Naruto sighed as he slipped into his safe place under the bleachers. Today hadn't been a particularly bad day, in fact many of the students barely even got close enough to him to hurt him, but that was just the point. It almost seemed like everyone was trying their hardest to stay as far away from him as possible. He hated to admit that that almost felt worse than their cruel comments because now they seemed even more disgusted with him than they did when they actually went near him. He couldn't help but to think that it was all because they saw him at his weakest and now they are disgusted by him.

Naruto shook himself. He didn't want to think about that right now. Sasuke would be out on the field sometime soon and he wanted to see the man without being distracted by those cruel thoughts.

"Hey," a voice just a little bit further behind Naruto made him jump. No one should have known that he was back here.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped as he turned to see the football captain slip under the bleachers with him. "I was just picking up something that I dropped."

Sasuke smiled knowingly as he looked at the blanket that Naruto had already set out. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

Naruto looked over at his blanket nervously, but nodded before sitting on it himself. Sasuke smiled and then followed suit. Naruto blushed and pulled his knees up to his chest to hide his face as Sasuke sat a lot closer than he expected him to.

"How are you feeling?" Sasuke asked after a moment as a way to start a conversation.

"I-I don't know," Naruto answered nervously. "I think I'm feeling better."

"That's good," Sasuke smiled. "Are you going to be staying for the game today?"

"Yes!" Naruto said a little too quickly, but then he regretted it immediately. Now that he told someone that he was going to be at the game he would have to actually show up instead of staying in his safe place underneath the bleachers.

"Good," Sasuke smiled. "I was hoping you would."

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Why?"

"I missed my lucky charm at the last game," Sasuke answered.

"Lucky charm?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "I've noticed that every time I see these lovely blue eyes watching me from underneath the bleachers, I do a lot better. Unfortunately, those eyes were missing during the last game and I almost lost it. My coach was not happy at all. He said that if I didn't get my mind in the game for this game he wouldn't let me play."

"No!" Naruto gasped. He didn't know much about football, but he was pretty sure that it would be really bad for both the school and for Sasuke if he didn't get to play.

"I think that I'll be able to play now that my lucky charm is back," Sasuke smiled and Naruto blushed and buried his face in his knees again. "I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"Wh-what is it?" Naruto asked nervously without revealing himself to Sasuke. He was already so embarrassed that Sasuke knew that he had been watching him all this time and he didn't want Sasuke to think he was even more of a weirdo than he already was.

"I was hoping that my lucky charm would sit with me on the bench. Maybe if I could see him better, I will be able to do an even better job during this game."

"If-if that's what you want," Naruto said even though he really didn't want to show himself at the game. He would much rather make Sasuke happy then hide under the bleachers with the bugs. If the day continued to go as it had gone throughout the whole day, then maybe people won't bother him.

"Are you okay with it?" Sasuke lifted his brow. "I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

"I do," Naruto said quickly as he finally looked up at Sasuke to show just how sincere he was. "I'm just a little nervous. What will everyone think of me?"

Sasuke paused for a moment before standing and holding out his hand to Naruto. "Can I show you something?"

Naruto nodded and took Sasuke's hand. He couldn't help but smile as a shot of electricity seemed to shoot up his arm from where their skin met. He would follow Sasuke anywhere if the man let him.

Sasuke led Naruto all the way to the locker rooms before Naruto hesitated. "Where are we going?" he asked. He knew that only the football students ever went into the locker rooms right before the game. It was practically taboo for someone like Naruto to head inside.

"Don't worry," Sasuke smiled reassuringly. "No one will be in there yet."

"Are you sure it's okay for me to go in?" Naruto asked.

"Of course," Sasuke replied. "Besides, I don't really think that anyone is going to hurt any of my friends because then they'll have to deal with me."

"You're friend?" Naruto asked cautiously. He didn't want to read to far into what Sasuke was saying, but he couldn't get over the fact that it sounded like Sasuke was calling him his friend.

"Of course," Sasuke replied. "If that's okay with you."

"I-I want to be your friend," Naruto said nervously. He was more ecstatic than he probably really should have been, but his greatest crush had just agreed to be his friend and that was something that he would allow himself to be happy about.

"Good," Sasuke smiled as he pulled Naruto into the locker room.

Immediately after the two of them were inside, Sasuke turned and locked the door with the key that he had borrowed from the coach. Then he directed a very nervous Naruto over to his own locker.

"Alright," Sasuke said as he motioned for Naruto to sit down. "I want to show you something, but it has to be a secret between the two of us. Are you okay with that?"

Naruto nodded, but he didn't really have to because Sasuke was already taking off his shirt. He didn't really care if Naruto agreed with him. He was going to show Naruto that he wasn't alone whether or not the boy would give away his secret.

Naruto gasped when he the shirt came away to reveal several scars. "What happened?" he asked.

"My father beat me when I was younger," Sasuke replied.

"But why?" Naruto asked. "You've never done anything wrong."

"People like him don't care what we've done. We can be the best people in the world and they'll still find reasons to hurt us. Neither of us did anything to deserve what we got."

"I-I-" Naruto couldn't think of anything to say. Iruka and Kakashi kept telling him that he never did anything wrong and that none of this was his fault, but he never truly believed them. Coming from someone who had been through the same thing that he had been through, though, made everything seem more believable. It really wasn't his fault that any of this happened. "I-" he tried again, but he couldn't say anything past the tears that were slipping down his cheeks.

Sasuke didn't say anything. He just leaned forward and encompassed Naruto in his arms to allow the man to cry. Naruto wrapped his own arms around Sasuke and cried his heart out. He couldn't remember the last time that he allowed himself to let this many tears fall away from his eyes, but it felt so good to do it now. He knew he was safe now and he knew that he might actually be able to be happy now.

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto knew how much time passed in each other's arms, but they were finally pulled apart by the sound of someone slamming a fist against the locker room doors. "Come one dude!" Kiba yelled through the door. "How long are you going to be in there? We have to get ready for the game too."

"Yea, yea." Sasuke called out. "Hold on a second." He quickly changed into his uniform, practically forgetting that Naruto was still in the room with him, before jogging over to open the door.

"Finally," Kiba rolled his eyes before pressing past Sasuke to get inside. "Took you long enough."

"I was busy," Sasuke growled just as Kiba noticed Naruto.

"Dude!" he called out. "You did not lock us out of the locker room so that you could make out with your boyfriend!"

"No I didn't," Sasuke growled as Naruto blushed.

"Like you've never used the locker rooms to make out with your girlfriend!" one of the other team members called out.

"At least the captain had the decency to lock the door so that we wouldn't be forced to see it."

"I didn't make you watch!" Kiba said. "You could've left at any time."

Naruto couldn't help but giggle as the team continued their friendly banter and Sasuke smiled as he sat next to him.

"So dude," Kiba said after they finally stopped getting at him about making out with his girlfriend in the locker rooms. "Is this your crush?"

"Yes," Sasuke agreed immediately and Naruto's blush got a bit stronger.

"You could have told me man," Kiba whined.

"I told you that I didn't have a crush on a girl," Sasuke replied easily.

"But you didn't tell me that you had a crush on a guy," Kiba said.

"Why?" Sasuke raised his brow. "Were you hoping that it would be you?"

"No way!" Kiba made a disgusted face. "I'm straight and I've got my girl."

"Sure," Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Look at this guy!" Kiba pointed at Sasuke as he looked over at Naruto. "He's being so mean to me."

Naruto only giggled a bit more in response.

"He's on my side," Sasuke said.

"No way man," Kiba said. "He totally likes me better."

"Sorry," Naruto finally said, "but you're not really my type."

"Burn!" some of the other team members said.

"Dude!" Kiba whined. "You guys are all so mean to me!"

Naruto sat watching anxiously as Sasuke ran past another defender. It was the last few seconds of the game and the two teams were tied. If Sasuke could make that last touch down, they would win. And Sasuke was getting farther and farther and no one came close to him. He had really good team members. Naruto was sitting on the edge of his seat when Sasuke finally made it to the touchdown and he couldn't help but jump up with everyone else to celebrate the win. All the team ran up to Sasuke and pulled him onto their shoulders to celebrate, but Naruto stayed where he was to watch. He saw Sasuke look over to him with the biggest grin, but then his attention was distracted by the cheerleaders.

"Hey looser," Sakura said. "What are you doing over here?"

"Sasuke asked me to sit with the team," Naruto answered nervously.

"Yea right," Sakura laughed. "Like Sasuke would spend any time with you. Look here you little idiot. Just because you got a little sick doesn't mean that you get to hang out with Sasuke. Actually, it'd be better if you stayed away from Sasuke. No one wants your idiocy to wipe off on him."

"Is this bitch bothering you Naruto?" Sasuke walked up behind Naruto and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"N-no," Naruto stuttered.

"Good," Sasuke smiled. "Because we wouldn't want to have to forcibly remove her from us."

It was only then that Naruto realized that the whole team was actually standing behind them and Sakura was the only one that stood before them. Sasuke had been right. No one would dare to hurt his friends because they would have to deal with his team. Naruto couldn't help but smile because he knew that he was no longer alone. He actually had friends now.

And they lived happily ever after. The end.

I hope you guys enjoyed this story.