting manner.

"Come on and put it inside me then, Danna," he purred. "I've been waiting for you to fuck me the entire week."

While he might have harboured some doubts about the relationship before, it was then that they all vanished from Sasori's mind. If listening to the whines and complaints of one brat was the price he had to pay for keeping the blond solely to himself, he considered it a bargain. He could not remember encountering anyone before who could turn him on so bad.

Sasori slid down his pants and hovered over Deidara, kissing him before saying, "I'm not carrying you tomorrow if you're unable to walk."

He pushed into the already stretched hole with one swift movement, pulled out and thrust back in. He broke the kiss to give way to the breathy moans coming from the younger male, who was still extremely sensitive from the last time. It didn't take much to get him gripping the sheets and panting loudly.

"Ah - ah - Dann - ah" the constant staccato filled the room as Sasori picked up the pace. He grabbed a hold of the blond's leg from the back of his knee and forced it forward to gain more access. The bed was creaking noisily beneath them as Sasori rocked back and forth, pounding so hard into the younger male's ass Deidara could feel himself slipping away from reality into another dimension where only sensation and lust existed.

"Mo - oh - re, Danna-" Deidara cried with a following "AHH" as his wish was granted. Sasori's nails were digging into his leg but he didn't even notice; he was already so close to falling from the edge a second time that evening. His entire body tensed and back arched when he finally came all over his stomach.

Sasori kept going for a few more thrusts, drinking in the additional moans from the blond until he reached his climax as well.

Panting, propped on his locked elbows on either side of Deidara, he waited for his heartbeat to slow down. With beads of sweat glistening on his forehead he looked down at the blond who looked as out of breath as he felt.

"Fuck, that felt good," he said.

"Was that a compliment?" Deidara quipped.

A faint smile crossed the redhead's lips as he connected them with the blond's.

"Don't expect more of them."

-x-

A dozen minutes later both of them had cleaned up and were lying in Deidara's bed.

Deidara was curled up with his head on Sasori's chest, seeming peacefully asleep already. They did say orgasm was the best sleeping pill. Though still awake, even Sasori could then feel his eyelids growing heavier and knew that it was only a matter of minutes until sleep would kick in.

His arm was looped around the blond as he curled one of the locks around his index finger and then unwound it. The hair was soft and smooth and felt nice between his fingers.

Truth was, nearly everything had begun to feel nice about the blond. After mulling over their history for lengthy periods of time, he found himself wondering whether Deidara had ever actually hated him, or if it had just been a show to get his attention. Sasori had never met anyone else in his life that would have gone to such great lengths just to cling to him, be his popularity among his co-students as great as it might. Despite the irritation it had caused, Sasori was glad it had happened. In the end, the ends justified the means after all.

Before giving in to sleep, Sasori placed one last tender kiss on the younger male's head.

Behind the closed blue eyes, however, was hiding a fully conscious Deidara, whose lips stretched into a triumphant smile.

I felt that, Mr Macho, Deidara thought to himself with an inner laugh, but did not voice the words in an effort to not burst the redhead's bubble.

Instead, he responded with a soft kiss on Sasori's bare chest before drifting off to sleep.

To be continued with the epilogue c: