Something Has Got to Give

A/N: This chapter has fan art. Go look: http://crazyaanglover.deviantart.com/art/Call-You-Back-124925874. crazyaanglover of deviantART did that. She is a goddess.

Thanks to pammypam93 for her help with some of the details.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or any of its characters. I make no money from the writing of this fanfiction.

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Warning: unbeta’d; humor; language; OOC; romance; WAFF; yaoi

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Neji was finally alone with Shikamaru. Perfect. Now they would have ‘the talk’.

“I think I get it now”, Neji declared, watching his quarry closely from across their booth.

“Get what?” Shikamaru asked.

“Why no one on this team touched the subject of sex or relationships the entire time we were all here together.”

Shikamaru smirked. “The team also includes you doesn’t it?” he asked.

Neji smirked in response. “Yes, yes it does.”

“So what’s your story?” Shikamaru asked.

“That depends”, Neji responded. “Are you asking because I brought it up, or because you’re genuinely interested?”

Shikamaru took a chance. “Both.”

Bonus.

“I’m single”, Neji told him, smiling. “Though I wasn’t until three weeks ago.”

“What happened?” Shikamaru asked.

“You know, until tonight I wasn’t sure. I guess I just bored the shit out of the guy.”

Shikamaru chuckled. “At your worst I don’t think anyone would find you boring, Neji.”

Neji shook his head. “You’re very kind, Shikamaru, but even I find me boring.”

He paused. “I don’t know what happened to me. Somewhere along the way I lost myself.”

He leaned in. “Thank you very much for inviting me tonight”, he told Shikamaru.

“Well, to be honest it was Lee’s idea”, Shikamaru responded.

“Then I’ll have to thank him when I see him again.”

Neji leaned his head against his hand again. “So tell me your story. How come a guy like you isn’t surrounded by a harem?”

Shikamaru chuckled, honestly taken aback. “What exactly do you think this is?”

“If you’re single, a grave miscarriage of justice”, Neji answered. “You look like the type who has to carry a tazer to keep them away.”

Shikamaru thought he might actually blush. “Well, thank you, that’s kind of you to say, while at the same time nowhere near my reality.”

“So enlighten me”, Neji said.

Shikamaru clasped his hands together on the table. “I had a guy. It didn’t work out. The end.”

“Oh come on, you can do better than that. What happened? Was he jealous of all the attention you were getting?”

Shikamaru made a face. “What makes you think I deserve that kind of attention?”

Neji looked insulted. “Are you kidding? Have you seen your ass lately? It looks like it was carved out of stone.”

Shikamaru blushed. He was used to the stares whenever he worked out, but no one paid him those types of compliments anymore. And to have received them from his boss, his crush of all people…

He looked coyly at Neji. “I could say the same about you.”

“No you couldn’t”, Neji countered quickly, enjoying his view of a blushing Shikamaru. “My ass looks like it was made from a goose-down pillow. I haven’t seen my cricket-era glutes since 2005.”

Shikamaru laughed out loud. His boss was amazing. He could hardly believe he was the same buttoned-up guy who arrived only three hours before.

“So what was the reason it didn’t work out?” Neji pressed.

Shikamaru made a face. “I caught him cheating.”

“Bullshit”, Neji responded.

“It’s true. I found out he was nailing this bit of blond fluff he met at the gym. Another jock like him.”

Neji furrowed his brows. “What do you mean another jock like him? You’re a jock.”

“You take that back”, Shikamaru quipped. “I am an athlete. They are jocks. There’s a difference.”

Neji was confused. “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one.”

“Well you have athletes: swimmers, gymnasts, runners, cyclists and the like”, Shikamaru clarified. “And then you have jocks: baseball players, football players, basketball players, you get the idea. The difference is in the mentality. While all of us are athletes in theory, team sports are high-profile concepts that tend to breed a very pronounced, more severe egoism by comparison. My ex is a football player. His new blond squeeze is a baseball player. Jocks.”

“Wow.” Neji was sure he’d never heard anything like that before. He wondered briefly what the hell being a jock could possibly have to do with nailing Shikamaru in every conceivable position at every possible opportunity.

Neji could only draw one conclusion: Shikamaru’s ex was an idiot.

“He was a fool to give you up, Shikamaru”, Neji declared.

Shikamaru smiled. “He didn’t. He didn’t want me to go. I left him after he suggested the three of us play house together.”

Bold recovery attempt. “So it was he who wanted the harem”, Neji assessed.

Shikamaru nodded. “Apparently I wasn’t enough for him. But that was too much for me. I’m done with it now.”

“How long has it been?” Neji asked.

Shikamaru scratched his head as he thought about it. “Eleven months.”

That long?

“Has it been lonely?” Neji asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. “It’s had its moments.”

Neji bit his lip. “You know, for a moment there I thought you and Zabuza were keeping each other company.”

Shikamaru smiled and shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

He looked at Neji then, admiring the lush hair that fell around his shoulders and his eyes, moonlit orbs that seemed to say so much. Did he know how beautiful he was?

Neji returned Shikamaru’s stare. I want to hump you into submission.

“What are you thinking about?” Neji ventured.

“Your face”, Shikamaru answered. “Your eyes. You’re beautiful, Neji. When I look at you I am reminded of things that make me happy.”

Shikamaru shook his head, covering his face with one hand as he blushed once more. “God, I can’t believe I’m saying this to you.”

“Well, hell, don’t let that stop you”, Neji responded, smiling.

Shikamaru lowered his hand. “It’s just that you seem so frustrated all the time. I’ve often wondered if there was something I could do to help.”

God, if you only knew. “Why did you never say anything?” Neji asked.

Shikamaru snorted. “Come on, Neji. You’re all business, all the time. I didn’t think you’d appreciate the gesture.”

Shikamaru paused. “Besides, there was no way for me to be sure that I was offering my help out of an earnest desire to help you and not to get a chance to be close to you.”

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

“You have a…crush on me?” Neji asked, eyebrows raised.

Shikamaru nodded. “Ever since the day I first saw you. I took one look at you and that was it.”

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Neji lowered his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. Shikamaru wanted him. Holy God in Heaven, for the past year a hot gymnast had been crushing on Neji and he didn’t know it. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want Gaara, he just didn’t want Gaara.

Neji wondered which sin he had committed to earn this particular penance.

Fuck me.

“Neji, say something.”

The words were spoken casually, but the anxiety was unmistakable.

Neji looked up at Shikamaru then, the lust in his eyes impossible to misinterpret. In fact, it was almost threatening.

You are going to get fucked so much.

“We need to settle the tab.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shikamaru went to the bathroom while Neji went to the bar and covered the tab. It was the least he could do for his team, considering what he was going to get to do with Shikamaru.

He waited at the bar until Shikamaru came out.

“Ready?” Neji asked.

Shikamaru nodded.

They both moved impatiently toward the door and went out. The night air was blissfully cool against their flushed and sweaty skin.

“Ah”, Neji exclaimed, sighing deeply. They hadn’t emerged from that stuffy, smoke-filled bar for three hours.

“Your vehicle or mine?” Shikamaru asked.

“It will have to be yours”, Neji answered. “My car is being serviced.”

Shikamaru jerked his head toward the parking lot. “My truck is over there.”

They walked over to the truck, bodies thrumming with the sheer adrenaline of heightened anticipation. Shikamaru opened the passenger side before the anxious Neji pinned him against the side of his truck and melded their mouths together in one seamless movement.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

The kiss was fierce, full of and impatience and curiosity and lust. Neji grabbed two handfuls of Shikamaru’s ass and thrust his erection against him, eliciting a moan from the smaller man.

“I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t imagining this”, Neji explained. “God you feel good.”

Shikamaru arched his body against Neji’s in response. “Get in the truck”, he told him.

Neji did as he was told.

Shikamaru got into the driver’s side and closed the door. He looked at Neji, who snaked a hand behind his neck and pulled him into another urgent kiss.

Shikamaru broke their kiss. “Buckle up”, he said, as he did the same, started his truck and drove off.

Neji watched Shikamaru as he drove, admiring the man for being able to turn a polo shirt and a pair of chinos into something profoundly sexual.

Neji was some kind of riled up. The more he looked at Shikamaru, the hornier he got. He had the tease of the man’s taste on his lips, and it made him want more. Neji wanted to reach over and undo Shikamaru’s pants, pull out his cock and suck him off while he drove them wherever they were going, but he didn’t think they’d survive the resulting crash.

So he reached over and palmed Shikamaru’s erection instead, pleased when it twitched under his hand.

“Neji”, Shikamaru pleaded.

Yes. Make that voice again, Neji thought to himself.

“I’ll go slowly, I promise”, he told Shikamaru. “It’s your own damn fault, you know.”

He stroked Shikamaru’s cock through his pants. “You’re so hot here”, he purred. “How much longer until we get where we’re going?”

“A few more minutes”, Shikamaru answered.

“I’m not sure I can wait that long.”

Neji unbuckled his seat belt and slid closer to Shikamaru, still groping his twitching cock. “Pull over.”

“Why?” Shikamaru dared to ask, trying to focus on the road.

“I need you Shikamaru. Please.”

Shikamaru shuddered at Neji’s plea. “But you promised you’d go slowly.”

Dammit. “Indeed I did”, the older man relented, sliding over to his seat.

Neji buckled his seatbelt and reached for Shikamaru’s clothed erection once more, enjoying the feel of it moving within its confines.

“Drive faster”, he told him, and Shikamaru laughed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shikamaru pulled into a parking space in front of his apartment building and shut off the engine. Before he could get his seatbelt the whole way off Neji was pressing his body into his from the seat beside him, biting the shell of his ear and groping him shamelessly.

“Finally”, Neji purred. “I thought we were on our way to the Emerald City.”

“Ah, you can’t get there from here without a house and a cyclone”, Shikamaru answered before Neji’s mouth closed over his.

Neji tugged at Shikamaru’s hips. “Straddle me”, he mumbled against the smaller man’s mouth.

“Not here. Upstairs”, Shikamaru mumbled in response. “All you want.”

Shikamaru pried himself from Neji’s impatient grip and reached for the door’s handle. “Let’s go”, he told his boss.

Both men got out of the truck. Neji looked around as he walked behind Shikamaru. The apartment building was bigger than he expected, he supposed, and looked well maintained, at least in the dark. Neji didn’t mind the curious glances or the two flights of well-lit stairs he had to walk up to get to Shikamaru’s apartment since it gave him an excellent view of the younger man’s tight round ass.

“Now, mind you”, Shikamaru stated as he slipped the key into the lock, “I wasn’t expecting company tonight.”

The door was opened and the two men walked inside. Shikamaru heard the door slam right before he was pinned against it in the darkness of the room.

“Alone at last”, Neji purred, leaning in for a kiss.

Shikamaru stopped him. “Wait”, he said. “Not that I’m complaining, but you’ve been going 100 miles per hour since we left the bar. Do you need to go to the bathroom? Do you want something to drink?”

“You know what I want”, Neji answered him, leaning in again.

Shikamaru held his ground. “Well let me tell you what I want. I want to have a glass of water and a shower.”

Neji smiled a sinful smile. “A shower sounds—“

“Alone”, Shikamaru interjected, and Neji pouted.

“Are you kidding? You’re going to make me wait until you get out of the shower?” the older man whined. “That’ll take days!”

Shikamaru made a face. “Stop pouting”, he told him, pushing him away gently and reaching over to flip on a nearby light switch, illuminating the room.

While Neji adjusted to his surroundings, Shikamaru emptied all his pockets and set the contents on a nearby table. Then he removed his watch and took off his shoes.

Neji watched as Shikamaru walked over and stood facing a wall. He hesitated for a few seconds before bending forward into a precision handstand and then slowly lowering his legs to 180 degrees.

Neji’s jaw dropped. The sight of Shikamaru standing on his hands doing a split midair had the older man’s cock jumping double-time.

Oh dear God in Heaven.

Shikamaru raised his legs again and lowered himself to a standing position on the carpeted floor.

He turned to look at Neji then. “Keep yourself entertained; I won’t be long”, he told him, chuckling at the man’s open-mouthed expression as he walked toward the kitchen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shikamaru flipped on the light as he walked into the kitchen and yanked the tie from his hair, freeing it to fall in loose black waves to his shoulders. He tossed the tie on the counter and massaged his scalp with one hand as he reached into a cupboard for a glass and set it on the counter. He grabbed a pitcher of cold water from the refrigerator and filled the glass, and then picked it up and gulped down every drop, letting out a long ‘ah’ when he was done.

He could hear his guest moving around in the other room as he refilled the glass and replaced the pitcher in the refrigerator.

Shikamaru thought about the evening as he sipped the glass of water. He thought about Lee and Tenten, wondering where and how they were. He hoped that lusty kiss in the bar had been a turning point for them.

He should probably call Zabuza. The man had a tendency to worry. Besides, if anyone had an update on Tenten it would be him.

Shikamaru set the glass on the counter, intending to go back to the foyer to retrieve the cell phone he left on the table there when Neji walked into the kitchen, said cell phone in hand.

“It’s vibrating”, Neji told him, handing him the phone.

“Thanks.”

Shikamaru took the phone. A check of the caller ID revealed Zabuza’s name.

Shikamaru turned away from Neji as he answered his phone. “Shikamaru.”

“It’s Zabuza.”

“Everything good?”

“Yes. And you?”

“Yes.” Shikamaru paused. Neji was behind him, reaching around for the glass on the counter in front of him. Shikamaru could feel the heat radiating from Neji’s body against his back.

“Have you heard anything from Lee or Tenten?” Shikamaru asked, trying not to let Neji’s fingers playing in his hair distract him.

“Lee called from Tenten’s cell. She’s with him now.”

“Good, I think”, Shikamaru answered. “I guess we’ll know either way soon enough.”

Strong arms snaked around Shikamaru’s waist and pressed him possessively against Neji’s hard, hot body. Shikamaru expelled a hard breath at the arousing sensation.

“You’re busy”, Zabuza declared.

Shit. Busted. “As it happens”, Shikamaru responded, biting his lip.

Zabuza paused. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

A tone signaled the end of the phone call.

Shikamaru closed his phone and set it on the counter, allowing his head to fall back against Neji’s shoulder. Damn, the man felt good.

“That Zabuza is a man of few words”, Neji said. “He seemed annoyed there at the end. Are you sure he doesn’t have feelings for you?”

Shikamaru chuckled. “Why, are you afraid of a little competition?” he asked.

“I’m just saying. He did call you, after all.”

“He already knew where everyone else was.” Shikamaru turned in Neji’s arms, wrapping his own around Neji’s neck. Neji quickly anchored his hands against the round globes of Shikamaru’s ass and pressed his own erection against his.

“I’ve never seen you with your hair down before”, Neji declared in a low voice. “It’s sexy.”

“Not half as sexy as yours”, Shikamaru purred.

He had thrown caution to the wind tonight and revealed his feelings for Neji, breaking his own rule against dating co-workers. Now the two men were alone together, and Shikamaru found it liberating. Tonight seemed to the younger man to be one for stepping out of comfort zones that, for the people involved, had been anything but comforting.

Shikamaru gently pressed his face against Neji’s throat and inhaled. Beyond the smell of alcohol and smoke was Neji.

“Shikamaru”, Neji called.

“Hm?”

“You said something about a shower before”, Neji said.

“I did.”

“Well you need to hurry. My dick is wearing a hole into my pants.”

Shikamaru chuckled and planted a light kiss on Neji’s lips. “There’s another bathroom in the other bedroom if you need it”, he told him as he walked out of the kitchen.

Neji watched him go, shaking his head.

You are going to get fucked so much.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shikamaru took a shower, taking more time than usual in honor of the occasion. He opened the door of the steamy bathroom wide and walked out when he was suddenly pinned face-forward against the wall next to it by a hard, hot, naked body, an ‘oof’ being forced from his throat on impact.

“You said you weren’t going to take long”, Neji’s voice at his ear told him as he ran a hand down the man’s body. “I almost had to bring myself off in the other bedroom.”

Neji reached around to the front of Shikamaru’s towel and untucked it, then stood back enough to pull it away from the man’s waist and toss it aside.

“Your ass is a masterpiece”, Neji commented, running a hand over it. “You should just be naked all the time.”

Neji ran a lubed finger from his other hand down the crack of Shikamaru’s ass. “Tell me what you do with the stash of porn and sex toys I found in your spare bedroom”, he commanded.

“Nothing”, Shikamaru grunted, further aroused by the feel of Neji’s hands on his body. “Those belong to my parents.”

“Ah”, Neji responded, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He forced the thought of Shikamaru’s parents—of anyone’s parents—using the array of toys he’d found out of his mind and pushed that finger into his pink pucker.

Shikamaru extended his arms above his head against the wall in front of him and widened his stance in submission as he arched into that finger. “More”, he breathed.

“Oh you’ll get it, you cocktease”, Neji told him as he pumped the finger. “This is only pre-game. You’re going to spend the night showing me more of your erotic gymnastics.”

“Oh, God!” Shikamaru whined as Neji pulled out his finger and re-entered with two. It stung and he flinched but he wanted it, couldn’t get enough of it. His cock was hard and making pre-cum trails against his abdomen.

“Have you ever been fucked like this? Up against the wall by some guy impatient to get inside you?” Neji asked, using his other hand to fondle Shikamaru’s balls.

Shikamaru shook his head.

“I bet you drove your teammates crazy. Do you know I dreamed of taking you like this?” Neji confessed. “Sometimes during the day I go to the men’s room and sit in a stall and stroke myself off as I imagine you beneath me, squealing as I’m thrusting my happy cock deep into this tight ass of yours. What do you think of that?”

“Neji please”, Shikamaru responded. He was begging, he knew. He couldn’t help it. Neji was tormenting him, and it was making his cock weep.

Neji pulled his two fingers out of that tight heat, and then forced three of them back inside. He alternately pumped and crooked them, galvanized by the noises Shikamaru was making.

“There are laws against some of the stuff I’ve imagined doing to you, Shikamaru.”

“Ah!” the smaller man squealed as his prostate was stroked. He was barely cognizant of what Neji was saying. He was overwhelmed by sensations he hadn’t felt in far too long. He wanted Neji to fuck him, hard, and he wanted to come screaming the man’s name.

“Neji”, he breathed. “No more teasing. Fuck me now!”

“Or what, Shikamaru?” Neji asked, pulling his fingers from the man’s opening.

Neji took hold of his own already lubed erection and rubbed it against Shikamaru’s waiting hole.

“Neji please!” Shikamaru begged without shame as he arched into that hard cock. He was completely at the man’s mercy.

Neji smiled at Shikamaru’s unconditional submission.

“You know, you beg like you’re strung out on dick, even though you’re tight like a virgin. You like being bottom but you don’t put out for just anybody, do you?”

Neji lined his cock up with Shikamaru’s hole. “From now on this ass belongs to me.”

Neji forced himself inside of Shikamaru and didn’t let up until his balls were resting against Shikamaru’s ass, forcing a series of screams from the man’s throat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Son of a bitch!” Neji growled as he stood behind Shikamaru, hands gripping the smaller man’s hips and cock buried all the way inside his ass. It was so blissfully hot and tight in there. There was no way he would be able to remain still for long.

“What the fuck are you waiting for? Move, you crazy bastard!” Shikamaru cried.

He was in shock. He had only ever seen Neji’s erection in his pants, and had no good frame of reference until he’d been penetrated by the thing. While Neji wasn’t in the Rock Lee range, he was certainly longer and thicker than Shikamaru. He was full, being stretched far beyond the limits of Neji’s three fingers, and in some pain.

“Ah, baby I can’t! Your ass is squeezing me, I don’t believe how fucking tight it is in here.”

Neji laid a palm against Shikamaru’s back. “Arch out for me”, he told him.

Shikamaru bent his body forward a little, arms braced against the wall.

“That’s it”, Neji told him, replacing his hand on Shikamaru’s hip and adjusting his own stance. “This one will have to be a freebie, I’m in self-destruct mode. I’ve got about ten seconds.”

Shikamaru shook his head. “I don’t care, Neji just do it!”

“I’ll make it up to you”, Neji promised.

He withdrew until their bodies were nearly disconnected again before shoving himself forward. He increased his pace, losing himself to the sensation until finally sounding a battle cry as his eyes rolled back and he released himself inside his lover.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Son of a bitch.

The sensation—no, the experience—of coming inside Shikamaru was nothing short of a high. Neji rested his forehead against the smaller man’s back.

“You are beautiful, Shikamaru”, he panted. “You have a body crafted with godlike intention.”

He reached around for Shikamaru’s still-hard cock.

“I want to be the man in your life”, he told him, stroking him firmly. “I want to spend our nights together paying homage to the fact that you exist.”

Shikamaru lifted his head. He could feel Neji’s heated cock and cum inside him. Sweat ran down his face.

“You’re…on the rebound”, he breathed as Neji stroked him. “How can you…aah, be certain this is…what you want?”

“I’m certain”, Neji answered him. “I’ve wanted this for a while. My last relationship was a friendship with benefits deal. I called him when I needed to let off some steam.”

“You must not…have called him…very often”, Shikamaru couldn’t help but remark, and Neji chuckled.

“That’s one of the reasons why we broke it off. It was obvious I wasn’t into it.”

Neji closed his eyes and inhaled the intoxicating scent of their sex. “I’m not talking about another friendship with benefits, Shikamaru. I intend to take good care of you.”

Shikamaru made a strangled noise in response to Neji’s comment that galvanized him. He sped up the movement of his hand, smiling as his own still-buried cock hardened again to the sexy sound of Shikamaru’s increasing arousal.

“I love those sex noises you make”, he told Shikamaru. “Come for me, baby. I know you’re ready. Christen my hand. I want to taste you.”

Neji pressed his erection into Shikamaru’s cum-filled hole and licked the sweat from his back as he stroked him fiercely, not stopping until Shikamaru did as he was told with a shout of Neji’s name.

Neji reluctantly pulled himself away from Shikamaru’s spent body and caught him before he fell to the floor, hefting him up into his arms bridal style and putting him into his bed.

“Don’t go anywhere”, he told Shikamaru as he licked his hand clean of the man’s cum.

Shikamaru watched with half-lidded eyes as a naked and erect Neji repositioned the large rectangle mirror that sat in one corner of the bedroom and brought in a dining room chair to set in front of the mirror. Neji made a few more trips for water, aspirin and lube before returning to stand next to the bed where Shikamaru lay watching him.

“Take this”, he told Shikamaru, extending a glass of water and two aspirin to him.

Shikamaru dutifully complied.

“Now come with me”, Neji said, placing the glass on the bedside table and extending his hand to Shikamaru.

Purposeful eyes watched the smaller man as he accepted Neji’s hand and got out of bed, moving them slowly toward the staged chair and mirror.

Neji sat down in the chair and led Shikamaru around until he was standing between his legs in front of him.

“Earlier in your truck you told me you would straddle me as much as I wanted you to”, Neji told Shikamaru.

“Indeed I did”, Shikamaru answered with a smile, moving into straddle position over Neji’s erection.

Firm hands guided Shikamaru as he sank down, impaling himself to a chorus of their pleasured grunts. God, he loved that feeling. Neji was so deep. They were so fucking good together, it was almost scary.

“Ah, I could show you a couple of different moves from this position”, he told Neji.

Neji smiled a sinful smile. “Like what?” he asked.

They went on that way all night long, and after a series of creative and sometimes arduous location and position changes finally collapsed on each other from sheer exhaustion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The far-away sound of a telephone ringing endlessly was slowly dragging Shikamaru out of a sound sleep. He lay motionless waiting for the phone to stop ringing so he could fall asleep again.

He became aware of the fact that he was snuggling comfortably into a warm body before he even realized it was morning.

Shikamaru opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to an unexpected amount of light in the room. A pale column of throat connected to a solid expanse of lightly hairy male chest filled his field of vision.

That’s when he noticed the smell.

“Shit”, he grunted in recognition as thoughts of the previous evening flooded his mind.

He craned his head to look at the face of the man who was asleep on his side of the bed. Dear God, Neji had the face of an angel--pale, round and smooth, without any blemishes at all. Like porcelain. Dark eyelashes that went on for days. And that mouth, the delicate mouth that had Shikamaru moaning and screaming until all hours.

The man was still asleep. How was that possible with all that ringing going on? And he looked peaceful. Relaxed. Sated.

The thought made Shikamaru smile.

And still the phone rang.

Shikamaru climbed over Neji with a pained grunt and reached for it, relieved when he finally grabbed it.

He fell back to the bed and put the phone to his ear.

“This better be fucking good”, he growled into the phone. Shikamaru’s throat was as raw and sore as the rest of him was.

Silence.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Who the hell is this?” Shikamaru rasped. The silence in the room was deafening now, after all that ringing.

“I’m looking for Shikamaru Nara”, a voice responded.

It was Zabuza’s voice.

“Dude, it’s me”, Shikamaru responded.

He rolled over to the far side of the bed with his back to Neji.

“Everything good?” Zabuza asked.

Shikamaru paused. “Well, yes and no.”

“Does that mean you won’t be coming in today?” Zabuza asked.

“Why, is someone looking for me?”

“No. But the project manager hasn’t been able to get a hold of Neji all morning.”

Shit. Busted. Wait—all morning?

“Z, what time is it?”

“Twenty to eleven.”

Shikamaru’s eyes grew wide. Holy fuck me.

“Do you know where he is?” Zabuza asked.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to respond when a hand pulled the phone away from his ear from behind.

And another wrapped itself around Shikamaru’s cock.

“Zabuza, it’s Neji”, the raspy, sexy, post-coital morning-after voice spoke into the phone behind him. Shikamaru closed his eyes as a shudder ran down the length of his spine and arched into the hand that played with his growing erection.

“I’ll give her a call very soon, but if you happen to talk to the project manager again before that, tell her I’ll be working from home today. And if anyone asks, Shikamaru called in sick.”

Neji removed his hand from Shikamaru’s cock to wrap it around his waist, pulling him back against his own morning erection.

“Did everyone else make it in this morning?” he asked Zabuza.

“No.”

Neji wasn’t surprised. In fact, he was glad. “It’s just as well. If anyone asks, just tell them they called in. I’ve got to go now, but listen--don’t stick around that place too long today. It’s Friday.”

Neji pushed a button to end the call and tossed the receiver near the foot of the bed.

He put his mouth to Shikamaru’s ear. “Good morning”, he rasped.

“It is”, Shikamaru responded, enjoying the feel of Neji’s morning wood pressed against him. He ground his ass into it, expelling a hard breath when Neji pushed back.

“Don’t do that”, Neji warned.

“Or what?” Shikamaru challenged.

“Or it will be Monday before you’re walking unassisted”, he promised.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing”, Shikamaru returned.

“Well it’s a brand-new game without lube and if I recall”, Neji said, adjusting their positions until Shikamaru was face-to-face with him again, “we used it all last night.”

“And quickly”, Shikamaru responded. “Like one of us was eating it.”

Neji slipped a finger between the globes of Shikamaru’s ass, ghosting the tip over his sore and reddened hole. “One of us was”, he responded, and Shikamaru laughed.

“You do realize you just announced to our entire team that we’re sleeping together”, Shikamaru said as he ran his fingers through Neji’s long hair.

“They were going to know anyway, Shikamaru. It was never my intention to hide us.”

“What about your job? I am one of your subordinates, you know.”

Neji made a face. “Fuck it. We’ll go back to work and resume our professional duties. I’ve been letting that job drain the life out of me anyway. If they decide they have a problem with our relationship, then I’ll quit and find something else. I’m just not going to stress over it, not like I have been.”

Neji sighed. “It’s time I found me again.”

Shikamaru smiled. He definitely liked what he was hearing.

“Can I help?” he asked.

Neji planted a light kiss on Shikamaru’s lips. “You already have”, he told him, pulling him into a hug that was eagerly returned.

“And I can’t thank you enough”, Neji finished, thinking to himself that, as successes go, this one beat them all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Zabuza sat across from Haku in the booth at the diner, an empty plate in front of him where a spinach mushroom omelet had been. The sun was high in the sky and the place was bustling with the lunch rush.

“So…do you think things at work will change much now that Shikamaru is your boss’s sex slave?” Haku asked, sipping on a milkshake.

“Too soon to tell”, Zabuza answered. “He did seem a lot happier over the phone this morning, though.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Haku beamed. “I mean, Shikamaru isn’t my type but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s great. Neji is lucky to have him.”

He paused, setting the empty milkshake glass on the table. “So… did you ever get around to telling Neji and Shikamaru that we had to bail Lee and Tenten out of jail last night?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: LOL, we must never allow Rock Lee and Tenten to drink together again.

So, how do you feel about this ‘uke-fied’ Shikamaru and his more emotionally available Neji? I thought I’d try something a little different with this fic. I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^