UPDATE!

Just thought I'd proclaim that fact Sorry for the wait (although I've made you wait longer before now…) still trying to wrestle my way through my Masters (so very nearly finished…!). By September I should be a free girl though, so cake for all and much more regular chapters (no, really!).

As always, thankyou for sticking with this, I love each and every one of you who reads this and double hugs and kisses to my reviewers (have I ever mentioned that I'm a review junkie…?). With thanks to my beta who found time in her hectic routine, dedications to Squid because she tends to go emo if I don't and a quick reminder that I own nothing but the plot. Oh, and Penny. She's mine

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"This wasn't meant to happen! I didn't want to put you in this position where you'd always be cautious around me! I'll try to make this right, I promise! It's only a crush, it's not like I'm in love with you or something – that would be stupid! – I swear it's just a stupid crush and I'm behaving like a fucking teenager! I'll make this right, you can just forget anything that demon said. I'll make this right!"

And with that he was gone; sprinting up the path to his house.

And all Itachi could do was stare blankly at where the blonde had been sitting, the revelation leaving him reeling.

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Five hours had passed.

Itachi sat in his room – now immaculate since there's nothing like tiding up to keep your mind off things you really don't want to think about – and stared wearily at the video feed on his laptop screen.

"Repeat it just one more time please."

He sighed irritably. "Deidara likes me. In that sort of sense. And now I have no idea what to do." He glared at the faces in the webcam. "And that's the third time you've made me repeat it so I can only conclude that telling you and asking for advice was a bad idea since all you wish to do is ridicule me."

Mai giggled, then quickly covered her mouth and tried to look like she hadn't. "I'm sorry, Itachi-kun, but it is rather funny!"

"I'm glad you think so." The Uchiha said dryly. "Do any of you have anything to say that may actually be of some help, or is the situation too much to handle?"

"You have to admit; from our point of view this is hilarious." Bou-san added. "We never thought you'd even get a girlfriend, let alone a boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend and I do not appreciate the insinuation that I am anything other than entirely heterosexual!" Itachi's patience, limited at the best of times, had worn thin as he snapped back in reply. "I called you in the mistaken belief that maybe you'd have an idea of how I should deal with this insane situation. If all you're going to do is poke fun, I might as well go elsewhere!"

"Do calm down Itachi." The sentence was spoken in English, which drew Itachi's attention to it more so than to the protestations his friends were yelling. Naru pushed the rest of the group out of the way and sat himself down at the computer so that he was in direct view of the webcam. "Mai, tea please. You others, try to find something useful to do." His curt orders garnered a great deal of grumbling but the team dispersed and the head of the company steepled his fingers. "So, of all things you need help with romance?" He'd switched back to English again, his smooth Oxbridge accent sounding as snobbish as ever to Itachi's mind.

"I hardly think you're in a position to lecture me here, Naru. Your own love-life isn't exactly up to much."

"Be that as it may, I find it amusing to see you in this position."

"I'm glad I can contribute to your daily intake of humour."

Naru sighed at Itachi's terse reply. "Do you want help or not?"

The Uchiha glared at him haughtily, but his returning look of polite enquiry seemed to drain the anger from his friend and Itachi's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I don't know what to do." He admitted quietly. The stress lines down his face were more pronounced than ever in the shadowy room as he shrugged slightly. "Everything seemed to be going so well, and now this. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Has it occurred to you that you needn't do anything?"

"I can't just ignore that it happened, he deserves more than that."

Naru sat back in his chair, folding his arms smugly. "Well, at least you are approaching this with the decency such a situation requires."

"If I can take on the supernatural I can work through the feelings my best friend has for me." Itachi was taken aback by the kind smile that lit his friend's face in response to those words; Naru didn't tend to waste effort with kindness when cold logic would suffice. "What?"

"Did you know there was a time when we all despaired that you would ever open up enough to even consider someone a true friend?" The SPR director asked softly. He held up a hand as Itachi began to protest. "Oh, I'm sure you had labelled and filed us under the 'friends' category, but you never truly trusted any of us with the things that mattered. Even I barely know what's going on inside that head of yours, but this Deidara appears to have you completely sussed within a few months and you trust him implicitly."

"I never said that I trusted him."

"You didn't need to, your actions speak for themselves."

Itachi didn't quite understand the sentiment so merely nodded

"So. What are you intending to do then?" Naru calmly turned the conversation back to the matter in hand. "You need to let him down in some way I'm guessing?"

"I don't know. Maybe not." Itachi rubbed a tired hand across his eyes. "He seemed to already assume my reaction, so I don't think I need to spell it out to him as such. But we need to talk it all over and I don't know how to do that." He shrugged hopelessly. "How do I tell my best friend that I don't return his feelings?"

The director shrugged. "Honestly? I have no idea. This was always Gene's area of expertise. I can pass you over to Mai though – she's stopped giggling now."

Itachi's expression said quite plainly that he was rather unhappy with that idea, but Naru had already called the younger girl back over to the computer. She pushed the sullen director out of the way and planted herself in view of the webcam, a sunny smile on her face.

"So, you need help then, Ita-kun?"

Itachi took a second or so to process the comment as his mind switched back to operating in Japanese, then he nodded in resignation.

"I think I do." He sighed wearily as the girl clapped her hands together with glee. "I want to turn him down Mai, as nicely as possible."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'! Because he's male and I'm male and I'm not attracted to my own gender!"

"How do you know?"

"Mai..." The Uchiha's voice became a warning growl. "My sexuality is not in question here!"

She shrugged easily – obviously working so closely with Naru had made her immune to such tones and glares. "I just think you should keep an open mind here. Would it hurt to go on a date or something?"

"Out of the question."

"Tough." Mai's large eyes narrowed into a stubborn expression. "You want my advice? Here it is; don't just run away from this."

Itachi leaned back slightly in surprise at her fervent exclamation. "I'm not running away-"

"Yes you are." The girl folded her arms. "You've found yourself in a situation that you're uncomfortable with so you're trying to sweep it under the rug! Well, all that will do is destroy the friendship that you currently value so highly, and I'm sure you don't want that."

"Of course not, but-"

"But you don't know how to cope with this." She finished with a fond smile.

Itachi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I suppose that's one way of putting it." He dipped his head. "I bow to your superior expertise then. What do you suggest I do?"

"Go on a date."

"MAI!"

The girl grinned at his furious glare. "I mean it. Not a romantic date or anything, just go for a coffee and talk things over." She said cheerfully. "There's no magic solution to this to put everything back the way it was, but instead of telling us that you've been thrown in at the deep end, tell him."

That made sense, but wasn't really what Itachi had been hoping for. He knew that things weren't going to just solve themselves, but at the same time rather wished that he could avoid what was going to be a very awkward conversation.

"How do I go about talking to him about this?"

Mai steepled her fingers. "Now that is the million dollar question."

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Deidara turned the keys in the ignition, stopping the engine.

His ribs still hurt like crazy and truth be told he should have probably been in bed, not parked in some rain-sodden little alleyway at stupid-o-clock in the morning, but he was never really one for looking after himself.

"Okay, I'm not stepping out of the car, any chance you could come in here?" He felt ridiculous talking to thin air, staring out of the windscreen into the pitch darkness. A good few minutes went past before he sighed in frustration. "Okay, this was stupid."

"Yeah, it really was."

Deidara jumped violently, scooting back in his seat so that he was pressed up against the car door.

"Bloody hell! Don't sneak up like that!"

Penny smiled sweetly. "I can't help it, sneaking up on people is part of the ghost job description." She looked him over and frowned. "What happened to you? You look like a horse and cart ran you over!"

"Demon possession."

"Ah. Fun." The ghost leant forwards to rest her arms on the dashboard – or at least to rest a centimetre or so above the dashboard. "So. I know I said to come and see me again, but it needn't have been at two am in the morning. I don't know if Itachi's told you this, but ghosts can manifest during the day too, I can talk to you at a more decent hour if you like?"

"Yeah I know, but I couldn't sleep."

"So you thought you'd come for a visit?" Penny raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Well, it's two am, we're inside a cosy car and no-one can see us. Narration dictates certain things at this point, if you want to take your mind off of things maybe…?"

"Penny; you're dead."

She sighed, grinning at the same time. "Worth a try. Virginity was a big deal back in 1800's and I still think it was unfair that I died before marriage. Sure I can't tempt you?"

"I also happen to be gay."

"I know, I know. I'm just messing with you." Penny sat back with a grin, straightening out her layers of skirts.

Deidara eyed the ghost warily. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had come here – beyond her being the only other person he could think of who actually knew anything about Itachi. She also still creeped him out.

"So, if you aren't here on a social call, what's wrong?" Penny was watching him with the beginnings of concern on her face. "Has something happened?"

"You could say that…"

The ghost folded her arms in a stance reminiscent of a school teacher. "Don't make me drag this out of you. What's happened?"

"I….I think I've just destroyed the best friendship I've ever had." Deidara looked up to see a 'go on, tell me more' expression on Penny's face. "This may take a while."

"Darling, I'm dead. I have all the time in the world. Tell me everything, from the start."

So Deidara did. Beginning with the sleepover in which the kids had accidently called the demon up, he explained the entire set of events leading up to his own possession. And then his unplanned confession afterwards.

By the time he was done Penny's cheerful smile had faded.

"You do know that Itachi is homophobic, right?"

"I know, I know." Deidara rested his head in his hands with a groan. "I just…I was confused from the possession, in a lot of pain, and still very faint and I just…Oh I don't know. I've completely destroyed our friendship, haven't I?"

"Well…I'd like to be able to put your mind at ease, but…"

"Yeah." Deidara looked side-on at the ghost. "You're rather open minded for a Victorian aren't you? I thought homosexuality had the death penalty or something in your day."

"This isn't my day any more, and death changes one's perspective on things." Penny smiled. "When you're dead it can be very lonely, and that opens the mind to accepting things that may have once been seen as taboo. I'm a twenty first century girl now, in crinolines and a corset." She rested her hand on his arm, ignoring his violent shiver. "Have you spoken to Itachi since your little outburst?"

"Um….No. Not yet."

"Don't you think that might be a good idea?"

"I don't know what to say to him!" Deidara wailed. "I never wanted him to find out in the first place!"

Penny bit her lip in thought, a frown creasing her brow.

"Maybe you should tell him that."

"I did."

"No. I mean the two of you need to sit down and talk about this. You're right in saying that this will probably have an effect on your friendship but it needn't be an adverse one."

Deidara shrugged despondently. "I fail to see how it can be anything else."

The ghost smiled gently. "Look, I'm not saying that if you two sit down and have a chat it will transpire that Itachi has been hiding secret feelings for you or something. That only happens in stories. However, you may be able to come to an agreement to forget that it ever happened. Sure, things will be awkward for a week or so, but it should be back to normal eventually."

"Eventually…"

"Better than never."

Deidara ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Yeah I guess so." He slumped down in his seat with a sigh. "I just wish I'd kept my stupid mouth shut."

"That may have been easier." Penny agreed – far too quickly for Deidara's liking. "But shit happens, and then you have to live with the consequences. I'm a prime example of that." She waved her hand through the dashboard to emphasise her point.

"So…Should I call him, or what?"

The ghost laughed. "Right now? It's nearly three AM. I'd suggest that you go home and get some sleep before you do anything. You look like hell."

"Wow, thanks." The young man smiled wryly, rubbing his aching ribs. "But you may have a point."

"Put some iodine on it." Penny suggested helpfully.

"The chemists don't retail iodine anymore."

"Shame."

Deidara turned the key in the ignition and the car's engine spluttered back to life. "Okay then. I'll get some decent sleep, then I'll…call him in the morning?"

"Wait until lunch time."

"Okay, lunchtime then."

The ghost patted him on the arm, making him wince. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. And you make sure to come and tell me how it went!"

"Sure thing."

Penny leant over and Deidara managed to suppress his shiver this time as she kissed him on the cheek. "I'll hold you to that, darling." Her voice echoed around the car as she flickered and vanished.

"Bye then…" The blonde shook his head in disbelief – he still didn't understand ghosts.

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In fact, it was neither Deidara nor Itachi that made the first move the next morning. A message from Pein had asked the group to meet up down at his house, and both had individually decided to hold off their uncomfortable meeting until after that. Cowardly maybe, but it certainly gave both of them a little extra time to think.

Most of the group failed to notice any tension between the two young men, especially when Itachi gave an account of the night's happenings with the demon. He was a fairly decent storyteller and with the story matter at hand it wasn't difficult to keep the group of young men distracted.

Konan, on the other hand was an entirely different matter. Her calculating gaze remained pinned to Deidara throughout the whole tale, causing his already-acute discomfort to heighten. Once Itachi had finished and was now repeating things on request she grabbed Deidara's arm and dragged him into the kitchen under the pretence of getting some drinks.

"You seem overly freaked out, are you alright?" She sat down on the table, watching him carefully.

Deidara shrugged. "Being possessed like that wasn't pleasant. I'm still a little shaken up."

"It's more than that." The girl's eyes narrowed as she cast a critical gaze over him. "Were you hurt? You seem more hunched than normal, and you've been limping."

The relief that flooded through the blonde was immense. He'd been certain that Konan had guessed that the nature of his relationship with Itachi had changed. As it was it appeared that Konan was concerned that he'd been injured and was trying to hide it.

"I've badly bruised my ribs and am still a little queasy." He admitted.

"I thought so. Did you take any painkillers?" When the blonde shook his head Konan rolled her eyes. "Thought not. Men!" She pulled a packet of paracetamol out of the cupboard under the sink and tossed it too him. "Two of those should help."

"Thanks."

"Just don't be such a macho idiot in future." She grinned at him. "Are you okay though? Being possessed during an exorcism can't have been fun."

"I'll live."

"I'm sure." She patted him on the shoulder.

Meanwhile in the living room the conversation was still heavily concentrated on demons, and more to the point the one that they'd just encountered and how Itachi had got rid of it.

"So where did it go?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "I don't know. Wherever it came from. Limbo, purgatory, maybe even Hell."

Hidan looked up sharply, a frown etched across his face. "Hell? It exists then?"

"I couldn't say. Possibly?"

The albino bit his lip, looking increasingly worried. "So demons exist, and Hell quite likely exists." He unconsciously rubbed the tattooed crucifix on the inside of his wrist. "Shit…"

"Why so worried? You're practically ordained." Kisame poked his friend with his foot.

"Yes, but there's a distinct difference between believing in something and then having it turn up on your doorstep." Hidan snapped. He scowled as the older man prodded him again. "Quit it!"

"Why're you so concerned about it anyway?"

"I'm not concerned, just shocked." The albino's expression suddenly brightened. "Hey! Does this mean angels exist too?" He looked at Itachi eagerly. "Well?"

"No idea." The Uchiha said flatly. "I've never personally seen any evidence, but on the other hand the Americans who told me how to exorcise the demon claim to be running around with one."

That seemed to garner everyone's attention. "Really?"

"I wouldn't take their word for it though – they also claim to have just stopped the apocalypse."

"Oh." And the attention quickly diminished.

Itachi looked up in time to see Deidara and Konan re-enter the room and for a moment his and the blonde's eyes met. Deidara then pointedly moved his gaze away – turning a furious red. It was very clear that things were going to be horribly awkward between them.

As it was, the talk with his Japanese friends had convinced Itachi at least to not back away from this problem and in his usual direct manner he tackled it head on.

"Dei, can I have a word please?"

"What? Now?" The blonde looked horrified. "Can't we talk later?"

"No. Now."

Konan – not understanding the situation – gave Deidara a push in the small of his back. "Go on, we'll hold some beer back for the two of you."

Itachi had already risen to his feet and beckoned the blonde over. Deidara grudgingly complied, following the Uchiha out through the kitchen and into the back garden. He slumped down to sit on the paving flags, leaning back against the brick wall of the house regardless of the cigarette butts littered around. To his surprise Itachi sat down beside him, primly sweeping some of the ash and fag ends out of the way first.

A long moment of silence stretched out before the blonde sighed heavily.

"I don't know what you want me to say." He whispered. "I was scared, hurt and seriously fucked up. I wasn't thinking."

"I know."

"So what are we doing out here?"

"Did you mean it?"

Deidara stared resolutely at the ground as his cheeks reddened. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't." He hissed.

"So you…like me then?"

"God Itachi! Do you have to draw this out?" Deidara slammed his head back against the bricks in exasperation. "I'm sorry, okay? I can't take back what I said as much as I wish I could, but can't we just forget about it?"

Itachi shrugged listlessly. "It's not going to be that easy to forget about, is it? A bit of an elephant in the room as it were." He twisted his hands where they were sat in his lap. "I don't know what to do." The admission was quiet.

"Meaning what? You want to just stop being friends now or something?" The blonde demanded. "I was doing fine ignoring any attraction I have, why can't that just continue? Why are you so adamant that our friendship has to be marred by this?"

Itachi sighed, tipping his head back against the wall to mirror his friend's action. "I never said it would be marred."

There was another long pause, the two young men both staring anywhere but each other.

"What do you mean by that?" Deidara's voice was flat, expressionless. He didn't dare let a sliver of emotion out now, despite how hard his pulse was throbbing.

"I…" Itachi resolutely continued to stare at the bare tree at the end of the garden. "I'm not gay." He stated. "But you already know that, hence the issue. And I've also expressed some homophobic tendencies…" He was interrupted by a snort of laughter from Deidara at that statement. "Okay, lots of tendencies. But I, well, hanging around with you guys has made me a little more liberal, I guess."

Deidara started, his head snapping round so that he could look at the Uchiha in surprise. "What are you getting at?"

Itachi actually laughed at the blonde's reaction. "I need to make one thing very clear – this is not going to be one of those fairy-tales where I have magically decided that actually I was wrong all along, my orientation has changed and we'll waltz into a sunset."

The statement made Deidara gape at him for a moment before the tension between them broke and he burst out laughing. "Oh woe, there go all my hopes and dreams!" He raised his hand to his forehead dramatically. "How will I cope?"

"You sound like a Mills and Boon novel."

"A what now?"

Itachi shook his head. "Never mind, it's not important." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, back to the case in hand. I'm not gay, bi or any other word that there is like that."

"So…Where are you going with this exactly?"

The Uchiha glanced to his side to see his friend's expression fall. "I'm saying that…well, whilst I am not sexually attracted to you, I enjoy your company immensely and we seem to work very well together. Maybe we could…Well perhaps…" He coughed and looked away again, his face steadily growing red. "How about coffee?"

The three words came out so quickly that Deidara almost didn't catch them and then when he did he just stared.

"What…?"

"Coffee. You, me, a café, coffee." Itachi's blush had passed through red and to Deidara's artist-eye he was now a deep shade of maroon. "I believe it is called a date."

"You're…asking me out…?" The blonde whispered incredulously.

"I'm not making any promises, I'm not saying that anything will come of this and I'm not saying that this will change me or my opinions, but I'm willing to try a…date." The Uchiha spoke it like a business proposal. "Just coffee." He finally risked looking at Deidara and was taken aback by the blonde's blinding smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Not really, but I don't want to lose our friendship, and maybe it's worth giving this a shot."

The blonde looked stunned by the turn of events. "I…thank you." The grin came back. "I was expecting you to never want to talk to me again."

Itachi smiled as well. "I still have time to reconsider, so be nice."

Deidara gently punched the other student's shoulder. "Sure thing."

"So…tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow. Three o'clock, café in the square?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great!" Deidara pulled himself back up to his feet – a silly grin still plastered across his face. "It's a date!"

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Note: I've described Naru's accent as 'Oxbridge'. A) it never really states what his accent is, so I just picked a posh one to suit him and B) For those of you unfamiliar with England, 'Oxbridge' is a term used to describe people who have been to either Oxford or Cambridge university and are therefore considered the epitome of poshness.

Until next time my darlings, until next time!