Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the anime or the manga, or any of its associated characters!

A/N: Here it comes, guys!

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Chapter 8: Confession

Later on, Sasuke was doing some work on his computer, and Naruto had taken over his bed with his own laptop.

"Hm, Sasuke?" He said, after a while of working in silence.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever had a guy hit on you?"

"Have I—what?"

"Well, 'cause you're always getting all these girls' numbers. I was just wondering if it's the same for guys, too, and I just haven't noticed."

Sasuke snorted.

"Don't laugh! I just wanna know!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned his chair to fully face Naruto, resting one ankle up on the opposite leg and leaning back.

"Yes," he answered honestly, "I have been hit on by a guy. Why do you ask?"

"Really?! What did you say? Where was I during all this? Did I not even notice? I feel like I didn't even notice…"

Sasuke snorted again.

"You weren't with me, Naruto," he said, and turned back to his desk.

"Really? But it was after we met? Where were you?"

"I was," he held his eyes closed for just a moment longer than strictly necessary, "at a gay bar. And yes, it was during university."

"You went to a gay bar near the university?!" Naruto's laptop was all but forgotten, "when was this? Where was this? Who paid you to go?"

Naruto laughed at his own joke, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Second year. Few blocks past the make-your-own-burger place. No one."

"You went on your own free will? Why?" Naruto sounded incredulous.

Sasuke made the mistake of meeting Naruto's eyes. He swallowed nervously and looked away quickly, but the damage had been done.

"Because," he braced himself, "I'm gay."

Naruto stared at him.

Sasuke shifted awkwardly, and cleared his throat, making a show of getting back to work.

"Wha—I—how have I never heard about this?!" Naruto, to his credit, only sounded a little taken aback.

"About the gay bar? Or about my sexual preferences?"

"Both!"

"Well," he started, "the bar was terrible, for one. I don't know what possessed me to go there," he scratched at his chin, thinking back… that wasn't entirely honest—it had been a particularly emotional night for Sasuke after Naruto had drunkenly hooked up with some girl in their room and Sasuke had just needed to convince himself that someone—anyone—else existed, "and you never asked."

"You never told me!"

Sasuke scoffed.

"Well, I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, looking back at Naruto, "is it something I'm supposed to announce when I first meet someone? Hello, I'm Sasuke, I'm gay?"

Naruto laughed. "I just—it seems like the sorta thing I should've known by now. Damn."

"Hn," Sasuke responded.

Naruto sat up on his knees near the edge of the bed.

"So, d'you have a boyfriend then? I've only ever asked you about girls."

"Yes, yes, I do," Sasuke said dryly, "and he's going to be absolutely furious that I have another man in my bed."

Naruto's smile faltered. "You—what?"

Sasuke blinked and looked back at him. He looked…genuinely upset.

"Jesus, Naruto, I was kidding. No one's going to come beat you up."

"I—oh," Naruto laughed, trying to mask the relief on his face, "yeah, I knew that! As if they could!"

"Sure," Sasuke said doubtfully. Naruto gave him a playful glare.

"What brought this on, anyways?"

"I—uh," Naruto grabbed his laptop and turned it so the screen faced Sasuke.

"I think a guy's hitting on me. He's from work, his name's Sai."

Sasuke frowned and leaned forwards to read the conversation. His frown deepened into an angry scowl very quickly.

"Is he? I'm not being weird here, right?"

Sasuke let out some air in an attempt to calm himself. It sounded like a hiss.

"No, you're not being weird. That definitely reads like flirting."

"Okay," Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "Uh, I have no idea what to do."

"Tell him you're not interested."

"What, just—flat out, like that? Won't that sound like…super self-absorbed or something?"

Sasuke gave him a look.

Naruto grinned. "Okay, but you can get away with it because you have a reason to be super self-absorbed."

Sasuke felt his cheeks heat up at the indirect compliment.

"Dobe. You have a reason, too," he said quietly.

Naruto blinked, feeling himself become warm, and gave a shy smile. He fought the urge to bite his lip.

Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Anyways," the Uchiha said.

"Ah—right," Naruto blushed, "Sai. Um. Should I just tell him I have a boyfriend?"

Sasuke stared at him. "Boyfriend? Why not a girlfriend?"

Naruto froze.

"Uh—"

There was a pause.

"Right," Naruto said awkwardly, "that would be smarter."

Sasuke eyed him.

"Uh, Naruto? Wouldn't it be even smarter to just tell him you don't swing that way instead? So you don't have to lie?"

"A-ah," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "right. Yeah."

Naruto turned his laptop and poised his fingers over the keyboard, and then pulled them back. This was—it was pretty much straight up lying to Sasuke if he didn't tell him, and he didn't want to do that.

"Um, except—" he looked over at Sasuke, who was watching him with one elegant eyebrow raised. "I will be lying. So, uh, yeah."

He looked away before he finished, and went back to pretending he was trying to decide what to tell Sai—and then his laptop was unceremoniously snatched from under his fingers.

"Hey!"

Sasuke had the laptop in one hand and he fixed Naruto with a dark stare.

"You're straight," he said.

"Uh—well, not exactly,"

"Yes, you are."

"No, Sasuke—"

"I've lived with you for years. You're straight."

"Well—yeah, I've never hooked up with a guy, but—"

Sasuke glared at him.

"I like both! I like girls and guys. I've just never dated a guy, okay? But I don't have like—a preference, I don't think. I might, I dunno."

Sasuke snapped Naruto's laptop shut and put it on his desk, leaning back in his chair. Naruto couldn't read his expression.

"You're bisexual."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah. Can I have my computer back?"

"No. What do you mean, you guess?"

"Sasuke—I don't," he swallowed, "I don't really wanna talk about it. Sorry."

There was a pause where Naruto very intently stared down at his lap.

"Hn," Sasuke threw the laptop onto the bed and turned back to his work. He ignored the pain in his chest.

"Thanks," Naruto said quietly, pulling his computer forward. Sasuke didn't reply, only starting to type again with a vicious scowl. Naruto watched him for a moment, feeling guilty.

"What should I tell Sai?" He grinned at Sasuke, trying to change the subject. Sasuke's typing paused, and then continued at the same pace. He didn't respond.

Naruto's smile faltered and he sighed.

"Now you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad," Sasuke lied, still not looking at Naruto.

Naruto gave a disbelieving laugh.

"Yeah…I," Naruto poked at the blankets nervously, "it's—it's a recent thing for me, Sasuke. It's a bit too new for me to talk about it comfortably. Is that okay?" He technically wasn't lying—he had only really pinned down his feelings for Sasuke that summer, although, looking back, he was sure he had felt them for a few years now…

"Does anyone else know?"

"Sakura does. She knew before I did," he laughed. "That's it though. And you, now."

That made Sasuke feel a little better. He was still reeling at the fact that Naruto wasn't ruler straight, but—that—in the end, that really didn't mean much. It was just another way life was taunting him—dangling something he could never have in front of his face, again and again.

"No one else knows about the bar," Sasuke offered quietly—his way of apologizing. Naruto laughed.

"I can't believe—! I wish I would have been there."

'So do I.'

A thought seemed to occur in Naruto's head, from the way his expression froze and he turned to gape at Sasuke.

"W-wait, you didn't like…hook up with anyone, did you?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"How did you figure out you weren't straight?" He countered.

"That's not fair!" Naruto said, panicking both from Sasuke's question and his non-answer.

"I've told you more than you've told me," Sasuke pointed out—which, Naruto supposed, was technically true.

"Okay—maybe, but ask me something else, then," there was no way in hell Naruto would tell Sasuke it was him that made Naruto realize his sexuality wasn't as rigid as he previously believed.

"Hm. Fine." Sasuke thought for a moment.

"If you aren't opposed to dating men, what's stopping you from dating this—Sai?"

Naruto looked taken aback.

"I guess—I didn't really think about it. Huh…"

Sasuke wanted to slap himself.

"Well don't date him just for the sake of it," he said quickly, scowling at Naruto's thoughtful look.

But now that Naruto thought about it, maybe it would be good to go on a date with Sai. Not even Sai—just, anyone else. Someone to get his mind off of Sasuke—it wouldn't have to be anything serious, but…then again, that wasn't really fair to Sai…Naruto grimaced.

"Don't hurt yourself, dobe."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto broke out of his thoughts to give Sasuke a playful glare, "don't be a jerk. I dunno. Maybe I'll date Sai."

"Don't."

Naruto blinked at him. Sasuke, as usual, was scowling.

"If you had to convince yourself to consider it, you're obviously not interested."

"It's not that," Naruto felt the nerves rush through him; he was dancing dangerously close to the truth here, "it's more…there's someone else that I am," he cleared his throat, "interested in. And I don't think it would be fair to Sai."

Sasuke felt his blood freeze.

"I see," he said, and he turned back to his computer—but he may as well have been blind for all he was paying attention to what was on the screen. His chest felt stiff and tight, as if it was full of something and ready to burst.

"Teme!" Naruto practically yelled. Sasuke flinched and turned back to him.

"Jesus, I've been calling your name for the past minute. You in there?" He grinned, and Sasuke felt helpless.

"You don't get to quit before you answer your question, you cheater," Naruto teased. Sasuke suddenly felt very tired.

"What was the question?"

"If you hooked up with someone at the gay bar!" The answer was obviously no, but it was fun to—

"Yes."

"…y—what?"

"Yes," Sasuke had already turned back to face his computer. "I did."

'I found the first tanned blonde I could, and then I hated myself.'

Naruto felt a surge of jealousy spike through him—he had no right to it, but it echoed through his veins all the same.

"Who was he?" Naruto had lost his smile, Sasuke noticed. He wished it would come back.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I don't remember."

"Were you that drunk?"

"No. I just didn't care."

Naruto's eyebrows nearly rose into his hair.

"Damn. That's cold."

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm sure he didn't mind."

Naruto shifted, uncomfortable. "I guess."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, and then sighed.

"Why are you looking like that? Does the thought of me being sexual offend you that much?"

'If it's not with me.'

"No—I," Naruto bit his lip, "sorry. I'm just…surprised."

But he didn't look surprised—Naruto had been surprised when Sasuke had said he was gay. This was different.

"No, you're not. You're offended," Sasuke faced Naruto fully, arms crossed.

Naruto glanced up and him and then grimaced. He didn't know how to answer that without blatantly lying—he was incredibly jealous—offended in the most irrational way—that anyone else had put their hands on Sasuke. Put their hands all over Sasuke. He hated the thought—he hated it!

"Are you sure you're not straight?" Sasuke pushed, "you seem awfully uncomfortable with the thought of two men together."

"It's not just two men," Naruto rubbed at his temples, "it's you. I'm just…"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Nevermind. Can we talk about something else?"

"Nope. This is my question."

Naruto groaned.

"Ask me a different one," he pleaded.

"Naruto," Sasuke shifted in his chair, and it rolled forwards a little, "no. I want to—I need to know if this is something you're going to be uncomfortable with."

"I…" Naruto sighed. "Fine. Yeah. I'm uncomfortable."

Sasuke looked stricken, and he turned his head away. He knew he shouldn't have told Naruto. He knew it was dumb—why had he done this? Why did he always sabotage himself like this?

"But not—not the way you think. I promise." It seemed no matter what Naruto said, he was going to damage their friendship somehow. He looked at Sasuke, dejected. The black-haired man obviously didn't believe him.

"Damn it all," he whispered, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "You're really going to make me do this, aren't you?"

Naruto kept his eyes closed when he heard Sasuke shift, presumably to look at him.

"You're a smart enough guy," Naruto gave a slightly hysterical laugh, "you can probably piece this one together."

He paused, steeled himself, and then continued.

"I've figured out that I'm bi, in spite of the fact that I've never dated a man. I'm interested in someone—someone I obviously don't think I'll be able to date. And," he continued quietly, "I'm uncomfortable at the thought of you with another man."

In the midst of Naruto's nerves, the silence sounded like thunder—lightening striking right through his chest and booming through his entire body. He forced himself to breathe, but couldn't quite get to opening his eyes.

This was it—he almost wished Sasuke would just punch him already and get it over with. He just hoped Sasuke wouldn't feel like this ruined their friendship; he knew how much Sasuke hated it when people were interested in him. He knew how he reacted, and it was never kind. But it was a better alternative to Sasuke thinking that Naruto was somehow disgusted by him.

He felt a pressure on the bed—and then another—and then his eyes sprang open.

Sasuke was kissing him.

Sasuke was kissing him.

Sasuke was—o-oh…

The Uchiha pulled away, and Naruto could not have fought the smile that spread across his face if he had all the strength in the world.

"I'm a smart enough guy," he said, breathless. "Did I figure it out?"

Naruto laughed and pulled him in for another kiss.

A/N: There it is! Only one more chapter after this one, and it's really more of a bonus :P I hope this chapter made you smile!

- Kinomi