Christmas Tree

Just watching him made Shikamaru tried. The lazy man yawned, sinking deeper down in the chair he was sitting in, watching the blonde labor over a tree. Naruto, the blonde, was giving him the cold shoulder. Earlier, he had been dragged away from Call Of Duty Black Ops by said blonde, talking madly about the lack of a Christmas tree and his night had been turned upside down ever since.

"It's not Christmas without one." Naruto professed, as he roamed the Christmas tree farm he dragged him to. "I can't believe you've never had one."

"I'm Jewish." Shikamaru reminded him flatly. "We don't celebrate Christmas or have tree's." Shikamaru shivered, blowing air into his gloved hands. "I'd rather be at home, playing with my Hanukkah gifts, preferably the PS3 and Call Of Duty."

Naruto pulled a face. "Come on, you know you promised. I'd celebrate Hanukkah with you and in exchange, we'd also celebrate Christmas."

Shikamaru gave him a look in exchange. "When did I promise you that?"

"At the beginning of the month!" Naruto reminded him. "You were doing the morning Sudoku puzzle, complaining about how your mother called to remind you to observe Hanukkah. You said it was troublesome and then I suggested we celebrate each others holidays so we could make it fun."

"Yes, but this isn't fun." Shikamaru rebutted, pulling his coat closer to his body. "Standing out in the cold and depleting the ozone layer by cutting down a tree? Yeah, not fun. For all we know, something could be living in one of these god forsaken things, like spiders, birds, or squirrels." Shikamaru shook a tree branch at Naruto for added effect. "Remember what happened in that movie you showed me last week, I believe it was called Christmas Vacation?"

Naruto turned sharply to face him, his piercing blue eyes crinkled in anger. "You know, I kind of knew you'd complain the entire time, but part of me thought you'd be grateful for once. My mistake, I won't bring you next time."

"I'm not being ungrateful; I'm just simply pointing out the facts." Shika countered, folding his arms to his chest.

Naruto shook his head, walking away from him. "I'm not having this argument with you. If you want to be a proud bastard, you can go sit in the car, I'll pick out my spider infested tree by myself. I don't need you." He took a few steps before he turned around again, shouting. "And the squirrel was in the next door neighbor's tree that Clark illegally cut down, asshole."

He hadn't spoken to him since and was now acting as if Shikamaru wasn't even in the room with him, angrily strewing orange light sets on the tree. Shikamaru knew he should apologize, but the mood Naruto was in always spelled disaster. Naruto had a short fuse and it was better to be quiet in situations like these, then speak to soon and face his boyfriend's massive temper. Clearing the air always required cup ramen or sake, but Shikamaru decided to be more festive.

He got up from his favorite chair and made his way to the kitchen. Lucky for him, Naruto didn't acknowledge his movement as he was to busy tearing open orange Jolly Rancher candy canes with his teeth in passive aggressive rage. Making his way to the sink, he got the teapot from the stove, filling it with water. He got down Naruto's favorite hot chocolate from the cabinet and placed the full kettle on the stove, lighting it. He waited as the pot boiled, pouring the hot chocolate mixture into two cups. When the water was ready, he evenly poured the water into the two cups, stirring the mixture until both were well blended. He then took both cups back out into the living room.

Extending a steaming cup to Naruto, Shikamaru spoke. "I'm sorry for being an ass. You were trying to make Christmas nice for us and I pissed all over it. You probably think I'm a horrible boyfriend."

Naruto turned to look at Shikamaru for the first time since the big blow out, examining the peace treaty before him.

"I forgive you." He finally said, taking the cup from Shikamaru. "And your not a horrible boyfriend, I should probably understand you aren't going to get excited over a holiday you usually don't celebrate to begin with."

"But I really should have made a better effort." Shikamaru reasoned with a sigh. "You care about it and if it's something you care about, maybe I should learn how to care about it, too. As troublesome as it might be." There was a calm silence before Shikamaru asked, "So we are good? You're not mad anymore?"

"We're good." Naruto nodded, kissing Shikamaru lightly before taking a swig of his hot chocolate. "You want to help me put up the star? I can't reach the top and I'd be better at spotting you on the ladder."

Shikamaru heaved another sigh. "I knew you were going to ask me that. Sure, but I have no idea where the ladder is, so you are going to have to get it."

Naruto nodded in compromise, going off to get the latter. When he returned, Shika begrudgingly climbed it, putting the plastic gold star on top of the highest branch. Marveling at his work for a second, he climbed back down, looking at the completed tree before him.

"You did a really good job." He commented, slipping his arm around Naruto's back.

Naruto rested his head on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Thanks, you don't think there is to much orange?"

Shikamaru chucked, knowing his boyfriends love for anything and everything orange. "No, it's totally you. It would not be yours if it wasn't orange."

Naruto turned, wrapping both arms around Shikamaru's neck, he whispered. "I love you."

Shikamaru captured the blondes lips in a kiss before responding. "I love you, too. Even if we are both jerks to each other."

"Maybe that can be our new years resolution." Naruto said, with an mused laugh. "Stop being jerks to each other. It would solve a lot."

Shikamaru smirked, resting his foreheads on Naruto's. "That's to troublesome and you know it."

"Yeah, your right." Naruto agreed. "I don't think I'd like you as much if you weren't such a lazy jerk face. Plus, we would not have an excuse to make up for being jerks to each other, if you know what I mean." Naruto let go of Shika's neck, running his hands down his chest for added effect.

Shika grinned, liking the way things were going. "Oh, I know what you mean."

Naruto took Shikamaru's hand, pulling him in the direction of the staircase. "So why don't we go upstairs and 'make up.'"

Shikamaru nodded, allowing himself to pulled upstairs as the two went to their bedroom, closing the door behind them.

The End

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