Work Text:
“Alright, so ..”
The woman leaned forward a little, peering at one sheet of a mess of papers before her on the table. Son cradled against her chest with one arm, cheek squished against her shoulder as he began to snooze, she used the other hand to keep her place on the page as she read aloud.
“Identify the protocols that use TCP port 22 by default. Select three.”
It was followed by a list of eight potential answers, all that were simply acronyms of two or three letters. She’d only gotten to the third one when Shikamaru huffed, interrupting her. Again . She pushed it aside and flipped the page over, checking the answer box for the letters he’d listed for her; she had no fucking clue what they meant, but-
“Cool, you got that one too.”
“I’ve got all of them,” came the terse reply. It came through gritted teeth, brow wrinkled as he stared at his own hand, tapping his fingertips rapidly against the smooth surface of the table. She’d already told him off once for bouncing his leg- which would have been fine , but his knee kept knocking the table and there was only so much of that she could take. “I don’t need the revision, it’s fucking bothersome.”
“Then why did you ask me to help you study?”
Shikamaru scrunched his nose. “I didn’t think you’d say yes .”
“You’re a dumbass.” There was a little noise from her shoulder and Temari hiked the baby up a little bit, pressing a kiss to his dark, wispy hair. “Isn’t that right, my boy? Your dad’s a fucking dumbass.”
The scowl on the man’s face was worth it. Instead of biting back, he paused his tapping to drain the rest of his mug of coffee- his second of the morning.
And he was right. He didn’t need the revision, and she knew it. The only reason Shikamaru was ‘resitting’ this particular external exam was that in a fatigue spike, he’d mixed his days up and slept straight through it. Something he wasn’t particularly interested in having mentioned, as she’d learned when he arrived.
So Temari had fed her son while Shikamaru made himself a coffee, dumped his papers all over her kitchen table, and here they were.
“Okay, next one then.” Finger back on the paper to keep her place, she read out the next practice question for him. “Alright, what can security devices replicate on a Linux-based system using IP tables to examine and handle the network based traffic?”
“Firewall,” he said back flatly.
Flipping the page over again, she checked the answer box and nodded. Shikamaru was back to staring at the back of his hand, drumming his fingers rapidly against the tabletop. His leg bouncing had started again, though he’d shifted to keep it quiet.
Moving on, then.
“Alright. You have developed a utility…” Lord above, this one was a whole damn paragraph. She rattled it off anyway. “Which of the following types of attack is being used in the code? Trojan horse, logic bomb, spoofing, or virus?”
“Logic bomb.”
Checking the answer box, Temari waited; Shikamaru didn’t continue. He just watched the tendons dancing in the back of his hand as he tapped, waiting for the next stupid mock-exam question.
“I need more, ‘Maru.”
“ Ugh , whaddaya mean?”
“What do you think I mean, genius? You need to show your working for this one. What does a ‘logic bomb’ do?” Shikamaru gave an irritated click of his tongue. “Just gotta keep it simple. Literally a sentence.”
Temari waited quietly as Shikamaru pondered, obviously searching for words. Bringing both hands to the tabletop, finger- and thumb-tips pressed together gently in a circle, he focused on them as he thought. ( There it was.) Explaining himself- or explaining things to other people- wasn’t his strong suit. After a sizable pause, he muttered something about instructions and specific conditions and code execution ; in spirit, it matched the answer box.
“And why can’t it be the others?”
An exasperated groan. “I. Because, for trojans and viruses, there’s a time element involved. And.” He paused, considering something, before scoffing and pushing his chair back. The scrape of the chair against the wooden floor gave a sharp noise, jolting Shikadai awake with a jerk. Temari’s hissed ‘ hey, jackass! ’ went ignored as the man shoved his chair back into place with his foot. “Fuck it, I’m done with this.”
“Dude, come on-”
“Nope, I’m gone. That’s me for the day. I’m going for a walk.”
“Hey, alright, I get it, just wait a second.” He stopped, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Gimme just a minute to deal with the boy, and I’ll come with you.” Glowering back over his shoulder, Shikamaru watched Temari get up from her seat and shift Shikadai around in her arms. “Misery’s better with company, right?”
The man narrowed his eyes, and she met them with a raised eyebrow. After a second or two’s staredown, he looked away and snorted.
“Hurry it up, or I’m going without you.”
“Cut the kvetching. One foot out that door before I’m done and you ain’t coming back.”
Leaving Shikamaru to take himself to the entrance hallway and wait, Temari ventured upstairs. The top floor was smaller than the ground floor, consisting entirely of a small hallway, a bathroom, and her baby brother’s bedroom- which is where she stopped, and knocked firmly on the door of.
She didn’t have to wait long; she didn’t hear them make their way over to the door, but after a few seconds of silence the handle turned and the door cracked open just a touch, only enough to let Gaara peek out at her with one green eye. Their gaze hovered on her for a moment, before dropping to her son, dozing off again against her shoulder.
“Hey, Gaara,” and she kept her voice soft, hitching Shikadai back up onto her shoulder again. He gave a little grumble, shoving his fist into his mouth lazily, eyes shut tight. “I’m gonna take a study break and go for a walk- could you look after sheifale for me?”
The door was open before she finished asking her question, just wide enough to let her baby brother lean through. They looked exhausted , red curls a bedheaded mess, and no signature eyeliner to distract from the dark circles under their eyes. But it all paled in comparison to the way those pale eyes lit up at the suggestion that they’d be spending time with their nephew.
“He’s already been fed,” she explained, promptly handing Shikadai over as Gaara’s freckled hands reached out for him. He didn’t even have time to fuss- he’d barely realised he was being shifted before he was tucked securely in Gaara’s arms, hand supporting behind his head with a cheek against their shoulder. “So he’s probably just going to sleep until we get back. But I figured you’d enjoy the cuddles anyway.”
The door had started closing about halfway through what she’d been saying, and clicked shut softly not a second after she finished. Temari just sighed fondly (because she hadn’t been expecting much conversation, they’d been tucked away in their room for the last day or two anyway) and shook her head, heading back downstairs.
Shikamaru was waiting at the front door, shoes already on, halfway through tugging on his jacket. It wasn’t exactly cold out, but she didn’t mention it as she caught up, slipping her own flats on and hooking her bag over her shoulder. “So, where are we off to?” Now that she was here, he was on the way out.
“I don’t care , I just need to get out of here.” He stopped in the doorway and sighed, letting his shoulders drop; he didn’t even need to look back at her, he could feel the look on her pretty face. “Sorry, sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
The tone of her voice made it clear that his stroppiness wasn’t welcome, but the pair of them put it to rest there. Grabbing her bag from its hook by the door, Temari followed her friend out into the sunlight bathing the veranda, and down the short stairs to the pavement.
“We could go to the convenience store and grab some ice cream? It’s only a couple of blocks, but we can take our time.”
“Is that the place that does the shitty espresso?” The pair of them walked side by side, taking up the fairly narrow footpath. Temari made an affirmative noise in the back of her throat. “I want coffee.”
“Yeah, but you already had coffee. You already had two coffees.”
“I want good coffee.”
“Oh, fuck off- you literally just described it as ‘shitty espresso’-”
“Sure, but anything’s better than the freeze-dry instant crap you have at home.”
The conversation died for about a block, and the pair walked in a comfortable silence. Slowing to cross the street, the tall man dug around in one of his pockets, pulling out a beaten up cardboard box and shaking a cigarette out of it. Sticking it between his lips, he flicked his lighter with a trembling thumb and lit up as they crossed.
“First one today, huh?”
Shikamaru took a long drag from his cigarette, and then let the lungful of smoke out in a slow breath; for a moment, Temari thought he might simply be ignoring her comment. And fair enough. But then he gave her a nod, punctuated with a sigh. “Been tryin’a cut back.”
“Don’t worry, I noticed.”
“I’ve been trying to replace it with coffee-”
“I noticed that too.” It was a laugh but her voice was gentle, and he slowed down a little as she touched his arm. There was a bit of a tense look on his face as he spared her a glance. Temari’s bright eyes softened. “Man, you don’t have to defend your choices to me. You don’t smoke around the boy, that’s good enough.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Smoke back in his mouth, he shoved one hand in a jacket pocket and used the other to fiddle idly with the end of his ponytail. The embarrassment came through just in the edges of his voice. “Sorry. Normally I’m hashing this shit out with Ino.”
“Oh, I understand.”
Ino Yamanaka could be a lot when she was invested in something, and both of them knew it well. It was part of why Temari and Ino made such good girlfriends- and the strongest point of tension in Ino and Shikamaru’s friendship.
“I know it’s coming from a place of love,” he continued, “but it’s frustrating, y’know? That sort of shit works with some people, but I’m not one of ‘em. I know she just wants what’s best for me, but a lot of the time...”
“She’s forgetting to take into account how you feel about it, right?”
“Exactly. One point- I think it was a couple months ago- we had a fight over it, and she told me she didn’t want me coming ‘round to her place smelling like smoke again, so I told her to have a nice life.” (The tobacco smell was something Shikamaru was very aware of, and something he did his best to mitigate, to varying degrees of success.) Temari barked a laugh and covered her mouth, which pulled a smile from her friend. “I was joking! But it didn’t land very well, I don’t think.”
(And Ino knew why he started smoking. Everyone did. Maybe that’s why she was so intent on him stopping. But if there was anyone that was gonna dig their heels in on something like this just as hard as she could, it was Shikamaru.)
The tension of the conversation eased with Temari’s laughter, and the topic shifted toward Shikamaru’s assignment as they continued to the convenience store. So far, the walk fortunately seemed to have improved both their moods. By the time they reached the store, he’d finished his cigarette; he stamped it out on the metal lid of the bin, before binning it and heading straight for the counter.
As soon as Shikamaru had ordered his coffee (double strength flat white, irish cream flavour shot), Temari had found herself a honey-flavoured ice cream and some other small things (a bag of cheeseburger flavoured chips for Kankurō, a packet of salted beef jerky and an energy drink can for Gaara) to bring to the counter. They even gave her a paper bag for them.
Once he had his coffee in hand, Shikamaru thanked the barista cashier and the two started on their journey back home*
Two steps out of the convenience store, the man had his little box of smokes back in his hand, entirely on instinct. Temari noticed, of course, and she noticed him hurriedly shove them back into his jacket pocket too- she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she asked about his coffee. Shikamaru grunted.
“It’s coffee.”
And that was that. For half the walk home, Shikamaru quietly nursed his coffee, and Temari ate her ice cream before it could melt down onto her hands. The silence wasn’t quite as comfortable as it was on the way out, and something told her it wasn’t computer security on his mind. Once she was done eating, she cleared her throat.
“So. Just since it’s the hot topic of the day’n all.” Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as she spoke. “D’ya mind if I ask…. do you actually want to quit?”
“No.”
The answer was short, and he was obviously hesitant to say anymore. But the woman gave him the room to continue, and he gave a shaky sigh.
“I’m not interested. The withdrawal is ass, it makes this stupid fatigue standable , and I really just cannot be fucked trying to kick it entirely.” The more he spoke, the more of an edge his voice got- it was only the tiniest sharpening, but it was there. “I know Chōji wants me to stop smoking. I know Kankurō wants me to stop smoking. God knows I know Ino wants me to stop smoking, as if I give a damn.”
Another sip of his coffee. Temari just let him speak.
(Sometimes you just have to let it out.)
“I don’t smoke around them, and I don’t smoke around Shikadai. I don’t smoke inside, and I’ve cut it back. But that’s my limit.” His shoulders dropped, though he didn’t react to feeling her hand come to rest on his back as they walked. “Maybe that’ll change some time. But it’s not gonna be any time soon.”
(Not when it was the only thing he had left of-)
“Not until you get therapy?”
Shikamaru snorted at the comment, and almost stopped walking as he let a small laugh slip out. Grabbing his elbow, Temari pulled him to a full stop and looked up at him.
“For what it’s worth, not wanting to quit is fine.” And from the look on his face, she wasn’t sure anyone had ever actually said that to him before. Floundering for a moment, the man drained the rest of his coffee and cleared his throat, before sticking an arm out awkwardly. Temari took the offer happily, wrapping her arms around his scrawny waist and giving him a tight squeeze. His hand came to rest on her back gently. “Though, I was serious about the therapy.”
“Thanks, Temi.” Once she was satisfied he was sufficiently consoled, she released him from the hug and he immediately started to head back home again. “I think I’m done talking about that for the day.”
“That’s fine. Thank you for letting me in.”
“I’m not going back to that stupid fucking exam practice either. I was serious when I said I was done for the day.”
“You can help me make lunch before Kankurō gets home, then.”
“ Ugh .”