could you write a head canon where Naruto is your friend and he doesn't realize he likes you until he sees you doing something, unaware of his presence? And then maybe how he would react to after that? thanks!
ofc! thank you for asking :) Naruto in my opinion is one of the cutest characters to write because there’s so many ways to write his big ass personality
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
You and Naruto had become good friends recently. It started out as an innocent friendship after you two had gone on a mission together and had gotten along really well.
He was totally oblivious that you had started to develop feelings for him in the time you two spent together, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t starting to feel anything for you either
Naruto is so dumb with his emotions. Sometimes he can’t really distinguish between his feelings so when he meets up with you at lunch one day and he suddenly feels nervous and his hands get clammy when you smile at him, he’s just like “wow I’m so happy to be with y/n today that my stomach is hurting me! :D” and it’s like no, Naruto, your body is trying to tell you that you like them
So it finally hits him that what he’s feeling for you is beyond a friendship when he sees you at the market shopping with a friend.
He’s on his way to Ichiraku with Sakura and Ino, and they’re both bickering about some medical ninjutsu technique so he immediately loses interest and starts scanning the markets while they walk
As he’s glancing around he recognizes you at a stall, casually looking over fresh vegetables laid out in carts
He’s about to run over and say hi to you before Ino and Sakura start picking on him again, when he notices you’re with a friend
He suddenly decides not to greet you, and gives in to a sudden interest to just observe you as you shopped
You look so relaxed and happy as you stroll around the market without any rush or concern
He feels his stomach tighten as he watches you laugh at something your friend says to you. Your entire face lights up and breaks into a big smile; he can almost hear your laugh. He also can’t help the small smile that begins to grow on his face, just from watching you
And as he’s watching you he finds himself wishing that it was him with you, and that he was the one making you laugh. The emotions that began to envelope his mind were so sudden and strong that he had almost come to a full stop without realizing it.
Ino and Sakura realize that Naruto isn’t next to them and turn around to see the poor boy staring straight at you with a lost look on his face
His eyebrows are slightly drawn and his lips are pursed, but there’s a small twinkle in his eyes that just barely shows the intensity of the emotions he’s feeling
The girls follow his line of sight straight to you. They immediately figure out why he looks like that and smirk at each other, already knowing what to do
They call out to you, immediately gathering your and Naruto’s attention. You say goodbye to your friend and walk up to the girls. You notice Naruto and send him a sweet hello and a smile but he’s still too confused and shocked that Ino and Sakura called you over to even register your greeting.
They invite you to join them for lunch and you accept, which pretty much jumpstarts Naruto’s excitement button and he snaps out of his daze, immediately jumping right up to you and leading the way to ramen in a hurried pace.
He’s just so happy that you’re coming and that he gets to eat ramen with you that he easily pushes aside his new wave of emotions
The lunch goes smoothly, even though Naruto kept catching himself staring at you a little longer than usual, or blushing at your smiles and light teasing
It didn’t help that Sakura and Ino were giggling the whole time
Naruto walks you home, and being able to talk to you one on one has him feeling these emotions all over again and he just knows he’s got it bad because he can barely hold himself together as you two casually stroll back to your house
I think Naruto wouldn’t drag out the friendship too long after that. Even if he wanted to, he isn’t very good at keeping things to himself, especially not his emotions. So he would do a bunch of cheesy things for you and probably hang out with you a lot more than usual, until one night you’re talking to him and he just blurts out that he likes you
Now you’re just both staring at each other, blushes are creeping up both of your faces and neither of you knows what to do
But you collect your thoughts and laugh at his bluntness, causing him to blush even more. He starts to say something, probably to try to cover up what he just said, but you put a reassuring hand over his and tell him that you feel the same way. The smile he breaks out is all too contagious and you can’t help but smile back. You finish up your evening and he would walk you home
When he says goodbye, he’ll softly peck your cheek and then hurry off before the moment is ruined.