The smell of fresh coffee managed to wake up Itachi before his alarm could go off. He slowly blinked his eyes open and stretched on the couch, grunting as he managed to pop his back in several places. In retrospect, falling asleep on an old couch might not have been the best choice he could have made last night.

A glance across the room revealed that Deidara was still asleep, and didn't appear likely to wake up anytime soon. The blond usually worked in the afternoons, so it wasn't too surprising to Itachi that he was still sleeping at (here he looked at the clock on his phone) 7:38 in the morning. Itachi, on the other hand, needed to try and keep at least a somewhat regular sleep schedule for himself even during the weekend, and so he forced himself to get up. It was with a heavy heart that he threw off the blanket wrapped around him and groggily got to his feet.

Sasori must have heard the sound of his friend shuffling towards the kitchen, because by the time Itachi got there his redheaded friend had extracted a chipped coffee mug from a cabinet and was pouring a second cup of coffee. Itachi took a seat in a battered wooden chair across from where Sasori's own coffee mug had been set, and thanked his friend in a whisper when Sasori set down the mug in front of him and pushed the milk across the table. "Here, before you fall asleep again," Sasori commented as he sat back down and took a sip of his own coffee.

"Hn," Itachi grunted in thanks, adding a healthy splash of milk before blowing on the steaming-hot drink and taking a tentative sip. He frowned and quickly set it down; still too hot.

Sasori rolled his eyes at his friend but made no comment. "Any reason you're up this early?"

"I need to go home and change clothes," Itachi stated, stirring his coffee with a spoon that was lying near Sasori's mug. If his friend had a problem with the theft, he didn't say. "Shisui and I are doing a study session tonight. Calculus exam."

Sasori nodded in understanding. "So glad I don't have to bother with that anymore. Maybe it's because this is only my second semester, but college seems so much easier than high school sometimes."

Itachi nodded, unable to think of anything to say to that. He was just a junior, so he had another year and a half to find out whether or not Sasori's statement was true. A big part of him doubted that his trip through higher education would be so simple, even if he was planning to get a finance degree like Sasori. While Sasori's grandmother was fine with the redhead taking his time and focusing on just one degree, Itachi's parents would certainly push the teen to get a Master's, possibly a doctorate, and to try and test out of as many undergraduate level courses as he possibly could so that he could double (or even triple) degree during his undergraduate tenure. He'd probably be carrying a full course load every semester; not to mention all the research projects and internships he'd definitely be pushed to sign up for, and a job to pay his bills…

Itachi took another sip of coffee to try and distract himself. He had more than enough going on in his life right now without future potentials stressing him out too. Besides, now that he was more awake, he probably needed to act a bit social towards Sasori. "What about you and Deidara? Anything happening today?"

"Grandma's coming over this afternoon," Sasori stated after another sip. "She'll probably want to stay for dinner, so Deidara and I will need to go to the grocery. Not to mention cleaning up the living room and hallways, since I'm sure she'd immediately notice if we didn't scrub them down."

Itachi thought for a moment. "Do you think that's why Deidara did so much cooking yesterday?"

You could see the realization dawn on Sasori's face a moment after Itachi had spoken. "Damn it…" he muttered, head bowing as he rubbed his temples in agitation.

"It could be worse," Itachi commented between sips of coffee. "Some people run off or drink when they get nervous. Deidara just bakes."

"He doesn't need to be nervous!" Sasori insisted. "Grandma likes him; if she didn't, she would never have let him move in with me."

"You're probably right. But Deidara is…"

"Deidara," Sasori finished with a sigh. "And there's nothing I can do about that."

Itachi nodded and finished his coffee with a final gulp. He wished he'd taken a little longer, if only to drag out the time he could stay here with Sasori and Deidara. On any other Saturday, he'd probably be able to stay with them all morning, and he and Sasori would either talk or watch TV with the volume turned down low while Deidara slept, and then once the blond woke up they'd eat brunch and find some way to make a perfectly mundane weekend amazing-

"Stop. Just stop." Itachi had to break out of his daydreaming, before he talked himself out of today's responsibilities. So instead of hanging around until Deidara woke up, Itachi took his mug to the sink and quickly rinsed it out. He hugged Sasori goodbye, grabbed his things, and was out the door before you could say, "See you later, Itachi."

-n-

"It's gotta be Clements!"

"You're kidding me, right? He's lost the last two fights in a row, plus he's 2 pounds lighter than Richards!"

"Two pounds doesn't make that much difference-"

"Um, yeah, in the world of professional fighting it kind of does!"

Itachi rolled his eyes as the two MMA enthusiasts in his study group bickered between themselves. They'd gotten almost half an hour's worth of work done before they'd stumbled across a practice problem that involved measuring the speed at which a fist would hit a target. Itachi had been ready to completely skip it, assuming that a problem like this was probably a physics exercise that had just gotten mixed in with one of their calculus study guides, but two of the boys in the group (Ikki and Max? Mark? Something like that) had used it as an excuse to go off on a tangent about some major fight that was going to air later that night. Shisui, bless his heart, was at least trying to steer them back towards the work they were supposed to be doing, but apparently the argument of Clements-vs-Richards would not die easily.

Absentmindedly, Itachi pulled his phone out to check and see if Sasori and Deidara were up to anything, before remembering that Chiyo was visiting. Sasori's grandmother was sweet enough, but very strict about her 'no cellphones during family togetherness' policy. So even if he tried to text them, it was extremely unlikely that he'd actually hear anything from either of his friends.

His eyes settled on the last text he'd gotten from Kisame, thanking him for the help with algebra yesterday. He briefly considered texting Kisame, but ultimately decided against it. The jock had limited their interactions strictly to schoolwork, and Itachi didn't want to come off as desperate (or worse, social). Besides, if Kisame wanted to talk with him like a friend, not a tutor, he surely would've texted something by now, right? The jock was the one who had asked for his number in the first place, after all, so-

"Guys, seriously!" Shisui snapped, voice rising in volume to a level that Itachi knew was reserved for when his cousin had exhausted his last ounce of patience. "We've got tonight and tomorrow to study for this test, and if we flunk it we're screwed! C'mon, let's just get through the damn study guide."

Ikki and something-that-starts-with-an-"M" stared at Shisui for a few moments, while Itachi tried very hard to look like he was distracted by a program on his graphing calculator. Finally Ikki muttered a "Sorry, Shisui," that the other student echoed a moment later. The younger Uchiha waved them off and turned to his cousin, giving Itachi an apologetic look. "So, you were showing us how to calculate the acceleration, right?"

Several hours later, after all the problems on the study guide had been solved and (more or less) efficiently explained, Shisui and Itachi took their leave from Ikki's house and walked towards Itachi's car. The pair of them were silent as they walked down the driveway, entered the vehicle, and got buckled in. It was only once they'd pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road that Shisui showed any reaction to what had transpired earlier. He sighed and doubled over, head held in his hands as a slew of curses left his mouth. Itachi said nothing, choosing instead to let his cousin vent his frustrations thoroughly before anything else. "Fuck, I really shouldn't have done that," Shisui grumbled several minutes later, sitting back up and letting his head fall back against the headrest of his seat with an audible 'thump.' "Ikki and Martin were just goofing around like always. I didn't need to go off on them."

"You tried to be nice," Itachi offered, not entirely sure what to say. "They just didn't listen to you. You had to be firm."

"Did I really?" Shisui questioned. "I'm their friend, not their parent. If they didn't want to focus, you and I could've just ducked out and finished studying at home. They'd whine, but at least things wouldn't be fucking awkward as shit between us now."

"You wouldn't have done that," Itachi countered. "You're too nice."

Shisui rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you're enough of a hardass that fooling around this time would guarantee no help during midterms, and that's what I've got to worry about." He sighed, propping one arm against the window as he slumped down in his seat. "You mind stopping to get food?"

"Where?"

"I dunno, just somewhere with fries and drinks that are fizzy and full of caffeine."

"That's literally every fast food restaurant ever."

"Fine, that place," Shisui grumbled, pointing to a notoriously greasy burger joint just ahead of them when they came to a stop at a red light. "I want the biggest thing of fries they've got on the menu." Itachi nodded, deciding that fast food sounded like a pretty good idea right now; working on calculus for hours tended to build up quite an appetite.

Ten minutes later the pair of them were chowing down in Itachi's car, Shisui shoveling fries into his mouth as quickly as he could, whereas Itachi was quietly nibbling a small burger that he'd gotten to tide himself over until he got home. Both teens had sodas resting in the center console, and Shisui had also gotten an iced tea for later that evening. "Hey, Itachi?" he asked after downing another handful of fries.

"Hn?"

"You ever worry about what all this studying is doing to us?"

Itachi quirked a brow at his cousin. "What do you mean?"

Shisui took a sip of his soda, clearly thinking about how he wanted to word his statement to Itachi. "I dunno, it's just, I remember when you and I studied for school together and it was tough, but at least we kind of had fun with it. It was like hey, let's read this book and then take a test and go play outside for recess afterwards, right? But now we have to read ten books for one report and the tests are all about making sure we can do even more advanced shit in college, and everyone keeps comparing their rankings to one another or trying to figure out who's got the better job lined up over the summer, and…why? Like, why are we bothering with any of this?"

"We're trying to get into a good college, and then a good job afterwards," Itachi stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, but would it really be the end of the world if you or I didn't get into the absolutely best college in the world?" Shisui asked as he took another bite of French fry. "Or if we just started to work at an average company? I mean, for fuck's sake Itachi, we're 17! I can't even vote, so why do I have to have a comprehensive 10-year plan for my life?!"

Itachi shot his cousin a concerned look. "Where's all this coming from?"

Shisui's eyes were now firmly glued to the window, and he was focused on the passing buildings as they drove by. "Nowhere, really. Just…this can't be right. It doesn't feel right, you know?" he chuckled. "Well, maybe it feels all right to brainiacs like you, but for average students like me, I keep hoping that there's something else, that the world actually isn't going to fall down around my ears if I finish up high school with a 3.3 instead of a 4.0 GPA. Because frankly, if life depends on me being on top of the intellectual pyramid and somehow finagling my way into a top-tier college to land a top-tier job, without relying on our family's connections, I'm pretty screwed."

Silence followed Shisui's statement. Itachi tried to process everything that his cousin had said, desperately hoping to come up with something to say. The weasel had never been good with coming up with comforting words on the spot; that was one of those skills he'd probably need to read a self-help book on, come to think of it. "Shisui-"

"Don't," the teen replied, eyes still looking out the window. "I'm not looking for advice or answers, promise. I just needed someone to vent to, and you're probably the only one that really understands how crazy things are for people like us."

"Is that why you snapped earlier?"

Shisui shrugged, grabbing his soda to take another drink. "Maybe. Ikki and Martin know that they need to do well in school to survive, but I don't think it's quite sunk in with them yet that by this time next year, we'll have applied to whatever colleges we're looking at and need to think about getting the last little bit of college credit we can out of whatever advanced courses we're taking. I keep telling them, but it never sticks." Shisui sighed as he set his drink back down. "I owe them both a major apology. Probably some free food too."

"They'll forgive you," Itachi said, mostly because he knew that's what people were supposed to say in these kinds of situations. "They're your friends."

Shisui rolled his eyes. "You sound like my mother. And on that note…"

Itachi had just pulled up into Shisui's driveway and was now shifting the car into park so his cousin could hop out. Shisui swung his backpack onto one shoulder and grabbed his two drinks, the French fry container lying forgotten on the floorboard of the car for now. "Thanks Itachi. I should be good for the test, but…"

"Call me if you need help," Itachi offered, making Shisui smile in relief. The younger Uchiha had always had hang-ups about asking for help (one of the side effects of being part of the Uchiha family) so it was easier for them both if Itachi was the one to offer it in the end. Shisui slammed the door and waved to his cousin, calling out a final farewell before he disappeared inside the house.

Once Shisui was safely inside, Itachi backed down the driveway and glanced at the car's clock. 8:45. Considering that he'd been at Sasori and Deidara's place all last night and hadn't seen anyone when he swung by for clothes earlier that day, he probably needed to head home and prove to his family that he was still alive and breathing. That didn't prevent him from taking a slight detour that added an extra twenty minutes onto his driving time, however. Besides, Itachi had earned the right to have a little break.

By the time he got home, the lights were already out. His parents were likely in bed by now, and Sasuke was almost definitely staying over at a friend's place. Despite not being much more social than his older brother, Sasuke had somehow managed to become quite popular among the students at his school, and was rarely seen staying home for the weekend. Their parents were reasonably happy; it had been quite apparent early on that Sasuke lacked Itachi's extraordinary talents for all things scholastic, so he'd be relying on officer positions in a variety of clubs and student societies to help beef up his resume in the future. Itachi tried not to dwell on those thoughts too much; Sasuke was still a few years removed from the pressure their family would inevitably put on his shoulders to get those positions, so there was no point in Itachi sulking over it now.

Instead, the teen walked into the kitchen and tossed a bag of popcorn into the microwave. Once it was done, he went upstairs to his room, grabbed his laptop, and plopped down on the bed. His headphones were in a drawer in his nightstand; he took them out as soon as he was settled and plugged them in to the computer. Realistically, his parents were fairly heavy sleepers, but he didn't want to risk them waking up in the middle of the night and giving him a lecture about why he should already be asleep.

He browsed through a couple of different videos online before finally settling on a documentary about the discovery of DNA and RNA. Realistically this material wasn't going to appear on any test in the near future (he wasn't even going to be enrolled in college biology until next fall) and the documentary was probably presenting the information on a rather basic and elementary level compared to what Itachi needed to know, but it was still a nice refresher course. Besides, Itachi had always been a fan of documentaries, and it was nice to watch one for fun instead of for a class.

He finished the documentary in a little under an hour and then immediately switched over to another one on viruses. He got about halfway through that one, when his phone suddenly lit up (and may have startled him badly enough to send a few kernels of popcorn flying across his bed). Frankly, he hadn't been expecting anyone to text him this late; Shisui was probably in the middle of one of his online games, and both Deidara and Sasori usually liked to have a quiet night in after Sasori's grandma Chiyo visited. Who was texting, then? He picked up the phone and raised a brow when the caller I.D. read "Kisame." Curious, he opened the text. "Ooooh my goooood"

Now even more confused, Itachi texted back a simple, "?"

There was a pause, before another text popped up. "Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to text you!"

At that point, Itachi should have sent back a simple, "Ok," and let the matter drop. Unfortunately for Itachi, his curiosity got the better of him, and instead he asked, "Is everything all right?"

The pause was longer this time, and Itachi began to feel stupid for asking. He was just Kisame's tutor; they'd met exactly once and barely had what could be considered a text conversation after that, so the jock was under no obligation to talk with him about anything except school work (which Itachi was pretty sure had not been the impetus for this most recent text). Just as the Uchiha was beginning a fresh round of self-berating, Kisame finally texted back. "Let's just say that if the rest of the season goes as bad as the game did tonight, it won't matter if you tutor me well enough to stay on the team."

Just to make sure that he didn't come off as desperate or lonely, Itachi waited exactly 90 seconds before texting back this time. "Surely it can't be that bad."

Kisame took a while to text back, but when Itachi saw the length of the message he could understand why. "Imagine looking at a train wreck. Now imagine the train tracks under that wreck are on fire. Now imagine that the wrecked train is full of the damned of hell, complete with weeping and gnashing teeth. That's what us playing was like."

Itachi's brow was raised so high it was practically in his hairline. "Poetic. Are you sure you need my help with writing?"

"Lol, creative writing's easy. I just have trouble trying to take apart stories and make sensible essays out of it. Plus texting lets me be a little more gorey with imagery. Also I might be kind of drunk."

Itachi frowned at that, but tried to reign in his judgement as much as possible when he replied. "Should you be admitting that in any kind of writing?"

A pause. For a moment, Itachi thought Kisame might be angry at him. "It's fine," is what the jock finally texted back. "As long as you don't turn me in, no one will ever know. And you wouldn't rat me out, right?"

Here, Itachi smirked and didn't even bother waiting before he replied. "Of course not. I'd be out of a job then."

"lol."

Itachi shook his head at the short reply and set his phone down, presuming that the conversation was over. He went back to his documentary, nibbling on the last few handfuls of popcorn still in his bag. A few minutes later, however, he received another text from Kisame. "You still awake?" it read.

"Yes," he replied.

"Awesome. Look, seriously, we're awful. Like, to the point where I'm thinking it would probably be a good idea for me to do a little extra tutoring with you so I can end up in at least a couple advanced classes next year, seriously, no one on this team's getting a scholarship the way we're going. Playoff material we are not. Can you do tomorrow night? I don't remember how paying you works, if you bill the company or whatever, but I can give you food or some shit if that'd work."

That…was a lot of word vomit. Itachi half-expected an apology to come through right after, but after a few minutes he realized that Kisame was quite serious. The jock was drunkenly yet sincerely asking the Uchiha for additional help with his school work.

Frankly, Itachi should have turned him down, politely yet firmly. If not that, Itachi should have just shut his phone off and waited until morning to see if Kisame would retract his request after he sobered up. At worst, Itachi could have contacted the tutoring company and asked to have Kisame transferred to someone else. Any of these options would have saved the Uchiha a lot of confusion, frustration, and pain in the coming months. But Itachi didn't do any of these things. Instead, he simply asked what time, was told 3 p.m. and given Kisame's street address (lucky, he'd forgotten it), and replied, "All right, I'll see you then."