Prompt: 'I can feel you silently judging me as you ring up my purchases I swear I'm not using these for their intended purpose'
Authors: unfitpuzzle (First Half/ Naruto) and LovelyLori (Second Half/ Hinata). Enjoy, we both worked really hard on this one!
Title: Latex Junkie
Description: Hinata's misconception of Naruto was something he was more than happy to fix
"Why do you always buy this many? It's not very realistic."
Tugging at the collar of his shirt Naruto tried to hide the blush that adorned his whiskered cheeks to no avail. He was at the convenience store across the street from his university's campus and was currently being questioned by the (cute) cashier on why he always needed so many boxes of condoms.
It wasn't like he was using them or anything! Well not technically that is…
He was currently an RA for Konoha University and one of the things he was expected to do was promote safe sex among the students. The whiskered blond loved his job; he got to communicate with all his fellow students and was also able to help anybody who needed it. What he didn't like however was having to do all of those boring (and in this case embarrassing) PSA's.
It was unbelievable how fast the students would go through each box of condoms, and every-time they needed to stock up Sasuke (that bastard!) always sent him to get the damn things. And every-time he would go to buy them, the cute cashier with the pretty eyes would always be working the cash.
The last time he came to the convenience store he made sure to buy four extra boxes so he wouldn't have to go back for a while, but then while setting up the safe-sex bulletin board, Sasuke- who he swears did it on purpose- stapled the damn things onto the board, making them defective and ordered him to get some more. If it wasn't for Sakura threatening to beat them both to a pulp if they didn't stop arguing Naruto swore he would've killed him.
Sometimes he really hated that guy!
"I-it's not what you think!" he voiced, completely mortified. "They're not for me, but for the students!"
Gasping loudly, the cute cashier clasped a hand over her mouth. "Do you mean you're like a dealer or something?!"
"What? No!" he frantically denied, "Besides what dealer sells condoms?"
"I don't know, it just sounds suspicious…"
Sighing Naruto leaned in and read the name tag pinned to her shirt, "Look, Hinata is it? I wouldn't be surprised if you think I'm a weird guy and all but I promise you that I'm not like that. I work as an RA, it's kind of my job to…ya know "educate" the students on proper, well… ya know…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. At this point he wanted to just buy the condoms and get the hell out of there.
Widening her eyes Hinata quickly bowed her head, "I'm sorry!" she apologized. "It's just that weird people come in here every day and I thought you might be one!"
Waving her off Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "It's ok. I get it, I kind of look like a trouble maker so people tend to misjudge me a lot."
Shaking her head Hinata refused to let it be, "No I shouldn't have done that. Let me make it up to you, I insist."
Grinning Naruto leaned against the counter, "What like a date?" he teased, his smile getting wider at her reaction.
Going red in the face the dark haired cashier promptly shook her head, "I-I was actually talking about giving you a discount on condoms the next time you come here! I thought you said you weren't like that!"
Laughing Naruto shook his head, "I'm not, it's just that you're really cute. I couldn't help myself."
"How can you say things like that so casually? You couldn't even say the word sex before! It's like you did a complete 180!"
Pausing the whiskered blond, held his chin in thought, "Hm, I guess you're right. I should have more tact right?"
Extending his hand forward, Naruto smiled wide. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki nice to meet you."
Taking his hand and shaking it Hinata shot him a weird look. "I'm Hinata Hyuga."
They stood holding hands for a while until a cough from another customer behind the blond reminded them where they were. Awkwardly retracting his hand, The Uzumaki motioned his head towards the boxes of condoms on the counter, indicating that he'd like to pay.
"You're total is $95.46."
Handing her the money, Naruto waited until she was giving him the receipt, and handed her a card with his contact info, something he carried around to give to the university students.
Staring at the card quizzically Hinata looked up at Naruto in confusion, "What's this for?"
"It's my number, so we can arrange for some sort of atonement. Call me when you're ready to negotiate." He winked, laughing at her bashful expression.
Grabbing his bags and heading to leave he turned around and waved one last time at the blushing cashier, who was now serving another costumer.
On his way back to the university Naruto smiled to himself remembering how her hand had fit so seamlessly in his, like they were made for each other.
He couldn't wait to see her again, maybe this time he'd staple the condoms himself.
Hinata rubbed the small, smooth-textured card between her thumb and index finger. Naruto Uzumaki, huh? The first time he walked into the store, she had to shamefully admit that she rated him as a nine. She had never seen a guy that good looking before.
Well, she had, but never in person. Who knew people like that actually existed? Hinata even considered transferring to Konoha University herself if everyone there was even half as good looking as Naruto. However, that thought changed when he brought up a ton of condoms to the register for the first time.
At first, she thought he had a girlfriend and was stocking up on a bunch of them so they'd never be inconvenienced when the heat of the moment took them. She wanted to kick herself for not thinking about the possibility in the first place. A guy as handsome as that? Come on!
Every time after that, she slowly became more wary of the blond, whose rating she dropped from a nine to a seven – minus two points for slightly creeping her out.
Now that she knew the reason behind his expensive (and not so strange) purchases, she bumped him up to an eight. He still made her just a tiny bit uneasy so until he proved that she had nothing to worry about, she wasn't going to bump up the rating any higher.
The dark-haired beauty ran her hand through her silky tresses and gave a long sigh. Why was it taking her so long to dial up to 10 digits anyway? Naruto had already expressed that he was sort of into her, right? He wouldn't have given her his card if he wasn't, nor would he have called her cute.
She took a deep breath before lightly tapping the numbers on the screen of her smart phone. For a moment, Hinata found herself glaring at the green call button. After few seconds went by, the screen on her phone had become darker and out of reflex, her thumb tapped it so it would light up again. It just so happened that her thumb hit the green call button and Hinata's mind flew into a state of panic.
What was wrong with her? She should have texted him! What if he was in class or something and his phone went off? Maybe he was taking an exam and would fail automatically because of her. Oh, she'd feel so bad!
The phone stopped ringing and Hinata quickly placed it to her ear, listening intently. At first there was a lot of shuffling and Hinata thought she heard springs of a mattress creak. Then, a groggy "hello?" came from the other end.
A light gasp escaped her lips. "I'm so sorry, were you asleep?"
It was silent on the other end for a moment. "…Yeah." He mumbled, and although Hinata felt bad for waking him up, she had to say that his sleepy voice was rather… attractive. It was low and husky. It sent shivers down her spine.
Was he always so alluring without trying?
"Wait a sec, are you that cute girl from the convenient store?" He asked.
She definitely had a name. "Hinata." She said dryly, but Naruto didn't seem to notice.
He gave a low chuckle. "Hey, I'm glad you decided to call me. I thought you threw my number in the trash or something."
It had been three days since he gave her that card. Hinata didn't blame him for thinking that she tossed it away and felt terrible that she kept him waiting. "Sorry. I meant to call earlier but I was just…"
He let out another low laugh, cutting off her apology. "It's fine. You're calling now and that's what matters." There was a small pause between them before Hinata heard the sounds of mattress springs once more. "So, you figure out how you're make it up to me yet?" He laughed.
Actually, no. She was so bent on finding the courage to call him that she completely forgot about that. "I… Well, no. But like you said, we can work something out, right?"
"I really wanna go on that date with you." Naruto answered her quickly, and she gasped. "Sorry," he mumbled, "I'm still hella tired. Sorry for being so upfront, but I mean come on. You're really cute and I want you to have a better image of me than 'the latex junkie'."
Hinata couldn't suppress her giggle. Soon, it became uncontrollable and she almost missed the small laugh Naruto gave. "Oh, that's funny to you, huh?" She nodded, but reminded herself that he couldn't see her and gave a weak "yes" in between laughs.
After calming herself down, Hinata finally gave him an answer. "I don't know about a date, but you're really funny. We can hang out together if you'd like."
Naruto hummed in thought. "So an unofficial date then, right?"
"…I guess, if you want to call it that. It'll be my treat since I'm making it up to you. I'll text you the details?"
She could practically hear Naruto grinning on the other end of the line. "I get a pretty girl treating me on an unofficial date? I must be pretty lucky." He then yawned, and Hinata felt bad for keeping him up this entire time. "I should probably let you get to bed."
"No, it's fine." Naruto said. "I've had a pretty long day, so getting a chance to hear your voice is a plus in my book. But I think seeing you'll be even better."
Funny, Hinata was just thinking the same thing.
The two of them chatted for hours about their hobbies, majors, favorite television shows – anything they could think of. It was almost two in the morning when they said good night to each other (though Naruto, being the dork that he was, corrected her by saying good morning) and when they did, Hinata just couldn't get that handsome RA out of her mind.
He was everything she had hoped for in a guy and he was also a few things she never thought she needed in a guy.
Boy, was she wrong.
On their unofficial date, Naruto made Hinata laugh so hard, her stomach hurt. She couldn't even breathe at one point and swore she was going to die right then and there. Hinata also learned that Naruto was quite charming, constantly throwing winks in her direction all while telling her how pretty she looked.
He was smart too. Naruto was able to hold a few intellectual conversations on politics (who would have guessed that exuberant blond was a political science major?) and actually had quite a few genius ideas on how to change Konoha City for the better. He also told her that he'd be able to write his own speeches too, unlike Mayor Hatake.
And did she mention how athletic he was? He was even on Konoha University's baseball team. Now, Hinata was never into sports or muscle heads who attempted to get her attention by flexing at her, but after just seeing Naruto's biceps tighten against the sleeve of his shirt, Hinata had to wonder what the rest of his body looked like.
What really made her heart pitter-patter against her chest was when he took her by the hand and locked his cerulean eyes with her opaque ones. "This was fun and all, but I'd like to take you on a proper date next time. Whadaya say? Have I proved myself yet?" Then he let out a low chuckle.
Naruto's whiskered cheeks made way for a perfect smile to shine out, and Hinata felt entranced. Small lips opened slightly to answer, and a breathy "yes" was all she managed to say.
That day, Naruto managed to jump from an eight all the way to a ten – plus two points for being her dream guy.
And to think, this was the guy she thought of as the latex junkie.