talk to you (n. uzumaki)

5.

September Twenty-Fifth arrives.

Exam Day; your very first for music history.

Four study meetups with Naruto have come and gone, with Shikamaru even reluctantly joining you on one. (He seems to get along with your new blonde companion quite well, you've noticed...)

But today comes the day that Naruto's been dreading in the pit of his stomach, in a way you can easily see written all over your face. 

"Come on... you're going to be fine. You got a 90 on the practice test last night when we took it together!" you remind him, lightly nudging him with your elbow as the two of you make your way to the music building. 

"Yeah yeah, I know. I just... I'm not a music kind of guy, you know? I literally only signed up for this class 'cause it sounded easier than that dumb Philosophy and the Arts class. I thought it would just be listening to music the whole semester!" he groans, rubbing his face in annoyance. 

"Well... he's partially right. Philosophy and the Arts blows." you think to yourself, your brows creasing somewhat in worry. 

"I promise, you're going to be fine. It's not even a long exam! The TA said it was only gonna be thirty questions." you attempt to reassure him, internally noting the way he seems to pout with his bottom lip whenever he's this upset about something. 

"Yeah, but thirty questions means I lose more points if I miss one! I don't want my Ma to be mad at me if she finds out I somehow flopped on this exam... I'd be dead meat in no time. I'm already on thin ice with her after failing Creative Writing last year because my essays were total dogshit, ya know." he rambles, seemingly gripped by his nerves. 

"Okay, stop, stop. Look at me." you sigh, halting in your steps, staring directly at him. 

He pauses similarly and turns around to look at you, sunny shoreline blues meeting your own in a confused glance. His expression seems to be begging for some kind of consolation, any sort of concrete reassurance that this is all in his head. 

"You're stuck in your head, Naruto. I'm telling you, you're going to be completely fine on this exam. Like... don't think, just answer. What's polyphony?" you ask, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

"Music with more than one voice." he recites from memory without missing a beat, before blinking in bewilderment. 

"Jeez... did you condition me, or something?" Naruto mutters under his breath, a somewhat pleased lopsided grin appearing on his lips. 

Strangely enough, you'd found that a few of his little quirks were growing on you. His odd penchant for punctuating a few of his sentences with "ya know?" as if it's some type of filler phrase that he'd inherited, or the way his boisterous laugh was suppressed to a raspy snicker whenever he needed to be quiet in the library. 

But most of all was two different things. The first being that he was never afraid to make eye contact with you; those vividly azure eyes always seemed to find yours and never leave. You couldn't recall the last time you were so consistently held in someone's gaze.

The second is one that worries you, one that you'd thought about for most of the night after taking the practice exam with him in the library. 

The lopsided smile, the sharp canines that glimmer in it, the way he has a faint dimple when he does so... 

It had grown on you. And you found yourself stepping further and further out of your box to try and make that smile appear on his face, to be the sole source of it.