They eat in silence.
Shikamaru pretends not to notice his father's raised eyebrows and his mother's pointed look. He glances at Hinata, who is eating quietly and methodically. Like a doll—silent and subservient. The thought settles unpleasantly at the bottom of his stomach. He pushes the remains of his meal to the far end of the plate with his fork, metal screeching against the dish.
Everyone cringes at the sound while Shikamaru stands.
"Excuse me," he says in a monotone, "I need to go to the restroom."
His parents stare after him, but Hinata never looks at him. He sighs as he enters the restroom. Maybe splashing some water on his face will help clear his head.
"Did something happen between you and Shikamaru?" asks Yoshino-san, the second Shikamaru is out of sight.
Hinata shoves her spoon in her mouth to give herself more time to answer. Kind of, because I'm still in love with another man and your son has no sense of empathy would probably not go over well. She decides on a white lie.
"No, everything is fine."
Yoshino-san gives her a stern glare. Discreetly, Shikaku-san inclines his head slightly in his wife's direction with a resigned expression that emphatically tells Hinata she should just give in already to the headstrong woman. Hinata almost smiles, before remembering that these are the parents of that—that jerk. She cringes at her own word choice.
"I'm sorry, Hinata," apologizes Yoshino-san, misinterpreting Hinata's wince, "I just want things to work out for you and Shikamaru. I'm not expecting you two to fall in love, but I know it must be difficult marrying someone you don't love."
Hinata wonders how Yoshino-san would know when her marriage with Shikaku-san was not an arranged marriage. Then, she shrinks in her seat, ashamed at her bitter thoughts.
Yawning, Shikaku-san pokes idly at Shikamaru's half-eaten steak before cutting out a piece of it. Yoshino-san smacks his hand down almost reflexively before he can eat it. Her eyes are still on Hinata, who shifts under the heavy gaze. Hinata reaches for a glass of water with trembling hands to cool her nerves.
"I had a one-night stand and got the girl pregnant because I didn't use protection, like an idiot."
She chokes on her water. Yoshino-san has to reach across the table to pat her back. Shikaku-san takes this window of opportunity to shove a forkful of Shikamaru's steak into his mouth. He finishes chewing by the time Hinata has stopped spluttering.
"The girl was Yoshino. She tracked me down when she found out she was pregnant—okay, not really, because I visited the same bar every weekend with my friends—and told me she planned on keeping the baby. She didn't demand child support or anything. She just told me what she was going to do and left."
His smile is soft, affectionate. Hinata feels her cheeks flush when Shikaku-san places his hand over Yoshino-san's.
Yoshino-san continues the story, her lips quirking up. "This idiot chases me after two minutes of standing in shock. And then he gets down on one knee and proposes. He didn't have a ring. He didn't even know my name!"
Shikaku-san huffs. "Hey, I called you 'Yoshiko', which is pretty close."
A flippant hand wave dismisses his comment. Shikaku-san presses his lips together with a roll of his eyes.
"Where was I?" Yoshino-san stares at the ring on her finger for a moment. "Right, so Shikaku proposed to me. He said he didn't think he was ready to be a father, or even a husband, but he wasn't going to let his kid grow up without a father. I said hell no and walked away."
"So, I went home and told my parents everything," says Shikaku-san, "and they were shocked. Especially my dad, who didn't understand why I wouldn't just leave Yoshino alone or just send her money if I was dead-set on taking some responsibility. He told me not to get involved and threatened to disown me.
"I convinced Yoshino to marry me—her financial situation wasn't secure, but I had transferred money from my parents' account to mine and had enough to support us two and five possible kids—and we eloped. After a week, my mom visited and said that she supported us. She also dragged my dad over and made him apologize."
"And we fell in love with each other during my pregnancy with Shikamaru," finishes Yoshino-san.
That's sweet, thinks Hinata, but also a little unsettling. Is that what they expect will happen between her and Shikamaru? Shikamaru is . . . well, here she should say some good things about him and then that she isn't romantically interested in him regardless, but she's upset with him now so there aren't any good things about him that immediately come to mind. If she really racks her mind, maybe she can come up with something—
Shikamaru is fairly good-looking, but . . . he's not Naruto-kun.
A weary sigh escapes her, tears pricking her eyes.
"Okay!" announces Yoshino-san, leaning across the table, "I wasn't going to pry anymore but clearly something is wrong, Hinata."
Hinata fumbles for another lie, though she knows no one will believe her. It would be easier to tell the truth at this point, but Yoshino-san seems like she would interfere somehow and Hinata thinks that might make things worse.
"Shikamaru has been in the restroom for a long time," is what escapes her mouth.
The couple blinks. Shikaku-san shrugs.
"Weird. His steak is delicious," he comments with a satisfied grin.
"You should go check on him," orders Yoshino-san, unyielding even when Shikaku-san's grin falls.
"Check on who?"
Shikamaru sits down, picking up his fork and knife. Hinata stifles a laugh at the expression on his face when he notices his plate is empty.
"Well. It's been fun, kids." Shikaku-san stands and languidly strolls out of the restaurant.
Yoshino-san clicks her tongue in annoyance. "At least he's paying for all of this." She calls for the check as she pulls out a men's wallet from her purse and slides out a credit card.
Hinata giggles. She twists around so she can grab her purse from the back of her chair when she notices someone is staring at her.
"What?" Her voice is cool, but a touch self-conscious.
Shikamaru's eyebrows are furrowed, though his mouth is set in a firm line. His gaze is filled with resolve, but Hinata can't even begin to guess why.
"I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to marry me because of . . . well, you know. And I know that even though I haven't been actively making things difficult for you, I definitely haven't done anything to make things easier for you. When Ino asked about visiting your house, I should have said something. When being around Naruto was upsetting you, I should have done something. I've uh, sort of pitied you, to be honest, but mostly I've been apathetic about your feelings regarding our marriage and that was wrong and insensitive of me."
He speaks quickly, so Hinata has to pause for a minute to parse through his apology. He seems sincere. Already, Hinata can't associate his earnest face now with his stoic silence from four nights ago. And after hearing his apology, she can't help but feel like she has wronged Shikamaru, too.
"I . . . I should apologize too," she confesses, "because I've been acting like I'm the only victim in this situation, but you're also stuck in this marriage. I should be trying to communicate with you instead of wallowing in my feelings. I'm sorry, Shikamaru."
He looks at her in surprise before saying, "It's fine. Are we good now? I'll try harder to put your feelings into consideration."
"Yes! I will, too!"
There is a moment of contentment as Hinata beams at Shikamaru and the corner of his mouth lifts in a slight smile. Then it shatters.
"Hold on," interrupts Yoshino-san, eyes narrowed, "why haven't you two told your friends about the marriage yet? I understand not inviting them to the wedding, but I thought you two would have told them about the marriage by now!"
Shikamaru pales and Hinata wrings her hands.
The reason is, perhaps, overly simple. If their friends found out they were married, they would be teased relentlessly. Subtlety was not in their friends' vocabularies when they were together. Hinata likens her friends to a swarm of bees and any relationships one of their friends is currently in as a field of pollen.
Back in freshman year, Ino and Kiba had dated for a grand total of seventeen hours. The moment everyone found out, there was so much exaggerated winking, rib nudges, and sexual innuendos that Kiba had stormed off in the middle of dinner with a shout of, "I can't do this anymore! I'm breaking up with you, Ino!" And Ino had snorted and said, "Damn it, he beat me to it."
Shikamaru and Hinata both hate attention, and they would feel especially uncomfortable with everyone teasing them about their nonexistent romantic relationship despite them having already clarified that it was an arranged marriage. So, it is in their best interests to keep their marriage a secret. No one can know. Everyone becomes a blabbermouth when Ino is hunting for secrets.
They would tell the others eventually. Eventually.
"Too troublesome," says Shikamaru, summarizing the matter succinctly.
"Shikamaru."
"It's late, we better get going. Night, Mom. Tell Dad thanks for paying." With that said, Shikamaru grabs Hinata's hand and pulls her out of the restaurant before his mother can say anything else.
Hinata laughs at him until they get into his car. Shikamaru isn't as unemotional as she thought he was. He was obviously fearing for his life when his mother glared at him.
a/n: the chapter lengths are so inconsistent lol when i finish this story i'm going to go back and edit the hell out of each chapter. anyway, hinata and shikamaru have cleared the air between them! i feel like they would get over fights quickly because neither of them are the type to keep grudges and they're both level-headed people. this is supposed to be the first blip in their marriage, but also a constant issue throughout the beginning of their marriage as both of them try to maintain their promises to consider each other in their marriage. they're both independent so they have trouble remembering that marriage is a partnership. it gets better tho, no worries. (also this chapter was not supposed to include shikaku and yoshino but i'm glad i did lol. otherwise this chapter would have just been shikamaru and hinata resolving their disagreements by angsting on different sides of their bedroom door with many frosty silences and crying. imagine that that happened during the four day period between this chapter and the last lol). thank you to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed!