Work Text:
"I can't believe she charged you full price," you deadpan, surveying your surroundings.
"Tch."
The receptionist wasn't kidding when she said that the room was "due for renovations." The 'room' in reality, was an unfurnished shed. Frigid air whips through poorly insulated walls and furiously rattles the single, grimy window. You are surprised that the rain itself doesn't come flooding inside.
"A-At least the roof doesn't leak?"
"Don't jinx it, yeah?"
You shut up, your attempts to assuage your superior's temper clearly unwelcome. An immutable scowl has been slashed across his face ever since you met up with Deidara this morning. 'I hope it's not me and that he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...' you mused. It was best to keep your thoughts to yourself right now. You had a strong feeling that you'd be given a one-way ticket to detonation town instead of getting off with a long-winded lecture today.
You quietly adhere to the pecking order as an underling and go about laying out the futon for your superior. The thick sheets in the closet were surprisingly clean despite the state of the rest of the room, you hoped to god that this would please him. The rolls of blankets block your line of sight as you pile everything into your arms. You're thankful that the room doesn't have any furniture for you to trip over, as you make your way to the center of the room. 'It should be the warmest farthest away from the walls, right?' you ponder as you lay the bedding out, intent on doing a good job for once today.
"Take your cloak off, hm," Deidara's curt order snaps you out of your careful bed-making.
Awkward tension hangs in the air for a moment. You lift your head to stare at the critical blue eye watching you, "You... You want me to what?"
Disgusted by the misconstruction made clear by the pink spreading across your face, Deidara sighs exasperatedly, "Idiot, you're dripping on the futon, yeah?"
"Oh. Right."
The two of you had trekked through torrential rainfall for hours to arrive at this overbooked inn. Despite all of your efforts to seek cover, the day spited you with only leafless trees and roofless ruins. When you arrived at the inn, the two of you looked like you just went whatever the exact opposite of skinny dipping was. You recall how the receptionist grimaced at the small pond you left on the lobby floor. Anyway, you obliged the blonde's reasonable order and un-clipped and opened your cloak only for the both of you to realize that the rain had done more damage than you considered. Even the clothes underneath your cloak were soaked through, causing them to cling uncomfortably to your body.
Wordlessly, Deidara pinches the bridge of his nose. He was having a terrible day.
"I... I'll take them off," you offer preemptively before Deidara is forced to make the awkward request of you himself. At this point you are desperate to get under the warm and, most importantly, dry covers. Deidara turns away from you as you peel off your clothes. Plop! Plop! Plop! Article by water-laden article, they land heavily on the wooden floor. Undressed and finally dry enough, you dive under the covers and scoot as far to the side as you can, leaving plenty of space for Deidara to lie without awkwardly touching each other.
Eyes closed, you try to rest to no avail. 'Why is it so hard to get warm?' you moan inwardly, truly a miserable finish to the day. Your feet slide over each other in a futile attempt to create some heat through the friction. After a while, your eyes crack open in defeat. Sleep would not be yours so easily tonight even though your eyelids were unbearably heavy...
You notice Deidara sitting at the edge of the futon on the hard wooden floor. His elbows are propped up on his knees and his face is buried in the long sleeves of his cloak, no doubt still soaked with rainwater. 'No way, did he really fall asleep like that?'
"Deidara-senpai?"
He grunts softly without lifting his head.
"Are you not coming to bed?" you try calling out again.
"This is fine, go to sleep, hm."
"You're soaking wet." Several moments went by without a response. "You'll catch a cold if you sleep like that."
"What are you my mother, yeah?!" Deidara finally snaps, lifting his head to glare at you. You puff up your cheeks, pouting as you turn away from him. You can hear him huff at your childish action.
"What's the big deal sharing a futon? It's just out of necessity! Senpai is so unreasonable. I'm having a bad day, too, you don't have to yell at me. It's not like i want to touch you either," your indignant mutterings come out in a stream and reach Deidara's ears.
A frustrated vein pops out from his forehead, "Watch your mouth, yeah!"
In an instant, a firm hand grips your bare shoulder and forces you over onto your back. You glare up at your superior, expecting to see his face petulant and angry. Instead however, you find his single blue eye and upturned brow full of concern, "...O-oi, you're freezing, hm." Your body acknowledges this statement by starting to tremble and shiver under his touch. Deidara's hand is burning hot against your icy skin, the contrast in temperatures make you realize just how cold you must be.
His tongue clicks against his teeth. It's obvious that Deidara has reached a resolution in his mind as his cloak is tossed aside with a soggy flutter, followed by his shirt, under shirt.... You turn away again, blushing as he grips the waistband of his pants. "You don't have to undress so close to me," you point out, covering your face with your hands- as if that would help you hide in the already dark room.
"Idiot, you're going to die if I don't get closer than this, yeah," Deidara states matter-of-factly. You jolt forward as you feel his unclothed body slide up behind yours, but a strong arm locks over your stomach and pulls you back firmly against him, preventing escape.
"W-wh-wh-wh-," you sputter, your mind unable to formulate a single word. As overwhelmed and violated as you feel emotionally about this impromptu arrangement, you can not argue that your body is in desperate need of the human heating pad that is now spooning you. Your skin stings as it begins to regain warmth and feeling.
'Skin-to-skin contact is the most effective way to keep warm, yeah,' words from one of Deidara's famously wordy lessons echo in your head. You thought at the time that he was trying to be suggestive and flirty, but maybe he really was trying to do his best to teach you.
"I'm sorry if I made you have a bad day, Deidara-senpai. I'll do better tomorrow to keep up..." you sigh, relaxing into an embrace you are sure that you've earned.
"I was the one who botched the mission, yeah," Deidara explains, the quiet humility in his voice surprises you and stirs a deep feeling of newfound respect. "I got us stranded in the middle of nowhere in a stupid storm, hm," his breath tickles your neck as he continues. You twist around under his arm to try and glimpse him in the darkness. "I was supposed to show you the ropes today, hm. If you ended up dying instead I would be the lamest senpai ever, yeah..." His voice trails off and his breathing slowly evens out, "This much... is at least... my... responsibility..."
Warm, exhausted, and... safe, your body soon drags you under to follow Deidara in slumber.
---
It is still dark when Deidara feels himself regaining consciousness. Disoriented, it takes him a moment to remember where he is and realize the soft form sleeping soundly in his arms. You're warm now, but he doesn't disentangle himself from you. Instead, he hugs you closer. Somehow, lying there with you made him believe that tomorrow would be a better day.