again & again - [ sasusaku ] [ au one-shot collection ]

twelve

for grace on AO3

***

Uchiha Sasuke is the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. He's always well put together, never a hair out of place in his unique spiked style. Nervous just wasn't a thing Sasuke felt.

Except right now.

The dark haired man sat in his living room, anxiously running his hands through his wild hair and checking the time on his watch as he waited for his girlfriend to finish getting ready for their dinner date.

Sakura.

She was taking longer than usual to get ready. She said something about her dresses not fitting too well, so she had to find one of the dresses she bought when she gained a few pounds after being inactive with a broken leg.

Sasuke wasn't surprised, since the gym Sakura teaches yoga classes in and works out at has been closed for remodeling for over a month. She'd been mostly doing light yoga in their small living room, sometimes forcing him to join her. Although, he hadn't seen her yoga mat in the past week.

"Sasuke-kun, you ready to go?"

At the sound of his girlfriend's voice, he turned to look at her. Sasuke could feel the love he had for her swell up in his heart as she walked out of their room and down the small hallway.

She looked beautiful in the red wrap dress that flowed loosely around her and matched the color of his own dress shirt. Her pink hair was curled around her shoulders, and her smiling face glowed beautifully with happiness.

In that moment, any doubt he had about the small velvet box in his pocket vanished.

She stood before him with a quirked smile as she tended to his hair. Once Sakura was satisfied with the outcome, she pressed a light, lingering kiss to his lips that warmed him up. She stepped back to adjust the black heels on her small feet.

As he helped her with her coat and took her hand to walk out of the apartment and to the taxi out front, he couldn't help but think about the past; his, hers, theirs.

Sasuke had been an intelligent kid who purposely went out of his way to avoid his fellow classmates. His mother and brother always tried to coax him out of his antisocial behaviors, but he didn't see the point in it. Sasuke was passing all his classes easily, why should it matter if he had a friend or not?

Eventually, he had been forced to partake in extracurricular activities, so he took up karate at the age of twelve. There were eight other kids from his class who joined.

That was when his life changed.

Uzumaki Naruto was an annoying kid who made friends with everyone. How he did it, Sasuke would never know. All he knew was that the loser wouldn't leave him alone until they were friends, and Sasuke refused to acknowledge it which formed into a rivalry as to who could be the best. Regardless, the blonde wouldn't leave him alone.

Another person who wouldn't leave him alone had been Sakura. She was a friend of Naruto's who kept him in check when he'd act up or take things too far. She was also very vocal about her quickly-developed crush on Sasuke, so the pinkette would constantly fuss and fawn over him. Sasuke didn't really get it so he tried to keep his distance from her and her sunny smiles.

Nonetheless, the trio constantly worked on routines and training together, so the inevitable bond grew between them as they spent more time together in class and outside of it over the next few years. Naruto became a second brother to him, and Sakura...

A small hand gently shook him out of his thoughts, and he realized they had arrived at the restaurant. Sasuke got out and held his hand out, giving a small squeeze when her hand slipped into place. There was a comfortable silence between the couple as they were seated in the romantic, dimly lit restaurant.