She was humming again.
Shikamaru shot a wary look at his lab partner, who decidedly ignored him.
Normally, he would be fine with working in silence - conversations were troublesome - but Temari wasn't really the type of person to hum. He would have even preferred her to argue with him instead.
She jotted down the momentum of their carts, her head bent over the paper. He narrowed his eyes as the sound got louder the closer she got to finishing the calculations.
Temari sat up straight. "There, done." She slid her lab packet over to him. "Check if you got the same."
He resisted the urge to complain that they were always the same and dutifully scanned her work.
Suddenly, Temari decided to switch from humming to actually singing out loud.
"We only want to sing you to sleep…"
Shikamaru dropped his pencil. He sat still, not even daring to blink.
Temari tapped her fingers on the tabletop, then sighed loudly. "How does the next line go again?"
A shrug and a grunt was all he could manage. He felt Temari lean in closer, examining his reaction, and he quickly pretended to be engrossed in her physics lab report. "Really?" She asked, a challenge in her voice. "Why don't you sing it? Maybe it'll come back to you."
This was it. This was the worst day of Shikamaru's life. He liked to keep his academic life and his recreational activities completely separate. And this troublesome woman just had to interfere and combine them, turning his life into a drag. The only thing that could beat this would have to be something insane, like being drafted into a war to fight against shape-shifting zombies.
Back to the actual, very real present situation, though - currently staring him down was a woman who was getting increasingly annoyed, and he felt it wise not to leave her waiting much longer.
His first line of defense was to divert her attention. "Didn't think you were into that type of music." He said, neither confirming nor denying that yes, he knew every single word of that song.
Unfortunately, Temari wasn't having it. She brandished her pencil in his face. "You barely know which chapter we're on in class. What would you know about the music I listen to?!"
Well. She got him there.
And apparently not finished with him yet, Temari crossed her arms and frowned, looking him up and down. "You're unbelievable, though. The same guy who's late to every single lecture because of laziness moonlights as a frontman for a rock band. Are you a secret music major?"
He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "No, you know I study political science. Just like you."
"Yeah, whatever. Listen here, popular musician or not, the next time you try to take my notes, I'm going to kick your ass." She was straight to the point. "There is no way you have energy to sing eight songs in a row but not copy down a measly page of equations."
"First, I wasn't taking your notes." He scoffed. "I was trying to point out a sign error you made in equation four. Second, woman, are you stalking me? Or just really into garage bands and stuffy clubs."
Temari gaped at him, her face heating up in anger. Shikamaru briefly noted how the color of her cheeks complimented her blonde hair nicely.
"I did not make a mistake!" Oh god, she was yelling now. "And stalking you?! Why, you- you lazy jerk, I'm not the one being so secretive. Why don't you just tell people you're in a band? As a singer, no less. You could get even more people to come!"
"Why would I advertise myself? That's so troublesome."
Temari practically threw her arms in the air, and Shikamaru felt that he should move the topic along before he painfully suffered. "How did you even find out about it? Don't you have nightly club meetings?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you know my schedule?"
Caught. Red. Handed.
What was he supposed to say to that? "Actually, sometimes I'm only pretending to sleep and I read your planner one time in class and I just never forgot it."
Idiot.
He fumbled for an excuse that didn't make him seem like a total creep. "No, it's- you- my friend mentioned seeing you, and-"
"Nevermind." She waved it off, not deeming his poorly delivered defense important. "My roommate Tenten made my suitemates and I promise to come with her to at least one concert with her - she dragged me to it."
"Tenten?" Shikamaru's brow furrowed at the familiar name. "Neji's girlfriend?"
Temari's eyes suddenly widened, causing him to backtrack. "Er, not that they're actually dating - I don't think," He hastily amended. "But he always saves a ticket for her for our shows, and the guys and I always make fun of him about it."
The unimpressed look she gave him almost made him regret ever opening his mouth, but before he could apologize, Temari shrugged. "Well - I do the same thing."
Girls were so troublesome.
Shikamaru took a deep breath. If they really must talk about things that were not physics, then he might as well be nice and ask about her experience. "You stayed for the whole concert, right? Eight songs and all. What was your favorite song?"
"Wow, are you making conversation? That's a first." He rolled his eyes at her attempt to annoy him.
"I would say they were all pretty good." Temari said casually. "Though the first one would have to be my favorite so far - I don't think any of the other songs would have convinced me to stay."
He didn't miss her choice of phrasing. "'So far', huh?" He repeated with a smirk.
"Shut up." She grinned at him. "What about you? Or as the singer, you have to stay neutral."
Shikamaru shook his head and unconsciously played with his pencil. "It's always the first one in our sets. If I'm going to sing myself hoarse every other weekend, I get to pick the first song we play. Usually Kiba picks the rest of the set list." He finished with a shrug.
"Fair." Temari hummed, then she leaned forward, her head resting on her hands. "Then, why the first one? You write all the songs-"
"No, I don't - where did you even hear that?"
"So what makes that one different for you?" She continued as if he had never interrupted.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of the best way to avoid this conversation. His options of distractions were unfortunately close to none in the empty lab, and he had a feeling that even if he gave an excuse, Temari was the kind of woman who would force him to answer. If he refused, the rest of their weekly labs were definitely going to be a pain.
Though, this was one of the exciting discussions he'd had in a while, probably the entire semester. He didn't really mind answering her if it meant they could talk longer.
Shikamaru looked off to the side, not wanting her to know how bothered she made him. He swallowed before starting slowly. "It's like... a social commentary, on the way the world works."
He took her silence as a sign to keep going, though the idea of explaining his thoughts out loud made him sigh. "It's hard, right, being an adult. So... what's the point of trying so hard when lying back and letting life carry you along is going to get you the same result, and maybe some more enjoyment out of it? Everyone else might think you're insane and shiftless, but what's wrong with wanting to just, I don't know, spend time with friends?"
This time, her lack of response unnerved him. Honestly, he was waiting for her to attack him for his 'crazy' ideas, but somehow, nothing seemed even worse. He forced himself to finally turn back to her.
To his surprise, Temari was staring at him, a contemplative look on her face.
"You're different." She said with a finality that sent a spike of irritation through Shikamaru.
Here, this woman practically forced him to tell her his deep, personal thoughts, and then to just dismiss them like that? It hurt him more than he was willing to admit.
Temari must have noticed the emotion flash across his face, because she suddenly swatted at him. "I didn't mean it like a bad thing, crybaby! Wipe that sad look off your face - it ruins that cute, 'anti-social genius' look you have going on."
Shikamaru felt his cheeks flare up instantly at her boldness. Temari laughed loudly as he scowled, turning away again. "How troublesome..." He muttered.
As her laughter died down, Temari started to pack her things up, taking her half-checked lab report back from him. They were done with the week's assignment so Shikamaru followed suit, assuming their conversation to be over.
Just before he swung his backpack over his shoulder, Temari got his attention by shocking him still again, for the second time that afternoon.
"I've seriously never met someone who thinks like you, Shikamaru." She admitted, albeit a little reluctantly. "I don't know if I agree with everything you said, but I guess you could have a point. And maybe I'm crazy, but I kind of want to know more."
Then, she smiled at him, a real, sincere smile, and if Shikamaru wasn't surprised by her at first, he sure was now. It took a whole minute for him to pull himself together and get his mind working again. He rubbed the back of his neck again.
"Sure... want to grab a bite to eat?"
A couple of weeks later, the four guys had been booked to play in a club at the opposite end of campus. Neji was at the ticket counter, asking the worker to set aside a ticket on the behalf of the band. He spied from the corner of his eye Shikamaru slowly slinking up to him, the younger man carefully looking anywhere but at him.
Just as Neji was about to pay for the ticket, Shikamaru coughed, a slight blush spreading across his face. He slid forward a few more bills.
"Make that two."
