#hello there!

-Telamon

”Wh- Telamon? I- Okay…”

“What does that mean?”

"Mikoto, you're already very scary. I'm not going to get more intimidated."

Tomorrow was the annual boys vs girls sparring tournament in the Academy, and as usual excitement was building to a fever pitch. The lines had been drawn over a month ago, the main players were well known, and the taunting and baiting just would. Not. Stop.

Minato had carved a name for himself with strategy, jutsu no-one else could perform, and his association with one of the Sannin. As much as he tried to avoid it, he was a solid target for the opposite team's star players.

Including the admittedly-scary Mikoto. Minato's feeling of intimidation were not unfounded; Mikoto might be the scariest student on the opposing team, except possibly Kushina.

"'Shina, it's fine." Minato's hair was an untamable mess at the best of times. After a week-long patrol in enemy territory, it was so dusty Minato might have gone grey early and refused to stay out of his eyes regardless of how much he pushed at it or tried to tie it up.

Hardly the look one wanted to have when reporting in to the wife of the first Hokage, the venerable Mito Uzumaki, but Minato had learned she would see straight through any artifice of appearance anyway.

The next time Kushina moved to brush his face clear, he caught her wrist - as gently as possible, of course, not that she couldn't have snapped his wrist if she'd tried.