AN: It's sorta hard for me to write a shallow world for very long, so here's a whole lot more character depth for you! Also I wasn't expecting the level of response this fic received, so as a guilty pleasure fic, I'm just gonna post whatever and however much until it's done. XD Also! I figured out Naruto's major and while I'm sure requirements are different enough from Uni to Uni, one local curriculum I looked up doesn't have Econ 101 for his major. So… I ain't retconning it! Let's just hand-wave it as an elective class lol.
AN2 for FFN: Sorry for not updating on Weds! I had originally decided to do a weekly update, but now I think I'm just gonna post the rest of the current chapters daily. If you're not reading this on AO3, then expect 9 new chapters in the coming week. Although, I did prematurely post Ch 9 for personal reasons, so maybe when I get Ch 10 up on Ao3, I'll try to combine it into Ch 9 for here, but we'll see.
Holy crap, I didn't even look at how many follows and faves this got! XDDD 63 and 47, man. This is also my least tryhard story too, plus it's just for funsies? But I'm happy anyway. Thank you all!
Runner's High
Chapter Two, Running Buddies
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Teuchi-ojisan's greeting cut short when he recognized his longtime customer ducking under the restaurant curtains. "Naruto! I hardly see you around these days!"
Touching his head, Naruto chuckled. "Ah, yeah, I started going to a different park, and you know I gotta eat within the first thirty minutes of stopping."
Ayame approached the counter and folded her arms atop it, a wry smile aimed his way. "So you're two-timing us, Naruto-chan? I thought you said you'd never eat ramen anywhere else."
The fact that Ichiraku was one of those antiquated four-seat ramen stalls tucked deep inside a narrow alleyway, overshadowed by two five-story shopping mall complexes like a victim of modernization was not lost on him, and he did feel guilty for spending his money elsewhere.
"I'm still here, aren't I?" He laughed, as Teuchi got started on his usual order.
"So where are you eating now? Out of curiosity." Ayame asked.
Naruto brightened at this, because he was actually pretty happy with what his No. 2 ramen spot's specialty was. "Amāwaji Ramen House! They specialize in Uzushio-style ramen. Uzushio doesn't have a long history of raising livestock, so the broth is either made from kombu or stewed fish bones and head. It's not too different from Kiri-style, but it's a lot more complex."
"This really fires you up, huh? You learn all this on your own or from your ethnic studies?"
"Both! But man, I could talk about the Motherland all day."
Naruto sat at his desk, eyes glued to his glowing laptop screen as he twirled a pen from pink to thumb and back again.
He jolted back in his chair when the room seemed to explode with white light. As it settled, he could see his dorm room in perfect clarity. He looked over to the door where his dorm-mate stood, hooked finger resting against the light switch.
"That's bad for your eyes," Shikamaru drawled as he took a hit from his vape pen.
"Ugh, yeah, I know. I just... didn't feel like getting up," Naruto ground the butt of his palms against his eyelids, yawning as he leaned back in his chair, making the crick in his spine pop. He released a deep sigh of relief, and promptly ragdolled all lazy-like. "Ah, I needed that."
"Hunching over; bad for your back," he said, now reclined atop his dorm bed on the opposite side of the room. He took another hit, held it, and released, the vapour curling above his face and resembling dry ice sublimation.
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto weakly chuckled as he went back to his research.
They both had their vices.
Naruto just took care of his biggest one an hour earlier, and post-nut clarity was always the perfect time to start studying before his mind had the chance to run back to her.
Maybe the sweatband made him look dumb.
Naruto fingered his hairline and smoothed down his crown as he turned his face this way and that in the mirror.
He grimaced at his reflection with intense scrutiny.
His incomplete coming-of-age scars on his cheeks had a certain charm, right? It seemed to be a real icebreaker at mixers, though he hated whenever he had to correct them that it was supposed to be fox whiskers, not cat.
It was Kumo that worshipped the cat.
Sweatband.
No sweatband.
Sweatband?
Fuck it.
No sweatband.
It was becoming indiscernible the way his heart pounded from his workout and how it pounded for her. He was sure the sensation of his crush would become inextricably entwined with running that even an innocent set on a treadmill might make him horny.
He might be fine with that.
A dopey grin stretches across his face as he thinks of her.
No! No he wouldn't!
He might be fine with summoning her inside his mind through the simple act of running, but of course, he wouldn't be fine if he has to wank it every time he's genuinely trying to exercise!
Dammit!
He's completing his fourth lap when he turns to run the opposite direction, and she's jogging straight towards him, her glorious assets bouncing with the force of an earthquake.
He doesn't know what compelled him to hold his hand out in a high-five. Maybe a remnant habit from his high school days doing Long Distance Track.
Her blank gaze fixates on his palm the moment they pass each other.
Humiliation coats his sweaty face red.
He drops his hand and keeps running.
Idiot! That was the weirdest thing you could've done, you asshole!
He hammered his temples with his palms, which in hindsight, probably only made him look more unhinged and strange.
He schooled his features behind a stony wince as he began to near her again, his gaze firmly fixed on the horizon.
He honestly wanted to cry.
But then she brought her arm out from her side, her palm offered to him. He didn't miss the warm smile on her face.
He clapped his palm against hers. Thrill rushed through him from the smallest exchange of sweat, of flesh on flesh, of the size of her tiny hand against his forever imprinted onto his brain.
Her receding footsteps gradually faded away, providing him some solace of privacy as his limbs vibrated utter joy.
His heart wept.
MA'AM, I LOVE YOU!
He threw his fists up in the air as though he'd just crossed the finish line, the tape breaking across his chest.
Best! Run! Ever!
The following week they exchanged high-fives like it was the most natural thing to do.
The first time he heard her voice was when she giggled.
And it was the most heavenly sound!
So gentle and sweet. So airy yet rich.
And when they finally exchanged names, when he reached the point of hearing his (last) name around her lips, he jerked off more vigorously than he ever had, his lust renewed by the ability to imagine her more vividly, more accurately than ever before.
Otsutsuki Hinata was her name.
Otsutsuki-san in public.
Hinata-san in the sheets.
That's how dichotomous his life has become.
One foot in reality and the other in fantasy.
Like a baton race with himself, passing off one state for the other in a continuous cycle.
He didn't hate it though. He's always been the kind of guy that wanted too much, pursued too much and did too much. He doesn't know what calm is and he doesn't want to know.
The internal chaos that came with liking her was the brightest spot in his day.
It's been two months now.
The crisp Spring had finally rolled into balmy early Summer, which meant less clothes.
Not that she hadn't already been wearing the bare minimum.
He groaned when he laid eyes on her plump ass barely contained by her lavender running shorts.
In his mind he tugged aside the damp crotch, revealing her sweaty, hairy pussy as she stood pressed up against a tree. He lapped at her slit before driving his tongue inside her hot, mushy tunnel. She cried out his name. She told him how to please her, where it felt the best, how she hasn't felt this good in years. She begged him for more and more and more.
His stiff cock cried in pain from being smothered between his belly and his compression shorts, but he couldn't just take care of it in the public restroom!
He smiled at her with his palm held out, their rhythm perfectly in sync.
That is, until she psyched him out, her arm turning downwards in an instant.
And in that same instant…
He felt a pat on his butt.
Naruto stumbled to a stop, his whole body alighting with a firework display of emotion.
He sank down to the ground, his head tucked between his knees as he hid his full-face blush from the world.
She threw his entire being off-kilter and he didn't even mind.
Her footsteps approached him, his heart pounding with every bounding step.
"Uzumaki-kun! I'm so sorry! I did it without thinking! It was a lot funnier in my head! I'm so sorry!"
'Funnier in her head'? Hm.
"You know, once you spank me it's a date," he stated matter-of-factly as he lifted his face just enough to convey how absolutely serious he was.
Her beautiful eyes widened, her full lips parting in surprise.
What he didn't expect was her to laugh to the point of tears.
"Otsutsuki-san, this is a date now."
She just doubled over, laughing herself breathless.
Not his most favorite run anymore.