The Calm Before The Storm

Of breakfast and shogi

Naruto woke up first again. He wasn't necessarily a morning person but he was feeling rather happy this morning and couldn't help the smile that was already stretching on his face. Somehow, just knowing he was living with another person who would always be close by made him feel reassured. Also, he couldn't wait for the warm shower which still felt like a luxury! He just had to remember to leave enough warm water to Shikamaru as well.

Naruto was really enjoying his time with the lazy genius and didn't want to do anything to upset him. After all, Shikamaru did say he would have preferred living alone but had to admit this was the cheaper and more sensible solution. The point was Naruto really, really didn't want to give Shikamaru a reason to change his mind about living together with him.

Naruto didn't want to live by himself anymore.

Not after experiencing what it felt like having someone there to eat with, to talk about meaningless things and say goodnight and good morning to. Or even just be in the same room without really doing anything more remarkable than sharing the space in companionable silence.

So Naruto was determined to not screw this up.

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Shikamaru woke up unusually early for him given that he hadn't even set the alarm last night. He was feeling wide awake as well which was even more out of the ordinary after having essentially just woken up.

Well, maybe if he tried now he'd be able to have a warm shower if Naruto hasn't woken up yet. What time does he usually wake up anyway? At least yesterday he had woken up rather early when Shikamaru thought back.

After the first two days he had already concluded that living with Naruto wasn't nearly as difficult as he had been maybe, perhaps a bit unfairly, expecting. It was obvious there was a lot Naruto didn't know having lived alone all his life but he was actually surprisingly considerate of other people and their feelings.

Not to mention that Naruto's smile always managed to make the world seem a bit brighter and most problems seem trivial.

In fact, it was far too easy to forgive the boisterous blond for any small mishaps because of that. Even Shikamaru, who wasn't exactly known for smiling often or easily, always had to smile back almost involuntarily when confronted with the blinding smile on the seemingly invincible young shinobi. Naruto had the power to change people, that much wasn't arguable, but sometimes, privately, Shikamaru thought that maybe really it was just that trademark grin that was powerful enough to change the hearts of so many. Hm. It was an amusing thought.

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"Uwah!" Naruto stepped out of his room at the exact same time as Shikamaru did and almost walked straight into him. "Oh, you're awake already?"

"Good morning to you too", Shikamaru said with mild irritation after he'd gotten over the surprise. Of course the blond was as energetic as always all hours of the day. It almost made Shikamaru want to go straight back to sleep.

"Good morning!" Naruto beamed at Shikamaru's suspicious look. He looked sort of adorable with a bedhead and a scowl, Naruto couldn't help but think. Even though he was slightly disappointed to notice that his hair had already been tied to its usual ponytail.

"Yeah, yeah... Did you shower already or..?" It was hard to be annoyed when Naruto kept looking so happy, Shikamaru noticed.

"Hm? Oh, I was just going to but you can go first if you want."

"Okay, thanks." Shika smiled briefly in response.

"Sure." Naruto returned the smile.

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