[A/N]: Someone said they expected this story to be slice of life instead of romance. As we get deeper into the story you'll find that feelings of romance (and inner turmoil haha) are abundant but so too are the dialogues I write. Dialogue is the main driver of the story and some days (most days) I feel as though I let the characters talk too much. But once I reread I think "as a KisaIta fan, this is heaven."

In short, please enjoy another chapter of Kisame and Itachi shenanigans!

He balled his fingers into a tight fist. "Zabuza…"

"Zabuza…"

The words were a low threat. Both men were staring daggers, a dare to challenge the other. And over what? Itachi's relationship with Kisame? It was all too serious over an ignorant misunderstanding that didn't need to come to fisticuffs.

Itachi opened his mouth to interject when Kisame relaxed his fingers and crossed his hands over his chest. "I'm making crab cakes." He said levelly. "I'll let you have some if you get lost for two hours. Deal?"

Two hours? Itachi pondered the logic here: One hour to let the crab meat refrigerate, which neither of them had moved to do yet, and another hour to do…what? Finish the recipe perhaps?

Zabuza's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Seriously? Can't I just lock myself in there for two hours until you're done?"

Kisame rolled his eyes. "Either leave us alone for two hours and have as much food as you want when you get back or stay and don't eat anything at all. It's not up for negotiation bro."

Zabuza didn't flinch.

"Just think about it. The smell of freshly seasoned crabs frying in a pan of hot oil, breaking apart in your mouth, the crunch of saltine crackers to balance out the savory-ness of crab—."

"Fine!" Zabuza relented and threw his hands up in defeat. "I'll drive around for two hours or something and when I get back here it's all I can eat, right?" He pointed an accusatory finger at Kisame's chest, squinting dangerously all the while.

"That's the deal." Kisame said.

Zabuza nodded slowly and straightened his posture. At his full height he was just a few inches shorter than Kisame but several inches taller than Itachi. "This shit had better be good." He grunted, adjusted his hold on the strap of his bookbag which was hanging from his shoulder and took his exit.

Once he shut the door Kisame turned to Itachi with a look of embarrassment. "Sorry Itachi." He apologized and motioned for him to bring the bowl over. "Zabuza can be a bit of a prick sometimes."

"I wasn't bothered by it." Itachi said. He retrieved the bowl from the bar and handed it to him.

Kisame glanced over his shoulder and gave him a small smile. "Good. I'm glad."

Despite his words Itachi could tell that he was putting on a happy face. His quiet tone of voice betrayed the smile gracing his face. Even so, Itachi was having trouble pinpointing the reason why. He told Kisame that he didn't care what Zabuza thought of him or how he misgendered him. He didn't have to like any of Kisame's roommates and he certainly wasn't obligated to make conversation with them either. And if Kisame wanted them all to be good friends then why did he look like he wanted Zabuza's head mounted above the TV just now?

"Is there…" Itachi ventured. "…any reason you were so adamant that he leave?"

Still crouched in front of the fridge, Kisame stared straight ahead, lost in a sea of his own thoughts. Just then, he stood up and closed the fridge door. "Do you want one reason or several?" He laughed. "You saw that psychomaniac!"

Itachi arched a quizzical brow. "You chased him with a spoiled bowl of soup!"

Kisame looked skyward, bobbing his head from side to side as if thinking of a comeback before settling on "Yeah, you're right. But he let it go bad in the first place! Motherfucker."

That was more like the Kisame he was used to. Itachi smiled and readjusted his shirt cuffs. Maybe he was looking into things too much. In a few quick strides he crossed the kitchen and tore of a piece of paper towel.

"What are you doing?"

"Wiping down the countertops." Itachi said. "Wasn't that the deal? I'll wipe down the counters while you do the dishes?"

Kisame waved his hand dismissively. "You don't have to worry about it, Itachi. I'll take care of it later, it's fine."

Despite this, Itachi ran the faucet over the paper towel and squeezed the excess water from it. "The longer you procrastinate the less time you'll have to watch something on Netflix. Besides, you got mayonnaise on one of the cabinets and it's going to bother me unless I wipe it off."

Kisame closed the fridge and rose to his feet. "We don't have to watch Netflix if you don't want to."

While he listened to Kisame he made a beeline for the offending splotch of mayonnaise from earlier, intent on wiping it clean. "Why the change of heart?"

Kisame inhaled. Loudly. But when Itachi looked to see the cause of his distress he was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Can we just talk or something?"

"About?" He stood up and walked over to the pantry in the corner where the trash can and multitude of plastic grocery store bags were kept. Kisame was using an uneasy tone of voice that Itachi hadn't heard before which put him on edge but he tried not to show it.

From across the room Kisame made a vague humming noise that might have been words but Itachi couldn't make anything of it out.

"I didn't catch that."

He looked like a child who had been caught stealing cookies out of the cookie jar. His bottom lip was folder under his upper lip and his cheeks were sucked in, emphasizing his boxy facial structure. His eyes, which normally showcased what he was feeling, smiling or not, looked incredibly distant and removed. As if a light switch had been flipped, his eyes snapped back into focus as he loudly announced "So! Finals are coming up soon, eh Itachi?"

Why was he saying his name so often tonight? It wasn't a big deal or anything but he'd never noticed him say it so often before. "In about a month from now, yes?" He replied. Was that what Kisame was worried about? Finals?

"Yeah…" He laughed nervously. "It's funny, no matter how long I'm here it always feels weird to go back home for the summer, you know?"

Another change of topic. First finals, now summer break. Unless that was what Kisame had meant to talk about in the first place. In which case, his transition wasn't very smooth. Confused, Itachi nodded and went along with it anyways. "I suppose so. But you work on a boardwalk during the summer don't you?"

"I do, yeah." He was still scratching his head and kept his gaze cast at the floor. On top of that Itachi had never seen him fidget with his shirt so much before now. Had that gone unnoticed too? Was this a nervous habit he'd never seen Kisame exhibit before?

"I'm sure that'll be fun."

Kisame nodded and looked up to meet his eyes. "You should come visit sometime!" He said, a smile breaking out across his face like lightning on a stormy night. Jagged and illuminating. "I can hook you up with all sorts of discounts at the surf shack and rent you a surfboard for free!"

Itachi forced a smile. Kisame's love of the sea was so painfully evident and while Itachi couldn't bear to dampen his spirit he liked the idea of misleading him even less…"Summer isn't my favorite season." He said, hoping Kisame would fill in the blanks. "Sorry."

Just as quickly as lightning strikes, fading into the darkness, so too did Kisame's smile. "Oh." He looked him up and down. "You probably burn don't you?" He said, eyeing Itachi's exposed forearms.

Feeling rather uncomfortable, Itachi unrolled his sleeves and fastened the cuffs at his wrists. "Unfortunately, yeah."

"There's other things to do at the boardwalk too, though. The fries are good…"

Itachi pursed his lips together and nodded. "We'll see…" Something was wrong. Something was bothering Kisame that he wasn't telling him. However, nothing in the conversation gave him any indicators as to what that might be.

If the situation was an equation…x would represent the missing value…which, in this case was the thing Kisame was avoiding…every equation had an equal side but what was on the other side of that equal sign? The part Itachi was supposed to figure out? Clearly. But what did that look like?

Kisame's arms were crossed in front of his body now and he was wringing his fingers together in a fit of restlessness. "Got any summer plans?"

Screw the math. Relationships weren't mathematical equations that could be solved by distributing the values and separating the unknown variable. "Kisame what's bothering you?"

The color visibly drained from Kisame's face, so quickly that Itachi could practically hear the hollow sounds of water pouring down a bathtub drain. Kisame looked side to side as if the answer would magically present itself and then down at his hands. "I…um…I don't wanna…talk about it. It's stupid."

In math class the variable never said "I don't want to be solved" which was another reason Itachi preferred solitude over social interaction.

Forty-five minutes ago he was bumping hips with him and now he was feeling shy? As much as Itachi wanted to dismiss the behavior and get on with the work that still needed to be done he remembered how kind Kisame had been to him when he himself was being unreasonable. So he tried his hand at being open and understanding. "I'm not one of your roommates, Kisame." He said, dropping the other man's name to reign in his attention and show that he was being serious. "I'm not going to ridicule you for expressing your feelings." Hopefully that was sincere enough for Kisame to trust in what he was saying. Words were never his strong suit if a text and a few citations weren't involved. He was always much better at formulas and equations that followed patterns and produced answers but clearly human emotion wasn't as predictable.

The athlete seemed to mull this over for a moment before raising a finger. "Tell you what, I gotta use the bathroom real quick." He said and not a moment later he was darting across the living room. "I'll tell you when I get back! Promise!"

And just like that, Itachi was left alone with his thoughts and absent-mindedly survey his surroundings. Specks of crushed saltine crackers littered the countertop like the stars in the galaxy, interspersed with a smudge of dried egg white shaped like a shooting star that would be a pain to get off if left till later. So while he waited for Kisame to return he set to work wiping down the countertops.

When he finished wiping down the section they were working on and Kisame had not returned from the bathroom he wiped the rest of the countertop, scooping wayward bread crumbs into his palm and tossing them into the trash bin.

Once that was completed and Kisame had yet to return he fetched his literature text from his messenger bag and began to read over his Thursday assignment. He briefly weighed the merits of checking on Kisame or not but decided against it. Afterall, Kisame excused himself to use the bathroom, not check his mailbox downstairs. It was none of Itachi's business what came to pass during his time inside the bathroom and quite frankly, he didn't care to know.

"I'm like a new man!" Kisame announced, causing Itachi to jump slightly. It had not been a minute after he sat down with his text.

"Are you feeling okay?" Itachi asked slowly.

Kisame was beaming with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "Like a million bucks my friend!" He exclaimed loudly enough for his next-door neighbors to hear.

Yup. He didn't need to know any details beyond that. Catching a whiff of Zabuza's forgotten dinner was enough for one day. "So," Itachi said whilst skimming his text, "what did you want to talk about earlier?"

He expected him to brush it off and say "Nevermind. It's not important."

He DID NOT expect two large, muscular forearms to wrap around him from behind, squeeze and say "I just wanted to say I'm gonna miss you this summer!" He said, let go, and ruffled his hair for the second time today. "That's all."

"Get off of me you psychomaniac." He said, parroting Kisame's earlier words regarding Zabuza's behavior. "What's gotten into you today? You're awfully touchy and spacing out a lot." He watched as Kisame happily whistled his way to the fridge and pulled out a soda. "Did something happen that I'm unaware of?"

He raised a single finger to silence him as he downed a can of soda. "Sorry about that. Want something to drink?"

"Water's fine. Thank you." And with that, Kisame grabbed an unopened bottle of water from the fridge and tossed it in his direction. He caught it just above his head and motioned for Kisame to sit down a seat away from him. "There's something you're not telling me tonight."

Kisame, noticeably calmer than he was before, rubbed the skin between his eye and his nose and examined his fingers as if to find some leftover residue staining them. "You know how you've been cranky all day because you didn't get any sleep last night?" He asked him instead.

"Just answer the question please."

He smirked and took a seat beside him at the bar. "Well I guess you could say lack of sleep as made me a bit hyper. That's all!"

He'd nearly forgot that Kisame also came along to pick Deidara up from last night's party. What was meant to be a quick excursion turned into an hour long drive and then a trip to the hospital. It was a wonder that either of them were functioning at this point. It also explained the childish antics and the need to ruffle his hair and hug him without warning though the hug was stretching it a little.

What remained unclear to him, however, was the awkward conversation they shared before Kisame disappeared to the bathroom for ten minutes. "Okay…but what did you want to tell me earlier? One minute you were so dead set on watching Netflix on the couch and the next you wanted to just talk" he said, air quoting the words just talk, "but I still haven't figured out what it is you wanted to talk about. It seems like you're dancing around what's really been on your mind all night."

Something told Itachi that there was more to Kisame's exchange with Zabuza earlier than he let on. At one point he was sure Kisame was going to punch the other man judging by the way his fists were clenched. Instead he made a deal with him. Itachi was socially awkward. There was no denying it. But he'd grown up with a younger brother and knew that deals were made to keep the peace, usually from their mother or father. So what was Kisame trying to hide from him while Zabuza was in the vicinity? Would the two of them hash things out after Itachi left for the night?

He parted his lips to speak but promptly pursed them together again. He didn't know Zabuza or Kisame's relationship with Zabuza well enough to make an accurate assessment and certainly not a verbal assumption. Besides, he'd already asked Kisame why he was adamant that Zabuza leave them alone earlier. Kisame had answered the question, albeit vaguely, so what made him think he'd say something different if asked again?

Was it related to his grades? Was there a pop quiz in statistics that he wasn't aware of that Kisame tanked? Did he skip class and miss out on a crucial lesson? Forget to turn an assignment in? If any of those scenarios were the case and his grade was tanking Itachi could understand why he'd be nervous to confess to such a blunder.

He felt his face heat with anger. If, after all their time spent studying together, Kisame jeopardized his grade Itachi would be furious.

But again, that was an assumption. Not only that, but Itachi had willingly agreed to tutor him without pay. Itachi knew the risks of helping someone without compensation. If Kisame failed his class Itachi would have to accept that he spent all that time tutoring him for nothing and Kisame would have to figure out how to remedy the situation on his own.

Again, that was if the thing Kisame was refusing to talk about involved his grades.

Whatever it was, he wanted Kisame to speak to it himself. He wouldn't give him any leverage to create a believable excuse based on Itachi's own suspicions. It was for the best, after all. If they stood there in silence any longer Itachi would only conjure more infuriating scenarios in his head.

Kisame stared at him at length before letting out a long sigh. He ran a hand through his hair again and drug his fingers down his face before eventually letting it come to rest in his palm. "It's stupid. Really."

Enough of the games. "Just tell me."

Another sigh. "I'm bummed that the semester is ending."

Again with the semester coming to an end spiel? Be supportive and don't jump to conclusions, he mentally reminded himself. Be supportive. "Okay…?"

"Because…as stupid as this is gonna sound it took all semester to get to know you and now we're doing something other than studying and having a great time only to go back home for three months for summer break."

This was…unexpected. So Kisame had been telling the truth this entire time? All of that beating around the bush earlier was because he was too embarrassed to put words to how he actually felt. What did he expect Itachi to do? Storm off? Laugh at him? Or sit in stunned silence like he was in this exact moment?

Which was worse?

Thankfully, Kisame didn't move to look him in the eyes and continued, head still resting in his palm. "I know things started off kinda weird. I sort of bribed you into helping me study and then shit hit the fan in your personal life and I know I was probably the last person you wanted to share all that with but I'm glad you did because I think it helped us become more like friends and less like friends with study benefits, you know?"

"Yeah…" Itachi agreed, ignoring the lame pun. Funny how things had played out.

And just like that he brought his hand down and pushed away from the bar, eliciting a low groan from the barstool. "Anyways, enough of that. I'm gonna work on the dishes. Don't worry though, I'll wait to dump Zabuza's crap down the sink til he gets back. Lord knows the stench of Zabuza's secrets will be enough to fumigate the place and I want him to be here when I do it!" He cackled like a man unhinged.

This was the part where Itachi asked him to wait. Where Kisame would sit back down and finish what he was saying because there was clearly more to the story than he was letting on. Three months wasn't anything to feel sad about and would pass in the blink of an eye. Yet something inside Kisame must have thought it would drag on for eternity.

In an alternate reality, this was when Itachi promised to visit Kisame at the boardwalk despite his distaste for crowds, beaches, sand, warm weather, and touristy places like boardwalks in general. Realistically speaking, however, he wasn't sure he could keep such a promise. With his luck his summer schedule would conflict with Kisame's or he'd drive four or five hours just to talk to him for a minute at the surf shop before business picked up and forced them apart. And then what would he do? Spend the day chaperoning Sasuke and Naruto as they played beach volleyball under the scorching sun while he applied overpriced sunscreen to his already reddening skin?

In another lifetime, Itachi gave Kisame a friendly hug and convinced him that everything would be just fine. But that felt too personal. Sure, Kisame had been ruffling his hair all afternoon but before today they seldom touched each another much less hugged one another.

Instead of doing any of those things, he settled on defusing the tension with dry humor. "We'll spend plenty of time together drilling linear regression charts in preparation for your stats final next month, don't worry."

Kisame looked over his shoulder and gave him a small smile. "I'd expect nothing less." He mumbled somberly.

This was too pitiful to watch "Do you have baking soda?" He asked and hopped off his barstool.

"Do I have what? Baking soda? Probably not…"

So much for that. "Baking soda helps absorb strong odors." Itachi explained. "Most people keep an open box in the back of their fridge for just that."

"That's good to know."

He wasn't getting anywhere with this but didn't have any other ideas so he awkwardly continued. "I'd suggest buying two boxes – one for your fridge and one to dump down the sink once you get rid of whatever was in that container. It'll eliminate the odor from the sink at least."

"Keep talking." Kisame said. For the first time in minutes he looked to meet Itachi's eyes. "I like hearing you talk about things. Especially since I've been suffering from verbal diarrhea all night!"

"I'm not…" Much of a conversationalist, he wanted to say.

"You'll be fine." Kisame answered as if he could sense Itachi's hesitation. "Just talk about anything. I won't judge."

What did he want him to talk about? Other kitchen hacks that were semi-useful? Yeah, because that would make for a memorable time before summer break. Summer break…now that was an idea. "You asked me about my summer plans…" He began uneasily. "I actually applied for a part time librarian job back home."

"That's fitting!" He laughed and waved his hands dismissively. "Not judging! I'm not judging! I just think it suits you. It's so you Itachi!"

And so Itachi found himself talking about his upcoming summer job. Up until this point in his life his parents wanted him to spend his summers focusing on volunteer work and extracurricular classes in order to secure a spot at a good school. Beyond that, there wasn't much time for a part-time job. He'd recently convinced them that he was excelling at his studies and had free time to spare and might as well build a resume to prove that he had some working experience while he had the time. When he ran out of things to say on that front he asked Kisame more about his summer job. "Ask away!" Kisame said promptly dropped a dish in the sink with a clatter.

And so Itachi asked how long he'd worked there for to which Kisame replied "Well, they started paying me when I was sixteen." Apparently he'd been a frequent customer since he was little which slowly evolved into running errands for the shop owner when they were busy or understaffed. It seemed only natural that they'd offer to pay him once he was old enough though he whispered that they'd been paying him under the table before then.

"With the rate I'm going I could be an owner if I wanted to. But let's see where this degree takes me first." He said with a playful wink.

"A commendable idea." Itachi said, raising his water bottle in a mock-toast.

"Commendable? Talk dirty to me!" Kisame laughed. "I've never heard you call anything of mine 'commendable' before so this is a first!"

It was so absurd Itachi couldn't help but try to stifle his own laughter which resulted in a strangled wheezing noise. This in turn made Kisame laugh even harder which caused him to wheeze until both men were reduced to rubbing the corners of their eyes in an attempt to catch their breath.

The more they talked about summer plans and Kisame's job at the boardwalk, the more Itachi thought about his invitation to visit him this summer. It was evident that the man loved the beach more than anything else and probably wanted to share that love with Itachi despite his feelings towards the summer season as a whole. Deep down, Itachi wanted to make the trip, to see things the way Kisame saw them and get a healthy dose of vitamin D. But he knew this wouldn't be some magical weekend getaway where he'd magically fall in love with the sea on a boat tour Kisame found at a discounted rate. No, he'd get sunburnt, see Kisame for two seconds who would fuss over said sunburn and sell him a bottle of baby sunscreen and Itachi would comply out of guilt for holding up the line and back home after an hour.

"Would you say that your head is filled with dreams of the beach?" He asked, thinking about Deidara's collage from earlier. He instantly regretted it because what else had they been talking about for the past twenty minutes?

Beside him, Kisame molded crab meat into the shape of the sample patty Itachi set on a plate between them. Kisame's patties were too big and Itachi had to explain that they wouldn't cook all the way through if he made them that big. "Sure." Kisame replied. "Among other things."

Well if he didn't regret assuming that Kisame only thought of the beach and nothing else, he certainly regretted it now. He was a rising college junior. Of course he thought about other things! Things like bills or his future career or maybe even the crush he'd mentioned a few weeks ago when they were eating frosties.

"For one, I think about statistics all the time."

"Like I'm going to believe that."

A mischievous smile spread across his face. "Why do you ask?"

Itachi walked over to the sink to wash his hands. They were getting towards the bottom of the mix and needed to move on to the next step soon. "Deidara was working on a self-portrait/collage earlier." He said. "From afar it looks like a self-portrait but as you get closer you realize it's a collage portraying the components that make up Deidara's person. For example, the pictures that make up his hair are all clear sunny days because his head is always in the clouds. If that makes sense."

Kisame's cheeks ballooned to contain his laughter. "This is gonna sound bad but I thought it was because he was an airhead."

"I thought the same thing myself." Itachi quietly admitted.

And just like that, they were crumbling into a fit of laughter once again. When they both regained their composure, Kisame was scraping the remnants of the mix into his hand and asked "So you think my head is filled with dreams of the ocean or do you think I'm calm, cool and collected?"

Itachi considered this for a moment. "Both. Which actually serves as an excellent metaphor for one's state of mind. The ocean is calm most of the time until a storm brews much like some humans have a naturally calm disposition until something stressful happens."

"Calm until I'm not." Kisame summarized thoughtfully. "I like the way you think, Uchiha! I might see if I can get that made into a shirt, actually."

Itachi smiled, proud of the connection he'd made. It seemed he wasn't as socially backwards as he previously thought himself to be. Well, so long as his company understood poetic terminology, he supposed. What do you think my head would be filled with…? He wanted to ask even though he could confidently guess the answer: mathematic formulas.

"A galaxy." He answered without a beat.

[A/N]: Wow, yeah, this whole "cooking with Kisame" thing wasn't supposed to span 2+ chapters but yet here we are.

As you may or may not know, I started this story in 2015 so it's been in the making for 6 years! On top of that, my aim is for each chapter to be about 4,700 words. I have two weeks off so I've been able to write a chapter once a week but when I begin working again it takes about a month to find the time for. Often times I'm doubtful of my old writing process for the story. Is 4,000+ words too much? Am I letting the characters talk too much? Is stressing out for a weeks at a time worth it for two comments? But this morning I received a lovely comment from a new binge reader and set to work to finish a chapter that I thought about scrapping entirely.

So let's make a bargain - if I can get 5 comments (relating to something you liked about this chapter), I will post a bonus chapter next which will be a rewrite of this chapter but in Kisame's point of view. Only if I can get 5 comments will you get a bonus Kisame POV chapter. If not, I'm going to just continue the story as normal.

Thanks all!