People Are Troublesome
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
When Shikamaru emerged to head for school on Monday morning, Hidan wasn't there. Of course this was a more normal thing when you thought of his life so far but considering recent events it was pretty weird. At the end of the drive Shikamaru even paused and considered waiting for the boy but soon pushed this idea out of his head. It was a foolish thing and if Hidan had wanted to be there he would've shown up.
Maybe I should text- No! These silly games were too much for him. Normally he wouldn't make an effort if someone he knew didn't turn up for school so there was no reason for Hidan to have special treatment. Not to mention the fact that he'd been odd yesterday in disappearing when Kiba and Shino appeared at the end of the street.
There was no sign of Hidan when he arrived at school either and it was with great annoyance that Shikamaru found himself glancing back at the corner the crazed one usually sat in. Luckily no one else noticed so he avoided the usual jokes or comments.
Whilst Iruka was just finishing off the morning announcements, Hidan stormed in, full scowl, and with his clothes very messed up. It seemed he'd been in a rush to get there. Iruka didn't comment on this, mainly because he was pleased that Hidan was making more of an effort to be in school. As the boy sat down he glanced in Shikamaru's direction. Their eyes met for just a moment before both of them looked away quickly.
For most of the day they didn't spend any time near to each other as even when they were in the same class, they never sat near each other. At the start of lunch Shikamaru went to go to the usual spot but paused when he saw Hidan just turning a side corridor. After considering things for a second he went and followed.
There was no particular reason for this but he felt like he ought to talk to the boy. Finding out why he had randomly disappeared on seeing the others would be good. It was hard to know why Hidan did anything and so he doubted an explanation would be given.
When he reached the back field Hidan headed to the tennis courts, a place known for never being used. Mostly people smoked behind there. Clearly this was the aim of a small group of boys heading down there, who scattered when they saw Hidan marching down. Shikamaru was almost amused by the role reversal shown by him following the other boy instead of the usual stalking.
It seemed that Hidan hadn't noticed that he was being followed, an idea that was quickly disproved when he got to the end and saw Hidan sitting on the grass and staring at him.
"You're followin' me right?"
"Basically." There was no point in denying it right now. He walked over and sat down opposite Hidan.
"Why?"
"I wanted to talk to you." If anything he looked even more surprised.
"You do have friends still, yeah?"
"Yes."
"Oh." His brow furrowed as he tried to work out why it was that someone would actually want to talk to him.
"Why did you just leave yesterday?"
"That's what you wanted to know?"
"Well you did kind of rush off." He didn't desperately need to know why but it would be nice to know what happened.
"Your friends were there." This was supposed to be enough.
"You didn't seem to mind when you were in my house." And you grabbed that knife…
"That was different."
"Why?" God it's like getting blood from a stone.
"I had time."
"Ok I'm not getting it, just explain it all." If he had to piece the whole thing together he would have a headache.
"In your house I had a while to work out what to do. And they started talkin' about me."
"And in the street?"
"They were just there and I didn't know what to do." He looked kind of embarrassed by this.
"So you felt shy?"
"I guess…" Hidan avoided meeting Shikamaru's eyes. It was a strangely vulnerable look for him.
"Oh… So you're ok?" This had the other boy glancing up.
"You were worried?"
"Maybe… A little bit." It was annoying that he kept dwelling on Hidan whenever something different happened. The other boy laughed, something unexpected. It was only a slight chuckle but it was still different. "What?"
"You were worried." He was even smiling, a small one-sided smile.
"Well most people would." That smile was making him feel uneasy. Hidan didn't continue the topic, instead choosing to stand up and stretch out.
"You wanna skip?"
"You mean skive?"
"Yeah." He pointed to a gap in one of the fences at the end of the field. "No one checks that way."
"I can't get away with it." Yoshino was likely to impale him on something if she was told he skived.
"You wanna sit through boring art bullshit?"
"Art isn't that bad… Plus it's noticed when I skive. You go ahead though." Hidan thought for a moment but dumped his bag back down on the ground.
"Guess I got nothin' better to do."
"So you're staying?"
"Yeah… Puppet fucker will bitch at me if I don't go anyway."
"Puppet fucker?" The guy who lives above him? Shikamaru didn't understand what this guy had to do with it.
"The one who basically screws puppets."
"I don't know who that is."
"Sasori the red-headed puppet fucker." This was a familiar name.
"As in the art teacher Sasori?" This just raised more questions.
"Yep."
"So he's the one you beat up the other night?"
"Yep."
"And the one who gave you loads of food because he owed you?"
"Yes."
"I see…" He couldn't exactly imagine Sasori owing Hidan a favour. In class Sasori mostly ignored Hidan unless he made some kind of comment about art, then it would become a full blown row. They didn't seem like people who would get on. "Why did he owe you?"
"I gave him an excuse ta' finish early one day so he could go to some shitty art show."
"Oh. That makes sense." Using Hidan to get out of work was a good use.
"Why are you here?" Hidan was staring at him with his head leant to one side.
"Because I wanted to talk to you." Surely this much was obvious.
"But you could be with your friends."
"I'd rather be with you."
"You have kind of weird taste."
"Yeah probably." He wasn't sure why he'd chosen to seek out Hidan's company when merely days before he had been freaked out at being near him. Hidan lay back on the grass and sprawled out. "You realise that floor's covered in cigarettes?"
"I've slept on worse." Your bed sucks so I'm not surprised.
They sat together listening to the sounds of kids hyped up on sugar beating each other up and occasionally watching kids who came round to smoke scuttling off when they realised that Hidan was there.
"Your reputation is pretty useful sometimes."
"Because I scare all the brats off?"
"Pretty much. You can actually get peace and quiet with you around."
"So that's good?"
"Yep. I should hang out with you more often." It took Shikamaru a moment to realise what he just said.
"You can if you want."
"I might do that…" Neither of them were looking at each other and it lessened the slight tension somewhat when the bell rang. Silently they gathered their stuff and began walking to art. Several of Shikamaru's friends were in the same class and so he would probably receive at least weird looks and possible comments for walking in with Hidan.
When they got to the classroom people were milling around and getting to their seats. The room was filled with tables, one in the far right corner at the front where his friends usually sat. Today was no exception and as they walked in Hidan went to go to his usual corner. He sat at the other side of the room on the largest table on the corner where he could be avoided.
This time Shikamaru lightly tugged on his shirt as he went to go and Hidan gave him a weird look. He gestured with his head to where his friends were sitting.
"That's probably not a good idea."
"Probably not but we have space." They only took up half of the table usually. Knowing how lonely Hidan often was he couldn't bring himself to let him stay alone, especially after the last couple of days. Clearly Hidan thought it was a stupid idea but went along with it. Ino, Sakura, Naruto and Kiba were grouped around the table, and all of them looked horrified when they saw Hidan coming in their direction. The whole group went silent as Shikamaru sat next to Naruto with Hidan sitting on the other side.
"Hi guys." He felt like he ought to break the silence.
"Hey Shika…" Only Naruto bothered to say anything. Hidan was staring blankly towards the front of the classroom and pretending not to be there.
"So you guys know Hidan." Shikamaru pointed at him and the boy glanced over. "That's Ino, Sakura, Kiba and Naruto."
"Hi Hidan." Naruto smiled but received only a stare. Obviously he was doing that scowl he was unaware he did, making him look pretty angry.
"Alright brats, the theme is abstract. Make a collage or paint or something, just don't talk to me, I have a hangover." This announcement over, Sasori sat back down and started digging in his drawer for painkillers. As an occurrence like this wasn't rare, everyone just got on with it. Just cutting and pasting random pieces of card was their usual act
Because of Hidan's presence they were a lot quieter than usual but gradually some conservation started up. Obviously they were not as laid back as usual but some eventual Shikamaru bothering occurred.
"So Shika, have you heard from your 'friend' at all?" And that is not a good tone I'm hearing.
"Who?"
"The 'family friend' who was trying to have sex with you." Oh shit. That had been the story he'd used but Hidan wasn't aware of what his friends had been told. Possibly he hadn't realised.
"I don't know what you mean."
"You know… the one the one who, what was it?" Ino looked to Kiba for prompting.
"I believe he said he was 'trying to get into your pants'." This sparked Hidan's interest. Although he wasn't looking, Shikamaru could tell he was leaning over.
"That was my family friend! It was a joke!" He was getting a bit hot and even more irritated. Please don't say anything.
"I bet he popped your cherry."
"Please shut up."
"We tell you all our stuff."
"And I have nothing to tell you."
"But then what's with the family friend story?"
"I'm kind of tired, can we drop it?"
"When you tell us who your lover was." Ino started batting her eyelashes at him. His friends were only persistent in things that annoyed him.
"Alright then." They obviously hadn't expected him to give up so quickly.
"Who was it?" Shikamaru casually pointed in Hidan's direction which led to some silence.
"He did it because he was being a troll. Are you happy now?"
"Ok…" Even if they had doubts they weren't planning on raising them now. It was clear that they wanted to know why Hidan had been there on the day but none of them wanted to ask.
"You brats need to keep it down!" A few guys on the corner were getting particularly loud. Sasori then noticed Hidan sitting actually near people and stared.
"What the fuck do you want?" It was the first things he'd said all lesson and quite loud so everyone stared.
"Why are you sitting there? Are you trying to fuck with me?"
"Like you fuck those sex dolls you keep in the closet?" Silence reigned.
"What? You little shit!" He was reaching for one of his mugs, a sign that things were about to heat up.
"Old pervert." This caused him to go grab the nearest mug and lobbed it at Hidan who easily dodged it.
"You assholes can get out of my classroom!" And he stormed out. As this meant they could leave early, no one complained.
When the rest of them escaped Hidan slowly ambled behind Shikamaru. Clearly everyone wanted to discuss what had happened but as Hidan was there they tried to avoid the topic. When everyone split off the end of the road just down from school, Naruto looked back at Shikamaru.
"You coming round mine?"
"I'm going home, I need sleep." They were probably going to discuss his weird new taste in people when they got to Naruto's.
"See you tomorrow then." Hidan followed Shikamaru and they walked towards his house together.
"You did that on purpose didn't you?"
"He's getting me a takeaway on Friday."
"So he blackmails you with food?"
"Saves me money."
"Fair enough."
"You realise your friends fucking hate me right?"
"It's fear, not hate."
"They think you're nuts now anyway."
"They do." And I agree with them.