#not impressed at all and shes not sure why she even wabts his attention at all 🤭

[twnj]

'“If you say so,” said Shikamaru, unconvinced.

Her lips parted as she withheld a growl. “I try not to cross paths with people who are, as you say, dicks. Not always in my control, though, at places like this.”

Shikamaru nodded, piercing the top of his juice box with the little plastic straw. He leaned in, not lifting the box from the table, and sucked on his straw. His cheeks hollowed, the little scars of long-gone spots like little black stars against his skin. “I wish I had the luxury. He’s like a bad smell; he seems to turn up everywhere.”

“Not everywhere. I avoid him.”

“Everywhere I go, then,” he amended with a sigh, and Temari felt her stomach flip. “I guess it’s a consequence of being as good as him, so you wouldn’t know.”

“As good at being a dick?”

The corner of his mouth curved slightly. “At chess.”

The crumb of triumph Temari had felt fizzled out. “So, what? You think I’m no good? That I’m bad?”

Shikamaru paused, eyebrows slightly raised, and looked down at his food quietly as if she didn’t exist. The silence stretched long enough that Temari was near ready to grab her tray and leave, infuriated by his lack of engagement.'

Grandmaster on ao3 by @notquitejiraiya