𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

15 - Staring

September, 1992 - Japan

"Sasuke. You're staring at her right now." Naruto said quietly through a mouthful of noodles, observing his best friend closely. School had started up again for the second term. Everyone was outside for lunch, seeing as the weather would start forcing them to eat inside soon.

"That's still not funny," Sasuke muttered crossly. "You're gonna make things weird."

Naruto seemed to have picked up the idea that Sasuke was absolutely, unquestionably in love with Haruka, of all people. It was true that ever since she had stormed off the beach at the end of summer, Sasuke had become more conscious of her. Her boldness had taken him by surprise; he had known she didn't back down too easily, but he certainly hadn't expected her to be so assertive. That was all.

"Things are already weird, stalker. Avert your eyes or she's gonna notice." Naruto said smugly. The girls were seated at the opposite end of the long table, so there was no way they could hear anything. Haruka was among them, laughing to her heart's content, blissfully unaware of the hushed conversation going on at the boys' end of the table.

"I haven't been staring at anyone," Sasuke defended. He had zero recollection of ever doing so. "Can't you pick someone else to bother?"

"Dude. I'm not trying to piss you off," Naruto insisted, even though he didn't seem too distraught at the fact that he was doing precisely that. "But didn't you choose her to play DDR with you? And, you drove her home a couple days ago. You can at least see why it makes sense to think you have a thing for her, right?"

"No, I can't. There was a storm and she only had her skates, that's why I drove her home. I'm friends with her." Sasuke replied. "Just like I'm friends with you. It's not that hard to understand."

"Well last I checked, friends don't usually stare at each other all day."

Sasuke didn't have a response for that, so he just sighed, and Naruto snickered. He hated that Naruto was trying to make him second-guess himself. Didn't he have better ways to mess with him? The constant accusations were going to make it awkward—they were going to put stupid ideas in his head.

When the bell rang and they were forced to head back into the building, Naruto caught up to Hinata and pulled her back from the rest of the crowd.

"Dude. I mean, babe," Naruto said in a low voice as they walked behind all of their friends. "Am I going insane, or has Sasuke been staring at Haruka?"

Naruto had mentioned his observation to Hinata beforehand, which had prompted her to investigate the matter for herself. She nodded, "I think so."

"I knew it!" Naruto said quietly. That was all the confirmation he needed. "He won't admit it to me."

"Maybe he's doing it without realizing it," Hinata responded. "I used to do that all the time to you, you know."

Naruto grinned, "So you don't anymore? Why not?"

Hinata lightly pushed on his chest. Of course she still stared at him.

-

"I still don't get the point of it." Haruka sighed. She was walking to a coffee shop with Hinata, and they were discussing the Halloween party that was already in the planning stages a month early. "You've got to be a whole different kind of stupid not to recognize someone just because they're wearing a tiny mask that covers a little bit of their face."

"That's why they're not using regular masks. Didn't you hear?" replied Hinata, her hands in the pockets of her coat.

"No. What do you mean?"

"Well, I heard you have to show up wearing a brown paper bag over your head. With holes cut out for the eyes, of course."

"Wait, what?" Haruka laughed. "You're joking."

Hinata shook her head.

"Why?" Haruka groaned. "Then we won't be able to find our friends!"

"I think that's the point, actually. They want you to meet someone new on the dance floor."

"What?!" Haruka repeated. Her face had already been pale due to the cold, but now it was pure snow. "No! I don't want to meet anybody!"

"Why not?" Hinata asked, and Haruka couldn't help but marvel again at the confidence she had gained since she started going out with Naruto. A year ago, she would have been just as anxious as Haruka.

"Because!"

"Because...why?"

"There's a romantic subtext! I don't...it's too scary. And you know I've never liked slow dancing." Haruka sputtered out, already running through ideas as to how to get out of the situation.

"Why not?" Hinata repeated, the slightest bit amused.

"Oh, you don't want to get me started." Haruka shivered. "First, I can only do DDR. Otherwise, I've got two left feet."

"Not a lot of people are truly good at it." Hinata waved her off. "All you need to is watch everyone else. Or maybe your partner can help you."

"Yeah, well the partner's the next issue. You need to hold hands with some random person, and be like, right up against them! What are you supposed to talk about? Do you just...stare at each other the whole time?"

"It's really not as bad as you think, especially if you're with the right person."

"But I'm not even going to know who I'm with!" Haruka complained. "Well, that would be if I was actually gonna do it. Which I'm not."

"I don't get it, Haruka." Hinata mused. "You're one of the most confident people I know. Why is this any different?"

Haruka let out a defeated exhale. "I can't explain it. I've just been terrified of all of this stuff for as long as I can remember."

"Well, try not to be." Hinata smiled. "It's not so bad. And who knows, there could be someone out there that wouldn't mind dancing with you. Or even wants to dance with you."

"D-don't say that!" Haruka looked at her friend in absolute horror.

-

Sasuke was exhausted from a long day at school. On top of the academic aspect, Naruto had yet again been bugging him nonstop about his love life during every spare moment he had. There were no other topics that interested him less, and it was like torture. What could he do to make him stop?

To get his mind off things, he had gone to the skatepark, and he was currently driving home. His brain was on autopilot, and when he snapped back into it, there was a horrid song playing on the radio.

"You're in love, just admit it! You're in love, just accept-"

He switched the station with a dramatic sigh. "Stupid radio."

When he arrived back home, it was no shock that his father wasn't home from work yet, even though he should have been. In fact, it would have been more of a shock if he was home. Ever since his company ran into trouble on Sasuke's birthday, Fugaku had been working overtime every day, trying to fix whatever the problem was. Sasuke probably would have known more if he cared to listen to the boring table talk once in a while.

He walked in to find that his mother had gone to bed early, and his dinner was waiting in the fridge. He put it in the microwave and slumped down in a chair at the kitchen table. Mindlessly looking at his empty home, he rested his chin on his palm.