Chapter Three

"Yeah, sure. I'll come."

Itachi gawked, and pursed his lips trying to hide his shock. Sasuke was antisocial, perpetually stoic, and even downright rude on occasion. Sure, he loved the kid more than life itself, but that didn't negate the fact that a thanksgiving wasn't exactly his scene.

"Maybe that blonde you're seeing - "

"I'm not seeing any blonde." Sasuke spat at Shisui, his flushed cheeks betraying him.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm not seeing -"

"His name is Naruto, not the blonde, Shisui," Itachi offered, drying a dish. He placed it in the rack and turned to face them.

"And they're just friends."

"Mm," Shisui sighed, leaning into palm. A grin creeped onto Shisui's face, and there a glint in his eyes. "I remember when we were just friends."

Itachi let out a breathy laugh, crossing his arms. Fugaku had the luxury of walking in on Shisui making out with him one Christmas. He had a near nuclear meltdown and threw both boys out of the house for the evening.

"We really did cause quite the scene one Christmas."

Sasuke mad a few fake gagging noises and rolled his eyes, sliding off the barstool.

"I'm only going because you two can't cook and will poison everyone who comes."

The television's gentle hum of mumbled conversations was lovely background noise as Itachi relaxed on the couch, knitting.

Shisui popped out the bedroom, pajama pants hanging low and his hair still wet from his shower. Itachi glanced up and swallowed. Shisui looked - he was still damp for god sakes.

"You're going to get a cold if you don't dry your hair."

Shisui huffed, plopping down next to Itachi.

"It's like seventy degrees outside still. So much for fall."

Itachi shook his head.

"It was fifty seven today. A very comfortable fall temperature."

"No shit, who would have thought." Shisui leaned back, arms behind his head. He watched Itachi's fingers move through the motions. He was so delicate. Itachi always moved with such precision, a picture of elegance. And the way his hair was hanging loose -

"So you actually are keeping up with that knitting?"

Itachi glanced slightly to his left, not bothering to move his head. "Clearly."

"You get more and more like a grandma every time I blink. The sweaters, your doting on Sasuke, your obsession with hard candy -"

"Just because I enjoy warmth, sweets, and caring about my brother -"

Shisui wrapped an arm around Itachi, tugging him into his chest and burying a kiss in his hair.

"And I love it."

Itachi wrestled his head free, staying close to Shisui. He attempted to look annoyed, really, but with the way Shisui was looking at him with that dopey grin -

"I love you, too."

Itachi shifted a little, settling his back against Shisui's chest so he could still work on his knitting.

"You know, I haven't asked about your shoot in a while. How is it going?"

"Good, really. We have the first episode shot. We're gonna shoot a whole season at a time before releasing, so there's no pressure or anything. The studio is still nervous about the whole gay thing."

Shisui waved into the air at the mention of the studio's hesitation.

"Ah, and how is - what is his name - Tobias?"

Shisui sucked in a breath. If he said Tobi was good, would he hurt Itachi? Because Tobi was good, but not like that. They were loosely acquaintances at this point. Sure they had grabbed lunch together while on break to run lines -

"Fine, I guess."

"Oh?"

Shisui sucked his cheeks. Itachi knew him too well, he knew he was lying. Hell, Itachi could probably hear his heart rate increasing from where he was sitting. Also when did he start sweating -

"I won't be angry if he's doing well, Shisui. I hope he's doing well. If he's doing poorly, it'll affect your performance."

The clicking of Itachi's needles filled the room for a moment.

"He's great actually." The truth felt like an exhale. Lying wasn't exactly his thing. "We get along well which is good for the shoot."

"You should invite him to the thanksgiving dinner."

Shisui wished he could see Itachi's face right now. Anything to give him an inkling if this was a trap.

"He probably has plans with his family."

Itachi sighed, rolling his eyes. He placed his knitting on the arm of the couch and turned to face Shisui. Shisui's eyes widened, and Itachi placed a hand on his cheek. Itachi sighed again in a desperate attempt to soften his features.

"Love, I'm not trying to trap you, or start anything. Tobias is bound be an important person in your life. You'll be spending a lot of time together and sharing -" Itachi paused and licked his lip, "- moments together. Bring him to dinner so I can meet him."

Shisui let out a breath, his face relaxing. His leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Itachi's. He should have known better.

"I love you."

Itachi looked up, and kissed him lightly. As they parted, Shisui let them stay pressed together. He could still feel Itachi's breath on his lips. He placed a hand on Itachi's face, rubbing his finger along his cheekbone.

"I love you always."

Sasuke turned down the volume on his phone as the dog barking came through. He and Naruto had agreed to facetime in lieu of meeting up because of some nasty cold Naruto had insisted he'd caught from Sasuke.

"Sorry 'bout the dog, he gets excited when Kiba has friends over."

"Is Kiba your brother?"

Sasuke hadn't really bothered to ask about Naruto's home life. Judging by the way the he all but skipped around, it was probably a wholesome -

"Nah, well I mean basically - but we're roommates."

"Ah."

Probably a trust fund kid if he was being set up in an apartment, then. Sasuke turned back to his laptop, typing away at the essay. He didn't have room to judge, really. He'd spent most of his life living damn comfortably. Sure, Fugaku had made him get a part time job, but he never had to work more than fifteen hours a week.

"Earth to Sasukeeee." Naruto was practically singing as he tapped the camera.

"Yeah, what?"

"Whatcha thinking about? You have that face."

Sasuke scowled, replacing any 'face' he would have been making.

"I hate when you ask that, it's annoying."

"Well?" Naruto was also always so damn unphased be insults. Not that he ever really meant them. Naruto as a whole wasn't annoying, he just always wanted a reaction and Sasuke always seemed to be giving it to him.

"I was thinking about how you're probably a trust fund kid."

Sasuke peaked at his phone, he hadn't been looking at it. He heart Naruto snort, and then turn away. He could still catch a furrow of his brow and was he biting his lip? Sasuke really couldn't tell for sure.

"Not quite." Naruto's voice was quieter than usual. Scratchiness was taking place of the usual gentle rasp behind it.

"Oh." Sasuke gnawed his cheek. He'd rather be dead than have this conversation right now.

"I'm - uh - foster kid, actually," Naruto's regular voice had come back, albeit gentler than normal. Sasuke's eyes widened a little and he finally looked straight at the phone. Naruto's eyes widened back and he let out something between a sigh and chuckle.

"It's fine though now, really. I live with Kiba and I've got friends. Money isn't bad, I just take out a few extra loans. It's kinda nice livin' alone. I get to stay up whenever I want and it's not like I can't cook or anything. I get home cooked meals all the time -"

"You cook like shit." Sasuke spat out, immediately regretting it. But he couldn't just let Naruto keep rambling and trying to make him feel better about being an ass. Who just assumes someone's family status?

But then, Naruto broke into a smile that reached his eyes and laughed.

"We'll see about that when I score higher than you in the practical on Tuesday."

Sasuke snorted, letting out a small grin.

"As if."

They kept talking until Sasuke had to get dinner together and their conversation was back to normal, but Sasuke's chest didn't feel any lighter.

Sasuke pushed the asparagus around his plate. His chicken was mostly gone, but the asparagus just didn't seem appealing with this stupid weight on his chest.

"What's up with you?"

Sasuke glared up at Shisui. And of course Itachi had decided to go write at Denny's instead of eating dinner at home leaving him with the resident dumbass as a dinner date.

"Nothing."

Shisui shrugged, stuffing a potato in his mouth.

"Fine then, like I give a shit."

"Well clearly you give a shit if you bothered to ask."

Shisui closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. This was Itachi's little brother. The little brother that Itachi loved more than anything. And Sasuke wasn't that bad of a kid, but that didn't mean he was absolutely insufferable, especially when cranky.

"Look, something is up with you. Is it your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boy -"

"Fine, Naruto, the blonde, the hell you want to call him."

Sasuke's cheeks puffed for a moment before his features softened and he sighed, setting down his fork. He looked over toward the living room, making sure some of his hair covered his face.

"Naruto's a foster kid."

Shisui nodded - ah.

"So?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, leaning back in the chair.

"So I called him a trust fund kid."

Shisui barked out a laugh. "That's a good one. Was he upset?"

"I don't know, he tried to make me feel better -"

"Then he's fine."

"How would you-"

"Sasuke, you know how I met Itachi, yeah?"

"We're cousins."

Shisui waved him off and shook his head, a story for another time then.

"Well, if he says he's fine - he's fine."

Sasuke pursed his lips, crossing his arms. Shisui began picking up the table. As he took Sasuke's dish he glanced down at him.

"You probably feel like shit because you've never considered someone could have it worse than you."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but then closed it, strutting into his room. Of course people had it worse than him. There were worse things that controlling parents who bought your love. But normal people didn't have problems like those. People who had problems like those were… Sasuke ran a hand over his face.

People who had those problems were just like everyone else. And they have blonde hair, bubbling blue eyes, and even a shining smile to boot. And people like Sasuke? They were the ones grumbling.

Itachi sipped on his fourth cup of free refill coffee. The pancakes on his table had been long forgotten about and were disintegrating in the mound of syrup he'd bathed them in. The waitstaff was used to him coming in, and asking for the table near the window and outlet. He stayed for hours, but it was never busy and it tipped well. Other than a coffee refill, they left him alone.

It was pleasant and a nice change of pace. He'd been looking for new places to write six months ago when he realized why not write in a Denny's? It was the same as writing in a coffee shop or cafe. The best part of it all? They were open at all hours and usually weren't crowded at midnight.

Except, he wasn't getting much writing done. He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much that Shisui was co-starring with Tobias. Itachi had never been a jealous person. Shisui loved him. He showed it everyday and never ceased to remind him of it. If anything, Itachi was the one who struggled with affection, too tired to cuddle, too detached to talk about anything of true substance.

Itachi sucked in his cheeks as stared at the scene he was writing. Ironically, it was about quarreling lovers. Not that him and Shisui weren't quarreling, but it had been a nice break from the world of science fiction he usually waded in.

Tobias. He typed it into the search bar without thinking. Maybe nothing would pop up, it wasn't like he was famous, but then again Tobias wasn't a very popular name.

Birds of a Feather - he added for good measure. The name of show they were in should be enough. He hit entered and shouldn't have been surprised at the results. Several listings of shows he had been in, a personal website, and a few social media accounts.

But what really stuck out was his last name - Uchiha.

Their last name wasn't common. But he wasn't - it wouldn't make sense that - their family was relatively small, there was no way he could be apart and Itachi not know.

The Uchiha did often adopt children, it wasn't unusual. Shisui had been adopted, and despite being cousins in name, their relationship was not an awful scandal once the lack of blood relationship was cleared. Itachi rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. He would talk to his grandfather about it later.

Itachi tabbed over to images and frowned. He didn't recognize him either, but he looked like an Uchiha. The straight black hair, thin build, and features. It was all right. Itachi shook his head and closed his laptop. He placed enough money for the bill and a sizable tip down.

It was almost one in the morning, he should head home.

A/N: Enjoy! Thanks for reading, finally gave you guys a bit of plot to chew on there! As always thanks to the lovely Kinomi Akai for beta-ing!