Neither was sure exactly when it happened. Somewhere between late nights playing shogi under the guise of preparing for the Chunin exams, and afternoons cloud watching their nicknames for one another changed. They could both agree that he had been the one to start it. He called her Trouble and when she’d questioned that drop in the suffix he just claimed calling her ‘Troublesome‘ each time was far too long and inherently troublesome. ‘Trouble' was easier and got the point across.
She didn’t want to admit at first to actually liking the change, but every time he called her that his lips would curve into a smirk that she knew he only used with her. It was him in every sense, simple, a little shy and fundamentally lazy that it couldn't even be considered an actual smile. Still though, that was her smile.
When her nickname for him changed it was a bit more jarring but he knew well enough not to question her reasoning. They’d work together for years and he’d more than shown his worth as a shinobi and village leader, it seemed wrong to call him Crybaby. By that same thread, it seemed wrong to drop the familiar name altogether and so his new name was born. The change in nicknames signaled a change in their relationship. They were no longer enemies turned allies turned friends, something had shifted but neither was sure just how to address that change. So instead they would linger a little longer at her doorway when they said goodnight. They’d sit side by side rather than across from the other when pouring over endless paperwork. Her fingers would casually brush through his hair whenever he laid his head on her lap. Their nights would always end the same though.
“Goodnight Trouble.” He’d smirk ever so slightly and she would just wave, “Goodnight baby” relishing in the blush that dusted his cheeks.
Beyond their newly christened names, she’d often call him 'Shika' when he annoyed her and he’d just reply with 'Mari.' The first time he’d called her that she come to a full stop worrying him. She just smiled and explained that the last time anyone had called her that it was her mom. Shikamaru knew enough about her and her history to know the weight behind that name.
“Oh, my apologies. I don’t have to call you that again.”
She waved off his apology. “No, it’s okay, actually it’s nice hearing it again. If it was anyone else I’d probably have blown them away using my jutsu, but with you….I don’t know, it’s okay.” She admitted and he felt his heart melt. This annoying, demanding, wonderful, beautiful woman never failed to stun him.
Surprising both of them he kissed her forehead softly. “I’ll remember that Mari.”
The change felt seamless enough. They’d been in each other’s lives for so long that they were comfortable with each other and this just seemed like the next eventual step. It was much more challenging when their friends became aware.
“Oh look Chouji our teammate and favorite Suna Kunoichi are here. How strange because said teammate claimed to be too busy for his oldest friends. Let’s take a seat.” Shikamaru groaned scooting over, he should have known better than to take her to get barbecue but she’d been craving it for a while. He was pretty sure that Ino had been stalking their movements and would have followed them into any restaurant.
Ino looked entirely too smug, at least Chouji had enough decency to look ashamed by her actions.
“Hi Temari, it’s nice to see you again.” Temari just smiled in response. As annoyed as she might be she did genuinely like them. She’d never had a group of friends like Shikamaru had growing up. Since being in Konoha she now had her own people to call friends. She knew that if whatever this was with Shikamaru was going to work out she’d need to become close to the two people sitting across from her.
Lunch was almost as enjoyable as it would have been if it was just the two of them. It was warm and familiar and resting her head against his shoulder felt natural even in the company of his team.
“Hey, you have your meeting soon right?” He asked brushing her bangs away from her face. She sighed into the gentle touch and nodded. “Ya, I better go.”
“Want me to walk you?”
“No just come pick me up in an hour.” He nodded and moved out of the booth so that she could leave.
“Bye Chouji, bye Ino.”
“Bye Temari!” They chorused.
Shikamaru stood there smiling his hand lightly holding her own. “Bye Trouble.”
“I’ll see you later baby.” Their fingers stayed intertwined till the last possible second. He stood there watching her protectively till she disappeared into the busy street before returning to his seat and the shocked looks on his friends' faces.
“What?” He asked annoyed waiting for the upcoming interrogation.
“Just wondering when the wedding is?" Ino teased as he tried to look uninterested knowing where this conversation was going.
“What wedding?”
“Yours and Temari’s.” She replied grinning widely.
Shikamaru sighed, he might need a drink to get through this conversation. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know baby what’s going on with you two.”
He just rolled his eyes, of course, she picked up on that. “What a drag. So what we have nicknames for each other. It’s always been that way.”
Ino looked unconvinced. For being the two smartest people from their respective villages they could both be really stupid when it came to the other. “Chouji you’re our resident historian please tell us what Shikamaru’s nicknames are for our blonde sand ninja.”
“Troublesome, annoying, stubborn, cruel, and Princess.” He rattled off.
“And what are Temari's names for Shikamaru here.”
“Crybaby, lazy ass, pineapple head, useless cloud watching ninja.”
Shikamaru was becoming increasingly annoyed. “What’s your point?”
Ino couldn’t believe how stubborn he was being. “My point is that your names for each other have changed. You could cut the sexual tension with a knife.”
“Sorry, buddy I have to agree. Seems a little more flirtatious now.”
Not Chouji too. “Come on they’re just nicknames.”
“You give those kinds of nicknames to people you like and you like her.” Like was probably putting it mildly.
He needed to get her off this tangent. “What nicknames does Sai have for you?” He swore that he could see hearts in her eyes.
“He calls me Beautiful and his Light” Ugh sappy.
“Chouji what do you call Karui?”
Chouji smiled softly recalling the redheaded cloud kunoichi. “Sweetheart.” Their friend did love sweets more than anything so the name made sense.
Shikamaru needed to put an end to this.
“Just friends, nothing more.” He told them with finality and they knew their friend enough to stop prying before he got upset. He could be just as stubborn as the best of them and they would never get him to admit something that he didn’t want to.
Shikamaru was still annoyed by the conversation replaying it over in his head while he waited for Temari’s meeting to be over.
Sure she was beautiful, she may not have as high an IQ as he did but she was smart and a talented strategist. Their shogi matches were always interesting and she could verbally spar with the best of them. He enjoyed spending time with her, even if it was just working on a pile of paperwork. When she’d so softly brush her fingers against his neck to remind him to relax he felt himself melt.
She’d become important to him but it was in a different way than how he felt about Ino, Chouji and the rest of his Konoha friends. He wasn’t stupid and while he may not particularly enjoy feelings he knew what his were. Alas, she was just like his beloved clouds, beautiful, wonderful to watch and observe but always just out of his reach. Why hurt himself anymore by trying to reach something that could never be his?
He saw her make her way towards him feeling his heart pound in his chest. He didn't know what to do with this information. “Hi baby,” Despite himself he couldn’t help but smile at the greeting her unique eyes sparkling. Those eyes killed him every time even more so now because she regarded him with a much softer and sweet look.
They fell into step with one another as she told him all about the meeting while chewing on the Dango he’d purchased on the way to pick her up. It was routine, and familiar and he thrived in patterns and structure. Admitting he liked her beyond friendship could collapse his carefully constructed relationship with her leaving him broken and a mess.
Temari could tell something was weighing on his mind but she waited for him to bring it up. They trusted each other explicitly and he’d share when he was ready.
“Goodnight Temari.” She felt herself freeze in place. Temari? What could have happened in just a few hours to have him use her given name?
Still, though she wanted to take a chance. “Goodnight baby.” She held her breath hoping for a smile or a reaction. Usually, at his new name, he’d blush ever so slightly. Instead, he wordlessly turned away leaving her without her smile to dream about as she fell asleep. She tossed and turned that night annoyed and upset. She thought that they were on the same page. That they were ready to move into that next phase in their relationship. It had been a while since he’d called her by her given name and it felt like a punch to the gut. Perhaps she had imagined that there was something more between them. That there was a possibility for a relationship beyond colleague and friend. She thought that she knew him but perhaps she was wrong about that as well, and she hated being wrong.
So when she saw him the next day and he only spoke to her with one-word answers she maintained as much space between him as the little office would allow. It was a far cry from their usual banter and lingering touches. But it seemed that this is what he wanted so she created a chasm between them. He didn’t trust her enough to let her know what was wrong so she couldn’t trust him with her heart. They could both be stubborn and petty and she was determined to play this game better than him.
It had been a long awkward day and while she missed their playful banter and easy relationship she wasn’t going to back down. “Goodnight Shikamaru.”
She nodded politely and made her way out refusing to allow him to walk her to her place.
“Mari wait.” She turned back towards him storms brewing in her eyes.
“No, don’t you dare. You don’t get to call me that. You want space, you fucking have it.” She'd repressed her anger for far too long.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t...I don’t want space from you.”
Taking a deep breath she tried to release some tension. “Then tell me what’s going on.”
He refused to look at her. “I can’t.”
“Then there’s nothing more to say.” She turned and ran from him. She wasn’t one to back down from a fight but with her heart on the line, it was too high of a price to pay.
Shikamaru sighed knowing that he messed up. This was just like him. Giving up before a fight, before it got hard. He thought that he’d gotten over his childish behavior but he felt just as defeated as he did standing in that hospital waiting room. This was Temari though, he couldn’t just give up so easily, not after everything they've been through and how close they’d become. She deserved someone that would willingly fight for her and even if he wasn’t the best person for her he needed to try. So he chased after her storming into her apartment while she angrily paced back and forth.
“You’re fucking trouble you know that!”
She turned in shock the anger pouring off of her somewhat surprised at how emotional he was being. “Did you seriously just come here to yell and swear at me you baby! Our villages may have peace but I will destroy you.”
“I didn’t want this. I wanted to marry an average not too pretty not too ugly girl. Live an unremarkable life with decent kids. It wasn't a great life but it was a good one.”
She glared at him itching to grab her tessen. “What the hell does that have to do with me?”
“Everything. Somewhere between trying to kill each other and becoming something more, I fell in love with you and now I don’t want that life anymore. I don’t want simple, easy, average. You’re far too beautiful and difficult to fit into that imagined future. I want you damn it. I want you to push me, to yell at me when I’m being lazy and not meeting my full potential. I want you sitting across from me playing Shogi as I beat you for the hundredth time. I want you to hold me when I have a hard day but kick my ass into gear so I don’t wallow in it. I want you as troublesome and as stubborn and cruel as you can be. You’re nothing that I ever wanted but everything that I need. I want a life with you that is crazy, complicated, but so wonderfully full and ours.”
She sighed scrubbing a hand across her face. She could be completely floored by his confession and still annoyed by him. She needed to address this before they could move forward. “For as much as you call me trouble I think that you are even more so.”
“I know and I’m sorry. I should have told you how I was feeling, we don’t hide things from each other, I know that. I just, you’re still so completely out of my league and out of my reach.” He shrugged and it bothered her that he couldn’t see how incredible he was.
She softly and sweetly reached up to hold his cheek in her hand, her eyes soft meeting his hopeful ones. “You’re so smart but such an idiot sometimes. You’re kind, humble, strong and talented. This village wouldn’t be as strong without you helping lead it. Anyone would be proud and lucky to stand next to you. You’re everything that I could have ever wanted. I’ve been here Shika, always within arm's length because I want to be. If you weren't so completely wonderful I never would have allowed you to become this close to me. I chose you a long time ago. I’ve just been waiting for your lazy ass to figure it out.”
His eyes seem to widen in realization. All those escort missions, random missions to Suna or Konoha, inexplicably being paired up time and time again. It was all part of some master scheme to be close to him and he was so very thankful for it. Taking a chance he kissed her his arms wrapping possessively around her waist. If she was surprised by his actions it didn’t show as she easily responded to the kiss as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Her arms curved around his neck pulling him impossibly closer but not close enough.
“Mari, I know I'm lazy and I can complain a lot but you’re the kind of trouble I'd happily face. You make me so incredibly happy. For all my faults do you think that maybe I can make you that happy too?”
She kissed him in response. She felt like she’d wanted this, him, for so long and now she finally had him. “You already do baby.”