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Description
Sasori lent back against the wall of what was the tiniest, most cramped shower cubicle he had ever been in, and let the water spray against his face.  Or, more accurately, pummel the hell out of his skin.  He supposed that, after Deidara had got him a hotel room for the night, it really would be a bit much to do a runner and hitch a ride with someone else.  Damn.

The hotel was surprisingly good, compared to his expectations.  But given the evidence, his expectations hadn't been entirely ungrounded.  Deidara was crazy.  Last night had been... scary.  That was the best word for it.

Deidara and the woman behind the front desk, Konan, had spent about an hour coming up with elaborate threats for each other before Konan had decided to give them a room.  Two rooms.  Sasori almost wanted to convert to the next crazy cult he encountered in thanks for having two separate rooms.  Deidara just didn't seem like the most trustworthy person he had encountered.  Maybe.  He wasn't sure about his own judgement either.

The shower spluttered, and a few seconds later the water stopped altogether.
"Fuck," Sasori nudged the cubicle door open and rummaged around for a towel.  He should have expected something like that.  Not that he hadn't technically finished showering half an hour beforehand.  Definitely not the point.

He was halfway dressed when there was a knock on the door.  Several, in fact.  Enough to make up the first few seconds of the Mario theme.  Opening the door as little as possible revealed Konan, elegantly dressed.  Maybe too elegantly dressed for standing in the hallway at seven a.m.

"Sasori sugar," Konan started sweetly.  Her smile sent an uncomfortable shiver down Sasori's spine.  That just looked calculating.
"Yes?"
"Deidara and I are having breakfast.  He indicated you might want some too.  I can imagine that, breakfast is the best meal after all.  There's waffles," she continued.  Sasori was quite sure she could have continued on her own for a few minutes more.
"Uh, yeah," he muttered.
"But you might want to finish dressing first," calculating smile was freaky before, sly grin was almost terrifying.  Sasori made a silent vow to stay on this womans'good side, before turning around to pull his t-shirt, and, after a moment of thought, his hoody over his head.

"That's it?" Konan asked, looking astounded.
"What?" was the only reply Sasori could muster.
"You just pull that on," she flicked her hand at his hoodie, "And you're all done?  Completely finished getting yourself ready?" her voice disbelieving.
"Yes,"
"So unfair," she muttered, and Sasori wasn't quite sure, but it looked like she was pouting.  Halfway down the hall accompanied by awkward silence, Konan pulled a small square sheet of paper out of her pocket, just before stopping by the elevator.  She pressed to button to call the elevator, and in the time before it arrived, Sasori watched her turn the paper into a tiny, perfectly folded origami swan.

She held the bird out to him while Sasori just stared.
"How did you-?" no one should be able to do origami that fast, "... hobby?"  Konans' eyes bulged for a moment before she laughed.
"My real job, so to say," she took out another sheet.
"Don't you work here?"
"Oh, no, not normally.  I own the chain," she said dismissively, obviously concentrating more on the paper than the conversation, "It's just every few months..." she trailed off, handing Sasori a second perfect swan.

"You're pretty cute," Konans observation caught Sasori off guard.
"Huh?"
"You are.  All little and... oh," Sasori frowned deeply, staring gravely at the elevator doors.  Konan quickly decided he was less cute when he resembled the grim reaper.  "Whatever.  So you're on you're way to Suna city?"
"Yes,"
"That's quite far, by car," Konan sounded contemplative, Sasori stayed silent.  "Oh well.  But watch out on the way," she finished speaking the moment a low ringing sound announced they had reached the ground floor.

***

Deidara was bored.  A box of frosted cornflakes sat on the table in front of him.  He, and the box of cornflakes, where in a small room behind the hotel kitchen, otherwise known as the staff lunchroom (they were all busy making the paying guests breakfast, damn them).  Deidara rested his head on the table next to the cornflake box, and sighed.  There was no milk.  At least, not here, and he couldn't get any from the kitchens without Konan.

Boredom, for Deidara, had started about the time Konan had ushered Sasori off to whatever room she had put him in last night.  Which had left Deidara with no one to stare at and only Konan herself to talk to.  Or play cards with, as it happened.  He had lost.  Every game.  Every round.  He should have learned long, long ago never to play any game that involved any kind of paper at all with Konan.  Either she was too good or she cheated so elaborately it was impossible to spot.  So Deidara lost either way.

The door opened.  Instantly, Deidara perked up from where he was leaning on the table.  Damn.  He had been hoping that, in the morning at least, Sasori might have a t-shirt on, and Deidara could have a good look.  But that annoying oversized hoody was still draped over the guys' shoulders like it was gonna drown him.  Deidara frowned.

"Konan, milk, un," he grumbled, switching his focus.
"And waffles.  Waffles," she added as she made her way to the kitchen, "And I guess I should pick up some lunch for you too,"

***

Pickup truck bolting down the highway, Deidara hummed gently along with the music.  The morning had been cloudy, but the sky had cleared up quickly and now it was almost painfully sunny.  The inside of the car had been heated up by the sunlight so Deidara had the window down, resting his elbow on its frame while he held onto the wheel loosely.  He let it spin, then gripped it, spun it again, swerved around an eighteen wheeler, sped past some smaller cars and jutted in front of them.

Sasori was still hunched in his seat like he had been the day before, knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.  But, from what Deidara could see, observing the other from his seat, Sasori seemed to be getting used to the erratic driving.  He had looked bored from the start, but he wasn't going pale as often as he had the day before.  Deidara had this suspicion he wasn't going to hear too many more scared little yelps.  Shame, it had been kind of cute.

"Can we stop?" Deidara blinked, taking a moment to pull himself out of his thoughts.
"Un, what?  Oh, yeah, wait," he mumbled, taking a quick look around the highway to check how far along they were.  Further than he had expected.  A familiar sign flashed past.  Deidara swung the truck in what was basically a semicircle.

"Ten minutes, un," he informed Sasori, grinning, "Hey, un, there any of those waffles left?"
"Yes," Sasori answered immediately.  There were a lot of waffles left.  Apparently, that was Konans' idea of lunch.  Five Tupperware boxes of waffles and one filled with little bottles of sauces and syrups.   He was starting to think that this was something that had happened before, since Deidara had been smart enough to avoid them for breakfast.  It would have been nice if he'd warned Sasori though.  He was starting to feel a little ill.  Especially after that last box.

Sasori swore he could see the tires smoking in the rear-view mirror when they finally pulled into a parking bay.  He was almost surprised that the wheels on Deidaras' truck where still solid and in one piece, the driving being the way it was.  Pushing the door open and sliding out, Sasori headed towards the cluster of buildings at the centre of the rest station.

Keeping his eyes on Sasori until the guy was out of sight, Deidara comforted himself with the notion that skintight jeans did make up for the body-drowning hoody.  Almost.

When Sasori wandered back to the truck, Deidara was standing by the back of the pickup, one arm holding up a section on the tarpaulin covering it, staring in, cigarette hanging off his lip and spilling smoke into the air around him.  He looked strangely concentrated.  Strange since in the (almost) two days Sasori had been sitting in his car, Deidara never seemed to be serious.  He almost crashed every minute, but he wasn't serious about it.  Which was probably why he never actually crashed.  Sasori slowed until he was stopped, and watched the other.

Dropping the Tarpaulin, Deidara turned, saw Sasori and grinned.  Dangerously, Sasori thought.  Maybe not quite, more... predatory?
"You good, un?" he asked, stretching his arms upwards.
"Yes," Sasori answered, getting back into the truck and rummaging in the bag he had dumped behind the seat.  Deidara, leaning in the drivers side, but not getting back in, switched between watching Sasori and the half eaten waffle in his hand.  Cigarette balanced in the other hand, hanging through the window of the open door.

Deidara could feel Sasoris' eyes on him, silent and calculating, as he ate.  It was kind of disturbing.  He had noticed that Sasoris' eyelids hardly ever rose from where they were drooped halfway closed over his eyes, giving him a perpetually bored and slightly unaware look.  That bit was kind of hot, really.  It evened out so Deidara didn't really mind having Sasori watch him.
"What, un?" he asked, only scowling half seriously.  Sasori didn't react to the scowl at all and carried on watching him.  He wasn't blinking.
"I was just wondering," he voiced carefully, "what you keep in the back?" his voice was quite, but calm and completely confident.  It gave Deidara shivers.
"Un," Deidara had to take a moment to think of a reply, "It's for work really.  Un..." a few more moment grasping for anything to say, "It's not really important, un.  Just, there's only really one place I can get stuff, so I have to lug it around everywhere I go, un," he rattled of quickly.  Speed could probably help him distract from the fact that he wasn't really saying anything.

Sasoris' eyebrows rose up quizzically, being slowly swallows up by his flame red fringe,
"Really?" he drawled, sounding doubtful, and Deidara got the distinct feeling he was being looked down on, "Okay then," He shrugged his shoulders lazily and looked away.

"It's explosives," Deidara added quickly, feeling suddenly and inexplicably guilty.  Turning back to him, Sasori stared, part pure terror but mostly just surprise, even so, Deidara relaxed feeling his eyes on him again.  In the folds of his hoody, Sasori hugged himself and considered finding another ride.  Quickly.
"Most of it's clay actually.  And it's not actually explosives, un," Sasori almost relaxed, "It's just all the parts to, un, make explosives,"
"So if you crash..."
"We're screwed,"
"Oh," Deidara had been expecting him to sound scared, but Sasoris' 'Oh' sounded like he had just made an interesting observation and nothing more, even as he hugged his hoody to himself tighter.  Finishing off the last of his waffle, Deidara had to admit he was a little disappointed.  It seemed like he really wasn't going to see any more of Sasori being scared.  And it had been so cute, too.  Scanning Sasori with slightly more interest now, Deidara admitted to himself that he guarded himself extremely well.  Which was either way sexier, or just darn frustrating.

Waffle gone, Deidara rested his cigarette back against his lip and slid himself into the drivers' seat.  Catching on, Sasori silently circled the car and got in too, resuming his foetal position on the passenger seat.  The truck rumbled to life, growling like an angry monster under them.  Deidara propelled it across the parking lot, cutting over several sections of green picnic lawns before the truck hit an actual road and was back on the motorway in a few seconds.

"Don't crash," Sasori instructed from the passenger seat, voice sharp like he was giving an order, just as Deidara was reaching for the stereo.  The music sprang into life from the speakers, but was barely audible under Deidaras' laughter.
"I'm sure heaven will be pleased to have you back," Deidara grinned, almost maliciously, as he spoke.  In return Sasori just glared until the blond turned his eyes back to the road.

Description
Sasori lent back against the wall of what was the tiniest, most cramped shower cubicle he had ever been in, and let the water spray against his face.  Or, more accurately, pummel the hell out of his skin.  He supposed that, after Deidara had got him a hotel room for the night, it really would be a bit much to do a runner and hitch a ride with someone else.  Damn.

The hotel was surprisingly good, compared to his expectations.  But given the evidence, his expectations hadn't been entirely ungrounded.  Deidara was crazy.  Last night had been... scary.  That was the best word for it.

Deidara and the woman behind the front desk, Konan, had spent about an hour coming up with elaborate threats for each other before Konan had decided to give them a room.  Two rooms.  Sasori almost wanted to convert to the next crazy cult he encountered in thanks for having two separate rooms.  Deidara just didn't seem like the most trustworthy person he had encountered.  Maybe.  He wasn't sure about his own judgement either.

The shower spluttered, and a few seconds later the water stopped altogether.
"Fuck," Sasori nudged the cubicle door open and rummaged around for a towel.  He should have expected something like that.  Not that he hadn't technically finished showering half an hour beforehand.  Definitely not the point.

He was halfway dressed when there was a knock on the door.  Several, in fact.  Enough to make up the first few seconds of the Mario theme.  Opening the door as little as possible revealed Konan, elegantly dressed.  Maybe too elegantly dressed for standing in the hallway at seven a.m.

"Sasori sugar," Konan started sweetly.  Her smile sent an uncomfortable shiver down Sasori's spine.  That just looked calculating.
"Yes?"
"Deidara and I are having breakfast.  He indicated you might want some too.  I can imagine that, breakfast is the best meal after all.  There's waffles," she continued.  Sasori was quite sure she could have continued on her own for a few minutes more.
"Uh, yeah," he muttered.
"But you might want to finish dressing first," calculating smile was freaky before, sly grin was almost terrifying.  Sasori made a silent vow to stay on this womans'good side, before turning around to pull his t-shirt, and, after a moment of thought, his hoody over his head.

"That's it?" Konan asked, looking astounded.
"What?" was the only reply Sasori could muster.
"You just pull that on," she flicked her hand at his hoodie, "And you're all done?  Completely finished getting yourself ready?" her voice disbelieving.
"Yes,"
"So unfair," she muttered, and Sasori wasn't quite sure, but it looked like she was pouting.  Halfway down the hall accompanied by awkward silence, Konan pulled a small square sheet of paper out of her pocket, just before stopping by the elevator.  She pressed to button to call the elevator, and in the time before it arrived, Sasori watched her turn the paper into a tiny, perfectly folded origami swan.

She held the bird out to him while Sasori just stared.
"How did you-?" no one should be able to do origami that fast, "... hobby?"  Konans' eyes bulged for a moment before she laughed.
"My real job, so to say," she took out another sheet.
"Don't you work here?"
"Oh, no, not normally.  I own the chain," she said dismissively, obviously concentrating more on the paper than the conversation, "It's just every few months..." she trailed off, handing Sasori a second perfect swan.

"You're pretty cute," Konans observation caught Sasori off guard.
"Huh?"
"You are.  All little and... oh," Sasori frowned deeply, staring gravely at the elevator doors.  Konan quickly decided he was less cute when he resembled the grim reaper.  "Whatever.  So you're on you're way to Suna city?"
"Yes,"
"That's quite far, by car," Konan sounded contemplative, Sasori stayed silent.  "Oh well.  But watch out on the way," she finished speaking the moment a low ringing sound announced they had reached the ground floor.

***

Deidara was bored.  A box of frosted cornflakes sat on the table in front of him.  He, and the box of cornflakes, where in a small room behind the hotel kitchen, otherwise known as the staff lunchroom (they were all busy making the paying guests breakfast, damn them).  Deidara rested his head on the table next to the cornflake box, and sighed.  There was no milk.  At least, not here, and he couldn't get any from the kitchens without Konan.

Boredom, for Deidara, had started about the time Konan had ushered Sasori off to whatever room she had put him in last night.  Which had left Deidara with no one to stare at and only Konan herself to talk to.  Or play cards with, as it happened.  He had lost.  Every game.  Every round.  He should have learned long, long ago never to play any game that involved any kind of paper at all with Konan.  Either she was too good or she cheated so elaborately it was impossible to spot.  So Deidara lost either way.

The door opened.  Instantly, Deidara perked up from where he was leaning on the table.  Damn.  He had been hoping that, in the morning at least, Sasori might have a t-shirt on, and Deidara could have a good look.  But that annoying oversized hoody was still draped over the guys' shoulders like it was gonna drown him.  Deidara frowned.

"Konan, milk, un," he grumbled, switching his focus.
"And waffles.  Waffles," she added as she made her way to the kitchen, "And I guess I should pick up some lunch for you too,"

***

Pickup truck bolting down the highway, Deidara hummed gently along with the music.  The morning had been cloudy, but the sky had cleared up quickly and now it was almost painfully sunny.  The inside of the car had been heated up by the sunlight so Deidara had the window down, resting his elbow on its frame while he held onto the wheel loosely.  He let it spin, then gripped it, spun it again, swerved around an eighteen wheeler, sped past some smaller cars and jutted in front of them.

Sasori was still hunched in his seat like he had been the day before, knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.  But, from what Deidara could see, observing the other from his seat, Sasori seemed to be getting used to the erratic driving.  He had looked bored from the start, but he wasn't going pale as often as he had the day before.  Deidara had this suspicion he wasn't going to hear too many more scared little yelps.  Shame, it had been kind of cute.

"Can we stop?" Deidara blinked, taking a moment to pull himself out of his thoughts.
"Un, what?  Oh, yeah, wait," he mumbled, taking a quick look around the highway to check how far along they were.  Further than he had expected.  A familiar sign flashed past.  Deidara swung the truck in what was basically a semicircle.

"Ten minutes, un," he informed Sasori, grinning, "Hey, un, there any of those waffles left?"
"Yes," Sasori answered immediately.  There were a lot of waffles left.  Apparently, that was Konans' idea of lunch.  Five Tupperware boxes of waffles and one filled with little bottles of sauces and syrups.   He was starting to think that this was something that had happened before, since Deidara had been smart enough to avoid them for breakfast.  It would have been nice if he'd warned Sasori though.  He was starting to feel a little ill.  Especially after that last box.

Sasori swore he could see the tires smoking in the rear-view mirror when they finally pulled into a parking bay.  He was almost surprised that the wheels on Deidaras' truck where still solid and in one piece, the driving being the way it was.  Pushing the door open and sliding out, Sasori headed towards the cluster of buildings at the centre of the rest station.

Keeping his eyes on Sasori until the guy was out of sight, Deidara comforted himself with the notion that skintight jeans did make up for the body-drowning hoody.  Almost.

When Sasori wandered back to the truck, Deidara was standing by the back of the pickup, one arm holding up a section on the tarpaulin covering it, staring in, cigarette hanging off his lip and spilling smoke into the air around him.  He looked strangely concentrated.  Strange since in the (almost) two days Sasori had been sitting in his car, Deidara never seemed to be serious.  He almost crashed every minute, but he wasn't serious about it.  Which was probably why he never actually crashed.  Sasori slowed until he was stopped, and watched the other.

Dropping the Tarpaulin, Deidara turned, saw Sasori and grinned.  Dangerously, Sasori thought.  Maybe not quite, more... predatory?
"You good, un?" he asked, stretching his arms upwards.
"Yes," Sasori answered, getting back into the truck and rummaging in the bag he had dumped behind the seat.  Deidara, leaning in the drivers side, but not getting back in, switched between watching Sasori and the half eaten waffle in his hand.  Cigarette balanced in the other hand, hanging through the window of the open door.

Deidara could feel Sasoris' eyes on him, silent and calculating, as he ate.  It was kind of disturbing.  He had noticed that Sasoris' eyelids hardly ever rose from where they were drooped halfway closed over his eyes, giving him a perpetually bored and slightly unaware look.  That bit was kind of hot, really.  It evened out so Deidara didn't really mind having Sasori watch him.
"What, un?" he asked, only scowling half seriously.  Sasori didn't react to the scowl at all and carried on watching him.  He wasn't blinking.
"I was just wondering," he voiced carefully, "what you keep in the back?" his voice was quite, but calm and completely confident.  It gave Deidara shivers.
"Un," Deidara had to take a moment to think of a reply, "It's for work really.  Un..." a few more moment grasping for anything to say, "It's not really important, un.  Just, there's only really one place I can get stuff, so I have to lug it around everywhere I go, un," he rattled of quickly.  Speed could probably help him distract from the fact that he wasn't really saying anything.

Sasoris' eyebrows rose up quizzically, being slowly swallows up by his flame red fringe,
"Really?" he drawled, sounding doubtful, and Deidara got the distinct feeling he was being looked down on, "Okay then," He shrugged his shoulders lazily and looked away.

"It's explosives," Deidara added quickly, feeling suddenly and inexplicably guilty.  Turning back to him, Sasori stared, part pure terror but mostly just surprise, even so, Deidara relaxed feeling his eyes on him again.  In the folds of his hoody, Sasori hugged himself and considered finding another ride.  Quickly.
"Most of it's clay actually.  And it's not actually explosives, un," Sasori almost relaxed, "It's just all the parts to, un, make explosives,"
"So if you crash..."
"We're screwed,"
"Oh," Deidara had been expecting him to sound scared, but Sasoris' 'Oh' sounded like he had just made an interesting observation and nothing more, even as he hugged his hoody to himself tighter.  Finishing off the last of his waffle, Deidara had to admit he was a little disappointed.  It seemed like he really wasn't going to see any more of Sasori being scared.  And it had been so cute, too.  Scanning Sasori with slightly more interest now, Deidara admitted to himself that he guarded himself extremely well.  Which was either way sexier, or just darn frustrating.

Waffle gone, Deidara rested his cigarette back against his lip and slid himself into the drivers' seat.  Catching on, Sasori silently circled the car and got in too, resuming his foetal position on the passenger seat.  The truck rumbled to life, growling like an angry monster under them.  Deidara propelled it across the parking lot, cutting over several sections of green picnic lawns before the truck hit an actual road and was back on the motorway in a few seconds.

"Don't crash," Sasori instructed from the passenger seat, voice sharp like he was giving an order, just as Deidara was reaching for the stereo.  The music sprang into life from the speakers, but was barely audible under Deidaras' laughter.
"I'm sure heaven will be pleased to have you back," Deidara grinned, almost maliciously, as he spoke.  In return Sasori just glared until the blond turned his eyes back to the road.