Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously, scuffling his feet on the hallway floor, giving the door three quick knocks. He shoved his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders to relieve the stress and tension.

Turns out taking a couple hits to the face effects more than just a fat lip.

Naruto felt a little bad for bothering Iruka, especially when he opened the door with a book in hand, his finger in between the pages, marking his spot in the biding.

"Naruto, how are you?" He smiled easily enough.

"Hey, you know me. Best of the best and everything." He laughed awkwardly. "Um, but, I was wondering if I could ask you a question?"

"Of course. Come in." Iruka stepped out of his doorway. "Congrats, by the way. On your win."

"Thanks. Yeah, it was easier than I thought." Naruto laughed.

"And the election." He added. "You seem to be winning left and right."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, a little embarrassed by the praise.

Things were actually going pretty well for him. Sure, he was working a lot, but at least he had a job. Or two. And he did win his fight. He was spending a lot of time with Hinata.

Just one problem.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could ask for some advice?" Naruto finally asked, a little tentative.

"Yeah. Of course. What's it about?" Iruka placed his book on the kitchen table.

"So, I'm trying to take Hinata to this super uppity restaurant in Harlem. Sushi Ino- something."

"Sushi Inoue?" He clarified.

"Ya, yeah that's the one."

Iruka's eyes widened a little, nodding. "That's a very nice place."

Naruto huffed. "Yeah, it's expensive as fuck too."

"Is that the problem?" He asked, carefully.

Probably worried that Naruto was going to ask him for money.

"No no no. No. I got the money for it." He promised.

And he did. It was a pain in the ass to scrimp for it. Winning his fight by knockout had helped. But Jiraiya was right, it wouldn't have hurt his wallet to go an extra round or two, not that he could turn back time or anything.

"The problem is though, I need a credit card to reserve it."

"You don't have a credit card?" Iruka sounded surprised.

"Nah. I went to my bank, and I only qualified for a secured card. Limit of $500. Not enough for Inoue's."

"Oh I see."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah. I was thinking on applying for some credit cards online but-"

Iruka shook his head, stopping him mid thought. "Don't do that, it'll hurt your credit. Those cards are no good anyways, steep rates."

His credit was already fucked. Not even fucked, gang banged. He had not kept up on his student loan payments, and until recently, almost every medical bill he had gotten, lived in collections. It's not like making it worse would even matter.

"You can use mine."

It took a minute for Naruto to process the words. "Whoa, wait? What?"

"I'll use my credit card to reserve it and you can just pay me in cash." Iruka explained, with an easy, dismissive explanation.

"Wait seriously?" Naruto asked again, stepping back to appraise all of Iruka.

His body language was relaxed. The older man seemed almost bemused by Naruto's reaction.

"You would really do that for me? What if I like fuck off and never pay you back or some shit?"

Iruka smirked. "I think it'll be possible to track you down."

Oh. Right. Neighbors.

Naruto tapped his hands on his jeans a couple times. "You'd really do that for me?"

"Naruto," Iruka frowned. "I trust you. You've really cleaned yourself up. You're on a good track. You deserve to take Hinata out on a date like this."

Honestly, he was speechless. He knew Iruka was a good guy. He had helped him out more than any neighbor would. Especially in the city.

He couldn't believe it.

"Wow, I dunno what to say." Naruto blinked. "Fuck, I mean, thank you. That's what I meant. Thank you so much, man."

"Of course." Iruka smiled. "Make it a good one, okay?"

It was going to be the best one.

"Oh," Naruto beamed. "Believe it."