title: 7:31
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH ON LJ! 2012
rating: T-M
summary: o11: Sakura wants a guy who can make her laugh. Sasuke, playing wing-man for Naruto, is willing to try to help his friend. Little did he know he would want her all to himself...
REVISED 6.30.14
.o11.
Laughter
Sakura lied on her stomach over her bed. She was swinging her feet back and forth while talking to her friends on the phone.
"What kind of guy do you like, Sakura? Describe your ideal tall, dark, and handsome man to us," she heard from the other line.
Sakura bit her lip, continuing to pump her legs. "Hm. Well, good-looking is always a plus, of course. But he has to have a great personality. He needs to be sweet, kind, polite, but not afraid to tell me what he wants. Oh, and most importantly…" Sakura paused. "He has to make me laugh."
She was fourteen when she told her friends who her ideal mate was. Since then, she lived by those words and had yet to find the boy that completed her while also eliciting laugher from her.
.
three years later
.
"Hi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he skipped over to Sakura. "What's up?"
"Good morning, Naruto," Sakura said as Naruto walked next to her on the way to school. "You're awfully chipper this morning."
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm here with you! When I'm at your side, I'm always happy!"
Sakura smiled, knowing how greatly Naruto liked her. Unfortunately, she didn't like him in the way that he wanted to…
"Naruto!" Sakura's friends went over and greeted him. "Hey!"
"Hi…" he struggled to remember their names. "Harin and Kinata?"
"Close. Karin and Hinata," her redheaded friend said. She eyed Naruto up and down. "You look hyper. Did you eat too much sugar?"
"Nope!" He put an arm around Sakura, pulling her closer to him. "I'm just happy because I can see and be with Sakura-chan!"
Karin giggled, and Sakura rolled her eyes, prepared for the teasing that would come. Hinata blushed, looking down at her feet as if she didn't want to see this. But Hinata was always the nice girl. She wouldn't make fun of Sakura.
"The bell's going to ring soon," Sakura said, pulling Naruto's arm off her. "So we're going to get to class."
"Alright. Bye, Sakura-chan!" he leaned in to kiss her cheek, but Sakura pushed him off and took Karin and Hinata by their arms.
"Bye!" Karin shouted for her friend as she was dragged to homeroom. Hinata kept looking at her feet.
.
.
.
Naruto plopped down at his desk next to Sasuke in homeroom. Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing the look Naruto had on.
"Love struck Naruto," he smirked. "So, did you kiss her?"
"Almost," Naruto said. "But she said she had to go to homeroom. Kami, teme, she's so pretty. Don't you think so?"
Sasuke thought of what Naruto exactly saw in Sakura. She was very pretty, but for some reason she didn't stick out much to him. She just blended into the crowd.
"Why don't you ask her on a date?" Sasuke asked.
"I would, but she always rejects me." Naruto sighed. "I like her a lot."
Sasuke saw how serious his friend was for this girl. "Hey, dobe…" he said. "If you want, I can talk to her for you."
The blonde's eyes brightened up, and he said, "Really? You would do that for me?"
"You owe me big time," Sasuke said.
Rolling his eyes, Naruto said, "I knew you wouldn't do this for me for free. Alright, fine."
"I'll talk to her at lunch."
"Thanks, teme." They turned forward to hear the teacher talk about the morning announcements, while Sasuke occasionally turned to Naruto to see him daydreaming, puckering his lips once in a while.
.
.
.
"Naruto obviously likes you to the point where it's not even funny anymore," Karin said as she opened her bento. "Cut him some slack. He's cute. He has a good personality. And he's hilarious."
"Yeah, but…" Sakura began. "He doesn't give me this spark. I just can't connect with him. He makes me laugh a few times, but I sometimes do that just to give him credit for trying."
Hinata didn't say anything. She ate quietly, refusing to look up at her friends.
"Hinata? You alright?" Sakura asked. "You seemed ill ever since this morning."
"I'm fine," she murmured.
"You're Sakura, right?"
Sakura looked up to see one of the students in the other class loom over her.
"Yeah. Who are you?" she asked.
"Uchiha Sasuke. I'm Naruto's friend."
"Oh. Good to meet you," she said. He was really good looking. She wondered why she'd never seen him before.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked.
"Uh…" she looked back at Karin and Hinata, who were silently urging her to get her ass up and go make out with him. "Sure."
She got out of her seat and followed him down to an isolated part of the hallway.
"You need to go out with Naruto." His voice was crisp and to the point.
"What?" she said, taken aback. "Why?"
"Because…" Sasuke didn't know how to phrase it. "I can't put it gently, so I'll just state facts. He's smitten with you. He thinks you're the one for him. And he keeps bothering the hell out of me, to put it quite frankly."
"Oh."
Now Sakura felt bad. But she didn't want to lead him on by asking him on a date when she didn't like him, either.
"Yeah."
"Why don't you like him?" Sasuke asked. "Girls consider him cute. He's a nice guy—wait, are you one of those girls who likes 'bad boys?'" he said, stopping halfway.
"No. It's not that. It's just…" Sakura sighed. "He can't make me laugh naturally. I want a guy who can induce laughter in me."
He scoffed. "You want someone who can make you laugh? Naruto can't make you laugh? That's something right there."
"Hey!" Sakura said.
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Fine. How about this? Let me try to make you laugh. I think you're pretty."
Her lips twirled up in a smile, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Ha, nice try. But you probably don't think that."
"What if I do?" he stepped closer.
She stepped back. "Whatever. But, if you make me laugh, I'll go on a date with Naruto. Anyway, I've got to go. See you." She turned to leave, but he shouted out, "I'm going to make you laugh!"
"Go for it!" she shouted back before she left.
.
.
.
Sasuke, ignoring his mission of getting Naruto a date, began searching up lame jokes and corny puns on the Internet, trying them out in private each day later.
"Really, Sasuke?" her eyebrow raised as she looked at him with a kind of "are you serious?" face.
"No laughs?"
"Nope."
.
.
.
"So, teme, how's it going?" Naruto asked. "Will she fall into my arms yet?"
"I'm working on it," he lied.
"Hurry up! I can't wait!"
.
many days later
.
"Another one?" she asked. "Let's hear it."
"Sakura," he began. "I think…I like you."
Sakura didn't say anything. Then, she burst into fits of giggles, covering her mouth to stop them from leaking out.
"Okay," she said. "You win. That was very funny. Fine. I'll go on a date with Naruto."
"No." He put his hands on her shoulders. "I don't want you to date him."
"Why not?"
"Because he can't make you laugh."
"And you're saying you can?" she asked. "You're stone cold."
"I just made you laugh right now, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but you weren't serious."
"Maybe I was." He gripped her shoulders tighter.
Her eyes widened as she realized he wasn't joking anymore. "Wait—" she said as his mouth got closer and closer to hers. "I can't—"
"You can't what?" he asked.
"I can't break your friendship with Naruto."
"He doesn't have to know," he murmured. "Besides, I can make you laugh every day if you're with me."
"I don't know…"
"Think about it." He pressed his lips to her mouth and brought her closer to him.
"I don't like the idea," she muttered as she pulled away for air. "But we can try and make it work."
.
.
.
"Hi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he approached her again. "What's up?"
Her mouth was still sore from Sasuke's kisses. She felt bad looking at Naruto, his face happy, hoping for a date.
"I'm gonna try and make you laugh! Sasuke-teme says you want a guy who can make you laugh!"
She smiled. "Yeah."
"Okay, get this: a guy walks into a bar, and…"
Over Naruto's shoulder, she saw Sasuke, who smirked at her, saluting her with two fingers before giving her a wink.
"—he says, 'You mean there's a drink named Rikko?"
She saw Sasuke smirk again, and laughed.
"I knew I could make you laugh!" he said. "Funny, right?"
"Oh—" she began. "Yeah."
"So, will you go out with me?" he asked hopefully.
She opened her mouth to say no, but remembered what Sasuke said to her after they pulled apart from their kiss.
"Just one date with him."
"Okay."
She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. But she remembered what else Sasuke told her.
"I'll settle everything when it comes to it."
And she remembered laughing when he told her.
Slight changes!