Work Text:
EP. THREE
(three months, one week, and three days)
Sakura has always, unapologetically, been a blanket stealer. It’s one of the many not so fun quirks Shikamaru’s learning to love. (Yes, he said love. No, he does not want to talk about it yet.)
Naturally, Sakura then runs warm because she has a metaphorical mountain of blankets circling her. Shikamaru naturally runs cold, so you could see how this is a problem, especially now that it’s the middle of November.
This is almost a daily occurrence, and the few times it doesn’t jar him awake is when she decides to sleep at her own apartment. Which is starting to become almost as common as Ino wearing anything that isn’t her signature purple.
Which is to say: never.
It’s something they haven’t talked about yet, and while he knows he should bring it up (especially because she usually ends up stealing the extra blanket he gets in the middle of the night), he also knows the hours she works at Konoha General are long and grueling, something he can’t say for his job working at his dad’s company. (Even if being a data analyst is something he finds long and grueling, he knows it doesn't compare in the same way).
Although, this is the third time he’s woken up this night alone. Shikamaru sighs and shoves his cold feet against her bare claves in some form of retribution. She doesn’t even stir, of course. How does she manage to always leave him blanket-less when they fall sleep tangled in each other anyway?
Another shiver rolls down his back. Yes, he will have to talk to her tomorrow.
__
It’s Sakura’s day off, the first one she’s had in almost two weeks, and her feet still ache from her previous eight hour rotation, and the one she’s going to work tomorrow. She sighs into her coffee cup, leaning against the edge of the counter, letting the natural light the big kitchen windows sooth her.
She smiles when she hears shuffling feet coming down the hallway. Shikamaru appears, one hand rubbing his eyes, yawning, as his other hand scratches at his stomach. His hair is down, dangling in knots by his chin. She directs her smile at him and sets her cup on the counter, moving to get his favorite dark green mug from the cabinet.
Shika sits down at the kitchen table and his head hits it with an unceremonious thump. Sakura chuckles as she sets his cup beside his head, moving to take the chair across from him. “Good morning,” she says softly.
Shikamaru grumbles and looks up blearily, taking a sip of the black coffee they both have a preference for. Sakura grins at him, “you’re always so grumpy in the mornings.”
He looks over his coffee cup, glaring. He just stares at her for a few seconds, and unease settles in her stomach. “Are you ok?” Did something happen recently at work? Or worse, did she do something?
“I’m grumpy because you steal all the blankets from me.”
The answer is so not what she expects that she can’t help but laugh at him, her unease settling into something less anxiety inducing. “Is that it?” She says it out of relief that it isn’t something more serious, not because she is trying to belittle his feelings.
From his spot across from her he narrows his eyes even more, “ Yes . You kept me up all night, woman.”
Her laughs die down and she leans across the table. “I’m sorry Shika. I think it’s a defense mechanism because Naruto always does it to me.”
At the mention of one of her best friends and roommates, Shikamaru groans. “Don’t even mention his name this early in the morning. The last thing I need is for you to summon him here.”
Sakura giggles, “it’s 10 in the morning.”
Shikamaru gives her an unamused look, "exactly."
She rolls her eyes, “you’re so dramatic.”
He takes another sip of his coffee, once again glaring at her. “Sakura. I woke up three times last night. You stole both of the blankets I got up and took from the couch.”
She winces, “is that something I do every night?”
After two more big gulps of coffee, he sets the empty mug down, “the amount of caffeine I’ve started to consume should tell you the answer.”
He gets up, and as he is pouring himself another mug, she shuffles up and wraps her arms around him from behind, kissing his shoulder. “Sorry, Shika,” she apologizes again.
He sighs and turns around in her arms, circling his own around her shoulders. “Is there anything you can do about it?”
Sakura frowns, when was the last time she shared a bed with someone? Probably a few months ago when Naruto, Sasuke and her did a Ghibli marathon and she passed out on Sasuke’s bed. She thinks back to what Sasuke said he did between her and Naruto, the two blanket stealers.
“Sasuke said that every time I stole his blanket he pushed me over and yanked it back.” Sakura shrugs, looking up at him.
“He also said you tried to punch him when he did that,” he immediately rebuttals.
Sakura furrows her brows, “that is so not true.” At least she thinks, anyway. “You talk about me?”
He levels her with a ‘duh’ look, and it makes her heart melt just a little. “When I’m forced to hang out with them. It’s not like you don’t talk about me to Ino. Which is arguably worse, by the way.”
Sakura rolls her eyes. “That’s not the point of what we are talking about.”
Shikamaru, never one to back down, rolls his eyes right back, “you don’t have to tell me that. I’m the one getting hypothermia when I sleep. Tell me I can do something other than start dodging your punches.”
Sakura pats him on his chest, pursing her lips, “you better start working on your boxing skills, Nara.”
Shikamaru groans, but he isn’t frustrated, not really. He loves (he still doesn’t want to talk about it) when they banter back and forth like this. It’s their dynamic and it makes him feel at home. “You’re so troublesome.”
Sakura stares him down, parroting his ‘duh’ look right back at him before he leans in to kiss it away.
__
Later, Sakura is on her knees, digging under her bed for the weighted blanket that Naruto got her for her 20th birthday. She hopes it’ll help her settle in the night and stop her from thieving. She hears the front door click open and two voices arguing as they make their way inside.
“It’s plethora, dumbass. Not pla-thor-ah.”
“Oh, shut up, asshole. At least I can talk to people without them thinking I hate them.”
Sakura roles her eyes and exits her bedroom to see Sasuke and Naruto making their way into the kitchen to set the groceries on the counter.
“Sakura-chan!” Naruto smiles, bounding up to her with a pep in his step. He picks her up and twirls her around, and she’s reminded that over the past few months she hasn’t spent as much time with them as usual because of her relationship with Shika. It’s something she promises herself to fix.
She laughs when he sets her down, and Sasuke just rolls his eyes, a smirk on his face. She playfully punches Naruto and walks into the kitchen, the blonde right behind her. She saddles up next to Sasuke and begins to help him put the produce in the fridge.
Without looking up, he greets her. “Okeari,” he says gently.
She smiles a bit guiltily. She’s missed them. “Tadaima.”
The three work seamlessly around each other to put the groceries away, and when they are done, Sakura leans back against the kitchen island, arms crossed. “Do you know what happened to my weighted blanket?” and after a few seconds, she points her gaze at Sasuke, “also, you told Shika I punch in my sleep?”
Sasuke opens the fridge to grab a diet coke, “it’s because you do.” And just as he finishes, Naruto picks up, “it’s in the wash, Sakura-chan.” He flops down on the couch.
Sasuke doesn’t miss a beat, “you know how to do laundry?”
“How come you only talk to be annoying?”
Sakura continues on with practiced ease, “you talk about me?”
Sasuke walks over to Naruto to push his legs out of the way so he can sit down. Naruto smiles bright again, “Of course, Sakura-chan! I even told him about the time when you confessed to-”
Sakura blushes out of embarrassment, less for the fact that it happened and more because he told Shikamaru about it, and throws a pillow from one of the island chairs at his face. “I won’t be asleep the next time I punch you!”
He deflects it with a couch pillow and hits Sasuke in the face. Sasuke glowers at him, “there is something seriously wrong with you.”
“Oh eat it, asshole!” Naruto hits him with another pillow he’s summoned from literally nowhere.
Sakura laughs and two pillows hit her simultaneously. She’ll make sure to tell Shika a ton of embarrassing stories about them in revenge later, but right now she basks in the mundane with the boys she considers her brothers.