Crush

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliates and am making no profit from this work.

Crush


Crushes were weird things. They could make you feel as dumb as ever, make you want to skip or bounce around, make you feel like your cheeks would fall off because you’re smiling too much, or even make you think of doing something really stupid to get attention.

Iruka-sensei was his very first crush and he suffered through the symptoms accordingly.

When he was called on in class to answer a question, his mind went blank.

When it was time for target practice, he flounced around like an idiot often getting himself hurt.

During lectures, he grinned so dazedly that the person sitting next to him would sometimes complain and ask for a new seat.

He’d once gathered up the courage to give Iruka-sensei some flowers on White Day.

At that point, Iruka-sensei had decided that things had just gone on for long enough and sat him down to explain that what he was feeling was just a crush and would go away soon.

Naruto was too busy staring at Iruka-sensei to listen.

So when Mizuki-sensei had told him about the secret scroll, he’d gone after it without a second thought. Getting to become a ninja and impressing Iruka-sensei? It had sounded like a win-win situation to him!

After that little escapade, Iruka-sensei had flat out told him that such nonsense needed to stop and smacked him in the head when he started to drool a bit.

But it still had had the desired results. He stopped trying to get Iruka-sensei’s attention quite so much.

Ten years later and he was having a hard time believing it was still just a crush though; a fact that he often teased Iruka-sensei about.

After all, was it called a crush when he stayed awake an hour every night and woke up an hour earlier just so he could watch his lover sleep in his arms?

Was it called a crush when he rubbed his lover’s feet when he’d had an exceptionally bad day at the Academy?

Was it called a crush when he sat through mind numbingly long rants about obnoxious jounin tramping into the mission’s office a day late to turn in their reports?

Was it called a crush when he ate at the ramen bar for an hour after not eating the whole day and then placing the damage on said jounin’s tab, even though his lover had told him not to?

Was it, even after that, still called a crush when he went out of his way to plan a perfect dinner for his lover?

And then not start shouting when Hokage-baa-san ruined that dinner with a mission?

Was it called a crush when he made love to his feisty chuunin all night until his doe brown eyes glazed over and rolled back?

Was it a crush when he made sure his lover was satisfied in ways that would make him limp the next day?

He asked this one day with a wry grin, watching him work as they lay together in bed.

Iruka had looked up at him with wide eyes, glaring like he was sure he was being made fun of. A moment later and he blushed darkly.

“Yes,” he snapped peevishly, turning his attention back to the papers he’d been grading as his cheeks went a deeper shade of pink. “It is until you stop smiling at me like an idiot.”

Naruto snorted and crossed his arms under his head, staring at the ceiling.

Yup, crushes were weird things. They could make you act like a moron, do things you normally wouldn’t, take a risky chance just for attention, say something you know is going to get you into trouble just so you can see the cute pout on your lover’s face before they clocked you….

But he thought that love was just as bad.