a/n: so HAPPY VDAY! this is kind of like another valentine little drabble thing (longer than last vday's drabbles i guess) and yeah here it is.
i was inspired by The National's Mistaken For Strangers.
(special thanks to glockcourage and appy)
Six Times They Were Mistaken For A Couple And The One Time They Aren't
1.2 the next valentine's day they are taken as a couple
"So, how did you two meet?" The reporter asks, holding out her microphone.
Temari slips her hand from Shikamaru's grip without looking at him and shrugs to the reporter, "on an airplane." Her voice is so disenchanted and unemotional, she is surprised the reporter and cameraman don't turn around with those three monotone words.
"Really?" The reporter asks, surprisingly genuine, "that's so romantic! Tell us about it. Were you sitting together?"
"Not initially. He was in the back of the plane where there were empty seats, so I moved to get more room." She thinks it's an apt enough answer for being interrupted mid-walk home from their Valentine's Day dinner on the sidewalk by a cameraman and a human-interest journalist.
"Sounds like fate," the reporter offers in a dreamy voice.
But, of course, Shikamaru manages to push her aside and the camera and reporter turn to him in his nice suit and slicked back hair and Temari finds herself rolling her eyes before he even opens his mouth.
"Actually," he says, "it was. The plane 's just how we met again. It's a long story of how we met the first time. Even more romantic." He pauses and then grins in his holier-than-thou way and finishes, "would you like to hear it?"
6. the sixth valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for strangers
"There's a row in the very back," the attendant says, "one seat is occupied, but the person is sleeping so you probably won't be bothered that much."
Temari thanks him and lifts up her bag. She has a report to finish before the plane lands and her row-mates consisted of a dead-on-her-feet mother and a screaming newborn. Of course, Temari understands and means no offense by switching seats, really, but she has to finish her work.
She walks down the aisle, maneuvering around the sleeping bodies. It's midway through an international flight and practically the whole plane is asleep.
When she finds the row it doesn't take more than a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye for her to recognize him. That happens when that one person was in your periphery for years. It happens when you were once married.
And apparently he is not so much sleeping as glaring at her with tired eyes.
"Temari," he says after a while of angry mutual staring, "what are you doing here?"
"Work."
He licks his lips, looks down at his hands, then looks back at her and nods. "Me too."
She's come this far and it would be weak to turn back, so she gestures to the empty aisle seat and he nods again. Silently, she slips in.
"Christ," she says after a moment. It's like he can't find the words and for her nothing else is coming to mind. "Today is really the worst day for us."
It takes a second and then he sighs,"it's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"
"It always is."
"Man."
He laughs, short and kind of raspy. She hasn't seen him for over a year and he looks so much worse for wear, but she knows she does too. Her body is stiff and her eyes heavy, but she can't stop smiling at him and she knows that even then she was never able to.
"It's a coincidence," he mutters then, reaching into the seatback pocket to pull out a wary paperback after she pulls out her laptop.
Temari shrugs to herself, but knows he sees it; knows he is watching her every minuscule movement.
"Or it could be fate," she whispers, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees him smile.
5. the fifth valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for parents
"Oh, are you the mother?" The older woman asks, smiling in a knowing — though honestly really unsettling — manner.
Shikamaru is holding one of the twins on his hip, his index wrapped in the boy's chubby hand. Temari had only been approaching them when the elderly woman caught her off guard.
Of course not, she wants to yell. Of course they're not mine. Do I look like I have kids?
But she does. She has a career and a husband and what had always seemed like a healthy body. But too many doctors visits and agenda-ed sex have taught her enough. She doesn't have kids. She won't. And no, these are not hers.
Temari points over to where Ino is standing, a plate of food in one hand and the other covering her mouth as she laughs at something someone said. Temari shakes her head, "no they're not ours. They're hers."
The woman nods and then walks away and Temari turns on her heel and walks back over to the buffet table and she can feel Shikamaru's eyes burning into the back of her head and she knows he overheard the entire conversation, but she ignores him and keeps walking.
4. the fourth valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for a married couple
"Would your husband like something?"
"My husband?" Temari looks around and sees Shikamaru standing over by the restrooms. She can't remember what he was up to today — but they only had plans for later that night. He had work. It was a Tuesday, no day for dallying around a coffee shop at ten am.
But, of course, their shared-apartment is above this particular shop and the man at the counter has seen them come in together every weekend.
In all honesty, they'd been mistaken for a married couple dozens of times, and the comment didn't mean much, but it was always kind of surprising to hear.
Not surprising like that time she and Kankuro were out to dinner and somebody called them a very attractive couple.
That was certainly surprising. Weird too. But surprising.
Whenever someone mistook her as a wife though, well that was almost off-putting.
That they thought she was old enough (which obviously she was, most of her friends had spouses at this point) or that she was responsible enough (she could barely file taxes, much less take care of anyone with any legality) or that she was even ready enough (she could guarantee this would ruin their sex life. blow jobs would become treats instead of something she wanted to do and she would forget anything that existed outside missionary).
But all Temari has to do is look down at the ring on her finger — hers, this time — and think, hey yeah, I agreed to this; and although the weight is like a ton of bricks, she doesn't correct the man, but orders Shikamaru's favorite drink along with her own.
3. the third valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for being engaged
"Oh, how did he propose?"
Temari glances up from looking over silverware in the counter below her. "Excuse me?"
The salesperson looks down and Temari follows the woman's gaze to her hand and sees her mistake. "Oh right."
"When's the wedding?" The woman follows up with when Temari doesn't answer.
"We're not sure yet," says a new voice. The salesperson keeps smiling, but Temari's head shoots up in surprise at the very familiar and quite unwarranted intrusion.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Well, we just don't have a finalized date."
The woman nods and her smile changes to one of understanding, as though Temari's vibe of let's not discuss this is actually in existence. Without another word, the woman leaves them and goes to help another customer.
"What are you doing here, Shikamaru?" She asks, trying to look passive and disinterested. Temari's eyes turn back to the layout of spoons and forks. She doesn't understand why it is so important to find a perfect set. If she is honest, most of them look exactly the same. And regardless, it's not like she's ever taken time out of a wedding she has attended to admire the silverware.
"I'd remind you you're helping out my best friend. I have more of a right to be here than you."
"And yet, Ino was the one that asked me to pick out the perfect spoon."
Shikamaru shrugs.
Without another word, she turns and walks through the room, pausing occasionally to look in the display at silverware sets that looked identical to one or two a few feet behind. A scam, all of it. And the prices just kept going steeper. Behind her, Shikamaru inhales audibly when they hit the most expensive cases. She stops and tried to make sense of the markup, Shikamaru though, apparently moving on from his astonishment, stands beside her to reach down and runs his index finger across the band on her ring finger.
Temari stiffens and pulls her hand away.
"So you're engaged now?"
She huffs and turns back to the display, placing her hands atop the glass. "You're best friend," she jibes, "thinks that if I look like a bride, they'll offer me discounts when I choose the set." She huffed. "You weren't supposed to see it."
"You have a habit of accidentally running into me on this day."
Temari quirks her lip and moves further down the counter. At this rate she'll just choose a set randomly. All of them are blurring together as it is and suddenly Shikamaru's presence is all she can pay attention to.
"It certainly is a coincidence," she gives.
"Or it could be fate."
"Fate?" She laughs. "We even made plans for tonight so we wouldn't accidentally run into each other again. And either way, it's not like you didn't know I'd be here."
"Would you believe me if Ino assigned me silverware too."
"Jesus."
"It's so we'd actually look like a soon-to-be-wed couple. They do have discounts."
Temari sighs and slips the ring off her finger and into his hand. "Just do it yourself then."
"Is this your subtle way of telling me you want to get married?"
"Idiot. I'm telling you to do the shopping on your own if you're so set on doing it anyway."
Shikamaru balances the fake ring in between his fingers, examining it. "Well," he says under his breath, "it's not like you're not getting any younger."
Temari stops from her walk away from him and turns on her heel. "You're making a great case for why I should I say Yes."
Her tone is light but Shikamaru is clearly surprised by her words. His eyes shoot up and burn into hers, bright and eager. "I'm proposing to you."
He says it as half a statement and half a question, but she answers it anyway, turning back around and waving her hand in parting. "You will. One day."
2. the second valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for a couple
"Are those seats taken?"
Temari flicks a wayward piece of popcorn into her mouth and shrinks down lower in her seat so the people standing in the aisle can see over her.
She raises her knees and glances to her right where an elderly woman and her wife are pointing to the seats one over from her, and then to her left, where the man sitting next to her shakes his head. Temari briefly gets annoyed that he isn't saving the seats for people, because if their row is so empty, why did he have to sit next to her?
The second woman starts to come into the aisle, but the first one pulls her hand back, "No, let's give them some privacy," she says in a loud whisper which Temari is sure everyone in the rows around them heard.
It takes her a moment to understand what the woman was implying — after all, she hadn't been a libido-ridden teenager for a few good years — but then she shoots up in her seat and looks back to her apparent make-out partner.
He is staring at her underneath heavy black lashes and she silently acknowledges that she could do much worse (he is attractive), but then he just keeps looking at her with the most perplexed expression.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" He asks after an uncomfortably long moment.
She has to physically try not to roll her eyes, "that's your pickup-line?"
"No, I'm serious. Have we met before?"
It takes Temari a good minute before it comes back to her. His hair is shorter but his smile is exactly the same. "Oh, you're right. You're the boy that lost his wallet last year."
It takes him a moment as well, then he nods, remembering.
"Hey," he says, "that was exactly a year ago. Valentine's Day, I remember. I gave you chocolates."
"You did?"
"I did." He smiles to himself and looks back to the screen still showing previews. "Well," he says with a laugh in his voice, "both at the pictures alone on Valentine's Day. Pretty sad, isn't it?"
She follows his gaze to the screen. "You're attractive enough. Go catch yourself someone if you're going to be melancholy."
"Only attractive enough?" He is looking at her again.
"That's what you took from that comment?"
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
Temari shrugs. "It could go either way."
"Well," he says, eyes moving back to the screen, "it's certainly hard to understand why you're single."
She wants to say who says I'm single, but his comment was said half-jokingly, so instead she just sinks lower in her seat and stuffs another piece of popcorn in her mouth.
She really dislikes him.
1. the first valentine's day they meet accidentally they are mistaken for friends
"Sorry," says the man whose shoulder she just bumped against.
"My fault," she mutters, not paying much attention. They are both looking over the cereal aisle. Eventually he seems to find what he wants and steps in front of her to bend down and grab his box saying something that sounds like excuse me before taking his food and walking away.
Temari doesn't think much of it until a younger boy walks over to where the man was standing and nudges Temari.
"You're friend dropped his wallet."
Friend? It takes her a moment before she realizes that the kid was probably referring to the man that had been shopping for cereal a minute ago.
They weren't friends — she'd never seen him before, had hardly even seen him now — but she takes the wallet anyway and runs down the aisle.
"Hey," she yells, "sir?" But the man isn't there anymore. His hair had been relatively distinctive, but she doesn't see his head anywhere by the registers. Sighing, Temari walks down the aisles until she has canvased the whole area and then decides to continue shopping.
Afterwards she opens his wallet and searches for something to help. His license has no helpful information and his credit cards aren't even local banks. Eventually she finds a business card tucked behind his ID and pulls it out. He's an investor.
She dislikes him already.
But she pulls out her phone anyway. It isn't like she asked for this. She has no interest in being a good samaritan, especially when it requires going far out of her way.
But it is a holiday. Valentine's day, specifically. And not having your wallet today would... well, it could fucking suck.
So she calls his office and gets his address — which she finds vaguely odd that they give it out so willingly rather than just asking her to bring it in to their building — and it is only a few minutes walk from where she is standing in the middle of the block.
He is surprised when she rings the bell, but she offers him the leather bound wallet and an explanation and he smiles.
"Thank you so much," he says, sounding grateful, but she thinks, considering the trouble of canceling cards and loosing cash and submitting for a new ID, he should be a lot more happy than he is right now. Was he even able to buy the groceries?
But she says nothing and he tells her how worried he was about it and then offers her an unopened box of chocolate he grabbed from his foyer and she takes it and gives a small bow of thanks and parting.
He belatedly wishes her a happy Valentine's Day when she's already on the bottom of his stoop and she returns the sentiment.
She looks back one last time and he is smiling as he watches her leave.
every time i reread this, i feel like each valentine's day is consecutive, like each one takes place over the years (which it does for 1 thru 2... maybe 3? but they don't meet-meet one year and get engaged the next and married the next and can't have kids the next and get divorced the next.) this is like a decade and a half probably. idk. it's just each time they're mistaken, not each valentine's they're together. idk if anyone else thinks this. anyway.