2
When he woke up the next day he remembered immediately about the stranger staying at his apartment. He stood up, put on his clothes and started walking to the main room, trying to make no sound. Shikamaru was still sleeping, and he decided not to wake him. The young man was so tall that he barely fit on the couch. His feet were completely on the air, and he had one of his long arms resting on the floor. Neji wondered if that was really more comfortable than his car, but the boy had been polite enough not to complain. He chose to use that chance to take a bath before his guest woke up, and walked to the bathroom.
After a quick shower, he put on clean clothes and returned to the main room. Shikamaru was still sleeping in the same position, so Neji decided to make some breakfast doing as little sound as he could. He walked to the corner of the apartment to where the kitchen was and started preparing coffee. A few minutes later, he hear Shikamaru starting to wake up.
The young man growled, sitting over the couch and rubbing his face with his hands. Then he looked around with sleepy eyes until he saw Neji.
"Good morning", the Hyūga said.
"Hey", was all Shikamaru could answer. He went back to rub his face with his hands.
"How are you feeling?", Neji asked.
His guest growled again. "Fine, I guess…", he replied. Then he leaned against the back of the couch, looking straight ahead. A moment later, he frowned and closed his eyes. "Damn it".
"What's wrong?", Neji asked, already feeling concerned about him.
Shikamaru took a hand to his forehead. "I just remembered why I'm here", he said.
He was probably recalling about how his wife had cheated on him, and it must hurt a lot. Neji took two cups of coffee and a few toasts he had just made and approached to the table. "Come sit and have some breakfast", he told the young man. "It will make you feel better".
Shikamaru stood up slowly and got closer to the table. He sat in front of Neji, still looking drowsy. He grabbed the cup the Hyūga was offering and took a deep breath of the penetrating scent of coffee.
They didn't spoke for a long while. Shikamaru looked thoughtful, and Neji imagined he was probably trying to decide what was he going to do about his situation. He saw him taking a long sip of coffee and then lowering the cup, without yet meeting Neji's eyes.
"Thank you again for letting me stay here for the night", he finally said.
"Don't worry about it", the Hyūga answered, and he really meant it. "So, what are you planning to do next?".
Shikamaru considered the question for a moment. He threw a glance to the clock hanging from the wall. "Well, I should go to work now", he replied. Then he frowned, apparently not liking the idea at all. Leaning over the table and covering his face with his hands like he had done the previous night over the counter, he whined like a little kid who didn't want to go to school.
"Can you just not go for one day?", Neji asked.
Shikamaru lowered his hands and thought about his suggestion. "I guess I could call sick or something", he said, as if he was thinking out loud. "That's not a bad idea". He looked a bit less miserable now, and Neji imagined he was probably not a work fan. "Can I use your phone?".
The Hyūga arched an eyebrow at this. "What happened to your cell phone?".
"I turned it off so no one could find me", Shikamaru admitted without any trace of shame. "Besides, my wife wouldn't stop calling me and it was driving me insane". Neji didn't say a thing about this, and it probably made the young man feel a little judged, because he explained himself immediately. "It might sound stupid, but I'm not ready to talk to anyone yet. Quite pathetic, I know".
Neji shook his head and spoke in his most comforting voice. "It's not pathetic. It's totally understandable. And yes, you can use my phone. It is right there", he said, pointing to its direction.
Shikamaru thanked him and stood up to go pick up the phone. Neji listened to him dialing. When the person on the other side of the line said "good morning", the Hyūga realized he could hear her perfectly.
"State University, how can I help you?", a woman's voice asked.
"Hi", Shikamaru answered. "This is professor Nara, from the Physics department. I need to talk with professor Aburame, from the Chemistry area. Tell him it is important, please".
"Of course, just a minute", the receptionist replied, and Shikamaru was put on hold. Short moments later another person picked up the phone, but this time it was a man. "Shikamaru! Where the hell are you?", he said. "I've been calling you all morning but your cell phone is off".
"I'm sorry, man, I just had a little problem", he young man answered, but then stopped for a second, and frowned. "Wait, why had you been calling me?".
"Because Ino called me last night, asking if I knew where you were", the voice explained. "She told me what happened with Temari… I'm so sorry, Shikamaru. Are you okay?".
Shikamaru frowned even more. "What? And how the hell does Ino know about it?", he asked.
"Well, Temari was desperately trying to find you, and she called her to see if she knew something. But she couldn't localize you either, so she called me", the voice responded.
Shikamaru ran a hand across his face with exasperation. "Great, so probably everybody knows now".
"Don't be mad at her. She's just worried about you. We all are", the man on the phone kept talking. "Please, tell me where you are".
"No", Shikamaru replied firmly. "Look, I'm fine. I just need some time alone. I just called to ask you to tell my boss that I'm sick or something, and that I won't be going for a few days. Could you do that for me?".
The voice hesitated. "Alright, but you know we just want to help you, right?".
"Yeah, yeah", Shikamaru answered. "Just do me this favor, okay? That's all the help I need for now".
"Sure. And remember, whenever you're ready, we're all here for you", the voice added.
"I know", the young man replied, now a little calmer. "Thanks, buddy. I'll see you in a couple of days".
After saying goodbye, he hung up the phone and walked back to the table to sit in front of Neji. He took another sip of his coffee and closed his eyes, probably thinking that now all his friends knew about his situation. The Hyūga decided it was better do distract him, so he thought about something. "Professor Nara?", he asked.
Shikamaru opened his eyes and stared at him. He lowered his cup and shrugged. "Yeah, profesor Shikamaru Nara, that's me", he said.
"You are a professor? At the University? Seriously?"
The young man arched an eyebrow at him. "Why are you so surprised?".
Neji hesitated. "I don't know", he answered. "You look very young to be a professor".
The Nara leaned against the back of his chair. "Yeah, well. It's not as good as it sounds".
The Hyūga laughed softly at this. "What do you teach?", he questioned.
"Classical mechanics, and structure of matter", he answered boredly. Both things sounded very complicated, and Neji couldn't help but to be surprise.
"That's very impressive", he said.
But Shikamaru was more interested in staring at his coffee. "You think?", he said, not paying much attention.
"I do", Neji affirmed. "Anyway, what are you going to do now?".
The Nara scratched the back of his head, thinking. "I don't know", he replied. "Probably just wander around the city, hoping no one finds me".
Neji didn't push him. He totally understood that he needed to be alone to clear his thoughts. He stood up, taking his cup to the sink. "Well, I have to go to work", he said. "But you can stay here if you want".
He started washing his cup, and Shikamaru took that time to think about his offering. "Really?", he asked at his back. "Would you let me stay here all day while you're out working?".
Neji turned around while he dried his hands with a dishtowel. "You spent the whole night here, and you didn't robbed me or try to kill me, so I think it'll be fine".
Shikamaru smiled. He really looked relieved, and Neji could imagine why. Having a place to stay was a lot better than wandering around the city on his car. "That is so great", he said. "Thank you. Man, I have to pay you for all of this somehow".
Neji laughed softly. "You don't need to", he replied, and took his keys to start heading towards the door. "If you need me I'll be at the coffee shop, okay?".
Shikamaru smiled, still a little in shock. "Okay, and thanks again. You're like, the best".
Neji laughed again, and waved him goodbye before disappearing behind the door.
He worked at the coffee shop all morning and all afternoon, like every day. It was a little had to focus on the clients orders, because he couldn't stop thinking about the Nara. They had met less than 24 hours ago, but they behaved like they were old friends. That was very unusual for Neji, because he was always pretty distant with strangers. He had to be polite with all his clients, but he had never tried to be friends with any of them. And that was not really what he intended with Shikamaru. He had simply saw he was going through a rough time and offered his help. But that was no like him either. He never got into other people's business, and he was still surprised about how natural it had been for him to offer his house to the Nara. All he could think about was in getting back to the apartment to check on Shikamaru's state. He had not came down to the coffee shop, which meant he was still up there. When he was finally able to close, he went straight to the stairs.
In the moment the opened the door of his apartment the scent of food invaded his lungs. He looked inside and saw Shikamaru on the kitchen, cooking. At hearing the door, the Nara turned around.
"Hey, welcome back", he greeted. He didn't seem to be fully recovered yet, but at least he was in a better mood.
Neji approached to him. "Hi", he said. "Did you make diner?".
Shikamaru smiled softly, returning to his cooking. "It was the least I could do to thank you for letting me stay here all this time", he answered. "I used a lot of your things, but I promise I will replace them tomorrow".
"You don't have to", Neji replied, sitting at the table behind him. "This is a lot more than what my friends do when they visit. And it smells really good. I didn't picture you as a cooking person".
"I never was, really", Shikamaru said, removing the content of a pan. "But my wife hated cooking, so when we moved in together I had to learn".
A dark shadow spread across his face at remembering his wife. Neji realized it was still hard for him to talk about her. "Are you okay?", he asked softly.
Shikamaru shook his head and focused on cooking again. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just assimilating it yet".
"Have you decided what are you going to do about her?", he question, not knowing if the Nara would be willing to discuss that matter with him.
Apparently he did, because when he answered he didn't sound uncomfortable at all. "No", he said. "But I turned my phone on and talked with a few of my friends. You know, so they wouldn't call the police to come get me".
Neji smiled at the sentence. "I am sure they were happy to hear from you".
"Yeah", the Nara agreed. "They're good people". He served two dishes with abundant pasta and gave one to Neji, sitting in front of him. "How was your day?".
Neji shrugged, staring at the food which looked really good. "Monotonous, like always", he answered. "Did you get bored in here alone?".
Shikamaru swallowed a good amount of pasta. "Not really, I had a lot to think about", he replied. "And when I got tired of doing that, I simply contemplated the pretty curious statues you have in here. I can't believe I didn't noticed them yesterday".
Neji knew what he meant. Since he was in school, his hobby had been making sculptures. Sometimes he used plaster, other times clay. He had even done a few small jobs with cement, and he loved trying new materials. He liked to work with his hands, getting his fingers dirty and staining his clothes, and he felt that he could express himself much better through those silent forms than with his own words. His apartment was replete with sculptures of different sizes and shapes, and he had a full closet destined only to his tools.
"What are you?", Shikamaru asked. "Like an art collector?".
Neji giggled softly. "No, I just like experimenting with materials, I guess", he explained.
The Nara stared at him with surprise and stopped eating. "Wait", he said. "You mean you made all those things?". Neji shrugged and then simply nodded. "Wow, you're really good. I mean, I know nothing about art, but I can see you're talented".
The Hyūga blushed at the compliment. He had never shared his work with other people except from his closest friends, though he had fantasized to become a great artist a couple of times. They spent the next hours talking about it, and Neji suddenly found himself telling Shikamaru about his dream of exposing his work in an art gallery. He seemed pretty interested about the whole thing, though the Hyūga imagined he was just trying to distract himself from his problems.
When they finished eating, the Nara stood up to wash the dishes. "Please, don't", Neji told him. "You are my guest, and you cooked. You shouldn't be washing dishes".
Shikamaru ignored him. "C'mon, is the only thing I can do to repay you for your help", he said. "Besides you're been out working the whole day and I've been here doing nothing".
After he was done with the dishes, he sat at the table in front of Neji once more. "Okay, this was nice, and I really needed a bit of time away from everybody, so thank you again", he started saying. "But I think is time for me to go".
Neji nodded. He knew it was just a matter of time for things to get back to normal, but he had to admit he had enjoyed the Nara's company, a lot. He wondered if they would ever see each other again, but didn't dare to ask. "Where will you go now?", he questioned instead.
"I guess I can stay with my parents while I figure out what to do with my marriage", Shikamaru answered. "Though it's gonna be troublesome...".
"Why?", Neji asked.
"Well, it's complicated", the Nara explained. "My parents are great, but my mother never really liked my wife. I can already hear her saying over and over again I told you you shouldn't marry her".
Neji took a moment to think. He knew relatives were hard sometimes. He had no parents, but he was in contact with his uncles, and they weren't easy. The only people in his family he really liked were his two cousins. "That sounds annoying", he said. "But you can stay here as long as you need".
Shikamaru stared at him. Yes, he was offering him his home to him, again, to a person he had met a day ago. But he simply couldn't stop his mouth from saying those words. The Nara pursed his lips. "Listen, Neji. I really appreciate your help", he said. "But I don't want to bother you anymore".
The Hyūga shook his head. "You don't bother me", he answered. "I'm actually enjoying the company".
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows sarcastically, like he was teasing him. "Really?", he asked. "You rather have a depressed stranger crashing in your apartment than being by yourself?". Neji simply shrugged, and the Nara stared at him with astonishment. "You know, if I was a religious person, I would definitely think you're an angel".
Neji chuckled softly at his words.