People are Troublesome

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

OK. I can deal with this. This… is going to be completely troublesome. Shikamaru sighed. He was standing outside the familial home and glaring at the door, completely reluctant to walk back in. Honestly, he didn't know what was going to happen. His mother was going to be pissed off at him for skipping school, and for not appearing at the meeting yesterday. That he'd been awkwardly having sex with his boyfriend around that time made it kind of worse.

I should just get on with it… The longer he put it off, the worse things would be for him. The front door opened with a soft click and he poked his head in to check that the coast was clear. So far, so good. But when he turned around after shutting the damn door, suddenly his mother was in the hallway. Oh crap.

"Shikamaru!" She certainly sounded pissed off. "Where have you been?"

"At a friend's." He wasn't sure about saying boyfriend to her while she was still angry.

"You could have at least phoned instead of just sending a short text message."

"I know…"

"Now get in the lounge, we want to talk you."

"I guessed." He made sure to take his time in removing his shoes and placing his bag on the ground, dragging out the short walk into the room as much as possible. His father was lounging on the other chair whilst his mother stood with her arms crossed. He refused to really look at them as he sat on the chair. "So?"

"So you've been skipping school."

"I guess?"

"Are you going to explain why?"

"I'm sure Asuma has already explained everything." Probably hinting that they should attach a ball and chain to his leg.

"I want to hear it from you."

"I haven't been going in sometimes…. That's all it is." He was just going to have to take the punishment he was given like a man.

"Why though? You've never done it before… It's not that boy is it?" Of course Hidan would come into it. Because it was in some ways his fault, but only Shikamaru could be blamed for his own actions.

"No. I just wanted to skip."

"Shikamaru…. You need to tell me, is there a problem?" Huh… It was a surprise to note that she didn't sound angry. If anything it seemed she was a little worried.

"I…" He paused. Was now really a good time? Ah to hell with it. "I'm tired."

"You're always tired." Yoshino and Shikamaru both glared at Shikaku. "Sorry… It is true though…"

"What of?"

"…Work."

"That's life Shikamaru."

"No, not general work. I can take general work fine. It's all the extra bullshit they throw at me." It wasn't that so much as the attitude teachers had towards him.

"You mean the extra worksheets?"

"Yeah… And the way they expect me to be able to do all this extra crap. It's all so pointless."

"But with your brain Shika you were getting a bit bored before."

"I'm still bored! I didn't want to be pushed." Yoshino looked slightly surprised.

"We were trying to help you."

"…I didn't really need any help." In his view, he'd been completely fine.

"But Shikamaru…" Yoshino sighed. "When we heard you were a genius, your father and I were really pleased. Because we thought that if we helped you and got you the extra support at school, you could do some amazing things."

"I don't really want to do any kind of amazing things though… I just want to be normal." That wasn't hard to understand right?

"But if you have these gifts, you shouldn't be wasting them!"

"Shouldn't that be my choice? Or do I not have a choice because I'm underage?" He didn't so often get frustrated that he started to snap. He'd been restraining himself for much too long it seems.

"Of course you have a choice! Shika…" Yoshino sighed. "I didn't think it stressed you out this much. I thought you were just getting on with it."

"I was, but that didn't mean I didn't dislike it. All because Asuma did this stupid IQ test. Seriously, why does it matter?"

"If this was really getting to you that much, you could have told me! You weren't getting too much work were you?" She doesn't seem to be mad…

"Not as such… But some of them really don't give me any kind of slack… Everyone else gets to relax sometimes…"

"If you… If you really hate it, we're not going to force you to do more than you're comfortable with. But you shouldn't be skipping school over it!" This was a lot more of a positive response than he had been expecting and without really thinking about it, he sighed.

"I know… I wasn't doing it on purpose as such… I just kind of ended up not going in sometimes."

"Well that needs to stop. You're not stupid Shikamaru." Yoshino poked him on the head. "Use your brain. If you're having a problem, just tell us instead of trying to avoid it."

"I'll try."

"Good. That's what parents are for idiot."

"I thought you just said that I wasn't stupid."

"Not intellectually. But in terms of common sense, that was stupid of you."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm only a teenager, you know? I don't know everything." He'd been expecting this to go a lot worse than it had. "So… Do I not have to do as much with the school work?"

"Just do what you can alright?"

"Fine." He wouldn't complain about that.

"Now where did you go last night? I know it wasn't anyone you normally go to." Oh yes. She was ringing around wasn't she?

"…Hidan's."

"That silver haired boy? He's a newer friend isn't he?"

"Um…." This could be a good time to admit to this since they were opening up. "He's actually my, err, boyfriend…"

"Wait, really?!"

"That guy?" Shikaku was still terrified of him understandably.

"Yes, that guy." How embarrassing is this going to be then?

"Why didn't you tell me?! Honestly Shika, I barely know him. We have to have him round for dinner!"

"He comes round a lot!"

"Well I never talk to him!" There's a reason for that…

"Why do you suddenly want to talk to him?"

"Because I'm interested. You've never been into that kind of thing before. I'd like to see who actually managed to persuade you to get into a relationship with them."

"Thanks for that…" Mum and Ino are too alike. He shouldn't have been so surprised.

"We are going to have a proper dinner on Saturday and we are going to have a proper introduction."

"I've already met him so…" His father gulped.

"You're still coming mister! Oh! What are his parents like?" Oh no.

"We've only just started dating, this doesn't have to be a huge thing!" It seemed almost like they were preparing for marriage.

"But we're interested!"

"Correction; your mother is interested."

"Shut up!" Shikaku recoiled as his wife hissed at him. "Now his parents; what are they like?"

"Um…" This was just going to be awkward. How much could he really explain? "He doesn't have either of his parents…."

"Oh… So who does he live with?" She was tactful enough to not pry too much into it.

"Alone I guess? I mean, he has a kind of guardian who lives in the flat above…."

"At his age?" He knew what this meant. She's going all maternal isn't she? Oh hell. "That poor boy! Definitely keep him coming round here Shika. And make sure you make him some good meals."

"I do." It was all the guy ever asked for.

"Good. Make sure you know he's welcome round here."

"But-." Shikaku was once again silenced by a glare from Yoshino.

"He came round before anyway…"

"Well of course, your friends are welcome too. But your first boyfriend especially is welcome." I think I'm glad I told them… Maybe.

"I'm… going to go upstairs…" Much as he was enjoying this wholesome family moment, he wanted to lie face down on the bed and relax.

Honestly, he was surprised about his parents not caring so much but then, he hadn't really had a huge amount of conversation with them about it all. At first he had been pissed but maybe, because he hadn't said anything since, they'd thought he'd been fine with it.

Well I guess that shows me… He really needed to trust his parents a little more. And he needed to make sure he upped the number of mistakes in his work so they cut the workload. Especially in Yamato's classes.

As he lay back on his bed, he sighed. Now that he wasn't so worried about having to converse with his parents, he was just tired out about everything. And he'd had that very… interesting night with Hidan.

And that was… something. This has just been a weird week in general. Normally he just ignored most of the shit going on but this week he'd been especially active it seemed. This is somewhat troublesome.

He knew he probably should be telling Hidan what had happened as well but he was a little too tired for this. In the end he decided that he'd just fall asleep and worry about everything later.

-Page Break-

"Hey!" Shikamaru had been deeply asleep. The kind of deep that, when pulled out of, felt like you had suddenly been doused with a bowl of cold water. Having someone shout in your ear was definitely going to drag you back into consciousness kicking and screaming and Shikamaru awoke with a start, almost head-butting the person above him. "Took you long enough."

"Hidan?" It was hard to see in the darkness of the room but the voice was distinctive enough. Shikamaru leant over and flicked on the small bedside lamp, squinting at the clock to see that it was indeed almost one in the morning. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you? Why else dumbass?" Hidan did look tired.

"…How did you get in?" It didn't sound like anyone else was about. But then he noticed. "…You climbed in the window, didn't you?" It was open a lot more than it had been when he'd come up here.

"Well yeah. How else would I?"

"Knocking on the door during sociable hours like a regular person?"

"I thought you'd ring me dumbass. The fuck happened?" So he was worried about me then?

"It was fine… They just told me not to skip school. And they want you round for dinner since mum hasn't really met you."

"Oh…" Hidan was momentarily taken aback. "You coulda told me."

"I was tired sorry…" Hidan sighed. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Kinda tired after climbin' up the side of the house though."

"Not surprised…" Ugh I fell asleep with my clothes on. Again. It had been a while since he'd done anything like that. "Just stay here the night, no one will care."

Shikamaru eased himself into a sitting position and started removing his shirt. He had some kind of night clothing around but he couldn't be bothered to find it right now and honestly, Hidan wasn't going to care.

"You wanna do that now?" Or perhaps I was wrong.

"No! I'm just… I cannot be bothered to find any clothes to sleep in."

"Ohh. Need any help?"

"Help?"

"Ya know…" Hidan gripped the bottom of Shikamaru's shirt and started tugging it up and over his head. Oh.

"Um… I can do this myself…" It was kind of weird and awkward.

"I wanna do it." I'm not sure I like that look in his eyes… He was being eyed up all over. It was nice to not have to do it for himself since he was feeling pretty drained.

"Well OK… Not the underwear though!"

"I know!" Hidan tutted.

Cautious as he was about having his boyfriend stripping him off as he slept, Shikamaru was still too exhausted to stay awake for very long. As soon as he lay back down, he fell almost instantly back into sleep.

It'll be fine… Hidan can deal with it…