Chapter 3

Deidara received a text from Itachi on Tuesday. He had the day off, and he was just staying home and watching one of his favorite comedy movies on his laptop. It helped take his mind off things.

Itachi's text said, "Hey just wanted to say thanks again for my tattoo, I really like it. You did an amazing job."

Deidara kept picking up his cell to read it over and over. He wondered if he should answer. But for the last two days, he'd been really anxious, and he regretted giving his cell number to Itachi. What was the point? He didn't want to be his friend, and he certainly didn't want a relationship. It had been a whim. On the spur of the moment, he'd felt like he could actually, maybe, possibly, develop a relationship with this guy. But of course he couldn't…

He'd never had any friends. He was the socially awkward type. In elementary and high school, he was constantly mocked, bullied and beaten up by other kids because he was too effeminate for a guy. So he learned to be tough; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, after all.

As for his family, that was another story… His mother was very sick during the pregnancy, and she'd died shortly after. His father had put the blame on him. Let's just say, he had absolutely no one. Deidara had always been on his own.

At sixteen he quit school and ran away from home. At least he had enough savings thanks to a part-time job at a fast food restaurant to get an apartment. Even though it was really small and practically falling to pieces – the wall was cracking and there were some holes in the floor – it was better than living in the streets.

But even at his jobs no one had befriended him. He couldn't blame them. He was the one who kept a distance with people. And they usually found him weird and antisocial – which was kinda true anyway. But with his passion of tattoos and piercings, he'd been visiting his favorite place – Silver of course – so often that they eventually offered him a job. Yahiko and Konan had always been nice to him. And Nagato was okay, too. Sasori had actually asked him out a few times in the beginning, but Deidara had always refused. Instead he'd started going out with Konan.

He liked his job, and enjoyed these guys' company, if anything. But he still couldn't consider them as friends. They didn't know a thing about him. Even Konan… Of course she always tried to get him to open up. But he just couldn't… Their relationship was doomed to end soon, and it was Deidara's entire fault. He didn't mind going on dates, and he really enjoyed when they went to see shows of bands he liked. He didn't mind sex, either, although for him it felt awkward sometimes.

But there was something missing. He didn't love her, of course. And he simply couldn't be emotionally close to anyone. She had been really insistent lately, and asking more and more questions, and he was starting to get uncomfortable around her. She wasn't an idiot, she had realized that, and they would probably break up soon…

He sighed heavily, suddenly not enjoying his stupid parody movie anymore. He read Itachi's text again. He could just answer something like, "No problem!" or "My pleasure, really."

But instead he put his phone away.

…

The next day, on Wednesday morning, while Deidara was cleaning the bathroom of the store, he got another text from Itachi. This one said, "Hey just sitting in class bored out of my mind right now… decided to text you but you're not gonna answer are you?"

Deidara made a little smile, shook his head slightly, and put the phone back in his pocket.

…

On Thursday afternoon, he was helping Nagato clean up his tattoo station when he got another text, "You do remember you have a video to show me, right?"

"Who is it from?" Nagato looked up, "Konan?"

"No," he said simply, and Nagato shrugged. Deidara still didn't answer.

…

On Friday evening Deidara had just finished working, and was in the bus to get back home, when he received his fourth message from Itachi. "Finally Friday night… there's this cool guy I'd totally invite to go out, but he's not answering any of my texts…"

He smiled and chuckled, and shook his head in disbelief. A guy as hot as Itachi could have anyone, so why was he losing his time with him?

…

The next day he got, "FYI I didn't end up going out… Do blame yourself."

On Sunday, Itachi's text said, "Are you even reading these?" It made Deidara laugh as he was sitting alone behind the counter at Slicks. Konan interrupted her discussion with a customer to eye him curiously.

Monday and Tuesday were his days off as always. Itachi continued texting him everyday. His messages respectively said, "Maybe I shouldn't have asked for your phone number. Oh wait, right, you're the one who wanted to give it to me." And, "I want another tattoo."

That last one made Deidara frown and stare at the small screen for a moment. Was he serious?

But on Wednesday, Itachi's text said, "I was kidding yesterday. But oh well, it was worth a try. All right, I'll stop now. It was nice meeting you."

"You okay buddy?" Yahiko's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Uh... yeah… I'm taking my fifteen minutes break," Deidara said, and he quickly made his way outside.

Itachi would stop texting him now. That was what he wanted, right? Except he wasn't so sure anymore.

Heart beating really fast, and not even sure why he was doing this, or of what he would say, he called Itachi.

He really hoped the answering machine would pick up. It would be much less intimidating.

"Hello?" Itachi's low, sexy voice said.

No luck.

"H-Hi… um… how are you?" He asked lamely.

"I'm good, just finished class…" He said in an amused voice. "And you?"

"I'm… I'm okay um… I'm sorry I didn't answer before…"

"Well I was starting to think that maybe you gave me a fake number and that I was sending all those texts to a complete stranger who already blocked my number anyway," he chuckled through the phone.

Deidara laughed nervously, "Sorry…"

He really didn't know what to say, actually. He realized he'd just called because he missed Itachi, and he didn't want to lose contact with him completely.

"Do you want to make it up to me?"

His blue eyes widened at the strange question, and he almost got hit by people walking down the street quickly. He stepped back to lean against the wall of the building.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I think I've made it obvious enough that I want to see you again."

"What did you have in mind?" Deidara asked, and then cursed himself because seeing that guy again was definitely not a good idea.

"We could just meet at the coffee shop again, what do you think?"

"… Okay," he bit his lip.

"Tonight?"

"…"

"Deidara?"

Damn he liked hearing his name in that guy's voice. And it was only over the phone…

"Yeah okay."

"Great! I could be there at five, after my last class…"

"Oh, um, I only finish work at 8…"

"That's okay I'll wait for you."

"You sure you don't mind?"

"Absolutely not. I wanted to go to the gym anyway. I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah," Deidara smiled. "See you later."

They hung up. Deidara had never felt so nervous in his life. Sure he'd felt afraid many times, stressed out, panicked... But he'd never felt this freakin nervous, it was so intense that he almost felt sick…

He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down to at least finish his work shift.

…

It was 6 pm, and Itachi was at University gym complex. It was rather big, and they had very good prices for students. He felt like swimming lengths in the pool, but with his recent tattoo it wasn't such a good idea. So instead he was running on the machine. He was listening to his IPod, lost in his thoughts.

His selection was mostly dance, house, and trance music. Deidara would probably mock him for that, he thought with a little smile. But he liked listening to this kind of music while doing sports. And it made him think about dance clubs, too. He thought Deidara would look good in his tiny skinny jeans and tank top, maybe a little bit drunk, with his hair all loose and messy and dancing in his arms, just slutty enough. Itachi really liked that mental image.

After thirty minutes of intense cardio, he stretched his muscles – not without getting some lustful looks from the female population currently in the gym – and then made his way to the locker room. He picked up his shampoo, body soap and a towel and went to a separate shower stall.

He took his time, washing himself thoroughly. He knew he had to wait for Deidara until 8 anyway. After his shower he put his clothes back on – black jeans, long sleeve dark blue shirt and his black leather jacket. He ruffled his hair a little in front of the mirror, and decided to just leave it like that.

Afterwards he walked outside towards the parking lot, feeling relaxed. He left all of his stuff in his car, except for his laptop case, which he swung over his shoulder. Then he walked all the way to the coffee shop. There weren't that many people left on campus since it was evening already. It was pleasant to walk in the area when there weren't crowds of people everywhere. He shoved his hands in his pockets. It wasn't even October yet, but the nights were already getting colder.

At the little restaurant he ordered a large green tea and went to sit with his laptop. Checking his watch, he saw that he still had forty minutes before Deidara joined him. And probably more since Deidara finished at 8, and would need to get here from downtown. So he got to work.

They seemed like the longest forty minutes of his life. And as he had expected, Deidara got there only at 8:30. But it was all worth it. He looked cute in black skinny jeans with chains hanging from the waist band, and a striped blue and gray t-shirt. He also wore arm warmers as usual. But that look worked for him. The cutest thing was that he looked so nervous.

When he spotted Itachi he made a little smile and came to sit in front of him at the little table.

"Hey," he said in a shy voice.

"Hey, what's up?" Itachi replied. He closed his laptop but didn't put it away.

"Not much I guess… I hope you didn't wait too long."

Itachi shrugged, "I got some work done."

Deidara nodded slightly, and then glanced back at the counter. "Do you want something?"

"No I'm good," Itachi answered.

"Okay, I'll just… be right back."

He took out a small, worn out wallet from his pocket and went to order. Itachi felt like walking up to him and hugging him from behind. Then he cleared his thoughts, shaking his head. It wasn't like him to have random romantic thoughts like that.

When Deidara came back with a large cup Itachi smiled knowingly.

"Latte?"

"It's like a drug," the blond shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah well, they make the best ones here, I have to admit. Even though I'm not a big fan of coffee."

"So…" Deidara said slowly after a moment of silence. "Um… do you work?"

"Only in the summer," Itachi answered, "I'm lucky; my parents are paying for my studies, so..."

"Oh… that's great."

Deidara brought his coffee to his lips, but probably decided it was too hot because he put it down again. He looked up at Itachi and their eyes met, but then he looked away quickly.

"Don't be nervous," Itachi told him softly.

"I'm not," he said defensively.

Itachi chuckled, and then looked down at his laptop thoughtfully. "I have an idea." He turned it towards Deidara. "You wanted to show me something, right?"

"Oh, right…"

He opened the computer and typed something, probably going on youtube, Itachi supposed. On the meantime Itachi took out his ear buds.

Deidara hesitated, and then got up and brought his chair next to Itachi. He turned the computer towards them.

"Well, here you go," he pointed at the screen, looking up at Itachi.

Itachi put on one ear bud, but gave the other one to Deidara. He shrugged, smiled, and put it in his ear. He pressed play and they watched together. The title of the video said Arch enemy – My apocalypse (official video).

At first it was just instrumentals, but then a blonde girl started singing, well, more like screaming. It was exactly like all those other death metal singers. Itachi was shocked; he really hadn't thought a woman could sing like this. Maybe he was sexist, but this was surprising to him.

"Well that's fucked up…" He chuckled.

Deidara laughed and stopped the video. He glanced at him sideways.

"Told ya."

After that Itachi put his laptop away, and Deidara returned to his place in front of him. He took a sip of his latte, and locked eyes with Itachi again.

"I just wanted to say um… sorry about not answering you. I mean, you must think I'm really weird…"

"I'm sure you have your reasons," Itachi shrugged and smiled, "But you're here now so…"

"Yeah," he smiled back. He still looked a little nervous, but not as much. "So did your tattoo heal well?"

"Yeah it's perfectly healed."

Itachi proceeded to lift up his sleeve so that he could show him. He leaned forward and put his elbow on the table. Deidara reached to brush his fingers against his skin. The tattooed skin was still a little bumpy, but that was normal.

"I'm glad!" Deidara said sincerely.

Itachi felt almost disappointed when the blonde removed his fingers. He rolled down the sleeve and leaned back in his seat.

"So do you have customers now?"

"No…" Deidara made a sad smile. "Yahiko doesn't mind, but Nagato and Sasori want to keep their customers you know? I understand that. I guess I have to be patient."

"That sucks. You're really talented. Not that I have an incredible experience with tattoos but… Just my opinion."

The blond made a little laugh, "Thanks."

"So other than working, drawing and listening to music what do you do?" Itachi asked him.

"Actually that's pretty much all I do." He chuckled, "No um… I don't know. I guess I just do a bunch of random stuff…"

"Like…?"

"I don't know… I spend a lot of time on my computer, I watch movies, I read, I write…"

"You write?"

"Yeah well just for fun," The blond shrugged, "And I never finish my stories, so…"

"What do they talk about?"

"Fantasy, mostly. Like, I'm a fan of vampires and werewolves stories – the good ones… not like… Twilight."

Itachi laughed, "Right. Well, I'd love to read your stories. Maybe all you need to finish them is a little encouragement."

Deidara scratched his hair and glanced away shyly. "Ah, no, it's not good enough to be read. So, what do you like to read?"

Not a very subtle change of subjects, but Itachi decided to drop it. For now.

"Sci-fi, horror, I also read fantasy sometimes actually."

They continued talking about their favorite books and authors, and then they moved on to movies. That was where their tastes differed a lot. Itachi liked horror, and suspense movies, whereas Deidara liked comedies and parodies.

"…It's just that, I need something to distract me, you know?" Deidara was saying. "When I'm alone, sometimes I just need a good laugh. And like, I can't believe you've never seen Harold and Kumar. It's like, the awesomest movie ever."

Itachi chuckled; Deidara was such a teenager sometimes. Actually, he realized at that moment he didn't even know his age. So he decided to ask.

"Hey how old are you?"

Deidara looked surprised by the question. But then he made a little smile. "How old do you think?"

"I'm not good at that game." Itachi said, but tried anyway. "Uh… twenty?"

"You're close. I'm 19. You?"

"Twenty-one."

"When's your birthday?"

"June 9, when's yours?"

"It's May 5…"

"Duly noted."

Deidara raised a delicate blonde eyebrow. "What are you talking about? That's really far you don't have to remember."

"Why not?"

"Well we barely know each other so what's the point?"

"That can change…"

Itachi knew he appeared like the kind of guy who knew what he was doing, but really he didn't. It was his first time actually flirting with someone outside of a bar or a club.

He frowned, though, when he saw that Deidara was glancing down and looked kind of sad.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde looked up and forced a smile, "Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah… But… I think I'm gonna go."

He got up, and Itachi imitated him, putting on his jacket and placing his laptop bag over his shoulder.

"Let me walk you home at least," he offered, remembering last time Deidara had mentioned he lived nearby.

"You really don't have to," Deidara said as they walked up to the door.

They stepped outside and started walking in the opposite direction of the University campus.

"I want to," Itachi said simply.

He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Deidara. Besides, it was late and dark outside. He knew he was being silly, and Deidara probably walked on that street late at night all the time, but he felt protective.

After a few minutes Deidara started shivering. So Itachi decided to give him his jacket.

"No keep it," Deidara protested.

Itachi insisted, "I'm fine, really."

Deidara hesitated, then took it and put it on. The slim black leather jacket looked good on him. Actually Itachi felt like he would really enjoy playing dress up for Deidara. They could go shopping, and he could choose all sorts of fancy clothes for him. Damn, there was no end to all the things he wanted to do with this guy. He chuckled inwardly at his own innuendo.

Suddenly Deidara's cell vibrated, and he took it out of his pocket to look at it. Itachi glanced sideways, curious. The caller ID read Konan. Deidara rejected the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket without a word. Itachi didn't comment.

Deidara cleared his throat and said, "Did you know, if you turn on that street you can have a pretty great view of downtown…" He looked to the left and Itachi followed his glance.

"Really?"

"Yeah… You wanna go?"

"Sure," Itachi smiled.

Deidara smiled back as they turned left on a quieter, residential street. They continued walking in silence, but it wasn't awkward. The street was going up and since they were walking quite fast, it was actually a good work out. Itachi was used to cardio exercises of course, and wasn't having any trouble. But Deidara seemed just as comfortable with their fast pace.

"You seem in pretty good shape."

Deidara shrugged, glancing at him sideways, "Well I don't have a car so I'm always walking everywhere. I'd like to go at a gym though. But it's kind of expensive."

"Yeah…" Itachi admitted.

When they walked all the way down the street there was a round and large paved area surrounded by a stoned wall. But it wasn't high, and they went to climb and sit on it. The view really was amazing. It was the city center indeed, with all the city lights. And it was also nice to look up at the clear sky; from here they could see more stars than at pretty much any other place in town.

But Deidara's profile was also a very beautiful sight. His long blonde hair danced in the wind, and his delicate face was peaceful. Itachi couldn't help but think that this moment could be very romantic if they were a couple. He could hold the small male in his arms… Ah there he was again, with the romantic thoughts. Could it be that, after all this time of being single and happy about it, he longed for a relationship?

Or, he reasoned with himself, he just really needed to get laid.

"Do you go out sometimes?" He asked Deidara.

He turned to look at him. "Sometimes," he said, "Well to be honest there's only one place where I like to go, some club with a weird name in front of my job; they play metal."

"Why am I not surprised?" Itachi chuckled. "So you've never been anywhere else?"

"Konan and the others convinced me to go to a normal dance club once. But I hated it…"

"Why, because of the music?"

"Not only that," he shook his head, "It's too crowded, it's too hot, I felt like I was suffocating in there…"

"Ah yeah I know what you mean," Itachi nodded, "Well, not all the clubs are like that. I like going out in the village..."

"You mean in gay clubs?"

"Yeah," Itachi answered, amused.

If Deidara wasn't gay, Itachi thought, then he was bisexual. Because from the look in his deep blue eyes when he stared at Itachi, well it was obvious, he was attracted to him.

"Just checking," Deidara said nervously.

"There's one club I like, they don't play metal, but there're two floors with different types of music, and they have the nicest terrace, with a hot tub on the roof."

"That does sound pretty great," Deidara chuckled and smiled.

"We could go if you want. Like, this weekend…?"

Deidara frowned and glanced away, again with this sad look on his beautiful face. He swung his legs and jumped down. Itachi imitated him, and without a word they started walking again.

"I'll take that as a no," Itachi said.

"It's just…" Deidara hesitated, still glancing down, "it's not really my thing."

"It's okay."

Deidara was walking even faster now. He looked like he wanted to get home quickly, and this saddened Itachi.

They turned left on Deidara's street, and actually his apartment complex was in the next block. So they stopped and just stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Let me just suggest one last thing," Itachi said, "and I swear, if you turn me down, I'll leave you alone. You said you wanted to go to a gym earlier, well, I'm a member of the university gym, so I'm allowed to bring a friend for one day for free. And then if you like the place you can look at their prices… I mean it's really close to your place and all…"

Deidara slowly looked up at him, and his lips twitched into a smile. "All right…"

Itachi knew he would accept. Deidara clearly didn't want Itachi to leave him alone. Just like with his last text message, when he'd said that he would stop, well Deidara had called him right after.

"Perfect, so uh… I usually go to the gym on weekends, but I suppose you're working?"

"Yeah my days off are Monday and Tuesday."

"Well I can go on Monday morning, since I only have classes in the afternoon. What do you say?"

"Deal," Deidara chuckled.

"I'll see you on Monday then."

Deidara nodded, and Itachi started walking away.

"Itachi, wait! You forgot this…"

He turned around. Deidara was taking off his jacket.

"Oh keep it. You can give it back on Monday. It's to make sure you don't ditch me," Itachi smiled teasingly.

Deidara smiled back, but strangely, Itachi felt like it was forced.

When he started walking away again, he decided he would seek help from his family for relationship advice.