Chapter Text
Obito leans down and picks up the cardboard box. It isn’t too heavy but he underestimates its weight at first. Obito spends a good few seconds adjusting his grip. Once he is able to hold on to the box and evenly distribute its weight, he glances down at the lifeless body at his feet.
“Sorry, buddy,” he says to the corpse. He gets no response. Obito shrugs and kicks the body deeper into the shrubbery. It rolls into a bush. Obito heads down the path he came from.
The path is quiet save for the gravel and dirt crunching beneath his feet, paired with the song of nature twittering in the background.
Obito uses this time to think and dwell on his thoughts. He doesn’t know what his thoughts are and he doesn’t know if swimming in them is a good idea.
All he knows is that he feels lost and only one person can help him now.
He wonders if he did misstep and he wonders if Tobi could fix it in his bashful and clumsy way.
All too soon he comes up to one of their hidden bases. The seals recognize his chakra signature and Zetsu greets him at the entrance given that his hands are full. Obito nods at him. Zetsu nods back.
The boulder rumbles out of the way and Obito steps in. The lights in the stone corridors bow and flicker at the reintroduction of wind and threaten to go out and plunge him into darkness.
He takes winding turns down the relatively short tunnel – he’s seen longer – and comes up to the door of the best rooms in this hideout. He raises a leg and supports most of the box’s weight on his knee. He leans into the framework and knocks on the door. He hears shuffling on the other side.
Obito holds the box properly once more and lets his leg down. He takes a step back, readjusts his position, and waits for Deidara to open the door.
He feels as though most of their time together has come down to this routine and he doesn’t know if he likes it or not. Obito thinks something is missing but at the same time, he finds this awfully domestic. He is torn between enjoying it and thinking it is sick that an unmated pair is so chummy with each other.
Deidara raises an eyebrow at him. He hadn’t even noticed the door open.
Tobi looks at Deidara, down at the box he’s holding, and then looks back up at him. “I cut off a shipment,” says Tobi.
“A shipment with one box, hm?” Deidara asks.
“I only have so many arms, Deidara-senpai,” says Tobi. “I stored the rest somewhere safe.”
Deidara nods for a bit, looking at the box he’s holding and continues to nod. “Okay,” he says and he keeps nodding. “Come on in, hm.”
When Deidara steps aside from the door, Tobi nods his thanks and walks in. He is careful about keeping his distance from the omega. He had been rather prickly ever since leaving that inn and Obito knows that it is somehow his fault.
His movements stutter when he sets the box down as realization washes over him like an ugly wave.
Tobi sighs heavily and sits down on the floor, crossed legged, and grips the side of the cardboard box.
Deidara is still standing by the door. He can feel his gaze resting on his back. He can smell that he is confused.
Everything feels heavy and Obito wonders if he can take the loss all over again. He thinks, not for the first time, that everything in this world is fucked and messed up and the only way everyone can find peace is for no one to be able to die. It is unfair to someone like Deidara – or anyone at all, really – but his heart has broken and he has always thought that it would never heal properly.
Deidara’s concern grows stronger and Obito pretends to be busy with opening the box. He flinches when a hand rests on his shoulder and Deidara sits down next to him.
“What’s wrong?” Deidara asks.
“Nothing,” Tobi says. He fiddles with the tape. “This is some strong tape. Can’t get it off.”
Deidara looks at him weirdly. He reaches out, feels around for a bit, and digs his nail into the crease of the cardboard flaps. The tape breaks from under his nail and continues to tear in half as he drags it along the seam.
“Ah,” Tobi says. He holds up his hand to show his gloves.
Deidara nods but his hand is still on Tobi’s shoulder.
“What?” Tobi asks.
“You’re lying,” Deidara says.
“Hm?”
“I can smell it, hm,” says Deidara. “You’re lying,” he says. “You lie quite a bit.”
Obito looks at Deidara and then he moves to stand. “I’d rather not talk about it, senpai,” Tobi says.
Deidara looks down at the box and is quiet. Obito knows that his mind is anything but.
“I heard that the Three-Tails might be taken captive by Kirigakure again,” says Tobi.
“Hm,” Deidara says. He raps his fingers on the cardboard box, a constant noise in a constant rhythm. He doesn’t even need to say anything.
“Ugh,” Tobi says and he sits back down.
“Why are you lying?” Deidara asks.
“Senpai,” says Tobi, “have you ever had someone in your life? Or at least close to?”
Deidara glances at him and looks back at the box. He takes a deep breath and begins to unfold the flaps to check its contents. “There was a beta,” Deidara says, “once, hm.”
Tobi remains silent to be respectful but he feels an ugly emotion burn in the pit of his stomach.
“Don’t be jealous,” Deidara says. “When I couldn’t match her in terms of finding glory in battle, we fell out, hm.”
Obito wonders if it is Kurotsuchi.
“It wasn’t a huge loss for me,” Deidara says as he shoves his hand into the box and takes out a set of pills. “I guess omegas are more attracted to alphas than they are to betas, hm.”
“There wasn’t an alpha in your life?”
“Or anywhere near me,” Deidara scoffs. “I set them on fire before they can even open their mouth, hm.”
Obito plants his hands on the floor and lifts himself off a few inches. He shuffles a few inches away from Deidara. He is successful in making Deidara puff out a laugh.
Deidara drops the box of pills and turns to look at Tobi, a fond smile on his face as he rests his arm on the edge of the box, and his cheek on his hand. “Don’t worry, Tobi, hm,” says Deidara. “I didn’t want to set you on fire, I wanted to strangle you, remember?”
Obito sports a similarly fond smile and says, “That is very reassuring, senpai.”
Deidara nods and then his gaze softens. “You are the only alpha I don’t want dead immediately, hm.”
Obito panics a bit. In turn, he can feel Deidara’s anxiety grow. “Uh, well,” Tobi says, “I had someone once, sort of.”
“Sort of?” Deidara asks. He tastes something sour at the back of his throat and he realizes it is Deidara’s turn to be jealous. He realizes that he doesn’t mind.
“She died before her coming of age so we don’t really know her rank,” says Tobi, “but I’d reckon she was a beta.”
Deidara nods slowly. He moves closer to Tobi and places a reassuring hand on his knee. Obito nods in return.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tobi says dismissively. “She wasn’t into me because I really wasn’t your average alpha. Everyone thought I’d be a beta too.”
“Aren’t I lucky?”
“Huh?” Tobi asks. “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” Deidara lies.
“Okay,” Obito says. He looks down at where Deidara’s hand is still on his knee. “Anyway, she was into our other teammate. He’s a beta.”
Deidara laughs. “You’re jealous again, hm.”
“So are you,” Tobi says.
“Am not,” Deidara lies.
“You’re lying now,” says Tobi.
“How do you know that, yeah?” Deidara asks and then he stops and looks at nothing in particular. “How did I know that?”
“I shouldn’t have been in the room with you, senpai,” says Tobi.
“It made me feel better,” Deidara retorts and then he looks disgusted with himself. “Damn it,” he says and he lets go of Tobi’s knee.
So it’s begun.