"Who are you talking to, Shikamaru?" He looked up from his phone and made eye contact with his friend Ino. They were hanging out at Ino's house with Choji. Ino was going out with the girls later that night and was currently getting ready. Shikamaru and Choji usually came over every Friday since none of them at to work on Fridays. They all usually started by meeting each other for brunch (because Shikamaru couldn't be bothered to wake up for breakfast on his day off). Then they might go shopping, usually Ino's choice, and then end up at the Yamanaka residence and chill until dinner.

Shikamaru wasn't usually too occupied by his phone. He didn't care enough about anyone to be constantly talking to someone. But on this day, his two best friends noticed he had been very distracted. The occasional smile would appear until he realized what he was doing. And it was bothering Ino so much that he wasn't giving her his full attention that she had to know. She needed to know who out there was more important than her.

"Just a friend." Was all he said before he continued typing. This pissed Ino off. She gave Choji a look, one he recognized. He simply shook his head and covered his eyes. Ino snatched Shikamaru's phone right out of his hand, earning a "Hey!" from him.

"Yeah, let's see who your 'friend' is." She read the name on the screen and gasped. "Temari?!" She looked at her friend. "Have you been talking to Temari? Like, my Temari? The one from Suna?" He shrugged. "What? When? How?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You two have never met, have you?" He shook his head.

"No, she followed me after you tagged me in a picture one time and then we just casually started talking and now we talk all of the time. What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal? One of my close friends has been talking to my best friend and I didn't even know? I'm honestly just hurt that you didn't tell me. I tell you two everyone I talk to or go out with. I just feel like you would trust me with the same information."

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just I didn't know you cared about stuff like that. I never thought to tell anyone. I think that's just a girl thing, Ino." She huffed.

"Fine, I forgive you..." She gasped again. "Oh my god, Shikamaru! She's in town tonight! She's meeting me and the other girls!" She looked as if she had stars in her eyes.

"No." Was all he said to that.

"Come on!"

"No," He said again. "I am not ready to meet her. We're fine just talking now."

"But you can be even better if you hang out! Come on! You have to meet her sometime if you want it to go anywhere."

"I don't want to meet her and be awkward and then have to stop talking to her."

"Aw, that's cute. Too bad I don't care." Choji was still shaking his head. "Shikamaru, if you don't meet her now then you never will and this whole conversation would have been pointless."

"I don't want to interrupt girls night." Ino let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Don't worry, I'm inviting the guys now. And I told Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten about what's happening." She smirked. "Now, you need to go home and get ready! You too Choji!" He snatched his phone back from her. "And wear something nice! I'll text you where and when to meet."

Shikamaru had rode to the bar with Choji, Kiba, and Naruto. Choji was the only guy that knew what was going on. Shikamaru was thankful for that. He knew his other two friends would tease him about the woman. "It's strange that the girls invited us out with them." Naruto spoke. Kiba nodded in agreement.

The four guys walked in the bar and were greeted by Ino. Sai was already there along with Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten. Ino waved the guys over to their table. Naruto sat down next to Hinata and Shikamaru sat down next to him. "All black, really?" Ino asked. "At least you look nice." He rolled his eyes. Naruto gave him a weird look but then shrugged and moved on.

Shikamaru could feel his hands starting to get sweaty as he realized he was closer and closer to meeting the girl he had been talking to for months. She was the only one he cared about talking to and the only person that could keep him up late at night. He was realizing how serious he felt about her and suddenly was wishing that none of his friends were there so that if he did mess up he at least wouldn't be embarrassed in front of them.

Choji brought him a drink and as he was taking a drink of it he heard his name. "Shikamaru?" He put his drink down and turned towards the direction of the semi familiar voice. And there she was, even more beautiful in person.

"Hey, Temari.." He trailed off. Yup, it was already awkward.

"Ino, I thought it was just going to be the girls tonight?" Temari whispered to her friend. She wasn't mad that he was there, just caught off guard. She thought to herself that she should have worn something nicer. Not that her dress wasn't nice, and it's not like it wasn't something she wouldn't normally wear for a date or anything, but she wanted to impress Shikamaru the first time they met. It was strange for her to admit, even to herself, but she had never liked someone as much as she liked him. Even if they had only ever texted and Facetimed.

Video chatting was never awkward either. Every time they spoke it was as if they had been friends forever. They would go on 'dates', AKA they would go to a coffee shop and video chat. But she was not ready to see him in person.

"Listen, Temari." She grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her to the side. "I kind of read Shikamaru's phone earlier and made him tell me all about you two and your relationship. So I made him come tonight even against his will. Please don't be mad at him, I just want you two to meet finally and have a great time." She smiled at her friend who smiled back at her.

"Okay, I'll forgive you this one time but only because I love you and I really like him." Ino squealed and hugged her friend.

"I'm so excited!" When the two returned to the table, the man they had just been talking about was gone. "Uh, where is Shikamaru?"

"Him and Kiba went outside to smoke."

"Dude, that girl that's with Ino tonight is pretty hot. You think I should try and hook up with her?" Shikamaru took a long drag of his cigarette before answering.

"No." Kiba was slightly shocked at his blunt answer.

"And why not?"

"Because, Kiba, she's too good for you." His jaw dropped. In all honesty Shikamaru thought Temari was too good for him too, but he decided to be selfish and continue to go for it. He thought that since she clearly liked him back then he would let her.

"Ah, she did know your name. You two hook up before?"

"No, Kiba, we haven't hooked up. I don't just hook up with random people like you do." Kiba pretended to be offended but he didn't actually care. "We have been talking for awhile now. Ino didn't tell her I was going to be here.." Kiba laughed.

"Well that's awkward!" He patted his friend on the back as they put out their cigarettes and walked back inside.

Temari was at the bar with Sakura when they returned and Shikamaru had to stop himself from staring too long. He stood by Ino and Tenten as they talked and pretended to pay attention to their conversation. When Temari returned she walked up to him and handed him a drink. "What is it?"

"Just drink it and find out." The two other girls look at each other and smirked, walking away from the couple. Of course they watched from a distance.

Shikamaru took a drink of the mystery liquid and almost choked. "What the hell is this, Temari? Are you trying to kill me?" She laughed.

"It's a Sunan alcohol. I'm actually surprised they have it here. It's really rare to find it in Konoha considering it used to be banned here."

"Well I can see why. Who could drink this?!" She threw back her own cup with the same liquid in it without even flinching. "Oh." He spoke, looking at his cup again. "I can't let you beat me." He started sipping it. "But I'm not going to be a psychopath and drink it all at once like you." She laughed again.

"It's not my fault everyone in Konoha are pussies." He looked at her and pretended to be offended.

"It's not my fault everyone in Suna likes to drink battery acid." It was her turn to pretend to be offended. "I'm kidding, I love this drink..." He said sarcastically before sipping on it and trying not to cringe. She rolled her eyes.

It started out with just Ino and Tenten watching them and then ended up with the rest of their friends just sitting around the table and observing the potential couple. Ino was basically squealing.

They ended up talking for hours. Everyone else had slowly left and it was just the two of them in the bar. "Are you kidding me?" She asked. "I could beat your ass at Shogi!"

"Oh for real? You wanna find out?!" She slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

"Let's freaking go!" She started to walk out the door and he followed her to her car.

"Uh, should you drive?" She was completely sober at this point.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I wouldn't if I had anything left in my system." They got in the car and Shikamaru directed her to his place.

They walked down the corridor of his apartment complex and tried to focus on getting his key out of his pocket. All he could think about was the woman beside him that he was finally able to meet. Sometimes, he was glad Ino was nosy.

But, if he knew that she was standing on the other side of Choji's door straight across from his apartment then he might be a little annoyed. When the couple walked in the door almost everyone inside Choji's apartment screamed.

Shikamaru woke up the next morning lying on his couch. The smell of coffee and the sound of something cooking on the stove combined to become his alarm for the moment. He sat up slowly and entered his kitchen to find Temari standing there in a pair of his sweatpants and one of his t-shirts. He smiled to himself. "So is this what I get for winning? I beat you at Shogi and wake up to you making me breakfast?" She laughed.

"Don't get used to it. I only let you win because I felt bad." He raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, you let me win? What did you feel bad about?"

"One, that I made you drink that stuff from Suna. And two, you were so flustered when we came inside. It was as if you'd never brought a girl home before." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Oh, is that it?" She nodded. "I'll have you know I have brought home girls before."

"Charming." She said sarcastically.

"But I've never been nervous to bring them home like I was with you." Now she raised an eyebrow. "I actually like you..Like a lot. I don't usually care much for romance and relationships but you seem to be the only thing on my mind lately. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable or ruin anything between us, whatever it is." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, it's too early for me to be talking this much."

"No, please continue." She smirked at him.

"What I'm trying to say is-"

"You're in love with me? I can't blame you-"

"No, I'm not in love with you. We literally just met for the first time a few hours ago." He paused. "I'm in like with you. How's that?"

"Cheesy...but I don't mind it." She stepped away from the food and for the first time since they had met, she kissed him. It was short and sweet, but he wasn't complaining. She smiled and walked back to the stove. "Well, the bacon isn't going to cook itself!"

Ahh, thanks for reading! I'm kind of sad I didn't know about this until literally today! So all of my prompts will be late. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading! I will be working on the next prompt (and my other story) soon. I have just been so busy lately.

xoxo