Main pairing : nejiten
Second pairing : naruhina (chapters 4 and 5, other mentions throughout the fic). I had lots of fun adding their dynamic in Four Weddings and a Funeral so I wanted to dig deeper in their pairing and I thought the sweet teenage-like romance of naruhina would be refreshing against the tensed dynamic of nejitenc in this fic.
Rated T : swearing, non-explicit sex. Rating subject to change.
TW : a bit of manhandling.
Christmas Chaos
Chapter one : The proposal
December 17th
It's not that Tenten Maito hated Neji Hyuga, it's that she loathed him.
And don't misunderstand her, Tenten has always been all for the "don't judge a book by its cover" and "everyone has their own attenuating circumstances" kind of bullshit.
It's true. She rarely believed in the dual vision of right or wrong. It was like in astrology, you couldn't just be your sun sign, you were also your rising sign, and your moon sign and whatever signs that entered your birth chart. And you can trust Tenten when it comes to astrology. In her most humble opinion, everything was always a spectrum and no one fully fit in one constrictive little box.
Well, no one, except Neji fucking Hyuga who perfectly and exclusively fitted in the 'severe pain in her ass' box. There were no shades of grey where this conceited, self-absorbed jerk was concerned.
And again, do not misunderstand her. Tenten has always been a very tolerant, open hearted, kind and bubbly person. But some people just knew exactly how to crawl under someone's skin to give them the feminine urge to knee their family jewels into banana-puree consistency.
And nobody, really, nobody under this whole freaking stratosphere drove that feminine urge up as high and fast as Dr. Neji Hyuga, the most arrogant and mean spirited general surgeon of Konoha's General Hospital and Institute of Excellence in Medical Research, or as everyone simply called it "The Gen".
It's not that Dr Tenten Maito was a petty and vindictive person, far from it. But some things stick and she'll never forget her first night shift as an emergency first year resident where she had to deal with an aortic aneurysm with imminent risk of dissection while Dr Kakashi Hatake, the vascular surgeon, was an hour late to this top 1 priority surgery and she had to stabilize said patient with an obscene amount of bisoprolol and painkillers.
On top of it, she had one septic choc that she couldn't turf to the intensive unit because they had just admitted four firefighters with 30% third degree skin burns. And obviously, she still had to manage the other second priority patients, a whopping number of three heart attacks, two dyspneic smokers -one who was under chemotherapy and had febrile neutropenia-, one elderly with stroke symptoms and one convulsive child with overbearing and stressful parents.
So the last thing she needed at 6am, two meager hours before the end of her shift, was an angry entitled first year surgery resident storming in her emergency pit, looking her up and down and telling her :
"Surely you don't need to be reminded that when requesting a surgery consultation for an appendicitis, you should ask for an abdominal echo so we won't have to wait after the results to call in the elective surgery?" He arched his eyebrow while she stared back, disheveled from her hectic night, disbelief drawn on each of her features.
"I don't have the luxury to waste my time telling you how to do your job correctly." He squinted his eyes to read her badge. "Tenten."
She gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry I forgot the echo, but I just had a very rushing night and -"
The man scoffed at her, stopping her short. He took a look around, his smirk imprinting in her mind like a scorching tison. "You call this busy?" He gave another mocking sound. "You should come see the OR then."
At this point, Tenten was too stunned to speak, and mostly too exhausted from a twelve hours shift to reply.
Sure, he had a point, she should have asked for the echo in the first place and she u. But shit happened, they all worked under stressful, sometimes inhumane, most of the time catastrophic situations, and they were all bound to be overwhelmed at one point or another.
How many patients with cellulitis had Tenten seen at the emergency rooms because of infected post-surgery closed wounds? They were supposed to have each other's back and work in cohesion for the patients' safety, not humiliate each other and give your colleague hell for an honest mistake that was easily remedied, without any risk for the patient, even though it was an inconvenience for the surgeron.
"In any case, I just wanted to reassure you that the little girl is doing well, though it is no thanks to you. I hope you'll use this as a learning opportunity, the delay of getting her echo could have complicated the case beyond our abilities to save her, her appendix was about to rupture when we got it out." He threw another arch look at her bewildered eyes. "You should be grateful." He finally said before letting his lips rest in a thin pinched line of disapproval towards his colleague.
Ok, now he was just being an ass for the sake of being an arrogant ass. When she saw the patient, she had no indication of a ruptured appendix and she was fast in her management. Him having to ask for an echo may have delayed it for ten to twenty minutes. For the child to go from stable to critical in the lapse of twenty minutes, she'd have to be extremely unlucky.
After what seemed like hours of silence with her only blinking stupidly at him until she realized he was waiting for an answer.
"Are you expecting me to thank you?" She asked, incredulous.
He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "That'd be the least of things."
And maybe the best reaction to his annoyed exasperated state was not to burst out in an incontrolable, hysteric-like, sleep-deprived driven, end-of-shift, no-shit-left-to-give, louder than the b-pap machine laughter of the century.
But precisely since then, since he had answered her reaction with a blood-chilling glare -that, she had to admit, still haunts her to this day-, they have been at incessant war against each other.
Fine, maybe she shouldn't have retaliated in the nurses lounge room by calling him a "little dick energy" kind of man, when two of the younger nurses were gushing about his looks. But it really had pissed off Tenten that after all he had put her through he still got off easy with nursing staff because of his good looks.
To this day, she still smiled to herself whenever she recalled that exquisite moment when the nurses boomed with laughter over her impressions of "Little-dick energy" Neji and how he happened to pass by for an intestinal subocclusion consult.
Oops. Oh, no. Tenten would never have thought he'd hear everything…
But, just in case she did it many times until she had the satisfaction of seeing his furious stare from across the emergency pit.
"Neji," She had acknowledged him, passing right by him in the narrow hallway leading to the residents' lounge, savoring his wrath just as much as the sweetness of the apple she was currently bitting.
But her attempt to casually escape was cut short by his strong hand firmly wrapping around her elbow and yanking her right back in front of him.
The brunette had never noticed how short she was in comparison to him until her nose crashed on his pecs and her stare leveled with his furiously bubbling Adam's apple.
She looked up, startled at a very obviously angry Neji and wondered what in heaven's name would save her from the claws of the most intimidating man she knew, while she was stuck with him in a secluded hospital's hallway at 3am.
"What the fuck, Tenten." He glared at her, his neck bent to stare down dramatically in her widened chestnut eyes, still holding her so close to him in his fury that Tenten was overly conscious of every fiber of their scrubs rubbing against one another.
But nothing could beat down Tenten's stubbornness and pride, not even a very rational fear for her life because, if one thing was clear, she had never known how broad and muscled Neji's shoulders and arms were under his scrubs until that very moment.
Fuck.
Fuck, he was hot. And that only made her even more furious because he had no right being so damn handsome when he was such a despicable jerk. It was just unfair.
"What?" She raised a defiant brow. "There's nothing wrong with small dicks. I'm all for dicks' body diversity." She smirked seeing him seeth in his own hurt pride and tapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Be proud, Neji."
But suddenly, the tables turned and the world spun on its axis and before she knew it his hand left her elbow to rest on the wall above her head he had pressed her in. If she was self-conscious of their scrubs rubbing before, now she could barely breath under his whole body, trapping her against the hard and cold tiles of the dimly lit hallway.
"The fuck-" She tried to push him off, but he only pinned her back firmly with one hand on her waist.
She shot him a furious glare, ready to absorb his mocking smile but was instead met with a heavy-lidded glazed stare and her prepared insult died on her lips. The mood had suddenly grown into a whole other kind of tension and her saliva thickened instantly, her mouth dry and that's when she felt it.
No, not the loose strands of his hair undone from his man bun tickling her cheeks, nor the tip of his nose almost rubbing with the bridge of her nose, nor the tingling sensation on her lips from his lips hovering only a few millimeters above,
Not, she felt it. His leg right between her legs and it pressed against her lower abdomen. And he knew she did, she could tell just by the way his lips curled into a sly smirk before releasing her breathless form and assessing from one last time her flustered cheeks and flabbergasted expression.
He took the apple that was still in her hand and in an ultimate show of powerplay bit one bit of it in front of her speechless face.
"Glad we're finally on the same page, Maito." He shouted over his shoulder, walking away at an alluring speed, his voice already projecting down the hallway and reaching a still stupefied Tenten.
Last thing she saw him do was throw her perfectly good apple that only got bitten twice right in the trash can a couple meters away from where he pushed the door to take the stairs and leave her behind still shifting through her stupor.
What a fucking waste. She thought.
And truth be told she couldn't say for sure if she was thinking of the thrown apple or the fact that such a useless thing had such a massive thing.
"So?" Ino had asked two days later during one of the few moments they could grab lunch together with their other friends.
Tenten rolled her eyes. You'd think that by being a psychiatry resident, Ino would have enough of hearing about other people's lives. But give it to this gossip queen, she'd never tire of having some hot tea.
Tenten shrugged. "It was ok."
Ino gave her a dubious look.
"So what did I miss," Sakura came rushing to sit down, a banana in her hand. "Got a patient about to be complete, only have ten minutes to eat."
"Tenten was just about to tell us about Neji's massive cock." Ino grinned when her pink-haired friend almost choked on the bite of fruit she had just taken.
"Ino!" Tenten shushed, hurriedly looking over her shoulders, afraid someone might have heard. Nothing could safely be said in a hospital, the nurses' gossip network could put Game of Thrones' Varys' little birds to shame.
"Ok, so tell us, how big." The blonde raised a brow. "This big?" She pointed to the banana her friend was about to bite again.
"Please leave my food out of this." Sakura grumbled her mouth full.
Ino rolled her eyes. "Stop acting so prude," She smirked slyly at her friend. "If someone knows how to make babies, it should be you."
"Ha, ha. So funny," The pink-haired obstetrician replied, half-amused. "Talking about making babies," She took her beeping pager in her hand. "My patient is ready to give birth."
Sakura got up to leave as fast as she came.
'Text me how big.' She mouthed to her blonde friend before winking at her brunette one who groaned in return.
"So bigger then," Ino grinned slyly at her flustered friend.
"Why does it even matter?" Tenten bit back.
"Well, for one," Ino raised her forefinger. "Everybody knows you two have just been accumulating an obscene amount of sexual tension."
"Not true, but continue," Tenten said unimpressed while attacking her salad with a little bit more force than necessary.
"Very true, even attendings stacked bets on the two of you." The psychiatry resident gave her friend a smug smile.
"So?" Tenten raised a brow. "I don't see how this proves your point."
"Since when do attendings even care about anything first year residents do or say, mmh?" Ino defended her argument. "They have that clinical flair for drama. Everybody says you're the new Kakashi and Anko."
Tenten scoffed, in no way were they the new Kakashi and Anko. They were each the chief of their departments, respectively surgery and emergency, and left both units at odds in a simmering rivalry since they called it quits five years ago, a week before the very anticipated wedding of the decade according to Azumi, the oldest nurse in the emergency department.
"You're delusional," Tenten mumbled, taking one last hurried bite of her vending machine egg sandwich. "I have to go, an overdose patient is on the way." She said, shutting off her beeping pager.
"What are we talking about?" Hinata asked softly behind Tenten before slumping down the chair beside her friend, exhausted from the two dozen kids presenting flu-like symptoms she had just finished screening at the ambulatory clinic. Pediatrics was anything but soft.
"Your cousin's dick." Ino grinned at her indigo-haired friend who emitted strangled 'eek' in return.
"Oh, Lord, Ino, let it die." Tenten gave a worried look at her sweet innocent friend before throwing a glare at her devilish one.
So, it was fair to say Ino did not let it die. And yes, she finally told them a couple years later how big, much to Hinata's horrified gasp.
"My, my, that's a perineal laceration waiting to happen." Sakura commented.
"Sakura!" Tenten chastised her friend.
It was also fair to say that no one really let it die, from nurses to attendings, to their resident friends, to even the med students who still had to learn how to properly auscultate a heart and yet could already tell by heart Tenten and Neji's feud history.
It had even become a departemental issue. Every year Anko would come up behind her and startle her, just before the Hospital Cup, an afternoon sports event whose goal was to enhance team building but only served as a pretext for Kakashi and Anko to amp up their on-going cold war.
"We need to beat surgery this year." The dark-haired woman would grunt just behind her resident, startling her brown-haired student while she was charting.
And Tenten would sigh because she sincerely didn't think running tracks after her shifts with her department head would have ever been part of her resident's tasks, but here she was. And truth be told, Tenten would do anything to be sure his smug smirk of victory wouldn't grace his perfectly shaped face. That asshole.
"Neji, Neji, Neji." Kakashi would wrap an arm around his student's neck. "Ready to not let emergency win this year?"
And obviously Neji was ready for anything but letting them win, because nothing was sweeter than the perfect rosy and plump lips of Tenten Maito set in a frustrated scowl when she ended up second to him.
Tenten always won when sports were about aim, precision, finesse and flexibility. Though Neji always won when activities centered on speed, strength and quick analysis.
The one area where no one could predict who would win were combat sports. Either Tenten could overpower him with her agility or he could topple her with his sheer force.
"Just admit you want to shag him." Ino taunted her brunette friend while she was stretching on the ground for the final round of their fourth Hospital Cup.
"Ino," Tenten groaned. "For the hundred times in our four years of residency, I have hated the guy since our first month of residency in this godforsaken hospital and I would never, ever, ever…"
Words suddenly died on her lips as she caught the silky hair of one Neji freaking Hyuga and the glistening water running down his lips that he so greedily drank to the point in rolled down his chin and unto his white t-shirt, clinging to his perfect muscles-
"Look at that horny bitch," Ino pointed out to Sakura, sitting just behind her.
Said girl sighed heavily, almost moaning out of despair. "Aren't we all?" Her emerald eyes steadily fixed on onyx hair. "Not everyone gets to hook up in the dark reading room with a radiology resident that hasn't seen the sun in four years."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Sakura-forehead." Ino rolled her eyes, filing her nails at the same time. "Just go talk to him to Sasuke, you guys haven't exchanged more than a dozen words since he came back to Konoha after a decade abroad. And my radiology resident's name is Sai thank you very much."
Everybody knew the Hospital Cup was purely a competition between surgery and emergency. Psychiatry and internal medicine only came for the show, and family medicine came only to have a respite from the never-ceasing influx of patients.
"No." The pink-haired girl shook her head vehemently, answering her exasperated friend's statement. "I can't." She said, biting her lip, undecided on her resolve. "You know I can't." She added, trying to steel herself. "I don't want him to still have this idea of teenage me ready to do anything for him. He was such an asshole and I was worse for letting him treat me like he did."
"Agreed, he was. I get it, but it's been years since you last saw each other after you two broke up in high school." Ino pointed out. "I'm sure he doesn't think of you that way anymore. I mean look at you, I'm sure he's regretting losing you."
Sakura scoffed. "That conceited prick. He knows, trust me he knows from ten thousand miles how my heart wavers whenever he crosses my mind. I can't let him have the satisfaction of seeing it all over my face too, even after a decade of-"
"Well, that's too bad," Ino started, looking over her filed nails. "Cause he's coming our way."
Tenten barely gave mind to her friends sitting a meter away from her and benches specially put on the park's grass where their annual event was held. She had successfully torn her gaze from her monumental pain in the ass, unfortunately, not before he caught her looking at him and he returned her hardened glare with an arrogant smirk of his own.
God, she hated that she found him so hot.
"Angry sex. That's what you need." Ino had once told her much to Hinata's dismay who desperately tried to find her inner peace whenever Ino felt the need to talk salaciously about her cousin.
And Tenten hated to admit it but whenever she finished a night shift and she ended in the residents lounge at the same time he did, she could feel it in the air. The electricity. Could hate be so passionate that one would feel it pulse in their most intense desire? Because anytime his glare would rest on her she wanted one thing and one thing was to rip his shirt off and have him press her against a wall one more time.
Ok, fine, maybe Ino was a little bit right. Sure, whatever, that was not the point.
The point is that Tenten's and Neji's hate for each other could only rival Dr, Jiraya's love for women - and the fact he was a gynecologist was extremely upsetting in Tenten's opinion as well as in Dr Tsunade Senju, The Gen's medical affairs director and long time best friend of aforementioned gynecologist.
The point is that Neji's and Tenten's illustrious rivalry was just as legendary as the mood outbursts of Dr Senju, top anesthesiologist Shikamaru Nara's ironic laziness or internationally recognized golden-hands-cardiologist Sasuke Uchiha.
Everybody knew of the murderous aura that inhabited the hospital and loomed over anyone that had the unfortunate destiny, and greatest amusement, of witnessing their meet. It was such a staple of The Gen's micro-culture that seven years later after their first meeting, two years after they had graduated their residency, they were still at each other's throats and the ever growing tension between them was ever so dire.
So obviously, when he cornered her, two days before their holidays vacations, between the coffee machine and the vending machine where she desperately tried to get her chips unstuck, she only had one answer to his most delusive and ridiculous plan :
"Are you fucking insane, Hyuga?"
A/N: Ok, so don't come at me, I know I should be finishing When they first met and Dear Heartbreaker (I am! Only one chapter and a half left to write for WTFM and I have high hopes i'll be done before 2022) but I needed to get this story out of my head! I'm so excited for Christmas so of course I needed to do a little fluffy piece for our fav duo!
I don't know exactly where this story is going, which is exciting since contrary to the others I had a pretty much structured outline. This should be a five chapters one like Four Weddings and a Funeral. Something light and cheesy. A spicy hallmark movie if you will. I'm excited to see how this will play out.
What do you think?