#purple means grateful for enthusiasm and kindling encouragement

[dayseternal-blog]

Des, your thoughtfulness is so. So. So! Amazing! And I'm always so moved by your generosity with your time and skills. You somehow found the time to design all these cards and mod the event this month, like, how.

A really, really, super small, really slice-of-lifey thing in return...inspired by your card!

By This Time Next Year

Modern AU, Short One-shot. Rated G. (Cultural Note: Christmas is THE date night in Japan. Cities go all-out to make Christmas romantic for couples. It's pretty depressing to be single in Japan on Christmas night, ngl.)

Every shop and restaurant glows with twinkling lights.

Lovey-dovey couples walk hand-in-hand, close together, cheeks flushed pink with the nip of winter and the warmth of a romantic night.

And they're one of the crowd. Quiet joy lights up her heart with this knowledge.

Beside Naruto. Beside her boyfriend. On a date! On Christmas night! Wearing matching scarves!

Last year, if someone had told her that she would be on a Christmas date with her crush by this time next year, she would have never believed it, but when she smiles up at him...

He's smiling back at her, exuding the same rosy cheerfulness blooming in her heart.

She looks away, shy, but she squeezes his hand, hoping that it conveys how much he means to her.

And he bumps her shoulder, chuckling.

Making her laugh for no reason either. She's just so happy!

They're coming up on the observation deck of the mall toward one of the Christmas illumination photo spots. But of course, as she should have expected, there's a line.

She looks worriedly up, wondering if he might not agree to doing this anymore. "Are you okay with waiting?"

"Yeah! You really wanted to do this, right?"

She nods, giving him a grateful smile. She's secretly always wanted to take a couple's photo here. On the circumstance that she could ever get a boyfriend.

And somehow, by some magic, she did.

He grins. "I don't mind waiting."

So they get in line.

Them. One of the couples. In line for the photo spot. Where couples get their pictures taken! Above the park's illumination!!

If someone had told her last year that by this Christmas she would be taking photos together with Naruto (wonderful, lovely Naruto) at the illumination, she wouldn't have believed it.

His laughter draws her attention up. Goodness, he's so beautiful. And...he's laughing at her.

"Hm?" she asks, even though she knows he must have caught her being weird about this.

"You're so easy to please."

"Oh...?" That's good, right? But she can already feel that uncontrollable heat burning up to her ears. She knows she's flaming red. Despite the cold weather, she's starting to sweat.

"Aww, Hinata!"

She peeks up at him, and he's comically pouting at her.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way!"

"I, I know." She doesn't know where to look. She's embarrassed simply by how easily and visibly embarrassed she gets. Does anyone else in the world besides her have this awful condition?

"Hinata, I meant..." He leans closer, his face rather close to her steaming hot ear, and she's shocked that he can't feel the heat puffing off of her. "I think it's cute that you like stuff like this."

A different heat flushes over her face this time. Pink and fluffy, she feels whispers of it tracing paths across her cheeks. A double-blush. How is this possible?? "Ah, I..." She smashes her face into her palms, unable to formulate any coherent thought at all. "Naruto-kun!"

He's laughing, and she doesn't know if maybe she's using up a lifetime's worth of blessings tonight.

If someone had told her last year that on Christmas of next year, her years-long crush would be calling her "cute," she wouldn't have believed it.

Does he know how much she loves him?

She grabs his hand again and pushes her still-burning face into his arm. Just for a couple of seconds. Too much public affection is simply too much.

She takes a deep breath and peeks up at him once more.

Just looking at his smile fills her with unbelievable joy.

"After this let's get something to eat. Do you have any cravings?"

She blinks at his funny phrasing. Cravings? She shakes her head. "Do you?"

His gaze skates away, and he shrugs.

"Ramen?" she guesses, and she smiles wider as his lips curl, his eyes taking on a particular shine.

He scrunches his grin up. "You know me so well. But ramen isn't exactly a Christmas date food, you know? You don't want pasta?"

She hums in thought. The epitome of a perfect romantic date on Christmas. The Italian restaurants are packed with couples (like herself and Naruto!), and she wouldn't mind the wait to be one of them!

But also, there are plenty of other chances to eat pasta together, too, right? On a night that's less crowded.

She squeezes his hand. "I'm....easy to please," she murmurs, and already that twinge of mortification (self-imposed! how dare she call herself that!) is circulating from her chest, up her neck. She can't believe she does this to herself.

Suddenly, his hands are squishing her cheeks, forcing her face up at him.

Her lips. She can feel it. Are fish lips.

And he's staring at her, brows high, smile wide. "Hinata!"

"Hm?" Her face is still squished in his hands, and what if the people behind them in line are watching???

Does it matter?

Everyone here is couples anyway!!

He gives a big, happy-sounding sigh and releases her. "You're the best, you know that?"

She knows she's blushing really hard, but she manages to turn it back at him. "No...you're the best."

He scrunches another smile at her, and she's warm.

Warm from her constant embarrassment, true, but warm from him! From his shining expressions! And his compliments! Their flirty behaviors! She could die from happiness tonight!

The couple in front of them ask if they can take their pictures for them, and she can't believe it. She can't believe she's a part of this! With Naruto!

The couple is cute, doing peace signs, waving for the camera, finger heart symbols, then for a last picture, doing a heart symbol between their hands.

They're shameless!

It's brave! And adorable! And she wants to do all of it with her own boyfriend!

The couple thank them profusely, and. It's finally. Their. Turn!!!

After asking the couple behind them to take their picture, she takes a seat beside Naruto.

"Can we do the poses that they did?" she whispers.

"Oh, yeah!" His eyes shift up, seeming to remember as he raises two fingers up.

She and Naruto. Doing matching poses. For pictures together. As another couple takes their picture. In a Christmas tradition. Where countless other couples have documented their relationship together.

She could die.

(From happiness).

Looking at their photos over together out of the way on the side of the observation deck, she's almost blinded. Naruto's smile is so bright, he outshines the illumination in the background!

"Nice, yeah?" He's grinning as they swipe through each one, and she can only hum a happy agreement.

She doesn't have the words to encompass how much she loves these pictures. But what she can say... "Thank you for taking these with me."

"Of course." His smile now is a different one, gentle. So warm!

And her heart flutters helplessly.

"Let's do something like this again next year."

If someone had told her last year that Naruto would be by her side tonight, she wouldn't have believed it, but when she nods, when she cuddles him into a hug that doesn't even begin to match the squeezing around her heart...

He's so real, so wonderful,

So easy to believe in.

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:D Des, thank you so much for all the love you're pouring into this fandom! I can feel it all the way over here. I hope next year treats you and yours well!!