Chapter Text
Itachi didn’t get anxious very easily, but he did feel a little nervous as he looked at the building in front of him. It was unassuming, just an old brick building with a lot of windows and a banner over the door that said ‘Welcome Back’. Nothing about it was threatening, but Itachi was more nervous about what came next. He had been the one to beg his parents to let him room at school this year hoping it might help him make some friends, but now he was regretting it a little. He didn’t know anything about his roommate and was worried he might be loud and rude, like most of the other students pushing past him. It was too late to change his mind though, especially as his family was surrounding him with his bags in their hands. Itachi took a deep breath and then walked towards the dorms, wondering if his new roommate was there already.
His dorm room looked exactly how Itachi expected it to. It was small, boring, and empty, no sign of his roommate yet at all. Itachi dropped his bag onto an empty bed, hoping his roommate wouldn’t mind that he had made the choice for him. Then he helped his family unpack his things, trying to stop his Shisui from messing with his stuff too much. His mother insisted on folding all of his clothes for him, getting a little teary-eyed when there was nothing left to fold. The school wasn’t far from his parents’ house and he knew he’d still be talking to his family everyday, but Itachi already felt a little homesick. He tapped his fingers against Sasuke’s forehead a little harder than he normally would’ve and let his mother hug him for a long time. Then he watched them drive off, feeling a little lonely as they left him there.
Itachi wandered around campus for a bit after his family left, not wanting just to sit in his dorm room alone. Almost everything looked the same as it had the year before, and Itachi felt a little calmer about the year ahead of him. Everything was going to be fine. He walked back to his dorm room, hoping his roommate was there.
The room was still empty, but his roommate had been there at some point as it almost looked like a bomb had went off on one side of the room. There were clothes scattered across the floor and furniture and books all over the place. Itachi almost tripped over a half-unpacked box and then almost tripped again over a pair of boots. The room oddly smelled like spray paint, even though Itachi couldn’t see any cans anywhere. A part of him wanted to pick up his roommate’s clothes and fold them, but he resisted as he knew that would probably make a weird first impression. So instead he pulled out the textbook for his first class and started to read the introduction, just to have something to do.
Itachi had intended to stay up until his roommate came back so he could introduce himself. But then it started getting late and he could barely keep his eyes open anymore. Itachi climbed into bed, leaving a light on for his roommate. He had expected to have trouble falling asleep, unused to his dorm’s bed and all of the noises outside, but he fell asleep almost as soon as he laid his head on his pillow.
Itachi bolted awake, the blaring sound of an unfamiliar alarm startling him. He looked around for the source of the noise, then relaxed a little as he remembered where he was. His roommate’s alarm was still going off, loudly trying to wake the person who was somehow still sleeping. Itachi looked over towards his roommate’s bed, trying to get a glimpse of him, but all he could see was a little bit of blonde hair peeking out from under the blankets. He waited a few minutes, waiting to see if he’d wake up, but he continued to sleep like the dead. Itachi considered turning the alarm off himself, but decided to let it keep going as he went to take a shower. He was sure his roommate would be awake by then.
The alarm was still loudly blaring when Itachi got back to the room, but his roommate was awake now. He was sitting up in bed bleary-eyed with his long hair all tangled. He gave Itachi a confused sort of look, like he didn’t understand how he got into the room. Itachi waved and then immediately felt awkward about it.
“Uh hi. I’m Itachi–your roommate.” Itachi only felt more awkward as he introduced himself, like he was somehow doing it wrong. His roommate sat up a little straighter.
“Oh hey. I’m Deidara.” His voice was still thick with sleep, but it was deeper than Itachi expected. Itachi smiled at him, and Deidara smiled back after a long moment. But then things felt awkward again as they just looked at each other. Itachi looked around the room quickly, trying to find anything he could talk about with Deidara.
His eyes landed on a small, clay bird on Deidara’s desk. It was overly round and a little clumsy looking. It reminded Itachi of the little things Sasuke would make him during school. He smiled as he thought about Sasuke, missing his brother already. Deidara followed his gaze and then smiled too, looking a little more awake.
“What do you think of it?” Deidara’s question was eager, and he was looking back at Itachi expectantly.
“It’s cute. Did a younger sibling make it for you or something?” Itachi knew he had said the wrong thing as soon as he finished speaking. Deidara’s face darkened, and he was frowning at Itachi.
“ Cute? I guess you don’t know anything about art, hm.” Deidara’s voice was sharp, like not knowing about art was the worst thing a person could do. “And I made it.” Itachi winced as Deidara’s voice got even sharper. Then he ducked back under his blankets, still letting his alarm blare loudly. Itachi sighed, upset with himself for already messing up with his roommate.
Deidara stayed under the blankets as Itachi gathered up everything he needed for the day. Itachi considered staying until Deidara came back out so he could apologize, but he didn’t want to make things worse and he was sure he’d get other chances to talk to his roommate. He felt awkward as he left the room, wishing he wasn’t so bad at making friends.
Itachi never really got a chance to properly apologize, but mostly because it seemed like Deidara didn’t want him to. It was clear that Deidara didn’t like him, always giving him cold looks and mumbling mean things under his breath. He also purposefully made it hard for Itachi to get any work done in the room, either always playing loud music or inviting his rowdy friend Hidan over. Itachi ended up spending most of his time in the library, which was pretty much what he had done before when he commuted to school. It was annoying and a little lonely, but Itachi was determined to muddle through it, not wanting to give up that easily. He was also still determined to apologize to Deidara, even if it took all year for him to get a chance to.
The library had been crowded as it was almost time for midterms. Itachi had trouble finding a table and then had trouble focusing as everyone around him was so loud. Most of the other students were panicking, trying to cram in last minute studying before their tests. Itachi wasn’t too worried about his own tests as he usually did well, but he had still wanted to study beforehand. He stayed there for a couple of hours trying to focus on his notes, but eventually gave up as he was just reading the same lines over and over again without really absorbing them. He packed up all of his books and then headed back to his room, hoping Deidara wasn’t there so he could get some studying in.
Deidara was in the room, crammed onto his small bed with Hidan. They were uncharastically quiet, focused on the pages sprawled out in front of them. Deidara quickly glared at Itachi as he walked in, but then dropped his gaze back to his notes, chewing on his pen as he did. Itachi assumed they were studying together for a general education class as Deidara was some sort of art major while Hidan was strangely a religious studies major. He considered asking them about it, but then just decided to study at his own desk after Deidara shot him another quick glare.
Itachi was able to focus on studying for the first time all day. The room was so quiet that he almost forgot that he wasn’t alone. But then Hidan yelled loudly as he threw a book across the room. Itachi jumped a little in his chair as it hit the ground loudly.
“Why the fuck did I trust you when you said environmental science would be an easy A?! This shit is so fucking confusing!” Hidan also threw Deidara’s book across the room as he shouted, clearly stuck on something as he studied. Deidara sighed loudly as he tugged on his ponytail.
“How was I supposed to know they’d have someone new teaching it? Ugh we should’ve dropped it earlier.” Deidara sounded frustrated. Itachi knew he should’ve just looked back at his own notes, especially as Deidara probably wouldn’t appreciate him butting in, but tutoring has always been something he had been good at. He turned around in his chair so he could face them better.
“What are you stuck on?” Deidara glared over at Itachi as he asked, but Hidan gave him a desperate, hopeful sort of look.
“Fucking everything. Do you know what city hot boxing is?” Itachi blinked a few times at Hidan’s question, honestly having no idea what he was talking about. But then he had an idea.
“Do you mean urban heat islands?” Hidan shrugged at Itachi’s question.
“Maybe? I have no idea how I’m supposed to remember all this stuff.”
“You can try to make it personal, that’s how I remember things. Like….” Itachi tried to remember what he had learned in his own environmental science class the year before. “Green roofs. They’re just a garden on top of a building, but you can try to think of yourself at one and it might help you remember it better.” Hidan frowned, but it looked like he was considering what Itachi said.
“Do I have to imagine myself alone?” Hidan winked and then waggled his eyebrows as he asked, making his insinuation obvious. Itachi blushed as Deidara rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be a creep, Hidan.” Deidara shoved him as he said it, but Hidan just shoved him right back. Then he gave Itachi a wide, toothy smile.
“Thanks. I think I might just distract myself more, but you know.” Hidan shrugged and smiled at Itachi like he thought he really did know. Itachi just smiled back. But then his smile faltered a bit as he looked over at Deidara who was giving him an annoyed look. Itachi considered turning back around, but he knew this might be the only chance he’d really get to apologize. He took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, Deidara.” The blonde boy narrowed his eyes, but didn’t interrupt Itachi. “I uh I’m not really good at talking to people.” Itachi blushed as Hidan nodded, like he was agreeing with him. “But I honestly really like your art. Especially your dragons.” Deidara narrowed his eyes even further, looking for a hint of a lie. But Itachi really did mean it. Deidara’s clay creations were all still a little clumsily made, but it was obvious how much he loved making them when you looked at them. Deidara’s expression softened a little.
“Thanks.” Deidara looked away, pushing at a pile of notes on his bed as he did. “So uh…do you actually know about urban hot boxing or whatever?” Itachi smiled at Deidara’s begrudging tone.
“Yeah, I do.” Itachi walked over as Deidara patted the spot he just cleared on his bed, making sure to grab their textbook off of the floor as he moved. His chest felt light as he sat down with them.
Itachi didn’t get any more of his own studying done during the night, but he didn’t mind. It was surprisingly fun trying to help Deidara and Hidan study. He wasn’t sure how much information they were actually retaining, but he guessed that didn’t really matter. The light feeling stayed in his chest for the rest of the night, getting warmer each time Deidara and Hidan laughed.