shikacho would be a secret relationship, realistically speaking. Not that realism really matters in an anime that has jutsus and tailed beasts in it and too many plotholes and badly written relationships, but by logic, these two specifically would be very secretive about their romantic relationship.
I would say this applies to all inoshikacho ships, but with how inoichi suspected ino might be into choji or shikamaru, it definitely doesn't apply to all. And also, because shikaino and choino are both hetships, both ships could easily have two kids and each kid could be an heir/ess to a clan.
But when it comes to shikacho, the game changes.
Because 1. They're gay, that's first and foremost. Considering konoha is supposed to be set in 1990s-2000s, we don't know what kind of impression konoha has on gay people but also we're talking about Japanese people so it's definitely not a great impression.
2. These two cannot have kids. So even if gays were accepted, they're still heirs in need of future heirs, so either way their relationship would have to be secret for both of their sakes.
And is this my way of proposing secret doomed shikacho...?
Yes.
Note: I'm sorry to have been gone for so long guys! I'm probably gonna be back to posting constantly pretty soon because I miss this account and I miss shikacho. So thanks for being patient! And no I'm not dead💔