summary: i've spent my whole life trying to put it into words. — naruhina month 2015
notes: headcanon that hinata has extremely bad social anxiety, and while it gets better the more she knows people, it gets really bad when she's in a crowd.

day 4:
smile

Hinata doesn't like to make a big deal out of her birthday. It has never boded well for her. She likes it to pass by quietly, without even a whisper. Her family knows this, her team knows this, and her friends know this.

But Naruto refuses to let this happen.

So she's standing in the doorway of a large party room of Yakiniku Q, with all her friends and her sister and a cake and everyone singing happy birthday. Naruto's hands are warm clasped on her shoulders, and she wants to enjoy this, for him. For his thoughtfulness. But despite how comforting it should be — the party, Naruto, the fact that they all care for her and love her — it is too much.

There is too much room and there are too many people and there is too much noise and he is too warm and it is all way, way too much.

She wrenches herself out of his grasp and runs for the door.

Hinata runs for her safe spot, for training ground 4 beneath the big oak tree. Every splintering breath of icy air she takes refreshes her, every muscle she moves reminds her that she is alone, that she is with only herself and the sky and the earth and the forest. Her heart thunders in her chest as she slides to the frost-bitten dirt, and she doesn't know whether it's from the fear she just experienced or from the run. She doesn't question it much further.

She sees him coming from a ways away. If she really didn't want Naruto to find her, she would have gone home. But she lets him come and sit next to her, and twine his fingers with hers. She even leans into him, inhaling the scent of citrus and what was probably part of the food.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly, rubbing his thumb against her palm. "They told me I shouldn't. They told me you weren't ready. But I didn't listen, I wasn't thinking of what you needed. And I'm sorry."

He isn't perfect all the time, she admits. But he knows when he's wrong.

"Apology accepted," she murmurs, kissing him. "Can you get some takeout and maybe we can just have dinner at your place? Just the two of us?"

"Of course," he says, smiling. "Anything for you."

It isn't the biggest grin she's ever seen him give, it doesn't stretch taut across his face or draw attention to his high cheekbones. But it is the most genuine, most loving expression she's ever seen him make. His smile is small and real and it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.

"Tell everyone I'm sorry, ok?"

The next year, he cooks a homemade dinner for her of her favorite dishes at his apartment. He also proposes.

Needless to say, she says yes.

ending notes: i love how long these looked on my phone and how short they actually are.