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Mask Boy

Chapter 21

Notes:

hello, thank you all for the support and curious comments regarding this story :> updates are going to be slow, but i hope to be able to upload more!

Chapter Text

Shikamaru was staring blankly at his cieling, laying on his bed with his arms spread out against the sheet. He could feel his current mental state slowly slipping away from him as he begins to register through everything he went through over the past days.

4 weeks, to be more precise.

It took him 4 weeks to convince Naruto to move into his house and within some of those days, he couldn't find that blond boy at all. It was like he completely hidden himself away, where no one can find him and it stresses Shikamaru out. What if Naruto was in danger and he couldn't find him? What if something does happen? Though he had audibly voiced his concern to Naruto (with carefully picked words, hidden in a nonchalant tone), the younger would simply laugh at him for being a "worrywart." Can you blame him for being one?

Moving on from that, when he first asked Naruto to move in with him, Naruto just sat and stared at him for an estimate of 10 minutes before telling him a straight "no." After that, he ran away from him and hid behind Shikamaru's mom for the rest of the day. He still remembers how he felt during that moment, extremely confused, flabbergasted, and bewildered.

But of course, he wasn't gonna give up that easily. He had been working tooth and nail in attempts to persuade Naruto into moving out of his clumsy apartment. He had tried gifting, low flirting, offers, and even went as far as to beg the boy.

And nobody else, and he means nobody, will ever see him beg like that.

Even after all of that, the only close answer to a yes he got was--

"Uuh... maybe?"

That was a progress right there, the most he has ever gotten away from a no. Now there was a 50/50 chance... no, he was simply lying to himself. It was more like an 80/20 chance with no being the biggest number but he still wanted to hold onto that small hope.

"Ugh! I should ask Ino for some tips on convincing people, she's good at these type of things." He mumbled to himself, sighing out tiredly. He was growing worried again that the longer Naruto stays at his apartment, the closer the villagers were to get their hands on him and do things Shikamaru would rather not think about. Naruto wasn't utterly defenseless though, he took it upon himself to teach the blond some basic defensive skills to get away from people if he ever encounters anyone dangerous.

But after the bomb situation and Naruto's naturally kind personality, he couldn't take any chances.

That was just one of his worries, the other was that Naruto's attitude towards him has been... different. Whenever he speaks to him, Naruto would visibly get nervous and fidget, more than usual. At some point, it looked like Naruto was trying to avoid him whenever he brings up about hanging out or something related to that.

Could it be that his confession made him uncomfortable? He did it once before so maybe Naruto finally got the hint? Strange though, he thought he read the atmosphere well enough to execute it and it was also kind of obvious that Naruto shares the same feelings.

"At least I think he does."

Big sigh, big annoying, not being able to understand something was annoying and he hates that. He could plot out at least 5 different plans for each missions, he could even solve some of the hardest puzzles thrown at him! Yet, just one boy was able to throw him off completely, as if he didn't have any brain cells left in his head.

Like-liking someone was such a heavy task, how do people do it at ease? How can one form a clear conclusion to please the other?!

.         .         .

A glass of milk sounds nice right now.

He lazily rolled himself off the bed and went out of his room. With a loud yawn, he made his way into his kitchen and proceeds to get himself a glass of milk. However, just when he was about to pour it, a knock was heard from his front door.

"Troublesome, can't even pour my milk in peace."

*Knock*Knock*

He begrudgingly walked towards the front of the house, dragging his tired legs along, and slowly opened the door. Not bothered to see who it was, he greeted with much annoyance.

"What."

"Geez, I'm so glad to see you too."

Presented in front of him, load and behold, the boy he was just thinking about. Naruto's stance was clearly of annoyance equal to Shikamaru's tone, one of his hands being placed on his hip all while a frown decorated his whiskered cheeks. On the other hand, he was holding two small bags beside him and a little pouch hanging around his shoulders.

Shikamaru had not expect this.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me after all of your attempts on trying to get me to live with you, hmph!" Naruto pouted, one side of his cheek puffing up slightly as he turned his head to the side.

Relieved washed over Shikamaru instantly upon hearing that, he almost couldn't believe it. "Wait, really? You're actually saying yes to move in? That quickly-ish?"

"Yeah, it was kinda pitiful seeing all of your hard attempts failing. So, here I am to grace you!" Naruto snickered, flipping his bell back to add into the scene. Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the dramatics and punched Naruto lightly on the chest. Naruto chuckled in return and made his way in.

"Is that all of your things?"

Naruto nodded curtly.

"That's.. not a lot."

"Yeah I know, I can't afford to buy things for myself like clothes, food, weapons, and such. Don't tell anyone this but sometimes I steal in order to get something in my stomach heheh." Naruto whispered the last part, rubbing the back of his head in both embarrassment and guilt.

Shikamaru's eyebrows furrowed.

Alright, new mission for himself. Spoil Naruto with many things once he gets his next paycheck. Even though Shikamaru totally doesn't get the satisfaction of Naruto wearing his clothing, Naruto would most likely appreciate some actual fitting clothes too.

"Come, follow me to your room." Shikamaru instructed, beginning to walk back inside his house. Naruto followed along, whistling playfully at the other.

"You already prepared a room for me?"

"Duh, I knew you were going to agree sooner or later. I had this all prepped ahead of time, all that needed was for you to finally fall into my offer."

Naruto scoffed, "Cocky... I would say your offering was more like begging, I can easily change my mind, ya know."

"Yes you can but you won't."

When they reached the room, Shikamaru turned around to look back at Naruto, grinning from ear to ear at the other's raised eyebrow. It was a look of 'challenge'.

"Why don't you think I won't, huh? Trying to test me?"

"Hmm well, it's because you like being with me.. right? You wouldn't have gone all the way here if you didn't," Shikamaru's expression then softened, "At least the present you trusts me enough to allow yourself in an unfamiliar space."

The random observation had Naruto stumbling with his words, his face growing a bit hotter as his mouth spouted out nonsense even though his brain was telling him to stop. At the end, all he could do was sigh loudly in defeat.

"Whatever..."

Shikamaru beamed victoriously, much to Naruto's annoyance, before bending down a little so that they were face to face, estimating around two - three inches apart. Naruto watched as Shikamaru's expression grew more relaxed, slowly leaning his face closer until their foreheads lightly bumped and decreasing into a mer inch. They both were seemingly on the same wavelength and none took any more action. It was as if they were silently waiting for one of them to make a move, any move, almost like a small challenge at who will break first.

As odd as it seems, Naruto finds this comforting to have Shikamaru close like this. He grew up staring into these brown colored eyes and despite getting flustered because of them at times, he'd never be tired of them...

Naruto found his gaze wandering around, from Shikamaru's eyes, to his nose, to his mouth, and back to his eyes.

Actually, he'd never be tired of being with Shikamaru.

It was unsure how long they were standing there and it only took a small creak from the background to finally snap Naruto out of their staring contest, a quiet panic noise escaping out of his lips as he quickly slid behind Shikamaru, and proceeds to push him out of the door.

"Alright, alright! You win, you weirdo! Now get out so that I can adjust for a minute."

Shikamaru faked a whine, "Aw, you're never the one to do things by yourself though. Let me join and we can continue our little game."

Naruto ignored him and continued to push Shikamaru out the door, using his full body strength. The other simply chuckled again as he allowed Naruto to push him out fully, not fighting back and instead turned around to pat the blond locks.

"I'm just teasing you, but my offer is still up!"

"Hah! And I'm still gonna get comfortable without you so stay out, you big teaser!" Naruto sticked out his tongue while pulling down one of his under eye before slamming the door. He leaned against the door and let out a soft sigh, a hand on his chest as he felt it refusing to calm down in speed. He listened to the quiet huff from behind the door, assuming that the other was smiling stupidly that his teasing worked, and then footsteps walking away.

"Well when you're done, you know where to find me."

He stayed there until he couldn't hear any footsteps before completely dropping his things and grasping his hair. His full emotions began to overflow at the scene where he'd memorize the details of Shikamaru's face, the fact that he was almost tempted to close the gap between them and seal their-

"GAHH?!? I can't think like this!"

He slapped his cheeks but was unsure if the burn was from that or from the annoying thing called 'feelings'! Fake emotions, fake emotions, he doesn't feel anything towards Shikamaru pass the friendship.

"Deep breathes in and out..." He mumbled to himself a few times and stood there for a minute. But it was a futile thing as his body grew even hotter somehow, nearly feeling like he was going to pass out with the amount of heat he was handling. Uncertain on how else to get himself to stop, he shut his eyes closed, lips sealed tight, and bolted straight towards the bed. Standing at the edge, he begins to gaslight himself and nodding.

"He's just a friend, yeah! A great and wonderful friend!"

Exactly Naruto! Shikamaru was just his friend and nothing more than that! Just his incredibly cool, intelligent, slothful, handsome guy!

 

.        .       .

 

Sigh.

He took a big jump and landed safely onto the soft cushion. Taken in another deep breath, he raised both his fists and started punching the pillows under him. After a few good uppercuts and many, many screeches, he slowly sat himself up and blinked.

The flash images of Shikamaru was no more... holy crap he couldn't believe that actually worked! The power of releasing your emotions through physical comeback onto objects was definitely something he'll remember to do again, though his face was still hot, it was most likely from the frantic movements he was doing on the bed.

Ahahah! How silly of him for overreacting earlier!

"I knew it was fake, 'tebayo!"

He had beaten his feelings down quicker than last time! This truly shows that his feelings to Shikamaru weren't actually the oh-so troubling one and just him being an idiot. Celebrating, Naruto jumped off the bed and marched towards the door to display his new found confidence to the said man. His hand was on the handle and he snickered to himself.

Oh Shikamaru, you really thought you can get through Naruto with all the stupid teasings. Win? Nah, he'd never let that happen!

He walked next door to his room with big strides and saw that the door was wide open. He took a peek in but couldn't see any signs of the other.

"Where could Shika be?"

Then a soft sound of thuds coming from Shikamaru's backyard entered his ears, having a hint of where the other could be.

Why was he outside and causing a small ruckus? No matter the answer, Naruto quickly made his way to the backyard with a wide mischievous grin set on his face. He was so ready to tease the hell out of him.

His best bud, great pal, amazing friend and awesome-





.         .         .





Oh.   .   .





What the actual fuck.

The thing Naruto sees was punching bags, dummies, kunais, shurikens, and Shikamaru himself at the center. You would think this was something normal based on the simplified descirptions provided, no, it was way more in Naruto's eyes. Nothing could prepare him at the sight he was seeing

He gaped, his mouth opening and closing as his tried to scramble through any normal words he can piece together. But of course, it's Naruto.

"Bro... you're shirtless?!"

Shikamaru head snapped at Naruto's direction. He smiled at him tiredly and wiped off the sweat from his forehead, which did not help at all mind you!! Naruto eyes scanned nervously and making direct eye(??) contact with Shikamaru's body. Since when did Shikamaru gain this much muscles?! Yes Naruto had felt it before through their hugs and whatnots but actually seeing it in person was a whole new thing and it was odd.

Naruto would be lying if he didn't say that his heart did a full 360 turn, some flips, and maybe even some shaking here and there. His body wouldn't budge even though his brain was screaming at him to stop being so goggly, his feet stayed glued on his spot and he just continues to stare... respectfully.

Shikamaru, seemingly not caught on with Naruto's internal battle, stretched his body around before walking up towards the blond. "You came out a lot fast than I assumed, drama queen."

Naruto made (forced) his head look up at Shikamaru, trying his best yet again to form a sentence. Maybe it was better if he'd kept his mouth shut because the next words that came out of his mouth made him want to curl inside a hole and be left there.

He could've just been normal, ya know, play it cool. Instead, his mouth wanted to speak before his mind could properly think.

"You're toned as fuck."

Rather than a weirded out reaction as any friendship between bros would be, Shikamaru snorted out a laugh, which caused Naruto's stomach to flutter a bit, and reached over to grab his shirt that was on the floor.

"Thanks, glad to hear that you're impressed. You're the only one I want to hear that so my work is paying off."

Naruto chose not to say anything else, finally realizing that it was best to do so as his gaze shifted away from the other. His finger gripped the side of his jacket and bit the bottom of his lips. He let out a small yelp when Shikamaru suddenly entered his vision, Shikamaru's eyebrow quirked as he placed a hand directly onto his forehead. 

"Are you alright? You're looking a little red... wait, could it be?" Naruto grimaced at the sight of the corner of Shikamaru's lips going upwards, eyes glinting in delight. "Were you actually that impress? You like seeing me like that?"

Naruto instantly flamed up at being caugh and quickly shoved Shikamaru away from him, bolting back inside the house without turning around.

"Aaah!"

"Hey! Why are you running?!" Shikamaru shouted.

"Shut your mouth! Not a single word!"

Just when he somewhat convinced himself, Shikamaru had to bring it right back in! What an asshole!

This was going to be way more difficult than he thought, he almost regrets coming here and agreeing to moving in. How can he possibly compose himself if Shikamaru was going to bring this reaction out of him every minute of his life?

He needs to get rid of these feelings, he can't feel like this. He shouldn't let Shikamaru have his hopes up as it will only lead to devastation.

He can't admit that he was in-

"Ouch!"

A sharp pain entered in his chest, causing him to clamp his hands over it and gripping his jacket tightly. He quickened up his pace and ran straight back inside his room, making sure to lock the door before leaning against it once again.

*Pant*Pant*

 

.   .   .




One of his hand moved up from his shirt and onto his hair, gripping it as he slid down to sit fully on the ground. This was his first time experiencing such pain, but he wasn't a total idiot and has an understanding of what the cause was. Never in his life he thought he'd understand and he was in utter confusion if this was supposed to be good or bad.

He let out a frustrated sigh, burying his head into his knees.

"This damn curse..."

Notes:

Thank you for reading <3