Work Text:
Perched on top of his clay bird, Deidara smiles down at his masterpiece. He looks at the way the town crumbles and the fire burns until there is no more significant damage to be done. He turns and guides his bird down from the air.
Deidara hops off the bird and the bird disappears the moment his feet touch the grass. He straightens himself, brushes dust off his cloak, and calls out, “Hey, Tobi!”
When he receives nothing but the calls of distant birds, Deidara scowls and walks deeper into the clearing. He sighs when he sees Tobi sitting by a tree. “We can go now, you idiot, hm,” Deidara says.
He stomps over to Tobi when he does not respond. “I said, we can—” Deidara stops, eyebrows furrowing. Tobi is asleep.
Deidara stands there, watching Tobi breathe. Then he kneels beside him and focuses on the mask. He takes in a deep breath, holds it, and traces the scuffs and cuts of the mask. Deidara swallows, breathes out slowly, and runs his fingers down toward the edge of Tobi’s mask.
He grips it, staying still for a moment. Tobi doesn’t move. He lifts it up, slow and steady, and stops whenever Tobi mumbles in his sleep. He lets Tobi shift, moving the mask with him. He keeps going until he rests Tobi’s mask on his head, his face shrouded in its shadow.
Deidara licks his lips, bending down lower to get a better look. He takes in Tobi’s scars and the paleness of his right side. Deidara reaches for Tobi’s cheek, but he stops before he touches him. He swallows again. His throat is dry.
Deidara stares at Tobi for a long time. He stares and stares until his breathing gets shallow and his cheeks heat up. Deidara shuts his eyes but he still sees Tobi’s sleeping face. He opens his eyes when he senses a change in Tobi’s breathing.
He stills, hands shaking. Tobi remains where he is, tossing in his sleep. He grunts, eyebrows furrowing, and mouth turned downwards. And Deidara doesn’t move when Tobi jerks to the left, his right eye opening a sliver before closing once more.
Deidara’s breath hitches. He pulls Tobi’s mask back on his face and stands up. He paces around the clearing, biting his lower lip, then he walks back to Tobi’s side and nudges his side with his foot.
“Wake up,” Deidara mutters, trying to sound harsh. “Wake up, we can leave now, yeah.”
Tobi murmurs something. Deidara clears his throat and pushes Tobi over.
“We can go now,” Deidara says. “If you don’t get up, I’m leaving you here.”
“I’m up,” Tobi murmurs. He adjusts his mask as he struggles to stand. Deidara walks away and doesn’t see the way Tobi hesitates, his hand still on his mask.
When Deidara shouts for him again and when Tobi climbs onto his clay bird, he doesn’t sense the way Tobi watches him. He doesn’t know that Tobi can see that his ears are red and that his shoulders are tense.
Deidara shuts his eyes and lets his instincts guide him back to the base. He focuses on his breathing and then he sees Tobi’s sleeping face. His breath hitches.
“Are you alright, Deidara-senpai?”
Deidara jerks when Tobi touches his shoulder. He shrugs him off and Tobi makes a noise of complaint.
“Ow, did you need to be that rough?”
“I wasn’t,” Deidara murmurs. He clears his throat and looks at the sky. He ignores the way Tobi leans closer to him.
“Senpai,” Tobi says, voice low, “I want to ask you a question.”
“No,” Deidara says.
“I had a bad dream,” Tobi continues as if Deidara has said nothing. “I had a dream that I was crushed under a boulder.”
“As if I care,” Deidara says, but he glances over his shoulder and he sees Tobi looking right at him. He leans away from him and he catches a glimpse of an eye.
“Then I dreamed about someone saving me,” Tobi says.
Deidara looks away. “Why do you think I care about your stupid dreams, hm?”
“I thought you did.” Tobi crawls closer to Deidara, his knee touching Deidara’s back. “You looked like you were interested.”
“You’re blind, yeah.”
Tobi chuckled. “The person who saved me looked a lot like you.”
“It was a dream,” Deidara mutters.
“Maybe,” Tobi says. He touches the edge of his mask, readjusting it again. “Maybe not.”
“Why would I save you?” Deidara says.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Tobi turns to Deidara, but Deidara doesn’t see his eye anymore. “That’s what teammates should do, isn’t it?”
“Why did you dream specifically about being crushed underneath a boulder?” Deidara asks quickly.
“Because I saved a teammate,” Tobi says, then he pulls away from Deidara. “Don’t you think teammates should trust one another?”
“Hm?”
“Do you trust me, Deidara-senpai?”
Deidara rolls his eyes.
“I assume you do,” Tobi says. “Would you believe me if I said that I trusted you, too?”
“Get to the point, Tobi, hm.”
“I would trust you not to violate my privacy.”
Deidara’s jaw clenches. He shifts and rubs his hands together, his nails digging into the mouths in his palms.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, yeah.”
“I guess curiosity kills the cat in the end,” Tobi says. He taps his mask, each of his taps producing a mute dap, dap, dap, dap.
“It’s natural to be curious—”
“—Though, satisfaction brings it back.”
Deidara bites his tongue. He turns around to shout at Tobi, but he stops when he realizes Tobi has taken his mask off.
“Do you think so?”
Deidara’s words are stuck in his throat. He swallows once, twice, then he lets out a strangled sound. His eyes are wide. Deidara doesn’t react when Tobi hands him his mask, and he doesn’t do anything when Tobi leans close enough for Deidara to feel his breath on his face.
Now that Tobi is awake, Deidara finds himself lost in Tobi’s dark eyes. He thinks he has seen them somewhere, on someone else, but he forgets what he is thinking about when Tobi speaks again.
“I think you do trust me,” Tobi mutters, his voice deeper than Deidara remembers, “and I think you deserve to learn some secrets.”
Deidara opens and mouth, then he closes it. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to do when Tobi presses his forehead against his.
And when Tobi kisses him, all he can do is accept it.