"I will kill both of you and then myself, I swear."
"There's nothing a big hearty breakfast can't solve," Chouji said, licking his lips as he peeled open Naruto's ramen cup. "Where shall we eat after this?" Naruto voiced his protest, "Hey! No! Bad Choji" He was now climbing onto Choji to take his ramen cup but Chouji held him with one arm.
Then there was a knock at the door.
THE BOYS
The three boys' heads swivel to the door, frozen where they were.
"Speak of the devil, and she will appear," Shikamaru uttered with dread.
"Someone needs to answer the door," Choji stated.
"Oh my god, Shikamaru! It might be her!" Naruto slapped Shikamaru on the back out of giddy, causing him to lurch forward.
Shikamaru stared at Naruto in spite. Naruto nodded at him, his face beaming. There was a pause as only the sound of Naruto's kettle could be heard in the background.
"You idiot, it's your room - you have to answer it!"
"Oh, right," Naruto realised. He opened the door and the three boys looked at the dark haired boy standing there.
"Oh, hey Konohamaru," Naruto greeted in a cheer-less tone. "Sorry Shikamaru, it's not her."
"Big bro Naruto! You're not even dressed for our training," the brunette scolded, his expression twisted into a frown. He walked in, then paused at the sight of Shikamaru's disappointed face,"And what's wrong with you?" he asked.
"Nothing," Shikamaru muttered grumpily. "Hi, Konohamaru!" Choji waved.
"Hello, Choji," Sai greeted. "How was your tournament?"
"Still undefeated," he replied happily. "How's soccer training?" He asked, slurping the last of Naruto's stolen ramen cup.
"It's great! At this rate I'll be better than him when I enroll here," Konohamaru exclaimed happily to Choji, "It'd be even better if Naruto could get ready on time. He's been so distracted lately - spending all his time working in the Student Council room!"
Naruto rubbed under and chuckled his nose as he chuckled sheepishly.
"Give him a break, Konohamaru - the Fall Festival is coming up. He's got all kinds of stuff on his mind." Choji added.
The room looked to Naruto for some confirmation.
"Oh… Oh! Yeah. The Fall Festival," he coughed. "It's really hectic, isn't it Shikamaru?" He looked towards Shikamaru for some assistance.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Naruto could remember every play in his soccer meet-ups but couldn't stay awake through one student council meeting. Closing his eyes, Shikamaru recited from memory, "It's all on its way. There's just an issue with the staged performances. I think Ino is still looking for a student band. If we can't find one within the week, we'll just hire an external one - which might be cutting close on the budget. But luckily I've prepared a buffer amount that should see us through to the end of this year's social calendar."
He opened his eyes to see the room staring at him in admiration.
"Have I ever told you how grateful I am to have you?" Naruto told him, his eyes about to tear up.
"No," Shikamaru said coldly.
"Well, I do, Shikamaru. Working alongside my best friend has really made my senior year the best! I really love you, man."
Shikamaru's face twisted, not wanting to show how touched he felt, so he mumbled, "yeah.. Me too…."
"Say it louder, Shikamaru. Remember what we said about speaking our feelings?" Choji stood up with a frown on his face.
"I- I love you too, Naruto," Shikamaru coughed out begrudgingly.
Choji cracked his knuckles, still wearing a frown on his face.
"I love you and you're my best friend too, Naruto," Shikamaru finally admitted.
"That's really sweet," Choji said, moving towards them, "I love you guys." He pulled them into a group hug. Shikamaru felt the air leave his body as Choji squished them together and lift them off the ground.
As annoying as they were, Choji and Naruto were his childhood best friends. Having grown up in Konoha together, they had been through it all and knew everything about one another. Choji was the undefeated inter-college wrestling champion and a phenomenal cook. Naruto was the lead striker of the college's soccer team in addition to being the Student Council President.
"So Shikamaru, how was your night then?," Konohamaru asked. Shikamaru did not like the tone of his voice. It sounded sly and dirty. Konohamaru was a high school senior and friend-slash-little-brother-slash-mentee of Naruto. The kid was alright most of the time, but he could get a little bratty. Predictable, as he was the heir of the family that founded the College.
"That's none of your business kid," he spoke curtly, wishing he could drink away the embarrassment of last night if he wasn't already so hungover.
"None of my business?" Konohamaru accused him. "That's rich coming from a guy who was doing it in public last night."
He scrunched his eyebrows together. "I wasn't doing anything in public last… night… wait, kid, what do you know?"
Konohamaru simply held a phone up to Shikamaru's face. Right on the screen was a far-away clip two people making out hard against the side of the campus convenience store. It was dark but he could identify it as himself and Temari. Shikamaru felt his soul leave his body. He didn't care for social media, and here he was caught on camera.
Choji and Naruto had raced to the back of Shikamaru to take a peek at the video.
"Naruto, look that's us!"
"Oh yeah there we are. Gosh they're right when they say the camera adds 10 pounds…" Choji lamented, grabbing onto his gut.
"It's got a bunch of views already, I mean you're gonna be famous, Shikamaru!" Konohamaru said proudly. His eyes were focused on his phone so he didn't see Shikamaru seething. Naruto and Chouji looked between each other and wisely stepped aside.
Shikamaru tackled Konohamaru, pinning him to the ground he started slapping his face. "You snotty little kid, when I'm done you will rue the day you were even born. I swear it-" Naruto tried to intervene, pulling Shikamaru off of Konohamaru, "Be gentle Shikamaru, he's just a dumb kid!" the blonde shouted.
Konohamaru stuck out his tongue and shouted back, "Hey! I'm smarter than you, Naruto!"
"Why you little -" Naruto said before joining in to pummel Konohamaru into the floor alongside Shikamaru.
At this point, Choji picked the phone from the floor. "They're calling you a 'bottom' in the comments, Shikamaru," he said with a low chuckle, before taking a selfie of himself and the other boys fighting behind him.
"I don't even want to know what that means," Shikamaru grunted, picking himself up from the floor, leaving Konohamaru to Naruto's mercy.
"I am too hungover for this. I'm heading home," he told the guys before grabbing his stuff to leave.