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The rain pattering on the stained kitchen window, the free flowing stream of curses from Hidan, and the blairing of the fire alarm accompanied Itachi’s frantic scramble to sort through his roommate’s mess on the kitchen floor.
All he had wanted was a simple day.
A day where he can do one act of kindness to ease their increasingly methodical, mundane days.
‘Maybe it was a mistake on my part.’ Itachi conceded as he shoved a couple of the pans into a cupboard.
It had been his idea to try to surprise there housemates, or resident fuck buddies as Hidan liked to refer to them much to Kakuzu’s agitation, with a warm meal after they came back from their extracurricalar activities on campus during this rare rainy spell.
He thought it would be something nice to get the apartment all cleaned up and have a warm dinner together, which was becoming infrequent as they settled into their new class schedules.
Hidan had readily agreed to help when Itachi told him his idea. Though Itachi was sure it had less to do with having a generous heart and more of not wanting to risk Itachi’s cooking.
He wished he could blame him for the sentiment.
But he could blame himself for thinking that Hidan’s help would do any helping of the sort.
“Why does it look like the cabinets had a really bad hangover?” He hissed, nearly slipping on the grains of rice that scattered all around.
Hidan stirred the pot slowly and shrugged. Nothing about his demeanor matched the state Itachi found their apartment in not even moments ago.
“I couldn’t find the salt. The geezer keeps moving my shit around like he knows how to cook or something.” He grunted out, ignoring Itachi’s wince at the nickname Hidan had given Kakuzu. He raised the spoon he was stirring with to sip at the stew and let out a pleased hum.
“So you had to take everything out? You were supposed to keep the place clean!”
“Relax babe it’s fine! They won’t be here for a while and those bastards should be grateful they’re getting my cooking.”
Itachi flushed at the pet name. It was different than Hidan’s usual teasing and he found he probably would never get used to it.
And he knew that Hidan was banking on it throwing him off.
But it would take more than that to deter him.
“It’s not fine, Hidan. We still need to make everything look nice and set the table…”
He paused as hefted up the bag of rice back into its usual spot and let out a grunt.
His onyx eyes flicked toward the digital clock resting precariously on their worn coffee table that was even out by placing a few of their old textbooks under a shorter leg.
“They’re going to be here early today, remember? Kisame’s water polo practice was canceled and he only stayed so he could walk back from campus with Kakuzu once he finished up with that student body meeting.”
He rambled on as he carefully picked up the assortment of spices Hidan insisted on maintaining.
“Ah just leave that shit there. None of you ever put things back right.” Hidan growled out in annoyance.
Though the sad look Itachi gave him stopped him from continuing in such a harsh tone.
“Come on ‘Tachi, don’t be like that. We’re supposed to be ‘setting the scene’ for...
~~~
“What the actual fuck.” Kisame whispered under his breath as he took in the scene.
“I’m retiring from life.” Kakuzu grunted out at the same moment.
The scene of Itachi, hair disheveled and the beginnings of tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to shove the mess aside from their views, was contrasted with Hidan, picturesque in his amusement and relaxed expression as he took the lid off of the pot.
Itachi straightened up quickly, his eyes locked onto the pair as they closed the door behind them, muffling the sound of the storm outside.
He brightened up considerably despite his distress seconds ago and he ran forward to greet them, carefully hopping over the debris of Hidan’s cooking session.
“Welcome home.” Itachi said hopefully, a warm smile on his face as he moved to hug Kakuzu first as he had been the first to come through the door.
The taller man shrugged over his soaked coat and let it plop on the floor just in time to catch Itachi’s embrace.
But his narrowed green eyes remained fixed on the oblivious Hidan who had their backs to them.
It didn’t take a mastermind to figure out what happened here, and he knew that despite his abysmal performance in the culinary arts that Itachi knew to pick up after himself.
Itachi, oblivious to the mounting annoyance that was about to peak in Kakuzu’s limited threshold for patience, bounced over to Kisame who gave him a much warmer reception.
Kisame picked him up in an embrace and spun around, getting Itachi to let out the giggle that just made him weak in the knees.
“You two didn’t have to make dinner.” He pecked Itachi on the cheek affectionately after setting him down “It was our turn tonight.”
“You shouldn’t have made dinner.” Kakuzu corrected his roommate as he began to pace over to Hidan who finally turned to look at them with an outraged expression.
“Go fuck yourself with your umbrella! You’re lucky we were nice enough to make you anything.” He shouted defensively, shaking the spoon at him loosely and moving to meet him.
Kakuzu snatched the spoon from his grasp and tossed it into the piled clutter Itachi shoved to one side of the kitchen not moments ago.
“I’ll count myself lucky when we can leave you alone for five minutes without you destroying the place!”
“Maybe if you put everything back where it belonged in the cabinets then I could cook without looking for the damned salt you grouchy fuck!”
“I left it on the counter so you could find it” he growled out “so we wouldn’t have this happen. Again.”
Hidan shrugged, taking another, daring step forward with that grin on his face that he knew riled up the accounting major. “Well why don’t you help clean up sweetheart, it’s the least you could do.”
The smug expression lasted all of five seconds as he barely missed Kakuzu’s fist and he let out a yell.
As the two scuffled in the kitchen, Kisame and Itachi readied the table so that they could eat once the other two blew off some steam.
“Coming home to you two and dinner? It beats water polo practice any day.” Kisame practically purred as he watched Itachi flick the lighter to light the candle they had placed on the table. It had been a housewarming gift from Deidara and one Itachi had been meaning to use.
Itachi let out a small hiss of pain as the flame quickly heated up his finger as he held the lighter precariously. Still the grimace disappeared into a smile at Kisame’s words. “That can’t be true.” He said softly, casting his eyes down for a moment. “I know practice is important to you.”
Kisame huffed and went to ruffle Itachi’s hair “Hey stop that now. You know I mean it.”
Itachi simply chuckled and batted away Kisame’s hand “Okay, but only if you stop. I hate it when you do that.” Itachi hated it when anyone patted his head like he was a child.
Kisame retracted his hand and did not suppress the grin on his face when Itachi frowned “I thought you wanted me to stop!” He protested.
Itachi sighed “I know.” He didn’t offer much of an explanation but moved closer to Kisame and leaned his forehead on his shoulder. Kisame pulled him closer and hummed without saying much else.
The stood for a bit before being interrupted by a scoff and Hidan punching Kisame on the shoulder with little force. Not that he could actually hurt Kisame.
“Well the food is ready. I ain’t your mom so you can serve yourself.” He huffed out, his hair tosseled from the scuffling around he did with Kakuzu.
Kisame leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Hidan’s cheek “Thank you for the meal. It smells great.” Hidan flushed in response and turned his head away “It’s going to taste great too! Kakuzu couldn’t hold himself back.” His jeered.
Kakuzu shot him a half hearted glare. He had burned away most of his frustration moments prior and was just hungry now. “I was making sure it was fine. It will suffice.” He hummed out, serving himself a portion and ignoring Hidan’s indignant yell.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? ‘It will suffice’.” He mocked Kakuzu’s tone and sat himself down at the table.
“It means he’s going to enjoy every last bite.” Itachi answered happily, plopping himself down in the seat across from Hidan. Kisame nodded in agreement as he brought over bowls for the other two, carefully carrying the hot stew that Hidan had made.
Kakuzu, deciding his exhaustion outweighed his willingness to argue for once, replied with a noncommittal grunt and brought his own bowl to sit next to Itachi and across from Hidan at their small table. It was one of their better pieces of furniture even if contrasted with their folding chairs. He took a spoonful of stew right in front of them for good measure. “It’s good to see you used the vegetables before they went bad.” It was the closest Hidan was getting to a compliment. Still he had to press for more as always “Yeah, I don’t even like half of this stuff either and it still came out bomb as fuck.” He crooned happily.
Kisame gestured to the TV with a nod after a bit of silence as they ate. “So what does everyone want to watch?”
By the time they found something they could agree on the stew had become lukewarm at best. It was one of the better meals they had in a long while.