Summary: It takes Shino a while, but he realises he as the two greatest friends to ever walk the earth, in his humble opinion.

Sorry for any errors, I didn't really read over it lmao

Naruto Week, June 18 || Day 1: Favourite Character / Family / Hidden Leaf Village

Shino finds his family in his father.

His father is always there.

His father is a solid pillar of trust and companionship in his life.

Shibi understands him in a way that he is sure no one else in this life possibly could.

He understands that the insects that reside in them are just as apart of them as bones and blood and organs.

He understands Shino.

Shino is in the Academy when he begins to accept that no one else is ever going to love him like Shibi.

He knows that no one would probably even try.

Shino is a pessimist by nature, so when he is put into his Genin team he thinks nothing of it.

Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuuga will be just like the rest in the end. They'll forget about him soon enough.

Shino doesn't let himself hope. He doesn't let himself wish and he doesn't let himself attached.

He keeps his head down and gets to work. He needs to become a Chuunin. That's all.

Shino is twelve, leaning over Kiba's unconscious form lying in a hospital bed when the seed of doubt starts to grow.

Hinata is pressed into his side, asleep. Shino's hand is laced into Kiba's limp one and he has never felt like he belongs anywhere more than in that moment.

The realisation hits him hard enough that his breathing falters, and his mouth goes dry.

They'll leave him in the end. They'll forget about him. Just like everyone else, they'll forget.

It's a one-sided love, and he's gotten too attached.

He pulls his hand from Kiba's, manoeuvres Hinata from his shoulder to the bed and tries to ignore how wrong it feels to leave.

Hinata leaves a pile of presents in Shibi's care for Shino's birthday, unable to visit him on the day due to a mission.

Kiba breaks into his bedroom and throws his present at Shino's face with a surprising amount of strength and grins like a madman when Shino manages to catch it.

"Sucks Hina can't be here," Kiba says, draping himself over Shino's bed. We'll have to celebrate your birthday again when she gets back."

Shino tries not to think too hard about it. How Kiba fits in so easily to his life, how he arranges his life around Shino and Hinata's, how Shino never wants to leave his side.

Shino nods and realises Kiba is just that kind of person.

Shino isn't a special exception.

Hinata breaks into his room at 3.16am exactly.

She's in full uniform and there is a glint in her eyes that makes him a little wary.

"Want to go for a run?" she asks, apparently not bothering with a hello nor an apology.

"Why?" Shino asks. He feels bare without any sunglasses or clothes covering his face, but Hinata doesn't appear to care.

"Why not?" she asks.

Shino nods and wonders who she asked first before she came to him.

"Shino," Kiba grunts out. There's mud splattered all over him and pain and exhaustion are written across his face in equal measure.

Shino manages a grunt in response. There's a sharp tree branch digging into his side but he's too tired to move out of the way.

"You're my best friend and I love you, you know that right?"

Shino blinks and notes the fogginess in his head.

He must have hit his head in the explosion their enemies set off.

Kiba's words suddenly hit him and he opens his mouth to say something but all that comes out is a quiet "oh."

Kiba snorts and slowly starts to pull himself off the ground. "Yeah," Kiba sits on his knees for a second to catch his breath. "I thought you knew." His face is scrunched up, and Shino wonders if he's broken something. The explosion was a big one.

"I love you too," Shino says. It takes a second for his brain to catch up to what he says and his face immediately goes a bright red. "Am I dying?" Shino asks. "Are you just trying to be nice?"

Kiba crawls over to him, grabs him by his flak jacket and pulls him into a sitting position. "Nah," Kiba cups Shino's face in his hands with an unexpected amount tenderness. "You're just dumb." Kiba produces a cloth from somewhere and begins wiping at Shino's face.

"Hinata's just sorting out the shinobi who set off the explosion, then she can patch you up and tell you how much she loves you as well."

Just as the words leave his lips, Hinata bounds out of the shattered trees, hands already glowing before she's even reached him.

There is worry written all over her face as he heals Shino's head and tries to assess the rest of him and Kiba at the same time. "I thought for a moment -" she stops herself, but Shino knows exactly what she was thinking.

"Sorry," Shino says and hopes that at least Kiba can understand what he's apologising for.

Shino has always had Shibi and has always been Shino's first family.

But Kiba and Hinata have been here the whole time. Even when Shino pushed them away they stayed. Even though it's taken Shino years to realise that Kiba and Hinata would never forget about him, they stayed.

Kiba grins at him, his face tired but his eyes show nothing but understanding.

Shino will always have Shibi, but now he realises he'll always have Kiba and Hinata as well.