Nara OneShots

DDLB

Shikamaru-16 years old

Naruto-16 years old

Shikamaru was left stunned in the doorway to his best friend's room as he watched someone he thought he knew everything about act like something completely different. Naruto was on the shorter side of life, probably 5'3 while Shikamaru had shot up in height to be around 6'4. That and the fact Naruto always looked extremely young for his age. Now those two coupled together had Shikamaru dealing with security trying and failing at harassing Naruto for dressing up in high school uniform since he was perceived to be a snot-nosed middle schooler. But that was the least.

What he was witnessing now was something Naruto obviously kept secret. He was in a giant pink sweatshirt with white shorts underneath. He had a pacifier in his mouth in a mint green color and was playing with a small number of toys. He was taking it upon himself to come over to the blonde's apartment to help out with his weekly cleaning. Naruto was messy and Shikamaru could understand that growing up without parents made the blonde quite a loose cannon. He guesses he should've expected something like this from Naruto because of his lack of childhood memories.

He recalls the times where Naruto would get serious about wanting to turn back the clock and have a family, how he wished the orphanage had paid attention to him and all the other kids because he knew how mentally challenging it was to go through the situation. Naruto would go on rants on how he wanted to be babied like all the other children they saw when they usually walked past the park on their way home. How he wanted to experience his childhood all over again on his terms. Shikamaru was looking at it through this lens and figured Naruto was trying in his own way.

He's heard of it before but witnessing it was something else.

He was in little space.

A safe space often used to regress to the mind of a child for stress relief. He knew they had caretakers who would watch over them since they could end up doing some shit that their original mindset might have not done. It was a tool but you had to believe and trust the process if you wanted to 'slip' into the mindset. He didn't know how to feel about this as he watched Naruto. On one hand, he wanted to confront him but on the other hand, just wanted him to continue playing in peace. He didn't judge Naruto and he wasn't upset. He was just slightly pissed that Naruto didn't feel comfortable enough to talk to him about it.

He stepped back from the door and got out of the apartment.

Naruto heard the door close and he froze at the slight slam. His pacifier dropped from his mouth, only one person had a key to his place. Did Shikamaru see him like this? Was he upset by it? His eyes watered as he thought about the other's initial reaction. He just walked out. Didn't say a word or anything.

The next day Shikamaru was back and knocking on his door. He usually picked Naruto up in his car but the blonde wasn't answering his door. "Naruto! I know you're not sick," He yelled through the door. Naruto was on the other side holding back tears. His anxiety had run him through the ground the entire night. He honestly didn't think Shikamaru would've come for him that day. But hearing his voice made him break down.

Shikamaru could hear the crying and finally sigh at the mounting frustration he was finally feeling. He couldn't stop thinking about it either, he had worked himself up into a frenzy wondering why Naruto wouldn't have told him. They knew everything about each other! He understands that this was private and sensitive to the blonde but he must've known that if Shikamaru can take everything else the blonde has thrown then surely he can take this as well. He used his key to open the door but Naruto was holding it back from the opening.

"Naruto I'm getting upset," Shikamaru leaned his head against the door. "Just let me in and we can talk."

"You should've said something yesterday," Naruto shot back.