I've wanted to write this story ever since I listened to Taylor Swift's song "Teardrops on my Guitar." You should listen to it after reading this. Or before. Or during, but listening to music while reading makes me distracted. Well, whenever you listen to it, listen to it. Trust me, it's good.
And I know what you're going to say. NaruSaku?! OMG! WTF? BBQ! Yes it is (at least in the beginning). I find myself hating Sakura less now and I am now able to stomach the thought and Naruto and Sakura. Shocking indeed. Relax NaruSaku lovers… I'm just having a little fun. Don't hurt me :cower in fear:.
Little tid-bits to know: Story is set in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Why? Cuz I feel like it. So that means that you may not get a few things (unless you live in Pittsburgh). Also… this was meant to be an oneshot, but I had more ideas for it. Thus, it will have quite a few chapters!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I mean, if I own Naruto… things would be different. And people would riot. Simple as that.
Warning: One-sided Boy Love (at least for now). If you have a problem with it, feel free to envision Sasuke as a woman XD lol.
The last bell of the day could be heard throughout the entire school building. As soon as the loud ringing ended, a flood of students exited their classrooms and headed for their lockers. The massive mob of teenagers crowded the skinny hallways and easy and quick movement through the school seemed almost impossible. But such things were typical for the students of Thomas Jefferson high school, whom had grown used to them. On cool October Fridays such as this one, most of the student body would franticly try to leave the school in hopes of going out with friends or going the weekly football games (which as students of TJ would know, always end with a victory for our football team).
Though there were ones that choose to exclude themselves from such things.
One was Uchiha Sasuke. The somewhat scrawny looking boy in his fourth year of high school made his way through the crowded hallways. He clutched the strap of his backpack tightly, in fear on some one running into or shoving him and making the raven-haired boy drop the heavy bag. After some crafty maneuvering, the pale boy finally made it to his locker. He let out a sigh and let his backpack drop beside his feet. His pale hand opened his ugly dull green-colored locker and dropped down to his knees.
The boy remained silent as he gathered the books and folders he needed from his locker. Sasuke was not one whom you could call "social." He was never one to start a conversation and most of the people around him, annoyed the pale boy so much that he could barely stand to speak with them.
But there was one person who the raven could never hate or ignore.
"Hey there, Sasuke." Uzumaki Naruto said the raven-haired boy as he came up beside him. The blonde then opened his own locker, which was located right beside the pale boy's locker. The blue-eyed boy let of a sigh of relief. "Aren't Fridays great?" he asked as he smiled.
Immediately, at least five good reasons as to why they were, in fact, not great came to Sasuke's mind, but the raven choose to keep those thoughts to himself. "I guess so." Sasuke said in an emotionless tone.
Sasuke and Naruto had been best friends ever since the seventh grade when they first meet. Their very first encounter was truly a humorous one, which ended in the two boys trying to literally kick the shit out of the other. The two boys' relationship had gone through many stages, all the way from utter hatred to the best of friends, and no one had ever imagined that two boys so different and yet so similar could form this absurd friendship.
Sasuke did not make eyes contact with the blonde-haired boy. How could he even try to gaze upon his best friend? Reason being that, it would seem, whenever the tan boy was around Sasuke, his body did not seem to function properly. Everytime that Sasuke even heard Naruto's name the raven-haired boy's heart would speed up to an alarming rate, sweat would begin to form on his pale skin, and breathing seemed to become much harder than the Uchiha had ever remembered. When the raven was in the presence of the taller male, all those symptoms seemed to increase ten-fold.
There was a perfectly logical explanation to Sasuke bizarre behavior whenever Naruto was around. And that perfectly logical explanation just happened to be that the raven-haired boy was head over heels, madly in love with his best friend.
The raven made sure to never let his friend or anybody for that matter know of his secret feelings for the blonde. One could call Sasuke cowardly for two main reasons. The Uchiha was a very proud person and his ego would not be able to withstand the stares and laughter that would surround him, if the secret of his harbored feeling for another male were common knowledge throughout the entire school. And the second reason, he also would not be able to handle the rejection that the raven undoubtedly knew would await him if Naruto were to ever learn of his feelings.
For you see… Naruto was already taken.
Her name was Haruno Sakura and the way Naruto spoke of the girl made her sound like an angel sent from heaven to grace the world with her unworldly beauty and kindness. Such a description of the pink-haired girl made Sasuke sick to his stomach. Because, as much as the raven hated to admit it, that description may not be so far fetched.
Sakura was kind, beautiful, intelligent, responsible, and just seemed to be an all around perfect teenager. And the worst part, Sasuke thought, about the girl was the fact that she really seemed to care for the blue-eyed boy.
Sasuke sighed and rose to his feet as he closed his locker. The blonde beside him closed his own locker only a little after the pale boy had closed his. Naruto then leaned against the cool metal door of his locker and smiled once again.
"I can't wait until tomorrow." Naruto's grin grew wider.
"And what's so special about tomorrow?" Sasuke asked with a smug smirk on his lips.
"Me and Sakura are gonna go out on a date." A small blush could be seen on the sun-kissed skin of the boy's cheeks.
Sasuke glanced up at Naruto for only a moment, so that he could catch the look of pure happiness that the blonde wore. It was moments like this, that Sasuke realized that he had no chance whatsoever with the blue-eyed male. Sasuke turned his dark eyes away from his best friend and choose to focus on the spectacled titles of the floor. The number of people walking through the halls had decreased immensely, since it was almost ten minutes after the last bell of the day had rung. The blonde, still engulfed in his happy mood, did not notice the sullen expression that graced the Uchiha boy's handsome, young face.
Just when Sasuke felt as if the day could not get any worse, she showed up.
"Narutoooo!!!" Sakura's voice rang through the hallway. The pink-haired girl came up behind the blonde, latched onto his torso and then snuggled her face into his strong back. Naruto laughed as he was pushed forward slightly due to the force at which Sakura ran into him. The blonde looked over his shoulder and then made his body turn so that he and the girl whom was still hugging his stomach could face each other.
"You almost knocked me over." Naruto said as he continued to smile.
"I'm sorry, love." Sakura said as she loosened her grip on her boyfriend's waist and stood up straight so that she was now at her regular height. It did not matter, for Naruto was still taller than the pink-haired girl by a good six inches. "But even if you had fallen over, everything would have been all right. As a doctor-to-be, I could have nursed you back to health." Sakura pushed her body closer to the blonde's and looked up into his beautiful blue eyes.
"With your skills, I would have been healed in no time." Naruto leaned his face in toward Sakura's, so that there were now only mere inches away. Sakura then closed the gap and kissed the blonde boy's lips gently.
Sasuke did not want to watch the touching scene any longer. The pale boy decided that he should pretend to have forgotten something from his locker and opened the metal door quickly. The dull green locker door was the perfect wall that stood between him and the young couple. Sasuke reached for a book inside his locker slowly as he, unwillingly, continued to listen to the two people beside him.
"All right, I have to go." Sakura said softly as she laced her fingers with Naruto's. "Ino's waiting for me." The young couple shared one last chaste kiss and then finally parted with each other. Sakura let her emerald eyes wander over to the figure of the pale boy behind her boyfriend for a split second. "I'll see you at work! Bye Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as she ran up the wheelchair ramp in the hallway and toward the large doors that matched the color of the lockers. Sasuke was a little surprised to hear the pink-hair girl say goodbye to him even though they had not said a word to each other during her short time with him and Naruto. He shrugged it off as nothing.
"See ya!" Naruto yelled back to her with a big smile. Sasuke closed his locker once again, when he was certain that the pink-haired girl was out of sight. Naruto then leaned against his locker once again and sighed. "You don't know what you're missing, dude." He said to the raven-haired boy beside him.
"You mean almost landing head first onto the hard titles?" Sasuke smirked as he gave his sarcastic reply. "Oh yeah, I'm so sorry that doesn't happen to me."
"I'm serious, man! I've never felt so happy in my life. You should think about getting a girlfriend of your own." Naruto then placed a hand on the raven's shoulders as the two began to walk down the same hall that Sakura had moments before. Sasuke's smirk disappeared and in its place, his lips pursed into a thin line. "What about, Ino? She likes you."
"Used to like me." The Uchiha corrected him. Both Sakura and her best friend, Yamanaka Ino, had, at one point in their lives, had the biggest crushes on Sasuke. But that was so many years ago, back when they were all still in junior high. Sasuke shook his head as unpleasant memories of Pleasant Hills middle school reentered his mind. But then again, those years were filled with horrible memories for almost everyone. "Besides, aren't both she and Temari fighting over Shikamaru?"
"Oh yeah. That's right. Poor guy." Naruto gave a nervous laugh. "Poor Ino, too." When one was against some one as stubborn and easily angered as Temari, it never ended very well. The two boys pitied Shikamaru, for if he were to date her, she would probably lead him to ruin(1). "But there has to be some one that you like, man. I mean it's only natural." Naruto looked at his best friend with his bright blue eyes, and Sasuke felt as if he could melt right where he stood. The pale boy controlled his emotions well and removed the blonde's hand from his shoulder as the two boys made their way down the stairs.
"I don't have to like some one." Sasuke said sternly. "Unlike some people, I have my mind focused on other things besides dating." It was not a complete lie. Sasuke did manage to think about things besides Naruto… sometimes.
"You're just completely asexual, aren't you?" Naruto smirked at the back of the raven's head. Sasuke was glad that Naruto was behind him, or else the blonde would be able to see the intense blush that covered most of his face.
Sasuke did not stop walking or show any sign of embarrassment. The raven knew what would happen if he tried to defend himself against one of Naruto's attacks on his sexuality. He had learned a long time ago that if you paid attention the blonde's remarks, he would, with no doubt, end up embarrassing you with sexual innuendos and perverted thoughts. The Uchiha knew it was best to just walk away and pretend that you never heard him.
"Is that a 'yes, you are completely asexual' or a 'no, I masturbate quite often'?" Naruto laughed as he and Sasuke went through the doors to exit the school and walked across the small patch of cement in the front of the school. The two boys stopped right before the road that circled around the school building and looked to see if some crazy teenager was going to speed their way down the road and hit them. When the coast was clear, they crossed the road and began walking down the steep path that led to the student parking lot.
Sasuke tried his best to ignore the blonde's moronic blabbering. He often wondered why he liked the idiot so much. But as the raven-haired teenager glanced over at the taller boy, he rediscovered his reasons once again. The blonde had this aura around him that made everyone around him happy. Something about his smile, his real, genuine smile, was intoxicating. Anyone who had ever seen the blonde with his big, toothy grin and his warm, loving eyes would admit to that warming sensation in the pit of their stomach. One could say that Naruto, in a way, has about him an aura of love and affection.
And how Sasuke craved that affection from his best friend. When Naruto smiled, Sasuke felt warm and, dare an Uchiha ever admit to this sort of feeling, fuzzy inside. When his would catch a glimpse into his beautiful blue eyes, he could swear he was melting. Such things Sasuke would never confess to out loud. He dare not risk losing the friendship he had between himself and the blonde-haired boy.
The Uchiha tried to convince himself that a relationship was not worth losing the best friend one has ever had and will ever have in their life. Just being around him was good enough… for now.
"You're no fun when you ignore me." The blonde pouted. He leaned forward to try and look at the raven's face, but Sasuke thwarted his efforts and walked faster, toward his car.
"I can ignore you when you're being idiotic." Sasuke said with a smirk as he continued to walk farther away from the blonde.
"Cold, man. Very cold."
Naruto then ran to catch up with his friend and the two walked sided by side for the rest of the short walk to Sasuke's car. The raven pulled his car keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door as the two boys approached the vehicle.
"I still can't get over how cool your parents are for getting you this car." Naruto said as he looked over the beautiful car once again. He then gave a short wolf whistle. "A nice blue 2003 Saturn Ion(2). You're so lucky."
"They just got it for me so that I wouldn't hate them for never being around." Sasuke replied as he slid into the driver side of his car. The raven's parents were always away on business trips or they would stay at their offices very late into the night, finishing work. One might say that Sasuke's parents were indeed workaholics. The raven had to stop and think how his parent had found the time out of their busy schedules to conceive his brother and himself.
"Still. I would kill for a car." The tan boy whined as he opened the passenger's door and got into the car. "I feel kind of bad for depending you to take me places."
"I think that I should consider this karma." Sasuke said after buckling his seatbelt and starting up the car. "I mean, we both depended on Itachi to drive us everywhere when we were still in middle school and he was in high school. So this is what I get."
"You're the only person who could make having a car a punishment."
Sasuke laughed as he hoped for a kind soul to come along in the long, long, very long line of cars that were piled up, waiting to leave the gravel-covered lower parking lot of TJ high school. Eventually the teacher, whom was watching over the many teenagers in their cars, stopped a random vehicle and let Sasuke move into the line of cars.
The blonde sighed. "I can't believe we have to work today." He groaned as he let his head slump back against the headrest of the seat. "I wanted to go watch Kiba play in the football game."
"He's not the greatest football player." Sasuke said as he tried not to laugh.
"That's why I wanted to watch him. I mean, he gets tackled… badly almost every game. It's hilarious."
"That's not very nice." Sasuke said with a smug look.
"You know I'm just kidding. Besides," the blonde paused. "We could have watched the cheerleaders too." Sasuke wanted to hit his head off of the steering wheel, but killing himself and wrecking his car did not seem like a very good thing to do. The raven stopped at the stop sign right before the road around the school merged into Old Clairton Road. After waiting for a few cars to pass, Sasuke drove away from the school building.
"Is that all you think about?"
"Do you ever think about it?" Sasuke had grown used to the hits at his sexual life by his best friend. Naruto had been doing it every since puberty had graced the boys with its presence and Sasuke had been embarrassed the first couple of years, especially when the blonde would say something perverted or ask why Sasuke never had any interest in girls. But the raven soon learned to ignore him and out grew that awkward stage. Naruto, however, did not.
"I would stop while you're ahead. I might just push you out of this car while I'm still driving." Sasuke gave his friend a small, yet wicked smirk. Naruto swallowed loudly.
"You wouldn't do that." He replied.
"I wouldn't?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow as he gave a questioning look.
"You might scratch your car door." Both boys laughed. As Sasuke passed the Heritage Hills apartment homes, he couldn't help but slightly remember how Naruto and his family had lived there for a little less than a year. It was funny how he had lived so close to Naruto, but had never known it. Though Naruto's family only took residence there for a short while and that was too many years back to remember, he still wished he had meet the taller boy then. If was even possible, the raven was even more anti-social as a child than as a teenager and could have really used some one like the boy beside him during those years.
Naruto and Sasuke had gone to the same schools all throughout their lives, but did not meet each other until seventh grade. Both thought this to be quite ironic when they found out about it. And ever since that day when they meet in seventh period Language Arts, their friendship began (after about a rocky month of disliking each other).
Sasuke pulled onto Parkview Drive and drove down the steep hill toward the blonde's house.
"You should really move." Sasuke said as he eyes the houses around him. "This place is creepy." The raven did not know how one could live in a place where every single house looked exactly like the one before it. It just screamed "horror movie"(3).
"Blame my parents, man. It freaks me out too." Naruto shivered and Sasuke laughed. The car then pulled into his driveway and Naruto gathered his things and got out of the car. "See ya at work, Sasuke." Naruto said before he closed the car door and flashed his best friend a brilliant smile. The blonde slapped the door shut and entered the pin for his garage door to open and let him inside. Once the raven knew he was in, he pulled out of the driveway and headed home.
Sasuke smiled as he drove on. Naruto's smile always made him feel happy.
---------------------------------------------------
(1) Obviously this part will remind people of the scene where, after a father-to-son talk, Shikamaru thinks to himself about how his mother had lead his father to ruin.
(2) If you have read my other fic Give Me That Sunshine and my oneshot Car Troubles, then you know already that I love cars. Also random fun fact… I gave Sasuke my sister's car. Yes, she owns that very same model, down to the color. What? Naruto had my car in Car Troubles, so Sasuke gets my sister's. It's fair.
(3) I live there… and it does.
I feel like I'm jumping right into things in the first chapter (even though it may seem like not much has happened). I'm not sure how long this will be. I guess we'll just have to see what the road of fate takes this little fic.
I also want to warn you all right now that this story is going to include some events that are very, very similar to ones that have happened in my life. I won't tell you which ones happened to me and which ones are made-up, cause I feel like that would make me a little emotional. I'm doing this because I feel like I am still worrying myself over these things and need to move on. Normally writing helps me through things and I want to give this a try.
I tell you this because the events are very personal, so that might mean I'll have a little trouble writing about them. So… it may be awhile in between updates XP heh, heh. Sorry.