Chapter Text
Naruto stares at his ceiling. He punches the air above his head twice, trying to invigorate his thoughts, but nothing changes. What do I do now? He wonders. How do I tell someone so guarded of their emotions that I have feelings for them? The ninja has been staring at his ceiling for at least 4o minutes trying to come up with a plan. He decides that he is not going to be shy about this because Shino will definitely never make the first move. I just have to go for it! There is no use wasting time when all I want is-. He punches the air again, and sighs, resigning himself. “I need help.” He jumps to his feet and runs out his front door but stops in his tracks. He doesn’t actually know where Sakura is at the moment. Deciding finding her on his own is going to take way too long. He summons a few clones to search with him.
Without needing to say anything, all of them run in different directions determined to find the kunoichi. Naruto himself heads to her house, even if she’s not home, it’s a good place to start. He looks into a few shops he knows she likes along the way. However, he doesn’t even get all the way to her house before the memory of Sakura and Hinata next to the river on the way to their favorite training grounds pops into his head. Sighing in relief he dispels the rest of his shadow clones, glad the women are somewhere so out in the open. He turns around and runs through town towards the river, not wanting to miss them, but also not wanting to use the rooftops since it’s not an emergency.
He arrives at the river and keeps running beside it, only slowing down as he spots them. The women are sitting in the grass, overlooking the river. Hinata’s head gently rests on Sakura’s shoulder as they talk in hushed tones. As he gets closer, Naruto can make out that they are holding hands. He smiles, happy for his friends. Hinata turns her head toward him, having noticed him before her girlfriend. “Hello Naruto,” she greets him. Sakura’s head whips around to face him glaring. She opens her mouth, most likely to tell him off for interrupting them, but shuts it at the desperate look on his face.
“Hi guys,” Naruto says, coming to sit on the ground in front of them. Sakura rolls her eyes, making sure he sees the gesture. “I kinda need uhm, advice- I guess.” He scratches the back of his neck. He was so sure coming here would help, but now faced with his friends he doesn’t know what to say.
“Alright, what’s the problem?” Sakura asks.
“I’m sorry for interrupting your date.”
The women blush. “Get on with it.”
Naruto takes a deep breath, “I like Shino and I don’t know how to ask him out, and I really want to and I need your help to figure out how.” Hinata’s eyes light up as she raises a hand to cover her gasp. “I want to do this right and not scare him off.” Sakura hits his arm. “Ow! How did I make you mad this time?”
“I’m glad actually,” she says, “that you figured it out, and that you like him. I was worried. I got the impression that he might feel more than just friendship towards you, but we know how that turns out.” Hinata nods.
“What does that mean?” Naruto asks.
“It’s just that uhm, you tend to be a little oblivious to people’s affections for you,” Hinata begins. “Also, you tend to not be interested in anyone, except for Sakura when we were kids.”
“I don’t know what you're talking about, no one’s had affections for me in that way.”
“You are so dense! Half the village wants to date you! You can’t tell me you don’t notice the girls following you around all the time” Sakura says.
Naruto looks at her in shock. “I thought they just wanted to hang around me because I saved the village.” his teammate sighs. “I didn’t know they liked me!”
“I’m just glad that if Shino does like you, he won’t be forced to pine for nothing.”
Hinata hums thoughtfully before saying, “If you are planning on asking him out, I think I might have an idea. I know him very well and I believe he would prefer a simple confession. Nothing big, but maybe in a romantic setting.” She pauses, looking off in the distance in thought. “Hmm, like one of the flower fields in the forest, they are very beautiful.” Sakura smiles mischievously. I bet she’s taking the idea into consideration for herself.
Relieved now that he has an idea Naruto relaxes. He smiles broadly at his friends, reaching forward and wrapping both in his arms and squeezing. “I don’t know what I would do without you guys. Well, I would still be just as stressed as earlier!”
Squeezing back, Sakura says, “Clearly you would be alone forever.” Naruto laughs, letting go. “Alright, you have to go prepare and find the right spot, and stop bugging us on our date.”
“Right! Sorry about that,” he walks back onto the sidewalk. “Thank you!” he half yells, taking off in a run.
Walking slowly through the trees Naruto tries to calm his nerves. It’s nearly dark and Shino is right behind him. They are almost at the field he picked out a few days ago, right on time too. He asked Shino to come help him with something and the man agreed. Of course now he is completely silent behind him. Chancing a glance behind himself doesn’t reveal anything about the other. He is as outwardly calm and unaffected as any other time.
Breaking through the last few trees both stop at the edge of the field. The sun is gone but the moonlight is more than enough to see by. The clearing is odd shaped with a few trees still in the open, with bunches of wildflowers dotting the area. It’s beautiful, but that alone isn’t why Naruto chose it. As they walk toward the flowers small blinking lights become clear. Instead of watching the fireflies, Naruto turns his attention to the man next to him. He watches as Shino’s shoulders relax from their usual position and as a soft smile appears on his face. Not wanting to break the silence just yet, Naruto raises his palms up and follows a few of the bugs, trying to get one to land in his hands.
It takes a few seconds, but they seem to be pretty friendly and one does decide to land. It blinks on and off on his hand and he makes his way back over to Shino. “That was surprisingly easy,” he says, showing the other the bug wandering around his hand.
Shino nods, “Fireflies are quite handleable, they aren’t as skittish as other insects. Their glow of course is what makes them so popular.” he looks across the field, taking in the dancing lights.
“I just think they’re really cute, “ Naruto begins. “Almost as cute as the shinobi next to me.” Shino’s gaze jerks to him, a blush forming high on his cheeks. He opens his mouth to say something but closes it again instead. Naruto lets the bug fly off and steps closer. “Cute and shy and caring, absolutely my type.” Shino’s blush only grows at the compliments. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize sooner. Now I just want to make up for lost time.”
Shino’s mouth twitches and he swallows. Naruto smirks at that. “Shino, would you care to join me on a few dates so I can do just that, why?” He copies the man’s way of speaking. “Because I want you to be my boyfriend.”
Shino nods, before finding his voice. “I- yes,” he breathes. Naruto’s smile turns more gentle and he slowly brings his hand up to the other’s face, thumb swiping over his cheek.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks. Shino takes a second before nodding, and Naruto pushes forward until their lips lightly brush together. His eyes close as he steps closer and presses against his now boyfriend. He moves their lips together before pulling back. Shino’s cheeks are fully flushed. Naruto swipes his thumb closer to his covered eye, hitting the edge of the glasses.
“I could probably see the fireflies better… without my glass,” Shino says. Naruto’s soft smile is back in place and he gently pulls the glasses off, finally able to get a good look at his eyes. They are soft and dark, and so beautiful. Naruto’s breath hitches at the sight and he leans their foreheads together, resting his other hand on the ninja’s waist.
“You truly do have wonderful eyes,” he says, amazed.
Unable to blush any harder, Shino says, “They don’t remotely compare to your blue, nor your yellow sage eyes.” said sage laughs, pulling them together further using the hand on his waist.
“So we both have nice eyes. The difference is, I don’t want to stare into my own for hours.” Shino looks down and takes his glasses from Naruto. Instead of putting them on, he slips them into his coat pocket, and looks back at the other ninja. Who wraps his now free arm around his back, moving forward for another kiss.
Shino raises his arm, but doesn’t seem to know where to put it, but settles on wrapping it loosely around the blonde’s neck. His other grasps the bicep of the arm around his waist. Naruto chuckles and leans in to recapture his boyfriend’s mouth, moving his lips slowly, not wanting to speed things up, wanting desperately to savor every moment.
Opening his eyes to look at the dark ones in front of him again, Naruto spots himself waving from the edge of the field. The clone’s smirk is clear from this distance. Naruto blushes and pulls back, sending a glare in return. The shinobi in his arms stiffens and turns around, thinking someone is watching, but relaxes as the clone walks over, a small box in his arms. He hands the box over to the main Naruto and winks at Shino before poofing.
Naruto takes a step back and smiles sheepishly, opening the box of sweets. “Care to sit with me?” he asks, moving to the edge of the clearing overlooking the flowers to sit. Shino nods, settles down next to him, and accepts a treat offered to him. He smiles lightly at the man next to him as he eats it.
“The field was Hinata’s idea by the way.” Naruto says, “I didn’t know how to ask you.”
“This would be her suggestion, she knows me quite well, and you could not have picked a better place.”
Naruto snorts and stuffs his face to try and hide his blush. He grabs Shino’s hand, intertwining their fingers, getting a small squeeze in return. “I need to get her a gift or something,” he says.
Shino nods in agreement. “I do as well.” he says, leaning slightly against Naruto.