note: yet another high school au; based on an au idea that I posted on my tumblr. as things stand now, this is merely a drabble, but I wouldn't completely rule out more chapters. for now, I hope y'all enjoy this.

Sasuke was, for all intents and purposes, a loner.

Everything he'd ever done, from his demeanor to the way he styled his hair, was a deliberate attempt to keep people at arm's length, until eventually he'd built a wall so high it was nigh impossible for anyone to get close without getting hurt. Only two people had ever managed to worm their way past his defenses, and while he'd managed to get rid of one of them through sheer force of will, the other one had proven himself so difficult to shake off that Sasuke had ultimately stopped trying altogether. That was how Naruto became his best friend.

It wasn't that he was completely repulsed by others, or that he didn't see the value in their friendship, although that was part of it. In his mind, he was simply better off alone. Nothing more, nothing less. It helped too that most of his peers - boys and girls alike - saw fit to leave him be, their preconceived notions about his character aside (not that he ever cared what people thought of him in the first place). That was, everyone except Naruto.

If ever there was a prize for butting in, that guy would probably win by a landslide, especially when it came to Sasuke. One would think, there was no way someone as reclusive and standoffish as himself could wind up with a friend, let alone a best friend, as cheerful and free-spirited as Naruto Uzumaki, but they found a way to make it work, oddly enough. They were, for the most part, inseperable; they did pretty much everything together, and while Sasuke sometimes hated Naruto for it, that irritating intrusiveness of his, he also appreciated him for it. There was never a dull moment when he was around - nor a quiet one for that matter. It was one of the few reasons Sasuke even came to school.

However, there were drawbacks to being Naruto's best friend. Besides the fact that he never knew when to shut the hell up, he was also a social butterfly; he attracted people to himself like flies to manure, so that meant Sasuke sometimes had the displeasure of interacting with Naruto's other friends. Shikamaru and Shino, if he ignored the latter's bug obsession, were tolerable enough, but then there were characters like Sai and Kiba, who made Sasuke want strangle him and duct tape his mouth closed, respectively. He drew the line at girls altogether when Ino tried to cut a lock of his hair.

Most of Naruto's poor attempts at expanding Sasuke's friend group never lasted more than a few days, thanks to his cold personality, and Naruto never failed to remind him of that fact; although, that never stopped him from trying. Today happened to be another one of those days. In fact, Naruto had called them his last resort (though, what he really said was, "You've forced me to bring out the big guns," and all Sasuke could think was 'It had better not be another girl.') He had to wonder what made that doofus want to see such a stupid goal through in the first place; then again, he'd always been unpredictable, so there really was no telling. Whatever the case was, Sasuke thought, he would just have to push back twice as hard until Naruto finally grasped the concept that he neither needed nor wanted anymore friends.

Sasuke was mid-bite into his lunch, having just reached this conclusion, when a shadow suddenly cast over him and as he slowly looked up, his mouth full of half-eaten egg salad, to give the offender a piece of his mind for invading his personal space, he found himself at a loss for words to see the last person he ever expected to see: Hinata Hyuga.

He must've had a strange look on his face, because she averted his gaze just as quickly as she'd caught it in favor of the table separating them. He could tell right away that she was nervous, taking note of her death grip on her bento box, the flush in her cheeks, and the way she seemed to look everywhere but at him. It was intriguing, to say the least.

But none of it lasted very long, because no sooner had Hinata taken a deep breath did she lock eyes with him again, her milky gaze brimming with a determination not unlike Naruto's, and asked:

"Can we be friends?"

Had the question not been so absurd, Sasuke probably would've said "no," but considering the glue trap of saliva, eggs, and bread in his mouth, the only thing he could manage was a garbled, "What?" which sounded more like a wet fart than an actual word. Talk about a great first impression.

Undeterred, however, was Hinata, who straightened up, held her head high, and repeated herself, confidently this time, "Can we be friends?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get the words out (properly, this time), Naruto slammed his plate on the table and clapped a hand, hard, across his back, causing him to inhale the chunk of food in his mouth and choke.

"Hinata!" the blond bellowed, ignoring his best friend's gasps for air. "You made it!"

"Ah, yes," she answered, watching Sasuke with unmasked concern. "Um, is he going to be alright?"

"Who, Sasuke?" Naruto snorted out a laugh, threw his arms around his best friend's shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Nah, don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Go ahead and pull up a chair."

Hinata clearly didn't buy it, considering the awful look Sasuke just gave him, but she placed her lunch on the table and took a seat across from them anyway. Naruto immediately jumped to the introductions, having rehearsed this part from countless times in the past, while Sasuke rubbed the uncomfortable lump from his throat.

"Hinata," he said, plucking a piece of fried chicken off his plate and into his mouth, "this is Sasuke. Sasuke meet-"

"I already know who she is, dobe," Sasuke growled.

Naruto grinned. "I asked her to eat with us today," he finished through his food.

"Nice to meet you," she said with a small smile, kindness practically oozing from her skin.

Sasuke studied her for a second longer than he meant to before averting his gaze and grunting in return. He made a grab for his juice box, his throat dry from the piece of sandwich he'd inhaled, but Naruto beat him to the punch and held it away, clearly dissatisfied with Sasuke's response, earning himself yet another dirty look.

"The polite thing to say is 'nice to meet you too,'" Naruto whispered with a feigned smile.

"I didn't agree to this," Sasuke said simply, ignoring the crestfallen look on Hinata's face and the pang of guilt that shot through his gut with it. Serves her right for asking him such an asinine question while his mouth was full.

"You never agree to a lot of things, but that never stopped you before," Naruto countered, leaning closer, this time with a shit-eating grin, then whispered, "What makes this time any different?"

The answer was quite simple, but he'd never give Naruto the satisfaction, even if he already knew the truth. Hinata was Naruto's trump card (or "big guns"), he realized, everything Sasuke never knew he wanted in a person, something that dunderhead was clearly taking advantage of. However, that idiot also made the grave mistake of being completely oblivious to the fact that she was all but infatuated with him. This alone was more than enough to make him deny her friendship.

Despite this, however, when Sasuke looked at Hinata, the innocence of her features hitting him all at once, from her meek smile to the kindness in her eyes, he felt an unwelcomed warmth settle in his neck and grudgingly said:

"Fine."