...Epically fail, that is.
I exaggerate. I guess it's not THAT bad. I did write it at least a year ago. But I'll keep my complaints to myself and let you guys judge it for yourselves, since I've gotten some comments about my negativity. More notes at the end. For now, enjoy the (first unofficial) epilogue of Two Face.
I exaggerate. I guess it's not THAT bad. I did write it at least a year ago. But I'll keep my complaints to myself and let you guys judge it for yourselves, since I've gotten some comments about my negativity. More notes at the end. For now, enjoy the (first unofficial) epilogue of Two Face.
“Hey, what’s up, Tokyo?!”
The cheers were deafening. All down the stadium the only thing that could be seen was cheering, jumping, waving fans, bright camera flashes and faces wild with excitement.
Naruto couldn’t help but grin. This was what he lived for.
“Alright, alright,” he called, laughing. The microphone and earpiece hooked around his ear picked up his voice, carrying it to the very back of the stadium. If there was one thing he hated, it was hearing his laugh played over again. But it didn’t matter, really. “Let me tell you, it is un-be-lievable, being here tonight. If you asked me five years ago where I would be in five years’ time, I definitely wouldn’t have said, ‘Standing in front of thousands of people, doing what I love best.’ ”
“Yeah you would,” came a voice from behind him. The audience laughed. Naruto turned to raise an eyebrow at Takeshi, who just grinned back. “You would have added that those thousands adore you, too.”
“Hey, you can’t do the foxtrot alone,” Naruto said with a shrug. He waved his team forward. Takeshi stepped up beside him; Kristopher and Matthew joined them as well. “We’re Foxtrot, folks, and the fun’s only just begun!”
They got into their places for the next dance. Even now Naruto hadn’t quite mastered singing and dancing at the same time; he tended to run out of breath and Takeshi always criticized his tuning, but Naruto was pretty sure he was getting better at it. Performances always left something to be desired – everything did; that was the thing about being an artist – but Naruto knew most mistakes he picked up on were things the audience never noticed, and anyway, where was the fun in being perfect all the time?
It seemed like no time at all before they reached the end of the show. Through happy songs and sad ones, duets and solos, and jokes all around, Naruto had to say it was probably his favourite concerts of the ones they’d done. Granted, that may have had something to do with the fact that it was their first one ever in Japan. Before their final and most popular song, Foxtrot gathered at the front of the stage again for a last word.
“So, Japan,” said Naruto. “For me and Takeshi, it all started here. Not here in Tokyo, obviously – we’re just small-town kids from Konoha. Anyone ever been?”
A handful of cheers rang out. Naruto grinned.
“I’ve missed being home,” said Naruto. “I mean, we haven’t gone back to Konoha yet, but it’s such an experience being in a different country where they speak a different language. And it’s weird being involved in their news and politics and events and hearing about our own here only distantly. The disastrous earthquake two years ago, the abolishing of the death sentence – the legalization of gay marriage!”
He grinned as cheers went up in the crowd. If there was one thing about Foxtrot fans, it was that they were almost guaranteed not to be homophobic.
“It’s odd for the two of us,” he went on, “being an English group but being Japanese ourselves, then coming here to perform in English. I have to say my English has gotten loads better since I went to study abroad, but I still can’t quite get the accent,” he said with a sheepish grin. “What do you think? Do I sound British, or Japanese?”
“Both,” said Kris, “but not as bad as Takeshi.”
Takeshi chased Kris around the stage. Naruto and Matt laughed. Kris hid behind Naruto, who protected him from Takeshi, who just dove on him anyway. There was a lot of high-pitched screaming and wolf whistles as Naruto and Takeshi wrestled for a while, making a show of it. Their manager had long ago picked up on the benefits of their homosexuality and physical comfort around each other. They constantly played the dating guessing game. Most fangirls insisted they were together, but some said they were just friends with benefits. Hardly anyone doubted they weren’t involved at least a little.
Takeshi finally disentangled himself from Naruto, though his arm was still hooked through with Naruto’s. Naruto thought this was a little odd, as he was usually the one to pull away first. Their manager figured it’d spice things up if Naruto, the leader of their group, was the uke (Takeshi and Naruto had had to explain this phenomenon to their British friends), and Naruto always acted the more reluctant one. He glanced at Takeshi, who looked back at him meaningfully but said nothing. You couldn’t have a private conversation on stage with microphones next to your mouths.
Instead, Takeshi turned to the audience. “We’ve got an announcement to make,” he called, grinning. More squeals ensued. Naruto didn’t know what was going on – this wasn’t something they’d rehearsed or even talked about. An announcement? It wasn’t anyone’s birthday, was it? Try as he might, Naruto couldn’t think of anything that could come up. But Takeshi looked like he knew what he was doing, and Matt and Kris seemed to know too, so Naruto did his best to act normal.
“I know you fans have been watching us for a long time,” Takeshi went on. “All the teasing, the touching, the play fights… I’m sure some of the more perceptive ladies out there have rooted out the fact that we sleep in the same bed. Now if that’s not evidence, what is, right?”
The screams were louder than ever.
“Well, it’s not evidence,” said Takeshi. “What if we’re perfectly comfortable with that but aren’t actually together? I know, it sounds implausible, but listen. The announcement is… that Naruto and I aren’t together.”
The reaction from the audience seemed mixed, as though everyone was split between disappointment that they weren’t a pair and relief that they were still available.
“But!” Takeshi said, before things could escalate too much. “This doesn’t mean we’re straight, or even single. That’s right – we’ve both got wonderful, loving boys out there who support us silently.” As Takeshi continued to speak, the crowd gradually went quiet. “It’s hard – harder than you can imagine, being far from your loved ones. I bet a lot of you know how that feels. We’ve been so busy with our studies as well as with Foxtrot that we’ve barely had a minute to ourselves, let alone to meet with our boys back home. But they’re always there, sending us emails and letters, or right there by the phone when we’re homesick and lovesick and have to call when it’s four in the morning here. Naruto and I have had our share of tough times, and though we have each other to lean on, there’s nothing quite like the loves of our lives. That’s why, tonight, this last song is dedicated to them. That’s why, tonight, we want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts and welcome them on stage. Ladies and gentlemen, Sasuke and Shiroi!”
The giant screens behind Foxtrot were showing one grinning face and one dumbfounded one. Naruto, too, was stunned; apparently neither he nor Sasuke had heard about this, but Shiroi was all smiles as he herded an astounded Sasuke up onto the stage. Takeshi nearly bowled Shiroi over with a huge hug, but Naruto and Sasuke just stared at each other, lost for words. For a moment Naruto utterly forgot that he was on a stage flooded with lights, in front of thousands of people, with his face blown up on the screens behind him. For a moment, all the noise of the roaring crowd, all the rehearsing and routine he was so used to, completely left his mind. In that moment there was only Sasuke.
“Oh, get on with it,” Takeshi snapped, and shoved Naruto forward.
Naruto stumbled into Sasuke’s arms, and in that instant everything came back to him. He hugged Sasuke harder than he’d ever hugged anyone in his life. He buried his face in Sasuke’s neck, heedless of the sweat and make-up, and breathed in his scent. His heart swelled at the memories – although he was older, taller, and undoubtedly better looking than ever now, Sasuke smelled just the same as always, and it brought tears to Naruto’s eyes. He could feel Sasuke’s arms around him as well, that grip he knew so well, a heart beating fast next to his own thudding one. Sasuke’s lips brushed against Naruto’s unwired ear to whisper, “I missed you, Naru.”
Naruto couldn’t help it. He split into a giddy grin, pulling away to look at Sasuke’s face. “No way,” he said. “No way! You’ve been here, all this time? And no one told me?”
He whipped around to look at Takeshi, Shiroi, Kris, Matt. They all had smiles on their faces that said they’d been keeping a huge secret from him.
And now his world was coming back to him, and Naruto could hear whispers in the crowd, see fingers pointing at Sasuke. He looked from Sasuke, who shrugged, to Takeshi, who was still smiling.
“Oh, that’s right,” said Takeshi, putting an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders. “Some of you may know this handsome face from the author’s biography on that new bestseller here in Japan. What was it? The Crow and the Dog?” he joked.
“The Raven and the Fox, you moron!” Naruto exclaimed, shoving Takeshi away. Takeshi just laughed.
“So, Sasuke,” said Takeshi with a grin. “What’s it like, being famous?”
Sasuke laughed. He slipped an arm around Naruto’s waist; Naruto couldn’t help melting into him. Sasuke leaned close to Naruto’s microphone. “You tell me.”
“Us? Famous? Never! These people are obviously here because they’re lost! All of them! But we’re digressing. Have a seat,” he said, gesturing Sasuke and Shiroi to chairs in the middle of the stage, “and enjoy the show!”
Foxtrot took their places for the final song. Naruto was impressed with how well everyone had kept this whole thing undercover. They’d even designed and constructed a statue and told him they’d be putting it in the middle of the stage for this last song, making it a symbol for “the one” the song’s lyrics spoke about. Now, as they danced around Sasuke and Shiroi, Naruto felt a passion like never before. If he’d thought he’d loved dancing before now, he didn’t know what to call this. Never had he wanted more to put everything he had into a dance, to sing his heart out, to give everything to his one and only. Every time he turned towards Sasuke, all he saw was that brilliant beautiful smile, and nothing pushed him to do his best more than that.
He could barely hear for the roaring of the crowd when they finished. Once they dropped their final pose, Takeshi hauled Sasuke and Shiroi back onto their feet. Naruto glanced over in time to see Shiroi nudge Sasuke with his elbow. Sasuke looked at Shiroi with uncertainty, but Shiroi nodded emphatically and pushed Sasuke towards Naruto. Takeshi looked on in curiosity – Kris and Matthew seemed not to have expected this either – but Shiroi held his boyfriend back, watching with a smile on his face.
Sasuke went up to Naruto and looked him in the eyes. They’d grown so much, the both of them, in these four years. Not just physically, but on the inside too – they were smarter, more mature, more skilled. Sasuke had a bestselling title under his belt and Naruto was an international star. They’d been apart for so long, but when they looked into each other’s eyes they knew that the one thing that never, ever changed was their love for each other.
Naruto was surprised by the sheer nervousness in Sasuke’s expression. It had been years, but he was certain they still knew each other better than anything. So why was Sasuke trembling so much?
Sasuke took Naruto’s hand. His was shaking and clammy. No longer able to hold Naruto’s gaze, he turned his eyes to the floor.
He reached into his pocket and got down on one knee.
“Uzumaki… Naruto,” said Sasuke, every tremor in his voice audible in the sudden absolute silence. He pulled a box out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Will you marry me?”
Naruto stared. The ring was a thin silver band of metal, the subtle gem the perfect blue to match his eyes.
Sasuke finally gathered the courage to look up into Naruto’s face. His eyes met beautiful blue ones filled with tears.
“You have to ask?” Naruto whispered. He jerked Sasuke up onto his feet and pulled him into a kiss, and the audience exploded into cheers.
Yeah, I'm not actually that fond of this. You know what they say... own worst critic and all. I actually think I have a little more optimism - perhaps egotism - about my work, but then I know at least three people who get very, very down about their creativity and it's usually up to me to try to support them. So my own complaints seem small in comparison.
This epilogue is... a bit cliché, I guess. And cheesy. Another thing that bothers me is that it's short and to the point - there's so much more I wanted to write about. So I started writing a different, longer version summarizing their university years, but it got pretty lengthy and that just wasn't doing it considering it was supposed to be a summary. So I ditched that one too. It'd work better as a full-out sequel. That said, I know what happens to them after Two Face. Not in minute detail, of course, considering I haven't actually written the thing, but I definitely know it from point to point. Of course their troubles are far from over - what kind of a story would it be otherwise? - but for those who want to know, Itachi does get captured, and as you can see Sasuke and Naruto are both pretty successful. I mean, Foxtrot isn't exactly mainstream, but they have their followers. I never meant for them to be super famous or anything. Just... comfortably well-known, I guess.
I hope you enjoyed that little bit of writing. If I had the motivation, I'd write it again better, but... meh. It's there and I got it out of my system, and I guess that's all I really needed.
R+F
P.S. I bet Sasuke and Naruto adopt two insufferable brats and one lonery kid and Takeshi is the coolest uncle ever.
