A/N: I feel like you'll all hate me after reading how I slaughtered Sasori's character ;_; I'm confident I got Dei done alright but Sasori's was such a bitch! The whole AU thing makes it waaay more difficult, so please, have mercy. Besides that I hope you all like. I wanted something fluffy, this is about as mellow as they come. Seriously. I hope you're not expecting hot buttsecks or anything, because it's not here. Sooorry.

"Hello, Stranger"

It was a well known fact to those that knew Sasori that his luck was never, ever good.

And disregarding his uncanny bad luck, Sasori also happened to be an impatient, intolerable, red-haired time bomb with an overbearing job that didn't pay quite nearly enough. And today, without question, was no different.

"Come on, I don't have all day." Burdened brown eyes flashed towards his wrist watch, a habit he had suddenly seemed to develop just standing in line. The woman in front of him shifted nervously around, trying her hardest to be inconspicuous about her curious gaze but when her eyes landed on Sasori's he glared daggers her way. Making sure she wouldn't try to look at him any time soon again.

He had been left waiting in line at the ATM for more than twenty three minutes now, and the small amount of patience he did have reserved was quickly dwindling away. He took a large breath and exhaled, blowing up pieces of unruly read hair. He couldn't handle much more of this. Crossing his arms, he bent out of line and looked at the man who was holding everybody up. "I'm going to be late, can't you withdraw any faster?" He wasn't met with an answer, though finally to his relief, the man at the machine stepped aside and the line moved up, but just a smidge so. In frustration, Sasori dug his clenched fists deeper into his heavy coat pockets. The wind was icy, dampened by the grey sky that marked the mid December weather. It wasn't his favorite season, but he had to admit, he might have enjoyed it a little more if he hadn't been currently stuck outside in the midst of it.

The line took another step forward and now only one person stood between him and the machine. "About time," he mumbled, shifting his eyes to the left to watch a small child slip on an ice patch and start to cry. How annoying, he thought with another pang of impatience. With a sigh, he cast his attention forward again, watching the same woman who had found the nerve to look at him before, fumble awkwardly with the buttons. Sasori withdrew his hands from his pockets and was about to say something inconceivably rude to her when a sharp jab sent him stumbling forward. "The hell was that?" He growled, quickly righting himself and whipping around only to come face to face with a boy naught but two years his junior.

"My bad, calm down. It was only an accident." The blue eyed boy held his hands up in defense, the ghost of a smirk touching at his pale lips. Sasori opened his mouth to respond but it was too late, the boy jabbed his gloved hands back into the pockets of his coat and turned to walk off. His long blonde hair whipped in the wind as he stalked off and for a second Sasori could only stare at this kid whose back was to him, wishing he could have come up with a comeback that would have left the blondie feeling stupid. Turns out, only he felt dumb for being so stricken with silence. The woman in front of Sasori had long since taken her leave and with a shake of his head, he turned towards the ATM. Reaching towards his back pocket to pull out his card, he suddenly stopped, frozen with his hand in his pocket and a twitch in his brow.

"That little brat..." His wallet was gone and it took him less than two seconds to deduce that he had been pick-pocketed by that blonde stranger. Sasori snapped his head in the direction the kid had been headed but saw nothing but an empty street that was slowly being painted with the light dusting of fresh snow. He watched his breath come out in small clouds as he let out a loud sigh of frustration. Sasori turned around, his hands back in his pockets and he nuzzled his face into the thick scarf wrapped around his neck before trudging back towards his work office. Great, he thought angrily, there went my lunch. It took him the last five minutes remaining of his break to make it back to work. He entered the elevator and groaned.

The only thing he hated more than waiting in lines was his job. Five days out of the week he arrived to work, sat in his small cubicle and typed and filed away meaningless documents muddled with useless numbers. If the work wasn't droning enough, the people he was forced to associate with were. The elevator opened up with a loud rush and he put his head down, walking as fast as his legs would carry him back to his desk. When he arrived unnoticed, he pulled his scarf and coat from his body and placed the damp articles over his chair. Sitting with a sigh, he flicked a switch and watched the fluorescent glow of his computer spring to life. But not a second too soon, he heard a familiar wheeling and turned to look back at a rather irritating spectacle, Kisame Hoshigaki to be precise.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you looking miserable?" Sasori turned back around, giving the icy shoulder as he did so. But to no avail, the man only slid in closer. "Having a bad day?"

"Yes, and you aren't making it any easier." Though chillingly spoken, Kisame only laughed and shook his head. When the sound of approaching footsteps rounded the corner, Kisame looked up expectantly. Sasori didn't have to look up to know where those tired yet graceful footfalls came from.

"Itachi, you're back early." Sasori looked subtly over at the tall man that stood in front of the cubicle right across from Sasori's own. Itachi was for the most part very quiet, his long black hair was always pulled back, loose strands falling into his inky, black eyes and he always kept his head up with that same neutral line he called a mouth firmly set above his sharp chin. Sasori grunted and looked back at his computer. Itachi and himself weren't good friends or anything, Sasori recounted maybe having said all of twenty words to him before and a few of them going along the lines of, "don't be jealous Itachi." And that had only been a joke on Sasori's behalf, little would he have known though, Itachi wasn't one for jokes. Ever.

"I know what you need." Kisame said suddenly, shaking Sasori out of his thoughts. The red head groaned and mumbled an incoherent response. "You never come out with us Sasori." This conversation was a common one. His co-workers always invited him to join in on their escapades, but Sasori always kindly declined and chose to stay home and work on his art instead. The only thing that seemed that ever seemed to spurn patience within him.

"For a very good reason-"

"Nonsense!" Kisame said louder, drowning out Sasori's pathetic attempts to shake loose his co-worker. "I'm not taking no for an answer this time. After work, we'll go to the bar up the street. What do you say Itachi?" Kisame looked over at the gloomy Uchiha, who only answered with a short wave of his hand from over his shoulder. Obviously it was good enough for Kisame though for he beamed and slapped a menacing hand over Sasori's shoulder. "Good, it's all set then." When Kisame wheeled himself back to his own space, Sasori took that moment to let his head fall onto the desk with brutal force.

This day would never end.

By the time their shift was ending, Sasori was dreading everything. He had twice already tried to deny Kisame, but to his dismay the large man was not a force to be reckoned with. So he dragged behind while Kisame talked and Itachi listened, on their way to a local bar he knew they must have been regulars at. When they walked in through the double doors, Sasori wrinkled his nose at the sight. The whole place immediately lacked atmosphere. It wasn't full, but there was enough noise to make it headache inducing and of the few that were there, four of them were already looking drunk and stupid. They took their seats at the bar and Kisame ordered a drink for himself, followed by Itachi (who to Sasori's amusement ordered a cosmopolitan cocktail, something he always thought was only for easy college women.) and when the woman looked at Sasori he shrugged and asked for house drink, whatever that might be. The waitress stilled for a second looking skeptical before she held out her open palm to Sasori.

"I.D. please, sir." He let out another long sigh. On the rare occasions he did go out for a drink, not once have they failed to I.D. him, though it wasn't his fault he stayed looking so young. He reached under him to pull out his wallet and once again he froze in slight embarrassment.

"Would you believe me if I said I left my wallet at home?" He looked up curiously, already knowing what her answer would be. The minute she asked him to leave, Kisame spoke up and attempted to vouch for him, not that it mattered. As humiliating as it was he was almost glad he had an excuse to leave. Sasori slid off the stool and waved a hand towards the two men, (one who was sipping delicately at his drink and the other who at this point was trying hard not to laugh), "I'll see you two tomorrow I suppose." And he left the smoky bar without another glance back. He shifted his eyes towards the sky and shook his hair out. His fiery red hair was being dusted with flecks of snow, he was a vibrant figure on an otherwise bleak background, alone on the usually busy street. With the sudden urge to be home in a warm and dry place, Sasori hugged his coat closer to his thin frame and ran across the street, directions set on the concrete parking garage located just left of the parking lot to his office.

Once the car was started, Sasori closed his eyes and leaned back into the seat, waiting for the warmth of the heater to allow him to feel his hands again. After several minutes, he felt himself growing more and more tired, and afraid of falling asleep in his car, he shifted it into gear and left. Heading back towards his lone apartment, 48C.

He was greeted at the door by his many puppets, pieces strewn across the floor and tools and bolts nearly covering every available surface. It wasn't normally this messy but last night he had felt the urge to correct some flaws he had made undergoing previous assessments. He hadn't finished till the early morning and even then he continued until he was forced to leave for work. He clapped a hand to his face and sighed, he didn't feel entirely up to par to work on them some more and no sooner did he decide he might as well go lay down for a while. Make up for the sleep he had missed the night before. Bitter and frustrated he flopped down on his two person bed and rolled over.

Down the hall in another, smaller room labeled 34B sat a blonde boy no older than nineteen. He sat cross legged on his bed filing through a cheap wallet, frowning as he did so. He pulled out a single picture of a woman with long dark hair, smiling at the camera. Sighing, he set it to the side and pulled out another, then another. The last one was a portrait of the same woman and a man but this time they held a small baby in their hands. On the back was scrawled a date and with a huff Deidara tossed the picture over his shoulder, realizing it must have been some sort of memoriam considering the pictures looked a bit outdated.

"Man, this guy really has some serious emotional baggage. It's a wallet not a photo album, hm," To his disappointment he realized there wasn't more than three dollars hastily shoved in the corner of the money pouch. He groaned and fell back, dropping the wallet on the floor. "Guess I should have waited till he hit the ATM, huh?" His bright blue eyes probed the ceiling above him and he cast his sights at the small pile of merchandise he had picked today. Five wallets, three watches, a pen, and two bracelets that could roughly sell for eighty each. It wasn't a bad day it just wasn't one he could ever brag about. Deidara stood up slowly and walked over to his window, frowning out at the snow that fell down among the small cityscape. I must be getting bad at this, he thought to himself as his fingers ran themselves mindlessly over the frosted window pane, that guy almost caught me today. He let out a long sigh and his face fell flat, realizing how he still didn't have enough to cover his rent this month and he was only wasting his time standing around. Looks like another trip out, he shrugged on his black coat and buttoned the top button so it fit snugly around the base of his throat, pulled his long blonde locks back up and set off through the door of apartment 34B. In order to get out of the complex he had to travel up the west block towards the bigger, nicer apartments, the ones he couldn't ever even dream of affording. One day though, one day he'd stop stealing and maybe make himself worth something. Unfortunately though, this wasn't that day. With a slight of hand he tossed his hood upward, hiding his hair under the shelter of his hood before he had to face the sprinkle of snow once more.

It was around eight when a noise stirred Sasori from his sleep. The red head sat up, blinking around in confusion, still half asleep. He mumbled a swear under his breath and stood up, feeling stiff from the tense position he had fallen asleep in. Lazy fists rubbed at tired eyes as he made his way over to his door, it couldn't have been any later than eight, but still he didn't have any idea who would come knocking at this time of night.

When he opened the door and was met with no one, he blinked and leaned out into the hallway. Nothing. And then that striking pounding came again and his eyes flashed towards the glass door that led outside. "You've got to be kidding me." Sasori mumbled sourly, staring at the hooded figure that was hastily trying to force his way in. It had to be a tenant. There had been several occasions where Sasori had been in that exact same position, in a hurry he had forgotten his key and was locked outside the complex where he had to wait for someone to come his aid. Feeling slightly generous, Sasori stepped out into the hall, one hand musing his already untamed hair and another at his mouth, deflecting his yawn. From the inside, he opened the door quickly and stepped aside as a flurry of snow swept inwards and clung to the smaller body that came tumbling in. "Next time, don't forget your key." Sasori said, reclosing the door.

"Yeah, I figured, hm." Came a familiar voice. Sasori narrowed his eyes as the boy stood and removed his hood, brushing back tendrils of blonde hair, though it still came to rest in front of his face.

"You!" Sasori hissed, his eyes wide and mouth open in disbelief. "You're the brat who stole my wallet!" Deidara turned slowly and looked at Sasori, his own blue eyes wide and caught. But Deidara was faster on his feet than Sasori could give him credit for, for the boy took off down the hall, leaving Sasori standing there in awe. Until it hit him and angrily, Sasori went after him. "You don't know what you've put me through!" Sasori yelled out, but his words fell on deaf ears as the boy only pushed himself faster.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Deidara shut his eyes as he ran, praying he could get away fast enough. He had never seen that guy before and now, now he lived next door? Great. Deidara slightly turned to look back, measuring his distance. If he hurried he could unlock his door before he was caught. Maybe he was losing his edge, this was just downright pathetic. Right up the hall he could see his room number, 34B. His gloved fingers hastily reached into his pocket and shuffled through them until he had the right one ready to use. He came to a sudden stop, overthrowing himself and madly reaching towards the lock. The key slid in and stuck, frigid cold against metal. "Please work, please, please." The key gave way and turned and the door flung open. But it was too late, before Deidara could fall in, another force brought him back up against the wall. He yelled out in surprise and looked up into the face of the man not much older than himself. "What the hell is your problem, hm?" Deidara bit out, struggling against the heavy pressure of Sasori's hands.

"You're my problem!" Sasori yelled, not caring to be quiet at all. His day was just getting worse and worse and it was all thanks to the little bastard who was currently standing in front of him.

"You don't have to yell! If you want your wallet back fine, it's not like you had any money or anything, hm." Deidara frowned sideways and looked away, feeling awkward and stupid for having been such an easy target, to such a loser of all things. Sasori stepped back, removing his hands from Deidara's shoulders grudgingly.

Anyone who knew Deidara knew the boy couldn't hold his tongue for the life of him. Besides stealing, his sharp mouth never failed to get him in trouble. And right then, without question, was no different.

"Asshole." Deidara muttered under his breath as he turned away, brushing at his shoulders. He failed to see the irate expression twitching at Sasori's face. What he also failed to see, and possibly the most important thing, was Sasori's patience finally depleting. Sasori clenched his fist tight and brought it up, and where he only meant to strike the boy in the back of the head, Deidara turned to look just in time to get a fist, straight to the face.

Deidara yelped, slapping his hands over his now bleeding nose, the slight stinging of tears touching at his tightly clenched eyes. He doubled over and yelled again, "what the fuck was that for!" For a small second Sasori only stared, a slight smile at his lips. But the satisfaction was quickly wiped away when his eyes fell lower.

"Oh, look what you've done now," Deidara blinked up at Sasori through a haze of pain, hands still clapped to his face. Sasori rolled his eyes and pointed a finger towards the ground. "You've bled all over the carpet!"

"Dammit, I said keep your head back!" Sasori snapped, that familiar twitch in his eyebrow again. Deidara groaned and closed his eyes as Sasori's slender fingers touched at his face. One wouldn't think that Sasori had much of a heart to feel guilty with, but he did. Where as he felt it was fully justified and it had definitely made himself feel better, he hadn't meant to nail the kid in the face.

So he invited himself into Deidara's small apartment and was currently wiping blood off the pale boy's face with a warm rag. "You broke it didn't you?" Deidara asked thickly, opening one eye to glare up at Sasori. The red head rolled his eyes and put the rag back into the pink water. Wringing it out again.

"No, it's not broken. Don't be such a baby." He pulled up a paper towel and folded it over Deidara's face. "Just hold it there for a couple minutes. The bleeding should stop soon." Sasori picked up the bowl and carried it into the kitchen while Deidara warily watched. When he was finally alone, Deidara reached over under his blankets and plucked the three pictures he had carelessly thrown earlier. Hurriedly, he tucked them back in place in the wallet.

When Sasori returned, the boy was holding up his wallet. He was looking away rather indifferently but none the less, Sasori took it gently. "Uh, thank you." He said, opening it and noticing his three dollars was still in there. He nodded stiffly and tucked it back into his pocket. "How much more stuff have you stolen anyway, kid?"

"Deidara." The blonde said, looking over at Sasori seriously. "That's my name, hm."

"Fine, whatever. You didn't answer the question."

Deidara sighed and fell back against his bed, the paper towel still firmly held over his face. "You really want me to sit and count?" Sasori crossed his arms, looking not at all surprised. "Before you sit there and judge me just know I really needed the money. I haven't been able to find work and if I can't pay the rent, I'm out of a place to live, hm. So there." Despite the sob story, Sasori snorted and looked away.

"You're pretty pathetic you know that?"

Deidara gave a small laugh and turned his head away, giving an amused groan. When he finally looked back to Sasori, his face was alight with a glint of mischief. "I bet you wouldn't think me very pathetic if you let me buy you coffee some time." With that signature smirk of his, he sized up Sasori in an entirely new light. Just alone, Sasori's face was worth asking such an outright question. "What? Two guys can't go have a drink together?" Deidara said mockingly, trying not to snicker at the red head's reaction.

His mouth was a thin line and his eyes were wide and confused. He opened his mouth to speak once but quickly closed it, turning away. "I'm going to leave now." He finally said, shaking his head and holding his hands out from his body.

"So that's a no?" Deidara called out from the bed, grinning wildly.

"That's a definite no!" Sasori yelled back, right before he rushed out the front door and quickly closed it behind him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning against the heavy metal door. What had Deidara been thinking? Asking him out, on a date of all things? After all, Sasori just had punched him in the face and still, he was pretty sure Deidara didn't even know his name. Sasori put a hand tenderly to his forehead and pried himself off the door. Slowly, he took his leave back to his own apartment. Maybe he'd feel better after a long sleep. A long, Deidara-less sleep.

The next morning came much too quickly and already it seemed it was another one of those days. Sasori got dressed, attempted to brush his hair and then quickly changed his mind at the pointlessness of it, and hurriedly got together everything for work. It was another cold day and having rushed out the door, he forgot his scarf. So by the time he entered the elevator, he was numb, pale, and possibly freezing to death. Luckily, no one spoke to him as he made his way towards his desk.

"Have your report ready?" A nearly foreign voice asked from behind Sasori. The red head swiveled in his chair and blinked over at Itachi, whom hardly ever spoke to him. The brooding Uchiha looked up lazily, quirking a slender brow. He looked more than usually exhausted today.

"What report?" Sasori asked hesitantly. And then it hit him, last night he was supposed to finish a request sent in from the Suna departments. Some important report on sales and stock withholdings that only a select few from his department had been asked to hand in. Two of them being Itachi and himself. "I completely forgot." Itachi let out a light laugh and turned around in his seat, inwards towards his immaculately clean desk.

"Busy night?"

"You could say that. And you? You hardly look like you've slept." Sasori responded absentmindedly, his thoughts fleeting to how yet again, Deidara had managed to mess things up. Itachi looked down at his hands and shook his head lightly.

"My brother came to visit, unexpected. It was a long night."

"Hn."

"Exactly that."

Sasori smiled, a rare thing these days. It seemed that Itachi wasn't all that bad once you broke him open. He didn't talk too much and he kept things simple. Sasori definitely needed more people like that around him, after all, everybody else was starting to give him tension headaches.

The rest of the day followed as so: His hours got cut extensively due to his lack of work response, come lunch time Sasori realized he had left his wallet at home, out of nowhere Sasori had a sudden urge for coffee, and the snow was coming down with a fury. By the time his shift had ended he felt like the world was ending. He was beyond tension headache, finally reaching the point where his head just decided to implode and save him the trouble of finding another bottle of aspirin.

Forget whatever he said previously, this was the worst day ever.

His car wouldn't start, so accordingly, having given up nearly three hours ago, he called a taxi.

When he clicked his phone shut he knitted his eyebrows together and thought hard, something was missing. Slowly, he put his hand to his head, wondering why a wall wasn't there when it needed to be. His wallet, it wasn't here. Shoving his hands deep into his pocket, he balled them up tightly and prayed for warmth. After all, it was going to be a long walk home...

"Ah, ah, hot." Deidara blew lightly on his cup of tea, watching with wide eyes as the steam spiraled up into the air. Gently, he put the cup to his mouth and took a light sip. "Aw, damn, ow." He leaned over and placed the traitorous cup down on a side table, folding back into himself when his hands were free. Blue eyes cast themselves towards the frosted panes, watching serenely as the snow fell down in thick waves, coating the entire world view in sheets of twinkling white.

Yet, it all felt very incomplete. Deidara sighed and put his chin on his folded knees, wrapping his arms around himself. Straight, blonde hair fell over his face and he closed his eyes as the sounds of a sullen winter swallowed him.

And then, he had a visitor. A short, hesitant knock rang out through the quite house.

Looking over with knitted brows, Deidara slowly stood up, moving his hair back out of his face. He never had visitors, at least not ones that came to him at such an early hour. Slowly, he opened the door, revealing a dripping wet, pale faced neighbor he honestly thought he had scared away the night before. Blue eyes met brown, and the former couldn't help but smile. "Deidara," Sasori started, shaking his head in defeat. "You still want to buy me coffee?"

Deidara flicked out a ten at the woman behind the counter and with a satisfied nod, he took the steaming drinks to their table. "One for you," he said, placing the antiqued cup in front of Sasori. "And one for me, hm. Feeling better?" Sasori took a small sip of his drink and moaned into the cup, closing his eyes and relishing the feeling.

"Almost." Deidara stifled a small laugh and took a sip of his own drink. It was ten times better than the one he had abandoned back home. Sasori looked up awkwardly and shifted in his seat. "Thank you by the way."

"It's the least I could do, hm. Besides," Blue eyes gazed off. "I'd rather get snowed in here with you than alone in my apartment."

"Can I ask why you're being so nice? I mean, I did kind of hit you in the face." Sasori asked, leaning over the table. He had tried to figure out the latter's invitation all day, he had come up short handed every time. Deidara blinked back towards Sasori and grinned, tapping his gloved fingers against his cup.

"Yeah, well that's part of the reason." Sasori quirked his head and Deidara continued. "You told me I was pathetic..." His head dropped and suddenly he was memorizing every ripple in his cup. "You cared enough to tell me how stupid I was, which means, you think I could do better. No one's every really thought like that. I've always been a sort of lost cause I guess, hm."

"Ah." Sasori said quietly, looking over at the empty tables. The lighting was dim and orange, a warm contrast to the stark white outside. For a small while they sat in comfortable silence. Each intently staring off into their own thoughts. Finally, Sasori broke the silence. "I never go out." Deidara looked up suddenly, confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"I never go out," he repeated looking into Deidara's face. "But it was the strangest thing, today I got this insatiable urge for coffee, but I couldn't stand the idea of going alone. I know a lot of people who always want to go out with me, but for some reason, I went to you. Do you find that strange?"

"No," Deidara replied quickly, almost haughtily. "My charm is irresistible, I knew you'd come back at some point. They always do." With a sharp wink from the blonde boy, Sasori looked away dully.

"Never mind," he said regretfully. "I must be mad then."

They spent a number of hours in the small cafe. Talking, laughing, and arguing their views to one another. And Sasori couldn't help but feel like he might have actually been enjoying himself. He wouldn't admit it, never. But maybe, maybe Deidara wasn't so bad after all. By the time they took their leave the snow had come to a slow lull. Suspended against a black back drop, the small flakes of snow hung in the air like lights. Delicately transcending around them. "That wasn't so bad." Deidara said from beside Sasori. The red head glanced over and snorted, looking away quickly.

"If you say so."

Coyly, Deidara looked over at Sasori, his pale face watching the snow like a child would. A grin suddenly flickered to Deidara's face and he leaned forward, dropping a small kiss on Sasori's cold cheek. Immediately, brown eyes flew to blue, wide and shocked. His slender fingers reached up and tenderly touched at the spot Deidara's warm lips had just been. "Next date, you're buying." The blonde said smartly, turning away with crossed arms and a satisfied smirk on his mouth.

"Oh, fine." Sasori said breathlessly. And though he would never admit it, a smile flickered to his pale lips and he couldn't help but feel he'd finally had a stroke of luck with this one.