Work Text:
Winter was probably Shikamaru’s least favourite season.
He was not particularly sensitive to the cold, he just found the whole thing a bit of a mess and kind of a drag. The rain was troublesome; the water got everywhere, he often forgot his umbrella and ended up soaked to the bone and everything looked grey. The snow was even worse, on top of being as troublesome as the rain, everybody seemed to fall behind on their business, got late to work and caught colds every other week. The only nice thing about the snow was that Konoha’s children seemed to have fun. Shikamaru quite liked hearing them laugh, it was heart-warming.
But that was about the only thing that he liked. The sun raised too late, which made him feel like he was leaving for an S-class mission before dawn every time he woke up to go to the Hokage Office. Moreover, even when he tried getting home early to his family, it was pitch dark; Shikadai would had already eaten, if not already asleep and Temari always seemed more tired during the winter.
There was also the deer shedding their antlers during the winter which added him more work as the clan head. That was fine though, Temari always helped him with that.
However, his dislike for the rainy, cold season would never measure to Temari’s absolute disdain for it.
It was to be expected, really, she was a lady of the desert after all but he still found it funny nonetheless.
Shikamaru had been in the kitchen, trying to pull the food he had gotten from the boxes into dishes for him and Temari to eat, with one hand though as he was firmly holding his son to his side with his arm. Temari had prepared lunch for Shikadai but not for him and yet he thought of her as he bought lunch.
He sighed, shifting his head towards his son, “You know there was a time where she always thought of me for these things,”
That was a lie though, she never did think of him if she knew he could manage it on his own and she was positive he could survive making lunch for himself without her help and would not starve. Shikadai, who grasped that the phrases his father was saying were meant for him but understanding absolutely none of them started to jiggle and giggle enthusiastically while frantically moving his arms around.
“Dada dee bosh!”
Shikadai was pointing at the plates as he babbled happily. Shikamaru could still remember asking Kurenai once how she managed to understand any of baby Mirai’s babbling. And yet, there he was, completely understanding that his son meant, “Daddy, deer, box” referring to what he was doing. He called any meat deer, and all animals too, except fish; that one was probably easy to pronounce. He also called any kitchen utensil a box; plates, chopsticks, cups, bowls, they were all a box.
As Shikamaru had finished setting the food on the plates, Shikadai launched up, mouth open to munch on his father’s cheek. Shikamaru was about to move him at arm’s length because he learned the hard way to never underestimate a toddler’s teeth and biting phase but Shikadai did not use his teeth. He was just sort of sucking at a mouthful of his cheek with a whole lot of spit involved.
He suddenly heard the front door opening, and a familiar shuffling along with murmured curses and insults.
Temari eased herself off her shoes and went straight for the kitchen, carrying a paper bag in her arm.
Shikamaru turned from the counter to face his wife as soon as she got in, “Hey, Tem,”
Temari could not repress the snort, followed by an amused grin, “I’m back,”
She thought that her husband was looking very ridiculous with a toddler sucking frantically at his cheek. Shikamaru had the patience of a priest though, he absolutely did not mind it. Temari would had already put him down and gave him a small lecture about it.
She went straight towards the kitchen table to set the bag on it.
“I got lunch,” gestured Shikamaru towards the plate he had prepared.
“Oh, nice. I was just thinking about what we could have for lunch,”
As she started pulling the groceries out of the bag, Temari could feel her hands freezing. Well, her feet were freezing too. In fact, her whole body was freezing and the Leaf Village was probably trying to kill her.
She grunted, getting Shikamaru’s attention, “I can barely feel my fingers in this cold,” Temari waved her hands in his direction to illustrate.
She did look very cold indeed. Her hands were turning slightly white and her feet seemed almost blue. Her nose was always red and dripping whenever she got home from outside and she often had goosebumps all day long. He told her repeatedly to ditch her kimonos for something warmer but she had told him that it would ruin her aesthetic.
He was pretty sure that her aesthetic would be giving her bronchitis any time soon.
She quickly finished storing the groceries, just as he had finished setting the table, encouraged by Shikadai’s constant gurgling and babbling. Shikamaru went back to the counter to get the plates as Temari had walked right next to him to help, standing at his side. Before he could reach, Temari slid her arms to encircle him in a tight embrace. He instinctively brought his free arm around her.
She shot up her head with an annoyed look, “I’m not hugging you, by the way. You’re just warm,”
He hummed and nodded with a yawn, “Uh-um, sure,”
Shikamaru thought that the whole thing would have been way more romantic if he did not have a toddler on his other side, occasionally sucking at his cheek.
“Shikadai picked up a strange habit these days,” he said, slightly rubbing Temari’s arm to get her attention, “He has been sucking at my cheek this whole morning. I already fed him, so no, he is not confusing me with anything edible,”
Temari slightly chuckled, shaking her head in her husband’s chest, still holding him firmly, “He’s kissing you, Shikamaru,”
“Well, that’s some funny kissing,”
Temari slightly shifted her head from his chest to lock her eyes with her son’s with a small smile on her lips, “Shikadai, kiss daddy!”
With a happy ear numbing screech, Shikadai launched up to suck at his father’s cheek with a large smile.
“Told you he was kissing you,”
Well, it was cute enough. If only he used slightly less spit though because Shikamaru’s cheek was stinking of Shikadai’s lunch which included fish and a banana and that resulted in some funny smells.
Shikamaru suddenly moved his arm away from Temari to grab his son with both hands and yank him at arm’s length from him.
Temari raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, cocking her head to the side, “What’s up?”
“Teeth,” he explained.
That night, Shikamaru had been lazing around on the couch, watching the ceiling. Bathing Shikadai had absorbed all of his energy. Toddlers were truly amazing to bring down grown adults who fought wars. And they were only armed with babbling, crying, screaming, screeching and teeth.
They should have tried that during the war. Not sure if it would have taken down any enemies but it would have annoyed the hell out of most of them.
“What are you thinking about?” Temari casually came into the living room, heading towards the couch, letting herself sink beside him.
Shikamaru shrugged, “Thinking up war strategies?” he offered.
It seemed more like a question than an affirmation so Temari figured his mind was probably just wandering to something weird that she did not care for.
“Did he sleep?”
She let out a long, tired breath, “No, but I did tell him not to leave his bed,”
Shikamaru made a mental note to go tuck him in and kiss him goodnight in a minute before his son went to sleep.
“I am freezing,” declared Temari as she got closer to her husband, letting her head rest in the crook of his arm and embracing him tightly.
Shikamaru brought her closer with an arm to her shoulder, and encircled her with his other arm, frantically rubbing her skin to warm her up.
“If you got me the damned kotatsu I asked for last winter, I wouldn’t be this cold,” she complained as she brought her legs up to her chest, “I will buy it on my own this week,”
He just hummed to signal that he had heard her. He did feel slightly guilty for not getting her the kotatsu she had asked for. He had spent the last winter delaying it until the snow melted and the cherry blossoms started to bloom. He had intended to do the same thing that year, but he should have expected that Temari would end up bringing the damned heated table on her own.
Well, he could only enjoy the whole thing for a few more days.
He embraced her even tighter as he thought that.
“I ordered a kotatsu. We should get it tomorrow,” declared Temari storming into the living room with Shikadai glued to her side, where her husband was sitting cross legged on the floor with papers scattered everywhere.
Not looking up from his document, he gave her a quick shrug, “I’m too busy to put it up tomorrow,”
That was only partly true. He was busy, but not any more than usual. He could install the damned thing in the evening when he got home. He just did not want that kotatsu to start with.
She put her son down on his playing mat, “I know. I’ll do it,”
As she walked towards her husband to sit beside him, Shikadai had decided that he did not want to chew on his plastic deer alone and pushed himself up on his knees. He could walk alright but for some reason, lately, he just loved walking on his knees. Not on all four, on his knees. Temari tried to get him to stop but the kid was stubborn as hell, so she just let him be. He would stop eventually.
Having noticed that his son was heading towards them, Shikamaru instantly grabbed all the scattered papers to put them back in their folder before reaching behind him to place it on the couch. It was basically the first rule when you had a toddler; leaving stuff around was a direct invitation for your kid to chew on it.
Shikadai reached the table and went up on his feet, watching his parents sittings across of him. He let out an amused screech while slamming his deer repeatedly on the table.
Temari let her head drop on her husband’s shoulder and slowly closed her eyes.
“How are you so warm in this cold?” She reached to tightly embrace him, nuzzling at his side.
Curse the kotatsu. He was about to lose one of the only nice things about the winter season.
“Konoha doesn’t even get that cold,” he shrugged, motioning to his babbling mess of a son to come to them.
Shikadai heaved himself up on the low table, wobbling towards his father. He sat down on the table as soon as he got to his parents and reached up his hand to slam his plastic deer onto his father’s cheek.
“I don’t even see why we need a kotatsu,” as he said that, Shikadai took advantage of his father opening his mouth to speak to try and shove his toy in it. He could not do it though. His teeth were acting like a barrier.
Temari shrugged with a sigh, “I’ve been complaining about the cold since I’ve been here. It’s fine if you don’t use it but I need it,”
Shikadai started getting impatient. There he was, trying to be a good boy who shared his toys and his games with his father but he did not seem to care about Shikadai’s nice gesture. Chewing on things was like his favourite activity and his dad was being mean by not partaking in it.
Defeated, Shikadai started slightly wailing, still trying to push the toy into his father’s mouth.
“He is trying to feed you,” explained Temari through closed eyes, “Don’t refuse. I read it teaches kids how to share and be compassionate,”
Shikamaru raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his son, “You want me to eat the plastic toy, with the drool and everything?”
The question was aimed at Temari but Shikadai is the one that answered through a joyful screech. Shikamaru chuckled while shaking his head. He opened his mouth so his son could gladly shove his plastic deer in there. Shikamaru made fake chewing motions which made Shikadai happily clap at his father. The toddler then lunged forward to throw himself towards his father who quickly grabbed him with his arm. He extended his other arm to bring Temari closer to his side as she nuzzled his chest in response. Shikadai then happily took back his toy, glad that he was a good and smart boy who shared stuff with his favourite people.
“It’s sort of cute,” said Shikamaru with a sigh after a while.
Temari looked up at him, opening her eyes, “What is?”
“Us,”
Well, Temari thought that they did make a cute family at that moment. The whole thing would have been way more adorable if she did not notice that her son was about to attempt shoving his toy up Shikamaru’s nose.
“Shikadai, what did I say about stuffing things up people’s noses?”
Shikamaru’s head snapped down with a raised eyebrow. Was that what his son was about to do?
Shikadai only broke into a fit of giggles at being caught. He wiggled his way out of his father’s embrace before starting to wobble towards his playing mat.
“Before we got Shikadai, I didn’t even think some things needed to be explicitly stated,” Shikamaru flailed a hand towards their drooling baby, “Like, since when; don’t shove things up anyone’s nose, is a logical lecture?”
Temari chuckled, “My favourite is; don’t stab yourself in the eye with anything,” she was looking lovingly at her child as she said so. He had laid flat on his back and was looking at the ceiling, “Funny thing is that they get mad and cry when you say that. Sorry for trying to keep you alive, I guess,”
Shikadai would probably be dozing off in a minute. He slept way more than the average baby, Temari was sure of that. His parents silently looked at their son for a moment.
Temari broke to silence with a grunt, “Okay, this is not enough,” she gestured towards the couch behind them, “Back away to lean on the couch, Shikamaru,”
It was a curious command that got Shikamaru to raise an eyebrow at his wife. She just huffed exasperatedly in response, gesturing towards the couch again.
Shikamaru shrugged and slid back by pushing himself through the wooden flour. Once his back was leaning on the couch, Temari walked on her knees towards him. Shikamaru bit down a laugh, as she reminded him of Shikadai.
Temari tapped on his knee, “Pop up your knees and open your legs,”
“Wow, you’re going straight to the point. Too quick for this chaste maiden,” he joked but still did as he was told because Temari was giving him her not-amused look.
Temari continued to wobble on her knees until she settled between his legs, leaning back on his chest while hugging herself tightly.
“Warm me up. You’ve got two free arms,” she closed her eyes, comfortably nuzzling his chest.
Shikamaru brought his arms around her to encircle her tightly before letting his chin rest on top of her head.
He sighed and hoped Temari would not blame him when the kotatsu would mysteriously break down a week from then.
Shikamaru secretly wished his wife would not be able to put the kotatsu together but sighed as he got home the next day. Of course she would manage, he married the most capable woman out there.
There she was, snuggled up under her damned kotatsu looking very pleased as she watched the TV with her elbows on the table.
“Shikadai is with your mother tonight,” she declared without detaching her eyes from the screen, “She told me something about getting him used to people. I did tell her that he didn’t really mind the person as long as they’d let him shove things in their mouths but she sort of dismissed me. I think she just wanted him for a bit,” she shrugged as she shifted her head to face him, “Admire my magnificent kotatsu,”
Temari offered him a large content smile while wiggling her eyebrows. He looked at her for a few seconds before sighing deeply. He smiled lazily at her before dragging himself to sit beside her.
“Should’ve told me Shikadai wouldn’t be home before,” he said, getting himself under the heated table, “I would have come home earlier and we’d go out to grab a bite or something,”
She leaned to drop her head on his shoulder with a snort, “Getting rid of the kid so you can woo me? How sly of you,”
He shrugged, “I would like to think that I can still woo you even with the kid around,” Shikamaru then wiggled his shoulder up and down to get Temari’s head off of it, “I know you woo me every day,”
She shifted her head to look at him with squinted eyes, “You’re disgustingly sappy,”
Temari then went back to watching whatever show she had been watching while resting her head on the warm surface of the kotatsu. Shikamaru looked at her for a few seconds before letting out a deep breath, mentally noting that she did not snuggle up to him for warmth.
Shikamaru was laying on his back in bed with his arms crossed behind his head. Temari was on her side with eyes closed, albeit probably not sleeping judging by her breathing. He saw her shifting slightly and fussing with the cover. She slowly got closer to him, snuggling to his side as she threw an arm over his chest.
He raised a curious eyebrow, “Back to cuddling?”
Temari shifted her head up to look at him with a confused gaze, “What do you mean? I’m always more cuddly when it’s cold. You haven’t figured that out, genius?”
That got him to drop his head down towards her. It surprised him that she admitted that so casually, as if it were a known scientific fact.
“Doesn’t everyone get all snuggly and disgusting in the cold?” She shrugged, starting to shift her arm away from his chest, “I tend to remember Suna and my brothers when it’s cold like this. It was always warm at home. Makes me catch some disgusting emotions. I will move if you want me to,”
Shikamaru quickly moved his arms from under his head to grab her hand and put it back on his chest, leaving his own on top of it. He reached with his other arm to encircle her, embracing her closer to his side.
They stayed silent for a while before Temari sprang up on her elbow with a confused grimace, “So, like...You really didn’t notice that I hugged you way more often in the winter? I don’t think I ever hugged you, unprompted during any other time.”
That was a lie. She was way softer than she seemed when they were alone. But he did not point it out and let her have her cold, stern and emotionless Temari moment.
He sighed with a nonchalant shrug, “Thought you did it cuz’ you were cold,”
“Well, yeah, obviously. You’re always warm,”
“Cuz’ Konoha is not that cold,” he said in a blasé way.
She rolled her eyes dismissively, “Whatever, it’s cold to me,”
“Be thankful. Imagine if you married someone in the Land of Iron or something,”
She dropped back her head in the crook of his arm, “Can’t imagine that,”
He let out an inquiring hum while cocking his head to the side but Temari only shook hers with a shrug as a response. Temari firmly believed that she would not have left everything behind for anyone other than Shikamaru.
She would not tell him that though, at least not this time. He would get cocky and annoying then bring it up to embarrass her.
Several minutes of silence passed again before either of them said anything. Then suddenly, Shikamaru let go of her hand and shoulders to pop himself up on his elbows, giving Temari a perplexed look. The motion made her head abruptly drop from his arm to the mattress and she grunted annoyingly at the sudden disruption. She still did not move and just stayed there, trying to sleep with closed eyes.
“So you’re telling me that you’ve been hugging me around just because you like it?”
Temari opened her eyes slowly, confused by her husband’s confusion. She knew she was not very vocal about her affections. They were both not really the type to babble for hours about how much they cared about each other; even the thought of it was hilarious. But surely he knew that she liked him enough to want to willingly hug him. Right?
Temari pushed herself up with a sigh, “Shikamaru,” she started, locking her gaze with his own while still looking sort of confused by her supposed-to-be-smart husband, “Why did I leave my brothers, my friends, my country and everything I ever knew behind to marry you and settle in Konoha?”
The answer came instantly, “Cuz’ you love me,”
Temari slowly nodded with a hum, still grimacing perplexingly, “Riiight,” she confirmed, dragging up the word then plopping back on the bed, closing her eyes.
Shikamaru looked at her for a while, trying to take it all in. It took him a minute before he let himself drop back on the bed, his eyes on the ceiling.
Temari, had taken that as an invitation to nuzzle closer to his side.
He shifted his head to look at her. She was starting to seriously fall asleep.
With a slight smile, Shikamaru embraced her with his arm and went back to gazing at the ceiling.
Huh, Winter might be growing on him. With or without the kotatsu.