Talks Over Hangovers
Shikamaru had come to the conclusion that the situation he was currently in definitely had a bright side to it. Of course, it had taken nearly an hour and a full cup of coffee to finally realize it. It seemed to take even longer to filter through the choppy memories he had from the night before. He was slightly irritated that most of what he could recall were merely thoughts and feelings accompanied by very few visual aids, which did not help in confirming for him who exactly it was he'd slept with. The hung-over man had to take into account that he'd woken up in Minato's bedroom, smelling of sex, ass sore, and the man himself saying they needed to talk about it. Being able to slowly put all of the information together, Shikamaru had one conclusion; he did have drunken sex with the man he secretly loved.
Well, not so secret anymore, but that was actually the bright side. He smiled a little at knowing he hadn't told Naruto he loved Minato Namikaze; his secret was still perfectly hidden from his blonde friend. Thinking of the darker side made Shikamaru frown again; he still couldn't believe that he told Minato how he felt. Of all the things he could recall from the night before, the Nara remembered that the clearest. He could almost still see those gorgeous blue eyes looking down at him in silent curiosity, bright yellow spikes of hair looking even more disheveled than usual, cheeks flushed from pleasure, small beads of sweat falling delicately down his handsome face….
"Fuck!" Shikamaru hissed, pulling his stinging hand from the hot mug he had reached for on the table. He shook his head almost violently, trying to get that very arousing image out of his mind for a moment as he rubbed his hand, hoping it wouldn't be burned.
Thankfully, Minato had agreed to have the actual "talk" after the younger man had gotten a little more out of his hangover. Shikamaru was sitting in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to do as he tried to chase away his headache with another aspirin and more coffee to get rid of the drowsiness. The focus of his mind and heart was currently upstairs, checking on his son and more than likely hung-over friends.
Shikamaru sighed and carefully took a sip of the steaming liquid. He was not looking forward to having this talk with Minato; what was he supposed to say? How much did the older man really need to know? …how would he ultimately react?
Fortunately, the Nara knew Minato's personality somewhat and predicted that he wouldn't go crazy over what happened. He was a very straightforward and logical guy, much like Shikamaru, and would want all the information he could gather and then make the best choice for them both.
It was one of the things that had drawn Shikamaru's attention.
His thoughts were interrupted as Naruto and Kiba stumbled into the kitchen, both looking a little worse for wear. The blonde plopped down beside the Nara and stole his coffee, eagerly drinking down the unsweetened drink with a grimace as the Inuzuka reached for the mug with a groan.
Shikamaru sighed in mock frustration and got up to grab three more cups for his friends, knowing they liked to "better" their coffee by dousing it with sugar and creamers. He preferred his strong and black, much to the other's disgust. He raised a questioning eyebrow as he poured the coffee out for them, noticing one to be missing. "Where's Shino?" he asked quietly.
Naruto actually pulled off a half smile while Kiba laid his head on the table with another groan.
"I think we're too much for Shino," the blonde replied just as quietly, swaying a bit in his seat. "He's puking his guts out right now."
Shikamaru scowled a little. "Is he all right?"
The other shrugged. "Like I said, it was probably too much for him. He'll be fine after some more sleep."
The Inuzuka raised his head a bit to give Shikamaru a curious gaze. "Speaking of sleep, where the hell did you go, Shikamaru?"
"…what?" said man replied, trying to figure out if that question he had been asked actually made sense or not.
Naruto stood and slowly walked to the fridge as Kiba leaned closer to the Nara. "Where… did… you… go?" he asked again, tone sleepy. "You like completely disappeared last night."
"Yeah," the blonde agreed, placing a few different creamers onto the table and grabbing the sugar before sitting again. "You went to use the bathroom and never came back."
"…oh." Shikamaru had to think on that for a moment. Was that how he'd wound up in Minato's bedroom? He couldn't really remember a whole lot before the actual sex. Clearing his throat to halt the lovely and arousing images, the Nara picked up his half empty cup of coffee. "…I guess I got lost and passed out in the first bedroom I came across." He took a sip.
Naruto nodded but looked a little confused. His blue eyes stared hard at his friend while Kiba went to pouring creamer into his drink. "But the only bedroom other than mine is dad's."
Shikamaru nodded. "Well that's where I woke up." He watched the other from the corner of his eye as the blonde's lips stretched into a smile and he began to chuckle.
"In my dad's room? Oh man, I wish I could have been there! The look on his face would have been priceless!" Naruto began laughing loudly.
'No, you don't,' the Nara thought as Kiba flinched and put his hand over his friend's mouth to quiet him. He laid his head on the blonde's shoulder, muttering something softly before his hand fell from Naruto's face to land in his lap. It looked like the Inuzuka had fallen asleep.
Naruto chuckled again. "Maybe we were too much for Kiba, too," he whispered, wrapping an arm around the other man's shoulders.
Shikamaru merely shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. He'd always known that in the end, their dog loving friend was mostly talk. He would always try and live up to what he says, but his ass would get handed back to him almost every time, much to the amusement of the people around him. He was strong when it mattered most, though, and that's all he really needed to be.
Silence reined for a few minutes as the Inuzuka slept quietly against the blonde, who was grinning and carefully drinking his coffee. The Nara was almost afraid to think too much; he knew how sensitive one's hearing could be during a hangover and was fearful that he might think too loud and wake up their slumbering friend. He smiled at the thought and returned to his own coffee.
"Shino will be all right," Minato announced, suddenly appearing behind them and speaking a little too loudly, causing the three to jump.
Kiba sat straight up with a snort. "I didn't mean to fuck Akamaru mom, I swear!"
After the initial shock from the older blonde's entrance, Shikamaru, Naruto and his father looked at the startled Inuzuka with amused curiosity. A very dark blush crept onto Kiba's cheeks as he looked back at them a moment, seeming to realize what he'd said before turning away and sipping his flavored coffee, refusing to say anything more.
"I put Shino back into your bed, Naruto," Minato continued after an awkward moment of silence. He walked around to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water from it, bright blue eyes sparkling at them. Shikamaru had to look away to keep the blush on his cheeks from appearing. "I think we should let him sleep for another hour or two before letting him go home."
"That is an excellent idea," Kiba agreed, getting up from his seat and meandering out of the kitchen. "I'll go and make sure he doesn't get up."
Naruto sighed as they heard the Inuzuka almost stomping up the stairs. "I'd better go and keep an eye on him," he mumbled, standing from his seat. "Even though he's hung-over, Kiba might still hump Shino in his sleep." Grabbing his coffee, the Uzumaki left the kitchen.
Shikamaru's gaze slowly fell onto the older man standing in the room. His heart began to beat a little faster as Minato took the chair his son had been occupying.
"Feeling any better?" the blonde asked, blue eyes looking over the other with a bit of concern.
Shikamaru turned away, trying to hide the small blush that wanted to creep onto his face. "…a little," he murmured, gulping down the last of his coffee. "At least my headache's gone."
"Good," Minato replied softly, taking a sip from his water bottle. "Then maybe you're up to having that talk." It sounded like a statement and his voice held a bit of a harsh tone, indicating to the younger man that there was no turning back. He was going to talk.
The Nara merely sighed, his mind in a slight form of panic. He stared at his empty mug, waiting patiently for the other to start while telling himself to tread very carefully; he didn't want to upset the man beside him.
"How much of last night do you actually remember?" the blonde began, blue eyes focused on the sweating bottle in his hand.
Shikamaru scowled a bit at the question. "To be honest," he replied, taking great effort into keeping his voice as neutral sounding as possible, "I remember what happened with you the clearest. The rest of the night is pretty much a blur."
There was a long moment of silence. The Nara was grateful it wasn't very awkward as he waited patiently for the questioning to continue.
"Then you knew you were having sex with me," Minato finally stated.
The younger man shook his head, turning his gaze back to the man he was so in love with and nearly blushed when his eyes locked onto deep ocean colored orbs, looking so… tenderly and seriously into his own. "I uhm…." He had to avert his eyes back to the table; the older man's eyes were just too damn arousing! "I thought it was a dream. It was too good to be true; I didn't believe it could have been real at all."
Another few minutes of silence followed, this time Shikamaru was feeling just the tiniest bit nervous. How could one look from the older man do this to him? He could feel the anxiety start to rise from nowhere, thoughts of panic racing through his mind at lightning speed. 'You idiot! You should have said yes, I knew it was you! If you're going to keep things from him, then you might as well tell all out lies!' He flinched at the last thought. A small part of the Nara knew he'd have to tell the blonde everything, including the fact that he'd been sleeping with his son, but felt that it wasn't necessary right now. He was sure there would be a more… appropriate time to speak of that later.
"Did you mean what you said?"
It was a quiet whisper that slipped past those pretty lips almost uncertainly. Shikamaru once again focused on the blonde next to him. His gorgeous eyes were still locked onto him, only now they were filled with something the younger man couldn't quite identify. There was some confusion and an emotion the blonde was trying to suppress… was it hope? The thought made him shiver; this time he didn't look away.
"I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true, drunk or not," Shikamaru said softly, his heart beating faster with every passing second. "I-… I love you, Minato Namikaze."
There was a flicker of light within those blue orbs as the older man turned away, and the Nara wondered what that meant.
After another minute of quietly thinking, the blonde slightly shrugged. "Are you saying you want to be with me, Shikamaru?"
The younger man gazed at the table again, not daring to hope. "…I would like to be. It's okay, though, if you don't," he added quickly, voice quivering a little in nervousness. "I'll understand if you say no; it's totally up to you, Minato."
Did he just see the blonde shiver at the sound of his name? It must have been his imagination… but since when had that been extremely reliable? Shikamaru almost didn't want to think it, but… could it be that the older man possibly… felt the same way?
He shook his head at the thought. 'Don't get your hopes up,' he mentally berated himself, 'that's how you get into things too deeply.'
"Well," the blonde finally replied, slightly startling the Nara, "you definitely have gained my attention."
Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk, the remark falling from his lips before his brain could stop it, "I gained more than that last night."
Minato chuckled, turning to gaze amusedly at the younger man, a light red tinge spreading on his face. "I must say, though," he whispered, "you do look pretty hot with your hair down."
The Nara nodded, smirk growing into a small smile. "Thanks, and you're really cute when you blush." He did so enjoy watching how the color started at the top of each cheek, then reached down to the very tip of the blonde's nose as the ocean colored eyes drifted away in embarrassment as he mumbled a thank you. It really was adorable. "So you're willing to give me a shot?"
The blonde gave him a long, considering look for a moment. "Tell you what, next weekend, Naruto is going to some big concert with Kiba, Sakura and Lee, which means I'll have the house all to myself Friday and Saturday night. Why don't we get together for something on Friday night and then hang out on Saturday and take it from there."
Shikamaru raised a curious eyebrow. "You're not going to tell Naruto about this?"
Minato shrugged. "I don't want to get him all worked up over it, especially if it turns out to be nothing serious. It can wait until he gets back."
"…All right, sounds like a plan." The Nara had to work pretty hard to not jump into the air and hug and kiss the man next to him. He was getting a date! After all that time of wishing and wanting and lonely nights with his hand and a vibrator he was finally going to go on a date with Minato! The smile on his face remained for a long while afterward. He couldn't wait to be able to take his blonde Adonis out for some fun.
…now, where was he going to take him?