Encore

7

His father had offered to drive him to the airport. Itachi had gladly accepted, but asked if they could stop in town on the way.

"I need to buy something."

His father stayed in the car while Itachi went to a store to buy Shisui's Christmas present.  He paid for it and left, feeling giddy.

The flight felt like it took ages. Itachi tried to sleep for a while, but was so excited it was difficult to fall asleep. Late that evening, he put the key in the lock of his apartment. When he stepped in, he felt like home. It smelled like tea and cinnamon; smells that he could only feel now when he had been away for a while. He left his suitcase on the floor, took a firm hold of the bag with the present, checked himself in the mirror, realised he was a mess after five hours of traveling, decided he didn't care, and ran out in the snow.

Shisui had pointed out the window to his room when they'd walked by, but Itachi had never been there. They hadn't hung out at each other's places since that night that Shisui had gotten drunk. And kissed him... Itachi let himself into the building and climbed the stairs until he found the door that should correspond to the window he'd pointed out. He saw Shisui had taped up a piece of paper where he had written "SHISUI", but with such a bad handwriting it was barely readable. Itachi smiled to himself and knocked. He had promised Shisui that he would text once he landed, but he had tricked him, saying his plane would land an hour from now, hoping Shisui wouldn't actually look up how long a flight from his home town to their university city took, and now he was here to surprise him. Shisui opened the door, looking confused, his hair in wet locks after a shower, clad in a loose T-shirt and lounge trousers. He didn't have his glasses on. Once he saw Itachi, he squinted a little, and when he recognised him his entire face lit up.

"You son of a bitch, you tricked me!" He flung the door open and threw himself at Itachi with such force Itachi flung backwards. Itachi laughed and hugged him back, putting down the bag with the present first, putting his arms around Shisui's broad shoulders. Shisui lifted him up and twirled him around. Then he put his hands on Itachi's shoulders and held him at arms length, seemingly marveling at the mere sight of him. He was grinning madly. "It's so good to see you!"

"Same!"

"Come in! Oh God, sorry, I haven't tidied up."

Itachi took his bag and walked in. He honestly didn't understand what Shisui meant. The room was quite small, but it was immaculately clean. There was not a spot anywhere, not even any light clutter. It was sparsely furnished, but very neat and tidy. Itachi looked around. One wall was a photo wall, and Itachi was astonished to see that he was in many of them. On the opposite wall, a door opened to a spotless bathroom.

"Wow... You're even tidier than I am."

"Mother raised me well." He took a half-eaten protein bar that he had apparently been munching on before Itachi came from the small kitchen table and took another bite. "Oh, right, Christmas present!" His eyes shot up. "Okay, close your eyes."

Itachi obeyed. "This isn't a prank, right?"

"If you find this a joke, I will be very, very hurt", Shisui answered with a mock-sincere voice. Itachi stood still while he heard some rustling. "You said you wanted something home-made. Well, it's technically not home-made, but my uncle on my mother's side is a silver smith, and I had this design in mind and together we made it. It was really cool, I got to be a part of the process!" Itachi felt something cool on his collarbones. The weight seemed to balance perfectly on his inner shoulders, being condensed to three points distributed symmetrically. It felt like it had belonged there all his life. "Okay, let me just turn you around so you face the mirror... Okay, look!" Shisui said. His voice sounded nervous and excited at the same time.