So since I was fully prepared to write this up in the last chapter, I was able to provide y'all with a quick update! Hope you enjoy~

"HELLO?" ITACHI ANSWERED CAUTIOUSLY, unsure what to expect from his cousin's mouth this time.

"Itachi?" Shisui hazily replied.

He was drunk.

Itachi held the phone away from his hear and glanced at the time. 9:48 pm. Itachi really hoped that it wouldn't come to this – Shisui becoming completely wasted tonight – but never would he have guessed that Shisui would get wasted so quickly. "Shisui, I thought you were at the dance." Itachi questioned. A foot away, Deidara sat on his bed, quietly watching for any clues that would let him know what was going on on the other end of the line.

"Itachi?" Shisui asked.

"Yes?" God, he hoped that Shisui wasn't in trouble.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you."

"Shisui? Where are you?" He demanded.

"I love you sooooooo mucccchhhhhhh." He slurred.

"Shisui." Itachi said forcefully, trying to get the other man's attention. "Where. Are. You?" He enunciated slowly, hoping that his cousin was at least sober enough to understand those three words and more importantly, give Itachi a clue to his whereabouts.

"Good question…um…"

"Are you hurt?" Itachi asked instead, his patience growing thin.

"I think I'm…"

"You're hurt?" Itachi repeated.

Shisui was silent on the other end of the line, but hadn't hung up, if the pulsating bass in the background was anything to go by. Itachi prayed that Shisui didn't pass out or walk away from his phone, which would explain his silence.

"Shisui?"

"Yes, my love?" Shisui asked him.

Itachi brought a hand to his forehead and smoothed back his bangs which quickly, albeit messily, fell back into place seconds later. "Shisui. Where. Are. You?" He asked him again.

"Torune and Fu's apartmenttttt…." He finally answered.

Although an answer was good, Itachi had no idea where Torune and Fu's apartment was. He knew that Shisui's answer was a legitimate one, as he'd heard his cousin mention those names here and there, but he didn't know exactly where they lived. "Are you on campus?" He wanted to ask, which would make finding his cousin a lot easier given the limited number of upperclassmen apartment units on campus. However, thinking back to his conversation with Shisui the other day, he knew that wasn't the case. Fu and Torune lived off-campus "not far from campus," Shisui explained, before adding "not far enough to drive into a tree."

Had he not said those last few words, Itachi might have stayed longer and convinced his cousin to tell him the address of the place. But instead, Itachi let his emotions get the better of him and stormed off before he could say anymore on the matter.

"Where is that?" Itachi pressed.

"Uh…" Shisui faltered and called out to someone in the background. "Guys, what's the address of this place?"

To say that Itachi was surprised that Shisui was sober enough to ask for an address, much less offer a sentence longer than four words, was an understatement. If anything, Itachi was relieved to be getting somewhere and opened the desk drawer where he kept his car keys.

"Where're you going, yeah?" Deidara asked.

Itachi held up a finger to silence him while he listened for an address amidst the din in the background on the other end. This could be his one and only chance to get a coherent answer from his cousin, and he wasn't going to waste it.

"545 North Walnut Street." Someone answered.

"545 North Walnut Street." Itachi quietly repeated to himself and quickly jotted the address down on his long forgotten rubric for his English paper.

"545 North Walnut…" Shisui answered almost thirty seconds later.

"I'm coming to get you." Itachi responded, quickly throwing on a pair of shoes before stalking over to the closet to grab a jacket.

"Where are you going?" Deidara asked, hoping off his bed.

"To pick up Shisui." Itachi answered.

"Why?" Shisui whined on the other end. "Don't worry about it Itachi…I'll be fineeeeee."

"Why, what's wrong with Shisui?" Deidara asked.

Itachi sighed in frustration from having so many people talking to him at once. "Shisui, you're not fine. It's not even 10 pm. and you're hopelessly drunk." He said, thus answering both Shisui and Deidara's questions simultaneously.

"Itachi, I'm twenty-onnee and I'm not drinking…" Shisui argued, slurring his words together.

"You are drinking, and I don't care. I'm coming to pick you up and bring you back to campus, got it?" He said and hung up before Shisui could protest any longer. Considering how drunk Shisui was, Itachi wouldn't be surprised if Shisui was still attempting to prove his sobriety into a receiver with no one listening on the other end of the line.

Checking to make sure he had his wallet, jacket and school I.D., he turned to Deidara. "I'll be back later on, I—what're you doing?" He asked.

Before him, Deidara had thrown on a sweatshirt on top of his dress shirt as well as a pair of sneakers. "Can I come too, yeah?"

Itachi considered this for a moment before reminding himself that Shisui was completely wasted and that he need to be there ASAP. "Hurry up." He told Deidara, who smiled in delight and jogged after his determined roommate.

According to the GPS on his phone, 545 North Walnut Street was only a five minute drive away from campus, which Itachi was grateful for.

The short drive there was spent in complete silence, save for the feminine voice giving Itachi directions on where to go to reach their destination. Itachi wouldn't deny the fact that he was tense thinking about his cousin's wellbeing. As much as he wanted to trust that Shisui had everything under control, it was obvious that he didn't. For God's sake, he just turned twenty-one less than a week ago and already he was going overboard. It was one thing to skip all of one's classes the day after one's twenty-first birthday because they had spent the night drinking, but it was another to become as drunk as Shisui was in less than an hour's time.

Unless Shisui didn't attend the dance at all and was drinking before then.

Itachi blinked to chase the thought from his mind. He wasn't going to think about what Shisui was doing before the dance started and he wasn't going to think about what Shisui was doing now. All that mattered was that he returned Shisui home safely before he got himself into serious trouble.

"You okay, yeah?" Deidara said just above a whisper from the passenger side beside him.

"Yeah." Itachi tersely answered. As much as he wanted to convince himself that he didn't care about what Shisui did in his free time, he did care. Next to Sasuke, Shisui had been an older brother to him when they were growing up.

What's more, Shisui was his best friend. And Itachi knew better than most that drinking more than one can handle can lead to deadly consequences and he didn't want that to happen to Shisui.

"I can tell you're worried about him, yeah." Deidara continued. "But you're doing the right thing, picking him up without being asked."

That's right. Shisui didn't explain the nature of his call. Itachi just assumed from the slurring of his words that he was drunk and in desperate need of a ride home. Never once did he consider what Shisui had actually called him for. "I suppose." Itachi answered vaguely. He honestly couldn't remember the nature of Deidara's question, if Deidara had even asked a question in the first place.

"I'd like to have a friend like you." Deidara said.

Itachi glanced at his roommate, whose facial features were being illuminated by the orange glow of the passing street lamps.

"Like, if I'd called you as drunk as Shisui seemed, I'd like someone like you to stop everything and pick me up just to make sure that I'm safe, yeah."

Something in Deidara's words brought a tiny smile to Itachi's face. It didn't distract him from the matter at hand, but it conveyed to him that he was doing the right thing. "Thanks."

"No problem, yeah."

When they turned onto Walnut Street, it was obviously which apartment they were looking for, if the ten or so cars parked on the edge of the street were anything to go by.

"Guess we're here." Deidara lightly commented.

Itachi chose to park on the opposite side of the road at least twenty feet from where everyone else had parked their cars. Craning his neck, he checked if there were any signs prohibiting the parking of those who weren't residents before putting the car in park.

"Are we allowed to park here?" Deidara asked him.

"There's nothing that says that we can't." Itachi answered, unbuttoning his seat belt and stepping out of the car.

"Do you want your sweatshirt, yeah?" Deidara asked, holding up the garment from outside the passenger seat.

Itachi shook his head. "No thank you."

"Are you sure?"

Itachi nodded. "I'm sure it'll be hot inside. I'll be fine, thanks." He said, checking both sides of the road for oncoming traffic before jogging over to the lively apartment building across the street.

Just as they had little difficulty finding the correct apartment, they were able to find the right unit in very little time.

"The door's open, yeah!" Deidara beamed, pointing towards the ray of light shining from within.

Are any of them worried about being caught by the police tonight? Itachi wondered, opening the door slightly.

Inside, there were at least twenty people dancing to the same pulsating rhythm Itachi heard over the phone when Shisui called, but couldn't place where it was coming from. All around him, women were tossing their hair back and forth, gyrating their hips against their male counterparts, most of whom held beer bottles in their hands. The exact sight Itachi wanted to avoid in the first place.

"Do you see him anywhere?" Deidara yelled over the beat of the music.

Itachi shook his head. "Not yet." He shouted, venturing into the crowd to search for his cousin, Deidara following close behind.

Suddenly, a drunken partygoer bumped into Itachi, causing him to bump into a girl who spilled half of her drink on the floor. "My shoes!" She gasped.

"Sorry." Itachi apologized and turned to face the man who bumped into him.

"Who're you guyssss?" He asked, slurring his words as much as Shisui had. Whatever they put in the punch bowl here had to have been quite the mixture to induce such a drunken state within so little time. Looking around, however, almost everyone in the room seemed to be suffering from the same state of intoxication, leading Itachi to believe that the party hadn't just started.

"We're friends with Shisui Uchiha." Itachi answered.

The man blinked in confusion a few times behind the little slots of the black masquerade mask he wore over his face before lazily turning on his heel and retreating down a hallway. "Fu!" He called out.

"What?" A reply shouted from nearby.

"Do you know where…," the man paused, trying to remember the name of the person he was asking about, "…Shisui is?" He asked.

From out of the crowd, a hand poked it's way through, followed by an arm and a leg and the rest of the a body, revealing a man with shoulder length ginger colored hair tied into a half-pony tail. "Shisui?" He asked.

The other man, whom Itachi guessed was Fu's roommate, Torune, nodded slowly.

"He's in the kitchen, man." Fu answered and squeezed Torune's shoulder. "Why? Who wants to know?"

Torune pointed to Itachi and Deidara. "His friends, here."

Fu offered them a wide, slightly inebriated smile and raised his hand for a high-five. "What's up, dudes? Want a beer?"

Itachi shook his head and grabbed Deidara's hand. "We'll pass." He said, leading his roommate up the hallway where the opening to the kitchen was.

"Watch your step, there's a bottle on the floor." Itachi instructed, carefully sidestepping the obstacle. Deidara followed suit, and stayed close to Itachi while they searched the crowd for a familiar patch of black curls.

"I'm majoring in criminology and physiology, you know." A familiar voice purred.

Itachi tuned in to where the voice was coming from and headed straight to it, much to Deidara's confusion.

"Really?" A short brunette holding a beer bottle asked him.

Shisui gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah. Hopefully I never have to arrest you one of these days." He whispered into her ear.

"I'm sure you'll go easy on me." She answered.

Shisui chuckled again, about to take another swig of his drink when it was suddenly swiped from his grasp. "Hey! 'the heck was that for?" He demanded.

"We're leaving." Itachi said, grabbing his cousin by his shirt sleeve.

"But the party just started!" He whined, attempting to free himself from Itachi's iron grasp but failing miserably in the process.

"From the looks of it, it's been going on for quite some time, and there's no doubt that you've had more than enough to drink tonight." Itachi admonished as they maneuvered their way through the crowd.

"What time is it?" Shisui asked.

"Time to go." Itachi answered, pushing through the open front door and stepping out into the hallway. With Deidara following behind, Itachi grabbed Shisui's wrist and led them down the hallway.

"Itachi," Shisui whined, "why are you walking so fast? Slow down some!"

Itachi and Deidara looked at one another and exchanged equally confused glances before Itachi spoke, "Shisui, I'm not walking fast."

"You are!" He moaned, holding onto the wall for support. "Give me a break, I'm really drunk, okay?"

"Now you admit it." Itachi said, wrapping an arm around Shisui's waist to help support him so they could get out of there before the neighbors called the cops. The absolute last thing Itachi wanted to do was have a run-in with the law. And he knew, had Shisui been sober enough – scratch that – had Shisui been smart enough to think of the consequences ahead of time, he would've known that having a record wouldn't bode well for him, given his dream of pursuing a career in the police force. "I'll try to walk slower." Itachi compromised.

Ahead of them, Deidara poked his head out from the open elevator carriage, holding out an arm to keep the doors from closing. Even though they'd originally taken the stairs to find Fu and Torune's apartment, it was clear that they weren't going to be able to support 140 lbs. down four flights of stairs.

"Itachi?" Shisui asked once they were in the elevator.

"Yes?"

"I love you." He slurred.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "So you've said."

In retrospect, it was probably a better idea to take the stairs instead of the elevator because as soon as the elevator jolted to life and started to descend, Shisui groaned "Don't feel so hotttt…," clutched Itachi's side and vomited all over the elevator floor.

"Sweet baby Jesus!" Deidara shouted, jumping out of the way.

Itachi cringed and focused on the lit ceiling tiles of the carriage instead of his wet feet. Why do I have a feeling that it's gonna be a long night?

"Itachi," Shisui groaned in the backseat of Itachi's car.

Immediately Itachi positioned his fingers on his turn signal level, ready to pull over if Shisui felt the urge to vomit again. "Do you need me to pull over?" He asked.

"I'm sorry." He moaned, lying on his side and clutching his stomach.

Itachi relaxed, repositioning his hand on the steering wheel once more. Shisui had been apologizing ever since they exited the elevator and while they rubbed their shoes on the grass outside of the apartment building. And repeatedly, Itachi sighed, telling him "it's nothing" but due to his current state, Shisui apparently felt the need to say it again and again.

"I know you are." Itachi said, turning onto the road that led to the university. "Deidara, is it okay if I drop you off in front our building? I'm going to drive Shisui back to his room."

"Sure, yeah." Deidara agreed. "Will you need help getting him up there?"

"I should be fine, thanks." Itachi smiled slightly and focused on the road before him. He briefly considered bringing Shisui back to their room, but that would undeniably result in Shisui falling asleep in Itachi's bed and Itachi having to sleep on the floor, which he was not okay with. He wasn't the one who went out to party and get drunk, so why should he have to sleep on the floor?

On the other hand, he didn't have the nerve to force Shisui to sleep on the floor either. (And especially after what happened in the elevator, Itachi was concerned for the safety of their carpeting.) With this in mind, he decided that he would take care of him in Shisui's room where his cousin could fall asleep in the safety of his own bed. If he wanted to vomit on the carpeting in his own room, Itachi was perfectly fine with that.

"Here we are." He said to Deidara and unlocked the car doors.

"Thanks, yeah." Deidara said with a wave. "Got your keys?"

Itachi patted his jean pocket. "Yeah. I don't know when I'm going to be back, so you don't need to wait, okay?"

Deidara nodded. "Okay, yeah." And shut the door behind him.

"Itachi?" Shisui asked from the back seat, raising his head slightly.

"Yes?" Itachi asked with a raised brow.

"I love you."

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed. "I love you too, Shisui." He responded back.

Shisui flashed him a drunken smile before vomiting into the sweater Itachi had brought along just in case it was cold outside. Sighing, he offered Deidara a tense smile before pulling away from the sidewalk and in the direction of Shisui's building.

I know, a little anticlimactic, but at least Shisui's not dying! That's something to be happy about!

Thank you to all the people that reviewed the last chapter! You guys do my heart good...

Until next time!

~Sasori33-001

PS Don't expect me to update the next chapter as quickly as I updated this one. I have very little idea as to what I'm doing next (fingers crossed) Also, feel free to check my profile page for updates on my progress. I probably won't update it (the story statuses on my profile) until tonight or tomorrow, but be on the lookout for any changes!