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Deidara takes a long time to open the door. When he does, he looks like he hasn’t slept since last week. His hair is unkempt and not in his usual ponytail style. For a moment, Deidara looks like he doesn’t know who he’s looking at.
“You alright?” Obito asks when Deidara finally unlatches the gate.
“I’m okay. Why’d you ask?”
“You look like death.” Tobi holds up the plastic bag he’s holding. “I brought takeout.”
“You didn’t have to,” Deidara says.
Obito holds the gate and Deidara walks back inside. He shuts the gate and the door behind him and steps on the back of his shoes to take them off. He nudges them to the side and steps into Deidara’s apartment.
“I thought you’d need the food,” Obito says.
He puts the plastic bag on the table and takes everything out. He sits down with a loud sigh and looks at the wall. The calendar is still in August.
Deidara walks in, hair pulled back into a ponytail and eyes a little wider. He sits across from Obito and murmurs, “You didn’t have to, hm.”
Obito grins. “Let’s eat, alright?”
Deidara nods, murmuring, “Thanks, Tobi,” and the two of them dig in. Obito takes two pieces of pork and puts it in Deidara’s box.
He only smiles in reply when Deidara gives him a questioning look.
Obito burps when he finishes. Deidara clicks his tongue.
“You’re disgusting,” he says and tosses a wadded-up tissue paper at him.
Obito catches it. “You like it.”
“I do not, hm.”
Obito leans over and grabs the plastic bag. He takes out a six-pack of beer and places it on the table with a dull thud. He gives Deidara a smirk.
“You’re not busy, right?” Obito asks.
“And would you let me go back to work if I said that I was, yeah?”
“Absolutely not.”
Obito breaks the plastic ring and slides one can toward Deidara. Deidara takes it.
“You deserve a break,” Obito says. “You’ve been working hard, I can tell.”
“Really,” Deidara murmurs. He opens his can and takes a sip.
Obito opens his can with a loud hiss. Foam starts seeping out of the opening and he leans forward and slurps it up.
Deidara makes a face. “That’s disgusting,” he says.
“You like it.”
Obito picks up his can and downs half of it, burping when he’s done. Deidara rolls his eyes.
“You’re disgusting,” Obito says in a high-pitched voice.
“I’m going to kill you, hm.”
“Ah, I haven’t heard that in a while.”
Deidara sips his beer.
“When was the last time you had a proper meal, Deidara?” Obito asks.
He takes another swig of his beer and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Deidara just watches him.
“Are you going to answer me?”
“Must I, yeah?” Deidara sighs.
“That’s usually how conversations work, right?” Obito puts his beer down. “I ask you questions, you answer it. I say something back then you scold me for being nosy and inappropriate. We bicker back and forth and then it’s four in the morning. Or, you know, something like that.”
Deidara scoffs. He cradles his beer close to him and tries not to look at Tobi.
“I’ve been getting a lot of jobs recently,” Deidara says, “so it’s been a constant race against deadlines. I don’t have a lot of time to spare because of that, hm.”
Obito frowns. “You shouldn’t take on too many jobs. I mean, it’s nice that it’s picking up for you, but you should pace yourself. You should set time aside to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”
Deidara shrugs.
“It’s kind of like high school, isn’t it?” Deidara asks.
“High school wasn’t that bad.”
“There were more than just deadlines to worry about in high school, hm.”
“What does that mean?”
Deidara shrugs again. He drinks from his can until it’s empty, then he motions for Tobi to give him another can. Tobi opens it for him.
“I had to meet stupid people every day. Now, the only person I interact with daily is myself.”
“Are you trying to say that I’m stupid?” Obito asks. He presses a hand on top of his heart. “That’s very hurtful. I am hurt.”
“I thought you knew you were stupid from the day you were born, yeah,” Deidara says. “Like, they told your mother when they handed you to her.”
Obito spins his drink on the table. He smiles to himself.
“I missed this,” he says.
Deidara looks at him. “Me insulting you?”
“Us talking.”
“We still talk,” Deidara says, pretending not to know what Tobi means by that.
“Well, we don’t really talk like we used to.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Obito stares at his drink, then, in a quiet voice, he says, “I broke up with her.”
Deidara blinks. He puts his can of beer down and leans away from the table.
“Well, I mean, we broke up. I guess in truth—well, you know, the situation is messy. If you ask her, she’d say she broke up with me and that’s kind of true but—you know, it’s a long time coming. Neither of us really—She still thinks about him sometimes and I, well, I guess I’ve been distracted recently too.”
“Distracted by what?”
“You know—work, things,” Obito says, clearing his throat. “Work and things, you know what I mean?”
Deidara frowns. He looks at Tobi’s hands.
“So did she break up with you to go back to Kakashi, hm?”
“I guess so. We’ve stopped talking since I moved back to my apartment.”
Deidara raises his eyebrows. He nods and chews on the inside of his lip.
“It’s kind of my fault, though,” Obito says. “I probably pushed her away—you know, being distracted and all. She probably felt like, well, like I’m ignoring her. Like I don’t love her anymore.”
“Do you?”
“Yes—No. I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“It’s complicated. I think—Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it? We’re over now.”
Deidara nods. “Sorry to hear that, I guess.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know—I just am.”
“Okay.” Deidara finishes his second beer and Tobi hands him a third one. “I shouldn’t,” Deidara says.
“Come on,” Obito says. “It’ll be like the good old days.”
“It’s only been three years, yeah. It doesn’t really count as the good old days.”
“It’s the good old days when you think fondly back to it. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been.”
Deidara sits there, looking at him, then he takes the beer.
“So have you been, uh, have you been seeing anyone?”
Deidara snorts. He swallows his mouthful of beer and coughs. Obito sits up straight and watches him with wide eyes.
Deidara holds up a finger and clears his throat, once, twice, then takes a few deep breaths. When he stops coughing, he sighs and looks at Tobi.
“Did you come here to finally ask me out, yeah?”
Obito goes red. “I—What do you mean by that?”
“It’s just a really random question—”
“—It was just a question.”
“Sure,” Deidara says. He waves his hand. He heaves a breath and drinks.
“I haven’t,” he says. “I don’t really have time for it, hm.”
“Ah.” Obito leans back, licking his lips. “I thought you were—”
“No,” Deidara says. “We were never a thing. Sasori’s not—”
“Okay, I get it. It’s not what I meant and I don’t really need to—“
“Jealous?”
“What?”
“Are you jealous?”
Obito scoffs. He clears his throat and fiddles with his can. He laughs to himself and then finishes the rest of his drink. He grabs his third—and final—can of beer.
“I’m not,” he says.
“Okay,” Deidara replies.
“I was just—You know, I was just curious. That’s all.”
“Okay,” Deidara says, higher pitched. “I believe you.”
“It’s just—I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I just wanted to know.”
“And I did tell you, didn’t I, hm?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And it just felt like you were upset.”
“I’m not—Well, I don’t really know but it’s not that big of a deal. I asked and you answered and it’s not your fault.”
“It’s okay,” Deidara says.
Obito nods.
“Okay,” he says. “Okay. And to be clear, you’re not seeing anyone right now.”
“No,” Deidara says, “I’m not seeing anyone. Why?”
“Hm?”
“Why did you ask? That’s what I want to know.”
Obito blinks.
“No, uh, no reason.”
Deidara raises an eyebrow. “Really?” he asks.
Obito leans back, craning his neck to look at the ceiling. “Yes,” he says.
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“Well, you know,” he says. He swallows and purses his lips.
“Yes?”
Obito looks down at his drink.
“I wanted to know if you are free tomorrow night,” Obito murmurs.
Deidara grins. He bits the edge of his can. “So you are finally asking me out on a date, hm,” Deidara says, his voice muffled.
Obito laughs. “I guess I am.”
“Took you long enough.”
Obito looks at him. He can only see the beer can obscuring Deidara’s face. “You were waiting for me?”
“I thought you were going to ask me ages ago,” Deidara admits, “but you never did.”
Obito laughs. “I guess it’s because I never thought the timing was right.”
“What made you want to ask me now?”
“What makes you think that I didn’t ask you already?”
Deidara frowns. “What?”
“I asked you if I could come over, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but—Oh.”
“I thought, if you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have even answered me.”
Deidara finishes his can of beer and takes a deep breath. “Yeah, you got me, hm. At least you were smart enough to see that.”
“Hey, if you were interested, why didn’t you ask?”
Deidara blinks. “Well—I—You were always talking about Rin, hm. I didn’t think you were even into guys.”
“That’s fair enough,” Obito says. He finishes his drank and clears the table of empty beer cans.
“Sorry I made you wait, then,” he says when he is done tying up the plastic bag.
Deidara snorts. “It better be worth the wait, yeah.”
“I can’t promise it will be, but I will try my best.”
Obito grins at him, and Deidara rolls his eyes and grins back.