A/N: This is what I do instead of homework.
At the age of 35, Boruto would still consider himself a fairly attractive man, as Sarada would often tease and attest. He was still in shape, being Sarada, Shikadai and Metal's favourite sparring partner (and he often earned a few admiring looks from women in the streets.) He was still a capable fighter and shinobi, even though he had stopped going on missions. He still had all of his hair, unlike Iwabe, who was balding and who shielded most people from that fact by constantly wearing those godawful hats. His features were still as good-looking as usual, a narcissistic voice at the back of his head would often cheekily whisper.
But damn it, there were still times when he would still feel a little insecure, times when he felt that Sarada was too good for him. In spite of all their years of marriages, these times do frustratingly pop up. Sometimes, and he chided himself for these intermittent thoughts, he would feel a tinge of envy whenever Sarada conversed with a young and attractive man. She was naturally warm and friendly in demeanor and, at times, he would paranoidly speculate on them developing feelings for his wife and then play out a scenario in his head where he would have to threaten them away and then incur Sarada's wrath for being dumb, before finally quashing these ridiculous thoughts. Maybe Sarada did have a point that an idle life breeds a restless mind. Wise words.
"Boruto - what are you getting Sarada for Valentines' Day tomorrow?" Himawari's nosy, nosy comments interrupted his stream of thoughts.
They had decided to embark on some sibling bonding time, though Boruto wasn't sure why this was especially necessary, given that they were both stay-at-home spouses (who willingly relegated themselves to the Konoha Reserve Force) and practically see each other every day anyway. He was making dinner for his family. He was getting pretty good at it - again, well-balanced, nutritious and none of that bullcrap about ramen. Himawari, in the meantime, was knitting a pair of socks for her six-year-old son and another hat for her four-year-old daughter.
"Uh."
He froze. He had completely forgotten about this.
"Boruto?"
"I... don't know," Boruto admitted lamely.
"Boruto..."
"I know! I know! I'm thinking, okay? Really..."
Himawari's death stare could chill you to the marrow.
"Okay, Himawari, now you're making me feel bad. Thanks."
"Good." Himawari gave him a sweet grin. "I'm sure you'll figure things out with her. Now, big brother, what's this complaint I've been hearing about you banning ramen from the house?"
"Ramen is trash," Boruto replied nonchalantly, glad that his sister switched topics. Then he stopped, realisation suddenly dawning on him. "Wait, did Eriko ask this? I knew she did. Did you feed her ramen when she went to your house last weekend? That's unacceptable! You know dad spoils her enough already with their godforsaken trips to Ichiraku Ramen. With the amount of ramen she consumes even after my restrictions, her insides will be made of tonkotsu broth and-"
"Boruto... First things first, it's my house and not yours. I can do whatever I want. Secondly, Eriko merely picked up the ramen gene that runs in our family. Honestly, where did you get your nagging skills and control freak tendencies from? That I will never know. You are becoming more domestic by the day," Himawari teased.
"I'm merely being a responsible parent!" Boruto protested indignantly.
~X~
Boruto scratched his head again and again as he waited to pick up his children Asami, Eriko and Itachi from the Academy. Just what was he supposed to do for Sarada for Valentines' Day tomorrow?
Take her out for dinner? Too standard.
Buy her a necklace? Been there, done that.
Buy her a new book? She's probably read it anyway.
Go on vacation with her? What kind of thing is a one-day vacation?
Make his own romantic dinner with her in their house (after getting the kids out of the way, presumably asking Kakashi or Mitsuki to look after them) and then playing some of Sarada's favourite music while taking her ballroom dancing? Hmm... that sounded like a decent plan.
Except he only had one day left. One day to prepare the recipe, to repair their old and broken CD player and to, well, contact either Kakashi or Mitsuki and then persuade his cheekly little children to go along.
Heck, he's been through worse, managed crises far more severe - like stopping a chakra bomb right below the daimyo's castle. Why not give this a try?
"Boruto!" An excited voice shouted.
It was Izumi, one of his acquaintances and fellow parent and member of parental organisation. "Hi Izumi." He waved at her.
"Boruto! Izumi!" Sumire greeted them both with a smile.
Boruto gave her a friendly nod.
Wasabi, Namida and Aiko arrived too.
"Yo Boruto!" A familiar voice sounded.
"Iwabe?! The hell are you doing here?!" Boruto's mouth fell.
"My wife's says she's got a hospital shift," Iwabe said while shrugging, "What, I can't pick up my kids?"
"Awww, it's good that Boruto's not the only dude here for once," Aiko giggled.
"Anyways," Izumi asked the group, "I heard that Nami has been having problems with Tadashi, you see they..."
"Are they always this gossipy?" Iwabe whispered in Boruto's ear, to which Boruto responded with a gentle nod. Sighs could be heard.
"You doing anything with your wife for tomorrow?" Boruto asked.
"We're going to the hot springs together. Booked a private section."
"Damn."
~X~
"Cabbages, tomatoes and some spinach please," Boruto politely asked the old lady at the vegetable stall.
"You should reward your family once in a while, Boruto-sama." She winked humourously."Really, with all the greens you are giving them." Another chuckle.
"It's... actually for my wife," Boruto explained defensively. "I want to make her a special dinner for tonight."
"My, my aren't you a romantic one? Been treating our Hokage-sama well?" The old lady grinned. "Still, spoil her a little. She deserves it after the past few years of service."
~X~
"Boruto-kun! So good to see you!" Ino Yamanaka greeted him ecstatically as he entered the flower store.
"I'd like a bunch of roses?" Boruto said rather unsurely. "For my wife later today, of course."
"Oh no problem!" She came over and kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. "My, my you have grown into a fine young man. I remember when you were still a kid and I was still making bets with Sasuke about whether you would end up with Sarada. I won, of course."
"Right," Boruto answered rather awkwardly, being still suffocated in her embrace. "That's... very good to know."
~X~
Groceries? Done. Flowers? Mission accomplished. Sending the kids to Kakashi? Check. (Although the man had initially protested vehementally.) Now comes the hard part: fixing the CD player.
Boruto had battled deities, fought in wars, carried out countless assassinations, rescued daimyos - and heck, even saved his own Hokage and wife (sort of.) This should have been easy. Easy peasy. It had to be. He had a screwdriver in one hand and an instruction Manuel on the other so what could go wrong?
His thoughts wandered off to the day he finally plucked the courage to ask Sarada out. Mitsuki had been teasing him, goading him for months, years even. Shikadai had been snickering at the numerous circumstances he backed off and chickened out. Inojin rolled his eyes and told him to get on with it. Himawari had given him a long, long speech about how her big brother was an idiot and that if he didn't act soon enough, Sarada would be taken, given her vast array of admirers.
Admittedly, Boruto felt a little insecure. There were times when he thought Sarada was way out of his league. There was no denying that she was beautiful. She grew out her hair, with the long and lustrous curls cascading down her back. She got contact lenses - not that he ever thought she looked bad with glasses. Her frame had grown tall and lean. But, more than anything, her warm smile consistently succeeded in disarming him, reducing him internally into a puddle of mush. Sure, he had known her since time immemorial, back when they were roudy kids in the Academy. Sure, to him, she was a best friend, something he could always trust with everything, rely on everything and confide in everything - well, almost everything, that is, everything sans the feelings he had about her. And there lies the problem.
Something was stopping from asking her out. Insecurities about himself, whether their friendship would change and what lies ahead for them paralyse his thoughts and actions. Time and time again, lumps formed in his throat that eventually throttled his confessions.
Yet that day, Boruto finally decided that enough was enough and that he was going to ask her out and if things turned out badly, at least he'd never live through the rest of his life with lingering feelings of regret of what might have been, at least if she ended up with another man, he'd never be able to say "I could have had her, if I had been brave enough to ask."
And with the words "will you go out with me, alone - to the festival?" they were dating. It was much easier than he thought it would be. Turns out that she liked him back. They kissed - his first time and her first time - and the rest was history. Sometimes, Boruto wondered what would have happened had he continued to chicken out. Would Sarada grow impatient with him and ask him out herself? Would she end up with another guy - Shikadai? Mitsuki - no, not Mitsuki. Iwabe? Inojin? He-
"SHIT!"
The old CD player was on fire. No, scratch that: the entire corner of the room was on fire.
The roses he bought were ablaze too. So were his groceries, which he had so carelessly placed in the corner.
He had been too distracted by his thoughts.
"DAMN!"
Quickly, he conjured up a water jutsu and extinguished the flames.
Except his plan was in tatters.
No flowers, no romantic music, no special dinner.
Frustrated, Boruto slumped to the floor. There goes Valentines' dinner.
Sighing, he got up and started cleaning the space up. Yet, at the same time, old insecurities came flooding back, intermingled with a feeling of persistent guilt. Still, dinner had to be made. There was no question.
Pulling himself together and taking numerous deep breaths, Boruto approached the cupboard and took out a packet of instant curry - yes, they would have to settle for that tonight. It wasn't the best thing in the world, but it wasn't too bad. Sarada would surely tolerate it, especially if he told her about his escapade with the burnt old CD player. He'd improvise something, maybe sing her a song. There was also some ice-cream in the fridge that he could potentially use for dessert.
Still, Boruto felt terrible. It couldn't be helped. He had let his wife down. It would all be a huge disappointment for both of them - he knew it would be, it -
"Boruto! I'm home!"
He froze.
It was his wife.
His wife had come home.
"Shit." He mouthed, hoping that she didn't hear him.
~X~
"Boruto?" Sarada frowned as she saw him in the kitchen's corner, concern etched on her face. 'What's the matter?"
"I... may have caused a fire in the kitchen," Boruto gulped. "Small fire though."
Sarada's gazed switched to the bin, with burnt flowers, vegetables and components of CD players tossed in it.
"I'm sorry," Boruto blurted out. "I wanted to make dinner for us tonight and give you flowers - the plan all went to waste though, seeing as I'm a moron who can't fix the CD player properly."
"Oh Boruto!" Sarada rushed towards him and gave him a tight hug. "That's so sweet of you to think about making dinner. But I've already got us tickets to Icha Icha Dance!'s concert. I wanted it to be a surprise so I hid it from you and pretended I had work!"
She grinned a little sheepishly, feeling a bit apologetic. Expecting Boruto to utter some snarky comment, she added, "What? Can't the Hokage have a bit of fun? I'm sorry I caused you so much distress and-"
She felt his lips press against hers. "I love you," he muttered as the kissing moved to her forehead.
"Boruto..."
"Thank God... Just what did I do to deserve you?"
"Boruto! Come on! Now you're just being dramatic!" She gave him a mock-retort.
"Okay," he replied. "So, we're putting on disguises right? I mean, it'll be pretty fun to pretend to be two random young teenagers. Also saves us from all the attention we might get."
They laughed.
Boruto then lifted her up bridal-style and carried her to their room, all while Sarada moaned about just how inappropriate it was for the dignified Hokage of Konoha to be carried around like this and Boruto guffawed in response.
"Also, vegetables? Boruto, cut some slack!" Sarada giggled. "We can indulge ourselves once in a while with junk food - especially if it's Valentine's Day!"
"Burgers then?"
"Burgers indeed."
A/N: Yup! The image of a paranoid Boruto thinking of what to do for his wife just wouldn't get out of my head hahahaha.
Also, this collection of oneshots and drabbles would not be purely Boruto-centric. I'm actually planning to write more about the children - developing them should be a lot of fun!
Let me know what you want to see and what you thought about this chapter in the reviews!
