Chapter Text
Watching his friends argue shouldn’t make Naruto feel so fond, and yet he can’t help the warm feeling sitting in his chest as he listens to them. An exasperated huff from beside him draws his attention. Looking towards Shikamaru at his side, they share a smile. The raven may have sounded annoyed, but his smile speaks of the same affection Naruto feels. He smirks at the other, letting him know he understands fully well what the huff actually meant. Shikamaru rolls his eyes and both turn back to the conversation.
“Well obviously Hinata has the best eyes!” Kiba smacks his hands down onto the table for emphasis. “They’re not just super pretty, but they are also the most useful!” Hinata’s face turns scarlet and she quickly covers it with her hands.
Naruto snickers, and Shikamaru elbows him in the side sending him a stop being a little shit look. Naruto makes a face in return.
“That’s true!” Sakura agrees, turning to look at Hinata. Her eyes become half lidded as she smiles slyly at the other woman. Hinata peaks out from her hands to meet her gaze. “The byakugan are beautiful, just like their owner” Hinata lets out a startled high pitched noise, unable to say anything.
Ino taps her chin in thought. “Ya know,” she begins, “actually, Naruto also has pretty eyes. Such a nice light blue.”
“What?” Naruto asks, thrown by the compliment. Shikamaru laughs this time.
“Oh you’re right, Naruto’s eyes are nice,” he says, grinning at his friend.
“No!” he denies, “my eyes aren’t as pretty as Hinata’s! Also, I can’t do anything special with them!” Shikamaru and Sakura look at him knowingly so he tries to deflect further, unused to receiving compliments so easily. Trying to change the subject away from himself, he looks around at everyone, then singles out the quietest of the bunch. “What about Shino, we don’t even know what his eyes look like.” Everyone’s attention shifts to Shino who fidgets uncertainty, though he doesn’t seem displeased. “Why don’t you ever take your glasses off?” Naruto asks, feeling more at ease now with his curiosity.
“None of the Aburame do Naruto, their eyes are extra sensitive,” Shikamaru says, unconcerned by the turn of events.
“What does that mean?” the blonde continues.
Shino speaks for himself this time, “We do not take off our glasses because our eyes are very sensitive to light, and could be damaged without them.” He says it quietly, but straight to the point. The only thing that shows his emotions is the slight upturn of his eyebrows, normally straight and passive. Naruto is slightly shocked at the thought that they seem almost shy.
“But it’s dark out now, why not show us?” Choji asks. Naruto opens his mouth to agree, but Sakura beats him to it.
“You can’t just ask him to do that, it’s probably a private thing.” She mildly glares at him, and Naruto is glad she beat him to speaking. He does not want her mad at him again, at least not right now when his night feels so nice.
“Yes,” Shino says, “I would only take off my glasses for someone close to me.” Intrigued, Naruto rests his arms on the table and leans over it slightly towards Shino. Mirroring Sakura’s earlier expression toward Hinata, half lidded eyes and smirk, and lowers his voice, letting it come out smooth and almost breathy.
“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to get closer to you won’t I?” Everyone goes quiet at the words as Shino actually blushes. Light pink dusted high on his cheeks. He looks away and clears his throat trying, but unable to fight down the blush. Clearly new to the idea of being flirted with.
Sakura draws in a breath, realizing Shino’s atypical reaction might mean he does have feelings for the blonde. She feels a stab of pity, knowing people having a crush on Naruto doesn’t tend to turn out well for them as the man is both oblivious and also typically not interested. Having led to more than a few crushed hearts.
Naruto sits back and laughs, signaling that he was only kidding. Shino deflates at the lighthearted joke. His teammates and a few of his more perceptive friends notice, but Shikamaru just sighs, and Sakura shoots him a sad half smile. Shino minutely furrows his brows to it. Trying to break the awkward moment for her friend, Hinata speaks up, “Actually… I have seen Shino’s eyes. They are quite pretty.”
“Yeah me too!” Kiba agrees. “We were on a mission once and he took them off to treat a cut above his eye. They were nice, but I still think Hinata’s are prettier.” He concluded, bringing the conversation full circle. Hinata blushes again, but is cut off before she can argue.
“Ok well now that that is decided,” begins Ino, looking towards the other women one at a time “Would you three please model for me? I’m putting together arrangements for examples and could use a few lovely ladies for it.”
Naruto lets the conversation drift around him, as his thoughts wander. His eyes slide over to Shino, who is back to his usual blank unreadable expression. He truly was only joking about getting closer to the other man in a flirtatious way, but now he finds himself actually interested in what lies behind the glasses. A small smirk spreads across his face as he decides that he is going to see Shino’s eyes. Besides, he thinks, hanging out with friends is always my favorite pastime, and if I decide to spend a little more time with Shino than usual then that is just the same.
The first chance Naruto gets comes by a few days later while he’s helping Sakura shop for flowers at Ino’s shop. He was only drug along because his pink haired teammate wanted all the input she could get before she purchased a bouquet for Hinata. Even though he argued that he had no idea what he was doing when it came to flowers, it didn’t deter the woman whatsoever. He stares at some white flowers he barely remembers the name of, camellias if he’s not mistaken, as Ino goes on about what they stand for. The shop bell chimes and Naruto turns around to see Shino walk in.
“Hi Shino, are you here for more goldenrod, or something different?” Ino asks, setting down the white flowers.
“Hello Ino, I am here for more goldenrod. Why? Because my kikaichu have taken a liking to it more so than the yarrow recently,” he replies. “Hello Naruto, Sakura.” he looks over as he greets them, nodding his head slightly. An idea pops into the blonde’s head. I may be able to get out of this and get to hang out with Shino if things play out right. He picks up one of the flowers Ino set down as she walks to the other side of the room. Bringing it with him a few steps away from the other man.
“So your bugs really like flowers?” he asks, leaning slightly toward the other. A few insects were already floating around the room, and one comes to land on the flower in Naruto’s hand. “I mean I should have been able to guess that, I just didn’t know you bought plants for them.”
The bug crawls into the flower and walks out covered in tiny specks of pollen making Naruto smile. He never noticed how cute they could be. “Sometimes they just want flowers so I buy some to keep them happy. Otherwise, I would just feel their want and restlessness,” Shino says.
He lifts his hand and the bug flies over onto him, and walks under the sleeve. He lets his arm drop, but Naruto catches his wrist and brings it back up between them. Shino twitches but doesn’t try to pull away. “Why’d you make it leave? It was kinda cute covered in pollen, and you said yourself that they like the flowers.” Shino’s eyebrows raise at the other’s words. He doesn’t say anything for a moment. Naruto thinks he may have misstepped, but he watches and the same yellow speckled bug crawls out from under the sleeve. It walks over his hand still around Shino’s wrist, then back onto Shino’s hand to the tips of his fingers where it takes flight, and lands on the flower.
The bug crawls around the flower then delves back into the middle for more of the golden powder. Naruto snorts in amusement and raises his eyes to see Shino facing him and not his bug. Even though his eyes are covered and Naruto can’t see where he’s looking, he knows that it’s directly at him. Shino opens his mouth to say something and Naruto becomes acutely aware that he still has his fingers wrapped around the other’s wrist. “Naruto…” the brunette begins, but stops as said man drops the wrist in his hand and leans back slightly, breaking the atmosphere between them. Careful to still hold up the flower with the precious bug inside, he looks back at Ino and Sakura. Both women are pretending to be busy, but it is clear they were watching. “Uhm… I have your goldenrod ready,” Ino says, motioning to the bundle of plants on the counter.
“Thank you Ino,” Shino says, walking around Naruto and paying for his flowers. Ino completes the transaction without anyone saying anything. “It was good to see you, and you Sakura.”
“You too Shino,” Sakura says, smiling at him.
“Come back any time, it’s always lovely to have you come in,” Ino adds. The brunette nods, and turns around to leave, but pauses looking at the man in front of him.
Naruto weighs his options in his head before decisively nodding to himself. He raises his finger to the flower and clicks his tongue to get the bug’s attention. “Come here,” he says. The insect crawls out from inside the flower, even more yellow than before, and onto the tip of his finger. He smiles and looks back at Shino. The bug takes off and flies over, landing on his collar, quickly disappearing underneath it. “See ya Shino.”
“And you,” Shino replies, heading out of the store.
Naruto turns back to the girls, still holding the white flower. Neither say anything for a moment, just staring at the door. Feeling awkward suddenly, Naruto crosses over to them and sets the flower down with the others.
“Right… anyway I think white camellias would be perfect for the centerpiece of the arrangement,” Ino says, getting back to the reason they were there in the first place. Naruto sighs, hoping to be done soon.
Naruto tenses as he sees Sakura’s arm pull back in preparation for a punch. Kiba sees it too, but has already committed to his attack and doesn’t have time to move. Fist meets chest and the resounding thud is loud and makes Naruto wince. He knows how much that hurts even before Kiba’s loud curse rings out. “I could have hit you harder I hope you know,” Sakura says. “You shouldn’t throw yourself into moves so much that you can’t dodge that often.”
“I know that!” Kiba rasps, clutching his chest. “You were also already making a different move when I went in.”
“That is the point she is trying to make Kiba,” Shino says, “She hadn’t committed herself as much to the move as you had. This is because she knows your style and saw the possibility of you attacking the way you did. If you would focus more on the style you know she has instead of acting as if she were a shinobi who you have never encountered before you might have been able to dodge her hit.” Naruto gently elbows his companion.
“To be fair, if they were both fighting shinobi they didn’t know so well Kiba would have most likely not been hit there,” Naruto says to Shino and Hinata only. The two sparing don’t hear over Kiba’s continued complaining.
“If they were enemy shinobi, Sakura would still have won, having taken into account fighting style before Kiba did.”
“Sakura is a very skilled shinobi,” Hinata says, watching the other woman.
Naruto lets out a laugh, happy to see his friend fawn over his teammate so easily, but he doesn’t argue.
“What? Are you saying I’m not a skilled shinobi?!” Kiba half yells, walking over to them while Sakura stands her ground, waiting for her next sparring partner.
“Why would she ever insinuate something like that Kiba?” Shino asks, exactly zero inflection in his voice.
Naruto looks at him wide eyed. Clearly hearing the sentence for what it was. He smiles. “Shino, are you being sarcastic?” he asks. Shino shoots him a half smile, but doesn’t say anything. Naruto laughs and Kiba makes an indignant noise. “You were so deadpan!” he says between breaths, before stopping as he comes to a realization. “Oh, you could be sarcastic all the time and I don’t know if I would have even noticed.” Before he can dwell on it for too long Shino stops his thoughts.
“Do not worry, I have never done it about you before.” Shino gives him a small smile and all the air leaves Naruto’s lungs. He’s never seen the other ninja so open before. That smile looks really good on him. He thinks, the tenses upon realizing his thoughts. Oh. I think I might actually like him. The idea doesn’t feel wrong at all. In fact, it makes his stomach flutter.
“Come on Naruto!” Sakura lightheartedly calls. “It’s your turn, see if you can beat me.”
Without dropping his small smile Shino says, “Good luck.” Naruto’s stomach flutters again, and he smiles his signature grin in return.
“Thanks!” he says, turning to run onto the field with Sakura, new energy coursing through his veins. This isn’t just a spar anymore, now he has someone he wants to impress. He takes one more look towards Shino before getting in his fighting stance, ready for Sakura’s powerful hand to hand combat.