The class was exactly as bad as Itachi had feared. The Guy person was really something else, and he took out each movement so much Itachi was afraid he would take off and fly away. Itachi stood in the back together with the three boys. Shisui stood in the front with some middle-aged ladies who were clearly Zumba-enthusiasts. Despite Itachi's mellow mood, he couldn't help but smile at Shisui; despite his keenness, Shisui had obviously never danced before, but that, of course, didn't bother him. Itachi didn't know how Shisui did it, but he just took his place and in doing so managed to not make a fool out of himself. Itachi himself was way more hesitant, and his guess was that he looked way worse off than Shisui did.

"And then we MIX A CAKE!" Guy screamed and did a swirling motion with one hand, pretending to hold a bowl with the other, at the same time stomping his feet in sumo-position.

"What kind of dance move is that?" Bjorn mumbled.

"Shut up and MIX THE CAKE!" Chris hissed back, mock-irritation searing through his voice as he mixed his cake furiously.

All the while, Itachi was a prisoner of his mind. A thousand thoughts swirled round so fast, and he only caught fragments of them. "If we didn't know he was such a ladies man, we would've thought he was into men..." "He loves the ladies..." This bothered Itachi for some reason. He felt tricked, used, and disappointed, all at the same time. But why? I like Shisui because he's been so approachable. No-one has never wanted to get to know me. He hasn't done anything wrong.

Itachi didn't understand, but was still somewhat grateful for the thoughts whirling through his mind like it was Guy's imaginary cake-mixing Zumba-bowl, because then he didn't really have room to think about the embarrassment of the situation. Thank God Shisui was in front of him and couldn't see him.

But why..?

Once the class was over, Itachi tried to sneak to the back door. Shisui hadn't spoken to him at all, and he felt he wanted to keep it that way. When he was just in the door, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned round.

"So..." said Shisui, eyes closed in a grin, sweat dripping from his forehead, scratching his curls like there was no tomorrow. "We are going out to eat after this and then to get some drinks. Wanna join?"

"I... I think I'll pass", Itachi answered, looking down a little.

Shisui looked disappointed "Are you sure? It would be more fun with you. And the others like you!"

Itachi smiled weakly at that. "I like them, too. But this is enough socialising for me right now."

"Ahh, all right, I understand", Shisui said. "So, see you in uni tomorrow."

"No lectures"

"Oh, so... Yeah, see you around."

"See you, Shisui."

And Itachi turned and left.

Itachi laid in his bed, thinking about the events of the day. It was as if an excitement he had felt in the core of his stomach had evaporated and disappeared. It felt empty, like that feeling of bliss had carved a hole in his stomach and then left it, so there was now a void waiting to be filled with something. But what Itachi wanted to fill it with didn't fit.

Unable to deal with his gloominess a minute longer, he picked up his phone and called his mother.

"Hi, sweetheart!" she said. "How is uni?"

"Hi, mum. It's fine."

"Tell me about it!"

Itachi told her about his apartment, his classes and the people there. His mother asked if he'd made any friends. Itachi told her he'd spoken to some people, but not anything else.

"Itachi..." his mother had concern in her voice. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

Itachi smiled a little; his mother knew him inside and out. "Perhaps... But I need to think about it for a while first."

"All right. You know you can speak to me about anything. Fugaku as well."

"Thanks mum."

"You wanna speak to Sasuke?"

"Yes, please."

Itachi spent some time talking to his beloved little brother. That never failed to lighten his mood. Sasuke had a way to instantly cheer Itachi up with his stories about high school and his friends. With Sasuke, Itachi became more talkative than he usually was, but still not on the same level as Sasuke. He was a happy child and lived more on the outside of his mind than on the inside, like Itachi did. They spoke for twenty minutes. After they hung up, he noticed a text from Shisui.

Shisui, 07.30 PM: "What's on ur mind?"

Me, 07.46: "Zumba! Zumba! Zumba!"

Shisui, 07.47 PM: "Glad to see u still have your undying sense of humor ;) Please tell me if you want to join us or just talk."

That mixing between "u" and "you"...

Shisui, 07.48 PM: "I can go away from the others to speak to the phone!"

Me, 07.50: "I'm fine. We'll see each other soon. Have a good night."

Shisui, 07.51: "Ok... Thx"

The gloominess instantly got its hold of Itachi again, so he decided to change, go back to the gym and lift some weights.

Itachi preferred showering in his apartment rather than the gym. Not because he was shy, but because of convenience; he loved long evening showers and had a ton of different products he liked to use that wouldn't fit in a normal-sized gym bag. He was in the shower for about forty-five minutes, and had just sat down at his desk clad in a T-shirt, lounge trousers and a towel around his hair and a late dinner on a warm plate next to him to plan his studying for his day off tomorrow when he decided to check his phone and saw that he had twenty-seven missed calls.

What on earth...

They were all from Shisui, and had begun at ten and gone on for the entire time Itachi was in the shower. He had just had time to register all this when the phone rung again. Of course, it was Shisui. Itachi stared at the screen. Did he really want to answer? What if something had happened and he needed Itachi's help? What if he had just forgotten to lock his phone and it was now pocket-dialing Itachi over and over? What if...

Before he had decided to answer, the calling stopped. Itachi took a deep breath, and called Shisui up.

He answered on the first call.

"EETACHEE!"

Good grief, Shisui was drunk. Like, really, really drunk.

"Shisui, what on earth..."

"EETACHEEE! Why..." A hickup. "WHY didn't you JOIN US? WHY didn't you... Oh KNOCK IT OFF, Chris! I'm speaking to EETACHEE! He's MY MAN! I'm speaking to MY MAN! Allight, imma head out."

Itachi was utterly confused. He had never drunk alcohol himself except the occasional sake at home, and he had definitely not have had to deal with a drunk before.

"So... EETACHEE!" Shisui voice was muffled, and he was obviously struggling to form each word. He cleared his throat. "WHY... WHY did you ignore me before? I wanted to HANG. Wait, wait. Oh... OW!" A sound of clutter, as if Shisui had fallen down.

"Shisui, are you all right?" Itachi exclaimed, worry in his voice.

"Hehh... I like to hear you worried about me... No, no I'm fine. I'm f... Oh SHIT that's a lot of blood. I'M BLEEDING FROM THE BACK OF MY HEAD! FUCK!"

"Shisui, where are you?"

"Never... Never mind, just answer. Why..." To Itachi's horror, Shisui started to sob. "I... Itachi..."

"Tell me where you are." Itachi tried to remain calm.

"The... The Union Bar. Behind the maths building... The backside... There's a garden..." Shisui managed to say between sobs.

"I'm on my way! Are you alone?"

"Yes, yes I'm alone, but..." Hickup. "You don't need to come." Sob.

"There in five." Itachi hung up, switched trousers to his black jeans, put on his coat and rushed through the door before he had time to button it.

The night was dark and a little chilly, but not unpleasant. Some of the summer warmth was still in the air, and there was a layer of clouds in the sky that preserved that warmth on the ground. Itachi didn't run, but walked as fast as he could. His heart was beating fast for a million different reasons while he imagined countless scenarios in his head. He had no experience with alcohol and drinking, but still had a good hum of what Shisui needed; basically food and water and rest.

He came to the Union building after what felt like ages and went directly to the backside. It was dark, with only a few small lamps lighting up a small garden that opened up to a large patch of grass. In the garden was a stone-laden area that led up to some stairs to the Union building, and on that area was a lone figure laying down, sobbing and hiccuping.

"Shisui..."

The figure jerked. In the reflection of a garden lamp, Itachi could see he was clad in only a T-shirt and jeans. His hair was ruffled and his eyes were glassed over but alert, but when he saw Itachi they filled with tears. "Eetachee..." he croaked. And he broke down crying.

Itachi walked up to him, kneeled, took of his coat and put it around Shisui's shoulders. "Hush, Shisui", he soothed. "You're drunk."

"I'm sawwrry!" Shisui wailed. "I'm sooo sawwrry! I don't want you to see me like this!"

"But now I have, so I might as well take care of the situation."

Itachi looked at the back of Shisui's head and saw there was dried blood in his hair. He pushed the curls aside and saw the rash was wide and long, but not deep enough to need stitches. He took Shisui's arm and put it around his shoulder, took a firm grip around his waist and lifted him up so he was standing, supporting his weight.

"Can you walk?" Itachi asked. Shisui nodded tiredly and they begun walking.

"Itachi?", Shiusi asked quietly.

"Mmm?" Shisui was quite a bit heavier than he was, so talking was hard.

"Why were you avoiding me? I don't understand..." He seemed to have sobered up.

"We'll talk when you're sober."

"Promiiiiiiiise?" he drawled. Okay, he was definitely still very drunk.

Itachi begun to walk them to his apartment.

"I promise."