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They are the only two people stopping at the inn. None of the staff members said anything to them on their way to and from their room. Their room is on the second floor facing the lake. It also faces the public garden and a moon statue. The statue is made of stone and glistens in the rain. It is raining. The rain drips from the statue. Water stands in pools on the gravel paths. Across the lake a cook stands in the doorway of his store.
Deidara stands at the window, looking out. The lake breaks in a long line in the rain and slips back down, only to come up and break again.
“How did you know it was going to rain?” Deidara asks.
Tobi wrings his soaked cloak into a basin. “You could smell it,” he says from the floor.
Deidara scoffs. He shuts one of the shutters and turns away from the window. “What are you talking about, yeah?”
“You can smell the change in the air,” Tobi says. He drains the water from his gloves. “The sky was getting darker too, when we were on our way out of the town.”
“How did you manage to see that?” Deidara asks. He takes the gloves from Tobi and helps him hang them up on their makeshift clothesline.
“What do you mean, senpai?” Tobi asks.
“You’re oddly observant,” says Deidara, “over weather. It’s unlike you, hm.”
“To notice the weather?”
“To be observant.”
Tobi laughs. He scratches the back of his head. “Is that what you think of me, senpai? Should I be offended?”
Deidara scoffs. He hangs up Tobi’s cloak as well. “Maybe you should be more worried about how you behaved before, considering that you’re actually more than capable of being aware of your surroundings, hm.”
Tobi makes a noise of complaint. He lays on the ground and spreads his arms out. Deidara tries not to look at him.
“But being aware all the time is hard,” Tobi complains. “Why do I need to do it when I’ve got Deidara-senpai to watch my back?”
“I don’t exist to take care of you, Tobi,” says Deidara.
“You don’t?” Tobi sits up. He tilts his head and stares at Deidara with the single eyehole of his mask. “I thought we were doing the ‘you help me, I help you’ thing.”
“Since when did you come to that conclusion?” Deidara asks. He sits down by the window. It is still raining.
Tobi hums. He looks out the window too and listens to the way the rain and the lake collide. “Why don’t we go outside?” he asks.
“What?”
“Let’s go walking,” Tobi says. He stands up and offers Deidara a hand, then he retracts it and hides it behind his back.
Deidara looks at the air where his hand was a moment ago, then he shakes his head. “Are you crazy? We just got out of the rain, yeah.”
“And they have showers here,” Tobi says.
“I’m not going.”
“Come on, senpai,” Tobi says, “it’ll be fun.”
“Who said it’ll be fun?”
“Just trust me.” Tobi steps closer to Deidara. He leans down and brushes his hand against Deidara’s side. “I’ll show you how I figured out it’s going to rain.”
Deidara bites his lip and turns away. “It’s already raining, you idiot, hm. I don’t need you to show me.”
“We can just watch the rain,” Tobi murmurs.
“We can watch the rain here, hm.”
“We can watch the rain by the lake, too,” Tobi says. “It’ll be more fun that way.”
“We don’t have an umbrella.”
“We don’t need one.”
Tobi stands up and takes Deidara’s hand. Deidara heads out the door with him. On their way out, they pass the inn owner and he watches them walk out. The owner turns and talks to someone. They are stopped by an employee.
“The owner said that you should have this,” she says, handing them an umbrella.
Tobi takes the umbrella and thanks the girl. She smiles and heads back inside. Tobi opens the umbrella and Deidara rolls his eyes when Tobi wraps his arm around his shoulders.
“Do you not like it?” Tobi asks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, yeah,” Deidara says.
“I thought you liked it when I did that just now—when the rain first came.”
Deidara turns red. He clears his throat and looks out at the lake. He watches the rain hit the water’s surface.
“Are you ignoring me?” Tobi asks. He nudges Deidara and Deidara nudges back. “What did I do this time?”
Deidara focuses on the rain dripping from the umbrella. He listens to the sound of rain pattering against the paper-like material of the umbrella.
He doesn’t notice the way Tobi’s hand slides down from his shoulder to his waist. He doesn’t notice the way he leans closer to Tobi’s side.
Tobi looks at the sky under the rim of the umbrella. He sniffs. “The rain is going to stop soon,” he says.
“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Deidara murmurs.
“The rain is lessening,” Tobi says, “and the clouds are getting lighter.”
But Deidara doesn’t see it. He has his eyes closed and he is listening to the sound of the rain and the rhythm of Tobi’s breathing.
Deidara frowns when he feels a rumbling of Tobi’s chuckle. He glares up at him.
“I thought you didn’t like it,” Tobi says. He rubs Deidara’s side.
“I don’t,” Deidara lies. “I’m just cold. It’s raining.”
“Of course,” Tobi says. “Maybe instead of making fun of me for not being observant, Deidara-senpai should put on some extra layers.”
“Shut up,” Deidara murmurs, burrowing his head closer. He wraps his arms around himself, his hands holding his elbows. He keeps his eyes closed, taking a deep breath of the fresh, rain-filled air.
And the two of them stand there under the rain until it lessens and stops, and the cook across the lake slips back into his store. And the inn owner and his employees stand at the entrance to watch the two of them stare at the lake.