As he'd stripped off behind the grubby little screen in the corner of the studio, Hidan had been pleased to see that the bruises from his run-in with Asuma and his friends weren't too noticeable anymore - it didn't seem like the various excesses of the weekend were having much effect on him at all. But by the tail end of the life class the day was beginning to feel extremely long and he was starting to ache and cramp after only about five minutes into a pose. And this one was a ten minute one in a pretty challenging position. He should've told the tutor - the extremely eminent artist (and only very occasional teacher) Hatake Kakashi - to go onto shorter poses already. For some reason his head didn't quite seem to be in the game today.

"Oi, Kakashi," he called across the studio, still not moving though, "this one's a bit fucking unsustainable, man, sorry."

"OK Hidan, can you do two more minutes?" Kakashi replied immediately, his voice smooth and impassive. He didn't look up from the student's work he was focusing on.

Hidan winced as his left calf started to cramp up. He surreptitiously flexed it a minuscule amount and heard a huffing sigh from a student on that side of the room. "Maybe one and a half?" he offered.

"Right, one minute thirty everyone!" Kakashi declaimed to the class. "Finish up. I want to see the whole pose," and Hidan heard a flurry of extra activity buzz around the room. Little fuckers. Why'd they wait for Kakashi's say so before hurrying the fuck up? He hated the way some colleges seemed to have a culture of pretending life models weren't even people. Treating him like a piece of meat! A post-grad class like this ought to have better manners... It wasn't like he could've held it any longer even if Kakashi had asked him to. He flexed his calf muscle again.

As usual in these situations, the minute and a half felt more like half an hour. Hidan's professional pride prevented him from collapsing in agony, but only just. He tried to focus on something else. For obvious reasons he had to keep his mind off his personal life at all costs, so he thought about the piece he was going to be working on with Deidara. Dei had changed his mind about what he wanted to do and was now exploring the idea of casting sculptures in actual blood. Hidan wondered how much he'd need. He supposed he'd have to give it in batches, but Dei would have to make some kind of artistic sense out of that or he wouldn't be happy with it. He'd been talking about a live process in the gallery, it sounded like something Kakuzu and Sasori wouldn't be too pleased about...

Oh no, fuck no, not Kakuzu, out of my head, out! out! Hidan started thinking desperately about the most unsexy subjects he could - Sasori... Orochimaru... stilton-filled fucking vol-au-vents... but everything he tried led his thoughts right back to Kakuzu. It was very lucky for his modesty that Kakashi called time at that very moment. Hidan shot out of the pose and dived for his dressing gown before even taking a moment to massage some life back into his lower limbs. That had been an uncomfortably close call! He went for a little stroll around the room while the students changed the paper on their easels, for distraction and to ease off his cramp. He had to admit that the annoying huffing student - a pale, dark haired boy - was pretty talented. A pink haired girl had some serious technical ability, though maybe lacked flair. An intense looking blond boy had bucket-loads of flair, but his anatomy was all over the place...

"Ready Hidan?" asked Kakashi and Hidan headed back to the centre. "Are you alright to do two five minute poses?" he asked.

"How about five two minute poses instead?" Hidan suggested. "Stir them up a bit..." It sounded more challenging, but actually he really needed to keep moving at this stage, and he was good at coming up with quick-change positions. Sasori used to have him do it when they first started working together, though the bastard liked him to do more like fifteen in a row.

Kakashi considered it a moment, then agreed, and made some loose suggestions. "If you just say 'change' after every two minutes," said Hidan. "I'll go straight into the next one."

Kakashi nodded, told the kids to get five pieces of paper ready to go, and they began. And the first three were fine, but Hidan was tired now. By number four he was aching all over, and it was all he could do to keep a very obvious tremor in that troublesome left calf muscle under some sort of control. Kakashi called change, he went upright too quickly and suddenly the room was spinning. He was still moving into position, so he did a bit of damage control, leaning himself slowly back so he was supported by both hands instead of one. He thought he could probably just about do it. He wasn't going to give up, anyway. The room didn't stop spinning though, and the sounds of charcoal and graphite scraping on the easels moved in and out of focus disorientatingly, one moment as if they were looming over him, the next faraway and faint. He shut his eyes. That made it worse though. He opened them again and tried some deeper breathing. It helped for a couple of breaths, but then didn't anymore and he started feeling a bit sick. How long had it been? Normally he could gauge really precisely but he was all out of kilter now and couldn't even make an educated guess.

One of his wrists was getting shooting pains up it too - he hadn't positioned it carefully enough in his hurry to get it down. He tried to flex it a minuscule amount, but that actually made the pain worse. Why the fuck hadn't he insisted on a nice relaxing ten minute reclining pose?! Why was it only fucking occurring to him now?! "Hidan?" he vaguely registered Kakashi saying, his voice concerned. He found he couldn't even tell how far away he was. Then, "Ten seconds everyone," followed by "OK, time's up people," and he was sure it hadn't really been the full two minutes, or even a full last ten, but he wasn't going to argue the point - he slowly relaxed, trying not to bring his head forward too suddenly and embarrassingly pass out.

He found Kakashi was next to him, a quizzically anxious look on his face, proffering his dressing gown. "Don't get up yet, will you?" he asked beseechingly. "You've gone awfully white... and I really don't know what I'd do if you fainted on me - it's never happened to me before!"

Hidan shrugged his dressing gown on and leaned his head on his knees. "Fuck..." he murmured.

"Alright, everyone, you've exhausted your model, piss off now," he heard Kakashi say sweetly to his students, "leave your work for me to look at - back here tomorrow at 9am sharp!" and with a rustling of bags and clomping of feet they all headed for the door. Hidan was sure they must be talking shit about him, but what the hell. He took a deep breath and slowly raised his head. He felt a little better now and it was time to start moving so that he didn't cramp up again.

Kakashi was immediately there giving him a hand, and hovered at his elbow for a few moments, effusively apologetic, til they reached the screen in the corner and Hidan shed his dressing gown and started to pull on his clothes. Kakashi tactfully gave him some space by going to walk around the easels, looking at the final pictures. Hidan burned with shame. He felt undermined in the area of his work that was most important to him. Maybe he should just go into fucking fashion if he couldn't take the pace of real art anymore.

"How long was it really, man?" he called to Kakashi, his voice sounding echoey and unnaturally loud in the deserted studio. Everything suddenly felt more peaceful. "Just over one," Kakashi replied neutrally. "Are you alright? You look done in."

"I'm- "

Hidan was going to say 'fine', but shook his head instead. "I don't know, man, that shit doesn't happen to me! I don't know what the fuck's going on!"

Kakashi's head suddenly appeared around the screen. "Look, can I give you a lift home?" he asked. "I brought the car, so..."

"Ah, I'm on my bike, man-" Hidan began, but Kakashi cut him off.

"I've got a bike rack - no excuses. Now, are you going to make me regret this by saying you live South of the river...?"

Hidan laughed. "I live in London Bridge," he said, "but you can take me to Hampstead." He wondered if Kakuzu would be home by the time they got there. He still hadn't given him a key, despite Hidan dropping many extremely heavy hints. He seemed to like to keep him at a bit of a disadvantage... Well, he could always sit on the doorstep and wait. He didn't want to go back to his flat. But he really did hope he wouldn't have to wait long. He still felt jittery and upset, and maybe seeing Kakuzu would stop that. If Kakuzu was in the mood to be nice to him, anyway.

They walked out of the studio together, and Kakashi was still apologising as Hidan unlocked his bike from the racks and wheeled it the short distance to where Kakashi was parked. "I feel responsible, I should have taken better care of you! I'm going to get a horrible reputation and no models will ever want to work with me again!"

"Well, seriously, I'm a lot more fucking worried about my reputation," Hidan countered, aggrievedly.

But he was glad to sink into the comfort of a warm car. He'd have liked to just close his eyes and sleep. But Kakashi seemed to be in a chatty mood. "So," he said chirpily, starting up the engine, "whereabouts in Hampstead...?" And the interested gleam in his eye told Hidan he was going to be asked probing questions all the way there...

Kakuzu was just walking up the street as they pulled up in front of his house. He quickened his pace slightly as he recognised Hidan's bike on the back of a strange car, and his interest was piqued even further when he saw Kakashi get out. They hadn't met before, but of course Kakuzu knew him. He felt a surge of professional excitement. He'd wanted to own a Kakashi for years now, and he'd never managed to get his hands on one. Kakashi was not prolific, and his works, once sold, rarely changed hands. Normally he'd have a buyer lined up months before a work in progress was even near complete - it was extremely frustrating. Never had an artist whose work he desired managed to evade him so long, but that was the man all over - evasive. Now, he didn't quite make eye contact, even as he called across the street in a cheekily intimate tone, "You must be the famous Kakuzu! I've brought you your boyfriend back - we've been overworking him over at St Martin's..."

"Well!" Kakuzu said, "it's Hatake Kakashi, isn't it?" He stepped out into the road to cross towards them. "What a pleasant surprise! And how on earth did you manage to get Hidan into a car?"

Kakashi acknowledged his identity with a slight inclination of his head. "He is horrifically energetic," he said. "But he does seem to know his limits, even if he's not the best at communicating them!" Kakuzu couldn't help laughing at that and Kakashi's eyes slid away from him almost bashfully. Kakuzu was struck by how extremely attractive he was. Stunning colouring, a lot like Hidan's. Slighter though. Incredibly perfect features and David Bowie eyes - Kakuzu could've looked at him for hours.

But instead he headed to the passenger door and opened it for Hidan, offering him a hand. "All tuckered out, are we?" he murmured softly, leaning into the car, "what's brought this on?" He wasn't overly worried - Hidan had probably spent the morning messing about with Deidara. Not to mention everything they'd got up to together before Kakuzu had left for work - but he did want to make sure of him. He was finding that this was becoming a constant instinct around Hidan.

Hidan took Kakuzu's hand and levered himself out. Seemed like he was in the mood to be nice, but all the same there was something a little distant about him. He wasn't completely focused on Hidan, and Hidan recognised that this was making him want to act like a douchebag until he'd fucking earned that focus back! But he was tired, and he didn't want Kakuzu to be mean to him, so he was torn. He settled for being just a little bit recalcitrant and uncooperative. "Just a fucking long day is all," he muttered, shooting a quick glance up at Kakuzu and then looking away.

But now Kakuzu was checking him over, putting a hand on his forehead, then turning over both his hands over to check his wrists, and Hidan was like putty in his hands when he did that. He looked back up at him, but Kakuzu was saying something to Kakashi. At the same time though, the hand Hidan had deliberately not let go of slid up to his wrist to check his pulse, and stayed there. "I'm a big admirer of your work - I'd love to own a piece," Kakuzu was calling across the top of the car. "Do you have anything you're ready to sell now? Or any exhibitions coming up?"

Hidan's heart rate started to increase, it was so fucking hot, Kakuzu just standing there, one hand on him, like he owned him, protective and custodial but pretty much completely ignoring him. He felt almost weak at the knees - he'd be trembling with desire soon, and Kakuzu knew it, the bastard. He could see the corner of his mouth twitching up just a tiny bit.

Kakashi was watching them together with great interest which he didn't try in any way to disguise, but he was obviously less than comfortable at the turn his conversation with Kakuzu was taking. "Well... I spend a lot of time on each piece I make," he said noncommittally. "I don't know when the ones I'm working on at the moment will be ready to leave the studio..."

Kakuzu, satisfied that Hidan wasn't about to keel over, and that he'd got him sufficiently worked up that as soon as they were alone together he'd be able to live out all of the day's fantasies, let go of his wrist and handed him his keys, swinging them helpfully by the front door one and - just for a brief moment - giving Hidan his full attention. "You go on in and sit down," he said. "And have some water. I'll get your bike. You can do the code, can't you?"

Hidan nodded - he'd watched Kakuzu do it enough times. And Kakuzu had never ever handed over his keys before - he wasn't about to turn them down. He left Kakuzu and Kakashi talking shop, firing a casual, "thanks for the ride, man," over his shoulder. Kakashi looked like he'd do anything to wriggle out of the situation - Kakuzu, however, he'd rarely seen look so fired up. He was utterly in his element. Even as he lifted Hidan's bike down off the rack, he was still utterly concentrated on getting what he wanted, and it seemed to Hidan that Kakashi didn't stand a chance. He'd be offering Kakuzu a tour of his studio whether he liked it or not - his mind was obviously a complete blank as far as extricating himself from this went. He clearly didn't want to be rude, but it was equally obvious that he wasn't too keen on Kakuzu owning any of his work. Hidan wondered why.

He opened the door and immediately the dogs were all around him. He was a lot better with them by now though. They were used to him and so impeccably trained that they probably had his back almost as much as Kakuzu's now. Tsuchi slipped through the door though - nothing Hidan was going do about that - and ran to Kakuzu's side, giving Kakashi the excuse he'd been groping for moments earlier. Kakuzu was in the middle of inviting him in for a cup of tea; Kakashi politely but firmly declined. He stroked Tsuchi's ears and said he had to get back to walk his own dogs. And at that moment the alarm started to go off, as Hidan had - of course - completely forgotten about entering the security code. Kakuzu headed for the door and with a brief wave Kakashi made his escape.

Seeing Kakuzu coming up the path looking seriously irritated, Hidan made a dive into the hall toilet and locked the door. He could hear Kakuzu expertly entering the override code and then slamming the door shut with quite a bit more force than was customary for him. Hidan's eyes widened. Was Kakuzu going to be super pissed? He took a little longer than necessary sorting himself out - taking a slash and washing off the grime of the art-room - so he was surprised to find Kakuzu still in the hall when he came out.

He was just leaning on the wall and waiting for him. The dogs were waiting too. It was intimidating. "Hidan!" Kakuzu grumbled, easing himself off the wall and pushing Hidan peremptorily down the hall into the kitchen with one hand in the small of his back. "I nearly had him there! Just another minute and I'm certain he'd have sold me something - even if it was just a sketch it would've been a foot in the door!"

Hidan looked up at him out of the corners of his eyes, trying to gauge how pissed he really was. Should he apologise? Would Kakuzu think it was insincere and get more pissed? "Hey, don't be mad at me Kakuzu?" he pleaded, making his best puppy eyes. "It was kind of your fault for touching me up out there, with Kakashi looking and all, you can't expect me to remember everything under circumstances like that..." He trailed off, bracing himself for a bad reaction.

Kakuzu took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, keeping his expression unreadable. "Well. Never mind," he said finally, abruptly, pouring a glass of water and handing it to Hidan. "Maybe it's for the best."

"Huh?" said Hidan. He obediently drank his water and watched Kakuzu putting down four bowls of dog food. "What do you mean?"

Kakuzu didn't answer for a moment as he washed his hands and carefully dried them, and then finally his attention was all on Hidan again. And this time, the moment wasn't a fleeting one. "I mean," he said softly, smoothly, very close to Hidan now, "that Hatake Kakashi has been looking at you naked all afternoon, while I've been shut in my office with just my imagination." His hands were at Hidan's waist now, undoing his belt buckle and buttons, then sliding up his tight black t-shirt. "And that just isn't an acceptable state of affairs, is it?" he continued, peeling the t-shirt over Hidan's unresisting upper body.

"No," Hidan murmured back, relief flooding through him, tension dropping away, his arms snaking back down and around Kakuzu's neck, "it isn't fucking acceptable, and, you know, you popping into my head every five minutes made things really fucking difficult this afternoon..." he broke off with a light gasp as Kakuzu unzipped his fly and slid in a hand to play with his already semi-hard cock.

He leaned forwards into him, thrusting himself harder against Kakuzu's hand, standing on tiptoe, his lips brushing against Kakuzu's. "For some reason no-one wants to draw a life model with a big fuck-off erection," he whispered. "I don't get it, do you...?

"Well," Kakuzu murmured back, "I know when I see you with a 'big fuck-off erection', I don't want to draw you..." Hidan gasped again as Kakuzu started stroking his cock up and down, then grasping it harder as it swiftly became exactly what they were discussing. "So maybe all those art school brats just want to fuck you too..."

Hidan was struggling to form coherent sentences now, but he couldn't let that stand. "Man - not one of those - fucking pussies - could - fuck - ," he forced out. "Ahh," he gasped as Kakuzu lifted him onto the work surface and knelt in front of him, gripping him tightly and running his tongue along his cock before taking the head of it into his mouth, then sucking it in deep. He couldn't think at all while Kakuzu was doing that. And now he was moving in and out, fuck, he was unbelievably good at this. "Fuck," Hidan breathed, "oh fuck, Kakuzu!"

Kakuzu paused a moment to look up at him. It didn't matter that he was on his knees in front of Hidan - he was still undeniably in charge. "You were saying?" he asked, lips curving into a smile, keeping Hidan on the edge of rational thought by keeping one hand lazily running up and down his cock, thumb sliding lightly over the tip, tilting Hidan further backwards so he could start to explore further back, his fingertips - slick with pre-come now - pushing a little way in, running around the edge, just getting him prepped and starting to relax.

"Not a single - one of them - has anything like - the - the - authority it takes - to make me want to be fucked - rather than fuck!" Hidan managed to piece together, "not even fucking - Kakashi - hot as he is!"

"He is hot," Kakuzu agreed smoothly, that elusive authority oozing from every pore.

"Huh?!" Hidan gripped Kakuzu's hair and made him look him in the eye. "As hot as me?"

"No-one's as hot as you, babe," Kakuzu growled, detaching Hidan's grip and taking him back in his mouth for another few long hard sucks, then settling into a rhythm that all too soon brought Hidan right to the edge of climax. Kakuzu, feeling Hidan's cock almost buzzing against his tongue, interrupted his rhythm and let it slide out against his cheek.

"Ah, you fucking bastard," Hidan moaned as Kakuzu pulled away, breathing hard himself now, "that's not fucking fair!"

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet," Kakuzu smiled. His heart seemed to pound in time with Hidan's as he straightened up and pressed forward against him, kissing him long and hard, letting him taste himself in Kakuzu's mouth, then working Hidan's jeans the rest of the way off and fishing the condoms and lube out of the back pocket before dropping them into a heap on the floor. Nearly at the end of the tube, he registered. We'll need more of that pretty urgently...

Expertly rolling a condom onto himself with one hand and lubing up Hidan with the other, fingers going further in now, teasing him, then slowly easing into him, Hidan's legs wrapping around his waist, then up over his shoulders, making inarticulate moans and nonsensical half sentences, the frustrations of the day fell away from Kakuzu along with any thoughts of anyone else. One arm went firmly around Hidan, stopping him from thrusting him straight into the bread bin and the toaster, his other hand started slowly and teasingly working Hidan's cock.

Tempting as it was to thrust into him hard and fast, he made himself go long and slow, coming nearly all the way out before easing back in as deep as Hidan could stand. He kept this up even as Hidan, now completely open, started thrusting back against him, pulling his hips forward and incoherently begging him for "more" and "harder". He changed to a grinding, circling motion that made Hidan moan and cling on to him, then back to long and deep again.

After a few more minutes he stopped moving, in deep, to whisper in Hidan's ear, "versatile you may be, but this," he started up again with a quick, slightly harder thrust, out and back in, "this is what you really like," - another pause and another thrust - "isn't it, Hidan?"

He took away his supporting hand to tilt Hidan's face up towards him, forcing him to support himself completely for a moment, his hands moving frantically backwards to brace himself and stop himself from barking his spine against against the bread bin. Kakuzu looked deeply into violet eyes glazed with excitement and lust and, "hmm...?" he questioned, thrusting hard again.

"Yes," Hidan gasped, between almost sob-like pants, "yes, fuck, yes yes," and now Kakuzu was really going, one hand in the small of Hidan's back again, just about keeping him upright, Hidan screaming in ecstasy, the hand other grasping his cock and pumping hard and, pausing only to change his rhythm slightly to make sure Hidan climaxed with him - he came harder than he could remember doing since he was a teenager.

Collapsing forward over Hidan, for a moment oblivious to the fact that he was crushing him against the various appliances and scattering wooden spoons over the floor, as well as racking up a considerable dry-cleaning bill over the front of his suit, Kakuzu took a moment to gather his strength and let his heart-rate start to subside. Hidan's cock was still in his hand, still hard and pulsing gently, and as he straightened up and slowly pulled out, shedding the condom onto the floor without a second thought, Kakuzu couldn't resist sliding his slippery hand up and down that perfect torso, brushing lightly over his nipples and then up to his face, running a thumb over his lower lip. Hidan's pointy pink tongue slid out to taste himself again. He unwound his legs from around Kakuzu and suddenly all his strength seemed to leave him at once.

Kakuzu pulled him out of the debris, sliding him off the work surface in the process and having to catch him as his legs gave way upon hitting the floor. Hidan clung onto him, grabbing handfuls of his lapels and leaning into him. He was trying hard to steady himself but he was clearly completed used up and Kakuzu had to half carry him through the hall and up the stairs. He elbowed open the door of his room and rolling Hidan unceremoniously onto the bed, he shed his jizz-covered clothes and flung them over a chair. He had intended to get dressed again straight away and get on with some of the many things that were mounting up for him to do, but instead found himself flopping down next to the exhausted Hidan, pulling his head into the crook of his shoulder, wrapping a proprietorial arm around him. Once down, he found he was pretty spent too. And then Hidan, with a last burst of energy, managed to wriggle over into his favourite half-on-top-of-him position and Kakuzu had to accept that this was where he was staying for a while.

He raised his head a moment to look at Hidan, smiling at his wanton dishevelled state. Hidan was looking steadily back at him, still with those sexy half-lidded bedroom eyes. "Total tops are pretty fucking hard to find," he murmured sleepily. "How come one as good as you managed to stay single so fucking long..?"

Kakuzu chuckled dryly. "I'm not really such a very nice top as all that! I have to confess I can be... impatient... at times," he said, laying his head back down, staring up at the ceiling. "It's just lucky that you're extremely good at relaxing... and that you seem to like taking it quite hard..."

"You don't say?!" Hidan said, smirking obnoxiously - Kakuzu could hear it in his voice. "You're a lot fucking nicer than me though," he admitted, "I'm fucking horrible as a top."

"Yes. I can believe it." Kakuzu lifted his head again and raised an eyebrow. "I imagine I'm doing the scene a huge favour by keeping you in your place - It pains me to think of all the poor boys you must've ripped to shreds while you were waiting for me to come along!"

"Although," he added, glancing down at their entwined bodies, one caressing hand drifting back to Hidan's cock, which stirred eagerly under it, "you're not really in a position to do quite as much damage as I am, are you?" And rolling him over so that he was pinning him to the bed, he laughed infuriatingly at Hidan's torrent of outraged protests over such an unfair comparison before taking great satisfaction in using his own mouth to shut him up.