{Honestly, it's harder breathing next to you.}

{Hold my heart, it's beating for you anyways. What if I can't forget you? I'll burn your name into my throat, I'll be the fire that'll catch you. What's so good about picking up the pieces?}

Naruto didn't know why it took him two weeks until after school had already started to notice him. In his history class, the teacher partnered up the students for a short role-playing activity, and Naruto had gotten paired up with him.

"Sasuke," said the teacher, and Naruto had to ask again.

"Wait, who?"

"Your partner is Sasuke," she repeated calmly. When Naruto showed no recognition at the name, she pointed in his direction. "The one with the beanie." Naruto turned around and looked, finally seeing him for the first time. He had pale skin and jet black hair with a maroon beanie on his head, and Naruto could easily see the gauges he had in his ears from there.

"Is he new?" Naruto asked, and the teacher shook her head. Naruto looked at him again, and Sasuke turned his head up to look at Naruto casually before looking down again. Had that kid really been there from the beginning of the year? It couldn't have been. That was the first time Naruto had ever seen him.

Naruto got up and gathered his stuff, going to the back of the room where Sasuke sat. He sat in front of him, pulling out the paper with their assignment before looking up to examine the black haired boy. Now that Naruto was closer, he could see that Sasuke had black hoops for snake bites and another in his sternum. The gauges were no bigger than a dime, to Naruto's relief (those huge gauges really grossed him out), and they were black as well.

"Hey," Naruto finally greeted. Sasuke was already staring at him as if asking the blonde what he thought he was doing. "Um, I'm your partner for this. I'm Naruto." Sasuke looked at him a moment longer before nodding.

"I'm Sasuke," he said, turning his phone off and placing it face down on his desk.

That was the first time Naruto had seen Sasuke, and since that day, every time the teacher called attendance, he heard Sasuke's name above everybody else's, even his own. He could've sworn that the teacher had never called Sasuke's name before, but then again, he wouldn't have noticed since he hardly paid attention. For a couple of days, Naruto would glance at Sasuke every now and again in class, and at random times throughout the day Naruto would see him around campus, but he made no attempt to reach out to him.

"Hey," Naruto said to his friends during lunch, "do you guys know that Sasuke guy?" Shikamaru and Choji looked up from their trays at the blonde, and Kiba stopped in the middle of the story he was telling.

"Hm? The emo one?" Kiba asked, looking curiously at Naruto.

"Uh... I don't know about emo," Naruto said, "but he has the piercings and the gauges, and he wears a lot of black." All three boys around Naruto nodded in recognition, and Neji and Sakura looked up from their conversations.

"Yeah, you know I heard he's gay," Choji pitched in, taking a bite of his food. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"He probably is," Kiba said. "I've never seen him look at any girls with interest."

"So you're watching him?" Shikamaru asked, and the others started laughing.

"No I'm not!" Kiba exclaimed, turning red. "I just noticed it, jeez." As the others messed around about Kiba watching Sasuke, Naruto looked around the cafeteria, detaching himself from the conversation. Subconsciously, he found himself looking for the head of Sasuke, that maroon beanie he wore, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Naruto!"

Naruto quickly turned back to the group at his table, seeing them all looking at him.

"Hm? What?"

"I asked if you have any classes with him," Kiba repeated. Naruto thought for a second, then remembered the topic of conversation.

"Oh, yeah I do," Naruto answered. "History." Kiba lifted one of his eyebrows in question.

"You okay, man? You seem a little spacey." Naruto took a moment to smile and chuckle lightly.

"Yeah, of course I'm fine," he said. "Just thinking... Hey, what grade is he in?"

"Hm? Emo kid?" Naruto felt like arguing that he wasn't emo, but then he didn't really know Sasuke so he couldn't say, so he just nodded. "Um... I think he's a junior."

"No, he's a senior," Sakura said.

"No no," Choji interrupted, "he's a junior. He's in my homeroom."

"Really?" Sakura asked. "I could've sworn he was a senior." Just then the bell rang, and the group got up. Naruto looked up at the clock momentarily before getting up with his friends. Sasuke the junior, eh? Naruto was a junior, too. He wanted to ask more about Sasuke, but the bell already rang, plus he didn't want to make it seem as if he were stalking the guy or something. So he quietly walked to class with his thoughts.