He nods slowly. He could handle that, right? It would be okay to do this, and then in public, they would be friends. It would be like normal, but he had the intimacy as a bonus. He wasn't planning on writing it on billboards, after all. It would be okay...

And when their lips met, a relief washed over him. The physical tension from having his guard up relaxed away. He kissed back, lightly resting his hands on Shikamaru's hips, barely concealing the small smile that formed on his lips as he thought about how nice this was.