Author's Note: In addition to this account, I also have an AO3 account as well that I've been starting to post old works on (nothing that isn't already posted on here! So don't worry!) and when posting this chapter I realized that it was the exact same as chapter 18 and had to dig through my various flash drives to find the correct version of chapter 17 (which is posted below). I must have wrote this chapter two Junes ago and I am just now realizing that there was a duplicate chapter that nobody thought to tell me about! *huff* Anywho, this is the correct version of chapter seventeen and I am astounded by how long it took me to catch this error!

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

At 2:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, Kisame decided to finally get up and start the second part of his day.

After scattering Suikazan's ashes in the river beneath the bridge, he'd scoured the town in search of establishments with "help wanted" and "now hiring" signs plastered in the fronts of their windows. At the end of the day, he'd collected ten applications ranging from a janitor for a local middle school to sales associate for the appliance section of a department store.

Although he was excited about the job at the department store, he lost hope when four days had passed by and the manager still hadn't gotten back to Kisame to schedule an interview. Had the circumstances been different, he might have waited longer for a response, but because he had a looming deadline before him, he had to consider other alternatives. The middle school janitorial job, on the other hand, scheduled an interview with him the day after he picked up an application, but Kisame refused. Most of the work he'd be doing would be after the students went home for the day, and wouldn't end long into the night, which Kisame didn't mind. A set schedule such as that, however, would conflict with his job at the sandwich shop which operated from 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. at night and even though Kisame never worked from open to close, he told his manager that he had open availability when he applied and didn't want to go back on that.

In the end, he found a job at a convenience store close to Itachi's apartment building that promised flexible hours and could easily work around Kisame's schedule at the sandwich shop. It paid slightly less than the janitorial job would have but Itachi didn't specify how much money he needed to make between his two jobs, only that he needed a second job within the allotted two week time frame.

Having just started the day before, Kisame had worked two shifts so far. This morning was his first time working a morning shift which had started at 6 a.m. and ended at noon, leaving him fatigued when he returned back to the shop.

His shift at the sandwich shop started at 6 p.m. later that evening, which meant that he needed to call Itachi before then and leave him a message letting him know that he'd succeeded in finding another job.

"I hope he kept his word." Kisame thought as he pulled his phone out from the jeans he discarded onto the floor when he arrived home. Itachi seemed like a man of his word, but maybe if someone more fit to help Itachi pay his rent came along, perhaps he'd wasted no time in throwing his offer to Kisame out the window without conversing with him prior to doing so.

Pushing the thought aside, he dialed Itachi's number in hopes that the man had kept his promise.

As expected, it went straight to the answering machine and prompted Kisame to leave his name and a brief message. "Hey, Itachi, it's me, Kisame Hoshigaki. I met with you last week to discuss the ad you placed in the newspaper about seeking a roommate. I just wanted to let you know that I've found a second job at a convenience store just down the road from your apartment and just started yesterday…I also wanted to let you know that I'm working at the sandwich shop from six to ten thirty tonight if you call back. Thanks. Bye." He said and ended the call.

He only hoped that Itachi was the man Kisame thought he was and upheld his end of the deal.

-8-8-8-

Forty-five minutes later, his question was answered when he received a call from Itachi. "Hello?" Kisame answered.

"Kisame?" Itachi's voice sounded from the other end of the line. "It's Itachi. I received your call earlier and I see you've found yourself another job in addition to the one you have at Hozuki's, correct?"

"That's correct, yes."

"I also understand that you'll be working for the remainder of the evening, so would it be possible for you to stop by sometime tomorrow afternoon with some sort of proof of employment?" Itachi asked.

"What time tomorrow afternoon?"

Itachi thought about this for a moment before responding. "I don't leave work until five o'clock, and it takes me half an hour to return home, so five thirty at the earliest."

His shift at the convenience store started at 6 p.m. tomorrow, which left him enough time to stop by Itachi's apartment to show him his proof of employment, but didn't leave him much time to do anything else. "If I showed you some proof of employment, when is the earliest I can move in?"

"You can move in immediately thereafter if you desire."

Kisame owned very few possessions, a few boxes of clothes, some toiletries and bedding was all he really needed to take with him. If he took one of Suikazan's cars, he'd be able to move his things all at once and still make it to his second job on time. "I can do that."

On the other end of the line, Itachi made a noise of approval. "Then can I expect to see you at five-thirty tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes."

The next chapter is set to be a Kisame chapter~

Until next time,

Itachi's Husband