Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Never Wanted To Dance
"Ino?"
"Taken."
"Tenten?"
"Taken."
"Sakura?"
"Taken."
"Hinata?"
"For God's sake, Shikamaru! They're all taken!!" Neji yelled directly into the face of his best friend. Shikamaru sunk to the dirty hallway floor.
"You're telling me, that for homecoming, the most important dance of the whole High School experience, we don't have dates?!"
Neji just blankly stared at the tile. The two sat in silence. Finally, the ending bell rang so loudly that Shikamaru dug both his pointer fingers so far into his ears that it hurt- mostly from the irritation of the whole situation, but nonetheless. After most of the teens had cleared out of the school, Shikamaru shook his head and looked up at Neji.
"C'mon man, let's go hang out at my place." And with that, Neji stuck out his hand to help him off the floor, and they walked lifelessly out the door without a clue of what was to come.
This was the regular routine. Neji was always over at the Nara household. His dad, Shikaku, loved having Neji over for dinner, and his mother always wished it would be a woman coming through the door with Shikamaru.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home," Shikamaru called as he somberly shrugged off his heavy backpack, letting it clunk onto the kitchen floor. He headed lazily up the staris to his room, and Neji always followed, grabbing Shikamaru's backpack as well as his own for the lazyass.
Shikamaru threw himself onto the bed, ruining the perfection of a bed Neji had folded earlier that morning. Neji always slept over, much to Shikamaru's parents and Hiashi's dismay. Neji even slept close to Shikamaru, after suffering from horrible nightmares that he would only talk to Neji about. They were mostly dreams of recently deceased Asuma, his sensei, still haunting him to tears that only Neji would see.
"What are you doing your science class project on anyway, Neji?" Shikamaru inquired.
The question had startled Neji into a jump after his deep thought.
"The Big Bang Theory."
Shikamaru let a huge smirk creep across his face. What a perv. Neji smiled back.
"Good luck trying to present with that while I make faces at your boring speech!" Shikamaru chuckled; Neji just loved his flawless smile. It could cheer up anyone, anytime.
It has been just last month that Neji had felt an even deeper connection to Shikamaru than before. It made his heart beat fast, and say stupid things around Shikamaru. To Neji, he wasn't just some guy, or just his best friend. Dreams had let him know that oh-too well.
"So...," Neji began. "What are we going to do about dates to homecoming?" shrugging off the tempting thoughts.
Shikamaru thought long and hard in silence. It was weird, uncomfortable. They were always being asked to dances first- Neji being utterly and remarkably beautiful, and Shikamaru being such a ladies' man, though he denied and hated it. But it was different this time.
It was like a set-up.
Neji saw the Nara deep in thought, and took the opportunity. He panned Shikamaru up and down, his expression unreadable, stopping at certain points of Shikamaru. Nice. He smiled. Pretty hair, like mine! Neji realized. Then he suddenly saw Shikamaru catch his eyes in a spot not so comfortable.
"Excuse me, Neji? My eyes are up here," Shikamaru said coolly.
Neji blushed fiercely, turning all shades of red and spinning around, back towards Shikamaru, to hide his embarrassed face.
"No... Shikamaru...I..." But he did do it. Why? He could answer himself. The thought stung like a wasp. It kept coming back- not dying after one sting.
"Heh, Neji, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were checking me out!" Shikamaru smirked in his direction. "I do look pretty hot right now."
"Don't be such a pasty," Neji replied, his eyes becoming soft.
"Ha ha, you're right. But you look like those girls who ask me to homecoming!" Shikamaru burst into laughter, "You? Neji Hyuuga? The genius of the Leaf?! Asking me to homecoming! What a sight!"
That's when it hit Neji.
"You shouldn't have said that."
