God, I really need to stop procrastinating geez, how long has it even been? I don't even have a proper excuse, it's already summer. As a sorry, here's a song for you! I'd be surprised if you guys still read this, tbh. Also, big thanks to @mrspuppy321 for inspiring this chapter and getting me mostly out of my writer's block!🥳 Anygays, let's get on with the chapter.

-|3rd person POV|-

(Picking up where we left off on ch. 5) Naruto and Sasuke were cuddling on the sofa, watching some random movie. They, however, weren't really paying attention to the movie, they were instead talking with each other about random things. How annoying school is, random jokes and puns, the usual.

"Hey, Sasuke," The raven looked up at Naruto. "Why do you always hide your ears and tail during school? Aren't you proud of them?" He pulled Sasuke a bit closer to him as said raven looked away.

"How could I be proud? I'm a freak." Naruto's usual grin quickly faded after that. He looked more concerned now.

"W-What do you mean? You're not a freak, y-you're like me."

"I'm nothing like you. You see things all happy, like life is all sunshine and rainbows. Newsflash, it isn't." His tone was quiet, yet there was a hint of sadness yet also slight anger.

Naruto chuckled. "You really think that I think like that? I know how horrible and harsh life can be, but I act happy for the sake of the people around me, it makes life a little easier knowing that not everybody's worrying about you. It's a lot more efficient than covering up everything with anger or being aloof to your surroundings."

Sasuke had known this, he knew he knew this, but it still shocked him to hear those words come out of Naruto's mouth. He went silent. He had no comeback, nothing to say back. He simply looked away into the distance.

Naruto sighed. "Look, the point is, you should be proud of yourself. And plus, the only opinion that matters is mine and your family's. And I think your features make you look even cuter. I'm sure your family thinks you look great in them too."

Sasuke's face got a bit pink. "Thanks... I guess..." He mumbled, embarrassed to say that actually cheered him up and calmed him down, even if just a bit.

-|Time skip to Monday at school|-

-|Sasuke's POV|-

I knew Naruto was right, but I still thought it'd be best to hide myself from anyone and everyone. I just felt more comfortable knowing that if I looked normal, than that's how I would be treated, right?

Later, during a free period, some kid I didn't know walked up to me. There were no teachers in the room and Naruto was in a different class. I was just reading a book, so I don't really know why he came up to me in the first place.

"So," The kid spoke. "You've been hanging out a lot with that freak Uzumaki."

I was almost immediately aggravated, but I kept calm, not looking up from my book besides a few glances.

"What's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing, except for he's a freaking furry. He acts like a damn fox and actually has fox ears and tail. Why do you hang out with a freak, eh?"

"He's not a freak. He can't help that he's like that, it's how he was born." I know that I was talking about Naruto, but I couldn't help but feel even more defensive because this asshole was basically talking about me too without realising.

"Oh please, why are you so defensive about it anyways? Don't tell me you're actually his friend? You're way too cool of a guy to hang out with a freak like him."

Just then, the bell rang. Finally. I shoot the random kid a small glare before grabbing my things to go to my next class. I saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of my own before he left as well. At least in my next class I could see Naruto again.

-/Timeskip to lunch/-

-/3rd person POV/-

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting at a lunch table together, each with their friends. You remember that obnoxious kid from earlier? Let's call him Henry. Henry was sitting at a table much farther away from Sasuke and Naruto, along with his asshole friends. Henry was talking about the interaction from earlier with said friends.

They quickly got a bit off track and started talking about how Sasuke always wears a hoodie, or, at least, a hat.

"Do you think he's insecure about his hair or something?" Says one of Henry's unimportant friends(henchmen).

"Nah, but you know what'd be fun?" Asks Henry, the largest asshole of the group. "If we could get him to take it off."

Now, Henry had a very... interesting taste in fun, but it didn't stop his friends from going right along with it.

A couple hours later, the end of the school day arose. And Henry and his little slaves had a plan for when they saw our raven-haired friend.

Speaking of, Sasuke was walking with Naruto towards the exit of the school. Almost the entire school surrounded them, but no one ever paid them any attention. Not yet, at least.

The two were walking right next to each other, maybe close enough for someone to realize they were more than just friends.

But, that someone was probably not the someone you'd want to realize that, especially between those two.

Take a guess why don't you.

That's right, it's our severely unloveable friend Henry. Have I been too hard on the guy? Nah, you'll be thinking I went easy on him in just a few minutes.

Henry saw the two, and being the little bitch he was, smirked maliciously at the sight. He knew what he was going to do.

"Would you look at this?" Henry said, walking over to the two with his group behind him, already snickering.

Sasuke turned to look at him with a glare. "What do you want now?"

Our poor boy Naruto had no idea what was going on, considering he hadn't witnessed what happened earlier between the two, and Sasuke, being the emo aloof boy he is, didn't tell him about it either.

Now people were looking over, being the curious high schoolers they are.

"Oh nothing. But, why do you always wear something over your head?" Henry said, with a smirk, meaning he was up to something, "And why do you always hang out with this freak?"

Now Naruto figured what was going on. He got a bit more aggravated, but tried to keep a cool demeanor. Though, the annoyance was evident on his face.

"It's none of your damn business, and I've told you already, he's not a freak." Sasuke retorted, getting annoyed with this kid all over again.

Henry snorted. "So then, you wouldn't mind if I just.." Henry reached for Sasuke's hood and attempted to pull it down. Thankfully, Sasuke moved out of the way just in time.

Now, Henry got a bit more annoyed. "So, you're defensive about the hood, huh? Why's that?" He said, with his signature smirk.

Naruto tried to defend Sasuke by getting in front of him. "Leave him alone will ya'? It's not cool to bug people about why they wear a certain thing."

Sasuke couldn't help the small blush that crept onto his face, but Naruto was taller than him so he couldn't see Henry's reaction, though he knew it was arrogant, as usual.

Henry chuckled darkly.

⚠!F-word slur!⚠

"So, you got your freak boyfriend defending you? Should've known you were both faggots."

Everyone was staring now. Some were wide-eyed and offended, others were chuckling along with Henry and his group of friends.

Now both the boys were pissed off. But, they were completely distracted by Henry, and didn't notice one of Henry's friends walking up behind Sasuke and pulling down his hood until it was too late.

Sasuke's cat ears that matched his hair were on show, and everyone was staring. People whispered and muttered, some even snickered.

Naruto looked behind him and noticed. Now, he was more than pissed off. He pulled Sasuke over, who was also fuming, to his side. He looked over at Henry and punched him in the face. Hard.

Henry fell to the ground, now also pissed off. But, instead of pushing it, he just left along with his little gang.

Naruto and Sasuke left as well, and Naruto realized Sasuke looked uncomfortable.

"Are you okay? I know he was being a huge asshole." Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's head, ruffling his hair slightly. The contact made Sasuke feel a bit better, but he was still a bit thrown off from a couple minutes ago.

"..Yeah, I'm fine." He said with a slight sigh. He leaned against Naruto's side. "Can we go to your house this time?" He looked up at the slightly taller blond.

Naruto smiled. "Sure! Though I think my parents are still home, if that's fine with you."

"Yeah, I don't care, I just need a distraction from today."

"Yeah, I get it." Naruto grabbed the raven's hand comfortingly, leading him to his house.

-_-

Wow, that took wayy too long :D Y'all I am legit so sorry if you've seriously been waiting this entire time, I feel so bad😭 I honestly wouldn't blame you if you forgot about this (So did I :')) and just stopped reading it, but if you've seriously made it this far and past the horrifyingly bad first chapters that I'm too lazy to edit, I thank you so much it means a lot :D

Anygays, see y'all next time. Later loves, stay gay✨🏳‍🌈😘