He didn't bother to secretly glance at her. That was too much work and he couldn't be bothered to do something that sneaky — it made him feel weird.

So he decided to just stare at her without trying to hide it. She was seated on the other end of the couch, the toddler placed in her lap. Her arms gently wrapped around his small, chubby torso which incurred a small gurgle from the boy. She tried her best to ignore the stare directed at her, but Hinata was known to quickly fall apart when under scrutiny. Instinctively, she straightened herself and subtly tried using her bangs to cover a little bit of her face. It didn't work.

He leaned back into the couch, trying to sink into the fabric itself. His eyes were still locked onto her. With a small sigh, Hinata gave up and raised her head. Her cheeks already flushed due to how embarrassed and nervous she felt, she turned to him.

Her lips formed a nervous smile and she was now looking at him. The expression on his face was bordering on indifference but she knew he was just very, very bored. "D-Do you need anything, Shikamaru?" A simple, polite inquiry — she could at least manage to do that.

He sighed, as if he knew she would ask him that question. With a slight frown, Hinata thought to herself that he might as well have known. He is, after all, the one everyone dubbed the lazy genius.

"You're a strange one, Hyuuga." He pointed out bluntly.

Hinata was slightly offended by his rather brazen statement, but she kept her mouth shout because of the way he said it.

It wasn't as if he was ridiculing her. The way he said it seemed as though he was trying to analyze her, and that the statement was a mere observation.

Not that Hinata liked to be observed. Her frown grew a little bit deeper, her brows furrowed.

Picking up on her discomfort, Shikamaru cleared his throat.

"I'm curious." He said.

"About?" She already knew the answer given to her through the look he was giving to her now, but she felt as though she should ask anyway.

Shikamaru raised a brow, and sighed again. He knew that she knew what he was talking about.

Before he could speak, the toddler grabbed both his and Hinata's attention. He simply started to grunt and move around. Sensing his need for attention, Hinata bent down slightly to place light kisses on his forehead. Straightening herself up again, she readjusted the toddler's position in her arms, making sure he was comfortable.

Shikamaru watched on with slight interest.

Hinata was still looking at the child, absentmindedly stroking his soft skin, making him giggle. A smile graced her lips this time.

"Why," Shikamaru began, causing Hinata to look up from the toddler and at him. "Why are you so nice?"

Hinata looked at him in a cross between confusion and astonishment.

So he really was curious.

She decided to answer with a question of her own.

"Is that bad?"

Shikamaru shrugged. After seconds of deliberation he said, "I guess not."

He left it at that, and averted his gaze. Now, he simply stared up at the ceiling.

A bit perturbed at ho w quickly he lost interest, Hinata decided to push this time.

"Why are you always sighing?" Hinata asked. Shikamaru shifted his gaze from the ceiling to the Hyuuga seated centimeters away from him. A ghost of a smile adorned his lips.

They continued this game of questions.

Even though Hinata occasionally babysat Kurenai's baby alongside Shikamaru, she had never talked to him like this.

It was a change that was well received.

Throughout all the questions, Hinata found out little things about the male. She made a mental note that he liked playing shoji. He found out that Hinata gradually loses her stutter the more relaxed she is around said person. He deduced that this is why she rarely stuttered around Kiba and Shino.

He made a mental note that she was slowly losing his stutter around him.

Shikamaru laid his head back, his eyes closed. Though he answered Hinata's questions lazily, he enjoyed this, evidenced by the small smile he displayed. Hinata took a mental note of how a smile suited Shikamaru.

At times, Shikamaru would slip up, and Hinata would giggle. Other times Hinata would get confused, making him chuckle, and causing her cheeks to gain a rosy tinge.

Minutes into the comfortable silence they fell into, Hinata cleared her throat.

"Why were you c-curious?"

The toddler, again, acted before Shikamaru could speak.

Tugging onto Hinata's hair greedily, he spouted out (adorable) incoherent sentences. Hinata, while trying to get her hair back from the toddler, smiled at his antics.

Shikamaru, as he watched the scene for a couple of seconds, decided to intervene. Moving closer to Hinata, so that he was now sitting right next to her, he gently pried the chubby fingers off of hair.

Deterred, the toddler took to playing with Hinata's fingers.

Hinata stuttered out a thank you to Shikamaru, who grunted in response.

He didn't move back to his original space.

Instead, he took his hair out of his regular ponytail. He went up on the couch so he could gather Hinata's hair. With one hand, he held her hair, and with the other, his hair tie. Hinata stared straight ahead, too nervous to talk and slightly stunned — she also knew that if she had turned to look at him, she'd be staring at his chest. A blush took over Hinata's cheeks once again.

In a quick motion, he had put her dark locks into a ponytail. He sat back down.

Knowing that she would only stutter if she tried to speak now, Hinata sat there quietly, trying to coax her blush to die down.

Shikamaru, on the other hand seemed more relaxed now.

"I'm curious because there's something about you that's not quite of the norm," He said, answering her previous question. "I'm interested to see how you would react to certain things." He took a mental note of how soft her hair felt.

Not knowing whether or not to feel flattered, Hinata nodded in acknowledgement.

Before they could slip into another silence, Hinata asked him another question. Curiosity was gnawing away at her, and she simply wanted to know.

"H-How does my hair l-look?"

She tried sitting as still as she could as Shikamaru looked at her.

"Nice," he mumbled, looking away as soon as he said it.

The blush she fought hard against came back, and Hinata let herself smile at what she perceived to be a compliment.

"I — I like your hair, as well." She whispered.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shikamaru smile.

And the three of them sat there, with the Hyuuga and Nara having small, secretive smiles plastered on their faces.

He didn't bother asking for his hair tie back.

The next time they met up again at Kurenai's, her hair was fastened into a high ponytail, thanks to his hair tie.

His hair was left out.

They greeted each other with smiles, and a slight blush that covered both of their cheeks.

This time, when they sat on the couch, there was no distance between them.

a/n something really quick ;;