~DEDICATED TO THE SECRET SAL, MY #1 FAN~
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters; all rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
Itachi enjoyed driving in the rain. He took comfort in the gentle assault of rain droplets beating against the sunroof, the tiny tributaries running down the windows, the dragging of the windshield wipers, the red blur of brake lights illuminating the road one at a time, the splashing of tires barreling through millimeters of water, and the way shards of lightning lit up the bleak clouds above before giving way to the deep grumbling of thunder.
What he didn't enjoy was the driving part. Scanning for large puddles, having to break several yards in advance to prevent hydroplaning into the tailgate of the car in front of you, having to squint in order to see the lines dividing the lanes and shoulders and dealing with carless drivers weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to beat the worst of the storm.
Thankfully for Itachi, his car was at the shop until Monday, which allowed him to enjoy the storm from the inside of Kisame's SUV as they drove to his apartment to pick up some paperwork upon Itachi's request.
"It's not letting up any." Kisame commented, breaking the soothing rhythms Itachi had gotten used to.
"It doesn't seem to be; you're right."
"You still wanna stop by my place? Or do you want me to drive you straight home? I can bring the papers over tomorrow if you want." Kisame suggested.
Itachi shook his head. "I was planning on getting some work done tonight."
Kisame smirked and reached out to grasp Itachi's hand in his own. "You can't relax for just one night, 'Ta?"
At the mention of Kisame's nickname for him, he glanced over to meet whiskey colored irises paired with an innocent, almost pleading smile.
"Focus on your driving, Kisame." Itachi said, pulling his hand away. "Getting into an accident wasn't on tonight's agenda."
"I can think of something you can pencil in on your planner for tonight." Kisame insinuated, noting the blush creeping over his boyfriend's cheeks.
"I'll pass." Itachi said.
One of these days, Kisame thought as he turned his attention back to the road. The pair arrived at Kisame's apartment almost ten minutes later, during which time, the sky had grown considerably darker and the rainfall had increased tenfold.
"Wow," Kisame breathed, "it's down-pouring out there. We can head straight to your place before it gets any worse. There's still time." He suggested.
Itachi stared out the window as if to weigh the pros and cons of retrieving the papers he needed. If Kisame knew his boyfriend at all, it was only a matter of time before—
"Let's go." Itachi commanded and pushed open the passenger door, leaving Kisame to wretch the keys from the ignition and fumble with the door handle before making a mad dash to the building's front door.
"It's that bad out there, huh?" One of the male receptionists asked when they walked in.
"Yeah." Kisame answered, examining his attire. The bottoms of his pants and socks were drenched from running through puddles created by uneven pavement in the parking lot and his shirt was soaked through, sticking to his skin and exposing the wide undershirt he wore beneath it. He wouldn't be surprised if his undershirt was soaked as well.
"How're the roads?" The receptionist inquired.
Kisame shrugged. "They're not too bad at the moment."
"That's good. I heard there was a terrible accident on the beltway." He said.
At this point, Itachi, who had been impatiently waiting for Kisame to end his little conversation so that he could let him into his apartment so he could get what he needed and get out. After hearing that there was already a major accident on the beltway, however, Itachi jumped into the conversation. "There was an accident?" He asked.
The receptionist nodded. "I hear the storm's steadily moving north and that visibility is close to zero down there." He said, making an "O" with his hand for emphasis.
"What do you want to do?" Kisame asked Itachi. In order to reach Itachi's apartment, they needed to take the beltway. Otherwise, they'd have to make a detour and navigate through side streets and backgrounds in order to bypass it which would take more time.
Itachi turned on his heel and headed for the elevator. "For now, let's just get those papers and reassess the situation then."
And as always, Kisame didn't question Itachi's judgment, shrugging his indifference and following the Uchiha's lead.
"—rainfall is expected to continue into the early hours of tomorrow morning with gusts reaching almost 75mph in some regions." The weatherwoman explained. "I'm going to hand you over to Julie, who will give you the local traffic report." She said as the screen switched over to a woman wearing a red poncho. "I'm Julie Stewart with your local traffic report this evening; I'm currently standing on the beltway where traffic is backed up for miles due to a horrible accident that took place half an hour ago." She attempted to explain, holding back her hood with one hand while her other hand held the microphone. "Traffic is being rerouted as we speak, though given the conditions out there, it is uncertain how long it will be before the roads clear up." She said before the screen switched to a paid programming station.
Itachi spun around to face Kisame who dropped the TV controller onto the couch. "Kisame!" He cried, picking up the controller and switching it back to the weather forecast. "I need this on so I know what's going on outside so I can get home before midnight!"
"You're not going anywhere; you heard her! We're in the midst of a tropical storm, Itachi! It's clear that you're not leaving here anytime soon." Kisame explained.
"They're rerouting traffic, there's a chance that we can—"
"There's a chance that wherever we get rerouted will be either flooded or blocked, and instead of being smashed up cars, it'll either be a river or a tree – things that can't easily be moved." He explained. His heart nearly broke when Itachi cast his gaze at the floor. His long bangs were ropey and sticking to his face, and his eyelashes, doused from their brief sprint through the parking lot, made Itachi look saddened and on the brink of tears, even though Kisame knew that he wasn't.
Itachi looked up when he felt two, strong hands grab his shoulders and lead him past the kitchen and down the hallway. "Where are we going?" He asked Kisame. His eyes widened when Kisame opened the door to his bedroom.
"You're gonna catch a cold if you don't change out of those clothes." He said, unbuttoning his shirt.
Itachi took a step backwards. "I'm fine, Kisame. Besides, I don't have anything to change into."
Kisame ignored him and shifted through the messy piles of clothes in his closet. How does he find anything in that mess? Itachi briefly wondered before a dark piece of fabric was thrown in his face. He held it out at arm's length and found that it was a dark blue T-shirt emblazed with an angry looking shark on the front of it with "SHARKS" printed in grey just below it.
"Kisame, you don't have to do this."
"Itachi," Kisame said, "I'm tired from a long week of work, and I'm sopping wet. All I want to do is change into something more comfortable. You, on the other hand," he said, pointing a finger at Itachi, "get sick just from staring at the rain it seems like! So if you don't change out of your clothes and put something else on, you're going to get sick and you won't get much work done this weekend." He said, and peeled off his button-down shirt before removing his undershirt.
Itachi watched him strip down to his boxers, which were also wet at the creases, revealing every inch of his boyfriend's body, and looked away. He hated to admit it, but Kisame had a point. Itachi did get sick easily, and it wouldn't bode well for him if he got sick this weekend. Not when he had work to do.
"Fine." He surrendered with a sigh, examining the shirt Kisame gave him again. "Do you have any shorts or anything I could borrow?" He asked.
Kisame looked at him as though he was suddenly wearing lipstick. "Shorts? That shirt'll swallow you whole? What do you need shorts for?" He asked. "Besides! I'm you're boyfriend, what are you ashamed of?"
Itachi regarded him with a serious look, to which, Kisame dug around in his dresser and produced a grey pair of shorts with the same angry shark logo at the bottom, leading Itachi to believe that the combo was leftover from Kisame's college days.
"Those were souvenirs from my time on the school swim team." Kisame explained, confirming Itachi's theory. "We were number one in our division." He boasted.
Itachi forced a smile, which, thankfully, Kisame didn't question and retreated to the bathroom to change.
"Come on! I stripped in front of you!" Kisame protested. "You don't get a free show without giving me a tip or something!" He called loudly enough for Itachi to hear through the door.
"Sorry, Kisame, maybe some other time." Itachi replied back.
Kisame briefly considered peaking underneath the door and thought better of it, retreating to the bed with a disgruntled huff. A few moments later, Itachi appeared from the bathroom and lingered in the doorway.
"Where do you want me to put my wet clothes?" He asked Kisame.
But all Kisame could think about were those pale legs that poked up from the doorway and remembered how they glistened with sweat as Itachi cried out—
"Kisame?" Itachi reiterated, bringing the older man's attention back to the subject at hand. What was Itachi talking about again? "I said, where do you want me to put my wet clothes?"
"I'll put them in the dryer for you." Kisame said, rising from the bed with open arms.
"And do you have a hairdryer I could borrow as well? If I don't dry my hair, it'll be in knots."
Kisame shook his head. "Sorry, no. Just dry it with one of the towels over there; it'll be fine." He said and scooped up the Uchiha's clothes to throw in the dryer.
When Itachi padded out into the main living area, towel wrapped around his neck, Kisame had just started the dryer and strolled over to the kitchen. "Zank you for dining at Chez Kizame, vhut can I intress you in today, monzhur?" Kisame said with a really bad French-bordering German-accent.
"'Chez' actually means 'at the place of,' so you wouldn't say 'at Chez'—" Itachi attempted to say when Kisame cut him off.
"Vould you like our soup du jour? Beef stew a la mode?" He asked, holding up a plastic container labeled "Warm beef stew with vegetables" that looked like a can of dog food, "or perhaps you vould prefer to eat some steak instead?" This time, he held up a frozen dinner labeled "Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and gravy," another item that could have passed as dog food.
"Do you have salad?" Itachi asked delicately as he scanned the room for any signs of a four-legged mutt that Kisame hadn't previously mentioned.
"But no!" Kisame continued in that stupid accent. "You are dining in a five-star restaurant! We serve only the finest!"
"Really? What's the expiration date, because the Salisbury steak looks like it's freezer burnt." Itachi stated.
Kisame immediately set down the soup container and examined the frozen dinner box for an expiration date. When it seemed he had found it, he crammed the box back into the freezer. "Okay, you now have a choice between our famous soup du jour, and tonight's special!" He said.
Tonight's special was another frozen dinner which looked to be food made for humans, but the kind of humans who sat around in front of the TV all day. "Beer battered chicken breast served with corn, mashed potatoes and a fudge brownie?" Itachi read aloud "I'll take the beef stew."
"Beef stew it is then!" Kisame cheered and set to work preparing it while Itachi stood in between the living room and the kitchen, fingering tangled strands of hair that now smelled like Kisame, a result from using the older man's towel.
"Feel free to make yourself at home, Itachi!" Kisame called over his shoulder. "Mi casa, su casa!"
First French, then German, now Spanish? Itachi found himself wondering as he looked around the room for a table to sit at. The only tables he could see, however, was the coffee table situated in front of the TV.
"Coffee?" Kisame asked from the kitchen.
"No thank you." Itachi answered. He didn't like to drink coffee in the evenings unless he expected to be up late working, which, with Kisame around, clearly wasn't going to be happening tonight. "You don't own a dining table, Kisame?"
Kisame shook his head and fetched a bottle of soda from the fridge. "Don't need one. It's just me here, so why should I invest in something like a table for two when the coffee table works just fine?"
Itachi felt a pang of guilt at Kisame's statement but pushed the thought from his head and ventured out into the kitchen. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You're a guest, 'Ta; make yourself at home and sit on the couch or something!" Kisame said and shooed him into the other room with a flick of the wrist.
Itachi complied, and moved to sit on Kisame's couch before curiosity got the better of him and lead him to the large windows across from him. Upon opening the blinds, he was presented with a picture that could only be described in blurred reds, yellows, greens and whites on the highway below, amidst a dark blue sky.
From the kitchen, Kisame couldn't help but smile at the scene before him. There stood the love of his life, wearing one of his old swim team shirts with sleeves that fell to his elbows and a hemline that drooped to the top of his thigh. He looked so much like a little kid, watching the rainfall and wearing clothes far too big for him.
"Soup du jour and a glass of water, compliments of the handsome chef." Kisame winked, earning a small smile from Itachi.
"Conditions continue to worsen out here as a flash flood warning has been issued to several counties including—" The weatherwoman was saying when Kisame suddenly switched the TV input to the DVD player.
"What are you doing?" Itachi asked. "I was waiting to see the radar—"
"Radar, smadar, Itachi, you're not going anywhere in this storm because I'm not driving you." Kisame said, placing his own dinner onto the table before taking a seat on the couch next to him. "Instead, you and I are going to sit on the couch and enjoy a nice, romantic evening watching a movie like normal couples do when they go on a date together."
"Since when did this become a date?" Itachi asked quizzically.
"Since now." Kisame said, cutting off any argument Itachi might have had ready with a passionate kiss to the lips.
Itachi wanted to roll his eyes but found himself melting into the kiss instead. It had been a while since they'd taken any time for themselves outside of the office and it was apparent by the way Kisame pulled Itachi close to him, nibbling his bottom lip as if asking permission to gain entrance to something more. Itachi willingly complied, allowing Kisame's tongue to ravage his mouth and explore every cavity before their tongues clashed in a passionate dance, swirling around each other as their saliva mixed, leaving Itachi to wonder how long it'd been since they've kissed with this much fervor. In fact, when was the last time they'd even had sex with each other?
The answer didn't matter as Kisame began to pull the shirt he'd given him over his head, tossing it to the side before going back to their hot and heavy make-out session. Before long, Itachi found the fabric concealing Kisame's toned abs to be intrusive and worked it up and over his boyfriend's head with a little help from Kisame himself.
Within minutes, everything was off, strewn all around the living room as the two reconnected in a way they should have thought about months ago.
"Here you go." Kisame said, handing a warm mug of hot chocolate into his boyfriend's waiting hands before snuggling under the blanket alongside him with his own mug.
"Thanks." He said, cozying up to the warmth of his partner's body, careful not to spill his drink. "What movie are we watching?" He asked.
"You'll see." Kisame said with a secretive grin. "You'll see."
Itachi didn't expect to spend the evening at Kisame's apartment, much less have sex that would result in watching Sharknado with a mug of hot chocolate on the couch afterwards. But considering what he would have done had he gone home to his own apartment, he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Wait, why is it that they were trudging through at least four feet of water inside the house, but it's not flooding outside?" Itachi asked.
Kisame didn't immediately answer his question and instead sealed his lips in a kiss. "Don't look into it, Koi. Just enjoy." He said affectionately.
And without questioning it any further, Itachi placed his hot chocolate mug on the coffee table and leaned his head against Kisame's bicep and continued to watch the movie.
"What'd you think, Koi?" Kisame asked as the credits flashed on the screen.
When Itachi didn't answer, Kisame craned his neck to discover that the young man had fallen asleep against Kisame's arm. When? Kisame had no idea, and gently nudged him awake. "Itachi? Itachi?" He asked.
But Itachi didn't stir.
I think I might have exhausted him earlier. Kisame thought and pulled back the blanket. Couch sex plus shower sex must have been more than Itachi's body could handle, Kisame figured as he picked his lover up and carried him into the bedroom. The hot chocolate probably didn't help matters any.
With Itachi tucked in on the right side of the bed, Kisame eased his way under the covers next to him and scooted as close to his sleeping partner as close as he could without waking him (even though Itachi was out cold). There, Kisame marveled at the man's long eye lashes that just barely dusted against skin that shone alabaster under in the dead of night.
"Will you move in with me?" Kisame whispered, caressing Itachi's cheek with the back of his hand.
Itachi didn't hear him of course, and thus, didn't answer, but Kisame hoped that the day would come when he found the courage to ask and Itachi answered "yes." For the time being, Kisame was content to press a light kiss on Itachi's forehead and whisper "I love you" before allowing himself to drift off to sleep knowing that his loving was just inches away.
Itachi awoke early the next morning with a feeling of warmth and security – a combination he hadn't felt since he was a child, being pulled into his mother's embrace. So why was he feeling this way now all of a sudden?
He tried to blink the sleep from his eyes only to find them painfully dry and itchy. Dammit! He'd fallen asleep with his contacts in again and ripped away the blanket, aware that he'd hit something in the process of doing so, but couldn't care less until he took these damned contact lenses out of his eyes.
"'Ta?" A concerned voice echoed above the sounds of the faucet running.
Itachi vaguely recognized the voice but didn't care to process who it belonged to until he vanquished the fire in his eyes.
When Itachi's forearm crashed into his stomach a few minutes ago, Kisame awoke with a start, worried that Itachi had gotten scared from the unfamiliar surroundings and tried to attack him as if he were some kind of serial killer or rapist or something along the lines of that, he didn't know. But when he caught Itachi running into the bathroom, he knew something wasn't right.
"You know," Kisame said, handing Itachi a towel to dry his eyes with, "in my dreams, I envisioned waking up to your peaceful face, watching you sleep for a few minutes before turning off your alarm and sneaking out into the kitchen to make us breakfast." He said. "But instead, I woke up to your first punching me in the stomach and you running into the bathroom. And when I go to find out what's going on, it looks like you're crying your eyes out over the sink when in actuality, you're taking out contacts I didn't even know you wore."
"Sorry." Itachi apologized and knitted his brow. "You didn't know I wore contact lenses?"
Kisame shook his head. "There's a lot of things I still don't know about you that I want to know. Things I I'd learn if we spent more time together outside of the office." He purred.
"What are you saying?" Itachi asked. In the years that he'd known him, Kisame had a reputation for taking things too far too fast. Itachi remembered how he'd asked him to move-in with him the first time they'd ever had sex. Even though that was several months ago, if Kisame knelt down on one knee and presented him a ring, Itachi felt as though he might throw up.
"I want you to move in with me." Kisame said before rephrasing the statement to something less intimidating. "I mean, I'd like it if you moved in with me." He said. His heart was beating a million miles a minute and his stomach was beginning to hurt from the impact of Itachi's blow. "I know I've already asked you before, but it's been a couple of months and I want to see where this relationship goes. And so far, it's not going anywhere if it's confined to the office."
Itachi smiled. "I can't guarantee I won't hit you when I wake up in the mornings."
"I'm okay with that." He smiled in returned and embraced Itachi in a hug. "Is that a yes?" He couldn't help but ask him.
Itachi nodded into his shoulder. "Only if you help me untangle my hair."
"I'll untangle it every day if it means living with you."
Okay~! First completed story under the pen-name of Sasori33-001 (I used to be Itachi012110 for those of you who don't know).
[A/N]: Kisame refers to Itachi by 2 nicknames: "'Ta" and "Koi." "'Ta" is obviously a shortened version of ITAchi, and "koi" is (from what I understand) a shortened version of the Japanese term for "boyfriend" which is "koibito" (not the fish). It's what I used to have Kisame refer to Itachi as back in the day when I started writing KisaIta. (For those of you who've read my other fic, "Temporary Hiatus," you already know this ;)
Let me make some things clear before you review (which you were all planning on doing, I know): 1) It's very late right now. 2) Any grammatical errors can be excused by the fact that it is very late right now. 3) Any plot holes you find can also be excused by the fact that it is very late right now. 4) It is very late right now.
When the sun is shining and I have some energy, I will look over this thing and make revisions and possibly tighten up the plot, but for the time being, I hope you enjoy and more importantly, review what you think (If you wanna tell me it sucks, fine, I'll message you back and tell you that it was very late when I wrote this, and if you wanna tell me what you liked about it, I will shower you if affection and good will, and if you wanna do a little of both, I will reciprocate accordingly: It was late, thanks for the review!)
Until we meet again~
Sasori33-001