Yours Alone

A/N: I listened to I Wanna be Loved Like That by Shenandoah for inspiration for this fic…it really shows. There's a playlist of songs I listened to for this, but that was the main inspiration.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Deidara's always been an outcast. Whether in school or around his family, he knows he's different, but he wants to find someone who will see him for who he is and be loved with such devotion is could be a love story in the making. M/M ItaDei Two-shot

Chapter 1: Beautiful Lies and Ugly Truths

Deidara walked alone up the hill to the bus stop. He'd lived in the same neighborhood most of his life and at this point it was safe to say he was a loner. He lined his eyes with eye-liner, grew his hair out long, painted his nails, and wore layered clothing of fishnet long sleeve shirts, black t-shirts, black pants, and combat boots. Believe it or not it wasn't a statement. He was just comfortable and far be it from anyone else to try and understand a male being so comfortable and confident in his own sexuality.

Or lack thereof as it were. Deidara had known he was pansexual and just never bothered to advertise it. He wasn't openly interested in anyone, why should he be? They were immature and a relationship like that was bound to crash and burn nearly as soon as it started and he hated the thought of wasting his time when it could be better spent working with clay or on sculptures.

Deidara scowled as he caught sight of Sasori. Sasori and he were similar to an extent. They both loved art but with differing views and had a similar style of dress.

Whispers flittered through the school about the Valentine's Dance, dates, dresses, and the immature beliefs and expectations of that ridiculous notion of love had Deidara frowning with the beginnings of a headache. Shaking his head a bit, trying to clear his thoughts he walked into Itachi. Itachi was popular, stoic and handsome he was what many of the females and males fantasized about; even Deidara would admit he could see the appeal of the strong and silent type.

"Sorry," Deidara muttered as he backed away and went around the Uchiha, not bothering to wait for a response.

If he had bothered to look at Itachi he might have caught the piercing stare that watched him leave before Itachi walked off to his own class.

Deidara let out a sigh as the last school bell rang. Finally, there was some peace to work on his sculptures. He worked the clay carefully, molding it, not really giving it shape but letting it take form as it would.

By the time the extra hour he had with the teacher was up he could make out the basics of some sort of animal in his sculpture. He was inordinately pleased by it despite his own puzzlement on what the form might actually me. Unwilling to take another bus back home he decided to walk and take a short cut through the cemetery.

As he walked through the cemetery he caught sight of an old man kneeling beside a grave with flowers and he couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it a few days early for that?"

The old man looked at the young teen, a smile on his face as he replied to Deidara's sudden question. "No, it's not. Today, is a good day, a day for remembrance. I made her a promise, our bond surpassed the disapproval of many for a great many years, and today marks seven years that she's been gone. I devoted my life to her and she returned that. We loved each other and gave each other enough to fight for that love because we believed in it. Never let anyone tell you something as pure as love is wrong."

Deidara nodded. "Thank you for the advice elder."

The elder nodded and returned to speaking with the woman he had loved. Deidara couldn't help the thought that perhaps love wasn't so superficial if that man had found someone who fought for it with him. His devotion was pure and it made something in Deidara ache with want. He wanted to be loved like that.

As Deidara continued his walk someone pulled up alongside him.

"Do you require a ride to the community?"

Deidara turned to the owner of the car startled as he took in the form of Itachi with wary eyes.

"Are you asking me?" Deidara asked confused.

Itachi smirked. "There's no one else who lives near and I figure you've quite the walk, so I thought to offer."

Deidara shrugged. "Sure."

He got into the car and Itachi pulled back onto the road, a strum of music played in the background Deidara vaguely recognized as Melissa Ethridge's song I'm the Only One.

"So why the walk?" Itachi asked.

Deidara shrugged. "The only time I can work on sculptures or with clay in general is at school. I have an agreement with the teacher for an extra hour after school as long as my grades stay up and he doesn't tell my parents."

Itachi looked at him puzzled. Deidara sighed. "My parents don't approve of art. They approve even less of my sense of fashion…actually I'm pretty sure they disapprove of all the things that make up me as a person since I don't think they've ever praised a thing I've done."

Itachi looked vaguely understanding at that. "My father wishes me to take his place in the department once I graduate. Wants me to go to academy and become an officer."

"You don't want that." Deidara stated more than asked. He recognized Itachi's expression. It was one of silent suffering and acceptance.

"No, I don't," he confirmed. "When I graduate I'm going to leave. I have a full scholarship to a university for the pre-med program."

"I want to go for art…my parents want me to be a lawyer," Deidara admitted. "There's this art school that's seen my work and is offering a scholarship."

Itachi looked curious.

"It's the Suna Academy of the Arts," Deidara clarified.

Itachi nodded in acknowledgment, his eyes on the road and sneaking peeks at Deidara through use of the mirrors. "I have one to Konoha's Medical Academy that's just a few hours from there."

"Why are you telling me this Itachi? Before today we've never spoken, hell I don't think you even noticed me. Just today I bump into you and then you offer me a ride…why?" asked Deidara.

"I've noticed you. I may not take art, but I take music and stay after school to practice and I've seen you around. I got curious and asked your teacher about your work, he said you might not continue after high school so he lets you use it to express yourself as best he knows you can," Itachi said.

"But why? What makes you so interested in me?" Deidara repeated frustrated.

Itachi pulled over to a parking area for a local park and stopped the car. "You do not see yourself as I do. You have talent and act as you are without care to what others think. You would rather show the world an ugly truth than let them believe a beautiful lie. You are the most interesting and fascinating person I have ever come across. That is what interests me."

Deidara was stunned into silence and Itachi pulled back onto the road spending the rest of the drive in silence. Deidara only briefly wondered how Itachi knew where his home was without him saying, but he filed it away mentally under Itachi's far more perceptive state of mind. No one else had understood that Deidara was making a statement and no one had ever put it in a manner so bluntly it was almost painful.

Deidara secretly loved reading. He knew many quotes off the top of his head and what Itachi said resonated with two of the ones that impacted him the most. Ana Monnar once said, I'd rather hear an ugly truth, rather than an obscure lie. Similarly an unknown source says, I would rather be broken by an ugly truth than fall in love with a beautiful lie. No one understood that. Not even he had until he stumbled across a third quote. Corin Nemec once commented that, What motivates me in art is the ugly and beautiful nature of truth. It has to be truthful and honest, even if it is ugly and grotesque.

Art filled Deidara's life with truth. It gave him joy and sorrow. It kept him safe and alienated him from those who would treat him as if he were lesser because he enjoys something that so few people ever actually make money from doing. It was never about the money. Deidara couldn't care less if his parents cut him off and never spoke to him again if he could continue with art. Money was nice, but just like all the pretty lies people say, it would be meaningless.

Deidara meant what he said to the old man before Itachi had picked him up. He wanted love, something beautiful, honest, and filled with every broken piece of himself to fit someone just as broken. He wanted that devotion and caring; that bond that could never be torn apart even in death, because it would be proof that he belonged to someone who loved him, flaws and all, and he in turn would do the same.

Itachi stayed on his mind for the rest of the evening and Deidara could only think of the heartache this would surely bring. Sure, Itachi thought he was interesting, but beyond that he hadn't actually said he'd like to spend more time with Deidara or hinted to liking him. Just that Deidara was apparently fascinating and they were similar in their desire to not fulfill their parents' wishes.

When Deidara fell asleep that night it was to dreams of an impossible future. Dreams of Itachi and him, their lives by choice and not their parents, as devoted a couple as that old man had said he and his wife were, and it all seemed so perfect.

A/N: I haven't updated anything in forever…so here's what's happening. To Begin Anew is going to be finished in the next few days. I have a poll up and am going to work on my stories exclusively one at a time based on the results of the poll at the end of the month. I will also work on a few side projects and one shots, but I will primarily be working on the already there chapter stories for Hetalia and a few Supernatural oneshots until I get back into the swing of things.