Hello, everyone! Two more followers! Welcome to the family! :3 Anyways, here's Chapter 24! As Always, R&R!
Sasori awoke from a restless slumber, glaring at the ceiling with mild distaste.
The room was too hot, therefore it was stuffy, therefore he couldn't breathe, and therefore he couldn't sleep anymore.
Of course he wasn't in his own room anymore, either.
He was back at Pein's apartment, staying in the room he had currently resided in before moving out and into the penthouse.
The penthouse…
It had been a little over two weeks since he had left the place, along with a dumfounded Deidara with a handprint on his perfect face.
The redhead closed his eyes.
Maybe he shouldn't have had hit him.
But why…why hadn't he said anything?
Why had he kept it from him for so long?
What had there been to gain from that?
He shook his head.
He just couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that he was going to lose his job.
And right before Christmas, no less.
Still…it's not like he had anyone to go celebrate with. He had his Granny Chiyo, but her Alzheimer's was depleting her memory faster than the doctors had anticipated. There would be days when he would call to check up on her and she wouldn't have a clue as to who he was.
He could spend the holidays with his friends, but he knew they had their own families to visit.
One of the disadvantages about being alone most of his life.
Essentially, he had had no one there to open presents under the tree with him, no one there to cut the turkey and serve the stuffing, and no one there to wish him a 'Happy Birthday.'
But the biggest concern that was running through his head now…
…Was whether he was still mad at Deidara.
He had to admit that he wasn't angry anymore. The anger had died down after the first couple of days of him being gone. At the moment of finding out, he had had to walk out, lest he had wanted to become actually physical with the blonde.
At this point, he just felt empty. It was weird to wake up each morning and not see his roommate either already down in the kitchen, making breakfast, or finally joining him on one of the island's stools, watching as he cooked whatever it was he was cooking.
It had all been so unconsciously routine, that when it was taken away, Sasori didn't really know how to function.
He couldn't deny that he was still in love with Deidara.
Sure, finding out about his job had made him angry, but it was going to take a lot more than that to get him to fall out of love.
He wondered how the brat was doing.
He hadn't tried calling him, which was something he had definitely been expecting, so not receiving even one voicemail had surprised him.
Maybe Deidara was just giving him some space.
Still though…two weeks was a bit of a stretch.
On top of that, when he had arrived at the apartment, Pein wasn't home, but thankfully Sasori had kept the spare he had been given and his best friend hadn't decided to change the locks yet.
He had slept soundly that night in his old room, waking up the next morning to find Pein and Konan cuddling on the couch, asleep. All he had done was walk into the kitchen and made breakfast, finally explaining the situation to a very surprised best friend when he had woken up to the smell of scrambled eggs.
"I mean, I get that you all had a fight, but leaving all the responsibilities of keeping the place intact alone isn't something a roommate would do, Sasori," Pein had exclaimed. "You signed a contract; you can't just get up and walk out and never return."
"I wasn't planning on never returning, dumbass," he had retorted, slightly annoyed. "I just needed to get out for a few days to collect my thoughts."
"You couldn't do that there?"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but no…not around him."
Pein had seemed to get the hint and didn't push the discussion further, just continued to eat and allow him to stay for however long he had needed, despite Konan's unwillingness.
Now he was staring at the clock, 2:43 blaring back at him in neon blue.
Should he…?
He sighed as he reached his hand over, picking up his phone and touching the screen on the call button. He sat up while it ringed.
He better pick up…
At the sound of a click, he smiled slightly, "Hey, I just wanted-"
"This is Deidara Hayashi, un…"
Oh…it was just the voicemail.
"At the tone, please record your message. Otherwise you may hang up and try again later."
He was prepared to leave one when the automated voice spoke again. "We're sorry; the inbox is full. You may not leave a message until all other voicemails have been deleted. Thank you."
What the - ?
Full inbox?
How many people had been trying to call him recently?
And why hadn't he answered them or at least delete the messages they had left?
Hanging up, a sensation inside Sasori began stirring.
A sensation he hadn't felt in years.
It was worry.
Just what the hell was going on with his brat?
The Following Day…
"So why did you fucking call me?" Hidan asked, taking a swig of his coffee. "Is this about the blondie who's gone AWOL?"
"It might be," Sasori exclaimed, gazing out towards the busy streets and sidewalks, which were filled with pedestrians doing last-minute Christmas shopping. Cliché holiday music reverberated through the speakers of the café the two men were sitting in, both enjoying a hot cup of liquid brown caffeine. "I tried calling him early this morning and ended up getting his voicemail and when I tried to leave a message, the inbox was full."
"No shit; I've been trying to call him since two fucking Fridays ago."
"You have?"
"Why would I fucking lie about something like that?" the silver-haired male asked rhetorically. "Every Friday, we have lunch at our favorite diner; it's been something we've done since fucking college. When he missed on the first Friday, I just chucked it up to him being busy at the fucking office. But when he missed on the second Friday, that was when I knew something was fucking off. Ino called me last Wednesday in a fucking panic, blubbering about how she had been trying to call him since the day he walked out on a conference-"
"Deidara walked out on a conference?" Sasori interrupted, slightly shocked.
The brat was incredibly passionate about his job.
He would never do something to jeopardize his position or his status in the company.
"Yeah, he apparently broke out in a fucking screaming fit and walked out," Hidan explained, pale red eyes searching the cup he was holding. "He still walked out even after being threatened to have his fucking job taken away."
"Geez…"
"I don't fucking know what the hell's going on with him," the taller male spoke, voice low and emotionless, "but this isn't like Deidara at all. I wish I knew what the fuck was going on, but I can't get ahold of him, no matter how many fucking times I try calling. I don't know if he's in Cancun, your all's fucking apartment, or lying dead in a fucking ditch somewhere. His inbox has been full for the past three days, so any chance of reaching him ended that fucking long ago."
He was silent for a few seconds.
"This…isn't Deidara; this isn't my fucking best friend. When I tried asking Ino why he was doing this, she changed the subject and that's when I knew she was fucking hiding something from me. I've gone to the fucking apartment, banged on the door and waited outside in the fucking hallway for hours upon hours, day after day, all week last week after work, in the hopes that he would actually fucking open the door. But I've got nothing. What good am I as a best friend if I don't even know what the fuck is really going on?"
"Have you tried calling the cops?"
"Okay, let me fucking ask you this!" Hidan suddenly yelled, turning a glare to the redhead. "Why the fuck do you not know what's going on? You fucking live with him, right?!"
"Hidan, calm down-"
"Don't tell me to fucking calm down when something could seriously be wrong!" the silver-haired male screamed, gaining the attention from the other customers.
Sasori glanced around nervously.
This wasn't good.
"You have a key to the fucking place – you fucking live there!" Hidan continued, voice still loud. "So why the fuck do you not know what's going on?!"
"I haven't been there in the past two weeks!" the redhead seethed under his breath.
"And fucking why?!"
"We…" Sasori sighed, averting his gaze, "we got into a bit of a fight…one where I had to leave or else I would have seriously hurt Deidara physically."
"What fucking happened?" Hidan asked, voice calmer.
Thank God.
"I found out what's really going to happen once my company partners up with Iwa Stratos," Sasori explained, looking at the taller male. "I'm going to lose my job and the brat never fucking told me. I had to find it in a stupid manila folder. I was angry."
The redhead was expecting a reaction from Hidan.
But what he got wasn't what he had been expecting.
The other male's face was a look of shock, then turned into almost incredulous anger. He shook his head violently. "God you are a fucking dumb ass."
"Um…excuse me?"
"I can't believe this," Hidan continued, as if he hadn't heard Sasori's question. "I can't believe I didn't recognize this earlier. I'm so fucking stupid."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" the redhead suddenly yelled, losing his patience. "Just get to the fucking point instead of muttering your inner-"
"He's gone fucking AWOL because of you," he responded, staring at the shorter male with cold eyes. "He's dropped off the face of the planet because of fucking you!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You never gave him a fucking chance to explain, did you?"
"Explain what?!"
Hidan blinked rapidly, then chuckled lowly under his breath. "You know…I would tell you, but it's not my fucking place. Just know this," he gazed back up at Sasori, "whatever happens from here on out is all on your shoulders. You are the full frontal cause of my best friend's absence. You can go check on him if you fucking want to, but if you don't, I hope you can live with the fucking consequences."
Without giving the redhead a chance to counter-back, the silver-haired male finished the rest of his coffee and exited the café.
Meanwhile Sasori sat there, confused and shocked.
What had Hidan meant by that?
The brat was fine…wasn't he?
He gulped.
Wasn't…he?
The sound of his phone going off roused him from his stupor, and he extracted it from his jacket pocket and accepted the call, putting it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Mr. Akasuna," Mr. Sato's voice boomed on the other end. "How are you enjoying the lovely December weather?"
"I'm cold," the redhead replied, voice stoic.
Mr. Sato laughed heartily. "Well, stay warm, then! Anyways, I'm calling to ask you if you could come to the office tomorrow night."
"Sir, it's my time off for the holidays."
"I do understand that, but this is important."
"What do you need to discuss?"
"It's about the contract. I'll explain more when you get here. Be here tomorrow at 7; no later."
"Understood, sir," he ended the call and placed his phone back his pocket.
So he was going to be told about him losing his job the day before Christmas Eve…
Why was he always dealt the shitty hand in the game of Life?