Option 2: Naruto and Hinata's first Christmas together as a couple

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Written for @quirrrky - NaruHina Secret Santa 2020

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It's the sounds of someone getting dressed that gradually pulled Hinata out of her dreamland. She fought against her awake for a while, but the noise of a bag hitting the floor and a swear won the battle.

Defeated, her eyelids slowly fluttered open, realising the weight of his arms around her waist was missing. Her lavender irises still clouded by sleepiness took in the sight of the familiar walls when she turned around in the bed.

Then, instead of finding Santa Claus, she saw her boyfriend's figure bending over to pick up the bag that had slid off his hands.

She didn't precisely know what time it was, but at the sight of the very shy rays of sun penetrating their bedroom, she understood it was too early for him to be up during a day off.

"Naaarutooo-kuuuun."

"Shit," he breathed while zipping up his jacket. "I'm sorry, Hinata. I didn't mean to wake you up."

It was still strange for him to be quiet in his flat on purpose.

Naruto had always been loud to fill the silence ruling over him with an iron grip, but now that Hinata had moved in with him, he tried to control the volume of his voice or his steps when moments like this one were favourable for calm.

Apparently, he still had progress to make since his girlfriend rolled on his side of the bed, wrapping herself in the orange sheets, but still holding her hand out for him.

"Come back..."

She heard him walk to her before sitting on the bed.

Their fingers met, slid on each other's skin, fanning this feeling of well-known warmth with which she had fallen asleep last night.

Hinata was about to snuggle against him, but her cheek brushed against the rough fabric of his mission gear.

She frowned and felt with her hand the rest of his body until provoking a chuckle from Naruto. He took her hand, lifting it to his lips and leaving feather-like kisses on each of her knuckles.

"Something came up at work. I have to go."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recalled hearing a knock on their door. She thought she had imagined it. She wished she had.

She knew there was never truly days off for ninja, even less so for the highly expected Hokage's successor, but for once, Hinata would've liked to keep him all for herself.

"Buuuuut-"

"You should go back to sleep," His voice was soft, the smell of his shampoo embedded into the sheets comforting, the caress of his hand in her hair pleasant, the heat from his body intoxicating; everything felt so right that Hinata's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. "I won't be long."

*****

It was already two in afternoon when Naruto opened his front door and quickly closed it behind him to prevent the cold air of December from invading his flat.

He rubbed his palms while removing his shoes without undoing them. To quickly reach his kotatsu, he carelessly let them fall on the floor, but leaving them like that in his way made him stumble as he moved to unwrap his scarf.

Bad habits were hard to break.

He had to remember that Hinata's stuff plus his own left little to no free space in the genkan if things weren't put away as they had decided together.

He then paused and bent to line his winter boots against the wall, between the colourful umbrellas and Hinata's tiny sandales.

He instantly gained enough space to move correctly.

Content with himself, he hung his scarf and coat next to the hats and jackets before stepping further in his flat, aiming for his clean kotatsu where all of the work Kakashi had given him was done and classified.

On his way, he passed by the Christmas tree they had decorated together; the kitchen where he noticed the pans and pots used for breakfast washed and drying; and several pictures of family, friends, and Hinata and him together, brightening up the main room.

Once his kotatsu was on to heat the room, Naruto walked to their bedroom.

When he opened the door, he didn't see his girlfriend asking him to come back to bed with her while he was doing his morning routine.

It was usually him who would beg her to wait five more minutes in bed before starting the day. But today, he had understood she would've prefered they spent their morning together.

Unfortunately, he had been needed at the Hokage Tower. Or should he say that he had been called to fix his mistake.

Naruto was really bad with IT and it turned out to be a real issue because yesterday, instead of saving all his work on his computer, he made a mistake which deleted a lot of data.

Shikamaru, who he was sure would've prefered to not be working today, had helped him type everything once again.

However, even with two pairs of hands, the task had taken longer than expected and as Naruto was about to complain, to say that he couldn't stay still on his chair anymore, that his eyes were about to pop out of his orbits, Hinata had appeared.

His sweet girlfriend had been worrying about not seeing him coming back and had taken the opportunity to bring him his bento to know what was going on in the Tower's offices.

This surprise had motivated him to wrap everything up fast in order to go back to Hinata.

But now she was the one to be out.

She'd told him she wanted to visit Kurenai and Mirai before going shopping. Therefore, he'd planned to keep himself busy while waiting for her to come back, but it seemed Hinata had already done most of the job.

She'd left behind her the bed made and the bedroom tidy.

Golden rays of sun went through the curtains they had installed a few days ago and the room emanated a clean scent, sweet and cool, tickling his nose and giving him the feeling of home he was gradually getting used to since Hinata had moved in with him.

Naruto deeply inhaled through his nose then exhaled with his mouth.

This smell, it was him and her and he loved it.

Warm bubbles filled his chest; he was happy.

With now a view of changing himself, he made his way to his drawers and wardrobe. He took the opportunity to get his clothes out for tonight.

As he went through his shirts and socks, he eyed from time to time one of those really small bags Hinata made then filled with Provençal herbs coming directly from the Land of Tea. She would hide them in their clean clothes to give them good scents.

It was her new manual activity and for the few times he had seen her do it, Naruto was sure she was having fun learning about the endless world of aromas.

He had bought a book about that by the way; a Christmas gift for her because she would say she didn't have all the knowledge yet to dare use more complex herbs.

It's true her small bags were often either rosemary or thyme. The last experiment she had tried was on mint. Unfortunately, the smell had been too strong for their nose even though she had let it dry under the sun longer than the others.

His personal favourite was lavender. He loved smelling like her.

With the correct outfit in hand, he approached the bathroom to clean himself a bit. Face washed, he brushed his teeth then put his toothbrush back in the cup, next to Hinata's own toothbrush and got dressed.

Feeling better, he got down to busy his hands and mind.

First, he checked they still had everything to make hot chocolate, drinks they kept having while watching movies since the tragic fall of temperatures.

Second, he washed his bento box, dried and put away the dishes, before wiping the counter. Hinata had planned to bake all afternoon so he wanted to make it easier for her as efficiently as possible.

And then, finally, once the washing that had been hanging out was folded, he carried the basket to the bedroom and checked the room one last, getting rid of some balls of dust threatening to invade the main room.

Because he was done with everything and Hinata hadn't come back yet, Naruto opened a bag of candy canes, stuck one between his teeth and collected their mail he then left on the dining table.

He meant to read it, but his attention quickly got caught by something else.

That's why he found himself sitting at his kotatsu, bathing in its warmth. With his bag of candy canes within reach, he kept ignoring his bills and prefered to be busy by flipping through magazines for a house to buy.

He was dead serious the last time he'd said he would buy Hinata a house.

Or should he say, they were going to buy a house.

Naruto and Hinata.

Together.

Because Hinata had stood her ground on the part that she didn't want him to pay the whole price.

And if he wasn't going to agree at first, Naruto did bend in front of her pale eyes so full of stars when she would talk about this shared project.

He also grew to really like the idea of "our house". Hinata would use it every time they sat at the kotatsu to do research together.

He loved these moments.

It was either they were joking about every single property ad they read or him doing nothing and just listening to Hinata weigh up the pros and cons, his blue eyes admiring her brows going up and down when she was unsure about the house, her cute lips pouting when it was a certain 'no' and her face glowing when the ad had everything they wanted.

Naruto reached for the bag of candies, wanting to savour an umptheenth candy cane. But, he realised with horror he already ate all of them.

At the same moment, a sound of keys in the door lock echoed in the flat. "Tadaima."

Naruto ran to the genkan to welcome Hinata.

She was placing her bunch of keys next to his when he arrived next to her. Their eyes met, "Hinata, okaeri!"

Almost hidden between her hat and scarf, only her nose and cheeks held marks of the cold from outside. So, it's when she took off all of her additional layers of fabric that he noticed her smile making her face glow.

She was so cute.

Naruto leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

"How things ended up with Shikamaru?" she asked while removing her coat.

Her boyfriend made a face as if the simple act of speaking about it was hurting him. Or maybe he was still ashamed of himself to have caused so much trouble.

"It ended well, but I really, really, really missed you." He whined like a child. "I would have prefered to not go to work today." He sighed.

Her soft chuckle reminding him of the sound of bells jingled by the wind resonated when she hung her stuff from the hook.

Then, tucking a lock of her long hair behind her ear, Hinata faced him with a new smile.

"Thank you for your hard work, Naruto-kun."

Her encouragement was like a soft caress getting rid of his doubts, an act he wasn't used to receiving from others, and he wondered if he could be glad his girlfriend acknowledged his effort.

Heart hammering, his hand landed on his nape then rubbed it as he blushed. "I'm doing my best." He then paused. "It's also thanks to you and your support, Hinata. So, thank you."

He would've liked to say more, but it still happened that sometimes, he was lost for words when he witnessed the endless kindness and gentleness his girlfriend would show.

So uncool. He consoled himself by acting.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her again to express his strong feelings, his eternal gratitude.

Oh! Hinata was surprised that her simple words provoked such an amorous rush before kissing him back. She enjoyed the countless caresses of his warm lips. The slow swing of their tongues. The sweet taste of candy cane lingering on his taste buds. The strong embrace of his arms around her.

Instantly overwhelmed by his familiar warmth, Hinata dug her finger in his golden mane and let her nails dance on his scalp before following his hairline. Her hand cupped his nape to keep him close to her, to deepen their kiss.

The burning effect was immediate.

Naruto swore by surprise and captured Hinata's wrists. "Damn, Hinata, you're freezing!"

"I forget my gloves at Kurenai-sensei's house." She confessed and met the innocence in his gaze as he kissed the middle of her palms. His hot breath crashed into her skin and gave her goosebumps, "You're warm."

"I was sitting at the kotatsu," he grinned. "Let's warm you up!" he intertwined their fingers and ready to rush to the heating system to cuddle a bit more with his frozen girlfriend, Naruto turned on his heels.

But he felt himself slightly going backwards when she held him back, "I can't. I'm already late in what I've planned to do." She then let go of him.

He eyed her over his shoulder when she was about to pick up the shopping bags being kicked out of their minds by this warm welcome.

"Wait, Hinata." He stopped her. "Let me do it."

Even before she could say something, her boyfriend was already walking towards the kitchen with what she had bought.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she added anyway.