Almost Sucks
folder
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
77
Views:
1,993
Reviews:
327
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
2
Category:
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
77
Views:
1,993
Reviews:
327
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
2
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
And Sasuke was on his way home
Almost Sucks
by Mashiro
Naruto fandom, series, no spoilers
AU, BOYS LOVE: Naruto x Sasuke, Kakashi x Iruka, Lee x Gaara
first time: June 24th 2008, Tuesday
second time: January 13th 2009, Tuesday
.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the rights to the Naruto series or characters and I make no money writing this. I’m just a fan. This is fan fiction.
.
.
67: And Sasuke was on his way home
.
Epilogue 1.2: Shikamaru and Chouji
.
.
The first time Shikamaru and Chouji really met was on the roof, two months or so after Sasuke had left. Shikamaru had known of the guy for a while. They went to the same school, he had seen the newcomer walk in and out of Sasuke’s old building and his mother had told him that the Akimichi’s had bought Kakashi’s old apartment. ‘Be polite!’ she had warned. Shikamaru had sighed and silently wondered why everything that happened had to become his problem. But it wasn’t until that day on the roof that they really talked.
It had been Chouji approaching Shikamaru. He had been daring and hesitant at the same time (or maybe just daring because he was hesitant). He had had the air of someone who disliked themselves and had decided to change with the scenery as he moved to a new place. ‘I’ll be daring now, even though I’m hesitant.’ Though they were as different as the sky here and the sky above Sasuke’s new home, talking to Chouji that first time Shikamaru had remembered Sasuke and their first meeting on the roof. Making friends with Sasuke had been much harder and had taken much more time.
Chouji was almost three months older than Sasuke and he was what Shikamaru supposed people called a computer nerd. Shikamaru didn’t have much experience with computers; while they were logic based creations and he handled the basics just fine, he had never really been interested. But Chouji could work miracles with the things. He knew about hardware and programs and games and settings and drivers, what worked and what didn’t. If something didn’t behave as it should he knew why within minutes of clicking or typing or poking. Shikamaru had later found out that Chouji also was an excellent hacker. ‘It’s not that difficult,’ he had mumbled. The guy had found the new phone number of Temari, Kankuro and Gaara, even though faction high-ups had tried to make sure it wouldn’t be found. Shikamaru was sure that the Leaf would want to draft Chouji immediately if they ever found out about his skills, so he would never tell them anything.
Chouji and Sasuke liked the same kind of music, but Chouji had much broader tastes. He liked the music Shikamaru liked as well, and the lighter electronic music. Sasuke had just barely tolerated Shikamaru’s metal and clung to the heavier industrial sound. Chouji ate more than Sasuke did too. Shikamaru didn’t have to kick him under the table to get him to finish his steak or pizza or hamburger. Chouji never dragged Shikamaru out to drink and party so that he could make out with guys on couches. They had been drinking together a couple of times but then they had stayed in Chouji’s room, Chouji showing Shikamaru something on the computer. They did go to the store together sometimes when Shikamaru’s mother sent him shopping, but Shikamaru always called before he came.
If the times with Sasuke had been an endless Saturday night party then this was a Saturday morning with nothing planned. There had been many lazy days with Sasuke, more lazy days than party days, but it wasn’t about what they had done, it was the feeling behind what they had done, the feeling in Sasuke. Sasuke was a lot of things and Shikamaru cared for him, possibly more than he should, and it was not that one was bad and the other was not, it was just... They were different. The inside of Shikamaru was different depending on who he was with. Sasuke was the struggle and Chouji was the letting go (even if he surely also had struggles).
-
When Sasuke and Naruto had left with Gaara of the Sand and his boyfriend, the apartment and Chouji’s room were unusually quiet and the mood unusually tense. Coming back from the hall and having said ‘good bye’, Shikamaru sat down on the bed instead of at his usual place next to Chouji’s computer chair. There was unease in him that felt oddly out of character. There shouldn’t be and he tried to ignore it. There was no reason. But something was awkward.
It had been a good morning in many ways. Despite being grounded and banned from his music there had been a calm over Sasuke that had amazed Shikamaru. He had been so... Saturday morning with nothing planned all of a sudden. Shikamaru had been right; Naruto was a good thing, really. And the morning had been good with Naruto too. Shikamaru had felt bad about drugging the blond and better when he could give him something to say ‘sorry’. (But he would never tell Sasuke that he’d been awake to hear them in the living room.)
It had been messy here, Naruto frustrated and Gaara the teasing type (Shikamaru had known that from the scary days when he was of the Sand), but Shikamaru had anticipated and apologized for that even before they came. If he had been reluctant Shikamaru would have ignored Gaara’s determination to meet with the guy who could find out their phone number, but Chouji had said it was okay.
“Sorry about that,” Shikamaru apologized again anyway.
“It’s fine,” Chouji mumbled. He sat in his computer chair, hands wrapped around themselves in his lap, watching Shikamaru only for half seconds at a time.
“Naruto gets a little excited.”
“But he seemed like a nice guy. Sasuke too.”
“He is. They are,” Shikamaru said.
He thought about what Gaara had said and his heart was squeezed with anxiety. He had never told his new friend that his old one was gay; or that he himself had almost fallen in love with Sasuke at one point. It had never been the right time or the right reasons. Why say it?
It had always been okay with the ones that mattered and were involved. Sasuke had never treated his preference as a problem and neither had Kakashi. That Neji mostly acted like he never made out with anyone was not because he was ashamed, he just wasn’t one to care much about things like love and going out. Shikamaru suspected that his own parents wouldn’t have been overjoyed if he had started going out with Sasuke, but they would have been respectful enough to keep that to themselves. His mother would have been more interested in his grades. ‘Do you really have time for boyfriends when you come home with grades like that?’ He was well aware that they were lucky however. Homophobes and frowning faces were not a rarity. So why say it?
And now, what did you say? ‘Sorry that my friend is dating a guy’? ‘Sorry that he slept with him where we set up that rental console last weekend’? (Equally lacking in console experience, they had wanted to try it together.) ‘Sorry that I never told you I almost fell in love with him once’? Shikamaru wasn’t sorry, but what did you say? He felt like an idiot; for not knowing and for thinking about it in the first place.
Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, tired of thinking, and tossed the unease as he let his head fall back to watch the ceiling.
“I kind of had a crush on Sasuke once.”
The unease fluttered away and landed somewhere on the bed. It was quiet, the afterwards, but Shikamaru was strangely not nervous any more. The sun shone in through Chouji’s window and Sasuke was on his way home.
“Okay,” Chouji said and something in the tone of his voice told Shikamaru that it really, really was. Shikamaru smiled.
.
.
by Mashiro
Naruto fandom, series, no spoilers
AU, BOYS LOVE: Naruto x Sasuke, Kakashi x Iruka, Lee x Gaara
first time: June 24th 2008, Tuesday
second time: January 13th 2009, Tuesday
.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the rights to the Naruto series or characters and I make no money writing this. I’m just a fan. This is fan fiction.
.
.
67: And Sasuke was on his way home
.
Epilogue 1.2: Shikamaru and Chouji
.
.
The first time Shikamaru and Chouji really met was on the roof, two months or so after Sasuke had left. Shikamaru had known of the guy for a while. They went to the same school, he had seen the newcomer walk in and out of Sasuke’s old building and his mother had told him that the Akimichi’s had bought Kakashi’s old apartment. ‘Be polite!’ she had warned. Shikamaru had sighed and silently wondered why everything that happened had to become his problem. But it wasn’t until that day on the roof that they really talked.
It had been Chouji approaching Shikamaru. He had been daring and hesitant at the same time (or maybe just daring because he was hesitant). He had had the air of someone who disliked themselves and had decided to change with the scenery as he moved to a new place. ‘I’ll be daring now, even though I’m hesitant.’ Though they were as different as the sky here and the sky above Sasuke’s new home, talking to Chouji that first time Shikamaru had remembered Sasuke and their first meeting on the roof. Making friends with Sasuke had been much harder and had taken much more time.
Chouji was almost three months older than Sasuke and he was what Shikamaru supposed people called a computer nerd. Shikamaru didn’t have much experience with computers; while they were logic based creations and he handled the basics just fine, he had never really been interested. But Chouji could work miracles with the things. He knew about hardware and programs and games and settings and drivers, what worked and what didn’t. If something didn’t behave as it should he knew why within minutes of clicking or typing or poking. Shikamaru had later found out that Chouji also was an excellent hacker. ‘It’s not that difficult,’ he had mumbled. The guy had found the new phone number of Temari, Kankuro and Gaara, even though faction high-ups had tried to make sure it wouldn’t be found. Shikamaru was sure that the Leaf would want to draft Chouji immediately if they ever found out about his skills, so he would never tell them anything.
Chouji and Sasuke liked the same kind of music, but Chouji had much broader tastes. He liked the music Shikamaru liked as well, and the lighter electronic music. Sasuke had just barely tolerated Shikamaru’s metal and clung to the heavier industrial sound. Chouji ate more than Sasuke did too. Shikamaru didn’t have to kick him under the table to get him to finish his steak or pizza or hamburger. Chouji never dragged Shikamaru out to drink and party so that he could make out with guys on couches. They had been drinking together a couple of times but then they had stayed in Chouji’s room, Chouji showing Shikamaru something on the computer. They did go to the store together sometimes when Shikamaru’s mother sent him shopping, but Shikamaru always called before he came.
If the times with Sasuke had been an endless Saturday night party then this was a Saturday morning with nothing planned. There had been many lazy days with Sasuke, more lazy days than party days, but it wasn’t about what they had done, it was the feeling behind what they had done, the feeling in Sasuke. Sasuke was a lot of things and Shikamaru cared for him, possibly more than he should, and it was not that one was bad and the other was not, it was just... They were different. The inside of Shikamaru was different depending on who he was with. Sasuke was the struggle and Chouji was the letting go (even if he surely also had struggles).
-
When Sasuke and Naruto had left with Gaara of the Sand and his boyfriend, the apartment and Chouji’s room were unusually quiet and the mood unusually tense. Coming back from the hall and having said ‘good bye’, Shikamaru sat down on the bed instead of at his usual place next to Chouji’s computer chair. There was unease in him that felt oddly out of character. There shouldn’t be and he tried to ignore it. There was no reason. But something was awkward.
It had been a good morning in many ways. Despite being grounded and banned from his music there had been a calm over Sasuke that had amazed Shikamaru. He had been so... Saturday morning with nothing planned all of a sudden. Shikamaru had been right; Naruto was a good thing, really. And the morning had been good with Naruto too. Shikamaru had felt bad about drugging the blond and better when he could give him something to say ‘sorry’. (But he would never tell Sasuke that he’d been awake to hear them in the living room.)
It had been messy here, Naruto frustrated and Gaara the teasing type (Shikamaru had known that from the scary days when he was of the Sand), but Shikamaru had anticipated and apologized for that even before they came. If he had been reluctant Shikamaru would have ignored Gaara’s determination to meet with the guy who could find out their phone number, but Chouji had said it was okay.
“Sorry about that,” Shikamaru apologized again anyway.
“It’s fine,” Chouji mumbled. He sat in his computer chair, hands wrapped around themselves in his lap, watching Shikamaru only for half seconds at a time.
“Naruto gets a little excited.”
“But he seemed like a nice guy. Sasuke too.”
“He is. They are,” Shikamaru said.
He thought about what Gaara had said and his heart was squeezed with anxiety. He had never told his new friend that his old one was gay; or that he himself had almost fallen in love with Sasuke at one point. It had never been the right time or the right reasons. Why say it?
It had always been okay with the ones that mattered and were involved. Sasuke had never treated his preference as a problem and neither had Kakashi. That Neji mostly acted like he never made out with anyone was not because he was ashamed, he just wasn’t one to care much about things like love and going out. Shikamaru suspected that his own parents wouldn’t have been overjoyed if he had started going out with Sasuke, but they would have been respectful enough to keep that to themselves. His mother would have been more interested in his grades. ‘Do you really have time for boyfriends when you come home with grades like that?’ He was well aware that they were lucky however. Homophobes and frowning faces were not a rarity. So why say it?
And now, what did you say? ‘Sorry that my friend is dating a guy’? ‘Sorry that he slept with him where we set up that rental console last weekend’? (Equally lacking in console experience, they had wanted to try it together.) ‘Sorry that I never told you I almost fell in love with him once’? Shikamaru wasn’t sorry, but what did you say? He felt like an idiot; for not knowing and for thinking about it in the first place.
Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, tired of thinking, and tossed the unease as he let his head fall back to watch the ceiling.
“I kind of had a crush on Sasuke once.”
The unease fluttered away and landed somewhere on the bed. It was quiet, the afterwards, but Shikamaru was strangely not nervous any more. The sun shone in through Chouji’s window and Sasuke was on his way home.
“Okay,” Chouji said and something in the tone of his voice told Shikamaru that it really, really was. Shikamaru smiled.
.
.