A/N: OMG! Last chapter guys! This one's a bit longer than the rest, 'cause I felt like the story was being dragged on for too long, so I ended it here. This is my first story so I apologize for any mistakes! Thank you for reading it this far! Much love to all of you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way. This IS fanfiction.
As Sasuke entered the school gates, announcements about the upcoming basketball tryouts were all he could hear.
"Basketball tryouts today at 4:30! See you there!"
"Love playing hoops? Come tryout later and see if you make the varsity team!"
"Support your friends as they tryout for the school's team!"
He ignored all of this, and entered his classroom. The same buzz filled his class.
"Oh my God, is HE trying out later? We have to go watch him!"
"I don't know man, do you think I'll make it this year?"
Sasuke went to his seat and pulled out his book. He didn't really care for sports. He was pretty okay skills-wise, but it bore him easily. He started reading. Not too long after, he heard a loud voice enter the classroom. "MWAHAHAHA! THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE! Ow!" The brown-haired boy added when he was shoved out of the doorframe and into the classroom. "What the hell man?!" Kiba shouted to the boy who pushed him. "You were blocking the door, Kiba. Also, what the hell are you yelling about this early in the morning?" Naruto answered. Kiba's face had the look of pure confidence. He smirked at Naruto's puzzled expression. "Today is the day of the basketball tryouts!" He answered, looking at Naruto as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. The puzzled expression on the blonde's face didn't go away. Kiba continued, "I'm going to be on the varsity team and I'm finally going to get all of the chicks!" His face looked like he was in heaven. "Oh, so that's it?" Naruto chuckled. "What do you mean, 'that's it'?! Think of all the girls, man! The fan clubs and the groupies and everything!" Kiba looked at him incredulously, and then something clicked in his head. "Just 'cause you're into dicks instead of chicks doesn't mean I have to swing that way too, you know." Kiba said proudly, and jumped out of the way of Naruto's fist. "Easy, man! I'm just kidding!" He told Naruto. The blonde just stuck out his tongue at Kiba and went to his seat.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto beamed at the raven. "Hn." Sasuke answered. "Jeez, what's got you in such a bad mood this early?" Sasuke looked at Naruto, then at Kiba, who was shouting again in the middle of some of their classmates, and looked at Naruto again. Naruto understood. "Oh come on, Sasuke. Lighten up! You have to at least be used to the noise by now." The blonde laughed. "Especially if we're going to be together for a whole year." Naruto winked at him. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at Naruto, not showing that his heart skipped a beat at his seat mate's comment.
"Are you trying out for the basketball team later?" Naruto asked. "No." Came the short reply from Sasuke. Naruto pouted. "Why nottt?" "Because he's a coward and he doesn't think he'll make the team!" Kiba butted in, followed by his evil cackling. Again, Sasuke just rolled his eyes. At his bestfriend's comment, Naruto smirked at Sasuke. "Oh, really?" Sasuke just turned to him with a look on his face saying "are you really going with what this idiot said?" or something like that. Naruto ignored him. "So the famous Uchiha Sasuke actually can't play any basketball. I've gotta say, that's pretty disappointing." "I bet it's still better than you'll ever be." Sasuke's competitive nature got the better of him. "Oh yeah? Why don't you show me how it's done? That's if you can." Naruto provoked the raven even more. Sasuke just gritted his teeth. The tension between the two was building. "Fine. Tryouts. Later. You better be there, dobe." Naruto broke into a wide grin. "You bet! Let's go together?" The blonde said, completely dissipating the earlier tension.
Realizing that he'd played right into Naruto's hands, Sasuke groaned. He went back to his book. Seeing as he couldn't concentrate anyways, he just looked out the window. 'Basketball, huh? Maybe this'll be fun.' Sasuke let out a small smile. The truth is, he wasn't just "pretty okay" in sports. He was good. More than good- he excelled. It didn't matter what sport it was- basketball, baseball, swimming, tennis- name it, he can do it. That's why he got bored easily. There wasn't any challenge. So he'd stopped playing. But now, now Naruto had done it. Sasuke hadn't played in a while, but he knows he can do it. The raven was many things, and competitive was definitely at the top of the list. He'd never back out of a challenge. Not to mention, a little showing off to his crush wasn't all too bad.
The classes went by pretty quickly, and soon enough the day was over, and it was time for the tryouts.
As Sasuke was fixing his things, Naruto came up to him. "Hey teme, you're not backing out now, are you?" The blonde challenged the raven. Sasuke smirked. "Hn. Of course not. Are you ready to lose, dobe? It's not too late to back out, you know. It would be a pity to lose face in front of all of your fans." "It wouldn't be as bad as YOU losing in front of all of YOUR fans. Think of their faces as they realize the man of their dreams was beaten by me. They might give up on you altogether." Naruto laughed. "Now I'm actually considering losing on purpose, just to get those girls off my back." Sasuke deadpanned. "Nah, I'd still wanna see your face as you realize you've lost." He continued. Naruto was about to retaliate with another comment, but Sasuke cut him off. "Now come on, dobe. We don't wanna be late." They picked up their things, and headed to the gym.
A bunch of girls screaming greeted the two as they entered the gym. They walked to the benches, where all the other guys were waiting for the tryout to start. "Wow. Is it always this loud for just the tryouts?" Naruto asked Sasuke, as he covered one of his ears. The screaming got louder as they neared the bleachers. "I don't know, probably?" Sasuke just shrugged. "JEEZ, it's because of you guys!" Kiba butted in their conversation. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at him quizzically. "Apparently, some girls from our class heard your conversation this morning and spread the news all over the school. All of the girls were thrilled because this is the first time the Uchiha was going to play any sport here in school. Practically all of the girls came." Kiba glared at the raven. "But it's okay! At least now all of the chicks here in our school is going to see all of my awesome skills!" The brown-haired boy recovered quickly and started flexing his muscles. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him and continued walking to the benches. Naruto followed.
Both the boys could feel all the eyes on them, mostly on Sasuke. The girls wanted to be with him, and the guys wanted to be him, or beat him. He just ignored all of the stares but one, he looked at Naruto puzzlingly. "What?" He asked. "Why are all of these people just STARING at you?" The blonde boy asked. Sasuke just shrugged. "Is it ALWAYS like this? Aren't you ever bothered?" Naruto continued. Sasuke just stared at him as if to say, "Do you even have to ask?" and rolled his eyes. Their conversation was cut when they heard a whistle being blown off. It was game time.
...
Sasuke's eyes stung as sweat rolled off of his eyebrows. The tryouts had been, in a word, intense. It started out pretty normally- drills, shooting, dribbling- but the tension rose when the practice game started. They were going to be evaluated here. All the guys were split into two teams and incidentally, Naruto and Sasuke were on opposite teams. They were to play normally, and the first team to reach 21 points, with at least a two-point margin, won. It was perfect for their challenge. Sasuke thought it was going to be easy. He immediately became the captain. Some of his teammates had heard of his skills, and so they respected him. Others, not so much, so they were still skeptical. Their doubts had been erased when Sasuke started explaining their tactics. His plan was efficient, simple, and it made use of everyone's skill. They began to see their easy victory. That was, until the game started. It wasn't going to be easy after all.
The whistle was blown, indicating that the game had been over. Cheers and screams erupted from the stands, as if they had just won the championship game. Based on the game they had seen, it very well may have been a championship game. Both teams competed very hard, and pushed each other to the limits. Both captains, Sasuke and Naruto, had been exceptional. They shot, dribbled, passed, and shot some more. Sasuke's team was the first to reach 21 points, but since they only had a one-point lead, they had to keep playing. And it took such a long time because as soon as Naruto's team would score, the Sasuke's would score back, making the one-point gap impossible to widen. That was until Sasuke made an incredible three-point shoot, therefore ending the practice game after an hour and a half of non-stop playing.
As soon as the whistle was blown, Sasuke's team jumped for joy. They had won. It was definitely not an easy victory, but that had made it all the more worth it. Naruto's team looked deflated, but still fulfilled. They had played at their best game today, and it was because of Naruto. There was probably no one more tired than the two captains. Their mini-challenge was to see who scored more points, and that was aside from winning the game itself. Again, they were neck and neck until the raven shot the last three points. Sasuke had never played this intensely before. He was planning to take it easy, but when he saw Naruto's spirit, and skill, he himself was involuntarily made to play his best game. Naruto could say the same about Sasuke. Although a little bit pissed off at the fact that he lost, he still had a lot of respect for Sasuke. The raven had earned it.
Needless to say, both Sasuke and Naruto got in the team. They had earned the respect of the coaches, their teammates, and everyone in the stands. They were going to have one hell of a team once the season started.
"Hey Sasuke! Wanna hangout later?" Naruto panted as he caught up to the raven who was headed for the lockers. Sasuke's heart skip a beat but he kept his cool. "Sure." Sasuke smiled at Naruto. The blonde just stood there in shock. He had never seen his seat mate smile before. He blushed a bit and said, "All right then. I'll see you by the school gates!" before rushing off and leaving Sasuke. The raven stood there for quite a while wondering what had happened, but shrugged it off and decided to take a shower.
Sasuke was quite nervous as he neared the school gates. He was going to hangout with Naruto. Alone. With Naruto. Alone. What the hell was he gonna do? 'Calm down, Sasuke. It's just hanging out. It's normal. Friends do that all the time.' He mentally scolded himself. As soon as he saw the blonde, he swore his heart stopped beating. Naruto was standing by the school gates, and appeared to be listening to some music on his phone. He looked like a god, because his whole body was covered in the setting sun's golden-orange glow. His hair was ruffled slightly as a small gust of wind blew. He turned and as soon as he noticed Sasuke standing there, he smiled. And by God it was the prettiest smile Sasuke had seen in his life. He forced himself to let go of the breath he didn't notice he was holding and walked towards Naruto. It seems his heart had remembered to beat again.
"Hey, loser." Sasuke said to Naruto. 'Smooth, Sasuke. He's REALLY going to like you now.' Sasuke mentally punched himself. Naruto just pouted. "Well, hello to you too, teme." Naruto pouted. Sasuke had to count to three in his head to keep from hugging the blonde. He was too cute. "What are we gonna do? Stand here all day?" Sasuke said impatiently. "Jeez, we're going to hangout! Haven't you ever done that before?" Naruto poked fun at the raven boy. "N-not really." The blonde's eyes widened in surprise. Sasuke just blushed a tiny bit. "Look, genius. If you haven't noticed, I don't usually have groupies hanging around me all the time, do I?" Sasuke bit back. "Well, you kinda do. Not that you notice them." Naruto smiled at Sasuke. The raven glared at him. "All right then! Since you're a noob at this friendship thing- which, you should be ashamed of, honestly- we shall go to the park and hangout there!" Naruto declared. Sasuke was going to retort at Naruto's offhand comment, but decided against it. He just walked alongside Naruto to the nearby park.
"Hey Sasuke," The blonde started. "Hn?" "Tell me something about yourself." Naruto said softly. "What is this, a college interview?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow at Naruto. The blonde just blushed. "O-Of course not! I just thought that y-you know, since you're new to this kind of thing, it'd be best for us t-to get to know each o-other." Naruto blushed profusely. Sasuke noticed this and smirked. Was he making the blonde embarrassed? 'This would be fun.' "What would you want to know about me, then?" Sasuke said, slowly. "A-Anything! Um, what's your favorite color?" Naruto stuttered. "Black. Or dark blue." Sasuke shrugged. "Hmph. Typical. You're so boring." Naruto teased. "Mine is orange." The blonde grinned. "Tell you what, anything I'll ask you, I have to answer myself. So that you'll get to know me too." He continued. "Hn. What made you think I wanted to get to know you?" Sasuke smirked. "Teme! Well if you didn't, then you wouldn't be here talking to me, now would you?" Naruto winked at him. Sasuke just shrugged again. They continued like this- joking and talking as if they'd known forever- until they reached the park.
"Why do people hate you?" Naruto asked suddenly. "Excuse me?" Sasuke was quite surprised at the question, and didn't know how to answer. "I mean, I get that you're a jerk," Naruto laughed as Sasuke glared at him, "but I don't think that merits you not having any friends. I mean, don't you have a lot of fans too?" The blonde looked at Sasuke, genuine curiosity on his face. "I don't like other people too much." Sasuke answered quite simply. "What do you mean you don't like people?" Naruto looked at the raven incredulously. Sasuke dropped his gaze to the ground. He didn't know how to answer that without going too personal. Was he going to tell Naruto everything?
For some reason, he had found Naruto very easy to get along with. Regardless of the fact that he had liked the blonde boy since day one, he found his new classmate fun to be around. Naruto was lively, friendly, warm, and genuine. Sasuke's complete opposite. Not to mention he invoked feelings that the raven was completely new to. Naruto was probably the only person he could stand being with for hours without being annoyed. Well he would be annoyed a little, but Naruto being Naruto made up for that completely. "Sasuke?" At the sound of his name, Sasuke looked up to Naruto.
"Are you okay? You suddenly became quiet." Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke with those big, blue eyes full of concern. "Just thinking." Sasuke answered. "About what?" Asked the blonde, concern turning into curiosity. "About how to answer your question, dobe." Sasuke smiled at him. Naruto blushed again, only slightly. "Let's just say, I don't like a lot of people, because they bring a lot of unnecessary stuff." Sasuke answered, being as vague as possible. Naruto just looked at him as if to say, "go on." "Stuff like drama, problems, sadness, and pain. And I don't really like to concern myself with that. So it's better if I'm by myself. Plus, regarding those fans, they're just really annoying. They just keep ogling me. It's kinda creepy, honestly." Sasuke finished.
Naruto sat in silence as he looked as if he was trying to process everything that Sasuke just said. "But don't you have those kinds of things too? Sadness? Pain?" Naruto asked. "I do. But if I'm on my own, then I don't have to drag anyone down because of it." Sasuke answered honestly. Naruto smiled sweetly. "But that's the point. With friends, you're not bringing them down. True friends are there to help you up." Sasuke didn't know what to say, so he just sat there quietly.
"What about me?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's stomach flipped but he kept his composure. "What about you?" He returned the question to the blonde. "Why'd you talk to me? Hangout with me?" There was a short pause. "Choose me?" Naruto finished. Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto's expression. It was an expression of embarrassment, with a little bit of hesitation. The blonde was also blushing at his own choice of words.
"I don't know, actually. There's just something about you. Ever since the first day.." Sasuke trailed off. This was it. It was now or never. Was he really going to tell Naruto about his feelings? Silence filled the air for a few minutes. "Naruto, I have to tell you something." Sasuke said quietly. He was pretty sure his heart was beating a lot faster than it should, but he ignored it. This was the moment. If he didn't do it now, he would never be able to do it ever. "W-What is it?" Naruto asked, voice also quiet.
Sasuke gulped, looked Naruto in the eyes, and said, "I like you, Naruto."
'One...'
'Two...'
'Three...'
'Oh God this is taking so long. Reject me already, Naruto! So I can deal with this and be done with it!' Sasuke was preparing himself for the rejection. He had closed his eyes and braced himself for a punch or any violent reaction, but even after counting to three, there was none. He opened his eyes. What he saw nearly stopped his heart. Naruto was looking at him with a shocked expression. Both hands over his mouth, eyes wide, and blushing. Yes, he was blushing until the tip of his ears. For the first time, Naruto was speechless.
"Well?" Sasuke forced himself to talk. The silence was driving him crazy. "Well what?!" Naruto answered a bit loudly. "You can at least answer! Don't worry, I'm prepared to be rejected. I'll also allow you one punch but anything more than that and I can't guarantee that I won't hit back." The raven blabbered. 'Nice going, Sasuke!' The raven mentally slapped himself. "Can't a guy get some time to recover when his crush tells him that he likes him back?!" Naruto's sudden answer surprised Sasuke. 'What did he say?' Sasuke did a double-take. "What did you say, Naruto?" The blonde blushed even more at the sound of his name. "I said I have a crush on you too! Jeez, you totally ruined the moment, teme!" Sasuke couldn't believe what he had heard. Naruto? Likes him? Back?
"Can you repeat that?" Sasuke asked, doubting his own ears. "I said I liked you too, you big idiot." Naruto smiled his heart-melting smile, while blushing a couple of shades red. Sasuke's heart exploded like fireworks. He moved closer to the blonde. "You better not be messing with me, dobe." He sounded serious. "You mean YOU better not be messing with ME, teme." Naruto smiled and pulled Sasuke into a hug. There were no words to describe what Sasuke was feeling. He hugged Naruto back. 'He smells like sunshine. Typical.' Sasuke snorted to himself and hugged Naruto closer.
"So, does this mean we're going out now?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke smiled fully for the first time and looked at Naruto lovingly. "Yeah, definitely."
And just like that, Sasuke's life was completely flipped.
A/N: Aaaand it's done! I was thinking of writing a short epilogue but I'm not yet really sure. Let me know if you want to know what happened to these two! Reviews/follows/favorites are very much appreciated. And again, thank you for reading! Hugs!