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White Day is just around the corner.
A week and a half away. Sasuke’s running out of time.
And he doesn’t have anything for Naruto yet.
They’d gotten carried away with it, just being together all the time. The only difference is, for all the closeness he and Naruto shared all these years, who knew they could get closer. Literally. Physically. Neither of them can bear being more than three feet from each other.
And Sasuke’s been busy with the baseball team since they have a match with a neighboring high school on White Day itself. He’ll have to figure out how to give Naruto the chocolates he promised while preparing for the match.
Naruto loves sweet things, sure, and there are chocolates being sold literally everywhere, and there are cafés selling pastries at every corner, but Sasuke is losing his mind thinking about what to get him.
The sweets and bento he received from Naruto on Valentines Day are the most heartfelt, personal gift someone’s ever gotten him, and he doesn’t know how to match it. It was handmade, homemade, and made with him in mind. The voice of reason in his head would say it’s dumb to compete; they’re just gifts. But the unreasonable one in him wants to spoil Naruto to bits.
Cake? A slice of cake? A whole cake? That might be difficult to bring home. Then again, knowing Naruto he’d share it with the whole class. He doesn’t want Naruto sharing something he gave him.
If chocolate, then a bar? A whole box? Again, knowing Naruto, he’d eat the whole thing. Sasuke didn’t want him to get a stomachache from eating it all.
A cupcake seems… meager. Such a small thing can’t encompass the enormity and depth of what Sasuke feels for Naruto.
A card? That’s embarrassing. Even if words can convey feelings, it can never capture how dear Sasuke holds Naruto in his heart.
Flowers?
That gets Sasuke thinking. Naruto does love his plants. But he grows snake plants, monsteras, tiny succulents. And flowers die after a few days. Sasuke’s affections aren’t going to wither like flowers—though he does think Naruto might like flowers for another time.
Frogs? Naruto loves frogs. Sasuke once gave him a mug with art of a cute frog on it when they were in elementary, and Naruto’s still using it; the print on the mug has faded over time though.
Wait. What about frog shaped chocolates? Where would Sasuke look for those? He grabs his phone, having a faint idea that Harry Potter had those chocolate frogs, and pulls up a shopping website to search for them.
Sasuke is then hit with disappointment when he discovers that the things are expensive. Naruto would appreciate one of these, but Sasuke wants to give him an entire pond of it.
He scrolls through the store, then sees the solution to his problems in the recommendations related to his search. A silicone mold of a frog. He adds a few more items to his cart, then hits checkout.
“Do your parents know?” Naruto asks one day when they’re walking home.
Sasuke yanks Naruto out of the way when he hears an oncoming motorcycle that’s going too fast.
“Hey!” Naruto frowns. But the motorcycle buzzes by and his sudden umbrage moves from Sasuke yanking him, to the inconsiderate, recklessly speeding rider. “Slow down, you asshole!”
The rider raises his hand and flips him off which makes Naruto angrier.
“HEY!”
“Don’t yell, dumbass,” Sasuke admonishes him, pulling him in to walk further into the sidewalk than on the danger side of the road. “The neighbors are gonna report us,”
Naruto huffs, lowering his voice. “He shouldn’t be driving that fast in a residential area!”
“Yeah, well if he were part of a gang and you get targeted?”
That shuts Naruto up and pouts. “Nii-chan doesn’t drive like that,”
“No, he doesn’t, and no they don’t know,” Sasuke answers the initial question. He knows that Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei know about him and Naruto, but they don’t point it out or ask them about it. “At least, I don’t think they know. I haven’t told them yet,”
Naruto’s ire bates. “Does Itachi-niichan know?”
“Maybe,”
“Oh,” Naruto pauses. “What did he say?”
“That he was going to lock me in a closet,”
Naruto laughs. “That’s Itachi-niichan for you,”
Sasuke wonders why Itachi hasn’t ratted him out yet. His mother has been using the furoshiki with white sensu to wrap his bento and she knows Naruto gave it to him but didn’t ask further about it. (1)
“Do you have anything you want to do on the weekend?” Sasuke asks.
Naruto hums thoughtfully. “I’m not sure yet. I promised my tou-chan-tachi I’d go shopping with them. And I think we’re gonna have the monthly dinner with Baa-chan and Jiraiya-jiji,” (10)
“Ah, well, family time is important, too,” says Sasuke, relieved he’ll have the whole weekend to himself and experiment with the chocolate frogs.
“This is me!” Naruto says when they’ve reached his house, the name HATAKE clear on the acrylic nameplate on the gate. “See you tomorrow. Keep safe!” then he gives Sasuke a hug and buries his nose into Sasuke’s scarf in lieu of kissing his cheek goodbye. (12)
“Get warm quickly, okay?” Sasuke tells him, pinching his cheek.
“I will! Message me when you get home, okay? Bye!”
Sasuke watches him open their gate, makes sure Naruto’s gotten in the house before heading home. He wonders what his and Naruto’s nameplate will look like in the future.
When Sasuke gets home and his phone reconnects to the home network, his phone lets out a series of beeps, notifying him of messages. He removes his coat, hangs it on the hook, then fishes his phone out of his pocket as he toes his shoes off on the genkan. (2)
Naruto: [reel]
Naruto: [reel]
Naruto: they have lots of green tea pastries let’s go there so you can have some and they have crepes!!
Naruto: [reel]
Naruto: [reel]
Naruto: [reel]
Naruto: LOOK THIS CAT LOOKS LIKE YOU!! 🤭 🤭 🤭
Naruto: they have lots of green tea pastries let’s go there so you can have some and they have crepes!!
Sasuke replied: sure, let’s check that out.
Naruto: LOOK THIS CAT LOOKS LIKE YOU!! 🤭 🤭 🤭
Sasuke replied: it does not
Sasuke shakes his head with a fond smile. “I’m home!” he calls, expecting no reply.
“Welcome home,” he hears Itachi reply from within the house. (7)
“You’re early,” says Sasuke when he follows the voice and finds his older brother at the kotatsu, working on his laptop with some tea next to him, and wearing a face mask, huddled in the trapped warmth under the blanket. (4)
“I went home around lunch,” replies Itachi, “I feel like a cold’s coming on, so I went ahead,”
“If you feel sick, why are you working?” Sasuke approaches him after putting on a mask himself and checks his temperature by placing his hand on his brother’s forehead. (14)
“I have too much to finish,” answers Itachi.
“You’re warm,” then goes to the fridge to get a cooling gel sheet. “Here,” he says, peeling the sheet of plastic from the gel, then sticks it on Itachi’s forehead. “Maybe winter’s seeping into your bones,” (5)
“I’ll be in your care,” Itachi chuckles. “Thank you,”
“I can’t be taking care of you and Naruto at the same time, Aniki,” Sasuke huffs.
“Why, is Naruto-kun sick, too?”
“No, he just doesn’t pay enough attention to his surroundings,”
“Ah, well, he’s too cute for that. Anyways, mom and dad are going to be late. There’s some leftover beef from last night. It’s already in the pot if you want to reheat it, and the rice cooker’s on,”
“Alright. But you better be in bed soon before mom sees you,”
“She was the first to know. Head of HR and all that,”
“Good. Now go to bed before the head of HR finds out you’ll be spreading disease throughout the company and decides to suspend you,”
“Harsh,”
“Go. To. Bed.” Sasuke pushes the laptop screen down.
“Fine, fine,” the elder brother sighs as he gets up and trudges himself up the stairs.
“I’ll bring you some onigiri, more tea, and your meds,”
“Thanks,”
Dad: Don’t stay up or prepare food for us. We’re out with clients at a restaurant and be home by midnight. Make sure Itachi takes his medicine.
Sasuke: Okay. Aniki’s already in bed and I made him eat and take his meds.
Dad: Good. Mom says he’s not allowed to come into work tomorrow. Don’t stay up too late.
Sasuke: I won’t. Take care and keep safe.
Sasuke looks up at the clock on the wall in the kitchen and it’s only seven in the evening. He just finished drying and putting away the dishes, so he has time to mull (panic) over what he wants to achieve with the silicone frog molds and baking items he just ordered.
He cleans up the kitchen, then heads to his room and sits at his chabudai with his laptop and consumes everything he can from YouTube. After all, Naruto did mention he learned the matcha fudge squares from watching videos. How hard could it be?
Except it is hard. He watched and compared recipes of fudge to chocolate formed in molds. How is he sure that just melted chocolate put into the molds and frozen, won’t melt due to the warmth provided by the school heating?
Bothered by the idea of melting chocolate, he looks for the solution. He doesn’t like what the solution is. It means more chocolate, and some more steps and equipment, and he doesn’t have enough budget just for chocolate like this. He’ll have to just have faith it won’t melt.
He grumbles in defeat as he closes the laptop and climbs into bed. These frogs better not melt.
Over the schooldays, they attend their classes and do their homework together, or nap or do homework together in the library during their free period.
Sasuke keeps on receiving green tea and tomato juice, and curry and milk bread from Naruto. In exchange, he gets Naruto some lemon or peach tea, paired with melon bread or milk bread filled with custard. And as usual at lunch, they eat together either in the classroom, their desks facing each other and stuck together, and they share bento. Since it’s cold, they don’t go out much other than when Naruto brings Sasuke a drink and his jacket after baseball practice out on the field.
Sasuke will never admit that he has always purposefully left behind his jacket so that Naruto will bring it to him.
On Friday, Naruto sleeps over after they have dinner delivered, pizza, pasta, and chicken, since Naruto’s parents are out. Naruto snickers and says his tou-chan-tachi are out on a date, so it’s probably better to get out of their way.
Naruto stands outside of Itachi’s bedroom door, where he’s quarantined, and he sets a tray down of takeaway, tea, and medicine outside. “Itachi-niichan! Here’s your food. Get well soon, okay!”
Sasuke lets Naruto have the bath first, and Itachi goes in last because, in his words, “I want to be gracious to my new baby brother,” (11)
“Shut up! You’re embarrassing!” Sasuke hisses at him and throws a fresh towel at his face.
Itachi can’t help but let out a belly laugh.
Naruto already has his own futon in the Uchiha home, just like how Sasuke has his own futon at the Hatake home. When Sasuke’s done with this bath and comes into his room already dressed in his pajamas, Naruto’s already laid out his futon and is drying his hair with Sasuke’s hair dryer.
“Come here, I’m done so I’ll do your hair,” Naruto motions for Sasuke on the futon, near the wall outlet the dryer is plugged to.
Sasuke hands him his towel, and Naruto starts first by towel drying Sasuke’s head before going for the dryer. He’s afraid to admit that Naruto’s fingers going through his hair and massaging his scalp is sending electricity and lightning down to where something isn’t allowed to stand attention.
Naruto chucks the towels into Sasuke’s hamper when they’re done, and Sasuke puts away the dryer.
“No,” says Sasuke when he sees Naruto prepare the bottles of whatever it is he’s planning on smearing on his face.
“I have a duty to protect and maintain your perfect skin!”
“What do you mean duty?” Sasuke snaps without heat.
Naruto traps him (Sasuke goes willingly), pins his bangs out of the way, and lets the blond put the skincare regimen on him.
“All done!”
His face feels tacky, but he feels refreshed and likes that one bottle that smells like oranges. This is why Naruto’s cheeks are so soft and squishable.
Usually, they play games or watch fantasy, drama, or action movies, but this time around, Sasuke decides to be sneaky and asks Naruto to watch a horror movie with him. The Thai version of Shutter. Sasuke knows this movie isn’t jump-scary or anything of the sort since he’s already seen it, but it is scary for someone like Naruto who is a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies. And it’s a good horror movie.
“We’ll watch whatever you want after this. I’ll even take you to any movie you wanna see. I just want to watch this with you,”
Naruto frowns. It’s so cute, Sasuke wants to kiss it off Naruto’s face. “But I don’t want to! It’s scary!”
“What if you like the story? Besides, I let you put all that on my face,”
“I don’t want to sleep in the dark after watching a scary movie! Sasuke!” Naruto whines his name.
Naruto’s futon is messy from their movement during hair drying and the skincare, the laptop is ready on the chabudai, and movie ready to play. Sasuke’s overhead light is already turned off, leaving the ambient soft light of his lampshade illuminating the room.
“Then we won’t turn off the lights. C’mon, we always watch what you want,”
Naruto’s brows furrow as he gives it some thought. “Okay. Well. You’ll treat me to two movies!”
“What else?”
“And you keep the light on!”
“Done,”
Sasuke hits play, and the movie starts. Naruto pulls his futon’s blanket up to cover them both and to protect himself from what’s on the screen.
Of course, like Sasuke predicted, Naruto scoots closer and closer into Sasuke under the blanket as the movie progresses. His heart beats faster every time there’s foreboding music coming from his laptop, not because of the scare that’s about to come, but because Naruto is so close to him, it’s like the blond wants to hide himself in Sasuke’s shirt. He even smells like Sasuke’s shampoo and soap, and Sasuke smells like Naruto’s skincare, and it’s taking all of Sasuke’s will to get a grip on himself.
And so, Naruto gets startled every time there’s something on screen or when the sound picks up, lets out squeaks and yelps, and mock cries and hides under the blanket or grabs Sasuke’s arm to squish his face into his bicep, but still comes back a second later to look.
“That was so scary!”
“Did you like it?” Sasuke asks as the credits roll, and he closes the laptop.
“That was horrible!” Naruto exclaims. “How could he have done that! He deserved it! He and all his friends deserved it!”
“So… did you like it?”
“I… I guess. The story was good and that poor girl,” he pouts, then adds petulantly, “I still don’t like being scared!”
Sasuke chuckles. “Guess I owe you two movie tickets then,” he leans in and kisses Naruto’s cheek as thanks for indulging him. These whiskers. They need to be kissed.
Naruto blushes a bright shade of pink.
God, why did he have to be so cute. Sasuke can’t take it.
“Now I’ll think there’s a ghost on my back whenever it hurts!” Naruto buries his face in Sasuke’s shoulder.
“There won’t be a ghost on your back,”
“You don’t know that!”
Sasuke shakes his head fondly.
Since it’s late and Naruto has to go home early to spend the day with his parents and grandma, they shuffle into bed, leaving Sasuke’s lamp on.
Ten minutes after Sasuke’s laid his head down and made himself comfortable under his warm sheets, Naruto climbs in. Sasuke, smug about his own sneakiness, welcomes Naruto in, and lets him use his shoulder as a pillow.
“Shut up, I’m not scared,” comes Naruto’s quiet voice.
“Mhmm,” is Sasuke’s only reply as he adjusts to Naruto snuggling into him.
Score.
They wake up late.
The weekend rolls around and Naruto is busy being spoiled by his parents with some shopping, ramen, and dessert, (probably the same thing at dinner with his grandma) while Sasuke tries to figure out these frogs. He’s glad his parents are out on a business trip and won’t be back until after White Day, and he only has Itachi to judge his life decisions.
He seems to have bought too many silicone molds, but he’s not deterred and has filled about half of them with all kinds of melted chocolate, white, milk, and dark. There are probably 24 or so frogs. They’re sizable frogs, and Naruto can’t possibly eat them all, but Sasuke knows he’ll try.
Itachi, at the kitchen threshold, sees the mess of bowls, spatulas, the open microwave, wax paper laid out on the counter, and pastry bags. “What are you doing?”
Sasuke, startled, squeezes the pastry bag filled with melted chocolate harder than intended and the frog mold almost overflows. “Shit,”
“You kiss Naruto-kun with that mouth?”
Sasuke looks up to find Itachi giving him a shit-eating grin and glares at him. “The fuck are you doing out of bed?”
“Thanks to your love and care, and Naruto’s well wishes, I’m all healed up,” Itachi tries to say, but it comes out sarcastic.
The little brother rolls his eyes, but lets Itachi ruffle his hair anyway.
“Frogs?”
Sasuke hums.
“Naruto-kun loves frogs,”
“Exactly,” says Sasuke as he fills up the next mold with molten chocolate.
“That’s a lot of frogs,” Itachi points out. “What if you colored the white chocolate green? Then you’d get green colored frogs,”
Sasuke snaps his head up at him. Itachi holds up the keys to his motorcycle.
The mess in the kitchen is quickly cleared out, the dark chocolate frogs are put in the freezer, and Sasuke goes with Itachi to get green food coloring.
Sasuke lets Itachi have one frozen dark chocolate frog as thanks for the brilliant idea, then refills the mold with green colored white chocolate. Now he has green colored chocolate frogs.
“Pretty good,” says Itachi as he finishes off a frog leg. “Who knew frogs tasted like chocolate,”
Again, Sasuke rolls his eyes.
There’s a thought that consumes him as he puts the frogs in the freezer, that if he freezes them long enough, they’d hold that freeze and survive through at least twelve hours in room temperature. It’s stupid and he knows it not to be true, but he’ll let the frogs freeze in peace for a few days.
On Monday morning, the day before White Day, Sasuke wakes up early, but not early enough to catch Itachi, who’s already left for work.
He fetches the silicone molds from the freezer and gently removes the chocolate from the molds. When it comes out perfectly in the shape of a frog, Sasuke is filled with relief and pride. Now those are some good-looking frogs.
Carefully, he wraps them in clear plastic and ties them off with pieces of orange ribbon. He puts them in a paper bag, and the last of them in a pastry box before shoving them in his bag and goes on his way to walk to school with Naruto.
They walk shoulder to shoulder in the cold, feeling like he wants to already give Naruto the chocolates then and there, but he wants to make Naruto feel special by finding them at school.
During lunch, he manages to escape his classroom with the box of chocolate frogs while Naruto is distracted with his friends and goes to the home economics room to stash chocolates in the freezer.
During free period, Sasuke catches Hinata in the hallway near the gardening club room and corners her.
“Hyuuga Hinata-san,”
“What is it, Uchiha-kun?” Hinata walks up to him. (8)
It’s either her cousin or her, and Sasuke would rather ask her. “I have a favor to ask,”
“Sure!” Hinata gives him a smile. “What do you need help with?”
“I have a surprise I want to give to Naruto. I’d like to hide it in his locker in your gardening club room. Is that okay?” tomorrow is Naruto’s club day, so he knows he’ll find it there.
“A surprise!” her smile reaches her twinkling eyes. “Of course! I’m sure Naruto-kun will love getting a surprise from you! Do you want to put it in the locker now? I can go with you,”
Sasuke’s glad she’s okay with helping him. “I’ll do it later tonight, since the baseball team is staying late anyway,”
She reaches into her jacket pocket and hands him a key attached to a keychain of a ceramic leaf. “Put it in my drawer when you’re done, okay? Good luck with your surprise. I’m sure Naruto-kun will love it,” (9)
“Thank you,”
“You’re welcome!”
“You have baseball stuff, don’t you?” Naruto says as he gathers his belongings.
The classroom is fast to empty—students eager to go home and get warm, sink into their bed, or busy themselves with their phones and other things. Sasuke heard Akimichi bothering Inuzuka, and Nara into eating at a barbecue, which Naruto had declined earlier, saying he has to get home and cook dinner.
They’re two of the day’s classroom cleaners and are just about to wrap up their chores ten minutes after all students have gone. To get some privacy and alone time, they choose to be left behind by the others. (15)
“Yeah,” answers Sasuke. “I’m going to head to the lockers now and get changed. Go home, pay attention on the street, and don’t dawdle!”
“Okaaaay!” Naruto pouts and huffs at him, mock annoyed at being lectured.
“Message me when you get home,”
“You won’t even have your phone on you when I get home,”
“At least there’s proof that you got home,”
“Fine. I’ll spam you with videos and food we have to try,”
“Sure thing,”
Naruto looks around, and when the coast is clear, he places a quick peck on Sasuke’s cheek and runs out the door.
Naruto will be the death of him. Their school will lose their baseball captain.
Before the baseball team gathers, Sasuke rushes to the home economics classroom and grabs the chocolate frogs from the freezer. He first puts a few frogs in Naruto’s shoe locker, then goes back up to their classroom to put more in Naruto’s desk drawer.
He saves the gardening club room for last. There aren’t any students left in the buildings, and the baseball players are surely roughhousing around in the lockers. As captain, he should be the first one there, but for now this holds more weight than today’s last practice and strategy meeting.
Inconspicuously, he unlocks the door and closes it to make sure no one notices the door’s been opened. It’s a leap of faith when he tries Naruto’s shoe locker combination on this locker, and it works. He leaves more frogs in, careful not to disfigure them.
“You better not melt,” he mutters under his breath, as if threatening the chocolate frogs will help retain their shape.
Just as Sasuke’s securing Naruto’s locker, the door rattles open.
“How did you get in here?” Hyuuga Neji demands of him as he slams the door closed. “What are you doing in Naruto’s locker?”
He should have locked the door when he went in, but then again that wouldn’t ensure he wouldn’t be caught, since Neji is an officer in this club. He is probably here checking on things for their activities tomorrow. “Leaving chocolate, what does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re breaking into club rooms and lockers,” says the upperclassman.
Sasuke won’t be intimidated by him. He’s still mad at Neji for giving Naruto chocolate on Valentines Day. “And it looks like I’ll be leaving,” he moves for the door.
Neji chuckles, unfazed by the glare Sasuke doesn’t know he’s giving him. “You’re probably mad at me, huh? For giving Naruto chocolate? I saw you across the street, waiting,”
That makes Sasuke stop in his tracks, steps in front of the door.
“That’s why I gave it to him. I gave him chocolate, so that he wouldn’t see you. Don’t get me wrong, Uchiha. I didn’t give him that chocolate as a pity party, I did it because I do genuinely like Naruto. He’s cute, sweet, a little clueless and scatterbrained, but that’s what so endearing about him,”
Sasuke turns around, brows furrowed and glare sharper in anger. “You don’t touch him,”
“How cute, an angry possessive boyfriend,” says Neji blandly. “My hands were never on Naruto, Uchiha. I gave him that chocolate so you would see someone else make him happy. That Naruto was up for grabs by anyone. That no matter how many death glares to throw at anyone trying to get close to him, you are still too much of a coward to get off your ass and make a move,”
“Fuck you.”
“No, thanks. But I do still think he deserves better than you,” says Neji, but this time his mood changes and he glares at Sasuke right back. “Now get out of my club room, before I report the captain of the baseball team for loitering and breaking and entering,”
Sasuke gets out of there.
He’s in a half rage when he tosses the key in Hinata’s drawer. The nerve of that Hyuuga. Even if he meant friendly by the chocolate he gave to Naruto, it still pisses him the fuck off. He’s mad not just because Hyuuga gave him chocolate, but because he was such a coward to give Naruto chocolate in school where he expected it, that he waited until Hyuuga got to Naruto first, by the skin of his teeth. 30 seconds it takes to cross the street and join Sasuke at the café!
Mad, also because the nerve of Hyuuga to do that. To keep Naruto from him. He’s not even sure if he should still be mad at all, since it all worked out, but he is.
And he had the audacity to tell Sasuke that Naruto deserved better than him!
Naruto is mine!
His rage he takes out on practice. Every pitch he made his teammates couldn’t hit, and every bat he swung, the ball flies out of the field. The anger is stealing his breath.
Their coach notices and tells him to calm down; that while the team would benefit from his talent at baseball overflowing, it would be appreciated if this show of talent didn’t come from anger. He’s ordered to clear his head and they’re dismissed as the darkness falls and the moon rises.
By the time Sasuke gets to check his phone when he gets home after practice, his thread with Naruto is full of memes, photos, videos, of everything. It’s what bates his anger.
Naruto: I told you, you look like this cat!!
Sasuke: Don’t stay up too late. I’ll go ahead tomorrow for prepare for the match.
Sasuke: Sorry to leave you to walk alone home today and to school tomorrow.
Naruto: It was sad to walk home alone ☹
Sasuke: We’ll walk home together tomorrow, don’t worry.
Naruto: Okay! 🥰
Sasuke: Will you watch the match?
Naruto: Of course! I’ll cheer you and you’ll win!
Sasuke: Bring your jacket so you don’t get cold.
The next day, Naruto opens his shoe locker, there are packets of something in it.
“Huh?” he says as he reaches for them after he’s put on his indoor shoes. When they’re out of the darkness of the shoe locker and into the light of the school’s genkan and the morning sunlight through the glass doors, he gasps. “Chocolate!” he exclaims, finding six pieces of them. “Frogs! I love frogs! They’re so cute! Oh, a green one!”
“Chocolate?” Kiba, who’s already changed into his indoor shoes, approaches. “Who’s it from? Do you know?”
Naruto giggles, giddy with excitement, gently cradling the chocolate frogs as if they’re breakable. “Of course I know who!”
“Aww, Naruto, did you put that there yourself?”
Naruto turns around and sees Haruno Sakura, her sneer almost invisible in her façade of niceties. He frowns. “Why would I put chocolate in my own locker?”
“Ehhh, but you’ve never gotten chocolate before,” she tries to point out, pretending to be confused.
Her derision for him is thick in the air and Naruto never understood why. Sure, Naruto knows it’s about Sasuke, but it happened even before Naruto shared deeper feelings with Sasuke.
“That’s rich coming from someone who’s been rejected three years in a row,” Shikamaru comes to Naruto’s defense.
Her confidence shatters. “Sasuke-kun just needs a little bit more time, that’s all!” Sakura counters shrilly, her façade instantly cracking at the half-mention of Sasuke.
People gather to see if it’s true that Naruto had received some and to look at what kind of chocolates he got. They’re starting to whisper, their eyes burning holes into his head. Naruto knows anyone, including him, who’s ever gotten the sharp end of Sakura’s attention was always because of Sasuke (president of his fan club or whatever delusion she’s nursing). She’s always been offered chocolate, sure, but she’s never actually had any because she always turned them down, hoping Sasuke would accept hers.
“Right, right, because three years isn’t enough time to convince someone, don’t make us laugh, Haruno,” says Kiba, putting his arms around Naruto to pull away from the commotion.
She turns red in her anger, then Choji slams Naruto’s locker closed which makes her jump, and Kiba and Shikamaru guide Naruto away from the genkan and further into the building to head for their classroom.
“She can be such a bitch,” says Kiba. “Don’t worry, Naruto, you"re cute enough for chocolate, don’t listen to her,”
Naruto feels his cheeks heat from Kiba’s compliment.
“Serves her right not getting any chocolate at all. Hopefully Uchiha does something to really rub it in her face that he’s not interested,” Shikamaru adds. “Getting real tired of her shit,”
Naruto tries not to let the anger get to him and enjoys the feeling of having received chocolates. “Aren’t my chocolate frogs cute! Hey!”
Kiba grabs one. “Can I get one?”
“No!” Naruto snatches it back and inspects it if Kiba’s deformed it. “Go give Hinata-chan your chocolate!”
Kiba blushes and covers Naruto’s mouth with his hand. “Shut your mouth, Naruto! She’s gonna hear!”
When they get to their desks, Naruto opens his drawer to prepare his notes and textbook for the first period and discovers more chocolate frogs.
“Frogs!” he exclaims, seeing the chocolate frogs in clear plastic tied off with the same orange ribbon just like the ones from his locker.
“You got yourself an admirer, Naruto?” Gaara says when he sits down next to him.
Naruto snickers. “Maybe!”
“Good. You deserve that and more,”
For the first time in a long while, Naruto felt seen, normal, included. Some of his classmates around him also found chocolate in their drawers. Even if Sakura humiliated him in front of their peers by saying he put the chocolates there himself, he knew it was Sasuke. The chocolates are so cute he doesn’t want to eat them.
“Are you going to eat it?” Choji asks.
“But they’re too cute to eat!” Naruto pouts, “I love frogs!”
“You do love your frogs,” Shikamaru agrees.
“Whoever put that in your drawer better get ready for Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei,” remarks Kiba as he settles down in his own seat.
His tou-chan-tachi like Sasuke just fine.
He finds even more chocolate frogs in his locker in the gardening club room. It’s his and Gaara’s turn to watch over the room and clean up while Neji does graduating student things and Hinata’s given up her hours today to help with planning for the spring activities with the student body officers.
Naruto can’t help but giggle. Sasuke must have spent a lot of effort on these. He’ll eat the frogs with him.
“That’s a lot of frogs. How many does that make now?” Gaara asks, starting on sweeping the floor.
“18 frogs!” Naruto answers excitedly. “I wish I could keep them all! The green ones are so cute! And the dark and milk ones look like the one from Harry Potter! I hope they don’t jump out the window when I open them,”
“I’m sure they won’t jump out the window,”
Naruto places them back in his locker and mentally notes to retrieve them before leaving the club room, then starts with organizing their shelves. Later, he and Gaara start to plan out their activities for spring and summer.
Naruto hasn’t seen Sasuke all day, and from the intercom, an announcement to let them know that the baseball match will be starting at 3pm, and that they can proceed to the baseball field. He grabs his and Sasuke’s jacket drags his friends to the baseball field.
Of course they win, Sasuke’s their baseball captain.
Sasuke, of course, makes Naruto his inspiration to win, and tries to keep Neji’s goading off his mind by looking for Naruto on the bleachers. And every time he sees him, Naruto is cheering for him.
Naruto jumps and screams on top of his lungs together with the rest of the student body when Sasuke scores the winning point by hitting that ball out of the park and getting a homerun.
And Sasuke gets tackled by his teammates, ecstatic about their win. It’s just a local win, a friendly match with a neighboring school, but a win nonetheless, a win enjoyed by their school. The visiting school comes over to congratulate them in a show of sportsmanship.
When the celebrations are done, Sasuke runs back to the home dugout and grabs the bag he brought with him.
“Hey, Uchiha!” calls one of Sasuke’s teammates. “Uzumaki’s here for you! And you know, your fan club,”
“Be right there!” he says, removing his helmet in favor of his cap.
As he steps out of the dugout girls come up to him and say their congratulations, saying that he’s so handsome, cool, that they never doubted he could lead them to victory. He tells them a shallow and quick thank you and sees Naruto through the crowd and wades through the people to get to him.
“Congratulations!” says Naruto with a large grin, handing him his jacket. “Told you, you’d win,”
“Of course we’d win; you were watching and cheering,” Sasuke gratefully takes the jacket and puts it on, relieved to be finally insulated from the cold. He reaches inside his bag, and hands a white box over to Naruto, then ruffles the blond’s hair.
It’s Sakura who shrieks first in disbelief when she sees the windowed box containing the very same chocolate frogs Naruto has been finding snuck into his belongings all day. The crowd gasps, some girls even started crying. Sasuke’s fan club is trying to calm a hysterical Sakura.
“Frogs!” Naruto bursts out, grinning ear to ear at the sight of the chocolate. “Thank you!” and he throws himself at Sasuke for a tight hug.
“Happy White Day, Naruto,” Sasuke hugs back.
Of course, Sasuke’s fan club (the whole school) loses their shit. The most popular boy in school, giving a class nobody chocolate on White Day! That would mean Naruto had given him chocolate and Sasuke had accepted.
Good thing the year is about to end, that means he won’t have to deal with Sakura and her godforsaken fan club and only focus on spending time with Naruto. It’s only when he’s changed out of the baseball uniform and on the way home with Naruto, that Sasuke realizes that he did that public declaration in front of the whole school and Naruto’s parents, who were sure to be watching from the bleachers, even if he didn’t see them around during the commotion he made on the field.
He had been thinking of how to get Sakura off his back, he just didn’t expect himself to go that far with the dramatics.
“They’re so cute, I don’t want to eat them!” says Naruto as they walk home. “Thank you, Sasuke. I love them,”
“Eat them, then we can just make more,” Sasuke tells him, his anxiety about his public display is replaced with satisfaction at Naruto’s delight.
“Yeah, but I have a better idea, since you don’t like sweets. Let’s paint frogs together! I’ve done it before. You could color your frog red, white, dark blue, and black like your crest and family colors. Our family colors are boring. Kakashi-tou-chan’s crest is just black and white,”
Sasuke gives him an agreeable nod. “We could also paint an uchiwa with frogs if you like,”
“I’d like that!” Naruto reaches for Sasuke’s hand.
Their entwined hands make Sasuke’s heart beat like crazy. They walk in silence, hand in hand.
“Na, Sasuke,” Naruto says after a while.
“Hm?”
“When you were in the lockers, my tou-chan-tachi said congratulations on your win, and to bring you to dinner tonight,”
“Oh,”
Ah. Well then. He should inform his brother he would like to be cremated.