Disclaimer: Naruto does to belong to me

Ages:
Naruto: 20
Sasuke: 23

Beat the Odds
Chapter 9: Anniversary

September 14 2008 - 2 years together

All the ideas on the Internet were useless. He was not the romantic type and would not spend hours writing a half-assed poem about love blooming between the two of them. Plus, he honestly didn't think Naruto would appreciate a sappy poem.

Most of the ideas were okay, but none of them fit their relationship. 'Send flowers'; 'make a slideshow of all your memories'; 'send a personalized message with a teddy bear'; 'watch a movie together through Skype'.

All of them cute, but not for them.

He had spent the entire first half of the month searching through stores to find a gift that would show Naruto how much the boy meant to him. They had been together two years, although not physically, but still together. It counted and he wanted to let Naruto know that this milestone mattered to him.

But, he just couldn't come up with the right gift.

He let his eyes linger on the webpage a bit longer before sighing and closing it.

Their relationship was strange - unique. He was the only one of his friends to have an online-long distance relationship. Their relationship wasn't supposed to happen. Sasuke had lied the first time they had spoken on that game.

He had told Naruto that he was taken. He had been playing that game for a few months, and the weirdness of people hitting on him - without knowing him - was beyond creepy. So he fibbed and told everyone who hinted at becoming something more that he was taken. It seemed to have a good effect on most of the people.

But Naruto was different. He was funny and charming- and oh so annoying, but they soon became good friends through the game. They would coordinate their schedules and meet online. A month later Naruto had asked for his email so they could IM outside of the game and just talk about their everyday lives.

At first he was going to lie, say he didn't have an instant messenger, but decided there was no harm. If Naruto got creepy he would block him and move on with his life.

Soon, after a few months of talking - Naruto started flirting. This was after the fact Sasuke confessed to lying about being in a relationship and after Naruto found out that Sasuke was gay.

So Naruto flirted, and Sasuke was okay with that. It wasn't creepy it was actually sweet and brought a stupid smirk to his lips every time Naruto would try. He always shot the man down but soon enough he was bantering right back; flirting right back. Sasuke never really considered the implications of his words just said them because he could visualize the boy laughing or smiling at his retorts.

Then in August, Naruto had outright said that he wished they were dating. Whenever that was brought up (which it had been a couple of times), Naruto would just shrug it off and say maybe in a different lifetime before Sasuke could reject the idea. But this day, he decided to be a lot bolder than Sasuke was expecting.

He had directly asked Sasuke to be his boyfriend - exclusively.

Harmless flirting turned serious and that made Sasuke very uncomfortable. He didn't know Naruto from a hole in the ground. He had never spoken on a camera, didn't know what he looked like. He had a vague idea based on his profile picture, but not enough to ensure his identity was who he said he was and was not some 50-year man or woman.

Sasuke turned Naruto down.

That didn't deter him. Instead of asking Sasuke out again, he asked if he had Facebook and if they could be friends there. That seemed risky to him but he gave Naruto his full name so he could find him. They connected on Facebook and Sasuke had the privilege of stalking the boy's profile and pictures - and there was a lot of pictures.

He had thought about what the other had looked like. He pictured bright eyes-because the profile picture on IM showed some kind of bright coloured eyes. But he never imagined the hue of blue that those photos showed; they were captivating. He also did not imagine such a blond shade of hair with perfectly tanned skin.

Everyone had some flaws in appearance, but Sasuke could find none with this boy. Naruto seemed perfect, and that made him edgy. Nobody was that pretty.

It was a few days after adding each other on Facebook that Naruto made the step to talking on Skype. Sasuke almost wanted to refuse this request. Talk to the person he met online? Isn't that crossing a line? Yet his curiosity outweighed his doubt and he agreed.

So when they finally spoke on microphone, which led to the cameras being turned on, Sasuke was beyond shocked when he saw that Naruto looked exactly like his photos showed on Facebook.

He was not a seventy-year-old dirt-bag luring young people into a life of prostitution. Sasuke found himself wanting to call Naruto his.

So like the mature adult that he was, he completely interrupted Naruto and asked the boy out. It wasn't as sweet as it should be, more on the demanding side than anything. He was immensely grateful that he had asked Naruto out on camera- because he saw the genuine surprise and happiness in those blue eyes.

Naruto stuttered for a brief second and then hesitantly nodded. That was immediately followed with exchanging phone numbers and discussing the craziness of the situation but not caring in the least.

Sasuke had not paid any attention to the date, but Naruto had. So every month when the 14th rolled by he would always send a little message stating he could not believe they had been together for x amount of months.

It was sweet and soon enough, a year past and now two - and Sasuke had no idea what to do for his boyfriend.

He already had a Skype "date" set up. It was just a routine date, listening to each others voices; talking about their days; ranting; or whatever else that flowed from the conversation.

Yet, Sasuke wanted this to be different. He just didn't know how and all the suggestions online sucked.

He closed his eyes and drew a blank. He just could not think of what he could possibly do for Naruto. Puffing out his cheeks, Sasuke turned to look at his phone. 5:15pm - meaning it was 6:15pm in Toronto. Naruto was probably having dinner and since he had no late classes he would be home. With that thought in mind Sasuke found something he could do for Naruto.

They didn't do this often but it would make it all that more special. It wasn't romantic and it was equivalent to Skype call but it was different and that is what he needed for this day- something different.

He picked up his phone and quickly pulled up Naruto's contact details. He pressed the phone to his ear and listened to the ringing of the phone on the other end.

He frowned when it went to voice mail. He waited for the beep before leaving his quick message and closing the phone. Glancing at the time again he made a note that their Skype date wasn't for a few more hours. He decided he was going to read a bit since he had time.

Naruto frowned as he pulled out his phone as his roommate chatted about his day. He didn't understand how he had missed a call; his phone didn't ring but alerted that he had a new voice mail instead. His stomach dropped when he saw that it was a missed call from Sasuke. 'Did something happen?'

"Hold on Chouji," Naruto muttered to the boy who paused. "Just want to check my voice mail."

"No problem," Chouji waved off and took a bite out of the mashed potatoes.

He smiled gratefully and placed the phone to his ear, hoping that nothing was wrong.

You have 1 new message. To listen to your-

Naruto quickly pressed 1.

First message.

"Happy anniversary".

End of message. To save this message press-

They didn't call each other often (maybe once every three months) because long distance charges were not worth it when you had a free interface like Skype. But hearing those words coming from Sasuke's mouth through his phone just made the day feel more special- as odd as that was. He knew he would hear those words again later tonight for their date but that brief message meant a lot to him.

He shook the feeling off, ignoring the nagging of his conscious to call Sasuke back. He reminded himself that he was with his roommate and that it was too private to call someone back and talk about their anniversary with another person present.

Sighing he shut his phone, he still had a few hours before his Skype date. He would thank Sasuke then. Until then he would finish his dinner with Chouji and possibly go to the gym.

"Sorry about that Chouji. So explain the stupid group assignment again?"