all-nighters
“Could I get your artistic opinion on something, my man?”
Sasori looked up from his workbench, brow already raised. He recently finished a puppet that had taken four weeks of non-stop planning, building, and tinkering, so he finally had the time to revisit some old blueprints and see if any of them were feasible. He took his entire cabinet drawer full of blueprints to his desk and sorted through them, one at a time, looking at each in detail. At least one of them had to have something worthwhile, even if it was a single mechanism that could be incorporated into a new project.
Deidara planted a hand atop the files, completely disrupting his process.
“If you slobber on my blueprints, I’ll suffocate you while you sleep,” Sasori replied, his voice too dull to be interpreted as a real threat.
“My lips are sealed.” Deidara grinned, briefly lifting his palm to display the closed mouth there.
Sasori sighed as he put down the file he held, leaning back in his chair to give Deidara his full attention. “What do you want, Deidara?”
“I like your new puppet. I really do.”
“Mm-hm.”
“I especially like the new smoke contraption you came up with. I know it’s very similar to your usual poison gas mechanism, but it thankfully decreases the target’s visibility while also not killing me.”
“Get to the point.”
Deidara wrung his hands in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness. “Uh-huh. So, you’ll remember our last mission, when you set that off and I tried to send a bomb in. You’ll also remember that I blew up one of your puppet’s arms in the process.”
“I do seem to remember that, yes.”
“Hm. So. I’ve been trying to think of a solution to this but I can’t seem to get there. You know my art, my man. I can typically tell where my bombs land, but I can’t judge what’s around them when my personal visibility is down. I’m brainstorming ways to improve that weakness, but I don’t know if I need to improve my overall connection with the clay or if I need to design a specific piece that has upgraded sight. Thoughts?”
“I have a simple solution, actually.”
Deidara’s eyes brightened immediately, “You do?”
“Wait until the smoke dissipates.”
“ What? ” Sasori could see as Deidara held himself back from flipping the entire file drawer off the desk. He was lucky he found the restraint. “ You telling me to wait? That’s rich. I can neutralize the enemy in a second when the smoke is heavy!”
“Yes, and you’ll destroy anything I have in there in the meantime. I typically send a puppet or two into the smoke as well, you know. I’ll handle it. Spend that time preparing your explosives in the off-chance that I miss. Attack when you have visibility again.”
“A smart enemy can escape in that time!” Deidara shot his hands up into the air, exasperated, “Your plan works fine, but it’s better if we’re both on the target!”
Sasori paused a moment to reign in his temper. He didn’t like getting angry over strategy. This is supposed to be a productive conversation, and getting heated wasn’t going to create any solutions. “I’ll admit that it isn’t a perfect set-up,” Sasori crossed his arms over his chest and propped his ankle up on the knee of his other leg, “I’d prefer to have your eyes on the target, too. But even your scope won’t allow it. The nature of smoke bombs is that they blind everyone in the vicinity, including allies. We just have to work around it.”
“Well, we didn’t do a great job last time, hm.”
“No, you didn’t do a great job last time.”
Deidara’s entire body tightened in anger. His shoulders tightened, his hands curled into fists. A little bit of color rose to his cheeks.
Sasori raised a hand in apology. “You’re right. This is an error in communication. Is there a way I can signal to you that I’m about to use the smoke bomb? It will give you time to prepare a--”
“No, Sasori. I’ll fix it. Watch me.”
-----
By sundown, Sasori managed to combine two blueprints.
Deidara had his own complaints about the smoke bomb mechanism, but Sasori’s main complaint was that it took up so much space on the arm of a puppet. He preferred to have multiple weapons on each limb in case there was a malfunction, but the chemicals he needed for the smoke as well as the propellers that expelled the smoke quickly required a lot of surface area. Thankfully, elemental pieces don’t take up much space. Much like the pipes on his own palms, a puppet can shoot fire or water through a small opening on the hand without sacrificing space. With a few ventilators and some heat-resistance, he might be able to install a pipe alongside the smoke holder without melting the delicate pieces inside of it. He used an old arm from an aged puppet and started removing its weaponry so he could fill it with the new design.
On the other side of the workshop they shared, Deidara sat alongside his own works. He had a clay spider walking loose around the shelves while he lounged at his desk. Sasori didn’t enjoy having a live bomb loitering casually, but he saw what his partner was doing: he was paying attention to how he experiences his clay when he can’t see it. After doing this for a while, he started sketching.
Night came. Then midnight. Then morning. Neither artist slept, although only one of them needed to.
-----
“Sasori, my man?” Deidara called from across the workshop around 8pm the following day, “Can I borrow that arm of yours?”
Sasori groaned and rolled his eyes. “I’m assuming you mean the new one with the smoke mechanism, not the one off of my body.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Yes, but let me show you how to use it.” Sasori used a chakra string to both detach the arm and bring it over to where he was sitting at his desk. Deidara walked over to join him, his pace a little slow. He was clearly tired. “It’s extremely simple.” Sasori explained, “The trigger is here, inside the arm. Pull the lever right for smoke, left for poison. You can use your finger or some chakra strings of your own. I designed it to create smoke very quickly, so keep that in mind.”
“Easy.” Deidara took the arm and walked up the stairs of the workshop. Sasori didn’t see his partner for the rest of the night, but he heard the explosions nearby and knew he was hard at work until dawn.
-----
“Any luck?” Sasori asked over his shoulder in the morning.
“Of course not, hm.” Deidara replied with no lack of bitterness. His voice was hoarse. In a quick movement, Deidara placed the puppet arm back onto Sasori’s desk. “Don’t put that back on yet, I’m gonna use it again tonight.”
-----
Sasori had his fill of all-nighters when he was a human. It was so long ago that he barely remembered the feeling, but he had a vague memory of heavy, dark eyes and a blurry mind. Fulfilling puppetry orders for the Sand Village wasn’t easy, and they didn’t give him much of a break. Luckily, Grandma didn’t interrupt him or nag.
Sasori also didn’t interrupt or nag as Deidara worked himself through days and nights of failed experiments. It was always a little odd to see Deidara so focused. His mind seems to run at a mile a minute, so it’s hard to imagine all of that energy being channeled into a single project. It was impressive, but Sasori also didn’t miss how his steps were becoming clumsy and how his eyes grew dark.
As he promised, Deidara borrowed the arm again late in the evening and set off explosions until about 2am. Upon arriving back at the workshop, he saw a mug full of tea sitting on his desk.
Sasori watched as Deidara approached the tea, picked it up, and sniffed. He undoubtedly smelled the traces of honey and chamomile.
“Was Konan here?” Deidara asked into the silent space of the workshop.
“No, she was not.” Sasori answered.
From meters away, the puppet master could see the gears turning in Deidara’s head. Was it so hard to figure out that Sasori himself made the tea?
“You drugged it.”
“I did not drug it.”
Deidara took the mug and walked over to Sasori’s desk, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction. Sasori didn’t grant him a single glance, remaining focused on his work. “What’s your deal?” Deidara asked, his voice sharp underneath the sleep deprivation.
“I have no ‘deal,’ Deidara.”
“So, what, you learned how to be nice all of a sudden?” Sasori didn’t reply. “Is this part of your new project? You’re testing a poison on me? You should know that this is a shitty tactic. You never make tea. You’re smarter than this, my man.”
“You’re right, I am. I clearly did not poison it.”
Deidara gave the mug another sniff, his eyes closing briefly as he did.
“Be more grateful, brat.”
Deidara regarded him for another few moments before shrugging. “You know,” he said, “if you wanted to test a poison on me, you could just ask. It’s not like you haven’t poisoned me before.” With that, he took a chug of the tea and swallowed with some confidence.
“I think you’ll find there’s no need for that.” Sasori replied. “How is it?”
“Hm. It’s good. Are you working on making your poisons more subtle?”
Sasori smirked. “No, I’m working on combining a smoke bomb with an elemental pipe on the same limb.”
“Sounds like bullshit.” Deidara kept drinking as he walked back to his desk, “Needs more honey, too.”
-----
Hours passed. Deidara sketched while he allowed another spider to wander the shop, undoubtedly trying to figure something else out. Occasionally, he risked a glance over at Sasori, still suspicious that his tea had a malicious intent.
Nothing happened. Deidara remained as awake and sober as he has been for the last two nights.
After hours upon hours of nothing but the sound of woodwork and sketching, Deidara cleared his throat. “So,” he said, sounding a bit small, “you didn’t drug it.”
“I already told you that.”
“Yeah, but…” Deidara said, “Uh. Thank you. For the tea, I mean. I didn’t expect it.”
Sasori hummed an affirmative response and allowed the night to fall into silence once again.
-----
Deidara slept for a few short hours in the afternoon. The human body simply can’t stay awake for that long, and he was starting to lose concentration because of it. Sasori saw the way he constantly carded his fingers through his hair, eyes darting along the wall, complexion growing pale. His nap was only two hours long, however, and he somehow looked even worse when he woke. His self-induced sleep deprivation made his movements awkward and disoriented, leading to a few stubbed toes throughout the day. Even the wandering clay spider seemed to move a little slower, responding to the mindset of its creator.
Once the sun fell, Sasori rose from his desk and made another cup of tea. Deidara didn’t leave for the night, so he was forced to deliver it in person, but he did so with a stone face. The bomber, who was too engrossed in his work to hear Sasori walking over, jumped when the mug was placed in front of him on the desk.
“This one has more honey,” Sasori said, somewhat dismissively.
“Oh. Uh. Thanks. Really, I mean it.”
Sasori responded with the same exact hum as he did the night before and began walking back to his half of the workshop, but Deidara’s voice stopped him. “Are you… worried about me or something?”
“No, not particularly.”
“A peace offering? I know we’ve had way worse fights, but I guess our last conversation didn’t exactly end on a positive note, hm?”
“I know better than to take something like that personally. We often disagree about tactics. All teammates do.”
“Ah.” Deidara lifted the tea to his lips and began to drink, clearly buying time to think of more possibilities.
“I… was given that tea, actually.” Sasori explained, his eyes drifting towards the shelves behind Deidara, “A stranger gifted it to me during our last mission. I accepted in hopes of looking less suspicious, and then I forgot about it. It looks expensive, so I hate to waste it.”
Deidara smiled, his tired eyes lighting somewhat. “Kakuzu would be pissed if you did.”
“Precisely. So don’t hurt yourself trying to figure out my motive. I just wanted to use it up.”
Deidara’s expression softened significantly. After his next sip, he said, “You could’ve just said so, my man. You don’t have to keep every little thing a secret, it makes me think you’re up to something.”
“I suppose so.”
“Hm.” One of Deidara’s hands drifted to his forehead, rubbing it for a moment. He had pulled all of his hair into a singly, sloppy ponytail, as he often did when he was at work, and a few strands stuck to his skin there. Sasori watched as his partner sighed, sat back in his seat, and frowned a bit.
“Everything alright?”
“Yeah, I just…” Deidara murmured, his voice suddenly quiet, “I guess these sleepless nights are getting to me, yeah? That, or it’s just so weird that you’re being nice to me.”
Suddenly, Deidara fumbled with the mug, nearly dropping it. He had to raise his other hand to catch it, nearly jumping out of his skin in the process.
“This time,” Sasori said with a smirk, “I did drug it.”
Deidara looked up at him with wide, blue eyes, but wasn’t able to keep them open for long before he had to blink, long and slow. His head bobbed a little. “You sneaky bastard.”
Wordlessly, Sasori stepped forward and took the mug from his partner’s hands, preventing any burn accidents. He set it lightly on the desk beside them and placed a firm hand on Deidara’s shoulder, keeping him from falling to the ground as he sunk deeper and deeper to his chair.
Unconscious in moments. A decent drug. He had some that would have knocked him out after the first sip, but their taste was too strong, so he had to compromise. This one would keep him under for somewhere around 10 hours, though it may be more if he hasn’t eaten recently. After using some chakra strings to lift Deidara into his bed, Sasori decided to wait out the time by focusing on his work for a while.
-----
10 hours passed. Then 11. Then 12. Sasori only left the workshop briefly to test the flamethrower in the arm and leave it running for a while, then he tried to use the smoke bomb to ensure that none of its parts were melted. It worked perfectly. In fact, Sasori liked it enough to plan to make a few more identical arms and put them on the puppets that were due for an upgrade. Upon returning to the workshop, he looked through his collection to pick out at least five models that would benefit from the change. It wasn’t the quietest endeavor, but he trusted the drug to keep Deidara under for a long time no matter what sort of noise he made.
It wasn’t until Sasori had chosen his puppets and set their arms on his desk that he heard Deidara stir. To say that he “stirred” would be putting it lightly; Sasori heard the bed creak, a long groan, and an immediate thud as the bomber hit the floor. It would probably be better if he stayed still for a while after awakening to let the drug subside, but Sasori already knew that was a lost cause, so he just let his partner do whatever he wanted.
“You, my man,” came Deidara’s voice, “are the worst.”
Looking over his shoulder, Sasori could see his partner leaning against a nearby wall for support, keeping a palm pressed hard into a shelf to keep balance. His hair fell into his face and a few strands stuck up at weird angles. His clothes were slightly disheveled and wrinkled from the mattress.
He had also regained the color in his face.
“You may be right,” Sasori replied with a smirk.
“Don’t get cocky with me, partner. I basically gave you permission to drug me willingly, didn’t I?” Deidara’s taunts would have been more intimidating if his words didn’t slur together, but his anger was still clear. “So what do you do, huh? You go ahead and do it without telling me and keep me under for 10 hours unwillingly?”
“12 and a half hours.”
“12 and a half hours?! ”
Sasori spun his chair around so he could look Deidara in the face. Well, what he could see of his face behind that curtain of hair. “Would you have agreed to my experiments if you knew it would set back your progress for 12 and a half hours?”
Deidara stared him down for a moment before his gaze softened. He answered, “No,” with clear honesty.”
“Not to mention that it wasn’t an experiment at all. I…” Sasori’s eyes darted to the door for a moment, a subtle display of emotion that Deidara definitely noticed. He cursed himself for the reaction and then tried to stay steady. “I remember staying awake for weeks as a human. It was far from pleasant, and it made my work sloppy. No one interrupted me.”
“You interrupted me, though, hm?”
Sasori gave him a stare that Deidara knew very well; it meant ‘yes, and don’t make me elaborate.’
Deidara sighed and allowed his body to slide along the wall until he was sitting on the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair and pushed it out of his face a little bit, although he ultimately didn’t tame much of the mess.
“You feel better now, don’t you?”
“...Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Good. Wait another hour or so and the heaviness should leave your limbs. Then get back to work.”
Deidara watched Sasori closely, his pupils darting around his face and body. God knows what he was looking for; there wasn’t a lie to see through, a code to crack, or even a deeper meaning to interpret. At least, Sasori hoped to God that there wasn’t.
“Yes sir,” Deidara answered with a grin.