Chapter 7

It was getting late, and the streets were pretty much empty around Deidara's apartment. They stopped the car, and switched places. Deidara adjusted the rear-view mirror and the seat because Itachi was a little taller than him, and now he was ready – kind of.

"So like I said, the tough part is balancing the clutch and gas when you start... Once you got the hang of it, the rest is a piece of cake," Itachi explained, "All right, come on try it."

The blonde took a deep breath, pressed on the clutch with his left foot, and started the car. So far so good. He shifted to first gear. That was also very easy. And now for the tough part.

"Just release the clutch slowly, while pushing on the gas…" Itachi explained again.

Deidara lowered the music to be able to concentrate. He did just like Itachi had told him. And to his surprise, it worked, and he started driving smoothly.

"Good job," Itachi said half-teasing, "now shift to second gear."

He pushed on the clutch and did as he was told again. He smiled and glanced at Itachi.

He smiled back. "See? It's not that hard."

But then there was a stop sign, so he stopped, and when he started again, the engine died.

"Ah, sorry…" Deidara said as he started the car again.

"That's perfectly normal," Itachi chuckled, "try again."

Thirty minutes later, Deidara had pretty much gotten the hang of it. He was having a lot of fun, actually. Driving a manual was a lot of fun once you'd figured it out. If only there weren't all those damn stop signs… But he was also getting better at the whole clutch and gas thing. So all in all he had a lot of fun. He was even able to park the car back in front of his apartment.

"Thank you," he smiled, looking at the raven, "thank you so much it was great. I have my driver's license but it's pretty much useless since I never get to drive…" He added sadly.

"I'll let you drive my car as often as you want," Itachi said.

"Really?"

"Yeah sure," he smiled.

"Sweet! Thanks Itachi."

They exited the vehicle, and Deidara gave the keys back. But Itachi didn't step back in the car.

"What are you doing…?"

"I want to see your apartment."

Deidara made a face. "It's horrible, it's small, it's messy…"

"I don't care," Itachi said stubbornly.

The blonde just stood there in front of him for a moment, trying to find some other excuses. He shivered in the cold night, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Don't you have anything warmer than that hoodie?" Itachi frowned.

"What are you my mom?" he chuckled.

"Whatever let's just go inside it's freezing out here," the raven insisted.

"…Fine," he finally gave in.

…

Itachi had to admit that it was small – one bedroom, the living room and kitchen together, and a bathroom – and that the building itself was old and not very well-kept. But this wasn't Deidara's fault. The mess, however, was his fault, and he was rather shy about it.

It was cute and funny to see him picking up random scattered things on the floor fervently, and shoving them in his drawers or wardrobe, but at some point Itachi told him to stop.

"Look, you didn't know I was coming. No big deal. It's not like I've never seen a messy room before…"

He'd often had one night stands in bedrooms much worst than this, except he didn't need to tell Deidara that detail. Other than the mess, he liked his room. It was small, but somehow warm and he wouldn't have doubted for a single moment that it was his bedroom. There were posters everywhere on the walls – metal bands of course, rock and punk bands too, as well as a tattoo art calendar. The single bed – which Deidara was quickly trying to replace properly – seemed comfortable, and the blankets and sheets were turquoise.

Itachi frowned slightly when he noticed a pair of sharp scissors lying on the bedside table, but a few seconds later these were shoved in a drawer as well.

"Relax," he told Deidara, "just calm down, all right?"

The blonde finally stopped his frantic attempts to clean up, and he sat on the bed, putting his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked, sitting beside him.

"Ah, yeah, I just… kind of have a headache but… it'll pass."

"If you want me to go…"

Deidara looked up at him with wide blue eyes. "No! Stay…"

Itachi made a little smile. Well, for someone who didn't want him to come inside in the first place now he was pretty persistent.

Deidara seemed to realize this too, and he glanced away, blushing.

"You wanna watch a movie?" He asked in a little voice.

Itachi followed his stare, and noticed the impressive collection of music records and dvds on the bookshelves.

"Sure," Itachi shrugged.

"Since you made me watch your disgusting horror movies the other day… I get to choose this time," he said, standing.

"Fair enough," he chuckled.

Deidara chose the movie Get him to the Greek. They went to sit on the living room couch, but he didn't own a television, so he brought his laptop instead. It was seventeen inches, so it wasn't so bad. He put it on the low table and installed the movie.

"It's kind of a parody of the music industry these days, mostly in the States," Deidara explained. "It's like, one of my favorite comedy movies, ever."

Itachi didn't reply, waiting for the movie to start. He took off his jacket and put it on the couch armrest, and then he leaned back in the couch comfortably. Deidara imitated him, taking off his hoodie. Itachi suddenly wished he would just lean back against him so that he could hold him in his arms. But of course he didn't.

They watched the movie quietly, except for a few funny comments from Deidara, and a few laughs too. At some point he offered him a glass of water, which he accepted.

Towards the end of the movie Itachi shifted closer to Deidara. He proceeded to undo his messy folded ponytail, letting his hair down.

"What are you doing?" Deidara asked. "You have to pay attention to the movie, or you're gonna miss the best jokes…"

"I'm paying attention," Itachi replied.

He continued watching the movie, except at the same time he was detangling Deidara's long blonde hair with his fingers. It was so soft, and it smelled so good. It was slightly wavy too, probably because it had been up all this time.

"You really are obsessed with my hair aren't you?" He chuckled, turning his head slightly to look at him.

"I guess I am."

More like obsessed with all of his body… He thought lustfully.

And at the end of the movie, he decided he wanted to give in his obsession a little bit more.

"Did you like it?" Deidara asked, smiling.

"It was retarded. But funny," he said.

The blonde laughed lightly as he put the disc back in its box.

"So… I had one more thing planned for today," Itachi said.

He stopped his movements and looked at him, a scared look on his face. Itachi got the intuition he was scared that he wanted to have sex. Well, not that Itachi didn't want to, but he knew it wasn't the right time yet. Deidara wasn't like all those slutty boys he used to meet in clubs – far from it.

"Just a massage, silly. Remember? I promised you."

"Ah, it's really okay," Deidara said, replacing his long bangs behind his ears nervously.

"I want to, come on," Itachi got up and made his way toward his bedroom.

Deidara picked up his laptop and followed him. In the other room he put the laptop on his desk and put on some music. Itachi looked at him, amused.

"What?" Deidara asked defensively. "I told you, I always listen to music."

"I didn't say anything!" He chuckled, "All right, just hum... take off your shirt, if you don't mind, and lie down on your bed."

Deidara seemed panicked for a moment. Right, he still didn't know that Itachi knew about his arms… But Itachi knew just what to say to reassure him.

"You can keep your clothes, your sleeves, whatever, I really just need you to take off your t-shirt and lie down on your stomach."

There, subtle enough. It worked. Deidara did as he was told. Itachi couldn't help but check him out, of course, for the brief moment that he saw him shirtless and standing. With the chain around his neck, his long hair, his tattoos and piercings, he just looked… so hot and kinda adorable.

Then he lied down on his bed, resting his head in his folded arms. He still seemed tensed and nervous, though. Well, Itachi thought, that was exactly why he wanted to do this. He knew it would surprise Deidara, and maybe make him even more tensed, but he sat on top of him, with his legs folded on each side of him.

"Do you mind if I sit like that?" He asked half-teasing, "it's more comfortable for me."

"Uh…"

He went quiet when Itachi started massaging him. First he placed his hair away softly, and then he started with the nape of his neck.

His mother had taken massotherapy lessons when she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do as a career, so she had given him massages sometimes when he was younger, and the pressure of school and keeping up his grades was too much. She had given him a few tips as to how to do it properly, too.

Now they finally came in handy. And God did Deidara need this; his neck and his back were so tensed, and there were so many knots. Itachi worked on each of them slowly and carefully, but firmly at the same time.

"This feels so good," Deidara whispered.

Itachi smiled. Objective achieved already. But he didn't stop there. He continued working on relaxing Deidara's back muscles. Of course this wasn't entirely selfless. He did want Deidara to feel better, but at the same time, he was enjoying this a lot. He just loved touching this smooth skin, and feeling this sexy, little ass right under his crotch. Actually he was enjoying it a little bit too much.

At some point he couldn't help himself any longer, so he carefully changed his position, sitting beside Deidara instead. He didn't want him to feel his growing erection. He continued massaging him, only it was a little less comfortable for him indeed. But it didn't matter. Deidara was becoming more and more relaxed, and he even let out little moans sometimes.

"Feels good?" Itachi asked him softly.

"Yeah…" he breathed. "You're so good at this… Konan tried to give me massages sometimes but it was just… kinda painful…"

"I happen to know what I'm doing." He said simply, "Hey the music playing right now, it's Metallica, right, the band on your t-shirt?"

"Hmm yeah, Nothing else matters. At least you know the classics."

"Yeah it's a good song," Itachi said.

They just stayed quiet for a little while after that, enjoying the music. Itachi continued massaging him, but more smoothly. His wrists and hands were a little tired, and besides Deidara was almost completely relaxed now. So eventually he was simply pressing his fingers down his spine, doing a few circular movements. He liked the curve of his lower back. And he really liked the tattoo on his left shoulder blade, too. He caressed the skin there softly, tracing the contours of the black bird.

All he wanted to do was to kiss Deidara's skin, lean closer, take off his own shirt and press their bodies together… He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. If he continued fantasizing like this, damn, he might come in his pants… He hadn't had sex for more than three months – and that was a lot for him.

When he had calmed himself enough, he grabbed Deidara's shoulder softly and turned him around. Sleepy blue eyes opened and looked at him.

"Were you sleeping?" Itachi chuckled.

He frowned slightly. "I don't know…"

Itachi smiled. He wanted to just kiss those beautiful pink lips…

Deidara took his wrist softly to look at the time on his watch. Itachi already knew it was really late, but he didn't care.

"Ah shit…" he sighed, "I have to get up in five hours…"

"Coffee is your friend."

"Yeah…" Deidara frowned, "But what about you? Don't you have class tomorrow morning? Or are you gonna decide it's cancelled, too?"

"Coffee is also gonna be my friend," Itachi answered.

"Oh."

On a silent agreement they both stood up. Itachi went to get his jacket, and Deidara followed him, hugging himself and shivering slightly.

"Can't you turn on the heat?" Itachi asked.

"Ah yeah but… it saves money if I keep it low so…" Deidara shrugged. "I'm gonna go to bed in a minute anyway."

"Come here," Itachi said softly as he wrapped his arms around the blonde.

Deidara held him back; this time his body was more relaxed. When they pulled away, he smiled shyly.

"Hum, thanks for the massage, honestly, you should consider doing that as a career. You'd be rich. Oh wait, you're already rich." He laughed, "Sorry I'm tired."

"It's okay. Well, good night then." He said, stepping towards the door.

"Wait, um…" Deidara blushed slightly, "D'you wanna… go out on Saturday?"

Itachi's dark eyes widened. He was surprised. "You, actually inviting me to do something?"

"I guess," he chuckled, "but yeah with the staff from my job we're gonna meet at our usual bar after work, at like, ten, probably. But I wanted to invite you too…"

"Sure, I'd love to go," he smiled.

"Cool," he smiled back, "I'll see you on Saturday!"

"Yeah. Bye, take care."

"You too."

Itachi turned on the radio in his car as he drove back home that night. Probably Deidara rubbing off on him. The thought made him smile.

…

The following few days went by very slowly for Itachi. He kept thinking about Deidara. He also kept dreaming about him… Mostly erotic dreams, actually. He didn't want to just get in his pants though. He wanted to understand him, to help him, to get to know him even better… And he knew he was slowly getting there. And that made him happy. Hell, he'd even be ready to be in a real relationship with this guy.

Which is why on Saturday, he was really looking forward to the evening. He focused on his homework as much as he could, but it wasn't that easy. He didn't eat too much at dinner either, even though Mikoto had made lasagna and it was delicious. But he had never been to that bar before, and he didn't know if they would eat there, or drink a lot, so just in case he chose not to fill his stomach too much.

Of course, everyone noticed this.

"Are you sick, Itachi?" Mikoto asked, worried. "You barely touched your food."

"Yeah you look kinda pale," Minato added from the other side of the rectangular table.

"Dad," Naruto chimed in, "in case you haven't noticed yet, these people are always pale. It's normal."

"You're all retards," Sasuke said, "He's just going out tonight."

"Oh?" Mikoto glanced at her youngest son. "It's been a while since he went out, no?"

"Well, you guys look like you're just fine continuing this conversation without me." He chuckled, standing. "I'm sorry mom I'm just not really hungry. I'll put it in the fridge and eat it tomorrow for lunch or something…" He said as he brought his plate to the kitchen.

He knew this would make her happy at least. When he was done with that, he left the others to their conversations – thankfully they had moved on to other subjects than his night life – and went to his bedroom.

Again, he tried to concentrate on his homework – keyword being tried. Well, it worked for about fifteen minutes. After that he decided to take a shower even though he had already taken one in the morning.

He took his time to get ready since it was only 8 pm. He put on his favorite pair of jeans to go out – they were dark grey, almost black, low waist, and rather tight and sexy. It made him look even taller. With that he wore a simple black tank top, and his new navy button down shirt, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows.

He sat in his computer chair and glanced around his room, lazily looking for something to do to pass the time…

Then his little brother came knocking at his door, "Are you masturbating?"

He laughed, "No, you can come in."

Sasuke pushed the door open and went to sit on his bed.

"Naruto's not with you? Oh my God is he dead?" Itachi pretended to be alarmed.

They were always together, so why not tease him a little?

"No, but he started playing Leagues of legend with Kiba again…" Sasuke sighed.

"Oh…" Itachi said in understanding.

Naruto could get pretty addicted to those kinds of games. Thankfully it never lasted too long.

"So, where are you going tonight? You put on more body spray than usual," Sasuke said.

Itachi frowned.

"I'm just messing with you. But seriously where are you going?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Just curious."

"I'm actually going to a straight club."

Sasuke raised a brow. "Why the hell would you wanna go there? I thought you told me last time you fucked a girl you were seventeen, and you didn't miss it at all."

"I'm not going there to find someone to fuck. I like Deidara now, remember?"

"Ah, I see," Sasuke smiled, "So he's gonna be there tonight?"

"Yup."

"And you're not gonna fuck him?" Sasuke sounded doubtful.

The elder sibling hesitated, "I don't think so. I don't think he's ready."

"Are you gonna be able to wait?"

Now he was annoyed. "Sasuke, honestly, why are you asking me all these questions?"

"I don't know I guess I'm bored…"

"Well go be bored somewhere else."

Sasuke chuckled and got up, walking up to the door.

"I'm glad you found someone you like."

"Thanks," Itachi made a little smile. Then, he said, "Hey can I borrow your flat iron?"

"Sure," he chuckled.

…

At 9 pm Itachi was waiting outside the weird bar alone – weird as in there was a giant spider above the doors as a decoration. It was cold outside, but at least he had his warm black trench coat. He kept running his fingers through his now extremely sleek hair. It felt funny. He just hoped Deidara would like it. Oh god that sounded so gay… the truth was, Itachi was kinda nervous. And he wasn't used to the feeling.

Well, they shouldn't be long to arrive, he thought as he checked his cell for the hundredth time. Deidara had texted him two minutes ago, saying they were closing up the store. It was right across the street.

Itachi had taken the public transportations, since he would probably drink, and anyway finding a parking place downtown on weekend nights was a pain in the ass.

Finally he saw them. Nagato, Yahiko and Konan were walking together, crossing the street, and Sasori and Deidara were a little further behind. Itachi frowned as he saw that Sasori was walking a little too close to Deidara for his liking. As for the blonde, he was wearing converse shoes and skinny jeans with his small black hoodie. Itachi sighed quietly; couldn't he wear something warmer? It was freezing outside…

Nagato was the first to notice him – unfortunately.

"Itachi! Hi! What's up? You look great!"

"Um… thanks," he replied. Awkward…

"Let's go inside," Yahiko said.

"Come on Itachi…" Nagato said.

Deidara had joined them, and he looked annoyed by Nagato's idiotic flirting. A fact which amused and pleased Itachi.

"Hey," he smiled at the blonde.

"Hey," Deidara smiled back, "you didn't wait too long?"

"No it's okay. Hey I like your hair like that," he complimented as they started walking together. Nagato and Sasori sticking close unfortunately.

"Thanks," Deidara blushed slightly.

His long, thick blonde locks were styled in a half-ponytail and it looked adorable. They paid at the check room, where they left their coats. It didn't go unnoticed by Itachi that Deidara checked him out. But that was mainly because Itachi was doing some checking out of his own. Deidara really looked hot. He wore a blue v-neck long sleeve shirt, with the necklace Itachi had bought him. It was a little different from his usual style, but Itachi liked it. He was biased though. He'd probably find Deidara hot in any clothes…

Itachi managed to stop looking at Deidara for a moment, and he took in the decor of the club. From the outside it hadn't looked like much, but the inside was nice. On the first floor there was a long, sleek bar counter, with a large dance floor and a stage, as well as a few tables in the back. The dance floor and stage were empty – probably because, as Deidara had told him, they were playing rock alternative and metal music on Saturday nights. Also it was still early.

They all went upstairs. On the second floor there were a lot more tables, and another bar counter of course. Yahiko and Konan led the way to a large round table in the back, and the others followed. Nagato sat in between Yahiko and Itachi, and Sasori sat between Konan and Deidara.

"So… should we get some beer?" Yahiko suggested.

"Sure, yeah," Sasori nodded.

"Deidara you're not drinking, we know," Nagato said before the blonde could pronounce a word, "What about you Itachi?"

"I'm good for now," he replied.

"I'll pay for the first one," Yahiko announced, tapping the table with his hand before getting up and walking to the bar. There weren't many people, maybe just ten standing there.

It was slightly awkward. Konan looked kind of pissed and frustrated every time she glanced at Deidara, who sat right in front of her. Nagato kept checking out Itachi and he wasn't strong on subtlety. And Sasori was doing the same with Deidara. It was better when Yahiko came back with the beer pitcher. Nagato went to help him bring the four glasses. They started talking about random things, but mostly their conversation was centered on work. Which reminded Itachi of something…

"Hey Deidara," he said, "remember that girl from when we went shopping? Did you do her tattoo?"

"Yeah," he smiled.

"He was awesome," Yahiko commented, "He used his own design, the girl loved it, and it looked great."

Itachi just smiled as he glanced sideways at the small blonde.

As the others started talking amongst themselves Itachi lowered his voice and asked Deidara if he wanted something to drink.

"No," he said nervously, "I'd rather not."

"Oh Deidara never drinks," Nagato said, "he's kinda boring in parties actually."

Sasori glared at the other red-head, "At least he doesn't throw up everywhere like you."

"Hey that happened once!" Nagato replied defensively.

So then the following conversations were mostly about their previous parties. Deidara didn't seem to be paying much attention though. Instead he started telling Itachi all about the metal music playing, as he did all the time. Itachi didn't mind, he liked listening Deidara talking about the songs, the music, the instruments that he liked. He was so passionate about it, it was endearing really.

At some point, when Deidara paused, Itachi asked again, "Are you sure you don't want just one drink?"

"All right fine," he gave in, "one drink."

They went to the bar counter together, and Itachi ordered two beers. He paid and Deidara didn't protest. Then Itachi decided to choose a different table, apart from the others.

"Do you mind if we don't sit with them?"

"Absolutely not," Deidara chuckled.

They sat side by side, putting down their beers on the low table. From where they sat, they had a direct view of the stage downstairs – which was still empty.

"They're staring at us," Itachi said as he glanced at Deidara's friends.

The blonde shrugged, "Let's just ignore them."

"My thoughts exactly."

Deidara tasted his beer, and smiled, "It's not bad. Thanks by the way."

"You're welcome."

"You did something different with your hair, didn't you?" Deidara asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. "It's really nice." He reached out with his hand to touch his hair timidly. "It's so soft!" He exclaimed, chuckling, before pulling his hand away.

Itachi simply smiled at him. But on the inside he felt a mix of nervousness and excitement. There was this intense feeling… he wanted to be closer to Deidara, so badly…

Glancing down, Itachi noticed a group of people had started dancing.

"Weird," he said, making Deidara laugh.

"Wait 'til you see my friends dancing."

"How can you even dance to that music?" Itachi crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

"Well," Deidara chuckled, "when they're really drunk they'll dance to anything. They'll have one or two more pitchers, and then they'll go, you'll see."

Itachi locked eyes with him, intrigued. "What about you? The other times you came here, did you dance?"

Deidara laughed. "No fucking way! I just watch them. And make fun of them."

After that they talked about various things, but mostly Deidara talked about work and Itachi about school.

Deidara's prediction came true. Later in the evening, Yahiko, Konan, Sasori and Nagato walked up to their table, not so sober anymore, and asked if they wanted to dance. When Itachi and Deidara declined, the four of them walked made their way downstairs to join the increasingly crowded dance floor. It turned out it really was funny to watch them dance. For the next thirty minutes Deidara and Itachi just sat there commenting about the dancers actually. At some point Sasori and Nagato even climbed up stage with some other people, and that was a funny sight. Their dancing sort of didn't make sense.

"Do you want another beer?" Itachi asked.

"No, I'm good." Deidara smiled.

Itachi didn't push it, but he went to the bar counter to get another one for himself. When he returned to his seat, he looked at the blonde thoughtfully.

"What?"

"What's the real reason," Itachi said slowly after taking a sip of his beer, "why you don't want to drink?"

Deidara glanced away, looking nervous and reluctant to talk. Itachi had expected his reaction though, so he simply continued.

"I'm trying to show you that you can have one or two drinks, once in a while, no big deal. It's not gonna turn you into an alcoholic."

Deidara nodded slowly as he looked at him. "Yeah I guess you're right. I just promised myself…" he hesitated, "I would never be like him…"

"What was he like when he was drunk?" Itachi asked softly. He waited and got no answer, so he asked, "Did he beat you up?"

Blue eyes widened and delicate blonde eyebrows frowned slightly. Then he glanced down in defeat and sighed shakily.

"Yeah sometimes…"

"And you never told anyone about this?"

"…No."

"Well, you know you can talk to me, right?"

They stayed silent for a few moments and tears appeared in Deidara's eyes. He wiped them in frustration with trembling hands. When he looked at his fingers there were some traces of black because of his eyeliner. Itachi reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Deidara stood up so quickly that he almost knocked the chair over.

"I… I'm just gonna go to the bathroom... I'll be right back."

Itachi nodded sadly and watched as he walked down the stairs. Something caught his eye and bothered him though; Sasori had spotted Deidara and was now following him. The raven wasn't sure he liked this.

So Itachi decided to go as well, just in case Sasori tried something. He realized now to what extent he was possessive and protective of Deidara. But he couldn't help it.

So he went to the restrooms. Actually, there was a line up for the girls' bathroom, whereas the men's bathroom was pretty much empty.

When he stepped in he saw that Sasori was just standing there, and Deidara was locked up in a stall. He caught the end of his sentence.

"…just go away Sasori I'm fine!"

But the red-head didn't reply. He was glaring at Itachi of course.

"What happened?" He asked accusingly.

But Deidara answered; since he didn't know Itachi was here he had thought the question was addressed to him.

"Nothing! I just need a minute all right?"

"Are you all right?" Itachi asked, ignoring Sasori and making his presence known.

When Deidara heard his voice he got out of his stall. He was still wiping his eyes.

"Stupid eyeliner," he muttered as he went to the sink to wash his hands.

"You okay, what's going on?" Sasori asked, stepping closer to him.

Deidara was extremely annoyed, "Yeah I'm fine!" He wet some tissues and cleaned the eyeliner off his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, glancing at Itachi, "I'm just tired."

The three of them soon walked out of the bathroom without a word. Sasori put his hand on Deidara's back, but the latter stepped away – to Itachi's relief.

"We should go take the bus now," Sasori suggested, "we work tomorrow after all…"

"Yeah," Deidara nodded.

They made their way outside. Sasori mentioned that the three others wanted to stay until 3 in the morning.

"Yahiko's gonna be shit-faced tomorrow," Deidara chuckled.

"Yup!" Sasori laughed.

Itachi suddenly felt out of place. He stopped walking half-way to the bus stop. The night service bus didn't even go to where he lived, so he had to take a cab anyway. At first he was afraid Deidara wouldn't even look back. But only a few seconds later the blonde stopped and turned around. He told Sasori to wait, and quickly walked over to Itachi.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I can't really talk to you in front of him." He smiled sadly, "But I'll text you okay?"

"Okay," Itachi said.

Their bus arrived soon after so the two colleagues hopped in. Meanwhile Itachi got into a cab. There were lots of them driving around downtown since it was Saturday night. He informed the driver of his address, and then checked his cell; as promised, Deidara had already texted him.

"Sorry for being such a crybaby. But thanks… actually it felt good to tell someone about my father."

Itachi replied, "No problem. Like I said, feel free to talk to me about anything."

And after that, they continued exchanging messages on their respective ways back home.

"Sasori's glaring at me right now."

"He's jealous cause you're texting me."

"Probably lol."

"Next time we go out, it will be just the two of us."

"I'd like that."

Itachi smiled, and replied, "I can't wait."