Chapter Two

The nice thing about lectures was that he didn't have to wear his uniform. The less nice thing was that it was at eight in the morning.

That sucked.

His breakfast was rushed and the only morning run he'd get in was his run to class…but, at least Nutrition wasn't difficult. Between that, culinary math—stupid class in his opinion—and gastronomy, he was breezing through his courses. It was the culinary fundamentals classes that made him nervous. Sure, he knew he didn't suck at cooking, but that was around normal people. These were other people that knew they didn't suck at cooking. Hell, they were probably people who were actually good at cooking—

"Oh hey!"

Sasuke didn't bother to look up as the book bag thudded down next to him.

"How's your phone?"

He turned this time, realizing who was talking to him. The blonde guy—Naruto, was it?—had plopped down next to him. Sasuke scooted a little to the left. There was an entire row available. Why was he basically on top of him?

"Fine."

Sasuke went to flip it over; he hadn't gotten the screen fixed yet, but at least it worked.

"Doesn't look fine to me, hey—just message me how much it is. It was my—"

"It's fine. I have insurance on it."

"Oh…yeah." Naruto scratched the bad of his head and laughed. "You seem like the kind of person who would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto gestured to layout in front of Sasuke.

"I mean you have your notebook out and dated, and like four different pen colors."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. It wasn't absurd to have school supplies. It was logical, considering he was at school.

"It's called being prepared."

Naruto pulled out notebook, its coils were half out and had several titles crossed out on it. A few seconds later, he was basically neck deep in his bag muttering about how he definitely had a pen in there at some point.

Sasuke shook his head and tossed one over to him.

"Here."

Naruto laughed again, and Sasuke found himself gnawing his lip, again. Stupid, he only did that when he was nervous—and he was definitely not nervous.

"It's burgundy, Shisui."

Itachi balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear as he carried the groceries up the stairs.

"He's stupid, Itachi, he doesn't—what the hell!"

Itachi threw a grin over his shoulder as he moved around his little brother, who had been hip bumped into the wall.

"No, not red," Itachi turned his attention back to the phone, "burgundy. No, all my sweaters are not red. They're varying shades of red, yes—but, I mean," Itachi let out a long sigh, "yes, burgundy is close to dark red."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and dumped the groceries onto the counter.

"Be kind, Sasuke."

Sasuke snorted and began putting away the produce, as Itachi took over the boxes of cereal.

"You can't be upset when I state facts."

Itachi sighed and closed the cabinet. It was true, Shisui wasn't the most fashionably inclined. Neither was Itachi, though, basically living in joggers and cardigans. But, at least he knew his colors.

Shisui was probably the worst person to send to hunt down the cardigan Itachi had left at the coffee shop, but he'd insisted since it was on his way home from his shoot.

"Is your phone fixed yet?"

Sasuke nodded, leaning against the counter.

"How's school going?"

Sasuke shrugged, scrolling through his phone.

"Sasuke, I'm going to make dinner."

"Ah."

"Yeah, and then I'm going to join the circus."

"Nice," Sasuke muttered.

Itachi leaned on the counter next to him, crossing his arms.

"And what a cute blonde."

"Mhm—wait, what?"

Sasuke turned and held his phone to his chest.

Itachi grinned. Sasuke couldn't even hide the reddening of his ears.

"Why are you looking at other people's phones!"

Itachi took chicken thighs out of the freezer, shrugging.

"Why are you looking at a blonde boy's facebook and then getting defensive?"

"I am not being defensive!"

Sasuke grimaced at his own tone, as Itachi smirked. He put the thighs in the sink and headed toward his office.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke. Whatever you say."

Itachi glared at his computer. He needed to finish this by January. He had five thousand words left. Five thousand good words. Not five thousand words of crap. And that seemed to be all he was typing out lately…crap.

"Hey, you."

Itachi peeked up from his computer and saw Shisui leaning in the doorway. Glancing around, he realized the only light around him was from his computer and the hall. When had the sun set?

"You missed dinner."

"I need to finish and this…it's just not going." Itachi threw a wave toward the computer and tucked a loose piece of hair behind his ear. He hated this feeling. He could never finish anything longer than a few pages. Short pieces? Sure, those were simple. The words flowed easily.

But the long ones? They were fine in the beginning and even the middle…but wrapping them up? Forget about it. Nothing was ever good enough. Nothing ever had the right ring to it. Nothing ever just sat well with him, it was always wrong. It needed to be perfect, it just—

"I'm sure not eating and lack of sleep is really helping with that."

Itachi perked up, absolutely not startled at the interruption to his thoughts. It only took him a moment to level his expression, but Shisui raised a knowing brow.

"I have pretzels."

Shisui shook his head and closed the computer. Itachi opened his mouth to protest, but Shisui's arm was around his waist, guiding him into the kitchen before he could even process it.

Itachi was promptly shoved onto the barstool.

"Stay." Shisui held out a finger—with that stupid grin on his face. Itachi rolled his eyes, sucking in his cheeks to suppress his smile. Shisui was practically gliding around the kitchen, mumbling and clanging cabinets.

"What are you doing?"

Shisui waved him off. "You'll see, you'll see."

Leaning into his palm, Itachi admired the way Shisui was frantically moving across the kitchen. He was keeping everything he did so close to his chest and the way he kept peeking over his shoulder to make sure Itachi didn't see what was happening was precious.

Itachi leaned to left just a little because he had to admit—he was quite curious what the hell he was doing. Shisui caught his eye and nailed him with a wink and click of the tongue, earning a snort from Itachi.

"I'm going to fall asleep by the time you finish."

Shisui spun around and placed a bowl in front of Itachi.

"Not after you finish this."

Itachi bit his lip at the sight of the bowl that was overflowing with whipped cream, sprinkles, and was there even ice cream under there? Sundaes were his favorite.

"Christ, Shisui…you didn't have to—"

Shisui tapped Itachi on the nose with his spoon before taking a bit of the sundae.

"Ice cream for dinner fixes everything."

Shisui held out his spoon and grinned as Itachi clanked his own filled spoon against his.

"Well I can't disagree with that." Itachi hummed and leaned into his palm as he swirled the ice cream.

"Gah—I forgot the way you eat it is gross." Shisui put down his spoon and stuck out his tongue at the soup forming in the bowl.

Itachi glanced over Shisui's shirt that was littered with splotches of ice cream and a few crushed sprinkles.

"Yes…I'm the gross one."

Shisui took his shirt off, tossing it across the room. He crossed his arms and cocked his head.

"Better?"

Itachi shook his head, slipping down from his chair and tossing the bowl in the sink. He leaned against the counter just next to Shisui. The man was gorgeous. Itachi had to bite the inside of his lip to remain impassive at the challenging look he was getting.

"I suppose."

Shisui turned, his body pressing Itachi up against the counter. He stole a small gasp from the man below him as he tugged down on his ponytail and kissed his jawline.

"You suppose?" Shisui breathed into his ear.

Itachi's fingers traveled into Shisui's curls and he tugged them back, tracing his tongue down his neck.

"Hmmm, I suppose," Itachi nipped at his neck and relished in his gentle whimper, "it's much better."

Shisui leaned forward, his forehead pressing against Itachi's.

"What's been going on?"

Itachi rolled his eyes, looking away.

"Writer's block is normal, Shisui."

Shisui traced his finger along Itachi's cheek, and shook his head.

"No, not like this. You aren't eating, you barely sleep, what's the problem?"

Itachi frowned, the damned man could always read him. And dismissive answers never worked. It was stupid, really, it's why he hadn't told him in the first place—

"I'm concerned."

Shisui pursed his lips and raised his brows, the answer wasn't good enough.

"Thanksgiving is coming up."

"It's October, Itachi."

"And after October is November," Itachi let a small smile escape.

Shisui rolled his eyes, but his smile betrayed him. Itachi's wry sense of humor would get him every time—even though it wasn't even funny.

"I know how months work—"

"Do you?"

Shisui pinned Itachi's wrists against the counter, pressing into him and whispering in his ear, "Don't make me—"

Itachi slipped under his arms, twisting until he was pushing Shisui into the counter himself.

"Don't make you what?"

Itachi tried to hide his grin, he really did, but the way Shisui wiggled under him and started laughing made it impossible. It had been ages since they wrestled like this. Really, when was the last time they just hung out doing nothing? It must have been at least a week—

"Earth to Itachi," Shisui teased. He had slipped out of Itachi's arms and leaned against the island.

"It'll be Sasuke's first Thanksgiving...away."

"He'll live."

"Shisui!"

Shisui threw up his hands in defense. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"He's only eighteen. He's never been away from home, much less away and practically—"

"What if we hosted thanksgiving?"

Itachi stopped, eyes wide.

"I haven't seen my parents in—"

"Fuck your parents, Itachi. I mean with our family. You know, me, you, Sasuke, whatever his friends are, maybe Hana and Izumi will come—what's that face?"

Itachi shook his head, his mouth had been open and he was absolutely not amazed at the idea one bit, nope.

"That is, it's—" Itachi reached out and took Shisui's hand. "You're brilliant, dear."

Shisui grinned, tightening his fingers around Itachi's.

"Good to know I'm not just around for my good looks."

Itachi rolled his eyes, and swatted him in the head before stalking off to the bedroom, muttering about how Shisui would probably die if he ever took anything seriously.

"No, idiot, carrots are not a starch," Sasuke practically groaned, as he poured over his nutrition book. How he got stuck studying with Naruto from nutrition was beyond his comprehension, but here he was, at midnight, cramming with him.

"But potatoes are and they're a root vegetable!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, before running his fingers through his hair.

"What am supposed to do? Memorize every damn vegetable and what it is?"

Sasuke tilted his head and went to open his mouth, but Naruto's accusing finger caused his to close it.

"Whatever you were about to say—I don't want to hear it!"

"I wasn't going to say anything." Sasuke crossed his arms, leaning back against the chair. He really wasn't too worried about this exam, he would pass just fine. Naruto, on the other hand—

"Of course you were! You had that dumb look."

"I do not have a dumb look." Sasuke puffed his cheeks and looked away.

"Yeah, you do because your face—"

There was small cough from next to them, and the white haired librarian came up.

"The library is closed. Not that you would have heard the announcements over your…studying, but you have to go."

Naruto's eyes widened—he was absolutely not ready for the exam tomorrow. It was over chapters five through ten, and they had only covered through eight, and even those he didn't—

"We can study at my place."

Naruto blinked as he watched Sasuke through his bag over his shoulder. Was Sasuke really? They weren't that close, or, well, Sasuke didn't seem like the type to just invite someone over—

"I couldn't. I wouldn't want to—"

Sasuke sighed, and Naruto could feel the his eye roll.

"C'mon, you're going to fail if you don't study. And you clearly need my assistance in—"

Naruto scurried up and elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"Shut up. You're the one that's going to need my help."

Sasuke shook his head, but grinned as they headed out of the library.

A/N: Cheers to chapter two! This chapter would not be as lovely without the fantastic Kinomi Akai beta-ing. I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think :)

Thanks for reading!