The next morning, Sasori woke up in a tangle of limbs and Deidara's hair.
He groaned, his back aching.

He raised a bleary eyelid open, the light from the half-closed blinds steaming in. The blond next to him was curled up like a croissant; taking most of the duvet with him.

Sasori just exhaled through his nose and gave up sleep as a bad job.
He was pretty tired but at the same time, woken with the strange sensation that alcohol usually brought in the dawn.

He made coffee in Deidara's kitchen, resting the cup against his sore head.
The redhead thought back to the night before; remembering how he had actually joined Hidan in tequila shots, before accepting the younger man's challenge of an arm wrestle. Sasori had been about to win, his strength taking Hidan by surprise. It was then that Deidara thwarted his victory; kissing him abruptly and distracting him, allowing Hidan to take the initiative to pin his arm to the table.

The redhead smirked against the cup, now pressed fully against his face. The grad student wouldn't have believed it if his younger self had told him everything he had been partaking in recently. He was one part embarrassed, another part mildly bemused.

Sasori then remembered with a flash the way things had ended with Obito. The notion made his stomach flip in an unpleasant squirm. He felt a little exasperated that things had to be deteriorate into a squabble of such kinds. However…
The grad student leant against the doorframe of the blond's bedroom, looking in on his now boyfriend. He savoured the notion.
Deidara was in a deep sleep, huddled face first into the duvet.

The redhead took a deep draw of his coffee, thinking.
It was kind of childish, but he didn't entirely regret his actions. He'd help Deidara with finding another job if Obito was going to fire him. He didn't want the blond to feel bound to the elder Uchiha if he didn't have to be.

About twenty minutes hour later, Deidara woke to a cup of coffee on his bedside; it was just about warm. He drank it one two large gulps, stretching out. He felt the lack of presence of the redhead before he saw it.

Padding out of the bedroom into the lounge, he found Sasori on one of the sofas, reading a book plucked from the assorted mis-match of items in the flat.
The chocolate-grey eyes looked up as the blond came over to him. Deidara slid into his lap as the redhead lowered the book.

"Didn't think you were the religious type, un." The blond, clocking the cover. Sasori rose his eyebrows and replied with words honeyed in sarcasm. "Oh sure, me and Jashin go way back; my mantra is Divine Judgement." The redhead tapped the cover on Deidara's forehead lightly as he quoted the title.

"Hidan will gladly enlighten you, un."

"That I do not doubt."

They had a pleasant morning; relishing in being alone together.
The redhead found once again he was in no hurry to get back to his own house.

•••

The next day, Deidara took a deep breath before heading into work. He was bracing himself for a potential showdown with Obito.

He had a fairly busy shift with Itachi and Kisame; thinking he wouldn't run into the older man that day after all, the blond put it out of his mind.

By 5pm, they had closed up. Deidara bent down to tie his shoelace outside the cafe when he saw a shadow falling into place on the ground in front of him. He looked up, and saw Obito. The man had his hands shoved into his jacket pockets, looking down intently at him.

The blond frowned slightly as he got to his feet. Great. Seems he hadn't got away from it, after all.

"Why are you here…now, un?" Deidara was unsure why the elder Uchiha would wait for him after work rather than coming directly into the cafe. Unless…
He took a step back, preparing himself should things turn nasty.

Obito, however, had a curious expression.

He gripped his palms from within his pocket, steeling himself.
"What happened on Saturday…" The elder man began to speak. "…I…didn't mean everything I said."

Deidara looked surprised for a moment. He wasn't expecting that. He tried to cover his stunned expression by crossing his arms. "Oh yeah, which part, un?" The blond threw out in a gruff manner.

Obito looked away pointedly. He exhaled low before continuing.

"About you being an asshole…and saying what I said about, you know - you and him." It seemed he didn't want to say Sasori's name. "…I said some pretty harsh things to him, too."

The blond still kept his crossed arms as a barrier between he and the Uchiha; he leant against the cafe window as he stared back at Obito.
"And what should I do with what information, un?" He muttered; he was in no mood for any mind games. He wasn't going to fish for answers from the dark haired man.

Obito looked back over at Deidara.
"That's up to you." He walked over a fraction closer to the blond. "Itachi spoke to me last night…he made me see things pretty clearly, anyway."

Deidara was taken aback but mollified with the response. He had been expecting to be on the receiving end of a rant, and yet it seemed Obito was trying to patch things up between them.
Whatever Itachi had said seemed to have really affected him.

The blond considered his response. Their friendship hadn't been smooth, and yet…he could resonate the sincerity in Obito's voice now.

"I see…" The blond trailed off. "Uh…well; if you mean what you say now; we can forget about it, un. Just don't-"

"I'll back off." Obito spoke firmly, cutting across the blond. "I'm going to hand over this branch to Pein anyway - he'll be your boss from now on. I'm going to be focusing on some of the others for a while."

Where his own words had been stunted, the blond reflected internally for just a moment. It seemed like he wasn't going to be sacked; perhaps Obito really had done some soul searching and what Itachi and Deidara had said may have finally sunken in.

Feeling satisfied, the blond nodded. After that, an awkward feeling hung in the air between the two men, until Deidara murmured "Uh…I should probably get going, un."

"Yeah - yeah. See you around." Obito turned abruptly and started walking in the other direction.
Deidara watched him go, considering whether this would be the end of the matter. He hoped it would be.

•••

That night, Sasori's phone rang as he was cleaning up after dinner.

"Hey; you ok?" He spoke quickly when seeing it was Deidara calling him.

"Yeah, Weird day, un." He didn't want to recount all details of his conversation with Obito to the redhead in the moment, just yearned to see him. The blond had gone home after work and chilled out with Hidan, and now was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he spoke to the redhead.

"What are you up to right now - can I come over, un?"

Sasori was surprised; it was a little late. Had something happened that Deidara wanted to see and speak to him tonight?

"Sure - want me to come get you?" The redhead had already grabbed his keys from the drawer.

"No it's ok I'll get the bus. I just…want to be with you, un. And just you - so I figured we could go to yours?"

Ever the impatient, Sasori just stated in firm tone "Don't worry - I'm on my way."

Deidara felt exhilaration at those words.
Excitement, and also…a sense of belonging. The blond realised with a tremor of emotion that Sasori was the kind of person that may not let a lot of people in; but once he did, he was all for them, attentive and steadfast. He had shown the blond that in his actions, jumping into Deidara's world in the way he had.

Deidara felt the deepening connection between them, more ardently than ever before.

•••

The redhead's car pulled up on the blond's road, the lamplights bathing the surrounding pavement in an orange hue.

He'd been there barely a minute when the door to Deidara's building opened, and the blond jogged over to him. The younger man had an avid expression as he wrenched open the car door.

Sasori had a slight frown; he was still unsure as to why the need for the blond to see him right away, and was a little concerned something had happened.

"You alright-?" He began, before he clocked the shine in Deidara's eyes.

"Uh-huh." The blond leant in close and kissed him, moving against his lips hungrily.

The redhead was confused - he broke away from the kiss with a enquiring expression.

"Uh…I thought you were upset about something?" He offered slowly, raising an eyebrow. The redhead was pretty clueless when it came to relationships, so wasn't entirely sure what the best thing to do or say right now would be.

Deidara blew a rouge hair away from his face. He cracked a grin at the grad student.
"I just felt like I needed to be with you, un." Ever since he had thought about calling the redhead, his desire had increased.

Sasori blinked; it was warm in the car all of a sudden.

Deidara felt his craving for the redhead surge even more in that moment. Feeling a little daring, the blond moved so he straddled on top of the redhead's lap.

"What-ahhh." Sasori exclaimed as Deidara climbed on top of him.
The blond grabbed the redhead's shirt collar as he went in for another kiss. Sasori's lips felt electric against his own.

The redhead realised with a thud he had been rather slow. Ah. So. That was the reason he wants to see me so bad…
Making up for lost time, the redhead wrapped his arms around the blond as he responded in similar passion. He gripped against his body as they took each other in; their excitement building with each kiss and touch.
Sasori would have been more self conscious if it wasn't already night and the road deserted.

They shared the moment before setting off to Sasori's place.

•••

"It's not much, but um…" The redhead trailed off as he showed Deidara into his house, gesturing in a shrug around his living room. "…Wine?" He offered, changing the subject.

"Sure, un." The blond followed the redhead into the kitchen. "And you're unusually modest; it's nice place you have."

Sasori smiled slightly. "If you say so." He handed the blond a glass of red wine. "Sorry I haven't asked you over until now." He added as a second thought. Sasori had not dwelled on why that was, yet considered it now. Possibly it was to protect his own space, lest things hadn't gone…smoothly, so to speak.

"No matter un…I am here now, aren't I?" Deidara said warmly. He reached out for Sasori's hand, and interlinked his fingers with the redhead's.

Sasori stared down at their locked fingers. It felt kinda nice. He caught Deidara's eye. "You want to see the rest, then?"

•••

Much later, the redhead was sat up in bed, as the blond leaned his head against Sasori's torso. He trailed strands of Deidara's hair through his fingertips, looking with tired eyes ahead, focusing on nothing in particular.

It was peaceful; he liked the feeling of someone else next to him in the bed.

Sasori tried not to think of what time it was - getting up for work tomorrow was going to be fun indeed. The redhead closed his eyes. So be it. Some things were worth feeling tired for.

When he re-opened them, he saw Deidara had shifted just so; their eyes connected as the younger man looked up at him. The blond still had his head leant against the redhead's frame.

"Hey, un."

The grad student raised his eyebrows briefly, before exhaling gently. He was quiet for a moment, until a thought gripped him. Unable to let it pass, Sasori spoke. "I could get used to you being here…" He watched Deidara's expression. The redhead knew he was being less than subtle, yet frankly couldn't think of another way to broach the subject.

Deidara rose up on one arm; the redhead had him piqued.

Sasori shifted slightly, as he carried on speaking.

"I'm not asking if you want to move in properly or anything - just if you ever feel cramped with Hidan at your place, well…" Sasori felt like his throat was closing up as he tried to get the words out. Making requests such as this made him painfully aware of how little he had experience of these kind of bonds in his adult life.

He swallowed, carrying on. "…You can be cramped over here instead." The redhead wanted the ground to swallow him up when he recounted how cheesy his statement may have come across. Ugh, why…why was this so awkward?

Deidara smirked at him, and crawled up the redhead's torso.
"I think I'd like that a lot, un." He put his face close to Sasori's own, resting his forehead lightly against the redhead's.

The blond already felt the pull of the elder man's company. It barely took a day passing from where they last saw each other for Deidara to be excited to see the redhead again.
He could get used to being with him even more, just like this.
Deidara was eager for what else could follow.

Sasori's eyes relaxed. He felt his lips twitch, a smile forming without having to think about it.

•••