Chapter 1

THE PHYROTECHNICS

They were always together, almost hand and hand. From early childhood it was day long play dates. As young teens they spend weekends together, and left for school every Monday morning. They were perfect together, even their mothers teased them about their close relationship despite their gender. Even before they knew it, they were both the Boy Next Door.

It was another weekend, probably one of the best for them since school let out for summer break. Shisui was over for the time being, his parents gone for anniversary vacation. Shisui and Itachi sat that the dinner table eating an after school snack Mikoto made for them both before she went to pick Sasuke up from his elementary school. They sat there, enjoying another one of their random conversations.

"I'm just saying bro, we need to make this the best summer ever"

"You say that every summer" Itachi almost laughed out, rolling his eyes

"Because it's true! We have to do everything epicly" Shisui flailed his arms, Itachi was so hopeless at this stuff.

"That's not a word!" he cracked up laughing

"Hey!" Shisui points his chop sticks at his friend "that's not the point. The point is, is that we need to do something special. Something we won't forget"

With that, Itachi rested his head on his hands, giving Shisui his full attention, "and how do we do that?" this started one of the most intense conversations they ever had. It was playful one with a serious meaning to it. Shisui of course wanted to do something borderline illegal, Itachi wasn't having it. His father was a well-respected chief of state police. Shisui wanted to use it as leverage, but Itachi didn't wanted to risk it.

They didn't get very far into their conversation before Mikoto came home with a very happy Sasuke. It was unspoken but they both didn't want either of them to know of their planning. At least not yet.

"Hey Squirt" Shisui greeted with a friendly wave.

"Hi Shisui" the Squirt plopped down next to his brother, "did you cry again like last year?" the small boy teased. It was easy for him to get under Shisui's skin, but all in light banter.

"No!" he snapped back, "I grew out of that" he folded his arms, and lowering his voice.

Itachi sat quietly through this, only giggling quietly. "How was school otouto? Last day of school should have been fun, right?" his focus now shifting to Sasuke.

"It was boring, most of them were just crying and saying how much they'll miss their friends" Sasuke was young but he has already developed a strong asocial behavior. "I mean, well see each other again in like 3 months, right?"

"So you won't miss any of your friends?" Itachi questioned, "If you have friends"

"I don't want friends. Everyone is stupid" Sasuke said with an almost serious tone.

"Wow" Shisui chimed in "what an ego you have Squirt". This caused Sasuke to mumble a "whatever"

Itachi stood from his seat, "Kaasan, me and Shisui are going up to my room" he calmly announced to his mother in the kitchen, getting a "have fun" as a response. He motioned his head at Shisui, telling him to leave.

"Can I come too, niisan?" the small boy asked excitedly.

Itachi pat his head, "once you eat what mom is cooking for you" he gave Sasuke a slight smile. He turned to Shisui "let's go" he said as he walked up the stairs

"I was waiting for you" Shisui said not far behind. When they made it into Itachi's room, he closed the door behind him. "So what was that about? Why did you come up here?" Shisui was questioning Itachi's change in mood more than his actions.

"It was cold down there" he said as he covered himself in a blanket. "And I wanted to talk more on our plan". Now, Shisui was all ears, he jumped on the bed next to Itachi. "I was thinking, instead of doing once huge things, we can do something new every other week"

Shisui nodded his head, "and then we can do all the things from earlier" Itachi nodded his head, "we should write them all down so we don't forget"

"I'm sure my parents won't let me go camping with you alone" he shrugged and pushed off this blanket, now warm. "Or swimming at the river. But we'll figure it out". Shisui hummed in agreement. He pulled his phone, and started to note down all the things he wanted to try. Itachi started to get up his gamming system. It was finally the weekend, and that is the only time he can play on his electronics, even during summer. He handed Shisui a controller and they battled in different games, counting up the wins they have. Sasuke would run in and out of Itachi's room, only staying to watch them play parts of their game. His young mind didn't want to focus on what didn't include him. Of course Itachi didn't get to play as much and was short on wins, he thought it was fair. It was still fun for both of them. Shisui like to gloat on beating Itachi, it was all lighthearted banter. They were always like this, at times they would even be angry at each other, depending on the house they were at, the other would go to a separate room until one apologized. They were never angry at each other for more than a day.

"Hey Itachi" Shisui grabbed Itachi's attention, "how were we able to stay friends for so long?" his eyes gazed out of the window that was stationed across the room. His question took Itachi off guard, he had to take a moment to think. "I mean, I'm going to high school and you're going to the 8th grade. What if we just… stopped talking?"

Itachi understood why Shisui wanted a rememberable summer, he could feel the worry in his best friends tone. He didn't like it, "what are you talking about?" he turned his whole body and attention to Shisui, "of course we are going to always talk and be friends" he moved closer to him, placing his hands over the slightly larger ones, "we were still friends when you went to middle school without me. I'm sure we can do it again". Itachi couldn't help but smile at the thought of always being with Shisui, have been neighbors his whole life why should that change?

Itachi's words hit straight to his heart, "Yeah, you're right, Itachi. I guess it was pretty dumb of me to think that" he used his free hand to scratch the back of his head. "We kinda… live next to each"

"Don't read my mind" Itachi's slim body shook with laughter. Shisui the vibration of Itachi's laugh bounce in his chest "I was just thinking that". Shisui just stared at him in awe, even when Itachi stopped laughing, he didn't want to take his eyes off him. "Um hey?" Itachi waved his hand in front of Shisui "is something on my face?" he felt around his face, the insecurities of a teenager kicking in.

"No," Shisui gave as a simple answer "you're perfect". Once again Shisui's words caught Itachi off guard. Shisui brought his face closer to Itachi's.

It took him a moment to reply, "What do you mean?" a blush slowly crept into his face. Shisui only shook his head, what was that supposed to mean? Shisui brushed his finger against Itachi's smooth cheek, pushing hair behind his ear. The finger was fire against his skin, "Shisui?" he felt frozen. Shisui's gaze was a strong spell on him. Shisui was sure he was under a spell as well. He wanted to lean in, but he wasn't sure why.

He took a deep breath and stood quickly, "heh that was weird, sorry about that". He once again, scratched his head. Itachi had to blink a few times, mumbling a quiet "yeah". Itachi wanted to ask what that was about, but he also didn't want the answer. He sat back down, with plenty of distance in between them.

He couldn't help the awkward silence between them, he didn't know what to say after doing something so weird. Itachi didn't know what to say either, his mind was racing at the thought of Shisui being so close to him. It was an odd feeling in his chest. He had a hunch that he wasn't supposed to be feeling this way about him.

Itachi stared at his hands, fiddling them around to keep his mind off Shisui. Then once again, for the thousand time this afternoon, Sasuke came running into the room in some pajamas and his stuff dinosaur in arm. "Itachi, mom said it was time for bed and that you need take a shower" he squeaky voice announced

"Thank you Sasuke" his voice was soft. He stood and grabbed some night clothes, "wait here" he told Shisui, and with that, he left to shower. Normally he did that in the morning, but if his mom wanted him to shower now, she was just doing laundry. Once Itachi was done, Shisui got in the shower. Once he was done, he took the dirty clothes to Mikoto, practically his second mother.

Shisui goes back up to Itachi's room, he wasn't feeling so anxious now, since some time had pass. He saw Itachi lying in bed, watching the TV. Shisui climbed in next to him, it wasn't anything new. They sat there, captivated in the late night shows until the timer on the TV turns itself off. Itachi's parents didn't want him up too late, even in summer.

"Hey Shisui?" Itachi turned his body to face the other boy. Once he knew he had the boys attention, he continued, "why where you so close earlier?" he had to ask.

Shisui was quiet for a while, he wanted to choose the right words, "I just felt like being close to you" that was all he wanted to admit.

"I thought you were going to kiss me" the bluntness reddened Shisui's cheeks, "but boys aren't supposed to do that kind of stuff"

Shisui look down at the pillow he was on, " yeah I know" he knew that now in days, a good chunk of society would accept the idea and call it normal, but he didn't know if his set of parents were a part of that side. "Hey just, go to sleep, we will talk about it later". But they both knew they had no intention of doing so