#yet he's not like supet smart either?

[lexpressobean]

You know. I know Naruto is actually a knucklehead, and Kiba isn't like a straight A+ student or whatever, but it's not always that they're idiots compared to Shino. Sometimes Shino is just unintentionally misleading. He's so logical and fluid in his speech that he can understand language from multiple angles. Kiba and especially Naruto are the kind of peeps that honestly coast on familiar bits of behavior and social cues to fill in otherwise vague statements or pauses in communication and that makes their wits not as sharp.

The thing is, Shino never coasts in his conversations. He's 100% present every single interaction he has. Because of this, Shino is the kind of person you have to be fully alert with and present for and tbh Kiba and especially Naruto just don't seem like the types that can manage that comfortably in an otherwise casual setting. They also probably just don't want to.

Like... this, for example:

"I have two coins in my pocket that equal thirty cents (30¢) together. And one of them isn't a nickel."

... This isn't Shino trying to trick you, this is Shino trying to help/stating a fact, but also making you mentally double take and question your intelligence and I think it's both hilarious but also just kinda sad because he can't see why it's misleading. It just makes sense.

Meanwhile, Kiba probably gets it after a couple of moments of confusion and gets on Shino's case because his "helpful wording" simply isn't the... intuitive? Socially acceptable??? Way of wording a potentially helpful sentence. It's just not how most people would actually go about it.

And Naruto's brain breaks because how the fuck else do you make 30¢ with only 2 COINS!? Naruto is smart enough to know that between a penny (1¢), nickel (5¢), dime (10¢), and quarter (25¢), a quarter and a nickel together would make 30¢. What Naruto doesn't get right away is that just because one coin isn't a nickel doesn't mean that there isn't a nickel at all. But someone used to or dependent on common speech patterns to stay on autopilot can't smoothly process the situation/statement w/o engaging common sense. And unfortunately it's not always so common. Also, most people just don't want to actively think when they're relaxing, and that includes relaxing with friends.

Shino's so big brain, he just decides on a non malevolent whim to make the Quarter the focus of the sentence in relation to the Nickel instead of just simply focusing on the Nickel ("One coin is a nickel") and letting Kiba and Naruto infer the second coin MUST be a Quarter.

He's not trying to be complicated, he's just subconsciously making choices that others don't even get to make because they are just not engaging as much as he is. But this also causes his speech to be deemed as difficult to understand. It's not missing anything and he's not purposefully being difficult or equivocal. He just doesn't actively choose to have a typical speech pattern. He just passively speaks with a greater amount of patterns to pull from, all correct, and so he doesn't feel the need to actively adjust because logically, he shouldn't have to. And he's right! Logically.

Like, I kinda get why it's a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day Shino is just a little different and Kiba but especially Naruto could at least try to get on his level, tho Shino himself would never actually tell them to. Because even though he can be mean, he's naturally a nice dude, maybe too nice when I really think about it. But at the same time, Shino is just being himself, and being asked to "dumb it down some" or "stop speaking in riddles" is probably just as annoying for him, if not more so. Firstly because it's not necessary, secondly it's not his fault other people are too comfortable with a "normal" (read limited) way of things, and thirdly, but most importantly, it's always him that's asked to change and even straight up considered a problem!! Unjustly! And that's really messed up and rude and upsetting. Shino is smarter than most of his cohorts, but his pattern of speech isn't him being a pompous asshole as a result of that. And Shino probably knows that's what people think too, and it feels bad because Shino knows he's smart but then again it's not like he's that smart and he may or may not go down a self-deprecating train of thought because damn it...!!

That's what Kiba but especially Naruto fail to understand. Maybe Kiba gets it sooner than not as his teammate and also 'cause he's actually not a total dumb ass, but Naruto is irritatingly stubborn in his own way, I wanna chuck him out a window sometimes he's so simple. And its horrible because Kiba and Naruto DO like Shino. Kiba thinks Shino is fucking cool and Naruto has this weird hot/cold admiration for him but all things considered, Shino is awesome.

It just sucks that they actually do consider all the things. A judgement based on baseless criteria, opinions skewed by socially accepted ideas. And I think Shino deserves at least one friend that doesn't fucking pull that shit. It's probably Lee. But Shino+Lee hangouts when !?

Anyway thanks to coming to another one of my Shino Aburame Ted Talks lmao