Written for reilyn, who requested this.

It's basically a short fic on the brothers' reactions to Temari telling Shikamaru that she loves him. Unfortunately, Shikamaru doesn't make an appearance here but I'm also still working on that multi-chapter fic of the brothers' pov of The Proposal, as well as other scenes where Shikamaru meets the brothers officially so stay tuned :)

Once again, thanks for reading!

"I'm sorry. Did I hear you correctly? You what?" Kankuro's voice was loud, amplified by the speaker, and Temari instinctively flung her phone away from her, facing it away so that her brother's voice would project elsewhere.

She buried her head in her pillow, letting out a partial scream of frustration and embarrassment.

"Oh my God," she said, "I am regretting saying anything right now. I am hanging up. Goodbye, Kankuro."

"No, no, please don't. I need to know everything!" Kankuro whined. "Please, Temari. I'll behave, I promise."

"I don't believe you," Temari said, but she still retrieved her phone, reversing it back so the front camera was facing her once again. On her screen, the image of a clean-faced Kankuro met her gaze. He was also lying in bed, though unlike Temari, who had the lights on and the blinds open in her apartment, Kankuro had opted to turn everything but the desk lamp off, with his blinds pulled down to block out all incoming light, resulting in his face being eerily half obscured during their video call. Still, even in the dark, Temari could see his stupid shit-eating grin. She wanted to smack his face.

Next to him, taking up the other half of her phone screen, was a bemused Gaara, his background showing he was at his office. Temari guessed he was video calling them on his laptop, judging by the lack of movement from his end and the fact that she could clearly see his phone on his desk, the screen lighting up every few seconds as someone sent a message.

Gaara was seated upright at his desk—for some reason he never used the backrest—and there was a comically large pile of paperwork in a corner. Little pots of cacti decorated the place, all of them lazing in the bright sunlight that streamed in through Gaara's window. Temari could almost feel that familiar warm heat of her childhood on her skin.

"I don't know why you are so surprised, Kankuro," Gaara said mildly as he retrieved a packet of papers from the stack and started to flip through them. "I mean, they were planning on getting married."

"Yes, but it was all fake! And now she's telling us it's not? It's too confusing, man!"

"Perhaps you need a bigger brain," Gaara said calmly and Temari let out a laugh in delight as Kankuro fumed on his end.

Gaara paused his perusing to smile at them, his face containing a bare trace of a mischief. "Maybe you could ask Temari's new fiancé to lend you a few braincells. If you ask nicely, I don't think Shikamaru would refuse. He seems to care about Temari a great deal from what I saw on Sunday."

Hoping to change the subject, Temari asked, "Don't you need to get those, Gaara?" as her youngest brother's phone vibrated once more with some presumably important notification.

Gaara feigned innocence. "Get what? I'm on break."

"Dude, people on break don't continue to do paperwork," Kankuro said.

"Well, I am choosing to multi-task during my break. These are the last of the papers I need to sign for the Kazekage nomination."

"All very unnecessary, I think," said Kankuro. "Like, we all know you're going to win it. Why are we bothering with formalities?"

"There needs to be order, Kankuro," Gaara said, finishing the last of his papers with a flourish of his pen. He set it down and stared directly at the camera, his eyes unblinking.

"Okay, bro, please do not do that," Kankuro said. "That is scary. Don't look at me like that."

"I do not know what you mean," Gaara said. "I am simply diverting all my attention back to my siblings, like a good brother does."

"Okay…not creepy at all. Why did you even suggest this, Temari? We never do video calls."

Temari shrugged. "Well…I thought it would be nice for us to have some sibling time. It's just…after meeting Shikamaru and his family and how much they care about each other, I thought, 'Why can't our family do the same?' But if you'd rather not have weekly video calls, Kankuro, I am more than happy to forget to invite you next time. I am sure Gaara and I will have a splendid time without you."

"You really have it down bad for him, huh?" Kankuro said, smirking.

Temari scowled at him. "I am trying to have a moment here, Kankuro! You know it's not easy for me to talk about feelings. Hell, it's not easy for any of us to talk about our feelings. I am trying here, you know? Trying to repair all the damage that Father did for so many years."

At the mention of their father, Kankuro sobered up, his expression turning serious and a little regretful. "No, yeah, I know. Sorry. Humor's always been my defense, as ya know. But I promise I'll behave."

"You've already said that," Temari pointed out.

"Well, starting now then."

Gaara smiled at them, practically beaming. It was ironic, Temari thought, how Gaara had been their family's little antisocial monster when they were young, but now he was the only one with halfway decent emotional vulnerability, the only one capable of recognizing and talking about his feelings properly (though usually with a therapist, and not with them). She had Naruto to thank for that, she knew.

"Anyway, I concur with Kankuro's sentiments," Gaara said. "Please do tell us more, Temari."

"Yeah, like how come you suddenly told him you love him?" Kankuro added. "That's a really big move."

"Ugh, Kankuro, I swear I'm going to hang up," Temari said, turning red in the face at the memory from last night, when Shikamaru had taken her to their first dinner date as an official couple. "I told you that just now in a moment of weakness!"

"Either way, now I know. So, spill."

Temari grumbled something about murdering Kankuro under her breath before taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Well. So. As I was saying, Shikamaru showed up yesterday, and I honestly didn't expect to see him."

Gaara made a small humming noise and Temari narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Wait. Gaara. What's with your expression? What are you hiding? Don't tell me…you knew he was going to come over yesterday?"

Gaara smiled apologetically at her. "Shikamaru called me on Sunday night to apologize, and to ask for permission."

"Yeah, probably so we wouldn't murder him," Kankuro muttered.

"So, you both knew, and neither of you thought to warn me?" Temari asked incredulously. Some brothers they were.

"Hey, the guy was sincere. Besides, I think you deserve nice things once in a while, Temari," Kankuro said.

"It was a nice surprise, was it not?" Gaara asked softly.

Temari sighed and conceded, "Yeah, it was."

"Anyway, we are getting off topic once again," said Kankuro. He waved one hand impatiently at her through the dark. "So, how did this go from Shikamaru being an utter sap to you telling him you love him? You know, I'm kinda wounded by that. You've never told me that you love me."

"That is not true, and you know it," Temari huffed. "But carrying on, Shikamaru showed up at work yesterday, as I was packing my things to leave. And…well, he prepared this really nice speech."

"Did he get down on one knee?" Kankuro asked. "Did he bring flowers? Was he wearing a tux? Because you know, if the man's going to propose to my sister, he has to do it properly."

"Kankuro, if you keep interrupting then I'm going to hang up."

"That's the third time you've threatened to hang up on me today and yet here we still are."

"Kankuro," Gaara warned.

"Okay, okay. Fine."

"To answer you, no, he did not do any of those things. Honestly, Kankuro, he just came from the Ino-Shika-Cho lands. He probably caught the first plane back. When would he have had time to prepare all that?"

"I mean, the dude's rich. Like us. I could have prepped all that on the plane if I'd wanted to, and the fact that he didn't…"

"Some of us have other matters on the mind," Gaara said. "It was still very thoughtful of him to stop by."

"He should have dropped onto one knee still!" Kankuro protested. "If he were a real man, that's what he would have done!"

"Yes, well, I like him the way he is," Temari said a little indignantly on Shikamaru's behalf. "Not everyone is a tough guy like you, you know."

"Ooh, you like him, huh?" Kankuro teased.

"Kankuro, she already said she loves him. That implies that she likes him," said Gaara, ever the practical one.

"Okay, this is embarrassing," said Temari, feeling the heat rise to her face. Even though she had been the one to initiate the conversation, it still felt awkward, especially with Kankuro. The two of them had never been that great at heartfelt conversations.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have us any other way," Kankuro said, beaming at her.

"Yeah, okay, whatever," said Temari. "So. Basically. Shikamaru had this really nice confession speech thing…and then we went out."

"Like a date?" Kankuro asked, sounding a bit too gleeful for Temari's tastes.

"Sure," she said. "We went to the park, and complained a bit about work, and talked a bit about this and that. And then he took me to dinner."

"Okay, but where?" Once again, Kankuro felt the need to interject with a silly question. Temari half-wished he were here in person so she could strangle him. It wasn't like she had been so interrogatory with him whenever he brought home a date in their childhood (though she suspected that was because she hadn't been as close with him then, ready to get out of Suna as fast as possible).

"That's not important," Temari snapped.

"It is to me," Kankuro said. "The dude has the money. If he took you to some low-rate restaurant…"

"It was fancy, okay?" Temari said, rolling her eyes. "And honestly, I don't need fancy restaurants. I just need him."

Kankuro let out a snort, and Temari said, "Shut up. Besides, Father took us to fancy restaurants all the time. Don't you get sick of it? It's nice to go someplace normal for once."

"Ah, normal. What we all strive to be," Kankuro said.

"There is no such thing as normal," Gaara said. "Everyone is special in their own way. At least, this is what Naruto told me."

"Oh, man, the Naruto mention is here," said Kankuro. "I was wondering how long it would take before you brought him up."

"Naruto is inspirational," Gaara said, giving Kankuro a pointed look. "In fact, more so than Father. I do not wish to find Father inspirational, not after he 'accidentally' almost killed me."

"Yeah, okay, let's not talk about that," Kankuro said hastily. "The old man's gone anyway. Thank God for Baki, though. So, how was dinner?"

"It was nice," Temari said evenly. "He might be what we call lazy, but he's very sincere, you know. Very relaxing."

She thought about last night, about how they had just been sitting next to each other in comfortable silence. How he had taken her to the Konoha Gardens (which she somehow had never thought to visit before), knowing that she liked plants, and even imparting knowledge about them. She hadn't known he knew so much about plants, but she suspected he had picked it up from Ino.

"Do you guys remember how it was before college? When it was the three of us, sitting at dinner, waiting and waiting for Father to show up? And how he would always show up late and we would all be starving by then but none of us dared touch the food before he arrived? And then when he finally did and we could start eating, we had to make sure we were using proper table manners and etiquette, and could only make polite small talk and ask him about his day?"

Kankuro and Gaara both nodded grimly.

"I remember I once tried to talk to him about my science project and he shut me down so fast," Kankuro said. "He told us he was tired and then just left the table."

"Well…with Shikamaru, it's like the opposite of that," said Temari. "Sure, Shikamaru doesn't talk a lot, but it's not a weird sort of silence. He's paying attention, even if he isn't saying anything. It's what would make him a good lawyer, too, if he wanted to be one."

"Which he somehow doesn't," Kankuro said. "You know, I've always found that weird. The supposed genius choosing to be a secretary instead of a lawyer? From what I've heard, he was the one carrying Naruto through law school."

"Just because someone's good at it doesn't mean they want to do it," Temari said. "Honestly, Kankuro. Otherwise, I would go for Kazekage."

Gaara looked at her curiously. "Do you wish to be Kazekage?"

"Oh, God, no," Temari said, shaking her head. "I'll leave that to you, Gaara."

"He sounds like a very nice man," Gaara said.

"Yeah." Temari paused. "You know, with him…I kind of feel safe again. Like how it was before Mom died. Like I could tell him things and he wouldn't shy away or judge me for it. So, yeah, I do love him, you know."

She looked away awkwardly. "And I think that's something I learned from him, too. Father's never told us he loved us, and we certainly didn't hear it from Baki or each other either when we were kids."

"Gaara, can you imagine child you telling us you loved us?" She let out a small laugh at the mental image of a five-year-old red-headed child with anger in his eyes glowering at her and saying "I love you" in a very forceful voice. It would have been terrifying.

Gaara smiled faintly. "Let us move on from my embarrassing murderous phase, please. I would greatly appreciate it."

"Anyway, Shikamaru and his family love so easily, I think. They're very open about it, and about showing it to each other," Temari continued. "He showed me that, the ability to love someone, and not just romantically. I don't even know if I love him romantically, but I have come to care for him, and to love him."

"I am happy for you," Gaara said simply. "You have always been busy, especially with the work Father put us through. But lately, I have noticed you have been more relaxed. Smiling more. It is something I hope you can maintain throughout the rest of your life."

"Yeah. What he said," Kankuro said and, at Temari's withering look, added, "I'm not that great with words, okay? Sorry not all of us are natural-born leaders like Gaara."

Temari rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. Well, I'm glad we had this talk. And now you two know. No more secrets, and for sure, no more fake weddings."

"It wasn't even a wedding."

"Okay, but you know what I mean." A thought suddenly occurred to Temari as she recalled the rest of her conversation with Shikamaru after they had left the movie theater halfway through a movie they had both agreed was too terrible to continue. "Oh, but you know, actually. I lied. One more fake wedding."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kankuro asked.

She smiled sheepishly at them. "Well, Shikamaru and I were talking last night and we decided we weren't ready for an actual wedding yet, you know? We're going to still get married, like officially on paper just to make it legal, but I think we're going to hold off on a wedding ceremony until we're both ready."

"That is wise," said Gaara.

"But yeah so, I hope you two don't mind if we don't invite you to the official paper signing? We've asked Naruto and Chouji to be our witnesses, since they're already in Konoha, and the sooner I make this official, the faster I can get Danzo off my ass."

Kankuro feigned an injured look. "You'd invite Naruto over me? Your own blood brother?"

"Naruto is an honorable choice," said Gaara. "I am glad he will be able to preside over it in my place."

"Thanks, Gaara," Temari said. "Kankuro, do you really want to be here? If so, I guess we can postpone it…"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you. You know, the usual," Kankuro said. "I'm for sure taking charge of your actual wedding when it happens though. That's not up for debate."

"Only for the one in Suna, fine," said Temari. "Oh! But you know, speaking of Danzo, it's actually really ironic."

"He's a shady dude, I get it," Kankuro said. "The man's been on Suna's radar for a while now, Temari."

"Yeah, but now he's on our radar, too. The firm's, I mean. I didn't get to look over the Sasuke case in too much detail the past week and then I handed it off to Naruto before resigning—thank God for Kakashi not accepting my resignation letter yet so I could awkwardly take it back—but from what I heard from Naruto via Shikamaru this morning, apparently Danzo's heavily involved in this case, and not in a good way."

"Wait, you talked to Shikamaru this morning? Before us? Rude." Kankuro gave her a small pout.

"That is not the point here, and you know it," Temari said. "Anyway, we're starting to gather a case against Danzo now, though I suspect it will take quite a while to incriminate him. He's been flying under the radar for a really long time. But I'm hoping to pin him down. It would be the best revenge. But until then…I have to be polite to him because he is still presiding over my immigration status."

"You know, what if we sent an assassin over," Kankuro suggested. "No one would even miss him."

"Kankuo, please do not suggest such a thing in my presence," Gaara said. "It would be bad for my reputation if this got out. I am not Kazekage yet."

"Okay, but think about it…"

"Kankuro!" Temari and Gaara both said at the same time.

Their brother shrugged. "Hey, it's a brilliant idea!"

Temari shook her head amusedly. "Anyway, Shikamaru and I were thinking of taking a week off next and visiting Suna. Please be nice to him when we go over."

Kankuro smirked. "Sure. My best behavior."

"I will be looking forward to it," Gaara said. "You must formally introduce us, as last time did not seem to count."

"Good thing Father is dead," Kankuro said. "Imagine trying to introduce that crybaby to Father. Father would probably have him arrested or something for not meeting his ridiculously high standards."

"Hey, you're not allowed to call him that," Temari said defensively. "Only I can."

"But it's true."

"Only from what I've told you!" Temari said. "It's not like you've witnessed it firsthand."

Kankuro made a face at her. "Gross, why would I want to see that and get secondhand embarrassment?"

"Crying is very useful," said Gaara thoughtfully. "It was how Naruto got through to me."

"Not Naruto again!" Kankuro whined. "Why don't you just marry the guy?"

"I don't think that would work, politically," Gaara said.

"Wait," said Temari, "why are you not arguing against Kankuro? Is there something you want to confess here, Gaara, while we're all spilling our secrets?"

Gaara glanced mildly at his phone. "Oh, it looks like my break is over. I have an urgent meeting to attend in a few minutes. I am afraid I will have to leave our video call early today, though I very much did enjoy it. Perhaps we should invite Baki next time. I think he would like that. Well, I must go now. I will speak with you some other time, Temari, Kankuro."

Before the other two could protest, Gaara's screen went dark. Temari and Kankuro stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

"What was that about?" Temari wondered.

"I guess we might have to plan two weddings now!" Kankuro cackled, clearly delighted by their new discovery.

Temari smiled at him. "I'm sure Gaara will tell us, in his own time. But he's right. We both have work to do—"

"I thought you took the day off today!"

"—so I'll end our call here."

"Fine, fine," Kankuro said.

"Hey, Kankuro?" Temari called out as she saw her brother's hand pop into view, presumably to press the end call button. He paused, looking at her quizzically.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For being my brother. For listening." Temari smiled awkwardly at him. "For accepting Shikamaru so readily, even before you and Gaara knew it was fake."

"Hey, like we said, we just want you to be happy."

"That's what I want for you, too, you know," Temari said.

Kankuro grinned at her. "Don't worry. I'm plenty happy. I've got you to look out for me, after all. And Gaara, too. Did you know he barges into my apartment on weekends to force feed me his cooked meals and reorganize my fridge? He took out all the cake!"

As Kankuro continued to rant about all the ways their younger brother had tried to get him to live a healthier lifestyle, Temari laughed. No matter what happened next with Shikamaru, at least she knew that her brothers had her back.