Posted 5/28/2018

Sasuke & Shikamaru

While hanging out in the recording area of the studio, Sasuke took off his pair of Bose headphones. The other producer had left, and so had the talent. Meanwhile, Shikamaru had just excused himself to take a call in the hallway. Sasuke glanced at his watch. It was 11 p.m. and yet another night in a string of nights that he'd be getting home late. Naruto had stopped texting at around 7:30, probably having given up on Sasuke making it home for dinner. Needless to say, things between them hadn't been going smoothly lately, but Naruto had also been busy since starting his MBA program in August. For the first year they were in Berlin, Sasuke assisted in the design and construction of the new building, hiring, talent acquisition. They did manage to do a little traveling together at first, but then it became impossible for him to find free time.

Naruto seemed to take it well, and he always made friends easily. He'd attempted some German classes, but only for a few months, though Sasuke was confident his boyfriend would be able to get around without much difficulty. After their multi-country trip around Asia, it had been made apparent that Naruto wasn't afraid to ask directions of anyone, regardless of language barriers. He had noticed Naruto spending more time with a female classmate recently, but all he knew about her was that her name was Sakura, she'd recently broken off a relationship, and liked to ask his boyfriend out to all kinds of places: museums, coffee shops, restaurants. Apparently they were going to a bar this weekend. Sasuke didn't feel great about it, but he felt that considering as much time as he'd spent working, he had no right to tell Naruto it made him uncomfortable. In fact, he'd periodically forgotten about it throughout the week since he'd been so busy, but now that he was alone, there was a tug of bitterness revealing itself.

"You look deep in thought," came the voice of his long-time boss and mentor, Shikamaru Nara. "We're basically done here, so if you want to go home—"

"If you're staying, I should stay until we go through the recording at least once."

Shikamaru raised a thin eyebrow. "You have an early appointment tomorrow."

Sasuke tilted his head. "Are you saying you want me to go?"

Shikamaru walked over to where Sasuke sat and placed a hand on his shoulder. "How are things with you and Naruto?"

Immediately, he felt his overall expression tighten and even his right hand formed a fist before he could stop himself.

"That well, I see." Shikamaru sighed. "A lot of relationships crumble for people in this business."

"We aren't like that," Sasuke replied, unexpectedly defensive. "Naruto understands how important my work is to me. If he had a problem with it, he'd say something."

"It might be because he knows how important it is that he's not saying anything."

Sasuke blinked at him, gesturing to the playback button. "Do you want to wrap this up or not?"

"If you're going to be stubborn about it," Shikamaru said. "I'll make some coffee."

Sasuke fought the urge to volunteer to make it in his place. It didn't feel right for a superior to do such a menial task, especially when he was only assisting in the project. Normally, it would've been someone else co-producing for this particular artist, but they'd gone out of country for an emergency. Sasuke hadn't mentioned to Shikamaru he thought it was more likely the missing employee was bound for a festival in Wales. Mostly because he didn't mind the extra studio experience. Shikamaru was a pro at a lot of things, and one of those things was production.

It was Shikamaru who'd hired Sasuke for one of his first positions in New York City. They'd become close friends, but Shikamaru traveled often. When he did go out of town on trips, he generally left Sasuke in charge. He respected him, admired him, and thought very highly of the other man's intelligence and work ethic. However, one time—before he passed—Sasuke had met Shikamaru's father, Shikaku and the older man confessed he'd never expected his son to become this successful in business and music because he'd been an especially lazy child. It was within the first month of the job in New York City that Shikamaru and he had gone out for dinner at an expensive restaurant. They'd been with an especially obnoxious client that Shikamaru had wanted to sign. He'd asked Sasuke's opinion of the person, whether they should be signed to the label, and Sasuke had given his very blunt opinion: No.

They'd ended up not signing the artist, whose first album with a rival label ended up flopping.

A week later, he found a large box on his desk at the office; in it, there was a beautiful Burberry coat. Sasuke had tried to call Shikamaru to refuse such an expensive gift as it didn't seem right, but Shikamaru argued that Sasuke had saved him millions and, soon after, promoted him.

There had been times in which people mistakenly thought they were together, as they did spend so much time working late hours in the office. Only once had Naruto ever questioned their relationship, surprising Sasuke. In fact, he hadn't reacted well to the inquiry, which, in hindsight, had clearly made Naruto more uncomfortable and, possibly, more suspicious.

Would he say they'd grown apart? He wasn't sure. Before they arrived in Berlin, he'd told Naruto to expect to be here about two years and that he'd be unreasonably busy. But, even Sasuke hadn't known just how busy. If Naruto was angry, he hadn't mentioned it, and considering that they'd always been honest with one another, he expected that to continue.

Shikamaru returned, and as he handed Sasuke his mug, Sasuke rose from the chair to accept it.

"Shikamaru," he said, hesitating on whether or not he wanted to continue but he'd often confided in Shikamaru about various goings-on in his life, though rarely personal issues.

"Hm?" Shikamaru took a seat in the chair to Sasuke's left.

"If… if you were me, would you think it strange Naruto's been hanging out with a female classmate a fair amount of the time."

"Because Naruto's… straight?"

Sasuke cracked his shoulder. "Yes… and because—"

"Because you've been neglecting him."

Rather than respond, though Sasuke knew it to be true, he steadied his look forward, out the glass partition and into the artist recording area—empty now, lights off.

"Do you want to hear what I really think, or what friends are supposed to tell each other in these situations to make themselves feel better?"

"I'd prefer you were honest," Sasuke answered quickly.

Shikamaru rubbed at his chin. "Yes. I'd be worried. Would you say she's… attractive?"

"I don't know."

"Is she single?"

"She is now," he replied.

"Do they have similar interests?" Shikamaru asked.

"I… don't know," he confessed. "I've never met her, and I haven't asked about her."

"Because you don't want to know?"

"Because I," Sasuke traced a finger over the mug handle. "I didn't consider her a threat. I thought we were good, but perhaps… I'm being presumptuous."

"Or optimistic," Shikamaru offered and then gave him an assessing look. "Feel guilty?"

"I… don't know," he murmured. "I don't know what I feel. I tried to get over feeling jealous about everyone who comes in contact with Naruto… and I've been," Sasuke raised his eyes, "We've been so busy. I thought he'd just… understand. He always has, but now I…"

A dark feeling, a shadow of foreboding suddenly overwhelmed him, and he had the impulse to get up and leave. Like always, however, Sasuke quickly regained control of his emotions.

"It's fine," he said, more to himself than anything.

"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes," he answered, more decisively. "Let's just get this done. It'll be another thing off our plate."

Shikamaru gave him another assessing look; Sasuke glared.

"Okay," said Shikamaru. "It's your call."

"I'll just text him that I'll be home around 2. I'm sure he'll be sleeping anyway."

Sasuke, ignoring the way his boss kept looking at him, located the first track on the laptop and hit play so they could give it an initial listen through before reworking the arrangement and vocals. They might only be able to get through this one song tonight, but it was good experience. Good for his career, and a good way to distract himself from domestic troubles.

Because, after all. Naruto had come with him, had always stood by him.

He'd try to make it up to him with a trip after Naruto's final exams were over. Until then, he'd just have to do his best to keep his head about him without getting angry at himself, or attacking Naruto over this new friend of his when it was Sasuke who was insecure.

If anything, it had been Naruto who'd taught him about trust and honesty, so Sasuke would continue to trust in his boyfriend, even if things seemed a little shaky. It's all he could really do for now, or so he thought. Until Christmas, they'd just have to keep making it work.

a/n: behold. we have learned who gave Sasuke his precious Burberry coat. D: