Something Has Got to Give

A/N: All those in favor of NejiShika, please step forward!

Okay, okay. I know I have a stated policy of no more than one WIP at a time. But you can’t appreciate the value of a rule if it isn’t broken. So please enjoy this NC-17 AU romanticomedy NejiShika fix that comes in two chapters and also features Zabuza, Haku, Rock Lee and Tenten.

If you’ve been waiting patiently for an update to Inevitabile Resveglio, I believe I have managed to evolve beyond the impasse that has had me stumped and will be posting the next chapter of it soon.

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Disclaimer: I do not 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; angst; het; language; OOC; romance; yaoi

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“Fuck!” Neji Hyuuga expressed emphatically as he closed his cell phone and set it down on his desk.

He’d taken his car in for regular service the day before, expecting to be able to pick it up at the end of the day. He hadn’t anticipated being told that repairs were required and that he would need to leave his car at the garage for an estimate. Then they’d called from the garage today to inform him that the repairs would cost him three more days apart from his baby and a whopping $1150. It was nothing short of extortion! Neji knew he could take it to a different garage to get another estimate, but that would cost him even more time apart from his car, his baby, his most prized possession.

Son of a bitch! For the past three weeks nothing seemed to be going smoothly in the Hyuuga’s life. Work had come to resemble an obstacle course. Lately his friends seemed to be ditching him for other interests and he’d been on the outs with Gaara, his regular booty call. Everything was stressful and there had been no outlet. Frustration didn’t even begin to describe what he felt at that moment.

Neji tucked a strand of his dark brown hair behind his ear and sighed. He’d deal with this issue like he’d been dealing with the others: he’d sit in his office, randomly shout obscenities and pull at his hair before going into the bathroom to beat off in a stall. Then he’d go eat something with absolutely no nutritional value for lunch before returning to his desk to field more stupid obstacles. Then he’d go home to eat something else with no nutritional value for dinner. For dessert, he’d beat off again in the shower. Then he’d go to bed—alone.

This shouldn’t have been his life.

He got up from his desk and walked out of his office with a sigh, intent on trumping his fastest masturbation time and hoping he could at least count that as a success.

He was not aware of a pair of lazy eyes following his movements.

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

Shikamaru watched his supervisor walk out of his office and past his cubicle, no doubt on his way to the men’s room to masturbate for the first time that day.

He looked at his watch, noting the time. Neji didn’t normally start this early. Things must have been even more haywire than usual.

Shikamaru shook his head. He felt sorry for his boss. Here was this sexy, intelligent, single, childless man, with the kind of runway model looks someone would kill for, whom for at least the past two weeks seemed to have an ever-enlarging black cloud looming above his head.

Shikamaru knew that work was at least part of the problem. Lately their bosses seemed to be on a track that simply defied logic, asking for everything from the amusing to the bizarre to the outright impossible. As a manager, it had to be contributing to Neji’s slow but sure descent into batshit insanity.

He wondered why Neji continued to use a method of relieving his stress was clearly no longer working for him.

What did Neji think about while he masturbated? Did he ever get laid? Shikamaru was curious. He suspected that Neji was at least bisexual, thanks to clues his boss had provided during arbitrary conversations and certain tendencies that a man would only pick up on if he wasn’t straight.

That was a category into which Shikamaru definitely fell.

Shikamaru was more than a little attracted to his boss, not that he’d ever let on. Workplace trysts were a definite no-no in his book. Besides, in the past year since they’d begun working together he’d never gotten an indication that Neji was interested.

It was too bad. Shikamaru would love to have been able to help Neji decompress.

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

The tone signaling incoming e-mail pulled Shikamaru from his thoughts. He opened the e-mail and read it. Haku, one of his colleagues, was organizing another happy hour.

He looked up at the long-legged, short-haired brunette who sat in the cubicle across from him.

“Zabuza”, he called.

His colleague looked up from his computer’s monitor, raising his eyebrows in response.

“Haku is organizing another after-hours get-together. You in?” Shikamaru asked.

Zabuza nodded without hesitation. Haku made the invitation, and Shikamaru was accepting. It was a no-brainer. Besides, it wasn’t as if he had lots of other things to do when he wasn’t at work.

“Cool”, Shikamaru responded, smiling. If Zabuza was going to be there, it meant that Shikamaru could drink as much as he wanted. He knew his friend would give him a safe ride home if he needed it.

“Where are we going this time?” Rock Lee, another of their colleagues who’d received the e-mail asked.

“You’re not going anywhere”, Tenten, a colleague who sat in the cubicle across from him responded. “Last time you had a drink with us we all spent the night in jail!”

“I told you that was a fluke!” Lee replied in annoyance. “I forgot that I had taken medication earlier that day.”

Tenten snorted. “Yeah, let that be a lesson to us all never to mix Ritalin with alcohol”, she mocked.

Shikamaru and Zabuza laughed.

Lee crossed his arms. “Very funny, Tenten”, he replied. “Clearly you missed your calling in stand-up comedy.”

“You’re just pissed off because I’m right”, she answered.

Bitch.

Rock Lee pouted silently. Tenten was a luscious young software engineer, but she was a real smartass who had teased him since the day they met. It was annoyingly reminiscent of his high school days.

He knew what the problem was—everyone did. And one of these days, he planned to take her someplace private to solve it.

“You guys want to do Patterson’s again?” Shikamaru asked to the general vicinity.

Zabuza nodded quickly, not caring where they went.

“That bar across from the academy where all the prep students go to get wasted?” Tenten asked, making a face.

“That’s because their happy hour is the best in town”, Shikamaru responded. “Where else can you get fried shrimp and fifty-cent domestic for two hours?”

“Fine, but I’m bringing pepper spray”, Tenten told him. “And you guys will have to stay close. The chances of getting a drink spiked with a date rape drug increases dramatically in a place selling fifty-cent domestic for two hours.”

“Got you covered, Tenten”, Zabuza said, and Tenten nodded in understanding.

Zabuza was their self-proclaimed all-in-one bouncer, bodyguard and complaint department. If anyone else had a problem with someone from their group during their after-work gatherings, he was the man you had to talk to about it first. At six feet, three inches with a strong, hard body courtesy of his college wrestling days, the complaints were usually settled quickly, and always in their favor.

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

“Rock Lee, do you need a ride?” Neji heard Shikamaru ask.

Neji had emerged from the bathroom more frustrated that he hadn’t beaten his personal best (no pun intended) and overheard his team making plans to meet after work.

How he envied them. His own peers had paired off and were now too busy doing ‘couple things’ to spend any time with him lately, the fascists.

He could tag along with them. He was only a couple of years older than the oldest person who worked for him, after all. Workplace bureaucracy was affecting all of them, so if he decided to cry into a beer or two, he’d be able to count it as a teambuilding exercise.

Besides, he had one hell of a thing for Shikamaru. That one was a looker with a sharp mind and an ass that looked like it had been carved out of marble! He would love to have a shot at that…

Unfortunately, though Neji was pretty sure that Shikamaru batted for his team, he’d never seen a sign of interest from the younger man.

It was just as well. Neji was Shikamaru’s boss, and fooling around with a subordinate was just crazy.

Neji walked past the group of cubicles where his team sat and back into his office, wondering what obstacle was waiting for him next.

He was not aware that lazy eyes had again followed his movements.

Shikamaru checked at his watch. It had taken Neji much longer to finish this time.

Seriously, how could a man like Neji be so repressed?

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

Neji heard the familiar sounds of his team leaving for the day at 4:30.

He sighed, resolved to try to ignore his longing and focused on tying up the day’s loose ends.

Neji was staring at his computer’s monitor, furiously typing e-mail when he heard a soft knock on his office door.

He looked up to find Shikamaru and Rock Lee standing in the doorway. He could swear the skinny one’s eyebrows were actually moving.

“Yes”, he deadpanned, trying not to betray how freaked out he was.

“Yeah”, Shikamaru began, “a few of us are going to Patterson’s in Kage Square for happy hour. Would you like to join us?”

Would I? Neji thought to himself. You bet your sweet ass I would. I’d like to come, sit next to you and grope you shamelessly, all the while telling you whatever the fucking hell it would take to get you to come home with me and let me bend you over my furniture a few times.

“I can’t”, he deadpanned instead, choking back his feelings. “I have work. But thank you for offering.”

He pasted a patently fake smile on before returning his eyes to the e-mail on his monitor.

It was just as well.

“Well, if that changes, you know where to find us”, Shikamaru offered.

Neji didn’t respond, not that either man was surprised.

Rock Lee looked at Shikamaru. He had convinced his colleague to invite their boss to come along with them after Shikamaru commented on how stressed he seemed, even though previous invitations to Neji to accompany them had been met with the same response.

Shikamaru didn’t seem disappointed as they walked away, but Rock Lee knew he was. He knew his friend and colleague had been harboring a secret crush on their team lead since the day the man had come to work for the company, even though Shikamaru had never spoken a word about it.

It was the dance of the unrequited affection, and Rock Lee knew it well.

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

The changing shadows against the wall finally caused Neji to look up from his monitor. By the clock on his desk it was nearly 6PM. He’d done all he could do for the day. It was time for the requisite cab ride home for a nutritionally bankrupt meal and a five-finger salute to his solitude.

The thought made him groan.

Neji could have kicked himself. His team had extended him an invitation to drink with them tonight--In person, no less! He could count that as a success, maybe the only one he’d had in three weeks. Of course, he’d probably jinxed himself for all eternity when turned them down.

He executed his daily routine of saving his files, closing the applications and shutting down his computer. He gathered his things and, with heavy feet, left the building.

Neji pondered his evening as he waited for a cab. He could swallow his pride and call Gaara. It had been three weeks since they’d seen each other, and God knew Neji needed to get some.

Unfortunately, their last conversation had been rather unpleasant. Neji wasn’t sure even abject begging would get him laid after that. Gaara was hardly the type who had to sit home for lack of companionship.

The bizarre thing was, neither was Neji. At least, not so he thought.

So why was he on his way home to be alone?

He was young, intelligent, good-looking, single, and earned a great living. He should be out, mixing it up, enjoying his life. When did he become such an uptight loser?

Neji was stunned by the realization that the only thing he had to look forward to was driving his car and his daily masturbation sessions. And now, he didn’t even have his car! He was willing to bet that bastard mechanic was soaking him for unneeded repairs. He would love to march up to that guy right now, snatch his car key from him and tell him to go fuck himself. Yeah! Then, he’d get into his car, his precious baby with its lush interior that was made just for him, and drive over to wherever his team was, drag that Shikamaru out of there caveman-style, toss him into his car, drive him home and fuck him sideways until the wee hours!

And then—

Neji shook his head. What was he doing? How had he allowed his young life to become this long, debilitating series of ‘can’ts’ and ‘have-to’s’?

The squeaking of brakes in front of him brought Neji out of his thoughts. He opened the back door of the cab and got inside.

“Where to?” the driver asked.

Neji paused, thinking it was about time to get some ‘cans’ and ‘want-to’s’ again.

He looked at the driver. “Patterson’s in Kage Square”, he heard himself say.

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

Patterson’s Pub was already on its way to being a madhouse when Neji walked in. He stood near the door and scanned the crowd in search of familiar faces. He didn’t find any. Had they all gone?

He decided to walk further inside to get a closer look. He was cognizant of the curious looks he was getting from both males and females. Surely they’d seen a man with hair as long as his wearing a tie before!

He thought he saw someone who looked like someone from work walking through the crowd. He began to move in that direction to confirm the sighting when someone else stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

“Hey there!” came the stupidly happy greeting. A very young woman with wavy brown shoulder-length hair and blue eyes cradling a beer against her shoulder stood in front of him smiling. Neji did not miss the fine sheen of sweat on her face. She was already on her way to being tanked, and it wasn’t even 7PM.

“If you need a seat, there’s one right here”, she offered, gesturing to the table next to her where a mixed bag of who were more than likely prep students from the academy sat.

Neji followed the gesture with his eyes and frowned. They were all smiling at him expectantly.

Seriously, what the fuck did they want with him?

“Sorry, I have other plans”, he told her. Like writing my name across a certain software engineer’s ass with a Sharpie™.

“Are you sure we can’t change your mind?” she pressed in a loud voice, pushing her chest forward for emphasis.

Neji actually visibly blanched. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He couldn’t believe women actually still did that. How much had she had to drink?

Neji opened his mouth to inform the woman that he probably gave better head than she did when someone directly behind him spoke.

“He’s busy”, a booming voice declared in a no-nonsense monotone above his head.

The young woman looked up. So did her companions at their table.

Slowly, after the shudder subsided, Neji looked up over his shoulder.

Zabuza Momochi was standing there. Zabuza, the hot software engineer on his team who hardly spoke and was built like a redwood tree, the one who always sat next to Shikamaru during their team meetings. The one he thought he saw flirting with Haku, the tiny androgynous pretty boy who worked in finance, in the parking lot of the office building at lunchtime one day.

What was his story? Neji hadn’t had him pegged for even as much as bi-curious. Of course, Zabuza hardly did anything that was indicative of anything. Except…he always sat with Shikamaru during the meetings.

Were he and Shikamaru more than just colleagues?

Neji pasted on another patently fake smile for Zabuza, who didn’t look at all surprised to see him standing there. Then again, surprise didn’t seem to be within Zabuza’s range.

“We’re over here”, he informed Neji, jerking his head in the direction of their table.

Rescued. Success.

Neji looked back at the woman. “Excuse me”, he said before he turned to follow Zabuza through the crowd.

Neji approached their booth with sure steps. He stopped when Zabuza sat down, aware of all eyes on him.

A voice in his head prompted him to greet his team.

“Hello all”, he spoke, his patently fake smile in place.

Zabuza, Shikamaru and Rock Lee sat on one side of the booth, while Haku and Tenten sat across from them on the other. The table was already boasting several beer bottles and a few empty plates.

“Have a seat!” Haku greeted, scooting to his right to give Neji room to sit down.

Neji looked at him and realized that the someone he saw in the crowd earlier had been Haku.

“Thank you”, Neji responded and sat, clearing his throat nervously.

“We’re glad you could make it”, Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Neji’s eyes met Shikamaru’s, and Neji was stunned. The younger man looked so relaxed sitting there with a bottle of beer in his hand. Neji adored the way the light from the lamp above the table glinted off the small hoop earring in Shikamaru’s left ear. It made Neji want to bite the damn thing. It looked so yummy…

That’s when Neji realized that Zabuza and Shikamaru were sitting together. Again.

God dammit.

“Thank you for inviting me”, he told him before looking away, hoping his expression did not reveal his frustration.

The sound of a full bottle of beer being placed in front of Neji made him look up.

“To get you started”, Zabuza told him.

Neji nodded while nervously rubbing his hands together in his lap. “Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“Domestic is fifty cents a bottle and there’s fried shrimp and chicken wings until seven”, Tenten supplied.

“We should get another round”, Shikamaru stated. “It’s nearly seven.”

Without a word, Zabuza got up and made his way to the bar.

Neji cast another glance at Shikamaru, who was sipping his beer. He decided he needed to get up and move around before the tension made him do something stupid, like challenge Zabuza to an arm-wrestling match for Shikamaru’s honor.

“Why don’t I get us some food?” Neji volunteered. “I’m a little hungry myself.”

He stood up without waiting for an answer and slid out of the booth.

“I’ll go with you!” Haku announced, sliding out behind him.

The three people who remained at the table watched as their companions walked off.

“Amazing”, Tenten proclaimed, sipping her beer. “We must have invited him to drink with us a dozen times and he finally cracked. Wonder what did it?”

“I do not know, but something did”, Rock Lee responded. “Look at him, his anxiety is like a force field around him!”

“You’d think a guy that hot and that smart would have it easier”, Tenten reasoned.

Shikamaru took a sip of his beer.

“I don’t know about that, everybody’s got issues. What I do know is that Neji needs to unwind. I say we make it our mission tonight to see that he does just that”, he told his friends.

“Agreed”, Rock Lee responded, and Tenten nodded.

The three of them raised their beers in the air in salute, and then drank in unison.

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

Shikamaru, Tenten and Rock Lee cleared the empty bottles from the table for Zabuza, who made two trips to the bar for a total of 18 beers consisting of three different domestic brands.

Neji and Haku returned to the table with plates piled high with fried shrimp and chicken wings in each hand.

The stage, as it were, was set.

And so Shikamaru imposed a rule that no one discuss work.

Neji tried to ignore the surge of panic that rose in him. Work was what he and his peers always discussed when they were together. As far as he knew it was the only thing he had in common with his team—well, except the fact that he and Shikamaru both liked boys.

But they couldn’t talk about that—at least, not in front of Zabuza.

Neji was determined, however, that they would talk about it—and soon.

In the meantime, he decided he would enjoy the evening with his team and just let things happen.

Haku suggested a series of fun drinking games resulted in the annihilation of a dozen beers and six shots. After that, they mostly sat, ate and talked. They talked about college, clothes, movies, motorcycles, the weather, money and even their parents.

Neji was glad he had decided to come. He realized just how much he missed being out like this, and how much he’d been holding himself back. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so at ease.

He was also beginning to realize just how special his team was, too. He was very impressed by all of them.

In a way, it had become a teambuilding exercise.

He noted to himself, though, how no one brought up the subject of sex or relationships.

Hmph.

Interesting.

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

“Did anyone here play cricket in college besides me?” Neji asked as he raised his hand in the air.

“I played soccer”, Rock Lee responded.

“I fenced”, Tenten chimed in.

“Touché”, Neji responded, smiling at the woman.

“I wrestled”, Zabuza announced as he drank his beer.

Neji’s brows furrowed. “A tall guy like you? Why not basketball?” he asked.

Zabuza looked at his boss. “Because the basketball coach was a pervert and I have a short temper.”

Neji made a face. “Fair enough”.

He looked at Haku then. “What about you, Haku?” he asked.

Haku set down his beer. “I wasn’t an athlete like you guys. I was a skater boy”, he declared with a tipsy chuckle. “I was also a drama geek.”

Rock Lee’s face lit up. “Me too!” he exclaimed, raising his hand.

Haku high-fived him, and Tenten laughed.

“It figures you would be the guy who would mold out your junk in a pair of tights”, she mocked Lee. “Was that the popular method of trying to lose one’s virginity at your high school, Lee?”

“For your information, that is precisely the reason why I no longer have mine”, Lee responded.

“Oh, really? What was his name?” Tenten asked him. “Or does he live in Canada?” Everyone at the table snickered in response.

Lee smirked. “What is the matter, Tenten? Were you hoping to be the one to get my cherry?” he asked.

Tenten laughed dramatically. “In your dreams”, she responded.

“More like in yours”, Lee parried. “But I am willing to accommodate you if you ask me nicely.”

Shikamaru quirked a brow. This was getting interesting.

“As if I would ever!” Tenten exclaimed, downing the rest of her beer and setting the empty bottle on the table. She was suddenly aware of all eyes at the table on her. “What?” she asked.

“Scared, Tenten?” Lee answered. “I am on to you. You act like a bitch to me to hide the fact that you want me so much. Why not drop the act? Let me take you back to my place. I will knock the edge off and then some.”

Tenten looked stunned. “With what, someone else’s body and a how-to guide?”

“Oh, please”, Lee interjected. “You and I both know I have the tool to handle the job. A person would have to be blind not to know. That is your problem. You are afraid the ugly, skinny geek with the bowl haircut is going to show you a new way, and you might like it a little too much.”

“That’s bullshit!” Tenten shrieked.

“Then call my bluff”, Lee responded.

Lee wasn’t drunk, but the drinks had relaxed him, and now he was on a roll. He was fed up with holding back. He was determined to fuck Tenten until she was begging for mercy in her loudest voice. It would be her penance--and their pleasure.

“Come on, Tenten. What have you got to lose?”

“Are you kidding? Start with the contents of my stomach.”

Rock Lee shook his head. “There you go again. I swear your denial is a living breathing beast. It is tragic to be so sexy and so repressed at the same time. How can you stand it?”

Tenten trained a hard scowl on the man in front of her. “What the fuck would you know about it?!” she all but screamed. “You know, it’s good that you’re here because now I can tell you just how pathetic I think you are, you—pipsqueak! You were one of those annoying boys in high school who was always smiling at the pretty girls hoping one of them would take pity on you and smile back! And I’ve got news for you, Lee. The size of your dick hasn’t changed a damn thing. Now you’re just a hyperactive man-boy hanging out with the cool people from work as some form of sick sad compensation. And it will be a cold day in hell when I let a pathetic geek like you into my pants!”

Tenten’s words were harsh, but Lee was undeterred. He reached across the table, grabbing Tenten by the shoulders and yanking her forward, sealing their lips together in a blazing kiss.

“Whammph—“ she mumbled the second before she felt Rock Lee’s tongue invading her mouth. It was her intent to push him away, but she quickly found that tongue to be a very gifted one, expertly massaging her own into submission. It was wreaking havoc on her already pickled mind, to say nothing of what it was doing to other parts of her body. She moaned and braced her hands against the table as she leaned in further, helpless against her need for more of that mouth, of that kiss, of that taste, of that sensation…

It was what she wanted. God help her, from the moment she laid eyes on that unnatural bulge in the man’s pants she couldn’t help but be curious and now…she wanted it. All of it.

Everyone else at the table looked on in wide-eyed silence.

It was Lee who broke the kiss and leaned back, watching Tenten with lusty eyes. She was flushed and panting, her lips were swollen, and she looked…confused.

She was perfect.

“Earth to Tenten”, someone mumbled.

Tenten looked around the table. They were all looking at her. What had just happened? What was she doing?

She reached across the table and slapped Lee hard.

His head jerked from the impact, but he did not speak.

Tenten closed her eyes. Feelings of shock, lust and shame were swallowing her whole. Her palm was stinging.

She could still taste Lee in her mouth.

She furrowed her brows and looked down, still a little breathless. “I think…I’d better go”, she stated.

“I will drive you home”, Lee declared.

She scowled at him again. “Stay away from me!” she hissed.

Haku and Neji scooted over and got up to let Tenten out. Tenten stumbled as she stood, taking one last look at Lee before turning and moving through the crowd.

“Let me out”, Lee ordered.

Shikamaru and Zabuza quickly complied.

“Be careful, Lee” Shikamaru told him.

Lee looked at his friend. “Do not worry”, he responded. “I will see you all tomorrow.”

He turned and quickly made his way through the crowd and out of the bar.

“Wow”, Neji exclaimed, surprised. “Have they been hot for each other all this time?”

“You don’t know the half of it”, Shikamaru responded. “It’s ridiculous.”

“Twenty bucks says he gets whiskey dick and then can’t follow through”, Haku declared.

“Come on, Haku, he hasn’t drunk anywhere near the volume of alcohol he would need for that”, Shikamaru replied.

“Maybe not”, the small man responded, “but you know how it goes when you talk tall, it’s Murphy’s Law.”

“That isn’t Murphy’s Law, it’s just dumb luck”, Zabuza clarified in a voice that betrayed a bit of knowledge on the subject.

“Yes, well he’ll do fine. There’s no such thing as whiskey mouth”, Neji concluded, and they all laughed.

He looked at Shikamaru with determined eyes then. “You know Shikamaru, in all the melee we never got to hear what your sport was in high school.”

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, stunned that Neji even remembered what they were talking about before Lee and Tenten’s sexually-charged tangent.

“I, uh, I was a swimmer”, he replied.

Shikamaru took a sip of his beer. “And a gymnast.”

Oh dear God in Heaven.

Neji leaned his head against his hand, trying like hell to seem unaffected as untold thoughts raced through his mind.

“So you rocked your junk in tights too”, he quipped, blinking slowly. “Interesting.”

Oh dear God in Heaven.

Shikamaru quirked a brow. “Is it?” he asked, praying he had suitably disguised any hope in his voice.

Whoa. Haku’s eyes grew wide. Sexual tension suddenly sprang from out of nowhere between those two. Haku noticed Neji’s eyes watching Shikamaru and Shikamaru coyly looking away and his mouth gaped. Where had that come from?

He was delighted, though. Now he had a suitable excuse for leaving with Zabuza. He knew the big man would have stayed with Shikamaru until the last moment.

Haku knew that Shikamaru only liked boys. He also knew that Shikamaru wasn’t interested in Zabuza that way. They were friends and colleagues, nothing more.

Zabuza only liked girls, and everyone knew it. But that didn’t matter to Haku. He still wanted him. Zabuza was big and powerful and smart and sexy and gentle and kind and loyal. He was always taking care of everyone else.

Haku wanted to be the one who took care of Zabuza.

“Hey, you know”, he began, looking at his watch, “I’m beat. I’d better go if I’m going to make it to the office in the morning. Any chance I could get a ride with you, Z?”

Zabuza looked at Shikamaru.

“Okay with you?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay to drive”, Shikamaru responded, looking at his friend. “You guys go on. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Oh no you won’t, Neji thought to himself.

His opportunity was at hand. Shikamaru was a good as violated.

I don’t even have to arm-wrestle the beefy one now. I’ll have to remember to thank the he-male for that.

Neji slid out of the booth and got up. Haku was right behind him, standing up next to the taller man.

Zabuza finally stood, looking purposefully at his boss before looking at Haku.

“Let’s go”, he told the small man.

“’Night, Shikamaru”, Haku said, aiming amused eyes at both men before turning and leaving with Zabuza.

Neji watched the large man leave and suppressed his urge to take the seat he had vacated, resuming his seat across from Shikamaru instead.

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

A/N: All right. The stage is set. I’m leaving it up to you whether LeeTen happens or not. This is a NejiShika, people.

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Please leave a review with your thoughts.

The second and final chapter of this fic is already written and on its way.