Pipeline

The sound of something churning and the smell of hazelnut wafted through the apartment, waking Shikamaru from his slumber. He blinked his eyes open, adjusting to the new sound and smell in his apartment.

He stayed.

Did you think he would leave? He said he wouldn't abandon you.

He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock.

8:30am

He heard birds chirp outside his window. Shikamaru stared at the bedroom door, his short hair falling into his dull eyes. Like every day, he didn't have the energy or motivation to get out of bed. It wasn't until a few hours after he woke up that he would actually try to get out of bed, which he was able to do eventually. Shikamaru heard Neji shuffling around and sighed, throwing his blanket off him. He gingerly stood and walked over to his closet, changing into black running pants and a green tank top, and then throwing on a crimson hoodie. Before he left his bedroom, he grabbed a safety pin and tightened the waistband of his pants. He wiped his hand under his eyes and then through his hair, making it brush against his cheekbones.

Neji was sitting on the kitchen counter next to the coffee while reading a book on his lap. As he swung his legs lightly, he looked up when he heard Shikamaru shuffling into the kitchen. He gave him a light smile, which Shikamaru forcibly returned.

"I managed to get your coffee pot to work." Shikamaru let out a small chuckle.

"I haven't used that in quite some time." He paused. "There are a lot of appliances I don't use actually."

"Why's that?" Shikamaru shrugged his bony shoulders.

"No reason." The coffee pot began to beep and Neji hopped off the counter and prepared two cups of coffee. He handed a mug to Shikamaru and then hopped back up on the counter, silence falling between them.

Neji thought back to what he learned yesterday. He was honestly surprised that Shikamaru opened up as much as he did and that he was able to function enough to clean himself up. Neji's never been around someone who's this emotionally vulnerable, so he had absolutely no idea what the right thing to do was. He watched Shikamaru from the corner of his eye, seeing him reach up and lightly tug on a clump of hair.

"Stop that." Neji said, making Shikamaru give him a confused look.

"Stop what?"

"Tugging at your hair…I know you're self-conscious about it, but it looks okay like that." Neji said honestly, taking a sip of coffee. Shikamaru felt his face grow warm and turned to look into his coffee mug.

Child,

Yes? You've been quiet.

I know. I wanted to give you and the Boy time alone.

Shikamaru felt a deep blush creep to his face and he turned away from Neji, hoping he didn't see it.

Time alone?

Yes, it was needed apparently.

How so?

You opened up to him on your own. He never pushed you to say or do anything. You have started to let him in without prompt, and I am very proud of you.

Neji was eyeing Shikamaru, noticing that he's been staring at the wall for an awfully long time.

What should I do from here?

Whatever your heart tells you, Child.

But I don't know what to do.

You will when the moment comes.

He felt Alecto's presence fade and found himself staring at the wall to his left. He took a sip from his coffee, surprised that it was still warm.

"How's Alecto doing?" Neji asked, throwing him off guard. He turned towards him, watching him mark his place in his book.

"How do you know I was talking to Alecto?"

"You were staring at the wall for an awfully long time."

"Oh." Shikamaru felt a blush creep to his face again, but hid it by turning away from him. "Alecto's doing alright. He didn't have much to say." As silence fell between them again, the sound of a light drip started near Neji's dangling feet. Shikamaru's brows furrowed as he placed his mug on the counter, moving to open the cabinet underneath the sink.

"Well, shit." He sighed. Neji hopped off the counter and looked at what Shikamaru was staring at:

A small, steady leak had started.

Shikamaru shuffled to grab his small bag of tools from the laundry area. When he returned, he was surprised to find that Neji was maneuvering himself to be underneath the sink. He blushed.

"I can get it." He said bashfully. Neji's upper body was under the sink by now. He pointed at the small bag in Shikamaru's hand, chuckling quietly.

"I'm sure you could get this, but consider this my apology for breaking into your apartment last night." Shikamaru gave a light smile as he passed Neji the bag, sitting on the floor. Moments of comfortable quietness passed between them. The quietness is suddenly broken when Neji released a yelp of pain. Shikamaru's heart raced.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly. He crawled over to be near Neji's legs, peering into the space beneath the sink to see Neji with the side of his left index finger in his mouth, staring up at the pipe just in front of his eyes.

"I'm fine. I would look at you, but I don't want to hit my head on a pipe." Neji said, sucking on his finger again.

"What did you do to yourself?"

"I nicked my finger on something sharp." He wriggled his way out from underneath the sink and sat in front of Shikamaru on the floor, finger still in his mouth.

"Let me see." Shikamaru said, holding out his hand, but Neji shook his head.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not, let me see." Shikamaru didn't lower his hand.

"It's just a little cut."

"Neji." Shikamaru said, giving him a pointed look. He felt himself cave in and he sighed dramatically, removing his finger from his mouth. Shikamaru lightly grabbed his wrist and scanned his finger.

"Yeah, 'just a little cut' my ass." His dark eyes scanned over the deep gash in Neji's finger, noticing that it looked like an angry shade of red compared to Neji's naturally pale complexion.

"It's not that bad." Shikamaru chuckled lightly at Neji's stubbornness. He saw the first aid kit on the side of the cabinet behind Neji. How was he going to get over there?

Child, do not pass off an opportunity to get close to the Boy.

But what if—

Just go.

He directed his dark eyes back towards the cut on Neji's finger, glad to see that it wouldn't affect the finger's movement. He made eye contact with Neji again.

"How did you do this?"

"Apparently, the main pipe was made out of two pieces and whoever put it there didn't finish the job they were supposed to."

"Meaning?"

"There was a sharp edge where the two pieces met…and I didn't notice it until I felt it. Luckily, it shouldn't leak anymore."

Child, move your ass over there!

"Alright, let's get this taken care of. I don't want that to get infected." He released Neji's hand and knelt on both his knees and slowly leaned across the left side of Neji's lap, placing his hand next to his leg, and reached for the first aid kit behind him. Neji did his best to stop his eyes from roaming the Nara's body, but failed miserably. His heart pounded as he saw Shikamaru's shirt rid up, revealing his lower back.

"Alright you Klutz, let me see your finger again." Shikamaru said.

He opened the kit and rummaged through it, finding anti-bacterial wipes and bandages. Neji eyed his face carefully, admiring how his bangs fell in front of his eyes. He winced as he felt his finger sting and saw that Shikamaru was cleaning the cut and wrapping it in a thin layer of bandages.

"There, your finger is clean and all is right in the world." Shikamaru said, smiling lightly at him as he put the supplies back in the first aid kit.

"Thanks." The sound of a single drip caught their attention.

"I thought I tightened it as tightly as it could be." Neji said, crawling back under the sink to see what part of the pipe was leaking.

"Be careful." Shikamaru said, watching Neji look over the pipe. Neji sighed in disbelief. "What?" Neji reached up and used his fingertips to screw something in place.

"There's this tiny thing on the side here. I fixed where the majority of the leak was coming from, but not that part."

"But it's fixed now?"

"Yeah." Neji said, wriggling back out just as a loud beeping sound shattered the peace of the apartment.

"What's that?" Neji asked as Shikamaru shuffled towards the source of the noise in the bedroom.

"It's the alarm clock." Shikamaru said as he walked over to it to turn it off, but it still continued to beep.

"What do you set an alarm for? You're awake early anyway." Neji said, standing next to Shikamaru who was pressing the snooze button, but the attempt to stop the noise failed.

"I always have an alarm set for 10:00am. That way when I hear it go off, that's when I know I'll have to at least attempt to get out of bed." He explained, now slamming his hand on top of the device. Neji's eyes followed the cord to the outlet and pulled the plug, stopping the noise.

"That's better." Neji said, something shiny on the wall catching his eye. "What's that?" He asked, nodding at it. Shikamaru looked to where he indicated and smiled lightly. He walked over to it and stood in front of it, Neji beside him.

"That's the locket my mother used to wear." He said quietly, making Neji bite his lip. He didn't mean to bring up something from his past. "It's okay, you did nothing wrong." Shikamaru said, touching his arm when he noticed Neji's guilt.

"Why did you place it there?"

"Because even when the blinds are closed, there's always a ray of sunlight that finds its way in here and that ray of light always hits on that spot. So I hung it there so that it would catch the light…took me forever to figure that out." Shikamaru said, chuckling lightly as he walked and dropped face down on his bed, Neji sitting on the side of the bed next to him.

"She never took it off." Shikamaru said, remembering it clearly as he stared at the bedroom door.

"Why?"

"It's a heart locket. She had my baby picture on one side and a picture of my biological father on the other side." Neji's ears perked at the mention of his real father.

"Why did she…" He wasn't sure if it was smart to finish his question.

"Remarry?" He asked, finishing his question. "From what she told me, her and my father didn't divorce because they fought a lot or didn't love each other anymore. They divorced because when she found out she was pregnant with me, my father started to drink heavily. They divorced before I was born, but my mother always told me that my father was a good man. She just didn't think that he was ready to be a father and he agreed."

"So you've never met your real father." Shikamaru nodded.

"Right, all I know is that my mother got the majority of my name from his name, Shikaku Nara." He chuckled, "She always told me that I looked a lot like him, but not as rough-around-the-edges."

"Is he in this village?" He shrugged and glanced down at him.

"I have no idea. It would be nice if he was though…I'd like to meet him someday." Neji had wondered how Shikamaru's biological father had affected his life. Now he knows that he wasn't involved. His eyes wondered over the Nara's face, taking in every detail…almost like he was taking a mental picture. His bangs fell into his eyes slightly, his dark eyes showing a different array of emotions.

"I would like to meet him someday." Shikamaru repeated, more to himself. Neji moved and sat near Shikamaru's stomach, looking down at him.

"There is a way we can find him." Shikamaru looked up at him, brushing hair away from his eyes.

"How?"

"There's a room next to Tsunade's office that holds all the important of the villagers like birth and death certificates, documents of divorce, and marriage licenses. So we can try to look at those and figure out where your father is." Shikamaru was quiet and looked back towards the door.

"Maybe someday we can try that."

xXxXx

Alright Gang,

As always, patience and reviews/PMs would be appreciated!

When-Rabbit-Howls