Hobby

Apparently, Hinata was someone that Choji could really hang out with.

The first time he and Shikamaru ran into her at Ichiraku's, he held out his bag of chips for Shikamaru to hold onto and watched her go through two bowls with a hand on his heart.

"Hold me," he muttered.

"What?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hold me," he repeated as he felt his legs give out beneath him. Shikamaru caught him under the arms and lowered him to the ground. Choji suspected that he was having a heart attack, but then the feeling passed, and he reached for the chips again.

"Low caloric intake?" Shikamaru guessed. "Want ramen?"

"Do I?" Choji snorted, and got up, dusting his pants off.

Hinata was on her third bowl.

"Hi, Hinata right?" he asked shyly after he and Shikamaru placed their order.

"O-oh, hi," Hinata squeaked, looking up. "Choji. Shikamaru."

"Hey," Shikamaru said, getting a pair of chopsticks for both himself and Choji.

"I never knew you were so talented," Choji continued. "Are you just a ramen expert or are you versatile?"

Hinata went red in the face, but she looked pleased with herself.

"I just like food," she mumbled.

"I know a really good curry place next to the button shop with the custard cremes-," he said.

"-Next to the weapons district," Hinata finished, smiling. "I love that place. Their tonkatsu is also really good."

"It's so crispy!" Choji agreed. "The soba place next door is really good, too."

"Oh. I've never been there before," Hinata admitted.

"Why don't we go together?" Choji suggested. "Oh, not the two of us – Shikamaru will come, too, if you feel uncomfortable with just us two."

Shikamaru grunted.

"Or you can bring a friend… as long as they eat carbs," Choji continued. "It's just hard to find anyone outside of the clan who likes food as much as I do."

"Oh…" Hinata hesitated. "Okay. How does…next Thursday sound?"

"How does Thursday sound, Shikamaru?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru grunted again, and Choji turned back to Hinata just as his ramen was set in front of him.

"Thursday sounds perfect, Hinata."

Thank you for reading, as always :)