Okay, chapter three! Let's get it going!
Once again a thank you to all the support :).
Shikamaru groggily opened his eyes as the first rays of sunlight hit his closed eyelids. His neck was incredibly stiff as he had slept with his back and neck at a ninety-degree angle, on top of Temari's covers as his girlfriend snoozed next to him under the covers.
He cracked his neck and looked down at Temari. She was facing him, laying on her side with her hair splayed out all over the pillow and a small smile on her face. Her chest rose and fell peacefully as she slept, and Shikamaru resisted the urge to wake her with a kiss. Instead, he settled for putting a hand to her forehead to test her temperature, and was relieved to see that she was cooler, bordering on normal.
She stirred slightly under his touch, and then her eyelashes fluttered. She let out a loud, heavy yawn that quickly turned into a cough, which she unknowingly sprayed all over Shikamaru's hand.
Shikamaru wiped his hand on her bedsheets with a grimace, but that grimace quickly became a gentle smile as Temari's fully woke up. She stared up at him with puffy, sleepy eyes.
"Hey, good morning," he said softly.
Temari's face colored considerably, but she kept eye-contact and smiled back at him. "Morning." she murmured, rolling onto her back and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the palms of both hands. She let out another undignified yawn that once again became a hacking cough and turned back onto her side to face him. "How'd you sleep? Was the couch awful?"
Shikamaru shrugged, "Dunno, I fell asleep here."
"Tch, I thought we agreed you sleep on the couch, pervert." She didn't sound very angry.
"What can I say, taking care of you is very tiring," Shikamaru shot back, also teasing. "Besides, I think I would've rather slept on the the couch. My back is killing me because I fell asleep at a weird angle." As if to emphasize his point, he swung his legs off the bed and stood up, intending to crack his back.
That's when he knew something was wrong.
He was instantly aware of his pounding headache and he realized just how dry his mouth was. His legs felt like jelly and he nearly fell flat on his face. He sat back down heavily on the bed.
This did not go unnoticed by Temari. "What's wrong? She croaked to his back, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, just a head rush," Shikamaru said confidently, hoping that's all it was. Take two, he thought as he stood up again. He was met with the same result and sat back down again with a groan.
"Headrush?" Temari asked sweetly, unable to keep the mocking tone out of her voice.
"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, more to himself, "don't tell me I got sick too. What a heinous drag."
At this, Temari slowly sat up in bed. Sensing her movement, Shikamaru turned his body to face her and was met with his sick girlfriend attempting to put a hand to his forehead.
He leaned away from her. "What are you doing."
"I'm gonna test your temperature to see if you're actually sick," Temari told him. Shikamaru hated the adorable crease between her eyebrows as she furrowed her brow in concern. She reached further, and Shikamaru leaned back even further.
"No way. Sick people can't judge if people are sick. Besides, you touching me with your germy hands will just infect me anyways."
Temari kept on reaching, "Don't be a baby, I'm not contagious anymore." She was now on her knees, her face more irritated and stubborn than concerned, her weak body straining as she reached for his head.
Shikamaru was leaning back with his elbows on the bed, unsure whether he was annoyed or amused with the current events.
Temari was close now, and she lifted her knees in an attempt to get those extra few inches. Unfortunately her legs, which had barely been used in the past week, gave out at the sudden weight and she lurched forwards, right onto Shikamaru.
Shikamaru now found Temari lying on top of him. Both were blushing as their faces were inches apart. Her undone hair framed their faces and he could see the panic in her teal eyes and tried not to focus too much on the pleasant sensation of their chests touching.
He was hit with a very real urge to kiss her, and might have followed through with it had she not suddenly put both hands on his chest and lifted herself off him. She did a sort of half-roll, half-fall off of him and let out an ungodly sneeze, followed by a coughing fit.
Shikamaru laughed out loud, still lying on the bed, and stared at her, kneeling on the bed with her back to him as she coughed into her fist. He reached out with a heavy hand and rubbed her back as she hacked.
Eventually it subsided and she flopped back onto the bed. Their shoulders were touching and each had a head on a pillow as they looked up at the ceiling.
"Well, this sucks," Shikamaru said conversationally.
Temari flopped a cold hand onto his face and flapped it around a bit. "Sssh," she whispered through closed eyes, "the coughing gave me a headache and now noise hurts."
Shikamaru reached up and took Temari's wriggling hand off his face and gave it a squeeze. "I'm gonna go get us some water." He told her.
Temari nodded and put the hand that Shikamaru released over her eyes to block out the dim light.
Shikamaru stood up and was instantly plagued by his headache again. He shook his legs out and stumbled down the stairs, nearly eating shit a couple of times. He made it into the kitchen and filled two glasses of water. After chugging one and refilling it, he made his way back upstairs.
Temari was still on top of the sheets, head covered by her arm as she suffered. Shikamaru set his glass on her bedside table and tapped her arm wordlessly with his free hand.
She removed her hand from her face and saw the water. She took it and brought her other hand to Shikamaru's face, rubbing the side of his face gently in thanks before collapsing it back onto the sheet. She propped herself up and drank greedily, nearly draining the glass.
That's when Shikamaru finally got a good look at her and realized how...askew her kimono was. The sash was loose and the front was separated slightly. It wasn't anything too revealing, but he could see a decent amount of cleavage.
"Uh...your kimono's a little lopsided," he told her, determinedly looking at the ceiling.
Temari looked down at her chest and quickly rearranged the kimono. "Thanks," she told him, noticing the way he was determinedly looking at the ceiling. "What, don't see anything you like?" she was only half joking, and Shikamaru caught the tiny note of insecurity in her voice.
"Just the opposite, actually," he said, looking back at her with an embarrassed smile, "I just don't want to get beat up if you caught me glancing, that's all. Underestimating you is stupid, even if you are super sick."
Temari rolled her eyes. "Idiot," she coughed twice into her hand, "we're together now. I hope you want to see that stuff."
"Oh?" Shikamaru saw the opportunity to tease her, but was distracted with the sudden increase of his headache. He quickly laid back down on the bed with a groan. "Ahhhhh...my head is killing me."
"This is all my fault," Temari said. "You shouldn't have come to take care of me."
"Don't be stupid," Shikamaru said, "of course I'd come."
Temari settled back down into bed and they were once again lying shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the ceiling.
They began a cycle of fretful dozing and miserable coughing and sneezing. Shikamaru in particular, having just caught the flu, was hit with a fever and had already lost his vest. Sweat shone on his face.
"Don't sweat on me," Temari warned, giving him a sideways glance from her side of the bed. She was faring better than Shikamaru was, being on the tail end of the sickness.
"It's not my fault it's so damn hot in here," Shikamaru said, frustrated.
"It's not hot in here, you're just hot." Temari complained, "I can feel the heat radiating off you. You're like an oven."
"If I wasn't so sick I'd thank you for the compliment."
"Shut up."
In a fit of frustration, Shikamaru shot up into a sitting position and grabbed at his shirt. He tore it off, gave his body a quick wipe with it, and threw it across the room. His hair-tie also came off. "Can we open a window or something? I'm roasting."
"If you open a window in the desert all you're gonna get is a lot of sand and even more heat." Temari said, tearing her gaze away from the ceiling to look at him at his sudden burst of movement. She saw his lack of shirt and her eyes widened. "Wh-what happened to your shirt?"
"It's hot," Shikamaru said it like it was obvious. Then, despite his ill mind he realized he was shirtless in the bed of his new girlfriend, and the reason of her outburst became clear. "Oh, I see. Uh, I can go to the couch if you want."
Temari removed her teeth from her bottom lip and forced herself to look up at his face. "Uh...no, I mean it's fine if you stay here. It doesn't bother me.."
"Thank God." Shikamaru sighed, "I dunno if I could've made it down to the couch." He turned onto his side to look at her. "Y'know, if you're going to stare, you could at least compliment me."
Temari looked back at his face, her tone sheepish, "Sorry..."
Shikamaru smirked at her, "Don't be." He let out a yawn, "ugh. I'm going to try and get some more sleep, okay? Will you be okay, can I get you anything?"
Temari smiled at him, "Idiot, I'm pretty sure you're feeling worse than me now."
Shikamaru was already asleep.
That suited Temari fine, she got to look all she wanted now.
He really was rather handsome, she decided.
Four hours later, Shikamaru woke up to a freezing cold hand against his chest, right between his pectoral muscles. The sudden cold contact made him jump and his headache responded by kicking his brain with a steel-toed boot.
"Ugtgruhg," he said smartly, looking around in a daze, "-mari? Z'goin on?"
He realized the hand on his chest was trembling and his focus sharpened. He saw Temari, wrapped up in her blankets, shivering violently. Her hand was hungrily pressing into his flesh and he realized she was-
"Freezing," she said in the closest thing he had ever heard to a whimper. "You're so warm," she added wistfully. "I didn't mean to wake you."
In contrast, her hand felt delightfully cool against his skin. Couple that with something he wanted to do anyways, he felt comfortable lifting an arm up and beckoning to her with it. "Come here?"
Temari didn't seem to understand, "huh?"
Since saying things hurt a lot, he wriggled his other arm out from underneath him and lifted both out to her. Unbeknownst to him, he painted quite the attractive picture with his loose hair, shirtless chest and sleepy eyes.
"O..oh..." In what could almost be described as eagerly, his girfriend scooted closer to him until he could lock his arms at her hips.. With a sigh of contentment, both from the coolness of her skin and the thought that he was finally cuddling with Temari, he dragged her closer to him until her back was pressed flush with his chest and they were spooning. He put his chin in the crook of her neck and breathed her in.
"You're so warm," she said happily, snuggling closer to him.
"You're so cool," he said, just as happy.
They fell back asleep, smiling despite the sickness.