i want a baff

‘What?’ he replied cleverly, more than a little confused. What was he talking about?

‘Me,’ Naruto offered unhelpfully, causing Sasuke to scoff. The Uchiha rolled his eyes as he looked back to the match at hand where Kakashi-sensei was effortlessly dodging Sakura’s attacks, casually goading her with lazy words of encouragement.

‘Yes,’ he affirmed strongly, letting irritation bleed into his tone. ‘Of course you’re weird, you loser.’

Fully expecting a rebuttal, Sasuke braced himself for one of Naruto’s trademark counters, explosive and nonsensical all in one. He could hear the way Naruto choked as words of denial caught in his throat, a telltale sign of a bomb about to blow. So Sasuke waited for them to fall into their routine. Waited for them to argue about something as stupid as playground insults.

But then the silence stretched and Sasuke couldn’t help glancing back towards the other boy, confused and annoyed at the uncharacteristic lack of response. Naruto was back to looking at the ground, a furrow between his brows and a flurry of emotions in his eyes that Sasuke didn’t want to think about. Unfortunately for him, his treacherous brain did, and he found himself immediately perturbed. Why did his usually unshakable teammate look so troubled?

Then a memory from that morning flickered to the forefront of his mind, and suddenly Sasuke recalled words he’d overheard in passing as Team 7 made their way through the familiar village streets. A gentleman trading conversation with a nearby vendor had made a small scene upon noticing Naruto stroll by, halting his loud exclamations only once he’d realised The Look he was getting from the resident adult of the jinchuriki’s party. After everything Naruto had experienced over the years, were those unkind words really enough to rattle him? Before he could think better of it, Sasuke ‘tsked’ and spoke.

‘But so what?’ he said confidently, unsure of why he felt the need to reassure the blond boy. ‘Everyone’s weird.’

Sasuke really wished he could ignore the way Naruto’s head snapped to give him his full attention, bright blue eyes shimmering with a stunned, hopeful spark. Evidently, Sasuke couldn’t. Not when it was so glaringly obvious that what he’d said had done something to comfort the boy, a fact that made Sasuke feel terribly conflicted and more than pleased all at once. Unable to tear his own gaze away, the boys silently stared at one another for a moment before Sasuke cleared his throat, slowly suffocating in the unfamiliar atmosphere.

‘Even if you are the weirdest,’ Sasuke snarked, smirking triumphantly. He took pleasure in the way Naruto gaped like a fish for a moment, satisfaction blooming in his gut as the exuberant boy’s expression grew to accommodate a challenging grin, familiar, normal and right.

‘Oh yeah?! You’re one to talk!!’ Naruto yelled enthusiastically, his usual fire returning to him with full force. Sasuke rolled his eyes once again.

‘Tch. Whatever you say.’ Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly as the shadows of Sakura and Kakashi-sensei neared the sitting pair.

‘Sasuke, Naruto,’ sensei started. ‘You two ready for team exercises?’ Attention officially refocused, Naruto directed his enthusiasm at the copycat ninja.

‘You bet Kakashi-sensei!! Bring it on!!’ the knuckleheaded ninja declared, jumping up from the grass. Sasuke followed suit albeit much calmer.

‘Hmph,’ Sasuke agreed, nodding his affirmative. Sakura was quick to come between her teammates, already plotting their joint match against their teacher.

Naruto and Sasuke did little to acknowledge the moment they had shared, but deep down they knew they didn’t need to. If the two of them were more playful that day, no one commented, and if the two of them were more liable to teamwork that day, no one complained.

=^-^=