People Are Troublesome

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

After being at Hidan's place for an hour, Shikamaru was still a little on edge. Hidan had moved on to his third beer, something that he wasn't sure he was pleased about. It was unlikely it would make him more predictable.

"You gonna have any beer?" Hidan was pushing a can into the side of his face.

"No, I don't drink much." With mad people.

"Hmm…" Clearly he was unimpressed.

"…Are we gonna eat anything?" That would at least be something to do.

"Oh shit." Hidan jumped up and ran out the front door.

…Well that was an overreaction. Not exactly encouraging either, when you considered that he had been barefoot and topless. A few minutes later he burst back in with a carrier bag.

"I got noodles." This was apparently something he was very proud of.

"Oh… I see." At least he got something. As he definitely hadn't bought a wallet with him, there was a very important question that needed to be asked. "Where'd you get those?" Hidan pointed upwards.

"Puppet fucker."

"He let you steal his food?" They'd just had a loud fight barely an hour ago.

"He owes me." For what, Shikamaru decided not to ask. And technically he had someone cooking for him. Even if that did just involve pouring boiling water into a cup.

"Thanks?"

"Hn." It was better than nothing. Even the silence was pretty relaxing rather than awkward. If Hidan continued to drink there was even a chance he'd fall asleep which would provide him with an opportunity to escape. Although he didn't seem to be getting very sleepy. If anything, it made him more talkative. A lot more talkative in fact.

"Why do you wear your hair like that?" Hidan was scowling at the ponytail.

"Because I can't be bothered to brush it."

"Ohh." This seemed a perfectly reasonable excuse to Hidan. "And why are you ignoring the smoker guy?" This was unexpected.

"What?"

"The one you ignore every time he talks to ya. Why?"

"Because I'm annoyed?" It wasn't really a complicated story. It was just surprising that Hidan of all people had noticed what had started months before they'd ever talked.

"Why? You guys always used to talk." Now this was a little creepier.

"Have you been watching me?" He could maybe understand him noticing the recent stuff with all the staring but this was a lot longer than he'd realised.

"I got nothing better to do." Hidan took a long swig of beer and sighed. "I watch everybody."

"Oh… Why don't you just do work?"

"It's too damn boring." This wasn't something he could argue with.

"So you sit and watch people?" Because that isn't creepy.

"It's kind of fun. You notice so much shit. Like you and the beard guy." Hidan continued to stare at him and so Shikamaru sighed.

"He tricked me into doing an IQ test by saying it was some kind of game."

"That's a bad thing?"

"It is if you turn out to be a genius who has to be good at everything."

"Oh. No wonder you're so pissed, when ya used to sleep all day."

"…How long have you been watching me?" Hidan had to think about this for a while.

"You specifically or you in general?" There are two options?

"Both?"

"In general… since we were in the same class?" Wow. "Specifically… since last year?"

"Last year? Why? I'm not that interesting." The stalking has been going on for much longer than I thought.

"You aren't? Ehh… I keep wanting to watch you, though." It seemed the beer had really loosened his tongue. It didn't answer why he was so focused on Shikamaru but it was a good start. Hidan leant his head on one arm and stared at him. He attempted to lean away.

"…Was there an exact incident that caused this?" There had to be something. Nothing came to mind but he wouldn't notice if it was the kind of thing Hidan liked. The other boy was taking a while to work it out but slowly he seemed to understand.

"The quarry." He smiled to himself like that solved everything. It was odd to see him smile so it threw Shikamaru for a moment.

"The what?"

"The quarry. Somewhere over that way?" He vaguely gestured towards the left.

"I know where the quarry is… I don't get what you were talking about though."

"You went there and started swearing at the ground randomly." Shikamaru froze. "I was there doing… stuff… so I saw you."

"Oh…" This made him pretty embarrassed. He had thought that no one had noticed that.

"So why'd you do it?" Hidan had now leant even closer and was looking pretty eager.

"…You didn't tell anyone did you?" Nobody had actually mentioned it to him but that didn't mean they didn't know.

"Who would I tell?" Hidan was looking at him like he was an idiot.

"True…" Aside from when he talked to him, Hidan never seemed to get close to anyone.

"You gonna say why then?"

"I wasn't in a great place, ok?"

"Why?"

"Because everybody was nagging at me to do what they want without thinking about what I want." He'd never admitted this to anybody before since everyone had been a problem at that point.

"Ohh. That sucks." Hidan held out a can.

"…Why do you keep offering me beer?"

"I thought people liked beer." Hidan seemed genuinely confused and flustered at this.

"Well I guess…"

"Ahh… People are so confusing." He lay back on the sofa.

"That I can agree with." Although Hidan was possibly the most confusing of all.

"Even you. You act nice then you go all offy. Do you hate me or something?" Hidan sat up again and leaned in closer. This time he was only centimetres away.

"No! I don't hate you!" This wasn't a lie. He didn't hate the strange one. "I just… Well I don't know what you want. Why are you following me around?" He may as well try to find out properly.

"…You don't like it? You want me to stop?" He seemed kind of crushed by this idea.

"You can follow me…" I wish I didn't let guilt get the better of me. "But only if you tell me why you're doing it."

"…You talked to me."

"And?" It didn't even happen that often.

"No one else talks to me."

"Oh. You are a little intimidating sometimes."

"'Cause I don't like a lot of people. They're complete and utter bellends. Doesn't mean I like being ignored all the fucking time." He drained the last dregs out of a beer can and threw it across the room. "You're like me. You look like you hate everyone. But you always have people around."

"…My parents have friends with kids so…" And now the guilt returns. He was pretty sure that if he hadn't had a lot of people his own age forced on him when he was younger, he wouldn't be around people nearly as much as he was now.

"Must be great to be an asshole and have people not think you're a dick."

"They still think I'm a dick. They've just gotten used to it. Plus I don't get as violent as you do." He gulped. This may have been a bit much to say.

"It's not my fault! I just get pissed off and I want to put my fist in their fucking face." The way he said it made it sound like he had no choice in the matter.

"Please don't do that to me. I like my nose how it is."

"…I like you. You're an ok kind of asshole."

"Thanks?" Hidan was staring at him so it was clear he expected some kind of reply here. "I don't dislike you… You are kind of funny."

"Eh, that's better than anything else I get." He opened another beer.

"Haven't you had enough?" Cleaning up vomit was not an appealing way to spend an evening.

"There's some left."

"Not the point." He did this often enough with his dad so he decided dealing this one would be similar. "You need some fluids or something."

"Ok." Well that was easy. Hidan slowly pulled himself to his feet and made his way to the kitchen, stumbling slightly as he went. Shikamaru sighed. This had not been what he'd been expected.

Even this idiot gets lonely sometimes it seems. Everyone was too scared of Hidan and the boy didn't help himself. It seemed likely he didn't know he was being too much. And he's decided to follow me… He didn't need to make an effort with this. But then he kept thinking about how dejected he'd seemed when he'd been talking about it. What the hell am I supposed to do about this?

Hidan returned drinking a glass of water and slightly more steady on his feet. He slumped back down in the chair and glared at Shikamaru.

"Do you want to leave?"

"Eh?" And now he's back to normal.

"You look bored."

"…Well I just prefer my own bed but-."

"Tch. Leave then." Hidan sat with a scowl with his face.

"I think I'll stay." Although I'm definitely the worse person. What he needed was some kind of therapy. Someone anti-social like Shikamaru wasn't the best person to go to.

"Why?"

"It's not like I have anything better to do. And you aren't that bad. Except for some of your more psychotic tendencies anyway." Oops.

"My what?"

"Err…" Shit. How do I get out of this alive?

"Just say it." Hidan stared at him. It was hard to tell if he was unbothered about this or if he was about to start beating him over the head with one of the beer cans.

"…Like when you flip out over nothing. Or get violent. Or when you stare at people really intently for no reason."

"It's not over nothing! Someone's pissed me off!"

"Pretty sure that the kid in the year below was just standing there."

"I said someone's pissed me off. Doesn't mean that's the person I hit."

"Well if you could stick to the person you actually hate that would be great."

"Fine." Hidan sighed. "Anything else?"

"What?"

"That you don't like?"

"…Well no." He rarely had the time or energy to actively dislike people.

"Don't lie."

"I'm not. I hate the effort it takes to really hate someone."

"Oh. Should'a seen that coming… So you don't hate me?"

"No. I don't know enough to properly like you but… well you're not the worst person in the world."

"Thanks…" There was a silence while Hidan processed this thought. "I feel tired."

"Oh… You have blankets right?" I am not sleeping in my clothes.

"You have the bed. I just can't be fucked to move." He sprawled out on the sofa and Shikamaru had to move to avoid being kicked. Half-asleep and looking pretty contented, he looked like a normal person. He opened one eye. "You just gonna stand there and watch me all night?"

"No!" He quickly walked off. This night had been weird and all he wanted to do was sleep… on what was apparently a bed. Half was clear but the rest of it was covered in clothes. The only cupboard in the room was empty with it's contents covering the rest of the room. Shikamaru could feel his eyebrow twitching.

…No way in hell.