Author's Note: I was indirectly challenged by Absolute Anarchy to update this quickly and since I had free time this week I rose to that challenge! O^O I thought that this chapter would be much more interesting than it is, but the way I see it: there is a certain calm before every storm, and you know there will be a boss battle when all the bad guys disappear and you reach a "saving point" in the video game. Just sayin'.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

HI

Too blunt.

Hey, how are you?

Too casual.

Hey.

Itachi pondered this one over for a moment. It didn't make it seem like Itachi had forgotten what happened between them, but in his mind, it opened the door for conversation.

But after he uttered it, what did he say next? What would Deidara say in response to that?

He probably wouldn't say anything. The admission would surely catch the blond off guard but he would most likely think that it was a trap of some sort and act as though Itachi hadn't said anything. In Deidara's mind, Itachi would sooner greet the door to their room than say anything to Deidara in fear that the chemistry major would be overcome with emotion and pull him into a hug followed by a tender kiss.

The thought sent shivers racing down Itachi's arms and caused the tiny hairs on his arm to stand up on end. No matter what, he couldn't shake off the kiss they'd shared exactly one month prior. "How can I work towards repairing our friendship if I can't move on and let things be?" He asked himself. After all, he didn't know what Deidara was thinking or how Deidara felt about him since they've been avoiding each other for the past couple of weeks.

"But unlike you, Itachi, I know how to give people a second chance."

Even if the two weren't on speaking terms right now, those words alone were gave Itachi a pretty decent idea as to how Deidara felt about him. Which lead him back to his current dilemma: how did he engage in a conversation with his leery roommate?

Hey.

Then what? What if Deidara ignored him? What did he say after that?

Five hundred feet ahead of him, the traffic light changed from green to yellow. Knowing he wouldn't be able to beat it, Itachi released the gas pedal and gently pressed on the brakes to bring the car to a slow stop. Was it really so important for him to repair things with Deidara now? They were midway through the second semester so what did he have to gain? Their friendship? Unlikely. They could talk and share lunch and dinner together on campus but Itachi doubted that he would accept any invitation to hang out with Deidara outside of campus again. Getting lunch at a restaurant or taking a walk through the park or even catching another movie were all too intimate, he thought. Especially given their history.

And just like that, he was back to square one, thinking about that dreadful kiss they shared.

"What do I do?" He pleaded internally. It was times like these when he wished for Shisui to be alive again, so he could ask him. Although they didn't see eye to eye on everything, Itachi could always count on his charismatic cousin for answers to his social dilemmas.

"You're going to apologize? You? Itachi Uchiha? I never thought I'd live to see the day." Shisui would laugh.

I only wish that you could be here to see it, Shisui. Itachi thought somberly when the light changed to green.

-8-8-8-

A mistake. Itachi concluded, feeling very out of place in his own skin. This was definitely a mistake.

Before him sat a grilled chicken Caesar salad wrap, neatly sliced in half and split open upon the paper that wrapped it. In addition to this, he purchased a small bag of sea-salted chips and a bottled water.

When he and Deidara were still on good terms, their class schedules coincided in such a way that the pair would run into each other for lunch at a certain days of the week. They never formally agreed to spend lunch together on those days, it just happened that way. Dinner, on the other hand, was a different story. Because they shared a room together, Deidara would stop by to drop off his bag and ask Itachi if he wanted to grab something to eat at the cafeteria with him. And more often than not, Itachi agreed because he had nothing to lose from doing so.

As far as him and Kisame were concerned, things were different. While they never formally agreed to share lunch together or meet up for dinner ahead of time, they never fell into any kind of routine of doing so either. Most days, Itachi couldn't be bothered to spend time in center of the hustle and bustle, surrounded by an endless stream of loud, opinionated and often immature upper and lower classman alike so he opted to spend his lunch break elsewhere. Every now and then he'd run into Kisame who would call him over on his way out the door for a quick chat.

But today was different. Today, Itachi decided to venture out of his comfort zone and willingly invite Kisame to share lunch with him in the most unobtrusive way possible. His plan was designed to work in one of two ways: he could either buy his lunch and invite himself to sit with Kisame if the upperclassman was already eating or buy his lunch and wait for the upperclassman to pass him by in hopes that Kisame would sit down on his own.

Why he couldn't carry out his normal day-to-day actions knowing that Kisame would inevitably take a seat at his table, Itachi did not know.

At the very least, I should start eating so it doesn't look like I've been stood up. He thought pathetically and gingerly picked up half of his wrap.

The things he wanted to talk to Kisame about weren't really that important. In his mind he envisioned himself asking Kisame about how his spring break went and discussing when they would meet up to work on his statistics homework again if need be. Nothing out of the ordinary.

If it's that simple why can't I do the same with Deidara? Itachi wondered but refused to entertain the thought any further. He did, however, make a mental note to ask Deidara how his spring break had gone. Hey, how was your spring break? Progress.

"What'cha got there?"

Itachi nearly choked on a piece of lettuce he was chewing and covered his mouth to speak. "A grilled chicken Caesar salad wrap." He muttered.

"A healthy choice." Kisame smiled and lowered himself into the chair opposite the lowerclassman. "Do you like French fries?"

He narrowed his eyes and studied the older man's face for any clues that might suggest why he was asking him if he liked French fries or not. "Sometimes. Why do you ask?" He ventured when he found himself unable to decipher Kisame's intent. He realized with a start that Kisame, who had just entered the cafeteria and did not have anything to eat, might buy him a plate of French fries and force him to eat some.

"No reason." Kisame shrugged and nudged his book bag under his chair with his foot. "I just never see you eat French fries so I thought I'd ask."

"Oh." Itachi mumbled and lifted his chicken Caesar wrap to his mouth.

"Ever dip your French fries into a chocolate milkshake?" Kisame asked next.

Itachi, who had opened his mouth to take a bite, stalled, furrowed his eyebrows and answered "No. I have not."

Kisame smirked, a mischievous glimmer in his eye. "Don't knock it til you try it, okay? It's amazing." He said and rose to his feet. "I'll be back; I'm starving."

Itachi watched Kisame's retreating back as he walked in the direction of the entrance to the lunch line. Only when Kisame was out of view did Itachi ask himself "Who decides to dip French fries into a milkshake – chocolate no less – and eat it?" He could understand if it were a dessert item or a candy of some sort but not something salty or greasy like French fries.

It dawned on him just then that he had a predetermined goal in mind that he wanted to accomplish over his lunch break. His plan was to wait for Kisame to sit down with him, ask him about his spring break and inquire about his studies, primarily in his statistics class. And yet, somehow they had waded into the topic of French fries and milkshakes. What stunned Itachi was how effortlessly Kisame had maneuvered the conversation in that direction.

"What'cha got there?" His first question. "A healthy choice." Validation that he had indeed processed Itachi's answer. "Do you like French fries?" A question from left field with seemingly no direct relation to anything that had been said prior. If anything, French fries were the opposite of what Itachi was eating.

"Thanks, you too!" Itachi could hear Kisame saying to the lunch lady who had processed his meal. He watched Kisame take long, confident strides over to their table, smiling broadly all the while.

Is there ever a time when he's not smiling? Itachi wondered before the answer dawned on him: Whenever he's studying. A fond smile spread across his face as he looked back on those long, trying nights in the library when he had to let Kisame borrow his text book because he had misplaced his own or left it behind in his bedroom.

"I'll have to buy you a milkshake and fries sometime so you can try them together." Kisame announced when he returned back at their table.

It did not escape Itachi's notice that the other man's lunch consisted of chicken tenders, French fries heavily drizzled in ketchup and what appeared to be cayenne pepper and a soda. The polar opposite of Itachi's lunch.

"So," Kisame began and shoved three fries into mouth all at once before continuing, "how wush yor," he paused to swallow, "spring break?"

Did it ever occur to this man that Itachi could barely understand him when he spoke with his mouth full? If he was in the middle of chewing when Itachi asked him a question it would be different. But who started to talk, paused to eat, and continued to talk?

As much as it bothered him, he didn't comment. This behavior wasn't new to him so he let it be. "Good." He answered. "It was good."

Kisame licked the ketchup off his fingers with a nod. "That's good."

"How was yours?"

As soon as the question had left Itachi's mouth, Kisame was reaching to pick up his soda and took a long sip before answering "It was great. I got to kick back, relax and think about anything not related to school." He answered contently and leaned back in his chair to express how at ease he felt. "You don't have midterms to study for?" Itachi couldn't help but ask. Although he set aside a decent amount of time to complete his assignments well before they were due, he still had group projects to complete. On top of that, a few of his midterm exams were set to take place after spring break so he had spent a majority of his free time studying for them while he was at home.

"Oh yeah. Of course I do." He balked and effortlessly ripped a chicken tender in two before cramming it into his mouth like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. "I shink everywom hash some short of mid—" he closed his mouth to chew, "—term test regardless of their major."

You do realize that it's not proper etiquette to force food into your mouth like that. Itachi silently chided him. You're a human being, not an animal.

"Why kill myself studying for them when it's called 'break' for a reason?"

Itachi wordlessly disagreed. As the semester progressed, the course load intensified. If you didn't manage your time properly you would spend the days leading up to final exams pulling all-nighters when sleep is key to doing well on said exams. That wasn't to say that Itachi didn't enjoy spending time with his brother and parents for a week – he did – but he also thought it was important to effectively utilize his free time catching up on assignments before the various project deadlines started to creep in on him.

Although he hadn't voiced his opinion aloud, Kisame seemed to sense his variance and smiled nonetheless. "I don't expect you to understand. You do homework for fun, right?"

Itachi understood that Kisame's comment was meant to be light-hearted in nature but he couldn't quite bring himself to smile and laugh it off. There were several instances when he would have rather opened up a novel instead of a thick accounting text over the break but reminded himself that if he worked hard in the moment, he'd have more time to relax later in the semester. Before he could open his mouth to comment, however, two familiar figures entered his field of vision.

"I wonder what they're serving at the hot foods station, yeah." Deidara beamed.

Beside him Sasori furrowed his eyebrows in what appeared to be disgust. "I don't understand how you eat that stuff. It's never anything good."

"Says the man who always eats the same thing!" Deidara shouted loudly enough for reach Itachi's ears from twenty feet away before disappearing into the lunch room to grab something to eat.

"Are you guys still ignoring each other?" Kisame asked.

Itachi slowly turned his head in Kisame's direction and carefully considered his answer. Yes, he and Deidara hadn't spoken to each other apart from a few uttered "sorry's" and "excuse me's" when maneuvering around each other in their shared dorm room but nothing more than that. Itachi had wanted to initiate some form of conversation with the blond yesterday but when Deidara hadn't arrived back by the time Itachi retired for the night, he surmised that he was planning to come back the next day. "He's been spending a lot of time with Sasori lately so I haven't seen very much of him." He settled on. It was a vague answer but it satisfied the particular nature of his current situation.

"I see." He said and picked up his soda.

In that moment, Itachi wished more than ever that he knew what Kisame was thinking. Before the break he'd made it apparent that Itachi was being harsh in his treatment of Deidara since their shared kiss. "I don't know the kid that well to be honest with you, but from what I've seen, he's a little bit 'out there,' you know what I'm saying? He strikes me as the type to act first and think later but based on what you've told me about, his heart was in the right place." He'd told Itachi the day everything came spilling out in Kisame's apartment. And yet, Kisame said nothing to distinguish his position on the matter. Maybe he didn't want to tap into a latent anger brewing deep within Itachi like he had a week after it happened or maybe he just didn't care. "Your statistics homework isn't due this week, is it?" Itachi asked when the silence between them started to become uncomfortable.

Was it pathetic that he was beginning to memorize Kisame's statistics homework schedule, he wondered absently but refused to let this despair show on his face.

Kisame shook his head. "It's due next week. On Thursday. Phase two is due this Thursday though. I haven't started that yet!" He laughed.

Itachi reached out for the bag of potato chips he picked up early. "You wouldn't have to worry about it if you'd taken the time to complete it last week." He teased the upperclassman and pried open the salty snack.

A tight smile stretched across the bottom of Kisame's face before giving way to a toothy smile. "I should've known you'd say that you arrogant little jerk."

Phase two was a fourth of a multi-step project Kisame was conducting over the course of the semester. From Itachi's observations when he was a statistics student, every class, regardless of the instructor, completed the same project. Therefore he understood that if you paid attention in class and completed your work, each phase of the project would make sense. As such, the pair had come to an agreement long ago that Kisame was more than capable of completing each step of the process without Itachi's help, especially since Itachi saw to it that Kisame completed the work necessary to complete each step of the project. "If you want to get a head start on your homework for next week I'd be more than happy to provide you with assistance this weekend." Itachi offered and took a bite of his chip. Like someone who was raised with proper manners, he waited to finish speaking before eating.

Kisame cocked his head to the side and rolled the base of his empty soda cup in circles on the table. "Can we do it next week?"

"Next week?"

Kisame nodded but didn't look up to meet Itachi's eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I'll probably need your help with it and I know you like to get things done and out of the way as soon as possible but I kinda got something going on this weekend."

Itachi thought this over for a moment. "That's fine."

Only then did Kisame look up to meet Itachi's gaze. "You sure it's okay? I feel like I'd be inconveniencing you."

"It's fine. Really." He answered. "Since I spent my spring break exclusively completing homework assignments I have a lot of free time now."

"Point made, point made." Kisame snickered.

For a moment the only noises were those around them. Students discussing coursework or complaining about their professors with their peers, friends laughing and talking about what they did over the break, the crumpling of sandwich paper and the distant clicking of fingers against the keys of a laptop.

Kisame, who was smiling just moments earlier was staring out the nearby window, watching people pass by. He had long since scarfed down his fries and chicken tenders without so much as a crumb leftover and placed his empty soda cup in the paper container that once contained his lunch. It was odd to see the normally boisterous upperclassmen look so serious for once. His eyes were narrowed as if he were in deep thought, but his irises stayed locked in once place, staring off into distant space. Even the corners of his mouth which were almost constantly upturned and giving way to a bright smile were drawn in a stiff line.

It was a side of him Itachi had never seen before and that was what concerned him. Something was bothering the older man. It wasn't like him to indulge Itachi in the details of his plans this weekend unless it was something serious. And even though they had since moved on from the discussing it, whatever it was still seemed to nag at Kisame's conscience. Is everything alright? Itachi thought he should ask him. He wanted to but he felt that he didn't know Kisame well enough to pry into his personal life. In any case, Itachi would surely run into him later in the week. If Kisame still displayed this demeanor, Itachi would ask about it. If regained his usual disposition, then Itachi wouldn't utter a word about it.

"I'm going to throw away my trash." Itachi spoke, breaking the silence. "Are you done with this?" He tilted his head in the direction of Kisame's own trash.

Before Itachi could push his chair away so he could stand up, Kisame was already rising to his feet. "Don't worry about it; I'll take care of it." He offered and gathered both his trash and Itachi's trash to throw away.

"You don't have to do that."

Kisame shook his head. "It's not a problem. It's the least I can do to repay you for putting up with me for this long!" He laughed.

A small smile graced Itachi's lips. Are you laughing to try to cover up what's bothering you? He wondered and watched as Kisame walked in the direction of the nearest trash bin.

This deadbeat had never spoken to him in class before, so why did he feel the need to start now?

Was he trying to make friends, he wondered. He certainly hoped that he wasn't trying to recruit him for the swim team. If that was the case, he was in for a rude awakening.

Back then, Itachi regarded Kisame as your typical failing athlete. The type who received a full scholarship to play sports and ditch class when students like Itachi had to work hard to earn scholarships like that by performing well in school and on college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT exams and maintain a certain GPA while they were enrolled. Itachi was disgusted, to say the least, when the man first initiated a conversation with him around this time last semester.

But things were different now. While Kisame still had a lot to learn about proper lunch etiquette, the man was considerate of Itachi's feelings when something was wrong, conscientious of Itachi's time when it concerned their weekly study sessions. In general, Kisame was proving himself to be a warm, caring and all around good hearted human being.

Maybe Itachi had been wrong about him from the beginning. Maybe this man could surprise him the more they hung out. Perhaps they could even become good friends.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Sasori and Deidara came into view. The two walked side by side like old friends who've known each other forever as Deidara chatted on about science as an art or something using sweeping hand gestures while Sasori listened impassively. As they approached his table, Itachi's dark eyes connected with Deidara's bright blue ones. It lasted less than a second before Deidara broke the contact and continued to talk as though nothing had happened. Their shared glance did not go unnoticed by Sasori, however, who narrowed his eyes in annoyance and sent a sharp glare in Itachi's direction on the way out.

This has nothing to do with you, Itachi thought bitterly, so stay out of it.

"What was that all about?" Kisame asked when he returned to the table. He was on a few steps behind the two so it was a given that he would take notice of the venomous stares.

Itachi shook his head rose to his feet. "Nothing." He deadpanned and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. "My class is in half an hour so I'm going to take my leave."

Kisame's eyes followed him for a moment as if to look for any sign of distress in his ebony colored irises. Only when he found no outward cause for concern did he say "Alright. Have fun in class!"

"Thanks." Itachi shrugged.

"What class is it? Intro to Quantum Physics?" He joked.

Itachi knitted his brow. "Computer science." He supplied and turned on his heel to walk away.

"I took that class freshman year!"

"Well seeing as I am currently in my freshman year I must be on track." Itachi said, turning around to face Kisame again.

Kisame folded his arms across his chest with a deep chuckle. "Enjoy yourself." He said. "And I'll see you around."

"See you around."

Hopefully this chapter will be enough to tide you over until I can find time to update again. I still have quite a bite of free time this weekend but I also have quite a bit of homework to do since I spent all day today and yesterday writing this thing X'D

As per usual, tell me what you think! (and can we talk about the change in Itachi's attitude in regards to Kisame since last semester? Like DAYUM)

Until next time,

Itachi's Husband

PS: *To Absolute Anarchy* I was totally envisioning Itachi as Belle and Kisame as the Beast when they were eating lunch and Kisame was stuffing his face can you see it?

*To The Secret Sal* Yes I went there with the above comment ;P