Chapter 3:
"I'll sleep on the futon," Neji muttered, avoiding Shikamaru's gaze. For his part, Shikamaru responded with a flat look and a yawn.
"And have you cranky and evil tomorrow because you couldn't sleep properly and managed to get a stiff neck?" he snorted, "No thanks. You're sleeping in the bed,"
"Then you sleep on the futon," Neji responded coolly. Shikamaru actually managed to summon up an expression vaguely resembling disbelief. However, his voice was as flat as ever when he replied.
"Are you crazy?" he asked, almost as though he actually believed that this was the case, "I like my bed. I'm not giving it up for anyone,"
"We can't sleep in the same bed!" Neji responded irritably, if not a little petulantly. It wasn't for his own good so much as it was for Shikamaru's own good. Neji didn't want to snap during the night and kiss the lazy bastard senseless, scaring him out of his wits.
"You weren't protesting this much before when I pitched the idea to you before," Shikamaru said with annoyance. It seemed to be one of the few expressions that apparently didn't take too much effort to form.
Neji didn't have anything to say to that. Instead, he sighed and clambered over the bed to lie near the wall, feeling safer that way. Shikamaru, for his part, didn't comment. Had he said anything, Neji would have broken his nose, host or not. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Shikamaru clapped abruptly, causing the lights to go out.
"Good night," Shikamaru grunted as he too climbed in the bed, his body too close for Neji's comfort. To escape the tantalising heat radiating from Shikamaru's body, Neji pressed himself closer to the cold wall.
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked, his voice tinged with an odd mixture of amusement and annoyance, "I don't smell that bad, do I?"
"No, of course not," Neji muttered, still facing the wall, "I just don't like physical contact,"
"Whatever," Shikamaru snorted after a moment of silence. Neji physically relaxed, his eyes remaining wide open as they stared at the wall. He didn't even register the vulgar poster that was directly in his line of sight.
Soon, Shikamaru's regular breathing as he slumbered was the only sound that could be heard in the silence of the house. However, Neji's mind was exhausted and overloaded, and he began to imagine the sounds of footsteps in the hall, and everything suddenly became much more sinister. He clenched his eyes shut, but his mind became even more of an enemy as it supplied a vivid image of the stalker's crazed eyes. His eyelids snapped open again, and he tried to concentrate on the poster tacked to the wall, mentally criticising Shikamaru for his perverted ness. But he was unable to manage it for long, and instead reverted to his paranoid thoughts.
He almost growled out loud. Why was he behaving like such a weakling? He was Hyuuga Neji, one of the coldest, most unflappable people one could ever possibly meet. Yet here he was, trembling like a child in Shikamaru's bed because he was scared of a man in a hockey mask. If only his father could see him now.
There was a bang, and Neji sprang up with a gasp, unconsciously gripping Shikamaru's arm tightly. His nails were digging in, so it was understandable that Shikamaru groaned and opened his eyes.
"What the fuck?" he asked drowsily, sounding peeved.
"There was a bang," Neji snapped, trying to sound unembarrassed. Immediately, Shikamaru pressed his ear to the wall and groaned with disgust. Without preamble, he slammed his fist into the wall, startling Neji.
"Mom, dad!" he shouted, "Are you guys trying to destroy my brain?"
Neji's eyes widened. Please tell me they weren't...he thought desperately, but it was no use. Apparently, parents didn't stop having sex at thirty afterall. His illusions were now ruined.
"Aren't you pleased to know that your old man's still got it?" Shikaku called back, causing Neji to shove his head under his pillow.
"I don't care what you've got," Shikamaru moaned back, "Whatever it is, I don't want it either. Can you guys keep it down? I think you've permanently traumatised Neji, and I'm not coping much better,"
"It's not what you think, Shikamaru!" Yoshino called, for once sounding like a gentle soul rather than the domineering woman she really was.
"Mom, don't try to pass this off as something else. You know I'm smarter than you," Shikamaru replied with a sigh, causing Yoshino to revert back to her usual personality.
"Don't make me come in there, Shikamaru!" she bellowed. Neji winced, and Shikamaru visibly stiffened.
"There's no way you're getting in my room after what I've just heard you doing!" he shouted, leaping out of bed. Neji watched, bemused, as he locked the door from the inside, noting that he was wearing only a pair of green boxers.
"Nara Shikamaru!" Yoshino roared, sounding outraged, "You need to learn some respect for your mother!"
"I'll respect you when you respect my ear drums!" Shikamaru responded.
There was a pause as Shikaku said something to his wife, which Neji was unable to hear through the wall and the pillow clamped over his head. Then there was silence. Shikamaru sighed and slumped back down into the bed.
"You might want to lie down properly," Shikamaru muttered, indicating Neji's position, "Or I might take it as an invitation,"
Neji realised that he was literally face down, ass up and rolled onto his back to glare coldly at Shikamaru.
"You're disgusting," he said, although his voice lacked any real venom. To be perfectly honest (which was probably a first for Neji), he felt much safer now that Shikamaru was awake, and it would take a great amount of teasing before Neji became so annoyed that he wished Shikamaru hadn't woken up.
Shikamaru shrugged in response to Neji's remark, as though indicating that Neji was right, and that he didn't care.
"What were you doing awake at this hour, anyway?" he asked, stretching with a yawn. Neji stared at his exposed stomach with both envy and desire, simultaneously wishing that his stomach was as muscular, and wishing that he would reach out and touch Shikamaru's, with fingers, lips and tongue.
He came back to the present rather abruptly when Shikamaru shoved him roughly.
"Are you going to answer me today, or are you just going to stare at me?" he asked boredly. Neji's face went a very interesting shade of crimson, and he was glad that it was too dark for Shikamaru to see it.
"I wasn't staring," Neji snapped.
"Just answer the question," Shikamaru said, a tad impatiently. Apparently, he didn't want to have a leisurely chat at midnight. Who in their right minds would?
"That noise woke me up," Neji lied, staring at that poster again. He feared that the tasteless image of the large breasted brunette would forever be imprinted on his retinas.
"Liar," Shikamaru grunted, sounding amused, "You would have been as drowsy as me if you'd heard that noise and it had woken you up,"
Neji's mouth snapped shut as he glared.
"You were already awake," Shikamaru continued, "Couldn't sleep?"
Neji didn't reply, turning his back on Shikamaru as he faced the wall again.
"You were scared," Shikamaru deduced. Neji tensed but remained unresponsive. That was, until he felt the warm solidness of Shikamaru against his back, a single arm wrapping around his waist.
"What are you doing?" he hissed in the darkness.
"Now you decide to whisper?" Shikamaru mumbled into Neji's hair. Neji gaped at the wall, frozen in terror and nervousness. He could barely breathe. This was more contact than he'd had since his mother had held him as a small child. It felt amazing, but, at the same time, he was embarrassed that he was letting his guard down so easily.
"Stop thinking so much," Shikamaru muttered, his warm breath sending shivers down Neji's spine as it caressed his ear, "You're so stiff, I can't get to sleep,"
"What do you expect me to do when you drape yourself over me like that?" Neji asked. He had meant to sound brusque and harsh, but his tone was far too weak and pleading for his tastes. Shikamaru sighed and sat up, pulling Neji up aswell. Neji almost let out a gasp of surprise, but managed to contain himself.
"Just relax," Shikamaru said, sounding both annoyed and (was Neji imagining it?) warm, "You don't need to worry about that stalker attacking you. Black belt, remember?"
Neji bristled indignantly.
"I wasn't scared!" he growled.
"Call it what you want," Shikamaru sighed, "But I know fear when I see it. I'm beginning to think that, at the moment, it's not that stalker that you're scared of,"
"For the last time, I'm not scared!" Neji said, but the fact that he stumbled over the first syllable vastly decreased the impact of his words. He turned around, meeting Shikamaru's blank eyes which practically shone in the darkness. They were assessing him. He knew it. He stared back just as resolutely, determined not to be the first one to look away.
"You didn't tell me you were hurt," Shikamaru said suddenly. Neji stared without comprehension. Shikamaru snatched his hand, causing Neji's heart to leap in his throat. Neji could feel those fingers between his own, calloused in some places, smooth in others. Without realising it, Neji closed his pale, thin fingers around Shikamaru's hand.
Shikamaru met his gaze again, and Neji forced himself to look away. However, he refused to let go of Shikamaru's hand, partially believing that making a big deal out of it would make the situation worse.
With his other hand, Shikamaru lifted Neji's arm and ran his fingers over skinned elbows. Neji jerked and hissed at the sensation of Shikamaru's callouses abrading the tender lesion.
"Want me to kiss it better?" Shikamaru asked, and Neji could just hear the smirk in his voice. However, the air continued to thrum with tension, and it was with great effort that he managed to reply.
"You wouldn't dare," he said.
"Wouldn't I?" Shikamaru asked challengingly. Neji's grip around Shikamaru's hand tightened.
"I don't know," he responded.
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Neji felt his eyelids beginning to droop as he sat on the toilet seat while Shikamaru rummaged for the first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet. However, the sting of alcohol on his skinned elbows soon snapped him out of that stupor.
"Shikamaru!" he yelped in shock, hating the sensation of the alcohol wipes catching on the raw skin.
"Hmm, baby, say my name again," Shikamaru teased lightly. Neji punched him in the shoulder with the arm that wasn't currently being abused.
"Ow, dammit!" Shikamaru swore, "You've deadened my arm!"
Neji smirked with self-satisfaction.
"You know, I never knew you could punch like that," Shikamaru mused, seemingly determined not to let Neji get the last laugh, "Especially since you have all that girly hair,"
"Shikamaru," Neji growled warningly.
"And those gay clothes,"
"Nara!"
"And that virgin-"
"Finish that sentence and you'll never pronounce another," Neji vowed. Shikamaru stared at him with falsely guileless eyes.
"I was just going to say skin," he said, thin lips quirking into a smirk, "Having dirty thoughts?"
"Stop being such a lecher!" Neji growled, yanking his arm free from Shikamaru's grip. However, Shikamaru soon had Neji's arm back in his grasp again and began to put a band aid on it.
"Are we in the sixteenth century again?" Shikamaru asked musingly. Neji narrowed his eyes and refused to respond. He let Shikamaru win that round. Come to think of it, he seemed to let Shikamaru win every round. It was either that, or Shikamaru was sharper than him, in both wit and tongue. That was a thought Neji didn't like, and he much preferred to think that he himself was being lenient.
Then again, he had much more pressing things to worry about. Such as the whole elbow-kiss incident that had transpired not two minutes ago. The fact that Shikamaru hadn't actually gone through with it had only increased Neji's doubts about whether Shikamaru found him attractive, or indeed whether he swung that way at all. Shikamaru certainly hadn't given any clues that would lead Neji to believe that he was anything other than straight. Other than the constant teasing remarks that could possibly be interpreted as flirting, that is. However, Shikamaru's comments may have platonic, affectionate banter.
Even that may be in doubt, Neji thought, He may be kind to me, but that doesn't mean he cares for me.
Shikamaru had finished with Neji's arm a while ago, but Neji was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice until Shikamaru squeezed his arm gently yet firmly.
"Other arm," he said, in a tone that would have been business-like if he hadn't punctured that remark with a huge yawn. Clearly, he was tired. Neji was only grateful that tomorrow was Saturday.
Silence fell as Shikamaru methodically cleaned Neji's elbow and put a band aid on it. Despite Neji's initial protests, he managed to get Neji to take his shirt and capris off so that he could check for more damage. Neji stood in the cool bathroom, arms wrapped around himself as he tried to both keep himself warm, and hide his nearly nude body from Shikamaru's eyes.
But Shikamaru didn't appear at all interested. He cleaned and wrapped Neji's cuts and bruises with the efficiency of a doctor, remaining completely detached. Strangely, Neji would have preferred to feel Shikamaru stare at him with desire than to have Shikamaru ignore him as though he was one of those normal people.
Neji wasn't a narcissistic person. While he was aware of his attractiveness, he didn't let his looks rule his life like some shallow, unintelligent people did. Yet he was slightly insulted that Shikamaru didn't seem to appreciate how attractive Neji was.
It was with a heavy heart that Neji clambered back into bed, even when he felt Shikamaru spoon up against him, burying his face in Neji's hair. He held Neji like one would a teddy bear, and Neji was glad that nobody was there to witness the destruction of his pride.
"Shikamaru?" he called after a moment.
"Nnyuh?" Shikamaru responded sleepily. Neji almost imagined that he felt Shikamaru sniff his hair, but quickly dispelled that thought.
"Get off me," Neji said, suspecting that it was futile to hope that Shikamaru would listen.
He was unsurprised when Shikamaru grunted something and spooned himself closer to Neji's body. Neji sighed. He hated clichés with a passion, but one fit so well with his situation that he could have laughed had he not been such a cold bastard.
This is going to be a long night, he predicted, relaxing. He wasn't going to be able to escape anytime soon, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get comfortable.
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Are you all happy? If you answer yes, good. If you answer no...
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!
Anyways, I'm sorry that this fic was practically abandoned for so long. But, as you can see, I've done some major editing. Scratch that, I drastically changed the storyline.
I hope it was enjoyable!
Thank you to Inashosetai and Ichigo_ando_hime for debating about the elbow-kissing scene with me. It really helped me.
One again, this story is dedicated to Headraline. Sorry about the crappiness. I can't seem to do anything right for you, can I? I still haven't sent you that picture from last Hallowe'en. I'm so sorry. I'll try to get it to you this Hallowe'en. XD
Ja ne, all!
TenshiXXX
