HELLO, EVERYONE! Wow, I must say, the reviews from last chapter made me extremely gleeful. I kept smiling like the Chesire Cat at each one I read! I just want to thank everyone, so far, for being so supportive of this story. I know I may say it a lot, but I feel I can never say it enough. Without you, this story wouldn't be where it's at. I wrote this fanfic for myself, but I also wrote it knowing that you, the readers, would get to, one day, enjoy it, too. And I just wanted to let you all know that :3 So, now I present to you Chapter 16! Enjoy and, like always, R & R, onegai! ^-^

It was the following morning, and as he awoke from his slumber, Deidara wished he had been drunk the night previous.

Because he remembered everything.

Remembered why he was sleeping on the ground and not in his bed.

Why he was naked.

And why he was covered in his own cum.

The milky substance had dried onto his stomach in off-white splatters, and he scrunched his nose in disgust at the sight.

He couldn't believe he had let the damn redhead jack him off.

And he had actually enjoyed it!

On top of that, he had willingly agreed to make out with him, adding to the confusion that was now his sexuality.

Ever since he could remember, he had always been attracted to females.

Their soft skin under his hands, silky hair against his face, their lips plump like tiny pillows against his, voices always angelic and melodious.

Sure, he hadn't been in an actual relationship since well before his incident before attending Grad School, but he had still had his sexuality in check.

That is…until he had met Sasori.

There had been something about him that had been…off-putting, if that was the right word to use. It wasn't that he had found him attractive, or even remotely close to interesting. It was that he had found him…different.

The blood red hair, multiple piercings, cool amber eyes, pale skin; the combination of his roommate's physical characteristics were unlike anything he had ever seen on another human being.

It had been…mesmerizing.

And now, here he was, lying in a dried pool of his own seed, staring up at the black ceiling, trying to grasp the understanding as to why in the hell he had let Sasori touch and kiss him in ways he had only let women do to him.

(Because you find him attractive)

That's preposterous; he was a straight man.

(No straight man would allow a gay man to make out with him and jack him off willingly as well)

Deidara will admit this.

He had found the entire experience pleasurable. Just kissing the redhead, alone, had somehow made his heart start to race a mile a minute.

To be honest, kissing a man was not all that different from kissing a woman.

Their lips were slightly tougher, and the most they ever had on them was chapstick, but other than that, it really wasn't all that different. Lipstick on females was okay, but he tended to draw a line on lip gloss wearers, mostly because that shit was too damn sticky to actually enjoying kissing the girl.

If anything, the kiss had been rougher than any of his previous make out sessions, from what he could actually remember.

Which he honestly liked.

Deidara didn't know when, but sometime in the past, he had decided he liked and enjoyed when things were rough, let it either be making out, a hand job, or just actual sex. Now, whether that made him a sadist or not was clearly up to the reviewing party, but when a girl would complain about it 'hurting too much', he definitely felt his experience wasn't as up to par as he had hoped.

He hid his face in his hands.

He was so embarrassed. Embarrassed that he had allowed himself to become so vulnerable in front of someone he hadn't known for more than a couple of months. He had never even been that open with Hidan when they were in college together!

And now, here he was, his roommate knowing everything there was to know about him, from his alcoholism to his depression.

And for some 'God only knows' reason…Sasori was still in love him.

Why though?

Why was he in love with him? What was it about him that drove him to feel that way? Surely, if they ever started dating, he'd –

Wait.

Did he really almost just finish that sentence?

Deidara felt the urge to scream, but kept his mouth closed.

Why has it taken one person to change everything he had ever known?

(Because you're also in love with him)

…Suddenly, he didn't have the strength or power anymore to fight back.

Sasori poured another layer of batter onto the skillet. While he let it become fluffy, he found his mind wandering to the previous night. He had definitely been surprised when Deidara willingly agreed to another kiss, had been even more surprised when he really initiated the make-out, and had been even more surprised, if that was possible, when he allowed him to jack him off.

Hearing those beautiful moans escape that perfect mouth had been music to his ears. And when he had finished and walked back to his room, the essence of the blonde still lingered on his tongue long after he had fallen asleep, initiating rather explicit dreams to run amok in his mind.

Now he was cooking breakfast, vainly hoping that the morning would be a normal one. However, after last night, he seriously doubted it would be. Not that he hadn't enjoy the experience personally, but he did leave Deidara to his own devices after the incident, which probably hadn't been the best decision on Sasori's part, but he surely didn't want to be in the same room with him when he woke up.

The slight rustling behind him signaled another presence in the room, and he turned around to find his roommate perched on his normal stool, hair disheveled, clad in grey sweatpants, and completely clean of last night's event. However, the minor glare in his cerulean orbs indicated to the redhead that he was not happy.

He gulped. "Good morning."

"Un."

"…I should…apologize for last night-"

"Really, un?"

"But you were asking for it and-"

"I asked for you to jack me off, un?"

"I...n-no…not really, but-"

"So why did you do it, un?"

Sasori blinked, not really sure what to say to that. Obviously he had done it because he wanted to, but at the same time, reading the younger male's body language, he knew his actions wouldn't have been displeasuring for the other.

Yet that was hardly the explanation he assumed the blonde wanted to hear.

He heaved a deep sigh. "The kiss…wasn't enough. It hadn't been enough…for either of us. You can't deny that you felt something. And even if you lie, your body betrayed you last night; that was obvious. What pushed me to do what I did to you, I don't know. And afterwards, I will admit: I had no regrets. Like I said the night we got drunk and ever since then when I feel it's appropriate to say, I am in love with you, Deidara. And I-"

"Why, un?"

Sasori blinked. "What?"

"Why, un? Why are you in love with me?" the glare was gone from his gaze. Now he was just staring at him with mild curiosity.

"Deidara, I don't think that's a good-"

"I have every right to know why my roommate fell in love with me, un."

The older male turned back around and flipped the forgotten pancake over, cursing at the nearly burned underside. "The reasons why-"

"Look at me when you say it, un."

Sasori had to force his body not to shiver at the sudden dominating voice and aura radiating from his roommate.

One of the many reasons he sometimes preferred being bottom in relationships.

He closed his eyes briefly, willing his heart to come down from its erratic pace. He turned the stove eye off and swiveled on his heel until he faced Deidara, making sure to maintain eye contact as he spoke.

"When we first met," he started, "it was a collision in a café. I unfortunately mistook you for a woman, but when I heard your voice and saw your face, I was, to be cliché, in awe; like fucking cupid took one of his sharp ass arrows and shot it into my ass. I wasn't in love then; I was just…in like, I guess. And my being an asshole was just me trying to hide my affections, my feelings. Yet when I found out we were going to be roommates, I knew I had to apologize, which I did. We moved in and…I don't know how to describe it, but…just seeing you every morning, in that same damn stool at the island, or waking up to you already making breakfast, I felt…I felt at home. I never really had a home. Sure I lived with my grandmother and all, but I knew she was only taking care of me because she didn't want me to go into foster care. And I've never lived in an actual house, so finally being in an apartment that felt like 'home' was…a really nice and amazing change.

"And as the weeks progressed and I got to know you more, what you liked and disliked, what got you laughing or what got you angry, I just found myself falling fucking harder and harder every day. And when we built that fort and you told me about how you cared about me, it felt like I was the luckiest and happiest person in the world. To have someone as amazing as you care for a punk like me…I mean who wouldn't be happy? After that…I fell hard. Every time I saw you, I got the quintessential butterflies in my stomach and my heart pounded uncomfortably in my chest. And any time you looked at me with those goddamn cerulean blue eyes, the world and time, itself, just…stopped; or felt like they didn't even exist in the first place.

"So when I heard that you were going to ask Sakura out on a date, I felt betrayed, though at the time, you had no clue how I felt, so I knew it was wrong of me to feel that way. What hurt more was that you were going to schedule the date on my birthday, which felt more betraying to me than to have your affections and advances geared towards someone else. However, because I'm in love with you, I wanted you to be happy, even if it wasn't with me, so I supported your actions though it hurt me…a lot. But then you surprised me by actually celebrating my birthday with me, and I felt like I was on Cloud 9. That entire day, from starting at my favorite breakfast, to ending with a kiss, has been my most favorite day so far in my life. And I know kissing you while we were drunk was advantageous on my end, but I when I felt you kiss me back, I knew there had to be something. When you pulled me on top of you, I obviously wanted to continue, but seeing you in the state you were in showed me you weren't going to remember much of the event. And I didn't want to take advantage of you anymore than I had already done, so I took you to bed, though you willingly chose to crash in my room.

"When you woke up the next morning and accused me of having sex with you, it felt like you were digging a nail into my chest. I was hurt in more ways than I had felt in a long time. To have the person you're in love with look at you with so much hate and anger, it doesn't really do any good to their mental state. My yelling at you was to hide the hurt that I was feeling. With every new word I was screaming at you, I felt myself shatter more. But I hid it in the best way I knew how: by being an asshole and getting you annoyed. Yet…even after the accusation, I still found myself in love with you. Like everyone says, you can't stay mad at the person you're in love with; it's just not possible.

"After that, I made sure not to make any new advances, because I didn't want to scare you or push you away. However, you seemed to have done a perfectly good job of avoiding me. Any time I would see you, you one-word answer me or grunted a response back and found an excuse to leave. I figured it was because of the kiss, but I also realized that if it hadn't meant anything to you, you wouldn't have been acting the way you were. You had kept that up for the last two weeks and last night was when I finally decided to talk to you about it.

"When you weren't willing to just answer my question, I went to the last possible resort and had to force it out of you, though I still haven't received a full explanation as to why you were avoiding me," he looked away." Anyways, the reason I asked for another kiss was more of a solidifying thing on my end. If we kissed and nothing else happened, I knew you had no returning feelings. But if we kissed and more happened, I knew something was there. I was ecstatic to hear your compliance, but I was more or less shocked to have you kiss me back so fast. I didn't know what to think; I mean, there I was, making out with the person I fell in love with. And I was perfectly fine with you stopping us before things got too far. But when you accidentally moved and I felt what your body was feeling, it took every ounce of me not to continue.

"I'm so sorry I did what I did to you in your room. I crossed a boundary I'm sure you never wanted me to cross. And if I've suddenly made you confused about everything you know, I'm sorry; that was never my intention. I only ever wanted you to know my feelings for you, not in the hope that they would one day be returned, but to just tell you how I felt so you knew. But to be fair, my advances, at first, were, and I will admit, protested, but they were immediately returned as soon as we started. You could have easily pushed me away, knowing I was a guy grabbing your dick…but you didn't. I'm not saying I need an explanation and I'm not pressuring you to fall for me like I have with you, but if there is even a slight chance that we could be together, I will take in a heartbeat.

"I know you're straight, Deidara. I've known that since the night at the bar when we found out we were roommates. Kakuzu was the one who told me. And I know I didn't tell you I was gay until my birthday, but I didn't want my telling you to get in the way of our friendship. Though the two events that have happened so far may eventually get in the way. But to answer your question, Deidara…I fell in love with everything about you. I fell in love with the way you laughed at the simplest things, as if the whole world was just there for your entertainment. I fell for the way you would talk about your art over dinner, your eyes lighting up when you shared your stories of creating the perfect masterpiece. I fell for your ringing bells laugh, the way you looked at the world with so much positivity, and the way you got me to open up more about myself. I fell for the way you were able to reach me when I was in the dark places of my past. You didn't know it at the time, but you were and are able to break through those dark thoughts that run through my mind every day. I've had…many relationships in the past where I thought I had been in love, but every past one has suddenly become irrelevant in the presence of you. Your flaws, from your warped view of art to your clumsiness, only make me love you more. And if this is not a good enough explanation for your question, then you're shit out of luck."

Sasori hadn't meant for his response to be so long and winded.

It just poured out of him and he didn't have the will to stop.

It was more of a fuck it mentality he had that seemed to have worked.

Because Deidara was just staring at him in near awe, as if everything that was just said to him wasn't real, but was.

Noting the awkward silence becoming longer by the second, the older male spun around and turned the stove eye back on, annoyed at the now cold flapjack sitting on the skillet.

It hadn't even cooked all the way through yet.

Walking over to the sink, while also being hyper-aware of the fact that Deidara was still being silent, he switched the water on and began scraping the hardened batter off the metal with the spatula. "I made three other pancakes if you want them; I'm not that hungry. Plus, we need groceries. We're running out of eggs, milk, and fresh vegetables, so I'll head over there later today to get them. Also, we have to invest in a new fridge for your clay, because they're starting to overrun the shelves. Also, our bills came in yesterday, so we have to do our annual 'Sit down and Pay up', which I know won't be fun, but oh well. And also, we-"

He was cut short when warm, strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist from behind, and he felt his body stiffen in surprise. He stopped all movement when a mouth pressed dangerously close to his ear.

"Thank you for the explanation, un," Deidara remarked. Sasori almost began relaxing but stiffened again as warm lips pressed into the junction of his neck and shoulder. Yet, as soon as they were there, they were gone the next, and the blonde had disappeared by the time the redhead was able to collect himself.

He stared at the tiled wall in front of him.

And did all he could do to not faint on the stop.