Shikamaru should have known it wasn’t a dream.
Not that he hadn’t had ones like this before. The feeling of pleasant weigh pressing him back, moist heat against his neck, soft strands of sandy blond clutched between his nimble fingers, a warm hand sliding up the inside of his thigh...
It felt good, too good. Too real.
And when the fog of his brain finally lifted enough for his eyes to open, it wasn’t a clear blue mid-day sky above him, it was a ceiling.
And the warm hand had found purchase on something that made his hips buck involuntarily in reaction.
“Shit shit SHIT!”
Chouji’s lips and hand jerked away. “Shika?”
Hands were on the larger boy’s shoulders, about to push him away when he caught the panicked look on his friend’s face. A deep sigh. “I’m going to kill her....”
“Who?” Chouji sat back. As if he wasn’t confusing enough today.
“Ino.” Shikamaru found a comfortable position on his friend’s bed.
“Ok...why?”
The brunette rubbed his forehead, a headache already forming. “Well...”
------------------
“You mean you two haven’t done it?”
“Not that it’s any of your business.” Shikamaru blocked Ino’s kick easily. How they had gotten into this conversation while training was beyond him.
The woman had that evil little grin on her face. “You guys have at least gotten to second base though right?”
Silence.
“God you’re lame Shikamaru. Cute but lame.” Ino’s grin was taking up her whole face. “You love Chouji don’t you?”
“Of course I do. Stupid question.”He tried to swat away the finger she was poking into his flushed cheek.
“Then you need to express your love. I’ve never even seen you two kiss.”
“Just because we’re not all over each other like you and Dog-boy doesn’t mean...OW!”
He didn’t block the smack to the side of his head.
“This has nothing to do with Kiba.”
“Fine, whatever.” Damn the girl hit hard. Shikamaru rubbed his head, a mutter under his breath of, “It’s not like I don’t want to.”
“What was that?”
“I said it’s not like I don’t want to,” he sighed.
“You’re just too nervous to go for it aren’t you?”
“.....shut up Ino.” He turned, heading towards the nearest tree.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to take a nap. If you’re just going to be troublesome I’m not training with you.”
He really should have known better then that.
Ino didn’t just let things go.
And she was getting far too skilled in her Shintenshin no Jutsu.
--------------------------
“You can stop laughing now Chouji, it’s not that funny.”
“Well not to you it’s not.” The larger boy grinned as his chuckled finally subsided.
“So what exactly did I, well, did she do?”
“Showed up at my door, asked if you could come in, and then you...she...whatever, practically jumped me. vIf Shikamaru could have blushed anymore.... “Why didn’t you stop me?!”
“I was enjoying it,” Chouji frowned, “I thought you were too.”
“I was, a mean I would have been.” Shikamaru sighed, that really hadn’t come out right. Damn woman. It was bad enough he didn’t have the nerve himself to come this far, but dealing with the aftermath now was just...awkward.
The brunette slipped off the bed, retrieving his discarded vest from the floor. “I should go.”
“You don’t have to.”
The voice was just loud enough to make Shikamaru look back, to see Chouji’s fingers digging into his comforter nervously, to see the way his friend was looking at him. It was loud enough to let the vest drop back onto the floor, for him to take a seat next to the blond, covering one nervous hand with his own.
“She’d never let me hear the end of it if I walked away now would she?”
“Probably not.” Hot breath against his ear.
Shikamaru didn’t have time to react before the kiss, didn’t care, didn’t mind the taste of spice that lingered on Chouji’s tongue. He loved the taste, the sounds Chouji made, the sounds him found himself making. Every touch, every taste, every sound that filled the room that night.
It felt good, too good. Wonderfully real.
He’d have to thank Ino later...maybe.