He felt massive. He felt as if he could hardly move. There were just so many layers of different clothing that he felt as if he was suffocating. Grumbling, he mumbled as he looked looked around the entrance of his class while admiring the rest of the children who were, just as he was, bundled up like tight bite sized sausage rolls.
How in the world were they not as grumpy as he was?
Meh... All for the sake of staying warm he guessed. Each child knew that afterwards their parents left, they could take off all the layers. It's not as if it is going back on till the end of the day anyway. Really, children were going to waste their play time putting on layers. Curse overprotective parents! Didn't they know how hot all this stuff got after you've spent some time running around outdoors?
The bell rang and all the children began lining up, each and every one overly excited to take off their toasty winter clothes. Our main boy however, even though previously thinking he was suffocating, had absolutely no desire to remove his jacket. If he did, his short life would be all over. He was in grade three - he was a big kid! This coat simply could not come off.
"Sasori, aren't you going to take off your coat?"
The little redhead glared at his teacher from his desk chair. Pursing his little lips together, he scrunched up his teeny tiny nose in a nasty snarl. Take off his coat? Was this woman an idiot? Wait... She didn't know what was beneath it. She didn't know any better - just like his grandmother.
Dumb women.
Now Sasori wasn't one for confrontation, neither was he one to try and stand out; so this is where he faced his big big BIG dilemma. First option, he could keep his coat on and have a fight with his teacher and have everyone pay attention to him. Second option, he could take off the coat and have all his classmates immediately point and laugh at the ridiculous sweater his granny made for him. All in all in the end his life would crumble into a bajillion pieces.
What to choose what to choose.
Carefully peaking underneath his coat to see the faintness of the sweater that was covered in shadow, Sasori snorted at it as he tried to come up with a plan. Looking at the ugly thing didn't help. Yeah, even that couldn't deter his opinion on how absolutely hideous it was.
'It's made of LOVE' she says. 'It was given with 'LOVE' she says. If she LOVED him at all she wouldn't have made it or guilted him into wearing it at all! Especially wearing it to school.
He wiped his brow from sweat that was beginning to bead along his forehead. Well Sasori did know one thing, he sure was getting hot.
"Sasori! I can't allow you to sit in class with such a coat! You'll overheat, so remove it at once!"
Sasori sent the woman a more malicious glare this time. She was making a scene! What was with women and making scenes! Now everyone in his class was staring at him - and that was the last thing he wanted.
"Sasori..."
Alright already! He was taking the coat off; very slowly however. Each little snap and every click of the zipper being pulled down echoed through the room as Sasori took his sweet time. Some of his classmates giggled at it, fining this whole ordeal to be humorous.
"Sasori, NOW."
"Tch!" He scoffed again but this time even louder, ripping the zipper down and throwing the coat into the floor in a fit. If she wanted the coat off, then he was going to make her regret it!
His teacher went to scold him for his poor behaviour, and to pick up the coat, but her wide eyes spoke more than words ever could to the little redhead. He knew what she was thinking. He even knew what his classmates were thinking.
What the heck was he wearing!?
A few of the children burst out laughing causing the rest to fall like dominos. This was horrendous! Sasori frowned as this was just what he had expected; he could only be glad he had spent the whole morning preparing for it.
It was just a sweater though. Just a sweater that looked like it had been made from a very loving person. A person who poured their whole soul into making it. In most situations that was a good thing. Here on the other hand - not so much. Not so much, for the hideous Christmas sweater.
It was a bright red that clashed horrendously alongside his red hair. Bits of green and gold went through it like a swirling wonderland. Hand crocheted snowflakes sprinkled with glitter were sewn on, a gingham, heart shaped pocket over the left breast, and to make things worse, on the back was a knitted pattern of a cute Christmas teddybear.
Before I forget to mention it was also trimmed with white lace..
"T-thank you for taking the coat off, Sasori..."
His face was beet red. Red was everywhere, you would think the boy would explode from all the heat he was producing as well. Oh man, this was end of it all. For Christmas all he wanted was to change schools, move away, or DIE even. Perhaps on his way home today he could be hit by a snowplow, just so he didn't have to face his classmates tomorrow.
He really, oh how he really hated the ugly sweater his had Granny made.
"Children! That's enough!" His teacher hollered, getting all the students to fall into a stuttering hush. "Anyway... It's time to start the...school day." She spoke but not without letting out a little snort in an attempt to contain her own laugh.
And what a day it was.
The kids tugged at the handmade snowflakes, mocked the sweet teddybear and just overall said terrible stuff. All day was constant snickering wherever he went by everyone. When lunch came rolling along, he could feel the tears pricking at the corners of his big, sad, brown eyes.
"Hey Sasori! Psst!" A boy whispered leaning over his desk so he could be closer to Sasori's ear. "You're going to get it at lunch today, got it?" And raised a tiny yet threatening fist.
Sasori swallowed harshly at all the boys' obnoxious snickering. This was going to suck the big one. If only he could just grab his coat, get outside and get out of there as fast as possible; then he might have a chance at living another day! Did he really want that though? He sighed and started to prepare himself for the impending lunch break. It was the only thing he could do.
'Leave your body Sasori. Leave your body.'
The bell signaling that the eating portion of lunch had finished rang and Sasori was ready to book it out of there. He grabbed his coat, threw it on and made a wildly mad dash out the door.
"Hey! He's making a run for it!"
"Get him!"
Sasori peeked an eye behind him and shrieked as he aimed for a hidden and covered area where they hopefully couldn't find him. Dang his short legs! Dang his slow running! Dang running in snow! Dang -
"Yeek!"
Sasori yelped as the back of his hood was yanked. It was like slow motion for him as the rest of his coat was pulled off with it. Fiddlesticks! Why didn't he zip it up while he was running away? He was practically begging for it to be stole.
After Sasori stood back up from falling over, he suddenly lurched back down as a wad of snow was chucked at his back. Once more he yelped again as one more hit the back of his head this time making him cower over into a ball - making him a very easy target for the other boys to hit.
Note: like running, the boy wasn't very good at dodgeball either.
Snowball after snowball he was pelted with and Sasori could feel the hit tears washing over his eyes again. Why wasn't someone coming to help him? Adult! Adult! Help! Oh that's right. The little genius had to run to a secluded area to hide.
"Waugh!" A loud yell caught Sasori's ears as a bully was taken down with a snowball to the face.
"Ey you pig faces! Leave him alone, un!
Sasori carefully peeked up to see what looked like a girl standing on mountain of snow that a snow plow had made, hands full of snowballs ready to fire.
"Oh yeah?" One of the bullies yelled back. "What are you going to do about it?"
Swiftly with flawless aim, each boy who was facing the blond got a face full of snow colliding with their soft skin. It was almost like the kid had a special scope on his eye that made targeting very easy. And if they weren't looking then, they sure as hell were looking now!
All the other boys fell to the ground holding their faces crying in pain before staggering to their feet and retreating with their tails between their legs. "We'll get you for this Deidara! You'll pay!"
"Hmph! What a bunch of toad faced babies." Deidara sneered hopping off the snow mound and rushing to Sasori's aid. "Are you oki doki, buddy?"
Sasori popped his head out from behind his hands and stared at the other boy in front of him. Clearly he could see it was a boy now. Just a boy with long blond hair! No biggie, really. He also noticed the large gap where the boys two front teeth would be and as he looked up a bit more he could also see two bright blue eyes.
"I'm fine now, thank you...?"
"Deidara, un!" He pipped happily. "Oh, you're sweaters gettin wet!" He quickly went to dust off the snow from the other boys behind, "Here you go." He then handed the smaller boy his jacket to keep him warm.
Sasori blushed and took the jacket. What a gentleman this guy was. Like - wow! After putting on the jacket and thanking him yet again, there was an awkward silence that left Sasori fidgeting. What else was he supposed to say? He already had thanked the weird kid. What did he want? A reward?
A reward...
"Uhm, thanks again for your help... Is there anything I can do for you in return?" Sasori asked shyly.
The taller boy rubbed his chin in thought and sighed. "No thanks. I'm just happy you're ok, un." He then gave a toothy smile.
Sasori blushed again and began to fidget. "No you have to want something or else I will feel bad forever!"
Deidara groaned a little and shifted on his feet awkwardly as he looked up in thought. Suddenly he snapped to face Sasori and spoke with wide eyes, "I want to see your belly, un!
Sasori gaped and didn't know how to take that request. Look at his belly? His belly? Really!? What a weirdo! This kid was just picking on him, just like all the others! However he did ask what the kid wanted for a reward. So Sasori carefully and slowly lifted the jacket and sweater to reveal a slightly pink tummy.
Deidara marveled at it and even leaned in a bit to get a better look. This wasn't just weird for Sasori, this was BEYOND weird. Why was the blond staring so intently at his stomach? Was it because his belly was a little pudgy? And why did it feel like the face was getting closer? Why -
"Yeek!"
Sasori shrieked as Deidara planted a little raspberry on his stomach. What the h.e.c.k was that for?
"Ha ha! Come and get me, unnn!"
Sasori's face flamed red. Blondie was going to get it now! Sasori dropped his sweater and the jacket back down over his stomach and took off chasing the other boy. They ran around the school, in the field and through the playground. Deidara even made sure to run slowly and wait for Sasori to catch up.
Dang all this snow making running more difficult than it already is!
Sasori finally caught up and tackled the blond into the snow laughing. This was a hoot and a half. For the third time today, tears were nearly leaking from the corners of Sasori's eyes, and it didn't help that they started tickling each other.
The bell rang and Sasori got up off Deidara. Instead of parting ways then though, they walked to the grade three line-up together yapping away about what they had done during lunch, treating it like an old memory. When they got to the line-up though they were both greeted with the bullies holding Sasori's jacket.
Deidara huffed and made an angry face. He wasn't taking anymore of these kids guff! The bully flinched as he was expecting an attack but was instead surprised to feel a hand wrapped around his wrist.
"Give. The. Jacket. Back. Un."
The boy cowered and quickly dropped the jacket making Deidara drop the wrist. He picked up the jacket and went back to Sasori who was standing there in utter awe. What an amazing boy this Deidara was! Wow, wow, wow. He felt like in any moment he would melt from the sheer radiance that was Deidara. Both looked back to see the bullies finding ways to move further and further away from them as much as possible.
"Th-thank you again..." Sasori muttered into the jacket as he began to follow the lineup that was going indoors. Deidara in turn followed Sasori and shoved his pink hands into his fleece sweater's pockets like what he had done was no big deal. Sasori couldn't help but swoon even more over how cool this boy was.
They got to the grade three coat room last and began taking their boots and coats off. Sasori reached down to remove his jacket to see the ugly Christmas sweater his Granny had made was still underneath it and sighed. He still really really REALLY hated it. He was just glad the other kids had scrambled out of there as fast as they could. Less kids looking at the sweater was better than a lot.
"I got your jacket back, un. I think I deserve one more reward." Deidara mentioned taking off his sweater to show a tshirt on underneath. Sasori in turn sent him a confused look and thought about how he really didn't want another belly raspberry. The coat room was empty, but someone could still walk in!
"What do you want?" Sasori asked nervously holding onto his stomach as if he was protecting his belly.
Deidara thrust out his sweater to Sasori and smirked. "I want your sweater. Lets trade."
Sasori didn't know what to think. This incredibly cool and tough kid wanted his awful-ugly Christmas-sweater?
As if he reading the redheads mind, Deidara sighed. "My parents are never ever never home, un. Before and after school I spend all my time at the daycare. My home is...cold." He looked to the side and chewed his bottom lip. "Your sweater was homemade right? By someone who loves you too... I'm envious of that..."
Sasori's jaw dropped a little. He quickly ripped off the sweater and grabbed the green one Deidara had be holding and put it on. He HAD to be quick of course since he didn't have a shirt on underneath the ugly sweater like Deidara had.
Handing the sweater to Deidara, he huffed through a pink face. "My Granny said that one sweater is full of love. Love I want to give you, so you can have it - like keep it - the sweater and my-my love!"
Deidara's eyes went wide and an enormous smile spread on his face. He quickly put the sweater on. Thank goodness Sasori's Granny made the sweater big for Sasori so it could snugly fit the taller blond. Deidara was beaming being wrapped in love so he stepped forward and threw his arms open. "Come here!"
Sasori blushed. Did Deidara want to... Was he offering to... He stepped forward just as Deidara had but instead of just opening his arms, he leaned in and also pecked the other boy on the lips.
Pulling away proved to be the brand new, most embarrassing moment of Sasori's short life. Now he wanted to die of embarrassment all over again.
The look on Deidara's face spoke all. He didn't want to kiss Sasori, he had just wanted a hug. Sasori misread the situation and kissed another boy! He was never going to live this down!
"Ugh, about that... You see in my house my granny says that kisses equal love and, um." Sasori stuttered around in his words trying to fix this catastrophe. "Y-you said you wanted love so I thought...but you meant... I'm so sorry!"
Deidara just started blankly at the boy as he bunched the long sleeves into the palms of his hands. This red haired boy was awfully cute. A big grin plastered itself on the blonds' face before he jumped forward to kiss Sasori back. "Thank you for the sweater! We HAVE to play again tomorrow, oki doki?" He smacked the other boy on the lips once more. "Class is starting now though, see ya later, un!"
Sasori watched the other boy run off to the other grade three class and sighed. This was one day he would never forget and he would make sure that he wouldn't.
-x-
Sasori spent the whole day with a dreamy smile smeared on his face. He couldn't even hear the other boys taunts over where his ugly sweater went. No, Sasori had far more lovely things to think about. By the end of the day, he had planned his entire wedding and his papers were covered in "SasoxDei" circled in red hearts.
They were also going to have a seven tier cake and it was going to be decorated with red roses. Red because the ugly sweater was red and he didn't know of any other flowers that were used at weddings.
"Sasori! What are you wearing?" His Granny Chiyo called to him as he was removing his jacket once they got home. "Where is the sweater I made you that was full of love?"
Grabbing at the collar of the green sweater, Sasori slowly breathed in the faint scent of its previous owner. "I gave it away." He sighed dreamily, writhing about.
"Gave it away?" She gasped. "To whom!"
Sasori flopped onto the floor in front of the fireplace and sighed as he now hugged himself. "To my love..."
"Your love?"
"You know how you one time said that someone should love me no matter what? Well a kid at school loved my sweater so much he came and saveded me from the bullies who didn't like it."
His Granny furrowed her eyebrows as she shook the snow from his boots. "He?" She asked finally after running what her grandson had said a few times through her head. "Bullies?"
"Yes! And tomorrow we're going to play at lunch and he's going to make sure no bullies ever bother me again! You were so right Granny Chiyo! That sweater was so full of love that I fell in love!"
Granny Chiyo stood there wide eyed a moment as she watched her little grandson stand, twirling and swooning as he hugged his own new sweater yet again. "How about I teach you how to knit, so that next year you can give him a special made sweater?" She asked, smiling at how happy he was.
Sasori gasped loudly. "Ok Granny! This time lets make it extra ugly!" He cheered running over to her knitting chair and began digging through the box full of various yarns. "Yeah!" He yelled grabbing a few wild colours. "The more ugly, the better!"
His Granny on the other hand raised a hand to her face and sighed. "He thought the sweater was ugly?"
Every year Deidara got a new ugly-sweater that was handmade by Sasori as it became a tradition for the two. Deidara loves each and every one of them since they are filled to the brim with Sasori's love. And every year Deidara gives the sweetest kisses in return. MWAH
EDITED