Work Text:
They’d trudged through the woods quietly, walking mostly with their eyes up, tracing the lean of the branches weighed down by snow. Neither of them were much for talking, much less with the cold like this: not particularly biting but present enough for them to avoid anything that’d take their hands out of their pockets or necessitate uncovering their mouths.
It was relaxing though, with no semblance of discomfort despite the silence. Sure, Madara appreciated the kind of vocalized wonder Hashirama brought- a loud appreciation of the simplest things: perfectly preserved snowflakes, hot drinks- a much-anticipated warmth in late afternoon, moss persisting beneath layers of frost…
But it was refreshing to let it sit without discussion. To shyly bump elbows whilst waddling through the snow, to be nudged into showering and warming up first, curling up on the couch afterwards, like clockwork- all without a word.
But he couldn’t muse on that sweetness for long as his back heel sunk into the snow-sludge, then the barely concealed mud underfoot, loosened by the storm.
His leading foot had to give, no matter how practiced he was in keeping balance, as the ice layer shattered as soon as the other foot sank in- sucking his body down into a pit well disguised as flat ground. He was able to find a grip in the surrounding snow that had frozen somewhat into ice, despite nicking his fingers in the process, but was still soaked to the skin- submerged past the wrists and ankles.
“Hey, you alright?” Kakuzu started, voice especially gruff from disuse. An arm was already braced at his back, across the shoulder blades, but he hadn’t yet looped it underneath an armpit to begin pulling upwards. “Twist your ankle?”
“I’m fine- the ground gave before I got caught up in it.” Madara answered as Kakuzu helped him to his feet, one hand still steady on the spine as they edged their way around the sinkholes and tree roots.
Home was close but every second not under hot water was a lifetime too long and once inside the house, the cold had settled in entirely. His fingers were uncharacteristically clumsy and could barely unzip his jacket, much less unbutton the flannel and fleece underneath, but that’s what Kakuzu was for, he mused dazedly, slumped against the wall, just trying to even out his breath.
“You just couldn’t wait to get me out of my clothes, huh?” he said aloud, the other still helping the layers off like snakeskin, peeled carefully like eggshell, lest he force his knuckles too hard against soft skin. “Sorry- I have no idea why I said that,” he added, mildly embarrassed, before shaking his head to clear it, brain as fogged up as the windows.
“It’s fine,” Kakuzu said, a low chuckle rising up with him from the floor as he finished undressing the other, shoes, socks, and all. “Go warm up, then get in bed.”
Madara’s heart pounded even though he knew that kind of warmth-sharing wasn’t what Kakuzu meant but it was nice to think on regardless as he mostly stood there, warming up, forgoing the actual shower part until he feared the water’d go cold.
When he finally felt like getting out, hissing a small apology and hoping Kakuzu didn’t want to shower right after, considering there’d surely be no warm water now, he didn’t bother doing more than pulling his hair into a bun and slipping into the clothes left out for him- lined flannel pants and a large sweater, both in deep, forest colors.
Within a minute of shuffling around under the covers in the adjacent bedroom, socked feet kicking at the full comforter with the same kind of contentedness in summer of bare legs, fresh sheets, and air conditioning starching them cold in a microcosm from the heat, Kakuzu completed that ideal circle for winter weather- sliding a mug of hot tea onto the nightstand on Madara’s side of the bed.
Madara propped himself up to drink but Kakuzu eased him his way first, inspecting those easily-forgotten cuts from the hard ice.
That wordless care always made Madara embarrassed- that he’d be so tender, that he’d bother with such superficial wounds in the first place… but it was the thing he looked forward to most: being taken care of before he could ever take it too far.
Kakuzu rubbed some antibacterial gel into the worse cuts and untended hangnails but left them unbandaged. “To get some air,” he said, for something to break the stillness, and Madara kissed him with his lips closed tight, midway through a gulp of tea, when he looked his way.
‘It’s almost always hot chocolate,’ Madara thought as they drank, Kakuzu keeping his mug tilted to the corner to hide the look of it- pretending it was at least a coffee, even if also filled to the brim with marshmallows. He smiled with that still-secret in mind as Kakuzu wrapped himself solidly around his frame, taking care to kiss the nape of his neck before undoing the bun and ruffling his loosely curling hair, still damp.
And Kakuzu awoke with his mind alone, his body apart of something else now: the bed, the blankets, the bodies fit into his like stones lodged in the river- Madara with his nose between the other’s ribs, hands in loose prayer, and Hashirama with his shoulder right in junction with Kakuzu’s armpit, both arms vined around Kakuzu’s arm- one earth hand warmed between two of the same.
He wiggled his fingers and toes, enough to get his body to rejoin his brain but not enough to wake him for good as it’d be a particularly hard fight trying to dislodge himself from both his partners and the sunken in bed without waking anyone up. He took silent stock of what he knew was in the fridge and vaguely remembered enough of a recipe for pizza dough to decide on making that whenever he could free himself from this, though he knew he wasn’t in any rush.
“Neither are they,” he mumbled aloud, feeling both Hashirama and Madara wiggle in closer at the same time, still sound asleep. ‘Ah well, late night meals are nice,’ he thought, settling back in as well as the last waves of sunlight slid back and forth over the window sills just beneath the half drawn shades.