In the Name of Soap Opera

Chapter Four

The Unwanted Hero

"What's that book you're reading?"

Gaara closed his locker, turning his head and seeing his curious sort of a secret boyfriend. The only ones who knew about their relationship was Gaara's siblings, and a few of Naruto's friends. It was easy to keep it a secret when Gaara had never acted like a boyfriend to begin with. "Hello?"

"Huh?" He blinked, then shook his head, clicking the lock to his locker shut. "Oh.. nothing, don't worry about it."

"Hey.." Naruto frowned, putting a hand on the red head's shoulder. "Obviously I'm going to worry about it, I just watched you get made fun of without having a clue what was going on. You didn't even stick up for yourself! Just tell me what book you're reading, okay?"

"Hn.." He sighed, putting his forehead against his locker. "Serial Lovers.."

Naruto blinked at the name, then gave Gaara a confused look. "But.. you've always told me that romance novels are sappy and even you wouldn't read them..?"

"Usually I wouldn't.." He picked his bag up, looking around. "Temari asked me to read it, so I'm reading it. Nothing more than that, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it."

"Why are you acting so touchy on the subject?" Naruto frowned. "Are you hiding something?"

"No." Gaara answered, just a bit too quickly. Naruto looked upset, and Gaara sighed again. "Look, I just don't want to talk about it because I was made fun of, I don't want everybody to keep remembering and continuously making fun of me for it. I'd like it to die off, so don't worry about it, okay?"

"Whatever.." Naruto turned around, walking away from his boyfriend. Gaara watched him go, frowning at the fact that he wasn't following him. Deep within his mind there was something telling him to go after Naruto, but then again, there was also something telling him not to, and to just let Naruto have his space.

'Damn it..' He threw his bag over his shoulder, turning the opposite way of Naruto, and taking a different exit from the school. Hopefully, Naruto wouldn't be too upset at him.

- - -

As he walked away from Gaara, Naruto's hand clenched at his chest, his aching heart beating quickly. He didn't know why it hurt so much, it wasn't as if Gaara had just broken up with him. Though, the fact that their relationship barely existed really did make the blond upset. Gaara almost never says he loves him, they rarely hug, they haven't kissed yet and it's already been half a year.

It was as if Gaara didn't even love him at all, and was only using him. The thought stabbed into Naruto's already aching heart, and he did his best to keep from crying his eyes out. His best wasn't really working for him, and he covered his mouth, stopping in the middle of the hallway. He fell to his knees, crawling over near the lockers and keeping his head down, sobbing quietly.

He hated crying. It seemed so pointless to him, especially when he cried at something that probably wasn't true. But how could he prove that Gaara even did love him? Yes, he had said it, but only once, and after Naruto had asked him why he never said it. But what was Naruto being used for when they didn't do anything, and he didn't have anything that Gaara really wanted? He couldn't just jump to conclusions, but there wasn't much he could do.

He couldn't help but cry because he believed Gaara didn't love him at all. He cried even more at how he couldn't prove it right or wrong. And he cried even more at the fact that he was sitting in the school hallway, crying about how he thought his boyfriend didn't love him. Talk about lack of faith in someone. But was it wrong?

"Hey," The voice brought him out of his train of thought. His mind suddenly thought that it was Gaara, coming to cheer him up and tell him everything was okay. Even though the voice didn't necessarily sound like Gaara's, there weren't many voices that did, but his mind played a trick on him. He looked up, his expression hopeful, and then the hope disappeared when he found himself looking up at one of his classmates, not Gaara. "You okay..?"

He hid his face again, sobbing a little louder than before, feeling stupid that he would have hoped the person now at his side could have ever been Gaara. If there was one thing he did know about Gaara, it was that he liked to avoid people who were crying. It wasn't the boy's fault, but the only person Naruto wanted to cheer him up at the moment was Gaara, because Gaara was the only one who would be able to.

"What's wrong..?" The boy asked, and Naruto slowly lifted his head, wiping the flowing tears from his eyes. Once he blinked the blurriness away, he recognized the classmate as Sasuke, with his spiky black hair and eyes that slightly reminded Naruto of Gaara. Sasuke knelt down, his expression how it usually was. Blank. Just like Gaara. "Hey, hey, why is someone like you sitting here crying?"

"I-I.. just.." He wiped his eyes, sniffing. Sasuke waited, and Naruto wondered why this guy was even sitting here asking why he was crying at all. "It's nothing.. I-I'm alright.."

"Well, you don't look it." He smirked slightly, standing back up and holding out his hand, helping Naruto up. "You can talk to me, I wouldn't tell anybody."

"No, no, it's okay.. really.." Naruto gave a weak smile, picking up his bag. Oddly enough, he was feeling alright now. At least somebody had asked him if he was okay. "I was just upset at nothing.."

"Well, if you'd like, you can come over to my place. I don't have anything to do today, and maybe I can help cheer you up a bit." Sasuke offered, and Naruto thought for a second. How creepy was that?! Not creepy enough, apparently, because Naruto nodded. "Alright, let's go."

He smiled, walking out of the school with his new friend. It wasn't like he had anything better to do that day, and it wasn't as if Gaara would even care, at that. He wondered what Gaara would think if he saw Naruto walking with some other random dude.

He wouldn't be too happy, that's for sure.

- - -

"I think he's mad at me.."

"Yeah, probably." Temari replied, giving him a disappointed look. "If he said 'whatever' and just walked away, he is definitely not too happy."

"Man.." He rubbed his temples, having paced around the living room about twenty-five times by then. He was worried, and hoped Naruto wasn't angry. He didn't want to give Naruto any clues that he was aiming to better himself, he wanted it to be a surprise. But he ended up pissing Naruto off, which wasn't any better. "If I can't go through with this without hurting him, I don't think I can do it.."

"No, no, that's not it." Temari said, sitting on the couch and watching as Gaara paced around the living room again. He stopped, turning his head and staring at her. "You just need to hide it in a better, nicer way."

"Oh, right.." He grumbled, beginning to pace again. "Like that's so easy.."

"Hey, macho man, you haven't been giving this your all!" She crossed her arms, looking even more disappointed. "At all!"

"Because it seems so stupid!" He stopped, turning to her again and crossing his arms. "It doesn't seem to be helping, at all!"

"You know, sometimes the most stupid things really work." She frowned. "You can't just give up. You'd be giving up on not only yourself, but Naruto as well. Do you really love him?"

"Of course I do!!" He looked angry for a second, then sighed. "Yeah.. I know you're right, Temari.. I'm not going to give up.."

"Good." She smiled, standing up. "Because you've got to finish those books by the end of the week."

He looked annoyed. "Seriously?"

"Yep, because you don't want to take forever to be Naruto's perfect boyfriend, do you?" She grinned. "Not only that, but you'll be watching more than one soap opera when the time comes, so that will be taking the most time out of your entire training session. Now, get reading!"

"Maan.." He turned around, walking up the stairs to his room and getting ready to read all day long.

Gaara just hoped that Naruto wasn't as upset as he thought he was.

- - -

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews :D

This story seems to be going along very well. Next chapter coming soonish :)