Chapter seven

Itachi was sitting in his car, waiting for his little brother to grab all his stuff and get in.

It was the day of their annual one-week camp their school organized and Itachi had offered Sasuke a ride knowing how he hated the bus.

Had Itachi known Sasuke was going to take so much time this morning, he would've never suggested it.

As he was waiting, he was texting with Deidara. The blonde had seemed a little absent the previous weeks.

Itachi had asked him what was going on and Deidara had become rather nervous. Itachi found it odd, especially since it seemed like Deidara was avoiding him from time to time.

Like today. Itachi had also offered Deidara a ride to camp, but the blonde had refused with the excuse that he wanted to get the 'full experience'.

Deidara just didn't strike him as the type that wanted to do what everyone else was doing and was rather lazy so he could've saved himself some trouble.

However, Itachi let it slide because at least the blonde was keeping in touch and he didn't wanna push Deidara into anything he didn't want to share.

He would tell him when the time was right. Itachi figured he was patient like that.

Which brought him back to why he was sitting here texting the blonde to tell the teachers he would be late.

Sasuke was finally coming out of the house, trying to get away from their mother who was probably giving him the lecture they always got when they went away for more than a day.

Sasuke and his mother made it to the car as Itachi exited to greet them.

"Hello mother. Sasuke." He said as he got a kiss from his mother on the cheek.

"Hi honey. Make sure Sasuke eats well and showers properly and that he doesn't drink or do anything else irresponsible." Their mother said, earning a groan from Sasuke and a muttered 'I'm not a baby.'.

Itachi chuckled and nodded.

"Don't worry mom, we'll be fine." Ever since Sasuke had gone through his … state, mother had become a little overbearing about him.

Even more then she already was about her 'little baby'.

"We're already late so let's go Sasuke." Itachi said, giving his mother a quick hug and getting back in the car.

Sasuke dumped his stuff in the backseat, then got a kiss from his mother. Sasuke looked so annoyed and Itachi couldn't help but smile.

As much as Sasuke tried to act like he hated it, he would most likely hate it even more if she ever stopped.

Sasuke got in the car, whining about their mother.

"If you so much as try to check up on me, I swear I'll kick your ass. I can take care of myself." He huffed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have better things to do." Itachi replied as he started driving.

"Yeah, trying to bang your blonde boyfriend." Itachi could just imagine Sasuke wriggling his eyebrows.

"Yes, I'm sure that's what I'll be up to all week long." He said sarcastically.

Sasuke laughed and the two brothers proceeded their ride to camp.

Itachi did wonder though what it would be like to spend time with Deidara 24/7.

He hoped the blonde wouldn't avoid him at the camp too.

The first day of camp had gone by pretty uneventful. As soon as Itachi and Sasuke had arrived, late thanks to the latter, they were pulled aside by their teachers.

They had both been voted supervisor of their part of camp and had to do all the checkups considering the tents, supplies and making sure everyone was setting up with the correct partner they were signed up with.

Itachi vaguely knew his partner, Hidan, because they had some classes together.

Itachi did not care for him much, because the guy was loud, aggressive and seemed to not care about anything regarding education.

"Hey Itachi." Hidan said, while lighting a cigarette.

"You've got everything under control, I'm out. If the teachers ask where I am, I'm out smoking."

Case and point.

Itachi sighed. All day had he instructed the rest of the students his age how to set up their tents, what their schedule was and the rules were.

All day, when he could have been spending time with Deidara, which he hadn't seen at all.

Sure, they were in different parts of the camp, but Itachi still had this sinking feeling Deidara was still avoiding him.

He hoped tonight would be better, after all, all students were eating together.

Deidara and he could finally talk.

That evening had been loud, busy and no time for Itachi to be spending it with Deidara at all.

He had been annoyed to no end, because somehow the teachers had decided the supervisors would eat later, because it was a great plan to have them serve the food for the other students.

Sasuke had been a couple meters away, serving food with a look that could kill.

At the end of dinner students had avoided the potatoes Sasuke was in charge of all together.

Itachi however had passed out his vegetables with a smile on his face, because honestly, he couldn't shake being proper about things.

He was the supervisor, so he would do what he could for the school.

However, all evening he had not seen Deidara and that made him worry.

He hadn't spotted the blonde either, so now that he had eaten too and it was time to go to bed, he decided to take a look in Deidara's part of camp.

He asked the supervisors there where Deidara's tent was set up, but when he got there, some guy told him Deidara had gone out for a walk.

Itachi frowned at that, because honestly, it was dark and cold out and they weren't even allowed to go anywhere on their own.

After having looked for Deidara some more, Itachi decided to head back to his tent for a flashlight to see better, when he heard yelling coming from his tent.

As Itachi came closer, he could make out his partner's voice.

"Hey dick, if you don't like it here, go back to your own fucking tent." He growled.

Such a vulgar guy he was.

"You're smoking in the tent! I'm choking in here yeah!"

Itachi's eyebrows raised. That was unmistakably Deidara.

What was he doing in his tent? Itachi was confused.

He opened his tent and was welcomed with the stench of cigarettes indeed.

He turned to Hidan first.

"Would you please do that outside?" He asked politely, earning a huff from Hidan.

"Fine." He gave Deidara a look that said 'shut up' then got out of the tent, letting Itachi in.

"Oh, by the way, I'm sleeping in my girlfriends tent, so don't worry about me."

Itachi nodded, then closed the tent and turned to Deidara.

"Thank god you came here, that guy was slowly killing me with those cigarettes yeah." The blonde said.

"Dei why are you here?" Itachi asked. Deidara hadn't been anywhere that day and now suddenly he was in his tent?

What was up with him.

"Why? I wanted to see you of course. Haven't seen you all day yeah. Where were you?"

"Looking for you. I've been here doing my job all day. Where have you been?" Itachi asked.

Deidara raised his eyebrows for a second, then looked down, then grinned.

"Have you seen the surroundings here yet? There's this great lake just through the forest. It's amazing and I had to sketch it then forget the time. Sorry yeah." The blonde blushed slightly and Itachi smiled.

That did seem like something Deidara would do indeed.

"Have you even eaten yet?"

"Yeah yeah, the teachers gave me some leftovers after they scolded me for going off on my own." Deidara laughed.

The guy was just so stupid sometimes. He probably hadn't even been scolded more than an hour ago and here he was breaking rules again.

Itachi didn't care though, because at least they could spend time together.

Itachi adjusted the light that was hanging from the middle of the tent, before finally sitting down comfortably across from Deidara.

"You should show me that lake tomorrow. We'll have some time between activities."

Deidara seemed to eye him a little funny, but Itachi let it rest when he smiled.

The two started talking about their days like they always had before and Itachi wondered if he had been imagining Deidara avoiding him.

Maybe they had both been busy. Deidara seemed to have been doing a lot with Sasori these days, which kind of upset Itachi in a way.

But it was a good thing the two were spending that time together.

Deidara deserved to be happy and Sasori was a good guy at least.

It still stung though, especially now that Deidara looked so pretty in the dimmed light.

Suddenly a loud crash was heard which made Deidara gasp, then sigh in relief when it slowly started raining.

"It's just thunder yeah." He said, putting a hand on his heart and sighing once more.

The rain picked up fast and another crash of thunder was heard.

"It's still pretty far." Itachi told Deidara, when he saw the slightly worried expression on the blonde's face.

"Good." Deidara said. "But I'm staying here tonight yeah."

Itachi nodded, then looked at Deidara. The guy was just so pretty it was hard not to stare at him all night.

The light then started flickering, Itachi knew it must be an effect from the lighting.

He looked around, trying to find a flashlight, but saw none.

"Are… Are you sure the thunder is still far away yeah?"

Itachi looked up to see Deidara frantically looking around. Itachi smiled.

It was endearing to see how Deidara was scared of the thunder just because some shabby light was affected by it.

"We'll be fine Deidara, don't worry." He said reassuring.

Deidara looked at Itachi then and they locked eyes. At first, Itachi wanted to look away out of fear for wanting to keep staring into those eyes.

But it was too late and he just looked at those deep blue eyes, feeling his heartbeat rise.

Why was Deidara so incredibly, undeniably attractive?

Itachi was sure Deidara would turn away soon, but the blonde didn't. He kept staring too.

And it left Itachi totally confused.

Deidara seemed to be itching closer, but it was hard to tell as the light was now heavily flickering.

But Itachi could see the blonde swallow and then he suddenly realized he himself was moving closer to Deidara as well.

What were they doing? What was Deidara doing?

But as Itachi looked into those eyes, he forgot all his questions. All he wanted to do was kiss Deidara.

Right now.

They were just a few inches away from each other and Deidara was leaning over to Itachi's side, leaning on his hands slightly.

Then the light turned off and they closed the gap.

Itachi could feel those soft lips and taste the sweet taste that was Deidara.

It was probably just for a brief moment, but it felt like forever to Itachi that he sat there, on his knees in a tent without lights, kissing his love interest.

Just as Itachi got over his initial surprise, Deidara pulled away and started stuttering.

"I-I, s-sorry." Deidara said. Itachi would've laughed had it not been for what had just happened.

He had kissed Deidara. His friend Deidara who had a boyfriend.

The friend who he was sure didn't return his feelings. So all that was left to do was apologize.

It was then that Itachi realized Deidara was still blabbering.

"This was all my fault, Itachi I'm so sorry." Itachi could hear him something in the dark.

He was confused though, why was Deidara apologizing to him? What had he done wrong?

He suddenly felt suffocated by fear, because what if Deidara wouldn't want to spend time with him anymore?

He'd have to go back to a dull life again and frankly, Itachi didn't think he could do that.

They had to talk this through, Itachi did not want this to ruin their friendship.

So as he felt Deidara try to get past him, he grabbed the blonde and gently pushed him back.

"Hold on, I'll get a flashlight from somewhere." He said and started searching.

As he tried to find a flashlight in his bag, he was sure he had brought one, he could hear Deidara's heavy breathing.

Was he that mad? This wasn't good at all. He had to make up to the blonde, had to make it right.

Itachi finally found his flashlight and turned it on. He put it down so the tent was lidded again, then looked at Deidara.

Itachi frowned.

Deidara seemed like he was about to cry.

It was silent for a second, until Deidara started again.

"I'm sorry, I am. Please don't hate me for this, I know it's wrong, it's just that I've liked you for so long and… I'm sorry yeah."

Again, with the apologies. Wait what did Deidara just say?

Itachi was sure he misheard it, surely Deidara meant that he liked him as a friend.

Right?

As the blonde was still going, Itachi finally got his nerves under control to talk as well.

"Deidara hold on here." Itachi sighed. "I was the one who kissed you, I should be apologizing."

Itachi saw Deidara frown, then shook his head.

"No you didn't yeah."

Was Deidara just denying what Itachi knew to be very very true? He was there, he knew what happened.

"Look, maybe I should've told you this way earlier but it just never seemed like the right time."

Itachi swallowed as he looked at Deidara, who in turn looked very expectantly at him.

"I've been in love with you Deidara, for a very long time. So, I'm sorry."

Deidara seemed really shocked, eyes wide and his mouth slightly open, he just stared at Itachi for a long time.

Then suddenly he looked... well Itachi didn't really know what he looked like. Sad?

"Why didn't you tell me yeah?" The blonde asked softly.

Itachi really didn't have a clear answer to it. He should've told Deidara, that seemed so logical now.

Fear really was a spiteful feeling, because really, the only reason he hadn't told Deidara was out of fear of rejection.

"I don't know really. I just thought you didn't feel that way and when I found out you were into men, Sasori quickly got in the picture."

"Well stupid, you should've told me from the start." Deidara scolded him and it made Itachi frown once more.

Stupid?

"Cause I fell for you pretty much within the first week yeah."

The two of them looked at each other as Itachi was convinced he had misheard again and that if he heard it right, his heart had stopped beating there for a second.

Deidara seemed so determined and Itachi just found something else he admired in the blonde.

His courage in pretty much everything he did and everything he said.

"So, what do we do now?" Itachi asked, still not really grasping the idea that Deidara, the guy he had been in love with for so long, was returning his feelings.

"I feel really bad yeah." Deidara said, looking at the ground.

"What, why?" Itachi asked, maybe a little bit to shocked, but had he done something wrong?

"Not about you, I'm really, really happy about you yeah." Deidara looked Itachi straight in the eye and Itachi was convinced.

Deidara truly did fall for him and he really was happy that Itachi returned his feelings.

So what was bothering him?

Itachi suddenly felt completely delighted, even though Uchiha's didn't feel delighted, that was such a silly word.

But he still felt it. Deidara was in love with him too, how did that happen?

When did he suddenly become so lucky?

"You can be really dense for such a smart guy Itachi." Deidara said, chuckling even though he seemed pretty upset.

"There's still Sasori."

Shit, Deidara was right. He was in a relationship.

And nobody wanted Deidara to cheat. Not even Itachi, because he knew it would make Deidara feel awful.

And that was the last thing Itachi wanted.

-.-.-