For the OTP asks: Nejiten, 7, 8, and/or 11!!
hahaaaaaa i’m returning the essay :) these were a joy to answer! buckle up, buttercup! (link to ask game if anyone wants to join)
7. Do they want/have kids?
OOF okay. I honestly can’t decide so bear with me.
On the one hand, there’s the “they wouldn’t have kids” camp, and I’m into it. I don’t see either of them being willing to give up their active lifestyles but being responsible enough to be like “that means no kids.” But they both could also fall into the “I just don’t want kids” category which is so valid. Tenten isn’t motherly in any regard and Neji could very well refuse to have children for clan reasons alone regardless of any ethical changes.
On the flip side… they’d be badass parents and y’all already know I’m a sucker for domestic cuteness. I can definitely picture safety-tipped kunai strewn about the house (loft above the shop, it’s canon in my head) and toddler scribbles pinned to the walls of Neji’s office (assuming for obvious reasons that he’s not often in active combat situations nowadays). Their child would be the ultimate middle finger to the clan’s old ways and pave the path to a brighter future, and then Neji could give his own child the happy childhood he was robbed of, breaking generational cycles etc.
Both headcanons fit pleasantly into canon. Nejiten could be the communal uncle and auntie for the next gen kids, showing up to career days and dropping off forgotten lunches when their parents are in a bind at work, cheering for every single kid in the chunin exams while also critiquing each one. But they also could be parents to one (or more) of the conceptually coolest kids in the whole next gen AND role models for their niece and nephews (because so many of Boruto’s life problems would be solved if he could just talk to Neji for like 5 minutes).
8. Have an AU thought?
Several. Here’s one I might actually write one day:
Modern AU, dance teacher Tenten is waiting with her students for their rides to show up after class, and a different car than usual shows up for Himawari and— oh no, that’s not Naruto or Hinata, that’s Himawari’s hot uncle. Oh look, a week later he’s come to get her again. And again. And again. And Tenten’s starting to think Neji picks Himawari up from dance every week just to flirt with her. (She doesn’t mind it one bit.)
11. What is their love language?
For Tenten I’m torn, but I honestly think quality time beats out gifts. Like, a gift that isn’t a weapon is incredibly touching (as are the weapons), but nothing beats the feeling of relaxing with a loved one and knowing that they’re actually listening when she speaks. In her relationship, she doesn’t care if she and Neji are on duty together, or whispering in the dark past their bedtime, or doing housework, or on vacation, she just wants to be near him all the time and she loves that he encourages this. They spend enough time apart due to work. Together Time is Together Time.
I’m also torn on Neji, but touch-starved as he is, I’m thinking acts of service mean the most. He spends his whole life running around after others and serving or otherwise watching out for them, often in a literal sense, on top of other responsibilities and hobbies and basic necessities for staying alive, so to come home exhausted at the end of the day and find fresh sheets on the bed (with Tenten probably in them, waiting on him to come home)? Man might actually cry.
