Naruto smiled at his kids as they sat down and talked about their day. Hinata was smiling along with them as she served dinner and stop to kiss Naruto on his head. He almost lost his composure. Those lips had been places that were not on him. He was disgusted and sit hurt over the fact she was cheating. When he met Hinata all those years ago when they were kids he saw something special about her and though it took him till they were adults to finally figure it out he was so happy. He loved her and she this, granted if he didn't know he would still believe she loved him and only him. 

So here he was putting on a mask for his children to show that their parents loved each other so much. He thought after all those years of masks he would be free but now he was back in another mask. He wasn't happy with the situation, far from it. He couldn't divorce her, he didn't know how to confront her and worst of all this would put a huge dent in their friend group. So until he figured it out he was going to play the naive husband for a while. 

But then he was a hypocrite for what he was doing by bring Shikamaru into this. Sure the guy had his marital issues but he wasn't going around cheating, he stayed. But Naruto just had to be a selfish person and bring the runner up of his love into this predicament. He had to admit he's only ever had three loves. 

Hinata, Sasuke and Shikamaru. Hinata just made the cut because she could produce an heir to his name. Sasuke because even though their kiss was an accident he acknowledged that he felt something for him. And the lazy brat known as Shikamaru captivated him, he didn't care what others thought of him and Naruto admired and loved him for that. He couldn't be with Sasuke because he needed an heir hence marrying Sakura, Shikamaru was the same and along came Temari. But Shikamaru's marriage did strengthen Konoha and Suna's relationship so that was a plus.

He wondered what Shikamaru was up to, he wanted those hands on him and even if he never got a chance to fess up why he chose Shikamaru to his face atleast he got the chance to be with him. So here he was playing house with a deceitful wife to make his children happy. He hoped in the future they would understand why he did somethings he had to do.

*****************

The Nara household was oddly quiet, Shikadai was in his room preparing for another argument about to commence with his parents. He had no idea what they argued over and it was too troublesome to find out about. So he pulled on his headphones and slowly did his homework.

Shikamaru exhaled the smoke from his cigarette as he listened to Temari groan about how lazy he was and how he hardly did anything in the bedroom. He honestly thought they covered this years ago when they were still just friends. You are married to the head of the laziest clan in the Leaf and possibly the entire shinobi world. We are known to be lazy because our brains function at a higher rate when we are doing minimal physical activity.

Honestly it was coded in the Nara clan genes to be lazy. Hell his chakra doesn't even move unless it's battle time and even then it's only the bare necessity used to defeat the enemy. Why did he marry this troublesome woman, not even Naruto was this loud when he was arguing. He should've married the blond instead. Temari's blond is so dull and dusty looking, he was glad his son didn't inherit nothing but her eyes from her. Naruto's blond shined beautiful no matter what.

His thoughts drifted away from the arguing woman to ones more desirable. He wanted Naruto, he wanted to grip him in his grasp, caress him and talk to him. He wanted to be what the man considered his anchor. The blond was obviously in pain from the betrayal and to make it worse he had to sometimes go home and endure kisses and touches of the tainted Hinata. That stuff wears you down and make you to harsh hurried decisions. He could already narrow down that Naruto was enduring this for the kids, he wanted them to grow up in a stable home, that and Naruto wasn't the type to rile up domestic confrontation. 

In all honestly Naruto would sit and take the critic because he wouldn't know what to say or do. He didn't have parents to piece clues together on how to handle certain situations when they came about so he would sit and take it. But this wasn't like the normal problems wives picked about with their husbands. Naruto saw the betrayal, he doesn't know how to handle it so he chose to endure until he found an answer and Shikamaru knew he was going to be the one to give it to him.

Why? Because he was sick and tired of his current marriage, Shikadai was a Nara he would understand where his father was coming from so it's not like he'd have a wild child hating him. Naruto's kids however especially Boruto was wild, an almost copy of Naruto before he grew up. He wouldn't be able to comprehend what the hell his father was doing even if he witnessed what Naruto witnessed. So divorce is on the horizon atleast from his side, maybe a year from now.

In all honesty he wanted to kiss Naruto now in this moment, it would stave off the headache coming from his wife.

*******************

The clock showed it was just after 2 in the morning restless souls went searching for each other. They ended up at the park they used to play in when they were kids, it was certainly older looking but things still worked. Naruto sat on top of the monkey bars while Shikamaru sat on the swing. They talked, a lot of talking Naruto even shed tears at some point. It was refreshing to finally get things out without someone butting in with their own suggestion. Sometimes all people need is an ear to figure things out.

Naruto jumped down from the monkey bars to stand between Shikamaru's legs. He looked down at the raven and connected their foreheads. "If I had this choice to go back, I would've fought to marry you." Shikamaru's eyes widened at Naruto's bold confession.

'Naruto.' Shikamaru pulled the blond down so their lips connected. No heat or sexual desire driving the kiss, just pure honest feelings yet to be identified.