The Calm Before The Storm

Flowers for you

"Welcome home, Shikamaru!" Naruto says the moment Shikamaru enters the apartment. He's wearing a dark gray t-shirt and black shorts so it's easy enough to admire his slim body and smooth tanned skin. Shikamaru feels completely out of sorts now that he can actually see Naruto and not just think about him like he's been doing the whole day. He doesn't even realize he hasn't said anything back yet.

"Shikamaru?" Naruto says and comes to take a closer look at Shika which is when he notices the flowers. "Eeh, why do you have flowers? They look really pretty though. And they're even orange! My favorite", Naruto looks at Shikamaru with a huge grin on his face and Shikamaru officially gives up.

There was no denying how he felt and he knew Naruto would find out eventually so he should just get it over with. And if it wasn't mutual it would be better to know sooner rather than later.

It didn't mean he didn't feel absolutely terrified.

"They're... they're for you actually", Shikamaru just barely managed to say trying to swallow his nerves and gave the flowers to Naruto before he dropped them or something.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked.

"It's..." Sigh. "I brought flowers for you." Shikamaru's hands were sweating. He felt he was ruining this already. He couldn't figure out the right words to say and everything he said seemed to come out weird.

"O-oh, thanks, I think..." Naruto said, baffled.

This was really not going well... It seemed Shikamaru would have to really say it or Naruto wouldn't get it.
"Eheheh, no-one has ever brought me flowers", Naruto laughs happily and he's... he's glowing - there's no other word for it. It actually helps Shikamaru to find his courage seeing that he at least did something right. "It feels nice. No wonder the girls like it so much", Naruto adds.

"...Naruto?" Shikamaru visibly swallows.

"Yeah? What is it?" Naruto curiously cocks his head.

"Umm. There's something I need to tell you. I've been thinking about this for a while now and I tried to convince myself it was just my imagination or something... But today I finally realized that it's not the case and I owe it to you to be honest and... I just. I need to tell you." Shikamaru said well aware that he must not be making much sense to Naruto but he refused to give up now.

"Oookay? You know you can tell me anything Shikamaru but you're not making much sense right now..." Naruto chuckled.

"I know, I know... sorry. It's harder to say than I thought", Shikamaru smiles very slightly.

"Just say it as simply as you can. You know i'm not smart like you", Naruto encourages with a cheeky smile.

"You're plenty smart Naruto", Shikamaru says in a last effort to buy some much needed time.

He takes a deep breath preparing himself knowing he can't keep stalling forever.

"I-I like... you." There. He said it. There's no getting it back now. It felt so freeing to finally say it out loud but at the same time it felt like he was falling to a bottomless pit waiting for Naruto's reaction.

Naruto on the other hand seemed to be frozen in the spot and didn't apparently know how to react which prompted Shikamaru to add, "Will you go on date with me?", in order to try and prevent an awkward silence.

Naruto wasn't sure if he'd heard right. Heck, he wasn't sure if any of this was actually happening. He would have pinched his arm if he was capable of doing anything right now. Shikamaru liked him? And had he really just asked him out on date too? He'd even brought flowers for Naruto come to think of it.