the million dollar question

Pairing: Naruto/Hinata; slight mention of Minato/Kushina

Notes: prompt: flight delayed!au. This is for Judee, my long overdue present, because I should've written this pair a long time ago.

He loses his luggage in the swarm of people and he knows it was stupid to have left his plane tickets inside said missing luggage, but there are a lot of things Naruto has done that weren't particularly smart either.

Exhibit A: downing five bowls of ramen last night because he couldn't sleep hence, the hasty visits to the airport's restroom where lines are infinite and his bladder's the most impatient thing.

Exhibit B: he could've chosen to leave with Shikamaru when his roommate announced leaving for the break earlier to avoid the congested terminals during the holidays. Screw classes, he says, not like Naruto is doing any better.

Giving up, he approaches the checking officer in one of the counters, desperate and almost angry. "My bag is missing! I've been looking for it over an hour now. What kind of security personnel do you have in this joint, anyway?"

"Sir, let me direct you to the lost and found board over there," says the bigger man, twitching his mustache in displeasure but can't be spiteful or he'll lose his job. "They might have your luggage."

"Well, aren't you the one who's supposed to be watching over –"

Someone clears his throat behind the confused blond, Naruto stopping his monologue to stare back at an even bigger man, fists appearing ready to pounce at him. He gulps and turns, reminds himself it is his right to demand for adequate service, and crosses his arms to stop his quivering. "I suppose you know where my bag is?"

The man just smiled down benevolently and pointed at a black and orange travelling bag across the hall. "I believe you left it there before you went for your fifth potty break, sir." Naruto doesn't like how this person seems to be observing him, but he's too proud and relieved really, to respond anyway that he storms towards his things, heavily sporting the same color motif as his jumpsuit.

Running, his mother had told him before, isn't recommended when there are people in the way who he'll end up knocking at his unflinching speed. But Naruto never listens, because he's an adult now, and that's how he accidentally bumps a girl while retrieving his belongings. And while it is a common trope for strangers clashing into each other to fall in love at first sight, and as much as that is likely, Naruto quickly realizes he's spilled her coffee all over her hoodie, staining its paleness.

"Shit," he murmurs, holding his hand out for the girl to reach. The bastard next to him swears along, shaking his head and declaring Naruto poster boy for clumsy fools. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't really looking, I'm sorry –"

"It's fine." The way she says it is almost forgiving, as though the coffee's heat didn't infuse with her skin, as though he hadn't committed the accident.

Her dark bluish hair frames her soft face, eyes the lightest of blue with a tint of lavender, or has it been the light feeding off the glass walls of the airport hall? Just as he stares, she makes it a point to dispel the eye contact. She takes off her sweater before it continues to soak her black shirt underneath, and then tucks it under her arm, all in silence as she nods at him with a modest smile.

"Are you sure you're fine? I mean, I didn't really know," Naruto says, scratching the back of his head. "Look, can I at least get you another coffee? I probably should, shouldn't I? It's only proper that I do."

Growing speechless and unsure whether he's safe to be with, she watches as he picks up his luggage with one hand and grips her right wrist with another, towing her through the oblivious crowd towards the coffee stand.

"I'm re-really grateful but it's n-not necessary," she says as the barista looks up.

"Yeah but I wanna do it," Naruto tells her, taking out his frog wallet and holding out a black coat. He passes it to her. "My mom says it's rude to walk away from the trouble you've caused without correcting and repaying the person, plus I completely messed up your outfit. You look cold without your sweater and I'm to blame. So you can wear that for now."

This time her face flushes red, lowering her head in refusal but at the same time, unable to reject the piece of clothing since it's been snowing the last few days, and the airport's heater must have broken down to be this cold even on the inside. His eyes never leave her until she slips on the garment, defeated by his kindness.

"Attention passengers for flight 473A to Konohagakure," the sound system booms across the buzzing noise of people, quieting in the midst of the notice. "Due to the blizzard, we will be boarding three hours from now for the weather conditions to settle. We sincerely apologize for the delay."

A protest among the crowd consumes the building, Naruto sputtering his own share of dissatisfaction.

"Fucking blizzard," he grumbles, grabbing his phone from his pocket. "Should've taken the train if I only knew this was going to happen. Better call dad or he and mom will be pissed waiting for me for five more hours."

"You're heading to Konoha, too?" the other girl asks earnestly, staring in wonder at the coincidence.

He grins, startled. "No way, you're from Konoha?"

"Yes," she says, happy in the least that she's got someone who's experiencing the same nuisance about the delay. "I'm in Kusa to finish my degree."

"Hey, that makes two of us! This is so cool!" Naruto is almost jumping around in enthusiasm, phone still attached to his ear and waiting for the other line to pick up. "I mean, what are the odds, right? Then again, a lot of my friends from Konoha are studying in Kusa, after all. I haven't seen you around though. What's your program? I'm in Economics."

"History," she intones, abashed when Naruto's attention then goes to his phone, deliberately yelling back as she hears his mother roar over the phone. She turns around to give them privacy, checking her own watch to note that her sister will be picking her up too and she might be a tad disappointed with the change in schedules. Her father won't be pleased, either.

She types a text then hits send before Naruto taps her shoulder from behind, a curious look graces his face. "Say, what kind of coffee do you like? Do you want a cappuccino or an Americano?" He points the list of caffeine available at the stand, the barista waiting to serve them.

"The latter please," she replies, although still not certain why she's allowing herself to be treated by a complete stranger. He orders for two cups, one with shaved ice cream on top, the other plain. The difference has to be the temperature – while one crackles in freezing iciness, the other one sizzles in sheer warmth. When he offers her the one without the cream, she lets out a tiny chortle. Quite an unconventional boy, he is.

"Because you looked really cold and I just wanted the ice cream," he explains when she accept the warmer cup. Placing his bag on top of her stroller bag, they start walking to vacant benches, Naruto hauling both of their things right behind him. "But if you want to switch, we still can. I haven't licked it yet or anything."

Again, she represses a giggle. "It's fine. Thank you for this."

"Well, I gotta replace your coffee," he beams before leaning back and relaxing. "I hope the blizzard dies down fast. I don't want to spend the night in this stuffy place."

"Claustrophobic?"

"Mom-a-phobic," Naruto shivers, remembering their previous conversation. "She's going to kill me for booking a flight this late as if the phone call wasn't enough. My old man's such a puss. Anything mom says usually goes and he never backs me up. Talk about betrayal. What's your mom like?"

"Can't really remember because she passed away after giving birth to my sister," she responds, shrugging as she takes another sip of her cup. Naruto blatantly chokes on his coffee before once more, apologizing for bringing up such an insensitive question. "I don't mind, it's fine. Although dad always tell me I look like her a great deal and she was the prettiest woman I've seen in pictures."

Still staring at her, Naruto nods crudely, as though in agreement, causing her to construe the doubt in her favor. "Some of my dad's friends tell me I look like my dad but being temperamental is totally from my mother's. I'm just lucky I don't have mom's red hair. Gah, I'd be her boy version and people will never stop pointing that out."

The conversation is reduced to mere drinking of coffee and the natural vivacity of people whining and complaining out of his peripheral vision. Instead of kicking extra energizers in the body, anticlimactically, Naruto starts falling asleep, slipping into soft slumber because of the cold, his hands pressed in between his pits for the extra heat.

He dreams being back in the university, stuck in the snowstorm with Shikamaru and Chouji playing cards at his spare futon, Kiba asleep on top of his kitchen counter drunk of bourbon, and Sasuke in his usual window seat, reading a book. Naruto asks why they haven't left for the holidays yet and Sasuke drawls, "You wanna freeze to death outside, idiot, be my guest."

Naruto wakes up to someone shaking his arm violently, stirring him back to his current condition. Apparently, it's the same beefy security officer from earlier, yelling at him. Naruto feels his ears still aren't working, going mute and couldn't quite catch on what's gotten this geezer so anxious.

"Huh?"

"Last call for Naruto Uzumaki, flight 473A to Konohagakure, please head to gate 5!" The speakers suddenly catch his attention, eyes widening before lifting his arm to check the time. Did he just oversleep? He tumbles as he gets on his feet, pushing the good man out of his way before yelling back a thank you. Running at full speed, he arrives at the gate, panting while he hands the ticket to be checked, still aware that if he missed this flight again, he will no longer see the light because his mother would've wiped him out of his misery.

Before long, he enters the plane, looks up at the seat number he's been assigned to. N-6, a window seat, he assumes, somewhere a bit in the middle. Naruto squeezes himself in the middle aisle, disgruntled passengers all eyeing him and hating even more that they've wasted extra ten minutes for this single passenger to catch his flight, as if the delay hadn't been bad enough. He maintains headstrong, ignoring the objections of others before locating his seat.

He finds himself, once more, in the presence of the friend he's made earlier, gazing at him with a tender smile as though awaiting his arrival and his stomach churns in a weird way. She's standing on his row, a coat folded in her hands.

"You mentioned us being on the same flight," she tells him. "I forgot to take it off earlier and only remembered when I was already aboard, so I looked for you around and I got a little worried you'd miss the flight."

"But why didn't you wake me up?" He lips tighten in a frown. "I could've missed it, you know."

Surprised, she bows her head in apology. "Oh, I'm very sorry. After you fell asleep, a classmate of mine saw me and we bonded for the next hour before boarding. I overlooked the fact that you could've been asleep that whole time. I also forgot to hand back this coat. Forgive me."

"Nah, it's nothing. Forget it," he shrugs, squeezing through the row towards the window labeled N6. "Is this seat taken?"

"I don't think so," she replies, a little blush going over her face when she takes one seat away from him, leaving an empty one between them. "I'm seated here, though."

Naruto can't help his grin, offering his coat back to her. "All right! You look cold so you can keep using this if you want. I don't mind."

"I might forget about it again," she reasons out. "I really can't –"

"Just take it, will ya?" He shoves it to her hands, still looking at her as overhead, notices and other instructions are transmitted through the loyal but discontented passengers. He settles down now, quietly, shoulders tensing when he fastens his seatbelt. From the pockets, the chair at his front, he takes out a paper bag and puts it as arms reach, while sighing in contemplation.

As the girl again decides to wear his coat, she watches him from the corner of her eye, faintly observing. "Is something the matter?"

The motor from underneath their feet starts to grumble, picking up pace as it accelerates across the runway, the field outside swiftly keeping up until the plane lifts itself from the ground, assuming now accurate altitude. For the whole time, Naruto's holding his breath.

"I really, really, really hate flying."

She's not sure how that is possible for someone who just happened to get his grown ass aboard, but she acknowledges his courage and ends up cackling at his misfortune.

"Hey, hey, that's rude, it's not funny!" Naruto hisses at her, before taking the paper bag to his mouth. He exhales into it, then inhales, heavy and long.

"Why didn't you take the train?" she gurgles ever so gently.

Naruto rolls his eyes, concentrating on his breathing more than his response. "I always take the train but the tickets ran out a week before. How shitty is that? So I had to take this flight instead."

Trusting his words, the girl closes the gap between them by sitting on the next chair, rubbing his back as he proceeds with his breathing exercises. For some reason he doesn't mind. He calmed down after five minutes of such unceremonious comfort, stretching and more relaxed into his seat, releasing a burdened sigh.

"Thanks," he mutters sheepishly, sweat lurking under his hair. "Quit laughing, it's not funny."

She shakes her head, a hand over her mouth to hide the smile. "I wasn't laughing. It's not every day that you meet someone who's scared of flying and yet still gets on the plane."

"My mother hates me so much," he whimpers, putting the bag again near his mouth as he breathes in and out once more.

"Oh there, there." Her hand remains supportive with his trouble, lingering on his arched spine. "It's just two hours, I'm sure you can endure it."

"Usually I sleep through it but that's not happening after that nap a while ago," he begrudgingly thinks, noting how coffee didn't work on him today as it usually does. "The last time I actually did this was when Sasuke's mom booked the flights for us. I couldn't refuse because… because…."

"Mom-a-phobic?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto squirms, eyes squinting at the memory. "Although his mom is definitely nicer. And prettier. Don't tell my mom I said that."

She nods like it's a promise. "Of course."

"Sasuke was an asshole the entire flight," he starts narrating. "He deliberately requested to transfer to another seat because I was too noisy trying to stay alive. Like, yeah dude okay, Kiba's the better seatmate. Sure, he's loud and annoying, but he doesn't give shit about my flying issues."

"They're -?"

"Friends," he proudly answers. "Who are total losers without me, you know? Shikamaru doesn't bother doing the laundry till I kick him out of the room, Kiba's a slacker too and hella arrogant. Sasuke's a dickhead. And Chouji always crashes our room because of Shikamaru."

Naruto doesn't necessarily forgets his suspended in midair where his life is at the mercy of the pilot, but the moment he starts talking, he's granted the ability to never stop. A remarkable trait really, which his new friend, the girl who liked free coffee and looked good in his coat, finds amusing. She listens very carefully, intently, responding when he goes silent enough to make him grab his paper bag again. Even when they've barely known each other, even when they practically have no connection other than that single five-minute accident, she's at his side, reassuring and calm, while he scrambled for a story after another.

When they have less than thirty minutes left before the plane lands in Konoha, Naruto finally grasps at the idea that she's steadily endured the flight with him, without him literally knowing that they have been talking nonstop for the last two hours.

He sits back in his seat, watching the way her eyes patiently tried to comprehend the rest of this silence. "What are you thinking?" he asks, humorlessly now, a hand falling on the fringes of her hair. Progressively trying to keep it out of her eyes.

He won't ignore the redness of her cheeks like earlier, clear as day flushing lightly across her face.

"That you have really weird friends," she whispers, distancing her face when he's gone too close. "That your mom is frightening but a very loving mother. Your father is too kind for letting you study far from home. Sasuke must be a great person too for you to consider him your best friend."

"Right," he smiles, restraining himself and moving away, just a tiny bit before settling into his seat to take all of those moments in. "I just realized I think I spilled my whole entire life to a stranger."

She chuckles merrily. "I don't talk that much, so all your secrets are safe with me."

The rest of the trip smoothly passes by, without Naruto ever needing the bag to breathe. In stillness and in the sunset, he eventually sees from above his little town by the window, bracing the fear and considering more the fact that home is just a few minutes away. He doesn't admit it in front of anyone, but he always looks forward to his mom's cooking every time he's home because no Ichiraku stand will ever replace Kushina's delicious specialty.

Once they arrive, they collect their stuff from the scanners, is briefly checked for security purposes, Naruto carefully pulling her bag for her because that's what being a man is about, and starts heading out where most of their relatives are to pick them up.

"Who's going to pick you up?" She wants to find the concern in his tone but all she hears is a tinge of sadness at their predetermined parting.

The same stitch of emotion goads within her, lowering her gaze. "Hanabi, my sister."

"I see," Naruto responds, just so she doesn't have to be the one who gets to talk last. He's not entirely sure why he does it.

"Naruto! Over here! Hey!" From a distance, he can see the redhead amongst the crowd, her hand waving vigorously to grab his attention. Next to her happens to be his father, blond like him, sparkling blue eyes like him, and grinning from ear to ear like him.

Just as he takes the next step, he remembers his companion still searching for her own relatives, and pats her shoulder. "Thanks. For today, I guess. I'll see you around, okay?"

She meekly gives him a nod. "Sure."

When he turns around to approach his parents, after exactly seven steps, Naruto hears her voice again, a little louder than her normal volume.

"Wait!" she calls, and so he does, smiling like the idiot he once been famed for, then swinging back to see her at his heels, handing out the coat she borrowed.

"I al-almost forgot about this," she blushes when she hands it to him, still not aiming to meet his eyes. When he takes it from her, Naruto finds himself staring at her again indiscreetly, unnoticing of his parents right behind till his mom elbows his ribs and his father's laughter fills his ears.

"If you excuse us, sweetie, we're running late as we speak. Perhaps we can meet some other time, yes? We need to hold off Naruto from you for now," Kushina says too kindly, expressing her apology for ruining the moment of his son literally just gawking at the sight of a girl.

"Come on, lover boy," Minato tugs his ear, with Kushina trailing behind him. "Who was that?"

Naruto knows he's stupid but it takes him this long to consider he's never bothered to ask who she was. With that reason, he jumps excitedly and calls her out – shouting so the minimal distance now spawned gets covered. She raises her eyebrows at seeing him return immediately, now standing right in front of her again.

"I'm Naruto. What's your name?" He asks, eyes hopeful.

"Hinata," she answers. "My name's Hinata."

That's all it took before Naruto departs and waves goodbye, and he promises that the next time they meet again he won't be spilling her coffee or staining her sweater.

Most promises eventually get broken as he knocks off a cup over their table – dates are disastrous, but Hinata, without the need to explain, enjoys each one with him.