A/N: This is technically a prequel to "Sometimes You Only Get One Chance", but I think it reads fine on its own! Enjoy yet more 80s romcom!
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And The Avalanche Drops
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One minute Itachi is wending his way around opening lockers and overly affectionate teenage couples, and the next someone is knocking into him and his textbooks are spilling everywhere.
They are heavy textbooks. The resulting crash is objectively impressive; Itachi knows without looking that every pair of eyes in the hallway is fixed on him. It's a feeling he's used to, but it will never be one of his favorites.
He's not even sure who walked into him until he hears a blurted "Oh, shit" and looks up.
"I'm so sorry," the curly-haired boy says, sounding genuinely miserable for no reason Itachi can discern. Of course, his own mental faculties are mostly tied up in trying to remember what the boy's name is through a haze of this is embarrassing, everything about this situation is embarrassing, he is your classmate and you don't know his name and people are staring…
Fortunately the boy's violet-eyed friend comes to Itachi's rescue.
"Jesus Christ, Shi. Gotta use those eyeballs for looking," she says, sounding more amused than upset. Itachi's excellent memory fills in the blank from the nickname and from the cursory glance he gave his yearbook: Shisui Uzunokuni. A fellow senior—that is, a senior of the typical age.
"I was looking," Shisui protests. The girl with purple eyes (and purple hair, and a lip ring, and frankly terrifying amounts of eyeliner) smirks in a way that makes Itachi think of underwater predators.
"At the dudes coming back in their gym shorts, maybe," she says under her breath, but Shisui appears to ignore her. He finally looks Itachi in the eye.
"So, I suck," he blurts. "And it wasn't the, uh, gym shorts. Really. I'm just the worst. Sorry about that."
Itachi has no idea what to say to any of that.
Shisui, luckily, doesn't seem to expect an answer. He's already crouching down to pick up Itachi's fallen textbooks.
"Here's, uh…" He squints at one of the covers. "'An Introduction to Philosophy'? Do we even have a class like that?"
"No," Itachi mutters, absurdly grateful that the rest of their classmates appear to have moved on. "It is some…light reading."
"Light reading?" Shisui's tone would suggest that Itachi has just admitted to killing small animals for sport. "This is, like, twelve thousand pages—"
"I believe I can get the rest," Itachi interrupts, bending down and quickly gathering the rest of his books. He thanks his genes for the fact that he does not blush easily; they are holding him in good stead at the moment.
"Wait, shit—I wasn't making fun of you," Shisui says. He sounds so ridiculously earnest that Itachi glances up against his will.
They're in close enough proximity that he could measure the exact length of Shisui's eyelashes. His gaze snags on them, but Itachi forces his mouth to form words despite the distraction.
"You would not be the first."
"Yeah, well, other people are shitheads," Shisui says without hesitation. "I, on the other hand, am a certified Non-Shithead. Anko can vouch for me here. Right, Anko?"
Anko of the purple hair is examining her nails. "Non-shithead, as confirmed by the fact that I haven't ripped your balls off yet," she says, sounding bored. "Also, I personally don't give a shit about being late for class, but Boy Wonder there might."
It occurs to Itachi that the last bell did, in fact, ring at some point during this fiasco. He tries to fit the last of his books back into his arms—and then 'An Introduction to Philosophy' is under his nose. Shisui lays it gently on top of his pile.
"So, here," he says awkwardly. "Also, I swear I wasn't messing with you. I swear it on every John Hughes VHS I own."
"Coming from him that means a lot," Anko drawls.
Itachi is not certain why it's so vital that he accept Shisui's character as inherently virtuous, but apparently it is vital, as evidenced by the fact that Shisui looks as though he's waiting for Itachi to put him out of his misery. And at any rate, when people had attempted to bully him in the past they had not typically acted so contrite afterward.
So he says, "I believe you."
And Shisui…Shisui beams. The smile transforms his face into something that Itachi can't quite look away from.
He begins to fear that blush-resistant genes may not be enough for this situation.
"Great!" Shisui says. "That's, uh, awesome. Terrific."
"Running out of adjectives there, champ," Anko mutters.
"Shut the fuck up," Shisui sing-songs at her. He stands up so quickly Itachi nearly gets whiplash on his behalf. "So I'll see you at graduation?"
That last seems to be directed at Itachi. He stands as well.
"Yes," he says. "As I am also graduating."
Anko snorts in a way that sounds suspiciously like laughter. Shisui's smile has started to take on a somewhat pained quality.
"Right! Yeah, that makes total sense. Obviously you'd be there. For, uh, the graduating. Awesome."
Itachi is starting to feel strongly that he's missing some context here. "It will be good to graduate," he agrees, uncertain.
Shisui nods with more enthusiasm than the statement really requires. Anko rolls her eyes, grabs him by the collar and proceeds to drag him bodily down the hallway.
"Come on, Shi, my helix isn't gonna pierce itself."
Itachi mentally adds 'Ear Piercer (?)' to the very short list of things he knows about Shisui. Shisui, for his part, gives Itachi a little wave as he allows himself to be dragged.
"Oh yeah, congrats on making valedictorian!" he calls out. He's grinning again and the sight is making Itachi's stomach twist into something uncomfortable.
If the feeling persists, he should probably have it examined.
.
Later, when he gets home, he finds the Oxford acceptance letter displayed prominently on the kitchen table.
His father does not smile, but the look in his eyes is as close as Itachi can ever remember seeing. He tells Itachi that he is proud of him, the verbal confirmation another shock to his system in a day full of them.
Later still, he calls his mother—their weekly conversation, often awkward but still welcome—and after congratulating him with the expected motherly exuberance, she puts Sasuke on the phone.
Itachi has not even given him the pertinent news when his little brother pauses, midway through a story about one of his more obnoxious classmates, and says, "Did something good happen today?"
"What do you mean?" Itachi asks, taken aback.
He can picture Sasuke's shrug. "Don't know. You just sound happier than normal, that's all."
Itachi feels happier than normal, he realizes. And bizarrely, when he tries to investigate the source he finds neither the acceptance letter nor his father's praise but a blinding grin in a high school hallway.
Congrats on making valedictorian!
The memory makes his face heat up. Itachi swallows a sigh: evidently genetics have failed him.
"Yes," he admits, suddenly grateful his brother can't see his expression—he suspects his smile would give something away. "It was a good day."
.
.
"Wait, seriously?"
Shisui is looking at him over his beans and toast, aghast. Itachi blinks.
"What is it?"
"Nothing, just…" Shisui winces. "I was kinda hoping you'd forgotten about that. I acted like such a dork."
"A departure from the norm, I am sure."
Shisui doesn't even seem to register the jab. "I threw your books everywhere."
"You hardly threw them. Besides, it was all for the best."
"Was it though?"
"Yes." Itachi sips his tea. "I might never have learned your name otherwise."
Shisui waves him off. "I was still planning on asking you out after graduation. You would've figured it out sooner or later."
"True," Itachi says. "But it did give me more time to decide what my answer would be."
"Aw, you mean you didn't know immediately? It wasn't love at first sight for you?"
"I'm not sure there is any such thing," Itachi says dryly.
"And that's where you're wrong, oh genius of mine," Shisui replies. "Love at first sight is absolutely, 100% a thing." He grins. "Ask me how I know."
Suddenly it's the same as it was when they were in high school—for a moment Shisui is shining, and Itachi is still unable to look away.
"Well," he says at last, "you may have a point."
Shisui takes a triumphant bite of toast. "Score one for me over the Oxford nerd! It's gonna be a good day."
And Itachi thinks he's probably right about that as well.
After all, since Shisui stumbled his way into Itachi's life, he's had many more good days than bad ones.