Labor Force Liaison

((Reviews do make me update faster lol. I hope I can accurately capture the hottness that Shika and Neji embody. It is a tough job.))

Chapter 5

Work was pretty awkward that next day. Neji avoided Orochimaru and Kabuto the entire time. He just couldn’t bear to see them. His day got much better after lunch. Shikamaru showed up unexpectedly around then.
“Come eat lunch with me.” The technician said, waiting for Neji to get up.
Neji looked up from his computer screen. He had been doing a lot of work that day. It got his mind off of what was going on in his life…and he was supposed to do it. He was hungry though.
“Fine.”
Shikamaru took Neji to a nearby restaurant for a quick bite. They didn’t have that long for lunch, though not that many would notice if they were late.

“I was thinking…”
Shikamaru broke the long silence that had gripped their table at some point. Neji’s random staring was unnerving him. It went from his glass of water, to his fork, then to a window behind him.
“...First, lemme ask this. Are you interested in guys?”
That gained Neji’s attention. His eyes locked onto Shikamaru, a sudden coloration etching onto his cheek.
“Well…I mean…I’m not…I mean..not really. No. I mean no.” Neji said finally, checking Shikamaru’s expression immediately after he answered.
The genius looked at Neji questioningly for a moment before continuing on.
“If you aren’t interested in guys, I don’t see how you ended up going home with him. He did seem interested. Actually, really interested. And you said you weren’t a light weight.”
“What are you getting at? He tried to get me drunk so I would go home with him?”
“I’m saying he put something in your drink to speed that process up.”
Neji froze, his mind going over that information. Shikamaru noticed that, sure that he was on to something.
“I guess it’s possible.”
Shikamaru frowned at that. What kind of answer was that? There wasn’t any passion, no outrage, no nothing. Just a vague answer. He was suspicious now. The technician paused for a moment, just staring at Neji. He was trying to get the Hyuuga to crack and tell him what was going on. Something had to be going on.
“If you feel like talking about it, you know where I am.” Shikamaru finally stated, finishing up his food.
All this stuff was really eating away at Neji. He wanted someone to talk to. He couldn’t talk to his family about anything like this. Shikamaru could see the stress on Neji’s face. He did this thing with his forehead where it would wrinkle up a certain way when he was thinking hard. The lazy Nara caught on to that after those chess games. Obviously, the Hyuuga wouldn’t give up that information easily. Neji was a private person. Shikamaru needed to loosen him up a bit.
“Want to do something tonight? Watch a movie at your place?”
“Yeah. Whatever.” Neji said, not even thinking about the request. It didn’t matter. A movie wouldn’t be too bad. It might get this nonsense off his mind.


“You better not touch anything. I just cleaned up.”
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Did he need to say that every time? The lazy Nara couldn’t tell if cleaning had happened or not. He had come to expect Neji’s place to be spotless. It was very unnerving. There was no way he could live in a place so clean. It would be much too troublesome. They took a seat on the couch together, putting all of their acquired snacks on the coffee table. The technician waited for about thirty minutes before he went into investigation mode.
“My uncle…well, that’s what I considered him. He was important to me. Anyways, he taught me a lot growing up. I actually learned to play chess and shogi from him. He was more of my dad than my real dad was. He smoked a lot. Whenever I saw him, he had a cigar or something. He died because of it. It really changed me. I’m still getting over it. I left home after his death. I haven’t seen or heard from my parents in a little over a year.”
Neji looked baffled by the sudden openness. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he produced a coherent thought.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I needed to get it off my chest. It helps to get something like that off of you. I trust you enough to tell you.”
Shikamaru’s eyes trailed to Neji, those bored brown eyes seeming to pry at him. The Hyuuga didn’t return Shikamaru’s look. He sat in silence, pretending to watch the movie. The silence lasted for so long, the lazy technician thought he lost. Maybe Neji wasn’t going to open up about this.
“I know what you’re doing.”
Shikamaru’s attention shifted to the body seated next to him.
“Why do you care so much? You barely know me.”
“I dunno. I don’t really have a lot of friends really. Honestly, you seem like a person I could be friends with and I guess I feel guilty about that night. You came there with me. You should have left with me.” Shikamaru said, his expression completely neutral.
“My parents died. Years ago. My mother died having me. My father died from health complications. I’ve always lived with my Uncle and his family. All the time I’ve been with him, I’ve had to depend on him for everything. It was hard on me—“
“Cause you weren’t really his son.”
“Yeah. I was like some stranger taking his money. He’s really reserved too, and never really talked to me. I could. I never could tell if he even liked me.”
Neji took a breath, his eyes trailing down to his hands that rested in his lap.
“When I got this job, it was a big. I got to move out and pay my bills. I can’t lose that.”
Shikamaru was confused now. When did losing his job come into play?
“I don’t follow.”
Neji closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m being blackmailed by Kabuto.”
Now the Nara was confused and pissed.
“I still don’t—“
“That morning, I woke up naked in his bed. I have a pretty good idea what happened from where I was hurting. He’s holding this over my head as an affair that would affect my ability to work. They’d fire me. You know he won’t get fired. He is in this company for a reason. Everyone knows Kabuto’s dad got him there.”
Shikamaru gave Neji a pained look regarding his predicament. That rich asshole undoubtedly had some proof of their night.
“Quit.”
Neji’s head snapped up, promptly looking at Shikamaru like he was insane.
“Just quit and find a new job.”
The Hyuuga shook his head, raking at his hair. How come he didn’t think of that?
“I need some alcohol. I can’t be this open and sober.” Neji grumbled, heading to the fridge. Too much was going at the moment. He brought a bottle back to the table along with a glass. He took himself a quick shot. After a deep breath, Neji looked over at a very amused Shikamaru.
“Well? What do you want to know? I know you wanna ask something else.”
“What the hell does that asshole want?”
Neji frowned. He knew that would be the question. That called for another few shots.
“Basically. He wants me as his little sextoy.”
Shikamaru looked pissed. He had hoped that that wouldn’t be the case. He grinded his teeth a bit as Neji didn’t look to be done. The other opened his mouth to continue, but decided on taking a shot instead.
“He called after our chess match. I went….” Neji paused once again, closing his eyes. ‘…and we did it. Someone else was there…fuck…it was disgusting. I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll quit and beat his ass if something like that ever happens again.”
Shikamaru was beyond pissed. That rich asshole needed a big taste of karma. He was sure he’d be able to come up with an appropriate punishment. Shikamaru sighed, leaning back lazily into Neji’s couch.
“Well, we have to get him back. He can’t get away with it.”
“You’re all smart. I’ll just quit and beat his ass. You can be clever if you want.”
Neji took another drink and Shikamaru was forced to laugh.
“You’re going to be so drunk.” Shikamaru said, shaking his head in amusement.


“We been sittin’ here talking about that asshole. Let’s not be so fuckin’ depressin’.” Neji said, his coherence starting to nosedive…much to Shikamaru’s amusement.
“Well what would you rather—“
“Let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?”
“You told me women were troublesome. You never told me if you prefer them or not.”
The technician cleared his throat, managing to keep his expression the same. It took a hell of a lot of effort.
“So you’re asking me if I’m gay?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Why do you care?”
Shikamaru grinned at the shocked expression on Neji’s face. The lazy Nara loved a little payback. Kabuto just wasn’t the only one getting it.
“I just wanted to know.”
“Would that make things different between us?”
“I guess not.”
“Then why does it matter?”
Neji swallowed. The sober part of his mind wanted him to back off. Fortunately, the sober part was not at all in the majority. The other side wanted brutal honesty. The votes were in.
“I didn’t really think about this being gay thing, but I didn’t completely hate the idea of doing stuff with the rich asshole…before he went all apeshit. I thought I could talk to you about this stuff….and I mean…you’re pretty cute for a computer nerd.”
Shikamaru stood up when he heard that, smirking. That’s all he needed to hear for the night. There was no point in taking advantage of drunk, hot Neji. It would be nice to take advantage of drunk, willing Neji. Shikamaru needed to go.
“I’ll take that as a compliment. For a drunk, boring, grunt worker, you’re pretty cute.” He said, heading for the door.
“Don’t go.”
Shikamaru had no idea when Neji got up to follow him. Regardless, Neji was looking at him with those eyes. He looked lonely.
“It’d be a lot easier to say no to him if you were here….and you never answered me.”
“You’re a big boy, Neji. And you already know the answer.” Shikamaru said, making another move to leave.
The Hyuuga grabbed his wrist, those desperate eyes on him again. They looked so much like clouds. This was such a bad idea. Shikamaru closed the door, heading back inside.
“Troublesome.”