The first week of work was hell. Well, it was great, but it was hell. His feet were dying every day. He drank a nos every day at lunch. The next week they were putting him on standard and ten hour days with the rest of full-time. He wasn't sure he could handle it. The work was forcing him to sleep, and he slept much more than was normal. He kept waking every few hours though. And he dreamnt. He usually coulnd't remember what about though.
Sleeping regularly was odd, but he knew he needed to sleep or risk falling asleep at work. And that would get him fired for sure. Instead, he slept as much as he could when he was at his house. He ate very little though, surprisingly rarely hungry.

The weekend was blissful, full of sitting on his bed and gaming. College beginning was going to be hard. Most of his classes would have to be on the weekends. Shouldn't be hard, he was just going to do basic classes for now. Still though..., college and full-time... He could feel the panic again. He forced it down, making himself concentrate on his games instead. It was all he had to distract himself.
He couldn't help worrying over the future. It was like when he stopped to think, the future of what could and would be, just opened up to swallow him whole. His heart began to beat faster, his head started to feel fuzzy, he could feel himself sweating although he wasn't, his breathing would quicken. He wasn't normally so... out of control. He was a very controlled individual. He didn't generally let his emotions show. This... whatever it was, was very unlike him.

He slept the majority of saturday. At one point, he dreamnt. It was a terrifying dream. He woke, a feeling in his chest of some profound loss. It spooked him. He lay awake before resuming his gaming, he wasn't going to sleep until he had to sunday night.

When he woke up, it was late afternoon. He reached over to his phone, fumbling with it. His had had fallen asleep because had had rolled over on to it.
At last though, he was able to send a message to Choji to tell him to come pick him up in an hour. That would give him plenty of time. He slowly got up, staggering into the door frame, not fully awake yet. He went to the bathroom and then returned to his room to find clothes.
He decided upon black basket ball shorts and a light gray tank top. He showered and dressed, going to the kitchen to find himself a Venom. He held it over the sink as he opened it, wary of it exploding like the last one had.
It did not explode, and he chugged half of it as he wandered back to his room and phone. Choji had replied to him that he would be there.

He went to the bathroom again before Choji arrived, finished the Venom and grabbed a second. He was going to need all the energy he could get.

Choji finally pulled up in his green saturn. Shikamaru took his seat and Choji sped off.
Upon arriving, Choji ordered quite a bit, and Shikamaru ordered just one thing.

When their food arrived they ate in silence.
Shikamaru was slowly eating, his eyes falling closed occasionally but he would jerk back up and resume. When it had happened five times, Choji said something.

"Hey man, are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I don't think you are man," Choji had stopped eating and was looking at him seriously.

"I'm fine," Shikamaru stated, getting a little annoyed.

That was when it happened. All his friends or at least, former classmates joined them at their booth. Ino, Tenten, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Neji, Naruto.

"What the fuck man?" He glared at Choji, he was trapped between Kiba, Lee, and Naruto. Neji and Tenten were standing, and the others were by Choji.

"Shikamaru...," he began slowly.

Ino took over, "You have a serious medical problem Shika."

Neji spoke next, "If it's not brought under control, you could die."

Hinata was after that. "You have narcolepsy. You can fall asleep any where, any time, any place. If you were to fall asleep driving, showering, or even just standing up, something could easily kill you. If you don't get this sleeping under control..., it's a very serious possibility you could die."

"We care about you," Tenten interjected.

"I have researched it and you exhibit the most common sympton. Your sleeping habits are extremely unhealthy. You've even drank at least one energy drink, and you're still about to fall asleep in your food. Even right now, you're barely staying awake."

Shikamaru blinked, Hinata was talking again, everything had begun to go black, he hadn't even realized he was falling asleep.
"No. I'm fine. I've always liked my sleep."

"Shikamaru, man, you're a genius, but please, ease off the sleeping. You still need eight hours every night, but no more." It was Kiba pleading with him this time, looking into his eyes, concern etched into the brunette's features.

Shikamaru smiled a hazy smile, every time he blinked, the world was black for a while, he reached out his hand to grab at Kiba's face. He missed, and tried again.

Vaguely he heard words but he couldn't make them out. He continued as he was, thinking he was dreaming about being in a fun house with Kiba.

"He's hallucinating," Hinata spoke quietly as Kiba restrained his friend.

"Is this common?" the brunette asked, looking at her worriedly.

She nodded and his face fell.
"There isn't a cure is there?"

She shook her head and he looked defeated.
"The best he can do is as we suggested. He's legally an adult, so his parents can't really make him do anything. Choji, you should tell them though when you take him home."

The other teen nodded and he left the money on the table, they all got up, Kiba carrying the still delirious Shikamaru.
It was worse than they had feared. He really did have it. They had arranged this to tell him about it, but now..., now that they had all seen it, full-blown seen what was happening to their friend, they were worried. Kiba didn't want to put his friend in the car, he didn't want to leave his side, because at his house, he would be largely alone. His parents worked. At last though, they dropped him off and Choji spoke with the Naras.

They were shocked by the news, but they said they had suspected something because it wasn't normal for a human to sleep that much. Choji encouraged them to try and moniter his sleeping habits. They said they would try. Choji had to leave it at that, unsure of what else they could do.