Naruto Fan Fiction / Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Every Light on this Path is For You ❯ A Taste of Life ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

Chapter 10: A Taste of Life

"What is it?" Itachi asked softly when he realised Sasuke was staring at the table not saying a word when he obviously wanted to. They'd been sitting in silence for close to ten minutes and he was growing tired of it.

It had been a draining afternoon and all he wanted to do was curl up in bed with his boyfriend. However, his brother clearly needed him. He was tapping one hand on the table, biting his lip and attempting to appear calm when he clearly wasn't.

"He didn't seriously think that was going to work, did he?" Sasuke finally, his tone anguished as he glanced across at his sibling. There were tears in his eyes- born of sadness or anger Itachi didn't know, but he now knew that was why his boyfriend was currently in exile.

"He's trying," he tried to reason, but Sasuke shook his head angrily.

"I don't care."

"You should."

"I'm not you, Itachi. I don't give a shit about his opinion."

Itachi exhaled deeply, feeling far too emotionally drained to pep talk his irate brother. He was clinging to the hope what his father had said wasn't just fancy words- it wasn't a fix-all for his problems, but it would certainly go some way to reinforcing what Deidara and Sasuke had been telling him all along.

Besides, Sasuke did care for their father's view- if he didn't he wouldn't be so upset by it.

"It's been a long day," he remarked, determined to help Sasuke feel better despite his own weariness. He reached out and grabbed him in a hug, unsurprised to feel him shaking.

Sasuke, for all his bravado, was just as upset about aspects of their childhood as Itachi was it seemed. "How about you wind down and have an early night?"

"It's barely six."

"So? Just go to bed and grab a book to go with you."

"I'd rather go to a bar and grab some vodka instead."

"Underage, Sasuke."

"You're far too proper," Sasuke muttered, pulling out of the hug. Itachi flicked him on the forehead kindly, giving him a soft smile he never gave anyone else- a brotherly smile, full of pride and love.

"Mind if I go fetch my boyfriend?" He requested. "He's probably wondering what to do with himself."

Sasuke shrugged his indifference so Itachi went to the door, glancing out into the hallway. Deidara was on the floor, concentrating on something on his mobile phone screen.

"Deidara?"

Deidara jumped, shouting out moments later in dismay. "I lost my snake!" He wailed, earning himself a very odd glance from Itachi.

"Snake?"

"There's a game on here," Deidara explained. "It's really fun, yeah. You control a snake and it has to avoid itself and it gets bigger-"

"Oh," Itachi interrupted, finally realising what he was talking about. The game that came on most mobiles that had lost the novelty years ago for him- of course, Deidara had never owned one so hadn't encountered it before it seemed. "I know. Come on, you can play it on the sofa instead."

"Is everything alright?" Deidara asked quietly before they entered the living room.

"Long day," Itachi explained, giving no more elaboration. Deidara seemed content with that, throwing Sasuke a quick wave before settling comfortably on the sofa and continuing with his snake game.

"He seems at home," Sasuke muttered, eyeing Deidara with an air of distaste.

"And you don't care as much as you project," Itachi noted lightly. "Trust me on the early night, Sasuke. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"I doubt it," Sasuke replied bitterly, running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. "But I'll try."

"Good. We'll get out of your hair, then. Deidara- come on, we need to walk home."

"I just got- ah! Itachi! You told me I could play here and I lost the snake again!"

Itachi swiped the phone off of him, frowning at it. It had a set of googly eyes attached to it- he sighed, unable to find it within himself to be surprised. "Do you carry a stash of these things around with you?" He questioned.

Deidara reached into his pocket, pulling out a small handful of eyes with a sheepish grin. Itachi simply raised an eyebrow and said nothing more of it.

"You can play at home," he remarked instead. "Sasuke's going to bed, come on."

"Sasuke is not going to bed," the boy in question argued.

"Sasuke should go to bed. We're going to bed when we get in too, you know."

"We are?" Deidara asked, allowing himself to be helped up.

"Ew," Sasuke remarked, apparently mistaking the innocence of the comment. "I don't need to know about my big brother's sex life, thanks."

Itachi whirled around, cheeks crimson in embarrassment. "That was not what I meant!" He paused before deciding to set the record straight. "Besides, what do you take me for? We've been dating for only a month, Sasuke."

"After all that dancing around each other for so long, you're telling me there's no sexual tension?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that something you have experience with, yeah?" Deidara cut in swiftly, revelling in the shocked and marginally guilty look on Sasuke's face.

"You're leaving," Sasuke told them, shooing them to the door. Itachi didn't argue, stepping out into the cool evening with Deidara by his side a minute or so later.

"So," Deidara remarked when they were walking home, both deep in thought about the day's events. "You can stop being so perfect now, right?"

"It isn't going to be quite that easy," Itachi pointed out. "But I suppose I can stop attempting to seek constant reassurance from my father."

"You can stop linking your worth to how perfect you are, too."

"That might take a while," Itachi told him, a little sheepish. "That's pretty deeply ingrained. It will help, though. Thank you."

"No problem," Deidara shrugged. "Itachi?"

"What?"

"I'm still willing to help you be less perfect, yeah. You understand, right?"

"Of course. That's how we ended up with the impromptu family meeting- because of you trying to help."

"Good."

Itachi didn't miss the guilty look on Deidara's face, opening his mouth to question it before he found himself being pushed off the pavement into a puddle collected at the side of the road thanks to the afternoon's rainfall.

He stumbled, grabbing Deidara to regain his balance, but unable to stop himself from landing in it regardless. Mostly because Deidara gleefully let go of him and let him fall, much to Itachi's disdain.

"What the- Deidara!"

"That's payback," Deidara told him with a cheeky grin. "For that day you pushed me into the gutter, yeah."

With that he whipped out his phone and snapped a couple of photos, Itachi attempting to grab it indignantly. "Thanks for being caring enough to get a phone with a decent camera, yeah," Deidara thanked casually, holding it out of the other's reach as he stepped back onto the pavement. "It's great for moments like this when my camera is at home."

"Stop that," Itachi told him firmly once he was back on the pavement, sighing at his soaked shoes and lower half of his jeans. "I guess I'll be taking my third shower today when we get in," he remarked as they continued their journey.

"Should have thought about that before you shoved me in a gutter, yeah."

"That was a month ago!"

Deidara gave him a grin, wrapping an arm around his waist and giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek. "You're cute when you're irritated."

Itachi gave him a deadly glance, but refrained from commenting any further. They were almost back at their home, and he'd never been more pleased to see it. He already had visions of hot chocolate, Deidara and warm, soft covers- the small pleasures in life to take the edge off of his trying day.

Once inside he immediately headed to shower, stripping his clothes gratefully. Deidara was kindly making the hot chocolate he had requested, leaving him to take ten minutes to simply enjoy the hot spray of the power shower and the quiet in which he could finally straighten his thoughts out. Yet as he was moments from stepping in, he heard knocking at the door.

"Itachi- let me in, yeah."

Itachi glanced over his shoulder to the door, sighing heavily. "What is it?"

"Just let me in!"

"Are you kidding me?" Itachi complained almost to himself, slipping his towelling gown on and heading for the door. "If you wanted to use the bathroom why didn't you say so before I closed the door a minute ago?"

He pulled the door open with a swift tug, any further words he had planned dying away in his throat. Deidara stood before him, stripped naked and giving him a cheeky grin.

"I fancied a shower as well," he explained. "Why waste water?"

He stepped past Itachi, taking the door from his confused hand and closing it once more. Itachi stared at him as he slipped into the already-running shower without another word, wondering what on earth had just happened.

"Coming?" Deidara asked, peeking around the shower curtain and beckoning.

Itachi still stared in disbelief. Sure, they had done some exploring of one another, but that had been with the sense of touch, not the sense of sight. They'd stayed under the covers the entire time and stupidly, he was now feeling rather awkward at the idea of taking his gown back off and joining his partner.

How many times had he fantasised about less-than-innocent interactions between them? He blushed a little at the various memories that came to mind. Countless times! But now when he was faced with an innocuous shower that would lead to nothing unless he gave the go ahead, he was suddenly shy.

"You have nothing to be shy about," Deidara told him with a coy smile, almost as though he was reading the other's thoughts. "Come on. I'll close my eyes if you really want."

"Can you shower with your eyes closed?" Itachi muttered, finally shedding the gown and stepping in.

"Shush," Deidara hushed him, turning him round so he was facing away. "On your knees, yeah."

"What-"

Deidara sighed and pushed him down, putting a hand to the back of his neck. Itachi winced slightly- there was still residual pain from the hair pulling incident earlier at the college. Deidara knelt down as well, carefully combing his hands through Itachi's hair slowly and almost gracefully, fingers massaging as he did so.

So that was what he wanted. Itachi let him do it, mentally wondering how he was so damn good at massaging. Why hadn't he found this out before? With Deidara's fingers in his hair and the shower beating down on them, he felt himself relax to the point he could have easily fallen asleep. Just when he thought that he might Deidara relented, indicating for him to stand up.

"Now you're a little more comfortable," Deidara whispered in his ear, pressing up against his back closely and lowering his lips to Itachi's neck. "Let's see if I can ask you a question I've been wondering about for a while, yeah."

"Oh?" Itachi breathed.

"That day I handcuffed you," Deidara continued to whisper. "You looked rather... Impressed about something. What was it?"

"W-what?"

"You moaned about something, yeah. What was it?"

"If I tell you, will you keep doing whatever it is you're doing to my neck?" Itachi finally bit out, his tone breathy.

"If you want me to."

"You could probably do anything you want right now if you keep doing that."

Deidara chuckled softly, finally lifting his lips off of Itachi's neck. "I'm not going to push my luck, yeah. I don't want the drama of you regretting that comment later."

"Drama? Me?" Itachi replied, a tiny smirk on his lips. "Never."

"Did you just make a joke?"

"Possibly. It was you pulling my hair and treating me roughly, by the way."

"Are you kidding?" Deidara laughed. "You didn't look very pleased this morning, yeah."

"It wasn't you," Itachi pointed out. "It was some jumped up brat and there was nothing sexual about it. I was handcuffed when you did it! I think anything would have worked at that moment."

"I think I'll refrain from that today, yeah. I don't think it'll be very pleasurable right now. How about this instead?"

Itachi gasped as Deidara's hand snaked down, down, down. "That's fine," he uttered.

"Is that permission? Think with the right brain, isn't that what you said to me?"

"Just shut up and do whatever you want," Itachi muttered at him. "I love you, you idiot- I'm not going to regret it."

"I'll take that as permission granted, yeah. Now relax, Itachi- you've had a rough day, so let me make you feel better..."

An hour later they were curled up under the bedcovers, cradling hot chocolate and content in each other's company. With the highs of sexual euphoria now gone, all that was left for Itachi was a fuzzy, sleepy sensation that left a tiny smile on his face as he warmed his hands around the mug he was holding.

It also left the traces of shame that he'd been quite so easy to convince with only the slightest amount of arousal. He felt his cheeks burn once more, lowering his head slightly to sip his drink. Strands of his loose, damp hair fell around his face as he did so, leaving Deidara to tuck it behind one ear for him in a gentle, soft manner Itachi could barely believe belonged to him.

"You've been quiet, yeah. Everything alright?"

"Just thinking," Itachi shrugged. "I'm a little worried about Sasuke."

That hadn't been his thought at that exact moment, but it definitely was one. Sasuke hadn't taken their father's plans to bring the family closer together kindly- worse than expected, if he was honest with himself.

"I'm going to be awfully worried if you were thinking about Sasuke, yeah. The look on your face didn't suggest that."

Itachi glared at him. "You just want me to praise your technique, don't you?"

Deidara gave him a shameless grin. "I wouldn't be upset if you wanted to. I'm just checking the permission you gave was really alright."

"You have my permission to do anything you wish," Itachi told him, face serious for a moment. "I'm just shy and awkward, but I'll get over it."

"Anything?"

"Well- almost anything. You know what I mean."

"Of course," Deidara murmured, curling up against his side. "Finish that drink and lay down with me, come on."

"There's sugar in this. I'm not sleeping until I've cleaned my teeth."

"Oh come on, are you serious?" Deidara complained, taking the mug out of his partner's hand and bodily forcing him to lie down.

He attached himself to his side, strong arms across Itachi's chest to prevent him moving. "Your teeth will live for one night, yeah. Just enjoy this. You need to relax and take care of yourself, or I'm going to do it for you."

"Can you stop mothering me? It's getting quite disconcerting."

"There was nothing motherly about what we just-"

"I meant right now!"

Deidara grinned, tightening his hold around Itachi. "Can we just not think about any of this until tomorrow?" He requested. "I just want a nice easy life for once, yeah."

"Alright," Itachi murmured, already beginning to drift into light sleep in the comfort of Deidara's arms. "Sleep well."

"And you."

Just as Deidara was dropping into sleep he realised neither of them had set the alarm for the next day. He mentally shrugged the thought off, declining to do so- he would probably wake naturally and if he didn't...

Well, he was sure he could come up with a suitable excuse for being late that wasn't 'my boyfriend's going to be home and I wanted to stay with him'.

Chapter End