[A/N]: I didn't think I would be able to crank out an update before April ended but here I am! I'm full of surprises *wink*

"Can you teach me how to cook?"

ITACHI PONDERED KISAME'S QUESTION all throughout his next class. How hard was it to learn how to cook when recipes, blogs, and cooking demonstrations were at your fingertips? With a cellphone he could easily find a recipe in the grocery store parking lot and read it at the stove as the food cooked. There was a TV in Kisame's apartment. He could watch the cooking channel if he really wanted. And if his roommates made fun of him for it he could watch a video on his phone. Did the means matter when the end result was a good meal?

He resolved to text Kisame "why" once class let out but thought better of it. "If I want to hang out with you I either have to do it at lunch or convince you to help me study. So here I am!" Kisame told him earlier.

Kisame just wanted to spend time with him it seemed. Since the beginning of their acquaintance he'd been the one to ask if Itachi would help tutor him in Philosophy. Truthfully philosophy wasn't a subject one needed to be tutored in if they paid attention in class and took notes but he'd witnessed first hand that paying attention was not Kisame's best subject. Kisame had been the one to initiate their current tutoring sessions for statistics which didn't make sense to Itachi at the time because they weren't in the same class. While he couldn't say for sure how well Kisame paid attention in that class he could guess it wasn't as much as he should by how little notes he took. But luckily math was universal and a subject Itachi understood without extensive notes.

Had this been a long time coming? There was that trip Kisame took him on to get French fries and frosties that day. Had that been an excuse to extend the time they spent together over lunch? And the time Kisame had invited him over to study at his apartment where Itachi lost his composure. It was a memory he wished to erase but had that also been an attempt to break the cycle of how they spent their time together? Had Kisame hoped to broach the subject of learning how to cook when they were in his apartment? Or did he have something else in mind such as watching TV? At the time, Kisame said it was because he couldn't concentrate very well in the library. Did Itachi notice a difference when they studied at Kisame's apartment?

Itachi smiled slightly. When it came to understanding he emotions of others, Shisui, and later Sasuke, always called him "dense." But in this moment he was confident he'd proven them wrong for once.

"You're still dense," he could hear Sasuke saying, "if it took you this long to figure out something so obvious."

And just like that the pride that was welling up inside of him deflated. He'd known Kisame for seven months and he was just now realizing that maybe Kisame simply wanted to be friends with him? "If I want to hang out with you I either have to do it at lunch or convince you to help me study." What had Itachi done to reciprocate his feelings toward their friendship? He begrudgingly agreed to help Kisame study and declined his offers to pay him. He got right to work and kept Kisame from being off-task. And when they accomplished the assignment they set out to complete they parted ways. At lunch Itachi never sought Kisame out as Kisame usually found him. He always assumed that if Kisame wanted to hang out with him he would and if he didn't he was probably busy doing something else.

It was almost April which meant that final exams were just around the corner. After that they'd be sent back home for summer break where they'd be miles apart. What point was there in fostering a friendship that was likely to end in less than two months?

"That about sums it up for today." His professor said. "See you all Thursday."

"It matters." Itachi thought with steeled resolve. "Kisame's made time for me again and again. The least I can do is make time for him." He pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Kisame back "Sure. When are you free?" and pressed the send key.

All he had to do was wait for his response.

When he returned to his dorm room Deidara was painting the wall. Or at least, that's what it looked like when Itachi realized it was the piece of sketchbook paper he'd been affixing torn magazine pages to. Now he was painting overtop of them.

"I'm not one to speak on this subject—"

"Then don't."

"—but I don't think that's how a collage is supposed to look, and—I'm sorry?"

Deidara snickered. "I'm kidding, Itachi." He dipped his brush into a coffee cup filled with paint and painted over the canvas before him in smooth, deliberate strokes. "But seriously. Why would you start a conversation with "I'm not one to talk but let me critique an area of expertise that I have no expertise in, yeah?" Deidara lolled his head back so that he was bending backwards and staring up at Itachi's bewildered expression. With the grace of a trained gymnast (which may have been an exaggeration but was more than Itachi possessed), he lifted his upper body back up to a standing position and kept painting. "Why do you think that?"

"I just…" Itachi stammered uncharacteristically. "I was confused, I guess."

"You seem to be a confused a lot, yeah."

Was Deidara annoyed with him? He couldn't tell. If the conversation continued to go this route he would end it as he didn't have the patience to stand around and let the blonde belittle him.

"It's a collage, can't you tell?"

That was it. Itachi wasn't dealing with him anymore. He had a story to read by Thursday. With his literature anthology in his bag he had no issue turning around and reading in the library for the next three hours until Deidara went to class.

"Hey!" Deidara called after him.

Itachi spun around to face him and put his hands up in frustration. "Listen, I can't tell what mood your in but I—"

Deidara pointed a thick paintbrush coated with yellow paint at him. "Do you want to ruin two shirts today? Because I can make that happen." He smirked. "What was your question, yeah? You said collages weren't supposed to look like this and when I asked you why you said you were confused but you knew it was a collage and so I got confused and then you got mad and stormed off, yeah! I'm not the one who's in a bad mood, yeah, it's you my friend."

Itachi could see it. How it all fell apart. A simple misunderstanding led to the demolition of an entire conversation and hurt feelings. How often had that been the case for him in the past? He walked back into the room, removed his messenger bag from his shoulder and collapsed on the bed. He relaxed his posture and gave Deidara an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Deidara. I think I'm emotionally exhausted today."

"You? Emotionally exhausted?" Deidara cackled. "That's precious, yeah!"

Itachi ignored the laughter, realizing that this is how he and Deidara used to interact with one another when they were on good terms. Itachi would say something snarky and Deidara would throw it back at him. "I don't think I've ever seen someone paint a collage. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

Deidara reached up to rub his neck, remembered he was holding a paintbrush in his hand, swore under his breath, and set the brush on his desk. His bare desk. "I'm not sure how to explain this to you since you're not an artist, but I'll try, yeah." He sighed. "A collage is a mess of things put together to make a picture, right? A dictionary will probably tell you something close to that, yeah."

Itachi nodded. He understood that much.

"But art isn't something you understand. It's something you feel." He said, his eyes taking on a mischievous glimmer.

'Here we go.' Itachi thought. He sat back and crossed his arms, ready for a lecture on art theory that he should've seen coming.

"If you would've asked me why I was doing this, I would have told you, yeah." Deidara explained and pointed to what looked to be a piece of a sky, painted yellow. "It's not finished yet so maybe you can't tell but it's supposed to be a self-portrait. I used sky for my hair because I think my head's like a sky. A vast space of limitless potential, yeah!"

'I was thinking it was because you're an airhead.' Itachi thought to himself. A clear sky wasn't a proper representation of the artist's inner workings. A sky filled with fireworks perhaps. Chaotic and brightly colored maybe. But not a clear sky on a sunny day. 'If your head would be a sky filled with fireworks what would mine be?'

He envisioned himself asking Kisame who would probably choke on a chicken tender before answering through a piece of half chewed chicken "Formula sheets. Because you memorized every formula known to mankind." That sounded right.

"But because my hair is blonde," Deidara continued, unaware of Itachi's inner musings, "I'm painting over the sky with yellow. From far away you'll be able to tell it's me. From up close you'll see what I'm made of."

"Wow." Itachi breathed, stunned that the explanation wasn't as lengthy as he originally anticipated and genuinely impressed by the thought put into the piece. "That's incredible, Deidara. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished."

Deidara shrugged and cupped his face, a dreamy look overtaking his features. "You'll wake up in the middle of the night to see my face watching over us, yeah."

And just like that, the moment was gone. He was no longer impressed but filled with dread of the idea of waking up to see Deidara's face looming over them. Knowing Deidara he'd probably tape it to the top of the ceiling while he was in class and Itachi would only notice when he laid down for bed.

A cracking sound broke through the silence which made Deidara to put down his brush again and pick up his phone.

"What was that?"

"A notification, yeah. None of your business." He walked over to Itachi and gave him the phone. "Can you take my picture real quick? Thanks!" He moved to the center of the room and pressed his hands flat against either side of his head in mock terror.

Itachi took the picture and was about to hand it to Deidara when he caught sight of a notification box at the top of the screen that read 'Sauce Pan sent you a Snap!' "Who's 'Sauce Pan'?" He asked.

Deidara inhaled abruptly and swiped the phone from his hand. "That bastard! If he burned my sketchbook I'm gonna chop off his dick and eat it for breakfast with a side of scrambled eggs!"

Itachi pursed his lips, quickly connecting the dots. Deidara was whining about leaving his sketchbook in Sasori's apartment the night before which must have meant Sasori was the one called "Sauce Pan."

From his position on the bed he watched his roommate's facial expression shift from terror, to rage, to what Itachi could only describe as a shameful lust by the way his cheeks colored bright pink and his lips spread into a wide smile.

A series of selfies followed, each punctuated by the ungodly cracking sound that resembled the noise of cracking knuckles or ice cubes clanging, before Itachi broke the silence and asked something that had been on his mind as of late. "What do you see in him?"

Deidara, clearly lost in a sea of infatuation, looked skyward and answered "What's not to see in him, yeah? Those big, doleful chocolate colored eyes that suck you in and pierce the very depths of your soul. Those long lashes that dust his soft cheeks like a hawk's wings when they touch down from flight. That dyed red hair that screams 'FUCK YOU' in a world where we're told we're special as soon as we're born but being special means standing out and if you stand out too much you're suddenly an outcast I mean what the fuck is that all about, yeah? And…um…what else?"

Itachi stared at him impassively. 'You forgot disregard for human emotion.' He wanted to say but kept quiet. He asked Deidara a question when he was clearly high on dopamine so Itachi couldn't argue with the answer he'd been given. Pointing out Sasori's flaws would only incite an argument.

"Oh! And he's got these long, bony fingers! And he's super creative and likes to build things so you know he's good with his hands, yeah." A flirtatious wink. "Oh! You'd never know it, not that you ever bothered to look, but my man's got a really, really nice ass too yeah."

Itachi pursed his lips. He got way more than he had bargained for but that was to be expected. "Thank you for the mental picture Deidara. I have never paid that much attention to those physical aspects of him before." Itachi said and inspected his own fingers. Deidara didn't mention a word about Sasori's personality but made it a point to bring up Sasori's fingers. Was that something people really paid attention to? Itachi's own fingers were long but he could hardly see the appeal.

"You're probably thinking 'you didn't say anything about his personality because his personality is trash' but I'm going to prove you wrong, yeah!"

'Too late for that.' Itachi thought cynically. Nevertheless, Deidara continued.

"A big part of what I like about Sasori is how is mind works, yeah. I mean, artistically speaking, but I'll spare you the details because I know you won't understand." He explained smugly but he wasn't wrong. "But anyways, he's pragmatic and has this dry almost sarcastic sense of humor too yeah. Like this one time when we were hanging out,"

Itachi nodded along, trying to see what Deidara could see if just for a moment, but to no avail. He made up his mind about Sasori a long time ago and had yet to come across any proof that he had changed for the better.

"So," Deidara said, returning to his collage with his brush in hand, "you asked me what I liked about Sasori so I think it's only fair that I ask you what you like about Kisame."

Itachi stiffened then. He did not expect the conversation to turn to him but he should have. A frustrated heat colored his cheeks. Even though Deidara wasn't facing him, he could picture Deidara's eyebrows, raised in silent anticipation. He decided to play it cool and gave a short laugh. "I'm not obliged to answer that."

Deidara bristled and whipped around to face him. "What!? Bullshit! We made a deal! You can't ask me what I like about Sasori and then not answer your own question when it comes back to you, yeah! How is that fair?"

The blonde wasn't angry so much as he was annoyed. The reddening of his face told Itachi that he was probably embarrassed for sharing something so intimate. It was kind of cute. "The deal you proposed was that we wouldn't nag each other about the people we hung out with. You weren't obligated to answer my question if you didn't want to." Itachi said. He watched Deidara stammer from across the room before continuing. "But I suppose you have a point. It's only fair to answer my own question."

Deidara crossed his arms. "I'm listening, yeah."

"He's always smiling." Was the first thing that came to Itachi's mind. Whenever he saw Kisame the upperclassman's face lit up. "He's optimistic." He said.

Deidara nodded slowly as if to encourage him to continue.

"He laughs a lot and is always joking around." There was something about Kisame's laugh that made Itachi smile. Despite his bad mood, Kisame laughed at his deadpan humor like it was the funniest thing he'd heard in a long time even though Itachi didn't think it was that funny. But nonetheless, his laugh was contagious and it made Itachi feel less grumpy than he had when he first entered the cafeteria. "He's laid back and easy going which is good thing considering I wouldn't be able to tutor him if he wasn't."

"He's a good sport, yeah." Deidara said with narrowed eyes. "And he's good at sports." He chuckled to himself, impressed with his corny joke. "So he's optimistic and easy going, yeah. That's it?"

Itachi nodded, satisfied with his responses. "I'm sorry to disappoint but I don't pay attention to how bony his fingers are."

Deidara's blue eyes studied him at length. His pursed lips moved in a circle as if he were chewing gum, like he wanted to make a comment about what he'd just said. "He's an athlete yeah." He said, turning to face his collage-painting. "Athletes have sausage fingers."

"Duly noted. Thanks, Deidara. I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time I see him."

"I expect a detailed report, soldier." Deidara said and glanced over his shoulder with a playful smile and a glint in his eyes.

How Itachi had missed their ridiculous banter. If only he could undo the events of the past month. Be more up front with Deidara and prevent that stupid kiss from ever happening.

"Hey. Itachi?" Deidara said in a voice so quiet Itachi almost didn't hear him.

"What's up?"

"About this morning, yeah." He continued to face the wall with his head bowed, mindlessly dipping his brush in the cup of paint.

That's right. Itachi was too wrapped up in Kisame's desire to learn how to cook that he'd forgotten Deidara wanted to talk to him about something earlier.

"I'm sorry, yeah." He sighed. "I'm not a morning person and…well…I was frustrated about what happened last night." He looked skyward, letting his long blonde hair cascade off his shoulders and let out a disgruntled groan. "Honestly, yeah? I was just embarrassed like, calling you to pick me up drunk from a party was like the last thing I wanted to call you about, you know? Like I'd rather fucking die than call you for something like that but everyone I knew was at that party and I didn't know who else to call and—"

Itachi rose to his feet and put out his hands. "Deidara, it's alright. No need to beat yourself up over it." He said, lowering his hands as if he could magically cast a spell that would bring a sense of calm over his flustered roommate. "I told you last night that I was glad you called me and it's not a big deal. I'm just grateful we caught the reaction in time."

Deidara shot him an uncharacteristic look of exasperation. Did Itachi say something wrong?

The moment was fleeting as Deidara turned back to his painting with renewed vigor. He picked up a multicolored paper plate, swirled a glob of yellow paint he was accumulating onto the surface and dipped the brush into a cup of white paint so violently that he thought it would fall from the desk. "You don't have to be nice to me, you know." He muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"It just makes things harder, yeah." He said, lightly dabbing pale yellow clouds into the painting's sea of yellow hair.

Itachi was at a loss for words. According to Deidara he was making things harder for him by being nice to him? What sense did that make? "Deidara, I'm not sure what you're getting at." How did looking out for someone make things harder for them?

"Never mind." He said. A cheery smile graced his features. "Like I said, I was just embarrassed and cranky cuz it was early, you know?"

And just like that he went back to his painting.

"Five minutes ago we were getting along like we used to and now I feel like we're on bad terms again." Itachi mused somberly. When he asked for clarification Deidara put up walls and brushed him off so prying further wouldn't get him anywhere. If he left him alone would Deidara be angry at him for that too?

He took his phone out to check if he had any texts from Kisame. Sorting through Deidara's emotions was something that required patience which Itachi didn't have much of today. And apparently his efforts were making things harder for Deidara, whatever that was supposed to mean.

"I'm free tonight if u r?" Kisame's text greeted him.

Seriously? He wanted him to teach him to cook tonight? "What about tomorrow night?"

"Can't. Class 6 – 9." He responded. "R u free Thursday night?"

Itachi could feel Deidara's eyes on him but when he glanced up the blonde was studiously mixing paints and testing the color on the back of his hand. "Can't. I have class from six to nine on Thursday nights." He texted back. To his knowledge, they were both free on Friday nights but if he waited until then he'd have to endure the awkward silence between himself and his roommate for the rest of the evening. While there was a chance that Deidara would escape to Sasori's apartment after his class finished something told Itachi that the unfinished collage taped to their wall would keep him rooted here this evening. He could see Deidara skipping class to finish it if he wanted.

"Tonight will be fine." Itachi texted. "What are you in the mood to make?" This way he'd have an escape of his own. He might have an opportunity to catch up on his reading for Thursday if they finished up in good time.

And not a moment later Kisame replied "ANYTHING WITH CRABS." Which was followed by several crab emojis.

Of all the things he could have asked to make and he wanted crabs? "Okay. Do you have anything particular in mind?"

A quick response followed. "SURPRISE ME."

He read Kisame's earlier message correctly didn't he? He wanted Itachi to teach him how to cook not become his personal chef, right? "How can it be a surprise if I'm supposed to teach you how to make it?"

"I'm happy so long as it involves crab. Don't tell me what we're making until you get here."

Which is how Itachi found himself researching crab recipes until Kisame got out of class. Luckily for him Deidara couldn't see what he was doing on his computer and probably wrote it off as school work and left him alone for the time being.

At 2:30 his phone lit up beside him with the notification of a new text message from Kisame. "Class just let out. I'll swing by ur dorm in 10."

Itachi gently closed his laptop lid and set it on his desk to charge. He wouldn't need it at Kisame's if all he planned to do was teach him how to cook and maybe catch up on some reading while he was there.

"Where you going?" Deidara inquired when he headed for the door with his messenger bag.

Why he cared was beyond Itachi considering there was nothing but silence between them for the past half an hour. "Tutoring." Itachi lied. He didn't like being dishonest with Deidara but there was an air about Deidara this afternoon that put him on edge. If he told him what he was really up to he could count on an interrogation about it sometime within the coming days when it wasn't that serious.

"Tutoring who? Kisame?"

Kisame was the only person Itachi tutored because he'd been coerced into it and Deidara knew that. "Yes." He offered and advanced to the door.

"I guess you didn't take a nap when you got out of class, did you Itachi?" Kisame asked when Itachi slid into the passenger seat of his car.

He pulled the door shut with more force than he intended to which was most likely the cause of Kisame's concern. "Sorry. And no, I didn't." I was too busy looking up crab recipes for a luxury such as a mid afternoon nap. He thought bitterly.

"Did Deidara appreciate the soup you brought back for him?" He asked.

Itachi glanced out the window at the students who were out and about. Some walked alone bent over their cell phones, others walked in pairs, laughing and smiling and a few took the initiative to bring out blankets to hang out with friends. An idyllic portrait of campus life that belonged on the home page of the college website and a fantasy Itachi could only watch from afar. How many of those smiling faces were avoiding their roommates like he was? How many pairs became friends through odd circumstances like a failing grade in philosophy?

"Something happen between you and Deidara?"

The question pulled Itachi from his thoughts like a hand rousing him from a nightmare, sudden and jarring. "What?"

"Did something happen between you and Dei? You seem…distant."

Why was everyone prying into his personal life all of a sudden? He seethed silently. But when he looked at Kisame's eyes he was met with concern and sympathy, unlike the sly glances Deidara cast over his shoulder and reeked with ulterior motives.

Kisame turned his attention back to the road in front of them. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. You're just spacing out a lot. It's not like you."

He could trust him. Kisame never gave him any reason not to.

"Deidara's been acting strangely and I can't figure out why." Itachi volunteered. He ran a hand through his bangs and kept it there, eyes still trained on the passing buildings around them.

"Is he alright? I tried asking you how he was doing earlier but we kept getting off topic." He said.

"Physically, yes. He seems to be doing just fine." Itachi answered. "He snapped at me this morning for checking up on him,"

"Sounds like the blonde we all know and love." Kisame mused aloud.

"And we were having a perfectly normal conversation this afternoon until he apologized for his behavior this morning."

"What'd he say?"

Itachi looked skyward. "Something about being embarrassed about calling me last night and that I was making things harder on him somehow."

Kisame's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Making things harder for him how? Who's making things harder for him? You?"

Itachi threw his hands up in surrender. "I don't know. He said that I didn't have to be nice to him because it was just making things harder. I don't know."

Kisame glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. His cheek bulged the way it did when he was rolling his tongue around in his mouth, a habit Itachi noticed when he was in deep thought. "I see…"

The mirth and confusion that was present in his voice just moments ago vanished, replaced by the serious tone of someone who'd just had an epiphany. "What are you thinking about?"

Keeping his eyes trained on the road, he reached under his shirt and scratched his side, another nervous habit, it seemed. "I think I know what he's getting at." He said. "Hear me out, okay?"

Okay? "I'm listening."

He scratched the back of his neck. "I think Deidara still likes you."

"But I've already told him—"

"Let me finish." Kisame said and Itachi silenced himself. "I know you told him you don't reciprocate his feelings but that doesn't mean they're going to vanish altogether. It'll take some time but when you do nice things for him like drop everything to pick him up from a party or check to see how he's feeling it stirs those feelings back up and makes it hard to be friendly with you and not act on those feelings."

The red light at the final intersection turned to green and flashed with an arrow giving them the right of way to make a left into the grocery store parking lot.

So that's what he meant. Is that why he snapped at him this morning then? Was he angry that the relationship he wanted with Itachi was something within reach yet so unattainable? "I see."

"Don't hold it against the guy. He hasn't made any more advances towards you since last Valentine's Day, has he?"

Itachi sat solemnly in the passenger seat with his hands folded over top of one another. "No, he hasn't."

"So he's doing his best. I suggest giving him some space to sort out his feelings for you. That doesn't mean ignore him when he's in trouble. Just keep your distance from him a little."

It all became clear to him then. "So then," he began uncertain if he should divulge more, "that doesn't explain his fascination with my relationship with you."

Several hundred feet ahead of them a car pulled out of its parking space. While they were far enough away to safely slow down, Kisame didn't show any signs of trying to avoid it.

"Car." Itachi said but Kisame didn't flinch. "Kisame, CAR!"

[A/N]: I'm full of surprises and illegal cliff hangers apparently. (Old radio announcer voice) Is this how the story ends? What fate lies ahead for our dynamic duo and how will they make it out of this chaotic conundrum? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out! (Hoping to update in May sometime).